Git your Script Readers on

Source: The Times (Original Article)

15 long-term prisoners have written a book about their life and crimes. Andrew Donaldson reports.

When she started the gig, on a dreary Cape winter’s morning last July, Margie Orford was afraid of her pupils.

They were, after all, violent men — killers, thieves, brutal gangsters; not for nothing were they behind bars.

She would write of their initial encounter: “When I first arrived at Groot Drakenstein Correctional Facility, I saw 15 prisoners reduced to a brutal sameness by the orange or the denim uniforms, by the obedient way in which incarcerated men shuffled from one place to another at the order of a guard, by my own fear of them.

“Most of the men I was to work with are serving very long sentences. I decided that the only way I could share a creative space with them was if I did not know what crimes they had committed.”

The creative writing workshop was Siri Hustvedt’s idea. The US writer, a guest at last year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival, had attended a poetry competition awards ceremony at the prison and was struck by the prisoners’ “passionate need to communicate”.

Invigorated by their “desire to talk”, she came up with the idea of the workshop.

It was Orford, though, who did the hard stuff. A journalist, filmmaker and novelist, she would be the men’s writing instructor for the next nine months.

In their weekly Friday morning sessions in a grim corner of the Boland prison, the men slowly, painstakingly, bared their souls and offered her a glimpse into what she calls “a dusty grey hopelessness of lives turned to ash”.

Last Friday, the men once more bared their souls — this time to an audience of dignitaries, government officials, writers and journalists who had been invited to the launch of the book that the Recent Domains 6 men produced under Orford’s guidance.

In …continue reading

Source: The Oregonian - OregonLive.com (Original Article)

W hen Ken Kesey died in 2001, he was remembered as the
author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
and as the original Merry Prankster, the leader of an
LSD-fueled bus trip across America that brought the Sixties
to Day-Glo life and was captured in Tom Wolfe’s classic
“The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”

Little attention was paid to his greatest artistic
achievement, his novel “Sometimes a Great Notion,”
and almost no mention was made of anything else he did. The
consensus was that Kesey wrote two books, goofed around on
an old school bus and faded into irrelevance. The brilliant
sparks that flashed off him in the morning of his life
flickered out in the twilight.

The truth is more complicated, of course, and evidence that
Kesey was more than a flash in the pan has long been
overlooked. Kesey not only made his life a work of art but
continued to create in the way he loved best, by telling
stories. He loved tall tales and was skilled at acting them
out for children, especially “Little Tricker the
Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear,” and he was
obsessed by a rodeo story he first heard when he was 14 from
his father.

Fred Kesey liked to take his sons hunting in the Ochocos,
and one year they got delayed by traffic heading for the
Pendleton Round-Up. Later, once they’d settled in
around a campfire, Ken Kesey first heard about the 1911
Round-Up, when George Fletcher, an African American cowboy
who grew up on the Umatilla reservation; Jackson Sundown, a
Nez Perce who was a nephew of Chief Joseph and was wounded
in the 1877 war against the U.S. Army; and John Spain
competed for the saddle bronc championship. Spain was
awarded first place and a new saddle even though the crowd
thought Fletcher had the best ride. Umatilla County Sheriff
Tillman Taylor averted a riot by tearing up Fletcher’s
hat and selling pieces of it so Fletcher, the people’s
champion, could have a saddle equal to Spain’s.

Kesey heard the story again from Instant Approval Credit Cards his father when he attended
his …continue reading

Source: MiamiHerald.com (Original Article)

NEW YORK — There are no Wookies in the Sex and the City movie — no Vulcans with pointy ears or hobbits with oversize feet or aging archaeologists fond of bullwhips and fedoras. Heck, there probably isn’t a single computer-generated special effect in it, although it’s a safe bet its overwhelmingly female target audience will be oohing and aahing through it anyway.

Considering the mania that has surrounded the movie since it began filming in Manhattan last year with as much secrecy as anyone can muster in the streets of New York, you’d think Sex and the City, which opens Friday, was directed by George Lucas or Steven Spielberg. Instead, the movie was written and directed by Michael Patrick King, who served the same duties for six seasons during Sex and the City’s run as an HBO series.

As pretty much every woman in the civilized world knows by now (along with many of their boyfriends, and legions of gay men), the show was inspired by Candace Bushnell’s newspaper columns about single women looking for love in the Big Apple and centered on four single friends: Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Bushnell’s alter-ego, a columnist whose on-again, off-again affair with the jet-setting Mr. Big (Chris Noth) gave the show its narrative spine; Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), a tightly wound lawyer; Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), a prim and proper WASP from a wealthy family, and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), a high-powered publicist whose connections were outdone only by her libido.

It was the contrast of the four women’s personalities — along with the show’s frank approach to sexuality and its often uproarious humor — that connected so strongly with audiences, which grew in number even after the series ended its 94-episode, seven-year run via syndication on TBS and DVD sales.

”The four protagonists of Sex and the City are very different, but at some point in our lives most women have either been one of those yu gi oh gx cards characters or aspired to be like …continue reading

Source: Indiatimes (Original Article)

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Source: PR-USA.net (press release) (Original Article)

CompassLearning Announces Odyssey Texas Math

Austin, TX (Vocus) May 14, 2008 — CompassLearning, the leading provider of personalized education technology solutions, announced today the release of Odyssey Texas Math, a mathematics intervention and algebra readiness product for students in the state of Texas. The solution, based on current and confirmed research, concentrates on a subset of algebra readiness skills that are critical for students who are at risk for math failure in grades 4-8.

Odyssey Texas Math allows for a deeper level of diagnostic assessment that pinpoints students’ instructional skill gaps. Its sophisticated management system automatically and accurately places each student into a personalized learning path that provides targeted instruction on critical skills and objectives featuring a balance of computational and procedural skills, conceptual understanding, and problem solving. Students work at their own pace in an age-appropriate, interactive environment that is rich with sound and graphics.

Odyssey Texas Math’s advanced management and reporting system eliminates the time-consuming task of organizing student data. Students’ progress toward grade-level objectives can be tracked weekly or daily, or by a single student, class, or grade level.

“The goal of this intervention product is to accelerate student math performance toward grade-level standards,” said CompassLearning President Eric Loeffel. “Ultimately, Odyssey Texas Math will help ensure that Texas students enter high school fully prepared to successfully complete today’s rigorous graduation requirements.”

For more information about Odyssey Texas Math, call (800) 232-9556.

About CompassLearning
CompassLearning, one of the nation’s leading providers of K-12 education software, has been helping students excel for more than 35 years. It is ANZ Rewards Card part of The Reader’s Digest Association, …continue reading

Source: Jamaica Gleaner (Original Article)

Edward Baugh and Claude McKay - FileThe Calabash International Literary Festival will this year commemorate the works of celebrated West Indian author Claude McKay, among others. One of his most endearing works is the novel Banana Bottom (1933) which will be featured at the festival. Published 75 years ago, it tells the story of the social and personal conflicts that arise in a rural Jamaican village when 22-year-old Bita Plant returns there to live after spending most of her teenage years in England.”This celebration of Banana Bottom is a natural for Calabash,” says Colin Channer, the festival’s founder and artistic director. “We’re committed to creating the future of Caribbean literature while keeping in touch with its past.”important voiceIn 1912, at the age of 23, Claude McKay left Jamaica never to return. But as he became one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance with novels like Home to Harlem (1928) and Banjo (1930) in the United States, and as his publishing slowly established him as one of Jamaica’s first internationally successful writers, he would return to Jamaican settings in his later novels, short stories and poems. He would return with a combination of nostalgia and clear-eyed memory to the hill villages of northern Clarendon where he was raised.Here, Kwame Dawes, programming director of Calabash, speaks to Professor Edward Baugh Baugh about the novel, McKay, and Baugh’s ‘game day’ preparation for important readings.It is often presumed that the ‘golden age’ of West Indian literature falls somewhere between 1950 and 1970, yet it is hard to ignore the pioneering work of writers like Claude McKay. Do you see a clear path connecting McKay to the writers of the ’50s and ’60s?I wouldn’t say a clear path in the sense of McKay’s having influenced the writers of the ’50s and ’60s, or of their having written with a consciousness of McKay behind them. I don’t know that there is much evidence of that, but there is Aussie MasterCard Credit Card a clear path in terms of …continue reading

Source: Daily Mail (Original Article)

Daily MailRichard Littlejohn
Not nice to see you, to see you…if Brucie met Gordon
11:21am 16th May 2008

Comments (25)

How many times have I wondered why the hell anyone bothers interviewing Gordon Brown?

He drones on with his prepared script, sets the controls for the heart of the sun and stomps towards the exit, regardless of what is thrown at him.

Gordon was at it all day yesterday, during his little round of the TV and radio studios. I couldn’t see the point of any of it.

Why should anyone waste their time attending his monthly news conference, let alone waste their breath asking a question? He’s genetically incapable of giving a straight answer.

His ludicrous assertion that the back-flip over the 10p tax debacle was some kind of stimulus package, like the Bush tax rebate, was a risible insult to our intelligence.

If John Humphrys can’t get any sense out of him, there’s no hope for anyone else.

I notice Bruce Forsyth was knocking around Westminster this week. Maybe the BBC is planning to give Brucie a crack at Gordon…

Scroll down for more…

Nice to see you, to see you… When Gordon met Brucie

All right, my love. And what’s your name?

Gordon.

And where have you come from today?

Kirkcaldy.

I’ll make a note of that. Miserable Scotch Git. Give us a twirl, Gordon.

I am taking the right long-term decisions… getting on with the job…

Steady on, I’m in charge. And what job do you do for a living, Gordon…

I’m the Prime Minister… the best man for the job…

Nice to see you to see you… NICE!

As the Governor of the Bank of England said, the nice decade is over…

Speak for yourself, Gordon. Right, first question. What’s the basic rate of income tax? Is it 10p… ?

(Audience) HIGHER, HIGHER!

Come on, Gordon, what’s your answer?

We are raising thresholds… taking millions out of poverty… global turbulence… best man for the job…

Yes, my love, but what’s the answer? Visa Credit Card

We are taking the right long-term …continue reading

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune (Original Article)

A Scott County district judge has dropped the curtain on an Elko bar that has been staging "theater nights" to get around the statewide smoking ban.
Although a later trial will decide if the temporary restraining order sought by state health officials becomes permanent, Thursday’s ruling clearly indicates Scott County District Court Judge Jerome Abrams doesn’t buy the idea that theater nights are legitimate performances, qualifying for an exemption from the ban imposed in October.
Abrams pointed out that anyone in the bar can become an actor by paying $2 for an "Actor’s Guild" button.
The decision has state health officials hoping they can soon halt the rogue smoking productions in bars throughout the state.
"Nothing has been offered to suggest there is a storyline, or even a story, being portrayed on an improvisational basis or otherwise. There is no script, choreography, staging, etc., which resembles anything," Abrams wrote.
"There is not the slightest suggestion that talent or an interest in conveying a message, other than smoking, is sought from any actor," he wrote.
Thursday’s ruling left advocates for the bar owners — who insist such nights are improvisational theater that qualify under a provision of the state ban allowing participants in a theatrical performance to light up — scratching their heads as to what to do next.
Patrick O’Neill, the attorney representing the Elko bar and a South St. Paul bar in a similar legal situation, said he’ll analyze the judge’s opinion and decide whether to appeal the temporary injunction or just make his case against a permanent injunction in June.
Another option: redesign the performances to meet the judge’s criteria for legitimate theater, said Mark Benjamin, an attorney who initiated "theater nights."
"At first blush, [the decision] isn’t good," Benjamin said. But the court may benefit from additional Aussie MasterCard Credit Card testimony in June, he said.

Said …continue reading

Source: The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com (Original Article)

Romantic Comedy. Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets
Girl . . . we know the drill, which is both the joy and the
tedium of any genre.

We turn to it precisely because we like knowing what to
expect, and hope for that unexpected twist, a new,
intriguing flavor that delights. Billy Mernit’s
romantic comedy, “Imagine Me and You,” attempts to
pry readers from the familiar - with some interesting and
risky moves.

The novel’s protagonist, Jordan Moore, is married to
Isabella, who has returned to her native Italy “to
think.” Jordan is desperately trying to get his
published novel made into a feature film. He is lonely and
anxious, about both wife and career, and he needs a plan.
Predictably, his plan is a bad one: He pretends he is seeing
another woman to make Isabella jealous. His fantasy woman,
Naomi, unexpectedly becomes his muse as he revises his novel
for a demanding movie producer. And like all good romantic
comedies, misunderstandings proliferate, madcap physical
comedy ensues, and the protagonist’s choices simply
make things worse.

Mernit, a story analyst for Universal Studios, is
well-versed in this genre. Briskly, he gives us The Setup,
The Cute Meet, The Complication, The Hook, The Swivel, The
Dark Moment and The Resolution.

Both Mernit and his character teach script writing and
write a novel, and as Jordan himself deals with his marriage
as though his own life is a script that needs revising, the
reader enjoys the layered tension. The book offers its
readers a bit of postmodern self-awareness, an insider-joke
as we move in and out of fiction about fiction.

Moreover, Mernit crafts some gems here: the eloquent
homeless guy who seems, inexplicably, to be a Los Angeles
movie-business insider; Jordan, in a bookstore, turning
“away from Ethics,” to get his bearings, and
sensing an elusive, seductive woman’s perfume more
strongly in “Drama.”

But despite the clever structure Aussie Credit Card and wordplay, Jordan is
ultimately unlikable …continue reading

Source: Washington Post (Original Article)

Timing is everything, you know? While I was working on last week’s newsletter, I got an e-mail asking about System Restore. I stuck something into that Lawyers in VIC beginning with P Page 1 newsletter and decided to expand on it this week.