I AM TRULY SURROUNDED BY MY work: My computer runs on megabytes and RAMs; my car moves because of sparks and subsequent combusion, and sports more digital equipment than I care to imagine; and even my gym has the latest techno-gizmo to tell me just how many calories I've used up on a five-mile (albeit stationary) "bike ride." I cannot seem to get away from science and technology--but as a science writer, I do not mind, because it is more fuel for my science articles.
Science and technology encompass all our lives. If you find your hands sweating during the latest Space Shuttle launch, or you enthusiastically tell your friends the reasons why tsunamis crash along a coastline, you may be a potential science writer. And you do not have to be another Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, or Isaac Asimov to succeed at it.
I became a science writer through the back door. I was a professional scientist who analyzed water samples and plotted flooding along sinuous river systems. A side trip back to college changed my life: The day my professor handed back the first draft of my thesis and said, "This reads like...well...an article for the general audience," sealed my fate. I have thanked her insight for ten years now.
You do not have to be a scientist or have a science background to write articles and books about science and technology. In fact, it may be helpful for you not to have a science background, because then you won't be caught up in the science jargon. If you are interviewing an astronomer on interstellar objects who says that MACHOs are found at the periphery of our galaxy, you would not just nod your head. You would ask him or her to explain--not only the acronym (Massive Compact Halo Objects)--but why MACHOs are important to your article.
The best part about science and technology writing is the range of topics from which you can choose--and each of those subjects can be further broken down into narrower topics for other articles. Topics include the physical sciences, (geology, chemistry, etc.); biology (plant, human, viral, bacterial); space science; or medical science. Many science writers also delve into technology: computers, robotics, and electronics. Under technology, a science writer may describe remote sensing techniques used to detect and track volcanic eruption plumes across the planet; or under medical science, show how using supercomputer modeling can help us understand how drugs react within the body.
Science writing does not have to be about current scientific developments; it can also be about science in the past or future. Science past had its wonderful moments of serendipity; science future has its promise of a better life. And do not overlook science fiction for article ideas. After all, most people know about "warp drive," an idea often referred to on "Star Trek." A science writer might ask, "Can we go faster than the speed of light? If we could, what type of propulsion would be needed to catapult a spaceship to such speeds?"
Although there is a myriad of topics to choose from, all science and technology writing must apply to and excite the readers. Will they be able to use the discovery in the present or future? Will it help their children to live happier lives? Does the topic stimulate their imagination, and is it enjoyable to read? Or will the story tell them about a person, place, or thing that they never knew about before?
Now that you have decided to try your hand at writing science, you will need the following:
* Intense curiosity. When you are curious about a subject in science, you are more apt to dig deeper, ask for more explanation--and your enthusiasm will show in your writing. An editor once told me, "The attention span of the reader is directly proportional to the writer's interest in the story."
* An interest in research. You may have all the curiosity about a subject, but you also need the tenacity to do the research. Science writers today have it easier than they did in the past: We have access to tremendous amounts of information, not only in libraries, but through computer communication services, where you can find articles on your subjects and leads to help you find other sources.
* Ability to recognize a good idea for a science article. A good idea for a science article is not "DNA"; a good science article idea is how DNA is being used as genetic "fingerprints" in crime investigations--and how it is also under fire because the technique is so new. Article ideas are everywhere, but the science writer has to know how to focus on that one kernel of interest.
* Contacts and sources to interview. A science writer's most valued possession is his or her contact/source list: past interviewees (experts in the fields you are writing about), reference librarians, earlier contacts from science conferences, public information offices of science-oriented institutions, organizations, and universities--and, of course, other science writers.
* Insistence on accuracy. The science writer's creed, to borrow from Thoreau, should read, "Simplicity, simplicity--not to mention accuracy, accuracy."
* Good interpretative skills. Science writers have a serious responsibility to their readers: They must interpret and present what they uncover in their research and interviews in a clear and interesting way. This interpretation is not always straightforward. I have heard it compared to translating Japanese into English: There are nuances of the Japanese culture integrated into their language that cannot be translated into English. It is often the same with explaining science to the general audiences, and as Nobel physicist Richard Feynman once said, not all science can be explained in a basic way. But do not use this as an excuse; a science writer must do the best he or she can to get the subject across to the reader.
Coming up with a good science article idea is not as difficult as it seems. There are many sources that spark ideas: newspapers, science journals, news releases, computer communication services (the ubiquitous "information highway"), and numerous publications from universities and science-oriented organizations--also other people's conversations: I began to research my article on microrobots (for Sky Magazine) when I overheard two people joking about "minimachines" taking over the planet Mars. The real microrobots may never take over the red planet, but the suggestion triggered the idea. It also started me on the trail of just how far we have come in space-oriented microrobotic research.
After you come up with a specialized science topic, your first stop should be the library to check on magazines. Read through current magazines and explore magazine topics in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (and similar indexes) from the past year or so. This will help you avoid writing about an idea whose time has come and gone; also you will not send a query to a magazine that has just published an article on the same subject with the same angle. If your idea seems to be on track, then gather basic information on the subject from science magazines, brochures, encyclopedias, or books.
Next comes the query, usually a less-than-one-page "outline" (in text form) of your proposed article. The query persents your idea, sources, and credentials to the editor. A word of caution: Know your magazine. Do not send a query on industrial robotics to Woman's World, or an idea on the future of the American/Russian cooperation on the Space Station to Sailing; but also remember that certain non-science magazines will take science or technology topics, including some inflight and general audience magazines. Know your science magazines, too: Articles for Omni have a different slant from those for Popular Science.
The day the editor says, "Go for it," is the day you take all your basic information and outline-query letter, and get to work. Now is also the time to call on your sources for interviews. Some science writers write a sketchy first draft to their story before the interviews--a way to organize their thoughts and frame the questions to ask the interviewee in some semblance of order; other writers do a first draft after the interview. In either case, you will need a list of questions to ask your experts. Always remember that the only dumb question is the one you did not ask.
Writing a publishable science article takes the ability to explain complex concepts without baffling or confusing readers. One of the best approaches is to discuss the subject or idea in terms the reader can relate to. For example, in my article on agriculture in space (for Ad Astra) I wove familiar gardening terms (and references to many gardening problems) into the piece so the readers could relate to growing plants in the Space Station and beyond.
Another strategy to give your science article life is to use anecdotes. Usually, your interviewees have interesting stories to tell, such as how their discovery was made, or about the first patient to use their new drug. Since the general public often thinks of science as another world, descriptions of the scientists and their surroundings will "humanize" your article, showing that the expert has the same idiosyncrasies that we all have--right down to worries about money or celebrations of victories.
Of course, there are two more qualities that keep all science writers going: patience and perseverance. It takes patience to get an interview with a busy scientist (and sometimes you will not get the interview at all); and patience to see your words in print. Plus, it takes perseverance to understand the intricacies of your science article--and to keep up with the new science discoveries that pop up every week.
There is more than enough science to provide you with subjects for science articles. As a science writer just remember that the universe is now your beat.
Abstract: Science and technology affect our daily lives and provide a broad range of opportunities for potential science writers. Such writers should bring to their work a curiosity, interpretative skills, accuracy, research interest, and the skill to recognize a good idea.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Barnes-Svarney, Patricia. "Science writing today and tomorrow." The Writer Nov. 1994: 15+. General OneFile. Web. 24 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15812453&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A15812453
Showing posts with label computer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computer. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2013
Science writing today and tomorrow.
I AM TRULY SURROUNDED BY MY work: My computer runs on megabytes and RAMs; my car moves because of sparks and subsequent combusion, and sports more digital equipment than I care to imagine; and even my gym has the latest techno-gizmo to tell me just how many calories I've used up on a five-mile (albeit stationary) "bike ride." I cannot seem to get away from science and technology--but as a science writer, I do not mind, because it is more fuel for my science articles.
Science and technology encompass all our lives. If you find your hands sweating during the latest Space Shuttle launch, or you enthusiastically tell your friends the reasons why tsunamis crash along a coastline, you may be a potential science writer. And you do not have to be another Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, or Isaac Asimov to succeed at it.
I became a science writer through the back door. I was a professional scientist who analyzed water samples and plotted flooding along sinuous river systems. A side trip back to college changed my life: The day my professor handed back the first draft of my thesis and said, "This reads like...well...an article for the general audience," sealed my fate. I have thanked her insight for ten years now.
You do not have to be a scientist or have a science background to write articles and books about science and technology. In fact, it may be helpful for you not to have a science background, because then you won't be caught up in the science jargon. If you are interviewing an astronomer on interstellar objects who says that MACHOs are found at the periphery of our galaxy, you would not just nod your head. You would ask him or her to explain--not only the acronym (Massive Compact Halo Objects)--but why MACHOs are important to your article.
The best part about science and technology writing is the range of topics from which you can choose--and each of those subjects can be further broken down into narrower topics for other articles. Topics include the physical sciences, (geology, chemistry, etc.); biology (plant, human, viral, bacterial); space science; or medical science. Many science writers also delve into technology: computers, robotics, and electronics. Under technology, a science writer may describe remote sensing techniques used to detect and track volcanic eruption plumes across the planet; or under medical science, show how using supercomputer modeling can help us understand how drugs react within the body.
Science writing does not have to be about current scientific developments; it can also be about science in the past or future. Science past had its wonderful moments of serendipity; science future has its promise of a better life. And do not overlook science fiction for article ideas. After all, most people know about "warp drive," an idea often referred to on "Star Trek." A science writer might ask, "Can we go faster than the speed of light? If we could, what type of propulsion would be needed to catapult a spaceship to such speeds?"
Although there is a myriad of topics to choose from, all science and technology writing must apply to and excite the readers. Will they be able to use the discovery in the present or future? Will it help their children to live happier lives? Does the topic stimulate their imagination, and is it enjoyable to read? Or will the story tell them about a person, place, or thing that they never knew about before?
Now that you have decided to try your hand at writing science, you will need the following:
* Intense curiosity. When you are curious about a subject in science, you are more apt to dig deeper, ask for more explanation--and your enthusiasm will show in your writing. An editor once told me, "The attention span of the reader is directly proportional to the writer's interest in the story."
* An interest in research. You may have all the curiosity about a subject, but you also need the tenacity to do the research. Science writers today have it easier than they did in the past: We have access to tremendous amounts of information, not only in libraries, but through computer communication services, where you can find articles on your subjects and leads to help you find other sources.
* Ability to recognize a good idea for a science article. A good idea for a science article is not "DNA"; a good science article idea is how DNA is being used as genetic "fingerprints" in crime investigations--and how it is also under fire because the technique is so new. Article ideas are everywhere, but the science writer has to know how to focus on that one kernel of interest.
* Contacts and sources to interview. A science writer's most valued possession is his or her contact/source list: past interviewees (experts in the fields you are writing about), reference librarians, earlier contacts from science conferences, public information offices of science-oriented institutions, organizations, and universities--and, of course, other science writers.
* Insistence on accuracy. The science writer's creed, to borrow from Thoreau, should read, "Simplicity, simplicity--not to mention accuracy, accuracy."
* Good interpretative skills. Science writers have a serious responsibility to their readers: They must interpret and present what they uncover in their research and interviews in a clear and interesting way. This interpretation is not always straightforward. I have heard it compared to translating Japanese into English: There are nuances of the Japanese culture integrated into their language that cannot be translated into English. It is often the same with explaining science to the general audiences, and as Nobel physicist Richard Feynman once said, not all science can be explained in a basic way. But do not use this as an excuse; a science writer must do the best he or she can to get the subject across to the reader.
Coming up with a good science article idea is not as difficult as it seems. There are many sources that spark ideas: newspapers, science journals, news releases, computer communication services (the ubiquitous "information highway"), and numerous publications from universities and science-oriented organizations--also other people's conversations: I began to research my article on microrobots (for Sky Magazine) when I overheard two people joking about "minimachines" taking over the planet Mars. The real microrobots may never take over the red planet, but the suggestion triggered the idea. It also started me on the trail of just how far we have come in space-oriented microrobotic research.
After you come up with a specialized science topic, your first stop should be the library to check on magazines. Read through current magazines and explore magazine topics in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (and similar indexes) from the past year or so. This will help you avoid writing about an idea whose time has come and gone; also you will not send a query to a magazine that has just published an article on the same subject with the same angle. If your idea seems to be on track, then gather basic information on the subject from science magazines, brochures, encyclopedias, or books.
Next comes the query, usually a less-than-one-page "outline" (in text form) of your proposed article. The query persents your idea, sources, and credentials to the editor. A word of caution: Know your magazine. Do not send a query on industrial robotics to Woman's World, or an idea on the future of the American/Russian cooperation on the Space Station to Sailing; but also remember that certain non-science magazines will take science or technology topics, including some inflight and general audience magazines. Know your science magazines, too: Articles for Omni have a different slant from those for Popular Science.
The day the editor says, "Go for it," is the day you take all your basic information and outline-query letter, and get to work. Now is also the time to call on your sources for interviews. Some science writers write a sketchy first draft to their story before the interviews--a way to organize their thoughts and frame the questions to ask the interviewee in some semblance of order; other writers do a first draft after the interview. In either case, you will need a list of questions to ask your experts. Always remember that the only dumb question is the one you did not ask.
Writing a publishable science article takes the ability to explain complex concepts without baffling or confusing readers. One of the best approaches is to discuss the subject or idea in terms the reader can relate to. For example, in my article on agriculture in space (for Ad Astra) I wove familiar gardening terms (and references to many gardening problems) into the piece so the readers could relate to growing plants in the Space Station and beyond.
Another strategy to give your science article life is to use anecdotes. Usually, your interviewees have interesting stories to tell, such as how their discovery was made, or about the first patient to use their new drug. Since the general public often thinks of science as another world, descriptions of the scientists and their surroundings will "humanize" your article, showing that the expert has the same idiosyncrasies that we all have--right down to worries about money or celebrations of victories.
Of course, there are two more qualities that keep all science writers going: patience and perseverance. It takes patience to get an interview with a busy scientist (and sometimes you will not get the interview at all); and patience to see your words in print. Plus, it takes perseverance to understand the intricacies of your science article--and to keep up with the new science discoveries that pop up every week.
There is more than enough science to provide you with subjects for science articles. As a science writer just remember that the universe is now your beat.
Abstract: Science and technology affect our daily lives and provide a broad range of opportunities for potential science writers. Such writers should bring to their work a curiosity, interpretative skills, accuracy, research interest, and the skill to recognize a good idea.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Barnes-Svarney, Patricia. "Science writing today and tomorrow." The Writer Nov. 1994: 15+. General OneFile. Web. 24 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15812453&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A15812453
Science and technology encompass all our lives. If you find your hands sweating during the latest Space Shuttle launch, or you enthusiastically tell your friends the reasons why tsunamis crash along a coastline, you may be a potential science writer. And you do not have to be another Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, or Isaac Asimov to succeed at it.
I became a science writer through the back door. I was a professional scientist who analyzed water samples and plotted flooding along sinuous river systems. A side trip back to college changed my life: The day my professor handed back the first draft of my thesis and said, "This reads like...well...an article for the general audience," sealed my fate. I have thanked her insight for ten years now.
You do not have to be a scientist or have a science background to write articles and books about science and technology. In fact, it may be helpful for you not to have a science background, because then you won't be caught up in the science jargon. If you are interviewing an astronomer on interstellar objects who says that MACHOs are found at the periphery of our galaxy, you would not just nod your head. You would ask him or her to explain--not only the acronym (Massive Compact Halo Objects)--but why MACHOs are important to your article.
The best part about science and technology writing is the range of topics from which you can choose--and each of those subjects can be further broken down into narrower topics for other articles. Topics include the physical sciences, (geology, chemistry, etc.); biology (plant, human, viral, bacterial); space science; or medical science. Many science writers also delve into technology: computers, robotics, and electronics. Under technology, a science writer may describe remote sensing techniques used to detect and track volcanic eruption plumes across the planet; or under medical science, show how using supercomputer modeling can help us understand how drugs react within the body.
Science writing does not have to be about current scientific developments; it can also be about science in the past or future. Science past had its wonderful moments of serendipity; science future has its promise of a better life. And do not overlook science fiction for article ideas. After all, most people know about "warp drive," an idea often referred to on "Star Trek." A science writer might ask, "Can we go faster than the speed of light? If we could, what type of propulsion would be needed to catapult a spaceship to such speeds?"
Although there is a myriad of topics to choose from, all science and technology writing must apply to and excite the readers. Will they be able to use the discovery in the present or future? Will it help their children to live happier lives? Does the topic stimulate their imagination, and is it enjoyable to read? Or will the story tell them about a person, place, or thing that they never knew about before?
Now that you have decided to try your hand at writing science, you will need the following:
* Intense curiosity. When you are curious about a subject in science, you are more apt to dig deeper, ask for more explanation--and your enthusiasm will show in your writing. An editor once told me, "The attention span of the reader is directly proportional to the writer's interest in the story."
* An interest in research. You may have all the curiosity about a subject, but you also need the tenacity to do the research. Science writers today have it easier than they did in the past: We have access to tremendous amounts of information, not only in libraries, but through computer communication services, where you can find articles on your subjects and leads to help you find other sources.
* Ability to recognize a good idea for a science article. A good idea for a science article is not "DNA"; a good science article idea is how DNA is being used as genetic "fingerprints" in crime investigations--and how it is also under fire because the technique is so new. Article ideas are everywhere, but the science writer has to know how to focus on that one kernel of interest.
* Contacts and sources to interview. A science writer's most valued possession is his or her contact/source list: past interviewees (experts in the fields you are writing about), reference librarians, earlier contacts from science conferences, public information offices of science-oriented institutions, organizations, and universities--and, of course, other science writers.
* Insistence on accuracy. The science writer's creed, to borrow from Thoreau, should read, "Simplicity, simplicity--not to mention accuracy, accuracy."
* Good interpretative skills. Science writers have a serious responsibility to their readers: They must interpret and present what they uncover in their research and interviews in a clear and interesting way. This interpretation is not always straightforward. I have heard it compared to translating Japanese into English: There are nuances of the Japanese culture integrated into their language that cannot be translated into English. It is often the same with explaining science to the general audiences, and as Nobel physicist Richard Feynman once said, not all science can be explained in a basic way. But do not use this as an excuse; a science writer must do the best he or she can to get the subject across to the reader.
Coming up with a good science article idea is not as difficult as it seems. There are many sources that spark ideas: newspapers, science journals, news releases, computer communication services (the ubiquitous "information highway"), and numerous publications from universities and science-oriented organizations--also other people's conversations: I began to research my article on microrobots (for Sky Magazine) when I overheard two people joking about "minimachines" taking over the planet Mars. The real microrobots may never take over the red planet, but the suggestion triggered the idea. It also started me on the trail of just how far we have come in space-oriented microrobotic research.
After you come up with a specialized science topic, your first stop should be the library to check on magazines. Read through current magazines and explore magazine topics in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (and similar indexes) from the past year or so. This will help you avoid writing about an idea whose time has come and gone; also you will not send a query to a magazine that has just published an article on the same subject with the same angle. If your idea seems to be on track, then gather basic information on the subject from science magazines, brochures, encyclopedias, or books.
Next comes the query, usually a less-than-one-page "outline" (in text form) of your proposed article. The query persents your idea, sources, and credentials to the editor. A word of caution: Know your magazine. Do not send a query on industrial robotics to Woman's World, or an idea on the future of the American/Russian cooperation on the Space Station to Sailing; but also remember that certain non-science magazines will take science or technology topics, including some inflight and general audience magazines. Know your science magazines, too: Articles for Omni have a different slant from those for Popular Science.
The day the editor says, "Go for it," is the day you take all your basic information and outline-query letter, and get to work. Now is also the time to call on your sources for interviews. Some science writers write a sketchy first draft to their story before the interviews--a way to organize their thoughts and frame the questions to ask the interviewee in some semblance of order; other writers do a first draft after the interview. In either case, you will need a list of questions to ask your experts. Always remember that the only dumb question is the one you did not ask.
Writing a publishable science article takes the ability to explain complex concepts without baffling or confusing readers. One of the best approaches is to discuss the subject or idea in terms the reader can relate to. For example, in my article on agriculture in space (for Ad Astra) I wove familiar gardening terms (and references to many gardening problems) into the piece so the readers could relate to growing plants in the Space Station and beyond.
Another strategy to give your science article life is to use anecdotes. Usually, your interviewees have interesting stories to tell, such as how their discovery was made, or about the first patient to use their new drug. Since the general public often thinks of science as another world, descriptions of the scientists and their surroundings will "humanize" your article, showing that the expert has the same idiosyncrasies that we all have--right down to worries about money or celebrations of victories.
Of course, there are two more qualities that keep all science writers going: patience and perseverance. It takes patience to get an interview with a busy scientist (and sometimes you will not get the interview at all); and patience to see your words in print. Plus, it takes perseverance to understand the intricacies of your science article--and to keep up with the new science discoveries that pop up every week.
There is more than enough science to provide you with subjects for science articles. As a science writer just remember that the universe is now your beat.
Abstract: Science and technology affect our daily lives and provide a broad range of opportunities for potential science writers. Such writers should bring to their work a curiosity, interpretative skills, accuracy, research interest, and the skill to recognize a good idea.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Barnes-Svarney, Patricia. "Science writing today and tomorrow." The Writer Nov. 1994: 15+. General OneFile. Web. 24 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15812453&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A15812453
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Mythology in art
Dragon--that quintessential baddie of folklore and mythology--takes center stage in this month's featured Art Print. Although Saint George is clearly the hero of Peter Paul Rubens' iconic painting, it is the pitch-black, scaly, fire-spewing beast he is attempting to slay that inspires fascination.
Dragon references first appeared in the Near East between the Fifth and Fourth Century, B.C., and have continued to this day. Nearly every culture in the world has its own dragon lore and iconography.
"Dragons are awe-inspiring patchwork creatures found in the myths and legends of cultures all around the world.... Despite their differences, many of the mythical dragons found throughout the world all began as vague serpentine ideas modeled after real creatures, beginning with a snake or some other fearsome reptile. Over time, they acquired more definite and exotic shapes as they absorbed the hopes and superstitions of the local people and borrowed the traits of local animals." (livescience.com)
Yet, not all dragons are the loathsome and feared beasts of Western and Christian mythology, in which they represent Satan, evil and the vanquishing of paganism. Many Asian cultures revere the dragon, such as in China, where dragons are symbols of power, happiness and fertility. Despite the dragon being a product of the ancient world, its image and allure are still inspiring artists today.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
"So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings."--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.
Although many Christian saints could claim the title "Dragon Slayer," it is Saint George who gets all the glory. The Legend of Saint George and the Dragon, which originated during the Crusades, is as follows: A ferocious dragon was terrorizing a kingdom. The dragon demanded to be fed one maiden per day, or it would destroy the land with its scorching flames and putrid vapors. When all the maidens had been consumed, the only one left was the king's only daughter.
Now, as Saint George was traveling the land, he heard tell of the dragon and its hold on the people. He decided to confront the dragon and put an end to its terror. Traveling the land, he came upon the dragon's cave, where the princess was being held. The dragon rushed from its cave, where he found the knight on his steed. The two battled until George plunged his spear into the dragon, slaying it and saving the princess.
The Flemish Baroque master, Peter Paul Rubens, painted his version of the popular subject while visiting Italy. "This work was made in Ruben's youth ... and is a perfect example of the monumentality of his paintings from that period, with strong, forceful figures. Also characteristic of his work from that time are the use of directed light and very dynamic compositions, as can be seen here in the strong diagonal placement of the horse, which practically divides the canvas into two parts."
Ruben's painterly technique serves the energy of this scene, as the dragon struggles to remove the spear piercing its gaping mouth. The symbolism of the white steed rising over the black serpent could not be clearer: the victory of good over evil.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Carroll, Colleen. "Mythology in art." Arts & Activities Apr. 2013: 19. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 16 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA324397521&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A324397521
Dragon references first appeared in the Near East between the Fifth and Fourth Century, B.C., and have continued to this day. Nearly every culture in the world has its own dragon lore and iconography.
"Dragons are awe-inspiring patchwork creatures found in the myths and legends of cultures all around the world.... Despite their differences, many of the mythical dragons found throughout the world all began as vague serpentine ideas modeled after real creatures, beginning with a snake or some other fearsome reptile. Over time, they acquired more definite and exotic shapes as they absorbed the hopes and superstitions of the local people and borrowed the traits of local animals." (livescience.com)
Yet, not all dragons are the loathsome and feared beasts of Western and Christian mythology, in which they represent Satan, evil and the vanquishing of paganism. Many Asian cultures revere the dragon, such as in China, where dragons are symbols of power, happiness and fertility. Despite the dragon being a product of the ancient world, its image and allure are still inspiring artists today.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
"So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings."--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.
Although many Christian saints could claim the title "Dragon Slayer," it is Saint George who gets all the glory. The Legend of Saint George and the Dragon, which originated during the Crusades, is as follows: A ferocious dragon was terrorizing a kingdom. The dragon demanded to be fed one maiden per day, or it would destroy the land with its scorching flames and putrid vapors. When all the maidens had been consumed, the only one left was the king's only daughter.
Now, as Saint George was traveling the land, he heard tell of the dragon and its hold on the people. He decided to confront the dragon and put an end to its terror. Traveling the land, he came upon the dragon's cave, where the princess was being held. The dragon rushed from its cave, where he found the knight on his steed. The two battled until George plunged his spear into the dragon, slaying it and saving the princess.
The Flemish Baroque master, Peter Paul Rubens, painted his version of the popular subject while visiting Italy. "This work was made in Ruben's youth ... and is a perfect example of the monumentality of his paintings from that period, with strong, forceful figures. Also characteristic of his work from that time are the use of directed light and very dynamic compositions, as can be seen here in the strong diagonal placement of the horse, which practically divides the canvas into two parts."
Ruben's painterly technique serves the energy of this scene, as the dragon struggles to remove the spear piercing its gaping mouth. The symbolism of the white steed rising over the black serpent could not be clearer: the victory of good over evil.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Carroll, Colleen. "Mythology in art." Arts & Activities Apr. 2013: 19. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 16 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA324397521&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A324397521
A Haunted House
If you're a fan of the clever "Scary Movie" parody franchise (the first two co-written by and costarring Marlon Wayans) then you know the premise to Wayans' A Haunted House --which attempts to take the "Paranormal Activity" movies and turn every creepy scene into a joke.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Alas, Wayans and co-writer Rick Alvarez apparently left the script in the toilet. How else to explain endless fart jokes mixed with over-the-top racial, sexual and gay stereotyping? And why couldn't I stop laughing?
While answers to the latter might best be left to a professional, House finds Malcolm (Wayans) ditching bachelorhood and inviting his girlfriend, Kisha (Essence Atkins), to move into his well-appointed SoCal home. Things quickly go awry for Malcolm when an indifferent Kisha runs over his dog with her pick-up piled high with belongings, he unsuccessfully tries to revive the pet with jumper cables, and she comes to bed wearing sweats and night cream. So much for the fantasy.
What follows are a series of scenes patterned after Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project, which include Malcolm's obsession with POV video; the realization his house is possessed; hiring a quack private security firm to install cameras; and a gay psychic more interested in introducing Malcolm to S&M sex than warding off demons.
Throw in a Latina housekeeper who secretly speaks English, and a white married couple whose wife covets a "Mandingo" party, and Malcolm realizes he needs help from above. Enter Father Williams (Cedric the Entertainer), whose ad-libbed biblical quote in an exorcism scene is the same one Samuel L. Jackson uses in Pulp Fiction.
"Tic tac toe in yo' face!" indeed.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Gruenwedel, Erik. "A Haunted House." Home Media Magazine 22 Apr. 2013: 13. Home Improvement Collection. Web. 16 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA328163996&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPHI&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A328163996
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Alas, Wayans and co-writer Rick Alvarez apparently left the script in the toilet. How else to explain endless fart jokes mixed with over-the-top racial, sexual and gay stereotyping? And why couldn't I stop laughing?
While answers to the latter might best be left to a professional, House finds Malcolm (Wayans) ditching bachelorhood and inviting his girlfriend, Kisha (Essence Atkins), to move into his well-appointed SoCal home. Things quickly go awry for Malcolm when an indifferent Kisha runs over his dog with her pick-up piled high with belongings, he unsuccessfully tries to revive the pet with jumper cables, and she comes to bed wearing sweats and night cream. So much for the fantasy.
What follows are a series of scenes patterned after Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project, which include Malcolm's obsession with POV video; the realization his house is possessed; hiring a quack private security firm to install cameras; and a gay psychic more interested in introducing Malcolm to S&M sex than warding off demons.
Throw in a Latina housekeeper who secretly speaks English, and a white married couple whose wife covets a "Mandingo" party, and Malcolm realizes he needs help from above. Enter Father Williams (Cedric the Entertainer), whose ad-libbed biblical quote in an exorcism scene is the same one Samuel L. Jackson uses in Pulp Fiction.
"Tic tac toe in yo' face!" indeed.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Gruenwedel, Erik. "A Haunted House." Home Media Magazine 22 Apr. 2013: 13. Home Improvement Collection. Web. 16 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA328163996&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPHI&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A328163996
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Paperback bestsellers/mass market
Envy is the third entry in Ward's Fallen Angels series. About book one, Covet, PW said, "Ward provides the combination of fun, thrills, and gratuitous sex she's best known for. Fans of the Brotherhood, clear a shelf: your next series addiction has just begun." According to the author's bio, "Writing has always been her passion and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog, and her coffee pot." (Since today's issue contains our Pets & Animals feature--see p. 24--we feel obliged to mention Ward's beloved golden retriever.)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In PW's June 6 Romance feature, Singh said, "Writing is so very right for me that even when it's hard, it's still the only thing I can imagine doing, the only thing I want to be doing." About her fourth Guild Hunter novel, PW said, "Singh's vampires, angels, hunters, and archangels engage in global power struggles within a complex larger story that new readers will find challenging. An engrossing narrative, vivid characters, and a well-imagined world mitigate those difficulties, resulting in a heart-pounding and strongly emotional read."
Woods's 19th title to star detective-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington --the first was New York Dead, back in 199l--enjoyed a six-week hardcover run at the beginning of the year. In a recent interview, Woods was asked about the increasing practice of authors co-writing (see today's Fiction and Nonfiction lists). His reply: "I am opposed to collaborating, because then you have to give the other writer half the money." Re the author's next opus, due Sept. 20: far be it from us to spill any plot-related beans ... but the title is Son of Stone.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
"'Could we take his legs off?' 'Take Eddie's legs off? How?' 'I have a hacksaw under the front seat,' Roma added.... Because she was a veterinarian she had a number of things in her vehicle that other people didn't.... 'But don't they detach somehow?' Wrong thing to say. Maggie laid a protective hand on Eddie's thigh. 'Do your legs detach?' she asked."
--From Kelly's Sleight of Paw
Paperback Bestsellers/Mass Market
Last Weeks
September 19, 2011 week on list
(1) Port Mortuary. Patricia Cornwell. 3 2
Berkley, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24360-2
(2) American Assassin . Vince Flynn. 4 2
Pocket, $9.99
ISBN 978-1-4165-9519-9
(3) 1105 Yakima Street. Debbie Macomber. 2 2
Mira, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-778-31251-2
(4) Envy. J.R. Ward. -- 1
Signet, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-451-22945-8
(5) The Confession. John Grisham. 8 8
Dell, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-440-24511-7
(6) Lost Empire . Clive Cussler with 18 2
Grant Blackwood. Berkley, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24361-9
(7) Game of Thrones. George R.R. Martin. 11 25
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-59371-6
(8) The Reversal . Michael Connelly. 1 3
Vision, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-446-55675-0
(9) Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue. 9 2
Stephanie Laurens. Avon, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-06-206860-6
(10) The Emperor's Tomb. Steve Berry. 17 2
Ballantine, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-345-50550-7
(11) Canyons of Night. Jayne Castle. 5 2
Jove, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-515-14988-3
(12) Strategic Moves. Stuart Woods. -- 1
Signet, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-451-23445-2
(13) A Clash of Kings. George R.R. Martin. 12 22
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-57990-1
(14) Archangel's Blade. Nalini Singh. -- 1
Berkley, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24391-6
(15) A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin. 15 22
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-57342-8
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Donahue, Dick. "Paperback bestsellers/mass market." Publishers Weekly 19 Sept. 2011: 18. General OneFile. Web. 9 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA267710085&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A267710085
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In PW's June 6 Romance feature, Singh said, "Writing is so very right for me that even when it's hard, it's still the only thing I can imagine doing, the only thing I want to be doing." About her fourth Guild Hunter novel, PW said, "Singh's vampires, angels, hunters, and archangels engage in global power struggles within a complex larger story that new readers will find challenging. An engrossing narrative, vivid characters, and a well-imagined world mitigate those difficulties, resulting in a heart-pounding and strongly emotional read."
Woods's 19th title to star detective-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington --the first was New York Dead, back in 199l--enjoyed a six-week hardcover run at the beginning of the year. In a recent interview, Woods was asked about the increasing practice of authors co-writing (see today's Fiction and Nonfiction lists). His reply: "I am opposed to collaborating, because then you have to give the other writer half the money." Re the author's next opus, due Sept. 20: far be it from us to spill any plot-related beans ... but the title is Son of Stone.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
"'Could we take his legs off?' 'Take Eddie's legs off? How?' 'I have a hacksaw under the front seat,' Roma added.... Because she was a veterinarian she had a number of things in her vehicle that other people didn't.... 'But don't they detach somehow?' Wrong thing to say. Maggie laid a protective hand on Eddie's thigh. 'Do your legs detach?' she asked."
--From Kelly's Sleight of Paw
Paperback Bestsellers/Mass Market
Last Weeks
September 19, 2011 week on list
(1) Port Mortuary. Patricia Cornwell. 3 2
Berkley, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24360-2
(2) American Assassin . Vince Flynn. 4 2
Pocket, $9.99
ISBN 978-1-4165-9519-9
(3) 1105 Yakima Street. Debbie Macomber. 2 2
Mira, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-778-31251-2
(4) Envy. J.R. Ward. -- 1
Signet, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-451-22945-8
(5) The Confession. John Grisham. 8 8
Dell, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-440-24511-7
(6) Lost Empire . Clive Cussler with 18 2
Grant Blackwood. Berkley, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24361-9
(7) Game of Thrones. George R.R. Martin. 11 25
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-59371-6
(8) The Reversal . Michael Connelly. 1 3
Vision, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-446-55675-0
(9) Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue. 9 2
Stephanie Laurens. Avon, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-06-206860-6
(10) The Emperor's Tomb. Steve Berry. 17 2
Ballantine, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-345-50550-7
(11) Canyons of Night. Jayne Castle. 5 2
Jove, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-515-14988-3
(12) Strategic Moves. Stuart Woods. -- 1
Signet, $9.99
ISBN 978-0-451-23445-2
(13) A Clash of Kings. George R.R. Martin. 12 22
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-57990-1
(14) Archangel's Blade. Nalini Singh. -- 1
Berkley, $7.99
ISBN 978-0-425-24391-6
(15) A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin. 15 22
Bantam, $8.99
ISBN 978-0-553-57342-8
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Donahue, Dick. "Paperback bestsellers/mass market." Publishers Weekly 19 Sept. 2011: 18. General OneFile. Web. 9 May 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA267710085&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A267710085
Monday, January 21, 2013
Panasonic Upgrades Viera Connect Platform
Panasonic, a provider of Full HD and Smart TV technologies, announced at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show a new wave of applications and enhanced connectivity features that will debut on its line of 2013 Viera Connect enabled Smart Viera HDTVs including options for streaming and sharing photo and video content via tablet and Smartphone devices, and the launch of an on-line shopping experience which will take shopping via HDTV to a whole new level of interaction.
According to a release, Viera Connect is Panasonic's connected TV platform which enables owners of Viera Connect-enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc Players and Home Theater Systems access to a wide range of internet-based video-on-demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, social networking, music and online shopping and gaming. Viera Connect requires no external box or PC2 and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control.
New Apps for 2013
Panasonic's 2013 additions will feature exciting new apps for children, music enthusiasts, on-line shoppers, and movie/TV lovers adding to its line-up of interactive apps.
-HSN The HSN Shop by Remote app for Panasonic Viera Connect-enabled devices offers consumers the opportunity to browse and shop from thousands of brand name products. Utilizing HSN's patented Shop by Remote technology, this shopping app allows viewers to get detailed product information, read customer reviews, watch video demonstrations and then make a purchase, all with a few clicks of their remote from their Viera Connect-enabled HDTV or Blu-ray Disc player.
-YouTube Send to TV YouTube was among the first apps available when Panasonic's IPTV feature debuted in 2008 featuring access to select areas of YouTube. In 2012, Viera Connect featured a completely new UI and redesign with full access to the YouTube user experience previously enjoyed only via the web giving users access to YouTube's full library of user postings, music videos, movies, and 100 channels of original programming. For 2013, YouTube Send to TV adds a new dimension of connectivity to the mix. Users can download the new YouTube app to their Smartphone and tablet devices that enables them to send a YouTube video from their device to their Smart Viera HDTV. The icon will automatically appear in the YouTube app on your phone or tablet when it is connected on the same WiFi network as your TV. No wires or pairing codes are necessary. Users simply call up the video and then hit the "Send To TV" button and the video will transfer. Users will be able scroll, fast forward, rewind, and pause the video and even send it back to their smart device. Since the devices are connected in the cloud, users can find the next video to watch on their device or browse around the web while the video plays on TV. The app also enables the user to connect multiple devices to the TV so their friends can add to the play list.
-Showtime Preview Go behind the scenes, watch webisodes and sample free full episodes for some of the network's original series.
The company noted that other new for 2013 are apps from:
-Children Disney Publishing Worldwide, Nextbook Story Books
-Lifestyle -- CNET (consumer electronics)
-Video Content -- Flixster, 3Doo, ScreenMedia, Redux, Moving Art
-Music -- Rhapsody, Tune-In
-Foreign Language -- Kylin TV (China), Zee TV (India), Total Movie (South America), Crunchyroll (Asian drama and anime)
-Fitness -- GAIAM (wellness products and streaming videos)
Panasonic reported that Viera Connect-enabled HDTVs feature built-in Wireless LAN and provide USB connectivity which enables the addition of a wireless keyboard and gaming controllers for more efficient navigation and communication. There is no fee to use the Viera Connect functionality4.
"Through our Viera Connect platform, we have been able to re-define and significantly expand the power of the TV in your home," said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic's VP of Interactive Content & Services. "When we debuted Viera Connect in 2008, it offered simple access to a sampling of popular content sites. In 2013, Viera Connect transforms our Smart Viera HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players into the centerpiece of the consumer's connected world with access to a seemingly endless menu of content, much of which can also be shared seamlessly between the consumer's other smart devices and those of their family and friends. We are proud to partner with YouTube and HSN, leaders in their respective fields, to launch category-breaking apps and technologies on our Viera Connect platform which will change the way consumers interact with their TVs."
Support of HTML5 To promote third-party developer participation, Panasonic introduced in 2011 the Viera Connect Developer's portal where Viera Connect SDK and API were provided to third-party developers who wished to submit apps for inclusion on the Viera Connect Smart Viera platform.
Smart TV Alliance In an effort to bring unity to the fragmented development environment created by multiple proprietary Smart TV platforms, in Panasonic has joined the board of Smart TV Alliance to facilitate a creation of a large and productive ecosystem for Smart TV application development, that enables software developers to create applications once for many different platforms and provides consumers with a rich source of content and services. Along with other Smart TV Alliance members Panasonic will be working on the new combined SDK that will include the latest trends and features available for developers.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Panasonic Upgrades Viera Connect Platform." Entertainment Close-up 18 Jan. 2013. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA315267628&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A315267628
According to a release, Viera Connect is Panasonic's connected TV platform which enables owners of Viera Connect-enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc Players and Home Theater Systems access to a wide range of internet-based video-on-demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, social networking, music and online shopping and gaming. Viera Connect requires no external box or PC2 and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control.
New Apps for 2013
Panasonic's 2013 additions will feature exciting new apps for children, music enthusiasts, on-line shoppers, and movie/TV lovers adding to its line-up of interactive apps.
-HSN The HSN Shop by Remote app for Panasonic Viera Connect-enabled devices offers consumers the opportunity to browse and shop from thousands of brand name products. Utilizing HSN's patented Shop by Remote technology, this shopping app allows viewers to get detailed product information, read customer reviews, watch video demonstrations and then make a purchase, all with a few clicks of their remote from their Viera Connect-enabled HDTV or Blu-ray Disc player.
-YouTube Send to TV YouTube was among the first apps available when Panasonic's IPTV feature debuted in 2008 featuring access to select areas of YouTube. In 2012, Viera Connect featured a completely new UI and redesign with full access to the YouTube user experience previously enjoyed only via the web giving users access to YouTube's full library of user postings, music videos, movies, and 100 channels of original programming. For 2013, YouTube Send to TV adds a new dimension of connectivity to the mix. Users can download the new YouTube app to their Smartphone and tablet devices that enables them to send a YouTube video from their device to their Smart Viera HDTV. The icon will automatically appear in the YouTube app on your phone or tablet when it is connected on the same WiFi network as your TV. No wires or pairing codes are necessary. Users simply call up the video and then hit the "Send To TV" button and the video will transfer. Users will be able scroll, fast forward, rewind, and pause the video and even send it back to their smart device. Since the devices are connected in the cloud, users can find the next video to watch on their device or browse around the web while the video plays on TV. The app also enables the user to connect multiple devices to the TV so their friends can add to the play list.
-Showtime Preview Go behind the scenes, watch webisodes and sample free full episodes for some of the network's original series.
The company noted that other new for 2013 are apps from:
-Children Disney Publishing Worldwide, Nextbook Story Books
-Lifestyle -- CNET (consumer electronics)
-Video Content -- Flixster, 3Doo, ScreenMedia, Redux, Moving Art
-Music -- Rhapsody, Tune-In
-Foreign Language -- Kylin TV (China), Zee TV (India), Total Movie (South America), Crunchyroll (Asian drama and anime)
-Fitness -- GAIAM (wellness products and streaming videos)
Panasonic reported that Viera Connect-enabled HDTVs feature built-in Wireless LAN and provide USB connectivity which enables the addition of a wireless keyboard and gaming controllers for more efficient navigation and communication. There is no fee to use the Viera Connect functionality4.
"Through our Viera Connect platform, we have been able to re-define and significantly expand the power of the TV in your home," said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic's VP of Interactive Content & Services. "When we debuted Viera Connect in 2008, it offered simple access to a sampling of popular content sites. In 2013, Viera Connect transforms our Smart Viera HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players into the centerpiece of the consumer's connected world with access to a seemingly endless menu of content, much of which can also be shared seamlessly between the consumer's other smart devices and those of their family and friends. We are proud to partner with YouTube and HSN, leaders in their respective fields, to launch category-breaking apps and technologies on our Viera Connect platform which will change the way consumers interact with their TVs."
Support of HTML5 To promote third-party developer participation, Panasonic introduced in 2011 the Viera Connect Developer's portal where Viera Connect SDK and API were provided to third-party developers who wished to submit apps for inclusion on the Viera Connect Smart Viera platform.
Smart TV Alliance In an effort to bring unity to the fragmented development environment created by multiple proprietary Smart TV platforms, in Panasonic has joined the board of Smart TV Alliance to facilitate a creation of a large and productive ecosystem for Smart TV application development, that enables software developers to create applications once for many different platforms and provides consumers with a rich source of content and services. Along with other Smart TV Alliance members Panasonic will be working on the new combined SDK that will include the latest trends and features available for developers.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Panasonic Upgrades Viera Connect Platform." Entertainment Close-up 18 Jan. 2013. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA315267628&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A315267628
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Photographers on their favorite image from The Americans
Photographer Jason Eskenazi was working as a guard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2009 when the museum hosted "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans," a fiftieth anniversary retrospective of one of the most influential bodies of documentary photography. Eskenazi asked dozens of photographers he recognized at the show to name their "knock-out favorite image," and explain why they chose it. The following is a selection of the responses he has compiled in his new book, By the Glow of the Jukebox: The Americans List, which he premiered in September at the Bursa Photo Fest in Turkey. They're reprinted here as they appear in the book; when we have made edits for the sake of clarity, we printed them in brackets.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
KEN SCHLES: "St. Francis, gas station, and City Hall--Los Angeles" (Plate 48)
Outwardly it's not the most seductive image. I may have gone with [plates] 66 [Movie premiere--Hollywood], 67 [Charity ball--New York City], 68 [Cafeteria--San Francisco] or a host of others that were more overtly visual. But I went with 48 because, to me, foremost, The Americans is a book of images about an image of America. And 48 has it all: the road, the cars, the parking lot, the gas station, the fading city hall, the telephone poles receding in the distance--and all of them are presided over by, and seemingly being blessed in their emptiness by another symbol, the crucifix held by a dark statue of stone of St. Francis. And they are all empty and alone in their being. They denote a world, a time and a place where image supplants any life lived, for in this image there is no life. No people--save two microscopic figures almost in silhouette, two diminutive stick figures in this place of nowhere that is everywhere, unaware of each other and going in opposite directions.
--K. S., New York
STANLEY GREENE: "Elevator--Miami Beach" (Plate 44)
Jason ... This is for you ... The first time I saw the picture of the girl on the elevator, I was taken by the innocent beauty, it reminded me of the girls from my high school, you know the ones dreaming of their prince to come and to take them away from the day to day ... you can see it [in] her eyes just in another space and time, she also has that timeless beauty of a Laura Petrie from the "Dick Van Dyke Show" which was set in New York and New Rochelle where I grew up, so there was some kind of connect, also I think I might have gone out with a girl just like her, her name was Joan, we use[d] to hang out at the local diner drinking cokes, munching down western cheese burgers and fries [and] following it with a milk shake and sex ... and I do remember she had the same hair and maybe the skirt, and she was dreaming of a prince to come and take her away I guess I was not that Prince so we broke up, and then again she was not that Princess, and she was no Laurie Petrie, but she was cute, and sexy just like the elevator girl, but that picture, it does cause one to dream back ... to another time just like she is doing on that elevator, dreaming of her Prince, for her sake I hope he did come and take her to a castle and just like Jack [Kerouac, who wrote the book's introduction], I might have wanted to pick her up too ...
--S. G., Port-au-Prince, Haiti
KEN LIGHT: "Political rally--Chicago" (Plate 58)
I have always loved Frank's many gems, and sorry I didn't see you on guard when I visited the show in NYC. I like to think about the many reviewers who canned Frank and said his work is a "meaningless blur, grainy, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness." All things that have been embraced by the next generation and I imagine future generations would be wise to do the same. The image I am drawn to is the tuba player and bunting[,] a wonderful vision of America, the white noise of everyday life ... best on your travels.
--K. L., Berkeley, California
J. ROSS BAUGHMAN: "Men's room, railway station--Memphis Tennessee" (Plate 52)
My favorite Robert Frank photo (from a fresh look today) would be the men's room shoe shining in Memphis, Tennessee. It was one that may well have required the most courage to take.
--J .R. B., Washington, DC
ANDY LEVIN: "Coffee shop, railway station--Indianapolis" (Plate 70)
I am going with the coffee shop in the railroad station, the feeling of loneliness, and the way that the lights seem to float about the worker. Robert Frank had a beautiful eye for design, and for people, and an uncanny ability to create sequences of images that rose above any particular frame. The Americans is about restlessness, and change, and this particular image stands out for me.
--A. L., New Orleans
STEPHEN FERRY: "Public park--Cleveland, Ohio" (Plate 74)
Because the image shows a young virile cowboy, sleeping alone, on the grass, in a public place. His posture, and the optical effect created by the tree which bisects him below the waist, suggest sexual desire and loneliness. Like he is having an erotic dream. Maybe in that dream he is accompanied, but in public he is alone. All of which is very intimate and yet public. For me, The Americans is filled with these moments of private yearning, and personal loneliness, played out in public.
--S. F., New York
PETER VAN AGTMAEL: "Beaufort, South Carolina" (Plate 55)
Beaufort, South Carolina isn't my favorite image now, but it was the first picture that drew me into the book. I loved the mysterious scene, the sun burning the morning fog away, and that moment of intimacy and distance with a stranger that represents the meaning that photography brings to my life. The excitement of seeing something that compels interaction, however fleeting. A moment in time instantly gone that hopefully for undefinable reasons becomes something permanent.
--P. V. A., Red Hook, Brooklyn
MICHAEL ACKERMAN: "Coffee shop, railway station--Indianapolis" (Plate 70)
i'm sorry it took me so long to answer, i've been away a lot and when home completely involved with my daughter, i don't have the americans with me. the picture that keeps coming to my mind is of a black waitress behind the counter of a diner, as i remember her she's looking slightly over her shoulder at robert frank. that instant when a photographer is caught looking and taking, in this instant neither of them backed down. i imagine he fell in love for a moment, smiled at her and left. when i here the song invitation to the blues by tom waits i think of her.
--M. A., Berlin
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Photographers on their favorite image from The Americans." Photo District News Nov. 2012: 26. Communications and Mass Media Collection. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA305562122&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A305562122
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
KEN SCHLES: "St. Francis, gas station, and City Hall--Los Angeles" (Plate 48)
Outwardly it's not the most seductive image. I may have gone with [plates] 66 [Movie premiere--Hollywood], 67 [Charity ball--New York City], 68 [Cafeteria--San Francisco] or a host of others that were more overtly visual. But I went with 48 because, to me, foremost, The Americans is a book of images about an image of America. And 48 has it all: the road, the cars, the parking lot, the gas station, the fading city hall, the telephone poles receding in the distance--and all of them are presided over by, and seemingly being blessed in their emptiness by another symbol, the crucifix held by a dark statue of stone of St. Francis. And they are all empty and alone in their being. They denote a world, a time and a place where image supplants any life lived, for in this image there is no life. No people--save two microscopic figures almost in silhouette, two diminutive stick figures in this place of nowhere that is everywhere, unaware of each other and going in opposite directions.
--K. S., New York
STANLEY GREENE: "Elevator--Miami Beach" (Plate 44)
Jason ... This is for you ... The first time I saw the picture of the girl on the elevator, I was taken by the innocent beauty, it reminded me of the girls from my high school, you know the ones dreaming of their prince to come and to take them away from the day to day ... you can see it [in] her eyes just in another space and time, she also has that timeless beauty of a Laura Petrie from the "Dick Van Dyke Show" which was set in New York and New Rochelle where I grew up, so there was some kind of connect, also I think I might have gone out with a girl just like her, her name was Joan, we use[d] to hang out at the local diner drinking cokes, munching down western cheese burgers and fries [and] following it with a milk shake and sex ... and I do remember she had the same hair and maybe the skirt, and she was dreaming of a prince to come and take her away I guess I was not that Prince so we broke up, and then again she was not that Princess, and she was no Laurie Petrie, but she was cute, and sexy just like the elevator girl, but that picture, it does cause one to dream back ... to another time just like she is doing on that elevator, dreaming of her Prince, for her sake I hope he did come and take her to a castle and just like Jack [Kerouac, who wrote the book's introduction], I might have wanted to pick her up too ...
--S. G., Port-au-Prince, Haiti
KEN LIGHT: "Political rally--Chicago" (Plate 58)
I have always loved Frank's many gems, and sorry I didn't see you on guard when I visited the show in NYC. I like to think about the many reviewers who canned Frank and said his work is a "meaningless blur, grainy, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness." All things that have been embraced by the next generation and I imagine future generations would be wise to do the same. The image I am drawn to is the tuba player and bunting[,] a wonderful vision of America, the white noise of everyday life ... best on your travels.
--K. L., Berkeley, California
J. ROSS BAUGHMAN: "Men's room, railway station--Memphis Tennessee" (Plate 52)
My favorite Robert Frank photo (from a fresh look today) would be the men's room shoe shining in Memphis, Tennessee. It was one that may well have required the most courage to take.
--J .R. B., Washington, DC
ANDY LEVIN: "Coffee shop, railway station--Indianapolis" (Plate 70)
I am going with the coffee shop in the railroad station, the feeling of loneliness, and the way that the lights seem to float about the worker. Robert Frank had a beautiful eye for design, and for people, and an uncanny ability to create sequences of images that rose above any particular frame. The Americans is about restlessness, and change, and this particular image stands out for me.
--A. L., New Orleans
STEPHEN FERRY: "Public park--Cleveland, Ohio" (Plate 74)
Because the image shows a young virile cowboy, sleeping alone, on the grass, in a public place. His posture, and the optical effect created by the tree which bisects him below the waist, suggest sexual desire and loneliness. Like he is having an erotic dream. Maybe in that dream he is accompanied, but in public he is alone. All of which is very intimate and yet public. For me, The Americans is filled with these moments of private yearning, and personal loneliness, played out in public.
--S. F., New York
PETER VAN AGTMAEL: "Beaufort, South Carolina" (Plate 55)
Beaufort, South Carolina isn't my favorite image now, but it was the first picture that drew me into the book. I loved the mysterious scene, the sun burning the morning fog away, and that moment of intimacy and distance with a stranger that represents the meaning that photography brings to my life. The excitement of seeing something that compels interaction, however fleeting. A moment in time instantly gone that hopefully for undefinable reasons becomes something permanent.
--P. V. A., Red Hook, Brooklyn
MICHAEL ACKERMAN: "Coffee shop, railway station--Indianapolis" (Plate 70)
i'm sorry it took me so long to answer, i've been away a lot and when home completely involved with my daughter, i don't have the americans with me. the picture that keeps coming to my mind is of a black waitress behind the counter of a diner, as i remember her she's looking slightly over her shoulder at robert frank. that instant when a photographer is caught looking and taking, in this instant neither of them backed down. i imagine he fell in love for a moment, smiled at her and left. when i here the song invitation to the blues by tom waits i think of her.
--M. A., Berlin
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Photographers on their favorite image from The Americans." Photo District News Nov. 2012: 26. Communications and Mass Media Collection. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA305562122&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A305562122
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The races at Longchamp, Edouard Manet
Young children love races, and they are sure to love the vibrant energy of this month's Clip & Save Art Print. Ask students to describe where they would be standing if they were actually at this race (Edouard Manet wanted the viewer to feel as if he were standing on the track, as to increase the sense of action and speed).
To help the children understand this direct perspective, take them outside or to the school gym for a foot race. Place students in two equal groups. Have one group line up as if on a starting line. Place the other group opposite them, approximately 50 feet away.
Have one group go first, running toward the other, stopping at a safe distance to avoid any injuries. Then have the second group race toward the first. Take photographs of each group in motion to post in class at a later time.
In another class period, share the photos with the class and give students a chance to draw the race with the same perspective that Manet employed in his painting. Give students crayons or colored pencils to finish their drawings.
ELEMENTARY
Share the Art Print with students and explain that Edouard Manet wanted to create a picture that captured the speed and motion of a horse race. Point out that his loose brushwork makes everything in the composition appear blurry, which gives the illusion of movement. (Challenge students to identify the areas of the picture that are not in motion).
Give students digital cameras and take them outside to the playground or to the gym. Let students engage in a variety of physical activities: running, shooting baskets, hitting tennis balls and so on. Students should spend time photographing one another in action.
Upload students' photographs onto a class Web page, and give them time to analyze the images and choose one on which to base a drawing. Print out each student's selection and instruct them to do a pencil drawing of the scene. After sketches are complete, students can use chalk pastels to loosely lay in color, trying to create the "blurred" brushwork of Manet's horse race.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Share the Art Print with students. Ask them to study the composition and explain how the artist creates the illusion of movement with paint. Point out that the "painterly," or loose, brush style creates a blurriness that produces a sense of movement to the human eye.
Give students time to sketch a scene that incorporates movement (a person or people in motion, a windy day, race cars speeding down a track). After students determine a final design on paper, have them lightly pencil in their design on canvas. Before they apply paint, give them time to practice their loose brushwork. Display the paintings with the Art Print.
HIGH SCHOOL
Edouard Manet is widely considered by art historians to be one of the few artists of the 19th century to have laid the groundwork for what would come to be called Modernism.
Share the Art Print with students and share the biographical information found on the reverse of the print, in the Art Notes. Challenge them to answer the following question: Why has Manet been called a father of Modernism?
Students can work individually or in small groups, but all should answer the question via research that they will present to the class. Students can also create an original artwork incorporating aspects of Edouard Manet's style.
ONLINE TEACHING RESOURCES
* www.edouardmanet.com
* www.manetedouard.org
* www.kentuckyderby.com/news/videos/kentucky-derby137-replay
* www.olympic.org/athletics
* www.arthistoryresources.net/modernism/roots.html
* www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs&feature=related
Source Citation
"The races at Longchamp, Edouard Manet." Arts & Activities Apr. 2012: 19. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA283833634&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A283833634
To help the children understand this direct perspective, take them outside or to the school gym for a foot race. Place students in two equal groups. Have one group line up as if on a starting line. Place the other group opposite them, approximately 50 feet away.
Have one group go first, running toward the other, stopping at a safe distance to avoid any injuries. Then have the second group race toward the first. Take photographs of each group in motion to post in class at a later time.
In another class period, share the photos with the class and give students a chance to draw the race with the same perspective that Manet employed in his painting. Give students crayons or colored pencils to finish their drawings.
ELEMENTARY
Share the Art Print with students and explain that Edouard Manet wanted to create a picture that captured the speed and motion of a horse race. Point out that his loose brushwork makes everything in the composition appear blurry, which gives the illusion of movement. (Challenge students to identify the areas of the picture that are not in motion).
Give students digital cameras and take them outside to the playground or to the gym. Let students engage in a variety of physical activities: running, shooting baskets, hitting tennis balls and so on. Students should spend time photographing one another in action.
Upload students' photographs onto a class Web page, and give them time to analyze the images and choose one on which to base a drawing. Print out each student's selection and instruct them to do a pencil drawing of the scene. After sketches are complete, students can use chalk pastels to loosely lay in color, trying to create the "blurred" brushwork of Manet's horse race.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Share the Art Print with students. Ask them to study the composition and explain how the artist creates the illusion of movement with paint. Point out that the "painterly," or loose, brush style creates a blurriness that produces a sense of movement to the human eye.
Give students time to sketch a scene that incorporates movement (a person or people in motion, a windy day, race cars speeding down a track). After students determine a final design on paper, have them lightly pencil in their design on canvas. Before they apply paint, give them time to practice their loose brushwork. Display the paintings with the Art Print.
HIGH SCHOOL
Edouard Manet is widely considered by art historians to be one of the few artists of the 19th century to have laid the groundwork for what would come to be called Modernism.
Share the Art Print with students and share the biographical information found on the reverse of the print, in the Art Notes. Challenge them to answer the following question: Why has Manet been called a father of Modernism?
Students can work individually or in small groups, but all should answer the question via research that they will present to the class. Students can also create an original artwork incorporating aspects of Edouard Manet's style.
ONLINE TEACHING RESOURCES
* www.edouardmanet.com
* www.manetedouard.org
* www.kentuckyderby.com/news/videos/kentucky-derby137-replay
* www.olympic.org/athletics
* www.arthistoryresources.net/modernism/roots.html
* www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs&feature=related
Source Citation
"The races at Longchamp, Edouard Manet." Arts & Activities Apr. 2012: 19. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA283833634&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A283833634
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Don't Cry for Them; As two revivals arrive on Broadway, a criticrevisits Lloyd Webber and Rice
The megamusical, that old British invader, has crept back into the theater district. No panicked talk of Broadway's colonization this time: This is just a reunion tour. Jesus Christ Superstar, the pioneering rock opera that helped usher in the Age of Amplification, has returned in a very earnest, vaguely ridiculous, vocally relentless production from the Stratford Shakespeare festival. Evita is back, as well, cloaked in fathomless imperial shadow by director Michael Grandage and featuring both the affable, translucent presence of pop star Ricky Martin (as Che) and the unique voice of Elena Roger, a de gustibus proposition if ever there was one. Both of these shows are proto-megas, predating the true Reagan-era behemoths Cats, Les -Miserables, and, of course, The Phantom of the Opera, which still haunts the Majestic after a quarter century and claims the mantle of Most Profitable Entertainment of All Time, in Any Medium. This being the first time since the mid-nineties that Andrew Lloyd Webber, forefather and chief metonym of the megamusical, has had three shows running concurrently on Broadway, I visited all of them in the past two weeks, trying to determine what the mega is--or rather, what it was, why we loved it, and why we feared it. I came away with my ears ringing and my nostalgia abuzz: It all looks so innocent now.
It certainly didn't 25 years ago. America was afraid of many things in the eighties: AIDS, crack, Soviet Russia, the Japanese, killer bees, Willie Horton, and splashy British theater, to name just a few. In New York, megamusicals easily ranked No. 3 on that list. The triumvirate of Cats, Phantom, and Les Miz--immense, plastic, through-sung stage spectacles all produced by one diabolical Anglo-Scotsman, the gold-fingered Cameron Mackintosh--was seen as a shot across the bow of the great American book-musical tradition (which had been tirelessly cultivating its self--destruction by the time Mackintosh came along to stop Broadway's bleeding). The problem with megamusicals, American critics complained, was not their bald commercialism, reliance on technical dazzle, or reductio ad Casio derivations of opera. It was that they were not really musicals at all, but Met-lite-lite spectacles, with gesture in lieu of character and image in lieu of storytelling. "You come out humming the scenery," Clive Barnes famously carped. Stephen Sondheim, in his annotated--lyrics compendium Look I Made a Hat, declares these shows modern "operettas," characterized by "grandiosity, humorlessness, romantic sweep, melodramatic stories which take place in long-ago times and faraway places, brimming with spectacle and recitative." This, he coolly claims, is "not a criticism, merely a description of a phenomenon, which in turn is now receding--it would seem. There will always be a public for the past."
So what, exactly, was the "megamusical"? That eighties coinage, with its Sharper Image techno-sheen and unmistakable suggestion of excess, actually refers to a trend that began in 1969, when a pair of Brits named Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber synthesized the lessons of Hair and the Who's Tommy to produce a concept album called Jesus Christ Superstar, then turned it into a stage show. The mega-musical and the rock opera are distinct (well, as distinct as these artificial categories get), but with the second Rice/Lloyd Webber production, Evita, the Who-vian DNA had begun to mutate into something newer, more ambitious, and, above all, more marketable. By the time Cats opened on Broadway in 1982, the transformation was complete--and the backlash began. Today, despite the return of a few adored curios and the ascent of Les Miz to the big screen (in an adaptation starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway), the megamusical's cell line is, for the most part, dead. (Though I await David Henry Hwang's inevitable Sino-centric reimagining of Chess.) When Sondheim revivals suffuse Broadway, we talk about timelessness. When Lloyd Webber marches back to town, three shows abreast, we mostly just feel old ... and I mean Grizabella-old. Why is that?
Despite a childhood spent pilfering my parents' record collection for theater-cheese (out of the way, Graceland! Avant ye, Dan Fogelberg!), I didn't actually see a megamusical in an actual theater until my junior year of high school. The show was Phantom, and I was fatally disappointed, despite a deep (and abiding!) attachment to the score. The problem was this: I'd been listening to the original cast album for years, and it had done its work too well. Megamusicals--which function more like film scores with words than classic musical-theater storytelling---implicitly promise the cinematic, not the theatrical. Thus, I thought the chandelier should plummet! Instead, it glided, on sturdy guide wires, gently downward, Glinda in her soap bubble. The Phantom should sweep Christine down to his lair, a la Batman. No dice: The romantic leads scampered back and forth on what appeared to be a series of slowly descending jet bridges. The gondola was kinda nifty, but if you squinted (through the eyes of the young and literal-minded), you could peer through the dry ice and see where the black hull met a highly unromantic mechanical track assembly. I did find "Masquerade" to be suitably awesome. But that was the extent of my breathlessness. It had promised a world without limitations, a world as free of weight and mass as it was free of irony, complexity, and depth. Instead, Phantom proved to be just a bigger theater piece, not entirely unlike the ones I knew from my high-school stage.
Photographs: from left, Joan Marcus; Terry O'Neill/Getty Images; Joan Marcus (3); Richard Termine
This world of massless massiveness began to vanish in the early nineties, and the correction has been felt for years, in such also-rans and never-weres as Sunset Boulevard, Martin Guerre, Whistle Down the Wind, and The Woman in White. The Disney musical replaced the megamusical, substantially reembraced the "book" tradition of the American Golden Age, and implicitly declared children's entertainment off-limits for adults: There would be no more bloated fairy tales for yuppie grown-ups (bankers weren't taking their dates to Beauty and the Beast), and jukebox musicals would eventually prove safer bets for low-impact musical satisfaction--who'd risk $250 on dangerously untested new tunes? On top of that, the genre's great melodists--Lloyd Webber and Claude-Michel Schoenberg, principally--were no longer cranking out great melodies at their peak rate. Say what you wish about Sir Andrew, call him a thief and an opportunist, but the man can shape a phrase. He is a pop compositor, yes, but that describes many talented composers. The allegations of his wholesale lifts from Puccini, Mendelssohn, et al., have always been somewhat overblown. As for the megamusical's lyrics, well, they were always kind of beside the point, weren't they? Personally I've never understood the appeal of Tim Rice, dubious wordsmith of Superstar and Evita. What -Jessica Sternfeld calls his "efficient, pointed slang" in her excellent treatise / apologia The Megamusical, I'd characterize as casual sloppiness, Bernie Taupin-esque arbitrariness, and total metrical suicide. I present this unforgettable, unforgivable refrain from Evita: "I want to be / a part of B.A. / Buenos Aires / Big Apple!"
In a pileup like that, performance is every-thing--another reason why megamusicals, while they can be effectively and profitably cloned (a process perfected in country after country by Mackintosh), can't be easily revivified from the ground up. These shows, as functional drama, are very shaky mirages, and attempts to alter them at the genetic level depend critically on the star-leads. (Phantom has been through many a Phantom, for example, but they're all doing a Michael Crawford impression.) Consider Michael Grandage's imposing new vision of Evita at the Marquis, an achievement of scale and dynamism, thanks in large part to Rob Ashford's whirligig (and only occasionally muddled) choreography. Grandage has cast newcomer Elena Roger as Eva Peron, the sainted First Lady of mid-century Argentina (really, a distaff version of the fame-haunted Christ from Superstar). London went mad for Roger: her elfin apoplexies and unique vocal interpretation were met with bouquets. Personally, I found her performance almost too good a fit with Rice's jagged, herky-jerky lyrics: She is memorable in part because she is irritating. Her upper register sometimes approximates a subway-gate alarm, and her quick-runs in tricky passages throw all normal concepts of pitch to the wayside. It's as if her voice breaks a heel and just keeps hobbling at high speed. There's pungency and pathos in this approach, but it all felt a tad shambolic to me. One place it works well: her plaintive yet needling "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," which she delivers with a hypodermic. Finally, there's a version of this song that doesn't allow you to luxuriate in its melodic velour. Roger, whatever else she's doing up there, keeps us on our toes. (The same cannot be said for Ricky Martin's narrator-gadfly Che, who, despite his grinning avidity and entirely competent singing, fades into the scenery almost instantly.)
There is no scenery to speak of in Des McAnuff's brisk, dour, darkly dorky interpretation of Superstar. The show amounts to a mild apostasy: We're presented with a stripped down Power Christ (the lank, note-perfect wailer Paul Nolan) who refuses to play to the arena at all. Maybe that's because he's tired of the spotlight (his constant theme); maybe it's because he's tired of being dance-mobbed by the cast of Waterworld. This Superstar's constant brow-furrowing is so cosmically at odds with the intrinsic goofiness of its design and execution--fake Rasta-payess wiggery, silly leather dusters and plastic armor, and the kind of lazy postapocalypticism that blends Blade Runner with the bargain rack at Ricky's--I often wondered whether someone was pulling my leg. But one glance at Griefer Jesus told me, definitively: "We are not amused (and by 'we' I mean the Trinity)." The new -Superstar isn't a dud, just a bit of a grind, as we wait for a wink that seems implied, but never arrives. (One place where the graveness works like gangbusters: Bruce Dow's furious, self-loathing Herod.) No worries: The kids will love it.
Because kids do--and should--love megamusicals. They certainly still love Phantom, which I caught at a Wednesday matinee last week. The Majestic was packed with hormonal teens and preteens, and these txt-gen moppets--weaned on Avatar and Transformers and the Spider-Man killing, er, thrilling machine--weren't there for the chandelier. They were there for the fat spatters of hummable romance, for the seat-shaking shock chords, for the great fondue pot of nonsensically swirling motifs. They were there for, and visibly rapt by, the music--yes, the mega-music. And also because someone put them on a charter bus, at a steep discount. Either way, it'll be a memory, even if it's a hand-me-down, for the future public of the past.
Scott Brown
Source Citation
Brown, Scott. "Don't Cry for Them; As two revivals arrive on Broadway, a critic revisits Lloyd Webber and Rice." New York 16 Apr. 2012. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA285724281&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A285724281
It certainly didn't 25 years ago. America was afraid of many things in the eighties: AIDS, crack, Soviet Russia, the Japanese, killer bees, Willie Horton, and splashy British theater, to name just a few. In New York, megamusicals easily ranked No. 3 on that list. The triumvirate of Cats, Phantom, and Les Miz--immense, plastic, through-sung stage spectacles all produced by one diabolical Anglo-Scotsman, the gold-fingered Cameron Mackintosh--was seen as a shot across the bow of the great American book-musical tradition (which had been tirelessly cultivating its self--destruction by the time Mackintosh came along to stop Broadway's bleeding). The problem with megamusicals, American critics complained, was not their bald commercialism, reliance on technical dazzle, or reductio ad Casio derivations of opera. It was that they were not really musicals at all, but Met-lite-lite spectacles, with gesture in lieu of character and image in lieu of storytelling. "You come out humming the scenery," Clive Barnes famously carped. Stephen Sondheim, in his annotated--lyrics compendium Look I Made a Hat, declares these shows modern "operettas," characterized by "grandiosity, humorlessness, romantic sweep, melodramatic stories which take place in long-ago times and faraway places, brimming with spectacle and recitative." This, he coolly claims, is "not a criticism, merely a description of a phenomenon, which in turn is now receding--it would seem. There will always be a public for the past."
So what, exactly, was the "megamusical"? That eighties coinage, with its Sharper Image techno-sheen and unmistakable suggestion of excess, actually refers to a trend that began in 1969, when a pair of Brits named Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber synthesized the lessons of Hair and the Who's Tommy to produce a concept album called Jesus Christ Superstar, then turned it into a stage show. The mega-musical and the rock opera are distinct (well, as distinct as these artificial categories get), but with the second Rice/Lloyd Webber production, Evita, the Who-vian DNA had begun to mutate into something newer, more ambitious, and, above all, more marketable. By the time Cats opened on Broadway in 1982, the transformation was complete--and the backlash began. Today, despite the return of a few adored curios and the ascent of Les Miz to the big screen (in an adaptation starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway), the megamusical's cell line is, for the most part, dead. (Though I await David Henry Hwang's inevitable Sino-centric reimagining of Chess.) When Sondheim revivals suffuse Broadway, we talk about timelessness. When Lloyd Webber marches back to town, three shows abreast, we mostly just feel old ... and I mean Grizabella-old. Why is that?
Despite a childhood spent pilfering my parents' record collection for theater-cheese (out of the way, Graceland! Avant ye, Dan Fogelberg!), I didn't actually see a megamusical in an actual theater until my junior year of high school. The show was Phantom, and I was fatally disappointed, despite a deep (and abiding!) attachment to the score. The problem was this: I'd been listening to the original cast album for years, and it had done its work too well. Megamusicals--which function more like film scores with words than classic musical-theater storytelling---implicitly promise the cinematic, not the theatrical. Thus, I thought the chandelier should plummet! Instead, it glided, on sturdy guide wires, gently downward, Glinda in her soap bubble. The Phantom should sweep Christine down to his lair, a la Batman. No dice: The romantic leads scampered back and forth on what appeared to be a series of slowly descending jet bridges. The gondola was kinda nifty, but if you squinted (through the eyes of the young and literal-minded), you could peer through the dry ice and see where the black hull met a highly unromantic mechanical track assembly. I did find "Masquerade" to be suitably awesome. But that was the extent of my breathlessness. It had promised a world without limitations, a world as free of weight and mass as it was free of irony, complexity, and depth. Instead, Phantom proved to be just a bigger theater piece, not entirely unlike the ones I knew from my high-school stage.
Photographs: from left, Joan Marcus; Terry O'Neill/Getty Images; Joan Marcus (3); Richard Termine
This world of massless massiveness began to vanish in the early nineties, and the correction has been felt for years, in such also-rans and never-weres as Sunset Boulevard, Martin Guerre, Whistle Down the Wind, and The Woman in White. The Disney musical replaced the megamusical, substantially reembraced the "book" tradition of the American Golden Age, and implicitly declared children's entertainment off-limits for adults: There would be no more bloated fairy tales for yuppie grown-ups (bankers weren't taking their dates to Beauty and the Beast), and jukebox musicals would eventually prove safer bets for low-impact musical satisfaction--who'd risk $250 on dangerously untested new tunes? On top of that, the genre's great melodists--Lloyd Webber and Claude-Michel Schoenberg, principally--were no longer cranking out great melodies at their peak rate. Say what you wish about Sir Andrew, call him a thief and an opportunist, but the man can shape a phrase. He is a pop compositor, yes, but that describes many talented composers. The allegations of his wholesale lifts from Puccini, Mendelssohn, et al., have always been somewhat overblown. As for the megamusical's lyrics, well, they were always kind of beside the point, weren't they? Personally I've never understood the appeal of Tim Rice, dubious wordsmith of Superstar and Evita. What -Jessica Sternfeld calls his "efficient, pointed slang" in her excellent treatise / apologia The Megamusical, I'd characterize as casual sloppiness, Bernie Taupin-esque arbitrariness, and total metrical suicide. I present this unforgettable, unforgivable refrain from Evita: "I want to be / a part of B.A. / Buenos Aires / Big Apple!"
In a pileup like that, performance is every-thing--another reason why megamusicals, while they can be effectively and profitably cloned (a process perfected in country after country by Mackintosh), can't be easily revivified from the ground up. These shows, as functional drama, are very shaky mirages, and attempts to alter them at the genetic level depend critically on the star-leads. (Phantom has been through many a Phantom, for example, but they're all doing a Michael Crawford impression.) Consider Michael Grandage's imposing new vision of Evita at the Marquis, an achievement of scale and dynamism, thanks in large part to Rob Ashford's whirligig (and only occasionally muddled) choreography. Grandage has cast newcomer Elena Roger as Eva Peron, the sainted First Lady of mid-century Argentina (really, a distaff version of the fame-haunted Christ from Superstar). London went mad for Roger: her elfin apoplexies and unique vocal interpretation were met with bouquets. Personally, I found her performance almost too good a fit with Rice's jagged, herky-jerky lyrics: She is memorable in part because she is irritating. Her upper register sometimes approximates a subway-gate alarm, and her quick-runs in tricky passages throw all normal concepts of pitch to the wayside. It's as if her voice breaks a heel and just keeps hobbling at high speed. There's pungency and pathos in this approach, but it all felt a tad shambolic to me. One place it works well: her plaintive yet needling "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," which she delivers with a hypodermic. Finally, there's a version of this song that doesn't allow you to luxuriate in its melodic velour. Roger, whatever else she's doing up there, keeps us on our toes. (The same cannot be said for Ricky Martin's narrator-gadfly Che, who, despite his grinning avidity and entirely competent singing, fades into the scenery almost instantly.)
There is no scenery to speak of in Des McAnuff's brisk, dour, darkly dorky interpretation of Superstar. The show amounts to a mild apostasy: We're presented with a stripped down Power Christ (the lank, note-perfect wailer Paul Nolan) who refuses to play to the arena at all. Maybe that's because he's tired of the spotlight (his constant theme); maybe it's because he's tired of being dance-mobbed by the cast of Waterworld. This Superstar's constant brow-furrowing is so cosmically at odds with the intrinsic goofiness of its design and execution--fake Rasta-payess wiggery, silly leather dusters and plastic armor, and the kind of lazy postapocalypticism that blends Blade Runner with the bargain rack at Ricky's--I often wondered whether someone was pulling my leg. But one glance at Griefer Jesus told me, definitively: "We are not amused (and by 'we' I mean the Trinity)." The new -Superstar isn't a dud, just a bit of a grind, as we wait for a wink that seems implied, but never arrives. (One place where the graveness works like gangbusters: Bruce Dow's furious, self-loathing Herod.) No worries: The kids will love it.
Because kids do--and should--love megamusicals. They certainly still love Phantom, which I caught at a Wednesday matinee last week. The Majestic was packed with hormonal teens and preteens, and these txt-gen moppets--weaned on Avatar and Transformers and the Spider-Man killing, er, thrilling machine--weren't there for the chandelier. They were there for the fat spatters of hummable romance, for the seat-shaking shock chords, for the great fondue pot of nonsensically swirling motifs. They were there for, and visibly rapt by, the music--yes, the mega-music. And also because someone put them on a charter bus, at a steep discount. Either way, it'll be a memory, even if it's a hand-me-down, for the future public of the past.
Scott Brown
Source Citation
Brown, Scott. "Don't Cry for Them; As two revivals arrive on Broadway, a critic revisits Lloyd Webber and Rice." New York 16 Apr. 2012. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA285724281&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A285724281
Friday, April 13, 2012
Hurst Boiler & Welding Co., Inc.: St. Elizabeth Hospital selects HurstBoiler to help earn Energy Star designation
St. Elizabeth Hospital, part of Affinity Health System, in Appleton, WI has earned the ENERGY STAR designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is one of the few hospitals in the nation to hold this recognition. The prestigious ENERGY STAR signifies that the building's energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of facilities nationwide.
To earn this status, St. Elizabeth Hospital created a culture of energy conservation awareness. They created an ENERGY TEAM, upgraded equipment, and implemented a state of the art tracking system to trend and communicate energy consumption. St. Elizabeth Hospital partnered with Affiliated Engineers, Boldt Construction and Tweet/ Garot Mechanical to design and install an energy efficient Central Utility Plant.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Mike Sturdivant, Executive Vice President of Tweet/Garot Mechanical, Inc., was instrumental in the selection of the utility systems for the St. Elizabeth Hospital project. "Our firm conducted a detailed evaluation for Affinity Health System to find the most efficient and reliable boiler systems commercially available," said Sturdivant. "We selected (2) 700 HP Hurst scotch marine, four pass, wetback boilers with high performance Riello burners and integrated plant master controls. This package provided a very competitive first cost, the best efficiency and lowest long term operating cost."
Ron Piotrowski, Plant Operations for St. Elizabeth Hospital is pleased with the performance of the boilers. "We are totally impressed with the operation and turndown of the Hurst boiler systems Tweet/Garot recommended," said Ron. "In warm weather our old boiler system used to cycle constantly. Now, with outside air temperatures nearing 100[degrees]F, our 700 HP Hurst Boilers don't even cycle. The high turndown Riello burners on our Hurst boilers allow the system to run efficiently down to 10% of full firing rate. The greatest benefit to the hospital is that the boilers run with very low excess air through the entire firing range and our steam pressure doesn't deviate from the 60 PSI set-point."
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
According to Sturdivant, "Going forward, the performance of the new boiler system will save the Hospital even more money as the efficient turndown of the primary 700 HP Hurst boilers will negate the need for them to purchase and install a separate smaller summer boiler. The up-front design assistance, implementation, and commissioning provided by McCotter Energy Systems, the local Hurst Boiler representative, and the quality and performance of the Hurst Boiler system have made this a "model project" for our firm."
McCotter Energy Systems is committed to providing the most reliable and efficient heat and power solutions to their business partners. President, Dan McCotter says, "It's truly exciting to be able to offer our clients a high performance Hurst Series 500 package with the "smart energy" benefits of the Riello high efficiency burner and integrated touch screen controls with real- time efficiency monitoring. We call it our high efficiency Red Boiler Package."
Source Citation
"Hurst Boiler & Welding Co., Inc.: St. Elizabeth Hospital selects Hurst Boiler to help earn Energy Star designation." Engineered Systems July 2011: 68. General OneFile. Web. 13 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA264921305&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A264921305
To earn this status, St. Elizabeth Hospital created a culture of energy conservation awareness. They created an ENERGY TEAM, upgraded equipment, and implemented a state of the art tracking system to trend and communicate energy consumption. St. Elizabeth Hospital partnered with Affiliated Engineers, Boldt Construction and Tweet/ Garot Mechanical to design and install an energy efficient Central Utility Plant.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Mike Sturdivant, Executive Vice President of Tweet/Garot Mechanical, Inc., was instrumental in the selection of the utility systems for the St. Elizabeth Hospital project. "Our firm conducted a detailed evaluation for Affinity Health System to find the most efficient and reliable boiler systems commercially available," said Sturdivant. "We selected (2) 700 HP Hurst scotch marine, four pass, wetback boilers with high performance Riello burners and integrated plant master controls. This package provided a very competitive first cost, the best efficiency and lowest long term operating cost."
Ron Piotrowski, Plant Operations for St. Elizabeth Hospital is pleased with the performance of the boilers. "We are totally impressed with the operation and turndown of the Hurst boiler systems Tweet/Garot recommended," said Ron. "In warm weather our old boiler system used to cycle constantly. Now, with outside air temperatures nearing 100[degrees]F, our 700 HP Hurst Boilers don't even cycle. The high turndown Riello burners on our Hurst boilers allow the system to run efficiently down to 10% of full firing rate. The greatest benefit to the hospital is that the boilers run with very low excess air through the entire firing range and our steam pressure doesn't deviate from the 60 PSI set-point."
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
According to Sturdivant, "Going forward, the performance of the new boiler system will save the Hospital even more money as the efficient turndown of the primary 700 HP Hurst boilers will negate the need for them to purchase and install a separate smaller summer boiler. The up-front design assistance, implementation, and commissioning provided by McCotter Energy Systems, the local Hurst Boiler representative, and the quality and performance of the Hurst Boiler system have made this a "model project" for our firm."
McCotter Energy Systems is committed to providing the most reliable and efficient heat and power solutions to their business partners. President, Dan McCotter says, "It's truly exciting to be able to offer our clients a high performance Hurst Series 500 package with the "smart energy" benefits of the Riello high efficiency burner and integrated touch screen controls with real- time efficiency monitoring. We call it our high efficiency Red Boiler Package."
Source Citation
"Hurst Boiler & Welding Co., Inc.: St. Elizabeth Hospital selects Hurst Boiler to help earn Energy Star designation." Engineered Systems July 2011: 68. General OneFile. Web. 13 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA264921305&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A264921305
Monday, March 12, 2012
Putrid fish permeates Calif. neighborhood
MURRIETA, Calif., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Like unwanted house guests, fish begin to smell after a few days, as residents of a California neighborhood learned.
The air has become so putridly pungent around a small golf course lake in Murrieta, people living nearby are keeping their windows and doors closed, The Press-Enterprise in Riverside reported Thursday. Dead fish up to three feet long that washed up on shore in recent days are to blame.
"This is what we call fish soup," said Christina Pinney, 31. "The flies are appalling; it's disgusting."
Hot weather, a drawdown of water and a lack of oxygen in the water are thought to have killed about 500 fish in the shallow, five-acre lake. About 120 rotting fish had been removed as of Wednesday.
John Martinez, director of operations at the golf course, says he is pumping more water back into the lake, but has to do it slowly or even more fish will die from temperature shock.
"We're kind of in a Catch-22," Martinez said.
Source Citation
"Putrid fish permeates Calif. neighborhood." UPI NewsTrack 13 Sept. 2007. General OneFile. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA168636734&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A168636734
MURRIETA, Calif., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Like unwanted house guests, fish begin to smell after a few days, as residents of a California neighborhood learned.
The air has become so putridly pungent around a small golf course lake in Murrieta, people living nearby are keeping their windows and doors closed, The Press-Enterprise in Riverside reported Thursday. Dead fish up to three feet long that washed up on shore in recent days are to blame.
"This is what we call fish soup," said Christina Pinney, 31. "The flies are appalling; it's disgusting."
Hot weather, a drawdown of water and a lack of oxygen in the water are thought to have killed about 500 fish in the shallow, five-acre lake. About 120 rotting fish had been removed as of Wednesday.
John Martinez, director of operations at the golf course, says he is pumping more water back into the lake, but has to do it slowly or even more fish will die from temperature shock.
"We're kind of in a Catch-22," Martinez said.
Source Citation
"Putrid fish permeates Calif. neighborhood." UPI NewsTrack 13 Sept. 2007. General OneFile. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA168636734&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A168636734
Email: leonard.wilson2009@hotmail.com(Web-Page) http://archery2009.googlepages.com(Album / Profile) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10033&id=1661531726&l=2acca1e351
Email: leonard.wilson2009@hotmail.com
Thursday, December 8, 2011
THE RACING SEASON IS NEARLY OVER, BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS TOKEEP YOUR ADRENALINE PUMPING AT HOME
If you dread winter's dearth of racing action, then kick off the holiday season strapped in behind the wheel with some of the latest in-home racing software and equipment. Of course, while virtual competition is less expensive than the real thing, the dollars still add up quickly. But you're in luck. We have some games and equipment to give away to help boost your adrenaline without emptying your wallet. See "But Wait, There's More . . ." on page 88 for details.
THRUSTMASTER FERRARI F1 WHEEL
-- Formula One anoraks, your day has arrived. Thrustmaster recently launched this life-size replica of the Ferrari F150 Italia F1 car's steering wheel. It is an add-on accessory for the company's top-line T500 RS wheel-and-pedal set. Designed first and foremost for use with the F1 2011 racing game (see the review on the next page), the Ferrari wheel is covered in numerous programmable buttons and switches, just like those found on its genuine counterpart--although it's worth noting that the dial emblazoned with the Prancing Horse and the other instruments surrounding it are only cosmetic and are nonfunctional. We also wish that the metal shift paddles were independent of each other rather than made in one piece. When you pull the right-side paddle toward yourself to upshift, you'll notice immediately that the paddle on the left side moves away from you, placing distracting pressure on the fingers of your left hand. Working LED lights to indicate the revs and the gears would go a long way, too, especially considering the high price charged for the complete T500 RS setup. But if you live, breathe and game Formula One, this is absolutely made for you.
Ferrari F1 wheel, $200; T500 RS base (required), $600; compatible with PS3 and PC.
VIRTUAL RACING CHASSIS MKII
-- Bob Earl knows how to drive. For proof, see his 30- year racing r%sum%, which includes 24 career wins in IMSA's Camel GT Series, two victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and one in the 12 Hours of Sebring, plus other highlights--such as being the only American ever to win the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.
These days, Earl enjoys simulated racing so much that he continues to refine and sell his Virtual Racing Chassis, our gaming chair of choice. A comfortable, adjustable, full-fledged car eat and revised pedal plate are now standard, and while the VRC is not as flashy as some competitors', it's not as pricey. Its steel frame adjusts easily to seat kids or adults up to six feet, six inches tall and provides an authentic driving position that lets you race comfortably. The new VRC MKII is a must-have accessory. Attach your wheel-andpedal kit, and you'll swear you're driving the real thing.
$350; available from www.bobearlracing.com.
FANATEC CSR WHEEL & CSR ELITE PEDALS
--Top-notch wheel-andpedal sets are expensive, but as several of our staffers discovered recently, once you take this big step closer to realism, there is no return.
Fanatec knocked it out of the park with its new CSR wheel and CSR Elite pedals, the official set of Forza 4. The wheel provides smooth, realistic feel and force feedback and adjustments to sensitivity, feedback, turning angle and vibration. You have to find new settings when switching to a brand-new game, but the outcome is worth the tinkering.
The wheel's construction impressed us. It feels great, with Alcantara in the right places and a digital display. Buttons are easy to reach and use, and the aluminum shift paddles' audible click--like that in real-life supercars--adds to your experience.
Perhaps even more desirable is Fanatec's CSR Elite pedal set. The aluminum unit has fully adjustable spring tensions, pedal positions and angles. A "load cell" for the brake bases braking performance on pedal pressure rather than pedal travel. That should guarantee that you shave chunks from your lap times.
Wheel, $250; pedals $150; available from www.fanatec.com; compatible with PS3, Xbox 360, PC.
F1 2011 --Codemasters' Formula 1 2010 was an Autoweek staff favorite. F1 2011 blows it out of the water with a better handling model and F1's latest tech, including KERS, DRS and Pirelli tires. Managing those variables creates an intense experience, and dynamic weather effects set the genre's standard. The safety car is a nice touch, too. F1 2011 is not perfect, with some programming glitches, and the PlayStation 3 version's graphics take a noticeable step back from 2010. Still, it's the most authentic, complete, challenging and flatout fun racing experience for a home console. With 24-car grids, 16 human players able to race online (watch out for the intentional rammers) and a co-op mode, you can challenge friends. F1 2011 also gives a great feel for each GP circuit.
$60; PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo 3DS
FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 --Turn 10 Studios has raised the bar with the excellent Forza Motorsport 4. The newest installment in the Gran Turismo-like Forza chain has many of the same circuits and cars as before, but the graphics and the play are noticeably improved. In World Tour mode--unlike in Forza 3--you don't choose what tracks to drive. The game chooses the circuit, and you pick one of three types of races. You select your car each time you advance to a higher level; you don't have to spend credits to "buy" a car and stay competitive as speed increases. The game has more responsive cars, better feedback through the controller or wheel and more aggressive computer-controlled drivers. It caters to all skill levels with optional driver aids. You can go head-to-head with up to 15 online opponents. This disc belongs in any gamer's library for the multiplayer action alone.
Source Citation
"Game Time; THE RACING SEASON IS NEARLY OVER, BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS TO KEEP YOUR ADRENALINE PUMPING AT HOME." AutoWeek 28 Nov. 2011: 0050. General OneFile. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA273832928&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A273832928
If you dread winter's dearth of racing action, then kick off the holiday season strapped in behind the wheel with some of the latest in-home racing software and equipment. Of course, while virtual competition is less expensive than the real thing, the dollars still add up quickly. But you're in luck. We have some games and equipment to give away to help boost your adrenaline without emptying your wallet. See "But Wait, There's More . . ." on page 88 for details.
THRUSTMASTER FERRARI F1 WHEEL
-- Formula One anoraks, your day has arrived. Thrustmaster recently launched this life-size replica of the Ferrari F150 Italia F1 car's steering wheel. It is an add-on accessory for the company's top-line T500 RS wheel-and-pedal set. Designed first and foremost for use with the F1 2011 racing game (see the review on the next page), the Ferrari wheel is covered in numerous programmable buttons and switches, just like those found on its genuine counterpart--although it's worth noting that the dial emblazoned with the Prancing Horse and the other instruments surrounding it are only cosmetic and are nonfunctional. We also wish that the metal shift paddles were independent of each other rather than made in one piece. When you pull the right-side paddle toward yourself to upshift, you'll notice immediately that the paddle on the left side moves away from you, placing distracting pressure on the fingers of your left hand. Working LED lights to indicate the revs and the gears would go a long way, too, especially considering the high price charged for the complete T500 RS setup. But if you live, breathe and game Formula One, this is absolutely made for you.
Ferrari F1 wheel, $200; T500 RS base (required), $600; compatible with PS3 and PC.
VIRTUAL RACING CHASSIS MKII
-- Bob Earl knows how to drive. For proof, see his 30- year racing r%sum%, which includes 24 career wins in IMSA's Camel GT Series, two victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and one in the 12 Hours of Sebring, plus other highlights--such as being the only American ever to win the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.
These days, Earl enjoys simulated racing so much that he continues to refine and sell his Virtual Racing Chassis, our gaming chair of choice. A comfortable, adjustable, full-fledged car eat and revised pedal plate are now standard, and while the VRC is not as flashy as some competitors', it's not as pricey. Its steel frame adjusts easily to seat kids or adults up to six feet, six inches tall and provides an authentic driving position that lets you race comfortably. The new VRC MKII is a must-have accessory. Attach your wheel-andpedal kit, and you'll swear you're driving the real thing.
$350; available from www.bobearlracing.com.
FANATEC CSR WHEEL & CSR ELITE PEDALS
--Top-notch wheel-andpedal sets are expensive, but as several of our staffers discovered recently, once you take this big step closer to realism, there is no return.
Fanatec knocked it out of the park with its new CSR wheel and CSR Elite pedals, the official set of Forza 4. The wheel provides smooth, realistic feel and force feedback and adjustments to sensitivity, feedback, turning angle and vibration. You have to find new settings when switching to a brand-new game, but the outcome is worth the tinkering.
The wheel's construction impressed us. It feels great, with Alcantara in the right places and a digital display. Buttons are easy to reach and use, and the aluminum shift paddles' audible click--like that in real-life supercars--adds to your experience.
Perhaps even more desirable is Fanatec's CSR Elite pedal set. The aluminum unit has fully adjustable spring tensions, pedal positions and angles. A "load cell" for the brake bases braking performance on pedal pressure rather than pedal travel. That should guarantee that you shave chunks from your lap times.
Wheel, $250; pedals $150; available from www.fanatec.com; compatible with PS3, Xbox 360, PC.
F1 2011 --Codemasters' Formula 1 2010 was an Autoweek staff favorite. F1 2011 blows it out of the water with a better handling model and F1's latest tech, including KERS, DRS and Pirelli tires. Managing those variables creates an intense experience, and dynamic weather effects set the genre's standard. The safety car is a nice touch, too. F1 2011 is not perfect, with some programming glitches, and the PlayStation 3 version's graphics take a noticeable step back from 2010. Still, it's the most authentic, complete, challenging and flatout fun racing experience for a home console. With 24-car grids, 16 human players able to race online (watch out for the intentional rammers) and a co-op mode, you can challenge friends. F1 2011 also gives a great feel for each GP circuit.
$60; PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo 3DS
FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 --Turn 10 Studios has raised the bar with the excellent Forza Motorsport 4. The newest installment in the Gran Turismo-like Forza chain has many of the same circuits and cars as before, but the graphics and the play are noticeably improved. In World Tour mode--unlike in Forza 3--you don't choose what tracks to drive. The game chooses the circuit, and you pick one of three types of races. You select your car each time you advance to a higher level; you don't have to spend credits to "buy" a car and stay competitive as speed increases. The game has more responsive cars, better feedback through the controller or wheel and more aggressive computer-controlled drivers. It caters to all skill levels with optional driver aids. You can go head-to-head with up to 15 online opponents. This disc belongs in any gamer's library for the multiplayer action alone.
Source Citation
"Game Time; THE RACING SEASON IS NEARLY OVER, BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS TO KEEP YOUR ADRENALINE PUMPING AT HOME." AutoWeek 28 Nov. 2011: 0050. General OneFile. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA273832928&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A273832928
Email: leonard.wilson2009@hotmail.com(Web-Page) http://archery2009.googlepages.com 
(Album / Profile) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10033&id=1661531726&l=2acca1e351Email: leonard.wilson2009@hotmail.com
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