2000

I remember seeing this dress for the first time.  Charlize was the first, in a long time, to channel the old hollywood glamour and it was a huge and memorable hit.    

Charlize Theron Vera Wang Dress

2001

Another monumental dress.  The night of the Oscars, not only did Julia win the Oscar, but this vintage Valentino also won her the best dressed acclamation.    

Julia Roberts Vintage Valentino Oscar Gown

2002

I can’t say I don’t remember this vintage looking cap sleeved lace Valentino gown.  Reese looks absolutely stunning.   

Reese Witherspoon in Lace Valentino Gown

 2003

Kate Hudson, spotted in the 2003 Oscars, in a regal champagne Versace gown looking stunning, and like a clone of her mother.  

Kate Hudson in a Champagne Versace

2004

Chloe Sevigny looks dazzling in this sequined cocktail dress.  The only thing I am thinking about is, I want this dress NOW!  It fits perfectly in 2010.  

Chloe Sevigny in a silver cocktail dress

2005

Ahhh, the power of a female back.  This amazing Guy Laroche midnight blue gown looks demure from the front, but the back speaks sexy.  This was by far the first time Hilary Swank looked like a real woman.  

Hilary Swank in Midnight Blue Guy Laroche Gown

The sexy back!

2006

It was hard for me to pick between Keira Knightley and Michelle Williams.  But Keira won!  I don’t know if it is Michelle’s dress color on her skin tone or just that you can never go wrong with Valentino and White? 

Keira Knightley in White Valentino

2007

Georgina Chapman, one half of the Marchesa design duo, looked stunning at the Vanity Fair Party, in none other than a Marchesa gown.  Who doesn’t love Marchesa, and THIS one especially? 

Georgina Chapman in Marchesa

2008

Penelope Cruz is the definition of modern day classic.  I don’t know what this dress is, but I love it.  

Penelope Cruz in a Ruffled Train Gown

2009

This was a hard one.  I didn’t like the pictures they chose, AT ALL, but I decided to pick my favorite fashionista of the year. Rihanna that is.  

Rihanna in Dolce & Gabbana

Regarding the health reform debate currently underway, there really is no genuine pursuit of what is supposed to be affordable health care for all for two main reasons: (1) the current anti-competitive environment of hospitals and health insurance carriers and (2) the lack of legislative competency in Congress on how to partner with private enterprise to come to genuine solutions for the American people.   It is quite clear that state regulators have failed to protect their constituents from non-competitive business practices.  They have either not enforced laws intended to protect consumers or they have approved legislation that helps hospitals to get ever and ever larger by eliminating the opportunity for new competitors to enter the market and by gobbling up whatever competition they do have.  Why else would there be legislation currently attached to the health care bills that would reverse protection that the health care industry has enjoyed, but by not properly enforcing anti-trust legislation at the state level.

Read this article in its entirety at:

http://sonja4health.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/god-didnt-make-cop-outs/

Ethel is resolute on taking it slow for 2010

Chances are, at some time in your life, you’ve made a New Year’s Resolution – and then broken it. This year, to stop the cycle of resolving to make change, but then not following through, we have listed a few simple lifestyle changes that require minimal effort and thoughts.

2010 marks the decade of the millennium and with the economic gloom still hovering over our lives, there is no better time than now to savor the pleasure of taking it slow, harking back to simple pleasures of life and putting others before ourselves. In this page, Ethel highlights some easy distractions to steer us away from the universe of “ME, MYSELF, and I” to take time to smell roses. We were concerned if Ethel might have been a tad bit unrealistic with the suggestions, but she pointed out aptly over one of her recommendations: “Nowadays, almost everyone has a smart phone…it should be easier now then before to drop a note to your friend and ask how he/she is getting on”. Well we cannot disagree with her…can you?

Ethel’s Resolution 2010

01 Reading a Classic
02 Planting from Seeds
03 Sending Hello Notes
04 Simplify Scents
05 Handcrafting
06 Cooking for Friends

]]> http://craftdgirl.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/nancy-drew-sleuth-kit-v2-1-plaid/ Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:20:09 +0000 craftdgirl http://craftdgirl.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/nancy-drew-sleuth-kit-v2-1-plaid/

Well the other day I was making another Nancy Drew duct tape sleuth kit. I wanted to make it just like the “New and Improved” kit. Well the store i went to didn’t have any beige or white. I was about to despair, when… PLAID DUCT TAPE came to my rescue. This plaid kinda reminded me of the plaid inside the Nancy Drew movie sleuth kit. Here are the pictures:

In Acts 19:1-10 we read of those who hear the truth and respond in faith.  We also read of those who hear the truth and reject it and even “malign The Way.”  To malign means to slander, smear, or criticize.  Paul spoke the truth for three months and yet some rejected, criticized, and slandered the truth.  In turn Paul took those who did believe and discipled them for two years.  His persistence and faithfulness in proclaiming and teaching the truth in the face of resistance brought results, “…all of the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”

Are you a mentor or discipler?  Have you ever fit one of these titles?  Both titles make me uncomfortable.  I am simply a sinner saved by grace.  That doesn’t qualify me to be a mentor or discipler, or does it?  It might help us to acknowledge our responsibility to others if we ask different questions.  Since accepting Christ as my Savior have I grown spiritually?  Have I experienced trials or temptation?  Have I resisted or overcome said temptation?  Have I sought the Spirit’s indwelling, to replace my old man with what God has designed me to be, holy, and in daily communion with Him?  Will others benefit from my sharing of these experiences?  Can I share these experiences with those within my spheres of influence on a daily basis?

I, and likely you can answer yes to most, if not all of these questions because of the grace of God and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in us.  We could never accomplish the changes in ourselves of holiness and purification on our own.  Without Him we are nothing, but with Him we can be holy.  It is He who qualifies us to be godly mentors & disciplers.  We can share our experiences in Him with others to help them avoid sin and to stimulate growth and maturation.  After all, Jesus has commanded that we all be disciplers.  We can do it.

I wrote this post long in advance of today’s news that Oral Roberts has been promoted to Glory.  Regardless of his humanity and his publicized missteps, Dr. Roberts has served the Christian community and the world at large greatly through his years on earth.  I join his family in mourning this loss but praise God for allowing people like you, me and Dr. Roberts to make an impact for Him in this world.

Queen Elizabeth banned from making state visit to Israel, says historian. The eminent historian Andrew Roberts has said that the British government had a de facto ban in place on state visits by Queen Elizabeth II to Israel. “The true reason of course, is that the FO [Foreign Office] has a ban on official royal visits to Israel, which is even more powerful for its being unwritten and unacknowledged. As an act of delegitimization of Israel, this effective boycott is quite as serious as other similar acts, such as the academic boycott, and is the direct fault of the FO Arabists. It is, therefore, no coincidence that although the queen has made over 250 official overseas visits to 129 different countries during her reign, neither she nor one single member of the British royal family has ever been to Israel on an official visit,” Roberts told a gala dinner in London.

Bullitt (1968), starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bissett was a wildly popular film about a San Francisco police detective tracking down hit men who killed a protected witness. The Warner Brothers film directed by Peter Yates had an unusual twist in the plot making it even more interesting than just the famous Mustang/Charger chase sequence with Mr. Cool at the wheel.

I felt really old when I found out about this new release from Film Score Monthly, due to the fact that I had purchased the LP new 40 years ago! Being interested in structured jazz at the time I found this score especially appealing given the fact I was a fan of Bud Shank, who also performed on “Mission Impossible,” “I Want To Live,” “Endless Summer,” and “The Man With the Golden Arm,” just to name a few of the soundtracks he contributed to. Bud, who passed away this year at the age of 82, did the wonderful flute work on tracks I listened to over and over again until there was a very high level of surface noise on this LP. This was an album I would play to family and friends and they would actually comment that he didn’t always listen to weird music. It was a highly infectious jazz album with each track having a distinct style and melody. Other combo members were Howard Roberts, Larry Bunker, and Ray Brown all excellent jazz artists. In addition to the LP, Film Score Monthly has also included the original soundtrack, making some material available for the very first time. This release should not to be confused with the Aleph #018 release of 2000, a re-recording of material from the film by Schifrin, on his Aleph label. This release is the album recording and the film soundtrack.

The main title from Bullitt is a big band number making use of loud brass, fancy guitar work, and subtle strings. This theme is also referenced in the traveling music “On The Way To San Mateo” and the end title featuring the combo. “Room 26” features a nice flute solo along with the organ sound so popular during this era. “The Aftermath of Love” features a nice trombone solo and lush strings, all of the ingredients for a nice romantic number. “Cantana for Combo” again features Shank but this time with piano. “The First Snowfall,” written by Sonny Burke, does have lyrics by Webster but they don’t appear in the film. It is definitely not Schifrin sounding but really Percy Faith/elevator style material. “Shifting Gears,” the prelude to the car chase sequence features some great trombone work and percussion providing mounting tension for the ultimate race. While the soundtrack duplicates some of the material from the LP, it also offers several tracks not included such as “Ross,” “Just Coffee,” “Dr. Willard,” and others.

Even if you had little or no interest in soundtracks but enjoyed jazz, this release is right up your alley. There are some great big band and combo cues. Many enthusiasts to the hobby have already purchased prior releases and have concluded that this is a top 100 of all time. This release is limited to 3000 copies. Highly recommended and a must have in all collections.

Reissue produced by Lukas Kendall

CD# is FSM Vol. 12 No. 17

Digital Mastering by Doug Schwarz

Track listing

1. Bullitt (Main Title) (02:05)

2. Room “26” (02:24)

3. Hotel Daniels (02:50)

4. The Aftermath of Love (02:47)

5. Music to Interrogate By (02:48)

6. On the Way to San Mateo (02:38)

7. Ice Pick Mike (02:57)

8. A Song for Cathy (02:44)

9. Shifting Gears (03:14)

10. Cantata for Combo (03:03)

11. The First Snowfall (Paul Francis Webster & Sonny Burke (03:05)

12. Bullitt (End Title) (02:42)

Original Soundtrack Album (tracks 01-12)

Total Time: 34:00

13. Main Title (03:47)

14. Architect’s Building (01:28)

15. Cantata for Combo (03:03)

16. A Song for Cathy (02:02)

17. Hotel Daniels (Radio Source) (02:58)

18. Room 26 (Radio Source) (01:14)

19. The Aftermath of Love (Radio Source) (02:45)

20. Dr. Willard (00:54)

21. Ice Pick Mike (03:12)

22. Quiet Morning (02:33)

23. Music to Interrogate By (03:04)

24. Just Coffee (01:25)

25. Shifting Gears (03:15)

26. On the Way to San Mateo (01:24)

27. The First Snowfall (Webster & Burke) (03:27)

28. Ross (02:06)

29. Air Terminal—Main Lobby (02:32)

30. End Credits (00:31)

31. Bullitt (Demo) (03:06)

Film Soundtrack (tracks 13-31)

Total Time: 42:17

Total Duration: 01:18:03

I recently sent an email to several professors here at Roberts with the query, “What advice would you give students about having an impact on their world?” (Don’t worry. I was working on the faculty section of the yearbook, not sending professors random emails.)

My favorite response was from one of my favorite professors– Dr. Hurley.

“Read, remember, and implement Frost’s ‘Revelation’.”

Prof. Hurley teaches literature, so nothing here is particularly surprising, especially his reading recommendation. The weight of this quote, though, expands every time I think about it.

Read. Well, I love to read. Reading is usually tied to learning. But wait… what more is there here? Read what, exactly? I think reading books is the most obvious answer, and probably what Dr. Hurley was thinking when he wrote this. Reading books expands the mind (except Twilight, apparently). Read people? Read newspapers? Read Shakespeare? Read Milton? (This would be met by a resounding “yes” from Dr. Hurley, a Milton scholar.) That single word carries so much meaning. Read.

Remember. Well. If read carries a lot of meaning, then remember means at least as much. Memory is intricately woven into the subject of history, and I love history. If we forget what the consequences of so-and-so were before, then we’re going to do it again and suffer similar consequences. We lose respect by losing memory. Remember what you read? Remember.

Frost’s “Revelation.”

Revelation
Robert Frost

We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone really find us out.

‘Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

So, basically, don’t hide behind words. Be genuine. We’re created to share ourselves, and hiding our hearts is bad. Also, we’re all going to have to share ourselves with God anyway, so we might as well get started now.

Thanks, Dr. Hurley.

Don’t forget to check out the Beacon section at the top of the page! (New: life as we know it: religion & respect.)

For those who remember my previous post on Daniel Meadows’ digital storytelling, here’s my own stab at it. Plus some more.

On Friday, through a mixture of luck and illegal drugs (joking), I passed my 100wpm shorthand exam, making me an automatic figure of hate in our class. But before I did so, I made this video about how much I love it. Hope you enjoy.

Dan Bloom – Why I love Teeline shorthand

I thought you might like to see the efforts of some of my colleagues, too. The best video gets a bottle of bubbly – our tutor’s idea of getting a spirit of competition going. Who deserves that prize Cava?

Fiona Roberts – Sloightly on the Huh

James Franklin and Nick Moore – How to be a modern journalist

Ciaran Jones and Caroline Cook – Santa’s career change

Brendan Perring – Paradox

Hugh Morris – LIES

Ella Walker – My sister

Tom Victor & Joe Curtis – Chariots of Failure

Josie Allchin – My Shoes

Andrew Papworth – Trans-Siberian railway

Aimee Steen – Is online taking over?

Mike Brown – Billy Banks

T. Larsen Design has teamed up with the Library to collect food for the local food shelf.  As we all know, this time of year brings more demand – especially with our economy the way it is!  If you have some spare non-perishable food items in your pantry, consider dropping them by the library!  Cash donations are also accepted; the Food Pantry can make that cash stretch when purchasing food to stock their shelves.

Both the Library and T. Larsen Design are members of the St. Croix Central Area Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber is hosting the food drive, in an effort to stock the shelves during this holiday season.  Thanks for all your support!  For more information on the Chamber and T. Larsen Design, please visit their websites.  And, don’t forget to check the Hammond Library website for information on upcoming programs!

A preview of Chris Browns Upcoming interview with Robin Robert’s where he directly responds to Rihanna’s 20/20 interview. The preview is 3 minutes long and the full interview airs tomorrow Dec 4th at 10pm on ABC..Preview after the jump…..

Recently, I had a custom order to make a Nancy Drew Duct Tape Sleuth Kit.  The buyer wanted it to look similar to the sleuth kit in the Nancy Drew movie. This new bag is different from the original bag I had made. For instance, the straps are made of canvas material, I used Velcro instead of a buckle, and the overall design of the bag is different. I am selling the whole kit with shipping for $60. Here are the pictures of it:

Title:  Nation

Author:  Terry Pratchett

Paperback:  332 pages (Advanced Reader Edition)

ISBN:  9780061433016

Challenges:  ARC challenge

… Cox was not like a shark.  He was worse.  Sharks are just eating machines.  They don’t have a choice.  First Mate Cox had a choice, every day, and had chosen to be First Mate Cox.  And that was a strange choice, because if evil was a disease, then First Mate Cox would have been in a isolation ward on a bleak island somewhere.  And even then, the bunnies nibbling at the seaweed would start to fight one another.  Cox was, in fact, contagious.  where his shadow fell, old friendships snapped and little wars broke out, milk soured, weevils fled from every stale ship’s biscuit, and rats queued up to jump into the sea…

-Nation by Terry Pratchett, page 240 (ARE)

Nation is my first reading experience of Terry Pratchett.  I have Good Omens, which he co-authored with Neil Gaiman, on Mt. TBR, but I haven’t read it yet.  After reading this book, though, I can say that Pratchett and Gaiman would be a good fit.  I have seen the miniseries “The Color of Magic” based on Pratchett’s book by the same name, and loved it, so I wasn’t a complete Pratchett virgin

Nation is an alternate-reality fantasy teen fiction.  Fun category… lol.  A point made in the book by Locaha, god of death, is that there is no such thing as “does not happen,” only “does not happen here.”  For every event that does or does not occur, the alternate occurs in another of the millions and billions of other imperfect worlds Imo, the god of creation, made.  And in the world of Nation, there are tree-climbing octopi and an Island named after every holiday that was ever created, including “Mrs Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island.”

Nation begins with a mighty crashing wave that wipes out all of Mau’s village.  Mau, who was returning from his trial to become a man, believes he’s left his boy-soul on the island of children, and has no way of receiving his man-soul without the others.  Therefore, he believes he has no soul.  When other survivors of the great wave begin turning up on his island, they view him with suspicion and awe, as a Demon Boy.  Among the other survivors is an English girl who also has shed her former self in the form of her name, Ermintrude, and has created a new person, one with purpose, by the name of Daphne.  Unbeknownst to Daphne, she is the only child of the last heir to the Throne… unless they go about crowning Frenchies, that is… and no one wants that, especially the French (paraphrased from the book, don’t hate me!)

Pratchett’s humor is just one thing I loved about this book.  It’s highly imaginative, too.  But more than that, it’s insightful.  He sees into the heart of people and gives the reader truth disguised as lies, which is what the best of art is all about.  Pratchett presents us with a boy without a soul who does not allow the past to pull him under, but instead makes a new soul for himself, one that is stronger than any has ever had before.  He shows us a girl who has been forced to sit by and helplessly watch her mother and newborn brother die, the emasculation of her father by her grandmother, and the loss of all she knew, who creates for herself a person with purpose and power.  The two of them, Mau and Daphne, become the pillars that the new Nation cling to and revere.

I could definitely read Nation a second time and get a new story, or just read it again because it’s beautiful and funny and fascinating.  My oldest daughter, Sam, wants me to hurry up and finish the review so she can cabbage onto it and ferret it away in her room to read and enjoy over and over, so I may have to buy another book.  It’d be worth it

I give Nation by Terry Pratchett 5 out of 5 stars and add it to my list of favorites

OH, and something interesting to add:  The book was just published in October of ‘08, but the National Theater of London has already dramatized it into a play.  It’s actually a book I would enjoy seeing turned into a movie.  I think it could be done very well.

My premise is that leadership alone can enable certain companies to succeed where others have failed. Competent leaders create the direction for their businesses, manage the opportunities, and actively build the culture and capabilities required for strong performance. This kind of leadership will make Comcast successful in its absorption of NBC Universal in spite of opinions to the contrary voiced in the trade press (David Carr, NYT, 10/25/09) and reflected in the decline of Comcast’s share price since the announcement.

For years, media executives have been guided by a simplistic view of what defines success:

Executive Guide to Media Acquisitions
(sound byte version) 

Content is King.
Distribution is King.
Synergy creates value.
You need a presence on the Web, regardless.
Buy only the market share leader.

Media companies have relied on these tired maxims for the past 20 years to justify gobbling up one another. The results are not pretty. Many of these acquisitions have been failures largely because the management of the acquiring company did not have a strategy in place to achieve its most important goal – increasing shareholder wealth. Many individuals buying media companies, particularly motion picture studios, were making ego-driven investments and seemed to ignore to the principles of rational business analysis.

Comcast has a plan. Its leadership is facile and focused. They want to be in the sports business; they want to sell their products on the web, and they want to satisfy their increasing appetite for entertainment programming. They understand that their greatest business opportunity is to deliver consumer-friendly content to as many households as possible. Remember when Comcast made its unsuccessful run at acquiring Disney a few years ago? The industry veterans and pundits in the media world did not view them as a serious player. Well, there’s a new sheriff in town.

Keeping this in mind, let’s look at what they’ve got to manage and the pitfalls they need to avoid.

Synergy. Synergistic opportunities are not intrinsically good. Having access to content and multiple distribution platforms does not guarantee that the resultant product is of any value. NBC Universal was never able to engage the popular culture. There were no memorable hits and there was no exploitation of popular content properties across multiple platforms. Synergy is a two edged sword – it needs to be managed.

Culture. The bloated bureaucracy and overheads at NBC Universal keep those companies from acting like the lean, facile Philadelphia-based Comcast. You can expect Comcast to introduce a more disciplined way of operating throughout NBC Universal.   

Content is King. Under GE’s purview, NBC went from #1 to #4, see Synergy above, only because there isn’t a #5. As an aside, in the context of a finite and shrinking universe of broadcast television viewers, just how much upside was there for GE to buy NBC anyway?

On the positive side, this acquisition increases Comcast’s prominence in the sports business, sets the foundation for monetizing entertainment programming over the internet, and serves to satisfy its appetite for entertainment programming.

Sports. Comcast is successful in both the national and regional sports business. They own Versus, a nationally distributed, advertiser-supported sports network. The Golf Channel is theirs. They own or participate in a number of regional sports networks through Comcast SportsNet, SNY, CSS and the mtn. 

When you add NBC Sports to the mix, you can envision professional football, the Olympics, the World Series. Think ESPN.

How much further away can a Fox/CBS combination be?

The Internet. Comcast has a solid base of understanding of how consumers use the Internet through its ownership of Comcast.net, Fandango and Plaxo.

Comcast likes people viewing its product on the Internet; it just wants to be paid for it. With its purchase of NBC, the company will have an important voice in Hulu, a Web-based service that delivers premium content free to its users. Hulu poses a threat to cable operators like Comcast who wish to sell this same content to their customers. Figure Hulu’s NBC content will not be free for long.

Comcast is testing a few ways to get consumers to pay for content delivered over the Internet. They are participating on a trial basis with Time Warner’s TV Everywhere.  Additionally, Comcast is offering their cable-delivered content free of charge over the Internet to certain of their cable subscribers.

Content is King. Comcast needs content to feed the wide array of networks it owns and controls. Beyond sports, they own or control E!, Style, G4, Sprout and a few others.  

NBC Universal owns or controls a wealth of cable television networks. NBC has interests in Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, the History Channel, National Geo and Biography. Universal owns the USA Network, Universal HD and the SyFy Channel. (There’s a name change that set the brand back.) These networks give the company additional bargaining leverage with the cable industry and the production community.

Of course, Universal is also motion picture and television production and distribution company. NBC produces and distributes some terrific programming. They have an important global news operation.

Distribution is King. Comcast is the largest cable system operator in the U.S. You could argue that they should acquire access to additional households by buying Time Warner Cable.

The leadership at Comcast needs to stay in a Philadelphia state of mind. Planning, focus and solid execution got Comcast where it is today. What lies ahead is complex, confusing to outsiders, and seductive.

Comcast needs to ferret out the gold in this vast array of video and leverage it into other markets and additional media. The company will need to look long and hard for a new model which supports a traditional broadcast network or a motion picture production and distribution company.

My guess is that Brian Roberts’ leadership and management skills are up to the task. He will devise new models and different ways of doing business. He and his shareholders will be rewarded with a stronger, more vibrant company.

Robert M. Kreek is President of Kappa Associates, International, where he leads new ventures, growth initiatives, and reinventions of companies poised for growth.

Part 1

Part 2

Funny

Tem gente que faz tudo pra aparecer na foto, né?