Bunker Mentality: Fortified Domesticity and the "Crazy Prepper" in 10 Cloverfield Lane
Greg Clinton | Stony Brook University
October 24, 2016 Greg Clinton / Stony Brook University 2 comments
10 Cloverfield Lane (Trachtenberg, 2016) appears amidst a growing concern in American culture with apocalyptic futures, threats (real or imagined) to national security, and social change that seems to menace the heteronormative, patriarchal family unit. The film features what I have come to know as the "crazy prepper" character, a trope that evolved from earlier indictments of survivalists as dangerous paranoiacs, and is underscored by reality-style TV shows like Doomsday Preppers (National Geographic) and Apocalypse Preppers (Discovery Channel). What makes "crazy" in 10 Cloverfield Lane? In asking this question, I wonder more broadly about the meaning of fortified domestic space in America.
10 Cloverfield Lane offers up the prepper as a psychopathic predator (and ultimately a zombie, as I will argue) — it uses the "crazy prepper" to interrogate the concepts of reality, tradition, and risk. The film ultimately relies on stereotypes of preppers and prepping behaviors — bunker-building, stockpiling food and weapons, etc. — as insane or deviant to achieve its dramatic ends.
The film is framed as a drama about the destabilized family unit. Before the opening credits, we are treated to a miniature tragedy, acted without dialogue. A woman is hurriedly packing a small suitcase. She rushes out the door; the camera settles on two forlorn objects left behind: her keys and a diamond engagement ring. She is leaving her fiancée.
In itself, a woman walking away from the traditional patriarchal stability of marriage is thoroughly "modern" and a reflection of feminist and liberal progress. This scene can also be read as a reflection of traditions unmoored, of the tenuousness of all social structures, no matter how firmly established. Ulrich Beck, in his analysis of the unpredictability of modernity in what he calls "risk society," points to the "tradition" of the heteronormative family unit as a locus of destabilization since it is both the foundation of bourgeois industrial society and a "contradict[ion of] the principles of modernity" in that it promotes a basic patriarchal inequality. [1] Thus, by progressively equalizing gender roles, the structure of "family" is undermined. The modern woman is liberated from the "fate" of gendered and sexualized hierarchies. At the same time, radical change encourages new anxieties.
The prepper, on this view, is the man who has constructed a defense of traditional patriarchy. John Goodman plays Howard, a prepper who has "rescued" a young woman, Michelle, from what he claims was a nuclear attack. In her rush to escape her impending marriage, Michelle's car is run off the road. (Howard caused the crash intentionally, we learn much later.) She wakes from her trauma shackled in a basement, part of Howard's underground fallout shelter. They cannot leave, Howard insists, since the air outside is contaminated and deadly. A young man, Emmett, is also in the bunker, having begged his way in soon after the "attack." So the fortified domestic space mirrors an image of mid-20th century American middle class, with the father (knows best) and two (rebellious) children. The mother is absent; the law of the father defends this space, a law which is called deeply into question.
Early in her confinement, Michelle wonders why they haven't tried to contact the authorities. Howard points to a police scanner: "There's no one left to call. See that? There's nothing coming through." Then, holding his temple as if warding off a headache or the voices only he hears, he blurts, "You think I sound crazy. It's amazing… You people. You wear helmets when you ride your bikes, […] you have alarm systems to protect your homes. But what do you do when those alarms go off? Crazy is building your ark after the flood has already come!" Howard hones in on the slippage from rationality to irrationality, the contest between sanity and insanity. We are forced, as viewers, to question the notion of sanity as that which corresponds to reality; reality, as we discover by the end, corresponds to Howard's psychopathology, to the violence of patriarchal domination.
Howard's underground shelter, which includes his book and video library
Howard's shelter, where the majority of the action is set, is modelled after Cold War-era basement bunkers, although it is extravagant by the standards of a one-room cinderblock hovel. Introducing Michelle to the space, while the camera pans 360-degrees, Howard announces:
As you can see I've planned for an extended stay. The hydroponics system keeps the air fresh. Feel free to help yourself to any reading. If you want to watch movies, I have an extensive collection on DVD and VHS cassette[…] The kitchen is fully functional: it has an electric stove, refrigerator, freezer, silverware, and that dining room table is a family heirloom, which means watch your glasses.
A cross-stitched sign, "Home Sweet Home," hanging above a juke box in the living room (piping out the 1967 classic "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells) underscores the irony of the home-shelter-dungeon.
A "Home Sweet Home" sign and a juke box full of golden oldies do not comfort Michelle and Emmett
The centrality of the link between prepping and domestic space is subtly illustrated in a shot of Howard's bedside reading: a double-edition of Jack London's The Call of the Wild, a survivalist classic, and The Sea-Wolf, the plot of which parallels the film itself; a book entitled Surviving Doomsday, which might be an apocalypse survival manual by Richard Duarte (2012); and a copy of Country Home: The Comforts of Country, which is a 1995 interior decoration book with images of country-style homes for inspiration. Taken together, the three books form an odd but coherent framework for understanding Howard and the film by juxtaposing masculine independence, apocalypticism, and domesticity.
Howard's bedside reading
Howard means to exploit his position of patriarchal control. Beyond the "house rules" that Howard enforces, we learn over time that he plans to use Michelle as a forbidden sexual object, fetishizing her as a replacement for his absent daughter. He is a sinister photo-negative of Father Knows Best from 1940s and '50s TV. "Hands to yourself!" he declares, invoking a fatherly injunction against sibling rivalry, although the viewer understands this to mean Howard wants Emmett to keep his distance from the sexual target, Michelle. In a scene at the dinner table, Howard tries to maintain the pretense of familial decorum, but explodes when Michelle begins to subtly flirt with Emmett. Michelle's subversion of the artificial sister-brother relationship reveals Howard's desire for violent transgression. The ruse of familial care unravels.
This sense of perversion, of an uncanny domestic space in which sexual taboos may be violently violated, is heightened by Howard's insistence that he is "not some kind of pervert" when he resolves to keep an eye on Michelle as she urinates; he watches her "for [his] own protection." The strength of his disavowal of perversion is subtly ironic; the viewer and Michelle are immediately suspicious of everything Howard says. What is true, what is false, what is sane, what is perverted: all these are entangled in the bunker.
Howard transformed into a zombie
In her attempt to escape, Michelle out-maneuvers Howard by dumping a barrel of toxic chemicals, burning Howard's body and face, transforming him momentarily into a zombie, fully revealing the "truth" of the father as monster. Michelle escapes to the outside world… where she actually encounters an apocalyptic alien invasion.
The inside, it turns out, is as awful as the outside; but outside, Michelle has the chance to become an action hero, a woman of action. She is super-able, over and against the zombie-patriarch. After skillfully dispatching some aliens, Michelle drives off in search of the resistance movement. The bunker defends patriarchal domesticity, an interior dystopia whose laws are violent and in which the "crazy prepper" is installed as the ultimate American pragmatist whose goal is to entomb and enshrine "the family" while denying the potential for action in an exterior reality that undermines those power structures.
1. Author's screen grab.
Ulrich Beck, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (London; Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications Ltd., 1992), 104. [↩]
tagged with 23.01, bunkers, defense, Domesticity, dystopia, preparedness, preppers, survivalists, suspense, zombies
Madonna bin Laden
So do you think the film's characterization of preppers is inaccurate?
Or are real-life preppers in fact striving to preserve the heteronormative, patriarchal family unit?
Both. I think the film unfairly and unrealistically casts prepping as inherently psychopathological – this is why the audience can readily accept that the prepper is insane or psychologically troubled – but at the same time preppers are typically interested in protecting "the family", which they see as the "ultimate responsibility" for a man.


Working Group Reports and Presentations: Mars Settlement and SocietyThe long-term implications of space exploration must be considered early in the process. With this in mind, the Mars Settlement and Society Group focused on five key areas: Philosophical Framework, Community Infrastructure and Government, Creating Stakeholders, Human Subsystems, and Habitat Design. The team proposes long and short term goals to support getting to and then staying long-term on Mars. All objectives shared the theme that they should engage, inspire, and educate the public with the intent of fostering stakeholders in the exploration of Mars. The objectives of long-term settlement on Mars should not neglect group dynamics, issues of reproduction, and a strong philosophical framework for the establishment of a society.
McKay, Chris (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)


Medicine Hunting in Paradise
Chris Kilham
Pub Date :
Edition(s) at Erowid :
1996(pb,1st ed,fine)
Park Street Press
BACK COVER #
Join botanical researcher Chris Kilham in the South Seas as he searches for kava, the most effective relaxant and stress-reliever in all of nature. A soothing, safe alternative to dangerous tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and antidepressants, kava naturally eases muscular tension and insures deep, refreshing sleep. Kava-based remedies are used by Europe's largest pharmaceutical companies to treat everything from urinary tract infections to arthritis, as well as nervous disorders of all kinds, but no source of pure, high-quality kava has been available to consumers.
An exploration of the magical relationship between a people, a place, and a plant, Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise takes you on a journey through the mystical legends, outlandish history, and exciting science surrounding kava. Kilham ventures deep into the unexplored islands of Vanuatu to set up a kava trade with the natives. Along the way he befriends a Tahitian prince, survives deadly seas in a questionable boat, and discovers powerful varieties of kava completely unknown to the West. With a thorough analysis of kava research, and information on where to find the best kava, Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise is a must-read for those interested in adventure, plant medicines, or the cultures of Oceania.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) / EDITOR(S) #
Chris Kilham has been involved in the field of holistic health as a writer, lecturer, and entrepreneur since 1970. He is the author of many books, including The Five Tibetans, Take Charge of Your Health, and The Whole Food Bible, and is the founder of cowboy Medicine Expeditions, which specializes in researching and launching products based on plant medicines.
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Created by Erowid - Sep 19, 1999
Modified - Dec 21, 2017


The New War Congress: An Obama-Republican War Alliance?
David Swanson,
TomDispatch | Op-Ed
To understand just how bad the 112th Congress, elected on November 2nd and taking office on January 3rd, is likely to be for peace on Earth, one has to understand how incredibly awful the 110th and 111th Congresses have been during the past four years and then measure the ways in which things are likely to become even worse.
Oddly enough, doing so brings some surprising silver linings into view.
The House and Senate have had Democratic majorities for the past four years. In January, the House will be run by Republicans, while the Democratic majority in the Senate will shrink. We still tend to call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "Bush's wars." Republicans are often the most outspoken supporters of these wars, while many Democrats label themselves "critics" and "opponents."
Such wars, however, can't happen without funding, and the past four years of funding alone amount to a longer period of war-making than U.S. participation in either of the world wars. We tend to think of those past four years as a winding down of "Bush's wars," even though in that period Congress actually appropriated funding to escalate the war in Iraq and then the war in Afghanistan, before the U.S. troop presence in Iraq was reduced.
But here's the curious thing: while the Democrats suffered a net loss of more than 60 seats in the House in the midterm elections just past, only three of the defeated Democrats had voted against funding an escalation in Afghanistan this past July 27th. Three other anti-war Democrats (by which I mean those who have actually voted against war funding) retired this year, as did two anti-war Republicans. Another anti-war Democrat, Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, lost in a primary to Congressman-elect Hansen Clarke, who is also likely to vote against war funding. And one more anti-war Democrat, Dan Maffei from western New York, is in a race that still hasn't been decided. But among the 102 Democrats and 12 Republicans who voted "no" to funding the Afghan War escalation in July, at least 104 will be back in the 112th Congress.
That July vote proved a high point in several years of efforts by the peace movement, efforts not always on the media's radar, to persuade members of Congress to stop funding our wars. Still a long way off from the 218-vote majority needed to succeed, there's no reason to believe that anti-war congress members won't see their numbers continue to climb above 114 — especially with popular support for the Afghan War sinking fast — if a bill to fund primarily war is brought to a vote in 2011.
Which President Will Obama Be in 2012?
The July funding vote also marked a transition to the coming Republican House in that more Republicans (160) voted "yes" than Democrats (148). That gap is likely to widen. The Democrats will have fewer than 100 House Members in January who haven't already turned against America's most recent wars. The Republicans will have about 225. Assuming a libertarian influence does not sweep through the Republican caucus, and assuming the Democrats don't regress in their path toward peace-making, we are likely to see wars that will be considered by Americans in the years to come as Republican-Obama (or Obama-Republican) in nature.
The notion of a war alliance between the Republicans and the president they love to hate may sound outlandish, but commentators like Jeff Cohen who have paid attention to the paths charted by Bill Clinton's presidency have been raising this possibility since Barack Obama entered the Oval Office. That doesn't mean it won't be awkward. The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), for example, is aimed at reducing the deployment and potential for proliferation of nuclear weapons. Obama supports it. Last week, we watched the spectacle of Republican senators who previously expressed support for the treaty turning against it, apparently placing opposition to the president ahead of their own views on national security.
That does not, however, mean that they are likely to place opposition to the President ahead of their support for wars that ultimately weaken national security. In fact, it's quite possible that, in 2011, they will try to separate themselves from the president by proposing even more war funding than he asks for and daring him not to sign the bills, or by packaging into war bills measures Obama opposes but not enough to issue a veto.
For Obama's part, while he has always striven to work with the Republicans, a sharp break with the Democrats will not appeal to him. If the polls were to show that liberals had begun identifying him as the leader of Republican wars, the pressure on him to scale back war-making, especially in Afghanistan, might rise.
If the economy, as expected, does not improve significantly, and if people begin to associate the lack of money for jobs programs with the staggering sums put into the wars, the president might find himself with serious fears about his reelection — or even about getting the Democratic Party's nomination a second time. His fate is now regularly being compared to that of Bill Clinton, who was indeed reelected in 1996 following a Republican midterm trouncing. (In his successful campaign to return to the Oval Office, Clinton got an assist from Ross Perot, a third-party candidate who drew off Republican votes and whose role might be repeated in 2012 by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.)
History, however, has its own surprises; sometimes it's the chapters from the past you're not thinking about that get repeated. Here, for instance, are three presidents who are not Bill Clinton and whose experiences might prove relevant: Lyndon Johnson's war-making in Vietnam led to his decision not to run for reelection in 1968; opposition to abuses of war powers was likely a factor in similar decisions by Harry Truman in 1952 in the midst of an unpopular war in Korea and James Polk in 1848 after a controversial war against Mexico.
The Unkindest Cut
Bills that fund wars along with the rest of the military and what we have, for the past 62 years, so misleadingly called the "Defense" Department, are harder to persuade Congress members to vote against than bills primarily funding wars. "Defense" bills and the overall size of the military have been steadily growing every year, including 2010. Oddly enough, even with a Republican Congress filled with warhawks, the possibility still exists that that trend could be reversed.
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After all, right-wing forces in (and out of) Washington, D.C., have managed to turn the federal budget deficit into a Saddam-Hussein-style bogeyman. While the goal of many of those promoting this vision of deficit terror may have been intent on getting Wall Street's fingers into our Social Security savings or defunding public schools, military waste could become collateral damage in the process.
The bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, known on television as "the deficit commission" and on progressive blogs as "the catfood commission" (in honor of what it could leave our senior citizens dining on), has not yet released its proposals for reducing the deficit, but the two chairmen, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, have published their own set of preliminary proposals that include reducing the military budget by $100 billion. The proposal is, in part, vague but — in a new twist for Washington's elite — even includes a suggested reduction by one-third in spending on the vast empire of bases the U.S. controls globally.
Commission member and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has proposed cutting only slightly more — $110.7 billion — from the military budget as part of a package of reforms that, unlike the chairmen's proposals, taxes the rich, invests in jobs, and strengthens Social Security. Even if a similar proposal finally makes it out of the full commission, the new Republican House is unlikely to pass anything of the sort unless there is a genuine swell of public pressure.
Far more than $110.7 billion could, in fact, be cut out of the Pentagon budget to the benefit of national security, and even greater savings could, of course, be had by actually ending the Afghan and Iraq wars, a possibility not considered in these proposals. If military cuts are packaged with major cuts to Social Security or just about anything else, progressives will be as likely as Republicans to oppose the package.
While the new Republican House will fund the wars at least as often and as fulsomely as the outgoing Democratic House, namely 100% of the time, the votes will undoubtedly look different. The Democratic leadership has tended to allow progressive Democrats the opportunity to vote for antiwar measures as amendments to war-funding bills. These measures have ranged from bans on all war funding to requests for non-binding exit strategies. They have not passed, but have generated news coverage. They may also, however, have made it easier for some Democrats to establish their antiwar credentials by voting "yes" on these amendments — before turning around and voting for the war funding. If the funding is the only war vote they are allowed, some of them may be more likely to vote "no."
On March 10, 2010, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) used a parliamentary maneuver (that will still be available to him as a member of the minority) to force a lengthy floor debate on a resolution to end the war in Afghanistan. Kucinich has said that he will introduce a similar resolution in January 2011 that would require the war to end by December 31, 2012. That will provide an initial opportunity for Congress watchers to assess the lay of the land in the 112th Congress. It will likely also be the first time that war is powerfully labeled as the property of the president and the Republicans.
The other place public discussion of the wars will occur is in committee hearings, and all of the House committees will now have Republican chairs, including Buck McKeon (R-CA) in Armed Services, and Darrell Issa (R-CA) in Oversight and Government Reform. In recent decades, the oversight committee has only been vigorously used when the chairman has not belonged to the president's party. This was the case in 2007-2008 when Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) investigated the Bush administration, even though he did allow high officials and government departments to simply refuse compliance with subpoenas the committee issued. It will be interesting to see how Republican committee chairs respond to a similar defiance of subpoenas during the next two years.
A Hotbed of Military Expansionism
The Armed Services Committee is likely to be a hotbed of military expansionism. Incoming Chairman McKeon wants Afghan War commander General David Petraeus to testify in December (even before he becomes chairman) on the Obama administration's upcoming review of Afghan war policy, while the Pentagon reportedly does not want him to because there is no good news to report. While Chairman McKeon may insist on such newsworthy witnesses next year, his goal will be war expansion, pure and simple.
In fact, McKeon is eager to update the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) to grant the president the ongoing authority to make war on nations never involved in the 9/11 attacks. This will continue to strip Congress of its war-making powers. It will similarly continue to strip Americans of rights like the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures that President Obama has tended to justify more on the basis of the original AUMF than on the alleged inherent powers of the presidency that Bush's lawyers leaned on so heavily.
The president has been making it ever clearer in these post election weeks that he's in no hurry to end the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. The scheduled end date for the occupation of Iraq, December 31, 2011, will now arrive while Republicans control a Congress that might conceivably, under Democrats, have been shamed into insisting on its right to finally end that war. Republicans and their friends at the Washington Post are now arguing avidly for the continuation of existing wars in the way their side always argues, by pushing the envelope and demanding so much more — such as a war on Iran — that the existing level of madness comes to seem positively sane.
The most silvery of possible silver linings here may lie in the possibility of a reborn peace movement. George W. Bush's new memoir actually reveals the surprising strength the peace movement had achieved by 2006. In that year, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was publicly denouncing any opposition to war, privately urged Bush to bring troops out of Iraq before the congressional elections. But that was the last year in which the interests of the peace movement were aligned with those of groups and funders that take their lead from the Democratic Party.
In November 2008, the last of the major funders of the peace movement took their checkbooks and departed. Were they at long last to take this moment to build the opposite of Fox News and the Tea Party, a machine independent of political parties pushing an agenda of peace and justice, anything would be possible.
David Swanson is the author of the just published book War Is A Lie and Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union. He blogs at Let's Try Democracy and War Is a Crime.
Copyright 2010 David Swanson
David Swanson
David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie, is an activist, journalist, public speaker and radio host. His previous books include When the World Outlawed War and War No More: The Case for Abolition. Swanson serves as director of World Beyond War and host of Talk Nation Radio. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. In the early 2000s, he helped to expose the "Downing Street Minutes" and other attempts to lie the United States and its allies into the Iraq War.


Ils sont fous, ces Ro(u)mains! (EN)
01.Apr.2009 . 4 min read
It was a time in Romania, still under the communist regime, when French was a language held in the highest regard, a time when I was speaking French in the family, just as I do English today at the office… A time when French magazines and/or literature could still make their way behind the Iron Curtain, a lot easier than anything written in German or English… So, the latest cartoons I enjoyed around the 1989 Revolution were in French–Goscinny and Uderzo's Asterix & Obelix 🙂 I still remember their adventures, fighting the Romans on behalf of their people in Gaulle. I especially remember how Obelix related to numberless cohorts of legionaries that tried to catch him, trap him or fight him: They must be crazy, these Romans!
During the past month or so, the new Romanian Government sent to Parliament four Bills proposing the adoption of fundamental legislation that regulates the very substance of society and justice–the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Code. Indeed, leaving aside the European Union's requirements under Benchmark 1 of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, it is high time that Romania reformed its overall perspective on enforcing contracts and upholding private property, sanctioning villains and protecting families, speeding up trials and individuating penalties. But do you honestly think that such a legal edifice, tantamount to a new Constitution, can be erected within 5 months only?!? They must be crazy, these Romanians!!!
Some 10 years ago, in June 99, I joined a team of experts working on these four and other Codes, under the aegis of the Legal Reform Program at the Soros Open Network in Romania. As I was working with the Center for Legal Resources, we had a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Justice (probably signed as early as 97), coordinating the drafting process for the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, a Bill on administrative sanctions, one on anti-discrimination, one on alternative conflict resolution (mediation), another on the execution of prison time, and yet another on probation services. In addition, the Program's Management Team coordinated the drafting of some other Bills, under a different partnership with the same Ministry–the Family Code, the Civil Code, the Civil Procedure Code, as well as proposals for an Administrative Code, Administrative Procedure Code, Fiscal Code and Fiscal Procedure Code. Last but not least, our Legal Reform Program prepared a proposal for the so-called Magistrates' Code. Impressive, eh?!?
Originally, we intended (better said hoped!) that all of these Bills would be endorsed by the Cabinet until the end of 2000, submitted to Parliament, and then turned into Law by 2002, with an understanding that the Codes could finally enter into force some time in 2004. Bottom line, we were then planning about 6-7 years for the entire process! Considering that some of these Bills had already passed into Law, while others were postponed indefinitely (such as the two Administrative Codes), I wouldn't expect the 6-year plan to work on only four Codes–but only 5 months can't be a reasonable time-frame, either! As I explained a little over a year ago, the Codes are serious business, and many of Romania's European aspirations depend on their adoption. If you accept the metaphor, the current legal framework looks like a decrepit old man, suffering from Alzheimer's disease; and the danger is that we'll soon have another legal framework, that looks like a newborn baby diagnosed with the Down syndrome 🙁
Under these circumstances, 20+ civic and media organizations joined forces in a Coalition to Stop the Codes! Make no mistake, these NGOs are all pro-European! The coalition doesn't seek to block the adoption of the proposed Codes just because it's hip to protest against Government! We want and advocate for basic legal rights and obligations to be respected and upheld, according to the Romanian version of the Sunshine Law: The Ministry of Justice has the legal obligation to submit the four Bills to public consultation and oversight, such that citizens may read the proposed regulations, understand the new philosophy underlying specific provisions, analyze correlations among various sections within and across the four Codes, and ultimately identify fallacies or suggest improvements. Since the Ministry of Justice skipped this legal obligation, we don't know to what extent the newly proposed legal framework caters to the needs of the Romanian people, 20 years after the Revolution. But simply making an inventory of prima facies problems with the proposed Codes, we can say that fast track adoption, without a comprehensive consultation process, would be a definite mistake!
So we are not at war, but we're ready to fight for genuine accountability! If the Ministry of Justice or the Government of Romania or the ~70% ruling majority in Parliament think they might catch us off guard, trap us in a morass of political arguments, fight with us in spite of their legal obligations, they better think again! Rule-of-law is non-negotiable! No argument may warrant an exception from the provisions of the Sunshine Law, especially when we're talking about the Codes–not even the President, this year's elections or Europe and its Cooperation and Verification Mechanism! Our Coalition to Stop the Codes is a mirror image of Obelix, having already chiseled our share of legislative menhirs, and now fighting Government on behalf of the people's legal rights 🙂 And if our political leaders continue with their attitude, disregarding the law, our legitimate reaction is They must be crazy, these politicians!!!
civil societyaccountabilityadvocacyENEU affairsoversightparliamentpresidentprime-ministerelections


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Abandoned Spaces' most haunted locations of 2020 Part 1
November 6, 2020 Charlotte Bond
By Alex Technolirik – LiveJournal @technolirik
Throughout the year, we've published many articles about places that have been abandoned by humanity and forgotten by society. It's only natural that such locations gather ghost stories.
We have put together a two-part article to celebrate the spooky tales associated with those properties we've written about at Abandoned Spaces in 2020.
West Virginia Penitentiary, Moundsville, America
A prison is a place of misery for many during their lifetimes, so it's unsurprising that old prisons often have plenty of ghost stories associated with them. As such, West Virginia Penitentiary seems the perfect place to kick off our 2020 Halloween two-parter.
The West Virginia Penitentiary is an impressive building constructed in the Gothic style with crenellations, battlements, and turrets. It was constructed in the 19th century, ironically by prisoners, and is located in Moundsville, West Virginia.
Abandoned. The West Virginia State Penitentiary, a retired, gothic-style prison in Moundsville, West Virginia, that operated from 1876 to 1995. Photo from the Library of Congress.
The prison was the scene of a large, pre-planned riot on January 1, 1986. The inmates had chosen this date because it was a holiday and many guards would be off-duty. The prisoners were successful in negotiating with the governor, and they managed to secure a new cafeteria among other things.
The prison closed in 1995 when there were only 600-700 inmates and 32 prison officers.
During its operation, nearly 50 prisoners took their lives, and there were several fatalities during the riots that occurred there. It's no wonder then that ghostly goings-on have included sightings of "shadow men" and the sounds of chains, screams, voices, and footsteps.
Abandoned Electric chair. Author: Ellen Dunn Photography – Flickr @ellendunn
A headless ghost that is said to haunt the halls of this prison is thought to be either RD Wall or Frank Hyer, both of whom were accidentally decapitated during their time at the penitentiary. Some visitors describe seeing the circular cage through which prisoners were brought into the prison moving on its own as if ghostly inmates are still being processed.
To learn more about one of the most haunted sites in West Virginia, check out our article on it here.
Abandoned Prison cells. Author: Ellen Dunn Photography – Flickr @ellendunn
The House of Wills, Cleveland, America
The House of Wills was a funeral home that was owned by John Walter Wills, one of the most prominent African-American entrepreneurs in Cleveland. This distinctive building was designed by Frederick Willaim Stribinger and was constructed in the Gothic style.
The funeral home is to be found at 2491 East 55th Street in Cleveland. Before Wills bought it in 1942, the building was actually an opera house. When the funeral director took it over, he retained many of the interior design features. What had been a banqueting hall was turned into a casket showroom known as the Cloud Room.
Author: Paul Basel – www.paulbasel.com
The House of Wills went on to become the largest funeral home business in Cleveland, and the company operated for several years. However, many of the ghosts associated with the building don't date from that time, but from its later uses.
At one point, the building was repurposed as a hospital for Hungarian immigrants, and those who lost their lives either at their own hands or the hands of the doctors are said to still haunt the building today. The House of Wills was also used as a speakeasy during prohibition, and the violence associated with that time has added to its collection of spirits.
While visitors report the normal haunted phenomenon of disembodied voices and footsteps, a man in a white suit has also been sighted.
As Halloween approaches, paranormal tours are offered at this spooky site, so why not head over and check it out for yourself? Alternatively, you can read our article about this grand building here.
Craco, Basilicata, Italy
Craco is not an abandoned house – it's a whole town in southern Italy that has been abandoned for the last 40 years. It is believed that this location in Basilicata has been a human settlement since the 8th century BC. Owned by various individuals throughout the centuries, the town steadily flourished until it was large enough in 1276 to boast a university and four palaces.
Despite being struck by the plague in 1656, by the nineteenth century, the city was so large that it needed to be divided into two districts. However, famine and poor agricultural conditions led to inhabitants leaving the city in the following years. Between 1892 and 1922, about 1,300 residents sought a better life elsewhere.
Author: Gaetano D'Ambrosio – Flickr @78587081@N03
In 1963, following a series of landslides, the remaining residents were forced to leave the city. Although some people hoped to move back, a severe flood in 1972 made the place uninhabitable. An earthquake in 1980 sealed the fate of this once-prosperous city.
Given the size of the city, it's not surprising that there are various legends associated with Craco.
The most famous one concerns the Canzoniere district, an area of the city that got its name from a popular tavern. Legend has it that the beautiful woman running the tavern would seduce the patrons to a sticky end of some sort following which she'd put their remains in vinegar. She would then used the pickled meat to make the tavern's signature dish.
To learn more about this remarkable city and its varied history, check out our article here.
Villa Rebar, Zagreb, Croatia
Abandoned Villa Rebar in Croatia might simply be a crumbling set of ruins these days, but it was once home to a high-ranking Croatian dictator.
Villa Rebar is situated around four miles north of Zagreb, at the foot of Mount Medvednica. It once belonged to Ante Pavelić, who went on to become a key figure in the Independent State of Croatia (known as the NDH) that was effectively a puppet government for the Nazis.
Author: Miroslav Vajdić – Flickr @miroslav-vajdic
The villa was built in 1932 during Pavelić's time in the NDH. As well as luxuries such as a tennis court and impressive gardens, Pavelić was also careful to add more pragmatic elements to his estate, such as underground tunnels and a bunker.
When the Nazis were defeated, Pavelić fled to Austria, and his home was left abandoned. In the 1950s, the property was transformed into a mountain resort called Hotel Risnjak. However, a fire in 1979 put an end to that line of business.
Because the upper parts of the property were constructed with timber, all the higher levels have been destroyed, leaving only the foundations and the tunnels. These naturally drew the interest of photographers and urban explorers.
Many visitors claimed they found the tunnels incredibly spooky. Reports started to surface of people hearing screams and also seeing a woman in white. Some people are even lured into the tunnels by rumors that treasure hidden by Ante Pavelić might be buried down there.
To read more about the history of this place, check out our article here.
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'He told me': Antonio Conte shares the one-word Dejan Kulusevski said to him at full-time yesterday
Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has shared with the club's website the one-word Dejan Kulusevski said to him at full-time yesterday.
Spurs fell to a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in north London after another poor opening 45 minutes.
Mohamed Salah's brace in the first-half was enough to secure Jurgen Klopp's men three points, despite a brilliant second-half goal from Harry Kane.
The man who set him up for the goal was Kulusevski as the winger returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The 22-year-old picked up an injury while on international duty with Sweden back in September and hadn't featured since. Despite the defeat, the return of Kulusevski will give Conte a much-needed boost after he played for just over 20 minutes.
Now, Conte has revealed that he asked Kulusveski how he was feeling after the game and he received a one-word response.
What Kulusevski said to Conte
Speaking to Spurs Play after yesterday's defeat, Conte said that Kulusevski was feeling fine after his return.
"It was good to see Deki back, yes, finally. It was important, good news," he said.
"Deki only had a full training session with us yesterday. Today, he said to me, 'okay, coach, for the last 20, 30 minutes, I'm available'. At the end, my first question (to him) was, 'is everything okay?' and he told me, 'yes'."
Spurs have missed Kulusevski's creativity in the final third over the past seven weeks and will be delighted to have him back in the side.
The Swede created Kane's goal within minutes of being on the pitch as he delivered a perfectly-weighted through ball to the Spurs talisman.
Conte has been without both Kulusevski and Richarlison in recent weeks, leaving him short of attacking options.
Heung-Min Son was also ruled out of yesterday's game after he underwent surgery to stabilise a fracture in his left eye.
The Italian surprisingly turned to Ivan Perisic to lead the line with Kane yesterday and the Croatian performed well considering the circumstances. But Spurs looked far more threatening with Kulusevski playing alongside Kane and Conte will be delighted to have the player back.
Giovani Lo Celso reacts after shock news from Tottenham earlier this week
Fabio Paratici delivers verdict on Tottenham loanee Destiny Udogie
Fabio Paratici explains why Tottenham signed Pedro Porro


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R.I.P. Trevor Moore, co-founder of The Whitest Kids U' Know
Moore wrote and starred in five seasons of the sketch comedy series
William Hughes
Trevor Moore on The Trevor Moore Show
Screenshot: YouTube
Trevor Moore has died. As the co-founder of sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know—and, subsequently, one of the stars, and the head writer, of the troupe's television show on Fuse and IFC—Moore helped pioneer the world of online comedy at the turn of the century, leveraging the power of the internet and social media to carve out a niche for the group. Per Variety, he died last night as the result of an accident. Moore was 41.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Moore got into entertainment early, hosting his own public access show, The Trevor Moore Show, when he was still just a teenager. After meeting Sam Brown and Zach Cregger at New York's School Of Visual Arts, the trio founded The Whitest Kids U' Know as a college comedy troupe, eventually filling out the roster with Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter. The troupe then parlayed a win for Best Sketch Group at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2006 into a TV deal, eventually landing The Whitest Kids U' Know at Fuse (and later IFC, after concerns that the show's content might be too extreme for the former network). The series ran for five seasons on the networks, diving deep into absurdist sketch comedy, and producing some of the earliest viral sketch content to land on the internet. Meanwhile, Cregger and Moore also wrote, directed, and starred in a Playboy-themed comedy film, Miss March.
After the Kids series ended, Moore continued to work as a writer and producer in the world of comedy, often in conjunction with Comedy Central, which produced the special High In Church, Trev-A-Thon, and the musical comedy film The Story Of Our Times. (Which features, among other things, Moore performing a lengthy ballad that attempts to apply mythological grandeur to the rise of Kim Kardashian.) Meanwhile, he broke into kids' entertainment as well, creating two series—Walk The Prank, and the improvisational Just Roll With It—for Disney.
Most recently, Moore briefly produced and starred in an absurdist talk series, The Trevor Moore Show, for Comedy Central. He also continued his collaborations with the other members of The Whitest Kids U' Know, streaming regularly with a variety of regular shows on Twitch. Cregger and Brown issued a statement about his death today:
Early this morning, we learned that we lost our brother, our collaborator and the driving force behind WKUK. He was our best friend, and we speak for all of us in saying that the loss of Trevor is unimaginable. We are heartbroken and our grief pales in comparison to the loss felt by his wife and son. On behalf of WKUK, we ask for privacy during our time of profound grief, and strength for his family who are dealing with the impossible thought of living life without him. Our hope is that friends, fellow artists, and fans that loved him will not focus on his death, but will remember the countless moments of laughter he gave them.
TVNewswire


Home / About Us / School Performance
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. Ofsted regulate and inspect schools and colleges to seek improvement in the service. They carry out large number of inspections and regulatory visits in England and publish their finding on their website.
View St Anne's CofE Primary School Ofsted Report
St Anne CofE Primary – Ofsted Inspection 1 February 2019
Ofsted Interim Assessment
Letter from Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
St Anne's CofE Primary School were delighted and proud to receive a letter from the Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP ( Minister of State for School Standards) congratulating our staff and pupils for our very high level of progress, hard work and professionalism. You can view or download our letter by clicking the link below:
Letter of Congratulations from Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
Many Parents are keen to see how we are performing in relation to other schools.
View St Anne's CofE Primary School performance tables
All Church of England dioceses and the Methodist Church use the National Society's framework for the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS). SIAMS inspection focuses on the effect that the Christian ethos of the church school has on the children and young people who attend it.
The National Society's Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) framework is used in all Section 48 inspections of Church of England schools and in the denominational inspection of academies.
St Anne's CofE Primary School – SIAMS Inspection Report
St Anne's CofE Primary School – School Performance inc KS2 Results (2014 – 2019)
St Anne's CofE Primary School – School Performance inc KS2 Results (2013 -2018)
St Anne's CofE Primary School – School Performance inc KS2 Results (2013-2016)
St Anne's CofE Primary School – School Performance inc KS2 Results(2013-2015)
St Anne's CofE Primary School – Investing in Children (Evaluation)
St Anne's CofE Primary School, offer childcare provision and wraparound care. Full details of the provision provided can be found on our Childcare Provision section of our website.
Check School Performance Tables
You can use performance tables (sometimes known as league tables) to compare schools and colleges in your area. You can check:
exam and test results
You can only see statistics for schools and colleges in England.


Husband-and-wife duo Smooth Hound Smith @ Club Cafe, Oct. 6th
By Alan D. Welding on October 1, 2019
What's up, Pittsburgh?? We're coming at ya on tour with some brand new tunes on Sunday, October 6th at Club Cafe. Share this with a friend who needs one last night out before the work week starts! http://bit.ly/2KXptcs
Smooth Hound Smith, who released their third album, Dog In A Manger, last month on Tone Tree and will be performing at Club Cafe on Oct. 6th. On Dog In A Manger, Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle-Smith channel deep emotion into arrangements that somehow feel at once timeless and immediate. The songs salute the far corners of the Americana world, touching upon everything from greasy, big-city blues to acoustic folk. There are slide guitar solos, coed harmonies, a Fleetwood Mac cover and a cameo by the North Mississippi Allstars' Luther Dickinson. Wide Open Country said, "Smooth Hound Smith put their emotional baggage front and center on the hauntingly beautiful Dog in a Manger," while Glide stated, "Smooth Hound Smith are certainly in the top tier of the many duos we've heard from this year."
The saga of Smooth Hound Smith – husband-and-wife duo Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle-Smith – begins in Southern California. It winds from there through countless club gigs to East Nashville, with a detour through big-time arena shows opening for The Dixie Chicks and finally to a new album, on which the seeds planted by experience blossom into a sound unlike that of any other artist. Smooth Hound Smith will release Dog In A Manger on August 9 via Tone Tree.
The songs on Dog in a Manger's tracklist salute the far corners of the Americana world, touching upon everything from greasy, big-city blues to acoustic folk. There are slide guitar solos, coed harmonies, a Fleetwood Mac cover and a cameo by the North Mississippi Allstars' Luther Dickinson tossed into the mix, too.
The album is the third effort from the duo, and while their previous releases evince their unique vocal blend and ability to coax compelling music from minimal instrumentation, Dog In A Manger brings it all to a higher level of expression.
Zack's writing is more concise yet more communicative than ever — Caitlin calls it "denser." Their melodies, hooks and harmonies are in balance. Each song seems to stem from everyday, even mundane incidents. For example, over a sunny, skipping groove, "Life Isn't Fair" recalls a friend who would, in Zack's words, "constantly make himself the victim." "Waiting For A Spark" cites the New Testament and Plato in picturing someone who is "weighing her options, just looking for … any little glimpse of light."
Accessible as the music of Smooth Hound Smith can be, the underlying arc that unifies Dog In A Manger is elusive.
"I wasn't conscious of it as I was writing this songs," Zack explains. "But I realized when I finished that I can relate the lyrics back to was what my dad went through before he passed. He had been diagnosed with CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), which attacks the brain. Literally one in a million people suffer from it. There is no cure. The fatality rate is 100 percent, usually within a year."
In fact, he died just three weeks after being diagnosed, though Zack and Caitlin were able to make it back to L.A. to say goodbye literally minutes before he passed. "That really lit a fire under my ass to get things done in a way I couldn't have predicted, Zack says. "Caitlin and I knew it was sink or swim. We had to put out new content and it had to be good."
Caitlin also made a suggestion early in the process that would significantly affect how she and Zack would approach Dog In A Manger. "Around the time his father passed, we went out dinner," she recalls. "And I told him that I wanted to step back on this album because he had more than he needed to express artistically at that time. Of course, I was there throughout it all, adding my input. But it was right that he would take the reins."
Recorded intermittently rather than in one marathon session, Dog In A Manger began in their living room, tracked on Pro Tools. The results channel deep emotion into arrangements that somehow feel at once timeless and immediate. The lyrics never recount the events underlying the project, though through understatement and insightful irony they tap into the urgency that often flows below the surface of everyday living.
As much as they've achieved with Dog In A Manger, Smooth Hound Smith know that this is just one stop down their path toward promising horizons. "Caitlin and I feel like this is exploratory," Zack explains. "It's like, say, leather working: If you put in five or ten years of working leather, you're going to be pretty good at it. If anybody throws a job at you, you'll be able to do it.
"I feel that way about music. Everyone of our songs is a little different from the others. The next song I write could be the best one I've ever written. It could be the worst song I've ever written. But I do know that five years from now Caitlin and i are gonna be making music much better than anything we'd made before."
A point well proven by Dog In A Manger, the next step in a unique adventure.
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Categories: Announcement/News, Pittsburgh Event, Pittsburgh Premiere
BENEATH THE HOLLOW Release Lyric & Live Video for "Spellbound"
Country Star Chase Rice coming to Pittsburgh Oct. 10 @StageAE


Wisconsin town taking renewed action against Texas energy giant
Town of Forest
FOREST, Wis., Sept. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A small township in northwest Wisconsin is ramping up efforts to block construction of an industrial-scale wind farm that would put 500-foot turbines into an existing neighborhood. To share the growing body of evidence over the negative impacts of industrial-scale wind farms, the town of Forest in St. Croix County has created a new website at forestwindtruth.org. It has also launched a petition drive at change.org.
The battle over the proposed Highland Wind Farm Project in the town of Forest has dragged on for over 10 years despite pleas from town residents about the location of the $250-million project. Forest is located in St. Croix County, about 50 miles east of the Twin Cities.
"While we all understand the need to develop more green energy, siting a wind farm of this magnitude so close to existing residents threatens public health and the quality of life of all our citizens," says Forest resident Doris Schmidt. "We're hoping regulators and policymakers will take another look at this proposal --- especially given the documented impact of wind turbines on people and animals."
Those living near existing wind farms elsewhere in Wisconsin have reported health problems related to noise, shadow flicker, infrasound and stray voltage from the turbines reaching 500 feet tall. The long-term effects are only beginning to be understood, given that large scale wind energy is early in its development in the state.
Leeward Renewable Energy of Dallas, Texas has pressed forward with its project even after its initial application was denied by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC has since reversed its decision despite hearing dozens of people testify about health problems related to a much smaller wind project near Green Bay.
In that case, at least three families were forced to vacate their homes due to the impacts of just eight turbines from the Shirley Wind Farm in rural Brown County. In 2014, following a flood of health complaints including insomnia, anxiety, headaches, nausea and even thoughts of suicide, the Brown County board of health declared the wind farm a "human health hazard."
Following the PSC approval, the town of Forest took legal action but was rebuffed by Wisconsin State Court of Appeals and the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
"We love farming and country life, which is why we stayed on our farm for over 50 years," adds Schmidt. "If a wind farm is built here, everything will forever be changed. It will no longer be the place to come for big family get-togethers. If our animals are subject to stray voltage, they could die. It will be no fun working the farm fields with shadow flicker strobing all over our land."
This is just one of the countless personal accounts from residents as to why they don't want the Highland Wind Farm to continue. The website forestwindtruth.org has more on the residents of Forest.
SOURCE Town of Forest
http://forestwindtruth.org


2019-2020 Arrowverse Roundup - Week 19
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 By Matt Vernier
This week, a war was won, familiar foes returned, secrets were discovered, and new paths were forged. Every show was on and each one brought their A-game which is always a treat.
Below is a breakdown of all of the Arrowverse stuff that aired this week. It is part review, part speculation, part analysis, and part rambling. It is organized in the order they aired throughout the week, so feel free to scroll down to whatever ones you watch. If you want to get caught up, you can use my Arrowverse Viewing Order guide to help you navigate!
You can read this season's previous breakdowns here.
Batwoman - Episode 1.14 - Grinning From Ear To Ear
There was a lot happening in this week's episode of Batwoman. While the main "villain of the week" plot was pretty standard, it was everything else happening around it that made things really interesting.
The villain had Joker vibes, cutting her own face to have a permanent smile. That wasn't the only villain that Duella had a connection to though - her last name is Dent. The episode name dropped Harvey as her uncle, but said nothing about him being Two-Face yet. Luke just mentioned that he was a popular DA. Perhaps the show will use Two-Face in the future then.
That isn't even where the Batman references stop. There was a whole subplot about the murder of Lucius Fox, and dirty Crow agents, which is definitely an interesting story to explore in the future. Then of course at the end, Mouse was hooked up to the Nightmare gas, which is the signature of the Scarecrow. So this episode had a lot going for it.
Mary, Kate, Sophie, Alice, Mouse, his father Ethan, Jacob, and Luke all had some substance in this episode. Luke's was indirect, since it was dealing with his father's death, but that will come around to him soon enough. Sophie came out to her mother, and it was a heartbreaking scene that was probably all to real for some people.
Mary knows that Kate is Batwoman, and each passing moment Kate pretends she isn't hurts her more and more. I've said this before, but Mary is one of the most interesting and nuanced characters that Batwoman has to offer. On the surface, she looks like the least interesting, but it is the opposite.
It was good to see the main plot tie into the overall arc, with things leading back to Ethan, and having Alice finally confront him. With only a handful of episodes left, things have to start amping up, and that is exactly what is happening.
Overall, this was a great character focused episode. There was a lot of scenes with Kate in the Batwoman suit too, which has been lacking in some of the previous episodes. Even though the episode was tackling a lot of different things, it was still focused and had a clear point. It was quite good, and hopefully that is a momentum wave they can ride all the way to the end of the season.
Supergirl - Episode 5.14 - The Bodyguard
Supergirl is fully back on track post-Crisis now. It took a few episodes to handle some business of being on a new Earth, but now things are back to business. There was still a lot happening though. Lena got to the human trial phase of her Non Nocere tech. Alex was adjusting to her new found freedom. Kara gave William a chance, and Brainy is caught in the middle of things and not sure what to do.
Lex is pulling the strings to manipulate Lena and get what he wants with Leviathan all at once. It is truly a masterful thing, and Jon Cryer continues to knock it out of the park each week that The CW blesses us with his presence.
Andrea launched the Obsidian VR tech, and is starting Take 2 of her involvement with Leviathan. We saw how the pre-Crisis version went, so there will probably be something different this time. Could she become an ally of Supergirl? Or is she being set up to be the villain next season? Either one could be a possibility.
It was fun to see Willie Garson back on the show, and to have the important role to show the flaw in Lena's tech. She had a crisis of faith real quick, but Lex squashed that out pretty fast.
Kara under orders to protect Andrea as Supergirl, let her see a side of William she needed to see. It also let her see Andrea's determination, and all of that made her give William a shot, which is nice. The CW will never give up on the love stories in these shows, so they might as well make them as strong and interesting as possible.
Brainy is starting to see Lex's manipulation, but still isn't catching on. As someone who is supposed to have superior intelligence, he is acting pretty stupid. It feels out of character, but hopefully things will come around and end on a high note.
The super-weapon that J'onn gave Alex is cool, but feels like an easy write-out of any problem. It is sort of like the sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who. It has its uses, but when it is used to solve every problem the Doctor has, it feels a bit like a cop out. Hopefully the writers can resist that temptation.
Now that Supergirl has handled its business in more ways than one, it should be a streamlined event all the way to the end. Any speed bumps along the way will be unfortunate.
Black Lightning - Episode 3.16 - The Book Of War: Chapter Three: Liberation
This season of Black Lightning was a bit uneven, but overall it told a very cohesive story and had a strong conclusion. In true Black Lightning fashion, there were seeds planted for the next season. Out of any of the Arrowverse shows, they are the least procedural. There is hardly a Scooby Doo "monster of the week". Instead, each episode contributes to the bigger picture.
Not everyone made it out unscathed though. Jamillah Olsen returned for one scene and was quickly killed. Grace was under Gravedigger's mind control, and is now in a coma. Commander Williams seems to have perished at the hands of Lynn. The rest of the ASA command met their demise at the hands of Gambi. Lady Eve is in trouble, and Agent Odell was shot in the spleen and taken into custody. Dr. Jace was swiftly dealt with, but at least it wasn't Brandon that had to kill her.
But the biggest death was that of Inspector Henderson. The scene was powerful, and well acted by all parties involved. He was a good part of the show, and will be missed, but there had to be a casualty, and my money would have been on Grace if Damon Gupton hadn't tweeted about being let go from the show.
The Khalil/Painkiller duality finally came to a head, and it looks like Khalil won that battle. He has his memories as Khalil, but also the skills of Painkiller. That is the best of both worlds in that situation.
Tobias returned, and is making his play for Freeland. Hopefully he is a bigger player next season than he was this season. It was a nice change of pace to not have him be the main focus, but it will also be nice to get back to that.
Seeing the Gravedigger/Tyson Sykes tease at the end means he is going to show up again too. That is good news, since Wayne Brady absolutely owned that role. He was incredible. It was a treat to watch him be so villainous. If he gets to share the screen with Marvin "Krondon" Jones III (Tobias) next season, that will really be something!
Overall, this season was the shows best. It even incorporated Crisis after keeping its distance from the Arrowverse up until that point. I hope there is more connective tissue with the other shows next season. Let The Flash or one of the Legends or a Supergirl alum come to Freeland and help out. It would be fun to see them interact with the rest of the cast.
The Flash - Episode 6.14 - Death of the Speed Force
The Flash is like The X-Files in that you can classify episodes in two different categories. The first is just a "monster of the week" weekly procedural. The second is when it dives into the mythology, and expands the greater, over-arcing story. "Death of the Speed Force" was the latter, and offered some really incredible stories.
In fact, the weakest part was the shoe-horned Russian "monster of the week" subplot. The fake Iris stuff, the Nash/Thawne stuff, the Wally/Barry stuff, and the Cisco character arc were all infinitely more interesting.
Keiynan Lonsdale returning to the Arrowverse was a welcome addition. Wally West is a wonderful character, and it is always great to see him on the screen. His return was an important one as it dealt with the death of the Speed Force. The concept of that is strong, but its execution was the same as always. Team gets mad at something Barry did, Barry beats himself up and tries to fix it, causing more damage, team forgives Barry and helps him fix it for real. It has happened a lot.
Thawne took over Nash's body, and therefore can't access his negative speed force, which is...weird. He's taken over bodies before (like Earth-1 Harrison Wells) and his speed was just fine. This was a new addition, and it felt like it was made up just to be able to get Cisco out of that room alive. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Vibe still lives because of Crisis, so he could have just used his powers to get out of things. That part was disappointing in an otherwise stellar story.
It was also strange to see that the speed force manifested itself as Barry's mother to Wally too. I was under the impression that it manifested itself differently depending on who it was appearing to.
Fake Iris taking out Kamille was shocking. I assume she goes to the mirror dimension now, and she's not dead. But if that was her death, it was disrespectful and too sudden. We'll see. As of now, it has made for an interesting cliffhanger.
Cisco returned from his adventures, that included a trip to see Aquaman in Atlantis possibly. But the show is always better when Carlos Valdes is on it, and we might not have that much longer, so it was good to have him back.
The convoluted "residual speed" thing was dumb, and both of them running wasted more than if just one of them went. It is one of those general problems that can be as meaningless or as severe as they need it to be on a given day.
The story they wanted to tell was great. The execution of it was a bit sloppy. Still, it was much better than a standard episode, the ones with Thawne and speed force lore are always amazing.
Legends Of Tomorrow - Episode 5.07 - Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac
Legends was absolutely ridiculous this week, but a visit from an old face held the episode together. This week we saw the triumphant return of Damien Darhk, who got a little bit of redemption from all the things he's done.
He was brought in to help usher out Ray and Nora, who will exit the show next week. It is unfortunate, as they are both amazing and deserve to stay on the show. But we can't help that, so hopefully they do them justice. So far they have.
The big shocker of the episode is that Rory has a kid. A kid who was played by Lost In Space actor Mina Sundwall. Hopefully she has a recurring role, because she is a wonderful actor. But they are really giving Rory an emotional arc this season which is a nice change from him doing nothing.
Sara's absence was explained because she got a job offer from Rene. It was a cool Arrow connection, I just wish he was able to show up on the show. Even on the other side of the line when Ava picked up the phone would have been fine.
To use a Mr. Roger's Neighborhood parody as a plot device to solve the problems of the episode sounds like a terrible idea. But Legends of Tomorrow made it work, as they make most preposterous premises work.
The episode also set up the mission for the rest of the season - find the Loom of Fate, use it to fix one person's life, and then destroy it. I'm sure that is exactly how it will happen, and won't be used to fix Zari too or anything....
There was a lot going on here, but it was all handled pretty well. The character interactions were fun, the emotions were real, and the stakes were high. It was ridiculous and fun, but they got a lot of business accomplished too.
The best episode of the week was a tie between the Black Lightning finale and The Flash. But every episode was great this week, which doesn't happen often.
Arrowverse Arrowverse 19-20 Batwoman Black Lightning Caity Lotz Cress Williams Grant Gustin Keiynan Lonsdale Legends of Tomorrow Melissa Benoist Reviews Ruby Rose Supergirl The Flash TV TV Reviews


High profile additions made to Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield
The English Institute of Sport (EIS) Sheffield and iceSheffield have become the latest high profile venues to be incorporated into the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) project.
The multi-million pound project is a joint venture between Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield City Council, based in the East of the City.
EIS Sheffield is the largest multi-sport English Institute of Sport venue in the country and provides state-of-the-art indoor sporting and fitness facilities for the local community and elite athletes, including Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, as well as hosting the British Boxing squad and the EIS sport science and medical services.
IceSheffield is the second venue added to the OLP project and is a national Centre of Excellence for figure skating and ice hockey and was used as a preparation camp for Team GB's figure skaters and skeleton athletes Shelly Rudman and Kristan Bromley ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
Project lead and former Sports Minister Richard Caborn speaking about the plans said "in EIS Sheffield and iceSheffield, we've got two of the best sporting facilities in the UK so it's a real coup to secure the venues within the Olympic Legacy Park."
He added: "The OLP will be home to the only research facility in this country and, we believe Europe, with elite and professional athletes and educational organisations all on one site and EIS Sheffield and iceSheffield are both important features in this unique set up."
iceSheffield was used by Team GB Winter Olympic athletes in the build up to Sochi 2014 ©Legacy Park Limited
At the centrepiece of the endeavour is an Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), which is aimed at delivering the Olympic Legacy on Health and will be home to around 50 researchers with indoor and outdoor laboratories, which will be used to carry out research on physical activities.
"The Olympic Legacy Park is a fantastic new development for Sheffield which we're proud to be part of," said Steve Brailey, chief executive of Sheffield City Trust, which both the EIS Sheffield and iceSheffield are both part of.
"As world-class facilities which balance the health needs of the local community with supporting Olympic and World Level athletes, EIS Sheffield and iceSheffield are a perfect fit for the OLP."
A new stadium and indoor community arena are also being built on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium, with the Sheffield Eagles Rugby League club due to become the main tenant of the new stadium, which will feature a synthetic pitch with a 2,500-seater main stand, and a 50-bed hotel with catering and hospitality areas.
The overall cost of the Olympic Legacy Park is an estimated £50 million ($80 million/€64 million) with the facility due to house a combined primary and secondary school once opened.
Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]
October 2014: Former British Sports Minister unveils Olympic legacy plans in Sheffield
April 2014: Caborn highlights Sheffield's Olympic legacy planning
November 2013: Mike Rowbottom: A lament for the going, going gone Don Valley Stadium
July 2013: Next stage announced in plan to transform Don Valley Stadium sporting site in Sheffield
April 2013: Don Valley Stadium demolition plan confirmed


7 Random Facts About Game of Thrones
by NerdcoreMovement
By Trevor Dueck – Staff Writer
Follow on Twitter @TrevDueck
If you are part of Nerdcore Movement, you are undoubtedly a fan of Game of Thrones. So as we wait for Season 4, which seems like a lifetime away, here are seven facts about the show that you may not have known.
1. Peter Dinklage was the man to play Tyrion Lannister from the very beginning. GOT Producer David Benioff read "A Song of Ice and Fire" and pictured Peter as the perfect actor to play the small but cunning Lannister. Nobody else auditioned for the role and the rest is history
2. Speaking of Peter Dinklage, did you know that he and Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) are actually true BFFs in real life? When Peter was cast as Tyrion he told the producers of the show about his good friend Lena. She auditioned and was cast as Cersei. It must be pretty cool to be playing alongside a good friend.
3. Game of Thrones was almost a movie franchise and not a TV series. George R.R. Martin was approached by producers looking to make the book series a movie saga. Luckily for us all, George decided that his vision wouldn't translate well on the silver screen due to the amount of content that would have to be excluded. George insisted that "A Song of Ice and Fire" be a successful TV series on HBO called Game of Thrones.
4. The majority of the cast have not read any of the books. The actors on the series feel that reading the books and spoiling the storyline will interfere in how they portray their characters, and knowing their fate my cause issues with how they act. Most of us agree that there is no reason to read the books because it will ruin the viewing pleasure of the television show.
5. In the books it says that the Iron Throne was made with dragon's fire and a thousand swords. However, for the television show the Iron Throne was made by propmaker Gavin Jones who spent two months gluing, stapling and nailing wood together and adding a few swords. Apparently it was a very tough prop to build and stands 8 feet tall. There has to be instructions on the internet somewhere because everyone needs one in their home. You can, however, buy a full-size replica of the Iron Throne for only $30,000!
6. Just like Klingons in Star Trek, the Dothraki in GOT have a created language. The producers on the show hired an actual linguist named David Peterson to create a dictionary of Dothraki for the script. Peterson created over 3000 Dothraki words and rules of grammar for the language, and all of it was used in the show.
7. Games of Thrones Producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have the inside scoop in how George R.R. Martin's series is going to end. George is turning 65 this Summer and just in case something happens to him and he can't finish writing the final few books of the series, the producers have inside knowledge to at least finish the television show in George R.R. Martin's vision.
Keep it locked on Nerdcore Movement for all Game of Thrones Season 4 news. Don't forget to follow along all next week as we debut our first ever San Diego Comic Con blog including plenty of Game of Thrones footage!
Tags: Game of Thronessseason 4
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http://thestir.cafemom.com/crime/197481/teen_who_filmed_her_friends
Teen Who Filmed Her Friend's Assault Is Just as Guilty as the Man Who Raped Her
Kiarra Sylvester April 19, 2016 at 12:55 PM
Back in late February, Marina Lonina allegedly watched and recorded via Periscope (an app that allows you to live-stream videos to your followers) as her 17-year-old friend was raped by Raymond Gates, who is 29. The two girls had only met Gates the previous day at a mall before arranging to meet him at a local residence. Fortunately, one of Lonina's friends reported the live stream after it appeared on her feed. If convicted with kidnapping, rape, sexual battery, and pandering sexual matter involving a minor, both parties -- Lonina and Gates -- face more than four decades behind bars. People are somehow trying to make 18-year-old Lonina out to be a victim in this ordeal -- sorry, but that's just not the case.
Lonina's attorney sadly attempted to remind the court not to "lose track of the fact that she's a high school student and she and her friend were clearly taken advantage of." But, I only see one young woman who was taken advantage of and exploited -- I only see one victim.
More from The Stir: How One Sexual Assault Survivor Learned to Live & Love After 21 Years of Abuse
Her attorney continued to paint this ridiculous picture, claiming, "She was swept up by the gravity of the situation and as she immediately told the police, she was filming in order to preserve, not to embarrass or to shame or to titillate anybody." The opposing attorney, trying to make sense of the teen's logic (or lack thereof), countered that this teen "got caught up in the likes" in the midst of her gathering video evidence and things took a "dark turn."
However, I have a difficult time believing that there were no ill intentions behind her alleged actions. If Lonina had access to her phone, there were many actions she could've taken that absolutely didn't include recording the tragedy -- like perhaps texting someone an address or for help in general.
And, even if I wanted to believe that her intent was heartfelt, the opposing attorney describes Lonina giggling while streaming the video.
I find that the problem with our society is that we attempt to place too much blame on technology, instead of forcing people to take ownership for their actions. Personally, I believe these types of people are lacking in humanity or common sense prior to the never-ending technological advancements; however, these advancements now provides a platform for these frightening flaws -- and maybe even an incentive.
More from The Stir: Woman Shares Story of Daughter's Sexual Assault as a Warning for All Moms (VIDEO)
The only thing clear to me is that this young woman is every bit as sick and guilty as Gates. So, even if she doesn't see 40 years behind bars (which she should), I absolutely believe that she should be registered as a sex offender upon her release, if nothing else, because that's precisely what she is.
I believe that the actual victim deserves justice and, as far as her "friend" goes, that's what it looks like.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of a sexual assault, you can find help and support at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1 800 656 HOPE (4673) or Safe Horizon Crime Victims Hotline 1 866 689 HELP (4357).
Image via Stock.com/hocus-focus
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Pope tells priests be 'welcoming' to unmarried couples
dpa (TNS)
Sep 27, 2018 at 7:26 PM Sep 27, 2018 at 7:26 PM
VATICAN CITY — Unmarried couples must not be turned away from the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said Thursday in a meeting with parish priests.
The pastoral work of priests should be include "meeting and welcoming also those young people who choose to live together without marrying," the pope said.
"We need to show them the beauty of marriage," he added.
Speaking to clergy taking a church training course on family and marriage issues, the pope also acknowledged that sometimes marriages can break up.
"In some cases," when efforts to revive a marriage fail, priests should guide spouses towards marriage annulment procedures, Francis said.
Priests and bishops dealing with such cases should not only explain relevant legal procedures, but also "first of all" act in a "listening and understanding capacity," the pontiff said.
For the Catholic Church, heterosexual marriage is the natural form of family life, and divorce is a grave sin. However, church tribunals can declare marriages void in certain circumstances.
Francis has not changed Catholic doctrine, but he is more concerned about outreach efforts towards sinners and non-believers than on its strict enforcement.
Conservatives have criticized this approach, particularly after the pope decided in 2016 to soften a long-standing ban on the Holy Communion for divorcees who have a new stable partner.


Governments in these 5 cities do the most to help startups
Oscar Williams-Grut
Has London made the cut?
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
A big report released Wednesday shows how governments around the world can encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.
The first ever CITIE report has been co-authored by UK innovation charity Nesta, management consultancy Accenture and Catapult!, the UK government initiative to encourage innovation.
As part of the report, they've ranked what they think are the 5 best cities in the world right now for government support of entrepreneurs. The report takes into account things like regulation, access to data, access to investment and central strategy.
Surprisingly, San Francisco doesn't make the cut. Crucially, the report only looks at government-linked initiatives and factors, not private sector activity.
5. Amsterdam
The Blendle team.
Blendle.
Strengths: Government strategy, data
Weaknesses: Digital government, investment
Startups: Quby, Blendle
CITIE Report:
Sometimes the medium-sized cities are more capable of experimenting and developing the right policy conditions for innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish.
The appointment of the city's first chief technology officer (CTO) in 2014 is increasing the momentum to break down silos and support the co-ordination of citywide innovation projects.
Amsterdam's ambition to reinvent how the city hall delivers services and engages with its residents can also be seen in the Amsterdam Smart City initiative.
A hostess performs with robot under control by 5G Technology at SK Telekom pavilion during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 at the Fira Gran Via complex on 3 March, 2015.
Strengths: Access to data, advocating technology through events like Mobile World Congress
Weaknesses: Regulation, investment
Startups: Bitcarrier, Social Point
In the 1990s [Barcelona] developed one of the first city Innovation Districts - 22@Barcelona. The city's Office for Economic Growth has estimated that of 16 pilot projects supported by 22@Barcelona, 90 per cent have gone on to develop a business based on their pilot. The city is now building on this legacy by actively promoting itself as an urban playground for experimentation by entrepreneurs.
"A notable area of weakness is in its role as Regulator, where Barcelona scores very poorly. The 2014 ban on Uber by a judge in Madrid and the fining of Airbnb by the Government of Catalonia for its breach of local laws make it challenging for Barcelona to absorb disruptive business models into the fabric of the city.
3. Helsinki
Supercell's Clash of Clans game.
Strengths: Access to data, investment
Weaknesses: Regulation
Startups: Supercell, Jolla
Helsinki had the most consistent profile of any of the top 5, with a particular strength in the infrastructure roles of Host, Investor and Connector, where it was the number one performer.
Helsinki's vision of mobility on demand, a fully integrated public and private transport 'one click' solution, carries the scale of ambition you would more typically expect from a tech startup and is defining mobility as a service agenda globally. This mobility ambition is in part enabled by its high score as Datavore, making transport data openly available to entrepreneurs to develop new service offerings.
"Although Helsinki's performance in the Openness roles of Regulator, Advocate and Customer are respectable, this is the area where there is most room for improvement for next year.
2. London
Zopa's London team.
Strengths: Investment, promotion of technology and entrepreneurship,
Weaknesses: Digital government
Startups: TransferWise, Zopa, SwiftKey
London was a consistently strong performer across all areas of analysis, and its silver medal is well deserved.
But at the margin, London lacks some of the internal leadership and digital capability. For example, London doesn't have functions like a chief technology or digital officer or an innovation unit, and there is no consistent digital channel for Londoners to interact with services, which are split across different boroughs.
Nevertheless, the recent Smart London Plan is a positive step, and provides a platform to build the kind of capability that London will need if it wants to compete for top spot next year.
ClassPass CEO Payal Kadakia.
Payal Kadakia
Strength: Government strategy, advocate for technology
Startups: Classpass, MongoDB
One of ts key differentiators is the strength and long standing of leadership from the centre. New York City prioritised innovation and entrepreneurship earlier than most other comparable cities, and has taken an extremely active stance towards its startup and tech communities over the last few years.
It provides support for local startups across a wide range of activities from funding and branding to community building and skills provision. And it has also built a first-class internal capability to deploy technology and exploit data in the services it delivers to citizens.
New York City's one area of relative weakness is in the role of Regulator, where it is held back by ongoing struggles to find the best way to accommodate the new business models of short lets and ride-sharing as characterised by companies such as Airbnb. This is a hard thing to get right, but cities such as Amsterdam have shown that, with the right stakeholder engagement, it can be done.
Now checkout the best startups in the number one city.
Flickr / joiseyshowaa
Click here for the 25 hot startups in New York you need to watch »
More: Nesta Accenture CITIE Report Entrepreneur
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FBI Spygate errors and the law of averages
by Mitch Kokai
Senior Political Analyst, John Locke Foundation
Jason Beale argues in a Federalist column that it's statistically impossible for recent anti-Trump FBI errors to have been completely random.
There's no way the cards can all fall one way, no way every "mistake" can redound in support of the government's "case" against Page. There's no statistical way every single oversight, clerical error, unchecked box, unread file, misplaced document, unread email, uncorroborated assumption, unverified assertion, omission of exculpatory evidence, and inclusion of false allegations can all fall against Page, and in favor of the FBI's goal of providing probable cause to convince the court to believe he was an agent of a foreign power.
There's no way 17 glaring omissions, mistakes, mischaracterizations, and straight-up lies can make their way, undetected, unquestioned, and uncorrected, through the now-legendary labyrinth of supervisory coordination, from line agents to Woods Procedures to FBI supervisors to DOJ reviewers to FBI counsel, FBI deputy director, FBI director, DOJ general counsel, deputy attorney general, and attorney general certification.
There's no way none of those people caught one of those 17 mistakes. No way each link in the chain—every single one of them—simply assumed this one time that the previous link had carried out all of their supervisory and verification responsibilities and blindly affixed their certification mark on the package without review. No way it all falls one way.
Unless. Unless this wasn't actually the most statistically improbable perfect storm of innocent oversights and clerical errors, all of which worked in favor of the government's case and adversely to Page. Unless the percentages here were so outlandish and unlikely—a demonstration of abject, systemic incompetence carried out, quite literally, against all odds—that there is a logical explanation for all of this, after all.
To anyone capable of reasoned and objective analysis, that explanation is simple: The cards are meant to fall randomly, and the cards for this guy always fell the same way. The FBI was cheating.
Mitch Kokai
Mitch Kokai joined the John Locke Foundation in 2005 after spending more than four years as chief state government reporter for News 14 Carolina. The Columbus, Ohio native also has extensive experience in radio news. He is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Makers Dance Company
MAKERS DANCE COMPANY.COMDONATE TO MAKERS DANCE COMPANY
The Last Supper Makers Dance Company
ABOUT THE PIECE
Created and choreographed by dancer, director and founder of Makers Dance Company Alexandre Hammoudi, The Last Supper is an epic ballet experience during which audience members are literally immersed in a story of love and betrayal. Driven by a highly energetic score arranged by French composer Tristan Boccara after Franz Schubert, Antonio Vivaldi and Sergei Rachmaninof, The ballet tells the story of a royal wedding ceremony and its court, fueled by power, envy and gossip. The work is both dramatic and athletic giving the dancers a voice to explore
character's depth as well as challenging neoclassical movement in the choreography. The last supper will premiere this fall AT KAATSBAAN PERFORMING ART CENTER November 23. The cast is comprised of various dancers from top tier companies as well as freelance artists. The Makers family is grateful for you consideration, help and support. We thank you.
ABOUT MAKERS
Makers Dance Company is an organization dedicated to the growth of art through the display of dance and theatrics on different stages, films, and media platforms. Founded in 2017 by creative artist and American Ballet Theatre Soloist Alexandre Hammoudi. MDC believes in merging the gap between traditional classicism, new movement and drama bringing a new vision to the world of dance by creating a brand new repertoire inspired by historical tales as well as fictional stories. By using the beauty and bravado of dance in conjunction with innovative visual modern ideas for the 21st century. Makers Dance Company is comprised of dancers and collaborators from all around the world with the common goal of sharing a new artistic voice and vision for anyone and everyone. Are you ready to step into a world where music dances with art? This is Makers Dance Company
Alexandre Hammoudi Founder/Director


Lorna The Exorcist (1974) [XXX, 18+]
Written by: Robert de Nesle, Jess Franco, and Nicole Guettard
Directed by: Jess Franco
Starring: Pamela Stanford, Guy Delorme, and Lina Romay
Reviewed by: Brett G.
When her flesh begins to crawl…so will yours!
The runaway success of The Exorcist made producers' heads spin worldwide, and the result was a slew of possession and exorcism-themed films from all corners of the globe. It should come as no surprise that one of the genre's most notorious names threw his hat into the ring. I'm speaking of course of Jess Franco, the man with nearly 200 films credited to his various pseudonyms (he can seemingly claim about 200 of those as well). Depending on your sensibilities, an erotic, Franco-helmed take on this sub-genre either excites or terrifies you; either way, though, it's hard not to be at least a little bit intrigued by Lorna The Exorcist.
Patrick Mariel is a successful businessman whose daughter, Linda, is about to celebrate her birthday. For the occasion, his family heads out on a vacation that is soon interrupted by phone calls from a mysterious woman. She's the titular Lorna, who is actually some kind of sorceress that Patrick met years ago; back then, he made a deal with this she-devil that resulted in all of his fortune. In exchange, Lorna would get his then-unborn daughter when she turned eighteen years old. Of course, Linda is now turning eighteen and Lorna has returned to make Patrick keep his end of the deal.
The first thing you'll notice here is a distinct lack exorcists, despite the title. Anyone accustomed to the opportunistic and exploitative tactics of producers and distributors of the era will hardly be surprised to know that this title change was likely just a desperate cash grab to cash in on the recently successful film. In fact, the film barely resembles a "possession" film at all, at least in the traditional sense. It's mostly just a poorly plotted, melodramatic take-off of Faust, though it may be the sleaziest version of that tale ever committed to film. This one takes little time in announcing its intentions, as the opening ten minutes features a very explicit and erotic lesbian scene that falls just short of being hardcore pornography. It's interesting to note that the original theatrical version of this film was lost for nearly 40 years; all that was left of it was a version that was re-cut into a porno film during the 80s. One wonders why a producer felt such a need to do that, as Franco's original version is chock full of eroticism, with the "plot" really only serving as an interlude between the film's sex scenes.
Indeed, such sleaze is a hallmark of most Franco films. Lorna carries many of the director's other signatures, like his propensity for dramatic zooms and a droning musical score that's highlighted by one particularly repetitive piece of music. Long-time collaborator (and wife) Lina Romay also shows up here as Linda, the innocent daughter who is being seduced by the evil Lorna, who is essayed by Pamela Stanford, another Franco regular. Neither puts on a particularly good performance (nor does anyone else in the film), but that's also to be expected and would be akin to criticizing the acting in softcore porn, which is all this is. The thin story isn't helped by the abundance of exposition explaining the backstory involving Patrick and Lorna; and, if that weren't enough, Franco even tosses in a flashback that shows the story we've already been told (as if he could resist actually showing a couple of sex scenes to pad the length).
The film also happens to be masquerading under the pretense of being a horror film; this sort of erotic Euro-horror is practically a sub-genre in and of itself, and I suppose Lorna sidles in just fine along others of its ilk. While it doesn't reach consistently outrageous heights, there are a few memorable moments strewn in there. Let's just say one scene involves a deadly case of crabs, while another makes Udo Kier's virgin blood-drinking scene in Blood for Dracula seem quaint by comparison. There's even an incestuous vibe going on between Lorna and Linda, as the former actually refers to the latter as her daughter throughout the film. It can't quite keep up its insanity for the entire run-time though, as these scenes are sparsely parceled out amidst all the sex.
Obviously, Lorna The Exorcist isn't much more than a smut film, and it doesn't really try to be anything more. It's unabashed, unfiltered Franco through and through, as no raunchy camera angle is left unused (let's just say we get really up close and personal with the two female leads) and few taboos are unexplored. Mondo Macabro has blessed the world with this uncut version of the film, which has never been seen on home video until now. The on-screen menu warns you that this print is culled from several different sources, which leads to varying picture quality. All in all, it's not a bad presentation--some scenes are more spotty than others--but it's very watchable. It's obviously not a reference quality disc to show off to your friends (then again, this isn't the a film to show off to them, period). The disc provides both English and French soundtracks, with appropriate subtitles. Extras include an interview Gerard Kikoine, Stephen Thrower, deleted and extended scenes, and previews for other Mondo Macabro offerings. This is a DVD company that's been dedicated to bringing home the wild side of world cinema, and they certainly delivered that with Lorna. The uninitiated will likely be fairly shocked; however, anyone who has spent a night with Malabimba and her contemporaries will find this a modest curiosity at best. Rent it!
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Pastor Kumuyi defies govt, explains why deeper life will not obey directive
The General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, has explained why the church will not obey President Buhari's ban on Twitter usage.
Kumuyi who defied the ban on Monday, said tweets shared on his page are targeted at a global audience in more than 5 continents and over 100 Nations.
"In view of the Twitter ban in Nigeria, please note that the content shared on this handle is targeted at a global audience in more than 5 continents and over 100 Nations and we share the content from any of these locations," he tweeted.
"In view of the Twitter ban in Nigeria, please note that the content shared on this handle is targeted at a global audience in more than 5 continents and over 100 Nations and we share the content from any of these locations.— Pastor William F. Kumuyi (@pastorwf_kumuyi) June 7, 2021
Recall that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had on Friday announced Twitter's suspension in a statement by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi.
The same tweet was also posted on the official Twitter page of the church.
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