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Greg Cote
Why NFL's Championship Sunday will see a major upset. (But not that game. The other one!)
JAGUARS (12-6, No. 3 seed) at PATRIOTS (14-3, No. 1)
LINE: NE by 8 1/2.
TV: 3:05 p.m. Sunday, CBS.
I wanted to be the one, I really did. The one NFL prognosticator other than the obligatory Homer From The 904 who predicted the mighty Patriots would fall at home to Jacksonville in the AFC Championship Game.
And it could happen. Right?
The Jaguars' defense is that good (although last week's 45-42 blitzkrieg over Pittsburgh did not feather the opinion), and Tom Coughlin back with Jax in a front office role gives them a wise old head who knows a little bit about beating Bill Belichick.
The thing is, you can't talk yourself into a gut feeling that isn't there. The gut instead tells me it isn't time yet for the New England epoch to unravel, and it isn't time yet for Jacksonville to be king.
The Pats are 10-1 all-time vs. this opponent, and are 6-1 in conference title games in Foxborough, a tough place to play even when it isn't January and 35 degrees.
Tom Brady's right hand got banged in practice this week but this pick assumes he'll be good to go, which is to say, great to go. You see what Big Ben did to the Jags' pass defense last week?
Jax cornerback Jalen Ramsey has gumption the size of grapefruits to all but guarantee a win at New England after his unit gave up five TD passes and almost 500 yards to Roethlisberger.
The Patriots' own defense is unheralded-good, and the gulf between Brady and Blake Bortles is Grand Canyon-esque. Also, give me Belichick over Doug Marrone, please.
Watch Belichick erase Leonard Fournette and force deep balls by Bortles, and watch Brady say nope-sorry to Ramsey's boast.
Jacksonville is only the second team since the 1970 merger (joining the '06 Saints) to reach a conference champ-game after having three or fewer wins the year before. That's a remarkable story, but, alas, one that ends here.
VIKINGS (14-3, No. 2 seed) at EAGLES (14-3, No. 1)
LINE: MIN by 3.
TV: 6:40 p.m. Sunday, Fox.
And yet again the top-seeded Eagles are home underdogs, which explains all of those fans who'll be wearing dog masks in Philadelphia on Sunday.
And which also explains the kind of disrespect-fueled motivation that is money in the bank to an athlete.
(Note to self: Time for a Rodney Dangerfield reference? Nah. Move on).
The funny thing is, this could so easily be Saints-Falcons for the NFC crown. Vikings needed that Minnesota Miracle last week to beat New Orleans — the first final-play, walkoff TD in NFL postseason history. And the Eagles needed a goal-line stand including a 4th-down stop from the 2 in the final seconds to survive Atlanta.
And so we have Vikes in their first conference title game since 2009, trying to become the first team ever to play at home in a Super Bowl.
And Philly this close to a SB for the first time since '08. Case Keenum vs. Nick Foles might not scream epic duel, but this matchup could be one of those thanks mostly to two terrific defenses that should make points cherished things. But there also is an underdog quality to this game that is uncommon in a 1 vs. 2 matchup.
Minnesota is 0-4 in Super Bowls and has lost five consecutive NFC Championship Games since its last SB appearance in '76. Philly, its last NFL title in 1960, is 0-2 in Super Bowls. Vikings going for their first-ever franchise crown in their own stadium would be a sweet story, but Birds are about to deny that ending. Writing off Philly once Carson Wentz went down has proved a large mistake.
Foles is capable, I think the Eagles' defense is as good as Minnesota's, and I also think the home-field advantage here will be just that. A palpable edge. And all of those dog masks representing disrespect? Vikes will have a ton to overcome. So: Upset!
We were a lousy 1-3 straight-up in the Divisional Round last week, as I joined the millions of victims of the Minnesota Miracle — or should I say the game-ending play not made by the Saints' Marcus Williams.
(Welcome to eternal infamy, kid. Your greeters are Bill Buckner and Scott Norwood. You have earned your place).
I fared much better against the spread, at least, going 2-1-1. Had Patriots covering and had Jaguars with points at Pittsburgh, while the Vikes' win ended up pushing at five points for the tie.
Now on to the Final Four — King Sport-style – as the AFC and NFC Championship Games serve as play-ins for the Super Bowl.
The AFC offers up reigning dynasty vs. classic underdog.
The NFC gives us the rarity of a No. 1 seed at home but not favored. Intriguing stuff. Let's run the Sunday table, shall we?
Overall: Pct. Vs. Spread Pct.
Last week: 1-3 (.250); 2-1-1 (.625).
Playoffs: 4-4 (.500); 4-3-1 (.563).
Final 2017: 156-100 (.609); 102-137-17 (.432).
Final 2016: 159-95-2 (.626); 139-109-8 (.560).


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Peggle 2 Videos: Meet the Masters
Get acquainted with friends both old and new in this set of Peggle 2 videos from PopCap Games. And yes, Bjorn the Unicorn is back.
While we're already used to Bjorn and his Super Guide power, we have yet to be introduced to the other masters' powers.
Up first is Berg, the ballet-obsessed yeti whose butt needs to be censored at all times; his power is the Deep Freeze, which causes ice to grow around the board and makes it so that pegs slide into each other.
Next is a troll named Jeffrey, who's an expert bowler and goat lover. His power is the Bowlder, which is a gigantic rock that drops down and crushes any peg in its way.
Luna is a little girl who doesn't know that she's a ghost. This might seem a little macabre, but she's pretty cheery regardless of this fact. Her power is Nightshade, which turns all of the blue pegs into ghosts, allowing your balls to pass through them and hit orange pegs unfettered. It also provides the added bonus of resurrecting recently destroyed pegs for more points.
The final master is Gnorman, a gnome who rides inside of a larger gnome mecha. His power is called the Uber Volt, which shocks balls and causes them to discharge electricity whenever they hit pegs.
Now that you've met your masters, you only have to wait until Peggle 2 is released first on Xbox One on Dec. 9.

subset: commoncrawl


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Simplify maintenance of product, pricing, and vendor master data with software workbench tools. Non-technical business users can use these tools to maintain master data within SAP ERP – with no need to rely on IT experts. SAP Data Maintenance for ERP helps provide insights into master data that you can act on to boost productivity.
- Reduce business risk by increasing the accuracy and reliability of master business data
- Strengthen compliance with consistent, updated data and an audit trail for simplified reporting
- Quickly view and update pricing, costs, and margins for products purchased, bought, and sold
- Sort and view customer and vendor data for business requirements rather than IT requirements


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DENVER - Dexter Fowler capped a big day at the plate with a game-ending triple off Brett Myers with one out in the 10th inning Monday night, giving the Colorado Rockies a 7-6 win and a sweep of their doubleheader with the Houston Astros.
The Rockies won the opener, 9-7.
Fowler lined a pitch past a diving first baseman Carlos Lee and the ball ended up in the right field corner as Michael Cuddyer, who singled, scored from first.
After Cuddyer slid across home plate, Fowler ripped off his helmet and threw it across the field in excitement.
Josh Roenicke (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win. Myers fell to 0-2.
The Rockies had entered the day 6-18 in May.
In the first game, Jed Lowrie's flubbed flip in the field overshadowed his solid day at the plate.
The shortstop's two-out throwing error in the eighth inning paved the way for Jordan Pacheco's two-run single.
Lowrie had a chance to get the Astros out of the inning unscathed after Jason Giambi drew a walk.
With pitcher Jeremy Guthrie pinch-running for Giambi, Dexter Fowler hit a slow dribbler to a hard-charging Lowrie, who tried to go to second.
But his underhand toss struck Guthrie on the right foot and bounded into shallow left-center, allowing Guthrie to scoot to third and Fowler to move up to second.
Pacheco then followed with a bloop single off Fernando Rodriguez (1-5).
"I didn't think I had a chance at first with Fowler running anyway," Lowrie said.
"I thought we had a better chance with Guthrie at second.''


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This week in Fish: Toxin glands and a meal to die for
This week we look at the toxin glands of a Southern Peacock Sole. We find out what it is like to be stung by a Demon Stinger and try to digest the image of a fish that bit off more than it could chew. In all, over 60 pages were moved over to the new site.
Toxin glands of a Southern Peacock Sole
Ichthyologist, Dr Tony Gill sent an image of the fin of a Southern Peacock Sole that was being cleared and stained. The toxin glands and the pores through which the toxin is released are clearly visible. Thanks Tony!
Pain relief please
Dr Richard (Harry) Harris declined the kind offer of having his foot urinated on while enduring the pain resulting from the Sting of a Stinger.
The fish with eyes bigger than its stomach
This incredible image of a Horned Two-rod Angler and Snoutscale Whiptail just proves the old adage that you should never eat anything bigger than your head!
Fish FAQ
What is the second smallest species of fish?
General pages
Ghost Flatheads (family Hoplichthyidae)
Swallowers, Pseudoscopelus spp
World's first Black Marlin caught on Rod and Reel
Darryl Houston and 12 of his students from the TAFE NSW-Sydney Institute were taken on a tour of the fish collection.
New species fact sheets
The following pages have been migrated from the old site. Many lack images, but these will be added soon.
Bentstick Pipefish, Trachyrhamphus bicoarctatus
Eucla Slickhead, Rouleina eucla
Gracile Saury, Saurida gracilis
Harlequin Smiler, Opistognathus eximius
Little Maori Wrasse, Oxycheilinus bimaculatus
Pacific Basslet, Pseudanthias huchtii
Redstripe Basslet, Pseudanthias fasciata
Ringtail Unicornfish, Naso annulatus
Roundface Batfish, Platax teira
Royal Dottyback, Pseudochromis paccagnellae
Silver Spot, Threpterius maculosus
Araara, Pseudocaranx georgianus
Sixline Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus hexataenia
Slender Rainbow Wrasse, Suezichthys gracilis
Smalleye Gudgeon, Prionobutis microps
Smalleye Squaretail, Tetragonurus cuvieri
Smallscale Bullseye, Pempheris compressa
Smallspine Turretfish, Tetrosomus reipublicae
Snubnose Dart, Trachinotus blochii
Snubnosed Eel, Simenchelys parasitica
Sombre Sweetlips, Plectorhinchus schotaf
Southern Roughy, Trachichthys australis
Southern Spineback, Notacanthus sexspinis
Spangled Emperor, Lethrinus nebulosus
Spangled Tubeshoulder, Persparsia kopua
Speckled Damsel, Pomacentrus bankanensis
Spikey Oreodory, Neocyttus rhomboidalis
Spine-cheek Clownfish, Premnas biaculeatus
Splendid Hawkfish, Notocirrhitus splendens
Spotted Grubfish, Parapercis ramsayi
Spotted Scat, Scatophagus argus
Stout Floater, Schindleria brevipinguis
Stout Longtom, Tylosurus gavialoides
Striate Anglerfish, Antennarius striatus
Striped Scat, Selenotoca multifasciata
Stripey, Microcanthus strigatus
Swallowtail Dart, Trachinotus coppingeri
Swarthy Parrotfish, Scarus niger
Swordfish, Xiphias gladius
Tailor, Pomatomus saltatrix
Tasselsnout Flathead, Thysanophrys cirronasa
Theodore's Threadfin Bream, Nemipterus theodorei
Thetis Fish, Neosebastes thetidis
Threadfin Leatherjacket, Paramonacanthus filicauda
Tripletail Maori Wrasse, Cheilinus trilobatus
Trumpeter Whiting, Sillago maculata
Tubemouth, Siphonognathus argyrophanes
Two-line Monocle Bream, Scolopsis bilineata
Undescribed Anglerfish
Variegated Lizardfish, Synodus variegatus
Violet Roughy, Optivus agastos
Wavy Grubfish, Parapercis haackei
Whitespot Parrotfish, Scarus forsteni
Whitespotted Anglerfish, Phyllophryne scortea
Yellowspotted Boarfish, Paristiopterus gallipavo
Yellowspotted Triggerfish, Pseudobalistes fuscus
Yellowtail Scad, Trachurus novaezelandiae
Zebra Lionfish, Dendrochirus zebra


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Posted by Editoress on 08/1/09
Today (Thursday) Team Canada's assault on the Jr World Championships began at the Burnaby Velodrome. Six athletes have come from across the country to prepare for their biggest track competition to date. On hand was National Track coach Richard Wooles and project coach Jeremy Storie. Krista Ruby and Allan Leparskas have flown from Ontario to join Scott Mulder, Jacob Schwingboth, Ben Cowburn and Kevin Thorpe in final preparations for the trip to Moscow. British Columbia is going through a heat wave and while it is still hot under the dome in Burnaby it is cool in comparison to the scorching outside temperatures.
On day one the riders went through some basic sprint efforts and steady state motorpacing for the endurance riders to loosen the legs up for the remainder of the six day camp. The riders at Burnaby will be joined in Moscow by Ryan Aitcheson and Florence LaPlante Lamarsh in Moscow who are both competing on the road as well. Stay tuned for more updates during the camp and race reports from Moscow.
Courtesy Jeremy Storie
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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|H.W. McCurdy, '22 Director of Rowing/Head Coach
|13th at MIT
|Previous College:
|Harvard '82
Tony Kilbridge is in his 13th year as MIT's director of rowing and men's varsity heavyweight coach. Since his arrival, MIT's heavyweight men have established themselves as a competitive force in Division I, defeating many of its opponents in cup racing and championship regattas.
As director of rowing, Kilbridge oversees all of the Institute's varsity crews and is responsible for the operation of the Pierce Boathouse. Under his leadership, all of MIT's crews are on the upswing and are looking forward to better results with each passing year.
Kilbridge came to MIT from the University of Virginia, where he led the men's heavyweight crew to several strong seasons and top-20 national rankings in his five years at the helm. Kilbridge graduated cum laude from both Harvard University in 1982 and Georgetown University Law School in 1987. As an undergraduate, Kilbridge was a two-time Eastern Sprints champion. He has also earned Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the Masters' U.S. National Championships.


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View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.
Published at 5:09 a.m. ET: One of the best-known child kidnapping cases in the country is back in the news.
San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr held a news conference Wednesday to announce they now have a "person of interest" in the 1984 disappearance of 10-year-old Kevin Collins. He was last seen walking home from a basketball game and has not been since. His face was one of the earliest to be put on the back of milk cartons across the country in the search for missing children.
"This case is a case that haunts the San Francisco Police Department," Suhr said.
Suhr identified the man as Dan Therrien, who lived in a home just a couple of blocks from where Kevin was last seen in 1984, near the corner of Masonic Avenue and Page Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Therrien died in 2008.
Complicating matters, Therrien went by at least five aliases. Police said he used the name Wayne Jackson at the time of Kevin's disappearance.
San Francisco Police
San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr held a news conference Wednesday to announce a "person of interest" -- Dan Therrien, shown in 1982 -- in the 1984 kidnapping of 10-year-old Kevin Collins.
Police stopped short of calling him a suspect, and instead said he was a "person of interest." Suhr also asked for the public's help in coming up with any information that might be relevant to the case.
At the conference, police said that detectives realize this is a long shot, but they're just hoping someone will remember him.
Investigators looking at the case recently realized Therrien had a lengthy criminal past in both California and Canada, including a felony for a lewd act on a child. They didn't know that at the time because he had used other names. Police said that in 1981 he had served six months in jail after pleading guilty to a felony charge of a lewd act on a child. The victim was 7 years old.
The Canadian case was also previously unknown: He was arrested in 1973 on suspicion of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys.
In the Canadian case Therrien -- whom police also identified Wednesday as Wayne Jackson -- went on the lam and was never arrested. Police didn't release where it happened in Canada or any other details.
Therrien was eyed by police at the time of Kevin's kidnapping, according to sources, and he had consented to a search at the time. But he was never formally arrested or named a suspect in Kevin's disappearance.
Kevin's story captured national attention. He was last seen was on his way home from a basketball practice at St. Agnes School in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. He was talking to a man with blond hair and a large black dog, waiting for a bus at the corner of Oak Street and Masonic Avenue. Normally his older brother would have been with him, but that day his brother was home sick.
Police said Therrien matched the general description of that man and had a black dog at the time.
Last month, San Francisco police searched the home where Therrien lived in 1984 and removed several bones that were located under concrete in the garage. But those bones turned out to be from a small animal.
Cold-case investigators said last week that they realized recently that cadaver dogs were never used when the home was searched in the 1980s.
On Tuesday night, the the lead cold-case investigator visited the home of Kevin's mother. Investigators spent a couple of hours with the boy's family and left without comment. They said they showed the family photos of Therrien at the time Kevin went missing to see if they family might have known him.
Kevin Collins would have been 39 years old on Jan. 24.
"What we're looking for now is anybody that saw this guy in 1984, anybody that talked to this guy back in 1984, anybody that talked to somebody that talked to this guy back in 1984," Suhr said. "We would love to find the whereabouts of that little boy."
Anyone with information on this matter can contact the SFPD Major Crimes Unit at (415) 553-1145. Information can be given anonymously at (415) 575-4444.
- Raymond William Stewart – DOB: 1947
- Kelley Lee Dawson – DOB: 1947
- Wayne Jackson (name he gave police in 1984) – DOB: 1954
- Kelley Sean Stewart – DOB: 1949
- Dan Leonard Therrien (name he died under) – DOB: 1956


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You see the following error message when you use your Xbox 360:
System Error: Contact Xbox Customer Support
Error E80
This means there may be a problem with the Xbox console hardware.
Try the following steps:
Our Flashing Lights Solution may help resolve the issue. Choose one flashing light as the problem and follow the steps in the solution.
If these steps don't resolve the problem, you'll need to request a repair. Learn how to request a repair.
Repair or warranty questions? See Xbox 360 repair: Frequently asked questions.
Thanks for your feedback!
Provide feedback for this topic
Would you like to contact Support regarding the "You see an E80 error on your Xbox 360 console" issue you were reading about or a different issue?


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Aniston, who promised to donate a "ginormous" amount of money to ALS, laughed hysterically after the dousing, while Justin gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. Watch!
Aniston nominated friends Courteney Cox, Chelsea Handler and Howard Stern to the take the challenge!
Check out Justin's video! Jen and David Lynch were among his nominees!
Visit ALSA.org to donate!


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Do you want long, stunning hair guys can't take their eyes off of and other women rave about? Are you upset because your hair is too thin or too short? Get happy! And get Salonel™ by LuxStyle. They're the highest-quality human hair extensions – at unbeatable prices.
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Sydney Grammar School
Famous artworks are frequently used to advertise everyday products. My film explores and modifies the relationship between art and commerce so that the artworks are advertised. For example, Brand Power attempts to sell Andy Warhol's soup cans. Film is the most suitable medium for exploring advertising given the importance of television in modern culture.


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Arts Advocacy & Networking
4Culture (formerly Cultural Development Authority of King County )
4Culture is King County's cultural services agency. 4Culture is located in Seattle, Washington, and was established in January of 2003 to continue the work of the King County Arts Commission, Public Art Commission and the heritage programs of the Landmarks Commission.
The mission of Allied Arts is to enhance the cultural livability of Seattle and to create a social network of people who care about the Arts, Urban Design and Historic Preservation.
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
NYFA Source is the most extensive national directory of awards, services, and publications for artists. Listings include over 3,400 arts organizations, 2,800 award programs, 3,100 service programs, and 900 publications for individual a rtists across the country. More programs are added every day.
The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs promotes the value of arts and culture in and of communities throughout Seattle. By fostering and highlighting the creative contributions of our artist citizens to every facet of the community, we foster the creativity in every resident and build a healthy and vibrant Seattle.
The members of the Washington State Arts Alliance are artists, arts organizations, business people, arts educators, policy makers, parents, and people from all walks of life who are committed to keeping the arts strong and at the center of community life across Washington State.
WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation, is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts. Based in Denver, Colorado, WESTAF fulfills its mission to strengthen the financial, organizational and policy infrastructure of the arts by providing innovative programs and services to artists and arts organizations in the West and nationwide.


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News & Notes
Summer Splash 2011 (Sep. 3, 2011) / Artist UpdateAug 11 (Thu ), 2011
Summer Splash Weekends 2011!
Summer Splash 2011 Mountain Music Revival
When? Sep. 3, 2011
Where? Canyons Alpine Lodge, Minakami Gunma
What? Music Festival & Adventure Weekend
Summer Splash Package Tours? Yes! Jump on one of the bus tours
below that include transportation, accommodatin, activities and tickets to Summer Splash.
Part of every ticket will go to help support our friends up north. See below for details!
Entertainment? If you've been to Snow Splash or Summer Splash, you know
there will be no shortage of music and entertainment. This year we'll have some
"Splash" favorites plus a few suprises to keep everyone jumping throughout the night.
Tickets: Entrance fee will be affordable (2,000 or 1,500 yen) with part of every ticket
going to support charities supporting rebuilding efforts in Tohoku.
Artists appearing at Summer Splash 2011include...
THE DIRTY T'S (Rock 'n' Roll)
KARAMOKO CAMARA (African Percussion)
VOLGROOMA (Rock - Jam - Percussion)
W.E.T. Bandwagon (Rock - Jam - Funk)
ファイアーパフォーマンス 遊火 (Fire Performers)
And other special guests....
Bus Tours
Join one of the all-inclusive bus tours for both weekends through our friends at Tokyo Snow Club and Nippon Adventurers Club. Both groups have some great tours for the weekend that include adventures, tickets, transportation and accommodation. You can also come up on your own and stay at one of the local places to stay below.
If you are coming up to Summer Splash on your own and want to book accommodation yourself, visit our Minakami accommodation list page for information on places to stay in the area. Book early!
If you are interested in camping at Summer Splash, there are a limited amount of camping spots available outside Canyons. There is also a campground a 20-minute walk from Canyons available for 1000 yen per tent site. Toilets and other facilities and mean views of Tanigawa! Contact Canyons at firstname.lastname@example.com for bookings.If you are interested in reserving one of these spots.
Outdoor Adventures
Contact one of the companies below for some fun outdoor adventure tours. Or you can join one of the Summer Splash Bus Tours for a package tour that includes a ticket, transportation, activities and accommodation. See below for details and book early!
Contact Kappa Club about rafting on Sept. 3-4. Book early!
Contact Canyons about canyoning or rafting on Sept. 3-4. Book early!
Contact MTB Japan about MTB tours on the Summer Splash weekend! Book early!
Contact Bungy Japan about taking the leap of faith and the special bungy festivities on Sept. 3-4 and book early!
Summer Splash Sponsors
Special thanks to our sponsors for their support!
Also check out our Event Page on Facebook!
Access to Canyons Alpine Lodge
View Larger Map
Summer Splash 2010
Photos by Lou Deikin and Shoko Kurihara


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Sunday, February 5, 2012
Growing Into Baseball
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me pass on my regrets this past week for having missed out on my regular weekend blogging duties. I had every intention of getting some of my rambling thoughts into cyberspace, until I got a text from a friend with an extra ticket to the NHL All-Star Game being held in Ottawa last Sunday. So yes, dear readers, I chose to attend a half-hearted and fairly lazy display of hockey over talking baseball with you.
The thing is, a younger me wouldn't have thought twice about going to the hockey game. I might have been angling to get there on my own, not just dropping in as a matter of happenstance.
But now, I actually had to give it some careful consideration. My hesitation was not, as you might assume, because of my overwhelming sense of obligation to the Tao to get a weekend post up. (Bastard bounced my last paycheque.) It was because even though I'd never been to an All-Star Game of any kind before, I just had a hard time getting interested. I didn't know many of the players on the teams; hell, I barely could understand how they got chosen. Fifteen years ago, that wouldn't have been the case.
Something about getting older has simply made me a bigger baseball fan. Over the past decade or so, I've become a more engaged, passionate baseball fan than I've ever been of other sports – even the ones, like hockey and football, about which I used to be most passionate, and even played as a younger man.
Baseball attracts and further engages me in part because of the mountains of baseball knowledge that exist. I've personally been let in on the game in a way that hockey and football never allowed, at least based on what I had read and consumed. At the same time, all of this knowledge is growing exponentially by the day, and easier to find than ever.
That's not to say that there aren't the same resources out there for other sports. But they don't bring you inside the game the same way. Football thrives, for instance, on its image as a battlefield, populated by superhuman warriors who bring home three-inch-thick playbooks to study, and mere mortals can only watch and wonder. Baseball seems much more human.
The books, websites, blogs, and other media that are out there can help a person know more about just about any aspect of the game, in an interesting and entertaining way. If you want to understand its statistics and how they paint a picture of the game in different ways for different people, you can start with Moneyball and work your way through to Bill James and beyond. If you want to read about baseball's history, its unique character and charms, its brightest and blackest days, there have been generations of smart and talented chroniclers of the game to whom you can turn.
Tonight, I have the Super Bowl on TV.
(Side note: I started watching an hour late and was PVRing the broadcast, which allowed me to fast-forward through the commercials during the first half. I didn't catch up to the live broadcast until Madonna's withered carcass was about halfway through her spectacle. Three things about that: one, there really is no better way to get through the stop-and-start bullshit of a football broadcast. Two, this is another reason why baseball is more compelling to me, because they just play the damn game, and yes, it takes a while, but at least I don't have someone trying to sell me Dr. Pepper every six minutes. I only have to put up with that when the inning ends or they change the pitcher. Three, the Super Bowl halftime show could run Up With People out there again and I'd be more interested in it than Madonna.)
The fact that I was willing to turn away from the largest North American sporting event of the year, and spent an hour scribbling some thoughts about baseball, tells you pretty much all you need to know about which sport has its hooks in me for good.
Pitchers and catchers report in two weeks.
4 comments:
- Matt - HBB said...
The accessibility is definitely key and really the reason that I have gotten in to Baseball so much this past season. Sites like FanGraphs and then all the easily accessible blogs were very inviting to a fan like myself and made it very easy to learn the further nuances of the game.
The Verdict: Baseball is Awesome
- February 5, 2012 at 9:23 PM
This sums up my feelings almost exactly. I played baseball at a higher level than I ever did hockey, and always considered it my favourite sport (especially to play).
But as a fan, hockey -- and particularly the Leafs -- were always my first love.
In recent years, that trend reversed itself entirely. Today, I could give you chapter and verse on the Jays minor league system, but probably couldn't name more than 10 Leafs players from the NHL roster.
The Org Guy has it right -- baseball is a more accessible game, and blogs like this make it all the more enjoyable to follow.
- February 6, 2012 at 12:55 PM
- Steve Gower said...
I always have a home in my heart for baseball. I might try to catch a few more Jays games this year now that I have HD. Gotta get the most out of SN when hockey season is out.
- February 6, 2012 at 12:59 PM
Boy, do I relate. Hockey was my game as a kid, but I was a better ball player.Football was my favourite cause I loved the violence the rules allowed, but it was a fringe game in my hometown back then.
I am old enough to have seen Sparky manage at the old MLF Stadiam across the Lakeshore from the Molson's Brewery... which gave the best visitor plant tours back in the day, as a young man, I was a production guy at GMC, the supervisors council always booked us tours during layoffs and strikes.
Back to Toronto AAA ball, Lonborg, Fred Lynn for 1 season, maybe Fisk, Cogliano for sure, I think Rice too, Dick Williams as the manager, I think that Sox AAA team could finish at least .500 in the NL these days. They were scary good. The Yaz before, I think I saw him too, but it's so long ago. I did see him in 77 at the EX.
Then again, MLG and the Leafs were always head and shoulders above everyone else. Funny, my NHL memory highlight was as an MTHL kid going to the Tam for a Saturday noon game, passing Bobby Hull carrying his bag out as I carried mine in (the Hawks did their Saturday pre-game there, best ice in the city). I was 12 and maybe 5'3" and 110, the Jet growled "Hi Kid!" and flashed me that 1000 watt smile. He had to see I was overwhelmed to see him. And I am here to say that he wasn't all that much taller than me, much shorter than my dad, but he was as wide as high, and all muscle. One of those people who had so much vitality that it shined out of him, like he was more than human, which he was.
As a young man, I did get the NFL disease. Stabler and Bradshaw, the Steelers and the Raiders, the glory years in my opinion. Course my best friend's dad was a primo TO bookie, so that goosed my interest.
These days I can't stomach the NFL, last team worth watching for me were Jim Kelley's Bills. The Leafs are looking better, but I can't remember the last time I watched a game the whole way through. I've turned down tickets twice this season.
But baseball I'll watch every time. I'll be at the ballpark several times this season, though I am now living as close to Detroit as Toronto.
Maybe it's my age, I think it's the rhythm of the game. It doesn't have a clock because it doesn't need one. The players tell you to suspend time and just watch, while they play.
- February 8, 2012 at 10:26 PM


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Beet Salad
Quick Facts
Servings: 6
Ruby red and tart, this salad goes well with rustic grilled poultry; or serve it on top of a mixed green salad.
- 4 large beets, fresh
- 1 medium red onion
- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1 Tbs cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt (sea salt if on a corn-free diet*)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Scrub beets to remove any dirt or soil. (Do not peel, as the peel slides off easily after cooking).
- Place beets and enough water to cover them in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 45 minutes, until beets are tender, but not mushy.
- Drain and rinse with cold water. Hold each beet under cold running water and slip the skin off. Slice crosswise into 1/4-inch (1/2cm) slices, and place in a shallow bowl.
- Slice onions into rings. Add to beets.
- Mix oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl and pour over beets and onions. Gently mix to combine.
- Chill for several hours before serving.
* Allergy notes: People following a corn-free diet should avoid iodized salt since it contains dextrose, which should be avoided by those allergic to corn.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 69
Calories from Fat 42 (61%)
(7%)Total Fat 5g
(2%)Saturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
(0%)Cholesterol 0mg
(10%)Sodium 237mg
(5%)Potassium 182mg
Total Carbohydrate 6g
(7%)Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 4g
Sugar Alcohols 0g
(2%)Protein 1g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Nutrition facts are calculated by a food expert using nutritional values provided by the USDA for common products used as recipe ingredients. Actual nutritional values may differ depending on the amounts or products used and can be affected by cooking methods.
Copyright © 2019 Healthnotes, Inc. All rights reserved. www.healthnotes.com
Read our healthy recipe definitions.
Learn more about Healthnotes, the company.
The information presented here is for informational purposes only and was created by a team of US–registered dietitians and food experts. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements, making dietary changes, or before making any changes in prescribed medications. Information expires December 2019.


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Photo By: Anton Oparin
Photo By: Rolfe A Hokanson
Photo By: Photography by Lauren Brown of Versatile Imaging
Photo By: MARK IV Builders, Inc.
Photo By: Jackson Design and Remodeling
Photo By: D. Randolph Foulds
Photo By: Kelly and Co Design
Photo By: Carol Sundstrom
Photo By: Susan Brunstrum
Photo By: Gordon Gregory
Photo By: STUDIOBUELL Photography
Photo By: Paul Johnson
Photo By: Grant Duckworth
Photo By: Anna-Marie Claassen; Builder: MCM Construction
Neutral Contemporary Master Bedroom With Reclaimed Wood Wall
A reclaimed wood accent wall and exposed wood beam play off of the bungalow architecture in this neutral master bedroom. Bold colors, graphic prints and a cozy feel add to the room's contemporary aesthetic.
Visit Original Photo
Small Contemporary Kitchen With Tile Backsplash And Dark Cabinets
Designer touches like the mosaic tile backsplash and under cabinet lighting make this small kitchen space feel like a much larger one.
White Cottage Kitchen With Smart Storage
Tons of cabinet space and labeled jars keep this dazzling white kitchen clutter free and looking its best.
White Transitional Kitchen With Stainless Refrigerator
Wide Quartzite countertops frame in the kitchen sink, an elegant complement to the room's crisp white cabinets. The cool gray of the stainless steel refrigerator is echoed by the tile backsplash.
Corner Kitchen Sink and Blue Pendants
Black granite kitchen countertops set the stage for other details to shine: blue glass pendants and tile backsplash and wood cabinetry.
Rustic Cedar Kitchen With Eat-In Island
This gorgeous rustic kitchen features a cedar ceiling and cedar walls, an eat-in island with a prep sink and modern appliances. A large farmhouse sink works well with the family-friendly space.
White Corner Sink in Pretty, Traditional Kitchen
A corner sink takes center stage in this white traditional kitchen. Beaded Roman shades add color and style, along with a bridge faucet and a graceful orchid.
Crisp and Clean Kitchen With Basin Sink and Graphic Roman Shades
This transitional kitchen's corner has a beautiful view and is a great space for washing dishes or prepping meals. With a crisp and clean look, the graphic roman shades and sleek Carrara marble are the highlights of this little nook.
Cottage Kitchen With White Cabinets and Dark Countertops
A favorite kitchen element is a farmhouse sink with a window just above. If you're going to be cooking or doing dishes, why not have a beautiful view in sight? This lovely space is also defined by its custom refrigerator, which matches the white cabinets perfectly. High cabinets are ideal for storing infrequently used pots and pans, and the simple black backsplash behind the range adds an understated punch of contrast.
Charming Kitchen With White Cabinetry & Farmhouse Sink
Cabinets with inset doors and drawers and furniture-style feet were custom-designed to maximize every inch of storage available in this charming light blue kitchen.
Gray Kitchen With Marble Counters Feels Fresh, Chic
Neutral marble counters on this kitchen sink combine with the scroll patterned Roman shades for a luxurious space. The pendant lamp adds elegant lighting while the distinct faucet gives the sink a modern vibe.
Transitional Kitchen With Gray Cabinets and Farmhouse Sink
A lovely pale gray palette and marble countertops look soft and elegant in this transitional kitchen. The colorful rug and farmhouse sink add personality to the room.
Corner Kitchen Sink and Pink Knives
Designers made sure this kitchen was chef ready with top-of-the-line appliances, a wide marble countertop and plenty of storage. The sink tucks neatly into a corner, maximizing countertop prep space.
Eat-In Kitchen With Cherry Wood Cabinets and Bar
This kitchen features a spacious wrap-around breakfast bar with black counters and a built-in sink. A grand white range hood stands out against the cherry wood cabinetry creating an elegant focal point in the space.
White Cottage Kitchen With Red Tea Kettle
Sweet details, like the feet and millwork on the cabinets, give this renovated kitchen a personality all its own. A large farmhouse sink fits perfectly into the cottage aesthetic.
White Galley Kitchen With Honed Black Granite Countertops
Though located in a tight space, this galley kitchen is highly effective; space is maximized with high cabinets and multiple drawers. The all-white color scheme and bright windows provide a sense of openness, and the cabinet-front refrigerator seamlessly blends with the rest of the cabinets. Honed black granite countertops and a matching stove backsplash provide contrast within the space.
French Country Kitchen Features Beautiful Chandelier
A lovely white chandelier crowns the curved section of this French country-style kitchen. Three windows fill the space with natural light, and a beamed ceiling creates textural interest overhead.
U-Shaped Island in Chef's Kitchen
To give these professional chefs the maximum amount of counter space, designers installed a u-shaped island with a large, apron front sink directly in the center.
Stainless Farmhouse Sink with Cooper Fixtures
A stainless farmhouse sink doesn't have to be just for traditional kitchens. This apron-front sink looks perfect in a contemporary setting with cooper fixtures. The polished stainless steel with sleek corners and an attached gray backsplash give it the traditional style a modern twist.


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Is it just us, or does French President Nicolas Sarkozy seem to really hate British Prime Minister David Cameron?
First, Sarkozy told Cameron, "You have lost a good opportunity to shut up." He later told a British reporter that Brits can't understand Europe, as they are from "an island." Then this week he bragged to journalists that Paris was becoming the business center of Europe, adding, "Don't tell David Cameron I said that."
And most recently, of course, he seemingly refused to shake the British premier's hand after Cameron refused to ratify the new EU treaty deal.
So what is the deal here? Just a few months ago, these two world leaders (both conservatives, incidentally), were presenting themselves as the two brave leaders of the free world in their united stand against Muammar Qaddafi.
The biggest problem, of course, would seem to be Cameron's very different attitude to the financial world. So much of Britain's wealth is based on the fact that London is a major financial center. It really can't impose a "tobin tax" on financial transactions, as the rest of Europe would like to, as it would hurt London.
Sarkozy, on the other hand, is very clear in his support for the Tobin tax. For Sarkozy, the Anglo-Saxon (ie - U.S. and U.K.) style of banking is exactly what brought the world to its knees.
"The French are out to screw us," a source told the Telegraph's Benedict Brogan. "Despite all the jollity, the fact is that Sarko doesn't gives a s*** about us. It's all bull***. They have their view that the Anglo-Saxon model is a disaster and was responsible for the crisis."
Sarkozy may be feeling (perhaps righteous) anger that the financial crisis that started elsewhere is now hitting France, now at danger of losing its AAA rating.
And its not difficult to imagine he's a little jealous of London's status as the business center of Europe — hence his comments earlier this week as Google opened an office in London:
"A few years ago I used to go to London and I was told, 'Here, there is a fantastic dynamism'. Now I can tell them, 'Look, even Google is in Paris'."
It seems the French President is using this anger and jealousy as part of his plan to politically isolate the UK — pushing the power of the Europe further towards a few core players who would rule on an inter-governmental basis, thus, the Economist notes, maximizing French power.
After all, Sarkozy, unlike many other world leaders, is no shrinking violet. When something that offends him, he lets them know.
Another idea floated by more cynical outlets in France, is that Sarkozy is looking towards next year's French Presidential elections with a narrative in mind.
"Adopting this position, as the leader who saves the euro despite British opposition, is very interesting for Sarkozy ahead of elections," Chatham House's Benoit Gomis told France24. Having a dig at France's historical enemies for being selfish and banker-loving may just be enough to endear him to a country that seems very sceptically of another Sarkozy term in office.


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Sales Have Ended
Sales Have Ended
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SINTILLATE have won multiple awards over the years with 'Outstanding Achievement' at The London Club & Bar Awards 2014 being our most recent in addition to the 'UK's Best Promoter' in 2008, 'Oustanding Services to the Industry' in 2012 and 'Outstanding Achievement' in 2014
Hours of operation: 11am - 8pm (April 26 to September 30).
- Beach 11am
- Bar 11am
- Swimming Pool 11am
- Restaurant/Lunch 12pm - 7pm
+34 971 338 403


text:
The N.C. Department of Labor fined a local cabinet manufacturing center $18,900 for workplace safety violations after one of its employees was killed at work.
The N.C. Department of Labor fined a local cabinet manufacturing center $18,900 for workplace safety violations after one of its employees was killed at work.
Francisco Viruel Lopez, 35, of 1007 Grazing Meadows Court, Lincolnton, died after being caught in a Holzmann angular saw that he was operating Feb. 23 at RSI�s Home Products Manufacturing plant at 838 Lincoln County Parkway, Lincolnton.
The Labor Department cited RSI for three alleged violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of North Carolina. Each violation was categorized as serious.
RSI was cited for not having procedures and controls to shut off power to machines in the mill area; RSI allowed saw operators to service machines without disconnecting them from power sources; and the company failed to make sure employees working on machines were able to disconnect the machines from the main electrical supply and locking the machines to prevent them from turning on by mistake, according to the citation.
The maximum penalty for each serious violation is $7,000. Each of RSI�s three violations received a $6,300 penalty. The Labor Department considers factors like the size of the business, the good faith and cooperation of the employer and the history of previous violations when accessing penalties.
Penalties aren�t designed to make up for loss of life, according to the Department of Labor. Penalties collected are given to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund and distributed to public schools.
RSI has 15 working days from the time it receives the citation to request an informal conference with the Labor Department, file a notice contesting the citation with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission of North Carolina or pay the penalty.
The company has until Aug. 30 to correct the violations.
A message left at RSI�s Lincolnton number went unanswered Wednesday. A message left at the corporate office in Anaheim, Calif., was not returned.
RSI has nine manufacturing and distribution centers where it manufactures kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and cabinets and storage cabinetry. Two of those manufacturing centers are in Lincolnton.
You can reach Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or twitter.com/AmandaMemrick.


text:
Despite recent assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Sochi Winter Olympics won't be marred by terrorism, U.S. lawmakers are saying the threat should not be taken lightly. And their concerns are arguably all the more real in light of a new terrorist-related video that's surfaced.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday, Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich) said he was "very concerned" about the possibility of terrorism at the games, which run from Feb. 6 to Feb. 23. At the same time, he called into question Russia's handling of the situation, especially as it relates to relaying information: "I do believe that the Russian government needs to be more cooperative with the United States… We have found a departure of cooperation that is very concerning."
Meanwhile, a new video has appeared on a Jihadi website in which two men vow to wreak havoc on the games:
"We've prepared a present for you and all tourists who'll come over. If you will hold the Olympics, you'll get a present from us for the Muslim blood that's been spilled."
The men are believed to have been involved in last month's deadly terrorist bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd, according to CNN.
Of course, the threat of terrorism is not the only issue plaguing the Olympics. Over the past year, Russia's antigay laws have resulted in calls for an international boycott of the games. And the spiraling $50 billion-plus cost of the Olympics has put Putin's leadership into question.
So far, Putin has remained undeterred in his faith that the games will go off without a hitch and will stand as a symbol of a new Russia. And despite the expected heavy security presence in Sochi, Putin has vowed that it won't get in the way of the festivities.
"We (will) try to make sure that security measures don't jump at you, are not in your face," Putin said on Sunday.
-- Charles Passy
Follow Charles @CharlesPassy
More from MarketWatch on the Sochi Winter Olympics:
10 things the Winter Olympics won't tell you
Putin turns on the charm to reassure the world on Sochi
How to get to the Olympics on the cheap


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Roomful of Blues
Top SongsSee All
Hook, Line and SinkerHook, Line & Sinker 2011
Dressed Up To Get Messed Up (Live)45 Live 2013
New OrleansMardi Gras Party 2008
Boogie Woogie Country GirlRaisin' a Ruckus 2008
That's a Pretty Good LoveAlligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection 2011
That's a Pretty Good LoveHook, Line & Sinker 2011
AlbumsSee All
Live AlbumsSee All
CompilationsSee All
Appears OnSee All
About Roomful of Blues
Over the course of their decades-long existence, Roomful of Blues effectively became a franchise unto themselves, built more on a brand-name collective identity than on the voices of the myriad individual members who kept the band a smoothly humming machine. Describing Roomful of Blues that way, however, gives short shrift to the many accomplished musicians who have emerged from the band's ranks over the years: guitarists Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl, organist Ron Levy, pianist Al Copley, singer Lou Ann Barton, vocalist/harmonica player Sugar Ray Norcia, and drummer Fran Christina (later of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), to name the most prominent. Plus, the band's horn section blossomed into a renowned freelancing unit, backing countless other artists both on-stage and in the studio. They've evolved over the years, too; from a swinging jump blues revivalist group into expert blues historians with a handle on numerous regional variations: Texas, the West Coast, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City. Perhaps the best way to put it is that regardless of who was in the group, Roomful of Blues just kept going strong.
A nine-piece outfit for the majority of their existence, Roomful of Blues were founded in Westerly, RI, all the way back in 1967, by guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley. Settling on drummer Fran Christina and bassist Larry Peduzzi, the group began playing around the local club and coffeehouse circuit, initially pursuing a contemporary blues-rock style. Robillard quickly rethought their direction when he discovered jump blues, and in 1970 he added a horn section featuring saxophonists Greg Piccolo (tenor) and Rich Lataille (alto/tenor), plus a more swinging drummer in John Rossi; baritone saxophonist Doug James joined up in 1971. After a couple of years honing their sound and achieving local popularity, Roomful of Blues started supporting established blues artists, and started what would become a 15-year residency at the Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly. In 1974, they gigged with Count Basie, a professed admirer, and after a few more years of live work, songwriter Doc Pomus finally helped the band get a record deal with Island. Their self-titled debut was released in 1977, and they followed it up with 1979's Let's Have a Party for Antilles. Robillard subsequently left the group to pursue other projects, eventually finding considerable success as a solo artist.
Robillard's spot as guitarist and bandleader was taken by Ronnie Earl, and trombonist Porky Cohen was also added to flesh out the horn section. Meanwhile, female vocalist Lou Ann Barton spent a year with the group, and saxophonist Piccolo subsequently took over, making his vocal debut on 1981's Hot Little Mama (recorded for Blue Flame); the same year, trumpeter Bob Enos joined the group, as did bassist Jimmy Wimpfheimer (who was replaced by Preston Hubbard in 1983). Roomful of Blues' reputation had been growing steadily in the blues world, and they soon attracted more mainstream notice by serving as a studio backing group for legends like Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (1982's Eddie Cleanhead Vinson & Roomful of Blues), Big Joe Turner (1983's Blues Train), and Earl King (1988's Glazed); all three albums in question earned Grammy nominations. Roomful of Blues hit the studios on their own as well, signing with Varrick and recording 1984's Dressed Up to Get Messed Up. Helped by good timing, the record raised the group's profile even further following the emergence of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and they were able to tour heavily behind it. Unfortunately, Piccolo needed throat surgery, and at first Keith Dunn filled his spot in concert; vocalist/harpist Curtis Salgado was brought in as a longer-term replacement, and fronted the group on 1987's Live at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel; new organist Ron Levy also made his debut there, replacing Copley.
Unfortunately, Ronnie Earl left the group later that year, and while Roomful of Blues remained a popular touring attraction, it would be seven years before they would pull together and reenter the recording studio (at least, on their own; they did back Pat Benatar on 1991's True Love). Predictably, several personnel shifts ensued: Salgado left when Piccolo's voice healed; trombonist Cohen was replaced by Carl Querfurth in 1988 (later serving as the group's producer as well); guitarist Chris Vachon joined in 1990; and new pianist Matt McCabe came on board in 1992. With a trail of busted record deals behind them, Roomful of Blues eventually bankrolled their own sessions and found a home for the result, Dance All Night, on Bullseye Blues in 1994. With Piccolo now departed, Ronnie Earl's longtime friend Sugar Ray Norcia handled vocals and harmonica, and stuck around for the subsequent Bullseye albums Turn It On! Turn It Up! (1995, nominated for a Grammy) and Under One Roof (1997). Following the latter, a mass exodus of personnel left Roomful of Blues down to just a core of drummer Rossi, guitarist Vachon, trumpeter Enos, and saxman Lataille (even the long-running horn team was broken up). The remaining members restored the band to a nine-piece fronted by new vocalist McKinley "Mac" Odom, and returned in 1998 with There Goes the Neighborhood. Prior to recording their next album, longtime stalwart Rossi finally retired from the band and was replaced by Chris Lemp on 2001's Watch You When You Go. Looking to return to a more traditional blues sound, in early 2002 the band replaced Odom with singer/harpist Mark DuFresne. The group moved to Alligator Records in 2003 for That's Right, following it with a string of consistent albums for the label, including 2005's Standing Room Only, 2008's Raisin' a Ruckus, and 2011's Hook, Line & Sinker. The band celebrated their 45th anniversary in 2012 with 45 Live, recorded over three nights at Ocean Mist in Rhode Island. Alligator released the album from those shows the following year. ~ Steve Huey & Al Campbell
- Providence, RI
- Blues
- 1967
Similar ArtistsSee All


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Champagne Books
All Romance Ebooks
Amazon - Kindle
Although she stood several feet away from him, she noted the stranger's fitted black T-shirt, which revealed sinewy muscle, and snug leather pants that emphasized a lean waist and long, brawny legs. His frame towered in front of her so she had to crane her neck to look up at him. His raven-black hair touched the tops of his shoulders, strands pushed behind his ears, but a single dark lock lay along his striking face. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. His nose was long and straight as an arrow, centered between high, smooth cheekbones, and he had a wide slash for a mouth…which was curled now in a vicious grin, baring gleaming white fangs for her view. For a second, she looked into his eyes. Pitch-black orbs,
cold as death, stared back at her and attempted to seize her mind, to pull her into their swirling depths. She immediately averted her gaze.
Summoning her best malicious smile, Alyssa readied her body to strike. "Why, the pleasure is all mine." Before her words ended, she flipped into the air, kicking and spinning at the same time—and connected across his shoulder with a wicked slash of the stake. She landed before him in a crouch.
The smell of burned flesh filled the air.
In a flash, she struck out with her weapon again, intent on ending his life, but
he brought his hands up. Without touching her, he somehow sent her body
hurtling through the air. She tried to scream, but the breath was knocked
from her body when she crashed against a dumpster and fell hard to the
ground. The stake slipped from her fingers and rolled away down the slight
incline in the pavement. Groaning at the impacts from the dumpster and
ground, Alyssa looked up to see the vampire approach her and rose warily to
her feet.
Her eyes narrowed at the trickle of blood staining his black shirt; she snarled
at him, pleased at the sight of the bubbling, searing wound she'd scored.
"You bleed just as humans do. Vampire." She couldn't help but taunt him,
feeling a victorious satisfaction, although her hands were now bare.
Touching his fingers to the wound, he looked at her, his eyes beginning to
glow. She moved sideways along the wall while he smiled and brought the
long digits to his lips, licking the dark liquid from their tips. She sneered in
"I imagine yours tastes much sweeter." His voice was a seductive murmur,
sending chills down her spine.
Enraged, Alyssa lunged toward him. Her fist shot into his jaw, whipping his
head to the side. She lashed out her foot and hit his chest, slamming his body
into the wall behind him. Before she could follow up on her surprising
success and tear him to pieces, his hand snaked out, grabbed her wrist,
twisted her body around, and yanked her to him. Her back was now pressed
against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, binding her in the iron cage
of his arms.
She fought his hold with everything she had, but he laughed. At that, Alyssa
stopped struggling, held her head high. If this were to be it, she wouldn't go
down like a coward. Refused to. She'd make her family proud!
Lowering his head toward her, Damian whispered against her ear. "You've
killed too many of D'Angel's offspring, thus, you've ended your own life."
He held her tightly against him for a moment before continuing. "Did you
not know when you began this murderous spree, you would die?" He kissed
her earlobe, pulled it into his mouth with a slight suction. She trembled as
waves of warmth rushed through her at the rasp of his breath, the deep
baritone of his voice, and yet, chills raced up her spine at his softly spoken
words. "How is it you found out about vampire kind? Watch too much Buffy
and Angel?" His mouth moved below, and pure fire sizzled along her flesh
as his tongue caressed its way to her rapidly beating pulse.
Alyssa was mortified that her body reacted this way, betraying her every
instinct. Her mind screamed at him to stop, but she seemed to melt against
his hard, sinewy length.
"Your death does not bring me joy, but I must do it just the same."
Her eyes closed and she gave a small cry; her body jerked in his embrace as
his fangs pierced her flesh. White heat seared her, then, shockingly, she
surrendered to him, despite the warnings clamoring in the back of her head.
She moaned as pleasure swept her away, drowning her in waves of foreign
sensations. His lips were unexpectedly gentle as they caressed and suckled at
her flesh. Alyssa wanted him to take her, to give her what seemed just out of
reach. The needy intensity grew in the pit of her stomach, and her breasts
tingled as though they might burst into flames at any moment. Instead, the
ache traveled south, settled between her legs, throbbing, begging for release.
It felt as if she'd been waiting her whole life for his touch.
Want to read the first three chapters? Visit my website at: ETERNAL SURRENDER
About Me
- Ann Lory
- Welcome to Blog Bites! I love writing and reading romance of all genres which is why I've created "In the Author Spotlight". That way you and I can find out who's out there and what more they have for use to dig our claws into. Are you an author interested in being in the "Author Spotlight"? Shoot me an email at email@example.com for a spot. Currently, I'm published in contemporary and paranormal. If you'd like to read excerpts and find out what's out, or what's in store for you please visit my website at www.annlory.com.
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Or shoot me an email at:
If you want to sign up for my newsletter you can email me as well. The newsletter goes out bi-monthly and is filled with:
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Author Spotlight Calendar - March
- 19th Barbara Meyers
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Blog Archive
- ► 2011 (46)
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The physician was bewildered. Scientific data indicate that exactly the opposite should have happened. The research on spirituality and health is still in its infancy, but dozens of experiments have linked religious participation with various measures of well-being. Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center, for instance, studied 4,000 men and woman over 65 and found that those who prayed, read scriptures and attended services regularly were 40% less likely to have a stroke or heart attack than subjects who were not religious. Another Duke study found that non-religious seniors were twice as likely as their churchgoing counterparts to have elevated levels of interleukin-6, a protein that impairs the function of the immune system. Other data specifically link spiritual involvement with lower blood pressure and reduced rates of anxiety and depression. And several well-regarded studies have found that those who attend services regularly live longer than the no-shows.
So, what was going on with Janice? What her doctor subsequently learned was that going through the motions of religious activity is not enough, especially if you are burdened by unresolved anxiety, doubt or fear associated with religion. In a study of 595 hospital patients, psychologist Kenneth Pargament and his colleagues found that those with "negative religious coping" had a higher mortality rate than those with "positive religious coping." After controlling for variables such as age, sex, medical diagnosis and severity of symptoms, the researchers found that those with high rates of "religious struggle" (for example, believing that their illness was a form of divine punishment) were 19% to 28% more likely to die in the two years following their discharge.
The description of religious struggle fit Janice to a T. Her crisis had been triggered by a double-barreled trauma: first, her son was struck by a drunk driver and her prayers for his recovery went unanswered; then her minister was fired for having adulterous affairs. The incidents cast doubt on some of Janice's most cherished beliefs, leading her to bitterly reject all things religious. Her prayers were in the spirit of someone who was taking no chances. "They say there are no atheists in a foxhole," said Janice. "Well, I was fighting for my life too. But I was also fighting my own inner demons."
Because she had never resolved her fury at God for "taking away" her son, or her disillusionment with the flawed human beings who represent God on earth, her prayers were riddled with ambivalent feelings. She wanted to fall to her knees in humble supplication, but she also wanted to lash out at the Almighty in rage. At times she felt she couldn't trust God-that is, if God existed in the first place. At other times she would feel so guilty about her anger that she was sure she didn't deserve divine assistance. She even wondered if her cancer was a form of punishment. Because of that inner turmoil, her religious practices, rather than provide comfort, increased her stress level. Eventually, she worked through her conflicted feelings and redefined her relationship to the divine in a way that made sense to her. Only then could she gain the sense of peace and safety that a flourishing spiritual life can bestow.


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Welcome to Zorba's, the only authentic Greek cuisine on Grand Bahama Island! At Zorba's you can enjoy traditional favourites, like freshly made Greek salads or freshly baked tyropitas and spanakopitas and, of course, there's also gyros, and souvlaki kebabs.
When you visit Grand Bahama, be sure to stop by Zorba's for great food and the best value.
Fresh food, great service, awesome value & relaxing atmosphere! We've tried several different places to eat, Zorba's is definitely #1!"


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What does Paul Romer think of Dubai?
The economist Paul Romer is the proponent of charter cities. In a nutshell:
As you'd expect from the name, a charter city is a city governed by a charter. Sounds simple, but it's a surprisingly powerful way to let people choose to move someplace that is well governed.So what does he think of Dubai? Chris Blattman paraphrases Romer's view:
Imagine that the United States and Cuba agree to disengage by closing the military base [Guantanamo Bay] and transferring local administrative control to Canada. Canada works with Cuba to draft a charter for this special zone and promises to enforce its terms. Under this charter, a new city blossoms. It does for Cuba what Hong Kong, administered by the British, did for China; it connects Cuba to the global economy. To help the city flourish, the Canadians encourage immigration.
...unlike Dubai (which proves a city can be built anywhere) we'll let the workers bring their families, have equal rights, and stay.That's not to say Dubai is bad, it is just that it doesn't fit the model Romer has in mind. All workers come to Dubai because it offers them better opportunities than they can find at home. And I have to say, that for many of these workers the better opportunities exist because governance in Dubai is superior to governance in their home country. If better governance doesn't come to your country, go where this is better governance. Even it is temporary and you don't have equal rights.
Labels: charter cities


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Arias, scenes and songs by Beethoven, Fortner, Reimann, R. Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Wagner. With G. Hoffman, Steger, Töpper, Suthaus, Windgassen; Raucheisen, piano; various orchestras, Bareza, Hollreiser, Keilberth, Leitner, Peters, Sébastian, Suitner, conductors. No texts. Profil Hänssler 12006 (2)
Centennial Celebration
Profil Hänssler's tribute to Martha Mödl demonstrates her emotional intensity and penetrating use of text.
Martha Mödl (1912–2001) remains a fabled "singing actress," an artist who briefly conquered — or at least bravely battled — dramatic-soprano territory before returning to the mezzo repertoire in which she began her career. She continued to sing comprimario roles well into her eighties. She was active mostly in Europe: her career in the U.S. was brief, limited to a dozen Wagnerian outings in three seasons at the Met in the late 1950s, plus some orchestra dates.
Beginning with her Kundry in a 1951 Parsifal, Mödl was a major player in creating Wieland Wagner's "New Bayreuth" style, moving up to soprano assignments such as Isolde and Brünnhilde. Mödl was hardly the first mezzo to ply this dangerous, eventually vocally compromising route at a high level — Met legends Olive Fremstad and Margarete Matzenauer come to mind — and in her wake have followed Helga Dernesch and Waltraud Meier, among others. Praise for outstanding stagecraft, emotional intensity and textual penetration always qualifies mention of Mödl's vocal shortcomings. Live or studio recordings preserve many great interpretations, including Kundry for Knappertsbusch and Isolde for Karajan.
With this release, Profil Hänssler issues some live material rarely available before. Much of it presents Mödl as a Wagnerian — thrilling and uneven. Even in the Zwischenfach range of Adriano's Meyerbeerian scena from Rienzi, one hears Mödl "lifting" (and not always successfully) into high notes. And this was in 1951, before her real assault on the hochdramatische roles.
The worthwhile Tristan excerpts here derive not from the artist's famous 1952 Bayreuth performance with Ramón Vinay but from two different venues. Dark-toned, intense portions of Act I, including the narrative and curse from a 1958 Munich performance, are tremendously energetic, despite high notes sometimes attained by sheer force of will. Conductor Joseph Keilberth, Hertha Töpper's positive Brangäne and Ludwig Suthaus's estimable if mature-sounding Tristan provide firm support. A 1955 Stuttgart State Opera visit to Royal Festival Hall furnishes portions of Act II (up to the extinguishing of the torch, then "So stürben wir") with Grace Hoffman and Wolfgang Windgassen — Stuttgart company members and then among the top worldwide choices for their roles — plus the Liebestod (quite good, though gingerly with top notes) under the competent, non-inflammatory baton of Ferdinand Leitner. A 1959 Wesendonck Lieder with Keilberth and the Bamberg Symphony doesn't rate as a recommendable version; whatever Mödl's considerable stylistic acumen here, and her rich security in the lower reaches, there is just too much unsteadiness on sustained tones — or downright effortful lunges at high ones.
To judge from Sieglinde's two Act I solos, that role (under Keilberth at Bayreuth, 1954) lay awkwardly for Mödl's voice in terms of registration, let alone vocal color. However, a strong 1957 concert version of Brünnhilde's immolation from Vichy, with the Hungarian-born conductor Georges Sébastian, proves a welcome addition to the Mödl discography.
Non-Wagnerian fare includes a verbally vivid mother–daughter confrontation with Ingrid Steger's somewhat blowsy Elektra, led without great incisiveness by Otmar Suitner at Berlin Staatsoper in 1967. Mödl doesn't miss a trick interpretively and must have been something to see, but her singing isn't to be compared in finish or beauty with her complete 1950 Klytämnestra under Mitropoulos (in which her colleagues are in wretched form, alas). Two largely declamatory parts written for Mödl in the post-Brünnhilde years are excerpted — the Mother's final scene from Wolfgang Fortner's Lorca-based Bluthochzeit (Blood Wedding), captured in Stuttgart in 1961, and a scene from Aribert Reimann's Melusine at the 1971 Schwetzingen Festival. If this excerpt is typical, the work is even more loudly and percussively orchestrated than his deafening Lear, but the voices of Mödl and fellow post-legato Bayreuth veteran Josef Greindl cut through.
We also get the Countess's great scene from Pique Dame (in German, save for the Grétry song with which the excerpt ends) from Graz in 1982. An appended 1950 Gellert-Lieder broadcast with the magisterial Michael Raucheisen proves moving and fascinating, though it suggests that perhaps Mödl never had a fully even compass vocally. Some cuts emerge in better sound than others; plus, at some stage engineers turned down the sound dials while phrases were ending, meaning that the last word of, for one example among several, "Tod uns beide!" gets swallowed sonically.
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Press Release
EMC Transforms Backup and Recovery Landscape
Market Leading Backup Appliances Deliver Tighter Integration, Simple Management and Industry's Fastest Performance; Data Domain 6x Faster and 3x More Capacity Than Nearest Competitor; Avamar Backup Of VMware 3x Faster and Recovery 30x Faster Than Nearest
Story Highlights
EMC® unveils backup and recovery innovations that add new levels of integration, management and performance to its market-leading purpose-built backup appliances
EMC backup and recovery solutions work seamlessly with a broad set of enterprise applications, workloads and processes, allowing customers flexibility and choice in how they attack their most pressing data protection challenges
New EMC Data Domain® DD990 deduplication storage system raises the industry bar for backup performance: Over 6x faster and 3x more capacity than its nearest competitor
New software broadens Data Domain archiving capabilities for extended retention and regulatory compliance, expands the Data Domain Boost™ ecosystem and enhances the Data Domain Data Invulnerability Architecture
New EMC Avamar® 6.1 deduplication software and system delivers 3x the backup performance and 30x the recovery performance of its nearest competitor in VMware® environments
Avamar 6.1 simplifies backup management for business critical applications and expands Microsoft Hyper-V support to deliver complete protection for virtual server environments
At EMC World 2012, EMC (NYSE:EMC) today announced new EMC Data Domain and EMC Avamar deduplication systems and software that transform the backup and recovery landscape. The new products are high performance, scalable, purpose-built backup appliances that tightly integrate with each other, with backup software and with enterprise applications. These new capabilities further differentiate the EMC backup and recovery portfolio from competitors with point products, and chart the EMC vision for the future of backup and recovery.
For years, the most common and daunting challenges backup administrators faced were backup window times and dealing with slow and unreliable tape-based recoveries. Data deduplication technology enabled high-performance purpose-built backup appliances to address these issues. Today, cloud and big data are transforming IT environments, but legacy backup systems can stall or cripple these valuable IT transformation projects. By delivering a capability-rich, next generation backup and recovery platform that builds in unprecedented levels of performance, integration and management, EMC frees customers from the complexities of protecting IT environments that are changing and expanding. This gives customers flexibility and choice in how they attack their most pressing data protection challenges.
EMC once again establishes a new industry performance benchmark for the world's fastest single controller deduplication storage system with the introduction of the new Data Domain DD990. Similarly, Avamar 6.1 deduplication software and system delivers the industry's fastest backup and recovery performance for VMware environments, eclipsing the performance levels of its nearest competitor by 3x on backups and a staggering 30x on recoveries. Avamar 6.1 also simplifies backup management for key business critical applications with new support for SAP, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and enhanced support for Oracle. In addition, Avamar 6.1 further increases its support for virtual environments with expanded Microsoft Hyper-V features. Finally, new Data Domain software brings exciting capabilities to the Data Domain family, broadening Data Domain archiving capabilities for extended retention and regulatory compliance, expanding the Data Domain Boost ecosystem and enhancing the Data Domain Data Invulnerability Architecture. Combined, these announcements give customers tighter integration, simplified management and the world's fastest backup performance.
Customer Quote:
Mike Chrystal, Senior Technical Specialist, Storage and Servers, St Charles Health System, Inc.
"Saint Charles Health System is a multi-site facility with over 400 virtual machines. Prior to these newly announced EMC products, our backups were already ten times faster with our new integrated Avamar and Data Domain system than with our previous system, saving us precious operational time and overcoming the challenges we faced in protecting our VMware environment. Now EMC is raising our new system's performance, adding useful new features like deeper support for Linux, and getting SQL Server 2012 support out there even before people have implemented it. EMC is covering a lot more bases than other backup vendors and constantly delivering new capabilities. For us, these newly announced products underscore that, after our extensive evaluation process, we made the right decision by choosing the EMC backup and recovery platform."
Analyst Quote:
Jason Buffington, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
"EMC's appliance-based backup and recovery platforms are expanding rapidly and bringing new levels of functionality, integration and choice to its customers. IT transformation initiatives are driving new requirements for backup and recovery, and users need to be able to architect and optimize their data protection infrastructure to meet their specific needs. EMC is delivering a capability-rich solution portfolio that meets these needs head on, while simplifying backup and recovery processes."
EMC Executive Quote:
William "BJ" Jenkins, President, EMC Backup Recovery Systems Division
"EMC is delivering high performance scalable appliances that integrate with each other, with backup software and with enterprise applications. Customers embarking upon transformation of IT have asked us for these capabilities because it is essential that backup infrastructures align to these new IT infrastructures. Over time, traditional backup products that do not take this end-to-end view, in effect, paint users into a corner. Our mission is to give our customers the flexibility to architect their backup infrastructures strategically, leveraging the broad product choices and integration capabilities that only EMC can deliver, and then enable them to continually evolve their backup and recovery to help drive their IT transformation efforts."
Additional Resources:
Visit the EMC Backup and Recovery Products page
Download the new IDC report on the Purpose-Built Backup Appliance Market: http://www.emc.com/IDCShowsWhy
View The Backup Window blog
About EMC
EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing . Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com
Press Contacts
Ed Luboja
(203) 210-7404
EMC, Avamar, Boost and Data Domain are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks herein are the property of their respective holders.
VMware, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere and VMware vStorage are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership relationship with VMware or any other company.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) component and product quality and availability; (vi) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.'s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) risks associated with managing the growth of our business, including risks associated with acquisitions and investments and the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (ix) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (x) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centers or networks; (xiii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xiv) war or acts of terrorism; and (xv) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
Follow EMC World Online
Online: To track the latest EMC World 2012 happenings, visit www.emcworld.com.
Twitter: For continuous EMC World news and event updates, follow EMC on Twitter at @EMCWorld and @EMCCorp and join the conversations using #EMCWorld. Follow EMC backup on Twitter for conference and industry updates: @EMCbackup.
Facebook: To view videos of all EMC World keynotes and super sessions, like EMC on Facebook. Like EMCBackup on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EMCbackup.
Flickr: View photos of EMC World on Flickr and tag your EMC World photos with "EMC World 2012".


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Title: It's Not Summer Without You
Author(s): Jenny Han
Genre: YA Coming-of-Age, Romance, Family
Page Count: 275
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
WARNING: Spoilers for Book 1
Summary: Last year, all of Belly's dreams came true and the thought of missing a summer in Cousins Beach was inconceivable. But like the rise and fall of the ocean tide, things can change-just like that. Suddenly the time she's always looked forward to most is something she dreads. And when Jeremiah calls to say Conrad has disappeared, Belly must decide how she will spend this summer: chasing after the boy she loves, or finally letting go
The Review: You know, I was extremely nervous about how I would feel about this novel when I first cracked open the pages. I mean, I loooooved Shug, but was far more ambivalent about The Summer I Turned Pretty. A large part of this had to do with the fact that the guy I was rooting for was this minor character called Cam,* who was a total darling and a much better love interest than either the two brothers and I was put out by the fact that he probably won't appear again. The love triangle was obviously that between the two brothers, (which the cover never fails to remind us of), and I just don't really care for either of them. But there's something about Jenny Han's writing that always pulls me in. I'd read her prose, and even if I don't care for this type of romance story she could still pull me in. Her writing evokes such sympathetic emotions within me for the characters even when I don't care for their personalities. In other words, I don't think I would have stuck to this series this long if it weren't for Jenny Han's writing, I don't find the characters endearing so much within their character traits (in fact, if I were to be honest, the leading characters are the types that really don't do it for me. Ugh, Conrad) as for the fact that Jenny Han convinces me to be sympathetic through her dreamlike, lush prose. Steph Su described this book in her review as having powerful "emotional resonance", and I have to say that I agree. This emotional resonance is what will pull you in from the first page to the last. Was the story itself worth it though? I'm not sure, we'll have to see with the final book in the trilogy.
One thing's for certain, I like the premise here infinitely better than in the first book. I don't really care for the whole concept of First Love Is Forever nonsense, and I'll admit I was quite baffled at how Belly kept on insisting that the other brother, Conrad**, was the only one for her, etc. This book is much more about moving on, both in love and in the memory of those who've passed on, which is a concept I can totally get behind on. I also liked how the story with the two brother's angst felt much more integrated in this book than the first. I'll admit, I was super annoyed at the whole bit at the end of the first book wherein Belly goes on about basically how the story wasn't about her and it was about the boys, which had me going like 'Noooooooooooooo,' and wanting to ram my head against a wall. I was like, 'way to make the story NOT about the protagonist!' *coughs* Anyhow, in THIS book at any rate, we didn't have a random point thrown in wherein the story stopped being about Belly and being about someone else instead. I think the whole Jeremiah narration helped with this. I can accept a story about the boys i.e. Jeremiah if he was narrating on it, so when we had the brothers-centric narration through Jeremiah, I didn't get mad about the absence of Belly. Likewise, for Belly's narration, in all her parts the story was still moving around her, and I liked that. No passive narrators telling us the story of others for me!
I think I would have found all this romance stuff rather nauseating if it weren't for the fact that it is also parallel with a strong family storyline. Love triangles like these annoy me, and it reminded me too much of those melodramas from Korean shows that I don't like, the ones wherein we have the sweet innocent girl who is devoted to some cold-hearted leading guy I as a viewer despise and every guy related to the leading man loves her, from brother to cousin to best friend to uncle for all I care. *** To give it credit, I actually wasn't completely annoyed with the romance this time around. Jeremiah was like, an actual competitor for Belly's affections!
I'll admit, I was kind of looking forward to seeing Belly interact with more characters outside of the boys and their family, but this was not meant to be. Belly doesn't really have any significant interactions with anyone outsider the two brothers and her mom, and to me it makes me feel like Belly's world is so incredibly small. I mean, doesn't she have real friends at school to talk about things outside of boys? Her friendship with Taylor in the first book always felt weak to me, and it really didn't improve in the second book. **** That's another reason why I'm kind of hoping Belly will just end up with a guy that's totally unrelated to Conrad or Jeremiah. There's more to the world than just those two boys. It was cool that the people around Belly in school and stuff were casually multi-ethnic though. There were some last names that struck me as distinctly Korean, etc. Though um, the description for Conrad's love of his life bugged the heck out of me. My copy described her as "East Asian, maybe Indian", and if you know your geography at all India is SOUTH, not east. I was willing to write this out as maybe just an uncorrected mistake from the ARC, but I flipped through the book that's out in the bookstore and it hasn't been fixed. [/tangent]
The Verdict: An improvement in storyline over the first book. The writing is beautiful as always, and you can't help but be moved by the emotional portrayals in this story. If you liked the first book than you definitely won't be disappointed by the sequel. It definitely pulls in a bigger punch. Conversely, if you didn't care for the first book, then I doubt your opinions will change with the second. However, as for myself, I'm still unsure about how I feel about this book, due to my inherent dislike of love triangle premises like these ones. In other words, I suspect that most of my problems stem from the fact that this type of story is generally not my thing, and less to do with the actual quality of the story itself. I'll probably know how I feel about this whole trilogy once I get my hands on the third book, wherein Jenny Han will hopefully have Belly move on with a new love of her life orrr perhaps redeem Conrad/Belly for me (I'm not optimistic for the latter. Which is a shame, because I think Conrad/Belly is the most likely outcome).
Enjoyment: 60%
Title and Cover Discussion: It's fine? I mean, the title is simple enough to remember, and the cover is different enough from the other single-white-girl covers that I feel permeate this Sarah Dessen-esque genre, but there's nothing particularly striking about this cover or the title to make me say I love it! Or anything. *shrugs*
Title: B
Cover: B
**… I actually momentarily forgot his name while typing up this review and had to google the book to remember. Shows how much I cared for that guy.
*** Not that I totally hate all melodramas from South Korea. I do like watching some melodrama fares, but I'd rather stay away from the melodramas wherein we have all these weirdly related guys fighting over the same girl. But I'll admit, I prefer the romcoms and saeguks (historical dramas) from S. Korea.
**** Also, why can't we have female friendships wherein your best girl friend doesn't turn out to be a boyfriend stealer or something? That's what really annoyed me in the 1st book. It made me wish we got more portrayals of the moms' friendship, because that actually felt like a female friendship that was genuine. And of course, would offset the Taylor fail.


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Stanford tops Wisconsin in Rose Bowl
ROSE BOWL / Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14 Bruising game: Stalwart defense in 2nd half makes early 2-touchdown lead stand up
Pasadena --
To steal the language of another sport, Stanford hit a couple of home runs Tuesday and then left the game in the hands of its closer, Stepfan Taylor.
That and a magnificent defensive effort in the second half thwarted Wisconsin and gave Stanford its first Rose Bowl victory since 1972, a 20-14 win in the 99th edition of the bowl.
As usual for the Cardinal, the game went down to the end. No. 8 Stanford (12-2) made a habit of winning such games. Unranked Wisconsin (8-6) made a habit of losing them.
"We know it's going to be tight, and we know it's going to be close," Stanford head coach David Shaw said. "At the end of the game, we're going to find a way to win."
In this case, the way was for nickelback Usua Amanam to intercept a Curt Phillips pass near midfield with 2:03 left.
"I think a D-lineman got his hand on the ball, and fortunately the ball just fell in my hands," Amanam said.
All-America tight end Zach Ertz said what was going through his mind after the interception: "One first down and we're Rose Bowl champions."
Taylor, who rushed 20 times for 88 yards and a touchdown, got 2 yards, then 7. Following a Wisconsin timeout, he ran 5 yards for the first down.
That clinched the game, but it wasn't easy. The Cardinal had trouble containing Doak Walker Award winner Montee Ball in the first half, when he had 87 yards on the ground.
He had only 13 in the second, finishing with 100 yards on 24 carries. The Badgers had 13 first downs and 219 total yards in the first half, four and 82 in the second.
"I thought we had the better running back at the end of the game," Ertz said. "Stepfan's the best in the country, in our opinion. Montee Ball is obviously a hell of a player, but we like our chances with Stepfan at the end of the game."
In what would eventually turn into the smash-mouth game that had been expected, the Cardinal employed a little trickery. On Stanford's first possession, it showed reverse with wide receiver Drew Terrell, but he threw a 34-yard completion to a leaping Jamal-Rashad Patterson. On the next play, Kelsey Young ran around the left side for a 16-yard touchdown.
"Anytime you can get Kelsey Young in the open field, he has a chance to take it the distance," said Kevin Hogan, who stayed unbeaten in five starts as Stanford's quarterback.
This was the first time he started against a team that wasn't ranked. Yet the Badgers gave him big problems. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 123 yards and no touchdowns, and ran seven times for 54 yards.
"This was a very good, physical Wisconsin defense," Hogan said.
His 43-yard pass to Ertz set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Taylor on the Cardinal's second possession. That ended the touchdown portion of the afternoon for the Cardinal.
"They made some good adjustments, and their defensive backs did some things that we hadn't practiced for," Hogan said. "They did very well in their pass coverage. I've got to give them credit for that."
Hogan was hit hard on the big pass to Ertz and struggled with his accuracy after that. He said he wasn't hurt.
"Just got the wind knocked out; I was fine," Hogan said. "It was nice that we completed it, or I might have felt worse."
A year after his missed field-goal tries wrecked the Cardinal's chances against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl, Jordan Williamson kicked a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter and an important 22-yarder with 4:23 left in the game.
Wisconsin, which came into Tuesday with the worst record in Rose Bowl history, scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and trailed 17-14 at halftime. Ball scored on an 11-yard run, and Phillips threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Jordan Fredrick 19 seconds before halftime.
It was the Badgers' third Rose Bowl loss in three years, but the first for interim head coach Barry Alvarez after three wins back in his 16-year coaching tenure.
Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com