text:
Let's get on with it....
In 10th grade, all my bestest friends lined up two days in advance to get front row tickets for an Ani DiFranco concert ...
[See that? That's what I call a "good lede." Because I bet everyone who's reading this, especially the dwindling 20% audience share identifying as "male," is like "Oooo! Ani! LOVE HER."]
... but I didn't, because I didn't like her then [now I love her, LOVE HER], and when Drew'd crank up "Living in Clip" on his barely-breathing Volvo's tape deck, I'd groan and hold my hands to my glittered face [that's literal, the glitter], so clearly, I wasn't planning to attend her annoying concert, let alone wait in line for front row seats like they did. Also, Mom woulda never let me camp out all night with a bunch of hippie pot-smoking heteroflexible ambisexual teenage Ani DiFranco fans.
But it seems many humans enjoy nothing more than a good line, and, in fact, will willingly go out of their way to receive particular things ASAP (e.g., the new Harry Potter), to purchase The Best of said things (e.g., front row seats), hoping for a chance to win/earn something (e.g., a spot on a Reality TV show) or to get something rare/hard to find (e.g., Nintendo Wii) or for something ridiculously free or under-priced (e.g., 'Free Scoop Day' at Ben and Jerry's). The lines we're willing to endure reveal our true selves (not really, but I feel like making absurd grandiose generalizations today): Lord of the Rings? Beanie Babies? American Idol auditions? Madonna tickets? The privilege of paying $100 to trap oneself in to a small dingy cage and then get dropped from a great terrifying height?
A cell phone? With AT & T? The media gets really excited when people wait in line for things.
i-chat transcript, 6.25.07. On the "iPhone."Me: People are gonna line up, they say.
Carly: Oh yes. I mean, they lined up for like, OS X 10.4, so can you imagine the chaos for the fucking phone?
Me: It's like the opposite of the bread lines in Russia and Lord of the Rings.
Carly: Which is why I'm waiting until like, Hanukkah, to get mine.
Me: I bet that's the first time you've been happy about having Cingular. Actually....I had that, they fucked me. Then I got Sprint, who also fucked me, and now I have T-Mobile, and they are also fucking me. It's like, really brutal.
Carly: I hate Sprint with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I'm fine with at&t/cingular/at&t/whatever. I would hate to be brutally fucked by a phone.
Me: I know it'd be very phone-y and wide and awkward. Unless it was like an old school Nokia.
Carly: I am Loling.
Me: From like, '99.
Carly: Those wouldn't be as bad.
Me: Yeah, but like, a Sidekick? Ew.
Carly: Or a Blackberry? Jesus.
Me: It would be like being entered by an actual UFO, but a violent one like from Star Trek, or whatever.
Carly: Oh my God, Lol-ing for real.
Me: A RAZR would be bad, because it looks like it would have sharp sharp edges. You know? Like a razor.
Carly: Oh, I got that.
Me: RAZR=razor. Get it?
Carly: hahahahahha. I do.
Me: By "RAZOR" I mean... razor.
When I ventured to the apple store on Wednesday to retrieve a new keyboard and power cord for my sad little MacBookinstien, I noticed there were a lot of whackos outside on their lawn chairs. Probs their phones got stolen like mine did. However, I didn't wait in line for my DASH. Instead, I spent three days pondering the various dimensions of my misery and how glad I was no one could reach me, lest they be subjected to my whining. Then, ten days later, I decided that my boots were made for walkin', and that's just what I did, I walked on over to T-Mobile. What was I waiting for, those long psychologically challenging days in my bubble with my air conditioner and my broken t-key? I don't know. Probs Godot or An Answer.
I hate lines. [Really? Really Riese? You are such a unique and special snowflake.] That's why I hate Rite Aid, the gym after 5pm, popular restaurants, the apple store, H+M, the airport, Starbucks, Whole Foods, the doctor's office, amusement parks and Pathmark. I'd rather be hungry, thirsty and wearing last season's fashions than wait in line. JK. I just bring a book. And think to myself: "Why's everyone so stupid and I'm so smart? Why're none of these employees working at maximum efficiency? I could start my own restaurant, harvest my own potatoes, build a fryer, hire employees, peel and chop or whatever the potatoes and then train someone to fry them before I get to the front of this line at the alleged Express McDonald's." If it's running really poorly, I can't concentrate on my book, I can only seethe.
I never try things on because I can't wait in line for a dressing room. This's a problem.
The Community High School Line : When Community High School was founded in 1972, it had only two rules: "1. No smoking, except in the teacher-student lounge, 2. Wear shoes." It remains one of the few public "magnet"/"alternative" schools to endure from the left-wing-powered wave of hippie alternative schools that were popping around America back then. By 1989, applicants far outnumbered spots, and, following the first-come first-served policy, ambitious parents started lining up up to two weeks ahead of time to get in. In '95, my year, they attempted to solve this problem by not announcing the location of the line 'til three days before the application due date. The first 50 kids get in. The remaining 50 spots; selected via lottery. The waiting list was actually a very promising prospect, too, because a lot of CHS students'd become drug addicts and skip all their classes. 'Cause they could. Freedom, etc. "School with no walls." By the time I got in off the waiting list, I was already at boarding school. I was like, sorry bitches! My brother went there though. His year, it was all lottery, and he didn't get in at first but made it via waiting list.
Anyhow, in 8th grade, I made a documentary about "the line." I re-edited it today to make it shorter and less boring. I've described my hair in this phase of life as an Angela Chase bob with a Zach Morris hair flip. I shoulda just let it be. My Mom's hair is also awesome. YouTube is retarded, so I don't know if you can see my subtitle, but when my Dad is talking about our plan, look at Mom's coat in the background.
Apple Store Line: What a miracle that they've finally concocted a semi-efficient system at their new Fifth avenue store. I woke up at like, dawn, more than once to wait in Soho. To wait and wait again. And then more.
Forever 21 Line: With clothes so cool, it's no surprise the line's always 50 yards long. I've literally spent an hour there selecting Hot Fashions only to abandon them in the sunglasses bin mid-line, convinced it's not worth it. Also; when you finally get to the front, you're probs not 21 anymore because: 1. The line's literally 100 years long. Those faux-vintage rainbow-patterned short-shorts aren't gonna look hot on your varicosed legs so give up now, fossil. 2. If you're lucky enough to stand behind an under-21 customer and overhear any of their conversation [bla bla ttyl lol cell phone bla oral sex on the playground bladibla], you'll feel geriatric.
Vans Warped Tour Line: I remember this line because I wanted to kill my boyfriend for being so cranky when it was his idea to attend this G-dforsaken event in the first place. I don't remember why they made us line up, either. We already had tickets.
Whole Foods: The Chelsea outlet's got a really serious line system with line captains and lights. It works quite well. Howevs, it'd be better if they moved the brownie samples from the bakery area, where they're only accessible by patrons of the third line, and into a more central area, accessible to all line-waiters. I think that's what the organic farmers who created these brownies would want for mankind.
Response to Request for Ideas for "Line Blog":
1. Tickets for the Spice Girls Reunion Concert.
2. If they ever made Newsies into a live musical, I honestly don't think I could stand the idea of anyone seeing it before I did.
3. If this was some weird fantasy world where poets are rock stars, clearly I'd wait all day for Stephen Dunn. I've seen him read though a few times, but still. Really, actually, I'm having a hard time comprehending the idea of people waiting in line for poetry, I can't even conceptualize this hypothetical.
4. Free things that're worth a lot of money. These're usually in the form of "contests" or something though, so probs not.
5. Shakespeare in the Park starring someone I loved. Though I never have waited in line for SITP tickets, which says something. About truthiness.
6. If all my friends were doing it. That might be fun. Like camping.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, all your life, you were only waiting ...
The thing is, I've never been comfortable with:
1) Extreme want/desire.
2) Pouring excessive energy or time into anything that isn't guaranteed to work out.
-Ani DiFranco!
Re: 1)
Don't they have jobs? Families? I wonder about the people waiting for iPhones. How could you want anything so badly that you'd wait in line to PAY for it? Ten minutes've passed in line at Whole Foods and I already feel I've been had. How dare you make me wait to fulfill this want? This desire for organic strawberries? Certainly I can do without this, yeah? Certainly I can talk myself out of it? When you get in line, and wait, you're making a physical expression of want, which for me means dependence, which scares the shit out of me. I wish I didn't need anyone or anything for anything, ever. Lines make me feel like a sheep/robot, like waddling along the weaving ropes/the poles of the complicated line for The Raptor at Cedar Point, desperate enough to be scrambled around and whizzed through the air that I've paid for it and'll wait two hours for three minutes of it. You've convinced me to want this, and now I'm here, shuffling along, waiting.
I have an almost destructive inability to wait in line for food at group eating events. Like, I loathe those moments I'm standing there with my plate, waiting? I'll wait until the line's completely done, then go forage for scraps.
Re: 2)
As soon as "but you might not get in" is added to the description of a potential line to wait in (a sold-out show, an exclusive club, live television taping, contest of some sort, whatever), my desire to stand in it's completely zapped. Disappointment's inevitable: we can make the best plan ever for getting into Community High School and not make it, I can completely plan on attending NYU film school and not make it ... because every time, it feels like I've been had, you know? Clearly I'd've finished writing my book if I didn't have some complicated relationship with the conviction that it'll actually sell. Instead, I obsessively track the decline of the publishing industry almost to talk myself out of myself.
Maybe this relationship to investment-->reward (as in, I want to believe in it really badly but totes DON'T) is why I'm convinced every thing I do choose to put my heart into's gotta be the one to work out, because I'm standing here, after all, showing that I WANT.
If I work hard enough, I can make it happen. I will make this work. This project is worth it, I'll give up everything I will wait, I'll wait potentially forever, outside, even, in the cold, I'll bring a tent, I'll leave my life at home, rain whatever, hail whatever, I've been in worse lines, I'll give up everything everything to be ... America's Next Top [Girlfriend?] ... I've got what it takes ... I could lose so much but I could also win! everything! ... I'm not waiting for a chance, I'm waiting for everything I wanted to arrive/return ... now there is no pain you are receding shine on you crazy diamond look in your eyes like black holes in the sky distant ship...
... because I'm pretty convinced that nothing works out and I want someone to prove me wrong. I'm certain that any kind of investment rarely equals reward, that most things'll crash and it'll be violent and the heart'll break ...
I've solved this problem in my life by avoiding risky investments of time or emotion [e.g., relationships] and it's actually a pretty good strategy. So when I do invest, I'm serious. When I do invest, I invest more. And more. And more. Someone [you? you? redacted magazine? the unblogged story of the conde nast project? etc.?] prove to me that it's okay to shove all my eggs into one basket, to charge headfirst into exhaustion and over-extension of one's self because it seems like it oughta work out. My Mom often tells me it's time to "cut my losses." You win some you lose some you lose some you oughta win some. When I hoped I feared since I hoped I dared
I waited for you hungrily, just short of desperate."
-Stephen Dunn, "The Waiting."
-Tori Amos, "The Waitress."
I praise how, finally, it never learns."
-Stephen Dunn, "Desire."
And ... something else about all that?
If I'd gotten into Community High, maybe I wouldn't've ever gone to Interlochen, and if I hadn't gone there then I woulda missed out on the rest of my life, on absolutely EVERYTHING! And I do believe (cue Christina Aguilera ballad) that everything happens for a reason. Really, I do.
Sometimes it takes a while for the point to emerge from the madness, but I'm pretty satisfied right now with the possibility at my fingertips, a million unfinished lines shooting out of my nails like Wolverine's claws -- but gentle, hesitant, non-violent and reaching towards attention. I'm blindly groping for what it is we're waiting for, but kinda pretty sure, every now and then, that I can ... and will ... get it?
- David Bowie, Starman


text:
Large production run of figures? What? besides w4 and the SL Superior distribution of figures? LOL! they were hit and miss for the most part, maybe your Targets and WalFarts have a special designation as stores that get their product first, but I think the IE sucked!
I thought the distribution last year was terrible. It was really hit and miss. What was the deal with Target. I used Kohls to fill in waves 5 and 6. I wish they would dump the legends lines. A bunch of repacks that choked down the pegs.
Wave 5 saw very limited distribution over here in the UK also and we have only had Wave 1 of Legends.Wave 5 was seen in low quantities in Woolworths stores and the majority of people seem to have picked the figures up from online retailer play.comMore legends waves would be good, although I'm only after the Sandtrooper variations and a couple of others
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Notice: On April 23, 2014, Statalist moved from an email list to a forum, based at statalist.org.
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Re: st: Interpretation of interaction term in log linear (non linear) model
Suryadipta Roy <email@example.com>
Re: st: Interpretation of interaction term in log linear (non linear) model
Sun, 23 Jun 2013 10:10:22 -0400
I forgot to mention that the results for my Poisson regressions with
the entire sample (positive and zero trade values) were almost similar
to that with the truncated sample (i.e. positive values only).
However, I would add the results for the Probit regressions as you
have suggested.
On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 9:51 AM, Suryadipta Roy <email@example.com> wrote:
> Dear David,
> Thank you very much for the references! I would read them very
> carefully to understand the procedures better. The papers that have
> used Poisson (I referred to in the thread before) did not go into
> goodness of fit. I recently came across a paper that have used the
> procedure that you have mentioned, i.e. of running a separate Probit
> regression to explain propensity to import. I would try to do some
> residual analysis to explain goodness of fit for my paper as you have
> suggested.
> Best regards,
> Suryadipta.
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 11:16 PM, David Hoaglin <email@example.com> wrote:
>> Dear Suryadipta,
>> Thank you for the compliment. As it happens, though, I have not had
>> enough information about your data and your analysis to write anything
>> approaching a referee's report.
>> Assessing the fit of a model should involve much more than calculating
>> a single number such as R-squared. One usually looks for influential
>> data and makes a variety of plots of residuals. If the papers that
>> have used Poisson models used data that had a substantial percentage
>> of zeros, and did not do anything special about the zeros, I suspect
>> that those models did not fit very well. Did the authors not give any
>> empirical evidence on how well their models fit?
>> If propensity to import could be treated as a binary outcome (positive
>> imports versus zero imports), one part of the analysis could use
>> logistic regression (or a probit model, if you prefer).
>> If theory favors the use of a fixed effect for each trading pair, what
>> does that theory say about how to handle the connections among trading
>> pairs that involve the same country?
>> The project in which we split each set of data into three parts
>> produced several papers. The first of those papers is
>> Pine M, Jordan HS, Elixhauser A, et al. Enhancement of claims data to
>> improve risk adjustment of hospital mortality. Journal of the
>> American Medical Association 2007; 297:71-76.
>> The chapter on model assessment and selection in the book by Hastie,
>> Tibshirani, and Friedman (2009) has some discussion of splitting a
>> dataset into a training set (50%), a validation set (25%), and a test
>> set (25%).
>> David Hoaglin
>> Hastie T, Tibshirani R, Friedman J (2009). The Elements of
>> Statistical Learning. Springer.
>> On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 6:05 PM, Suryadipta Roy <email@example.com> wrote:
>>> Dear David,
>>> Thank you very much for the comments and the wonderful suggestions!
>>> These almost read like a referee report! I had to take some time to
>>> reply to your comments since the issues that you have raised are
>>> substantive. Theoretical work in the gravity model of trade literature
>>> mainly suggest the importance of structural factors that prevent
>>> countries from trading with each other. Some of the important papers
>>> have used -heckman- selection models but that model is more suitable
>>> to explain why countries export (or do not export), while my research
>>> question focuses on the propensity to import. Moreover, the exclusion
>>> restrictions in the selection equation are still not very well
>>> founded. The papers that have used Poisson models have not reported
>>> the goodness of fit. -poisson- by itself reports a pseudo-rsquare
>>> which is not comparable to the linear r-square, while -xtpoisson- or
>>> -xtpqml- that I have implemented does not report any r-square. The
>>> cluster-robust standard errors address both the problems of
>>> overdispersion and serial correlation (Cameron and Trivedi,
>>> Microeconometrics using Stata, 2010). It is theory here that guides
>>> the use of fixed effects, e.g. I need to incorporate 5638 trading pair
>>> fixed effects (since I have 76 countries with complete data, I can
>>> have a maximum of 76*75 = 5700 trading pair relationships).
>>> Your suggestions on model building by splitting the data have been
>>> extremely illuminating. However, I was wondering if you could give me
>>> a bit more concrete suggestions as to how to go about it, e.g. could
>>> you kindly give me the reference to the paper where you undertook the
>>> data splitting approach so that I could read a bit more about it?
>>> Best regards,
>>> Suryadipta.
>> *
>> * For searches and help try:
>> * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
>> * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
>> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/


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A Universal Weapon 1.D4 D6Product Code: B0070EU
Book Description
This book consists of eleven chapters devoted to different variations of the all-purpose defence for Black 1.d4 d6. Each chapter comprises a "Quick Repertoire" section, followed by a thorough theoretical and practical study in the section "Step by Step" and finally a "Complete Games" section. To be able to include this system in your opening repertoire, it should be sufficient for you to read the introduction and play through the complete games, which should not take too much of your time. Then you can start playing this opening in practice games at your club, or on the internet. After you have used this "Universal System" in 10-15 games, you should compare your experiences with the author's recommendations in the "Step by Step" chapters and start to fine-tune your knowledge.
About the Author(s)
International Master Vladimir Barsky is a chess journalist and coach. He has been helping GM Morozevich and GM Khairullin. Barsky is the author of a variety of books about chess and chess players, including The Scotch Game for White and The Modern Philidor.
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text:
shamaho wrote:grand PA...what the heck?? Do I SOUND like a man, 'cuz last time I checked I don't look like one...!!
Do u sound?? how would I know how u sound??......hehehaa.....my deepest apologies....i'm new give me a break and besides come on get over it already !!
see guys that's why I object to these avatars..all Jim carreys faces...who can tell who's a girl and who's not??? and I'm not familiar with the name SHAMAHO !!


text:
Diana Inch is a 44-year old high school librarian and girls soccer coach in Oregon. She is also the only person out of 3 million entrants in the Yahoo! Tourney Pick 'Em to correctly predict the Final Four teams. She also correctly predicted Connecticut and Butler in the Championship game, and sure enough she had the Huskies winning the title. So how did this seemingly extraordinary sports genius make her predictions? By using her favorite numbers and picking dogs and cats, of course.
Inch's formula included her favorite numbers and team mascots. She titled her entry Di's 711 XV Cats & Dogs. In the first round she picked the No. 7 and 11 seeds in almost every round. In ensuing rounds she picked according to team mascots, leaning to those with cats or dogs.
"I have watched the games on my computer," Inch said. "I'm as surprised as anyone that I got the Final Four." (Via the Albany Democrat-Herald)
Why are you surprised, Diana? This is how it always happens. You should try fantasy football next year and draft your team based on which player has the cutest ass.
Unfortunately for Diana, though, her luck has brought her no instant wealth, and just some bragging rights. Even before UConn won the (incredibly boring) championship game last night, Diana was in 781st place in the Yahoo! competition, 13 wins behind the first place entrant, so she won't see any of the $5,000 top prize. But with that cushy high school librarian/soccer coach salary, she hardly needs it.


text:
Proposed tip Please edit this page to improve it, or add your comments below (do not use the discussion page).
Say you want to make tetris in pure vimscript or a nice looking gui for a script you may have: here are a few commands that allow you to put arbitrarily colored text on the screen, in full screen if desired. This is very slow but also convenient and portable, and is often preferable to opening another tab / split / buffer to display an interface. It's all in the manual, but, as is typical of vimscript, it often takes awhile to put it all together:
set nomore-- This eliminates the "Press enter for more" prompt entirely, allowing you to produce animations by echoing
&lineslines or
&lines*&columnschars at once.
echohl-- This allows you output text in arbitrary colors, either predefined (eg,
echohl visual) or customized (
hi myhighlight ctermfg=0 ctermbg=12)
echon-- Unlike plain
echo, this does not insert newlines or spaces, allowing you to, for example, produce a single line with multiple colors, eg:
echohl None echon "xxxx" echohl Visual echon "yyyy" "will produce xxxxyyyy
redr!-- For moderate screen sizes (say, more than 25 lines), directly echoing lines may produce a flicker. That would mean you would want to clear the screen first with
redr!. However, this redraws the buffer you're currently editing as well. So to speed things up, you would want to set the commandheight (ch) to the largest possible value so redrawing mostly redraws the blank command line and not the current buffer:
let &ch=&lines-1 while drawing redraw! "clear screen "echo some lines endwhile let &ch=1
The title of this proposed tip is a bit ambitious: graphics and drawing? I'm not sure that this page is really useful without something showing how it could be useful. Echo is ok for an occasional message, but not for a GUI. Netrw is an example of a Vim script that does complex presentation, without echo. Several tips use echohl/echon, but none discuss it as a topic, but there are lots of Vim commands, and I'm not sure that a tip on each is useful. JohnBeckett (talk) 09:52, August 7, 2013 (UTC)
I found it useful because Vim comes so close to being a general purpose application scripting language but it is usally seen as lacks screen-drawing functions. There are patches that do expose the screen but they haven't been mainlined yet -- this method will obviously be obviated if they ever do. But it took me literally years to actually put all the parts together. For example, I have a nested list / dictionary editor that I've been sourcing for about 3 or 4 years which uses purely echo commands. This has the advantage of not needing to open a buffer and being a bit more straightfoward to code. The screen flicker is almost nonexistent even with the key held down, and certainly non-existent with single key presses. I went through a long time using "redraw! | echo" before I stumbled upon, randomly, the "se nomore" setting. And I went through a long time with it being monochromatic before I figured out that I can use "echon" to arbitrarily color texts -- so now the cursor selection is highlighted as "visual", I have different highlighting for types, and so on. It's really just a few lines of code away from being a nested file browser that doesn't need to load in a new tab.
Basically, you can imagine it as a quick and dirty way for someone used to having minimal screen drawing functions to write some prettier scripts -- and it does actually work pretty well. Q335r49


text:
One of the most talked-about topics in the financial services industry today is blockchain banking. If fully adopted, it will enable banks to process payments more quickly and more accurately while reducing transaction processing costs and the requirement for exceptions.
However, to capitalize on this potential, banks need to build the infrastructure required to create and operate a true global network using solutions based on this transformative technology.
Our survey found that blockchain use is, indeed, top of mind among banking executives who lead payments businesses. Perhaps most critically, the survey revealed what executives believe must happen for blockchain to gain prominence globally.


text:
(the links in the post lead either to film reviews of said movies, most of them by yours truly, or to my Manly Monday column where I spend time admiring the most delightful qualities of certain male actors in genre films - in case you feel like clicking through :) Also, minor spoilers ahead. )
So the year has come to a close, and as usual it was filled with . . . my opinions. What better way, then, to wrap up 2011 than by having me share my favourite genre things from the year. Why did I choose the things I did? Because I felt like it.
Favourite Genre Movies:
The Muppets – arguably my favourite movie of the year. It was laugh out loud funny, the songs for the most part were sincerely catchy, and the pathos hit me right in the emotions, you know? Sure there's some nostalgia here, and likely some bias – am a fan of both Kermit and Jason Segel – but it also meant that this could have turned out to be one of the most disappointing movies of the year for me. In the end, it not only met my expectations it exceeded them. Most importantly Segel kept true to the essence of what makes The Muppets so special: heart. And I think I needed to see a movie about people/frogs/bears/pigs/ etc being nice to each other this year. A little dose of dreams coming true never goes amiss either. Also, I give brownie points to any film that makes jokes I haven't heard before. And has an 80s Robot.
XMen: First Class – the movie no one wanted aside from the major studios is up there with my favourite films of the year. Sure there are some frustrating sexist tropes (why oh why must all the female characters at some point be half naked?) but the 60s setting and the two leads, James MacAvoy and Michael Fassbender, combined with some truly creative storytelling and action sequences (hello, best change of perspective ever at the beginning there) elevated the film and brought back our excitement about this franchise. Then word of a Wolverine sequel brought us back down to earth.
Thor – poorly advertised it is a miracle this film did as well as it did. First of all Thor? Not exactly the most popular or empathetic of superhero characters. Second of all, man did those trailers make the movie look cheesy and everything Kat Dennings said, dumb. But the movie itself is awash in charm, from Chris Hemsworth's amazing ability to make us like the cheeky fellow at the beginning, and believe his not really well written reformation at the end, to Tom Hiddleston's surprisingly moving performance as a lunatic god, to Kat Dennings not actually being dumb at all but a perfectly timed comedienne, to Kenneth Branagh not afraid to give us pomp and circumstance, this movie really was fun. Sure the storyline on Earth was slight and the emotional resolution seemed to come far too easily and quickly, but did you see Hemsworth without his shirt on? Also: "I need a horse!"
Super 8 – this movie, like all movies this summer, had some serious flaws, but what holds it up above the other movies are the kids. While the monster might have disappointed some, I think the kids and their home made zombie film more than make up for it. Besides, the point of the movie wasn't the monster, it was how a boy was affected by the death of his mother and how he comes to terms with letting go. Great performances all round from the kids, especially Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning. And some great action sequences too. In a summer where planets are being blown up and world wars were waged, nothing came close to being as terrifyingly terrifying as that train crash. Also that single shot following the kids as they run through the neighbourhood while the army's equipment goes haywire? Awesome.
Honourable mention goes to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo and Mission Impossible IV. I enjoyed them, a lot, and I'm not really sure why they aren't quite up there on the favs list, all I know is they weren't the first films I thought of when I started making that list and I gotta trust my gut instinct.
Biggest Surprise Movie of the Year:
Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It wasn't a work of art. But I actually had good time watching it (even more impressive considering how I absolutely loathed the second film). Even surprising-er? That the 3D actually worked and added to the fun-ness.
Favourite Newcomers (male):
Michael Fassbender – okay, come on, it's so been this guy's year. He's been in every film and I think only Ryan Gosling beats him out as far as visibility goes. And why not, he's sexy, he's talented, and he makes amazing choices. He's one of the reasons XMEN: FIRST CLASS is as good as it is.
Tom Hiddleston – fans of HcN won't be surprised by this choice, I've developed a wee bit of a fan-girl crush on this lad. But for good reason, his performance as Loki totally blew me away. He really didn't need to make the character as three dimensional as he did, but we as an audience were grateful. Further, we were also grateful that he didn't go too artsy fartsy and still had fun just being bad. I am most excited to see him be badder still in THE AVENGERS, which I think will elevate his popularity even more so. On a personal note, the fact that he will be playing Hal (one of my favourite Shakespearean characters aside from maybe his nemesis, Hotspur) in a televised version of the two Henry IVs – well just makes me love him all the more.
Favourite Newcomers (female):
Jessica Chastain- the TREE OF LIFE star made some extremely wise choices this year, starring in one of the more artsy and odd films of the year (guys, there were dinosaurs . . .DINOSAURS), one of the most acclaimed yet unheard of films of the year, TAKE SHELTER, and one of the more popular films based on a massively successful bestseller films of the year, THE HELP. Not only did these films get her seen by everyone, it showed her incredible range. And of course how gorgeous she is.
I need to mention Elizabeth Olson also, simply because she's been EVERYWHERE this year and I like to jump on bandwagons and make sure everywhere includes HcN.
Favourite ONCE UPON A TIME (yeah, it's got me hooked) moment:
When Rumplestiltskin blew up Cinderella's Fairy Godmother? That was awesome.
Like that.
Favourite GOOD WIFE (yeah, I know it's not genre, I don't care) moment:
That part of the show when it starts and then keeps going until the end.
Funniest Line in a Superhero movie:
From THOR: "Good."
Funniest moment that doubles as "omg omg omg is he going to do it omg omg omg" moment:
Jeremy Renner (swoon) getting ready to jump down that computer shaft thing with a gigantic fan at the bottom with razor sharp blades and a pointy thing at the top to be impaled on in Mission Impossible The Fourth.
Thing I don't have that I wish I did:
A computer shaft thing with a gigantic fan at the bottom with razor sharp blades and a pointy thing at the top to be impaled on.
Person I don't have that I wish I did:
Jeremy Renner.
Best Fake Action Sequence:
The motorcycle chase in TINTIN.
Best Real Action Sequence:
The briefcase on the constantly moving up and down garage thing with the cars in Mission Impossible The Fourth.
Best Stunt:
A tie between Mission Impossible's Dubai tallest tower skyscraper walk, and Transformer's base jump off of a skyscraper. Whichever, they both work because of skyscrapers.
Performance that elevated an entire movie:
This is a tricky one because I feel most performances this year were what elevated otherwise okay films into the great category, but this one's got to go to Andy Serkis in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Without his Caesar there wouldn't have been a movie. Okay granted, yes, the movie is about Caesar so that's kind of obvious, what I mean is, without an empathetic Caesar, a creature we cared about, worried about, sided with, this movie would have been pretty pointless.
Favourite Saddest Moment:
The end of a beloved series. I must admit that unlike many Harry Potterphiles, part deux this year did not impress me the way it did others. I didn't hate it. But I didn't adore it, not like I did Part Un in 2010. Still, I've been with this series a long time. First with the books, then with the movies. It's been a decade. An incredible feat. 8 movies. No re-casting (aside from one actor who died). They stayed very true to the source material. Had some really genuinely funny, touching, impressive moments. And while the last movie wasn't my favourite, it still was quite well done. Bravo, Harry Potter – and thank you again J.K.
Favourite Trailer that not only totally misrepresented the movie it was promoting, but managed to actually be the total opposite of said movie:
SUCKER PUNCH – okay, so technically this trailer is from 2010, but we didn't know the truth until 2011.
Trailer: Empowered women kicking butt with awesome action and a sense of humour.
Movie: Dull, cliché ridden, derivative and if it had made any lasting impression whatsoever would have set back the women's movement decades.
Favourite Tweet:
Seth Macfarlane: "Unfortunately at no point during my workday does anyone ever have cause to shout my name and then toss me a sword."
Favourite Moment for Adrienne with HcN:
Being complimented on my shirt by Kermit the Frog.
Favourite Moment for Adrienne in General:
That I continued to be totally fabulous for another year.


text:
Who are you? I'm Neal Estano, a former WRGB Channel 6 weatherman. After 27 years, I recently switched careers. Now I'm a Realtor with RealtyUSA, the Chad Perkins team. My wife, Marcie Fraser, and I live in Wilton. She is the medical reporter for YNN. I'm originally from Moultonville, N.H., near Lake Winnipesaukee. I studied meteorology at Lyndon State College in Vermont. Why did you switch careers? I wanted a new challenge. I also wanted a different lifestyle. I wanted to stop getting up at 2:30 a.m. each day to be on the air by 4:30. In 1987, we were the first station in the Capital District to have a morning news show. Everybody said, "Who's going to watch that?" But look at it now, although I haven't watched a local newscast since I left Channel 6. I'm looking forward to enjoying snowstorms instead of having to work and talk about them. I can actually be home and play in the snow. What do you like best about real estate? Matching a buyer's desires with what's on the market. You aren't trying to sell them a product, something they don't need. I really enjoy working with first-time home buyers because it's all new to them. Plus, I've renovated nine different homes, so I understand all aspects of home improvement. Sometimes you're trying to get buyers to see the potential of a property and how they can get a good deal on it with a little work. Did you miss not covering Hurricane Sandy? No. I was in Little Rock, Ark., at the time. It was good to watch from a distance. The thing I miss most about television is the camaraderie I had with people like Ed O'Brien and Liz Bishop. That aspect of it was fun. As a weatherman it was hard to relax, even on days off. You're always looking to make sure what you forecast was right, because that's what your reputation is based on. Where else have you worked? I left the Capital District three times to work in bigger markets -- Jacksonville, Fla., Baltimore and Atlanta. I've come back each time. I just like the lifestyle here and the change of seasons. You never get bored. I love any kind of outdoor activity -- skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, kayaking, boating. There's always something different to do.
-- By Paul Post To see more Five Questions profiles, go to www.saratogian.com/Life. Past profiles can be found by searching for "5Q."