Cantareata britanica Adele a fost marea castigatoare la cea de-a 54-a gala Grammy, unde a obtinut sase trofee din sase nominalizari, inclusiv la categoriile “albumul anului” (“21″) si “inregistrarea anului” (“Rolling in the Deep”).

Adele – aflata la prima ei aparitie pe scena dupa interventia suferita pe coardele vocale in toamna anului 2011 – a furat tot spectacolul, care a avut si momente serioase, cu tributuri aduse regretatei cantarete Whitney Houston, ce a decedat sambata. Cantareata a fost descoperita moarta in cada de baie din camera sa de hotel, iar cauza decesului nu este deocamdata cunoscuta.

Marea legenda muzicii pop, care a primit de-a lungul vietii sase premii Grammy, a fost omagiata in discursuri de acceptare si piese, de artistii prezenti la ceremonie. De asemenea, Jennifer Hudson a interpretat unul dintre hiturile lui Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”, iar gazda ceremoniei, LL Cool J, a spus o rugaciune pentru familia, prietenii si fanii cantaretei.

“Desi a plecat, ramanem cu adevarat binecuvantati de spiritul ei muzical”, a spus acesta.

Cantareata britanica Adele, in varsta de 23 de ani, care a interpretat pe scena hitul sau “Rolling in the Deep”, a primit premiile Grammy la categoriile “cel mai bun album” (“21″), “cea mai buna inregistrare” si “cel mai bun cantec” (“Rolling In the Deep”), dar si la “cea mai buna interpretare pop solo” (“Someone like you”), “cea mai buna cantareata solo” si “cel mai bun clip scurt”.

Adele a concurat pentru trofeul pentru “cel mai bun album al anului” cu Foo Fighters (“Wasting Lights”), Lady Gaga (“Born this Way”), Bruno Mars (“Doo Wops and Hooligans”) si Rihanna (“Loud”).

Rockerii de la Foo Fighters, cu sase nominalizari, au fost ceilalti mari castigatori ai galei, cu cinci premii Grammy, la categoriile “cea mai buna interpretare rock” (“Walk”), “cea mai buna interpretare hard rock/ metal” (“White Limo”), “cea mai buna piesa rock” (“Walk”), “cel mai bun album rock” (“Wasting lights”), “cel mai bun clip lung” (“Foo Fighters: Back And Forth”).

Cantaretul Bruno Mars, nominalizat si el la sase categorii de premii, a plecat acasa cu mana goala, la fel si excentrica Lady Gaga, nominalizata la trei categorii, in timp ce Kanye West, care a avut cele mai multe nominalizari – sapte -, a castigat premiile pentru cea mai buna interpretare rap (“Otis”, alaturi de Jay-Z), cel mai bun cantec rap si cea mai buna colaborare rap (“All of the Lights”) si cel mai bun album rap (“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”).

Trofeul pentru revelatia anului – primit de Adele in 2009 – a fost castigat anul acesta de Bon Iver, care a mai obtinut premiul pentru cel mai bun album alternativ (“Bon Iver”).

Printre celelalte mari momente ale galei care a avut loc duminica seara, la Staples Center din centrul orasului Los Angeles, s-a numarat si Beach Boys, celebrul grup californian, care a sarbatorit 50 de ani de la infiintare printr-o foarte asteptata revenire pe scena, dupa o absenta de peste 20 de ani.

De asemenea, Glen Campbell, care a cantat piesa “Rhinestone Cowboy”, a primit un premiu pentru intreaga cariera.

In timpul evenimentului au mai cantat, printre altii, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen si E Street Band, Chris Brown, Coldplay si Rihanna. Alicia Keys si Bonnie Raitt au interpretat piesa “A Sunday Kind of Love” a Ettei James, o alta mare legenda a muzicii care a murit anul acesta.

Article Sources: Adele, marea castigatoare la gala Grammy 2012, cu sase trofee VIDEO

LOS ANGELES — Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48. 

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the perfect voice and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop’s pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

“When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place,” she told Rolling Stone in 1993. “You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that’s their image. It’s part of them, it’s not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody’s angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy.”

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America’s sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with “The Bodyguard.” Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy’s record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.” Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, “My Love Is Your Love,” in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. … I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. … I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.”

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on “Good Morning America” went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

Article Sources: Whitney Houston, pop music queen, dies at age 48

Muppet Concert Posters of the Day: Illustrator Michael DePippo has created retro gig posters for the Muppet world’s greatest band, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

My idea was simple; create a vintage concert poster for each band member (Dr. Teeth, Janice, Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Zoot and Animal). Using clean, crisp vectors, negative space and few colours, I wanted to keep them as simple and stylized as possible; reminiscent of retro posters from back in the day.

Electric Mayhem fans may notice that trumpet player Lips is missing from the set. Not to worry: DePippo is considering adding him as a limited edition poster.

Check out the rest of the designs after the jump.

Article Sources: Muppet Concert Posters of the Day – TDW Geeks

How to make your ‘cool’ of Jimi Hendrix without groing through the top (up to which is possible). This can be Rockstar Fashion Info – the particular guide to swaying similar to Hendrix without coming in contact with a guitar. Step One particular for you to Resembling Jimi Hendrix : The Shirt Full Sleeve Button Lower Tops for Stone Megastars When choosing the ‘Jimi Hendrix’ look it is very important do not forget that there was clearly a lot more to Hendrix than just ratty t-shirts. Jimi Hendrix was also known for his long sleeved key along t shirts using psychedelic habits dancing across these. An authentic Jimi Hendrix apparel retailer just like that has the complete assist from the Jimi Hendrix Foundation offers some of these same t mens silk shirt s in that really superb 70′s switch down style. Doldrums, Browns, along with Oatmeal were common hues of these tops inside the 1970′s and they also can certainly still exhibit which Jimi Hendrix ‘coolness’ that will countless try to attain but don’t succeed in. You will find three glowing guidelines involving rock legend style that must be obeyed when attempting to give on your own as an image of awesome: Lengthy fleshlight sleeves, switch straight down, and also vast collars along with cuffs. Simply no vibrant phosphorescent hues Man made fiber is okay yet Natural cotton is better. Avoid sleazy materials.Naturally, when the battery of shade would seem somewhat too much to handle for your requirements slim fit shirts men but you nevertheless want your Jimi Hendrix Expertise take place every time one enters a room, you could choose a more subtle and subtle appear that still shouts ‘Rock Star’. All you have to do is actually make sure you outfit similar to television set was once : throughout Grayscale . Any time employed correctly, Grayscale stone superstar key along tops can be even more powerful. When you decide in order to encapsulate the actual heart and soul regarding Jimi Hendrix within White and black it then gets everything about the routine and also Jimi ended up being online resources whirls, blooms, along london tailor with other psychedelic fashion statements. Never re-invent the particular rock and roll celebrity clothes tyre, only stick to together as well as hold on for your trip. Step 3 in Jimi Hendrix Stone Celebrity Fasion – Connect this With each other Today occurs time when you modify your own inside Rockstar. Jimi was famous for putting on various Necklaces to finish their Rockstar outfit, however, you could be innovative with this particular phase and also make a move distinctive to your own interior awesomeness. Ideas: Bandanna or even headscarf (prolonged hair only!)Significant gear gearShoes or even Powdered Blue Shoesand so forth. Now you’ve just about acquired cool and can do whichever components you desire, providing you believe in them.

Article Sources: The way london tailor to Gown Just like Jimi Hendrix

Formed in 1973, the Kronos Quartet has become a brand. Dressed down, heavily amplified, and lit in a purple haze, they symbolise a certain kind of cool. This is contemporary music packaged for the New Yorker reader who shops at Whole Foods, whose iPod shuffles twixt Hendrix and Webern, and whose favourite films range from Keaton to Kiarostami. When the lights go down, we could all be characters in a Jonathan Franzen novel: a little bruised around the edges but definitively urbane and smart.

In the Hackney Empire, one of three venues in the quartet’s Barbican residency last week, the first half of their Made in America programme was too urbane for its own good. Once revolutionary, minimalism has become the art form of the establishment. Bryce Dessner’s Aheym and Tyondai Braxton’s Uffe’s Workshop clung nervously to the Philip Glass model, while Missy Mazzoli’s Harp and Altar was most interesting when it briefly shook off the bop-bop patterns and bloomed into a shivery rhapsody.

George Crumb’s Black Angels inspired the quartet’s formation. Written in 1971, in response to the Vietnam war, its angry beauty still burns brightly. Here the crude dig of the bow, the Hendrixian cadenzas, the mournful dances and the viol-like austerity of tone that were merely decorative in the first half of the concert had cogency and authority. The complex choreography of different soundworlds – solo cello with a ghostly trio of bowed musical glasses, dancing pizzicato duos, the whisper or tsunami of bowed gongs – was seamless, the interweaving of sarabande, lachrymae and lied intoxicating.

Like the Kronos Quartet, Jeremy Sams’s Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island could only have been made in America. Premiered by New York’s Metropolitan Opera on New Year’s Eve, broadcast on Radio 3 and relayed live to 70 UK cinemas last weekend, this fantastical confection wears its big budget on its frilly sleeve. Julian Crouch’s Audubon and Inigo Jones-inspired designs mix painted flats with video projections. There are floating mermaids, magic spells, and a deus ex machina called Placido Domingo.

Handel, and his Venetian contemporary, Vivaldi, provide the bulk of the music for The Enchanted Island, with further material drawn from Rameau, Rebel, Leclair, Ferrandini and John Weldon. Sams’s recitatives are long and angular, but the blending of French, Italian and English Restoration styles is admirably smooth. By melding the plots of The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and shipwrecking the latter’s young lovers on Prospero’s island, Sams has four more characters to shepherd than the average Baroque opera – a problem he resolves by losing one in a cave. His focus is the relationship between Prospero (David Daniels) and Sycorax (Joyce Di Donato), who scheme like parents in a messy divorce.

Phelim McDermott’s light directorial touch results in a lack of cohesion. Almost every style of acting is here, from Baroque gesture to pantomime. Musically, there is greater unanimity, the Met’s orchestra playing with short bows and long trills under William Christie. Whatever one’s reservations about the Met’s cinema style – mid-match interviews that treat artists as athletes, sponsors’ name checks – most remarkable is how the hearts of an audience several thousand miles away can stop for Di Donato’s "Hearts that love can all be broken" (from Ferrandini’s Il pianto de Maria) and Daniels’s "Forgive me" (from Handel’s Partenope).

With Handelian pragmatism, Neptune’s forgetfulness is flagged up in his first recitative, while his closing aria is set to Tamerlano’s "Figlia mia" (Domingo). Danielle De Niese’s Ariel gets the last showstopper, "Can you feel the heavens are reeling" (from Vivaldi’s Griselda). By then, I didn’t give a jot about honeymooners or mermaids. The tragedy beneath this supernatural romcom is one of good intentions and bad parenting, of love warped by disappointment. Miranda (Lisette Oropesa) gets her Ferdinand (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Caliban (Luca Pisaroni), with a face that only a mother could love, gets nothing.

Next Week:

Anna Picard hears Jonathan Harvey’s Buddhist fantasy, Wagner Dream

Classical Choice

Andreas Scholl and Kammerorchester Basel perform Bach’s cantatas Ich habe genug (BWV 82) and Gott soll allein mein Herze haben BWV 169) at London’s Barbican Hall (Fri). Bill Bankes-Jones translates and directs Scottish Opera’s new production of Hansel and Gretel at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow (from Sat).

Article Sources: Kronos Quartet, Hackney Empire, London The Enchanted Island, Metropolitan Opera, New York / UK Cinemas/ Radio 3 – Reviews – Classical – The Independent

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

THOUSANDS of people trooped to SM City Cebu to witness the 4th Sinulog Pyrofest Competition on the eve of the Sinulog Grand Parade. Out of the eight competitors, Bulacan participants were judged as winners of the competition on Jan. 14 in SM City Cebu.

Golden Peacock received a score of 91.2 percent and brought home P150,000, while Phoenix Fireworks from Sta.Maria, Bulacan emerged placed second with a score of 89.2 percent and received P125,000. Sky Intensity placed third with a score of 82.6 percent and brought home P100,000. The fireworks were judged according to beauty, style, timing, and audience impact. Other contestants include 888 Prosperity of Bulacan, E & B Pyrotechnics, Lebrilla Fireworks from Laguna, Janna Marketing from Surigao, and Avila Fireworks from Cebu. Drumbeaters Lupon Anduyo added to the festive mood of the competition.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Pyroworks International, Inc.made a fireworks pyromusical demo show at the end of the fireworks competition.

Meanwhile, Pyroworks International did a spectacular 10-minute full pyromusical fireworks display on Jan. 15 in SM City Cebu to the delight of the spectators.

Soundtracks from Mission Impossible, LFMAO, Sinulog beats, Michael Buble, and Romeo & Juliet were used as background music of the pyromusical show.

A performance from Cebu’s pride, the Renaissance Band, happened at the Northwing Atrium right after the pyromusical show.

The back to back fireworks show in SM City Cebu is also supported by Apple One, Salon de Rose, and Rose Pharmacy.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 25, 2012.

Sun.Star on social media

Article Sources: Bulacan contestants win Pyrofest Competition

Follow his parents’ footsteps?

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He grew up in a home packed with Native American art and artifacts, the loves of parents who bought and sold such collectibles for as long as Chatt can remember.

So when he came of age Chatt decided to rebel; take his life in an entirely different direction.

It made sense. Even as a kid, as he was dragged to garage sales and swap meets by his collector parents, Chatt scoured the trash and treasures for flashes of olive drab and steel.

He still recalls his first find; a mess kit from World War II.

“I paid $2 for it at the Santa Fe Springs flea market.”

See, even as a kid Chatt was renting a table of his own at the collector shows where his parents made their living. And if you’re thinking it was just a kids’ hobby, you’re thinking wrong. Chatt, now 44, has spent the past two decades making his living by buying and selling old military stuff.

But it wasn’t until the rise of what he calls “recession television” – shows that feature ordinary people turning castoffs into cash – that a series of unexpected events conspired to give Chatt a shot at TV stardom.

His brother-in-law, watching one such reality show, told Chatt that somebody should make a series about the life of a military memorabilia collector.

“Dude,” Chatt said, “nobody would watch that.”

But Chatt’s phone rang the next day, and the caller had an altogether different opinion.

•••

Chatt started collecting in the early ’70s, so it was natural that his first purchases were from an earlier period — that World War II mess kit; a German Mauser bayonet from World War I.

“Being an 8-year-old boy with a bayonet, that was pretty cool,” Chatt said.

But early on his interest shifted to Vietnam. Partly, this was because a lot of the Vietnam War material had a rebellious flavor to it; soldiers often modified or personalized their uniforms and gear. But, also, at the time, Vietnam gear was the easiest stuff to get.

“Nobody else wanted it,” Chatt says of the period when Vietnam was a war many Americans wanted to forget.

“You’d go to shows and ask for it and (sellers) would look at you like you were insane… ‘Why do you want that crap?’”

(Chatt’s love of Vietnam-era stuff is strong enough that, today, his ringtone is ‘Ride of the Valkyries,’ the Wagner piece popularized in “Apocalypse Now.”)

Still, Chatt’s collecting was – and is — about deals, not eras.

On the day he was set to graduate from Redondo Beach Union High School he met up with a collector and scored three helmets; a WWII German helmet he bought for $50, a WWII American helmet he got for $10 and a WWI German helmet he got for $50.

Buying the helmets made Chatt a last-minute arrival to the graduation ceremony, prompting his mother to angrily ask him where he’d been.

But when he learned a few days later that the WWII German helmet was a rare paratrooper’s model, and it was worth $1,000, Chatt says Mom “mellowed out.”

He path was set. Chatt tried college for awhile, thinking he’d become a history teacher, but quit because it was more fun selling relics. He’s been a full time dealer since he was 21.

It wasn’t always easy. He lived in his shop and, for a time, considered AM/PM a “highlight” meal. But eventually his company – Vintage Productions – grew. A dozen years ago he moved the business to Huntington Beach, where he’d settled with his wife Danielle and their daughters, Raven, 15, and Dixie, 11.

Today, if you walk inside Vintage’s nondescript building, you’ll find every room filled with military history.

There’s a gray jacket worn by an American POW during his six years of horror at the Hanoi Hilton; the nose cone art from a B-29 that flew over the USS Missouri as Japan formally surrendered in World War II; patches and ribbons dating back to the Civil War. He has anti-Hitler propaganda, a toilet paper dispenser in the shape of the dictator’s head and toilet paper emblazoned with the words “Wipe out menace.”

And if you get into Chatt’s office, you’ll find some of his personal favorites – a 14th century samurai helmet, a fake Time magazine cover that features the character Col. Kurtz, a prop from “Apocalypse” among them.

At Vintage, Chatt picks up a folded canvas sheet and shakes it open. It’s a hand-painted banner of Saddam Hussein striking a defiant pose. Chatt says he bought it for about $1,000 from a solder who served in America’s latest military engagement.

It’s a good life and a good living, and Chatt says he was content to continue as he was.

Then came the yammering with the brother-in-law and the well-timed phone call.

•••

On the line was a guy Chatt knew from Digital Ranch Productions, producer of the History Channel show “Mail Call.”

The guy was pitching the idea Chatt’s brother-in-law had been talking about.

“They were interested in a show that combined ‘Pawn Stars,’ ‘Antiques Roadshow’ and ‘History Detectives,’” Chatt said.

“They wanted to tell the story, show the stuff and talk about what it’s worth.”

A year ago, Discovery Channel bought four episodes of “Combat Cash.” And after taping throughout program last year, the show aired for the first time in January. It’s unclear if Discovery will buy more episodes, though early viewership was strong.

The show features Chatt as the military dealer and the straight man, and his longtime friend, Owen Thornton, as the excitable sidekick. Wife Danielle has an on-air role as well.

Despite his initial misgivings, Chatt says the show is a lot of fun – for him and for viewers.

On one episode they travel to Oregon and use flamethrowers. On another they track down a Springfield musket from the 1790s for an active-duty soldier who pays extra to have them test fire it.

And, along the way, as with shows such as “Pawn Stars” and “American Pickers,” viewers of “Combat Cash” get a sense of the history and value of the kinds of military material still kept in a lot of houses and garages.

“That’s one of the things we hope comes out of the show,” Chatt said. “That even if you don’t think something is worth much, don’t throw it away.”

To learn more about Chatt and Vintage Productions go to Vintageproductions.com.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or

Related:

Article Sources: He turns deadly stuff into a living; TV show

The North of Smokey/Inverness South Fishermen’s Association has a quota of 5,000 harp seals a year in each year from 2011 to 2015, but didn’t go out last year because of poor ice conditions.

Spokesman Robert Courtney said Monday ice conditions don’t appear to be very promising so far this year, although it would be difficult to accurately predict ice conditions for the latter part of March or later when the harp seal hunt is underway. Courtney said he has heard so far there is a limited market that is not very “prosperous” right now.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“The boats are still in the water, the hunters are ready to go and we could go within one day. If we decide we are going, we are gone, but the thing is we have nothing at this time for markets.”

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has approved a developmental quota that was sought by the fishermen’s group to see if it could entice a processor to Cape Breton that could also handle grey seal pelts and products.

This year’s quota for the harp seal hunt off Canada’s east coast hasn’t yet been set. Last year, the quota was set at 400,000 animals, but federal officials said only about 38,000 were killed. The slump was blamed on shrinking world markets and poor ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the north coast of Newfoundland, where the seals need large ice pans to give birth to their young.

The federal government meanwhile confirmed in December that the world’s largest buyer of Canadian seal products — the Russian federation — banned importing harp seal pelts. The European Union banned importing seal products in 2010, and the federal government has failed to deliver on a promise to open the Chinese market to Canadian seal meat, including grey seals.

Last month, Courtney said a grey seal hunt on Hay Island off Cape Breton is looking doubtful this year because of a lack of markets.

Sealers have a short window of opportunity for the Hay Island hunt, which is determined by how long seal pups born on the rocky shoreline remain there, and that window is closing, said Courtney.

Fisheries and Oceans says on its website the majority of harp sealing occurs between late March and mid-May, beginning around the third week in March in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, and about the second week in April off Newfoundland in an area known as the Front.

The timing of harvest activities in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence depends largely on the movement of ice floes on which seals are located. The peak commercial harvest in this area is in early April, according to the department.

Article Sources: Sealers keeping eye on ice, markets

The legacy approach to email, typified by Microsoft’s Outlook program, permanently mated email to one computer. Many flaws in this mode of operation are obvious, but I recently ran across a flaw that isn’t so obvious.

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Before getting rid of an old Windows XP laptop, I was removing data files and un-installing applications. Turns out it’s fairly hard to totally scrub the details of Outlook and Outlook Express email accounts from the Windows Registry.

Before removing Outlook 2003, I wanted to insure that I knew the password (this wasn’t my computer). To that end, I ran Mail PassView from Nirsoft. Nir Sofer, the man behind nirsoft.net, makes some excellent, free, portable software for Windows.

In addition to passwords, Mail PassView displays many other attributes of an email account as shown below.

=============================Name : YourName GoesHereApplication : ThunderbirdEmail : : pop.gmail.comServer Port : 123Secured : NoType : POP3User : someuserPassword : mypasswordwashereProfile : Password Strength : MediumSMTP Server : smtp.gmail.comSMTP Server Port : 25 ==============================

It supports a long list of email clients including Thunderbird, all versions of Outlook, Windows Mail (both the Live and dead versions), IncrediMail and Eudora. If a webmail account has a password stored in a Windows application (such as a Hotmail password stored in a Microsoft Messenger app) chances are that Mail PassView can find it.

Running Mail PassView before removing Outlook 2003 revealed everything, including the fact that Outlook was configured for both a POP3 account from an ISP and a Gmail IMAP account.

It also revealed a surprise, Outlook Express had, at one time, been used for email on this machine. I ran Outlook Express to see what was there, and found just a single, very old, message. Even though the account was not really used, the owner of the computer certainly would not appreciate the details of their old email address (including the password) being available to the next user of the computer.

So, I un-installed both Outlook Express and Outlook 2003.

Since Windows applications often leave traces behind, I re-ran Mail PassView and fell off my chair. It reported all the same data that it had before un-installing the email programs. It was as if the applications had never been removed.

This, by the way, is one of many reasons that I prefer portable Windows applications. And, for the record, I never liked the Windows Registry, either in concept or implementation.

To help scrub the computer I turned to the Pro version of the popular Revo Uninstaller. Unlike the free edition, the Pro version includes a feature called Forced Uninstall that sounded just like what I needed. According to Revo it

…allows you to remove leftovers of programs that are already un-installed, incomplete installations and un-install remnants of programs! It does not matter if the program, you want to remove, is not listed in Revo Uninstaller Pro or in Windows Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet.

The Forced Uninstall feature takes as input either the program name or a folder path. I told it to look for “Outlook” and then removed all the Registry entries and files it turned up.

Revo Uninstaller makes Restore Points before doing anything, so there is protection should the Registry trimming cause a problem.

I was amazed at the files Outlook 2003 had left behind, they included both an NK2 nicknames file and a PST file, among others.

Despite this surgery, Mail PassView was still able to report all the details of the three email accounts, including the passwords. Then I tried the Advanced Scanning Mode for the Forced Uninstall, again searching for “Outlook”. This found more Registry entries and files, but removing them still did not prevent Mail PassView from reporting on everything.

After removing files, Revo said that some would be deleted when the system was restarted. Yet, after restarting Windows, Mail PassView again reported everything.

I then noticed that folder

C:Program FilesOutlook Express

had not been deleted despite being on Revo’s hitlist. And, there were still files in the folder. So, I deleted them.

Article Sources: How to Scrub Email Out of a Windows Computer

The Distinguished Gentleman (1992). This takes on new interest in light of star Eddie Murphy’s recently announced casting as Marion Barry in an HBO film. The Distinguished Gentleman isn’t a critics’ favorite, but it’s Eddie Murphy, playing a con man who runs for a congressional seat from Florida and wins.Wag the Dog (1997). Suppose your candidate, the President, finds himself in a sex scandal during a reelection bid. Do you distract attention? How about concocting a fake war? Robert De Niro is the spin doctor (think Mark Penn), Dustin Hoffman the movie producer (think Robert Evans) who creates the war.Bulworth (1998). Just the ticket for those who like their political satire raw. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, with Warren Beatty as Senator Jay Billington Bulworth. He raps, he boogies with Halle Berry, and, with a self-imposed death sentence, he unloads scathing political truths. Imagine if Mitt Romney went gangsta.Primary Colors (1998). The movie’s even better than the book, with John Travolta as a believable version of Bill Clinton and Emma Thompson doing a take on Hillary, and it has improved with age. Good behind-the-scenes glimpses of a presidential campaign, and the political details and marital dynamics are rich, transcending the scandal parts, which are sort of been there, done that.Election (1999). A high-school election, with blond, overbearing, and seemingly unbeatable Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) challenged by popular jock Paul Metzler (Chris Klein). Hell breaks loose. The movie put Witherspoon on the map. Matthew Broderick is the teacher and election supervisor who’s loath to see Tracy win.

Milk (2008). This true story traces the journey of Harvey Milk from San Francisco activist to political candidate to city-council member—and California’s first openly gay elected official, assassinated in his prime. See the movie’s trailer to the right.

Recount (2008). Probably Al Gore’s least favorite film, this gripping HBO production retells the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, when the outcome was thrown up in the air by a murky vote count in Florida and the Supreme Court decided the result. The perfect flick for Washington wonks and campaign pros.

This article appears in the February 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.

Article Sources: Our 10 Favorite Election-Themed Films