The World's End: What a way to go!

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>The World's End</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/theworldsend/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Four stars. Rating: R, for violence, pervasive profanity and sexual candor</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is, without question, the funniest pub crawl ever brought to the big screen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6cmTEzQAqTtQtdWjdcyfiY_YGTyBSsl_sr6sv-v4dJVjh9QK6dbYBHnzYIl2xxf0pzhXFpQVTQTSp7fIaHSTZaRTLy1J2fjFj9vWkxDhgXmsDidAo-BXemI8dfxQ8_Fo204uYuS8t6A/s1600/Worlds+End+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6cmTEzQAqTtQtdWjdcyfiY_YGTyBSsl_sr6sv-v4dJVjh9QK6dbYBHnzYIl2xxf0pzhXFpQVTQTSp7fIaHSTZaRTLy1J2fjFj9vWkxDhgXmsDidAo-BXemI8dfxQ8_Fo204uYuS8t6A/s400/Worlds+End+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Another pub, and still only the same single flavor of beer. By now, our heroes — from<br />left, Andy (Nick Frost), Peter (Eddie Marsan), Gary (Simon Pegg), Steven (Paddy<br />Considine) and Oliver (Martin Freeman) — are startng to wonder if something <i>other</i><br />than franchise blandness might be to blame...</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s also a cheeky delight that gets much of its fizz from the slow, tantalizing unveiling of What’s Really Going On: a reveal that deserves to remain a surprise for every viewer, much in the manner of 1998’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Truman Show</i>. That’s unlikely — which is a true shame — in an era when media outlets scramble over each other in an effort to unleash mega-spoilers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s End</i> is best viewed the way my companions and I did last night: with an advance preview audience that hadn’t the faintest idea what would come next.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if this review remains elliptical and vague in spots, blame my desire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to spoil any of the fun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life hasn’t been kind to Gary King (Simon Pegg). Twenty years ago, his compulsory secondary education at an end, he was on top of his world: young, free-spirited and popular with the lads and lasses. By way of celebrating their impending release from school, Gary and his four mates vowed to drink their way through the 12 pubs dotting the “golden mile” of their bucolic UK community of Newton Haven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They didn’t quite make it, but that’s immaterial; the camaraderie was key.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This introductory flashback unfolds, like a series of video snapshots, to Pegg’s sassy off-camera narration. But his enthusiasm fades as we’re brought to the present day, to discover that Gary is sharing this saga during a group therapy session.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time has moved on; Gary hasn’t. He’s still a self-absorbed layabout: a poster child for arrested adolescents who failed to launch. A 40-year-old man (to quote this film’s equally droll press notes) “trapped at the cigarette end of his teens.” And it eats at him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His former best buds, long estranged, have done better. More or less. Andy (Nick Frost) is a corporate attorney; Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a buttoned-down real-estate agent who shifts seven-figure properties. Steven (Paddy Considine) founded a successful start-up, sold out when the time was right, and now enjoys the companionship of a personal trainer half his age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter (Eddie Marsan), the meekest member of the one-time gang, got stuck with the family business — selling cars — and seems little more than an afterthought to his wife and two children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No surprise, then, that Gary first broaches his “inspired” plan with Peter: to re-visit that tempestuous night two decades back, but this time to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">succeed</i>... starting with The First Post and concluding with The World’s End. (Just in passing, all 12 of these Newton Haven ale houses are named for actual English pubs.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Through enthusiasm, persuasion, guile and outright deception, Gary gathers everybody in the old gang: even Andy, his one-time best friend, who still has serious issues due to some long-ago betrayal. (Details to follow.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the get-go, this film is propelled by its rat-a-tat dialogue: a barrage of verbal sparring, witty repartee and one-line zingers. Conversation hasn’t been this rich since the breathless pacing of Hollywood’s classic screwball comedies — okay, Aaron Sorkin gets close — and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">goodness</i>, but those days, and this style of wit, have been missed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Director Edgar Wright and Pegg collaborated on the tart-tongued script, which must be three times the length of what’s needed for an average 109-minute movie, due to sheer verbiage. It’s all razor-sharp, frequently hilarious — random quips prompting enough laughter to drown out the next two or three equally funny comments — and directed with snap throughout.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, one can get exhausted while trying to follow the non-sequiturs, as our five not-quite-friends-anymore gets increasingly squiffed and argue about everything from pronouns to long-simmering grudges. One of the latter erupts into full view with the arrival of Oliver’s sister, Sam (Rosamund Pike), who once had a meaningless shag with Gary, while being secretly adored by Steven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everybody displays superb comic timing, their verbal sniping enhanced further by Wright’s deft direction and Paul Machliss’ slick editing. You can’t help wanting to applaud.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of which, our audience <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> spontaneously applaud one key scene, taking place in the loo at The Cross Hands. That doesn’t happen very often, and rest assured; it was well-deserved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But things aren’t all kicks and grins. Wright and Pegg score some early social commentary with a mordant running gag, as our gang discovers — despite sporting wonderful names such as The Two-Headed Dog, The Trusty Servant and The Famous Cock — that all their beloved pubs of memory have been homogenized, and now share the same plastic ambiance, the same franchise menu, and (horrors!) the same single flavor of beer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish I could remember the caustic line that defines this tragic loss of British tradition, because it’s a corker ... and a reminder that Wright and Pegg have more on their minds than mere verbal slapstick.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the increasing haze of too much ale, though, Gary and his mates begin to wonder if there’s more to Newton Haven’s bland monotony than meets the eye. Longtime genre fans will appreciate this oddly quiet community’s resemblance to Little Storping in the Swuff, the equally sleepy — and creepy — township setting of a classic 1960s episode from Brit-TV’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Avengers</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gary, stubbornly determined to chase the blues away, even as things get progressively weirder, is the first to discover ... ah, but no: That would be telling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The World’s End</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> comes from the same manic team — director Wright, writers Pegg and Wright, and stars Pegg and Frost — that brought us 2004’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shaun of the Dead</i>and 2007’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i>. The similarities actually go much deeper; the boys also brought along their sizable repertory company, and you’ll recognize many familiar faces. Freeman and Julia Deakin (here as a B&B landlady) have appeared in all three films, as has the marvelous Bill Nighy (although it’ll take you awhile to spot him here).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Former James Bonds also have a habit of popping up. Timothy Dalton played a pivotal role in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i>, and Pierce Brosnan appears here as one of younger Gary’s disapproving teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also should mention, for the uninitiated, that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s End</i> is the third entry in what has come to be known as the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,” due to each film’s cheeky placement of a different flavor of Cornetto ice cream. Strawberry was the option of choice for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shaun of the Dead</i>, signifying that horror comedy’s gorier elements; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i> name-checked the original blue Cornetto, as befit its send-up of police dramas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t blink, and you’ll spot this new film’s reference to green mint chocolate chip. Draw your own conclusions about which genre is being spoofed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not sure “acting” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i> can be discussed or debated in a project of this nature; Pegg, Frost and their colleagues play archetypes more than credible characters, their interplay more akin to the zany, tongue-twisting efforts of Abbott and Costello or the Marx Brothers. And yet personalities do emerge, particularly as panic sets in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marsan is appropriate woeful as poor, pitiful, put-upon Peter, while the dashing Considine makes Steven the one guy most willing to embrace Gary’s damn-the-consequences eagerness. Freeman’s Oliver is stiffly, starchly formal; Frost’s teddy bear-esque Andy, stubbornly on the wagon at first, erupts with hidden fury as the situation spirals out of control. Pike, in turn, makes Sam a gal worth remembering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their impressive talents notwithstanding, the film belongs to Pegg, whose Gary is a force of nature: a self-absorbed loser, to be sure, but a truly hilarious one. His bemused expressions, exasperated double-takes and mangled efforts at human speech are beyond priceless. It’s a true shame that actors never get awards for this sort of performance, because it’s one for the record books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Equally funny, as well, is Gary’s single-minded determination — no matter what else happens — to down a brew at every one of his beloved 12 pubs. That gag also picks up steam, as this film roars into its flat-out-exciting third act.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me mention, as well, that Wright gets impressive production results for this film’s modest $20 million budget: far, far more than bloated failures such as this summer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-lone-ranger-mild-mild-west.html">The Lone Ranger</a></i> delivered for close to 10 times that amount. Hollywood could take lessons from our thrifty British cousins.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I truly hate to think that Wright, Pegg, Frost & Co. are done with their Cornetto efforts. Each collaboration has been fresh and completely different from what came before, and plenty of genres remain to be lampooned. More to the point, Cornetto has several as-yet unreferenced flavors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Douglas Adams turned his <i>Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>“trilogy” into a five-book series, and probably would have written more, had he not died too young. Surely these cheeky British lads can do the same.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2013 British Comedy Eddie Marsan Edgar Wright Four Star Films Martin Freeman Nick Frost Paddy Considine Pierce Brosnan Rosamund Pike Simon Pegg The World's End: What a way to go!

The World's End   (2013) •  View trailer   Four stars. Rating: R, for violence, pervasive profanity and sexual candor By  Derrick Bang ...

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How Personal Wellness Coaching Can Change Your Life

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Tara Daniels</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>When a person is serious about achieving their personal goals, they often times will get help to do so. They will do this by getting personal wellness coaching from an experienced wellness coach who has a proven track record. Often times, it takes a person a while to realize that they cannot do it alone. When that time comes, that help will be there waiting for them.<br /> <br /> Losing weight and maintaining it is a very popular reason people hire a personal wellness coach. Some people may only need help in helping them stick to an exercise program they are trying to complete. Others may want to get that body builder look and want to increase their strength. It really does not matter what a person's goal is. Their coach will do everything that they can to help them reach that goal.<br /> <br /> Sticking to a diet and working out will not only help a person look good, they will also feel good. By eating healthy and participating in a regular exercise program a person will have life long health benefits. A coach will make sure that their client achieves these goals.<br /> <br /> If a person is close by, a coach will work with them in person. If they are too far away, the personal coaching will be done by other means such as the telephone and Internet. Much of the discussion will be about a clients personal feelings and what needs to be done to reach their goals. The coach will motivate their client through motivation and other strategies they use in their line of work.<br /> <br /> Most questions will be asked during the very beginning of the program. This is because the coach will want to know exactly what their client's mind set is. Everyone is different and a coach must know how a person is to see what the best strategy is to work with them. They'll want to know why a person waited as long as they have to get serious about reaching their goals and will want to know how committed a person is in reaching those goals.<br /> <br /> Whenever a week goes by, the coach will point out the great things that a person did the previous week. Motivation and praising is very important to help someone achieve their goals. They will also bring up any difficulties that a person had during the week and will work out a strategy to help overcome those difficulties.<br /> <br /> These coaches are experts and will sometimes have to use scientific methods to help a person out. Even if a person is taking baby steps toward their goal, the coach will make sure that the goals are reached. They are going to see to it that their client lives the healthiest life possible.<br /> <br /> <A href="http://www.impacthealthyedge.com">Personal wellness coaching</A> will put anyone on the right track to a healthy lifestyle. They will learn what to, and how to, prioritize things in their life. This will lead to the living a life that is beneficial to their well being.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>When you are looking for effective <a href="http://www.impacthealthyedge.com/weight-loss-colorado-springs.html">personal wellness coaching</a>, visit the web pages online today. You can see details at http://www.impacthealthyedge.com/weight-loss-colorado-springs.html now.</div><br /> </div><br />

How Personal Wellness Coaching Can Change Your Life

By Tara Daniels When a person is serious about achieving their personal goals, they often times will get help to do so. They will do thi...

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TPP needs a full debate, not a rubber stamp

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5GNPh4L9dyFEjafZgdiLgok9fpP5_M0vgNOuTOWAXZejHvGXGnGsP1spLECr7NtKsbzE1Y7RlXgK3QNdhzmGV_vRO4iWp0vuqjkx_b7TV33eLlje3d5hnhidRw71jJ4kMMouyRMMkqih/s1600/tpp.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5GNPh4L9dyFEjafZgdiLgok9fpP5_M0vgNOuTOWAXZejHvGXGnGsP1spLECr7NtKsbzE1Y7RlXgK3QNdhzmGV_vRO4iWp0vuqjkx_b7TV33eLlje3d5hnhidRw71jJ4kMMouyRMMkqih/s320/tpp.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Congress returns to Washington next month and it will have the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on its agenda. Top-level trade officials from </span><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130822/japan-11-countries-start-19th-tpp-free-trade-talks-bru" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the U.S. and 11 other countries began their last full-fledged negotiations in Brunei yesterday</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and the effects could be disastrous for American workers.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before lawmakers vote on the trade pact, however, they will consider whether to rubber stamp the TPP and give it a quick up-or-down vote with little debate and no chance to amend it. Fast-track authority, as it is called, </span><a href="http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FastTrackFactsheet.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">is a violation of Congress’ constitutional responsibility</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to fully vet any trade deal. It would keep the anti-worker TPP a secret until it is too late. Fast track must be stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Not all countries negotiating the TPP are rushing ahead with approval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-304872/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just this week, Malaysia announced that it was putting the brakes on the agreement</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">so it could study it further. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry said:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Cabinet is of the view that Malaysia should not be bound by any fixed time line with regard to the TPPA.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A novel idea! Shouldn’t our lawmakers be doing the same, especially when American jobs, food safety, our environment and Internet freedom are at stake? Given the potential impact of the TPP, more review is needed, not less.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No one is against trade; we’re just against unfair trade. We’ve seen enough lost jobs, shuttered plants and hollowed-out communities. It’s time to rebuild the middle class, not tear it down, and that means trade deals that benefit working Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> U.S. families deserve better. That’s why it’s so important <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that we let our elected officials know they must stick up for their constituents above corporations. Fast track has to be derailed. The TPP needs to be fully hashed out by lawmakers, not just by multinational corporations.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tell your lawmakers to put the brakes on fast tracking the TPP. To contact your members of Congress, go to </span><a href="http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50740/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8906"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50740/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8906</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Let them know regular people demand to be part of the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>

fast track Malaysia TPP TPP needs a full debate, not a rubber stamp

Congress returns to Washington next month and it will have the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on its agenda. Top-level trade officials from...

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Why Opt For The Personal Trainer Lafayette

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Patricia Neill</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>A professional fitness trainer is a benefit to have no matter what your present level of workout is. They will be able to guide you on the most appropriate routes that is going to lead you to your chosen fitness goal, while at the same time ensuring that you never put yourself in harm's way.<br /> <br /> Many people have chosen to have a personal trainer Lafayette for many various reasons, one of which includes the fact that Lafayette is a city that is teeming with workout opportunities like state of the art fitness centers and workout clubs. Here are some of the other more common reasons:<br /> <br /> Top Reasons To Have Your Very Own Personal Trainer Lafayette<br /> <br /> 1. You Will Never Be Put In Deliberate Danger.<br /> <br /> A professional personal trainer Lafayette is well-trained in the art of helping people become physically fit. As this also includes being aware of the dangers involved when it comes to exercising, any personal trainer worth his salt would also be careful in the limits of the human body. While he or she may encourage you to do better and reach higher levels, he or she will never force you to do activities that are inherently dangerous.<br /> <br /> 2. You Will Find It Harder To Get Bored.<br /> <br /> Boredom is one of the main killers of the passion for exercise. While it is all too easy to start off your newly planned exercise regimen, eventually the monotony and lack of change will wear you down. A personal trainer Lafayette aids to combat this dreadful experience by using his or her vast knowledge and experience. A varied routine not only keeps you interested but also makes sure that your body is working out properly.<br /> <br /> 3. You Will Reach Your Goals Quicker.<br /> <br /> The combination of useful information, advice and constant help are undoubtedly factors that help increase your speed towards becoming physically fit. A person alone may still achieve the same results. However, it has been found more often than not that it takes much longer, particularly if said person is untrained in the world of exercise. While it is generally cheaper, most people prefer to take advantage of having their own fitness trainer to guide them and make sure that they stay safe.<br /> <br /> 4. You Will Have Access To A Variety Of Tips And Useful Information.<br /> <br /> Another perk in having your own personal trainer Lafayette is that you will be able to have someone who is knowledgeable about exercising to help you decide in what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. Some people find themselves more inclined to research on their own. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to find the information being searched for, and as each fact tends to have many different opinions, it is all too easy to become confused on what to do. Your personal trainer will be able to help you sort through the mess of information and give you straight pieces of advice that are easy to follow.<br /> <br /> So these are the leading reasons why you should hire a personal trainer Lafayette. If ever you're in need of workout advice, be sure to get in touch with one.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Becoming in good shape with the aid of <a href="http://www.theperfectworkout.com/personal-trainer-lafayette/">Personal Trainer Cupertino</a> not just boosts your own physique but furthermore your health as well. The advantages that you can get from <a href="http://www.theperfectworkout.com/personal-trainer-cupertino/">Personal Trainer Lafayette</a> are limitless.</div><br /> </div><br />

Why Opt For The Personal Trainer Lafayette

By Patricia Neill A professional fitness trainer is a benefit to have no matter what your present level of workout is. They will be able...

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Begin Your Anti-Aging Regimen Early To Age Gracefully And Beautifully

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Rufus P. Berthold</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>You are going to age no matter how hard you try to prevent it. As you grow older, the most vital thing that you can do is spend your time in a wise manner by doing worthwhile activities. The following article will help you properly care for your health.<br /> <br /> If you stop stressing over numbers, you will help yourself age better. When you're too concerned with your age, your weight or other numbers, it's too easy to be distracted from what's really important. You will still need some numbers for medical reasons but you should not weight yourself down every day.<br /> <br /> Do not preoccupy yourself with numbers. Pay attention to the big things in life, and don't get too wrapped up in numbers. The moment you start focusing on these three things is the moment that you will start obsessing over them and missing out on the fun parts of life that are aimed at keeping you feeling young.<br /> <br /> Friendships are important because they help your life gain more love and energy, which are good for your emotions and are positive. You can always make a new friend, no matter your age. By putting yourself out there and meeting new people, you can create friendships that will enrich your life.<br /> <br /> Exercising is especially important as you age. As your body gets older, it needs to stay active more to remain strong and flexible. Commit to walking a half hour a day, every weekday. Round out the week with two days of doing strength exercises. This is the best way to keep your body in tip top shape and prolong the aging process.<br /> <br /> Aging sometimes means we have to look at the option of some form of assisted living. The effects of aging makes it harder to care for yourself as well as you once did. This would be the time that you should consider moving into a nursing home. Each of these options offers some help with daily living without completely robbing people of their autonomy. There are professionals who work at the facility who are licensed and able to give you any assistance that you may need.<br /> <br /> Boost your exercise routines, and commit more time to fitness overall. As your body ages, it needs more activity to keep itself strong and malleable. Walking at least 30 minutes every day is good exercise. Add variety with strength exercise a couple of times a week. This will keep your muscles toned, while fighting off the effects of aging.<br /> <br /> Keep your eyes healthy, especially as you get on in years. Although some loss of eyesight is natural, it is possible to prevent or reduce the effects of age-related deterioration in the health of your eyes.<br /> <br /> With age, a lot of people are simply not able to live on their own anymore. We can reach a point as we age when caring for ourselves is no longer possible. There may come a time when you will have to decide whether or not to move into a nursing home. While this can be an unpleasant thought for some, it may be the best option. Licensed professionals can help you with a level of health care appropriate to your situation.<br /> <br /> Sugar is one of the biggest factors in having a shorter life. Sugar is an ingredient that can shorten your life and make you age faster. Research shows that sugar reduces lifespan of all animal life.<br /> <br /> You want to pay attention to your eyes when you age. It is natural to experience decreased visual acuity as you age, but by seeing an eye doctor on a regular basis, you can prevent any serious problems.<br /> <br /> If you are a smoker, you should make all efforts to quit to reduce the effects it has on aging your skin. Smoking can add wrinkles to your skin and make your lips look thin, which is not good for your appearance. In addition, smoking can make you age faster and shorten your life.<br /> <br /> One way to help prevent heart disease is to eat more fish. Red meat contains more fat than fish. This fat sticks to the inside of your veins which causes plaque build-up. Fish can help you live healthier and longer, unlike meat.<br /> <br /> They say youth is wasted on the young, but that's all the more reason to get your youth back. With the tips in this article, you'll be able to look and feel like you did years ago, but you'll retain all the wisdom age has brought you. You won't mind growing older now that you have this advice to guide you.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Curious about fat burning? Check out this blog on <a href="http://bodyrevolutionreviews.org">aging</a> or acquire more information in this <a href="http://bodyrevolutionreviews.org/growing-older-not-just-for-the-young-anymore/">aging theories</a> report here</div><br /> </div><br />

Begin Your Anti-Aging Regimen Early To Age Gracefully And Beautifully

By Rufus P. Berthold You are going to age no matter how hard you try to prevent it. As you grow older, the most vital thing that you can...

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Getting A Great Sports Personal Trainer San Jose

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Dee C. Williams</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>Getting a personal trainer San Jose isn't that hard. The web is full of details about various personal trainers, training centers and gyms that provide personal training. But because there are a lot of personal trainers from the city, you should make sure that you are employing the best one for you.<br /> <br /> Because not all personal trainers offer the same kind of training and don't have a similar expertise as someone else does, you have to make sure that you are hiring the one that can present you with the correct training that you need so that you can achieve your primary goal in an safe and effective way.<br /> <br /> Finding the Right Sports Personal Trainer<br /> <br /> Below are great tips regarding how to find the best personal trainer San Jose that will best suit your requirements and your goals.<br /> <br /> * Right Kind of Certifications<br /> <br /> When hiring the best sports trainer, you need to think about the certifications that the preferred personal fitness trainer has. Because this will indicate the line of expertise that your trainer specializes in, you will be able to find out whether your chosen personal fitness trainer fits your needs.<br /> <br /> A few of the certifications that you would like your chosen personal fitness trainer to have are certification from the American Council on Exercise or ACE and National Academy of Sports Medicine or NASM. This will make sure that your preferred personal trainer San Jose has truly undergone training and seminars that are specifically built for sports trainers.<br /> <br /> * Can Customize Workout Programs for you<br /> <br /> You should also take note of the approach of the personal fitness trainer that you would like to employ to the trainings that she or he gives to their clients. Customized trainings and workout programs should not be out of the question for any sports fitness trainer. Because customized workout and diet programs are some of the most important things about personal training, your chosen personal fitness trainer should be able to provide it for you.<br /> <br /> Knowing how to produce a customized workout and diet plan will even enable you to determine whether your personal trainer San Jose is very knowledgeable in his type of work.<br /> <br /> * Should Have a Background in Sports<br /> <br /> Your selected personal trainer should also be quite familiar with sports and should have played the type of sport that she or he focuses on. This can make sure that he or she knows what he is doing and knows the sport well. After all, nobody wants to become trained by someone who's bad in the sport.<br /> <br /> It is ideal to select a personal trainer who plays or have played the sport that you want to improve on to ensure that they might provide you with insights, techniques and strategies which you can use to enhance your game play. Having an experienced personal fitness trainer on your chosen sport will also allow you to have a common passion with your trainer, which will make your professional relationship better and make your trainings easier and much more enjoyable for the two of you.<br /> <br /> Fitness instructors shouldn't only learn things from academies as well as training centers. They should also have desire for the sport that they're teaching their customers so that they can efficiently implement the techniques and the knowledge that they have learned and developed to increase the service quality that they provide for their customers.<br /> <br /> So, when selecting a sports personal trainer San Jose, make sure that you are going for someone who is not only knowledgeable but can also be enthusiastic about your selected sport and also the things that are based on the game that you want to improve on.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Getting in great shape with the help of <a href="http://www.theperfectworkout.com/personal-trainer-san-jose/">blog url</a> not only enhances your own entire body but also your health as well. The benefits that you can obtain from <a href="https://plus.google.com/106004061680121716759/about?gl=US&hl=en-US">visit the site</a> are countless.</div><br /> </div><br />

Getting A Great Sports Personal Trainer San Jose

By Dee C. Williams Getting a personal trainer San Jose isn't that hard. The web is full of details about various personal trainers, ...

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Running A Popular Weight Loss Website Is Facile

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Jill Tsai</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>The proper attitude is a must for anything you do. The running of a diet tips and weight loss information website is no different if you want it to be successful. Are you ready for the highs and lows that accompany having a website? Things can be easier for you if you keep these points in mind.<br /> <br /> Having powerful and interesting titles that draw the attention of your target audience makes your visitors want to explore all that you have to offer them. These enticements can make them stay on your site longer and increase the chances that they will purchase your products or services.<br /> <br /> It's not 1995 anymore - get rid of that visitor counter widget on your site! Visitor counters these days look very amateurish and don't serve any purpose whatsoever. If you need to get your traffic numbers, you should be using a comprehensive service like Google Analytics, which will tell you not just the number, but information about your visitors as well.<br /> <br /> You can gain additional exposure to the brand and business while ridding yourself of old inventory with online auctions. Buyers will see the brand and what you offer even if there is not a lot of direct business or money made.<br /> <br /> Another popular type of contest are review contests. These contests will help you increase your search rankings. For this contest people need to write about the contest to get an entry. Links that you get will give you traffic from Google juice and new visitors. It is important that you have a good prize to motivate people to write about your contest remember this before you begin.<br /> <br /> Put a competition on your diet tips and weight loss information website, for example, you can run re-tweet contest and people can re-tweet your URL to take entry in the contest of random prizes draw, or you can give prize to those for best comments on post, etc. This will indulge the people very much and also provide entertainment to them.<br /> <br /> Many of the search algorithms used by large engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing are biased toward older, more established diet tips and weight loss information websites. It can be hard to break through with a brand new site. If you have the opportunity, consider buying an old site with a strong link profile and rebuilding it.<br /> <br /> Descriptive link text will make it very easy for your visitors to anticipate the content that they are going to be able to access through that link. Also, the better a link describes it's content, the better search engines will be able to accurately portray them on searches.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Searching for ways to enhance your insight regarding the information presented above? Just submit <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com/'>where to buy phen375</a> when searching online. You can find some fantastic helpful suggestions about <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com/benefits-of-phen375-to-people-suffering-from-obesity'>metabolic booster</a>.</div><br /> </div><br />

Running A Popular Weight Loss Website Is Facile

By Jill Tsai The proper attitude is a must for anything you do. The running of a diet tips and weight loss information website is no dif...

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Sperone Westwater's Moving Elevator

I've never seen the red elevator/gallery behind the facade of the Norman Foster-designed Sperone Westwater gallery on The Bowery actually move, but this short film from Foster + Partners captures the slow ascent and descent through some time lapse photography.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Up-XJN_n7Fc?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />Check out the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FOSTERANDPARTNERS1/videos">Foster + Partners channel on YouTube</a> for many more recently uploaded videos.

Sperone Westwater's Moving Elevator

I've never seen the red elevator/gallery behind the facade of the Norman Foster-designed Sperone Westwater gallery on The Bowery actuall...

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Cone head

<span style="font-size: large;">I was back in the vets this morning with Bones - the nurse was a Star Trek fan and she immediately commented on his name.  Bones is called after the Star Trek character Dr. Bones McCoy.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">He has been licking his paws and made them quite irritated. We had put booties on his feet to stop him doing this but the vet recommended he wear a cone for the next 2 weeks.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvGi6G5WR2AX6dYVL0LW3pAxkYn5VYbgu7lq9Bc2Dd1IBW_nJqU_DACwOptSd_jVQQ7VKvNzf5XcHr9e_Nudx5zpLNM4gvBF72otPFFYzb4BF3p5KLPaJCHiIjYKYYsrml90G6tnz42ti/s640/blogger-image-576345485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvGi6G5WR2AX6dYVL0LW3pAxkYn5VYbgu7lq9Bc2Dd1IBW_nJqU_DACwOptSd_jVQQ7VKvNzf5XcHr9e_Nudx5zpLNM4gvBF72otPFFYzb4BF3p5KLPaJCHiIjYKYYsrml90G6tnz42ti/s640/blogger-image-576345485.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We left the surgery with cream and antibiotics and a diagnosis of dermatitis.  If it doesn't clear up after treatment we may be in to a biopsy situation.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Bones was not a happy chappy in the cone.  After falling in to the car he proceeded to give me the stink eye.  </span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKA0rDuybLV1RoCt_AkXsJwtSiuEsGTqVwe2t0wULbHU9BiwE123XMD_esP7VRvmBT-nuQhJrC9w-zWdWDvQiKM0Dq9c_fgb_yHsSMj2yaqh79l58J8x-rN8vOoYrtmJN_iXj12ikR7fx/s640/blogger-image--2099248114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKA0rDuybLV1RoCt_AkXsJwtSiuEsGTqVwe2t0wULbHU9BiwE123XMD_esP7VRvmBT-nuQhJrC9w-zWdWDvQiKM0Dq9c_fgb_yHsSMj2yaqh79l58J8x-rN8vOoYrtmJN_iXj12ikR7fx/s640/blogger-image--2099248114.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Hopefully by bathing his feet daily and medication his paws will be better soon.</span></div>

Cone head

I was back in the vets this morning with Bones - the nurse was a Star Trek fan and she immediately commented on his name.  Bones is called a...

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Waiting to Hear From the Doctor - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The call came Sunday morning, just after I had returned from a bike ride on one of those rare, glorious, sunny Cleveland days.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's your doctor," my wife said, as she handed me the phone. Never a good sign, your doctor calling on a weekend.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I had recently seen him for my routine physical, where I had been found to have high blood pressure. I tried to explain it away, blaming the morning traffic as I dropped off my children at camp, drinking a tall cup of coffee and running to my appointment. But my wise doctor ignored my attempts to minimize it and had referred me for a stress echo, an ultrasound of the heart, followed by a run on the treadmill, followed by another ultrasound of the heart. I had completed the test just two days earlier.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Your resting echo images" — the ones before I exercised — "showed wall motion abnormalities in the left circumflex distribution," he said. "You need to see a cardiologist." Translation: Your heart muscle isn't moving in a region fed by one of the three main blood supplies to the heart. You've had a silent heart attack sometime in the past.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I sat down in the living room, the only sounds being those of the wood clock on the mantelpiece, and the distant murmur of my wife and children chattering away in the other room. Time passing, and family.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I'll e-mail him and copy you right now, to get you in," my doctor concluded. I thanked him, my brain too jolted to generate any clarifying questions.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A heart attack. It was official. My dad, his father and my great-grandfather did not bother to pass down to me their good looks, but they had managed to secure in their patrilineage coronary artery disease: All three had died suddenly, of cardiac arrest. I was on deck.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">True to my doctor's word, the e-mail came across my iPhone within the hour. And then I waited for a "reply to all" from the cardiologist.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And waited.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And checked my e-mail more times than I'm comfortable admitting publicly.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I revisited past illnesses, trying to identify the one concealing a heart attack: the upper respiratory tract infection that left me short of breath; the chest pain a couple of days after a vigorous upper body workout at the gym.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That afternoon I called a friend who is a cardiologist, and she kindly reviewed my echo report.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's probably just an error – this doesn't make any sense at all. Don't worry," she said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That helped for a few hours, until it didn't. I later talked to a friend who specializes in cardiac imaging, who was much more blunt.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"You're being an idiot," he told me. "This has to be a bad test. Why are you letting this bother you?"</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Because the men in my family die from heart attacks. And while I can modify my lifestyle to avoid eating gribnitz — fried chicken fat — spread on rye bread like my grandfather, and can exercise regularly unlike my father, I can't escape their genes.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A couple of days passed without an e-mail from the cardiologist. I called his office and left a message. My wife noticed I was distracted.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"You're not letting this bother you, are you?" she asked.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I told her I was.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">She reminded me that when one of my patients calls, concerned that they have leukemia because of a low platelet count, that I always reassure them that the test was probably wrong and that they should get it rechecked. "You've had two doctors tell you the same thing. Why can't you follow your own advice?"</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Because this is emotional, not logical.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The next day I called the cardiologist's office again, and he scheduled a more detailed ultrasound. I underwent the test and saw him the following day.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Your repeat echo was stone-cold normal," he told me. "The first one was probably just a technical error, involving where the probe was held." He brought up the images on the computer to show me the differences, and was very apologetic.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It happens. Medicine is not an exact science, and even routine tests have variability.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That night, back home, we had a celebratory dinner, butter and cheese be damned. The phone rang during the meal, and I let it go to voice mail. I listened to the message as we cleaned up, from a distant cousin.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I got some news today, from my doctor," he said, sounding nervous. "I have prostate cancer, and I'd love to get some advice on what to do next."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">I called him right back. I didn't want him to have to wait to hear from me one second longer than necessary.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><em>Dr. Mikkael Sekeres is director of the leukemia program at the Cleveland Clinic.<br></em></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><em><br></em></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/waiting-to-hear-from-the-doctor/?_r=0">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/waiting-to-hear-from-the-doctor/?_r=0</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Waiting to Hear From the Doctor - NYTimes.com

The call came Sunday morning, just after I had returned from a bike ride on one of those rare, glorious, sunny Cleveland days. "It'...

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Today's Teamster News 08.23.13

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(AMZN)</a> is stepping up a warehouse building spree, signaling the urgency of getting products to customers more quickly amid rising competition from <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/EBAY:US">EBay Inc. (EBAY)</a>and Wal-Mart Stores Inc...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-gathered-thousands-of-americans-e-mails-before-court-struck-down-program/2013/08/21/146ba4b6-0a90-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html?tid=pm_pop" rel="nofollow">NSA gathered thousands of Americans’ e-mails before court ordered it to revise its tactics</a> Washington Post   ...For several years, the National Security Agency unlawfully gathered tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-revised collection method, according to <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/fisa-court-documents-on-illegal-nsa-e-mail-collection-program/409/" rel="nofollow">a 2011 secret court opinion</a>...<br /><a href="http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2013/08/alec-declares-itself-exempt-public-disclosure-laws-and-challenged" rel="nofollow">ALEC declares itself exempt from public-disclosure laws, and is challenged</a>   MinnPost   ...Sometime in the last year or so, the super-secretive <a href="http://www.alec.org/">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), the group that helps its corporate and think-tank members get their wish lists into the hands of state lawmakers, decided to unilaterally declare itself exempt from public disclosure laws throughout the country...<br /><a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/speaking_in_raleigh_colin_powell_blasts_north_carolina_voting_law" rel="nofollow">Speaking in Raleigh, Colin Powell blasts North Carolina voting law</a>   News & Observer   ...With Gov. Pat McCrory in the audience, former Secretary of State Colin Powell took aim at North Carolina's new voting law Thursday, saying it hurts the Republican Party, punishes minority voters and makes it more difficult for everyone to vote...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/22/justice-department-will-challenge-texas-voter-id-law/?hpid=z1" rel="nofollow">Justice Department will challenge Texas Voter ID law</a>   Washington Post   ...The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it will challenge Texas’s Voter ID law, saying it violates the Voting Rights Act, as well as the Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments...<br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5666268/pension-systems-to-file-longer.html" rel="nofollow">Pension systems to file longer Chapter 9 objection</a>  Associated Press   ...A federal judge will let Detroit's two pensions systems file longer eligibility objections to emergency manager Kevyn Orr's bankruptcy petition...<br /><a href="http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/08/22/ceo-comes-out-swinging-in-favor-of-sb7-prevailing-wages-and-the-race-to-the-top/" rel="nofollow">CEO Comes Out Swinging in Favor of SB7, Prevailing Wages, and the Race to the Top</a>   We Party Patriots   ...In a recent <a href="http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/19/2872992/business-leaders-for-prevailing.html" rel="nofollow">op-ed for the Modesto Bee</a>, Mark Breslin, CEO of San Francisco-based United Contractors, explains why he favors California’s SB 7, a bill which would make charter cities eligible for public funds only if they follow prevailing wage guidelines...

Today's Teamster News 08.23.13

Teamsters Ratify UPS Upstate New York Supplement    IBT   ...UPS Teamsters in New York state ratified the Upstate New York supplement to the...

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new sponsor - arianna belle

What better way to wrap up unofficial 'pillow week' with my official pillow source? A lot of you probably already know about <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=59" target="_blank">Arianna Belle</a>, maker of all things lovely, and if you don't you'll thank me in a minute.<br /><br />I found Arianna way back when while doing one of my late night Etsy pillow searches. (I know how to have a good time) She created my <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=91" target="_blank">Schumacher Ric Rac</a> pillow and I've been a member of her fan club ever since.<br /><br />Girlfriend can create anything you can dream up, her work is impeccable and her taste is spot on. Here are some I've added to my wish list. (take notes hubs)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vLXvhW_ZpCB_iq9V8pzL0pnizx8sD-mlJPVT8RKixbV0zj9vaFJIbBqsg0MzyE4MEjBuauGmDcIlP9-k4Hr9TcOFzzcImRyG9MXMr_bbnjMcOQnqTDghHfBS5rph6-b9mIaomeV9qh30/s1600/ariannabellepillows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vLXvhW_ZpCB_iq9V8pzL0pnizx8sD-mlJPVT8RKixbV0zj9vaFJIbBqsg0MzyE4MEjBuauGmDcIlP9-k4Hr9TcOFzzcImRyG9MXMr_bbnjMcOQnqTDghHfBS5rph6-b9mIaomeV9qh30/s640/ariannabellepillows.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=98" target="_blank">1</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=88" target="_blank">2</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=104" target="_blank">3</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=83" target="_blank">4</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=105" target="_blank">5</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=89" target="_blank">6</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=119" target="_blank">7</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=70" target="_blank">8</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=90" target="_blank">9</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Check out her <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=59" target="_blank">shop</a> and prepare to drool. Welcome Arianna Belle to the LBD family, I'm happy you are here!<br /><br /><i>Interested in a sponsorship with little black door? <a href="mailto:news-these-days@gmail.com" target="_blank">Email me</a>!</i>

new sponsor - arianna belle

What better way to wrap up unofficial 'pillow week' with my official pillow source? A lot of you probably already know about  Ariann...

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EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOgQcMIhLUhaIUknnyaCvndyevb-biTWpAaNfNYSr0nw9lGZCjvDqlSe_ORJXQOVAS2E0Up-fhA2pTPneB9o3Zyo23jQkRh70HL-pSHQuoEQwRUrIdBtF9ZITTLfIdPnsBOnr7EjP-e6k/s1600/640x392_27469_154627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOgQcMIhLUhaIUknnyaCvndyevb-biTWpAaNfNYSr0nw9lGZCjvDqlSe_ORJXQOVAS2E0Up-fhA2pTPneB9o3Zyo23jQkRh70HL-pSHQuoEQwRUrIdBtF9ZITTLfIdPnsBOnr7EjP-e6k/s400/640x392_27469_154627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MEDITERRANEAN GAS OUTLOOK THREATENED BY ARMED CONFLICT?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The population in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN region is expected to increase by as much as 35 percent in the next 20 years. Natural gas deposits in the Levant Basin are expected to keep the energy needs of the growing population satisfied indefinitely. Governments in the region are working quickly to get excess natural gas to the international market.  CYPRUS is already taking preliminary steps to start construction on a liquefied natural gas terminal and energy companies are queuing up in anticipation of an ISRAELI court decision on gas export polices. Ongoing conflict in SYRIA and territorial disputes between ISRAEL and LEBANON, however, may interfere with ambitions for the natural gas deposits in the MEDITERRANEAN SEA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2M6SGsvn47WACeHBP-aiwbaFqSMtwkbOquWC9_b_leI1Yo2VVsVmZanmm9pC7kuJTA_lNUV6BWI0L-i0g6x7z-rFqk10s8H3CmZy4kBi6w5Z6ss5fWZbz9Y7u-C8sst-4Qks7r4PN8mv/s1600/The-East-Med-pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2M6SGsvn47WACeHBP-aiwbaFqSMtwkbOquWC9_b_leI1Yo2VVsVmZanmm9pC7kuJTA_lNUV6BWI0L-i0g6x7z-rFqk10s8H3CmZy4kBi6w5Z6ss5fWZbz9Y7u-C8sst-4Qks7r4PN8mv/s320/The-East-Med-pipeline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS reported its first offshore natural gas discovery just two years ago and is already laying the groundwork for an export terminal. Construction could start as early as 2015 and LNG exports are planned for 2020. Executives there <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-12/cyprus-studies-lng-export-expansion-beyond-12-billion-terminal.html">said</a>they'd likely have to make accommodations for natural gas from ISRAEL and LEBANON in their future export plans. Last year, one of AUSTRALIA'S biggest energy companies, Woodside Petroleum Ltd., <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/woodside-awaits-israel-court-decision-before-completing-gas-deal.html">said</a>it would fork over more than $2 billion for a stake in the Leviathan natural gas field. The company said this week it was waiting patiently for the ISRAELI courts to make a decision affecting gas export policies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the Levant Basin has probable undiscovered natural gas resources of 122 trillion cubic feet. At current rates of consumption, that may be enough to meet domestic natural gas demand almost indefinitely. Leviathan, the biggest of the Levant fields with 18 trillion cubic feet of estimated recoverable reserves, was discovered three years ago and could start production by 2016. Tamar, with an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of reserves, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-30/israel-begins-gas-production-at-tamar-field-in-boost-to-economy.html">started</a>production this year, four years after discovery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TERRITORIAL DISPUTES BETWEEN ISRAEL AND LEBANON COULD LIMIT THE NATURAL GAS POTENTIAL IN THE REGION</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg4M00ITpVaxCF67PmWgf8hDZ-lI9lrQrHC38cWe1jTtbOxXxKrYwKUwQ34C76zLSaZ8oL42KjChKJu218Uv0gXlaSJ7fMBVTYdbqT-0zlcCshyphenhyphen-rBw3rYaxv6_tyLZAyrI6ojnPNbh9G/s1600/Lebanon-Israel-Maritime-border-dispute.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg4M00ITpVaxCF67PmWgf8hDZ-lI9lrQrHC38cWe1jTtbOxXxKrYwKUwQ34C76zLSaZ8oL42KjChKJu218Uv0gXlaSJ7fMBVTYdbqT-0zlcCshyphenhyphen-rBw3rYaxv6_tyLZAyrI6ojnPNbh9G/s1600/Lebanon-Israel-Maritime-border-dispute.gif" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration <a href="http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-topics.cfm?fips=EM">said</a> nearly all of the "significant" natural gas discoveries of natural gas made in the last 10 years or so are in the Levant Basin. Most of the discoveries were made in ISRAELI waters. LEBANON contends some of the natural gas lies within its territorial waters and two years ago, the ISRAELI military launched drones over its gas fields in the Mediterranean, saying it was fearful of a Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah took its 2006 war with ISRAEL as an sign it could take on its adversaries using conventional military means and, in 2011, Hezbollah <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hezbollah-lebanon-will-not-let-israel-seize-its-natural-gas-1.373201">pledged</a>to use whatever means necessary to defend LEBANON'S national interests.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The EIA said armed conflict and territorial disputes could limit the natural gas potential in the region. In terms of oil, the EIA said SYRIA had the largest reserves as of January. Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut were the target of recent bombing campaigns as the Shiite organization faces more threats since acknowledging it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/hezbollah-makes-vow-to-step-up-sunni-fight.html">fighting </a>alongside pro-government forces in SYRIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SYRIA ALLEGEDLY DISCOVERED LARGE OIL AND NATURAL GAS IN ITS TERRITORIAL WATERS</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/syrian-oil-and-gas-findings-propaganda.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/syrian-oil-and-gas-findings-propaganda.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRAN - IRAQ - SYRIA GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENT SIGNED IN JULY 2012 WORTH US$10 BILLION</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TRANS ARABIAN PIPELINE “TAPLINE</span>”</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is no sign the conflict in SYRIA is letting up. The U.N. Security Council <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hold-emergency-meeting-syria-attack-20024783">said </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the alleged use of chemical weapons in SYRIA. Pro-Western lawmakers in Beirut, meanwhile, <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Aug-21/228089-future-raps-hezbollah-militia-like-measures.ashx">said</a>Hezbollah's security crackdown following last week's bombing was "an aggression against the state." The White House said the use of chemical weapons in SYRIA "crossed clear red lines that have existed within the international community for decades." But that was in June, the last time allegations of chemical weapons surfaced. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The population in the Mediterranean region could reach 62 million by 2030.  While representing less than 1 percent of the total proven oil and natural gas reserves, prolific offshore basins could alter the regional markets substantially. Conflict, however, could inhibit much of the regional development in the short-term. With most signs pointing to an escalation of the crisis in SYRIA, the energy sector won't be the only thing redefined in terms of regional dynamics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Worthwhile to mention is that the SYRIAN conflict will most probably continue for some time, similar to the civil war in LEBANON, which lasted 15 years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Daniel J. Graeber via Oilprice.com</span></span></div>

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

MEDITERRANEAN GAS OUTLOOK THREATENED BY ARMED CONFLICT? The population in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN region is expected to increase by as mu...

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