News for today's 2018

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 7

1:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am just going over Jordan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;"> I am just going over home.”    <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                                           -- Wayfaring Stranger <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">By modern transportation, all of Israel isn’t that big, but on foot or even donkey, the area of the Jordan River where John did his baptizing was quite a hike from Jerusalem where most of his folks came from. It was even further for Cousin Jesus tramping down from Nazareth. Besides, how did they find him? No GPS. Not even a flashing sigh. It wouldn’t have been easy. You had to go looking for John the Baptist in a harsh land.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Holiness in Antiquity was not conveniently located for the spiritual shopper. It was something you had to go after and you had to be serious. It was the same with holy places in other religions too. They were remote and inaccessible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Jordan in the baptizing area is nothing to shout about. It isn’t big. It is narrow and muddy. When Elisha told Naaman of Aram to wash in the Jordan to heal his leprosy, Naaman thought he was a quack. Rivers in Aram were at least clean. This part of the Jordan is one of the lowest points on Earth, just north of the Dead Sea – a highly unlikely place for God to descend into our humanity. Our God is a God of surprises.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">At the Jordan we renewed our Baptismal Vows today and received asperges from Brother Mark. Do I feel different? I’m not sure that’s the point – but to answer the question, well, yeah, I do. It will take me awhile to sort out just how. This place was closed off by the Israeli government for a while, but was reopened thanks to the diplomacy of Benedict XVI. You weren’t my favorite Pope, Ben, but thanks for making today possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">From the Jordan, Jesus went into “the wilderness.” Today we drove up a mountain to overlook the area where Jesus went on his vision quest. It is vast and open like the American West. The hills roll like Idaho but are barren like Nevada – even more barren – no sagebrush, no scrub pine. Really barren. The wind blows.  The loneliness is overpowering. How much loneliness must we face in order to meet God? And is meeting Satan on the way an inevitable part of the journey?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">We saw the Jordan and the Wilderness of the Temptation this afternoon. We saw the Mountain of Temptation too – the one where Satan invited Jesus to jump  -- but that struck me as pretty unlikely. It had a wall on top that would have been there in Jesus’ day. I think someone just picked that one at random. And we visited Jericho, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, the place where Jesus had dinner with the sinner, Zacchaeus, and healed blind Bartimaeus, author of the Jesus Prayer, which has carried me through my darkest hours, on his way out of town.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">But our day began in the North at the Sea of Galilee. We visited two places in that region where Jesus did most of his teaching. First, we visited a church marking the supposed place where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. Second, we visited a church on the shore of Galilee commemorating the place where the Risen Lord appeared for the last time in the Gospel of John, the one where Jesus cooked the disciples a fish breakfast. More about that resurrection appearance in a moment. But first I want to note something about the altars in both those churches. At the Multiplication of Food church, the altar was built over a large stone that jutted up through the floor immediately under the altar. At the Fish Breakfast Church, an even larger stone came up through the floor in front of the altar. Assuming the stone was there first, it appears the altar was deliberately placed behind it, just as the altar had been quite intentionally built over the rock in the first church.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">No one could explain those rocks to me. But from what I have been reading of the history of Jerusalem, a city built around an ancient sacred rock, I expect those rocks are significant. These two spots may have been where Israelites in the 8<sup>th</sup> Century were offering sacrifices, much to the distress of southern prophets like Jeremiah who insisted the only proper place for sacrifice was Jerusalem. The rock in the South was holier than the ones in the North. But I would imagine that the Jews were not the first to offer sacrifice on these stones. Their Canaanite predecessors had been offering sacrifice there for thousands of years before Abraham left Ur. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Does that corrupt the holy place? Or does it tie it into something older and deeper in the human story than we can find in a written record. In JMHP, Part 6, I said sacred geography is a matter of finding places to ground the events in our sacred story. But there is also an argument, perhaps a better argument, that we weave our sacred stories abound places that were holy and we experienced them as holy before the story was crafted. Perhaps some late Stone Age person sensed the divine at these stones. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">All of which I somehow associate with an Apache Cross that hangs in my office. In the center of the cross, instead of a corpus, a stone is held by strong thread. Rock of Ages cleft for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was wonderful to be at Galilee again this morning, to go down to the beach, to touch the water. It recalled for me the first sermon I gave in New York. It was at Holy Apostles, Chelsea – and it was on this text, the last resurrection appearance in John. I can’t begin to say how much I love this text. Here’s why:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It has been said that in John, “Jesus’ feet never quite touch the ground.” He is a very lofty sort of character, way more God than man. In the crucifixion, he is not tortured so much as elevated. He reigns from the cross. Then in the resurrection, he is just sublime each time he appears. He is on spiritual steroids. Then the Gospel of John ends. Fini. Complete. The End. The curtain comes down.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then the curtain comes back up. And another thing: one more resurrection appearance. This time Jesus shows up as an old guy on the beach, a crusty old fisherman who knows the sea. He calls out “Children, (I love that) caught anything?” They don’t recognize him. He doesn’t look the same. He’s old and talks like a fisherman. “Nah,” they say. “Try the other side of the boat,” he calls back like he knows the tricks of fishing these waters. They do and catch 153 fish but the net doesn’t break. So they hurry to shore to meet Jesus but he doesn’t talk about “I and the father are one” or about being in the father and the disciples being in him so that the disciples are in the Father and then there’s the Spirit of Truth in there somewhere along with being born from above, etc. etc. He says, “Let’s cook up some of those fish,” and he does – he cooks the fish. Jesus finally comes to earth. Great text. It’s a whole theological trip to say why that finally happened in John. I argued lo those many years ago it had to do with the Johannine Community being put out of the synagogue and having to find their religions not so much in their heads as in their daily lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The day had one more thing that was just weird to me – and one thing that was quite good. The weird thing was Mount Tabor, the Mount of the Transfiguration. Let me say first off: the Transfiguration is big in my religion – aesthetic theology, God as Beauty, Beauty as the chief attribute of God (Jonathan Edwards, Gregory of Nyssa, David Bentley Hart). I am with the Eastern Tradition in seeing it as a High Holy Day theologically. I love the dharmadatu holy light in the Jesus story. Plus August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration, Hiroshima Day, the anniversary of my ordination, and my elder daughter’s wedding anniversary. Big day at our house. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The drive up Mt. Tabor was long and winding. Tabor is beautiful. The view from Tabor is beautiful – looking out over the Jezreel Valley to the mountains on the other side including Carmel up to the North. This was surely the place for a theophany. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the turning point of the story is when oafish Peter says, “Let’s build three shrines – one to you (Jesus), one to Moses, and one to Elijah.” God shows up and says, “This is my beloved Son,” Moses and Elijah disappear, and there is no more talk of shrines. Well, you guessed it: they built a church on top of Mt. Tabor, with Jesus in the middle and chapels for Mosel and Elijah on each side. The church was as elegant as I’ve ever seen in its architecture and some of the religious art was exquisite but there was also a lot of art that was exactly what Thomas Merton decried in his essay on bad Catholic art. It included four mosaics of moments in the Jesus story revealing his divinity. Each mosaic had angels with their eyes rolling back in their heads as if they were having seizures. The Revelation one had a lamb lying on an open Bible. Now add this: the church and its art are from the 1920s funded by Italian fascists. It was all just creepy and left me with a real sense of the Church just not getting it. If the church is founded on the rock of Peter and Peter is the chief example of not getting it, then I suppose it’s to be expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">On the up side, I had been wanting something more academic in the program, and we got that tonight – a very good lecture by a double doc on Abraham. He will be our guide tomorrow to the Oaks of Mamre, Hebron, etc. So geek that I am, I’ll get some of my nerd needs met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 7

“I am just going over Jordan. I am just going over home.” -- Wayfaring Stranger ...

Did I Tell You?

9:04 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br />It's a girl!!<br /><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/AVvXsEgSc05qOvRcY-DyBq1pGKLbZ1yuK39w-FnVoY_HTiaYd1SNXHhdqmwMnpynvdZZrjnFv-rOxY4xV-3X48SzUzOmUDrlFiz2DZjjVOAw_QUVwPw-T4zsPkOSEETDDN4-TNmPUysrIsAShto/s1600/baby+busbee+12+wks+no+PII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSc05qOvRcY-DyBq1pGKLbZ1yuK39w-FnVoY_HTiaYd1SNXHhdqmwMnpynvdZZrjnFv-rOxY4xV-3X48SzUzOmUDrlFiz2DZjjVOAw_QUVwPw-T4zsPkOSEETDDN4-TNmPUysrIsAShto/s400/baby+busbee+12+wks+no+PII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12 weeks</td></tr></tbody></table> Yes, we are having ourselves a sweet, little lady.  Now, obviously there has to be a story that goes along with this.  As Joel would say, "You can't simply give the facts - you have to tell it as a 'story'".  I like to think of it as a gift!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Cutting to the chase, however, I did want a boy.  We both did.  In fact, I'd always said that should I ever get pregnant one day, I was convinced that I would only make boys.  I like boy things and I love the idea of having a mommy's boy.  I love my little almost-2 year old nephew so much (not that I don't also love my niece, but he is just special to me as a little man!) and felt such a repoire with him - I felt like I would only ever produce boys.  Yes, I know this is crazy-talk.  I know we don't get to pick and choose!  But, I was dreamin'!<br /><br />Even after learning of the pregnancy, I was still convinced it was a boy.  During my last appointment for 2012, the doctor said I could learn the gender on February 4, and the countdown began!  I could not WAIT.  I was so anxious the day of the appointment that Joel had to take a break from holding my hand because of how sweaty it was.  I warned him it would get slick :).<br /><br />The ultrasound tech began to perform the full anatomy scan as we anxiously awaited our fate.  Joel and I both discussed ahead of time that since we didn't want to have a child in the first place, it would probably be a girl since we especially wanted a boy!  Yes, the G-man continues to test us and remind us that this is <b>His </b>plan, not ours!  Sure enough, our lady confirmed the gender as a girl.  Joel said the moisture from my hands was immediately sucked dry and the look on my face was somber.  Yeah, it's true.  I cried during the ultrasound. <br /><br />I had the boy's life already planned for him - the bedding/theme picked out.  His name.  All of his little clothes I couldn't wait to get for him.  I wouldn't even so much as glance at girl stuff in the stores because I just KNEW we were having a boy.  Wrong!<br /><br />After the u/s appt was over, I had my monthly appointment immediately following it, where they confirmed that the baby looked as it should for this timeframe, and that because she was so active they had a hard time accounting for all her fingers and toes.  The tech literally could not count each individual digit because of how active she was.  Still, I'm not worried about her, and if she comes out with a finger or toe missing - then we'll count our blessings!  Worse things could happen.<br /><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/AVvXsEjtzBmfKbCH9dQIykYCCIaQ9gxfUE2C0gTcahuiZbUGLPR9F2iyQjZnO-N1Lek4RTJgdWkXkpeUVuJ6fxfS_Gl95qCbX8nvZbUvnrQpiRwENrIbbKfeKcIJkuiyrlgyorEdZ7IO9CjNv4I/s1600/baby+girl+20+weeks+2+no+PII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzBmfKbCH9dQIykYCCIaQ9gxfUE2C0gTcahuiZbUGLPR9F2iyQjZnO-N1Lek4RTJgdWkXkpeUVuJ6fxfS_Gl95qCbX8nvZbUvnrQpiRwENrIbbKfeKcIJkuiyrlgyorEdZ7IO9CjNv4I/s400/baby+girl+20+weeks+2+no+PII.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20 weeks - I <3 her so much already :)</td></tr></tbody></table>Joel tried his best to cheer me up.  Initially, I said that once we found out that we were, in fact, having a boy, that we would stop by Carter's on the way home so I could pick up some crab-themed outfits <i>(Joel is from Maryland - the blue crab capital of the world! - and hence the baby's to-be theme)</i>.  I just didn't have it in me to go to Carter's to shop for girl clothes, but Joel convinced me we had to.  And as we walked into the store, there on a display table right directly in front of us was a little gift from God: little girl outfits with both crabs and fish all over them<i> (Joel is a HUGE fisherman - he has his own <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/jbusbee83?feature=watch">fishing YouTube channel</a> - and this was part of the fantasy of having a boy - so that he could be his daddy's fishing buddy.  Yes I know girl's can fish too.  But a fantasy is a fantasy.)</i>.  I was SO happy!  You have to realize that I've been in Carter's several times just fantasy shopping since we found out about the pregnancy, and I have NEVER seen these outfits there before.  We literally bought every single thing  that had a fish or crab on it for our daughter.<br /><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/AVvXsEjYUi6hteM4zGfjtPoYxgZynAxL3UGi6DEm1vAr2j0oMInt3TVHpsMCQ88N5_Ec9m3ceBz9ZJbZqLG2kr6zkO7tSLpnNfZYFZ0wV3kHkHsOwSdDNpd1toVo4J8JtCH1I6CJ_1t0BQ6mVhY/s1600/baby+buzz+23+weeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYUi6hteM4zGfjtPoYxgZynAxL3UGi6DEm1vAr2j0oMInt3TVHpsMCQ88N5_Ec9m3ceBz9ZJbZqLG2kr6zkO7tSLpnNfZYFZ0wV3kHkHsOwSdDNpd1toVo4J8JtCH1I6CJ_1t0BQ6mVhY/s400/baby+buzz+23+weeks.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">24 weeks</td></tr></tbody></table>Now that more time has passed, and I've had the opportunity to do a little more shopping for the little lady, I'm much more excited about our future with her.  She already has a nicely stocked closet filled with clothes, and I've been slowly buying diapers in all sizes.  Plus, every single day the little lady is hard at work squirming around in there - and it's such a comfort feeling her movements throughout the day.  Joel has not yet been able to feel her (I'm now 24 weeks) but hopefully it won't be long before he can!   <br /><br /><b><span style="color: #674ea7;">What was your favorite part about being pregnant?  What was your reaction when you found out what you were having?</span></b><br />

Baby Busbee Did I Tell You?

It's a girl!! 12 weeks Yes, we are having ourselves a sweet, little lady. Now, obviously there has to be a story that goes along with ...

Britney Spears "So Excited" for Sister Jamie Lynn Spears' Engagement

8:01 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Britney Spears; Jamie Lynn Spears" src="http://www.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/60738-britney-spears-so-excited-for-sister-jamie-lynn-spears-engagement/1362406895_britney-spears-jamie-lynn-spears-lg.jpg" /><br /><br /><div data-action="Zoom" data-category="Article" data-label="0" id="article-image" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 19px 17px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 240px;"><span class="caption" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #999999; display: block; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Britney Spears; Jamie Lynn Spears</span><span class="caption" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #999999; display: block; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Chris Polk/FilmMagic</span></div><div data-action="Contextual" data-category="Article" data-track-tags="a" id="article-body" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/britney-spears" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Britney Spears</a></strong> is ready to walk down the aisle again after all -- as a bridesmaid, that is. Over the weekend, the pop superstar's baby sister <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/jamie-lynn-spears" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jamie Lynn Spears</strong></a> took to Twitter and Instagram to announce her <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/jamie-lynn-spears-engaged-to-jamie-watson-see-her-ring-19693112" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">engagement to Jamie Watson</a>, her boyfriend of three years.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/2012s-celebrity-engagements-2012312" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">PHOTOS: Biggest celeb engagements of the year</a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"So excited and happy for my sister," Britney, 31, <a href="https://twitter.com/britneyspears" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">tweeted</a> past midnight on Monday (March 3). "Congrats @jamielynnspears - love you." Jamie Lynn shared her dazzling engagement ring with her Instagram followers and praised her hubby-to-be's selection: "He did good."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/see-at-what-age-stars-got-engaged-20091812/" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">PHOTOS: Stars too young to wed?</a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The wedding news may be somewhat bittersweet for first-time bride Jamie Lynn's famous older sister. Britney and love<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Jason Trawick </strong><a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/britney-spears-fiance-jason-trawick-split-19693112" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">broke off their engagement back in January</a>; the "Criminal" singer has been wed twice before -- to pal <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason Alexander</strong> (for 55 hours!) and <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/kevin-federline" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kevin Federline</strong></a>, with whom she has two kids.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/britney-spears-music-video-looks-201259/" style="border: 0px; color: #009bd5; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">PHOTOS: Britney's most iconic video looks</a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The romance is gone," one insider told Us Weekly of Spears and Trawick late last year. Trawick "puts her on speakerphone so friends can hear her nagging," the source added at the time.</div></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>

Britney Spears Britney Spears "So Excited" for Sister Jamie Lynn Spears' Engagement

Britney Spears; Jamie Lynn Spears Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Chris Polk/FilmMagic Britney Spears is ready to walk down the aisle again a...

RED WIDOW: SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE

7:54 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Red Widow: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" src="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/photos/3/1/9/5/4_53323e89a7e212e/red-widow-mitchellthA.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Last spring, ABC experimented with the short-run series model that's so popular abroad (think the Israeli show</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Prisoner of War</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, which beget</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Homeland</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">here), ordering up a ten-episode, single-season run of the</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Taken</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">knock-off</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Missing</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, starring</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink0" style="background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Ashley </span><span class="kLink" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Judd</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">in the Liam Neeson role of a vengeful parent searching for a kidnapped kid. Although the series was constructed with a definite endpoint in mind, the finale carefully left room for another batch of episodes should the show prove to be a hit. It wasn't. But the network is giving the concept a second chance with</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Red Widow</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, another limited-run series that aired the first two of its eight hours tonight.</span><br /><div class="asset-more" id="more" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Adapted from the Dutch series <i>Penoza</i>, <i>Widow</i> stars <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink1" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Radha </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Mitchell</span></span></a> as seemingly ordinary NoCal housewife Marta Walraven, who is actually, literally married to the mob. Her Russian-born daddy Andrei (Rade Serbedzija, no stranger to playing Euro gangsters), is a well-known -- but so far unarrestable -- gangster and he recruited her husband, Franklin (Anson Mount), to be part of his operation. But Marta's weary of being connected to that world and demands that Franklin get her and their three children out at the first opportunity. Before he can do that, though, he's gunned down in the driveway and his wife is forced to tie up his various loose ends, which include a stolen shipment of drugs and a debt to another mobster, Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic). Based on the first two <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink2" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">episodes</span></span></a>, <i>Red Widow</i> is a tough show to get a bead on; it's not good enough to become appointment viewing, but at the same time it's not so terrible that we wouldn't stick around for six more hours to see how it all wraps up. Here are three reasons to keep watching... and three reasons to bail.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>Reasons We'd Keep Watching</b><br /><b>Radha Mitchell</b><br />Part of the wave of Aussie performers who crossed the Pacific to sunny Cali in the late '90s and early '00s (see also: George, Melissa and Jackman, Hugh), Mitchell has been kicking around Hollywood for some time without scoring that one big breakout role. A decade later, she may finally have found it. Now, let's keep things in perspective here: we're not anointing her the next big <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink3" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">TV </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">star</span></span></a>, but her performance as Marta does indicate she could carry her own series far more easily than she could carry a feature film. Looking considerably older than her 39 years -- which works in her favor and kudos to the producers for not forcibly aging the character down -- Mitchell projects a weariness and uncertainty that's entirely appropriate for a character who has suddenly been thrust into a world she doesn't understand and hates being a part of. It would have been easy to depict Marta as adapting to her new role too quickly, but Mitchell indicates that she's got a steep learning curve in front of her, which could prove fun to watch.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>Who Shot <s style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">J.R.</s> Franklin?</b><br />The <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink4" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">premiere</span></span></a> established a number of intriguing suspects, starting with Franklin's pal Mike (the always welcome Lee Tergesen), who accused him of ratting another their other partner-in-drug-related crime -- Marta's brother Irwin -- out to the feds. You've also got Schiller, the dude whose stash was stolen and is known to retaliate with extreme prejudice against anyone dumb enough to cross him. Last, but not least, you can't rule out Franklin's own father-in-law <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink5" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Andrei</span></span></a>, who sure seems like the kind of guy who doesn't let family ties get in the way of business. So far, the writers have avoided tipping their hands about which of these three ordered the hit and/or pulled the trigger. We're kinda want to stay with it until we can guess the reveal ... and then the inevitable last-second twist.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>It'll Be Over in a Month</b><br />If we knew we'd be waiting around until May to see how <i>Red Widow</i> wraps up, we'd be less inclined to care. But provided that <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink6" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">ABC</span></span></a> airs it every Sunday in March without any delays, it'll be a short-term proposition, airing its finale (in which the creators have promised that all questions will be answered... although we've heard that before) five or six weeks from now. That seems like an entirely reasonable time commitment for a show that we're, for now, only moderately interested in.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>Reasons We'd Jump Ship</b><br /><b>The Purple Prose</b><br />While we weren't anticipating crime fiction writing on the level of, say, <i>Justified</i>, we were hoping <i>Red Widow</i>'s scripts wouldn't be as clunky and cliché-ridden as what we heard in the first two hours. And while the writing staff seems to have the show's major story arcs figured out on a macro level (having a fixed number of episodes helps with that), we're not as confident that they'll be able to tell them in a compelling way on a scene-to-scene basis. If this represents the best they're capable of, it may be best to tune out now rather than risk inevitable disappointment.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>The Kids</b><br />Where, oh where, have all the good <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink7" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">child </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">actors</span></span></a> gone? The three tykes that make up Marta and Franklin's clan are all deeply annoying and too reminiscent of other obnoxious TV kids, from the Leo-from-<i>Smash</i>-like older son, Gabriel (Sterling Beaumon), to the Dana-from-<i>Homeland</i>-like teenage daughter Natalie (Erin Moriarty), to the Luke-from-<i>Modern Family</i>-like tyke, Boris (Jakob Salvati). Every scene with one -- or even worse, all -- of them was an endurance test. We can't help but wonder if, wherever he is, Franklin is just a tiny bit relieved that he no longer has to come home to this trio every night.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>Eight Episodes Seems Like a Stretch</b><br /><a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink8" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">Television</span></span></a> does allow for a more novelistic approach to storytelling, which is great provided you have a novel-length story to tell. <i>Red Widow</i>, though, feels like it would be most satisfying as a two-hour movie (okay, maybe two-and-a-half) and we're not yet convinced that stretching it out to eight hours adds anything more to the material than running time. Seriously, give this same premise to a director like David Fincher or even the guy who made the first <i>Taken</i> and you've got the set-up for a potentially killer one-shot feature. But in this case -- to paraphrase the title of an old <a class="kLink" href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2013/03/red-widow-sympathy-for-lady-vengeance.php#" id="KonaLink9" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border: 0px none transparent !important; bottom: 0px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">ABC </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">series</span></span></a> -- eight seems like more than enough.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b>Miss the premiere of <i>Red Widow</i>? Watch the first hour below.</b></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="288" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=o0kpb7yd4fc1z_anfksuea&partner=tvwithoutpity&uri=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hulu.com%2fwatch%2f457318" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="512"></iframe></div>

RED WIDOW RED WIDOW: SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE

Last spring, ABC experimented with the short-run series model that's so popular abroad (think the Israeli show Prisoner of War , which...

Daredevil Media Outlet Behind Rodman’s Trip

7:50 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/04/business/sub-vice/sub-vice-articleLarge.jpg" /><br /><br /><div data-key="TcbHdt" data-num="2" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"></div><div class="articleSpanImage" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 600px;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/04/business/sub-vice/sub-vice-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"></span><br /><div class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="color: #909090; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.223em; margin-bottom: 3px; text-align: right;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/04/business/sub-vice/sub-vice-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">North Korean Central News Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency</span></div><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/04/business/sub-vice/sub-vice-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><div class="caption" itemprop="description" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">Kim Jong-un with the former N.B.A. star Dennis Rodman at a game in Pyongyang last week.</div></span></div><nyt_byline style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></nyt_byline><br /><h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 2px 0px;">By <span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/brian_stelter/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/brian_stelter/index.html" rel="author" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by BRIAN STELTER">BRIAN STELTER</a></span></h6><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><h6 class="dateline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;">Published: March 3, 2013</h6><br /><div data-key="TcbHdt" data-num="2" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">April 5.</span></div><div data-key="TcbHdt" data-num="2" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The company’s bosses said they were planning a visit to the secretive country, centered on an exhibition basketball game with the flamboyant former N.B.A. star <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/dennis_rodman/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Dennis Rodman.">Dennis Rodman</a> and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters. HBO decided to add what Mr. Lombardo said was “a little bit” of extra financing, beyond what it had already agreed to pay for the newsmagazine.</div><div data-key="IflIfl" data-num="3" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“It felt like something that could be interesting for the show,” Mr. Lombardo, HBO’s president for programming, said last Friday as he recalled the meeting.</div><div data-key="BFtKJs" data-num="4" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">By Friday, the trip wasn’t just “interesting,” it was international news. <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/kim_jongun/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Kim Jong-un.">Kim Jong-un</a>showed up for the exhibition game in Pyongyang the day before, making Mr. Rodman and Vice’s film crew the first Americans known to have met the North Korean ruler since he inherited power from his father in 2011.</div><div data-key="OtaAtS" data-num="5" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">On television and online, people were debating which group was benefiting more from the publicity, Vice or the North Korean leadership. At the State Department, reporters wanted to know why the United States government wasn’t visibly doing more to debrief Mr. Rodman about his interactions with Mr. Kim, the dictator whom he pronounced his “friend.”</div><div data-key="TVcBMR" data-num="6" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The Vice crew remains in North Korea; several more days of filming are scheduled. But Mr. Rodman returned home over the weekend, and in <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/dennis-rodman-kim-jong-un-wants-president-obama-to-call-him/" style="color: #666699;" title="The interview on ABC’s Web site.">his first interview</a> — on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday — he said Mr. Kim was “a great guy” and said “he wants Obama to do one thing, call him” — which generated even more news headlines.</div><div data-key="TstWkh" data-num="7" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">To say this was all part of Vice’s master plan would overstate the matter. The producers and reporters had no assurances that Mr. Kim would attend the game. But when they arranged the trip to North Korea, a rarity in and of itself, they thought like diplomats. To get what they wanted, they considered what they could give — and they came up with Mr. Rodman and the Globetrotters. “We knew he’d be tempted by basketball,” said a Vice spokesman, referring to Mr. Kim.</div><div data-key="TKdThm" data-num="8" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The Kim dynasty’s love for the sport, and for the Chicago Bulls in particular, was evident on the Vice co-founder Shane Smith’s two previous trips to the country. In a telephone interview, Mr. Smith recalled that when the Bulls would come up in conversation with North Korean handlers, “their eyes would light up.” The handlers made sure to show him the basketball signed by Michael Jordan and given to Kim Jong-il by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000, now on display at a museum in Pyongyang.</div><div data-key="MSdBwi" data-num="9" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Smith described his staff’s chats about the trip: “We said to ourselves, ‘Well, if we go through normal channels, it’s almost impossible to get in. But what if we put together a sort of exhibition basketball team to go over there?’ ” It has been called “basketball diplomacy” in the press since Mr. Rodman and company arrived — “and that was the actual idea,” Mr. Smith added.</div><div data-key="VhaTca" data-num="10" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Vice has a reputation for <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/with-rodman-stunt-american-reality-tv-and-north-korean-propaganda-fuse/" style="color: #666699;" title="Related post on The Lede blog.">stunt journalism</a>, having dispatched people in the past to war zones and hot spots overseas. On <a href="http://www.vice.com/en_us" style="color: #666699;" title="The Web site.">its main Web site</a> over the weekend, an immersive article from India was sandwiched between a first-person essay titled “My Month Without Sex” and another essay about marijuana. The company also publishes magazines, records and YouTube videos, among other things.</div><div data-key="FHtBtw" data-num="11" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">For HBO, the newsmagazine partnership — announced last spring — was a leap, something Mr. Lombardo acknowledged in an interview. But “the whole idea of Vice is to take you places where other organizations are not going,” he said.</div><div data-key="TNKTgi" data-num="12" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">That’s North Korea in a nutshell, since access to the country is so tightly controlled. To get in, a liaison between North Korea and Vice suggested that the company donate basketball hoops and scoreboards to North Korean schools — a good-will gesture of sorts at the beginning of discussions about a visit.</div><div data-key="VebMSa" data-num="13" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Vice employees based in China did so. The company also contacted Mr. Rodman and the Globetrotters, and paid them an undisclosed amount to take the trip, which began last Tuesday. Mr. Smith, apparently unwelcome in the country because of his previous documentaries, has stayed in touch with his crew there through brief sessions on Skype.</div><div data-key="MLiHnt" data-num="14" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Lombardo indicated that the apparent nuclear test by North Korea two weeks ago, widely condemned by the international community, did not change the producers’ thinking about the trip. He noted that Vice was an independent producer, like many of HBO’s partners.</div><div data-key="TwnTwa" data-num="15" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“This was not, and Vice is not, about going in and doing the definitive story on North Korea and arms,” Mr. Lombardo said. “This was always intended to be, ‘You know what, let’s get our camera into an isolated country that we hear about, we read about and yet is hard for us to even picture.’ ”</div><div data-key="MLsMSf" data-num="16" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Lombardo said he was in awe when he saw the photos of Mr. Rodman and Mr. Kim. Mr. Smith felt similarly: “It’s kind of blowing us away,” he said Friday.</div><div data-key="WatWtt" data-num="17" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">While aware that past visits by American celebrities have become propaganda material for North Korean officials, Mr. Smith said he was a “firm believer in dialogue.” He was also aware, he said, that “the last 50 years of diplomacy between North Korea and the U.S. has failed.” But then he quickly added: “We’re not trying to save the world. We’re not politicians. We’re trying to show people something that they won’t see anywhere else.”</div><div class="emActive emReady" data-key="VaHTff" data-num="18" data-sentences="2" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span data-num="1" style="background-color: #f2f4f5;">Vice and HBO have not determined when the footage from North Korea will be broadcast.</span><span data-num="2" style="background-color: #f2f4f5;">The first few episodes of the newsmagazine are mostly finished; there will be eight in total, so it could be saved for the season finale</span></div></div>

Dennis Rodman Kim Jong-un Daredevil Media Outlet Behind Rodman’s Trip

North Korean Central News Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency Kim Jong-un with the former N.B.A. star Dennis Rodman at a game in Pyongyan...

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Take 'Thrift Shop' to 'SNL'

7:38 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px;">Seattle hip-hop duo bounce high with their megahit</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span><br /><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="288" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=qo-i9tuf-aberwwuast-eq&partner=edp&uri=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hulu.com%2fwatch%2f462771" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="512"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rolled out some snappy threads and hyperkinetic moves for their musical guest appearance on </span><em style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Saturday Night Live</em><span style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> last night. With vocalist Wanz singing the hook on their YouTube-aided multiplatium hit "Thrift Shop," the Seattle duo (and their horn section) brought a high level of energy to their ode to second-hand treasure. For the second set, they brought on Ray Dalton for vocals on "Can't Hold Us," another track from their 2012 album, </span><em style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-heist-20121109" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">The Heist</a></em><span style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></div>

Macklemore Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Take 'Thrift Shop' to 'SNL'

Seattle hip-hop duo bounce high with their megahit Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rolled out some snappy threads and hyperkinetic moves for their...

The Bible History Channel miniseries by Mark Burnett, Roma Downey debuts

7:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Bible" src="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/kgo/cms_exf_2007/news/bizarre/8441831_448x252.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="storyIntro" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="storyDateline">March 4, 2013 (NEW YORK) -- </span>Mark Burnett was taken aback by the scale of what his wife, actress Roma Downey, had in mind when she suggested over tea one morning four years ago that they make a television miniseries based on the Bible.Mark Burnett was taken aback by the scale of what his wife, actress Roma Downey, had in mind when she suggested over tea one morning four years ago that they make a television miniseries based on the Bible.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"Momentarily, I think he thought I'd lost my mind," Downey recalled. "He went out on his bicycle and he prayed on it and he came back and said, 'You know what, I think it's a good idea. I think we should do it together.' We shook hands and haven't looked back."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The series debuted on History Sunday at 8 p.m. EST, the first of five two-hour chunks that will air each weekend. The finale airs on Easter Sunday.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Different stories in the Bible have been Hollywood fodder for years. Burnett, the prolific producer behind "Survivor" and "The Voice," said no one had tried to tie it all together and use modern computer graphics to bring images like Moses parting the Red Sea to life on screen.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Instead of being all-encompassing, they tried to concentrate on stories in depth and on characters who would emotionally engage the audience. The first episode illustrates the wisdom of that approach: it flounders at the start with a discussion about the world's creation but becomes more gripping when the emphasis turns to the lives of Abraham and Moses.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Burnett said he believes there's a growing "Biblical illiteracy" among young people.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"It's like saying you never heard of Macbeth or King Lear," he said. "In school, you have to know a certain amount of Shakespeare, but no Bible. So there's got to be a way to look at it from a pure literature point of view. If it wasn't for the Bible, arguably Shakespeare wouldn't have written those stories."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Downey, the former star of "Touched By an Angel," said she wanted to be part of something that would glorify God.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">After pitching their idea to several networks, Burnett and Downey found a fit with Nancy Dubuc, History's president and general manager. She likes the challenge of ideas that seem unwieldy. History made the 2010 miniseries "America the Story of Us," which was a big hit, and 2012's "Mankind the Story of All of Us," which wasn't. Last spring's miniseries on the Hatfields and McCoys was an eye-opening success.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Burnett and Downey have been building anticipation for "The Bible" by previewing it at churches and for religious leaders. Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, have all endorsed the work.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"The faith community is going to sample it, unquestionably," Dubuc said. "Whether they stay or go remains with the TV gods. Our job has been to present this as an epic tale of adventure."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">History's own campaign is not targeting a religious audience, emphasizing some of the dramatic scenes to suggest that audiences won't be preached to. The screening that Downey and Burnett have sweated the most was when their teenage children showed it to some friends.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"We knew that we could make it heartfelt," Downey said. "We knew we could make it faithful. But we wanted to be sure that we could make it cool."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Downey spent nearly half of 2012 in Morocco supervising filming, beginning in the cold of February and ending in the blistering heat of July. "We wanted it to be gritty and authentic," she said. "We didn't want it to look like somebody had just stepped out of the dry cleaners."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Her husband flew back and forth to the United States, where he would work on his other programs. Downey said she initially had no intention of appearing onscreen, but stepped in when they had trouble casting an actress for an older Mary, mother of Jesus.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Except for Downey, few of the actors involved are well known in the United States. Portuguese TV star Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus Christ, and many of the other lead actors are based in Britain.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The television airing of "The Bible" on History is only the beginning for this project. Lifetime will air a repeat each week after a new episode appears on History. It will air internationally, and a DVD package will go on sale this spring. The series' scripts are bound together into a book. Producers will make a theatrical release movie of a portion of the story, and are looking at showing it in stadiums this fall. Burnett and Downey have also reached a deal to make parts of the film available as part of a religious education curriculum for churches.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"More people will watch this than any of our other series combined over the next three decades," Burnett said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Even better, their marriage survived the grueling process intact - even stronger, Downey said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"Nobody has taken on the broad vision from Genesis to Revelation, and I think we probably realized at midpoint why no one had done it before," she said. "It was maddeningly complicated and extraordinarily hard work. We approached it humbly, but we were exhilarated by it."</div></div>

Bible History Channel The Bible History Channel miniseries by Mark Burnett, Roma Downey debuts

March 4, 2013 (NEW YORK) -- Mark Burnett was taken aback by the scale of what his wife, actress Roma Downey, had in mind when she suggested...

color me spring

4:37 AM Anonymous 0

March is here and soon it will (finally) be spring. Thank god. There is no season that does more for my mental well being than spring. And since I try my best not to dance in the streets anymore, I celebrate this much needed change in little ways. Like on my hands.<br /><br />My hands are in terrible shape right now. Thanks to another weekend spent working on the <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/p/one-room-challenge.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a> the insides are an umpa lumpa orange from removing stain and my fingers are covered in paint...again. Not to mention their general dryness.<br /><br />But as soon as my projects are complete, the first place I'm going is to get myself a mani/pedi. There is no better reward. Now to decide which spring colors to choose.<br /><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/AVvXsEh1aAU2PtvXBny5PSJvADsa72I07t0GrsextI0NkIcTaWyICP41W980Q_37RIjFSHGdCu0P-ilf65jRot4UIYlFLc3ljVxlmSD-02V211YUokQCGAh8rSBmRrs2hDzWVOQRNI_CpYwcUrjV/s1600/EssieSpringColors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1aAU2PtvXBny5PSJvADsa72I07t0GrsextI0NkIcTaWyICP41W980Q_37RIjFSHGdCu0P-ilf65jRot4UIYlFLc3ljVxlmSD-02V211YUokQCGAh8rSBmRrs2hDzWVOQRNI_CpYwcUrjV/s400/EssieSpringColors.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">all colors by <a href="http://www.essie.com/nail-colors/" target="_blank">Essie</a></td></tr></tbody></table>How do you celebrate the (almost) arrival of spring? Did this winter last as long for you? Have you seen my flip flops? I can't find them anywhere.

spring color me spring

March is here and soon it will (finally) be spring. Thank god. There is no season that does more for my mental well being than spring. And s...

What does it mean to flatten your classroom?

4:33 AM Tukiyooo 0

EDUCATION What does it mean to flatten your classroom?

What does it mean to flatten your classroom? You remove the walls. You connect students to others around the world. Connecting your classroo...

Prizes are off to the US of A!

2:40 AM Tukiyooo 0

<p>I got the prizes in my <a href="http://renovatinglpa.blogspot.ie/2013/02/competition-time.html">giveaway</a> posted off to the winners over the weekend - here is a photo of each one going on it's way in to a green Irish letter box.  I hope they arrive before St. Patrick's Day, Kim & Marissa.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8rnCSNr5TocDj7Fi37G17D1wmgh-H00vfv9rwA3yP_6narLVJ_gmWgqFLMx3rtP4kAQAewt_n1i-wRMUVEyCFUn1tkgzxtnQW8fbskmrAZ4GUc_A2fUOwO9k7fUohaSB_ruS-O1vJbZs/s1600/20130304_100650.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8rnCSNr5TocDj7Fi37G17D1wmgh-H00vfv9rwA3yP_6narLVJ_gmWgqFLMx3rtP4kAQAewt_n1i-wRMUVEyCFUn1tkgzxtnQW8fbskmrAZ4GUc_A2fUOwO9k7fUohaSB_ruS-O1vJbZs/s400/20130304_100650.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEcrfZL2lUNgVnjCbYpuXjoW2YYvjU95BeYdkLgvodSsWy7ruQIMtk1VxhU74hIIkcRplWpR-xd6KKarfD6zO_Ya5-wceqqfJHui4aS0zZJoOYWbviDXd6cJj3IteBsUOUrfWgkVEMmWX/s1600/20130304_100702.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEcrfZL2lUNgVnjCbYpuXjoW2YYvjU95BeYdkLgvodSsWy7ruQIMtk1VxhU74hIIkcRplWpR-xd6KKarfD6zO_Ya5-wceqqfJHui4aS0zZJoOYWbviDXd6cJj3IteBsUOUrfWgkVEMmWX/s400/20130304_100702.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Prizes are off to the US of A!

I got the prizes in my giveaway posted off to the winners over the weekend - here is a photo of each one going on it's way in to a gree...

Our SchoolNet 'ICT in the Classroom' three-day conference is happening in July. Register now!

12:49 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nV9LsCW2rinUGgaLJDgEGedvWx9iptWRGuyg8_WpglT6MMM353M2h_qBRod1n1B-1oQ8vJO5Ozz36uyS5ZGdKnVInn9IbWtWZ1SYzJ3m4-8TTYR9Lf00Pc3rSZz_vFOWMIRMQMhHCIA/s1600-h/image%25255B6%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6IU13U9qoqEOcW1H9GCRUs0Ew8NUj2FXnkDNmBOi_Y9Et7H9r4DgTVlTOzdoCKXSYY0UtX6AXaFettc__qYy2SFFG8BBEysSwko_rLLF_pnltH-qwz-B1Fh9kUX1lkM0RghBvYrhokUo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are excited about using technology to enhance teaching and learning - register for this conference or offer to share your knowledge as a speaker. This conference is aimed at teachers, school leaders and ICT coordinators who want to learn more about using technology in engaging ways in and beyond the classroom. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>When:</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 2 July - Thursday 4 July 2013 </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Where:</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">University of the Free State - Bloemfontein, South Africa </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Conference Themes:</strong> </span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Curriculum delivery through digital content  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learning with tablets  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learning with mobile phones  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connecting classrooms  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Innovative teaching  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ICT leadership in the school<strong></strong></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Fees:</strong> </span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R750 if you register on or before 30 April 2013  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R850 if you register after 30 April 2013  </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R375 if you are selected to speak for a half hour session  </span></li><li> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free (for you or one person in your group) if you are selected to speak for a one or two hour session </span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Share your knowledge:</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you would like to share your knowledge with other teachers, please submit a speaker proposal by clicking on the link below. If you are submitting a presenter proposal, please <strong>don't </strong>register for the conference yet. We will let you know a month before the conference if your presentation has been accepted and you can register then. Speakers and those who submitted proposals before 30 April are guaranteed a place at the conference and will be eligible for the discounted conference fee. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001rAYLbTxAakBrQ_EVNGpVZgbvOFG5YvMbBdXmKv20WpNZxf-fecuPffLysoRqFyOYx_f5B_H6KlBeCl5J0_L7qdIgm-a_zvv7lMdigCQOsL6eCN5FY9q7wAJEOwBFuiji73c0ofkL-KM=">Get more information</a></strong> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001rAYLbTxAakBolkT_2c8T-z5wQjvBUdKkPUrD8Dttj9wq-kQw1a0EHaQO9_YEsch692ZAnS8L79sx4sZecWN87gT7MYdAvxDtUN7osWJj315fb03Gkd5vOlMA1L62rbKyRIxXX-cpQZu9aQdmMrwMyttXf_izlXPm3Q2U4QpPaPVlmlmyF1RG84k9kiO5YiRKdeo58T8PGD9GNcYergdLmr3ufqKSL_uv">Register Now!</a></b> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001rAYLbTxAakAsad52M7wBatuGpkoegqOP8zKRLxI2JO_dyrNX4kxTUPOrND973Z1I9ZgRNAObx8GmzctV1JCa8dAGIzBJERNNZ0SRxjdmBiByDZEYxW-Z6uUPynWjb3e2giAGYlOQlrvdsoAgY3okY0OcepeJnmDOpR-bQmtCn8ZKRVVKYfpWHphOw0g3q9njeTTVCa28yKU=">Submit a speaker proposal to share your knowledge</a></strong> </span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hope to see you in Bloemfontein from 2 - 4 July 2013 - ready to learn about exciting new ways to integrate technology into your classroom and perhaps to share some of your own ways of enhancing teaching and learning using ICT.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please also see our SchoolNet website for these details <a href="http://www.schoolnet.org.za/">http://www.schoolnet.org.za/</a> </span></div>

conferences Our SchoolNet 'ICT in the Classroom' three-day conference is happening in July. Register now!

If you are excited about using technology to enhance teaching and learning - register for this conference or offer to share your knowledge a...

Brescia House is holding a ‘How I do IT in my classroom’ day on 16 March

12:43 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brescia House in Johannesburg is holding a ‘How do I do IT in my classroom’ day on Saturday 16th March 2013 from 8-1pm. The programme shown below looks awesome. If you would like to download the programme for easier viewing here is the link: </span><a href="https://www.box.com/s/xj5uhweu6vnkr6ekujnw" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">How do I do IT in my classroom?</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYcWrk4o_7JyMYWxOvzPhpPCDMHyw_d0mxlftold5xGLvnN_h1YS6sTwZetjTkOonj6Iznl8F4BnHzcQc6MeHbXFi0oyuCQeb6G5p5a_-zg-rTQHEln3CNAOxuf60WM2v5gGn-MzpHxI/s1600/how+i+do+it+v2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYcWrk4o_7JyMYWxOvzPhpPCDMHyw_d0mxlftold5xGLvnN_h1YS6sTwZetjTkOonj6Iznl8F4BnHzcQc6MeHbXFi0oyuCQeb6G5p5a_-zg-rTQHEln3CNAOxuf60WM2v5gGn-MzpHxI/s640/how+i+do+it+v2.png" width="451" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /></div>

teachmeets Brescia House is holding a ‘How I do IT in my classroom’ day on 16 March

Brescia House in Johannesburg is holding a ‘How do I do IT in my classroom’ day on Saturday 16th March 2013 from 8-1pm. The programme shown ...

Poetry 'n' Such with Paul Piatt

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl29YnGEGwUE99W3dVnfjfrs2Saf0h1CEhhWk1ORuoHutNzpKMoiXPK8ooYxBsYtBrhI-ZBiVCZnrobjauhpRSpC-Ign-DnKP88albliiAIqkLgr7cbFlMHP9efq8YkQHpO7Geb72w6yg/s1600/Paul_Delany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl29YnGEGwUE99W3dVnfjfrs2Saf0h1CEhhWk1ORuoHutNzpKMoiXPK8ooYxBsYtBrhI-ZBiVCZnrobjauhpRSpC-Ign-DnKP88albliiAIqkLgr7cbFlMHP9efq8YkQHpO7Geb72w6yg/s400/Paul_Delany.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>Gentle and heartfelt greetings to all of you discerning drinkers of the warm and aromatic coffee of life that is IWS.<br /><br />Renown poet and IWS Literary Editor, Paul Piatt here once again, in order to share with you some of today’s finest in the world of poetry, prose, and people.<br /><br />Today during our continuing journey along the sullied boulevard of words made magical, and life’s pentameters made iambic, I once again artfully attempt to put finger to keyboard, and in one of my more randy moments, “get edgy with it”…as the vapid and unkempt adolescents of today would say.<br /><br />I first met today’s guest poet in Grenoble, France during the 1968 Olympics de la Winter.  We had been seated prominently and serendipitously next to each other during the finals of the pairs ice skating event.<br /><br />It was during our sitting betwixt one and other in Grenoble, that I had the good fortune to meet beat poet icon Jack Kerouac’s, younger lesser known brother, Zach Kerouac.<br /><br />You see, I was in France in the winter of 1968 working on my award winning book of poetry, <i>“Jean Genet Drank Nothing but Cham-pain”</i> and Zach, ostensibly enough, was also in France working on his critically acclaimed, yet far less well-known book of rhyme and introspection, <i>“Sauerkraut Tastes Better in Paris.”</i><br /><br />It was a melodious and fortuitous meeting between he and I, as we watched in stargazement, the matrimonied Russian pair of  Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov skate to their second gold medal in as many Olympics.<br /><br />The duo’s symbiotic fluidity and symmetry begged and taunted Satan to dare question the divine, supernatural, and awe-inspiring power of God.<br /><br />Zach and I sat as we watched the Russian couple exude an abundance of love, grace, and athleticism upon the ice that had never seen before and will never be seen again.  It was during their perfect execution of a parallel spread eagle that Zach turned to me and said…<br /><br /><i>“These two represent a non-sequitur when it comes to the Soviets.  They are in love and their child…that child that they bore together, the greater love of their life, is the ice. And what allegorically represents the Soviet government, Paul?  The blades of their skates.  They are expected to lace up their skates everyday for Mother Russia and cut their ice child in the back.”</i><br /><br />My thoughts moved from the exceptional beauty and excellence efficaciously provided by Belousova and Protopovov to the blunt force trauma of lexicon that Zach had instantaneously uttered.  He could see it all.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6NFLtnc18XDVGG4jVxElEfqwyy-0TaIsrTkgSBe2gqTRobd9ZN3NcmMecAGCSzTWub3FZVczxMqPIF9FNyPQDZgmMyNxniJNk2aar9lx_52N7sKqzqxcqFhZn2mS37edz7w3zb8nyB8Q/s1600/Jack+Kerouac+Beat+Poetry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6NFLtnc18XDVGG4jVxElEfqwyy-0TaIsrTkgSBe2gqTRobd9ZN3NcmMecAGCSzTWub3FZVczxMqPIF9FNyPQDZgmMyNxniJNk2aar9lx_52N7sKqzqxcqFhZn2mS37edz7w3zb8nyB8Q/s400/Jack+Kerouac+Beat+Poetry.jpg" width="306" /></a>He could see that resting beneath a gold medal is a chest deflated…Beneath athletic success there is struggle…Beneath beauty, lie faults.<br /><br />We kept in touch after that event which helped to shape our lives and provide definition and solidity to our souls, and before it was published in his 1974 book, <i>“Big Brother Is Negating You”</i>, he sent me an excerpt from that book that wondrously describes what he was feeling that day in 1968 in Grenoble…<br /><br /><b>The Sun</b><br /><b><br /></b><i>The Sun is Hot.</i><br /><i>Hot, Hot, Hot.</i><br /><i>The Sun is Yellow.</i><br /><i>Yellow, Yellow, Yellow.</i><br /><i>Well…</i><br /><i>Not Exactly Yellow.</i><br /><i><br /></i>Just as the glorious sun radiates its imperfections through its spots, you and I do as well, as did the beautiful and seemingly perfect pair of ice skaters Belousova and Protopovov...Zach Kerouac is brilliant.<br /><br />And now gentle readers, I bid you adieu, and look forward to once again offering you the best of the written word.<br /><br /><i>But for now, as I travel the road less traveled,</i><br /><br /><i>Paul Piatt</i><br /><br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_iws</span></a></div>

Poetry 'n' Such with Paul Piatt

Gentle and heartfelt greetings to all of you discerning drinkers of the warm and aromatic coffee of life that is IWS. Renown poet and IWS Li...