It is sixteen years to the day that my mentor Mugs Stump perished.

Mugs was guiding the south buttress of Denali when on the way down a crevasse bridge gave way and buried him. His rope led into a jumble of ice and snow. There was no hope.

At the time, in 1992, I was 29 and the world was my oyster. Climbing and being in the wilderness was just about all I lived for. My core group of climbing partners had yet to experience the devastation of death in the mountains. Yeah, stuff like that happened, but it didn’t happen to us. We rationalized the game with silly explanations like our abilities were based on experience; we wouldn’t be in a dangerous spot like that and we had better equipment. Of course when someone close to you perishes all this philosophy flies out the window. It can and will happen to all of us.

Mugs was a natural athlete. He played football at Penn State under the tutelage of Joe Paterno. His true calling was in the mountains. In the 80’s he was one of the preeminent alpinists. From the wind-ravaged summits of Patagonia to the bone-numbing cold of Alaska, Mugs traveled the world in pursuit of adventure. Mugs was 13 years my elder and for myself, as a young man, a valued mentor with lots of vision and experience.

For Mugs there was no greater joy than being outside in the great big open. There was nothing more fun than pulling into parking lot under the stars, falling asleep to the anticipation of an early start. The beep of the alarm would coax us out the comfort of our sleeping bags to the stove. A cup of coffee warmed and motivated us. Once we were a half hour in, with trees and the wind around us, we were at ease with ourselves and the world around us.

We miss you Mugs. Thanks for the years of inspiration.

- Conrad

Will that ever get old?  No.

International Star Wars day is better known amongst my friends as John’s birthday.  I’m sure it’s a time that many came to loath over the years as they would have to hear me banging on about it in the two-week run-up and on occasion be coerced into wearing something ridiculous.

This year I thought I would try something different.  I still went for a party at my place but didn’t really tell anyone it was my birthday.  To ensure I still got cake though I took inspiration from Fen, who came out to visit me, and held a dessert party.  This is where you encourage everyone to eat before but bring their dessert to the party.  It is something we did before when living on Uxbridge road in Shepherd’s Bush.  Like the last time, it worked well.  Not a single dessert was the same.  We had a banana cake, profiteroles, pears in wine, Swedish apple pie, Angie’s famous Jello shots, a chocolate mousse, lolly pops, ice-cream, strawberry sponge cake, chocolate cake and more.

Not telling many people it was my birthday and having people find out only half way through the night felt a bit strange.  Even though Fen was the only person at the party I knew longer than a year this was awkward because it’s natural that you want your friends to know when your birthday is.  I think in the future I will carry on shouting about my birthday.  It’s good to have a day that’s all yours and perhaps a little unfortunate if you have a twin or a good friend with the same birthday.

Who Knows [Jazz Album with our own Todd Zimberg]

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Video/DVDs

Merchant of Venice (2001) Directed by Trevor Nunn

Merchant of Venice (2004) [Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons..]

Bird [Charlie Parker]

Ben Franklin

Wizard of Oz

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights [w/Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes]

Lenin and the Bolsheviks the Father of the Soviet Union. The Blood of Revolution. The Victory of the Proletariat

The Kite Runner

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [w/Jack Nicholson]

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

The Complete Monterey Pop Festival [The Criterion Collection]

Woodstock 3 Days of Peace & Music The Director's Cut

Platoon

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Streaming Video

Emily Dickinson, Poet: 1830-1886 Famous Authors

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Reference

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American Journalism

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Everyware The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing

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Introducing Semiotics

Point Counterpoint Discussion and Persuasion Techniques

Tube of Plenty : the Evolution of American Television

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The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health 2 vols.

Introducing Jung

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Machiavelli Renaissance Political Analyst and Author [Makers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance]

Insomniac

Personality Disorders [Psychological Disorders]

Sleep Disorders [Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders]

Compulsive Acts A Psychiatrist's Tales of Ritual and Obsession

Cutting the Pain Away: Understanding Self-Mutilation

Introducing Mind and Brain

World Religions Beliefs Behind Today's Headlines

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Pagans and Christians

Introducing Ethics

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U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changing World

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The Right to Fight: a History of African Americans in the Military

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy

Space as a Strategic Asset

Out of Our Minds

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The Green Line: The Division of Palestine

Introducing Marxism

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The Romantic Poets Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

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The Terrible Swift Sword, a Novel

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Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter

The Divine Comedy: the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso

Five Approaches of Literary Criticism; an Arrangement of Contemporary Critical Essays

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A World Upside Down and Backwards : Reading and Learning Disorders

Tough Choices Tough Times The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

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Mod A Very British Phenomenon

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Dr. Tommie Smith [at Seattle Academy]

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Special Civil War Collection – Donated by John Stone

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Britain in the Era of the Two World Wars 1914-45 [The Longman Companion to]

Flawed Victory; a New Perspective on the Civil War

The Civil War

Captain James Wren's Civil War Diary From New Bern to Fredericksburg

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary

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The Coming Fury

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Terrible Swift Sword

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Never Call Retreat

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Grant as Military Commander

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Bruce Catton's America: Selections From His Greatest Works

The Civil War on the Web: a Guide to the Very Best Sites

roses

it is the best time of the year
when all the roses are in bloom
this year the rain was very good
and so the air is not too bad

it is the best time of the year
a cyclone and an earthquake too
and everything that went before
it is the best time of the year

MW  May 2008

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

rosen

es ist die schoenste zeit im jahr
wenn ueberall die rosen bluehen
der regen ist ja richtig gut
ich weiss nicht was noch alles kommt

es ist die schoenste zeit im jahr
ein erdbeben und ein zyklon
und alles was noch vorher war
es ist die schoenste zeit im jahr

MW   Mai 2008

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sex and the City is the 2008 romantic comedy feature-film adaptation of the HBO comedy series of the same name (itself based on the book of the same name by Candace Bushnell) about four female friends living in New York City. The series often portrayed frank discussions about romance and sexuality.

The world premiere took place at Leicester Square, London on May 12, 2008, and premiered on May 28, 2008 in the UK and May 30, 2008 in the US. The film is rated R in the United States, 18PL in Malaysia, 18A in Canada, Category III in Hong Kong, M18 (with cuts) in Singapore, 15 in the United Kingdom, MA15+ in Australia, 12 in Germany and 11 in Norway.

Set four years after the events of the series finale, the film begins with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together. Carrie falls in love with a penthouse suite far from their price range, but which Big immediately agrees to pay for. However, Carrie experiences doubts over the sensibility of this arrangement, explaining that they are not married, and as such she would have no legal rights to their home in the event of a separation. Quelling her fears, Big suggests that they get married.

Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is finding balancing her home, work, and social life ever more difficult, and confesses to the girls that she hasn’t slept with Steve (David Eigenberg) in six months. She is devastated when Steve reveals he has slept with another woman, and immediately separates from him. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is living with Smith (Jason Lewis), who has a successful television career. They live in a seaside beach house in Los Angeles, where Samantha is finding it difficult to take time for herself. She is traveling frequently between L.A. and New York, and grappling with her persistent desire for sex with other men; her handsome and sexually active next-door-neighbor, Dante (Gilles Marini), in particular. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is happy in her marriage to Harry (Evan Handler), with their adopted Chinese daughter, Lily.

Carrie's wedding plans escalate into such a lavish event that Big begins to experience doubts. After an argument with Steve at the rehearsal dinner, Miranda tells Big bluntly that he and Carrie are crazy to be getting married, as marriage ruins everything. On the day of the ceremony, he decides he cannot go through with it, leaving Carrie devastated and fleeing from the New York Public Library, where their wedding was supposed to take place. Big, however, changes his mind and intercepts Carrie as he sees her limousine drive past. Carrie has already been left humiliated and betrayed, and proceeds to attack Big with her bouquet; screaming her dismay at him, while earning furious looks from Miranda and Charlotte. The four women subsequently take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked to Mexico, where they de-stress and collect themselves.

On her return to New York, Carrie hires an assistant, Louise (Jennifer Hudson), to help her move back into her old apartment and manage her administration. Miranda eventually confesses to Carrie about what happened during the night of the rehearsal dinner, and the two have a brief falling out. After reflecting on the argument she had with Carrie, Miranda agrees to attend couples counseling with Steve, and they are eventually able to reconcile. Samantha begins overeating to keep her from cheating on Smith with Dante, but eventually realizes that their relationship is simply not working, and that she needs to put herself first. The two break up, and she moves back to New York. Charlotte learns that she is pregnant and is delighted, although for several months is concerned that something might happen to the baby, as her life seems to be too perfect.

A surprise encounter with Big at a restaurant leaves Charlotte so furious that she goes into labor. Big delivers her to the hospital, and waits until baby Rose is born, hoping to see Carrie. Harry passes on the message that Big would like her to call him, and that he has written to her frequently, but never received a reply. Carrie searches her correspondence, before realizing that Louise has kept his e-mails password-protected from her, after she earlier announced she wished to sever all communication with him. She finds that he has sent her dozens of letters copied from a book she showed him in the weeks before their wedding, Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1, culminating with one of his own where he apologizes for screwing it up and promises to love her forever.

One hour before the locks are due to be changed on their shared penthouse apartment, Carrie travels to the home Big had bought for them to collect a pair of mint condition Manolo Blahnik shoes she had left there. She finds Big in the walk-in closet he had built for her, and the moment she sees him, her anger at his betrayal dissipates. She runs into his arms and they share a passionate kiss. After spending the final hour in their apartment together, talking and apologizing to one another, Big proposes to Carrie properly, using one of her shoes in place of a ring. They later marry alone, in a simple wedding in New York City Hall, with Carrie dressed in the original dress she had bought in a vintage shop. They hold a get-together at a local diner with their friends. The film ends with the four women around a table in a restaurant, sipping cosmopolitans, and celebrating Samantha's fiftieth birthday, with Carrie making a toast to the next fifty.

Cast

• Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw
• Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
• Kristin Davis as Charlotte York Goldenblatt
• Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes
• Chris Noth as John James "Mr. Big" Preston
• Jennifer Hudson as Louise, Carrie's assistant
• Candice Bergen as Enid Frick
• David Eigenberg as Steve Brady
• Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod
• Evan Handler as Harry Goldenblatt
• Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch
• Mario Cantone as Anthony Marantino
• Lynn Cohen as Magda
• Julie Halston as Bitsy von Muffling
• Annaleigh Ashford as Spoiled Label Queen
• Andre Leon Talley as himself
• Joseph Pupo as Brady Hobbes, Miranda and Steve's son
• Alexandra and Parker Fong as Lily York Goldenblatt, Charlotte and Harry's daughter
• Gilles Marini as Dante

Victoria Beckham was offered a cameo but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with the Spice Girls' tour rehearsals.

The Strangers is a horror film released in the United States on May 30, 2008. The film was written and directed by Bryan Bertino, and stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. The film's score was composed by Tomandandy.

Though the plot of The Strangers is entirely fictional, the film opens with the following narration:

"What you are about to see is inspired by true events. According to the F.B.I. there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year. On the night of February 11, 2005 Kristen McKay and James Hoyt went to a friend's wedding reception and then returned to the Hoyt family's summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known."

The sound of an engine running plays over shots of houses in a rural neighborhood. The scene then cuts to the interior of a ravaged house, with holes in the walls and doors, a bloody knife lying on a table, and blood smeared across the walls. A frantic 911 call plays as two young boys enter the house through the open front door.

The narrative then shifts to the night before, with Kristen McKay and James Hoyt (Tyler and Speedman) arriving at the Hoyt family's isolated summer home. There's obvious tension between the two, and flashbacks reveal that James had proposed to Kristen earlier in the evening, and his proposal was rejected. While discussing their relationship, the couple is interrupted by a loud knock at the front door.

James opens the door to find a young woman with blond hair who asks if "Tamara" is home. They tell the girl that no one by that name lives there, and she walks away. James then leaves the house to buy Kristen a pack of cigarettes.

James arrives home a few minutes later. He's skeptical of Kristen's story until he sees the blond girl standing outside in the driveway, wearing a white, doll-like mask. The couple try to leave in James' car, but are stopped by a second woman, also wearing a white mask, who proceeds to batter James' car into wreckage with a pick-up truck.

The ordeal continues throughout the evening, with James and Kristen constantly trying to evade their intruders and find some means of escape or summoning help. Kristen manages to escape the blond girl and the man in the mask in the kitchen, only to encounter the other woman standing in the doorway. Kristen and James are knocked unconscious. The film closes with James and Kristen gagged and tied to a pair of kitchen chairs. The strangers take off their masks, though their faces remain hidden from the audience. When asked why the strangers targeted the couple, the blond-haired girl replies, simply, "Because you were home." Kristen pleads with their attackers as both she and James are stabbed repeatedly.

The three strangers are then seen driving away in the pick-up truck. They stop beside the two young boys from the opening, who are walking by the side of the road, handing out religious pamphlets. The blonde girl asks for a pamphlet and, when asked if she is a sinner, she replies, "Sometimes." The dark-haired girl proclaims, "It'll be easier, next time," as the truck drives off. The audience never sees their faces.

The last scene shows the two boys entering the home and discovering the couple. It turns out that James is dead and one of the boys kneels down to Kristen and is about to touch her when she suddenly wakes up and begins to scream wildly.

The movie is inspired by an event from director Bryan Bertino's childhood: a stranger came to his home asking for a person and he would later find out that empty homes in the neighborhood had been burgled. With that memory in mind, Bertino created this screenplay. In an interview, Liv Tyler revealed that in Bertino's original script "You saw a lot more of the strangers" and "It was much more of a Manson-esque experience."

Cast

• Liv Tyler as Kristen McKay
• Scott Speedman as James Hoyt
• Gemma Ward as Dollface
• Kip Weeks as The Man in the Mask
• Laura Margolis as Pin-Up Girl
• Glenn Howerton as Mike
• Alex Fisher as Missionary Boy #1
• Peter Clayton-Luce as Missionary Boy #2

A sequel has been planned. It is said to start right when the first film ended and rumored to star Scout Taylor-Compton (who was last seen in Rob Zombie's Halloween).

George Hogg is a young British journalist, who comes from St. George's School,