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Stop motion animation brings singing California Raisins to life or lets rubbery green Gumby amble around joyfully. It's best known as special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen's signature art form. Harryhausen learned at the knee of Willis O'Brien, the man who enabled the original King Kong to play with actress Fay Wray.

It's also used in classic Rankin & Bass Christmas television specials, in Tim Burton spectacles like The Nightmare Before Christmas or the Wallace & Grommit and Chicken Run films. In these examples, the entire movie is realized by stop motion. Aside from all stop motion films, there are live action movies, which use the magical art form to achieve thrilling visuals.

Evil Dead Trilogy (1981-1993)

Sam Raimi is best known for his spectacularly profitable and critically acclaimed Spiderman films starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Before he was the man behind the spider, he was a horror movie maker.

The first Evil Dead wowed with an in your face gore and cartoon inspired violence. It was as much a comedy as a gore fest. In the finale, hardy hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) tries frantically to defeat the demonic dead and Raimi employs very cool stop motion. Not only do animated demon possessed corpses spring to life, but also the Necronimcon or Book of The Dead, which helped start the whole wacky horror ride.

In the closing chapters of Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy, he again utilizes great stop motion animation to let a corpse dance a ballet in Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn and skeleton warriors to battle menacingly in Army Of Darkness. Perhaps of all stop motion animation done in any film, Raimi's use of it in these movies prove it can not only be thrilling and fascinating, but also downright creepy.

Laser Blast (1978)

This science fiction B movie chronicles the misadventures of young lad Billy Duncan (Kim Milford) who takes possession of a deadly powerful laser rifle left behind by an alien being chased by other aliens.

With solid film veteran Roddy McDowall playing a physician who discovers dangerous health effects of the laser blaster, the movie is a great sci-fi actioner. As the gun continues to draw energy from him, Billy starts to transform into a creature himself. The lizard like aliens are all brought to eerie life by superb stop motion animation and are almost cute in a bizarre way.

Dreamscape (1984)

This sci-fi thriller stars Dennis Quaid as a psychic who enters a person's dreams.

His character dukes it out with an evil psychic, while a young boy used as research subject by doctors studying Quaid keeps having nightmares. A humongous snake man creature keeps chasing him in his nightmares and although a puppet prop is also used for the snake man, scary stop motion animation is also employed.

Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The third outing for nightmare man Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) saw him battle a group of teens with powerful dream fighting skills.

In one awesome scene, a little Freddy puppet hanging on strings comes to life. Using its tiny finger knives it cuts its own strings and frees itself for mayhem. The FX are courtesy of stop motion and they're effectively chilling.

Jack The Giant Killer (1962)

With actor Kerwin Matthews (7th Voyage of Sinbad) as Jack and helmed by its director Nathan Juran, this feels like a Ray Harryhausen movie, but it's not.

Rounding out the Harryhausen feel is villain Pendragon who's played by yet another 7th Voyage of Sinbad cast member Torin Thatcher. Although not as masterfully achieved as Harryhausen's stop motion, there are quite a few great visual FX shots including a rampaging giant and a creepy dancing doll.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina – With the curtains drawn, the Anderson High School Advanced Mixed Chorus began to line up backstage in their voice-balanced sections – bass, tenor, alto and soprano – onto some risers already set up and awaiting them.

In a few moments, the 40-member chorale would be performing their best piece, “Mary Had a Baby,” before the judges here at the 1965 South Carolina State Chorus Competitions.

Boys, girls, mixed and even madrigal choruses from all over the state were here for the annual three-day contest, and Anderson High had never won in any group category prior to this event. But its advanced mixed chorus was especially good this time around, and everyone affiliated with any choral program in southwestern South Carolina seemed to know of them by now.

The advance word was out, and the concert hall was rapidly filling with people. This was a group not to miss – especially in the widely-known a-cappella religious selection sung by that first-rate senior alto who folks'd been talking so much about, one Mary-Madonna Turner.

Even the more complacent choral directors from the big-time schools in Greenville (and those from nearby Clemson University, as well) had taken serious notice this year.

The performance had already turned into An Event, and the Anderson High kids knew it. There was tension backstage, but there was also an air of anticipation, even of a peculiar kind of passion none of the students had ever previously experienced.

The low-lit atmosphere behind the curtain now crackled with a strange kind of subdued excitement. Contributing to the mood was student-wide recognition that, in Betty Burdette's final year before moving along to the college ranks where she'd been offered a prestigious and well-paying job for next year, she'd never received the kind of notoriety (or as optimistic an opportunity to finally win) in the high school ranks before – and Lord knows, she deserved it. For 12 years in Anderson, she toiled in obscurity. But she was a knockout choral director, and the kids adored her.

They just had to win this time, for Miss Burdette's sake!

Some of the girls were already crying backstage, knowing that this would be their last big performance with their teacher.

Betty Burdette now stood before the conducting podium reserved for the choral directors, and urgently whispered to her students to be quiet; to line up, and to concentrate on her.

Scanning her charges, she noticed the tear-stained cheeks of a few – and the general tension, even fear, in the faces of some of the others. She then formed a bright smile on her face, motioned with her fingers around the curvature of her upturned lips (telling the singers that they needed to smile, it was now show time); and all too quickly, the curtains began to part …

Mary-Madonna Turner, the high school's only Roman Catholic student and the (all-too-well advertised) featured soloist on this particular piece of music, had been one of the girls sobbing just prior to the curtains opening before them.

She'd hurriedly bowed her head, wiped dry her cheeks and did a hurried sign of the cross with her right hand before the curtains exposed her, in front, on the far left-hand side of the group, on stage. (She'd been so emotional, she'd temporarily forgotten how terrified she should have been!)

When the curtains stopped, the popping sounds of large tape recorders beginning to start their reels echoed acoustically throughout the giant auditorium. From the stage, meanwhile, looking out into the audience, all the singers could see was maybe a row or two of stiffly-seated students from other high schools lined up tightly up front, while lots of multi-colored floodlights seeped into their eyelids from the balcony at the rear of the auditorium and from the footlights directly in front of them there on the stage.

Adding to the surreality of the event was the group's sense, then, of finding itself partially blinded.

In the formal stillness, Miss Burdette then gently motioned for Mary-Madonna to take her place at the reserved soloists' spot on the apron, stage left. In this giant hall, the acoustic resonance was so well-designed that soloists rarely needed microphones and amplified electronics to help carry their voices.

Once Mary-Madonna had reached her spot and was looking over to Miss Burdette for further instructions, the choral director pulled out a small pitch pipe and blew a major triad for the group in the proper key – do, mi and sol – and the chorus members then quietly began to hum their opening chord.

Miss Burdette raised her eyebrows (intimating that the group should do the same, and, simultaneously, keep on top of their intonation, to avoid their gradually singing flat). Her hands, which now formed backwards O's with her thumbs and forefingers in anticipation of her beginning to conduct, then motioned up and down in front of her ribcage, reminding the group to sing all of its notes from the midriff's diaphragm, not from the throat.

A few still coughs echoed out of the audience.

Betty Burdette, now satisfied that she had everyone's attention in the chorus and that they appeared ready to get going, looked warmly over to Mary-Madonna to let her know that she could begin her introductory solo phrase when she was ready.

Offering her teacher back an almost absent nod in return, Mary-Madonna then calmly faced the audience and began singing in her light, clear, and crisply-enunciating voice.

“Ma-ry had a ba-by..,” Mary-Madonna sang lightly.

(The “a” sound in “Ma-ry” was to be a long “aa” sound, in honor of the divinity of the mother of Christ, the “Mary” of whom they were singing, Miss Burdette had told the group.)

The chorus immediately followed Mary-Madonna's opening with their own tightly-balanced and somewhat breathy choral strains, singing the very tightly-phrased response (as the choral director had tirelessly instructed them to do), “…My-y Lord..!;” and they then sustained the ending chord on “Lord” into a well-blended “oh” vowel, holding back the “r” and the “d” in “Lord” until the conclusion of the next few measures.

And into the silence of the auditorium, Mary-Madonna continued her solo verse.

“…Ma-ry had a ba-by..,” she repeated, only a bit more mournfully this time, in notes roughly a third higher in pitch than those she'd sung just moments before. And again the chorus responded with a slightly-altered, resolution-oriented, “…My-y Lord..!” followed by an aesthetically-sudden, pianissimo hum.

Something palpable was in the air, then, in the auditorium. Mary-Madonna could feel it, as she continued on with her solo. There was a new electricity present, an enriched “musicality;” something was happening, that was for sure, which was actually causing a slight tingle to work its way up her spine.

“…Oh, Ma-ry had a ba-by, he was called-King Je-sus,” she sang, consciously emphasizing the diction between “called” and “King” so the words wouldn't come off sounding like, “he was caulking Jesus,” which her teacher had cautioned her about.

“…Ma-ry had a ba-by.., oh, yes..,” she sang from her heart.

And as the chorus again gently responded, “My-y Lo-r-d,” Mary-Madonna collected her thoughts as best as she was able amidst the tingly power charge hanging over them all on stage.

Very shortly, she began her second verse.

“What-did they ca-ll him-m..?” she wailed plaintively.

* * * * *

Sitting in the audience were a surprising number of college representatives bearing scholarship offers for top-drawer singing seniors they'd hoped to discover at this year's competitions.

There was little question in any of these representatives' minds that the charming girl they were now hearing on stage was a wonderful musician with a very big heart. What did trouble them (if that was the word) was the relative lack of “size” of her voice. Her light, airy quality was great for a pop singer, but the strength and power of her singing would hardly be apt to blow out any windows at The Met, or anyplace else where “serious” music might be performed, as far as that went – no matter how hard she trained.

But one man in the audience didn't give a royal hoot about discovering “large” voices (which any lummox with a hearing aid could do), so much as he was just plain interested in landing good musicians with good “ears” for his college's coming-on-fast choral program – and this girl was clearly one of them.

He glanced down to the program in his lap, and looked at the brief description written about her. “Mary-Madonna Turner, a senior at Anderson High School, hails from a Roman Catholic background, and says she hopes to become a composer of religious music one day,” the write-up stated.

The comments amused the representative.

First, high school girls do not seek careers as composers – that just wasn't done; therefore, this girl was different. And secondly, his small college, which was located just north of the South Carolina state line in south-central North Carolina, offered an innovative “core program” – which might just support her forays into church music composition: Christianity and Culture, the program was called. It was required of all entering freshmen – and translated into sex semester hours of history.

While he was thinking about this, the choral group behind Mary-Madonna Turner broke into a unison-octaves forte, singing, “…He is called-King Je-sus, mighty coun-se-lor, King E-man-u-el, migh-ty God..!,” which culminated in a nicely-composed, nicely arranged major triad transition.

Mary-Madonna, in the meantime, stood silently by, her hands clenched gently in front of her waist, humbly waiting to return to her solo.

Oh, my, the scholarship representative from Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina, thought to himself while shaking his head, as he absorbed the Anderson High choral group's music. What a lovely, magical performance.

There was just no doubt about it, he'd decided.

He was going to do whatever he could to sign this girl to a scholarship.

# # #

The holidays are a time of celebration. Food and wine and parties go together. When people get together for a holiday gathering, a glass of wine is an enjoyable, relaxing beverage. Wines, made from fermented grapes, and come in many variations of flavors.  Buying wine for a party can be confusing, but it doesn't have to be. What are the best wines for the holidays?

The choices for Holiday wines are nearly endless.  Sophisticated wine connoisseurs have refined their tastes and pair their food and wine with great care.  The pairing of food and wine for a holiday party is not a simple matter, because there are many different foods, with different tastes.  If it the type of party where guests are bringing dishes to pass,  the foods may not even complement each other, much less the wine.  That's OK, because it's a party, and the mix and match texture of the food and drinks are part of the festive smörgåsbord atmosphere.

There are many excellent, moderately priced, wines in the $7.00 to $12.00 range.  Choose wines for their enjoyment value. Wines that are good sipping wines are great choices, as guests like to sip wine as they visit.

The three main categories of wine are: white, red, and blush. Most people simply prefer one of these categories.   It is a good idea to offer at least one of each of these three wine categories. 

White Wines

Pinot Grigio: Pinot Grigio is an Italian white wine.Pinot Grigio is a light bodied wine, with a slightly fruity taste.  This light wines accompanies many foods well and is an excellent sipping wine.

German Riesling: German wines are often stereotyped as sweet wines, but that is not the case. German wines have a long history, having been produced from the vineyards of Germany for centuries.  There are many varieties of German Riesling, depending on the region that the grapes are from. The best Rieslings are dry white wines with a slightly spicy or fruity flavor. Sweeter varieties of German Rieslings are Kabinett and Spatlese. Auslese is a sweet dessert wine.  For a good party wines that makes pleasant sipping, try a German Riesling.

Chardonnay: Chardonnay is a French grape, that has become a popular California wine.  Chardonnay may taste buttery or a little like oak, depending of how it is aged. Chardonnay wines are very popular and are excellent with food or for sipping.

Red Wines:

Beaujolais Nouveau:  Beaujolais Nouveau is unusual among red wines, in that it is not a wine that improves with age.  The 2006 vintage was released on November 16 and is ready to drink now.  The wine might be described as a light red, because it is fruity and easy to drink.  Beaujolais Nouveau is a wine that is meant to be  fun and enjoyable, and that makes it a great party wine.

Merlot: Merlot is a rich, full bodied wine that is a little softer then Cabernet.

Cabernet : Cabernet is a popular grape. The full bodied, abundant tasting wine is often produced in California and the west coast.  

Blush Wines:

White Zinfandel: White Zinfandel is  a popular,blush wine.  Blush wines are pink in color and are lighter than red wines, and sweeter then white wines.  Blush wines are appreciated by those who do not care for dry or heavy wines.

Champagne
New Year's Eve is fast approaching and champagne is the beverage of choice to ring in the New Year.  There are many brands of champagne, costing anything from a few dollars a bottle to hundreds of dollars a bottle.  A good brand of champagne in the $10.00 range is Korbel. Korbel champagnes come in Brut, Extra Dry, and Rose Brut.  

These are just a few of the popular varieties of available wines.  Wines are very popular to have at parties and holiday dinners.  Party wines do not need to be complicated.  Have a few varieties on hand and that will please most palates.  Open them up and enjoy the party.

If you have a reliable wine shop nearby, ask for their advice on the best wines and vintages. A good wine merchant would be willing to work with your budget and help you get the best wines possible.  Taking the wine merchant''s advice gives a level of confidence that the wine you are serving will be appropriate and enjoyable. 

Warning: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received a report of a 10-month old boy who was strangled on the changing table's restraint strap that was hanging down into Kolcraft's “Sesame Beginnings” Travel Play Yard where the child was located.

Kolcraft Enterprises Inc., of Chicago, Ill., is voluntarily recalling about 425,000 infant play yards following the death of child.

According to the press release, in addition to the strangulation hazard with the changing table restraint strap, one play yard also has a raised cradle that rocks back and forth. A child could roll and get trapped against the side of the cradle in the Contours 3-in-1 Play Yard. If that happens, a child can suffocate. Kolcraft has received 45 reports of children rolling to the side of the rocking cradle attachment.

Here are the specific models being recalled (please see some of the pictures):

Kolcraft Travelin' Tot, Kolcraft Travelin' Tot LTD, Kolcraft Travelin' Tot 3-in-1,

Kolcraft Travelin' Tot 4-in-1

Model Numbers: 18730T-BZ, 18730T-HJ, 18734T-DV, 18934-SW, 18934-DV, 18935T-UT, 18935-CH, 18942-EC, 18950-GV, 18950T-GV, 18751-DV, 18951T-GS, 18951T-MO, 18744-BL

“Kolcraft” and “Travelin' Tot” are printed on either the fabric on the top rail or on the lower side of the play yards.

Carter's Lennon Travelin' Tot

Model Numbers:18740-UE, 18740T-UE, 18736T-LJ, 18737-LJ, 18737T-LJ

“Carter's and “Travelin' Tot” are printed on the top rail.

“Sesame Beginnings” by Kolcraft Travel Play Yard

Model numbers: 22361-VT, SP001-SBK

“Sesame Beginnings” and “Travel Play Yard Kolcraft” are printed on the top rail or along the fabric draft guard on the lower side of the play yards.

Jeep Sahara SE Play Yard, Jeep Sahara Limited Play Yard, Jeep Sahara XT Play Yard, Jeep Sahara Limited SE Play Yard, Jeep Sahara Limited XT Play Yard

Model numbers: 55235-JC, 55237-JQ, 55237T-JQ, 55237-XC, 55237-XV, 55237T-XB, 55770-XA, 55770-XI, 55772-XE, 55773-XY, JP002-XSP “Jeep” and “Sahara” are printed on the fabric on the top rail of the play yards.

Contours 3-in-1 Play Yard (with rocking cradle and changing table restraint strap)

Model Number: 18604-OC, ZP003-MAL “Kolcraft” and “Contours” are printed along the draft guard on the lower side of the play yards.

What is the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Source:

Kolcraft Recalls Play Yards After the Death of a 10-Month-Old Child. Press release. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. URL: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07315.html

Read Across America Day, which is celebrated on March 2 in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, symbolizes an effort by hundreds of thousands of people to carry on the fight against illiteracy. Reading to a child means not only a delightful time of sharing but also a time to show children the importance of books and reading. What better way to do that than pick up a book by Dr. Seuss?

Schools across America participate in this celebration every year by inviting special guest speakers, making Dr. Seuss inspired crafts, doing read-a-thons, and raising funds to buy books for those less fortunate.

I don't believe I ever outgrew my love for books written by Dr. Seuss. These were the books I cut my teeth on, they were read to me by my mom when I was young until they were eventually packed away for the day that I could read them to my own children.

Growing up poor has many disadvantages but one of the blessings of it is an active imagination. I grew up living the stories I read. The love of losing myself in a story has carried on into adulthood and I now act those stories out with my own kids.

When I became a mother all the books from my childhood were unpacked and cracked open again. Countless hours have been spent reading to my own children and Dr. Seuss books have become a favorite of yet another generation in my family. The funny characters found in these stories simply grab a child's attention and pull them in.

We can often be found in the kitchen dying our food and talking in Seuss-ism. We don't stop at Green eggs and ham (though that's a favorite) either. It is such a simple activity that was inspired by my oldest son who wanted green eggs and ham for his birthday one year. After getting into the spirit of it I discovered that ordinary foods are transformed with a bit of dye and a rhyme.

The games that are made up based on the rhyming principal amaze me. We spend hours in the car playing what my kids simply refer to as the rhyme line. Started with a single word and carried around the car until each person has added one new word it passes back to the first who now must form a sentence using all the words. Since the rules about proper English never apply during this game even the little ones get into the action throwing in words that make sense to only themselves.

I've spent more money than I care to think about buying reading programs and toys to help my children become stronger readers. More often than not I've found that my kids have no interest in these. They are drawn again and again to the unique style found in Dr. Seuss books. The rhyming words are easy to pick up, easy to copy and easy to remember. The stories engage even the most reluctant of children.

Once a child has discovered the beloved stories of Dr. Seuss they tend to look at things differently. It shows them the possibilities of “what if” and inspires them to turn their imagination loose.

The ad line for SALVATION! screams “Sex, Power and Money! All in the name of God.” This hilarious 80’s romp pokes fun at televangelists and features new wave sensations New Order on the soundtrack along with fellow greats Cabaret Voltaire. This movie also gives Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen an early starring role as an out-of-work motorcycle freak trying to make his newly born-again wife happy while getting his bills paid at the same time. Mortensen and his buddies team up to trap a crooked televangelist into giving the wife her shot at singing on the televangelist’s nationwide television show, but things don’t quite go as planned. The film goes haywire as the corrupt preacher and Mortensen become an unlikely team. The whole thing turns into a business deal/blackmail scheme as New Order blasts away on the soundtrack. SALVATION! is an all-star lineup of 80’s names: Exene Cervenka from the California punkabilly group X, Stephen McHattie and Mortensen do fairly well in a movie that otherwise would be reduced to drive-in movie status. Thanks to a solid performance by McHattie as the corrupt preacher, the film has an excellent cult/midnight movie appeal. There are some excellent moments of real menace in SALVATION, including a scene where the preacher may or may not have killed a woman sent to seduce him as part of the blackmail scheme. This movie has great, imaginative visuals. Director Beth B gives this 80s outing candy- colored artistic moments, including images of an imposing neon cross; there’s also a fantastic scene of the preacher rehearsing what’s supposed to be an improvised speech about sin. While he tries to polish the sermon, all about the evils of America’s sinful society, he is leering at a collage of pornographic slides. Best of all, the ‘sermon’ is nothing more than a string of unimaginative clichés and trite one-liners. This film was shot many years before televangelist Jimmy Swaggart’s tearful confession on national television, so the film is eerily prophetic in places. Salvation is not Oscar-winning moviemaking, but it’s one of the better examples of low-budget 80s cinema. It would play well on a double bill with Roger Corman’s Suburbia, Penelope Spheeris’s Decline and Fall of Western Civilization or even her later Wayne’s World. Beth B also directed the films Two Small Bodies, Visiting Desire, and Breath In Breathe Out. Fans of SALVATION will also want to check out Dabney Coleman and Paul Cooper in PRAY TV, a similarly themed satire of television religion. PRAY TY features Devo as “Dove, the band of love” in a rare film appearance. Two years later Devo went on to film the wonderfully incomprehensible HUMAN HIGHWAY with Neil Young.

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion is a novel that seems to centralize the majority of its language on a single main character. Due to the fact that we are only able to see into the mind of the main character, Maria, it can be argued that this novel only essentially has one character with the rest are just simply filling space. This begs the question, would William Gass argue that Maria is simply a linguistic location in Didion's novel? After all, “a character for is any linguistic location in a book toward which a great part of the rest of the text stands as a modifier” (A Debate 28). If we consider the fact that his perfect novel would have just one character in which all of the language flows toward, then we would assume he would appreciate the way in which Didion constructed her novel. Didion only gives us Maria's perspective on the world and even when the other characters are speaking, they tell us only about Maria. Upon further inspection, it is easy to see that while there simply is just one character, Maria, we learn more about her through the other characters in the novel and how she interacts with them. They are vital to the plot-line and to making Maria a well-rounded character. She is seen as a virtual human being not only by her interaction with the other characters, but also through the emotional rollercoaster she rides throughout the novel. She then is not a linguistic location that Didion has created, but a virtual human being that Gardner would appreciate.

Didion guides us in mainly a third-person-limited perspective through the novel about a troubled woman learning to deal with her recent divorce, loss of celebrity status, and a painful abortion. Through the bulk of the novel, we see Maria's life being told to us from a narrator who seems to know everything that Maria is thinking and feeling. There is conversation with the other characters, but we never know directly how they are feeling. It is almost as if Maria is speaking to us through the narrator and giving the audience her own views and opinions. For example, in a conversation with Carter about her abortion, he says to Maria, “'You have to swear you'll call the doctor…if something's wrong.' Instead she took a Dexadrine to stay awake. Awake she could always call an ambulance. Awake she could save herself if it came to that” (Didion 92). We hear the words Carter is saying, but we do not know what he is feeling. Instead, we are on Maria's side, hearing her own personal reasoning through the narrator. But there are rare opportunities where we get the first-person perspective from each of the important characters. Beginning with Maria, the most essential character of the novel, we hear what she thinks of herself as if the events in the novel already happened, although we don't know that upon first read. She cannot remember the years that happened during the novel because she says, “I don't know what happened the year after that and then I started getting to Nevada quite a bit, but by then my father was dead and I was not married any more” (8). Then we have Helene speaking to us, but it is a monologue concentrated completely on Maria. Helene's poor opinion of her is evident when she says, “she was always a very selfish girl, it was first last and always Maria” (10). Here we learn of Helene's jealousy of Maria. After Helene, Carter speaks about Maria and how she “never understood friendship, conversation, the normal amenities of social exchange” (11). This shows us Carter's frustration with Maria's depression and his unsympathetic attitude towards it. Right away the reader gets the hint that this novel is going to be entirely focused on Maria. After these brief first-person narrators, we never hear how Helene and Carter are thinking again aside from what can be inferred from their dialogue with Maria.

One would assume from what Gass has argued about character development that this evident centralization of Maria would qualify as “language basically and ultimately goes back to modify, be about, [the character]” (A Debate 28). There would now seem to be “an absolute, idealist system” (28) that Gass prizes. But unfortunately for Gass, that doesn't seem to quite be true in this novel. Through Maria's reactions and conversations with BZ, Ivan, Helene, Carter, Les, and others, we gain a greater understanding of what is happening inside Maria's head. Although much of the language does focus on Maria, the other characters are a necessity in the novel for us to learn more about Maria as a virtual human being. We also learn about the other characters through Maria. Because Maria and the other characters interrelate with each other so frequently throughout the novel, we can't help but see them as real human beings based on these day to day interactions like the different film parties and the times in the desert. With these characters, Gass' theory of character development just doesn't fit. There is an interaction between them that Gardner would value because he believes that “we know a character by what he does: what he does to other people, and what they do back to him” (28).

John Gardner wants us to not only learn about a character through their relationships, but he also wants us to feel their emotions through the author's chosen words. Gass believes that it is wrong to feel emotion through the book but Gardner says “it's not. I say a book is nothing but a written symbol of a dream” (29). Since Maria seems to be in such an empty and bleak state throughout the novel, we begin to feel her depression and isolation through the words and scenarios Didion chose for Maria. This feeling would be something that John Gardner would approve of because he wants his readers to feel and experience right along with the characters in the book because If it is true that we do look at characters in fictions as if they were real, and feel curious about what they will do when their safety is threatened or their wishes are opposed, then the only possible objection…must be that such a study is frivolous (Gardner 113).

As we go along through the novel, we feel for Maria because it seems as if she hasn't been able to make decisions for herself due to her own confusion. She doesn't want to abort the baby, but Carter pushes it on her. We know that she feels guilty about doing it because she had dreamed up scenarios like the plumber finding the “hacked pieces of human flesh” in her pipes. We know she is a bit insane because of her depression. We feel for her at the times when it seems her world comes crashing down like the time that…she drove as far as Romaine and then pulled over, put her head on the steering wheel and cried as she has not cried since she was a child, cried out loud. She cried because she was humiliated and she cried for her mother…and she cried because something had just come through to her…because this was the day, the day the baby would have been born (Didion 140).

But she was distanced, depressed, unfeeling, and confused and readers could sense this from the language. This is what Gardner wants. We feel Maria's isolation in the passage about being in Las Vegas where
She wore dark glasses…She spoke to no one. She did not gamble. She neither swam nor lay in the sun…All day, most of every night, she walked and drove…She thought about nothing…Her mind was a blank tape, imprinted daily with snatches of things overheard (168-69).

He wants us to feel for these characters as if they were real people who are actually experiencing these events. These passages Didion constructed are used to shape Maria's personality.

Along with the feelings of depression that Didion associates with Maria are the images of isolation. It is frequently mentioned that Maria drives with no particular destination in mind. Chapter one is about Maria's compulsion to drive on the freeway. She drives without purpose and it seems to comfort her:

Sometimes at night the dread would overtake her, bathe her in sweat, flood her mind with sharp flash images…and the irrevocability of what seemed already to have happened, but she never thought about that on the freeway (17).

Maria has no destination in her car just as she has no destination in her life. The author gives us this example without psychologizing Maria for us. The psychologizing and interpreting is the job of the reader in this case. Again towards the end of the novel, we find Maria driving towards the desert. Maria driving towards the desert brings up even more associations with Maria's “deserted” personality. We associate the desert with feelings of barrenness and isolation where no living thing can survive. These associations are another key component in Gardner's ideal character development. Gardner states that
Words conjure emotionally charged images in the reader's mind, and when the words are put together in the proper way, with the proper rhythms…we have the queer experience of falling through the print on the page into something like a dream (Gardner 112).

Along with the use of associations, Gardner also has an appreciation for the use of metaphor. In this novel, the title of the book, Play It As It Lays, is closely linked with Maria's final realization about life. On numerous occasions, there are references to card games or other comments using one or all of the words of the phrase, “play it as it lays.” The game being referred to is the game of life and Maria is holding the cards. At the beginning of the novel, Maria is still bewildered about life and says, “I mean, maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?” (Didion The novel as a whole is essentially about Maria, her life's uncertainties, and how she deals with it. The title acts as a metaphor for the book and the language only supports the metaphor. Its meaning changes for us throughout the book as we grow with Maria when “something real was happening: this was, as it were, her life. If she could keep that in mind she would be able to play it through, do the right thing, whatever that meant” (41). Didion doesn't want us to forget this metaphor and she makes sure of that by sprinkling it throughout her text by italicizing “as it was” (147) and “play it through” (54). By coming back to it time and time again allows a greater impact on the reader when she finally ends the novel with a reference to the metaphor. Gardner appreciates these language devices and says that “every metaphor conjures an inexpressible but felt background, ties the imagined to the fully experienced” (Gardner 68). Gass, too, has an appreciation for metaphor usage but for different reasons entirely. He believes that metaphors should be used to help the reader break out of the ordinary and see images in a different and unconventional way because he wants to “transform language, disarm the almost insistent communicability of language” (A Debate 23). But the metaphor comparing Maria's life to a game of cards supports Gardner's theory and helps us to make a reasonable and accessible connection between the two.

As the novel continues, Maria becomes more confident in herself and this “game of life” she is playing. When BZ comes to her with the pills, he says, “'You're still playing…Some day you'll wake up and you just won't feel like playing anymore'” (Didion 211). Suddenly the tables have turned and Maria's life isn't the one the reader is concerned for anymore. For the first time, our worries are taken off of Maria and placed on BZ. She then becomes in control of herself and her own life. In her final monologue, she says directly to the reader: “I know something Carter never knew, or Helene, or maybe you. I know what ‘nothing' means, and keep on playing” (213). This final realization and closure that Maria comes to is that life is going to treat you pretty terribly sometimes, but you've just got to keep playing with the cards you were dealt. This kind of closure is a characteristic of fiction that John Gardner would admire. Although he may not be satisfied completely with the morals in this novel, he would appreciate that the novel was leading up to this realization and that it had direction. Gardner argues that
If a novel is plotted, if you have the actualization of the potential that exists in a character in a certain situation, then the argument of the novel-the movement of the plot, the development of the characters in their response to problems-leads you through the novel (Gardner 25).

Then Didion does an interesting thing towards the end of the novel. While the majority of it is written in third-person limited, she suddenly gives us very short first-person monologues from Maria's point-of-view. They are italicized for us to make sure we notice the change. It's almost as if Maria is finally learning to think for herself. Throughout the novel she was lost and confused and had Carter telling her how to live her life. Suddenly, she is making some important realizations that Didion felt were more powerful coming directly from her instead of the third-person narrator. What would Gass and Gardner have to say about this addition? Gardner would think that it allows us that one step closer to the main character by being directly inside of her mind and hearing Maria's true voice for the first time. It's almost as if Maria herself were hearing her own voice for the first time as well. Because we feel like we are taking these big steps along with Maria, we feel more connected to her and Gardner supports a strong connection between reader and character. He wants us to feel as though we are in a continuous dream-like state throughout the story. If the “reader has been in a vivid and continuous dream, [he will be] living a virtual life, [he will be] in a virtual state” (Gardner 24). Gass would not acknowledge Gardner's dream-like state to be a worthwhile part of fiction. But rather he would not appreciate these first-person monologues because they are too prone to allowing the reader to psychologize Maria. The beauty of the words and language is hardly a factor. But the purpose of this is to feel a deeper connection with Maria herself. We can see her progress as she begins to grow into a stronger person when she says, “It is no longer necessary for them even to write me. I know when someone is thinking of me. I learn to deal with this” (Didion 182). We begin to see a glimmer of Maria's strength of character-something that has been lacking through the novel due to her mental state.

In Gass' opinion, the language of this novel would not be his ideal for a number of different reasons. It is too narrowly focused on the characters instead of for the beauty of language itself. Although it does have a main character that the language seems to center on, the other characters in the novel and the emotional language play too important of a role to ignore. These are not the characteristics of Gass' linguistic location. There is also a great deal of plot and purpose that becomes apparent to us in the ending. The majority of the language hopes to conjure up associations in the minds of the readers and creates a very life-like human being in Maria. Although upon first glance, the novel would appear to be one that would satisfy Gass, all of Gardner's criteria for good character development are fulfilled in Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays.

Works Cited
A Debate: William Gass and John Gardner (class handout)
Didion, Joan. Play It As It Lays. Bantam Books: New York, 1970.
Gardner, John. On Moral Fiction. Perseus Books: New York, 1978.

The 2009 Honda Civic LX 2DR Coupe is one of the most gas efficient cars on the market today. The popularity of the Civic had grown every year. The Edmunds car review states that the Civic has received a 9 out of 10 in consumer reviews. The Civic today has gone through series of body style upgrades. Once a box style vehicle, however, now a slim aerodynamic and sporty vehicle. The Civic offers smooth driving and a sporty design. You can clearly see why the Civic is popular among many people.

The Civic is equipped with a 4 cylinder 1.8 liter engine for maximum fuel efficiency. The 140 H.P. engine is great for economic everyday driving. The engine's max H.P. at 6300 RPM and has a torque of 128FT-LBS. That is enough power to drive your kids or friends around and haul a little extra luggage without a problem.The Civic has a 13.2 gallon gas tank. It produces a gas mileage of 26 MPH in the city and 36 MPH in the highway. You can get an average of 396 miles to a full tank. With fuel cost averaging above $4.00 a gallon it will only cost you $52.00 to fill up. I would say that is incredible.

With seating for 5, your family will not feel left out when your about to hit the road. The Civic comes with many standard features. Power windows and power locks for convenient driving. Tire pressure and low fuel warning signal for peace of mind driving. Many other features includes, cruise control, cup holders, power steering, remote trunk release, remote power locks, AM/FM CD player, and 6 speakers.

Safety is the biggest concern to most drivers. The Civic is equipped with state of the art passenger and driver air bags, passenger head restraint whiplash protection system, 4-wheel ABS, and remote anti-theft alarm system. What more can we ask for here?

Do not be worried about your vehicles protection after purchase. The Civic comes with a 3 year or 36,000 bumper to bumper warranty. Then to ease your mind some more Honda has added a 5 year 60,000 mile drive train warranty. Everything that is not wear and tear is serviceable for the first 36,000 miles. Most components from engine, transmission, and drive shaft are included from the drive train warranty.

The Honda Civic LX is available for a very affordable price. Most models start at $16,166.00 with the basic options mentioned in this article. You are able to upgrade the features for an additional price. Wow, all this features and great gas mileage for under $20,000. That is why the Honda Civic is the way to go.

Today, being green, environmentally friendly, or ecologically friendly is good for business so it is no surprise that labels such as “green, ecology, organic, etc” are all over the place. That is why I was very surprised when I saw a new “organic” dry cleaner opening where I live.

I did some research to see what's the issue with dry cleaners and what is it about this organic dry cleaning.

The issue with “regular” dry cleaners seem to be the use of a chemical compound called “perc.” Perchloroethylene, or “perc” is a solvent widely used (85%)) by dry cleaners. Perchloroethylene affects the human health and the environment. Perc is a possible carcinogenic chemical and it has been listed as an air pollutant by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which has mandatory regulations for using perc.

California in mandatorily asking people to discontinue the use of perc by 2023 and the states of Massachusetts and New Jersey are promoting similar laws. So as you can see this Perc is pretty dangerous for the environment and the human health.

However, we all know about the convenience of dry cleaning. It is efficient in removing dirt and it is just plain convenient for us. Add to that that some of the fabric is not made for wet cleaning and you have a pretty good idea of the importance of dry cleaning.

Since Perc is so dangerous a few “alternative” methods have been devised for dry cleaning

One of these methods uses a combination of gentle wet cleaning with special detergents and solvents (non toxic) that when dome properly is effective for many materials (cotton, wool, silk, leather).

Another method utilizes CO2, (yes the gas CO2). This method is environmentally and health-friendly and the quality of cleaning is good. However, the machine costs three times that of a regular perc dry cleaning. A dry cleaner using CO2 and/or professional wet cleaning in your area can be located at http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/ppc/index.htm.

A new silicone-based cleaning method is vailable from few cleaners around the UNITED SATES (www.greenearthcleaning.com ). It uses siloxane D5 (or D5 cleaning). This compound is patented GreenEarth Cleaning Company (Kansas City, Missouri). There are, however, reports of a 2-year animal study found that D5 is possibly a carcinogenic compound.

Finally, a new dry cleaning method is spreading because of its efficacy in dry cleaning and its purported environment benefits to the environment. This new method has been named “organic” cleaning, This “organic” system of dry cleaning utilizes a new solvent called DF-2000. Dry cleaners which uses DF-2000 promote themselves as “organic” dry cleaners and they say that they preserve the environment by using this solvent. However, the EPA classifies this solvent as a neurotoxin and a skin and eye irritant for those working with it.

So my “organic dry cleaner” may not be as environmentally correct as we all initially believed. We hope to see some advances in this area in the near future since dry cleaning is a widely spread activity that is certainly affecting the health of people and the environment.

Sources:

Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College, Los Angeles. Pollution Prevention Center. URL: http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/ppc/index.htm

GreenEarth Cleaning Company Web site. URL: www.greenearthcleaning.com

Many people that play Final Fantasy XI will always see the move called Rampage but they rarely see the move called Calamity. Why is this? Calamity is not a weak move. In fact, it has a higher maximum damage potential than Rampage. Then why is it that people in

Final Fantasy XI never see a beast master or warrior use Calamity as much as they use Rampage?

One of the main reasons why people do not use Calamity is because they do not know how to use it. With Rampage, you can equip just about any DD gear to do some decent damage. With Calamity however you will almost always need the Martial Axe so that you can use Calamity to its fullest potential without having to wait for 300 TP. The Martial Axe will allow a warrior or beast master to use calamity at its fullest potential consecutively. The large TP modifier will allow you to deal massive amounts of damage without you having to worry about all of the hits landing.

When you are dual wielding, Calamity will almost always do over 1k damage if you have attack food, decent gear, and berserk. That means you will do over 1.5k damage if you get a double attack or if you use the Mighty Strikes ability. Using Warrior's Charge and Mighty Strikes will push you over 2k damage when you use the Calamity weapon skill. Calamity is not the strongest weapon skill in Final Fantasy XI but it has an enormous amount of potential. That potential is often overlooked because people do not take the time to do their homework. There are a number of combinations that a warrior can use to surprise party members since warrior's can use almost every weapon effectively.

Most people just stick with Raging Rush and Rampage in Final Fantasy XI, but move such as Calamity, Spiral Hell, True Strike, Vorpal Blade, Savage Blade, Full Swing, and Penta Thrust will allow a warrior to deal massive amounts of energy even against the toughest opponents in Final Fantasy XI.

A beast master can also gain a good use out of Calamity if they gear themselves very well for dealing damage. Using a massive amount of attack they can also use the Martial Axe so that they can also deal out over 1000 points of damage with the Calamity weapon skill when they are dual wielding weapons.