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Friday, April 5, 2013
You Heard It Here First: Film Forum's 2013 Summer Premieres ...
While summer may not feel just around the corner, the summer blockbuster season is already upon us; with that comes a barrage of endless sequels and some rare surprise hits. Some of those innovative and small-scaled finds are slated to screen at New York's Film Forum over the next few months, as part of their summer lineup. Take an exclusive look below to read through the releases, including some films we've previously endorsed. (Synopses courtesy of Film Forum.)
?Becoming Traviata?
Directed by Philippe B?ziat
France?? 2012?? 112 mins.? In English, French, and Italian with English subtitles.? Distrib? Films.
The reinvention of Verdi?s masterpiece, La Traviata, as sung by world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay, is the subject of Philippe B?ziat?s thrilling new movie.? A modern, minimalist, post-punk approach strips away the opulence and grandiosity associated with operatic productions. Concentrating on director Jean-Fran?ois Sivadier?s working relationship with Dessay, the film reveals how two great creative minds build the story of a doomed love affair. The stars rehearse in what look like yoga outfits, on a bare stage, with minimal props. The final production, set against a backdrop of sky and clouds, punctuated by a single chandelier, features Violetta and Alfredo (a darkly gorgeous Charles Castronovo) as the very essence of hipster-chic. Their passion, however, is for the ages. With music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Louis Langr?e.?
?More Than Honey?
Written and directed by Markus Imhoof
Germany / Austria / Switzerland?? 2012?? 91 mins. In English and German with English subtitles.? Kino Lorber.
Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (?The Boat Is Full?) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of ?Microcosmos?) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: ?Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera?s magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we?ve stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg?s ?The Fly.? This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
?
Opens Friday, June 21 for an ongoing engagement:
?A Hijacking?
Written and directed by Tobias Lindholm
Denmark??? 2012??? 99 mins.?? In English and Danish with English subtitles.? Magnolia Pictures.
A Danish freighter, hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, is held for ransom. The action alternates between the deteriorating conditions of the men abroad the hostage ship and the offices of the sleek Copenhagen firm from which the company?s steely CEO negotiates with the pirates. ?Superb. Actually grows more chillingly subdued as its nightmare scenario unfolds.?? Guy Lodge, Variety
?
JUNE 26? ? JULY 9 ?
?Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert For Kate Mcgarrigle?
Directed By Lian Lunson
Canada???? 2012?? 105 mins.? Horse pictures
Rufus and Martha Wainwright honored their legendary mother, folksinger Kate McGarrigle (1946 ? 2010) with a Town Hall concert in NYC that included performances/appearances by Anna and Jane McGarrigle, Jimmy Fallon, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Antony Hegarty, Teddy Thompson, and novelist Michael Ondaatje. Lian Lunson, director of ?Leonard Cohen: I?m Your Man?, assembles home movie footage of the Wainwrights (their father is Loudon Wainwright III), archival footage, and family interviews that give resonance to the story of Kate?s life and the songs she wrote (many with her sisters); they draw upon romantic, carefree, and bittersweet memories that reference her life as an artist, wife, sister, and mother. Rufus?s rendition of Candles is a particularly poignant moment among many.
?
JULY 10 ? 16?????? ?
?Israel: A Home Movie?
Produced And Directed By Arik Bernstein
Israel? 2012?? 93 mins.? In Hebrew with English subtitles.? Alma Films
Why is it that home-movie footage, usually taken at celebratory events (birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs, summer holidays, Christmas), may evoke profound sadness when viewed in retrospect.? Susan Sontag wrote brilliantly on the nature of photography: that it freezes a moment which is instantly no more, that it captures the transitory, allowing us to consider its fate. ?Israel: A Home Movie? performs this role for an entire nation. Arik Bernstein assembles amateur movie footage from the 1930s through the 1970s: from Romanian refugees dancing on the decks of boats as they arrive in then-Palestine, to postwar Europeans complaining of a ?barbarian land,? to celebratory Israelis in 1968 proclaiming victory in ?the last war,? to those in the ?70s who founded settlements in the occupied territories.? In the course of one movie, Israel goes from a young, optimistic nation to one in which the realities of middle-age settle in. As early as the late 1970s, one feels that tragedy has become the norm, that life inevitably leads to death and that ? in Israel as we have known it ? peace inevitably leads to war.
Presented with support from the Joan S. Constantiner Fund For Jewish And Holocaust Film
?
JULY 17 ? 30????????
?Computer Chess?
Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski
Usa?? 2013?? 92 mins.? Kino Lorber
A.O. Scott, in The New York Times, named Andrew Bujalski?s ?Funny Ha Ha? ?one of the ten most influential films of the ?00s? and Amy Taubin, in Film Comment, calls his new film, ?Computer Chess? ?bracingly idiosyncratic ? and close to perfect.? She continues: ?Set in 1980 in a nowheresville hotel hosting an annual artificial-intelligence chess competition (software programs operated by computer nerds compete at chess), the movie is part faux documentary and part hallucinatory coming-of-age sexual fantasy.?? With clunky computers the size of small cars, and eyewear of almost equal weight, these data wizards may be in the techno-vanguard, but they are hopeless when it comes to human relations.? Bujalski gives the film a charming period look by shooting on primitive early ?70s video cameras. Justin Chang in Variety calls it ?an endearingly nutty, proudly analog tribute? about as weird and singular as independent cinema gets.?
?
JULY 31 ? AUGUST 13????
?Smash And Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers?
Directed by Havana Marking
Uk??? 2012?? 90 mins.? Goldcrest Films
Their crimes resemble high-octane Hollywood action movies: a sports car speeds through a Dubai shopping mall, crashing into the windows of a Graff jewelry store. Masked, gun-wielding men jump out of the car, and stuff fistfuls of diamonds into their satchels before screeching off. In London, they took all of three minutes to make off with $30 million in diamonds. Dubbed the Pink Panthers, they?re captured -- on surveillance tapes that record their astonishing lightning strikes with hypnotic accuracy. A 2010 New Yorker article by David Samuels described them as ?a spectacularly inventive and elusive gang of jewel thieves?who?ve robbed 152 jewelry stores? in Europe, Asia and the Mid-East, of diamonds worth a quarter-billion dollars, since 2002. They?re believed to be a loose confederation of 20-30 men (and women), many from Serbia and Montenegro, who ?grew up in an atmosphere of wholesale corruption? after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.? Some are in jail. Others agree to be interviewed by Havana Marking so long as their identities are kept secret. They continue to smash and grab.
?
AUGUST 14 ? 27?????
"The Patience Stone"
Directed By Atiq? Rahimi
France / Germany / Afghanistan? 2012??? 98 mins.? In farsi with English subtitles.?? Sony Pictures Classics
Based on the novel by Atiq Rahimi, winner of the Prix Goncourt, France?s most prestigious literary prize, and co-scripted by legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carri?re (who wrote ?Belle De Jour?), ?The Patience Stone? takes place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.? Beautiful actress Golshifteh Farahani (who is persona non grata in her native Iran for starring in Ridley Scott?s ?Body Of Lies? and posing nude in a French magazine) gives an electrifying performance in a reversal of the Scheherazade role: Instead of spinning fabulous tales to amuse her man, she sits by her injured, unresponsive husband and confesses to a litany of abuses she has suffered at his hands, among others. Critics have called her performance ?mesmerizing,? ?spellbinding,? ?luminous,? and ?a tour de force.?
Film Forum Premieres
MAY 1-14???????????????
?Post Tenebras Lux?
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Mexico?? 2012?? 115 mins.? In Spanish, English and French with English subtitles.??Strand Releasing?????????????????????????????????
Winner of the Best Director prize at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, ?Post Tenebras Lux? (?Light After Darkness?) is a new autobiographical feature by acclaimed director Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light, Japon). Ostensibly the story of an upscale, urban family whose move to the Mexican countryside results in domestic crises and class friction, ?Post Tenebras Lux? is a stunningly photographed, impressionistic psychological portrait of a family and their place within the sublime, unforgiving natural world. Reygadas conjures a host of unforgettable, ominous images: a haunting sequence at dusk as Reygadas's real-life daughter wanders a muddy field and farm animals loudly circle as thunder and lightning threaten; a glowing-red demon gliding through the rooms of a home; a husband and wife visiting a swingers' bathhouse with rooms named after famous philosophers. By turns entrancing and mystifying, ?Post Tenebras Lux? palpably explores the primal conflicts of the human condition. ?Entrancingly beautiful. As beguiling a cinematic object as one is likely to encounter this year.? ? Dan Sullivan, Film Comment?
?Becoming Traviata?
Directed by Philippe B?ziat
France?? 2012?? 112 mins.? In English, French, and Italian with English subtitles.? Distrib? Films.
The reinvention of Verdi?s masterpiece, La Traviata, as sung by world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay, is the subject of Philippe B?ziat?s thrilling new movie.? A modern, minimalist, post-punk approach strips away the opulence and grandiosity associated with operatic productions. Concentrating on director Jean-Fran?ois Sivadier?s working relationship with Dessay, the film reveals how two great creative minds build the story of a doomed love affair. The stars rehearse in what look like yoga outfits, on a bare stage, with minimal props. The final production, set against a backdrop of sky and clouds, punctuated by a single chandelier, features Violetta and Alfredo (a darkly gorgeous Charles Castronovo) as the very essence of hipster-chic. Their passion, however, is for the ages. With music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Louis Langr?e.?
Opens Friday, May 17 for an ongoing engagement:
"Augustine"
Directed by Alice Winocour
France???? 2012??? 102 mins.? In French with English subtitles.? Music Box Films.
In late 19th century France, a beautiful teenage kitchen maid, subject to violent seizures, is sent to a Dickensian psychiatric hospital where a famed neurologist transforms her into his star attraction. With Vincent Lindon as Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot (a founder of modern neurology) and French recording star Soko as his patient, Augustine. Based on a true story. ?A coolly febrile study of madness, Victorian sexual politics and power.? ? Leslie Felperin, Variety
?
MAY 29 ? JUNE 11????????????
?Hannah Arendt?
Directed by Margarethe Von Trotta
Germany?? 2012??? 113 mins.? In English and German with English subtitles. Zeitgeist Films.
?Premier David Ben-Gurion announced today that Adolf Eichmann, the S.S. colonel who headed the Gestapo?s Jewish Section, was under arrest in Israel and would stand trial for his life.? ? The New York Times (May 24, 1960). The luminous Barbara Sukowa stars as the brilliant German-Jewish emigree Hannah Arendt ? sent to cover the trial in Jerusalem by New Yorker editor William Shawn; her coverage becomes one of the most important and controversial books ever written on the Holocaust: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.? A veritable hornet?s nest of ugly accusations, recriminations, and counter-charges greets Arendt?s proposition that ordinary people are capable of the vile acts for which Eichmann stands justly accused. Arendt?s loyal friend, writer Mary McCarthy (played by Janet McTeer) comes to her defense in Margarethe von Trotta?s deeply serious, yet wildly entertaining look at the lives and loves of a bevy of New York?s most famed intellectuals during the 1950s and ?60s. Von Trotta? -- working with longtime co-screenwriter Pamela Katz -- brings a practiced eye, a compassionate mind, and, appropriately, fearless independence, to this riveting portrait of a woman of both ideas and heart.
Presented with support from the Joan S. Constantiner Fund For Jewish And Holocaust Film.
?
?More Than Honey?
Written and directed by Markus Imhoof
Germany / Austria / Switzerland?? 2012?? 91 mins. In English and German with English subtitles.? Kino Lorber.
Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (?The Boat Is Full?) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of ?Microcosmos?) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: ?Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera?s magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we?ve stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg?s ?The Fly.? This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
?
Opens Friday, June 21 for an ongoing engagement:
?A Hijacking?
Written and directed by Tobias Lindholm
Denmark??? 2012??? 99 mins.?? In English and Danish with English subtitles.? Magnolia Pictures.
A Danish freighter, hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, is held for ransom. The action alternates between the deteriorating conditions of the men abroad the hostage ship and the offices of the sleek Copenhagen firm from which the company?s steely CEO negotiates with the pirates. ?Superb. Actually grows more chillingly subdued as its nightmare scenario unfolds.?? Guy Lodge, Variety
?
JUNE 26? ? JULY 9 ?
?Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert For Kate Mcgarrigle?
Directed By Lian Lunson
Canada???? 2012?? 105 mins.? Horse pictures
Rufus and Martha Wainwright honored their legendary mother, folksinger Kate McGarrigle (1946 ? 2010) with a Town Hall concert in NYC that included performances/appearances by Anna and Jane McGarrigle, Jimmy Fallon, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Antony Hegarty, Teddy Thompson, and novelist Michael Ondaatje. Lian Lunson, director of ?Leonard Cohen: I?m Your Man?, assembles home movie footage of the Wainwrights (their father is Loudon Wainwright III), archival footage, and family interviews that give resonance to the story of Kate?s life and the songs she wrote (many with her sisters); they draw upon romantic, carefree, and bittersweet memories that reference her life as an artist, wife, sister, and mother. Rufus?s rendition of Candles is a particularly poignant moment among many.
?
JULY 10 ? 16?????? ?
?Israel: A Home Movie?
Produced And Directed By Arik Bernstein
Israel? 2012?? 93 mins.? In Hebrew with English subtitles.? Alma Films
Why is it that home-movie footage, usually taken at celebratory events (birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs, summer holidays, Christmas), may evoke profound sadness when viewed in retrospect.? Susan Sontag wrote brilliantly on the nature of photography: that it freezes a moment which is instantly no more, that it captures the transitory, allowing us to consider its fate. ?Israel: A Home Movie? performs this role for an entire nation. Arik Bernstein assembles amateur movie footage from the 1930s through the 1970s: from Romanian refugees dancing on the decks of boats as they arrive in then-Palestine, to postwar Europeans complaining of a ?barbarian land,? to celebratory Israelis in 1968 proclaiming victory in ?the last war,? to those in the ?70s who founded settlements in the occupied territories.? In the course of one movie, Israel goes from a young, optimistic nation to one in which the realities of middle-age settle in. As early as the late 1970s, one feels that tragedy has become the norm, that life inevitably leads to death and that ? in Israel as we have known it ? peace inevitably leads to war.
Presented with support from the Joan S. Constantiner Fund For Jewish And Holocaust Film
?
JULY 17 ? 30????????
?Computer Chess?
Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski
Usa?? 2013?? 92 mins.? Kino Lorber
A.O. Scott, in The New York Times, named Andrew Bujalski?s ?Funny Ha Ha? ?one of the ten most influential films of the ?00s? and Amy Taubin, in Film Comment, calls his new film, ?Computer Chess? ?bracingly idiosyncratic ? and close to perfect.? She continues: ?Set in 1980 in a nowheresville hotel hosting an annual artificial-intelligence chess competition (software programs operated by computer nerds compete at chess), the movie is part faux documentary and part hallucinatory coming-of-age sexual fantasy.?? With clunky computers the size of small cars, and eyewear of almost equal weight, these data wizards may be in the techno-vanguard, but they are hopeless when it comes to human relations.? Bujalski gives the film a charming period look by shooting on primitive early ?70s video cameras. Justin Chang in Variety calls it ?an endearingly nutty, proudly analog tribute? about as weird and singular as independent cinema gets.?
?
JULY 31 ? AUGUST 13????
?Smash And Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers?
Directed by Havana Marking
Uk??? 2012?? 90 mins.? Goldcrest Films
Their crimes resemble high-octane Hollywood action movies: a sports car speeds through a Dubai shopping mall, crashing into the windows of a Graff jewelry store. Masked, gun-wielding men jump out of the car, and stuff fistfuls of diamonds into their satchels before screeching off. In London, they took all of three minutes to make off with $30 million in diamonds. Dubbed the Pink Panthers, they?re captured -- on surveillance tapes that record their astonishing lightning strikes with hypnotic accuracy. A 2010 New Yorker article by David Samuels described them as ?a spectacularly inventive and elusive gang of jewel thieves?who?ve robbed 152 jewelry stores? in Europe, Asia and the Mid-East, of diamonds worth a quarter-billion dollars, since 2002. They?re believed to be a loose confederation of 20-30 men (and women), many from Serbia and Montenegro, who ?grew up in an atmosphere of wholesale corruption? after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.? Some are in jail. Others agree to be interviewed by Havana Marking so long as their identities are kept secret. They continue to smash and grab.
?
AUGUST 14 ? 27?????
"The Patience Stone"
Directed By Atiq? Rahimi
France / Germany / Afghanistan? 2012??? 98 mins.? In farsi with English subtitles.?? Sony Pictures Classics
Based on the novel by Atiq Rahimi, winner of the Prix Goncourt, France?s most prestigious literary prize, and co-scripted by legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carri?re (who wrote ?Belle De Jour?), ?The Patience Stone? takes place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.? Beautiful actress Golshifteh Farahani (who is persona non grata in her native Iran for starring in Ridley Scott?s ?Body Of Lies? and posing nude in a French magazine) gives an electrifying performance in a reversal of the Scheherazade role: Instead of spinning fabulous tales to amuse her man, she sits by her injured, unresponsive husband and confesses to a litany of abuses she has suffered at his hands, among others. Critics have called her performance ?mesmerizing,? ?spellbinding,? ?luminous,? and ?a tour de force.?
Premieres programmed by Karen Cooper and Mike Maggiore
Source: http://www.indiewire.com/article/you-heard-it-here-first-film-forums-2013-summer-premieres
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Chinese toll from new bird flu rises to 9 cases, 3 dead
By Ben Blanchard and Kate Kelland
BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - China has found two more cases of a new strain of bird flu and one of the victims has died, state media said on Wednesday, bringing to nine the number of confirmed human infections from the previously unknown flu type.
A 38-year-old cook fell ill early last month while working in the province of Jiangsu, where five of the other cases were found. He died in hospital in Hangzhou city on March 27, the Xinhua news agency reported. Samples tested positive on Wednesday for the new bird flu strain, H7N9.
The second patient, also in Hangzhou, is a 67-year-old who is having treatment. Xinhua said no connection between the two cases had been discovered, and no one in close contact with either patient had developed any flu-like symptoms.
The World Health Organization said it was "following the event closely" and was in contact with Chinese authorities, which it said were actively investigating the cases amid heightened disease surveillance.
Flu experts across the world are studying samples isolated from the patients to assess H7N9'S human pandemic potential.
Other strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years and can be transmitted from bird to bird, and bird to human, but not generally from human to human.
So far, this lack of human-to-human transmission also appears to be a feature of the H7N9 strain.
Of the seven other cases of the new strain, two have died, both in the business hub of Shanghai. The other five are in a critical condition in hospital in Nanjing. Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou are all close to each other in eastern China.
China's Agriculture Ministry said it had yet to find any animals infected with H7N9, though added it was possible it had been brought to China by migratory birds.
The WHO says so far it has seen no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but there are questions about the source of the infection and about how it may be being transmitted to people.
"We still don't know the mode of transmission or host (of the virus)," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. "Those are the two most important pieces of information we would need. In order to control it, we need to know where it is coming from."
The WHO said in a statement it was also focusing its efforts on encouraging collaboration between researchers to ensure information and materials are available for scientists wanting to develop diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines.
No vaccine is currently available for H7N9 flu, but preliminary test results provided by the WHO Collaborating Centre in China suggest it is susceptible to the antiviral drugs Tamiflu, sold by the Swiss drugmaker Roche, and Relenza, sold by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
Chinese authorities dismissed speculation on some websites that the H7N9 outbreak may be related to more than 16,000 pig carcasses found dumped in rivers around Shanghai.
Yin Ou, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Agricultural Committee, told reporters on Tuesday that the city had tested 34 dead pigs found in the city's Huangpu River for the H7N9 virus, but the tests had all come back negative.
China has a checkered record when it comes to tackling disease outbreaks, which some officials have previously sought to cover up. However, since the H7N9 cases have been identified, China has stepped up its alert level and said it is being transparent in dealing with them.
In 2003, authorities initially tried to cover up an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in China and killed about a 10th of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.
(Additional reporting by David Stanway in Beijing and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva.; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/strain-bird-flu-infects-four-others-china-xinhua-012646972.html
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Thursday, April 4, 2013
Disney Shuts Down LucasArts - Business Insider
It's official.?
Disney has shut down LucasArts.??
The Mouse House announced today that it will be laying off all 150 people at the game publishing division of Lucasfilm.??
Current projects, "Star Wars: First Assault" and the much-hyped "Star Wars 1313" have been cancelled.??
Here's the official statement:??
"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."
Disney purchased Lucasfilm October of last year for $4 billion.?
Last month, Lucasfilm announced it was ending its popular Cartoon Network series, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," and was delaying Seth Green's future animated series, "Star Wars Detours."
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-2013-4
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Economic indicators: Sales of cars, trucks and ... - Automotive News
LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
April 3, 2013 - 1:47 pm ET
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Economists have long known that certain retail-level transactions -- such as the number of packages handled by UPS or FedEx -- are good indicators of the economy's overall strength or weakness.
But does the same hold true for branded automotive tchotchkes?
Last year, Chrysler Group's Mopar parts and service brand sold more than $50 million worth of licensed neon signs, pens, clothing, calendars, bar stools, clocks, tables and even remote-controlled toy trucks.
The 2012 sales were nearly triple the amount of similar branded goods Mopar sold in 2011 and included everything from a $2.50 toy metal car to a home garage storage cabinet system that cost $11,500.
In all, Mopar has developed more than 200 of such branded items that it now sells on the Internet but mainly at kiosks in dealer service areas.
Mopar's branded trinket sales pale in comparison with the merchandising juggernaut that is Jeep and the automaker's other brands, which together racked up $1.3 billion in merchandise sales last year, according to a Chrysler Group spokeswoman.
Yes, that's billion with a "b."
The biggest chunk of that dough comes from Jeep, which grabs consumers fresh from the womb with Jeep-labeled strollers and infant seats and holds them -- and their pets -- for life with a plethora of clothing, key chains, dog leashes and camping equipment.
I haven't found a Jeep-branded casket yet, but I'm sure there's one out there somewhere.
That kind of money makes it clear that there was more than one reason why Jeep was widely considered Chrysler's most valuable asset during bankruptcy proceedings.
Which brings me back to Mopar.
Unlike Jeep, Chrysler's parts and service brand doesn't have a natural fan base to sell to except as a common identity for all of Chrysler Group's brands -- "Ma Mopar," as the automaker is sometimes called.
That sales of Mopar's branded merchandise have climbed so fast is a testament that the Mopar brand itself is valued again by consumers. That this is happening less than four years after the automaker's very existence remained in doubt is no small thing.
But no matter what the brand is, if consumers are willing to spend their hard-earned money in the service line to buy a hat or a T-shirt or a penknife just because of what it says, that's something dealers need to notice.
It's an indicator, as economists say, that perceptions may be shifting.
You can reach Larry P. Vellequette at lvellequette@crain.com.
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Man Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removed
The family of a 24-year-old California man who died unexpectedly after having had his wisdom teeth removed is questioning the medical care he received during the routine oral procedure.
After the surgery last month Marek Lapinski, a software developer from San Diego, experienced complications. According to the patient care report released by American Medical Response, Lapinski woke up coughing during the procedure and was given the powerful anesthetic propofol.
But his condition quickly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital, where he died three days later. His family and friends have questioned the treatment he received from Dr. Steven Paul, an oral surgeon in Temecula, Calif.
"What's most shocking is the healthy 24-year-old goes in for an operation as routine as having his wisdom teeth removed and dies in the process," Tony Keiser, a friend of the Lapinski family, told ABCNews.com. "It's inconceivable."
According to the patient care report, the paramedics said that Paul had told them that Lapinski woke up during the procedure, started coughing and was given propofol. When Lapinski stopped breathing, CPR was started and the paramedics were called.
After they arrived, according to the report, the paramedics found two pieces of surgical gauze in Lapinski's airway as they tried to intubate him.
"I really pray to God that there's a hell of an investigation on this," Keiser said.
Lapinski's mother, April Lapinski, told ABCNews.com that Paul had come to the hospital to apologize for what had happened.
"He did come, and he, you know, he said he was sorry," she said. "He didn't have any other explanations for me."
Paul has not commented on the case, but his attorney, Clark Hudson, released a statement that said in part: "Dr. Steven Paul has always provided the highest level of oral surgery care to his patients. ... However, safe as oral surgery is in today's environment, no surgical procedure is without risk."
According to the statement, immediate measures were taken to revive Lapinski after his condition began to deteriorate.
"The reason for the patient's decompensation is unknown. However, all standard protocols were followed," Hudson said.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has scheduled an autopsy for later today.
April Lapinski told ABCNews.com that the family was waiting for the coroner's report before deciding if it would pursue legal action.
"Now we wake up every morning and can't believe it," she said. "it's just one big bad dream."
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/man-dies-wisdom-teeth-removed-201504759.html
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Board Games ? Dungeon's Master
Over the past year or two my board game collection has increased from about a dozen classic games to over 50 games counting the new additions. I?ve also tried numerous games at my FLGS, gaming conventions, and some of the other guys in my gaming group have brought over their favourites. I?d say I?ve probably played close to a hundred different board games in the past year or so. It?s become such a big part of my social life that I?ve even got my wife and my parents to try new games.
Throughout April Dungeon?s Master is participating in the?Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That?s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. In today?s article we shift from D&D to Board Games, our ?B? topic for day two.
With so many games to choose from it can be difficult to land on something that appeals to everyone. I?ve found that the easiest thing to do is divide my games into two categories: The ones my wife will play and the ones my gaming buddies will play. Games that fall into the first category include the classics like the aforementioned Monopoly, Scrabble, and Yahtzee; simple strategy games like The Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and 10 Days in the USA; party games like Scategories, Apples to Apples, and Cards Against Humanity; and cooperative games like Pandemic and Forbidden Island. Basically nothing too strange or geeky. All other games fall into the second category.
Gaming nerds will play anything once. If it?s good they?ll come back to it again and again. I?d say about 1/3 of my games fall into the incredibly geeky category that my family won?t touch with a 10 foot pole. But that doesn?t mean that the games aren?t great. They just lack a certain appeal to the mainstream. Today we?re going to look at two of our favourites. These are games that the D&D crowd should instantly fall in love with, but outside of that social circle it?s unlikely these will ever be played (which is unfortunate).
Dungeon Fighter
The board is a giant target with numbered rings. In order to attack monsters you have to bounce an attack die off the table and on to the board. If it lands on the board you deal damage equal to the value printed on the ring. If you miss the monster damages you. It?s a lot like quarters which should appeal to anyone who went to college or is currently in college.
But the fun doesn?t end there. Some monsters can only be hit if you attack them in a more complicated manner (as specified on each individual monster card). Sometimes you have to throw the die with you off hand, or throw the dice over your shoulder, or bounce it off the table and then off the box, or jump in the air and spin before throwing the die, or even roll with your eyes closed. Remember that every time you miss the monster hits you. We suffered a lot of TPKs when we were first learning how to play this game but we always had fun.
This game usually takes us about an hour to complete. We don?t win very often but we spend most of the hour laughing hysterically at the absurdity of how we have to roll to defeat the next monster. We?ve never cheered as emphatically for dealing 1 point of damage as we did when we finally landed the over the shoulder shot for the first time (after about 30 minutes of trying).
Sample monsters
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre
Players can earn artifact cards during play to make their spells even more powerful. When a Wizard is killed early he draws Dead Wizard cards to improve his chances of winning the next time around (or at least stopping other Wizards from winning).
This game is best when played with 6 Wizards but will work with as few as 2. Each round takes about 5 minutes and a full game usually takes between 15-45 minutes.
Each spell card is interesting and funny, but when played in certain combos the ferocity and hilarity really shine. Here are some examples.
What are some great games you?ve played that?mainstream?gamers may not have played before? For those who have played Dungeon Fighter or Epic Spell Wards what were your experiences like? What is you all-time favourite board game?
Related reading:
Source: http://dungeonsmaster.com/2013/04/board-games-2/
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