Mistoriasecret's Scrapbook

Diet foods might cause kids to overeat

2007-08-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Diet foods might cause kids to overeat Mon Aug 13, 12:34 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The diet sodas and snacks so popular with weight-conscious adults may backfire in children, if new animal research is correct.

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In experiments with juvenile rats, researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada found that animals that became used to diet foods tended to overeat during meals of regular-calorie animal chow.

This was true for normal-weight and obese rat pups, the researchers found. However, diet foods did not appear to have an overeating effect in adolescent rats.

This suggests that the foods have some unique effect in young animals, and possibly children, the study authors report in the journal Obesity.

They suspect that diet foods disrupted the young animals' ability to learn how various flavors correlate with calories. When they associate tastes, such as sweet or salty, with few calories, even a rich dessert may fail to fill them up as it otherwise would.

It's possible that children given artificially low-calorie snacks and diet sodas might not learn to properly regulate their food intake, according to lead study author Dr. W. David Pierce.

"One thing is clear at this point," he said in a statement. "Young animals and perhaps children can be made to overeat when calorie-wise foods are offered on a daily basis, subverting the body's energy-balance system."

He and his colleagues recommend that parents give their children a well-balanced diet of foods in their natural form, including naturally low-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables.

The findings are based on a series of experiments with young rats, both normal, lean animals and those genetically prone to obesity. Over 16 days, the animals were regularly given gelatin cubes that contained starch, as well as a starch-free "diet" version of the snack.

For some animals, the starchy cubes were flavored with an artificial sweetener and the diet version was flavored with a salty solution. These flavors were reversed for other animals.

After 16 days of this taste training, the researchers gave all the animals a high-calorie snack dipped in either artificial sweetener or a salty solution. They then gave the rats a meal of their regular chow.

Pierce's team found that the animals tended to overeat during the meal if their pre-meal snack had been dipped in a flavor they'd learn to associate with a low-calorie food -- despite the snack's actual high calorie content.

The phenomenon was seen in both lean and obesity-prone rat pups, but the heavier animals generally ate more than their normal-weight counterparts, the researchers point out.

So it's possible, they say, that diet foods could be especially detrimental in the children already at the greatest risk of long-term weight problems.

SOURCE: Obesity, August 2007.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/diet_foods_dc

Do Diet Foods Lead to Weight Gain?

2007-08-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Do Diet Foods Lead to Weight Gain?
Wednesday, Aug. 08, 2007 By ALICE PARK Lowered carbohydrate snack foods.
Scott Olson / Getty
Article ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSS If you think you're cutting calories by eating diet or low-calorie versions of your favorite foods, think again. A new study by Canadian scientists published in the journal Obesity suggests that our bodies can't be fooled that easily.

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Led by David Pierce, researchers at the University of Alberta studied the eating habits of young rats, and found that they tended to overeat when they were fed "diet" foods. Though the new study was conducted in animals, it adds to a growing body of research in humans that suggests a diet-foods paradox: the more low-calorie (or even zero-calorie) sodas and foods you consume, the more your body demands payback for the calories it was deprived.

Pierce and his team started with the assumption that animals, and young animals in particular, are adapted to crave high-calorie foods that are packed with fat and carbohydrates, the crucial biological fuel that rapidly growing juveniles need. Using classic Pavlovian conditioning techniques, Pierce trained his rats to associate low-calorie foods with a "diet" taste, and high-calorie foods with a different taste. So, when the rats were fed a high-calorie food that had been flavored with the diet taste, their brains assumed that their bodies were running low on calories. These animals then overate at their next meal in an effort to refuel and make up for the lost energy. "Animals have the ability to sense the caloric value of food they take in," says Pierce. "We found out that an animal can learn to use flavors to predict calories in an attempt to achieve energy balance."

This same phenomenon could explain similar results in recent studies of dieters, says Pierce. Two years ago, scientists at the University of Texas reported in an eight-year study that for every can of diet soda that a person drank, he raised his risk of being overweight by 41%, compared to a 30% increase in drinkers of regular, sugared drinks. Earlier this year, another study of diet-soda drinkers came to a similar conclusion, this time about metabolic syndrome, the dangerous constellation of risk factors, such as obesity, high cholesterol and insulin resistance, that increases the likelihood of heart disease. In this report, part of the 60-year-old Framingham Heart Study, researchers found that soda drinkers, regardless of whether they consumed diet or regular beverages, had a 48% higher risk of metabolic syndrome than non-soda drinkers.

At the time, even the study authors conceded that it was impossible to implicate diet drinks completely, since it's possible that those who drank low-calorie beverages were already overweight or at higher risk of metabolic syndrome, and chose the diet drinks in an effort to get healthier. But Pierce's work hints that a more basic, biological mechanism may be at work. The animals in his study were able to predict the amount of calories in a food based on taste, demonstrating that the body uses cues like taste and texture to make sure it's getting enough fuel. Just as Pierce's rats were fooled into thinking they hadn't absorbed enough calories after eating diet chow, people are preprogrammed to anticipate sugary, high-calorie fulfillment when drinking a soda or noshing on a sweet-tasting snack. So, the diet versions of these foods may leave them unsatisfied, driving them to eat more to make up the difference.

All of this emerging work could make the food and beverage industry, which has invested billions in diet and low-calorie versions of almost every food imaginable, a bit uneasy. "This study simply defies common sense," wrote Dr. Richard Adamson, scientific consultant to the American Beverage Association, in a prepared statement responding to the study. "To suggest that foods and beverages with zero calories contribute to weight gain contradicts the overwhelming body of scientific evidence that supports that they can help you reduce calories and maintain a healthy weight."

Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, lead author of the Framingham study, however, notes, "A zero-calorie drink could produce a metabolic response if it is sweet. It can condition you to develop a preference for sweet things, which can lead to weight gain or metabolic syndrome. So something that is sweet could produce a metabolic effect even if it doesn't have a whole lot of calories.

"
Of course, none of the studies has yet proved that diet foods or beverages actually cause weight gain or heart disease; they have merely found an intriguing association, which scientists are still trying to explain. Well, nobody ever said counting calories was easy.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650860,00.html

2007-08-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Be Yourselves, Girls, Order the Rib-Eye
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By ALLEN SALKIN
Published: August 9, 2007
MARTHA FLACH mentioned meat twice in her Match.com profile: “I love architecture, The New Yorker, dogs ... steak for two and the Sunday puzzle.”

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Christopher Smith for The New York Times
IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER Ashley Draughon and Fred Graham dine on red meat at Quality Meats.
She was seeking, she added, “a smart, funny, kind man who owns a suit (but isn’t one) ... and loves red wine and a big steak.”

The repetition worked. On her first date with Austin Wilkie, they ate steak frites. A year later, after burgers at the Corner Bistro in Greenwich Village, he proposed. This March, the rehearsal dinner was at Keens Steakhouse on West 36th Street, and the wedding menu included mini-cheeseburgers and more steak.

Ms. Wilkie was a vegetarian in her teens, and even wore a “Meat Is Murder” T-shirt. But by her 30s, she had started eating cow. By the time she placed the personal ad, she had come to realize that ordering steak on a first date had the potential to sate appetites not only of the stomach but of the heart.

Red meat sent a message that she was “unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic,” she said, “that I’m not obsessed with my weight even though I’m thin, and I don’t have any food issues.” She added, “In terms of the burgers, it said I’m a cheap date, low maintenance.”

Salad, it seems, is out. Gusto, medium rare, is in.

Restaurateurs and veterans of the dating scene say that for many women, meat is no longer murder. Instead, meat is strategy. “I’ve been shocked at the number of women actually ordering steak,” said Michael Stillman, vice president of concept development for the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, which opened the restaurant Quality Meats in April 2006 on West 58th Street. He said Quality Meats’ contemporary design and menu, including extensive seafood offerings, were designed to attract more women than a traditional steakhouse. “But the meat is appealing to them, much more than what I saw two or three years ago at our other restaurants,” Mr. Stillman said. “They are going for our bone-in sirloin and our cowboy-cut rib steak.”

In an earlier era, conventional dating wisdom for women was to eat something at home alone before a date, and then in company order a light dinner to portray oneself as dainty and ladylike. For some women, that is still the practice. “It’s better not to have a jalapeño fajita plate, especially on the first date,” said Andrea Bey, 28, who sells video surveillance equipment in Irving, Tex., and describes herself as “curvy.” “You don’t want to be labeled as ‘princess gassy’ on the first date.”

But others, especially those who are thin, say ordering a salad displays an unappealing mousiness.

“It seems wimpy, insipid, childish,” said Michelle Heller, 34, a copy editor at TV Guide. “I don’t want to be considered vapid and uninteresting.”

Ordering meat, on the other hand, is a declarative statement, something along the lines of “I am woman, hear me chew.”

In fact, red meat on a date has become such an effective statement of self-acceptance that even a vegetarian like Sloane Crosley, a publicist at Random House, sometimes longs to order a burger.

“Being a vegetarian puts you at a disadvantage,” Ms. Crosley said. “You’re in the most basic category of finicky. Even women who order chicken, it isn’t enough.” She said she has thought of ordering shots of Jägermeister, famous for its frat boy associations, to prove that she is “a guy’s girl.”

“Everyone wants to be the girl who drinks the beer and eats the steak and looks like Kate Hudson,” Ms. Crosley, 28, said.

Not all red meat, apparently, is equal in the dating world. The mediums of steak and hamburger each send a different message. Dropping into conversation the fact that steaks of Kobe beef come from Wagyu cattle, but that not all steaks sold as Wagyu are Kobe beef, demonstrates one’s worldliness, said Gabriella Gershenson, a dining editor at Time Out New York. It holds the same currency today that being able to name Hemingway’s four wives held in an earlier era.

Hamburgers, she added, say you are down-to-earth, which is why women rarely order those deluxe hamburgers priced as high as a porterhouse.

“They’re created for men who want to impress women, so they order the $60 burger, then they let the woman taste it,” Ms. Gershenson said. “The man gets to show off his expertise and show that he can afford it.”

When Paris Hilton was arrested for driving under the influence, she announced that she had been on her way to In-N-Out Burger, the Southern California chain revered for its gut-busting Double-Double, as if trying to satisfy a craving for two slabs of meat and cheese was an excuse for drunken driving that anyone could understand. And twice last year, Nicole Richie, persistently facing rumors that she suffered from an eating disorder, was photographed biting into burgers in Los Angeles, an effort that seemed designed to demonstrate her casualness toward calories.

Of course, there are always those rare women who order what they want and to heck with what a man might think.

Saehee Hwang, 30, a production director at Artnet.com, found herself out with friends at DuMont restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when she started feeling attracted to a new guy in the group. She said she had wanted to order a burger, but started having second thoughts. “I didn’t want to appear too much of a carnivore,” she said. “It might be off-putting.”

But then she decided she should not change her order to fit a preconceived idea of what a man might want. She ordered the house specialty, a half-pound of beef on a toasted brioche bun with Gruyère cheese. “We started dating afterward,” Ms. Hwang said. “And he told me he liked the fact that I ordered the burger.”

What about when the tables, so to speak, are reversed? Can a man order a juicy New York strip on the first date and make a good impression? Gentlemen, be careful. Real men, it seems, must eat kale.

“When a guy sits down and eats something fatty and big, you wonder if they eat like that all the time,” said Brice Gaillard, a freelance design writer. “It crosses my mind they’ll probably die early.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/fashion/09STEAK.html?em&ex=1186891200&en=0f071a218bdbe24c&ei=5087%0A

2007-08-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

新花木兰》剧情介绍！！！

第一集
　　隋朝末年，突厥入侵，千夫长花弧勇战受伤，解甲归田。妻田氏怀胎十月，夫妻二人渴望生男，继后香火，岂料竟又是个女儿，花弧大失所望，田氏对木兰更生厌恶。木兰长大，性格豪爽，不拘小节，常惹麻烦，花弧常为其婚事烦恼。灶神稣吉利躲懒好吃，木兰出言偌侮辱，稣吉利怀恨在心，向玉帝诬陷木兰，差点使木兰丧命。木兰与好友余承恩久别重逢，却不料承恩奉命征兵，花弧也在名策之中，木兰不忍老父年老体衰，决定代父从军。
第二集
　　王母欣赏木兰志比天高，与玉帝打赌木兰必能出人投地，并命稣吉利下凡助木兰建功立业，但玉帝却暗叫稣吉利从中破坏，使他左右为难。木兰往军营报到途中，与将军李亮结下梁子，不料李亮负责训练新兵，与木兰狭路相逢，木兰被编入伙头军，以为李亮公报私仇，二人仇怨更深。木兰找承恩相助，向元帅李崇举她。岂料稣吉利从中搞鬼。使木兰当场出丑。

第三集
　　稣吉利为使木兰知难而退，在伙食中暗放泻药，士兵苦不堪言，个个对着木兰大骂。李亮罚木兰打三百板子，打得她死去活来，稣吉利乘机劝说木兰放弃，但木兰不肯。突劂可汗之弟铁勒混入军营，刺探隋军虚实，但为木兰发觉，铁勒终为李亮所擒，李崇本要把他处死，但李亮欣赏铁勒是个汉子，把他放了。

第四集
　　李亮舅父徐富贵贪财成性，欲包揽军营内的采购生意，不异带妓女入军讨好相关人等。此事为木兰所知，并告之余承恩，承恩本就和李亮不和，正想大与问罪，稣吉利向二人施以法术，使李亮以为妓女是木兰带来的，双方闹得不可开交。木兰其后得知是稣吉利搞鬼，用弄逼问他是谁指使，稣吉利坦言是玉帝旨意，木兰反以为他中了邪，致有一派胡言。

第五集
　　木兰以为稣吉利有病，细心照顾，稣对木兰竟起了遐思，藉故亲近，诈癫纳福。突劂入侵边境，大开杀戒，余承恩主张以暴易暴，李亮反对不果。余承恩训练突击队，不异杀一儆百，以树军威。木兰知承恩派突击队偷袭突厥村落，并下令屠杀，木兰不值承恩所为，带伙头军前往阻止。李亮知道后亦赶往声援，两人不幸为突厥所擒。

第六集
　　木兰和李亮为突劂所擒，受尽折磨，命在旦夕。李亮为免木兰受苦，把一切包揽上身，木兰大受感动，两人尽释前嫌。铁勒向李亮劝降，李亮指突厥必败，铁勒不信，与李亮展并模拟战，结果铁勒大败。他释放李亮和木兰，并声言有他一日，也不会再侵大隋。木兰立了大功，回营后受嘉赏。

第七集
　　稣吉利倾慕木兰，难以自制，乃发奋图强，加入前锋营，得以日夕亲近木兰。木兰借承恩营房洗澡，承恩发觉木兰原是妩媚少女，不禁心神荡漾。承恩劝木兰及早退役，找个如意郎君。木兰坚持一日未达理想，决不退役。王母以稣吉利表现良好，赠以蟠桃，稣一心把蟠桃送与木兰，却给茅神偷吃了。茅神警告稣吉利别动凡心，否则必遭天谴。李亮与木兰上山巡视，两人互吐心事和理想，李亮胸襟广阔，木兰大为欣赏。皇上派太子杨勇和皇子杨广到幽州犒赏三军，岂料杨勇浪荡不羁，带了杨广到妓院逍遥。

第八集
　　稣吉利借醉挑情，与杨勇大打出手。李亮不知杨勇是太子，把他打得鼻青脸肿。李崇大感不安，幸杨勇认李亮是个真汉子，不予追究，众人松一口气。稣吉利为了要使自己对木兰死心，况施法以元神上了木兰的身，主动向余承恩示爱，恩错愕以为木兰跟她开玩笑。杨勇欣赏李亮不畏权势和忠君爱国，乃拜他为师，杨广对皇位早有野心，对这不禁起了猜忌。

第九集
　　承恩见木兰与李亮亲近，心里不悦，借小事向李亮亲信开刀，木兰直指承恩妒忌李亮。表妹徐依人倾慕李亮，亮母提议二人成亲，李亮极力反对。亮母竟装病，并买通大夫，指自己只余三个月命，李亮为成全母亲心愿，答应与依人成亲。

第十集
　　木兰知道了李这婚事，丧然若失，稣吉利点破她害单思病，木兰悚然心惊。承恩看在眼里，向木兰求婚，木兰拒之。木兰恐暴露出自己的女儿身份，急中生智向李亮论称胸口为狠毒的母亲用东西烧了两个洞，故不愿别人见到，以免勾起伤心往事。徐富贵知道杨广的真实身份后，为领贪求富贵想把女儿依人嫁给杨广，但杨广为了更大的野心只得推辞。

作者：可可爱人 2005-5-22 02:46 　回复此发言

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2 《新花木兰》剧情介绍！！！

第十一集
　　军市羡开张仪式中，徐富贵又要把女儿嫁于太子，众人惊愕。李亮为获母亲原谅特向太子讨人情把依人要回。余恩妒恨木兰心系李亮，找李亮比武并使诈令其受伤。承恩酒后强拉木兰要木兰嫁给他，木兰拼命挣扎。承恩酒醒，懊悔不已向木兰道歉不为木兰接受。承恩公报私仇向元帅检举木兰为女儿身但为稣吉利以法术脱身。

第十二集
　　木兰发现城里失踪了十几位少女，李亮与众人商议认为得以男扮女装引采花贼现身，木兰不中选。木兰的女装扮像引起军中的兄弟有非非之想，就连李亮也迷惘起来。采花贼终于出现并将掳往幽州巨富凌四公子之府。

第十三集
　　在凌府木兰发现有花贼竟然是二皇子李广。李亮为搭救木兰搬出太子，不意发现采花贼是二皇子，便殿下却袒护皇弟之行径，木兰与李亮均感有气。李亮因怕自己对木兰想入非非，故意疏远木兰。此时正好木兰的父亲花弧到营中探望木兰并要木兰快快离营方为上策。

第十四集
　　花弧探亲女儿木兰但不幸却为正在练箭的稣吉利射伤肓头，养伤阶段花弧发现木兰爱上李亮。木兰送走父亲与李亮相遇重修与好。突厥的突然来犯。李崇要承恩和李亮献破敌大计，但两人针锋相对，而多数将领附和李亮，承恩心理不悦。承恩鼓其如簧之舌向太子解释作战方略，令太子大为激赏要李崇采承恩之作战方略，战乱中，承恩与太子和军队冲散了，太子责怪承恩之计中看不中用。

第十五集
　　李崇担心承恩的下落向李亮吐出内心秘密，原来承恩就是他的儿子。一干人等待救援时，李崇派木兰冒险前往向李广求援，李广为夺太子位不愿见木兰亦不愿意发救兵，此时军营仅存一天食粮且突厥骑兵重重包围，李崇奋战不敌，死前旗李亮将玉佩交与承恩。作战利，皇上追究责任，要追捕李亮和木兰，原来这一切都是李广为公报私仇。

第十六集
　　李广诬陷木兰和李亮并动以大刑，稣吉利前往求助太子之时将李亮与木兰救出校场，但太子为向父皇有所交代只得暂时解除李亮的职务。承恩自新野一役知自己刚愎自用使得隋军死伤不计其数，受尽内疚与自责的煎熬成为乞丐。李亮带承恩来到李崇的墓前，并揭开随恩就是李崇的独生子的秘密，遂将玉佩交与承恩，承恩激动不已。

第十七集
　　承恩自害死自己的父亲，抱头痛哭。李广设下陷进要害太子，导致帝后对李勇误会，恰巧突厥又来犯，皇上决定御驾亲征，而三里屯失利一战皇上亦决定格决李亮的将军职务，李亮等人决定自己向突厥兵卫杀。李亮等人将突厥军队人马击退，令突厥军队拔营急撤了。李亮与木兰放弃军旅生涯。李勇从稣吉利处得知亮与兰打退突厥的经过。经皇上之命要对他们论公行赏。

第十八集
　　亮与兰面圣上以后得以恢复原来的军职，两人在军中声名大噪。庆功宴中，突厥杀手混入，兰与亮救出皇上。皇上要承恩继承李崇的爵位，承恩不愿竟出家作道士表明悔恨心足迹。稣吉利向木兰表达心意愿照顾木兰一生一世，木兰则渴望有一位大哥即认稣吉利为大哥。木兰留于李亮表思乡情切，木兰返乡路途中因伤势恶化命在旦夕，稣吉利一路尾随保护。

第十九集
　　苏吉利想方设法治好了木兰的伤口，跟随木兰回到家，却遭到木兰母亲的刁难，苏吉利说明木兰在宫中相救皇上并升职。知县告之木兰家，皇上将来巡视本县，并探视木兰及家人。李亮亦随同前往。亮对木兰不辞而别而颇有微辞，两人在街上走着，各怀心事。

第二十集
　　李亮因将随皇上返京接掌禁军，思及离别不禁惆怅。帝后要招木兰为驸马，木兰推辞不果只得表明女儿身份，帝后感念木兰一片孝心反要纳木兰为太子妃。

第二十一集
　　木兰不能拒绝帝后，李亮心伫难受。苏吉利想请王母娘娘帮忙，但王母认为一切均是命数无法更改。木兰要李亮表白，李亮明知二人结合无望，不想木兰陷深渊中，认为表白只是延续痛苦而已。木兰赴京将与太子完婚，途中向李亮表白宁死只求与亮结为夫妻，李亮控制不住压抑已久的激情，两人遂携手私奔。亮被扣上诱拐太子妃的罪名，御林军押走亮母，木兰不愿累及亮及家人，前往京城向皇上负荆请罪。

作者：可可爱人 2005-5-22 02:46 　回复此发言

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3 《新花木兰》剧情介绍！！！

第二十二集
　　皇上感念木兰救命之恩及杨勇表明不愿娶木兰，帝后看在木兰又救了杨广的份上，赦免了亮与木兰的罪，并赐他们结为夫妻。李亮与木兰拜堂成亲，依人心中不悦与亮母联手为难木兰，亮母搬出家规要木兰遵守，木兰却使出将军府的军事重地守则令母气结。木兰与亮夫妻恩爱，两人比武，李亮输了便替木兰打洗澡水，亮母气不过决定想办法惩治木兰。

第二十三集
　　苏吉利自与天兵天将大战之后被玉帝贬为凡人，要他历尽老病死三劫，甚是潦倒，亮与木兰认为苏吉利既已是凡人，该要成家立室，但苏吉利调侃的说意中人已嫁人了。

第二十四集
　　吉利被贬为凡人，尚无法适应凡人的病痛，诸多不适，更有次因腿抽筋，木兰扶吉利进屋时，依人误认木兰与吉利有奸情乘报亮母，亮母纠众家丁不由分说将吉利打成重伤。吉利孤身一人，无人照顾，木兰因此想将吉利接进将军府中居住好就近照料，孰知亮母以家中多为女眷不便加以婉拒，亮无奈讹称吉利不能人道，亮母只得答应。

第二十五集
　　亮母突然间对吉利虚寒问暖，令大家不解，依人甚至为此要回乡，亮母不得以下，只好将吉利不能人道之事告知依人，因此吉利不能人道的谣言在家丁中流传，吉利甚为愤怒，亮见慌言被拆穿，不知如何善后，亮母误会木兰教唆亮说谎，两人明争暗斗不意先后有族中长老和皇后为木兰撑腰，亮母气愤难平，故意到尼姑庵要削发为尼，亮大叹独生子与丈夫难为不如带兵打仗。

第二十六集
　　木兰为因跟亮母之间相处情形，甚为心灰意懒，无心于军中事务，而众官兵自战胜回朝后得意忘形疏于练兵致使军心涣散，皇上突击阅兵大感震怒，令亮等六位将军除原本兵马外另召新兵，三个月后于教场比试选出新元帅。木兰虽为女中豪杰但众人多不愿受教于女流，故招不到新兵，甚是焦虑。吉利为帮木兰，而四处找人，不管三教九流都找了进来。

第二十七集
　　木兰的部队，总算凑足人数，但却都是一些乌合之众，就连依人也女扮男装混进木兰的部队。新兵训练时，各将军的队员都是朝气勃勃，只有木兰的队员打闹成一团，溃不成军，木兰为之泄气。亮为木兰耽心，特找杨勇商议，杨勇答应将来在皇上面前为木兰解释。木兰为了不在再众将军面前丢人现眼，特将这群乌合之众带往乡间，对于各位已经放弃训练的他们，各人无聊之际与村中老人切磋武艺竟然败下阵来，老人们误以为部队故意承让，备酒菜来道谢，反让众人羞愧不已，决心全力以赴接受木兰的训练。

第二十八集
　　依人蓄意挑拨离间拢乱军心，正当依人向亮母报告现况时为木兰识破，木兰以此要胁依人要用心接受训练。木兰加紧训练，各人皆用心于受训。杨广存心挑唆马忠伤李亮，岂料亮武艺略胜一畴反将马忠刺伤，木兰与亮相互鼓励并对马忠提防。三个月之期已到，皇上下令各将以抽签方式决定比试对手，第一场由木兰与马忠同组比试，众人各自加紧练习。

第二十九集
　　比试当日，木兰擅于调兵遣将以些微分数胜了马忠，众兵喜极而泣更是发奋图强。亮及众将分别比试。众将轮番比试过后，最后由木兰与李亮问鼎元帅之位，众将皆希望由李亮胜出，然而皇后希望木兰能够成为第一位女元帅。两队人马使出浑身解数，千钧一发际依人被击中，木兰为了救依人不由饮恨，亮夺得大隋元帅。

第三十集
　　木兰为安慰吉利谎称为顾及亮面子所以故意放水，亮听到甚表激愤。突厥又来侵犯隋土，皇上派亮镇守，亮故意不用木兰为先锋，木兰惊愕。杨广暗中派人刺伤刘将军，却将此事诬陷为木兰部下所为。因刘将军受伤，杨广为挑拨李亮与木兰，而向皇上进言改派木兰为先锋，杨广眼见亮与木兰不合心中暗喜。

第三十一集
　　李亮率隋军出关与众将研讨军情，亮与兰常意见不合，木兰率领先锋营前往敌阵一探虚实，发现隋民竟死状凄惨，众人皆为此愤怒不已，誓为他们讨回公道。众人为报惨死的隋民之仇，全力一战获得全胜。所到之处民众热烈欢迎，目光全集中在木兰身上

作者：可可爱人 2005-5-22 02:46 　回复此发言

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4 《新花木兰》剧情介绍！！！

第三十二集
　　回归京城后，木兰终日忙于应酬皇亲国戚，发现李亮却郁郁寡欢，亮母对于木兰抢尽李亮的风头，而颇有微词，李亮甚为难堪，只好外出找寻同僚，不料却遇到出宫的勇，勇即邀亮一同前往酒楼。李亮成日与杨勇前往妓院喝酒，却跟木兰说是到众将军家中谈事，而木兰仍旧周旋于贵夫人中，依人发觉亮其实是与勇前往妓院，依人以此要胁亮陪她购物，亮母查觉藉机搓合依人与亮，木兰知道亮原来是到妓院喝酒后与亮争吵。

第三十三集
　　李亮与木兰争吵后，二人各自认错，木兰与亮言归于好，二人约定往后同进同出，各自为对方推掉其他应酬。木兰与亮终日面对面，已到了无话可说的情况，二人决定还是各自办自己的事。木兰又与各贵夫人往来，而亮受不住枯燥无味的日子，遂和勇前往妓院。

第三十四集
　　木兰故意到妓院侍酒有意让亮难堪。夫妻二人失和闹得帝后皆知，皇帝罚李勇到祖宗陵墓看守并思过，罚亮与兰免去三月俸禄。兰生亮的气，回娘家居住，吉利前往劝解，兰坚持要亮来接她才肯回去。亮母称木兰与亮不合之际，要撮合依人与亮，吉利发觉往千木兰，依人向亮母说明自己已不再喜欢亮，而另有意中人，木兰与亮彼此认错，言归于好。而依人与吉利竟彼此互有爱意，但却为了面子都不愿承认

第三十五集
　　广为除去亮与兰这对眼中钉，特向皇上请求跟亮切磋武艺，看自己是否武功有所精进，假意受伤想嫁祸于亮，幸兰有先见之明，已未开封的宝剑跟广比武，避过一劫。二人为免节外生枝，告假回乡祭祖，众乡亲前来祝贺亮母，有这样一位出类拔粹的媳妇，面对亮的战功毫无提及，亮母之生气。

第三十六集
　　利自以为依人喜欢的是湘，为此失魂落魄。朝中多名大将陆续暴毙，宫中人心惶惶，帝紧急召回亮兰，追查原因。帝误信为亡魂作崇摆坛祭祀，撤销追查行动，亮兰颇为惊愕，认为是有蹊跷，只好暗中查探，全无头绪。亮母听信江湖术士之言，以为木兰不能传宗接代，甚为苦恼。值此际亮遭受袭击，亮母为了不使李家绝后，决定替亮纳妾。

第三十七集
　　兰将上门为亮纳妾之媒人赶回，亮母气结，只好将此事延缓。利与依人这对欢喜冤家，总算互表心迹，利恐玉帝回心转意招己回天庭，因此不想耽误依人而远走他方。亮母为求早日抱孙，偕亮前往庙宇求神拜佛，途中避雨时遇上倩，亮不意被毒蛇咬中，倩不顾自身安危，为亮吸去毒液，众人皆为倩之义举折服。

第三十八集
　　亮母误以为依人与湘有暧昧关系，利因无法忍受庙内清淡的伙食，外出觅食时遇上依人，利坦承自己是落难神仙，无法与之长相斯守，依人一怒之下不再理利。亮母要湘对依人负责，招致接二连三的误会，幸得亮兰在旁协助，吉利与依人总算言归和好。倩体内毒素已清除，遂要告辞回乡，亮母极力挽留，倩只好答应。

第三十九集
　　亮母对兰命中注定无子嗣耿耿于怀。亮母大寿将届，众人暗中准备想给亮母一个惊喜，寿宴时倩粉墨登场，吸引无数目光。广带来旨意要兰前往边关检视兵力，兰前往时，要亮小心广。亮母替倩作媒，倩因此不告而别，途中巧遇勇，勇将倩带回行宫，相处之下，勇为倩之不凡气质所著迷。

第四十集
　　兰前往雁门出视查，所到之处残破不堪，将士均是老弱残兵，兰书信知亮详情，信中对朝迁殊多不满。亮母发觉倩中意之人竟是亮。遂暗中撮合。兰返京即被关入大牢，亮及众家人亦殃及，原来兰之信件经广手转给帝，帝愤怒下令斩兰亮，幸得勇及时前往制止，后要帝慎重考虑，不要因小失大，应重视边关问题。

第四十一集
　　帝要兰著手改善雁门山及军中一些规则。大难过后，兰致力于改革军规，而疏忽亮。再此时倩则三番二次对亮表明心意，利与依人察觉特提醒兰，女人应以家庭为重，兰则不以为意，仍旧忙于军务。勇跟帝后提出欲娶倩为太子妃，兰也觉得倩与平民女子不同，因此帝颁下圣旨不料当晚倩即欲自缢。帝宣倩入宫问明是否为勇所迫婚，倩直言已向勇坦承另有意中人，勇百口莫辩，帝后怒将勇送往汴京。兰发觉亮对倩颇有好感，一怒之下回娘家。利无意中看见倩与广碰面，利急将此事告兰，兰为他事所忙未能得知。

第四十二集
　　军中粮库失火，利差点葬生火窟，幸兰及时赶到救出利。兰质问倩与广有何阴谋，亮竟维护倩，兰为之痛心。依人暗中探查倩之行踪，不料反遭倩下药精神错乱，亮母为依人之病状甚为著急，碍于有圣旨，亮母只得著手筹备亮倩之婚事。

第四十三集
　　亮与兰已形同陌路，反倒与倩和乐融融。利在狱中不知依人近况，倩捎来依人已得了失心疯讯息，利越狱救依人，确被亮所阻止，兰带著利自首，不料狱卒全遭惨死，兰为查明真相，暂将利安置破庙中，不料亮及官兵追踪而至，利终被官兵押送往刑场，兰劫囚，朝廷遂四处追捕兰利二人。

第四十四集
　　亮纳妾之日文武百官前往道贺，兰与利乔装混入府内。倩露出真面目，原来倩乃突厥派来歼灭隋朝之大将，终被亮给识破。亮不慎被擒，兰为救亮，不顾生命危险奋而一扑。兰在此役中受伤甚重，回天乏术际，利与亮诚心求天，终令兰延续寿命。历经百劫兰与亮决心携手解甲归田。（完

2007-08-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

Students in Residence
More Than a Meal Plan
Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Whitman College, which anchors Princeton's new four-year residential college system, opens in August. At last, a dining hall for juniors and seniors (in mid-construction, left and right).

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By WINNIE HU
Published: July 29, 2007
THE Gothic towers and archways of Princeton’s newest dormitories were pieced together from 6,000 tons of hand-carved limestone and five types of bluestone, custom blended. Full-grown redwoods, cedars and firs were hoisted into place with cranes. Mahogany-framed leaded windows open the old-fashioned way, by hand-turned cranks, and the three-inch-thick oak doors were finished with teak oil rather than urethane.

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Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Tiger Inn and other eating clubs on Prospect Avenue provide a social base for students.

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Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
A send-off party this spring for Butler College, which is being torn down and rebuilt with the amenities needed for a four-year residential college.
At a cost of some $100 million, the residential complex known collectively as Whitman College looks as if it has always been there, on a campus whose traditions run centuries deep. The luxury continues inside: duplex suites, semiprivate dining rooms, classrooms, library with computer carrels, digital photo lab, performing arts theater with dressing rooms, lounge with a piano and big-screen television.

Whitman College, opening on Aug. 17, will begin to accommodate Princeton’s first major expansion in more than three decades — 500 additional undergraduates by 2012, for a total of 5,200. But the university is not just building a new residential college; it is reinventing campus life.

Whitman will anchor a new four-year residential college system, including two reconfigured two-year colleges, Mathey and Butler, that is intended to give juniors and seniors an alternative to the private eating clubs that have been the dominant social force here for more than a century.

Since 1982, every incoming freshman has been randomly assigned to live in one of five colleges — Mathey, Butler, Rockefeller, Forbes and Wilson — where they are encouraged to dine, socialize and form a community under the guidance of faculty members. But come third year, they have to move, and many end up at the “junior slums,” as some upperclass dorms are known. In the absence of dining halls in those dorms, more than 70 percent of juniors and seniors join an eating club. The rest eat in the underclass colleges and at the student center under a university meal plan, or they become responsible for their own sustenance.

The clubs have evolved into much more than a place to take meals and can border on an obsession for those vying for entry to the older, more prestigious ones. Half of the 10 clubs, which shun publicity about their rituals and operations, still handpick new members through “bicker,” a multinight process said to be named for the bickering over which applicants to accept. Critics have long charged that the clubs reinforce socioeconomic divisions at a university whose population ranges from scions of the nation’s wealthiest families to students on full need-based scholarship. The clubs have also become known for underage drinking and noisy parties, in part because of the university’s longstanding ban on fraternities and sororities. (In recent years, though, Princeton students have formed several underground Greek organizations.)

Rob Biederman, the student government president, expects the four-year colleges to provide a continuous social experience that does not exist now, and an opportunity for students who forgo clubs. Mr. Biederman will move into Whitman for his senior year after unsuccessfully bickering at two selective clubs. He describes a “hunter-gatherer lifestyle” his junior year, alternating meals at the student center and local restaurants when he could not wangle guest passes to the clubs.

“If you’re in an eating club, you have a place to hang out during the day that isn’t your room, that isn’t the campus center,” he says. “But if you’re independent, you don’t.”

“I think if you asked people at the end of Princeton to rate how happy they were, people in eating clubs would be the happiest,” he says. “And I think people in four-year colleges will be just as happy as the people in eating clubs.”

Nancy Weiss Malkiel, dean of the college, says the new colleges were created not to compete with the eating clubs but as a response to students who wanted to remain in their colleges and were asking for a broader menu of social programs. “We’re enabling students to choose what they want to do,” she says. “And there are plenty of students to go around with the expansion.”

Still, the potential impact on the clubs has not gone unnoted.

Kyle Morgan, a Tiger Inn president who graduated in June, says he is concerned that students who might have joined clubs will be tempted away by the perks the university is dangling: “If it’s, ‘Hey, you can live in a 1,300-square-foot, five-room quad and have a photo lab right next door or you can live in Brown Hall and join an eating club,’ I don’t think you’re presenting students with equal options.”

PRINCETON’S eating clubs occupy stately mansions off campus, primarily along Prospect Avenue. They hire their own chefs and staff to run the buildings, which typically include a dining room, living room, library and — something Whitman will not have — a taproom. Members tend to stop by several times a day for meals, study breaks, movie nights and formal dances.

The first official eating club, Ivy, was formed in 1879 by a group of students who rented a stove and hired a cook, according to William K. Selden’s historical account, “Club Life at Princeton.” Mediocre food and sporadic operation of the campus dining hall had driven students to seek out local boardinghouses, and more than 20 clubs eventually formed, though failing finances and declining membership closed half. Women were admitted to the last all-male holdouts, after a decade of discrimination litigation, in 1991.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a Princeton alumnus, offered a primer on the distinct character and social standing of the clubs in his 1920 novel, “This Side of Paradise.” He pegged the exclusive Ivy Club as “detached and breathlessly aristocratic” and Tiger Inn as “broad-shouldered and athletic, vitalized by an honest elaboration of prep-school standards” — both descriptions that could apply today. Fitzgerald was a member of the University Cottage Club, “an impressive mélange of brilliant adventurers and well-dressed philanderers.”

While not every eating club is easily defined, many have established identities that attract like-minded members. The Cap and Gown Club is said to attract athletes, though swimmers and rowers (“floaters and boaters”) favor Cloister Inn.

As a student at Princeton in the late 1980s, I was a member of Terrace, one of five clubs where students “sign in” to join (not everyone gets their first choice, however, because a lottery system is used). I liked its artsy, casual vibe — and the food. After subsisting on institutional fare for two years, I couldn’t get enough of the ethnic cuisine and homemade breads, and gained seven pounds in one semester. The current consensus is that the food at Terrace has slipped. The best meals are apparently at Charter, Colonial and Tower.

“You talk to people who are 60 or 70 years old, and the thing they remember most about being at Princeton is being in the eating clubs,” says Marco Fossati-Bellani, a president of Colonial Club who graduated in June. “It’s one of the things I’m going to take away from Princeton. I mean, I’m happy I took the classes I did, but everything I did that was fun came through Colonial pretty much.”

Eating-club fun of recent years has gotten out of hand.

Tiger Inn — often called Princeton’s “Animal House” — went dry for nearly two months in 2006 after reports of alcohol abuse and a sexual assault during “pickups” weekend, when, in the culmination to bicker, new members celebrate their initiation. That was the second report that school year of a sexual assault at the club.

“It had gotten to the point where people on Prospect were saying, ‘It’s T.I., what do you expect?’ ” says Hap Cooper, the club’s graduate board president. “That embarrassed them.”

Tiger Inn reopened its taps with new security and alcohol policies, including a buddy system to check on new members and in-house escorts to guide intoxicated students home. In addition, students who misbehave can have privileges restricted.

Some students say the changes have encouraged them to act more responsibly. “Definitely, people have grown up,” says Mr. Morgan of Tiger Inn.

WHILE several members describe bicker as a “G-rated” fraternity rush, with get-to-know-you activities like Taboo and Pictionary, costume wearing, relay races and the telling of funny stories about yourself, others describe a selection process that assesses candidates for wealth, family connections and physical attractiveness.

Woodrow Wilson, who as the university’s president had proposed eliminating eating clubs, declared that the lot of those students who were left out was “a little less than deplorable.” The current president, Shirley M. Tilghman, has criticized the selective clubs for choosing too “homogeneously” and not representing “the spirit of Princeton.” Students themselves have organized boycotts of the system at various times.

If administrators have had differences with the clubs, which are independent of the university, they have come to accept their importance.

Mark Burstein, Princeton’s executive vice president, says he met regularly with club officers and alumni to solicit input and secure their cooperation for the four-year residential colleges. “We see a strong connection to the eating clubs,” he says. “You can’t really separate out entities that are so essential to your student population. I would say that we are part of the same family.”

In the past, the university has covered the cost of a typical meal plan — $4,315 last year, as opposed to the average club fee of $6,300 — for juniors and seniors receiving financial aid. This fall, the university will increase that aid by $2,000. All juniors and seniors can also eat two free meals a week at any residential college. The eating clubs, in turn, have agreed to let about 100 residents of the colleges join a club at a reduced rate. The majority of students, though, will have to choose between the two.

If last spring’s room draw is any indication, there is no shortage of interest in the four-year colleges. Whitman filled quickly — 476 applied for the 204 upperclass spots, with the remaining rooms reserved for about 300 freshmen and sophomores. About 100 juniors and seniors will move into Mathey College in the fall.

Most of the modernist-style Butler is being torn down and rebuilt; the new dorms are to open in fall 2009 to house students for all four years. One evening this past spring, more than 100 past and present residents of Butler gathered to send off the squat, dark-brown buildings, widely considered the ugliest on campus, with a courtyard barbecue featuring drinks and live music. Handout T-shirts mocked the industrial-style ceilings and proclaimed “the end of an era.”

Meg Whitman, an alumna and chief executive officer of eBay, donated $30 million for the construction of Whitman College on a site that once held tennis courts. The eating clubs may find competition in the food stations, which will offer salad, pizza and grilled foods in place of the assembly-line cafeteria service of yore. The dining hall will have booths and smaller tables instead of large ones arranged in long rows. An area will be kept open for late-night snacks.

The colleges also have their own activities budgets and academic faculty advisers, who will be assigned to residents for all four years. The university’s writing program has been relocated to Whitman, where instructors will have offices and meet with students in seminar rooms on the ground floor.

Jennifer Schoppe, who just completed her freshman year in Mathey, says when she arrived at Princeton she assumed she would join an eating club. But Ms. Schoppe, an engineering major, says she is loath to give up the perks of the residential college, including informal lunches with professors and subsidized tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

“Once you leave the college, it’s not available to you anymore,” she says. “It’s definitely made me think of the options a lot harder.”

Winnie Hu is an education reporter for The Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/education/edlife/princeton.html?ei=5070&en=4115dd4389a7049c&ex=1186632000&pagewanted=all

2007-07-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Readers rave about ‘Deathly Hallows’
MSNBC.com users laughed, cried, cheered — for the most part — final book
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MSNBC
Updated: 5:15 p.m. ET July 23, 2007
The final book in the “Harry Potter” series has been released and MSNBC.com readers are pouring through their copies.

Below is a collection of some of their reactions to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and the frenzy surrounding the release. Beware — spoilers lurk.

I thought that the book was wonderful. It tied up all of the loose ends and was incredibly entertaining along the way. Everyone knew that Snape was good and I'm so glad that J.K. Rowling made him into a hero, he always deserved to be one. I do wish that Sirius would have made more of a return than he did, but in the case of Dumbledore's history, Rowling made up for his loss entirely. I'm so happy that Harry was in turn a horcrux, I thought that that might be the road that she would take and it really made it that much more great when Harry overtook Voldemort. This book was just so incredibly creative! It took me all of my Saturday (almost the true 24 hours) to finish and to really soak everything in, and it was well worth the wait for such a spectacular ending. It really lives up to the hype, plus some.
— Anastacia, Pinellas Park, Fla.

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I guess you could call me the Simon Cowell of Harry Potter books, but I actually did not enjoy the last book. I feel it lacked true, deep composition and it lacked valuable literary devices which can be used to illuminate the reader's imagination. Further more, I felt like Rowling led us on to believe Harry was going to die and then gave the finale an unsatisfying ending. I feel the epilogue was too sugary & sweet and not well thought-out by Rowling. So yes, I do criticize Harry Potter #7. I apologize to all the MSNBC readers who disagree with me!
— TJ Volcheck, Bakers Mill, NY

It was terribly sad that the series had to end. In fact when Harry thought he was dead I almost threw up. It was awful to see all thoughts people die. I did love the ending! It was exactly how I thought it would end. I had a hunch that Ron and Hermione would get married and Harry and Ginny too. They are perfect for each other. The part I was really amazed by is that Harry and Ginny had 3 kids (which I thought was going to happen!) And I thought they were going to name one of them Lily and another James, which was kind of creepy to have a hunch that actually came true because that never happens to me. Anyways I cried after I finished because I didn't want the series to end. I hope the magic will live forever. J.K. Rowling has changed the world and made my life worth living. I feel so close to Harry Potter, and I love the series and character and the ending it was wonderful!
— Virginia Ellis

The book, in my opinion, wasn't so great, up until about page 350. It was a little bit boring, but that might just be due to my disappointment about them not returning to Hogwarts. However, the ending was absolutely fantastic, and although I had part of the twist figured out already, Rowling threw in a few other things that totally threw me off guard. Snape's memories were, by far, the best part of the book. So much was uncovered in this book. However, the "Nineteen Years Later" part was a bit sugary and unrealistic...I was hoping it would end with another conflict that would keep you guessing after you put the book down. However, Rowling never fails at writing an amazingly intriguing book, especially not this time. Thanks.
— Hailey, Olympia, Wash.

I thought the ending was weak for a Harry Potter book and especially for the end of the series. There really was only a few ways it could have ended conclusively and even Rowling was too predictable in how she intended to end it any how. That and it ended abruptly with no recourse or explanation of the previous 19 years in the epilogue was disappointing. Draco's animosity toward Harry Potter seems to have abated quite a bit. Whoop-de-doo. He was never that important of a character compared to the others that readers have come to know and love — i.e., the Weasleys, the Order of the Phoenix, Harry himself, etc. I mean, had it not seemed as if Rowling just wanted to end the series I would've been fine, but the lack of history and following up on what happened to her characters was pretty inconsistent. Harry obviously got married and knocked up Ginny. Whatever happened to Severus? Was he finally exonerated in the wizarding world? What about Voldemort's body? These really aren't unreasonable complaints. The book is already closing in 800 pages by itself, I really don't think another 25-40 dedicated to a better epilogue would have killed Rowling.
— Sean, Princeton, Ind.

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I liked the book in whole. Rowling pieced a lot together nicely. I didn't like the fact that Harry, in the end, didn't kill Voldemort! Voldemort killed himself with his own curse that was intended for Harry. The ending ("19 years later") left a lot of open questions for me as far as their lives on a personal level. What are Ron, Hermione and Harry doing for a living now? Who is running Hogwarts? She pleased a lot of fan with having Ron and Hermione marry as well as Harry and Ginny but ... I would have liked to know more about their lives other than the fact that they all have kids who are off to Hogwarts now. I felt that a lot more of the past 19 years could have been explained better.
— Jenny, Wentzville, Mo.

I very much love the way J.K. Rowling ended this series. It was a great book. I actually prefer books that leave a bit of room at the end for imagination. I was a bit disappointed about the whole Dudley/Aunt Petunia thing, though. In books 5 and 6, she hinted that there was much, much more to Dudley than we had previously been shown. And Aunt Petunia seemed to know a lot about a world she usually pretended to ignore. Rowling gave us yet more of the Dudley/Aunt Petunia twist in this last one. We now know why Aunt Petunia hated her sister. But as this was supposed to be the last book in the series, she should have done more with it, let us know what Dumbledore meant when he said Petunia had done things to Dudley. Maybe we will see an off-shoot of this series focusing on Harry's family, either past, present, or future? I hope so.
— Rebecca, Denver

If it sold millions of copies, who really cares if it lived up to the hype? She has the money in her account, and I don't think the dissatisfied are going to get much of a refund. I wouldn't pay a nickel for the book myself, but what do I know?
— Ron Yageman, Wyandotte, Mich.

I enjoyed the book immensely and thought it closed the series well. I read it in one day, slept on it, and went back to read the last few chapters — especially "King's Cross" again to truly understand it. I am impressed by the complexity of the level of magic that Rowling delved into and the bravery and selflessness Harry showed when facing Voldemort. Like the others, I also feel that the "19 years later" bit was disappointing. Something like 5 years in the future such as dropping in at the wedding of Harry and Ginny and given us an update on the Weasleys, Teddy Tonks, and everyone else and what they were doing would have been much more satisfactory than what was presented. But perhaps Ms. Rowling intends for us to use our imaginations. All in all, it was well done. Thank you for the wonderful ride Ms. Rowling, it has been magical.
— Elissa Blabac, Phoenix

I read it quickly because I wanted to know whether or not Harry survives, but I wasn't about to read the end first! Now, I am reading it again — more slowly, to savor the details. But while I am pleased with the way it ended, I do have a few bones to pick. First, I found I really missed the folks at Hogwarts — especially Neville, whose voice (once we heard it) sounded so much more confident and mature than the last time we saw him. Obviously a LOT went on at Hogwarts while Harry, Ron and Hermione were in hiding, and I'd have liked for Rowling to "check in" with the Hogwarts kids from time to time to see their evolution into a committed fighting force. I wonder if she remembers that we fans love more characters than just the Big Three. Also, the epilogue raised more questions than it answered — we knew who would end up with whom, the question is what are they DOING? Where do they work? How's Luna, how's Neville, how are the rest of the Weasleys? I really would like to know what a wizarding world looks like 19 years after the fall of Voldemort, and the epilogue just didn't do it.
— Valerie Lynn, Nashville, Tenn.

Harry’s fate known to millions, yet still secret
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Updated: 2:51 p.m. ET July 24, 2007
NEW YORK - The fate of Harry Potter and friends, known now to millions of fans, remains officially secret — sort of.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final volume of author J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, came out Saturday amid an international frenzy to find out whether Harry lived or died. More than 10 million copies sold over the weekend and the suspense was apparently unbroken by a wave of prerelease Internet spoilers, including photographed images of the entire book.

Days after publication, Harry's lot has been widely revealed, but you're unlikely to find out by accident. At least two online publications, Slate and Salon, describe the plot at length, but carry emphatic spoiler alerts. Videos labeled as spoilers have popped up on YouTube. Readers spill on the fan sites mugglenet.com and leaky-cauldron.org, but, again, those linking to discussion boards are warned.

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"I think we should have at least a few months, allow people to read and discuss and digest before blasting it from headlines," says Leaky Cauldron Web master Melissa Anelli. "It will be at least that long before we reveal a plot detail on Leaky that we don't put behind a link."

Both The (Baltimore) Sun and The New York Times were inundated with angry e-mails for running prepublication reviews, although both avoided major plot points. Radio station WNYC, in New York City, was supposed to air a review Monday — two days after the book came out — but changed it to a general discussion about spoilers because of concerns over giving away the ending.

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A two-part interview with Rowling, who before publication had begged for secrecy, will air Thursday and Friday on NBC-TV's "Today" show. Kyle Good, a spokeswoman for Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, Inc., declined comment on what the author will say.

Scholastic issued the book under a strict embargo and sued one retailer, DeepDiscount.com, after some customers received early copies.

When asked by The Associated Press about post-release spoilers, Good said that Scholastic's only request was not to reveal anything before the publication date.

Rowling, whose seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide, acknowledged during a recent, prerelease interview with The Associated Press that she had no control over discussions once "Deathly Hallows" went on sale.

Slide show

Harry Potter mania
Fans line up worldwide to buy their copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

"I suppose it's fair game," she said. "You can't be too precious about this stuff. Obviously, as a writer I would prefer people to be able to sit down and read it and discover the ending through reading the whole story. But with 'Half-Blood Prince,' people dangled a sheet over a flyover (overpass) the next day — 'Snape kills Dumbledore.' Part of me does find that very funny; I can't help myself."

The author seemed more bothered by readers who peek at the ending first.

"I loathe people who say, 'I always read the ending of the book first.' That really irritates me," she said. It's like someone coming to dinner, just opening the fridge and eating pudding, while you're standing there still working on the starter. It's not on."
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/19935234/
More About Harry Potter Book Seven
From Elizabeth Kennedy,
Your Guide to Children's Books.
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(Continued from Page 1)
Learn More and Discuss Harry Potter 7
Dateline: 2006

When will J.K. Rowling Finish Harry Potter Book 7?
Neither Rowling or her publisher has made any statements about a projected date of publication. In a September 13, 2006 entry on her Web site, Rowling mentions taking her manuscript with her on her August trip to New York. She reports that because of security issues, she was almost not allowed to carry her manuscript on board the plane on her return trip to England, but permission was finally granted. She goes on to say that she is now trying to decide between two possible titles for Harry Potter Seven and states, "They would both be appropriate, so I think I'll have to wait until I'm further into the book to decide which one works best." That certainly sounds like she has a long way to go before the manuscript is finished.
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Who Will Die in Harry Potter Book 7?
Some of the biggest questions Harry Potter fans have about Harry Potter Book 7 revolve around death. Fans want to know, "Will any characters we care about die?" "Will Harry Potter live or die?" We now have some, but not all, of the answers. According to news reports, in a June 26 television interview on the Richard and Judy show in the UK, Rowling mentioned that she had written the last chapter of Book 7 in 1990 but had done some rewriting since then. The Telegraph reported that during the interview, Rowling stated,
"One character got a reprieve but I have to say two die that I did not intend to die." When asked if the dead characters were "much-loved ones", she replied: "A price has to be paid. We are dealing with pure evil here. They don't target extras, do they? They go for the main characters. . . well, I do."
While Rowling did not specifically state the fate of Harry Potter, she did say she understood why an author would kill off main characters to prevent "non-author written sequels."
Dateline: 2005

In celebration of the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Joanne Kathleen Rowling granted several interviews in July 2005. While the focus of the interviews was on Harry Potter 6, the subject of Harry Potter Book 7 came up, and some of J.K. Rowling’s answers did shed light on her main character and what we might expect in the final Harry Potter book.

When Can We Expect Harry Potter Book 7 to Be Published?
Although she said she’d started Harry Potter 7, J.K. Rowling stated that because of wanting to devote time to her baby,
"Realistically, I don't think I'm going to be able to do real work on it until next year. I see next year as the time that I’m really going to write seven. But I've started and I am doing little bits and pieces here and there when I can." (July 16, 2005 MuggleNet / The Leaky Cauldron joint interview with Joanne Kathleen Rowling).
How Many Pages Will Harry Potter Book 7 Be?
"I do not yet know really how long the seventh book will be, although I have a plan, I have not yet plotted it out chapter by chapter, so I cannot really tell you. I do not think it will be as long as Order of the Phoenix, but I am going to reserve the right to make it as long as that if I want to." (BBC report on J.K. Rowling’s July 17, 2005 Press Conference)
How Much of A Role Are the Founders Going to Play in Harry Potter Book 7?
"Some, as you probably have guessed from the end of six." (MuggleNet / The Leaky Cauldron joint interview with Joanne Kathleen Rowling)
Will Harry Potter Die in Harry Potter Book 7?
"Am I going to finish Harry off? I cannot possibly tell you that, I'm sorry." (J.K. Rowling’s July 17, 2005 Press Conference)
What Does J.K. Rowling Think of Harry Potter?
In response to the question "Do you feel Harry Potter is a good role model for a generation?" Rowling stated,
"I see Harry as someone who is struggling to do the right thing, who is not without faults, who acts impetuously as you would expect someone of his age to act, but who is ultimately a very loyal person, and a very very courageous person. So, in as much as he has qualities that I admire most I would say he is a good role model. That doesn't mean that he is saintly, but then frankly, who is? But I think you do see enough of Harry's inner life, the workings of his mind in the books to know that he is ultimately human, struggling to do the right thing, which I think is admirable." (Transcript of the Harry Potter Children’s Press Conference Weekend , July 17, 2005)
What Will Harry Potter Book 7 Be Like?
"'It will be a very different kind of book,' she says, 'because I kind of cue up the shot at the end of six, and you're left with a very clear idea of what Harry's going to do next.'" ( Time Magazine, posted July 17, 2005)
Will we learn what happens to the characters after Hogwarts in Harry Potter Book 7?
"There is already a chapter written in which you find out about the survivors post Hogwarts fates, so, I will have to re¬write it when I get there, because that was written years ago and it wasn't really written on the assumption that I would use it as it is written in the hooks, it is really an act of faith, it was me saying to myself 'I will get here and this information is the end point and that is where I'm trying to get to. So yes, there will be.'" (J.K. Rowling’s July 17, 2005 Press Conference)
Where Can We Find More Information About Harry Potter Book 7?
You will find even more information that relates to Harry Potter 6 and Harry Potter 7 by reading the full Mugglenet / The Leaky Cauldron interview with JK Rowling and the July 17, 2005 Transcript of the Harry Potter Children’s Press Conference Weekend. Check J.K. Rowling’s Web site regularly also. At the end of December, 2005, in her online diary, Rowling wrote, "I have been fine-tuning the fine-tuned plan for [book] seven during the past few weeks so I can really set to work in January."
Share Your Thoughts About Harry Potter Book 7
I have started a Harry Potter 7 discussion on the About Children’s Books Forum and invite you to share your thoughts about the book by posting a message on the Forum.

Harry Potter Book 7 Facts
From Elizabeth Kennedy,
Your Guide to Children's Books.
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What Is J.K .Rowling Saying About Harry Potter Book 7?
As soon as readers of all ages finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a clamor arose as to when Harry Potter Book 7 would be published and how author J.K. Rowling would end the series. There were so many incorrect rumors about Harry Potter 6 before it was published that I decided to ignore the rumors and stick to the author's own words about Harry Potter Book 7.

Note: - See All About Harry Potter 7 for more articles and FAQs.

Dateline: July 10, 2007

Will There Be Another Harry Potter Book?
In response to the Save Harry campaign spearheaded by those ancxious for Harry to live and more books to be written, J.K. Rowling, who in the past had said this was it, the last Harry Potter book, stated, "never say never."
"'I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end, sadly,' Rowling said."
"But I've always said that I wouldn't say never.

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I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know in 10 years time...? But I think it's unlikely." (ABC News Australia, July 10, 2007)
Dateline: May 14, 2007
J.K. Rowling Makes A Plea For No Spoilers
Today, in a diary entry on her Web site, J.K. Rowling expressed concern about people with knowledge about the plot of Harry Potter Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, revealing the information. She thanked the Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron for its April 28th editorial condemning spoilers. Rowling stated,
"The Leaky Cauldron's early mission statement on spoilers (ie, don't, and we're not putting them up if you do) is deeply appreciated by yours truly. . . . I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going."
Dateline: February 6, 2007
J.K. Rowling Reveals Her Feelings on Completing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Today, in an extended diary entry on her Web site that begins with a quotation from Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling shares her mixed emotions at having completed the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in her Harry Potter series. Rowling reveals, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." Rowling goes on to reassure fans, "If it comes as any consolation, I think there will be plenty to continue arguing and speculating about even after 'Deathly Hallows' comes out." Rowling ends the diary entry by revealing that of all the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is her favorite.
Dateline: February 1, 2007

We Now Know the Publication Date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
On February 1, 2007, J.K. Rowling's American publisher, Scholastic, announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be published by Scholastic in hardcover (ISBN: 0-545-01022-5), under the Arthur A. Levine imprint. The book will be illustrated by Mary GrandPré, the illustrator of previous six Harry Potter books. The deluxe edition (ISBN: 0-545-02937-6) and reinforced library edition (ISBN: 0-545-02936-8) will also be released at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 21, 2007. On February 1, 2007, J.K. Rowling confirmed this on her Web site and also announced the same publication date in the UK and "in other English speaking countries around the world."
Dateline: December 21, 2006

We Know Know the Title! It's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The word is out! The title of Harry Potter Book 7 is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. According to BBC News and a number of other news sources, and confirmed by her U.S. publisher, Scholastic, the announcement was made on J.K. Rowling's Web site. If you missed it, here's why. According to Bloomberg.com, "The title of the seventh book in the series was revealed through a puzzle on the British writer's Web site, where visitors have to click on items to reveal a chamber and then guess the name of the book from the clues given." If you want to try it, see the Seattle Times article about it for some assistance.
We Don't Know the Publication Date Yet
If there's a title, does that mean Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is almost done? In J.K. Rowling's December 19th online diary entry, the first entry in quite some time, the author states,
"I am now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more. I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels: I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want, and don't want, to finish this book (don't worry, I will)."
However, no finish date is mentioned or implied. On Scholastic's site, the publisher states, in reference to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, "The publication date has not been set."
Dateline: October-November 2006

Is J.K. Rowling Making Any Progress on Harry Potter Book 7?
In a November 28 article about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince winning a Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books, Scotsman.com reported on the message J.K. Rowling sent that was read by her editor at the awards ceremony. In the message, Rowling stated, "I'm sorry I am unable to receive this award in person today, but I currently have my head down writing the final book, which is coming along nicely."
After reporting in September that she was trying to decide between two possible titles for Harry Potter 7, on October 31, J.K. Rowling reported on her Web site that, "I've now got a third title...Title three currently ahead by a nose,..."

http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/harrypotterplus/a/harrypotter7.htm

2007-07-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

http://static.scribd.com/docs/dxn3turt0uzn7.pdf

Harry Potter 7 full book pdf

2007-07-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

New York’s Best Cheap Eats
From #1 to #101. And introducing our second hairsplitting, new five-star ranking system.
By Rob Patronite & Robin Raisfeld

Tuck Shop. (All photos by Reinhard Hunger. Styling by Adriana Castro.)

* Not to be confused with our first hairsplitting, new five-star ranking system, in which we ranked New York’s 101 best not-so-cheap restaurants in January.

Five and Four Star Cheap Eats

Three Star Cheap Eats

Two Star Cheap Eats

One Star Cheap Eats

What the Stars Mean

Top 5 New Cheap Eats, Pizza Places, and Prix Fixe Meals

Top 5 Burgers and Brunch Spots

Some months back, our colleague Adam Platt bestowed New York Magazine’s first restaurant stars and has been enlightening diners and infuriating chefs ever since. For the most part, the worthy recipients of his inaugural ratings were the big-ticket, deep-pocket establishments you might expect—the Masas and the Per Ses, the Escas and the ’Cescas. But who’s to say that New York’s best cheap eats—the burgers and dogs, the noodles and ribs, that most of us, including those celestial chefs themselves, eat every day—don’t deserve the same starry treatment? Certainly not two obsessive eaters as ourselves, who, truth be told, spend most waking (and sleeping) hours joyfully reminiscing about past cheap meals and avidly planning future ones. And so it was decided that this year, instead of dedicating our annual issue to surveying the “Best New Cheap Eats of 2006” (the very best of which you’ll still find here, on page 39), we’d introduce our own set of stars—winsome red-rimmed white ones, rather than Platt’s solid reds. And to kick things off, we’d give them to our 101 favorite restaurants, ranked, one by one, in order.

Although 101 sounds like a lot, it really isn’t, a fact that becomes painfully clear when you realize that for each beloved Latin lunch counter or vegetarian Indian buffet you include, you’re forced to leave another out. Eventually, we hope to star every appropriately priced restaurant in town and then, having eaten everything there is to eat and passed thoughtfully considered judgments, keel over in some honorable fashion, mission accomplished.

Our criteria, of course, differ from Platt’s in some respects. When you rate a falafel shack, for instance, it’s hard to take into account the finer points of ambience or the sangfroid of the maître d’hôtel when there isn’t any. But that’s not to say a goat taco or an Uzbeki kebab doesn’t merit the same scrutiny and appreciation as a Wagyu beefsteak, or that a margherita pizza can’t be judged on its own merits. All delicious things are worthy of the star treatment (See “What the Stars Mean," page 8).

And what, exactly, do we mean by cheap? A little clarification is in order. For the purposes of our monthly “Underground Gourmet” column and this “Cheap Eats” issue, we mostly limit ourselves to restaurants where entrée prices seldom exceed $20. On rare occasions, we make allowances for the compulsory splurge—or bottom-feed at the lower end of a pricier menu. But even the most literal-minded penny-pincher must agree that in this town, cheap is a relative term. Madison Avenue cheap is very different from Red Hook cheap (unless you’re Tony Dragonas, No. 86 on our list, whose estimable pushcart stands kitty-corner to Hermès, at Madison and 62nd). In our world, and in the greater context of the New York food scene, cheap is sometimes five-dumplings-for-a-dollar dirt cheap, sometimes fancy-chef-tackles-burgers-and-dogs cheap, and sometimes, as at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, not cheap, per se, but still a heck of a good deal. In our book, they’re all stars.

2007-07-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

FIVE STARS

1. Tanoreen
We’re not unreasonable people. We wouldn’t send you to the ends of the earth (not the earth, maybe, just the R line; it’s the third-to-last stop) without good reason. That reason is spice alchemist Rawia Bishara, whose métier is the cuisine of the Middle East, as her mother cooked it in Nazareth and as Bishara brilliantly reinterprets it. The modest storefront’s display case contains treasures untold, garlic-amped parsley-ringed platters that challenge long-held perceptions about the true nature of things as pedestrian as hummus and baba ghannouj. Eggplant is a means to many sublime, deeply smoky ends. Lamb is chopped and encased in a crunchy kibbeh shell, or braised for hours on the bone. As you savor your meal in a kind of stunned silence, try to discern the individual components of the signature Tanoreen spices that Bishara scatters about like pixie dust.
7704 Third Ave., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; 718-748-5600

Tanoreen Caterers
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7704 Third Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209
nr. 77th St.
718-748-5600 Send to Phone

Price Range
$$ Moderate
Cuisine
Middle Eastern
Reader Ratings

9.8 out of 10

9 Reviews | Write a Review
Profile

Chef-owner Rawia Bishara benevolently reigns over a modestly appointed dining room and open kitchen, supplementing exceptional renditions of traditional Middle Eastern cuisine with her own creative riffs on a Mediterranean-flavored theme. Tanoreen’s menu lists more than 50 items and instructs customers to order by number. You can’t go wrong with the selection. Unless, that is, you’re one of the sad few who can’t abide garlic, a defining feature of Bishara’s cooking (the others being lemon, parsley, and olive oil, plus her closely guarded blend of “Tanoreen spices”). These flavors resound in everything from a crunchy fattoush salad, strewn with toasted pita and sprinkled with sumac, to one night’s special baby eggplant, stuffed with ground lamb, in a bracing lemon-garlic sauce. If you love lamb, you’re in the right place. Fragrant grape or cabbage leaves stuffed with an expertly seasoned mixture of rice and ground lamb are an irresistible prelude to the menu’s lamby leitmotif. Ditto the double lamb whammy of deep-fried kibbeh balls—three crisp, golden shells made from finely minced lamb and bulghur, encasing a juicy mixture of ground lamb, pine nuts, and onions. Visiting Tanoreen without ordering lamb in some form seems as perverse as skipping the porterhouse at Peter Luger. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

Recommended Dishes
Smoky, tahini-free purée of eggplant, $5.50; voluptuous fried slices of eggplant topped with tomato and jalapeño, $5; grape or cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and ground lamb, $13

Related Stories
New York Magazine Reviews
Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite's Full Review (2/3/03)
Best of New York Awards
Best Meze (2003)
Featured In
Cheap Eats Guide 2006 (8/7/06)
Reader Ratings
9.8 "Highly Recommended"
Average Reader Rating
on a Scale of 10

Amazing Middle Eastern fare, Shockingly rude waiter
lfekete from 11215 | Posted on 4/28/07

Overall Reader Rating: 8 (Recommended)
Food: 10

Service: 2

Décor: 6

Value: 10

The food is divine. Don't miss the hummus, smooth and full flavored, arguably the best in the city, or the eggplant napoleon, two slices of expertly fried eggplant layered between dollops of savory babaganoush on a plate of fresh tomatoes...Read More

Simply the best!
boog from Whitestone | Posted on 11/28/06

Overall Reader Rating: 10 (Highly Recommended)
Food: 10

Service: 9

Décor: 8

Value: 10

You won't find better tasting food anywhere. Rawia and her staff are very helpful. Make sure you ask your waiter for the list of things that aren't on the menu or the specials menu...there's always something. We...Read More

Read All 9 Reviews >>

Hours
Tue-Sun, noon-10:30pm; Mon, closed

Nearby Subway Stops
R at 77th St.

Prices
$10.99-$21.99

Payment Methods Accepted
American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard, Visa

Reservations
Recommended

Restaurant Special Features
Lunch
Breakfast
Take-Out
Delivery
BYOB
Alcohol
BYOB
Delivery Area
67th St. to 100th St., Shore Rd. to Sixth Ave.

Tanoreen Caterers Menu
7704 Third Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209 nr. 77th St. 718-748-5600
Takeout Available | Delivery Available
Delivery Payment: $15 minimum
Delivery Hours: Tue-Sun, noon-10pm Delivery Area: 67th St. to 100th St., Shore Rd. to Sixth Ave. Email This Print This
appetizers
cold appetizers
1Baba Ghanouge grilled, pureed eggplant blended with toasted sesame paste (tahini), fresh lemon juice, garlic and olive oil 5.50
2Hummus pureed chickpeas with sesame paste (tahini), lemon juice and garlic 5
3Tabbouleh finely chopped parsley, mint, scallions, lemon juice, bulgur wheat and olive oil 5.50
4Fatoush salad composed of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, mint, sumac, olive oil, lemon juice and toasted wedges of pita sm 6 lg 9
With Grilled Chicken sm 9 lg 12
Add Feta Cheese sm 2 lg 2.50
5Eggplant Salad roasted eggplant, fresh tomato, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley 5.50
6Vegetarian Grape Leaves stuffed with rice, parsley, onions, tomatoes, lemon, olive oil and tanoreen spices 5.50
7Cauliflower Salad browned cauliflower buds topped with tahini sauce, pomegranate syrup, and parsley 5.50
8Turkish Salad a classic mediterranean red pepper and tomato spicy spread usually served next to grilled entrees 5
9Makdous pickled baby eggplant stuffed with garlic, chopped walnuts and red pepper 5.50
10Labaneh middle eastern yogurt spread topped with mint and olive oil 5
11Olive Spread chopped black olives, capers, olive oil, garlic and tanoreen spices 5
12Feta Cheese Salad feta cheese with tomato, cucumbers, zaatar, olive oil and lemon juice 6
hot appetizers
13Eggplant Napoleon crispy eggplant slices layered with baba ghanouge, and topped with chopped tomato and basil salad 6.50
14Meat Grape Leaves stuffed with rice, chopped lamb and tanoreen spices 5.50
15Falafel vegetarian fried chickpea patties served with tahini sauce and salad toppings sm 5.50 lg 8
16Kibbie a shell of finely chopped lamb, wheat germ and spices stuffed with chopped lamb, pine nuts, onions and tanoreen spices, deep-fried 5
17Sujok armenian dried meat, sautéed with garlic, olive oil and red pepper 6.50
18Sambosek dough pockets filled with vegetables or ground lamb and tanoreen spices, deep-fried and served with cilantro-basil dipping sauce 5
19Chicken Fingers lightly breaded chicken tenderloins, deep-fried and served with french fries 7.50
20Pies meat, spinach, feta cheese or combination of three 4.50

entrees
21Baked Mediterranean Eggplant thinly sliced eggplant, layered with chopped lamb, onions, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes and tanoreen spices, baked and served with rice pilaf 14
22Kafta finely ground lamb, onions, parsley and spices, topped with tahini sauce or tomato sauce, baked and served next to rice 14
23Stuffed Cabbage cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, chopped lamb and spices, slowly cooked with whole cloves of garlic and served with a lemon-garlic dipping sauce 13
24Shepherds Pie garlic mashed potatoes layered with chopped lamb, pine nuts and tanoreen spices, baked to a golden brown and served with salad 14
25Kibbie finely chopped lamb, wheat germ and spices stuffed with lamb, onions and tanoreen spices, baked and served with salad 14
26Vegetarian Combo shulbato, lentil pilaf, vegetarian grape leaves, sautéed dandelion and salad 13
27Mediterranean Grilled Chicken boneless chicken breast marinated in basil pesto sauce, with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms, served with rice pilaf 13
28Half Chicken roasted with potatoes, onions, fresh tomato and tanoreen spices, served with rice or salad 14
29Okra stewed in tomato sauce with cubes of lamb and tanoreen spices, served with rice 14

grilled entrees
Served With Rice and Salad

30Kabob finely ground lamb with onions, parsley, tanoreen spices 14
31Chicken Kabob tender chicken breast cubed and bathed in our special marinade 13
32Shish Kabob marinated lamb cubes 14
33Grilled Combo a combination platter of our grilled entrees, kabobs, chicken kabob and shish kabobs 15

half portions of grilled entrees, except combo, available for lunch (noon-4pm) for $8.99

from the sea
34Red Snapper Stripped Bass Porgies Barbonies fried and served with salad and tahini dipping sauce, red snapper, porgies and bass may be ordered baked mp
35Shrimp sautéed with garlic sauce, olive oil, and lemon served with rice 14

sandwiches
All Sandwiches Wrapped in Pita Bread

36Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Sandwich boneless chicken breast, basil pesto sauce, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce and tomato 5.50
37Falafel Sandwich traditional vegetarian middle eastern sandwich, chickpea patties, pickles, lettuce and tomato and tahini sauce 4
38Chicken Sandwich our version of chicken schwarma is composed of shredded chicken breast, peppers, saffron and tanoreen spices with lettuce, tomato, pickles and tahini sauce 5
39Kabob Sandwich ground lamb kabob with lettuce, tomato, onions, parsley and tahini sauce 5.50
40Vegetarian Sandwich cracked wheat in tomato sauce with olive spread and sautéed vegetables 5
41Chicken Cutlet Sandwich specially marinated and breaded chicken cutlet breast with tomato, lettuce and garlic sauce 5
42Shish Kabob Sandwich marinated lamb cubes with lettuce, tomato, onions and parsley and tahini sauce 5.50

breakfast
49Foul Muddamas the classic middle eastern breakfast of stewed fava beans with olive oil, lemon, garlic and parsley 5.50
50Eggs and Potatoes eggs scrambled with potatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil 6
51Hummus With Meat hummus topped with chopped lamb, pine nuts and olive oil 7.50

side dishes
43Spinach sautéed with garlic and olive oil 5.50
44String Beans sautéed with fresh tomato, garlic, olive oil and spices 5
45Dandelion sautéed with olive oil, garlic and carmelized onions 5.50
46Lentil Pilaf whole grain lentils simmered with rice, carmelized onions and spices 5
47Arabic Tomato Salad diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions in olive oil and lemon 5
Add Feta Cheese 2
48Shulbato cracked wheat cooked in tomato sauce with chickpeas, sautéed squash, eggplant and spices 5
Rice Pilaf with vermicelli noodles 4.50
Yogurt with cucumbers, mint and garlic 4.50
French Fries 4

desserts
52Knafeh our house specialty is composed of shredded filo dough stuffed with two kinds of sweet cheese and baked, topped with homemade syrup and pistachio nuts, large portion (allow 20 minutes) 12
53Baklava layers of filo dough stuffed with ground nuts and sweet spices baked and topped with syrup 4.50
54Sahlab custard flavored with authentic middle eastern sweet spice (mastic), topped with pistachio nuts and syrup 5
55Harissa baked semolina cake, soaked in syrup and topped with pistachio nuts 4.50

beverages
Coffee
American 1.50
Arabic 2.50
Tea arabic mint tea hot 2.50 iced 3
Tea Bag 1.50
Assorted Soda 1.50
Bottled Water 1.50
Juice 1.50

Five and Four Star Cheap Eats

Three Star Cheap Eats

Two Star Cheap Eats

One Star Cheap Eats

What the Stars Mean

Top 5 New Cheap Eats, Pizza Places, and Prix Fixe Meals

Top 5 Burgers and Brunch Spots

Some months back, our colleague Adam Platt bestowed New York Magazine’s first restaurant stars and has been enlightening diners and infuriating chefs ever since. For the most part, the worthy recipients of his inaugural ratings were the big-ticket, deep-pocket establishments you might expect—the Masas and the Per Ses, the Escas and the ’Cescas. But who’s to say that New York’s best cheap eats—the burgers and dogs, the noodles and ribs, that most of us, including those celestial chefs themselves, eat every day—don’t deserve the same starry treatment? Certainly not two obsessive eaters as ourselves, who, truth be told, spend most waking (and sleeping) hours joyfully reminiscing about past cheap meals and avidly planning future ones. And so it was decided that this year, instead of dedicating our annual issue to surveying the “Best New Cheap Eats of 2006” (the very best of which you’ll still find here, on page 39), we’d introduce our own set of stars—winsome red-rimmed white ones, rather than Platt’s solid reds. And to kick things off, we’d give them to our 101 favorite restaurants, ranked, one by one, in order.

Although 101 sounds like a lot, it really isn’t, a fact that becomes painfully clear when you realize that for each beloved Latin lunch counter or vegetarian Indian buffet you include, you’re forced to leave another out. Eventually, we hope to star every appropriately priced restaurant in town and then, having eaten everything there is to eat and passed thoughtfully considered judgments, keel over in some honorable fashion, mission accomplished.

Our criteria, of course, differ from Platt’s in some respects. When you rate a falafel shack, for instance, it’s hard to take into account the finer points of ambience or the sangfroid of the maître d’hôtel when there isn’t any. But that’s not to say a goat taco or an Uzbeki kebab doesn’t merit the same scrutiny and appreciation as a Wagyu beefsteak, or that a margherita pizza can’t be judged on its own merits. All delicious things are worthy of the star treatment (See “What the Stars Mean," page 8).

And what, exactly, do we mean by cheap? A little clarification is in order. For the purposes of our monthly “Underground Gourmet” column and this “Cheap Eats” issue, we mostly limit ourselves to restaurants where entrée prices seldom exceed $20. On rare occasions, we make allowances for the compulsory splurge—or bottom-feed at the lower end of a pricier menu. But even the most literal-minded penny-pincher must agree that in this town, cheap is a relative term. Madison Avenue cheap is very different from Red Hook cheap (unless you’re Tony Dragonas, No. 86 on our list, whose estimable pushcart stands kitty-corner to Hermès, at Madison and 62nd). In our world, and in the greater context of the New York food scene, cheap is sometimes five-dumplings-for-a-dollar dirt cheap, sometimes fancy-chef-tackles-burgers-and-dogs cheap, and sometimes, as at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, not cheap, per se, but still a heck of a good deal. In our book, they’re all stars.

Shake Shack Menu
Madison Ave. , New York, NY 10010 at 23rd St. 212-889-6600
Email This Print This
burgers
All Burgers Are Served Plain Unless Otherwise requested, Please Let Us Know If You Would Like lettuce, tomato, Pickles or Onion

Hamburger single 3.23 double 5.08
Cheeseburger single 3.69 double 5.77
Shack Burger american cheese, lettuce, tomato and shack sauce single 4.38 double 6.46
Shroom Burger crisp-fried portobello filled with melted cheese and onions, topped with lettuce, tomato and shack sauce 4.15
Shack Stack trilogy of hamburger, shack burger and 'shroom burger 7.61

hot dogs
Chicago Dog vienna all-beef dog on a poppy seed bun, topped with lettuce, tomato, sport peppers, green peppers, pickles, onion, neon relish, cucumber, celery salt and mustard 2.77
Taxi Dog vienna all-beef hot dog with choice of homemade sauerkraut and tomato-simmered onions 2.54
Bird Dog smoked chicken and apple bratwurst 4.14
Second City Bird-wurst smoked chicken and apple wurst with lettuce, tomato, sport peppers, green peppers, pickles, onion, neon relish, cucumber, celery salt and mustard 4.84

fries
French Fries 2.08
Cheese Fries 2.54

ice cream
Cups & Cones vanilla, chocolate, flavor of the day single dip 2.54 double dip 3 triple dip 3.69
Kiddie 1.15
Sundaes with any one topping, whipped cream, cherry double dip 3.69 triple dip 4.38
Each Additional Sundae Topping or Mix-in 0.69
homemade toppings & mix-ins
Hot Fudge Sauce 0.69
Hot Caramel Sauce 0.69
Fresh Seasonal Fruit Pie 0.69
Chocolate Chip Cookies 0.69
Valrhona Chocolate Chunks 0.69
Chocolate Truffle Cookie Dough 0.69
Chocolate Mint Cookie 0.69
Malt Balls 0.69
Chocolate Toffee 0.69
Bananas 0.69
Whipped Cream 0.69
Peanut Butter 0.69
Salted Peanuts 0.69

frozen drinks
Shakes vanilla, chocolate, caramel, coffee, black & white, strawberry reg 3.92 lg 4.84
Floats (with double dip frozen custard) root beer, purple cow or creamsicle 3.92

frozen custard
concretes
Dense Frozen Custard Blended At High Speed With Homemade Mix-ins
The Concrete Jungle hot fudge, bananas and peanut butter 5.77
Mocha-shack-accino espresso, hot fudge and whipped cream 5.77
Hopscotch hot caramel sauce, chocolate toffee and valrhona chocolate chunks 5.77
Shack Attack chocolate custard, hot fudge, chocolate truffle cookie dough and valrhona chocolate chunks, topped with chocolate sprinkles 5.77
Concreation design your own
Foundation 3.92
Each Homemade Topping or Mix-in 0.69
others
The Pooch-ini a chilly treat for those with four feet, frozen custard, peanut butter and a dog biscuit 2.54

beverages
Fountain Soda coke, diet coke, dr. pepper, sprite, fanta orange, fanta grape reg 1.38 lg 1.85
Bottled Soda (12 oz.) abita root beer 1.61
Fresh-squeezed Lemonade reg 1.85 lg 2.54
Fresh-brewed Iced Tea reg 1.38 lg 1.85
The Arnold Palmer half lemonade, half iced tea reg 1.61 lg 2.08
Iced Graffeo Coffee reg 1.38 lg 1.85
Fiji Water half liter 1.39

ice cold beer
draught
Brooklyn Pilsner 5
bottle
Budweiser (16oz.) 4
Amstel Light 5
Abita Amber 5
Sam Adams 5

wine
white wines
By the Glass or Bottle (750ml)
Chenin Blanc bonny doon "pacific rim", california 2004 6 24
Riesling albrecht, alsace 2004 7 28
Chardonnay talbott "kali-hart", monterey county 2004 9 36
red wines
By the Glass or Bottle (750ml)
Cabernet deloach, california 2002 6 24
Pinot Noir calera "el nino", central coast 2002 7 28
Shiraz trevor jones "boots", barossa valley 2004 9 36
white wines
By the Half Bottle (375ml)
Sancerre chateau du maimbray, france 2004 15
Caymus "conundrum" california 2004 26
Trefethen, Chardonnay california 2004 31
red wines
By the Half Bottle (375ml)
Merlot pine ridge "crimson creek", napa valley 2001 19
Chianti querciabella "riserva", tuscany 1998 28
Cabernet shafer, napa valley 2003 38
rose
By the Half Bottle (375ml)
Sancerre Rose domaine du colombier "neveu", france 2004 23
champagne
By the Half Bottle (375ml)
Billecart Brut france nv 30

Best Dim Sum

Chinatown Brasserie
380 Lafayette St.; 212-533-7000

With good Chinese chefs forever leaving town, and more and more of the potentially good ones staying in their homeland in the first place, the city’s Chinese-food aficionados are a beleaguered bunch these days. But mention the work of Mr. Joe Ng, the Hong Kong–born dim sum prodigy at Chinatown Brasserie, and their eyes light up, just like in the old days. Ng has more than a hundred varieties of dim sum in his impressive repertoire; many of the best seem to involve some form of shrimp. The perfect shrimp-themed feast begins with a platter or two of the steamy, delicate-skinned pork-and-shrimp dumplings, followed by a taste of shrimp dumplings stuffed with roast duck. After that, order the yellow-skinned, triangular shrimp-and-snow-pea–leaf dumplings, and then the little pouches of translucent wheat-and-potato skin stuffed with shrimp and Chinese chives. Get it while you can, before Joe Ng decides to skip town himself.

2007-07-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/things2do.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_Like_It#Synopsis
http://nycpolicemuseum.org/html/infofaq.html#Location:
http://www.summerstage.org/
http://www.rivertorivernyc.com/events/index.php#detail:1598
http://www.circleline42.com/index.ihtml?page=schedule#3hr
http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/things2do.htm
Saturday,14 Sunday,15 Monday,16 Tuesday,17 Wednesday,18 Thursday,19 Friday,20 Saturday,21
8
9 Travel Travel
10 HP Sony
11 at Bx Wonder Program
12 theater NYU Wall St. Afloat
1 Travel Telecom Tour 90m 12pm*
2 Lunch 12-2pm
3 Plane Arrives Ground Zero Mary
4 Travel Back Home Dance Harry Potter Gran Pre
5 Travel/Unpack Travel Yankee Book 4:30
6 Riverside Park As You Like It Game Party
7 B/D/4 Starts
8 7:05 PM 5:00 PM
9
10 10:30 Jim
11 Travel Dale
12
Read DH
at MDs
travel to BNLC
Ice Skating: Chelsea Piers
Sony wonder T-S 10-5 Sun 12-5 (212) 833-5414 b/f 2 pm
Washington $35 Round Trip Play and Picnic
Tramway $2 in Central Park
Queens Bridge Comedy
Chinese Buffet 61st on 7 $6.25 Central
Flushing Monday Park
Campus Office Rumsey
China Town Field
Statue of Liberty $11.50 Travel
Washington
Circleline Cruise $24/29 :30, 10:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 4:30
RI Movie Sat 14, 9PM Southpoint Park
Comedy Th 7:30-10 Rumsey Playfield
Dance at Indian Museum Tues/Weds/Thurs, 11, 1, 3 212-514-3700
Symmetric Orchestra Wed 8pm Rockefeller (Stuy) Park 212-945-0505
Coney Island
Wall St Tour Th 12 90 min US Custom House 212-606-4064
Summer Soul Nights Th 7pm American Idol Ruben Studdard South Street Seaport Pier 17 212-seaport
Gone Fishing Sat noon South St. Seaport Museum, Pier 16 212-748-8757
Governors Island Sat 1:30pm Ferry at 10 (also Sun) Festival at 1:30
US/Russia Dance Playoff Sun15 from noon all day Park at Old Slip btw Water and Front Sts (adj to Police Museum 212-219-9401
Kayaking
MOMA
MET
AMNH
Guggenheim
MadSq Reads Thurs 6:30 Mad Sq 25th St.

2007-07-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Nearly Free:

American Museum of Natural History
Metropolitan Museum of Art
MOMA Friday 4-8

Guggenheim

$18/$15

Circle Line
$29 full or $24 semi

New York
Transportation Options • View a Map • Download a printable PDF Brochure with Map
Empire State Building ObservatoryIn the heart of Manhattan at 350 Fifth Avenue and 34th Street Circle Line Sightseeing CruisesPier 83 - Midtown - at West 42nd Street and 12th Avenue
American Museum of Natural History & Rose CenterCentral Park West at 79th Street Guggenheim Museum1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street)
The Museum of Modern Art11 West 53 Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues) The Metropolitan Museum of ArtMet: 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd StreetCloisters: Fort Tryon Park in Northern Manhattan

New York CityPass Price Comparison:
Adult Youth(12-17) Notes
Empire State Building Observatory $25.00 $23.00 Ages 6-11 $20 w/audioUnder 6 free
Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises $25.00 $25.00 Ages 3-12 $14Under 3 free
American Museum of Natural History & Rose Center $22.00 $16.50 Ages 13-18 $16.50Ages 2-12 $13
Guggenheim Museum $15.00 $12.00 Under 13 free
The Museum of Modern Art $20.00 -- Under 17 free with an adult
The Metropolitan Museum of Art $20.00 $10.00 Under 13 FreePrices are recommended donation
Total Combined Price $127.00 $86.50
CityPass Price $65.00 $49.00
CityPass is formulated using the attractions' highest gate price for the year. Change in attractions' gate prices will affect CityPass value but not CityPass price.

Circle Line Sightseeing CruisesSee New York City the Circle Line way. Give Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises 2 hours of your time and you can experience the grandeur of Mid and Lower Manhattan. Circle Line's professional tour guides will share the legends and lore behind this great city. You will enjoy magnificent views of the world's premier skyline and a close encounter of the best kind with the Statue of Liberty. All 3 tours circle the Statue of Liberty and stop in front for photo ops but do not allow passengers to disembark.

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· Empire State Building Observatory · Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises · American Museum of Natural History & Rose Center · Guggenheim Museum · The Museum of Modern Art · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · How long is it valid? CITYPASS INCLUDES:Ticket valid for one regularly scheduled 2 Hour Harbor or Harbor Lights Cruise (available year round) or 75 min Liberty Cruise (available May 1 - Oct 31 only). May be upgraded to the 3 Hour Cruise for an additional $5 or the "Beast" Speedboat ride for no additional charge. Not valid for Special Events Cruises on July 4th or New Year's Eve. GATE PRICE (WITHOUT CITYPASS):$25.00 for adults, $25.00 for youth. (See full price comparison for details.) WEBSITE:circleline42.com HOURS:For detailed schedule and operating hours please visit www.circleline42.com or call 212-563-3200. Closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND CALLING TO VERIFY HOURS THE WEEK OF YOUR VISIT, AS HOURS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.PHONE:(212) 563-3200LOCATION:Pier 83 - Midtown - at West 42nd Street and 12th AvenueADDITIONAL FACILITIES:Gift Shop and Food Services available; (Look for the money-saving coupon in your CityPass booklet for Gift Store Savings). Tickets may also be used for the 3-hour "Full Island Cruise" (additional $5), "The Beast" Speedboat ride, or the NEW 75 minute "Liberty Cruise". Ask ticket agent for more details, or call 212-563-3200.INSIDER'S TIP:May-August, the 11:30am Semi-Circle Cruise is least crowded and during Sept-Oct. the 11:00am Semi-Circle Cruise is the least crowded.TRANSPORTATION:Subway: To Pier 83: N, Q, R, S, W, 1, 2, 3, 7 train to Times Square, take the M42 Bus Bus: To Pier 83: M42, M50 to the PierNEWS:Circle Line AnnouncementCityPass holders are required to go to the "VIP" express ticket window to receive a boarding pass before joining the line to board the boat. Please look for the large directing you to the express window. Also, be sure to check out Circle Line Web site for foul weather closure info.

CITYPASS INCLUDES:
Ticket valid for one Empire State Building Observatory general admission and one audio tour. The 102nd Floor Observatory costs an additional $15 per person.
GATE PRICE (WITHOUT CITYPASS):
$25.00 for adults, $23.00 for youth. (See full price comparison for details.)
WEBSITE:
esbnyc.com
HOURS:
Open Daily, 365 days a year, 8:00am to Midnight; Special Holiday Hours apply; extended hours April - December on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until 2:00am; Last elevator leaves 45 minutes before close
PHONE:
(877) NYC VIEW
LOCATION:
In the heart of Manhattan at 350 Fifth Avenue and 34th Street
ADDITIONAL FACILITIES:
Gift Shop and food services
INSIDER'S TIP:
Visit Empire State Building Observatory first thing in the morning or during the early evening hours to get to the top with a minimum wait. You may encounter a line to enter the building due to security restrictions.
TRANSPORTATION:
Subway: 1, 2, 3, 9, B, D, N, Q, R, V (weekdays only) to 34th Street
Bus: M1, M2, M4, M5, M6, M7
NEWS:
Empire State Building Security Line
You may encounter a line at the front door during busy times at the Empire State Building due to the fact that they limit the number of guests allowed in the lobby at any one time for everybody’s safety. Once inside, CityPass holders may pass by the ticket lines and proceed directly to the high speed elevator line.
CITYPASS INCLUDES:
Ticket valid for one Guggenheim Museum general admission; Director's Pick Audio Tour costs and additional $5.00 per person. Select galleries may be closed due to installation, call Guggenheim Museum for details; Special Exhibit showings may require an additional fee.
GATE PRICE (WITHOUT CITYPASS):
$15.00 for adults, $12.00 for youth. (See full price comparison for details.)
WEBSITE:
guggenheim.org
HOURS:
Saturday-Wednesday 10:00am to 5:45pm; Friday 10:00am to 7:45pm; Closed Thursdays & Christmas Day. Closed early at 4pm on Christmas Eve.
PHONE:
(212) 423-3500
LOCATION:
1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street)
ADDITIONAL FACILITIES:
Enjoy audio tours featuring the architecture of the landmark Frank Lloyd Wright building or the current special exhibition. Relax in the Guggenheim Cafe; find the perfect souvenir or gift in the Guggenheim Store; (Look for the money-saving coupon in your CityPass booklet for Gift Store Savings).
INSIDER'S TIP:
Bypass lines - Present Ticket at the Guggenheim Museum Membership Desk. Avoid the crowds - visit on Wednesdays.
TRANSPORTATION:
Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street
Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4 to 89th Street or M86 to 5th Avenue
NEWS:
Guggenheim - The Shapes of Space
On Display April 27, 2006 - August 6, 2007 Space is one of the basic elements in art, and yet also one of the most resistant to definition. Almost all ... (read more)
Guggenheim - Divisionism/Neo-Impressionism: Arcadia and Anarchy
On Display April 27, 2006 - August 6, 2007 In Divisionism/Neo-Impressionism: Arcadia and Anarchy, learn how the Italian Divisionists—so called for the painting technique they employed, namely the "division" of ... (read more)
CITYPASS INCLUDES:
Ticket valid for one American Museum of Natural History general admission, Rose Center and Space Show; IMAX: $8 adult, $6.50 (2-12) and some Special Exhibits require an additional fee.
GATE PRICE (WITHOUT CITYPASS):
$22.00 for adults, $16.50 for youth. (See full price comparison for details.)
WEBSITE:
amnh.org
HOURS:
Open daily 10:00am to 5:45pm; Rose Center open until 8:45pm on Friday; Closed Thanksgiving & Christmas Day
PHONE:
(212) 769-5100
LOCATION:
Central Park West at 79th Street
ADDITIONAL FACILITIES:
IMAX, indoor parking lot, multiple dining facilities, Museum shops, special exhibitions; (Look for the money-saving coupon in your CityPass booklet for Gift Store Savings).
INSIDER'S TIP:
Space shows are every 1/2 hour from 10:30am to 4:30pm daily; first friday of every month until 7:00pm. Multilingual listening devices are available. IMAX and Special Exhibit available at reduced rate; Visit American Museum of Natural History before noon on weekends to avoid the crowds.
TRANSPORTATION:
Subway: C or B (weekdays only) to 81st Street; 1 to 79th Street
Bus: M7, M10, M11 to 79th Street; M79 to Central Park West
NEWS:
American Museum of Natural History - GOLD!
On Display November 18, 2006 - August 19, 2007 GOLD! - an enduring icon of wealth, beauty and power. Showcasing a vast array of extraordinary objects gleaned from the geology ... (read more)

Museum of Natural History

· NORMAL OPERATING HOURS:
· The Museum is open daily, 10:00 a.m.–5:45 p.m.
· The Rose Center remains open until 8:45 p.m. on the first Friday of every month.
· The Museum is closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
· Space Show Hours — Every half-hour, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; First Friday of every month 10:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
· Museum Shop Hours — The Museum Shop is open while the Museum is open, 10:00 a.m.–5:45 p.m. daily. Or visit our online shop 24/7.
· To get the most up to date information,
please call (212) 769-5100.

Museum and Rose Center Suggested Admission*
*Suggested General Admission, which supports the Museum's scientific and educational endeavors and includes 45 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is as follows:
Adults: $15.00
Children (2-12): $8.50
Senior/Student with ID: $11.00
Member Adult: Free
Member Child: Free
By purchasing these tickets online, you are agreeing to pay the full suggested admission plus a $4.00 per ticket service charge. However, should you wish to pay less than the suggested admission, you may do so by purchasing the tickets at any admissions desk at the Museum.

The Museum of Modern Art(212) 708-940011 West 53 Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenuesNew York, NY 10019-5497 Museum HoursSaturday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Sunday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.Monday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.Tuesday closedWednesday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.Thursday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.Friday 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.Closed on Christmas day and Thanksgiving dayPlease note: As part of MoMA@Nite, the Museum will remain open until 9:00 p.m. every Thursday night during July and August (except July 12).Getting to MoMAMoMA is located at 11 West Fifty-third Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The MoMA Floor Plan and Visitor Guide is available in PDF format inEnglish, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Español, (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
Subway: E or V to Fifth Avenue/53 Street; B, D, or F to 47-50 Streets/Rockefeller Center.
Bus: M1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to 53 Street
Detailed directions
Salvador Dalì's The Persistence of Memory (1931) is not currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art. The painting will be on display at the Tate Modern, London, from June 1 to September 9, 2007, as part of the exhibition Dalì and Film. It will then travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (October 14, 2007–January 6, 2008) and the Salvador Dalì Museum, in St. Petersburg, Florida, (February 1–June 1, 2008). The Persistence of Memory will return to MoMA in June 2008 as part of the exhibition Dali and Film, on view June 29–September 15, 2008.

Parking
The Museum does not have a parking garage. However, MoMA visitors and members receive discounted parking at the nearby 1345 Garage. Parking stubs must be validated at the Lobby Information Desk or Film Desk in the Museum Lobby. Parking is first come, first served.
The 1345 Garage
101-41 West 54 Street (between Sixth and Seventh avenues, on the left side of the street, under the Ziegfeld Theater)
(212) 245-8708
Parking rates for MoMA visitors, including tax (valid through July 1, 2009):
Up to 2 hours: $18
Up to 4 hours: $21
Up to 7 hours: $27
Up to 24 hours: $37
Parking rates for MoMA members, including tax (valid through July 1, 2009):
Up to 4 hours: $18
Up to 7 hours: $24
Up to 24 hours: $33
Visitor Policies
Checkroom
All bags are subject to security inspection before entering the Museum. The Museum requires visitors to check backpacks of any size, shopping bags, and bags 11 x 14 inches (28 x 35.5 cm) or larger. To avoid a lengthy wait in the checkroom line, visitors should not bring such items. The checkroom will not accept laptops or luggage of any size.
Mobility Access
All galleries and facilities are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchairs are available in the checkroom free of charge.
Cameras
Still photography for personal use is permitted in collection galleries only. No flash or tripods allowed. Videotaping is permitted in the lobby only. No photographs or videotapes may be reproduced, distributed, or sold without permission from the Museum.
Sketching
Sketching is permitted in the galleries (pencil only, no ink or paint) with sketchbooks no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches (21.6 x 27.9 cm). No easels, stools, or sketching while sitting on the floor is permitted. If galleries are crowded, guards may ask visitors to stop sketching or writing.
Strollers
Baby strollers are permitted at all times, but are not permitted on escalators.
Cellular Phones
The use of cellular phones is not permitted in the Museum's galleries.
Food and Drinks
Outside food and drinks are not permitted in the Museum, including The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden and the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters. Food and drinks are permitted only in the cafés and may not be carried into the galleries or other areas.
No Smoking
Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the Museum.
Sculpture Garden
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden closes during inclement weather.
Please note: The Museum requires visitors to check backpacks of any size, shopping bags, and bags 11 x 14 inches (28 x 35.5 cm) or larger. To avoid a lengthy wait in the checkroom line, visitors should not bring such items. The checkroom will not accept laptops or luggage of any size.

Pictured above:
View of The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby. © 2005 Timothy Hursley

Sat 14th: Our meeting, lots of hugs and kisses.
Sun 15th: Harry Potter film.
Mon 16th:
Tue 17th:
Wed 18th: New York Yankees.
Thurs 19th:
Fri 20th: HP release at night.
Sat 21th: Finish the book and HP related events.
Sun 22nd:
Mon 23rd: Going home crying.

Things i'd like to try and do. (These can be done on
any of the days except the first and last):

pic-nic
Kyaking
bowling
Trip to Washington
lots of shopping
Museums, boat trip, empire state building
any concerts, plays or dances.

2007-07-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

Chinese Harp Teaching Assistants Club

Minutes

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Commenced at about noon.

Present: Grace Chang, Marisa, Roslyn, Lucy Yan, Min Ye, Ou Fei Dong and Annie Deng.

I. Goals
A. Help each other with skills development
B. Provide a platform for leadership training
C. Develop and execute entreprenuerial, creative, and service ideas
D. Create a community for support and manpower
E. Enrich the society by offering cheap and convenient introductory Chinese harp lessons
F. Assist current students of the Chinese Harp Music Center (CHMC) in their studies

II. Qualifications for Membership
A. Members must have taken at least a full year of lessons at the CHMC
B. For 2007-2008, members who are high school juniors will serve as vice presidents
C. For 2007-2008, members who are high school seniors will serve as co-presidents
D. In the future, presidents of the Teaching Assistants Club (TAC) must acquire level 8 designation in Chinese harp skills

III. Activities of the Club
A. Teaching newcomers
B. Assisting old students in their practice sessions
C. Flyering to promote TAC and CHMC
D. Share

2007-06-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

《倚天屠龙记》主要人物详细介绍
2003年01月03日15:53:58　网易社区　

张无忌

　　宽厚善良，胸襟豁达，为人随和，但太易信人，经常吃亏，却又不记恨及不苛责人，处理感情时又太过忧柔寡断，往往增添了各方的痛苦。武当张翠山之子，自幼只跟张翠山、殷素素和谢逊在冰火岛生活，秉承三人教导，善良纯朴。十二岁时，跟随父母乘木伐回中原，可是当武林得悉张翠山、殷素素二人重现时，无论正道、邪道均用尽方法想从中得知谢逊及屠龙刀下落，最后更迫至张无忌父母自刎当场，而张无忌亦身中玄冥神掌，性命危在旦歹。张三丰歇尽所能救张无忌，可惜玄冥神掌奇毒无比，最后张无忌幸遇明教医仙胡青牛及影响张无忌一生的女子周芷若。张无忌在蝴蝶谷治疗期间，虽一直未有好转，但却因祸得福习得旷世武学「九阳神功」，并把体内寒毒尽驱。当张无忌回中原时，时各派正围剿明教，张无忌、周芷若二人却在此刻重遇，可是周芷若已为峨嵋弟子，张无忌前往光明顶时，明教正遭六大派围玫，且内哄争斗仍频，时已成少林僧的圆真（成昆）施以偷袭，杨逍等人命在旦夕，圆真解释谋害明教原委，机缘巧合下张无忌九阳神功大成，张无忌欲杀圆真之际，圆真从秘道逃脱，张无忌见六大派已将明教教徒杀过非死即伤，张无忌不愿双方厮杀，上前劝阻，最终以「九阳神功」力挫各派高手，震慑群雄，明教上下更佩服张无忌，并推举张无忌成为新明教教主。

　　正当张无忌调查圆真下落时，巧遇赵敏正持着江湖第一剑倚天剑杀欺凌百姓的元兵，时众人不疑有诈，接受赵敏邀请往绿柳山庄歇息，岂料赵敏暗中下毒，张无忌为取解药，与赵敏双双坠进机关陷阱之中，二人肌肤相亲，赵敏对张无忌渐生爱意。

　　众到达少林后，惊见少林遭人血洗，还嫁祸于明教，张无忌知事态非比寻常，赶往武当营救。其后张无忌查悉一切乃赵敏所嫁祸，张无忌逼赵敏交出「黑玉断续膏」医治师叔俞岱岩，岂料张无忌一而再、再而三的被赵敏所骗，并为救人承诺为赵敏办三件事才取得真正药膏，张无忌对赵敏束手无策，却又觉赵敏没加害于己，竟泛起奇妙感觉。

　　金花婆婆为找到屠龙刀掳周芷若往灵蛇岛找谢逊，当张无忌知悉此事后，即前往助谢逊，而赵敏亦提出第一个要求，要张无忌带自己去看看屠龙刀，岂料当众人团聚时，众人竟身中十香软筋散，赵敏和屠龙刀、倚天剑同告失踪，而谢逊和周芷若亦受伤，珠儿更死去，张无忌鉴定是赵敏所下毒手，气恼多次被骗，同时周芷若更逼令张无忌手刃赵敏。张无忌等回大都后，终遇上赵敏，赵敏解释自己清白，但张无忌不再相信。其后张无忌为寻谢逊下落勇闯丐帮总坛，却见陈友谅胁持周芷若逼张无忌屈服，危急之际，黄衣少女从天而降制服谅，并带同前丐帮帮主遗孤史红石出现，揭穿陈友谅和成昆阴谋。

　　张无忌和周芷若拜堂之日，赵敏突出现说要求第二件事，不许张无忌成亲，并说谢逊有危险要张无忌停止拜堂，最终张无忌无奈随赵敏离去，周芷若悲愤交集，对张无忌恨之入骨，发誓与张无忌一刀两断。赵敏带张无忌至少林，原来成昆未死，故捉了谢逊困在少林，准备开屠狮大会，张无忌闯关力战三大神僧救谢逊，但谢逊感罪孽深重，未肯离开。屠狮大会上，周芷若有心当武林盟主，张无忌和周芷若交手，张无忌始终对周芷若愧疚，暗下相让。而二人合力救出谢逊后，周芷若欲对谢逊下杀手之际，黄衣少女又再出现，并以纯正九阴真经武功败周芷若，谢逊说出当日杀蛛儿、夺刀和下毒等乃周芷若所为时，周芷若欲杀人灭口同时，岂料埋藏在刀、剑内的秘密亦终于曝光……

杨逍：逍遥二仙之一光明左使者

　　风流潇洒、傲桀不凡、毋视世俗、有才略，但独断独行。出身富贵之家，幼年元兵犯境，举家侥幸逃过元兵截杀，但安于南方时，除杨逍外全家意外溺毙。杨逍天资聪颖，骨格精奇，后得奇遇，年轻时已武功极高，出道甚早，故江湖早闻其名。当年倚天剑还在武林高手孤鸿年手中时，二十岁的杨逍跟其交手，孤鸿年连拔剑的机会也没有就败于杨逍之下，如今武功更深不可测。及后加入明教，扶遥直上，不出三十已贵为左使，杨逍打理教务之余，仍不改其风流性格，直至遇上纪晓芙，一个从不理他，却又觉古板得可爱的女子，杨逍才有所改变。

　　起初杨逍祗视纪晓芙作调戏对象，但及后竟不自觉地恋上此女子。后来纪晓芙意外重伤，杨逍日行千里来回少林，苦战高僧取得圣丹救纪晓芙，纪晓芙得知后被杨逍深深感动。

　　可是当杨逍欲与纪晓芙成亲前，纪晓芙却对杨逍风流性格没信心，最后更瞒着杨逍俏俏离去。

　　自纪晓芙离开后，杨逍才明白最爱的是纪晓芙，杨逍并四处打探纪晓芙消息；可是纪晓芙却因不依灭绝师太指示杀杨逍，最后惨遭灭绝师太毒手。及后张无忌将纪晓芙女杨不悔护送给杨逍，杨逍既痛且喜，决倾注一切父爱照顾杨不悔。

范遥：逍遥二仙之一光明右使者

　　忠心耿耿，忍辱负重的硬汉，当他知明教有灭教之祸，不惜自毁容貌，装聋作哑，以苦头陀之名投身元室，成为汝阳王亲信。汝阳王爱女赵敏，自小随范遥习武，二人情同师徒，直到遇教主张无忌才恢复身份。

谢逊：四大法王之一金毛狮王

　　刚猛果敢，不拘世俗的豪杰，粗中有细，心思慎密，经过灭门的痛苦煎熬下，性情才变得偏激乖戾，但仍重情重义。少年甚有抱负，兼且资质聪敏，得成昆赏识收为徒弟，练得一身厉害武功，加入明教后，驱赶挞子，拯救黎民，很快已升为四大法王。直至成昆奸杀谢逊妻，灭谢逊全家，使谢逊痛不欲生后，才性情大变，誓血债血偿；谢逊两番找成昆报仇，可惜却连败两次，谢逊为提升武功，抢去腔恫派的七伤拳谱苦练，练成后欲再找成昆，奈何成昆竟消失江湖。谢逊唯有以成昆名义，如疯狗般四处杀人逼成昆现身，可是很快已被江湖人拆穿，反惹来全江湖震怒。更堕进成昆所设圈套，击毙少林僧空见。天鹰教举行扬刀立威大会，谢逊武功盖世，夺刀无人能阻，谢逊为找出屠龙刀秘密，强逼张翠山和殷素素同行前往孤岛思索，并以狮子吼震疯其余所有人。

　　船一直北上，大风暴骤起，谢逊突精神错乱，殷素素最终以银针打盲谢逊双眼，谢逊独自在一片漆黑的海上飘浮。幸运地飘至冰火岛，重遇张翠山和殷素素，张翠山出于同情心，出手救谢逊。谢逊得张翠山恩惠后，与张翠山更结拜兄弟，张无忌出生后，一家四口在岛上乐也融融，但谢逊心想张无忌不可在此终老，遂研究风向，看准时机，让张翠山、殷素素和张无忌乘木伐回中原。谢逊本在岛上乐得清静，岂料十数年后竟有人寻至，令本却平静渡过余生的谢逊，再次卷入腥风血雨的江湖恩怨。

金花婆婆：四大法王之一紫衫龙王

　　美艳绝伦，性情傲慢，波斯人，本名黛绮丝，明教波斯总坛圣女，奉命入中土明教偷取乾坤大挪移心法，未成事而恋上银叶先生，触犯圣女禁忌。为避波斯总坛中人追杀，偕丈夫易容隐姓，亡命天涯。

殷天正：四大法王之一白眉鹰王

　　严己律己，刚正不阿，为人行事一板一眼。自创天鹰教，只不过和教中兄弟不和，却也不是叛了明教，算是明教的一个支派。

韦一笑：四大法王之一青翼蝠王

　　诙谐幽默，是个逗趣的人物。因练内功时走火入魔，自此每次激引内力，必须饮一次人血，否则全身寒战，立时冻死。轻功了得，神龙见首不见尾。名叫「一笑」，他的笑声却是连绵不绝，何止百笑千笑？

明教五散人

　　布袋和尚说不得〈马兆刚饰〉，铁冠道人张中〈张春元饰〉，周颠〈李连义饰〉，冷面先生冷谦〈谢加起饰〉，彭和尚彭莹玉〈谢加起饰〉。

朱元璋

　　明教风阳分坛坛主，枭雄本色、城府极深，为成霸业不惜牺牲好友。

殷素素

　　天鹰教教主殷天正之女，才貌俱备，聪明伶俐，任性多情，敢爱敢恨。为夺得屠龙刀，而与武当三侠俞岱岩结下梁子，殷素素更用暗器打伤俞岱岩至使终生残废。另一方面，张翠山为了追查俞岱岩被害之事，而结识了殷素素，二人同赴王盘山，结果被谢逊强行带走，三人辗转抵达冰火岛。殷素素、张翠山更结成夫妇，并在岛上诞下一子名张无忌。后当夫妇二人带同张无忌回到中原，武林人仕纷纷前来逼问谢逊的下落，夫妇承受到沉重的压力之余，更要面对俞岱岩，迫于无奈之下，殷素素终向张翠山讲出自己就是害得俞岱岩终生残废的罪魁祸首，张翠山有感难于面对俞岱岩，遂横剑自刎，殷素素见此亦自刺而死，与夫共赴黄泉。

殷野王

　　天鹰教教主殷天正之子，张无忌舅舅，性情多变且又风流，对妹妹殷素素极为妒忌。本继父业出任天鹰教教主，几经波折被张无忌感化，终率领门人重投明教。

殷离（蛛儿）

　　性情古怪，为人偏激，任性专横，倔强痴性。殷野王的女儿，因父偏袒爱妾母子，反冷落蛛儿母女，一怒之下，杀死了二娘，母亲又为了救自己，而抹颈自尽，自此蛛儿与父脱离关系，四出流浪。

　　小时候曾与过张无忌相遇，张无忌因不肯跟随蛛儿往灵蛇岛，在蛛儿手上狠狠地的咬了一口，从此张无忌在蛛儿心目中留下了深刻印象。当蛛儿长大后与张无忌重逢，蛛儿因苦练千珠万毒手，令得容貌变丑，至使两人相逢而不相识。至蛛儿为张无忌而被朱长龄重创时，蛛儿问张无忌是否愿意娶自己为妻，张无忌想到蛛儿对己关怀之情，当下便应承，可惜在光明顶时二人又落入灭绝师太手上，张无忌再次与蛛儿失散。

　　蛛儿逃出生天后，与张无忌一起逃到一孤岛上，怎知周芷若暗算众人，设下毒计使蛛儿等人滞留在岛上，蛛儿最后更因缺乏药物，不治于小岛上。（其实是诈死）视张无忌为梦中情人，至死不渝。

张三丰

　　武当派创始人，一代宗师，气派雍容，胸襟广阔，目光远大。

宋远桥

　　继张三丰之后出任武当掌门，为人深谋远虑，惜教子无方，独子青书为情入歧途，险将武当毁灭。

张翠山

　　善良厚道，善恶分明，自幼拜张三丰为师，师徒情如父子，师兄弟情如手足。得承张三丰武术及为人处世之道，思想端正不歪，加上资质聪颖，廿来岁已练得一身高强武功，江湖人称铁划银勾张翠山张五侠。在查探三师兄俞岱岩遭人以大力金刚指断四肢筋脉途中，结识殷素素。时天鹰教举行「扬刀立威大会」，张翠山怀疑袭击俞岱岩的人可能是觊觎屠龙刀的人，故决定与殷素素一起前往大会。扬刀大会上，被谢逊强迫至冰火岛。十年后；与妻殷素素和子张无忌乘木伐回中原。岂料，四方八面即千方百计接近套取谢逊和屠龙刀下落；在张三丰大寿之日，各派赴武当，表面祝寿，实想质问谢逊所在，张翠山和殷素素为存忠义，维护谢逊而三缄其口，受逼不屈，各师兄弟亦誓与张翠山共存亡。但当张翠山知悉当年俞岱岩所以残废，竟因殷素素发蚊须针打俞岱岩而起，情义难全，张翠山最终愧疚而自刎当场。

殷梨亭

　　武当派弟子，忠义仁厚，对纪晓芙一片深情，纪晓芙失踪后仍未移情，后与杨逍之女杨不悔结合。

宋青书

　　武当派大弟子宋远桥独子，潇洒俊俏，因单恋周芷若而嫉恨张无忌，因之误入歧途。

灭绝师太

　　峨嵋派掌门人，心高气傲，性情刚烈，霸气十足，毕生愿望就是要使峨嵋一派压倒少林武当，领袖群雄，因之在公与私之间，有许多做法令人不敢苟同。

纪晓芙

　　聪明美丽，外刚内柔。灭绝师太爱徒，武当弟子殷梨亭未婚妻。失身于杨逍后出走，为与杨逍所生之女取名「不悔」，表示对杨逍别有一番情意。后拒绝为师父灭绝师太取杨逍首级而被杀。

赵敏

　　聪明绝顶、刁钻古怪，机智狠辣，敢爱敢恨，用情极深。蒙古郡主，汝阳王爱女，本名敏敏特穆尔。为帮助父亲扩张朝廷势力，欲破坏明教反抗朝廷之力，便假冒明教之名，四出与六大门派结怨，挑拨双方大战，另外又以假倚天剑诱使张无忌与明教等人到绿柳山庄，并用十香软筋散使众人失去内力，张无忌为取解药，与赵敏周旋，争持下二人同堕下地牢，赵敏与张无忌共处一室，一困生情。
其后赵敏乔装成张无忌，先到少林破坏，再上武当欲逼张三丰归顺朝廷，幸危急之际，张无忌出现把赵敏退走，可是众人已身中剧毒，张无忌逼赵敏交出解药，但赵敏要张无忌答应自己三个要求。

　　赵敏的第一个要求是要与张无忌一同到灵蛇岛一睹屠龙刀及找寻谢逊踪迹，可是众人到达后竟身中赵敏的独门药「十香软筋散」，赵敏更被人陷害夺去屠龙刀及倚天剑，并杀害蛛儿。

　　赵敏清楚一切乃谁所为，但无凭无据，最后唯有孤注一掷。就在张无忌周芷若成亲之日，大斗喜堂，更以谢逊的下落要胁张无忌，并要张无忌立即停止成亲，与自己上少林救谢逊，最后赵敏虽计谋得逞，但与张无忌的感情却是波折重重。

王保保

　　本名库库特穆尔是汝阳王的世子。

幽冥二老

　　鹿杖客〈杜玉明饰〉、鹤笔翁〈晋　松饰〉

成昆

　　武学奇才、聪明机智、有勇有谋；可惜器量狭小、城府甚深。少年时拜师学艺，外号混元霹雳手，名震江湖。成昆师妹和成昆两家为世交，青梅竹马，成昆一心娶师妹为妻。但明教教主阳顶天也私恋成昆师妹，师妹父母乃势利之徒，贪图阳顶天名利，终让女儿嫁给阳顶天，成昆睛天霹雳，誓言杀阳顶天方泄心头之恨。成昆师妹念成昆旧情，暗地与成昆在明教秘道私会，而成昆心知非阳顶天敌手，故一直隐藏身份做其便宜情夫。岂料阳顶天练功时，惊见二人幽会，竟走火入魔身亡，成昆师妹愧疚相继自杀，成昆悲痛欲绝，既末能手刃阳顶天，又痛失所爱，奈何明教仍横行霸道，愤然发誓要覆灭明教。

　　成昆随后发现爱徒谢逊已成明教中人，心生一计，奸杀谢逊妻及灭谢逊全家，谢逊痛不欲生。为报仇，苦练七伤拳，在找成昆的过程被其设计，使明教成武林大敌，成昆更投靠少林以圆真法号从中推波助澜，使六大派围攻光明顶一举歼灭绝师太明教，完成多年誓言，最后自食恶果。

杨不悔

　　杨逍与纪晓芙之女，纯真善良，对殷梨亭心怀愧疚，为替父母赎罪，以身相许。

小昭

　　天真无邪，俏皮可爱，精通五行八卦之术，金花婆婆之女，奉母之命潜入明教。对张无忌因崇拜而爱慕，虽知他心有所属，仍无怨无悔地随侍张无忌左右。

倚天屠龙记　

作者：金庸
下载（1,166KB）

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第01章　天涯思君不可忘
第02章　武当山顶松柏长
第03章　宝刀百炼生玄光

第04章　字作丧乱意彷徨
第05章　皓臂似玉梅花妆
第06章　浮槎北溟海茫茫

第07章　谁送冰舸来仙乡
第08章　穷发十载泛归航
第09章　七侠聚会乐未央

第10章　百岁寿宴摧肝肠
第11章　有女长舌利如枪
第12章　针其膏兮药其肓

第13章　不悔仲子逾我墙
第14章　当道时见中山狼
第15章　奇谋秘计梦一场

第16章　剥极而复参九阳
第17章　青翼出没一笑扬
第18章　倚天长剑飞寒铓

第19章　祸起萧墙破金汤
第20章　与子共穴相扶将
第21章　排难解纷当六强

第22章　群雄归心约三章
第23章　灵芙醉客绿柳庄
第24章　太极初传柔克刚

第25章　举火燎天何煌煌
第26章　俊貌玉面甘毁伤
第27章　百尺高塔任回翔

第28章　恩断义绝紫衫王
第29章　四女同舟何所望
第30章　东西永隔如参商

第31章　刀剑齐失人云亡
第32章　冤蒙不白愁欲狂
第33章　箫长琴短衣流黄

第34章　新妇素手裂红裳
第35章　屠狮有会孰为殃
第36章　夭矫三松郁青苍

第37章　天下英雄莫能当
第38章　君子可欺之以方
第39章　秘笈兵书此中藏

第40章　不识张郎是张郎

后记

Competing for Roles in Red Chamber Dreams

2007-06-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

周岭判词给旭丹的诗中所说的“新茶”是让她演妙玉。公布判词时也是
周岭在比赛前两小时就一个人把九个演员的判词写好了，他把他自己一人的审美硬塞给大家。他在宣布判词的时候，是按第一名、第二名、第三名的次序来着。先说程媛媛，再说闵春晓，最后说李旭丹，就是说出了名次的顺序。在他的眼里，程是第一，闵第二，李第三。同理，先读了姚笛的判词再读白和杨的。说明他觉得姚是宝钗第一。之前的比赛，都是按序号或是左右站位来先后评比各人的。所以读完判词，就可以知道评委周与邓他们的想法了。先读谁，谁就是他们心中的冠军。看周岭的判词给旭丹的诗中所说的“新茶”是让她演妙玉。妙玉在书中的出场就这么两出，就是给大家喝她的茶。所以他不喜欢旭丹。当他和邓、英达在读判词的时候，我看杨澜的脸，胡玫的脸、田原鸿的脸都好沉，都不满这结果。大家不信可以看明天的重播。有趣的是当胡玫宣布结果的时候，那三个评委的头都不知道在干吗，低头的低头，不看舞台的不看舞台。是不同意导演的结果的。在十一进八的黛玉组比赛中，李旭丹表演的困乏是伸懒腰，是十分到位的表演，但在那三个评委的眼里，竟觉得不好。我那时就知道评委不喜欢旭丹。比较周之前对程媛媛的答题（园子里最值钱的两件衣服是哪两件？程媛媛只说出半件）周马上就给她满分十分，而对旭丹今天的回答，却说一点不对（李的题目大家都看到了，她还是打出了主要内容的）。对两人的回答有着不同的评价标准。他可是一定要说李不好的，否则怎么对的起之前就写好的判词呢？怎么对的起之前比赛对旭丹的评价呢？他在四进三的比赛中，程媛媛明明没说对，还说她对，因为当时的所有选手都回答出了问题，要是说程媛媛不对，程媛媛就有进不了三强的可能了，可怜的高洋，明明比程媛媛回答的准确，最后被周给隐形淘汰了，大家别怪大众评审把高洋淘汰，是周岭在暗中帮了程媛媛的忙。人都有最初的影像，第一眼喜欢谁了，就多半会一直喜欢，没办法，周一开始就喜欢程媛媛，所以今天的比赛比了也是白比，他早定下了。邓也不是好人，她在决赛前就知道李是第三，所以说她演的不好，凭良心说，谁可以在那么嘈杂的环境里说哭就哭的，演的不好，但也不差吧。还是杨澜为李旭丹说了句真话。杨澜在周上台唠叨的时候，表情很不好，她也不同意评委的结果呢。胡玫周围的同事们，在周上台的时候，个个表情严肃，在胡玫宣布结果的时候，都在开心的交谈。说明大家都不认同周、邓自己极具个人色彩的评比结果。胡玫周围做的都是见过世面的，有各方面经验的大人物啊！最终胡玫宣布的结果肯定不会是她一个人的意见，而是投资方（包括中影的老总韩三平）等等高官的意见。没见胡宣布的时候，田原鸿很高兴吗？她是日日和选手相处的人，她对导演的判断是认同的。说明李旭丹生活中就是黛玉啊，虽然李是有不足的地方（普通话稍有不准），但大家注意没，胡玫在宣布的时候，不知是不是紧张，也有点普通话不准的啊，呵呵，所以导演说了要给旭丹培训。人无完人，如果87版的那帮子演员现在来参加比赛，也会有不足，不是所有人都能达成共识的，中国这么大，有喜欢李的，自然就有喜欢程的，喜欢闵的。关键是如果不喜欢，不看就好了，没必要说些恶毒的话来攻击。艺术人生曾播过一期节目—－－－就是红楼重聚首，当中有播出当时的影响资料。如果大家有看就知道了，演宝钗的张莉说的话也不是一般的普通话，有口音的。如果这事搁在如今，不喜欢她的人势必又要大肆辱骂一番了。陈晓旭现实生活中的声音也不是很柔和，是配音的。说明人无完人，大家要多包涵点，都是喜欢红楼的人，这点涵养是要有的。当然喜欢一个人，不喜欢一个人，我没法改变您的观点，建议喜欢这最终结果的，就等着看戏，不喜欢的，就干点别的事，没必要再说李不好的话了。还有姚笛，明明今天是旁边的男选手给帮的答题，但周和邓硬是要给她第一。怪不得英达要把事前就把判词写好的事公布出来，英达的意思是这事和他没关，大家不要也把他给一起骂进。胡玫可能也不满意姚的，但协商很可能是大家各保一名选手，要定黛玉的最终人选，可能就把宝钗的决定权给交换了，看的出胡是相当看好李旭丹的，李的胜出，应该是当代人对中国传统文化的一种肯定，李可是古筝十级，会下围棋，会画国画啊，不管她的长相，就这种才情当代80后出生的孩子们有几个能做到呢？大家喜欢她的，不喜欢她的，觉得她长相不好的，请自问，是不是这样呢？她的胜出，应该是为许多不知红楼为何物的年轻人起了好的示范作用，原来除了泡吧，K歌，年轻人还可以把老祖宗留下的中华文明渊源流长下去。我想她的胜出，已经不是单单演一个电视剧主演的事了，而是让我这年届三十的老女人认识到了古典的美，正如闵春晓评价的，闵春晓真是个了不起的人，仗义直言，不怕得罪任何人。现在能做到实话实说的人还还真不多了。希望她在剧中演出成功。最后一句话：姚真的不象宝钗，还是蔡飞雨脸若银盆，眼如杏啊。姚的脸中间那段有点凹进去，不象圆圆的盆子。潜水这么久，是第一次打这么多的字，请多指正。如果是来骂人的，就请回吧

作者： 58.34.131.* 2007-6-10 00:54 　回复此发言

“李可是古筝十级，会下围棋，会画国画啊，不管她的长相，就这种才情当代80后出生的孩子们有几个能做到呢？”
————————————————————
选谁本人不感兴趣，您是不是一个托儿也无所谓，但您这样年届三十的女人侮辱80年代后生人，我表示强烈抗议！
中国文革一代，毁损了传统文化，会琴棋书画的不是多了，而是少了。您问胡导她会什么？反而是80年代后生的人，学习琴棋书画的大有人在（为了考学等目的，也因为有了经济支持），古筝十级算什么？现在多数都是评委出来办班，然而就给自己的学生评级的，一点都不神秘，至于说学过，您问问大一点城市的小学，哪个没学个三门四门的。您年届三十，还自称老女人，大咧咧地讲传统文化，连今天社会的事情都不明白，胡说什么？

作者： 202.108.59.* 2007-6-10 01:05 　回复此发言

“李可是古筝十级，会下围棋，会画国画啊，不管她的长相，就这种才情当代80后出生的孩子们有几个能做到呢？”
选谁本人不感兴趣，您是不是一个托儿也无所谓，但您这样年届三十的女人侮辱80年代后生人，我表示强烈抗议！
中国文革一代，毁损了传统文化，会琴棋书画的不是多了，而是少了。您问胡导她会什么？反而是80年代后生的人，学习琴棋书画的大有人在（为了考学等目的，也因为有了经济支持），古筝十级算什么？现在多数都是评委出来办班，然而就给自己的学生评级的，一点都不神秘，至于说学过，您问问大一点城市的小学，哪个没学个三门四门的。您年届三十，还自称老女人，大咧咧地讲传统文化，连今天社会的事情都不明白，胡说什么？

作者： 202.108.59.* 2007-6-10 01:04 　回复此发言

6楼，说的80后很多都有才艺这点我同意，不管是兴趣的还是有目的的，我也是80后的。但是能够学习戏曲的孩子确实比较苦，我的一个小学同学，他学京剧的（小学都没上完就被选拔走了，在春晚上看到过他，那时还是一个小龙套，不知道何时能成角），戏曲从小练习，非常的苦，我的同学从上幼儿园的时候就开始练功，而且因为男生要经历变声期，所以前途非常渺茫。能学出来真的很不容易，所以请大家不要看不起学戏的。
推荐你看看《霸王别姬》

另外，您一上来就说“您是不是一个托儿也无所谓”，这句有点让人厌烦，好像是成心这么提的，难道出来为ＬＸＤ说话的就势必要被检验一下是不是托儿？？？？

楼主言之有物心态也很平和写得好赞一个
我们不可能让所有人都喜欢丹丹现在网上骂丹丹的人里有些是内心的阴暗无处宣泄他们丹丹就只有纯粹的辱骂和疯狂的人身攻击还有一些是对选手和比赛的过程根本不了解看了几张照片和几篇报道就出来说事这一部分人对丹丹则是嗤之以鼻对于前一部分人我们无可奈何但是后一部分人我希望丹丹能在以后用完美的表演去征服他们挑剔的眼睛丹丹的外型相对黛玉来说确实有些瑕疵就是脸盘略大下巴过尖但是我想这些都可以通过化妆以及镜头来解决或者可以通过手术都不是大问题重要的是能看到丹丹明前茶一样的眼眸与黛玉的灵魂的重叠那是多么美好的一件事

作者： 60.178.73.* 2007-6-10 02:09 　回复此发言

判词解
姚笛,-- 秦可卿
金钗十二楼的词曲是秦可卿,"生小香闺"也是指秦可卿

白冰,-- 元春,"一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂"
若能"洗尽铅华"就是
--宝钗

杨舒婷 --?

程媛媛 -- ?

闵春晓 --黛玉
判词四句都是写黛玉的.

李旭丹 -?

徐垚 - 柳湘涟

张迪 - 薛蟠
车缙 - 秦种(情种音)

作者： 210.72.205.* 2007-6-10 02:20 　回复此发言

----要花钱、要费力排演07版《红楼梦》，韩、胡能不关注吗？如果真是这样，说给谁听也不会相信！―――按照程序而言，胡导完全是根据前面选拔出来的三甲来进行最后选人、用人的（注意：我这里的“选人”和“用人”二词），一点问题也没有。
轰轰烈烈的《红》剧选秀以来，只要关心这次活动的每一个人都能清楚感受到，历经这么长时间的PK，几乎都是评委和群众在讲、在议、在吵、在闹、在争论―――，而准备出钱、准备领衔导演的韩一平先生、胡玫女士等一干人很少说话，很少出面，顶多在关键时刻、在出现偏差时说一句。
其实，胡导等人并非一点也不关心这次选秀，据我本人（某剧组的演职人员）了解的情况知，胡导几乎对选秀的每一场都很认真的过目了，而且派出了摄制组、“心腹”以及不讲一句话的资深专家（每场均有）－－－以接受最真实的、公正、公平的信息
―――
还是要回到11进8那场讲讲――这是一场推翻了前面胡导得到正面情况、出人意料的场面。由此更加引起了胡导（包括韩总）的重视。―――人们一定会记忆忧新：（胡导派人摄制的镜头回放）那种极不公正的评分场面，那些个别“嘉宾”语无伦次的评议，那些突如其来的令人尴尬，―――相反，看看被当场淘汰的演员，个个都表现的那样优秀，讲出来的话句句真切而感人，他（她）们没有痛哭流涕，没有怨天怨地，他（她）们淡定的表现，其实已经超越了自己的PK，确实折服了演艺界的很多人，无不为之动容，这些韩、胡和我们远在异地的同志都看到了，一个非常刚毅的女性，满含热泪地讲“再这样下去是不行的”－－－请大家想想吧，为什么会有今天的结局，尽管这个结局议论复杂，难道要怪拯救这次选秀圆满结束的韩、胡们吗？
议论是可以有分歧的，但是，做人确实是要公正的、正直的！更是不能夹杂私心的！

作者： 221.223.97.* 2007-6-10 07:55 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211601145

看了今天的比赛结果，我来揭姚笛的老底
顶一个！我相信姚笛黑幕的存在！一直潜水，今天忍不住要骂出声来！这个人的人品我实在是不敢恭维！我不是任何人的粉丝，只是就事论事说说发生在我们身边的姚笛的事件。我跟她有过两个月的合作和接触，我只是一个剧组的工作人员，她当然也不会记得我是谁。这个老女人对待投资方的人极尽讨好献媚之能事，但是同在一个剧组的工作人员就没有那么幸运了，每天被她不放在眼里都已经成为了习惯。最不能容忍的是那次的拍摄结束后由于几个部门的疏忽，多给了一集戏的片酬给姚笛，人家没吭声装着钱就走人了。后来被制片方发现才及时追回了那几千块钱。真是区区几千块钱就可以看出一个人的人品啊！再后来就与在圈内被称为“独蛋英雄”的Y姓制片主任有过什么样的交往就不得而知了。紧接着又不知谁赞助了她一部雷克萨斯的座驾。试想，一个天天要想着怎么解决温饱问题的北漂演员凭什么能耐买得起这样的座驾？况且她又不是什么富贵人家的女儿！再后来，06年6月的一天，她的座驾在北京朝阳区与别的车追尾。再再后来，有别的制片方有新剧开拍准备启用姚笛向我打听她的联系方式，我把在剧组里亲历的一切都如实汇报给众投资方。或许水滴们看了此文又叫嚣着说我这是在恶意诋毁选手，空穴来风捕风捉影，不过我可以给你们一个电话自己去求证！相信其中有的水滴是知道她的电话的。姚笛的电话：1368×××8×××（出于道德底线我没有完全公布号码），只是希望姚笛不要做的太过份，否则像我这样的小人会一直毁你毁下去的！这个小人我是当定了！

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211593856

今晚黛玉组的评选是最让人服气的!!
黛玉组李旭丹胜出是最让人信服的了,可能是黛玉组总体水平偏低吧,所以旭丹胜出是理所当然的事.另两个可能有陈晓旭的影子才被看好吧,其实87版的黛玉演员选的就不是很成功,不要因为关于陈晓旭的新闻最近很多就认为她的黛玉是最好的.要知道在曹公的原著里黛玉应美于宝钗,但在87版里陈扮的黛玉实在不如张莉扮的宝钗.这次评选总算没让观众们瞎掺活,而是严肃地由红学家和导演共同决定,于是才有了旭丹的名至实归!可喜可贺!旭丹再训练一下儿,再减下肥,旭丹并不胖,但林妹妹应有点病态的瘦美,所以要减下肥,我相信旭丹的黛玉一定会超越陈晓旭的黛玉!以前我总对新拍红剧感到不安,现在看来制片方是严肃的,我对新拍红楼梦充满期待!
宝钗组姚笛胜出,不能说意外,但并不是象旭丹那样名至实归,因为白冰一点不比好差,甚至是宝钗的气质上,白冰更胜一筹,不知为什么胡玫不选白冰?不过姚的胜出有一个好处就是使新红楼的演员阵容更合理了,因为在红剧中黛玉一定要美过宝钗,是十二钗之首,这个前提必须遵守!
宝玉应是有女孩气的公子哥,扮成女妆站到十二钗中一点不逊色才行,并且宝玉才十五六岁,经常在贾母怀里撒娇,所以除一定要长得俊之外个子一定要不能太高,男子气概在宝玉角色倒无关紧要.

作者：爱与美 2007-6-10 00:08 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211585172

周岭心中的宝黛钗
宝钗：蔡飞雨
看飞雨短篇时，主持人最后说的话还记得吗？“飞雨也是周岭、王铁生等红学家看好的宝钗”，而且周岭给飞雨的打分一直都是满分，每次点评评价也较高。这一点上，他和大家是一致的。飞雨败在没后台，宝钗组选手后台实力太强大，姚笛、白冰都是撼不动的大树，胡导也不例外。姚笛演宝钗实在是别扭。
黛玉：闵春晓
没有任何争议，周岭老师最看好的黛玉就是闵春晓，他也认为程的形象比较接近黛玉，但有晓旭在前，程身上有太多晓旭的影子，很难超越。春晓的性情气质才学，骨子里透着黛玉的气息，看看他给春晓的判词：茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。白雪歌残恨自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。前三句都是对黛玉的描写，其实也是春晓的真实写照，她的才情她的淡定她的冷傲都是其他选手所不及的，不正似赤霞宫中的绛姝仙草吗？旭丹赢在强大的粉丝团，513后丹粉们掀起的复活大潮炒红了旭丹，从而被胡导相中。本是秦淮桃叶渡，只是指旭丹来自南京，应该没有没有别的意思。周岭老师是有素质的人，不会对选手有贬低之意。
宝玉：应该是张迪吧，不过周岭老师对徐垚的宝玉也给与了肯定，此生才艺算无绸，徐垚的宝玉应该是最有才的宝玉。

作者： 219.150.172.* 2007-6-10 08:15 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211656031

【结束】永远支持李旭丹和闵春晓这样干净纯洁的孩子
看到最后选手支持的片子大家都看到了，有人有大明星的支持，有人有市级领导的支持。

但是闵春晓只有爸爸妈妈的镜头，不管怎么说，我当时真的很感动。
李旭丹比闵春晓稍微好一点，有在广场上的阿姨敲锣打鼓的支持，但是两个条幅，普通老百姓的支持也远远比不上名人领导的排场。

黛玉组不管选出谁来恐怕都会挨骂。
之前判词时，有人发帖说是程媛媛中了，于是就有人开始骂她。但是紧接着答案揭晓了，我竟然看到“大家别骂了程媛媛了，黛玉是别人”这样可笑的帖子。
是别人，所以就去骂别人好了，我真不知道这是程媛媛和闵春晓的幸运还是不幸。这才是当代人最可悲的阴暗心理，不管什么脏话都敢骂。你要是骂那些有明星大腕支持的选手我也就不说什么了。但是看到李旭丹的片子，9岁穿着不太漂亮的小裙子在院子里练习葬花，在台上卖力的演出，我真不知道你们怎么骂得出口？？？？？

很多人都用丑来形容她。骂她丑的不如都拿出照片来让大家看看您有多漂亮？？？您那么漂亮咋不去参赛呢？？？？
选秀到现在，绝对没有丑女！

你可以说她的不足，但是请不要用侮辱性的语言，请不要以偏概全。

作者：颦之穆凝 2007-6-10 00:45 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211598440

说旭丹不美的人
我也觉得LXD离林MM有差距，但好在气质上还算接近的。其他的好像更不靠谱。

至于旭丹不美，我觉得是化妆的问题，她在上海的决赛的那一场的妆就很漂亮。建议大家去看看。下面有人贴她唱越剧的几个照片，但是戏曲表演的妆本来就要以浓为特色，看看京剧演员脸上的粉有多厚就知道了。而LXD好像偏偏更适合淡妆。当年张莉本是紫鹃组的，但上了适合她的妆以后却异常漂亮，因此得到宝姐姐的角色。杨舒婷演宋美龄的妆又是一明证，可见妆上的对了，可塑性是很大的。

另外徐三土在他的博客里也说了，LXD生活里是很美的，可惜的是十分不上镜。

至于说黑幕，如果LXD是有后台的，刘义伟绝对不会当着LXD的面说她能够复活是因为LXR退出了，因为这样说无异于当面给了LXD一个耳光，也就相当于给了她的后台一个耳光。而且LXD被淘汰时，有4位宝玉给她写文章，其他黛玉组选手没有得到这样的待遇吧？难不成这些宝玉选手也被她收买了？还有春晓也惋惜她的离去。

LXD是个只有18岁的女孩。我希望那些口出脏言的人好好想想，如果是你只有18岁的女儿或者妹妹这样被人辱骂，你心头是什么滋味？那我们给这些年轻女孩更多鼓励吧。辱人者必自辱。

不要动不动就把所有支持LXD的人说成她的托。我身在美国，不可能去做她的托。而且我也不认为她的林MM的最佳人选，只是比别的强些。

作者： 68.61.157.* 2007-6-10 04:30 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211635108
不期梦到赤霞宫春晓终会化幽草
根据周岭的判词分析：仅凭最后一句“不期梦到赤霞宫”就可以推断他的建议是让春晓演黛玉；而对旭丹的判词则明显表示建议旭丹演妙玉。其实现在宝玉待定，春晓还有时间表现自己，当年陈晓旭也不是第一人选。现在才发现：晓旭不是化成了春晓旭丹吗？晓旭，晓旭，晓在前，黛玉还是该由你来演，命里有时终需有，春晓，支持你！

作者： 221.7.85.* 2007-6-10 00:44 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211598165

■■●大家似乎还没明白导演组的苦心？？！！
07版的思路就是颠覆，颠覆，彻底的颠覆！彻底颠覆87版，重新来一个红楼梦！！而不是活在87版的影子里。

所以选出的姚笛要远比87版的宝钗要美艳（87版的宝钗根本不能说艳冠群芳）
李旭单要比陈晓序要温柔，让人怜爱！！（87版的太尖酸刻薄，一点不可爱）

大家还没明白导演的苦心吗？？

如果不能超出87版，还照87版选，那还有必要重拍吗？？？

作者： 58.35.154.* 2007-6-10 00:57 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211601917

宝钗组
姚笛
生小香闺性自柔，--说姚笛小巧柔美
也宜春色也宜秋。--说可以演“三春之一”，也可演“秋”
平生万种缠绵意，--进一步解释“秋”指的是：秦可卿
都在金钗十二楼。--意思是总能演个十二钗之一

白冰
一支浓艳冠群芳，--“浓艳”代牡丹花，“冠群芳”也是宝钗的特点
蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂。--是说有很多外在的东西“耀”着她，“绕拥”否定。
但使铅华能洗尽，--是说如果能能把这些不完美的“铅华（黑色的光华）”洗去。
蘅芜苑里自流香。--薛宝钗一角自然给她留着。

杨舒婷
亭亭玉立暗香舒，
起舞堂前意自如。
几次浮沉终不悔，
青云之上见通途。
--这首不太懂，好象只是在说杨舒婷，和宝钗没什么关系。也许也是暗示她和宝钗不相干。

黛玉组
程媛媛：
分付东风莫浪吹，--“东风”是不是在说程媛媛借助东风（短信）而上
葬花溪畔浣花迟。--“畔”就是旁边，“迟”也是否定，是说她在“浣花”而不是“葬花”，那就是说她把黛玉理解偏了，演错了。
前身合是潇湘月，--是说长的象陈晓旭
洒向人间知不知。--“知不知”重点是“不知”，那就是说她不知林黛玉

闵春晓：
茜纱窗下理丝桐，--“茜纱窗”有典故，是明说晴雯暗写黛玉，“理丝桐”是弹琴，好象闵春晓表演过弹古琴。那就是说闵春晓像黛玉
寒彻花间锦绣丛。--此句有鹤立鸡群之意
白雪歌残恨自赏，--此句有孤芳自赏之意，“残、恨”有否定的意思，说闵春晓的傲气太过了。
不期梦到赤霞宫。--“不期”不久，“赤霞宫”代贾宝玉。连在一起就是说：不久之后在红楼梦中会见到宝玉，那该是要她出演黛玉。

李旭丹：
十年阆苑梦仙葩，--旭丹九岁开始梦红楼，演黛玉
梦里颦颦雾里花。--“颦颦”“雾里花”都有眼泪，可能是说她一路坎坷
本是秦淮桃叶渡，--“桃叶渡”有典故，红楼梦中有这一段是说明迎春，可能是说她象迎春。另外桃叶是王焕之的爱妾，也可能说她没有大家闺秀的气质。
眸中一点似新茶。--新茶应该是和妙玉有关，妙两次出场都是喝茶。而且妙玉最后落入风尘，这样能合上上一句的“秦淮”。

徐：
柳二怡红一脉流,--说柳香莲和宝同出一折，也就是说他更适合柳香莲
此生才艺算无绸。
殷勤问到芙蓉冷,
赚得多情更转眸。

张迪：
子弟原来纨绔中，--“纨绔”红楼梦中宝玉的代名词之一
无聊心绪逐东风。--“东风”这里应该还是在说短信票数，说张迪后来也无聊的把心思放在了追逐短信票数上
平生一种真才学，--说他是有真才实学的，暗示他不要把心思用错了地方
恰与怡红意态同。--“恰”正好，“意同”神似，“态同”型似。说张迪正好与宝玉神型相同。（这应该是周岭给了张迪一个完全的肯定。）

车缙：
情痴情种是谁人，--“情种”指的是秦钟，设问句：谁是秦钟？
绛帐春风我自珍。--“我自珍”非我莫属，就是说秦钟一角非车缙莫属
募地一声何满子，
原来旧梦有前因。

这里周岭每组给出的名单顺序都是2、1、3，是一和含蓄的排序方法，那么周岭等几个委的意思就很明确了
宝、黛、钗人选就是张迪、闵春晓、白冰

程媛媛
分付东风莫浪吹——借纳兰容若的诗来形容媛媛受到的不公我觉得东风的意思是万事俱备只欠东风的东风而莫浪吹意思是东风无用也就是说评委的意见是微不足道的
葬花溪畔浣花迟——葬花明明在园中为何在溪畔？听到这句时我有点犹豫但浣花迟意思是不是说已经无力回天？此句充满惋惜在别的选手的判词中是感受不到的
前身合是潇湘月——不必多言~意思很明了
洒向人间知不知——千里马常有而伯乐在何处？

总评：判词是说媛媛才是黛玉的不二人选这是评委的意思也是莫浪吹的东风

李旭丹

十年阆苑梦仙葩——丹演了十年的林黛玉却仅仅和黛玉之魂梦中相见意思是她不具有黛玉之魂
梦里颦颦雾里花——第二句同意颦笑皆在梦中如水中花镜中月华而不实
本是秦淮桃叶渡——借喻旭丹家乡在南京桃叶歌说明旭丹果然背景不凡灯船萧鼓了~
眸中一点似新茶——胡玫的话说她的眼睛像清明节前的茶叶

总评：评委已经知道结果了但评委们认为丹和黛玉相距甚远最后一句也道出了评委的无奈在现在看来这句也不失为一种讽刺！

闵春晓

茜纱窗下理丝桐——丫鬟晴雯
寒彻花间锦绣丛——与众不同独有的清冷味
白雪歌残恨自赏——阳春白雪孤芳自赏不能不让人想到妙玉
不期梦到赤霞宫——到头来缘如此人难为

总评：给春晓的判词也充满着遗憾和无奈从判词看来春晓适合妙玉或晴雯但似乎妙玉更多些

车缙：
情痴情种是谁人----------红楼中天下第一天情痴第一天情种还用问吗？当然是宝玉
绛帐春风我自珍。----------宝玉别号绛洞花主，绛账再一次说明是宝玉
募地一声何满子， -----------来自一声何满子,双泪落君前的典故。指伤心吧
原来旧梦有前因。 -----------旧梦前因，当然指木石前盟

茜纱窗下理丝桐——丫鬟晴雯
寒彻花间锦绣丛——与众不同独有的清冷味
白雪歌残恨自赏——阳春白雪孤芳自赏不能不让人想到妙玉
不期梦到赤霞宫——到头来缘如此人难为

总评：给春晓的判词也充满着遗憾和无奈从判词看来春晓适合妙玉或晴雯但似乎妙玉更多些

作者：魍花花 2007-6-10 03:34 　回复此发言
------------------------------
这个也不对，茜纱窗是黛玉的窗。玉道:"原稿在那里?倒要细细一读.长篇大论,不知说的是什么,只听见中间两句,什么`红绡帐里, 公子多情,黄土垄中,女儿薄命.'这一联意思却好,只是`红绡帐里'未免熟滥些. 放着现成真事, 为什么不用?"宝玉忙问:"什么现成的真事?"黛玉笑道:"咱们如今都系霞影纱糊的窗, 何不说`茜纱窗下,公子多情'呢?"
看原文，黛玉说咱们如今都系霞影纱糊的窗。黛玉的窗是茜纱。

茜纱窗下理丝桐——在茜纱窗下弹琴，不是黛玉是谁？
寒彻花间锦绣丛——与众不同独有的清冷味
白雪歌残恨自赏——阳春白雪孤芳自赏（这两个同意）
不期梦到赤霞宫——赤霞宫是神瑛侍者的居所（宝玉下凡前的地方），借指宝玉，
全诗是说黛玉在窗下弹琴，自怜自爱。不经意在梦中与宝玉相见。
完全是把闵比作黛玉了嘛，评委的意见是闵是黛玉。

葬花溪畔浣花迟该句应是指前有晓旭，所以媛媛来的迟了。后面两句如魍花花所言，媛媛前世本就是黛玉化身，如今来到人间你胡玫知不知道啊？
李旭丹的判词可能是借宝琴的桃叶渡怀古，暗喻她应该演迎春。可参照蔡义江的考证。

我忽然在想这是不周岭给这些选手的暗示，让他们更加努力，最后会有意外结果。
蘅芜苑里自流香。--薛宝钗一角自然给她留着。
不期梦到赤霞宫。--“不期”不久，“赤霞宫”代贾宝玉。连在一起就是说：不久之后在红楼梦中会见到宝玉，那该是要她出演黛玉。
恰与怡红意态同。--“恰”正好，“意同”神似，“态同”型似。说张迪正好与宝玉神型相同。（这应该是周岭给了张迪一个完全的肯定。）

红楼中，只有林黛玉一人的窗是茜纱，连凤姐都没见识过。请看判词
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残恨自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。
----------------------
全诗说她在茜纱窗下弹琴，多少凄冷便百花都感到寒意
白雪歌残自怜自爱，不经意梦中又与宝玉相见（赤霞宫是神瑛侍者住的地方）
茜纱窗乃贾母为黛玉更换的窗纱，这是一种很名贵的纱，连凤姐都没见过。在刘姥姥那回，贾母专门讲了这事的。

看这九首，有个特点，只有合意的才完全用书中角色背景来写。
其他选手很多判词是讲现实中的事，而不是红楼中的。　　
子弟原来纨绔中，无聊心绪逐东风,------是说张迪家境比较好吧，无聊才来参加海选

平生一种真才学，恰与怡红意态同-------不过还是有真才实学的。这一点与怡红公子贾宝玉相似。

姚迪
生小香闺性自柔，也宜春色也宜秋。
平生万种缠绵意，都在金钗十二楼。

解:姚笛的形象气质是闺秀型,十二钗她大都能演.

白冰
一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂。
但使铅华能洗尽，衡芜苑里自留香。

解:此宝钗也.

杨舒婷
亭亭玉立暗香舒，起舞堂前意自如。
几次浮沉终不悔，青云之上见通途。

解:安慰奖,鼓励她不要放弃.

程媛媛
分付东风莫浪吹，葬花溪畔浣花迟。
前身合是潇湘月，洒向人间知不知。

解:当是潇湘人选.

闵春晓
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残惟自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。

解:茜纱窗下理丝桐?梦到赤霞,暗指与黛玉合.似是晴雯.

李旭丹
十年阆苑觅仙葩，梦里颦颦梦里花。
家本秦淮桃叶渡，醉中一点似新茶。

解:指李的梨园寻梦,赞她清新.未必说她可演妙玉,不过我倒觉得李更适合演妙玉.且妙玉和渡与茶有暗联.

徐垚
柳二怡红一脉流，此生才艺算无俦。
殷勤问到芙蓉冷，赚得多情更转眸。

解:柳湘莲人选.我喜欢的.

张迪
子弟原来纨绔中，无聊心绪逐东风。
平生一种真才学，恰与怡红意态同。

解:怡红公子不二人选.

车缙
情痴情种是谁人，绛帐春风我自珍。
幕地一声河满子，原来旧梦有前因。

解: 未体会出来.关键在这个河满子.
姚迪
生小香闺性自柔，也宜春色也宜秋．平生万种缠绵意，都在金钗十二楼
此女　性情温柔和顺，正是那万种温柔缠绵，才合了那金陵１２钗中的痴情怨女）
白冰
一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂。
但使铅华能洗尽，衡芜苑里自留香。
（你的艳丽可以压倒所有的女子，有很多的明星助阵，让你闪耀舞台，但想在衡芜院里将那冷香留下，还须洗尽这现代的繁华啊）
杨舒婷
亭亭玉立暗香舒，起舞堂前意自如。
几次浮沉终不悔，青云之上见通途。
（你亭亭玉立（暗指其名）散发清香，在舞台上的舞蹈潇洒自如，几次沉浮你都不放弃，但是你要知道，以你的才华可以青云直上前途不可限量，但是红楼梦却不适合你，尤其薛宝钗）
程媛媛
分付东风莫浪吹，葬花溪畔浣花迟。前身合是潇湘月，
洒向人间知不知。
（既然陈小旭已经逝去，成为过去就不要在影随与她了，她先于你你却已经迟了一步＿＿＿对与这个角色，她的林黛玉已经是经典，再将你这个相似的月光撒向人间，别人认可吗）
闵春晓
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残惟自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。（在锦绣繁花中你很特别，你的才气与这个社会是那么的不一样，那么可贵，让你身边的花都没有了颜色，然待到曲进人散，也只有孤芳自赏了，还是不要期望做那林黛玉了吧）
李旭丹
十年阆苑觅仙葩，梦里颦颦梦里花。家本秦淮桃叶渡，醉中一点似新茶。
（我用十年的时间寻找象仙女一样的林姑娘，连做梦都在寻找，原来是家在亲淮渡口的你，你的眼睛明亮清新让人如痴如醉）

徐垚
柳二怡红一脉流，此生才艺算无俦。殷勤问到芙蓉冷，赚得多情更转眸
（那柳湘琏与宝玉本事一路人物，你的才艺可以算是很不错，但是若去试演冷二爷，你既可在红楼梦中留下多情的身影，也能让观众久久回味）。
张迪
子弟原来纨绔中，无聊心绪逐东风。平生一种真才学，恰与怡红意态同。
（那宝玉本是一个纨绔子弟，不喜随世人追名逐利，你呢，身上的那真才学，道是与他有相同之处）
车缙
情痴情种是谁人，绛帐春风我自珍。幕地一声河满子，原来旧梦有前因．
（谁是那个痴情的种子祸根啊，那林妹妹到来我自珍惜＜暗含对于红楼梦我很痴心，车进你的出现我很珍惜＞然后幕地一下全都话做虚无原来前世的还债根由啊　＜暗指你选不上是因为你与欧阳奋强有几分神似概如此不能演新版＞
宝钗判词
姚笛
生小香闺性自柔，也宜春色也宜秋
平生万种缠绵意，都在金钗十二楼（以其姿色资历一定会出演金陵十二钗中一人）

白冰
一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂
但使铅华能洗尽，蘅芜苑里自流香（只要能洗去一些尘世气（现代感）就是宝钗的不二人选）

杨舒婷
亭亭玉立暗香舒，起舞堂前意自如
几次浮沉终不悔，青云之上见通途（几次淘汰复活一直能坚持到现在，以后的前途必定通畅风光）

黛玉判词
程媛媛：
分付东风莫浪吹，葬花溪畔浣花迟。
前身合是潇湘月，洒向人间知不知。（我认为程媛媛的最后两句判词“前身合是潇湘月，洒向人间知不知

”的意思是因为有陈小旭在前，所以自然给后人留下一种林黛玉固定的传统印象，因此程媛媛自然会得到

大众一致的认同。）

闵春晓：
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残恨自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。（古典才学才艺难得，认为这点少有人理解只能孤芳自赏，没料想

自己其实可以饰演个才学精通的侍女的）

李旭丹：
十年阆苑梦仙葩，梦里颦颦雾里花。
本是秦淮桃叶渡，眸中一点似新茶。（演了梦了十年黛玉，实则确是在雾里看花，本有江南戏子的味道

，眼中却有一丝难得珍贵的纯静（双关指也适合演妙玉）)

宝玉判词
徐：
柳二怡红一脉流,此生才艺算无绸
殷勤问到芙蓉冷,赚得多情更转眸 ( 饰演柳湘莲的人选）

张迪：
子弟原来纨绔中,无聊心绪逐东风
平生一种真才学,恰与怡红意态同。（本身带有的纨绔劲以及表演造诣上的真功夫都是适合演宝玉的资格

）

车缙：
情痴情种是谁人,绛帐春风我自珍
募地一声何满子,原来旧梦有前因（饰演秦钟的人选）

以上实属个人见解

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211625519
　　　　　　　　　周岭九首判词之潜台词
程媛媛：
分付东风莫浪吹，葬花溪畔浣花迟。
前身合是潇湘月，洒向人间知不知。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
如果是以前　你真的是黛玉的不二人选　
潜台词：这次你就省省吧

闵春晓：
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残恨自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
（漫无边际的）赤橙黄绿青蓝紫啊　齐楚燕韩赵魏秦啊
潜台词：我看好你哟

李旭丹：
十年阆苑梦仙葩，梦里颦颦雾里花。
本是秦淮桃叶渡，眸中一点似新茶。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
演了十年红楼？胡导说你眼睛象明前茶？
潜台词：不是我手里通过的　我看你就低一截

姚迪：
生小香闺性自柔，也宜春色也宜秋。
平生万种缠绵意，都在金钗十二楼。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
演不了黛玉你可以演宝钗阿　演不了宝钗你可以演湘云阿　演不了湘云你可以演可卿阿　演不了可卿你可以.....
潜台词：看你的造化了

白冰：
一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂。
但使铅华能洗尽，衡芜苑里自留香。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
不古典　还有人托着关系又多
潜台词：等上面那位演了黛玉再说吧

杨舒婷：
亭亭玉立暗香舒，起舞堂前意自如。
几次浮沉终不悔，青云之上见通途。
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
三上三下　你终于还是回来了　什么？　这次还有更大的野心？
潜台词：你不是我手上通过的　我虽然看不起你　但我这次真的玩不过你了

徐垚：
柳二怡红一脉承,此生才艺算无绸
殷勤问到芙蓉冷,赚到多情更转眸
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
演柳湘莲和演宝玉是一样的　都是多情的人阿
潜台词：就你还想演宝玉

张迪：
子弟原来纨绔中,无聊心绪逐东风
平生(最是)无赖样,恰与怡红意态同。（自己随便加了两字哈）
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
你和宝玉的纨绔弟子的作风那真是一模一样阿
潜台词：就你还想演宝玉

车晋：
情痴情种是谁人,绛帐春风我自珍
募地一声何满子,原来旧梦有前因
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
你这样痴情　不演情钟真是可惜了
潜台词：就你还想演宝玉　

　
　
　
　
　
　
抱歉　是要调侃的语气写的　刺激了还望见谅
说实话　只从诗上语气来看　周岭还是对春晓和姚迪有期望的　宝玉组明显是为了空缺而写的　
还有除了宝玉组给了角色暗示外　其他组并没看到有明显的角色暗示　
　
　

贴子相关图片:

作者：猫头殷 2007-6-10 05:23 　回复此发言

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2 回复：　　　　　　　　　周岭九首判词之潜台词
大家都来看“黛玉”

贴子相关图片:

作者： 221.201.175.* 2007-6-10 05:25 　回复此发言

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3 回复：　　　　　　　　　周岭九首判词之潜台词
哈哈哈
桃叶渡之名的由来，要追溯到六朝东晋时代，大书法家王羲之的七子王献之，他常在这里迎接他的爱妾桃叶渡河。

那时内秦淮河水面阔，遇有风浪，若摆渡不慎，常会翻船。桃叶每次摆渡心里害怕，回此王献之为她写了一首《桃叶歌》：“桃仙复桃叶，渡江不用楫，但渡无所苦，我自迎接汝。”后人为了纪念王献之，遂把他当年迎接桃叶的渡口命名为桃叶渡。

妙!

桃仙复桃叶，渡江不用楫，但渡无所苦，我自迎接汝。
LXD不用参加比赛,自有胡导迎接她.

小妾没有大家闺秀气质.

作者： 24.6.220.* 2007-6-10 05:46 　回复此发言

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4 回复：　　　　　　　　　周岭九首判词之潜台词
周岭挺恶的！旭丹明明是一个大家闺秀，硬要把人家暗喻为“妾”。我一直在细细打量周岭，怎么看他怎么觉得他很坏，而且心胸好像很狭窄

作者： 221.223.97.* 2007-6-10 06:05 　回复此发言

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5 回复：　　　　　　　　　周岭九首判词之潜台词
不只如此吧
周岭贬旭丹很厉害　不只喻为妾　说她出身不洁　
他对这些不是自己选拔上来的　有心敲打之　看他的春晓和旭丹的诗对比　明显感觉到　他也知道这些诗会散开了的　我要说的是　就算他看不上　要和胡枚正面冲突　也没必要这样贬低人家　

周岭其心可诛

作者：猫头殷 2007-6-10 06:12 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211638962

http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/p/2007-06-10/02451590016.shtml
哈哈你们看看吧十几天前她心中就有扑了

李旭丹和姚笛最终获得新版《红楼梦》黛玉和宝钗的角色，对于这个结果，胡玫坦言自己早前已经决定，直到今天与制片方和组委会商量后才公布出来，她说：“总在台上看选手的表演，有点雾里看花的感觉，不是那么清楚，还好组委会在私下安排我与选手们见过面，在我心目中，黛玉和宝钗早在5月28日试装的时候就已经确定了两位选手。‘天上掉下个林妹妹’，我觉得李旭丹真的就是那个林妹妹，她有十年的越剧表演功底，而且获过很多奖项，如果没有见过她，我真不敢说要用她，但在看到她本人后，我们都一致认为她很合适林妹妹这个角色。至于姚笛，她有比较丰富的表演基础，而且镜头前收放自如，很符合我们的要求。”

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211634132

九大判词抛砖引玉：精确解析周岭老师的九大判词

姚笛
生小香闺性自柔，也宜春色也宜秋
平生万种缠绵意，都在金钗十二楼

解析：小家碧玉的女子性格柔弱，既可演艳丽的,亦可演清新脱俗的角色，
骨子里透出来的是万种风情，适合的角色当是在十二金钗选取！
----------------------------------------------------------------

白冰
一支浓艳冠群芳，蝶绕蜂拥耀玉堂
但使铅华能洗尽，蘅芜苑里自流香

你就是在群芳中出类拔萃的一支花，蝴蝶和蜜蜂都在你身边围绕，简直是蓬壁生

辉啊。只要你在把自己的一些不足改掉，你就是蘅芜苑里的宝钗！
------------------------------------------------------------------

杨舒婷
亭亭玉立暗香舒，起舞堂前意自如
几次浮沉终不悔，青云之上见通途

亭亭玉立的杨舒婷，也有清新的形象，在选秀的舞台上，自如的展示自己的才华

。几次淘汰，几次复活，也无怨无悔，如今是青云之上，看见了通天的路了！
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

程媛媛：
分付东风莫浪吹，葬花溪畔浣花迟。
前身合是潇湘月，洒向人间知不知。

解析：欠缺的“东风”终于来了却没有吹起浪来，（真正的）葬花溪畔的浣花人

却来晚了（“迟”字言外之意是：87年你就应该是黛玉扮演者）
你的前世就恰好是潇湘月（暗指黛玉），现在把你转世到人间，不知道你能不能

被认出来你就是黛玉啊？
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闵春晓：
茜纱窗下理丝桐，寒彻花间锦绣丛。
白雪歌残恨自赏，不期梦到赤霞宫。

解析：茜纱窗下抚琴的人啊，清冷的曲调弥漫在这锦绣花丛中，
白雪残歌中，梦想演黛玉却演不成，只能饮恨孤芳自赏。说不定什么时候可以在

梦中演绎你心中的黛玉！
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李旭丹：
十年阆苑梦仙葩，梦里颦颦雾里花。
本是秦淮桃叶渡，眸中一点似新茶。

解析：十年的戏曲生涯，梦想着饰演黛玉，但这也是在梦里频频出现的，是雾里

看花啊！本来就是秦淮河上的卖唱的女子，只有眼睛中好象有一点新鲜感！
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徐三土：
柳二怡红一脉流,此生才艺算无绸
殷勤问到芙蓉冷,赚得多情更转眸

解析：你和柳二怡红是一脉传承的啊，才艺倒是没有什么可以指责的，对于选秀

，你是勤勤恳恳，直到芙蓉花都凋谢了！在赚足了人气后，人们才发现你并不适

合，终于转移了视线去寻找心中的宝玉了！
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张迪：
子弟原来纨绔中,无聊心绪逐东风
平生一种真才学,恰与怡红意态同。

解析：原来是个纨绔子弟啊，无聊时来红楼选秀只是凑热闹而已，在展示自己的

才学时，恰好与怡红公子意气神态相似！
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车缙：
情痴情种是谁人,绛帐春风我自珍
募地一声何满子,原来旧梦有前因

解析：情痴情种是谁啊？不是你嘛！绛账春风是你与众不同的特点，要好自珍惜

。突然问一句：为什么会造成现在这种悲惨的局面。原来这红楼一梦全因神英侍

者与绛珠仙子的还泪之说啊。

作者： 124.201.120.* 2007-6-10 03:47 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211631887

看看这个演林妹妹如何----爱新觉罗.启星
身高：166 cm
体重：46 kg
特长：舞蹈演唱

北京电影学院表演系本科毕业
曾毕业于北京舞蹈学院附中中国舞专业

贴子相关图片:

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=210795532

胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵”
落选选手仍有机会进入大观园

　　虽然有很多优秀的选手都无缘“宝黛钗”三个角色，但胡玫表示，她将会在其中挑出其他角色人选，“其实有很多选手都不错，有很多人虽然不适合这三个角色，但他们还会适合其他的角色。”胡玫还向记者透露，在拍摄《红楼梦》之前，他们专门为李旭丹、姚笛以及很多女孩编排了另一部历史剧，主要目的就是为了“练兵”。

　　至于《红楼梦》到底何时开拍，胡玫说，我们开始计划是明年春节之后，但制片方希望提前一些，不过这其中也还有很多其他因素，例如大观园的搭建，所以具体时间还不能确定。

作者：害怕时间改变 2007-6-10 04:34 　回复此发言

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2 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
http://news.beelink.com.cn/20070610/2297159.shtml

作者：害怕时间改变 2007-6-10 04:34 　回复此发言

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3 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
万一练不好，阵前换人也难说。
电视剧选演员不到开拍是不能做数的，啥意外都有可能。

作者：害怕时间改变 2007-6-10 04:38 　回复此发言

回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
什么样的历史剧会像《红楼梦》这样有一堆女的？

作者： 221.201.175.* 2007-6-10 04:41 　回复此发言

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5 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
康熙微服私访记，哈哈！

作者： 218.65.100.* 2007-6-10 04:43 　回复此发言

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6 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
野史。

作者： 218.65.100.* 2007-6-10 04:43 　回复此发言

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7 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
是啊，先出一部芙蓉院。胡玫可扮演芙蓉婆婆。

作者： 70.174.180.* 2007-6-10 04:44 　回复此发言

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8 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
来一个古装版本的宫廷选秀记，不就行了。哈哈，正好把这批人全用上了，导演也不费心了。剧本我都能写。

作者： 218.65.100.* 2007-6-10 05:00 　回复此发言

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9 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
金枝玉孽！

作者： 222.131.21.* 2007-6-10 05:15 　回复此发言

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10 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
秦淮一梦

青楼梦

作者： 59.40.17.* 2007-6-10 05:16 　回复此发言

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11 回复：胡玫：红楼前，李旭丹、姚笛及很多女孩需先排部历史剧“练兵
为什么不拍金瓶梅?其他不说,里面女人多就很符合噻!

作者： 60.161.45.* 2007-6-10 05:55 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211635351

一评刘卓
一评刘卓

刘卓是谁，生不相逢，死不相识。但是因为有了红楼梦中人，所以在电视上见到了这个人。

对于我来说，是先有红楼梦中，还是先有刘卓。好像是先有红楼梦中人，因为自小爱读红楼，这样一个红楼盛事，岂有不顾之理？

但是从实际意义上来说，却是刘卓，后有红楼梦中人，因为有了刘卓的入选，似乎可以证明了红楼梦中人的权威和公平，因为刘卓一出场，我眼前一亮，便有了初读曹公的惊艳，如宝黛初遇，不教细说，已见分明。

无故寻愁觅恨，有时似傻如狂；纵然生得好皮囊，腹内原来草莽。
潦倒不通世务，愚顽怕读文章；行为偏僻性乖张，那管世人诽谤！
富贵不知乐业，贫穷难耐凄凉；可怜辜负好时光，于国于家无望。
天下无能第一，古今不肖无双；寄言纨袴与膏粱，莫效此儿形状！

先看刘卓，后见旭丹，两人皆为天人，如果就这样结束了，岂不是大快人心啊！！但是两人同时止步，让人遗憾不已。

看了一下网上的内容，竟然是觉得刘卓长得太高，眼睛太深，鼻子太高，像外国人。

误导，绝对误导。各位之前未见刘卓，只是看照片的时候，他的定装照，也是不入我法眼。但是看了刘卓的举止行动，就觉得宝玉非他莫属。

我们可以仔细看一下十强定装照和本人的差距，我们发现车缙和真人的差别何止是大啊，我不敢说造型师怎样，只是觉得大概他比较清楚自己的优点，找到了照片最好的角度，而且刘卓的妆容一定是有问题的，因为他的生活照的图片不像定妆照一眼觉得五官很挤，发生同样问题的是方文，但是方文之前的一张还算可以，刘卓之前的一张虽然不至于像这张一样不顺眼，但是刘卓的额头比较高，不适合带那种帽子（实际上古代额头高，是贵气和福气的象征）。总之，化妆本来是遮盖人的不足之处，但是由于比赛，服饰的同一，使得刘卓的相貌有埋没之感。

眼睛太深，可以用浅一点的眼影，鼻子太高，可以用深一点的粉盖下去。太高就更不是理由，如此说来，此时的黛玉不过9岁，那么岂不是1米刚刚超过点？艺术不是真实，何况对于曹公的岁数描写，各位红学家都各自心存疑惑，又何必去斤斤计较，更何况刘卓不是最高的。另外说刘卓瘦，那就更可笑了，试问一句，出自官宦之家的林黛玉，还有弱症呢！！

宝玉究竟如何，曹公并没有写明。每个人有自己心目中的哈姆莱特，但是他高贵的气质，几乎无人异议，而对于宝玉，也同样如此，但是帅还是第一紧要的，如果宝玉不帅，红楼梦岂不是一厢情愿？？

但是宝玉同时兼并其他几项气质
①因有“通灵宝玉”之说,他有一种与生俱来的高贵和灵性。

②他出生在书香门第、官宦世家,行为举止有儒雅之风。

③他自小生活在女孩子当中,性格自是有点温柔，虽然有脂粉之气，但不是阳刚之美。这一点实际上可以从他和柳湘莲的交往上略知一二，而且在父亲的重棒之下，仍然保持了蒋玉函的周全，也不是一般的贵族公子哥好比。

但是各位看官，这只是宝玉最基本的几点熟知，从西江月来看，宝玉与众不同的重要几点在于。

1. “无故寻愁觅恨”，宝玉有忧郁气质

2. “有时似傻如狂”，既得有点灵气，还要有点傻气，同时还有点狂气

3. “纵然生得好皮囊” 这句不必说自然是帅气

4。“腹内原来草莽。” 还要有点呆气。

本来想把十强诸个评一下，但是为了不引起不必要的争议，还是算了

不过，刘卓的贵气和书生气，一向为人称道，我就不多说了。他和车缙比，明显车缙脂粉气更重一些，如果车缙演宝玉，那么秦钟将没有更好的人选。刘卓奶油，但是不阴柔，至少我不会想到和他背背，所以至少比车缙好。（你们尽管汗）刘卓有种与生具来的忧郁气质，这点其他人都没有，尤其试苏航，他有点活泼过头，还是去演茗烟比较好。刘卓还有点小小的狂气，不明显，但是还是有。最重要的是他有宝玉的那种呆气，就是觉得他好端端的，便会呆住，然后又在哪里叹气。尤其说那些宝玉的呆话，^_^，如果是其他人说呢，我都不信，看着刘卓那呆呆的表情，就忍不住信了。 ^_^，所以说刘卓最适合演宝玉

对于十强，评判如此

苏杭茗烟,
刘卓宝玉.
李昂冯紫英
张迪：薛蟠
车缙：秦钟
徐幺：除了红楼梦，放哪都合适
方文：柳湘连
王龙华：贾莲
蒋晨阳：薛蝌

希望喜欢刘卓的都来支持，说的不对的地方请指出

贴子相关图片:

作者： dorath 2007-5-31 20:52 　回复此发言

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2 回复1：一评刘卓
楼主好文!顶!
我是佳音

作者： 218.9.235.* 2007-6-1 08:22 　回复此发言

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3 回复：一评刘卓
"最重要的是他有宝玉的那种呆气，就是觉得他好端端的，便会呆住，然后又在哪里叹气。尤其说那些宝玉的呆话，^_^，如果是其他人说呢，我都不信，看着刘卓那呆呆的表情，就忍不住信了。 ^_^，所以说刘卓最适合演宝玉"……

这是我关注他以后每场有他的比赛都能发现的
至于高贵就更不用说了，我对曾子航先生的眼光总有些诟病。他说宝玉们普遍缺少贵气。活脱脱的刘宝玉就在他面前站着呢，他居然视而不见，哎，不论曾子航了，一说起来恐怕我又控制不住要出言不逊！

作者：恋佳音 2007-6-1 09:05 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=207711589

●●胡玫最新接受采访谈宝黛钗
已约见几个专业学校学生，感觉还可以

　　昨天的决赛结束后，胡玫导演接受了本报记者的采访。

　　问：您认为三个宝玉为何不足以出演新版《红楼梦》？

　　答：因为三个宝玉看起来太阳光、太健康，少些古典和忧郁气质，都不能达到我们的要求，很遗憾。选手应该具有不可替代性，但这三位相信大家都有点吃不准，属于十三不靠的那种。不过我已经约见过几个专业学校的学生，感觉还可以，我会继续寻找更合适的。

　　问：前段传出“退出”风波，是因为心里对选手没底吗？

　　答：其实通过选秀这种方式选择演员有点雾里看花的感觉，开始我真的没有特别看好的选手，如果从他们身上找不到我要的感觉，这戏坚决不能接，我肯定会退出。好在我跟几个不错的选手私下见过几次，姚笛和李旭丹是我很早之前就留意的两个选手。但最后在我内心认同也就是5月28号她们去江西见我的时候。另外，主要是我对宝玉不太认同，但各方协调后都表示尊重我的意见，因此，这件事情也算解决了。

　　问：选秀结束后至开拍前，会对选手做哪些培训？

　　答：不仅是姚笛和李旭丹，还会对其他选手进行培训。为此，我们会在新版《红楼梦》开拍前专门拍摄一部影视剧，算是大练兵。她们参加十个月的这种舞台选秀，表演肯定会有很多舞台的痕迹，这点对影视表演挺可怕的。比如，李旭丹这种有十年越剧背景的演员，我要是没见过她肯定是不敢碰的；但见面后，她的气质和感觉打动了我。姚笛还有表演经验，这点就比较好。

　　问：李旭丹和姚笛会铁定出演新版黛钗吗？

　　答：我不排除出现意外。如果她们的确有改不掉的大毛病导致实在无法胜任，即便到时候弃用也肯定会给大家一个明确的说法。当然，我本人并不希望出现这种意外。

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211654208

●●●●有谁在现场看到三位评委的最后表情呢？
　　场景1：为了给导演留出最后决策权，也为了给自己留点面子，周岭老师（我梦寐以求成为的男人楷模）给每位选手写了模棱两可的判词。英达高度评价了周老师的才华和对红楼精髓的理解，称之为曹公转世，戏言要把周老师的判词裱起来挂在家里。
话外音：周岭是当今对红楼梦理解最深的专家，胡玫你有这个理解吗？没这个理解就得听听我们评审团的意见，再说了我英达也是知名导演，眼光不比你差，还有邓捷呢，知名演员，眼光也不会错到那里去。

场景2：周岭代表评审团转交评审意见给制片方

画外音：既然评审团和胡玫导演及制片人代表都在场，为什么不一起商议？还搞个纸条传送，分明在告诉观众彼此有矛盾，无法面对面交流，纸条代表着责任，意思说我们选好了，出问题与我们无关，要告就告制片方与导演。

场景3：周岭代表评审团发言说，这里是我们从45万候选人中选出的结果，也代表全国亿万观众的意见，花了10个月的时间哟，沉甸甸的呀。

画外音：胡玫，你牛，你与全国人民为敌吧，就这个结果，你在中间挑吧，黛玉让你了，别的不能都你说了算吧，大家都在这个圈子里混，彼此留点面子。

场景4：胡玫继续来横的，居然自己不上台，派个代表上去接收评审团的结果，由于代表可能事先没有走过场，居然拿到东西后走错了方向。

画外音：这个场面是临时安排的，所以出错。

场景5：胡玫宣布结果后，全程哗然，英达向后一倒。

画外音：英达敢说敢干，也有足够的知名度，用身体语言表达了自己的愤怒。

场景6：胡玫宣布完结果就直接回自己的座位了

画外音：居然与评审团礼节性的握手都没有，显然矛盾激化到峰巅。

场景7：主持人象证婚人一样问了9位选手3个“你。。。愿意吗”，选手答曰“我愿意”，现场哗然。

画外音：以后打官司可不要出尔反尔哟！

场景8：结果公布后直到结束，镜头再也没推到评审团的3位评委面前。

画外音：已经愤怒离场或满脸怒气不敢切画面。

红楼选秀10个月，因节目质量差，我只完整看过公布结果的最后一小时，呵呵，看场闹剧！闲来没事，转播给大家，看看名人们的角斗。

看了，请顶一下，让他成为热贴，我不是任何选手的粉丝，只是觉得中国伟大的名著，这么糟蹋让人心寒。

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211659983

红楼梦中人最终结果的由来(绝对真实)
其实胡玫心中最早定下来的人选是宝钗组的邓莎.
我是现场的一名工作人员，现向大家公布一下刚知道的最终选举结果的如何产生的。
评委给胡导最终的结果是：宝钗为白冰；林代玉为闵春晓宝玉为张迪；
而胡导的结果大家都知道了，为什么双方有如此大的差距呢？
我把知道的一些事跟大家说说：
其实最早，胡导对这次活动还是很支持的，而且通过她的言谈我们感觉她对一些选手还是较满意的，胡导对宝钗的选手是最满意的，她认为选手整体水平高于另两组，故导在一次吃饭中曾经透露她认为最贴近宝钗的选手就是邓莎，她的古装扮相最有古典味道，而且最接近张莉。只可惜过早的逃汰了，尤其是在最后一关PK时，显示出的不公平让胡导非常不满，而且一些选手通过其它途径进级的事大家都很心知，但如此公开的不公让胡导实在是生气，但是由于宝钗组的实力过强，胡导还是比较欣赏的姚迪和蔡飞雨，胡导就没有说什么。
但胡导对代玉组和宝玉组的选拔非常不满，一些有实力的选手主要是代玉组的过早非正常的淘汰让胡导十分生气，一些气质与代玉相差很远的选手却进入32强甚至总决赛，过多的人为因素影响选拔结果让胡导非常难受，艺术和人际关系如何相处对于胡导来说也是件左右为难的事，胡导也是个凡人，在她能接受的范围内，一些无奈的妥协胡导还是能接受的，但随着李旭丹的被逃汰，最终三强的产生使胡导无法在忍受了，胡导是一个对艺术要求很高的人，对于这么选出的林妹妹实在是不能接受，就此，胡导才发出了那个声明。
这个声明对北京电视台来说，相当于一件意外事故。他对正在如火如荼进行的活动来说影响相当大，在初期的荒乱和愤怒后，各方面进行紧急会谈，由于各方面具体利益，双方都进行了妥协。重要内容是：一、至少选出的宝代钗胡导要用一个，二李旭丹要回来，这是因为胡导认为代玉实在是没有拿的出的选手，李也不是最完美的代玉，但她相对其它选手要好的多，为了李的回来，北京台又办了一期4进3，三、宝玉组无论结果如何，胡导坚决不用，要重新选，这一点双方达成了共识，因为宝玉组的选手与欧阳奋强演的宝玉差的实在是太多了，胡导认为，这些选手气质上缺陷实在是无法通过后期化妆和演技的培训而弥补。胡导说，宝玉的选手里普遍眼睛里没有灵气，现代感太强，实在无法表现出宝玉身上那些独有的神韵。胡导在这点坚持不让，最终北京电视台让步。
通过这场风波，此次节目继续进行。大家也知道了，在胡导的支持下，李旭丹最终走到了决赛。坦率的说，最终进入决赛的选手，有一大部分是有背景的，评委选出的结果不一定是评委真实的意图，对于宝钗的最终人选，无论评委还是胡导都是有倾向性的，主要集中在姚迪和白冰身上，她们两个背后的影响力几乎旗鼓相当，这是胡导的倾向性就很重要，相对于白冰，胡导更喜欢姚迪，她认为姚的古装扮相更好而且白冰最大的缺点就是长相过于象一名韩国影星，以前这点成为白冰的优势，但此时就成了她致命的缺陷，胡导决不希望宝钗成为韩国人的笑谈，由于前期以答应此胜出选手演红楼里的宝钗，在胡导的坚持下，最终选姚迪。
而李旭丹的确定更加复杂，本来对于胡导来，李旭丹只是相对于其它选手更能打动胡导，胡导其实准备在去找个林妹妹，换句话说，只用一个，但举办方坚决不同意，希望林妹妹也要用，万般无奈，胡导提出，除非用李旭丹，在双方妥协下，李旭丹胜出了。不得不说，李旭丹现在最应感谢除了恩人胡导外，还有举办方，要不是前期黑幕过多，一些优秀选手的退出，导致其它人实力与李相差太远，李也不一定有机会得到胡导的死顶，李旭丹的胜出真认了那句话，天时、地利、人和。她都占了，真是幸运啊
至于宝玉组，前面已提过，我就不多说了。
反正，最终结果是双方妥协的产物，双方都不是完全满意，但没有办法，生活就是这样，即使是艺术面对利益在一定程度也要打折的
总之，大家对这次活动不要太当真，只是一场游戏而已吗，看完，一笑而过吧，生活还要继续啊。
我写的信不信由你，看完博你一笑一骂一吵一闹就得，反正，谁在问我，我就说不知道，不清楚，我也要吃饭，理解万岁吧

作者： 221.218.22.* 2007-6-10 02:10 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211619478

红楼梦中人比赛大结局解析与疑云汇总
注：下文中的提到的利益团体包括投资方，温都水城，北京卫视等

红楼梦中人终于落下了帷幕,尽管在结果出来前选手们已经被要求宣誓不得对结果提出异议,可作为一名旁观者,我还是在品评比赛结果的过程中把此次选秀活动中的一些疑云列出,供各位思考玩味。
此前我曾在这里发表了一篇对于比赛的预测，应该说此次比赛结果基本在预料之内，但胡玫提前就确定了宝黛人选还是出乎我的意料之外，另外，最后一场比赛终于印证了此前的一些传言和我的一些猜测，这也是很让我心痛的一件事，下面逐一分析。
此前胡玫的一些言论曾让我认为，她会将此次选秀结果弃置一边，将自己挑选的候选人与比赛中的佼佼者们放在一起，再综合比较确定最后的主角人选。但事实并非如此，宝黛人选已提前确定，只有宝玉空缺，这一方面是因为姚迪和李旭丹并非不可接受，胡玫也乐得做个顺水人情，另一方面，她显然不愿意在尚未开拍之前就把北京卫视和各利益团体得罪个遍，胡玫导演显然不是心无城府初出茅庐的小孩子，她对于怎样才能在这个圈里生存还是心中有数的。
此次角力的结果，我认为胡玫与各利益团体战成了一胜一平一负。宝玉组空缺，这对于新版红楼梦来说当然算不上胜利，但对于胡玫来说，至少还有机会在艺术院校里挑选令自己满意的贾宝玉，可以算一胜；李旭丹演黛玉，应该是胡玫自己的选择，但各利益团体也并未失去什么，最后的黛玉三强应该讲都是依靠自己的实力晋级的，她们与各利益团体都没什么瓜葛，胡玫也只是按照合同约定从最后的几名选手中确定了自己心仪的人选，因此双方打平；至于宝钗组，我认为胡玫在压力下作出了让步，这一点可能很多姚迪的支持者看了会不高兴，我下面会专门就此做出分析。
先从争议最小的宝玉组说起，从宝玉组九强产生起，大家整体的感觉就是不太满意，虽然每位选手都有不少自己的支持者，但他们从外形和气质上都与宝玉或多或少地存在着一些差距，如果要说可以用演技来弥补的话，那么从成名演员中挑选岂不更好？这也使得宝玉的空降成为众望所归，某艺术院校的在校生，形象和气质距宝玉较近，演技又不错的演员，我相信只要有点耐心，还是能够找到的，因此我们仍旧可以对宝玉这一角色充满期待。
再说说黛玉组，我认为黛玉组三强都是凭借自己的实力入围的，不存在任何黑幕。只是在11进8时比赛结果很不正常，最后参加PK的李旭丹和闵春晓最后分列第一二名，我认为这只能说是此次比赛赛制和评委选择上的失败。从这三人中选择，李旭丹或闵春晓似乎都可以接受，但似乎又都有不足之处，胡玫既然选择了李旭丹，我相信一定是被她的试镜所打动了，虽然有一些朋友不太喜欢李旭丹，但我觉得在目前没有更好人选的情况下，我们不妨相信胡玫的眼光，也许到时能让我们眼前一亮也未可知。
最后说到宝钗组，这是公认的实力最强的一个组，但我认为这也是最不公平公正的一个组。从外形上看，我认为邓莎，蔡飞雨，孙菂应该都是比较像的，这不是受87版影响的问题，而是按照书中曹公的描写的确如此，这也从另一方面反映了87版的宝钗选人是很成功的。但这几人竟一人也未进入三强，这是巧合还是阴谋？我个人以为后者的可能性大一些。试想，如果上面三人中的任意两个和姚迪站在最后的决赛赛场上，姚迪胜出的几率能有多大？前几天传出四进三时有人授意务必要淘汰掉蔡飞雨的消息时，我还不太相信，但当昨天晚上印证了此前传出的内定结果（宝钗姚迪，黛玉李旭丹，宝玉空缺，分毫不差，显然绝无可能是误打误撞）时，再加上蔡飞雨被淘汰当晚她的粉丝被阻止入场来看，我开始对这一消息有了几分相信，如果此事属实，则几乎可以断定，姚迪的身后有着一股强大的黑暗力量（也几乎可以断定是与温都水城利益密切相关之人），他们一起在操纵着宝钗组的比赛结果，这让人不寒而栗，以前有假球，假哨，假唱，现在再出现假比赛，还有什么是真的？如果蔡飞雨的被淘汰纯属偶然的话，那么其它几名热门选手呢，也都是偶然吗？另外姚迪是三强中唯一未经PK即晋级的选手，这是否可以理解为有些人希望一点意外也不能出现呢？此前除了“意外”遭淘汰的蔡飞雨，邓莎，孙菂等人，徐行也是较有竞争力的选手，但她居然在直播现场被爆出绯闻，此后丑闻缠身失去了复活机会，现在已证实此事件绝非嘉宾一时头脑错乱，而乃是北京卫视一手安排，试想，如果没有利害关系人在背后推动，北京卫视何苦自己找骂呢？另一名较有竞争力的选手白冰，从一开始就陷入了所谓的内定风波，人气大受影响，但最后证明，她也不过是一块垫脚石罢了。最后一场比赛周龄，邓婕，英达我不知道他们推荐的是谁，但从她们评价白冰雍容华贵，而姚迪似钗似黛来看，我认为他们显然在最后三人中是倾向于白冰的，但由于比赛结果早已确定，因此他们的意见或是推荐书是改变不了任何东西的。参与内定的是谁呢，显然这三位评委不在其中，我认为这个结果应当是投资方，温都水城和胡玫妥协的产物。另外，最后一场比赛直播期间有记者在外面广场上采访，一群统一着装，训练有素的粉丝径直站在镜头前为姚迪造势，从衣服看得出他们显然是温都水城的人（接受采访的那人胸前所书），而从他们的样子来看显然不是普通粉丝，我觉得有条件的朋友可以拿这段录像跟温都水城的员工们对比一下，十有八九会有所发现。这也直接证实了温都水城是极其希望姚迪出演宝钗的。
说了这么多，绝不是我对姚迪有什么意见，或是认为姚迪完全不适合宝钗这一角色，只是我对于自己关注了几个月的比赛其结果却有可能早已确定这种情况感到非常的愤怒，同时我认为，姚迪也并不是九强中最合适的宝钗人选。
此外，我并不是想要攻击哪位选手，因此也希望各位选手的粉丝也不要将我作为攻击目标，毕竟，咱们的愿望都是一样的，都希望新版红楼梦拍得精彩，拍得好看，都不愿看到红楼梦成为某些人敛财的工具。
总之一句话，胡玫的表现让人失望，但又无可厚非，宝玉值得期待，黛玉很可能会给我们以惊喜，宝钗既已确定，希望姚迪发挥出她的最佳水平，不要让我们失望。不管怎样，让我们共同期待08版红楼梦的出炉。

又：以上议论纯属个人观点，各位有不同意之处可列举事实加以反驳，但请勿人身攻击。
本文不受《知识产权法》保护范围之内，各论坛网站博客等可任意转载：）

2007年6月10日星期日清晨

作者：胡玫肚里的蛔虫 2007-6-10 09:37 　回复此发言

http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=211672352
“红楼梦中人”落幕十一大奖项各归齐属(组图)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007/06/10　08:32:43 来源：京华时报

　　李旭丹（左）和姚笛成为新版《红楼梦》的黛玉和宝钗。记者徐胤摄

　　更多图片

　　昨（9日）晚，“红楼梦中人”大型选秀活动总决赛在温都水城举行。新版电视剧《红楼梦》导演胡玫莅临现场宣布结果，李旭丹和姚笛将分别出演黛玉和宝钗，宝玉一角待定。

　　当晚总决赛的赛制分3个环节———红楼人物小品表演、红楼知识问答和网友问题回答。评委根据9名选手在3个环节的综合表现，直接选出各自心中宝黛钗的人选，然后交由胡玫导演和制片方合议。

9位选手亮相舞台新浪娱乐图

李旭丹（左）和姚笛最终胜出新浪娱乐图

　　第一轮的比赛中，9位选手分成3组进行表演。在上周的半决赛中脚部受伤骨折的白冰，坐着轮椅参加比赛。徐垚、李旭丹、杨舒婷表演的小品以黛玉之死和木石前盟为故事基础，李旭丹表演时非常入戏。不过，评委邓婕认为选手的舞台感太强，故事编排不尽如人意。对于张迪、闵春晓和姚笛的表演，评委英达点评说：“闵春晓的古典气质与陈晓旭很接近，姚笛是个具有林妹妹气质的宝姐姐。”

　　特地从外地赶来的胡玫导演成为当晚的焦点人物，在选秀组委会和新版《红楼梦》制片方进行合议后，最终的结果由胡玫揭晓。胡玫说：“真希望自己是观众，不用做残酷的宣布。经过制片方、顾问方和主创代表的合议，红楼梦中人大型选秀活动宝钗组第一名是姚笛，第二名白冰，第三名杨舒婷。新版《红楼梦》宝钗一角的扮演者，摄制组认定姚笛，其他二人为备选人。黛玉组第一名李旭丹，第二名闵春晓、第三名程媛媛。新版《红楼梦》黛玉一角的扮演者是李旭丹，其他为备选人。”

　　出人意料的是，胡玫宣布新版《红楼梦》宝玉一角的扮演者待定，“宝玉的扮演者将由制片方和本导演继续在全国范围内选拔，如果没选拔到更好的，将在3位选手中选择。”胡玫认为3位宝玉都各有欠缺。

　　昨晚的比赛中还颁发了11个奖项，以鼓励所有参赛选手。其中黄鹤、周毅、蒋晨阳获得最佳才艺奖，李欣汝、王龙华、邓莎获得最佳人气奖，谢俊慧、吴婷、龚洁获得最佳演技奖，殷叶子、方安娜、周丽君获得最佳上镜奖。（记者赵楠楠）

http://cache.sounews.ynet.com/cache2.aspx?url=68G74G74G70G3AG2FG2FG6EG65G77G73G2EG78G69G6EG68G75G61G6EG65G74G2EG63G6FG6DG2FG65G6EG74G2FG32G30G30G37G2DG30G36G2FG31G30G2FG63G6FG6EG74G65G6EG74G5FG36G32G32G31G32G30G39G2EG68G74G6DG&web=5&query=%BA%EC%C2%A5%C3%CE%D6%D0%C8%CB

Rutgers Accepts Imus's Apology

2007-04-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

Rutgers team: We accept Imus' apology By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer
48 minutes ago

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer said Friday the team had accepted radio host Don Imus' apology. She said he deserves a chance to move on but hopes the furor his racist and sexist insult caused will be a catalyst for change.

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"We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept — accept — Mr. Imus' apology, and we are in the process of forgiving," Stringer read from a team statement a day after the women met personally with Imus and his wife.

"We still find his statements to be unacceptable, and this is an experience that we will never forget," she said.

The team had just played for the NCAA national championship last week and lost when Imus, on his nationally syndicated radio show, called the players "nappy-headed hos." The statement outraged listeners and set off a national debate about taste and tolerance. It also led to his firing by CBS on Thursday.

"These comments are indicative of greater ills in our culture," Stringer said. "It is not just Mr. Imus, and we hope that this will be and serve as a catalyst for change. Let us continue to work hard together to make this world a better place."

Imus was in the middle of a two-day radio fundraiser for children's charities when he was dropped by CBS. On Friday, his wife took over the show and also talked about the meeting with the Rutgers players.

"They gave us the opportunity to listen to what they had to say and why they're hurting and how awful this is," author Deirdre Imus said.

"He feels awful," she said of her husband. "He asked them, 'I want to know the pain I caused, and I want to know how to fix this and change this.'"

Deirdre Imus also said that the Rutgers players have been receiving hate e-mail, and she demanded that it stop. She told listeners "if you must send e-mail, send it to my husband," not the team.

"I have to say that these women are unbelievably courageous and beautiful women," she said.

Stringer declined to discuss the hate mail Friday. Rutgers team spokeswoman Stacey Brann said the team had received "two or three e-mails" but had also received "over 600 wonderful e-mails."

The team's goal was never to get Imus fired, Stringer said. "It's sad for anyone to lose their job," she said.

The cantankerous Imus, once named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time magazine and a member of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, was one of radio's original shock jocks.

His career took flight in the 1970s and with a cocaine- and vodka-fueled outrageous humor. After sobering up, he settled into a mix of highbrow talk about politics and culture, with locker room humor sprinkled in.

Critics have said his remark about the Rutgers women was just the latest in a line of objectionable statements by the ringmaster of a show that mixed high-minded talk about politics and culture with crude, locker-room humor.

Imus apologized on the air late last week and also tried to explain himself before the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio audience, appearing alternately contrite and combative. But many of his advertisers still bailed in disgust, particularly after the Rutgers women spoke publicly of their hurt.

On Wednesday, a week after the remark, MSNBC said it would no longer televise the show. CBS fired Imus Thursday from the radio show that he has hosted for nearly 30 years.

"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people," CBS Corp. chief executive Leslie Moonves said in a memo to his staff.

Sharpton praised Moonves' decision Friday and said it was time to change the culture of publicly degrading other people."I think we've got to really used this to really stop this across the board," he told CBS's "The Early Show."

Some Imus fans, however, considered the radio host's punishment too harsh.

Mike Francesa, whose WFAN sports show with partner Chris Russo is considered a possible successor to "Imus in the Morning," said he was embarrassed by the company. "I'm embarrassed by their decision. It shows, really, the worst lack of taste I've ever seen," he said.

Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when Howard Stern left for satellite radio. The program earns about $15 million in annual revenue for CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station WFAN-AM and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show nationally WFAN.

The show's charity fundraiser had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned he had lost his job. The total had grown Friday to more than $2.3 million for Tomorrows Children's Fund, CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch, Deirdre Imus said. The annual event has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

Imus' troubles have also affected his wife, the founder of a medical center that studies links between cancers and environmental hazards whose book "Green This!" came out this week. Her promotional tour was called off "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and her family are under," said Simon & Schuster publicist Victoria Meyer.

The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology in Hackensack, N.J., works to identify and control exposures to environmental hazards that may cause adult and childhood cancers. Imus Ranch in New Mexico invites children who have been ill to spend time on a working cattle ranch.

___

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana, Karen Matthews, Warren Levinson, Seth Sutel, Tara Burghart, Colleen Long and Hillel Italie contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://wfan.com/pages/332252.php

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_on_en_ot/imus_protests

The McKinley Assassination

2007-04-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

1901 - U.S. President William McKinley Assassinated
From Jennifer Rosenberg,
Your Guide to 20th Century History.
Stay up to date!
U.S. President William McKinley Assassinated (1901): On September 6, 1901, U.S. President William McKinley spent the morning visiting Niagara Falls with his wife before returning to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in the afternoon to spend a few minutes greeting the public.

By about 3:30 p.m., President McKinley stood inside the Temple of Music building at the Exposition, ready to begin shaking the hands of the public as they streamed into the building. Many had been waiting for hours outside in the heat for their chance to meet the President. Unbeknownst to the President and the many guards who stood nearby, among those waiting outside was 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz who was planning to kill President McKinley.

At 4 p.m. the doors to the building were opened and the mass of people waiting outside were forced into a single line as they entered the Temple of Music building.

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The line of people thus came up to the president in an organized fashion, with just enough time to whisper a "Nice to meet you, Mr. President," shake President McKinley's hand, and then be forced to continue along the line and out the door again.
President McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was a popular president who had just started his second term in office and the people seemed clearly glad to get a chance to meet him. However, at 4:07 p.m. Leon Czolgosz had made it into the building and it was his turn to greet the President.

In Czolgosz's right hand, he held a .32 caliber Iver-Johnson revolver, which he had covered by wrapping a handkerchief around the gun and his hand. Although Czolgosz's swaddled hand was noticed before he reached the President, many thought it looked like it covered an injury and not that it was hiding a gun. Also, since the day had been hot, many of the visitors to see the President had been carrying handkerchiefs in their hands so that they could wipe the sweat off their faces.

When Czolgosz reached the President, President McKinley reached out to shake his left hand (thinking Czolgosz's right hand was injured) while Czolgosz brought up his right hand to President McKinley's chest and then fired two shots.

One of the bullets didn't enter the president - some say it bounced off of a button or off the president's sternum and then got tucked into his clothing. The other bullet, however, entered the president's abdomen, tearing through his stomach, pancreas, and kidney. Shocked at being shot, President McKinley began to sag as blood stained his white shirt. He then told those around him, "Be careful how you tell my wife."

Those in line behind Czolgosz and guards in the room all jumped on Czolgosz and started to punch him. Seeing that the mob on Czolgosz might easily and quickly kill him, President McKinley whispered either, "Don't let them hurt him" or "Go easy on him, boys."

President McKinley was then whisked away in an electric ambulance to the hospital at the Exposition. Unfortunately, the hospital was not properly equipped for such a surgery and the very experienced doctor usually on premises was away doing a surgery in another town. Although several doctors were found, the most experienced doctor that could be found was Dr. Matthew Mann, a gynecologist. The surgery began at 5:20 p.m.

During the operation, the doctors searched for the remains of the bullet that had entered the President's abdomen, but were unable to locate it. Worried that continued searching would tax the President's body too much, the doctors decided to discontinue looking for it and to sew up what they could. The surgery was completed a little before 7 p.m.

For several days, President McKinley seemed to be getting better. After the shock of the shooting, the nation was excited to hear some good news. However, what the doctors did not realize was that without drainage, an infection had built up inside the President. By September 13 it was obvious the President was dying. At 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901, President William McKinley died of gangrene. That afternoon, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President of the United States.

After being pummeled right after the shooting, Leon Czolgosz had been arrested and taken to police headquarters before nearly being lynched by the angry crowds that surrounded the Temple of Music. Czolgosz readily admitted that he was the one who had shot the President. In his written confession, Czolgosz stated, "I killed President McKinley because I done my duty. I didn't believe one man should have so much service and another man should have none."

Czolgosz was brought to trial on September 23, 1901. He was quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. On October 29, 1901, Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted.

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Students Not Politics-Illiterate?

2007-04-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

To Students, Congress Tops ‘American Idol’
College students are regularly criticized as being ignorant, self-absorbed and interested only in pop culture. But a new national study — conducted by Tufts University researchers — found that students know more about politics and civic life than many fear they do, and more than those in the same age group who are not in college.

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The survey was conducted of people aged 18-24 who are not in the military. Half of those surveyed were in college full time and half were not. Demographics matched the population as a whole.

Among the findings:

Half of the college students and 40 percent of the non-college students could name their respective members of Congress. Nearly two-thirds of college students and more than half of the non-college students could name at least one of their two U.S. senators. In contrast, only about 15 percent of the young people knew the name of the most recent winner of “American Idol” and about 10 percent knew the winner of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Approximately 79 percent of college students and more than 73 percent of non-college students said they had voted in the November 2006 elections, but only 10 to 12 percent of respondents reported ever voting in “American Idol” and significantly fewer had voted in “Dancing with the Stars.”

At least some of students’ Web activity is political. On average, college students belonged to almost four Facebook advocacy groups. According to the Tufts study, Facebook tends to be used more for advocacy of Democratic political candidates and liberal or Democratic causes than for Republican candidates or conservative or Republican causes.

More than 61 percent of college students had participated in online political discussions or visited a politically oriented Web site.

Of college students, 58.6 percent reported being somewhat, moderately or very involved in their communities, compared with 36.7 percent for non-students of the same age. More than 47 percent of college students reported involvement with community service organizations compared with slightly more than 24 percent of non-students.

To be sure, surveys abound about the ignorance of college students on key facts of American history and civic life, and the Tufts survey wasn’t trying to find out if students stay up at night arguing over the most significant of the Federalist Papers.

But Tufts researchers were encouraged by the findings. “Young people seem to know more about politics than they know about popular culture,” said Kent E. Portney, project director and professor of political science, in a statement. “This level of political knowledge stands in stark contrast to the image of young people as uninterested in and ignorant about politics and government.”

— Scott Jaschik

Comments
American Idol? Dancing with the Stars?
I’m a college senior and I don’t know a single other student who regularly watches American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. (I also live in DC and don’t have a senator or a real representative so I guess they would have me there.)

Jack, at 10:01 am EDT on April 5, 2007
I always thought it was ridiculous to think that college students were politically apathetic. While it is stupid to watch TV or care about popular culture, in some ways caring too much about politics might hinder a student’s ability to learn analytical skills that would help them later on.

Larry, at 10:25 am EDT on April 5, 2007
No excuses
With the proliferation of information available to students today, we should have the most informed youth in the history of the world. With satelite TV, Radio and the internet, people are inundated with information, both substantive and non-substantive, 24/7.Now, if I could just get my students to identify where there classes are we would have a winner.

Cynic Professor, at 10:26 am EDT on April 5, 2007

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/05/tufts

Living for College

2007-04-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

Commentary: Live for Yourself, Not for an Application
Here are some of my reactions to the New York Times article, "For Girls, It's be Yourself, and Be Perfect Too." (See below)

It is very true. Girls--of course boys also--today are pressured to achieve on multiple dimensions and then told to still celebrate their youth.

But I do think it is possible to achieve and still be genuine. Students just have to love what they do. I did all my extracurriculars--theater, ultimate frisbee, chinese harp, newspaper, speech team, Broadway Club, Arista, history club, tutoring, etc.--with smiles on my face because I truly enjoyed everything.
Of course the truth is not everyone enjoy everything and they are being pressured to take up everything for the sake of "being well rounded." I think that everyone will feel a lot better when they take a step back and stop worrying about what they think others want them to do and start focusing on just their own passions. Of course, then they'll think about the admissions officers and will start worrying again!
The biggest problem with this is that people start to lose themselves. They live for others and forget who they are. It's sad when freshmen in high school already start looking around for resume-padders. They should be looking to get involved; but too many do it for the wrong reason. It's great that kids can win national spelling bees knowing the word "ursprache," but did all the participants of The Bee memorize dictionaries because they were interested or because their parents told them that they should be interested? One of the scariest things I can imagine would be for people to wake up one day and realize that they have been living for someone else, that no part of their being really belonged to themselves. But it seems that this very thing happens all the time now.
Of course this is still only dwelling on message #1. Message # 2--Be yourself. Have fun. Don't work too hard--adds even more trouble.
Kaavya Viswanathan's scandal-marred "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life" seemed to have been exploring this exact tension. Of course I never got to read the whole book since Little, Brown and Company pulled it from the shelves. But from what I managed to read--the free first chapter--high-achieving Opal got rejected by Harvard for not enjoying her youth and relaxing. (I think her real problem was that she wasn't doing everything she was doing for the sake of doing them, but rather for the sake of getting into Harvard.)
I think this kind of rejection does happen, sometimes unfairly, sometimes not enough (I'm probably going to get jumped for this ::laugh::). It definitely doesn't add to a campus community to have prototype nerds stay up in their dorms or the library all day. A lively college needs students who can do more than do well in classes. Life at college is shaped by those students who are willing to have lives outside of classrooms, libraries and labs.
But then some outstanding friends of mine were probably rejected because they were wrongly classified as uninteresting nerds. That coupled with the acceptance of classmates who did whatever possible to secure the top grades, who club-hopped to pad their resumes, and whose achievements also included underage drinking and drug dealing, really demonstrated to me the unfairness of the whole thing.
In the end, life is imperfect and some injustices simply can't be rectified. What we still have is a world full of enough wonderful things to occupy our time and our mind. When we are happy and in tune with the songs of the universe, we will be able to change the world for the better, a little bit at a time.

When Perfection is Not Enough
For Girls, It’s Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
In an honors philosophy/literature class, Esther Mobley, center, participates in a discussion of “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

By SARA RIMER
Published: April 1, 2007
NEWTON, Mass., March 31 — To anyone who knows 17-year-old Esther Mobley, one of the best students at one of the best public high schools in the country, it is absurd to think she doesn’t measure up. But Esther herself is quick to set the record straight.

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Excerpts: How Applying to College is Like 'The Aeneid,' and Other E-mails (April 1, 2007)
Text: Esther Mobley's College Essay (March 30, 2007)
Text: Colby Kennedy's College Essay (March 30, 2007)
Transcripts: 'The Appearance of Effortlessness' (April 1, 2007)
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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
At Newton North High School in Newton, Mass., a Wonder Woman mural offers a role model to some girls. Newton North, one of the best public high schools in the country, gears its teaching toward gears its teaching toward a wide range of students.

Enlarge This Image

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
‘It’s, like, a really big deal to go into a lucrative profession so that you can provide for your kids, and they can grow up in a place like the place where you grew up.’
Kat Jiang

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
‘I run, I do, but not very quickly, and always exhaustedly. This is one of the things I’m most insecure about. You meet someone, especially on a college tour, adults ask you what you do. They say, ‘What sports do you play?’ I don’t play any sports. It’s awkward.’
Esther Mobley

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‘I’m living up to my own expectations. It’s what I want to do. I want to do well for myself.’
Colby Kennedy

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
‘You’re supposed to have all these extracurriculars, to play sports and do theater. You’re supposed to do well in your classes and still have time to go out.’
Julie Mhlaba

“First of all, I’m a terrible athlete,” she said over lunch one day.

“I run, I do, but not very quickly, and always exhaustedly,” she continued. “This is one of the things I’m most insecure about. You meet someone, especially on a college tour, adults ask you what you do. They say, ‘What sports do you play?’ I don’t play any sports. It’s awkward.”

Esther, a willowy, effervescent senior, turned to her friend Colby Kennedy. Colby, 17, is also a great student, a classical pianist, fluent in Spanish, and a three-season varsity runner and track captain. Did Colby worry, Esther asked, that she fell short in some way?

“Or,” said Esther, and now her tone was a touch sarcastic, “do you just have it all already?”

They both burst out laughing.

Esther and Colby are two of the amazing girls at Newton North High School here in this affluent suburb just outside Boston. “Amazing girls” translation: Girls by the dozen who are high achieving, ambitious and confident (if not immune to the usual adolescent insecurities and meltdowns.) Girls who do everything: Varsity sports. Student government. Theater. Community service. Girls who have grown up learning they can do anything a boy can do, which is anything they want to do.

But being an amazing girl often doesn’t feel like enough these days when you’re competing with all the other amazing girls around the country who are applying to the same elite colleges that you have been encouraged to aspire to practically all your life.

An athlete, after all, is one of the few things Esther isn’t. A few of the things she is: a standout in Advanced Placement Latin and honors philosophy/literature who can expound on the beauty of the subjunctive tense in Catullus and on Kierkegaard’s existential choices. A writer whose junior thesis for Advanced Placement history won Newton North’s top prize. An actress. President of her church youth group.

To spend several months in a pressure cooker like Newton North is to see what a girl can be — what any young person can be — when encouraged by committed teachers and by engaged parents who can give them wide-ranging opportunities.

It is also to see these girls struggle to navigate the conflicting messages they have been absorbing, if not from their parents then from the culture, since elementary school. The first message: Bring home A’s. Do everything. Get into a top college — which doesn’t have to be in the Ivy League, or one of the other elites like Williams, Tufts or Bowdoin, but should be a “name” school.

The second message: Be yourself. Have fun. Don’t work too hard.

And, for all their accomplishments and ambitions, the amazing girls, as their teachers and classmates call them, are not immune to the third message: While it is now cool to be smart, it is not enough to be smart.

You still have to be pretty, thin and, as one of Esther’s classmates, Kat Jiang, a go-to stage manager for student theater who has a perfect 2400 score on her SATs, wrote in an e-mail message, “It’s out of style to admit it, but it is more important to be hot than smart.”

“Effortlessly hot,” Kat added.

If you are free to be everything, you are also expected to be everything. What it comes down to, in this place and time, is that the eternal adolescent search for self is going on at the same time as the quest for the perfect résumé. For Esther, as for high school seniors everywhere, this is a big weekend for finding out how your résumé measured up: The college acceptances, and rejections, are rolling in.

“You want to achieve,” Esther said. “But how do you achieve and still be genuine?”

If it all seems overwhelming at times, then the multitasking adults in Newton have the answer: Balance. Strive for balance.

But balance is out the window when you’re a high-achieving senior in the home stretch of the race for which all the years of achieving and the disciplined focusing on the future have been preparing you. These students are aware that because more girls apply to college than boys, amid concerns about gender balance, boys may have an edge at some small selective colleges.

“You’re supposed to have all these extracurriculars, to play sports and do theater,” said another of Esther’s 17-year-old classmates, Julie Mhlaba, who aspires to medical school and juggles three Advanced Placement classes, gospel choir and a part-time job as a waitress. “You’re supposed to do well in your classes and still have time to go out.”

“You’re supposed to do all these things,” Julie said, “and not go insane.”

Stress Trumps Relaxation

Newton, which has a population of almost 84,000, is known for a liberal sensibility and a high concentration of professionals like doctors, lawyers and academics. Six miles west of Boston, with its heavily settled neighborhoods, bustling downtowns and high numbers of immigrants, Newton is a suburb with an urban feel.

The main shopping area, in Newton Centre, is a concrete manifestation of the conflicting messages Esther and the other girls are constantly struggling to decode. In one five-block stretch are two Starbucks and one Peets Coffee & Tea, several psychotherapists’ offices, three SAT test-prep services, two after-school math programs, and three yoga studios promising relaxation and inner peace.

Smack in the middle of all of this is Esther’s church, the 227-year-old First Baptist, which welcomes everyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or denomination, and where Esther puts in a lot of time.

The test-prep business is booming. Kaplan (“Be the ideal college applicant!”) is practically around the corner from Chyten (“Our average SAT II score across all subjects is 720!”), which is three blocks from Princeton Review (“We’re all about scoring more!”). My First Yoga (for children 3 and up), with its founder playing up her Harvard degree, is conveniently located above Chyten, which includes the SAT Cafe.

High-priced SAT prep has become almost routine at schools like Newton North. Not to hire the extra help is practically an act of rebellion.

“I think it’s unfair,” Esther said, explaining why she decided against an SAT tutor, though she worried about her score (ultimately getting, as she put it, “above 2000”). “Why do I deserve this leg up?”

Parents view Newton’s expensive real estate — the median house price in 2006 was $730,000 — and high taxes as the price of admission to the prized public schools. There are less affluent parents, small-business owners, carpenters, plumbers, social workers and high school guidance counselors, but many of these families arrived decades ago when it was possible to buy a nice two-story Colonial for $150,000 or less.

Newton North, one of two outstanding public high schools here, is known for its academic rigor, but also its vocational education, reflecting the wide range of its 1,967 students. Nearly 73 percent of them are white, 7.3 percent black, nearly 12 percent Asian and 7.5 percent Hispanic. Many of the black and Hispanic students live in the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, and are bused in under a 35-year-old voluntary integration program.

Newton North has a student theater, winning athletic teams and dozens of after-school clubs (ultimate Frisbee, mock trial, black leadership, Hispanic culture, Israeli dance). There is an emphasis on nonconformity — even if it is often conformity dressed up as nonconformity — and an absence of such high school conventions as, say, homecoming queens, valedictorians and class rankings.

‘Superhuman’ Resistance

Jennifer Price, the Newton North principal, said she and her faculty emphasized to students that they could win admission to many excellent colleges without organizing their entire lives around résumé building. By age 14, Ms. Price said, the school’s highest fliers are already worrying about marketing themselves to colleges: “You almost have to be superhuman to resist the pressure.”

If more students aren’t listening to the message that they can relax a bit, one reason may be that a lot of the people delivering the message went to the elite colleges. Ms. Price has an undergraduate degree from Princeton — she makes a point of saying that she got in because she was recruited to play varsity field hockey — and is a doctoral candidate at Harvard. Many of the teachers have degrees from the Ivy League and other elite schools.

But the message also tends to get drowned out when parents bump into each other at Whole Foods and share news about whose son or daughter just got accepted (or not) at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Penn or Stanford.

Or when the final edition of the award-winning student newspaper, the Newtonite, comes out every June, with its two-page spread listing all the seniors, and their colleges. For that entire week, Esther says, everyone pores over the names, obsessing about who is going where.

“In a lot of ways, it’s all about that one week,” she said.

There is something about the lives these girls lead — their jam-packed schedules, the amped-up multitasking, the focus on a narrow group of the nation’s most selective colleges — that speaks of a profound anxiety in the young people, but perhaps even more so in their parents, about the ability of the next generation to afford to raise their families in a place like Newton.

Admission to a brand-name college is viewed by many parents, and their children, as holding the best promise of professional success and economic well-being in an increasingly competitive world.

“It’s, like, a really big deal to go into a lucrative profession so that you can provide for your kids, and they can grow up in a place like the place where you grew up,” Kat said.

Esther, however, is aiming for a decidedly nonlucrative profession. Inspired by her father, Greg Mobley, who is a Biblical scholar, she wants to be a theologian.

She says she is interested in “Scripture, the Bible, the development of organized religion, thinking about all this, writing about all this, teaching about all this.” More than anything else, she wrote in an e-mail message, she wants to be a writer, “and religion is what I most like to write about.”

“I have such a strong sense of being supported by my faith,” she continued. “It gives me priorities. That’s why I’m not concerned about making money, because I know that there is so much more to living a rich life than having money.”

First Baptist Church counts on Esther. She organizes pancake suppers, tutors a young congregant and helps lead the youth group’s outreach to the poor.

On a springlike Sunday afternoon toward the end of winter, Esther could be found with her father, her two brothers and members of her youth group handing out food to homeless people on Boston Common. She had spent the morning in church.

About 2 p.m., a text message flashed across her cellphone from Gabe Gladstone, a co-captain of mock trial: “Where are you?” Esther, a key member of the group, was needed at a meeting.

Esther messaged back: “I’m feeding the homeless, I’ll come when God’s work is done.”

Fending Off ‘Anorexia of the Soul’

On a Saturday afternoon in late November, Esther and her mother, Page Kelley, sat at the dining room table talking about the contradictions and complexities of life in Newton. Esther’s father was with his sons, Gregory, 15, who plays varsity basketball for Newton North, and Tommy, 10, coaching Tommy’s basketball team.

Ms. Kelley, 47, an assistant federal public defender, and Mr. Mobley, 49, a professor at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, grew up in Kentucky and came north for college. Ms. Kelley is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Law School. Mr. Mobley has two graduate degrees from Harvard.

Amid all the competitiveness and consumerism, and the obsession with achievement in Newton, Ms. Kelley said, “You just hope your child doesn’t have anorexia of the soul.”

“It’s the idea that you end up with this strange drive,” she continued. “One of the great things about Esther is that she does have some kind of spiritual life. You just hope your kid has good priorities. We keep saying to her: ‘The name of the college you go to doesn’t matter. There are a lot of good colleges out there.’ ”

Esther said her mother is her role model. “I think the work she does is very noble,” she said.

“She has these impressive degrees,” Esther said, “and she chooses to do something where she’s not making as much money as she could.”

As close as mother and daughter are, there is one important generational divide. “My mother applied to one college,” Esther said. “She got in, she went.”

Back from basketball practice with his sons, Mr. Mobley joined the conversation. To Mr. Mobley, a formalized, competitive culture pervades everything from youth sports to getting into college. He pointed out to his wife that the lives of their three children were far more directed “than any of the aimless hours I spent in my youth daydreaming and meandering.”

Ms. Kelley asked, “Is that because of us?”

“Yes — and no,” he said. “It’s because of 2006 in America, and the Northeast.”

The bar for achievement keeps being raised for each generation, he said: “Our children start where we finished.”

As the afternoon turned into early evening, Esther went out to meet her best friend, Aliza Edelstein. The family dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Bandit, was underfoot, trolling for affection.

“I’m not worried about Esther because I know her,” Mr. Mobley said. “Esther’s character is sealed in some fundamental way.”

Ms. Kelley, however, wondered aloud: “Don’t you worry that she never rebelled? When I was growing up, you were supposed to rebel.”

But she acknowledged that she had sent her own mixed signals. “As I’m sitting here saying I don’t care what kind of grades she gets, I’m thinking, she comes home with a B, and I say: ‘What’d you get a B for? Who gave you a B? I’m going to talk to them.’

“You do want your child to do well.”

Mr. Mobley nodded. “We’re not above it,” he said. “It’s complicated.”

On a Fierce Mission to Shine

To sit in on classes with Esther in her vibrant high school where, between classes, the central corridor, called Main Street, is a bustling social hub, is to see why these students are genuinely excited about school.

Their teachers are pushing them to wrestle with big questions: What is truth? What does Virgil’s “Aeneid” tell us about destiny and individual happiness? How does DNA work? How is the global economy reshaping the world (subtext: you have to be fluid and highly educated to survive in the new economy)?

Esther’s ethics teacher, Joel Greifinger, spent considerable time this winter on moral theories. An examination of John Rawls’s theory of justice led to extensive discussions about American society and class inequality. Among the reading material Mr. Greifinger presented was research showing the correlation between income and SAT scores.

The class strengthened Esther’s earlier decision not to take private SAT prep.

In her honors philosophy/literature class, Esther has been reading Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, “Sophie’s Choice” and Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Amid a discussion of the strangely unsettling emptiness Frankl encountered upon his release from a Nazi concentration camp, Esther quoted Sartre: “You are condemned to freedom.”

Her honors teacher, Mike Fieleke, nodded. “That’s the existential idea. If we don’t awaken to that freedom, then we are slaves to our fate.”

A few weeks earlier, Esther, taking stock of her own life, wrote in an e-mail message: “I feel like I’m on the verge. I feel like I’m just about to get out of high school, to enter into adulthood, to reach some kind of state of independence and peacefulness and enlightenment.”

More immediately, she wrote, Mr. Fieleke had told her “he thought, from reading my papers and hearing me speak in class, that I was just on the verge of some really great idea.”

“I asked him if he thought that idea would come by next Wednesday, when our big Hamlet paper was due. He said I might feel this way all year long.”

The most intensely pressurized academic force field at school is the one surrounding the students on the Advanced Placement and honors track. About 145 of the 500 seniors are taking a combined total of three, four and five Advanced Placement and honors classes, with a few students even juggling six and seven.

Esther’s friend Colby takes four Advanced Placement and one honors class. “I’m living up to my own expectations,” Colby said. “It’s what I want to do. I want to do well for myself.”

Another of Esther’s friends, from student theater, Lee Gerstenhaber, 17, was juggling four Advanced Placement classes with intense late-night rehearsals for her starring role as Maggie, the seductive Southern belle in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” It was too much. About 4 a.m one day last fall, she was still fighting her way through Advanced Placement physics homework. She dissolved in tears.

“I had always been able to do it before,” Lee recalled later. “But I finally said to myself, ‘O.K., I’m not Superwoman.’ ”

She dropped physics — and was incandescent as Maggie.

Esther’s schedule includes two Advanced Placement and one honors class. Among certain of her classmates who are mindful that many elite colleges advise prospective applicants to pursue the most rigorous possible course of study, taking two Advanced Placement classes is viewed as “only two A.P.’s.” But Esther says she is simply taking the subjects she is most interested in.

She also shrugged off advice that it would look better on her résumé to take another science class instead of her passion, A.P. Latin. Like so many of her classmates, Esther started taking Latin in the seventh grade, when everyone was saying Latin would help them with the SAT. But now, except for Esther and a handful of other diehards who are devoted to Latin — and to their teacher, Robert Mitchell — everyone else has moved on.

“I like languages,” said Esther, who also takes Advanced Placement Spanish. “And I really like Latin.”

Who Needs a Boyfriend?

This year Esther has been trying life without a boyfriend. It was her mother’s idea. “She’d say, ‘I think it’s time for you to take a break and discover who you are,’ ” Esther said over lunch with Colby. “She was right. I feel better.”

Esther turned to Colby: she seems to pretty much always have a boyfriend.

“I never felt like having a boyfriend was a burden,” Colby said. “I enjoy just being comfortable with someone, being able to spend time together. I don’t think that means I wouldn’t feel comfortable or confident without one.”

Esther said: “I’m not trying to say that’s a bad thing. I’m like you. I never thought, ‘If I don’t have a boyfriend I’ll feel totally forlorn and lost.’ ”

But who needs a boyfriend? “My girlfriends have consistently been more important than my boyfriends,” Esther wrote in an e-mail message. “I mean, girlfriends last longer.”

Boyfriends or not, a deeper question for Esther and Colby is how they negotiate their identities as young women. They have grown up watching their mothers, and their friends’ mothers, juggle family and career. They take it for granted that they will be able to carve out similar paths, even if it doesn’t look easy from their vantage point.

They say they want to be both feminine and assertive, like their mothers. But Colby made the point at lunch that she would rather be considered too assertive and less conventionally feminine than “be totally passive and a bystander in my life.”

Esther agreed. She said she admired Cristina, the spunky resident on “Grey’s Anatomy,” one of her favorite TV shows.

“She really stands up for herself and knows who she is, which I aspire to,” Esther said.

Cristina is also “gorgeous,” Esther laughed. “And when she’s taking off her scrubs, she’s always wearing cute lingerie.”

Speaking of lingerie, part of being feminine is feeling good about how you look. Esther is not trying to be one of Newton North’s trendsetters, the girls who show up every day in Ugg boots, designer jeans — or equally cool jeans from the vintage store — and tight-fitting tank tops under the latest North Face jacket.

She never looks “scrubby,” to use the slang for being a slob, but sometimes comes to school in sweats and moccasins.

“I think sometimes I might be trying a little too hard not to conform,” Esther says.

She says she is one of the few girls in her circle who doesn’t have a credit card. But she is hardly immune to the pressure to be a good consumer.

During the discussion around the dining room table, Esther’s mother expressed her astonishment over her daughter’s expertise in designer jeans. They had been people-watching at the mall. Esther, as it turned out, knew the brand of every pair of jeans that went by.

So what were the coolest jeans at Newton North?

“The coolest jeans are True Religions,” Esther said.

“They look,” she said, and here she smiled sheepishly as she stood up to reveal her denim-clad legs, “like these.”

Aliza and several of Esther’s other friends chipped in to buy them for her 17th birthday, in November.

Encouraged to Ease Up a Little

The amazing boys say they admire girls like Esther and Colby.

“I hate it when girls dumb themselves down,” Gabe Gladstone, the co-captain of mock trial, was saying one morning to the other captain, Cameron Ferrey.

Cameron said he felt the same way.

One of Esther’s close friends is Dan Catomeris, a school theater star. “One of the most attractive things about Esther is how smart she is,” said Dan, whose mother is a professor at Harvard Business School. “There’s always been this intellectual tension between us. I see why she likes Kierkegaard — he’s existential, but still Christian. She really likes Descartes. I was not so into Descartes. I really like Hume, Nietzsche, the existentialist authors. The musician we’re most collectively into is Bob Dylan.”

Sometimes, though, everybody wants some of these hard-charging girls to chill out. Tom DePeter, an Advanced Placement English teacher, wants his students to loosen up so they can write original sentences. The theater director, Adam Brown, wants the girls to “let go” in auditions.

Peter Martin, the girls’ cross-country coach, says girls try so hard to please everyone — coaches, teachers, parents — that he bends over backward not to criticize them. “I tell them, ‘Just go out and run.’ ” His team wins consistently.

But how do you chill out and still get into a highly selective college?

One of Esther’s favorite rituals is to hang out at her house with Aliza, eating Ben and Jerry’s and watching a DVD of a favorite program like “The Office.” Their friendship helped Esther and Aliza keep going last fall, when there was hardly time to hang out. Esther recalled in an e-mail message how one night she had telephoned Aliza, who is also a top student, and a cross-country team captain, to say she was feeling overwhelmed.

“I said, ‘Aliza, this is crazy, I have so much homework to do, and I won’t be able to relax until I do it all. I haven’t gone out in weeks!’ And Aliza (who had also been staying in on Fridays and Saturdays to do homework) pointed out: ‘I’d rather get into college.’ ”

By Dec. 15, Newton North was in a frenzy over early admissions answers. Esther’s friend Phoebe Gardener had been accepted to Dartmouth. Her friend Dan Lurie was in at Brown. Harvard wanted Dan Catomeris.

Esther was in calculus class, the last period of the day when her cellphone rang. It was her father. The letter from Williams College — her ideal of the small, liberal arts school — had arrived.

Her father would be at her brother’s basketball game when she got home. Her mother would still be at the office. Esther did not want to be alone when she opened the letter.

“Dad, can you bring it to school?” she asked.

Ten minutes later, when her father arrived, Esther realized that he had somehow not registered the devastating thinness of the envelope. The admissions office was sorry. Williams had had a record number of highly qualified applicants for early admission this year. Esther had been rejected. Not deferred. Rejected.

Her father hugged her as she cried outside her classroom, and then he drove her home.

Esther said several days later: “Maybe it hurt me that I wasn’t an athlete.”

But she was already moving on. “I chose Williams,” she said, with a shrug. “They didn’t choose me back.”

About that thin envelope: Mr. Mobley, unschooled in such intricacies, said he hadn’t paid much attention to it. He had wanted so much for his daughter to get into Williams, he said, and believed so strongly in her, that it was as if he had wished the letter into being an acceptance.

“It was a setback,” Mr. Mobley said weeks later. “But it’s not a failure.”

And Then One Day, a Letter Arrives

Has this all been a temporary insanity?

Esther’s friend Colby learned in February that she had been accepted at the University of Southern California. Soon, more letters of acceptance rolled in: from the University of Miami, the University of Texas at Austin, Tulane. With the college-application pressure behind her, she can go back to being the pragmatic romantic who opened her journal last August and wrote her “life list,” with 35 goals and dreams, in pink ink.

She wants: To write a novel. Own a (red) Jeep Wrangler. Get into college. Name her firstborn daughter Carmen. Go to carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Learn to surf. Live in a Spanish-speaking country. Learn to play the doppio movimiento of Chopin’s Sonata in B Flat. Own a dog. Be a bridesmaid. Vote for president. Write a really good poem. Never get divorced.

In mid-January Esther was thrilled to receive an acceptance letter from Centre College, one of her fallback schools, in Kentucky. But she was still dreaming about her remaining top choices: Amherst, Middlebury, Davidson and Smith, her mother’s alma mater.

Esther’s application to Smith included a letter from her father. He wrote about how, when Esther was a baby, they had gone to his wife’s 10th college reunion. He described the alumni parade as an “angelic procession of women in white, decade by decade, at every stage in the course of human life.”

He wrote about seeing the young women, the middle-aged graduates and, finally, “the elderly women, some with the assistance of canes and wheelchairs, but with no diminution of the confidence that a great education brings.”

“I still remember holding Esther as we watched those saints go marching into the central campus for the commencement ceremony,” he wrote.

“Lord,” he concluded, and he could have been talking about any of the schools his daughter still has her heart set on, “I want Esther to be in that number.”

Epilogue: Esther learned last week that she had gotten into Smith. She learned on Saturday that she had been rejected by Amherst and Middlebury. She is still hoping for Davidson.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/us/01girls.html?ei=5070&en=8542ef1a2b8dc3e1&ex=1176436800&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all

The Science of Getting Rich

2007-04-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.cleaningoutthecloset.com/pdf/scienceofgettingrich.pdf

The Science of Getting Rich i
The Science of
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Timeless wisdom and a practical prosperity program
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©1999-2002 Rebecca Fine & Certain Way Productions www.scienceofgettingrich.net
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Edited by & with a new introduction by Rebecca Fine
A gift to you from The Science of Getting Rich Network
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ii Wallace D. Wattles
The Science of Getting Rich
©1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Rebecca Fine. All rights reserved.
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Asia's Richest Women Dies in Mystery

2007-04-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, dies By Donny Kwok
Wed Apr 4, 7:07 AM ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, has died of an unspecified illness after reports she had been battling cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated $4.2 billion (2.1 billion pound) fortune.

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Known for her signature pigtails and nicknamed "little sweetie" by the local media, Wang, 69, won a court case in 2005 for her late husband's business empire in a case filled with tales of adultery, kidnapping and murder.

The Hong Kong heiress, whose maiden name was Kung, was reported by local newspapers to be suffering from cancer, but that was never officially confirmed.

"Chinachem Group's chairwoman Nina Wang Kung passed away on April 3 and the details of the funeral will be announced later," her personal assistant, Ringo Wong, told Reuters by telephone.

Wang's company, Hong Kong's largest private property developer, Chinachem Group, confirmed in a statement that she died on Tuesday.

Wang, ranked by Forbes Magazine as Asia's 35th richest person, had no children but is survived by at least one brother and reportedly other siblings.

Lawyer Wong Tak-sing said under Hong Kong law Nina Wang's brothers and sisters could apply to inherit her fortune if she did not have a will. Wang's nieces or nephews could share the wealth as well if their parents had died.

Wang successfully battled her father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished more than a decade ago.

KIDNAPPED

Central to the marathon probate case was a handwritten will that Wang said was penned and signed by Teddy in March 1990, a month before he was kidnapped and never seen again. Some reports at the time said Teddy was gagged and bound and thrown out to sea from a Chinese "sampan" boat.

Teddy was also kidnapped in 1983 when his car was hijacked, and only released -- left in an iron box at the side of a road -- after Nina paid an $11 million ransom.

Born in Shanghai, Wang went to Hong Kong in 1955 to rejoin Teddy, who ran a pharmaceuticals and vinyl business before starting to dabble in property. By the 1980s the couple were part of the booming city's glitterati.

Hong Kong newspapers reported late last year that Wang had ovarian cancer that had spread to her liver and other organs, and had been admitted to hospital for chemotherapy.

Two firms, in which Nina Wang held stakes, saw their stock prices fall on Wednesday. Fashion retailer ENM Holdings dropped 14 percent, while China Solar Energy Holdings Ltd. lost 2.63 percent.

Wang was also a strategic investor in CITIC 1616, which jumped 67 percent on its market debut the day she died, and was up 1.86 percent on Wednesday.

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Article Collection April 4

2007-04-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

EU starts probe into Apple's iTunes By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
Tue Apr 3, 3:24 PM ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The deals Apple Inc. struck with record labels to stock its European iTunes stores may violate EU competition rules, regulators said Tuesday.

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Apple and the record companies were notified of an investigation into their agreements after regulators built up a "very strong case," said European Union spokesman Jonathan Todd.

People can only download singles or albums from the iTunes store in their country of residence — a policy that amounts to unlawful "territorial sales restrictions," the Commission said.

"Consumers are thus restricted in their choice of where to buy music and consequently what music is available, and at what price," the Commission said in a statement.

But Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company wanted to operate a single store for all of Europe, but music labels and publishers said there were limits to the rights they could grant to Apple.

"We don't believe Apple did anything to violate EU law," he said. "We will continue to work with the EU to resolve this matter."

Investigators have been gathering evidence on Apple's deals with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and EMI Group PLC for the past two years, after Britain's Consumers' Association filed a complaint with the Commission in 2004.

"We do not believe we have breached European competition law and we will be making that case strongly," said Amanda Conroy, a spokeswoman for EMI in London.

Sony spokeswoman Sylvia Shin offered no immediate reaction to the investigation and a call made to Universal Music was not immediately returned.

Apple and the record companies have two months to answer questions in the "statement of objections" from regulators. If found guilty, a company could face hefty fines, which in theory could total up to 10 percent of the company's worldwide annual revenue.

The cost of buying a single song across the 27-nation bloc varies among the available iTunes stores in EU nations. For example, downloading a track in Britain costs $1.56, in Denmark $1.44, while in countries using the euro such as Germany and Belgium, a single costs $1.32.

Consumer groups welcomed the EU's move.

"As I can go from the U.K. to Germany to go into the shop to buy a CD there, which is cheaper or more expensive than in the U.K., I should have the same opportunity online; that is what we are asking for," said Cornelia Kutterer, senior legal adviser at the European consumer group BEUC.

The EU investigation comes amid moves by consumer rights groups in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Nordic countries to force Apple to change the rules it imposes on its online music store customers.

The groups are demanding Apple lift limits preventing consumers from playing their downloads on digital players other than Apple's iPod. In February, Norway, which is not a member of the EU, declared those limits illegal and gave Apple until Oct. 1 to change its compatibility rules or face legal action and possible fines.

The EU investigation does not deal with these concerns, however.

Apple has said it is willing to open iTunes to players other than iPods if the world's major record labels moved to change their anti-piracy technology.

Apple and EMI announced a deal on Monday that would allow EMI's music to be sold on iTunes minus anti-piracy software that limits its use on some players. The move is expected to be watched — and likely followed — by other record labels.

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REDMOND, Wash. - Microsoft Corp. has filed five new lawsuits against U.S. companies and individuals it claims sold deeply discounted Windows and Office software intended for students.

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The company filed the suits Monday evening in federal courts in California, Nevada and Florida, alleging the parties infringed on Microsoft's copyright by importing and distributing versions of Windows and Office that were not meant to be sold through the retail channel.

"The defendants in these lawsuits and others are charged with profiting from selling clearly marked educational software to unsuspecting retail customers who were not licensed to use it," Bonnie MacNaughton, senior attorney at Microsoft, said in a statement.

Named in the lawsuits are EEE Business Inc., doing business as eBusZone.com; Eric Chan and Ruhui Li, both doing business as LCTech; and Intrax Group Inc. of California. Also named were Global Online Distribution LLC of Las Vegas and Big Boy Distribution of Florida.

"We're not selling counterfeit or stolen software," said Mike Mak, owner of Intrax, which is based in San Jose, Calif. "We bought software from legitimate sources in the U.S."

Mak said his company sold the discounted "Student Media" software, but stopped after Intrax learned about the lawsuit Tuesday morning.

"When we sell it, we disclose exactly what it is to our customers. We tell them it is academic software, that it may require a separate license," Mak said. He said that as far as he's concerned, that's not illegal.

He added that it's impossible for his business to sell boxed retail versions of Microsoft software and still make a profit. Instead, he said, "you try to seek out alternatives that are legal," including Student Media programs.

Dale Harelik, managing director of Global Online Distribution, said his company has never sold the discounted students-only software. He said the company received a cease-and-desist letter from Microsoft in January, and that he spoke by phone with the software maker's lawyers, who assured him Global Online Distribution was not a target of an ongoing investigation.

"We're not the bad guys," Harelik said. "We agreed with Microsoft. We complied with Microsoft."

Lillian Shan, a manager at EEE Business, said the company had not seen the legal filings, and did not want to comment without having reviewed them. Big Boy Distribution did not return a call for comment.

Microsoft has pinpointed a handful of companies, including one in Jordan and one in Latvia, as sources for the discounted Student Media software sold illegally on U.S. Web sites, MacNaughton said in an interview Monday.

These education-only copies of Office and Windows, which universities around the world buy from academic resellers and offer to students at a fraction of the retail price, are a prime target for fraud, MacNaughton said.

"We knew we had to try to do something to maintain the integrity of our academic programs," she said.

MacNaughton said Jordan-based Educational Solutions had a contract to sell 150,000 copies of Windows and Office to Jordan's education ministry. It received the software from Microsoft but never paid for it, she said. Instead, it resold the disks to software retailers in the U.S., making between $3 million and $4 million in profit.

MacNaughton said a company in Latvia perpetrated a similar scam, but declined to give the company's name.

Microsoft also said Monday that EDirectSoftware.com, which it claimed was one of the largest sellers of the discounted student software, agreed to settle a lawsuit out of court. EDirectSoftware.com said it no longer sells Microsoft products, but would not comment on the settlement.

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Bush calls Dems 'irresponsible' on Iraq By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush denounced "irresponsible" Democrats on Tuesday for going on spring break without approving money for the Iraq war with no strings. He condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s trip to Syria, too, accusing her of encouraging a terrorism sponsor.

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With Congress out of town, Bush tried to take the upper hand over Democrats who are making increasing forays into foreign policy as his term dwindles and his approval ratings remain low.

Democrats, buoyed by recent Republican defections from Bush on Iraq, shot back that they are the ones pursuing effective solutions overseas in response to a national desire for change from his approach.

"We are not going to allow the president to continue a failed policy in Iraq. We represent the American people's vision on this failed war," Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., said at a ceremony for a new Nevada National Guard armory near Las Vegas. "We have said time and time again the troops will have everything they need."

Speaking a day before he heads out of town for six days for events in the West and an Easter break at his ranch, the president said Democrats are failing their responsibility to the troops and the nation's security by leaving for their own recess after passing bills to fund the war that contain timelines for American withdrawal.

Given his promised veto of anything containing a deadline — and the likelihood that his veto would be sustained on Capitol Hill — Bush said Democrats are merely engaging in games that "undercut the troops."

"Democrat leaders in Congress seem more interested in fighting political battles in Washington than in providing our troops what they need to fight the battles in Iraq," Bush said. "In a time of war, it's irresponsible for the Democrat leadership — Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds."

Nearly two months ago, Bush asked for more than $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. Congress has approved the money, but the Senate added a provision also calling for most U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008. The House version demands a September 2008 withdrawal.

These bills still must be reconciled before legislation can be sent to the president.

"They need to come off their vacation, get a bill to my desk, and if it's got strings and mandates and withdrawals and pork I'll veto it," the president said. "And then we can get down to the business of getting this thing done."

Not so fast, Democrats responded.

"Americans want compromise, not a cowboy-style showdown," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (news, bio, voting record), D-S.C.

Fresh from a briefing by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the president sought to put pressure on Democrats by detailing ways that delaying the money could harm troops and their families.

After the current $70 billion war appropriation runs out in mid-April, Bush said, the military would have to consider cutting back on equipment, repairs and training for National Guard and reserve forces. After mid-May, he said, more steps would be considered, such as delaying or curtailing the training of some active duty forces.

Despite Bush's warnings, dire consequences can be avoided even after the money starts to run out. It has become routine in recent years for Pentagon accountants to move money around in the department's half-trillion-dollar budget to make sure operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are not disrupted. The money is repaid, usually with minimal disruption, when the president signs a new war spending bill.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, Bush and Congress have about three months to resolve their standoff before Iraq operations would actually be affected.

Democrats told Bush to stop blaming them for being the ones to keep money from soldiers, and to start negotiating.

"If President Bush vetoes funding for the troops, he will be the one who is blocking funding for the troops. Nobody else," said presidential candidate John Edwards.

On another topic, the president took issue with a two-day stay in Syria by Pelosi that began Tuesday.

As the speaker donned a head scarf and mingled with Syrians at a mosque and a market in Damascus' Old City, preparing for meetings Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Bush said she was sending dangerous signals. State-run newspapers in Syria published news of the visit on their front pages, with one daily publishing a photograph of Pelosi next to the headline: "Welcome Dialogue."

Bush said meetings with many high-level Americans have done nothing to persuade Assad to control violent elements of the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, to halt efforts to destabilize Lebanon or to stop allowing "foreign fighters" from flowing over Syria's border into Iraq.

"Photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they're part of the mainstream of the international community when, in fact, they're a state sponsor of terror," he said.

When she visited Lebanon on Monday, Pelosi noted that Republican lawmakers had met Assad on Sunday without comment from the Bush administration.

"I think that it was an excellent idea for them to go," she said. "And I think it's an excellent idea for us to go as well."

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended that the U.S. begin direct and extensive talks with Syria and Iran over Iraq. The Bush administration has long rejected that idea, but recently agreed to allow U.S. representatives to talk with Syrian officials at an international conference in Baghdad.

Pelosi's office said her trip was appropriate.

"The Iraq Study Group recommended a diplomatic effort that should include 'every country that has an interest in avoiding a chaotic Iraq,'" said deputy press secretary Drew Hamill. "This effort should certainly include Syria."

On other matters, Bush:

_Said his administration "had a right to remove" eight U.S. attorneys. Bush added a note of concern about damage to the prosecutors' reputations: "I'm sorry it's come to this," he said.

_Refused to say whether he believes homosexuality is immoral, a characterization made recently by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "I will not be rendering judgment about individual orientation," he said.

_Rejected any "quid pro quo" to win the release of 15 British sailors captured by Iran, such as exchanging five Iranians arrested by the U.S. military in Iraq in January. At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said there was no link "as far as we know" between the captured Britons and the release Tuesday of an Iranian diplomat missing for two months in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Journalist or Activist?
Video blogger Josh Wolf is free from jail. For Wolf, it's the end of a record-setting prison term. But the debate over his role as a journalist continues.
By Kevin Sites, Tue Apr 3, 10:58 PM ETEmail Story IM Story
SAN FRANCISCO -- Whether he is a journalist or not, as many debate, Josh Wolf believed strongly enough in the journalistic principle of protecting his sources that he was willing to spend seven and a half months in a federal prison being faithful to it.

Tuesday afternoon, he walked out of the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in California a free man.

Wolf was in prison for refusing to hand over video he shot during a protest in San Francisco in 2005. In a deal brokered between his lawyers and federal prosecutors, Wolf posted the uncut video of the protest on his site, JoshWolf.net, gave prosecutors a copy, told them he had not witnessed any crimes and was released.

In interviews preceding his release, Josh Wolf's family and peers discuss his situation. » View

In exchange, prosecutors acceded to Wolf's key contention: that he not be made to appear before the grand jury and identify those on his videotape.

"Journalists absolutely have to remain independent of law enforcement,'' Wolf told reporters outside the gates of the prison. "Otherwise, people will never trust journalists.''

Just as Wolf became a poster boy for the debate of whether bloggers are actually journalists and deserving the same legal protections, his status as an Internet icon may get another boost as likely the first federal prison inmate to be released for posting a video to his website.

Wolf, who calls himself and activist and anarchist on another one of his sites, "The Revolution Will Be Televised," filmed a July 2005 San Francisco protest against the World Trade Organization which turned violent. A police officer suffered a fractured skull and there were allegations of attempted arson.

Wolf provided some of the footage to local television stations, but refused to give the raw outtakes to a grand jury.

The standoff led to Wolf being jailed and sparked a heated debate about whether an activist blogger deserved the same protections as a professional journalist.

I spoke to Wolf by telephone while he was still in prison a few weeks ago and asked him if his advocacy made him selective in what he videotaped at the protest. Would he turn off the camera to protect his friends? A partial transcript of our conversation follows (Listen to the full interview).

Kevin Sites: If there had been a situation where you saw a protestor beating up a police officer, or you saw them committing arson, would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: I wasn't there to shoot that.

Kevin Sites: No, but would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: That's a question I would have made in that moment...

Kevin Sites: Well, that's what I want to ask you. If I asked you to take sides, if I asked you to take a side of journalism or activism, you know, which side are you taking here? Because you're asking for the protection of journalism yet you're also seeking to be an activist.

"My role is to uncover the truth to deliver to the public. That is my number one accountability."
— Josh Wolf

Josh Wolf: Would you not say that Thomas Paine was an activist for the Declaration of - or the independence of America and also...

Kevin Sites: But I would say that he would not be claiming to be journalist, he would be claiming to be an activist. That's all I'm asking you to do, is take sides. Are you claiming to be an activist or a journalist?

Josh Wolf: I don't. I see that advocacy has a firm role within the realm of journalism.

Kevin Sites: Right, but as an advocate, you have to be willing to allow yourself to be jailed and expect the consequences of your actions. As a journalist, you're asking for certain protections, you know, from those consequences. That's why I'm asking you, you know, which side do you want to step on at this point.

Josh Wolf: My role is to uncover the truth to deliver to the public. That is my number one accountability.

Kevin Sites: But that truth is through, as you said, a prism of your own political convictions.

Josh Wolf: The truth is biased by everyone's convictions, whether it's a corporate conviction of your employer, your own personal convictions that are left politically based from mainstream press perspective, or a more biased perspective [because of] which you won't be as open about as a journalist who does not put forward an impression that they are trying to be objective. If you watch the videotape, you'll see there are many things that make the protestors look bad and there are things that make the cops look bad. It is essentially a balanced report of what I saw. It's a bird's eye view.

Debra Saunders, a conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, applauds Wolf's dedication, but doesn't believe he should be called a journalist.

"I think that you can be a blogger and be a journalist," Saunders tells me from her office at the Chronicle. "There are people who fit that [description], but when you're an activist cavorting with the people you're chronicling, then you are not a journalist."

Her own newspaper disagrees with that assessment and has supported Wolf on the Chronicle's opinion pages.

"The fact that Josh Wolf has strong political views does not disqualify him from being a journalist any more than the fact that I am an editorial page editor and have opinions disqualifies me from being a journalist," says John Diaz of the Chronicle. "The fact is, he was out at that rally, collecting information to disseminate to the public. I think that makes him a journalist."

Ultimately, Saunders says, it won't be journalists and bloggers who decide the issue, but the government.

"The courts are going to end up deciding who journalists are, because, unfortunately, this administration is really pushing the envelope in jailing journalists, and it won't end with the Bush administration," Saunders says. "It will get bigger as people point fingers in many ways, and that means the courts are going to decide who journalists are. You may not like it, but that's the way it is."

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Clinton urges Dems to press Bush on Iraq By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Democrats should pressure President Bush to agree to a withdrawal of troops from Iraq rather than concede that he will veto such a plan, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.

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Bush has promised to veto House and Senate versions of a war spending bill that includes timetables for drawing down troops, but Democrats shouldn't give up, said Clinton, the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

"I'm not ready to concede that," Clinton said. "We're actually back into a bipartisan government where we have a Democratic Congress and a Republican president. What has historically happened is there has to be some negotiation and compromise and we may not get it, but I'm not willing to concede."

Clinton, speaking with reporters during a campaign stop in Iowa, said she hadn't decided whether to support legislation calling for a cutoff in war funding — a move that would force withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"I'm looking at that," Clinton said. "I don't know anything about it."

Also campaigning in Iowa, Rudy Giuliani, the GOP front-runner in national polls, appeared to back Bush, and said he had reviewed the Constitution earlier in the day.

"Congress has to have power to declare war. Congress has the power of the purse. The president has the sole power to direct the war," Giuliani said at a stop in Cedar Rapids. He added that he hoped Congress and the president would "all get together and figure out how to kind of do it the way" the founding fathers wanted.

"This idea that I find the most difficult is this idea of announcing your retreat. I just think it's fundamentally irresponsible. I've never heard of a retreating army giving their enemy a schedule for retreat. I just doesn't make any sense to me," the former New York City mayor told reporters.

Clinton said that before taking on the funding question, Congress should pressure Bush to go along with the budget bills already approved.

Republican National Committee spokesman Chris Taylor said Clinton in the past has opposed setting a deadline for pulling out troops, and he was taken aback by her apparent support.

"It must be confusing for the voters of Iowa," said Taylor.

Clinton said her husband, former President Bill Clinton, managed to work with a Congress often opposed to his proposals.

"I saw a lot of what happened when my husband had a Republican Congress," said Clinton.

Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination on a two-day trip to Iowa, said Congress should assert its authority

"I've challenged the president not to veto this, but to sit down and work with a bipartisan, representative sampling of the House and Senate and see whether we could figure out what we're going to do going forward."

Democrats took control of Congress largely due to their opposition to the war, Clinton said, and the party must push that agenda.

"I'm challenging the president not to veto the will of the American people," she said.

Clinton also criticized Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, whom she said have questioned the patriotism of war opponents.

"They have been very vocal in impugning the patriotism of members of Congress and citizens who disagree with them, and I don't think that's a very useful approach to take," said Clinton.

Clinton said she's launched a petition drive to gather signatures calling for Bush to go along with Congress.

Democrats will suffer if they don't assert themselves after winning control of Congress, she argued.

"We are now a Democratic majority and we are continuing in a very responsible manner to make it clear to the president that we are a coequal branch of government," said Clinton.

On her Iowa trip, Clinton was joined by former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and his wife, Christie, both of whom have endorsed Clinton's presidential bid. Clinton started her day with a breakfast at Vilsack's Mount Pleasant home, mingling with local activists and sounding an anti-war theme.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_iraq
Britain calls for direct talks with Iran By TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

LONDON - Britain called for direct talks with Iran to resolve a dispute over 15 captive Britons Tuesday after its first contact with the chief Iranian negotiator. The announcement followed the sudden release of an Iranian diplomat in Iraq that raised new hope for resolving the standoff.

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In a statement late Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said there had been "further contacts" between the two countries, including with chief international negotiator Ali Larijani.

"The UK has proposed direct bilateral discussions and awaits an Iranian response on when these can begin," Blair's office said. "Both sides share a desire for an early resolution to this issue through direct talks."

British officials say there has been intense diplomatic activity, including meetings in London with Iran's ambassador. But reports of contacts with officials in Tehran have been sketchy. The Downing Street statement did not say whether the contact with Larijani came in person or by phone.

Blair said earlier in the day that the next 48 hours would be "fairly critical" to resolving the standoff over the British personnel, who have been held by Iran since March 23.

The call for talks came hours after Iranian diplomat Jalal Sharafi was freed by his captors in Iraq. He had been seized Feb. 4 by uniformed gunmen in Karradah, a Shiite-controlled district of Baghdad.

His release raised hope for an end to the standoff and suggested the possibility of a de facto prisoner swap — something both Tehran and London have publicly discounted.

Iran alleged the diplomat had been abducted by an Iraqi military unit commanded by U.S. forces — a charge repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers. U.S. authorities denied any role in his disappearance.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said the Iraqi government had exerted pressure on those holding Sharafi to release him — but he would not identify who had held Sharafi.

But another senior government official said Iraqi intelligence had been holding him. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.

Sharafi was a second secretary at the Iranian Embassy involved in plans to open a branch of the Iranian national bank. U.S. officials allege that Iran provides money and weapons to Iraqi Shiite militias.

Sharafi was abducted a month after the U.S. military arrested five other Iranians in northern Iraq. The U.S. described one of those captives as a senior officer of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said his government also was working "intensively" for the release of the five other Iranians to "help in the release of the British sailors and marines."

Neither Iran nor Iraq nor Britain has said explicitly that a prisoner swap was in the works. Iran has denied it seized the Britons to force the release of Iranians held in Iraq, and Britain has steadfastly insisted it would not negotiate for the sailors' freedom.

In Washington, President Bush signaled the same. "I also strongly support the prime minister's declaration that there should be no quid pro quos when it comes to the hostages," Bush said.

It was unclear whether the Iraqis had won Sharafi's freedom on their own initiative to encourage a settlement, which would ease tension without endangering their own claim to the waters where it occurred.

Nevertheless, the release of Sharafi and efforts to free the five other Iranians suggested that the parameters of a deal might be taking shape.

Iran maintains the British sailors had encroached on Iranian territory when they were seized by naval units of the Revolutionary Guards on March 23. Britain insists its sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters and has demanded their unconditional release.

Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted First Vice President Parviz Davoodi as saying that "Britain should accept that it has invaded Iranian waters and guarantee that it will not be repeated."

"The violation was clear and obvious and all evidences and documents were suggesting occurrence of the violation," Davoodi added. "Britain has recently changed its approach and shifted toward legal and diplomatic negotiations."

With the standoff at a sensitive stage, Britain reacted with caution to the release Tuesday of new pictures of the British captives on the Web site of Iran's Fars News Agency. The images showed six sailors sitting on a carpet in a room, wearing blue, black and red tracksuits. Two sailors were shown playing chess.

Faye Turney, the only woman among the captured, was shown without a head scarf. She had worn one in initial images released of the Royal Navy crew.

Britain has expressed outrage over the airing of earlier videos in which Turney and others "confessed" to violating Iranian territorial waters.

The latest pictures did not show any further confessions. And as tensions have escalated, the Iranians have appeared to back off somewhat.

Larijani's suggestion Monday of talks over territorial disputes in the Persian Gulf had offered the hope of an end to the crisis, the British premier acknowledged. But if negotiations to win the quick release of the 15 sailors and marines stalled, Britain would "take an increasingly tougher position," Blair said.

Larijani said Monday that Iran sought "to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels" and proposed having a delegation determine whether British forces had strayed into Iranian territory in the Gulf. He did not say what sort of delegation he had in mind.

Larijani told Britain's Channel 4 news Monday through an interpreter that Iranian officials believed there was no need for any trial of the navy crew.

___

Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Robert H. Reid in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

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Couple fights to name baby 'Metallica' Tue Apr 3, 4:15 PM ET

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Metallica may be a cool name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince officials it is also suitable for a baby girl.

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Michael and Karolina Tomaro are locked in a court battle with Swedish authorities, which rejected their application to name their six-month-old child after the legendary rock band.

"It suits her," Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. "She's decisive and she knows what she wants."

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word "metal."

Tomaro said the official handling the case also called the name "ugly."

The couple was backed by the County Administrative Court in Goteborg, which ruled on March 13 that there was no reason to block the name. It also noted that there already is a woman in Sweden with Metallica as a middle name.

The tax agency appealed to a higher court, frustrating the family's foreign travel plans.

"We've had to cancel trips and can't get anywhere because we can't get her a passport without an approved name," Tomaro said.

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Pet owners making own dog and cat food By DORIE TURNER, Associated Press Writer
22 minutes ago

ATLANTA - Some dog and cat owners frightened by a contamination scare are forsaking the pet-food aisle and grinding up meat in their own kitchens instead. Sales of pet food recipe books have also shot up since the nationwide pet-food recall began two weeks ago.

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Amy Parish, 40, stopped giving her two aging chow chows canned food. Instead, Parish mixes dry food with a mash of chicken, rice, oatmeal and cottage cheese that she prepares twice a week.

"I'm very suspicious of any large-brand manufactured dog food," said Parish, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker.

But veterinarians warn that making balanced meals for pets can be complicated and should only be a temporary remedy until the scare passes.

Nearly 100 store and major-brand pet foods were recalled by manufacturer Menu Foods Inc. on March 16. Three other companies have recalled some foods since then.

Food and Drug Administration testing found that wheat gluten imported from China was contaminated with a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics. The FDA has confirmed about 15 pet deaths, and anecdotal reports suggest hundreds of cats and dogs may have died.

Some pet owners are not taking any chances.

After Hills Pet Nutrition Inc. recalled one of its cat products, John Slavens, 41, of San Diego, started making homemade food for his two border collies.

He spent five hours in the kitchen Sunday, grinding beef and boiling potatoes and pasta for a week's worth of stew, supplemented with an all-in-one vitamin-mineral powder.

"These dogs are my family," Slavens said.

The FDA and the American Veterinary Medical Association are urging pet owners to switch brands if they are worried. The veterinarian group also warned that many common foods are not safe for pets, including salt, garlic, onions, grapes and chocolate.

Making pet food at home is "kind of like canning: You have to think about bacterial contamination. And how do you make sure it's nutritionally appropriate and balanced for the animal?" said FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza. She added: "We wouldn't object. We'd say be knowledgeable about what you need."

On Amazon.com, the cookbook "Real Food for Dogs" moved into the list of top 200 best-sellers this week. Other authors were finding instant success, too.

Dr. Donald Strombeck said the Amazon.com sales rank for his book "Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative" jumped from below 60,000 to about 1,000 after the recalls.

The retired professor of veterinary nutrition at the University of California, Davis, challenged the common assertion that owners should not feed their pets table food.

When he began practicing veterinary medicine in the 1950s, he said, most pet owners fed their pets scraps from the table, keeping the risk of contamination low.

"The pet food industry doesn't want people competing with them," Strombeck said. "An animal can basically eat the same things we eat. They're not going to develop a deficiency."

Robert Van Sickle, co-owner of the Polka Dog Bakery in Boston, said he has received many inquiries from customers on advice for making their own dog food. For his German short-haired pointer, Van Sickle blends carrots, spinach, salmon oil, apple cider vinegar and whatever meat is in his freezer.

"What this scare has shown me is that it's amazing how many people don't know what they are feeding their dogs," he said. "The bright side, for me, as someone interested in animal wellness, is people are asking questions now."

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Bridges in Washington, Jesse Harlan Alderman in Boston, and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

FDA pet food recall information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_re_us/homemade_pet_food

Report puts a pacifier on 'smarter baby' debate By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Tue Apr 3, 8:21 AM ET

Parents fork over billions of dollars for CDs, DVDs, toys and other products that promise to make their babies smarter - and governments invest in programs to maximize children's brain development from birth through age 3. But many efforts to build "brighter babies" are doomed to failure because they are built on misinterpretations and misapplications of brain research, a report says.

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"While neural connections in babies' brains grow rapidly in the early years, adults can't make newborns smarter or more successful by having them listen to Beethoven or play with Einstein-inspired blocks," says Sara Mead, a senior policy analyst with Education Sector, a centrist Washington think tank.

That a baby's first three years are key for brain development is beyond dispute; scientists know that babies' brains change rapidly, growing and pruning synapses. But Mead says a few early childhood advocates have misinterpreted or misused research to suggest that if parents don't sufficiently stimulate children's brains before age 3, they'll do irreparable harm. There is no evidence that the first three years "are a singular window for growth that slams shut once children turn 3," Mead says.

She says researchers don't know enough about brain growth to say whether educational toys or lessons help: We are "far from knowing how to build a better brain."

But that hasn't stopped parents from spending billions on infant brain-building products. In 2005, the market was $2.5 billion, according to Fortune.

It also hasn't stopped lawmakers from getting involved. In 1998, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller persuaded hospitals to send home classical music CDs with every newborn. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt persuaded lawmakers last year to spend $2 million to support Parents as Teachers, a non-profit that publishes a curriculum for children as young as newborns.

Such efforts teach parents helpful skills, says Jonathan Plucker, professor of cognitive science at Indiana University. "People are starting to almost universally acknowledge that those years are critically important."

But there's no evidence that playing your baby a Mozart CD or sitting her down in front of a Baby Einstein DVD makes a difference, he says. Research suggests stimulation is essential for early brain development, but "we don't know nearly enough to be applying it."

Officials from Baby Einstein and The Smart Baby did not respond to interview requests.

Tammy Mann, a clinical psychologist and deputy director of Zero to Three, an early-childhood advocacy group, agrees that it's an overstatement of brain research to say we can make babies smarter. But she says evidence shows that good, intensive programs, such as Early Head Start, which was developed for at-risk infants, toddlers and preschoolers, yield solid, cost-effective results.

"There is something to say about investing earlier when you're talking about children who are in particularly high-risk situations," she says.

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Keith Richards: 'I snorted my father' 16 minutes ago

LONDON - Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

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"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

"I was No. 1 on the `who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.

___

On the Net:

Rolling Stones:

http://www.rollingstones.com/home.php

NME:

http://www.nme.com/

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FCC says 'no' to cell phones on planes By JOHN DUNBAR, Associated Press Writer
Tue Apr 3, 7:20 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Striking a blow for cell phone haters everywhere, a government agency on Tuesday said it will keep a rule in place that requires the divisive devices to be turned off during airline flights.

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The reasoning behind the decision was technical. But the avalanche of comments the Federal Communications Commission has logged from airline travelers have been nothing short of visceral.

"These days it's impossible to get on a bus without at least one person hollering into their cell phone, invading the private space of everyone around them," one member of the public wrote in an e-mail to the FCC. "That's bad enough when one can get off in 10 minutes. To have to suffer through HOURS of such torture, with nowhere to go and miserably cramped conditions — someone is going to explode."

The agency has been considering lifting its ban on cell phone usage on airplanes since 2004. Unlike the Federal Aviation Administration, which bans the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices for fear they will interfere with navigational and communications systems, the FCC's concern is interference with other cell phone signals on the ground.

Airphones installed in cabins use a special FCC frequency that operates outside the range of regular cellular phones.

In an order released Tuesday, the agency noted that there was "insufficient technical information" available on whether airborne cell phone calls would jam networks below.

Regardless of the reasoning, some passengers are no doubt pleased with the agency's decision. In an e-mail to the FCC, one person related the story of a "dimwitted young lady" who had a "most inane conversation" after his flight had landed.

"The idea of a person being a captive audience to someone yapping on the phone is simply a recipe for a lot of anger and a fair share of conflicts," he wrote.

The phones have been snapped shut for now, at least as far as the FCC is concerned. But the issue may come up again. The agency said it may "reconsider this issue in the future if appropriate technical data is available for our review."

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Cover Released

2007-04-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

New Harry Potter book cover revealed Thu Mar 29, 4:23 AM ET

NEW YORK - What picture shows a dramatic gold and orange sky and a teenage boy in glasses reaching upward?

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It's the cover to the seventh and final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," coming out July 21. As always, the cover was designed by illustrator Mary GrandPre, U.S. publisher Scholastic, Inc., announced Wednesday.

"The structures around Harry show evident destruction and in the shadows behind him, we see outlines of other people," David Saylor, Scholastic's art director, said in a statement.

"For the first time, the cover is a wraparound. On the back cover spidery hands are outstretched toward Harry. Only when the book is opened does one see a powerful image of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his glowing red eyes peering out from his hood."

J.K. Rowling's fantasy series has sold more than 325 million copies worldwide. "Deathly Hallows" has an announced first printing of 12 million in the United States alone.

The cover for the children's edition released by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, Rowling's British publisher, shows an adult-looking Harry, Hermione and Ron. The adult edition has a photograph of a locket bearing a serpentine "S" — believed to be the "horcrux" in which Lord Voldemort keeps a fragment of his soul.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_en_ot/books_potter_cover;_ylt=AtDCyhFocaHmzQhd7UaTdXxREhkF

Google Fools with Toil-net

2007-04-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

Google fools: Web service through toilet By RACHEL KONRAD, AP Technology Writer
Sun Apr 1, 10:03 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Presiding over a company with a market value of $143 billion apparently gives Silicon Valley's most famous billionaires a good sense of humor — and a case of corporate potty mouth.

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Senior executives at Google Inc. launched their annual April Fools' Day prank Sunday, posting a link on the company's home page to a site offering consumers free high-speed wireless Internet through their home plumbing systems.

Code-named "Dark Porcelain," Google said its "Toilet Internet Service Provider" (TiSP) works with Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Vista operating system. But sorry — septic tanks are incompatible with the system's requirements.

The gag included a mock press release quoting Google co-founder and president Larry Page, a step-by-step online installation manual, and a scatological selection of Frequently Asked Questions. On some Google sites, the company's official logo — a multicolored "Google" that changes according to the season and on holidays — substituted a commode for the second "g."

"There's actually a thriving little underground community that's been studying this exact solution for a long time," Page said in the facetious statement. "And today our Toilet ISP team is pleased to be leading the way through the sewers, up out of your toilet and — splat — right onto your PC."

Marissa Mayer, a Google vice president, called TiSP a "breakthrough product, particularly for those users who, like Larry himself, do much of their best thinking in the bathroom."

TiSP is the latest April Fools joke at the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, where hijinks pervade cubicles all year long. In blogs, Google employees joke about the recent injection of green dye into milk in the cafeteria, while another talks about zany underlings filling the vice president of engineering's office with sand.

Eric Raymond, a software developer in Malvern, Pa., and author of the New Hacker's Dictionary, said TiSP nailed several important tenets of hacker humor.

The concept of free wireless access parallels a legitimate, four-year deal between Google and EarthLink Inc. to provide free wireless Internet service throughout San Francisco starting in early 2008.

As part of the spoof, Google said TiSP would be offered in three speeds: Trickle, The No. 2, and Royal Flush. That's a reference to "Net Neutrality," a big political battle over tiered pricing that Google and other e-commerce companies are waging in Congress against cable and telephone companies.

"The leitmotif of hacker humor is precise reasoning from utterly bizarre premises, and once you're in that groove, you're absolutely fearless about going deeper," Raymond said. "We also have a tendency to deliberately zigzag between highly intellectual humor and utter slapstick. The more zigzags you can manage in a single spoof, the funnier it is."

___

On the Net:

Google prank: http://www.google.com/tisp/

New Hacker's Dictionary: http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon_toc.html

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Ten Best April Fools Hoaxes

2007-04-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ten of the best April Fool's Day hoaxes: US museum Thu Mar 29, 4:19 AM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool's Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.

Here are 10 of the top April Fool's Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the San Diego-based Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped.

-- In 1957, a BBC television show announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.

-- In 1985, Sports Illustrated magazine published a story that a rookie baseball pitcher who could reportedly throw a ball at 270 kilometers per hour (168 miles per hour) was set to join the New York Mets. Finch was said to have mastered his skill -- pitching significantly faster than anyone else has ever managed -- in a Tibetan monastery. Mets fans' celebrations were short-lived.

-- Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen. In fact, they had to wait until 1970.

-- In 1996, American fast-food chain Taco Bell announced that it had bought Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, a historic symbol of American independence, from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.

Outraged citizens called to express their anger before Taco Bell revealed the hoax. Then-White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale and said the Lincoln Memorial in Washington had also been sold and was to be renamed the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial after the automotive giant.

-- In 1977, British newspaper The Guardian published a seven-page supplement for the 10th anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semicolon-shaped islands. A series of articles described the geography and culture of the two main islands, named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse.

-- In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon's voice actually turned out to be that of impersonator Rich Little.

-- In 1998, a newsletter titled New Mexicans for Science and Reason carried an article that the state of Alabama had voted to change the value of pi from 3.14159 to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.

-- Burger King, another American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the "Left-Handed Whopper," specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original "right-handed" version.

-- Discover Magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist, Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on their heads that became burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speed -- a technique they used to hunt penguins.

-- Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.

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Bits from Hilary Duff: Weight, "Dignity," Relationships

2007-04-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

Duff says there's pressure to be thin Sun Apr 1, 9:55 PM ET

NEW YORK - Teen starlet Hilary Duff claims she's never had a problem with her weight, but feels pressure to be thin.

The 19-year-old actress and singer told People Magazine that she's either perceived as too fat or too thin in the media, which she says can be "judgmental and mean."

"And if you don't like the way you look or feel insecure, when people say things about you — in magazines or just in everyday life — they can be hurtful. ... But you'll never make them happy," she told the magazine.

Duff, who has sold more than 13 million albums worldwide, has a new album out April 3 called "Dignity." Several of the songs are about her relationship with her now ex-boyfriend, Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden, but she denies that she slammed his new newest flame, Nicole Richie, in her tune "Gypsy Woman."

And anyway, she told People she doesn't like to discuss relationships.

"It's not my job to talk about my relationship," she said. " ... But the more you try to keep it quiet, the more people want to know about it."

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Four-Year-Old Dies of Medicine Overdose, Murder Suspected

2007-03-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Child's overdose death raises questions By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Mar 23, 2:58 PM ET

HULL, Mass. - In the final months of Rebecca Riley's life, a school nurse said the little girl was so weak she was like a "floppy doll."

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The preschool principal had to help Rebecca off the bus because the 4-year-old was shaking so badly.

And a pharmacist complained that Rebecca's mother kept coming up with excuses for why her daughter needed more and more medication.

None of their concerns was enough to save Rebecca.

Rebecca — who had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder, or what used to be called manic depression — died Dec. 13 of an overdose of prescribed drugs, and her parents have been arrested on murder charges, accused of intentionally overmedicating their daughter to keep her quiet and out of their hair.

Interviews and a review of court documents by The Associated Press make it clear that many of those who were supposed to protect Rebecca — teachers, social workers, other professionals — suspected something was wrong, but never went quite far enough.

But the tragic case is more than a story about one child. It raises troubling, larger questions about the state of child psychiatry, namely: Can children as young as Rebecca be accurately diagnosed with mental illnesses? Are rambunctious youngsters being medicated for their parents' convenience? And should children so young be prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs meant for adults?

Dispensing drugs to children diagnosed with mood or behavior problems is "the easiest thing to do, but it's not always the best thing to do," said Dr. Jon McClellan, medical director of the Child Study and Treatment Center in Lakewood, Wash. "At some level, I would hope that you'd also be teaching kids ways to control their behavior."

According to the medical examiner, Rebecca died of a combination of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication Rebecca had been prescribed for ADHD; Depakote, an antiseizure and mood-stabilizing drug prescribed for the little girl's bipolar disorder; a cough suppressant; and an antihistamine. The amount of Clonidine alone in Rebecca's system was enough to be fatal, the medical examiner said.

The two brand-name prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in adults only, though doctors can legally prescribe them to youngsters and do so frequently.

Rebecca's parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, say they were only following doctor's orders. Rebecca, they told police, had been diagnosed when she was just 2 1/2, and Rebecca's psychiatrist prescribed the same potent drugs that had been prescribed for her older brother and sister when she diagnosed them with the same illnesses several years earlier.

But Rebecca's teachers, the school nurse and her therapist all told police they never saw behavior in Rebecca that fit her diagnoses, such as aggression, sharp mood swings or hyperactivity.

Prosecutors say the Rileys intentionally tried to quiet their daughter with high doses of Clonidine. Relatives told police the Rileys called Clonidine the "happy medicine" and the "sleep medicine."

Through their attorneys, Michael Riley, 34, and Carolyn Riley, 32, have accused Rebecca's psychiatrist, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, of over-prescribing medication.

Kifuji did not return calls for comment and declined to be interviewed. But Kifuji has vehemently denied any role in Rebecca's death. She has agreed to a suspension of her license while the state's medical board investigates.

Kifuji told police Rebecca had been her patient since August 2004, when she was 2. She said she based her diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder on the family's mental health history, as described by Carolyn Riley, and Rebecca's behavior, as described by Carolyn and briefly observed by her during office visits.

Kifuji told police she became alarmed in October 2005 when Carolyn Riley told her she had increased Rebecca's nighttime dose of Clonidine from 2 to 2 1/2 tablets, and warned Carolyn the increased dose could kill Rebecca.

But Carolyn told investigators Kifuji told her she could give Rebecca and her sister extra Clonidine at night to help them sleep.

Tufts-New England Medical Center, where Kifuji worked, issued a statement supporting Kifuji, saying her care of Rebecca "was appropriate and within responsible professional standards."

In the months leading up to Rebecca's death, others noticed there was something wrong.

Teachers and staff members at the Johnson Early Childhood Center in Weymouth, about 20 miles south of Boston, say they called Rebecca's mother repeatedly to tell her that Rebecca was "out of it," but her mother said the girl was tired because she wasn't sleeping well.

A neighbor who lived next door to the family in the last month of Rebecca's life said Rebecca and her siblings seemed listless.

"They looked like little robots. They looked very lethargic," Phyllis Lipton said. "I said, `Wow, they don't look right,' but who knew?"

Pharmacists at Walgreens in Weymouth called Kifuji twice to complain that Carolyn Riley was asking for more Clonidine, even though her prescription was not due to be refilled yet, according to state police.

Once, Riley said she had lost a bottle of pills, and another time, she said water had gotten into her prescription bottle and ruined the pills, according to police.

Kifuji authorized refills, but after the second incident, she began prescribing Clonidine in 10-day refills instead of 30-day supplies, investigators said.

On Aug. 16, a prescription for 35 Clonidine tablets — a 10-day supply — was filled at Walgreens, even though the Rileys had obtained a 10-day refill only the day before, investigators said.

Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said: "The scrip was filled as written, as it was prescribed by the doctor, and all the appropriate information on the medications was given to the family."

After Rebecca's death, police found only seven Clonidine tablets in the family's medicine tray; the pharmacist said there should have been 75. All together, prosecutors say, Carolyn Riley got 200 more pills in one year than she should have.

The Rileys' lawyers call them unsophisticated people who did not question their children's doctors.

Both were unemployed; they collected welfare and disabilty benefits and lived in subsidized housing. Michael Riley, who is also awaiting trial on charges of molesting a stepdaughter in 2005, claimed to suffer from bipolar disorder and a rage disorder; his wife told police she suffered from depression and anxiety.

"They are not the sort of people who go on the Internet and look on WebMD. These are the sort of people who, when they go to a doctor, the doctor is God and they do what the doctor says," said John Darrell, Michael's lawyer.

Carolyn's lawyer, Michael Bourbeau, said that because the Rileys' three children were all taking Clonidine, Rebecca's prescription may have come up short at times when her siblings were given some of her pills. And some of the pills may have been lost when they were split in half, he said.

In July, after a therapist filed a complaint with the state Department of Social Services, social workers met with the family's doctors and other medical professionals and were assured that the medications Rebecca was taking were within medical guidelines.

"There were lots of medical eyes on this case and none of them seemed to say there was an issue of over-medication in this case," said Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence, who has come under fire for the agency's handling of the case.

Still, there were lingering concerns. When social workers tried to make a home visit in November, Carolyn "resisted and evaded," Spence said. Weeks later, workers resolved to make a surprise check, but Rebecca died the very next day, before they could visit.

Rebecca was found dead on the floor of her parents' bedroom wearing only a pink pull-up diaper and gold-stud earrings, on top of a pile of clothes, magazines and a stuffed brown bear.

Rebecca's uncle, James McGonnell, and his girlfriend, Kelly Williams, who lived with the Rileys, told police that the Rileys would put their kids to bed as early as 5 p.m. Rebecca, they said, often slept through the day and got up only to eat.

When Michael Riley decided the kids were "acting up," he told Carolyn to give them pills, McGonnell and Williams told police.

According to McGonnell and Williams, Rebecca spent the last days of her life wandering around the house, sick and disoriented. But the Rileys told police they were not alarmed. "It was just a cold," Carolyn repeatedly said during police interviews.

The medical examiner said Rebecca died a slow and painful death. She said the overdose of Clonidine caused her organs to shut down, filling her lungs with fluid and causing congestive heart failure.

Williams told police that the night before she died, Rebecca was pale and seemed "out of it." At one point, the little girl knocked weakly on her parents' bedroom door and softly called for her mommy, but Michael Riley opened the door a crack and yelled at her to go back to her room, Williams said.

Later that night, McGonnell told police, he heard someone struggling to breathe and found Rebecca gurgling as if something was stuck in her throat. McGonnell told police he wiped vomit from his niece's face, then kicked in the door to her parents' room and yelled at the Rileys to take Rebecca to the emergency room.

Instead, Carolyn Riley said, she gave her daughter a half-tablet of Clonidine.

Carolyn's mother, Valerie Berio, said that when she visited the kids the night of Dec. 11, Rebecca seemed congested but not seriously ill. In a photograph Berio said she took that night, Rebecca is smiling slightly as her mother holds a new green velvet dress in front of her.

Berio said that shows that her daughter and son-in-law could not have known how sick Rebecca was.

Rebecca's death has inflamed a long-running debate in psychiatry. Some psychiatrists believe bipolar disorder, which was traditionally diagnosed in adolescence or early adulthood, has become a trendy diagnosis in young children.

"As a clinician, I can tell you it's just very difficult to say whether someone is just throwing tantrums or has bipolar disorder," said Dr. Oscar B. Bukstein, a child psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

A study of mentally ill children discharged from community hospitals, published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found the proportion of children diagnosed with bipolar disorders jumped from 2.9 percent in 1990 to 15.1 percent in 2000.

A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002 estimated that about 7 percent of elementary school-age children — or approximately 1.6 million youngsters ages 6 to 11 — have been diagnosed with ADHD.

The annual number of U.S. children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, according to a study published last year by researchers at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.

Some child psychiatrists say bipolar disorder may have been under-diagnosed in children for years, partly because several key symptoms are also symptoms of ADHD, including hyperactivity, distractibility and talkativeness.

Dr. Janet Wozniak, director of the Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said early diagnosis and treatment are critical because the illness can cause social and academic problems, and lead to drug abuse, crime and suicide.

"What's commonly overlooked when considering diagnosing and treating children at such an early age is the risk of not treating and not intervening," Wozniak said.

(Corrects by deleting reference to photo being taken 18 hours earlier.)

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Taiwan Detours for Butterflies

2007-03-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

Taiwan offers 'freeway' for butterflies Sat Mar 24, 6:16 AM ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan will cordon off part of a highway to create a safe passage for a massive seasonal butterfly migration in the coming days, an official said Saturday.

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The milkweed butterflies — which are indigenous to the island off China and have distinct white dots on purple brown wings — migrate in late March from southern Taiwan to the north, where they lay eggs and die.

The young butterflies then fly south every November to a warm mountain valley near the southern city of Kaohsiung to escape the winter cold in the north.

Conservationists say Taiwan has about 2 million milkweed butterflies.

To protect the migrating butterflies, a 600-yard stretch of highway in southern Taiwan's Yunlin County will be sealed off in the coming days as the migration peaks, said Lee Tai-ming, head of the National Freeway Bureau.

Authorities will set up nets to make the butterflies fly higher and avoid passing cars, Lee said.

He said they will also install ultraviolet lights to guide the insects across a highway overpass.

Taiwan began the laborious task of tracking down the butterflies' 180-mile migration paths in recent years.

Taiwan originally had more types of milkweed butterflies, but the largest became extinct decades ago when they were routinely caught and made into specimens for sale, the newspaper said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070324/ap_on_sc/taiwan_butterfly_migration;_ylt=AjYIdbCm_vU9vT.hCMcbISrMWM0F

Security Council Approves Iran Sanctions

2007-03-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

U.N. unanimously approves Iran sanctions By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 10 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to impose new sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium — a move intended to show Tehran that defiance will leave it increasingly isolated.

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The moderately tougher sanctions include banning Iranian arms exports, and freezing the assets of 28 people and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

About a third of those are linked to the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.

"This resolution sends an unambiguous signal to the government and people of Iran ... that the path of nuclear proliferation by Iran is not one that the international community can accept," said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

In December, the 15-member Security Council ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also ordered a freeze on assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.

Iran has vowed the sanctions will only motivate it further to pursue nuclear power, a message Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was expected to deliver to the Security Council. Mottaki made the trip instead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed he canceled his appearance because the U.S. failed to deliver his visa in time. The U.S. said it had issued the visa promptly.

Raising tensions, Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines Friday in what it said were Iranian territorial waters near Iraq. The British sailors and marines had been on a mission to search for smugglers in Iraqi waters.

The six world powers that drafted the new resolution spent Friday trying to overcome objections from several council members, reflecting concerns that anything short of consensus would weaken efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear defiance.

There were several minor concessions but no changes to the key sanctions agreed upon last week by the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

The new sanctions — already a compromise between the stronger measures favored by the United States and the Europeans and the softer approach advocated by Russian and China — are considered modest. The ban on exports is among the harshest measures, but many of Iran's arms sales may not be affected because they are illicitly sent to militant groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite militias in Iraq.

Still, world powers hoped that approving the resolution quickly and unanimously would signal that Iran will face stricter sanctions each time it ignores a Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. Iran responded to the first set of sanctions in December by expanding enrichment.

Tehran says it will never give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel, though it has offered to provide guarantees that its nuclear program won't be diverted toward weapons, as the U.S. and some of its allies fear.

Iranian leaders kept up their defiant rhetoric in the days leading up to the vote, with Ahmadinejad calling the Security Council illegitimate and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggesting Iran would pursue nuclear activities outside international regulations if faced with more sanctions.

The new resolution calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.

It asks the International Atomic Energy Agency to report back in 60 days on whether Iran has suspended enrichment and warns Iran could face further measures if it does not. But it also says all sanctions will be suspended if Iran halts enrichment and makes clear that Tehran can still accept a package of economic incentives and political rewards offered last year if it complies with the council's demands.

After the latest resolution met with surprising resistance from several elected Security Council members, a reference was inserted to a past resolution from the IAEA calling for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction. Indonesia and Qatar had wanted the council to make that appeal outright, but that would have had implications for Israel, a U.S. ally widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it has never officially acknowledged it.

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Laptops for the Wounded

2007-03-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Mom donates laptops to wounded soldiers By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer
Sat Mar 24, 6:12 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Laura Brown, a mother with a son who fought in the Iraq war, is trying to improve conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center — one laptop computer at a time.

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The 50-year-old from Cody, Wyo., was chatting on the Internet with the mother of a wounded soldier two years ago when the mother mentioned she had to print out her son's e-mails and take them to him at Walter Reed because there weren't enough laptop computers to go around.

Brown, whose own son had recently returned safely from the war, thought the solution to that problem seemed incredibly easy.

"It just kind of hit me," she said. "If one person needed one, then there's others. ... I mean, my son had e-mail in Iraq. I was really stunned."

So Brown formed a group, Laptops for the Wounded, to raise money for the cause.

Since its fundraising effort began in November 2005, Brown's organization has donated 27 computers to military hospitals around the country — 24 of them to Walter Reed.

On Friday, Brown flew to Washington to deliver 10 donated laptops to the hospital in person.

Those computers, which were upgraded and refitted with new equipment, included Web cameras so soldiers could lay eyes on their families from afar.

"She basically just made it her mission," said Lisa Ramdass, a case manager at the hospital who has been working with Brown to coordinate the donations.

Ramdass said the laptops are used for more than e-mail. One soldier who worked with a donated laptop couldn't speak, and was able to communicate with his family and his doctors by typing on the computer. Others who have eye injuries use the laptops to watch movies or television up close.

The hospital, flooded with wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has attracted media and congressional scrutiny in the last month, due to reports of shoddy living conditions for soldiers housed there.

Brown said she can relate with the loneliness and isolation of the wounded because she is also disabled, having suffered knee and back injuries in recent years. She is also inspired by her son, who lost his young wife to illness just weeks after they were married several years ago.

Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record) said Brown's efforts show the difference one person can make.

"Out of the goodness of her heart, she's turned a few small donations into a national campaign," she said.

___

On the Net:

Laptops for the Wounded: http://www.laptopsforthewounded.com

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The Debate Over .XXX

2007-03-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Vote on '.xxx' Internet address nears By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
Fri Mar 23, 6:31 PM ET

NEW YORK - Online pornographers and religious groups are in a rare alliance as a key Internet oversight agency nears a decision on creating a virtual red-light district through a ".xxx" Internet address. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which has already rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, planned to vote as early as next week on whether to approve the domain name for voluntary use by porn sites.

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The decision ultimately could hinge on whether ".xxx" has the support of the adult-entertainment industry — and many porn sites have been strongly opposed.

"One of the criteria is that it (must) have general support among the industry it's supposed to serve, and it does not," said Mark Kernes, a board member with the industry trade group Free Speech Coalition. "I have not met one single webmaster or adult video producer that is in favor of `.xxx,' and I've met a lot of them."

Porn sites are largely concerned that the domain name, while billed as voluntary, would make it easier for governments to later mandate its use and "essentially ghettoize sexual information on the Web," Kernes said.

ICM Registry Inc., the company behind the proposal, has vowed to fight any government efforts to compel its use and cited preregistrations of some 76,000 names as evidence of support. Kernes said many Web sites reserved names simply to prevent someone else from having it.

The Free Speech Coalition believes a domain name for kids-friendly sites would be more appropriate.

Given its voluntary nature, ".xxx" is unlikely to have much effect on parents' ability to block porn sites.

And because a domain name serves merely as an easy-to-remember moniker for a site's actual numeric Internet address, even if a government were to mandate its use, a child could simply punch in the numeric address of any blocked ".xxx" name.

Religious groups worry that ".xxx" would legitimize and expand the number of adults sites, which more than a third of U.S. Internet users visit each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. The Web site measurement firm said 4 percent of all Web traffic and 2 percent of all time spent Web surfing involved an adult site.

"They will keep their `.com' domains, and I have no doubt they will buy their `.xxx' as well," said Patrick Trueman, special counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian public-interest law firm. "There will be twice as much pornography on the Internet."

Trueman and other critics say ICM will be the only beneficiaries.

The startup, founded and funded by four entrepreneurs with backgrounds in domain names and U.K. Internet companies, plans to charge $60 to register a name — 10 times the fees for ".com." Ten dollars of it would go to a companion nonprofit group that would set policies for ".xxx" use and recommend business practices for combating child pornography and promoting child safety.

ICANN tabled and effectively rejected a similar proposal in 2000 out of fear the ".xxx" domain would force the body into content regulation.

ICM resubmitted its proposal in 2004, this time structuring it with a policy-setting organization to free ICANN of that task. But many board members worried that the language of the proposed contract was vague and could kick the task back to ICANN. The board rejected the 2004 proposal last May.

ICANN revived the proposal in January after ICM agreed to hire independent organizations to monitor porn sites' compliance with the new rules, which would be developed by a separate body called the International Foundation for Online Responsibility.

ICM revised it again a month later to clarify ICANN's enforcement abilities and to underscore the independence of the policy-making body.

Despite the vocal opposition, ICM Chairman Stuart Lawley said he preferred a quick vote, adding that the complaints come from "the same people saying the same things time and time again."

"ICM has done more to demonstrate the existence of a strong community than any other application the (ICANN) board has approved," Lawley said. "We have been singled out for special treatment. From the word `go,' ... we were put in the slow lane."

If approved, ICM would be required to help develop mechanisms for promoting child safety and preventing child pornography, and porn sites using ".xxx" would have to participate in a self-rating system, labeling sites based on such criteria as the presence of nudity and whether it is in an artistic or educational context.

ICANN already has discussed the proposal during three, closed-door teleconference meetings this year. It indicated it would be ready to vote at a public meeting next Friday in Lisbon, Portugal.

But delays are possible if ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee raises last-minute objections when it meets next week. Last March, the committee called for stronger language in ICANN's contract with ICM, and Lawley said those points have been addressed in the latest version of the contract.

ICM believes the domain would help the porn industry clean up its act, and Lawley said he has gone through great lengths to put its promises into writing.

"We are confident we have dotted every `i' and crossed every 't,'" he said, "and the contract deserves ratification."

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Tennessee Wins Miss USA Title

2007-03-24T15:02:00.004-07:00

Miss Tennessee crowned new Miss USA By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Writer
Sat Mar 24, 7:39 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - Rachel Smith realized she had a real shot at the Miss USA crown when she made it to the top 15. Next up was the swimsuit portion of the pageant, and the journalism graduate from Tennessee told herself: "I'm just going to work it." Smith, 21, ultimately bested 50 other aspiring beauty queens to win the title of Miss USA on Friday night.

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The 5-foot, 11-inch-tall brunette is a graduate of Belmont University and a former intern for the production company behind "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

"I'm speechless at this point, I really am," Smith said after the pageant.

Contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia competed to succeed Miss USA Tara Conner, who entered rehab after accounts surfaced suggesting she was boozing at New York clubs. The Kentucky native was in danger of losing her crown, but Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageant with NBC, gave her a second chance.

The telecast didn't shy away from the controversy, opening with a string of news and interview clips about Conner's woes. Then, the 21-year-old blonde emerged onstage wearing a strapless, ruffled gown.

"It has been the most unforgettable year of my life and I'm back, and better than ever," Conner said to wild applause from the audience at the Kodak Theatre.

Smith, of Clarksville, Tenn., edged out top finalists Meagan Yvonne Tandy of California; Cara Renee Gorges of Kansas; Helen Salas of Nevada; and Danielle Lacourse of Rhode Island, who was named the first runner-up.

When asked whether she was ready to take over for Conner, Smith admitted it would "be a little bit of a challenge," but quickly added she was ready for it.

"I'm excited to see what this year will hold," she said.

Smith also praised Conner's stewardship of the Miss USA title and her handling of the challenges she faced.

"I definitely learned a lot," Smith said of Conner's tenure as Miss USA.

Asked how she would behave during her reign, Smith said: "I'm going to be honest and open."

Tim Vincent and Nancy O'Dell of "Access Hollywood" hosted the pageant, which made its return to Hollywood after two years in Baltimore.

During a brief onstage interview with Vincent and O'Dell, Conner said her future plans included writing a book, and doing "correspondence work and a little bit of acting."

Other contestants whose behavior ran afoul of the pageant's standards were not as fortunate as Conner. Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees lost her title after racy pictures of her surfaced on the Internet, and Miss New Jersey USA Ashley Harder resigned when she got pregnant. Miss USA contestants must not have ever been married or given birth.

The Miss USA Pageant began in 1952 as a swimwear promotion in Long Beach.

Contestants pay a fee to enter and must win a state title before competing for the Miss USA crown. The winner gets to live in a fancy New York apartment for a year, during which she'll spend most of her time traveling as she represents the Miss Universe Organization and speaks out on breast and ovarian cancer awareness. She also gets to represent the United States in the worldwide Miss Universe competition.

During the swimsuit competition, the beauty queens performed a synchronized strut wearing blue, pink or lilac bikinis before posing individually for the judges. All the competitors also had brief walk-ons in their evening gowns before the finalists took their solo strolls for the audience.

The audience was given the opportunity to vote, selecting Rebecca Moore of Alabama as Miss Photogenic. The contestants voted Stephanie Trudeau of Montana as Miss Congeniality.

A panel of six judges were tasked with determining the winner: TV personality Jerry Springer, "Blow Out" star Jonathan Antin, "E! News" co-host Giuliana De Pandi, MTV's Vanessa Minnillo, Baby Phat President Kimora Lee Simmons and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

___

On the Net:

http://www.missusa.com

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Improv Comedy Class for College Credit

2007-03-24T15:02:00.003-07:00

College offers Comedy Studies at theater By MEGAN REICHGOTT, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Thirteen students lie in a circle and stretch. They make monkey sounds to warm up their voices. Then they practice being funny.

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"A ship," the instructor says. "The Mayflower." The students spring into action, morphing into the shape of a ship, one holding out her arms like a maiden figurehead on the bow and two rowing in the galley.

It is hardly a normal college classroom.

A new program at Columbia College Chicago allows students to take classes at The Second City, the humor Mecca that has turned out some of America's best-known improvisational comedians. Students also attend shows, network with artists and present their work in a showcase — all for college credit.

For aspiring performer Jennifer Ducharme, studying at The Second City "is exactly what I was looking for."

"I really wanted to get into comedy, especially improv; it's really what I need right now," said Ducharme, 20, a theater arts major at Boston University who took a leave of absence to spend the semester in Chicago.

It's new territory for The Second City, where actors usually come to learn improvisation on the job. Among those who developed their funny bones there are the late Chris Farley and Gilda Radner — both of whom became fixtures on "Saturday Night Live" — and Steve Carell, star of "The Office."

Columbia and Second City officials have lofty goals for their collaboration, which they hope becomes the "Juilliard of comedy," said Anne Libera, executive artistic director of The Second City training center.

"We would have died to have been in a program that had all those things; it's the education that all of us wanted to have," said Libera, who was in a theater company that included Stephen Colbert, host of the satirical news program "The Colbert Report."

"There's nothing else like it in the country. It's going to be big — it's going to be very big," said Sheldon Patinkin, chair of Columbia College Chicago's theater department and one of the founding members of what was first the Playwrights Theatre Club, then The Compass Players and, finally, The Second City.

The idea for the program came about more than two years ago, when Andrew Alexander, Second City's executive producer and a member of Columbia College Chicago's board of trustees, had lunch with Patinkin and college president Warrick Carter.

During the lunch, Alexander mentioned that a college in Toronto had a program that included courses in improv, Patinkin said.

"I immediately said, `Oh, what a great idea, let's do that with Second City,'" Patinkin recalled. "It was a mutual thing, we all wanted to do it."

Students take a full load of six classes, including "Context for Comedy," "History and Analysis of Comedy" and "Creating Scenes Through Improvisation."

While the training is as intense as other college programs, so is the cost. Tuition is $8,164, for the semester, plus an additional $230 for student fees. Students from out of town also must find their own housing.

Like many study-abroad programs, administrators will consider applicants from other universities. Candidates must be undergraduate juniors with an interest in performance, comedy writing or improvisation.

"Ultimately, yes, you have to be funny. (But) in this program, I'm not looking for funny people yet, I'm looking for people who have the desire to do this work and to delve into this work," Libera said.

Most of the inaugural class' 17 students are theater majors or have drama backgrounds, said instructor Jet Eveleth, a veteran improv performer who also teaches at The Second City conservatory.

Students "already have a lot of acting experience, and that's a great foundation," Eveleth said. "Sometimes, I'll work with groups, even graduate students, that aren't as free as them because they might not have the theater background."

However, a history of performing isn't necessary, Libera said.

"It's important to me that these people not just be theater majors, because I know that comedy writers and comedy performers tend to come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and that's important," Libera said.

Russell Chase, 22, a history major who plans to work in advertising after graduating from Connecticut College, couldn't resist applying after hearing about the program.

"I don't want to do the struggling acting thing," he joked. "But I was like, `Wow! That's so much better than sitting at a desk working on spreadsheets.'"

Chase said he's already interviewed at advertising firms in Boston and New York and gets the same response when recruiters find out he's studying at The Second City.

"They tell me, 'That's so creative,'" Chase said.

___

On the Net:

Comedy Studies: A Semester at The Second City: http://www.comedystudies.com

Columbia College Chicago: http://www.colum.edu/

The Second City: http://www.secondcity.com/

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Woman Chops Up, Boils and Fries Husband

2007-03-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Housewife convicted of frying husband By STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Mar 23, 10:38 PM ET

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A Brazilian housewife was convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison Friday for killing her husband, chopping his body into small pieces and frying it. Rosanita Nery dos Santos, 52, drugged her husband in his sleep, then stabbed him to death two years ago in Salvador, about 900 miles northeast of Sao Paulo, said police spokesman Idmar Bonfim.

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She then hacked Jose Raimundo Soares dos Santos' body into more than 100 pieces, which she boiled and fried before hiding in plastic bags beneath a staircase in her house, Bonfim said. He said police discovered the body parts after receiving an anonymous phone call.

Bonfim said the killing was either part of a black magic ritual or an attempt by the wife to collect life insurance worth about $34,000.

Citing testimony from the woman's relatives, he said she may also have committed the crime "to avenge many years of humiliation from her husband." He did not provide further details.

Santos denied killing her husband but said she chopped up his body, Bonfim said.

"She claims masked assailants entered her house, killed her husband and then forced her to cut up the body and fry it because that would prevent the stench of a decomposing body from alerting neighbors," he said.

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Harvard Club Says "Don't Do It"

2007-03-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Harvard club promotes abstinence By JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Mar 22, 2:39 PM ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Sometime between the founding of a student-run porn magazine and the day the campus health center advertised "Free Lube," Harvard University seniors Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray decided to fight back against what they see as too much mindless sex at the Ivy League school.

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They founded a student group called True Love Revolution to promote abstinence on campus. The group, created earlier this school year, has more than 90 members on its Facebook.com page and drew about half that many to an ice cream social.

Harvard treats sex — or "hooking up" — so casually that "sometimes I wonder if sex is even a remotely serious thing," said Kinsella, who is dating Murray.

Other schools around the country have small groups devoted to abstinence. On most campuses, they are religious organizations. Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have Anscombe Societies, secular organizations named after an English philosopher and Roman Catholic. True Love Revolution is secular as well.

Some feminists, in particular, have criticized True Love Revolution's message.

Harvard student Rebecca Singh said she was offended by a valentine the group sent to the dormitory mailboxes of all freshmen. It read: "Why wait? Because you're worth it."

"I think they thought that we might not be `ruined' yet," Singh said. "It's a symptom of that culture we have that values a woman on her purity. It's a relic."

Others on campus have mocked the group. Murray said his friends take pleasure in loudly, and graphically, discussing their sex lives just to taunt him.

"On campus there is such a strong attitude of pluralism and acceptance, but then it doesn't extend to this," Kinsella said.

In the student paper, The Harvard Crimson, columnist Jessica C. Coggins praised the group's low-key approach and scolded Harvard students for their "laughter at the virgin." She said students on the campus, which has 6,700 undergraduates, should "find a different confidence booster than making fun of celibate peers."

True Love Revolution members say the problem starts with the university. They say Harvard has implicitly led students to believe that having sex at college is a foregone conclusion by requiring incoming freshman to attend a seminar on date-rape that does not mention abstinence, by placing condoms in freshmen dorms, and by hosting racy lecturers. (Harvard students have also launched H-Bomb, a magazine featuring racy photos of undergraduates.)

"Sometimes that voice on campus is so overwhelming that students committed to abstinence almost feel compelled to abandon their convictions," Murray said. He acknowledged he "slipped up" and had sex earlier in college but said he has returned to abstinence with Kinsella.

Dr. David Rosenthal, director of Harvard health services, disputed the notion that the university promotes sex.

He said students mistakenly think everyone on campus is having sex. The National College Health Assessment Survey, which included Harvard and hundreds of other campuses, found that about 29 percent of students reported not having sex in the past school year. For the 71 percent who are having sex, it is crucial to promote safety, Rosenthal said.

"Some students may have a feeling that acknowledgment is condoning," he said, "and it's not."
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