The homeless man in question has two adult children. Both have offered to take him in to live with them multiple times. He has rebuffed the offers each time. His brother has also offered to take him in and was rebuffed.
He's made a choice to stay homeless, in spite of the opportunities offered to him.
" Hillman told the newspaper he was from South Plainfield, N.J., and joined the Army in 1978, serving as ?food service specialist? for five years before he was honorably discharged. He also said he?s the father of two grown children ? Nikita, 22, and Jeffrey, 24.
?We love our brother very much,? Hillman?s brother, Kirk, of Nazareth, Pa., told the Daily News Sunday, adding that he was surprised to see his brother in the newspaper. ?Our door is always open to him, but this is a lifestyle he?s chosen.?"
I use Virgin Mobile. Unlimited text, data and 300 mins of calls for 26.75 a month, all taxes and fees included. For 53.50, I could unlimited talk, text and web but I don't use my mobile that much for talking.
Sure, I use a relatively obscure phone compared to the iPhones and Droids (an LC Rumor Touch) but I get good service at a price point I can afford.
If you're willing to use an off brand phone, then you can get great deals. Just because Virgin uses Sprint's network does not make me liable for Sprint's BS.
I saw a very early preview (for free) and I came out with the following observations:
1. The story wasn't strong enough to sustain a 3+ hour (before intermissions) show.
2. The music was weak and seemed to be filler rather than following the tradition of moving the story along.
3. The "gimmick" of the show was the stunts. not the music, not the story, not the actors, not the sets. It was all about the stunts.
4. The lighting was sloppy, the staging overdone and there was very little added to the production by either. Both sets and lighting design detracted instead of, again, moving the story along.
5. After X amount of weeks of rehearsal, a cast is supposed to be professional in previews. The purpose of previews is to give a practice, full performance. Like a dress rehearsal. You can't ask for a line in dress, nor should you ask for a line (which several actors did) during a performance with a paying House.
6. The music was far too loud for the size of the theater and the rent mics didn't help.
While the show was good intentioned, I can get the same rock/stunt vibe from Cirque du Soliel without watching them trash a beloved comics character.
When the director doesn't see the inherent flaws of a show because s/he is too close to it, it's far better for the producers to look at unbiased sources for a true read of how the show is doing.
All Twitter, blogs, etc. are doing is giving them that unbiased source to draw from.
Ms. Taymore is a gifted director, what she did on The Lion King was incredible and groundbreaking.
All her good intentions were wasted on Spider Man, as Bono and The Edge didn't deliver songs that could power the action and move the story along. It's pretty simple. Good music and a good story will give you the foundation for a great show.
When buggy whip makers were losing business and going broke, no one cried piracy. How does one pirate a buggy whip, exactly? Yet the industry survived the threat of extinction from innovation, with some manufacturers even thriving, in spite of a dramatic technology shift.
Instead, some of their employees honed their skills and became masters of their craft. They learned to create a better product that was more appealing to the remaining potential customers.
In turn, because of the added value (rawhide handles covered in fine plaited calfskin or deerskin, dyed in new and exciting colors, silver decorations added, scrimshaw worked into the handle, etc.) people bought from the new artisans. And some of them got together and started to create not just the buggy whips, but hunting whips. And crops.
Some even branched into other goods, so you could buy gloves made from the same leather as your whip! Or reins! Or boots!
PIRACY IS NOT "killing" MUSIC. Music companies refusing to reinvent, innovate and refine their product are what is killing the music industry. Allegedly. Sales are down, but the economy sucks. It makes sense if people don't have money, they won't have discretionary income and food trumps music.
Guess what? As other buggy whip manufacturers went down in flames, a few whip manufacturers have stuck around and still exist today. Yes, today, in a world with electric cars, where horses have gone from vital to survival to favored pets or leisure providers.
Provide value for money and people will pay you. Otherwise they'll move on to the next big thing, the next tech goodie.
I can buy a fiberglass core, nylon covered crop for about...3.00 US these days. I can buy a cheaply made, inferior product for a cheap price.
Instead, I chose to spend 30.00 US, ten times the price (!) for a yew core, deerskin handled, hand plaited leather crop that was made by hand.
So please.. how is "piracy" killing anything when this is obviously about a lack of innovation?
I lie near a very big LN venue. And to buy a 25. lawn seat costs 40. by the time "fees" are added.
There's a 9. convenience fee, at box office OR online. And a 6. parking fee per ticket, regardless of whether you drive, take a bus, walk or carpool.
I passed on a lot of concerts this year, shows I would normally go see (Maroon 5, John Mayer/Train, Crosby Stills & Nash, Rush, Aerosmith, etc.)because my 25. seat was now 40.
And not only did they miss out on my ticket money, they lost out on the 6.00 Pepsi, the 13. beer, the 5.00 hot dog.. and the 40. shirt.
LN was so desperate to sell tickets they offered a no service fee June.. and the shows i did go to, I bought during June so I didn't pay an extra 15. per ticket.
And the concerts I went to, with artists that sell out? Had maybe half capacity. They didn't advertise the no service fee tix. And in this kind of economy, people couldn't afford those hefty fees on top of already outrageous prices. 50. for a lawnseat? I'm looking at YOU, Aerosmith!
If a kid is so messed up that being taunted online is going to push them into another Columbine type event, or pushes them to suicide, there's more wrong than just one thing.
I'm amazed the human race has survived this long, what with all these laws designed to protect people. How ever did we manage before they protected us?
Seriously.. thousands of people "hack" on a daily basis on MySpace, using it for Role Play games. They impersonate celebs, other people, create new people. If you shut down and prosecuted every MySpace troll, they'd have a few hundred users.
The suicide was tragic, the actions of Lori Drew heinous. But she did nothing illegal. Sad, but true. And the new law proposed to end cyber bullying could be frightening in the scope of abuse based on cases like the one above.
If your kid is so close to the edge that someone calling them a c*nt, f*g, fat or ugly online is going to push them to suicide, or into pulling another Columbine, no law is going to help them.
I am so sick of this "for the childrens" bullshit.
As a kid, I was tormented verbally and physically. I used to make myself throw up so I didn't have to go to school and face it. But I survived, I didn't kill myself or blow up my school or kill the offenders.
Hell, I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say I have to give a crap about your tender little feelings.
A large part of profit from musicals comes from merchandising. Tee shirts, posters, soundtrack albums, you get the idea.
After a show closes, few products continue to sell with the exception of the soundtrack recording. I have vintage albums from the original cast recording of Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie and other shows that have ceased being produced professionally.
So, piracy is a convenient excuse for why soundtrack sales drop and kill off the cash cow for shows. What they don't mention is people buy the albums, rip them, then sell the hard copy. I pick up most of my soundtracks at flea markets now, for a fraction of the list price.
Nearly half of all musicals don't make their initial investments back, except for the rare show that plays for over 5 years. Development costs, theater rentals, cast and crew, ushers, box office staff all take about 75% of the show's gross income each performance. The bigger the show, the larger the costs.
And given that most Broadway shows don't run more than 4 or 5 years (Phantom, Cats, Les Miz being the rare exceptions) any profit to come from most shows is the merchandising. Some shows don't break even or profit until several years after they close. And the reason they finally do is because of the merchandise sales.
Having her compare a leak of a draft to "violating her human rights" was extreme, in poor taste and made her look incredibly stupid. (See the Entertainment Weekly story for the full quote)
For pity's sake, she writes about sparkly stalker vampires and the most pathetic female self-insert character ever.
It's not The Great American Novel. It's a poorly disguised indoctrination into the LDS (Latter Day Saints) belief system aimed at tweens and teens with poor self-image who relate to the self described plain, ugly, clumsy heroine.
I'm actually grateful she stopped writing. Now maybe her fans will stop whining and move on to the classic vampire genre novels that are actually well written with good plot, excellent pacing and unique characterization.
Kids are never able to magically deal with anything. I was a kid. I know this.
The issue as I see it is finding a balance between supervising your child and allowing them the space to become free thinking, responsible young adults.
I know very few parents that can find a balance. The kids are either covered in bubble wrap before they leave the house or left to their own devices. Neither extreme is healthy and the kids learn nothing.
Children should be supervised when online. But as the child grows older, the supervision should become less, and the parents should maintain a dialogue about safety, security and the way to handle unwanted attention, cyber bullying and other concerns.
Of course, that's way too much responsibility for most parents, who would prefer the web be sterilized so their precious little snowflake will neither see or hear anything bad or evil.
Earlier this year, celebrated author Neil Gaiman made his book, American Gods, free for download in e-book reader format, PDF and I believe a .doc as well.
The month after, his publisher saw a gain of 12% in the purchase of the "free" novel.
Meyer embraced the fans because her books suck. They didn't sell well until she involved the few fans she had. Once she did, her fans started to bully people in other fandoms, until they read the books out of self preservation, just to shut the sanctimonious asses up.
Now there's a huge backlash against not just the books, but the author. (See livejournal.com and encyclopedia dramatica for examples.)
I'm all for sharing and open dialogue with fans, but not to the point the fans turn into raving lunatic twats.
It's a fine line and her fans crossed it. For that reason alone I won't read the books, see the movie or spend any money on any associated products.
The taxes imposed on gasoline by the European nations (which is what drives the prices up so high) pays for universal healthcare and social programs in those nations.
So while more money goes to fuel, less is spent on medical expenses and it balances out.
You don't seem to realize the taxes imposed on gasoline by the European nations (which is what drives the prices up so high) pays for universal healthcare and social programs.
The $4.00+ gallon we pay in the US does nothing but line the pockets of the oil companies.
So tell me again how the prices in Europe matter when compared to the prices here?
If we got universal healthcare and well funded social programs out of ridiculous gas prices, I don't think all that many would complain.
The ADA guarantees my rights to equal access that a non-disabled patron has at restaurants, movie theaters and places of public accommodation.
It does not guarantee my rights to an irritant free life, or to be protected from things that may or may not exacerbate my condition.
It promises and secures my access. Not my enjoyment, not my safety, nothing beyond my ability to go places and see things non-disabled people can do. It guarantees I have access. Period.
I have seizures. It it therefore my responsibility to stay clear of places that harbor known triggers, such as certain scents, strobe lights, certain volumes or frequencies of sound, the list goes on.
I hate people who abuse the law. It makes things harder for all of us in the long run, makes business owners wary of anyone with disabilities, makes it harder for the disabled to have the access they deserve.
I dunno, but I would be pretty upset if I spent a decade of my life creating these ideas, nurturing them, devoting countless hours to make them come to a life on the page...
...only to have someone lift whole passages without credit and print them presented as his original research and conclusions which is what the fan in question is doing.
If he used small parts of the descriptions and then followed with critique or expanded based on his view and interpretation, I would have no problem with it. But that isn't what he's doing.
He pulls entire passages from the books without changing a word, doesn't cite what book or what page and which edition, that's a problem. He's presenting her work as his own simply by organizing it in reference form.
That's copyright infringement. Not flattery.
"Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of the copyright holder, when material is used without the copyright holder's consent."
He's taking material (names, items, full passages from the books wherein the item/person is described) from the books, directly.
If he were to interpret it and write a different, non word for word description, I'd support him. But the way he's done it, I won't.
One of the churches in our town presents the, "Soup-er Bowl" to raise money and solicit donations for their food pantry.
For the cost of a can or two of food, you get to watch the game with a bunch of people. There's catered food donated by local businesses and a potluck from other attendees. No pressure to worship, no pressure or propaganda, just a relaxed gathering of other fans who don't want to watch the game alone.
Last year the church raised enough money and got enough donations to last through mid-summer.
And the TV screens were all small, but there were a lot of them, as many attendees brought them so you could drift from group to group and socialize.
Chose to be homeless.
The homeless man in question has two adult children. Both have offered to take him in to live with them multiple times. He has rebuffed the offers each time. His brother has also offered to take him in and was rebuffed.
He's made a choice to stay homeless, in spite of the opportunities offered to him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/homeless-man-boots-shoeless-article-1.1212149
" Hillman told the newspaper he was from South Plainfield, N.J., and joined the Army in 1978, serving as ?food service specialist? for five years before he was honorably discharged. He also said he?s the father of two grown children ? Nikita, 22, and Jeffrey, 24.
?We love our brother very much,? Hillman?s brother, Kirk, of Nazareth, Pa., told the Daily News Sunday, adding that he was surprised to see his brother in the newspaper. ?Our door is always open to him, but this is a lifestyle he?s chosen.?"
Re: Re: Re:
I use Virgin Mobile. Unlimited text, data and 300 mins of calls for 26.75 a month, all taxes and fees included. For 53.50, I could unlimited talk, text and web but I don't use my mobile that much for talking.
Sure, I use a relatively obscure phone compared to the iPhones and Droids (an LC Rumor Touch) but I get good service at a price point I can afford.
If you're willing to use an off brand phone, then you can get great deals. Just because Virgin uses Sprint's network does not make me liable for Sprint's BS.
Re: Pander
The producers/investors weren't pandering.
I saw a very early preview (for free) and I came out with the following observations:
1. The story wasn't strong enough to sustain a 3+ hour (before intermissions) show.
2. The music was weak and seemed to be filler rather than following the tradition of moving the story along.
3. The "gimmick" of the show was the stunts. not the music, not the story, not the actors, not the sets. It was all about the stunts.
4. The lighting was sloppy, the staging overdone and there was very little added to the production by either. Both sets and lighting design detracted instead of, again, moving the story along.
5. After X amount of weeks of rehearsal, a cast is supposed to be professional in previews. The purpose of previews is to give a practice, full performance. Like a dress rehearsal. You can't ask for a line in dress, nor should you ask for a line (which several actors did) during a performance with a paying House.
6. The music was far too loud for the size of the theater and the rent mics didn't help.
While the show was good intentioned, I can get the same rock/stunt vibe from Cirque du Soliel without watching them trash a beloved comics character.
When the director doesn't see the inherent flaws of a show because s/he is too close to it, it's far better for the producers to look at unbiased sources for a true read of how the show is doing.
All Twitter, blogs, etc. are doing is giving them that unbiased source to draw from.
Ms. Taymore is a gifted director, what she did on The Lion King was incredible and groundbreaking.
All her good intentions were wasted on Spider Man, as Bono and The Edge didn't deliver songs that could power the action and move the story along. It's pretty simple. Good music and a good story will give you the foundation for a great show.
Sadly, the foundation was lacking for this one.
When buggy whip makers were losing business and going broke, no one cried piracy. How does one pirate a buggy whip, exactly? Yet the industry survived the threat of extinction from innovation, with some manufacturers even thriving, in spite of a dramatic technology shift.
Instead, some of their employees honed their skills and became masters of their craft. They learned to create a better product that was more appealing to the remaining potential customers.
In turn, because of the added value (rawhide handles covered in fine plaited calfskin or deerskin, dyed in new and exciting colors, silver decorations added, scrimshaw worked into the handle, etc.) people bought from the new artisans. And some of them got together and started to create not just the buggy whips, but hunting whips. And crops.
Some even branched into other goods, so you could buy gloves made from the same leather as your whip! Or reins! Or boots!
PIRACY IS NOT "killing" MUSIC. Music companies refusing to reinvent, innovate and refine their product are what is killing the music industry. Allegedly. Sales are down, but the economy sucks. It makes sense if people don't have money, they won't have discretionary income and food trumps music.
Guess what? As other buggy whip manufacturers went down in flames, a few whip manufacturers have stuck around and still exist today. Yes, today, in a world with electric cars, where horses have gone from vital to survival to favored pets or leisure providers.
Provide value for money and people will pay you. Otherwise they'll move on to the next big thing, the next tech goodie.
I can buy a fiberglass core, nylon covered crop for about...3.00 US these days. I can buy a cheaply made, inferior product for a cheap price.
Instead, I chose to spend 30.00 US, ten times the price (!) for a yew core, deerskin handled, hand plaited leather crop that was made by hand.
So please.. how is "piracy" killing anything when this is obviously about a lack of innovation?
I lie near a very big LN venue. And to buy a 25. lawn seat costs 40. by the time "fees" are added.
There's a 9. convenience fee, at box office OR online. And a 6. parking fee per ticket, regardless of whether you drive, take a bus, walk or carpool.
I passed on a lot of concerts this year, shows I would normally go see (Maroon 5, John Mayer/Train, Crosby Stills & Nash, Rush, Aerosmith, etc.)because my 25. seat was now 40.
And not only did they miss out on my ticket money, they lost out on the 6.00 Pepsi, the 13. beer, the 5.00 hot dog.. and the 40. shirt.
LN was so desperate to sell tickets they offered a no service fee June.. and the shows i did go to, I bought during June so I didn't pay an extra 15. per ticket.
And the concerts I went to, with artists that sell out? Had maybe half capacity. They didn't advertise the no service fee tix. And in this kind of economy, people couldn't afford those hefty fees on top of already outrageous prices. 50. for a lawnseat? I'm looking at YOU, Aerosmith!
Re: Travesty
If a kid is so messed up that being taunted online is going to push them into another Columbine type event, or pushes them to suicide, there's more wrong than just one thing.
I'm amazed the human race has survived this long, what with all these laws designed to protect people. How ever did we manage before they protected us?
Seriously.. thousands of people "hack" on a daily basis on MySpace, using it for Role Play games. They impersonate celebs, other people, create new people. If you shut down and prosecuted every MySpace troll, they'd have a few hundred users.
The suicide was tragic, the actions of Lori Drew heinous. But she did nothing illegal. Sad, but true. And the new law proposed to end cyber bullying could be frightening in the scope of abuse based on cases like the one above.
Cyber Bullying my A$$
If your kid is so close to the edge that someone calling them a c*nt, f*g, fat or ugly online is going to push them to suicide, or into pulling another Columbine, no law is going to help them.
I am so sick of this "for the childrens" bullshit.
As a kid, I was tormented verbally and physically. I used to make myself throw up so I didn't have to go to school and face it. But I survived, I didn't kill myself or blow up my school or kill the offenders.
Hell, I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say I have to give a crap about your tender little feelings.
Re:
A large part of profit from musicals comes from merchandising. Tee shirts, posters, soundtrack albums, you get the idea.
After a show closes, few products continue to sell with the exception of the soundtrack recording. I have vintage albums from the original cast recording of Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie and other shows that have ceased being produced professionally.
So, piracy is a convenient excuse for why soundtrack sales drop and kill off the cash cow for shows. What they don't mention is people buy the albums, rip them, then sell the hard copy. I pick up most of my soundtracks at flea markets now, for a fraction of the list price.
Nearly half of all musicals don't make their initial investments back, except for the rare show that plays for over 5 years. Development costs, theater rentals, cast and crew, ushers, box office staff all take about 75% of the show's gross income each performance. The bigger the show, the larger the costs.
And given that most Broadway shows don't run more than 4 or 5 years (Phantom, Cats, Les Miz being the rare exceptions) any profit to come from most shows is the merchandising. Some shows don't break even or profit until several years after they close. And the reason they finally do is because of the merchandise sales.
Re:
Hats.
Let her have her tantrum.
Having her compare a leak of a draft to "violating her human rights" was extreme, in poor taste and made her look incredibly stupid. (See the Entertainment Weekly story for the full quote)
For pity's sake, she writes about sparkly stalker vampires and the most pathetic female self-insert character ever.
It's not The Great American Novel. It's a poorly disguised indoctrination into the LDS (Latter Day Saints) belief system aimed at tweens and teens with poor self-image who relate to the self described plain, ugly, clumsy heroine.
I'm actually grateful she stopped writing. Now maybe her fans will stop whining and move on to the classic vampire genre novels that are actually well written with good plot, excellent pacing and unique characterization.
Re: Re: Re: The 80s wants their parental psychology back
Kids are never able to magically deal with anything. I was a kid. I know this.
The issue as I see it is finding a balance between supervising your child and allowing them the space to become free thinking, responsible young adults.
I know very few parents that can find a balance. The kids are either covered in bubble wrap before they leave the house or left to their own devices. Neither extreme is healthy and the kids learn nothing.
Children should be supervised when online. But as the child grows older, the supervision should become less, and the parents should maintain a dialogue about safety, security and the way to handle unwanted attention, cyber bullying and other concerns.
Of course, that's way too much responsibility for most parents, who would prefer the web be sterilized so their precious little snowflake will neither see or hear anything bad or evil.
Re: Bunch of punks
Earlier this year, celebrated author Neil Gaiman made his book, American Gods, free for download in e-book reader format, PDF and I believe a .doc as well.
The month after, his publisher saw a gain of 12% in the purchase of the "free" novel.
So many people liked it they wanted a hard copy.
Meyer embraced the fans because her books suck. They didn't sell well until she involved the few fans she had. Once she did, her fans started to bully people in other fandoms, until they read the books out of self preservation, just to shut the sanctimonious asses up.
Now there's a huge backlash against not just the books, but the author. (See livejournal.com and encyclopedia dramatica for examples.)
I'm all for sharing and open dialogue with fans, but not to the point the fans turn into raving lunatic twats.
It's a fine line and her fans crossed it. For that reason alone I won't read the books, see the movie or spend any money on any associated products.
Re:
The taxes imposed on gasoline by the European nations (which is what drives the prices up so high) pays for universal healthcare and social programs in those nations.
So while more money goes to fuel, less is spent on medical expenses and it balances out.
We do not have that balance in the US.
Re: Well, considering all things
Considering what, exactly?
You don't seem to realize the taxes imposed on gasoline by the European nations (which is what drives the prices up so high) pays for universal healthcare and social programs.
The $4.00+ gallon we pay in the US does nothing but line the pockets of the oil companies.
So tell me again how the prices in Europe matter when compared to the prices here?
If we got universal healthcare and well funded social programs out of ridiculous gas prices, I don't think all that many would complain.
Yeesh
The ADA guarantees my rights to equal access that a non-disabled patron has at restaurants, movie theaters and places of public accommodation.
It does not guarantee my rights to an irritant free life, or to be protected from things that may or may not exacerbate my condition.
It promises and secures my access. Not my enjoyment, not my safety, nothing beyond my ability to go places and see things non-disabled people can do. It guarantees I have access. Period.
I have seizures. It it therefore my responsibility to stay clear of places that harbor known triggers, such as certain scents, strobe lights, certain volumes or frequencies of sound, the list goes on.
I hate people who abuse the law. It makes things harder for all of us in the long run, makes business owners wary of anyone with disabilities, makes it harder for the disabled to have the access they deserve.
People suck.
Re: Re: Re: Don't believe all the troll bait
I voted for a war based on LIES.
If we had the truth, it's highly doubtful there would be a war.
Amazing we could liberate Europe in 4 years, but liberating a teeny country will take a decade or more.
Re: Re: genre vs specifics
I dunno, but I would be pretty upset if I spent a decade of my life creating these ideas, nurturing them, devoting countless hours to make them come to a life on the page...
...only to have someone lift whole passages without credit and print them presented as his original research and conclusions which is what the fan in question is doing.
If he used small parts of the descriptions and then followed with critique or expanded based on his view and interpretation, I would have no problem with it. But that isn't what he's doing.
He pulls entire passages from the books without changing a word, doesn't cite what book or what page and which edition, that's a problem. He's presenting her work as his own simply by organizing it in reference form.
That's copyright infringement. Not flattery.
"Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of the copyright holder, when material is used without the copyright holder's consent."
He's taking material (names, items, full passages from the books wherein the item/person is described) from the books, directly.
If he were to interpret it and write a different, non word for word description, I'd support him. But the way he's done it, I won't.
Same reason it's the car company's fault you speed.
They give the ability to do X, so of course they have to take it away.
Re: Church bowls?
One of the churches in our town presents the, "Soup-er Bowl" to raise money and solicit donations for their food pantry.
For the cost of a can or two of food, you get to watch the game with a bunch of people. There's catered food donated by local businesses and a potluck from other attendees. No pressure to worship, no pressure or propaganda, just a relaxed gathering of other fans who don't want to watch the game alone.
Last year the church raised enough money and got enough donations to last through mid-summer.
And the TV screens were all small, but there were a lot of them, as many attendees brought them so you could drift from group to group and socialize.