The Question | Renee Montoya

This is awesome.

In this episode Zoe sends Talitha to the Banana Republic fashion show, Ashley stays back with Zoe to help her organize outfits for 3 different-themed photo shoots for 3 different girls on the same day. Samantha meanwhile is asked to help out Sergio move a bunch of boxes, and do all sorts of heavy lifting.

Talitha certainly shows her true colours in this episodes and acts like miss high-and-mighty just because she was given the coolest assignment of the 3 interns. She seems to think that her being sent to the Banana republic show is indicative of Joanna’s recognition of her competence and potential; she acts really awful to Sam, telling Ashley that she [Sam] still has a year left in college and implies that – because of that -- Sam shouldn’t be having certain conversations with her [Talitha]; She then brags that “if anything serious needs to be done by the interns, the project would be given to either her [Talitha] or Ashley, because Samantha simply is not on their level.”

She also totally ignored Samantha and keeps addressing only Ashley, even though Sam is right there in the room; and she doesn’t stop running her mouth either – later on she says Sam makes her “want to vomit” and that she hates to talk with people that “aren’t on her level”. I’m like wtf? bitch you are just an intern! you’ve got a “level” after all of a few days @ Marie Claire? what a piece of work…

Ashley’s mostly quiet in this episode, although she clearly takes sides with Talitha, and later that night, herself and Talitha go out for a night in the town, and they don’t invite Samantha. I was really disappointed with Ashley’s behaviour tonight. I’d felt she was together with Sam but she now reminds me of one of those kids in school who only remained your friends so long as you stayed popular, and had momentum.

All this time Samantha had been taking things very coolly, in her stride. She tried talking to Talitha a couple times about the friction she’d sensed between them, but – characteristically – Talitha kept blowing her off. Sam later had dinner with Sergio that night and he gives her a lot of sage advice from someone that’s worked in Marie Claire for longer and so had a lot more experience of how the corporate fashion world works. Sergio tells Sam not to let anyone get to her; he rightly points out that Talitha may not have the best behaviour or personality, but she used it to work her way into favourable positions. He goes on to tell Sam that she had to be a lot stronger, and that she should perhaps approach Talitha and bring some closure to the rising tensions between both girls.

I think that Samantha was surprised at how caring Sergio was, and at all the advise he had to give; I’m sure she’ll be happy knowing that someone at Marie Claire has her back.

At the end of the episode – following Sergio’s advise – Sam approaches Talitha and calls her aside for a chat; she tells Talitha that all her back-talking and that her impression that she [Samantha] has no clue about her assignments, and doesn’t deserve to be an intern at Marie Claire, is offensive. Talitha hits back and says she thinks Sam is jealous of her and then asks Sam if “she got what she wanted from this conversation”. Sam knows there’s little point trying to do any more talking and says “so I guess we are done”. Talitha goes on to say something about that [talk with Sam] being one of the worst/pointless conversations she’d had with any human being – ouch; and then she heads off to town with Ashley.

Samantha is left alone, and half-in-tears, @ the girl’s flat that night; she calls her boyfriend to tell him what’s going on and I feel really bad for how the girls are acting towards her. The thing about reality shows like this is that you quickly get attached to one person and then hate one or a few others. Folks I’ve gotta tell ya, I’ve always rooted for the underdog and it’s easy for me to relate to Samantha in this situation. I had a soft spot for her from episode one, and this whole thing has made me like her even more. Talitha is such a bitch…

I’m keen to see who gets the upper-hand in this cat-fight next week and it’ll be interesting to see who gets the next big assignment from Joanna.

What I’m listening to at the moment: No One’s [Foxy Brown feat. Kha’dij] – Il Nana; 1996

Last time I saw her act was in Nico with Steven Seagal and Sharon Stone; In that movie she still looked terrific as detective Delores Jackson, and she put up a decent performance too. But after that -- and bear in mind Nico – Above the Law was released around 1989 or so -- she simply disappeared off the scene and no one seemed to know what she’s been up to since. The girl was one of my favourite actresses! and FOXY BROWN is still perhaps the most famous Blaxploitation movie ever, except for Shaft [but that eventually spurned a couple sequels and became a franchise so I doubt it’s fair to make a direct comparison].

After all this time, I was really surprised today when I saw her amongst the voice actors of the animated feature series – The Justice League. She wasn’t even a regular member either, she was only guest-cast as the voice of My’ria’h. C’mon… My’ria’h? I didn’t even know who that was until that episode – A Knight of Shadows; I doubt she even exists in the DC Character Encyclopaedia. Pam didn’t even get the voice of Morgana Le Fay – that went to another old school actress – Olivia D’abo. I think it’s real ironic that an actress famous for her body and her looks, ends up voice-acting.

Wtf Pam? you used to be Foxy Brown! you deserve better than a cheap, second-string voice-actress role.

UPDATE: Seeing as Tom Sizemore also took on a small voice role in the JL cartoon, as the voice of Metamorphosis, perhaps it’s understandable why Pam did likewise…

Edit [05:17, 27th July 2009] – Since I wrote this article, president Obama has since softened his stance on the Cambridge police’s actions.

Edit [13:55, 27th July 2009] – I’ve now edited several portions of this article again, after doing a bit more research, listening to the 911 call and the police dispatch radio chatter, and listening to the Wendy Murphy Larry King interview, to record what I feel is a fairer assessment of the situation, and to reflect what I think should be seen as the bigger picture. Apologies if any premature opinions were formed prior to reading this updated post as I will not be able to publish an updated version till Wednesday [28th July]; revised portions are in italicized Times New Roman Font.

INITIAL POST:

When I first heard the story, I said to myself… great, yet another debate on race and profiling;  white cop handcuffing a black dude, so what? vis-à-vis all the other similar cases, how bad could it have been? But more and more it’s dawned on me that the media attention being paid to this case isn’t because it’s a white cop v black male - that’s hardly news; [I think] it’s because of the circumstances: a Harvard professor, trying to get into his own home gets arrested right there inside his house; despite the officer realizing the “suspect” wasn’t trying to break in or hadn’t broken in, and even after Gates had shown him his identification, the officer still went ahead to cuff Gates and take him to the station. I mean, c’mon, what’s so unconvincing about the unfairness of this situation? did Gates need to get shot by the 5-0, right there in his house, for injustice to have been done? perhaps this happening to someone so respectable all of a sudden gives the argument, that white cops are indeed prejudiced against black males, some more credence.

UPDATE: Here is a full account of the entire incident, taken verbatim from Wikipedia:

==========

On July 16, 2009, Gates had just returned from a trip to China, where he had finished filming a new documentary series for PBS tracing the ancestry of cellist Yo-Yo Ma.^[9] As the front door of his home would not open, Gates entered through his back door. He could not, however, open the front door from the inside, even after unlatching it. Gates states that the lock was damaged and speculated that someone had attempted to "jimmy" the lock while he was away. Gates went back outside and, with help from his driver, forced the door open. Since he rents the house from Harvard University, he next called Harvard maintenance to report the problem so they would repair the damage.^[10]

According to the police report, a neighbor "observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on" and that her "suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry." She then called the police.^[11][1]

After the driver had departed, and while Gates was on the phone with Harvard maintenance, the Cambridge police arrived.^[10] There are two published accounts of the subsequent events which led to the arrest of Gates—one in the police report^[1] and the other in an interview with Gates:^[10]

• According to the police report, the officer asked Gates to step outside, and he refused, saying "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" and "I'll speak with your mama outside".^[12] The police also said that Gates initially refused to provide ID, ultimately showing his Harvard ID. The officer wrote in the police report "Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him".^[13]

• According to Gates's version of events, when the officer asked for ID, Gates replied he had to get it inside, and then officer Crowley followed him into his home without permission.^[14] After providing his Harvard ID and his driver's license, Gates repeatedly asked the officer for his name and badge number, which the officer would not provide, instead telling Gates to step outside his home. Gates said that after handing over the two sets of ID, he followed the officer (Crowley) from inside his house onto his front porch, where the officer was able to arrest him for "disorderly conduct" in public.^[11]

Gates was arrested by Officer Crowley and charged with disorderly conduct^[15] under G.L.c.272, §53, a law written in the 1800s in part to prohibit conduct that “involves tumultuous and highly agitated behavior that causes riotous commotion and excessively unreasonable noise.”^[16] The charges were later dropped by the Middlesex County district attorney's office, upon the recommendation of the city of Cambridge and the Cambridge Police Department. The incident was referred to by authorities as "regrettable and unfortunate",^[17] but Officer Crowley said he would not apologize for his actions.^[18]

=========

Now if I were to dabble in conjecture, I’d say that perhaps If Gates were white [oh oh, now I’ve gone there], and that same officer – Sgt. Crowley -- came into his house and realized there wasn’t a break-in, and especially if identification was shown to the officer, that’ll be it folks… case closed, end of story – some other report would have occupied that news slot and there would have been no arrest and certainly no mug-shots, I’ll put my money on that. Furthermore I’ve heard Gates speak, and find it very hard to believe that he would have started yelling or being aggressive, to the point that he had to be physically restrained in cuffs; besides who wouldn’t be pissed off if the cops came into their house with accusations of a break-in, even after identification had been provided to prove otherwise?

UPDATE: The reason I say Gate’s account is suspect, is because the 911 caller [I think her name was Lucia] made no mention of “two black males with backpacks” as was recorded in the official police report; furthermore, Lucia was not a neighbour or a Cambridge resident and lastly she had no conversation with Sergeant Crowley; all this according to her attorney – Wendy Murphy – who was on Larry King today. If Crowley already had, in his mind, a picture of two black males breaking into a house with backpacks – and goodness knows who or what put that picture there – then that would explain his reluctance to accept Professor Gates explanation, and that would certain explanation his over-reaction in that situation. As an aside, there is no racist connotation whatsoever, in that 911 call and the caller’s level-headedness and reluctance to identify one race or the other as the culprits, or to jump to conclusions is, in my opinion, exemplary.

Listen I know one story sounds good until you hear another, I’m merely here to offer my admittedly myopic view on race relations and specifically this incident. Any questions I ask are largely rhetorical; I’m not here to convince anyone, not here to act like an expert in profiling, nor to pretend as if my sagacity is boundless, but the truth is that there are some racist cops – and I know this from personal experience -- just as there are racist folk in every other work of life, so let’s not stand here and pretend as if all cops are saints and as if this cop in question absolutely could not have acted racist or acted in a fashion that could easily have been interpreted as racist; at the very least there was some over-reaction on the part of Sgt. Crowley, in the arrest. I’m not saying Gates is the white sheep in all of this, but if he overreacted, he almost certainly had cause.

Having read both accounts of that incident, it’s understandable that president Obama felt so strongly about the way the police handled it – heck for all we know the president himself might have had a bad experience or two with white policemen when he was younger. Personally, before this incident, I could hardly have imagined that a Harvard professor – even one from an ethnic minority – would have his mug-shots taken for any crime less than murder or manslaughter [Okay that’s me exaggerating, but hopefully you get the point]. 

UPDATE: Let’s also not lose sight of the bigger picture here, which I think consists of a two-fold issue:

• All across America, a lot of arrests are probably made that are similar to this, in terms of ethnicity, that were made in poor judgement. This isn’t just about Sgt Crowley, this incident I hope should serve as a platform – a “teachable moment” – as was rightly said by the Cambridge mayor, in how police arrests should be carried out in the future.
• The issue of arrests aside, there’s the more troubling issue of a startling increase in Black crime [43% increase b/w 2002 and 2007 across America, when the perpetrator was Black], and Black violence [31% increase b/w 2002 and 2007 across America, when the victim was Black]*; what does the president and the media have to say about that? or does it only become important when an affluent Black scholar is involved in a police arrest?

All that said, I don’t think a Commander-in-Chief should be so overwhelmed with emotion or personal bias as to use the word “stupid” to describe [the actions of] a police force. There’s no question that the officer may not have acted in the most professional fashion in arresting Gates, regardless of what his superiors came on TV to say; nonetheless I’m surprised the president, a man who typically chooses his every word carefully, used the term “stupid” [to describe the police actions]. I do not agree that he was right in using that term. With Secretary of State Clinton saying the North Koreans were acting like “spoilt teenagers” just a few days ago, and with Jo Biden’s somewhat loose remarks about Russia’s economy last week, perhaps tis’ the season for the liberal use of harsh terms. But I digress.

I summarize by saying that, as Professor Gates pointed out, if this could happen to him then it could happen to any black man in America, which in itself is tragic seeing as America seems to be so much further ahead in race elations, than any other western country. If incidents like this still happen there, what are the odds for a young black male living in other countries in Europe?

Food for thought…

*Stats were according to a study released last December by James Fox of the Northeastern University, entitled "The Recent Surge in Homicides involving Young Black Males and Guns: Time to Reinvest in Prevention and Crime Control."

Me? normally I’m a streiht-up CNN guy – I can watch the news all day – I’m totally boring like that. TalkAsia, World Sport, Quest Means Business, Marketplace MiddleEast, The Screening Room, iDesk, or just old-fashioned News, it makes no difference to me… I love em’ all, although to be fair I sorely miss the electric atmosphere of the elections, which is why Political Mann is still perhaps my favourite programs to catch up on; TalkAsia comes in second as I’ve got a bit of a crush on the lovely Anjali Rao :-)

Anyway that’s my usual daily routine – Channel 401 – CNN; but recently with half of the [political] news on being about the President’s Healthcare reform, and a sizeable chunk of the other half being about the market’s painfully slow “road to recovery” [although there was a ray of hope in all the profits posted by a lot of the big companies last week, and a brief upward trend for the world markets], most of the news today is getting either a bit tedious [Health Reform, Berlusconi shenanigans, North Korea’s defiance etc] or a bit depressing [outlook for world business markets], which is why recently I’ve been watching a lot more of The Style Network, which, for me, has a lot more positive vibe.

Watching TSN, it didn’t take me long to pick a couple personal favourites on there: Kimora – Life in the Fab Lane and Running in Heels; if I had to pick one of the two to sit through a marathon for, then without a doubt it’ll be Running in Heels.

Now perhaps I should be ashamed of myself for even watching this show! much less blogging about it, but it’s amazing the kind of things you’ll pick up when you’ve got time on your hands – and right now, I’ve got nothing but time.

About the show: To the un-informed it’s about a set of 3 female interns at Marie Claire that get to work with different Fashion Houses, and on various projects to see just how ready they are for permanent positions in the Fashion world, and first, at Marie Claire; at it’s crux, it provides a  behind-the-scenes look at what going on behind the scene, in the making of the [Marie Claire] magazine. If you liked The Devil Wears Prada – and I loved that movie – then you’ve gotta give this show a look-see, as it’s got pretty much the same theme.

Tonight’s episode saw the 3 girls working on different dress trends, and folks I’ve gotta tell ya the final minute when Editor-in-Chief Joanna gets back from Europe and inspects the girls projects, that right there was some real fucking comedy. Here are some [paraphrased] excerpts from her final meeting with the girls: “…fat girl beaming at us and wearing an outfit that makes her look like she’s going to see a senile relative”; “…this girl is so thin – I told you to photograph normal people, not… freaks” That Joanna lady doesn’t mince words, that’s for damn sure.

I think Samantha could have pulled off hers if she picked the right theme, and if she had more focused interns as partners – of all the 3 girls she seems like the most prepared to work in a big Fashion house. Talitha, hmm… she seems a bit on the lazy side, and the fact that she gave the folks in art department her project to do, and then pretended like she did it herself, also makes her dishonest.

Ashley reminds me of Karen, constantly bitching [mostly about other people] and with some serious attitude when the pressure kicks in – I think justice was definitely served when when she got just as much of a bollocking as the other two girls; alright that’s probably because I’m prejudiced against her :-0 so I shall try to be a bit more objective next time.

All that aside, I think all 3 girls are gorgeous and very stylish – Samantha especially – that girl has got serious style, but what she lacks is confidence… Ashley has got what I’ll refer to as the “Lindsey Lohan” look – a real doll, and naturally pretty; I think Talitha needs a bit more make-up than the other two to look her best, but she can still be, and is, quite stunning, and then again looks are only a teeny part of this exercise.

I think that all 3 girls have their strengths, and perhaps if they work together instead of subliminally festering rivalries, they’ll be a much better team, and much better fashionistas whilst they are at it.

The show gets a definite thumbs-up from me, and I can’t wait to see the next episode.

http://www.runninginheels.tv

You can check out the girls blogs here

Heh. Life’s strange… just a few months ago I was drawing up plans for a research facility – a facility I was to head -- and trying to convince the board where not to cut costs on that project. Before that, in what was one of the highlights of my nascent career, I was working with the project manager on a project worth a couple hundred million pounds. There wasn’t time for anything else – hanging out with friends, playing Xbox, or writing articles all took the backseat to my career. My career cost me a lost, but most of all, it cost me Sarah. Not like any of that mattered at the time.

Today I don’t have to worry about missing the deadlines for any projects… I’m here at home – all day, every day – with nothing to do but watch the stash of sitcoms on my laptop, write, and watch CNN. Shit, I get so bored I’m starting to get addicted to shows like Running in Heels and Kimora – Life in the Fab Lane on The Style Network; The Style Network! If someone knows of a channel with a more emasculating collection of shows, please let me know.

There is a silver lining in all this though: I get to save a lot of money, and every penny saved is a penny that’ll count toward my Masters this fall; I also get write a bit more, as well as to play tons of Street Fighter IV!

Speaking of which the gen just got switched on so I better get my nightly fix…

So I was going through my Pictures folder this afternoon and I came across a folder called “Utter Mischief” . A lot of pictures from the crazy old days were in there but then I came across this one [above]; at first it looked out of place but then I remembered when I took this picture, who I was with when I took it, and what we were up to… and it all made sense. But I can’t for the life of me remember where it was that we took it.

My mind keeps going to Angel [station] but I can’t say for sure. Guess this’ll go down as one of life’s great unsolved mysteries :-0

The FADC, or Focus Attack Dash Cancel, is a crucial part of Sagat’s game; if you want to hang with the very best tournament players this is one technique that you must add to your portfolio [unless your name’s Paul and you are just a totally bad-ass old-school SF2 player! for the rest of us, I’d say ultras and FADCs are non-optional– Ed]. The FADC occurs when a Focus Attack [MP+MK] is used to cancel [out of] a move – usually a special move ie TU, TKC or TS for Sagat – and then a forward or backward dash is then used to cancel out of the Focus Attack; an FADC uses two EX meter bars.

On paper this might not seem like a terribly helpful piece of play, especially since you lose 2 EX bars just pulling this off, but in the heat of battle, due to the insane amount of damage that can be gotten from different FADC linked attacks, the FADC proves invaluable. The main reason to FADC is to free Sagat from the lengthy animations accompanying his special moves, once they connect with an opponent.

Here’s an example. Sagat’s HP tiger uppercut [TU] inflicts 170 damage points on an opponent. But The HP TU is a one-hit move: Sagat only hits the opponent once, despite the lengthy animation of that special move. Suppose then – since the one, single hit occurs while Sagat’s feet are still on the ground – Sagat can connect with a HP TU and launch the opponent into the air, and then dash out of the move and still juggle the helpless airborne opponent, with another combo of choice? well with the FADC this scenario is not only possible, it’s actually fairly easy to pull off with a lot of practice and with nimble fingers! Here’s how it works – to explain, I’ve used the pictorial below:

STEP 1: TU [preferably HP]
In the figure above, Sagat – wearing the purple trunks with a long white stripe at the sides – hits Ryu with a HP Tiger Uppercut. Note that at this point Sagat still has 3 full EX meter bars - the third bar is filling up as the TU connects with Ryu.

STEP 2: FADC
As seen in figure 2 above, Sagat FADCs -- MP+MK, then a forward dash -- as soon as the TU connects; because the TU motion is FDF + P, it’s quite likely that as soon as the TU connects, the player’s hand would still on resting on the forward motion… if so, simply tap, not press, the Focus Attack button, to cause Sagat to cancel out of the TU then tap forward again to dash out of the Focus Attack, and toward the airborne opponent.

This section of the FADC above is usually the hardest bit; if you can pull this off – and you can, with quick fingers and practice -- then the rest of the link should be relatively easy.

As an aside, note that in figure 2 above, Sagat briefly flashes a bright-gold colour, and in addition the 2 EX bars are disappearing, to show that he has just FADC’d. In figure 3, Sagat has stopped flashing and has now dashed directly underneath Ryu, who is now also higher up in the air. Sagat also has just one EX bar at this point, instead of 3 [which he had before the FADC was executed] in figure 1.

STEP 3: High-step kick [F+HK];

This step is actually optional but it helps a lot as not only does it add a good deal more damage to the FADC link, it also makes it a bit easier to connect with Sagat’s Ultra, after the FADC. It’s also dead simple to execute [F+HK], although be warned: the timing is fairly strict!

When to execute:
Right after the dash, release the controller and then instantly press forward + HK again to nail the opponent with a high-step kick, as shown in figure 4, above; because the high-step kick juggles an airborne opponent – causing them to spend even more time in the air -- you can pull one last trick out your hat to end the link…

STEP 4: Tiger Destruction

This one’s the kicker… adding this to the remainder of the link described so far can, depending on conditions [ultra meter, opponent life, handicap, dizzy state etc], inflict up to 775 damage points. So, in theory, if you nail the likes of Seth with this, it’s curtains. In practice – or perhaps I should say real matches – the damage inflicted is far less: about 350 – 600 points.

When to execute:
Right after the high-step kick, input the motion for the ultra [DF DF + KKK] to nail the [still airborne] opponent with the Tiger Destruction and claim the crown of kewlest kid on the block!

Two additional points to note:

1. If the initial TU is a “counter-hit” ie if once the opponent gets hit, they go spinning in the air, what I usually do is not to even bother trying to nail them with the high-step kick as it always whiffs… in this scenario, [counter]hit them with the TU, FADC – but dash backwards, not forward, then immediately nail them with the ultra. Or, if they are in the corner and you have a 3rd full EX bar, you can hit them with a low EX tiger-shot right after the back dash, and then ultra… good times.
2. Even if the initial TU isn’t a counter hit, so long as it connects while the opponent’s feet are on the ground, you can immediate execute the FADC, but using a back dash. Doing so will mean the Ultra must be executed right after the back dash as Sagat will be too far away from the opponent to connect with the High-Step kick prior to the ultra; even with the ultra being executed right after the back dash, be advised the window for input [of the Ultra] is very small, and so timing is strict.
   Same as in point (1) above – if the opponent is in the corner, you can : TU xx FADC [dash backwards] xx EX TS xx Tiger Destruction.
   The main use of dashing backwards, instead of forward, is that regardless of whether the TU connects as a counter-hit or not, back dashing and then pulling off the ultra mostly guarantees the ultra will connect with the opponent. Dashing forward [after a counter-hit TU] is riskier, will almost surely cause the High-Step kick to whiff and really screws up the link if you weren’t expecting a counter-hit.

Note that the FADC requires a lot of practice,and even with this technique, do not expect to walk all over your opponents. That said, it’ll help you win a lot more fights, especially if you use Sagat’s kara-cancel to extend the range of your TU; Alongside the rest of Sagat’s anti-air tactics and poke combos,  the FADC should help improve your game. Also, there are tons of YouTube videos out there that show some of the best Sagat players showcasing their skill. Those videos and the SRK forums come in very handy…

Hope all this helps someone out there.

PS – You can also FADC out of tiger-shots and out of the tiger-knee crush; Check out the Sagat threads @ the SRK forums for more detailed breakdowns of those. Personally I hardly FADC out of Tiger-Shots and I never FADC out of the Tiger-Knee Crush, except at the end of a light-hearted match, or to show off :-)

I’ve got a really slow connection usually, but I lucked out today it seems. The main gist:

• I’ve moved out of my flat @ London W3, and am out of the UK atm; Major shift in career means I’ve left my previous organisation to pursue a Masters degree in what I really love doing: Publishing.
• I’ve cut my hair!
• I’ve had some spare time on my hands to really train in SFIV. I can now FADC with Sagat… finally
• I did not sell the Rommel Hulk, but I did sell the rest of my entire collection. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do…
• I don’t know the exact date I’ll be back in the UK, but it should be early September.
• I’ve been accepted for an MSc Programme, and will begin studying this fall, in London
• Pics!

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