Lynda Chin is used to getting what she wants.

Chin, a physician who is the wife of Dr. Ronald DePinho, the president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, submitted a plan on March 12 seeking what would be the largest grant yet awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT.

Chin had every reason to believe her seven-page application would win funding. She had received an $8 million enticement to move her cancer research lab from Boston to Houston last year after her husband accepted the M.D. Anderson position, and prospects for the success of her grant application seemed encouraging.

"We'll make it work," the cancer center's lead commercial grant officer had told her six days earlier.

But the same day it was submitted, Chin's application hit a snag.

"I don't think they are ready," Jerry Cobbs, the senior staff member who oversees commercialization grants for CPRIT, wrote his boss in an email after reviewing the application. He suggested consideration of the application be delayed.

Nevertheless, by the end of March, Chin had landed her grant - approximately $18 million for a single year.

A monthlong Houston Chronicle investigation suggests that CPRIT, a 3-year-old initiative backed by $3 billion in taxpayer funds, handled the grant application in a hasty manner designed to circumvent its own scientific reviewers.

Hundreds of internal emails obtained through a public records request shed new light on the forces at work in the application process - particularly the role of a Houston venture capitalist, Charles Tate, who invests in companies that commercialize drugs and who has ties to M.D. Anderson and to CPRIT.

The emails indicate that Tate, one of 11 members of CPRIT's oversight committee, was instrumental in shepherding Chin's proposal through the review process. He denied doing so.

Follow this link:
Anatomy of a grant: Emails indicate cancer agency sought to bypass scientific review

My apologies for the recent silence; I have been hard at work creating--and now installing!--an  exhibition entitled "Savior of Mothers: The Forgotten Ballet of Ignaz Semmelweis." The show officially opens at the David J. Sencer CDC Museum in association with the Smithsonian Institution at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia next Monday, June 11th.

More on the exhibition, from the CDC Museum website:

Savior of Mothers: The Forgotten Ballet of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis is an installation of artifacts and ephemera related to an imaginary 19th century ballet created by artist Joanna Ebenstein. The ballet is based on the true story of the brilliant, yet reviled Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865). Scenes range from his earliest attempts to curb the "childbed fever" epidemic in his Viennese obstetrical clinic to his premature death of the very disease he had spent his life trying to defeat. Ebenstein was drawn to Semmelweis' distinctive story not only for its topical and scientific theme--albeit tinged by melodrama and mythic elements--but also for its mixture of beauty and the grotesque. His tale, best suited to the form of a popular tragedy, makes ballet the ideal medium for Semmelweis' tale. Ebenstein's installation includes costume designs for the "Plague Demons of Cadaverous Particles"--expressionistic representations of the virulent bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes itself--and the "12 mourning mothers from beyond the grave," as well as model theaters, posters, and more.

More on this to come very soon; In the meantime, above are some photos of the installation as it inches along. My favorite piece is the very truly enchanting model theatre (bottom 2 images), designed by the astounding Chris Muller and executed by the exceptionally talented Jason Ardizzone-West; it depicts a set for of a mid-19th century anatomical theatre in which some of the major action of the ballet takes place.

The exhibition opens on next Monday, June 11th, at the  David J. Sencer Museum at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. More can be found here.

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(credit: Thinkstock)

The ubiquitous Broadway poster is more than just eye candy for the busy New Yorker and tourist. These pretty pictures, which cover so much of the city, convey or at least suggest the experience a Broadway production holds for the potential audience member. What will you see, hear and (hopefully) feel once you plop down your hard-earned money for a seat in one of Broadways storied theatres? Its a shows calling card. It helps put people in seats.

Upon first glance, a Broadway poster may seem deceptively simple a picture or graphic with a title and some credits. But a lot of very creative people put a lot of thought and effort into creating whats known in the industry as key art. Its this key art gets that gets spun off into the countless versions you see online, in the subways, outside theatres and above Times Square. The final product, in all its forms, depends on the show and the audience its producers wish to attract.

(credit: SpotCo)

For Once, the Off-Broadway transplant about an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant brought together by music, the challenge was to reinvent a personal story for a broader audience. As Darren Cox, Associate Creative Director at SpotCo, an advertising agency that handles many of the most successful Broadway shows, explained, Once was this little fantastic gem of a show downtown that just flowered into this huge success. The original art, which SpotCo also developed, had a very personal, slice-of-life kind of aesthetic, which was very intimate and really really good for downtown, but we found out that other needs arose when the show moved to Broadway. The bigger stage and the bigger potential audience required an updated look and feel to get noticed.

The art needed to pack more of a punch. According to Cox, there was a little bit of a fear that the intimacy of the show and the kind of quiet beauty of the show could be sort of swallowed up The solution was to hold on to certain artifacts from the original as inspiration and then dial everything up. They hired a photographer and shot the actors in real environments in the theatre, on the street, at a bar. And then we pulled back in some of the graphics and the logo treatment that had that downtown intimate feel, but then married it to the larger brand. Looking at the original and updated art you can really see there is sort of this relationship where they do feel theyre kinda like in the same voice but one has a much stronger, louder, much more splashy kind of voice.

See more Broadway posters.

(credit: SpotCo)

One Man, Two Guvnors, a comedy about an easily confused man who agrees to work for both a local gangster and a criminal in hiding, required a different approach. The play, starring the talented comedic actor James Corden, came to Broadway from Londons West End. As Cox explained, It was something that already has a lot of traction and success, and we wanted to communicate that. But we wanted to communicate that in a way that was fun, interesting and sort of off-kilter like the show. The show had received rave reviews from British audiences and press, a sort of stamp of approval. But it still needed to be introduced to American theatergoers.

We knew we had a star in James Corden, noted Cox. And the art very much reflects that by hitting pretty hard the cred that its gotten from England. In addition to the shows star in a pose that suggests the plays physical humor, the poster features glowing comments and five-star ratings from various London papers. The National Theatre in London has a great track record of doing really wonderful shows, according to Cox. So we thought that that would make it more comfortable for consumers. The goal, in this case, is to make the unfamiliar seem familiar by lending it some credibility. We really tried to build that into the artwork so that people knew this was an established brand.

Read the original here:
Anatomy Of A Broadway Poster – The Story Behind The Art

The site of William "Bubba" Cotton's fatal accident.

Understanding the contracting chain on cell tower jobs can be complicated, but crucial when workers die.

William Bubba Cotton, 43, was the first of 11 cell site workers who died on AT&T projects from 2006 through 2008, years when the carrier merged its network with Cingular and ramped up its 3G network for the iPhone.

As ProPublica and PBS Frontline reported last month, tower climbing ranks among the most dangerous jobs in America, having a death rate roughly 10 times that of construction.

The project Cotton was on involved several layers of subcontractors, which is common in the tower industry. The accident was more unusual. Most of the 50 tower climbers killed on cell site jobs since 2003 have died in falls, but Cotton was crushed to death by an antenna.

A wrongful death lawsuit subsequently filed by Cottons survivors, as well as a personal injury suit filed by his cousin and co-worker, Charles Randy Wheeler, explored two questions at the heart of every tower fatality: Who controlled the tower site? And who was responsible for the safety of the subcontractors working on it?

Heres a breakdown of what happened in the Cotton case:

The Project: An upgrade of a cell site in Talladega, Ala., replacing the antennas on a 400-foot tower. AT&T had designated the upgrade a top priority because of an upcoming NASCAR race, a company manager said in court testimony.

The Subcontractors: To handle the tower work, AT&T (then known as Cingular) hired Nsoro, a large management firm (also known as a turf vendor.) Nsoro hired a subcontractor, WesTower Communications, a large North American tower company. WesTower subcontracted the on-site work to a Missouri-based tower company, ALT Inc.

AT&T also directly hired Florida-based subcontractor Betacom Inc. to work on a concrete equipment shelter at the base of the tower.

Read more:
Anatomy of a Cell Tower Death

Aurora Theatre / Aurora Theatre

The original Maud Allen, subject of Aurora Theatre's "Salomania"

"The Cult of the Clitoris." That was the headline on a 1918 piece in the Vigilante, a political journal published by Noel Pemberton Billing, the rabid right-wing British member of Parliament, accusing the San Francisco-bred exotic dancer Maud Allan of being a lesbian, a sadist and a German sympathizer. To prove his point, Billing - who'd riled wartime England with his outrageous claim that the Germans were blackmailing "47,000 highly placed British perverts" - trumpeted the fact that Allan, who'd made her name in Europe in the early 1900s performing her version of Salome's "Dance of the Seven Veils," was appearing in private performances of Oscar Wilde's infamous play "Salom," which the British government had banned from public performance.

Allan sued Billing for libel. The sensational trial that followed - a front-page diversion from the horrific slaughter taking place in the fields and trenches of World War I France and Belgium - inspired "Salomania," a new play by the noted Bay Area writer-director Mark Jackson that premieres at Aurora Theatre on Friday night.

"Billing's contention was that only doctors or perverts would know what a clitoris was," says Jackson, who became fascinated by the trial, whose transcripts he acquired from a London antiquarian bookstore, while researching the "Salom" he directed at Aurora in 2006. "The lack of male understanding of the female anatomy provides a great deal of humor for the play," whose themes of media sensationalism, gay bashing and wartime hysteria are "entirely about our present moment."

Jackson's play juxtaposes the war and life on the home front (six actors double as soldiers and civilian characters), exploring the surreal world in which a British officer breakfasts in the deadly trenches and lunches hours later in his tony London club.

Allan, who lost the libel suit and her career - 20 years earlier, she'd changed her name from Durrant after her brother, Theodore, was convicted of murdering two Mission District girls and hanged at San Quentin - "was both a potential hero and a potential threat to society," Jackson says. "She was intentionally pushing boundaries."

Get more information at http://www.auroratheatre.org.

Some splendid musicians will be at the Castro Theatre July 12-15, accompanying the movies in the 17th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One is Donald Sosin, a noted composer and keyboard improviser who's served as the resident pianist at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of the Moving Image and performs at rep houses and festivals around the world.

Sosin, who has played the San Francisco festival for the past six years, will improvise on themes he composed to Von Sternberg's noirish 1928 classic, "The Docks of New York," Herbert Brenon's 1923 "Spanish Dancer" - he describes the music as a mix of Spanish Renaissance and Gypsy music - Chinese director Sun Yu's "Little Toys" (the music will include the synthesized sounds of Chinese instruments) and Felix the Cat cartoons.

Read more:
Anatomy, war and 'Salomania' at the Aurora Theatre

by Bryan Hastings, Macworld.com

Youre shopping for a camcorder, and youre swamped by a sea of letters, numbers, and indecipherable acronymsAVCHD, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-2. What do they all mean and which ones should you care about? Here's the lowdown.

Each of the above labels describes a video format. Fortunately, most people have a simple choice: MPEG-4 or AVCHD. You decide between convenience (MPEG-4) and a wider variety of features (AVCHD). However, as camcorders, computers, video players, and editors grow more powerful, AVCHD format is gradually becoming as convenient to shoot, edit, and preview as MPEG-4, making it the clear choice for a growing number of video enthusiasts.

MPEG-4 is a standard format from the Moving Picture Experts Group and has been around for more than 20 years. The current version is officially called H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, but it's usually shortened to a snappy MPEG-4 (pronounced M-Peg-4). Social networking sites, video editors, and video playersincluding QuickTimeall work with MPEG-4 files. Thus, the MPEG-4 standard is popular on pocket point-and-shoot models, and with people who want to quickly shoot video and pop it onto YouTube or Facebook, which folks can view on their computers, tablets, and smartphones.

AVCHD (pronounced by its initials) stands for Advanced Video Coding High Definition. It arrived on the scene in 2006, is more fully featured than MPEG-4 and is rapidly gaining broad acceptance. Think of AVCHD as a kind of MPEG-4 "Plus. Thats because AVCHD is a container format that includes the MPEG-4 format, but tosses a lot of other stuff into the mix, like coding for audio, writing to different media including DVD and Blu-Ray discs, and Digital Rights Management, such as copy protection. AVCHD even gives you media presentation tools so you can add menu items, make slides, and add subtitles directly from your camcorder. With AVCHD format, you dont need to export your video file to an editor to perform simple editing tasks. Unfortunately, AVCHD is an all-or-nothing format. You cant buy an AVCHD camcorder and decide to shoot using just its MPEG-4 part. If the camcorder offers only AVCHD, you have to shoot in AVCHD format.

AVCHD has other downsides. You need more computing oomph for the video editors and players to crank through AVCHD files, even if they can do it natively. You need a minimum dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM, but it would be better if you had a quad-core with 4GB of RAM. And you need relatively new software if you want to run and edit AVCHD files natively. Final Cut Pro X can process AVCHD files natively, but with the previous version, Final Cut Pro 7, you first have to transcode the file (translate the file bit-by-bit) into ProRes, a set of video compression formats developed by Apple for use in post production. The ProRes family of intermediate codecs are used for editing, but not as a final format for publishing video. Transcoding slows down file imports.

In 2009, Apple introduced the iFrame video format. You can transfer iFrame files directly into iMovie, no transcoding needed. However, few consumer camcorders offer the option to shoot video in iFrame. iFrame video is only 960-by-540 resolution, yielding only a half a megapixel per frame, only one quarter the resolution of Full HD.

You'll likely find AVCHD on more traditional camcorders that have larger lenses and higher end features than pocket camcorders, such as powerful optical zooms and a wider range of focus. However, were starting to see traditional models that let you switch between AVCHD and standalone MPEG-4, including Canons Vixia HF M50 and R30 series.

For each video format, your camcorder usually offers several profiles of four settings: resolution, frame rate, scan method (interlaced or progressive), and bit rate (in megabits per second, or mbps). These offer a trade-off between video quality and file size. You can increase video quality by raising the resolution, frame rate, and bit-rate, but you generate a larger, more unwieldy file.

Read this article:
Anatomy of a video file

Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. (UPI Photo/ Phil McCarten)

License photo

SAN FRANCISCO, June 3 (UPI) -- "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, was honored at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards in San Francisco, the organization said.

GLAAD held the third installment of its 23rd annual Media Awards Saturday at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, recognizing and honoring "media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives," the organization said in a news release.

Actors Kerry Washington, Guillermo Diaz and Katie Lowes presented Rhimes with the Golden Gate Award, which is given to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality.

"I think that love is universal. And I think in telling LGBT stories, I'm telling everyone's story. Love is, in fact, universal, right? I want my daughters to grow up in a world in which there is more love than hate," Rhimes said in her acceptance speech. "I'm going to do my best in the future to deserve the honor that's bestowed on me and make GLAAD proud."

Other award-winners included Wells Fargo for the Corporate Leader Award, Facebook for the Special Recognition Award, "Grey's Anatomy" for Outstanding Drama Series and "Days of Our Lives" for Outstanding Daily Drama, the release said. The award for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article went to Max J. Rosenthal of the Huntington Post for "Adam and Pete: Love in a Time of War."

Saturday's event in San Francisco wrapped up GLAAD's three-part Media Awards. Earlier ceremonies were held in New York City in March and Los Angeles in April.

More here:
'Grey's' Shonda Rhimes gets GLAAD award

Viewers may not have seen Lexie's grisly Grey's Anatomy death coming, but actress Chyler Leigh says her exit from the series was a while in the making.

In fact, once Leigh made the decision to part ways with the series, she was able to work with Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes to wrap up Lexie's five-and-a-half years on the show in a manner she deemed appropriate.

PHOTOS: TV bombshells

"Earlier this year, I made the decision that Season Eight would be my last on Grey's Anatomy. I met with Shonda and we worked together to give Lexie's story appropriate closure," Leigh, 30, tells TVLine.com in a new statement, two weeks after her character perished in a plane crash on the show's season finale.

PHOTOS: Grey's most memorable moments

Remaining tight-lipped on her future TV plans, Leigh expressed appreciation to the fans who supported her during her years on the ABC medical drama. "My experience on Grey's Anatomy is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life," her statement continued. "I want to take this time to say thank you to the fans. Your unconditional love and support have made these last five years very special for me. I look forward to my next chapter and I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey."

Fans weren't the only ones feeling the sting of Leigh's exit, which came at the same time Kim Raver's Teddy left Seattle Grace.

VIDEO: How the Grey's cast kills time on set

Rhimes explained via Twitter after the May 17 finale that killing off Lexie "was not an easy decision. But it was a decision that Chyler and I came to together. We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was the right time for her character's journey to end."

Tell Us: Do you feel better about Lexie's death knowing Chyler Leigh wanted to leave?

Go here to read the rest:
Chyler Leigh: I Chose to Leave Grey's Anatomy

After events in the show made it clear that Lexie Grey won't be returning for the 9th season of 'Grey's Anatomy,' Chyler Leigh talks about her departure from the show.

Two weeks after the deadly Greys Anatomy season finale, coupled with silence from Chyler Leigh, who played Lexie Grey, Leigh finally talks about her departure from the ABC show.

Lexie Grey was killed off in a fatal plane crash in the Season 8 finale of Greys Anatomy.

Earlier this year, I made the decision that season eight would be my last on Greys Anatomy. I met with Shonda and we worked together to give Lexies story appropriate closure, Leigh told TV Line.

Leigh was added to the cast during Season 4, after a brief appearance in the Season 3 finale. She was missing from the beginning of the eighth season after the shows creator, Shonda Rhimes, granted Leigh an extended hiatus from the show for family time.

Right after the finale, Rhimes took to Twitter to talk about Lexie Greys death.

I love Chyler and I love the character of Lexie Grey. She was an important member of my Grey's family. This was not an easy decision. But it was a decision that Chyler and I came to together. We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was the right time for her character's journey to end, Rhimes said.

Despite being killed off, Leigh is still appreciative of the show and her time on it, saying I am very lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for five seasons. My experience on Greys Anatomy is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I want to take this time to say thank you to the fans. Your unconditional love and support have made these last five years very special for me. I look forward to my next chapter and I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey.

Along with Leigh, Kim Ravers Teddy Altman also left the show at the end of the season.

When talking about the upcoming season, Rhimes does not promise that everyone is safe. She tells TV Guide, Just because you saw people alive at the end of the finale doesn't mean they're going to be alive when the season starts up.

More:
Chyler Leigh speaks out about her 'Grey's Anatomy' departure

Grey's Anatomy was crowned 'Outstanding Drama Series' at last night's GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) award ceremony.

The ABC medical drama featured a lesbian wedding last season and has included several prominent LGBT characters in its eight-year run.

These include series regulars Callie and Arizona, who married in the episode 'Double Wedding'.

Showrunner Shonda Rimes accepted the award last night, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Grey's Anatomy beat shows such as Degrassi, Shameless and Torchwood: Miracle Day to the award.

The programme is one of the most watched and recorded on US television, with the recent finale attracting 11.2m viewers.

The GLAAD awards recognise media professionals who have increased visibility and understanding of the LGBT community through their work.

Hosted by Glee's Dianna Agron, the ceremony also presented special recognition awards to Wells Fargo and Facebook.

Watch a video of the Grey's Anatomy wedding below:

See original here:
'Grey's Anatomy' wins GLAAD prize for raising LGBT awareness

Regular readers of Morbid Anatomy might remember a recent post on this blog about an amazing 1920/30s era coin-operated automaton depictingthe St. Dennistoun Mortuary (yes, really!) that will be going to auction this Saturday. Skinner Auction House just sent along a video of this magnificent machine in action.

Press play above and enjoy. WOW.

The piece is estimated to go for between $4,000-$6,000 as part of an upcoming Science, Technology & Clocks auction taking place Saturday, June 2 at 10:00AM. Full lot description from the Skinner Auctioneers website follows:

Lot 207
"St. Dennistoun Mortuary" Coin-Operated Automaton, attributed to Leonard Lee, c. 1900, the mahogany cabinet and glazed viewing area displays a Greek Revival mortuary building with double doors and grieving mourners out front, when a coin is inserted, doors open and the room is lighted revealing four morticians and four poor souls on embalming tables, the morticians move as if busily at work on their grisly task and mourners standing outside bob their heads as if sobbing in grief, ht. 30 1/2, wd. 24, dp. 17 1/4 in.

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Brass coin plate stamped J. Dennison Leeds NO. 80

As I said before, whoever buys this, please (please!!!) let me come over to meet it! You can find out more about it here.

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Tonight at Observatory! Mel Gordon is one of our all-time most fascinating and charismatic speakers, and an inspiring historian of all things fringe, forgotten, and perverse. His lectures are simply not to be missed. Hope to see you at Observatory this evening!

Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant: An Illustrated Lecture and Screening with Mel Gordon, Author of "Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant"
An illustrated lecture and screening of "lost footage" with Mel Gordon, author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant and Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror
Date: Sunday, June 3 (please note date change from Monday, June 4)
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

"Historians digging into the archives to reconstruct the chronicle of the Twentieth Century will have to deal with this strange phenomenon of Erik Jan Hanussen, born Herschmann Steinschneider in the humble home of a poor Jewish actor in Vienna. It will be their task to unravel a complex maze of reality and legend, myth and romance, to reach the core of the true personality of Steinschneider, alias Hanussen, and his influence on one of the most significant chapters of European history, the ascent and reign of Adolf Hitler." --Pierre van Paassen, Redbook Magazine, "The Date of Hitler's Fall," May 1942

When Pierre van Paassen, the prominent Dutch author and foreign correspondent, wrote the above for McCall's Redbook Magazine, the "amazing exploits of Erik Jan Hanussen" were still hot international filler. What could have been more titillating than the true and enigmatic story of a Jewish mystic who helped usher in the Third Reich before  becoming one of its first victims?

Tonight, join Mel Gordon--author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant--for an illustrated lecture on the amazing story of Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant featuring a special screening of "lost" film footage from Hanussen's 1919 "Hypnosis: Hanussen's First Adventure," a Caligari-like story of sex magic and the occult, and other documentary sources. Books will also be available for sale and signing.

Mel Gordon is the author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant, Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptious Panicwas the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.

More here.

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Chyler Leigh

Lexie Grey may have met a painful death on the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, but behind the scenes, Chyler Leigh says her departure was a peaceful one.

In a statement to TVLine, Leigh explains her shocking exit from the show after more than five years playing Meredith Grey's half-sister. The 30-year-old actress says she and show creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes collaborated on how Lexie's story ended.

Photos: Remember TV characters we lost this season

"Earlier this year, I made the decision that Season Eight would be my last on Grey's Anatomy. I met with Shonda and we worked together to give Lexie's story appropriate closure. I am very lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for five seasons. My experience on Grey's Anatomy is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I want to take this time to say thank you to the fans. Your unconditional love and support have made these last five years very special for me. I look forward to my next chapter and I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey."

Leigh was one of two cast members who exited the medical drama in the Season 8 finale. Rhimes confirmed that Kim Raver, whose character was fired from Seattle Grace, would not be returning for Season 9.

"I love Chyler and I love the character of Lexie Grey. She was an important member of my Grey's family. This was not an easy decision. But it was a decision that Chyler and I came to together," Rhimes wrote online hours after Leigh's on-screen death. "We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was the right time for her character's journey to end. As far as I'm concerned Chyler will always remain a part of the Shondaland family and I can't wait to work with her again in the future."

Will you miss Lexie Grey?

Read more:
Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh: I Made the Decision to Leave

MORE: First Look: The Mob Doctor

"Earlier this year, I made the decision that season eight would be my last onGrey's Anatomy. I met with Shonda and we worked together to give Lexie's story appropriate closure. I am very lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for five seasons. My experience onGrey's Anatomyis something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I want to take this time to say thank you to the fans. Your unconditional love and support have made these last five years very special for me. I look forward to my next chapter and I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey."

After the finale aired and the screen faded to black, Shonda took toTwitterto confirm that both Lexie and Teddy would not be returning next season.

"This finale was incredibly hard to write. I did not enjoy it. It made me sick and it made me sad. We end the season not knowing ANYTHING about the future. Except for two things. We know we are definitely saying goodbye to two of my favorite people: Chyler Leigh (Lexie) andKim Raver(Teddy)."

She continued:

"I love Chyler and I love the character of Lexie Grey. She was an important member of my Grey's family. This was not an easy decision. But it was a decision that Chyler and I came to together. We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was the right time for her character's journey to end. As far as I'm concerned Chyler will always remain a part of the Shondaland family and I can't wait to work with her again in the future."

Feel better, Lexie fans? Or will no kind words from Chyler close the wounds caused by her heartwrenching death in the finale?

Excerpt from:
Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh Finally Speaks About Her Heartbreaking Exit

esther rabinowitz

Zionist Bikers: Youth groups and day schools dominate the annual Israel parade in New York. But theres room for bikers, too.

New York Citys Celebrate Israel Parade is one of a kind. An annual Zionist promenade up Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the 47-year-old festival is a Jewish take on the classic New York City ethnic parade. Theres nothing else quite like it in the country. In fact, its probably the biggest annual celebration of Israel in the world, outside of the Jewish state itself.

But what is the parade, besides countless Israeli flags, glad-handing politicians and oceans of day school kids? The Forward has crunched the numbers. A picture emerges of an event that is largely Modern Orthodox, heavily suburban and mostly made up of groups of young people.

This years parade, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, is scheduled for June 3. The day begins with a Celebrate Israel Run through Central Park at 8 a.m. The parade kicks off at 11 a.m. on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, and will air on local television station WWOR channel 9.

See more here:
Anatomy of a Parade

Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has said that more characters could perish in the aftermath of last season's plane crash.

Lexie, played by Chyler Leigh, died of her injuries in the season eight finale earlier this month, which closed with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), Derek (Patrick Dempsey), Cristina (Sandra Oh), Mark (Eric Dane) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) still stranded in the wilderness.

ABC / Richard Cartwright

Asked about the fate of the stranded Grey's characters, Rhimes told TV Guide: "Just because you saw people alive at the end of the finale doesn't mean they're going to be alive when the season starts up."

Rhimes previously confessed on Twitter that the finale, which also featured the departure of Teddy (Kim Raver) from Seattle Grace, had been "incredibly hard to write".

"I did not enjoy it," she claimed. "It made me sick and it made me sad.

"[Lexie's death] was a decision that Chyler and I came to together. We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was the right time for her character's journey to end."

Grey's Anatomy cast member Jesse Williams also acknowledged that it "was kind of depressing" to say goodbye to Leigh and Raver.

Read the original:
'Grey's Anatomy' exec: 'There could be more plane crash deaths'

(Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova took the court Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Paris to begin her 2012 French Open against Alexandra Cadantu. She walked off 48 minutes later, dropping a double bagel on the young Romanian. It was the fourth such scoreline of Sharapova's career. Interestingly, the previous three had all come against American players, including that famous 2005 drubbing of world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells.

What does the stats from a 6-0, 6-0 match look like? Not that much different than a 6-2, 6-2 match, to be honest.

(Roland Garros 2012)

Those are the first four stats listed on the official Roland Garros site and they provide no indication of the drubbing that took place. It takes a little longer to get to those numbers.

(Roland Garros 2012)

What's most amazing about those numbers aren't Cadantu's zero winners. It's that she actually had three break-point chances against the dominant Sharapova.

Originally posted here:
Anatomy of a double bagel: Maria Sharapova wins 6-0, 6-0

A Hubble image of a jet of emission from a young star. A new paper reports that infrared spectra of a jet has uncovered a rich trove of diagnostic emission lines from shock-excited molecules and atoms. Credit: Reipurth, NASA, and HST

(Phys.org) -- Astronomers used to think that star formation simply involved the gradual coalescence of material under the influence of gravity. No longer. Making a new star is a complex process, among other things assembling a circumstellar disk (possibly preplanetary in nature) and at the same time ejecting material as bipolar jets perpendicular to those disks. These outflows help the young star balance its growth as new material accretes, but at the same time they disrupt the environment. Although jets from young stars have been known for over twenty years, their influences on the environment have remained uncertain, in part because the dusty natal clouds in which stars form obscure optical light.

SAO astronomers Achim Tappe, Jan Forbrich, and Charlie Lada, with two colleagues, used the spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope to probe one relatively nearby, young stellar outflow. It had already been known that this fast-moving jet, as it plowed into the medium, shocked the gas; the process is much the same as when a jet plane moves faster than the speed of sound and creates a shock wave. But for young stellar outflow, the particulars were mostly mysterious. The scientists discovered in the infrared spectra a rich trove of bright emission features from at least seven different molecules excited by the shock - molecular hydrogen, water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, OH, HD, and one ionized species of HCO. Numerous atomic lines were also observed.

The astronomers concluded that the shock has distinctive regions along its length as it plows through the natal cloud at velocities of about 40 kilometers per second. At the very tip, where the jet suddenly encounters ambient gas and slows down, there is ionized material and strong molecular hydrogen emission; closer to the star the gas temperatures and densities vary in systematic ways as previously excited gas begins to cool off. Bright knots are seen all along the jet's path, either the result of ejected hot clumps or previously existing clumps that were shocked when the jet passed. The new paper is among the first to discover and analyze the complex infrared radiation from shocks around new-born stars, and it helps open the door to new methods of probing the environment of star formation.

Provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

See the article here:
The anatomy of a stellar outflow

We at Morbid Anatomy are SO excited to announce the return to Observatory of one of our all-time favorite speakers, that silver-tongued rogue scholar Mel Gordon, author of, among many other books, Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber; and Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin.

On Sunday, June 3, Mr. Gordon will be giving an illustrated lecture at Observatory based on his research for the book Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant followed by a special screening of "lost" film footage from Hanussen's 1919 "Hypnosis: Hanussen's First Adventure," a Caligari-like story of sex magic and the occult. Books will also be available for sale and signing.

For those who have not yet seen Mr. Gordon speak, trust me; this is a night not to be missed. Full details follow; hope very much to see you there!

Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant: An Illustrated Lecture and Screening with Mel Gordon, Author of "Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant"
An illustrated lecture and screening of "lost footage" with Mel Gordon, author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant and Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror
Date: Sunday, June 3 (please note date change from Monday, June 4)
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

"Historians digging into the archives to reconstruct the chronicle of the Twentieth Century will have to deal with this strange phenomenon of Erik Jan Hanussen, born Herschmann Steinschneider in the humble home of a poor Jewish actor in Vienna. It will be their task to unravel a complex maze of reality and legend, myth and romance, to reach the core of the true personality of Steinschneider, alias Hanussen, and his influence on one of the most significant chapters of European history, the ascent and reign of Adolf Hitler." --Pierre van Paassen, Redbook Magazine, "The Date of Hitler's Fall," May 1942

When Pierre van Paassen, the prominent Dutch author and foreign correspondent, wrote the above for McCall's Redbook Magazine, the "amazing exploits of Erik Jan Hanussen" were still hot international filler. What could have been more titillating than the true and enigmatic story of a Jewish mystic who helped usher in the Third Reich before  becoming one of its first victims?

Tonight, join Mel Gordon--author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant--for an illustrated lecture on the amazing story of Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant featuring a special screening of "lost" film footage from Hanussen's 1919 "Hypnosis: Hanussen's First Adventure," a Caligari-like story of sex magic and the occult, and other documentary sources. Books will also be available for sale and signing.

Mel Gordon is the author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant, Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptious Panicwas the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.

More here.

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A new season of The Midnight Archive--that wonderful web-based documentary series centered around Brooklyn's Observatory--will be launching shortly, and series creator Ronni Thomas has just posted an exciting new teaser to give you a taste of what is to come, which, as you will see, will include featurettes on yours truly, the amazing Weimar-revivalist/performance artist Max Raabe, the time-traveling collection of Evan Michelson, the Victorian machines of Tim Mullen, Stanley Burns and his collection of Post-Mortem photography, and the green fairy herself, absinthe!

You can view the excellent teaser by clicking "play" above.

And here is what series creator Thomas has to say about this upcoming season:

Coming up shortly - after a brief hiatus the Midnight Archive web series is on its way back complete with all new things to make your eyes bulge. This season shifts focus to some prolific collections and their owners including our gal Joanna Ebenstein (Morbid Anatomy/Brooklyn Observatory) and the elegant and charming Evan Michelson (owner of Obscura Antiques in NYC) - but we also sprinkle in a decent dose of the old who/what/where/why's of the obscure. We're excited to get it underway and always excited to hear your feedback - prepare for a great stretch! 

For more on the series, to see any of the episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list and thus be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and be alerted in this way--by clicking here.

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