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Jen Renninger of Still Room Studio will be at Atomic’s Sunday 12/13 show. She recently contacted me which worked out perfectly because I was in need of a person willing to work a table split, not always an easy thing to finesse! Anyway, when I opened up Jen’s email and saw her beautiful illustrations, it was a no-brainer! I loved getting to know Jennifer better and you can, too. Still Room Studio interview begins now:
Name of Business/Website Address? Jen Renninger Illustration – Still Room Studio, portfolio: jenrenninger.com/ / shop: etsy.com/shop/pleasebestill

What City/State do you reside in? Tampa, FL

Is this your first time attending Atomic or have you done the show before? This will be my first time attending and showing! How exciting is that? I can’t wait.. It sounds like such a great event!

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Cliff Roles interviews Jeff Shaara

From our boy Cliff Roles:

Jeff Shaara, a descendant of Italian immigrants, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey (”Shaara” was originally spelled “Sciarra”). He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Criminology. From age 16, Jeff operated a rare coin business, first out of his home, then in a retail store. After moving to Tampa, Jeff became one of the most widely known coin and precious-metals dealers in Florida. In 1988, Jeff’s father, Michael Shaara, died, and Jeff made the decision to sell his business, and take over the management of his father’s estate.

In 1993, the film “Gettysburg” was released, which was based on his father’s classic novel, The Killer Angels. After the critical and commercial success of the film, Jeff was approached about the possibility of continuing the story, finding someone to write a prequel and sequel to The Killer Angels. After some considerable soul-searching, Jeff decided to try to tackle the project himself. The decision was difficult in many ways, but most challenging because Jeff had no previous experience as a writer.

In February, 2003, the major motion picture “GODS AND GENERALS”, based on Jeff’s first book, was released by Warner Brothers.

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Here’s how it works: Tell us why you deserve free tickets for a night with Lisa Williams in the comments section below, then email us your contact information. We’ll announce our winner on Wed., Dec. 2!

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Last week, I wrote about how individual and official corruption has pushed Nigeria to the brink of collapse. Despite being as dense with natural resources as a Whole Foods built on top of an Exxon, roughly 80 percent of Nigerians live on less than $2 per day.

Re-reading the column yesterday, I had a couple thoughts.

First, I thought, “Wow! If I managed the newspapers in which this column appeared, I’d double the columnist’s pay! Retroactively!”
Secondly, I thought, the concept of corruption could probably use a little more explaining.

The overwhelming majority of Americans don’t experience corruption the way people from poorer countries do. By and large, we aren’t hustled by cops for $100 bills when we get pulled over for speeding. The fire department doesn’t demand tribute before extinguishing your house. And we don’t have politicians in this country who rig our political and economic rules to help moneyed special interests. OK, scratch that last one.

Transparency International is a Berlin-based non-governmental organization that tries to raise awareness of public corruption. Each year it publishes a list called the Corruption Perceptions Index.

The key word is “perceptions.” By its nature, corruption is hidden from view. Sudanese building inspectors and Hungarian border guards tend not to publish monthly spreadsheets detailing how much money they earned from bribes. The CPI therefore relies on surveys of experts within the countries it surveys.

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I’ve written a few times in this space about the strange and convoluted ways books arrive on my shelf, but this week it’s time to own up to a method I have yet to acknowledge: outright theft.

That’s right. I steal books. Whew. It feels good to get that out there.

I can trace my history of literary thievery back to the one novel that probably did more than any other to warp my adolescent mind in the direction of reading: Stephen King’s It. I stole that volume while on an extended fly-fishing trip with my father in Argentina around age 12 or 13. We were staying at a small bed-and-breakfast-like home that catered to American tourists, and I casually picked out It from the house’s large living-room bookshelf, innocently intending to keep myself entertained for a few hours during the TV-less evenings. But, hooked on the book almost immediately, I packed it/It away in my bag, and smuggled it back into the States. The paperback still sits on my bookshelf, the cover by now in tatters.

And while I’ve grown up a lot in the past 17 or so years, my rarely exercised habit of stealing novels remains intact. But before you think me a knave and scoundrel, and refuse to invite me over for dinner, I need to add that I do indeed have rules.

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We were somewhere around Ted’s Shark Bar on the edge of Manatee County when the drug began to take hold. I remember saying something like, “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive…” And just like that I was lost. I turned around. Turned around again, and thanked all that was holy I was not in some huge 1971 red Chevy convertible drawing every cop’s attention.

How do you explain being in a condition like this after only enjoying the aromatic bliss of some incense? You don’t. So get it while you can: K2 Summit, pictured at right and available at every smoke shop in town, probably won’t be legal for long.

No doubt you’ll soon be hearing more about K2, as everyone just starting to enjoy it knows. Even those who don’t think it’s going to be outlawed, like 20-year-old user Heather Bruenner, are aware that there’s something funny about the substance. Referring to the marijuana laws she’s grown up with, she says: “K2 has to be government-endorsed. Who does it better than the government, right? This is their way of getting us away from something they’ve claimed was bad for so long.”

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LEAD STORY: The first line of “defense” at the 400 Iraqi police checkpoints in Baghdad are small wands with antennas that supposedly detect explosives, but which U.S. officials say are about as useful as Ouija boards. The Iraqi official in charge, Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, is so enamored of the devices, according to a November New York Times dispatch, that when American experts repeatedly showed the rods’ failures in test after test, he blamed the results on testers’ lack of “training.” The Iraqi government has purchased 1,500 of the ADE 651s from its manufacturer, ATSC Ltd. of the UK, at prices ranging from $16,000 to $60,000 each. The suicide bombers who killed 155 in downtown Baghdad on Oct. 25 passed two tons of explosives through at least one ADE-651-equipped checkpoint.

What a Difference a Day Makes: 1. Charles Wesley Mumbere, 56, was a longtime nurse’s aide at a nursing home in Harrisburg, Pa., until July, when the Ugandan government recognized the separatist Rwenzururu territory founded in 1962 by Mumbere’s late father. In October, Mumbere returned to his native country as king of the region’s 300,000 subjects. 2. Jigme Wangchuk, 11, was a student at St. Peter’s School in Boston when he was enthroned in November by a Buddhist sect in India’s Darjeeling district as its high priest, covering territory extending to neighboring Nepal and Bhutan. He will live in seclusion in his monastery, except for contact with Facebook friends he made while in Boston.

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— After five months on administrative leave, Sarasota Police Chief Peter Abbott will learn whether or not he will keep his job today, as the City of Sarasota prepares to release all 3,000 pages of the Hillsborough Sheriff’s investigation into the Sarasota Police Department.

— The man who will make the decision on Abbott’s future, City Manager Robert Bartolotta, gets mostly positive marks during his annual review before the Sarasota City Commission.

— As all that happens, the citizen review board created to oversee SPD actions in the wake of the Juan G. Perez fiasco receives its mandate and finalizes its membership.

— And in amazingly non-Sarasota-Police-Department-related news, Erin Murphy (aka Maid Mosephine, of Maid Mosephine and the Equines — who just happen to have a new EP out, by the way) has a guest blog post up on CL Contributing Writer Michael Hamad’s new music site, 4GBs. Check ‘er out.

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About 130 LGBT-rights activists took to the streets of downtown Sarasota last Saturday afternoon to make their voices heard at the Equal Civil Rights Rally. The attendees met up at Five Points and marched to the bayfront with banners waving and rainbows flying. After a few speakers, some rally chants and plenty of honking cars, they continued their march through the downtown farmers’ market where they were greeted with an outpouring of support from local vendors and shoppers. “They all walked out of the booths clapping as we walked. It was such an amazing feeling,” says Shannon Fortner, head organizer for the event. “I felt Sarasota is that open minded that equal rights was a great reason to be marching for.”

Fighting to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to allow same-sex couples the right to marry was a major push at the rally, but Fortner says it was about a broader range of civil rights issues, such as repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and ensuring adoption rights for all. “The focus of the Rally was really to do with UAFA (Uniting American Families Act) as well as Repeal DOMA, because nothing can happen until it is removed,” says Fortner. “But I am not fighting for same-sex marriage, I think until DOMA is repealed that is impossible. The separation of church and state is the real issue. No religion should keep American citizens from having the same set of laws.” (more…)

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I began writing this on a crumpled piece of paper, while crammed into a car with three other people driving into the night. It is very quiet on this deserted stretch of road. No it is not bat country, but Freddy Kruegers’ mom is actually sitting behind me. Should I be worried for my life? Not really: Ashlly Lynn is one of the many talented people in the film Freddy’s Return: A Nightmare Reborn.

I was invited on this trip to attend the premiere of a feature-length fan-film about Freddy Krueger and the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Set between the events of Nightmare 5: The Dream Child and Nightmare 6: The Final Nightmare, it is intended to bridge the gap. It stars David Buczynksi as Kevin Marks, a young man tormented by memories of his own childhood kidnapping and torture at the hands of Freddy Krueger before he was burned to death. The film also stars Jennifer Farr as Ashleigh Asoa, a Native American girl with ties to Kevin’s past, and Ashlly Lynn as Sister Mary Helena, Freddy’s mother. It was written and directed by, Jason Korsiak, and he even portrays Freddy in the film.

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