US publisher hopes to create a series of comic-book stories based on songs by Morrissey and Johnny Marr • The Smiths’ songs as comics – in pictures What if the Smiths’ songs were comics? An American publisher is taking that idea to the printing-press, organising a new anthology that transforms songs such as Girlfriend in a Coma and How Soon Is Now? into comic-book stories. Each tune will unspool as a four-to-eight-page comic strip, with the whole thing published in November. Unite and Take Over: Comic Stories Inspired by the Smiths is the brainchild of Shawn Demumbrum, a Phoenix, Arizona comics geek who clearly likes his Batman with a dash of melancholy. Instead of imagining Morrissey and Johnny Marr as vinyl-wielding superheroes who seek out happiness and, er, destroy it, the Smiths’ influence on Unite and Take Over is subtle. “What’s the story that plays in your head when you listen to your favourite Smiths songs?” he explains in a promotional video . The book’s authors use these songs as “an inspiration, a jumping-off point, a theme or a mood”. In an email to the Guardian, he added: “As a teen in the 80s, one of my favourite soundtracks was the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. While training for cross country, I played the cassette over and over on my Walkman as I ran. There was always something about the Smiths’ Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want. It tapped into my teenage psyche, a combination of loneliness and yet hopeful optimism, that only Morrissey’s vocals seem to capture.” Demumbrum is funding the project on the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter , hoping to raise $3,000 (£1,841) toward printing costs and ISBN codes, as well as to license song lyrics from the Smiths themselves. He has already gathered 13 writer/artist teams, each of whom will take on a different Smiths classic. Although the anthology lacks any major names, most of the contributors are indie comics veterans, including Christian Vilaire , Henry Barajas , Jeff Pina and Shelby Robertson. The finished product, which will run to at least 72 illustrated pages, is due out at the upcoming Tucson Comic-Con . The Smiths Morrissey Comics and graphic novels Sean Michaels guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …With torrential rains causing flooding and extensive damage to North Korea, the South Korean Red Cross has offered $4.7 million in aid, reports Yonhap News . Record storms that overwhelmed South Korea last week and killed scores of people also hit the North, killing dozens, destroying 2,900 homes, and…
Continue reading …Breathe easier, budding astronauts, it turns out there are oxygen molecules in space. In fact, there are some just 1,500 light-years away, in a star-forming region of the Orion nebula, reports Live Science . Researchers think the oxygen comes from water molecules that coat tiny grains of space dust; when…
Continue reading …An ailing, 83-year-old Hosni Mubarak lay on a hospital bed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars in a Cairo courtroom Wednesday as his historic trial began on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted him. The scene, shown live on Egypt’s…
Continue reading …A Canadian court has decided that a man convicted of murder through HIV transmission is dangerous enough to be locked up indefinitely. Johnson Aziga had unprotected sex with at least 11 women who were unaware of his condition, seven of whom became infected and two of whom died of AIDS-related…
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Kylie Grimes, who sued friend’s father after sustaining injuries from diving into swimming pool, loses compensation bid A woman who launched a £6m damages claim after being left paralysed when she hit her head on the bottom of a swimming pool during an impromptu late-night party has lost her high court action. Kylie Grimes was hurt in August 2006 when she dived into the indoor pool at the Surrey home of David Hawkins, managing director of a forklift truck business. Grimes, now 23, of Farnham, claimed that her injuries were caused by Hawkins’s negligence or breach of his duties under the Occupiers’ Liability Act. She was left paralysed from the chest down after the force of the impact broke a vertebra below the base of her neck. At a hearing in May, Mrs Justice Thirlwall, sitting in London, heard that Hawkins and his wife were away that night but had given permission for daughter Katie, who had just left college, to have two friends over as she was not happy on her own. Katie Hawkins told the court that she phoned her father for permission to bring three more but, in the end, a group of about 20 came back to the house from the pub. Mr Hawkins, of Farnham, denied liability. His counsel, William Norris QC, told the judge that no sound legal basis existed upon which he could be held liable for the accident which happened in an “unremarkable swimming pool on domestic premises when the claimant, an adult, chose to do something which involved an obvious risk”. Thirlwall, who was only ruling on the issue of liability, dismissed the claim against Hawkins on Wednesday. She said: “The pool was not unsafe for diving. I have no doubt that some mature adults faced with a group of young adults in high spirits, some of whom had had too much to drink, would send them all home rather than allow any of them into a swimming pool. “But that is not to say that the duty owed to the claimant [Grimes] under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 required the defendant to put the pool out of bounds that night.” Thirlwall added: “The defendant was not required to adopt a paternalistic approach to his visitors, all of whom were adults, all of whom were making choices about their behaviour that night.” The judge concluded: “I do not accept that it is incumbent on a householder with a private swimming pool to prohibit adults from diving into an ordinary pool whose dimensions and contours can clearly be seen. “It may well be different where there is some hidden or unexpected hazard, but there was none here.” She ruled that Hawkins was not in breach of his duty to Grimes under the Occupiers’ Liability Act and she also dismissed the claim of negligence against him. Disability guardian.co.uk
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Inquiry launched after 30,000 school students in Scotland who chose to receive grades by text find out results a day early Nearly 30,000 school students in Scotland have been sent their exam results a day early after a major blunder with an automated text messaging service. The Scottish Qualifications Authority confirmed on Wednesday that it believed every pupil who opted to receive their grades by text message rather than post or email had been sent them early. As many teenagers vented their anger at the error on Twitter and Facebook, the exams regulator said all the results were correct. It said it had launched an urgent inquiry with the company hired to send out the texts. An SQA spokesman said: “We’re aware that this is in any case a stressful time for candidates and their parents and families, and if we have added to their stress in any way, we apologise.” He said 29,863 of the 160,000 school students who sat final exams, including standard grades, highers and Scottish baccaulearates, had registered to get their results by text, with about 6,000 more opting for email notification. “I can confirm that it would appear that 29,000 candidates who had signed up for text results delivery and should have received their results at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning have been receiving them now,” he said. “They have received them in error and we’re carrying out an investigation with the external contractor who carries out this service for us.” Many of those students involved are about to apply for late university places, when the clearing process starts on Thursday, so in theory have a head start finding courses. The SQA said no one had been disadvantaged. “There has been an issue, no running away from that, with text delivery and we’re trying to bottom that out. But better to be delivered early rather than late I would suggest,” the spokesman said. There was an angry reaction, however, from many school pupils on Twitter. Some students said they had not received theirs by text, implying that they had signed up for the text message service. One, who uses the Twitter name Rawr_im_a_kitty, wrote: “SQA sent exam results to some people early by accident … SQA I HATE U!!! T.T they didn’t send me mine T.T no sleep for me tonight then …” Others were angry that they had been left waiting while friends had received their results. One, staywithsara, tweeted: “So pissed at the SQA. send out the bloody email cos it’s so freaking unfair for those who didn’t get results & friends have theirs!” Schools Children Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A Guatemalan court has sentenced four former soldiers to over 6,000 years each for the 1982 massacre of 201 men, women and children. The conviction is the first for a massacre during the country’s 36-year civil war, in which nearly a quarter of a million people were killed, the…
Continue reading …A homeless man was arrested after hopping the White House fence Tuesday night in an incident captured by CNN’s John King USA program, which was filming from the North Lawn. The man was quickly taken into custody by Secret Service agents who approached him with guns drawn. Security officers locked…
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Dogs in Jiangmen to be seized and put down to improve sanitation but experts brand plan unscientific and inhumane A southern Chinese city has banned pet dogs, leaving tens of thousands facing a cull unless they can find new homes. Authorities in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, say they are concerned about rabies cases and the general state of the city. But animal lovers have reacted angrily and a disease control expert warned the tactic, which will affect 30,000 animals, is unscientific, inhumane and short-term. Any dogs seen in the Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts after 26 August will be seized or killed, city officials say. Guard dogs will be allowed, but only for companies with property worth at least 5m yuan (£474,000). The Jiangmen Daily said officials aimed to “prevent and control rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people”. The newspaper added that 42 of the city’s 4 million residents had died from rabies in the past three years. “Dogs found with diseases will be euthanised in a humanitarian manner. We will sign agreements with owners before putting down their dogs,” Li Wantong, technology director at an animal disease control centre in Jiangmen, told the Global Times. “We will try to find solutions for healthy ones, as we do not have the capacity to keep a large number.” Some residents back the move, with one complaining to the newspaper: “[Dog] excrement is everywhere in the courtyard and parks, and their barking always disrupts my sleep.” But a poodle owner said: “Banning all pet dogs, taking them away and killing them is a bit too much.” Dog ownership has soared as Chinese incomes have risen over the past few decades and there is growing interest in animal rights , particularly among the middle class. “This [ban] is not scientific, not humane, and it will not last long. In short term, maybe it could be effective, but after that, people still want to keep dogs,” said Dr Tang Qing of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China’s Centre for Disease Control. “People won’t accept it and implementing it will be difficult – you can’t break down doors to seize and kill dogs.” He added that a vaccination programme for dogs would be cheaper and more effective. China has the world’s second-highest death toll from rabies after India, with cases rising sharply in the past decade, possibly due to increasing pet ownership and rising healthcare costs. The health ministry says 3,300 people died of the disease in 2007, although the toll fell to 2,466 in 2008 and experts believe the worst may be over. A 2009 ministry report said only a fifth of China’s 75m dogs were vaccinated against the disease. It added that 40 million people a year were bitten by animals . Dr Kati Loeffler, veterinary adviser for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in China, said: “Decades of research internationally have shown culling is absolutely ineffective in controlling rabies – the only way to control it is through mass vaccination. The second reason that [officials] do it is because people are not taking care of their animals … causing nuisance. That requires education.” In several cases tightened dog ownership rules have led people to abandon pets, resulting in a large stray population that potentially causes more problems. Two years ago, Hanzhong in Shaanxi enraged animal lovers by announcing it had culled 36,000 stray and pet dogs. Additional research by Han Cheng China Animal welfare Animals Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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