I realize I’m coming late to a party that, seemingly, everyone has been to. Some of you already know the powerful allure Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance/thrillers hold over unsuspecting readers. I was aware that the books were out there, I mean, I’d seen the endcap displays at Barnes and Noble and heard the hyperbolic comparisons to other successful series and dismissed them. Anymore, every publisher who prints a sci-fi/fantasy book shouts out blurbs from unheard of critics who claim, “Best thing since Harry Potter.”

The thing is, I’m not really a fantasy/romance-type reader. I like my stories grounded in reality, with a few exceptions. But, just as Bella is hooked on Edward’s smoldering good looks and raw sex appeal, so too am I addicted and need to find out as quickly as possible how the story arc ends.

I’m in the middle of the fourth book and the series has turned from a mostly romance, with a little bit of thriller story to a fantasy thriller with romantic elements. I did read an article where readers were so disappointed in this turn of the story that many went to the bookstore and returned their copies. But think about it, the romance between the characters would be hard to keep up. All stories need conflict. People don’t buy books where nothing happens and everyone gets along. That would be dull.

Book info:

Grape Man of Texas:
Thomas Volney Munson & the Origins of American Viticulture
by Sherrie S. McLeRoy & Roy E. Renfro, Jr., Ph.D.
The Wine Appreciation Guild
April 2008 · 2nd Edition · 334 pages · $24.95 · Hardcover
ISBN 978-1-934259-04-7

He spends the rest of the book explaining how he liberated himself from his internet company by eliminating time management and automating certain tasks.  He contends that the typical 9-to-5/40-hour workweek is an arbitrary idea.  He believes that many people create unnecessary work just to keep busy for 8 hours a day 5 days a week.  He differentiates between effectiveness and efficiency and suggests that through making yourself more effective, you'll be able to liberate yourself from the commonly accepted 9-to-5 routine by proving that you can get just as much work done in half the time.
 
With all the technological advances today, it's much easier for people to work from home than it ever has been, and I've heard some friends sing the praises of the freedom and flexibility, and in the very next breath, talk about how much more stressful it is.  Sure you have the freedom to work from home, but then that means that you can't really get away from work.  Instead of leaving work at work, you bring it home with you – literally.
 
Ferriss admits that implementing this sort of thing is much easier for independent entrepreneurs because you don't have a boss.  You ARE the boss, but as previously stated, he doesn't say that it's impossible if you do have a boss.  You just have to work a little harder, and he gives several examples of how to convince your boss that you can be just as effective from home, or anywhere else for that matter.
 
In these economic times, things are harder for everyone, and reading about how Ferriss has liberated himself and can therefore travel all around the world, will probably make you more than a little disenchanted with the current state of things.  However, if you can quiet your ego long enough to learn from his ideas about bolstering productivity, you might just make yourself an even more important asset to your company, which in better economic times, might mean that you could one day follow in Ferriss' footsteps and maybe even blaze a few trails of your own.

 * Timothy Ferris, The 4-Hour Workweek (New York: Crown Publishers, 2007), p. 7. 

To be fair, I Love Everybody isn’t really in the same realm as Outlander.  Notaro writes from her own experiences and is extremely self-deprecating.  She’s a woman after my own heart.  Every time I picked up the 226 pages of sometimes painful honesty, I couldn’t help but sing a few bars from I Hate Everyone by Get Set Go.  Even though the main title is I Love Everybody, Notaro actually kind of hates everyone, so I thought the song was fitting.

The book is a compilation of short stories, and Notaro is a true comedian.  She knows how to take everyday, commonplace events and turn them into the funniest thing you’ve heard in awhile.  For anyone who’s been in an emergency room recently, you’ll love Rolling Down The River.  And although I personally love Kate Winslet, every woman will be able to relate to her hatred of the talented actress in Prude vs. Nude: Why I Hate Kate Winslet.  

In Putting the “Die” in “Diet,” anyone who’s been on the Atkins diet will enjoy a hardy laugh, and in “The Sims,” she exploits her husband’s selective hearing by shouting beer, boobies or video games to get his attention in order to get things done around the house.  She describes every woman’s worst nightmare in Swimming with the Fishes, and no, it’s nothing like an episode of the Soprano’s.

When I read books like this, I always tend to take my time.  I leave it at work to pick up during a lunch hour when I’ve forgotten my other book, and I’ll read a few sections, or I’ll take it with me to a doctor’s appointment, but I never really give it my undivided attention.  Notaro’s prose had me laughing so hard at times that I couldn’t wait to get to the next story to see what she was going to say THIS time.

Below are five love stories everyone should read. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Regarded as one of the finest romantic novels every written, Wuthering Heights is a passionate narrative about the love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Like most good love stories, this one leads to doom and tragedy.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
This classic is set during the Russian Revolution and tells the story of a man torn between two women. Famously made into a film, the book should not be bypassed.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Yes, many of us were forced to write a high school essay on this one, but you might be surprised at how much you enjoy the novel as an adult. Witty, complex and passionate, Pride and Prejudice is arguably Jane Austen's finest work.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence
If you just have to take a steamy book to the beach with you, opt for DH Lawrence instead of Danielle Steel. The book was released to great scandal in the 1920's, as it contained some very graphic scenes for its time.

Far from The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
This was Hardy's most successful book. It covers the many loves and trials of the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene, who seems to enrapture every man she meets. If you have some extra time this summer for some reading, the above classics are sure to offer some refined escapism. Truly, everyone should read these five books at some point in their lives and there is no better time than now.

*  *  *  *

Heather Johnson regularly writes on the topic of best dating websites. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

I came across this book quite randomly at the library and picked it up because it had a cute cover and was written by the same guy who wrote “He’s Just Not That Into You”, and I really enjoyed that book. This book is about the entire process that occurs when you end a relationship. From the breakup itself to the bingeing, drinking, crying escapades that ensue afterward- this book covers it.

The book is written by Greg Behrendt and his wife, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, and is based very much on their experiences as well as the experiences of the anonymous people they use for anecdotes throughout the book. Many of the tales are funny, some are sad, and others are plain ridiculous. Whatever you are going through, there is a story in the book that can come close. There is always something to relate to.

One of the things that I really appreciated about this book is how they point out that just because things don’t work out in a relationship it doesn’t mean either of you is a bad person. Also, they provide helpful journaling exercises and many fill in the blank workbook-type activities to help you sort through your feelings. Their suggestions range from just plain smart (60 days without contact with your ex) to completely silly (re-arrange your furniture). However, in the end, it’s all about getting you back on track to be a better, more fabulous, single version of you. That way, as the book states, when the right person comes along you’ll be ready for them.

While I really enjoyed all the pep talking, at one point the lingo they use in the book got on my nerves. They talk about how you’re a “superfox”, and while I’m all for a self-esteem party and affirmations, I don’t like that word. By the end of the book I was cringing every time they said it- literally- teeth-on-edge-if-you-say-that-again-I’ll-stab-you-with-a-spork annoying. But besides that part, I really enjoyed this book. It made me feel better about myself, and I’m not even going through a breakup. It just reminds you that YOUR life is about YOU. It’s self-empowering, nurturing and even somewhat indulgent to read this book, and I highly recommend it.

Rachel Zoe, the famous celebrity stylist is. I made a recent trip to my local library and stumbled across her book, Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty & Everything Glamour, purely by accident. The colour of the cover did not jump out at me, but the words “Style A to Zoe” did. I inquisitively picked up the book, leafed though the pages, and saw that it was more than just your regular picture book of celebrities.

Reading this book, I was extremely surprised at how talented and knowledgeable Zoe is. The tabloids and gossip blogs have obviously done her no justice. For the past few years, all the information I was getting about Rachel Zoe was from online tabloids that only associated her with Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton and their “not so great” fashion selections. This is far from the truth. Zoe offers personal photographs of how she works and whom she works with. Included are personal entries from top designers, including Valentino and Frank Zambrelli who praise Zoe’s talent and eye for all things style related.

Zoe’s book is made up of eight chapters, including a detailed introduction of her life and the reasons why she became interested in the fashion industry and why she became a stylist. Included in her stylebook is a glossary of terms (A to Zoe), something that I thought was a cheeky way to finalize her work. Throughout the pages, Zoe dishes about how to properly accessorize (or as she puts it, “excessorizing”), how to pair chunky jewelery with smaller pieces, selecting the right shoes for the right outfit, selecting a classic bag over the “It” bag, how to correctly apply makeup, and even offers tips on how to design and style your home by incorporating art, fabrics and functional furniture.  

What I enjoyed the most about reading Rachel Zoe’s book was the fact that she related to every female in every age demographic and every salary bracket. Zoe insisted throughout to explore vintage and thrift stores in search of jewellery and signature pieces that make you the fabulous woman that you are. She encourages everyone reading to host their own red carpet event and not to be afraid of getting dressed up and looking (and feeling) great.

Rachel Zoe’s expertise with style and fashion was a great and easy read. Her tone was set as if she was sitting across from me as we chatted over lunch or coffee. Her tips were fabulous and any woman who thinks of herself as being fashion forward (or not), should pick up this book because they will find at least one piece of advice to take home with them to use over and over again.

Her name became synonymous with the name and success of the Cosmopolitan magazine as its longtime editor. She is the author of many bestsellers, including Sex and the Single Girl.

“The Writer’s Rules: The Power of Positive Prose – How to Create It and Get It Published” is one of my favorite reference books on writing for 2 reasons:

1) Its “Fifty Rules for First-Class Writing” is really a list that all professional writers should read at least once a year. I do.

2) The insight into how to get your articles published in magazines is unmatched. If you listen to HGB, the chances are you’ll be a publishing success no matter what your chosen field of specialization and expertise is.

Since I’m not much of a magazine article publisher, for me, the main value of the book is in the 50 rules that Brown lists and explains with appropriate examples.

Here are the Top Six Rules that she says are her favorite:

Rule #4: Stay with the subject.

Rule # 7: Vary sentence structure so you don’t keep seeing the same pronoun.

Rule #12: Avoid IT or THIS or THAT to refer to a situation a few sentences back … say this or that WHAT?

Rule #18: Eliminate as many THE’s, AND’s, A’s as you can.

Rule #19: Root out THERE IS at the beginning of the sentences.

Rule #43: Kill all the clichés and tired phrases.

Where else would find a list of “Forbidden Words and Tired Phrases” by topics, like “Animals” or “Money” or “Geography”?

Here are some of Brown’s rules for those trying to see their bylines in prestigious magazines; each rule explained in detail:

1. Research the market.
2. Send a query letter.
3. Make the deal.
4. Request an assignment letter.
5. Become intimate with your subject.
6. Write it right.
7. Pay attention to the deadline.

Also recommended are the excellent chapter on the lost art of letter writing and a collection of sample resumes that you can use when querying the magazine editors.

He was a combustible original. He more than anybody else defined what it meant to be an “American male hero” in the post-WW2 era.

Without his volatile acting paradigm and personal example there probably would not be a James Dean, Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino, or perhaps even a Johnny Depp.

When the Omaha, Nebraska born Brando picked up his bags at age nineteen, hit the road from his hometown Libertyville, Illinois and arrived in New York City in “faded dungarees and sporting a red fedora,” he was not even sure if he wanted to be an actor.

Yes, his raw talent was obvious from every school production he took part in while growing up. And true, he thought he was going to “knock everyone dead” in the Big Apple sooner or later. Nobody ever accused Brando of being modest for sure.

But acting? That was a slow evolution, according to Marlon Brando, an excellent biography by Patricia Bosworth.

Bosworth lays out the voyage that took the cocky 19 yr old kid from north of Chicago to the zenith of Tinseltown and then back and down to the turbulent waters of self-doubt and vacillation in vivid colors and exquisite anecdotal details.

Thanks to Bosworth, we follow how a group of dedicated actors shaped by the method acting as thought by Stella Adler at her Actors Studio has changed the whole landscape of American drama; how there really is a before- and after-Brando school acting thanks to the far reaching impact of Brando masterpieces like The Wild One, On The Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, and Apocalypse Now.

After finishing the book, we realize the tremendous importance his father Marlon Brando Sr. played in his life.

Almost a century after the invention of psychoanalysis by Freud it now feels perhaps a bit lame and corny to say this but it was true in Brando's case: throughout his life he suffered from not being able to express the anger he felt towards his father.

His whole career was driven on by his desperate need to prove himself to the old man who believed the Junior would never be able to add up to anything in life. Boy, was the Senior wrong!

Marlon Brando practically worshiped his mother but his relationship with the Senior certainly took its toll on him until the day his father died in 1965.

Equally important to Brando was his childhood friend Wally Cox with whom he remained close. Especially after becoming more successful and famous than he'd ever dream, Brando took refuge in the comfort and security of his old friends like Wally and the tranquility of his Tahitian estate.

Camille Paglia, quoted by Bosworth, provides the best summary of Brando's impact on American and world cinema:

“Marlon Brando, mumbling, muttering, flashing with barbaric energy, freed theatrical emotion from its enslavement by words.”

“Brando brought American nature to American acting, and he brought the American personality to the world... Brando, the wild, sexy rebel, all mute and surly bad attitude, prefigured the great art form of the Sixties generation: rock and roll.”

Marlon rocks to high heaven in Bosworth's autobiography. Highly recommended.

It basically lamented the lack of communication between the "two cultures" – Science and Humanities.

I see the same split continuing today.

On the one hand we have the Internet and a Communication Revolution more powerful in its global impact than the "Industrial Revolution" of the 19th century.

We are busy like bumblebees configuring our smart phones and wi-fi networks, setting up our web sites, and leaving behind us as many electronic breadcrumbs as we can.

Making more money tomorrow than we did yesterday is a dream we all share and think possible – hopefully through keeping up with the techno avalanche.

Guilty as charged here... Once I even sat down and started to teach myself how to program in Java – not the humble Javascript but THE Java, that mother of all Object Oriented Programming Languages. (But three months into the project, the learning curve got so steep that I quit. I could be separated from my novels, magazines, movies, concerts, and TV shows for only so long.)

On the other end of the Science-Humanities spectrum, there are those Aesthetic Warriors who spend many lonely nights in front of their lap tops, trying to nail down that ground-breaking Novel, Poem or Screenplay.

The fellow students in all the writing seminars I took in the past... I remember all of you fondly for sharing my perilous journey into an artistic future unknown at considerable financial risk to myself and my family.

No matter which side of the divide I opted for, I've felt a sense of loss; a sense that I was perhaps missing something that I shouldn't have.

What did it matter to have the cultural depth to enjoy Antonioni's Trilogy if I did not have the money to add a new room to our house, a room that we needed so badly?

And what did it matter if I were making good money selling "information products" on ClickBank and had affiliates lined up from here to San Diego if I never had the time to listen to Andre Watts play Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2, or bury myself into a Scott Fitzgerald novel over a weekend?

I still have not completely resolved the tension between these two halves of my inner landscape.

On the one hand, I'm as excited as anybody else with every new gadget I see and with every new hi-tech platform promising a more connected life and higher income.

But after a while, when I find myself spending all my days and nights learning one techno trick after another to squeeze a few more precious dollars out of Google's stingy claws, I stop and ask what I'm doing with my life.

So I go back to the "other country" which is very familiar to me with all its breathtaking mountains and infinite skies.

Until, that is, science and technology call me back, to examine, learn and marvel at the non-stop advances, new toys, and possibilities never dreamt before.

And so it goes this endless tennis match between the two halves of my mind.

I don't think I'm close to a resolution any time soon. There are no winners in sight. But, hey, "hope springs eternal." And I believe it wasn't a Java programmer who said that.

Those were the years when I used to meditate a lot, including early morning meditations at 3 a.m. in our living room.

After half an hour of repeating my mantra in the dark while sitting in a half-lotus position, my legs would start to go numb and hurt a little. When the pain started to get real bad, I would get up and return to bed.

I would lie down. After a minute or so, just before I drifted back to sleep...

It would start…

VIBRATIONS… a strong tremor that would start at my feet and the tip of my hands and wiggle its way up my limbs.

It scared me the first time it happened but I got used to it over time, until that early morning.

That night it again started with vibrations following a 3 a.m. meditation session.

Then SUDDENLY, without any prior warning, I found "myself" at the footer of our bed.

First I was thinking "wow, I'm at the foot of our bed"…

I very clearly remember even today the weaving of the fibers that made up our blanket.

I was that close to it, looking at it perhaps from an inch away, and marveling at the muted colors of the fibers and their intricate weaving pattern.

Then I realized "I" was actually still sleeping in bed, next to my wife!

That's when I PANICKED because I realized that the conscious ME that was examining the blanket up close and the other "me" still sleeping in bed next to my wife were different...

I'd be damned if I weren't having an OOBE – Out Of Body experience!

With that startling realization I literally SNAPPED back to my body with a jolt and woke up sitting straight.

My heart was in my mouth. I was scared and confused but the night was as quiet and untroubled as before. And my wife was sleeping right next to me, God bless her, unaware of anything that was going on.

I carried that unique experience with me for years, even after I quit meditating regularly.

It all came back to me the other day when I stumbled upon this volume in my local public library: The Journey of Robert Monroe: From Out-of-body Explorer to Consciousness Pioneer, by Ronald Russell.

This is not the first book to read about OOBE; it should be Robert Monroe's classic Journeys Out of the Body. If you haven't read it yet, trust me, it's nothing like you've read before. It's a true mind bender, especially coming from as worldly a character as Monroe was at the time he had his own first OOBE.

Russell does an excellent job in giving us the full context of Monroe's work and the detailed story of the ups and downs of the The Monroe Institute which still operates today in Faber, Virginia.

I'm wondering if any Culture Feast readers have had any similar experiences themselves?

And if so, whether such an experience has caused any changes in their religious and philosophical views on life?

Because as skeptical as I am towards my own experience, two things are certain:

1) I KNOW it was NOT a dream. Nor was it a hallucination or an illusion. (Disclosure: I never did any drugs in my life.) I knew and still am certain today that it was a genuine sensory experience, as real as my fingers typing out these words on the keyboard right now.

2) It did help me "understand" in a non-verbal and visceral way the "probable reality" lying behind postulates such as "we are more than our bodies," or "we are spirits inhabiting material bodies," etc.

I sometimes think a personal OOBE is the true missing link between our worldly-sensory model of reality and what most religions and spiritual disciplines are talking about.

Pick up Monroe's Journeys Out of the Body from your local library today and see what you think.

First, the size – 830 large 8.5" X 11" pages.

I have no idea how many thousands of DVDs are covered in it. Probably a good ten thousand?

Each DVD is honored by a paragraph summary of the plot, its stars and director, length, DVD format, catalog number and price.

Second, the range of content and the way it is organized in 22 categories is truly remarkable.

You'll find DVDs here from Japanese films to Westerns, Educational and Religious films to Action Drama and Horror, Silent-Era films to TV Series, and even Adult films (tastefully labeled "After Dark Cinema").

Every page is illustrated with multiple DVD covers, star photos, or posters and lobby cards.

But here is why this remarkable DVD guide really earned the adjective "awesome" from me: there are many SIDEBARS that pull together DVDs by a single actor, director, or topic.

For example, you can quickly scan through all the important films in the catalog on African-American History or Clint Eastwood. I find that such a great aid to check out the films of my most favorite stars and directors.

A STAR Index and an additional GENERAL Index in the back are also priceless in locating what you need quickly.

Yet the real fun (I have to admit) is in cuddling up in a comfy armchair with this baby with a cup of coffee in hand and just lazily leafing through it... there is a veritable History of Cinema in between its two covers.

It's amazing how an art form which is barely over 100 years old has produced this many memorable works, in every language and topic conceivable.

Its price is pretty awesome as well -- $9.95! With shipping and handling you'll pay $14.95. My copy arrived in 2 weeks.

If you love movies, you've got to have this fantastic volume right next to your remote control. Highly recommended.

(Photos Copyright 2008 by Gary Karbon)

Some writers have been an acquired taste for me. When I first read them it took me a while to slash my way through their impenetrable styles and enter the fragrant garden on the other side. Faulkner is one. Raymond Carver is another.  
 
Yet while reading some others I felt at home from the get go. Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford is one such writer. The critically acclaimed master of the unforgettable "The Sportswriter" and "Independence Day" comes up in spades in "Multitude of Sins" (2002), a collection of sensitive short stories each equipped with a powerful search light that probes far down into the uncomfortable recesses of our souls.
 
The setting is Middle Class America; late 20th century. Each story is basically about a man and a woman. Sometimes there's a third man or woman, or a fourth one. But the dyadic heartache remains the same.
 
And the issue, more often than not, is adultery. Not the act or process itself but mostly its aftermath. When the earthquake of quick escape subsides, meditating on the mistake is the only damage-control option left to our characters.
 
Three of these delicious stories are especially unforgettable.
 
A couple driving in their car to a dinner party they are invited to are paralyzed by a confession that the wife chooses to make, just as they are about to pull into the driveway of their host. One simple sentence and their world starts to unravel piece by piece as we sit there watching the whole episode through Ford's liquid crystal prose. Voyeurism had never been this painful.
 
A man who once had an affair with a woman happens to bump into her husband in the middle of NY's Grand Central terminal. Ford treats us to a smorgasbord of emotions including hesitation, regret, humiliation, anger, and a few more until that simple moment looms into a perfect microcosm of everything that went sideways and not quite right in our character's life.
 
In yet another story two married real estate agents start an adulterous affair until familiarity breeds contempt and a lot more. It begs to be made into a movie by Coen Brothers.
 
If you like short stories you'll carry this volume everywhere you go until it's finished. Addictive like smoked almonds. Highly recommended.

I'm over fifteen years late in my adoration of the novel by Diana Gabaldon, but in my defense, when the book came out in 1991, I was only 10 years old, and although I was advanced for my age, I don't think I was quite that advanced.

When I found a copy at Half Price Books, it was in the romance novel section, but my friend assured me that it was worth it, and I'm here to tell you that it's totally not a Fabio-on-the-cover-bosom-heaving-through-too-tight-corset sort of romance novel.  In fact, I'm a little irritated that that's where it's classified.  I think it's much more historical science fiction.  

The romance element does run through the entire story, but it's completely believable.  There's no page by page account of the lovers hunger for each other, and no accounts of bodice ripping behind closed doors.  Yes, there are more than a few steamy descriptions, but a lot of the detail must be inferred and much is left to the imagination, which I find contrary to most novels in the romance genre.

The basic premise is that Claire Beauchamp Randall is on her second honeymoon with her husband Frank Randall in Inverness, Scotland in 1945, just after World War II.  Claire and Frank had wed just before the war broke out.  During the war, Claire was a nurse, and Frank was a – well, I forget what Frank was because it's not really essential to the story, but Claire and Frank were apart during the Second Great War, so they were spending some time getting reacquainted.

Through a series of events, Claire finds herself on a hilltop outside of Inverness.  On the hilltop are some standing stones – picture Stonehenge, but much smaller.  Claire gets too close to one of the standing stones, and after a seemingly inexplicable transportation, ends up in the Scottish Highlands in 1743.  At first, she can't quite figure out what happened, but then she sees a dated document, and her worst suspicions are confirmed.

Claire spends at least two-thirds of the book trying to get back to the hilltop and 1945.  During those five to six hundred pages, Gabaldon weaves an enchanting tale.  Because of Claire's training as a nurse in the 20th century, she's seen as a healer and, sometimes, a witch in the 18th century.  Gabaldon brings the auld world and its legends vividly to life and offers a convincing explanation for the existence of "witches."

Unlike some authors, Gabaldon does not spend pages and pages describing the Scottish landscape or the flanks of the horses or the rocks of the castles, but I have never had such a clear picture of the people and the places of a story as I do in the Outlander.  Instead of filling close to a thousand pages with copious descriptions, she spends her time getting Claire and her Scottish protectors into and out of some pretty serious scrapes. And there are more than a few times when one wonders just how they're going to manage this time.

I'm more than a little infatuated with anything to do with Scotland and Ireland, which I'm sure has a lot to do with why my friend recommended this book to me in the first place.  Gabaldon captures the essence of 18th century Scotland, complete with foul smells and clan rivalry.  Most importantly, she makes me wish time travel through henges really was possible.  I'd be willing to risk my life on a daily basis and live without modern amenities if it meant being loved by a tall, handsome, burly Scottish Highlander.