THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY (2000) / * 1/2
Directed by Spike Lee. Starring Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, Bernie Mac. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated AA for mature subject matter and coarse language by the MFCB. Reviewed on September 12th, 2000.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard."
That's a cliche, to be sure, but it's also true. Much of it comes from the fact that the act of killing is reasonably straightforward, whereas making people laugh is considerably more elusive. And, by extension, it's because while being dead is a pretty objective state (certain metaphysical concerns notwithstanding), being funny is a lot more personal and subjective.  Sense of humour is as individual as we are.
As such, I will not really attempt to assess how funny "The Original Kings Of Comedy" is. I will merely indicate that I didn't find it at all amusing. Certainly, there were moments which elicited a few chuckles, but I spent most of the film's nearly two-hour duration sitting in my seat slack-jawed, wondering what I was missing. Because not only does the audience in the movie clearly love the act (it'd be a curious concert film otherwise!) but many others at the screening I attended got a kick out of it too. So the humour in the picture clearly has an appeal -- just not for me.
All that said, though, there are aspects of "The Original Kings Of Comedy" which are candidates for discussion and which are not quite so subjective as the quality (or lack thereof) of its humour. It is in many ways a very flawed undertaking and while those who appreciate its brand of comedy may be able to overlook this, it makes the experience all the more intolerable for those who do not.
"The Original Kings Of Comedy" is spliced together by director Spike Lee from two performances in Charlotte, on February 26th and 27th of this year. The show consists of four respected (if not exactly famous) black comedians plying their trade. DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac are presented in single individual segments running about thirty minutes each. Introducing each act is Steve Harvey, which is to basically say that Harvey gets three separate ten-minute blocks of stage time to put on his act instead of an unbroken half hour like the others. The picture is also peppered with brief behind-the-scenes clips which add little to the proceedings as a whole.
The film's major problem is the sheer lack of variety amongst the four comedians, virtually all of whose humour runs along similar lines. All four indulge in lots of "black people versus white people" commentary (which is often hilarious, but gets really tedious on its umpteenth iteration in the span of two hours). All four stay confined to very broad-based topics, largely eschewing any political or intellectual commentary. And all of them lace their monologues with an endless litany of profanity. Whereas the best comedians know to use swearing to punctuate their punchlines, here it is often used in place of one: a much lower brand of humour for sure.
Further, there is little insight offered through the jokes. There is a lot of racial content, but it mostly consists of potshots at Caucasians and/or African-Americans. Certainly, we are afforded only the barest of glimpses into what it is like to be a black man in America. These comedians are happy to talk about the world around them, but reveal precious little about themselves in the process. Most of the comedy is of sitcom variety, and while this is fine in half-hour doses on prime time television, it feels like an opportunity wasted in a major motion picture.
The comedian who comes closest to achieving some sort of relevance with his segment is Bernie Mac, who discusses the effects of his sister's drug habit on his family (he is now sharing custody of her three children with his brother-in-law). Unfortunately, Mac couches this portion of his monologue in exceedingly unpleasant jokes, constantly referring to his six year-old nephew as a "faggot" and talking about physically beating his own child. Mac's brand of humor is extremely edgy, maybe too much so; it makes for an uncomfortable performance which straddles the line between comedy and cruelty and, perhaps, goes a little too far.
Mac's half hour also illustrates the restrictions imposed by recording the film in a live environment. Mac has a thick accent (as does Cedric, to a lesser extent), and I found that the concert's sound facilities -- obviously a poor comparison with anything that would be taped in a studio -- often distorted his words to the point of unintelligibility. Lee is also occasionally forced to choose some rather poor camera angles, though in general he does a good job of setting things up to capture the performers at the best possible angles.
Of the four comedians, I found Harvey's material the best. This may have been aided by the fact that, alone amongst the quartet, his screentime is split up, so that he does not overstay his welcome. Intriguingly, Harvey's best material comes when he is adlibbing to the audience. For example, when a Rastafarian-looking man in the front row tells him that he's doing computer technology education, Harvey retorts that the last two words that come to his mind when he looks at the man are "technology"... or "education". He also has a few amusing rehearsed skits, like one about black people on the "Titanic".
But good gags like this are few and far between. I found "The Original Kings Of Comedy" to be an unpleasant morass, a sterile waste of a long two hours. Maybe my sense of humour just isn't geared in the right way. Maybe I'm not the demographic that the "Kings" are appealing to. I guess much the same reaction would be had if Newfoundland's comedy troupe Buddy Wassisname and the Other Fellers were dropped off in the South Bronx to do a show. If you understand the reference, I expect you'll see the point. If you don't understand the reference... well, maybe that makes the point, too.
Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/OriginalKings.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ |<EMAIL_ADDRESS>| are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
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Gallery: Germany, Spain & Belgium Unveil Euro 2020 Kits
by SL InternationalRecord-sharing three-time UEFA European Championship winners Germany and Spain, as well as Belgium, have released their new kits for the 2020 edition of the competition.
Click through the gallery above to see Belgium, Germany and Spain's kits for the 2020 UEFA European Championship!
On Monday, adidas released the kits that Belgium, Germany and Spain will wear at Euro 2020, which will be played across various nations on the continent.
Die Mannschaft's new round-neck strip bears white as its primary colour and is adorned with horizontal black pinstripes, while the sleeves feature the nation's colours of black, red and gold.
Earn Airtime & Data With Soccer Laduma's Social Media App - Download Now
Belgium's kit is a traditional red with a diagonal black track, with the neckline and sleeves both sporting black and gold stripes.
La Furia Roja's new playing strip celebrates the 100th anniversary of Spain's first federation shirt, and is presented as a red and burgundy abstract of the country's flag, with adidas' three stripes present in gold on the sleeves.
Read: Germany Announce Latest Squad, Continue To Snub Veteran Stars
Spain are the only nation to have won as many titles in the competition as Germany, with the European giants also having lifted the trophy on three separate occasions.


 She was not supposed to do this without at least one the Accepted to supervise, but Nynaeve, glaring and striding up and down in front of the small fireplace, did after all wear the Serpent ring given to the Accepted, and her white dress had the colored rings encircling the hem, even if she was not allowed to try to teach anyone yet. And Egwene had found over these last thirteen weeks that she could not resist. She knew how easy it was to touch saidar now. She could always feel it there, waiting for her, like the smell of perfume or the feel of silk, drawing her, drawing her. And once she did touch it, she could rarely stop from channeling, or at least trying to. She failed almost as often as she succeeded, but that was only another spur to keep on.
It often frightened her. How much she wanted to channel frightened her, and how drab and dreary she felt when she was not channeling, compared to when she was. She wanted to drink it all in, despite the cautions about burning herself out, and that wanting frightened her most of all. Sometimes she wished she had never come to Tar Valon. But the fright could not make her stop for long, any more than the fear of being caught by an Aes Sedai or by any of the Accepted beside Nynaeve.
It was safe enough here, though, in her own room. Min was there, sitting on the three-legged stool watching her, but she knew Min well enough now to know Min would never report her. She thought she was lucky to have made two good friends since coming to Tar Valon.
It was a little, windowless room, as all novices’ rooms were. Three short paces took Nynaeve from wall to white-plastered wall; Nynaeve’s own room was much larger, but since she had made no friends among the other Accepted, she came to Egwene’s room when she needed someone to talk to, even as now when she did not talk at all. The tiny fire on the narrow hearth handily kept the first chill of approaching autumn at bay, though Egwene was sure it would not serve so well when winter came. A small table for study completed the furnishings, and her belongings hung neatly on a row of pegs on the wall or sat on the short shelf above the table. Novices were usually kept too busy to spend time in their rooms, but today was a freeday, only the third since she and Nynaeve had come to the White Tower.
“Else was making calf’s eyes at Galad today while he was working with the Warders,” Min said, rocking the stool on two legs.
The small balls faltered for an instant above Egwene’s hands. “She can look at whoever she wants,” Egwene said casually. “I can’t imagine why I would be interested.”
“No reason, I suppose. He is awfully handsome, if you don’t mind him being so rigid. Very nice to look at, especially with his shirt off.”
 “I certainly have no desire to look at Galad, with or without his shirt.”
“I shouldn’t tease you,” Min said contritely. “I’m sorry for that. But you do like to look at him—don’t grimace at me like that—and so does nearly every woman in the White Tower who isn’t a Red. I’ve seen Aes Sedai down at the practice yards when he’s working forms, especially Greens. Checking on their Warders, they say, but I don’t see so many when Galad isn’t there. Even the cooks and maids come out to watch him.”
 They vanished. Suddenly she giggled. “He is good-looking, isn’t he? Even when he walks he looks as if he’s dancing.” The color in her cheeks deepened. “I know I shouldn’t stare at him, but I can’t help myself.”
“I can’t either,” Min said, “and I can see what he is like.”
“But if he is good—?”
“Egwene, Galad is so good he’d make you tear your hair out. He’d hurt a person because he had to serve a greater good. He wouldn’t even notice who was hurt, because he’d be so intent on the other, but if he did, he would expect them to understand and think it was all well and right.”
“I suppose you know,” Egwene said. She had seen Min’s ability to look at people and read all sorts of things about them; Min did not tell everything she saw, and she did not always see anything, but there had been enough for Egwene to believe. She glanced at Nynaeve—the other woman was still pacing, muttering to herself—then reached for saidar again and resumed her juggling in a desultory fashion.
Min shrugged. “I guess I might as well tell you. He didn’t even notice what Else was doing. He asked her if she knew whether you might be walking the South Garden after supper, since today is a freeday. I felt sorry for her.”
“Poor Else,” Egwene murmured, and the balls of light became more lively above her hands. Min laughed.
The door banged open, caught by the wind. Egwene gave a yelp and let the balls vanish before she saw it was only Elayne.
 “I just heard,” she said. “The rumors are true. King Galldrian is dead. That makes it a war of succession.”
Min snorted. “Civil war. War of succession. A lot of silly names for the same thing. Do you mind if we don’t talk about it? That’s all we hear. War in Cairhien. War on Toman Head. They may have caught the false Dragon in Saldaea, but there’s still war in Tear. Most of it is rumors, anyway. Yesterday, I heard one of the cooks saying she’d heard Artur Hawkwing was marching on Tanchico. Artur Hawkwing!”
“I thought you did not want to talk about it,” Egwene said.
“I saw Logain,” Elayne said. “He was sitting on a bench in the Inner Court, crying. He ran when he saw me. I cannot help feeling sorry for him.”
“Better he cries than the rest of us, Elayne,” Min said.
“I know what he is,” Elayne said calmly. “Or rather, what he was. He isn’t anymore, and I can feel sorry for him.”
Egwene slumped back against the wall. Rand. Logain always made her think of Rand. She had not dreamed about him in months, now, not the kind of dreams she had had on the River Queen. Anaiya still made her write down everything she dreamed, and the Aes Sedai checked them for signs, or connections to events, but there was never anything about Rand except dreams that, Anaiya said, meant she missed him. Oddly, she felt almost as if he were not there any longer, as if he had ceased to exist, along with her dreams, a few weeks after reaching the White Tower. And I sit thinking about how nicely Galad walks, she thought bitterly. Rand has to be all right. If he’d been caught and gentled, I’d have heard something.
That sent a chill through her, as it never failed to do, the thought of Rand being gentled, Rand weeping and wanting to die as Logain did.
Elayne sat down beside her on the bed, tucking her feet up under her. “If you are mooning over Galad, Egwene, you will have no sympathy from me. I’ll have Nynaeve dose you with one of those horrible concoctions she’s always talking about.” She frowned at Nynaeve, who had taken no notice of her entrance. “What is the matter with her? Don’t tell me she has started sighing after Galad, too!”
“I wouldn’t bother her.” Min leaned toward the two of them and lowered her voice. “That skinny Accepted Irella told her she was as clumsy as a cow and had half the Talents, and Nynaeve clouted her ear.” Elayne winced. “Exactly,” Min murmured. “They had her up to Sheriam’s study before you could blink, and she hasn’t been fit to live with since.”
Apparently Min had not dropped her voice enough, for there was a growl from Nynaeve. Suddenly the door whipped open once more, and a gale howled into the room. It did not ruffle the blankets on Egwene’s bed, but Min and the stool toppled, to roll against the wall. Immediately the wind died, and Nynaeve stood with a stricken look on her face.
Egwene hurried to the door and peeked out. The noonday sun was burning off the last reminders of last night’s rainstorm. The still-damp balcony around the Novices’ Court was empty, the long row of doors to novices’ rooms all shut. The novices who had taken advantage of the freeday to enjoy themselves in the gardens were no doubt catching up on their sleep. No one could have seen. She closed the door and took her place beside Elayne again as Nynaeve helped Min to her feet.
“I’m sorry, Min,” Nynaeve said in a tight voice. “Sometimes my temper . . . I can’t ask you to forgive me, not for this.” She took a deep breath. “If you want to report me to Sheriam, I will understand. I deserve it.”
Egwene wished she had not heard that admission; Nynaeve could grow prickly over such things. Searching for something on which to focus, something Nynaeve could believe she had had her attention on, she found herself touching saidar once more, and began juggling the balls of light again. Elayne quickly joined her; Egwene saw the glow form around the Daughter-Heir even before three tiny balls appeared above her hands. They began to pass the little glowing spheres back and forth in increasingly intricate patterns. Sometimes one winked out as one girl or the other failed to maintain it as it came to her, then winked back a little altered in color or size.
The One Power filled Egwene with life. She smelled the faint rose aroma of soap from Elayne’s morning bath. She could feel the rough plaster of the walls, the smooth stones of the floor, as well as she could the bed where she sat. She could hear Min and Nynaeve breathe, much less their quiet words.
“If it comes to forgiving,” Min said, “maybe you should forgive me. You have a temper, and I have a big mouth. I will forgive you if you forgive me.” With murmurs of “forgiven” that sounded meant on both sides, the two women hugged. “But if you do it again,” Min said with a laugh, “I might clout your ear.”
“Next time,” Nynaeve replied, “I will throw something at you.” She was laughing, too, but her laughter ceased abruptly as her eye fell on Egwene and Elayne. “You two stop that, or there will be someone going to the Mistress of Novices. Two someones.”
“Nynaeve, you wouldn’t!” Egwene protested. When she saw the look in Nynaeve’s eyes, though, she hastily severed all contact with saidar. “Very well. I believe you. There’s no need to prove it.”
“We have to practice,” Elayne said. “They ask more and more of us. If we did not practice on our own, we would never keep up.” Her face showed calm composure, but she had let go of saidar as hastily as Egwene herself had.
“And what happens when you draw too much,” Nynaeve asked, “and there’s no one there to stop you? I wish you were more afraid. I am. Don’t you think I know what it is like for you? It’s always there, and you want to fill yourself with it. Sometimes it is all I can do to make myself stop; I want all of it. I know it would burn me to a crisp, and I want it anyway.” She shivered. “I just wish you were more afraid.”
“I am afraid,” Egwene said with a sigh. “I’m terrified. But it doesn’t seem to help. What about you, Elayne?”
“The only thing that terrifies me,” Elayne said airily, “is washing dishes. It seems as if I have to wash dishes every day.” Egwene threw her pillow at her. Elayne pulled it off her head and threw it back, but then her shoulders slumped. “Oh, very well. I am so scared I don’t know why my teeth are not chattering. Elaida told me I’d be so frightened that I would want to run away with the Traveling People, but I did not understand. A man who drove oxen as hard as they drive us would be shunned. I am tired all the time. I wake up tired and go to bed exhausted, and sometimes I’m so afraid that I will slip and channel more of the Power than I can handle that I . . . ” Peering into her lap, she let the words trail off.
Egwene knew what she had not spoken. Their rooms lay right next to each other, and as in many of the novice rooms, a small hole had long ago been bored through the wall between, too small to be seen unless you knew where to look, but useful for talk after the lamps were extinguished, when the girls could not leave their rooms. Egwene had heard Elayne crying herself to sleep more than once, and she had no doubt that Elayne had heard her own crying.
“The Traveling People are tempting,” Nynaeve agreed, “but wherever you go, it will not change what you can do. You cannot run from saidar.” She did not sound as if she liked what she was saying.
“What do you see, Min?” Elayne said. “Are we all going to be powerful Aes Sedai, or will we spend the rest of our lives washing dishes as novices, or . . . ” She shrugged uncomfortably as if she did not want to voice the third alternative that came to mind. Sent home. Put out of the Tower. Two novices had been put out since Egwene came, and everyone spoke of them in whispers, as if they were dead.
Min shifted on her stool. “I don’t like reading friends,” she muttered. “Friendship gets in the way of the reading. It makes me try to put the best face on what I see. That’s why I don’t do it for you three anymore. Anyway, nothing has changed about you that I can . . . ” She squinted at them, and suddenly frowned. “That’s new,” she breathed.
“What?” Nynaeve asked sharply.
Min hesitated before answering. “Danger. You are all in some kind of danger. Or you will be, very soon. I can’t make it out, but it is danger.”
“You see,” Nynaeve said to the two girls sitting on the bed. “You must take care. We all must. You must both promise not to channel again without someone to guide you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Egwene said.
Elayne nodded eagerly. “Yes. Let’s talk about something else. Min, if you put on a dress, I’ll wager Gawyn would ask you to go walking with him. You know he’s been looking at you, but I think the breeches and the man’s coat put him off.”
“I dress the way I like, and I won’t change for a lord, even if he is your brother.” Min spoke absently, still squinting at them and frowning; it was a conversation they had had before.  Elayne smiled.
Egwene was uncomfortable. Elayne was forcing a semblance of gaiety, Min was hardly paying attention, and Nynaeve looked as if she wanted to warn them again.
When the door swung open once more, Egwene bounded to her feet to close it, grateful for something to do besides watch the others pretend. Before she reached it, though, a dark-eyed Aes Sedai with her blond hair done in a multitude of braids stepped into the room. Egwene blinked in surprise, as much at it being any Aes Sedai as at Liandrin. She had not heard that Liandrin had returned to the White Tower, but beyond that, novices were sent for if an Aes Sedai wanted them; it could mean no good, a sister coming herself.
The room was crowded with five women in it. Liandrin paused to adjust her red-fringed shawl, eyeing them. Min did not move, but Elayne rose, and the three standing curtsied, though Nynaeve barely flexed her knee. Egwene did not think Nynaeve would ever grow used to having others in authority over her.
Liandrin’s eyes settled on Nynaeve. “And why are you here, in the novices’ quarters, child?” Her tone was ice.
“I am visiting with friends,” Nynaeve said in a tight voice. After a moment she added a belated, “Liandrin Sedai.”
“The Accepted, they can have no friends among the novices. This you should have learned by this time, child. But it is as well that I find you here. You and you”—her finger stabbed at Elayne and Min—“will go.”
“I will return later.” Min rose casually, making a great show of being in no hurry to obey, and strolled by Liandrin with a grin, of which Liandrin took no notice at all. Elayne gave Egwene and Nynaeve a worried look before she dropped a curtsy and left.
After Elayne closed the door behind her, Liandrin stood studying Egwene and Nynaeve. Egwene began to fidget under the scrutiny, but Nynaeve held herself straight, with only a little heightening of her color.
“You two are from the same village as the boys who traveled with Moiraine. Is it not so?” Liandrin said suddenly.
“Do you have some word of Rand?” Egwene asked eagerly. Liandrin arched an eyebrow at her. “Forgive me, Aes Sedai. I forget myself.”
“Have you word of them?” Nynaeve said, just short of a demand. The Accepted had no rule about not speaking to an Aes Sedai until spoken to.
“You have concern for them. That is good. They are in danger, and you might be able to help them.”
“How do you know they’re in trouble?” There was no doubt about the demand in Nynaeve’s voice this time.
Liandrin’s rosebud mouth tightened, but her tone did not change. “Though you are not aware of it, Moiraine has sent letters to the White Tower concerning you. Moiraine Sedai, she worries about you, and about your young . . . friends. These boys, they are in danger. Do you wish to help them, or leave them to their fate?”
“Yes,” Egwene said, at the same time that Nynaeve said; “What kind of trouble? Why do you care about helping them?” Nynaeve glanced at the red fringe on Liandrin’s shawl. “And I thought you didn’t like Moiraine.”
“Do not presume too much, child,” Liandrin said sharply. “To be Accepted is not to be a sister. Accepted and novices alike listen when a sister speaks, and do as they are told.”  “Someday, I am sure, you will serve a cause, and you will learn then that to serve it you must work even with those whom you dislike. I tell you I have worked with many with whom I would not share a room if it were left to me alone. Would you not work alongside the one you hated worst, if it would save your friends?”
Nynaeve nodded reluctantly. “But you still haven’t told us what kind of danger they’re in. Liandrin Sedai.”
“The danger comes from Shayol Ghul. They are hunted, as I understand they once before were. If you will come with me, some dangers, at least, may be eliminated. Do not ask how, for I cannot tell you, but I tell you flatly it is so.”
“We will come, Liandrin Sedai,” Egwene said.
“Come where?” Nynaeve said. Egwene shot her an exasperated look.
“Toman Head.”
 Does this danger have something to do with Artur Hawkwing’s armies?”
“You believe rumors, child? But even if they were true, is that enough to stop you? I thought you called these men friends.” A twist to Liandrin’s words said she would never do the same.
“We will come,” Egwene said. Nynaeve opened her mouth again, but Egwene went right on. “We will go, Nynaeve. If Rand needs our help—and Mat, and Perrin—we have to give it.”
“I know that,” Nynaeve said, “but what I want to know is, why us? What can we do that Moiraine—or you, Liandrin—cannot?”
The white grew in Liandrin’s cheeks—Egwene realized Nynaeve had forgotten the honorific in addressing her—but what she said was, “You two come from their village. In some way I do not entirely understand, you are connected to them. Beyond that, I cannot say. And no more of your foolish questions will I answer.  She paused for their assent; a visible tension left her when they nodded. “Good. You will meet me at the northernmost edge of the Ogier grove one hour before sunset with your horses and whatever you will need for the journey. Tell no one of this.”
“We are not supposed to leave the Tower grounds without permission,” Nynaeve said slowly.
“You have my permission. Tell no one. No one at all. The Black Ajah walks the halls of the White Tower.”
Egwene gasped, and heard an echoed gasp from Nynaeve, but Nynaeve recovered quickly. “I thought all Aes Sedai denied the existence of—of that.”
Liandrin’s mouth tightened into a sneer. “Many do, but Tarmon Gai’don approaches, and the time leaves when denials can be made. The Black Ajah, it is the opposite of everything for which the Tower stands, but it exists, child. It is everywhere, any woman could belong to it, and it serves the Dark One. If your friends are pursued by the Shadow, do you think the Black Ajah will leave you alive and free to help them? Tell no one—no one!—or you may not live to reach Toman Head. One hour before sunset. Do not fail me.” With that, she was gone, the door closing firmly behind her.
Egwene collapsed onto her bed with her hands on her knees. “Nynaeve, she’s Red Ajah. She can’t know about Rand. If she did . . . ”
“She cannot know,” Nynaeve agreed. “I wish I knew why a Red wanted to help. Or why she’s willing to work with Moiraine. I’d have sworn neither of them would give the other water if she were dying of thirst.”
“You think she’s lying?”
“She is Aes Sedai,” Nynaeve said dryly. “I’ll wager my best silver pin against a blueberry that every word she said was true. But I wonder if we heard what we thought we did.”
“The Black Ajah.” Egwene shivered. “There was no mistaking what she said about that, the Light help us.”
“No mistaking,” Nynaeve said. “And she’s forestalled us asking anyone for advice, because after that, who can we trust? The Light help us indeed.”
Min and Elayne came bustling in, slamming the door behind them. “Are you really going?” Min asked, and Elayne gestured toward the tiny hole in the wall above Egwene’s bed, saying, “We listened from my room. We heard everything.”
Egwene exchanged glances with Nynaeve, wondering how much they had overheard, and saw the same concern on Nynaeve’s face. If they manage to cipher out about Rand . . .
“You have to keep this to yourselves,” Nynaeve cautioned them. “I suppose Liandrin has arranged permission from Sheriam for us to go, but even if she hasn’t, even if they start searching the Tower from top to bottom for us tomorrow, you mustn’t say a word.”
“Keep it to myself?” Min said. “No fear on that. I’m going with you. All I do all day is try to explain to one Brown sister or another something I don’t understand myself. I can’t even go for a walk without the Amyrlin herself popping out and asking me to read whoever we see. When that woman asks you to do something, there doesn’t seem to be any way out of it. I must have read half the White Tower for her, but she always wants another demonstration. All I needed was an excuse to leave, and this is it.” Her face wore a look of determination that allowed no argument.
Egwene wondered why Min was so determined to go with them rather than simply leaving on her own, but before she had time to do more than wonder, Elayne said, “I am going, too.”
“Elayne,” Nynaeve said gently, “Egwene and I are the boys’ kith from Emond’s Field. You are the Daughter-Heir of Andor. If you disappear from the White Tower, why, it—it could start a war.”
“Mother wouldn’t start a war with Tar Valon if they dried and salted me, which they may be trying to do. If you three can go off and have an adventure, you needn’t think I am going to stay here and wash dishes, and scrub floors, and have some Accepted berating me because I didn’t make the fire the exact shade of blue she wanted. Gawyn will die from envy when he finds out.” Elayne grinned and reached over to tug playfully at Egwene’s hair. “Besides, if you leave Rand lying about loose, I might have a chance to pick him up.”
“I don’t think either of us is going to have him,” Egwene said sadly.
“Then we’ll find whoever he does choose and make her life miserable. But he couldn’t be fool enough to choose someone else when he could have one of us. Oh, please smile, Egwene. I know he’s yours. I just feel”—she hesitated, searching for the word—“free. I’ve never had an adventure. I’ll bet we won’t either of us cry ourselves to sleep on an adventure. And if we do, we will make sure the gleemen leave that part out.”
“This is foolishness,” Nynaeve said. “We are going to Toman Head. You’ve heard the news, and the rumors. It will be dangerous.  Elayne’s voice dropped almost to a whisper at that name. “How safe will I be here, if they are here? If Mother even suspected the Black Ajah really existed, she would pitch me into the middle of a battle to get me away from them.”
“But, Elayne—”
“There is only one way for you to stop me coming. That is to tell the Mistress of Novices. We will make a pretty picture, all three of us lined up in her study. All four of us. I don’t think Min would escape from something like this. So since you are not going to tell Sheriam Sedai, I am coming, too.”
Nynaeve threw up her hands. “Perhaps you can say something to convince her,” she told Min.
Min had been leaning against the door, squinting at Elayne, and now she shook her head. “I think she has to come as much as the rest of you. The rest of us. I can see the danger around all of you more clearly, now. Not clearly enough to make it out, but I think it has something to do with you deciding to go. That’s why it is clearer; because it is more certain.”
“That’s no reason for her to come,” Nynaeve said, but Min shook her head again.
“She is linked to—to those boys as much as you, or Egwene, or me. She’s part of it, Nynaeve, whatever it is. Part of the Pattern, I suppose an Aes Sedai would say.”
Elayne seemed taken aback, and interested, too. “I am? What part, Min?”
“I can’t see it clearly.” Min looked at the floor. “Sometimes I wish I couldn’t read people at all. Most people aren’t satisfied with what I see anyway.”
“If we are all going,” Nynaeve said, “then we had best be about making plans.” However much she might argue beforehand, once a course of action had been decided, Nynaeve always went right to the practicalities: what they had to take with them, and how cold it would be by the time they reached Toman Head, and how they could get their horses from the stables without being stopped.
Listening to her, Egwene could not help wondering what the danger was that Min saw for them, and what danger threatened Rand. She knew of only one danger that could threaten him, and it made her cold to think of it. Hold on, Rand.  I’ll help you somehow.


Golf: Kim leads LPGA Tour Championship by two after birdie finish
MIAMI: Kim Sei-young produced a superb final hole birdie to maintain her two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the LPGA Tour Championship in Florida on Friday (Nov 22).
The 26-year-old from Seoul fired a 175-yard six-iron to three feet on the 18th hole at Tiburon Golf Club and then drained a simple putt for a five-under-par 67, leaving her at 12 under for the tournament.
Kim, who had shot a seven-under-par 65 to lead by two strokes after Thursday's first round, is chasing her third win of 2019 at this week's LPGA Tour season finale.
After reaching the turn at two under for the round on Friday, Kim suffered a wobble on the 10th when she posted her first bogey of the tournament.
However she recovered well to make birdies in three of her next four holes, before finishing with a flourish on the 18th.
Kim's birdie finish means she has a two-shot buffer heading into the final two rounds as she chases the $1.5 million winner's cheque, the richest prize in women's golf.
Germany's Caroline Masson heads the pursuit of Kim after posting a six-under-par 66 that left her at 10 under after 36 holes.
Masson played flawlessly in a bogey-free round that saw her vault up the leaderboard after making three birdies over the final five holes.
Canadian Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda of the United States were a shot back on nine under, three off the lead.
Henderson recovered brilliantly after a potentially disastrous double-bogey seven on the par-five first,reaching the turn at level par after birdies on the fourth and sixth holes. Henderson then picked up five more birdies in six holes on the back nine to card a five-under-par 67.
Australia's Su Oh, is alone in fifth place on eight under after a roller coaster round which included seven birdies and two bogeys for a five-under-par 67.
Three players - China's Liu Yu, Jessica Korda and Lexi Thompson - are tied for sixth on seven under, five off the lead.
World number one Ko Jin-young's hopes of mounting a challenge appear to have faded however after she could only manage a three-under-par 69.
Ko heads into the weekend on four under for the tournament, eight strokes off the pace.


The layout builder helps to configure the layout with preferred options and preview it in real time.
The configured layout options will be saved until you change or reset them.
To use the layout builder choose the layout options and click the Preview button to preview the changes. demos & documentationcan be used for layout config in /src/app/core/_config/default/layout.config.ts'">


Laravel provides a wonderful filesystem abstraction thanks to the Flysystem PHP package by Frank de Jonge. The Laravel Flysystem integration provides simple to use drivers for working with local filesystems, Amazon S3, and Rackspace Cloud Storage. Even better, it's amazingly simple to switch between these storage options as the API remains the same for each system!
The filesystem configuration file is located at config/filesystems.php
. Within this file you may configure all of your "disks". Each disk represents a particular storage driver and storage location. Example configurations for each supported driver is included in the configuration file. So, simply modify the configuration to reflect your storage preferences and credentials!
Before using the S3 or Rackspace drivers, you will need to install the appropriate package via Composer:
league/flysystem-aws-s3-v2 ~1.0
league/flysystem-rackspace ~1.0
Of course, you may configure as many disks as you like, and may even have multiple disks that use the same driver.
When using the local
driver, note that all file operations are relative to the root
directory defined in your configuration file. By default, this value is set to the storage/app
directory. Therefore, the following method would store a file in storage/app/file.txt
:
Storage::disk('local')->put('file.txt', 'Contents');
The Storage
facade may be used to interact with any of your configured disks. Alternatively, you may type-hint the Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\Factory
contract on any class that is resolved via the Laravel service container.
$disk = Storage::disk('s3');
$disk = Storage::disk('local');
$exists = Storage::disk('s3')->exists('file.jpg');
if (Storage::exists('file.jpg'))
{
//
}
$contents = Storage::get('file.jpg');
Storage::put('file.jpg', $contents);
Storage::prepend('file.log', 'Prepended Text');
Storage::append('file.log', 'Appended Text');
Storage::delete('file.jpg');
Storage::delete(['file1.jpg', 'file2.jpg']);
Storage::copy('old/file1.jpg', 'new/file1.jpg');
Storage::move('old/file1.jpg', 'new/file1.jpg');
$size = Storage::size('file1.jpg');
$time = Storage::lastModified('file1.jpg');
$files = Storage::files($directory);
// Recursive...
$files = Storage::allFiles($directory);
$directories = Storage::directories($directory);
// Recursive...
$directories = Storage::allDirectories($directory);
Storage::makeDirectory($directory);
Storage::deleteDirectory($directory);
Laravel's Flysystem integration provides drivers for several "drivers" out of the box; however, Flysystem is not limited to these and has adapters for many other storage systems. You can create a custom driver if you want to use one of these additional adapters in your Laravel application. Don't worry, it's not too hard!
In order to set up the custom filesystem you will need to create a service provider such as DropboxFilesystemServiceProvider
. In the provider's boot
method, you can inject an instance of the Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\Factory
contract and call the extend
method of the injected instance. Alternatively, you may use the Disk
facade's extend
method.
The first argument of the extend
method is the name of the driver and the second is a Closure that receives the $app
and $config
variables. The resolver Closure must return an instance of League\Flysystem\Filesystem
.
Note: The $config variable will already contain the values defined in
config/filesystems.php
for the specified disk.
<?php namespace App\Providers;
use Storage;
use League\Flysystem\Filesystem;
use Dropbox\Client as DropboxClient;
use League\Flysystem\Dropbox\DropboxAdapter;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
class DropboxFilesystemServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider {
public function boot()
{
Storage::extend('dropbox', function($app, $config)
{
$client = new DropboxClient($config['accessToken'], $config['clientIdentifier']);
return new Filesystem(new DropboxAdapter($client));
});
}
public function register()
{
//
}
}