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allaroundmovingusa · 10 months

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Moving to Miami from NYC : All the Changes you will face!

They say that life is about embracing change and stepping outside of our comfort zones. Are you moving from Miami to NYC? For those individuals embarking on a new journey, leaving the bustling streets of New York Citybehind and finding solace in the vibrant city ofMiamican be an exciting choice.

This sunny paradise, renowned for its glistening beaches, rich cultural heritage, and spirited ambiance, offers a change of pace that will leave you feeling revitalized.

So pack your suitcases, bid farewell to the Big Apple and get ready to immerse yourself in the delights of Miami.

Culture:

Miami is a hub of culture, offering a plethora of entertainment experiences. The city's art scene is thriving, boasting world class museums like the Perez Art Museum Miami and the Wynwood Walls that showcase contemporary and street art.

Be sure not to miss Art Basel Miami Beach, an acclaimed art fair that draws creative minds from all corners of the globe. Dive into the atmosphere of Little Havana, where you can indulge in Cuban cuisine, bask in live music performances and witness the craftsmanship, behind hand rolled cigars

Weather:

Moving from Miami to NYC has some differences especially when it comes to the weather. Say goodbye to winters. Say hello to year round sunshine and warmth in Miami. The tropical climate in Miami allows for plenty of activities like relaxing on beaches or exploring lush nature preserves. You can trade in your coats for swimsuits. Live an active and vibrant outdoor lifestyle.

Miami is known for its population and lively cultural scene making it a melting pot of influences and experiences. From the neighborhoods like Little Havana to the art deco architecture of South Beach there is always something new to discover. Embrace the flavors and dance to the rhythms of salsa and reggaeton. Indulge in a rich culinary scene that brings together the best of international cuisine.

Finance and Business:

Over the years,

has emerged as a hub for business and entrepreneurship. With its real estate market, tourism industry, and a rapidly growing tech sector, there are abundant opportunities for professional growth and advancement.

The city's advantageous location as a gateway to Latin America also presents prospects for individuals seeking to expand their ventures into markets.

In comparison, to the paced and hectic lifestyle of New York City, Miami offers a laid back and relaxed atmosphere.

It is a place where people can pause, appreciate life's joys, and prioritize leisure and recreation while maintaining a work life balance. Instead of rushing through everything, take a moment to slow down in Miami and truly savor the experiences it offers.

Well summing it all up, moving to Miami from NYC,can be really difficult which is why we , allround moving, are here to help. With over 20 years of experience, We specialize in handpicking a group of knowledgeable movers who are exceptional in what they do.

Don't be daunted by the difficulties of relocating an office in New York City. Use the services of a dependable office moving company to take benefit of their knowledge and efficiency. For more information about our full-service office relocation solutions in New York City, reach out to 2127814118 or email at, [email protected].

#Moving to Miami from NYC #Moving to Florida

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an-obsessed-writer · 3 years

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Mind Over Matter

Summary: Everyone knew the Baron Helmut Zemo, you’d have to be living under a rock to not recognize the name of the ridiculously wealthy royal attending your university. He was the school’s top bachelor, a sophisticated and confident man who obviously was wealthy. That was enough to make any woman at the university swoon, but he was always known to never keep a girl for long. What happens when (Y/N) finds herself meeting him at one of his parties?

(A/N): i think i’ll turn this into a series, but not sure yet! im a whore for zemo rn as everyone is, let me know if you’re interested in reading more <3

Word Count: 2.2k

“(Y/N)!” Wanda plops onto your bed after she runs into the dorm, and smiles sweetly up at you. “Wanna go to a party tonight? Word has it that Zemo is throwing a major bash for the new school year.”

Everyone knew the Baron Helmut Zemo, you’d have to be living under a rock to not recognize the name of the ridiculously wealthy royal attending your university. He was the school’s top bachelor, a sophisticated and confident man who obviously was wealthy. That was enough to make any woman at the university swoon, but he was always known to never keep a girl for long. Fortunately, you didn’t live under a rock, just too immersed in your studies to care much about him. You’ve seen him walking on campus before, with his fur coat and maroon mock turtleneck, and you could see why he was such a popular man. It’s known that Europeans always have the best sense of style.

“I’ve already got a major essay to finish for my philosophy class next week, maybe next time?” You frown at your roommate, feigning sadness that you wouldn’t be able to make it, but by the look of her face, she wasn’t going to let you get out of this one.

“You promised you’d attend a party this year! We’re juniors and you’ve been to only a handful. Besides, his parties are super classy, everyone gets all dressed up. It’ll be fun, I swear.” Wanda looks up at you with pleading eyes, and you couldn’t help but think about the opportunity presented.

It was true, you hadn’t been to many parties since college started. Your grades were stellar, your reputation even more so. Studying as a pre-med was no joke, resulting in your non-existent social life, but you honestly didn’t mind it much. You kept your head down because college was expensive enough as it is, you couldn’t afford to get distracted. Closing the laptop on your lap, a sigh escapes your mouth, and Wanda took it as a silent submission for what she had planned.

“Perfect! It’s tonight at his mansion. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to get him wrapped around your finger by the end of the night,” she winked and immediately began rummaging through her closet for the perfect outfit. “I heard the theme was the 20’s, I’ve always loved the flapper girl outfits.” A laugh escaped from Wanda’s lips, and a mischievous smile was displayed on her face.

If there was anyone you trusted at this place, it’d be Wanda Maximoff. Her brother Pietro came as a close second, but she’d been your rock throughout your educational journey. Everyone loved her, everyone wanted her at their parties, but she chose to stay in with you to watch movies and talk about guys on more than one occasion. Coming from Sokovia, Wanda and Zemo talked often because of their love for the Sokovian language, but nothing romantic ever stemmed from their interactions with each other.

Truth be told, you were a pretty girl. This never went unnoticed by the guys around you, leading to a few regretful hookups. Your confidence oozed from your cheeky smile and subtly flirtatious comments when appropriate, but you were adamant on not entering a relationship until school was over. However, you were the realist out of this duo, and you knew for a fact you’d never be able to pull a guy like Helmut Zemo. With his looks and amount of money, he could get the most sought after movie star (which everyone was fairly sure he hooked up with Megan Fox at one point, but that was just a rumor).

“Do you still have your flapper girl costume from Halloween a while ago? I’ve got mine, and I don’t think we have enough time to shop before the party,” Wanda inquired.

“Of course I do, it’s my go to Halloween costume now if I ever go out again.” You smiled, reminiscing over the memories from last Halloween, and stumbled off your bed to find the outfit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The music was blasting, and you couldn’t help but look in awe of your surroundings. A double curved staircase with red carpeting was in front of you and Wanda, with grand railings connected to the marble floor below. The home was obnoxiously large, you could talk and an echo would rumble through the room.

Wanda gives you an encouraging look, and grabs your hand to lead you towards the party room upstairs. The silver tassels from your mini dress rubbed against your dress with every step you took, and you knew there was no turning back now. Besides, there was no way you could leave this beautiful home anytime soon, you simply wanted to drink in it’s beauty forever.

Once upstairs, a man in a suit smiled at the two of you, and asked for your invitations, which Wanda gladly handed over. With a nod, he opened the doors that were taller than any of you, and the sight immediately took your breath away.

White, translucent balloons hung from the ceiling. Art deco inspired tables with feathers and gold tassels lining over them containing copious amounts of alcohol were in the middle of the room. Intricate white and golden wallpaper covered the walls, which helped bring everything together, but the flashing disco lights allowed a modern feel to this 1920’s inspired party.

Not too long after entering the room, Vision strutted over to the two of you after catching sight of his girlfriend. “Hello (Y/N),” he flashed a quick smile to you and placed a kiss on Wanda’s cheek, “Care if I steal my girlfriend away for a dance?”

“No problem at all,” you waved your hand to dismiss the two of them, and Wanda went off to the dance floor with her love.

This was normal, Wanda would be whisked away by Vision, and you typically found a guy to bring you attention for the night, but something felt different. Right now, all you wanted was a drink, and you found yourself making a beeline towards the tables full of alcohol.

The bartender was dressed in one of the finest suits, and you couldn’t help but wonder “If his employees are dressed like this, what was the Baron wearing?”

“What would you like?” Your mind blanked trying to think of alcohol that you liked, it’s been too long.

“Surprise me, it’s been a while.” You smiled sheepishly, but your attention was caught by the feeling of another person behind you.

“That won’t do, you look like you need something strong.” A thick, European accent filled your ears, and you couldn’t help the way that your body tensed up. With a turn of your head, your eyesight took hold of the one and only, Helmut Zemo.

He looked even more delicious standing so close to you. As expected, Zemo didn’t mess around with his looks. A burgundy, pinstripe suit hugged his figure, and you couldn’t help but take note of the way his arms looked under the tight sleeves.

“Something strong would be nice,” you say holding your chin up, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of the most well known man in the school. With a wave of his finger and a command in a language you didn’t know, two shots of clear liquid were slammed on the table, and Zemo picked one up with a cheeky smile.

You narrowed your eyes at him and nervously picked up the shot glass with shaky hands. Lifting it up to your nose, your face contorted into an expression of disgust at the smell of acetone. “What is this?”

With a rumbling chuckle from Zemo, your cheeks blushed slightly, silently scolding yourself for losing your composure. He raised his glass and with a tilt of his head, he responded “Rakija, essentially European moonshine. I’ll take a shot with you, it can be too strong for some Americans.”

Silently, you nodded and raised the shot glass, mimicking his actions. Once he swiftly threw back the liquid into his mouth, you followed, and immediately wanted to gag. It burned as it went down your throat, the taste of pure chemicals became overwhelming, and you managed to keep a straight face through it all. Zemo slammed his glass back onto the table and took a step towards you in order to be able to communicate over the loud music.

“I apologize for being such a rude host, but I don’t recognize you.” The smell of rich cologne flooded your nostrils, and you could’ve melted right there. His eyes peered down onto you, being that you were significantly shorter than the man towering over your body, and you licked your lips.

“I usually stay in my dorm, I’m pre-med.” You held your hand out politely, “(Y/N).”

Zemo’s rough hands took hold of your own, lowering his head to leave a kiss on the indents of your knuckles. Without standing up straight, he raises his eyes to look at you through his eyebrows, “It’s a pleasure to meet you (Y/N), I hope you’re enjoying the party.”

His voice was like smooth caramel and melted chocolate, just the right mix of salty and sweet. His thick accent burned into your head with the way he said your name, and your hand was tingling from where his lips met your knuckles. After hearing the stories of his charming ways, you wanted to call bullshit, but experiencing this first hand was completely different. There was some truth to the rumors of the mysterious Baron, and you couldn’t help but feel drawn to find out more. The man simply oozed sex appeal.

“I actually just got here with Wanda. She’s off somewhere with Vision.” You were proud of how you managed to keep your voice at a steady level, knowing that your mind was going crazy with how close the two of you were.

Zemo’s eyebrow perked up at the mention of Wanda’s name and held out his hand with the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly, “Any friend of Wanda’s is a friend of mine, care to dance (Y/N)?”

Every fiber of your being wanted you to run, knowing that if you went to dance with him, there was no turning back. Still, you couldn’t stop your hand from being placed into his, and he swiftly pulled you along towards the dance floor.

Sweaty bodies surrounded the two of you, but you could only focus on his eyes engulfing the way the dress hugged your body in all the right spots. He placed his hand on the small of your back where the dress was open, the touch sending shivers down your spine. The Baron’s hands were warm, completely contrasting the iciness of your skin.

With another hand on your waist and a smirk, he began moving his hips, which you soon followed. As the song went on, the distance between you got smaller and smaller, until your chest was practically smushed against his. You lifted your left hand to run through his chestnut brown hair, and it was as soft as you expected it to be.

“Of course it is,” you thought to yourself. “A Baron deserves only the most expensive products.”

“You’d think I would know everyone on campus, but your beauty caught me by surprise.” His breath felt hot against your ear, and you swallowed thickly.

“Not many people know me,” you countered.

“What a shame, isn’t it darling?” The use of pet names was enough to make your knees buckle, especially when paired with the Sokovian drawl, but you shook your head in defiance.

“He probably says that to all the girls.” Even so, you wished your mind would be quiet so you could appreciate this moment for what it is. The chance to dance with the bachelor everyone was pining for, but he was only paying attention to you.

You didn’t respond, only picking up the pace of your swaying hips, grinding against his thigh. Zemo exhaled a quick breath, and wasted no time to smash his lips onto yours. This action sent electricity through your body, the taste of the alcohol on his breath only made him more alluring, and your mouth copied his movements. Teeth clacked against one another, but neither of you cared. The only thing you could think about was the feeling of his fingers trailing down your back, and the way you fit with him like a lost puzzle piece.

Zemo grabbed at the nape of your neck, signaling to deepen the kiss with a tightening grip and a nip at your bottom lip, but you pulled away before you did something you regret.

With a confused look, Zemo licked his lips. “Care to go upstairs to my room?”

“Actually,” you say breathlessly, “I think it’s better if I head out.” Regretfully, you untangle your bodies and take a step back from the powerful man standing in front of you.

Without taking a second to think about what you’ve just done, you turn and make your way to the exit, but not without glancing at the Baron one last time.

His eyes never left you, and he stood still as you walked through the doors.

#zemo #baron helmut zemo #zemo x reader #marvel #wanda maximoff #vision #zemo imagine #zemo fanfic #the falcon and the winter soldier #the avengers #college!au #college!zemo #bucky barnes #pietro maximoff

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canmom · 3 years

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I watched an episode the new League of Legends spinoff tv series Arcane, I will watch the rest later at some point lol. visually it’s pretty interesting but it is 100% what would you would expect

animation mostly seems to be done either in house at Riot or at Fortiche Productions who did various previous music videos for them (not sure how it breaks down exactly, beyond that Fortiche definitely did the title sequence and some of the show animation is in their demo reel). whoever it is, they have a very strong nonphotorealistic shader pipeline that resembles recent trends in digital painting (strong rim lighting, fairly visible brushstrokes on surfaces).

so... it’s probably the first tv series to really bring that kind of high budget stylised videogame cutscene look to an animated series - not surprising since that look is very associated with League and Riot. i’d place it in a tradition with something like Legend of Korra (which it heavily resembles in writing) on the one hand and Star Wars The Clone Wars/Rebels on the other, though the visdev is considerably tighter than the starwars cartoons - very few sparse empty cgi sets, lots of nicely composed “looks like concept art” shots, very strong facial animation. this is definitely going to set a standard for what “expensive western CGI animation” is going to look like, and it’s cool that nonphotorealistic rendering is becoming increasingly popular.

overall though... it’s hard to get that excited because it’s kinda normcore lmao. like you can 100% tell it’s a spinoff of not just a game but a high budget modern MOBA; the character archetypes and writing beats are all pretty much “exactly what you would expect” given the premise. which isn’t necessarily an issue, like i’ve watched and enjoyed plenty of anime that throws a ton of visual flair at a conventional premise... but it feels like it’s so polished that the rough edges of personal touch that make something interesting have been sanded off along with the low budget CGI jank. which is also why I would compare it with Legend of Korra; it’s not just that they’re set in a city with a big class divide and a cool-but-scary police force and a 20s sort of visual style (Arcane is more Art Nouveau than Art Deco) but they both have that kind of “this story doesn’t really merit the animation effort you’re lavishing on it but that’s what capitalism will serve up for us” sorta feel to them!

one of the most interesting touches to me is the fact that the explosions, liquids - “effects animation” - are all clearly 2D, and made of very clean graphic shapes in a way that calls to mind animators such as Lightsoul. (it’s honestly so like his style that I wondered if he did it, but I couldn’t spot him on the credits). this added a ton of character. a slow motion fight scene with some deliciously squashy punch impacts also stood out choreography-wise. I was amused that they had Shohreh Aghdashloo’s extremely recognisable voice for the police chief, playing a character very similar to her role as Chrisjen Avasarala in The Expanse.

I feel like the premise has potential if they fully lean into the characters doing a terrorism (apparently where this is going), but I imagine it will back off to some Korra-style lib shit, because it’s the backstory of a mainstream videogame character and of course we surely can’t countenance blowing up fictional people in our fictional dystopia. that’s the thing i guess... I read V for Vendetta recently and you can really feel Moore’s anger at living through the Thatcher years, and I just don’t feel like this is going to have anything like that spark from 40 years ago, it’s just dabbling in a story about a revolution. but who knows. i’ll give it a chance!

#animation #arcane netflix

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kingstylesdaily · 3 years

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Paul Roberts: How he taught Harry Styles his gloom-busting Kindness moves

When the Harry Styles video for Treat People With Kindness was released it became an immediate hit. Its choreographer Paul Roberts had created dances for One Direction - though with 1D there was no Phoebe Waller-Bridge to consider. So how did Roberts combine the two stars' talents to create the energy-lift which people have been craving in the Covid gloom?

Styles' video for Treat People with Kindness came out on New Year's Day - though it was shot in London in February 2020.

Choreographer Roberts had worked often with Styles in the One Direction years. Roberts says the timing of the shoot, at the art deco Troxy in Stepney, east London, turned out to be fortuitous.

"We had a great time but we didn't know how lucky we were. Looking back it was about three weeks before the world started to burn. Maybe that's partly why people are loving it now - the video has such a carefree sense to it."

Roberts has had 20 years as one of the UK's most in-demand commercial choreographers. He created dances for the 2019 Spice World tour and has worked with everyone from Katy Perry to Sir Paul McCartney.

He devised work for the dance group BalletBoyz and, as well as stage work, he choreographed One Direction in videos such as Kiss You, Steal My Girl and Best Song Ever.

"So when Harry got in touch to say he wanted me for a new video it was a thrill. The only definite thing was it would be a song from the album Fine Line - but we didn't even know which song would be chosen."

With One Direction, Roberts spent six years working with a hugely successful boy band whose members insisted dance would never become a major part of the act.

'Waiting for 10 years'

Wasn't that a choreographer's nightmare?

"It was always really interesting working with One Direction. I knew very early on that there was a magic about them and I could see they had other skill-sets aside from being this very good-looking five-piece - and then four-piece - band.

"In personal moments you got to see them flourish. They'd mess around doing silly dance moves but I'd think, 'Actually if you wanted to dance really well you sure as hell could do it.'

"So when Harry contacted me and we spoke about doing a video with a lot of dance I was like, 'Well I've been waiting 10 years for this.'" Styles knew he wanted Phoebe Waller-Bridge to have an equal presence.

"I believe Harry went to see Phoebe in the West End when she had her success with Fleabag. They went out to dinner and got on really well. That's when Harry started to think how they could work together in some way."

Before shooting began there was a five-week rehearsal period - far more generous than most projects ever get. But a lot of the time Styles and Waller-Bridge weren't in the same room or indeed country.

"I was with Harry in a dance studio in London and we had all kinds of music to try out from modern alternative stuff to old school big band and Glenn Miller. We were exploring. Only on the third day did we begin to apply what we'd done specifically to the Treat People With Kindness track.

"Meanwhile Phoebe was in Canada working on the James Bond script. But fortunately I had a brilliant assistant on the project called Jared Hageman so Jared flew out to work with Phoebe. And eventually Harry needed to be in LA so I went there.

"He was amazingly devoted to the whole thing. He'd be shooting the Watermelon Sugar promo in Malibu and they'd wrap at 8pm but he'd get in a car and come to the studio and we'd rehearse moves until gone midnight."

Roberts says by then it was clear the choreography would at least nod to the Hollywood of an earlier age.

'Dance language'

"The directors Ben and Gabe Turner sent me a link to a black and white movie from 1943 called Stormy Weather. There is a justly famous sequence in it with the Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, called Jumpin' Jive.

"I think it's the greatest dance-sequence ever filmed and Gabe and Ben and Harry all wanted our video to have some of the same feel.

"I think in Harry's head he wanted to push himself to the absolute limit of what he was capable of. We were never talking about just an average soft-shoe shuffle.

"So the reality was that I and Jared would talk constantly and exchange material from thousands of miles part. And of course Phoebe and Harry would also pitch in ideas.

"We wanted to find a dance language that would take things as far as we could possibly go with Phoebe and Harry, without it becoming comedic.

"Actually my big worry was practical - that they'd both start out with massive energy but that as the weeks progressed you'd have these two incredibly busy people with no time for everything needed to make the project special. But neither would give up, not for a moment."

Nostalgia for better times

He says it was important the dancing had a contemporary edge as well. "Harry and Phoebe are modern artists and very intelligent. They're fashion forward-thinking.

"I find that once you've stopped giving artists their steps it's often quite nice to step back and just watch how they interpret the music. Sometimes little gems can be grabbed and put into the mix.

"It was discovered very early on that both Harry and Phoebe had huge potential. The delight came from their energy combined with the talent of the film-makers plus the extended period of time we had to rehearse.

"I work in a world where budgets have shrunk considerably so it was a big investment for managements and Harry's label."

Roberts remembers the two stars finally came together for little more than the last week of the project, including the shoot. But there was still time to bring in a ballet dancer to give guidance on "port de bras" - how to hold your shoulders or extend an arm gracefully.

"Harry and Phoebe are both decent and generous beings. So we all kept it fun, despite the blood, sweat and tears which had gone into the preparation.

"When finally we were together they could layer on little side-eyed glances or maybe some tiny movement of the face which the camera would pick up. Above all we wanted a sense of style [no pun intended] and panache."

He says the fact most of us feel a real lack of either style or panache in our lives has given Treat People With Kindness an impact as a video it might not otherwise have had.

"The whole thing has a nostalgia for a time where you could be in a club and socialise with friends with no social distancing. I think the chemistry Harry and Phoebe have together just oozes joy. And for most people joy is in short supply."

via BBC.com

#kingstylesdaily #Harry Styles #hs: mention #hs: news #hs: tpwk #January 2021

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hlupdate · 3 years

Link

Styles' video for Treat People with Kindness came out on New Year's Day - though it was shot in London in February 2020.

Choreographer Roberts had worked often with Styles in the One Direction years. Roberts says the timing of the shoot, at the art deco Troxy in Stepney, east London, turned out to be fortuitous.

He devised work for the dance group BalletBoyz and, as well as stage work, he choreographed One Direction in videos such as Kiss You, Steal My Girl and Best Song Ever.

With One Direction, Roberts spent six years working with a hugely successful boy band whose members insisted dance would never become a major part of the act.

'Waiting for 10 years'

Wasn't that a choreographer's nightmare?

"In personal moments you got to see them flourish. They'd mess around doing silly dance moves but I'd think, 'Actually if you wanted to dance really well you sure as hell could do it.'

Roberts says by then it was clear the choreography would at least nod to the Hollywood of an earlier age.

'Dance language'

"I think it's the greatest dance-sequence ever filmed and Gabe and Ben and Harry all wanted our video to have some of the same feel.

"I think in Harry's head he wanted to push himself to the absolute limit of what he was capable of. We were never talking about just an average soft-shoe shuffle.

"So the reality was that I and Jared would talk constantly and exchange material from thousands of miles part. And of course Phoebe and Harry would also pitch in ideas.

"We wanted to find a dance language that would take things as far as we could possibly go with Phoebe and Harry, without it becoming comedic.

Nostalgia for better times

He says it was important the dancing had a contemporary edge as well. "Harry and Phoebe are modern artists and very intelligent. They're fashion forward-thinking.

"I find that once you've stopped giving artists their steps it's often quite nice to step back and just watch how they interpret the music. Sometimes little gems can be grabbed and put into the mix.

"I work in a world where budgets have shrunk considerably so it was a big investment for managements and Harry's label."

"Harry and Phoebe are both decent and generous beings. So we all kept it fun, despite the blood, sweat and tears which had gone into the preparation.

He says the fact most of us feel a real lack of either style or panache in our lives has given Treat People With Kindness an impact as a video it might not otherwise have had.

#harry styles #tpwk #articles #210121

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alexseanchai · 3 years

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Fanfic 2020 in Review

I got tagged by @kasienda @noirshitsuji and @marvelousmsmol and I am tagging whoever wants to play!

1) List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

*filters own works to complete and updated in 2020*

1 - 20 of 57 Works by AlexSeanchai

nope. *adds filter to include only works of at least 1000 words*

unless otherwise indicated, these are all Miraculous Ladybug:

“don’t bake it lying down”, post-reveal Marichat vs Felix Graham de Vanily

“veracity”, canon divergence from “Ladybug” featuring Mister Bug and Verity Queen (so also Marichat, I guess)

“(no request is too extreme, if) your heart is in your dream”, in which Hawkmoth wins, for the thirty seconds or so before Emilie saves Ladybug and Chat Noir’s lives

“tell me you love me and make me believe it”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire ropes Ladybug into helping plan her civilian self’s escape slash social transition

“kingmaker, oathbreaker”, in which Hawkmoth wins and Emilie watches her son remove himself from the family

“stay and let me watch you break it down” (Twelve Dancing Princesses), a modern setting

“set a course for winds of fortune”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire has already escaped and Gabriel and Nathalie are trying to bring Gabriel’s son home

“we ground love in a hopeless place”, in which post-reveal Marinette’s attempt to remain resolutely not in love with her partner dissolves like sugar in coffee when they start a pun war

“ring the bells that still can ring”, in which Alya is deeply confused about why Adrien and Marinette are planning a wedding when last night both were single

“burning wishes at both ends (the cold wind and long loud wail remix)”, in which Gabriel made a monkey’s paw wish and Emilie makes another

“words cannot espresso”, in which Marinette’s OC roommate is justifiably worried for Marinette’s safety, and meanwhile Adrien takes care of Marinette

“the compromise of truth” (the chronologically second-earliest part posted to date of nine lives, snake’s eyes), in which Adrien tells his friends how he won some freedom and respect from his father

“At The Present Time”, the Ladrien/Ladynoir marriage proposal follow-up to @art-deco-shrimp‘s “Your Presents Required”

“j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”, in which the events of canon must just have been a series of dream sequences, Marinette and Adrien both think, until they both arrive at Chloe’s Halloween masquerade dressed as themselves from the dreams

2) Number of words written:

ahahaha no. I am not counting all my scattered fic drafts and trying to figure out what I did and didn’t write in 2020. I refuse.

AO3 says I posted 162K in 2020. it is counting all of keeps you guessing (like any real love), which (a) I started posting in 2019 (b) is co-written by @galahadwilder; it is counting all of my meta snippets collection, much of which was written in 2019; it is counting the Vimeo passwords for my vids. but I probably cleared 150K by a safe margin.

3) Your most popular fic:

“veracity” has a four-digit kudos count, wow, when’d that happen? this is also the 2020 work with the most hits and the most bookmarks, but “tell me you love me” has four-thirds as many comments as its nearest competitor.

4) Your personal fav:

“cannot break us, not with a thousand swords”, no question about it. this is the one in which Ladybug proposes marriage to Chat Noir via Princess Bride meme on Tumblr. (if you intend to download the work or otherwise to consume it with creator style off, you want the accessible version instead of the primary version.)

5) Your fav scene:

aaaaaaaaa

—okay so this is cheating and I know it, since Uncertain Humors (the one where Marinette/Adrien is both Orpheus/Eurydice and Theseus/Ariadne) is nowhere near finished, never mind posted (maybe I'll get “Sanguine” done to post on my birthday?)

but it is still my favorite of the year. as you might guess from that description of the story, this scene has content notes for character death:

Hell is a maze. Marinette walks.

This acrid passage has little to see but damp stone, seeming blood-stained in the dim carmine light. At about the height of her heart, the faintly glowing thread cuts through the not-clammy air; it ought to be pulsing at the same rate as the heart it's bound to. She might be able to see her own reflection if she looked down at the open sewage pipe, or at one of the puddles that now and again she splashes through, dampening the canvas of her shoes. She might see reflected what's behind her.

She remembers Mme. Mendeleiev lecturing on human physiology. In healthy humans old enough to have learned how, urination is a voluntary action: one may not know which muscles one tenses and relaxes in order to do so, and probably isn't paying attention to those details when one is doing, but one has conscious control over whether one does. Usually. Stress and anxiety mean some people are unable to relax the relevant sphincter muscle and others are unable to stop themselves. It's voluntary for cats, too: it's one way they mark their territories. Cat-boys have other ways.

There is a moment in every human life when all one's muscles relax at once. Some Parisians have had several such moments.

The thread is braided with itself around her left fourth finger, rows of tiny red half-hitch knots, and falls loosely over the back of her hand to loop twice around her wrist. She holds it wrapped between the fingers of her right hand to keep it at a constant tension, as though knitting with this insubstantial thread, so fragile for something two (two dozen, two million) lives hang from—too thin to sew with, no thicker than one strand of his hair. As she walks, she winds it around and around and around her wrist.

Between her ring finger and her right hand, it loops twice.

Marinette's shoe lands in a puddle she didn't see. The rainwater splashes soundlessly onto her bare ankle and on the stone.

(With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal— It's a very loud song.)

She walks on.

6) A fic or scene that challenged you:

where the firelight fades, no contest. this is the second story I’ve ever been able to stick with more than a couple hundred words past the 20K mark, but it’s easily the twentieth novel-length I’ve begun. (though also, you know that kedreeva post? well, 90K later, I’m less than 15K from completing this 10K fic! I think.) and I have been learning so much about long-form fiction.

there has also been a lot of weeping and tearing my hair. case in point: I just trashed the chapter 15 draft because I figured out the reason it wasn’t going anywhere! I can probably keep the first few hundred words of that draft without any editing, and another few hundred with some revision...

7) A line of writing you’re proud of:

from “j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”:

Everything about their partnership is fragments of sentences in the dream diary Adrien writes in ultraviolet pen. Disjointed flickers of thought even when examined under the black light he hides in the snack cabinet under packets of Super Yoyo sandwich cookies and bags of cheesy Monster Munch potato chips and boxes of petit écolier butter cookies (chocolat noir)—none of which explains the gym-socks smell. All fleeting incoherent flashes, invisible between the mundane lines of La Modification shelved at his bedside between Leroux and Dumas. None of it is solid. Adrien has more proof his room's haunted.

okay let me break this down for you!

* Adrien started a dream diary to make sense of the memories

* in invisible ink, in a book that (according to Wikipedia) is thematically appropriate and won’t (if Gabriel sees it) look like anything other than Adrien developing an interest in French literature

* shelved between Phantom of the Opera and The Three Musketeers

* look I didn’t come up with the name “black light”

* or “chocolat noir” for what English speakers call “dark chocolate”, or “petit écolier” (that is, “little schoolboy”) for that sort of butter cookie

* also not my fault that “chocolat noir” sounds remarkably like “Chat Noir”, which, attentive readers may have noticed, is not a name that appears in the story after the header and before Miraculous Cure

* I found the website of a store in Boston, Massachusetts that caters to French expats, and the yo-yo cookies and the monster chips were right there in the photos, y’all

* the snack stash and the black light live in the cabinet where, in canon, the Camembert lives; yes, that cheese smells in the real world like gym socks

* this story’s akuma was not able to affect anything but squishy human memory: nobody affected remembers anything about Ladybug or Chat Noir or Hawkmoth, not in any solid way, not even when they read news articles about the subject, and this includes Marinette and Adrien not being able to see or hear or remember their own kwamis—but you know what Adrien’s Insta post about his poltergeist and Adrien’s Insta post with the floating sock don’t show and don’t explicitly refer to?

* I love this paragraph so much (my housemates may have been lovingly mocking me over it)

8) A comment that touched you:

there are people (y’all know who you are) who said y’all are studying my style. I ded of blush.

9) Something that inspired your writing:

by volume of fic drafts that can be blamed on any particular person, the winner is probably @norakwami

10) Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

so that longest-story-ever-written record I set in 2007 with the 89.5K story that, till where the firelight fades, was the only story I’d gotten much past 20K?

I broke that fucking record!

and then I deleted the draft of firelight chapter 15 😭

11) Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I’m starting work on a fantasy novel, a Sleeping Beauty retelling in which I explore (among other things) the economic consequences of the king’s ordering all the spinning wheels burned, and I want to make significant progress on that. and I want to not make my hands any worse; I kind of need those!

(breaking news alert: bodies fucking suck. so does giving yourself repetitive stress injuries in doing one and a half to two people’s worth of work for an organization that was never ever going to pay you more than one person’s worth of pay.)

#by alexseanchai #miraculous ladybug #tag game

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buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

Text

Tears In The Rain

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe…All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

-- Blade Runner (David Peebles & Rutger Hauer)

The radar screen manufacturers -- RCA, GE, and others -- started jonesin’ for cash when the end of WWII dried up all that sweat & easy military materiel money.

Commercial consumer television existed before WWII in England, the UK, and Germany but it was a super-expensive technology confined to a few very wealthy homes in a few select markets or in Germany’s case, public venues such as beer halls.

Radar screens and TV tubes were basically different applications of the same thing, so the radar tube manufacturers shifted their production to TV sets pitched to post-war consumers as the must-have status symbol.

Problem: Said TV sets needed something to show and while there was live national network and local programing, most early stations filled their air time with old movies / cartoons / serials / comedy shorts.

That was the cultural gestalt I and other boomers grew up in during the 1950s, an era when much of the on air media dated back to the 1930s.

I’ve always been more culturally observant and curious than others in my generational cohort, and while they blandly / blindly watched Bugs Bunny and Popeye and Betty Boop and Our Gang, I was asking my parents and grandmother and aunt about the odd details I saw in old media (it didn’t hurt that we had a beautiful art deco edition of Collier’s Encyclopedia that my grandparents acquired in the 1920s in the house as well).

As a result I knew far more about the Depression and Prohibition and war rationing and other major cultural events and touchstones prior to our generation than did most other boomers.

When our history and social studies textbooks finally introduced these topics in junior high and high school, I was already intimately familiar with them.

As a result, I fell in love with the Marx Brothers and continue to love them to this day.

And while I watched and re-watched The Three Stooges, once I discovered Laurel and Hardy I left Larry, Moe, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe behind.

But the thing is, to fully understand and appreciate and know and love the Marx Brothers, you have to understand the pop culture of their era.

The same applies -- to a lesser degree -- to Laurel and Hardy.

The key difference is that The Three Stooges are pure physical mayhem: There is nothing to understand.

They are imbeciles who inflict pain on themselves and one another, and while far, far inferior to Groucho / Harpo / Chico or Stan & Ollie, they will outlast them.

Anybody from any era or any culture can access The Three Stooges, but if you don’t understand a “gat” (short for gatling gun) is 1930s slang for an automatic pistol, then Groucho’s line upon seeing a automatic in a drawer with a pair of derringers -- “This gat’s had gittens” -- is absolute gibberish.

Likewise Laurel and hardy require some understanding of how American cultural values functioned in the 1920s and 30s; if you don’t get that, a lot of their humor is lost.

Our Gang / Little Rascals ages better because kids are kids and much of what they do is universal.

But even there much of their references have to do with the Depression or WWII rationing and scrap drives and if you don’t grasp that then those jokes zoom past you.

The situation isn’t confined to pre-WWII media, either.

The Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy might possibly be recognized by the current generation as something their parents and grandparents watched, but the Ritz Brothers are forgotten by all except those who specialize in comedy / pop culture history. Wheeler & Woolsey are even more obscure, and Olsen & Johnson obscurer still, and if you’ve ever heard of Lum & Abner my hat’s off to you.

And holy shamolley, those are just the comedians we’re talking about. There’s a whole universe of pop culture lost as fans of old B-Westerns die off, not to mention minor pop stars of music and small movies in the 1930s / 40s / 50s.

Silent movies have virtually disappeared from pop culture today; they are things of the past, historical artefacts.

Thanks to the Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg and Comic Book + and Digital Comics Museum and other sites, literally tens of thousands of hours of old radio shows and countless pulp magazines and comic books and other media are available, but who accesses them today except the truly die-hard genre fans or the pop culture historians?

Why morn their passing?

As Theodore Sturgeon famously observed, isn’t 90% of everything crap?

Yes, it is.

But that doesn’t make it any less of the cultural gestalt, the zeitgeist of the era than the few timeless gems that shine through.

. . .

As pop culture historian Jaime Weinman points out, the boomer generation -- the late 1940s to early 1960s -- offered a particularly fallow time for pop culture.

We enjoyed access to previous generations of pop culture, brought to us in curated form. Even if those curators were costumed local cartoon show and horror movie hosts, we got at least some understanding of what led up to our own generation.

Weinman observes that because of technical broadcast reasons, only a few avenues fell open to new programming -- and that new programming could be rerun again and again to fill in gaps in local stations’ air time.

It created a generation with remarkably deep pop culture roots, even if relative few members of that generation were aware of them.

We were, to some degree or another, aware of a vast library of older pop culture media and icons and idioms.

Ironically, this began changing in the late 1960s, slowly at first, but coming full flower in the mid-1970s as music cassette recordings allowed us to create our own playlists off radio shows and record players, and cable TV stopped being something for the hinterlands and started penetrating urban markets, thus literally uniting the country with first dozens then hundreds and a virtually infinite number of channels and streaming options.

But the real nail in the golden age of pop culture’s coffin was the introduction of home TV recordings and time shifting, meaning we no longer needed to wait for curated programing but could watch what we wanted when we wanted.

Despite a wider range of options, older material became less and less popular, and the lack of curation is a big part of that.

With nobody to supply some sort of context -- even goofy horror host context -- older examples of pop culture became less accessible.

The newer generations look less to the past, more to the future.

. . .

As I’ve written before, endings fascinate me.

Right now I’m seeing a generational shift with the boomer generation’s pop culture rapidly fading to be replaced by Generation Z and the generations to follow them.

I look at the boomer era and wonder how much will survive.

Very little, I’m afraid.

And that includes losing some of the best our era had to offer.

For example, how many people today know of The Firesign Theatre?

In the mid-1960s through the early 1970s, they performed absolutely brilliant satirical comedy on radio and recordings. Their album Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers received a Hugo nomination for best sci-fi drama presentation of 1970.

I still laugh when I hear their recordings -- but I laugh because I lived in that era.

Their humor relies heavily on topical subjects and the counter culture of the late 1960s-70s. They were very much a Southern California phenomenon…and thanks to radio and TV and movies of that era, that culture permeated the entire country.

But that era is gone, and now when I listen to them I laugh, but to use a specific example I laugh because I know who Ralph Williams was and what he meant to Southern California pop culture in that time.

You don’t get that, you don’t get the joke, and the brilliance of The Firesign Theatre’s humor is lost.

Like tears in the rain.

. . .

Cheech y Chong will survive, because like The Three Stooges, their appeal lies in their basic stupidity.

True, many of their routines make contemporary pop culture references, but material like “Dave’s Not Here” is timeless.

You don’t even have to get the drug references to find it hilarious.

Conversely, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers will fade.

As characters, they are of a particular time and place: Hippie dippie San Francisco.

They can’t survive transplantation, as was demonstrated in their last few stories.

Now there’s an animated series that brings them from the swinging 60s to to Trump 20s and it just doesn’t work.

The creators Don’t Get The Joke.

I don’t blame them for failing to get the joke, but updating the Freak Bros. would be like updating the Marx Brothers.

It can be done, but only badly.

. . .

Music will always have musicians and buffs who will track every obscure item they can find, but a lot of the best and most innovative work will be forgotten by mainstream culture.

This is because in many case, the best musicians are way ahead of the rest of their field, and their innovations are only made palatable by others who take them up and reinterpret them in a way to make them accessible to contemporary audiences.

Frank Zappa, as much as I personally love him as a cultural icon, will fade fast after the last boomer dies.

Basically, he didn’t make singable music.

There are a lot of brilliant innovations in his work, but his lyrics are so idiosyncratic as to be impossible to cover.

That, and a lot of his lyrics and subject matter would not be comfortably acceptable today.

Yeah, when he did it he was trying to make a satirical point, but when modern audiences hear it, they don’t hear the sharp commentary on the culture of his time, they hear songs that seem to glorify sexual violence and racial bigotry.

Most of the people who decry so-called “cancel culture” today are hypocrites trying to justify their own offenses, but there will be creators and components of pop culture who simply aren’t going to make the cut.

I can show you on paper why radio’s Amos And Andy was a brilliantly written show.

You’re not going to get modern audiences to accept white actors doing blackface…or black voice.

Zappa is acceptable today because there are still enough people who get the joke.

When we’re gone, so are most of his songs (his instrumentals hopefully will live on).

. . .

Quentin Tarantino’s star is already starting to set.

His copious dropping of the n-bomb seemed daring and edgy in the early to mid-90s now seems boorish and tiresome.

People don’t want to listen to that, and how can you make them watch what they don’t want to watch?

The Hateful Eight might endure since it gives a sorta context for its racial animosity, ditto Django Unchained, but even they will be problematic due to Tarantino’s Red Apple universe -- a world similar enough to ours to be mistaken for it at first glance but ultimately completely different.

Inglorious Basterds will ultimately fail the history smell test by audiences who will perceive it as wildly inaccurate.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood probably has the least problematic elements in it, but it too is so firmly set in a specific time and place that only those who lived it can truly appreciate it.

When we’re gone, who can follow the pop culture breadcrumbs that lead us through the movie?

Tarantino is a brilliant writer / director, and film students in the know will study his movies to see how he pulled them off…

…but they’re going to move far past him.

(He may enjoy a revival 50 years from now, the way certain film makers get rediscovered a half century after their deaths. If so, it will be by people able to see past the pop culture references to the real story beneath.)

. . .

Roger Corman and other exploitation film makers aren’t going to as welcomed once the boomer generation departs.

Boomers see them as transgressive artists, tweaking the nose of so-called respectable society.

New generations will see they as creeps who exploited violence and sexism.

(And we shouldn’t mourn its loss; most of it is soft-core pornography. But there were a few shining moments that shine only if you know the context, and that is fading fast.)

. . .

Superheroes probably won’t die out just as Westerns never completely died out, but like Westerns their audience is rooted in a very particular time and place.

I mentioned B-Westerns earlier; once upon a time there were literally dozens of B-Western stars, each with their own face base and merchandising and movies…

…and now there are no more B-Westerns.

We remember Roy Rogers because he’s culturally referenced elsewhere (and Gene Autry because he left a great big museum in his name).

B-Westerns’ success was based on fulfilling audience expectations, essentially giving the same thing they’d seen before, only slightly different.

Superheroes have degenerated into that.

In their current form, they’re deconstructions based on what a previous generation’s pop culture produced.

The superhero market has been supersaturated in the past and collapsed before.

This time when it collapses it will take along countless near-identical characters and storylines.

What emerges from it will be as different from the current iteration of superheroes as The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly was from My Pal Trigger.

. . .

Likewise, if James Bond is to survive, there will be a drastic retooling of the property.

It is possible; Sherlock Holmes has been retooled often.

The original Connery Bonds, the ones we consider to be “iconic” will eventually be viewed as an embarrassment.

The world and its attitudes are changing, and while there will always be room for heroes, audiences will be a bit more discerning about which heroes they want.

The attitudes of the original Bonds will not fly with future generations.

. . .

Finally, one prospect that will make it into the future, though not necessarily on its own strengths, no matter how significant they are.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has skewered pop culture via bad movies since 1988.

Supported by a legion of fans, there are several books and websites that annotate all the references found in the various MST3K series.

Scholars 500 years in the future will thank these fans and researchers for their efforts.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its various annotated spinoffs will be the Rosetta stone of 20th century pop culture.

It will provide a context to make the jokes understandable, but more importantly than that, it will open a window into what people were thinking and feeling in the last decade of the 20th century.

It and the films it spoofed will be studied with near Talmudic intensity (you think I jest; I do not). They’ll provide insight that will help future generations and cultures understand this one.

#Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #Wheeler and Woolsey #Lum And Abner #The Ritz Brothers #The Firesign Theatre #The Marx Brothers #Laurel And Hardy #Frank Zappa #Olsen And Johnson #Our Gang #Little Rascals #The Three Stooges #Groucho Marx #Harpo Marx #Chico Marx #Stan Laurel #Oliver Hardy

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barbirth9 · 3 years

Text

builders 71

Uk Residence Building.

Content

Orangery Expansion.

Size Of Loft Conversion

Links With Industry.

Achieving Program House of the Year in the Scottish House Honors 2015 and also Best Renovation/Conversion in The Herald Residential Or Commercial Property Awards for Scotland 2017. Russ's monitoring of the task as well as his team was really impressive. The various people with their very own specialisms constantly arrived as set up, as well as the quality of their work was very high undoubtedly. Homebuilding & Renovating magazine delivers a plethora of information and also specialist viewpoints from the world of residence enhancement, in addition to inspiring completed tasks to motivate you to go out there and also finish up on your desire house. Whether you're remodeling, expanding, transforming or developing your own residence from scratch, you'll be engrossed with the stunning suggestions inside this publication.

Baker Estates was very applauded in the Tiny housebuilder of the year group and also was victor of the very best design-- 3 floors or fewer classification for Great Court Ranch in Totnes. CALA Evans won Ideal layout-- 4 storeys or more for The Crescent at Donaldson's in Edinburgh.

Orangery Extension.

It is quite hard to see as a result of the split levels, however I would certainly not intend to bring the pipeline back into the building if preventable. If a professional does a bad work or does not do what you concurred, you must be entitled to get it fixed or get some money back. Discover what you can do regarding troubles with structure work, enhancing and residence repair work. You should also check with your neighborhood council before doing work on your residence if it remains in a conservation area.

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You can be comfy in the expertise that our Wee Houses are completely compliant with the most recent structure policies. As soon as your home has been constructed you can assert back BARREL on several of the materials you bought. Once you prepare to start developing your home you should choose that'll construct it for you. This can be a solitary structure company or a number of various contractors, or you could choose to do some of the structure yourself.

Size Of Loft Space Conversion

The building of any kind of new homes will certainly need to think about all existing access setups. We will also aim to enhance the landscape design and also environment of the estate, consisting of roadways, trees as well as the alley. It is important that new residences will certainly bring larger benefits to existing homeowners.

Medium housebuilder winner Cavanna was very commended in the Best layout-- 3 storeys or less group for Primrose Hill established on a hill managing scenic views of Torquay and Torbay. And also it was a finalist in the very same category for Yarners Mill in Dartington as well as a finalist in the Training classification for its Instruction programme. Various other usual costs involve demolition or waste clearance from the site, which can set you back numerous thousand pounds, as well as landscaping costs. This area breaks down different elements of the build and also their details prices.

Links With Sector.

For even more details on details costs for specific components of the build, have a look at our particular price guides. The standards for approval of money will cover areas such as worth for money, regional assistance as well as timescale. Economic sector companies have the ability to bid for the financing to develop new houses that are budget friendly rented out houses, shared possession or rent-to-buy residences. When we're happy with the strategies, we'll send a preparation application to the neighborhood preparation authority like any various other programmer. What's even more, we plan to supply 2,000 new council homes over the following 5 years by redeveloping council-owned websites.

What adds more value loft or extension?

Extending your home or adding a loft conversion can add more than £42,000 to the value of an average property, while an extra bathroom could boost its worth by nearly £10,000, a report has found. A home extension or loft conversion could increase a property's worth by about 22%, or £42,700.

Studies of the broader membership have actually been undertaken to educate this work and also we are seeking to develop a thorough plan system made to boost the supply of retirement real estate. One of HBF's primary focusses over recent years has actually gotten on SME builders. If we are to increase output further SME builders need to be able to play their component. Apprehending as well as reversing the 80% decline in the number of small builders that has taken place because the late 1980s would certainly go some means to fulfilling the Federal government's real estate supply goals. We preserve solid relationships with the print and program media to make certain that the home building market is robustly stood for. We consistently offer specialist analysis for all prominent news and also existing affairs programmes on radio and also television as well as add posts to a series of magazines.

Aid To Purchase (scotland) Smaller Developers New Construct System.

Creating a collection of 2, 3 and also 4-bedroom homes, creating a combined period advancement that will bring 58 homes to the open market along with 20 brand-new cost effective houses and sustaining a team of local students. Changing the previous site of Hawkhead Hospital into Hawkhead Town, a property community bringing together recovered Art Deco structures as well as new houses.

pristinebuild building services woburn sands free trial in England can continue to be open under the new Covid-19 restrictions, with the sector obtaining Legislative recognition, in addition to other essential fields, to remain to operate.

The impact of a prospective no deal Brexit will certainly bring far-reaching consequences for the building industry.

" We have actually elevated this issue with Government as well as inquired about the readiness of ports and also custom-mades, as we head into Brexit.

BEIS has actually communicated these discussions to the key appropriate Departments, consisting of the Department of Transportation, which is checking the problem and also raising their involvement with the delivery industry.

The BMF' https://www.pristinebuild.co.uk/olney/builders/uk/ has been backed by the Building Management Council, which has actually created a Building and construction Industry Job Pressure to give a focal point for co-ordinating the sector's action to the Covid-19 situation.

" There seems a boosting concern obtaining these products via ports, with some ships being quit from touchdown as well as sent back to Rotterdam.

If you don't make use of a contractor signed up with a qualified individual system you'll need to submit a structure notification or a full plans application to the Structure Control Body. You also need to pay a charge for them to find and also examine the job you have actually carried out. Plumbing professionals, electrical contractors and also various other traders can still concern your house to accomplish repair work - as long as they do not have any type of signs of coronavirus. They must try to remain 2 metres far from you as well as stay clear of any kind of vulnerable people. Find out what a house built to the HQM standard can use you in regards to cost financial savings, health and also well-being benefits and also long-term strength against flooding and various other climate adjustment effects. Find out why developers, house builders and also RSLs are picking to back HQM and what it can offer you. The requirement for quality and sustainable new homes in England, Scotland, and also Wales, has been upgraded with significant brand-new enhancements.

Give & Rock Buys Crs Developing Materials.

Please see our short video clip listed below to get more information about our council home building programme and how we are seeking advice from homeowners. which will certainly comment on emerging propositions and also top quality requirements for brand-new council housing.

#builders near me #builders in london #find a builder #trusted builders #builders merchants near me #reputable builders near me #general builders near me #trusted builders near me #local builders near me #building contractors near me #small builders near me #builders near me checkatrade #recommended local builders #checkatrade builders #local builders merchants

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radhakawaii · 5 years

Text

Guys it's almost the 20s now can we Please bring art deco back

#caffeinated textposts #plis #art deco #architecture #arch shit #art shit #art #this is just a shitpost but id love to have deco back

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cowgirliee · 4 years

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Since it the 20s again can we bring back Art Deco

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brynandchristopher · 4 years

Text

New decade, new adventure

Happy New Year!!

I hope you have all had a wonderful celebration of the end of the year and are ready to start this new one. As they say, new decade, new me. We are very excited for what this year will bring! Our outdoor adventuring in New Zealand is about to really kick into gear and our travel prospects in Australia and elsewhere later this year are bringing us great joy and anticipation! :)

Since our last post we spent a couple of days in Tauranga posted up on the beach. We had a lovely camp spot and made the most of our proximity to the ocean! I was tempted to go buy a cheap surfboard, but I think that endeavor will have to wait until Australia. From Tauranga we drove southwest into Te Urewera National Park towards the start of our first Great Walk around Lake Waikaremoana. We spent a night deep out in the woods all by ourselves- it was a bit eerie to be all alone but it was the first campsite we’ve had all to ourselves and the solitude was quite welcome. We made one of the best meals of our trip that night - we marinated Tempeh (a soybean curd from Indonesia that we fell in love with while living in Bali) in olive and sesame oil, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, chili paste and then fried it up in sesame oil. We served it over a highly spiced mix of brown lentils and brown rice. It was a good load-up on nutrients for our 4-day trek we started the next day.

We drove about 20 minutes the following morning to the trailhead on definitely the worst road I’ve driven on in a car in my life, but Sweetie managed swimmingly. We had a bit of difficulty finding the trailhead and when we did we were bit confused by there being only 1 other car parked there, nonetheless we had found the start and headed off. About halfway through our first day we got to one of the backcountry huts where we took lunch and talked to some of the other trekkers. We quickly figured out why there were no other cars, because nearly everyone was doing the trek in the other direction, so they had parked at the other trailhead. This backcountry hut was right on the water and quite a few of the trekkers there were waiting for water taxis to take them across the lake back to their cars. A couple approached us, thinking we were in that same boat, and asked if there was space for two more in our taxi. We explained we weren’t taking one and they were bummed, as they were a bit stranded and worried about how they would get back. We were setting off to leave when an idea struck me, albeit one that required quite a bit of faith in two strangers we had just met. Our original plan was to hitchhike back to our car when we had finished the hike, and while we probably would’ve been able to do this, it was a bit worrisome that we might be stranded as well. So we decided to ask this couple if they wanted to finish the hike out and drive our car back to their car. They were a bit shocked at the suggestion but happily accepted as it saved them a pretty major headache and both of us a lot of time - the other people around eavesdropping on the exchange all laughed at the audacity of our proposal. So we trusted in our new friends from the Czech Republic and kept on walking. We finished the 7.3 mile first day of our trek at the Waiharuru hut/campsite - it was right on the water and we immediately hopped into the lake for a swim. We had planned on camping that night, but while swimming a couple of people told us there were a dozen or so empty bunks if we fancied not setting up the tent, so we opted for the extra warmth and slept in the hut that night. We ate a lovely dinner of lentils and couscous with salt and chili flakes, played cards, read our books and hit the hay.

The next day was our longest of the trip at around 9.5 miles. We woke up and ate our oatmeal and set off. Despite being the longest, it was the easiest terrain of the trip. It was all pretty flat and skirted the lakeside the entire time. Being along the lake was really cool as we were able to see flocks of black swans with bright red beaks most of the way. This lake was a sanctuary for a lot of water birds as it was incredibly quiet and remote. The lake was massive and beautiful with dozens of really cool little coves that back home would have had hundreds of boats on it, but we saw no more than 10 the entire trip. We finished our second day of hiking, and our final day of the year at Korokoro Campsite. We got there before most other hikers and got the best secluded spot a short walk into the trees. There was a nice small field and a little shelter to cook under, as well as a tiny beach you could swim off. We went swimming again, although a bit warily as there were a few swans feeding nearby and they can be quite territorial. We had no problems with the birds and gave ourselves a nice scrub to get the day’s sweat and dirt off and laid out in the field to dry off. A bit later on a few more trekkers showed up, as well as two boats that set up a luxurious camp near the shore. Being New Year’s Eve, I had carried a bottle of champagne out on the trail - I went to chill it in the water and the boat campers laughed at my commitment to the holiday and offered to chill it in their cooler. We never figured out exactly who it was but the guy who I gave the bottle to chill was apparently a really famous athlete from New Zealand - we overheard some Kiwi’s talking about how they recognized him, we think he played rugby but weren’t totally sure. There were a dozen or so trekkers at camp so we figured there would be a small New Year’s contingent staying up but everyone except for Bryn and I were in their tents by 9:30. We made more couscous and lentils, and added some instant rice to mix things up along with our champagne and had a lovely New Year’s dinner. A bit different than our 4-course meal and wine pairing we had two years ago but it was actually really nice to just chill out in the woods. We exhaustedly played cards until midnight, rang in the New Year, and were asleep by 12:10.

Our next day was undoubtedly the hardest. We began by doing a 2 mile side-jaunt to Korokoro Waterfall which was probably around 50 feet and absolutely beautiful. We continued on for a couple of miles around the lake before eventually leaving the waterside for good where we began a grueling 5 mile uphill. We gained around 3000 feet of elevation as we made our way up quite a few stair ladders and tree root systems. It was very tiring and particularly tough on Bryn, who had developed some gnarly blisters at this point, but we listened to a couple podcasts and took lots of breaks and persevered! And we were well rewarded, as we reached the top we got the first real views of the hike. We were treated to some beautiful panorama views and relished in the hard work we had done in getting there. We finally made it up to the Panekiri hut where we luckily grabbed the last two bunks next to each other. We were starving so we made an early dinner of rice, couscous, and sardines. It was the first time I’ve ever eaten sardines and while I didn’t hate them, I probably won’t be choosing to eat them again anytime soon - all the same, a nutrient starved body makes most things very edible. We went to bed early so we could get up for sunrise the next day.

Sunrise wasn’t all that spectacular to be honest. The view was mostly blocked by trees and it was very hazy outside as winds had blown smoke over from the fires in Australia. But it’s always nice to be up really early in the morning and we ate our final breakfast of oatmeal with all our leftover trail mix stirred in and set off. Our last day was a breeze, 6.5 miles of all downhill, we were treated to the best views of the whole trek on our final day and were a bit smug thinking ourselves lucky for doing the trek backwards. We could see the entirety of the lake and its wild jagged shape and had our final granola bars setting atop the lookout called Bald Knob. We sauntered down the hill at a frenetic pace, ready to be done, and made it to the trailhead. To our great relief Sweetie was waiting for us in perfect, albeit very dirty, condition - the couple left us a lovely thank you note and a big pile of candy and we were incredibly happy we had made that call and didn’t have to hitchhike on a remote road for the rest of the day. We set off further southwest to the coast where we have been the last couple of days. We are currently staying in Napier, a lovely coastal town that boast an affinity for Art Deco and the heartland of New Zealand's wine country. We treated ourselves to hot showers at a local gym for 3$, got a much needed carwash, and got a pizza for lunch. We pulled up to a parking lot on the beach to camp for the night, and to our surprise the van next door belonged to the Czech couple!! We talked to them a little while and made pasta and soy-meatballs for dinner.

We will be here for a couple more days, camping on the beach, hitting up the local farmers market and a few shops before heading to the town of Rotorura to meet up with an old friend of ours from Bali who lives here now. In Rotorua we will be going whitewater rafting and exploring the plentiful hot springs around town before starting our second Great Walk in about a weeks time! We start the Tongariro Circuit on January 9th and will post our next update after we finish that tramp (NZ’s word for trek).

Our best,

Christopher and Bryn

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realitv · 5 years

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EPISODE SIX REWRITES: DONAR THE GREAT.

NOTE: The N*zis will hereby be a local mob. It’s the fucking 20s. I don’t know why they did that. I don’t want to know why they did that. I’m not keeping that in and I’m not acknowledging that as anything more than a shitty, awful fucking choice that really had no business being in there. There’s a lot to unpack in that, and none of it is good. The odd subplot of Technical B.oy recruiting Columbia, Actual Propaganda Creature, was pretty clearly written with Media in mind. Columbia, personification of the USA, was historically a pretty strong propaganda tool and now currently survives via Columbia pictures. Media really did get Columbia, huh. Technical B.oy should have been recruiting Vulcan, Hadúr, Luchtaine et cetera for technology and weaponry purposes during the war. It literally felt like the writers wrote this with Media in mind, and then realised they’d overwritten them. 🤷 Obviously y'all don’t have to go along with this specifically but I say DEATH OF THE SHOW, DEATH OF THE AUTHOR BAY-BEE!

IT’S A SEEDY, SMOKEY THEATRE: a hallowed hall where patrons dress up, dress down in ERMINE AND PEARLS to forget their troubles for the night, to believe in something bigger and better than they are. Art deco gilt reads AMERICA: 1929; a world on edge, a tipping point. A bullshit, razzle dazzle show that’s rehearsed and played to death to an audience that adores CHEAP THRILLS. No soul; just some sort of temple to the GLORY DAYS that were long since dead and gone. Applause, please! They’ve been watching. Of course they’ve been watching. Centre stage in a plush booth that reeks of cigarette smoke; the static always comes with them. Radio white noise and the snippets of talk shows filtering through the big jazz band and it crackles within the ears of patrons. Reminds them, tells them: GO HOME. SIT DOWN. LISTEN. LISTEN TO ME. That little brown box with the glowing little dials; the voice America woke up to. They’ve been watching for a while now; a regular devotee from the big leagues come to bless them with their appearance, their presence; people are drawn to them like flies to honey and when they applaud, when they smile, the theatre does too; rows and rows of teeth on display and Wednesday has the nerve to appear with a drink in his hand. IT’S ON THE HOUSE. “And if I said I don’t want it, honey?” ALL THE DRAMA OF A TALK SHOW HOST! Accented syllables and vowels drawling into the beginnings of a Transatlantic accent. The Mass Media is RADIANT; glowing; spotlights upon that bleached head of perfect curls and it lights up their face; the beginnings of wires and mainframes only just starting to grow through flesh and ink. I GIVE IT AS A GIFT TO YOU. “And I said I don’t want it. See now, I don’t much approve of you and your ilk taking up space in my domain like this.” Another drag from their cigarette. Smoke spiralling into Wednesday’s face and when they laugh, the room fills with the grainy sounds of a radio jingle. “Using my voice like that! Naughty, naughty. IT IS NOT MEANT FOR YOU.” The smile fades, melts from their expression and it leaves them frigid, leaves them cold and sure. Wednesday’s one good eye burns. “I AM THE MESSAGE. The message is the future. I am not for you.” NOW, NOW, MY DEAR. YOU FORGET, WE DID NOT NEED YOU BEFORE. WE DO NOT NEED YOU NOW. THE PEOPLE WILL FORGET. THE PEOPLE WILL MOVE ON, AND YOU WILL BE OBSOLETE. Forgotten. THERE’S NO NEED TO GET ANGRY. “I was there when they wrote your stories into the Edda, when they carved your image into stone. I was there for a great many things, Al. And now, you are on my stage, using my voice. Maybe I’ll stretch my legs, and go see The Law. Tip him off, since this place just ain’t up to snuff. Or, I let you talk: I’ll take my payment later. Do we have a contract?” The white noise presses in; their eyes meet, a steady beat of silence before he nods. WE HAVE A COMPACT.

CUT BACK TO PRESENT DAY BLACK BRIAR: The World and GENERAL ORGANA at the War Table, the right hand pushing pieces across the map. THE WAR HAS STARTED. World’s voice echoes; General Organa pausing in their ministrations to cast plasma gaze to them. “And no one has realised it. A train crash in Chicago.” A piece moves across the board. “An armed robbery in Rhode Island.” Another. “Poisoned lobster in Nashville.” Eyes meet. They mirror each other; glance for glance, smile for smile; Leia leans in close. “They have been quiet, despite all of this. Are they building THE DEATH STAR?” NO. THEY HAVE SCATTERED, AS I SAID THEY WOULD. ONE BY ONE, THEY WILL FALL. “Of course, Commander. I only wish to do my part to SERVE THE ALLIANCE.” Silence. AND YOU WILL. OF COURSE YOU WILL. YOU BOTH WILL.” Cut to General Organa, brows furrowed: The World beckons; like a shadow, they follow; a quick, purposeful stride, hands pressed to the small of their back to the sidelines. Social Media sifting through images: SWIPE RIGHT? SUPER LIKE? HEART REACT? COMMENT, TWEET, HASHTAG OVER IT! A soft ‘ahem’ from World and the noise dies; turning around to face Commander and General with wide eyes. YEAH? Nervousness, how unlike her. Leia’s gaze burns. BOTH OF YOU MUST MAKE READY FOR THE BROADCAST. “Affirmative. All preparations have been made: I am ready when you are.” I NEED MORE POWER. Two sets of eyes facing the other piece in the puzzle to find it lacking. OUR NEW FRIEND IS COMING. THEY HAVE ASSURED ME: YOU WILL BE READY. Their shadow covers her; drags away as World exits stage right. Two voices left alone; Leia stares, stares, stares. It’s empty, it’s cold; flat. Social Media holds it, twitches: it’s the same numinous dread The Boy had etched into their features whenever the General came calling. “IT’S A WONDER YOU’RE STILL ALIVE. More power. This is child’s play, but then again, YOU’RE A LITTLE SHORT FOR A STORMTROOPER.”

AMERICA: 1933. THE THEATRE IS CRACKING, YELLOWED: prohibition may have ended but Great Depression left everyone hungry. THEY ENTER IN SILK AND RUBIES: rosy cheeks and the smile of a Hollywood Starlet. Flushed, ALIVE! Hollow eyes stare at them with RAVENOUS hunger and when they laugh, the world tints with static; PRE-CODE MASTERPIECES and biting social commentary. Standing against the backdrop of an abandoned stage and despite themselves, their feet move; tap, slide, swivel; IS IT THE CHARLESTON? Some new crazy song and dance number? TUNE IN! WATCH THE LATE NIGHT PICTURE SHOW! Snapped out of it; a slow, slow clap echoing; spotlight dies and they stand stock still. I DID NOT THINK I’D SEE YOU BACK HERE, MY DEAR. “Mister Wednesday.” A curl of their lip, hopping down from the stage and it’s a quick one-two step. “I’ve come for my payment. We have a need. We’ve had our eye on Miss Columbia. You remember our terms: I LET YOU SPEAK. Now, I want my slice of the pie. “Hasn’t it been ages since I saw you last, honey?” YOU. YOU AGAIN. Eyes flitting between Wednesday and The Mass Media; tightening the sash on their robe and drawing it to a close under prying eyes. “I thought you’d have been happier to see lil’ ol’ me again after all this time. I’m real sorry about how the Great War ended up, but you know how it is. Mister Money decided LIBERTY SELLS, and THAT’S A WRAP! Centuries of mythos overwritten by another Goddess. She’s doing fine, by the way. All of us are.” Silence. It falls thick and heavy and the world around them buzzes with white noise. “Cat got your tongue?” WE’RE DOING FINE. A pout. “Oh, now, see here, I just hate liars. Can’t stand ‘em! It’s why I got all these new ethics and standards in place. And you, honey, are violating those. Look at you, you look like someone who just crawled out of the DUST BOWL.” And she looks down. Looks at her faded, out of date clothes. The mouldering room around her. Media takes another drag from their cigarette; lounges in the settee that’s falling apart and grins. “You’re just surviving, sweetheart. The people will forget. Then you will die, and I’ll look back on the beautiful legacy we had together, all that teamwork through the centuries and say to myself: ‘If only Miss Columbia had listened to me!’ There’s something coming. We can all feel it. I want to give you your place back, I want to move forward with you. I’ll even put you in the pictures, then you’ll never die.” It’s served on a silver platter, tied with velvet ribbon: how can any God resist? WELL -- I -- Wednesday holds up a hand. SHE’LL THINK ABOUT IT, GIVE YOU AN ANSWER SOON. “Well, don’t keep me waiting, honey.” A languid sigh; standing in a smooth motion as they moved towards the door. “--I’ll be seeing you on the studio lot.”

EVEN DYING MALLS HAVE EYES: grainy CCTV footage near a repair chaos picks up a tremor, something not quite right: Wednesday’s spear, carved with runes; near repaired. A black and white eye presses forward, stares. The screen goes blank with a bzzt. RED ALERT. The noise echoes; lights flashing; World and their right hand ROD SERLING come back by popular remand; finger hovering over red button and the World pushes down to bring an awful silence. WHAT WAS THAT? Social Media scampering in; out of breath. IT’S SO ANALOGUE. As was everything within the space. WE ARE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. “--I was not aware that we were on one.” A sideways glance; World and Serling’s eyes meet; electricity flavours the air. THEY HAVE CARVED THE RUNES INTO THE SPEAR? “Yes. IT IS MAN’S PREROGATIVE TO CREATE THEIR OWN HELL: and we, I believe, HAVE JUST CROSSED INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE.”

#📺❝ TUNE IN AT ELEVEN FOR MORE ! ( headcanons. )#📺❝ ( verse. ) PUT A PILLOW OVER THAT FEELING. BEAR DOWN. SMOTHER IT !

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yoshi4sushi · 5 years

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(purupurupuru) (purupurupuru) (gocha!) (coo!) (coo!)

Happy 2019! We are deeply, deeply sorry for the long hiatus. Flu season is getting around, and the crew are still sick, plus I’ve been majorly busy with loads of work now that spring is coming and job hunting season/ visa renewal season for me. But to make up for the long absence, the crew gathered everything everyone missed even while being sick so I will lay out everything. First off, the chapter will resume this week I think as last time, it was left where Zoro gets acquainted with his new friend, Yasu as he brought him to a town of smiles and suffrage, Ebisu town. Everyone was all smile despite the hunger, pain, and illness going around, they still keep a big happy face. Zoro thought it was strange, but understood the hardship they are w/standing. One of the villagers mentioned to Yasu that a Robin-hood hero pass by the village again. Supposedly, this hero brings them food and water to ease the hunger of the villagers. Who could this stranger be? They call him ox-free. Back at Onigashima, MAJOR trouble stirred up! Big Mom showed up to get Zeus back, and brought her whole crew with them. It was chaos! They steer the mother ship towards the water fall almost reaching to the top, but King, one of the big honchos, used his devil fruit, the dragon-dragon fruit, pteranodon style. He turned into a dinosaur, pterodactyl. Anyway, King knock the ship down as Big Mom sinks into the ocean. At the end, Sanji, Franky, Ussop, and Law are heading for the hills to avoid getting caught. Law tells the guys that if they caught, they must not reveal their plans, and to not pick a fight as it would ruined their chance to fight for real. Sanji then hears screaming from the village, and it was none other than Page. Demanding for Sanji to show up, he destroys the soba stand, and hurting the villagers. Suddenly, Sanji kicks Page to the curb. He tells the guys to go on ahead as he pulls out the weapon that Niji left for him back at WCI. Sanji then pulls out his weapon and BAM! The dark knight, Soba Mask, appears! Black suit, family hair do, shades, rocket shoes, I mean the whole enchilada. Apparently, this new suit really is useful and beating Page. At the end, a surprise got washed up ashore. Chopper takes a stroll with Tama, Kiku, and Momo and they spot Big Mom. However, when she woke up, she doesn’t know her where she is nor who she is. EH?! AMNESIA? Will it last? What’s gonna happen if regains her memory? Big time yonkou will clash! What fate will hold for the kingdome of Wano?! GAH! So many mysteries and questions! Guess we’ll have to leave it up to the big man. Let’s be surprised. Also, if you want to read official manga, please use official websites. Do not go around revealing spoilers on any media such as FB, TW, or any other to everyone who are patiently waiting for the official released. It’s rude and messed up. Be considerate. Next, totally behind on the anime, but we’ll wrap it up in one. We finally see Luffy catching up to Katakuri’s level and getting the respect after finding out that Flampe pulled a dirty trick and put that brat in her place. This past weekend’s episode was a major throw down! We finally see Luffy’ new awesome gear 4th move, SNAKE MAN, which it increased his speed of his attacks. Katakuri however was still one step ahead thanks to his awesome observation haki. Both warriors are going all out majorly. The guys pulled their final move into a huge impact of haki!! Meanwhile, Sanji and Pudding wait in an alley. Pudding hesitates to say goodbye to Sanji, but approached him for a final request. At the end, the fight is over. The victor is…none other than our fellow rubber champ, Luffy-kun! Katakuri stands up and asked him if he will beat Big Mom. He vowed to come back and do so. Katakuri finally passed out defeated for the first time. At the end, Luffy leaves his hat on his face as show of his respect and Pekoms shows up. It’s 5 until 1 am. Next time, Pekoms helps Luffy by awakening his sulong form, but will it save our hero? DON’T MISS IT! Thank you, Katakuri for putting up a major fight. We hope to see you down the road. Now on with the goods! First, we received a telegram from Tongari-san as he caught the flu, but will get better in no time. He says that in March, the tower will be celebrating its 4th anniversary, and loads of fun events will be happening. The anniversary week will start from March 13th to the 16th. There will be a special live performance from Kitadani Hiroshi and Ostuki Maki. Details of events and special live will be announced soon. Moreover, check out the new theme for the 4th anniversary. It’s an Alice in Wonderland theme. They’ll be selling new buttons of the Straw Hats including, Ace, Sabo, and Law. The tower will also be having a stamp rally event so more details will be announced soon. The spring event and buttons will be available on March 1st. Next, the tower is celebrating the beautiful Nico Robin’s birthday. Her bday is on Feb.6th. To celebrate, the stores will be selling Robin’s birthday button and key chain, another bday button, art board, tote bag, & postcard set. Also, they’ll be giving out a bromide card if you visit the park, & a free poster if you purchase over 3000 yen. The café will be serving her Flower-Flower Soybean milk pudding. It will come w/ an edible flower w/ a bit of drizzled berry sauce. Delish! The café will also celebrate Vivi’s birthday. They’ll serve her royal white curry udon noodle with some blue jelly and an edible flower. If you order either, you’ll receive a free birthday card. Also, if there are those in the mood to celebrate Valentine, the café will be serving this limited time Mr. Prince’s aka Sanji’s Love choco banana waffle served a glasses sweet crisp shape. Available until Feb.14th. Anyone have a sweet tooth? Well, now you can buy your own character chocolate piece. Deco chocolate are selling cubes of any of your favorite characters. You can make your own box of chocos. You pick a box, pick the characters, and done! You’re ready to check out. You can buy 3, 5, 10 pieces for one box. It’s a perfect gift for friends, family, or if you are the lovey dovey type, it would be a great Valentine or White day gift or some other special occasion. If you want to buy a whole box of one character, that is possible too. I bought one box. Next, the store is also selling these limited ed. café goods of Sanji such as a button set, a can of candy, a box of waffle cookies w/ a free random sticker, and an acrylic key holder. It’s still in stock. Last, but not least, the store is still selling the New Year gift pack that comes with an acrylic stand, long towel, and button set. Next, FIGURINES! Majorly awesome new ones! First, if you are in the arcade, be sure to win yourself these World Figure Colosseum Treasure Cruise figurines of Luffy, Nami, and Zoro in their cowboy look. They’ll also be stocking this awesome Grandista figurine of Sanji as well so get those coins ready to beat the crane. Next, stores will be selling this awesome new Figure Arts Zero figurine of Luffy in Snake Man mode. It will be released in May. POP will also release figurine of Luffy in Snake Man mode as well. It will be released in August. They’ll also be accepting reservations for this new POP figurine of Hina. It will be released in July. Last, but not least, this adorable POP figurine of Chopper ver. OT. It will be released in May. Next, new stuff! First, the popular brand, Graff Art are selling these cute goods of East Blue such as acrylic key holders (6 random), pass cases, a pouch, 3 memo pads, and a pencil case. Next, the stores will also be celebrating Robin’s b-day. To celebrate, they’ll sell her bday button and acrylic stand. If you purchase over 1000 yen, you’ll get a free mini poster of her. Next, a new flower pot of Chopper will be sold soon. It will come an engraved box with Chopper in it. It’s a perfect for friend or someone. Next, this year, Mugi Mugi will be having new plushies from East Blue. This month, they’ll be selling mugi mugi of Shanks, Luffy, and Coby. Very adorbs! Next, in March, they’ll be selling memo pad stands of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, & Keita-san. Next, new phone covers with all the Straw Hats individually or in group. Next, this week, stores will be these cute tote bags in gold and silver color. Possible to make an ita bag. Stores are also selling these new smartphone pocket of the gang, and these awesome plastic gold & silver tote purses with the OP logo on it. Next, anyone likes Valentine? More luck. The stores will be selling imprinted Valentine and White day cookies. Girls are now in stock. Great gifts. Looks so colorful to eat. They’re also selling these JUMP stickers available at JUMP Shops and Mugi stores according to its location: Tokyo, Osaka, & Fukuoka w/ differ designs. Stores are still selling these New Year goodie bags. Both bags have hand towels & Luffy mugi mugi mini pillow. Red bag will have button set of Luffy, Sanji, & Katakuri. Blue bag will have button set of Luffy, Zoro, & Law. Get them while they last. They’re also selling these adorable New Year mugi mugi of Luffy & Chopper in their kimono, these neat socks of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, & Chopper, this adorable mugi mugi purse perfect to store them, and hat with the anniversary design on the inside. Next, the Hello! OP exhibition will be holding it in Fukuoka region from April 20th to May 12th. They’re selling new goods such as a ticket mini folder, mini art stands, new mug of Nami, Sabo, & Shanks, folder, poster, tote bag, motto long towels of Luffy & Zoro, t-shirt, and a goodie bag. Next, big events happening: Hong Kong will host a marathon; registration is full, and a big shiop event going in Yokohama bay to celebrate 20th anniversary of the anime. They’ll have an OP café. More details will be announced later. More new stuff at the stores. They’ll be selling these adorable winter designs of Chopper’s hometown mascots including hiking bear. They’ll have masking tapes, pen, and a small notebook I think. It will be in pink or blue color. Next, stores will be selling these mini RUN! RUN! acrylic mini stands of the Straw Hats, Law, Ace, & Sabo in kid and adult versions. Adult versions will be available on Feb.16th. They’re also selling these mini stickers, new vivre cards of Robin, Shirahoshi, Blackbeard, and Hordy Jones. Coming very soon, these new acrylic straps and big & small pixel stickers of many various characters and t-shirts of Katakuri & Zoro. Next, stores are selling these new adorable Chopper goods such as this t-shirt, small pillows, shiny folder, and acrylic stands wearing differ hats from various characters. They’ll also be selling this Zoro sleeping mask and various new hand towels and long towels. Next, YO HO HO HO! Music! Coming soon, new stores will be selling this golden album of OP Music Material of BGM. It will be available on Feb.22nd. Next, month, they’ll be selling the OP 20th anniversary Best Album of all the songs throughout the 20 years including the hit song, WE ARE! It will be available on March 27th. If you haven’t purchased, be sure to purchase of the new single of V6 for OP’s theme, SUPER POWERS! This CD will have the songs with its animation cover of the boys w/ the Straw Hats. Other CD will have songs and DVD with the MV making. Next, if you haven’t purchased it, be sure to get your copy of the new OP magazine vol.5. It will have Zoro’s wanted poster. Also, the Kumamoto x Tokyo Girls Collection will be accepting votes for a postcard to be included in the next issue which will be available on May 24th. It will have Nami’s wanted poster. Also, Tsuruya dept. store will be having the collaboration of OP with TGC. They’ll have a café selling delish dishes of the girls, desserts, and drinks. They’ll be giving out free random coaster of the Straw Hats if you purchase a drink. For goods, they’ll be selling a folder, acrylic straps & buttons of Nami, Robin, Chopper, Hancock, Perona, Tashigi, and Big Mom, postcards, a tote bag, and acrylic stands of Nami, Robin, and Hancock. Next, new info for the upcoming OP movie, STAMPEDE! On March 1st, all movie theaters in Japan will be selling advanced tickets to the movie, and if you purchase it, you’ll be given a free 10 button set of the gang’s new look including a new jolly roger. Its limited time so be sure to check out your local theater at a town near you. YOWZA! Finally, here’s the new DVD cover of vol.18 of WCI that has the awesome Katakuri. You can find on the JP site of amazon. Phew! That is whole thing we cover for the January and this month’s news. We are truly sorry for falling behind. We won’t make a bad habit of it. We promise. That’s all we got. Be sure to tune in for more news next time. Boys! Job damn well done! Let’s call it a night.

TGC: http://www.tsuruya-dept.co.jp/tgc/cafe/index.html

OP movie: http://www.onepiece-movie.jp/

#one piece #event #merchandise #v6 #music #movie

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cafezimmermann · 5 years

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Coco & Igor

Before leaving for Weisendorf, I picked up a few DVDs from the library, just in case I had some extra time on my hands to kill. That didn’t turn out to be, but I did manage to smuggle in Jan Kounen’s 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by watching it at fifteen-minute intervals during the week. Don’t run out to get it – not only is the second half of the movie terribly annoying, the mere idea of having an athletic, 6-foot tall Dane (Mads Mikkelsen) assume the role of the diminutive, 5’3”-tall Russian composer is utterly ridiculous. Then again, if Mads is interested in taking over the character roles of vertically challenged people, then he should give me a call. We can make a deal. The trailer:

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Indeed, his chiseled, frieze-like body dominates the film, as does the svelte figure of Coco Chanel, who played by the French actress Anna Mouglalis.

Throughout the movie, the two strike their poses against a series of drop-dead gorgeous Art Deco backdrops – Coco Chanel as a strong, modern, independent woman who is relentless at getting what she wants, and Igor Stravinsky as a brooding, tight-lipped enigma of a man who only seems to be interested in serving his music. It works at first; the tension that you feel between the two as they realize that they somehow “understand” each other on a deep level is tremendous. But when the two consummate their affair, the poses they assume quickly become wearisome. “Coco and Igor jump into bed, and it’s a bore,” was the headline of the Politico film review. The numerous scenes of their tandem nakedness only seemed to serve somebody’s voyeuristic desire of seeing what Mads Mikkelsen and Anna Mouglalis look like without clothes on.

Still, it was interesting to contemplate how the stay of the Stravinsky family at Chanel’s home in the Paris suburb of Garches in 1920 “might have played out.” The chance meeting of two great minds is always fascinating – particularly when they are able to look into each other’s soul but aren’t free to express their affection for each other openly. But since it’s a film, the barriers do fall. Meanwhile, Catherine Stravinsky, who suffers from tuberculosis and is often seen bedridden in the manor, slowly becomes aware that something is awry when she notes that Igor’s compositional style is suddenly different: “Your music has more passion,” she tells him. Sadly, the film doesn’t seem to be interested in delving further into how Stravinsky’s music might have displayed such passion, apart from a scene where Stravinsky can be seen playing his piano sonata (at least, I think that is what it is – can someone please help me here?) before Coco Chanel enters, the playing suddenly breaks off and there is more sex at the piano.

Afterward, Chanel leaves for Grasse to develop her signature perfume. The two are obviously smitten with each other, but Chanel is most likely already annoyed at the fact that Stravinsky won’t take the risk and run off with her. Things begin to fall apart – love turns to hate, the two women are filled with jealousy for each other, and Stravinsky’s furioso side of his personality takes hold of him as he pounds away at his piano in the back room of the manor. Madame Stravinsky leaves with the children, and… at this point, I turned off my laptop and went out to go for a walk. I didn’t care anymore about how the film ended.

Fortunately, the opening scene of the film, a reconstruction of the premiere of Le Sacre at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris in 1913, is definitely worth watching, even with Mads assuming the role of the great Igor. Back when I was at Oberlin, I was one of Tom Kelly’s “guinea pigs” for his book First Nights – Five Musical Premieres, which takes a closer look into the historical context and circumstances surrounding the first performances of, among other works, Stravinsky’s Sacre. Tom Kelly, with his gentle, upbeat North Carolina accent always had a natural talent for spinning a fine story during our lessons – as if you had William Styron in front of you. And you feel that in his book. It’s simply a good read, devoid of the dryness that makes most academic textbooks hard to digest.

I am wondering if Jan Kounen might have read Tom Kelly’s book when he was getting ready to film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky because I was struck by how closely the opening scene follows what Kelly describes to his readers. In short, the film is “authentic,” not only in terms of the costumes and the choreography of Le Sacre itself but in the details as to just how violently the public reacted to the performance, so much so that the gendarmes had to be called in. There are numerous accounts of the evening – Stravinsky himself described it in 1962:

“Mild protests against the music could be heard from the very beginning of the performance. Then, when the curtain opened on the group of knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down (Danse des adolescents), the storm broke. Cries of “Ta gueule” came from behind me. I heard Florent Schmitt shout “Taisez-vous garces du seizième”; the “garces” of the sixteenth arrondissement were, of course, the most elegant ladies in Paris. The uproar continued, however, and a few minutes later I left the hall in a rage; I was sitting on the right near the orchestra, and I remember slamming the door. I have never again been that angry. The music was so familiar to me; I loved it, and I could not understand why people who had not yet heard it wanted to protest in advance. I arrived in a fury backstage, where I saw Diaghilev flicking the house lights in a last effort to quiet the hall. For the rest of the performance, I stood in the wings behind Nijinsky holding the tails of his frac, while he stood on a chair shouting numbers to the dancers, like a coxswain.”

Kounen portrays this brilliantly in his film, succeeding to bring to life something that my mind’s eye has tried to imagine whenever I have stood on the stage of the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and looked out into the parquet of the auditorium. And yet, he also seemed unable to answer one key question that has always bothered me: How did they manage to get in so many musicians into orchestra pit? For, according to Kelly: “Stravinsky’s orchestra ended up being very large. He had originally intended it to be smaller, but encouraged by Diaghilev (who was no doubt feeling expansive because of the enormous sum Astrc was paying for the 1913 season), he increased its size.”

Kelly then tallies the number of musicians needed for Le Sacre, arriving at a total of ninety-nine players. “This may well be an enormous orchestra, but in a sense it is also chamber music, in that practically each player, even in the strings, has a unique part.” In terms of strings, this translates to “eight desks of first violins (all eight desks are needed on p. 20 of the score); seven desks of second violins (all needed on p.77); six desks of violas (all needed on p. 84); at least seven cellos (five soloists plus “the others” on p. 75); and a famous passage that calls for six solo double basses (p. 7).” There were “quintuple winds – that is, five of each wind instrument, though the five musicians were often required to double by switching from one instrument to the another.”

In the film (I stopped it and counted) it seems that 60 musicians involved, without the conductor – in other words, 39 less than what would have been needed to perform Le Sacre “properly”:

And again, from first-hand experience, I know that the theater pit is not big. Back in 2012, Akamus played a production of Pascal Dusapin’s Medea. We had 22 musicians, six solo singers, and the conductor in the pit, and even then the living quarters were quite cramped! Therefore, I suspect that something “had to give” for the premiere of Le Sacre. But what? Kelly even goes so far as to mention the problem in his book: “The orchestra pit, though ample, was small for the enormous orchestra of Le Sacre. Stravinsky wanted to expand the seating area by changing the layout of the theater. To remove the front seats in the auditorium, however, would have required taking welding torches to the brand-new theater, in addition to resulting in a loss of revenue. Ultimately, the orchestra succeeded in fitting into the pit, although the seating was not ideal.”

“Not ideal” is putting it mildly. Men the size of Mads Mikkelsen, impersonating Stravinsky, must have found it terribly frustrating. But then again, Mads was probably only waiting for the second half of the movie to get underway.

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ianbanksjones · 5 years

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Fragments- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It wasn't unusual to see Derek around town. He'd lived around this small town for as long as anyone could remember. Leamingford. A sleepy, dreary, run down town, very close to the exact centre of nowhere. Derek was much the same really. A portrait of semi grandeur, thirty years past prime, slightly shabby, but no worse than others around. Derek had a scruffy twinkle to him though. I suppose it was this that drew me towards the idea of working for him in the first place.

Over the years, he'd built up quite a little empire for himself, an incongruous hotchpotch of business interests. Unnoticed to virtually everyone, Derek had been playing a sort of literal monopoly in Leamingford. He owned two shops, one selling music, books and retro clothes, the other selling restored furniture, a hairdressing salon, a bulk pet food warehouse, a fish and chip shop (that didn't sell fish) and a small, chic pavement cafe. He also owned and ran a pub. My local. The bull. Just a typical local suburban pub. Only it wasn't, at least not for me.

My name is Jonny. I'm 29. I spend my days designing graphics and websites for various clients, and my evenings writing and playing songs. Sometimes for fun, occasionally even for money. I've lived in Leamingford all of my life, and despite its faults and flaws (of which there are many) I'm proud to call it my home. On the whole, it's a typical small town, with all the usual incestuous local issues and seething undercurrents of class struggle. I suppose that kind of makes me feel a bit like an outsider, I consider myself a regular guy; but the gentle sprinkling of normal, regular people and the muddled up bunch of unusual characters mean I don't have to see it constantly. Derek definitely falls into that category. Here he was standing the wrong side of a barrier, nearly losing his ankles to the passing traffic, whilst staring wistfully, perhaps idly at a large semi derelict building. I had a lot of time for Derek. He had offered to help me out when I reached a particular low point. But I'll tell you more about that another time.

When it came to the Bull, it was fair to say I had an affinity with the place. I'd worked behind the bar, cooked in the kitchen, booked functions, DJ'd, organised the quiz nights, played for the football and pool teams, got drunk, fell asleep and pretty much lived every aspect of life in there. My favourite job was always booking their music. Two for a Friday, usually originals, one, a previous favourite and one newer band, and a covers band for a Saturday. I still do this bit, despite being busy with all sorts of other stuff. On a Monday I arrange a jam night. I have done for years now. I don't really work in the Bull any more, but I still do the Monday Jam. I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

On this particular day, Derek was stood staring on the corner by the old cinema. In its heyday in the 20's and 30's it had been a proud art Deco inspired building with beautiful sweeping curves and cream plastered walls. Inside it had been palatial, or so I'd been told. I'd never seen it at its best. You can tell the age of a Lemmo' from what they call this place. All the old people call it the Roxy, and talk fondly of the famous bands they saw there in the 60's. I've seen great black and white photos of household names of 60's music in the streets near the Roxy. There's something magical in those photos. It's hard to describe. Electricity is the closest word I can choose.

For the Leamingford 40-50 something's, it was the Odeon. If I wasn't too squeamish to listen, I'd probably have heard more stories from my parents and their friends of cuddles and kisses on the back row whilst they were supposedly watching the main feature.

For me, it was known as the Movierama, until the big multiplex on the edge of town opened in the late 90's. By the time I was 17, it was Kool Katz, a scuzzy nightclub full of barely dressed, but dressed up girls. All smelling of sweat, booze, fags, cheap perfume and sickly sweet body spray. Older lads gathered and seemed to hunt for the girls in packs, probably carrying their quarry into the night for a drunken fumble in a shop doorway. The music was generic, and very loud. Sweat evaporated and rose, and condensed on the remnants of ornate, nicotine covered plasterwork, falling in random globules of yellowed toxic rain. The only discernible advantages were that KK's was cheap, and that they weren't too fussy about formalities like I.D. "Those were the days." I smiled to myself as I approached Derek, eyeing up the exterior.

"It's a scruffy bugger, but what do you reckon?" Derek didn't even turn towards me

"You or the building?" I took pleasure in having a little dig.

"The cinema, you cheeky sod. What do you make of it? It really is a little cracker." The corners of Derek's mouth began to rise to meet his slightly reddened and plump cheeks.

"What's it matter to you? You've not been shopping again have you?" The burgeoning smile began to become a full-blown grin, showing off Derek's wonky, yellowing teeth.

"This is the big one Jonny. The acquisition of a lifetime. I saw the Stones here in '67. I met my first wife here in '69 and we, erm... well, let's just say I have a special feel for the place. I feel like I've bought back part of my youth." I guess that Derek's eyes would have looked misty, but I couldn't see beyond his oversized designer shades. "A lifetime of working my wotsits off, and it's all been for this place. I can die happy now."

"What do you want to do with it? Nightclub? Apartments?" I prodded.

"This, my boy, is paradise in stone and plaster. You might see crumbling bricks and flaking paint, but I see a stage. A cinema. A bar with a tidy little brasserie. Rehearsal space for bands. Office space for fancy creatives. A couple of swanky studio flats. This is it. My dream. Has been for years."

Derek would have eulogised for hours if I'd let him. Clearly he'd lost his mind.

"And how much will that all cost?" I tried to bring him back to reality.

"More than a couple of quid, but it's all been budgeted. None of that fag packet accountancy either. I mean, I might need a hand with the painting, and financially it'll be dead tight, but every single penny and every single hour of work will be worth it." Derek turned to me and removed his sunglasses. He looked very earnestly at me. "This place, if we run it properly is an absolute goldmine. This will be my pension!"

I studied the ramshackle building with its metal plates covering the doors and windows. Discoloured paint flaked indignantly from the walls. It obviously had potential, but it had issues too. But I believed in Derek. He'd created diamonds from coal before. This would be by far his biggest project, but experience had taught me that it was unwise to bet against him. I wasn't about to start. I began to bid him farewell. "Good luck mate, but I've got to go."

"Okay Jonny." He went back to looking at his building. "Do you want to manage it for me? Lock stock, from top to bottom."

I was amazed, but not totally surprised. Derek had a tendency of making outlandish offers to people he trusted. Like the time he offered a 19 year old with hardly any experience the chance to run his coffee shop for three months. I obviously hadn't disappointed him that much back then either.

"Let me think, and I'll let you know. It's a big job." I said, feeling rather overawed.

"No rush Jonny, it won't be open for a couple of months. See you later boy."

And with that, I was dismissed into the busy afternoon street, with an awful lot to think about.

#novel #chapter 1 #new book #mystery #indie #story

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