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natashacoco · 5 years

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Good Intentions

Florian Munteanu x Plus Size Black Reader

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, blood, medical/treating scrapes, mention of sex, some triggering of verbal abuse (fat shaming).

Prompts: Plus Size Reader are on their anniversary and reflect how they almost didn’t end up together. Reader has been hurt in the past and Florian tries his best to prove to her he’s not like the others.

Inspiration: Good Intentions by Rini

The sound of laughter fills the air as you and your boyfriend made your way to your private villa that he had rented for your anniversary, both of you drunk on wine and chocolate from your dinner. You were dressed in your favorite little black dress and heels and Flo was dressed in a white shirt and blue jacket and matching pants. He had purposefully left a few buttons undone and you couldn’t stop yourself from admiring how gorgeous he looked tonight.

“I have another surprise for you Iubirea mea” Flo whispers in your ear, a mischievous glint in his eye, his arm around your waist pulling you closer to him as he leads you through the door.

“Is that so?” You asked, raising an arched eyebrow in his direction.

“Yes prinţesă, and I know that the both of us will enjoy this” Flo answers as he rounds the two of you to the balcony. You gasp as you see that the once empty tub and canopy overlay overlooking the ocean is filled with your favorite flowers, candlelight dancing off the surrounding areas against the setting sun.

“Oh my god Flo, it’s beautiful” you whisper in shock. Flo moves behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and nuzzling your neck.

“I’m glad that I can still surprise you prinţesă” he laughs, swaying the both of you gently. “Let’s get undressed and get in, the water should be perfect” he urges, grabbing your hand and leading you to the bathroom.

Once there, grabs a makeup wipe from your makeup bag on the counter and begins to gently wipe off your makeup. Once he’s satisfied that it’s all off, Flo kneels before you, grabbing the back of one of your knees to remove your heel and then repeats it on the other side. His hands travel up the outside of your legs until he reaches under your dress and pulls your panties down slowly, torturously and tosses them aside just like your heels. His green eyes appear darker darker as you stare into them as he straightens up, his large body vibrating with sexual energy. “Have I ever told you how much I love you in this dress?” He asks as you turn around, sweeping your braids to the side and helping you to pin them up. He pulls down the zipper of your dress, kissing the back of your neck as your dress pools around your feet.

You look at the reflection of you and Flo in the mirror and avert your gaze, not fully satisfied with what you see. It was always something, an unexpected breakout, be it your weight, your hair when NOTHING you did seemed to work, how that cute outfit you tried on in the store suddenly didn’t look like it at home, the days that you didn’t love your body the way that you should.

“Y/N look at me” Flo commands, stepping closer to you, lightly brushing his knuckles on your arms. You turn around slowly, wrapping your arms around your body.

“No dragă, don’t ever cover yourself when you’re with me, you’re beautiful” he says, moving your arms aside and unabashedly looking at your unclothed body. When you try to object, Flo places a finger under your chin and brings your eyes to his. “Dragă, do you really believe that I feel any differently about your body than you do mine? I kiss and caress your body day and night, I try and keep myself buried inside your body as much as I can, practically chaining you to my bed, and you still have doubts that I don’t love your body?” he questions, “If I didn’t feel the way I do about you, do you really think either one of us would have allowed us to be here now Y/N?” He asks, bringing your hand to his growing erection.

Your face grows warm, his words empowering you and coaxing you out of your previous mood as you shake your head in agreement as you run your other hand under his shirt. As long as you’ve known Florian, he always knew what to say to help boost your confidence, even the days when you were already at an all time high. Like he did to you, you remove your hands and begin to undress Flo with the same care he did for you. When the both of you are naked, both hands framing your face as he bends his head and captures your mouth with his, further cementing what he said earlier. He takes your smaller hand in his and leads you to the bath, getting in first, his large body sprawled out in the tub as you climb in after his, settling in between his legs.

You rest your head on Flo’s broadened shoulder, sighing in content at the combo of the water and laying in his embrace. You look out into the distance, the sun beginning to set, hues of pink, orange, red, blue and purple painting the sky.

“About what you said earlier, you know that this relationship is just as much of a shock to me as it is to you” you say, nuzzling even more in his embrace.

“I know Y/N, I know” he replies, drawing lazy circles on your back. “The both of us haven’t had the best of luck in our past relationships and both of us weary of ruining something that we both hold really dear. Dolph told me to be cautious of who I let in my life, but I’m glad that you’re in it.”

You nod your head in agreement, remembering how the two of you met.

You had been invited to a house party by your friend Jackie whom you were visiting. The next day the two of you would be road tripping it to your hometown in time for your 10-year high school reunion, just like your favorite movie Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Jackie was dressed stunning as always and heads turned as soon as you two walked through the door. Scanning the room, Jackie located one of her local friends who had been invited by a friend of a friend. The house was located in the exclusive Hollywood Hills and at 11 PM, the party was in full swing with some of Hollywood’s most glamorous. Being the big girl amongst the other women in the room made you look down at your simple yet stylish little black dress and curse yourself for thinking the dress would’ve been enough. At least your heels had given you a bit of confidence, not that your stiff drink you were already planning on getting wouldn’t hinder it.

After introductions, you and Jackie made your way to the open bar located outside to get drinks with promises to return. After placing your order, you casually scan your eyes around the beautiful garden scenery. An animalistic feeling like you were being watched, you had slowly turned around to a group of men laughing and even some outright giggling at something one of them had said, you too far away to catch what was said. It was hard to miss him, a giant among the men was staring at you, so much so that you immediately felt uncomfortable.

Grabbing your drinks, you and Jackie had made your way back inside. A little while later, a group of men, all attractive in their own way, walked up to your friend and the other women and immediately began a conversation with them. Being more of the outsider, you stayed a little to the side. When a topic came up you had tried to join the conversation but your efforts were rebutted as one of the men looked in your direction and gave you a once over. Heat flushed your cheeks as you realized what he was doing, and it only cemented as he turned his frame slightly so that you were further out of the circle.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t you dare cry Y/N you repeated to yourself as you quickly finished off your drink. This situation happened more times than you’d like to remember, a man ignoring you as he chatted up some of your thinner friends. Playgrounds, school dances, even the shopping trips usually ended with you being ignored as your friends were being hit on and flirted with. In some rare occasions, the guys would even tell you that they had a friend who would be interested in you, only for said friend to say another would be more interested. You were told that you were pretty for a “Big Girl” like it was supposed to make you feel any different about how you were being treated. Time and time again your confidence was shaken as you came to realize what they were doing.

As you grew older you gained your confidence back, that once insecure girl slowly being shown they were worthy of love too. That didn’t mean that there weren’t those occasional times when you didn’t feel the pangs of hurt like you were feeling then. Empty glass in hand, you tried to get Jackie’s attention from one of the men to let her know you were getting another round, when she failed to notice your movements, you made it outside when you took a sharp turn and a tray of glasses being held by the wait staff fell on your legs, glasses breaking. People rushed over to you asking if you were okay when the large man you noticed earlier stood in front of you. After pushing hands away and telling the crowd you were alright you tried to subtly get yo without cutting yourself.

“You okay?” He had asked, his somewhat thick accent accompanied with a concerned look on his face.

You were shocked, noticing a twinge of pain at your knee and favorite pair of tights ripped as well as the behemoth that was crouched in front of you, his eyes saying so much even though he hadn’t said much.

“Uh, yeah...I think so...it’s just a scrape” you had answered, not sure how to respond.

“It’s my fault, I suddenly stopped and wasn’t expecting anybody behind me,” he explained, grabbing both hands and pulling you upright, your short stature evident against his tallness, even in your heels. “I didn’t see that the waiter had to swerve in order not to hit me but got you instead.''

“Trust me, it happens more times to me than you think, I’m really clumsy and uncoordinated.” You said, a sharp pain shooting up your knee as you took a step.

“Let me at least get you something to help bandage you up, I feel really guilty” he replied, pointing out that your knee was still bleeding. Before you could protest, he grabbed one of your hands and led you inside the party and up the stairs, you limping as you tried to keep up with him and trying to get your eyes on Jackie. He walked straight to the master bedroom and once inside he motioned for you to continue to the bathroom. Reaching inside the medicine cabinet, he grabbed a first aid kit and walked over to you.

After introductions, you’d learned that Flo was in town with some friends from Germany because of a new movie project but couldn’t say much due to contracts. It was one of the many interesting things you learned about him as he opened up the kit.

“You might want to sit, this might sting and I’d hate for you to fall over again because of me” he suggested, a boyish grin on his face as he crouched down to your eye level.

You realized that your tights were pretty much a goner, and after asking him to look away and making sure the coast was clear, you carefully took off your tights and threw them away in a nearby bin. Sitting down on the edge of the toilet, you carefully gave him your leg, his cologne invading your senses. His large hands warmed your skin everywhere they touched, carefully bringing your leg closer for him to inspect. You tried to get your breathing under control as his skin touched yours. After looking you over he told you that it looked like a minor scrape and no stitches were needed nor a trip to the hospital.

As he wiped around your wound, spraying antibacterial spray that earned a hiss from you and practically yanked your leg away, his hands thrown up in worry. Once the pain subsided, he carefully placed your favorite color band aid from the selection delicately on the large scrape. After what feels like a few minutes and a thousand heartbeats later, he again helps you up and steadies you as you sway on your feet.

“Thanks for the help, I should get going” you tell him, trying not to let his nearness get to you.

“Let me buy you dinner, it’s the least I could do” he objects, clearly taken aback at you wanting to leave.

“That’s not necessary, I really need to get going.” You say, already walking towards the direction of the bedroom. He caught up to you easily, staying by your side and as you made your way down the stairs.

“You didn’t even want to be my friend in the first place” Florian says, reaching out to touch the scar on your knee from your first meeting.

“Bullshit” you counter, “I was just in a little bit of pain. Besides, you didn’t have to buy me food just because your brick wall of a self caused that tray to fall.”

“Sure you were Y/N, nothing to do with the fact that you were running away from me” he said matter of factly.

“First off, a bitch does not run, she power walks gracefully. Two, if I remember right I was barely even doing that thanks to whom?” Eyebrows raised in question as your head turned up to him.

“You got me there Iubirea mea, and you can’t tell me any differently. You were scared that I was only in it to get at your friends” he replied.

You had made it back to the group when Jackie saw you, you tried not to wince at how sore your knee was. Pulling you to the side, she apologized as you recounted the incident, introducing and thanking Flo for his help. Turning back to the group, your friend laughed at a joke that had just been shared.

“How do you know Jackie?” Flo had asked. Your heart felt like it had stopped as you looked up at him, this question asked countless times as men braced themselves to interrogate you with questions before hitting on your friends.

“We’ve known each other since we were 16. We met at a youth conference in Washington D.C., we were roommates. By some insane cosmic blessing, my moms job was transferred to her state and we ended up going to the same high school” you told him. Never once during your story did his eyes leave yours, his attention never once wavering from yours. You were a little taken aback, you weren’t sure if it was the alcohol or how he seemed to be invested in everything you said. You were so used to others looking at your friends as they formulated their next Mack daddy move with their new info on how to proceed next.

Throughout the rest of the night, Flo never left your side as he asked question after question about you and your life, laughing as you told him your intended road trip for your high school reunion, laughing that unfortunately you weren’t the inventor of Post-Its and didn’t have the dance moves like Romy and Michele. He told you about life back in Munich, his parents and Romanian roots and his two “brothers” Sandro and Masias who were with him tonight at the party.

Jackie came up to the two of you, letting you know that the two of you had to leave, both of you needing to get on the road early to make it to the reunion on time. Saying your goodbyes, you turned to leave before Flo stopped you.

“Hey, Y/N, can I…” he began, and you knew that this moment would come eventually, your practiced smile on your face as you turned back towards him, coming to the conclusion that if he was indeed into your friend you’d have to let her decide on what she wanted to do. His cheeks were a little red as one hand reached up to stroke his growing beard tentatively. “Is it okay if I can have your number? I really enjoyed talking to you and I’d love to continue, if that’s okay?” He had asked.

You had to stop yourself from giving him your bewildered bitch stare that you were known for when something you weren’t expecting came up.

“Why?” You croaked out, feeling like a toad had crawled in your throat. Although a bigger woman, you had dated here and there through the years, some of them only in the early texting and talking stages, and some whom you considered friends. For those who had made it to the dating stage, none of them really made you feel like a queen you knew yourself to be and be treated. Of course there was the one relationship, the one that made you insecure in some ways when you least suspected it. Nitpicking yourself, not wanting to look at yourself in the mirror because of what was reflected back, wearing your comfy “ugly” clothes because they were your armor. Crying yourself to sleep when heated words were thrown around, intentional or not.

“Because you’re one of the only people here that I’ve met that I actually want to talk to besides my brothers. In my line of work, it can be hard to know what people’s intentions are, if they want to use you because of who you are, what you are, what you can do for them, or who knows what” he answered, his head dipped down and eyes looking back and forth.

In that moment, Jackie brought you your coat and mentioned that the car was ready. You turned to Flo and rattled off your number and practically sprinted off out the door in the hopes that he wouldn’t actually text you.

A few days later you had gotten a text from him asking about the reunion. Of course, your inner anxiety won out, the little voice in your head telling you that it wasn’t a good idea, that it was nothing but a joke, insecurity after insecurity infiltrating your mind and causing it to fester. He kept texting you, asking if he had done something wrong until he called you but you let it go to voicemail. After listening to his message you decided that he wasn’t going to give up. You called him a little while later and hoped the phone would go to voicemail, but it didn’t, you stammering as you rambled off why you hadn’t messaged him back and that it would be better off if you didn’t communicate before hanging up. He had called, texted and FaceTimed countless times, each one met with a denial.

When you didn’t respond, Florian yet again attempted FaceTime you and in your attempt to end the call you accidentally accepted it. He had demanded to know why you were ghosting him, you hugging yourself as you try not to let tears roll down your face in explanation. Although thousands of miles apart, even then Flo was supportive in being there for you. From that moment on, the two of you would talk constantly, anything and everything spoken during late night calls that ended in early mornings.

“You have to see where I was coming from Flo, from past experiences and such, it was hard for me to think that you wanted to be my friend”. You snap back in defense.

“Dragă, I get it, like I told you the night we met, I wanted to keep getting to know you, even after how long we’ve known one another, from friends to lovers, I still want to keep getting to know you. I want you to feel safe opening up to me, to feel like you can tell me anything on your time when you’re ready. I've never wanted anything more than to make you feel respected, loved and cherished. I’ve always had the best intentions when it comes to us, always.” He says.

He cups one of his hands and dips it into the water, bringing it up and letting the water slide down your back. He repeats the motion, blowing a cool stream of air on your skin. Goosebumps rise on your skin as you look up at him, cheeks flushed from the water and the contrast of the cold air.

You move to straddle his hips, water sloshing as you adjust to the new position. You grab his cheeks with both of your hands, gently running your thumbs across them as you look up at him through your eyelashes.

“Thank you for that Flo, for being there when I needed you, and for so, so much more that I can’t even begin to convey into words right now” you say, shutting your eyes as emotions swept through you.

“Hey, Y/N, don’t turn away. I know exactly what you mean Iubirea mea, if words can’t express how much, let me show you” he states, motioning for you to stand up. When the two of you are out of the tub, you yelp as he picks you up unexpectedly, your arms wrapping around his neck. He leads you to the bedroom, placing you in the middle, his body atop you as he spends the next several hours worshiping yours with his, imprinting and leaving no doubt in your mind how much he loves you, mind, body, heart and soul.

#florian munteanu #florian big nasty munteanu #big nasty #good intentions #rini #florian muntean x plus size black reader #florian munteanu x black reader #one shot #my writing

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cam-rowe · 4 years

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Camille Rowe: « I would have loved to act in Kill Bill »

« Clara Bow... Why do I have Clara Bow’s name in my head when I think about Camille Rowe ? » The author and journalist, Simon Liberati, tells us the story of how he met the French-American actress and model, Camille Rowe.

Because I’m an old man, and because of age, I mix up pre-war actress with today’s It girls. One hundred years later, no one knows the name of Clara Bow, the first it girl (the name was invented for her). Blonde with big blue eyes, she was the queen of Hollywood, she shared lovers with her enemy Marion Davies, the other blonde with big blue eyes, mistress of Randolph Hearst and a castle on the side of Lower Topanga, the Spiral Staircase where the Manson family lived. I think of those girls because Camille Rowe reminds me of Tarantino, she should film with him, it would suit her.

In the meantime, Camille Rowe has just played a role in a choral film inspired by the work of Anna Gavalda: ‘I wish someone was waiting for me somewhere (j’aimerai que quelqu’un m’attende quelque part).’ A movie by Arnaud Viard, with Jean-Paul Rouve and Alice Taglioni. An hour and half long feature film. It’s a very moving film where you can see her with a beanie, red nose and wet eyes because she cries a lot. Some directors are really into giving roles of morose girls who are not really boring, but «Annagavaldian » which mean not really funny to models and it girls.

I remember Abel Ferrara’s movie, ‘The Blackout’ where the poor Claudia Schiffer gave the line to Beatrice Dalle in a psycho-rigid version. At the time an article from France Dimanche or d’ici Paris kind of cruelly recounted Claudia’s troubles with Abel.

I don't think the shooting of Arnaud Viard was that chaotic. Camille Rowe plays the role of Jean-Paul Rouve’s little sister, a frustrated theatre actor who became a wine merchant and soon committed suicide, who pays her, her fantasies of art photography. He lends her 10.000€ so she can do her project of the moment with Diane Arbus (she likes deformed people) all in Dijon. Then Jean-Paul Rouve dies of love for Elsa Zylleberstein (an actress who have cancer) and then Camille finds herself crying for a good forty minutes with the rest of the family (choral).

When I was able to reach Camille Rowe on her cell phone while she was shooting with Jen Eymere for the cover of L'Officiel, the first question I was dying to ask her was: "What were you thinking about that was so sad that you could cry for 40 minutes over Jean-Paul Rouve's death?" "As it is a... melodrama, we often kept the first takes. So it wasn't hours of tears a day either. I was thinking about a traumatic event that happened to me, so I kept the after-effects long after the three weeks of shooting [sinister laugh]. I promised myself I'd never do it again. The worst thing is that in my life I'm the kind of person who cries easily..."

Yet Camille Chrystal Pourcheresse, better known as Camille Rowe, is a French- American model and actress born on January 7, 1990. She is 30 years old. The beautiful age... Daughter of a prosperous restaurateur, she had, according to Wikipedia, a happy childhood "in a favoured district of the capital". When I went to look for her photos on the Internet, I told myself that I knew her face. Magnificent blue eyes spread apart, huge mouth, curious nose a bit too big, a bit wet, a bit charming (like Anatole France) sublime breasts, thin thighs... Californian style. Hair beach blond surf and warm sand... I know this face maybe from the Baron or Montana, from a Purple dinner or from the Cora cafeteria in Soissons (where I live), I didn't dare to ask her... When L'Officiel commissioned the portrait I'm trying to write, I didn't really feel like it, I was in a deplorable mood, retyping a book that was already more or less a failure, Prayers Answered, whose title I stole from Truman Capote who in exchange sent me a spell, but I always tell myself that things come from encounters, even furtive ones, ordered with a frame... a 10- minute interview on the phone can get me out of the slump. I'll call her at 1:00.

The voice is really lovely. Not too charming, not manicured, not dragging, not grunge, but open ... She tells me that she's walking down the street to go to the shooting and I already regret having had the laziness to walk a hundred kilometres in traffic jams to meet her. I've heard many voices in sixty years, few so open... Nothing to do with the idea I had of her, coming from a mix of Wikipedia, articles by Elle and photographs by Terry Richardson where she was sticking her tongue out in an old Purple from ten years ago. I also have a 2018 César box set with ‘Rock'n'roll’ by Guillaume Canet but I have to admit that I forgot the content of this film except that Marion Cotillard is trying to learn the Canadian accent. Hence my second question ... I read (in Glamour? in Elle? in the UGC press kit?) that Camille Rowe had a hard time losing her French-American accent to play a choral film.

the banks of the Saône. It's true that we can't imagine Jean-Paul Rouve's sister speaking with the accent of Laurel Canyon and Linda Hardy.

- “It's not a question of accent but of intonation. It comes out when I'm speaking in a group, when I'm expressing emotions... At first, it didn't really fit with Dijon.”

- “I can assure you that you can't hear anything...”

- “Thank you [happy laugh], that means I've done a good job so.”

- “Did you like Dijon?”

- “Yes, I loved it. There's a lot of wineries there. My boyfriend and I went for a walk and tasted some good wines.”

It's true that she doesn't look like she's sucking ice cream. Not a drunk, no... but a well-to-do person, as they say in the press. The blur in the eyes, the wet nose and the infectious laughter can make you think that... Kind of like Romy Schneider. The comparison is not infamous. Clara Bow didn't spit on a drink either... The stupid question now that I've stolen from an old issue of Miss Tender-Aged...

- “Camille, ideally, what role would you have liked to play in the cinema?”

- “The movie I really would have liked to play in is Kill Bill.”

I was right to think of Tarantino, Camille Rowe has a Margot Robbie side to her as Sharon Tate... Something joyful, Californian, uncomplicated and a little attracted by evil at the same time...

- “In the film, you photograph deformed people. In life are you a fan of Diane Arbus?”

- “As for art, I prefer painting. I am not a fan of photography. On the other hand, I like horror films... Otherwise, I'm quite interested in serial killers...”

An opening? I don't believe it. I read (on Wikipedia?) that she likes old David Cronenberg... So we quote some movies... If I had come instead of phoning her, I could have told her that I spent several evenings with Cronenberg in Geneva in November (his daughter is a photographer too) and that he has a great sound system on his iPhone that allows him to listen to or zap people depending on whether they are sitting in front of him, on the left or on the right...

- “You'll never guess what they're doing to my makeup while I'm talking to you... They're scraping scabs off my nose.”

That girl is really charming... Rowe power... Only good-looking people talk about this kind of stuff.

- “Do you have plans?”

- “Yes, a Canadian sci-fi film... And an English film...”

- “Your first role? - When I was 12 at school in Edmond Rostand's Chantecler, I played a chicken... A mean chicken. I liked that [sinister laugh].”

Rowe-power got a magic touch.

(CREDIT FOR TRANSLATION: kareninapetrova)

#camille rowe #interview #translation #l'officiel paris #magazine

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medea10 · 5 years

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My Review of Claymore

#claymore #clare #raki #anime review #priscilla #teresa

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wazafam · 3 years

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The cast of Friends is known not only for its central group of six whose hilarious, heartfelt performances have brought fans joy for decades now, but also its enormous cast of guest stars and supporting performers who brought the extended cast to life. With so much of the show focused on the main group's love lives, many of the most memorable of these performances were love interests.

RELATED: Friends: 10 Funniest Dances By The Main Characters, Ranked

Monica Geller's exes made up some of the most interesting supporting cast in the series, with both relatively unknown performers and iconic A-listers making up her litany of lovers over the show's ten-season run. However, the actors who played these exes have moved beyond these roles in the years since, carving out a number of unique careers for themselves.

10 John Allen Nelson (Paul The Wine Guy)

Monica's earliest ex on the show was the fairly sleazy Paul the Wine Guy, who set the series standard for the many bad dates that Monica and the rest of the gang would go on. John Allen Nelson brought the womanizer to life on the small screen.

Since his appearance on the Friends pilot, Nelson has appeared primarily in television roles, although he was in several movies, including 2010's The Town. He is probably most notable now for his roles on 24 and Vanished in the 2000s, as well as more recent recurring roles on Crisis and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

9 Geoffrey Lower (Alan)

An early Monica boyfriend and ex-boyfriend, Alan was the one whom the rest of the gang was incredibly delighted by and more invested in than Monica herself. Alan was portrayed by Geoffrey Lower.

Lower is most prolific as a stage actor, although he has been in several films and television series since his Friends appearance. He is most notable for his role as Reverend Timothy Johnson on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which he played from 1993 (pre-Friends) through 1998. He most recently appeared in the 2020 film Disrupted.

8 Vincent Ventresca (Fun Bobby)

An on-and-off relationship of Monica's, Fun Bobby is perhaps most known by fans for his story arc involving alcohol, in which Monica helps him quit drinking. This somewhat tragic character was played by Vincent Ventresca in his two appearances.

Shortly after his second appearance on Friends, Ventresca played a supporting role alongside Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow in Romy And Michele's High School Reunion. Since then, though, his most prominent work has been on television, appearing on shows like Boston Common and The Invisible Man. His most recent role was on a 2020 episode of Criminal Minds.

7 Stan Kirsch (Young Ethan)

Young Ethan is a controversial character among the Friends fandom, known for being the center of "The One With The Ick Factor," in which he dates Monica before revealing he's a minor and a senior in high school. Stan Kirsch portrayed the character for his single appearance.

RELATED: Friends: 5 Things Season 1 Monica Would Hate About Finale Monica (& 5 Things She Would Be Proud Of)

Kirsch was probably most known for his role as Richie Ryan on Highlander from 1992-1998, during which he made his Friends appearance. He was also on two episodes of JAG and starred in Straight Eye: The Movie in 2004. Sadly, he passed away in January 2020, 11 years after his final screen appearance in the short film Matumbo Goldberg.

6 Michael Ray Bower (Roy Gublik)

As revealed in "The One With The Prom Video," Roy Gublik was Monica's date to prom, and therefore only appears in VHS footage within the show, unlike her other exes. Roy was portrayed by Michael Ray Bower.

Before Friends, Bower was known for his appearances on Nickelodeon shows, such as Salute Your Shorts (for which he won a Young Artist Award). Since his turn as Roy, though, Bower made appearances on shows like CSI, The X-Files, and Raising Hope. Fans may also recognize him from his roles in Dude, Where's My Car? and Evolution, or a number of voices in games like Bully and Grand Theft Auto IV.

5 Tom Selleck (Richard Burke)

Monica's relationship with her parents' optometrist friend Dr. Richard Burke has been the subject of much discussion by Friends fans who are unsure what to make of the couple's age gap, although he is well-loved by fans and Monica alike until the couple broke it off over disagreements about having children. Famed actor Tom Selleck brought the character to life.

Although Selleck's best-known work came before his first Friends appearance, his career has thrived since then, as well. He stars as Jesse Stone in the Jesse Stone series of TV movies, while also maintaining a starring role on the police drama Blue Bloods. His film appearances have been less frequent, although he did star in In & Out, Meet The Robinsons, and, most recently, Killers.

4 Carlos Gómez (Julio)

Monica had a brief affair with her coworker at the diner, Julio, who is also an amateur poet known by Friends fans for his condescending, sexist poem "The Empty Vase," which causes Monica to tell him off. Carlos Gómez played this suave, snooty wordsmith.

RELATED: Friends: The 10 Worst Attempts At Flirting By The Female Characters, Ranked

Since playing Julio, Gómez has gone on to make a number of TV appearances in shows like Shark, The Glades, and Law & Order True Crime, as well as several one-episode roles. He also has roles in sequels like Dolphin Tale 2 and Ride Along 2, although his most notable recent work is as a main role on canceled 2020 sitcom The Baker And The Beauty.

3 Jon Favreau (Pete Becker)

Rich tech mogul Pete Becker was one of Monica's long-term relationships on the show, and although it ended poorly with his dream to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion getting in the way of their relationship, Pete is remembered well by fans. He was portrayed by acclaimed actor-writer-director Jon Favreau.

Since Friends, Favreau has seen massive success, most notably having directed modern hits like Elf, Iron Man, and Iron Man 2. He also created and wrote several episodes of The Mandalorian, directed the live-action The Jungle Book and The Lion King remakes, and has appeared in both Star Wars and Marvel properties (starring as Harold "Happy" Hogan in the latter).

2 Dan Gauthier (Chip Matthews)

In "The One With The Prom Video," Chip Matthews was revealed to be Rachel's date to the prom, but Monica, against Rachel's wishes, dates him as an adult briefly before realizing that he is immature and still acts as he did in high school. Dan Gauthier played the perpetually immature Chip.

Appearing in both television and film before and after his Friends role, Gauthier is probably most known post-Chip for his roles on soap operas Melrose Place and One Life To Live, on which he played regular character Kevin Buchanan and won both a Daytime Emmy and Soap Opera Digest Award for. Most recently, he starred in The Marcus Garvey Story in 2019.

1 Michael Vartan (Timothy Burke)

The son of Richard Burke, Timothy Burke was also an eye doctor who became involved in a brief fling with Monica when she invited him to Thanksgiving, although he reminded her too much of his father for the relationship to continue. Timothy was portrayed by Michael Vartan.

Vartan's regular role as Michael Vaughn on Alias from 2001-2006 is probably his most well-known appearance on TV or film, but he also made prominent appearances in films like Never Been Kissed, One Hour Photo, and Colombiana. Further, Vartan had regular roles on a number of TV shows in the years since Friends, including Big Shots, Hawthorne, and The Arrangement. His most recent role was on a 2018 episode of God Friended Me.

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jeremystrele · 3 years

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A Moody Slice Of Paradise In The Byron Hinterland

Stays

by Sally Tabart

The open plan kitchen at The Dairy, part of the Casa Secretas accommodations in the Byron Hinterlands. Photo – Jessie Prince.

An incredible outlook to the Byron hinterland. Photo – Jessie Prince.

An arrangement of ceramics by Romy Bennie, who created custom pieces for The Dairy. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Looking out from the living area through to the kitchen, which completely opens to the outdoors. Photo – Jessie Prince.

The Dairy owner Julie Weis and her daughter Lucy worked with Island Luxe to source many of the larger furniture items. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Every room featured glass bi-fold doors that make visitors feel part of the natural surrounds. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Many pieces of custom furniture were made by local craftsperson Spencer Lambourn Hull. Photo – Jessie Prince.

A concrete bath for visitors to luxuriate in. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Even the bathroom has a view! Photo – Jessie Prince.

Crazy pavers outside The Dairy. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Part of the original Dairy entrance that was retained in the renovation. Photo – Jessie Prince.

The Diary is positioned on 55 acres, comprising macadamia trees and an exotic fruit orchard. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Looking out to The Dairy from the garden. Photo – Jessie Prince.

The outdoor entertaining area at La Villa, which is on the same property as The Dairy and is available for location hire. Photo – Jessie Prince.

An outlook at La Villa. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Tuscan villa vibes outside. Photo – Jessie Prince.

Part of the beautiful garden, which has been worked on by Farmscape Visuals. Photo – Jessie Prince.

When Julie Weis first purchased this property on Nyangbul land in 2018, she had no plans to add any accommodation to the site. Set on 55 acres of lush hinterland, Julie fell in love with the main home on the property (now known as La Villa) at first sight. Although she has owned a small guest house in Bangalow (Le Vista) for the last 10 years, work commitments have kept her in Brisbane, and it was always the plan to retire in the Northern Rivers region.

After she was finally able to retire and relocate, Julie undertook some modest renovations to the main home, and in the back of her min, had the desire to restore the old Dairy located behind La Villa. ‘It was such a character-filled old building from the outside but had been neglected on the inside’, Julie says. As the work on La Villa progressed, Julie found that she loved working with the team of builders, designers, and local craftspeople and got a great deal of satisfaction out of seeing her vision realised. Working with the same team of experts, she and her daughter Lucy embarked upon a complete overhaul of The Dairy to transform it into a luxury accommodation.

Located behind a large cactus garden on the property, there’s a feeling of total privacy when staying at The Dairy. It comprises two bedrooms and a large open plan living area that showcases the rolling green hills of the hinterland.

Retaining the original facade, entry and outdoor entertaining area, the Dairy has been reimagined to make the most of its location. Set high on a hill, each room features floor-to-ceiling glass bifold doors that not only provides beautiful vantage points of the countryside from every room, but also makes visitors feel like they’re a part of it. ‘You could be anywhere in Tuscany, but in fact you are only 15-20 minutes from the beach of Byron Bay and Lennox Head’, says Julie.

Inside, a dark and moody rustic elegance has been expertly achieved through the use of concrete, timber beams, corrugated iron and local stone.

The touch of artisans throughout the property adds a handmade yet luxurious feel. Julie and Lucy worked closely with their friends from Island Luxe to source many of the larger furniture items, and collaborated with local craftspeople including ceramicist Romy Bennie, furniture maker Spencer Lambourn Hull and artist Gabrielle Poole to make exclusive pieces and fittings for The Dairy.

‘Creating The Dairy was a joy and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat’, says Julie. She credits her skilled builder, Jim Cameron of Pyowood Pty Ltd, to the success of the project. Jim was the original builder of La Villa more than 20 years ago (!) and was able to call on many of the local tradespeople who had done much of the work with Jim the first time around to work on this updated vision. What a dream team!

Love it? You can book your stay at The Dairy here. Follow Casa Secretas for more information on Julie’s properties, including location hire of the main house La Villa!

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karenuse54-blog · 5 years

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Still Women Strong After All These Years: ARC Gallery Turns Forty-Five

ARC Gallery 1977 Member’s Exhibition

“I’m not going to wait until I’m old or dead to be discovered,” artist Johnnie Johnson told the Chicago Tribune in 1974, “You have to know how to sell your work.” This sentiment helps explain why Johnson, along with fifteen fellow women artists, joined forces to found Artists, Residents of Chicago Gallery (ARC) the prior year. ARC opened in 1973 alongside several other alternative art spaces, including Artemisia Gallery and N.A.M.E., all of which sought to give emerging artists a venue to exhibit their work.

ARC and Artemisia stood out in the Chicago alternative landscape as feminist co-operatives, which in part meant they were not traditional, commercial art venues and they made decisions by consensus. Yet while Artemisia closed its doors in 2003, ARC is gearing up to celebrate its forty-fifth anniversary this fall. While much has changed during the course of the gallery’s run, its commitment to empowering women in the arts and providing a venue for emerging artists remains the same.

“The importance of the gallery, we believe, is that we are an alternative space and we offer a chance for people who are outside the gallery system to exhibit in a professional space,” says Cheri Reif Naselli, ARC Gallery’s president. “One of the founding members that I talked to said, ‘We wanted to do our own thing. We wanted to take control of our lives. There were like three choices for women if they went to college: to become a nurse, to become a secretary or become a teacher. Younger women realized how limiting that was.’”

Though ARC can now lay claim to being one of the last remaining women’s cooperative galleries in the country, it has not been without its own challenges. As with any long-running space, the cooperative has endured numerous leadership changes in addition to eight gallery moves, most often due to rising rents. ARC is, in fact, wrapping up their most recent move, a process that began in 2017 when the landlord of their 2156 North Damen location raised the rent twenty-five percent.

Installation view of the final exhibition at 2156 North Damen Avenue, featuring works by Granite Palombo (Amit), Monica Brown, Tehilla Newman and Debby Spertus/Photo: Cheri Reif Naselli

The new location includes up to four exhibition rooms, as well as a basement gallery known as a “raw” space, available for artists who work in installation to transform. It will also offer a gallery specifically dedicated to video and multimedia work.

ARC is in good company in their new West Town location, which is within walking distance to Western Exhibitions and Paris London Hong Kong. They christened the new locale with “Women Strong: New Space, New Work,” a group show that opened mid-September, which featured artworks from over fifty past and current ARC members. Included in that group was Iris Goldstein, who first joined ARC in the 1970s and later served as the gallery president.

ARC Gallery, Second Annual Member’s Show, 1974

“I was very aware of ARC from the very beginning,” Goldstein says. She attended one of the founding meetings but didn’t become a member until later on. “Maybe I was just too timid, I don’t know.”

Goldstein, who received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, recalls the energy and enthusiasm of the original members. “It was an exciting time,” she says. “More artists started staying around. Chicago started seeming like a place you could have a career. It was just slowly beginning that women were having a chance to do anything in the arts. You might say we haven’t gotten there yet.”

Installation view of “I Can’t Breathe,” Juried by Romi Crawford and Mary Patten, Winter 2015/Photo: Cheri Reif Naselli

Reif Naselli agrees that the art world remains a place without gender parity. “Men still dominate the field, even though there are women curators and women galleries now,” she says. Statistics support her claim. According to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, work by women artists make up between three and five percent of major permanent collections in the United States and Europe. Commercial galleries don’t fare much better: only thirty percent of represented artists are women. Nor are women in the arts compensated equally. A National Endowment for the Arts report from 2010 found that although fifty-one percent of visual artists are women, they earn an average of eighty-one cents for every dollar made by their male peers.

This reality is why ARC remains committed to challenging the status quo, not only through their organizational structure but also through the shows they mount. The co-op has four group exhibitions per year, two of which are juried. And members make it a priority to produce shows with a political or feminist focus. In 2015, a group show titled “I Can’t Breathe” looked at police violence and institutionalized racism. The prior year they mounted “The ‘F’ Word: Feminism Now,” which encouraged artists to submit work examining what feminist art is and where it is going.

ARC is also unique as a feminist co-op in that it has shown work by men since its inception. “We’ve always been a women-only membership, but we show men’s work as well because we think it’s important to have a dialogue,” says Reif Naselli.

Jason DeBose

To that end, following the forty-fifth-anniversary show will be a solo exhibition by photographer Jason DeBose. Titled, “Presidential: Public Depictions Overseas of U.S. Leadership,” the work features images of graffiti from thirteen countries, all responding to or representing a world leader from a different nation. Displayed alongside the work will be wall texts offering historical information to contextualize the pieces.

Reif Naselli says that staging challenging, cutting-edge work is one of the most important goals of the gallery. “Some of those battles that we thought we’d fought and won, keep reemerging,” she says. “So I think it is important.”

Goldstein believes ARC offers unique opportunities for members to not only show their work but also to be a part of the city’s art community. For her, the experience has been particularly fulfilling. “ARC fit me very well,” she says. “It was just perfect for me.” Throughout her years at the gallery, she has worked in leadership and development, has curated and hung shows, and of course shown her own sculptural work. “It’s been a great experience for me, and I like to think I’ve contributed to other artists’ experiences, promoting a place that’s good for artists to show their work.”

Jason DeBose’s “Presidential: Public Depictions Overseas of U.S. Leadership” opens October 5 and shows through October 27; “Reinvention II: an Open Walls Exhibition” opens on October 31, at ARC Gallery, 1463 West Chicago.

Source: https://art.newcity.com/2018/10/04/still-women-strong-arc-gallery-turns-45/

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mastcomm · 4 years

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Savages’ Jehnny Beth Is Going Solo. Don’t Tell Her It’s a Mistake.

LOS ANGELES — For the past nine years, Jehnny Beth has been known as the frontwoman of the ferocious post-punk band Savages — a live wire with a slick pixie cut and arresting onstage persona. When she made the decision to make a solo album in 2016, she was warned it was “a big mistake.” It proved to be exactly the encouragement she needed.

“When people are telling you that you’re making a mistake, it’s usually because you’re seeing something that they haven’t seen yet,” she said over coffee here on a crisp December afternoon, following her workout at a boxing club in West Hollywood.

Minutes earlier, sweat poured from her short, black hair as she cursed a final set of burpees. Although she’s based in her native France, Jehnny Beth discovered boxing in 2018 while working in Los Angeles on what turned into her solo debut, “To Love Is to Live,” due May 8, and toying with a role in an action movie, which she eventually turned down.

“Boxing is the closest thing I have to the stage,” she explained, as she slid a collection of spiky silver rings back on her fingers. “It’s the closest I am to the physical intensity, the adrenaline, the fear.”

Jehnny Beth (real name: Camille Berthomier), 35, has performed live only twice since July 2017, when Savages concluded a world tour in support of their second album, “Adore Life.” As the band’s lead singer, she was as tender and angry as a bruise, delivering songs with an alluring intensity that earned comparisons to Ian Curtis and P.J. Harvey. She called Savages — which features the guitarist Gemma Thompson, the bassist Ayse Hassan and the drummer Fay Milton — “a gang against the world.”

Romy Madley Croft of the English indie-pop trio the xx, a close friend, recalled the power of seeing Savages for the first time at Coachella in 2013. “Jehnny transported me,” Madley Croft said in a phone interview. “I was in the desert in the middle of the afternoon, but I felt like I was in a dark club.”

“I never really wanted to give a statement about Savages and if we’re coming back,” Jehnny Beth said, her accent a mellifluous blend of French and British. “If I feel like I want to do a punk record again, I’ll probably do it with Savages. It’s a great band with a soul, and that’s quite rare.”

Jehnny Beth hadn’t planned to branch out on her own. She was startled into action in January 2016, when she woke up in the middle of the night and learned that David Bowie had died. She stirred her longtime partner and producer, Johnny Hostile, and the pair stayed up until morning listening to Bowie’s final studio album, “Blackstar.”

“‘Blackstar’ had a huge influence in terms of reminding me how an album can be a testament, an imprint of your vision of the world, and it will last longer than you will,” she said. It inspired her to work on the solo album “as if I was going to die.”

“To Love Is to Live” is an eerie, almost cinematic experience, partially inspired by Spike Lee’s “25th Hour” and French noir films, and helped along by Johnny Hostile, who projected scenes from movies, including “Dunkirk,” on the walls of the studio as they wrote — a technique he employed while helming both Savages albums.

Jehnny Beth also tapped the producer Flood (U2, New Order) and Nine Inch Nails’ Atticus Ross to give the album an intriguing sonic dissonance. Its first single, “I’m the Man,” opens with a gentle recitation of Jehnny Beth’s poem “A Place Above” by the “Peaky Blinders” star Cillian Murphy (“See the most powerful man raise his hand to tell us a lie/No, no, not another lie”) before exploding into a full-blown electronic assault.

Madley Croft, who helped write two of the album’s songs and served as a sounding board, praised Jehnny Beth’s genre experiments, which include android vocal stylings, melancholic saxophones and a piano ballad. “You get to know her a lot more on this album,” Madley Croft said. “I’m really glad she’s harnessed that energy from Savages, but I could see that there was so much stuff in her mind that she wanted to get out.”

The night after her boxing workout, Jehnny Beth drove us in her rented black Mustang to join her friend and sometimes-collaborator Nick Zinner, of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, at their favorite haunt, Jumbo’s Clown Room, a no-nudity bikini bar in Hollywood where a prestardom Courtney Love used to pole dance. The two musicians frowned at a group of guys flicking balled-up dollar bills at one of the women, and over a glass of seltzer (she no longer drinks alcohol), Jehnny Beth explained that the album’s centerpiece “Flower” was written for one of the bar’s regular performers. The track’s lyrical agony is worthy of Anne Sexton, and the sultry thrum of the chorus — “She loves me and I love her/I’m not sure how to please her” — recalls Portishead’s 1994 masterpiece “Dummy.”

“I really wanted to do a love song for a woman,” said Jehnny Beth, who is bisexual and said she had difficulty expressing her desires when she was younger. “To me, women were in the distance,” she added, “so it’s been liberating to write about them.”

Growing up in Poitiers, a city in western France, Jehnny Beth learned English by singing jazz standards performed by Billie Holiday and Jane Baker. At 10, she introduced more contemporary music into the household, becoming an ardent fan of the band Placebo. Once, at a concert, she threw a treasured copy of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” at its frontman, Brian Molko, accidentally hitting his guitar. He chastised her from the stage, a detail that made it into several newspaper articles, all of which she saved.

Jehnny Beth met Johnny Hostile in her early 20s, through mutual friends. The unorthodox “h” in Jehnny is intended as a mirror reflection of Johnny (real name: Nicolas Congé). She moved to London with him, despite her parents’ warning that she was making a mistake, and the pair have been writing music together ever since, beginning in 2006 with their lo-fi indie collaboration John & Jehn.

“It’s not easy,” she said of their fertile creative partnership, “but that doesn’t mean it’s hard.” While at Jumbo’s, she got a text from him saying he thought she would dig one of the evening’s dancers, who mesmerized the crowd by gyrating while using sign language for the chorus to Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”

Jehnny Beth even came to Savages via Johnny Hostile, who had been invited to start a band by Gemma Thompson. With the group on an unspecified hiatus, she has continued to evolve into a multi-hyphenate talent. “I was Jehnny Beth before Savages,” she added. “I always knew I was going to do other things.”

In February, she will host a TV talk show called “Echoes With Jehnny Beth” for a European channel that will expand the idea of her Beats 1 radio program, “Start Making Sense,” by prompting conversations between musical guests. In June, she will release a book of erotic short stories that began as a poetry collection before she made the rare decision to heed a critic. “Polly Jean Harvey told me my poetry was awful,” she said and laughed.

“I like doing things that are scary,” she added, and credited boxing for helping her make brave career choices. “Once you take a step, in spite of your fear, you realize: This is not how I imagined it would be, but it’s exactly how I want it to be.”

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tagamark · 5 years

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Masai Mara Game Report: October 2019

New Post has been published on https://tagasafarisafrica.com/africa-travel-news/safari-sightings/masai-mara-game-report-october-2019/

Masai Mara Game Report: October 2019

Weather and grasslands

Weather has been hot and humid with cool mornings and strong winds in the late afternoons. Rainfall has been localised and heavy in patches, with a total of 66mm recorded in October. The Musiara Marsh has now dried up under the culvert and the Mara River water level is holding. Sunrise is at 6.20am and sunset is at 6.30pm. The short grass plains are still looking like a golf course, although the little rainfall has brought on a green flush in some areas of the East and West Musiara Plains, Topi Plains and the Olare Orok riverbed areas.

Spectacular October sunrise – photo credit Moses Manduku

On the plains:

Game sightings have been good this month. From around the 12th of October, wildebeest were being seen in large herds in the Trans Mara and spread out across the Olpunyata Plains and also below the escarpment. By the end of the month those of the Serengeti herds had moved south and the resident herds had moved south-east with some crossing the Talek River and were heading towards the northern conservancies. Pockets of wildebeest will be seen in the Olare Orok and the north marsh areas as far as the short grass plains in the northern conservancy. Zebra are still in good numbers although will be scattered when rain falls between the Reserve and adjacent conservancies.

Elephant keep on crossing the Mara River at the BBC campsite river crossing and with a common breeding herd that frequent the camps. More hippo cows with calves are being seen since large pods are in all deep water areas of the Mara River. Since the rain, small herds of Eland have been seen near the marsh on the west side.

Photo credit Moses Manduku

The two Cape buffalo herds are well spread out since mid month; the Bila Shaka breeding herd has latterly been habituating the north fan of Rhino Ridge and will also come down to the Bila Shaka river bed. When closing into the Marsh, the resident marsh lion pride will feed off them. Latterly older bull buffalo are now resident in the West marsh grasslands and can be seen creeping in closer to the camps – a few of these older bulls have since been taken down by the resident west marsh spotted hyena clan.

Marsh Pride male Chongo and buffalo kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Hyena clans are large at present, with the west marsh clan consisting of over 80 animals – we have had a few sightings of hyenas mating this month although this phenomenon is not often seen.

Topi have started their calving season with good sightings on Topi Plains and Malima Tatu; many of the calves are prey to hyena and cheetah. Coke’s Hartebeest have also been seen with calves. Warthogs are still giving birth with an average of 4-5 piglets per sow and a gestation of five and a half months; the camp grounds are well stocked with warthogs and piglets. Thomson Gazelles are also being seen with plenty of young – female gazelles can have up to two young per year. For the first two weeks after giving birth, the mother hides the fawn in tall grass and returns twice daily to nurse it until it is old enough to join the herd. Impala breeding herds are also being seen with fawns.

A particularly large African Rock Python has been sighted frequently this month in and around the lower Silanga riverbed; on the 20th it had clearly eaten something large due to its extended torso and it was suggested to be that of a Thomson Gazelle since it was in a shallow part of the river bed. Unfortunately, we suspected that Spotted Hyena ate this particular python because we last saw it the evening of the 20th and by the early morning of the 21st, in the immediate vicinity we noticed many hyenas. When pythons have eaten such large prey they become lethargic and slow while they digest and are often easy prey for predators such as hyenas.

On the 19th a pair of jackals had killed and eaten a Thomson fawn. Black-backed Jackals have a varied diet and will eat what they catch; being very efficient, they do not give up quickly which drives this species ahead of other jackals. Black-backed Jackals also have pups of varying ages; a den of three pups can be seen on the east Topi Plains. Bat-eared foxes being chiefly an insectivore are also being seen more regularly; these little foxes are well dispersed within the open areas of the Mara grasslands, although less frequently seen than Black-backed Jackals.

Serval cats are being seen more often with a particular male, south of the Bila Shaka, that appears to be more habituated to vehicle movement than others. Masai Giraffe breeding herds move between habitats and male herds are often seen within the fringes of the riverine woodlands. On the 20th one young male was killed near the BBC campsite woodlands by a larger male while sparing; early the next morning a clan of over 50 spotted hyena had eaten up everything and by evening the bones had been devoured too. A few days later, a group of five male giraffe were seen looking over what was left of the carcass – they hovered over the stained blood remains for well over an hour – extraordinary behaviour that has been seldom seen. A large dark male frequents the camps and will be seen on a daily basis. European bee-eaters have been seen in flight and some sounds of them appear in large flocks. Large flocks of yellow throated sandgrouse can be seen and heard on the very short and dry plains.

Larger Cats:

Lion

Lioness Yaya and her two adult daughters can be seen within the southern Marsh and the lower Paradise Plains. One of her daughters, Pamoja, has two small cubs that are about two months old now. She has moved them out from the riverine woodland thicket to the croton hill south of the Bila Shaka crossing. They have all been hunting and feeding off Zebra and Topi.

Pamoja and cubs – photo credit Moses Manduku

Lioness Spot has two one-year-old sub adult cubs, a male and female, who are mostly seen with lioness Little Red. They are usually seen on the Bila shaka river bed. On the 22nd they had killed a young male buffalo close to the crossing point on the Bila shaka.

Lionesses Rembo, Kabibi, Dada and Kito and their five cubs (three cubs are one year old and two are 10-months-old), have been hunting mostly zebra and buffalo within the Bila Shaka, Northern Marsh and Southern Marsh areas. Towards the end of the month we spotted them with a zebra kill which they later had to abandon as around twenty hyena had surrounded them and the noises being made by the hyena could have possibly attracted more lion from a different pride which would have been a threat to their cubs.

Dada, Kito, Rembo and Kabibi with cubs this October – photo credit Moses Manduku

The six males are split between the Marsh Pride and the Madomo/Ridge Pride lionesses. Bila shaka, Topi Plains and Rhino Ridge areas are best to see the movement of these males. A buffalo and her calf had become separated from the rest of their herd by hyena, who managed to eventually push the calf down into a pond. Marsh Pride male Chongo heard the commotion and took advantage of the easy kill, before eventually dragging it off into the thicket.

Chongo with buffalo kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Leopard:

Saba, (also known as the Kaboso female leopard) has been seen frequently – she was seen on the 14th being mated by a large male on the south bank of the Olare Orok River. She has one cub and we all thought that this mating meant that she no longer had her offspring, but a few days later she appeared with the very healthy cub in close pursuit. The cub is estimated at two months old and was only received by the public in the first week of the month.

Saba being mated – photo credit Louise Wallis and Frazer Harrison

Saba’s cub – photo credit Jo Plisnier

Romi the female leopard is again being seen in the riverine woodlands close to the old BBC campsite; she was also seen lying over a dead Warburgia tree in the evenings of the 15th, 16th and 19th of the month. The last offspring of Romi, a young male, was seen near the ‘Lake Nakuru’ woodlands stalking Impala late into the evening of the 21st; the Impala sensed the leopard’s advance and sidestepped into the air just as the leopard rushed forward.

Romi’s male offspring – photo credit Moses Manduku

The female leopard Bahati, of the Talek river area, is still being sighted with her two cubs that are estimated to be about nine months old now. She was seen on the 17th while coming down vertically from a Warburgia tree.

A large male leopard has been seen a few times near the Kaburu crossing point on the Mara River, this again is the same male that will hunt wildebeest during the months they are crossing. A large female leopard has been seen on the Ngiatiak side of the Double Crossing: on the 22nd she was seen feeding off the carcass of a wildebeest that was initially killed by lions and after just ten minutes of feeding, a lioness rushed out from a croton thicket to claim back her kill.

Cheetah:

‘Tano Bora’, the five male cheetah coalition, is still being seen between the conservancies and the Reserve; on the 21st they were all seen together in the south-east of the Reserve and one of the males was seen mating with a lone female. They have been hunting yearling wildebeest and Topi. This is a very active coalition of five males.

Currently it’s the calving season of Thomson Gazelles and Topis; cheetah make the most of this period, often targeting the fawns which are of course an easier catch and therefore requires less of their energy. Our guides found Busara the female cheetah (daughter of Amani, born in 2016) enjoying her second Thomson Gazelle fawn in less than one hour.

Busara and fawn kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Imani the female cheetah is now on her own as her three cubs have come of age. She has been seen less often this month and the last time we saw her was in the Motorogi Conservancy. Meanwhile, solitary males and females are still being seen; south of the Double Crossing and below Emartii Hill are good places to see a young male while the lone female was being seen on Paradise Plains and Rhino Ridge.

Walking Safaris in North/East Masai land

Our guided walks for October have been windy and cool with many overcast days. The grassland plains are short and dry with scattered plains game being seen – mostly Topi and Thomson gazelles. Pockets of male resident wildebeest would move in and around due to grass levels being short. We have seen many warthogs and young piglets – it’s surprising that the warthogs in the conservancies give birth a little later than those in the Reserve. Spotted hyenas have been active on the east and southern plains, attracted by the resident wildebeest that come and go. With the cool and dry conditions, many of the walks have lasted longer and our guests have enjoyed their bush breakfast slightly later in the morning.

Giraffe have been seen to move around the habitat of croton thickets and gardenia groves of which there are many between the two open plains. On the 16th two large male giraffes were seen neck fighting near the Gardenia grove riverbed.

We saw many active Jackal pairs hunting Thomson and Impala fawns in October. The female cheetah called Nalangu (with six young cubs estimated at three-months-old) has moved out from the Lemek Conservancy and into Mara North since the middle of the month.

By Patrick Reynolds, Manager at Governors’ Il Moran Camp.

Post courtesy of Governors Camps

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woolenjumbo5-blog · 5 years

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Still Women Strong After All These Years: ARC Gallery Turns Forty-Five

ARC Gallery 1977 Member’s Exhibition

Installation view of the final exhibition at 2156 North Damen Avenue, featuring works by Granite Palombo (Amit), Monica Brown, Tehilla Newman and Debby Spertus/Photo: Cheri Reif Naselli

ARC Gallery, Second Annual Member’s Show, 1974

Installation view of “I Can’t Breathe,” Juried by Romi Crawford and Mary Patten, Winter 2015/Photo: Cheri Reif Naselli

Jason DeBose

Source: https://art.newcity.com/2018/10/04/still-women-strong-arc-gallery-turns-45/

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latestnews2018-blog · 6 years

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Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas and other celebrity couples with age gap

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Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas and other celebrity couples with age gap

Here are 15 couples who formed a solid relationship despite the many years between them

Couples with a large age gap often raise eyebrows. But guess what — it doesn’t really matter to star couples who break barriers and prove the myth that large age gaps don’t work wrong.

It wasn’t very long ago when Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor declared his relationship with his Brahmastra co-star Alia Bhatt during an interview with GQ India, creating quite a stir.

Kapoor, 36, who is currently promoting his latest film Sanju, is 11 years older than Bhatt.

Recently, actress Priyanka Chopra walked hand-in-hand with her 10-year-younger beau, Nick Jonas, at the wedding of the latter’s cousin. She later spent some quality time with the other Jonas brothers on a private yacht. Maybe the age difference is merely a number for these celebrities. Here are eight other couples who have solid relationships despite the age gaps.

1) Shahid Kapoor – Mira Rajput

Actor Shahid Kapoor, 37, took fans by surprise after announcing his marriage to Delhi-based Mira Rajput, 24. Kapoor and Rajput, with an age gap of 12 years, met through their families and got married in 2015 in a private ceremony in Delhi, followed by a grand reception in Mumbai with the creme de la creme of Bollywood in attendance. The couple welcomed their first daughter Misha in 2016 and are expecting their second child this year.

2) Amal Clooney – George Clooney

A love story straight out of the movies, George and Amal Clooney first met in Lake Como through a friend, soon after which they started dating. George, 57, found his soulmate for the second time in the British-Lebanese human rights lawyer, who is 17 years younger than him. A power couple in the truest sense, they inspire many individuals to find love, irrespective of their age. They are now parents to twins, Ella and Alexander.

3) Beyonce – Jay Z

With a combined net worth of $1.16 billion (Dh4.2 billion) in 2017, according to Forbes, rapper Jay Z and his superstar wife Beyonce are a force to reckon with in the music business. Known as Queen B by fans around the world, the singer is 12 years younger to her husband. Parents to six-year-old Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir, Beyonce and Jay Z are currently on the On The Run II Tour, co-headlining and promoting their albums, Lemonade and 4:44, respectively.

4) Saif Ali Khan – Kareena Kapoor Khan

The royal couple of Bollywood Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s wedding was no less than a regal affair. Khan, 47, married Kapoor-Khan, 37, making their wedding the most talked about union in 2012 and broke several cultural barriers, including their 10-year age gap. The actors are now proud parents to paparazzi’s favourite star kid, Taimur.

5) Blake Lively – Ryan Reynolds

What’s better than having partner you can make a joke out of all the time? Ryan Reynolds and wife Blake Lively have proved time and again that they’re just another ordinary couple with their humorous antics on social media. Reynolds, 41, and Lively, 30, got married in 2012 and are parents to two daughters, Inez and James. The Deadpool star is 11 years older to his wife, but he never lets go of an opportunity to show his childish side by teasing her, even if their silly arguments lead to separation rumours. Life is just about laughs for these two, and we love it!

6) Adam Levine – Behati Prinsloo

Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine tore several hearts apart when he declared his love for Victoria Secret model Behati Prinsloo in 2012. The couple tied the knot in 2014 and are parents to two daughters, Dusty Rose and Gio Grace. Prinsloo was seen in her singer-husband’s latest video Girls Like You, along with their younger daughter, Grace. The song was an ode to women and featured Ellen DeGenres, Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B and YouTube sensation, Lilly Singh (Superwoman).

7) Kourtney Kardashian – Younes Bendjima

Mother of three Kourtney Kardashian has had a picture-perfect romance with new beau Younes Bendjima. From fancy holidays to matching denim wardrobes to mushy Instagram posts, the oldest of the Kardashian sister clan has been dating her 14-year-younger boyfriend since October 2016.

8) Scott Disick – Sofia Richie

After his break up with Kourtney Kardashian, whom he dated for nine years and who he has three children with, Disick found love with his new girlfriend, Sofia Richie. With an age gap of 15 years, Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie, was a teen model when she first met Disick in 2017. Ever since, the young couple have been travelling the globe and posting their vacation pictures on Instagram. The couple is often spotted with Disick’s children.

9) Aamir Khan – Kiran Rao

Actor Aamir Khan met his wife, movie producer Kiran Rao, while shooting for his film Lagaan (2001). Khan, who divorced his first wife Reena Dutta in 2003, fell head over heels for Rao, who is nine years younger, during the shoot of their second collaboration together, Dil Chahta Hai. The couple got married in 2005 after dating for a year and now have a son together, Azad Rao Khan.

10) Hugh Grant – Anna Eberstein

It’s never too late to get married, and actor High Grant and his wife Anna Eberstein are proof. Six years after getting together and three children later, Grant and Eberstein tied the knot in May. Eberstein is a producer at Fox News and is 18 years younger to the Love Actually actor.

11) Liam Payne – Cheryl Cole

Liam Payne and his girlfriend Cheryl first met on the set of the X Factor in 2014. They now have son Bear together. The One Direction star is 10 years younger to Cheryl, who was part of the pop band Girls Aloud. Amidst rumours of their break up, Payne and Cheryl have been acknowledging each other as husband and wife during interviews raising speculation of a secret marriage.

12) Catherine Zeta-Jones – Michael Douglas

The high-profile wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones to Michael Douglas, which cost approximately £1.5 million (Dh7.3 million), was labelled the “wedding of the year” by BBC in 2000. A dream wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York, Zeta-Jones met Douglas in 1998 in France, with the latter being 25 years older to his wife. The couple has stood strong together despite a rough patch in their relationship, and are parents to two teenagers, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta.

13) Richard Gere – Alejandra Silva

The Pretty Woman actor found love for the third time when he married Spanish Activist Alejandra Silva earlier this year. Gere, a Golden Globe Award winner, is 33 years older to Silva. They dated for three years before tying the knot in a civil ceremony.

14) Bruce Willis – Emma Heming

American actor-producer Bruce Willis married model Emma Heming in 2009 in the presence of his former wife, actress Demi Moore, and their three daughters — Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. Willis and Heming have an age gap of 27 years and are doting parents to two daughters, Mabel Ray and Evelyn Penn.

15) Sam Taylor-Johnson – Aaron Taylor-Johnson

The couple met on the set of Sam’s 2009 directorial debut Nowhere Boy, which starred Aaron, who was only 18 at the time. Despite their 24-year age gap, the lovers got married in 2012 and both took the name Taylor-Johnson officially. They are parents to two daughters, Wylda Rae and Romy Hero.

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2017: The Year in Old Movies (because measuring it in other ways wouldn't be nearly as pleasant)

The 10 best of what the Siren watched in 2017, presented without preamble, and in alphabetical order. The Siren wishes her patient readers a most happy 2018.

The Big City (Mahanagar; directed by Satyajit Ray, 1963. Viewed on Criterion DVD) Madhabi Mukherjee's performance instantly became an all-time favorite. It is part of Satyajit Ray's genius that he refuses to make her husband (Anil Chatterjee, half lummox, half mensch) into a villain, instead showing how the man's prejudices give way not only to love of his wife, but common sense.

Bitter Stems (Los Tallos Amargos; directed by Fernando Ayala, 1956. Viewed at Metrograph) The Siren thinks this may be the noirest noir of them all. The movie weaves together guilt and ambivalence over Argentina's history in World War II with the hero's (Carlos Cores) own psychological unraveling. Magnificent cinematography by the Chilean Ricardo Younis. Do read Raquel Stecher's post on the film's restoration; you will see how close we came to losing this beauty forever. The Siren was so impressed that she donated to the Film Noir Foundation as thanks.

The Glass Tower (Der gläserne Turm, directed by Harald Braun, 1957. Viewed during Film Society of Lincoln Center's series The Lost Years of German Cinema: 1949–1963.) A classic women's picture about the emotional abuse inflicted on a former actress (Lilli Palmer) by a secretly psychotic tycoon husband (O.E. Hasse). You'd know this film influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder even if the program notes never said so. The Siren loved the way it suddenly became almost an Agatha Christie mystery, loved the design (by Walter Haag) that envisions the couple's life as a series of elegant glass-walled prison cells. The plot resembles Under Capricorn, but the film plays out to its resolution in a much more satisfying way. (Bosley Crowther's review is possibly the most sexist thing he ever wrote, which is saying something.)

I'll Be Seeing You (directed by William Dieterle, 1945. Viewed on Kino Classics DVD). Somehow the Siren had missed this delicate wartime romance, which boasts one of Ginger Rogers' most heartfelt and touching performances. As her character and that of Joseph Cotten gradually fall in love, you realize you are watching two psychically wounded people trying to heal. The Siren much prefers this to the better-known Love Letters (same year, same director), which has a torpid screenplay by Ayn Rand; I'll Be Seeing You has a screenplay by Marion Parsonnet, whose credits include Gilda. The Siren saw I'll Be Seeing You while researching her video essay on Ginger Rogers' dramatic roles, which will be included in Arrow Films' Blu-Ray release of Magnificent Doll in February 2018.

Le Trou (The Hole; directed by Jacques Becker, 1960. Viewed at Film Forum's run of the 4K digital restoration.) The Siren has a new favorite prison movie. And while this may surprise you, the Siren tends to like prison movies. The late-movie payoff is one that many Hollywood directors would sell a kidney to come up with.

Paris Frills (Falbalas; directed by Jacques Becker, 1945. Viewed on MUBI.) It's a pity this isn't widely available, as it makes a terrific companion piece to Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread. The Siren would love to know if Anderson saw it. Paris Frills also concerns an egotistical couturier (Raymond Rouleau), whose atelier is also in a palatial townhouse, and who also runs roughshod over the people around him, with much different consequences. Becker is more concerned than PTA with the daily labor of “les petits mains” and with suggesting all the lives beyond those of his leads. The Siren's favorite scene involved the couturier, deep in a selfish funk about a love affair, being told off by Solange (Gabrielle Dorziat), his equivalent of Phantom Thread's Cyril: “I don't give a damn about her. She has time for sentimental complications, where here there are 300 who can't be permitted that, and who you are going to put out in the street.” (Note for the Siren's fellow lovers of fashion history: The gowns were by Rochas.)

Roses Bloom on the Moorland (Rosen blühen auf dem Heidegrab; directed by Hans H. König, 1952. Viewed as part of the FSLC Lost Years series.) The Siren's surprise of the year. One alternate title is Rape on the Moorland, which didn't exactly sound like her sort of thing, and she saw it only because it was screening at a rare moment that found her in the Walter Reade neighborhood. The film turned out to be a unique combination of Universal horror movie and rural romance, with Ruth Niehaus splendid as the death-haunted peasant heroine, and Hermann Schomberg storming through his scenes as the bestial villain. König makes exquisite use of the windswept, Bronte-esque setting, but what really sold the Siren was the denouement, with its unexpected warmth and humanity.

Ruthless (directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, 1948. Viewed as part of the MoMA series “Poverty Row.”) Written about in the Siren's roundup of this series at the Village Voice.

The Spy in Black (directed by Michael Powell, screenplay by Emeric Pressburger, 1939. Viewed on MUBI) Yes yes, everybody else already got to this one; better late than never, my friends. Terrific-looking BFI restoration. Conrad Veidt has a great doomed romantic part even though he's nominally the villain. Excellent location work in the Orkneys. A coolly intriguing performance by Valerie Hobson, who ordinarily doesn't excite the Siren.

Tonka of the Gallows (Tonka Sibenice, directed by Karel Anton, 1930. Viewed as part of MoMA's series “Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927–1943.”) The Siren wrote her heart out about this one at her Film Comment blog. Honorable mention, among many others seen and enjoyed:

I Knew Her Well (Antonio Pietrangeli, Italy 1965)

Kristian (Martin Fric, Czechoslovakia, 1939)

Happy Journey (Otakar Vavra, Czechoslovakia 1943)

False Faces (Lowell Sherman, U.S. 1932)

Sword of Doom (Kihachi Okamoto, Japan 1966)

Black Gravel (Helmut Kautner, Germany, 1961. Note: This one is not for dog lovers.)

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What follows is a roundup of some of the work that the Siren did elsewhere this year, aside from those already mentioned above. Booklet essay for the Masters of Cinema Blu-Ray of Cover Girl (a stunning restoration, by the way). Booklet essay for Criterion's Blu-Ray of His Girl Friday. Booklet essay for Criterion's Blu-Ray of The Philadelphia Story. Booklet essay for Film Movement's Blu-Ray box set of the Sissi movies, starring Romy Schneider. For the Village Voice, a write-up of "Hank and Jim," a series at Film Forum linked to Scott Eyman's wonderful book about the deep, lifelong friendship between Henry Fonda and James Stewart. Also for the Voice, an essay about the William Wyler series that ran at the sparkling new Quad Cinema. "What Makes Lubitsch Lubitsch?" at the Voice, a chance to ramble on about the master, via the Film Forum's near-complete retrospective. An essay on the magnificent Marseille Trilogy, again at the Voice. For her blog at Film Comment, in addition to her essay on Tonka, the Siren wrote on Michèle Morgan Beat the Devil The Stranger The Last Man on Earth & It's Great to Be Alive The “Roman Hollywood” series at Film Forum; this blog post includes the Siren holding forth briefly on her love for Three Coins in the Fountain.

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