#Rumors of Rockland | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

elves-n-angels · 4 years

Text

How Sebastian Stan Went From Winter Soldier to 'Winter Swoldier'

To keep up with the Chrises, Stan upgraded his diet, training, and worldview. And 2020 is shaping up to be his best year ever.

BY LAUREN LARSON

DEC 19, 2019

THE COFFEE-SHOP staff is having a silent meltdown. The peppermint tea I ordered was forgotten as soon as Sebastian Stan walked in. He orders a coffee, receives it instantly, and goes to put it down on a table. The lid isn’t fully on, and the coffee spills. It’s almost a “stars are just like us” moment, but then a barista suddenly materializes with a paper towel in his outstretched palm. “It’s wet,” he says eagerly.

Stan, 37, is wearing black shorts, a black T-shirt, midcalf black socks, and a gray hoodie missing its drawstring. He looks very off-duty SoHo, which he is: He’s back home in New York City on furlough from preparations for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, an extravagant collaboration between Marvel and newborn streaming service Disney+.

He’s also wearing a blue baseball cap, which sits slightly higher on his head than it might on the head of someone with less va-va-voom hair. That hair sent the Internet into a tizzy recently, when a poster for Falcon showed Stan with a short cut. In the past when Stan has played the Winter Soldier (né Bucky Barnes), he’s had shoulder-length hair. Next to his forehead, which is giant—the White Cliffs of Dover of foreheads—the longer style made him look very sinister.

Stan is somewhat less recognizable in street clothes, but women still side-eye him on their way to the bathroom. Maybe they recognize him; maybe he’s just a little too strapping not to be famous.

As Stan talks, he maintains an unsettling deadpan, verging on a glower. “People always ask me if I’m okay,” he says, still glowering. “They’ve said I have ‘serial-killer resting face.’ No matter what I do, I’ve always had dark circles under my eyes that never really go away. Lately there might be a little moisturizer happening here and there, just in case. Preserving a couple years, or whatever.”

The more reserved the actor, the more likely he is to become part of Hollywood mythology. Between Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016), a rumor circulated that he had gotten too ripped for the arm he’d worn in the earlier film, a wraparound contraption meant to look like a machine prosthetic. Redditors called him “the Winter Swoldier” and “Bulky Barnes.”

Stan laughs when I bring it up and clarifies that he used a new-and-improved arm in each successive film. With the first iteration, he had to apply lube to slide his real arm into what was essentially two rigid metal tubes. “It was like having a massive hammer attached to me,” he says, “but it looked unbelievable in the movie, and it actually informed a lot of my body language.”

Subsequent arms were more mobile, and Stan doesn’t have to lube up to get in there anymore: There’s a sleeve inside the arm for his next appearance as the Winter Soldier. But, he concedes, he did get too big for the arm used in Civil War. “I was so insecure being around these massive fucking guys, so I started lifting really heavy and ate a lot. I remember I showed up, and I was a little bit bigger than I had been in The Winter Soldier. The arm was a bit tight,” he says. “I was losing circulation.”

Stan is not a new arrival in the Marvel universe: He made his superhero debut in 2011, with Captain America: The First Avenger. But recently he’s enjoyed a burgeoning late-term fandom as his roles (and arms) have ballooned. Beyond Marvel, he starred alongside Margot Robbie in 2017’s I, Tonya, as Tonya Harding’s jackass boyfriend. When we meet in October, he’s just returned from shooting the spy film 355 in London, with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, and Diane Kruger. Another insecurity-inspiring roster.

With Stan’s constellation of anxieties—he says he’s “terribly self-aware, to the point of detriment”—he is uniquely suited to stardom in 2020. A decade ago, audiences wanted actors to be pillars of Hollywood hubris, strutting around in latex Marvel suits, muscly and impenetrable. We still want the muscles, but we also want stars to be genuine.

Marvel films can seem at odds with that national craving for authenticity. Steve Rogers, for example, becomes Captain America instantly, in the first ten minutes of The First Avenger: He goes into a machine and emerges fit, huge, and self-actualized. I ask Stan whether that narrative—man gets muscles and immediately earns the admiration and attraction of everyone in his midst—isn’t a dated, unrelatable picture of masculinity.

“When I was watching Steve Rogers,” Stan starts in, “I saw him question his identity, his alliances, the government. ‘Who am I? What is this? What made me come into this is very different than the role I am in now.’ I think it was very timely, in the sense that you could see that character evolve. Then he gives up his shield and is like, ‘I’m out. I’m going to do my own thing.’ He chooses his own life. It’s actually more relatable.”

There’s an obvious metaphor there: Stan is Captain America, and stardom—and the press tours, the scrutiny, and the training that come with it—is his government, always invading his carefully fortified sense of self. As a result, he can appear very reticent in public, offering only occasional glimpses of the unguarded Sebastian Stan. Audiences live for those moments.

Stan is the anti-celebrity in the year of the anti-celebrity.

And his ambient hostility toward questioning is offset by the behavior of his Falcon costar Anthony Mackie. When alone in interviews, Stan can seem deflective and bored, but he gets an enormous kick out of Mackie, who has jumped in to rescue many an interviewer left to writhe on the hook by Stan. He is the Sebastian Stan whisperer, midwife to a charm that can be difficult to coax out.

“When I’m trying hard to find the honest moment, he sort of unlocks me a little bit. We both laugh and we find a way to have a good time,” Stan says. When I tell him that I’m planning to mine Mackie for gossip, he laughs. “Here’s what he’s going to say: ‘He’s way too serious. It’s boring. He slows everything down. It’s always these questions and, like, the stare. Give this kid a Yoo-hoo! Somebody get him a chocolate milk. Good God, put a smile on his face!’ ”

Mackie is the enthusiastic extrovert to Stan’s pensive recluse. Even though I reach him on the phone at 9:00 p.m. after a long day of shooting in Savannah—“I’m already going to bed,” Mackie says in a N’awlins drawl that sounds sleepier than usual—he’s forthcoming about Stan. He describes his costar as a hermit, a chronic Irish-goodbye-er who doesn’t offer much of himself at first. “If the FBI ever needed to get anything out of him, they’d be in very big trouble,” Mackie says. “I don’t know what the male equivalent would be of ‘resting bitch face,’ but Sebastian has nailed that 100 percent.”

His first impression, which lingered for a long time, was that Stan was a very quiet, very reserved actor. They shook hands when they met, but it wasn’t a buddy-com bromance at first sight. It wasn’t until much later, when the two were on a press tour for The Winter Soldier, that they hit it off. Mackie hung out with Stan and a few of his closest friends, and they “unlocked” Stan for Mackie the same way Mackie now unlocks Stan on press tours.

Their chemistry also plays well on set. They share a dedication to their work, and they both come from classical acting backgrounds. (“He went to Juilliard,” Stan says of Mackie. “He can do anything.”) Beyond that, they’re opposites, reining in each other’s moods to a perfect, workable middle. “He calms me down when I’m ready to rage against the machine,” Mackie says. In turn, Mackie bullies Stan into having fun.

Case in point: When they were on a press tour in Beijing, they had one of those endless nights that make press tours seem glamorous. “It just went on and on and on,” Mackie recalls. “We had to do press the next morning, and he’s like, ‘I’m going to bed.’ I’m like, ‘Nope.’ I took his wallet and his cell phone so he couldn’t get into his hotel room. Then, by the time we got to the press, I was fine. He just looked like he’d gotten hit by a car.”

Hollywood has always relished actor partnerships—from Robert Redford and Paul Newman to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson—but now more than ever, buddying up feels like an imperative. Pairs perform, especially on social media. In November, when Stan and Mackie took over Marvel Studios’ Instagram to announce that they’d begun filming Falcon, fans were as thirsty for their friendship as they were for the show. Their dynamic is the stuff of memes: “[I] want someone to look at me the way Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie look at each other,” one fan tweeted.

I know what that fan meant. When Stan does look at you without suspicion—when, perchance, he laughs at something you say—it’s like winning a battle.

WHEN IT COMES to fitness, Stan has also benefited from the influence of a charismatic spirit guide. He played soccer and basketball at his Rockland County, New York, high school, but he didn’t start running and going to the gym until he was in college at Rutgers University. And he didn’t get really into fitness until 2005, when he was cast in a film titled The Covenant, which Stan calls “really classic.”

Really classic, indeed: The Covenant also stars Chace Crawford, whom Stan would later join on Gossip Girl (another classic), and Taylor Kitsch. Stan plays one of five prep-school boys endowed with supernatural gifts and sick abs.

“I got a call,” Stan says. “And one of the producers said to me, ‘Look, you’re going to have to look like John Travolta in Staying Alive.’ He’s just glistening with muscles. It’s ridiculous. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I started to work out with a trainer, but it was my buddy

Taylor Kitsch who got me into it.” With the trainer and Kitsch as his gym shepherds, Stan began exercising in earnest.

Then, in 2013, ahead of The Winter Soldier, Stan teamed up with trainer Don Saladino, who’d also sculpted Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, and Liev Schreiber. That same year, Stan starred in a Broadway revival of William Inge’s Picnic, playing a character whose defining trait is his hotness.

“Inge was writing something very important about vanity and how people were perceived in terms of being quote-unquote good-looking, beautiful, or pretty,” Stan said in a Playbill interview in 2013. “In the play, there’s something shameful and dirty about it. Our obsession with beauty has not changed. When we see something that turns us on, we either appreciate it or judge it. It’s so primal. We still dismiss people if they’re pretty; we don’t care how they feel, because they should just be happy looking the way they do. That’s something we were trying to say with this production.” Stan is less philosophical about his Picnic bod these days. “I had to be basically shirtless every night, like eight shows a week,” he says. “I really zoned in on diet, and everything transformed.”

He prefers exercising on an empty stomach, so he generally starts his day with coffee—and a rice cake with some almond butter and honey if he’s feeling depleted. Today he was feeling very depleted, he says, so he had some scrambled eggs with Brussels sprouts and aioli. “I’m not going to tell you the place where I got that,” he adds, unprompted and wary, as though I might start dining there daily in a stalker vigil.

Stan is a proponent of “quality over quantity,” but that doesn’t mean he skimps on his workouts; he just knows that a 20-minute session that catapults his heart rate into the red zone is as effective as an hour of low-intensity bullshit. He runs (“I’m not going to tell you where”) when he’s feeling meditative.

In advance of the Falcon shoot, Stan started lifting weights every morning and knocking out stunt training for the fight scenes. He points out that filming an action movie is a workout in itself: You spend whole days running around and sweating in a heavy suit. “I mean, next to Evans and Hemsworth and all those guys, I feel like I’m 50 miles behind. I don’t think I can get to that size, to be honest,” he says. That aside, Stan feels, in his late 30s, better than ever. “My body right now is probably the best it’s ever been.”

THERE'S A PHOTO of Stan, age 15, on his Instagram. It’s a headshot from Stagedoor Manor, an acting camp that he attended while in high school. He’s recognizable from the brow up—he has the same broad forehead, the same voluminous hair. His arms look pale and soft, like overcooked linguine, and he’s staring down the camera with theater-kid intensity.

Stan lived in Romania until he was eight years old. Shortly after the Romanian revolution, he and his mother moved to Vienna and stayed there for four years before heading to New York in 1995. No, he says, he didn’t have a foreign exchange student’s social cachet in middle school. “Maybe if I was from France or something. But I am Eastern European. We left communism,” he says. “When I came here, I just wanted to be like everybody else.”

I ask Stan which of his mannerisms are typically Romanian. “You’re kind of putting me on the spot to define a whole nation—a guy who hasn’t been there for years,” he says. But he thinks for a second. “For me, based on my mother, the ‘Romanian temperament’ is perseverance—being able to handle more than you think you can. At 27, my mother was working two jobs in a foreign country where she barely spoke the language. There’s a sense of family and perseverance that’s deeply ingrained in the blood.”

Even for someone who has experienced a certain degree of stardom, Marvel fans can be a shock to one’s sense of family. Certain Marvel stars acquiesce to the attention on some level, greeting fans with a Chris Hemsworthian openness to scrutiny. Stan’s boundaries are reflexive and firm, as though his sense of self is always under attack. (Which, to be fair, it may well be: “He’s so reserved,” Mackie says, “but in this day and age that’s a very good quality.”)

Stan is more protective of his personal life than most actors. Celebrities often use social media to dispense calculated chunks of themselves in exchange for privacy. Stan occasionally opens up on Instagram: “Been working with this guy through years of self judgement and mental wars when it comes to fitness and LIFE,” he wrote of Saladino in a caption accompanying a gym selfie. But questions about the people in his orbit ping ineffectually against his poker face.

He attributes this to only-vaguely-alluded-to incidents in which his family and friends were subject to public attention. As a public figure, he has opted into that attention, he explains, but they haven’t. It upset him when they were the targets of scrutiny, particularly when that scrutiny came from his fans. Stan seems to be looking for earnestness in an industry that, on the whole, disdains earnestness. He “tries hard to find the honest moment,” as he himself puts it (much like how he saw a profound statement about “our obsession with beauty” in William Inge’s horny play).

In this, the Marvel universe is an improbably good fit for him. We speak the week after Martin Scorsese said Marvel films “are not cinema,” and Stan is as defensive of the films as he can be without disrespecting Scorsese, one of his heroes. “All I know is that all movies affect people,” he says. “I’ve certainly experienced firsthand many people who have been affected and helped by Marvel movies.”

Captain America fans lean earnest. People have told Stan that Bucky Barnes helped them cope with their PTSD. During Q&A sessions, he’s asked questions like “What would Bucky Barnes’s major be?” and “What happened to Bucky Barnes when he fell from the train?” Stan fields those questions without sarcasm or diversion.

“They think we are these people,” Stan says, again without condescension. He’s content to take questions about Bucky Barnes, especially if it distracts fans from asking questions about Sebastian Stan. “Now we’re much more obsessed with the personality rather than the actor. We take people and swallow them and digest them and chew them up, and then we spit them out the other side. Then we’re done,” he says. “We’ve done that with numerous celebrities—people. I’ve seen people have massive ups and downs and stuff. All I can do is just try to be as honest as I can. And do my job.”

Men's Health Magazine, December 19, 2019.

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #winter soldier #mens health #long post

1K notes · View notes

rocklandhistoryblog · 4 years

Text

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – NEWS FROM YESTERYEAR

#100Years Ago: INPSECTION BY ERIE R.R. CAUSES MUCH EXCITEMENT

Excerpt from the Rockland News, September 24, 1920 – 100 YEARS AGO

INPSECTION BY ERIE R.R. CAUSES MUCH EXCITEMENT

Much excitement was caused in Sparkill recently when an engineer of the Erie R.R. made an inspection of property and land on both sides of tracks and then secured additional information as to the owners of land and tax valuation. Many rumors have been started but nothing official has been given out, up to the present time, as to what it may proceed.

The possibility of the double tracking of the Northern Railroad from Sparkill to Nyack and the taking over of that branch by the New York Central was among the most prevalent gossip to be heard. Visions of the future Sparkill filled many heads and dreams of great mercantile industries soon came to the foreground, and of course a real estate boom is surely to follow shortly.

_____

Flashback Friday appears every Friday. To receive the full Flashback report (formerly seen in the Rockland Review), visit our website at RocklandHistory.org. To receive it in your email inbox, enter your email address at the bottom of the website’s landing page, or call the HSRC office to register your email at 845 634 9629.

Image: Sparkill RR Station, c. 1905, courtesy of the Nyack Library, via NYHeritage.

#rockland history #local history #rockland county #rocklandhistory #nyshistory #orangetown #sparkill

1 note · View note

league-of-light · 6 years

Text

Week 4 Pick’em

Look, I know I’m late on the picks this week. I wanted to get them in yesterday, but other things came up and I didn’t get to it. I’m sorry, ok? To make up for it, I have written quite the long pick’em for this week. I’m not entirely sure if I will be able to make them this long every week, but I think I should be able to.

Why would I spend all this time writing the pick’em? Great question. Isn’t there a more productive use of your time? Probably. Will, you’re moving next week, shouldn’t you be packing or something? Are you just spending way more time writing picks as a means to delay the inevitable anxiety you’re going to feel about starting a new job and moving? Do you think this is the healthiest way to deal with that? Psh, you’re not my therapist.

Anyway, here goes

Yerboi vs Brenner? I hardly know’er

This Will vs. Brenner bout, should be promotionally billed as “Chronically Injured and Underperforming” vs “Complete Lineup Ineptitude”. Both teams come into Week 3 at a resounding 0-2, and are looking to get their season on track after some of high profile trades in the first couple weeks of the season.

There are always big expectations when you make a trade in Fantasy Football. Typically speaking, you hope and expect that the players you got are going to outperform whomever you traded away (or at the very least perform somewhat similarly). Unfortunately, that won’t always be the case. Sometimes there are weeks like last week, where JuJu outscored T.Y. Hilton and I am forced to sit there and reflect on how I would have won if I just kept JuJu. Other times, there are weeks like this week, where Brenner ensures he doesn’t have to deal with the emotional trauma of a trade gone awry because he benches the players he traded for. (No there aren’t, this literally never happens)

I pick myself, simply because I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen a team projected to score as few points as Brenner.

Story To Watch: How quickly it will take Drew Brees to score more than the 3 points Brenner got from Tyrod Taylor. My guess is 4 plays.

Tangiphil vs Hewie and the Hashslingers

After a fairly explosive first week of the season, we can all finally exhale — Phil’s team is bad again. Shockingly, his 3-headed Running Back Monster is down a head. Unlike the legend of the Hydra, instead of another head growing in it’s place, Phil decided to chase last week’s bench points and play Nelson Agholor. If you check his bench this week you may notice Joe Mixon outside of the IR slot, Isaiah Crowell’s wasted 18 point TNF total, and another Jets receiver. That’s right folks, it’s week 3 and Phil is already in midseason form.

But enough about Phil. Steve is 2-0 and I expect his win streak to continue this week. In my humble opinion, his team is underprojected with only 98 points, as Big Ben, Melvin Gordon, and Marvin Jones all look poised to be playing catchup in potentially high scoring games. Look for Steve to hopefully rise in the power rankings after squashing Phil.

Story To Watch: He may be the second head of a three two-headed running back monstrosity, but Adrian Peterson is going to look more like Mike Wazowski than James P. Sullivan this week. The Packers offense comes to FedEx Field with an offense that looks like two-day expedited shipping, while the Redskins offense has been looking like the Pony Express. Game script gets away from the ‘Skins and they abandon the run.

Kyle vs Sean

Close to half of this league isn’t from Rockland, so I’m going to use this opportunity to tell a story. To the hometown heroes - some of the overarching details may be incorrect, but I don’t care I have the talking stick. If you want accuracy you can write the damn blog post next week. Anyway, in sixth grade every middle school student has to take World History. The curriculum is geared towards ancient civilizations, and a decent chunk of time is spent on Egypt. As such, every year there was (is?, not sure if they still do it) a grade-wide Egypt project where students had to use their knowledge of Egypt, make something, and showcase it to the class. Think of it like a science fair, but with crappy Egyptian dioramas instead of baking soda volcanoes. Since I was a bright eyed ambitious young man who loved art and mythology, I knew I would do great on this project. I chose the ambitious task of making a sculpture of Horus, the Falcon-headed man prince of the Egyptian pantheon. It wasn’t long before I realized my doodling skills didn’t translate well into making 3D models, but I was in far too deep. I molded the clay as best I could, and then “accidentally” left it in the oven too long so it burned to a crisp and was nearly unidentifiable. Needless to say, I didn’t do very well on that project.

Why am I telling you this? Because look at Sean’s team. Does it look real good on paper? Sure. Does that mean he is likely going to win this week? Probably. But has his overconfidence blinded him into creating a team made of glass with absolutely no depth in a 16-team league? 67%, yes. (Because that is the grade I got on the project.)

Story to Watch: Alex Collins has become the running back equivalent of Hillary Swank. Hot or not? Stay tuned this week and find out…

You Guys Again vs. Johnson Ertz

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here folks. I…..I can’t believe it’s finally happening. After almost two full years, the day has finally come. Dylan Feldman vs. Dylan Costa are facing off in a fantasy football matchup which I am officially dubbing “The Battle for the Right to be Called Dylan in the Fantasy Football League Group Chat” (and since we love our acronyms here, aka TB4TR2BCDITFFLGC). Two Dylans enter, only one Dylan leaves. This matchup is arguably one of the most important matchups we have ever seen in this league, and has a chance to change the history books forever.

Unfortunately for Dylan Costa, his squad isn’t exactly striking fear into anyone these days. I’ll have to go with Dylan Feldman, but his lineup has more red letters than Hester Prynne after an all weekend slumber party at Arthur Dimmesdale’s Dimmesdale Dimmahome.

Story to Watch: With the return of Aaron “I smoke Marijuana so Bowers thinks I’m a bad person” Jones coming back to Green Bay, Jamaal Williams’ usage should be monitored. As the kids say, he hasn’t been very good over the past two weeks, and Aaron Jones is ready to come in blazing *~!420!~*

Bearkley vs. Watch Me

Imagine my shock when I saw I won the bidding war for Ryan Fitzpatrick. I immediately rushed to find the owners of the Tampa Bay WRs so I could celebrate our good fortune as Fitzmagic showers us all with fantasy points. Now imagine my shock when I saw Samantha has benched Chris Godwin, not only a rookie (we all know my irrational hype with rookies), but a rookie whose name is lit a combination of God and Win. I don’t know about you, but doesn’t it feel like Samantha has renounced God and doesn’t want to win this week’s matchup?

On the flipside, Nico runs our Dungeons and Dragons group, and if the 80s taught me anything it’s don’t feed weird aliens after midnight, and that D&D is for devil worshipping heathens. With any hope of good Christian fun squandered for this matchup, it really is anybody’s game. I want to believe in the underdog, but more favorable matchups lead me to believe that Nico will pull out the W.

Story to Watch: Saquon Barkley caught 2 of 6 targets week 1 against the Jags. That number increased to 14 of 16 targets last week as Eli Manning completely lost interest in holding on to the football for more than 1 second. Is it possible that Saquon receives 28 targets this game as Eli Manning has to look JJ Watt and Jadaveon Clowney in the eyes?

Washington vs. Walshington

I want to take a second here and pour one out for Walsh, who didn’t answer my trade offer or my text message regarding Dalvin Cook and Allen Robinson. Walsh, you took an injury bullet for me and I will forever be grateful. It’s appropriate that I mention taking a bullet, because rumors have it Frank Gore was actually there when the first metal bullet was shot in 1425. Between Gore and Kerryon Johnson, Walsh will be lucky if he gets 14.25 points from his running backs this week.

Andy surprisingly continues to ride or die with Andrew Luck, despite Luck being unable to throw the football more than 15 yards. At this point I assume he is just taunting Arielle with Bortles on his bench, and we have to assume that if Bortles continues putting up 30 point games, eventually Andy might start him. The biggest story on this squad is how Andy managed to get two of the best big play boom or bust WRs with John Brown and Will Fuller, while also having Amari Cooper and Mike Evans. That’s a solid receiving core you got there pal, and I just want you to know I see it and appreciate it.

Story To Watch: C’mon, it’s Philip Lindsay. Every week it’s Philip Lindsay. Everyone loves a hometown hero and I have greatly enjoyed watching this kid ball out.

Bowers v Arielle

I’m high on Dylan Leone Arielle’s team this year. How could you not be? It was drafted by a man who has $45,000 in fantasy football great young woman who has shown her commitment to the league. For whatever reason, ESPN’s site stopped working just as I was going to look at this matchup, so unfortunately I am going to have to give an abridged write up of my pick. I have played these teams back to back so you would assume I know who is on their rosters, but I can’t remember anything other than Russell Wilson and James Conner on Arielle’s team, and Golden Tate and Kirk Cousins on Bowers’.

Based on this limited memory alone, I suppose I am going to pick Bowers in what will likely be another close matchup for the Reikland Reavers

Story to Watch: The story of life as I take this momentary absence from ESPN’s Fantasy Football to reflect on the finer things in the world. Like Yahoo Fantasy Football.

Jason v Harnsowl

ESPN is still not working for me, neither on my phone nor my computer, so I can’t really give much analysis here. However, not much analysis is needed. Unlike his godless sister, Jason is a man of faith. And if George Michaels taught us anything, it’s that you gotta have faith. You gotta have faith, faith, faith. Carson Wentz returns this week and I don’t care whoever Harnsowl is playing, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, as far as the matchup is concerned it might matter, but emotionally speaking, Jason has already won this week.

I can’t be expected to pick a winner in a matchup that already has a winner, so instead I’ll take this time to remind you to spay or neuter your pets. Bob Barker used to do a fantastic job of reminding the American people to do so, and if I am being completely honest I just don’t think Drew Carey delivers the message with the same panache. Like sure, I know Drew still says it at the end of the show, but does he really even believe it? Only Drew can really answer that question, but if I had to guess I would bet $100 $101 Drew. While we’re on the topic, if any of you ever manage to go on Price is Right and you do that thing where you bid one dollar higher than someone else did, you can consider our friendship over. Not only is it the worst strategy ever, it’s also rude as hell to the other contestant. In some cases I’m sure the people legitimately don’t know what to bet after someone else bet around the same thing they did, but for the love of God at least bet like $10 higher so there is some tension in the room.

But yeah, back to football, I pick Jason

Story to Watch: The next episode of Price is Right, Monday September 24th

3 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

The Holzer Files Season 2 Returns to Travel Channel on Oct. 29

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Holzer Files season 2 went through reams of files to choose all-new investigations into Hans Holzer’s paranormal mysteries. The investigative series launches with a special Halloween week premiere on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 11 p.m. ET.

The team, led by investigator Dave Schrader, psychic medium Cindy Kaza, equipment technician Shane Pittman and researcher Gabe Roth, investigates true hauntings from the recently discovered case files of America’s first ghost hunter, Dr. Hans Holzer.

“We knew when we greenlit The Holzer Files, we had something special on our hands, but we didn’t realize just how much of a paranormal pandora’s box we’d opened until we started filming,” Travel Channel general manager Matthew Butler said in a statement. “Hans was a prolific chronicler of hundreds of ghost hunts, preserving everything from photographs, case notes, letters, film footage and chilling audio recordings from his interview subjects and trance mediums. Most of this material has never been seen before and we’re just getting started.”

Born in Vienna in 1920, Dr. Hans Holzer is one of the most famous parapsychologists in this dimension. Recognized as the “father of the paranormal,” Holzer’s legendary four-decade exploration into hauntings helped spawn a generation of supernatural enthusiasts, including Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, who were inspired to write Ghostbusters.

A gifted magical practitioner, Holzer was a master of the Craft, training with “King of the Witches” Alex Sanders who founded the Alexandrian tradition, and receiving his degrees from Maxine Sanders. Holzer’s works Witches: True Encounters with Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults and Magick, and Wicca: The Way of the Witches, helped codify modern witchcraft. The author of 138 books, mostly on the occult, Holzer is best known for inspiring The Amityville Horror.

In January 1977, he and Ethel Meyers, a medium, investigated the Long Island property reputedly haunted by previous owner Ronald Defeo Jr., who murdered his family at the home in 1974. Meyers determined the house was built over a Native American burial ground, and the killings happened because Defeo was possessed by Rolling Thunder, a Shinnecock Indian Chief enraged at the desecration.

Holzer’s daughter, Alexandra Holzer, helps Travel Channel reopen her father’s most captivating case files by “digging into thousands of documents, letters, photographs and chilling audio and visual recordings dating back to the 1950s,” according to the official synopsis. The team picks up where Holzer left off to re-examine the terrifying hauntings that he dedicated his life to researching.

The Holzer Files is a “cryptic mystery, bound by threads of truth, the voices of the past and the exploration of modern paranormal pioneers,” according to the advance press. “Viewers will experience a chilling chase, fueled by Holzer’s rediscovered archival files and haunting cinematography.”

The second season comprises 13 brand new one-hour episodes. The series will explore legendary cases. The famed ghost hunter’s original case files included an investigation which trailed President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth to a tavern in Maryland which hid the assailant after the assignation. The paranormal team will also probe the case of a serial killer in Ohio, and an elegant mansion in New York City, which is “home to one of the world’s most infamous hauntings.”

For every installment, the crew scans thousands of Holzer’s recently discovered documents, letters, photographs, audio and visual recordings dating back to the 1950s. Using his findings, team members track down recent developments from each haunting and head back to the location to reinvestigate with a fresh perspective, harnessing their own research, skills and expertise.

The premiere episode, “Phantom Hand,” explores a 1963 incident where the Todd family of Cleveland encountered “a ghastly hand reaching toward them from the basement door in their Mason Court apartment,” according to the official synopsis. “Despite nailing the door shut, the appendage pushed through and terrified the family for weeks before they finally fled with their young son. Though the Todd family moved out, more people in the Kingsbury Run area of Cleveland continued to contact Dr. Holzer about similar disturbing activity, finally prompting him to bring his trusted psychic medium, Ethel Meyers, to conduct an outdoor reading of the entire area. Her findings were vivid and terrifying, but nothing matched up with the city’s known history, so the many paranormal cases of Kingsbury Run were never closed.”

As the investigator’s hidden case file is finally reopened, new patterns emerge. The team studies the original letters to consider “the hauntings may point to a new central crossroads for the spirits,” according to the press statement. “However, as they unearth the area’s haunting past, they soon discover that they are likely dealing with restless souls that may have all died at the hands of the same infamous killer.”

Upcoming Holzer Files episodes include:

“Tell Me No Lies” – Premieres Thursday, November 5 at 10 p.m.

“Hans Holzer believed a sensational tale of heartache and murder hid the real story behind one of his most famous cases,” reads the official synopsis. The investigators travel to the Old Merchant’s House in New York City to “uncover the terrifying truth of this Victorian-age haunting.”

“Death to Tyrants” – Premieres Thursday, November 12 at 10 p.m.

Holzer’s case of the Surratt Tavern in Clinton, Maryland, the infamous first stop of John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln in 1865 will be dissected by Dave Schrader, Cindy Kaza and Shane Pittman.

“Final Word” – Premieres Thursday, November 19 at 10 p.m.

“Hans Holzer visited Ohio’s Franklin Castle many times, each time experiencing terrible technical difficulties, and never able to pinpoint the exact cause of the uncanny happenings plaguing the owners of the house for years,” according to the official synopsis. “Now, Dave Schrader, Cindy Kaza and Shane Pittman return, witnessing the troubled spirit manifest before their eyes. But their biggest discovery is something Holzer himself missed. They restore his jumbled audio recording to find a hidden voice, and the key to the castle’s haunting.”

“Edge of the Veil” – Premieres Thursday, November 26 at 10 p.m.

Hans Holzer had a lifelong obsession with Rockland County, New York, the site of his first case. “Half a century later, the team attempts to decode the region’s rampant paranormal activity,” the synopsis reads. “Does it stem from a revolutionary past or something far more sinister?”

“Blood in the Water” – Premieres Thursday, December 3 at 10 p.m.

The father of paranormal study heard rumors of spectral activity Staten Island’s Conference House. The historic site was famous for peace, but it had a “dark and bloody past,” according to the official synopsis. People reported noises, murmurs, moans, and pleas going back several generations. Holzer conducted two investigations. “Though his mediums, Ethel and Sybil, sensed the murder of a young woman on the staircase by an imposing man from the American Revolution,” the synopsis reads. “Holzer felt there was more to the case.” When the investigative crew return to the site, “the spirits guide them to the water’s edge where a terrible truth awaits.”

“Devil in the Rock” – Premieres Thursday, December 10 at 10 p.m.

The team follow up on Hans Holzer’s 1964 investigation of the Bates Ship Chandlery, on the coast of Massachusetts. “As they delve deep into the property’s past, they uncover a chilling undercurrent of darkness anchored in the rocky shores,” the synopsis explains.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Holzer Files season 2 premieres Thursday, Oct. 29 at 11 p.m. on Travel Channel.

The post The Holzer Files Season 2 Returns to Travel Channel on Oct. 29 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3nFVgj1

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

vios-rockland-corner · 1 year

Note

So I checked yours and other person's archive blog ^^ it's lovely ❤️❤️❤️

but...

I got a bit confused with the timeline, what was canon at the end? What was changed and confirmed? Which games were connected - aka in the same universe or am I totally tripping?

Hi there! Sorry again for the absence. It's just how I am with tumblr. Quite a big question XD Yeah some things were getting retconned, some stuff stood on its own and other stuff was eventually going to be connected. Okay...let's see if I can simplify what I know.

Don't know much about "Empire" other that it may have been the creator's first stand alone project? Not sure if before, after or simultaneous as BTD. I think a version of Akira was in it, but otherwise that got scrapped. Next you got BTD and BTD2. Connected to each other but mostly stand alone horror dating parodies. Real introduction of Sano, Akira/Vincent, and Cain.

Huntress and Route 66 were online mini light novels connected to the BTD stuff. TDDUP was for the most part a stand alone project. Introduced Chris, Marcus and Jack. BUT, I think it was possible some of the characters were going to be integrated into Rockland eventually because... Mark of Belial was something in production that was going to 100% have Jack. Got scrapped/paused at one point but was in the works to try to rework it again once further into the Rockland stuff. Dollmaker was a retcon of the BTD story. Standalone I believe dealing with Akira and Sano (there was back and forth on what other characters would be included). I am not sure if Sano and Akira would eventually be included in the Rockland Universe.

Zeitgeist was a retcon of Cain's story. THIS was definitely going to link with the Rockland universe as a snippet of the supernatural side (though the majority of the Rockland Universe would focus more on the humans the majority of the time).

The Rockland Universe of course was going to have a bunch of stuff linked together. Let's see, you got the Misfits, Rumors of Rockland, think there was going to be a Carnival game, and again Mark of Belial thrown somewhere in there. I think that covers the majority. Sorry trying to remember all the stuff that was going to go into Rockland, but even a lot of that would change at times.

Was fun to watch the development at least.

12 notes · View notes

gslocks123 · 4 years

Text

Top 9 Myths And Misconceptions About Door Locks

Let's break the myths about locks together. Did you have any doubts about the security of your home and what you can do with locks and keys? Before you run to order a new lock, let's try to disprove the most controversial, confusing and frankly wrong statements, including the most common rumors.

1. No one can make a duplicate of a key with increased reliability.

An ordinary person cannot order an additional key with increased security for safes, vaults and commercial access. It can be done only by registered persons who know the special code.

2. Lost keys - you need to install a new lock.

If you have lost your key, you can order the same one and open your old door lock. But it is not recommended to do this, it is better to install a new one, in order to increase the security.

3. Locksmith services are very expensive.

This expression is true when it comes to the cost of materials and the complexity of the work that is required in some cases. Certified locksmith services can ensure that the right equipment and the right procedure for setting up a lock is the most reliable protection for your budget.

4. Only popular brands like Yale or Era produce the best locks.

There are many less known brands that can equally compete with renowned brands in quality and functioning.

5. For multiple locks to be opened with a single key, these locks must be from the same manufacturer.

There is absolutely no need for multiple locks to be of the same brand to be opened with a single master key. The only requirement is that they should have the identical keyways. This means that the master key must fit all lock cylinders for compatibility.

6. There are no "break-resistant" locks and locks with bump-key protection.

Expensive and reliable locks are resistant to bump-keys and crowbars, but to be honest, not all systems can withstand such methods of opening. But those that can withstand them are usually much more expensive for their super-shielding properties.

7. Any mortise lock without a handle can provide a high degree of protection.

There is a special classification of such locks by quality and consumer needs. Class 3 locks are usually inexpensive and have a design specifically for exterior doors, with access to the street. Class 2 locks have a moderate price, made of materials designed for heavy duty operation, and the design is ideal for domestic and commercial needs. First class locks are expensive and designed for industrial purposes, where very heavy operating conditions take place.

8. The broken key can be removed from the keyhole with a magnet or super glue.

The keys are usually made of brass, and this alloy is not magnetic, although there are keys made of steel. In any case, you will not be able to remove the broken key from the borehole because the pins in the cylinder hold it firmly inside. If someone believes that they can do this with super glue, and such comrades meet, they are very wrong. After such an attempt to get the key, the lock will have to be thrown away.

9. Good locks do not require maintenance

Many locks work for quite a long period without any intervention or maintenance, but in fact, at least once a year you need to grease the mechanism. Then it will last for many years. Other factors that reduce its life include temperature, humidity, dust and frequency of use.

Find GS Locks Locksmith Services in USA & Canada Cities Mentioned Below:

Locksmith Services California:

locksmith Alameda

locksmith atherton

locksmith belmont

locksmith berkeley

locksmith blackhawk

locksmith Brentwood

locksmith burlingame

locksmith Campbell

locksmith capitola

locksmith concord

locksmith Cupertino

locksmith daly-city

locksmith Danville

locksmith Dublin

locksmith east-palo-alto

locksmith el-cerrito

locksmith emeryville

locksmith foster-city

locksmith fremont

locksmith Gilroy

locksmith greenbrae

locksmith half-moon-bay

locksmith hayward

locksmith hercules

locksmith hillsborough

locksmith kentfield

locksmith lafayette

locksmith Livermore

locksmith los-altos

locksmith los-altos-hills

locksmith los-gatos

locksmith Martinez

locksmith menlo-park

locksmith mill-valley

locksmith millbrae

locksmith Milpitas

locksmith monte-sereno

locksmith moraga

locksmith Morgan-Hill

locksmith Mountain-View

locksmith newark

locksmith oakland

locksmith oakley

locksmith opal-cliffs

locksmith orinda

locksmith Pacifica

locksmith Palo-Alto

locksmith pinole

locksmith Pittsburg

locksmith pleasant-hill

locksmith Pleasanton

locksmith Redwood-City

locksmith Richmond

locksmith San-Bruno

locksmith san-francisco

locksmith san-jose

locksmith San-Leandro

locksmith san-mateo

locksmith san-pablo

locksmith San-Rafael

locksmith San-Ramon

locksmith santa-clara

locksmith santa-cruz

locksmith saratoga

locksmith scotts-valley

locksmith sunnyvale

locksmith tiburon

locksmith Union-City

locksmith vallejo

locksmith Walnut-Creek

locksmith watsonville

Locksmith services Delaware:

locksmith bear

locksmith bridgeville

locksmith brookside

locksmith bucks

locksmith claymont

locksmith dover

locksmith dover-base-housing

locksmith edgemoor

locksmith elsmere

locksmith georgetown

locksmith glasgow

locksmith greenville

locksmith harrington

locksmith highland-acres

locksmith hockessin

locksmith lewes

locksmith milford

locksmith millsboro

locksmith milton

locksmith north-star

locksmith pike-creek

locksmith pike-creek-valley

locksmith rising-sun-lebanon

locksmith riverview

locksmith seaford

locksmith selbyville

locksmith smyrna

locksmith townsend

locksmith wilmington-manor

locksmith woodside-east

Locksmith Services Maryland:

locksmith annapolis

locksmith arnold

locksmith aspen-hill

locksmith beltsville

locksmith bladensburg

locksmith bowie

locksmith chillum

locksmith college-park

locksmith eastport

locksmith fairland

locksmith glen-burnie

locksmith highland-beach

locksmith hyattsville

locksmith jessup

locksmith landover

locksmith laurel

locksmith maryland

locksmith maryland-city

locksmith mount-rainier

locksmith parole

locksmith primroses-acres

locksmith ripping-forest

locksmith riva

locksmith severn

locksmith severna-park

locksmith shelby-beach

locksmith sherwood-forest

locksmith silver-spring

locksmith south-laurel

locksmith suitland

locksmith truxton-height

locksmith victor-haven

Locksmith Services New Jersey:

locksmith asbury-park

locksmith ashland

locksmith atlantic

locksmith avenel

locksmith barclay

locksmith barrington

locksmith beachwood

locksmith beckett

locksmith bellmawr

locksmith berlin

locksmith blackwood

locksmith bound-brook

locksmith bridgeton

locksmith buena

locksmith camden

locksmith carneys-point

locksmith carteret

locksmith cherry-hill-mall

locksmith clementon

locksmith collingswood

locksmith colonia

locksmith crestwood-village

locksmith cumberland

locksmith dunellen

locksmith east-franklin

locksmith eatontown

locksmith echelon

locksmith ellisburg

locksmith fords

locksmith franklin-park

locksmith freehold

locksmith glassboro

locksmith glendora

locksmith gloucester

locksmith gloucester-city

locksmith golden-triangle

locksmith greentree

locksmith haddon-heights

locksmith haddonfield

locksmith highland-park

locksmith holiday-city-berkeley

locksmith iselin

locksmith keansburg

locksmith kendall-park

locksmith lakewood

locksmith laurence-harbor

locksmith lindenwold

locksmith long-branch

locksmith madison-park

locksmith marlton

locksmith matawan

locksmith metuchen

locksmith middlesex

locksmith milltown

locksmith millville

locksmith monmouth

locksmith mount-ephraim

locksmith mullica-hill

locksmith new-brunswick

locksmith new-jersey

locksmith oaklyn

locksmith ocean

locksmith old-bridge

locksmith palmyra

locksmith paulsboro

locksmith penns-grove

locksmith pennsville

locksmith perth-amboy

locksmith pine-hill

locksmith pine-lake-park

locksmith pitman

locksmith point-pleasant

locksmith rahway

locksmith ramblewood

locksmith red-bank

locksmith robertsville

locksmith rumson

locksmith runnemede

locksmith salem

locksmith sayreville

locksmith somerdale

locksmith somerset

locksmith south-amboy

locksmith south-river

locksmith spotswood

locksmith springdale

locksmith strathmore

locksmith tinton-falls

locksmith union

locksmith union-beach

locksmith vineland

locksmith west-freehold

locksmith west-long-branch

locksmith westville

locksmith williamstown

locksmith wilmington

locksmith woodbridge

locksmith woodbury

locksmith yorketown

Locksmith Services New York:

locksmith bronx

locksmith brooklyn

locksmith manhattan

locksmith new-york

Locksmith Services in Ontario Canada:

locksmith Barrie

locksmith belleville

locksmith brampton

locksmith brant

locksmith Brantford

locksmith brockville

locksmith Burlington

locksmith cambridge

locksmith clarence-rockland

locksmith cornwall

locksmith dryden

locksmith elliot-lake

locksmith Greater-Sudbury

locksmith Guelph

locksmith haldimand-county

locksmith hamilton

locksmith kawartha-lakes

locksmith kenora

locksmith Kingston

locksmith Kitchener

locksmith london-ontario

locksmith Markham

locksmith mississauga

locksmith niagara-falls

locksmith norfolk-county

locksmith north-bay

locksmith orillia

locksmith Oshawa

locksmith ottawa

locksmith owen-sound

locksmith pembroke

locksmith peterborough

locksmith pickering

locksmith port-colborne

locksmith prince-edward-county

locksmith quinte-west

locksmith richmond-hill

locksmith sarnia

locksmith temiskaming-shores

locksmith thorold

locksmith Thunder-Bay

locksmith timmins

locksmith toronto

locksmith Vaughan

locksmith Waterloo

locksmith welland

locksmith Windsor

locksmith woodstock

Find Locksmith Pennsylvania:

locksmith allentown

locksmith altoona

locksmith ambler

locksmith ancient-oaks

locksmith ardmore

locksmith audubon

locksmith berks

locksmith bethlehem

locksmith blandon

locksmith blue-bell

locksmith bristol

locksmith brookhaven

locksmith broomall

locksmith carbon

locksmith catasauqua

locksmith chalfont

locksmith chester

locksmith churchville

locksmith clifton-heights

locksmith coatesville

locksmith collingdale

locksmith conshohocken

locksmith croydon

locksmith darby

locksmith delaware

locksmith downingtown

locksmith doylestown

locksmith drexel-hill

locksmith easton

locksmith emmaus

locksmith erie

locksmith fairless-hills

locksmith flourtown

locksmith folcroft

locksmith folsom

locksmith fort-washington

locksmith fullerton

locksmith glenolden

locksmith glenside

locksmith harleysville

locksmith harrisburg

locksmith hatboro

locksmith hellertown

locksmith horsham

locksmith jenkintown

locksmith kennett-square

locksmith king-of-prussia

locksmith kulpsville

locksmith lansdale

locksmith lansdowne

locksmith lebanon

locksmith lehigh

locksmith levittown

locksmith lionville

locksmith maple-glen

locksmith middletown

locksmith monroe

locksmith montgomery

locksmith montgomeryville

locksmith morrisville

locksmith nazareth

locksmith new-castle

locksmith norristown

locksmith northampton

locksmith norwood

locksmith oreland

locksmith penn-wynne

locksmith pennsylvania

locksmith perkasie

locksmith philadelphia

locksmith phoenixville

locksmith pittsburgh

locksmith plymouth-meeting

locksmith pottstown

locksmith prospect-park

locksmith quakertown

locksmith reading

locksmith richboro

locksmith ridley-park

locksmith sanatoga

locksmith scranton

locksmith sellersville

locksmith souderton

locksmith swarthmore

locksmith telford

locksmith trooper

locksmith village-green-green-ridge

locksmith village-shires

locksmith warminster-heights

locksmith wescosville

locksmith west-chester

locksmith williamsport

locksmith willow-grove

locksmith wilson

locksmith woodbourne

locksmith woodlyn

locksmith wyndmoor

locksmith wyomissing

locksmith yeadon

locksmith york

Find Locksmith in Florida:

locksmith aventura

locksmith bay-harbor-islands

locksmith biscayne-park

locksmith boca-raton

locksmith boynton-beach

locksmith coconut-creek

locksmith coral-gables

locksmith coral-springs

locksmith cutler-bay

locksmith dania-beach

locksmith davie

locksmith deerfield-beach

locksmith delray-beach

locksmith doral

locksmith el-portal

locksmith everglades-city

locksmith florida-city

locksmith fort-lauderdale

locksmith golden-beach

locksmith greenacres

locksmith hallandale-beach

locksmith harbour-village

locksmith hialeah

locksmith hialeah-gardens

locksmith hillsboro-beach

locksmith hollywood

locksmith homestead

locksmith indian-creek-village

locksmith islamorada

locksmith islandia

locksmith jupiter

locksmith key-biscayne-village

locksmith key-colony-beach

locksmith key-west

locksmith lake-worth

locksmith lauderdale-lakes

locksmith lauderhill

locksmith layton

locksmith lazy-lake

locksmith lighthouse-point

locksmith marathon

locksmith marco-island

locksmith margate

locksmith medley

locksmith miami-beach

locksmith miami-city

locksmith miami-gardens

locksmith miami-shores-village

locksmith miramar

locksmith naples

locksmith north-bay-village

locksmith north-lauderdale

locksmith north-miami-beach

locksmith oakland-park

locksmith opa-locka

locksmith palm-beach-gardens

locksmith palmetto-bay-village

locksmith pembroke-pines

locksmith pinecrest

locksmith plantation

locksmith pompano-beach

locksmith royal-palm-beach

locksmith sea-ranch-lakes

locksmith south-miami

locksmith sunny-isles-beach

locksmith sunrise

locksmith surfside

locksmith sweetwater

locksmith tamarac

locksmith virginia-gardens

locksmith west-miami

locksmith west-palm-beach

locksmith weston

locksmith wilton-manors

#locksmith #gslocks

0 notes

rocklandhistoryblog · 2 years

Text

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – NEWS FROM YESTERYEAR

Excerpt from Rockland Independent/Leader

January 12, 1972 – #50YEARS AGO 

URIS TO OPEN APRIL 1: 90% SPACE STILL VACANT [Image: Uris Complex, aka Blue Hill, c. 1972.]  The opening of the first two buildings of the Uris complex and Pearl River was originally scheduled for December 1969. Financial problems forced postponement, but the opening is finally set for April.  These two buildings encompass 1 million square feet of office space, and the major problem facing the Uris Corporation is the renting of space.  At the present time, only one lease has been signed. A spokesman for Uris, Robert Bennett, told the Independent Leader that the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company has leased 10,000 square feet on a long-term basis, but “in the next six weeks, we hoped to announce the signing of leases for over 100,000 square feet.”  He refused to comment on which firms may become tenants on the Blue Hill site. However, a major New York bank is rumored to be interested in moving corporate offices to Pearl River.  The project has aroused tremendous interest locally because there will be an all-weather shopping and pedestrian mall linking the two buildings, and Bennett said that many local merchants have contacted Uris with the with an eye to renting space in the mall.  Orangetown Town Supervisor John Komar is worried that the opening of the Uris mall may cause a decline in retail business inwell-established Pearl River stores similar to the effect on Nanuet of the Nanuet Mall. His administration has not played a great part in the earlier planning stages for the complex, which were undertaken by John Lovett and his Town Board.  Lovett said that the opening of the site is not going to disrupt the zoning and master plan of the Town of Orangetown, and he does not expect many of the 12,000 persons who may eventually work in the complex to move into the town, so there will not be a great need to supply housing for these people, nor will new schools be necessary.  “The only problem I see at the present time is the widening of Veterans Memorial Drive, which will have to handle a much greater volume of traffic,” Lovett said  Lovett accused the State of New York of inaction on the plans for the realignment of roads in the area, plans the state has had for the past two years. He said that Uris will widen the road at its own expense, “which is completely unprecedented,” he said  The Blue Hill site totals 240 acres, out of the original 370-acre tract which Uris purchased from the estate of M. Montgomery Maze. Included was an 18-hole golf course which the company sold in the Town of Orangetown. Blue Hill tenants will have the right to play on the, course usually reserved for Orangetown residents.

_____

Flashback Friday appears every Friday. To receive the full flashback report (formerly seen in the Rockland Review), visit our website at www.RocklandHistory.org.

To receive it in your email inbox, enter your email address at the bottom of the website's landing page, or call the HSRC office to register your email at 845-634-9629.

#rockland history #local history #rockland county #rocklandhistory #nyshistory #orangetown #blue hill plaza #pearl river

1 note · View note

ship-of-adramyttium · 7 years

Text

Introductory Note: By my calendar, it has been two months since my last post. I have several orphaned blogs that have suffered similar fates. There is no real good excuse, but some interesting reasons … well, interesting to me, anyway. However, I will update this blog more regularly. There was a two-week period, however, when I had no access to internet, email, or phone. At the end of February, my wife, Kate, and I got to go on a Caribbean cruise. When I was a kid, I went on a cruise in Hawaii, but cruise ships today are nothing like the Pacific Princess cruiser we were on back then. Here is a picture of that cruise ship now:

And here is a view of the ship we were on, the Norwegian Gem, which was elegant and carries about 2500 passengers:

The following picture essay is short on theological reflection, but it is long on an interesting and fun experience. Enjoy!

On St. Maarten

Getting There

On February 16th, we drove down to Boston and spent the night at a hotel which allows people to also keep their cars there for up to two weeks. Then we took the shuttle to South Station to catch the 11:15 train to New York City.

On the way to the train station in Boston

We love traveling by train. Every year there is a rumor that Amtrak is going to extend their DownEaster run all the way up to Rockland, which would mean we could catch the train a mile from our house, but it never happens. Otherwise we would be taking the train to Boston and NYC all the time.

The outskirts of NYC

We walked from Penn Station, past Times Square to our room in Hell’s Kitchen, which was a little over a mile. We were pretty tired, but our little hotel room looked out over a classic Hell’s Kitchen scene. I expected to see DareDevil or Spiderman show up in the alleyways.

At the Skyline Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen Hell’s Kitchen from our hotel window

Embarkation

Our hotel was only 2 blocks away from Pier 88, which is where Norwegian Cruise Lines stations itself. We had a boarding time of 12 noon, so we left about an hour ahead of time. In NYC, the blocks between Avenues is almost twice as long as between Streets. We walked from 10th Avenue, where our hotel was, to 12th Avenue, which runs along the waterfront. Less than halfway there, we could see the ship. The Norwegian Gem is huge, but about a third smaller than the megaships that are so popular now.

This is 2 blocks away. The ship is the largest building.

From this moment on, everyday was comprised of how to navigate large crowds of people.

After going through security checks, room key photos and creation, and navigating the maze of sales for massage packages, drink packages, restaurant packages, and down payments for your next cruise, we went through the enclosed gangplank to arrive on the Promenade level and were led right into the Atrium of the ship. Which is elegant and spectacular.

Here is a link to a short movie of the light sculpture in action

We left port at about 4pm. At about 3:45, our rooms were ready. They are small, but with plenty of space. Here is Kate looking at the schedule of things to do as I take a picture from the balcony. With a bonus picture of Kate with her personal life preserver.

Kate was very happy for all the security and safety things that were present on the ship. Of course, no amount of reassurance that cruise liners are one of the safest ways to travel assuaged her concerns initially.

At Sea

The Norwegian Gem has six diesel engines, which power multi-directional propulsion systems. At full speed it burns through about 3000 gallons of diesel fuel an hour. I tried not to think about the several tens of thousands of gallons of fuel deep in the hull of the ship once I found this out. Nonetheless, those engines are highly refined pieces of machinery which allow for tight maneuverability. We backed out of port and executed a very nice 90 degree turn in the river and then headed toward the sea. Also? It was cold.

The Norwegian Gem is registered in the Bahamas, and I believe every ship that is not registered in the US must be escorted out of the port by police or Coast Guard. We had a police helicopter escort us out.

We watched from the Sun Deck, along with a lot of other people.

It was moving and powerful to see Ellis Island as the sun went down, knowing relatives likely passed through there many years ago. And the Statue of Liberty at sunset is an image that has stayed with me since I saw it.

And then, we were out into the open sea, the North Atlantic.

We were at sea for 3 days going out and coming back. The first night, we – Kate and I, and our friends, Rodney and Jeni, with whom we took the cruise – explored the ship. This is the swimming pool area, which has a bar at one end, a buffet and bar at the other end, four hot tubs and two swimming pools, along with a water slide.

For the entire trip, I woke with the rising sun, which meant I was up before the vast majority of the our other 2400 fellow travelers, but not the 1000 crew members.

Kate and I made it a point to always use the stairs and walked the Promenade Deck often during our time at sea. Our room was on the 10th deck, and the Promenade was on the 7th. The buffet, pool, and sun decks were all on the 12th and 13th decks, so we walked several flights of stairs several times a day. If a person walked around the Promenade 2 ⅔ times, it was a mile. The Norwegian Gem is about 950 feet long, so once around the Promenade is a little more than a third of a mile. It is a huge ship.

The Grand Pacific dining room was at the aft of the ship. They served breakfast, lunch and dinner, and both the service and the food were excellent. The Norwegian Gem went through a major upgrade and remodel 2 and a half years ago and they went full-on Art Deco for the dining room. We were some of the first people to be seated for breakfast on the first morning, so we had a seat right above the port-side engines.

Here is the hallway leading away from our room. We were toward the forward of the ship, with a portside room (left, facing forward). This is facing aft (toward the rear). You can tell because the fish on the carpet always swim to the front of the ship, which was helpful because it was very easy to get turned around on the stairwells.

We were in room 10536. Jongi was our steward and was an excellent host for our cruise. For that matter, every staff member we interacted with was friendly, talkative, and helpful. The diversity was refreshing and wonderful to be around. Jongi was from China. Morgan, down the hall, was from India. Ghana, Croatia, Argentina, Spain, Peru, Cameroon, Norway, Philippines, Italy, France, South Africa, Russia, Taiwan, and many more were all on board. Kate and I, and our friends, Rodney and Jeni, made it a point to get to know the staff wherever we were on the ship. Lots of people complained about lots of things while on the cruise, but this being my first cruise experience as an adult, neither Kate nor I, nor our friends, could find a single thing to complain about at any point on the trip.

The seas were calm going down to San Juan. It started getting warm once we were off the coast of North Carolina. At sunset on the first day, we were down around northern Georgia, about 140 miles off shore.

Those first three days, we spent a lot of time at the outdoor cafe at the aft of the ship.

Also, I have about 400 pictures of waves and the wake of the ship.

The Norwegian Gem had 8 complimentary restaurants, 4 upcharge restaurants, and 3 buffet centers. You could, if you so desired, eat from 7am until 6:59am the next morning. O’Sheehans Pub, which overlooks the Atrium, is open 24 hours. The pub has a lot of sports memorabilia on the walls, and I was thrilled to find a great picture of The Greatest, Muhammed Ali, gracefully dodging a haymaker thrown from Joe Frazier.

By the time we were down around Florida, the water started turning a beautiful deep blue. The weather was warm and people began to swarm the pool area. Apparently, people “reserve” lounge chairs by putting their towels on the chairs, then leaving and doing whatever it is they are doing. Neither Kate or I have the patience or the desire to sit still long enough to get a tan by laying out in the sun. Also, my father used to be a dermatologist, and laying out in the sun has rooted itself as a deep and profound taboo in my psyche.

#gallery-0-89 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-89 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-89 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-89 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The water gets bluer the warmer it gets; and the pool gets crowded

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our first port was San Juan, PR. It is a modern city which reminded me a lot of Detroit – many places that are thriving and active, with pockets of abandonment. All the white SUVs and buses are for tours from the cruise ships coming into the port. It is a strange and unusual business, and from my research it is not clear if having 4 cruise ships every other day coming into your town is actually helpful to the local economy or not. I suspect most of the money spent on excursions, aside from port fees (which can be as little as $8 to as much as $25 per person), ends up back with the cruise line.

While in San Juan, we went on a tour of the El Yunque National Rainforest. The forest has been a long-term conservation project for Puerto Rico, and often people with neighboring land will donate or will the land to the park, so it keeps growing. It is incredibly lush, being a rainforest and all. As a rainforest, it rains everyday, several times a day. It is a beautiful place.

When we got back to the pier, I was able to get an advertising shot of our ship, and watch the Royal Caribbean ship come in. The Eurodam was there as well. Last year, 21 million people went on cruises. It is a $40 billion a year industry. The line we were on, Norwegian Cruise Line, is bringing 4 new ships out in the next 3 years. There are issues with all of this, of course.

The Norwegian Gem and a Royal Caribbean cruise ship coming into port with us

Royal Caribbean and Holland America’s Eurodam as we leave San Juan

St. Thomas, VI

I think it is important, before I say anything about the Virgin Islands, that you know the stewards on NCL cruises are trained in the fine art of creating towel animals. Here is a sauropod our steward, Jongi, made for us:

I was in the Virgin Islands when I was an early teen, so my memory of it was not clear. I remembered it as far less populated, and it probably was less populated then. But I did remember the very blue waters and the beautiful way the trees spilled into the water from the islands. All of it looks warm, lush, and inviting.

This picture was taken at about 6:45am. It rained almost every morning in all the island ports. The rain would come in over the hills and across the water, beautiful sheet falling over the land and the water. Here, the clouds are moving off into the ocean as the sun comes up over the islands.

One of the places we went when I was there as a kid was Trunk Bay on St. John’s, VI. So the excursion we signed up for was a Trunk Bay Snorkeling and Beach day. We took a boat from the ship pier to St John’s, then got on a bus to Trunk Bay,which is in Virgin Islands National Park.

The ocean was crystal clear, but the waves were big the day we were at Trunk Bay, so the coral reef off the little cay, which was about 50 yards out from the beach, was covered with sand. Also, the beach was much more crowded than what I remembered. All that is to say that I didn’t get to see a lot of color or any fish at all snorkeling around the island. Rightfully, Trunk Bay is considered one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.

St. Maarten

The next morning we ended up at Sint Maarten, which is an island divided in half. Half is Dutch, and the other, more populated, half is French. We docked on the Dutch side.

St. Maarten is a large island, but our bus to Maho Beach didn’t leave until 10am or so. It gave Kate and I a chance to wander down the pier and get some pictures.

Unbelievably, there is yet another cruise ship on the other side of the Royal Caribbean liner to the left of the picture. Also, if you look closely, you will see a little cart driving down the pier. The cart is driving down the pier toward Kate and I because people are not supposed to be down on the pier where we are. Of course, there were no signs that told us such a thing. But I got a good tourist pic of my lovely wife.

Maho Beach is in a bay on the far side of the island. It was here that Kate and I, and our friends with whom we were on the cruise with, decided the entire cruise scene is basically a travelling spectacle. Cruising, and the destinations one ends up in, is not travel in any true sense of the word. As someone who has some experience with travel, I think of travel as being willing to go to a place you don’t know, to learn about and experience things you want to know and do, and finding out about where those things are by talking to people you don’t know. Cruising is more like a moving vacation away from everything than travel.

#gallery-0-95 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-95 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-95 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-95 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Anyway, Maho Beach is a small beach with a whole lot of people. The primary attraction is that the beach is beautifully blue, which you can find all over the island. The main difference here are the airplanes that land right past the beach. The planes come in right over the top of the beach. Click for a YouTube video of planes landing. It is kind of crazy.

Tortola, BVI

By the time we arrived at Tortola early the next morning, we were pretty overwhelmed by the crowds and the herding from place to place and the noise. At the same time, we were aware that Tortola may be the most interesting of the islands on our trip. Even if we wanted to do something, though, the departure time was 1PM, so we just got off the ship and wandered around the town a little bit.

Kate and I went to this strange car park on the water and took some pictures, waded through the shops outside the pier, and then got back on the ship to people watch and enjoy the incredible weather – it was about 84 degrees and humid everywhere we went in the Caribbean, which was a nice break from the cold in Maine.

The aft deck overlooking the Tortola pier – Tortola in the morning

One thing I discovered about cruising is that much of the experience is always in comparison to other cruise ships and past cruises. When the Oasis of the Seas pulled up next to us, I noticed, “Hey, wait a minute…they have TWO climbing walls. And a giant LED movie screen by the pool area! What the…”

The Tui Discovery, which hails from New Zealand had a pink llama as a mascot. I liked the pink llama and thought our Norwegian Gem ship should have a mascot – maybe a reindeer or a lundehund.

Here is the Tui Discovery’s Llama And here is the Gem with a Lundehund

At Sea

We left Tortola – home of pirates and nefarious transfers of goods and humans alike – at 1pm. We took 3 days to get down to the Caribbean, and it would take a little less than that, but not much less to get back to NYC. Leaving Tortola was fantastically beautiful.

When we entered into international waters, the swells started to come in diagonally, and they were large, but relatively gentle. A lot of people on the ship didn’t handle it well, but we did.

It appeared to me that everyone on the ship knew they were headed back to cold weather, so they did whatever they could to take advantage of the time left to them to hang out in the sun and around the pool.

Sunsets were spectacular on the ocean. We didn’t get to see the green flash that happens when the sun hits the horizon at sunset when you are nearer to the equator, since it was cloudy every evening. But cloudy evenings led to moments like these.

The ship has something going on every moment of every waking hour. Most of the shows were musical reviews or comedy shows. We did go to one show with a couple of acrobats who were very impressive. What made it even more impressive was the performers were doing their ribbon and acrobatic routine on a considerably rocking ship. They did not appear to care. The theater that the performance was held was beautiful and could seat up to 1200 people. I couldn’t take pictures of the performance, but I did take a picture of the stage.

The ship was beautiful and all the lighting was just at the edge of being overwhelming, but the blue and purple and greys and the softened tones are clearly designed to calm people and draw them in.

This was a karaoke night in the Atrium featuring the crew of the ship. There were some very talented people who sang, but I was keenly aware of the penchant for ‘70s pop and soft rock.

The last couple days, Kate and our friends and I began to seek places that weren’t as crowded. However, if you choose to go on a cruise, there are people everywhere and there is no “quiet space”. Even the library was crowded. I suppose it was quiet in there, but so many people being quiet in a small space seemed more difficult to me than Calypso and Reggae bands playing by the pool.

Disembarkation

After 10 days on the Norwegian Gem, it was time to leave the ship. Cruising is a weird way to travel. It is like a floating city that travels to different places, but you see the same things everyone else sees when you go to those places. Instead of a house, you have a room where the bed is always made for you and someone cleans your bathroom for you and leaves towel animals for you.

Instead of having to worry about meals, you can choose to eat from your choice of a bunch of good to great restaurants, or just go to the buffet and eat as healthy or as unhealthy as you like. Instead of 128 channels with nothing on, there are musicians around the ship or a show in the theater or games in various lounges.

There is a lot that is attractive to all this and there are actually people who have both the income and the temperament to essentially live on a cruise ship all the time – as a passenger.

None of the above would be possible without the exceptional work of the international crew that makes all of this happen. The cooks, stewards, restaurant attendants and waiters, customer service agents, photographers, the captain and chief officers all make the experience seem unencumbered and relaxed. The amount of work to make this happen for 2400 passengers is almost inconceivable, and yet they remain friendly and attentive. Having done customer service work for many years before ministry, I can say this attitude is very hard to maintain.

But it was time to leave the ship, and we were excited to get home to our dogs and our house. We came into New York at sunrise.

By 8:45 we were off the ship. Here is a secret for you: Easy Disembarkation from the ship is when everyone leaves the ship. It is supposed to be an organized affair, but leaving the ship all at once is a herding event that is very uncomfortable.

And then, we were back on the streets of New York City.

Having been away from the ship for a month now, I can honestly say I would do this

The Cult of Cruise

whole thing again in a minute. Even with all the herding, all the people, the constant ‘70s pop music, it is unlike anything else. The danger is to join the Cruise Cult. Every cruise should be like your first cruise – unexpected, unknown, and completely new.

Kate and I had many conversations about the nature of leisure and vacations and work while on the Norwegian Gem and I will be updating the blog with some of those insights. One insight, however, that I will end with here is this:

Gratitude for those who make things possible for our enjoyment and leisure is easily overlooked. To make gratitude to those who make our vacations possible is a personal responsibility while traveling. Things go very well when, in our case, the staff and crew know you will be gracious for the things they do and the things you ask for. Once we engage gratitude, it flows. It flows from the vacation and the people helping make it possible, to the people you are traveling with, to the work you do to make the financial aspects possible, to the gifts given that help you travel, to God, for the incredibly beautiful places, creatures, and people in this world. So on your next vacation, say “Thank you” often. Start a conversation with your waiter. Thank the management or owner or captain. Look for the people who never get thanked, and thank them. Often. It will change everything, because we are changed when we are grateful.

A Sabbatical Cruise Introductory Note: By my calendar, it has been two months since my last post. I have several orphaned blogs that have suffered similar fates.

#Cruise #Gratitude #Leisure #Norwegian Gem #Travel

3 notes · View notes