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gunsatthaphan · 9 months

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~ Monthly BL Breakdown: July 2023 ~

🕶️ Happy August!!! 🌻

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post!

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Be Mine SuperStar - July 3rd (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 - July 5th (Japan)

🌟 Stay by My Side - July 7th (Taiwan)

🌟 Stay With Me - July 7th (China, censored)

🌟 Senior Love Me? (short film) - July 7th (Thailand)

🌟 Low Frequency - July 8th (Thailand)

🌟 Hidden Agenda - July 9th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Bump Up Business - July 9th (South Korea)

🌟 Laws of Attraction - July 15th (Thailand)

🌟 The Star Season 2 - July 15th (Myanmar)

🌟 Wedding Plan - July 19th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 After Sundown - July 20th (Thailand, cinema-release)

🌟 Jun and Jun - July 20th (South Korea)

🌟 Monochrome (short film) - July 25th (Thailand)

🌟 Papa, What Is Love? Season 2 - July 28th (Philippines)

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ Be Mine Superstar - once in a while a trashy low budget show comes along and hits just the right spot - this is that show lmao. I was looking forward to seeing JaFirst again but I did not expect to like it this much lol. It’s ridiculous but the kind that makes me laugh a lot. JaFirst completely reversing their roles has me rolling and is working extremely well. Love Stage vibes all around. I love it so far.

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Night Dream - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I Love You I Kill You (novel adaption) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Beyond The Duo (short film) - Date TBA (Myanmar)

🎥 UniverSad (novel adaption) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Iridescent love - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Nai Hia Bok Mai Chop Dek - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 The Hell Guards (Hey Don't Mess With My Heart) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Even If I Try To Fall In Love With You (君となら恋をしてみても, manga adaption) - Date TBA (Japan)

🎥 Wishing Upon the Shooting Stars - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Bad Guy My Boss - Date TBA (Thailand)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ The following BL productions & actors won at this year’s Asia Top Awards 2023:

Ohm Thitiwat: Best Actor (609 Bedtime Story)

Tar Atiwat: Rising Star (I Will Knock You)

PeeTitle: Popularity Award (La Pluie)

Gun Napat: Best Performance in a BL (Luminous Solution)

Mew Suppasit: Best Serial Actor (Love Me Again)

KinnPorsche: Most Popular BL Series

❗️ Former StarHunter actor Bas Suradet (2Moons, Gen Y) has joined Studio WabiSabi, along with 4 other new faces in their New Generation Lineup.

❗️ The novel ไหนเฮียบอกไม่ชอบเด็ก will be adapted into a series by MFlow Entertainment. Auditions are currently being held. Further details are unknown.

❗️ The upcoming GMMTV BL Cherry Magic released its pilot trailer after an 8 month delay due to copyright issues. Workshops are currently happening. The show will likely air in early 2024.

❗️ GMMTV announced that GeminiFourth will no longer be part of the upcoming BL/GL drama 23.5 due to changes in storylines & characters. They have been replaced by View Benyapa and June Wanwimol who will play the roles of Aylin & Luna, making it a GL-only drama. Further cast additions include Ciize Rutricha and others.

❗️ Actor Tul Pakorn (Together With Me, Manner of Death) announced his retirement from acting as he is pursuing a career in real estate in New York after getting his master’s degree.

❗️ The upcoming Domundi BL Middleman's Love has started workshops. The show will likely air towards the end of the year.

❗️ The Japanese BL Ossan's Love is rumored to get a third season which will likely premiere in January 2024. Further details are unknown.

❗️ The Norwegian web series SKAM (2015-2017) will get a Korean adaption called Skam Korea. The series has a total of 7 remakes from 6 European countries + the US. Auditions are currently being held.

❗️ GeminiFourth announced that they will be starring in another BL series which will be a novel adaption. Further details are unknown.

Upcoming series & movies for August

👉🏻 Stay Still - August 1st (Hong Kong)

👉🏻 Sing My Crush - August 2nd (South Korea)

👉🏻 The New Employee (movie version) - August 3rd (South Korea)

👉🏻 Love in Translation - August 5th (Thailand)

👉🏻 My Personal Weatherman - August 11th (Japan)

👉🏻 Love Class Season 2 - August 11th (South Korea)

👉🏻 Only Friends - August 12th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Friend. Boy Friend - August 19th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Lucky Love - August 20th (Thailand)

👉🏻 My Universe - August 20th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Kiseki: Dear to Me - August 22nd (Taiwan)

👉🏻 Why R U? Korean Remake - August 24th (South Korea)

👉🏻 Crazy Handsome Rich - August TBA (Thailand)

#doreens monthly bl breakdown #thai bl #bl drama #upcoming bl #update #bl news #august is gonna be wild im so ready #bring it

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ball-is-life-2006 · 5 months

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My Best NBA Player🔥💯

"Luka Magic" 🔮✨

Luka Dončić born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also plays for the Slovenia national team and is regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time.

Dončić with the Dallas Mavericks in 2021

No. 77 – Dallas Mavericks

Position:Point guard / shooting

League:NBA

Born:February 28, 1999 (age 24)

Country: Slovenia

Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)

Luka Dončić🔥

Dončić shone as a youth player for Union Olimpija before joining the youth academy of Real Madrid. In 2015 he made his debut for the academy's senior team at age 16, becoming the youngest in club history. He led Madrid to the 2018 EuroLeague title, winning the EuroLeague MVP and the Final Four MVP. Dončić was named the ACB Most Valuable Player and won back-to-back EuroLeague Rising Star and ACB Best Young Player awards. In addition, he was selected to the EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team.

In 2018, Dončić declared for the NBA draft, where he was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and then traded to the Dallas Mavericks.[note 1] He was selected unanimously to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won Rookie of the Year for the 2018–19 season. In his next four seasons, he was selected to the NBA All-Star game and named to the All-NBA First Team. He is the Mavericks' franchise leader in career triple-doubles.

Dončić made his senior debut for Slovenia in 2016 at only 17 years of age. He would later help his country win its first EuroBasket title in 2017 while also being named to the All-Tournament team.

#1st Blog #EMTECH

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njrsports · 6 months

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EIGHTH BALLOND,OR WINS LIONEL MESSI

THE WINNER OF THE 2023 BALLOND,OR HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED AND LIONEL MESSI HAS WON A RECORD -EXTENDING EIGHTH AWARD. THE INTER MIAMI AND ARGENTINA STRICKER , WHO PLAYED FOR PARIS SAINT -GERMAIN LAST SEASON CAPTAINED ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD CUP IN QUATAR IN LAST DECEMBER ENDING A 36 -YEAR WAIT FOR THE SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRY.MESSI 36 HAS WON THE AWARD THREE TIMES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE. LIONEL MESSI WAS NAMED THE BALLONDOR, 2023 WINNER AT A CERMONEY IN PARIS ON MONDAY, THE EIGTH TIME HE WAS WON THE PRESTIGIOUS AWARD. MESSI CAPTAINED ARGENTINA TO 2022 WORLD CUP SUCESS IN QUATAR LAST WINTER THE FAST TIME HE WON THE TOURNAMENT WHICH ENDED A 36 -YEAR WAIT. LA ALBICELESTE. THE MESSI IN 36 YEAR -OLD SCORED TWICE IN A BLOCKBUSTER FINAL AGANIST FRANCE IN DECEMBER WHICH FINISHED 3-3 AFTER EXTRA TIME SCORED IN THE PENALTY SHOOT-OUT AND WAS NAMED PLAYER OF THE MATCH. MESI FOUGHT OFF- COMPETITION FROM MANCHESTER CITY ERLING HAAALAND AND FORMER PARIS SAINT GERMAIN TEAM MATE KYLIAN MBABBE AS WELL AS 26 OTHER NOMINESES TO WIN THE AWARD. IN A LEAGUE TITILE WINNING SEASON FOR PSG HE PLAYED 41 MATCHES DURING . THE 2022/23 SEASON SCORED 21 GOALS AND PROVIDED 20 ASSISTS AT THE WORLD CUP IN QUATAR MESSI SCORED TWICE IN THE GROUP STAGE AND WAS ON TARGET IN EACH KNOCKOUT ROUND IN AUSTRALIA AND NETHERLANDS ,AND CROATIA AND THEN IN THE FINAL . HE FINISHED SECOND IN THE TOP GOALSCORER CHARTS WITH SEVEN GOALS AND RECEIVED THE GOLDEN BOLL ATT THE CONCLUSION OF THE TOURNAMENT IN RECOGNITION OF HIS FINE CAMPAIGHN . ON STAGE HE SAID,, THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO SHARE TO SHARE WITH THE MY NATIONAL TEAM .. THE ENTIRE GROUP THE COACHING STAFF EVERYONE INVOLVED,. I,M DELIGHTED TOBR HERE ONCE MORE TO BE ABLE TO ENJOY IN TO THE WORLD CUP LA ALBICELESTE BEAT FRANCE ON PENALTIES IN THE FINALS AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP IN QUATAR WITH MESSI CLAMING THE GOLDEN BOLL AS WELL. BEFORE MOVING TO MIAMI THIS SUMMER THE 36 YEAR OLD FORWARD ALSO WON THE FRENCH TITLE WITH PARIS SAINT -GERMAIN. IN AUGUST THE SUPERSTAR STAR TOOK HIS NEW TEAM TO THEIR EVER TITILE AS INTER MIAMI CLINCHED THE LEAGUES CUP. I,COULDN,T THAT L,VE ACHEIVED THE FORTUNE I,VE HAD PLAYING FOR THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD THE BEST TEAM IN HISTORY. IT,S TIME NICE TO WITH THSE TO WIN COPA AMERICA AND THEN THE WORLD CUP GET IT DONE IS AMAZING.

MESSI AWARDS

EUROPEAN GOLDEN SHOE -2018,2017,2013

WORLS SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2012- 2011-,2009

PICHICHI TROPHY 2021 , 2020, 2019

FI FA WORLD PLAYER OF THE PLAYER -2009.

THE BEST FIFA MENS PLAYER 2019.

UEFA MENS PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2011 2015

BALLOND,OR 2019 2021 2023 .

LA LIGA AWARD BEST PLAYER -2013,2012,2015

GOLDEN BOY AWARD 2020

FIFA GOLDEN BOLL 2014

UEFA FOOTBOLL OF THE YEAR 2009

BRAVO AWARD 2007

MARCA AWARD 2009

UEFA CLUB FORWARD OF THE YEAR 2009

COPA AMERICA YONG PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2007

LA LIGA PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2010

LA LIGA FOREIGN OFF THE YEAR 2010

ARGENTINA CAPTAIN LIONEL MESSI WON A RECORD EXTENDING 8 TH BALLONDOR FOR THE BEST PLAYER OF THE C IN THE WORLD ON MONDAY . BEATING NORWAYS UEFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR AND TRABLE WINNER ERLING HALLAND OF MANCHESTER CITY TO THE PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE WHO HIMSELF BAGGED THE GERED MULLER TROPHY AFTER BECOMING THE HIGHEST SCORE IN EUROPE LAST SEASON WITH 56 GOALS. INTER MIAMI MESSI WHO LAST WON THE AWARD IN 2021 PLAYED ROLE IN GFUDINING ARGENTINA TO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP TITLE IN 36 YEARS WHEN THEY BEAT DEFENDING FRANCE IN THE FINAL LAST YEAR. THE 36 YEARS OLD IS NOW 3 BALLONDOR LEAR OF RIVAL CR7 WHO WON THE LAST HIS 5 TROPHYS IN 2017. MESSI HAS NOW FINISHED AMONG THE TOP THREE A RECORD 14 TIMES IN TOTAL FINISHING RUNNER UP ON THE 5 OCCASIONS... MESSI RELOCATED TO SPAIN FROM ARGENTINA AGED 13 TO JOIN BARCELONA FOR WHOM HE MADE HIS COMPETITIVE DEBUT AGED 17 IN OCTOBER 2004. HE ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS AN INTEGRAL OLAYER FOR THE CLUB WITH IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS. AND IN THE FIRST SEAQSON 2008.2009. AN ARGENTINA INTERNATIONAL MESSI IS THE COUNTRY ALL TIME LEADING GOAL SCORER AND ALSO HOLDS THE NATIONAL RECORD FOR APPERENCES . AT YOUTH LEVEL HE WON THE 2005 FIFA WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP. FINISHING THE TOURNAMENT WITH BITH THE GOLDEN BOLL AND GOLDEN SHOE . 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS. A PROLFIC GOAL SCORER AND CREATIVE PLAY MAKER MESSI HOLDS THE RECORDS THE MOST GOALS IN A LA LIGA AND COPA AMERICA.

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 1 year

Video

youtube

NASA animation sizes up the universe's biggest black holes A new NASA animation highlights the "super" in supermassive black holes. These monsters lurk in the centers of most big galaxies, including our own Milky Way, and contain between 100,000 and tens of billions of times more mass than our sun. "Direct measurements, many made with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, confirm the presence of more than 100 supermassive black holes," said Jeremy Schnittman, a theorist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "How do they get so big? When galaxies collide, their central black holes eventually may merge together too." In 2019 and 2022, a planet-spanning network of radio observatories called the Event Horizon Telescope produced, respectively, the first images of the giant black holes at the centers of M87 and the Milky Way. They revealed a bright ring of hot orbiting gas surrounding a circular zone of darkness. Any light crossing the event horizon—the black hole's point of no return—becomes trapped forever, and any light passing close to it is redirected by the black hole's intense gravity. Together, these effects produce a "shadow" about twice the size of the black hole's actual event horizon. The new NASA animation shows 10 supersized black holes that occupy center stage in their host galaxies, including the Milky Way and M87, scaled by the sizes of their shadows. Starting near the sun, the camera steadily pulls back to compare ever-larger black holes to different structures in our solar system. First up is 1601+3113, a dwarf galaxy hosting a black hole packed with the mass of 100,000 suns. The matter is so compressed that even the black hole's shadow is smaller than our sun. The black hole at the heart of our own galaxy, called Sagittarius A* (pronounced ay-star), boasts the weight of 4.3 million suns based on long-term tracking of stars in orbit around it. Its shadow diameter spans about half that of Mercury's orbit in our solar system. The animation shows two monster black holes in the galaxy known as NGC 7727. Located about 1,600 light-years apart, one weighs 6 million solar masses and the other more than 150 million suns. Astronomers say the pair will merge within the next 250 million years. "Since 2015, gravitational wave observatories on Earth have detected the mergers of black holes with a few dozen solar masses thanks to the tiny ripples in space-time these events produce," said Goddard astrophysicist Ira Thorpe. "Mergers of supermassive black holes will produce waves of much lower frequencies which can be detected using a space-based observatory millions of times larger than its Earth-based counterparts." That's why NASA is collaborating with ESA (European Space Agency) to develop their LISA mission, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, expected to launch sometime in the next decade. LISA will consist of a constellation of three spacecraft in a triangle that shoot laser beams back and forth over millions of miles to precisely measure their separations. This will enable the detection of passing gravitational waves from merging black holes with masses up to a few hundred million suns. Astronomers are exploring other detection techniques to tackle even bigger mergers. At the animation's larger scale lies M87's black hole, now with a updated mass of 5.4 billion suns. Its shadow is so big that even a beam of light—traveling at 670 million mph (1 billion kph)—would take about two and a half days to cross it. The movie ends with TON 618, one of a handful of extremely distant and massive black holes for which astronomers have direct measurements. This behemoth contains more than 60 billion solar masses, and it boasts a shadow so large that a beam of light would take weeks to traverse it.

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #news #nasa #black holes

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fumpkins · 6 years

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The Microlaunch Space Race Has Begun

Dialing back the technology load even further, one U.K.-based business, B2Space, wishes to get to space utilizing high-altitude weather condition balloons. The economical balloons can reach 40 kilometers above Earth, and after that launch a rocket the remainder of the method into low-earth orbit. This schema, called a Rockoon, was very first established in 1949 by James Van Allen, who utilized the method to find how the earth’s environment traps space radiation.

But the Rockoon’s inexpensive, basic style has just recently gained back appeal, thanks to tech enhancement. B2Space’s design prevents a number of the aerodynamic restraints of other approaches. The very first phase will be entirely recyclable, which reduces expense, however it can likewise be released from practically anywhere and does not have to wait on narrow launch windows.

“Because of the nature of the system, it is very easy that we can move around,” states Victor Montero, among the co-founders of B2Space “Some applications are just literally not able to be performed because there is no big satellite going to an area.”

B2Space is intending to release in 2021, and wants to even more decrease expenses by including light payloads such as cremated remains for space burials. Companies like Celestis, a subsidiary of Space Services Inc., which offers suspicious star calling services, routinely puts human remains in space, and the practice appears to be ending up being more popular. The ashes aren’t really “spread,” so they do not add to space particles and ultimately will fall back to earth and burn up in the environment. You might likewise put an entire body in space by doing this, Montero states.

Another concept Montero states B2Space is drifting is on-demand shooting stars. Last month, a Japanese business revealed advancement of a satellite that produces artificial meteor showers by shooting small balls that radiance as they burn up.

“They can position in an area, for example, in a concert or in a festival,”Montero states. “That’s also something out of the normal application that we are seeing in a small satellite.”

LittleBoxes Floating In Space

When it concerns getting satellites into space, however, developing a rocket or a satellite might be the simple part. It appears couple of business have really done test launches, not to mention reveal a convenient item.

“It’s a very busy space,” states Chris Larmour, the CEO of Orbex, a British- based personal launch services business. “You have to separate out people talking about something and actually having the resources, skills, and experience to do that thing. There’s actually only a small group of companies and people that that have those kind of capabilities and resources to get the job done.”

For its part, Orbex, established in 2015, seems taking the lead in the European microlaunch race. The business protected ₤30 million ($396 million) in financing and will share a soon-to-open spaceport with U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin in northernScotland Their maiden launch is slated for2021 But for numerous others, reaching space stays a dream.

“The ‘space’ part of it is neat, but is not really what’s important to ensuring a successful business,”John Olds, the CEO of Blink Astro, states in an e-mail. “As in any business, developing customers and sustainable revenue streams are king.”

( function( d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName( s)[0];. if (d.getElementById( id)) return;. js = d.createElement( s); js.id = id;. js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.4";. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore( js, fjs);. (file, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));.

New post published on: https://livescience.tech/2018/08/09/the-microlaunch-space-race-has-begun/

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nerice · 5 years

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agenda for next week -block internet access during the day so i can focus! -hit at least 30k on my novel draft -draw myself an oc icon!! (unrealistic. maybe settle for just ‘DRAW’)

#im so happy abt going back to my standard haircut im so comfy!!!!!!!#stars are aligning for me to turn into 2015 me again so that's what im gonna do #oc life is my only hoe #if u hear from me during daytime european time shoot me on sight #elia txts

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nasa · 3 years

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Stars, Sea, and Smoke from the ISS: Tournament Earth 2021

We started Tournament Earth with 32 photos taken by astronauts from the Interantional Space Station and now we are down to 8. All of the #1 seeds are gone. Two #8 seeds are dominating their groups. Who will win? Let's take a closer look at the competitors still in the game. Then remember to vote for your favorites. The champion will be announced on April 13, 2021.

youtube

Stars in Motion vs. Cleveland Volcano

This matchup pits smoke against stars, but both have interesting stories.

The International Space Station (ISS) is constantly in motion. For astronaut photographers on board, that motion has consequences. For one, it makes it challenging to take photos. The same motion makes it possible to shoot spectacular photos like the one above. The image is compiled from a series of photographs taken by astronaut Don Pettit while he was onboard the ISS in April 2012. This composite was made from more than 72 individual long-exposure photographs taken over several minutes as the ISS traveled over the Caribbean Sea, across South America, and over the South Atlantic Ocean.

Astronaut Jeff Williams was the first to witness activity at the Cleveland Volcano on May 3, 2006. The Cleveland Volcano is one of the most active in the Aleutian Islands, which extend west-southwest from the Alaska mainland. It is a stratovolcano composed of alternating layers of hardened lava, compacted volcanic ash, and volcanic rocks. The event proved to be short-lived; two hours later, the plume had completely detached from the volcano. The ash cloud height could have been as high as 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above sea level.

Stargazing from the ISS vs. Cruising Past the Aurora Borealis

This is the most stellar matchup of the tournament, literally. Two beloved star pictures face off in what will be one of the most difficult choices of the tournament.

An astronaut took this broad, short-lens photograph of Earth’s night lights while looking out over the remote reaches of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. The ISS was passing over the island nation of Kiribati at the time, about 2600 kilometers (1,600 miles) south of Hawaii. Scientists identified the pattern of stars in the photo as our Milky Way galaxy (looking toward its center). The dark patches are dense dust clouds in an inner spiral arm of our galaxy; such clouds can block our view of stars toward the center. The curvature of the Earth crosses the center of the image and is illuminated by a variety of airglow layers in orange, green, and red.

Commonly known as the northern lights, these colorful ribbons of light appear to dance in the sky over the planet’s high latitudes, attracting sky chasers and photographers. Astronaut Randy “Komrade” Bresnik shot this photograph on September 15, 2017, as the space station passed over Ontario, Canada. Curtains of green—the most familiar color of auroras—dominate the light show, with hints of purple and red.

Rolling Through the Appalachians vs. Castellanus Cloud Tower

The Susquehanna River cuts through the folds of the Valley-and-Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains in this photograph taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Christina Koch. The Valley-and-Ridge province is a section of the larger Appalachian Mountain Belt between the Appalachian Plateau and the Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. The northeast-southwest trending ridges are composed of Early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The valleys between them were made of softer rocks (limestone and shales) that were more susceptible to erosion; they are now occupied by farms.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of a massive vertical cloud formation—known to meteorologists as cumulus castellanus—above Andros Island. The cloud name castellanus comes from the similarity to the crenellated towers or turrets of medieval castles. These clouds develop due to strong vertical air movement typically associated with thunderstorms.

Lake Van, Turkey vs. Typhoon Maysak from the Space Station

While orbiting on the International Space Station, astronaut Kate Rubins shot this photograph of part of Lake Van in Turkey, the largest soda or alkaline lake on Earth. Generally, soda lakes are distinguished by high concentrations of carbonate species. Lake Van is an endorheic lake—it has no outlet, so its water disappears by evaporation—with a pH of 10 and high salinity levels.

This photograph of super typhoon Maysak was taken by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti as the International Space Station passed near the storm on March 31, 2015. The category 4 typhoon was headed for a possible landfall in the Philippines by the end of the week. It was unusual for the western Pacific to see such a strong storm so early in the year.

See all of the images and vote HERE. Follow @NASAEarth on social media for updates.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

#Earth #Earth 2021 #Earth Day #home planet #earth pictures #tournament earth #nasaearth #blue marble #space pictures #space station #Youtube

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awildgingeishere · 3 years

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https://equalizersoccer.com/2021/03/05/christen-press-forward-position-training-profile-uswnt/

Christen Press is known for scoring world-class goals. The onlooking public swoons over the final product which is so often a picturesque finish bent into the side netting or hammered into the upper corner. Press often does this with such confidence that she makes the extraordinary look easy, even though it is anything but.

That final product, though, is in some ways the simpler part of the process. Press’ training habits and approach to the game embody the notion that most of an athlete’s work is done away from the public eye, on training fields and when nobody else is watching. Her unique approach to the game starts with individual training, where her focus on off-ball movement and manipulating tight spaces — rather than shooting for the sake of it, or individual dribbling drills — develops her ability to distinguish herself from any other forward. More than most, she can seamlessly transition between wide and center-forward roles.

“I think especially in the U.S., we don’t have as many players that manipulate space with off-ball movement,” Press said in an interview last year. “[It’s] something I learned in Europe and I think all European forwards do this, but we don’t often have players who do that. We typically have had players who are using strength to create space. So, I think when I play in the nine specifically, but even wide, my strength is off-ball movement, being very unpredictable, hard to mark, being dynamic and being kind of like blindside, off-ball so that I’m always stretching the line. And I think that’s a huge strength because it gives the midfield more room to play.”

All goal-scorers require a certain level of selfishness to be successful, which Press recognizes. What sets her apart is the execution in those moments. To paraphrase her teammate, Megan Rapinoe, you can always make a selfish decision to shoot and not pass… as long as you score.

“In the final third, I think I’ve always had a goal-scorer’s mentality,” Press said. “Once I’m in range of shooting, I don’t think about anything else. If I happen to pass, it’s because I couldn’t have shot. And I think that there’s a breed of players that are just wired that way. And then there’s a breed of players that play the same position that aren’t. I am wired like that, and there’s also pros and cons to it, but my first thought is always setting my feet to score, setting my feet to take a touch and then score. And then anything else that happens in that space is just a second option, honestly.”

***

Press blazed her own path to being a United States women’s national team regular. She left the U.S. club scene in 2012 to play in Sweden, feeling as though she needed to make a change after largely being left out of the U.S. picture by then head coach Pia Sundhage. Her back story has been recounted ad nauseam over the past decade, but it is still essential to understanding the person and the player – a do-everything forward who has been shaped by these experiences. Her path is unique among her peers of the same generation, and it shows in her different approach to playing forward.

Press famously thrived in Gothenburg, becoming the first American to win the Damallsvenskan’s golden boot. That move abroad — at a time when U.S. internationals not only were not playing abroad, but were actively discouraged from doing so — ironically solidified her place in the United States team ever since. Her goal in last month’s SheBelieves Cup against Argentina was her 60th, tying her with Shannon MacMillan for ninth in U.S. history.

Press grew up as a pure No. 9, a goal-scorer. She carried on with that through college, lighting up the scoring record books at Stanford, and used that to her advantage during that glorious first stretch of her career in Sweden. Cracking the national team was a different story. Abby Wambach was the incumbent No. 9 at the time, often alongside Amy Rodriguez, and Alex Morgan — who graduated college the same year as Press — burst onto the scene as the U.S.’ up-and-coming No. 9, meaning Press was often relegated to wide positions.

For a long time, Press’ place there felt shoehorned, no doubt a contributing factor to a relatively quiet World Cup in 2015, when she was pegged by so many to be the breakout star. Slowly, however, she adapted, choosing to accept whichever role she was given if it meant playing for the best team in the world. Now, she thrives in both wide and central roles. The difference was tangible at the 2019 World Cup, where the wide role which once looked so uncomfortable for Press was the one which she stepped into for the semifinal against England, due to Megan Rapinoe’s injury. Press scored 10 minutes into that impromptu start, helping the U.S. reach (and win) a second straight final.

“I think that I have more of a responsibility than any other forward to play in all the roles as needed and I think that’s historically been because I’ve been a substitute coming on,” she said. “So, you kind of have to be ready for whoever’s coming out; you’re the first sub on. And now, I think it’s just flexibility because I’ve done it and I’ve done it okay in several positions that everyone’s like, ‘oh, well she can.’ So, I think that’s a blessing and a curse. It gets you on a roster to be versatile, but I feel like having a stake on the field is like you’re in one position and you’re always going to show up in that position. I think that that has its pros as well.”

Today, it is accepted as fact that Press can play across all three positions on the front line: center forward, wide left and wide right. For years, that versatility was a burden she carried, a struggle through the purgatory of being an elite player without a defined position. Now, however, she has leveraged this to her advantage. Press has for so long juggled different forward positions that she has mastered each of them. Her lack of a defined position contributes to the outside world’s inability to explicitly qualify her greatness, but it is also the very thing which makes Press such a singular talent.

Her shift throughout the front line illustrates how the forward position varies between certain roles, even if in nuanced ways. Press said the definitions are a little more blurred in this system, and that each forward shares the responsibility to get in behind and score, but the physical difference in where each position lines up on the field affects how she plays each position.

“I think technically it is very different playing in the different positions, because your orientation is just completely changed,” she said. “And I think my whole career, I played with the offside line behind me. That’s a nine. So, playing wide for the first time was really hard because you see the whole game through one eye. And your dominant foot and your mobility of your hips — I know it sounds crazy — really affects what you can and can’t do on each side. But now I’ve been passed around so many times, I feel like I’m like, okay, my second eye is — I can still see out of this one.”

***

Press views each offseason as a little book of its own. In past years, she would write a draft of what those figurative chapters would be, listing the things she wanted to improve in her game and designing drills to achieve those goals. Press said that she has had trainers in the past, but nobody knows what she needs better than her.

She tries to balance the design of her training sessions to work on skills she thinks she is exceptional at and areas where she thinks she is not very good. Anything in between gets lost. This is where those subtle foundations are formed daily.

“I have a very regimented way that I train, a flow of when I control practice, this is how it flows,” Press said. “Within each segment of my training, I’ll have specific things that I’m working on, and always starting in the beginning of training with the most simple drills that you would never actually see a professional do —really, really childish and then just working on the mechanics and growing from there.”

Press points to quick-release shooting as one of these simple things she trains: she starts as basic as lining up a bag of balls on the six-yard line and quickly shooting with only one step, to work on generating power. Press executes this better than any other teammate and that is because she has, through the years, taken what is seemingly a disadvantage and figured out a way to create an advantage out of it.

Instead of viewing the ball as stuck under her feet, Press sees an opportunity to catch a defender between steps or a goalkeeper flat-footed. Whereas many forwards are especially dangerous when barreling down the field at speed, Press might be the best goal-scorer in the world from a standing-still position in open play. She trains that — again, by beginning simply. Press will line up a bag of balls on the six-yard line and shoot in quick succession, taking only one step back to reset. This is the foundation of generating power.

“I think that if I look through the years [at] the space I train in, it’s in that exact ‘D,’” she said, referencing the arch at the top of the 18-yard box. “And I think the way that you most often score there is using your defenders as a shield and a little bit into negative space, and then bending the ball. I think that’s absolutely my best way of scoring.

“And I think that’s because of my strengths. I can get into the pocket with speed often. I don’t actually like dribbling around defenders very much. I don’t practice dribbling so I’ve got one way to get by them, but I often work on manipulating my defenders so they can’t block my shot, rather than working on manipulating them so I can get by them. And I think that’s why then I developed a shot that I can take basically with the ball under my feet and generate a lot of power, because it’s unexpected for the goalkeeper and it’s out of reach for the defender.”

Training this type of skill is very intentional. Even on a field by herself, with no active defenders, Press knows that if she takes four steps before a shot, she has failed. In a game, with real defenders, she will have been tackled or her shooting window will have closed.

Soccer is about a feeling, Press says. U.S. Soccer sends film to players after each training session so they can self-evaluate. Press says she does not look at how she performed technically, but rather what her body language said about her approach to a given training session.

She has not gone without dry spells or rough patches, from the more subtle grind of transitioning to wide roles and changing teams, to the more obvious and overt moments, such as the penalty-kick shootout miss in the 2016 Olympic quarterfinal against Sweden.

There is a notion that forwards need short memories, to not dwell on such misses. Press said she views things slightly differently, borrowing some inspiration from fellow teammates.

“I think instead of even a short memory, I always told myself since I was a young person: the more I miss, the closer I am to my next goal,” she said. “Because it’s almost like once you play long enough, you’ve missed so many times that it’s no longer emotional. I guess a certain miss in a certain moment might be, but even those, I’ve done it; I’ve missed as bad as you can miss and I’ve let the team [down]. So, life goes on and I feel like if I’m in a game and I’ve missed an easy goal, that means the next one, I’m gonna score. Because I’ve missed a million easy goals before, and I’ve always scored again. So, that’s kind of how I approach it and I actually think I see this a bit in Carli [Lloyd]. If she ever misses an easy chance, she kind of becomes ravenous. She hunts and hunts because she wants to replace that memory with something else, and I try to even embody that a bit, where I’m even more hungry in the final part of that field.”

Lloyd and Press combined for a goal against England at the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. The play was a microcosm of all these things: Press intentionally drifting into open space on the opponent’s back line before receiving the ball, opening her hips to face up to goal in one fluid motion, and firing a quick shot which caught England’s defenders and goalkeeper by surprise. The camera angle from behind Press showed just how much the ball bent to tuck into the side netting. ESPN announcer Sebastian Salazar screamed a phrase which quickly made its way to a t-shirt: “Christen Press, what have you done?!”

It was another spectacular goal from Press, one worthy of all the plaudits it received. What had she done? Well, it was the same she has been doing for a long time, drifting between forward positions and scoring a noteworthy goal from skills she has developed away from the public eye."

#christen press #woso #uswnt

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fairytaleslive · 3 years

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I continue my message. I love Swans and fairy tales about swans. So I love tales as Six Swans, Seven Ravens, Wild Swans? do you love them? I know Czech movie Seven Ravens from Raza, it's very good. You know it? I think it's a popular tale so probably there are also others adaptation. Do you know more? I know all days I ask you something and I hope I don't bother you. I really appreciate too much this website and your knowledge about old stories and European cinema and it's good to discuss with u

Oh, anon, I LOVE the Wild Swans/Six Swans/Seven Ravens type of tale! It has a strong, active heroine, positive relationship between siblings and an engaging romantic subplot (when done right)! (btw: if you enjoy reading fairytale retellings, you might want to check out Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier; it's not an easy read /tw: sexual violence/, but overall very emotionally satisfying)

As for the film adaptations!

THE WILD SWANS (H. Ch. Andersen)/THE SIX SWANS (Brothers Grimm)

To start with H. Ch. Andersen's Wild Swans: there is a made-for-TV Czech adaptation of the same name – The Wild Swans ("Divoké labutě", Czechoslovakia, 1988). It's a part of Fairytale Tree ("Strom pohádek") series, so parts of it are retold by a narrator and parts are acted out. You can watch it on YouTube here. But honestly: it's not very good, you can safely skip this adaptation altogether. And it's so low budget that they never even show the princes as swans, LOL.

Not-Czech alternatives: Märchenperlen series has a pretty great adaptation of Brothers Grimm's Six Swans from 2012 that is very much worth watching if you haven’t already! It's available for streaming on ZDF website and you can watch it with ENG subtitles, I described how to do so here. Although, the automatic subtitles might be a little funny sometimes :).

(I also still remember the Russian animated adaptation from the 60's based on Andersen’s version, I've seen it as a kid on TV and it left a deep impression in me, but I guess you know it already :)).

THE SEVEN RAVENS (Božena Němcová)

Note: Brothers Grimm have a fairytale of the same name but it’s very different from the Czech version collected by Němcová.

There are 3 Czech live-action adaptations of The Seven Ravens:

1) The Seven Ravens (”Sedmero krkavců”, 1967)

You can watch it on YouTube here.

Directed by Ludvík Ráža, this is a made-for-TV film from 60′s, when Czech fairytale TV films were just starting and directors were trying out different ways to make the TV fairytales engaging and atmospheric even with a limited budget. This adaptation definitely does not lack dire atmosphere, but it’s also extremely theatrical/over dramatic, it looks more like a filmed stage play than a fairytale for children. It’s interesting for archival reasons and for its stellar cast, but probably not attractive for foreign fans.

2) The Seven Ravens (”Sedmero krkavců”, 1993)

You can watch it on YouTube here. (The YouTube upload is very low quality, if anyone really wants to watch this movie – without subtitles! – I can send you a download link via private message)

Directed again by Ludvík Ráža, who probably wanted to make a larger budget version of his take from 1967, The Seven Ravens from 1993 is legendary for its dramatic script and creepy villains – seriously, the heroine Bohdanka and her Prince play a second fiddle to the villainous duo of the Prince’s evil sister and her henchman called Hound. Btw - the evil sister is played by Ivana Chýlková who later starred as a titular evil character in The Queen of the Lake I talked about in the previous ask. This film version of the Seven Ravens is not my cup of tea, but it definitely scores points for creepiness!

3) The Seven Ravens (”Sedmero krkavců”, 2015)

Available on Magdalena’s google drive with ENG subtitles here. (please support this amazing blogger, she makes many Czech and Slovak films and fairytales available for foreign fans!)

I still remember that when this film was announced and even when the shooting was taking place, the Czech public in general was rather sceptical about it. After all, director Alice Nellis has never made a fairytale film before. Also, the casting was kind of controversial: Martha Issová, who was 33 yrs old at that time, was considered too old and too “plain” to play a fairytale heroine. Lukáš Příkazký as the Prince was also a surprising choice, as he was also deemed too old and not “manly” enough to star in a fairytale. And while the cast consisted of established actors, there were no big names, no huge stars that would draw the crowds into movie theaters. Many people also expressed the sentiment that it’s “unnecessary” to shoot The Seven Ravens again, when the 1993 version aged so well....

I am saying this to give you some idea how the film was initially not in a favorable position to become a hit and then...it was released to generally positive reviews and became one the best rated Czech fairytale films of the past 20 years. (it has 75% on Czech movie database - that’s a big success for a fairytale film)

Personally, I consider it one of the best Czech fairytale movies of all time and very much worth the watch. Also, I am a fan of Martha Issová and I think she did AMAZING in the main role (she expresses herself non-verbally for like 90% of the film and it’s such a joy to watch)

pictured: Martha Issová as Bohdanka in promotional picture for The Seven Ravens (2015)

#the seven ravens #the six swans #the wild swans #asks

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sagehaleyofficial · 5 years

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HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (9.18-9.24.19):

NEW MUSIC:

· The All-American Rejects released a new music video for their song “Gen Why? (DGAF).” The song comes off of AAR’s latest EP Send Her to Heaven, which dropped earlier this summer.

· Punk band The Menzingers released a new video for their new song “Strangers Forever,” marking the end of summer. The song comes from the band’s next album Hello Exile, out on October 4th.

· Can’t Swim announced a new EP featuring the likes of Trash Talk’s Spencer Pollard, Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara, Frank Carter, Stray from the Path’s Drew Dijorio and more. The EP will be titled Foreign Language and is set to debut next month.

· Fall Out Boy lead vocalist, Patrick Stump, was featured on the new single “86 Missed Calls” by Japanese band MAN WITH A MISSION. The FOB vocalist previously helped write and produce the band’s 2017 track “Dead End in Tokyo.”

· Canadian singer Lights recruited Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker, to collaborate on a new track titled “Long Live.” The song is an ode to the singer’s debut album, which was released a decade ago.

· Mayday Parade surprised fans with a 7” EP as a continuation of their latest album, Sunnyland, which dropped last year. The EP includes an acoustic version of “It’s Hard to Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated by Bolts of Lightning” and a B-side titled “Turn My Back.”

· Australian singer Alex Lahey recorded a cover of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade” for the radio station Triple J’s recurring Like a Version segment. The cover later received praise from the band’s frontman, Gerard Way, himself.

· Bayside announced a new album titled Interrobang, as well as a video for the album’s title track, last Friday. The full-length arrives after the band dropped the song “Prayers” following the release of an acoustic version of “Mona Lisa” back in January.

· Jimmy Eat World revealed the title of their next album, Surviving, as well as its first single “All the Way (Stay)”. Additionally, they announced a handful of tour dates in the U.S. and UK.

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

· Tonight Alive are scheduled to play their first show since 2018 at Australia’s Unify Gathering Festival on Saturday, January 11th, 2020. The band previously announced a string of U.S. tour dates for early 2019 before cancelling the tour and taking a hiatus from touring.

· Thrice announced a string of 15th anniversary tour dates in celebration of their fourth studio album, Vheissu. They will be joined by fellow rock acts mewithoutYou, Drug Church and Holy Fawn.

· Green Day, YUNGBLUD, Korn, System of a Down, the Offspring, Of Mice & Men, August Burns Red many others were announced to play next year’s Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals, both in Germany. The festival will take place on the first weekend of June.

· The Hella Mega Tour received major flack over the price and perks of its VIP packages. Some fans are not happy with the high price of a VIP ticket that doesn’t include a meet and greet with the bands.

· Blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus addressed the band’s cancelled gigs in Columbus, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, on Instagram. The band was forced to cancel their El Paso date after a nearby mass shooting the day prior, where Hoppus revealed they were locked down in their hotel.

· Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup announced a joint UK tour scheduled for the start of 2020. The Together Again! You’re Welcome Tour will feature Not Ur Girlfrenz as an opening act, and will mark the first time the bands have played together in the UK again in 16 years.

· In light of the Cars frontman Ric Ocasek’s passing earlier last week, the Killers covered “My Best Friend’s Girl” at a show in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Prior to this, the band’s singer Brandon Flowers posted a heartfelt tribute to the late musician on Twitter.

· Blink-182 played an intimate Spotify Encores gig in New York last Thursday, where they performed their most-streamed songs. The show took place at punk venue Saint Vitus in Brooklyn.

· Green Day took a stab at current U.S. president Donald Trump during their set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. They changed the lyrics to their hit song “American Idiot,” swapping “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” for “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda.”

· Waterparks announced the supporting acts for the U.S. leg of their Fandom Tour, as well as some extra UK and European tour dates. Openers for their American tour include rapper Yung Pinch and rock band Kitten.

· Carousel Kings were revealed as the opening act for the upcoming co-headlining tour of McCafferty and guardin. Other bands joining them on the tour include thebreathingbackwards.

· For the rapper’s 37th birthday, Blink-182 gifted Lil Wayne a joint of marijuana onstage during their New York show last Friday. “I’ll take this now,” Wayne said right before he sparked it up with the help of Travis Barker and an off-stage hand.

OTHER NEWS:

· Angels and Airwaves and former Blink-182 frontman, Tom DeLonge, filed for divorce from his wife Jennifer after 18 years of marriage. After meeting in high school and raising two children, the couple is reportedly separating due to “irreconcilable differences.”

· Following this, DeLonge posted three videos through his organization, To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, that potentially show UFOs. In response, the U.S. Navy confirmed the videos as “unidentified” phenomena in time for Storm Area 51 last Friday.

· In response to fan rumors, DeLonge also made a statement about his time with Blink-182 and squashed rumors that there is any bad blood between him and his former bandmates. To backtrack, Mark Hoppus recently spoke about Blink-182 before Matt Skiba replaced him following his departure in 2015.

· Former MCR frontman, Gerard Way, announced that he was already working on the fourth volume of his hit comic, The Umbrella Academy. The third volume, which was recently released in stores, is titled The Umbrella Academy Volume 3: Hotel Oblivion.

· Panic! at the Disco earned its third platinum single from their sixth studio album, Pray for the Wicked, for the song “Hey Look Ma, I Made It.” The track follows “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” going platinum in May and “High Hopes” going 3x platinum in June.

· Good Dye Young, the hair dye brand of Paramore frontwoman, Hayley Williams, relaunched its long out-of-stock lightening kit. In addition to doubling its size, the company revamped the formula to be vegan and gluten-free.

· Guitar manufacturer Fender announced a new nonprofit effort in collaboration with Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and more. The Fender Play Foundation moves forward with its mission to educate, equip and inspire young players.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley,” only at @sagehaleyofficial!

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su-o · 5 years

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The tiaras have been dusted off and the pearls polished. Four long years after the final instalment of Downton Abbey, it’s back, this time on the big screen.

This perfect specimen of English baroque is the setting for the new Downton Abbey film – in which George V and Queen Mary tour the north of England (which also includes a visit to Downton itself, filmed as usual at Highclere Castle in Berkshire) – and today they are shooting a grand ball at the home of the Countess of Harewood in the film, attended by the royal couple and Downton’s Crawley family.

In the background, an assistant producer is being told off by one of the volunteers of Wentworth Woodhouse for wandering into a disused room. This isn’t jobsworthiness. The carpet in some rooms is nearly 300 years old and will disintegrate if anyone breathes on it. The wallpaper, meanwhile, is laced with arsenic (as was the fashion at the time) in order to make it a certain shade of green.

Away from the action, Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary (the eldest Crawley daughter), is sitting in her trailer, her sharp features accentuated by period make-up, feeling slightly in awe of the whole process. ‘It was during my costume fitting when it hit me. I got really emotional.’

In America, it became the most successful British drama import of all time. It also set the bar for costume dramas, at least in terms of visual sheen. The Crown, Netflix’s lavish regal series (which returns this autumn), has clearly been influenced by Julian Fellowes’ series, which cost, on average, £1 million per episode to make.

Everyone expected that a film would be made, but it was quite a feat getting the cast together. ‘It was like herding cats,’ says Dockery. ‘But I just love it. It’s so familiar and doesn’t feel like work.’

Despite rumours to the contrary, Maggie Smith is back as the Dowager Countess, famous for her withering put-downs, as are Hugh Bonneville’s paterfamilias the Earl of Grantham, his American wife Cora (played by Elizabeth McGovern) and his two surviving daughters, Lady Mary, of course, and Laura Carmichael’s Lady Edith.

Others involved include Penelope Wilton’s sensible cousin Isobel and many of the downstairs staff: Jim Carter’s stentorian Mr Carson and his wife, the no-nonsense housekeeper Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan); Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol), the plain-speaking cook with Escoffier abilities, and her protégée, the occasionally mutinous Daisy (Sophie McShera).

When I talk to Fellowes though, he is adamant that a film was never inevitable. Rumours circulated about a prequel, following Robert’s courting of Cora for her money and subsequently falling in love with her, but nothing came of it. ‘When we finished the series, we didn’t envisage a film. We had a lovely party at The Ivy and everyone cried, but that was it as far as I was concerned. Then, as the years rolled by, there was a sense that people hadn’t quite finished with it, and eventually I formed an idea for a feature film.’

Other new cast members include Simon Jones and Geraldine James as the King and Queen, Imelda Staunton (real-life wife of Carter) as Lady Bagshaw, lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a relative of the Crawleys, and Tuppence Middleton as her mysterious lady’s maid, Lucy.

Although the film is set 15 years later, the King and Queen did make similar, unlikely tours around the country, as Fellowes explains. ‘After the First World War, there was a period of unsettled feelings about things – not least the monarchy. It had to re-establish itself as many members of European royalty had disappeared – the German Emperor, the Austrian Emperor, the Tsar of Russia. The structure had to be restated as having an integral role in society and they [George and Mary] were very successful in doing so. By 1930, the Crown was back at the heart of English life.’

For Dockery, making the film was not only a chance to catch up with old friends, but also to further develop a character that the nation took to their hearts.

‘Mary is so complex. We met her at 18 and she was this rebellious teenager – she was bored, and because she was a girl, she wasn’t what her father wanted [an heir to Downton]. Ultimately he became very proud of her, though, and I think everyone really responded to that. Seeing her journey was what hooked people.’

Now we see Lady Mary very much in control, happily married (to Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot) and more than capable of taking over the ancestral pile when the time comes.

‘Julian writes really well for women and I think that has something to do with his wife, Emma [a descendant of Lord Kitchener]. I see a lot of her in Mary, just her expressions and things,’ she says.

Dockery has had a particularly successful career post-Downton. She brought rigour and a dash of fun to her part as an ambitious TV exec in Network (the National Theatre production based on the acclaimed ’70s film), and a sort of watchfulness to the role of a hard-edged widow in Netflix’s warped western Godless. Next year, she will be showing her versatility further in Guy Ritchie’s film The Gentlemen, in which she plays the wife of a drug lord (played by Matthew McConaughey).

One character who has a particularly meaty storyline in the film is gay footman Thomas, played by Robert James-Collier. We meet at Shepperton Studios, where the kitchen scenes are being filmed. It’s a cavernous setting which production designer Donal Woods describes as ‘like a noirish, Scandi film, as opposed to the glorious technicolor of upstairs’. For the TV series, the servants’ quarters were created at Ealing Studios, but the set has been flat-packed and sent over, as have the copper jelly moulds, kettles and pans.

This time, we see Thomas befriend a footman from the Royal household (played by Max Brown), and he ends up in an illicit gay drinking den in York. This was an era when homosexuality could result in a prison sentence, but, says James-Collier, for one brief moment his somewhat malevolent character is liberated.

‘He is introduced to this other world that he doesn’t know exists, and there is this sense of relief, this sudden realisation that there are kindred spirits and that he is not this “foul individual” as Mr Carson once described him.’

The irony that Downton Abbey has been sold to countries where homosexuality can be punished by death is not lost on James-Collier, and he feels a grave sense of responsibility about his role. ‘I have received letters from young men who say that watching Thomas’s journey has helped them. All I can say is that it’s an utter privilege. It’s the reason why I do it.’

In the film, however, there are no such concerns, and that reflects the point that Downton is in many ways a fantasy. One criticism of the original scripts was that the Crawleys were too benign as employers, that the relationship between master and servant was much more remote, without any of the Earl of Grantham’s well-meaning paternalism. Fellowes disagrees.

‘This notion that people were horrible to their servants is wrong. Most of us, if you think about it logically, and putting aside the moral view that that life should exist at all, would want to get on with the valet or lady’s maid. When you see a character snarling at his butler, you think this isn’t a way of life. None of us would want to be in a position of speaking to people you disliked.’

If Fellowes is the arbiter of psychological accuracy, then Alastair Bruce is the gatekeeper of protocol. He was Downton’s historical adviser at the beginning and describes himself, among other things, as the posture monitor.

He explains. ‘The cast tend to put their bums here on the seat,’ he says indicating the back of his chair. ‘But in those days, you didn’t – you would sit at the front. Also, [people’s] shoulders have fallen forward because everyone is on their mobile phone all the time.’

Bruce also helps the actors with their diction and mentions the word ‘room’. Many tended to accentuate the ‘o’s when it fact it should be shortened, so they sound very nearly like a ‘u’.

‘It is pompous bollocks, but if you are recreating the ’20s you may as well get it right,’ Bruce adds. ‘Michelle would quite happily let me describe her evolution in life as a long way from Downton Abbey, but I have some pretty grandiose friends who can’t believe this is the case. I am very proud of the fact that she now has this incredible poise – you never see a curve in her back – and her accent is on point.’

Several months later, I ask Fellowes whether he has plans for a sequel (although in truth, certain scenes in the film suggest a full stop rather than a pause). ‘There is never any point in answering that,’ he says. ‘In this business as soon as someone says that’s the last time I’ll put on my ballet shoes, there they are, a year later, dancing Giselle.’

Downton Abbey is released on 13 September

#downton abbey #michelle dockery #rob james collier #Julian Fellowes

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bryanpayton · 4 years

Photo

If the name Theophilus London is unfamiliar to you or the memory seems somewhat distant, you’re not alone. Despite his undeniable talent, Theophilus still remains a largely unknown artist to many, which is understandable once you know his story.

Theophilus London is his real name. Theophilus means “friend of god” or “lover of god”. He was born in Trinidad, but grew up in Brooklyn. Many assume he is from London, which isn’t completely ridiculous. He was embraced there first due to his early mixtapes from 2008-2010. He has that European vibe to him and his influences range from Ace of Base to Prince.

Theo vibes seamlessly with hip-hop, indie-rock, and fashion scenes without skipping a beat. He is one of the most stylish brothas you will ever see and his music has always inspired other music artists in these genres. But being an influence to others and being a star in your own right can be tricky.

Theo released his debut album Timez Are Weird These Days in 2011 with very little success. Most of the songs sound more like studio references for Kid Cudi than polished CD Quality tracks fit for a debut album. Kanye West attached his name to Theo’s second album, Vibes in 2014. West produced and is featured on Theo’s most popular song to date, “Can’t Stop” thinking that would be enough to push Theo to music stardom. It wasn’t. Theo performed a more futuristic sound, but the rest of the album still wasn’t polished and showed little improvement. He couldn’t carry a song on his own.

The lack of musical success took a toll on Theo. He had Kanye’s cosign, production from Leon Ware, one of his biggest inspirations. He even had friend and legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld shoot the album cover. Still, it only sold 3,000 copies in the first week. He was making music for the wrong reasons. He told Billboard magazine, “I was craving the mainstream, I was super eager to get in that space.”

He canceled his Vibes tour, moved back to New York from Los Angeles. He spent 2015 DJ’ing club parties in NYC with friend, Virgil Abloh (currently head of Louis Vuitton Menswear and Off-White founder). He was also still modeling and designing, but the musical creativity wasn’t there. He became disconnected from long-time friends and became fixated on mass approval.

Despite the success outside of the booth, Theo was depressed. So, in 2018 he began making changes. He took a social media hiatus, ditched his smart phone for a flip phone, and set new intentions and goals. While staying with his brother in Rhode Island, Theo took the bus or Amtrak to the city for nightly recording sessions. He reconnected with old friends, made public appearances, modeled in Virgil’s first fashion show in Paris for Louis Vuitton, and launched his own record label, My Bebe Records.

Those 2018 recording sessions were the beginning of what would become Bebey, Theo’s first album in six years. It’s an album that’s both fun and brooding with wavy island vibes mixed in throughout. The title track, “Bebey” is a vacation-ready cover of Nigerian singer, Steve Monite’s 1984 disco hit of the same name. “Cuba” has some of the best bars he has spit in his career and you can’t help but move to “Give You”. It’s music from a man who is now free from the burdens of expectations from the masses. He’s not just living, but acknowledging his best life on Bebey while giving us insights to the road he’s traveled with compassion through Lil’ Yachty’s performance on the reprise of “Seals”.

So, Theophilus London now sits here in 2020. Still an influencer of many, but unknown to most. Not far from where he started in 2011. Only this time it feels different. Bebey feels different. It’s an album he could have only made by coming full circle and facing trials along the way. And while he no longer cares if you know who he is, it’s safe to say he’s confident more will pay attention this time. “I know I’m like 17 levels ahead of what everyone else is doing,” he told Billboard. This music is crazy good. I’m designing every song. I’m back in my zone.”

May 2020 be the year we all take notice.

#Theophilus London #Bebey #Album Review

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in-flagrante · 5 years

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The wait is over

THE TIARAS HAVE BEEN DUSTED OFF AND THE PEARLS POLISHED. FOUR LONG YEARS AFTER THE FINAL INSTALMENT OF DOWNTON ABBEY, IT’S BACK, THIS TIME ON THE BIG SCREEN. BEN LAWRENCE WENT ON SET TO UNCOVER SOME FAMILY SECRETS

The Daily Telegraph

31 Aug 2019

As Downton Abbey sweeps majestically on to the big screen, Ben Lawrence joins the cast reunion on set

It is a crisp, clear morning at Wentworth Woodhouse, the stately home in South Yorkshire. Built by the 1st Marquess of Rockingham, it has the widest façade in Europe, boasts at least 365 rooms (no one is certain of the exact number), and represents two and a half acres of building. This perfect specimen of English baroque is the setting for the new Downton Abbey film – in which George V and Queen Mary tour the north of England (which also includes a visit to Downton itself, filmed as usual at Highclere Castle in Berkshire) – and today they are shooting a grand ball at the home of the Countess of Harewood in the film, attended by the royal couple and Downton’s Crawley family.

Inside the house, a production unit zigzags in and out of huge vaulted rooms with cables and film cameras, while extras in 1920s ball attire chat nonchalantly on makeshift chairs. Meanwhile in the ballroom – a giant marble space, adorned with deep-red damask wallpaper and enormous flower arrangements – Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton (two of the stars of the original series) slip through the lines of dancing couples in diaphanous silks, as a small orchestra plays a waltz. In the background, an assistant producer is being told off by one of the volunteers of Wentworth Woodhouse for wandering into a disused room. This isn’t jobsworthiness. The carpet in some rooms is nearly 300 years old and will disintegrate

if anyone breathes on it. The wallpaper, meanwhile, is laced with arsenic (as was the fashion at the time) in order to make it a certain shade of green.

Downton Abbey made Dockery and many of her fellow cast members international names, and no wonder. The ITV series, which ran from 2010 to 2015 and followed the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, was sold to 220 territories worldwide, achieved a global audience of 120 million and was nominated for 53 International Emmys. In America, it became the most successful British drama import of all time. It also set the bar for costume dramas, at least in terms of visual sheen. The Crown, Netflix’s lavish regal series (which returns this autumn), has clearly been influenced by Julian Fellowes’ series, which cost, on average, £1 million per episode to make.

Despite rumours to the contrary, Maggie Smith is back as the Dowager Countess, famous for her

‘When we finished the series, we didn’t envisage a film. We had a party at The Ivy and everyone cried’

withering put-downs, as are Hugh Bonneville’s paterfamilias the Earl of Grantham, his American wife Cora (played by Elizabeth Mcgovern) and his two surviving daughters, Lady Mary, of course, and Laura Carmichael’s Lady Edith. Others involved include Penelope Wilton’s sensible cousin Isobel and many of the downstairs staff: Jim Carter’s stentorian Mr Carson and his wife, the no-nonsense housekeeper Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan); Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol), the plainspeaking cook with Escoffier abilities, and her protégée, the occasionally mutinous Daisy (Sophie Mcshera).

The Downton Abbey film, directed by Michael Engler, is set in 1927, just over a year after the series ended, and focuses on the Crawleys and their servants as they prepare for a royal visit. It causes much excitement below stairs, but the staff soon find the monarch’s entourage taking over – including a temperamental French chef (played by Philippe Spall) and a pompous head butler, played by David Haig, who refers to himself as the ‘King’s page of the back stairs’. Other new cast members include Simon Jones and Geraldine James as the King and Queen, Imelda Staunton (real-life wife of Carter) as Lady Bagshaw, lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a relative of the Crawleys, and Tuppence Middleton as her mysterious lady’s maid, Lucy.

Fellowes was inspired, in part, by a book he had read called Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey, which details a 1912 visit by King George V and Queen Mary to South Yorkshire. As well as tucking into lavish 13-course dinners, which included puddings served in sugar baskets that took four days to weave, they also met local miners and toured pit villages. Although the film is set 15 years later, the King and Queen did make similar, unlikely tours around the country, as Fellowes explains. ‘After the First World War, there was a period of unsettled feelings about things – not least the monarchy. It had to re-establish itself as many members of European royalty had disappeared – the German Emperor, the Austrian Emperor, the Tsar of Russia. The structure had to be restated as having an integral role in society and they [George and Mary] were very successful in doing so. By 1930, the Crown was back at the heart of English life.’

For Dockery, making the film was not only a chance to catch up with old friends, but also to further develop a character that the nation took to their hearts.

‘Mary is so complex. We met her at 18 and she was this rebellious teenager – she was bored, and

‘It is pompous, but if you are recreating the ’20s you may as well get it right’

because she was a girl, she wasn’t what her father wanted [an heir to Downton]. Ultimately he became very proud of her, though, and I think everyone really responded to that. Seeing her journey was what hooked people.’

Now we see Lady Mary very much in control, happily married (to Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot) and more than capable of taking over the ancestral pile when the time comes.

Dockery has had a particularly successful career post-downton. She brought rigour and a dash of fun to her part as an ambitious TV exec in Network (the National Theatre production based on the acclaimed ’70s film), and a sort of watchfulness to the role of a hard-edged widow in Netflix’s warped western Godless. Next year, she will be showing her versatility further in Guy Ritchie’s film The Gentlemen, in which she plays the wife of a drug lord (played by Matthew Mcconaughey).

One character who has a particularly meaty storyline in the film is gay footman Thomas, played by Robert James-collier. We meet at Shepperton Studios, where the kitchen scenes are being filmed. It’s a cavernous setting which production designer Donal Woods describes as ‘like a noirish, Scandi film, as opposed to the glorious technicolor of upstairs’. For the TV series, the servants’ quarters were created at Ealing Studios, but the set has been flat-packed and sent over, as have the copper jelly moulds, kettles and pans.

This time, we see Thomas befriend a footman from the Royal household (played by Max Brown), and he ends up in an illicit gay drinking den in York. This was an era when homosexuality could result in a prison sentence, but, says James-collier, for one brief moment his somewhat malevolent character is liberated.

The irony that Downton Abbey has been sold to countries where homosexuality can be punished by death is not lost on James-collier, and he feels a grave sense of responsibility about his role. ‘I have received letters from young men who say that watching Thomas’s journey has helped them. All I can say is that it’s an utter privilege. It’s the reason why I do it.’

The film’s 1927 setting marks a period in Britain when country houses such as Downton were beginning to feel the austerity of the interwar years. Death duties had to be paid and households streamlined, which meant that many servants lost their jobs. Meanwhile, the General Strike of 1926 – in which the TUC fought against worsening conditions for the country’s miners – underlined a growing sense of solidarity among the working class. In the film, however, there are no such concerns, and that reflects the point that Downton is in many ways a fantasy. One criticism of the original scripts was that the Crawleys were too benign as employers, that the relationship between master and servant was much more remote, without any of the Earl of Grantham’s well-meaning paternalism. Fellowes disagrees.

Bruce also helps the actors with their diction and mentions the word ‘room’. Many tended to accentuate the ‘o’s when it fact it should be shortened, so they sound very nearly like a ‘u’.

#downton abbey #downton abbey movie #michelle dockery #robert james collier #alastair bruce #julian fellowes

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 4 years

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SpaceTime 20191108 Series 22 Episode 82 is now out SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences. The show is available as a free twice weekly podcast through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, Audio Boom, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com SpaceTime is also broadcast around the world on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio. SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/ SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary SpaceTime YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceTimewithStuartGary Today’s stories... New Gaia data shows stars stick in families New data shows that newborn stars don’t simply drift away from their stellar nurseries – but rather stick together in long-lasting, string-like groups. This week’s Transit of Mercury The transit of Mercury happens this month on Remembrance day - November 11 as the tiny inner most world of our solar system crosses the face of the Sun. The rare event only happens 13 time a century. What could be the Solar System’s smallest dwarf planet Astronomers have spotted what might well be the smallest dwarf planet in the solar system. Gigantic Jet spotted A pilot flying at 35 thousand feet over the Gulf of Mexico managed to video a rare upwards shooting lightning bolt called a gigantic jet. The Science Report New study exposes how petrochemical multinationals denied the science of climate change. Youngest kids in class more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. Smoking now costing the Australian community almost 137 billion dollars a year. Archaeologists uncover a 2000 year old pilgrimage road used by Jews in Jerusalem. Good news for coffee drinkers. The National Health & Medical Research Council releases its finished draft report on homeopathy. Last Wednesday’s show…. Quantum squeezing to detect every stellar-mass black hole merger in the universe Scientists have found a way to detect virtually every stellar black hole collision in the universe by refining a technique called quantum squeezing. New evidence that the first stars formed very quickly Astronomers studying and ancient quasar have discovered a primitive gas cloud providing new clues about the birth of the universe’s first stars. A mission to slam an impactor into an asteroid NASA and the European Space Agency are planning a double mission to slam an impactor into a pyramid sized moon orbiting a mountain sized near Earth asteroid. Military space shuttle returns after a record breaking flight of over two years The United States Air Force’s X-37B space shuttle has returned to Earth after a record braking 780 days in orbit. The Science Report Paracetamol use during pregnancy linked to autism and ADGD in children. New study suggests disease could lie behind religious beliefs in good and evil. Warnings that global warming may increase undernutrition through the effects of heat exposure. A major game changer for the electric car. Dinosaur footprints suggest that one of the most common dinos preferred to chill at the beach. The dark and deadly side of the growing demand for so called healing crystals. SpaceTime Background SpaceTime is Australia’s most respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads per year. The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, spaceflight, and general science. SpaceTime features interviews with leading Australian scientists about their latest research. The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on ABC NewsRadio. Stuart Gary created the program during his 17 years as NewsRadio’s Science Editor, evening presenter, and news anchor. Gary wrote, produced and hosted StarStuff, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience share – based on the ABC’s Neilsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, & Perth). The StarStuff podcast was hosted by ABC Science online -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually. The program wrapped up in December 2015 after ABC funding was refocused towards greater sports and horse racing coverage. Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary decided to produce the show independently, rebranding it as SpaceTime. The first episode of SpaceTime was broadcast in February 2016.

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #starstuff #spacetimewithstuartgary #NASA #ESA #ASA-Australian Space Agency #abc starstuff

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hedwigsaardvark · 5 years

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From the Telegraph.

The wait is over: Downton Abbey hits the big screen - and a visit to the set uncovers family secrets

By Ben Lawrence

30 AUGUST 2019

Harry Hadden-Paton, director Michael Engler and Matthew Goode CREDIT: CHARLIE GRAY

CREDIT: CHARLIE GRAY

The tiaras have been dusted off and the pearls polished. Four long years after the final instalment of Downton Abbey, it’s back, this time on the big screen.

Others involved include Penelope Wilton’s sensible cousin Isobel and many of the downstairs staff: Jim Carter’s stentorian Mr Carson and his wife, the no-nonsense housekeeper Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan); Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol), the plain-speaking cook with Escoffierabilities, and her protégée, the occasionally mutinous Daisy (Sophie McShera).

For Dockery, making the film was not only a chance to catch up with old friends, but also to further develop a character that the nation took to their hearts.

Now we see Lady Mary very much in control, happily married (to Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot) and more than capable of taking over the ancestral pile when the time comes.

Bruce also helps the actors with their diction and mentions the word ‘room’. Many tended to accentuate the ‘o’s when it fact it should be shortened, so they sound very nearly like a ‘u’.

Downton Abbey is released on 13 September

Source and copyright The Telegraph

#the telegraph #matthewgoode #downton abbey

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nasa · 6 years

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What's That Space Rock?

The path through the solar system is a rocky road. Asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects—all kinds of small bodies of rock, metal and ice are in constant motion as they orbit the Sun. But what’s the difference between them, anyway? And why do these miniature worlds fascinate space explorers so much? The answer is profound: they may hold the keys to better understanding where we all come from. Here’s 10 things to know about the solar system this week:

This picture of Eros, the first of an asteroid taken from an orbiting spacecraft, came from our NEAR mission in February 2000. Image credit: NASA/JPL

1. Asteroids

Asteroids are rocky, airless worlds that orbit our Sun. They are remnants left over from the formation of our solar system, ranging in size from the length of a car to about as wide as a large city. Asteroids are diverse in composition; some are metallic while others are rich in carbon, giving them a coal-black color. They can be “rubble piles,” loosely held together by their own gravity, or they can be solid rocks.

Most of the asteroids in our solar system reside in a region called the main asteroid belt. This vast, doughnut-shaped ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains hundreds of thousands of asteroids, maybe millions. But despite what you see in the movies, there is still a great deal of space between each asteroid. With all due respect to C3PO, the odds of flying through the asteroid belt without colliding with one are actually pretty good.

Other asteroids (and comets) follow different orbits, including some that enter Earth’s neighborhood. These are called near-Earth objects, or NEOs. We can actually keep track of the ones we have discovered and predict where they are headed. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) do that very thing. Telescopes around the world and in space are used to spot new asteroids and comets, and the MPC and CNEOS, along with international colleagues, calculate where those asteroids and comets are going and determine whether they might pose any impact threat to Earth.

For scientists, asteroids play the role of time capsules from the early solar system, having been preserved in the vacuum of space for billions of years. What’s more, the main asteroid belt may have been a source of water—and organic compounds critical to life—for the inner planets like Earth.

The nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as seen in January 2015 by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft. Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

2. Comets

Comets also orbit the Sun, but they are more like snowballs than space rocks. Each comet has a center called a nucleus that contains icy chunks of frozen gases, along with bits of rock and dust. When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, the comet heats up and spews dust and gases, forming a giant, glowing ball called a coma around its nucleus, along with two tails – one made of dust and the other of excited gas (ions). Driven by a constant flow of particles from the Sun called the solar wind, the tails point away from the Sun, sometimes stretching for millions of miles.

While there are likely billions of comets in the solar system, the current confirmed number is 3,535. Like asteroids, comets are leftover material from the formation of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago, and they preserve secrets from the earliest days of the Sun’s family. Some of Earth’s water and other chemical constituents could have been delivered by comet impacts.

An artist re-creation of a collision in deep space. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

3. Meteoroids

Meteoroids are fragments and debris in space resulting from collisions among asteroids, comets, moons and planets. They are among the smallest “space rocks.” However, we can actually see them when they streak through our atmosphere in the form of meteors and meteor showers.

This photograph, taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, provides the unusual perspective of looking down on a meteor as it passes through the atmosphere. The image was taken on Aug. 13, 2011, during the Perseid meteor shower that occurs every August. Image credit: NASA

4. Meteors

Meteors are meteoroids that fall through Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds. The pressure and heat they generate as they push through the air causes them to glow and create a streak of light in the sky. Most burn up completely before touching the ground. We often refer to them as “shooting stars.” Meteors may be made mostly of rock, metal or a combination of the two.

Scientists estimate that about 48.5 tons (44,000 kilograms) of meteoritic material falls on Earth each day.

The constellation Orion is framed by two meteors during the Perseid shower on Aug. 12, 2018 in Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. Image credit: NASA/Bill Dunford

5. Meteor Showers

Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Sometimes the number increases dramatically—these events are termed meteor showers. They occur when Earth passes through trails of particles left by comets. When the particles enter Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, creating hundreds or even thousands of bright streaks in the sky. We can easily plan when to watch meteor showers because numerous showers happen annually as Earth’s orbit takes it through the same patches of comet debris. This year’s Orionid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 21.

An SUV-sized asteroid, 2008TC#, impacted on Oct. 7, 2008, in the Nubian Desert, Northern Sudan. Dr. Peter Jenniskens, NASA/SETI, joined Muawia Shaddas of the University of Khartoum in leading an expedition on a search for samples. Image credit: NASA/SETI/P. Jenniskens

6. Meteorites

Meteorites are asteroid, comet, moon and planet fragments (meteoroids) that survive the heated journey through Earth’s atmosphere all the way to the ground. Most meteorites found on Earth are pebble to fist size, but some are larger than a building.

Early Earth experienced many large meteorite impacts that caused extensive destruction. Well-documented stories of modern meteorite-caused injury or death are rare. In the first known case of an extraterrestrial object to have injured a human being in the U.S., Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, was severely bruised by a 8-pound (3.6-kilogram) stony meteorite that crashed through her roof in November 1954.

The largest object in the asteroid belt is actually a dwarf planet, Ceres. This view comes from our Dawn mission. The color is approximately as it would appear to the eye. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

7. Dwarf Planets

Don’t let the name fool you; despite their small size, dwarf planets are worlds that are just as compelling as their larger siblings. Dwarf planets are defined by astronomers as bodies massive enough to be shaped by gravity into a round or nearly round shape, but they don’t have enough of their own gravitational muscle to clear their path of other objects as they orbit the Sun. In our solar system, dwarf planets are mostly found in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune; Pluto is the best-known example. But the largest object in the asteroid belt is the dwarf planet Ceres. Like Pluto, Ceres shows signs of active geology, including ice volcanoes.

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8. Kuiper Belt Objects

The Kuiper Belt is a disc-shaped region beyond Neptune that extends from about 30 to 55 astronomical units -- that is, 30 to 55 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. There may be hundreds of thousands of icy bodies and a trillion or more comets in this distant region of our solar system.

An artist's rendition of the New Horizons spacecraft passing by the Kuiper Belt Object MU69 in January 2019. Image credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Besides Pluto, some of the mysterious worlds of the Kuiper Belt include Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, Makemake and Haumea. Like asteroids and comets, Kuiper Belt objects are time capsules, perhaps kept even more pristine in their icy realm.

This chart puts solar system distances in perspective. The scale bar is in astronomical units (AU), with each set distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance. One AU is the distance from the Sun to the Earth, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. Neptune, the most distant planet from the Sun, is about 30 AU. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

9. Oort Cloud Objects

The Oort Cloud is a group of icy bodies beginning roughly 186 billion miles (300 billion kilometers) away from the Sun. While the planets of our solar system orbit in a flat plane, the Oort Cloud is believed to be a giant spherical shell surrounding the Sun, planets and Kuiper Belt Objects. It is like a big, thick bubble around our solar system. The Oort Cloud’s icy bodies can be as large as mountains, and sometimes larger.

This dark, cold expanse is by far the solar system’s largest and most distant region. It extends all the way to about 100,000 AU (100,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun) – a good portion of the way to the next star system. Comets from the Oort Cloud can have orbital periods of thousands or even millions of years. Consider this: At its current speed of about a million miles a day, our Voyager 1 spacecraft won’t reach the Oort Cloud for more than 300 years. It will then take about 30,000 years for the spacecraft to traverse the Oort Cloud, and exit our solar system entirely.

This animation shows our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collecting a sample of the asteroid Bennu, which it is expected to do in 2020. Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

10. The Explorers

Fortunately, even though the Oort Cloud is extremely distant, most of the small bodies we’ve been discussing are more within reach. In fact, NASA and other space agencies have a whole flotilla of robotic spacecraft that are exploring these small worlds up close. Our mechanical emissaries act as our eyes and hands in deep space, searching for whatever clues these time capsules hold.

A partial roster of our current or recent missions to small, rocky destinations includes:

OSIRIS-REx – Now approaching the asteroid Bennu, where it will retrieve a sample in 2020 and return it to the Earth for close scrutiny.

New Horizons – Set to fly close to MU69 or “Ultima Thule,” an object a billion miles past Pluto in the Kuiper Belt on Jan. 1, 2019. When it does, MU69 will become the most distant object humans have ever seen up close.

Psyche – Planned for launch in 2022, the spacecraft will explore a metallic asteroid of the same name, which may be the ejected core of a baby planet that was destroyed long ago.

Lucy – Slated to investigate two separate groups of asteroids, called Trojans, that share the orbit of Jupiter – one group orbits ahead of the planet, while the other orbits behind. Lucy is planned to launch in 2021.

Dawn – Finishing up a successful seven-year mission orbiting planet-like worlds Ceres and Vesta in the asteroid belt.

Plus these missions from other space agencies:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Hayabusa2– Just landed a series of small probes on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.

The European Space Agency (ESA)’s Rosetta – Orbited the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and dispatched a lander to its surface.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

#10things #nasa #space #solarsystem #rocks #asteroids #comets #meteors #meteorites #meteorshower #meteor shower #rock

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