#this is why avoid st fans every time a new season drops

[cherimarshall]

“eddie munson/eddie stans ruined stranger things” may i remind you that a lot of you guys have been sexualizing the minors on that show for years. especially millie and finn. i remember grown ass women thirsting over that little boy openly online and men doing the same towards millie. it was weird as hell. some of you are STILL doing it.. i’ve been watching the show since season one. there’s plenty more issues..hate to break it to you all but a lot of stranger things fans were already insufferable and a lot of you have always been weird, obsessive and unbearable towards and about the actors and their characters on that show.. please don’t act like stranger things fans were normal before eddie came along because you definitely were not..

#you would think sexualizing minors would be a bigger topic than a side character getting attention but i guess not #guess priorities are elsewhere #this is why avoid st fans every time a new season drops #strangerthings #stranger things #eddie munson #millie bobby brown #finn wolfhard #joseph quinn

[hockeyownsmyass13]

Second Chances/Mat Barzal

Description: As All-Star Weekend drew close you couldn’t help but wonder if Mat would remember you. It was less than a year ago when you two had met in NYC. Now you were on your way towards your dream job as a sports journalist. And with this gig at the NHL’s ASG, the last thing you needed was to be distracted by Mat. 

Word Count: 1.7K

Warnings: A few swear words

Author’s Note: I have a lot of Barzy feelings so I hope you guys like it. I have an idea for a part two might include smut if I’m feeling bold so please lmk what you think! Thanks for reading loves ☺️

Flashback

“How does this all work again?” you asked your best friend while putting on your makeup at her Manhattan apartment. 

“I’m going to text Isaac when we get there and he’s coming to meet us and take us in. Usually they sit us at a table with a bunch of other girls and bring a bottle or two to start. From there it’s pretty much up to us, we can do whatever we want.”

This whole VIP clubbing experience was completely out of your element. Izzy, your former teammate in college and close friend had become a model since moving to the city. She knew guys like Isaac who were big time club promoters and could hook her up with pretty much anything NYC nightlife had to offer. You just tagged along for the ride. 

Since you arrived at the club however you’d been able to relax. All Izzy’s friends were super nice and fun to be around. Between all the drinks and dancing however there was a group of guys who kept catching your eye. Izzy warned you that 1 Oak often had celebs but you weren’t quite sure if you’d seen them before. While the girls were dancing you took a break to rest your feet (heels hurt sometimes) and sat down at the table for another drink. That was when he approached you. You honestly didn’t even remember the first words he said. It was as if your brain had paused for a moment, wondering why a guy this attractive had come up to you. 

“Mat” He said. You gave him your name, unsure if you should shake his hand or not. How do people greet at clubs anyways, you thought to yourself.

“Are you from here or just visiting?” 

“I live in Boston, well Cambridge technically. I’m in my last year at harvard” 

“Damn smart girl I see” Mat said. He seemed like he was flirting but also genuinely impressed at that name drop.

“I got a soccer scholarship, I’m not really that smart” you laughed back. “Izzy lives here, she was my teammate the last 3 years” you gestured towards her and the others dancing. 

At first it was a little awkward but quickly you figured out how much you had in common.Talking about favorite foods, music, TV, and of course sports. The last subject was interesting. He seemed so excited at first yet turned around, seeming a little shy to give any details. .

After a little more conversation you followed him back to his table to grab a few more drinks, and that’s when you figured it out. The slight hint of a Canadian accent along with his friends all looking young and very in shape gave it away. This guy was definitely a professional athlete. You guessed hockey but didn’t want him to think you secretly knew who he was so you hid that guess.

“What sport do you play?” A little smirk dancing across your lips. 

“How’d you know?”

“Educated guess” 

“Hockey, we all play for the Islanders” He looked a little shy, running his fingers through his hair. 

Internally you were freaking out just a bit. Growing up near Boston the Bruins were like a religion in your hometown. The NHL playoffs had always been your favorite time for any sport. There was just a level of intensity and excitement that couldn’t be matched. But on the outside you kept your cool...somehow. And after a little more chatting he pulled you over to the dance floor. 

Eventually Mat’s friends were ready to head home and so were yours. He lived with an older teammate since it was his rookie season and you were crashing at Izzy’s place, so that small part of you who wanted to go home with him (even though you really don’t leave places with boys you’d never met before) was out of luck. 

“I’d ask for your number but my phone died” He said, the cute shyness from when he confessed his job was back. 

“Give me yours” you said, handing him your phone. Alcohol was certainly not a negative when it came to confidence. 

But the next morning you woke up. And the insecure part of your brain convinced yourself he probably had lots of girls texting him every day and it wasn’t worth the possible embarrassment.  Plus it was nearing the end of your trip to NYC and it was almost time to head back to school for senior fall; aka the last season of your college sports career. 

So you never texted him, figuring he would forget soon enough and you could save yourself the heartbreak of falling for him just to find out you were only a number on his list. It wasn’t easy. Boys like that didn’t come around often. You looked at his name countless times in your phone, debating on calling. But the longer you waited the more it seemed weird to reach out. Would he ask why it took so long? Would he even remember you? 

All star weekend 

St. Louis was the perfect place to host. After winning the cup the city was buzzing with excitement over hockey. While you were a little nervous to be at such a big event, this wasn’t your first reporting experience. You’d done tons of interviews with other D1 athletes around campus and even filled in for a week as the rinkside reporter with the Bruins.

When you first entered the locker room on Friday it was impossible not to scan around for him. When Mat wasn’t there you couldn’t decide whether it was a relief or a dissapointment. There wasn’t a lot of time to dwell on things however, interviews needed to get done. It was mostly just fluff, funny questions for some social media content, You were talking to Sid, the usual polite yet unrevealing way of avoiding his private life, when someone entering the room immediately grabbed your attention. Mat had walked in. You could feel your heart start to beat faster. It could be the nervous anticipation of a potential awkward encounter. Thankfully your brain still worked and it quickly brought your attention back to Sid. 

“And Conor McDavid comes up short. Mat Barzal is your new NHL All-Star fastest skater” The announcement rang loudly throughout the arena. 

Mat won. Mat just won. It kept repeating in your mind like an echo. Because you knew what that meant. You had to interview him. He was laughing with some of the other guys as you watched the producer approach him. Chatting with the cameraman seemed a good option to avoid looking like you were starring in his direction. As he walked towards you his expression was blank. 

“Congratulations on winning the first event of day one. How does it feel to know you dethroned a three time winner?” 

Silence. Your eyes widened, hoping to provoke an answer.

“Um yeah it’s pretty cool. Conor’s a really fast skater so I feel a little lucky.”

“I know you guys don’t get much time to warm up. Is the crowd a big energizing factor in something like this?”

“Sure” Silence again. 

“Uh I mean we’re here because of the fans. So uh yeah we want to do our best and give them a good show” 

The rest of the interview went about the same. You were sure the others watching could feel the awkwardness in the air. Although he didn’t show any signs of recognizing you, Mat wasn’t known for being cold towards reporters. Something must have been your fault for the less than stellar interview which thankfully was over. 

“Y/N” 

It wasn’t a question but more of a statement. You looked down at your feet, even though you’d been looking him in the eyes the whole interview. It was a little late for shyness but the absence of the cameras and knowing he recognized you took away any semblance of confidence you previously had. 

“Hey Mat” 

“Why didn’t you call me?” 

Shit. You knew this question was coming but you’d hoped he would at least make some small talk first. Maybe enough to give you a chance to think of an answer. But now he looked just as worried as you, running his fingers through his hair. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I just….I don’t know, I enjoyed talking to you that night and I just figured you would and then you never did and I couldn’t do anything,,,,” He trailed off getting quieter at the end, 

“I’m sorry, You’re not crazy Mat. I had a really great time that night. I’m not sure what to say. I know it’s a stupid excuse but I was leaving to go home to Boston so soon and I just convinced myself you were, ya know, this impressive star athlete and it wouldn’t matter if I never said anything because you would forget which I know isn’t fair since you’re a perfectly nice guy and..”

“Come to dinner tonight.” He cut you off.

“I’m supposed to go out with some of the other guys but a lot of them have family or girlfriends coming too. So you won’t be crashing guys’ night or anything.” 

“t’ll be low key don’t worry” He added, sensing your hesitation. 

“Okay, I’ll go” 

“I have to get back, but text me and I’ll send you the details” 

“Sounds great” Biting your lip did not do enough to hide the smile growing on your face. It was a group dinner, but no matter how you looked at it, you were going to dinner with Mat Barzal. Who ever said second chances don’t exist.

#hockey fanfic #mat barzal #mat barzal x reader #mat barzal imagine #hockey imagine #mat barzal fanfiction #nhl imagine #my writing

[thedeaditeslayer]

Dead Doll's Eyes: Bruce Campbell Talks New Evil Dead and Calls Out Martin Scorsese’s Bulls—t.

You can choose to read the interview below or click the link above to listen to the ten minute recorded version. 

Bruce Campbell burrowed his way into our hearts as a dashing B-movie icon with roles in a litany of cult classics, from Evil Dead to Bubba Ho-Tep.

After returning to his roots to play Ash Williams for three seasons of delightfully gratuitous gore in Ash vs Evil Dead, Campbell put away his chainsaw for good when Starz cancelled the series in 2018. However, much to fans’ delight, Evil Dead trilogy director and Ash vs Evil Dead producer Sam Raimi recently announced a forthcoming entry to the franchise with Campbell attached as a producer. Even better: although Ash won’t return to fight Deadites in live action, Campbell will lend his voice to an upcoming Evil Dead video game.

To accompany the rerelease of his memoir Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor — now with an added “Requiem for Ash” chapter — Campbell is dropping by the Alamo City next week for a screening of Army of Darkness and audience Q&A. He promises it’ll be a good time — “There’s lots of stories about the making of that ridiculous movie.”

We caught up with Campbell over the phone, and he shared his thoughts on retiring Ash, teased some upcoming projects and even offered a few choice words for Martin Scorsese.

After Ash vs Evil Dead was cancelled you decided to hang up the character and retire him.

I did, didn’t I?

Unlike other actors who retire their characters, it’s not so much that you’re sick of Ash Williams, but that the demands of filming such a special effects-heavy series led you to reach something you’ve called “The Latex Point.” Could you expand on the on-set demands of Ash vs Evil Dead and why they’re so taxing?

Well, my wife sort of put a finger on it — as she so often does. She came into the trailer one day the last season of shooting, and I’m sitting there miserable because I had to put down plastic sheeting everywhere I went. I’d stick to everything because I was always covered with blood.

She goes, “I know what your problem is — you got Poopy Diaper Syndrome.”

I’m like, “What’re you talking about?”

“You’re like a 3-year-old or a 2-year-old sitting in a poopy diaper, and you can’t get out of your poopy diaper. No one will help you change your poopy diaper.”

So really, it’s that. It’s a series of lying face down in cellars. And it occurred to me multiple times. I’d be lying there literally face down, waiting for a shot, covered in blood in a dark cellar on the dirt, and I’m like, “Is this where I belong?” And the answer was “yes” for a long time, but it’s not a permanent place where you wanna be. Not as a 60-year-old man.

I wanted to avoid that Star Wars crap, where they’re holding these actors up with baling wire and cotton balls, you know what I mean? Feeding them their lines of dialogue through earbuds. I couldn’t do that. I could still pull the character off, so I wanted to finish while I could still do it.

And not have it kind of become…

Uh, sad. We don’t want sadness.

But you’re not leaving Evil Dead. You’re attached as a producer to a new movie, and it’s going to bring new blood into the franchise, including a director hand-picked by Sam Raimi. How does it feel to be able to step back, but still help usher in this new era?

Well, fantastic. Because, look, we can work with these directors. We can support them in the ways that we’ve always wanted to be supported. We can punish them in the ways that we should have been punished. We can hire actors that are good and well behaved, because I know what to look for. And when we get an actor, we can tell them how to best use their time and not party. We’ve learned a lot over the years, so we can share and torment these directors into making a good movie. There’s definitely a place for us. We’ll be there behind the scenes pulling the strings on these little monkeys.

How does it compare so far to the development process for Fede Álvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead? Or is it too early to say?

It’s too early, and every director’s different. Fede was very specific. I’d never worked with Fede, so I wanted to make sure he could work with actors. I sat in for only one day during auditions, and I could see how he would see a take, work with the actors, and the second take was better. After I saw two or three of those, I was like, OK — I’m outta here. This guy knows how to get a better take out of an actor. Done. That’s a huge accomplishment. And he was already very astute with special effects.

What you have to do is find out what the director’s strength is and encourage that, and find out what their weaknesses are and either fix that or discourage that. Some directors are great with actors but they suck at special effects, some are great at special effects but they don’t know how to talk to actors. It’s a really delicate dance. The modern movie is very delicate, because the modern movie has way more special effects now.

In Captain Marvel, even the cat was CGI most of the time he was onscreen.

Lemme tell ya, I’m gonna make a bold statement here.

The Irishman has more digital effects than the most recent Marvel movie, but you just don’t notice. Which why I call B.S. on Marty Scorsese calling out the Marvel movies. It’s like, bullshit! You just used more digital effects than a Marvel movie, and you’re telling me that’s cinema but the other one isn’t?

But the point is, I don’t buy it. I mean, I can’t wait to watch that movie, because I’m gonna be driven insane by Robert DeNiro at 42, Robert DeNiro at 47, Robert DeNiro at 31. It’s just gonna drive me insane, because I’m gonna look at it and I’m gonna be looking at dead doll’s eyes and, you know, they’re gonna do a good job, but they’re all gonna look like sharks.

Now that you’re no longer beholden to the intense schedule of TV production, are there any projects that you’re able to look at that weren’t an option before?

Well, one of two things can happen. I finally told my agent, “OK,” because I had to pass on some things in the last couple years that were decent projects, because I had a bunch of other random stuff going. If you open up your schedule, you can allow for stuff like that. All of 2020 is currently completely open. I have zero bookings for the first time in probably 15 years. I like booking my year — I like knowing what’s going on — but, in this case I’m gonna leave work open to fall off the truck from my agency.

But I also have a TV project that I’m pushing and a feature film project. I will go back under the TV knife under the right conditions, and I have a project that I would do that for. “Under the knife” meaning to sign a contract.

The beauty of it is with these limited series now, no one has to commit to shit these days. One season, two seasons, three seasons, you know. So, we’ll see what happens. I just wrote a feature film — a political satire — and I wanna make that next, so I’m in the process of shopping it. I’m hat in hand right now.

You’ve been in the director’s chair, both for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess as well as your horror comedy My Name is Bruce. Would you be interested in directing again, possibly for the movie you just wrote?

All the projects that I’m currently gonna be involved with now, moving forward, I’ll be directing in some way. Raising money for low budget movies — I have as much experience as anybody now, so there’s no reason to look for anybody else. I’ll just direct myself.

It’s time for the new sheriff to come into town.

Another thing that makes Evil Dead so compelling is the long-running team behind it. Even if it’s not Evil Dead, would you be down to act in future projects with Sam and Ted Raimi, or your Ash vs Evil Dead costars?

Well, I would be happy to work with any of them again, but I just can’t say. Sam, who knows? Sam’s off making these 10-minute shorts. I forget the name of the company, but everyone’s making shorts now, so go figure.

Kind of like YouTube — getting on that train?

Yeah, I don’t know. It’s all new to me. I’m sticking with the true-blue formats for now.

If you had the opportunity to reprise any other characters that you’ve played previously, like fan favorite Brisco County, Jr., would you be interested? Or do you want to focus on all new material and characters?

New stuff is always my favorite, but I would definitely do Brisco Rides Again, and I would definitely do more Burn Notice. We’re sort of circling the building now with Burn Notice. Maybe it’s time to save the world again. The world needs us.

You recently updated your memoir Hail to the Chin with a new “Requiem for Ash,” and are making appearances tied to the book’s rerelease. How do you integrate tours and press appearances without blowing out your schedule, and how do they differ from press junkets you do for film and TV?

The beauty of working with a company is when it’s time to do press, they’ve really got it down. I saved a bunch of my itineraries from Ash vs Evil Dead just because of how ridiculous they were, so I can look back and show my grandchildren “this was a press day in New York City.” So, you really got the support. The only difference is when you do low budget stuff, or even books, you’re kind of on your own, and it’s way more down-home. It’s Twitter, it’s Facebook, it’s Facebook ads or whatever. It’s no national TV — nothin’. It’s a whole different ball game.

You know, I’m a one-man band. I’ll miss a few interviews because I forgot or didn’t put it in my schedule or whatever. Someone’ll call, I’ll go, “What do you want?” They’re like, “We have a phoner.” I go, “Really? Ok, great.” This one I happened to remember. We do what we can.

A Conversation with Bruce Campbell and Screening of Army of Darkness: $29.50-$125, 8 p.m. Friday, October 25, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., [phone], theaztectheatre.com.

#Bruce Campbell

[alj4890]

Angst Prompt

(Thomas x Amanda) with the prompt: You broke my heart requested by @alleksa16

(Thomas Hunt x oc*Amanda) Chocies Red Carpet Diaries and The Royal Romance fan fiction.

A/N: This is yet another one that I couldn't seem to end easily. Thomas and Amanda have had so many sweet moments that creating the type of fight for them to fulfill the prompt request took some time. Hopefully this meets that criteria.

Masterlist

@alleksa16 @penguininapinktuxedo @blackcoffee85 @stopforamoment @fullbeaumonty @cocomaxley @darley1101 @hopefulmoonobject   @krsnlove @littleblossom357   @annekebbphotography @gibbles82  @cora-nova @bella-ca  @hopelessromantic1352 . @sunflowergirl05 @pixieferry

Apart

"I am not changing the travel plans. Either come with me tomorrow like you promised or I will see you in three months." Amanda stood with her arms folded in front of Thomas' desk.

His frown grew with her reminder that he needed to break yet another promise to her. He stood up and placed his hands on the desk. Thomas leaned toward her as his temper began to snap at her giving him an ultimatum. "This type of film does not come along everyday. The studio is considering me to direct it and I am not going to leave for months of frivolity of the exact same social season I have been to the past three years. It doesn't matter if I am there or not."

Amanda narrowed her eyes at him. "You are the Duke of St Orella! It matters to the people of our duchy, Liam, and the people of Cordonia! It matters to me to have my husband there by my side!"

Thomas dropped his head forward. "You promised me when we married that you would not try and guilt me into going to these functions. I promised I would try to accommodate you. Well, this is one time I can't."

"This isn't just one time! It is becoming the norm. You haven't escorted me to hardly any court event since long before the attack."

Thomas stared at her. Why would she throw that up in his face? He still felt horrible for not being there when she nearly died in New York. He couldn't believe she would go for such a low blow. Now he had no desire at all to give in to her demands. He leaned closer and spoke harshly. "Feel free to add this to your list of my transgressions. I'm. Not. Going."

Amanda took a step toward him. Her arms fell to her sides while her hands formed fists. "Fine. It will be a pleasure to not have someone there who is such a snob."

"Snob? A noble calling me a snob." He raised an eyebrow in mockery. "Really Amanda, I would have thought you could do better than that."

She glared at his insult to her intelligence before straightening her posture. "You are the worst kind of snob. Anything that doesn't revolve around your precious movies is looked down upon as a waste of time. I think you forget what we do during these frivolous events. Ways to help the people of Cordonia are discussed. Charities are funded or started. Support for new laws is gathered. I--"

"Yes, you all do so much while drinking and dancing." He said sarcastically. "The derby itself is especially deserving of the Nobel."

"Do me a favor." Amanda bit out. "Don't come at all. I don't care if you get the movie or not. Do not show your face this social season." Her hazel eyes filled with tears yet they did not spill out. "I. Don't. Want. You. There."

He shoved his chair out of his way and came around the desk, smarting at her words. He stood before her and glared down at her defiant face. "Good. I wouldn't come if you begged me."

A bitter laugh burst from her lips. "I will cut my tongue out before I beg you for anything." She turned on her heel and left him fuming. He walked to the doorway and yelled at her as she walked upstairs. "I mean it, Amanda! I won't come! Don't think to try any tricks to get me there. I won't fall for them."

She paused halfway up the stairs and looked over her shoulder at him. "I'll do you a favor and not call at all. I would hate it if my checking on you caused you to rush to my side. Since you are so weak to my so called tricks, I will give you a break."

"WEAK!" He yelled. "I--" he went back into his study and slammed the door. "Weak. She will soon see that I have better things to do than escort her around all those idiotic balls and house parties."

The next morning Amanda stepped out with her bags. She looked back at Thomas standing in the doorway, cold indifference infused his body. She swallowed uneasily and tried to maintain her pride. She was not going to ask again.

The town car pulled up and the driver took her bags to place in the trunk. Thomas stepped out. "Goodbye Amanda." He said in a low voice.

Amanda bit her lip. "Goodbye." Before she made a fool of herself, she walked forward and jerked the car door open. She got in and shut the door. She looked down at her hands and could feel the tears building. She quickly turned her face away from Thomas. He would probably accuse her of trying to trick him if he saw her cry.

Thomas' anger grew at her cold goodbye and at her refusing to look at him. He shoved his hands in his pocket to keep from opening the door and dragging her out. Even though they were arguing, they would be separated for three months. Shouldn't they put their differences aside for an affectionate moment? No kiss? Hug? No talk of love? He glared at her and refused to be the one to beg for a proper goodbye. She would probably take advantage of his weakness to make him want to go with her.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she held her breath. She couldn't let him see her shoulders shake. She tried to wipe her cheeks without him noticing. With one last effort she turned back before more tears fell. His glare made her nearly flinch. She rolled down the window. "Thomas," her voice cracked and she tried to speak again. "Take care."

His stance eased somewhat. It seemed she had finally remembered they were going to be apart. "You too." He replied.

They both waited on the other to say the words and felt irritation grow with the silence. The driver got into the driver's seat. "Ready?"

She sighed. "Goodbye Thomas. I hope you get what you want."

His eyes narrowed. He knew she meant it to have multiple connotations. Two could play that game. "Goodbye. I hope you have the social season you wish for."

Her eyes met his. "I--" she shook her head and looked down at her hands. "I'm ready." She said to the driver. As the car moved forward, Amanda remembered how she swore after the bombing that she would never leave him without saying, I love you.

She leaned out the window and called out to Thomas. He turned and waited.

"I love you." She quickly sat back down and nodded for the driver to continue when her husband did not respond immediately. She pressed a hand to her head as the tears fell again. She stared out her window and tried to not think about spending the season alone.

That evening, Thomas sat in the living room and tried not to think that this was only the beginning of a long and miserable time in his life. He picked up his phone and went ahead and typed out that he loved her too, since he had been too slow to respond when she left. He had promised himself when she nearly died that he would tell her how much he loved her regardless of what was going on. He knew she would not see it until she landed but went ahead and sent it.

Amanda slept fitfully on the flight. She sat up after a while and wiped her eyes. The press would have a field day with her arriving alone with swollen eyes. She got up and retrieved some ice and a towel. She laid down and placed it over her eyes.

The next day Thomas watched her smile while deflecting questions of her being on her own. She spoke of how proud she was that he could be chosen to direct such a compelling movie. One reporter brought up how often he had been leaving her on her own with court events yet she seemed to attend all his Hollywood ones. Thomas frowned and turned the newsfeed off. He was not going to feel guilty about this.

As the days turned into weeks, his bad mood became worse. She was holding true to her word and had not called. His pride refused to let him break down and be the one to call. She hardly sent a text. She let him know she had arrived safely and had seen his I love you too message. That was basically it.

Holly and Addison avoided him as much as they could. His temper snapped so easily that they elected to work from their homes. Thomas didn't care. He also didn't blame them. He could hardly stand his own company. His home was oppressive in its silence. Amanda was not a loud person, yet knowing she wasn't here nor returning soon made the quietness depressing.

Once he received word that he had been chosen to direct, he buried himself in plans for the picture. There was so much he wished he could discuss with his wife. He had come to depend on and trust her insight in his work. On a personal level, he missed her sneaking into his study to interrupt his work for a few seconds with a kiss and some type of little treat such as a fresh pot of coffee or a simple I love you. Nights were the worst for him. Everything felt wrong without her. He missed having her snuggle against him with the lights off to watch a movie. Sleep was impossible. He had seen the sun rise too many times since their fight.

Amanda suffered even more. Having to pretend that she was happy in front of the press and nobles was wearing her down. She was so tired of it all. Every chance she got, she took naps. It was exhausting trying to be cheerful while watching all her friends enjoy the events with their spouses. Amanda had to turn down a couple of pushy noblemen who took her husband's continued absence as an open invitation to an affair.

Every night, she had to stop herself from calling Thomas. She missed his deep soothing voice and gentle touch. She missed his dry comments about so many little things that occurred at the court events. She missed the stolen moments when he would drag her from a ball and kiss her to the point where she would gladly leave the event to spend the rest of the evening making love.

Her friends had learned early on to not bring his name up if they wanted to keep their heads from being bitten off. Some days seemed as if they had to walk on eggshells around her. She became upset at the slightest things that reminded her of Thomas. She left the dining room and stopped coming down for breakfast one day just over the smell of a pot of coffee.

The day that the news of Thomas being chosen was to be released, he broke down and called her. She was taking a mid afternoon nap and suddenly sat up at hearing his ringtone.

"Thomas!" She grimanced at the excitement in her voice and quickly said a calm hello.

He relaxed at hearing her voice. "Hello Amanda. How are you?"

She smiled and propped herself up with the bed pillows. "Fine. How are you?"

"Good." He was surprised he didn't choke on the lie. "I received word from the studio. I was chosen as the director of Fall's End."

Amanda wiped the stray tears that were falling from hearing his voice. "They would have been fools to choose anyone else. Only you could take this story and make it better."

Thomas closed his eyes at her sweet, unwavering confidence in him. He cleared the emotion out of his throat. "Thank you. I hope it will turn out like it should." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I...I have some ideas for it that I would like your opinion on."

Amanda's shoulders slumped. Was that all she was to him? A sounding board? Did he not miss her at all? Was he not sorry over the distance and fight they had between them? "Oh."

Thomas frowned at her silence. Did she not miss him and their talks? He had thought of little else. Was she not tired of this argument keeping them apart? "What are you doing this evening?"

Amanda frowned at the question. "Another frivolous ball. I'm afraid I won't be able to listen to your ideas tonight."

Thomas narrowed his eyes at her tone. "I would hate to interrupt such important work. It must be exhausting to dance the night away for the good of Cordonia."

Amanda gripped her phone while the words exploded out of her mouth. "Like you care! You don't care about my country, my duties, or even me. You haven't called once since I left. You never text. The only reason you deign to call me was to receive your compliments. If you didn't have another film in the works, I probably would never hear from you!"

Thomas stood up as he responded bitterly. "You haven't exactly been calling me either. If I hadn't broken down to call I would never hear from you. You were the only one I wanted to share this news with! Now, I don't know why I did."

Amanda paled and wiped her eyes. She cursed at her voice shaking. "You broke my heart when you refused to come with me. You could have come and stayed until you heard about the movie. I would have most likely returned to California with you. But you wouldn't try and meet me in the middle! I don't mean to ruin your triumph, but I can't pretend that I am thrilled that I mean so little to you other than being the ear to listen to your ideas."

Thomas was nearly shaking with his anger. "That is not true and you know it. Don't even try and make me feel bad for something I have never done. Don't act like after all these years that you don't know how I feel about you! "

"You might have felt that way at one time, but not now!" Amanda retorted. "Your actions show how you really feel! A movie has taken my spot in your priorities. I doubt I even come in second--"

Thomas glared out the window as he yelled. "Enough! I see now that it was a mistake to call you. I won't disturb you again."

Amanda's tears fell harder. Why was this happening? A sob came out. "Thomas, I--"

He refused to listen to her cry. "Goodbye Amanda." He ended the call quickly.

"No! Wait, I--" Amanda dropped her phone and buried her head in her pillows and cried.

A few more weeks went by. It had now passed the point of the longest they had been separated from one another since they had first met. Thomas was doing his best to not replay their last conversation over and over in his mind. His sharp focus for films was gone. Her words of his work being more important than her was eating him up inside. Had he allowed that to happen?

Thomas spent hours examining the choices he had made over the past year. All the times she had asked him to do something, he typically refused for one reason or another because of a movie. He had stopped working when she was healing from the attack and focused on her becoming better. Once she was back to normal, he did one film after another.

Planning Fall's End was not going well. He couldn't think of who to cast for the leads. He couldn't decide on a place to shoot the film. Thomas was at a complete loss over every aspect. He typically ended each day holding his head in his hands with crumpled wads of paper all over the study. Not seeing his wife or talking to her was consuming his mind. He couldn't take it anymore.

Amanda was not doing well either. Her appetite was gone and she was skipping events to remain in bed. She wanted to avoid being awake with her thoughts. If not for Olivia and Riley demanding she attend a few key events, she would have never left her room. She couldn't help but think she was not being a supportive wife to Thomas.

She had promised to never make him feel guilty over not coming to Cordonia with her. She couldn't expect him to act like the noblemen in the kingdom. He had not been taught that paticular type of responsibility to the people in the duchy and kingdom. She shouldn't be so frustrated when he remained obtuse about it all.

Thomas had been so good to her when she was recovering from the attack. He had stuck by her side through the darkest days of her life with nothing but love, patience, and, understanding. How could she so easily forget those moments?

On the seventh week of the social season, she packed her bags for the trip to Lythikos and the next round of court events. She nearly collapsed from dizziness. Maxwell was watching her and caught her before she hit the floor. "When's the last time you ate something?"

She shrugged. "I'm fine, Max. Just tired."

He called down to the kitchen. Once a tray was brought up, he made her sit and eat. When she had eaten enough to satisfy him, he held her hand between both of his. "Do you want to tell me what is bothering you?"

She looked into his understanding blue eyes. "No thank you."

He sighed and squeezed her hand. "Get some rest. I want you riding with Nadia and me. No getting out of it, so don't even try to think of a way."

Amanda nodded and walked him to the door. She locked it and got into bed. She couldn't keep going like this. She knew sleep was only delaying the inevitable.

The next day, she traveled with the rest of the court to Olivia and Drake's duchy. Maxwell and Nadia did all they could to make Amanda smile during the journey. When they arrived, she went directly to her room. The group of friends gathered together to discuss her withdrawl. "I called Thomas yesterday." Maxwell admitted. "I know Amanda will hate me for it but I'm worried she is slipping into a type of depression she had after the bombing."

Liam nodded approvingly. "Good. If you had not called, I was going to. Do you know when he is arriving?"

Maxwell shook his head. "He never said."

That night, the citizens held a festival for the duchy and visiting nobles. Olivia braided Amanda's long hair in a loose braid and kept a steady string of chatter going. She watched her friend put makeup on and try and cover the dark circles under her eyes.

Amanda put on a dark wool coat, scarf, and gloves. Her pants and sweater hung loosely on her from the weight she had lost. She walked out with Olivia and linked her arm through hers. "I'm sorry Liv. I know I haven't been good company lately. Things with Thomas have been strained for a while. I hate not talking to him."

Olivia moved her arm around Amanda's waist and squeezed gently. "You know you can talk to me or any of us about this. You don't have to keep anything bottled inside with us. How often have you heard me voice my frustration over that man over there?" She gestured toward Drake.

Amanda smiled and a small laugh came out. "I know. Thank you. I tried calling him, but it went directly to voice mail. I might try later." She tightened her arm around her momentarily. "Go on and let your people have their duchess." Olivia smiled and went off into the crowd.

Amanda wandered around, letting the crisp cold air snap her mind into focus. She needed to think about what she wanted to say. She stopped by a vendor and purchased some Lythikos nog. After finding a secluded bench between two trees, she sat down and sipped the hot drink. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth go down and settle in her stomach. She looked at the snow on the ground and began to make shapes in it with her foot. Her thoughts revolved around ways to make things right with Thomas. She wondered if it was even possible. Two months in anger...what if there was no coming back from that?

People walked back and forth past her, laughing and talking. She remained in her spot drinking from her mug and making half moons in the snow with the toe of her boot. She noticed a pair of shoes stop in front of her. When they didn't continue past, she looked up. She dropped her mug in the snow and covered her mouth.

Thomas noticed the dark shadows she had tried to hide with her makeup, how thin she had become, and the tears that came easily. He knew he did not look much different. He had already decided to come to her and was packing his bags when he got the call from Maxwell. Now that he was standing so before her, he had no idea what to say or do.

"Thomas? What are you doing her?" Amanda finally managed to ask.

"I can't continue not seeing or talking to you. I can't think. I can't sleep. Nothing has been right since you left. I can't stand living without you." Thomas waited nervously for her to either agree or tell him to leave.

She stood up and took the two steps into his arms. He wrapped them around her and buried his face against her neck. She closed her eyes and gently rubbed his back. After a few moments he lifted his head and kissed her. "Is there somewhere we can talk?" He asked as a group of teenagers ran past throwing snowballs.

"We can talk at Olivia's. Everyone will be at the festival and we can have some privacy." She stepped out of his embrace and started down a path to the manor. Thomas took her hand as they walked and then put his arm around her. They were silent for the most part, each surprised the other was not more angry acting.

When they reached her room, they took off their coats and awkwardly looked at each other. Amanda waved to the wet bar in the corner and offered him a drink. He shook his head before accepting the chair across from hers that say near a crackling fire.

Thomas felt nervous and ended up standing before the fire. He turned and noticed the alarm on her face. "What is it?" He asked as he quickly knelt beside her chair.

She focused on a loose string from her sweater and wrapped it around her finger. "I was only startled by you standing up." She bit her trembling lip. "I thought you were about to leave."

Thomas touched her hand and held her close when she slipped down to the floor and hugged him.

"I'm so sorry." She said softly in his ear. "I know I was giving you a hard time about this social season. I just wanted you with me. My pride and feelings were hurt by your attitude and words. I lashed out when all I wanted was you. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive with your film. I am so proud of you. I'm proud of all that you do."

Thomas held her even tighter. "I'm sorry for all I said and the tone I used. I know you use this time to help your people. I'm sorry I didn't come with you and show how much I care about all that you do. I was too selfish in only thinking of myself and what I want." He pressed a lingering kiss to her neck.

"I wanted you with me while I waited to find out about the film. I always want you by my side. I have missed you so much. I usually don't like our home without you there, but to not have you there because of an argument has made it a place I despise. All I have thought about is you. I couldn't take another second without you and was packing my bags when Maxwell called. He was worried about you."

Amanda lifted her head. "Maxwell called? When?"

"Yesterday." Thomas cupped her face, his thumbs smoothing the skin of her sunken cheeks. "I can't apologize enough."

His lips sought hers when she whispered his name. He felt everything within him settle with her touch. Each tender brush of their lips against each other's began to dissipate the hopelessness they both had been feeling. "Can you forgive me?" He asked, sliding his hands up and down her back ans hips.

Amanda nodded. "Can you forgive me?" She swallowed uneasily. "I know I was horrible to you when you called with your news. I am so sorry for ruining that day for you. I wish I could take everything back I said in anger."

Thomas sat down on the rug in front of the fire and tugged her over into his lap. He turned her where he could see her face. "I deserved it. I am sorry I made you feel less important. I--"

She looked up into his eyes. "That was wrong of me. I know that isn't true and--"

He placed a finger on her lips. "I still made you feel second to my work. Since that conversation, I did some self evaluating and saw how my actions may have given you that false impression. For that, I humbly ask your forgiveness and want you to know I stepped back from Fall's End."

Amanda's lips parted. "You did what?"

"I told the studio I couldn't be a part of it. Ever since you left, I have only thought of one thing. You. Filming the picture that nearly cost me you would be a miserable undertaking. I--"

"But you didn't lose me. I tried to call you earlier to tell you I was coming home. Back to you. I was going to be the support you needed. She slipped off his lap and faced him. "Call the studio and take this story that has been your dream project."

He took her hand, wanting to feel her skin. "I don't want it anymore. I want time away from filmmaking for a while." He looked up into her eyes. "I want time with you. We have had a few rough times recently. I think we should spend time together and make sure nothing like this happens again. I can't do another separation."

Amanda pulled him to her. She sighed in contentment when his arms immediately held her. "Are you sure this is what you want? A break from filming just to be with me?"

His dark eyes focused on her. They moved along the features he adored. "I can think of no better way to spend my time than making sure what truly makes me happy is not lost."

#choices red carpet diaries #choices thomas hunt #rcd x trr #thomas hunt rcd #thomas hunt x oc #thomas hunt x amanda #trr maxwell #trr olivia

[hawkvalley]

A Review

The Denver Broncos lost to the Oakland Raiders 16-24.

The game wasn’t as close as the score would lead you to believe. The Broncos scored all of their points in the second half. Oddly enough, I heard a rumor that Vegas set the Broncos offensive output at 17 points per game this season.

Vic Fangio lost his first regular season game as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos. A bit embarrassing considering Vance Joseph beat them. The starters during the preseason lost every game they played in, so maybe how you play in the preseason carries over to the regular season? For as long as I can remember, every NFL team has been telling their fans that the preseason doesn’t matter and yet, the Bronco starters ended up playing their first ‘real game’, just as they have played every preseason game... terrible. When the regular season started they didn't shift into overdrive and exectue better. The Broncos had five preseason games this year because they played in the Hall of Fame game, which is played the week before the ‘regular preseason’ starts.

The Broncos played in the Hall of Fame game because the owner of the team, Pat Bowlen was finally elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Pat did not get to enjoy this ceremony because he succumbed to Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year.

How much Pat Bowlen remembers of the last decade, we will never know, but his health condition and when it was diagnosed is playing a major role in an ongoing lawsuit brought forth by the family. They are trying to void the trust that is currently running the Denver Broncos. Pats brother tried something similar last year, but that case was dismissed. The family is arguing that Pat signed this trust after he had been diagnosed and was not competent at that time. Oddly enough, you can track the downward spiral of the Broncos from about the time of Pats diagnosis. I have four Broncos rosters, the current roster, last years roster, the last super bowl roster and the 2013 roster. Why did I do that? I’m sick of the team saying they’re not rebuilding. When I publish the roster post, you will clearly see the team is rebuilding. I guess the team could counter with the argument, to rebuild they’d need to keep their players, which is a fair point lol.

Oh, yeah, Vance Joseph was fired. He now works for the Arizona Cardinals, who took Kyle Sloter from the Vikings and put him on their practice squad. The Vikings thought Sloter played too well during the preseason and to avoid the constant calls by their fans to start him, the Vikings cut him. I will never understand why corporations jump off a cliff just to avoid saying they were wrong, but they do it all of the time. Speaking of the Vikings, they hired Gary Kubiak as an advisor. After firing Vance, Elway had mentioned he had wanted to keep Kubiak around to help out the new coach. Elway hired Vic Fangio as the new coach and soon thereafter, Kubiak was in Minnesota.

Case Keenum is now starting for the Redskins, Trevor Siemian is starting for the New York Jets. Chad Kelly is a backup quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and is currently suspended. Paxton Lynch was cut by the Seattle Seahawks during the preseason. Wikipedia has him listed as a quarterback for the Redskins, but he does not appear on the official Redskins roster. Brock Osweiler is a free agent. Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow have retired. Back to the Raider game.

The Game stats

Time of Possession

DEN: 27:15 OAK: 32:45

Play Selection

DEN 31 Passing Attempts, 268 yards: 23 Runs for 95 yards OAK 26 Passing Attempts, 259 yards: 28 Runs for 98 yards

The Running Game

The Broncos Rushing Attack

Carries AYPC Long TD(s) Fumble(s) Lindsay 11 4 9 0 0 Freeman 10 6 26 0 0 Flacco 1 1 1 0 1 Fant 1 -5 -5 0 0 *AYPC is average yards per carry

The Passing Attack

Receptions % Long TD Fumble(s) Sutton 7 88% 30 0 0 Sanders 5 71% 53 1 0 Lindsay 4 67% 10 0 0 Fant 2 50% 20 0 0 Hamilton 2 50% 7 0 0* Freeman 1 100% 5 0 0 *was wide open in the endzone and dropped a pass that hit him in the chest

The Quarterbacks

Flacco

Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 68% 9 1 0 53 105 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 1 1 1 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumble(s) 3 19 1

Carr

Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 84% 10 1 0 43 121 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 2 2 3 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumble(s) 0 0 0

Today’s teams ranked by stats

Broncos

Points: 26th

Yards: 22nd

Passing yards: 18th

Rushing yards: 20th

Passing Touchdowns: 1

Rushing Touchdowns: 0

Interceptions: 0

Safeties: 0

Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Net Turnovers: 0

Bears

Points: 31st

Yards: 28th

Passing Yards: 23rd

Rushing Yards: 28th

Passing Touchdowns: 0

Rushing Touchdowns: 0

Interceptions: 0

Safeties: 0

Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Net Turnovers: -1

Outlook

The Broncos failed to beat the Raiders, a task even Vance could do. I don’t see them sweeping the Chiefs or the Chargers so, at best they can now finish 1-5 in the AFC West.

One team currently playing worse than the Broncos is the Bears. They only managed one field goal last week, but their defense might be something to worry about. They grounded the Packers last week.

If the Broncos manage to score three touchdowns, they could win this game. Keep in mind what I said earlier about Vegas. It’s an afternoon home game against a non-conference opponent. The Broncos won those types of games last year.

Game time

Sunday afternoon 2:25pm MT

#nfl football #denver broncos #chicago bears #afc west

[codesecretsanta]

The Warriors’ Holiday Traditions

To @furlfangs​ from @nemesisadraste​

Setting: The first holiday after they defeat X.A.N.A in season 4. Time setting: My story happens in December 2006 in order to follow the CL time line. P.s: English isn’t my first language so please be indulgent with mistakes.

1st December 2006: Jeremy called all the warriors (including William) for a meeting in his room.

William finally arrives at the meeting. It was the first time a member of the gang, other than Yumi, had contacted him since Lyoko was shut down. So it must be important. He entered the room to see Jeremy seated on his computer chair, facing the rest of the room where the others had already found their seats: Aelita was on another chair next to Einstein, and the others were on his bed. Ulrich near Jeremy, next to him was Yumi and finally, Odd was the one nearest the door, laying back with his feet on the wall and head upside down at the other side of the bed, looking at William’s funny confused expression.

Odd: Hey! Little Will! Don’t be shy, welcome to the party! Said the cat-boy while turning around to sit normally on the bed. Here, you can take my spot! He continues while getting up and sits on another chair next to Aelita.

William: Ok. He simply answers as he goes to sit next to Yumi where Odd was before. What’s this weird meeting about? Does it have something to do with X.A.N.A or Lyoko?

Jeremy: Absolutely not! I called you because, as you know, it is our first holiday together without having to worry about X.A.N.A ruining it and I realise we never actually talked about our traditions for this time of year. So I wanted to fix that.

William sat still for a moment. He was extremely happy to be invited. That means they consider him a member of the gang, but he didn’t dare say it out loud in case that reminded them that he wasn’t. He simply smiles and waits for Jeremy to continue.

Jeremy: Ok so here’s how it goes! I’ve got all our names in this Santa hat. I’ll pick one at random and this person has to tell the others about their holiday traditions. Once it is over, we’ll reuse the names to make a secret Santa. Is that good for everybody?

Ok why not? Agreed the warriors all at once.

Jeremy: Perfect let’s do this! First one to speak is…….(Drumrolls)…… Odd! So Odd? What are your holiday traditions?

Odd: Oh you know nothing big. I just go back to Italia with my family. We have some rotation process so every year a different house organizes the party and this house alone has a Christmas tree to put the gifts under. But usually it goes the same: all the people arrive around 5 o’clock then everyone talks about how the stores were a mess to go to this year and how well the house is decorated and shitty things like that until we eat dinner at 7. Then the conversations gets a little better, but I’m too busy eating to even care so… then we stay in the living room until we open the gifts around 10. The host puts on a Santa suit and delivers the gifts and once they’ve all been opened we go to the midnight mass and then everyone goes back to their homes. That’s it. For New Year we just shout out the countdown for midnight and kiss each other a happy New Year that’s all. Usually I just wait for the season to be over and I can’t wait to come back here with you!

Aelita: Why? Your family sounds fun to party with!

Odd: Oh it would be fun if I didn’t have to anticipate my sisters’ “joke” and spend the whole night recovering from it.

Ulrich: Funny I thought you’d be the joker.

Yumi: Maybe karma does exist at some point (Laughs)

Odd: (suddenly very serious) If that is karma I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Everyone stays quiet for a while… What kind of jokes would scare Odd and take him that long to recover? He who never seems to be affected by anything… William was about to ask the question out loud when Jeremy, in order to change the mood, broke the silence.

Jeremy: Ok next one is (He puts his hand in the hat, mixes the papers and gets one out of it.) Ulrich!

Ulrich: Well that would be short I don’t have any.

William: What? How come? I though Dutch people celebrated Christmas!

Ulrich: Dutch people do! But my father doesn’t. I mean I used to get the Santa thing and all but my father learned somewhere that 7 years old was the rational age and he thinks that means to be little adults so a week or so after my 7th birthday, he spoiled it all about Santa and his magic elves not being real and even forbid me from watching “stupid children’s cartoons” anymore. Since then Christmas at my place is a business one where he invites everyone from his office and smooth talks the no-lifes who come. Same for New Year.

Yumi: Wow… I knew you didn’t have the father of the year but killing all the magic at once like that is just… super cruel.

Ulrich: It was just imaginary bullshit anyway so I don’t care. Who’s next Einstein?

Einstein: Yeah sure… ok (he mixes the paper in the hat again starting to feel uncomfortable with the whole thing… He did it for them to have fun not to relive holiday traumas… he didn’t even know such things could exist! Not so close to him at least.) Next one to share their holiday traditions is Yumi!

Yumi: Ok well don’t worry it won’t be awkward. (Everyone laughs nervously.) In Japan Christmas is a friends/couples holiday not a family one. On the 24th my parents go to a romantic dinner and I stay with Hiroki. We eat take-out fried chicken and watch some Christmas movies until we fall asleep on the couch and on the 25th we exchange secret Santa gifts in the morning. New Year is for family! We all go to my aunt Akemi in Japan from December 27th to January 5th and it is a time to clean, repair/replace everything broken and make resolutions to start the New Year on fresh good bases. It is very fun and I look forward it every year!

Jeremy: That sounds very cool!

Ulrich: Yeah can I go with you?

Yumi: Not for Christmas. Hiroki and I picked mom and dad on the secret Santa for the first time so we decided to only watch one movie while eating the fried chicken and then clean the whole house and then go to Millie’s house (guess who asked for that) for the night and the next day so our parents will have some time alone.

Ulrich: Oh that’s nice! And for New Year? Can I go to Japan with you? My dad probably won’t notice I’m gone for a week.

Yumi: If you pay your ticket I’m sure my dad won’t mind.

Ulrich: (totally broke) Forget it. But I’ll save up for next year.

Yumi: Fine by me said Yumi smiling.

Jeremy: Great! Now next one is……………………………………. William!

It took a few seconds for the ex Xana-warrior to realise his name was called. He didn’t realise he was actually in the hat, part of the gang.

Odd: Will? Do you plan on talking today? Cause if not I’m gonna get some snacks.

William: What?! Oh yeah it’s my turn… Ok well my dad and I are kind of Christmas freaks so all December we decorate the entire house. We would start sooner, but my mom doesn’t allow anything Christmassy until December 1st so… Anyway on the 24th we get my dad’s family here in France and it is a big super fun party until the Christmas mass. They go but I don’t because I’m atheist and I find it disrespectful to go to places of worship when you don’t believe their meaning.

Ulrich: So they leave you alone at home?

William: I’m not a kid I can take care of myself for a couple of hours! I just watch "Christmas Vacation" while finishing the party snacks. And on the 25th we go to my mom’s family in Quebec. Thanks to the time difference (Quebec is 6 hours late from France) we can get some sleep before going and still spend the entire Christmas day with them. Or the entire week since we stay for New Year which is really fun at their place and we all watch "Le Bye-Bye", a show where some popular local actors make comic sketches about what happens during the year. It is fun and my grand-mother explains every joke cause since we live in France, she thinks we don’t know anything about what happens in the rest of the world. It is useful sometime though… especially when they refer to Quebec TV shows so we let her do it. And that’s pretty much it so…

Jeremy: Cool… I didn’t know your mom was from Quebec.

William: Yeah they met during one of my dad’s business trips. I was even born and grew up there! I was 6 when we moved to France for my dad’s job. I never told you that?

All: Nope.

William: Ok, well now I just did.

Jeremy: Very interesting! Ok now there is only two left!

Yumi: The cute chubby couple! Screamed the manga fan, making everyone look at her in shock because of how unusual this sort of enthusiasm was from her. What?! They are a cute chubby couple. She adds pointing at Jeremy and Aelita.

Jeremy: Thanks! Ok so the first Chubby to talk about holiday traditions is……. Princess!

Aelita: Did you really write princess? She check out the paper to see that yes, he did.

Jeremy: And I wrote Einstein for mine he says while taking the last piece of paper to prove it. Though it was funny… It is funny right?

Odd: I give you my approval! But you lose points for not writing "Little Will”.

William looks at Odd angrily. What would it take for him to stop calling him that?

Odd: More than you could ever do in a life-time. Answered the trouble-maker as if he had read his mind.

William gets a little scared by it and manages to avoid eye contact with him for the rest of the meeting.

Aelita: I don’t remember. I was 6 when the men in black kidnapped my mom and after that Hopper didn’t celebrate any special days. He focused on Lyoko and his work as a teacher.

The room’s energy suddenly drops real deep down into sadness and compassion. Jeremy takes his princess into his arms and Aelita hugs him back for several long seconds before she gently pushes him back and wipes her little silent tears with her hands.

Jeremy: You know what? I’m sure you’ll find a way to make your own traditions and maybe this year I could share mine with you if you want.

Aelita: I’d love that! What are they?

Jeremy: I’m Jewish so I celebrate Hanukkah!

Ulrich: The thing with the candles?

Jeremy: It is more complicated than just "the thing with the candles" but yes. And since I’m the only one who hasn’t spoken yet I’ll be glad to explain it. A long time ago, a Seleucid king of Syria took control over the kingdom of Judea. He let the Jews do their own things but when his son took his place, wanting to unify his kingdom, he made it illegal to practice Judaism and to study the Torah. He wanted everyone to worship the Greek gods. Now many went along with it. But when the king invaded Jerusalem, a group of rebels called the Maccabees fought them for 3 years and once they pushed the invaders out, they had to rededicate the temple. To do so they needed to light the Menorah. Now they only had oil to light it for a day but it miraculously lasted eight days and eight nights. We call it "the miracle of the cruse of oil". And to commemorate this miracle and the victory associated with it, each year for Hanukkah we light the eight candles of the Menorah. One more each night during the eight nights of Hanukkah.

Aelita: What a nice story! I can’t wait to see the candle-lighting myself!

Jeremy: If you like how I tell the story you should hear when Jim does it! He is a good story teller despite what his "I’d rather not talk about it" anecdote suggests.

Ulrich: You mean Jim is Jewish too?

Jeremy: Yes! And so are some of the other boarding students. You see, Hanukkah isn’t exactly on the same date every year. Most of the time it happens before the holiday break. That means some boarders like me can’t be there for the menorah lighting with their family. And as real Menorahs (meaning not electric ones) are not allowed in the rooms for safety reasons, Jim does the lighting and the blessings each night in one of the classrooms so the students who want to attend can be there. And we can stay for the time that it burns which means half an hour or an hour and half. Non-Jews are allowed too if they stay respectful.

Odd: Cool! What time is it this year? I wanna see that! Promise I’ll behave I know this is serious.

Jeremy: You better! This year in 2006 Hanukkah starts the night of December 15th and finishes on December 23rd. But now it’s secret Santa time! I’ll put the names back in the hat and everyone pick the name of the person they’re gonna buy a gift for. Once you’re done, give it to Millie and Tamiya. They will give them to me once they’ve received them all and I’ll give you your gifts before we leave for the break. We all open them on December 25th at midnight on our own and not before then all right? We’ll talk about it when the break is over.

Jeremy puts the names back in the hat and shakes it to mix them randomly. After that, he passes the hat around the gang so everyone can pick a name. Odd was the last one and after reading the name he lets out a big sigh.

Odd: Oh damn I picked mine!

Everyone sighs heavily and puts their paper back except for William who instead says:

William: No you didn’t!

Odd: (With the greatest smile he’s ever had) Oh right I picked princess… guess that means you picked me!

Odd’s smile changes into a laugh when he sees William’s face as he realises he fell into Odd’s trap to find out who picked his name. Ulrich joins him while the others just look annoyed by his joke.

Jeremy: Seriously Odd! Now we’ve got to do it over because of your stupid joke! Ok all the papers are in? Good now Odd you pick first this time!

And everyone picks their recipient and goes back to their normal lives waiting for the big day.

Bonus: Who picks who and what was their gift?

Jeremy picks Aelita and gives her a necklace so he can finally say he is the giver without lying.

Aelita picks Jeremy and gives him Lyoko stats that she made herself since the supercomputer didn’t.

Yumi picks Odd and gives him a picture of the Lyoko gang so he remembers he still has a good family despite his blood-sucking one.

Odd picks Ulrich and gives him the “Pacific Rim” DVD cause it makes him think of Ulrich and Yumi.

William picks Yumi and gives her an antique looking glass so she never forgets how awesome she is.

Ulrich picks William and gives him an elf suit and he went to his house with a Santa suit and they had a merry XXX-mas.

Hope you enjoy it! Give me your comments! On my Tumblr (@nemesisadraste​ or @aidosshadow​).

#code lyoko #code secret santa #code ss18 #nemesisadraste #furlfangs #fic

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Ranking the Stories Set in the Present Day

https://ift.tt/3Eu4Xd0

So the new Star Trek: Picard trailer has dropped and among the big plot twists it revealed are the fact that Picard & Co are going to be travelling back to Earth, circa 2022 AD. We’re looking forward to exciting scenes of people from the 24th century being unable to drive cars (despite the pretty lengthy car chase we saw in the last episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks), Q and Picard sparring again, and wondering how Guinan fits into all this. My personal theory is that after her adventures with Picard and Mark Twain in the 19th century, Guinan decided to stick around on Earth, eventually posing as an actor called Whoopi Goldberg.

This is far from the first time Star Trek has travelled back to the present day – even if “present day” is pretty broad for the 55-year-old franchise. We have no way of knowing why the series keeps returning to this setting that doesn’t need the manufacture of any new props, sets or costumes, but it seems like a good time to look at when Star Trek has done this before and ask “Who wore it better?”

6. Assignment: Earth

This episode would prove to be a particularly tricky one for nearly every single time travel episode that has come since, in that it shows time travel for the Federation is so easy and routine that the Enterprise can just nip back to the Cold War to see why we never Great Filtered ourselves out of existence. Unfortunately, in this episode Kirk and Spock don’t get to see much of 20th century Earth, or indeed do much of anything.

‘Assignment: Earth’ was conceived as a backdoor pilot for a new series about Gary Seven, a human bred and raised by aliens to act as a secret agent on Earth and protect us from our own capacity for self-destruction. This means Kirk and Spock’s role is little more than to sit around and say “Wow, this looks like a great idea for a television show!”

Still, I can’t help but wonder about a Star Trek franchise in the parallel universe where its first spin-off was a spy show set in 1968.

5. Carpenter Street

This episode of Star Trek: Enterprise stands out because it is perhaps the only episode on this list where they decided the present day should be filmed any differently from the space future. The lighting, the camera work, the whole episode feels much more like Angel, or a cop show from the period than the Star Trek style that had been uniformly adopted since The Next Generation.

Usually when Star Trek comes back to our time it is to take us on ‘a romp’, where people point out Starfleet uniforms look like pyjamas and the crew go around misunderstanding pop culture references. This, however, feels like Star Trek invading a much grittier show.

Unfortunately, you can tell that this is a network science fiction show trying to show how adult and gritty it is, because within the first ten minutes of the episode we see a sex worker abducted. Maybe one day science fiction shows will find a way to show that they are proper grown-ups without a drive-by or disposable sex worker character appearing in the first ten minutes, but ‘Carpenter Street’ is not that show.

The other thing Star Trek’s forays into our century do is emphasise how far humanity has come, or still has to travel. This is where ‘Carpenter Street’ really falls down. Because this was Enterprise’s dark, post-9/11 Xindi storyline, we see Archer literally beat information out of someone – not for the first time in this season. It’s a scene that highlights everything that’s wrong with this version of Star Trek.

It’s also the bringer of bad news, as at one point T’Pol asks about fossil fuels to be told that “It’s not until 2061 that…”

The sentence is left incomplete, but that sounds like bad news for our 2050 emissions targets.

4. Tomorrow is Yesterday

This is Star Trek’s first trip back to the 20th century, and it sets the rules for so much that comes later. Agonising about changing the future, having modern day characters remark on how silly everything is, Star Trek characters being taken prisoner and taking the piss out of their interrogators. The formula is refined in many ways from here on, but the ingredients are established here.

It also establishes, as ‘Assignment: Earth’ later confirms, that any ordinary warp-capable ship can perform a manoeuvre to travel forward or backward in time at will, a plot device most of the Star Trek canon has heroically stuck its fingers in its ears and shut its eyes to avoid.

The main reason this entry doesn’t rank higher is that the action is almost entirely confined to US military bases, denying us the fun of seeing our favourite Starfleet officers wandering around our day-to-day world as if it’s the Planet of the Week.

Read more

TV

Star Trek: Enterprise – An Oral History of Starfleet’s First Adventure

By Ed Gross

TV

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is an “Encounter at Farpoint” Sequel

By Ryan Britt

3. Future’s End

This Star Trek: Voyager two-parter, on the other hand, gives us that in spades. It knows what the fans want and it is here to give you a big steaming bowl of it. Neelix and Kes watching daytime soaps? Check. Tuvok having to ensure he wears a beanie at all times? Check. Paris getting his 20th century history and slang hilariously wrong? Check. An oddly jarring turn by a young, pre-comedy stardom Sarah Silverman? Okay, maybe you weren’t asking for that, but check!

It even throws us some subtle continuity porn to argue over. In Sarah Silverman’s office we see a model of the launch configuration of a DY-100 class ship- the ship used by Khan Noonien Singh to escape justice following the Eugenics Wars that were supposed to happen in the mid-nineties.

This is more than just an Easter egg (unlike, we’re assuming, the Talosian action figure on Sarah Silverman’s desk). Over the course of the episode we learn that the entire microprocess revolution that created the world we know and love was the result of stolen 29th century tech.

Does this mean history was changed? That all Star Trek following this episode takes place in a divergent timeline where the Eugenics Wars never happened? This has some fascinating connotations that we will touch upon later in the article, and which I will explain to you at length after precisely one and a half pints.

The episode does have its weak points however – Voyager being seen on national television never seems to go anywhere, and neither does the whole subplot where Chakotay and Torres end up prisoner in a survivalist compound for a bit.

As we’ve already mentioned, there’s also a lot of agonising about how Voyager will get to the present, when we already know that they just need to whip around the sun at warp speed and boom, the series is over.

Oh, and this is an extremely minor gripe, but Janeway tells us she has no idea what her ancestors were doing in this time period – despite subjecting us to the tedium of her story in ‘Millennium Gate’ which was set only four years after this.

2. Past Tense

This episode might be considered a cheat, since at time of broadcast it was technically set in the future. However, since it (along with Irish Reunification) is supposed to take place three years on from now, I think we can say it counts.

This Deep Space Nine story is decidedly not ‘a romp’. Yes people make fun of the characters’ clothes, and Kira and O’Brien’s jaunts through history raise a smile, but more than all but a select number of Star Trek stories, this is about just how far our reality is from the hoped-for future of Star Trek.

Bashir lands some lines that hit quite a bit heavier now than they did in the nineties, from “The 21st century is not one of my strong points – too depressing” to the plaintive “How could they have let things get so bad?” at the story’s conclusion.

And while it is set over twenty years in the future from the perspective of the broadcast date, it wasn’t far off. Stories evocative of the sanctuary districts are easy to find, and as writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe says, “We weren’t being predictive. We were just looking out our windows in the ’90s.”

Only two things really mark this episode out as an anachronism. One, the technology looks painfully 90s – our technology looks far closer to the 24th century than the bulky monitors seen everywhere in this. But then again, this episode was broadcast prior to ‘Future’s End’, so maybe Henry Starling hadn’t kickstarted the microprocessor revolution in this timeline yet.

The other, far grimmer element to have dated is the idea that one innocent black person being shot by police could be enough to cause the sea change this episode says it does.

1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

There wasn’t ever really going to be any debate over this, was there? Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is hands down the one to beat if you’re writing Star Trek characters travelling to the present day. The film itself was something of a departure for the franchise. Rather than Robert Wise’s epic, sombre, proper science fiction in The Motion Picture, or the bombastic action of Nicholas Meyer’s Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home was helmed by a director who would be best known for the cult comedy, Three Men & a Baby.

This 20th century feels far more inhabited than other portrayals, with screen time being given over to casual conversations between bin men, and workplace arguments independent of the former Enterprise crew.

Of course, by now the crew of 1701-no-bloody-A-B-C-or-D should be old hands at Earth in the 20th century. This is their fourth trip here, not counting planets-that-mysteriously-resemble-Earth-in-the-20th-century.

But these fish are never more out of water than they are in this film, and the results are charming. Kirk explaining swearing to Spock, Kirk observing people “still use money”, Chekov standing in the middle of the street asking for directions to the “Nuclear Wessels”, Scotty’s “Hello Computer!” and Kirk Thatcher getting nerve-pinched for listening to his own music on a ghetto blaster. Plus countless more zingers, sight gags and throwaway lines that I’m still finding new ones of after many, many re-watches.

And the cast are clearly having the time of their lives. Shatner’s comic talent was always on display, but in this movie he is really allowed to cut it fully loose giving reaction shots that make you feel bad about every time you mocked his acting.

But no matter how silly it gets, this film knows, more than any other, the point of sending Star Trek characters into the modern day. It is to show us the difference between our ideal selves and where we are – and it does it no less starkly than ‘Past Tense’. With a light comic touch, Kirk and co. encounter capitalism, the spectre of nuclear war, and most of all, the devastating environmental impact we’re having. Even if we reach the ideal Star Trek future, this film says, we could still lose things we can’t replace along the way.

Star Trek: Picard is going to have to work hard if it wants to walk in its footsteps.

Honourable Mentions

While not taking place in the present day, it’d be remiss of this article not to mention ‘City on the Edge of Forever’, which refined ‘Tomorrow is Yesterday’s formula and is just one of the all-out best Star Trek series ever, and ‘Little Green Men’, which twists the usual Starfleet-in-the-20th-century formula by having the Ferengi arrive in the 20th century and find humans far more brutal, greedy and stupid than even they suspected.

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

Also, I don’t want to alarm you, but by the end of this decade we’ll be closer to the events of Star Trek: First Contact than we are to the release of Star Trek: First Contact.

The post Star Trek: Ranking the Stories Set in the Present Day appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[k-hiphop-trash]

SMTM participant facts

BILL STAX

He participated in Show Me The Money 3.

He debuted in 2001.

His previous artist name was Vasco. He got this name from the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gamma.

In July 2011 he married model Park HwanHui, 10 years younger than him. They have a son together.

In December 2012, he and Park HwanHui got a divorce due to religious differences.

He graduated in Journalism in the University of SeJong.

His real name is 신동열 (Shin DongYeol).

He is from Seoul.

He was born on December 18th 1980.

BLACK NUT

He participated in Show Me The Money 4.

He is known for his disses.

He had to apologize in many occasions due to his lyrics.

He debuted in 2008.

His real name is 김대웅 (kim DaeWoong).

He is 173cm.

He was born in January 1st 1989.

BRYN

She is the only female in the crew.

She is a rapper.

She is the oldest member.

She has her own place and studio.

She speaks English.

She is dating Panda Gomms.

She was born on February 26th 1998.

Her real name is 최란 (Choi Ran).

She participated in Show Me The Money 6, but was eliminated in the 3rd round.

CHANGMO

Hangeul:  창모

Real name: Ku Chang Mo ( 구창모)

He was born May, 31 1994 in  Jeongseon, Gangwon

He is rapper and producer

He plays the piano

He sings

He released his debut album M O T O W N on March 18, 2016

He has collaborated with artists like The Quiett, Jessi, Suran, Hyorin and Primeboi

Dok2 and The Quiett felt they could be of helpf for Changmo, so they decided to contact him

He is the first South Korean artist to be nominated for the BET Award

His collab with Hyorin, “Blue Moon” topped charts as the best man-woman collab

He participated in Show Me The Money 3 but was eliminated early on the show.

C JAMM

He participated in Show Me The Money 3.

He participated in Show Me The Money 5 and ended up being a runner up. He lost against BeWhy.

He has a Maltese dog.

He is really close with BeWhy.

He was born in Incheon. Later on he moved to Jeju were he lived for a few years. This is why he sometimes speaks with a Jeju dialect.

He has a younger sister.

He chose his name because the slang used for cocaine was cjam. He added the double m to make it more unique.

CJamm teached BeWhy how to rap.

He is a member of $exy $treet crew.

He was born on February 28th 1993.

His real name is 류성민 (Ryu SeongMin).

GIRIBOY

He participated in Show Me The Money 3.

During the 3rd round in SMTM3, every other contestant avoided CJamm and him, and so they went 1vs1. He was eliminated in this round. Thanks to Tablo’s proposal he was brought back to the show later on.

He likes basketball.

He studied in the International University of the Arts.

He is well known producer.

In all of his songs he leaves his signature “G.R.BOY”, spelled in English.

He was a producer with Xitsuh in School Rapper. Their team was the winner with Young B.

His real name is 홍시영 (Hong SiYeong).

He is 178cm.

He is from Seoul.

He was born on November 24th 1991.

HASH SWAN

Hangeul:  해쉬스완

Real name: Han Deok Kwan ( 한덕광)

He was born March, 12 1995 in Seoul

He is 161 cm

He has a lot of tattos on his arms, hands and neck

He debuted in 2015

He participated in SMTM5 and SMTM6

He was third and final signed artist of Ambition Musik

He was suggested by both Hyo Eun and Changmo

He didn’t give an answer until a month later (he was receiving a lot of love calls from labels because of Show me the money

He has collaborated with artists like X.Q., MC Gree, Crucial Star and DayDay

KEEM HYO EUN

Real name: Kim Hyo Eun (김효은)

He was born July, 29 1993 in Seoul

His stage name used to be Kenny Raw

He was the first to release a record under the new label, titled ‘My Ambition EP’ in October, 2016

He has collaborated with artists like Sous Chefs (Owen Ovadoz and pH-1), Dok2, DPR Live and Groovyroom

He participated SMTM3 and SMTM5

In SMTM5 he proved to be an introverted person who barely spoke, which made Superbee to mock him

JAYMOON

His real name is 문지원 (Moon JiWon).

Hi was born on January 9th, 1995.

He participated in Show Me The Money 6

In SMTM6 he passed the cypher, but he was not chosen for any of the teams.

LOCO

Hangeul:  로꼬

Real name: Kwon Hyuk Woo (권혁우)

He was born December 25th 1989 in Seoul

He is 175 cm

His nickname is Gochoo

He studied Economics in Hongik University

He speaks English

In College he would drink a lot before shows and people would call him crazy, that’s why he chose his stage name, “Loco”, which means “crazy” in Spanish

Gray and him went to the same university (Hongik Unviersity) and got close because of that

His stage name used to be Demaine, which Gray chose  for him.  However, he thought it was too plain and simple, and he also thought his personality was also plain and simple, so he changed it

He used to stutter when he was younger and it became a serious problem for him while growing up. At that time he came to know hip hop and he found it amazing how rappers express their inner thoughts freely

He was inspired by Kanye West and CB Mass, whom he listened to with his friends

He and his friends decided that they also wanted to compose and they formed a group called “Satgotbong” (which is why his instagram is “Satgotloco”), this was the name of the sauna that was located in their neighborhood. They all had the idea that if they were to do shows like any other rapper, it would be boring, so they decided to wear those particular clothes that they used in the saunas while making their shows

He debuted on Sept 4, 2012 with the single “See the Light”

He went through a fake contract before participating in SMTM

He won the first season of Show Me The Money

At the time of participating in Show Me The Money, he had little experience due to his young age and didn’t have much to talk about but, after wining the show, he went through lots of things which helped to discover more about himself, find a right tone and write more lyrics

He appeared in Happy Together and SNL Korea

He was producer, along with Jay park, in Show Me The Money 4

He is part of the VV:D crew, along with Crush, Elo, Zion T. and Gray

He auditioned to be part of BTS, but he wasn’t chosen

He appears in Jay Park’s Mommae MV

He appears in Zico’s Tough Cookie MV

He has collaborated with artists such as Jay Park, Elo and Gray, Dean, DPR Live and Crucial Star

He appeared in Immortal Songs Season 2

He released his mini album, Locomotive, in November 28.2014

He has recently released an album, ‘Bleached’

He won a Melon Music Award in the “Best OST” category for his track “Spring Is Gone by Chance,” which was on “The Girl Who Sees Smells” OST

Loco has previously said that he lost eight Kilograms of fat because when he had taken a photo with Jay Park and a few others behind the scenes at a Jay Park concert, he thought he looked like a pig and that inspired him to lose weight

His song ‘Hold Me Tight’ was supposed to be Jay’s song, but he gave it to Loco

‘Thinking About You’ was supposed to be a title track of Jay’s album but Jay handed it over to Loco because he thought the song would fit better on Locomotive

He has  done his enlistment

He is part of an anti smoking campaign, along with Jay

He likes Descendants of the Sun

NO:EL

His real name is 장용준 (Jang YongJoon).

He was born on May 30th 2000.

He is from Seoul.

He went to St. Paul Preparatory School.

He is friends with Young B.

He is shy.

His father is Jang JeWon, a politician member of the Korean National Assembly (Chairman of Busan City Hall).

He likes the band Oasis.

He participated in School Rapper. He was in team Mad Clown and during the first round he received a lot of praise from the producers, Swings even said that he would contact him to sign him in his label (although according to YongJoon this never happend).

Despite all the praises he got in the show, he only appeared in the first episode, from then onwards he was censored and he left a couple of episodes before the show ended.

He had to leave the contest due to a controversy that came out concerning Jang YongJoon. He allegedly asked a friend of his to beat his mother and told a girl that offered sex through Twitter that he would pay for it.

He participated in Show Me The Money 6. He was eliminated during the fire round.

He would have picked team CoDean.

His ideal type is a pretty girl.

He likes BlackPink and Red Velvet.

He is good friends with MC Gree.

He likes the clothing brand thisisneverthat.

He spends his money as he earns it. Specially in food.

He dropped out of school because it didn’t motivate him and he was tired of studying.

He says that he can imitate YoungB.

He is been a fan of rappers Yankie and Tablo for a while. He likes sentimental rappers. He likes the song “Thank You For Breathing” by Tablo.

He would like to work with Beenzino.

He joined Indigo Music on march 14th 2018.

OWEN OVADOZ

His Korean name is Kim Hyunwoo and his English name is Owen Kim.

He was born on October 13 1991.

He was born in Seoul but moved to New Jersey.

He went back to Korea in 2005.

He is 178cm.

He likes and plays videogames like World of Warcraft.

He played basketball.

He is a Christian.

He studied English in the University.

He has a nostril piercing.

He has several tattoos: Make it, rain and drops on the middle and index finger of his right hand, Fort Lee New Jersey, 201 and praying hands on his neck.

He participated on SMTM3 and SMTM4.

He was contacted by Naflla after seeing him on SMTM3.

He has a duo with pH-1, called Sous Chefs.

His track City was produced by Groovy Room and the MV includes recordings of fans around the world.

His track 11 in the morning was produced by Groovy Room and mastered by The Quiett.

The Quiett helped him producing his firt album, P.O.E.M.

He has collaborated with artists like Dumbfoundead, Ja Mezz, Paloalto, Okasian and Giriboy.

Before being a rapper, he wanted to be a vet.

His brother is a producer.

He lives in the studio. (This is from an interview in 2016, so it might have changed).

PUNCHNELLO

His real name is 이영신 / Lee Young Sin.

He was born on 28th May 1997.

He was born in Anyang, Kyonggi-Do.

He is signed in HIGHGRND.

He is 162.5 cm.

He debuted on September 8th, 2016 with "Lime”.

He appeared in Show Me The Money 6 as a contestant.

He was eliminated during the battle against MyunDo because they got a tie and were requested to perform another song. Punchnello couldn’t concentrate and didn’t rap anything. He explained later on that it was due to his mother being ill and her conditioning worsening at the time.

He participated on the song “Show Me The Money” with other eliminated rappers such as Penomeco and Olltii.

During the interview with the eliminated artists he explained that his mother was doing well.

He loves cats and has one.

SIK-K

In hangul: 식케이

Also: Young Hot Yellow

His real name is Kwon Min Sik

He is Yelows Mob’s leader

He was born on February 26 1994

He released his first mixtape (Lonely Sound) in 2011

He is part of the crew OTC (Outside the Circle)

He is in H1ghr Music Records

He speaks English well

He moved to Vancouver in middle school

He was part of a Vancouver based crew in 2011

He currently atends Sejong University

In 2015, he joined Show Me The Money 4 and  made it to the TOP 16 in Team AOMG but was eventually dropped out of the line-up

He likes artists like Drake and Wiz Khalifa

He would like to collaborate with Taeyang

He wasn’t expecting the Eung Freestyle to become so famous, he feels really thankful about that

His favourite food is sushi

SWINGS

He is the CEO.

His real name is 문지훈 ( Mun Jihun).

He was born on October 14th 1986.

He is from Seoul.

He is 175cm.

He was in UPT and Brand New Music, until he founded Just Music in 2011.

His debut album was “Punch Line King”, released in 2007.

He used to be in Hip Hop group, Uptown.

He participated and won Show Me The Money 2.

He was a producer in Show Me The Money 3.

He studied English Language and Literature at Sungkyunkwan University.

He has suffered obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and stress since he was really young. When in 2014 he started his military service, this problems became worse and he had to leave in 2015, after 11 months of service instead the 24 you are supposed to do in South Korea.

He is dating 임보라 (Lim BoRa).

He appeared as a producer in School Rapper.

He has 2 dogs: 문돈까 (MoonDonka) & 문싣니 (MoonSidney).

Woo Won Jae

His stage name is Munch (뭉크).

His real name is 우원재 (Woo WonJae).

He was born on 26th December 1996.

He is 1,69cm.

He participated in Show Me The Money 6. He was passed by Tiger JK and continued to impress the judges due to his lyrics and rap style.

He was in team Tiger JK & Bizzy in SMTM6.

He was third place in SMTM6.

He was eliminated before he could perform “We Are” with Loco and Gray. The song is available worldwide in many platforms such as iTunes and Spotify.

He is part of the street art crew Plutonic Seoul.

He attends Hongik University.

He met Loco and Gray (AOMG) at Hongik University and all three of them were part of a crew called “Brainswords”.

Gray used to tutor him and said he is a hardworking student who always finishes his homework.

He has a few tattoos: a skeleton on his hand, that same arm tattooed, and a branch on his neck. The neck tattoo was done by the same artist that tattooed Dean, C.Jamm and Zelo.

His trademark beanie style became a trend after he appeared in SMTM6.

His lyrics are about his life experiences and personal situation.

He is good friends with Olltii.

He was called a demon rapper during SMTM by the other contestants, and was compared to Ignito, the rapper he chose for the 1vs1 battle.

He started rapping 1 year prior to SMTM6.

He stated that he chose rap above other music styles because is the one that adapts the most to what he wants to tell.

He was portrayed as someone without a lot of expression during SMTM, but he himself said that he actually smiles quite often, although he also said that he is not very good at celebrating things.

WOODIE GOCHILD

He participated in SMTM6 as part of Jay Park & Dok2′s team

He has the septum piercing (Idk if it’s fake)

He’s part of the Ytc4 life crew

He’s the youngest in H1gher Music

He became known in SMTM6 because of his pigeon like noises and his energy (he couldn’t stay still and kept dancing everywhere).

He was a dancer during Boi B’s “Horangnabi” performance in SMTM.

YOUNG B

He is a rapper.

He participated in Show Me The Money 4. During the cypher Seo ChoolGoo yielded the mic so he could rap, even though that meant that ChoolGoo himself wouldn’t have time to freestyle.

He participated in Show Me The Moeny 5, but was eliminated during the 1vs1 battle.

He is friend with NO:EL.

He is from Seoul.

He lives alone in a studio apartment, although his dog lives with his parents.

He attended Shindongshin Information Industry School.

According to B-NOM, he refers to Bumby as “Yaah Yoo TaeHyun!”.

He participated in School Rapper and he is the winner of the season.

In School Rapper he was in team Giriboy and Xitsuh.

He signed with Indigo Music, a label created by Swings.

He was born on January 12th 1999.

His real name is 양홍원 (Yang HongWon).

He participated in Show Me The Money 6.

In SMTM6 he was part of team CoDean. He was eliminated against Nucksal and Jo Woo Chan.

This artists will be posted on their correspondent crew profiles in the future. For now, due to lack of information on the crew or the members they will be featured in this post.

This are only artists who participated in Show Me The Money at some point (all seasons and all episodes, even if just one)

#smtm #show me the money #woo wonjae #wonjae #khh #khiphop #plutonic seoul #punchnello #hash swan #keem hyo eun #bryn #YOUNG B #bill stax #vasco #woodie gochild #giriboy #black nut #CJAMM #owen ovadoz #no:el #jaymoon #SIK-K #loco #swings #changmo

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

Re-Start Of The NBA Announced What Will The Rest Of The 2019-2020 Season Look Like?

By Zaria Graham, University at Albany Class of 2018

June 14, 2020

Virtually every aspect of life has been affected by the coronavirus, with the NBA being no different. Admittedly, professional basketball will be one of the harder sports to bring back, in terms of logistics and safeguarding health of the players and others who contribute to the day to day operations during the season. Adding to this difficult task is answering a number of questions that come with the re-start of the sport. Some of these questions is what does a shortened season mean for the play-offs and the subsequent championship, players salaries and what does all this mean for fans? On June 4th the NBA announced its return with a tentative re-start date of July 31st but admits there are many steps that must still be taken before the 2019-2020 season can resume.

Taking a look back, on March 11th the NBA announced its hiatus. Officials were made aware center for the Utah Jazz, Rudy Gobert, tested positive for COVID-19 just minutes before tip-off of the Thunder-Jazz game in Oklahoma City.[1]An announcement by Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner that would state on Thursday, March 12th, games were to be attended by no fans changed in a matter of minutes.[2] Once Silver got word that Gobert received a positive test result he knew he would have to suspend the season indefinitely.[3]But players were still on the court, fans in their seats and several other games in other cities were still going on or about to start.[4]It was agreed to avoid panic in the packed stadium news concerning the positive test result would not be released until fans were evacuated.[5] Coaches were made aware by referees and players were told to go to their respective locker rooms with Utah Jazz players immediately being given protective masks and gloves.[6] The process of having other team members and staff tested, contacting the teams who played against the Jazz recently and figuring out what all this would do to revenue and salaries then ensued.[7]

A little less than 2 months later fans are now looking forward to July 31st to see the return of 22 out of the 30 NBA teams return to the sport. The NBA states it is working on settling on an agreement with Disney to use Walt Disney Orlando to house the teams and its ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for basketball games.[8] This is all being referred to as the “bubble” and the enterprise states its goal is to keep the maximum number of people in the bubble at one time to 1600.[9] This means no fans will attend the games. This also sheds light on why only 22 out of 30 teams will be a part of the restart, 8 additional teams would add hundreds of people being inside the bubble, exceeding the 1600 max.[10] Also, government on the federal and local levels have still not approved mass gatherings adding another reason to the 1600 person maximum. The NBA has come up with a COVID-19 protocol that will be presented, if it hasn’t been already, to government and health officials[11]:

·       Players, coaches and staff will undergo daily COVID testing.

·       Players will be required to shower at their hotels instead of in the arena.

·       Inactive players will sit in the stands and active player will sit spread apart on the bench.

·       Players won’t be able to bring guests inside the Disney bubble until after the first round of play offs and are expected to be limited to a max of three guests a player.

·       The NBA will allow players to come and go but the NBPA, the player’s union, strongly advises against this.

Remembering everything is tentative it would be no surprise to see more restrictions and changes in the upcoming weeks.

It is no secret that the NBA lost a lot revenue when the season was halted in March and, though not its sole reason, it is restarting to make up for some of that revenue. May 15th was the first month players saw a decrease in their paychecks after the NBPA agreed upon a 25% salary decrease while games were on hold.[12]This portion of player’s salaries will go toward the 50-50 revenue split between owners and players, as stated in their Collective Bargaining Agreement.[13] But with the season being on hold for about three months, that’s about 167-171 canceled games, meaning a lot of loss revenue and all players seeing a loss in overall salaries.[14]With only 22 teams going to Orlando, what does this means for the remaining 8 teams? The remaining 8 teams have the worst records in the league and had no chance at the play offs, their seasons are over and they have no more work to do.[15]The remaining 8 will see the highest salary cuts, ranging from 19 to 16 percent.[16]While this may be no big deal to the general public and surely just a drop in the bucket for players like Steph Curry, Andre Drummond Tristan Thompson, for lesser known layers who tend to earn less and rookies this means a lot. These players could not help their season being cut short but also won’t be contributing to the gain in revenue by going to Orlando, living under restrictions while there, daily coronavirus testing and risking being infected with the virus.[17]

It is clear, there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to the return of the NBA. It requires players, owners, health officials, government and many more to all be on the same page. Dedicated fans, used to going to every home game, and season ticket holders especially will have to enjoy games from the safety of their own homes. While the NBA was the first professional sports league to suspend its season other sports fans can expect to see their leagues like baseball and football announce their return as well. These other leagues will face similar hard decisions and one thing all sports have in common is the impact of the coronavirus will be felt not only for the rest of 2019-2020 seasons but for future seasons to come.

________________________________________________________________

[1]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[2]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[3]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[4]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[5]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[6]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

[7]Shelburne, R. (2020, March 13). Inside the NBA coronavirus shutdown: How a few tense hours changed everything. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything

8Adams, L. (2020, June 03). Details On NBA's Return-To-Play Plan. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/06/details-on-nbas-return-to-play-plan.html

[9]Adams, L. (2020, June 03). Details On NBA's Return-To-Play Plan. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/06/details-on-nbas-return-to-play-plan.html

[10]Adams, L. (2020, June 03). Details On NBA's Return-To-Play Plan. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/06/details-on-nbas-return-to-play-plan.html

[11]Adams, L. (2020, June 03). Details On NBA's Return-To-Play Plan. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/06/details-on-nbas-return-to-play-plan.html

[12]Soshnick, S. (2020, April 23). NBA Players Agree to 25% Salary Cut During Coronavirus Shutdown. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://variety.com/2020/sports/news/nba-players-salary-cut-coronavirus-shutdown-1234583573/

[13]Feldman, D., & Helin, K. (2020, June 06). How should player salaries be allocated as only some NBA teams resume? Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/06/04/how-will-should-player-salaries-be-allocated-as-only-some-nba-teams-resume-play/

[14]Feldman, D., & Helin, K. (2020, June 06). How should player salaries be allocated as only some NBA teams resume? Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/06/04/how-will-should-player-salaries-be-allocated-as-only-some-nba-teams-resume-play/

[15]Adams, L. (2020, June 03). Details On NBA's Return-To-Play Plan. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/06/details-on-nbas-return-to-play-plan.html

[16]Feldman, D., & Helin, K. (2020, June 06). How should player salaries be allocated as only some NBA teams resume? Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/06/04/how-will-should-player-salaries-be-allocated-as-only-some-nba-teams-resume-play/

[17]Feldman, D., & Helin, K. (2020, June 06). How should player salaries be allocated as only some NBA teams resume? Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/06/04/how-will-should-player-salaries-be-allocated-as-only-some-nba-teams-resume-play/

[cvrnewsdirectindia]

Man City title hopes fading fast, Tottenham rotten to core

Keeper howlers, injury crises and chef Brendan Rodgers serving up some delightful delicacies. Buckle up: It’s Nick Miller’s Premier League weekend review.

JUMP TO: Liverpool the new United? | United no longer United | Spurs are rotting | Keep an eye on Villa

Have Man City already lost title?

It’s the end of the first week in October, and already the title race might be over after Man City’s shocking loss to Wolves on Sunday.

That’s a little hyperbolic, of course — particularly when we know what Manchester City are capable of. Plus, they still have to play Liverpool twice, so that lead could disappear in a hurry. But since three points for a win were introduced in 1980, only one team has ever been eight points clear at the top after eight games in the English top flight

Oh, yes, that other team to lead by eight points: It was Manchester United in 1985-86. They ended up finishing fourth, 12 back from champions Liverpool, and manager Ron Atkinson was sacked the following year. It’s a cautionary tale.

An old Pep Guardiola quote from Marti Peranau’s book “Pep Confidential” has been doing the rounds this weekend. “League titles are won in the last eight games, but they are lost in the first eight.”

Of course, there are lots of sage maxims from the game’s most learned figures that might not ultimately mean anything, but there is truth in what he said: City have, at best, made things extremely difficult for themselves. It adds further spice, if further spice was needed, to the game between the two sides in a few weeks: If City win, we have a proper title race, but if Liverpool win, it could genuinely be all over.

Have City become too predictable?

In terms of points, City are currently closer to Brighton in 14th place than they are to Liverpool. They’ve already dropped more points at home this season than they did in the whole of last. For the first time in a long while, they should be worried.

How to explain this one? The absence of Kevin De Bruyne was a factor, but you struggle to weep for them, considering they had David, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling while leaving Phil Foden on the bench.

The common factor in their adverse results is that the longer you manage to frustrate City — and there are various ways to do that — the less they seem to know what to do. You can almost see their players looking toward the dugout when things aren’t going well, baffled as to why the plan isn’t working, as if there’s some sort of glitch in the system.

They aren’t going to change, and Guardiola has a body of work to justify that. But it’s possible that this super-charged automation, the machine that is City, has become predictable and too easy to combat.

Assist of the weekend

Among all the picking over City’s performance, a word for Wolves, who look back to their big boy bothering best of last season. A word for Nuno Espirito Santo for maximising their threat on the counterattack by shifting Adama Traore into the middle; for Traore, who carried out that plan; and for Raul Jimenez for his two brilliant assists, the first of which featured an outrageous shimmy that you can watch over and over.

Liverpool the new United?

A comparison such as this is probably premature, given the respective trophy hauls, but there is something about this Liverpool team that is reminiscent of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the 1990s. Like that United, Liverpool are relentless until the end, and any accusations that they consistently get lucky with late goals or penalties can be countered by that fact that they just keep going, aggressively pushing and putting themselves into positions to benefit from luck or “seen them given, seen them not given” penalty decisions.

Liverpool will go into their next game with the chance to equal Manchester City’s record for consecutive league wins at 18. Their next game is at Old Trafford. It should be spicy.

Luckiest moment of the weekend

As mentioned, it’s not that the penalty awarded to Sadio Mane against Leicester was necessarily an incorrect decision. It’s more that it was a coin flip. It could have been a penalty, but Liverpool could not have seriously complained if it hadn’t been given. Such luck is required to be champions.

– ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now! – Luck Index 2019: Man United worse than sixth? – VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide

play

1:30

Steve Nicol says Liverpool deserved the win against Leicester despite the sides being level for 94 minutes.

United no longer United

It really is difficult to think of new ways to describe how desperate Manchester United are, so let’s keep this brief after another bad loss, this time to Newcastle at St James’ Park.

Many have pointed to the players available to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, suggesting that he can’t do much more with them, and indeed nobody could. That is nonsense.

This is a distance from being a vintage United squad, but they have somehow looked less than the sum of their parts this season, which is almost impressive in its ineptitude. Sure, not many managers could make these players title contenders, but most coaches with a bit of nous and experience could at the very least do better than this.

Appointing Solskjaer was understandable, given the sentiment and the results in his first couple of months, but it’s clear now that it was a mistake. Keeping him for much longer would compound that mistake further.

A little respite for Newcastle

The only good thing that Manchester United did was give Newcastle a bit of respite. There were plenty of elements to encourage in Steve Bruce’s side’s win, not least Matty Longstaff’s performance and goal, but this victory doesn’t solve the problems that were apparent in last weekend’s defeat to Leicester.

They’re still there and won’t be solved by this one win. A long season still lies ahead for Bruce and his team.

Spurs aren’t stale — they’re rotting

There are so many problems with Tottenham at the moment that it would take far too long to discuss them all. Let’s just pick one of them: Spurs looked so incredibly passive in their 3-0 defeat to Brighton. This used to be a team that was utterly relentless, that would take charge of games, smothering and throttling the opposition. On Saturday, they were tentative and completely unassertive, they barely looked dangerous, and they were absent-minded in defence, conceding three avoidable goals.

This time Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t use the line that “everything they hit went in,” as he did in the 7-2 loss to against Bayern Munich. If that was a spectacular flaying, this felt much more mundane, a relatively routine home win by a team that on the day looked superior. Yet this was a team that at the start of play were a point off the bottom three and had won only once at home in 2019, which was against Huddersfield.

It has becoming increasingly apparent that Spurs haven’t gone stale. Rather, they’ve been rotting. When things go stale, they just sit there slowly going bad — nothing sudden happens — but when something rots, eventually it just collapses. Since around February, Spurs have been like a rotting roof beam that someone put a few coats of paint on as they progressed to the Champions League final: on the surface. Things looked OK, but beneath that they weren’t, and now the beam has collapsed.

There’s no easy answer to the question of where they go from here: It involves Pochettino leaving, the squad being torn up and painstakingly rebuilt, a combination of the two or some other, no less painful option. There could be grim times ahead.

play

1:23

Craig Burley says Frank Lampard has rejuvenated Chelsea with youth after the Blues’ 4-1 win over Southampton.

Old boys’ act

The narrative around Chelsea this season has broadly, and rightly, been around the excellence of the young players, and while Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount scored brilliant goals against Southampton, the driving force behind the 4-1 win over Southampton was the old guard.

Willian was exceptional and singled out for praise by Frank Lampard, Cesar Azpilicueta has regained some of his form after a troubling spell early in the season, and Jorginho has grown in influence to become the still point around which everything else spins.

Bouncing back

A week ago, Dean Henderson let a weak shot squirm through his grasp to cost Sheffield United their game against Liverpool. This weekend, he produced a string of brilliant saves to earn a point at Watford. That’s being a goalkeeper for you.

Misplaced confidence from Marco Silva?

Turf Moor is a bad place to go if you’re a manager under pressure. Not necessarily because Burnley are such an overpowering proposition on the pitch but more because if you lose, you have to walk past the away fans to reach the tunnel.

That fate befell Marco Silva at the weekend, and those Everton fans made their feelings clear, but it doesn’t seem to have made him doubt his methods too much. “We’re not worried at the moment,” he said. “I have the same confidence I had at the beginning of the season. The same confidence about our quality and what we’re doing every single day.”

One suspects his confidence might be very slightly misplaced.

Will Villa’s win loosen the jar?

Aston Villa’s performances had been better than their results suggested before this weekend, and you suspected that someone was going to get a hiding at some point. That someone turned out to be Norwich, and perhaps the 5-1 win will be the equivalent of that first bit of ketchup to come out of a troublesome bottle. Plenty more could follow after this.

from CVR News Direct https://cvrnewsdirect.com/man-city-title-hopes-fading-fast-tottenham-rotten-to-core/

[ratemallet93-blog]

The Bear’s Den, November 20, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

BEARRRSSSS

Dannehy: The Bears Are For Real - Da Bears Blog - Much of the focus for the 2018 Chicago Bears has centered around Mitch Trubisky and the offense, but the key to this season’s success is and has always been the defense.

Dickerson: Chicago Bears forced to quickly turn focus to Detroit Lions - ESPN - Bears coach Matt Nagy won’t be watching the game film from his team’s Sunday night victory over the Vikings as with a game against Detroit on Thursday afternoon he’s focusing on the Lions.

Joniak: Home-Field Advantage Back For Bears - 670 The Score - The Bears are 5-1 at Soldier Field this season.

Emma: Bears List QB Mitchell Trubisky (Right Shoulder) On Injury Report - 670 The Score - The Bears did not practice Monday, but Trubisky would’ve been held out.

5@5: How Good Are The Bears? - 670 The Score - The Mully & Haugh crew debates a five-pack of questions every weekday.

Talarico: Bears Put Rest of NFL on Notice With 'Signature' Win - Da Bears Brothers Blog - The Bears finally picked up that signature win, and their path to the playoffs is clearer than any of us imagined it would be.

Osen: 5 Takeaways from Chicago's Victory Over the Minnesota Vikings - Da Bears Brothers Blog - Here are five takeaways from the Bears' Sunday Night victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

Ellis: Bears list Mitch Trubisky on injury report with right shoulder issue - NBC Sports Chicago - Ummmmm what?

Stankevitz: Bears grades - A closer look at Mitch Trubisky's night against a good defense - NBC Sports Chicago - Mitch Trubisky made some poor throws and bad decisions, but also did some good things to make sure the Bears could hold on to a win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Stankevitz: The first-place Bears are being themselves, and for once, that’s a good thing - NBC Sports Chicago - Being the Bears used to mean losing. A lot. It now means winning and conducting orchestras in the end zone.

Ellis: Why Bears fans should root for the Chiefs during tonight's Monday Night showdown - NBC Sports Chicago - There's more at stake tonight for the Bears than one might initially realize.

Kane: Bears list quarterback Mitch Trubisky on injury report after he hurt his right shoulder against the Vikings - Chicago Tribune - The Bears didn’t practice Monday, but they listed quarterback Mitch Trubisky on their injury report with a right shoulder injury.

Medina: "Work Smarter, Not Harder" and Other Matt Nagy Notes Ahead of Week 12 - Bleacher Nation - The shortest of short-weeks has the Bears doing things differently than they are accustomed.

Medina: Mitch Trubisky (Throwing Shoulder) Lands on the Bears Injury Report - Bleacher Nation - Mitch Trubisky popping up on the injury report with an injury to his throwing shoulder isn't good news.

Medina: The Bears' Defense Is Getting Some Much-Deserved Love - Bleacher Nation - The star-studded defense was shining brightly on Sunday Night Football.

Rosenthal: ESPN's 'MNF' crew could learn a lot from how Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth called Bears-Vikings - Chicago Tribune - The work of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" during the Bears and Vikings game could teach a valuable lesson to ESPN's much-derided rookie "Monday Night Football" announcers Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland" on how to call a game in prime time.

Bear Download podcast: Bears make statement with impressive win vs. Vikings - Chicago Tribune - Dan returns to the show as he and Rich recap the Bears' 25-20 win over the Vikings. They share lasting impressions from an invigorating night at Soldier Field (1:05 mark),...

Kane: 'Who do you block?' Khalil Mack's return and Akiem Hicks' rise have been rough for Bears' opponents - Chicago Tribune - On a night when the Bears defense made plays all over the field, Khalil Mack continued to show he’s back after two games away because of a sprained right ankle with a couple of jaw-dropping feats.

Kane: Bears’ prime-time celebration is short-lived with Lions on tap Thursday - Chicago Tribune - There simply aren’t enough hours in Matt Nagy’s days this week to dwell on the victory that moved the Bears to 7-3 and extended their NFC North lead.

Rosenbloom: A Bears TD drive that took up almost half a quarter? More of that, please. - Chicago Tribune - The Bears ran 13 plays, covered 82 yards and ate up 7:13 to puncture the vaunted Vikings defense. Matt Nagy’s play calling was pantsing defensive master Mike Zimmer on the other side and Nagy’s players were executing almost perfectly. The whole thing was suitable for framing.

Biggs: By creating a road map for Jordan Howard, Bears ground game able to provide the balance Vikings lacked - Chicago Tribune - The Bears were able to create balance in their play calling and get running back Jordan Howard downhill for enough success on the ground to keep the Vikings off balance. Conversely, the Vikings had their third-worst rushing day in 20 years.

Wiederer: Soldier Field hasn't seen this much fun in years as Bears ace prime-time test - Chicago Tribune - In what was the Bears’ biggest all-around test of the season so far, Matt Nagy’s team embraced the increased spotlight, rose to meet the moment and defeated the Vikings 25-20.

Kane & Campbell: Bears kicker Cody Parkey's perfect night vs. Vikings 'rewarding' after rough week - Chicago Tribune - Bears kicker Cody Parkey made two first-half field-goal attempts Sunday night, easing concerns after hit the upright four times on missed kicks the previous week.

Osen: Stifling Defense Carries Bears Over Vikings in Primetime - Bears Brothers Podcast - Chicago's defense stepped up with a primetime-worthy performance and carried the Bears to victory.

Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings Postgame Show: Bears Claim Control of NFC North with Statement Win - Da Bears Brothers Podcast - Da Bears Brothers share their comprehensive game recap with their instant analysis and insight on the Chicago Bears Week 11 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Potash: Playoffs? Pro Bowl? Coach of the Year? Upstart Bears prepared to handle success - Sun Times - The last time the Bears were over .500 after 10 games, they went into the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis at 6-4 in 2011

Kenney: Are the Bears Super Bowl bound? Mike Ditka seems to think so - Sun Times - Hall of Fame coach Mike Ditka believes there's a good chance the Bears could be Super Bowl bound this season

Finley: How will Bears manage a 'crazy' 85-hour turnaround between games? - Sun Times - Bears players reported to Halas Hall on Monday afternoon for treatment and classroom work. They won’t even review the film of Sunday’s win

Jahns: Five takeaways, including a look at the Bears' third-down success - Sun Times - From Mitch Trubisky's success on third downs to Akiem Hicks' big day, here are five takeaways from the Bears' 25-20 win against the Vikings.

Morrissey: A healthy Khalil Mack makes Bears a force to be reckoned with - Sun Times - A good defense becomes a ferocious, feral defense when the outside linebacker is healthy, as the poor Vikings found out in a prime-time Bears victory.

Kenney: Bears players hand out turkeys to families ahead of Thanksgiving - Sun Times - Bears kicker Cody Parkey and punter Pat O'Donnell handed out turkeys at the YWCA in Gurnee as part of the players' social justice initiative.

Finley: Matt Nagy - Alex Smith's grisly leg injury 'absolutely crushed me' - Sun Times - Matt Nagy was sitting in his hotel room Sunday afternoon, working on his play call sheet, when he heard about his friend Alex Smith.

Good, bad and best - How the Bears fared in Week 11 vs. Vikings - Sun Times - Here’s how three Bears fared in Sunday night’s 25-20 win against the Vikings at Soldier Field.

Potash: On cue, Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Bears’ defense rise to the occasion - Sun Times - Jackson delivered the decisive blow early in the fourth quarter — intercepting a Kirk Cousins pass and returning the pick 27 yards for a touchdown.

Brad Biggs' 10 thoughts on the Bears' 25-20 prime-time win over the Vikings - Chicago Tribune - 10 thoughts after the Bears defeated the Vikings 25-20 Sunday night at Soldier Field to win their fourth straight game, the longest winning streak since the 2012 season.

POLISH SAUSAGE

Raiders 2019 NFL draft order after week 11: All three first round picks drop - Silver And Black Pride - The Raiders have not scored a touchdown in 9 quarters and have been outscored 75-9 over that time.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Stock Market Report: Bears - Daily Norseman - The Vikings had a chance to take control of the NFC North. As has been their trademark through their painful history, they didn’t.

After the Vikings’ loss to the Bears, here are some things to think about - Daily Norseman - It was ugly for most of the night.

Packers’ season now rests on two games: at Minnesota and at Chicago - Acme Packing Company - At 4-5-1, Green Bay somehow still has a shot at the playoffs and even the division. Winning two divisional road games could set up Run The Table™ 2.0. Ken's Note: Typical cheezehead take, a crappy team can ignore everybody else but the two top teams left.

RandWell-paid Cousins taking Mauer's place in angry fan pecking order - StarTribune.com - Welcome to the Monday edition of The Cooler, when sometimes it's actually nice when the weekend is over.

Detroit Lions injury report: Marvin Jones, Kerryon Johnson OUT on Monday - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions could be missing two key offensive weapons on a short week.

Injury update: Detroit Lions RB Kerryon Johnson ‘week-to-week’ with sprained knee - Pride Of Detroit - Looks like Kerryon avoided a long-term injury.

Detroit Lions podcast: Panthers game recap, rants against tanking - Pride Of Detroit - PODcast is dropping some truth and breaking down more from the Lions victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Mike Zimmer needs to be on the hot seat - Daily Norseman - Forget his record

Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears Week 11: Five Game-Changing Plays - Daily Norseman - Looking back at the most important plays from the 25-20 loss in Chicago.

Packers TE Jimmy Graham will “try” to play against Vikings, DL Mike Daniels out - Acme Packing Company - One injured Packer might still suit up on Sunday, while at least one of his teammates will definitely be out with a fairly significant injury.

Mizutani: Dalvin Cook was ‘hyped’ about primetime matchup ... until game plan changed - TwinCities Pioneer Press - Dalvin Cook finished with 9 carries for 12 yards and had a costly fumble in the first half of the Vikings vs. Chicago Bears on Sunday, Nov. 18.

After 10 games, here are 5 things Packers must do to turn season around - Packers News - How can the Packers take advantage of the six games that remain on the schedule? We offer up five answers.

More analytics say Packers’ decision to punt was wrong choice - PackersWire - All the numbers suggest Mike McCarthy made the wrong decision to punt on fourth down in Seattle.

Mike Zimmer rips Vikings over turnover woes - 247Sports - Mike Zimmer has done all he can to make the appropriate adjustments to the Minnesota Vikings defense after some early season struggles, but the head coach is still pulling his hair out over his offense’s turnover woes. Minnesota gave the ball away another three times in Sunday night’s 25-20 loss to the Chicago Bears on the road and Zimmer pulled no punches in his postgame press conference.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Infante: Make no mistake about it these Bears are for real - Windy City Gridiron - Sunday’s game confirmed that the Bears are, in fact, a force to be reckoned with.

Wiltfong: Bears vs. Vikings Snap counts, stats, and more - Windy City Gridiron - We’ll list out the complete playing time breakdown, and spotlight a few individual and team statistics from the Chicago Bears in their 25-20 win against the Minnesota Vikings.

Wiltfong: Adam Shaheen and Aaron Lynch in concussion protocol for the Bears - Windy City Gridiron - The Chicago Bears have been very lucky in the health department all season long, but they had two players exit last night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings with concussion symptoms. Today they...

Leming: Chicago Bears - Game balls after a 25-20 Sunday night victory - Windy City Gridiron - We hand out our game balls to the best players in Week 11’s crucial Bears’ win on prime time.

Duerrwaechter: Bears vs. Vikings notes from a tough 25-20 victory - Windy City Gridiron - ECD subs in for Jacob Infante once again as the Bears record the win and a strong grip on the division in their return to Sunday Night Football.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

2 Minute Drill - Website - iTunes - Andrew Link; Steven’s Streaming – Twitch – Steven Schweickert; T-Formation Conversation - Website - iTunes - Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; WCG Radio - Website - iTunes - Robert Zeglinski

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[rcsportstalk-blog]

NBA Season Preview ’19  (Pt.1)

By Anwar Jones

What. is. GOOOOD!?!?! It’s October and you already know what that means. The NBA Season is upon us and its about to get crazy. You thought last year was wild??? Check yo self, we got our Annual ‘NBA Season Preview’ below!

Be sure to hit us with your comments & subscribe to our Full Episodes at rosecitysportstalk.com

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors

So this off-season the Warriors mimicked Thanos in Infinty War to take it’s reign over the league to another level, while the other teams got their Star Lord on, allowing GS to obtain the last Infinity Stone, also known as Demarcus Cousins. Just like fans wanted to slap Star Lord, we should challenge our favorite teams’ GM to a duel for just sitting idle while the Dubs signed Boogie for the mid-level exception. It’s not hyperbole to say this is the best starting five ever. We may only witness this collection of stars for one season, with the rumblings of a KD departure and the inability to give a max contract to Cousins under league rules, this reign could be over with a snap of the finger. If that fate comes to fruition, the damage will already be done, as the Dubs will more than likely win their 4th title in 5 years and cement themselves as one of the top dynasties the NBA has ever seen.

Player to Watch - Can KD win a MVP on this stacked squad Record - 63-19

Los Angeles Lakers

The Magic Man has been dropping dimes in La La Land for almost 40 years, so it’s only fitting he assisted the Lakers in escaping basketball purgatory. Magic has brought Lebron James aka Maximus to battle in the Staples Center Colosseum. As if Laker Nation wasn’t already entertained by past Gladiators, like the great Black Mamba, the Big Aristotle, or the Goliath known as Wilt the Stilt, Maximus is here to restore past Showtime glory. To earn his freedom he must win the crowd and raise another banner to the rafters. King James will rely on some fiery young fighters looking to make a name for themselves in Ball, Kuzma, Ingram and Hart. He will seek wisdom from another gladiator, Rajon Rondo to help in his journey, but it will be up to Magic to bring in another established soldier to help the true King bring the trophy back to the Roman Laker Nation in the near future. It is why we are here. 

Player to Watch - Which Youngblood with be Lebron’s right hand man Record 53-29

Los Angles Clippers

Jerry West is the Professor X of the NBA, the behind the scene orchestrator of multiple dynastic teams. But he will need to tap into his cerebral vortex to make the Clippers a champs. The Logo will find a way to rebuild this team quickly, his reputation speaks for itself. It’s safe to either rookie Shai Gilegous-Alexander or Jerome Robinson, if not both, will be steals in the draft because West always finds gems. They have set themselves for the future with the space for two max contracts and tradable assets like Tobias Harris, Sweet Lou and Patrick Beverly to land a disgruntled star. The Clippers window to jack the city from the Lakers came and went, so they might as well just head north to Seattle, bring back the Sonics and establish a new where they will be loved and embraced forever. Can’t be a side piece forever.

Player to watch - Will Shai Gileous-Alexander be the best point guard of the draft class Record- 34-48

Phoenix Suns

GM Ryan McDonough caught the Jim Buss Holy Ghost during the off-season. His grand scheme of paying 35 million for the combo of Trevor Ariza and Ryan Anderson to help lead them to the playoffs was just delusional. It’s reminiscent of the Infamous summer of 16 and the tragedy that was the Deng and Mosgov. Trading an unprotected 1 st to move up 6 spots into the mid lottery is borderline criminal. The Suns won the lottery and added some solid young buildings blocks in Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Eli Okobo and Deanthony Melton, but Robert Sarver had enough. The fact that McDonough once had too many talented point guards to make happy a few years back to not having a starting caliber lead guard was too much to overcome. Sarver should’ve done it weeks ago so he focus on partying at the country club. Luckily Phoenix has a human bucket machine in Devin Booker, that they can convert to the point and hopefully create James Harden 2.0

Player to Watch - Can Ayton justify being the 1 st of the draft from day one Record 24-48

Sacramento Kings

This is the dawn of the post apocalyptic season for the Kings faithful and they can look no further than the self proclaimed Vladefather. He is literally out here making offers teams can’t refuse, like giving up an unprotected 1 st rounder for the opportunity to sign Rajon Rondo, Wes Matthews or Monta Ellis. That’s insanity. Clearly Vlade’s favorite of the Godfather trilogy was the third rendition and he’s using his platform to create his own spoof. Yet again the Kings failed to add the necessary talent to even sniff the playoffs so it’s all about development this season. They have a little bit of hope with sleeper prospect Harry Giles. If he can stay healthy and continues to build off his promising performance during summer league they may have stumbled upon a gold mine. Fox has a nice future and Marvin Bagley should be able to score with ease considering his skill set. It’s not all bad for the Kings from a talent perspective but remember they are by far the worst team in the West and don’t have their pick. The Vlad-Father better avoid the desert.

Player to Watch – Will Marvin Bagley’s collegiate dominance translate to the pro game Record 20-62

Northwest Division

Utah Jazz

The meteoric rise of Donovan Mitchell was one of the highlights of the 2017-18 season. Watching Spida Mitchell during his rookie campaign was eerily similar to Peter Parker testing out his web slinging potential, as he gradually realized he was a problem for the league. His coming out party came during a surprise upset against the Thunder in the 1 st round, where he looked virtually unstoppable. Now that he’s knows he has great powers, he has the responsibility of building on the momentum and lead the Jazz even further in the postseason. When Rudy Gobert is healthy, Utah is the most menacing defensive in the NBA, so as long as he stays on the court they will be successful. The Jazz had a quiet offseason, so they are clearly banking on their young talent taking a leap. We will see if one of the best coaches in the league, Quinn Snyder will help lead them to the next level.

Player to Watch - Is Donovan Mitchell at the superstar level yet Record 52-30

OKC Thunder

Russell Westbrook isn’t human, he’s not a mutant either, but he is Wolverine. He’s virtually indestructible and although will miss the start of the year no one is overly concerned considering he is made out of adamantium steel. Even Wolverine needs time to regenerate. Year 2 of the Westbrook and PG13 duo will be drastically different and more successful than the first. Now that their roles will be more defined, Russ and George should thrive and play off each other more effectively in the half court without the task of sharing shots with Hoodie Melo. Defensively, this team could be a juggernaut once Andre Robertson gets into the fold, but even without him they can still be great. The addition of Dennis Schroeder was a sneaky move that will no doubt ease the burden of Westbrook and allow him to attack off ball and be able to score more freely. OKC is a sleeper WCF contender.

Player to Watch - Dennis Schroeder can be the third scorer this has desperately needed Record 47-35

Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers are wasting the prime years of Dame Lillard. The second round is this team’s ceiling and it shouldn’t be that way. It’s absolute travesty that Neil Olshey has failed to add the necessary pieces to help out his star studded backcourt. Portland needs a third star, but Olshey refuses to go all in to add one. Cough, Jimmy Butler, cough? The roster has an odd mix of players either ready for prime time or years a way from contributing. Portland needs 3 and D wings, but Olshey fails to address that gaping hole. The roster has taken a set back in a conference that is becoming increasingly more difficult to stay afloat. Maybe Mystique can warn Olshey the sentinels are coming to take Lillard to brighter lights and alter the fate of Portland. Otherwise the writing is on the wall. A miracle needs to happen for Blazers’ fans quickly or their future days are going to be spent reminiscing about the past dominance of Dame Time.

Player to Watch - Can CJ McCollum become an All Star Record 47-35

Denver Nuggets

The Joker is the main reason why we should all take the the Nuggets playoff hopes so serious. Jokic flipped a switch and just blew up last season showing off his unique point-center skill set, reminiscent of another great international center, Arvydas Sabonis. Now it’s up to his backcourt, Jamal Murray and Gary Harris to take this team to the next level. Murray has the ability to be the go to scorer but he has to bring it every night. Denver have a plethora of young players that can get buckets, but they need to buckle down on defense. Coach Malone gained notoriety for his defensive philosophy, so it’s time for him to step up and earn that rep if this squad wants to be a serious contender in the West.

Player to Watch – The Rise of Jamal Murray Record 44-38

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Jimmy Butler saga has wrecked the Wolves’ season before it even started. When Butler exposed Towns and Wiggins for being shook ones, halfway crooks, scared to death, scared to look, it was a wrap. The stakes were already high for KAT coming off his disappearing act in his first playoff appearance but his reputation as an upcoming superstar is on the line. Is he minor or major, a true star or just a stat stuffer are the questions that will be answered by seasons’ end. Thibs is undoubtedly stubborn but he has pull the trigger on a Butler deal before he loses all the leverage for the All NBA performer. Thibs will more than likely going lose his job after the season and so next just ride or die with Jimmy and disregard the future. If that happens it will this will be a lost year for the Wolves. If KAT and Wiggins have any heart they better show it now or the will never shake the soft label.

Player to Watch - Make or break year for Andrew Wiggins Record 37-45

Southwest Division

Houston Rockets

Daryl Morey, why not just bring it back, rewind, pon de replay on a roster that was a CP3 injury away from knocking off the evil empire. This was a confusing off-season for the Rockets, by letting Ariza and Mbah a Moute walk, they lost the defensive switch abilities that made them so special. Adding T.R.O.Y Olympic Melo would’ve been perfect if they maintained there defensive prowess but without it, the squad has taken an unnecessary step back. They will still be in the top 2 or 3 record wise in the West but their championship hopes have dwindled significantly. Morey is a wizard with trades, so it’s a possibility the Rockets still have a chance. I highly doubt Houston will stand pat, the question is will whatever move they make be enough to get one of those rings and things they sing about.

Player to Watch - Can Cp3 avoid his injury playoff curse Record 59-23

New Orleans Pelicans

The theme song for the Pelicans is Biggie’s “One More Chance” but the writing may already be on the wall. Even if the Brow plays at a historic level, New Orleans won’t even make the WCF. Shunning Boogie during free agency was a head scratcher because he was the only chance of pairing the Brow with an elite talent, even with his recent injury history, they had to bring him back. While they were successful without Cousins by playing at the fastest pace in the league and added a perfect compliment to that style of ball in the summer in Julius Randle, it’s just not enough to put them in chip contention. The holes at the wing position and the lack of a second guard will be this squad’s downfall. This season is shaping up to be a long kiss goodnight for the Pellies (turrrbile nickname) with AD signing with Klutch Sports, the rumblings off a Showtime Introduction with the Brow singing “I’m going, going, back, back to Cali, Cali” is on deck.

Player to Watch – Is Playoff Jrue the real Jrue Holiday Record 45-37

San Antonio Spurs

The death of a dynasty is upon us all. Jay-Z once said “It’s a secret society, all we ask is trust,”and within a season we saw that trust erode in San Antonio, thus tarnishing what is known as the Spurs Way in the process. Acquiring the somehow grossly undervalued bucket getter Demar Derozen for a disgruntled Kawhi Leonard was actually a great pickup during the summer. Ask Thibs if he would take that now. The problem that the Spurs have is surprisingly identity. With Kawhi, Parker, Ginobli, and the long gone Duncan, the framework of the championship blueprint is now absent. Pop is looking around the locker room like Will in the last episode of Fresh Prince. The injuries to Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker, and Derrick White couldn’t have came at a worst time, leaving them scary thin of playmakers on the roster. The Spurs 21 year playoff run is officially in serious jeopardy. I’ll never count out Popovich, but he needs to find a point guard ASAP to salvage this season.

Player to Watch - Demar Derozen Revenge Tour Record 44-38

Memphis Grizzlies

Running out this Grizzlies team is like churning out another Fast & Furious, we just roll are eyesand say to ourselves “ Really, another one.” The Grit n Grind crew still has familiar faces on the cast, but the culture is gone and it was replace with nothing but random pieces. The biggest flaw with this teamhas been outside shooting which still hasn’t been addressed which is a Tyrese-like head scratcher. Their best bet is to flip Gasol and Conley so they can get value for their aging stars. The West is so stacked, Memphis would have to play out of their minds to sniff the playoffs. Going out on a limb here but the Slow Mo and Garrett Temple acquisitions just don’t seem like enough to do it.

Player to Watch - Jaren Jackson Jr looks like the real deal Record 30-52

Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs are trying to reboot their success with another international phenom after 20 plus years of the same mega star. Dirk was the Dark Knight of European prospects and nothing will top his epic trilogy. Luka Doncic will have to mimic Bain’s childhood rise from the prison to even challenge the reign of his predecessor. There’s a ton of hype surrounding Luka, but Dallas will be satisfied if he is just a Michael Keaton type of Bruce Wayne, but if he is on that Ben Aflek level, the Mavericks are in trouble. Deandre Jordan finally escaped the barricaded door of the Clippers franchise but it’s couple years too late from him to have a major impact. Dallas has good talent on the roster, the Doncic nd Smith Jr will be fun to watch, but a playoff birth is wishful thinking.

Player to Watch - Will Luka Doncic be the transcendent player his pegged to be Record 30-52

That’s a wrap for the Western Conference Preview, be sure to check back for Pt. 2, the Eastern Conference Preview, and do us a solid and share this article!

(Rose City Sports Talk is an unfiltered, laid-back, adult-adaptation of a sports network. If you’re interested in contributing, feel free to reach out. Be sure to check out our Podcasts, Webisodes, and to follow us @rosecitysportstalk503)

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[the-connection]

The true story of how the City of London invented offshore banking and set the rich free

Every January, to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam tells us how much richer the worlds richest people have got. In 2016, their report showed that the wealthiest 62 individuals owned the same amount as the bottom half of the worlds population. This year, that number had dropped to 42: three-and-half-dozen people with as much stuff as three-and-a-half billion.

This yearly ritual has become part of the news cycle, and the inequality it exposes has ceased to shock us. The very rich getting very much richer is now part of life, like the procession of the seasons. But we should be extremely concerned: their increased wealth gives them ever-greater control of our politics and of our media. Countries that were once democracies are becoming plutocracies; plutocracies are becoming oligarchies; oligarchies are becoming kleptocracies.

Things were not always this way. In the years after the second world war, the trend was in the opposite direction: the poor were getting richer; we were all getting more equal. To understand how and why that changed, we need to go back to the dying days of the conflict, to a resort in New Hampshire, where a group of economists set out to secure humanitys future.

This is the story of how their dream failed and how a London bankers bright idea broke the world.

In the years after the first world war, money flowed between countries pretty much however its owners wished, destabilising currencies and economies in pursuit of profit. Many of the wealthy grew wealthier even while economies fell apart. The chaos led to the election of extremist governments in Germany and elsewhere, to competitive devaluations and beggar-my-neighbour tariffs, to trade wars and, ultimately, to the horrors of the second world war.

The allies wanted to prevent this ever happening again. So, at a meeting at the Bretton Woods resort in New Hampshire in 1944, they negotiated the details of an economic architecture that would in perpetuity stop uncontrolled money flows. This, they hoped, would keep governments from using trade as a weapon with which to bully neighbours, and create a stable system that would help secure peace and prosperity.

Under the new system, all currencies would be pegged to the dollar, which would in turn be pegged to gold. An ounce of gold cost $35 (thats about $500/394 today). In other words, the US Treasury pledged that, if a foreign government turned up with $35, it could always buy an ounce of gold. The United States was promising to keep everyone supplied with enough dollars to fund international trade, as well as to maintain sufficient gold reserves for those dollars to be inherently valuable.

To prevent speculators trying to attack these fixed currencies, cross-border money flows were severely constrained. Money could move overseas, but only in the form of long-term investments, not to speculate short term against currencies or bonds.

To understand how this system worked, imagine an oil tanker. If it has just one huge tank, then the oil can slosh backwards and forwards in ever greater waves, until it destabilises the vessel, which overturns and sinks. At the Bretton Woods conference, the oil was divided between smaller tanks, one for each country. The liquid could slosh back and forth within its little compartments, but would be unable to achieve enough momentum to damage the integrity of the vessel.

Strangely, one of the best evocations of this long-gone system is Goldfinger, the James Bond book. The film of the same name has a slightly different plot, but they both feature an attempt to undermine the wests financial system by interfering with its gold reserves. Gold and currencies backed by gold are the foundations of our international credit, a Bank of England official named Colonel Smithers explains to 007.

Sean Connery as James Bond and Harold Sakata as Oddjob in Goldfinger (1964). Photograph: Getty

The trouble is, the colonel continues, that the Bank is only prepared to pay 1,000 for a gold bar, which is the equivalent of the $35 per ounce price paid in America, whereas the same gold is worth 70% more in India, where there is a high demand for gold jewellery. It is thus highly profitable to smuggle gold out of the country and sell it overseas.

The villain Auric Goldfingers cunning scheme is to own pawnbrokers all over Britain, buy up gold jewellery and trinkets from ordinary Brits in need of a bit of cash, then melt them down into plates, attach the plates to his Rolls-Royce, drive them to Switzerland, reprocess them and fly them to India. By doing so, Goldfinger will not only undermine the British currency and economy, but also earn profits he could use to fund communists and other miscreants. Hundreds of Bank of England employees are engaged in trying to stop this kind of scam from happening, Smithers tells 007, but Goldfinger is too clever for them. He has secretly become Britains richest man, and has 5m-worth of gold bars sitting in the vaults of a bank in the Bahamas.

We are asking you to bring Mr Goldfinger to book, Mr Bond, and get that gold back, says Smithers. You know about the currency crisis and the high Bank rate? Of course. Well, England needs that gold, badly and the quicker the better.

By modern standards, Goldfinger wasnt doing anything wrong, apart perhaps from dodging some taxes. He was buying up gold at a price people were prepared to pay for it, then selling it in another market, where people were prepared to pay more. It was his money. It was his gold. So what was the problem? He was oiling the wheels of commerce, efficiently allocating capital where it could best be used, no?

No, because that wasnt how Bretton Woods worked. Colonel Smithers considered the gold to belong not only to Goldfinger, but also to Great Britain. The system didnt consider the owner of money to be the only person with a say in what happened to it. According to the carefully crafted rules, the nations that created and guaranteed the value of money had rights to that money, too. They restricted the rights of money-owners in the interests of everybody else. At Bretton Woods, the allies desperate to avoid a repeat of the horrors of the inter-war depression and the second world war decided that, when it came to international trade, societys rights trumped those of money-owners.

All this is hard to imagine for anyone who has only experienced the world since the 1980s, because the system now is so different. Money flows ceaselessly between countries, nosing out investment opportunities in China, Brazil, Russia or wherever. If a currency is overvalued, investors sense the weakness and gang up on it like sharks around a sickly whale. In times of global crisis, the money retreats into the safety of gold or US government bonds. In boom times, it pumps up share prices elsewhere in its restless quest for a good return. These waves of liquid capital have such power that they can wash away all but the strongest governments. The prolonged speculative attacks on the euro, the rouble or the pound, which have been such a feature of the past few decades, would have been impossible under the Bretton Woods system, which was specifically designed to stop them happening.

And the system was remarkably successful: economic growth in most western countries was almost uninterrupted throughout the 1950s and 1960s, societies became more equal, while governments made massive improvements in public health and infrastructure. All of this did not come cheap, however. Taxes had to be high to pay for it, and rich people struggled to move their money out of the taxmans reach thanks to the separate compartments in the oil tanker. Fans of the Beatles will remember George Harrison singing on Taxman about the government taking 19 shillings for every one he could keep; that was an accurate reflection of the amount of his earnings that was going to the Treasury, a 95% marginal tax rate.

It wasnt only the Beatles who hated this system. So did the Rolling Stones, who relocated to France to record Exile on Main St. And so, too, did Rowland Baring, scion of the Barings bank dynasty, third earl of Cromer and between 1961 and 1966 the governor of the Bank of England. Exchange control is an infringement on the rights of the citizen, he wrote in a note to the government in 1963. I therefore regard [it] ethically as wrong.

One reason Baring hated the restrictions was that they were killing the City of London. It was like driving a powerful car at 20 miles an hour, lamented one banker, of his spell in charge of a major British bank. The banks were anaesthetised. It was a kind of dream life. In those days, bankers arrived at work late, left early and frittered away much of the time in between having boozy lunches. No one particularly cared, because there wasnt much to do anyway.

Today, looking over its glass-and-steel skyline, it is hard to imagine that the City of London once almost died as a financial centre. In the 1950s and 1960s, the City played little part in the national conversation. Yet, although few books about the swinging 60s even mention the City, something very significant was brewing there something that would change the world far more than the Beatles or Mary Quant or David Hockney ever did, something that would shatter the high-minded strictures of the Bretton Woods system.

Bankers dining at Pimms snack bar in the City of London, 1951. Photograph: Getty

By the time Ian Fleming published Goldfinger in 1959, there were already some leaks in the compartments of the oil tanker. The problem was that not all foreign governments trusted the US to honour its commitment to use the dollar as an impartial international currency; and they were not unreasonable in doing so, since Washington did not always act as a fair umpire. In the immediate post-second-world-war years, the US government had sequestered communist Yugoslavias gold reserves. The rattled eastern bloc countries then made a habit of keeping their dollars in European banks rather than in New York.

Similarly, when Britain and France attempted to regain control of the Suez canal in 1956, a disapproving Washington froze their access to dollars and doomed the venture. These were not the actions of a neutral arbiter. Britain at the time was staggering from one crisis to another. In 1957, it raised interest rates and stopped banks using sterling to finance trade in an attempt to keep the pound strong (this was the currency crisis and the high bank rate that Smithers told Bond about).

City banks, which could no longer use sterling in the way they were accustomed, began to use dollars instead, and they obtained those dollars from the Soviet Union, which was keeping them in London and Paris so as to avoid becoming vulnerable to American pressure. This turned out to be a profitable thing to do. In the US, there were limits on how much interest banks could charge on dollar loans but not so in London.

This market the bankers called the dollars eurodollars gave a bit of life to the City of London in the late 1950s, but not much. The big bond issues were still taking place in New York, a fact which annoyed many bankers in London. After all, many of the companies borrowing the money were European, yet it was American banks that were earning the fat commissions.

One banker in particular was not prepared to tolerate this: Siegmund Warburg. Warburg was an outsider in the cosy world of the City. For one thing, he was German. For another, he hadnt given up on the idea that a City bankers job was to hustle for business. In 1962, Warburg learned from a friend at the World Bank that some $3bn was circulating outside the US sloshing around and ready to be put to use. Warburg had been a banker in Germany in the 1920s and remembered arranging bond deals in foreign currencies. Why couldnt his bankers do something similar again?

Up to this point, if a company wanted to borrow dollars, it would have to do so in New York. Warburg, however, was pretty confident he knew where he could find a significant chunk of that $3bn Switzerland. Since at least the 1920s, the Swiss had been in the business of hoarding cash and assets on behalf of foreigners who wanted to avoid scrutiny. By the 1960s, perhaps 5% of all the money in Europe lay under Switzerlands steel mattresses.

For the Citys most ambitious financiers, this was tantalising: there was all this money squirrelled away, doing nothing much, and it was exactly what they needed in their quest to start selling bonds again. As Warburg saw it, if he could somehow access the money, package it up and lend it, he would be in business. Surely, Warburg thought, he could persuade the people who were paying Swiss bankers to look after their money that they would rather earn an income from it by buying his bonds? And surely he could persuade European companies that they would rather borrow this money from him and avoid paying the steep fees demanded in New York?

It was a great idea, but there was a problem: the compartments of the oil tanker were in the way. It was impossible for Warburg to move that money from Switzerland via London to clients who wanted to borrow it. But he took two of his best men and told them to get it done anyway.

They began their efforts in October 1962, the same month that the Beatles released Love Me Do. The bankers finalised their deal on 1 July the following year, the same day that the Fab Four recorded She Loves You, the song that sparked global Beatlemania. That extraordinary nine months not only revolutionised pop music, but also geopolitics, since they included the Cuban missile crisis and John F Kennedys Ich bin ein Berliner speech. Under the circumstances, it is understandable that a simultaneous revolution in global finance passed little remarked.

Warburgs new bond issue these bonds became known as eurobonds, after the example set by eurodollars was led by Ian Fraser, a Scottish war hero turned journalist turned banker. He and his colleague Peter Spira had to find ways to defang the taxes and controls designed to prevent hot money flowing across borders, and to find ways to pick and choose different aspects of different countries regulations for the various elements of their creation.

If the bonds had been issued in Britain, there would have been a 4% tax on them, so Fraser formally issued them at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands. If the interest were to be paid in Britain, it would have attracted another tax, so Fraser arranged for it to be paid in Luxembourg. He managed to persuade the London Stock Exchange to list the bonds, despite their not being issued or redeemed in Britain, and talked around the central banks of France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Britain, all of which were rightly concerned about the eurobonds impact on currency controls. The final trick was to pretend that the borrower was Autostrade the Italian state motorway company when really it was IRI, a state holding company. If IRI had been the borrower, it would have had to deduct tax at source, while Autostrade did not have to.

The cumulative effect of this game of jurisdictional Twister was that Fraser created a bond paying a good rate of interest, on which no one had to pay tax of any kind, and which could be turned back into cash anywhere. These were what are known as bearer bonds. Whoever possessed the bond owned them; there was no register of ownership or any obligation to record your holding, which was not written down anywhere.

Frasers eurobonds were like magic. Before eurobonds, hidden wealth in Switzerland couldnt really do much; but now it could buy these fantastic pieces of paper, which could be carried anywhere, redeemed anywhere and all the while paid interest to their owners, tax free. Dodge taxes and make a profit, worldwide.

Gold deposits at the Federal Reserve in New York, 1968. Photograph: Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty

So, who was buying Frasers magical invention? Who was providing the money he was lending to IRI, via Autostrade? The main buyers of these bonds were individuals, usually from eastern Europe but often also from Latin America, who wanted to have part of their fortune in mobile form so that if they had to leave they could leave quickly with their bonds in a small suitcase, Fraser wrote in his autobiography. There was still a mass migration of the surviving Jewish populations of central Europe heading for Israel and the west. To this was added the normal migration of fallen South American dictators heading east. Switzerland was where all this money was stashed away.

Later, historians tried to downplay Frasers account a little, and to claim that corrupt politicians those fallen South American dictators made up just a fifth or so of the demand for these early bond issues. As for the remaining four-fifths of the money that bought up the bonds, this came from standard tax dodgers Belgian dentists, the bankers called them high-earning professionals who steered a chunk of their earnings to Luxembourg or Geneva, and who welcomed this lovely new investment.

The eurobonds set wealth free and were the first step towards creating the virtual country of the rich that I call Moneyland. Moneyland includes offshore finance, but is much broader than that, since it protects every aspect of a rich persons life from scrutiny, not just their money. The same money-making dynamic that enticed Fraser to defang capital controls on behalf of his clients, entices his modern-day counterparts to find ways for the worlds richest people to avoid visa controls, journalistic scrutiny, legal liability and much more. Moneyland is a place where, if you are rich enough, whoever you are, wherever your money comes from, the laws do not apply to you.

This is the dirty secret at the heart of the Citys rebirth, the beginning of the process that eventually led to todays stratospheric inequality. It was all made possible by modern communications the telegram, the phone, the telex, the fax, the email and it allowed the worlds richest people to avoid the responsibilities of citizenship

That first deal was for $15m. But once the way to sidestep the obstacles that stopped cash flowing offshore had been identified, there was nothing to stop more money following behind. In the second half of 1963, $35m of eurobonds were sold. In 1964, the market was $510m. In 1967, the total passed $1bn for the first time, and it is now one of the biggest markets in the world.

The result was that, over time, the system created at Bretton Woods fell apart. More and more dollars were escaping offshore, where they avoided the regulations and taxes imposed upon them by the US government. But they were still dollars, and thus 35 of them were still worth an ounce of gold.

The trouble that followed stemmed from the fact that dollars dont just sit around doing nothing. They multiply. If you put a dollar in a bank, the bank uses it as security for the money it lends to someone else, meaning there are more dollars your dollar, and the dollars someone else has borrowed. And if that person puts the money in another bank, and that bank lends it, there are now even more dollars, and so on.

And since every one of those dollars was nominally worth a fixed amount of gold, the US would have needed to keep buying ever more gold to satisfy the potential demand. If the US did that, however, it would have to have bought that gold with dollars, meaning yet more dollars would exist, which would multiply in turn, meaning more gold purchases, and more dollars, until the system would eventually collapse under the weight of the fact that it didnt make sense; it couldnt cope with offshore.

Banker Siegmund Warburg, 1968. Photograph: Getty

The US government tried to defend the dollar/gold price, but every restriction it put on dollar movements just made it more profitable to keep your dollars in London, leading more money to leak offshore, and thus more pressure to build on the dollar/gold price. And where the dollars went, the bankers followed. The City had looser regulations and more accommodating politicians than Wall Street, and the banks loved it. In 1964, 11 US banks had branches in the City of London. In 1975, 58 did.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, who administered the federal banking system, opened a permanent office in London to inspect what the British branches of American banks were up to. But the Americans had no power in the UK and got no help from the locals. It doesnt matter to me, said Jim Keogh, the Bank of England official responsible for monitoring these banks, whether Citibank is evading American regulations in London.

By that time, however, Washington had bowed to the inevitable and stopped promising to redeem dollars for gold at $35 an ounce. It was the first step in a steady dismantling of all the safeguards created at Bretton Woods. The philosophical question over who really owned money the person who earned it, or the country that created it had been answered.

If you had money, thanks to the accommodating bankers of London and Switzerland, you could now do what you wanted with it and governments could not stop you. As long as one country tolerated offshore, as Britain did, then the efforts of all the others came to nothing. If regulations stop at a countrys borders, but the money can flow wherever it wishes, its owners can outwit any regulators they choose.

The developments that began with Warburg did not stop with simple eurobonds. The basic pattern was endlessly replicable. Identify a line of business that might make you and your clients money. Look around the world for a jurisdiction with the right rules for that business Liechtenstein, the Cook Islands, Jersey and use it as a nominal base.

If you couldnt find a jurisdiction with the right kind of rules, then you threatened or flattered one until it changed its rules to accommodate you. Warburg himself started this off, by explaining to the Bank of England that if Britain did not make its rules competitive and its taxes lower, then he would take his bank elsewhere, perhaps to Luxembourg.

Hey presto, the rules were changed, and the tax in this case, stamp duty on bearer bonds was abolished. The worlds response to these developments has been entirely predictable as well. Time after time, countries have chased after the business they have lost offshore (as the US did by abolishing the regulations the banks were dodging when they moved to London), thus making the onshore world ever more similar to the offshore piratical world that Warburgs bankers created.

Taxes have fallen, regulations have relaxed, politicians have become friendlier, all in an effort to entice the restless money to settle in one jurisdiction rather than another. The reason for this is simple. Once one jurisdiction lets you do what you want, the business flows there and other jurisdictions have to rush to change, too. It is the Moneyland ratchet, always loosening regulations for the benefit of those with money to move around, and never tightening them.

Different nations are affected by Moneyland in different ways. Wealthy citizens of the rich countries of Europe and North America own the largest total amount of cash offshore, but it is a relatively small proportion of their national wealth, thanks to the large size of their economies. The economist Gabriel Zucman estimates it to be just 4% for the US. For Russia, however, 52% of household wealth is offshore, outside the reach of the government. In the Gulf countries, it is an astonishing 57%.

Its very easy for oligarchs of developing countries, non-democratic countries, to hide their wealth. That provides them with huge incentives to loot their countries, and theres no oversight, says Zucman.

Come January, we will get another update of how much more of the worlds wealth these oligarchs have taken for themselves: the only surprise will be the precise volume of their new acquisition, and how little they have left for the rest of us. But we shouldnt wait until then to grasp the urgency of the situation.

We need to act now to shine a light on their wealth, on the dark matter whose gravitational power is bending the fabric of our societies. We may have been ignoring Moneyland, but its nomad citizens have not been ignoring us. If we wish to take back control of our economies, and our democracies, we need to act now. Every day that we wait, more money is stacked against us.

Adapted from Moneyland: Why Thieves & Crooks Now Rule The World & How to Take It Back by Oliver Bullough, published by Profile Books

Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, or sign up to the long read weekly email here.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

Fantasy Football Booms/Busts 2018: The Green Bay Packers

With Aaron Rodgers back, fantasy fans want to get their hands on a Packers RB, but is Aaron Jones the appropriate target? (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

As the mercury rises and we inch closer to the open of training camps, our resident fantasy football sickos, Brad Evans and Liz Loza, will profile their favorite booms/busts of every NFL team. Today’s topic: The Cheeseheads of Green Bay. 

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

 Which player should owners avoid like a winery at the Dells?

Liz – GERONIMO ALLISON. Yes, he figures to be Green Bay’s No. 3 WR. Yes, this is an offense to target. Yes, Randall Cobb is declining. And, yes, Aaron Rodgers is a stud. HOWEVER, the team also drafted three WRs this past April. Plus, they added Jimmy Graham, who, at this stage of his career, may not be much of a downfield threat, but remains a high-end red zone weapon.

If you’re throwing darts at the Packers’ corps, I’d aim for Equanimeous St. Brown. The Notre Dame product has the makings of a solid outside receiver and Jordy Nelson’s replacement. Read more about him here.

Brad – JIMMY GRAHAM. The New Orleans glory days of Graham compiling 800-plus yards and double-digit touchdowns are monuments in Jackson Square, memories of the past. Though he finished TE4 last fall in Seattle, he was the definition of TD dependent. His catch and yardage totals were nearly identical to Baltimore’s Ben Watson, but his 10 goal-post dunks elevated him in the ranks.

In a Packers offense already featuring a prominent goal-to-go threat, Davante Adams, it’s highly unlikely Graham attracts anywhere close to the 36.6 red-zone target percentage he logged in ’17. A final total around 50-550-6 is realistic, which makes his TE5 ADP (67.8) a wee bit inflated.

At their respective ADPs, pick a Packer Backer: Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams or Ty Montgomery?

Brad – TY MONTGOMERY. Full transparency, Jones will likely prove the more valuable Green Bay back. He excelled in limited usage last season, ranking number No. 2 in yards per carry and No. 19 in yards created per touch. I truly believe he’s slated for at least 12-14 touches per game operating as the Packers’ primary early-down option.

However, Monty will turn the bigger profit. Yes, I’m still picking crow out of my teeth from last year’s unforgivable misfire, but healthy and cast in a more suitable receiver/rusher hybrid role, he has a real chance to deliver as a post-hype sleeper. Recall in 2016, he was a secondary metrics heartthrob, ranking top-10 in breakaway run percentage, yards per touch (6.3), juke rate and fantasy points per opportunity (1.06). With Rodgers under center that year, he also saw a light front on nearly 90 percent of his touches. The chatter he’s expected to take on a “significant” role isn’t coachspeak. It’s plausible he logs 10-12 touches per game and contributes consistent FLEX value for fantasy purposes. At his 131.5 ADP, he’s a late-round stab with major upside.

Liz – AARON JONES. The best value is, hands down, Ty Montgomery, who will absolutely have a large role next season, as Brad outlined above. The most likely to handle early downs and goal line opportunities, however, is Jones. He’s the best fit for the gig.

More powerful and agile than Williams, Jones stole the job from his fellow rookie last year. In Week 5, with both Williams (knee) and Montgomery (ribs) sidelined, the UTEP product beasted for 134 total yards and a rushing score. He continued to impress until suffering an MCL sprain in Week 10.

From that point on, fans were subjected to watching Williams plod along, averaging 3.6 YPC over the last six weeks of the season. While healthy, Jones averaged 5.5 YPC. Yes, the sample size is small, but tape doesn’t lie. Despite being drafted a round after Williams, Jones is the superior athlete. As it turns out, he’s a pretty decent dude too.

FACT or FICTION: Aaron Rodgers is the indisputable No. 1 QB.

Liz – FACT. The collarbone does give me pause, but I can’t imagine putting anyone above Rodgers in my ranks. Over the past 10 seasons, since taking over for Brett Favre, the six-time Pro Bowler has produced top-ten numbers every year but two. For seven of those years he was a top-two asset. The two years he finished outside of the top-nine he missed significant time due to injury (2017, 2013). While on the field in those “lost” campaigns, however, he averaged the at least the fourth most fantasy points per game.

Sure, there are a lot of question marks in Green Bay. But if any QB has proven he can put the team on his back and slay, it’s Rodgers. From his ability to extend plays to his meticulous ball placement, Rodgers’ precision and processing speed make him the best QB in the NFL. Anything can happen in a season, but Rodgers’ unquestionable talent is a constant worth a whole lot of draft capital.

Brad – FICTION. To say Rodgers is the indisputable No. 1 fantasy QB is equal to picking a side in the raging, and generally pointless, LeBron vs. Jordan debate. There’s a strong argument for each camp. In other words, there’s no unequivocal right or wrong answer.

Undoubtedly, Rodgers is an inner-circle Hall of Famer with many elite football years remaining. He’s insanely accurate, owns sneaky productivity as a runner and is supremely intelligent. Those who sacrifice life and limb to acquire his services in the early rounds have every justification to do so. But he’s no tomahawk slam-dunk to finish atop the position. In fact, he’s captured the QB crown only four times since becoming a full-time starter in 2008.

This may instigate a riot, but Deshaun Watson is my numero uno fantasy passer. Seen without a brace at Houston’s mini-camp, he’s well ahead of schedule in his ACL recovery and is immersed in a fantastic, high-octane offense. Most promising, Bill O’Brien has no desire to change the personality of his dual threat despite the QB’s rebuilt knees.

Coming off a jaw-dropping seven-game stretch in which he trashed defenses to the tune of 24.7 fantasy points per game, he’s on the verge of an eruption. Even if his numbers from last season were reduced by 10 percent, he still would’ve bested Rodgers in per game output eight of the past 10 years. That’s how special he was. That’s how special he can be. And it’s why he won’t budge off my top line.

BONUS: Will Davante Adams go OVER or UNDER 9.5 touchdowns?

Brad – OVER. Adams has developed into one of the game’s premier red-zone targets. His ability to gain separation and climb the ladder on defenders in the end zone is nearly unmatched. To me, his current talent level resembles peak Dez Bryant. Last fall, in a forgettable season for the Packers, he impressively finished top-10 in total red-zone target percentage (WR1), contested catch rate (WR5) and fantasy points per route (WR10). Most notably, in seven games with Rodgers, he was the third-most valuable wide receiver in fantasy, totaling a 75-905-14 pace. Even with Graham in the mix, he should sail past the proposed number.

Liz – OVER. With Aaron Rodgers under center for the first six weeks of 2017, Adams nabbed 5 scores. He managed another 4 TDs in the seven games he played with Brett Hundley throwing the ball. In fact, half of Hundley’s touchdowns went to Adams. I understand that with Jordy Nelson *officially* off the squad, Adams could draw tougher coverage, but he’s proven himself since his drop-laden campaign back in 2015.

Having surpassed this line for two straight years, and earning WR1 numbers in back-to-back seasons, Adams has unlocked stud status. He’s garnered 23 red zone targets in 2016 and 2017. That number will go up if Rodgers stays healthy. Winning 65 percent of contested catches (#5) and racking up 359 yards after the catch (#13), the team’s former No. 2 is ready for a promotion. According to current ADP (23.80), he’s the eighth WR coming off of draft boards, which seems spot on.

Bring the blitz on Twitter. Follow Brad (@YahooNoise) and Liz (@LizLoza_FF).

#_uuid:7724657b-9e9a-36e9-bc5f-41b618e01268 #_author:Liz Loza #_category:yct:001000854 #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_revsp:54edcaf7-cdbb-43d7-a41b-bffdcc37fb56

[junker-town]

5 reasons why the 2018 U.S. Open could be one of the best ever

From America’s best venue to a Tiger-led field, the 2018 U.S. Open has the ingredients to be a classic you should watch. Here are five of them.

Despite its well-earned prestige as our national championship, the U.S. Open is not the most exciting major in golf. It delivers far less than the Masters and can’t compete with the run that the British Open is on over the last decade. There have been plenty of legendary winners and unforgettable Sundays with dramatic finishes. It’s a great championship but it also misses more than those other two. Sometimes we get random champions. Sometimes we get blowouts. Sometimes the golf is just a boring slog full of pars that don’t end up being fun to watch.

This week should not be one of those. After a few months of being told 2018 was the “most anticipated Masters ever,” we’re set up again at the U.S. Open. It’s not overhype, but just the way things have fallen in 2018. There are a few common elements between that pre-Masters excitement and this U.S. Open, and a few unique reasons why you should be in a manic Monster-fueled state of anticipation for this second major. Here are five.

Tiger Woods can contend in his first U.S. Open start in three years

We have hit the “toughest test in golf” mile-marker in what is Tiger Woods’ attempt at his first full healthy season since 2013. It’s been three years since Tiger played the U.S. Open, which is boilerplate now for every event he’s started this season since Torrey Pines. That last start at Chambers Bay was arguably his most embarrassing major.

He missed the 2015 cut by miles and the lasting images are Tiger’s club flying through the air after a hopeless hack from some knee-high fescue, and a cold top ground ball he hit in the 18th fairway. It was the kind of shot a hack chop hits at the muni on the weekend when he thinks he can pull off some hero shot with a fairway wood off the deck. Tiger’s top dribbled into the ”Chambers basement,” a deep bunker in the middle of the fairway and resulted in this memorable bit of symbolism.

Time to check in on how Tiger Woods's round is going: pic.twitter.com/VjVW4F0mZW

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) June 19, 2015

The U.S. Open seems like the last place Tiger would break through for his first win in five years. It asks every kind of question of every part of your game and you don’t just show up with only a few months of real competition and win it.

But Tiger is in a better place than, I think, anyone could have imagined just six months into the year. That place may not mean he’ll win this week, or this year, or maybe ever again. He’s got a better chance than we all expected, however, and it’s within a realm of possibility that did not exist three years ago at Chambers Bay or in the intervening two years of trouble getting out of bed.

Tiger is back to striking the ball at not just a competitive level, but an elite PGA Tour-winning level. He had one round in his last start that resulted in the second-best strokes gained tee-to-green mark of his entire career. His short game has shown no signs of that horrendous chipping yips spell that he now says was a result of the nerve pain in his back. In fact, his chipping and wedges are now a strength of his game. The point is: if he’s playing like this tee-to-green, he has a chance to compete and contend at this venue, which seemed unlikely a few months ago.

The putter is the club, based on recent form, that could send him home early or have him playing meaningless rounds on the weekend. His putting stats in his last start were some of the worst of his career. But the putter is one club, one area of the game that can come back the fastest. You can putt like trash one day, and find a heater the next. A bad putter usually stays a bad putter over time, but it’s easier to shake off and catch fire for a round or two. Tiger is also not a historically bad putter. He’s one of the best of all time, just putting poorly in two of his last three starts. It can come around quickly, as it did at The Players. The ballstriking seems to be reliably there for Tiger, so if the putting switch does flip, we’re in for a show all weekend.

Even if his putting stinks again, the way he’s hitting the ball will be fantastic to watch at a shotmaking test like this. It never seemed like we could anticipate that again, and certainly not at a U.S. Open at this specific venue. We should actually expect it this week.

The best major venue in the United States

Shinnecock Hills is unanimously revered as one of the very best golf courses in the world, and you’ll see plenty of arguments this week that it is the top major championship venue this country has to offer (including Augusta National). There are several brilliant pieces outlining its architectural perfection, but I will pull one from course design expert Andy Johnson that I found particularly illuminating (you should read his entire course breakdown here).

Playing Shinnecock is like stepping into the ring against Floyd Mayweather. The course doesn’t rely on singular holes to deliver knockout punches but rather lies in wait for tactical mistakes ready to punish them.

The course will look pretty on TV, present of bunch of different challenging shots and trajectories that will be fun to watch, and when a player starts to feel himself too much, it will deliver the US Open ejection that we love to rubberneck. There’s no one specific hole that would stick out for an untrained TV viewer, like an island green or a some scenic seaside shot vista. It’s monotonous only in its perfection from 1 through 18, as each hole is worth watching for its own challenge and display of the best kind of architecture from the game’s past.

After some non-traditional venues in recent years, we’re back to an old friend and one that many consider to be the ideal U.S. Open spot. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee even argued Shinny could host every year and it would make perfect sense.

This is as good as it gets and the only critique I’d have of the venue is that it’s an uber-exclusive club dropped in the Hamptons, a summer playground for the extremely wealthy. While it did immediately allow women members from its foundations in the 1890s, it is an appropriate if unfortunate reminder of how golf is structured in this country. Whereas the British Open’s ideal venue, St. Andrews, encompasses the open public park nature of so many of the best courses across the pond, the exclusivity of Shinnecock encompasses how the best courses in this country are walled off and inaccessible. That matters less for watching the best in the world take it on this week, so take it in because we don’t get this caliber of venue every year.

The USGA as heel

One of my favorite annual traditions is course setup drama at the U.S. Open. The grumbling, screaming, whining, yelling — it’s all quite fun if you’re an outside observer. The last time the U.S. Open came to Shinnecock Hills, the course setup delivered one of the great farces in major championship history. The embarrassment of watering Shinny’s 7th green in between groups so it was playable is one of the lowest points in USGA history and major championship history.

There are no teams to root for and against in golf. You can pick a favorite guy and back him, but there’s rarely a villain. The USGA, whether it wants to or not, is one of the few weeks we have a heel. It’s not fair, usually, but it’s just become a fact of this championship. They take a beating no matter what from a) the players, who show up ready to pounce on any little thing they feel is abnormal or is considered USGA excessiveness and b) the media, who want drama (hi it’s me!) and angry players and things they could rip the USGA for in their #content.

There’s been ample fodder in recent years, too, from losing the greens at Chambers Bay to grumbles about a tricked up Merion to the infamous DJ Oakmont ruling to the perception that last year’s Erin Hills venue was too easy. And remember at Erin Hills, we started the week with hours of air time and thousands of words on how it might be too hard because of #fescuegate. We finished the week with people complaining that it was too easy and not a real U.S. Open because of a winning score of 16-under. So yeah, the bar to avoid critiques may be impossibly high for the USGA.

The USGA always likes to walk the tightrope but it’s truly going to be hard to screw up this year given the venue. The course is impeccable and the forecast looks pristine. This week they’re walking a tightrope that’s only a few feet off the ground. It’s still possible to fall awkwardly and snap your ankle, but it’s pretty safe working conditions comparatively.

So where could that awkward fall occur? A rules mishap is always in play, but even there we have new safeguards since the DJ catastrophe. Green speeds could get a little too fast and lead to some pins that are close to being over the line. But it’s going to be tough given all the technology agronomists and groundskeepers now have. We’re not getting a repeat of that 2004 mess at the 7th green, but I’m sure the players, media, and fans will find something to grumble about before Sunday night. It’s a great U.S. Open tradition!

FOX is actually good btw

If you’re still bathing in Greg Norman’s tears from the great 2015 FOX abomination, then you haven’t been paying attention to just how good FOX has become at broadcasting this championship. They got better at Oakmont, better again at Erin Hills, and are now given the opportunity of a Tiger-led field at the championship’s best venue.

FOX uses all the technology, but not in an intrusive or distracting way. You’ll get tracer on almost every shot, from both the tees and on approaches. They have, in my opinion, an incredible collection of talent that doesn’t make you want to mute the TV. Norman was quickly thrown back into the sea, the Shark free to swim off and take nude pictures of himself.

Paul Azinger says some insane things but always makes it sound like it’s the most brilliant turn of phrase or nugget of wisdom you have ever heard. He is as entertaining and as good as we have in the lead analyst chair. He’s paired up with Joe Buck, rotating every couple hours with another separate and distinct two-man booth of Shane Bacon and Brad Faxon. All four are good and easy listens. Curtis Strange is the kind of old-school redass you want on the call of a U.S. Open. Ken Brown’s “Brownie points” segments actually make you smarter, as opposed to most of the pre-produced fluff crowbarred into golf broadcasts. And Gil Hanse is a pro and exactly the kind of architectural voice you want to sprinkle in at a Golden Age design like this.

We’re in an era when the coverage and presentation can so dramatically alter how you view a tournament of this magnitude. Fox has an awesome opportunity with this 2018 edition and we should be in good hands.

Philip Alfred

Phil Mickelson is doing extremely Phil Mickelson things this week, like hiding away at another ultra-exclusive Hamptons club to practice alongside a heavyweight businessman/country club legend and Tom Brady. But even if he’s out of view, Phil will forever be a story at the U.S. Open, the white whale of his career. With six runner-up finishes, there are plenty of options to choose from, but his runner-up here in 2004 may have been the most unfortunate miss. There was a screwjob element to it with the course setup and the 7th hole.

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Phil Mickelson chats with his caddie Jim MacKay on the seventh tee during the final round of the 104th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 20, 2004.

Now he’s back, and while he’s not a favorite like in so many years prior, he’s playing better golf this season and snapped a five-year winless drought. I remember sitting in front of Phil two years ago when he was asked about completing the career slam. “I could BS you and tell you I don’t think about it,” he said “No, I think about it all the time.”

There aren’t many chances left for Phil and after skipping last year, he’s back at a venue where he posted one of those six runners-up. He’s not a favorite, but he’s still an underdog contender to become the sixth player in the history of the game to complete the career slam. It’s Phil and the U.S. Open and you’ll want to watch when he comes back out of hiding on Thursday morning.

[euro3plast-fr]

How to create email campaigns that boost sales

New in the email marketing world? Learn how to construct an effective email campaign

By now, you may have at least heard someone talk about email marketing. Maybe one of your colleagues is a great fan or one of your close friends can’t emphasize enough how it has saved his business.

No? You’re serious?

Well, fortunately, you have arrived at the right article, cause we are here to tell you all you need to know about this digital marketing trend that everyone is talking about. Ready? Let’s get started!

Why should I be already sending email marketing campaigns?

Email marketing offers endless advantages; it’s becoming one of the most popular digital marketing tools, used by both big and small companies all around the globe. How nice can it be to become global with just one click?

But, first things first, let’s talk about what worries most of the newbies: Is it expensive? We are glad to tell you it’s not! Email marketing software and mailing apps, which we will dig into afterwards, are generally inexpensive, and email marketing has one of the best returns of investments (ROI) you will see 4300%, that is, $43 per dollar invested.

Now, let’s talk aboutitss main advantages: What makes email marketing so special is that it lets you communicate with your clients in a unique way, allowing you to personalize each and every message you wish to send.

Well, I can also do that by making a call, right? Yes, sure. But mailing apps will do it automatically and all at the same time. Imagine the amount of time you will be saving by just pressing a button to send your email marketing campaign instead of calling all of your clients one by one.

Thus, the way it engages customers and creates brand awareness is one of its most valued advantages, and it’s all because of the ease of communication it offers.

How to create the perfect email marketing campaign?

Now that you are (hopefully) convinced that email marketing is the path to take, we can share with you its secret weapon: mailing apps!

A good email marketing software is what will make life easier for you. Apps are incredibly easy to use and, as we mentioned before, they are mostly very inexpensive. Moreover, most apps offer a 30-day free trial so you can try their services first and then decide!

Your next question will probably be: How on earth do I create a full email marketing campaign if I know nothing about graphic design?! We’ll, we’ve got you covered on that as well. Mailing apps offer countless email newsletter templates so easy to build that even a child could do it.

Choose the one that fits better for your business and customize it with a simple drag and drop system. Add text and images, and the app will do the rest. You see? easy peasy.

These templates will automatically be responsive, so it won’t matter on which device your subscribers will open your campaign; It will look perfect on smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Why will my campaigns be efficient?

Once you have built your perfect mailing campaign you can either send it or programme the sending for later on. You can also segment the sendings or send two different campaigns to different groups of people to check, afterwards, which one worked better.

How’s that? Because the advantages never stop. After you have sent your campaigns, mailing apps offer detailed statistics on how they worked so you can improve your next one. This is what will make them efficient; you will know what to change and get better and better with time!

Something you won’t have to worry about is deliverability; if you were to send thousands of emails from your personal Gmail account, for example, most of them would end in the spam folder of your recipients, as spam filters identify mass sendings.

However, email marketing software has been developed to avoid that, and your campaigns will reach your subscriber’s inbox without any problem, as there is where they should be!

Mailing apps generally include some extensions that can make your life even easier; Google Analytics, so you can really track your success (and your mistakes) to detail, PrestaShop and Magento to help you with your online store issues, WordPress, so you can import your posts and synchronize your contacts… look for a good email marketing service that include these and many more!

To sum up, what will make your email marketing campaign efficient is not only the campaign itself; every feature of a mailing app works on a particular aspect that can help your campaign to be successful, and that is email marketing’s best kept secret!

But… how can a campaign boost my sales?

Email marketing works great when trying to turn your subscribers into clients. Let’s imagine you own an online store and you have managed to grow a contact list, so you now have a good amount of subscribers. However, what you want is them to buy from your site, that is, to become clients!

You can achieve this through newsletters; email marketing has amazing conversion rates, and this is mostly thanks to its Call to Action (CTA) buttons, which are generally included in the templates:

These are the typical buttons that claim “click here!” or “buy now!”, drawing the subscriber's attention and making it easier for him to make a purchase. They lead him directly to your online store’s webpage, directly to the product they seemed interested in. They are incredibly effective!

Of course, newsletters are known for the presence of offers, discounts and promotions. Take advantage of this and send that special offer that will give your sales a little push when you need it the most.

Finally, another incredibly cool thing that offer mailing apps are seasonal templates; that’s right. There are always some special dates that work wonders for certain types of businesses: St Valentine's Day for chocolate companies, Halloween for costume stores and Christmas for… almost anything, I guess!

You will find special templates so you can make the most of your ideal season to boost your sales a little bit more. And remember, not only commercial newsletters do the trick; it’s nice to send an email to your subs just to wish them a Merry Christmas! They will for sure appreciate it and this is the ultimate way of creating brand awareness.

Are you ready?

You now hold the future of your business in your hands; All that’s left to do is choose the best mailing app, create your perfect campaign and boost your sales! Trust us… you won’t regret it!

from Blog – Smart Insights https://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/create-email-campaigns-boost-sales/

#Blog – Smart Insights