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Forbes Classical CD Of The Week: A Starry-Fantastical Contemporary American Piano Concerto

...That Claude Baker is a fan of quotations, not entirely unlike his German colleague Hans Zender, also shows in the re-composition Aus Schwanengesang: Phrases of the original, orchestrated, melted and wedged into another appear before us, implied more often than literal. Like creatures or rock formations, scarcely noticeable through the thick fog, they rise out of – and retreat back into – the black sea across which we glide. And amidst his own intriguing voice, there appear distant and obvious friends again: Mahler and Beethoven, foremost. Melodically – but also characteristically, like those dark beats of drums that crack into a peaceful Schubert-quote like the ‘tattoos’ in Mahler’s Tenth…

-> Classical CD Of The Week: A Starry-Fantastical Contemporary American Piano Concerto

Claude Baker, Piano Concerto, “Aus Schwanengesang”, Indianapolis SO / Gilbert Varga & Juanjo Mena / Marc-André Hamelin Naxos

Source: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2018/09/forbes-classical-cd-of-week-starry.html

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Ira's: a downtown diamond in Little Rock

We knew very little about Ira Mittelman when we walked into the shotgun-style storefront in the Rose Building on Main Street's Creative Corridor. We knew that his modest, cozy spot in Park Hill had developed a small but devoted following. We'd seen a picture of him on a poster publicizing a pesto-making class at Eggshells in The Heights in mid-September, on which Mittelman looked like he could be the sheepish cousin of celebrity chef/food writer Tom Colicchio.

Most of the things we've learned about Mittelman since then are things we learned by eating dinner there late on a balmy Saturday night. We learned that Mittelman is not afraid to use salt; his kitchen understands the fundamental culinary idea that salt, done right, makes ingredients taste more like themselves. We'd guess, too, that he doesn't play fast and loose with whatever classical culinary training he's had; the word "backwait" was passed elegantly between two employees as secondhand protocol, and the assortment of bitters, liqueurs and infused syrups at the bar suggested years, not weeks, of carefully considered cocktail service preferences. And, at the risk of drawing pop-psych analyses from a couple of meals, we'd wager that Mittelman believes in hiring the right people and trusting them to do what they do well.

When we took a seat beside a bowl of zested fruit at the sleek bar, one of the crisply clad boozeside employees sidled up to us with the full cocktail and dinner menus, her colleague offering coffee, commiseration and a grilled peach salad to a pair of women fresh from a wedding — and fresh from all the daydrinking that, naturally, had been required to properly salute the newlyweds. We think, too, that Ira probably believes that in order for the place to be what he wants it to be, he needs to spend some time in the front of the house, which he did by way of his gentle, floating presence when we visited, with a painting of him on the bold red accent of the rear wall candidly designating him the face of the business.

The bartender shook up something called a Flor del Diablo ($8.50), which we'd ordered in a clear attempt to cling to the last remnants of summertime. It was tequila with a splash of ginger beer and loads of red hibiscus, the latter infused into both the tequila and into a cocktail syrup, resulting in a spritzy number painted deeply crimson at the bottom, rose pink at the top and served in a highball glass with a disk of lime and plenty of ice.

We didn't know it at the time, but we'd ordered two starters that were mainstays of the Ira's menu even as it crossed the Arkansas River to this new location at 311 Main: the Poblano Cheesecake ($10) and the Mushroom Spring Rolls ($9). The cheesecake, anchored by a sturdy cornmeal crust and topped with a heap of diced-and-spiced mango, came across more like a homestyle cheddary souffle, with a delicate use of a smoky, underheralded pepper as the main attraction. The spring rolls appeared on a concave plate lined with a bed of lightly dressed spinach, accompanied by a bright sake dipping sauce and a mound of pickled ginger. These were the heaviest of bar bites, puff-fried wonton wrappers halved at an angle brimming with slices of smoky shiitake and carrot.

We could have stopped there, and by all means, you could, too! (We didn't.) The fennel-tomato Cioppino ($28) beckoned, as had the seafood on Ira's appetizer menu — house-cured Gravlax on a corn cake with tobiko caviar ($12), Gulf Coast Oysters ($16), and balsamic-drizzled Gulf Shrimp with prosciutto, watermelon and blue cheese ($14). With the coastal Carolinas hurricane disaster on the brain, though, we bypassed catfish with a tomato/onion gravy ($20), meatloaf ($18), a Tasmanian grass-fed ribeye ($38) and the Grand Marnier-sauced duck breast with red rice ($29) and went for the Shrimp and Grits ($25), billed as "our version of the Charleston favorite, with large gulf shrimp, served with Gouda chipotle grits."

We've never tried shrimp and grits in the Lowcountry, but a plate of it in Oxford, Miss., at Big Bad Breakfast had inspired a lifelong fervor that we hope to someday bolster with The Real Deal. This definitely sufficed in the interim: Ira's serves chewy, stick-to-your-ribs grits with a nutty texture and smoky, cheesy heft, surrounded by the Tasso-y gravy of your dreams and half a dozen meticulously cooked Gulf shrimp. A friend of ours always laments the shrimp tails being left on in dishes like this; these were served tailless, nevertheless enormous. Finally, when the server announced that though the bread pudding was sold out, but there was still key lime pie, raspberry coulis and chocolate terrine and a Cremsicle Creme Brulee, we ordered the brulee and crossed our fingers, hoping it was exactly what we thought it would be: some schmancy grown-up version of those Flintstones popsicles we used to consume through cardboard tubes that seemed to come from the same factory as toilet paper tubes. It delivered, and gloriously. More pudding-ish than flan-like, rich vanilla notes shone through a bubbling, torched sugar crack surface.

The dishes at Ira's are elevated, the service is pristine and the presentation is artful. Still, miraculously, a place with activated charcoal and caviar on the menu manages not to feel stuffy. Maybe it's the glittery art deco prints declaring "Prosecco!" or "Vino Italiano" on the wall. Or, and it's possible this was just a pleasant byproduct of having been among the half-dozen folks dining at the bar, maybe it's because dinner at Ira's isn't made to feel like a formula, doled out to you at some pace designed to get you back out the door in any prescribed timeframe. We doubt you'll leave from a full dinner having dropped less than half a yard, but you'll certainly not be pressured to consume and depart. At Ira's, that pressure was nonexistent even as closing time neared. We overheard the pastry chef considering his choice of creme brulee for the fall menu as he took a place at the bar for a post-shift drink. Ira mingled with a lively group nearby, and nobody seemed like they were in too much of a hurry to get out of there.

If somehow things don't work out, it won't be because Ira and his crew weren't on point. We hope, though — however selfishly, as it secures us access to that shrimp and grits in the future — that Mittelman has landed on historic Main Street at the right time. The neighborhood feels more like a neighborhood with establishments like his lighting up a Saturday evening downtown, and dinner feels a little more like an easygoing chef friend with a cush pad invited you to supper club. What's more, we hope it's not just the locals that find this place; Godspeed, you visitors to downtown Little Rock, and may the winds of SEO optimization and the Yelp/TripAdvisor/Zagat matrix blow such that you make your way past a bevy of loudly announced yet mediocre kitchens and into some place like Ira's.  

Ira's Restaurant

311 Main St.Little Rockirasrestaurant.com501-902-4911

Hours

11 a.m. until 2 p.m., 5 p.m. until close weekdays; 5 p.m. until close Saturday. Closed Sunday.

Other info

Full bar, credit cards accepted.

Quick bite

Among the other cocktails, a Bacon Old Fashioned ($9) and a pair of drinks adventurous enough to require warnings: the Amoxicillin ($10), with activated charcoal, mezcal, lemon, honey and ginger; and the Jet Pilot ($15), with a blend of house rum, falernum, punsch, absinthe, lime, cinnamon and grapefruit so potent there's a limit of one per customer. The beer list is small but vibrant; aside from the Flyway on draft, there are Belgian beers from across the hops spectrum: a white ale called Lefebvre Blanche de Bruxelles ($8), a Saison Dupont ($10), a blonde Tripel, the Gouden Carolus ($10) an Orval Abbey Ale ($12) and a Trappists Rochefort 10 ($10), among others. The wine list is a long one, with plenty of sparkling champagnes, roses and a ton of Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons from California and Washington. Source: https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/iras-a-downtown-diamond-in-little-rock/Content?oid=23553368

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Cardi B Announces Release Date for Fashion Nova Collection

Cardi B took to Instagram to confirm the release date of her upcoming collection with popular clothing brand Fashion Nova on Monday (Oct. 29). The line of clothing will be available through Fashion Nova on Nov. 15.

Along with the announcement, Cardi also shared an image of herself in a white gown from the collection. In the image caption, the "Bodak Yellow" rapper let her fans know that her line will be made "for all sizes."

Cardi B has a well-documented relationship with Fashion Nova and has promoted the retailer in the past on Instagram before she became one of rap's biggest breakout stars. In the time since then, the rapper shouted out her love of the brand in her video for "Bartier Cardi" and devoted a lyric to the fashion retailer in a line from Invasion of Privacy's "She Bad."

Check out the first image from the collection below. 

Source: https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/8482128/cardi-b-announces-release-date-for-fashion-nova-collection

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CodeSOD: Round Two

John works for a manufacturing company which has accrued a large portfolio of C++ code. Developed over the course of decades, by many people, there’s more than a little legacy cruft and coding horrors mixed in. Frustrated with the ongoing maintenance, and in the interests of “modernization”, John was tasked with converting the legacy C++ into C#.

Which meant he had to read through the legacy C++.

In the section for creating TPS reports, there were two functions, TpsRound and TpsRound2. The code between the two of them was nearly identical- someone had clearly copy/pasted and made minor tweaks.

CString EDITFORM::TpsRound2(double dbIntoConvert) // This Stub calculates the rounding based // upon this company standards as // outlined in TPS 101 Conversion Rules and // dual dimensioning practices CString csHold1,csHold2; int decimal, sign,ChkDigit; long OutVal; char *buffer2; char *outbuff; outbuff = " "; buffer2 = " "; if (dbIntoConvert == 0) // return CString("0.00"); buffer2 = _fcvt( dbIntoConvert, 7, &decimal, &sign ); buffer2[decimal] = '.'; csHold2 = XvertDecValues(dbIntoConvert); if (m_round == FALSE) return csHold2; ChkDigit = atoi(csHold2.Mid(2,1)); OutVal = atol(csHold2.Left(2)); if (ChkDigit >= 5) OutVal++; if (OutVal >= 100) buffer2[decimal] = '0'; decimal++; buffer2[decimal] = '.'; ltoa(OutVal,outbuff,10); buffer2[0]=outbuff[0]; buffer2[1]=outbuff[1]; int jj=2; // this value is the ONLY difference to `TpsRound()` while (jj < decimal) buffer2[jj++]='0'; csHold1 = CString(buffer2).Left(decimal); return csHold1;

At its core, this is just string-mangling its way through some basic rounding operations. Writing your own C++ rounding is less of a WTF than it might seem, simply because C++ didn’t include standard rounding methods for most of its history. The expectation was that you’d implement it yourself, for your specific cases, as there’s no one “right” way to round.

This, however, is obviously the wrong way. The code is actually pretty simple, just cluttered with a mix of terrible variable names, loads of string conversion calls, and a thick layer of not understanding what they’re doing.

To add to the confusion, buffer2 holds the results of _fcvt- a method which converts a floating point to a string. csHold2 holds the results of XvertDecValues, which also returns a floating point converted to a string, just… a little differently.

CString EDITFORM::XvertDecValues(double incon1) char *buffer3; char *outbuff; int decimal, sign; buffer3 = " "; outbuff = "00000000000000000000"; buffer3 = _fcvt(incon1, 7, &decimal, &sign ); if (incon1 == 0) // return CString("0.00"); int cnt1,cnt2,cnt3; cnt1 = 0; cnt2 = 0; cnt3 = decimal; if (cnt3 <= 0) outbuff[cnt2++]='.'; while (cnt3 < 0) outbuff[cnt2++]='0'; cnt3++; else while (cnt1 < decimal) outbuff[cnt2] = buffer3[cnt1]; cnt1++; cnt2++; outbuff[cnt2] = '.'; cnt2++; while (cnt1 < 15) outbuff[cnt2] = buffer3[cnt1]; cnt1++; cnt2++; outbuff[cnt2] = '\0'; return CString(outbuff);

So, back in TpsRound2, csHold2 and buffer2 both hold a string version of a floating point number, but they both do it differently. They’re both referenced. Note also the check if (OutVal >= 100)- OutVal holds the leftmost two characters of csHold2- so it will never be greater than or equal to 100.

John’s orders were to do a 1-to–1 port of functionality. “Get it working in C#, then we can refactor.” So John did. And then once it was working in C#, he threw all this code away and replaced it with calls to C#’- built in rounding and string formatting methods, which were perfectly fine for their actual problems.

Source: https://thedailywtf.com/articles/round-two

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Black Friday Sale – 40% OFF almost everything!

Chivery Ostrich

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The Chivery is a U.S. Registered trademark of Resignation Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. COPYRIGHT © 2018

Source: https://www.thechivery.com/collections/black-friday-2018

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Barry Renewed for Season 3 at HBO

Barry Berkman has plenty more acting lessons in his future: HBO has renewed its dark comedy Barry for a third season.

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The news comes less than three weeks into Barry‘s sophomore season, which is currently airing Sundays at 10 pm.

Created by Alec Berg and Bill Hader, Barry stars Hader as a disillusioned hitman who discovers he has an interest in acting. In Season 2, Barry is attempting to untangle himself from the world of contract killing and fully immerse himself in acting — but that’s proving to be much more difficult than he’d hoped, leading him to figure out why his own psyche pushed him toward violence in the first place.

The cast also includes Henry Winkler as Barry’s pompous yet endearing acting teacher Gene Cousineau, Stephen Root as Barry’s handler Monroe Fuches, Anthony Carrigan as unfailingly polite mobster NoHo Hank and Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed, the object of Barry’s affection.

TVLine’s Cable Renewal Scorecard has been updated to reflect Barry‘s Season 3 pickup. Are you glad to hear the show will be coming back? Drop a comment!

Source: https://tvline.com/2019/04/10/barry-renewed-season-3-hbo/

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The Masked Singer, Fox's Totally Insane Singing Competition Show, Has a Premiere Date

Every year the various broadcast networks try to come up with a new twist on the singing competition that is as good as The Voice's blind auditions. But no one has been able to crack that code. Until now. Fox's The Masked Singer, a show that is guaranteed to be gloriously weird, might have finally done it.

The singing competition series, which is based on a South Korean show with the same format, puts celebrities in full-body costumes and asks them to sing for judges and a live audience. Each week a singer is eliminated by the judges and audience and then they reveal their identity. Fox released the first trailer for the series so you can see how insane the costumes are and already start making your guesses about the celebrities. The first one is totally Christina Aguilera, right?

Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now!

The Masked Singer premieres Wednesday, Jan. 2 on Fox, and we can't wait! The contestants have 65 Grammy nominations, 16 Emmy Award nominations, four Super Bowl titles and four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame among them, according to the network, so there's going to be some surprise talents under those giant masks.

Nick Cannon hosts with Ken Jeong, Melissa McCarthy, Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger serving as your judges for the first season. By the looks of the trailer, they're having a really hard time guessing these voices. Are you ready to figure this out?

The Masked Singer premieres Wednesday, Jan. 2 on Fox.

PHOTOS: '90s POPSTARS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Britney Spears, James CordenPhoto: CBS Source: https://www.tvguide.com/news/masked-singer-trailer-premiere-date-fox/?rss=breakingnews

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All The Vampire Diaries and The Originals Easter Eggs in Legacies

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Legacies Cast Share Which TVD Characters They Want to See Cameo

Legacies got off to a great start Thursday evening, introducing a whole new generation of supernatural teenagers who will no doubt battle evil monsters, make out in the library and control the urge to murder innocent townies. It definitely established itself as a show independent of its predecessors The Vampire Diaries and The Originals but that doesn't mean we haven't spotted a ton of references to the two series.

For all you Salvatore super fans and Mikaelson maniacs out there, TV Guide has compiled a complete list of all the Easter eggs and references to The Vampire Diaries and The Originals in this new series.

Enter Our Halloween Costume Contest to Win Big Prizes

1. The Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) memorial library. Stefan and Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) iconic boarding house is now a boarding school for supernatural children, and the library where they once used to knock back bourbon together has been dedicated to Stefan in honor of his heartbreaking death in The Vampire Diaries series finale. There's even a special case in the library full of Salvatore heirlooms like Stefan's journals, his daylight ring, and even the necklace he gave Elena (Nina Dobrev).

Stefan Salvatore Memorial

2. "It's not a competition." In the premiere, M.G. (Quincy Fouse) and Josie (Kaylee Bryant) talk about her sister Lizzie (Jenny Boyd), calling dibs on the hot new guy in school. When M.G. asks if Josie is upset her sister swooped in before she could, Josie responds, "It's not a competition," echoing an epic line from Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) in The Vampire Diaries pilot. We half expected Caroline Forbes (Candice King) to pop up with a depressingly sincere, "Yeah, it is."

3. Dorian is the school librarian. Remember Dorian from Season 7 of The Vampire Diaries? He's now the librarian at the Salvatore School! After his less than auspicious run in with Stefan in The Vampire Diaries' final season, Dorian appears to have gotten over his beef with supernatural creatures, and now he's even teaching a Chemistry of Magic class part time!

Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now!

4. Matt Donovan slipping vervain into the water supply. Not only did Matt stay on as sheriff of Mystic Falls (and used his strings to investigate the brutal massacre that occurred at the end of the first episode), he's still on his guard when it comes to vampires. Hope (Danielle Rose Russell)mentioned in the premiere that the sheriff sometimes slips vervain into the gas station coffee, which is really the only responsible thing to do when you've got a bunch of teenage vampires living in your town.

5. Hope Mikaelson's family tree. So far, we've gotten mentions of both of Hope's parents (and their sad demise in The Originals' final season) and we even got a look at a book in the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library that chronicled Klaus' ( Joseph Morgan) history as "Klaus, the Great Evil." Um, rude?

Matt Davis and Danielle Rose Russell, LegaciesPhoto: Mark Hill, Mark Hill/The CW

6. "I care too much." This one might be a reach, but how could you not remember Damon's heartbreaking line to Elena about caring too much when Josie said the same thing to Rafael (Peyton Alex Smith) in the Legacies premiere. Considering Josie later set her ex on fire, we're seeing a little bit of Damon's inner struggle in the girl already.

7. Lizzie's legacy of darkness. Lizzie's dad, Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), reassured Lizzie that her magical outbursts and volatile nature didn't mean she was broken, it just meant she probably inherited a little bit of the crazy that runs rampant in the Gemini Coven, a coven of witches whose family drama took center stage in Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries and The Originals Fans Really Wanted More Cameos in the Legacies Premiere

8. The werewolf curse. Alaric briefly mentions the bloodline curse that runs through werewolves' veins when explaining how Rafael became one. We never learned much about the origins of said curse (other than that you have to kill someone to trigger it) on The Vampire Diaries, but Alaric mentions they teach the tale in Origin of the Species at school.

9. Hellfire is still a thing. The reason Dorian had to sub some classes of Chemistry of Magic? Apparently, the regular teacher incinerated himself with hellfire, though thankfully he managed to survive it. His hair did not.

PHOTOS: 17 Things to Look Forward to in Legacies

Zach Roerig, Matt Davis and Danielle Rose Russell, LegaciesPhoto: Quantrell Colbert, Quantrell Colbert/The CW

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

(Full Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS, one of The CW's parent companies).

Source: https://www.tvguide.com/news/legacies-the-vampire-diaries-the-originals-easter-eggs/?rss=breakingnews

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Edinburgh festival FLY Open Air under threat as council clamps down on events at Princes Street Gardens

A petition has been set up to save the popular event, which may fall foul of new rules regarding space at the public parks.

Scottish dance music festival FLY Open Air is under threat from The City Of Edinburgh Council.

The issue surrounds the use of Princes Street Gardens, two public parks in the centre of the capital. Though the festival has run successfully at the parks' Ross Band Stand venue for three years, the council is now threatening to impose strict new restrictions regarding space and layout, which would force the event to shrink its capacity by a third, ultimately rendering it unviable. Other more high-profile concerts scheduled for the venue—feature the likes of Primal Scream, Florence & The Machine, Madness—will go ahead as normal.

"Diversity and youth culture is at risk of being nullified just as Edinburgh was starting to get back on the map internationally," FLY Open Air founder Tom Ketley told Resident Advisor. "It's such a shame that the council think it's okay to take such a drastic, backward step against an event that has never seen any issues whatsoever. The move is not only brutal for young people in our city—who won't be able to use the bandstand, which is a public space specifically built for concerts—but it would also mean the end for us as a business and put four people who work full time out of work."

He continued: "I currently feel like we have the biggest shows in Scotland in what are some of the most unique venues in the world, yet there seems to be one rule for the older middle class looking to go and watch Tom Jones and another for us. It's grossly unfair, and we're urging our community to get behind our petition and make our voice heard."

A Change.org petition has been set up to help save Fly Open Air. Sign it now.

In addition to Princes Street Gardens, FLY Open Air Festival takes place annually at Hopetoun House, a country house about 30 minutes outside of Edinburgh. Recent guests across both events include Sven Väth, Nina Kraviz and Denis Sulta, whose career began at FLY Club, the party series from which the festival was born.

Source: https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/43911

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Tyga tried to take credit for Kylie Jenner's career and the whole internet dragged him.

WhiIf there's one thing you don't do when dating a Kardashian-Jenner sister, and that's take credit for their career success.

We ALL know that's something only the sisters themselves, Kris Jenner, and the devil can take credit for.

So, when Tyga started spouting some nonsense suggesting he was to thank for Kylie Jenner's massive success, the internet was fully ready to fact-check and drag him to shreds.

During an interview on Queen Radio, Tyga shared the ways he (believes) he helped Kylie reach her true potential.

"She always had a platform and she was always destined to be what she was going to be regardless, but when I stepped in there was a lot of codes being taught. It was like, 'You could do this, you should start this, you should start doing your hair like this. You need black people to fuck with you, because you need culture.' I don't need to go online and tell people I did this and I'm the one helping her come up with these colours and names on her lip line. It was a lot of stuff."

I have a feeling both Kylie and Kris Jenner's gag reflexes were triggered by the cocky display.

It didn't take long for Twitter to band together for the unifying purpose of roasting Tyga for his lofty claims.

People were quick to give credit where we all know it's due - to the ultimate business mom Kris Jenner.

While many pointed out that she was already more of a household name than he was when they started dating, so if anything, she put him on the map.

People were even digging up old videos of Kourtney to use for Tyga dragging purposes.

Given this backlash, I have a feeling Tyga isn't going to double down on this claim if asked. Taking credit for someone else's career success is never a good look, and that doubles when it's someone like Kylie who obviously had it in motion already.

Source: https://www.someecards.com/news/news/tyga-kylie-jenner/

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Let’s Speculate About What Cersei Was Doing During The Battle Of Winterfell

HBO

Warning: Game of Thrones spoilers lie ahead, proceed at your own risk…

We’re now at the halfway point in the final season of Game of Thrones, and the Night King has been defeated at the hands of Arya Stark, thereby ending the long and extremely grim Battle of Winterfell. But with the 82-minute entirely of “The Long Night” focused on the matter at hand (as well as the episode preceding it), viewers haven’t had a chance to check in with Cersei down at King’s Landing.

Contrary to popular theory, the Night King did not, in fact, ambush the throne while the north was distracted, so what was Cersei doing during the Battle of Winterfell? We know what she wasn’t doing — sending her army north to help fight off the white walkers — since she straight up lied to Daenerys in the faction that concluded last season.

Instead, Cersei, who now has an additional 20,000 men and 2,000 horses from Euron Greyjoy, was presumably (and accurately) sitting back waiting for the wights to weaken the armies at Winterfell so she can handily defeat the survivors. Or at least that’s what she thinks, unaware that Danys, both of her brothers, two dragons, and all of the remaining Stark siblings (one, with her name at the top of a kill list) have all made it out mostly unscathed.

Source: https://uproxx.com/tv/cersei-battle-of-winterfell-game-of-thrones/

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Artist Growth CEO Matt Urmy Discusses Company’s Rapid Ascension [INTERVIEW]

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Source: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2018/10/ceo-of-artist-growth-matt-urmy-discusses-companys-rapid-ascension-interview.html

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Will The Circle Be Unbroken

I was introduced to Joe Chambers. I told him about getting squeezed at their free concert in Boston Common, and stunningly he remembered it and started reminiscing.

Then we got into a long conversation with Richard Foos about Gary Stewart and…

We were at Tom Hayden’s widow’s house for a benefit, the fusion of Get Lit and the Ash Grove Music Foundation. Get Lit brings poetry to inner city schools and the Ash Grove Music Foundation… Actually, Ed Pearl, the proprietor of the Ash Grove, was in attendance, they showed a short film about him and one was brought back to the time when music was dangerous, before the Beatles, when folk music ruled and we all knew it and sang it and…

Ultimately we heard some of the prizewinning poets, but we were really there to see Jackson Browne.

But first was this woman Barbara Morrison. She sat on stage, she’s had both legs amputated, and when she opened her mouth… They may have singers on TV, but they don’t have the music in them. Barbara reached deep down inside and she was testifying, and the assembled multitude could only sit there in rapt attention. You can command a room with just your voice, if you know how to do it.

And Jane Fonda gave a speech about the camp she and Tom opened up, about literacy and…

I think that’s a California thing, where you stay friends with your ex and their new spouse(s). It was Barbara Williams’s home, i.e. the new spouse, and the two got along famously.

And there were other singers, and John Densmore accompanying Luis Rodriguez and then…

Jackson took the stage, with two backup singers. He tells a good story, off the cuff, it’s much more than HELLO CLEVELAND! And he led off with “Some Bridges,” from his overlooked LP “Looking East.” Have you heard the title cut on his acoustic album? He changes the groove and it’s infectious.

And he played “Off of Wonderland” from his 2008 album, “Time The Conqueror” and ’86’s “Lives In The Balance.” He said one of the schools wanted to do a gospel version, and added a new verse, and he was flummoxed that they’d chosen this number, but he said to give it a go, and they did, and he even sang their additional verse on Sunday.

Now you’ve got to give Jackson credit. He was infected with the gene of giving back way back when, which most others seem to have lost. Music and causes used to be aligned. Jackson shows up at benefits all over SoCal, and he does it for free, you’ve got to applaud that.

But the quid pro quo is he gets to play what he wants, these album cuts, which is great for the diehard fan.

And when it came time for the final number, I thought it would be one of his hits, maybe “The Pretender,” or “For Everyman.” So when he called the previous performers to the stage to sing “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” I was a bit disappointed.

But that was the highlight of the afternoon.

Music can move you, it’s just not entertainment.

And in my world, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band made the most famous version of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” that three record set is a revelation from this distance. But…

Barbara Morrison was testifying once again, and Joe Chambers, in jeans, t-shirt and white hair, was reaching down deep with his bass voice and it sounded like he was wailing in church. And that’s when I realized…it was a religious moment.

I was standing. There were only about fifty or sixty people there. But we were all enraptured by the sound coming from the end of the living room. This was better than any of Jackson’s hits. Everybody was in the groove, the room was levitating. Suddenly all my problems faded away. I started singing, I couldn’t help myself. And when it was all over and I came to I felt like I’d had a dream, been taken to a place where people mattered more than money, where humanity was more important than algorithms, where music could change the world.

Source: https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2019/05/21/will-the-circle-be-unbroken/

[skiinggray5-blog]

The Timeless Series Finale Gave Fans Exactly What They Wanted

Was there any other way the Timeless series finale could have ended? It was happy endings all around -- well, mostly -- for the Clockblockers, as Rittenhouse was stopped and everyone we wanted to make out and get together did.

"The Miracle of Christmas Parts I & II" was made possible by the show's fans, who were loud enough to convince NBC to pull out some cash to wrap the story up after the mind-bending Season 2 finale cliffhanger. In that episode, Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) was killed, and Wyatt (Matt Lanter) and Lucy (Abigail Spencer) from the future dropped in to the Bunker to say what's up and to spur real-time Lucy and Wyatt to get Rufus back. So if you thought the finale would go any other way than pleasing the fans that made all this possible, then please go frolic with a puppy in a field of daisies to give yourself a badly needed mood check.

Timeless' Boss Is Staying 'Optimistic' About Getting More Episodes, and Talks About That Lucy Relationship Bombshell

Future Wyatt and Future Lucy, in all their future-y wardrobe, were merely messengers, unfortunately, and we didn't get to see a Terminator-esque timeline as their looks implied. Wyatt told himself that Jessica was a big fat liar, and she only said she was pregnant to manipulate Wyatt. Jessica sucks. I can't believe we all once felt for her. But the news of her fibs released us and Wyatt, mostly, from any compassion we may have had for her.

That would be key because Flynn (Goran Višnjić) went on a solo mission to 2012 to kill her in order to set the timeline straight and save Rufus. It would prove to be a suicide mission as the side effects from traveling to a timeline he already existed in was too much, but it worked; Rufus was saved. In fact, Rufus never even realized he died and magically appeared to save the crew in an Old West timeline, time-travel paradoxes be damned. There were lots of "but wait, wouldn't that change things?" moments, but the finale was much more enjoyable if you just kept your head screwed on tight and didn't think about it too much. Flynn's death was a downer, but in the world of Timeless, it came with a big asterisk. A version of him still existed in the timeline, and before our Flynn passed, he was able to see his family (and himself) happy together one last time. That was Flynn's consolation prize.

With Jessica out of the picture, Rittenhouse was in trouble and Emma (Annie Wersching) was caught unaware of Jessica's death. That opened the door for Mason (Paterson Joseph) and Christopher (Sakina Jaffrey) to make a deal with Lucy's dad to lead them to Emma, where they cuffed her and effectively put an end to Rittenhouse. But the true end to Rittenhouse came when Emma offered to bring back Lucy's sister Amy, and Lucy refused. With that power over her gone, Rittenhouse was essentially no more.

In 2023, getting there naturally with no time jumps, Rufus and Jiya (Claudia Doumit) were working together on a tech company that was encouraging kids to get into STEM, and Wyatt and Lucy were -- SQUEEEEE -- together and had a pair of young girls, named Flynn and Amy. A quick reunion at the Bunker later and Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus were off on one more trip: to Brazil in 2014, where Lucy would once again pass along her journal to a distraught Flynn and tell him he was a hero. The loop was once again complete, and the world was saved again. At least in this timeline.

It was the nice, neat bow that the fan-favorite series so badly needed and deserved, after nearly becoming another victim of premature cancellation with an unresolved cliffhanger. But the door was left slightly ajar in the final moments, when one of the students Rufus and Jiya were supporting was sketching out designs for a time machine. Is it time to pool our money together to fly another #SaveTimeless banner over Comic-Con?

Source: http://www.tv.com/news/the-timeless-series-finale-gave-fans-exactly-what-they-wanted-15453612150098796/

[skiinggray5-blog]

Stana Katic Is Still Kicking Butt in the Absentia Season 2 Trailer

Absentia returns to Amazon for Season 2 next month and by the looks of the first trailer, things have not gotten any easier for Emily Byrne (Stana Katic).

After being held captive for six years with no memory of how she was captured, Emily spent Season 1 hunting down her tormentor and eventually killing him. Even with him dead though, it didn't make coming back to her new life any easier, especially with her husband having moved on and her son being raised by another woman. In Season 2, Emily will realize that getting revenge for her kidnapping doesn't automatically erase the trauma that the torture caused.

Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now!

She will enlist Boston police detective Tommy Gibbs (Angel Bonanni) to help her find answers to the lingering questions she still has about her past, but when digging for more answers becomes deadly, Emily will have to risk everything to keep her family safe.

Absentia premieres on Amazon Prime Video on June 14.

Stana Katic, AbsentiaPhoto: Amazon

Source: https://www.tvguide.com/news/stana-katic-absentia-season-2-trailer/?rss=breakingnews

[skiinggray5-blog]

TITANS: Hawk And Dove Team-Up With Robin In Awesome New Images From The Second Episode

Earlier today, we got the first official images from Titans' premiere episode and now another batch has been released for the second instalment. The episode will be titled "Hawk and Dove," so you probably won't be surprised to learn that they receive the majority of the spotlight in this gallery. 

However, we also get shots of Robin in action and more big hints about what the deal with Raven is. There are also some intriguing shots of some possible villains and the heroes in and out of costume. 

Titans

hasn't received a particularly good response up until now but a new trailer could turn things around and with screeners being sent out to critics, it probably won't be long until we get a better idea about what to expect. For now, be sure to click on the "View List" button to check out these images.

Say what you will about Robin and his potty mouth but DC Universe has done a great job of bringing him to life on the small screen and had he appeared in the DCEU, this suit would have worked.  

It appears as if Hawk and Dove have interrupted Robin during one of his many beatdowns on Gotham City's crooks and the young hero seems to be spoiling for a fight with his two fellow superheroes.  

As unnecessarily violent as this show might end up getting, it does appear as if the action scenes will be a highlight. The breaking bones and blood could prove to be a bit much as time goes on, though.  

Another good thing about this show is the costumes. The CW has always done a pretty good job but it definitely seems as if quite a bit more money has been spent on these than what we've seen before.  

It's been a very long time since we've seen Robin in a live-action setting and as I mentioned above, Titans has handled things well. However, his gloves being stained with blood really isn't great.   

I'm not sure who or what this lot is supposed to be but I'm getting serious Gotham vibes from this creepy looking family and that can't be a good thing. The question is, what exactly are they after?  

Well, I'm guessing they're on the other side of that door for starters and are probably hunting down Raven. Given her supernatural powers, perhaps the weirdos are actually just disguised as humans.   

Dick Grayson takes out some poor thug here and while I'm not sure we needed two angles of this same shot, there's no denying that Robin looks good in action and should have an impressive set of skills.   

Alan Ritchson is no stranger to playing a superhero after suiting up as Aquaman in Smallville and playing Raphael in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and it looks like he'll fit right in as Hawk.  

This is a great shot of Hawk in action and no matter what else you say about this show, Warner Bros. deserves a lot of credit for adapting his comic book costume to the screen in such a faithful way.  

It definitely looks like Robin takes Raven to Hawk and Dove's place to hide her, a plan which presumably doesn't work very well based on that shot of the weird looking family at their door.   

Well, don't these two look good together? There's been no mention of Dick Grayson having a love interest in the series but Starfire is one strong possibility unless Oracle has been cast in the show.  

Aren't these two a lovely couple? With any luck, we won't get quite as much on the nose imagery as Hawk holding a dove while talking to Dove throughout the rest of the series as it's a tad cheesy.  

Another flashback to the night Dick Grayson's parents died, their demise is clearly going to play a huge role in Robin's arc in this series as he attempts to come to terms with what happened to them.  

More evidence mounts here that Robin will take Raven under his wing and it's interesting that that's the dynamic this show is going for rather than making them equals when they form this team.  

Well, the show is clearly going to earn its R-Rating based on what we see here. I'm not sure what the significance of that tattoo can be so if you have any ideas, be sure to let us know your thoughts below.

Source: https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/dc/titans/titans-hawk-and-dove-team-up-with-robin-in-awesome-new-images-from-the-second-episode-a163475

[skiinggray5-blog]

iHeartMedia to acquire audio advertising trade platform Jelli

HeartMedia has entered into an agreement to acquire Jelli, Inc., the technology company that powers its SoundPoint programmatic platform.

Jelli is programmatic platform for buying and selling audio advertising.

Additionally, Expressway from Katz, the programmatic US ad exchange will continue to remain independently run by Katz, but powered by Jelli.

Jelli’s current offerings include RadioSpot, the only programmatic platform for radio broadcasters to sell and manage their advertising inventory and SpotPlan, the first and only programmatic platform for radio, giving agencies and advertisers an automated way to plan and buy audio advertising and providing access to iHeartMedia as well as Expressway from Katz.

As part of the acquisition, Jelli will continue to operate as a company within iHeartMedia, Inc. led by President and CEO Michael Dougherty and his team.

The Jelli division will continue to be based in Silicon Valley and will become iHeartMedia’s primary ad technology operation.

“Jelli allows us to do something no other company can do – advertisers can now buy and use our broadcast assets, reach and impact just as they use the major digital players.”

Bob Pittman, iHeartMedia

“Facebook and Google pioneered a new way for advertisers to interface with media partners to improve targetability, the ease of buying and measurement of results, and our programmatic platform puts us in the position to participate in the modern data driven ecosystem for our broadcast radio audience as well as our digital audiences,” said Brian Kaminsky, President of SmartAudio and Analytics Group for iHeartMedia.

“We have been excited by the advances we made with Jelli as our partner and the acceptance from our advertising partners.”

Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia (pictured inset), added: “We are excited about having Jelli not only for the platforms they are creating and have created for us, but also to lead our aggressive and innovative ad tech development. At iHeart we believe marketing is both math and magic.

“The math is our rich data and insights about our users and how they relate to our partners’ products and services and the magic is the incredible creative ideas we bring to our partners, such as our iconic music events, award shows, influencers, podcasts, social reach and our unique on air promotions.

“Jelli allows us to do something no other company can do – advertisers can now buy and use our broadcast assets, reach and impact just as they use the major digital players. We now offer heavy data and heavy creative innovation all in one place.”

“As audio consumption continues to explode, we are thrilled to be joining the iHeartMedia team, accelerating Jelli’s mission of transforming audio advertising through technology innovation.”

Michael Dougherty, Jelli

Michael Dougherty, co-founder and CEO of Jelli said: “By pairing iHeartMedia’s reach and multi-platform assets with our cloud-based advertising technology, we are positioned to provide a single platform for advertisers to reach all audiences, no matter where they are consuming audio.

“As audio consumption continues to explode, we are thrilled to be joining the iHeartMedia team, accelerating Jelli’s mission of transforming audio advertising through technology innovation.”

 Music Business Worldwide

Source: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/iheartmedia-to-acquire-audio-advertising-trade-platform-jelli/