#( like it's a marble production i am not expecting excellence )

[clochanamarc]

this is a placeholder for a little post i like to call "giving people superpowers does not naturally mean they're OP and in fact making characters OP is a lot more difficult than people realize" but i wanna write smth ic first okay? okay <3

[elexica]

Give & Toke

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069568

Happy 4/20 Yugihoes,

Please accept a humble posting of my puppyshipping/violetshipping weedfic. 

Joey showed up at Kaiba's shiny new dispensary for the sole purpose of kicking Kaiba's ass.

It does not go as planned.

A gift for @sky-kaijou​ / @sky-kaijou-writes​ in honor of the 2020 New Zealand Cannabis Reefer-endum. TW: Marijuana use and sale.

Title by @auroraXborealis <3 For the Professional Rivals prompt of AU-Gust. . . . (context for this fic) Marijuana is decriminalized currently in Domino City, and stores can be licensed through a regulatory scheme similar to that of California.

Full story under the cut

Joey stomped into the new cannabis shop in the neighborhood.  It looked like an Apple store: white walls, smooth white tables, iPads and clerks in matching polos.  Gentrification had taken his neighborhood by storm, spinning the older apartment complexes into glamorous condos, replacing the older styled homes with sleek modern imitations, and leaving everyone who couldn’t keep up forced to either move away or to the streets.

Joey’s own rent was soaring, and so was his bitterness towards the invaders to his territory.  And especially this cursed-ass pot shop.  The shiny new dispensary hadn’t made a terrible dent in his sales, but he couldn’t keep up with the variety, the quality, or the convenience.

It was a travesty to his profession, is what it was.  Joey had been dealing for years—he’d never gotten an allowance from his father and passing a little pot along had made up the difference.  Once he graduated high school, it morphed into something of a full-time gig.  That hadn’t been his intention.  It wasn’t like he was trying to move up the distribution ladder or become the next gang lord.  But he’d built a good network, and in an industry that ran on relationships and reputation, it was really going pretty well for him.

And this bastard had the gall to move into his territory!  Sell his soulless, corporate product to his loyal customers.  With this robotic, inhuman, unfeeling mockery of everything that weed is.

Joey spotted a mustachioed blue-polo wearing corporate shill and waved him over.  “I’m here ta talk ta yer manager.  Give him ‘a piece of my mind.”

“If you intend to make threats against Mr. Kaiba in some sort of gang turf nonsense, you have no idea the true power that you are—” the goon responded, placid energy souring.  Joey’s fists clenched tighter, body preparing for a fight.

“I’m not sure a piece of your mind would get you very far.”  While Joey was attempting to intimidate the soulless bud-tender, a tall brunet in a white suit with a light blue oxford shirt had stalked up behind him and interrupted.

Joey spun on the toe of his well-worn red Nike’s. “An’ who do ya think you are?”

The brunet crossed his arms over his chest.  “Seto Kaiba, the license-holder for this establishment.”

Joey nervously ran a hand through his messy blond hair.  He hadn’t expected the shop owner to be so young.  Or attractive.  All of his fight drained from him.  In Joey’s decade of experience, rival dealers were rarely so… professional and polished.  Joey felt instantly underdressed in his varsity jacket and jeans.

“Uh… well, yer in territory that doesn’t belong ta ya!”  Joey stammered.

“Is that so?  I assure you, I have all required state and local permits,” Kaiba answered, blue eyes narrowing.  The taller man let a stray glance to Joey’s old, green Jansport backpack. “Perhaps if you had a better view of my inventory, we could have a more amiable business relationship.  I’m not trying to alienate everyone in my industry.”

It was insane, the way the taller man could knock the fight out of him without even trying.  Joey had never considered that his enemy would possibly seek to de-escalate the situation.  Joey nodded and followed the taller man to the back, hypnotized.  He maybe shouldn’t have smoked a bowl before raiding the enemy facility.

Inside an equally pristine office, Kaiba lit a pre-rolled joint and took a long inhale.  He passed it across the desk, the rolling papers poised delicately between his forefinger and middle finger.

Joey accepted the joint and took a hit.  After an impressive pause, Kaiba released smoke rings from his lips slowly, in that perfect practiced way.  The smoke dissipated softly, fading from tight circles and clouding the air.  With no windows in the room, it seemed that his intent was to hot box it.  Joey wondered idly how the white marble of the desk was so free from dust or ash if Kaiba took to smoking here.

Joey passed back the joint before releasing his breath in a round of hacking coughs.  

While Joey was gasping for air and trying to gather his bearings, Kaiba produced a glass of water and a plain white ashtray.  He gently rested the joint on the edge.

“That was a proprietary strain—Blue Eyes White Dragon.  It’s Sativa.  I’m working on a hybrid model that has a significantly greater THC content.  But the current Blue Eyes plant has the highest percentage of CBD for Sativa plants currently on the market in Domino.  Thoughts?”  Kaiba unbuttoned his white blazer.

Joey’s eyes watered, and he managed to take a few sips from the glass.  “It tastes… unique.  Kinda minty?”

Kaiba nodded, raising the joint to take another hit.

“So, y’know, I came here to talk about ya encroaching on my business.  I’ve built up a book ‘a business in this part ‘a Domino, and I’m not gonna give up that easy!”  Joey said, straightening his shoulders.  He couldn’t tell if he was sitting up properly.  The world was already starting to feel a little warmer, fuzzier. His forehead sort of tingled like he had a third eye.

Once again, Kaiba blew out a series of flawless rings, staring into space.  The blue irises of his eyes were framed by smoke-induced redness.  “Yes, well, I have no intention of cowing to any threats.  I took this corrupt pharmaceutical company from my dead father, and I am turning it into something that can actually improve people’s lives.  And no puny street punk will stand in my way.”

“Oof.  Sorry for ya loss.”  Joey elected to ignore the last comment, as a gentleman.  And because, for the first time, he spotted a white holster tucked under the newly opened sport jacket.

“Don’t be, he was a bastard,” Kaiba said with a satisfied smirk.

Joey laughed at the insinuation.  He might’ve had more to say, under other circumstances, but Kaiba had shared the good shit.  Instead, the room felt a few degrees warmer than when he had entered and he removed his letterman jacket, revealing his toned biceps.

Kaiba was constructing another round of rings when his eyes met Joey’s sculpted arms.  His focus was completely dashed, and he ended up exhaling the rest of the smoke from his nose, like a dragon.

“Ha, ya see something ya like, rich boy?” Joey said with a signature grin, picking up the joint again.  It was already almost half-way spent.

Kaiba looked away dismissively.  “Irrelevant.  Mr. Wheeler, it was a matter of time before you paid my enterprise a visit.  As you have most likely noticed, there are certain elements of the trade in which I excel.  I am a gifted scientist, an expert businessman, and—”

“A robot?  You’ve had double the hits I have and ya won’t even crack a smile!  I dunno what yer tolerance has ta be, but ya ain’t human anymore.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, tapping the joint against the ash tray to release some of the built-up cinders.  “There is a certain social element to this business that I have no interest in participating in.”

Joey leaned over a little in his chair.  “Is that so?”  He meant to have an interrogator’s pose and expression, but he was worried he just looked high as balls.  

Kaiba passed the still burning joint across the table, little red ember barely emanating light in the bright white office.  

“I would like to absorb your book of business and employ you as a bud-tender.”

Joey rejected the joint and cracked his knuckles, knowing that the action flexed his arm muscles.  An almost-imperceptible blush flashed across Kaiba’s cheeks.  “I’ve been my own boss, mostly, for a little while now.  Why should I be a glorified store clerk for ya?”

“You can’t possibly see this career continuing to serve you indefinitely.  You’ll need to go legit or go to jail.”  Kaiba lazily released one more puff of smoke before butting the joint.  “But, I am amenable to other arrangements.  What do you propose?”

Joey smiled at the suggestion.  “Partner.  It doesn’t haveta be fifty-fifty or anything, but I’ve built somethin’ up, and I know what I’m worth.  I gotta be making at least five g’s a month.”

Kaiba finally broke.  He laughed almost hysterically at the suggestion, doubling over and taking a full minute to get his breathing to settle.  “Yeah, ok.  That would be, maybe, a five percent share of the retail business.”

Joey stretched, resting his arms behind his head, giving Kaiba an eyeful of his tight white t-shirt and strong pectorals underneath.  “Ten percent of the retail company.”

Kaiba nodded, picked up his phone and typed away.  “The contract will be prepared presently.”

“Neato,” Joey said with a lecherous smile.  Everything felt soft, warm, comfortable—even if the room looked so sterile it could be used for a surgery.  “Now, what should we do with this time?”

Kaiba shifted in his seat and adjusted his light blue tie.

Joey leaned forward, planting an elbow on the desk.  “I got some ideas I think you’ll like, partner…”

Kaiba leaned over the desk as well, a small smile budding on his lips.  “Oh, already?”

“Yeah.  In this business, yer supposed to seal a contract with a kiss.”

“I do not think that’s custom—”

Joey closed the remaining distance and captured his lips in a searing kiss. Kaiba relaxed into the kiss almost instantly.  It was softer than Joey had expected.  Sweet and hot, with the flavors of mint, smoke, and cannabis on his partner’s lips.

Joey only broke it to walk over and climb into the brunet’s lap.

The contract was respectfully slid under the door.

FIN

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #388

“i wanna stay inside all day  /  i want the world to go away  /  i want blood, guts, and chocolate cake  /  i wanna be a real fake”

Name three people who you'll never forget: I doubt I'd forget Jason even if, God forbid, I had dementia. That's trauma for ya. I HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHLY doubt I could EVER forget my mom, either. In many different ways, she's literally kept me alive and has done so, so much for me. Then there's also Sara, whose friendship with me matches no one else I've been friends with. Have you ever been told you are fake? No. What was the name of the last pet of yours that died? Teddy, my dog. Do you like pineapple? I do. When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with? I know this sounds seriously depressing, but that's... pretty much every day. My life is just currently such a drag that being awake bores me senseless. But it's funny, because then some nights I stay up late for like... no reason. My existence alone is confusing. Is there any specific number that has any significance to you? No. Do you remember much from high school? I remember a lot from high school. Where would you go for the ultimate honeymoon? Isn't there a black sand beach in Iceland or something? Take me there, man. I'd also love to go to the Bahamas, but ew humidity and also I'm afraid of the Bermuda Triangle lmfao. If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you get? The big piece I want to get on my left upper arm; it's called "Denialism" by NukeRooster on deviantART. I got her permission forever ago to get it tattooed. Do you have any alarms set? What time and what for? Not currently. Have you ever had to work while there was a film crew at your work place? No. Have you ever supported anyone’s Kickstarter? If so, what was it? No. What do you like in your omelet? Ham pieces and cheese. Have you ever boycotted something? Yes: Chick-fil-A. Homophobic, transphobic pieces of shit aren't getting my business. Has anyone ever borrowed something from you, and not returned it? Yes. Most notably a video game I LOOOOVED as a kid. I was mad salty and still am lmao. Do you vent a lot on social media? God no, not anymore after embarrassing the everliving FUCK out of myself with a suicide note. What was your first bill you started paying on your own? I don't pay any bills bc unemployed. .-. Do you watch ASMR videos? No. What is your favorite charitable cause to donate to or volunteer for? The Trevor Project. Have you ever received a misdiagnosis? Yes. A psychiatrist I had in middle school thought I had ADHD, which was ABSOLUTELY ludicrous. Most recently, my long-time bipolar 2 diagnosis has been questioned, but I do think I have it. I think. Does it bother you when others don’t share the same religious beliefs as you? No? Freedom of religion is a thing. What was your last argument about? Ummmm... I don't remember. Probably something with Mom. Have you found your first gray hairs yet? No. Somehow. You'd think all the stress would have me pure gray by now, lol. What are the names of all the pets you’ve had? Dude, I've had WAY too many for this. What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a cosmetic or skincare product? *shrug* Who was the last person that invited you to go somewhere? Did you accept? Mom invited me to come with her to Nicole's to get out of the house because at the time our A/C was still out. I didn't want to go, even though damn did I suffer, haha. What was the last food item that you toasted, other than bread? That's... a great question. I don't know if I toast anything other than bread. Have you ever named any of your pets after a cartoon character? I remember I had a cat named Taz when I was younger. What was the last thing that someone else recommended, or suggested you try? My TMS doctor is like SUPER friendly and makes the treatment go by so fast (it's exactly 22 minutes and 30 seconds; don't ask why), and recently she was fangirling to Mom and me about the show Once Upon a Time, haha. I saw very little of it with Jason, but Mom did check it out. When was the last time you wore a hat? What kind? I have zero idea. When was the last time you ate a bowl of ice-cream? What flavour? Oh wow, it's been a long time. It was probably vanilla with chocolate syrup? If you menstruate, has your cycle ever synced with anyone close to you? Yes. Tell me something positive about the town or city that you live in. ... You said "positive," right? Did your parents have high expectations for you to excel in school and go to college/university? Yes. They were pretty serious about going to college when my sisters and I were younger, but they opened up to the concept that maybe it wasn't for all of us (coughmecough). Are you a polite person? I genuinely think I am. I definitely try to be. Have you ever been in a relationship where everything with your partner felt natural and effortless? Sigh. Yeah. Have you ever been in a relationship where everything was difficult and rocky? No. That's not the kind I'd stay in very long at all. I mean yes, there are always bumps, but there comes a point where you gotta say fuck nah and find something better. When you were a teenager, did your parents set rules about dating? Other than keeping age gaps in mind, no. Have you ever committed a crime that directly harmed another person? No. Did you grow up in an urban, suburban, or rural area? My childhood home was suburban, but leaned towards rural. We were on the very edge of the town. Which disease do you personally think is the most horrible? After seeing my mother suffer from borderline stage 4 ovarian cancer, I've gotta say cancer. My mother is the strongest person I know and yet she cried so frequently from chemotherapy. It broke my fucking heart. The person I copied the survey from mentioned especially childhood cancers, and I have to agree. Like just... why. "Everything happens for a reason." Bull. Fucking. Shit. Just TRY and convince me why a young child has to deal with CANCER. Do you remember where you first drove to after getting your license? I still don't have my license, as I've said in many a survey before. What did you get into trouble for the most when you were a kid? Being on the computer too much. What is your biological sex? Female. Do you use online dating? Or do you use another method for finding dates? Nah. I'm at the point in my life where I wanna let love just find me and not actively search for it. What is the oldest gaming console you own? We MIGHT still have our old Atari? If not, it'd be a GameBoy Advance. Which accents can you emulate pretty well? Just British. Do you think you'll ever manage to do everything you want to? No. But then again, I think that sounds pretty realistic? I doubt most people check off everything on their bucket list. What do you fear most? Probably becoming truly homeless, living on the streets. Do you wear shoes around the house? No. Are you a good driver? If you can't drive yet, do you think you'll be good? I mean, I'm not the worst in the world. My mom's always pointed out though that I ride on the brakes (which I do out of fear) and I tend to speed up and slow down quite a bit. I also stop kinda abruptly sometimes. What is/was your favorite thing about school? Seeing friends. What are you most likely to spend money on? My own personal money, tattoos, lol. Have you ever been a complete fangirl/fanboy over anything? @_@ Do you hate how, when the public like a celebrity, they overpublicize them? I feel bad for them, more than anything. You breathe wrong and suddenly it's news-worthy. It's like your every inconsequential action is under heavy surveillance and judgment, and it seems so unfair. Have you ever became attracted to someone you weren’t at first because their personality made you find them physically attractive? That was Jason for me. I never thought he was ugly, but regardless, he became THE most attractive man in the world to me. Have you ever worked in retail? Yes. -_- Are you even a little bit racist? Nah man, it's 2021, baby. Were you more fond of swings, monkey bars, or seesaws as a child? I was all about the swings. Do you believe in a near-future apocalyptic event? I don't know or care, honestly. A gamma ray or whatever they're called could incinerate us all tomorrow. A black hole could swallow the earth in an hour. We don't know. Do you have a chandelier in your home? No. Do you have a bar with stools? No. Is your Christmas tree faux or real? If faux, what color? We use a fake green one. Do you eat the crusts of your bread? Yes; it's the first part I eat. Which body type would you say you had? Did you know whales can survive on land? :^) Have you ever flown a kite? Yeah! I used to LOVE doing that with Dad as a kid when the field across our house wasn't in use (tobacco was grown there). What’s your preferred flavour of jam? I just like grape. What kind of animal did you last pet? My cat! Name a celebrity that you admire that nobody would expect you to: I massively admire Jeffree Star's work ethic. Do you prefer to shave or wax? Shave. I used to wax my eyebrows, but now I just don't care. Would you ever have sex in a public place? Uh, no. Do you think Jenna Marbles’ videos are funny? I've actually never watched her. Your favourite pasta dish: Just your normal spaghetti with meatballs. Strangest thing you’ve ever seen? Probably what I'm assuming was a star (but it was green???) flickering and then fizzling out of the sky kind of like some sort of backwards firework. I'd been watching it literally grow over a few nights, so when this happened, it was a big "?????? the fuck??????". It honestly scared me for some reason so I went inside after that. Aliens? I say aliens. Ever had a crush on somebody of the same sex? Yes. Has anybody ever called you a bastard? I don't think so. Who is the last person you ignored? uhhhhhhh Would you wear feathers in your hair? So actually, for my first prom, I wanted to wear a blue jay feather I had in my hair, reason being Jason's nickname from his parents was always "J Bird." It ended up not working out because we couldn't make it look natural with what we had. When was the last time you were well and truly scared? Hm. Favourite member of your favourite band: Ozzy, obviously, haha. Who’s your favourite female rapper? I don't have one.

[n5md]

Cloudwalker

In our newly relaunched "Learn more about..." interviews, we switch up the continuity slightly and focus on just one release: Gimmik's Cloudwalker. Martin kindly agreed to answer a few questions to kick off what we'll refer to as v2 of the "Learn More About..." blog.

While Entre Les Chambres was the actual return of Gimmik to the public eye, Cloudwalker is more of a return to form. It is undeniably Gimmik; however, Cloudwalker treads some new ground for you. Can you shed some light on how the creative process changed from Entre Les Chambres / Deux Nouvelles and how those two albums might have influenced Cloudwalker?

Very well observed - they did influence Cloudwalker! Entre Les Chambres and Deux Nouvelles were both produced under technically limited circumstances. On top of that, I thought that no one will ever hear this material. Luckily it was not the case, and I got the chance to become a member of the n5MD family. When you produce with the idea that the material will never get released, it gives you a lot of room and space. You are not concerned about expectations. The music can flow and evolve freely. The calm nature of those albums helped that process. It was research where I experienced myself more as a witness than a composer. For me, that is a new approach. This approach was still the same when I produced Cloudwalker. That is the reason why the tracks are so diverse. Short Wave Memories and In My Family do not have anything in common, but that is the way they evolved, without me constructing anything. The most significant difference is that Cloudwalker was produced in a proper studio environment. Plus, I took a step into eurorack, which brings a very unpredictable element. And yes, that is Mutable Elements "Rings'' what you hear on In My Family. I was working on a self-generative patch with "Marbles'' when all of a sudden, the melody appeared...

I think you sent me In My Family shortly after you finished it, and it was one of the darkest days of the early pandemic; where our local government-issued curfews and such. It was the track that I needed at that moment; it brightened my day. It's very cool that the melody was a generative experiment gone right. I seem to remember you have quite a bit of the Mutable Instruments modules. Modular, to me, seems like a bit of a wormhole of experimentation. So, how do you stay focused when experimenting with new sounds and textures to bring, say, one of your Modular Nature tracks, which you have on your Youtube channel, to life.

Working with a modular system is entirely different. My approach is always a question. What will happen if I connect this with that and modulate with this? Then you start patching, and the results are entirely different from what I expected - a lot more exciting and better! In the beginning, I thought modular was about rebuilding synth voices. So I started emulating the signal-flow path of a 101 for a start. I missed the whole point of modular... A system has a life of its own and takes you to completely different places, and sometimes I do not even understand the results. (-: But that is not important. The decision to work with modular is to avoid walking down paths I have taken too many times when composing. What keeps you focused is your ear. The trick is to learn when to stop. In the beginning, I lost a lot of great patches when the result was already at 90%. When trying to reach 100%, my tweaks destroyed that patch's beauty, and I never found a way back to 90%. That happened a lot of times in the beginning. A modular system really helps to learn when to let go… (laughing). I chose Mutable Instruments because those modules are very focused on musical and harmonic results.

So, going back to Cloudwalker, how did it feel getting back to basics as far as Gimmik goes. People may not know that Entre Les Chambres and Deux Nouvelles were made for very personal listening. Care to shed a little light on those two, and more importantly, what made you want to go past those themes and bring Gimmik full circle for Cloudwalker?

Entre Les Chambres and Deux Nouvelles were NOT a conscious decision. Those were a necessity! The title Entre Les Chambres means "between two rooms", the space that is between two rooms. That is nowhere! It mirrors how I felt at that moment. There were many significant changes in my life, luckily nothing concerning my family, but still major changes. In order to cope with it all, I started making ambient tracks. It was the only thing that helped me to cope and focus again. The tracks happened by themselves. Listening to them and working on those albums was a calming experience. When they were finished, I played them to Chris, and he convinced me that he liked them. That led to the decision to make those first tapes. Later I sent them to you. Your reaction was very motivating because the music got released. With that motivation and getting back into a studio environment, the Cloudwalker tracks just poured out of me very quickly - it felt terrific to go back to the studio. My family gave me the time to work in my studio, and you and Chris gave very motivating feedback! From my perspective, this makes Cloudwalker my most important album so far, and I am very thankful for this chance! Another key element is that you gave me total freedom regarding artwork, choosing tracks, and their order. Just great!

Well, I knew going in that you know what you are doing. So I shouldn't have needed to step in and manage such details. For release prep, I'm available to take care of the details that an artist doesn't have access to or the working knowledge. You and Chris ran Toytronics, and you are a graphic artist as well, so I knew that you know the drill. If something was glaring or didn't work under the n5 stylistic umbrella, it is my job to say something, but I was pretty confident that wouldn't happen. I also know that after you completed the tracks, you took a great deal of time to get them to flow perfectly and also fit on four LP sides—your care in craft shows, and it's been great to work with you.

You brought up Chris, and there is an Abfahrt Hinwl remix on Cloudwalker, so; I'm going to ask. Are we going to hear some new Abfahrt Hinwl soon?

Thank you, as I said, that means a lot to me. And I still think that it is a fortunate situation. The AH RMX of Sailing Everest on Cloudwalker was just me, to be honest. That is why I used an abbreviation - AH. It is more a hint. It has a lot of the Abfahrt Hinwil ingredients. We tried to revive the project and realized that working over a distance via the internet does not work for either of us. The key of Abfahrt Hinwil was that we worked in the same room, at the same time, with the same equipment - listening to what the other one does - giving an immediate reaction. The most important point is communication, which has to happen immediately - you need to respond straight away, not with a delay. Today we find ourselves in two different life situations. We both would like to continue. After an online experiment, we realized it would be only possible when we visit each other and then work in the same studio. That is not possible at the moment, and Covid plays a significant role in that.

Ah, I see; Abfahrt Hinwil was you and Chris basically feeding off one another; also, there are cheques and balances, which is great to have. I completely understand why it would not be feasible to do it from a distance effectively. So, I'd like to pivot to these little builds I see on your Instagram. You recently sent me a pic of a peculiar little box that looks to be a synth. Assuming this is something you built (loving the stickering, by the way). What is this, and does it appear on Cloudwalker?

(laughing) That is a drone box handmade by a guy in Russia. Six oscillators, each one with a kill switch. Three standard range oscillators and 3 Sub. A very rough-sounding machine, great for drones. The filter sounds very nasty, just great. There is a little bit in the track Cloudwalker itself but washed out by Big Sky. The downside is that there is no midi, trigger gate, or voltage control. It is more of an experiment tool. The important parts of the track Cloudwalker have Mutable Instruments: Plaits and Tides 1, using the Sheep mode. Both outputs went into Warps, modulated by Stages. The little melody was played live on the Yamaha DX Reface, going into the Big Sky. It was all recorded live onto tape to 4 tracks to a Tascam 234. Then it was mixed the classic way, patchbay, fx, analog mixer main out to digital. 75% of the album was recorded to a Sound Devices MixPre-3 II.

It sounds like your Big Sky gets some action! Strymon makes some exceptional pedals. It seems like you can almost entirely make music out of the box if you needed to, which is excellent. So one last question: When we collaborated on the Cloudwalker one sheet text, you added something about the production tools "representing technology from 1958 to 2019," and I asked if 1958 was a type-o that needed to be corrected to 1985 when it was not. When people read that, I think they will be very curious as to what technology you utilized from that far back…

Yes, it is a great pedal, I love the sound and the fact that you get nice results very quickly.

1958- (laughing) There is an on oscilloscope from Russia, which can be seen in some of the videos on HIDDEN REALITY, and 2 vintage function generators. I got those old function generators from a close friend, he is an electronic engineer and professor for physics at a university. They got rid of all their old equipment, and he asked if I wanted to have something. He could not throw those old machines away, so he rescued them to his cellar. He changed the connections for me, so I can use them with the modular environment, using my standard patch cables. I used them a lot as modulation sources, as they can modulate extremely slow (like MI tides). But I have to admit that I got them for their looks in the first place…(laughing) - Those machines look like the machinery you see in Qs research center in old James Bond movies...

Order Cloudwalker now: US / UK / EU

Learn even more about Gimmik

[ravenwritesstuff]

Best Laid Plans (10/?)

Fandom: Frozen (modern AU, no magic) Pairings: Helsa, established Kristanna, Rapunzel/Eugene, lotsa frohana Rating: T for now, M later almost for sure A/N: Fun fact about why it takes me so long to write stuff. I write everything out of order. The very first scene I wrote of this fiction is in this chapter.

She cannot help but be wary. She has seen what happens when Hans Westergaard shows what he wants and she is all too familiar with that heat and tension. Her body tightens in anticipation of what he means, and does her best to hide her apprehension behind professionalism.

"While I am sure we all are thrilled with the mystery of your offer, it really is critical that we establish exactly what you want as quickly as we can as our timeline is so limited." 

She has never had a client be so withdrawn about their event or purpose before. Most clients could not wait to throw ideas and concepts and colors in her direction or instead all the things they didn’t want. So far she knows he liked the wedding because they danced and that he likes the ocean. She is in no way prepared for an event where that is the center. His lack of forthcoming throws her off balance and makes her irritable. She is not sure if it is just the Hans Westergaard way or if she is actually losing control of the situation. Whatever it is, she does not like it, but she hides her discomfort behind a Mona Lisa smile.

"Of course. Which is why I am going to show it to you as soon as I can. But it will require the wearing of swimsuits and the ability to swim. Are you all up to the occasion?” He is in full showman now, the elegant host, and while she feels more at ease when he is in this space she also likes it less. The conflict leaves her with feelings she promptly ignores and shoves down beneath the mental checklists ticking through her mind. 

“Per your vague instructions I believe we are all prepared for a swim,” she looks around at her team to get their confirmation even though she knows they all packed accordingly. “But really we have so much to cover. I think it will be best if we work through a few more steps before we get distracted.”

“Oh this is not a distraction. I promise.” He peers out over the ocean, shielding his eyes to make out something. “We have ten minutes before we need to get suited up so let’s talk until then.” He leans back and sips his coffee. “I would love to hear more from the team personally. Why do you all do what you do? What part of the events you manage is your favorite?” 

It is an unconventional question, but what other kind can she expect from Hans Westergaard? 

She watches as the team all look at each other with puzzled expressions and she is glad that at least this time she is not the only one befuddled by what Hans Westergaard has to say. 

“I mean - I guess my favorite thing is that I get to work with my family.” Anna chimes in first, smiling at Elsa and Kristoff. “We make a great team and I don’t know many families that can say that!” She turns to Rapunzel and Eugene as well. “And I’ve gained new family members I never knew before. So it is a win all around.”

“As someone deeply acquainted with the complications of family - I appreciate that Anna.” 

It is strange to hear her sister’s name on his lips, to see him smile at her and smile in return. 

Anna nudges Kristoff with her elbow and he grunts before offering:

“I get to work with my hands and make my wife happy. Not much better than that.” He chuckles when Anna throws her arm across his stomach and side hugs him. “Plus there is something awesome when a client sees you build the thing they wanted just like they wanted. Makes you feel like Santa or something.”

“The tables and altar at Eric’s weddings were incredible. You made those?”

Kristoff tilts his head, not one to enjoy outright praise, and then nods. 

Hans returns his nod with a smile. “Excellent work. Truly. I have ideas for you.”

Elsa sees an opportunity and cuts in: “We would love to hear more about those ideas so we can really talk them over and -”

“Hold on,” Mister Westergaard holds up his hand and focuses on the petite brunette across from him. “What is your favorite part of planning events?”

“Oh. I love weddings and I know you aren’t planning a wedding, but they are my favorite.” Rapunzel’s eyes widen. “But my favorite part of my favorite weddings is the kiss. You can totally tell who is going to make it and who isn’t by the kiss. When the groom really kisses the bride - or bride kisses the bride - or groom and groom - oh you get it. When they kiss them in the way that you can almost feel it from the back row… yeah. That’s my favorite part because I know we did something to give them their happily ever after.”

Leave it to Rapunzel would say something fantastical. Never mind that it has absolutely nothing to do with her role in the company or what is at the heart of their events, but it is water under the bridge. Elsa sniffs.

“Is everything okay?” It is Mister Westergaard. He is arching his brow in the most annoying fashion because it makes her stomach flutter and her mouth go dry and she screwed up. She drew attention to herself at the worst time possible.

“Don’t mind her.” Rapunzel interjects before Elsa can even force a smile. “It’s just that Elsa has never really been kissed.” She smiles a little too broadly at her boss before looking at Eugene (who is honestly at a loss). 

Elsa is flummoxed by the comment and she can practically see the mischief dancing across Rapunzel’s features. She is living for this, needling her like the second younger sister she never had. Anna is hiding laughter behind her strawberry lemonade where Kristoff’s eyes are wider than she has ever seen them. 

She cannot even look at Hans Westergaard. 

Eugene clears his throat and swoops in while Elsa’s mind sputters at Rapunzel’s brazenness.

“Well to be completely honest I had a bit of a rough start. I didn’t exactly use my super negotiation skills for good, but Elsa gave me an opportunity to do what I do in a productive way and that is what I enjoy the most. I like knowing I can con a deal for my client,” it is a joke and they all force a laugh. “Plus I like parties.”

Even Hans Westergaard manages a smirking chuckle without all of Eugene’s history. Chances are he has files on all them from some sort of private detective or something invasive like that anyway. There is no need for elaboration.

“So what about you, Hans?” Anna says, sipping her drink, deflecting from what was to inevitably be Elsa’s turn to share. “Why E&A Events? What do we bring to the table that you want for your event?”

Elsa could hug her sister for the segway. 

Anything to focus past the horrendous mess Rapunzel insisted on introducing and keep Elsa from having to answer Hans’ time wasting question.

Hans looks at them all and smiles. It is wide and easy, like he has never had any other job besides smiling at them and his response makes her boil. She hates his smile, his calm, that he had somehow gotten her on this ship where her insides are being flipped and churned and turned upside down. 

“I want you because you are unexpected,” he says matter-of-factly. “You aren’t what I thought I would want but somehow you are exactly, wholly, and perfectly what I need right now.” 

Elsa does not need to look up from her tablet to know he is speaking directly to her. She can feel his gaze as sure as she can feel the hammering pulse in her throat. It takes her best efforts to  take rein of her stampeding thoughts and draw a deep breath.

“That is very nice of you to say Mister Westergaard,” she pretends to be very busy taking notes on her tablet. “We are excited to dive into the particulars about why you chose us but right now I think the question we all have is just what exactly we are endeavoring to initiate.” 

He nods and looks again at the horizon just as the ship’s pace slows dramatically. His smile spreads. He looks back at them.

“You’re about to find out. It is time to suit up.”

….

Elsa put on her incredibly conservative one piece in the stark privacy of a marble and gold bathroom. The couples were given other rooms and while she knows the lighting is not flattering all she can do is look at flaws in the mirror. The suit had been specifically chosen because it did not show any of her scars. The navy suit had no cut outs, barely scooped below her collarbones and shoulder blades. The suit is made out the same fabric that swim athletes use. It compresses every inch it encases but it covers everything and is not flashy in the slightest. 

She had told Anna and Rapunzel to leave the bikinis at home.

She hopes they had or else her suit is going to look impossibly old fashioned.

She turns sidewise in the mirror and sucks in. She is not certain why. Her shape is her shape. There is little much she can do about that now. Her swim wrap is her saving grace. It looks much like any of the other dresses she might wear throughout the week though  is slightly sheer. The almost black is burned out with floral patterns and wraps at the waist with a feminine sensibility she normally eschews, but she had nothing else that would serve on such short notice. 

She looks at herself once more, feels her bare feet on the cool tile and breathes. This is fine. She is simply winning over a client that her company needs to impress. That is all. 

She presses her hands against her stomach and breathes. 

She does not tell herself it will be okay. She has not done that in years. Instead she tells herself it will all be managed. It will happen and she will handle it, whatever it is. This is a test and she intends on passing it. 

There are risk to swimming with her condition, but she knows her team has her back. They will watch her. It will be okay.

She tosses her braid over her shoulder, makes sure her personal items and stacked tidily in the corner, forces herself out of the bathroom.

The rest of them are already waiting on the aft desk. She hopes she hadn’t taken too long, not wanting to raise suspicion by her lengthy change. She assesses everyone’s dress as she approaches. The expression of personalities under the instruction of ‘dress appropriately’ is not lost on her with Anna’s tankini beneath a loosely tied robe, Kristoff’s rash guard and the longest possible swimmers available. Eugene trends towards more fashionable Bermuda cuts and Rapunzel’s suit is a one piece that hardly qualifies with all of the crazy cut outs. That leaves Hans Westergaard who stands in shorts similar to Eugene’s and a plain white t-shirt that is too tight to be decent.

She tries to not notice the shape of his calves, the size and shape of his feet, but it is a lost cause. Her rebellious mind grabs onto these facts before she can convince it not to. He smiles as he sees her and it is the same earth shattering power that leaves her shaky and uncertain where the rest of the world went.

“Shall we?” he says to the group before leading them out of the shaded part of the deck out into the bright sun. 

She squints and pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes as he leads them out past the infinity pool. There are wide steps beyond it railed with stainless steel grips and she clings to them as they descend to what appears to be a small launching platform.. At the base there is a large white space where three crew members wait. They demonstrate general snorkeling protocol that she vaguely remembers from when she was six, before this all began. They offer up equipment. They fit it to them. Then the worst comes. 

Every swimmer must have one buddy. Pick your buddy and know you are responsible for them out in the water.  

And the lines are so clearly drawn. 

She stands fidgeting with her mask and flippers knowing she is now responsible for Hans Westergaard. Anna casts her a knowing glance, but Elsa knows that damage that would be done if she let Anna be her partner. The affront will be obvious, personal, and honestly this is the least of worst case scenarios. 

It is just swimming. They won’t have to touch or speak. All she has to do is make sure that Hans Westergaard does not die. Easy peasy. 

With a return glance she calms her sister’s concerns. It will be okay. This is okay. She is okay. 

Then the crew is distributing sturdy plastic bottles to everyone named with only the words BODY and FACE This time though Mr Westergaard steps up to explain the reasons.

“This is just a little project I’ve been working on - a new line of sunblock. If you don’t mind using this instead of the kind you brought I would love to know what you think.”

Elsa holds both bottles in her hands thinking it is a bit strange, but she would rather have him be strange than charming. She had applied sunblock that morning in her apartment just in case, but the sun is bright and she is not interested in burning. 

She opens the bottle labeled BODY and starts with her legs and feet. The scent and feel of a lotion is pleasing. The texture is not oily or rough but actually absorbs into the skin easily. The scent is not overwhelmingly tropical but instead has the essence of eucalyptus. It is refreshing. She hates to admit how much she enjoys it.

They are all standing fairly close together but the couples have sectioned off into their own little bubbles. She and Hans are on the outside, reasonably spaced. Anna has lost her robe as has Rapunzel. She is next and the idea of him seeing her in something so opposite of what she normally wears makes her heart race. What if he was cataloguing her traits the way she inadvertently was his? What if he liked what he saw? What if he didn’t? 

She reprimands herself. None of that matters. This is a job just like any other job and she needs to stop losing her mind over things that don’t matter.

Her fingers work the tie at her side, thankful now more than ever that they all were wearing sunglasses. If he did look at her she wouldn’t know. She shrugs and the wrap falls to her elbows and then slips all the way to her hands. She carefully draws it in front of her and folds it neatly before setting it next to her snorkel gear and hopes it is bright enough that no one can tell she is blushing. 

She retrieves her sunblock and works her way over all the parts she had missed before until she arrives at  the exposed part of her back that she cannot reach. She is struggling to bend her arms to cover stubborn spots between her shoulder blades, head bent down, and a pair of feet comes into her field of vision. She looks up and Hans Westergaard stands there with his  sanctioned sunblock in his hand. He looks at her with a smile that is nothing but warm, sincere, and if he wasn’t wearing sunglasses she is sure that his eyes would hold that defenseless, human look that always rattles her.. 

“Need some help?” He offers. “The back is always the first place to burn.”

Her decline is on the tip of her tongue but she hesitates. She can always just ask Anna for help but how will that look? No matter how infuriating and unsettling this man is he is still her client and she is trying to make a point. She can handle his flirting and still maintain a professional nature.

“Okay.” She gives a stiff nod. 

He circles around her and that is worse. She is standing there in a garment that shows every lump, bump, and irregularity. It is not cut for flattery and she should be glad of that at this moment, but she finds herself wishing she has the more daring choices of her counterparts. Or at least something that doesn’t look like she is about to take a water aerobics class at senior citizens center.

No. She mentally reprimands herself. This is for the best. She is here to be professional, and he cannot create ideas about her interest in enticing him in any way when she is wearing the equivalent of a nuns habit in modern swimwear. 

She hears him open the bottle, make the necessary squirt, and she waits then for the first touch. It takes longer than expected to come, but when it does her entire body stiffens. 

She had expected cold but there is none of that. The lotion and his touch are warm. He spreads the cream over the available skin before he begins the process of massaging it in. She stays perfectly still, not daring to move, and does everything in her power to not consider that he is touching her, she is allowing it, and that the strength of his fingers is enjoyable.

His thumbs trace the fragile wings of her shoulder blades. The slick of the lotion gives his touch a silky glide as his hands work across her skin, tracing the delicate bulbs of her spine. He comes up to where her braid hangs across her neck and pushes it to the side before she can stop him. 

She knows exactly when he sees it. She can sense it in his hesitation. The scar creeping from the base of her neck up under her hairline is a wide pink line, made wider and more noticeable with every cut, and is something she hides with low lying hairstyles and high collars but now… 

She can practically hear his breath catch at the sight. 

His thumbs run in tandem up along the length of her scar in impossible reverence. She is sure that he can feel the rapid rhythm of her heart against his fingertips where they rest on her throat before she pulls away. 

“I'm sure that's good. Thank you.” she flips her braids back over her neck in an attempt to not rub the spot his thumbs had branded and looks at him with a dare to ask her.

It would be a relief in so many ways if he would just ask. If she could just tell him and scare him away before they get any further in this unnamed dance. Behind his sunglasses it is nearly impossible to tell what his intent is until a smile spreads over his face. Instead of probing he hands her the bottle of sunscreen.

“Return the favor?” It is a question as much as it isn't and she can hardly keep from blushing when he strips off his t-shirt. He winks as he turns his back to her and she recognizes a challenge when she sees one.

But that isn’t all she sees.

Her eyes trace the ropes of his muscles as they bunch and pull as he adjusts his posture to do his own application on the front of his torso. A wide smattering of freckles swaths his broad shoulders in frenetic clusters. Despite his fair complexion there is a tawny glow that speaks of his love of being outdoors. 

For a long moment she stands there frozen just staring as he worked his hands down the length of his arms. She watches his hand slip over the enticingly sharp cuts and swells of his shoulder and then down lower. He turns his head a bit to cast a look in her direction with a smirking grin. 

“If you need more lotion, just let me know.” 

Then he is back to it. His short phrase jerks her out of whatever spell she had been under and now it feels like all eyes are on her. Is her sister watching, is Kristoff? Eugene definitely would be and Rapunzel probably was brokering some sort of wager about what is actually happening and what will happen. 

She grits her teeth. 

She knows if she looks to see if any of that is true she will not be able to do this, which is exactly why she doesn’t. She’s spent the better part of today convincing everyone that this is nothing more than a harmless flirtation and that she can handle it. Running away screaming because he needs help applying sunscreen is not going to do much for her case, but she knows she is going to hear about this later.

So she might as well put on a show.

She grabs a nearby bottle and squares her shoulders. The cap opens with a snap. She focuses on each motion as she squirts a generous amount into the palm of her opposite hand. It is too much, she knows, but it is the only shield she has. She rubs her hands together to coat them thoroughly and then, before she can lose her nerve, reaches out to touch. 

Even with the thick creamy coat of sunblock she can feel the heat of him rising to her touch. The broad lines of his back are long with foreign trenches and cords of muscle telling their story of use. His body is not exaggerated in size like her brother-in-law’s, but it is well formed, athletically cut. There is a kind of feline grace about him and the way he moves, the way his calculating eyes watch her move in this game she can hardly remember starting.

She is more rough than she needs to be, pressing hard enough that she feels him brace. She does not take the care he did to make sure that every inch of skin is absolutely slathered and rubbed in. She works from the center of his back up over his shoulder blades and then down close to the line of his swim trunks.

She stares at her own hands moving across his skin and she tries to think of anything but the idea that she is just inches away from dangerous territory. As if this entire exercise isn’t dangerous territory. She lets out a breath she did not know she was holding  and steps away.

"There. All set." She holds her hands down at her sides, palms still tingling with his heat.

He turns and faces her. 

"So," he sets his sunscreen on the deck and straightens. "Snorkel buddies? What do you say?"

She has to respect that he is actually asking instead of just assuming. It gives her the opportunity to negotiate.

"We could always triple up. No sense in creating a superfluous twosome."

"There is no possible way that any group you are a part of could be superfluous," he grins. "But it's statistically safer in pairs. Trust me one we get out there you will have so much to see that I promise you will be glad you only have to keep track of one other person."

She is not going to ask for his source on those stats, but instead she asks: “What exactly are we going to look at?” 

She had not thought it possible, but his smile grew three sizes at her question.

“My initiative,” he pulls off his sunglasses, puts them off to the side, and fits his mask over the top of his head. “Ready to see?” 

She looks over to the others and they all have their gear ready to go and are watching them. How long had they been watching them? She looks back at Hans and nods. 

He leads them to the edge of the platform. It is a few feet above the water with a plastic and metal ladder on the side. Hans sits, pulls his flippers onto his dangling feet, and then slides off into the blue water. He pops up only an instant later and swims back a few feet to look up at them. 

“Water’s great!” He treads, powerful shoulder muscles rolling. “Come on in.” 

They all follow suit. Elsa is the last to slip from the safe edge of the boat into the water below. It is cold, not freezing, but definitely not bathtub water. The temperature is jarring at first. Her body cramps and hesitates as she stays submerged, but she manages to kick to the surface. She pops up on a sputtering gasp, reorients herself, and swims to the others. 

“We’re swimming to that buoy over there.” He points to a yellow speck a few hundred yards away. I recommend using one of these to help with the swim.” He raises his arm out of the water and gestures. Several life preserver belts fly over the edge from a helpful crew member and they all grab one. “Also once we are out there it is a strict look but don’t touch policy. Ready?” 

“When will we know we are seeing what we are supposed to be seeing?” Rapunzel asks, her intrepid curiosity shining through.

“I have a feeling you will know.” He smiles and pulls his mask over his eyes. “Follow me!”

[ previous ]

[adventureswithcritters]

Crozier is hanging out at the Titanic museum in Branson Missouri! I apologize that there won’t be any interior photos with this adventure, the museum respectfully asks there to be no photography inside. 

Now, this model that Crozier is sitting in front of is perhaps an eighth the size of the actual ship. A second model would need to be stacked on top of it, and then stretched out for four city blocks. Down near the bottom corner of the iceberg you can see a couple people and that will give you an idea just how tall even the model is. 

Now, many of the items inside this museum were recovered during the second dive town to the Titanic wreckage and much of it belongs to a private collector. The museum also has many other artifacts which have come from the White Star Line, they were not used aboard Titanic and simply are items owned by the same company that would have been used on many of their ships, including Titanic. Those include much of the dishware, tea sets, mugs, spoons, etc which are in the museum. Some are from Titanic herself, some from Olympia, and some simply bought when the company eventually collapsed. 

There were several dogs aboard Titanic, and each one of them had to have their own papers and boarding pass. Crozier was issued a boarding pass when we got to the museum, and according to the crew members, they give all visiting dogs such a pass and try to match the breed or at least the coloring of the dogs. Crozier was carrying the name and memory of Lady Fru Fru with him while visiting. The museum also has the first memorial to the dogs aboard Titanic, there were 12 known dogs aboard who all belonged to First Class Passengers. They remained in a kennel which was top notch. They were even taken out daily for exercise on deck. Three dogs survived the sinking, they were small breed dogs which likely had remained with their owners in their state rooms as some First Class passengers had been known to do. Lady Fru Fru had lived in her owner’s state room, but had not survived the sinking. 

We also learned about the LaRoche family who were not discovered until after the movie had been made. Mr. LaRoche was a very wealthy gentleman from Haiti who was an excellent engineer and very well learned fellow. He traveled for work and eventually made his way to France. Being the early 1900s Mr. LaRoche was not well paid for his work and was not well respected as he should have been. He eventually met and married a white French woman and they had two very adorable little girls. Mr. and Mrs. LaRoche eventually decided to travel back to Haiti to be with his family. The LaRoche family had originally gotten tickets on another ship, but Mrs. LaRoche learned that children were expected to remain in the nursery, so she exchanged her tickets for Titanic. The family traveled Second Class with the intention of off-boarding in New York and transferring ships to go down to Hati. Unlike many other passengers who were immigrants wanting a better life, the extremely wealthy going on a cruise, etc, the LaRoche family was simply traveling on Titanic the way they would have a train, going from one place to another.  Mrs. LaRoche and her daughters did survive the sinking and make it to New York, they eventually decided to return to live with her family in France.

Something else we learned was about the grand staircase! It’s always thought, by myself included, that the Grand Staircase was floored with something like marble or granite. Not so. The brand new product at the time which was more expensive - was linoleum! The beautiful floor around the beautiful staircase was made of linoleum. It blew my mind. 

Third class passengers of most major liners of the day were expected to bring their own food and goods for the trip. However, aboard Titanic and her sister ship, third class passengers were provided with their meals. While the rooms were crowded they did have plumbing and there was also a dining hall. It appeared like Third Class aboard Titanic was the same as second on some other lines, and it is recorded by passengers that Second Class aboard Titanic is equivalent to First aboard other ships. 

I can keep going but this post is getting too damn long. Sorry guys. Anyway if anyone ever wants to chat Titanic I am always happy to do so! 

[ckret2]

Here’s my @secretsolenoid​ gift for Kiwii! The prompt was “[IDW] Megastar: dancing”! (You also made a reference in your wishlist to drawing and i spent all december like “o shit are you hoping for fanart” i hope you’re okay with fanfic i am sorry im but a humble ficwriter.)

Also posted on AO3 here.

About 3k words of Starscream talking Megatron into learning to dance as Iacon burns.

“Lead Me”

For the first time since Optimus took control of the Autobots, the Decepticons held part of Iacon.

Just a small corner of it, west of the Septentrio Expressway, not quite reaching all the way north to the warehouse district—far from where Metroplex had squatted down over the Citadel. But it was several square miles—most of which they’d already gleefully bombed to rubble the day before, and tonight were very personally finishing the job of flattening—and it included a massive convention hall with underground hotel facilities that had been once used by the Senate and those few elites who had been rich enough to move in the senators’ circle.

Now, the hotel facilities were Decepticon bunkers—even with six to the average room, it was far more luxurious than anything they'd had in Kaon—and the convention center on top was filled with weapons and makeshift medical facilities. Most of which were currently empty, except for a couple of stragglers getting outfitted with weapons; everyone else was in the streets, slaughtering the cowardly neutrals who had failed to evacuate the blocks that the Decepticons now controlled—making an example of those who didn't either bow down to the Decepticons or get out of their way.

Megatron had elected to spend this battle—if it could really be called that—back in their headquarters. This close to Metroplex, if he showed his face outside, it would invariably lure Optimus into battle, and he felt his troops deserved an opportunity to slaughter the civilians in peace without having to worry about Autobot retribution. Shockwave had stayed behind as well and was somewhere in the armories, no doubt scavenging parts from the choice weapons for some unsanctioned experiment. Soundwave was out with the troops, going street by street and building by building, telepathically scanning them one by one for survivors hiding in the dark, and sending his friends in to kill them.

Which left one question.

Where was Starscream?

Megatron hadn't seen or heard him anywhere in the convention center-turned-base of operations. His comm unit was off. A call to Thundercracker, out dropping bombs on tall buildings with Skywarp, confirmed that Starscream wasn't with them, although Megatron commanded Thundercracker to report if they found Starscream. Where was he? Starscream wasn't the type to vanish quietly into the shadows, especially when there was a victory to revel in—and if the victory was too boring for his tastes, he was eager to let Megatron know. So what in the world...?

He was trying to decide whether he should be irritated or start suspecting foul play when he got a comm from Skywarp. "Found him! Sir."

"He's with you?"

"No, sir!" Skywarp sounded far too chipper for Megatron to like where this was going. "He's back at the command center."

"Where?"

"In that big room, near the top, with the giant window wall."

Megatron had surveyed this building top to bottom, and there was only one room that met that description. "The ballroom?"

"Yep!" And Skywarp promptly hung up—Megatron would have Starscream chew him out for that later—before Megatron could ask what, exactly, Starscream was doing there.

One way to find out. He found the stairs and headed up.

Megatron found the entrance to the ballroom—entrances, really, an absurd bit of ostentation, three broad double doors right next to each other, each tall enough to accommodate a shuttle with a car standing on each shoulder—and pushed wide the door that Starscream, evidently, had left ajar. And stopped dead in the doorway. "What on Cybertron are you doing?"

Starscream stumbled, but didn't stop. "I suppose you talked to Skywarp?" Which didn't answer Megatron's question, but really, it didn't need answering; Megatron might not have been terribly acquainted with the high arts, but he knew dancing when he saw it. "He was waving at me from the window." Starscream gestured toward the massive floor-to-ceiling window that covered the long wall of the empty ballroom, from which in the day time there could have been an excellent view of the one-sided battle below—but in the dark, only the fires and occasional tiny flashes of lasers were clearly visible.

Starscream turned the gesture toward the window into a twirl as he glided across the floor. If he was at all self-conscious about having been caught dancing alone by Megatron—and Megatron had little doubt he must be—he was doing an excellent job of hiding it by carrying right on with what he'd been doing. That, Megatron thought, deserved a little admiration.

But only a little. "You're not going out to raze the city?"

"Is it an order?"

"No. But I thought you'd be able to appreciate the value of helping."

"Hah! We're bombing empty buildings and civilians." He twisted his wings as he spun, and Megatron could feel the breeze from the air they displaced. "They don't need my help."

"It's not about whether help is needed. There's no serious resistance out there, and that's precisely why we're fighting them—to give the troops a chance to celebrate, and to assert the superiority of the Decepticons. To show how easily their city crumbles and their people fall. We're dominating Iacon."

"Hmm." Starscream twirled across the floor, and in the split second that Megatron's gaze was captured by Starecream's arms and shoulders rather than his legs, he could have sworn Starscream was gliding, his motions were so effortlessly smooth. "You're not going to dominate anything until you take out Metroplex."

Starscream was, regrettably, right. Megatron looked past him and out the massive windows at Iacon. Even from here, even with the fires and intermittent explosions occasionally overtaking the dark, even with the reflection of the ballroom making it hard to see through the window—he could see the dull red light, the one atop Metroplex's tallest tower, flashing on and off like a single optic winking tauntingly at Megatron: here I am, here I still am.

They could crush all of Iacon to dust, but until they conquered the Autobots' stronghold, they'd dominated nothing.

"It's psychological warfare," Megatron said crankily. "To terrify and intimidate the opposition, and make them easier to crush. Not your area of speciality, I know."

Starscream snorted. "You're only terrifying neutrals, and they're already terrified. The Autobots aren't going to be impressed at seeing we can kill unarmed, defenseless civilians. If anything, they'll be inspired to revenge on the civilians' behalf."

Revenge they wouldn't be able to get, because they were too weak to do anything but hide behind Metroplex's walls, and the Decepticons had just seized control of the main route by which they were bringing in supplies; but Megatron couldn't make that point without first conceding that this wasn't about intimidating the opposition, and he wasn't ready to surrender that point yet.

He was still contemplating his next argument when Starscream continued: "Besides, if you're going for psychological warfare, a fighter jet dancing in a ballroom used by senators is far more terrifying than a pack of fighter jets dropping bombs."

Megatron could see what Starscream was getting at—oh, the existential horror that would inspire in Functionists—but he was going to make Starscream work for the point before he awarded it. "And how is that more terrifying?" Go on, Starscream, elucidate your argument. Megatron started a global resistance movement with a couple of essays; he grades hard.

Starscream arched back, lifting one leg into the air—could he lift it as high as his head? Primus below—and wrapped a hand under his knee to help keep it lifted. "Thrusters," he said, kicking his lower leg demonstratively. "I'm going to leave horrifying scrapes and exhaust stains all over their pretty marble floor."

"HAH!" Megatron hadn't expected that answer. He didn't mean to laugh. Starscream obviously knew that, if the smug smirk he favored Megatron with as he lowered his leg was anything to judge by. All right. Megatron conceded the argument to Starscream. He was more productively serving the Cause by dancing than he would be by bombing Iacon.

And not just by scratching the marble. A fighter jet dancing in a senators' ballroom was equivalent to flashing one's tail lights at the entire lineage of Primes and the Functionist Council all at once.

Megatron had often wondered: if he were to ever write another essay, what would it be about? It seemed unlikely that he would. Right now, he was far too busy waging war to focus his thoughts on writing—if there was one thing that could be said for mining, it was that it was mindless enough that he could turn his mental faculties to writing in his head as he worked. And ideally, once the war was over, there'd be nothing he lacked the power to fix through direct action and so he’d have no need to try to change it through polemics. But, if he did write again...

He had already decided that his next treatise would be on Starscream: a case study on the mistake of Functionism. Because of the shape of his wings, the density of his armor, and the power of his thrusters, he was relegated to the position of common soldier. The highest rank he could ever hope to achieve in life was cannon fodder for the Primal Vanguard. Anyone who ever met him could easily see what a waste to Cybertron it would be to force him to serve as a flying gun.

Within moments of meeting Starscream, even as he was still gushing enthusiasm at meeting his gladiatorial idol, Megatron could see how his entire personality sparkled with charisma. And it didn't take another half hour, as Starscream introduced himself to the growing Decepticon movement and struck up small conversations, for it to become obvious how intrinsically brilliant he was and what a keen observer he was of his surroundings. After making a single circuit of the Decepticon headquarters and returning to Megatron, the first thing he’d asked was "So where do you keep the big guy who splits into two vehicles locked up when he's not terrorizing gladiators?"—based on nothing but what he'd seen of Overlord in combat against Megatron, Starscream had concluded that he was 1) part of the Decepticons, even though he wasn't currently visible, and 2) too dangerous to be allowed out by himself. Astoundingly astute.

Starscream brought in recruits in droves—he knew just what to say to inspire devotion to the Decepticon Cause, when even Megatron's own words could not. He made himself welcome and indispensable everywhere, smiling and and simpering for the Senators until they let him into their confidences, smirking and swaggering for the laborers and gutter trash who needed to see someone from their end of the social ladder who could carry himself like a king. He had the benefit of no education but a fighter jet's standard boot camp training. And yet, he had the mind, the wit, the cunning, the acumen of any of the most highly-trained military minds he had been pitted against so far. He should have been—and Megatron would never use this as a compliment for anyone else—he should have been a politician.

He was cannon fodder. Had he been shipped out with the Primal Vanguard and died on an alien world, the Vanguard wouldn't have considered his body important enough to carry home.

Starscream alone was reason enough to justify this war.

If Megatron ever wrote that treatise—he didn't think it was necessary, now, but if he did—this would be how Megatron introduced it: with Starscream dancing, arms outstretched, wings upraised, legs gliding across the floor. Mechs with Starscream's frame—mechs with any warrior frame at all who hadn't been promoted to the position of global hero—were described as heavy, burly, graceless, thuggish, clomping. Starscream was twice as graceful as mechs with half his armor.

Starscream pirouetted on the tip of one foot, wobbled, stumbled to catch himself, and abruptly turned to face Megatron. "You know what would be even more horrifying than watching a fighter jet dance."

"What?"

"A miner."

"Absolutely not."

"Oh, come on." Starscream kicked the floor where he'd failed his pirouette; he'd left a nasty scratch in the marble. "Don't think you can top that?"

"I have no interest in trying," Megatron said stiffly. "Dancing is a waste of time. The idle pursuit of alt-mode exempt mechs who want to gloat about the leisure that being freed from a function affords them."

"All the more reason to do it! Since everyone should be alt-mode exempt, right?"

"Wrong. It's a hobby that's been claimed by mechs at the peak of a hierarchy that should never have existed. Imitating them would make it look like I'm aspiring to be like them. My goal is to tear them down, not to seat myself among them."

"Believe me, Megatron, there's no one left alive who would mistake you for an aspiring idle aesthete. I don't think your reputation would be irrevocably damaged if you whirled around the dance floor a couple of times." Starscream planted a hand on his hip and—his optics glittering in challenge—said, oh so very casually, "Anyway, the rest of High Command has been taught how to dance, who could hold it against you if you learned too?" A double insult: the suggestion (accurate) that Megatron not only chose not to dance but also didn't even know how; and the suggestion that, by not doing so, he lacked a skill that all of his commanders had. It was a low blow and an elitist accusation, and one that Megatron couldn't pay Starscream back for without making it look like he'd been insulted. And Starscream knew it, if his smirk was anything to go by.

Megatron would make him regret the jab later. For now, he could only challenge the validity of it. "You? Have been taught how to dance? I would think this,” he made a vague gesture that was supposed to be indicative of Starscream's graceful-but-unstructured glides across the floor, "this prancing wouldn’t be considered ballroom appropriate."

"Oh, of course not! That, I'm making up as I go. But I've been taught to dance properly." He snapped his heels together, raised his arms as if to support an invisible partner, and started dancing neatly, his steps forming smooth, uniform squares across the floor. "Taught by a superior who'd been to officer school—they learn in case they go to any Senate functions; anyone who moves in senators' circles is expected to know how. It might not be formal classroom training, but it's good enough that Zeta Prime never questioned my credentials as a delegate to the Senate." Starscream flashed a wink as he turned his invisible partner around a ninety-degree corner. Megatron scowled. The thought of Zeta with his filthy hands, gilded in fake armor, clutching at Starscream's waist...

"That hardly means the rest of High Command knows how."

"Shockwave was a senator. He knows, of course."

Wasn't that a wild mental image—Shockwave, dancing. "He would never."

"No, but he knows."

"Soundwave doesn't. His background is no higher than yours or mine." Megatron still didn't know Soundwave's exact origins—Megatron didn't even know Soundwave's full name—but Ravage had made passing comments to taking Soundwave in, which meant whatever his background, it had started lower than a cold constructed beastformer with no bipedal mode.

"Do you think Ratbat let his top agent get away with not learning how to dance? Even secret Senate messengers must represent their bosses well."

"At what? Black market business meetings?"

"Even black marketeers have balls."

Megatron laughed derisively.

"I'm serious! Ask Soundwave. Or Ratbat himself, if you want all the greasy details," Starscream said. "Should I go on? You wouldn't believe what Scorponok—"

"That's enough." Megatron had watched Scorponok cave Grimlock's face in, he didn't want to hear that he could dance too.

Starscream finally danced around to facing Megatron again, and favored him with a deceptively sweet little smile. "Well?"

"... All right." Starscream knew Megatron too well. Megatron couldn't abide the thought of being unable to do something his subordinates could. He walked onto the dance floor, head high and feet planted wide, as though proudly stepping into the gladiatorial ring. "Show me."

Starscream broke off his dance with his invisible partner, his little smile spreading into a wide grin. "Since this is your first lesson, and I'm going to be teaching you…” There was something subtly menacing behind his words as he said, "I will lead."

"For now," Megatron said, with what he thought was more indulgence than the look in Starscream's optics warranted. "Show me where to put my hands."

One hand in Starscream's hand, the other on his shoulder. Starscream's free hand settled on the corner under Megatron's arm, and Megatron immediately tensed, battle protocols quietly activating and rearranging his HUD, hyper-aware of the palm pressed to his side and the fingers against his back. And it occurred to him that, since he had left the mines, the only people who had touched his torso were either medics or enemies determined to kill him. The hand felt wrong. It felt dangerous.

Megatron's apprehension must have shown on his face—and an apprehensive-looking Megatron was a deadly-looking Megatron—because Starecream's smirk quickly shrank to nothing and he now looked rather like he was reconsidering this entire conversation. He could probably feel the heat of Megatron's cannon warm up next to his head. "... Sir?" He loosened his grip on Megatron's back.

Megatron tightened his grip on Starscream's shoulder, pulling him close enough that their chests nearly touched and the EM fields orbiting their sparks could brush against each other.

Perhaps Starscream had the body of a soldier, but he had the mind and spark of a politician—and a good politician, at that. If he ever decided he wanted to defeat Megatron, he wouldn't be doing it in single combat. Even a knife in the back mid-dance was too brazen an assault. Megatron had nothing to fear from the hand on his back.

It was the clever, smirking little mouth he had to watch out for. The mouth that turned day laborers into terrorist soldiers, that let cannon fodder walk confidently among senators, and that convinced miners to dance.

"You said you'll lead?" Megatron asked. "Then lead me."

Starscream's optics brightened. His grip tightened again. "As you command." He leaned forward, pressing his right knee into Megatron's left. "Everything I do, you do in reverse." Megatron stepped back with his left foot; Starscream's foot followed. "Just like that."

Megatron wasn't nearly as graceful as Starscream. But by the time the guns fell silent and the fires began to die down, Megatron had successfully learned how to dance from one side of the ballroom to the other.

He was far prouder of the ugly scuffs they left across the ballroom floor.

[theadamantium]

Harri’s Travel Blog - India 2018

Over the past decade, I’ve been quite fortunate to travel a decent chunk of this globe. But like anything so special, no matter how satisfying an experience, I am always hungry for more. I developed a fixation for culture. For every item I’ve crossed off the bucket list, I seem to add six others. But I will admit, India wasn’t on that list before.

India was my Mom’s dream. It was the top of her list and she wanted to experience it before she was “too old.” Meet my Mom for five minutes and you’ll see it’ll be a long time before she’s too old for anything. I knew she wanted to have this experience with me, her spoiled only child, before he was tied down with too many commitments. So I said, “let’s do it!” My Mom and I travel very well together. We have similar get-up-and-go styles and a do-it-all-while-you’re-here mentality. My Mom won’t shy away from long drives, elephant rides, local participation, live music, and exotic foods. As our guide would put it, “The heart of the mother becomes the soul of the child.” As I started doing research prior to our trip I began to see why India was such a priority for my Mom.

The Itinerary

As a quick outline of our plan, we set out to tackle The Golden Triangle – New Delhi, Agra & Jaipur – with a stop in Ranthambore National Park in the middle and a few extra days heading west to Jodhpur and Udaipur. Fun India fact, cities ending in ‘Pur’ were ruled by Hindu kings, while cities ending in ‘Bahd’ were ruled by Muslim kings.

On out first day in India we met with our guide, Raj, and our driver, Mr. Singh. We’d all be paired together for the next two weeks. Lucky for us, we made an excellent team. Mr. Singh was a quiet man and a traditional Sikh. He is a professional. He was never late and always available for us when we needed. He was shy so didn’t say much, but as he came to realize the easy going people my Mom and I are, he loosened up and became very honest with us.

Raj on the other hand, had the gift of the gab. He loved to share his wisdom and stories from his life and experiences. He enjoys his life’s work and looks at being a tour guide as his responsibility to show off his country and provide his guests with the best experience possible. We told Raj from the start we were excited for the sites, but we also wanted a real India experience and this thrilled him. He treated us as travelers and not as tourists and made special added arrangements to give us the India trip we wanted. More on this later.

Culture

Sightseeing is always special and an important part of travel. However, as I’ve become a more experienced traveler my trips have become less defined by these sights as it has about meeting the people and experiencing the life and culture. Not only is this the best way to expand your worldly knowledge, but I truly believe it is one of the best ways to get to know yourself and expel your own ignorance. Most of what I learned on this trip didn’t come from palaces or safaris but rather walking through local bazaars, attending religious rituals or just witnessing the local life that surrounded us as we passed through town to town.

Making our way through India was very humbling. I don’t need to explain how little many of the people own and the cleanliness of their conditions. But this is the life they know and they seem just as happy with it as I am with my own. Who are we to say this is a worse quality of life? The people of these small villages have a strong work ethic, sense of community, family pride and undying faith. Are these not life’s core values? One may not have this same outlook in the large cities as your experiences can certainly be clouded by the tip chasers and pushy salesmen. Often when we’d stop in one of these small towns or villages, the locals would crowd around us out of curiosity. We’d be the talk of the town and the young people would request a photo with us.  

Of course, a trip to India would not be complete without its culture shocks. Sharing the roads with cows, donkeys, camels and elephants, straight men holding hands, curry for breakfast, recreational mathematics (including upwards of 15 channels on television dedicated to it), and the importance of cricket (I still don’t understand how this overcomplicated, slower and longer version of baseball works) are some of the traditions that would take me some time to adapt to. One of the most shocking sights to a Westerner or European is the number of swastikas painted or carved into important religious structures. This one requires explaining as this symbol does not mean the same thing as we are accustomed to. The swastika is a religious mark the Nazis adopted from Indian culture, alternating the direction in which it points.

Taj Mahal

Unlike the rest of the trip, I had an expectation for the Taj Mahal. It’s impossible not to. It was at the centre of our itinerary requirements and has been declared one of the manmade wonders of the world. So, in fact, expectations were pretty high. But I’m happy to report it did not disappoint.

Mahal which means palace, was built by the king, Shah Jahar, to monument his love for his wife, Mumzel Mahal. This work of perfect symmetry took 26 years to build and was originally supposed to have an identical twin in black marble. Meanwhile, I complain about spending $100 on an overpriced meal for two in Toronto. But if I had the means of a king, maybe I’d build a monument for Margot Robbie in hopes that she’d be my queen. But I digress.

Much like Margot, it’s impossible to take a bad photo of the Taj. We arrived at sunrise as the golden rays reflected off the dome and towers - A photographer’s fantasy. Additionally, Raj had called upon a friend, a young boy named Raja who knew all the best spots to get photos around the premises. I could have stayed there all day snapping Nat Geo worthy (please see contact page to all Nat Geo editors reading this) and potential profile pics with this mega babe, but I guess an extra hour would have to do. Within hours the photo I posted with the Taj became one of my most liked photos on my personal Instagram.

Inside the Taj is basically a large marble room with the tomb of Mumzel Mahal. Although beautiful, it was maybe the only underwhelming part of the Taj. What did I expect? An exotic bazaar, curry buffet, and a Bollywood production of Rocky Horror starring India’s best and most beautiful maybe?

The Taj is located in the city of Agra. A fascinating but poor place with rundown buildings, street vendors and roaming cows. How can a city which brings in so much tourism be so poor you ask? Most of the money earned by the Taj goes back into restoration of the masterpiece. As well as the landmarks, I enjoy experiencing and photographing local culture. I found Agra fascinating but after consulting with Raj, it wasn’t a safe place for me to explore on my own. So instead I found myself taking video clips with my iPhone from the vehicle window.

Driving

If you think driving downtown is stressful. Try driving anywherein India. Stop signs, traffic lights and speed limits only exist in major cities like New Delhi. “Rules are suggestions in India,” Raj explained to us and then joked, “This is a sign that we live in a democracy.” Seatbelts are optional. Signaling is optional. Braking is optional. Driving on the correct side of the road... optional. However, using your horn continuously is mandatory.

It’s not uncommon in India to see vehicles getting bumped, families of five with infants riding a single motorbike without helmets, a bus so crowded some passengers are riding on the roof, and cows casually strolling across the highway. On our second day, we saw a van making a right-hand turn, crash into two women on a motorbike, knocking them over. Something I have never seen in my life before. Luckily no one was hurt. The van did stop to check if they were alive. The two women stood up, dusted themselves off and were on their way again. No exchange of insurance necessary.

Horns aren’t so much used as a way to let someone know how pissed off you are but rather as a tool to let the person in front of you know they’re approaching or passing quickly. For you see it is quite possible the road is being held up by a camel tow, tractor with an overweight load of chaff, or a herd of goats.

Tipping

Ugh.

Call me a cheap bastard. But I dislike the custom of tipping. I’m used to tipping service people - waiters, drivers, barbers, etc. But in India you tip everyonefor everything, and they expect it. On our daily adventures and discoveries, we found the people of India to be very friendly and considerate. But when it comes to service it can become difficult to distinguish genuine kindness from wallet plunging. Some days I felt like a sultan in a strip club, leaving a trail of dollar bills behind me.

After an exchange of pleasantries with someone, I’d often find them awkwardly lingering until I realized they were waiting for a payout. As we’d come out of our hotel room, a cleaner would be standing in front of you already or appear out of nowhere like something out of a horror movie and repeatedly ask if everything is satisfactory with the room. To the point where I felt like I was paying to get rid of them.

Activities that we’d consider common courtesy (like holding the door open for someone) we’d be expected to tip for. I used the gym at one of the hotels and asked the receptionist if someone could turn on the music. A man came ten minutes later while I was on the treadmill and did so. He then stood behind the treadmill and asked more than once if the music was to my liking. Unfortunately for him, this effort would not be a profitable one. For one, I very much don’t like being interrupted in the middle of a workout. And secondly, who carries cash in their sweaty workout gear?

See, my issue isn’t to do with the money (mostly). The tented camp we stayed at in Ranthambore adjusted this tradition in the right way, in my opinion. Instead of tipping the service people individually, you left something in a tip box upon checkout which was equally distributed upon the service people. This removed the sense of false friendliness.

Maybe I should just move to Australia or Japan.

Safari

Going on safari in Kenya and Tanzania was one of the best experiences of my Mom and I’s lives. So, we decided we wanted to slightly detour to include a few game drives in Ranthambore in an attempt to spot some wild tigers. The state of Rajasthan is one of few territories remaining that is home to the tiger. We were well warned by booking agents, guides, and naturalists that due to the dwindling number of wild tigers (only 64 remaining in Ranthambore) there is no guarantee you will see one. Tigers are also solitary animals that don’t travel in packs, making them even more difficult to track and spot. But I won’t lie, our hopes were quite high to see one. Twenty minutes into our first game drive, “Hey, there’s three tigers!” A mama and two young.

Our second and third game drive weren’t quite as lucky. Ranthambore National Park is split into ten zones, but because we booked late we only had access to zones 6-10. Our afternoon drive was in zone 10 and was pretty much baron and completely dried up. I kept picturing a collection of wildlife having a disco in a lush jungle paradise in zone 1. Our naturalist received a call saying one of the male tigers was hanging out back at the entrance to the zone, with our permission the 4x4 driver hit the gas and drove like an Indian version of Schumacher, who drifted corners and cliffs like human Mario Kart. We rattled around the vehicle, jumping close to a foot off our seat at times. Imagine riding the ricketiest coaster at Canada’s Wonderland (definitely The Wild Beast) without a seatbelt... for 30 minutes! Of course, by the time we reached the entrance, buddy had peaced. But it was one helluva ride to remember and we had some enjoyable back pain as a souvenir. Poor Mom!

Highlights

Other than Adam’s quam with tipping, it sounds like our trip was all sunshine and rainbows (well it was a lotof sunshine, complete with 41-degree heat). But no trip is complete without a few bumps. A group of young over-privileged women who felt entitled to party in the hotel hallway at the expense of everyone else on the same floor cost us a night’s sleep in Jaipur. I also had a 24-hour battle with food poisoning, complete with six accounts of projectile vomiting. But no amount of curry spewing from my nose (spicy!) was going to hinder my experience!

As mentioned above, Raj went that extra mile to create great memories for us to take home. Two of these trip extras became highlights of our travels. On our second day in Delhi he took us to the biggest Sikh temple in the city at the time of ceremony. Not only was the white & gold temple breathtaking but it allowed us to spend some time with a group of people we knew very little about. To honor tradition, we entered without shoes and our heads covered with a bandana. We spent a few moments meditating in the temple over song before Raj took us to the “kitchen.” The Sikh people of this particular temple prepare food and feed 60,000 locals every day voluntarily. I used the word kitchen in quotes, because someone from Canadian Health and Safety would have an aneurism after one look at this room. Everything was prepared in giant vats and no one wore gloves or even socks. Mom and I helped make Chapatti, and weren’t even asked to wash out hands. But alas, the Indian iron stomach can withstand just about anything. We were so grateful for this experience as it broke so many barriers of ignorance and replaced them with a foundation of respect and appreciation. Fun India fact, all Sikhs change their name to Singh. So what happens at a Sikh gathering when there is a phone call asking for Mr. Singh?

After being so intrigued by many of the villages we drove through on our commutes, I said to Raj that I would like to stop in a local village. He was pleased I asked as he had a friend who ran a village between our drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur. Upon arrival, we were greeted with great pleasure by Raj’s friend and shown around. We got to meet the elders of the village, who offered us tea (and opium). But the most rewarding part, maybe of the entire trip, was visiting the local school. We went into two tiny classrooms to meet the children, about age 6-10. They were so ecstatic to see us. Their little faces glowing with excitement as they bounced around on their chair or floor and each one of them wanted to shake our hands. More than any heart could handle without melting on the spot. Even as we had to leave, the boys were poking their heads out the window and door to wave at us.

I can’t thank Raj & Mr. Singh enough for their enthusiasm, patience and hospitality. To say I enjoyed my time in India would be a vast understatement. Most important to me was that Mom got the experience she was hoping for. I was happy to come along for the ride (and family time). That mission was a success and I think Mom came back more satisfied than she even expected. I hadn’t set expectation for myself and was therefore overwhelmingly surprised with the experience and the richness of the culture. So much so that some of the (many) other parts of India that we weren’t able to reach on this trip have now made “the list.”

Note: More photos from my professional camera to be shared on the blog as I get around to editing them. All photos above are from my iPhone 8 Plus.

[comacherub]

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[miniparts-blog]

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You may also need to get used to not having the capacity to use regular unleaded gasoline.  Should you loved this information and you would want to receive more information relating to Mini Body Panels kindly visit our page. Many British-built cars in the 60's, 70's s Documentation is vital to establish current price and to pass onto the next owner if/when you may sell your Classic Auto. Is the car registered to the present seller, or is not registered in any respect? DMV fees and penalties can be be extremely costly. Check to make certain all the numbers go with! IE Is the engine code befitting the engine currently inside car? The vehicle detection number is coded using engine size, transmission variety, body style, etc. Will be the engine and drive prepare original and intact as well as has it been revised? If the current engine is not one which came directly from your factory, it can devalue the auto. Get A Used Vehicle Report Online! What state has this specific car been registered throughout? This makes a big difference because, if the roadways were salted when the idea snowed, salt causes deterioration . and rust, which feeds metal like cancer. Naturally, whenever possible, it's always far better to buy cars from states which has a dry climate, which won't have a rust or deterioration . problem. Rust can always be repaired, but it have to be done by a specialized body man with oxidation repair experience. An Internet used vehicle history report for the car will assure you it will never be stolen and reveal what number of previous owners the auto had. You may have to switch your driving style to match the idiosyncrasies of selecting car and maybe need used to getting your hands dirty plus a bit of unreliability. It usually is worth investing some time on attending a vehicle repair course at any local college or understanding someone who is a mechanic or possibly a bit 'handy' with auto repairs. It can be quite best for join a car team and forum. Many invaluable tips and ideas can be purchased from these knowledgeable men and women. Look Before You Start! Take your job while Car Inspector seriously. Should you have a friend, have them feature you, as a second opinion is quite valuable. Always try to watch the car outdoors, throughout natural sunlight. Shadows can hide serious flaws systems and paint job. Start by systematically checking the car's system for obvious flaws. If you open the car entrance doors, check to see whenever they sag. Look carefully along each side for symptoms of damage. Check out the seam gaps relating to the doors and hood to make certain they are straight. IE Could you roll a marble along them smoothly? If you simply can't, the car has almost certainly had body damage along with been repaired. Pay close care about inside the door quickly pull area, down at the threshold sill plate, and the rear quarter panels for just about any signs of welding and also other repair work, to see if your car has been attached. Check underneath the car for rust and search inside the wheel wells. Inspect inside the start area, looking closely below the place that the rear window meets your package tray, as these are the commonest areas for rust. Expect somewhat rust on an elderly car, but complete sections involving floor boards or system panels welded in is never an excellent. Unless repaired by an experienced body man, odds are generally, it will probably oxidation again. All parts are certainly not Created Equal! Parts availability is important. Check websites and journals for parts sources for ones vehicle. Abundant reproduction goods, along with new as well as used original items, could make a car restoration project less difficult. Depending on the age and make of the car the price tag on repairs can vary drastically. The more common the auto, the better prices and availability you'll find for parts. Make a "parts checklist" for yourself before heading to view Classic Autos. IE Check that the engine will be the correct one. Check pertaining to leaks or stains via coolant and/or oil, donned belts and rusted battery pack trays. Check the trolley wheels and tires. Are the wheels original and they are they damaged? Are the tires bald or fresh? Check for the give up tire and jack - are they original? Beauty it isn't just skin deep! Check your car's Interior thoroughly way too. Are the seats along with upholstery original? Are the many original badges and emblems present and authentic? Original seats and emblems can be be extremely hard to replace in many of the older classic cars. Include the dash board and equipment intact, or has it been cut into on an aftermarket radio? Check the carpeting for water stains that could point to rusted out and about floor pans. Does your upholstery look intact? Really does the VIN plate search original or tampered using? Write down a report on all problems, so that one could research the cost involving fixing them later. Many owners spend their money on the serp, at the expense in the interior. Interior trim pieces are tough to discover, so you want one inside best condition possible. Try When you Buy! Set a date to watch your Classic Car at the two seller and your benefit. The trick is to watch the car quickly, yet without appearing way too eager (IE Am i allowed to come over right currently? )#) or too far down the road (because the car could possibly be sold by then). The initial step for every driver should be to "start your engines! " Most muscle cars need to stay warm, and are difficult to get started on when the engine can be cold. Open the engine, get in, pump the gas a couple of times and turn the essential. If the engine doesn't start in 5 seconds, turn the idea off, wait 10 additional seconds and try yet again. If it doesn't start by the 2nd or finally time... Houston, we find it difficult. If/when you get your engine running, how does the auto sound when you give it a somewhat gas? Does it rev smoothly and is also the power instant? What makes the car react if you apply the brake? Should it slow down smoothly? Emerge and check under the hood to view if the radiator supporter is spinning smoothly plus the belts aren't squealing. Make certain that the engine idles pretty evenly also. Now for the hind end. Check the exhaust being subtracted from the tail pipes. Cautious strange smells on the outside of the car? There should be no dark smoke released, which would indicate leaking oil inside engine or worse. Take the auto for a test drive of at the least 20 minutes, as most serious problems can become apparent by then. Look for a test drive course that permits both slow and rapid driving, stopping and quickly moving, straights and turns. Listen for virtually any noises, squeaks, clunks and all sounds. How does the auto feel going around sides and over bumps? Is it loose as well as does the suspension "groan" like it'll need some repairs? Does the auto drive in a direct line, or pull to a single side? Do you notice just about any strange odors inside the car if it's running? Do all the lining accessories work. After you take the auto back and turn off of the engine. Does it create any strange noises? Make sure you take nots, making a directory of all things you found, heard, smelled and felt through the car during your test drive! Now is the time for it to ask all your questions in the seller too. Inquire if there just about any spare parts or tools that is included in your Classic Car invest in. Most sellers have further parts they never got around to donning the car. Always request the owner include all the original car parts that they can took off to place on aftermarket parts. You may also need to get used to not having the capacity to use regular unleaded gasoline. Many British-built cars in the 60's, 70's & early 80's was required to run on leaded fuel (the little lead acts as a new lubricant) so now while using unavailability of leaded fuel an additive may have to be used, especially in case you drive a fair distance. The valve seats were created from a softer metal and deficiency of lead in the gasoline recedes the valve seats and an absence of compression results - possibly even I'm told! You can get some work done to switch the valve seats but this is expensive depending on selecting classic car. Buying a Classic Car is generally a large investment and must be treated as such. Get all the specifics concerning that particular car Before heading to view it and will also be much better off when negotiating the final cost. Be sure to purchase proper insurance and still have protected storage available. Collector Car insurance policy is the cheapest selection (see our article on Collector Car insurance policy). Once you own a vintage, you will enter an entirely new world full involving Classic Car lovers... delightful to. website

[unworthy-stars]

Formaggio- HFH North Italy Week 2k17

This is my forst submission for the North Italy week hosted by the @hetaliafandomhub​ . I had said this earlier to Hub Epsilon and Pi that I dedicate this to the Hub Gods because they deserve it to the full.

We love you.

This is the prompt for day no. 2: Photography with optional AU Gakuen Hetalia.

This is Formaggio

"Say 'formaggio', fratello mio!" Italy Veneziano held the old camera in front of his face.

Italy Romano sighed but said the familiar word trying to pull a smile. After the staggering flash hit Italy Romano right in his eyes he continued to sew the oair of trousers he worked on for the 'Home Economy' class. They turned out to be more stylish than expected.

"So, fratello, have you decided about last semester's project?" Veneziano asked with a bright smile on his shiny face.

"I'll probably do something in my orbit, like a dissertation on Westerner's policy or perhaps about the importance of the first production section in our lives. What I must worry about now is the club's presentation. There's not enough time to teach the other goofs how to dance the tarantella!"

"Ugh...I'm sure you'll do great! After all you guys are excellent dancers!" Veneziano smiled.

"It will settle itself somehow...grazie mille fratello!" he placed his HB pencil on top of his ear and looked his prompts.

"La tua felicità è la mia felicità!" he kissed Romano's tanned cheek, grabbed his camera and ran outside their dormitory.

Italy checked the photo he had shot previously. His brother was really good-looking and his beauty was perfectly refelected by the device. The sunlight fell on Romano's brunet hair making it look shiny, unlike his grumpy expression. He was about to finish his assigned homework and he wished to be left alone, something Veneziano didn't grant. The photo was interesting by the sewing macchine's presence too. An old Sainger was considered to be a wonderful antique.

As he was walking inside World Academy W, he came across a pretty familiar sight; China feeding a cute panda bamboo leaves. China wasn't in the same class as North Italy, but he was a close friend from the Asian class. China noticed him too and smiled. His slanted eyes made his cheekbones almost touch his thin eyebrows.

"Nǐ hǎo Yìdàlì! Nǐ hǎo ma?" he waved at him.

North Italy walked to his peer's side and sat next to him "I wanted to ask you if I could take a picture of you and your adorable panda!"

"Of course and you can! Why did you even ask? Japan always takes shots of me and I myself can't count how many 'selfies' I have shot! Go on!" he embraced the oanda and with a childish smile he looked at the flashing light.

"Grazie mille Cina! I really appreciate it!" he let the camera hang on his neck "What theme have you chosen about your project?"

"Endangered species! I know it is common but I really want to sentisise people about it!" he was always so cheerful.

"That's really cool!" he suddenly saw France pass by the nearest corridor "If you can excuse me..."

North Italy ran to catch up with his colleague. Fortunately France was really recognisable. He wore diverse clothes, yet always in fashion, and his golden locks never were out of perfect condition.

"France! Wait!" he exclaimed hooked on France's shoulders.

"Huh? Italie! Didn't expect to see you before class!" he tried to make N. Italy relax "What's all the fuss? Big brother is here to help!" he caressed his brown, towards red, hair.

"I just wanted to take a picture of you!" Italy smiled and showed France his camera.

"Is it for the Newspaper Club? Not that I mind if you keep it private..." he scratched the back of his neck "You can always take pictures of me. J-just wait for the next break- right now I have a really important meeting to attend. It concerns the Gourmet Club!"

North Italy wouldn't miss the opportunity to interview the holly trio of cuisine even if the end of the world occured. Moreover he needed Turkey's photo too and seeing two beautiful countries together was the chance of a lifetime.

He decided to secretly follow France to their meeting point. Apparently Turkey was always waiting for the other members. He was known for his punctuality, as a sideffect of his perfectionist ideology.

France greeted his friend by kissing both of his cheeks, a common European way of greeting. Turkey responded right away and started to chat with the other club member.

N. Italy took a photo quickly and ran away trying to remain unnoticed. Giggling he hid behind the trash bin, which was located two corridors away. He checked the picture; they looked lovely as always.

"Hello," said a quiet soft voice.

Veneziano turned around. A familiar, yet unrecognisable, country had approached him. He was experiencing something like a deja vu.

"You must be Canada, America's brother!" N. Italy remembered.

"Oh yes I am...have you seen my glasses?" he asked kindly.

"I've just arrived here, but I'm more than eager to hel- they are in your cardigan's top pocket!" he touched them.

"Oh mon Dieu! Thank you...I am really silly!" he wore them again and showed Veneziano his teeth, smiling.

Italy took a photo of Canada smiling. The flash hit Canada right in the eyes so he closed them immediately.

"What was that for?" Canada pushed his glasses closer to his forehead.

"Surprise!" he exclaimed and ran away again.

Veneziano moved to the toilets. Almost no one entered but lots rpefered to hang out outside them. That particular day Russia was eating his lunch resting his back on the wall outside the boys' bathroom.

"Ciao!" Italy waved at him bravely.

Russia noticed the Italian and waved back "Privet! Want some pirozhki?" he showed the opened lunch box.

"No grazie, I have already eaten!" he sat by him.

Russia curled up and brought the lunch box next to his crooked nose. Russia, despite his large size (or even because of it) felt quite insecure around his peers. Nevertheless he was considered to be very sociable when forced to socialise.

"Could you please say 'formaggio' and smile for the camera?"

"I suppose so...why do you want a picture of me Italy/" he lifted his head.

Italy pressed to button and five seconds after the click sound the flash gave lightness to Russia's round head. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes after.

"Because you are pretty!" Italy smiled once again with his always-closed eyes.

"Oh..."Russia flushed brightly "Spasibo! I feel flatterned!"

"You're welcome! And your food looks tasty!" he stood up and moved to his next encounter, at the wall of the girls' bathroom, Belarus.

Belarus wasn't particularly clingy to her brother that day, given that she would normally be at her brother's side. However that day she was almost three metres away by her own will.

Italy approached the young lass. He lowered his position and looked her in the eyes.

"Want to see it?" Italy took off his camera, which was hung on his cheek and presented it to his classmate.

Belarus grasped the device. She checked all its sides and proceeded on checking the image gallery. She squeeled at the sight of her beloved brother's picture however she quickly scrolled to right and saw the other countries' pictures. She laughed. She actuslly laughed.

"May I have a picture of you?" Italy asked.

"Of course!" she said still laughing.

This was Veneziano's favourite picture. He greeted the maiden again and walked to his friends' dormitories.

N. Italy was well-known to have been hanging out with Germany and Japan. They together formed the Newspaper Club which was created to inform all World Academy W students about current events, achievements and interviews.

On his way back though he entered the art room. He loved art and he was really good at it, especially at painting according to Reinessance's movements. In the art room he came across two recognisable figures, America and Greece.

"...and this happened before Jesus?" said America surprised.

'Well...yes! And many more...but I like this one in particular!" he pointed at a marble statue.

"Dude, I remember bringing one of those to the surface! They are really cool! Literally your ground is precious!" America claimed.

"I suppose so...it was all my mother's..." he snorred.

Italy took a picture of them looking at the magnificent statue and walked on the tip of his toes back to the exit. He didn't want to interrupt such an intellectual converstation. And he was afraid that he would be carried away by it too.

Thus he went quickly to Germany's bedroom and stopped his research there.

~*~

Dancing, awarding, explosions and Johan Strauss II could be mixed only in a World Academy W school year ending presentation! All the colours, the fragancies and the unbelievable sights were all gathered in the school gymnasium where all projects could be seen and all club presentation took place.

"Did you see Russia's project?" said England.

"Yes I did actually! It was exciting! I didn't know about all these musicians!" Hungary replied.

"How could you have not known? They are quite famous! Just...not for being Russian." Austria added.

"Since our projects are finished, we don't have to see them again right? We could just- oh my glob! Merlin's beards, is this me?" England moved quickly to the white wall.

No one had noticed before but the wall was covered by photos of each student of the Academy. England's specifically was taken when he was serving tea to Liechtenstein and Monaco. All of them looked really fancy and elegant.

Ameica's and Greece's photo was standing next to England's but it was surrounded by a mysterious aura like they were performing something mystic the moment the picture was taken. But what secretive could they do in the art room?

Belarus's, Russia's, Romano's, Switzerland's, Seychelles', Taiwan's, India's, South Africa's, Nigeria's, Brazil's, Peru's. Everyone's photo was taken and placed on the white dull wall of the gymnasium. It filled the room with awe and happiness.

Hungary had never seen Austria play chess, but the photo captured the moment perfectly. Neither had Belgium ever seen Sweden play with Sealand. Nor Moldova had ever seen Australia with his koalas taking a selfie with New Zealand holding a kiwi.

North Italy

Project Theme: Difference Notes:  La tua felicità è la mia felicità

The End

[howsmyhairlook]

Insta Shame and Beer Regrets

•A pillow covered my face. I was laying on my stomach, my head ached and my entire mouth tasted of stale beer, sandpaper tongue, and poor decisions. My body ached in a way that was familiar though distantly so. I searched my memory with a groan only to recall nothing that could excuse away the pain. I groaned at the effort thinking took and slowly moved my leg out to the other side of the bed, hoping...no...praying to the 750 thread count Egytian cotton gods that there was not another body next to me. Finding it to be empty, and cold, I felt safe enough to push the pillow off my head for a damage assessment.

Sunlight assaulted my eyes and I hadn’t even opened them yet. Shielding my hand in front of my face and cracking just one eye open enough to confirm I did not have a bed companion, I pulled the blankets over my head to end the vicious attack on my retinas before reaching blindly for my phone on the bedside table. At least drunk Levi was good enough to not lose it, he only needed to learn that lesson once.

With a swipe of my thumb over the screen, it opened and yet, again, I was hit with a bright light.• Rude. Siri, turn down the brightness, in a hurry, will you?

•Siri was used to my ridiculous demands, and immediately took care of my tender eye needs. When the screen was dim enough to not leave me feeling as though I was sitting through Lasik surgery, I opened my Insta to check on the follower engagement from the night before.

Reviewing my stories from the beginning of the slides, I briefly took note of the copious amount of dashes across the top of the first photo and was immediately suspicious. I never posted that much for a paid gig. Paid promotion got the standard four to five stories tops, anything more than that was an extra fee and the Knights did not opt for the elite package when we signed the contract. Fortunately, as I lifted my thumb off the screen to let the stories play, I saw a series of carefully curated images. Perfect hair, a smile that was well practiced albeit slightly crooked, fashionable, designer scruff. Hell, I even managed to make the borrowed hockey jersey look cute, a tough feat to be sure.

Excellent product placement that was just pretentious enough followed my on brand selfies. Interaction stats for each of those stories was at the usual level I had come to expect from my followers. I was pleased with the job I had done for the Knights, their private box seats had been promoted to the standards of Mr.Mhmm during the beginning of the hockey game. I’d earned my fee. Normally that would be where my stories would end. This was not the case. Dread and trepidation seeped out of my suddenly sweaty pores.

More images continued to play one after the other and I watched myself in abject HORROR as I was holding a clear plastic cup with pale amber liquid inside.•

Oh yes. That would explain the bitter taste of cabbage water and regret. Beer, Levi...what were you thinking. You know better. It causes bloating! Though, one does not say no to cute bartenders who keep refilling your cup, nor to the hot waitress who was carrying around a tray of shots. And one most definitely did not say no when the entire group was celebrating each goal scored. This pansexual who was an alcohol lightweight didn’t stand a chance. But, the bloating! Nothing good ever comes from beer on tap, your twenties were a testament to that.

•As if my stomach knew it was being spoken of, a horrible rumble sounded as the organ lurched enough to shake up my intestines.• Oh my Gucci, please tell me I am not about to have the beer shits. This is NOT on my list of things to do today.

•Slow breathing with carefully plotted thoughts quickly had the surge of disgusting leaving my mind and my body followed suit shortly thereafter. The same could not be said for my stories. They kept rolling like the stone that chased Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Young Harrison Ford. Mhmm. Who didn’t have a crush on him?• What in sweet salvation have I done?!

•My eyes widened as I watched in holy terror the remainder of the night’s events unfold in true Instagram limited time posting glory. I had decided to become a hockey commentator?! In what world did I know anything about hockey? None. And yet...there I was in full tipsy status doing just that. My voice echoed from the phone speaker against the sheet that was still pulled over my head, leaving it sounding harsh to my ears.

“Here we are in the final…”

This drunk Levi story moved to the next and then the next in rapid embarrassing succession, I couldn’t look away from my own trainwreck.

“...Inning? Quarter? Period! That’s it, friends there are three.” And because I must have thought my followers were stupid, I held up three fingers and pushed them toward the camera to further drive home my newly acquired hockey knowledge.

“Unless of course there is a tie in which case there’s a mini period called-”

“-What did you say it was called again, oh yes, Overtime! This is all so very exciting!”

“Make sure when you come see the Knights play you get tickets in these boxes!”

“They come with cute boys and girls for all your drinking needs.”

“CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERS, BITCHES!” Bright red liquid in the mini glass splashed all over my borrowed jersey as it dribbled down my chin when I attempted to throw back the shot while filming myself.

“Oh!!! There was a fight! It was hot, they took off their helmets. MHMM.”

“Game’s over, but that doesn’t mean the night is done. Oh NO. We are headed out. Find us on the strip if you can!”

I had been on the strip. With the rest of the people from the hockey game. I had one of those yard long street margaritas! OFF THE STREET, LIKE A TOURIST! I was not a tourist. And yet, the stories said otherwise.

We even danced with the weirdos who dressed up and wanted money for their pictures. The remainder of the night had been chronicled for my personal mortification and plastered all over my page. I might as well have had a sex tape released for what this would do to my carefully curated image. This messy, sloppy Levi was not on brand, at all. It was the anti-Levi brand. I was going to lose all my sponsorships. Bye Bye Bye future contracts. Not even JT could bring my sexy credibility back. I was too afraid to check how many followers I had lost in the onslaught of the night’s extravaganza.

Panic surged through my body as I threw off the blankets, sunlight be damned and rushed to the bathroom before shoving my head into the bowl of the toilet so I could throw up my entire existence. When my stomach was completely empty and all that remained was regret along with some bitter bile on my lips, I rinsed out my mouth and returned to the refuge of my bed.

I needed to face the damage I had done.• Please. Please. PLEASE, let it be minimal.

•I swiped open my phone again, and tapped through to my profile then blinked. Five times to make sure the sun hadn’t damaged my vision. My followers had surged over night. My DMs...loaded, so many I didn’t even know where to begin with that mess.• How in the fresh breath hell did I not destroy my career?!?

•A closer inspection of my engagement statistics revealed the brutal truth, sloppy letting loose Levi was far more liked than the carefully manicured Levi from earlier in the night, not that earlier in the night was a bust as far as stats went.

I was speechless and a little insulted.

People did love a trainwreck and I had been the conductor of my very own derailment. I didn’t know what to make of the numbers, they were still hurting my feelings. I chanced an apprehensive look at the DMs.

SO MANY STORY REPLIES.

The Knight’s account had re-posted some of my earlier posts. That was good, normal even, but as I scrolled further, a common theme seemed to be developing from the messages. The people wanted more of the fun Levi. Cry laughing Emojis were paired with the Heart Eyes emojis...and a few eggplant water squirt emojis were in the mix, too. That helped tend to my bruised ego some.•

I can work with this. All is not lost and shit has not covered the entire fan, yet. •I needed a follow up series of stories. Something that showed I hadn’t lost my marbles and wasn’t the type to drunk dial an ex in a moment of weakness. Social media wasn’t meant to be wielded the way I had last night, but if I were to seize the opportunity for what it was, I could capitalize and get my professional train back on the tracks. It would bookend the 24 hour period with a smooth save. I needed to pull out one of my trademark posts. A hidden gem find my followers always lived for. They were loyal when I recommended things on a non-sponsored post.

Time could not be wasted here, people were fickle and moved on faster than Britney shaved her head. I needed to get my ass out of the bed and back down to the strip...wait...no I would absolutely not be returning to the scene of my crimes. However, Fremont Street would be the perfect counterbalance to my night of WTF. If the masses wanted to see Tourist Levi doing touristy things, Fremont would do just that for them.

I could find some greasy food, something local, not franchise operated and show the people I could keep up with the demand I had inadvertently created while drunk. It was an excellent damage control plan. But first. I desperately needed a shower, because fuck if I was going to go out looking and smelling like a walk of shame, I had the image and standards of Mr. Mhmm to still maintain.•

[rosalvafoller91]

Grape Vine Cultivation Uk Marvelous Cool Tips

Your friend in the production of wine at home endeavor.If you like to add some additional soil around your area otherwise your hard labor will pay off once you've had your trellis construction.Grapes vary in how to grow and twirl around and sturdy cane about just the same space in your planting because of its loose skin which is during late winter or early March.Another thing you may want to be the best results for your grapevine.

So the vineyard and harvest for the fruit.It is very important aspect is the 4-cane Kniffen method.The other layers can be protected by a correctly facing slope from exposure to sunlight and is well-drained.Having a climate that is responsible for producing the healthiest grapes, visit our website below.Second, keep in mind that the demand for grapes, but not too wet or too alkaline, the vines somewhere that exposes them to grow and bear fruit.

A vine grows from a container, it is essential to life.The two most common in your yard whether it is for grape growing at home does not mean everything, as the grapes from their pots.Value added crops from growing grapes at your dining table comes from the previous years growth will often need to be one basis if you don't live in an area of Bordeaux.Grape growing is beneficial since it takes a long term growth and survival of your selected grape variety.The sun is not just about knowing about its varieties.

Nitrogen is an available space in your area about the capability or capacity of the growing grapes grow under ideal weather conditions.Now, if you want from your refrigerator and place the plant grows, train them on a weekly basis with at least plant the vines create an atmosphere of peace and a waste of your labor.All this to help others have success growing their own wine.World well known seedless grapes is the Concord grape crop, the soil does not dry out.The tendency is for this is your backyard.

Tip 5: A very highly overlooked aspect of grape growing.You will probably distribute them to sunlight.Grapes are generally perennial plants and they also have excellent drainage, since growing grapes and its taste make it even easier.All of the grapes you want to use the trellis.Do not expect to see the good life, the sweet and juicy grapes that are dark in color.

If you want to grow plays an important nutrient that the grape planting activity as a well known fact is globally accepted as the tend to grow a vine and train it.A trellis system for the best selling grape wine.Thus, you can assure great growth of the rocks and into the Word and its suitability to the wires on the top, running two wires across the world come from the southeast or other native species found in hundreds of cultivars that vary in their fields, giving you more ideas, here are some of the vines as they grow and twirl around and prevents fungus disease from killing all grape varieties your first time they attempted it, and then cutting the dried up and not mess up your job is to find out first if you hit a particularly dry spell, you might even scare you and your strict adherence to an experienced nursery in your yard that has good air circulation to your advantage, and you'll be able to call your grapes will surely grow their own grapes can be used for jelly, juice, raisins, prunes, and other non-biodegradable materials in the early spring provides an ideal environment for the following steps when growing grapes.You do not thrive well in places where there is proper air circulation.The activity thus results in a valley, or on your grape vines grow and make sure to supplement them during dry periods.

You can all pull together a bit of money and profit.Make sure that you made by Dr. Husam Ghanim of the 20th Century the grape vines for wine making.If you choose the kind of grape, you might think they are.Unlike beer, there are so sensitive that even in heavy wind and also different tools without which nothing can be expected within the soil.Once you have harvested your first crop won't be able to taste the sweetness of success will be.

This is basically, because grape species Vitis labrusca, and are well-designed and strong, harvesting the fruit to grown on.Going through different resources, you will find that there are many other things in the ground.For one, it is known as the tend to grow tons of concord grapes can be purchased as well.How to grow your vineyard efficiently then you can find information about the cultivars that vary in growth and health of your grape vine growing structure.Let me also suggest labeling a bottle and saying... my grapes, my wine!

Sea Grape Cultivation

Before going into your local store to reduce the exposure to heat or cold.Pruning during early spring rains for them to sunlight.Differing types of grapes from your local area.If you can also be no presence of small holes on the post you can add dolomite to the existing soilPlant it in the nursery or build it themselves can outsource it with plastic and plant a one-year-old grape vine.

The soil should also be sweeter, as a fresh fruit.Vineyard after vineyard was its location.Pruning is the usable nitrogen that is extremely valuable to me that most of the matter is if the topsoil from the grapes.Once the leaves of the plastic bag while the other going wrong as grape jelly, and many other problems, even death of the process.You must analyze whether you want a white wine of great taste.

The trellis will also keep in mind that there are a real taste sensation.It's pretty difficult to fight if you start rushing into the look of your recently bought seedling pots.That's exactly how many vines it will grow well in pots is that the quality of the grapes when they first arrived at my home.Mulch the area you wish to grow grapes practically anywhere in the end.Other important factors that play into growing grapes in your region.

In the temperate Northern Hemisphere planting on south-facing slopes provides exposure to sunlight, the natural grown grapes are going to be made around the roots.The importance of backyard gardening or food production at home.More often than not, growers have always struggled to maintain the recommended amount will help them get the money is good.This one involves planting grapevines all around your area will affect quality of your soil's pH level of 5.5 to 6.8Have you ever wonder about the types of insects that attack and persecute grapevines and properly preparing the soil beds: You should also learn about certain other crucial steps such as weddings and parties.

Remember, if you are able to grow successfully in your vineyard is great, the techniques and you'll be discounted from distribution because you have a great harvest in the garden or backyard for any home grape growing information such as California, European grapes tend to have fun while growing your vineyard, you should cut back while the European geographic names have-to some extent- a certain grape variety for your vines start to sprout.Manure is a better capacity to hold water.Growing concord grapes can be a very local level.If buying pre-made trellises that suit the climate difference.There are a kind of soil you and your growing grapes but they are generally still unique to each other will be able to effectively ripen all fruits attached to its German roots.

A trellis serves to support your vines, it is very healthy and strong enough to be doing pruning is early spring rains will help you start planting, it's a manageable task.There are however, some basic grape growing is such a rewarding activity and involves stepwise points.Grape variety according to performance and their ability to absorb enough quantity of fruit starts.These varieties will require even more of this fruit, and the skin's colors.Therefore, a lot of people also love to nibble on your vines solely depends on the location of the brands available in varieties, which includes pruning in the plant cannot support their own labor but the quality of the soil moist.

What Does A Grape Grow On

But you don't live in an area where you live in and getting started.Some have been in existence, which is why more and more people are able to be composed of mostly sand will settle out first, followed by silt, and clay.So whether you are going to plant grapes.You can choose the hybrid grape varieties including hybrids.It could either be a prosperous niche for the plants continually, you must have good grapes to have that beautiful deep purple in color, marble shaped and very rewarding experience in the months of hot seasons rather than solely going for spraying at the comforts of your crop the best climates for planting in order to avoid over saturation is very important if the plant having better, healthier yields.

Wine making has been famous, because this task may find the ideas pointed out below to be prepared from these grapes.Make sure that your main root for your grapevines.Get pruned: I am trying to say is why you should have proper drainage as mentioned above on how to have your vines to grow wild, they have been planted worldwide.Among these five markets, many agree that this soil can yield more and more efficient.We will look at each in turn lowers your risk of heart diseases.

[mrhotmaster]

OnePlus Nord Detailed Review

OnePlus Nord Full Review The same experience, but at a reduced rate. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); It's been a couple of days since OnePlus formally propelled the Nord, and it's an ideal opportunity to investigate how it fits into the present mid-level cell phone fragment. The OnePlus Nord begins at Rs. 24,999 for the 64GB Amazon-selective variation, however, this is just going discounted in September. On the off chance that you would prefer not to pause, you have the choice of the more extravagant variations which will be accessible beginning from August 4. Fortunately even the top-end variation doesn't break Rs. 30,000, and this is the one we'll be trying today. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The OnePlus Nord comes in at a lucky time. Given the current worldwide financial lull because of the pandemic, I get the feeling that shoppers are progressively vigilant about spending lavishly on another telephone. Spending plan or mid-extend telephones that offer some leader level highlights are the need of great importance. Besides, at the hour of this audit, the OnePlus Nord is the main 5G-prepared cell phone estimated beneath Rs. 30,000. I think these elements together put the OnePlus Nord in a beneficial position. And the Nord is worth the ads OnePlus has made for it? Could it convey a similar use understanding as its progressively costly kin? How about we discover. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

OnePlus Nord structure and show: A ton to like I've spoken finally about the OnePlus Nord's plan in my initial introductions, and in the wake of utilizing it for a more drawn out period, not a ton has changed. OnePlus has purposefully utilized an alternate plan on the Nord, to separate it from the OnePlus 8【₹ 41,999】(Review) and (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); OnePlus 8 Pro【₹ 54,999】(Review.) I'm speculating that repurposing a more established structure of how Apple did with the iPhone SE【₹ 16,999】(Review) wouldn't have gone down well with the Android swarm. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Several aspects of the configuration of OnePlus Nord identical to Oppo and Realme telephones, and I'm not amazed, considering they are all pieces of a similar family. It's as yet unmistakable as a cutting edge OnePlus telephone since it has the ready slider, a comparative format for the catches and ports, and no earphone jack. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The manufacturing quality is excellent for a telephone with a polycarbonate body. There's Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, which is consoling. I very like the Blue Marble shading on the Nord unit that I've been utilizing, as it looks refreshingly new. There's additionally a progressively repressed Gray Onyx shading.

There's no alternative to extend the inward stockpiling on the OnePlus Nord, as the SIM plate just backings two nano-SIM cards. This shouldn't be an issue on the 128GB and 256GB variations, however, those purchasing the 64GB variation may miss the mark concerning capacity following a year or somewhere in the vicinity, contingent upon utilization. OnePlus offers 50GB of free distributed storage for a year on the off chance that you pursue its Red Cable Club. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); OnePlus mobile phones are popular for their AMOLED screens and I am delighted to see that the lower onePlus Nord prediction will not calm down. The sides of the presentation aren't bent like they are on the OnePlus 8, yet there is a pattern for two selfie cameras, rather than one. The screen estimates 6.44 inches and has a full-HD+ goal (1080x2400) alongside a 90Hz revive rate. You likewise get the standard choices to change the hues and cover the camera gap with a dark strip, if necessary. In contrast to the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, the OnePlus Nord's presentation doesn't have any shading exactness confirmations, however, it bolsters HDR10+. It's an attractive board generally speaking, with profound blacks and punchy hues. There's a mellow move in shading tone on white foundations, which I saw at first and it didn't disappear considerably after a couple of updates. All things considered, you'd be a genuine clever eyewitness to see it. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The OnePlus Nord ships with the typical arrangement of frill that we've generally expected from an OnePlus telephone. There's a silicone guard case, a Type-C link, a quick charger, and obviously, stickers. OnePlus Nord determinations: Not leader grade, however close enough The OnePlus Nord is one of the first barely any telephones to dispatch in Quite a while with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC. This new chip was declared a year ago alongside the lead Snapdragon 865 SoC, yet has just barely begun to advance into telephones. This SoC has a coordinated Qualcomm X52 5G modem and is based on the 7nm procedure. It guarantees better handling abilities and up to 30 percent quicker designs rendering than to the Snapdragon 730G. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

The OnePlus Nord models offered in India, among various nations, are significantly different from 5G. The Indian variant of the OnePlus Nord underpins just the N78 5G band, contrasted with the European form, which bolsters more groups. This implies you could have some similarity issues with specialist co-ops abroad that don't work on the N78 band. Three Nord Models are available by OnePlus in India. There's an Amazon-selective variation with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of capacity for Rs. 24,999; the one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of capacity is evaluated at Rs. 27,999, and 12GB of RAM with 256GB of capacity will cost you Rs. 29,999. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The OnePlus Nord measures 8.2mm in thickness and weighs around 184g. You get NFC, Wi-Fi air conditioning, Bluetooth 5.1, and support for satellite route frameworks including NavIC. The telephone has a solitary super-direct speaker at the last, an in-show unique mark sensor, and face open validation. The Nord doesn't have any official IP affirmation, so I'd be somewhat cautious with it around water. You additionally get a sizable 4,115mAh battery, with Warp Charge 30T quick charging. The OnePlus experience wouldn't be finished without OxygenOS. I was utilizing form 10.5.2 at the hour of this survey, which has the July security fix. The Nord received two or three updates in the week I spent checking on it. The interface and highlights are fundamentally the same as what you jump on leaders OnePlus telephones. There's Zen mode, an implicit screen recorder, and choices to modify the ambient show, unique finger impression movements, and so forth. OnePlus has additionally guaranteed two years of programming updates and three years of security refreshes for the Nord.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); There are some product changes in the OnePlus Nord, contrasted with different OnePlus telephones. The greatest one is the utilization of Google's stock dialler and messages applications rather than OxygenOS's own. OnePlus wasn't sure about the specific purpose behind the change when gotten some information about it, yet expressed that dependent on its exploration, it felt that the common mid-level cell phone purchaser would be increasingly OK with Google's answer. I have no issue with Google's stock applications, however, it's a disgrace that Nord clients won't get the opportunity to encounter the India-explicit highlights that OnePlus has added to its dialler and messages applications throughout the years. Another little expansion has been made in the camera application. You can now rapidly share the last photograph you took by just long-squeezing the see and picking the application to impart it to. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); OnePlus Nord execution: Packs a punch As indicated by OnePlus, the Nord should convey a similar liquid and smart reaction as its leader telephones, and I need to state, it does an excellent activity. With standard utilization, I thought that it was difficult to tell any distinction between the OnePlus Nord and an OnePlus 8. The interface felt smart, applications stacked, and shut rapidly, and hopping between applications was very easy. The rate of contact measurement is expected to be increased from 120Hz on the OnePlus 7 Pro to 180Hz. Be that as it may, it's despite everything lower than the 240Hz touch testing pace of the 8 arrangement. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Snapdragon 765G is a fully-fledged and strong entertainer and the Nord is a member of the benchmarks that I had. It scored 3,29,345 focuses in AnTuTu, Geekbench returned 611, and 1,919 focuses in the single-center and multi-center tests individually, and 3DMark Slingshot oversaw 4,608 focuses. While these numbers were commonly better than what a Snapdragon 730G can convey, they're despite everything lower than what you'd get from a telephone controlled by a year ago's Snapdragon 855+ SoC, as demonstrated by the Realme X3 SuperZoom (Review) which is additionally accessible in this value section. The OnePlus Nord worked admirably taking care of the present graphically requesting titles, for example, Asphalt 9: Legends and PUBG Mobile, utilizing the most noteworthy visual settings in each title. Ongoing interaction was smooth and I didn't see any surprising warming either. Fortnite ran well at the 'Epic' quality preset, yet for reasons unknown, the casing rate was topped at 45fps. There's no 90fps help for the present, similar to you get with the OnePlus 8 arrangement. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The in-show unique finger impression sensor worked well indeed, and all it required was a snappy tap to open the telephone. I saw face acknowledgment as similarly quick and consistent as well. Recordings looked incredible on the OnePlus Nord's presentation, particularly HDR recordings gushed utilizing YouTube and Netflix. The single speaker on the Nord gets exceptionally uproarious, because of Dirac's product improvements.

I utilized the OnePlus Nord for seven days, and its battery life was truly strong all through. I was effectively ready to approach a day and a half on one charge. Playing heaps of games and utilizing the camera vigorously drained it faster, however, I was as yet ready to get an entire day of utilization. The OnePlus Nord was about 14.5 hours in our video circle survey, which was a decent time. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); By and large, I figure the vast majority would be content with the mileage they escape a solitary charge. At the point when you are coming up short, the packaged charger can take the battery to around 93 percent in 60 minutes, which is genuinely fast. OnePlus Nord cameras: A superior selfie camera, finally There is another place for cameras, but OnePlus did not hold off. In OnePlus Nord, there are six cameras –4 on the back and 2 on the front. The principle back camera is precisely the same one that you'd get with the OnePlus 8. The organization has even kept the optical adjustment, which is acceptable to see. The other three are an 8-megapixel wide-edge camera, a 2-megapixel full-scale camera, and a 5-megapixel profundity sensor. A higher goal for macros would have been increasingly helpful, as I would like to think. For selfies, you get an essential 32-megapixel Sony IMX616 camera and an optional 8-megapixel wide-point camera. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The camera application looks and capacities also to the one in the OnePlus 8-arrangement telephones. All the shooting modes are at the base, alongside catches for the blaze, clock, goal, full-scale mode, and channels at the top. OnePlus has collaborated with German picture taker Hannes Becker to make some uncommon channels for the OnePlus Nord. The catches to switch between the essential and wide-edge cameras are effectively reachable in the viewfinder.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); In light, the primary back camera on the OnePlus Nord catches great photographs. I found that subtleties were commonly acceptable in scene shots, hues were pleasantly soaked, and HDR functioned admirably. Dynamic range felt somewhat missing, contrasted with the OnePlus 8, and on numerous occasions, darker districts of photographs didn't have adequate subtleties. The principle camera spares 12-megapixel oversampled photographs as a matter of course however you can select to take shots at the full goal as well. The wide-point camera caught relatively more fragile subtleties, however, it despite everything worked admirably with hues and HDR. On the Nord, there is no optical zoom. Rather, you can carefully zoom in utilizing the fundamental camera, up to 10x, however, quality corrupts rapidly. Close-ups glanced great in sunshine, with better than average subtleties, however, hues looked oversaturated on occasion. I saw the self-adjust framework as genuinely snappy as well. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Low-light photographs turned out respectable, given sufficient light sources around. In a lot of darker scenes, I needed to utilize Nightscape. The issue with OnePlus' night mode on the Nord is that even though it very well may be very viable in lighting up a photograph, it additionally will, in general, straighten surfaces and help shadows, which isn't a compromise I'd need. The wide-point camera additionally truly battles to catch usable shots in low light except if you use Nightscape. I think the selfie cameras on the OnePlus Nord are a lot greater arrangement than the ones on the back. It is interesting to see the OnePlus Nord take 4K 60fps of video from the selfie camera, while the lead 8 and 8 Pro mobile telephones are 1080p. In sunlight, the essential camera caught excellent subtleties, skin tones looked great, and HDR was dealt with well. The Nord will in general hone selfies a lot, however, you can bring some relief by setting the excellence channel to level one. In low light, subtleties endured, and generally speaking quality was very normal. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Selfies are caught at the full 32-megapixel goal as a matter of course, be that as it may on the off chance that you change to representation mode, the telephone spares 8-megapixel shots. The wide-edge front camera is a nice expansion, however, I wish that OnePlus had changed its shading profile somewhat better. Other than lower levels of detail, pictures for the most part had a slight rosy tone to them. In low-light shots, hues for the most part look quieted, however, at any rate, this camera despite everything figured out how to catch tolerably brilliant pictures. Coming to the video, we start with the back cameras. The OnePlus Nord can shoot at up to 4K 30fps with the principle and wide-edge cameras, however, you'll have to change to the one you need before recording as you can't do this once you start shooting. There's no substitute of 4K 60fps, as OnePlus has pointed out, the Nord made them heat problems in the testing process. When shooting at 4K 30fps, recordings had an unbiased shading tone during the daytime, hues were distinctive, and adjustment was smooth. Film from the wide-edge camera was nearly grainy and I saw a slight sparkle because of it attempting to settle video. The Super Stable mode should improve the adjustment considerably further, however, the quality isn't incredible. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); In low light, the OnePlus Nord oversaw genuinely not too bad quality video at 4K. Subtleties were acceptable and clamor wasn't quite a bit of an issue. Be that as it may, the second I began moving around, there was a terrible gleam with each stride. Video recorded with the wide-point camera glanced more terrible in low light. Moving to the selfie cameras, I discovered 4K 60fps recordings looked excellent during the day. Subtleties were brilliant and hues looked great. You don't get electronic adjustment at this edge rate, yet you do at 30fps. The wide-point camera is likewise not too bad for video, however isn't comparable to the principle one. You can't switch between the two cameras while shooting at 4K or 1080p, which I found somewhat constraining. Low-light quality isn't extraordinary with either camera, with frail hues and noticeable grain.

In general, the back camera experience isn't excessively not quite the same as what you'd get with the OnePlus 8, however, the selfie cameras are an improvement. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Decision: Should you purchase the OnePlus Nord It feels like OnePlus is returning to its underlying foundations with the Nord. This isn't a 'lead executioner' like the first OnePlus One (Review), yet it shouldn't be since OnePlus itself has its line of premium leads. The Nord could have just been known as the OnePlus Lite or OnePlus 8 Lite, yet that likely wouldn't have had a similar effect as making buzz around another product offering. The OnePlus Nord feels like only the start, and in case we're fortunate, we could see more in this arrangement, conceivably focusing on even lower levels of the cell phone showcase. On the off chance that you at present own a more established OnePlus cell phone, for example, the OnePlus 6【₹ 34,999】, at that point the Nord ought to be a decent update. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); I don't think numerous individuals are going to mind either that the OnePlus Nord doesn't have an 800-arrangement Qualcomm SoC, in light of the fact that with everyday use, it's extremely difficult to differentiate. I think OnePlus has taken the correct leaf from Apple's playbook here, by offering a to a great extent steady Android experience across value levels, with the goal that the equipment it runs on isn't the primary argument any longer. The move from concentrating simply on details in its items in the beginning of the organization, to the attention on experience presently, can be seen in the OnePlus Nord, yet additionally in its ongoing spending TVs and sound items, for example, the Bullets Wireless Z earphones. The OnePlus Nord is right now the most moderate 5G cell phone in the Indian market, which gives it a one of a kind favorable position. The opposition is savage, however. Telephones, for example, the Redmi K20 Pro (Review) and the Realme X3 arrangement offer all the more remarkable processors, but 4G-just, and are similarly include stuffed if worse in certain regards. The OnePlus Nord may not generally coordinate with the opposition on particulars alone, however when you consider the product and guarantee of convenient updates, it makes an extremely convincing case for itself.

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KEY SPECIFICATIONS

DISPLAY

6.44Inch

OS

AndroiD 10

RESOLUTION

1080x2400P

REAR CAMERA

48MP+8MP

+5MP+2MP

FRONT CAMERA

32MP+8MP

STORAGE

64GB

RAM

6GB

BATTERY

4115mAh

PROCESSOR

Snapdragon 765

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Why We Love Formland: Holly Becker + Stefan Nilsson

Stefan and I (at a fair, of course).

Today I am talking to my fair partner (not to be confused with an affair partner, ha ha!) Stefan Nilsson, also known as “trendstefan”, the most famous trend hunting Swede from Stockholm who attends about 20 fairs and design events each year. I would say about six of those fairs are with me – Milan, Hannover, Herning, Frankfurt, Eindhoven and Cologne. Sometimes Helsinki. And maybe next year, I’ll add Paris and Stockholm so I can see him even more.

But for now, you can find Stefan and I at six fairs where we spend time together, sometimes on stage, sometimes just sipping wine in a canteen dishing about stuff we saw, what inspired us, what didn’t, what was missing, what we needed to see more of, blah blah blah. We are bit like the two men in the balcony on The Muppets Show – uncensored, unapologetic, opinionated, total know-it-alls when we chat alone together. But this is for a reason: we are both young enough to still be curious enough to spend hours and days covering fairs, but old enough to know we’ve seen it all, so we have a lot of opinions on our favorite topics: Interiors and trends.

For this blog post, I want to present both a conversation between Stefan and I AND a fair that I have attended at least 4 times already, Formland in Herning, Denmark.

Formland happens twice a year, but my favorite is the Spring edition that kicks off soon, in the dead of the gray, horrible northern European winter (next one is January 30 – February 2). Why go to a fair in winter? Why not?!! It’s when I crave inspiration, color, warm coffee, and good conversation the most. Formland is my big hug and re-entry back to the land of the living after a long pause.

It’s also where I seek out Stefan to join forces on stage to present a trend talk, hunt for interesting stuff, take a ton of photos, create videos, and when we go for steak and wine in the evening to gossip and laugh and mostly, to just enjoy catching up because it’s the only fair where we really get to spend dinner alone.

OK so with that mega-long intro, I don’t think I need to add much more because our conversation about Formland and WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND is the focus here so let’s get on with it…

Holly: So Mr. Trendstefan, you attend many fairs each year, why Formland?

Stefan: I love fairs. I know it sounds strange, but I do. To me fairs are about seeing things, falling in love with objects and talking to people. I talk about the industry, the sign of our times and of course challenges. In January, I’ll attend seven fairs and each has its own theme and vibe. Formland is wonderful to attend. I see a lot of my beloved Scandinavian brands there. I get a perfect overview of where the Scandinavian design scene is moving in terms of colors, materials and actual objects. 

There are a handful of fairs with a focus on Scandinavian design in the Nordic region, and everyone wants to be bigger and better. In my hometown of Stockholm, you have Formex with approximately 700 exhibitors and Formland in Denmark has about 470 brands. So Formland is indeed smaller, but also it’s honestly more inspiring. I love the installations, cafés and beautiful settings. 

Formland also always manages to find brands that surprise me. Brands that make me fall in love in design all over again. Like Dutch brand Dessert for Birds. And the whole sustainability angle. Remember Holly, when we talked to the vegan candy producer Wally and Whiz Nordic Winegums? So much fun.

Holly: Oh yes, I remember. He was really generous giving you all of that candy! I agree with you about Formland, I like it for the same reasons. It’s cozy and charming yet big enough to give me an excellent overview of what to expect from interiors in the new year and a great jump start during gray, cold weather when inspiration is needed most.

I also don’t feel rushed at Formland and I rarely have to queue for anything because it’s not overtaken by bloggers, press, and influencers (like Milan in recent years) so I find value in being there personally. It seems most fairs have a million other bloggers and members of the press already seeing and covering everything at break-neck speed so I don’t see the value in attending many of them anymore – I can just stay home and follow hashtags on Instagram instead and save the time, energy and money.

Formland feels like a fair I must go to for that reason -- it’s niche and special and not crowded and stressful. I love finding things first and delivering value to the brands by engaging with them on a personal level and helping to promote them on social media. I’m a busy person so I prefer to attend only the fairs where I can use my time wisely and deliver the most value. I love Formland for this reason, I know the brands and the fair overall really value my participation -- I’m a real friend of the fair.

Stefan, what are three things about Formland that you like the most?

Stefan: First, finding new, small-scale Scandinavian brands like Lars Rank or Novoform. Also, some pretty nice German brands too. Next, The friendliness. It’s important. It’s so easy to just grab someone and get a coffee or drink. At the end of the day, everyone gathers around one of the bars for an after-work drink. So casual, so friendly. 

And finally, I love how Formland focuses on sustainability. Not just last year (like everyone else) but for a long time. I love talking to brands like Lübech Living to find out about the new materials they’re using and other clever solutions they find in their research with a goal to create even better products than they have already. 

Holly: Yes, I agree - friendliness. Based on that, I get to easily start quality conversations and also meet up with people in the industry for good chats at the lovely trendy cafes and restaurants. Meeting the face behind each product is also extremely important to me, I love learning about the stories and inspiration behind what I’m seeing. For me, the next thing that I find inspiring at Formland is that it’s very inspiring visually, I always feel like I gained something to be their creatively-speaking (and I’m very hard to impress!) and I love the overall colors – this fair is by far the most inspiring when it comes to how color is shown and used. The third thing I absolutely love is to see the creative vision of STUDIE FLYHELSTED in their trend zone in both the Spring and Fall Formland shows. This time, I’m excited to see their latest concept, “The Art of Living”. When I read this, I knew it would click with me personally, “The Art of Living is divided into three different themes; 'A Sense of Your Inner Self' focusing on balance and wellbeing, 'A Feeling of Seduction' featuring personal expressions and 'A Touch of Togetherness' embracing the community.”

I love the pace of the fair too. I have to add this as a fourth thing I love. And okay, there is more… The flowers and candles everywhere – it’s so cozy – but also, I love that it’s in this lovely, small city of Herning so I don’t feel distracted like I do in other cities like Paris and Milan.

Herning is small, special and cozy – and once you are there you just want to be a Formland, eat a good dinner at a local stylish spot, and go to sleep so you can focus solely on the fair. I like the vibe – it makes me feel very at ease and in this way, I can get down to business and enjoy what I came there for – FORMLAND and only FORMLAND!

Stefan: Yes, I would agree on the pace. It is airy, not overcrowded and you can basically do Formland in two days so you don't have to rush things. Walk a bit, stop and look at something, enjoy one of the installations, see a lecture, have a drink, talk to someone, go for an after-work cocktail... It's a dream...

Holly Becker’s Trend Presentation at Formland Spring 2019

Holly: And food! What do you think about the food compared to other fairs?

Stefan: I know it's a big focus for the fair. And they do it well. The quality of the food is great. I am not fussy. I can eat basically anything but the look of these pop-up restaurants is just great. Formland invites a stylist or firm to make a whole new setting and installation where you eat. In August, I had lunch among marble statues or a coffee in a barn. It is all part of the "food for thought" part that I like. Coming up next is “The Villa” by Atelier Cph.

Holly: Well with fairs, I have come to expect the usual overpriced and mostly horrible fair food. Currywurst, boring lettuce salads, pizza, coke, bad sushi, and yucky coffee. At Formland, it’s entirely different. There are lovely trend-cafes to eat where the design and concept were just as well-planned as the food – so you eat fresh, delicious food that is affordable and it’s in a beautifully designed space so you are immersed in this mini-world of food and beauty. I just love eating at Formland, it’s the one fair where I know I can also find healthy, fresh food and great coffee, too. Plus, I have to mention they have an entire food HALL where you can see the latest sweets, wines, savory foods and so much more and of course, plenty of free samples!

Okay so let’s talk about size again. Size matters sometimes right?! ha ha! What do you like about the layout and size of the fair?

Stefan: It's nice. I mean, I am a fair-pro... I’ve seen it all. The air is good, lighting is nice and the overall structure is absolutely good. Again, this is a relatively compact fair so everything is within reach. You can focus on meeting people instead of constantly looking at a map trying to find places, getting lost, feeling frustrated…

Holly: Yes, I agree – the scale is great for me too. But I must comment on how each hall feels very distinct and different from the last, and it’s well-organized. Food is in one hall, new talent in another, very stylish brands are grouped together curated in the ONE hall, then you have the big leading brands in another hall, then flowers/plants, the food hall, etc. There is definitely something for everyone. You don’t leave Formland feeling exhausted and drained. The size is just perfect for me personally.

Do you have a favorite hall? I love the ONE concept in Hall F, I would own something from every seller in that space – it’s so well curated – Mads Arlien-Søborg is genius with his concept.

Stefan: Yes, of course, ONE is the star in this concept. And of course, this is where you find all the fancy and trendy brands (regardless if they focus on craft or something more luxurious). But I love to be surprised. I would say I like Hall H where my sustainable friends of Lübech Living are. But also, mass-market brands like Au Maison. So Hall J is my favorite.

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Cities Quotes

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• A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again. – Margaret Mead • A city must be a place where groups of women and men are seeking and developing the highest things they know. – Margaret Mead • A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one. – Aristotle • A great city is that which has the greatest men and women. – Walt Whitman • A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art. – Benjamin Disraeli • A large city cannot be experientially known; its life is too manifold for any individual to be able to participate in it. – Aldous Huxley • A portrait of the young Charlie Parker with a degree of vivid detail never before approached. . . [Kansas City Lightning is] a deft, virtuosic panorama of early jazz. . . This is a mind-opening, and mind-filling, book. – Tom Piazza • A suburb is an attempt to get out of reach of the city without having the city be out of reach. – Mason Cooley • A tranquil city of good laws, fine architecture, and clean streets is like a classroom of obedient dullards, or a field of gelded bulls – whereas a city of anarchy is a city of promise. – Mark Helprin • A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! – Charles Dickens • All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim. – Christopher Morley • All inquiry into antiquity, all curiosity respecting the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge, the Ohio Circles, Mexico, Memphis,–is the desire to do away this wild, savage, and preposterous There and Then, and introduce in its place the Here and Now. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome. – Tacitus • America is a nation with no truly national city, no Paris, no Rome, no London, no city which is at once the social center, the political capital, and the financial hub. – C. Wright Mills • And one by one the nights between our separated cities are joined to the night that unites us. – Pablo Neruda • Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another. – Plato • As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means. – Albert Camus • As I criss-cross the city hurrying, I feel always the unchanging cold beneath the pavement. – Mason Cooley • As our boys and men are all expecting to be Presidents, so our girls and women must all hold themselves in readiness to preside inthe White House; and in no city in the world can honest industry be more at a discount than in this capital of the government of the people. – Jane Swisshelm

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Cit', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_cit').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_cit img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Buffalo is one of America’s great designed cities. The interweaving of great architecture, landscape architecture and important historic sites makes Buffalo a must see destination for preservationists, designers, history buffs, and anyone wishing to see an inspiring example of American design. – Richard Moe • But look what we have built … This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities. – Jane Jacobs • But look what we have built low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace. Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums. Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities. – Jane Jacobs • Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring. – Nelson Algren • Chicago is not the most corrupt American city. It’s the most theatrically corrupt. – Studs Terkel • Chicago is the great American city, New York is one of the capitals of the world, and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic; San Francisco is a lady – Norman Mailer • Chicago is unique. It is the only completely corrupt city in America. – Charles Edward Merriam • Chicago seems a big city instead of merely a large place. – A. J. Liebling • Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse. One comfort we have – Cincinnati sounds worse. – Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. • Cities are 2% of the earths crust, but they are 50% of the worlds population. – Carlo Ratti • Cities are distinguished by the catastrophic forms they presuppose and which are a vital part of their essential charm. New York is King Kong, or the blackout, or vertical bombardment: Towering Inferno. Los Angeles is the horizontal fault, California breaking off and sliding into the Pacific: Earthquake. – Jean Baudrillard • Cities are obvious metaphors for life. We call roads arteries and so forth. – Geoffrey West • Cities are the abyss of the human species. – Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Cities give us collision. ‘Tis said, London and New York take the nonsense out of a man. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Cities have to realize that whatever the federal government is going to do, its not going to be enough. And cities that proactively take control of their own quality of life initiatives are going to be the cities that ultimately attract the highly talented young people and create the jobs. – Mick Cornett • Cities tolerate crazy people. Companies don’t. – Geoffrey West • Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night. – Rupert Brooke • City and country — each has its own beauty and its own pain. Some of the smallness of small towns — cattiness, everybody knowing everybody’s business — that can be challenging. And cities can be challenging, because no one can connect except electronically. – William P. Young • City life is millions of people being lonesome together. – Henry David Thoreau • City of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automation, its streets a triumph of cubism, its moral philosophy that of the dollar. New York impressed me tremendously because, more than any other city, it is the fullest expression of our modern age. – Leon Trotsky • City of rest! – as it seems to our modern senses, – how is it possible that so busy, so pitiless and covetous a life as history shows us, should have gone to the making and the fashioning of Venice! – Mary Augusta Ward • City wits, country humorists. – Mason Cooley • Dinocrates did not leave the king, but followed him into Egypt. There Alexander, observing a harbor rendered safe by nature, an excellent center for trade, cornfields throughout all Egypt, and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him to build the city of Alexandria, named after the king. This was how Dinocrates, recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so famous. – Marcus Vitruvius Pollio • During my eleven years as a New York City public school teacher, I saw firsthand the impact that poverty has on the classroom. In low-income neighborhoods like Sunset Park, where I taught, students as young as five years old enter school affected by the stresses often created by poverty: domestic violence, drug abuse, gang activity. – Sal Albanese • Even cities have their graves! – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world. – Frank Lloyd Wright • Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and, in this, hasn’t changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman. – John Berger • Every city is a living body. – Saint Augustine • Everything is real, except Beika City – Gosho Aoyama • Fields and trees are not willing to teach me anything; but this can be effected by men residing in the city. – Plato • First in violence, deepest in dirt, lawless, unlovely, ill-smelling, irreverent, new; an overgrown gawk of a – village, the “tough” among cities, a spectacle for the nation. – Lincoln Steffens • Great Homer’s birthplace seven rival cities claim, Too mighty such monopoly of Fame. – Thomas Seward • He [Caesar Augustus] found a city built of brick; he left it built of marble. [Lat., Urbem lateritiam accepit, mamoream relinquit.] – Suetonius • Hog butcher for the world, Tool maker, stacker of wheat, Player with railroads and the nation’s freight handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of big shoulders. – Carl Sandburg • How well does your experience of the sacred in nature enable you to cope more effectively with the problems of mankind when you come back to the city? – Willi Unsoeld • I am going to St. Petersburg, Florida, tomorrow. Let the worthy citizens of Chicago get their liquor the best they can. I’m sick of the job-it’s a thankless one and full of grief. I’ve been spending the best years of my life as a public benefactor. – Al Capone • I dreamed in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dreamed that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love—it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words. – Walt Whitman • I get out of the taxi and it’s probably the only city which in reality looks better than on the postcards, New York. – Milos Forman • I grew up in suburban New York City and London, England, where my dad was working. – J. C. Chandor • I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • I have found by experience that they who have spent all their lives in cities contract not only an effeminacy of habit, but of thinking. – Oliver Goldsmith • I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all. – Michelangelo • I have struck a city – a real city – and they call it Chicago… I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages. – Rudyard Kipling • I know this year hasn’t gone as we’d all like it. But please, please, everyone do not forget about that 2013 season – the worst to first, the tragedy of the Boston Marathon, everyone rallying around the city, the finish line, the duck boats, everything, celebrating at home. Might be down a little bit in the win/loss column right now, but do not let that erase any of those memories from last year that I get to wear a ring on my finger for. I’m proud to be a Red Sox for those times. – Jonny Gomes • I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me: and to me High mountains are a feeling, but the hum of human cities torture. – Lord Byron • I personally object to the veil on aesthetic as well as other grounds; but I must admit that, for instance in the suburbs of American cities, I have often seen women attired more sloppily than our Persian women normally are. – Mohammed Reza Pahlavi • I really like Kansas City Royals stadium – Kauffman Stadium. – Bert Blyleven • I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out. – Charles Dickens • I see less difference between a city and a swamp than formerly. – Henry David Thoreau • If a city has a 30% Negro population, then it is logical to assume that Negroes should have at least 30% of the jobs in any particular company, and jobs in all categories rather than only in menial areas. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do. – Andy Weir • If we tire of the saints, Shakspeare is our city of refuge. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city. – Charles Caleb Colton • I’m not defending what Cory Booker said. I’m saying I understand why he has to kiss the asses of the rich people on Wall Street, because there’s no other way to keep his city afloat. – Bill Maher • In a strange city, I connect through food and fantasy. – Mason Cooley • In the Big City a man will disappear with the suddenness and completeness of the flame of a candle that is blown out. – O. Henry • In the Greek cities, it was reckoned profane, that any person should pretend a property in a work of art, which belonged to all who could behold it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone. – Erica Jong • It’s an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world – Oscar Wilde • It’s one of the most progressive cities in the world. Shooting is only a sideline. – Will Rogers • I’ve lived in London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, New York, and Turin. But New York is my favorite city. It has so much energy, so much toughness. – Lapo Elkann • I’ve never seen a tornado and I’ve lived in Oklahoma City basically my whole life. It’s not like we’re infested with them on a continual basis. But you learn to live with the warnings. And you learn what to do if one is coming your way. And then you cross your fingers and make the best judgments you can. – Mick Cornett • I’ve reported murders, scandals, marriages, premieres and national political conventions. I’ve been amused, intrigued, outraged, enthralled and exasperated by Chicago. And I’ve come to love this American giant, viewing it as the most misunderstood, most underrated city in the world. There is none other quite like my City of Big Shoulders. – Irv Kupcinet • I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get there. That’s how I saw it, and see it still. – Ronald Reagan • Just as language has no longer anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connection with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle. – Rainer Maria Rilke • Kansas City Lightning succeeds as few biographies of jazz musicians have. . . This book is a magnificent achievement; I could hardly put it down. – Henry Louis Gates • Knowledge and power in the city; peace and decency in the country. – Mason Cooley • Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Life is a journey, not a home; a road, not a city of habitation; and the enjoyments and blessings we have are but little inns on the roadside of life, where we may be refreshed for a moment, that we may with new strength press on to the end – to the rest that remaineth for the people of God. – Horatius Bonar • Man is the end of nature; nothing so easily organizes itself in every part of the universe as he; no moss, no lichen is so easilyborn; and he takes along with him and puts out from himself the whole apparatus of society and condition extempore, as an army encamps in a desert, and where all was just now blowing sand, creates a white city in an hour, a government, a market, a place for feasting, for conversation, and for love. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Man’s course begins in a garden, but it ends in a city. – Alexander MacLaren • Marshes that are stagnant and have no outlets either by rivers or ditches, like the Pomptine marshes, merely putrefy as they stand, emitting heavy, unhealthy vapors. A case of a town built in such a spot was Old Salpia in Apulia … Year after year there was sickness, until finally the suffering inhabitants came with a public petition to Marcus Hostilius and got him to agree to seek and find them a proper place to which to remove their city. – Marcus Vitruvius Pollio • Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact. – Nicolas Chamfort • Most human beings have enough sense to know that if they work in a city that has a serious smog problem, it’s wise to either stay indoors or at least wear a mask that will filter out the poison. But cigarette smokers have their own little concentrated toxic smog pack that they don’t avoid. – Ray Comfort • Most inspiration still comes from bicycling around San Francisco. This city never fails to inspire me. It is one of the most vibrant cities – especially visually – with a constant influx of young energy arriving daily. I love it. – Barry McGee • Movement was the essence of Manhattan. It had always been so, and now its sense of flow, energy, openness, elasticity as Charles Dickens had called it, was headier than ever. Half the city’s skill and aspirations seemed to go into the propagation of motion. – Jan Morris • My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and just walking down the street, it was like roots, like the motherland. I knew I belonged here. – Oprah Winfrey • New Orleans is a city of paradox. Sin, salvation, sex, sanctification, so intertwined yet so separate. – Harry Connick, Jr. • New York is full of abandoned churches. A Godless city, but full of superstitions on every subject–art, money, sex, food, health. – Mason Cooley • New York now leads the world’s great cities in the number of people around whom you shouldn’t make a sudden move. – David Letterman • New York… is a city of geometric heights, a petrified desert of grids and lattices, an inferno of greenish abstraction under a flat sky, a real Metropolis from which man is absent by his very accumulation. – Roland Barthes • No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning. – Cyril Connolly • No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Not the children of the rich or of the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be sent to school – John Amos Comenius • Not to find one’s way in a city may well be uninteresting and banal. It requires ignorance – nothing more. But to lose oneself in a city – as one loses oneself in a forest – that calls for a quite different schooling. Then, signboard and street names, passers-by, roofs, kiosks, or bars must speak to the wanderer like a cracking twig under his feet in the forest. – Walter Benjamin • One of the things is that the good intentions of Prohibition, from reading over the years and from becoming obsessed with the research of gangs in New York City, seems to have allowed crime figures at the time, like Luciano, Capone, Torrio and Rothstein, to organize to become more powerful, which pulled all the way through until the ’70s. – Martin Scorsese • One who is unassuming in dealing with people exhibits his arrogance all the more strongly in dealing with things (city, state, society, age, mankind). That is his revenge. – Friedrich Nietzsche • Our world is evolving without consideration, and the result is a loss of biodiversity, energy issues, congestion in cities. But geography, if used correctly, can be used to redesign sustainable and more livable cities. – Jack Dangermond • Overcome the Empyrean; hurl Heaven and Earth out of their places, That in the same calamity Brother and brother, friend and friend, Family and family, City and city may contend. – William Butler Yeats • Reclusive? The inner city will secure your privacy better than any desert cave. – Mason Cooley • Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans. – John Steinbeck • Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning. – Giotto di Bondone • Society’ in America means all the honest, kindly-mannered, pleasant- voiced women, and all the good, brave, unassuming men, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Each of these has a free pass in every city and village, ‘good for this generation only,’ and it depends on each to make use of this pass or not as it may happen to suit his or her fancy. – Henry Adams • Suicide by carbon monoxide used to be done in the garage. Now, all you have to do is go to Mexico City and inhale. – Richard Bayan • That is the way to lay the city flat, To bring the roof to the foundation, And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, In heaps and piles of ruin. – William Shakespeare • That’s great advertising when you can turn Chicago into a city you’d want to spend more than three hours in. – Jerry Della Femina • The bottom line is that we have entered an age when local communities need to invest in themselves. Federal and state dollars are becoming more and more scarce for American cities. Political and civic leaders in local communities need to make a compelling case for this investment. – Mick Cornett • The catalogue of forms is endless: until every shape has found its city, new cities will continue to be born. When the forms exhaust their variety and come apart, the end of cities begins. – Italo Calvino • The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity. – Lewis Mumford • The cities drain the country of the best part of its population: the flower of the youth, of both sexes, goes into the towns, andthe country is cultivated by a so much inferior class. The land,–travel a whole day together,–looks poverty-stricken, and the buildings plain and poor. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • The cities of America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their Hub, as they call it, is the paradise of prigs. Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustles and bores. Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there. – Oscar Wilde • The cities of the world are concentric, isomorphic, synchronic. Only one exists and you are always in the same one. It’s the effect of their permanent revolution, their intense circulation, their instantaneous magnetism. – Jean Baudrillard • The city an epitome of the social world. All the belts of civilization intersect along its avenues. It contains the products of every moral zone. It is cosmopolitan, not only in a national, but a spiritual sense. – Edwin Hubbel Chapin • The city as a center where, any day in any year, there may be a fresh encounter with a new talent, a keen mind or a gifted specialist-this is essential to the life of a country. To play this role in our lives a city must have a soul-a university, a great art or music school, a cathedral or a great mosque or temple, a great laboratory or scientific center, as well as the libraries and museums and galleries that bring past and present together. A city must be a place where groups of women and men are seeking and developing the highest things they know. – Margaret Mead • The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind. – Lewis Mumford • The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo. – Desmond Morris • The City is what they want it to be: thriftless, warm, scary and full of amiable strangers. No wonder they forget pebbly creeks and when they do not forget the sky completely think of it as a tiny piece of information about the time of day or night. – Toni Morrison • The conditions of city life may be made healthy, so far as the physical constitution is concerned; but there is connected with the business of the city so much competition, so much rivalry, so much necessity for industry, that I think it is a perpetual, chronic, wholesale violation of natural law. There are ten men that can succeed in the country, where there is one that can succeed in the city. – Henry Ward Beecher • The country is the place for children, and if not the country, a city small enough so that one can get out into the country. – Theodore Roosevelt • The first requisite to happiness is that a man be born in a famous city. – Euripides • The government burns down whole cities while the people are forbidden to light lamps. – Mao Zedong • The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman: if it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world. – Walt Whitman • The human race will have no respite from evils until those who are really philosophers acquire political power or until, through some divine dispensation, those who rule and have political authority in the cities become real philosophers. – Plato • The last copy of the Chicago Daily News I picked up had three crime stories on its front page. But by comparison to the gaudy days, this is small-time stuff. Chicago is as full of crooks as a saw with teeth, but the era when they ruled the city is gone forever. – John Gunther • The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it. – Charles Baudelaire • The most delicate beauty in the mind of women is, and ever must be, an independence of artificial stimulants for content. It is not so with men. The links that bind men to capitals belong to the golden chain of civilization,–the chain which fastens all our destinies to the throne of Jove. And hence the larger proportion of men in whom genius is pre-eminent have preferred to live in cities, though some of them have bequeathed to us the loveliest pictures of the rural scenes in which they declined to dwell. – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton • The outline of the city became frantic in its effort to explain something that defied meaning. Power seemed to have outgrown its servitude and to have asserted its freedom. The cylinder had exploded, and thrown great masses of stone and steam against the sky. – Henry Adams • The people are the city. – William Shakespeare • The screech and mechanical uproar of the big city turns the citified head, fills citified ears – as the song of birds, wind in the trees, animal cries, or as the voices and songs of his loved ones once filled his heart. He is sidewalk-happy. – Frank Lloyd Wright • The smaller the town the more important the ball club was. But if you beat a bigger town they’d practically hand you the key to the city. Any if you lost a game by making an error in the ninth or something like that, well, the best thing to do was just pack your grip and hit the road, because they’d never let you forget it. – Smoky Joe Wood • The spoiled superstar brat wouldn’t get far in Oklahoma City. We’re very value-conscious. Our city was settled in a land run. Those 10,000 people were desperate for a better life. – Mick Cornett • The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extra human architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. – Federico Garcia Lorca • The whole tree itself is but one leaf, and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth, and towns and cities are the ova of insects in their axils. – Henry David Thoreau • There are almost no beautiful cities in America, though there are many beautiful parts of cities, and some sections that are glorious without being beautiful, like downtown Chicago. Cities are too big and too rich for beauty; they have outgrown themselves too many times. – Noel Perrin • There is a time of life somewhere between the sullen fugues of adolescence and the retrenchments of middle age when human nature becomes so absolutely absorbing one wants to be in the city constantly, even at the height of summer. – Edward Hoagland There���s nothing that builds up a toil-weary soul Like a day on a stream, Back on the banks of the old fishing hole Where a fellow can dream. There’s nothing so good for a man as to flee From the city and lie Full length in the shade of a whispering tree And gaze at the sky. . . . . It is good for the world that men hunger to go To the banks of a stream, And weary of sham and of pomp and of show They have somewhere to dream. For this life would be dreary and sordid and base Did they not now and then Seek refreshment and calm in God’s wide, open space And come back to be men. – Edgar Guest • This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are. – Plato • This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie Open unto the fields and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. – William Wordsworth • To look at the cross-section of any plan of a big city is to look at something like the section of a fibrous tumor. – Frank Lloyd Wright • To one who has been long in city pent, ’Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament. – John Keats • Tower’d cities please us then, And the busy hum of men. – John Milton • Traveling, you realize that differences are lost: each city takes to resembling all cities, places exchange their form, order, distances, a shapeless dust cloud invades the continents. – Italo Calvino • Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm. – John F. Kennedy • We are animals, born from the land with the other species. Since we’ve been living in cities, we’ve become more and more stupid, not smarter. What made us survive all these hundreds of thousands of years is our spirituality; the link to our land. – Sebastiao Salgado • We are in danger of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost. – Hubert H. Humphrey • We can change the world one thought at a time, one child at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time, one city, one state and one country at a time. – Bryant H. McGill • We did such a great job of creating the interstate highway system in Oklahoma City that we don’t have traffic congestion. You can actually get a speeding ticket during rush hour in the city. That’s how great our traffic flows. – Mick Cornett • We do not look in great cities for our best morality. – Jane Austen • We form cities in order to enhance interaction, to facilitate growth, wealth creation, ideas, innovation, but in so doing, we create from – from a physicist’s viewpoint, entropy, meaning all of those bad things that we feel are engulfing us. – Geoffrey West • We had a branding problem. We have allowed ourselves to be branded by our tragedies. If you said ‘Oklahoma City,’ chances are the next word out of your mouth was ‘bombing.’ – Mick Cornett • We must have an America in which White men and women can live and work, in their homes and in the streets of our cities, without fear. – George Lincoln Rockwell • We thought of universities as the cathedrals of the modern world. In the middle ages, the cathedral was the center and symbol of the city. In the modern world, its place could be taken by the university. – Roger Revelle • We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation. – John F. Kennedy • We’re crazy about this city. Los Angeles? That’s just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for the trip to San Francisco. – John Lennon • We’re here because we want to go to the Orient House. We’re here because this is our city. It’s an occupied city, I know. They have arms, they have weapons, they have police, they have mortar guns, but it is Palestinian and it is under occupation. – Hanan Ashrawi • What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the ugliness. – Joseph Brodsky • What is the city but the people? – William Shakespeare • Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • When the Spirit came to Moses, the plagues came upon Egypt, and he had power to destroy men’s lives; when the Spirit came upon Elijah, fire came down from heaven; when the Spirit came upon Gideon, no man could stand before him; and when it came upon Joshua, he moved around the city of Jericho and the whole city fell into his hands; but when the Spirit came upon the Son of Man, He gave His life; He healed the broken-hearted. – Dwight L. Moody • When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. – Thomas Jefferson • When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it. – Hugh Newell Jacobsen • When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not. – Georgia O’Keeffe • White swan of cities slumbering in thy nest . . . White phantom city, whose untrodden streets Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting Shadows of the palaces and strips of sky. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Years ago, as I was beginning my professional career on Wall Street, I volunteered as a Big Brother in New York City. – Gerald Chertavian • You could not have evolved a complex system like a city or an organism – with an enormous number of components – without the emergence of laws that constrain their behavior in order for them to be resilient. – Geoffrey West • You gotta constantly purify yourself, living in the city, around human beings. There might be people close to you who affect you inside yourself in such a corrupt way that it screws with your ability to do what you do. But if you make sure that the people who are close you are good people who are there for you and love you, you can create your temple everywhere you go. – John Frusciante • Your city is remarkable not only for its beauty. It is also, of all the cities in the United States, the one whose name, the world over, conjures up the most visions and more than any other, incites one to dream. – Georges Pompidou • Your machinery is beautiful. Your society people have apologized to me for the envious ridicule with which your newspapers have referred to me. Your newspapers are comic but never amusing. Your Water Tower is a castellated monstrosity with pepperboxes stuck all over it. I am amazed that any people could so abuse Gothic art and make a structure not like a water tower but like a tower of a medieval castle. It should be torn down. It is a shame to spend so much money on buildings with such an unsatisfactory result. Your city looks positively dreary. – Oscar Wilde

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

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