#at his stage of navigating life it is less a celebration of his achievement(s) and more a reminder of this is all you are (will be)

[balladetto]

which tarot card are you?

tagged by: plucked from my dash like a bug! tagging: whoever would like to do this but hasn't done so yet!

link // the tower.

where is the line between awakening and self-destruction? is it thin? are you walking toward it? on it? already too far gone? there is nothing more disheartening than trying to find yourself, only to learn that you detest the person you've been looking for. can i tell you a secret? you are allowed to love yourself. required to, even. how can you go forward without it? make no mistake — it is not easy. but it is essential. you will get there, and it will be warm.

number: 16. upright: sudden change, upheaval, chaos. reversed: transformation, fear of change, averting disaster.

[lizamartinee]

Super Mario 3D All Stars-Beyond the Sunshine and Galaxy

One adventurous video game that made our childhood awesome was Mario. Mario is entertaining us with his adventurous quests for more than three decades. This year, on its 35th anniversary, Super Mario 3D All-Stars is all set to rule the Nintendo Switch. All-Stars is a compilation of the best of the adventures of our super plumber that includes GameCube’s Super Mario Sunshine, N64’s Super Mario 64 and Wii’s Super Mario Galaxy. Get ready to celebrate the history of Mario and take a visit down the memory lane. Super Mario 3D is all set to welcome you in the adventures of Mario along with some other stars.

Sources: https://lizamartinee.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/super-mario-3d-all-stars-beyond-the-sunshine-and-galaxy/

3D adventures come with HD displays and catchy soundtracks. The strong presentation and beautiful design are a bonus to this package. If you are looking forward to celebrating the series, Super Mario All-Stars will be a perfect option to go for. The collection includes some of Mario’s most remarkable series, and the HD quality will enhance your gaming experience. If you plan to play Mario 64 in Television or by a console, it will run in 720p, whereas Sunshine and Galaxy series runs in both 1080p and 720p. The aspect ratio of Sunshine is increased to 16:9. You will find the game more vibrant and vivid with its improved visuals, especially Galaxy that looks highly impressive with HD brush up. Creators have tried to ease the narratives of the game by developing the User Interface elements. Other than these improvements, all the three vintage series are still in their previous form. The content of the games is intact, Nintendo has just modified the controls according to the Switch.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars include a beautiful collection of the following series in their best form.

Super Mario 64

Mario 64 is the oldest series in the latest collection, which you might notice while handling the controls. While Mario excels in performing all his moves and stunts, there will be slightly less sharpness in exhibiting the maneuverability. There will be a little trouble guiding him through the narrow paths, making him read the signs, or letting him engage in conversation with the others because of his restless walk and clumsy turns.

The camera system, which was a revolution during the 1996, often poses a hurdle now. Earlier it was the manifestation of Latiku, a reporter shooting the life of Mario as he was busy investigating the disappearance of Princess Peach. But now the camera acts as a restriction. The camera tries to stay behind Mario, making the frame jumps and other moves challenging to accomplish. Some of these stunts require high precision, which seems impossible with the restraining camera angle. This might create trouble in the latter part of the game as a single wrong leap might lead to death if you depend on the camera angle for trajectory.

However, the incredible strengths of Mario outweigh these minor bugs. All the adventures of Mario 64 will give you the same goosebump. The core of the game Princess’ castle, mysterious mazes, and hidden rewards are still the same and gives you the same joy of exploration. In the first few hours, you will unravel some hidden levels that you can easily access through the background paintings. This will help you reach directly to the next stage. All these small discoveries will bring in the sense of achievement in you.

Above all, Mario’s beautiful themes still include those snow-covered hills, green fields, and other landscapes. As usually, your task will be to collect stars by fulfilling specific objectives. Mario 64 will not fail to surprise you with little rewards and delight at each stage.

Super Mario Sunshine

Mario Sunshine is one such series of Mario that has a huge fan following. Although there was no official release for this series, you can play it from the original GameCube. Sunshine is famous as it is quite different from the other Mario Series. Mario has a device known as FLUDD in this series, a water spraying machine that Mario wears on his back. Although Mario can still show his mind-blowing acrobatic moves, this FLUDD helps him fight the bosses or hit enemies. Also, the FLUDD launches Mario like a rocket that provides him with high speed.

Unlike other classic series, the stages are not relatively straightforward here. If Mario loses FLUDD, he navigates just like his conventional way to reach the goal. FLUDD acts as a safety valve, without it, a simple jump between the platforms is a difficult task. Playing the game without FLUDD may seem like trouble, but if our plumber has all his equipment, this series will be the most fun and entertaining to play.

Super Mario Galaxy

Galaxy still has the same excitement and rush as before. Mario Galaxy is more streamlined than any other series and brings back the sandbox-style levels. There is a lot to explore in the game, and each level is a delight to play. It will keep throwing new challenges for you. Mario has a lot to navigate from minefields to hazardous platforms with space debris in every way. At the end of every stage, a Power Star will be waiting for you. The will to reach the end for the Power Star is the most satisfying part of the game.

Collecting the stars opens up the way to new galaxies that will entice you to play more and more. Most of the levels are quite specific, and there won’t be any repetition in the gameplay idea, making it all the more surprising for you. Mario Galaxy has the most amazing controls in the Switch. It lets you maneuver easily with the control without keeping your eyes off the screen.  

The combination of this trio is one of the best collections by the Mario series. All three versions complement each other very well. The modification and improvement in the series worth the few hours of your time. Super Mario 3D All-Stars as usual will surprise you with new elements and innovative gameplays in this new series.

Interesting Points

Enhanced resolution is a delight to watch and play.

Positive improvisations in the Series.

The Series consists of the best classic versions of Mario.

Boring Points

In a few places, controls are quite glitchy.

The high rise platforms are difficult to cross without high precision.

[alienation2016-blog]

New Post has been published on Alienation

New Post has been published on https://alienation.biz/niger-insurance-restructures-funding-portfolio-to-decorate-liquidity-funding-profits/

Niger Insurance restructures funding portfolio to decorate liquidity, funding profits

Underwriting massive, Niger Insurance Plc has begun the manner of restructuring its investment portfolio to beautify liquidity and growth funding profits.

This is also to enhance compliance with regulatory requirements, amidst a challenging and competitive commercial enterprise environment.

Yusuf Abubakar, chairman of the organization who disclosed this on the forty-seventh Annual General Meeting of the enterprise stated “We have restructured our investment portfolio via reclassifying a few investment homes to ‘non-cutting-edge belongings held for sale’.

  He stated the board remained centered as an accountable organ, offering management, corporation integrity and judgment in directing the affairs of the company in an effort to attain persevering with the prosperity of the agency and act in the fine hobby, in a manner primarily based on transparency, duty, and fairness.

While pointing out the commercial enterprise environment will keep providing its demanding situations, he said the enterprise will navigate the route to fulfill its medium-term commercial enterprise strategies and preserve her potential to supply fee introduction for shareholders.

“Our primary focus will be to extend our consumer’s base and enrich them by using presenting greater price delivered products in a quicker and greater green manner”.

The act of making an investment in, or spending money, time and effort on an enterprise or a few other matters, in the desire of creating an income, first-rate defines investment. It could be Real Estate, Mutual Funds, Stocks, Foreign Exchange etc. Whatever it’s miles, there are regulations and courses to accomplishing achievement in investments, which, when adhered to, result in attaining a whole lot extra heights of success.

Considering the huge quantity of dangers associated with maximum investments, it’s miles of crucial importance, to understand the regulations and publications first, irrespective of one’s financial popularity, before one could interact oneself in an investment of any type in anyway, so as not to be an item of pity, due to a mistake, of now not going by using the regulations.

According to specialists, the Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA, defines an person as an Average Investor if the person has $200,000 or more in annual income, $three hundred,000 or extra in annual income as a pair, or $1 Million or greater in internet really worth. This established requirements by the SEC is to defend the common investor from some of the worst and maximum unstable investments within the international. These investor requirements additionally guard the common investor from some of the exceptional investments in the international, that is one principal purpose why, one has to be simply more than a mean investor.

In as an awful lot as there are tens of millions of desirous investors that fall beneath average buyers, it might be unfair and discouraging, to continually mention of Average and Rich Investors with out the poor buyers, whenever subjects of investments arise. After all, each began from the scratch. A gradual method that metamorphosed them into turning into what they’re today. One does now not need to fear himself, supplied there may be life, there may be wish for the not unusual man and plenty of investment opportunities beforehand. Hence, beginning out in an investment with a minimal less costly capital, is surprisingly advocated for the negative investor, and with prudence, little efforts, time, wish, faith and staying power, favored dreams would be performed.

  When one answers these questions efficiently and still has the desire to forge in advance in investing his cash in a funding, then, he’s certified for the following level of achievement toward investment.

The type of investment that suites one is totally dependent on the already existing investment sorts- Real Estate, Mutual Funds, Stocks, Foreign Exchange and so forth., the quantity of 1’s capital, and one’s special hobby in specific investment kinds. All this prepare constitutes a guide to permitting him to recognize precisely the funding type that suites him.

The amount of capital had to start an investment depends on individuality and the nature of the funding. Capital, shouldn’t be a primary problem here, as there are investments- stocks, possible put money into with multiple cents. Hence, capital is honestly beside the point, while considering penny shares. And ought to in no way be a discouragement from making an investment one’s cash in a funding.

Investing entirely or together is completely one’s desire to make. Both investments exist. As a beginner, making an investment together is highly recommended. Considering the inherent dangers in investments, that allows you to usually be shared, as it would, for the profit, among the investors consistent with individual’s quantity invested, is preferably suitable for a great start. However, making an investment completely, is useful too. Even greater useful, supplied one has all it takes to stomach the risks in one-guy investments. The investment profits from making an investment completely, will never be shared with anybody aside from the sole investor, who takes all of it. Hence, the decision is left for one to make, thinking about suitability and comfort.

Though the brilliant quantity of dangers is worried in maximum investments. The larger the capital invested, the larger the probably risks. Also, the bigger the capital invested, the larger the likely funding earnings depending on one’s technique to funding. It’s a depend on proportionality. The possibility of becoming a Rich, Average, or Poor Investor lies without delay at one’s door step. This is the final stage and manual toward a more alternate in a single’s financial status depending on one’s chance appetite. Hence, a formidable step together with strict adherence to the guidelines and courses stipulated in this newsletter, turning into a rich investor is guaranteed.

  Can You Invest $one hundred in Good Investments in 2011?

  Yes, you CAN make investments small cash like $one hundred in a few very good investments in 2011 and in the destiny beneath positive instances. In reality, there are correct investments supplied by using some of the pleasant fund groups that have been designed at the beginning for the small investor. Here’s a way to invest in them.

Whether you invest $one hundred or $one hundred,000 in 2011 or later, you will want to first open an account. This means that the birthday celebration you invest cash with will incur prices to open and carrier your account. Hence, even the pleasant fund companies have a minimal funding coverage. A one-time funding of $100 isn’t always attractive or realistic for them. However, $100 or MORE a month on an automatic funding plan is some other tale. I propose you invest your money in the bank until you have some thousand in coins reserves. Then, when you could have enough money $two hundred or $300 a month… Here’s the way to spend money on an assortment of right investments called mutual finances.

Do no longer feel intimidated by the truth that you could only invest small amounts of money and/or you do not know lots about wherein or a way to invest. If you start to invest money in 2011 in solid excellent investments and retain on a month-to-month foundation you’re on your way to a higher financial future. That’s why some of the biggest and satisfactory fund agencies cater to small buyers with an AUTOMATIC INVESTMENT PLAN. Over time small investors can accumulate a giant amount of money in an IRA account, as an instance. And the extra money you have got invested, the extra cash fund groups make.

You can find some of the bottom value and pleasant fund corporations by using looking “no-load price range” at the internet. See what they provide and what their minimal investment is for an automated funding plan (monthly investments). Then name them up toll-unfastened with any questions you have and ask for a starter package and information at the finances they provide. I recall the subsequent to be amongst the largest and excellent fund companies: Vanguard, T Rowe Price, Fidelity, and American Century. You can invest money in correct investments called mutual funds with out paying income charges or “masses” in any in their no-load finances.

Normally, whilst you make investments by using the month fund companies have you ever fill out a shape that allows you to take money at once from your bank account. These plans aren’t contractual with the satisfactory fund businesses, so you must be capable of preventing the withdrawals or cash in at will. Now permit’s observe how to make investments for 2011 and past if you want a different portfolio of appropriate investments with most effective mild hazard. We’ll say you want to invest $a hundred a month into 3 specific budget with the identical fund business enterprise.

Invest with $one hundred going to a widespread money marketplace fund, $a hundred to an intermediate-time period bond fund, and $100 to a trendy diverse huge-organization stock fund. This gives you a balanced portfolio of money marketplace securities, bonds, and shares. You’re then exact to go along with good investments in all three simple asset instructions, and universal portfolio threat is only slight. If you need a tax spoil whilst you make investments money and collecting money for retirement is your intention keep in mind an IRA account… IF you qualify primarily based on IRS regulations.

Otherwise, you could in reality have an account on your call only or a joint account along with your partner like in the bank. Mutual price range are the unique accurate investments designed for investors who need assist managing their cash. When you invest cash in finances in 2011 and beyond you truly choose the funds and that they do the rest. With the excellent fund companies your general cost to make investments can quantity to much less than 1% a yr! Look no in addition to suitable investments, yr in and yr out.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of making an investment revel in. For twenty years he advised person traders, working without delay with them supporting them to reach their economic goals.

[festivalists]

Undisputed

It is not that often that we have a chance to bring you film events from North America, yet when we do, we always aim for the sweetest cinephile fruits. And the Major League: Wesley Snipes in Focus retrospective organized at BAMcinématek, in the heart of Brooklyn, is precisely such a special occasion to gaze with nostalgia at an era in the US life and cinema industry that is no more. Yoana Pavlova talks to the British critic and programmer Ashley Clark who curated the selection.

As someone who grew up in Eastern Europe, I can assure you that in a post-1989 world American cinema meant everything to us. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the market was flooded with straight-to-VHS flicks (often shown in theatres), and we watched them all, eager to adopt this new narrative. We laughed at the clumsy homo sovieticus personages often portrayed in these films, but apparently we were not quite yet white in the Western sense of the word. And what was the opposite of white back at the time? Well, Eddie Murphy, despite his cult success with the BEVERLY HILLS COP series and particularly with COMING TO AMERICA (1988) that we instantly recognized as a metaphor for our circumstances, was a little bit too hysterical to identify with. 2Pac was too niche.

This is when Wesley Snipes appeared, with his swag and smoothness, navigating the cliches of the then pop-culture with so much irony that it was a love at first sight. He was an underdog to champion in cinema and a role model in reality (I practically cannot imagine there was a time in the 1990s when a Kangol beret was not on my wish-list). The films he starred in, I saw on big screen, and his quirkier projects such as TO WONG FOO THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR (1995) – on the Bulgarian National Television, it was part of the zeitgeist. Alas, at the turn of the century, his career lost its momentum, his movies were enveloped by straight-to-DVD haze, only nobody was watching anymore.

This is why Ashley Clark's idea to stage a comeback of sorts, especially in a venue like BAMcinématek, with the 10 titles he picked for Major League: Wesley Snipes in Focus, is such a significant occasion to celebrate. While Film Twitter buzzed about the BARRY LYNDON (1975) screening with live orchestra and the 4K re-release DONNIE DARKO (2001), seemingly the retrospective had to compete for American cinephiles' attention. Nevertheless, Nick Pinkerton's piece for Artforum validates Wesley Snipes' “imperious and, yes, royal gravity, and an irresistible common-man likeability” in such an indisputable manner that there is no doubt what was the New York film event that first half of April.

Meanwhile, in real life, despite that Wesley Snipes rolled in a tank on Croisette with THE EXPENDABLES 3 (2014) and implicitly shared some of the buzz around Spike Lee's CHI-RAQ (2015), his real comeback is still to be seen (maybe even in VR). The dynamics behind his life and career, though, is a poignant lesson how vulnerable an actor's legacy can be – I believe this should serve as a reminder in the light of the recent backlash against Will Smith's jury nomination at Cannes from the same cinephile crowd.

Yoana Pavlova: Let's start with your idea to organize this retrospective with a special focus on Wesley Snipes. My impression from your work so far is that when you curate these programs revolving around race, you pick different kind of films, this case seems to be more particular.

Ashley Clark: The first thing to say is that I would not classify this project as anything to do with race specifically. I am a fan of Wesley Snipes, and I had some conversations with friends about how much of the hot gigs he had from the 1980s through to the late 1990s, up to BLADE II (2002), at the start of the new millennium, and how this has been overshadowed by his time in jail. If you google “Wesley Snipes” today, the first thing to come out is “tax evasion.” So I thought, you know, this would be a good opportunity to focus on his work, on the impact of his charismatic screen performance, as well as on the variety of genres – from action to comedy to serious drama – and he excelled in all of them. Another aspect, from curatorial point of view, is that many retrospectives are more authorial, so they would focus on the director or across a theme. So I thought it would be interesting to instead look at it through the prism of an actor, particularly someone like Wesley Snipes, who meant a lot to black audiences but also had cross-over appeal. And stardom is often the window onto film for many viewers who are not necessarily cinephiles. I think it is a way to be slightly more inclusive, perhaps.

YP: How about BAMcinématek, have you considered your selection particularly for this venue?

AC: Well, I worked with BAMcinématek before, on a couple of programs – on Afrofuturism and a film series around my book on Spike Lee’s BAMBOOZLED (2000) [Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, 2015]. In terms of our working relationship, and the respective audience, I thought they would be a good fit. So they were the only institution I considered. Fortunately, that worked out very well.

YP: My next question is about this new context, in which this retrospective actually had to play out, in the so-called Trump era.

AC: Oh, tough question. I mean, I thought of the Wesley Snipes retrospective long before the Trump presidency was a reality.

YP: I imagine, yes.

AC: I genuinely didn't... I never really considered this was the Wesley Snipes program in dialogue with a particular political context. Certain themes that come through the films might be applicable, like the war on drugs in NEW JACK CITY (1991) era – there are going to be things that spark comparisons with contemporary life. Good films always stay relevant in one way or another, but I couldn't possibly say that I consider the Wesley Snipes retrospective as an answer to the political climate today.

YP: And what was your impression about the way the retrospective was received? I guess some people were there to see the films for yet another time, others were there to discover them – what was the feedback that you got?

AC: We were very fortunate the have some very good crowds, particularly for films like WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP (1992) and the BLADE I (1998) and II double bill. It was a testament to the way Wesley Snipes commands the screen, commands the space, there were many visceral reactions in the audience, you know, amusement and a sense of togetherness. These films play fairly often on TV, or people have them on DVD, so it was very gratifying for me to bring them into a communal space, project them on a big screen, frequently off 35mm prints, so they had that kind of grainy texture to them, and to have the audiences respond in a really lively, engaged way, it was really fun! Some of the attendances were a bit quiet for a film like JUNGLE FEVER (1991), for example, that is shown fairly frequently in New York. JUNGLE FEVER contains so many different themes and ideas that it easily lends itself to many programs and angles. Even seeing it now, it was remarkable... Actually, this is less a Wesley Snipes and more a Spike Lee thing. JUNGLE FEVER strikes me as one of the most honest films I think I’ve ever seen, in terms of a filmmaker's head being projected straight onto the screen. I think Lee is very honest about his views on particular issues at that point in time, and this is why the film hasn't aged so well, and lends itself very open to criticism, particularly on topics like gender, sexuality, race. And it was incredible to see that on big screen, with Wesley Snipes' performance at the center of it.

YP: It is interesting that you mention JUNGLE FEVER, because it deals a lot with sexuality and race, which reminds me of MOONLIGHT (2016) and this new concept of “black masculinity.” How do you think this particular film, or the other titles from your program, resonate with the post-MOONLIGHT obsession?

AC: I think that in films like JUNGLE FEVER or ONE NIGHT STAND (1997) and particularly in WAITING TO EXHALE (1995), which wasn't in the series because it is quite a small role, Wesley Snipes challenged many of the Blaxploitation and post-Blaxploitation-era stereotypes, of black masculinity and power. One of his most significant achievements was to bring a tridimensional approach to portraying black masculinity on screen, and that is down to his ability to play in many different registers. I think he is in some ways a forerunner to someone like Michael B. Jordan, who is about to star in BLACK PANTHER (2018) by Ryan Coogler, the same way I saw Wesley Snipes do many things very convincingly. I’ve seen Michael B. Jordan do internal, romantic, and low-key in FRUITVALE STATION (2013), I’ve seen him do intensely physical in CREED (2015), he's been very funny in THAT AWKWARD MOMENT (2014), and he has got a lot of range and versatility to him. If you are looking for a contemporary analogue for what Wesley Snipes did.

YP: I was also thinking of these films a testimony of another production segment that does not seem to exist anymore in American cinema, in between what we label now as “indie” and the openly commercial films we get from studios nowadays. What are your thoughts about this fact that Wesley Snipes maybe landed at the right time in order to shine?

AC: Yes, he is very much a star of that mid-budget Hollywood era, where films could still maintain an independent sensibility yet held significant budget and high production values, and enough investment across the board to get the films out in many cinemas and in many homes. But, yeah, WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP is a perfect example of that. It is a downbeat, indie comedy that has no interest in having a sequel [even if in the beginning of this year it was reported that there will be one], it is not part of a franchise, but it clearly has high production values. So, yeah, I agree with you, I do associate Wesley Snipes with that era, and it certainly does not exist anymore. MOONLIGHT might be a key film in bringing that kind of thing back. I do not know if Barry Jenkins is someone who will operate in this kind of largeg-scale blockbuster space, so I am thinking of films like MOONLIGHT with a bit more money behind them. But then the landscape of how we watch films, with the role of Netflix and Amazon in terms of finding and distributing content, is changing rapidly... So, yes, Wesley Snipes is very much a man of that era.

YP: Last question about the retrospective – did you by any chance had a visit by Wesley Snipes himself?

AC: Unfortunately, no. We tried, we got one tweet out of him, but sadly he did not respond to our requests. Hopefully he knew about the series, I hope he knows a lot of people are thinking about him. I hope he comes back and does what he is capable of, because he is a fantastic actor. He is 54, he is young, when you look at contemporary actors like Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise, they are still going strong.