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ladylynse · 4 years

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Chapter 13 [FF | AO3] of Whirlwind (SQ fic): Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny should’ve expected something like this when he got that phone call.

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7:50 PM

Jake couldn’t see Danny as he winged around to the building where Hawk Moth stood with Susan, but he had a feeling he knew Danny’s plan: namely, get Nino out of danger. Specifically, do that by phasing him out of Susan’s claws. Randy—who was clinging to the edge of the roof and barely showing more than his eyes and fingertips—looked ready to jump into action the moment that happened, and Jake knew he should be, too, but….

This situation wasn’t just his fault.

It was the fault of the World Dragons in general.

If they’d ever found a replacement for the French Dragon or at least done a better job of checking up on France, this might not have happened.

Which meant it was Jake’s responsibility not just to diffuse this particular situation and deal with the fallout but also to, well, see what he could do about Hawk Moth so that he didn’t keep doing this in Paris.

Jake hovered in the air for a moment, knowing he’d been spotted, but despite the telling flick of her eyes, his mother didn’t call any attention to him. He wasn’t entirely sure if that was good or bad; she still recognized him, right? Was she ignoring him on purpose? She had to know he couldn’t let this slide. Between her letting everyone in the city—and, let’s face it, beyond—know that dragons exist and this Hawk Moth guy misusing magical artefacts, there was no way he couldn’t get involved.

Jake took a deep breath, folded his wings, and let fire burn away his scales. He landed on the roof with very human feet, rolling with the impact and rising from a crouch as Hawk Moth turned. Jake gave him a wide berth, ignoring Hawk Moth in favour of his mom. He edged around to keep her in sight, though he knew better than to turn his back on an enemy. “Mom,” he whispered, “don’t do this. Please.”

He saw Hawk Moth’s triumphant smile out of the corner of his eye. “So. This is your son, one of the city’s great protectors.”

Susan said nothing, though she held Jake’s gaze.

“You’re better than this,” Jake said when he noticed Hawk Moth open his mouth again. “You know what I’m fighting for. You know why I fight for it. You have to know this is wrong. Just step back and think about it for a moment, like you always taught me to do. This isn’t you. Please.”

“Dracona,” Hawk Moth said sharply. “Tell me what else I should know about your son.”

What else he should know.

That meant he already knew something.

That she’d already told him something.

How much?

“What? What did you tell him? Why did you tell him anything?”

For a few heartbeats, Jake was sure his mom wasn’t going to answer—him or Hawk Moth. He hoped she was ignoring his questions because they were ridiculous and she’d never tell someone like him anything important, whatever he demanded. He hoped he’d managed to get through to her when it came to Hawk Moth, too. She was still looking at him, and he was familiar enough with reading dragon expressions to see determination settle on her face. It gave him hope—until she opened her mouth and said, “I made a deal. I’ve realized that I have to fulfill it.”

“You don’t!”

“Fighting doesn’t work.” She sounded more resigned than she looked, which was weird, but whatever. “I’ve tried. I can’t.”

Jake wanted to wipe the smug expression off Hawk Moth’s face, but Danny was right. If Randy’s book did mean that he could talk his mom down, he had to try—and if he could do that without giving Hawk Moth any more information about the magical world, dragons included, then all the better. “You can, I swear,” Jake insisted. “You just said you’ve fought it before. You can do it again. And you know what it’s like to try to fight off mind control; G would’ve trained you, I know he would’ve. You can’t give up now, yo. You have to keep trying. You can do this!” She turned back to Hawk Moth, and he called again, “Please! I’m sorry about earlier! I’m sorry about everything. Just don’t do this. You know it’s not right!”

Susan ignored him, instead answering Hawk Moth’s question as if they hadn’t let him have his say at all. “My son is foolish, and he is brave.”

“Mom, just stop, okay?”

“He is young, and he is skilled.”

“Don’t tell him everything. You can’t.” If he didn’t think he’d lose against her in a straight up attack, he’d do it. Nino’s magic suit looked more durable than Randy’s and seemed to protect him from a lot; it should protect him from being crushed underfoot or impaled by a stray claw. Trouble was, Susan was still the bigger dragon, and even if she didn’t have as much practice as Jake when it came to being a dragon and moving around, that inexperience hadn’t shown up so far. Besides, she knew way more theory than he did, and if she didn’t have any trouble applying it….

Attacking her now would just make him more vulnerable.

And attacking Hawk Moth was likely to invite a retaliatory attack from her, and he didn’t particularly want that in either form. Randy was not enough back up for that. So where the heck was Danny?

“He makes mistakes, many of them, but he always tries his best to do what is right.”

Jake shifted on his feet. He hadn’t expected a glowing review, exactly, but he hadn’t thought his mom would put it quite like that. He could guess why Hawk Moth might ask—if he’d identified Jake as a protector of the NYC, if not the magical world, then he knew Jake was here to fight him—but he still didn’t know why Susan had answered.

For that matter, he didn’t know why neither of them had just attacked; he was a lot more vulnerable in this form, and Hawk Moth at least had no idea how quickly he could change…unless his mom had already passed on that bit of information.

A subtle movement caught Jake’s eye, and he tracked it in time to see the tips of Nino’s ears slide downwards and disappear through the roof.

Strangely, Susan said nothing about it, even though Jake knew she must have noticed. He turned to get a better view of Hawk Moth, but he didn’t seem to notice, either. He was still staring at Jake. Maybe this hadn’t been a bad plan, after all, even if Nino had gotten who was a suitable distraction completely wrong.

“He also possesses a greater magic than yours,” Susan said quietly, “because the magic you use is borrowed and not your own.”

Hawk Moth scowled and looked back at her. “My magic will be greater than either of you can imagine once I have the Miraculous I seek. Give me Chat Noir’s.”

“Gonna have a hard time with that,” Randy called, drawing everyone’s attention. He was sitting on the edge of the roof now; Jake hadn’t even noticed him climb up. Maybe he’d still been underestimating Randy’s Ninja skills, despite having ample evidence of exactly how good Randy could be. “I mean, you kinda gotta have something to give it in the first place.”

“What?” roared Hawk Moth. He spun back to Dracona, and Jake had to look twice at the cane in his hand to confirm that, yes, it had hidden a sword, and now Hawk Moth had discarded its sheath. “You let him escape?”

“I brought you his ring, as you asked. It’s hardly my fault you didn’t take it when you had the chance.” She tilted her head towards Jake and added, “I’ve also told you about our local hero. Consider our contract fulfilled.”

“The Miraculous is not in my hands!”

“But I did bring it to you,” she repeated, “and—”

Hawk Moth lunged.

Despite how focused he’d been on Susan, he came at Jake. Jake scrambled back and somehow tripped over his own feet. He handed hard on his bottom and breathed a spout of fire in Hawk Moth’s direction to encourage him to keep his distance, but Jake realized a split second later that that hadn’t been necessary. Jake had a brief glimpse of Randy’s scarf wrapping around Hawk Moth’s torso and forcing him to a stop before one of Susan’s wings spread out between them as protection.

“Get his Miraculous!”

Jake turned as he climbed to his feet and saw Nino already back on the roof, racing towards Hawk Moth. Susan dropped her wing, looking like she was preparing to breath her own fire instead, and Jake saw Hawk Moth snarl and twist back towards Randy. He raised his sword and severed the scarf in one quick swipe.

Randy let out a cry as the fabric fell, and Hawk Moth froze even as he turned his blade on Nino.

That’s where Danny was, then.

“It’s his brooch,” Nino explained as he started unravelling the layers of scarf that covered Hawk Moth’s chest. He had to duck around the sword but didn’t seem overly bothered by the inconvenience; Hawk Moth’s arm had frozen mid-swing, partially blocking his chest, and his sword was still held in a tight grip, judging by how it didn’t even tremble. “If we can get it, then we can stop everything right now, and—” He broke off.

Jake didn’t need to walk closer to see what the problem was—even he was sure the Miraculous wasn’t supposed to be glowing that bright green colour—but he reached Nino only a few steps ahead of Randy. On closer inspection, the situation looked worse, with cracks of bright purple spiderwebbing across the entire brooch that grew wider as Jake watched.

“Um. You probably don’t wanna touch that,” Randy said. “It looks like it’s about to explode. Can those things explode?”

“I didn’t think so,” Nino said, but he sounded as confident as he looked—which, when he was chewing on his lip and staring at the brooch instead of reaching for it, told Jake all he needed to know.

Jake felt a hand on his arm, and he turned back to see the familiar face of his mother. “I don’t know if I’m free of him,” she said quietly. “You need to end this now, before—”

Purple light exploded.

Jake stumbled forward, hearing multiple grunts behind him and more than one body hitting the rooftop.

As he hadn’t been looking directly at the Miraculous, he wasn’t blinded like the others undoubtedly were. Still, he was too stunned to react as Hawk Moth’s sword flashed towards Susan, slicing away her necklace—and into her flesh. He heard her scream. He heard himself scream as he scrambled forward to try to catch her.

There was so much blood.

There shouldn’t be this much blood.

Red smoke clouded his vision, but at that point, it didn’t matter; Jake couldn’t see through his tears anyway.

7:53 PM

McFist thought he had a plan. Rotwood claimed that it was more his plan than McFist’s. Haley just had a budding headache and a growing, panicked worry in her chest that wouldn’t go away without more information.

The plan, as it was, wasn’t very good. It required a lot of luck, which in Haley’s experience tended to go sour; a healthy dose of lies, which sounded terribly unbelievable to her ears; and the remaining supply of Ninja Cold Balls, which McFist had picked out with unnerving accuracy. “How long would a pop-up skating rink even last?” Haley asked, interrupting whatever Rotwood and McFist were arguing about.

“Ninja ice lasts longer than regular ice,” McFist said. “Magic. Figured you knew.”

“Right.”

“So we’ll expand on the patch you started. It’ll still be there. We’ll call it a teaser if anyone asks. People like sneak peeks.”

There was absolutely no way this would work.

“Little bit of fashion, little bit of skating. It’ll sell. People eat this stuff up all the time.”

Rotwood sniffed. “And when people call your bluff, I will tell them the real reason for all of this—don’t look at me like that; I respect the deals I make, so of course I do not mean the real real reason. I will insist it is the work of magical creatures and use the fight of the Ninja and the dragon as my proof.”

“At which point I remind people that the best advertising is the viral kind, and people believe me instead of him. Everyone loves a good show.”

There was no nice way to tell them this wouldn’t work, was there? “I’m not sure—”

“You can even come out and pretend to be a ninja if you like. Really sell it. You any good at skating?”

She was better at the violin. “I don’t even have skates.”

McFist shrugged. “No one else will, either. You ever wear an expensive pair of shoes meant for indoors? Those things have no grip. It’ll be fine.”

It wouldn’t be. Not on its own. Maybe she’d get lucky and think of what else they could do to supplement it once they got going, though. Haley glanced at Rotwood. “You’re really okay with your name being dragged through the mud again for making false claims?”

“I will hardly be the only one reporting on this magical creature sighting. Besides, I can always try to prove the existence of the magical world again later. A visit the Magus Bazaar—or whatever you will do for me instead of that—is worth more than an attempt to get people to see the truth when I know you are already working against me.” Rotwood spread his hands. “Think of it as me hedging my bets. I have more chance of success in the future, when you and your brother are not aware of my actions.”

Haley had no idea how Jake put up with Rotwood in school every day. She sincerely hoped Rotwood would find another job by the time she went to Millard Fillmore, at least if he didn’t change his tune. It was hard to admire his perseverance when she knew how much his success would cost the magical world.

Maybe Jake should just try to sit him down and strike a long-term bargain with him. Rotwood might not be so set on exposing the magical world if he finally understood what that exposure would mean. She doubted he’d be happy to consistently work to protect the magical world, but he might agree to keep silent about it—and keep his personal rivals away from it—in exchange for more information. From what Jake had told her, he was working off a lot more fiction than fact.

Heck, if Randy could come up with something better to offer McFist, he might think twice about working with the Sorcerer, too. She was less certain on that front, of course, but McFist seemed to be in it only for his reward. Dealing with a rogue sorcerer technically fell under the purview of the dragons, too, so Randy would be perfectly within his rights to ask for help. It just seemed to her like there might be a better way to do this, since McFist and Rotwood were acting more reasonable than she’d expected.

And a lot more helpful, too.

It was different with Nino. He didn’t know Hawk Moth’s identity, and from what she’d seen and heard, Hawk Moth wasn’t someone that could be easily talked down. He had an agenda, and he’d see it through no matter who got hurt in the process. That made him someone they needed to take down, not someone they might be able to negotiate with.

But if Jake didn’t defeat him now, he’d have to play politics himself to get help to Nino. It would be a lot easier if he didn’t have to go through the Dragon Council to get permission for something like that, if he and the others could just make some agreement and do it all under the table. Gramps might not wholly approve, but he wouldn’t disapprove, not if Jake was doing the right thing, and Fu would be more than willing to help. She could cover for him if he ever had business elsewhere, with Trixie and Spud for backup if they were still around, and—

“I’ll keep these throwing balls in case they come in handy later,” McFist said as he started to pocket everything that wasn’t a Ninja Cold Ball. “You start making the rink, and Rotwood and I will seed rumours.”

“What if this doesn’t work?” Haley asked. “What if no one believes us? What if they see through it?”

McFist jerked his thumb towards Rotwood. “So you’re saying people might believe him? I was getting the impression that he was a bit of a Cassandra type myself.”

“That’s not the worst comparison you could have made,” Rotwood muttered.

“No, but…. What’s our backup plan?”

“What was your backup plan?”

She bit her lip. “I trusted that I’d come up with something that would work if it came to that.”

McFist snorted. “Yeah, well, my backup plan is the simple fact that if you act like you know what’s going on and you’re good at selling it, people will believe you, even if it’s outrageous. I mean, my company cleans up the messes our own robots make, and we’re commended for it. It’s all about having good PR. I may not be good at inventing things to get the results I want, but I am good at handling the public. You follow through on your end of the deal, and I’ll make sure they don’t turn on you.”

7:54 PM

“Randy said he can help,” Danny said as he pulled Jake away from Susan. “Let him. He’ll help your mom. You and I need to catch that akuma. Nino’s going after Hawk Moth. He grabbed one of Randy’s smoke bombs and escaped. We’re lucky it wasn’t one of those bee balls.”

Jake didn’t respond.

He might not even be listening.

He wasn’t fighting in Danny’s grip anymore, not even when Randy bent over Susan and held his hands over her to do some Ninja thing. Jake was just dead weight, conscious but not home, which was not what Danny needed right now. It wasn’t what any of them needed, Susan included.

Danny formed a handful of ice cubes and dumped them down the back of Jake’s shirt.

The reaction was thankfully immediate, with Jake jerking away from him. “Yo, that is not cool, man!”

“Actually, it’s ice cold, which is why I did it.”

Jake turned to glare at Danny, but his anger was short-lived; Danny could see new tears forming in his eyes. He started to turn back to his mom, but Danny caught his arm. “Hey. We need to deal with the akuma. You’re the American Dragon. This is part of that.”

“I don’t care about the stupid akuma.”

“You will if it multiplies and you’re dealing with a whole lotta people who can turn into dragons. Let’s go.”

“Mom—”

“Randy is helping her,” Danny repeated. “Let him. Help from your friends, remember?”

“That’s not—”

“We need to go before we lose the akuma entirely,” Danny interrupted. He was two seconds away from leaving Jake behind and just going to look for it on its own, even if he didn’t know what he’d do if he caught it, but Jake had better night vision than he did.

Jake took a shuddering breath and ground out, “Fine,” before transforming without another word.

Danny flew up to join him in the air, deciding Jake didn’t care about the other details right now. With any luck, Nino would catch Hawk Moth. That would make dealing with the akuma easier. Maybe. They needed something to go their way for once.

Danny knew better than to ask if Jake had spotted it yet, so he just hovered and waited as Jake looked and listened. When he picked a direction and started flying, Danny followed. He didn’t see anything that look remotely like a butterfly, but he trusted Jake.

After about a minute of flying with no butterfly in sight, he started to question that. They weren’t flying that slowly. The butterfly shouldn’t have been this far in front of them. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Danny ventured. “I mean, I can always scout behind us if you’re not.”

“The last one we saw was flying in this direction,” Jake said. “I think it was going for higher ground.”

“This is a city of skyscrapers. Isn’t everywhere higher ground?”

“You know what I mean.”

He didn’t, but Danny didn’t bother pressing the point. There was a more important question to ask. “What makes you think this one is going to the same place the last one was?”

“I…don’t, really. But it makes sense.”

Danny tried to figure out what he could say to that that wouldn’t sound completely insensitive when he knew Jake was preoccupied with worry about his mom. The truth of it was, it didn’t make sense, at least not to Danny, and he really wasn’t keen on the idea of them not splitting up to look for this thing if Jake wasn’t sure.

“I think it’s like those zombie ants.”

Danny blinked. “What?” He couldn’t have heard that right.

“You know. Those zombie ants. That get infected with that fungus. It, like, takes over their mind and makes them go to higher ground to die and then it spreads. This might be like that.”

“Okay, one, how have I never heard about this before if it’s real, and two, pretty sure the magical butterflies aren’t infected with a fungus.”

“I didn’t say they were! Just that it would make sense with the higher ground thing.”

Danny groaned. “I don’t suppose you know if Spud found that thermos?”

“I’m not even sure if he’s looking for it. He’s doing something that he thinks will help.”

“With what?”

“I dunno. Everything, maybe. I trust him. He and Trix have my back.”

It would be a little hypocritical to argue against the whole ‘trust your friends and let them help you’ bit now, but it was hard. Jake might be clutching at straws because it was better to do that than to think about what he’d left behind. Danny really had no idea what Randy could do, but he’d sounded confident, so Danny hadn’t asked.

Maybe he should’ve; it would’ve made this conversation easier to navigate.

“Look, this akuma is as important as Hawk Moth right now. Pretty sure it won’t go away when he drops the mask, so we need to figure out how to contain it. Would Spud and Trixie know of anything that would help? Are they following a hunch?”

Jake didn’t answer.

Perfect.

Danny followed him in silence, debating the merits of breaking off to check any other direction and then deciding that if Nino wasn’t successful in catching Hawk Moth, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to leave Jake alone in this mood.

“I’m sorry,” Danny said when the silence started to stretch. “I know this sucks. I know you’re worried about your mom, and what the Dragon Council is going to do when they find out about this, and—”

“Two o’clock, maybe thirty degrees up,” Jake interrupted, altering his course.

Danny blinked, and in his moment of hesitation, Jake let out a plume of fire that lit up and then completely engulfed a butterfly.

It didn’t immediately incinerate, like Danny had expected. It bubbled, roiling magic boiling across wings that fluttered frantically to stay aloft. When the flame died, all Danny could see was the afterimage seared green and white into his eyes.

“You wanna catch it?”

“It’s still alive?” Danny asked, looking around as his vision started to go back to normal. “I don’t—” He broke off. The white butterfly wings stood out more clearly against the sky than the purple ones had, and he caught the butterfly in his hands with surprisingly little effort—or maybe it just felt that way after everything else.

It was hard to believe he’d been in Amity Park for lunch.

Of course, coming from Amity Park and having the experiences that he did, he wasn’t about to assume that the colour change of the butterfly (or, frankly, its survival) was a fluke. Chances were good Nino could explain what had happened, but Danny just hoped it was a good thing. If they’d just released the magic and now didn’t have something concrete to chase after, he didn’t know how they were going to gather it all back up. Well, maybe Pandora could tweak her box if he borrowed it, but—

“I was trying to kill it,” Jake admitted as Danny stopped to hover across from him. The butterfly’s wings beat against Danny’s closed fingers, but he couldn’t lead the way back to Nino and (hopefully) answers. He’d already gotten turned around, and he wasn’t sure where they were. “I just…. I dunno. I wanted this problem gone. I should’ve known it wouldn’t work. The last one survived, too.”

“What? Really?” Danny hadn’t thought much about the first butterfly, but in retrospect, he supposed it must’ve survived if Nino was right about Hawk Moth recalling it. Maybe this was the same butterfly? He glanced down at his hands. Maybe Jake had had the same thought. He didn’t typically go for straight up destroying stuff, but if the butterflies were the only way Hawk Moth could release his magic….

“Just don’t let go of it,” Jake said, as if Danny had had any intentions otherwise. He flew back faster than they’d flown out, likely because he wasn’t trying to track a butterfly this time, but Danny easily kept pace.

He didn’t try to force a conversation, though. It was obvious enough Jake still wasn’t in the mood to talk, and Danny’s dismal attempts earlier made it clear that he didn’t know what to say.

Hopefully, by the time they got back to Randy, they’d get some good news for a change.

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markharmonparadise · 5 years

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Football 5/16/2019 9:59:00 AM

Mark Harmon Named 2019 NFF Gold Medal Recipient

On Dec. 10, the NFF will present its highest honor to Harmon in recognition of his roots as a football scholar-athlete and subsequent accomplishments as a leader in the field of entertainment. IRVING, Texas (May 16, 2019) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that former UCLA quarterback Mark Harmon has been named the 2019 recipient of the NFF Gold Medal in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments, unblemished reputation and for reflecting the values of amateur football. He will be honored for his achievements during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10 at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City, which will also celebrate the 150th anniversary of college Football.

"As we prepare to celebrate the 150th anniversary of college football, Mark Harmon captures exactly what we hope to inspire in future generations of young football players, making him the perfect recipient for the NFF's highest honor," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "An NFF National Scholar-Athlete at UCLA in the early 1970s, Mark took that same relentless drive to succeed, applying it to his career as an actor and unequivocally becoming one of the most successful stars of his generation. He has earned this honor many times over, and we are extremely proud to add his name to the esteemed list of past NFF Gold Medal recipients."

The highest and most prestigious award presented by the National Football Foundation, the Gold Medal recognizes an outstanding American who has demonstrated integrity and honesty; achieved significant career success; and has reflected the basic values of those who have excelled in amateur sport, particularly football. First presented to President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner in 1958, the Gold Medal boasts an impressive list of past recipients, including seven presidents, four generals, three admirals, one Supreme Court Justice, 29 corporate CEOs and chairmen, actor John Wayne and baseball immortal Jackie Robinson. Harmon will become the 65th recipient of the NFF Gold Medal. (See below for the full list of past recipients.)

"Having achieved the highest levels of success, Mark Harmon has always remained humble and focused on the things that really matter in life, which is hard work, perseverance and teamwork," said NFF Awards Committee Chairman Jack Ford. "His success on the gridiron as a student-athlete and his subsequent icon status in film and television make him exceptionally well-qualified as our 2019 Gold Medal recipient. We look forward to welcoming him back to the NFF's stage in December, poetically 46 years after his being honored as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete during an event when another famous actor, John Wayne, accepted the NFF Gold Medal."

Harmon was born and raised in Southern California; the son of actress Elyse Knox and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, a 1954 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Michigan. He attended The Harvard School (now known as Harvard-Westlake) in Los Angeles, playing football, baseball and rugby. On the gridiron, he mostly took the field as a running back and safety, only appearing in four games at quarterback. He broke his elbow as a junior, and did not play varsity football as a senior.

Not recruited out of high school, Harmon headed to Pierce Junior College in Woodland Hills, California, and he quarterbacked the team to a 7-2 record in 1971, earning All-America laurels. His performance earned him multiple scholarship offers, including Oklahoma in an effort led by Barry Switzer, the offensive coordinator at the time and a future College Football Hall of Fame coach, to recruit him. Harmon opted to stay in his hometown of Los Angeles, playing for UCLA head coach Pepper Rodgers and assistant coaches Homer Smith, Lynn Stiles and Terry Donahue, also a future College Football Hall of Fame coach.

Playing alongside future College Football Hall of Fame inductees Randy Cross and John Sciarra, Harmon helped orchestrate a UCLA turnaround, quarterbacking the Bruins, which had finished 2-7-1 at eighth-place in the Pac-8 in 1971, to a combined 17-5 record in 1972 and 1973. In his first game ever as a Bruin, which opened the 1972 season, Harmon led an underdog UCLA to a dramatic 20-17 win against two-time defending national champion Nebraska, snapping the Huskers' 32-game-unbeaten streak. A Wishbone-T quarterback who could run, pass, fake and mix plays, Harmon rushed for more yards and touchdowns than he did passing, amassing 1,504 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns versus passing for 845 yards and 9 touchdowns during his tenure in Westwood. The offensive coordinator Homer Smith's wishbone offense forced Harmon to make multiple decisions in very short time periods, distributing the ball to running backs Kermit Johnson and James McAlister. The combination created the top running game in the nation in 1973, and UCLA set school records for total yards gained (4,403), average yards per game (400) and rushing touchdowns (56). A Communications major who aspired to become a doctor, Harmon excelled in the UCLA classrooms, carrying a 3.45 GPA and graduating cum laude. His accomplishments earned him Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as well as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award, which led to his trip to New York City where he was honored at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner the same night that John Wayne accepted the NFF Gold Medal. "In today's society, the scholar-athlete is indeed a rare breed," Harmon said in responding for the NFF Scholar-Athlete Class in 1973. "Not only does he excel on the field, but he competes in the classroom as well…. As we gather here tonight to pay our respects to the men who made the great American game of football what it is today, we hope that one day in the future some of us from the Class of '74 might be fortunate enough to carry on the great tradition that has been passed down by the distinguished men in this room. If we do, it is because our universities gave us the chance and the game of football has given us the principles." After UCLA, Harmon declined professional football offers to instead pursue acting. He worked in advertising, as a shoe company rep and as a carpenter between acting gigs and appearing in Coors beer commercials. His hard work eventually paid off with a big break on NBC's St. Elsewhere and the leading role of Dr. Robert Caldwell. His success continued on NBC's police drama Reasonable Doubts starring as detective Dickey Cobb and CBS's Chicago Hope where he appeared as Dr. Jack McNeil. He also had memorable arcs on the hit shows Moonlighting and The West Wing before landing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, on CBS' global favorite NCIS series, which has become part of television history, approaching its 400th episode and recently inking a deal for its 17th season. The most-watched-scripted show on American television today and consistently ranked among the five highest-rated TV shows each year, NCIS is a TV juggernaut, attracting more than 15 million viewers each week throughout most of its run. In 2011, Harmon became an executive producer on NCIS, and in 2014 an idea he co-developed became the spinoff NCIS: New Orleans which premiered on CBS with Harmon as an executive producer alongside Gary Glasberg. His big-screen credits include Freaky Friday, Wyatt Earp, The Presidio, Summer School and Stealing Home. He has worked with Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jodie Foster, Allison Janney, Karl Malden, Patricia Arquette and Denzel Washington among countless other Hollywood notables. Harmon has received numerous accolades and award nominations during his career, including being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 1, 2012, but he has always remained humble with an appreciation for the efforts of others. Quietly giving back, Harmon's charitable work includes Saving Bristol Bay, Stand Up To Cancer, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Kids Wish Network, Clothes Off Our Back, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Oklahoma Kidz Charities Foundation, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic and The Children's Center OKC. From his time as a quarterback at UCLA until now, as an executive producer and star of the CBS hit series NCIS, Harmon has always treated teammates and production crews with familial respect and loyalty. "I look at the show as a team," Harmon said during a previous interview. "I've always been a team guy. I'm not in [acting] for the personal part of this, and I wasn't as an athlete either. It's about the work and we all work together." Harmon will be honored during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10 at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Harmon will accept his award alongside the yet-to-be-announced recipients of the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award, NFF John L. Toner Award for excellence in athletics administration and NFF Chris Schenkel Award for excellence in broadcasting. In addition to the presentation of the NFF Major Awards, the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner will provide the stage for the induction of the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame Class; the presentation of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards; and the bestowing of the 30th NFF William V. Campbell Trophy® to the nation's top football scholar-athlete. The 2019 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes Terrell Buckley (Florida State), Rickey Dixon (Oklahoma), London Fletcher (John Carroll [OH]), Jacob Green (Texas A&M), Torry Holt (North Carolina State), Raghib "Rocket" Ismail (Notre Dame), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Jake Plummer (Arizona State), Troy Polamalu (Southern California), Joe Thomas (Wisconsin), Lorenzo White (Michigan State), Patrick Willis (Mississippi), Vince Young (Texas) and coaches Dennis Erickson (Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Miami [FL], Oregon State, Arizona State) and Joe Taylor (Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M). On Oct. 30, the NFF will announce the members of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, who will vie as finalists for The William V. Campbell Trophy®. They will be honored at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10, where one will be named the recipient of the Campbell Trophy® as the nation's top football scholar-athlete. For ticket information at the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner, please contact Will Rudd at 972.556.1000 or [email protected].

Recipients of the NFF Gold Medal include:

2019 – Mark Harmon 2018 – Aaron Feis 2018 – Jason Seaman 2016 – Archie Manning 2015 – Dr. Condoleezza Rice 2014 – Dr. Tom G. Catena 2014 – George M. Weiss 2013 – Roger Goodell 2012 – Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. 2011 – Robert M. Gates 2009 – Bill Bowerman 2009 – Phil Knight 2008 – Sen. John Glenn 2007 – Gen. Pete Dawkins 2007 – Roger Staubach 2006 – Bobby Bowden 2006 – Joseph V. Paterno 2005 – Jon F. Hanson 2004 – William V. Campbell 2003 – Gen. Tommy R. Franks 2002 – George Steinbrenner III 2001 – Billy Joe "Red" McCombs 2000 – F.M. Kirby 1999 – Keith Jackson 1998 – John H. McConnell 1997 – Jackie Robinson 1996 – Eugene F. Corrigan 1995 – Harold Alfond 1994 – Thomas S. Murphy 1993 – Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf 1992 – Donald R. Keough 1991 – Pres. George H. Bush 1990 – Adm. Thomas H. Moorer 1989 – Paul Brown 1988 – Clinton E. Frank 1987 – Gen. Charles R. Meyer 1986 – William H. Morton 1985 – William I. Spencer 1984 – John F. McGillicuddy 1983 – Sen. Jack Kemp 1982 – Silver Anniversary (All Past Honorees Recognized) 1981 – Justin W. Dart 1980 – Walter J. Zable 1979 – Adm. William P. Lawrence 1978 – Vincent dePaul Draddy 1977 – Gen. Louis H. Wilson 1976 – Edgar B. Speer 1975 – David Packard 1974 – Gerald B. Zornow 1973 – John Wayne 1972 – Pres. Gerald R. Ford 1971 – Pres. Ronald W. Reagan 1970 – Adm. Thomas J. Hamilton 1969 – Pres. Richard M. Nixon 1968 – Chester J. LaRoche 1967 – Frederick L. Hovde 1966 – Earl H. "Red" Blaik 1965 – Juan T. Trippe 1964 – Donold B. Lourie 1963 – Roger M. Blough 1962 – Byron "Whizzer" White 1961 – Pres. John F. Kennedy 1960 – Pres. Herbert C. Hoover 1960 – Amos Alonzo Stagg 1959 – Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur 1958 – Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

#Mark Harmon #National Football Foundation #News

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myremains · 4 years

Text

In Hearts Wake - Kaliyuga

Tracklist:

Crisis

Worldwide Suicide

Hellbringer" (ft. Jamie Hails of Polaris)

Moving On

Timebomb

Son of a Witch

Crossroads (ft. Georgia Flood)

Husk

Nãgá

Force of Life

Iron Dice (ft. Randy Reimann)

Dystopia

2033

In Hearts Wake are a group of lads from down under who got together to bang out some tunes, funnily enough they're from the same area of Australia that Parkway Drive hail from! Back in ‘06 they got together to put out their own brand of metalcore which they have used as a platform to talk about the environment and generally how humans are ruining the very ground on which we walk. This is their 5th full length studio album and I managed to catch them last year on the Impericon Never Say Die tour at which they put on a great show. I'm hoping I can get something from this album now to pull me in as a full time fan.

Even the intro track kicks ass like a mix of Slippknots Eyeless and Tje Prodigy, absolutely slaps, but nowhere near as much as “Worldwide Suicide” which keeps that theme rolling but absolutely not it filthy I fifa and vocals with huge bass drops. Just when you think it can’t get any better “Hellbringer” drops like a fucking bomb to knock you back 15 feet onto your ass, the stops are long enough to make me think the track had either abruptly finished or my stereo was playing up, but no then it smacked me square across the face again, nice work from Jamie Hails from Polaris on this track too. “Son of a Witch” is up there in the top of the list for quality too

“Time bomb” just flows really nicely, switching from melodic and crunchy to dropping through a sheer drop into an eruption of aggression and flare, really switched up with “Crossroads” where Georgia Flood (an australian actress with a gorgeous voice) really takes their melodic side up to new heights with Jake Taylor still pumping away at those growls to give an angry underbelly to a beautiful track. Towards the end of the album, there's still enough growls and screams to keep us all happy but the music does in general start to come down a couple notches, take “Dystopia” which has it's heavy moments but really focuses on the melody throughout the verses whereas “Husk” really puts all of its energy into that melodic chorus line and everything else drops and builds up leading towards the eruption of energy.

Well I’m officially a fan, I’ve bought into what these guys are selling in a big way, I shall hunt now back through their archives and see just how big of a fan I’m going to be. Even if I don’t like their older stuff which I doubt because they did pretty well at the tour I caught them on, this is still enough for me to be hopeful for the future.

[9/10]

#In Hearts Wake #Kaliyuga #Byron Bay #Austrailia #Parkway Drive #Metal #Metalcore #2020 #Music #Albums #Reviews #MyRemains

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oddstructure · 6 years

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vimeo

This Must Be The Place: Post Punk Tribes 1978 - 1982 from MikeKeegan on Vimeo.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE: POST-PUNK TRIBES 1978 – 1982 Friday, July 27 – Sunday, July 29

After the much-hyped filth and fury of the initial punk movement almost instantly combusted or codified, things got much more interesting. In the halcyon pre-internet days, regional scenes were allowed to grow and develop their own identifiable and often highly idiosyncratic sounds, word of one another’s development spreading slowly through fanzines and small mail order distributors. Lucky for us, there were also cameras laying around, and the rare films in this series provide an invaluable snapshot of one of the most exciting – and one of the most loosely-defined – periods of music in the 20th Century. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is your highly opinionated guide to viewing these creatures in their native habitats.

Friday, July 27: LA BRUNE ET MOI Filmed in 1979, barely released in 1980 and subsequently completely lost until 2005, LA BRUNE ET MOI (a play on the French translation of ‘50s rock & roll film THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT, LA BLONDE ET MOI) was surreptitiously shot in eight days on borrowed equipment. There’s a love story in there, but it’s mostly an excuse to show great performances by Ici Paris, Artefact, Edith Nylon, The Party, Marquis De Sade and gads more. Dir: Philippe Puicouyoul. Starring Pierre Clementi, Anouschska and Pierre-Jean Cayatte. In French w/ English subtitles. Digital. 1979. 50 mins. 7:30pm

ROUGH CUT AND READY DUBBED Shot on Super8 between 1978 and 1981, ROUGH CUT AND READY DUBBED captures and questions the splintered, post-Pistols UK punk scene, from scenesters to skinheads to legendary BBC Radio One godhead John Peel. Featuring performances by A Certain Ratio, The Selecter, Cockney Rejects and Sham 69. Dirs: Hasan Shah & Dom Shaw. Digital. 1982. 59 mins. 8:40pm

Plus – a SPECIAL SECRET MOVIE after the 8:40pm show! You have NOT seen this thing!

Saturday, July 28: THE SLOG MOVIE David Markey’s homespun 1982 document of the LA/OC early ‘80s hardcore scene, THE SLOG MOVIE serves as fanzine on film, combining incredible live performances by vital bands of the era (such as Circle One, Red Kross, TSOL, Fear, the Circle Jerks and many more) along with segments of hangin’ out at Oki Dog with Pat Smear and Randy Rampage, a Raymond Pettibon skateboard commercial, and much more. An indispensible document of a time, place and (under)age! Dir: David Markey. Digital. 1982. 59 mins. 7:30pm

I CAN SEE IT AND I’M PART OF IT: San Francisco Punk Portraits 1978 - 82 The time between Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 and Reagan's ascent from CA governor to U.S. presidency in 1981 marks a prolific surge of artistic and creative production across California, often taking a sharp trajectory from the 60s utopian idealism as a strong sense of distrust and disillusionment cast its long, dark shadows and was reflected in music – once again, the natural channel for response, reaction and outrage. In San Francisco the thriving music scene developed its own punk conceit, an arsenal comprised of bands, filmmakers, artists, clubs and the ever-supportive denizens along for the ride. Gender factors largely into the equation as women were not merely audience members, but forceful contributors driving the scene. The boundary between the spectator and performer was often blurred as audience members were inspired to pick up instruments, form bands and be on the stage the very next week. The DIY aesthetic prevailed… and the cameras were rolling! I CAN SEE IT AND I’M PART OF IT is a unique glimpse into SF’s punk past – an archival treasure trove comprised of moving and still images, both amateur and professional. This shorts program, curated especially for THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, includes but is not limited to: IN THE RED is a slice of life from the perspective of two friends (co-directors Liz Keim and Karen Merchant) who followed the scene at close range. A poetic tapestry of live performance, intimate interviews (Will Shatter exposed!) and cityscapes. In the Red gives insight into a creative and politically charged environment at the dawn of the 80s. A dusty and gritty gem! Dirs: Liz Keim & Karen Merchant. Digital. 1978. 20 mins. LOUDER, FASTER, SHORTER is raw and powerful performance document recorded at the Mabuhay Gardens in March 1978 during a benefit concert for striking Kentucky coal miners. Bands UXA, The Dils, The Avengers, Sleepers, and Mutants raised over $3000! Beautifully shot, it’s an insider’s view that takes you to the belly of the beast, a musical time traveler’s delight. Dir: Mindaugus Bagdon. 16mm. 1978. 17 mins. BRUCE CONNER, a key figure in San Francisco’s artistic community since the 1950s, began documenting the SF punk scene in 1977 when his friend Toni Basil (the dancer from his seminal film Breakaway and of “Oh Mickey you’re so fine…” fame) invited him to see Devo. This portion of I CAN SEE IT AND I’M PART OF IT includes a slideshow presentation of Conner’s legendary portraits of individuals and performance shots, a primary element of the history of SF punk. Conner segment includes music videos he made during this time: MONGOLOID (music by Devo), and Mea Culpa (feauturing music by David Byrne & Brian Eno). Special thanks to Michelle Silva and Robert Conway of the Conner Family Trust, Paule Anglim, Christine and Travis and from Paule Anglim Gallery. Dir: Bruce Conner. Digital. 1977 – 1981. Approx.15 mins. Complete Program Length Approx. 70 mins. 9pm

BUZZ OR HOWL UNDER THE INFLUENCE Despite the heavy regionalism we’re focusing on in this series, these bands did not exist in a bubble. Through various magical combinations of guile, luck, stupidity and very hard work, plenty of bands got in the van and relentlessly criss-crossed the nation, serving as Johnny Appleseeds of the underground. Once the van was back on the road, a new scene had sprung. Thanks to the Hugh M. Hefner Archive of the Moving Image, we’re tapping into an unimagined motherlode of live footage from the likes of Public Image Limited, Black Flag, the Avengers, Suicide and many more, much of it shot for regional television programs or personal collections. 16mm/35mm/Digital. 1978 – 1982. Approx. 75 mins. 10:20pm

Sunday, July 29: DEBT BEGINS AT 20 Filmed in dour, totally appropriate black-and-white (much like that other paean to the Pittsburgh existence, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), DEBT BEGINS AT 20 is a completely charming and accurate portrait of how artistically-inclined punk and synth enthusiasts in smaller regional scenes made the screechy, caterwauling tuneless tunes we’ve grown to fetishize. And why did they do it? Because they were bored out of their minds. – Bret Berg, Destroy All Movies Dir: Stephanie Beroes. 16mm. 1980. 50 mins. 7pm

DOWNTOWN 81 Jean Michel Basquiat is your cash-strapped guide around downtown Manhattan circa the end of the world, or more accurately 1981. It looks like a neutron bomb went off, and the only living creatures left are the weirdo, omnivorously post-everything musicians and artists hiding in stark lofts, cramped apartments and moldy nightclubs. This movie is an embarrassment of riches: watch DNA shred through “Blonde Redhead”, see James White & The Black’s aggro no-wave soul revue live on stage, plus Debbie Harry, Tuxedo Moon, Kid Creole & the Coconuts and more. DOWNTOWN 81 is, simply put, the coolest. Dir: Edo Bertoglio. Written by Glen O’Brien. 35mm. 1981. 73 mins. 8:15pm

Programmed by Mike Keegan and Gina Basso. Special Thanks to Bret Berg, Zack Carlson, Jake Perlin, David Markey, Liz Kleim, Mindy Bagdon, Michelle Silva, Robert Conway, Paule Anglim, Linda Scobie at Canyon Cinema and Dino Everett at the Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive at the School of Cinematic Arts.

BUY TICKETS HERE!: roxie.com/events/details.cfm?eventID=9FE12C85-1143-DBB3-C64E870C3A396A85

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orbemnews · 4 years

Link

Cash Walks Company America rethinks political donations Large companies typically donate to each political events and say that their assist is tied to slender problems with particular curiosity to their industries. That grew to become more and more fraught final week, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and a few Republican lawmakers tried to overturn Joe Biden’s win within the presidential election. A flurry of firms have since reviewed political giving by way of their company political motion committees. Some huge banks are pausing all political donations: Goldman Sachs is freezing donations by its PAC and can conduct “a radical evaluation of how individuals acted throughout this era,” a spokesman, Jake Siewert, instructed DealBook. JPMorgan Chase is halting donations by its PAC for six months. “There will likely be loads of time for campaigning later,” stated Peter Scher, the financial institution’s head of company accountability. Citigroup is placing all marketing campaign contributions on maintain for 1 / 4. “We wish you to be assured that we are going to not assist candidates who don’t respect the rule of legislation,” Candi Wolff, the financial institution’s head of presidency affairs, wrote in an inner memo. Some firms are pausing donations to particular politicians: Marriott stated it would pause donations from its PAC “to those that voted in opposition to certification of the election,” a spokeswoman instructed DealBook. Blue Cross Blue Protect, Boston Scientific and Commerce Bancshares are taking an identical, focused strategy to donation freezes. The e-newsletter In style Info is monitoring the responses of those and different firms that donated to lawmakers who challenged the election outcome. A pause is just not everlasting. The suspensions coincide with the primary quarter after a presidential election, which is often gentle on fund-raising anyway. Efforts by some firms to pause PAC donations to all lawmakers — those that voted to uphold the election in addition to those that sought to overturn it — are elevating eyebrows. And firms can nonetheless give to “darkish cash” teams that don’t disclose their donors however typically increase far more cash than company PACs. Right here’s an intriguing query: Will firms ask for his or her a refund? Ken Gross, a accomplice on the legislation agency Skadden, stated he hadn’t seen proof of that, however he famous that the pauses could also be extended, relying on “how the mud settles” on potential impeachment proceedings and the character of the debates over Mr. Biden’s cupboard nominees. Company PACs aren’t the one teams below scrutiny. The Republican Attorneys Normal Affiliation is taking warmth following stories {that a} fund-raising arm, the Rule of Regulation Protection Fund, urged individuals to march on the Capitol. A number of firms instructed DealBook that they had been reviewing their assist of the group, although none stated they deliberate to chop ties. (Most famous that they supported attorneys basic from each events, a difficulty Andrew addressed in a column final yr.) A consultant for the affiliation stated that it and the Rule of Regulation Protection Fund “had no involvement within the planning, sponsoring or the group of Wednesday’s occasion.” Right here’s what we heard from among the huge company donors to the group: “We’re appalled and condemn these actions within the strongest potential phrases and have communicated that to R.A.G.A.,” stated John Demming, a spokesman for Comcast, which donated $200,000 final yr, in line with Documented. The corporate would search “assurances that they take steps to make sure that nothing like this may occur once more,” he stated. Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Walmart, which donated $140,000, stated: “As we conduct our evaluation over the approaching months, we will definitely issue final week’s occasions into our course of.” Ann Moore, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola, which donated $50,000, stated: “We constantly re-evaluate our memberships, and we’ll proceed to take action with final week’s occasion in thoughts.” In different fallout: The P.G.A. of America stated it will not maintain its signature championship on the Trump Nationwide Golf Membership in Bedminster, N.J.; the social app Parler, in style amongst conservatives as a substitute for Twitter, went darkish this morning after Amazon minimize it off from computing providers; the cost processor Stripe banned the Trump marketing campaign from utilizing its providers; YouTube blocked Steve Bannon’s podcast channel; and the debate continues over tech giants’ affect over public speech. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING U.S. states battle to roll out coronavirus vaccines. New York abruptly loosened its pointers, after medical suppliers had been pressured to discard doses due to difficulties discovering certified sufferers. Florida’s distribution plans are in disarray as demand far outstrips provide. And federal officers are being criticized for supplying syringes that can’t effectively extract all of the liquid from vials. Chicago takes warmth for its plan to reopen public faculties. Greater than 6,000 college students are set to return as we speak, however a significant proportion of the town’s academics aren’t anticipated to point out up, as their union argues that the plan doesn’t defend their well being. The voting machine maker Dominion sues a Trump ally for $1.3 billion. Dominion accused Sidney Powell, a lawyer who pushed baseless election conspiracy theories in regards to the firm, of defamation. The lawsuit, the corporate stated, is supposed to “set the file straight.” Investigators look at the most recent Boeing crash. The airplane concerned, which took off from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and was stated to be carrying 62 individuals, was a workhorse mannequin, the 737-500, with a good security file. Crypto’s wild journey continues. Bitcoin fell 11 % in a single day, whereas Ether and different high cryptocurrencies plunged as effectively. Some analysts speculated that buyers had been locking in income after the value of Bitcoin doubled over the previous month. Jay Timmons makes a press release Amid the flurry of company condemnations of final week’s violence on the Capitol, one stood out. In its assertion, the Nationwide Affiliation of Producers referred to as out President Trump immediately and urged Vice President Mike Pence to contemplate eradicating him to “protect democracy.” The Instances’s Jim Tankersley, Peter Eavis and DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch obtained the again story of the unexpectedly extreme assertion, maybe the starkest signal of company America’s break with the Trump administration. As soon as a dependable conservative ally, the commerce group has hosted Mr. Trump at annual conferences, labored carefully along with his administration on deregulation and tax cuts, and gave Ivanka Trump an award final yr. N.A.M.’s president, Jay Timmons, has lengthy ties to the Republican Occasion, and beforehand served as chief of employees to Senator George Allen of Virginia. What modified? Fairly doubtless, the explanation that the group was in a position to communicate out so forcefully final week was that Mr. Timmons did not ballot the board’s membership earlier than issuing the assertion (he declined to say whom he did seek the advice of). When The Instances reached out to the corporate’s board members, most referred to their very own vaguely worded statements condemning the violence. Few would touch upon N.A.M.’s name for the removing of Mr. Trump. Mr. Timmons has develop into more and more dismayed by the Trump White Home, and when his father died from Covid-19 final month, he launched a press release by way of N.A.M. by which he blamed “careless” conduct by individuals inspired by “nationwide leaders” who weren’t urging masks or different precautions. After a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, “it was a transparent and current menace to our democracy,” Mr. Timmons instructed The Instances. “I believed it was vital to talk up.” The week forward The Home is anticipated to vote as quickly as Tuesday on impeaching President Trump for a second time. However the Senate gained’t take up a trial till at the least Jan. 19, in line with Senator Mitch McConnell. Home lawmakers may also vote on a decision calling on the cupboard to take away Mr. Trump by invoking the twenty fifth Modification. Right now, the Paycheck Safety Program reopens for small-business debtors, by way of a choose group of group lenders. Additionally as we speak, American inventory exchanges will delist Chinese language firms focused by a Trump administration govt order (and American banks are dropping linked funding automobiles in Hong Kong because of this). Large banks start reporting their newest earnings, with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo releasing numbers on Friday. A busy week for I.P.O.s is anticipated to see firms increase greater than $4 billion, together with greater than $1 billion for Playtika and debuts for Affirm, Petco and others. Unique: Former WWE execs introduce a brand new fund George Barrios and Michelle Wilson — the previous co-presidents of World Wrestling Leisure who abruptly left the corporate a yr in the past — are saying their subsequent venture as we speak: Isos Capital Administration, an funding agency centered on media, leisure and sports activities. The thought was hatched in the summertime. Mr. Barrios and Ms. Wilson are veterans of the sports activities and leisure enterprise, together with greater than a decade at WWE. “We really feel actually happy with all the things that was completed throughout our tenure, so we’re excited in regards to the subsequent chapter with Isos,” Ms. Wilson instructed DealBook. After WWE, they each thought-about a number of alternatives — together with C.E.O. roles — however determined as an alternative to proceed working collectively. An business in flux. The brand new fund will goal firms in any respect levels of improvement, in industries which can be present process speedy technological shifts. “There are areas — whether or not it’s video gaming, e-sports, sports activities betting — that may drive fan engagement, and that digital transformation will actually develop into the car to make that occur,” Ms. Wilson stated. As cash has poured into the house and deal making has picked up, the fund’s founders consider their expertise and contacts set them aside — at WWE, for instance, they led the corporate’s aggressive worldwide push. “Capital is vital, but it surely’s fungible,” Mr. Barrios stated. “What Michelle and I carry is experience, credibility and a world community.” THE SPEED READ Offers Barry Diller’s IAC pledged a further $1 billion to assist MGM’s takeover bid for Entain. However Mr. Diller stated he was skeptical of MGM’s possibilities of success. (Bloomberg, FT) The funding agency World Infrastructure Companions agreed to purchase Signature Aviation, a private-jet servicing firm, for $4.6 billion, beating Blackstone and Carlyle. (Reuters) Dr Martens, the famed boot model, plans to go public on the London Inventory Trade. (FT) Politics and coverage The tax invoice of huge U.S. banks might rise as a lot as $11 billion a yr if President-elect Joe Biden rolls out his marketing campaign’s company tax proposal. (Bloomberg) Nellie Liang, a former high economist on the Fed, is reportedly a high contender for a key Treasury Division put up. (WSJ) Mr. Biden’s selection of Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island for commerce secretary is “particularly encouraging,” given her file on balancing capitalism with social equality, writes Mike Bloomberg. (Bloomberg Opinion) Tech There’s a growth for start-ups launching nanosatellites. (WSJ) Amazon and Walmart more and more determine that it’s not definitely worth the money and time for patrons to return some objects for refunds. (WSJ) Better of the remaining “The Lies We Inform Throughout Job Interviews” (WSJ) The pandemic has created a scarcity at sperm banks, giving rise to an underground fertility financial system on Fb. (NYT) We’d like your suggestions! Please e-mail ideas and strategies to [email protected]. Supply hyperlink #Money #Walks

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placetobenation · 4 years

Link

What a week in the WWE!

First things first – Happy Halloween to all! It’s not quite the Halloween we all envisioned in 2020 as we’re still in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19 around the World, but we make out of it the best we all can, right? In that vein, I think the WWE is doing the same. With a quality Hell In A Cell PPV, Halloween Havoc and SmackDown, it was an entertaining week across the brands.

I did like the fact that Hell In A Cell was simplified. Six matches (seven if you count the kick-off show) left plenty of time for the three Hell In A Cell matches to play out in three very different ways. Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso set the tone of the night with an emotional story of family members struggling with their lot in life and where they fit in. In the end, Jey Uso quit to say his brother Jimmy from the Tribal Chief. Then, we got Sasha Banks get revenge in a brutal (in a very good way) battle of best friends, taking Bayley’s SmackDown title to end her over-a-year-long reign at the top. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton was simply a physical beating the literal hell out of each other, complete with a McIntyre nod to Shawn Michaels by falling off the side of the cage onto a table. Seeing both on top of the cage in the ThunderDome was pretty cool too!

As for Halloween Havoc, we’ll get into the details later in our NXT recap, but suffice it to say, I loved it! Ditto for SmackDown! It continues to beg the question – why are NXT and SmackDown running so hot while RAW continues to be stuck in the mud?

Hell In A Cell PPV – Results

WWE Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre to win title

Universal Championship Hell In A Cell I Quit Match: Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso to retain title

SmackDown Women’s Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Sasha Banks defeated Bayley to win title

Money In The Bank Contract Match: The Miz defeated Otis to win MITB Contract

Elias defeated Jeff Hardy via DQ

United States Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated Slapjack of RETRIBUTION

24/7 Championship: R-Truth defeated Drew Gulak

Star of the Week:

…AND NEW #WWEChampion, @RandyOrton!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/66t8VrLtHb

— WWE (@WWE) October 28, 2020

Randy Orton – When you win your 14th WWE title inside Hell In A Cell against the dominating Drew McIntyre, you need to get some star love. He’s easily been one of the stars of the pandemic era, doing some of the best work of his 20-year career. I expect him to keep the title until facing Edge at WrestleMania!

RAW

RESULTS

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: AJ Styles defeated Jeff Hardy

Lucha House Party defeated Akira Tozawa & Drew Gulak

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Keith Lee defeated Elias

Elimination Match: The Hurt Business defeated RETRIBUTION by DQ

Drew McIntyre defeated The Miz

Fatal 4-Way Match: Lana defeated Peyton Royce, Lacey Evans & Nikki Cross to join Team RAW

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Sheamus defeated Matt Riddle

On its face, RAW seemed a bit disjointed this week after a few weeks of getting better. Coming off the Hell In A Cell PPV and kicking off the road to the Survivor Series, you would think that things would be micro-focused. But, in watching Monday night, it just didn’t seem that way.

The build to Survivor Series basically got done in one backstage segment with The New Day and Asuka telling us all the matches with a big screen. It truly will be just RAW vs. SmackDown this year as we get champion vs. champion on all fronts (Orton vs. Reigns, Lashley vs. Zayn, The New Day vs. The Street Profits and the traditional 5-on-5 match) which is fine, but there won’t seem to be much, or any consequences coming out of it. We got three qualifying matches that saw Keith Lee, Sheamus and AJ Styles advance to Team RAW. None of three really stood out. Not bad, not awesome, so just really there and seemingly put over the right superstar. Don’t get me wrong, the matches at SS will be fine and could have a few “moments” but do they really help the individual brands when it’s done? At least last year, there was excitement with NXT being involved and it kept going through the Royal Rumble. I’m not sure that’s going to happen this time around.

That's … six.#WWERaw @NiaJaxWWE @LanaWWE pic.twitter.com/bBkRNayywU

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 27, 2020

For the women, why oh why do we get subjected to Lana winning matches and being put through more tables? Does WWE really think that we’re going to start cheering for Lana just because she’s being put through tables each week by Nia Jax or Shayna Baszler? I don’t think so. I think it’s a lost storyline there that I just yawn over.

"We decide when you get shut down." – @AliWWE#RETRIBUTION still has work to do. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/WEsbiv2Lgi

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 27, 2020

This week, we get another match in which RETRIBUTION loses, but then afterwards, Mustafa Ali says they will decide who suffers and when it gets shut down. HUH?! While we are it, what the heck was up with the Mia Yim acting like she’s having a seizure and that bugs were all over her? Totally offensive. Back to the group – The Hurt Business is their collective Daddy and it just makes the weak. Let them beat someone else and gain some momentum. Otherwise, move on. It’s been a lost opportunity here with RETRIBUTION and I don’t see it getting any better on a consistent basis.

#FireflyFunHouse has taken one wild turn with @AlexaBliss_WWE!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/nj0KlQMJm9

— WWE (@WWE) October 28, 2020

Welcome to the Firehouse Funhouse Alexa Bliss!

#WWEChampion @RandyOrton has to deal with #TheFiend AND @DMcIntyreWWE.#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/whVc58eI9O

— WWE (@WWE) October 27, 2020

Even in the last segment of the night, Randy Orton on A Moment of Bliss with Alexa Bliss, there was no clear road as to where they were going. Sure, we thought Orton would be confronted by The Fiend, but yet we get Drew McIntyre back out to confront Orton again with Alexa Bliss laughing maniacally on the top rope. A cool sight, yes indeed. And yes, we loved the “burned it down” reference by Bliss to harken back to the time that Orton burned Bray Wyatt’s house down. Good detail there. But then as The Fiend shows up on the ramp to stop Orton, Orton and McIntyre just continue the brawl as the show seemingly ends. At least McIntyre got some positivity earlier in the night by beating the newly crowned Money In The Bank holder, The Miz, in an easy match. So, where does The Fiend and Drew fit in here? There not getting a match at Survivor Series, it’s Orton vs. Reigns. Will they become teammates on the RAW Survivor Series team? Will they get a separate match on the card? Or will they just mess with Orton so that he loses against Reigns? It’s not clear with only a few weeks left to the PPV, which of course leads to little build-up and buy in from us, the fans. I would like to see Orton vs. Drew vs. Orton, but I know I’m not getting it, at least for a while.

Overall, a step back for RAW this week after a few glimmers of hope.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT North American Championship Devil’s Playground Match: Johnny Gargano defeated Damian Priest to win title

Non-title NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Santos Escobar defeated Jake Atlas

Haunted House of Terror Match: Dexter Lumis defeated Cameron Grimes

Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Gonzalez

NXT Women’s Championship Tables, Ladders & Scares Match: Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae to retain title

Tables, Ladders & 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨… OH MY! The WHEEL has spoken for @shirai_io & @CandiceLeRae's #WWENXT #WomensTitle match! #HalloweenHavoc @ShotziWWE pic.twitter.com/7Q0YvGoSeB

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Loved the concept going in with Halloween Havoc returning from its WCW roots to take over a night of NXT! Shotzi Blackheart being the host was perfectly cast and she hosted a night of fun, excitement, costumes and surprises. Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal! Yes! I hope they make this an annual event on NXT!

SCREAM? #WWENXT #NXTNATitle #HalloweenHavoc @JohnnyGargano @ArcherOfInfamy pic.twitter.com/drCGbHARHy

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Right from the get-go, this show delivered a pair of title matches to bookend the show. Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest in a Devil’s Playground Match with basically no rules allowed them to fight everywhere at the WWE Performance Center. So, who was in the Scream costume to help Gargano win the title with a lead pipe and by sending a headstone through Priest? Was it Candice LeRae? Was it Indie Hartwell? Was it a mystery superstar? Good intrigue as the Gargano Way is back on top with a championship. Then, in what I will call a bit of a surprise, Io Shirai held on to her NXT Women’s Championship against Candice LeRae. I truly thought it would be a double-title night for the Garganos, but it wasn’t meant to be as Blackheart thwarted the mystery Scream person’s attempt (Johnny Gargano or Indie Hartwell) to help LeRae climb the ladder to win the match. A fabulous match with amazing bumps through ladders, tables and other assorted weaponry in this Ladders, Tables and Scares match.

CANDICE. LERAE. THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE TWEET.#WWENXT #NXTWomensTitle #HalloweenHavoc @CandiceLeRae @shirai_io pic.twitter.com/8xhVaBm4DW

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

WE ARE THE NEW KINGS OF #WWENXT #THATSUNDISPUTED @ONEYLORCAN @strongstylebrit @PeteDunneYxB pic.twitter.com/N2qvOapGZV

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 29, 2020

I’ll give Pat McAfee credit. The dude delivers on whatever platform he’s on. Whether it be the NFL, ESPN, his own internet show, Mad Dog Radio on Sirius XM or in the NXT, he’s got IT. Not only did he come back and connect all the dots on how he got back at Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era, but he took it to another level. Bringing back the BruiserWeight, Pete Dunne to swerve Kyle O’Reilly and join his faction with Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch gives him another edgy person to try and take over NXT. Very well done.

I could see Ripley and Gonzalez go at it a few more times too. The battle of NXT behemoths was a good one. So too was Escobar vs. Atlas as Legado Del Fantasma never seems to disappoint on any occasion.

It's like a danger zone right now….here comes @KillianDain! And @WWEMaverick is ready to 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙠 his tag team partner at #WWENXT #HalloweenHavoc! pic.twitter.com/DhJ6ThiZsa

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Finally, the cinematic Haunted House of Horror Match between Lumis and Grimes gave us the entertainment for the night, complete with dancing zombies. It kept Lumis strong as this menacing, brooding man in the shadows while Grimes is growing on me as some comic relief. At the beginning, he was just annoying. Now, I’m starting to believe a little more. And speaking of funny, how about Drake and Killian Dane reliving Halloween Havoc 1995 with Hulk Hogan, The Giant, Yeti and yes, the ShockMaster? LOL my friends!

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Bianca Belair defeated Natalya and Billie Kay

Non-title SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits defeated Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Jey Uso defeated Daniel Bryan

It doesn’t get any more real than what Roman Reigns and Jey Uso continue to give us each and every Friday night. This week, the consequences of his Hell In A Cell match loss to Reigns brings Uso to tears to kickoff SmackDown, forcing him to say he hates him, as Reigns say he’s always loved him. So simple. So gripping. So entertaining.

.@BiancaBelairWWE is headed to #SurvivorSeries!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/PWhmI95zeT

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

The Survivor Series five-on-five teams continue to get built with Kevin Owens and Bianca Belair winning qualifying matches Friday night. I don’t know about you, but Natalya seems to be wasted playing the whiny, “I deserve it all” character these days. Belair is a superstar in the making and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her be a sole survivor. As for Owens, it’s always good to see him get rewarded and this will only boost his cause in trying to and help out the rest of the blue brand as he’s said he wants to be there for his fellow superstars in the past few months.

#SmackDown @WWE_Murphy pic.twitter.com/gA8ykd5DoX

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

How about Lars Sullivan! The Freak actually speaks. Good sitdown with Corey Graves to give him a little depth. And speaking of depth, the romance contiues to blossom between Aalyah and Murphy. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop there even though Murphy’s apology to the Mysterio family seemed genuine until Seth Rollins predictably butted in. In the end, Aalyah professes her love for Buddy and they’re one step closer to going to the dark side together.

What does @CarmellaWWE have planned for #SmackDown next week?

pic.twitter.com/06KIQOP0zP

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

So, it looks like we’re finally going to see why Carmella is so untouchable. Nice tease for next week!

No matter how many times I see it, I’m always amazed at how high Montez Ford gets flying through the air. Michael Cole has it right – “from the heavens.” The Street Profits vs. The New Day is going to be a classic. Dawkins and Ford took care of business against the former tag team champions Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura with another clean victory. I think the WWE has run out of ways to use Cesaro & Nakamura though. Too bad.

Apparently, it’s USA vs. The World when Bobby Lashley meets Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. Ok then.

It's #BossTime on #SmackDown!#WomensTitle @SashaBanksWWE pic.twitter.com/9pQGGwOxPN

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

Long live the chair. Even though Hell In A Cell is over, the chair that has highlighted the feud between Sasha Banks and Bayley has survived and is moving forward. The storyline is not ending and we’ll get another championship match next Friday night.

#SmackDown @WWEUsos @WWERomanReigns @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/nQTRtZ0L3z

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

Actions have consequences and we knew they were coming for Uso by the end of the night. So, having Reigns come out in the middle of Jey’s qualifying match with Bryan made absolute sense. Reigns didn’t even give Uso the chance to relish his well deserved victory over Bryan before he made him say the words “I’m with you” to Reigns. Jey firmly understands, attacking Bryan after the match and he’s now fully with the Tribal Chief on the dark side. It looks like the faction led by Reigns is getting bigger and should be growing in the upcoming weeks. The USOs will be the henchmen, IMHO. Great job by Paul Heyman as well staying out of the way. It only builds him and the entire group up. Less is definitely more!

SmackDown continues to be WWE’s best show of the week.

Parting Shots:

With the Survivor Series celebrating 30 years of The Undertaker, I do hope we get some Brother Love and Ted DiBiase sightings over the next few weeks and at the PPV. It’s good to see the WWE Network embracing the podcast game too with additions of Lillian Garcia, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott’s Swerve City, Sam Roberts and Corey Graves After The Bell. Content is king and it’s good to get the different perspectives, especially seeing WWE superstars in a different light outside the ring too.

Survivor Series – Updated Card:

WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks

Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits

United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn

5-on-5 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Lana vs. Bianca Belair, TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD)

5-on-5 Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (Keith Lee, Sheamus, AJ Styles, TBD, TBD vs. Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, TBD, TBD, TBD)

Coming up next week:

RAW: The Fiend & Randy Orton appear Guitar on a Pole Match: Elias vs. Jeff Hardy Non-title RAW Tag Team Title Match: The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander Non-title WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose Survivor Series Qualifying matches NXT: Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Velveteen Dream Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai

SmackDown: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley Survivor Series Qualifying matches

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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creepykingdom · 6 years

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Once Upon A RUSH

FORCE OF NATURE (UNOFFICIALLY) TAKES ON THE MOUSE FOR A NIGHT OF HILARITY TO WELCOME IN THE SPRING

3 Performances: FEBRUARY 21 - 22 - 23 @ 8:30PM

At the Belfry Stage (Upstairs) * – 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood, CA 91602

Whether you fancy yourself a princess, a hero, a villain, or just plain frozen, you wished upon a star and your dream came true… Force of Nature proudly presents “Once Upon a RUSH!”

We’ve gathered a crazy, wacky cast and crew, added some hilarious props, and a few surprises; so watch as we create

7 wild, zany, brand-spankin' new plays inspired by famous Disney movies. Be our guest! Written by Holly Sidell, Tyler Bianchi, Benjamin Scuglia, Tosca Minotto, Greg Crafts, Steven Alloway, Jonathan Josephson Directed by Heather Lehigh, Corey Chappell, Jonathan Fahn, Sebastian Muñoz, Jahel Corban Caldera, Lauren Lewis, Jerry Chappell Featuring The Talents of: Jon Agurcia, Jake Scozzaro, Randy Marquis, Benjamin Scuglia, Bobby Watson, Brett Gustafson, Gabriel Ortiz,

Dan Steinberg, Michael Guthrie, Kevin Dulude, Heidi Appe, Susan Dziama, Cara Vilencia, Melissa Muñoz,

Tosca Minotto, Gloria Galvan, Makenna Rae Tynan, Mia K. Williams, Georgan George, Anne Leyden,

Hettie Lynne Hurtes & Samantha Peterson

Tickets $20

www.fonprods.tix.com

*Venue is located upstairs from Crown City Theatre. Patrons must be able to walk up a flight of stairs

Entering their 4th Season, Force of Nature Productions is a prolific theatrical company, focusing on supporting local artists by producing original works. With over 30 productions under its belt since its inception in February 2016, Force of Nature has produced material that has wowed, moved and entertained audiences and critics alike. www.fonproductions.com

#blogpost

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adambarnardphotos · 7 years

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The Undertaker and The Undeniable Truth

The crowd booed loudly as The Undertaker walked down the entrance ramp of the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1992. Led in the ring by the equally pale and slightly more unnerving Paul Bearer, Undertaker set his sights for the ring, ominously sizing up his opponent. I felt the warmth of the stadium dissipate, giving way to a cold that ran up my spine, or so I had thought I’d felt. I sat with my eyes wide open under the bent brim of my Seattle Mariners hat, mesmerized by this gigantic and, apparently undead, man walk slowly and methodically towards the ring. I had no idea what “kayfabe” meant as a squirmy seven year old. I just knew this thing was the scariest thing I’d ever seen, and that my attention was completely focused on him. I was so entranced in his entrance, I couldn’t hear the roar of the crowd as his opponent, Jake “the Snake” Roberts, entered the ring to begin their match. I was captivated by the energy, the pageantry, the excitement of a WWE (then WWF) live event, and The Undertaker captured all of that by himself.

That day at the Spectrum was a wonderful touchstone in a lifelong fanaticism with professional wrestling. My brothers and I spent hours acting out all of our favorite promos from the Ultimate Warrior, belting out the theme songs of our favorite Superstars, and became deeply distressed at any sign of Hulk Hogan losing the upper hand. Saturday mornings were sacred, the squared circle our church, and the Superstars our Biblical figures, with their storylines as hallowed as the stories of Moses and Abraham. I can’t think of my childhood without the thought of the WWE in my mind. My brothers and I agonized over which Superstar would win the Royal Rumble and who, if anyone, would beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. WWE had grown with us, with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage giving way to Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, then giving way to The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Each year that passed brought a new storyline to become deeply involved with, new drama to be captivated by, a new Wrestlemania to desperately wait for.

We couldn’t have known as children the impact The Undertaker would have on professional wrestling and a generation of children, including the wide eyed, brown haired little boy in the nosebleed section of the Spectrum that day in 1992. His storied career has spanned more than three decades, the majority of that time as “The Deadman”. We watched him slay giants, be buried alive, become one of the darkest villains in the history of sports entertainment, transform into the American Bad Ass, and then take his rightful throne as the real “Mr. Wrestlemania” (sorry, Shawn Michaels, but you know it’s true). Last night, after his loss to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 33, the Deadman placed the pieces that made him iconic in the middle of the ring and symbolically brought an end to his historic career.

Life is funny sometimes. Some days bring reminders of good moments in your life. A cigarette smell brings you right back to the afternoon you spent swimming in your Uncle Lon’s swimming pool, while he enjoyed his Marlboro Lights and black coffee on the covered porch of his Levittown home. A crack of a baseball bat connecting with a 98 mile an hour pitch sends you to the hazy summer afternoon spent in the blue seats of Veterans Stadium with your brothers, dad, and favorite perpetual teenager, Uncle Rick. Waves crashing against the sandy beach transports you to the summer of your first vacation crush when you went to Cape May Courthouse with your mom and brothers, and the impending heartbreak that comes with saying goodbye when the trip is over. While her name has been eternally lost in translation between your short and long term memories, you can see her brown hair blowing in the wind as you threw sea shells into the ocean with her, and you can hear her laugh at the terrible joke you told her seconds before she kissed you. Wonderful, amazing moments that push the course of your life in new, exciting directions, and these life receipts, whether tangible or connected to senses, connect you directly to your past.

Other days are reminders of mortality and the unstoppable aging process that precedes our inevitable fate. Those reminders perpetually yield an absolute sadness, a melancholy that lingers over my daily routine like an obnoxious itch on your leg after a mosquito bite. It’s like a bitter aftertaste from a terrible drink your brother swore was delicious, and you knew better than to trust him on his decision making, but you drank it anyway, and no amount of water will dilute its foul remnants. No one and no actual thing prepares you for each loss you experience in life, nor do they buffer you from the successive losses of your childhood that accompany each passing year. There’s no guide to prepare for the first major loss in your life, as Uncle Lon slips away from cancer. The life lessons and tough skin Uncle Lon’s passing brought most certainly did not prepare you for the loss of Uncle Rick, also from cancer. Although you were older when Uncle Rick got sick, and you “convinced” yourself you could handle it because you knew it was coming, that the inevitability of his passing was sealed in his book of life, you’d literally give anything to sit and enjoy a Burger King cheeseburger and talk Phillies with him for another five minutes. You lose close friends by way of accident, and each loss never gets easier, as if I’m expecting the sudden, unexpected, and emotionally devastating passing of Scott Palek to somehow cushion me from the air constricting, guttural reaction I experience when learning Jeremy Fischer passed. Forty pounds and twice a day anxiety medicine told me that I wasn’t cushioned at all. They all become immediate reminders that the only constant in life is death, and, to quote John Mayer, “we’re never going to stop this train.”

Wrestlemania 33 brought one more reminder of this nonstop train. I remember speaking to my wife a few days before Wrestlemania 33, and saying, “I can’t believe Taker’s wrestling again. I don’t know how much more his body can take. He’s getting older, he’s probably past time to hang it up.” I said these things, not at all expecting him to do just that. I had the same thoughts about Goldberg, Sting, and other titans of professional wrestling coming back for one more round. Like Goldberg and Sting, The Undertaker owes us no more than he’s already given us. He’s entertained me, my brothers, and legions of fans across decades, putting his body and safety on the line in death defying, jaw dropping, heart pounding fashions, each and every time. I, like so many others, plead for more entertainment, more excitement, more action, but in reality, we’re pleading for a return to times long past. We project these fleeting wishes onto The Undertaker, a man who represents the last tangible piece of those times. The Undertaker hasn’t transitioned into that next plane of existence, like Robin Williams, The Ultimate Warrior, Chris Farley, Ryan Dunn, and countless other people, places, and things that no longer exist but in memory. The idea of him, however, his aura, and what he represents, now joins that plane in my mind. The Undertaker was the last tangible piece of my childhood that existed. I could watch his matches and remember that day vividly in the Spectrum, and become lost again as a child, discussing with my brothers whether or not was really dead and what was really in that urn. As I turn the calendar of another year of life, I find myself a year older, and another year as a father. I’ve shifted the life roles from child to father, and my father has become the wise grandfather, imparting wisdom and guidance on days where I can’t imagine my children acting any worse, and him gently reminding me that days like today don’t come back, and the better way to view life was to just breath and enjoy the ride. I snap back into the moment, looking towards two sets of little eyes above chocolate covered faces, and then repeating the Aladdin song to hear the sweet singing voice of my oldest serenade me one more time.

The seven year old boy is crying quietly, arms draped on the railing of the Spectrum, pulling his bent brimmed Seattle Mariners hat over his face to hide the tears, as another one of his heroes, and another, perhaps final, piece of his childhood makes the inevitable transition from present to past, short term to long term memory, taking its place with Uncle Lon, Uncle Rick, lost loves at the beach, and infinite life receipts, to peek out from time to time to remind us of who we are, the roads we’ve traveled, and where we’re headed next.

But I’m sitting here, typing through tears, saying “…maybe one more match for us? Please?”

Thank you for everything, Mark Calaway. You have made my life better and enjoyable in measurable ways I’m not sure I could accurately describe, and I thank you for every single moment of joy, excitement, and entertainment you’ve provided me.

#undertaker #wwe #retirement #wrestlemania #death

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sglabs · 7 years

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Visit with a Veep- Reagan Heller

Reagan Heller is the vice president of art for Schell Games. Reagan manages and oversees the Art team as well as assists with general studio staffing.

To start things off, I like to begin well before your current leadership position. What is the weirdest job you’ve had?

One experience that sticks out is when I worked at a dollar movie theater. It wasn’t necessarily a weird ‘job’ more so than a weird ‘place.’ Odd things would happen. Instead of focusing on selling popcorn and tickets, I would be given a broom [by management] to chase people out of the theater who were trying to sleep in it. They also would try and sleep in the photo booth. Another time we found illicit drugs in the theater and had to dispose of them. Overall, it was a very weird and interesting place to work.

Wow. What type of lessons did you take away from having that experience?

I certainly learned how to deal with interesting situations. I mean, if you are chasing a person out from trying to sleep in the theater, you learn how to be tactful. I wasn’t going to chase the person out by hitting them with the broom. Instead, I would try sweeping around them and approach them like, “hey, the movie is over and it’s time to leave, you can’t sleep here.”

That’s quite the experience! So from there, how did you end up in the video game industry?

My path was a little unusual. I didn’t know that you could have a job as an artist or a graphic designer in the video game industry. I went to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for graphic design with the intention of going into the advertising industry. I knew I wanted to do something digital and use art to communicate and sell products and ideas to people. That sounded awesome to me, so I aspired to be an advertising designer.

But, I was also always into geeky stuff, so a lot of my friends weren’t in the design department, but in the computer science department in CMU. A number of them told me about this class called “Building Virtual Worlds” and that I could work with computer programmers, and make games, and things like that. Though I didn’t have much experience programming, my friends encouraged me to apply for the class (at this time candidates still had to apply to the class to Randy Pausch). Dr. Pausch looked through my sketchbook and said “this is some really cool stuff.” I was honest and told him that I didn’t know much about computer programming, but he said that if I was willing to work hard, he’d let me in. And man, I worked really freaking hard.

Very cool.

It was! I fell in love with it. The ability and opportunity to work with people of different disciplines and using the skills of color theory and design that I had learned came into play in a way I thought was really awesome. When I saw people play the experiences we were creating [in class] I just found that really fulfilling. After finishing my undergrad, I applied to the ETC school for my graduate degree.

You’re right, that is an interesting path.

Yes, my parents were like “what are you doing?” because no one knew if you could make a living making video games.

What is, in your opinion, unique about being on a leadership team for a video game studio, and specifically with Schell Games?

When networking and talking to other studio leaders at conferences like GDC, I have noticed that we strive to be very collaborative in a cross-discipline way. And we are very open and not hierarchical. People can go to talk to Jesse, or talk to Jake or any of the veeps. When studios increase in size, some of them lose that kind of touch. We try really hard to have real conversations, work with teams so they understand how we can best support the projects they are working on. It was easy for us to have those open conversations when we were smaller, but we’ve made it a point to still have an open communication channel. I’ve heard of studios not having open communication, so the project teams think they’re working on a project with goals “decreed from on High.” That feels really bad for those teams.

As VP of Art, you’re touching a lot of things in the studio. On top of that, there’s that management capacity too. How do you stay on top of your craft and discipline, while managing the art team?

I know I am by far, not the best artist in the studio, and I think that’s important to realize. I don’t think that your best artist should be your vp of art because you do spend a lot of time managing people, and helping people with their careers and you simply are not able to be on a critical path for certain projects anymore. I still stay involved in pitches, and stay relevant in order to communicate clearly. When I am trying to discuss something with an art director I want to make sure that I can still “talk the language” and know the same techniques and theories that they are using. But it is tough. A way to stay on top is to be involved with the teams and understanding the processes and pipelines and why they are going for a certain look. The joy [in this job] is from elevating the people around you and making sure they are doing the most high-quality work for the studio they possibly can.

When I walk around the studio, I’m always impressed by the art being created here.

All those people out there are amazing. I’m really proud of the art team we have here at Schell Games. We are completely on the top of our game, which is good. I’m inspired a lot by the people I work with on the art team.

(screenshot from Schell Games’ mobile VR game, Frostbound)

What do you think are the benefits of working at an indie studio?

That’s funny, because I never really think of us as an ‘indie’ studio, for some reason.

Really? Why?

When I hear ‘indie’ I think of small groups of developers solely working on their own, creating their own IP. I really like the position that we’re in, because it gives us a balance and a variety of work and it allows us to be stable and grow at a rate we like. When a studio goes 100% into its own IP, that is a really big risk. A lot of indie studios that have tried that, have folded in on themselves. We do a great job balancing between our own IP and interesting client work.

What do you mean by ‘interesting?’

We’re in the position to work with different new technologies, transformational challenges, and even educational challenges that are interesting to us. Our diversity and balance [between client and IP] work has kept us stable. It has kept us pushing toward the newest thing and we haven’t gotten caught in the rut that other studios have found themselves in. Also, we haven’t gone the route of making a ton of IP games that could gamble the studio’s livelihood.

True. Schell Games has worked with some good companies.

I do like that we get a chance to do client work with some great companies, trusting us to do some unique and new things.

Where do you see Schell Games in 5 years?

Oh man, if you asked me that 5 years ago I wouldn’t have known. I’m not entirely sure, but I do think that we’ll have some amount of growth. I am very interested to see where virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) go; there are some interesting things going on with mobile VR that I’m excited about. I think that as soon as you untether people, and make the headsets more mobile and lightweight, the more apt people will be to try it. I feel like AR has a lot potential, especially with children. With VR, it is very personal to you, unless there are others in a headset with you. For AR, you can bring people in the experience with you. I think for children and parents, that can be a powerful experience that encourages more parent-child interaction. I’m hoping that AR takes off once platforms like Google Tango are on more devices.

Also, I think theme parks are doing more interactive experiences, and I am hoping that we’ve created enough of a name for ourselves to work on more of that, because it’s a lot of fun to do. Those are some of my favorite projects to work on.

What is one thing about ‘leadership’ that you learned on the job?

You’re always learning, and that is a question I feel could have a number of answers. One of the major lessons for me was how valuable soft skills are, and how important it is that in difficult conversations, the other person in the conversation feels heard. It is really easy to be ‘bull-headed’ about it, but there can be an underlying problem in a team, a project, that is very important to that person. It is very important to be an active listener. Sometimes it’s also important to help them see from different perspectives, helping ‘pull themselves out’ of the situation.

Being able to give feedback, critically and constructively, in a positive way, is also an art. And for artists especially, allowing them the freedom to find their way to the goal we’ve set out is very important. If they have a process or a set of tools they want to use that can get us there, then by all means. I don’t think there is anyone completely ready to be a leader. Those who think they are, typically have the hardest time adapting to what it really takes.

Are you playing any really cool games right now, or do you have a favorite all-time game?

I have many terrible answers for this. I am well-known for the fact that I like terrible things- bad movies, etc.; I like seeing the raw-edges on things. For example: in a movie, you see a boom-mic slowly fall from the ceiling, things like that. (I do like good movies too, and I do appreciate them, I swear). But I tend to like things where I can see how they pieced things together. I also like things that are a little unusual, different, and break the mold a little bit. For video games, I’ve played some really good- really beautiful- games; but if I had to just pick, I really liked Godzilla NES when I was a kid. First because I liked Godzilla, and second because it put three genres together- it was a tabletop strategy game, a side-scrolling action game, and a fighting game because you were fighting other monsters. As a kid, I thought this was the greatest game ever. In reality, it is really clunky and not that great.

More recently-a few years ago- I played this game created by a game designer named Swery, and he makes very weird games that follow his passion. He developed this game called Deadly Premonition, which was this out-of-control...game. You could see all the seams, it was a mess. It was made for the Xbox One, but they didn’t have a grasp on the type of textures and polys the engine could push, and so you can see the bad texturing, models that had been awkwardly optimized, animations that were so bizarre, and the whole thing is just trying to cram a bunch of stuff into one perplexing experience. I don’t know why I liked it so much, maybe because it reminded me of Twin Peaks. But that’s a stand-out fun game experience I recently remember. In terms of good games I’ve played, I liked Dragon Age, Mario Galaxy, The Order: 1886- I like good games too, I mean, you can’t only play games that are complete disasters.

Given unlimited resources, unlimited time, no restrictions, what type of game or experience would you like to see Schell Games create?

I have always said that one day in my career, I would like to participate in creating a survival horror game. I’m not sure what it would look like, or how to be innovative with it since much of it has been done to death. But I still think it would be awesome.

What makes the leadership team at Schell Games ‘tick’?

We talk to each other. I think in the same way we encourage others to be cross-discipline, we make an example of that. It’s the same expectations I have for a team: we try to be very open with each other in the same way. We try to identify concerns in pipeline, processes and try to fix them together. We’re not siloed as some other departments may be. We’re not a ‘hand-off’ process; we try to be examples in collaboration.

What advice do you have for people trying to get into the video game industry?

Work in teams! Understand that it's about collaboration, teamsmanship, and getting a team together on a vision. Also, be excellent- really study the game art in games that inspire you. Work outside of your school assignments to push those skills that will make you stand out as a potential game artist in your preferred discipline. There is a wealth of resources online- tutorials, free tools, game art forums, etc. Look at the portfolio of successful industry artists and set a high bar for yourself.

#leadership #art #visit with a veep #schell games #studio leadership #management #thought leadership

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michaeljtraylor · 6 years

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It’s getting scary out there

Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Money is published weekdays at 8 a.m. POLITICO Pro Financial Services subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 5:15 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.

Things are looking scary — Apple issued a rare profit warning late Wednesday citing a sharp decline in Chinese demand for its expected lower first quarter numbers. The company blamed, in part, “rising trade tensions with the United States.” This, to a degree, is a win for President Donald Trump, as he wants China to feel pain from tariffs. But it’s also a reminder that many big U.S. companies generate close to half their profits overseas.

Story Continued Below

The spooky salvo from Cupertino tanked Apple shares by 7 percent in after-hours trading, sent U.S. futures lower and could weigh heavily on U.S. stocks on Thursday even as the partial U.S. government shutdown is slated to roll on with no end in sight.

So the trade war has to end — In the latest POLITICO Money podcast, Leuthold’s Jim Paulsen explains why Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have to made a deal by March 31: “I think personally that the trade war is coming to an end and there is really nothing Trump can do about it.”

Wall Street eyes the 2020 field — MM talked to a couple of Wall Street Democrats about where they think the industry will wind up in the crowded field to take on Trump. More on this below but Mike Bloomberg tops the list, followed by Joe Biden and then a wild card. Read on to find out who.

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING — Sounds like many of you dig the new faster MM. Keep the comments coming to [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @AubreeEWeaver.

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Zachary Warmbrodt on what to watch on Capitol Hill in 2019, in the financial services world. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or [email protected].

New Senators and House members will be sworn in this afternoon for the 116th Congress and will immediately begin yelling at each other about the shutdown. House Democrats still plan to pass a funding bill with no wall but it’s DOA in the Senate (even though the Senate previously approved such a measure unanimously).

… ADP private sector employment report at 8:15 a.m. expected to show a gain of 180K … ISM Manufacturing Survey at 10:00 a.m. expected to fall to 57.6 from 59.3 …

WHAT WALL STREET DEMOCRATS WANT IN 2020 — Per an email from a plugged in Wall Street Democrat: “Most of them would love a Bloomberg presidency but have some doubts about his ability to withstand a Democratic primary. Biden not particularly well known on the Street but a safe pair of hands and has a credible path to the nomination and a general election victory.

“Don’t think Beto will run the kind of campaign that attracts centrist Democrats. The other possibility — if he runs — is [former Virginia governor Terry] McAuliffe who is pro-business, well known from the Clinton years and has demonstrated that he can win the kind of swing state Dems need to carry.”

From another: “Bloomberg for sure. Biden too. I think [New York Senator] Kirsten [Gillibrand] will get some of the Wall Streeters. Maybe Cory too. Everything is so up in the air.”

Top tweet — From Josh Brown @ReformedBroker: “Chinese demand wrecked Apple’s quarter. Your friendly reminder that 40% + of the S&P 500’s 2019 profits are expected to come from overseas. Call Kudlow and remind him too. You break it, you bought it.”

Bob Rubin weighs in — Former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin in a NYT op-ed argues that the climate of animosity between the world’s two largest economies could get incredibly dangerous.

How growth could crash — Morgan Stanley’s Ellen Zenter in a client note: “In 2019, fading stimulus and tighter financial conditions bite. We expect full year growth to come in at 1.7 percent … sharply slower (the slowest since 2012) and much lower compared with consensus (2.3 percent) and with a low point of just 1.0 percent in 3Q2109.”

WARREN LAST NIGHT— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) last night on Rachel Maddow’s show on MSBC took direct aim at prospective self-funders like Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer: “People should not be self-funding and they should not be funded from PACs from other billionaires.”

BERNIE SANDERS HAS A PROBLEM — Per the NYT, his 2016 campaign was rife with sexual harassment and pay disparity complaints and he did nothing about it. Read more. And he told CNN he didn’t do anything because he didn’t know about it and was too busy.

ROMNEY SAYS HE’S NOT RUNNING — Incoming Sen. Mitt Romney said Wednesday he wasn’t running against Trump in 2020 but might not support his reelection: “I think it’s early to make that decision and I want to see what the alternatives are,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

WHAT TO THINK — Romney could still run. He’s changed his tune plenty of times on Trump so far, what’s once more? And the world could look totally different in a few months. Romney probably can’t win a primary challenge to Trump but he’s still in the game, as our Alex Isenstadt explain here. And our John Harris on why people like Romney don’t bother Trump very much, because he always crushes them.

STOCK MARKET KICKS OFF 2019 WITH MORE TURBULENCE — AP’s Marley Jay: “The roller-coaster ride on Wall Street resumed on Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year, as stocks plunged early on, then slowly recovered and finished with a slight gain. The Dow … dropped as much as 398 points in the first few minutes of trading after more shaky economic news from China. But it gradually recouped those losses, and a small rally over the last 15 minutes of trading left major indexes a bit higher than where they started.” Read more.

But the first day of stocks doesn’t really mean much — Bloomberg’s Lu Wang: “It’s tempting to assume that as today goes, so goes the year. But history shows that using the year’s first day of stock trading as a premise for an annual view of the market is baseless.”

INVESTORS EXPECT THE FED TO PUMP THE BRAKES — WSJ’s Daniel Kruger and Nick Timiraos: “Investors increasingly believe the Fed … won’t raise interest rates in 2019, a sign of fading confidence that the U.S. economic expansion will continue at the stable pace the central bank foresaw just two weeks ago.” Read more.

TAKING STOCK OF THE WORLD’S DEBT — WSJ’s Aaron Kuriloff: “The world has never had as much debt as it has right now—nearly $250 trillion. That figure is three times what it was two decades ago, according to a Citigroup analysis of data from the Institute of International Finance. The biggest borrowers: the U.S., China, the eurozone and Japan, which have more than two-thirds of the world’s household debt, three-quarters of corporate debt and nearly 80 percent of government debt.” Read more.

TRUMP AND STOCKS — The latest Bloomberg Businessweek goes long on Trump’s impact on the stock market with a piece by Peter Coy.

QUARLES WANTS TO OPEN THE BLACK BOX — Our Victoria Guida on Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Randy Quarles and the stress tests: “In outlining his thinking for how the Fed should improve the stress tests, Quarles said he does not want to ‘rewrite Genesis,’ but he does want to make the exercise more transparent. That’s welcome news to bankers, who often refer to the tests as a ‘black box.’” More for Pros here.

Victoria also has a look-ahead on the year for financial regulations and Zachary Warmbrodt has the view from Capitol Hill.

And Victoria scoops that Pentagon Federal Credit Union has acquired Progressive Credit Union in an emergency merger, a move that means PenFed will now be able to serve anyone in the country.

DEMS FIGHTING THEMSELVES — Our Rachel Bade and Heather Caygle on progressive fighting with leadership over a rules package the left fears could make it harder to vote for Medicare for all and other big ticket items.

THE YEAR AHEAD LOOKS SCARY — Mohamed A. El-Erian on Bloomberg view: “The world enters 2019 with a lot more uncertainty about the prospects for global growth. The excitement a year ago about a synchronized pickup in global growth is replaced by angst that was initially focused on China and Europe but is increasingly spreading to the U.S.” Read more.

PREPAID CARD GROUP REBRANDS — New year, new name. The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association — whose membership includes companies like Visa, Mastercard and Discover — is starting 2019 off fresh and has officially rebranded itself as the Innovative Payments Association. Read more here.

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nicholerestrada · 6 years

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It’s getting scary out there

Story Continued Below

… ADP private sector employment report at 8:15 a.m. expected to show a gain of 180K … ISM Manufacturing Survey at 10:00 a.m. expected to fall to 57.6 from 59.3 …

From another: “Bloomberg for sure. Biden too. I think [New York Senator] Kirsten [Gillibrand] will get some of the Wall Streeters. Maybe Cory too. Everything is so up in the air.”

Bob Rubin weighs in — Former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin in a NYT op-ed argues that the climate of animosity between the world’s two largest economies could get incredibly dangerous.

TRUMP AND STOCKS — The latest Bloomberg Businessweek goes long on Trump’s impact on the stock market with a piece by Peter Coy.

Victoria also has a look-ahead on the year for financial regulations and Zachary Warmbrodt has the view from Capitol Hill.

And Victoria scoops that Pentagon Federal Credit Union has acquired Progressive Credit Union in an emergency merger, a move that means PenFed will now be able to serve anyone in the country.

Source link

Source: https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/01/04/its-getting-scary-out-there/

from Garko Media https://garkomedia1.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/its-getting-scary-out-there/

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garkomedia1 · 6 years

Text

It’s getting scary out there

Story Continued Below

… ADP private sector employment report at 8:15 a.m. expected to show a gain of 180K … ISM Manufacturing Survey at 10:00 a.m. expected to fall to 57.6 from 59.3 …

From another: “Bloomberg for sure. Biden too. I think [New York Senator] Kirsten [Gillibrand] will get some of the Wall Streeters. Maybe Cory too. Everything is so up in the air.”

Bob Rubin weighs in — Former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin in a NYT op-ed argues that the climate of animosity between the world’s two largest economies could get incredibly dangerous.

TRUMP AND STOCKS — The latest Bloomberg Businessweek goes long on Trump’s impact on the stock market with a piece by Peter Coy.

Victoria also has a look-ahead on the year for financial regulations and Zachary Warmbrodt has the view from Capitol Hill.

And Victoria scoops that Pentagon Federal Credit Union has acquired Progressive Credit Union in an emergency merger, a move that means PenFed will now be able to serve anyone in the country.

Source link

from RSSUnify feed https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/01/04/its-getting-scary-out-there/

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prank316 · 6 years

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San Antonio Enjoys The Texas Boom, Without All Of The Growth Headaches

San Antonio is booming without quite all of the complications that come with rapid growth, according to the speakers at Bisnow’s recent San Antonio State of the Market event.

The city has managed to dodge the high real estate prices of Austin or congestion like Houston. San Antonio also has first-rate infrastructure that will support further growth, the speakers said.

The NRP Group Vice President of Development Timothy Cone, Kairoi Residential principal Madison Marceau, Harris Bay Managing Partner Jake Harris and Institutional Property Advisors Associate Drew Garza, who moderated.

San Antonio is attracting a lot of new people — just last year, a net of 24,000 more. The industries supporting that growth are some of the most robust parts of the U.S. economy, including biomedical, tech, tourism and the military.

Millennials are moving to San Antonio to take jobs and, in some cases, escape places with higher costs of living or real estate, such as Austin.

The city is investing in infrastructure. That trend accelerated last year when voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue to put money into drainage, flood control, streets, sidewalks and other important infrastructure.

NRP Group Vice President of Development Timothy Cone said Texas is a booming market for his company, which develops, builds and manages low-income and market-rate multifamily product. In fact, NRP Group is too busy to expand to adjacent states, he said.

One NRP Group project is the 271-unit Baldwin at St. Paul’s Square. "We felt that the East Side was ignored, even with activity in the Broadway Corridor and the Pearl. The site is a five-minute walk from Downtown, and we’ve opened the first of four phases. The market has responded, and we’re above our numbers on leasing, with the first people moved in two weeks ago."

Harris Bay Managing Partner Jake Harris said he is bullish on the San Antonio market, including lesser-developed areas, such as the East Side location of his company’s Essex Modern City project.

"We’re getting close to having the site ready for development, late this year or early next year. There will be 250 multifamily units, parking, office, condos and row homes," Harris said. "It will be a catalyst for the East Side. That’s becoming a new corridor that’s prime for redevelopment, since it is accessible to everything else in Downtown, to its urban renaissance."

Kairoi Residential principal Madison Marceau said his company’s Tribute at the Rim apartment complex on the Northwest Side has seen strong leasing and effective rents. "It has walkability," he said. "That’s important now for any apartment development. In five minutes, you can be in Stoneworks, Rustic, all the bars and restaurants."

Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith, San Antonio Medical Foundation President Jim Reed and Institutional Property Advisors Associate Drew Garza, who moderated.

Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith said his company has a very specific focus, the northwest quadrant of Downtown San Antonio. That focus eventually led him to the development of the 460K SF Frost Tower, which broke ground about a year ago.

"The goal of Frost Tower is to help San Antonio be a better city for our kids," Smith said. "It will have an outsized impact on Downtown, and a long dormant stretch of West Houston Street."

He stressed that the tower "isn’t just our project — there were visionary leaders at Frost Bank and the city of San Antonio involved at every step of the way, and it’s hardly the only project remaking Downtown San Antonio. It’s one of seven Class-A projects on the boards now."

San Antonio Medical Foundation President Jim Reed said that larger trends are impacting healthcare in San Antonio, but the industry is going to remain one of the city’s economic mainstays.

One of the trends is consolidation. "Free-standing hospitals are finding it hard to survive," Reed said. "Larger systems are being created. Vertical mergers, especially within the healthcare industry, is a national trend that will have an impact in San Antonio. So will the enlargement of facilities, especially among specialty centers."

Reed is active in San Antonio’s civic affairs, including chairing the streets, bridges and sidewalks portion of the recent $850M city bond issue. "That sounds like a lot of money, but [it’s] not as much as the demand for projects," he said.

Reed also said that an important factor in the future growth of San Antonio will be the regional centers being fostered by SA Tomorrow. The centers are major organizing elements for the Comprehensive Plan, focusing growth in these regional centers, building on the existing pattern of development. "They’re envisioned as new places to live, work and play," Reed said.

San Antonio billionaire and businessman Red McCombs kicked off the event with a keynote, calling San Antonio real estate robust, but steady.

The world, McCombs said, turns on entrepreneurs, and there is real estate involved in everything. "My parents were from modest backgrounds, so it was a natural thing for me to improve what was going on around me."

"I’m a deal junkie," McCombs said. "I’ve been in many different businesses, and I’m in many now. I buy businesses, or pieces of them, and will double the the investment in five years."

"I didn’t plan on being in retail automobiles, but the opportunity was right at the right time, and eventually we were the sixth-largest dealership in the U.S. I am not a car buff. I sold them for money, and it was a good product.

"I built that part of the business by training my guys, and then selling them part of the business, and that model worked well. … When Japanese cars showed up, I eventually realized they would do well, and started picking up franchises."

McCombs Partners — the investment arm of McCombs Enterprises and a fairly recent addition to his always-growing portfolio — now owns 23 businesses and counting.

Through McCombs Partners, he and his family invest in all kinds of businesses, from startups to fully operational and mature companies, in any industry. At 91, he said, he hasn’t stopped being a deal junkie.

"You never know where deals will be," McCombs said. "They’re all around."

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oneteacheraz-blog · 7 years

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Eight Years Later: Why I Still Teach

New Post has been published on https://www.oneteacheraz.com/why-i-still-teach/

Eight Years Later: Why I Still Teach

When I was 21 years old, I had the great fortune & honor to teach a group of men at a minimum security prison outside of Madison, WI. Largely made up of men on their way out of the confines of prison, the course was focused on giving them coping skills and strategies to deal with life back on the outside, in hopes of preventing recidivism.

As most of the men were at least ten years my senior, I went into this experience with a very humble approach and the mindset that I would likely learn more from them than they from me. Because of our age difference, I was somewhat nervous before my first day. I put in a lot of thought as to how best I should introduce myself and explain my presence in front of them. After all, what in the hell could a young guy like me teach them?

On the day of our first class, I decided to arrange our chairs in a circle as if to suggest that we were all among equals and that everyone had as much of a voice as the person next to him. I could almost literally feel a sigh of relief as the men filed in for our first session, as they saw from the structure of the room that they weren’t to be lectured at, but rather engaged in conversation.

Conversation flowed well on that first day and continued from where we left off each week after that. From these conversations, we grew to know and understand each other quite well. Slowly, I began to see these men for what they really were: people that had made mistakes. Increasingly, too, I began to learn just how much each of these men had in common with each other: namely, most of them came from underprivileged backgrounds and were not afforded the same resources as many others. To be clear–and in testament to the character and maturity of each of these men–not one of them blamed their fates on their childhood, but it was apparent that they had all lacked something critical in their formative years. In one way or another, all of these men had been slighted.

7 months later our class was ending and one of my students–Randy–pulled me aside to give me a handmade card, signed by himself and the rest of my class. I’ll never forget that sincere look of respect and appreciation on his face as he gave me what to this day is still the best gift I’ve ever received. The gratefulness and deep respect each man had for the time we had spent together was evident in each of the short notes they had written.

Almost as an aside as I was walking out of the classroom for the last time, Randy quipped: “Y’know; I wish I woulda had a teacher like you back in middle school–ya know; someone who cared and who coulda told me there was more out there. Maybe then I wouldn’t be here.”

More than any particular bit of dialogue we had had throughout our entire time together, Randy’s comment hit me. For its honesty and its genuineness and, most of all, for its truthfulness: if more of these men–if more people from low-income neighborhoods that experience gaps in opportunities from even before the first day they set foot on this planet–had had that type of teacher, maybe they truly wouldn’t have been there.

Because of those men and because of Randy, I applied to Teach For America and, two weeks after college graduation and with two large suitcases stuffed to the gills, I left behind my family, friends and support network and moved to Houston, Texas. Fueled by the boundless energy and passion of youth and driven directly by my experiences with people who were the living embodiment of a fate all too common for those in our lowest socioeconomic brackets, it was my mission to try to be that teacher that Randy talked about. It was my hope to help instill a love for learning in as many children as possible.

Throughout those first two years, I had an incredible amount of eye-opening experiences that, simply, I’d never been privy to in my own life. Like realizing that Bianca was having a hard time learning the English word for “bed,” not because the ability was beyond her, but simply because she’d never seen a bed in real life and thus was struggling to understand the concept. Or that time that I got so frustrated with Demetrio after fielding a phone call about him hanging around the school late at night, only to learn upon calling his mom that her two jobs prevented her from getting him right after school and she was too anxious about communicating in English to ask for help.

Things that I could never have even imagined as a child growing up in a comfortable two-parent home in Suburban, USA, with my stay-at-home-mom, summer camps and after-school sports. Things that were not even in my mental lexicon growing up. Yet my students had to deal with things like this on a regular-enough basis that they weren’t necessarily even always phased by them. Imagine what that does to a developing brain?

Yet despite all of this, my students trudged on–and thrived. Bianca came in with a smile and eager appetite to learn each and every day. Demetrio’s generous nature was always on display–whether in his knowing smile after one of my many ill-fated attempts at humor or the fact that he could always be counted on to help out a classmate in need. My school’s Parent Teacher Association put on marvelous events throughout the year and our community showed up and supported each and every time. It was truly an incredible place and examples abound of the strong spirit of resilience and community displayed by all of my students and every one of their families.

Because of the children and families I met in my first two years teaching, I decided to sign up for a third year in the classroom. Seeking something slightly different, I moved to New York, where I got right to work at a still-founding school in Bed Stuy. Because of the impact I saw and the relationships I built that year, I came back for a fourth year in the classroom. Hitting my groove, years 5, 6 and 7 were a blur of hard work, incredible memories and unforgettable events. During this time, I worked with some incredible colleagues and served some of the most dedicated families and scholars I’ve ever met.

Something about the end of year 7 had me thinking, though. I’m not sure if it was seeing many of my old teacher-friends moving on and moving up in the business world or watching others embark on successful law careers or seeing still others pursue passions more artistic in nature, but I struggled. Was I doing the right thing? Should I be doing something different? Or was there more to be done?

Unsure of any of those answers and without a firm desire to make any drastic changes in my life, I signed up for year 8 this past fall. In many ways, it was my toughest year yet. But I pushed on and–I’m not sure if it was the joy of getting to teach the younger brothers and sisters of my former students, the pleasure of watching my school grow into a vibrant community institution, or the fact that I get to work with the most dedicated and diverse group of professionals each and every day–but I finished the year with a smile.

Now, as I gear up for year 9 in just a few short weeks, I can say with the utmost certainty I’m in the right place. A place where students come to learn every day and where families come to celebrate nearly as often. A place where futures are made brighter. A place, I like to think, that Randy would be proud to call home.

Jake Jung is a TFA Alum (Houston ’09) and will begin his 9th year teaching this fall, taking on the new challenge of founding a Computer Science department at his school in Brooklyn, NY. Jake is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds a Masters from Relay Graduate School of Education. Additionally, Jake will begin a two-year term as one of two Brooklyn Borough President Appointees on Community Education Council 13, where he will serve the families and students of his neighborhood in an even greater capacity by ensuring their voices are well-represented in NYC DOE policies and practices.

Jake Jung is a guest blogger for OneTeacher whose views and publications on other platforms are his/her own and are not endorsed by or affiliated with OneTeacher.

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