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maggiec70 · 2 years

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Reviews as an Art Form

Back in the day when I had more time and patience, I used to review every Horrible Historical Novel I could find, which grew to a rather daunting task, since most HF of the past ten years churned out by American and a few British scribblers is utter crap. I do not want to compete with Dear Citizen Pixel, and I can't begin to hold a candle to her reviews, which are replete with charm, information, wit, and excellent analyses on many levels.

But if you are interested in pure historical demolition and snark of steroids, then look no further. I'm posting a review I did in 2015 of a book set during the apparently popular 1803 pre-and post Treaty of Amiens era, full of brave, intrepid British spies and dastardly French of any stripe. So pour a glass of wine and settle back. This will take a while. Killing the Bee King

PJ Royal [now re-issued with the author’s name as Jaymie Royal. Either way, she can’t write. And she owns the publishing company, Regal Publishing.]

My Review:

What’s not to like about a massive, 530-page tome with a cast of notables on both sides of the English Channel, not to mention spies, secrets, beautiful women, cunning politicians, a youthful former prime minister, and a choleric emperor? In a book so lengthy and complex, although it covers just two months, November and December of 1803, what about the history portion in this work of historical fiction? The author assures us in her blog dated September 29, 2012, that “Every aspect of the book that could be historically accurate…was.” And she says in another blog dated June 16, 2014, that she has provided “…a historical environment saturated with authentic detail that lends a vibrancy to the narrative without weighing it down unduly.” She includes a prologue for the book entitled “Historical Background: An Optional Read. England and France, November 1803,” to set the stage for the events in the novel. At the novel’s end we find an “Epilogue: The Historical Record,” where the author reminds us that she “sought to maintain the highest degree of historical accuracy throughout the course of this novel—from plants and architectural façades, to fashions, to food-stuffs. Many of the characters contained herein are historical figures, and their depicted appearance and personalities were also based on extensive research.” She admits, however, allowing herself the “fictional tweak” of placing Napoleon’s “self-coronation as emperor” in 1803, rather than in December 1804.

I quoted the author’s claims concerning the historical accuracy of this book because with so much insistence on accuracy, from plants to people and all points between, I was appalled at the extent of errors from first to last, big ones, little ones, and middling ones. Anyone with a scintilla of knowledge about the Napoleonic era, from the establishment of the Consulate in November 1799 until Waterloo in June 1815, would see them at once. No amount of pretentiousness, no faux literary prose as thick as treacle and as false as saccharine can disguise these bloopers. No pretending that this is some great literary work with its tortured, turgid sentences, images, metaphors, and other linguistic jetsam and flotsam clogging every paragraph and page can disguise the fact that the history is unrecognizable. The standard argument offered by some authors and fans of their work that “It’s only fiction!” or “That’s why it’s called historical fiction!” cannot logically prevail when the author makes such a concerted and repetitive case for her accuracy. Worse, I think, is the disservice done to readers who believe they’ve been treated to “the real story” not only with regard to historical events and people but also to the respective social and cultural milieu. I noticed that most reviewers have mentioned the “meticulous research” and the “mammoth amount of research” that allegedly went into this book without, unfortunately, understanding how very flawed on so many levels the history actually is. They were all swayed by what they believed was a fine literary style and use of language.

You have no obligation whatever to believe me or accept my opinion, and you certainly don’t need to read this review. However, this novel has 108 chapters bookended between a prologue and an epilogue, and every chapter has at least one or more errors of historical fact, language, social convention, political usage, or even physical location—I’d never before used the Notes/Marks feature on my Kindle as much as I did for this book. Thus I’ll cite concrete examples from the book, and you are free to decide whether you care that the author’s claims of accuracy cannot be sustained.

Let’s begin with the “Historical Record.” Right out of the box we get the mangled “Armée d’Englaterre,” apparently the author’s phonetic version of the correct French “Armée d’Angleterre.” Then we have the old canard of ‘“A nation of shopkeepers,’ Napoleon derisively said,” when the quote comes from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Section vii, published in 1776 This is followed in quick succession by references to “the English Isles,” and how Britain was facing her greatest challenge while she was “bereft of allies.” Apparently the author forgot to notice that Britain declared war on France on May 18, 1803, so the alleged lack of allies must not have mattered too much. However, for those who care, Britain had already laid the groundwork for the Third Coalition with Austria and Russia, with Sweden joining the next year.

The “Cast of Characters” also provides an occasion for mirth, and a bit of head-scratching. There’s Wolfe Trant, the Irish rebel supposed to be Wolfe Tone, leader of the United Irishmen, but since Tone committed suicide in 1798 while in a British prison, I guess his doppelgänger Trant carries on here in ghostly form. Malcolm Dundas is the substitute for Henry Dundas, who was one of William Pitt the Younger’s advisors and minister or war for a time, but under no circumstances would Dundas call Pitt “Will,” and Pitt would never address his subordinate as “Mal.” I forgot—one would actually have to know something about these persons in real life, and about social conventions of the time, to know how wrong that is. My favorite is General John Moore, who the author claims “served in the Seven Years’ War and the War for American Independence.” She also alleges Moore was in at least twenty-four battles/engagements/skirmishes, many of them in and around Charleston. Moore was a young lieutenant during the American war, but he spent most of the time in Nova Scotia, with a couple of forays as far south as Maine. However, since he was born in 1761, and the Seven Years’ War ended in 1763, I suppose Moore’s involvement was limited to waving his rattle at the enemy. William Brunskill was no more a “school friend” to William Pitt than he was the “warden of Newgate Prison.” He was the official executioner of London—executions there were carried out at Newgate—and of Middlesex and Surrey.

The villain of the piece, of course, is Napoleon—isn’t he always? Here he is “the self-appointed emperor of the French,” which ignores the May 14, 1804, Senatus Consultum naming him emperor, or the national plebiscite confirming it. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, often referred to throughout as the “duc de Talleyrand,” which is wrong on many levels, is supposed to be conspiring with the British to overthrow Napoleon because he is “disillusioned with Napoleon’s self-aggrandizing strategies,” a claim as factually incorrect in 1803 as is Talleyrand’s title. Joseph Fouché was not Napoleon’s “commissioner of police”—this was Paris, not New York, and the correct title was minister of police. Finally, we are presented with Jeanne Récamier, Parisian “society hostess,” traveling under the alias of “Primrose” as one of five leaders of the “French Resistance.” I truly feel sorry for the real Mme Récamier, a beautiful if somewhat emptyheaded woman who hosted salons from time to time, didn’t much care for Napoleon, but never lifted a perfectly manicured finger against him, to be portrayed in such a silly and implausible fashion. The worst part, of course, is this alleged “French Resistance,” a term used exclusively during WWII, and never at any time to denote opposition to Napoleon. Quelle horreur!

The author admits she “tweaked history” to place Napoleon’s coronation as emperor —or self-appointment to the position—in 1803. She never explains why, not that it matters, because all the history that flows from the decision to place the action of the novel in November and December 1803 is just wrong. All of it. I have an embarrassment of riches to choose from to illustrate what is nothing more than Bad History, something easily avoided by an eighth-grader spending three hours with Wikipedia. This author’s alleged ten years’ worth of research was time wasted.

A number of events occur during these last two months of 1803 that didn’t occur in the real historical world at this time, or even close. A group of Chouans, supposedly led by Georges Cadoudal, attempted to assassinate Napoleon by blowing up a barrel filled with gunpowder. Cadoudal ordered a number of assassination attempts, but he did not plan or participate in this plot, known as the Infernal Machine, which occurred on December 24, 1800, when First Consul Bonaparte was on his way to the Opéra. The seminal event leading to the establishment of the First Empire was the execution of the duc d’Enghien at Vincennes on March 21, 1804, not December 13, 1803. The duke was extradited—or kidnapped, if you prefer—from Coblenz on the Rhine, and not from his fiancée’s house somewhere in Switzerland. Talleyrand was minister of foreign affairs in 1803, and not plotting to overthrow Napoleon or, more historically correct, First Consul Bonaparte; he was most assuredly not Prince de Bénévente [1806], vice-grand elector [1807], or referring to Napoleon as dung in a silk socking [1808]. Napoleon did not assume the Iron Crown of Lombardy until May 1805. By November/December 1803 it is quite incorrect to say that thousands and thousands of men had perished under the Napoleonic regime—the only battles fought since Bonaparte became first consul in November 1799 were Marengo in June 1800, Hohenlinden in December 1800, although that was Moreau's battle, and in Egypt between the British and the remnants of the French army in 1801. Similarly the claim that men in their thousands—have to love the hyperbole here—were mutilating themselves to avoid conscription is false in 1803, but true to a much smaller extent after 1812. All the fatuous mentions of campaigns in Poland [1807], or the Imperial Guard having served loyally in more than twenty campaigns by the end of 1803 and earning the sobriquet of Les Grognards, are beyond belief. Thus the author did not “tweak” one bit of history—she mangled the entire historical narrative.

Remember that there is more to this novel than mere history—there are all those wonderfully accurate bits about “food-stuffs,” and “architectural façades,” and plants and fashions, right? Well, not at all. Here are just a few examples in the “food-stuffs” category: One did not begin a formal dinner with duck breast, no matter if it is sautéed; eau de vie is a colorless brandy made from fruit and not cognac from Brodiers; and there is no such thing as a “bottle of local kir,” when kir is made by combining crème de cassis and white wine and served in a glass as an aperitif, but not until the 20thcentury. [I just made myself a glass of kir royale, with champagne rather than white wine, so I can finish this review.] With regard to plants, it is certainly not true that the streets of Paris were lined with beech trees—those grow in northern forests for the most part. The streets were and are lined with plane trees, sometimes known as sycamores. Fashions don’t fare particularly well, either. The Duchess of Devonshire, le dernier cri in London fashion, is shown wearing what can only be described as an Ancien Régime style in 1803, while the female aristocrats gracing Talleyrand’s gatherings wear “stiff brocade.” There are also “elegant fashions behind gleaning glass” in a shop on the “Rue Fliette.” Well, no. Bolts of fabric, perhaps, but not ready-made dresses, and not on a street that does not—or did not—exist, at least spelled that way.

The world of architecture, whether in the artistic sense or as specific real estate is equally risible. Andrea Palladio had no more to do with the Tuileries Palace than Frank Lloyd Wright—the palace was the creation of Philippe d’Orme, with nary a trace of “neoclassicism.” Some forgettable character, an aristo named Adelaide, complained to Talleyrand about having to move out of the Louvre because Napoleon was turning it into an art museum. The fact is that the National Convention declared the Louvre to be a museum for the citizens of Paris on August 10, 1793, to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the monarchy; the Directory added to the artistic treasures in the museum; it was closed for repairs from 1797 until 1801, and reopened with lots of new items from the First Italian Campaign and the Egyptian Campaign. So where Adelaide actually lived is indeed a mystery. Joséphine de Beauharnais’s house on the rue Chantereine was never “confiscated” by Napoleon before or after they were married, it never was in such a state of disrepair as the author claims, and it was never, ever used as a meeting place by the members of the alleged “French Resistance.”

This last architectural tidbit is so wonderful that it truly deserves its very own paragraph. The alleged spy Wolfe Trant/Tone/Whatever is fleeing from the Bad Guys through streets in Paris—many of which are misspelled, misnamed, or non-existent in 1803, as they are throughout this novel—and arrives at the Hotel de Ville, a “slightly disreputable establishment that rose pompously from the banks of the Seine. It overlooked the Place de Grève…that lately served as the home of Madame la Guillotine….Despite the notoriety of its location, indeed perhaps because of it, the hotel was immensely popular. It offered cheap rooms….” It scarcely matters that the guillotine was not anywhere near the Place de Gréve but at the Place de la Révolution further west. What matters is that this “hotel” didn’t rent rooms—it was the City Hall of Paris, and had been, in that very location, since 1357. In fact, every city hall in France, no matter the size of the city, town, or village, is called the Hôtel de Ville. And not one of them, large or small, rents rooms for anything other than the occasional civic gathering. Mon Dieu!

Just a few more jewels—or cubic zirconia, in this case. The author claims two people reviewed her use of French. I hope they didn’t charge for the service, since this novel is replete with errors, either in the use of words like lorgneurs instead of lorgnette, not knowing that “rue” is never capitalized, failing to distinguish masculine and feminine noun/adjective endings., and so forth. Although she didn’t say she had a firm historical grasp on social interactions of the time—the two months in 1803—I’d say the author missed that lesson completely. I already pointed out that Pitt and Dundas were not, nor would they ever have been, on a first-name basis. Lady Hester Stanhope, Pitt’s niece, would not have addressed Dundas or Wolfe Trant/Tone by their Christian names or asked them to call her “Hester.” Even more egregious, I think, is having Lady Hester say, “He is bloody miserable!” or “No bloody end!’ I do not believe any of us can imagine the Duchess of Devonshire, at a gathering in her London home, walking up to a guest and saying, “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Georgiana….” And finally, there is the matter of William Pitt the Younger, standing in “the pulpit” of the House of Lords and reading a letter about the Irish Question. Pitt was not a peer of the realm, and therefore spoke only in the House of Commons.

There is so much more, folks, at least twice as many truly amazing examples of sheer awfulness as the ones I’ve highlighted here, but I’m done. I’d be surprised if anyone actually reads through this review. But I feel better for having written it , because there is nothing I loathe more than someone trumpeting about his/her historical accuracy in a period I know very well and producing instead a veritable welter of arrant nonsense. And what I detest the most is that readers often believe that it’s all true because they are told that it is.

--Reviewed on Amazon and Goodreads in August 2014, and removed in September 2019 when I pulled all my reviews because of some unpleasant incidents of doxing and stalking.

#reviews of bad books #the consulate #napoleon

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architectuul · 4 years

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In Memoriam: On Metaphors of Spasoje Krunić

Exactly six years ago the Unfinished Serbia tour took place in Belgrade, where we have met prof. Spasoje Krunić, an architect, educator and fighter. He strongly believed that Architectuul has an important influence on the dissemination of architectural knowledge, therefore he was devoted to our stories, which he could follow regularly online. In his last post to Architectuul he shared his model of primary construction form for the village for refugees.

His lifetime determined a change of three different countries, born in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, lived and worked in socialist Yugoslavia, and died in today’s Serbia. His work was influenced by the architecture of Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Jože Plečnik.

The play of the light and shadows in the Memorial Ravna Gora (1998).

***

Here I will not talk only about the creative work of the architect Spasoje Krunić. I am more inclined to talk about his courage and determination to persevere faced with pressures of the world we live in. His metaphors, both in architecture and in public life, increasingly assure me of this.

I do not intend to interpret his work and even less so his life, nor is my aim to address representation, which really says nothing about represented. My intention is to look at things and relationship between things in his life and work from the standpoint of objective phenomenology.

Police Command and Operation Centre in Belgrade (1979).

Of course, it is quite possible and I am certain that I know little about the personal history of Spasoje Krunić. But little that I know I learned from his metaphors – or rather creative allegories inspired and instigated by his strict adherence to the principles of modern architecture and the modernist movement, to the extent it was possible, given the reactionary and revisionist period in which he has been creating.

I will not talk about the childhood of Spasoje Krunić, not because I know practically nothing about it, but mostly because childhood is a hazy period that our minds know nothing about. For this reason, I will talk about his youth and adulthood. In fact, I intend to present and prove the hypothesis that Spasoje Krunić, in his life as well as his creation, he was in some kind of situation of his own, that he has been is true to the ideas of universality and singularity – he would call it communality. During his studies of architecture, he already manifested virtues to a high degree, which he lived by all his life. In this period, he advocated energetically that the academic community should gather and unite around progressive ideas that would lead up to the changes, which brought him into the very centre of social events at the university. Back then, he had an outstanding level of militant spirit thanks to which he tackled problems directly. His vigilance and attention paid to the milieu he lives and works in and to architecture above all, have stayed with him to the end of life.

I do not want to omit here, but on the contrary, I intend to point out in particular the relationship of Spasoje Krunić to his professors and seniors. Such an attitude indicates his spiritual health, which will follow him for the rest of his life despite the difficult times we live in. What he set up back then, and the way he did it, has been developing to the end of life.

Tašin-Bugarin House in Zrenjanin (1980).

Following his graduation, young Spasoje Krunić faced his first significant and major professional and creative challenges. On the one hand, he acquired extremely important experience, creating in situ in small communities in Serbia, strengthening his character and preparing himself for major masterly projects. In this period, he created beautiful metaphors, in my opinion, for the relationship towards climate and place, materials, structure and proportion, in works that are here to stay, such as: Gallery Jovan Popović in Opovo (1969-1970), The Cemetery of 6 000 people executed in 1941 in Kraljevo (1970-71), semi-detached house Tašin-Bugarin in Zrenjanin (1975-1980), which represents, in my opinion, the final phase of his youth. It is easy to notice that, at the very outset of his creative period, these metaphors were a homage of a good student to his teachers or, as he likes to call some of them, to the apostles of Serbian architecture – Bogdan Bogdanović (relationship to place and landscape), Nikola Dobrović (relationship to structure), Stanko Mandić (relationship to material) and Milan Zloković (relationship to proportion).

His dedication and commitment, and above all an extraordinary discipline in creation through all phases of appearance of the Being-here-in-the-World, as well as his exceptional perseverance in being present on the spot, it is all visible even today in the durability of the very logic of his work – from masterly and perfectly elaborated and implemented details to brilliant articulation of architectural shape, form and space. Thus, in the period of his youth, he created first things in art (experimenting with structure, proportion, form and place), in politics (experimenting with social engagement) and science (experimenting with construction, materials and urban planning). It was a remarkable and important preparation for a phase that I will refer to as his adulthood.

The Cemetery of 6 000 people executed in 1941 in Kraljevo (1971).

I will refer to the third phase in Spasoje Krunić’s life as adulthood rather than his maturity because he has shown and proven his maturity early on, during his studies of architecture, as well as later on, over and over again. In his adulthood, he has slowly but surely caught up with his teachers, becoming a teacher himself and a man of influence and respect. He has been and still is in his own creative path - in a situation of his own. The first signs and confirmation of Spasoje Krunić’s maturity included the following works: Prison for Foreigners in Belgrade (1979-1983) and the Police Command and Operation Centre (KOC) in Belgrade (1979-1983), which received significant awards and public recognition. Although the design of KOC has shown that Spasoje Krunić is a constructivist architect, with his patents of structural systems for building single-storey and multi-storey buildings he has shown and proven himself to be an innovation architect.

Mijatov House in Zrenjanin (1972).

He received awards for his metaphors on the international scene at international competitions: Warsaw confrontations in Warsaw, Poland (1986) - Minister of Culture Award, and the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, Iraq (1988) - First Prize. In parallel with these significant achievements, he got involved again in sacred architecture, which has remained since 1963 a special and unavoidable part of his creative work and personal preoccupation to the end of life. In particular, I would like to single out the monument Tomb of war orphans in Konarevo near Kraljevo (1985) and the Monument Suzić in Sombor (1985) as outstanding abstract cubism metaphors for memory.

Juvela Office Building in Belgrade (1972).

Tomb of war orphans in Konarevo near Kraljevo (1985).

The final phase of Spasoje Krunić’s adulthood begins in 1995 when he carried out his design of the Office Building in Knez Mihailova Street in Belgrade (1990-1995) and Zora Palace in Belgrade (1994-2005) when he formally began his successful academic career. In the same period, he bravely decided to become actively involved in the political life of Serbia in order to help the country get back on the right track it had diverted from in the 1990s.

Even though his formal academic career has begun relatively late, there are few who could pride themselves on academic successes which he achieved. Spasoje Krunić, like hardly anyone else, has manifested exceptional dedication and loyalty to the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade ever since he was a student, thus leaving his undoubtedly positive mark on the University of Belgrade as a legacy for generations to come.

The model of primary construction form for the village for refugees shared for the time of crisis in 2015.

As the president of the Belgrade City Government, he attempted to organize and restore Belgrade after years of neglect to the extent this was possible at the time. At that point, an ominous fate befell him when NATO forces bombed Belgrade in 1999, so he had to manage organization of the city under war conditions. There is no worse thing that can happen to an architect/creator, I argue here, than destruction of a city and life!

Drinking Fountain in Kraljevo (water is life!) (1982).

At the turn of the century, Spasoje Krunić added two more gems to the treasury of human history: first, the internationally famous Memorial Ravna Gora (1998-2000), where he experimented with minimalism in an expressive landscape, and Motel Koral in Arilje (2003-2012), where he goes back to (romantic) expressionism, thus confirming his authenticity that he has skillfully built and developed since his youth. In my opinion, special attention in Spasoje Krunić’s oeuvre should be given to his metaphors from sacred architecture and primarily his drawings.

These metaphors tell us mostly about his relationship to the world and life, emanating modesty and restraint, a kind of nobility and humanity, leaving behind only indifference to differences – pure truth. Thus he uses, in the same remarkable way, my favourite metaphor of the Great mosque in Baghdad - First Prize on international competition (1989), and the metaphor of the temple of Christ the Saviour in Priština (1991-1999- ), where works were suspended after Serbia had lost jurisdiction over Kosovo and Metohija.

Spasoje Krunić never stopped working on what has not been completed, because his discipline, dedication and ethics did not allow. Indeed, as a dedicated modernist oriented towards a revolution in thinking, he has always been free-for-something, knowing that it is the only way to be free-from-something, which gave him, over and over again, the possibilityand motivation to continue down the road that few people would dare to take.

Prison for Foreigners in Belgrade (1983).

The worlds of Spasoje Krunić’s metaphors, in my view, demonstrate this profoundly and prove him to be an accomplished creator of pure thought. These and such worlds are nothing but infinite relations of elements of his personal world with the elements of identity groups he has been involved in, and above all with the elements of the world of history of humanity, nature and the universe.

Popović Tombstone (2003).

I know very well that the question of immortality of a human being is something beyond nihilism and sacrifice, and that it is promised only to those who think and act positively, in a word – to creators. Spasoje Krunić was undoubtedly one of the major creators who enriched the world of human history and the world of architecture. His combative and uncompromising defence of the world of architecture and his commitment to affirmative dialectics never cease to amaze me.

---

by Aleksandar Bobić On Metaphors of Architect Spasoje Krunić from the afterward of the book "Spasoje Krunić: Spatial Metaphors" (2017)

#krunic #serbia #unfinished

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architectnews · 4 years

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Le Corbusier Architect: Corb Architecture

Le Corbusier, Architect, Modern Building, Photo, Houses, Projects, Studio, Pictures, Designs

Le Corbusier Architect : Architecture

20th Century Architecture – French Modernism: Buildings by Charles Edouard Jeanneret

Le Corbusier Architect News

15 Nov 2020 Cité Radieuse

Italian independent artist Stefano Meneghetti from Venice, Italy, just finished an unreleased “Radieuse” Tech EP.

Stefano Meneghetti with his team, makes the album Cité Radieuse & Cité Radieuse RE:RE:MIX as a tribute to the admired Le Corbusier, innovative architect and urban designer, who built in Marseille a model of urban planning designed for its inhabitants to live harmonious relationships.

The songs were composed by Stefano Meneghetti who brought musicians of the calibre of Giuseppe Azzarelli, Massimiliano Donninelli, Yannick da Re and Cristian Inzerillo to work together with him.

Deeply interested in architecture, music, and design, Stefano Meneghetti and his friends wanted to name this album La Citè Radieuse out of admiration for Le Corbusier, the legendary Corb, multifaceted and innovative architect, designer and urban planner, who created his city-like housing project in Marseille with the aim of fostering harmonious relationships among its inhabitants.

Sound research and experimentation are the focal points of this musical partnership. The album develops an architecture of electronic sounds, which incorporates eclectic influences.

Stefano Meneghetti, graphic artist and video maker, is a long-standing collaborator of musicians such as Gary Numan, Franco Battiato, Byetone, Lorenzo Palmeri and many others.

As Giuseppe Azzarelli says: “A city is not only an environment of spaces and forms. Inevitably, it also expresses its dimension through sounds: every environment has its own acoustic imprint reflecting human activities, their relationships with the world and with each other. The idea of a Cité Radiuese, ideal and utopian city within a city, conceived by Le Corbusier for people and their needs, immediately enthralled me by its “humanity”, drawing me closer to a world of sound that can underline or accentuate possible emotional meeting points in the multifaceted reality of the modern city.”

youtube

Interview with Stefano Meneghetti:

“Music has helped me build parallel worlds; through this reciprocity with music I have created scenarios and stories, experiencing the world without being part of it, as if I lived observing it from a car (train?) window, through binoculars or a microscope.”

“Over the course of my life, I have felt a natural affinity for certain musical textures as well as personalities: from Gustav Mahler to Brian Eno, Alva Noto to Franco Battiato, and Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld to Georges Ivanovic Gurdjieff.”

“With his Cité Radieuse Charles-Edoard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, was simply the gravitational field where everything started.”

“The inhabitants of the same building live just a few centimetres away from each other, separated by a simple partition wall, and share the same spaces whose pattern is repeated on each floor. They do the same things at the same time: turn on the tap, switch on the light, set the table, a few dozen synchronized lives which are repeated on floor after floor, from one building after another, from one street to the next.”

“Like an anthropologist or an archeologist, I wandered discreetly around the Unité d’Habitation de Marseille to observe the lives of individuals, families and groups which are still unfolding in the radiant city.”

From the EP

Cité Radieuse Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF2F1StpGAzbXeW97J4LSUA

Stefano Meneghetti / Music Producer [email protected]

21 Sep 2020 Le Corbusier’s early drawings. 1902-1916 Curated by Danièle Pauly

Dates: September 19, 2020 – January 24, 2021 Location: Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio, 6850 Mendrisio, Switzerland Phone: +41 58 666 50 00

Exhibition promoted by Fondazione Teatro dell’architettura With the collaboration of the Accademia di architettura – Università della Svizzera italiana

Le Corbusier’s early drawings. 1902-1916

18 Nov 2017 Villa Le Lac, Corseaux, Switzerland

An abstract impression of the wall of Villa Le Lac by Le Corbusier (Route de Lavaux 21, CH-1802 Corseaux, Vevey, Switzerland)

Le Lac by Jan Theuninck, acrylic on canvas, 70 x 100 cm, 2017 image courtesy of Jan Theuninck

Jan Theuninck met Albert Jeanneret, the brother of Le Corbusier, who lived in the villa until 1973, in the village of Finhaut around 1970. Albert Jeanneret was a musician, composer and violinist. He helped developing the Dalcroze Method in Hellerau, Germany. The Dalcroze Method or simply eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodály Method, Orff Schulwerk and Suzuki Method used to teach music to students. When Theuninck met him, he was experimenting with sound recordings of daily life noises which he called “bruits humanisés”.

1 Sep 2017 Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau in Bologna

The restyling of the Esprit Nouveau Pavilion in Piazza Costituzione in Bologna has started and is due to complete in October 2018.

The building will be cleaned and painted, with replacement of the windows and refurbishment of the awnings and the access path, report www.platform-ad.com.

The Esprit Nouveau Pavilion consists of two parts:

– “cell-unit” of the “Immeubles Villas” housing project

– Diorama: a “roundabout” for the exhibition of projects and theoretical statements

Designed separately in 1922, the two sections were combined and integrated in 1925 at the international exhibition of Decorative Arts held in the park around the Gran Palais in Paris.

This building was constructed in 1977. Construction of the replica was based on period documents and photographs.

source: https://ift.tt/35xLqst

20 Jul 2016 Le Corbusier Buildings Added On UNESCO World Heritage List

Istanbul, Turkey, 17 July — The World Heritage Committee this morning inscribed four new sites on the World Heritage List: the transnational serial site of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland), along with sites in Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil and India.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland) – the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. They were built over a period of a half-century, in the course of what the architect described as “patient research”.

The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina) and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France) reflect the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20thcentury to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society.

These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the planet.

The Curutchet House, La Plata, Argentina, is not very well known compared to the other three metnioned above. It was commissioned by Dr. Pedro Domingo Curutchet, a surgeon, in 1948 and included a small medical office on the ground floor. The house consists of four main levels with a courtyard between the house and the clinic. The building faces the Paseo del Bosque park. The main facade incorporates a brise soleil. Construction began in 1949 under the supervision of Amancio Williams and was completed in 1953.

Website: Le Corbusier Buildings on UNESCO World Heritage List

Loving Le Corbusier 3 Jun 2016 – A new novel ‘Loving Le Corbusier’, tells the story of Yvonne, the wife of architect Le Corbusier.

In doing so, it naturally references many of Corb’s buildings as well as gives great details on France in the first half of the twentieth century.

Book cover:

‘When I visited Le Corbusier’s apartment in Paris I was surprised to find that there was not a single photograph of his wife. In most books she was mentioned only in passing as a model. I wanted to know more.’

Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, Southern France, celebrated work by Corb: photo from Colin Bisset

This publication is a tale of love and loss set against the great events of 20th century Europe.

Villa Savoie scanned photo © Isabelle Lomholt

The book follows the life of the young woman from Monaco who captured the heart of a man who became one of the most influential and divisive architects of the twentieth century. Spanning the period from the end of the Great War to the Riviera chic of the 1950s, Yvonne witnessed the fun of the Jazz Age and the desperate loneliness and displacement of Occupied France in World War Two.

Yvonne, the architect’s wife: photograph © Fondation Le Corbusier

The novel is peopled by some of the most creative characters of the century, and set in France’s most stunning locations, from Paris in its Art Deco heyday to the glittering sunlight of the Côte d’Azur. As Corb’s fame grows, so, too, does the distance between him and his wife. This is a portrait of a love affair that defies the odds, and of a country in flux.

The architect’s grave – designed by himself – in the south of France: photo from author Colin Bisset

Colin Bisset was born in the UK but now lives in Australia. He is a regular architectural and design commentator for ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). He has a degree in History of Art, specialising in modern architecture, and he is the author of the novel ‘Not Always To Plan’ (Momentum/ Pan Macmillan).

Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France: photograph from Colin Bisset

Website: Loving Le Corbusier Book

Colin’s novel is available on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo and other e-retailers.

6 Apr 2016 Cité de Refuge, 12 Rue Cantagrel, 75013 Paris, France photo by Rory Hyde Cité de Refuge Building in Paris

30 Mar 2016 Corb Tapestry at Sydney Opera House, New South Wales, Australia

photo from www.smh.com.au

Sydney Opera House – Le Corbusier tapestry titled ‘Les Dés Sont Jetés’ (‘The Dice Are Cast’), commissioned by Jørn Utzon. The building is of course a masterpiece of 20th Century architecture that is admired internationally and treasured by the people of Australia.

Latest Le Corbusier Buildings added

Pavillon Philips, Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles, Belgium – added 14 May 2013 Date built: 1958 Design: with Iannis Xenakis photograph © Archive famille Xenakis Iannis Xenakis was a Greek-French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. After 1947, he fled Greece, becoming a naturalized citizen of France.

Villa La Roche, Paris, France – added 12 Jun 2011 Date built: 1925 Design: with Pierre Jeanneret photograph © Karavan Villa La Roche

Key Le Corbusier Project

Featured House by Corb

Villa Savoie, Poissy, north west of Paris, France Date built: 1929 building image © Karavan Villa Savoie – key Modern French building This famous Modern house demonstrates the ‘Five Points’ that Corb placed central to his work: these are piloti, fenetre longeur, free plan, active roof space and the free facade.

photo © Victor Gubbins Villa Savoye : photos of this famous Le Corbusier house as a ruin.

11 Feb 2012 Le Corbusier News – Cité Radieuse Fire On Thursday evening, three apartments (eight apartments noted in one report) in the Cité Radieuse were destroyed in a fire and around 35 others were seriously damaged. The Cité Radieuse is located in Marseilles, France.

The nine storey housing block was designed by Corbusier and completed in 1951/52. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

The Radiant City building was classified as a historic monument in 1995.

Cité Radieuse – report in The Guardian : external link

Le Corbusier Exhibition

Le Corbusier Show : The Interior of the Cabanon interior photo : Andrea Ferrari Le Corbusier Exhibition : RIBA, London A reconstruction of Corb’s beach hut Cabanon, which is designed and built in 1952 for his holidays at Cap-Martin. The Cabanon design by Corb is a 15 square metre ‘pied a terre’ made of rustic wood in 1952 and the only structure ever built for his own use.

Key Buildings by this Architect in Paris

Maison Ozenfant / Ozenfant House & Studio – Date built: 1922

Pavilion L’Esprit Nouveau / L’Esprit Nouveau Pavilion – Date built: 1925

Pavilion Suisse / Swiss Pavilion Cité Universitaire Dates built: 1931-32

Cité de Refuge, Paris Date built: 1933

Weekend House –

Paris project

Plan Voisin for Paris Date built: 1925

Le Corbusier buildings close to Paris

Villa Savoie, Poissy, north west of Paris Date built: 1929

Villa Stein, Garches Date built: 1927

Maisons Jaoul, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris Dates built: 1954-56

RIBA Gold Medal Winner 1953

Le Corbusier’s real name is Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris. He worked as an architect in Paris from 1917. Popularily known as Corb by architects.

Corbusier Buildings not in the Paris area

Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, France 1952 Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France 1955 La Tourette Monastery, Lyon, France 1957 Unité d’Habitation, Berlin, Germany 1959 Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, USA 1963 Pessac housing, Bordeaux, France 1926 Centrosoyuz, Moscow, Russia 1936

Unité d’Habitation, Berlin scanned photo © Isabelle Lomholt German Unité d’Habitation Berlin Le Corbusier building

American Le Corbusier building – UN Building New York

More Corb Architecture projects online soon

Posthumous Le Corbusier building

Saint-Pierre church, Firminy, France Date: 2007

Other Le Corbusier Buildings

Villa Le Lac, Corseaux, Vevey, France 1924 Villa La Roche, Paris, France 1925 Villa Jeanneret, Paris, France 1925 Maison Planeix, Paris, France 1928 Maison Clarté, Geneva, Switzerland 1932 Casa Curutchet, La Plata, Argentina 1954 National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo 1959 Heidi Weber Pavilion, Zurich, Switzerland 1965 Espace Corbusier, Firminy, France 1967 Chandigarh – various buildings, India

The Heidi Weber Pavilion forms the Centre Le Corbusier

Villa Savoie, France – classic Modern building that features in many world histories of architecture building image © Isabelle Lomholt

Location: 35 rue de Sèvres, Paris, France

Le Corbusier Paris – Practice Information

Former architect studio based in Paris, France – world-famous Modernist architect

Corb had his architect studio at 35 rue de Sèvres from 1922 with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

Paris Architects : Parisian Architecture Studios

French Buildings

Modern Architecture

Modern Architects

Modern Houses Famous 20th Century architecture by architects such as Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, Adolf Loos and Antoni Gaudí. Homes featured include the Farnsworth House, USA; Arango Residence, Acapulco ; Tugendhat Villa, Brno; and Casa Mila, Barcelona.

Paris Architecture

Architecture Studios

Buildings / photos for the Le Corbusier Paris Architecture – French Modernist Architect page welcome

Website: Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris

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antitheticalsymbiosis-blog · 6 years

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Beginning the long journey... (Year 0, Day 1 [sorta])

As I begin down this long and arduous path, I figured why not catalog all of my progress (and failures) in a blog for the world to see!

All memes aside, I should probably begin with an

INTRODUCTION:

I’m Manuel; my friends call me Manny. I’m a recent graduate from a bachelor of music (B.Mus) program in southern California where I was fortunate enough to meet some great friends, mentors, and professionals who helped guide and inspire me to create some awesome aural artwork. I’ve loved music for as long as I could remember, and it was always something that drove me to be my best. I’ve aspired to play many instruments from a young age and always sought perfection trying to master their intricacies. I studied both composition and saxophone performance in college, while frequently freelancing as an audio engineer (my current line of work).

But wait, isn’t this a game development blog?: Yes, yes it is.

Due to a variety of circumstances and personal interests, I’ve decided to jump ship from one extremely difficult creative field (concert/classical/experimental music) to another (game development), leaving behind a life I feel indebted to and, honestly, still love very much. I’ve been thinking of making this jump for quite some time (a year or so), with a long, loooooong history of engaging with the video game medium on a deeply-infatuated level, which ultimately backs up this decision. Throughout my life, video games always played a pivotal role in my own forms of expression, happiness, leisure, and community. From my very first Gameboy Color to the now flourishing Nintendo Switch, from Pokemon to Monster Hunter to Bioshock and more, I’ve been hooked. Honestly, I’ve always considered these worlds my second, third, fourth, and n-th homes. Because of this, I’ve felt like I have a duty to give back to the community however I can. After five years of collegiate study and ridding the struggle bus, I realize that there’s no better time than the present to chase this dream. THE NOW, or WHERE TO START:

In firmly deciding on this change, I didn’t necessarily know where to begin. Hell, I didn’t even really know what careers or roles existed in the game development community. After finding scouring the internet and finding some helpful resources, I was blown away at the sheer amount of readjusting I’d need to do to even think about entering this field.

For example, this messy bundle of terms flooded my brain while trying to get a grasp of the industry:

Senior-level

Lead

Technical Director

Junior-level

Temp

Frequent moving

Designer

Level Design

Mechanics

Game Design Document

UX/UI

Programmer

Game Engine

Systems

Game Engines:

Unreal

Unity

Doom

Quake

C++

Python

Scripting

Engineer

Architecture

Audio

Tools

Networking

Artist

Environment Artist

Concept

3ds MAX

Maya

Autodesk

Animation

Skeletal Meshes

Automated Scripting

Debug Databases

Localization

Producer

Disengaged from content creation

Overseer

Independent

Freedom to create vs automated jobs in AAA

AAA companies

Subsidiary studios

Outsourcers

Art

Animation

Publishing

Audio

First-Party Studios

Publishers

Outsourcing

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

Marketing

Analysts

Free-to-Play

Microtransactions

Community

Blogging

Twitch

Streamers

Issues

Pay Disparity

Poverty

Under-appreciated

Sexism

Representation

Minorities/POC

And this list over-simplifies the complex web these roles create with each other. That being said, the last month or so has consisted of me scouring the internet for resources, deciding on what my long-term and short-term goals are, and orienting myself towards taking on Goliath.

MOVING FORWARD:

After being bombarded with this information, I decided that the best course of action for moi was to shoot for a game engineering/programming role, as I also had a brief two-year stint in astrophysics research and STEM coursework during my undergraduate degree. Another one of my passions, the STEM fields have always held a dear place in my heart and I picked up a lot of programming skills/languages in college, notably Java & Python. Intensive music study has also done wonders for the technically-oriented work I currently do, so I figured it would be fun to challenge myself with STEM-oriented work once again. So far, I hold a great, great admiration for lead game designers like Hideo Kojima and others, so design is also something I’m looking into. RESOURCES:

In doing my research, I’ve found a variety of extremely helpful resources that provided me with the insight to start this journey. I’ll post the most helpful ones below: GameDevUnchained (Podcast/Website):

This podcast, hosted by Brandon Pham & Larry Charles (both established AAA game developers), explores the current state of affairs in the video game industry. Their conversations are filled with wit, charm, and tons of information, from wage negotiation and employment to indie development and technical direction. No topic is missed* (well, except for the exact technical aspects of being an artist, developer, or programmer). Despite this slight oversight, it’s still worth its weight in gold due to the fact that they bring in a new guest every week who touches on a specific topic. I’ve gained most of my working knowledge about the industry’s complexities from this source. [Currently on episode: 26] Game School Online (GSO):

This revolutionary piece of pedagogy is an online game development school that is ENTIRELY FREE. Founded and ran by the hosts of GameDevUnchained, GSO’s main focus is free game development education with a focus on artwork, modeling, and technical artistry done through the Unreal 4 engine. The school is optionally supported through Patreon and provides special benefits to subscribers; however, a subscription isn’t necessary to enroll. Enrollment periods happen 4 times a year, with heavy waitlists for non-subscribers due to the need to keep class numbers down. Their educators consist of “Scholars” who teach and monitor the courses, all of whom are active AAA/Indie developers. Notable Scholars include Brandon Pham, Larry Charles, Leo Gonzales, Olaf Piesche (my mentor!), Matt Brown, Tai Chen, and many others. For subscribers, there’s the option to interact 1-on-1 with scholars, serving as lessons and mentorships to poise the budding student to enter the field. I’m currently a $40/month subscriber, which gets me a 30-minute session every month with Olaf. I’d like to stress, however, that at its current state GSO seems heavily oriented towards artists, with the art-oriented roles overshadowing the engineer/programmer roles 8-to-2. In addition, all classes are oriented towards art or design. This means Olaf & Matt are only doing 1-on-1 sessions. -_- *Oh well, better than nothing.*

The next two are both variations on the paid-online-schooling trope, but they seem alright nonetheless...

Coursera:

Coursera is a platform that hosts specialized “certification” courses that were designed by universities around the world. These certification courses are essentially a compilation of videos, assignments, and online templates that are moderated by online staff (and presumably not monitored by the actual course instructors ever). Each certification consists of about 4-6 classes and takes anywhere from 6 months to a year to complete. Each class runs an average of 1-2 months and has about 1 assignment due every week. There is a peer-grading system which can be iffy at times, but it’s worked out well for me so far. The only downside is that these courses can be EXPENSIVE; however, there are financial aid options for those of us *ahemmeahem* that can’t afford the costs. Luckily, my cost for the first class was waived completely. I’m currently enrolled in the Game Design certification course created by Cal Arts. I’ll be updating you all on my progress every week as I work through this course. Something odd I’ve noticed is that the videos for the Intro to Game Design course are astoundingly short; I’m surprised this course costs anything at all given the kind of information I’ve received out of it so far.

Udemy:

Like its quasi-academic counterpart, Udemy hosts courses created by content creators (I’m not too sure on the qualifications these creators have...) that consists primarily of video tutorials. The beautiful thing about Udemy is that, unlike Coursera, their courses often times cost very little if you go through the right channels! This means promo codes from websites like IGN or your favorite tech reviewer, etc etc. I was fortunate enough to grab the Unreal Crash Course course for $10 through an IGN promotion last month. Also unlike Coursera, there are no assignments or grading systems in place for your work. Instead, there are often forums that host dozens and dozens of posts from current and past students of the course. This feature has felt surprisingly fresh and fun; however, not receiving a lot of direct feedback has its downsides. I’ve been slowly chugging away at this course, having finished 1/4th of it so far. I’ve also found that there tends to be much more technical work to be learned from Udemy as opposed to Coursera (in terms of game development); however, this may just be my limited scope, as I haven’t looked around too much more.

Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition by Jason Gregory

(Naughty Dog Lead Programmer):

This book is AMAZING for the aspiring game engineer, as it’s filled to the brim with a detailed analysis of common game engine architecture as told by the lead programmer at Naughty Dog (go Uncharted/Last of Us teams!!!!). I’m currently in the second chapter of the book, but to give a brief overview of its entirety along with my own descriptions below each heading:

Introduction

“discusses the ins and outs of the industry

Tools of the Trade

“an in-depth look into programming tools”

Fundamentals of Software Engineering for Games

“development cycles and tool usage”

Parallelism and Concurrent Programming

“the title says it all”

3D Math for Games

“3D geometry and Linear Algebra, along with programming algorithms” (go STEM!)

Engine Support Systems

“a look at memory and systems”

Resources and the File System

“how to handle game assets”

The Game Loop and Real-Time Simulation

“graphics rendering loops and gameplay loops, along with dealing with time”

Human Interface Devices

“dealing with I/O”

Tools for Debugging and Development

“the title says it all”

The Rendering Engine

“rasterization and rending pipelines”

Animation Systems

“skeletal meshes and processing”

Collision and Rigid Body Dynamics

“physics systems and other collision systems” (go STEM!)

Audio

“Dealing with sound design and 3D audio” (go music!)

Introduction to Gameplay Systems

“dealing with data, game objects, and world editors”

Runtime Gameplay Foundation Systems

“dealing with all of the constituent parts and updating the game”

You mean there’s more?

“more to be learned”

As you can tell, there’s a whole lot of information to be gained by reading a textbook like this. Jason states in the Foreword that this is really meant to be used to teach a three-class series on game programming at the university level; however, I find that you’ll be able to understand a lot of this pretty well so long as you have an ample amount of programming experience (preferably with C++). That being said, it’s a perfect springboard for me and I’m so eager to continue that I sort of want to finish writing this entry already so I can get back to it! *o* It cost about $85 for a physical copy and $47 for a digital copy (Kindle).

So, that wraps up my currently used resources list! I hope it can serve as a starting point for some of your own deep-dives into the world-wide-web for resources! CONCLUSION: Thanks for sticking with me this far everyone. I know I didn’t dive into my past that much, but I hope it gives you somewhat of an idea as to who I am. In starting this journey, I’ve realized the importance of documentation and reaching out to build a community with others, so I hope that we can all interact and take this journey together, in some form. Tomorrow I’ll be delving into my current projects that I’m aiming to work on and some of my personal inspiration for taking the game development plunge, as well as discuss what I’m currently working on in terms of study/development. I hope you all have a good day, and never feel like it’s too late to start chasing your dreams again! - Manny Extra: Game of the Day - Disgaea 1 Complete on Nintendo Switch I’ve loved this game since I first played it way back in the early 2000s, so when I heard this was coming to Switch as a slightly remastered port, I couldn’t wait! The updated artwork looks great and I’m eager to get all of those extra scenarios completed! ;) GO SRPGs!

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ashxpad · 3 years

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Shooting with a 21-Year-Old Camera: The Fujifilm S1 Pro

I find it incredibly fun to use older, especially unique, digital cameras both as a challenge and for sheer enjoyment.

I think part of it is psychological. With archaic cameras sporting outdated technology we anticipate subpar results, and so we focus more on what we can control: composition, lighting (when applicable), exposure, and so on — the things we should always be focusing on.

Conversely, when we have a Hasselblad in our hands, we may let go a bit in the unconscious belief that the camera can make up the difference for our lack of talent or effort. Of course, we all know it can’t.

I won’t get into the boring history of why I own a lot of early to mid-2000s digital cameras, but at some point, I found myself the owner of a Fujifilm Finepix S1 Pro — the first in a five-model line of Fujifilm DSLRs that housed some incredibly unique sensor technology that it dubbed “SuperCCD.”

Apologies for the subpar product photos. I didn’t have access to my full setup.

In the S1 Pro, the photodiodes of the 3.1-megapixel SuperCCD sensor took the form of a honeycomb tessellation, oriented in a zig-zag array rather than a simple vertical/horizontal mosaic. Because of this, the distance between cells is smaller, making for about 40% more (square root of 2 = 1.41) sensor cell rows horizontally and vertically than a regular Bayer sensor.

The camera then uses an interpolation algorithm that supposedly results in a resolution equivalent to a 6.2 megapixel Bayer sensor. The 45-degree orientation also allows for improved capture of horizontal and vertical detail. This is good because most of the world, thanks to gravity, exists in horizontal and vertical planes — however, this happens at the expense of diagonal resolution, which is where traditional sensor layouts excel.

The honeycomb design of the SuperCCD sensors.

Released in January 2000, the Fujifilm S1 Pro is based on the Nikon N60 (aka F60) film camera body (with modifications by Fuji). It logically sports a Nikon F mount and can use AI, AI-S, AI-P, AF, AF-D, or G type lens — however, only AF and AF-D lenses will autofocus. AI and AI-S lenses can only be used in manual exposure mode as there is no meter coupling.

Most of these photos were shot with either the Nikon AF-D 24-120/3.5-5.6 or Nikon AF-D 50/1.8. While the 24-120 is not a quality optic, it’s a more than sufficient match for this sensor, especially stopped down a bit — and you can stop down to your heart’s content without hitting diffraction on this camera.

I had initially gone out shooting with some superior G-type lenses, however, accurate manual focusing is impossible for me through the straw-like OVF (wearing glasses doesn’t help either) and the focus confirmation dot is totally unreliable. Strangely, I had more issues manually focusing on distant objects stopped down than closer ones wide open — the photo above was manually focused with the Sigma Art 35mm wide open at f/1.4, yet the below photo (slightly out of focus) was at 24mm and f/8 with the Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR.

Shutter speeds top out at 1/2000th. There are several metering modes (3D 6-zone, 6-zone, center-weight), a pop-up flash and hot-shoe (Nikon TTL compatible), and ISO options of 320, 400, 800, and 1600. There is no auto ISO function, and you have to menu dive each time you want to adjust it.

File choices are JPEG or TIFF only — no RAW, unfortunately — recorded to either CompactFlash or SmartMedia. The camera certainly did not accept my 64 or 128GB cards, but I was able to dig up an old 1GB card that can hold a whopping 56 TIFF files in the highest quality mode available (“Hi RGB TIFF”).

This is easily the slowest camera I have ever used. The menu is the antithesis of intuitive; it’s mostly just a collection of symbols and abbreviations and my hat is off to you if you can guess their meaning without reading the manual.

Forget chimping. Just murder that idea and bury it. It takes a solid 31 seconds (yes, I timed it) for an image to populate the screen. Once it does, just about the only thing you can confirm is that a photo was indeed taken, though a histogram is available for more accurate analysis. JPEGs, however, are significantly faster to review.

In a way, if you choose TIFF over JPEG, using the camera is akin to shooting a bulked-up Nikon N60 loaded with a roll and a half of film — no image review, roughly 55 maximum shots, and no quick adjustment of the ISO.

The S1 Pro allows you to choose between either 3.1MP or 6.2MP output. To produce a traditional image file — which exists in rows and columns — the camera must interpolate by using adjacent photosites to generate data between existing pixels. After all, the recorded file can’t exist in the same zig-zag honeycomb pattern as the sensor. After each line is read out and the missing data is filled, you end up with twice the spatial resolution (6.2MP).

Compared to the Nikon D40, which uses a 6.1-megapixel Bayer sensor, the S1 Pro doesn’t quite reach the same level of pixel acuity. However, side by side with the 4.1 megapixel Nikon D2Hs, there isn’t much in it between the two. So, I think the real Bayer-equivalent resolution sits somewhere in the middle of 3.1 and 6.2MP — around 4-4.5 megapixels. As it would happen, this is exactly in line with the roughly 40% increase in sensor cell rows (3.1 * 1.41 = 4.37). It also depends on the scene — some benefit from the unusual sensor design much more than others.

CCD sensors are not forgiving of sloppy exposure. Pushing or pulling can quickly result in blotchy chroma noise, severe color shifts, and compromised roll-off from the quartertones into the highlights. It is not unlike slide film in this way.

The colors are phenomenally accurate and neutral out of the camera. “ORG” tone and color produce a lovely, neutral file that’s perfect for editing, and “STD” (standard) tone and color make for a pleasingly usable straight-out-of-camera file. Even with color set to “HIGH” and tone set to “HARD,” the images aren’t bombastically oversaturated and Disneyland like we often see with the “Vivid” setting in modern cameras. In fact, High Color/Hard Tone photos exhibit only a very modest bump in saturation and contrast compared to Standard Color/Tone. One thing is perfectly clear: Fujifilm was producing cameras with beautiful color output long before X-Trans.

All the images here were shot at ISO 320, 800, or 1600. ISO 400 is completely pointless given that it’s a mere quarter stop gain over base. It would be easier to just dial in a third of a stop of exposure compensation rather than clicking through the menu. I really wish there was a lower base ISO of 160, as well as intermediate options like 640 and 1280.

The camera’s high native sensitivity — combined with early CCD architecture — means that there is a noticeable level of noise even at base ISO. Thankfully, the noise is quite pleasing and mostly luminance up through ISO 800 — even 1600 has very minimal chroma noise straight out of the camera. Anecdotally, I’ve found this to be a running theme with CCD sensors — considerable noise even at base ISO, but the noise presents very favorably through most, if not all, of the sensitivity range depending on the camera. It also makes for astonishingly appealing black and white photos, especially given the finely grained texture from what is largely high-frequency noise. “Film-like” would be an apt descriptor for the results.

The considerable noise in this image is the result of bringing up an underexposed photo in post. Black and white helps cover the color shifts and chroma noise.

If you nail exposure in camera, ISO 1600 will produce remarkably great results with an unexpectedly low amount of noise for a sensor of this type and age — there isn’t much to speak of in terms of offensive noise and photos are completely usable without any noise reduction. However, at this point, you’ve lost a good bit of dynamic range and if you try to push the image in any way, blocked up patches of low-frequency chroma noise and banding immediately rear their head. There is essentially zero room for pushing the files at all if shot at ISO 800 or higher.

Quite impressively, there is almost nothing in terms of color shift throughout the entire sensitivity range — what is accurate or pleasing at base ISO will be accurate or pleasing at 1600. Again, this is something I have noticed on more than one occasion with CCD cameras — the Pentax 645D behaves almost identically throughout its ISO range.

ISO 1600, SOOC “Standard” color and tone, auto WB. Noise reduction and sharpening zeroed out in ACR. No adjustments aside from downsizing.

While restrictive by modern standards, a highly usable ISO 1600 in an APS-C camera in the year 2000 was exceptionally good. Fujifilm claimed the SuperCCD cameras to have superior sensitivity performance — the honeycomb photosites allow for more pixels to be packed within a given area and their shape more closely mirrors the circular microlenses that sit above them. I think Fuji’s assertation bears out in practice.

I would estimate roughly 7.5-8 stops of usable dynamic range, which is up against what I presume is an 8-bit ADC (analog to digital converter). Given this, along with the unforgiving nature of CCD sensors and processing latitude further limited by the lack of RAW, you need to be very deliberate with your exposure choices. Even in a scene of moderate contrast, you will almost certainly have either crushed blacks or clipped highlights.

However, like most CCD cameras, you do start to lose dynamic range quickly once you boost the ISO by a couple of stops. There also isn’t much in the shadows — modern cameras (CMOS) tend to have a lot of their dynamic range bunched up in the shadows, allowing for some truly incredible detail recovery. CCD sensors do not work the same way, and even with a full-blown RAW file, I doubt you’d find much usable information at that end of the histogram. You can mitigate this somewhat via ETTR (“expose to the right”), but with what is already a suboptimal amount of dynamic range, you’ll only have a small amount of latitude for ETTR, if any.

Oops, highway patrol got me. High contrast scenes like this are difficult – the whites are just on the cusp of clipping, but the blacks are gone in numerous areas.

While the camera’s light meter, particularly the 3D 6-zone multipattern meter, is exceptionally adept at balancing exposure in difficult scenes, the auto white balance is a duality: it’s either one of the most accurate I have ever seen or it’s the worst. Almost all the photos I took required zero tint adjustment and usually only +1 to +4 temperature adjustment. However, on three occasions the images were off by so much I’m still baffled as to exactly why.

The most egregious were photos taken about two hours before sunset in the shade — they were rendered extremely blue and about half a stop underexposed. The white balance went so far off the map that most of a plain white T-shirt measured blue values from 240 on up to completely clipped! I assume the culprit for this error is a combination of the camera’s CCD light meter design and spectral response — the infrared filter may be causing issues in certain situations too. IR filters can strongly affect the blue channel and it’s possible there was a bit of Rayleigh scattering at work.

The major issue is that without a RAW file, your options are extremely limited — those botched files required +76 temperature to correct. Such a massive shift in an 8-bit TIFF file results in horrendous noise — especially bad because the blue channel is always the noisiest — and extreme spectral shifts across the entire image. Strangely, a separate shot of a red step ladder taken five feet away at the same time required only -3 tint and zero temperature adjustment.

Using the S1 Pro reminds me of shooting with the original 18-megapixel Leica M9 and Leica M Monochrom cameras — both with Kodak CCD designs. Neither those cameras nor the S1 Pro has any tolerance for “underexpose to protect the highlights” or similar approaches in the same way that CMOS sensors allow — not unlike how slide film doesn’t take kindly to push processing. People who worry about how a camera handles being pushed five stops will need to adjust — it’ll help them in the long run so they can finally learn to stop underexposing so much.

Ultimately, while the files from the S1 Pro don’t contain anywhere near the latitude of even modern JPEGs, let alone the power of RAW, my biggest takeaway while using this camera was how much I adore and value transparency as a starting point out of the camera. In a way, the naturality of colors and tones from this camera makes it even more aggravating that the files can’t stand up to much manipulation — I would absolutely LOVE results like this out of my Nikon Z7, and every other camera I have for that matter.

My father assisting in the repair of a Pentax 6×7. In scenes like this, you just have to expose for your subject and let the extreme ends clip.

What I would love to see is a universal “Natural Color Solution” (to steal a term from Hasselblad) adopted by all manufacturers and implemented in their cameras as an option. If you want that “Natural Color” RAW file, you can have it. If you want the look that you’ve come to love from your manufacturer, you can pick that too. Aside from Hasselblad, I’m not sure what would be the risk for manufacturers to do this — other than that it would take some effort and time.

I would not call the Fujifilm S1 Pro a fun or pleasant camera to use at all. To be honest, I probably immediately deleted 99% of the photos I took while doing this review. And even among the ones you see here, there are more than a few that I am not happy with. Normally, I would not settle for posting simply passable images, but in this case, I think even the lesser photos here do have value by showing both the warts and the ornaments.

Have no doubt, this is a challenging camera to use. I’m sure my images would greatly improve with continued use, but how much I am not sure — I feel like you hit the ceiling quicker than you might imagine.

Perhaps I can follow this up with a retrospective review of 2005’s Fujifilm S3 Pro, which sports a new SuperCCD SR sensor with two photodiodes per photosite — one of normal sensitivity and a smaller one of lower sensitivity. Both are combined to produce enhanced dynamic range (and it works very, very well). The general principle behind such a design comes from the structure of the crystal coating in silver halide film. The S3 also has a 14-bit ADC and produces 14-bit RAW files! That’s just a few of the improvements, but I’ll tell you this much: the SuperCCD SR sensor does NOT disappoint.

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itraininginchandigarh · 3 years

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One year Diploma Courses in Chandigarh

One-year Diploma Courses in Chandigarh: Technology has become extensive and getting updated day by day. Every student should notice these details and must adapt and learn them as the field of Computers is becoming competitive regularly. But the problem of bright future students starts from their choice of career options after completing 12th. After the completion of 12th is an available many opportunity for students. Modular Courses are for Candidates who already have Knowledge in the field and want to gain the knowledge of the required technologies at an accelerated pace.

One year Diploma Courses in Chandigarh institute provides one of the best institutes for diploma courses. Our institute offers several one-year diploma courses. Many students find themselves in confusion after completing their 12th board exams. They find it difficult to choose from an ocean of streams and courses lying in front of them. We advise the students to do one-year diploma courses according to their skills. One of the primary reasons behind this confusion is that education doesn't come for free - it's a huge investment made with the primary goal of landing in a high paying job.

Diploma courses offer a shortcut to start earning rapidly compared to other degree courses. They are of shorter duration than a bachelor's degree and prepare students to be industry-ready. These Certification Courses Add weight to their existing Degree Certificates and can provide a winning edge to the Candidate during Job Hunting.

What is One Year Diploma Courses?

The diploma is a short-term course generally of 1year which mainly focuses on training students in a particular field. The admission in the One Year Diploma Course can be taken after clearing the high school examination (10th). The diploma is being done through recognized educational institutions or Universities.

One year Diploma Courses in Chandigarh offers several one-year diploma courses like diploma in digital marketing, diploma in web designing, diploma in computer application, etc. A diploma is a certificate or acts issued by an educational institution, such as a college or university, that attests that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study. The word diploma also refers to an academic award which is given after the completion of study in several courses such as a diploma in higher education, diploma in graduation or diploma in post-graduation etc. There are various kinds of diplomas available: from graduate to postgraduate and advanced diplomas.

Diplomas serve a mass of purposes for various students: they are sometimes used to bridge the gap between different phases of academic study or to provide additional professional training and qualifications. There are various one-year diplomas in a huge variety, each student is eligible for these diploma courses, if the students are studying in Arts, Humanities, Business, Biological, and Life Sciences, Engineering, Technology, Natural Sciences and even more. The variety of various diplomas can be enormous, don't let it stop you!

What are the types of One Year Diploma Course?

There are lots of one-year Diploma Courses available. Our Institute provides the following important diploma courses after 10th and 12th you can choose the best one of them for your brilliant future.

Diploma in Website Designing (DWN)

Web designing is a great chance for those who want to work independently. Web designing courses deal with several elements of making and maintaining a site. It consists of learning coding languages like HTML, PHP, JavaScript etc. There are many private institutes that offer such courses. Diploma Course in Chandigarh is one of the best institutes. The fees vary from institute to institute. This course is a one-year diploma course. After the completion of the course, the student is granted a diploma certificate in web designing. There are short courses also available (3- 6 months long). But it is better to go for professional web designing (1 year-long course). These days, we just can’t live without the internet! We use the internet to access various websites.

We retrieve websites for entertainment, social networking, online shopping, education and much more! See, websites are here to stay! Businesses – small, medium, and big – are infusing on websites to build a strong online presence. This has resulted in many jobs and projects for web designers and developers. In short, there are suitable job opportunities available out there. You require talent and creativity to make it big in this field. By being a web designer or developer, you may choose to work for an MNC type setup or become a freelancer. Web designing offers excellent self-employment opportunities.

Diploma in Digital Marketing (ADCHN)

Digital marketing is the best & hottest way of marketing nowadays. It is all about reaching customers via several digital channels like search engines, social media, email, and more. Diploma in Digital Marketing is a one year course. Digital Marketing Course Duration may also vary from 3 months to 6 months depending on your chosen online certification course or private institutes. Digital Marketing course content will make sure you master the art of online marketing by reaching your target audiences in a more powerful and accurate way through several digital channels, to impress and captivate them for converting them to customers. It helps you to develop and manage marketing techniques for your company website.

You will be certified by DMCA certification after completing the digital marketing course. The DMCA full form is Digital Marketing Certified Associate.DMCA certified course duration is three months. Digital Marketing is a huge and wide field and also it is one of the unique courses available in the computer field. It covers many subfields in it such as SEO, Content writing, Social Media, Email marketing, Affiliate marketing, Lead Generation, Analytics, A/B testing, SMO, Brand management, etc. This field can be advantageous for you if you want to encourage your brand and run a business or accurately run a business by your own blog etc. After the completion of the course, you can get into any of the following career opportunities:

Digital Marketer (independent)

Digital Marketing professional (work for agencies)

Online Brand Management professional

Social Media Manager

SEO professional (independent/ work for agencies)

SEO consultant

Digital Marketing instructor

Training Institute Chandigarh

Advance Diploma in Graphics & Animation (ADGA)

Advance Diploma in Graphics and Animation and optical Effects is a Diploma level intermatic, Animation, and Gaming course. Animation and Visual Effects are the processes by which imagery is created and operates outside the context of a live-action shot. The course is one and half year duration and career orienting in nature that offers numerous jobs in the multimedia industry. The course offers overall knowledge on 2D Classical & Digital, 3D Animation & Visual effects. Complete your Advance Diploma in Graphics in one year and an Animation course, animation and VFX course in our institute. After completion of this diploma course, You will get job opportunities in Production House, Direction, Animator, Graphic Designer Advertising Agency, VFX, StoryBoarding Artist

Diploma in Interior Design(DID)

Interior Design is a one-year ample diploma course in Interior Design breaks down the multifaceted discipline in smaller volumes for better understanding. With the one-year diploma course in Interior Design, Institute ensures that you will realize what the concept of being an Interior Design is all about. Arranging from the history of interior design and a theoretical understanding of graphic presentation, to ideal construction methods and the roles of an interior designer. This course in Interior Design will ensure that you get hands-on experience about the process required to plan, develop and execute exquisite and picturesque interior spaces.An Interior designer can work in an architectural firm or a construction company, Interior designing company, Exhibition centres, Event management companies, Design consultancies, Retailers, Theatre, tv and film, Photography, Teaching and Design journalism.Maximum, half of the graduates in employment six months after graduation are doing as interior decoration designers. Further, jobs in the top ten involve graphic designer, architect and draftsperson.

Advance Diploma in Animation and VFX

Advance Diploma in Animation and VFX courses deal with topics like visual effects, animation, 3D technology, graphics etc. Earlier, this course had few takers. But with the advancement of demand of VFX and Animation professionals, this course has become popular once again. Again, there are a number of good quality private institutes that offer animation courses. One of the best among them is Arena Multimedia. The fees vary from institute to institute. Animation artists and Experts are in much demand in the film industries all over the world. Nowadays, the number of animation movies has increased.

People love such movies. Also, the significance of using good optical effects in movies has gained. So graduates of this course can find jobs easily in such film production. The salary package is also great. You may also work independently. If you have skills, work will find you spontaneous! This job is not very simple. It requires lots of hard work and the animator has to work for long hours continuously. Choose this course only if you are really interested in animation and arts.

Diploma in Computer Application & Accounting (DCAA)

This is an Accounts aligned course that deals with the know-how of computers in accounts related work. This course will allow students to deal with accounts related problems through effective utilization of computer applications instead of old lengthy manual processes.Development of competent personnel who can excel in the field of accountancy with virtual application of related computer skills and packages. We offer Theoretical as well as practical knowledge of accounts related computer applications. Development of exclusive ideas for financial accounting. Eligibility of this course is minimum educational requirement is 8th passed, preferred knowledge of commerce. Duration of this course is divided into three types 3months, 6months, and 1 year. 1year diploma course is better than 3 or 6months. After this course one can earn good remuneration by working as an Office Assistant, Accounts Executive or Logistic Executive.

Diploma in Computer Application & Designing (DCAD)

Diploma in Computer Application & Designing Course is designed to aim at communicating a basic level IT Literacy program for the common man. This course has essentially been formulated with an idea of giving chance to the common man to achieve computer literacy thereby contributing to gained and speedy PC penetration in various walks of life. After completing the course the obligatory should be able to use the computer for basic purposes of preparing his personal/business letters, viewing information on the internet (the web), receiving & sending emails, preparing his business presentations, making ready small databases, etc. This helps the small business communities, housewives, etc. to keep their small accounts using the computers and like the world of Information Technology. This course is, designed to be more practical aligned. Eligibility for this course is completing the 10th class. The duration of this course is 1 year.

Diploma in Computer Networking (DCN)

Diploma in Computer Networking course provides computer professionals with a sound understanding of basic computer applications in programming languages, database management, systems analysis, computer software development in specific applications such as studies. Diploma in Computer Networking is open to anyone with knowledge of hardware. This hands-on course is our recommended syllabus for those who want to upgrade from hardware to Networking. This is an introductory course recommended for candidates wishing to enter the Network and System administration field. Diploma in Computer Networking is a one year course.

Diploma in Communication Techniques (DCT)

Diploma Computer Technology (DCT) - Computer Technology is a type of computer program. It means the applications and controlling systems used with computers. Diploma in Communication Techniques is a one year course. This course is part of the Computer Technology requirements that are required of all students who graduate. Along with reading, writing and arithmetic, computer technology is a required skill in today's technological world. The skills learned in this course will help you with your future education, employment and home life. Realize that the more you use computers, the more comfortable you will become with these great tools to help you flourish in everyday life.

Diploma in Fashion Technology (DFT)

Diploma Fashion Technology (DFT)- Fashion Technology defines itself as the beacon that signals the infinite opportunities available in the Indian Fashion Industry. We are committed to unearthing the most promising talents and putting them on the right path of academic achievements and professional fulfillment. If the Fashion Industry is where you aspire to be, learning the latest and most effective methodologies in Fashion is your goal and a trusted, Fashion is never a consequence of a single person, nor does it come from a single moment of imagination. It takes a lot of hard work, blood and sweat to make things happen when it comes to striking a perfect balance between class and vogue. Must have candidate should have pass in 10+2 or Graduation or equivalent

Advance Diploma in Information Technology (ADIT)

Develop your career in the field of information technology by doing a one-year advance diploma course in it. ADIT is a course that aims to prepare students in computer and networking fields, database management, web technologies and project management. It is created to meet the demand of specialists in the fields of computers, the internet, networking and software.

What are the benefits of taking a Diploma?

One year Diploma Course in Chandigarh offers the best quality of teaching. There are a number of benefits to obtaining a diploma. Employers seek out diploma-holders for their exhibit knowledge and understanding of their field. Students can conclude during the course of the diploma program if they would offer to start working right away upon graduation, or if they would like to try and transfer the credits they earn in a diploma program to a longer-term degree.

Why Join Us?

Provide high-quality education to our students, inspiring them to develop their abilities to the fullest and creating outstanding professionals and creative citizens.

We generate thorough diligence, new ideas, knowledge and skills, opportunities for personnel and society.

We help the students to develop their personality through several co-curricular and extracurricular, mental and physical campaigns.

At our institute, you get 100% Job after the course completion. Our placements will be in top companies with good starting salaries.

Unlike many others, we do not provide group training. We give you one 2 one personalized training. Our professional trainers standing on your shoulder will train you and help you each step of the way.

It is very essential in the artistic field to have your own portfolio. You are given professional projects from Day 1. When you learn the software you have to complete the projects.

We offer 25 years of extensive experience in training multimedia, animation, graphics, web designing, web development, interior design has proved our growing student demand in the professional industry.

Our institute is probably the only institute that provides you earn while you learn option before you finish your course. While you finish the course we get you a professional job after the 5th month.

We have been awarded by several Magazines, National Papers, News Channels as the most professional and innovative training institutes.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Jupiter’s Legacy: From Page to Screen

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How do you bring a comic book to life? It’s a question that studios have been struggling with since they first began making live-action superhero serials in the 1940s. Netflix’s newest comic book series adapts Image Comics’ metatext on the medium, Jupiter’s Legacy. Created by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, the story centers on two generations of heroes. In its quest to bring this story to life, Netflix has enlisted costume designer Lizz Wolf. Though she’s new to the superhero genre, she has plenty of experience with massive actioners—including Rambo, The Expendables, and Pacific Rim: Uprising–and she dived in head-first to create a unique and vibrant visual landscape which respected the comics while bringing the texture and depth needed to translate the archetypal heroes to the small screen.

In an unusual series of events, Wolf was brought on very early in the production in order to allow her to build the sartorial universe of Jupiter’s Legacy from the ground up. It was a rare chance for the costume designer to truly create something immersive and all-encompassing. “This project was an opportunity that very few costume designers get,” Wolf says. “In order to conquer the Herculean task of bringing the vast universe that Mark Millar and Frank Quitely had created to life, I had to strap myself in for the ride of a lifetime.”

Seeing that world come to life has been nothing short of a joy for artist and Jupiter’s Legacy co-creator Quitely. While the show does bring plenty of new layers to the costuming and characters, he was blown away by how much inspiration they took from the comics. Even when things were changed he feels it was for the better.

“Where they have embellished things, it’s not so much that they’ve done their own thing,” Quitely says, “it’s that they’ve taken what we had in the comic, and they’ve added to it and translated it in a way that’s going to work better for television. It’s a very interesting process for me to see.”

So how did Wolf get started on translating such an epic series through the lens of costuming?

“As this universe is literally littered with superheroes and villains with varying degrees of power, I created a doctrine based on the character depictions in the comic book,” she says. “A platform of their capabilities and back stories. This was the connective tissue to then assemble a visual language and start the design process. This design language was a culmination of the extensive research we did for each of the superheroes and their subgroups. I relied heavily on science and nature to guide me. I was inspired by everything from the natural world, architecture, black line tattoos, ancient symbols, alchemy, microbial photography, atomic ordering, complex life forms, and parametric equations.”

When it came to directly adapting the costumes from the comics, for Wolf it was a balance of respect and inspiration.

“In the beginning, I focused on the story to inform the design,” she says. “In order to achieve a cinematic feel, we had to extrapolate what was intrinsic to telling the story through an emotional color palette, composition, function, and the capabilities of each member of the Union from the source material. Then, of course, we had to pump them into three-dimensional characters.”

When Quitely visited the set, he got to explore those three-dimensional reimaginings of his art, something that he calls a privilege. While he visited each and every part of the production, and enjoyed it all, the costume department was something of a highlight for the creator.

“They were very faithful to all the main costumes,” Quitely explains. “But because there are so many supporting characters, they had basically come up with a lot of costumes that were just inspired by what they’d already found in the comic. That was really great to see.”

Discovering the creators were fans of her designs early on was an unforgettable moment for Wolf. She was keen to talk about their impact on her, and what she called a seminal vision of superheroes. So when Millar, Quitely, and the showrunners came back with good things to say, it was “the catalyst of confidence” for her. “It was truly a professional high point to hear that Mark [Millar] had liked the designs and the direction we were going in.” Wolf says. “That acknowledgment was everything!”

Paying homage to the silhouettes and color schemes of the comics costumes was key to Wolf. But she wanted to amp up the technology and detail. With suits that have to exist over decades, it was vital to make sure that they had durability and that classic Golden Age vibe. “These suits had to travel the expanse of 100-plus years and hold up, as well as remain relevant and be able to inspire generations to come,” she says. “That was a challenge!”

Jupiter’s Legacy Ending Explained

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Wolf battled through those challenges and found unexpected inspiration in the works of industrial 3D knitters. Diving deep into this new creative process gave Wolf a new insight, and what she called “single thread technology” led to the basis of what she describes as the show’s “suit mythology,” which also shaped the designs of the next generation’s suits.

Taking inspiration from anatomical artists like George Bridgman and Andrew Loomis, Wolf crafted a musculature for the super suits that was exaggerated yet natural. And she even built the origin of their powers, imbued following an “event,” into the suits. “This muscular structure was a molecular reaction of this event integrated into the suit itself,” she says.

That level of detail was something that immediately stuck out to Quitely. He was particularly excited by the intricate detailing that Wolf and her team added. Though the costumes might look the same from a distance, up close Quitely found an impressive array of subtle details, including emblems and alien patterns built into the material itself. “They’ve put so much thought and love and enthusiasm into the way they’ve gone about recreating this world, making it bigger and fuller in a way that will work for television,” Quitely says. “It’s been fantastic.”

Wolf was equally as enamoured with the process, describing it as a highlight of her storied career. “Designing the superheroes was an incredible thrill! I’ve experienced nothing like it. I’d have to say overall that Jupiter’s Legacy is my favorite project that I have ever done!”

Sacred Geometry

Lizz Wolf added a unique costume detail which created its own visual language, much of which was inspired by the concept of “Sacred Geometry.” The term references the idea of ascribing meaning and symbolism to certain geometric shapes and proportions. While usually used in religious buildings and art, Wolf strived to craft a superheroic Sacred Geometry for each of the six Union members using symbolic emblems and totems which were later integrated into their suits. “These were extractions or reflections of each character’s individual journey.” Wolf explains.

While researching the look of Jupiter’s Legacy, the team discovered amateur micro photography of frozen ice crystals. This naturally occurring phenomenon developed into the overall language of the costumes. “We created a series of these lichen-like formations that represented expressions or glyphs based on an alphabet of sorts,” Wolf says. “It was used on each of the Union’s super suits as an adornment or to create declarations.”

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Josh Duhamel on Becoming The Utopian

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The Utopian signified a particular challenge as his plain white suit was simple yet iconic. But Wolf built on his archetypal comic book silhouette that she felt represented the mythology of the character. While she didn’t feel like he was particularly formidable at first, once they built in Sheldon’s own Sacred Geometry which was built from “extractions from conjured celestial maps that could have guided Sheldon in his calling” the costume designer reveals, “he emerged to be very intimidating.”

Dressing Two Generations of Superheroes

Jupiter’s Legacy is a story about family, two generations of distinctly different heroes. The older and more archetypal group known as the Union are shaped by idealistic dreams and Golden Age comics. Then there’s the children of the Union, whose lives have been molded by their parents’ fame, privilege, and celebrity endorsement campaigns. When it comes to costuming, the differences are clear. The Union wear classic superhero suits, making them icons of hope and heroics. But their children rock civilian outfits, still just as recognizable but a clear rejection of the traditions of their family.

The Utopian

When it came to designing The Utopian, Quitely looked towards Superman and other classic Golden Age stories. But for costume designer Lizz Wolf, it was all about building only on what already existed in the comics. Keeping his white silhouette was key and Wolf “built on the mythology of the character,” giving him what she calls an “almost archaic, statuesque feel.” She adds that building that texture was key. “This is where the musculature was profound in exhibiting his mortal strength,” she explains. “This brought majesty to his suit, and then Josh Duhamel brought his god-like presence!”

Skyfox

One of the most significantly different costumes is that of Skyfox. Gone are his leotard/undies from the comics. Instead, Wolf crafted something with “a rugged sexiness.” The team retained his “iconic color scheme that is certainly a nod to royalty and his social status as George Hutchence.” But rather than drawing directly from the comics, they shifted tactics.

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Matt Lanter on Becoming Skyfox

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“His inspiration was part gunslinger, part playboy, 100% badass,” Wolf says. “His equipment is intentionally worn low on hips to provoke that rock star, cowboy vibe. He also has what amounts to the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of the Union embedded in his suit. The crowning element is his fractal-like Fox emblem. It’s like a talisman inspired by his fox-themed heirloom jewelry pieces from the 1920s.”

Brainwave

Another slight shift was Brainwave. In the comics, his suit evolves in the modern age. But Wolf decided to keep his iconic early look for the entire series. “This allowed us to really make his suit beam and keep his natural swagger evident. I love his suit and his veining motif. He just lights up in it and it appears to be actively circulating.”

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Andrew Horton on the Importance of Being Paragon

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Wolf reveals that a strange mistake ended up playing a vital part. “That fabrication was one of those divine accidents. During our R&D period, a run of printed fabric went in an unintentional direction. That material mysteriously became more radiant when stretched over his muscular structure. That mistake became the end result.”

The Union

For artist Frank Quitely and writer Mark Millar, the Union’s costumes were key, as were their influences.

“We went right back to Superman and Batman. The early Marvel and DC heroes. The heroes from the mid 1930s through the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s,” Quitely says. The older generation wear traditional suits making them easily identifiable as heroes. “We were looking at everything that had gone before. We were wanting things that were recognizable and reminiscent of classic superheroes, even for people that weren’t immersed in comic book culture. Most people have got a rough idea of what Superman and Spider-Man are about. We wanted to deal with archetypes and representations of superheroes that would still strike some kind of chord with people that only had a passing interest.”

The Next Generation

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Growing up in Scotland shaped Quitely’s choice to make the younger generation’s uniforms their everyday outfits. “I read a lot of comics when I was younger. Desperate Dan, Dennis the Menace, The Broons. The characters tend to wear the same clothes,” he explains. “It’s the same with your Saturday morning cartoons like Scooby-Doo. Their costumes are part of the aesthetic of each character. They wear the same clothes and colors all the time because it makes them more recognizable. To some extent we did that with the characters in Jupiter’s Legacy that didn’t have a superhero costume. Even if the clothes change, they have a recognizable style. And it’s important to try to stick with that because it helps build the character and it helps make the visual storytelling easy to follow.”

Jupiter’s Legacy premieres on Netflix on May 7. Read more about the series in our special edition magazine!

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: From Page to Screen appeared first on Den of Geek.

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shysweetthing · 7 years

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Victor Nikiforov is a financial genius: you asked for it, now get punched in the face with the new 22-point version

What do I mean by financial genius? I mean three things:

A. Victor Nikiforov is substantially better at making money than most people, and that includes the extent to which he is able to capitalize on his own success.

B. Victor Nikiforov is better at not spending money than he usually gets credit for in fandom.

C. Victor Nikiforov is able to understand disparate financial situations and help others navigate them to their success.

One brief note: I’m sure someone is going to say “I don’t see it like that!” which will be entirely not surprising, since this is a headcanon and not a canon. You don’t have to headcanon Victor as a financial genius! But this is why I do!

All of the 7,000+ words and 22 points in support of that follow after the jump. I apologize for any formatting issues but I’m doing everything on my iPad and Tumblr is apparently not well suited for outline architecture that occasionally goes four levels deep? Argh.

(Edited to add: I know this is long, but point 16.B. is my favorite and please read it because I love Victor so much.)

1. Let's start with this post from Johnny Weir on the economics of skating. I mentioned this in my original post, so I'm not going to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that skating is an expensive sport, probably one of the most expensive sports.

You need gear. If you're skating competitively, you need good skates--and if you can't afford good skates, you're never going to skate competitively, and you're never going to be found. You need lessons, and coaching, and rink time, and choreography, and costumes. Add in--for higher level athletes--trainers and gym time and ballet lessons. Skating is a sport and an art and it charges double time for all of these things.

2. Skating is a much harder sport to monetize than most, and it pays dividends for a very short space of time. It is instructive to thumb through something like the Forbes list of world's highest paid athletes to see where people get their money from. The list is here: https://www.forbes.com/athletes/#dc1a9bd55ae5

2.A. Team sports like football, baseball, basketball, and soccer (showing my American ways, sorry) have regular games which produce steady income. They have teams, which have fanbases that can be built up over the course of decades, and which result naturally from geography. Merchandizing for those teams is purchased to show not just a like for an individual player but an allegiance to the team and a membership in a club. These sports are much, much easier for athletes (and others) to make money off of for that reason.

2.B. You don't start hitting athletes from non-team sports until #14 Sebastian Vettel (auto racing), #16 Novak Djokovic (tennis), #17 Tiger Woods (golf). (I cannot express my disgust that Serena Williams is only #51 on that list, given that she is one of the greatest athletes of our time, but this is an entirely separate discussion, goodbye.) All of those sports allow for much greater longevity in the sport than figure skating, which means more time to build a fan base, which translates into more income. Those three sports make up most of the non-team well-paid athlete lists, and they fall into two categories.

2.B.i. Golf & Tennis: These are sports that have, um, how to say it, a particular cachet as country-club sports. They are things that even people who are extremely bad at them will do, or at least purchase the accoutrements of doing it, so that they will Fit In to the Right Place. That means that popular athletes in these fields can be used to market heavily to wealthy country-club goers and those who wish to appear to be the same. (This is part of the reason why Serena Williams is not much, much higher on the list. You're smart. You can figure it out.)

2.B.ii. Automobile racing: I am not best suited to explain the appeal of automobile racing, but suffice to say the demographics and nature of appeal is quite different from figure skating, and I can’t imagine that anyone is going to fight me on this point.

2.B.iii. Figure skating is clearly more popular in the YOIverse than in our universe, although more on this in point #6 below. This means that Victor almost assuredly has a larger fanbase than, say, Yuzuru Hanyu would today.

2.B.iv. That being said, there are reasons why even a more popular figure skating sport would yield substantially less money on a yearly basis for its top billers than some of the items on that list.

2.B.iv.a Figure skating events are fewer and further apart than most other events, and while this is somewhat a function of popularity, it is also largely a function of the fact that when people see events, they want to see skaters do jumps, and jumps are really, really hard on the body. Skating more would lead to more injury.

2.B.iv.b. There isn't a "team culture" around skating--it's about an individual. It takes time to build up a fanbase, and for the vast majority of skaters, by the time your fanbase is well-known outside of the avid followers of the sport, you are on the verge of retirement.

2.B.iv.c. There is very little to sell that is unique to your sport. For some sports, you can sell jerseys, or even general gear as in "Serena Williams uses this tennis skirt!" Because skating is almost uniquely part performance, part sport, this is much more difficult to achieve. Skaters perform in individual costumes that cost thousands of dollars. This is impractical merchandise to sell.

This does not mean that there's no way to make money in skating! There is! I will go into it later! Just that the monetizing of skating is a much, much harder thing to accomplish.

3. I know what many of you are saying. "But shysweetthing, Russia is different than the US." This is true. For instance, while we here in the US leave skating to (basically) the super-wealthy, with zero support available except where you can cobble it together from gofundmes and the occasional helpful check from a kind individual, Russia (and Japan!) both have actual state support.

3.A. This is true today. Historically, though, this has not always been the case, and it's relevant to the sport. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and for a period of maybe 10-12 years, there was very little state support for skating. Russia basically lost a generation of figure skaters because of this. Brief discussion here: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/sports/olympics/in-russia-skating-booms-again.html?_r=0 It wasn't until around 2001 that skating resources began to come back, and not until maybe 7 or 8 years later that they started scouting rinks early to identify child prodigies.

3.B. Canonically, Victor has been skating since he was a child (source: http://yoimeta.tumblr.com/post/154990523062/lookiamnotcreative-has-anyone-done-this-yet), which means he started skating in maybe 1996 or 1997. He won the Junior World championship at 15 (same source), which is around the time of the resurgence in Russian state support for skating.

That leaves a lot of uncovered skating expenses in young Victor's pre-championship life. By the time Yuri Plisetsky came around, there were skating scouts again looking for great athletes to discover. Victor did not have that benefit. While Victor probably received a modest stipend/has skating expenses covered after he became a champion, he was very likely on his own in terms of support in the crucially formative years on his way to becoming one. I'll come back to this.

3.C. Russia doesn't provide as much support as Victor's apparent wealth indicates. I cannot for the life of me find this interview although I've searched for it extensively, but apparently I'm missing the keywords. In one of Kubo's interviews, she mentioned that she happened to be on the same flight as Evgenia Medvedeva after she'd won gold at worlds, and lo and behold, Medvedeva trooped back into coach.

3.D. As an additional datapoint, Japan also provides some degree of support for its skaters, and yet see this (https://toraonice.tumblr.com/post/162732055900/sinkingorswimming-victors-flowercrown-okay-so#notes) about how Shouma Uno says he isn't making a profit on skating right now. Like, damn. Again, skating is more popular in the YoIverse, but no matter how you slice it, Shouma Uno is one of the top 5 male skaters in the world (at least) (don't argue) and he's not making a profit.

3.E. Given the history at play here, Victor Nikiforov should actually be given substantially more in-universe credit for Russian stipends and expenses (as Plushenko should in our universe). Victor would have been the face of Russian skating while there was a resurgence of the sport.

He's the one who would argue about what skaters need and yes, you should cover this fee, and yes, we need to have a resistance trainer at the rink who understands pliometrics. Victor Nikiforov wasn't given these things simply for being a figure skater, the way that Yuri Plisetsky was. Victor Nikiforov almost certainly would have been involved in the creation of the current system of support, thank you, and would not have been a simply passive recipient.

3.F. (As a total aside from this, this is a great discussion of institutional support for figure skating in the US and Canada, which I deposit here for all your fic needs: http://www.twofortheice.com/price-skating-glory-part-2-institutional-funding/ Please note that all this "Yuuri gets a scholarship in the US" thing is...so highly unlikely, simply because the scholarship funds in the US are distributed by the US Skating Federation and...are thus unlikely to be given to a foreigner.)

4. Let's talk about Victor before Victor was Winner McWinnerson. Canon leaves a pretty blank hole about Victor’s history between the ages of 17 and 22. We know, canonically, that he was the world champion in Sofia as a junior. We know he's the five-time consecutive World Champion and Grand Prix final winner, so he has five years of being Winner McWinnerson. Canon hints that he won an Olympic gold--he wears a Russian Olympic team jacket, so he's definitely gone, and one of the medals he waves in his self-introduction in Episode 10 appears to be a gold medal from the 2006 Olympics (http://itshawkeybaby.tumblr.com/post/154176904080/look-at-the-medal-that-is-donut-shaped-in-the). So...what happened in those five intervening years? Probably a lot of things.

4.A. Puberty. We see a very different body type between 16 year-old Victor and current Victor, and he almost certainly had to relearn his center of balance and how to do jumps et cetera et cetera, which meant that he probably had a period of adjustment where he wasn't doing that well.

4.B. Injury: Victor possibly suggests that he's been injured in the past.

Conclusion: before Victor was the Living Legend, Victor almost certainly has had periods of financial distress. Victor also knows that his success is ephemeral and that he has basically no damned job skills but skating. If Victor is spending all his money he is a freaking idiot. (Victor is not a freaking idiot. Getting to that.)

5. Here is a not-quite exhaustive list of Victor's potential income sources, and how they factor into his income.

5A. Prize money: We should almost certainly assume that the prize money in YOI-verse is higher than it is in the current universe. The current universe prize money is dismally low. Take this listing here: http://soyouwanttowatchfs.tumblr.com/post/153867523490/hey-i-have-always-wondered-how-much-money-figure I know, I know, $25,000 for winning the Grand Prix final sounds like a lot of money, but as a figure skater, you really only have about 7 total events where you can win real prize money per year: Two Grand Prix qualifying events, the Final, your national competition, either 4C or Euros, Worlds, and WTT (if it's available).

Add in that the cost of attending each event is significant: You need to get yourself there, have a hotel, have a place to train, eat well (which is not easy to do when you're traveling) and so forth, and provide the same for your coach. Some of these costs will be born by the RSF on Victor’s behalf, but some won't--especially if you want to get there a day early, or want to fly business/first instead of coach.

Put it this way: If Victor flies first class to Japan for Worlds, he will lose money on the event if he doesn't hit the podium. Yuuri's fourth place finish at the Rostelecom cup got him $3000.00, which probably means that he only lost about $1,000 on the event, and that's with Victor not charging him coaching fees.

Associated costs for an event will bump up some in YOI verse because the sport is more popular, of course, but there will be corresponding increases in costs--because the sport is more popular, hotels will be more expensive to compensate for larger crowds, trainers, nutritionists, and the best sports massage therapists in the area will be in greater demand because there's more at stake, and so forth.

My point with all of this is not to say that Victor is not making a crapload of money; he is. It's just to say that non-Victor people who are, maybe, just top 10, are probably not earning all that much money, and there’s probably at least an order of magnitude of earning between Victor and Chris (and don’t think that Chris is above feeling jealousy here.)

5.B. Non-skating speeches, appearances, et cetera: Some of these he will do for free (e.g., Good Morning America, because it's worth the publicity), and others he will charge for. My guess is that Victor can probably command about 30-40,000 on an appearance, assuming that he's an excellent public speaker. (This puts him about on the level of Neil Gaiman.) However, it seems unlikely to me that he'd want to schedule lots of these events given his schedule. Victor probably has a bog-standard cheesy inspirational speech that he gives to Google about Never Giving Up! and Getting Over His Injury! and Working Super Hard! You can Do It To!

5.C. Advertisements: Victor almost certainly advertises for skating gear, clothing, and other manufacturers. I'll talk about his image later, but think about the number of athletes that advertise for brands outside their sport. It's actually quite small, and only for household names. Victor has a leg up on his competition because he's hot and considered desirable, but this particular train almost certainly wasn't available to him until he was established as Winner McWinnerson.

5.D. Merchandise: Victor likely collects a royalty on licensing his name and image for T-shirts, posters, and other merchandise.

5.E. Participation in Ice shows: Victor participates in ice shows and is paid for his participation. I suspect that the ice shows provide transportation/hotel + stipend. For someone like Victor, that stipend is probably pretty decent--$30,000-$40,000 or so--and the travel is first class. Victor probably does not do ice shows that would net him less than that. For your average skater, that check is probably more like $3,000-$6,000 and sardine class travel. Where I'm sourcing this: This discussion on the Golden Skate forum (free login required to view). http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?50195-How-Much-Do-Skaters-Get-Paid-For-Shows&styleid=5 Michelle Kwan was listed as getting $15,000 a show, back when skating was much more popular than it is now, so I'm bumping this up for Victor.

5.F. Since I keep mentioning that skating is more popular in the YOIverse than present reality, I need to point out that a major difference between our reality and the YOIverse is Victor Nikiforov. He is the face of skating. If the sport is prominent in YOIverse it is because the spokesperson for that sport is Victor. He's the non-doping, clean-cut, sexy-as-hell everyone-wants-him guy that everyone calls for a comment on any skating related matter. He has been utterly dominant for years, and he’s never a jerk. You cannot say that skating is more prominent in the YOIverse without recognizing that Victor Nikiforov is almost certainly substantially responsible for that prominence. This, too, must be attributed to Victor.

6. Let's talk about the distribution of gains in an area like skating. Like all income distributions in highly competitive fields, it's a power-law distribution with the top earners earning TONS of money and almost everyone else making close to nothing. At this link there's a fantastic graph of what the distribution looked like for prize money in the 2014-2015 season. If you can't tell from that graph, basically, TL;DR, a handful of people are winning all the prize money in skating.

The same is probably true--but magnified--for the non-prize-money rewards above. If you aren't winning substantial prize money, nobody wants to hear you give inspirational speeches, nobody will be convinced to bank with Bank of the Egret because of your ad, et cetera et cetera. You may get to go to ice shows, but you're essentially interchangeable and your check will be substantially smaller. This is relevant to our current discussions for two reasons:

6.A. It gives us some idea what Victor's top earning potential is (high).

6.B. It tells us that before Victor reached his current level of income, he was almost certainly making somewhere in the "barely comfortable" range. I'll come back to this later, too.

7. This concept probably has a real economic name but if it does, I have forgotten it and Google isn't loving me. (It might be net present value, but I'm not sure this is adequate.) For now, I'm going to call it "effective salary"--that is, the amount of money that you effectively have to spend, given the costs (or perks) of your job.

7.A. If your job gives you meals for free, that raises your effective salary--money that you would otherwise have spent on food is now free to do other things for you. If your job provides you housing for free, that raises your effective salary. If your job requires that you wear, say, a suit and tie all the time, that lowers your effective salary.

7.B. There are also jobs that have a lower effective salary if you properly account for the present-value of costs imposed in later years by current conduct. As an example, let's take football. People sometimes bitch about how even unknown 18 year old players in the NFL get paid ungodly amounts of money. The truth is, though, many of those unknown players, they are almost certainly operating at a loss if you account for the present value of future costs. Since almost 30% of NFL players will develop Alzheimers or dementia as a result of their playing, taking into account future lost income and years of skyrocketing health care costs, a million dollars a year for two years is probably operating at a loss for those players.

7.C. Skating is almost certainly a sport that operates--for most players--at an effective loss, even if that year's balance sheet appears to be in the black. This is because it imposes an incredibly high toll on the body. Victor is almost certainly going to be dealing with early arthritis and chronic hip/joint pain. We don't really know what the long-term toll of this will be because Victor is the first generation of skaters that skated under the new system that so heavily emphasized quads and jumps.

I'm putting this out there simply to say that any skater who isn't saving a crapload of money, is going to end up paying the costs of his skating career at a point when they no longer have the proceeds to support them. We'll talk about Victor's saving money later.

8. Whew. Now we've gone through how Victor gets money. Let's recharacterize them: Victor gets money by (a) being good at skating, and (b) monetizing his personal image, which he has developed into a platform by being good at skating. The point of much of the above is that (a) is actually not an incredibly lucrative source of income. There isn't that much money out there even in the enhanced YOI-verse to do much more than give skaters a semi-comfortable living, and to (maybe) save enough to deal with future costs of skating. (b) is where Victor makes all his money, so let's talk about Victor's image.

8.A. Victor's image is canonically calculated to a degree that no other skater manages. He thinks about what stories he is telling the audience, and micromanages the story he is telling to all degrees: commissioning his own music, choreographing it himself, and so forth.

8.B. Victor's image is canonically pervasive. Minako very firmly believes that Victor is a playboy, and that he is also (simultaneously) incredibly nice to his fans. Ditto for Nishigori. This is a tightrope to walk. Think about what this means--there is no footage out there of Victor snapping at some fan who just got on his last nerve, no pervasive rumors of him being a shithead to staff. Victor Nikiforov is just an incredibly hot, handsome, nice guy who has that tantalizing whiff of availability, and if only you were wearing this cologne... Whew.

8.C. Victor is canonically incredibly savvy about his image. At some point, he must have realized that his image had gotten away with him. "Holy shit," thinks young virginal Victor at some point, "they think I'm...uh...what?" But what does Victor do? He accepts what the audience thinks of him, and he runs with it--with his only goal being to surprise and delight them so that he doesn't lose their favor. Victor makes a point of telling Yuuri and Yurio that they don't get to choose their image, and so they need to learn to express things that aren't natural to them.

8.D. This is again an aside, but let's think about the Victor that nobody really knew? Look at even his friendship with Chris--even that is filtered through the Fake Victor image. Nobody wanted Victor for Victor until that moment on the beach with Yuuri. A moment of silence for the Victor whose personal self was pushed aside for the relentless rapacity of his public image, please. *bows head, wipes away silent tear*

Again, I see people treating Victor’s image as something that Victor simply fell headfirst into by virtue of his godlike skating, but the truth is that this is something that Victor has managed and pursued. Victor is good at monetizing himself.

9. Let's talk about those ice shows again. VICTOR RUNS HIS OWN ICE SHOWS. He does it for Onsen on Ice (by implication; it's "Victor Nikiforov presents" and Victor did not get to be where he is by ignoring the value of his own damned name) and he does it for Victor and Friends, and those are just the two that we see.

This deserves it's own bullet point since this is HIGHLY RELEVANT to Victor's genius. Running your own ice shows when your name is a draw is substantially more lucrative--see the estimate in the above link from the Golden Skate that Yuna Kim's ice show took in a profit of about a million dollars. Stop. Take a deep breath. Compare that to what Victor could command for performing in someone else's ice shows. Victor can get maybe $40,000 to perform in an ice show, and maybe $200,000 to run an ice show.

(Onsen on Ice wouldn't have generated that much profit; there wasn't the time to ramp up ticket sales, and the venue wasn’t optimal either.) This is not something that most skaters are generally able to do. Victor is an entrepreneur, dammit, and I want him to get all appropriate credit.

10. While we're talking about giving credit to Victor, let me make one thing clear. I swear in this point because this is eye-rollingly infantilizing ways that Victor gets treated.

Victor (with the help of appropriate professionals that he handpicks himself) manages his own damned finances.

Yakov does not manage Victor's finances. I've seen this one come up a bunch of times. The implication is that Victor is irresponsible and so Yakov handles things. This is ridiculous for a number of reasons.

10.A. Victor Nikiforov is a grown-ass adult of 27 years who canonically has a "zero" under his cooperation skills and never does anything that Yakov tells him to do. It is flatly unbelievable that it is in his character to just hand his finances off to Yakov and allow him to manage them.

10.B. Yakov does not have the damned time to be an accountant/babysitter. Inevitably, of course, he does have to do some things that resemble babysitting, and I'm sure he has some rules for conduct for those who skate at his rink that relate to RSF morality rules/skating health. That being said, he is a damned good skating coach. He coached Victor. He coached Georgi who is not terrible. He coaches Yurio. He coaches Mila.

Yakov is a coach for champions, and that is an incredibly specialized skillset. He does not have the time to mess around with his skater's finances, and he absolutely did not develop the necessary skillset. Maybe he hands them a list of "dos and don't"--"don't forget to save money for taxes" for instance, or "hire an accountant as soon as you're making enough"--but general financial management, or acquisition of merchandising opportunities, is not his bailiwick.

10.C. While we're at it, the coach-student relationship between a world champion and a world champion coach is nothing like a student-teacher relationship. The world champion has to bring their own thoughts to the table. The world champion can fire their coach at any minute if the relationship isn't working. There is very little disparity of power between them.

Victor and Yakov's relationship is one of respect, not one in which Yakov holds power over Victor. On a more mundane approachable level, I would say that the relationship is much more like a client-realtor relationship. A good realtor will give you excellent advice on maximizing your property's curb appeal. You can choose not to take any of it. You can walk away and use someone else as allowed under your contract. An unethical realtor can mess up a client in many ways, but a savvy client is unlikely to get played.

10.D. If Yakov actually had any control over Victor's finances in canon, don’t you think he would force Victor to stay in Russia instead of going thousands of miles for a skating video-booty call? Yes. Yes he would.

10.E. I understand that sometimes fic writers need someone to conveniently impose limits on Victor, because having a character who has a shitload of money means that there are many monetary problems you can't have in a fic. That's cool, it's fine, but let's be real, this is just a convenience of the fic, and God knows that if any of my above points are inconvenient in a fic I will magically unheadcanon them myself. That being said, it's completely and utterly irrational to imagine that Yakov plays such an actual role in Victor’s finances.

10.F. Look back at where Victor makes the majority of his money. YAKOV CANNOT DO THESE THINGS. Yakov is a skating coach. He is unlikely to have a firm understanding of what rights of personality Victor has in the global intellectual property market and what he needs to have put in a contract in Korea versus in California. He is unlikely to know what the going rate is for advertisements for top-level athletes. He is unlikely to know when he can make a client walk away from an exclusivity clause and when it's a given. He probably might give him an idea if the offered compensation for an ice show is low, but that's about it.

Yakov is a damned good skating coach but these other things require a team of people. Victor almost certainly has a booking agent, a merchandising agent, a modeling agent, an events team that helps manage the ice shows he does put on, in addition to accountants and investment bankers.

11. Victor probably receives tons of things for free. People seem to think that just because Victor has $7,000 sunglasses, or has driven a million-something dollar pink convertible, that he shelled out his own money for that. Victor is a celebrity who gets instant airtime wherever he shows up. Brands send him things. The classic car rental place in Tel Aviv where he picked up that convertible paid for him to come and drive it and Instagram himself in front of their front office. Victor does not need money to buy things.

12. In addition, many of the things that Victor spends money on that gets characterized as "extra" is spending on legitimate business expenses that contribute to his bottom line.

12.A. Yes, his costumes cost on the order of $5000. This is a business expense that is absolutely necessary to maintain his image. He's not going to be the guy that everyone wants to be--an image that nets him tons of money from 1-3 above--if he's wearing an old T-shirt over jeans as his giant romantic costume. He has an image, and he's not going to practice false economy by hurting his image.

12.B. Yes, he flies first class. Flying first class allows him to arrive in much better shape, better-rested, with less chance of cramps and blood clots. The dude is 5'10", and his body is his greatest asset. He didn't get to be one of the oldest reigning champions of his sport without learning to treat it well.

12.C. Let's talk about the times when Victor critiques what Yuuri is wearing, because I think these are mischaracterized as Victor being extra, when it’s actually Victor being savvy. There's that tie, and his suit, both of which Victor does not like. This is not just Victor being a fashionista.

Victor understands that you need to dress for the job you want, and if Yuuri is constantly dressing like a college student with a $10 tie and an ill-fitting suit, nobody's ever going to take him seriously as a business person and potential business partner. This is why he buys Yuuri a damned suit.

Notice that at no other time in the show does he ever criticize Yuuri's clothing. He only does so when it's related to business.

12.D. Ditto for having all his costumes shipped from Russia. I'm not sure how much that cost him, but it sure was cheaper than Yuuri/Yurio paying another $4000-$5000 a piece for their own costumes, and see above about dressing for the job you want.

Wearing a great costume at Onsen on Ice will make people take the event much more seriously, and since Victor is RUNNING it, this is not a selfless move. Having them wear Victor's costumes helps keep Victor in the public eye, and keeps interest in his prior career, which helps keep his income stream level.

13. Victor exhibits signs of frugality in his every day life.

13.A. As extra as we say Victor is, let's take a look at his room in Hasetsu.

What does he have in here? A sofa. A king bed, which isn't particularly expensive in the grand scheme of things, and besides, we all know Makkachin is a bed hog. Books. Lamps. A set of Russian dolls. A framed picture of himself which he probably stole from Yuuri. Aside from the statue (?! what the hell Victor), this is not a lavishly furnished room.

13.B. Victor's the one who worries about the strength of the Euro when they're shopping in Barcelona.

13.C. Victor's apartment in St. Petersburg, as nice as it is, is an apartment, and not, like, Lillia's mansion. He actually lives in a very reasonable space for a person of his income.

I mean, it’s nice! It’s very nice! But he doesn’t even have a large screen TV.

13.D. Victor has no problem staying in an unused banquet room in Hasetsu for a year even though if he were actually as spoiled as everyone imagined, he would get his own damned apartment. He never acts like he's slumming.

13.E. I know everyone talks about how freaking extra that pink convertible is, but why does nobody talk about the vehicle that Victor canonically purchased to transport himself while he was in Hasetsu?

It’s not even a three-speeder!

Look at you, Victor, spending as much as 10,000 yen.

14. Because someone will bring it up, here is a brief note about the one totally extra thing that Victor does is not a great money maximization choice: Victor's move to Hasetsu.

14.A. I’m gonna come right out and say that this was a bad economic decision, in the sense that it will cost him a lot of money, and the decision is executed in a way that maximizes that decision for many reasons, including:

14.A.i. He almost certainly loses any funding he gets from Russia.

14.A.ii. The speed of the decision almost certainly pissed off some long-time people he has worked with, who would have preferred that he try to be the World Champion for the sixth time.

14.A.iii. He ships all his stuff internationally via FedEx for god's sake has the man not heard of ground transportation? (For the record, he almost certainly shipped his luggage as a pallet through them--not as expensive as the package rate, but still, Victor, wow.)

14.B. It was nonetheless the right decision for him to make. Yes, even the FedEx thing.

14.B.i. Victor knows he needs a change and he needs it desperately.

14.B.ii. He knows that the decision is on its face so irrational to the outside world--he's moving to Japan for a guy he danced with for one night, to do something he's never done before--that he cannot give himself a way to back out or he might get cold feet.

14.B.iii. He needs to make the decision so complete and irrevocable that people--Yakov, the three agents mentioned above--will have a hard time talking him out of it.

That's why he ships all his stuff to arrive immediately. His decision is made fast so that nobody has the chance to talk him out of it. (Yurio tries.)

This is not a money maximizing choice, but it is the right choice nonetheless. Being a financial genius does not mean always putting money first. In fact, that is a particular form of financial distress. Being a financial genius means making your money work for you rather than the other way around, and this is an example of Victor doing exactly that.

15. I'm now going to circle around to some of the breadcrumbs that I've laid here. I've said before that I think it's pretty clear that Victor has not always had access to the kinds of money that he has now. Before he got RSF support, money was probably tight. Between the ages of 17 and the current onset of Winning All the Things Forever at 22, he probably didn't have access to tons of money. Victor survived.

Furthermore, I think that these periods of temporary imperfection probably made him a much, much better financial manager. You are better at budgeting for crises and future loss of income after you’ve expereinced it once. 15.A. He is less likely to spend all his money. I know that we are talking about income in the millions, and it's hard to think about spending income in the millions, but tons of celebrities manage to do just that every year.

15.B. Loss of prior fame means that Victor is more aware that what he has is temporary. His image is driven by his winningness, and he's getting close to the end of his natural career.

15.C. Knowing that this period is short means that he has dumped a lot of effort into maximizing the results--so much that he really hasn't had time to do anything else.

16. Now something completely different: Victor notices the signs of income distress in others and acts accordingly to help alleviate it. (I cannot tell you how rare this property is in people who are rich now, and have always been rich. It is so rare.)

16A. Let's talk briefly about what Victor was expecting to find in Hasetsu and what he got. Victor probably got a translation of what Yuuri said to him in Japanese--when Yuuri invited him to stay at his parent's resort--and what he was thinking to himself was, oh, Yuuri's parents own a resort.

For the reasons mentioned above, most people who are in skating are usually pretty wealthy. Yuuri was unusually blessed with non-financial resources--a skating rink that let him skate there when they were closed, a childhood ballet teacher who is a close friend of his mother's--that allowed him to develop.

I suspect what Victor imagined was something a little bit more like "his parents have desks in the office at a major seaside resort that brings in millions" and a little bit less like "Yuuri's mom personally does all the cooking."

It takes Victor a while to adjust to the reality of Yuuri's family--when he first arrives, he asks them to take his luggage up to his room because he has no freaking idea that the onsen does not have a staff. When Yuuri himself starts hauling his luggage along with another uniformed staff member, he starts to wonder. Then Yuuri introduces the other uniformed staff member, and Victor discovers it’s his sister, and oh my god, you mean to say that very nice woman who personally brought him his dinner is Yuuri’s mother, and the guy who explained how an onsen works was his dad? The only staff at the onsen is Yuuri’s family?

Yuuri is a rarety in figure skating--he’s someone who doesn’t come from money at all, whose family in fact in their entirety makes most of their living from actively working in the service industry.

But Victor very quickly figures out a score that quite frankly, I don’t think most people would get. Yuuri’s family is literally running the onsen, Yuuri’s sister never went to college, Yuuri is an outlier in the skating world, and holy shit, is this why Yuuri came back home from Detroit?

So imagine Victor gamely pitching in when he realizes there is no legion of staff to bring his luggage up to his room. While he's helping move everything, he’s recalculating his assumptions in his head. He comes to the totally reasonable conclusion that the reason Yuuri has been acting so bizarrely about his arrival, after coming on to him so strongly at the banquet and skating his program, is because he can't figure out how to afford to pay Victor.

(And honestly, this says so much about Victor--that someone at his level of income has the empathy to understand that someone else might be stressed about money.)

Victor immediately acts to try and alleviate what he thinks may be a point of distress--that is, he tries to take the issue of coaching fees out of the question between them in hopes that this will help fix everything.

(It doesn't at all because Yuuri doesn't remember the banquet, but good try, Victor.)

I almost feel badly that this point is stuck like 80% of the way through this post at 16.A. because it’s such an incredible moment that really captures how great Victor is, and I want to scream so loudly about how we don’t deserve Victor, because we don’t, we really don’t.

16.B. Let's talk about Hasetsu in general. Everyone (with the possible exception of Yuuri, who has been gone for five years and also is so wrapped up in his own head that he either avoids thinking about this or freaks out too much when he contemplates it and avoids it altogether) is aware that Hasetsu is rapidly losing people and falling apart.

All the other onsens have gone bankrupt. Minako has essentially no ballet students. Yuuri's parents have no back-up staff at the onsen, something that means that they have very, very little margin--not enough margin for either of his parents to ever travel to Yuuri's events, or to Yuuri's college graduation. The Nishigori triplets are constantly scheming about ways to bring attention to Ice Castle and their town.

When Yuuri first arrives in town, Minako basically expects him to help turn things around by spotlighting the town, and Yuuri's response is "I'm tired right now." Minako rightly thinks WTF, but lets him be Yuuri, because he has been Yuuri for a good long while and is unlikely to abruptly change into anyone else. The town is dying; Minako is barely staying afloat; the onsen is understaffed and there’s no money to pay anyone, and Yuuri needs to sit around and think about what to do next. Thanks, Yuuri.

Then Victor comes.

16.C. Victor's arrival immediately brings customers to the onsen--more customers than anyone has seen in recent years.

16.D. Victor is shown to frequently visit local businesses--Minako's bar, Nahagama Ramen.

16.E. Victor of his own free will tries to advertise Hasetsu as a tourist location during Onsen on Ice. He runs Onsen on Ice, which probably brings more money to Ice Castle in a single day than they pulled in last year.

16.F. Victor Nikiforov is the best damned thing to ever happen to Hasetsu. He is exactly what Minako hoped Yuuri would be, except he's not an anxious bean who can't imagine why anyone would like him, and so he can actually use the image and platform he has built up to make a difference.

17. Victor is not so spoiled that he is incapable of doing his own damned chores.

17.A. Victor had Makkachin as a puppy. I guarantee you that if he had not been able to pick up after himself his skates would have been chewed to bits. There is no amount of staff that will prevent puppy destruction.

17.B. Victor's room in Hasetsu is not a complete mess. Given how short-staffed the onsen is, he has to be picking up for himself to some degree. (No, there is no way that Yuuri is doing it for him, please do not suggest that, I love Yuuri but he is the WORST.) Compare to Yurio's space.

18. Let's calculate Victor's potential income!

No matter how you add up Victor's income from the above streams, he's probably bringing in maybe around 5 million a year after you deduct his agents' cut and so forth. The number of ice shows he can put on is relatively limited, since he's still training, and so forth.

To put Victor's earnings in perspective, in 2016, Beyoncé earned $54 million. No matter how you headcanon Victor's celebrity status in YOI-verse, (a) Victor does not have as monetizable an income stream as Beyoncé, as she sells the direct product of her labor, which is infinitely duplicable and (b) Victor is not as popular as Beyoncé. I love him but come on.

19. Let's figure out his net worth! I recognize that 5 million bucks a year sounds like a lot of money but many, many minor celebrities/lottery winners/sudden recipients of windfalls have absolutely no problem blowing through that and ending up with nothing. These earnings will be offset by taxation and all the costs of skating not born by the RSF: upgrades to first class, for instance, spa treatments, make up artists, legal fees because the man is signing contracts and he's not stupid enough not to hire a lawyer to look them over, another lawyer because he's probably incorporated a business or whatever the Russian equivalent is. Plus he needs to pay someone to take care of Makkachin, cover the costs of directly commissioning music for his own programs, etc.

While skating, he probably has around $400-$500 K in necessary business expenses--commissioning a piece that’s performed by singers and a full orchestra isn’t cheap--not counting expenses accrued by traveling for speeches/endorsement or the costs of running his ice shows. This leaves him with something (after taxes--I'm not super-familiar with Russian tax rates, but I'm guessing he will have to pay their personal income tax rate and their social security rate) like 2-3 million dollars net--that is, net of taxes and business expenses.

From that, deduct basic living expenses. From that, deduct anything he spends extra money on--food, clothing, cleaning expenses. And he's probably only been at the 2-3 million dollars amount for the last two years or so. It's taken time for the machinery to ramp up; for most skaters, it never ramps up.

At best, Victor has been Winner McWinnerson for five years. This gives us an upper and a (somewhat) lower bound on Victor's nest egg:

A. Upper bound: Victor's present net worth at present is something like $15,000,000.

B. Lower bound: Victor spent all the money he made and is in fact in debt. This is not the case, but honestly, if he were as stupid about money as people thought he was, he would be.

20. A moment here. Over the course of my life, I have (a) lived in a tent, and (b) worked with people who were so stinking full of money that they had no idea how anyone could function on what is even an average income, which has given me an interesting view of how rich people approach money.

For all that people say that Victor is extra, Victor has never been canonically shown to have any of the vices that typically accompany vast amounts of money being dumped in your lap. He flew first class (on Aeroflot, which is actually basically business, not first), instead of getting himself a private jet. He lives in a reasonably swanky apartment by himself; he didn't get a mansion with a personal chef and a full complement of staff. When he moved to Hasetsu, he didn't get a separate place (which he totally could have done); he stayed in a banquet room, which is (by Russian standards) small.

Victor does not live the life of the rich and famous. Victor lives a life that you could have on a lower six-figure salary.

As Yuuri's coach, when Yuuri is paying for his plane tickets, he has no problem flying coach if that's what needs to be done. Victor is vastly underspending his apparent earnings, adjusts to Yuuri's very different financial reality without standing out or making a fuss, and he never once complains about it. Can we please give this man a hand for how well he adjusts to someone else's reality?

21. Likewise, people who cannot learn to manage money quickly discover that money is like closet space: If you don't make an effort to impose order, you will run out, no matter how large the paycheck, or how gargantuan the closet.

You can figure this out by reading the deeply distressed letters written by people sobbing about how it's not fair that they're considered part of the evil 1% because they're not that rich and until you've tried living on $800,000 in New York you don't know what real poverty is. In one of my many cat-like lives, I worked with some incredibly rich, privileged people who would tell me that they were barely staying afloat as a couple making $400,000 a year in a not-super-expensive part of the country, and they could not possibly afford to drop even as much as $10,000 from their salaries without being unable to pay off their credit card debt. I've had colleagues who went into a flying panic if their monthly income went below $17,000 (this is almost a direct quote). These are people who are rich in revenue but who have never adopted spending habits that allowed them to become remotely wealthy.

Victor Nikiforov is not that person. Victor Nikiforov was able to basically quit a job that was bringing in possibly 5 million dollars a year (technically, he still has income streams that will continue through his time in Hasetsu, so it's not that cut and dry, but yeah) to go coach a man who might never be able to pay him.

Victor has never, ever freaked out about money, and if he were budgeting on a shoestring, he would have.

People simply do not do that kind of thing if they have made themselves dependent on their massive income.

22. There's a number that gets called the "safe withdrawal rate"--that is, it's the percentage of invested funds you can withdraw without risking the bulk of your principal. This number has typically been based on historical market performance and Monte Carlo simulations. That number is about 4%--if you can live on 4% of your savings, which are dynamically invested, your net worth will (on average, over time) not decrease. (Here's a good discussion of historically what this means.

A financially frugal, rational Victor, with his potential $15 million stashed in appropriately diversified asset classes as approved by his financial advisor, can safely spend $600,000 a year without really risking his principal. Victor does not appear to spend anywhere near $200,000 over the course of the show--which would be financially frugal for someone with even just $5,000,000 in the bank, discounting his earnings for that year.

Even if you assume that he paid for his clothing and that pink Cadillac all on his own, Victor is living--very comfortably--on a sum of money that he can retire on, without actually touching the principal.

TL;DR you can call Victor extra but he has not made any of the mistakes that befall most people who receive a financial windfall; he has done an incredible job of earning money that demonstrates real entrepreneurial spirit and an understanding of what he’s contributing, and he exhibits a compassion and a sensitivity with regard to the money issues that others have that suggests that he's very, very aware of what the value of money is.

VICTOR NIKIFOROV IS A FINANCIAL GENIUS.

#yoi meta #victor nikiforov #heart-mouthed financial genius #i just love him so much #please love him too

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sjrresearch · 4 years

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Living History Through Video Games

Video games have come a long way as a medium for entertainment, education, and mental exercise.

From the art form’s humble beginnings of Pong to the multitude of different styles and genres of games today, video games have evolved to serve many new purposes.

One of the most underappreciated roles of some important video games today is offering accurate representations of history.

While most don’t think of games as a means to learn, even games made to entertain can teach many important lessons with historically accurate background research.

As Dawn Spring states in Gaming History: Computer and Video Games as Historical Scholarship, “The video game offers far greater potential for the creation and presentation of history than any other entertainment or interactive media. Although computer and video games may seem to be far removed from the historical narrative, both examine and form points of view about how cultures, economies, polities, and societies function.”

This is because video games are without a doubt the most immersive art form today.

Players get lost in the games they play, an immersion strong enough to take them to places real or imaginary. One second a player may be a hero in Azeroth, a fantastical world in World of Warcraft, and the next they can be storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Of course this immersion is often the goal of other mediums like movies, but video games offer the experience in an entirely unique way. Instead of reading, or viewing, video games let players experience.

These experiences, while ultimately controlled by game developers, are based on the choices of the player. And if given the right backdrop and research, these experiences can be very valuable sources of education.

Accurate history in video games today

Perhaps the most famous example of accurate history in gaming is the Assassin’s Creed series.

Ubisoft invested thousands of hours of historical research and millions of dollars into the Assassin’s Creed games, which in turn allow for highly accurate recreations of societies, architecture, historical events, and locations.

By investing in historical accuracy, Ubisoft entices players to live it first-hand rather than simply educating players with text. This process spans many different historical settings as well, ranging from the streets of Jerusalem during the height of the Third Crusade to Athens during the onset of the Peloponnesian War.

And Assassin’s Creed games may be the most known example, but they are far from the only example.

Important historical lessons can be drawn from all kinds of series with varying degrees of true-to-history content. Some other prominent series with something to teach are Crusader Kings 2, the Sid Meier’s Civilization series, and the Total War series. These series all have something in common – they're grand strategy games.

The grand strategy video game genre is perhaps the easiest presentation for dense historical information. While games in this genre may lack the wonder and adventure of an Assassin’s Creed game, they make up for it in allowing players to experience history through a new lens, and in much more detail.

Instead of walking the streets of a historic city, grand strategy games tend to task players with governing and maintaining societies as a whole, and making decisions that drastically reshape the world in which they play.

The most historically centered grand strategy game from the list is Crusader Kings 2. Crusader Kings 2 puts the player in the middle of the political strife of Europe during the medieval period. Depending on your choices, you could start out as inconsequentially as a mayor of a city, or somebody as important as the king of a large country. The game pits players in accurately represented historical areas with the real figures of those historical eras, where they are tasked with balancing economies, politics on the local, regional, national and international levels, and religious and military conflicts, among plenty more.

By putting so much societal concern on the player’s plate, Crusader Kings 2 allows players to experience the macro elements of historical societies throughout Europe.

Other grand strategy games may not offer the historical depth of Crusader Kings 2 and its backdrop, but they do offer other unique experiences that are beneficial.

Sid Meier’s Civilization for instance tasks players with managing historical societies from the ground up as well, only in a very different light. Civilization balances this gameplay with a much more casual approach. Instead of thousands of characters dispersed all throughout the power structures of Europe, Civilization offers sandbox maps for a dozen or less players to explore with a historically referential leader and society.

In Civilization games you’ll choose your leader who has different abilities and unique features based on historical events. By starting as the Greeks in Civilization VI for instance, players can choose between Gorgo, who has traits that benefit a strong military – much like the foundations of the Queen’s own Sparta, or Pericles, who has traits that benefit a diplomatically powerful league of nations, much like the Delian League founded by Athens under the former general.

Games like these engage players in ways no other educational method can, which is why the future is so bright for video games as ways to educate, especially as a means to impart history.

But games like this can only operate successfully if given the proper background research.

At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

#gaming

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aboutminneapoliscbku640 · 4 years

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The 13 Best Pinterest Boards for Learning About Things to do in Minneapolis

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The fish tank boasts a 1,500 gallon Pacific Northwest Rockpool where.

visitors can discover unusual sea animals such as cucumbers as well as sea.

polyps by touch, in addition to a 300-foot glass underwater passage for.

remarkable views of sharks.

Minneapolis Minnesota.

Initially run by General Mills, the mill blew up and captured fire.

numerous times throughout its working life. Once deserted, a virtually.

tragic fire ruined a lot of the mill. The Minnesota Historic.

Facility finally organized the remains, which were stabilized and a.

gallery was constructed inside the ruins. The museum is among the very best areas.

to explore the history of Minneapolis.

Annual Occasions In Minneapolis.

From hip kids to wealthy experts, the trendy shops in Uptown.

Minneapolis hosts the facilities they such as to constant. Stylish bars,.

restaurants, and also stylish shops are collected around the junction of.

Hennepin Opportunity and Lake Road, the heart of Uptown Minneapolis. If.

people-watching is the goal, grab a seat at one of the regional coffee.

shops as well as appreciate the parade of fashionistas going by. The location is a.

couple of blocks from Lake Calhoun, where the the upper class most likely to.

sunbathe in the summer, as well as run or rollerblade around the lake.

Attractions & & Tasks.

Weekend journeys, what is a wonderful day trip location: Points to Do in.

Mauritius, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Myrtle Beach Day Trips, NY with Children,.

Nevada with Children, Oklahoma with Children, Day Trips from Omaha, Marquett,.

Greenbelt, Grantsville, Malvern, Hot Springs, Middletown.

Famous Individuals From Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is the major art gallery in.

Minneapolis, with items covering several centuries from throughout the.

globe. Functions from classical times with modern-day art fill this substantial area,.

where it's very easy to get lost for a whole day. The gallery has a range.

of special programs, varying from attracting courses for youngsters to a.

weekly cocktail and also art evening each Thursday.

St Paul Minnesota.

Izzy's Gelato is an ice lotion organization, with shops in Minneapolis.

as well as St. Paul. Possessed and managed by Lara as well as Jeff Sommers, what began as.

a little kitchen area serving hand-made gelatos has actually turned into the city's.

preferred ice cream area.

10 Reasons To Check Out Msp Flight Terminal.

"" New cool things to do in Minneapolis, Minnesota"" Back to Leading or Charming.

Escapes,

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