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leelee120000 · 5 months

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Movie review: The Lost City was refreshingly creative

September 28, 2022

In a world so oversaturated with franchises, it’s rare that an original movie comes out. It’s even rarer when it makes a worldwide total of $181.4 million in less than 3 months.

Admittedly, when my family suggested we watch it for a movie night, I was annoyed. I had assumed it was going to be a throw-away action movie with a celebrity cast, weak script, and boring jokes. I’ve been so burnt out on the five year streak of mega movies that play like cut and paste Marvel scripts that I almost used my veto for us to watch Sonic the Hedgehog 2 instead. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for fun kids movies.) However, my sister insisted that The Lost City looked interesting and that she really wanted to watch it. She convinced us all so, pizza slices and Pepsi cans in hand, we sat in the living room and turned on Paramount+.

The opening scene starts typical enough – with two lovers stuck in a den of snakes, at the mercy of a typical villain, who has trapped them there. The moment I started to regret not choosing Sonic, Sandra Bullock’s character Loretta Sage says “delete” in a voice over and items / characters on screen disappear and we learn that this isn’t the movie, but instead the book she’s working. That was actually amazing. We then see her basically doing everything but finishing her last chapter as her publisher’s repeated calls play, telling her that she needs to finish, that her book tour is coming up, and that she needs to get out of the house and move on from her husband’s death. I was so surprised. This movie brought more wit and characterization in the opening scene than some films do in their entire run time. Not only that, but it did it so expertly, balancing the comedy of a person avoiding work with the inherent sadness of her being so alone and suffering through such a writer’s block. I was immediately hooked.

Next, the movie carries us to Loretta’s book tour. Loretta is clearly uncomfortable as she’s made to wear a sparkly pink jumpsuit and remove her glasses. It’s done for comedic effect, but there’s a real truth to having to lose yourself to market yourself in the industry. We’re introduced to Channing Tatum’s character, Alan Caprison, a cover model who is clearly more famous and loved by Loretta’s fan base than she is. They take questions from the audience. Alan tries hard to redirect questions to Loretta, reminding the crowd she’s the writer. While trying to ease tension, he offers to dance with her and an interesting character development happens.

In storytelling, we often swear by “show don’t tell” and this moment is a hallmark of that principle. Alan invites her to dance for fun, thinking she wants equal attention, and wanting to share his limelight. Loretta doesn’t want to look even more foolish and mistakes this as him rubbing in the fact that he’s so well liked. But being encouraged by him and her publisher, they dance. Her earring catches his wig and rips it off as he falls to a table below. It’s hilarious, and the tour ends with Loretta running away and Alan confronting her. He calls her a “human mummy,” saying she’s alive, but not really living. He regrets this immediately, as it only makes her more angry and embarrassed. She asks a hotel employee to call a cab. He does. However, as she gets in the first car that pulls up, it turns out to be a kidnapping scheme.

Daniel Radcliffe’s character, Abigail Fairfax, a wealthy billionaire with a brother complex, kidnaps Loretta. She thinks this is all a prank, done by her marketing team, and doesn’t keep her guard up. Abigail insists that this is real and that he needs her to translate a dead language that she had shown in her book. Loretta had learned this language, back in her archeology days, with her late husband. Abigail offers her anything she could dream of in exchange for her translating and helping him discover the mythical Fire Crown she had written about. He begs her to come with him as the island it’s on has a volcano, and it will be lost forever if he doesn’t find it. Loretta realizes he’s serious and declines, saying her book tour is not something she can quit. He then has her knocked out and taken onto his helicopter – which sounds incredibly dark on paper, but is actually really funny because of the physical comedy in the scene. I wasn’t aware Radcliffe was in this movie before watching, and I adore him, so that was such an exciting realization.

With Loretta missing Alan, her publisher and her social media manager call the police who do nothing to help, citing the ‘must be reported after 24 hours’ myth that TV and film treat like a real law. Alan decides to call his fitness trainer, a man named Jack Trainer. Trainer is a typical action hero, talented in everything from detective work to combat fighting. He instructs them to use Loretta’s phone to track her through her smart watch. They discover she’s flying across the ocean and Trainer agrees to rescue her. Loretta’s friends agree to meet him there. Upon meeting, Alan insists he join Trainer in rescuing Loretta. Everything about Trainer is great. The bit about him having a cheap little car instead of a big truck made me actually laugh.

After Alan confronts her about her translations and what she’s planning on doing, she explains more about the lost city and helps him with his rash. They share a hammock by their campfire and it’s actually really sweet. After hiking and using the silly pink jumpsuit to save their lives by distracting some of the henchmen hunting them, the two find a nice town. Alan goes and explains what happened to the police, and Loretta gets dressed and relaxes at the hotel. At nightfall, Alan and Loretta share a dance in the town square and have fun in the company of friendly town people. Loretta learns new information about the lost city through the song a local sings. This area of the movie really did wonders not only for pacing, but respecting the love the pair was building within reason and, again, showed expert character understanding and writing.

Loretta is stopped on her way back to the hotel. The local police told Abigail about her arrival. Abigail and his men rush her into a tank-like vehicle and drive off. Alan sees this at the last second and trades his watch for a motorcycle to catch up with the vehicle. A fight takes place on the roof of the vehicle and Alan breaks in. Loretta sets the vehicle on fire temporarily, trying to make a distraction. This fails. Abigail now happily takes Alan as an extra hostage. There’s a lot of incredible lines from this scene, but, hands down, the reversal of villain hitting on hero was amazing as a distraction. Abigail, with absolute confusion and disgust in his voice, says to Loretta, “Are you trying to be sexy? Stop it, you’re making this weird.” Coming from a villain who literally kidnapped her, this is just spectacular writing. He wants her for her translation abilities and nothing else. He’s an A+ villain and, honestly, a new member on my favorite villain list.

Arriving at a cave on the island, a sort of mouth to the lost city, Abigail and some henchmen force Loretta and Alan through a tight path that leads to an incredibly tight crawl space in the cave’s wall. No one wants to go through it, but Abigail threatens to kill Alan if Loretta doesn’t, which really drives home that he’s the damsel and she’s the hero. Loretta crawls through and confirms it’s safe. Upon reaching the tomb holding the Fire Crown, Abigail wonders why a monument would be hidden. Loretta realizes it wasn’t a public monument but rather was a peaceful place for the grieving Queen. A henchman, who constantly throughout the movie was explained to be a local desperate for income for his family and not okay with Abigail’s actions, tries to tell him not to mess with the tomb. Abigail doesn’t care and makes everyone open the stone tomb.

The group learns the Fire Crown isn’t made of jewels, but, rather, seashells and was a gift of love from the king to the queen. Abigail flips out and forces the henchman to help him trap Loretta and Alan into the tomb, sealing them in to die as the volcano begins to shake the island. The henchman slips in a crow bar and hopes the pair will find it to escape. He leaves with the boat, abandoning Abigail on the shore. He is rescued by Loretta’s friends on their boat as it passes. He lies and says he’s never seen Loretta before. Alan and Loretta escape. Loretta leaves her wedding ring and essentially moves on from her deceased husband. The boat spots them, they explain Abigail tried to kill them, and everything ends well with a kiss shared by Alan and Loretta. I loved the crown not being an expensive treasure but rather seashells and symbolic of love. I loved how the movie felt so girl driven and I was shocked to see the directors were two guys, because they really captured the female gaze with how the movie felt and worked. I loved Loretta’s novels being romantic and not put down for it. All in all, The Lost City was a fantastic movie.

LeAnne McPherson

#my writing #lost city #movie review

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justlike-awoman · 2 years

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A review of Queen’s concert in Helsinki, Finland from the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on 27.11.1974.

Translation from Finnish below (the bolded bits are my own emphasis):

Tangled hair, hairy chest and shiny silk – Queen’s Freddie Mercury leads his band to the top

Fierce Queen

In the rock world, there’s nothing as sweet as to be on the rise to the top. One is in so much hurry, that one has no time to think. Tours are in the way. The audience are infatuated, but they can’t be trusted yet. The musician still has his feet on the ground and a feel for the audience.

Queen, monday night’s performer at the Helsingin Kulttuuritalo, is exactly at this stage. According to predictions, the band will make a breakthrough – meaning that it will break through the wall in the United States. Currently it sits at the top of the charts of its native country England.

Bands at this point of evolution usually visit Finland rarely, if ever. And one should rather be thankful for it. A rising band is often at the peak of its power, there is no room for laziness, money hasn’t calmed down [the band] yet. The music is new.

Queen belongs to the category ‘hard [music]’. Its music is not however as bad as it is loud. It’s not very versatile on the stage. The quartet is comprised of a guitar, a bass, drums and a singer. The ascetic baseline is peppered with the lead singer’s occasional piano playing.

Outwardly the band belongs to the category ‘demons’. There are remarkable mountains of amplifiers at the edge of the stage. Dark music in the beginning from a tape. Smoke on the stage. Backlight. The instruments hum ominously. The soloist is wearing a [baby’s] baptism dress and impossibly tight, thin silk trousers.

The volume of the sound and the stage visuals have been installed according to the standards of a large auditorium, it’s difficult to get a taste [sic]. At times they lose their touch. Admiration of Jimi Hendrix and the effect of Led Zeppelin can be heard in the playing. The massiveness is probably there for the masses. On the record he [sic] plays with more discipline and energy.

The singer Freddie Mercury, who, if luck strikes, will be the next big rock idol, can sing with musicality, even though he has to fight to be heard.

At its worst, Queen is a wooden band, who have momentarily lost their control. At its best, it makes steadily musical hard rock.

At its worst or at its best, it was a big hit with the audience. The hall at the Kulttuuritalo wasn’t full, about 700 youngsters in attendance, but a warm atmosphere was created on the other side of the stage. The audience enjoyed themselves and showed it, and were rewarded with three encores and a big thanks. The band was rewarded with huge applause and among other things, a burning candle.

#at least they got a burning candle for their troubles! (that bit about freddie's clothes is somehow so hilarious to me)#the reviewer wasn't too keen on Queen it seems! no wonder tho bc this country was a gray & joyless place in the 70s #queen #queen band #freddie mercury #1970s #1974

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drugstoreglitter · 11 months

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location : uncle joe’s crab shack, fort lauderdale, florida.

featuring : FRANKALLIE !!!!! but it’s an au in which they’ve never met

for : @gallagherisms

it’s a red-hot florida summer, tide low, coast sandy, and the temperature’s already pushing ninety. saturday was meant to be her day of rest and relaxation in a rare week off from the yachting season, but so far all she seems to do is pick up the slack left by her brothers. she should be out in the van, tearing down the highway with dolly blaring from her tinny speaker, flowers in her hair and incense hanging from the mirror. she could even be tanning on an aft deck off the adriatic coast right now, a shammy in her hand and the sun on her back, had she booked on for another week of work rather than taking a so-called ‘holiday’. instead, she’s trapped inside uncle joe’s crab shack covering for leo while he plays hooky to nail some chick from arizona, because technically she owes him one, and when a castro makes a promise they take that shit to their grave. but fuck if she doesn’t wish she were someone else right now. take that cute curly-haired chick with the killer smile, for example — probably a holiday maker, sat with a bunch of other fresh faces, laughing at kai who runs the whiskey cove paddle board tours — looks like she’s having the time of her life, a stress-free existence, where all she probably has to worry about is what colour bikini to wear and whether or not she’s gonna let kai get the home run tonight. why do girls like that always end up with douchebags like kai. it’s fucking unfair. still, frankie’s trying to be a force of positivity, live laugh love in the moment and remind herself of everything there is to be grateful for, but it’s hard when it’s hot enough that it feels like sweat drips from the ceiling like stalactites, and her supposed ‘break’ has been pushed back so many times that she’ll likely have to go without. whatever. four’s only like, an hour away. she can manage ‘til then.

can you check on table fifteen, it’s the big one with the out-of-townies, kelly’s asking her, loading frankie with another two plates before she can leave the kitchen, wince bitten in by her teeth. feels like being a stewardess all over again, but there’s a reason she’d made the switch to deck crew. she’s not good at saving face and sucking back how she really feels when faced with opposition. she can’t just lie back and think of england, never had a mother who stuck around long enough to teach her the secret handshake that held the code to being a girl. “ can’t you just get bodhi to do it ? i’m already covering, like, five tables, and those guys look super picky. ” kai’s always asking for like, the weirdest thing on the menu, and then adding on a load of vegan, gluten-free, soy-free extras, as if he wants you to fuck up his order so he can write you a bad review on tripadvisor. the only thing worse than working when you’re supposed to be on holiday is serving people your age who are actually out having fun. “ fine, whatever. i can get their drinks orders. but then i gotta take my fifteen minutes. let me just run these lobsters over to table twelve. ”

somewhere in the short commute, the instructions get lost in translation, frankie instead standing before the HBO remake of forgetting sarah marshall at table fifteen, all of them fresh from the surf and smelling of saltwater. “ two surf ‘n’ turfs ? ” frankie asks, ignored at first, then clears her throat, asks for the second time, cutting through the conversation a little more coarsely. “ anybody order these surf ‘n’ turfs ? ” these plates are fucking hot. her eyes are kinda pleading with the curly girl on the end, and it’s only when she feels a tap against her back and a child’s voice that says, uh, i think those are ours... that frankie realises her mistake. “ balls. ” embarrassed, she whips around on her heel with such a voracity that there’s no time to slow her roll, and there’s a body where an empty space is meant to be, an edgar wright smash cut to something wholly unexpected, like that scene where regina gets totalled by a bus. she smacks straight into bodhi, now outfitted in the contents of his two seafood platters, her own spread of steak and lobster flying into the customer behind her’s lap, too startled to even hear the gasps of the hawaii five-o extras or the kid that’s covered in chowder. prawns hanging from her uniform, frankie turns back to the to the customer ; a lobster now sits like a cat in her lap and beef dripping clings to her shirt. “ holy fuck... i am so sorry. like, you have no idea. ” kelly’s gonna put her fucking head on a roasted halloumi and vegetable skewer. cautiously, frankie plucks the lobster from her lap. in her head, he grows an animated mouth, tells her cheer up, kid, it might never happen. well it fucking has happened. the most ridiculing moment of her life, thus far. “ please don’t tell my boss, i’m not even meant to be working today, i’m just covering for my stupid... jesus, why am i saying this ? you don’t care about my idiot brother. ” foot in mouth disease. sighing, frankie drops down, and begins plucking the fragments of plate from the floor where the sad steak sits in a pool of it’s own trimmings. “ um, i can like... cover your meal ? ” she says, her eyes scanning back up to the surfer chick covered in surf ‘n’ turf, the full florida experience. “ or your drinks, if you’re just drinking. ” though it’ll probably cost her the entire day’s pay check with the shit they’ve been drinking. it’s like margaritaville on crack. “ look... can you just... tell me how i can make this up to you ? because if i don’t then i’m not gonna sleep tonight. i’ll just keep seeing your face and bolting upright in bed like that rigged little dummy kid in monsters university, y’know. ”

#this is the ANTI meet cute x #meet gross !!!!!#frankie & callie.#can't believe im seeing their names together again.... after all this time.....#⥂ frankie castro. ╱ threads.#⥂ verse. ╱ frankallie au.#anyways it goes w out saying dont match this JKDGSKDJKGSJKHDKGHSDHG #not sure what possessed me.....#clearly i love talking abt the stresses and pressures of the hospitality industry !!

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blucifer08 · 1 year

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Does Naru dream often? Does she ever have nightmares or wake up in terror? Or are her dreams pleasant or simply random?

Is there a cultural importance attached to dreams for her? Does she see them as containing messages of importance? Or are they more a burden or even an annoyance?

So, this question is complicated as Naru's dreams get kinda.. taken over by one of my OC's. So lets start with Pre-ARR, young Naru.

Young Naru dreams I think, rarely. Ever so often, and they're either pleasant dreams which to her probably hold some kind of religious symbolism. Dreams relating to the sun and moon, and her steadfast belief that she has a soulmate waiting for her. I'll say these dreams likely aren't very overt in their messaging, but are calming and vague.

She probably has nightmares about hunting animals. These would be unpleasant moments, representing a fear of when the tide of battle may be turned against her. She spent a long time alone on the Steppe hunting for herself, and I don't imagine that she always got out of every skirmish with an animal without a few scratches...

She has very good senses for fighting, which I think can translate to a lot of anxiety when those skills aren't in use, and I think that anxiety could manifest in nightmares.

NOW, For ARR-onward NARU? Buckle-in below the readmore. spoilers for arr-endwalker

Naru meets Solomon in ARR. Solomon is my OC with his own little backstory and motivations. He is part voidsent. I usually refer to him as half voidsent, but a crucial note of his character is that he doesn't know how much of him is voidsent and how much of him is himself... It's complicated, and he could take up his own post in that regard.

Solomon has two abilities.

He can see your past lives, leading all the way back to Ancient time. He is able to review those memories at ease. He CANNOT simply review the memories of your current life, though. (He is able to see certain memories certain characters lost in their past lives, so he is one of the most well-informed characters through endwalker)

He can jump into your dreams, modify them, and take a little tour of your mind to pull memories. It's not as easy as the first one, It's not like reading through and snagging a memory. At best, he can try to trigger you to DREAM the memory that way he can review it. But he mostly uses this ability to get coin from people. He will offer you visions of whatever you hold dear, take your coin, and sap your aether while he manipulates your dream. Coin for the man, aether for the voidsent.

He has much reason to be interested in Naru given he can see that her Azem was involved with Elidibus, and so he spends time trying to get into her dreams. He actually really doesn't get too far until Elidibus gets locked away in shadowbringers. It is at this point that he offers her visions of Elidibus since she cannot see him

And she takes him up on that offer.

Solomon conjures whatever she likes to see, draining her of her gil and sapping her bountiful reserves of aether. And I think that this fucks with her dreams forever, to be honest. I think even after Solomon bites the dust eventually, her dreams are never going to be the same. They will never feel safe, it is now a space that has been taken from her and used against her. I think her dreams would follow the patterns that Solomon set up, which would make Naru feel, frankly, sick. Even with Solomon gone, there's a part of him still there, a mark of his abuse, you know?

Maybe one day that will go away, but for now, I think even with Solomon dead (as he gets killed in post-ew) she is suffering. Her dreams are 'nice,' she sees 'Elidibus,' but it's clearly Solomon's hand in it and she no longer wants this.

#ask #naru #solomon #blucithoughts #ffxiv spoilers

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krispyweiss · 2 years

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Song Review: Aoife O’Donovan - “Red & White & Blue & Gold” (Live, Nov. 7, 2022)

American musician Aoife Donovan took “Red & White & Blue & Gold” to the Netherlands.

Perhaps O’Donovan’s best-known song, the Independence Day, love-on-the-beach story made an appearance Nov. 7 at the final stop of her European tour and was captured on fan-shot video.

Outfitted on this occasion with acoustic guitar, violin, electric bass and drums, “Red & White & Blue & Gold” is a lovely, all-American number made universal by the romantic tale it spins.

The water is cold/it’s gonna be cold/but the feelin’ I get when you touch my skin/it makes me bold, O’Donovan sings.

Judging by the audience’s reaction, nothing was lost in translation.

Grade card: Aoife O’Donovan - “Red & White & Blue & Gold” (Live - 11/7/22) - B

11/23/22

#Youtube #aoife o’donovan #red & white & blue & gold

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alexsfictionaddiction · 3 months

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Review: High Vaultage by Chris and Jen Sugden

I am not a big sci-fi reader but I do really enjoy funny sci-fi. Douglas Adams, Becky Chambers and Red Dwarf never fail to make me laugh, so I was excited to dive into a new kooky, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi and I was even more intrigued when I learned about the added mystery element. Thank you to the lovely people at Gollancz for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour.

In Even Greater London, the Tower powers every intricate mechanism while engineers demolish and rebuild whatever they want to. In an alternate 1887, Even Greater London is also the home of Fleet-Entwhistle Private Investigations, made up of veteran, semi-retired (sort of) police inspector Archibald Fleet and the tenacious journalist Clara Entwhistle. When the police are stumped by a series of bank robberies, a kidnapping isn't really something that they have time to investigate. This is the perfect crime for the Fleet-Entwhistle collaboration to finally show everyone what they can do.

In Even Greater London, healthcare basically consists of replacing faulty body parts with machinery. This means that humans with mechanical parts are extremely common and in fact, Queen Victoria is one of them. This steampunky element to the book conjured up such a silly, fun atmosphere and I loved how we occasionally got reminders that several characters in the story were not exactly flesh and blood.

I found it hilarious that even in a London that is seemingly so different to the one that we know, etiquette still dictates that eye contact with strangers must be avoided. Some things are so ingrained that they can never be erased, no matter how many madcap ideas you throw at it.

The language, dialogue and humour is also wonderfully British and while as a Brit, I adore this, I'm always wary that it might not translate well to other cultures. In short, British humour is satire of often very trivial matters and it is perhaps not for everyone. It is definitely for me though!

Clara was definitely my favourite character and I felt like a fangirl following her favourite superhero around this crazy city, which I definitely got lost in multiple times. In fact, my biggest criticism of the book was the complex setting. I struggled to picture Even Greater London as it almost certainly was supposed to look because I couldn't get my head around the mechanics and landscape. Perhaps it doesn't matter and the city can look however you want it to look but I can't help feeling that I was missing out on becoming fully immersed in the setting.

High Vaultage is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery with some really interesting, unique steampunk influences. If you love a Victorian mystery with automatons, ridiculousness and constant innovation, it's a must read for you.

#high vaultage #chris sugden #jen sugden #sci-fi #mystery #blog tour #book review #review #books #bookworm

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mybukz · 4 months

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"Writer’s Postcards" by Dipika Mukherjee: Review by Lawrence Pettener

Dipika Mukherjee is a globe-trotting poet, sociolinguist, writer, editor and educator who often travels alone. Her family and friends are scattered worldwide: Malaysia, Chicago and Delhi to name but a few.

To offset our dizziness with Mukherjee’s continual world tour, we are brought into the subjective world of a poet early on, with the disarming assertion that the cicak (gecko)’s “thik thik thik” sound is repeating ‘truth’ in Bengali. She goes on to say, “What we do is so inexplicable to the more pragmatic.”

One clear thing Mukherjee does here is to stand for the oppressed, detailing migrant workers’ poetry. She is told first hand of Tibetans escaping Chinese repression:

“…trying to avoid the splitting ice and the strong currents… they took turns to piggyback the young ones, but inevitably… some were lost in these passes, while the sick had to be abandoned.”

She relays the message: “One person blows up a building and the media has pictures everywhere, but our youth are burning themselves and no one cares.” While Dipika sometimes backs up her political punches with literary references—on self-censorship, she quotes Jane Austen—she certainly remedies whatever ‘harmlessness’ an earlier reviewer accused her editing of.

We also get into specific details; ghungroos are bells, but they could be creatures or a vehicle from a Dr. Seuss novel. True to form, the author credits the translator of every work cited. Far from simply being nice, it’s all part of Dipika’s revolt against historical erasure, as she puts it.

Mukherjee deploys declamatory one-line paragraphs as little jabs of truth or summation, occasional fresh claims that could easily belong in the preceding or following paragraph. She uses them sparingly enough not to clobber us over the head with them, as in advertising copy, interspersing them with longer paragraphs.

Penguin have never been strong on proofreading since the early eighties, to put it politely. Here, the Hindu deity Dasarath is spelled Dasarth, and the sacred plant tulsi starts with upper- and lower-case ‘T’ randomly.

As with Mukherjee’s recent poetry collection, Dialects from Distant Harbors, these nuanced pieces bring to mind BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent; the pleasurable, subjective pieces balancing the hard reportage. Mukherjee honours local efforts and enactors such as Malaysia’s preeminent creative writing host (Readings at Seksan) and teacher Sharon Bakar.

As most of these pieces are not about herself—though some of the strongest, most connecting passages here relate to the deaths of her brother and her father—if Mukherjee occupies one clear role, it has to be that of representative or champion of others.

Interview

Lawrence Pettener: Dipika, you wear so many hats and do so many things: lecturing, judging competitions, editing, panels, your own writing. How do you stay on top of it all?

Dipika Mukherjee: Nowadays, I think everybody’s being tested for various inability-to-stay-focused issues to put it euphemistically. I think I may actually have some ADD (sic) as well, because what I find is that I actually work best when I’m working on more than one project, ‘cause I tend to get bored very easily. So let’s say I’m writing a novel and it’s going well, but then, you know, you hit a bump as one always does and then I have maybe an academic project which is very cut and dried, and I don’t have to expend my imagination; so I find that if I switch my brain to something more cut and dried that just needs to get done, then I come back to the imaginative project feeling rejuvenated. But if I keep hammering away at my, you know, “Come on Muse, where are you?!”, it’s just so tedious for the process and for me of course.   So then very often I have at least two projects on; and sometimes a poem pops into my head because of something that happens. I secretly write from a point of rage! (Laughs.) So let’s say I read something in the newspaper, or I see something happening out in the street, and something overtakes everything else that I’m doing, and I feel I need to get a poem out, or maybe a short piece of fiction that addresses the immediacy of what I’m feeling.

LP: Maybe you’re one of these people who, like me, might have fifty to a hundred Internet tabs open at once?

DM: Yes, I’m a little compulsive about that! I try not to have more than about twenty-two open!

LP: I should follow that.

DM: I know, it’s like throwing stuff out of my cupboard and not letting that overwhelm, because I do tend to be a little bit of a going-down-the-rabbit-hole person, so if something else is interesting and shiny, and gleaming, I just rush to it. But as I’m getting older I’ve learned to control that. I use the Pomodoro Technique, do you know that?

LP: Yes but I’ve forgotten.

DM: OK. You can find timers online, and you write for twenty-five minutes and then you take a break for either five or fifteen. And what helped with my writing, when it’s not going well, is if I know I only have to sit down for twenty-five minutes, and after that I’m free to go and make myself a coffee, I really do sit down. And then what happens is that in twenty-five minutes I may be at a point where something is taking off; so I make myself some coffee and come right back.   Whereas I think that if I sit in front of just a blank sheet of paper and think, I have to get Chapter Four done, it’s so intimidating. Twenty-five minutes isn’t, because you can sit there and shake your leg – watch this (shakes leg; laughter).  LP: Yes, I tell my students the best way to write a poetry collection is to flit between five or ten pieces simultaneously. They feed into each other; it shows which ones don’t fit into the collection.

DM: Absolutely. I have not actually ever tried that, but I think I might. The other thing I find when I’m teaching writing is that students are often very concerned about having spent a lot of time writing something they’ll never publish or never use and which they feel is like a bunch of rubbish. I actually have a folder for unused writing, or writing in progress, is what I title it. I often cannibalise from that folder, because sometimes when you’re kind of lost for ideas, you go back to a piece of writing and once it’s been marinating for however long, it doesn’t look that bad, and you can still see the bones of it, the ones you can use. And you don’t have to use it as it is, but it’s a wonderful jumping-off point, you know? And I think anything that frees you from a blank page is a good thing, because a blank page almost universally for writers is a very daunting thing.

LP: It could be the opposite of a rabbit hole in a way. What would be the opposite of a rabbit-hole though? Serous question.  DM: Yeah, for me I think it would be sort of just being mind-blocked, and not having your mind going anywhere. Thankfully again, because of the way I think my mind is, it doesn’t happen too often. But again, you have what the Buddhists call the monkey mind, right? Then also, you’re really not doing yourself any favours, and ultimately you get to a point where you’re so frustrated and discombobulated that it goes nowhere.

So I try to in a way structure my time into bits where I have to let go after a certain time. That’s my Pomodoro Technique. It has helped me because as a person I’m naturally not inclined to stop worrying something until it’s done to death, whereas now if I know that, OK, I’ve got it in a schedule, twenty-five minutes, and I have X, Y, Z things to get done, I will move on instead of wasting the whole day.

LP: How often do you manage to read others’ poetry yourself?

DM: Sometimes when I’m writing my own poetry, or editing it, I find it very useful to read people that I absolutely adore. Naomi Shihab Nye is a favourite, because she writes political poetry with great heart; I like Mary Oliver. I like Billy Collins, you know all these people who write with a great deal of heart. I think that kind of helps me put my own poems into perspective, because as I said I do often start from a point of rage, and that rage overcomes any poetic beauty.

Whereas getting back and latching on to somebody who writes lyrically, about things that are important, kind of centres me as well; it doesn’t all have to be vomiting stress. It can be beauty, even within the stress.

LP: I was discussing your poetry with somebody who said, from what I’d shown them of your stuff, that perhaps you didn’t take on social issues enough.

DM: I think I do take on social issues wherever I can. I was listening to this lecture by Gitanjali Shree, who has just won the Booker Prize for Tomb of Sand. She said very eloquently – far more eloquently than I’ll be able to tell you right now – is that there is a kind of a global movement now, because the world is just such a shithole place rally, I mean every country has so many problems; there is such a burden now on writers to lead the protest. But it’s not our job, it’s never our job to be in protest lands, and leading protests with little soundbites about what we feel.

What we like to do is go off and do the writing that sometimes addresses these issues, but I do not feel like I have to address every issue in Malaysia. I do not have to address the traffic jams, and the racial inequities, and the school system. I mean, I would go mad!

So I think I’ll pick and choose, and because I have such a strong allegiance to three countries, I will write about the anti-Muslim sentiments in India, which I’ve done in this book in a few poems; I’ll write about the Trump presidency and the marginalisation of any non-white people in America, which I have also done here; and I’ve addressed Malaysian problems in various books, including my debut novel, which was never published here because of that; because it starts off with a chapter on a model being blown up in the fields of Shah Alam (greater Kuala Lumpur area). Any Malaysian knows that politically that’s very, very controversial.

That’s Ode to Broken Things, and it’s related to the death of a model who was the mistress of the powers that be. It’s available here. I did have a Malaysian publisher but he pulled out about four months before the publication. And by that time it had already gone into print in other parts of the world, but he wrote a very – ‘kesian’ is the only word that comes to mind – a very sad email saying that he can’t publish it here because it will pretty certainly get banned, and he will lose his job and it will affect the livelihood of everyone who works for that company.

I have a little bit of an advantage in that I don’t live here but then it will affect my ability to come back. So I also don’t want to rock the boat too much.

LP: This recalls Preeta Samarasan’s latest novel, The Tale of the Dreamer’s Son.

DM: I was supposed to be moderating the launch of her book, and obviously because of my own book tour, which took me to many countries, I fell a little behind and I couldn’t read it. But I love Preeta’s work; I loved Evening is the Whole Day. At the time when she wrote that, it was very close to Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things in terms of the lyricism and the sentences feeding into each other in very ripe and visual ways. I think that that kind of style seems to have gone out of favour right now. I think that people very often do not like to read what they consider a little bit overdone style; but I absolutely adore Preeta’s work and the reason is also that I find it so fearless in terms of what she says.

You know, Preeta and I see Malaysia through very different windows, because I continue to come back here and I continue to interact with a lot of writing people. I have mentors who are writers and published collections and short fiction with them. And so I have a much more optimistic view, whereas I think Preeta sometimes, can come across as pessimism, certainly.

I absolutely love the fact that we have her, in Malaysia, as a voice with such a strong conscience.

LP: Who can you see as a mentor? I imagine you get some of that from literary interactions.

DM: Right. I love literary festivals because of that, because one of the things it makes really clear is that the people who are truly great writers are not the divas, and I was telling this story to someone else just a few days ago:

My first novel, called Thunder Demons at that time, and the title was changed to Ode to Broken Things, was longlisted for the Man Asia literary prize. In that long list, there was also Su Tong, a Chinese writer. I don’t know if you know Su Tong’s work, but he’s a highly respected Chinese writer, he wrote this book called Wave the Red Lantern, which was made into a Hollywood movie. I have been reading Su Tong since my late teens, and then read his novel Rice when I was about nineteen, and I was just totally in love with it. His style is very Zola-esque, very dark, but it’s beautiful.

So anyway, I was in this long list with many people. Soo Tong was also on it, and he had been one of the people I had worshipped as a writer. I was at Shanghai Literary Festival, and Su Tong was one of the main guys talking at that, so I went up to him and said “I’m delighted to meet you, and I’ve been reading you” blah blah, and he turned to his interpreter, who said, This is your fan, and she says she’s also on the Man Asian long list with you. He looked a little puzzled, and then he asked the interpreter to ask me what my book was. And so I said it was Thunder Demons. I saw his name on the list and I knew I would lose to someone so worthy, it would not be a loss.  So he turned around and he takes my hand like this, and he said, in English, Miss D, you should have won! And I start to laugh, his interpreter starts to laugh, because he’s saying this in English, and with such heartfelt, You should have won! That’s the kind of interactions I have with people who are really writers.  The other person who I felt was a really good mentor was Amitav Ghosh. I met him at various places; the last one being Northwestern University, where I was teaching, and he came in in one day. He has written this amazing book that talks about climate change, and true fiction as well as non-fiction. And he’s this amazing towering person in the literary world, but he has always been very open to just talking about literature on a level that is very accessible. He doesn’t just say, Oh, this is a book that I wrote; he will also ask, What are you writing. He’s wonderful; people should all be like that.

LP: Are you in any writers’ group, or somewhere that you can get feedback?

DM: Yes. Thank you for asking this, because I do think that writers’ groups are important. You have to be a bit smart about them of course, because there’s always a danger of you writing only to the group. That is never a good thing. What I do is, I have different types of writers’ groups, so for a long time I had an Asian American writers’ group, in Chicago, so I would be able to write whatever I wanted without a glossary, because they would just get it. And then I also have a women’s writing group that is about four of us, all working on longer pieces; and nobody else is Asian there. So then sometimes I can check out whether it translates.

It’s good to have more than one group because it reminds you that even if one group tends to go in a certain way, that opinion is not universal; there’s another group that would take things completely differently. So yes it’s important to have writers’ groups and it’s important to have a variety of them, and not just have an echo chamber that gives you what you want to hear.

LP: With that, I imagine that your being on the move so much helps to keep that sense of who you’re writing for rooted in the generality.

DM: Yeah, I don’t really have a reader in mind, it’s not like my sister-in-law’s my ideal reader or anything like that. I try to not patronise my audience, because I’ve felt patronised so many times, especially by Indian authors writing in English, when their gaze is very much the Western, often male gaze; so I tend to just think of you now, an educated, global person. Of course it’s impossible to do on my own because I’m so close to my own writing that I don’t see the defects; which is why having a writers’ group tells me that this makes no sense, or a character is just not believable.

LP: And then what really should be written about because it’s so unbelievable, is just that: unbelievable.

DM: Yep. You know, when I wrote Shambhala Junction, I had a really good agent in London, and she was shopping it around. The good thing about having a power agent is that you get a response back quite quickly, so she came back to me with a publisher who had read it, and she said that she could not read Shambhala Junction as the mother of young girls, and she did not feel that any father would sell a child, or rather abandon their child. Now if you’ve grown up in any part of Asia, you know that that happens all the time. So again, there is obviously a dissonance between what I see as possible in the world and maybe a London agent is able to show.

Bio:

Lawrence Pettener is a poet and freelance editor living in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. His reviews and interviews have appeared in Juliet Art Magazine (Italy), Asian Review of Books and The Culture Review. He recently co-edited ‘Salleh Ben Joned: Truth, Beauty, Amok and Belonging’ (Maya Press, Malaysia), and a collection of poems on Malaysian food is due out this year. He’s editing another book for somebody right this minute.

#travel #non-fiction

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hmel78 · 4 years

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In conversation with Petter Carlsen ...

Earlier in the year, you may remember that we caught up with ‘Long Distance Calling’, and discovered that they had recently asked one of Norway’s finest vocalists to join them as lead singer on their new album, and tour of Europe. When we went along to a show, we also discovered that Petter was the opening act each night - at which point, it seemed like a great chance to grab him for a chat! Born in Alta, not so many years ago, Petter Carlsen has spent much of his life creating beautifully personal and atmospheric music, reflecting the cold, dark and wild surroundings of northern Norway. His debut album “You Go Bird” was released in 2009 and turned on many Norwegian ears. His second album “Clocks Don’t Count” was released to incredible reviews in 2011 in Europe, through UK indie label Function Records. Subsequently Petter really began to gain ground as an artist, and has picked up fans all over the world whilst touring as special guest with UK band Anathema, Danish artist Tim Christensen and throughout clubs and festivals in Europe, September 2014 saw the release of his third album “Sirens”; produced by Wetle Holte (Eivind Aarset, Anja Garbarek) and mixed by Christer A. Cederberg (Anathema). With all of these musical achievements, and long distance touring, it would seem that Petter has travelled far in life -and with much more travelling on the horizon, we were curious to know, how he got from there, to the here and now ...

HR - What first interested you in music?

PC - I became very fascinated by a lot of music at an early age, but the band that made me want to learn how to play the guitar was Metallica. The first time I heard ‘Fade to Black’ I was blown to Pluto and back (via Jupiter). Then I had to put together a two week intense promo campaign towards my mother to get her to invest in a guitar and amp. She did.

HR - Who taught you to play?

PC - James Hetfield! haha. Some friends of mine had a head start, and I learned a few chords from them. But mostly I listened to music and tried to play the songs with the help from my ears and hands and some tabs. However I early started exploring how to write my own songs. That was the main aim all the way. My first band was called ‘Burger Heads’ and our inspirations was Metallica and Paradise Lost + other heavy bands.

HR - Is there a lively music scene in Alta?

PC - Yes, and It’s growing. There are a lot of youngsters that are eager up there, more now than before I think. There are more songwriters now and less cover bands. It’s a small town, but there is something going on. We have a very nice festival in the summer called Aronnesrocken which was founded on the idea of creating a scene for the up and coming. We also have a place called ‘Huset’ which translates ‘The House’ where there are lots of creative and hungry souls making music, and dance and other forms of art.

HR - Blackmoon Magazine is sold in ‘Puska’s Music’, and we have heard a lot about it - how much of your youth did you spend in the Alta store? And as an adult too?!!! ;)

PC -The legend’s original name is Gunnar Schwaiger, but everybody calls him Puskas. The store was quite big in the ninetees, and I was there very often - always exploring new bands , trying to find gold. I did. I remember quite a few times sitting down by the bar with headphones on and being blown away by Metallica, Paradise Lost, TNT, Seigmen etc. I got a fulltime job there in ’99 and quit school (university). I don’t regret it. I enjoyed working there very much.

The store is still going strong despite that Puskas lost his beloved wife and partner for the last years.

May it last forever!

HR - Given the wealth of music you had the opportunity to listen to - Who have been your biggest influences?

PC - Anathema. I discovered the ‘Eternity’ album at Puskas too :) In recent years we have become friends and we have worked together for many occasions. They are very generous. It’s family.

HR - And what about Norwegian musical heroes?

PC - Åge Aleksandersen, Kari Bremnes, Kvelertak, Wetle Holte, Aleksander Kostopoulos, Motorpsycho, Seigmen, Jaga Jazzist and a lot of people I’ve been so fortunate to work with!

HR - Living so far north, in Alta, did you feel distant from the opportunities that may exist in the music industry?

PC - No , I didn’t. Ignorance is bliss haha. However I was quite young when I moved to Oslo, and I was 25 when I went ‘all in’as a musician. I didn’t dare at first. So I worked as a sound engineer for a long time before I was ready to give it a shot with my own music.

I have to mention that I don’t think coming from the outskirts is any set back, quite the contrary. I’ve had a tremendous support from people in my hometown.

I have always been back and forth between Alta and Oslo. I have a lot of contacts both here and there. I found my musical companions in Oslo , but I also have quite a few in Alta. Besides that, I am really happy to travel outside Norway and do gigs.

HR - What do you feel was your first real success?

PC - hmmm. Going to the next round in UKM with ‘Burger Heads’ in ’96. UKM is a cultural event for young artists.

HR - That’s pretty impressive! You have another project ‘Pil and Bue’ - how is that going? How did the partnership with Aleksander happen?

PC - Pil & Bue is going very well. We are both very excited about it and at the moment we are doing festival shows in Norway. We have done two albums so far and are starting to work on the next this autumn.

The reason we met was because I needed a stand in drummer on a couple of shows for my solo project. At last his name came up and he was free and keen on doing the gigs. At a shabby hotel room in Amsterdam we talked about how we began playing music. It was quite similar for us, we started out with heavier and more aggressive music. His first band was called ‘Sinnsyk Ugle’ (Insane Owl) and was a hardcore band. We decided then and there that we should start a rock band. A few weeks after we returned to Norway he called me to let me know that he’d bought a new Gretsch drum kit, perfect for our plan. And as we felt that we didn’t need any more members, the band was up and running in no time. It felt good going back to the roots, and it still does. I’m happy that we met, cause the collaboration is very good.

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HR - You’re about to tour Norway too - how does it make you feel to play to your home town?

PC - It’s always a little different than other shows. For a long time I didn’t enjoy those shows as much as others, but I think that’s over. Now I am more relaxed about it. I feel that I have a lot of fans and supportive people there, making it a pleasure.

HR - How did you meet up with ‘Long Distance Calling’?

PC - Zoetemeer, the Netherlands, October 2010. I was supporting Anathema on their entire european tour, and LDC joined in for some shows in NL and in Germany. We hit it off straight away and have been friends ever since.

HR - on tour you are both vocalist for them, and opening act with your solo material - Do you enjoy the experience as a whole?

PC - Yes, I do! We have a very good time on the road - even though I don’t speak german haha. The initial plan was to bring Pil & Bue as a support act but illness in Aleksander’s family made that impossible. How fragile we are. It was a bit challenging to do the solo support when people were expecting a rock show, but all in all it went well. I learned a lot on tour I think.

HR - Do you feel like you have to be two different people - to be able to perform as a solo artist, and as part of a band on the same bill?

PC - Good question. It’s two very different set-ups but I’m the one who’s singing, and singing both my own stuff and LDC’s stuff comes natural to me. Takes a lot of focusing though, but I enjoy the challenge. So I guess the answer is no.

HR - Will you be involved with their future projects?

PC - I don’t know at the moment. We talked about writing together ... Let’s see what happens. Would like to give it a go. I know that we’ll be doing a new tour early next year for the ‘Trips’ album.

HR - And as a solo artist, and also Pil & Bue - what’s next?

PC - On the solo side I am making a new record. It’s gonna be a little different this time. The plan is to release it next spring.

Pil & Bue is the main ship as of now. We are two people and we have a certain responsibility for each other. The solo part is easier to initiate when it’s a little quiet in the P&B camp.

HR - Which of your compositions are you most proud of - solo or with a band?

PC - Impossible to say. I have to say I’m proud of them all. That’s a good feeling.

HR - And If you hadn’t become a musician, what would you have done?

PC - There was no other option!

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#folk music #singer songwriter #norwegian #new music #music #heavy rock #prog rock #Youtube

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gintejainsurance · 9 months

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Solo Traveling? Here's Why Travel Insurance is Essential for Solo Adventurers

Traveling solo can be an exhilarating and life-changing experience. It offers the opportunity to explore new destinations at your own pace, discover yourself, and make lasting memories. However, with great freedom comes great responsibility, and one crucial responsibility for solo adventurers is ensuring you have the right travel insurance. In this blog post, we'll discuss why travel insurance is essential for solo travelers and how Ginteja, an insurance aggregator, can help you find the perfect policy.

Why Solo Travelers Need Travel Insurance

Emergency Medical Coverage: Accidents and illnesses can happen anywhere, and when you're traveling alone, having access to emergency medical care is paramount. Travel insurance can cover medical expenses, including hospital stays, doctor's visits, and medication.

Trip Cancellation: Sometimes unforeseen circumstances force you to cancel or cut short your trip. Travel insurance can reimburse you for non-refundable expenses like flight tickets, hotel reservations, and tour bookings.

Lost or Stolen Belongings: As a solo traveler, you are solely responsible for your belongings. Travel insurance can help replace lost or stolen items, ensuring you're not left stranded without essential items like passports, money, or electronics.

Delayed or Missed Flights: Missed connections and flight delays can disrupt your travel plans. Travel insurance can provide compensation for additional expenses incurred due to flight delays or cancellations.

Emergency Evacuation: In case of a natural disaster or political unrest, you may need to be evacuated from your location. Travel insurance can cover the costs of emergency evacuation and repatriation.

Travel Assistance: Travel insurance often includes 24/7 assistance services. This can be a lifesaver when you're in an unfamiliar place and need help with medical referrals, translation, or navigating local regulations.

Why Choose Ginteja for Travel Insurance

Ginteja is your trusted partner when it comes to finding the right travel insurance policy for your solo adventure. Here's why you should consider using Ginteja:

Wide Range of Options: Ginteja is an insurance aggregator that provides access to various insurance options from different providers. This means you can compare policies and choose the one that best suits your needs and budget.

Customized Solutions: Ginteja understands that solo travelers have unique requirements. Whether you're an adventure enthusiast, a digital nomad, or a culture explorer, they can help you find a policy tailored to your specific travel style.

Ease of Use: Ginteja's user-friendly platform allows you to quickly and effortlessly compare travel insurance policies. You can easily review coverage details, benefits, and premiums, ensuring you make an informed decision.

Expert Guidance: If you're unsure which travel insurance policy is right for you, Ginteja's team of experts can provide guidance and answer your questions. They are dedicated to helping you make the best choice for your solo adventure.

In Conclusion

Solo traveling is an incredible journey filled with self-discovery and unforgettable experiences. However, it's crucial to prioritize your safety and well-being. Travel insurance from Ginteja offers peace of mind, knowing that you're protected in case of unexpected events.

Before embarking on your solo adventure, make sure you have the right travel insurance in place. Ginteja's wide range of options, expert guidance, and commitment to customer satisfaction make them the perfect partner for solo travelers. Travel confidently, explore freely, and let Ginteja take care of your travel insurance needs.

Remember, solo adventures are about creating memories and embracing the world. With the right travel insurance, you can do just that while staying worry-free.

#gintejainsurance #travelinsurance #solo travel

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konmarkimageswords · 9 months

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A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations.

The most influential religious historian of the 20th century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. Did the Ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And did the earliest Christians inherit the same, secret tradition? A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age?

There is zero archaeological evidence for the original Eucharist - the sacred wine said to guarantee life after death for those who drink the blood of Jesus. The Holy Grail and its miraculous contents have never been found. In the absence of any hard data, whatever happened at the Last Supper remains an article of faith for today’s 2.5 billion Christians. In an unprecedented search for real answers, The Immortality Key examines the archaic roots of the ritual that is performed every Sunday for nearly one third of the planet. Centuries in the making, religion and science converge to paint a radical picture of Christianity’s founding event. And to solve history’s greatest puzzle once and for all.

Before the rise of Christianity, the Ancient Greeks found salvation in their own sacraments. Sacred beverages were routinely consumed as part of the so-called Ancient Mysteries – elaborate rites that led initiates to the brink of death. Athens’ best and brightest flocked to the spiritual capital of Eleusis, where a holy beer unleashed heavenly visions for two thousand years. Others drank the holy wine of Dionysus to become one with the god, achieving immortality. In the 1970s, renegade scholars claimed this beer and wine - the original sacraments of Western civilization - were spiked with mind-altering drugs. In recent years, vindication for the disgraced theory has been quietly mounting in the laboratory. The constantly advancing fields of archaeobotany and archaeochemistry have suggested the use of psychedelic drinks in antiquity. And with a single dose of psilocybin, the psycho-pharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and NYU are now turning self-proclaimed atheists into instant believers.

If these sacraments survived for thousands of years in our remote prehistory, from the Stone Age to the Ancient Greeks, did they also survive into the age of Jesus? Was the original Eucharist of Christianity, in fact, a psychedelic Eucharist? Is this the real secret behind the Holy Grail?

With an unquenchable thirst for evidence, Muraresku tours the ruins of Greece with its government archaeologists. He gains access to the hidden collections of the Louvre Museum to show the continuity between pagan and Christian wine. He unravels the Ancient Greek of the New Testament with the world’s most controversial priest. He spelunks into the catacombs under the streets of Rome to decipher the lost symbols of Christianity’s oldest monuments. He breaches the secret archives of the Vatican to unearth documents never before translated into English. And with leads from the archaeological chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, he unveils the first hard data for the ritualistic use of psychedelic drugs in antiquity.

The Immortality Key reconstructs a suppressed history of women consecrating the forbidden, drugged Eucharist that was later banned by the Church Fathers. Women who were later targeted as witches during the Inquisition, when Europe’s sacred pharmacology largely disappeared. If the scientists of today have resurrected this technology, then Christianity is dead. Unless it returns to its roots.

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#Youtube

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grouptoursworld · 2 years

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Everything you need to know about group tours of Scandinavia

Scandinavia has become one of the most popular destinations for group tours in the world. And it's easy to see why: The Scandinavian countries are filled with stunning natural beauty, diverse architecture, and delicious food and drink.

Group tours of Scandinavia provide a great way to see all these things while traveling with other people who have a similar mindset about what they want out of their vacation experience.

However, there are some things you should consider before booking your trip—and this article will help answer those questions!

Go With A Group

Group tours are a great way to see new places. They're well-organized and usually offer the chance to meet new people from all around the world. These can be particularly beneficial if you're traveling alone, as they offer an opportunity to chat with others while you're on your trip.

Group tours also mean that you won't have to worry about getting lost or not knowing where you should go—they'll provide guidance and information along the way so that everyone gets what they need out of their time spent exploring a new place together.

Get A Good Guide

Perhaps the most important thing to know about group tours of Scandinavia is that they're better with a good guide. A good guide will keep you on schedule, make sure everyone is enjoying themselves, and provide information about the area you're visiting.

In some cases, they can even help out with translation and other unexpected situations that crop up during travel. They also provide an added layer of safety if you're travelling in unfamiliar territory; if something goes wrong, it's nice to have someone who knows the area to help get things back on track quickly.

If you're considering taking one of these tours but are worried about whether or not your experience will be enjoyable enough for it to be worth it, remember this: getting lost in a foreign country without speaking its language is always going to be scary! Having a knowledgeable guide by your side will take some of that fear away—not only because they know all kinds of useful information (like where restrooms are located) but because they'll also keep an eye out for trouble so nothing bad happens while you're having fun exploring new places. To find a trustworthy guide who speaks English well enough for most travelers’ needs: look up reviews online before trying anything else!

Look for Smaller Groups

When you're looking for a group tour, the size of your group can make a big difference. Smaller groups are often more intimate and personal, which makes them better suited to those who like to chat with their fellow travelers during downtime. They also tend to be more flexible in terms of itinerary changes and special requests.

But there's another major upside to smaller tours: they're generally much cheaper than larger ones! When you travel in a group, you'll share the cost with others so your trip will cost less overall—and that's even more true when the group is smaller.

Consider an Unusual Mode of Transportation

Skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding and other forms of winter recreation are excellent ways for travelers to get off the beaten path. Consider the number of people in your group and their physical fitness when choosing this option.

The weather conditions in Scandinavia vary from season to season, so make sure you know what kind of trip you're signing up for. You'll also want to consider how long your tour will be: Duration is an important factor when determining whether or not it's feasible to go skiing or snowshoeing during your vacation (in other words: don't expect to do it at all if you only have two days). Finally, cost should always be a strong consideration when deciding on unusual modes of transportation; depending on where you go and how much equipment you need/want there may be additional expenses involved as well.

Book Early

To get the best deals and avoid crowds, book your trip as early as possible. You can often save hundreds of dollars by booking six months or more in advance. If you don't have time to plan an entire trip by yourself, group tours are a great way to see Scandinavia on a tight schedule. Tours aren't cheap, but if you're short on time or don't have much experience planning trips abroad, they may be worth it for their convenience alone.

Bring The Right Gear

When it comes to packing for your trip, think about what you want to do while you're there. Are there any activities that require special equipment? Do you have any medical issues or allergies? Do you need more than one change of clothes? Will you be spending a lot of time outside in the rain, so a poncho would be useful?

If you're heading off on an adventure tour with a group (such as hiking or kayaking), ask yourself if there is anything else that might come in handy. For example, if another guest has had to leave their tour because of an injury and they left behind their hiking boots, maybe someone else could use them instead; just make sure they fit well first!

Conclusion

We hope this guide has given you a good sense of what to expect from group tours of Scandinavia. Every year, thousands of people make the journey with our company, and they all have one thing in common: they’re eager to explore this beautiful part of the world. So what are you waiting for? Book your trip today!

Source : https://inspiringvacation.postach.io/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-group-tours-of-scandinavia

#Group tours of Scandinavia

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liztalksmusic-blog · 6 years

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LOST IN TRANSLATION TOUR: REVIEW

Words fail to express how undoubtedly fucking awesome Tuesday night was at the Ogden Theater in Denver, CO. The Lost in Translation Tour brought their lineup to the city and to say I was impressed is a severe understatement.

Upon entrance to the venue, my friends and I, both old and ones I had just freshly made outside of the venue, went straight to the barricade for The Wrecks’ set. They’re the band we were primarily there for, but I soon learned I did myself dirty by not paying closer attention to Dreamers and New Politics, the remaining two bands on the lineup, before the show.

The Wrecks opened with an unreleased jam, “Wasted Youth”, and despite the absence of a released studio version of this song, there were still a decent amount of fans singing along, (myself included).

[IMG: Lead Singer Nick Anderson of The Wrecks, image credit to Angela Smith]

The song included a killer instrumental that was the perfect way to get an audience excited about a band they may not know, and a fantastic way to kick off the show as a whole. The Wrecks were killer with crowd interaction and feeding off the energy the audience was putting out. They moved through their set seamlessly, lead singer and frontman, Nick Anderson, moving into the crowd to jam with fans near the end of the set for their high energy, incredibly dance-able tune, “Turn it Up”.

[IMG: Bassist Aaron Kelley of The Wrecks, image credit to Angela Smith]

The indie rockers wrapped up their set with their most popular song, (at least according to the band’s Spotify page) “Favorite Liar”, giving fans the chance to scream their heart outs during the line in the final verse, “I remember waking up in Colorado…”. The five-piece played another local venue, The Globe Hall, when in town for their headlining tour on Halloween last year, and it appears as though the tour paid off.

[IMG: Guitarist Westen Weiss of The Wrecks, image credit to Angela Smith]

Walking into the venue, you would have no idea that they were the first band on the bill based off the crowd, that was clearly familiar with the band, and those who weren’t certainly are now. You can check out the Wrecks’ latest release, sophomore EP “Panic Vertigo” here.

After the energy from their set died down and the stage was once again empty, my friends and I chose to move out of the crowd in order to buy some merchandise before things got too crazy and decided to enjoy the rest of the show from further back in the crowd. I was a bit more distracted during Dreamer’s set, but it was clear the band had some fans in the crowd. I enjoyed some songs more than others if I’m being completely honest, but regardless of my preference for some songs over others, their stage presence was undeniable.

[IMG: Lead singer Nick Wold of Dreamers, image credit to Angela Smith]

They know how to get a crowd excited in unique ways. Most notably, at the end of the set lead singer Nick Wold jumped into the audience to crowdsurf (and made it surprisingly far without being dropped), and the band threw stuffed animals into the crowd. I later learned that the animals came from a post-Valentines Day clearance aisle at a Walgreens, and thought it was pretty damn cool that they were creative enough to make it a fun addition to their set, also giving the Denver fans a unique experience from other dates of the tour.

[IMG: Bassist Marc Nelson of Dreamers, image credit to Angela Smith]

Although the band only has a few released songs on Spotify, they’re undoubtedly worth adding to your library.You can check them out here.

The excited buzz of the crowd and vague smell of liquor in the air set the scene for the rest of the night. The only thing that put a halt to the chatter between hyped up concert goers was the beginning notes of New Politics’ first song and the sensory starkness of the lights shutting down across the room.

I’m used to being in the pit at shows, surrounded by sweaty strangers with little room to move but getting to be close to the performers, where all the action tends to be. This was the first time in a long time that I enjoyed a show from farther away, able to take in and fully appreciate the entire picture. It was refreshing. What surprised me most is that even though I only knew a few songs of theirs, New Politics made it nearly impossible NOT to dance around and get into their set. Everytime I put my full attention on the stage, something new and exciting was happening. The Ogden is a tiered venue, and I saw David Boyd (lead singer of New Politics) crowdsurf at least once in both the first two tiers. He interacted with the balcony, and even jammed with those of us in the back near the bar.

[IMG: Soren Hansen of New Politics, image credit to Angela Smith]

The lighting visuals were intense and overwhelming, but in the best way. I could go on and on about positive things in regard to New Politics’ set. Between a backflipping lead singer, a crazy talented drummer and keyboard player, and the remarkable ability of the musicians to not only keep performing through a long and difficult sounding set, but to keep up their incredible physical and musical ability consistently, never wavering or missing a beat and never letting any fatigue show through, it was an experience for the books. It takes true passion for their art. Few times in my life have I seen performers as incredible and committed to their stage show as the men of New Politics, and I’m kicking myself for not listening to them sooner.

[IMG: David Boyd of New Politics, image credit to Angela Smith]

The night was filled with antics, dancing our butts off, and having fun. If you’re looking for a way to let loose for a night, a New Politics show is the way to do it. The buzz of the bass filled my body from the hair on my head to the tips of my toes, pounding in my chest along with my heart. Upon leaving the venue I could still feel the buzz of the bass and the energy of the performance on the tip of my tongue, and at the back of my throat, ever so slightly soothing the harshness that was there from screaming lyrics earlier in the night.

All three bands on the tour not only met my expectations, but exceeded them in a mind-blowing way. The passion and commitment these guys all have to their art and to their performance is unfathomably real, raw, and resulted in the most refreshingly inspired shows I’ve been to recently. It takes commitment and drive to play a show at all, but the above-and-beyond passion is what sets these performers apart. It takes true passion to put on a show like these acts did, and I have no doubt they would have played at the same caliber that they did to a 1,000 person room as they would to a room of 10.

If you have a chance to catch any of the remaining dates of The Lost In Translation tour, DO IT. You’ll only regret it if you choose otherwise. You can find out what cities they’re hitting and get tickets here.

Otherwise, do yourself a favor by checking out the bands on the lineup and keep an eye out for future tours they’ll embark on. Trust me when I say you do not want to miss out on the chance to jam these bands. Check out New Politics’ music here.

A special thank you to my friend Angie Smith for providing her kickass pictures for this review: You can visit her website at PinkSkiesMedia.wordpress.com or check out her instagram at instagram.com/angesmithmedia !

Keep an eye out for some Warped tour related content from me in the next few days! Who are you most excited about on the lineup?

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supercantaloupe · 2 years

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i’d love to hear more of your thoughts on the difference between chris and patrick as jud!

man talk about SUBTLETY! it's really hard to put a finger on exactly how they're alike or different, or how/why they both work so well. i genuinely love both performances and i don't think i can pick which one i prefer

i think patrick vaill's jud is more menacing/off putting just by sitting there (where was his tony nomination?? just because he doesn't have as many lines as curly doesn't mean he isn't onstage acting his heart out just as much nearly the entire time!). his enraged outbursts are so genuinely terrifying. i forget which review it was but back in 2019 some critic said he had "school shooter vibes" which is frighteningly apt. again, an amazing performance, especially knowing how much of a kind and sweet guy he is offstage. i think he's a more intimidating presence, always in the background with his eye on either curly or laurey, and you can't ever tell what he's thinking or what he's going to do next. there's something unpredictable about pat's jud. at the same time, he sounds so pathetic (in the sense of having pathos or sympathy, not being a sad little meow meow or whatever the kids say these days) in the smokehouse scene. he sounds like he really does get swept up in curly's fantasty in Pore Jud is Daid, and he sounds truly anguished in Lonely Room. his jud is deeply discomforting, but deeply compelling at the same time

chris bannow's jud. first of all WOW!!! Lonely Room is one of those songs on an album that tends to get skipped i feel (even the movie cut it from the soundtrack) but chris' Lonely Room was quite possibly my favorite performance of the tour. literally fucking incredible. the amount of space he gives each stanza makes you really feel every word and every strained desire he feels. i will forever bemoan what is lost in translation from in-the-round staging on broadway to proscenium staging on tour, but Lonely Room on tour makes REALLY effective use of its space; when the lights come up at the end and the rest of the characters file in, he's standing, surrounded but separated, and he just slowly turns and stares at all of them in turn without being truly seen back and he makes you wait for the last stanza and it's heart wrenching. overall i think chris' jud is more...unassuming. he is more pathetic and pitiable, i think. he seems more drawn in on himself, and the staging of the tour makes it so no matter where you sit you can ALWAYS see him onstage and how he watches and reacts to everyone else (which couldn't always be said of broadway, depending on where your seat was). and there's something so humanizing about seeing him sitting there, smiling and tapping his boot and singing along to Kansas City and Farmer and the Cowman. chris' jud smiles a lot more than i was expecting. i don't think it diminishes how scary he can be when he has his outbursts in the smokehouse, the auction, and the act ii scene with laurey. man can really yell when he needs to, and it feels like it comes more out of nowhere with his jud than with pat's.

i don't think i can say which one works better or worse; i think they're both effective. certainly i feel the way they play off their respective curlys influences how i feel about each of them; damon's curly being as charming as he is makes pat's jud feel more cold and unsettling by juxtaposition, just as sean's curly being more outwardly calculating and less likeable in turn makes chris' jud feel that much more sympathetic (without going so far as to be excusable or guiltless). i'm honestly really glad that the tour actors have been given the freedom to interpret the characters their own way instead of just rote copying the broadway actors' performances; it gives each performance and each cast its own breathing room and chance to shine, and makes the experience of seeing the show again exciting. i think out of pure recency bias i'm leaning towards preferring chris' jud right now, but it's been three years since i saw pat's and three days since i saw chris', so that is by no means a definitive opinion (and i'm eagerly looking forward to the london production to see pat's jud once more!). but hey, if you needed any more reason to see the tour, go see it for chris bannow's Lonely Room. for real blows me away every time

#no one asked but i saw pat vaill as ernst in the cabaret tour too and he was also great there #man does unassuming yet acutely terrifying villains SO WELL #also PLEASE can we cast this man in another show and give him more than one song to sing his voice is so nice. i want to hear more of it #also i NEEED more photos of chris bannow jud i need them for art reasons. he is so pretty.#oklahoma!#oklahoma revival #oklahoma tour #oklahoma 2019 #chris bannow #patrick vaill #jud fry #sasha answers #sasha reviews #anon #ty!!! i love talking about this show and also my opinions

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meadow-dusk · 3 years

Text

A Few Words from Neil Young

Interview with Christian Lebrun & Francis Dordor | May 1976 | Best Magazine Excerpt, Neil Young on Neil Young: Interviews and Encounters | ed. Arthur Lizie, 2021

Holding out his bowl and spoon with childlike reserve, “No, I’ll take some more soup, please,” Neil Young is surrounded by four journalists (two from Best, two from Rock and Folk) as if for a domino game whose goal would be to prevent the fifth thief from being forced to pass his turn – this is the resonance of an interview, perfectly unexpected, made after the concert at the Pavilion and whose main motivation was undoubtedly this wonderful audience, one of the most receptive that we have seen in Paris. Talking about a set in a few lines would be profoundly unfair, as much for the indescribable density of the electronic part which culminated indifferently with “Down by the River,” “The Losing End,” or “Cortez the Killer,” as for the veil of intimacy shared with 12,000 people with the acoustic songs, that delicate harmony of receptivity compensating for the aggressive and desperate misery of this rusty and malicious arena. Two hours later, his face suspect, Neil appeared in a luxury box, repairing Giscardian youth, with a paranoid shadow in the extension of his heels. He sits in front of a vegetable soup and turns his deep gaze toward us. His eyes, like silver nails, seem to have been thrown into his head with a hammer blow; small feminine gestures accompany his measured and patient voice.

Q: Did you like this first Parisian concert?

NY: Oh yeah, that was a great time. I think it was a good gig. I think it will be one of the best in this tour. I love the audience. A very sensitive room, sensitive for the acoustic part and physically present for the electric songs. Even the audience dreams of this. A perfect mix between sensitivity and physical appearance.

Q: The Rolling Zuma review, what was it?

NY: Uh…that was a joke. We played in these clubs. I have a t-shirt from this tour: “Crazy Horse. Neil Young. Northern California. 1976. Bar Tour.” They were just free concerts in small venues. There were between fifty and a hundred people.

Q: Was that a mockery of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue?

NY: Oh yeah! Elliot Roberts, my manager, told Rolling Stone I’d do several shows, they found out they were in clubs and they called it the Rolling Zuma Revue. It was very good for us, it allowed the group to come together for this tour. We did eight or ten clubs in three weeks. It was around my ranch. We drove there, Marin County, San Mateo County, old wooden bars…with all these people who live in the mountains and spend their money until drunk, we come up and people scream.

Q: Can you talk about the Zuma concept?

NY: It was a personal choice about breaking up with a girl, about the impressions of the subconscious, in fact it is a very romantic record. But some of the songs, of course, are very cynical. “Stupid Girl” is “get lost,” you see. They all come from a similar reality; I think each song adopts these reactions.

Q: And “Through My Sails?”

NY: The whole album is based on the same feeling, so I wanted to integrate it into my music. When I went through the breakup of my family, I couldn’t translate the feelings but if I had waited long enough, it wouldn’t have been so depressing, and I could then have used this turmoil to transcribe them. This is what I wanted to do here, experience it, finish this album.

Q: But it covers up feelings of a more positive nature…

NY: If I had taken it out when it happened to me, it would have been more painful. So I chose to extract this experience with the support of a certain strength and not with my current weaknesses.

Q: On Tonight’s the Night, in “Roll Another Number” in particular, you have this very chilly take on the hippies and the Woodstock generation…

NY: Yes…on Woodstock…but this album is too special. That’s why I didn’t play any of the songs on it tonight. I had this experience, I hardly assimilated it and I translated it, but I can’t play these songs on stage anymore. I won’t do any more. I did it in London, people were getting mad. I will not do any more, any of the songs that touch on drugs, which can annihilate you, nor the old drug songs.

(Here Neil becomes visibly feverish, his verbal flow is more precipitous, and the evocation of this tragedy seems to revive ever-fresh pains, the death of the road manager Bruce Berry for whom Neil bears the indirect responsibility since he didn’t allow Crazy Horse to reform, after several cures of detoxifications because he did not consider him able to function, made Tonight’s the Night, a painful album of remorse that mourns a guy and his incredible human potential.)

Q: You hesitated a long time before releasing this album.

NY: Yes, because it was touching an area that could destroy me. So I thought for a long time about what consequences it might have. I’m not an artist who would remake albums as “clean” as Harvest or After the Gold Rush is, although Zuma is relatively clean, in my opinion. For Tonight’s the Night, we didn't consider the technical details. We tried to recreate a mood.

Q: But you recorded Tonight’s the Night before On the Beach. Yet there is an obvious tragic progression from Time Fades Away to On the Beach and to Tonight’s the Night?

NY: Time Fades Away is the album I released after touring with the band that was supposed to include [Crazy Horse guitarist] Danny Whitten. But he died a little before we went out on the road. That’s the reason I don’t play any of these songs anymore. These three albums like the others reflect my life, its happy moments, its moments of depression. But after Harvest, I was tired of being myself, always remaking the songs on stage from this album and becoming kind of a John Denver. I couldn’t stay in this state, so I wanted to destroy this idea that I had of myself.

Q: What’s your reaction to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s attack on their song “Sweet Home Alabama?”

NY: Oh, that’s okay, I was glad to hear that. It’s like a folk song, that’s good. I say one thing, they say another. And both are very good. They are very funky, I like the band (Neil’s tone seems more conciliatory than anything else). I think we have almost the same point of view. They’re like a distorted image of a “redneck.” We’re two sides of the same coin and that’s what they’ve done here. It was not a personal attack. I represent something. I represent the hippie position for whom the redneck is bad. And they represent the rednecks for a moment and then take the other side. That’s the whole story.

Q: Do you think they represent a real change in southern mentality? Aren’t there long-haired rednecks?

NY: There will always be rednecks of one kind or another anyway. I think the hippie and the redneck are very close to each other. The hippie and the farmer are both natural elements.

Q: Listening to your songs (“Southern Man,” “Alabama”) you have the impression that you are dealing more with a young person from the south than a young Canadian, in the way you feel so forcefully this kind of rupture in this southern mentality. What are the origins of this contact with the south?

NY: My grandfather was a southerner…an old guy with red hair. It was at the beginning, then I met the people down there. The images burst into my mind. I read the newspapers, the people protesting, the oppression, I understood, then. The most important thing in this song “Southern Man” is not so much the rednecks, the most important is the reason that I sing it for: it’s a white woman sleeping with a black man. This is what infuriates white people, this is the sore spot. The human aspect.

Q: Your political commitment to McGovern, that was quite surprising coming from you.

NY: I think so, too. I went back and listened to this song again and I felt who I was really in there and that I was spreading some energy around. I’m glad I did, because this represents a typical case of mistaken judgment, but a very human error because at the time all of us needed to believe and place our hopes in someone.

(The song Neil talks about is called “War Song,” recorded with Graham Nash…We can also consider After the Gold Rush as an album dedicated to the total democratization of the United States. Even though it came out two years after the Nixon-McGovern fight for the presidency, it represented the urgent mobilization of all American youth.)

Q: More and more, your music seems to reflect the kind of music the Rolling Stones play. You say it in in “Borrowed Tune,” and “Stupid Girl” sounds like a typical Jagger-Richards song.

NY: I love the Stones. When they lost Brian Jones, I dreamed of being a Rolling Stone. I think they’re the best rock’n’roll band out there today. I think Keith Richard [sic] is a great guitarist, a great drummer, a great bass paleyer, and someone will be the new Stone, the band is still excellent. Brian Jones…it was something else.

Q: That’s why you could have replaced him.

NY: That’s right.

Q: Did you feel closer to him?

NY: No more than the others, it’s the group that I love.

Q: You played with Bob Dylan in San Francisco last year…

NY: Yes, it was good. He didn’t have to carry the full weight of the show with me by his side. But I am no longer sure about this. Because with Dylan, on stage, you immediately feel that you are just a part of the whole thing, and not the whole thing.

Q: On what instrument do you mostly compose?

NY: With different instruments. I don’t think the instrument has any influence on the way you compose. What’s important or who has used it before, or when. Like the time a friend handed me a guitar and said, “try this guitar,” I picked up that guitar and spontaneously started playing music that I had never played before, singing words I’d never sung before. I then realized that it just came naturally. I have since stopped trying to compose. I don’t try anymore, I’m waiting. The circumstances are different, but the song eventually emerges.

Q: There is an album that you recorded shortly after On the Beach that never saw the light of day.

NY: Homegrown…yes, it’s in the shed…maybe someday.

Q: There were a few unreleased songs tonight…

NY: They’re all from my new album, there’s “Too Far Gone,” “Like a Hurricane,” “My Country Home,” “It’s Gonna Take a Lot of Love.”

Q: What will be the title of this new album?

NY: Sedan Delivery…but it’s not final…it’s a more positive and romantic album.

Q: What about the one with Stephen Stills?

NY: I’ve already recorded 6 or 7 songs with him.

Q: Do you play as New Buffalo Springfield?

NY: No. That was a joke.

Q: What memories do you have of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young [1974] tour, two years on?

NY: Oh…a nice tour…I was alone in my corner most of the time. But maybe it was too heavy, what was going on. The music was good, the people were up to the task. I would like to do it again one more time, I think we’ll do it again someday, maybe this summer. I feel like it’ll be a good time.

Q: Have you decided on anything specific for this?

NY: No. These are just ideas.

(Again, Neil adopts a conciliatory tone).

Q: Do you believe in your astrological sign? You are Scorpio, and…

NY: I think I’ve been on earth before, and I think I will be on earth again, or somewhere else. My life is my last time recorded.

It was then that his manager interrupted our discussion by pointing out that it would be time to leave Neil. In conclusion, Neil, with a knowing smile, and by looking at each one of us: “If I haven’t given more interviews, it is [because] I had nothing to say, and I still have nothing to say. If you listen to this tape, you will only know about it by listening to my music…”

#Neil Young #interview #I question the translation in parts but it makes as much sense as anything #the intro paragraph alone was worth posting this #CSNY

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the-himawari · 3 years

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A3! Mizuno Kaya - Translation [SSR] The Company President of April 1st (2/3)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Izumi: (T-these people are…? They’re all wearing glasses and they kind of give off a rough vibe…)

Mizuno: Those guys are the members of the Development department. MIZUNO Enterprise also has an in-house engineering department. When we launch any sort of internet or other service, these guys carry out the development.

Izumi: I see. (But they feel kind of threatening though…)

Banri: Oi, you know what we’re talkin’ about, don’tcha?

Juza: It’s about the contract Kazunari-san agreed on.

Azami: It’s cause of you spoutin’ “that’s possible, that’s possible,” without any thought that the deadline’s become hard to deal with.

Omi: I’m glad you’re leaving it in our hands to develop it, but…

Taichi: It was way too tricky this time, y’know…! We ended up staying at the office overnight…!

Banri: What kinda selfish shit are you pullin’?

Kazunari: Ehh~! But guys, if it’s y’all at the Development department, then you totes got it under control, right!

Sakyo: Don’t just leave it all to someone else so lightly. Are you screwin’ with me? In the first place, you punk ass…!

Kazunari: Well, I trust everyone on the Dev team! And besides…!

Mizuno: Now, now, you two.

Sakyo: President…

Mizuno: Let’s find a way to come to an agreement that reduces our company’s workload while satisfying the other party as well.

Sakyo: …I understand.

Kazunari: Yeah, that works… Sorry to the Dev team too. I’ll consult with them again.

Izumi: (This issue was settled really well. As expected of President Mizuno…)

Mizuno: Now then, on that topic, how about we take a tour of the Development department next?

Izumi: Sure!

Taichi: Ahh, wait, don’t tell me—it’s the new hire’s tour around each department!?

Mizuno: Yes, I showed her the Sales department just now…

Sakyo: ! You…

Izumi: ? (This person’s staring at me with a surprised look on his face…)

Mizuno: What’s the matter, Sakyo-san?

Sakyo: …Well, it was quite a long time ago, I suppose. You don’t remember, huh?

Izumi: (Remember…? Also, speaking of Sakyo… AHH!) Could it be, Sakyo onii-chan…!?

Employees: SAKYO ONII-CHAN!?

Omi: Do you two know each other?

Sakyo: We lived in the same neighbourhood when we were kids.

Izumi: I made him play with me a lot, but then onii-chan moved away a short time later…

Mizuno: I see, you are… childhood friends.

Juza: Then it’s a long-awaited reunion.

Sakyo: I see, you’re already at the adult working age too, huh…

Banri: He’s legit wiping his tears away.

Azami: His old man-stink’s increasin’.

Sakyo: Shut it—who is?

Banri: New hire-chan, you’re thinking ‘bout where you’ll be assigned to from now on, right?

Taichi: It'll be easy to work if you have someone you know, so won’t you join the Development department? I wanna work with you too!

Omi: Yeah, we welcome you.

Azami: I just joined the company last year too. If you come to the Development department, I’ll take care of you.

Banri: I’ll teach you anything you want, so you can count on me.

Sakyo: If there’s somethin’ you don’t know, or that’s troubling you, or if there’s anything you wanna know, I’ll help you anytime.

Izumi: Thank you very much…! (I thought they were kind of intimidating before, but everyone’s really kind.)

-pause-

Sakyo: Well, the Development department’s noisy like this, but we have some pretty interesting points too.

Banri: By the way, oi, Hyodo! If you review the code you wrote, it’s trash, dumbass!

Juza: AHH? There’s no way it is. Your eyes are what’s trash, jackass.

Banri: The hell d’you say!?

Taichi: Omi-kun, I’ve lost my concentration~, help me~!

Omi: Perfect, the quiche just finished so how about you take a break? Please help yourselves if you’d like, too, President, Tachibana-san.

Mizuno: Thank you very much. Itadakimasu.

Izumi: Thank you very much!

Mizuno: Fushimi-kun uses the in-office oven and makes food and sweets for us like this.

Izumi: Wow, it looks and smells really great. Itadakimasu. …! It's delicious!

Omi: Haha, I’m glad.

Juza: The sweets Omi-san makes are real good. I’m sure you’ll like ‘em too.

Taichi: We also have Omi-kun’s tasty snacks! It’s cool and fun, so choose the Development department!

Mizuno: Now then, it’s about time for my meeting with everyone from the Secretarial department. Let’s head over together, Tachibana-san.

-pause-

Izumi: (I-I can’t believe I’m allowed to enter the President’s office…! It’ll be pretty hard to get a chance to in the future…)

Mizuno: Now then, let’s begin the meeting. Tachibana-san, please observe from over there.

Izumi: Yes!

Tsumugi: I’ve summarized the details from the meeting the other day. The related documents are over here.

Mizuno: They’re very easy to understand and this helps a lot. The flowers that you’ve placed out today are also very beautiful.

Izumi: (By flowers, he means that beautiful flower arrangement that’s decorating the President’s office, right?)

Mizuno: I’m always able to work comfortably thanks to you, Tsukioka-san. Thank you very much.

Tsumugi: Not at all. I’m glad I could be of help.

Azuma: Fufu, as expected of Tsumugi, the soothing secretary.

Tasuku: I’ve carried over the all the documents and items and such to be used in the prep meeting with the client.

Mizuno: Understood. Sorry for always leaving the physical work to you.

Tasuku: Please leave it to me anytime. Also, here’s this week’s training menu. Let’s go to the gym tomorrow too. I’ve prepared new protein and drinks.

Homare: Body building secretary Tasuku-kun’s special training menu and special drinks, hm?

Mizuno: Thank you very much. Could you also give me some advice on stretching when you have time between work?

Tasuku: Of course.

Hisoka: Did you sleep well yesterday, President?

Mizuno: Indeed. It’s all thanks to Mikage-san, the pleasant sleep support secretary.

Hisoka: That’s great. Today, I’ve prepared a drink to have before you sleep, and a nicely scented candle. I also found a cushion that feels snuggly, so please give it a try.

Mizuno: Fufu, I’m looking forward to them all.

Hisoka: And I’ve prepared marshmallows too.

Mizuno: The marshmallows Mikage-san prepares when I’m craving something a little bit sweet are truly delicious.

Azuma: Your skin condition also looks good, partly because of the good night’s sleep you got.

Mizuno: The cream Yukishiro-san recommended is very comfortable to use, and I apply it all the time.

Azuma: I’m glad you’ve taken a liking to it. Let’s go to the beauty-treatment salon another time.

Mizuno: Yes.

Guy: Beauty secretary Yukishiro really knows the President’s skin and hair well after all, huh?

Izumi: (I see, the President meets with people often, so things like that are important too.)

Azuma: Fufu, you look very nice today, President Mizuno. Nothing but respect for my President.

Mizuno: T-thank you very much…!

Homare: Now then, these are the documents and materials to be used in the conference at noon.

Mizuno: Impressive, they’re so artistic again this time!

Homare: Why, naturally!

Tsumugi: The documents and materials Homare-san, the fine arts secretary, makes are famous both in-house and among our client companies.

Homare: I have several artistic propositions as well, so please expect them.

Mizuno: Yes! I’m looking forward to it.

Guy: Regarding the documents you will use in the conference this afternoon—. Furthermore, regarding the schedule afterwards and getting in touch with each section to communicate with the client—.

Mizuno: I understand. On that issue, there’s also…

Guy: Understood.

Tasuku: Guy-san really is prompt in what he does.

Hisoka: That’s the secretarial android for you.

Homare: He also serves as the President’s security, so he is truly reliable.

Mizuno: What do you think, Tachibana-san? A meeting with the Secretarial department goes like this.

Tsumugi: President Mizuno is very busy, so the Secretarial department provides full backup for the management of his schedule and tasks.

Mizuno: Everyone supports me by making use of the skills each of them excel at, and it’s truly such a great help.

Izumi: That’s wonderful…!

Azuma: What do you think? Would you like to join the Secretarial department and try working with us?

Homare: That would be splendid. It is sure to be exciting!

Tasuku: The work of a secretary is also rewarding.

Guy: Yes. I will teach you anything if something is unclear to you.

Hisoka: Everyone in our department goes out to have tea and drinks together too.

Tsumugi: If you’re interested, then definitely join us. Even if you end up joining a different department, please don’t hesitate to call out to us as we’ll consult with you or lend you a hand anytime.

Izumi: Right, thank you very much! (Everyone’s so amazing…!) (I wonder if I’ll be able to contribute much in this company that’s full of such impressive people…?)

Tsumugi: Huh?

Tasuku: It looks like a fluorescent light is about to go out.

Izumi: ? I hear the sound of footsteps all of a sudden...

Mizuno: …!

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#a3!#a3! translation #mizuno kaya #act! addict! actors!#autumn troupe #winter troupe

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