#shutter 16 magazine

[ptxweekly]

Pentatonix / Shutter 16 Magazine, 2023

[mikeywayarchive]

Elmont, NY // Aug 27th 2022 // Shutter 16 Magazine

[gifsbysimplysonia]

Photos by Kris Englehart (fiascokris on Instagram) for Shutter 16 Magazine (source post linked)

PNC Pavilion - Charlotte, North Carolina

September 19, 2023

[celtfather]

Eimear Arkins #633

Eimear Arkins talks about Irish lilting and IrishFest Atlanta on Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #633.

Dervish, W. Ed Harris, Eamon Friel, The Poor Clares, The Haar, Eimear Arkins, The Shanties, Jared Bogle, The Sternwheelers, Avery LeVine 

GET CELTIC MUSIC NEWS IN YOUR INBOX

The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Enjoy seven weekly news items for Celtic music and culture online. Subscribe now and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2023

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2023 episode.  Vote Now!

You can also follow our playlists on Spotify and YouTube. These feature the top songs two weeks after the polls open. It also makes it easier for you to add these artists to your own playlists.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:02 - Intro: Miranda Nelson of Miranda Nelson Designs

0:19 - Dervish "Palmer's Gate" from Midsummer's Night

5:27 - WELCOME

7:20 - W. Ed Harris "Lanigan's Ball / Indian Point / The Ten Penny Bit" from Family, Friends, Choices, & Memories

10:03 - Eamon Friel "The Old Songs" from Atlantic Light

13:41 - The Poor Clares "The Old Bush Reel Set" from Resurrected Lover

16:32 - The Haar "Carrickfergus" from Where Old Ghosts Meet

23:50 - FEEDBACK

26:59 - INTERVIEW: Eimear Arkins

31:21 - Eimear Arkins "Glen of Aherlow/Miss Langford's/Callaghan's" from What's Next?

35:14 - STORY: Slán Le Máigh"

41:52 - Eimear Arkins "Slán Le Máigh" from What's Next?

48:14 - STORY: An Buachailín Donn

51:16 - Eimear Arkins "An Buachailín Donn" from What's Next?

55:40 - THANKS

58:11 - The Shanties "Good Day" from Fear Not

1:01:48 - Jared Bogle "Johnny Cope (Hornpipe)" from The Old Road Home

1:07:33 - The Sternwheelers "Lily of the West" from Shuttered EP

1:10:53 - CLOSING

1:11:48 - Avery LeVine "Willie Clancy's Secret Jig/Munster Buttermilk" from The Rainy Day

1:14:46 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to subscribe to the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

Todd Wiley is the editor of the Celtic Music Magazine. Subscribe to get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. Plus, you’ll get 7 weekly news items about what’s happening with Celtic music and culture online. Best of all, you will connect with your Celtic heritage.

Please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Finally, remember. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and think about how you can make a positive impact on your environment.

Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn. I interviewed Eimear Arkins last week. She’s performing at IrishFest Atlanta on Nov 3 - 5, 2023. She’s also doing a workshop on Irish Lilting. You’re gonna learn about it in our interview.

This podcast is here to build our diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. Musicians rely on your support to keep making music. If you hear music you love, please email artists to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

You can find a link to all of the artists in the shownotes, along with show times, when you visit our website at celticmusicpodcast.com.

If you are a Celtic musician or in a Celtic band, then please submit your band to be played on the podcast. You don’t have to send in music or an EPK. Just complete the permission form at 4celts.com.

Why not show your support for the podcast? You can get one of several Irish & Celtic Music Podcast t - shirt designs in our store. Use the coupon code fall2023 in our store to save 10% off your order from now until Nov 15, 2023.

I will have an Irish & Celtic Music Podcast table at IrishFest Atlanta. Please come by and pickup a podcast sticker or you can buy some podcast swag, including our limited - edition tote bag while you’re there. I’d love to meet you. Oh! And don’t forget to ask if you can introduce an episode of the podcast!

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

You are amazing. It is because of your generosity that you get to hear so much great Celtic music each and every week.

Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

As a patron, you get music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, stand - alone stories, and you get a private feed to listen to the show. All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our Celtic Legends: Bill Mandeville, Marti Meyers, Brenda, Karen, Emma Bartholomew, Dan mcDade, Bob Harford, Carol Baril, Miranda Nelson, Nancie Barnett, Kevin Long, Gary R Hook, Lynda MacNeil, Kelly Garrod, Annie Lorkowski, Shawn Cali

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Go to our Patreon page.

Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $10. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

#celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a  picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

Email me at celticpodcast@gmail.

Nacer Talel messaged me with a photo on Facebook: "Listening from Tunisia , I am Tunisian and super fan of the podcast and the culture . Keep it up guys !"

Mike Coombs messaged me: "Hi Marc, I’m listening to your brilliant podcast for the first time in ages, recovering from an awful week of covid  -  it’s still with us and very real. I’ve been vaccinated and had the booster shots and I’m pretty fit but it was still awful, so goodness knows what it would have been like if hadn’t been vaccinated!

Anyway I just wanted to say how uplifting and healing it is to listen to such great music. Thank you so much for producing this. I can afford to subscribe only a small amount each month but it is worth very much more.

As a musician myself I appreciate how much a show like this can help what is not the most popular music in the world  -  even though it should be  -  to come to the attention of more people. It is great to hear so many great musicians and tunes that I have never heard before. You just mentioned Heather Dale whose album  Fairytale I bought after hearing her on your show  so I shall make sure to check out your next podcast! When I am better I shall probably send you an old recorded track of mine that you may want to play. I am hoping to get an album mastered as soon as I can afford it, but this track I think fits the Celtic criteria so it would be interesting to see what you and your listeners if you decide to play it think.

All the best and keep producing these great podcasts "

W Danny Studstill sent some photos on Facebook: "We build shillelaghs while we listen ☘️"

    Check out this episode!

[idontcarejustletmelive]

Bad Movie Decisions

Monstrous (2022)

This one scores lower than I'd usually accept on IMDB (4.7) but it's Christina Ricci- how bad can it be? As ever, spoilers may follow...

Guess based purely upon the blurb: the monster is the husband or CR herself.

00:18 It's a Chicken Soup for the Soul production. Strap in, folks.

01:34 CR is the monster. 100%.

02:29 I admire the ambition to make a period piece. If the twist is it isn't in the 50s, I'm going to kick off.

03:14 The kid's a little creepy weirdo, but I'm gonna assume that's a red herring.

03:50 "He's buried in there somewhere." to describe a kid allegedly sleeping in the back seat... Kid's dead, she killed him, movie solved. If this is what we're dealing with perhaps this one deserves the rating...

05:54 She said the house is like a dream and now they're playing Mr Sandman. 🤔

06:26 And now a mysterious black and white photo of a beautiful woman. This is ticking all the Bad Movie Decisions boxes.

08:54 I should buy a dress with underskirts. They look great.

09:35 It's Cody's real mum! Cody's real mum is an evil mermaid!

12:33 This whole thing feels like Charlie trying to tell Mac and Dennis the plot of a movie he half remembers and fully didn't understand in Always Sunny.

16:50 I'm not generally an advocate for putting kids on sun beds, but

18:39 " Goodnight, sweet prince". Isn't that generally what you say to people who are dying? 🤔🤔

20:11 A rip in the previously spotless sofa? Almost like the house's appearance is... a dream? 🤔🤔🤔

21:40 Well is this monster water or smoke? Make up your mind, film!

23:45 Witchy Grandma wishing she could take a young CR 'back to a simpler time' while they're both wearing suspiciously era-agnostic clothing.

27:55 If the boy is dead/imagined/whatever we should NOT be getting this much of his POV.

28:45 Now the monster's a raggy zombie thing?

30:20 Tentacles now?!

40:19 Her magazines are mysteriously spotted with age despite being new? What in the Shutter Island could this possibly mean?! 🫨

44:43 Everyone thinks they can make The Babadook, but not enough people stop to ask themselves if they should.

53:18 How stupid does this film think we are?

1:07:23 Very stupid, apparently.

1:11:09 WHY DID WE GET SO MUCH OF THE KID'S POV? WHY DO PEOPLE NO LONGER UNDERSTAND BASIC NARRATIVE CONCEPTS?!

1:17:13 Christina Ricci and the kid are both doing a fantastic job here. Nothing wrong with what they're doing at all. It's just everything else.

1:19:21 All right, just leave it at that film, and we can salvage something from all this.

1:21:55 Okay, so you could see the twist from space (just once I'd like to be wrong about these things) but they at least showed restraint at the end not spelling out every detail in excruciating depth. That alone deserves a few brownie points. I'd say 4.7 is close, but it has enough merit to take it to a solid 5, putting it firmly in the BMD sweet spot.

*Pats film gently* That'll do film. That'll do.

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2022 - Albums

What a boring year it was. No big surprises, nothing out of the blue, only a few perfect records. 

01. Rosalia - Motomami - “The Spanish singer’s third album delivers gem after gem, as flamenco rhythms rub shoulders with sassy party flexes.” The Observer

02. Tove Lo - Dirt Femme

03. The Smile - A Light of Attracting Attention

04. Walt Disco - Unlearning - Definitely not for everyone. “Flamboyant goth-glam that doesn’t care what the boomers think.” NME

05. Tamino - Sahar

06. Marian Hill - Why Can’t Be Just Pretend?

07. Marlon Williams - My Boy

08. The Wombats - Fix Yourself, Not The World

09. Joywave - Cleanse

10. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer

11. Nilüfer Yanya - Painless

12. The Fear Ratio - Slinky

13. Wojciech Rusin - Syphon

14. Lyndsey Lawlor - Dearest Philistine

15. Honey Dijon - Black Girl Magic

16. Moin - Paste - “Moin’s approach on Paste is barebones, but discerning – taking a craft knife to 80s and 90s indie music and using it to fashion their most fleshed-out release yet. “ The Guardian

17. Belle and Sebastian - A Bit of Previous

18. Florence + The Machines - Dance Fever

19. Moderat - More D4ta

20. Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia

21. Jockstrap - I Love You, Jennifer B

22. MO - Motordrome

23. Virgil Enzinger + Submerge - At The End

24. Ange Halliwell - Lullaby For The Dead

25. Everything Everything - Raw Data Feel

26. Röyksopp - Profound Mysteries - All versions are the same. Mostly great songs + few you can easily skip. Would be a great record if they could release the strongest songs on one record. 

27. Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit -  “For music that evokes empty clubs and shuttered churches, built on patterns dictated by a “mechanical fortune teller,” its humanity is its most haunting quality.” Pitchfork

28. Badawi - The Book of Jinn + The War of Art

29. Mykki Blanco - Stay Close to Music

30. Rival Consoles - El Caso Figo

31. Archive - Call to Arms and Angels - “What is so impressive about these songs – all of them, not just the lengthy ones – is the daring and almost fearless way with which they progress. Archive aren’t afraid to have hugely infectious would-be mainstream hits such as ‘Freedom’ collapse inward on themselves. They’re also not shy about dangling the carrot in front of their crescendo-expectant audience only to have things fade out to the gorgeous trickle of a classical piano. In the same token, there are moments when you think you’ve floated into a quiet pasture for respite when Archive will suddenly whip out the electric guitars and flood that space with noise. The transitions can be jarring but tend not to be, as Call To Arms & Angels feels less like a puzzle held together by separate pieces and more like a painting in which the different colors bleed together to form a beautiful image. It all feels interrelated, the product of a bold, creative, and eclectic vision that’s been executed to perfection.” Sputnik Music

32. Bodi Bill - I Love You, I Do

33. Get Well Soon - Amen

34. Methyl Ethel - Are You Haunted?

35. Working Men’s Club - Fear Fear - “The album tells its own superbly structured story, bathing in synthesis and heavily grounded in the contexts of lockdown, while allowing these very contexts to steer the process beyond angst and towards a utopian catharsis.” Clash

36. Stabbing Westward - Chasing Ghosts - “Stabbing Westward fans will get everything they love about the band and fair weathered fans might just be won over with this album. An absolute must buy for your industrial rock collection.” Spill Magazine

37. Hot Chip - Freakout/Release

38. Daniel Avery - Ultra Truth

39. Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

40. Benjamin Clementine - And I Have Been

41. Purity Ring - Graves

42. Ben Shemie - Desiderata - “Shemie has described Desiderata as "a soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." While this statement rings true (opener "The Departure" could have fit nicely on the score to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey), it's also a bit of a disservice to the album.” Exclaim!

43. Local Suicide - Eros Anikate 

44. Deliluh - Fault Lines

45. u-Ziq - Magic Pony Ride

46. Ovend - Rush

47. Maggie Koerner - The Bartholomew Songs

48. FKA twigs - Caprisongs - “In a discography filled with experimental pop played at an overwhelming intensity, Caprisongs offers both a feeling of playfulness and self-assurance.” The Young Folks

49. Beyonce - Renaissance

50. Subjective - The Start of No Regret - “Goldie takes a breezy trip through various avenues of electronic music with this real goodie bag of an album that’s focused, well-produced, and great fun.” Music OHM

[shutter16]

(via Bring Me The Horizon Take The Second Base Tour To The Opera | Shutter 16 Magazine)

[xxthrillerkillxx]

x

[hauntedduckdefendor]

So I covered Warped Tour this past week in Charlotte NC. Check out my gallery and Article! http://www.shutter16.com/warped-tour-2017-alien-blood-sweat-and-squiggle-monsters/

[ptxweekly]

PTX in Charlotte, NC (Shutter 16 Magazine)

[ao3bronte]

Transience

This is my contribution to @mlwriterzine Once Upon A Season! It was a pleasure to be a part of the project and the finished piece (a gorgeous 260 page paperback) was a treat!

Also on AO3!

Adrien is and always has been a young man of many talents. He excels in sports, outshines in academics, and loves tinkering with the vintage 1962 Ferrari he keeps in a secret garage just up the road from their belle-époque penthouse apartment in Paris. So honestly, Marinette shouldn’t have been surprised upon finding a sailing yacht waiting for them in the luxurious marina of Saint-Tropez.

“Um...” Gobsmacked, Marinette slips off her sandals and follows him over the exquisitely varnished toerail, “... since when do you know how to drive a boat?”

“Since I was eight.” Adrien shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “Mère loved to come down every year to watch the annual regatta. She even sailed in a few of them herself.”

“Wow.” Marinette’s eyes grow wide as she gawks at the opulent 16 metre sailboat. She’d never dreamt of setting foot on one, let alone cruising on one through the French Riviera for a week on her honeymoon. Elated, Marinette can hardly keep the stars from her eyes as she drops her shoulder bag and scampers across the deck until she reaches the front of the vessel, splaying her arms out wide.

“I’m the king of the world!” she cries, laughing as Adrien runs along behind her and plants his hands on her hips, holding her steady.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” She grins into the salty breeze coming off the Mediterranean and steps onto the first rung of the railings. “Just don’t let me fall overboard.”

“You’ll be flying soon, M’Lady.” Adrien pulls her against his chest and presses a kiss to her temple, his stubble scratching softly against her skin. “But first, we have some fenders to collect.”

Marinette blinks. “Uh... what exactly is a fender?”

Adrien’s indulgent laughter echoes in the headsail. “You’re about to get a crash course in Sailing 101, Buginette. Are you ready to be my first mate?”

Marinette spins around in his arms and bops him on the nose. “Teach me everything you know, Captain Kitty.”

Adrien hums, tipping her chin upwards to kiss her lips. “I like the sound of that.”

~

After a few minutes of acquiring her sea legs, Marinette and Adrien Dupain-Cheng are off amidst the serene waves of la Côte d'Azur for a honeymoon trip of a lifetime. Marinette can’t keep her eyes off of the hill-perched towns dotting the coastline, sun-drenched and prismatic against the turquoise waters of the Med. Beside her, Adrien keeps their vessel steady, his seasoned gaze trained on the horizon as they pull out of port and soar northwards, the wind at their every beck and call.

For centuries, every Parisian worth their salt flocked to the French Riviera to soak up the Mediterranean sun and the Agreste’s were no different, once upon a time. Adrien’s childhood memories aboard the Éphémère remind him of bouillabaisse and happier days spent scampering across deck pretending to be a pirate in search of buried treasure. It’s something he hopes he can share with his own children one day, especially now that he and his wife no longer have to spend every spare moment of their lives fighting Hawk Moth.

Sensing her husband’s pensive mood, Marinette snuggles deeper into his side as the afternoon sun begins to dip towards the horizon. She doesn’t need Adrien to assure her that their evenings onboard together will be positively serene with nothing but the seabirds to obstruct the sunset that will surely steal their breath away. He kisses her forehead and hugs her close, his guiding light within the storm that had been brewing since his childhood. After all those years of rough seas at the hands of his father, things were finally settling into an even keel.

Marinette learns the ins and outs of sailing quickly, securing lines and watching for traffic as they navigate along the seaboard of Saint Raphaël . Jibs and boons soon become a part of her vocabulary, and once they've successfully moored in the neighbouring marina, Marinette feels like she's run a marathon.

"That was exhausting," she groans, slumping into the cushions on the sundeck.

Adrien beams, having barely broken a sweat. "Come on; I'll make it worth your while."

Hauling her back onto her feet, Adrien leads her down into the main cabin. All clean lines and warm teak, Marinette leaves her duffel bag on the sofa and explores the spacious interior with curious eyes, carding her fingers through the decades old fashion magazines stacked in a woven basket resting on the floor. He leaves her to explore and hauls their luggage and a cooler down the ladder, filling the marine fridge with fixings for their first dinner outside of Paris. It's peaceful, with nothing but the sounds of the waves to keep them company.

The lights are warm and low in their galley kitchen, a cozy escape from the endless vistas of rocky crags and pastel-orange buildings whose narrow streets spill into the sea. Their table is just large enough for two wicker placemats and a bottle of Mouton-Cadet; old vases filled with seaglass and shells rest on every side table, their edges wrapped in nautical rope. By the counter, Marinette grates a snowy pile of Pecorino cheese over a mound of steaming spaghetti while beside her Adrien grinds fresh pepper into a ramekin, his stomach growling after an afternoon spent at sea. A comfortable silence ebbs and flows between them as the evening tide laps against the hull, drawing them towards the tangy, indulgent nest of cacio e pepe they made together.

~

Marinette wakes the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee and a deftly wrapped gift on the bedside table of their lavish master cabin. Slipping her bare legs across the silk sheets as she sits up, she opens her present and plucks one of her own Chat Noir inspired creations from the tissue paper along with a note attached inside.

Care to go for a dip with me, M’Lady?

Marinette snorts and ties the black and neon green bikini up at the neck and hips, leaving a few very tantalizing strings to pull should Adrien let his feline instincts get the best of him. Goodness knows he wouldn’t be able to resist himself, what with the way he could hardly keep his hands off of her last night while they were trying to find a deck of cards in the saloon. She glances at herself in the mirror to wipe the sleep from her eyes and quickly fastens her hair into a loose ponytail, ready to tease her husband senseless.

“Welcome to Cannes!” he announces as she emerges from below deck, mesmerized by the morning sun illuminating his blond hair like a halo. He’s gorgeous in every sense of the word, thoughtful and generous and unfailingly kind, and even in his darkest moments, he never ceases to steal her breath away.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispers, hooking her fingers into the belt loops of his chinos, “but not as beautiful as you.”

A ruddy flush blooms across his cheeks, a constant victim to her soft-spoken praises. “I can hardly compete against you, Buginette, especially when you’re wearing that.”

“I don’t know...” She grazes her fingernails against his bare chest and smirks as the familiar rumble in his sternum kicks into low gear. “I think the sun suits you.”

“Enough to consider moving down here for good?”

Marinette shrugs; keeping their lives rooted in Paris has been a point of contention between them since the arrest of his father. “Not permanently, no, but I wouldn’t protest if we vacationed here more often.”

“I’ll keep that in mind next time you overwork yourself,” he responds, closing his eyes as she continues to explore the chiseled planes of his abs. She’s always been gifted when it comes to distractions and this morning is no different; like wayfaring on a starless night, she’s always been the beacon to guide his way. “Now, I thought I invited you up here for a swim?”

“You did.” Marinette steps back, giving him the merciful reprieve he’d needed to calm his beating heart. “And it is kind of hot up here.”

His grip on the ship’s wheel tightens. “No thanks to you.”

“Easy there, Captain Kitty.” Marinette smirks, flicking the golden bell sewn to the bridge of her bikini top. “Race you!”

“Hey!” he gapes at her, scandalized. “I still have to drop anchor!”

Marinette giggles as she zooms past him, leaping off the back of the boat with delight. “Last one in the water has to make breakfast!”

~

Meandering through the Medieval streets of the old city, Marinette and Adrien pause to catch a glimpse of Villefranche-sur-Mer ’s idyllic harbour. There’s an enormous cruise ship dominating the horizon and Adrien is thankful that they’d brought their disguises in tow. No one has recognized either of them with the way they’ve camouflaged themselves in their floppy beach hats and oversized sunglasses.

Marinette spends the afternoon popping in and out of boutiques with turquoise shutters, snapping photos and picking up little trinkets along the way. They stop for lunch at a peaches-and-cream couloured bistro nestled against the water’s edge, its open windows basking the sunlit stone walls with salt-scented air. Adrien joyfully devours his meal, a simply grilled loup de mer with fennel and lemon, while Marinette chatters over a bowl of Niçoise octopus salad that she had been eager to try since spotting it on the chalkboard menu outside.

“It feels weird, not having them around.” Adrien balances a piece of julienned fennel between the tines of his fork. “It’s the first time I’ve taken my ring off in ten years.”

“I promise you, Tikki and Plagg are appreciating their vacation too,” Marinette assures him around a mouthful of cherry tomatoes. “They deserve a break after what happened. We both do.”

Adrien nods and is quiet for a while.

~

“When I was a kid, I used to watch the cliff divers jump into that cove,” Adrien mentions as they sail by, pointing towards a sharp craig jutting from the coastline. “I always wanted to do it myself. Maybe I will.”

“You’re free to do whatever you want now.” Marinette smiles into the wind, the skirt of her sundress billowing up passed her thighs. “So chart us a course, Captain Kitty. Where are we going next?”

“First, we’re stopping in Èze .” Adrien brushes his bangs from his eyes and relishes in being at the helm of transience. “There are galleries all over the place that I know you’ll love. And we have a dinner reservation. I thought you’d appreciate the view.”

Marinette lowers her sunglasses. “I like the view here just fine, thanks.”

“I could say the same thing about you.” Adrien smirks and snags her by the hips, easily hauling her up onto the dash of the cockpit. She squeals as he savours the salt on her skin as he plants a kiss on her knee in mock apology. “There. Now I have you right where I want you.”

She kicks and he dodges easily, catching her foot with lightning fast reflexes born from being merged with the Black Cat Miraculous for so long. It’s a familiar song and dance between them, a playful contest sparking in their eyes as he peppers kisses along her ankle, her calf, anywhere he can reach. He stops just shy of the constellation of freckles at the hem of her dress and makes eye contact through his lashes, flashing her a mischievous Chat Noir smile. “I wonder if you’re ... ticklish?

Marinette shrieks as Adrien starts tickling her toes, running his fingernails up and down the arches of her feet. She’s tortured him a thousand times by attacking his sides when he least expected it so he figures it’s about time he seeks revenge. “Adrien! Stop!”

He doesn’t, of course, and chooses to memorize each and every facet of her beauty instead; her smile and her pained laughter, her marks and scars from the final battle only a month before their wedding day. “I’m never letting you go!”

“You’re going to— stop it! —have to if we ever want to get to Èze .” Marinette manages to wrench her ankle free and hops down from the ledge, landing easily in his outstretched arms. “That is, unless you want to crash.”

“If we shipwreck,” Adrien bends low and devours that little spot on her neck that makes her weak every time, “promise me you won’t hog the whole door?”

Marinette bursts into laughter. “Are we seriously going to have this debate again?”

“I’m serious! Jack could have totally fit on that— mmpf! ”

Cupping his cheeks, Marinette hurriedly kisses away the space between them and silences his long-winded debate once and for all. It’s an effective way to shut him up—all things considered—and an astonished gasp spirals from his lips as she hoists herself up his body and brackets his hips with her thighs. She claims him, covets him, her tongue sweeping across his lower lip, and he’s helpless to her siren’s song as he braces her against the cockpit’s controls and clings to her like a drowning man.

“Alright, you win.” Breathless and lightheaded, Adrien pulls back after a while just to soak her in, to remind himself that he’s married to the most beautiful woman in the world. He gazes in awe as she recovers, her flushed cheeks and parted lips swollen and wet. Adrien is drawn back in like a magnet, kissing her with every intention of stealing her breath away.

She buries her hands in his hair, her nails gently scraping against his scalp as Adrien all but melts in her embrace, groaning with pleasure. He deepens their kiss, and Adrien feels drunk with his desire to claim, their passion speaking more than words between them ever could. Every gasp and moan conveys their everlasting partnership and the terror of nearly losing one another in the whirlwind. Shell-shocked and injured, they still held their wedding ceremony, even as the fallout had tugged at their ankles, gossip and chaos pooling around their feet. Together, they’d inherited an empire he’d never wanted in the first place, thrusting them into a world unprepared and raw with nothing but each other as a tether in the storm.

“I love you,” she murmurs against his lips, her heartbeat hammering a tattoo inside her chest. He can feel it against his own, fast and strong and wonderfully alive. “We’ll get through this; together.”

Later, as they draw nearer to the charming port town of Èze, Adrien draws her close and hopes she never leaves his side. “Where to, Miss?”

Marinette smiles. “To the stars.”

~

Nothing comes so abundantly as time when you’re sailing through the seemingly endless vistas of the Med. Their honeymoon stretches on for longer than a week simply because it can; he owns their floating home-away-from-home and she’s working remotely, snagging a Wi-Fi signal whenever they’re in port.

Neither of them seem to be in any hurry to leave the solace of the French Riviera behind. It’s where he’s feasted on fresh seafood and felt better than he has in weeks. It’s where they’ve kissed and made love under the stars a thousand times over. It’s where he’s confessed his doubts about living in Paris and where she’s supported his struggle to leave his father behind.

They’re moored in Antibes tonight and the skies are awash in vibrant pinks and apricot. He drizzles balsamic vinegar onto a shimmering pond of Italian olive oil; she wears hair pins with flowers on them and pours wine like an expert, heedless to the way he’s staring at her like she’s his only source of air.

“I love you,” he whispers. It’s enough.

[callmeblake]

My Chemical Romance by Shutter 16 Magazine Via Flickr: Honda Civic Tour - My Chemical Romance at Aarons Amphitheatre at Lakewood in Atlanta, Georgia on September 21st, 2011. 

Photo Credit: Dianna Augustine

[ee-furoido]

TwstOBer Day 29

For TwstOBer Day 29 prompt: IGNIHYDE, from @raven-at-the-writing-desk‘s prompts found here. All Prompts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Jade and Floyd glanced around the Ignihyde lounge. It doesn’t take long to hear the telltale sound of the gears whirring to keep little Ortho Shroud afloat. He’s humming to himself, flitting from table to table, dusting and clearing it down, keeping busy. It only takes a moment for him to realize he isn’t alone.

“Ah! Floyd Leech-san! Jade Leech-san!” Ortho chirped excitedly.

“Hey~ Clione-chan~” Floyd’s cheerful voice rang through the lounge, waving at the little one. “I see you’re flying again, did you get bored of the feet we got you?”

“What! Of course not! It’s just easier to help out around the dorm when I can float! I still walk when I want to outside!” Ortho’s smile was bright and cheerful, the pinnacle of innocence. “What are the two of you doing in our dorm?”

Jade gave him a polite smile, “Well, I am only here to discuss something with your Dorm Leader on behalf of ours,” He glanced over at his brother, “And Floyd felt like joining me today, it seems. I sure didn’t invite him.”

“Ehh~ Jade, you’re so mean.” Floyd pouted and shooed Jade away lazily. “You can go see Hotaruika-senpai, I’m going to stay here and play with the little Clione~”

“Fufufu, I do hope you enjoy yourself, Floyd. I’ll be back in a little while.”

As Jade made his way towards the recluse Dorm Leader’s room, he could hear Floyd’s ecstatic laughter coming from the lounge, as well as Ortho’s own timbre of elation. He knew that Floyd had brought a few magazines on his favorite types of sneakers, all the more to let the little one look at all the possibilities, and enjoy his legs more. Jade gave a silent chuckle. He only hoped that his mood would stay well long enough for him to finish his duties.

He knocked on Idia Shroud’s door, lightly, calling out. “Idia-san, I have a message for you from Azul, can you come out for me?”

…..

There was only silence on the other side of the door, so Jade pressed his ear up against the door, curious as to whether he had possibly come when the seemingly agoraphobic had actually left his room- but no, he could hear the sounds of the computer pings from inside, he was playing his usual favorite game.

“Idia-san?” Jade repeated, to no avail. He pressed a hand to his chin, a light smile on his face. He raised his voice deliberately, “Oya, oya. It is quite unfortunate that Idia-san isn’t here… Whatever shall I do with this bag of sea-salt candies? It seems I’ve come all this way for nothing…”

…..

After a moment, the door quietly slid open, only enough for a single hand to stick out, a pale hand reaching out. Jade audibly chuckled again at how easy it was to get him to open the door, and grabbed the door tightly, forcing it open a little more. Just enough to poke his head in.

“Hello, Idia-san.” Jade’s smile, backlit from the hallway against the darkness that was from inside the room. Idia shuttered back, away from the door that his taller junior was curling his fingers around. “I’m sorry to shock you, that is not my attention, fufu.” Idia pulled up his hood over his head.

“J-jade-shi- what do you want-?” He stammered, his eyes wide before the grinning mer-eel.

As if he hadn’t just intruded on Idia’s on private space, Jade casually pulled out a small notepad and flipped through some of the pages, finding his place. “Ah yes. The Mostro Lounge has recently been attempting to be seen on a larger scale, and we think that your expertise will be quite helpful with the customers.”

“E-expertise! No, I can’t talk to people-” Idia shuddered, trying to find a way to escape from his own room that Jade had slinked into. His voice lowered, almost inaudible. “.....I don’t even want to be talking to you right now-”

“Oya oya, no need to be so frightened, Idia-san.” Jade gave another hearty chortle. Somehow seeing his senior so terrified amused him further, allowing his job to be that much more entertaining. It made his decision to take this errand that much more warranted. “We only wish to request your artistic skills. Perhaps we could collaborate with you, where you draw something for us. Something that perfectly encapsulates the heart that is the Mostro Lounge. I’m sure with your expertise in sketching, you’ll be able to blow away all future possible customers…”

Idia glanced at him from inside his hoodie, his eyes narrowed and skeptical. “A-and what do I get in return?”

Jade’s eyes glinted maliciously in the room, the golden hue of his left eye somehow brighter in the dark room. A low grumbly laugh escapes him. “In return, Idia-san? In return, perhaps we continue to keep the little secret that we learned about you from our last encounter.... when you decided to deny your own brother the glee that is legs. I’m sure that everyone would be exhilarated to hear, Idia-san…”

“Hiiiii~” Idia whimpered, pulling his hoodie up past his nose again. “No, don’t- don’t tell anyone about that secret- I’ll…. I’ll draw something if you guys just…. Keep that to yourselves….” His eyes shifted to the ground, muttering once more.

“.....Ahhh, of course they’d hold this over my head for so long, this is why everyone says not to trust Octavinelle, I’m going to be trapped forever, aren’t I…?”

“Did you say something, Idia-san?” Jade asked, cocking his head, his smile a little more dangerous than Idia was willing to test.

“Hiiii~ N-no!” he said, “I’ll work on something for you, Jade-shi~” he said, trying to shoo Jade out of the room. Jade gave a small head bow and moved to depart the room.

“Oh yes. I almost forgot. This would be for you.” Jade said, pulling out a bag from inside his jacket coat, those sea-salt candies that he had teased him with earlier appearing almost out of thin air. Idia’s face changed from fear to surprise to a sharp-toothed grin in one smooth transition, his hands tightening around the bag. “I look forward to working with you, Idia-san. Fufufu.”

[the-fiction-witch]

NSFW 30 Jake Murry

1. Where did they lose their virginity?

His bedroom while his mother and gran were out

2. Do they have any kinks or fetishes?

he likes little skirts!! the shorter the skirt the more he loves it, the more likely he is to see your underwear under the skirt the more he adores it

3. What is the weirdest place they've had sex?

In his mum's salon while she was out and the shutters were down, in the salon chair itself

4. What is their favourite position?

from behind!

5. Are they dominant, submissive, or switch?

Dom all day every day, the sneaky little pervy he is

6. Have they had any one-night stands?

Never ever you where his first and always will be his only one

7. Would they be more likely to do it in the bed, on the couch, on the floor, or somewhere else?

In bed! he hates the sofa it's uncomfortable to do much other than sit with an arm around you and make out on the sofa, and the floor is out of the question unless its the grass of the park

8. Have they had sex in a public place?

So many times! any time there is somewhere sneaky

9. Have they ever been caught masturbating?

So many times! A billion times! so often you have caught him, in his room, in the school bathrooms, in the school changing rooms, in your bedroom, in your bathroom. Everywhere and every single time!

10. What does their favourite sexy underwear (to wear) look like?

He likes wearing a some tight blue boxers, and his fave on you are the cute purple lace panties you managed to blushingly buy from the sexy shop in the shopping centre in town

11. How often do they have sex?

As often as possible! even if you have to sneak around so your parents don't find out that sweet jake was doing such naughty little things every time he came to visit, even if when you visit his mum intentionally leaves and his gran smirks and winks at you knowing what yu two are going to get up to

12. Is there anybody right now they'd like to have sex with?

You of course!

13. Do they like giving oral?

He loves giving he likes tourching you by making you cum for as many times as he can in the time you have

14. Do they like receiving oral?

He loves it but he gets overwhelmed easily so he's never finished in your mouth because he gets crazy and loud so he always pushed you away and flips you over so you can have sexy times

15. What is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to them during sex?

his gran walked in!!! saw everything while you were steamily making out and you were both in your underwear in the process of getting them off

16. What is a song they'd listen to during hard/rough/kinky sex?

Government hooker

17. What is a song they'd listen to during soft/slow/passionate sex?

Dangerous Woman

18. Are they into roleplay or dress-up during sex?

He would like you to dress up, maybe as a maid, or a little lolita girl maybe anything he can dominate you a little more than usual

19. Would they prefer sex in the tub or sex in the shower?

in the shower! with you bent over or held up against the wall

20. If they could have sex with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Only you

21. Have they ever had a threesome? If not, would they?

never ever He just wants you and only you

22. Do they/would they use sex toys?

never ever! you are his little toy

23. Have they ever given someone a dirty text/letter/picture?

he sends you dirty little messages and pictures while you can't visit

24. Would they have sex with their best friend?

Never ever

25. Is there anything they do after sex? (ex: smoke, eat, drink, cuddle)

He cuddles you close and kisses you softly till you need to get dressed again

26. What is something that will never fail to get them horny?

flashing your panties a little at him

27. Do they prefer morning sex or night sex?

morning, so less people are around

28. What is their favourite body part on the opposite sex?

Butts

29. What is their favourite body part on the same sex?

Wrists

30. Do they watch porn/read dirty magazines?

He has a little pile of dirty magazines in a box under his bed most of them the only ones that look like you

[sciencespies]

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

https://sciencespies.com/history/the-top-ten-online-exhibitions-of-2020/

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Dec. 31, 2020, 10:48 a.m.

In recent years, curators and educators have increasingly started exploring the many possibilities offered by virtual exhibitions. Hundreds of institutions have made 3-D tours of their galleries available online through Google Arts & Culture and similar platforms, allowing visitors from around the world to virtually “wander” through the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico City, the Tokyo National Museum and other significant sites.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic forced museums to shutter for most of 2020, public interest in virtual art experiences skyrocketed like never before. Closed to the public and financially strained, many museums nevertheless managed to create thought-provoking alternatives to in-person viewing.

Digital offerings in the United States ranged from the Morgan Library & Museum’s interactive retrospective of Al Taylor’s drawings to the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) “Virtual Views” of Surrealist women. Abroad, exhibitions such as the Rijksmuseum’s interactive version of a Rembrandt masterpiece offered viewers a chance to literally “zoom in” on a single piece of art—and perhaps notice new details that would’ve otherwise gone unnoticed. In London, meanwhile, Tate Modern adapted its “Andy Warhol” show by creating a curator-led tour that takes users through the exhibition room by room.

The Smithsonian Institution also made impressive forays into the world of online exhibitions. A beautifully illustrated portal created by the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative examined how girls have shaped history, while a landmark show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum spotlighted Chicano activists’ pioneering printmaking. At the National Museum of Natural History, curators catered to science enthusiasts with narrated virtual tours of various exhibits and halls; at the National Air and Space Museum, aviation experts produced panoramic views of famed aircraft’s interiors. Other highlights included the National Museum of Asian Art’s virtual reality tour of six iconic monuments from across the Arab world, the Cooper Hewitt’s walkthrough of “Contemporary Muslim Fashions,” and the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s exploration of black soldiers’ experiences during World War I. (For a more complete list of offerings, visit the Smithsonian’s online exhibitions portal.)

To mark the end of an unprecedented year, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting some of the most innovative ways in which museums helped craft meaningful virtual encounters with history and art. From first ladies to women writers and Mexican muralists, these were ten of our favorite online exhibitions of 2020.

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States”

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.)

Click this image to view the online exhibition. Depicted clockwise from top left: Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, Grace Coolidge, Nancy Reagan, Dolley Madison, Abigail Fillmore, Frances Cleveland and Sarah Polk.

(Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photographs via NPG)

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery’s presidential wing have long called for an exhibition devoted to the U.S.’ first ladies. But as Alicia Ault points out for Smithsonian, these women haven’t always been recognized as important individuals in their own right—a fact reflected in the relative dearth of portraiture depicting them. The gallery itself only began commissioning official portraits of the first ladies in 2006.

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States” seeks to redress this imbalance by presenting 60 portraits—including photographs, drawings, silhouettes, paintings and sculptures—of American presidents’ wives. Though the physical exhibition is currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, would-be visitors can explore a virtual version featuring high-resolution images of first ladies from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, as well as brief biographies, podcasts and blog posts. The portraits are as “varied as the women themselves,” who all responded to the unique challenges and pressures of their office in different ways, writes Ault.

Inspiration for the exhibition’s title comes from Julia Gardiner, who was the first woman to marry a president in office. Born into a wealthy Long Island slaveholding family, Gardiner was just 24 years old when she wed John Tyler in 1844. As Gardiner prepared to take on the high-profile role, she wrote in a letter to her mother that she knew she would be scrutinized: “I very well know every eye is upon me, my dear mother, and I will behave accordingly.”

“Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle”

Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts)

One of black history’s preeminent visual storytellers, Jacob Lawrence employed Modernist forms and bright colors to narrate the American experience through the eyes of the country’s most marginalized citizens. This year, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, reunited one of Lawrence’s most groundbreaking series—Struggle: From the History of the American People (1954–56)—for the first time in 60 years.

In 30 hardboard panels, each measuring 12 by 16 inches, Lawrence traces American history from the Revolutionary War to 1817, covering such events as the Boston Tea Party and the nation’s bloody, prolonged campaigns against Native Americans, as Amy Crawford wrote for Smithsonian in June. Virtual visitors can stroll through the exhibition, aptly titled “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” or zoom in on images of each panel. Entries are accompanied by related artworks and reflections from scholars.

When the show traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, it sparked an exciting reunion. A museum visitor recognized the panels’ distinct Modernist style and realized that her neighbors, a couple living on the Upper West Side, had a similar painting hanging in their living room. Curators determined that the panel, which depicts Shay’s Rebellion, was one of five missing works from the Struggle series. No photographs of the panel had survived, and it had been presumed lost for decades—but as curator Randall Griffey told the New York Times, it turned out to be “just across the park” from the museum.

“Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945”

Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City)

When the Mexican Revolution drew to a close in 1920 after ten years of armed struggle, the country was left profoundly changed. But among artists of the post-revolutionary period, a new cultural revolution was just beginning. Over the next several decades, artists like the famed Tres Grandes, or Big Three—José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros—started crafting radical, large-scale works that embraced Mexico’s Indigenous cultures and told epic narratives about the nation’s history.

As “Vida Americana,” an ongoing exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, argues, these sweeping, dynamic murals also had a major impact on Mexico’s neighbors to the north. As Mexican artists traveled to the U.S. (and vice versa), they taught their peers how to break free of European conventions and create public art that celebrated American history and everyday life. On the show’s well-organized online hub, art lovers can explore short documentaries, audio guides, essays and other resources in both Spanish and English. Click through some of the selected artworks from the show to encounter Rivera’s Detroit Institute of Art masterpiece, a massive 27-mural cycle that offered Americans reeling from the Great Depression a visionary outlook of their country’s future industrial potential, and Siqueiros’ experimental workshop, which directly inspired Jackson Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism.

“Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures”

The Museum of Modern Art (New York City)

Recognized today as one of America’s foremost photographers, Dorothea Lange is known for her arresting portraits of the human condition and keen social awareness—qualities perhaps best exemplified by her 1936 image Migrant Mother, which became a de facto symbol of the Great Depression.

But few people know that Lange was also enamored with the written word. As she once said, “All photographs—not only those that are so called ‘documentary’… can be fortified by words.” Lange believed that words could clarify and add context to photographs, thereby strengthening their social impact. In her landmark photobook An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion, she became one of the first photographers to incorporate her subject’s own words into her captions, as Smithsonian reported in August.

Through this MoMA exhibition’s online hub, viewers can read selections of Lange’s writing, watch a series of short videos on her work, listen to interviews with curator Sarah Meister, and—of course—take their time studying close-up versions of the artist’s iconic photographs.

“Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation”

Museum of Fine Art, Boston (Boston, Massachusetts)

Jean-Michel Basquiat is often touted as a singular genius. His large-scale works, which riff on color, phrases and iconography to probe issues of colonialism, racism and celebrity, regularly fetch enormous sums at auction.

But the graffiti artist–turned–painter, who died of a heroin overdose at age 27, didn’t develop his artistic vision in a vacuum: Instead, he was profoundly influenced by a network of peers and close collaborators. “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation,” which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in October, is the first show to consider the influence of Basquiat’s large circle of mainly black and Latino collaborators, all of whom shaped the painter’s artistic vision in 1980s New York City.

The museum complemented its in-person show with a multimedia-heavy online exhibition, which includes detailed essays, images of works in the show and clips of interviews with the artist. Viewers are encouraged to scour lesser-known artworks from Basquiat’s peers, such as the “Gothic futurist” paintings of Rammellzee and the rebellious murals of Lady Pink, in search of themes and styles that Basquiat echoed in his own work.

“Making the Met, 1870–2020”

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

A group of businessmen and civic leaders purchased the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first work—a marble sarcophagus from ancient Rome—in 1870. Since then, the museum’s collections have become some of the greatest troves of cultural heritage in the world, constituting an encyclopedic range of artifacts that attracts millions of visitors each year.

This year, the Manhattan museum celebrated its 150th birthday by hosting a celebratory exhibition and slate of virtual offerings: Among others, the list of digital resources includes an hour-long audio tour of some of the exhibition’s highlights, as narrated by actor Steve Martin; an interactive online version of the show; and a virtual walkthrough courtesy of Google Arts and Culture. Met officials also made a rare gem available for public viewing: Behind the Scenes: The Working Side of the Museum, a silent 1928 documentary that depicts curators and janitors at work in the iconic New York building.

“The Museum of the World”

The British Museum (London, England)

Click this image to access the interactive timeline.

(Screenshot via British Museum / Google Arts & Culture)

An innovative example of the possibilities of online exhibitions, the British Museum’s “Museum of the World” debuted in February 2020—and it couldn’t have been better timed. Though the museum remained closed to in-person visitors for much of the year, desktop computer users were able to use this interactive timeline to visualize connections between different items in the museum’s vast collections.

On the website, which the museum developed in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, viewers can trace links through time and space, jumping from a handscroll describing courtly behavior of ladies in the Eastern Jin Dynasty of China to the jade plaque of a Maya king. With a slick interface and audio elements, the timeline encourages viewers to take an interactive, self-directed trip through the material culture of human history.

Notably absent from the project is an acknowledgement of the London museum’s colonialist history, which came under renewed scrutiny this summer amid global protests against systemic racism. In August, the cultural institution moved a bust of its founder, who profited from the enslavement of people in Jamaica, to a new display featuring added contextualization. As Aditya Iyer writes for Hyperallergic, the museum recently made a “promising but flawed start [at] grappling with” this legacy by curating a self-guided tour titled “Empire and Collecting.” Available online in an abbreviated format, the tour traces the “different, complex and sometimes controversial journeys of objects” that entered the collections, according to the museum’s website.

“The Night Watch”

The Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Click this image to access the interactive portal.

(Screenshot via the Rijksmuseum)

In this new hyper-resolution view of Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Night Watch, art lovers can pore over every detail of the Dutch master’s most famous painting—down to every crack and stray paint splatter, as Theresa Machemer wrote for Smithsonian in May. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam debuted the interactive version of its prized painting as part of a lengthy restoration process dubbed Operation Night Watch. Last year, experts began restoring the 11- by 15-foot painting in a glass chamber installed in the middle of the museum, offering visitors a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at the conservation process.

Officially titled Night Watch, Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, the 1642 painting depicts a captain instructing a cadre of soldiers. In the online guided tour (which comes with options for children and adults), users can zoom in on different aspects of the painting while a soundscape—the swish of a cloak, a horse’s hooves, an eerie melody, a far-off bell—sets the mood. Look for Rembrandt’s signature, his presumed self-portrait lurking in the painting’s background, the striking young girl with a chicken dangling from her belt and other mysterious elements embedded in the action-packed scene.

According to a statement, the image combines 528 exposures into one composite, making it the most detailed rendering of Rembrandt’s masterpiece ever created. The project is a prime example of how online galleries can encourage viewers to engage in repeated, close study of the same piece of art—and proof that they can always discover something new.

“Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution”

Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (Ghent, Belgium)

Click this image to access the virtual experience.

(Screenshot via Museum of Fine Arts Ghent)

Curators and art enthusiasts were crushed when the pandemic forced a blockbuster Jan van Eyck exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent to close less than two months after opening. The once-in-a-generation show—titled “Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution”—represented the largest-ever display of van Eyck’s paintings and was “so unlikely to be repeated that the museum might as well use ’now or never,’” as J.S. Marcus wrote for the Wall Street Journal in January.

In response to the unexpected closure, the museum pivoted, partnering with Belgian virtual reality company Poppr to create a 360-degree tour of the gallery with accompanying audio guides for adults and children. Star items featured in the show included Portrait of a Man (Léal Souvenir) and panels from the spectacular Ghent Altarpiece, whose center panel depicts Jesus as a sacrificial lamb on an altar, alive but bleeding from a wound. Prior to the exhibition, the panels had not left their home in St. Bavo’s Cathedral since 1945, as Sophie Haigney reported for the New York Times earlier this year.

Born in 1390 in what is now Belgium, van Eyck created spectacularly detailed oil paintings of religious scenes. As the show’s website notes, only about 20 of the Flemish master’s paintings survive today.

“Wise and Valiant: Women and Writing in the Golden Age of Spain”

Instituto Cervantes (Madrid, Spain)

Click this image to browse the exhibition’s essays and artworks online.

(Screenshot via Instituto Cervantes)

Spain’s Golden Age is perhaps best known for producing Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote, El Greco’s eerily elongated portraits and Lope de Vega’s prolific plays. But as the now-closed exhibition “Wise and Valiant” showed, these individuals and their male peers weren’t the only creative geniuses at work during the 16th and 17th centuries. Though women’s opportunities at the time were largely limited to the domestic and religious spheres, a select few took advantage of the relative intellectual freedom offered by life in a convent to pursue writing professionally.

From Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to playwright Ana Caro and nun-turned-soldier Catalina de Erauso, hundreds of women across the Spanish Empire published poetry, diaries, novels, dramatic works and travelogues. Though many of these works have since been lost or forgotten, scholars are increasingly taking steps to recover their authors’ hidden stories—a trend reflected in the Madrid show, which explored women writers’ lives through a display of more than 40 documents. As Lauren Moya Ford observed in Hyperallergic’s review of the show, the online version of the exhibition (available in both Spanish and English) presents their stories in a “format well-suited to this dense, delicate material.” Users can delve into digitized historical documents, browse curator commentary and watch a video montage of relevant clips.

#History

[hollymcinallyba3photo]

Who are you - task 1

Photographer research

Find examples of self-portraiture that use a variety of approaches which inspire you, you will need to record comments and your thoughts on the work. Why it is so good? (Try to offer some context)

Robert Mapplethorpe

Was an American photographer Born in 1946. He is known for his self portrait work, photographing celebritiesand male nudes. His style of photography has been defined as Controversial.

He was born in 1946. He was the third in a family of six. His father was a amateur photographer and had a darkroom in the basement of his house. Robert was not interested in photography.

He enrolled at the Pratt institute at the age of 16 focusing on advertising design.

He didn’t enjoy photography so he used to go in to his fathers darkroom and steal his work to use for his own assignments

In 1966, Mapplethorpe switched his major from advertising design to graphic design. Changing his focus to a different subject. gave him a chance at expressing his outgoing and unique personality. Graphic design opened his eyes to other mediums and he began making necklaces, drawings, jewellery, and assemblages. Mapplethorpe left Pratt in 1969, just one course shy of receiving his B.F.A.(Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art)

In 1971 Mapplethorpe was given a Polaroid camera by a friend. To try some photography. His friend recalls him buying film instead of food as he wanted to Experiment with lifting emulsions from one piece of paper, applying new ink, and re-applying it to another surface.(He experimented with mixed media collages, using images cut from books and magazines.)

These images were exhibited in the light Gallery in New York in 1973

He then decided that he wanted to experiment with the medium of photography and explore his creativity through this.

He bought a Hasselblad medium format camera, and began photographing the people he knew. Artists, musicians.

Mapplethorpe’s career flourished in the 1980s and he continued to explore and refine his techniques and formats.

He was Diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 he began to focus his creative efforts into undertaking increasingly ambitious projects. In 1988, a year before his death, he had his first major exhibition at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Some of His influences

assemblage

Joseph Cornell

dada artist Marcel Duchamp.

SELF-PORTRAIT , 1985

This image seems very erry. I feel like he’s watching himself if that makes sense. As if he is looking at his future self. I feel like this could have possibly been lit by a soft light source. The image has probably been done with a slow shutter Speed. Or movement of the camera to create the blur.

The use of shape within the image is very effective as it frames him between the two diamond shapes as there is equal space at at either side. Creating a symmetrical composition. the model has is a shy but sincere facial expression. The image has soft lighting.

Self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe with trip cable in hand 1974

I originally thought he was holding a light meter to the wall but then realised it wasn’t. It’s a shutter cable or trip cable as it says in the website. I really like the use of the negative space within the image and the he is placed the right Hand side at the bottom of the image. The image is possibly lit with a hard light source because of the defined shadow on his neck at the right hand side of the image. I like he isn’t facing the camera. I also like the use of leading lines within the image( the cable, his arm)

Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait 1980

This image seems more of a one that you would use as a headshot. We get to know a little bit more about the sitter because of the clothes he’s wearing. There is slight catch lights in the sitters eye problaly done with a flash or reflector. The shadows on the subjects face is soft.

Sources