#you might see these buildings during the hot air balloon scene

[thatonekreachur]

one detail in elemental is that these earth buildings in the background kinda look like granum, which were inside the chloroplast of a plant cell.

(Sorry I couldn't get a better image)

[knightobreath]

oliver's epic ii2 movie act 1 trailer analysis

ok so ! theres a lot. im going through it scene by scene

steve cobs KEEPS calling mephone. what the hell is his plan here. i would say mephone should just block his ass but i have a feeling that he is unable to. I predict that he's gonna have to answer at some point.

(also, i went and checked, but the sound that played is the same as the hang up sound from ep15)

also hotel oj party yayyy everyone gets to hang out and have some fun before everything goes to Shit!

this shot's just fucked up man. i don't think i need to explain what this parallels.

this is either a realization or someone walking in, and i think it's the latter because there's little build up. I cannot tell who it would be based on his reaction only, but it Would be someone in the hotel.

OR. what if it's another hallucination like with 4s in the iii finale? That would explain why there's no light from a door opening.

baseball was already upset before seeing taco & mepad

his reaction BARELY CHANGED when he did see them (the eyebag line showed up after he looked through the door)

mepad is comforting taco, who is likely worked up about you know. talking to pickle and mic

man i actually like the bullets format im going with this from now on

mic is happy! I don't have any predictions for the context of this scene

we're getting stuff on knife and trophy!

can't really extrapolate from this scene, hard to tell if trophy was throwing the can there on purpose or not.

test tube, fan, and paintbrush are going to play a very active role in the episode

As pointed out here, they're in the area that Paintbrush burned down in episode 12.

This area has a direct tie to Cobs with the painting, it's possible that they're trying to stop him on their own.

The device test tube is holding is a reused asset, and was both the time machine from episode 12 and the gem detecting device from episode 13. due to this reuse of the asset, we can't know for sure what it does here.

My prediction is that the device is being used to detect something meeple-related.

I'll note here that mephone is only shown inside of the hotel for the duration of the trailer, I believe that he might be hiding in there for most of this act while the contestants go out and actually try to fix things.

NOW THIS IS INTERESTING. Knife and suitcase are traveling in the Grand Slams balloon from Theft and Battery.

Since it's only the two finalists, this could be a part of the final challenge.

Hot air balloons in ii have only been used twice. once in theft and battery to get to mecloud, and once in the great bluish bake-off to get to the end of the desert.

I predict that because of cobs's importance to the plot of this episode that this balloon is going to mecloud, although I'm not entirely sold on the idea.

I predict that this goes before the scene where they're outside of the hotel.

tt and pb have an idea! and they're confident in it.

Judging by paper's expression, this was brought on by something Not Good Happening.

blah blah somehow i connect this to meeple shenanigans okay moving on

simple! suitcase and knife entering the hotel

hi lightbulb

Cobs is PERSISTENT. voiceover backs this up

He must call mephone a lot during the episode

Mephone is clearly running off so people don't see him constantly receiving these calls. i bet hes having a complete crisis over it. panic attack

I predict that as the justification because hotel OJ seems to be a relatively safe space. Theres a total horror to it, a looming danger only one person can really see. He's being hunted down in the middle of a party.

I predict that Cobs's presence in this episode is mostly through this looming horror.

Then there's the flashback of episode 15 with mepad being mad at mephone, voiceover is mephone asking mepad for help, and i'll take a break from dissecting visuals for a sec

MEPHONE: We can't escape him this time! MEPHONE: You have to help. MEPAD: We no longer work together. MEPHONE: Then, don't do it for me.

The voice lines may be put together from other parts of the episode

ehehe i get to talk about mepad. Okay

Mepad not working with mephone extends beyond the show. He actually just doesnt want anything to do with him anymore. oh my god

listen. i would write a whole essay about mepad and mephone rn But i have more scenes to get through.

mephone being the one guy that mepad refuses to help anymore is sending me Dude you fucked this up bad. you ruined your relationship with the one guy whos willing to help literally anyone. but it also shows how out of depth he was coming back from iii because his previous development is not helping him with his mental health this fucked

the "don't do it for me" is said over a scene showing all of the hotel oj guests implying that mepad should do it for everyone else. while this is definitely true i think mepad should also just do it for himself. please. please have mepad start doing things for himselffffffffff PLEASE

I'll touch on this more as i go through the visuals

taco knocking on pickle's door. it's happening chat

and i think he saw her

judging by the eye height though? I'm not actually sure. Taco isn't that tall, so either he sees Mepad or someone/thing else. Most likely has to do with taco though.

off topic but does oj seriously decorate his hotel's walls with images of cups and oranges. someone get this guy an interior decorator PLEASE

Don't have much to say here. not much is happening and there doesn't seem to be any implications with this bit.

whys paper so mad at those hats

off they go!

i bet these two will be running around in the background of everything a lot.

likely not using mepad's teleportation because it's flashy and noisy, which doesnt work well for stealth.

everyone's here! except for nickel, who doesnt show up at all in this trailer. don't know what to say about that.

salt also isnt in this particular shot, but she was at the party in another shot earlier.

Oh and mephone. He's probably stepping outside to take a call hehehehehehehehehehehe

pickle also isn't here, but i expect he's either avoiding the party for some reason or preoccupied with a certain sideplot. Or both.

ANIMATION ERROR SPOTTED!!!! BOMB IS ON A LAYER BELOW TROPHY!!!!!

everyone seems to be having such a nice time enjoying themselves! it would be a shame if something horrible were to happen and several characters were to permadie

*cough*but of course that wouldnt happen. Um

the final shot of the trailer is mepad

i love mepad

i hope he doesnt die

this means hes gonna have another big role in an episode...

it seems a lot of the plot is gonna hinge on the decisions made by mepad. specifically if he's gonna help mephone or not

okay I'm tired. i may add more later. WAIT my final thoughts,

BIG PREDICTION: Mephone will try to hide the cobs calls at the party but will get found out. When he's found out various characters (including tt pb and fan as shown earlier) will try to help in some way. This is act 1, so a lot of stuff will be set up but there wont be any big deliveries.

Mepad will play another big role.

Taco WILL talk to pickle.

Any big deaths, especially permadeaths, will either happen right at the end of this act or in a later act altogether.

more toilet. please animaitonepic Please show us toilet again. i have hope since we saw the ep12 challenge area.

this party is not ending well.

i need to rewatch season 1 i barely remember it

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

How to Write Fight Scenes

Almost every writer struggles with fight scenes in one way or another, even the experienced ones. There are more components to a fight scene than to any other scene, in my opinion.

A fight scene combines dialogue, action, pacing, and every single other element of writing into a deadly concoction that can be hell to write and even more hell to edit.

That’s why I’ve provided a helpful list of tips that you can use to make your fight scenes the best that they can possibly be!

1. If Your Fight Scene Doesn’t Take Place in a Hot Air Balloon, Then It Probably Should

Now, this is not in the literal sense.

Hear me out:

A fight scene in a field where the two armies/teams collide head-on? Boring. Overused. Underwhelming.

A fight scene in that same field with those same two armies but during an earthquake where the ground is opening up beneath them? New. Avant Garde. Keeps the reader on their toes.

It doesn’t literally have to take place in a hot air balloon; what I’m saying is that you should push the circumstances of the fight scene to make it new and interesting.

A personal example is when I had a fight scene that really just wasn’t working for me; it was dull, it dragged on, and it was a bitch to get past the writer’s block.

But then, instead of having the fight scene out in the open like how I’d originally intended it, I made a split-second decision to have it take place in a tunnel, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME.

The new setting made the battle a lot more visceral; it was tight and cramped, and the characters were tripping on bodies and slipping in blood as they were jostled around in a tight space.

Doesn’t that sound more interesting than fighting in an open field?

Having the surroundings inhibit or alter the fighting style is what can make a fight scene truly a masterpiece.

Even if your battle has to take place in an open field, you can add different elements like an earthquake, the enemies’ swords being on fire, or different battle strategies to make it super cool experience.

Here are some examples of well-set fight scenes where the surroundings are taken into account to make it all the more interesting:

Club Fight (John Wick, 2014)

Carnival Fight (Stranger Things, Season 3 Episode 7)

The Hound vs. Beric Dondarrion (Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 5)

Jason Bourne vs Desh Bouksani (The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007)

Clarice Starling vs Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)

Church Fight (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014)

Staircase Fight (Atomic Blonde, 2017)

Kitchen Fight (Sleepless, 2017)

2. Brevity is the Soul of Wit (AKA, Keep Your Writing Simple)

The way you write during a fight scene is a great way to keep a good pace.

Your readers should be on the edge of their seats, dying to know if their favorite characters are going to live or die; they don’t want to read big words like “indubitably” and “scintillating.”

Feel free to reference my post about writing pain here.

Your word choice should be gritty. It should reflect the desperation of the fight.

Don’t use long, winding sentences and flowy paragraphs for fight scenes.

Short sentence fragments.

Paragraphs that barely last a line.

Scattered, grammar-breaking clauses that put the reader in the same frantic state of mind as the characters.

(You see what I did there?)

Also, fight scenes are the major scene where the “show don’t tell” rule applies. If you only had a choice to follow that rule on one specific occasion, it should be during the fight scenes. 

The readers should know how your characters are feeling just by their actions, not by you outwardly stating it.

Example:

The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. It surprised her at first and hurt like hell, but it didn’t take long for her to grow furious.

Vs.

The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. Her eyes widened as she clamped her hand over the wound, but as she watched the blood trickling through her fingers, her expression contorted into something monstrous.

See how much better the second one sounds? You can tell exactly what this character is feeling even though I didn’t explicitly tell you.

Something else that also helps fight scenes is literary devices.

Similes. Metaphors. Onomatopoeias. Hyperboles.

If you use these (sparingly, mind you!) it can really give your fight scene that kick that you’ve always wanted it to have.

Examples:

She rose to her feet as blood streamed down her body in a torrent, her eyes blazing like a thousand suns.

He turned to regard his opponent with clenched fists and a smile like razors.

She fought like a wolf trapped in the confines of a human skin.

The buildings crumbled as if made from silk and twine rather than metal and stone.

Be careful not to overuse them, though! If every other line has a literary device, it loses its punch!

3. Your Characters Shouldn’t Be Invincible

You shouldn’t be giving your characters the “invincible plot armor” treatment.

While all of the unnamed lackeys get swamped by the “unimaginable power” of the enemy, they shouldn’t be coming at your main characters any slower than they come at everyone else.

Your main characters should be having the shit kicked out of them.

There should be something about the fight that makes the readers think, “Wait a minute, they might not survive this.”

For example, let’s take Character A. Character A is strong, fast, and well-trained. The perfect soldier. He can hold his own in a fight.

However, what if his dominant hand is injured? How will he compensate for the injury?

The point of a battle is saying “On what circumstances will my characters be able to win” and then pushing it just a bit further into the grey area between “decisive victory” and “devastating defeat.”

A character who relies on speed getting their leg injured.

An expert cavalryman whose horse falls halfway through the battle.

A flying character grounded by a wing injury.

A magical character running out of potions and spells.

You want to push your character to their physical limits, take them out of their comfort zone and plop them right into the thick of it.

Only then will your fight really build tension, and tension is what every battle needs in order for the readers to not feel like their time has been wasted; if they know the characters are just going to win, then what’s the point?

Here are some fight scenes that do a good job of not knowing if the main characters are going to win:

The Battle of the Bastards (Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 9)

The Battle of Winterfell (Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3) (Although the characters have undeniable plot armor, you don’t know if the battle itself is going to be won or not)

The Final Battle (Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, 2012)

T’Challa vs Killmonger (Black Panther, 2018)

4.  Study Other Fight Scenes

Whether they be in books, TV shows, or movies, a bit of research never hurts! (Which is why I’ve been putting recommendations throughout this post)

Watching fight scenes helps you get an idea of what you should describe, and reading fight scenes gives you an idea of how to describe it.

Besides, it’s a pretty fun kind of research, too!

Thanks for reading, I hope this helped!

[amplesalty]

Christmas 2020: Day 5 - Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

FIVE EVIL KINGS!

“Christmas...in July?!” I hear you scoff “What a preposterous idea.” Well, maybe not. After such an unprecedented year as 2020 has been, governments around the world find themselves in the delicate position of trying to further the public health whilst trying to stimulate their economies that are circling the drain. Plus, do you want to be seen as the Grinch figure who cancelled Christmas? That’s going to look real good come next election season, isn’t it? Well, what if we didn’t cancel Christmas..just postpone it instead. Did you know that the retail industry does 50% of its business between December 1st and December 25? That’s half a year’s business in just one month’s time. But with the inherent risk of everyone piling into stores and the already lost time from all these lockdowns, why not delay things slightly to allow us all time to get this new vaccination. Seems to me that Boris Johnson would be wise to legislate a second such gift giving holiday. Create, say, a Christmas 2 next Summer to stimulate growth.

Thank you, Danny Trejo. I’m just surprised it took me this long to mention COVID-19. It took me like the very first sentence of the October marathon. I suppose the Christmas season doesn’t really lend itself to it as much, though Kevin McCallister was doing pioneering work in that whole social distancing thing back in the day.

But yes, Rudolph and Frosty. After seeing both their specials over the past couple of years, why not watch them together in some sort of superstar tag team in their own feature length motion picture epic? I’m jumping ahead slightly in the Rankin/Bass cinematic universe which apparently was a little unwise as I missed a couple of important plot points.

Like, apparently Frosty had kids at some point? How does that work? Do snowmen fuck? I mean, Frosty was always a little dim so it kinda feels a bit weird like Buddy the Elf having kids by the end of Elf. Did kids build him a wife, bring her to life and then their combined magic allows them to have sentient children? Or do they have to be built and brought to life too? How many magic hats to these kids have access to? Is there just a factory somewhere pumping these things out? I can’t believe I have so many questions about an anthropomorphic snowman.

Nevermind that shit though, there’s a whole backstory going on that we need to dive into full of evil wizards and deities appearing on Earth in human form. Many years ago the wicked King Winterbolt ruled over the land with an iron first and a frosty sceptre capable of great magic. But against him stood Lady Boreal.

Queen of the Northern Lights! Oh for God’s sake, first It’s a Wonderful Life comes back to haunt me and now this. Why do so many Christmas movies have so many instances of the goddamn aurora borealis?! Anyway, she rocks up and is like “Stop all this evil tyranny business.” and he’s like “lol, no” and tries to shoot her with his magic missile, to which she’s like “Bitch, please.” and puts him into a deep slumber. But nothing lasts forever and eventually Winterbolt awakens and finds like the North land has a much more jolly leader in the form of Santa and vows to overthrow him with a rather longwinded scheme involving him winning the love of all the children of the world by making Santa get lost in a great snow storm. Then, Winterbolt can emerge with his own supply of toys and become the new Santa!

But with her last ounce of strength, Lady Boreal transfers her remaining magic into baby Rudolph’s shiny nose. Or maybe this is some Biblical level shit and she put Rudolph upon the Earth to be the saviour of Christmas, that he might grow up to lead Santa’s sleigh through the dark and stormy night. Where was this angle in the original Rudolph?! Kinda re-writes that whole part about him being shunned by Santa and his own Father too. Does kinda take that whole ‘embrace who you are’ thing to a new level when you were pretty much created by a God to have this one seemingly life altering feature about you that actually means you’re destined for greatness. Bit of a test of these other reindeer too, this is how you treat he I have delivered unto you?!

So, now that we have some meddlesome reindeer getting in the way, Winterbolt sets off on some longwinded and convoluted plan that involves Rudolph and Frosty going to a 4th of July circus in order to trick Rudolph into committing an evil act that will void Lady Boreal’s magic. Plus, he gives Frosty and family some amulets that will prevent them from melting but only up until the last firework fades. And to do all this he uses some sort of magic snow which can implant ideas in peoples heads? So he gets this ice cream guy to encourage Rudolph and Frosty to be in the show to boost ticket sales and help his girlfriend. This guy by the way rides around in a hot air balloon and keeps a supply of ice cream at the North Pole. Dude, it’s called a freezer.

I love how they make this big thing about what an attraction Rudolph will be but his act is literally him standing in the middle of the tent, they use a fog machine on him and he uses his nose to shine through the fog. Then he just flies away. I mean, I suppose just having a flying reindeer is pretty spectacular in and of itself but give them a little more for their money, tell a joke or something.

This whole middle portion of the movie is a bit of a drag though. Just really boring and full of filler songs about the circus. I don’t know why this movie is as long as it is at like 98 mins. If you trimmed it down you’d have something a lot more solid. I’d say the one highlight in this portion is when Winterbolt goes to what seems to be this movies equivalent of a doss house and finds this really shady reindeer he can use to trick Rudolph. Just seeing this evil genius in Winterbolt interacting with this scuzzy landlord and finding this bum reindeer is just really weird.

There’s a neat version of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree too. Has this slight country, Dolly Parton feel to it and is a bit more uptempo than the original.

I was pretty disappointed during this whole section and was worried that it would end up like Frosty but it won me back again in the end by tapping into some of that uncharacteristic dark Christmas feel that Rudolph had. Where that was more cynical, this gets oddly morbid.

Like, the plan is for Santa to swing by and pick up Frosty and family in order to take them back to the North Pole before the fireworks finish so they don’t melt. Frosty is still really antsy though and is keen to duck out, even if that means missing the fireworks. Bizarrely, his kids question him on this and ask him what kind of patriot he is. I guess I never really thought of Frosty being American like that but I guess they did refer to him as having just being born when they put that hat on him. Plus he’s always saying ‘Happy birthday!’ when he wakes up so you could say he was born in America. Only trouble is, Winterbolt has whipped up a ferocious storm that means Santa is heavily delayed.

So you get these scenes of Frosty, his wife and kids all coming to terms with their own fragile mortality as they watch these 100 fireworks going off one by one, with each rocket flying into the sky acting like another grain of sand in the egg timer of their life, another second ticking away toward their impending doom. Just these kids looking up to their mother and telling her that they promise they’ll be brave...oh my God.

Or Rudolph having to give a false confession to stealing the takings from the circus in exchange for Winterbolt keeping the amulets powers going so that Frosty wont melt. Only Frosty knows the real truth, so everyone just shuns Rudolph. His friends turn their back on him, the crowd boo him and his nose wont light up anymore. Cue a mournful Rudolph solo which culminates in him crying as he sticks his nose in some glitter trying to replicate the beaming light it once gave off. Poor little guy.

But apparently not everyone has given up on Rudolph becomes he comes... a whale with a clock on it?! Apparently this guy was in one of the Rudolph films that came before this, just what in the hell did I miss?

Even after a showdown between Rudolph and Winterbolt where Rudolph gets Frosty’s hat back, Winterbolt is still out for vengeance and comes to the circus for a final showdown. To which the lady that runs the circus has the most appropriate response possible...

Reach for the skies, pilgrim! Only, her guns are just props that fire blanks so she just hurls the guns at Winterbolt and they promptly shatter his magic staff and he turns into a tree. Ooooooookay then.

I feel like Lady Boreal could have saved us a lot of hassle if she’d put Winterbolt to sleep and then took his staff away rather than just leaving it laying around for him to use again when he finally awoke.

For a second there in the middle I thought that this would be more of a Frosty than a Rudolph but it redeemed itself a bit by the end. Probably not quite to the levels of Rudolph but I enjoyed the bookends of it. If they’d cut some of the middle out and kept it under an hour, I’d be a lot happier with it. Apparently there’s another Rudolph movie that came out in the early 2000’s that revists a lot of those characters from the first one so I’m really tempted to watch that as well but I feel like I already rode my luck here and I’d really tarnish my positive memories of the original by watching a cheap cash in. I probably will just watch it anyway though so I guess we’ll find out next year.

[that-one-girl-who-writes]

A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Vile Village.

The book begins with the Baudelaires in Mr. Poe’s office, awaiting a new guardian. Mr. Poe gives a brochure to the Baudelaire orphans about a new program allowing an entire village to serve as guardian, based on the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’

The children choose V.F.D.

V.F.D was an abbreviation to which the Quagmire’s referred to but before they could explain further during their kidnap by Count Olaf and his theater group. The children depart for the unknown V.F.D. by bus, and after a long, hot and dusty walk from the bus stop, they reach the town of V.F.D. which is filled with crows.

They become acquainted with the Council of Elders, who proclaims that the children will do all the chores for the entire village, but they will be living with Hector. A handyman, who takes them to his home, where he shows them the house, the barn, and the Nevermore Tree, where all the crows would come to roost at night.

The Baudelaires learn that V.F.D. stands for the Village of Fowl Devotees. Hector then shows the Baudelaires the following couplet, which he says was found at the base of Nevermore Tree:

For sapphires, we are held in here,

Only you can end our fear.

The Baudelaires discover that Hector has been breaking the voluminous list of strict and unfair town rules by keeping a secret library and working on a hot-air mobile home in his barn so that he can sail away forever. The Baudelaire’s tell Hector how Isadora might be sending them clues through the poems. They also discover a new couplet under the tree, though they’ve kept the tree under surveillance the whole night, which reads:

Until dawn comes we cannot speak,

No words can come from this sad beak.

Three members of the Council of Elders report that Count Olaf has been ‘captured’, and the Baudelaires are to report immediately to the Town Hall. The Baudelaires though discover that Count Olaf was not captured, but instead, a man named Jacques Snicket, who just so happens to share the same surname as the author, was. 

It was because Jacques also had a unibrow and a tattoo of an eye on his ankle. The children insist he is not Count Olaf, but the townspeople ignore them.

The next day Jacques was to be wrongfully burned at the stake so that night the orphans construct a plan that Sunny would keep watch at Nevermore Tree to see where the poems are coming from, Klaus searches the rules of V.F.D. for something to help Jacques out of trouble and Violet helps finish Hector’s hot-air balloon device, for it will be a useful escape device just in case if Count Olaf came after them.

Violet fixes the hot air balloon and Klaus discovers that a rule allows the accused to make a speech explaining himself. If a few people say something, mob psychology can make everyone demand the same thing and thus they can suggest that Jacques be freed. Sunny discovers that the crows are somehow delivering the couplets, and finds a new one:

The first thing you read contains the clue,

An initial way to speak to you.

When the children run to the uptown jail where Jacques is being held, they learn that he is dead. V.F.D.’s police officer, Luciana, announces that Jacques, as Count Olaf, has been murdered in the night, and Olaf, masquerading as Detective Dupin, accuses the Baudelaires of murdering ‘Count Olaf.’

He claims a hair ribbon belonging to Violet and a lens from Klaus’s glasses were found on the scene, and Sunny’s teeth marks are on the body. Of course, the evidence was false but the people ignore the fact that the orphans had solid alibis and they are locked up inside the Deluxe Cell in the prison, prior to being burnt at the stake the following day for breaking the town rules.

Olaf, abandoning his Dupin disguise, tells them that one of them will make a great escape before the burning, as one child is needed alive to inherit the family fortune, and he leaves them to decide who will survive.

While they are locked up, Klaus realizes that it is his 13th birthday before Officer Luciana enters the cell, grudgingly brings them water and bread as that is one of the many rules governing the village.

But Violet is able to use the bread and water to allow them to escape. By pouring the pitcher of water repeatedly down a wooden bench onto the wall to soften the mortar, and then squeezing the water out of the bread where it had collected at the bottom of the wall. This process, repeated all through the day, evening and following morning slowly starts to yield results by weakening the thick brick walls of the prison cell

At daybreak, Hector comes to the window and tells them that if they manage to break out, he has the hot-air balloon ready. He also gives them the daily couplet:

Inside these letters, the eye will see,

Nearby are your friends and V.F.D

They line up all the couplets and read it all once more, using the sixth line, “An initial way to speak to you”, to read the first initial of each line:

For sapphires, we are held in here.

Only you can end our fear.

Until dawn comes we cannot speak.

No words can come from this sad beak.

The first thing you read contains the clue.

An initial way to speak to you.

Inside these letters, the eye will see.

Nearby are your friends and V.F.D.

The Baudelaires figure out the sapphires refer to the Quagmires’ fortune. The Quagmire's way of ‘speaking’ to the Baudelaire orphans is not V.F.D. but the first letter in each verse, which spells out FOUNTAIN so they rush to Fowl Fountain but can't do anything.

They begin falling and Sunny inadvertently presses a secret button in the eye of the crow, which opens the beak, revealing the damp Quagmires inside. They flee the pitchfork-carrying mob and run for the outskirts of town. As they go, the Quagmires explain that Count Olaf locked them in the tower of his house. Then he had his associates build the fountain and imprisoned the Quagmires.

The Quagmires attached a couplet to the crows’ feet every morning, which fell off in the Nevermore Tree when the paper was dry. They tell the Baudelaires that the man who died was Jacques Snicket, but the mob catches sight of them and they have to continue to run. They reach the outskirts of town and Hector arrives in his hot-air mobile home.

He throws down a rope ladder and the Quagmires start to climb up to get inside. Officer Luciana shoots at the rope ladder with a harpoon gun, breaking the rope whilst the Baudelaires are still climbing and preventing them from continuing - they jump down to earth, saying good-bye to the Quagmires who then throw their notebooks down to the orphans so they can read their research. 

Unfortunately, Officer Luciana’s final harpoon pierces the books, destroying and scattering many of the pages, as the hot-air mobile home heads towards the horizon. The book ends with Olaf and Officer Luciana, who removes her helmet and reveals herself to be Esmé Squalor, escape by motorcycle, and the Baudelaires fleeing the village on foot.

Check out the next summary here: The Hostile Hospital.

[ythmir-writes]

Hey hey! Is it still okay to send in an ask for the 182 prompts? If it is, I'd really love it if you could write reincarnation with Ieyasu Tokugawa from Ikemen Sengoku (which... MC is from the modern world but like... I just really like the reincarnation trope so if it it's still okay... >...

A/N: hello! Thank you for requesting! I would just like to apologize for taking too long (youknowwhatimean) but i am here and i have written something! please refer to this post for the full explanation and some insight and just me uhhh generally rambling again so~

here it is, that reincarnation AU that turned into multichaptersevenifno one literally no one asked for this except my brain\

edit! i can’t believe it wasn’t included (again,damnyoutumblr) but hey i would just like to give my sincerest thank you for saying you love what i do! i try my best is always and i hope you continue to enjoy what i write as much as i enjoy writing them :> thankyouthankyou i really LOVE my midcin gods piece i think the suitors would all be badass gods

REINCARNATION

fandom: Ikemen Sengokucharacter: Ieyasu Tokugawa

Prologue / ??

Ieyasu Tokugawa never knows when it will happen.

He had been standing by the sink debating with Masamune about the practicality of growing their own garden on the roofdeck of their building. Masamune had reasoned for fresh produce for spells and cooking. Ieyasu had countered that it was exactly a chore none of them needed, what with the restaurant already enough work for three pairs of hands. When all of a sudden the morning light was too bright for Ieyasu’s eyes, the air too hot for his lungs to take.

He felt his knees buckle under him as he tried to stay upright; one hand gripping the ledge of the sink, the other gripping (extra tightly) the plate, and precariously placing it down so it would not shatter and cause more problems like his brain was causing problems like how he couldn’t hold it all together and Masamune was looking at him funny and he needed he needed –

I will find you!

“Ieyasu…?” Masamune sounded like he was ten feet away.

“I just need… a moment.”

Washing heavy futons and bringing them out to the veranda to dry. A wide backyard filled with nothing but clothing lines and kimonos swaying in the wind. A hat. A balloon. A blade. A burning plane crashing towards them.

Breathe.

Laughter and guffaws as people raced through abandoned castles. Fireworks by the lake. A huge birthday party like none of them had ever seen. A needle thrust into his arm. Fifteen needles. Screams.

Breathe.

I will find you I will find you I will find you.

Breathe.

First through his teeth. Then through his nose. Ieyasu may not know when his episodes will happen but he knew what he needed to do when they did: keep breathing, keep breathing. Take in gulps of air as the pain that gripped him ever so slowly began to let go.

All of a sudden, he felt weightless and realized that Masamune was carrying him, saying some gibberish Ieyasu could neither hear nor understand. He tried to make him stop, tried to tell the idiot that he was just fine, he did not need any special treatment, that this – him falling to the floor with no apparent cause or reason – was just his usual.

Ieyasu was just remembering a bit of his past lives, after all.

+

The first time he had experienced it, Ieyasu thought he had gone mad.

It had been lifetimes past, during a minor scuffle; adolescent teasing turned into a semi-serious contest of who could knock the other one out faster before the adults could intervene. He could remember the half-circle that formed around him. The jeers. The taunting. His own labored breathing and the way his nose was dribbling blood.

The way the other child spat at him and made indecent gestures towards where he should place his head and for how long. He had taken it all in stride. But the other child had spat again, this time on the names of his friends who lost and were nursing their bruises behind the line. That had not gone down so well.

Ieyasu, even when he had temporarily forgotten himself, always did have a particular kind of temper.

He had shouted something equally indecent, taking two thunderous steps to approach his opponent close enough for a punch. But just as he was about to connect his vision blurred.

The kid before him was no longer just a kid but had somehow grown into an adult. No, two adults. Three. A dozen. A hundred. A mass of bodies before him suddenly, impossibly so. And he was no longer just a child but a grown man. And he was no longer just holding out his fists but a sword that he gripped like it was his lifeline and which he swung and twirled and used like an extension of his arm.

The soldiers before him swarmed him but he fended them off, his body moving almost on its own, his steps measured and exacting to keep him upright. For how long he was fighting, he did not know, could not tell. Only that he needed to ward them off, only that he needed to buy time until –

“Ieyasu! Here!!”

Who?

“I’m coming!!”

A hand grabbing his shoulder and pulling him backwards tore him from his vision; one moment he was valiantly defending his keep, the next he was being shoved down on the ground, the screams of dying men fading to give way to the delighted screams of children having seen their first real fight.

“Get a grip, Ieyasu!” someone shouted at someone else but the slap was all his and his cheek burned for it; for a moment, he felt the same warm sensation in his chest rising up, felt the hilt of a katana in his hands where there was nothing but air and –

Another slap. Harder this time, and his vision focused on his playmate – no, a man now – holding him. A very familiar face with raven hair and red eyes. A friend. A comrade. An almost brother.

Not a soldier trying to betray him. Not a spy sneaking into his chambers and trying to kill him.

“Kotaro!” the man shouted at him, and the children around them were fleeing now and some were crying. What was he thinking making a scene surrounded by children? “No, Ieyasu!”

The name felt like a hard blow to his chest, pushing him down. Ieyasu’s vision blurred again. And he had gripped the arm holding him as memories he had never experienced flooded into his mind – memories no fifteen year old boy should have any right remembering.

Too much scenarios. Too much experience. Too much life. He writhed in agony and the hand on his shoulder both kept him down and held him up as he struggled.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch. One moment he was a boy, ignorant and innocent and powerless, wanting to prove his own worth against a world that spat on commoners, and then the next moment he was a conqueror, a ruler of clans. And he knew things; he remembered things so different and stark against his own – truer? more recent? – memories.

He felt his jaw hurt. He felt his arms and legs hurt. He felt like his entire body was being crushed under the weight and the gaze of something judging him from heavens and something else scratching the back of his skull. And all of these caused by the two differing visions he could see at the same time.

Two sets of memories that seemed to blend and mix together. Two sets of memories that fought inside his brain to be recognized as reality. Two sets of memories that hurt. Two sets of memories that made him feel hurt.

“Stay awake.” The friend he could not yet quite remember urged him. “Stay with me. It’ll pass. I’ve seen you do this before.”

Ieyasu struggled and could only barely bite down on his agony, hoping through tears that the man was right. And as he screamed through phantom pain, as he shouted and struggled and tried his damndest to make sense of things as quickly as a fifteen year old boy could, an unsettling and frightening sense of certainty slowly overcame him and told him that the set of polar opposite memories both undeniably belonged to him.

+

Ieyasu does not know if he will ever stop having these visions.

But to be honest, vision was not the proper term. It was more a recollection, a remembering of things gone by.  But if he was already being exacting, it was also not just a simple matter of recollecting either.

It was more a sensation in his skull that his brain was somehow (impossibly and impractically) shifting to accommodate unearthed memories. And more often than not, it was as if his entire body was remembering what it had gone through all at once at the same time.

Pain. Joy. Sickness. Lethargy. Uneasiness. Nausea. Fear. Elation. All his wounds and all his triumphs. All his births and all his deaths. Dreams, and nightmares. A gallimaufry of emotions and sensations. He felt them all, felt himself drowning in them; the moments in which he lost his grip on reality stretching into hours and days as he re-lived whatever it was the he had somehow remembered.

No one had any explanation as to why his body decided to remember everything else that came with his memories. Timeshifters were rare but his case even rarer. It was probably his own little curse. Or an equivalent price. A way to balance his talent.

Ieyasu did not want to look too closely for fear of what might look back. Some people might find the idea of not forgetting things to be of comfort. Ieyasu knows for certain those people have never really experienced what it was like to remember it all.

By the time he regained consciousness, Ieyasu was already on his bed. The room was quiet and dark. A cooling pack was on his forehead, his body weighed comfortably down by a thick blanket, and all his closest friends in the room, asleep and keeping vigil.

No, not all.

One was still missing. The one dearest to him. The one he would never stop looking for.

I will find you! I will find you!

We will meet again!

It was a bitter memory amongst sweet ones, a parting too abrupt. Like a cloth cut haphazardly into a thousand torn seams. Ieyasu knew as long as they were not complete, nothing would ever be the same. Not just their ultimate aim, which was altruistic, but also their everyday life, which was closer. More his.

How long has it been since he had seen her? How long since he had been able to trace the stars on her back? How many lifetimes had passed since she had last held him in her arms as he bewailed the inescapable fact that his fate had no clear end?

Too many to count. Too many to really forget.

And as he sank back down into sleep’s embrace, Ieyasu misses her all the more. He wonders to himself yet again where she could be now, and if they could find her soon. And with his last wisps of consciousness, he wishes not for the last time, that she was there with him, in the dark, with their friends, to help blunt all the pain.

24/182

[ireddeadredemption2pc-blog]

Red Dead Redemption 2 PC

Red Dead Redemption2 PC

The old west feels brand new again.

Oh Jesus Christ, what have you done? “Thomaschen 978 wants to know why a dozen carcasses and a couple of horse corpses are placed on rail tracks bordering the early industrial city and are the New Orleans stand-in St. Denis.” You killed half. village.” PC Games For Free

We are on round two of the recurring corpse pile. My poses got the idea to jump in front of the train after a few rounds of Lose Your Friends and Toss Them in the Sea in the Couple Friendly Strangers. Like GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2 has its own bowling minima, we explain to Chen in a roundabout way that provokes his fear. Die in the shared open world of Red Dead Redemption 2 and you’ll react fast enough to move your corpse around. Best RPGs games pc

The boy is in line with us. We should make it bigger. As the train comes around again, another pose tries to take us out. The chain defends us but does not bring it back to the tracks. He goes away screaming. Death of a true warrior.

Red Dead Redemption 2 could be the biggest, most humble videogame ball pit for an annoying story about impulsive children, the forced disintegration of the community, or simply a quiet and reflective hiking simulator. It’s just about what you need it to be, and it’s good at it.

Just hours before the corpse-bowling, I was alone through the icy forests, stepping into the long shadow cast across the snow by the rising moon. I heard a gunshot from a distance. The tracks of some wolves marked snow in the same direction. I saw them who won. Anytime I pay attention and look closely, RDR2 is the result of my curiosity. Best Racing games on pc

The mind-numbing expanse that makes up the vast world of RDR2 speaks to the creative force of a development team with an intense, obsessive dedication to realism (and all the money and time needed to do so). Like how my friends’ characters flare up when I fire a gun at them, how animal carcasses disintegrate over time, how NPCs react according to a sloppy or bloody outfit, how to stir through a doorway. Scares everyone everywhere.

It is hard to believe that RDR2 is so deep and wide and is also a harmonious, playable thing. I was already playing it for days worth the console version. This is why I am particularly disappointed that it ended up on the PC to some extent.

For every non-taught multiplayer adventure, disconnect or crash on the desktop, desktop. The rock star’s best storyline and character so far has been filmed through Frame Hutches’ slideshow and addressed over the launch weekend.

RDR2, one of the best Western games and one of the best open-world games I have ever released with enough stability issues, is recommended for the hard way until everything is completely smooth.

Morgan trail

EVERY PRETTY VISTA IS SOMETHING TO LOSE THROUGH ARTHUR’S EYES.

The story genre of Red Dead Redemption 2 follows the dying days of the Wild West. The sprawling industrial world faced the bandits and social downtrodden of Arthur Morgan’s small band, an imperfect but loyal, loving and self-reliant community.

Capitalism is reducing its value as resources to humans. Indigenous USA America is driven from the plains to make way for ‘civilization’ and commerce. The forests are brought down for timber, the hills are cut down for coal, and Morgan’s chosen family is caught in the middle, forced to flee, assimilate, or respond with violent protests is done. They do all three.

This is Rockstar’s most serious drama, and it’s really, really long. If you are running, the story ends after 40 to 50 hours and then continues for 10 to 15. The main story missions of Red Dead 2 feature distinctly rockstar fare: ride to a destination that is talking to everyone, tightly scripting though, entertaining things, riding, and chatting to the final destination.

Missions are often thrilling action sequences or artificially mundane pictures of wrench labor and trade, full of long-winded Bespoke animations, and outstanding performances. They are only hopelessly harsh, to the point where it feels like I am following the stage directions rather than playing the role of a vagabond in the Old West.

Step out of line in these campaigns and this is a failed situation. As opposed to Red Dead Online, there are very few of them that encourage players to think for themselves, each designed to advance the story. The RDR2 show is at least a spectacle of the slow pace of life in the Old West.

This is not the death and theatricality of a lifetime; My favorite missions include shoveling, drinking wine with a friend, proposing an old romance and riding a hot air balloon. Working through a greater rut, stricter tasks are considered meaningful in the end anyway, inspired by extraordinary, ambient world-building and characterization.

Side missions, minigames, small activities, and random world events — whether they hunt great guns, capture a play, or stumble upon a woman trapped under a horse — all set Arthur’s character and setting in subtle, rich ways. Please inform.

Nested in the third act of a fully animated and voice theatrical performance, something like 10 minutes, it is possible that the response button is pressed after an artist has included a telephone. Arthur would shout, “Hell with the telephone!” It is an optional activity, a long one, and an option is to react in that short window. I think most players will remember this, but this is Canad Response 1 through 3 because this is something Arthur would say, a rageless goofy set his way in the right way.

He would write complete, real diary entries about the 50-hour campaign, sketching memorable scenes and depicting the state of affairs of his chosen family, which people once knew changed their fortunes between hope and despair. It is meant to be a completely alternative reading, but a refreshingly intimate take on a masculine figure that unsettles many doubts and hopes as to the next person.

He sings himself on a lonely ride and lowers his old body in the mirror. He will have an exciting conversation with the horseshoe woman as he gives her a ride into town, both commenting on the troubles of working for wealthy, ungrateful men as a growing necessity. I feel it all. Best horror games on pc free

Hillbillies can capture him after making the camp, a couple may try to rob him after inviting him to dinner, a man with snakebite can come out of the forest by stumbling and tell him to suck venom is. These haphazard encounters portray brutal life on the fading frontier, as nature pushes back against inner poppers who want to change it. Arthur is the perfect vessel to see it

This is because Arthur Morgan is one of the darkest human characters I have played during a great turning point in American history, playing a playful, cruel and compassionate role according to differing theories.

The game world, beautiful as it is, is made more beautiful and tragic by how it is ready to play it on every occasion. Every beautiful vista has something to lose through Arthur’s eyes, power lines and train tracks, cut through the skies, and the rest of his life is slowly filling with factory smoke. Just about everyone sees a sad end in RDR2, too. This is a story that I might not sustain every moment, but I will not forget its brutal arc or the man in the middle of it all. God damn is it sad? An apocalypse that led to this.

Ren Der Reflection

Assuming that you are able to run it at high settings, the biggest strength of RDR2 is how it exquisitely renders the Old West setting on PC, drawing more attention to the nuanced details that make it. This is one of the best looking games I’ve seen and a rare experience that justifies a new GPU or CPU.

Better draw distance and a greater range of vegetation detail were added, making some vistas look photographic. Long shadows vary from walking or roaming between places to rides, to cute nature tours. Due to animal attacks, bullet holes, rain, mud, or rapid flow of blood, the markings on the clothes are caused by very high-resolution textures, which tell a very little story about your friends.

A new photo mode makes it easy to share those moments of amazement. The way the player rides on RDR2 for just sightseeing and sounds is an important feature. I am desperately trying to get an artistic portrait of my horse’s silhouette to sit against the moon, yet another self-proclaimed goal was tolerated by this ridiculously large complex game.

With 2080, i9-9900K and 32GB of RAM, I can run RDR2 mostly on ultra settings with some resource-intensive settings completely off or switched off. But some hardware combinations are proving troublesome for RDR2, leading to random crashes in some APIs and, more recently, to a hotfix, leading to hitching problems for some 4-core CPUs.

During the first weekend, I couldn’t spend more than an hour without crashing on the desktop, though Vulcan switched from DX12 (which gives me better framerates) back to static stuff. Sometimes the UI malfunctions and I cannot select a select or purchase option, the map fails to appear, or I get paged unexpectedly from game servers.

The graphics settings are almost too much as well, and probably confusing. In our test, only a handful of settings affected performance by more than 1-2 percent. Large residuals, the mapping between MSAA, volumetric lighting, and parallax occlusion, affect performance by 5 to 25 percent. Most of them don’t make a big visual difference anyway and are best left out.

The way the settings are presented is made to feel underdeveloped: a huge list with unclear presets that require tinkering to make RDR2 run in a satisfactory framerate. It is hard. The PC should be the best place to play, not the best place to play, after all, after a few patches. It’s a shame for a game to look good. upcoming pc games

Cowboy poetry Red Dead Redemption 2 PC

Like in singleplayer mode, in Red Dead Online I can make my goals reasonable and watch them. The problem is, it is basically hamstrung by a frustrating multiplayer leveling system that locks basic equipment and cosmetics behind long XP requirements that can meet hours, perhaps days,

The option is spending gold, premium currency, items and clothing to unlock them immediately. A fishing pole is not available until level 14. A damn fishing pole in an outdoor recreation game. This is not spectacular and is a terrible way to invest players.

out a basic suite of tools (fishing rod, bow, varmint rifle, nice hat, etc.), Red Dead Online opened up widely. I have largely ignored traditional matchmaking modes such as gunfights and horse races, cheap thrills, I will play much better versions in different games, to have fun. It led to the most inventive, serene, real, and sometimes buzzing echo I’ve ever had.

I once walked into the middle of a fire in Blackwater and took the player corpses one by one to the church cemetery. Some were captured and participated in the ‘burial’ of their friends. A corpse thanked me for the gesture. Later, in an extended streak of criminal activity, my pose and I caught another player and instead of killing them on the spot, we rode into the swamp and threw them into the garter infected waters. I got the idea to act like a friend. Best pc games 2017

On a less absurd note, I set myself a constant goal of earning strictly enough money from hunting to buy cool-weather gear and a fine rifle. I am going to hike in the mountains and find the best way to hide there, a wild mountain man adorned with animal skins, which almost touches the floor.

In the meantime, I’m stopping gunmen across the city by running through the streets and calling for a parley. I am participating in an eight-player ballroom. I am living the life of a normal cowboy in the best shepherd game. I hope it clears up soon.

RDR2 PC System Requirements

OS : Windows 7 SP1 64bit

Graphics   Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280

Processor:   Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300

Memory:    8 GB RAM

DirectX:   Version 11 Or 12 Support

Storage: 150 GB

[sleepypie1212]

Sleepypie’s Guide to Kdrama Love: or, 10 Steps to What is TOTALLY a Healthy Relationship*

I wrote a thing. Did you miss me? 

Have you ever wondered how all those kdrama girls do it? Do you too yearn to enact their principles in your life and achieve the same effect? Yearn no more! Here's my handy ten step guide to making a relationship work, k-drama style! Step 1: Be a Candy Remember, you must be poor but plucky, working a multitude of small-paying part-time jobs and living in cramped rooftop apartment. You must be absolutely wallowing in debt you've inherited, yet still face each coming day with a brave smile and optimistic, can-do attitude. Family's a no-no, unless it's a) your beloved father in a coma he won't wake up from, whose expensive hospital bills you must pay, b) an evil stepsister who devotes her every spare moment to making your life hell, or c) a missing  brother you worry about and look for, but who will only conveniently reappear at the end to alleviate any worries about your right to be happy or the potentially incestuous nature of your romance. Do try and have one female friend you will be able to turn to for relationship advice in the future. Her advice will always be terrible, but that won't matter, she's just there to point out that you like your romantic lead before you're willing to admit it yourself. Don't worry if she's better at makeup and fashion than you are. Although you will always complain about being poor and ugly, you will be effortlessly beautiful at all times, your clothes will always be name-brand, and as a bonus, your cell phone will always be the newest model. On the flip side, I hope you like subway.

Step 2: Meet Cute It's time to meet the love of your life! Now, he must be strikingly handsome, impossibly rich, and, most importantly, an apparently ice-cold bastard (don't worry, he's actually a giant softie hiding a tragic past behind those barriers and just waiting for the right girl to come along and teach him the power of love. We'll get to that in Step 3). Remember, it's important you meet in an unplanned, painfully awkward way that leaves him with a strong distaste for you. Tried and true methods include forcing him to give you a lift in the rain, throwing up on him during a plane ride, or tripping and making him catch you in one smooth graceful movement while his important papers for that big meeting that will define the rest of his life go flying. He should abandon you/make loud noises of despair and disgust/drop you at the earliest possible moment. Congratulations! You are now fated to be. Don't forget to call him a rude bastard once he's gone! Step 3: Forced Proximity The most important step. Somehow or other, you and the One must be forced to spend copious amounts of time together. This can be for almost any reason--maybe you've started working at his company, maybe you two enter a contract relationship for whatever reason (usually it's to get his matchmaking mother off his back, but bonus points if he wants one of your organs or its his crackpot grandfather's idea), maybe he moves into your house against your protests because he's being hounded by reporters and needs a place to hide. Regardless of the whys, you are now obligated to breathe each other's air for large quantities of time. Don't worry if it leads to a plenty of friction initially--that's normal! Soon, you'll realize all that bickering you do is actually cover for your simmering sexual tension. Arguments will now end with long, lingering gazes at each others lips. Curse words will start to be endearments. You will both quickly realize how noble and kind the other actually is, despite misleading first impressions. To hasten this process, I suggest shared babysitting sessions, eating homecooked meals at your table (don't be surprised if he's never had a homecooked meal before--his parents have usually never had time for him, and he will probably burst into spontaneous tears over the first mouthful), and drinking beer together on your rooftop, star-gazing. These situations are very conducive to deep conversations that don't seem to have much context--don't worry about that. You are Baring Your Souls to each other, an important part of the process. If you get the chance to be in a life-endangering situation, seize it, so he can rescue you dramatically, and then reproach you for being foolish, thus revealing how deeply he does actually care.

Step 4: Jealousy Right about now, his First Love should reappear on the scene. She will be, without a doubt, Unpleasant, especially to you, since she will sense how close you and the One have become merely by witnessing you two laughing together as you walk care-freely down the street (I suggest you be coming back from something he originally protested was for children--an amusement park, perhaps--but which he came to deeply enjoy. Be eating ice cream and get some on his nose for added effect, as his playful retaliation will reek of repressed emotions). He, however, will not be able to see this, and will instead be incredibly confused by her reappearance. He will try very hard to reconnect with her, refusing to believe he has changed since meeting you (a lamentably useless denial, since everyone else can clearly see, and frequently mentions, how much nicer he seems). This will be a bleak time for you, as you will be deeply saddened by his apparent affection for Another. Luckily for you, the Second Lead will be around to catch you! He will have been a neighbor, co-worker, or someone you viewed as a kid brother. He will do everything in his power to be there for you, though he will never explicitly state his affection (don't worry, second leads never do). Unfortunately, nothing will cheer you up. You will be  constantly reminded of the One by strangely specific things--a cup of coffee, a floating balloon, a teddy bear--immediately saddening you. Don't be too downcast! Unbeknownst to you, the One will witness you apparently being happy with the Second Lead and be absolutely consumed by an ironic jealousy, leading him to do all kinds of delightfully petty things you own't understand and find peculiar.

Step 5: The Kiss Good job, you've made it to your hallmark moment, the one that that will set the seal on your relationship with the One, affirming you will survive any and every obstacle thrown at you (there will be many), and haunt you in a series of never ending flashbacks for the rest of your romantic life! The One has finally been pushed to the breaking point, and is no longer able to deny the strength of his passion. Depending on the sub-species of drama hero you have acquired, the kiss may take one of several shapes. It may be exquisitely planned, with fireworks, roses, and a heart-stopping declaration of love. More frequently, it is a surprise to both of you, the culmination of weeks of building tension. You will always be in a beautiful location. You will always look stunning. He will always look stunning. You will probably have been fighting immediately before. When he kisses you, remember to stand stiffly, staring transfixed before you with shock. If emotions are especially wrought, you may cry, so that he may wipe the tears away with his fingers. . If you're unlucky, you might not remember this first kiss due to temporary ghostly possession or his penchant for freezing time at significant moments. But odds are that means you get a second first kiss! Who doesn't love that? And on the positive side, from now on, the One will be incredibly sweet, self-sacrificing, and adoring. He will not in any possible way resemble the man you first met. Except he will still be smoking hot. Savor this moment, because you will shortly be very unhappy indeed 

Step 6: The Obstacles I warned you they were coming, didn't I? Because now that you and the One have kissed and thus declared your undying passion for each other, his family will rise up in protest. They will seek to humiliate you at every opportunity, try to bribe you to leave him with money (you must be deeply affronted by this, and bravely choking back your tears, condemn them for not realizing you have pride and that not everything can be bought), and/or destroy your life by any possible means. I would suggest investing in insurance, because you are about to be kicked out of your home, lose your job and gangsters will shortly corner you in alleyway (don't worry, the One will save you, if only so he can berate himself later for bringing all this down on your head).  If he has no family (this is rare, and means he is either an alien, a time-traveler, or a cartoon character transported to your world by an unexplained deus ex machina), he will realize that he will soon be compelled to return to his planet/time/dimension by impenetrable forces, leaving you vulnerable to the enemies he has made on your planet/time/dimension who will seek vengeance on you as soon as his back is turned. 

Step 7: The Noble Idiocy Sigh. It's unavoidable, so grind your teeth now and get it over with. The One, deciding that somehow he is making your life miserable/endangering you, will decide to leave you. He won't explain why--instead, he'll give you a terrible reason for leaving. Usually it's something far more stupid and hurtful, like he never actually loved you and that you were just an amusement. He will then vanish from your life, returning to his original sphere like he never left it, and plunging everyone's life into untold clouds of freaking gloom. Go ahead and sob, no one's judging you. It's not your fault your boyfriend makes shitty decisions like a little kid instead of talking things over with you like an adult. If it makes you feel better, he's even more miserable, and he spends an ungodly amount of time staring at the little trinket you gave him that one time, pining for days gone by. If it wasn't so stupid, it would be hilarious. Step 8: The Reunion You will unexpectedly bump into each other on the street or at the office, and he will gaze at you soulfully. You will turn away, still deeply hurt by his abandonment, but it's all going to be ok, because now having seen you in person once more, all the moronic reasons this seemed like a good idea to him in the first place will become irrelevant and he will start popping up in your life like a toadstool, giving you the chance to exact petty but oh-so-satisfying vengeance if you so desire. I suggest so desiring. It's massively entertaining. But only push him to the point where he confesses why he left in the first place, and then melt like the marshmallow you are. You may have to chase after him in the rain, but it's fine--it will provide a particularly striking backdrop to your makeup kiss and give him the opportunity to shelter you with his umbrella, letting himself get unnecessarily soaked in the process (he'll probably be ill afterwards and collapse, but don't worry. Let him lie in bed a few days, with a saline solution and spoon feed him porridge and he'll be right as rain. Er. No pun intended.) Step 9: The Final Problem Everything that came before was build-up for this, and now you must face down whatever issue has cast a cloud over your fated relationship all this time. Is one of you dying? Has one of you promised to go to jail for the other? Has his family threatened to disinherit him if he continues to see you? Fret not, everything will be magically cleared away. There will be a miracle cure, a guns drawn showdown where the actual murderer is finally caught, or his domineering father will have a stroke and become a much kinder, gentler person.  Along the way, it will be revealed that you and the One actually met as children, either only briefly or were best friends until one of you moved/lost your family/faked your own death, and in reality are each other's long forgotten First Loves. Smell that? That's Fate. Finally, you're almost there! 

Step 10: The Ending This is the trickiest part to pull off, but having made it this far, I'm sure you can do it. It's clear to you and to everyone else you and the One will be together forever now. Nothing can tear you apart. But do you want to get married right away in a big, beautiful ceremony? Do you want to date for awhile, spending a lot of time sitting in front of beautiful sunsets with the One? Do you choose to inexplicably study abroad for a brief period of time, returning only then to fully consummate your love? The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, you've earned a stunning conclusion to all your suffering. *not applicable to sageuk storylines which are more inclined to heavily feature torture, blood feuds, hanboks, flowing hair, horses, and reincarnation. See my Ten Steps to Surviving a Sageuk for that one.

[lewepstein]

Are We Still Waiting For The Wizard?

I was watching  Robert Mueller testify before congress last week when I was struck by the thought that something was terribly wrong with this picture.  It was the July 24th hearing, hyped by Democrats as a seminal moment for the American people - the forum in which the corruption and moral bankruptcy of Donald Trump and his cronies would finally and fully be revealed by the man who authored the report.  It was a hearing touted to be a possible kickoff to an impeachment inquiry that could spell the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.   But Robert Mueller came across as particularly halting and frail.  And, true to form, he politely answered every question posed, without ever reinforcing his report’s damning and powerful conclusions about the presidency that he was hired to investigate.  He would remain neutral to a fault, predictably steering clear of anything that could possibly be construed as partisan, avoiding even criticism of the blatant and grievous distortion of his two year investigation by William Barr, Trump’s highly politicized attorney general.  

There were no historical parallels that came to my mind during the build up to the release of the Mueller report and the extended outpouring of hope directed toward this one man and his investigation.  Instead, I began  thinking about The Wizard of Oz.   On the surface, Victor Fleming’s 1939 film classic, based on the book by Frank Baum appears to be a child’s fantasy adventure chock full of elves, witches, a talking scarecrow, a tin man without a heart and a cowardly lion.  What it also offers us is a timeless yet timely allegory with critical lessons about politics and life.

Dorothy, famously played by Judy Garland is on a magical road trip in an enchanted land, trying to find her way back to a family farm in Kansas that had been destroyed by a tornado.  But near the end of the film when Dorothy finally meets up with the Wizard following some notable detours and threatening witches, he isn’t very happy to see her.  He blusters on until Toto, Dorothy’s dog, pulls aside a curtain to reveal an old man pulling levers and shouting into a microphone.  The shameful fraud, posing as a wizard reveals that he is also from Kansas and came to Oz on a hot air balloon.  He then boards the balloon to return home, never even considering that he might also rescue Dorothy and her dog.  

I wonder if there isn’t a little Dorothy in each of us.  Aren’t we being a bit like her when we search for extraordinary wizards to do what we have the power to do ourselves?  And why do we keep scanning for the kind, protective father, or the wise guru - becoming emotionally invested in yet another flawed leader, while projecting onto him the wish that he or she be the perfect human - the hallowed rescuer from everything that ails us?

The list of flawed and failed spiritual gurus is exhausting. The allegations continue to pile up:  In the 1960’s there was the Beatle’s Maharishi along with the mediation guru, Swami Satchidinada, both accused of sexual abuse and rape.  Bikram Yoga founder, Bikram Choudhury was also accused of sexual harassment and rape in 2017 while Amit Desai, founder of the much acclaimed Kripalu Center house In Massachusetts  was married but admitted to having affairs with devotess in 1994 as did John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga.  The latest spiritual leader bomb shell to esplode has to do with an internationally renown healer known as, “John of God,” from Brasil, who surrendered to police this past December after three hundred women accused him of sexual abuse.  The list goes on and on and should probably include the multitude of Catholic priests and bishops around the world who families revered and trusted with their children’s lives and who destroyed those lives with their sexual abuse of children.  We can add to these religious wizards the many respected and beloved actors and other media personalities who used their positions of authority to sexually mistreat those with less power than they.    

In the world of finances and investment people seemed to have a burning need to believe in the genius of Bernie Maddoff while fortunes were lost and lives ruined in his vast, illegal ponzi scheme.  And we cannot forget Elizabeth Holmes who led financiers, politicians and others of the rich and famous to invest millions in a fraudulent undertaking that was supposed to revolutionize the way blood tests were done.  

In politics, Donald Trump has become a kind of wizard to the nine out of ten Republicans who are willing to gobble up the crumbs of his jingoism and “us against them” racism that he continually throws out.  In their elevation of him, they must also suspend consideration of whether what he is offering is a good trade off for fair elections, the rule of law, better health care and all of the democratic norms and values that are being jeopardized while he remains in office.  As a member of the opposing tribe, I also need to accept that neither Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg nor any other of the other twenty four potential Democratic candidates will become either our wizards or our saviors.

It is OK to admire someone’s talents and good works, and to appreciate his or her contribution to a field, a cause or a nation.  But elevating another human to the status of “wizard” or imbuing him with god-like qualities has been shown to be extremely dangerous to our personal and political health.  If we continue to worship at the altar of other humans and make them into our avatars we do this at our own risk.

The truth is that rarely does anyone ever rescue us.  If change comes about either personally or politically it is generally because we did something on our own behalf.  And history continues to teach us that the so-called “great leaders” were often riding the crest of popular movements and revolts that involved a multitude of motivated day to day people like you and me.  The 2018 blue wave, midterm elections, the recent wave of Red State teacher’s revolts and the women I have worked with who finally left their abusive husbands should give us pause about who the real wizards are.

In the final scene of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is met by Glinda, the Good Witch.  Dorothy plaintively  asks, “Can you help me?”  “Will You Help Me?”  Glinda’s response is, “You don’t need to be helped any longer.  You have always had the power to go back to Kansas.”

[travelguideworldtour-blog]

Las Vegas Travel Guide – Tips for Visiting Las Vegas

Las Vegas Travel Guide

Situated at the Nevada desert is Vegas. Pubs hotels, clubs, and restaurants vie for space. A great deal of people do not like Vegas — that the party, the glitz, the more costly hotels, the elaborate watch and be observed atmosphere. However, those folks concentrate on the downsides of Vegas. There is more to Nevada than the Strip. And it’s rather simple to get vouchers in Vegas. Completely free beverages, foods, low accommodation are readily obtained, and also show tickets — for those who know where to check!

  Best Things to do in  Las Vegas

Fremont Street Experience

Fremont Street is really actually just a pedestrian-only area with all types of websites. When you walk below A portion of Fremont Street is covered over lights which light the skies in a scene of colours and layouts. Called the Fremont Street Experience, each series and a music occurs overhead. Entertainment acts and street actors play outdoors. Fremont Street is a few km from the Strip, at downtown Las Vegas. It’s ideal to get a cab.

  The Strip

The 2.5-mile-long central portion of Las Vegas Boulevard, which runs throughout town from north east to southwest, called the Strip, is lined with enormous amusement palaces, and many constructed having a defining motif and home into performance places, luxury rooms in hotels, along with diningroom The Strip is very impressive during the night, once an infinite string of neon signs illuminates the city.

  Venetian Hotel and Gondola Rides

The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas is on the Strip. This really contains lots of tourist attractions that are interesting and is but one of the finest hotels of those city. Interior is just a shopping arcade constructed to resemble the town of Venice, detailed with gondoliers, canals, and blue skies. The hotel includes recreations of the attractions present together with others, in Venice, like the Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs.

  Helicopter Rides over Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon

For a excellent aerial view within vegas, or the Grand Canyon, traffic might wish to simply just consider a helicopter ride. Nevada has lots of organizations providing helicopter tours which take traffic over the Strip and Las Vegas, or as far off as the Grand Canyon. This really is a superb chance for a person with time to visit Vegas, nevertheless also the landscape and a few of the very notable and famous attractions of America.

  Paris Hotel and the Eiffel Tower

Paris Las Vegas is perhaps probably one among the hotels on the planet. Front is a scale version of the Eiffel Tower, also the manner is a diversion of the Paris Opera House. Forty six stories over the city roads is also a observation deck with viewpoints that are incredible. 1 narrative beneath this really is amorous and posh Eiffel Tower Restaurant, around to the dance fountains of Bellagio and with views around the Strip. Also is flashing lights and a hot air balloon.

  High Roller Ferris Wheel on the Linq

The Top Roller Ferris wheel Is Located from the Strip, just at the end of This Linq Promenade. This Ferris wheel takes thirty minutes surrounding area and providing views and stands 550 feet . Each cottage, since they’re known, holds as much as 40 people. Views are outstanding during the nighttime with all the city lights.

  Neon Museum

Las Vegas’ neon indicators are one of the most notable sights of that city for people all through recent years. These advertising beacons that were multi-story became one among their town’s claims to fame. Now the Neon Museum is working hard to conserve some of their town’s history by purchasing, preserving, and sometimes, refurbishing the historical neon signs which have gone by the wayside as companies have disappeared or fresh signs have obtained the spot of icons that are older. By simply choosing a guided excursion at the Neon Museum, at which neon signs are kept out in a chemical It’s possible to see a number of these hints.

Guides supply the foundation of layouts and these indications, which may have evolved through recent years. Efforts at the memorial are ongoing, and also signs stand in states. But some are restored to their past glory just a percentage was found or saved. This comparison creates the memorial which a whole lot more interesting and gives insight to just how much upkeep and work is demanded together with those signs to people.

  Stratosphere Tower

The Stratosphere Tower is a sight in the Las Vegas skyline. The tower climbs up 1,149 feet, also on the roof top of this tower are a variety including Insanity, Big Shot, X Scream, and the SkyJump. There’s definitely an indoor and outdoor observation deck with views across town, for people who are searching for just only a drama.

  Shark Reef Aquarium

While the name might indicate, the Shark Reef Aquarium can be a little different to an ordinary aquarium. The volcano was created so that people input the ocean is an early temple that’s slowly being consumed by the sea. The critters on the show are several of odd and the very dangerous from the world & most result in waters. There are two excellent displays with the celebrity of this series being a shipwreck which comprises 1.3 million gallons of plain water. You’re able to enjoy nearly 360-degree views of fish and birds. In general, there are over 2000 creatures getting back together 1-5 kinds of shark and 100 species.

  LINQ Promenade

The LINQ Promenade can be a yard which has entertainment, dining table, and retail. The High Roller is also an observation wheel which gives points of view of the city to the visitor and stands in 550 feet. The region has almost 40 restaurants and shops and is approximately ft. Whilst you usually takes a visit to Brooklyn Bowl. If you fancy a switch There’s additionally a 32 lane bowling alley.

  Spend Time At Wynn Las Vegas

Wynn vegas cost an eye-watering 2.7 billion dollars to develop and can be among the very glamorous and given hotels on the planet. The hotel is distributed more than 49 floors and includes 2,716 rooms. In the event that you intend on finding your path back out to the 27, you may like to choose if you’re led into the casino! In reference to awards that the hotel has won AAA five diamond, Michelin 5 celebrity, Forbes five-star, Mobil fivestar and Zagat Survey’s Top U.S Hotel. You can find fine restaurants and just five clubs in reference to entertainment.

  See The Las Vegas Version Of New York

New. The hotel is composed of a collection of towers which have been built to resemble New York attractions. There’s a Lot More, the Chrysler Building, Statue of Liberty and that the Empire State Building. In the hotel you might have areas which can be called after newyork areas that are different the cards at the casino possess diamonds rather than hearts . There is if you feel brave.

  When to Visit Las Vegas

Lasvegas is a destination as a result of a series of events and conferences. If you are intending vegas traveling, be aware its summers are on the list of world therefore if you should be allergic organize your trip for cold temperatures to heating or stay indoors, where there air-conditioning.

  Typical Las Vegas Weather

Just simply take the elements After you see Las Vegas. This desert city has greater than 300 days of sun each year, and also the typical high throughout summer time is at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The remainder of the calendar year become somewhat temperate, together with highs Fahrenheit in January and December.

  Las Vegas Transportation

Renting a vehicle is cheap, but to get a high price tag, you also are able to rent luxury cars, along with Bentleys, Ferraris. Valet parking is liberated from the casinos (hint out of $3). Rates for your Las Vegas Monorail, that quits in seven locations and runs from the MGM Grand, begin at $ 12 to get a daily pass.

  Money Saving Tips in Las Vegas

Skip the weekend – Many men and women stay for the weekend that means there really may be definitely the time and see Las Vegas on Saturday or even a Friday. You are able to avail of restaurant rates and those room charges, by simply going to the city.

Don’t pay cabs with a credit card – A service fee when you purchase credit card is charged by taxis. By paying cash Refrain from fee.

Gamble responsibly – It’s Vegas, needless to say, you’re want to hazard a couple of bucks in a casino, but do not go. Only bet what you can afford to lose, as it is likely that, that the house will triumph.

Get comps – In the event you are gaming the casino will reimburse some of one’s losses at the kind of also rooms series tickets, along with even food. Make certain you inquire about them!

Go to Reverse Happy Hour – Most Vegas restaurants stop serving food from 10:30 pm, however, there are so many actors finishing up about that time that the Strip has a tradition of the post-10pm (or even 11 pm, depending upon the spot )”reverse happy hour,” with drinks and food starting as low as $3.

Drink at the casino before hitting the club – To cut down on drinks at the nightclubs, drink the casino floor. The drinks are free if you are playing with of those matches. Sit at a cent video slot, play slow and beverage. You may have 10 drinks for the purchase cost of a! Be sure that to tip the waitress.

Use coupons – Coupons are money in Las Vegas; casinos may provide you a publication of these when you subscribe for a (free) player’s card and you’re going to discover 2-for-1 offers on food in restaurants in the Strip.

Eat cheap at 5-star restaurants – Seating at the Strip restaurants is located between 8 and 10 pm, however, those areas prefer to be full on a regular basis, therefore many have menus and also hour to kick their evenings off between 4 pm and 7 pm.

Las Vegas Travel Guide – Tips for Visiting Las Vegas

[professionalpracticeblog745]

Top 15 Genres of Photography That you Need to Know

https://www.shawacademy.com/blog/top-15-genres-of-photography-that-you-need-to-know/

Aerial Photography:

As soon as our flight takes off, we love to shoot the landscape or city scene below which gives us an advantage of taking a picture from above. So, images that are captured from above is known as aerial photography. French photographer and balloonist, Gaspar Felix Tournachon, took the first aerial photograph in 1858. He experimented for three years before he could produce the photograph. He had captured the French village, Petit-Becetre, from a hot-air balloon, 80 metres above the ground.

Architectural photography:

Capturing an interesting form, shape or colour of the structure can be visually appealing. Therefore visuals of buildings that are interesting fall under this genre. We can include interiors or exteriors of buildings and even an interesting element of the design. The two challenging aspects for photographers while shooting buildings are: Lighting and image distortion.You have only natural light while capturing the façade of the building and you have to make the best use of it to bring out the glamorous aspect. When there are horizontal and vertical lines in the building your images appear distorted. Only with the correct equipment coupled with right angles you can avoid the snag.

Candid photography:

This is a very popular genre of photography. Moments captured spontaneously as they happen is known as candid photography. The subjects are usually not aware of the photographer, so they appear very relaxed. Wedding photography is a perfect example of this style of photography.

A tip: Use a long zoom while capturing candid moments. This will help your subjects to be more relaxed and natural, as they will be unaware of you photographing them.

Documentary photography:

Manual pictures that form a photo story come under this style. It is about a particular subject or a story that a photographer wants to highlight. They are all objective pictures and can be about a war, social issues, science and so on. When you are chronicling significant events, for instance, the life of a celebrity or a sportsman, plan to spend some time with the person; chat; listen and capture what comes naturally. Try and capture details and let your pictures tell a story. Do not try to shoot something that is not a part of his or her life.

Fashion photography:

Typically used to sell something, this type of photography lures customers by glamorising the product. They are generally very creative and visually very interesting and can be taken in any location like a studio, an apartment, a rundown building or anywhere outdoors.

A fashion photographer should always prepare in advance. In this genre of photography, the location, lighting, makeup, stylists and the model play a significant role. However, you should also be open to ideas and suggestions, as it involves a lot of team work.

Food photography:

Whether we are sharing an image of food served at a restaurant or on our dinner table, almost everyone seems to be at it today. This type of photography is used by restaurants, websites or bloggers to entice customers to try and sell their products.A Tip: One of the most crucial factor in food photography is to use natural light. Always remember to turn off the flash. It’s a big ‘No’ in this style of photography.  When you use flash, many unwanted elements get captured. For instance, your food might look greasy and the actual colours get washed out. Landscape photography:

This is one of the most popular types of photography, as it can portray a scenery, or can even show an impact of environmental change. We all love to capture a beautiful landscape when we see one. However, we need to wait for the right light to capture that perfect moment.

Also, while shooting a landscape, if you want a sharp image, use a tripod which will help eliminate the camera shakes. Using a long shutter speed can give you the perfect shot. For example, if you are capturing the waves, it will turn to a smooth white and moving clouds will turn wispy.

Night-long exposure photography:

It’s a great way to capture how the world transforms after dark. This type of photography requires good knowledge of how we use light, shutter speed and aperture. These types of photos are interesting as the viewer gets to see some unusual aspects that cannot be seen by the naked eye. To takes such shots, it is imperative to be comfortable with our camera’s manual mode and implement the correct settings.

Photojournalism:

This photography is similar to the documentary genre. The only difference here is that a photographer captures live events as and when it happens and informs the world about it. Examples of this style of photography is what we see every day in newspapers, magazines etc.

Photojournalism is not about shooting unexpected events, but about capturing unexpected moments at events that are planned. It is serious journalism and a person needs to plan it right to be at the right place and at the right time.

Conceptual/ fine art photography:

Images that tell a story come under this genre. In terms of conceptual/ fine art photography, we can create our own fiction with characters in made-up environment. However, the photographer needs to have a vision of what their picture will look like, as this genre is all about an emotion, an idea or a message. The photographer tries to convey a message through his image.

Portraiture:

Capturing peoples’ moods and expressions is an intriguing subject for photographers. They can be close-up images, body portraits etc. Typically the face is the focus of this type of photography. While taking a portrait, the photographer should ensure that the subject’s face is sharp and focussed, especially his or her eyes. The subject’s pose should also be flattering. To capture a person’s natural expressions, the photographer should lighten the mood by cracking a joke or two.

Sport photography:

This category involves getting up-close to the action in a very fast-paced and action-packed setting. Sports events are captured with very long lenses as we usually see photographers during an event.

A Tip: Always use a high ISO. Increasing the ISO on your camera will enable you to shoot at a higher shutter speed; consequently giving you the perfect shot. Try to be original and get something different by getting different angle shots.

Street photography:

Capturing ordinary, everyday life in public spaces or life as it happens is known as street photography. It is very similar to candid photography, but the photographer documents the public space as he or she sees it.

A street photographer should not just look at the popular tourist spots, but he or she should try out some real-life scenes coupled with some behind the scene images. They must be observant about every little aspect around them. As soon as they see a story unfold, they should not hesitate to capture the moment.

War photography:

Capturing images of conflicts in war-torn areas fall under this genre. War photographers usually put their life in danger to cover the event. War photography can even document the aftermath of war.

A war photographer should always simplify the photography kit, as he/she should not be bothered about changing lenses etc. Carrying heavy equipment is also a big ‘no’ because there might be circumstances where he or she will be better off with less equipment.

Wildlife photography:

This is a very challenging type of photography, as it might be difficult to capture animals in their proper habitat. This style requires proper technical skills and it needs to be planned accordingly. In wildlife photography, you need to be absolutely comfortable with your camera’s settings. If you are not quick enough, you might miss the perfect shot.

The key to taking a good photograph is to go ahead and have fun while you shoot. Your pictures will speak for itself no matter which genre you choose.

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I thought I would start with a range of different types of photography that people thought were important today and found this article which I've placed the information above and the link at the top if you fancy taking a look. I going to look at a range of photography vocations on this blog as I take you on my journey to were I ended up with my professional practice.

[staceyludlowcmp-blog]

Different photography styles

Ariel Photography

Ariel photography is photography from above. The first person to attempt anything like this was photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, who ascended into the air in a hot air balloon and took a photo of the French village, Petit-Becetre, although it took three years until he could actually produce the photograph. Recently it’s been a lot easier to capture photos like this due to drones being a piece of technology that is very common to our lives.

Architectural Photography  

Capturing an interesting for, shape or colour can be visually appealing, which means that visuals of buildings that are interesting fall under this genre. We are able to include interiors or exteriors of buildings and even an interesting element of the design. The two challenging aspects for photographers while shooting buildings are lighting and image distortion. 

You only have natural light when capturing the facade of the building and you have to make the best use of it to bring out the glamorous aspect. When there are horizontal and vertical lines in the building, the image will appear distorted. Only with the correct equipment coupled with the right angles can you avoid the snag.

Candid Photography

Candid photography is a very popular genre of photography. Moments captured spontaneously as they happen is known as candid photography. The subjects are not usually aware of the photographer, so they appear relaxed and a lot more natural then they would if they were posing for the photo. Wedding photography is a great example of this style of photography. 

It is known that it is best to use a long zoom lens when capturing candid moments. This will help your subjects to be more relaxed and natural, as they will be unaware of you photographing them.

Documentary Photography:

Manual pictures that form a photo story come under this style. It is about a particular subject or a story that a photographer wants to highlight and bring attention to. They are all objective pictures and can be about war, social issues, science and so on. When you are chronicling significant events, for instance, the life of a celebrity or a sportsman, plan to spend some time with the person; chat; listen and capture what comes naturally. Try and capture details and let your pictures tell the story. Do not try to shoot something that is not part of his of her life.

Fashion Photography

Typically used to sell something, this style of photography lures customers by glamorising the product. They are generally very creative and visually very interesting and can be taken in any kind of location. Like a studio, an apartment, a rundown building or anywhere outdoors.

A fashion photographer should always prepare in advance. In this genre of photography, the location, lighting, makeup, stylists, and the model play a significant role. However, you should also be open to ideas and suggestions, as it involves a lot of teamwork.

Food Photography

Whether we are sharing an image of food served at a restaurant of on our dinner table, almost everyone seems to be at it today. This style of photography is used by restaurants, websites or bloggers to entice customers to try and sell their products. 

One of the most curtail factors in food photography is to use natural light. Always remember to turn off the flash. It’s a big no in this style of photography, despite everyone using the flash on their phone cameras when they want to Instagram their food. What they all don't know is that when you use flash, many unwanted elements get captured in the photo. For instance, the food may look greasy and the actual colours get washed out.

Landscape Photography

This is one of the most popular types of photography, as it can portray a scenery. or can even show an impact of environmental change. We all love to capture a beautiful landscape when we see one. However, we need to wait for the right lighting to capture that perfect moment.

While shooting a landscape, if you want a sharp image, use a tripod; this will help to eliminate the camera shakes. Using a long shutter speed can give you the perfect shot. For example. if you are capturing the waves, it will turn to a smooth white and moving clouds will turn wispy. 

Night-Long Exposure Photography

It’s a great way to capture how the world transforms after dark. This type of photography requires good knowledge of how we use light, shutter speed and aperture. These types of photos are interesting as the viewer gets to see some unusual aspects that cannot be seen by the naked eye.To take such shots, it is imperative to be comfortable with out camera’s manual mode and implement the correct settings.

Photojournalism

This photography is similar to the documentary genre. The only difference here is that a photographer captures live events as and when it happens and informs the world about it. Examples of this style of photography is what we see everyday in newspapers, magazines etc.

Photojournalism is not about shooting unexpected events, but about capturing unexpected moments at events that are planned. It is serious journalism and a person needs to plan it right to be at the right place and at the right time.

Conceptual/Fine Art Photography

Images that tell a story come under this genre. In terms of conceptual/fine art photography, we can create our own fiction with characters in a made-up environment. However, the photographer needs to have a vision of what their picture will look like, as this genre is all about emotion, an idea or a message. The photographer tries to confer a message through his image.

Portraiture

Capturing peoples’ moods and expressions is an intriguing subject for photographers. They can be close-up images, body portraits etc. Typically, the face is the focus of this type of photography. While taking a portrait, the photographer should ensure that the subject’s face is sharp and focused, especially on his or her eyes. The subject’s pose should also be flattering. To capture a person’s natural expressions, the photographer should lighten the mood by cracking a joke or two.

Sport Photography

This category involves getting close-up action in a very fast-paced and action-packed setting. Sports events are captured with very long lenses as we usually see photographers during an event.

Always use a high ISO. Increasing the ISO on your camera will enable you to shoot at a higher shutter speed; consequently giving you the perfect shot. Try to be original and get something different by getting angle shots.

Street Photography

Capturing ordinary, everyday life in public spaces or life as it happens is known as street photography. it is very similar to candid photography, but the photographer documents space as he or she sees it.

A street photographer should not just look at the popular tourist spots, but he or she should try out some real-life scene coupled with some behind the scene imagery. They must be very observant about every little aspect around them. As soon as they see a story unfold, they should not hesitate to capture the moment.

War Photography

Capturing images of conflicts in war-torn areas fall under this genre. War photographers usually put their lives in danger to cover the event. War photography can even document the aftermath of war.

A war photographer should always simplify the photography kid, as he or she should not be bothered about changing lenses or carrying different tripods. Carrying heavy equipment is also a big risk due to the fact that there might be some circumstances where they will be at a risk of being injured.

Wildlife Photography

This is a very challenging type of photography, as it might be difficult to capture animals in their proper habitat. This style requires proper technical skills and it needs to be planned accordingly. In wildlife photography, you need to be absolutely comfortable with your camera’s settings. If you are not quick enough, you might miss the perfect shot.

Overall, the key to taking a good photograph is to go ahead and have fun while you shoot, if you don’t, it will certainly show in your photos. You pictures will speak for itself no matter which genre you choose.

[memsmedic1]

Thwarted mission and new opportunities. 03/30/17-05/02/17

Now I was back at our apartment headquarters in Yangon where I would stay for the next month and I finally had time to get caught up on paperwork and some behind the scenes duties.

Our apartment is four stories high and is built out of unreinforced concrete. We live in a large development of houses and apartments on the northwest side of Yangon.

To the west of us behind our apartment it is very quiet and peaceful because the developer poured foundations for more apartments and then ran out of money, so we have a buffer between us and the rest of the already quiet housing area we live in.

To the east on the front side of the apartment there is a broken down sheet metal and bamboo fence and then directly past that is the constantly loud and active shantytown of bamboo huts and shops and markets and apartments that makes up the majority of residential Yangon.

On our first floor we park our van and also store whatever supplies we can that aren't affected by rats or flooding. The second floor is the kitchen and living room, and the top floors are the bedrooms.

Being back in Yangon also meant that I was back in the mosquito capital of Myanmar! Even now in the hot dry season we are always being attacked by the diurnal Aedes mosquitos that can carry dengue fever and every evening and morning we get swarmed by Anopheles mosquitos that will carry more and more malaria as the rainy season approaches.

Like the rest of the country we don’t have beds and sleep on a bamboo or plastic mat on the floor shrouded by mosquito nets. We also don’t have air conditioning, a washing machine, oven, microwave, hot water, or clean tap water- all the water we drink and cook with has to be purchased since our tap water comes out of the faucet as brown and turbid as river water (I have my suspicions that it may actually be river water from a tributary of the Irrawaddy a mile and a half away).

Handily for us however, we do have electricity, although it fluctuates in strength and there are regular power outages. Even more amazing is that cell service is available although it’s about as reliable as our electricity.

So after getting unpacked and organized I began working on my first priority project of developing and putting together an EMR program syllabus and also starting on the EMT program syllabus. I was also assisting in writing an EMS training proposal to take to the Ministry of Health along with our fully developed EMS program.

The Ministry of Health is trying to raise the standard of prehospital care in Myanmar and wants to initiate a mandatory, uniform, country wide training and certification program to help regulate EMS and hold rescue and ambulance responders accountable to a higher standard of care.

During our last EMR training in Myawaddy one of the students had a question for us. He said that they picked up a patient at a local hospital who was being transferred to Thailand where they might be able to do something to help him. As usual, the hospital staff rush-rushed the crew and wouldn’t give them any of the patients paperwork or even a verbal report. The student said that the patient had a “tube” going down his throat and a nurse was using a BVM on him. After they loaded the patient however, the hospital refused to leave the BVM with the patient (yes they reuse everything over here) and the ambulance crew did not have one or have the ability to get one. So, they just put a NRB over the tube and went on their way. The question was “why did the patient start shaking and foaming at the mouth and bleeding from his nose and go into cardiac arrest?”

So that’s what we’re up against over here- and that’s what the government wants to stop. The Ministry of Health is asking for EMS program drafts and implementation plans from any interested parties and then they will decide which plan they want to use.

We have also started editing, translating, and formatting our EMR textbook into Burmese so our future students will have additional resources to make learning easier.

One week after we finished modifying the Land Cruiser and had it driven north we received word from one of our team members who lives in that area that it had arrived safely at its destination! With that confirmation, we sent a two person team north as well to make another attempt at purchasing property for an operations base/ambulance station. They would be gone for several weeks meeting with state and local officials and searching for land or a building to purchase.

This relative lull in activity compared to the last several months gave me an opportunity to give team-specific medical training to the six other team members that were with me in Yangon.

Every day we would meet on the floor in the living room (the only furniture we have is a stair chair and the bench seat we pulled out of the Land Cruiser) and I would talk about emergency medical responder or remote EMR level topics for a couple hours or so and then we would practice all the applicable skills.

I also started making a dedicated effort to learn Burmese during this time. My translator Khin Chaw Kyi is an excellent teacher and tutors me for a couple hours every day. Unfortunately Burmese is the hardest SE Asian language to learn after Thai so the going is slow.

After the first week of April we began preparing to withstand the siege that is Thingyan, the Burmese water festival that culminates in the celebration of the Burmese New Year. We stocked up on enough food and water to last us for a couple weeks.

Because Thingyan is a national holiday, all businesses are closed. In addition, it’s basically a country wide water fight with singing, dancing, face painting, and everyone except the monks joining together in throwing, squirting, spraying, or dousing as much water on as many people as possible! Anything that can hold water is used such as cups, bowls, buckets, bamboo squirt guns, water balloons, and fire hoses!

This water throwing is a metaphorical washing away of ones sins from the previous year as well as an offering for the spirits, who are unable to drink all year.

Thingyan festival started on April 13th this year and officially lasted for 4 days culminating in the New Year, but the entire rest of the month of April is usually an extremely challenging time to get anything productive done if it requires traveling or going outside. This is because school is out, people are traveling a lot more this month, and the festive spirit from the water festival continues long after the festival is over.

With the water festival starting on the 13th, the first monsoon rains of the rainy season decided to start on April 14th! It was a pleasant change to have clouds and cooler temperatures than we had been having recently, but the first rain of the year also turned into the first cyclone of the year.

Cyclone Maruttha made landfall on April 16 200 miles northwest of Yangon at Thandwe, Rakhine State. It brought powerful winds, storm surges, monsoon rain, and tragically it killed at least 10 people. ————————————-

When our northern team returned to Yangon, their news was far from encouraging; for one, fighting has recently intensified significantly in the region, and the government, afraid that foreigners may give aid to the rebels or be killed in the crossfire, has shrunk the less-restricted area to smaller than the town limits that we would be living in. To get into the area at all, you have to submit for permission, and if granted it is only valid for the length of your visa.

So we would only be able to operate within the town itself which completely cuts us off from the villagers who actually need the help and defeats the purpose of the mission, plus there is no guarantee that we would be allowed to stay if we bought property there.

For another thing, the local group that was interested in working with us and being trained so they can operate on their own if needed, started pulling the old Burmese trick of seeing how much they could get from us for free. When they saw our ambulance (which looks awesome) they asked if we would donate it to them so they could start their own ambulance service, and then they still asked us to come up and give them (free) training so they would know what to do…😑

If that wasn’t enough, this last month the Myanmar government just passed a new law that requires all ambulance personnel to be licensed in order to work on an ambulance. There’s just one problem: Myanmar does not recognize any prehospital medical licenses. The only two medical licenses at all are Doctor and nurse, and of course none of them would be interested in taking a pay cut to work on an ambulance. Because there’s no possible way to certify at the present, Burmese citizens are being allowed to continue working with their foundations and rescue organizations, but foreigners would be a prime target, so at the present we are unable to provide medical care to Burmese citizens unless specifically requested ahead of time.

All of this is terribly disappointing news, we have overcome so many obstacles already in order to accomplish our original goal of operating a remote ambulance service, that we don’t want to give up on the idea and would like to keep pushing ahead. But right now we would just be banging our heads against the wall and getting nowhere, so we are going to focus more on the other projects that have presented themselves, and for the time being just keep our original project in the back of our minds as a possibility for sometime down the road.

So now I am in charge of drawing up another proposal for the Ministry of Health, this one proposing that Myanmar accept paramedics and EMT’s in good standing and with valid medical licenses from certain countries with high training standards and verifiable registries, in the same way they allow foreign doctors to work in the country.

Because of our possible dealings with the Ministry of Health I was also tasked with looking into the possibility of becoming affiliated with an accrediting agency of some kind that would allow us to offer a truly international certification to our students who successfully complete one of our trainings instead of the “international level” training we are currently able to give.

In addition to hopefully giving us an advantage with the government, offering an international certification would make our training courses valuable to anyone who wanted to attend- not just Burmese citizens, and it would allow our trainings to stand out from other, local foundations who also engage in “training” (one group offers a four day EMT class) and have started copying our “international level” wording when they have no such thing.

After some research I came across the AREMT- Australasian Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, which is currently the sole registry of emergency medical licenses for Australia and is accepted in over 20 other countries. Upon finding that they do not yet have any affiliate accrediting agencies in Myanmar I contacted them and after countless emails back and forth set up a meeting with them to see if they were interested in working with us and vice versa.

Through a mutual friend, I was also put in contact with a medical logistics company that I began talking to and feeling out the possibility of a mutually beneficial relationship with. It went so well that we scheduled a meeting for next month in Bangkok to discuss our options in person.

We also took some time off from all of our own duties to help our friends from Z-Rescue teach their first basic first aid class here in Yangon. They had about 60 students and appreciated having us on “their team” to help teach and make them look good!

Afterwards we had a meeting with the Home Minister and talked about our ideas for Myanmar training and our EMS program in development.

One evening we were hanging out in the living room as supper finished cooking when I heard an unauthorized sound in the kitchen. Sneaking over I found a giant sewer rat sitting on our counter eating our food 😡. Until now I had led myself to believe that because there’s a giant swampy abandoned lot behind us and all kinds of open sewers and drainage ditches in front of us, we were a virtual island and that any neighborhood rats would leave us alone in favor of easier pickings. Sadly I was mistaken, but I managed to kill the offending individual by thwacking him on the head with the handle of a reed broom as he sailed past me off the counter towards the door!

April and May are usually the height of the hot season and this year Myanmar took the prize for hottest country in Southeast Asia! We had temperatures that rose to 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days! And of course the humidity is usually above 90% as well which makes it all the more oppressive.

On April 29 I took the night bus from Yangon to the border and crossed into Thailand again. I had wanted to leave Yangon a couple days sooner so I could visit the orphanage on my way to my meetings in Bangkok but because of all the extra travelers returning home from celebrating the water festival the buses were booked out for two days longer than usual.

I spent a couple days in MaeSot where I happened to run into my friends from Sunshine Orchard anyways completely out of the blue! On May 2 I took a van down to Nakhon Sawan, Thailand where I would transfer to a bus for the rest of the ride into Bangkok.

I knew the van wasn’t going the whole way but when we got to the end of the van route I didn’t realize that we had arrived at where I needed to get off. So, unknowingly I started riding north again back towards MaeSot! Fortunately the driver knew where I was going and after a couple blocks noticed that I was still on board so he kindly took me back to the Nakhon Sawan station where I was supposed to catch my bus.

When I arrived at the counter to pay, the ticket agent wasn’t worried at all about me being a few minutes late but when he walked with me out to where my bus was supposed to be it was gone!

That suddenly made him a lot more energetic and we ran back inside where he had his assistant give me a lift on the back of his motorbike to run the bus down! It hadn’t made it out of town yet so we were able to catch it without any problem, and after getting settled in, the rest of the trip went according to plan.

[the2travel]

* World Travel Tips : The Best Vacation Spots in Every U.S. State

Travel Tips -

Whether you’re planning a last-minute getaway or a serious vacation five months out, you don’t have to jet-set across the globe to get away from it all. As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to look much further than your own backyard. Here, the best vacation spots in every single U.S. state.

Related: Here’s Where to Travel Every Month in 2017

ALABAMA: THE GULF SHORES

Sandy dunes, white beaches, clear water and world-class golf courses are just a few of the attractions that lure vacationers to Alabama’s Gulf Coast, just south of Mobile.

ALASKA: ANCHORAGE

Anchorage gives visitors access to Alaska’s gorgeous wildlife ― striking mountains, salmon fishing, hiking and biking ― plus the sophisticated, urban comforts of fine dining and shopping.

ARIZONA: SEDONA

Think: Gorgeous red-rock vortexes and sharp canyons surrounded by idyllic desert scenery. Add to that world-class spas and art galleries and you’ve got the best spot in the whole entire state. Plus, it’s the perfect starting point for a trip to the Grand Canyon.

Related: These Are the 50 Most Instagrammed Spots in Every State

ARKANSAS: PONCA

If you need a rest from city life, nowhere is quite like this small mountain town nestled right up against the Buffalo River. Come in the summer to white-water raft in the rapids and zip-line through the lush Ozarks.

CALIFORNIA: SANTA BARBARA

About an hour and a half north of Los Angeles, this coastal city stretches before the Santa Ynez Mountains. The “American Riviera,” as it’s sometimes called, Santa Barbara is saturated with celebs, and is known for its Mediterranean-style architecture, great restaurants and gorgeous beaches.

Related: The Ultimate “Big Little Lies” Travel Guide

COLORADO: ASPEN

Glitz and glamour aside, this Colorado village is a stunning place to visit any time of year. (The bustling ski town turns into a green Rocky Mountain retreat come summer.)

CONNECTICUT: MADISON

This slow-paced seaside town on Connecticut’s Gold Coast has a totally different vibe from the fancy Greenwich lifestyle you might associate with the state. In Madison, you’ll find simple summer pleasures like lobster shacks, ice-cream stands and quiet beaches like Hammonasset Beach State Park.

DELAWARE: REHOBOTH BEACH

Set on the Atlantic coast, Rehoboth’s pristine beaches are a popular getaway for folks fleeing hot D.C., Maryland and Delaware summers. Rent a bike and stroll down the charming boardwalk lined with bars, funky shops, live music and restaurants.

FLORIDA: SANIBEL ISLAND

In a state full of oceanside vacation towns, Sanibel (off Florida’s peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico) is a paradise above the rest. Its white beaches are swept with some of the most beautiful patterned seashells you can find in the country, and the crystal waters are perfect for boating, fishing and snorkeling.

Related: 8 Island Vacations You Can Take Without Leaving the Country

GEORGIA: TYBEE ISLAND

Set 18 miles east of Savannah, this barrier island is a popular southern vacation destination. Here, you’ll find quaint bed-and-breakfasts, a historic lighthouse, three miles of sandy beaches and a long stretch of pier popular among fishermen and and musicians.

HAWAII: MAUI

OK, Hawaii kinda isn’t fair, since the whole state is a vacation haven. But since we had to pick one spot, we went with Maui, known for sprawling golden shores and secret snorkeling coves. The road to Hana--a winding and narrow 65-mile stretch along the Pacific--might be the most scenic route we’ve ever come across.

Related: The Guide to Kauai

IDAHO: COEUR D’ALENE

Surrounded by dozens of scenic lakes and located just 30 miles east of Washington state, Coeur d’Alene is an outdoorsy haven. During the summer, there’s great golfing, watersports and hiking, and during the winter it’s all about that #skilife.

ILLINOIS: GALENA

Midwesterners head to this small town on the Illinois-Wisconsin border to escape the summer heat. Galena contains one of America’s cutest main streets, as well as family-owned, local wineries and rolling hills. Don’t miss your chance to take a sunset hot-air-balloon tour. 

Related: The 6 Cutest Main Streets in America

INDIANA: CHESTERTON

Make a trip to Chesterton to visit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 15 miles of large sand dunes that border Lake Michigan’s Southern shore. With beaches, hiking trails, camping sites and cabin rentals, it’s basically everything you want from a relaxing getaway.

IOWA: OKOBOJI

Who knew Iowa is home to five terrific lakes? At the center of them is West Lake Okoboji, known for waterskiing, tubing, golfing and sailing. Oh, and did we mention the outdoor movie screenings?

KANSAS: MONUMENT ROCKS

At the Monument Rocks National Monument 25 miles south of Oakley, you can examine giant chalk formations covered with fossils that are 80 million years old. (Who knows, you might even see evidence of a dinosaur.) While you're sightseeing in the area, check out Castle Rock, an ancient pillar of limestone.

KENTUCKY: LOUISVILLE

There’s more to Louisville than the Kentucky Derby. Here, you’ll find live bluegrass music, art galleries, bourbon distilleries and wine trails.

LOUISIANA: NEW ORLEANS

Come for the jazz clubs, French-Creole-style architecture and swamp tours. Stay for the po’ boys, jambalaya and beignets.

Related: 21 Things You Absolutely Must Eat When You’re in New Orleans

MAINE: KENNEBUNKPORT

Blueberry farms, rocky coastline, sandy beaches, clam shacks and picturesque cottages are just some of the things that make this coastal town the quintessential New England vacation spot.

MARYLAND: ST. MICHAELS

You might recognize this adorable Chesapeake town from the movie Wedding Crashers. The red-brick streets are lined with Victorian homes and boutiques, and the pier is scattered with blue crab restaurants and docked boats.

MASSACHUSETTS: CAPE COD

Drive over the Bourne Bridge and you’ll find yourself in the jewel of Massachusetts, where birch and beech forests give way to sandy dunes, lighthouses and quaint clam shacks as far as the eye can see.

Related: America’s Best Beach Towns

MICHIGAN: TRAVERSE CITY

There’s a reason why top chefs like Mario Batali love Traverse City. Surrounded by cherry blossoms, farmland, vineyards and dunes, this hip, small town in northern Michigan is a short driving distance away from the state’s best wineries. Plan a visit to 2 Lads Winery to taste local Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir.

Related: The Best Wine Made in Every Single U.S. State

MINNESOTA: GRAND MARAIS

Grand Marais is one of the most charming small towns on Minnesota’s North Shore. Book a cabin at Gunflint Lodge, a family summer camp with outdoor activities for all ages.

Related: The Best Lake Towns in America

MISSISSIPPI: BILOXI

Biloxi, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, draws tourists year-round for its warm climate, casinos and resorts. Take a ferry ride to nearby Ship Island and keep a lookout for dolphins along the way.

MISSOURI: LAKE OF THE OZARKS

Ever wonder what total relaxation looks like? We’re pretty sure it’s this lake, where you can fish for walleye, catfish and largemouth bass.

MONTANA: BIG SKY

This mountain town just southwest of Bozeman is the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Visit during the winter for some of the best (and least crowded) skiing in the States.

NEBRASKA: OMAHA

Located on the Missouri River, this city on the Lewis and Clark Trail is worth a visit. One highlight is the Old Market, where brick warehouses dating back to the 1880s have since been converted into a row of galleries and farm-to-table restaurants.

NEVADA: LAKE TAHOE

So, you’ve already taken the obligatory trip to Sin City. Now, head to South Lake Tahoe, a stunning, year-round setting for outdoor activity. (Don’t worry, you can still gamble.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE: PORTSMOUTH

You might not realize that Portsmouth ― with its brick streets, colonial-style houses and bustling Market Square ― is the third-oldest city in the country. The highlight of this lively port city is the waterfront, which is lined with upscale restaurants, pubs, seafood shacks and ice cream parlors.

NEW JERSEY: CAPE MAY

This darling seaside town at the southernmost tip of New Jersey is pretty far from the world of Snooki and The Situation. Think: colorful Victorian homes, old lighthouses, tranquil beaches and horse-drawn carriages ambling up the streets.

Related: 30 Things You’ll Get Only If You’re from New Jersey

NEW MEXICO: SANTA FE

At the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains sits Santa Fe, an enchanting city with a small-town vibe. Art lovers go gaga for the many craft shops selling New Mexican turquoise and pottery, and the charming restaurants with sculpture gardens in the back.

NEW YORK: MONTAUK

Nicknamed “The End,” Montauk is a small seaside town full of natural beauty and pristine shores. While not entirely free from the throngs of New Yorkers escaping the city, Montauk remains a down-to-earth haven for artists and fishermen.

Related: 7 Gorgeous Hamptons rentals to Lock Down Now

NORTH CAROLINA: COROLLA

You don’t need to pack much more than a swimsuit, T-shirt and flip-flops for a trip to this carefree beach town in the Outer Banks. You might even spot a wild horse as you stroll along the shoreline.

NORTH DAKOTA: FARGO

News flash: Fargo, the largest city in North Dakota, is actually pretty hip. In recent years, it’s attracted a techy and entrepreneurial crowd, and as a result, the downtown streets are filled with hip bars and restaurants (like the new hot spot Würst Beer Hall).

OHIO: PUT-IN-BAY

This summer village is found on a small Lake Erie island not far from the Canadian border--and it’s known for an adorable Victorian-era downtown and vibrant nightly party scene.

OKLAHOMA: OKLAHOMA CITY

This friendly capital city is on the rise. Just look at 21c Museum Hotel, a trendy boutique that sprung up in a derelict Ford Motor Company assembly plant. Of course, that’s the norm in Bricktown, where restored, red-brick warehouse buildings line the riverwalk.

OREGON: BEND

Twenty years ago, Bend was virtually unheard of. But today, this up-and-coming city attracts crowds for its gorgeous landscapes and blossoming cultural scene. Above all, Bend is known for craft breweries (you’ll find over two dozen) and easy access to the great outdoors.

PENNSYLVANIA: JIM THORPE

This yearlong tourist destination in the Pocono Mountains is the perfect spot for white-water rafting during summer or a romantic cottage getaway during the snowy winter. (Just be sure to book a room with a fireplace.)

RHODE ISLAND: LITTLE COMPTON

Little Compton is one of the Ocean State’s best kept secrets. Driving toward the beach, you’ll pass rolling farms, Sakonnet vineyards, clam shacks and bait and tackle shops.

SOUTH CAROLINA: BEAUFORT

Antebellum mansions, Spanish moss and lowcountry cooking are just a few of the selling points for this historic, coastal Carolina town. Book a stay at the Cuthbert House Inn (it’s the epitome of Southern hospitality) and soak in the charm.

SOUTH DAKOTA: DEADWOOD

In the heart of the Black Hills mountain range, Deadwood is a real rough-and-tumble Western town, where legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock once walked. Now saloons, rodeos and parades transport visitors back in time to the Gold Rush years.

TENNESSEE: NASHVILLE

It’s called the country capital of the world for a reason. For a vacation full of live music, honkey-tonk and lots of bourbon drinking, head immediately to this bustling town.

Related: Guide to Nashville: The Music City

TEXAS: HILL COUNTRY

Stretching just north of Austin to San Antonio, the Texas Hill Country is known for fields of wild bluebonnets, stellar country music and barbecue that’ll blow your mind. The towns of Bandera and Fredericksburg are two highlights along the 200-mile stretch of country.

UTAH: MOAB

You might be surprised how much this tiny southwestern town has to offer, but there’s much more than blue skies and red-rock canyons. Take a short drive from Moab’s adorable brewery- and bakery-clad main street to find Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, where you can hike and climb around the rock formations.

VERMONT: BURLINGTON

This progressive, Birkenstock-wearing, tofu-eating college town is home to a thriving art scene and an outdoorsy community. Nature-seekers will enjoy Burlington’s hiking and biking trails on the Lake Champlain shoreline with views of the Adirondacks.

VIRGINIA: RICHMOND

Teeming with galleries, craft breweries and public art, there’s no doubt that Virginia’s capital city is experiencing a serious revival. Richmond is also one of the most exciting culinary destinations right now, thanks to hip, new restaurants serving everything from local oysters to small-batch ciders.

WASHINGTON: SAN JUAN ISLANDS

Lopez, Shaw, Orcas and San Juan are the four largest of the San Juan Islands, located between Seattle and Vancouver Island. Each is a nature-lover’s paradise, home to lush forests, rocky coastlines and orcas that swim around the channels.

WEST VIRGINIA: FAYETTEVILLE

Many travelers visit Fayetteville to go rock climbing or white-water rafting in the New River Gorge. But don’t underestimate the charming downtown, lined with interesting restaurants, coffee shops and craft stores filled with pottery and artwork.

WISCONSIN: BAYFIELD

In Bayfield, on the shores of Lake Superior, charming fishing village meets cosmopolitan hot spot. Don’t miss a kayaking day trip or guided boat tour to the carved rock formations found on the nearby 21 Apostle Islands.

WYOMING: JACKSON HOLE

In the heart of the American West, majestic Jackson Hole is surrounded by the snow-capped Teton Mountains and wild Snake River. But don’t worry, indoor gals: There are also luxurious five-star hotels, top spas and trendy restaurants. 

Related:

The Most Beautiful Spot in Every U.S. State

15 Fabulous Things Every Woman Should Do While Traveling Solo

8 Travel Apps That Don’t Require Internet Access

The 15 Most Beautiful Cities in the Entire World

The Best Vacation to Take at Every Stage of Your Relationship

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