#Buy Fireworks London

[showtimefireworks1]

Lighting Up the Night: How to Safely Buy Discounted Fireworks Online

Fireworks have long been a staple of celebrations, from Independence Day to New Year's Eve and beyond. The vibrant colors, dazzling displays, and resounding booms create memories that last a lifetime. However, the cost of fireworks can add up quickly, especially if you're planning a large display. To buy discounted fireworks online offers an affordable way to enhance your celebrations without breaking the bank. Here’s what you need to know to make your purchase both safe and cost-effective.

Advantages of Buying Fireworks Online

Cost Savings: One of the primary benefits to buy Fireworks Online UK is the ability to find discounts that are not typically available at brick-and-mortar stores. Many online retailers offer sales, bulk discounts, and special promotions, allowing you to get more bang for your buck.

Wide Selection: Online fireworks retailers often carry a broader selection of products than physical stores. Whether you're looking for traditional sparklers, elaborate aerial displays, or novelty items like fountains and roman candles, you’re more likely to find exactly what you want online.

Convenience: Shopping online for fireworks allows you to browse at your own pace, compare prices across different sites, and read reviews from other customers. This convenience can save you time and help you make informed purchasing decisions.

Bulk Purchasing: If you're planning a large event, buying in bulk online can provide significant savings. Many online retailers offer wholesale prices for large orders, which can be a game-changer for community events, weddings, or other large gatherings.

Tips for Safe Online Firework Purchases

Check Legality: Fireworks laws vary by state and locality, so it's crucial to ensure that the products you're purchasing are legal in your area. Most reputable online retailers will provide information about where their products can be shipped, but it's always a good idea to double-check local regulations.

Buy from Reputable Retailers: Ensure that the online store you're purchasing from is reputable. Look for customer reviews, Better Business Bureau ratings, and secure payment options. A trustworthy retailer will also provide detailed product descriptions and safety instructions.

Understand Shipping Restrictions: Fireworks are classified as hazardous materials, which mean they are subject to strict shipping regulations. Make sure to review the retailer’s shipping policies, including delivery times and costs. Some states may have restrictions that limit or prohibit the shipment of fireworks.

Safety First: Always prioritize safety when purchasing fireworks. Make sure the products you buy are certified and follow safety guidelines. This includes purchasing fireworks that are clearly labeled with the manufacturer’s information and using them according to the provided instructions.

Final Thoughts

Online Fireworks Shop UK is a fantastic way to enjoy a spectacular celebration without overspending. By taking advantage of online discounts, selecting the right retailer, and adhering to local laws and safety guidelines, you can light up the night with confidence. Whether it's a small family gathering or a large public event, discounted online fireworks can help you create an unforgettable experience. Just remember to celebrate responsibly and safely, ensuring that everyone has a fun and injury-free experience.

Source & Reference: https://sites.google.com/view/showtime-fireworks/lighting-up-the-night-how-to-safely-buy-discounted-fireworks-online

[practicecourts]

December Jily Challenge Bingo list

Loveliest Tumblr friends, I've got one big full @jilychallenge December bingocard for you, and it's not even extensive, so many other amazing holiday fics that I could swap these for. So feel free to add to this bingo card or share your own!

Some are old, some are new, most are jilychallenges, some are not, some fit the prompt better than others, but they are all lovely and full of winter holiday vibes.

Buying presents:

You Two Are Dancing in a Snow Globe Round and Round - tinyluminaryzombie - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @tinyluminaryzombie

light up the static sky - charmingwillow - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @charmingwillow

Fireworks

even brighter than the moon - ginemrys - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @ginemrys

Find me waiting for you under the mistletoe

Mistletoe Mishaps - Chapter 1 - AnnaBtG - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] - @annabtg

Snowball fight

Midnight Train To London - TedwardRemus - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @tedwardremus

Do You Want To Build A Snowman? - Practicecourts - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

Teaming Up - Joyseuphoria - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @joyseuphoria

There's only one tree left

You Need to Branch Out - charmsandtealeaves - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @charmsandtealeaves

Christmas cards

I deserve the truth - Nena96 - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @nena-96

KISS ME BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR

new year's eve don't fuck around - theesteemedladydebourgh - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @theesteemedladydebourgh

Yule Ball

meet me in the afterglow - koalasmiles - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @savannah-5555

There's only one bed

It's Coming Down, It's Coming Down - ritaskeetered - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @wearingaberetinparis

baby, it's cold outside - ohmygodshesinsane - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @ohmygodshesinsane The longest night of the year

Midwinter Magic - Practicecourts - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

Ugly Sweater contest

Heart On Her Sleeve - catj101 - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @booksarelife-stuff

Working (late) on a holiday

Resolutely Lily - Sapphire16 - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @sapphire1616

Taking A Shot At You - AnnaBtG - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @annabtg

Jily in every universe

can this be a real thing, can it? - Zephyrcove - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] by @zephyrcove

In Need of a Christmas Miracle - charmsandtealeaves - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] by @charmsandtealeaves

Jily Challenges | Archive of Our Own

Snow Cherubs & Delayed Deer - YouBlitheringIdiot - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] by @blitheringmcgonagall

Happy Holidays, You Filthy Potters - itsjamespotter - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] by @jamesunderwater

added because HOW COULD I FORGET TO ADD THIS ONE? JILY IN EVERY UNIVERSE by @maluceh

nutmeg, Cinnamon and Orangepeel

Moodboard Family Traditions - orphan_account - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

Hot chocolate

Underneath the Tree - Chapter 1 - womeninthesequel - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @women-inthe-sequel

DInner with the INLaws/ meeting the parents

Home for the Holidays - lightningthief - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @notorious-lightning-thief

Ice Skating lessons

Skating on Thin Ice - Chie (Chierafied) - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @chierafied

Slugclub's Infamous Christmas Party

Hair - scriibblehere - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @scriibble-fics

Harry's first Christmas

The Candle Of Hope - AnnaBtG - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @annabtg

Choices and Consequences II - sweeetbabe - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @sweeethinny

Scarves and mittens

Snow Magic - Practicecourts - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

Lucky Charm - EastWindmlk - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @eastwindmlk

Lights

Starlight - Elastic_Heart31 - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @suzyq31

Aurora - Chie (Chierafied) - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @chierafied

Secret Santa gone wrong

A Greyhound Bus Christmas - PetalsTheFish, gryffindormischief - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @petalsthefish & @gryffindormischief

The Naughty List - abihastastybeans - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @abihastastybeans

spiked eggnog

Snow Globe - Chapter 1 - charmsandtealeaves - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @charmsandtealeaves

Hugging just for Warmth

I've Got My Hate to Keep Me Warm - Dizzy_Bird - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @dizzy--bird

Coming Home for the holidays

One Kiss at Midnight - EastWindmlk - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own] @eastwindmlk

All I Want For Christmas is You by @thejilyship (a last minute addition but so very very fitting with the prompt ;-)

[woso-dreamzzz]

Pictures

Amanda Ilestedt x Reader

Summary: Your girlfriend visits you in London

The sun shone through the blinds directly onto Amanda's face, making it look like she was glowing.

She looked like a goddess, lying asleep in your bed with no care in the world.

With her in Paris and you in London, you rarely got to see each other in person. Both of your schedules were packed for most of the year. Amanda was always on the pitch, always with a ball while you always had a camera around your neck, snapping pictures of the men's and women's teams for Arsenal.

Your work kept you separated but on long weekends or national holidays, you were always together. Most of them, it meant that you flew out to Paris where the two of you would hit all the touristy romantic spots before curling up in Amanda's bed and watching a generic rom-com as you traded kisses.

This was one of the rare times she came to London.

It looked good on her, the English weather. She fit in well here, bundled up in scarves and a long coat with a silly hat on her head.

You smiled as she shifted in her sleep, scrunching up her nose as if she could feel the sun on her.

Absentmindedly, you reached back to grab at the camera you kept handy on your bedside table. It was nothing like your professional camera that got placed in its case as soon as you were finished with it (it was also stupidly expensive and you didn't want to buy a new one after spending so much on the one you currently had) and was a polaroid rather than a digital.

You snapped a picture.

Amanda groaned, turning more fully into the pillow as your camera spat out the picture. "It's too early."

Her voice was heavy with sleep and she cracked open her eyes to look at you.

"It's nearly noon," You replied.

"Too early," She said again," Especially, for you to be taking pictures." She reached out for your camera.

You didn't usually let people touch your camera. You were protective over all of them and got antsy when they were in somebody's else's grip.

But, with Amanda, you didn't mind.

You let her fiddle with it for a bit as you picked up the polaroid you had snapped and inspected it.

You smiled.

"Is that going on your mirror?" Amanda asked. She sat up in bed and nestled closer to you, pulling it down to properly look.

You glanced at your mirror. Everyone who was anyone in your life ended up as a polaroid along the edges of your mirror. Your mother. Your father. Your first family pet. The Arsenal girls were on there as were many of your friends.

But the most pictures on your mirror belonged to your girlfriend.

Very few people got more than one solo shot of themselves displayed but Amanda wasn't like everybody else.

She was your girlfriend, the girl you wanted to spend your entire life with.

A new picture of her appeared on your mirror every time you saw her.

Candids littered the border.

Amanda on a walk, at dinner, lazing around on the sofa. It didn't matter what she was doing, you would take a picture of her doing the most mundane of things if she let you.

"Where else would you go?" You teased, stretching and rising from bed. You slipped this picture between one of her sunbathing on the beach and one of you kissing her cheek with fireworks in the background.

"Well...I was hoping here."

You turned around, frowning. "What do you mean? You're already here."

"No." She shook her head and approached you, her hands finding home on your waist. "I mean permanently."

"I...I don't understand."

"Arsenal made me an offer," Amanda said.

"Arsenal made you an offer," You said, smiling as you reached up to cradle her cheeks, closing the distance between you both with your lips. "Are you going to take it?"

"I am."

[prettylittlels]

Over spilled coffee

(tom blyth x reader)

summary: you accidentally spill coffee over a man, can it be coincidence or just pure luck that he's sitting next to you on a 8 hour flight?

a/n: i've had this concept stuck in my head for days. hope you like it! send requests!

📖🩵🦢🌱🍵🏔⭐️

4:00 am is not my ideal time of the day to wake up to, but going to the airport makes it worth it. My flight to London is in five hours and I'm already at the check-in box, waiting for the airport staff to give me my boarding pass.

After going through customs and security checks, I decide to pass the time at a little coffee shop near my gate. I order an iced coffe and patiently wait by the kitchen island. Going back to my life in London feels amazing after spending the holidays with my family. No more gossip or body shaming me for at least a year!

The barista interrupts my thoughts when she shouts, indicating my coffee was ready. I start to walk towards my precious drink while another man does the same. As I reach the coffee cup, I realize it isn't mine, but when I try to turn around, the man with his beverage in hand blocks my view and the coffee slips from his hand. The dark liquid stains his grey t-shirt completely.

- Oh God! - I say - I'm so, so sorry, sir! -

-It's fine - he looks at me with an angry gaze - I'll just change -

- How can I repay you?- I ask full of regret - Can I buy you another one?-

The man lifts his head and I realize how gorgeous he is. I'm such a moron. He lifts his hand and waves my suggestions away. He's still looking annoyingly at me when he turns around and goes to the men's toilet. Fuck.

————————------• ♡ •------————————

The hours have passed I'm comfortably seated in the plane, window seat secured. New York to London, eight hours to relax and sl- oh no. The guy from the café is right in front of me. He observs his surroundings before settling his eyes on me.

-Oh. - He frowns at me - Hi again- he says. And I catch a subtle english accent

-Hi- I say weakly -What a coincidence, huh?-

-Sure is - responds, lifting his eyebrows sarcastically.

We don't exchange any more words until after the security talk the flight attendants give us. I can't believe I shat my chance at hitting on this beautiful man just because I wanted my stupid coffee, so I start the conversation again.

- Hey, I'm truly sorry for what happened- i say, trying to express my guilt - I see you managed to change your clothes!-

He softens his gaze a notch this time and thanks me.

- I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have reacted like that -

- It's understantable, I would have done the same thing- I smile at him - All good?-

He flashes me a flirty grin. - Everything's good.-

- Good! - I feel relieved - So, London? -

- Yes, work -he answers - I'm staying for a few weeks and then I'm travelling to Birmingham-

-Oh, that's nice - I say- Do you have family there?-

-I do, actually. What about you?-

-I live in London, I'm coming back from my parents house-

-Great - we stare at each other awkwardly - So, what do you do?-

-Oh, I'm a writer - I tell him - You?-

-I'm an actor!- he cheerfully says

-You do look familiar- I laugh - Sorry, what's your name?-

-Oh, right. My name's Tom. Tom Blyth.-

-You played Billy the Kid?- I ask, surprised by his words

-Yes, I did- he smiles appreciative.

-I loved that series! That's why I thought I'd seen you before. Oh, I'm Y/N, by the way. Y/L/N.-

- I haven't heard of you yet, Ms. Y/L/N - he observs

-It's because I'm in the middle of publishing my debut book, actually- I admit.

-When's it gonna come out?- a different accent slios out. Brooklyn, I think.

-Probably in October-

-I'll be waiting for it- he smiles.

The chemistry between us sparked like fireworks. It was so easy to talk to him. We spent all of the flight talking and discussing over things we loved. I didn't want this moment to end.

————————------• ♡ •------————————

The eight hours flew by very quickly, in my opinion, and it was time to say goodbye to my seat-mate.

-I had so much fun today - he tells me - I'm glad you spilled that coffee over me-

-You're funny. But I'm glad, too.-

We grin sweetly at each other, and I was about to part from him when he started talking once more.

-When can I see you again? - he asked, and I'm sure I fell for him right there.

-Anytime you'd like-

————————------• ♡ •------————————

Almost a year went by and we're in very difficult circumstances. Tom has become the interent boyfriend after starring in the new hunger games prequel. And I have sold over 5 million copies of my book in 2 weeks, making my way into a New York Times' bestseller. Life couldn't get any better.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

🔥During the Great Fire of London ...

The First Doctor was busy saving George, Helen, Ida and Alan Mortimer from the flames.

The Fourth Doctor was urging the warring factions of Republicans and Royalists to stop fighting and focus on saving the city, but got blamed for starting it.

The Fifth Doctor and his companions were making a run for it.

Iris Wildthyme was hanging around watching it.

And the Master was setting off fireworks from the roof of a private member's club next to St James' Park.

(Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space, The Republican's Story, The Visitation, Excelis Dawns, Dismemberment)

Whoniverse Facts for Friday by GIL

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[ravenbloodshot]

fr thats why i have mixed feelings on kpop even after being a fan of a few groups and as much as we are being forced to hear about kpop groups everywhere, like we cant escapr their constant promotions they arent helping western artists if anything theyre trying to overule america. do u think itll ever calm down? i mean the groups are literally everywhere. on every brwnd name there is and most normal folk like myself cant usually afford to constantly buy expensive merch nor tour the country just to watch new groups do the same thing as other groups.

if kpop was less about quantity i think it would intruige me more to get back into it but its become overboard in recent years and prices are going up on almost everything. so if i were to even go and see one group lets say ateez in london, it would probs cost me 300-400 maybe more quid as a whole trip. when you add ticket, hotels, merch, lightsticks, those round picture banner things, hotels, train or plane tickets. music is becoming less accessible by the days. i do feel bad for new groups cause bts and blackpink hoarded the spotlight for yonks now other groups are coming abroad and its sometimes hit or miss if i like their songs. for example i prefer ateez to skz music but i still wouldnt justify investing so much to go and see them if their only venue is maybe wembley and or glasgow or wherever they tour.

i feel like groups are so detached or almost out of touch with themselves and what they expect from their fans and listeners or even general music groups. didnt surprise me that ateez were chosen for coachella, blackpink had already done it for gg's that didnt surprise me either. but how is people who have their own lifestyle to afford going to afford kpop investment? we all know the shitty seats are the cheapest but its still a no from me. sighhhh entertainment generally shouldnt be this difficult. i have similar issued with football and frankly its eventually off putting like i want to like something, do i like it? for a while then comes the huge costs it takes to really be into the groups or clubs or other forms of entertainment.

🤷‍♀️

I've never bought a kpop album in my life. I've never bought an album of anyone's whatsoever. What's the point when one can just listen to it for free on YouTube/Spotify?

But, yeah. It's all overpriced, reused concepts and albums. Ateez makes pretty good music imo, Stray kids music isn't my taste so I also agree with you on that.

Thanxx, Fireworks, Guerilla, Bouncy, Rocky etc.... Ateez put out that fire, their new comeback is a miss though

The only song I like by stray kids is Lee know's and Bangchan's song "Drive"

[bisexualchrissycunningham]

Let’s talk about what hellcheer and stali’s idea Valentines Days look like.

I think both Eddie and Chrissy’s v-day is a lot more low-key than some might assume because they’re always relatively affectionate and open with each other about how in love they are so I’d imagine they aren’t as ostentatious as some other couples. Stali? Complete opposite. They both go all out for one another. May or may not include pyrotechnics in their v-day festivities.

Excellent question, anon!

I think you're right on both fronts. Eddie and Chrissy would be very low-key about Valentine's Day. Eddie was probably the guy who railed against how commercial it was before Chrissy, then the first time she softly says, "Actually, I think it can be really romantic…" he instantly starts making elaborate plans and picks fights with whatever friends might accuse him of selling out (I'm thinking our beloved unnamed Corroded Coffin member!) She makes sure he keeps it small and intimate though, starting with a home cooked meal - he cooks for her, she makes dessert. They'd exchange mixtapes and homemade cards with little "Free Hug/Bubble Bath/Weird Kinky Sex" coupons inside cause they're corny like that. They'd end the night with some very intense emotional sex.

For Steve and Kali.. hoo boy. For their first Valentine's Day, Steve would buy out Melvad's entire stock of decorations and chocolates (ok, Joyce would actually put a limit on his purchase but it would still be way too much) and decorate his entire house with all the hearts and at least 2 giant stuffed bears carrying boxes of chocolate hearts. This would be before taking her to Enzo's, for a reservation he had in place six months beforehand. He would have wanted to plan for after dinner too but Kali insisted that was her part.

Assuming Kali has reached a point where she can be fairly vulnerable with Steve (I think that would be her biggest hurdle in the relationship), I think she would go waaay overboard creating an illusion for them both, maybe of a place Steve has talked about wanting to visit with her (maybe her home in London, maybe Tuscany or some tropical beach somewhere). She will have practiced sustaining it beforehand but it still exhausts her to the point she passes out and sleeps for like 14 hours. Steve of course goes into a full-blown panic, getting Dr. Owens on the phone and demanding he fly to Hawkins. Once the doc got the story of what happened out of him, he would assure him she just overtaxed herself and needed the rest.

He would be prepared with her favorite food, water, warm blankets, cold compresses, literally anything she could possibly need upon waking up.

The next year, Steve buys fancy fireworks and burns himself trying to spell her name with them.

Injuring themselves in the name of grandiose displays of love clearly becomes their thing.

[showtimefireworks1]

Buy Discounted Fireworks Online for Your Next Celebration

Find more info at: https://t.ly/1Ebmt

[ivlymonii]

Comfort on New Year's Eve (Fengqing oneshot)

“Why did I ever agree to this?” 

Mu Qing asks himself as he stares up into the night sky, the loud noise of people partying behind him echoing to where he was standing on the balcony. 

Mu Qing sighs and takes out his phone, unlocking it and staring at all the messages that his mother had left him. 

Mama

Mama: 我個乖仔點啊? 喺大學讀得開唔開心啊? 識咗新朋友未啊? (sent 11:27 pm, Hong Kong time)

Mama: 新年快樂啊! (sent 11:27 pm, Hong Kong time)

Mama: 媽咪今個新年離唔到英國探你真係對唔住啊, 我喺香港好忙, 連新年過嚟搵你嘅

`​​時間都無,但喺你生日嘅時候我一定嚟探你!媽咪應承你! 希望你可以你可以原諒媽咪啦! (Sent 11:28 pm, Hong Kong time)

(Translations:

Mama: How’s my good boy? Are you happy studying at the university? Make any new friends?

Mama: Happy New Year! 

Mama: Mami is sorry she can’t come to England to see you this year, I’m very busy in Hong Kong, and can’t even make time to visit you on New Year’s, but I will come to visit on your birthday! Mami promises you she will! I hope you can forgive Mami!)

Mu Qing stares at the last message, his mom hadn’t made it to England to visit him for New Year’s this year, but she’d promised him that she’d make it for his birthday.

The thought that she isn’t there for him this New Year’s made Mu Qing feel… sad? Ever since he was born, Mu Qing always celebrated New Year’s with his mother, making niangao, going to the park to look at the lanterns at night, playing with fireworks at night, those were all the things that they did together, and though it wasn’t much, it made Mu Qing happy, and the fact that his mother was there with him made it ten times better.

But ever since he started college in London, he hasn’t been able to see his mother much, and while she still visits him for New Year’s, Christmas and his birthday every year, the fact that she isn’t here this year just made Mu Qing feel awful.

He wipes away some tears forming in his eyes and takes a deep breath.

It’s just one year, Mu Qing, she’ll be here for your birthday. He tells himself. 

But that doesn’t make it any better.

Mu Qing tries to wipe away more tears forming in his eyes and looks towards the sky once again. 

“Hey.”

A voice rings out from behind him. Mu Qing turns around to see Feng Xin, carrying two cups of what he assumes is tea and looking at him curiously.

“What are you doing out here?” Feng Xin asks. 

“Could say the same for you.” Mu Qing responds, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. “What are you doing here?” 

Feng Xin sighs and leans on the railing of the balcony.

“It was too chaotic in there, had to come out to take a breather.”

“What? Can’t take a bit of noise?” Mu Qing teases him. 

“Hey-” Feng Xin opens his mouth to protest, but stops himself when he sees that Mu Qing is shaking slightly. 

“Hey, are you cold?” 

“No.” Mu Qing says, voice trembling. “I’m fine.” 

Feng Xin sighs. “No, I can see that you’re shivering.” he takes off his jacket and drapes it over Mu Qing. 

“Hey, what are you-” Mu Qing flushes a bit when he feels the jacket being put on him. “I don’t need this.” he glowers at Feng Xin and hands the jacket back to him.

“No, you do.” Feng Xin puts the jacket back onto him and shoves the cup of tea in his hands. “You’re gonna catch a cold if you don’t cover up.” 

“Quit mother-henning me.” Mu Qing rolls his eyes and takes a sip of the tea. The tea is warm, not too bitter, and warms him up the moment it touches his tongue, and he could feel the warmth spreading from his stomach to the tips of his fingers. 

It reminds him of his mom.

Tears start forming in Mu Qing’s eyes again and he wipes them away. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Feng Xin asks him, concerned.

“Of course I’m okay, what makes you think that I’m not okay?” Mu Qing says dryly, but there’s a tremble to his voice and Feng Xin notices that Mu Qing’s eyes are red and there are tear tracks running down his face. 

“Yeah I’m not buying it.” Feng Xin says. “What’s going on?” 

“I said I’m fine, don’t you have better things to do?” Mu Qing rolls his eyes, trying to appear as apathetic as possible. 

“No, no I don't.” Feng Xin says and scoots closer to Mu Qing. “You can tell me what’s wrong.” 

“I told you already, there’s nothing wrong-”

“Mu Qing I will literally not let you leave this balcony unless you tell me what’s wrong, right now.” Feng Xin says firmly, and locks Mu Qing’s wrist in a tight grip. 

“What the- let me go!” Mu Qing tries to yank his arm out of Feng Xin’s grip, but to no avail. 

“I told you, I’m not letting you go until you tell me what’s wrong.” 

Mu Qing struggles to get out of Feng Xin’s grip, and he tries and tries for a long time but to no avail. He eventually gives up and just sighs. 

“Alright, fine.” he sighs in defeat. “I’ll tell you.” 

“Hm.” Feng Xin says, satisfied, and lets go of Mu Qing. 

Mu Qing takes a deep breath. “You know how my mom always comes visit me on New Year’s Eve?” 

“Yeah, I know, she won’t stop fussing over us.” Feng Xin sighs fondly, reminiscing about Mrs Mu’s last visit to their campus, where she fussed over how Feng Xin and Mu Qing kept their dorm room and cleaned and reorganized everything. 

“Yeah well, she didn’t come to visit this year.” Mu Qing hangs his head low, trying to not let Feng Xin see the tears in his eyes. “She promised that she would come on my birthday, but I’m still kinda bummed that she didn’t come for New Year. She always comes to visit, yet this year, she didn’t come. I know it’s silly and kind of stupid, but I haven't seen her in so long and I miss her, you know what I mean?” he sniffs and wipes the tears away. He uses a moment to muster up the courage to look at Feng Xin, fully expecting him to laugh at him or otherwise be weirded out, but once he raises his head, Feng Xin’s expression is unreadable. 

“Don’t, I already know what you're thinking.” Mu Qing turns to the side, expecting Feng Xin to burst out laughing. 

But what he didn’t expect was for Feng Xin to wrap his arms around him and envelope him in a tight hug. 

Mu Qing is startled at first, but eventually melts into the hug and wraps his arms around Feng Xin’s waist. 

“Mu Qing, it’s okay to miss your mom.” Feng Xin says as he rubs circles on his back. “It’s completely fine to be sad about your mom not coming to visit you on New Year’s. You can talk to us about it. Xie Lian, Shi QingXuan, me… We’d all listen.” 

Tears spill out of Mu Qing’s eyes and he cries into Feng Xin’s shirt, but his mouth can’t stop morphing into a smile as he cries, and once he faces Feng Xin, he’s fully smiling. 

That sight makes Feng Xin’s heart leap. 

“I-I know, thanks.” Mu Qing wipes the tears away and looks down. “Feng Xin, there’s something I need to tell you.” 

Feng Xin’s breath hitches. “What is it?” 

Mu Qing takes a deep breath. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but since we’ve known eachother long enough, I might as well tell you..”

“10!”

“What do you mean?” Feng Xin asks nervously. 

“It’s kind of stupid, and you might hate me for it.” 

“9!”

“But,” Mu Qing prepares himself. “I think it’d be better to just tell you instead of hiding it.”

“8!”

“Feng Xin,” Mu Qing begins, staring into Feng Xin’s eyes. 

“7!”

“I have a crush on you.” 

That takes Feng Xin by surprise, and he is frozen for a split second. “W-what?” he says weakly.

“6!”

“It means that I like you, romantically.” 

“5!”

“And I would like you to be my boyfriend.” 

“4!”

Feng Xin has to pinch himself a few times just to make sure he isn’t dreaming. “You’re serious?” 

“Yes.”

“3!”

“Well then,” Feng Xin puts a hand on Mu Qing’s cheek. “I’d like to.” he says as he stares into his eyes. 

“Oh.” a pretty blush floods Mu Qing’s face. “Well then would you want to-” 

“Yes.” 

“2!” 

Mu Qing raises a hand to caress Feng Xin’s cheek, and takes a deep breath. He dives in, lips fitting onto each other perfectly, and touching as soon as the crowd chanted 1. 

“Happy New Year, Feng Xin.” Mu Qing smiles as he presses his and Feng Xin’s foreheads together, fireworks going off in the background. 

“Happy New Year, Mu Qing.” Feng Xin says before diving in for another kiss from his boyfriend. 

originally posted on AO3 under the name of "ikixingyii".

the original fic on AO3

[londonnewyear]

Normal Marching Band to Dazzle at London New Year Fireworks 2024 Parade

London New Year Fireworks 2024 Tickets: The Normal Marching Band, representing students from Normal Community and Normal West High Schools

[dancuny]

Purma Special Camera

As I was cleaning out a box of cameras, looking for the next camera to shoot with and use for my next camera blog, I grabbed a brown case that I had put in the box a long time ago. As I turned the case around, I saw the name Purma on the front of the case and thought to myself, This will be my next camera to discuss or talk about in my blog.

 The Purma Special is a camera I purchased well over 20 years ago. I remember it was early in my collecting and when I was buying and selling on eBay. I started on eBay as a seller and buyer back in early 1997. When you engaged with eBay then, you didn't have your name as an ID, but they assigned you a number you'd use to log in and for sales purposes. I remember my number was 1032 before changing it to my current name, "Clix."

 At that time on eBay, there were no photos on the site, and it was similar to a message board where people would describe what they had for sale, what you were asking for, etc., Very similar to what Craigslist was before photos. Having McKeown's guide for cameras and thumbing through it daily, I was intrigued by cameras from other countries, and the Purma Special was one that I desired at the time due to its odd diamond shape and the fact that it was made in England.

Because the Purma Special camera is, in my opinion, a camera oddity due to the design of the camera, the shutter used, and the somewhat popularity of the camera, it's been reviewed and discussed by several of my camera blog friends like Peggy of Go Camera Go and Mike Eckman. Still, I wanted to make sure people were aware of my odd and unusual take on cameras from yesteryear, so this is more like Peggy's post about my thoughts on using the camera and the overall take on what a camera gem this is.

The Company:

Purma Cameras Ltd. was founded in 1935 in London. The name Purma is a combination of the two owners of the company: Tom Purvis, a well-known artist and lithographer who worked for LNER (London and North East Railway) from 1923 to 43, producing beautiful and popular advertising posters. 

 The other partner in the company was inventor Alfred Croger Mayo, who, along with Joseph Terrett, invented the unusual and very simple gravity-controlled focal plane shutter used in the Purma cameras. I believe this is Purma's real claim to fame and set them apart from other camera companies of the time. They also had financial backing from David Brock of Brock Fireworks, a company that started in 1698 and is the oldest British fireworks manufacturer.

Purma introduced its first camera in 1936, the Purma Speed. It was an enameled metal and chrome camera with a pop-up viewfinder. The Purma Speed camera had six shutter speeds and looked like a more traditional rounded-corner, rectangular camera.

 With the introduction of the Purma Special camera in 1937, the company turned to an all Bakelite camera, along with a flatted diamond shape design with an art deco appeal to the camera due to the thin ridges built into the camera, which extend all around the camera. The Purma Special only had three shutter speeds but has a classic sleek design, and one that was the camera that set them apart design-wise from other cameras. The unique diamond shape and the use of Bakelite, a revolutionary material at the time, gave the Purma Special a distinct look and feel, setting it apart from its contemporaries. 

 The Purma Special was imported to many different countries, including the United States. According to an ad I found from 1939, the camera sold in the US for $14.95. It's my understanding that this was their most popular camera, although I cannot find sales records to prove these claims, as it's just from what I see for sale and the quantity of Purma Special cameras available today. The Purma Special was a popular choice among amateur photographers and was widely available in the market, contributing to its popularity and the large number of units still in circulation today.

There are a couple of unique features of the Purma camera. One is the 'pop out' lens, which is concealed by a thread in the lens cap, a clever design that protects the lens when not in use. When you screw the lens cap back onto the camera, it also locks the shutter. Unfortunately, these lens caps get lost, and many of the used Purma cameras are sold without the lens cap. The second is the use of plastics in the viewfinder. Purma was the first to do this, a pioneering move that made the camera lighter and more durable. These innovative features were ahead of their time and contributed to the Purma Special's appeal among photographers.

Purma also introduced the Purma Plus in 1951, which had an aluminum body and sold for £12.00 at the time. Production for the Purma Plus lasted until 1959. I cannot find why the company stopped producing its camera, so I assume it closed around 1960.

 The Camera:

My Purma Special camera measures 6 3/4" wide by 2 3/4" tall by 2 1/4" deep with the lens cap on the camera, and the camera weighs 12 oz without the fitted leather case.  The camera has a Beck 2 1/4"  F6.3  lens with a fixed focus from 12' to infinity. Purma did sell a series of close-up and portrait attachment lenses that allowed for focus from 3.5 to 5' but were sold separately. These are items I do not have.

The Purma cameras use 127-size roll film and produce 16-1 1/4" square images on the negative. The Purma special doesn't have a locking mechanism to keep the back attached to the front of the camera. They are held together just by friction, but the back of the camera fits tightly to the front. The friction held back doesn't prevent it from accidentally opening if something were to happen. To open the back of the camera, there is a tiny thumb notch where you put your fingernail in and pull the back from the front.

The camera utilizes two red windows on the back of the camera, so you get 16 frames on the film; the photographer winds the film to the #1 exposure on the left window, then after taking the photo, winds the film so the #1 exposure shows up on the right side window utilizing the same frame number for both the left and right red window on the back of the camera. Once you shoot frame #1 on the right red window, the photographer winds to frame #2 on the left side window, and so on.

The Purma Special has a curved film track that holds the film flat against the shutter with a two-sided pressure plate attached to the camera's back door. The shutter system only has three shutter speeds. The shutter uses a series of different size slits in the metal curtain along with a brass weight within the camera to determine what shutter speed is used. The camera also depends on how you hold it, which would set the shutter speeds used. Remember, the negative is square, so having the camera in either vertical position doesn't change the image in the frame. It will only change the orientation of how the image is captured on the negative.

When you hold the camera in the usual horizontal position, the shutter would shoot, and the medium shutter speed would be 1/150th second. Turning the camera so the advance lever was at the bottom, or the "slow" speed, the shutter, the camera shutter is set to 1/25th sec. When you turn the camera in the other direction, with the film advance lever at the top, which puts the shutter in the "fast" position, the shutter speed is set to 1/450 sec.

To take a photo, the photographer needs to cock the shutter. To do this, you turn the circular wheel on the top of the camera in the direction of the arrow. There is a small piece of bakelite sticking out to turn the wheel fairly easily. Once you turn the wheel in the counterclockwise position, the wheel will stop, and you'll hear a click which means the shutter is cocked and ready to make the exposure. You can do this with the lens cap on, but the shutter won't release until the lens cap is off. 

 The shutter release is on the top and left side of the camera. Simply press the shutter release to trip the shutter. BUT REMEMBER. Turn the camera as needed to change the shutter speed, especially since the camera has a fixed aperture lens. Wind the film to the next frame, then repeat until. It was odd for me to use this camera as I'm not used to having the shutter release on the camera's left side.

For those interested, here’s the original instruction manual for the Purma Special Camera

My Results:

I did have some outdated Film for Classics 127 film in my drawer, so I loaded up the camera and went to a local waterfall to take photos on an overcast Sunday afternoon. Go figure a cloudy day when living near Portland, Oregon. That will be my life for the next four months or so. The results were OK, but I was mildly disappointed when I looked at what Peggy and Mike did with the camera.

 It may also have been the fact that the film I processed was processed in a different tank than I'm used to using for 127 film, and I messed up putting it on the developing reel, so that was my fault. I have noticed whenever I use the Film From Classics film, the imprint from the paper backing seems to bleed onto the negatives, and I'm unsure if that's due to the film's age and being out of date by a year or two or something else.

 Here's what I salvaged from the messed-up developing roll I put through the Purma Special camera. It's nowhere near as lovely as Peggy or Mike's photos, but overall, it yielded decent results.

My Conclusion:

It was a fun camera to shoot with. Turn the camera to set the speed, point at your subject, and shoot the camera (with your left hand). Wash, rinse, and repeat. I hoped for better results but tried a different reel to process the film.

 Thank you for reading the blog post on the Purma Special camera. I'll definitely use it in the future due to its simplicity and unique shutter system.

 Until next week, please be safe.

[nightofproms]

AMANO Covent Garden’s Ultimate London New Year Fireworks 2025

AMANO Covent Garden is preparing to host an extraordinary London New Year fireworks 2025 celebration offering guests. An exclusive opportunity to experience a luxurious evening at two of its signature venues

[whatsjenniupto]

Dear Paris, I'm Trying Very Hard to Like You. Honest.

At no point have I ever wanted to go to Paris. Ever.

To be fair, I am one who tends to see what everyone else wants to do and go the opposite direction. Crowds? Bandwagons? Popular Opinions? Nah. Not for me.

I'm sure this attitude has played into my lack of desire for Paris. That, and the fact that French refuses to stick in my head.

But then I saw the hand-off from Tokyo to Paris at the end of the 2020 Olympics. I have never wanted to see Paris so much.

Fast forward to pre-Paris 2024. I was all signed up for the early ticket release. This was going to happen. I was going to the Olympics in Paris.

And then I couldn't get my log in to work and forgot to try again before my window closed.

And then my reason for being in Europe into July got cancelled.

My dreams of Paris 2024 were dying. I tried to accept this. I don't really care if I see Paris. It's fine. I can watch way more Olympic coverage from my house.

This lasted for two days of the Olympics.

I had been in London during the Olympics and knew how different the city was during the Games. I knew that if I was ever going to do Paris, it needed to be now during the Games. It was also at this point that I learned I was getting reimbursed for a trip I took a group of high schoolers on earlier in the summer. All of a sudden, I went from having already purchased a trip to Europe, I cannot purchase two -- SERIOUSLY, JENNIFER. YOU MAY NOT BUY TWO TRIPS TO EUROPE THIS SUMMER. To wait...could I get to the Paralympics?

AIRFARE IS $600?! Lodging for $340?! As in, most of this trip is less than that other trip's reimbursement?!

We're going to Paris!

Still unmotivated by basically all of Paris, I planned for a Paralympic event every day and filled in the remainder of my time with Parisian sights. The goal was to one and done Paris. Up first, I was going to put every single travel experience of my life to good use and beat jet leg into non-existence so I could land in Paris, drop my backpack at my flat, and head to a Fan Zone to watch the Opening Ceremony.

I searched for a fan zone that was close to a metro and a grocery store so I could grab dinner. The winning location was the Mairie du 11e arrondissement. After delays due to baggage, flat access, and dinner purchase, I finally got to the fan zone after the ceremony had started. The fan zone was pretty busy with all the seating already in use, so I opted for sitting on a fence right outside the fan zone, joining a group of others who had the same idea.

There was plenty of police presence within the fan zone, keeping tabs on what was happening in the area around them. I kept tabs on my surroundings and my main discovery was that Paris smokes everything they possibly can. As we neared 11pm and the lighting of the cauldron seemed quite a ways off, I started weighing my options. I had sunrise plans in the morning. How late did I want to stay out?

Looking around as I debated, I saw a man surrounded by police, getting a full body search on the other side of the very small corner park. The man who had been sitting next to me for the last 2+ hours.

Huh. Welcome to Paris.

Cauldron has been lit. I do not even care if I only have to wait 5 more minutes to get fireworks. I'm out.

[showtimefireworks1]

Fireworks for Sale Online: A Sparkling Opportunity

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Buy Discounted Fireworks Online offers a convenient, cost-effective, and informative way to prepare for celebrations. By choosing reputable retailers and adhering to safety and legal guidelines, consumers can enjoy a dazzling display that adds excitement and joy to their festivities.

[aro-absol]

What a great video! I put the transcript that YouTube provides under the cut (Transcriber: Gabriella Chihan Stanley Reviewer: Denise RQ). I just edited the time stamps out and changed the format a little for better legibility.

On a warm and sunny day in 2011, I stood in a crowd of a million people in central London for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Conducting interviews with those around me, I was struck by their great joy and optimism about the future; not just the future of William and Kate, but their own future as well. Several people talked about how the fact that Kate Middleton is a commoner, meant that anyone can marry a prince. (Laughter) As one woman in the crowd told me: "This girl is becoming a princess today, and that's part of the excitement. "I wonder what she thought this morning when she got up and shaved her legs." (Laughter) "Oh, I'm becoming a princess!" (Laughter) She went on: "Kate Middleton grew up normal, like us! Everyone dreams of marrying a prince. We all dream about it." Like this woman, I too, grew up on stories of true love and happily ever after.

[Someday my prince will come]

I would watch Disney's Cinderella and Snow White as if they were instructions manuals (Laughter) - Yes! - (Laughter) on how to go from being poor and downtrodden to that white castle in the sky. When I was young I was certain that I too would ride off into the sunset with someone who would lead me into a better, more secure future. (Sigh) But I hate to tell you... by the time of the Royal Wedding, I no longer believed that love would save me. When it comes to romance, my heart long ago turned to stone.

[Romance under a microscope]

But wait! I got this way not from love gone wrong, in fact, I have the best partner on earth. I got this way because of what I do for a living: I'm a professor, and I've been teaching a course on the sociology of heterosexuality for two decades now. I'm also writing a book about romance that is taking me everywhere from the Royal Wedding to vampire tourism in Italy (Laughter) to interviewing over a hundred young people in North America who were planning their own weddings. And teaching and writing about romance for all these years has taught me a few things. The first thing I learned about romance is that is thoroughly modern. It's not that there weren't earlier ideas of romance like Guinevere and Lancelot, or Romeo and Juliet, but if you think about it, these romantic stories did not occur in marriage. It was about a knight and his Lady, but she was married to her Lord. Or stories about going against your family's wishes, like Romeo and Juliet. In any case, let's just say, these pre-modern love stories generally, didn't end well. (Laughter) Our contemporary notion of romantic love, that we will find our better future when we see our one true love across a crowded room, that we will feel butterflies in our stomach, that when we kiss, fireworks will go off behind us, and then we will get married, and live with that person happily ever after, that's such a thoroughly modern idea you can't even find it before the 1800s. I would actually date the start of modern romance somewhere around 1850, probably around the time when this woman, Esther Howland, started making Valentine's Day cards in Worcester, Massachusetts.

[Mass produced emotions]

Although never married herself (Laughter) Ms. Howland's Valentine's Day cards represent the most important thing we need to know about romantic love: it was born alongside capitalism. Capitalism commodified our authentic human emotions into something we could buy. Ever since Ms. Howland started her business, capitalism and romance have been in bed together.

[Romance is the opiate of the masses]

The story of capitalism then, has always been a love story. Capitalism sells us an ideology: romance, that makes us ignore material reality in favor of fantasy. Most people who've studied capitalism, haven't paid much attention to romance: Karl Marx thought that capitalism happened because the modes of production changed, Max Weber thought that capitalism happened because of protestantism and this radical idea that God might actually want us to make a profit. But the truth is capitalism wouldn't have had a chance, had it not been for romance. Capitalism and romance worked together like a well-oiled machine. This machine, let's call it Love Inc., convinces us to work hard now for some future payoff, but the payoff we learned to want is not necessarily more money and more material goods, but meeting our one true love and living happily ever after. We just have to buy the right toothpaste, the right clothing, the right engagement ring, the right wedding dress, or even watch the right TED talk to make that future happen. (Laughter)

[Birds don't fall in love]

The second thing I learned about modern romance is it's not natural. (Laughter) Cole Porter told us that birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it (Laughter) but I doubt it. We have to learn to believe that romantic love is our path to happiness just as we have to learn to believe in one god over another. No one is born wanting a white wedding dress, average cost about 1,300 dollars, (Laughter) a diamond ring about 5,600 dollars, or gifts and cards for Valentine's Day. Annual amount spent in the United States: 17.6 billion dollars. We have to be taught to want these things. We learn how to fall in love with each other and from our culture, from movies, love songs, romance novels. We even learned how to fall in love from our governments in the form of laws, who gets to be married, who doesn't, what rights and privileges go along with that. And of course, we learned to believe in romance because we exist in an economy that depends on romance to sell us stuff.

[Romance provides a smokescreen]

This leads me to the third thing I've learned about romance. It's difficult to take a look at the ideological work it's doing because it hides behind this smoke screen of claiming that romantic love is natural, that love is all we need, and anyone can fall in love. Romance is propaganda like any other ideology, little slogans that we say to each other like "love is blind" that trick us into feeling optimistic about our futures so we don't pay much attention to things like the distribution of wealth or the environment. (Laughter) Love is not blind. When we look at marriage in the US we see that people almost never marry outside their class, and rarely marry outside their race. In the US today, marriage has primarily become a sign of distinction, a status symbol, like wearing a Rolex watch. But it's also an optional one, that's primarily for college-educated people who are also whiter and wealthier than the population. A minority of adult Americans are married and even fewer people are married in Europe. Not only that, but white weddings are costing more now than ever.

[Love is not free]

The average cost of a wedding in the US has been rising despite the ongoing economic recession and it's now 30,000 dollars. You can double or even triple that in big cities like New York where the average wedding is now 86,000 dollars. To put that into perspective, the median household income in the US is about 52,000 dollars, and for a black family is about 38,000 dollars.

[The "traditional" family] Even if you find your one true love, and you have that perfect wedding, romantic love rarely leads to the happily ever after of the ideal family. In the US, since the end of World War II there was this dream of getting married, buying a house in the suburbs, having 2.3 kids and a white picket fence. (Laughter) The US government even subsidized this dream with zero-interest housing loans for returning soldiers. But this nuclear family was always more of a shimmering mirage than a lived reality. The nuclear family that some conservative commentators mistakenly referred to as the "traditional" family, was really a product of the nuclear age. At that time, only about 40% of Americans lived in a family with 2 parents and kids; today, fewer than 20% do. By selling us an ideal that almost none of us will have, romance managed to make us keep looking. Keep looking for that happy ending: If only we'd found the right partner or the right house, or the right picket fence.

[Love is not all we need]

Not only is love not blind, but it's hardly all we need. In the US, 45.3 million people live in poverty, and about 1 in 5 children do. We all need adequate food, shelter, and water. We also need meaningful work and liveable wages, we need to cut back a little climate change with all our energies, we need racial and gender justice. We need peace. Even if we find our own happily ever after, we still may not survive the future. But because we come to believe romance is what gets us to a better future, we spend an enormous amount of time and resources on coupling, and very little on the challenges we actually face.

[The romance of Reaganomics]

This brings me to the fourth thing I've learned about romance: it might actually destroy our future. Even though romance makes us feel optimistic about tomorrow, it's also taking us down this dead end of private lives when what we need most are community and global solutions. How did this happen? How did we stop believing in a common future and become obsessed with our own private happy endings? I think it happened because a new form of capitalism, often referred to as neoliberalism, came along and privatized everything, from education, to healthcare, to our futures. In the US, this new form of capitalism began with this man, Ronald Reagan. As Reaganomics took hold, so did romance. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that seven months after Reagan took office Charles, Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer in the most fairytale of weddings. 750 million people watched it around the world. One BBC commentator described the event as, "A fairytale fantasy. It's like something out of Walt Disney."

[Disney Rediscovers Romance]

Speaking of Disney, the corporation wasn't doing very well in the 1980s but it managed to turn itself around by reinvigorating romance as its genre of choice. After really poor sales with non-romantic films like "Honey, I shrunk the kids," or "Oliver and Company," Disney went back to its romantic roots, and in 1989 it hit the jackpot with "The little mermaid" and "Pretty Woman." Both of these movies, which I'm sure you've seen, convince us that love is blind and even if we have to completely abandon our families and communities, love will lead into a better future. (Laughter) These movies sent Disney profits up 35%, and nearly 57% on the sale of videocassettes, and if you don't know what those are, you'll have to look it up. (Laughter)

[US Income Inequality]

After several decades of Reagan-style economic policies in the US, the top 10% now accounted for 80% of the wealth. And the top 1% accounted for 47% of income. Recently, en economist who studies the global concentration of wealth pointed out that this level of income inequality is not only detrimental to economic growth, but it can also "lead to a capture of the political process by a tiny high income and high wealth elite." This is an outcome that already seems to have happened in US politics. And this redistribution of wealth happened because romance seduces us into privatizing our futures. Instead of imagining we're all in this together if we want a happy ending, we imagine we can enter a better world by the virtue of falling in love. It's not that there was a conspiracy of global capitalism and romance, it's just that romance could do the emotional labor for this new type of capitalism, and so, we've clung to it the way a princess clings to her prince when the evil witch is about to destroy the world.

[Keep Calm. Your Prince Will Come. Panic! There is no prince!]

Love is worth taking a closer look at precisely because it is neither natural nor universal. Romance teaches us not to deal with a reality but fantasies. Money, divorce, decreasing happiness are not to be acknowledged. Global climate change, a world-wide redistribution of wealth in the hands of the few at the cost of many can be ignored as we increasingly spend our time and energy searching for the perfect romance. Romance promises everyone, rich or poor, black or white, straight or gay that he can reap its rewards. You can be old and have failed at romance over, and over, and over again, but just keep trying; your prince or princess is out there. (Laughter) You can be poor and have no way out of poverty, but still, imagine that one day you might marry a prince.

[The End?]

Haven in the form of a fairytale ending is just around the corner if you just follow the rules: Show yourself to be a good, romantic citizen, buy the right stuff. No wonder so many of us feel this enchantment. But also, no wonder so many of us feel the purpose and hope that is at the heart of romance. This is where the marriage of romance and capitalism draws its strength: we are being sold hope in increasingly hopeless times, and we're buying it like never before. Which brings me to the fifth and final thing I've learned about romance: it's not all there is. We do not need love Inc., we can feel hopeful and connected to others by working together to face the future as communities, not as couples. If we want a better future, we're going to have to move beyond our own private happily ever after, we're going to have to spend our resources and our emotional energy on that communal future, and stop getting caught up in Love Inc. I realise that this is hardly a love story I've told you, but I hope it will leave you with the deeply romantic belief that the future can be better than the present. Thank you. (Applause)

Love is a scam designed by big marriage to sell more weddings

[londonnewyear]

London New Year Eve Fireworks and Festivities Await

The countdown to London New Year Eve Fireworks is always an exhilarating time, and 2024 promises to be no exception.