#Christophe Busch

[ronnydeschepper]

De leestips van Nonkel Fons (329)

Fons Mariën gaf vijf sterren aan De duivel in elk van ons van Christophe Busch. Continue reading De leestips van Nonkel Fons (329)

[coimbrabertone]

Winning Streaks in NASCAR

What do you do when a NASCAR race has a disappointing result? Well, you turn it into content I suppose.

Christopher Bell won his third race in a row in what has been a stinker of a start to the 2025 season. First Byron sees the entire field wreck in front of him to snatch the Daytona 500 when, then Bell essentially does the same thing in Atlanta, winning a three-wide photo finish when the caution came out, and then at COTA, Bell charges through the field in the closing laps to take the win.

It got so bad that, leading into Phoenix, the winning drivers had only led a total of nineteen laps. Ouch.

That stat will at least look better now since Bell was probably the best car at Phoenix and spent an annoying amount of the race up front.

This means he's won at a drafting track, a road course, and a mile.

I will begrudgingly admit that shows a diverse range of skills.

That being said, it's also something that's become very rare. Drivers will win a lot of races in a row in something like Formula One or MotoGP because those sports typically see the best racers getting the best machinery and blowing everyone else away.

NASCAR does typically see the best drivers get the best machinery, sure, but it's different.

First of all, there's a lot more cars in NASCAR, and it's a lot easier to be the best of twenty than it is to be the best of thirty-six.

Second of all, ever since the sport started declining in popularity in the late-2000s, NASCAR has done everything they can to encourage competition and a variety of winners.

NASCAR forces teams into smaller and smaller boxes, meaning everyone's running close to the same equipment. NASCAR has stage cautions built into the race to bunch the field up and create chaotic restarts. Even if you do go a lap down, NASCAR has the lucky dog gimmick that lets the first car a lap down when the caution comes out automatically come back to the lead lap.

All of this makes it damn hard to go back-to-back in NASCAR, let alone win three in a row.

One of the biggest contributing factors, I think, is the current playoffs format. Launched in 2014 as the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the current playoff format divided the season into four blocks: first, the twenty-six race regular season, during which, drivers who win get one of the 16 slots in the playoffs.

If less than 16 drivers win, the slots go to the points. If more than sixteen win in the regular season - which hasn't actually happened before, the closest was 2022 - then I believe the winners will be arranged in order of points.

Then there's the elimination blocks: the Round of 16 uses three races to reduce the field to 12 drivers, the Round of 12 uses three races to reduce it to 8, and then the three races in the Round of 8 determine the final four. The Round of 4 is then a one race showdown at the season finale, the winner of which becomes that season's NASCAR Cup Series champion.

So why do I blame this for winning streaks becoming rare?

Two reasons.

One: the win and you're in format means there's little reason to go for multiple wins. Sure, you can get a couple extra playoff points, but the pressure is off.

Two: the win and you're in format also encourages a driver with a bad season to do everything they can to steal a win, even if it means screwing over a better driver. Originally, NASCAR had a rule that you had to be in the top thirty in points to get the playoff slot, but then they removed that rule ahead of the 2023 season.

So, what happened at the 2024 Richmond race? Austin Dillon wrecked the shit out of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to take a win while being 34th in points, at the time last among full-time drivers.

It was so flagrantly dirty that even NASCAR had to fine him and strip him of his playoff slot.

So, it didn't work in that case, thank God, but Harrison Burton would win Daytona two races later to similarly go from damn near rock bottom in points into locking himself into the top sixteen.

Then, in the very next race, Chase Briscoe won at Darlington to lock himself in as well, despite Stewart-Haas Racing otherwise having a final season from hell.

So yeah, the format breeds chaos.

Case in point, nobody won three races in a row in 2014, the first season of this playoff format. Jimmie Johnson was closest, winning the Coke 600 at Charlotte and then winning the next race at Dover, then finishing sixth at Pocono before winning Michigan to win three outta four races.

Brad Keselowski would also go back-to-back with wins at Richmond and Chicagoland, while Kevin Harvick won the last two races of the season at Phoenix and Homestead.

Three drivers going back-to-back, but none with a threepeat.

Then 2015 changed things, with two threepeats.

First was Kyle Busch, who came back from a leg injury that kept him out of the first eleven races of the season to then win three in a row. Kyle would win in his fifth race back at Sonoma, then finish 17th at the summer Daytona race, but would bounce back to win Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Indianapolis all in a row. So not only three in a row, but four outta five races.

This, combined with the format and a fifth win of the season at Homestead, would get Kyle Busch the championship.

Missing eleven races and then winning the championship is already a problem, but that wasn't even the biggest shitshow in 2015.

That honor goes to the Logano/Kenseth beef.

Matt Kenseth, after spending years dragging a struggling Roush Fenway Racing car to wins, moved to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2013, instantly competing for the championship. 2015 was a similarly good year, with him winning at Bristol, Pocono, Michigan, Richmond, and then at New Hampshire in the Round of 16 to automatically get into the Round of 12.

Joey Logano, meanwhile, drove that JGR #20 before Kenseth did, and when JGR cut him, Logano found a landing spot at Penske, taking over the Shell/Pennzoil #22. 2014 was already a breakout win for Logano, winning five races, but 2015 was shaping up to be even better, as Joey won the Daytona 500, Watkins Glen, and the Bristol Night Race in the regular season, and then kicked off the Round of 12 with a win at Charlotte.

This meant Joey already had a berth into the Round of 8, while Kenseth needed a win after crashing out at Charlotte to squander a pole position and finish 42nd. Kenseth was hoping to avenge that loss at Kansas, while Logano is looking to go back-to-back.

They're battling for the lead at the end of the race...and Logano spun Kenseth out and wrecked him. Logano wins at Kansas, that's two in a row for him.

Then Logano wins at Talladega to sweep the Round of 12, whilst Matt Kenseth is eliminated.

Only Matt Kenseth made sure that Logano had nothing to celebrate, because at the first race of the Round of 8 at Martinsville, Kenseth tangled with the Penskes of Keselowski and Logano, came back out onto the track with a damaged car, and proceeded to wreck Logano. Kenseth would be suspended for the next two races, but Logano would fail to win at Texas or Phoenix, meaning that after winning three in a row in the Round of 12, Logano was eliminated in the Round of 8.

Nobody won three in a row in either 2016 or 2017, but 2018 was a bizarre season where three drivers did.

Kevin Harvick was first, doing the same thing that Christopher Bell did this year and winning three in a row within the first four races in the season. In Harvick's case, it was Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

Kyle Busch then matched that feat a few races later, winning Texas, Bristol, and Richmond.

Then Brad Keselowski joined the club, winning at Darlington and Indianapolis to end the regular season before winning the first race of the Round of 16 at Las Vegas.

So which one of them won the championship? None of them.

It was Joey fucking Logano avenging his 2015 season by winning the title. It was one of the weakest paths to the championship too, with him winning Talladega in the regular season, coasting through the Round of 16 and Round of 12, and then winning at Martinsville in the Round of 8 to seal his place in the championship four. Then, it was just a matter of winning at Homestead to take the championship.

Three drivers won three in a row, but Logano won the championship off the back of three wins total.

That's what I mean when I say that none of this matters, because once Harvick, Busch, and Keselowski locked themselves in, those extra wins didn't do anything for them.

It certainly didn't win them the 2018 championship.

Nobody would win three in a row in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, or 2024, but 2021 has an example of the same driver winning three in a row...twice.

Kyle Larson.

Yes, after sitting out most of 2020 after saying a racial slur during an iRacing event on Twitch, Kyle Larson was back in NASCAR, driving the #5 for Hendrick Motorsports...and he put that car to work.

First win of the season came at Vegas, then he'd have to contend himself with a few second places and stage wins before going on his first threepeat run starting with the Coke 600 at Charlotte.

Larson would dominate Charlotte, sweeping all three stages and then taking the win. Sonoma was a similar story, with Larson winning both stages and then taking the win, while at Nashville, Larson decided to keep it modest by only winning stage two and the race, letting former teammate Kurt Busch win stage one while he was in second place.

Larson's fifth win of the season was somewhat controversial as he knocked teammate Chase Elliott out of the way on a restart to win Watkins Glen while Elliott had to be content with second place.

Kyle's sixth win of the season was another one-off, with him winning the Bristol Night Race.

Kyle's seventh win of the season was probably the most impressive, because at one point during that Charlotte Roval race, he was in the pits with his hood up, but Larson would rally to win the race...along with the next two at Texas and Kansas for his eighth and ninth wins of the season. This was his second threepeat.

Finally, Larson would win at Phoenix to make it ten wins and the most dominant season in the modern era.

So...will Bell's threepeat age like Harvick, Busch, and Keselowski's from 2018, or will it turn into an all-time season like Larson's threepeats from 2021?

Only time will tell.

[pintowski]

Your Birthday = Your NASCAR Driver

[khevlfc]

[music-wrestling-nascar-fangirl]

@citrisz

[an-ivy-covered-summer]

nice series [W] there, guys!

dodgers vs cubs // apr 7, 2024

[arcimboldisworld]

Das grosse Feuer - Oper Zürich 30.03.2025 #beatfurrer #tatjanagürbaca #thomasstangl #leighmelrose #uraufführung #oper #operalover #musicwasmyfirstloveanditwillbemylast

[dgf2099]

The Driver Suit Blog-Paint Scheme Tracker-February 12, 2025

By David G. Firestone RICK WARE RACING #01 Corey LaJoie #01 DuraMax/Take 5 Oil Change Chevy Camaro-New scheme for 2025, black with red stripes. B TRACKHOUSE RACING #1 Ross Chastain #1 Busch Light Chevy Camaro–No change. A Ross Chastain #1 Kubota Chevy Camaro–New scheme for 2025, red stripe fade to black stripe fade to red. B Ross Chastain #1 Trackhouse Chevy Camaro-New scheme for 2025, gray and…

[totoochristianwolff]

Toto Wolff for the Gentlemen's Journal [interview link] 📸 Christopher Busch

[vinstoncup]

NASCAR ASKS: 2025 EDITION

ROSS CHASTAIN: Have you ever taken a wild risk that paid off?

AUSTIN CINDRIC: A skill you picked up really quickly.

TAKUMA KOGA: Do you sim race? If not, would you ever want to?

JUSTIN HALEY: What makes you feel lucky?

KYLE BUSCH: Something you’ve been doing your whole life.

CHASE ELLIOTT: Does anyone put unrealistic expectations on you?

JENNIFER JO COBB: A time you had to go it alone.

DENNY HAMLIN: A goal you’re still chasing.

RYAN BLANEY: Assuming it was totally safe, which planet would you want to visit?

HAILEE DEEGAN: Did you like to play in the dirt as a kid?

CHRIS BUESCHER: What nicknames have people given you? Do you like them or not?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Thoughts on chili?

JOSH BERRY: What reminds you of home?

AMBER BALCAEN: Have you ever been on TV? Do you know someone who has?

JOEY LOGANO: Are you superstitious?

BUBBA WALLACE: A time you made a positive impact.

TONI BREIDINGER: Something you’re cautious about.

DANIEL HEMRIC: Something it took a long time for you to master.

ERIK JONES: A time things didn’t go the way you hoped.

TYLER REDDICK: Something you just got away with by the skin of your teeth.

ALEX BOWMAN: Packed city streets or twisty mountain roads?

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Something you came back to after a long time away.

TY GIBBS: Ever met anyone with a god complex?

ISABELLA ROBUSTO: What do you like to do outdoors?

RAJAH CARUTH: A movie from your childhood that still inspires you.

DANIEL SUAREZ: What’s your dream car?

DALE EARNHARDT: Is anyone scared of you?

TERRY LABONTE: What’s your perfect breakfast?

ALAN KULWICKI: A time everyone underestimated you and you proved them wrong.

BILL LESTER: A time you helped someone who was tech illiterate.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Something you grew up doing with your family.

DARRELL WALTRIP: Infodump about anything you want!

PATTY MOISE: A time you went super fast.

MATT KENSETH: A small decision you made that had a huge butterfly effect.

DAVID PEARSON: A time you thought you were gonna fail at something, but wound up crushing it.

HIDEO FUKUYAMA: A childhood dream you had. Did it come true?

JEFF GORDON: What’s your most vibrant outfit?

WILLY T. RIBBS: A time you refused to hold your tongue.

WENDELL SCOTT: A time you had to put something together with no budget.

KEN SCHRADER: Favorite candies?

ADAM PETTY: What was your last phone call about?

SHAWNA ROBINSON: Are you a good photographer?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Ever been so good at something that people thought you were cheating? If not, do you know someone who was?

MARA REYES: Are you busy today?

TAMMY JO KIRK: If you had all the money for one right now, would you rather buy a car or a motorcycle?

JANET GUTHRIE: Do you like flying?

MICHAEL JORDAN: What are you most known for?

RICK HENDRICK: A time you snuck through a loophole.

JODI GESCHICKTER: A big change you made recently.

BRAD DAUGHERTY: A talent you have that other people might not know about.

[daughterofhecata]

Reading List 2023

Ocean Vuong: Night Sky With Exit Wounds

Alena Mornštajnová: Hana

Wolfgang Benz: Theresienstadt. Ein Geschichte von Täuschung und Vernichtung.

Jáchym Topol: Die Teufelswerkstatt [org. title: Chladnou zemí]

Ocean Vuong: Time is a Mother

Richard Siken: Crush

Ben Nevis: Die Drei ??? Die Yacht des Verrats

Frank Wedekind: Frühlings Erwachen (reread)

James Ellroy: Die Schwarze Dahlie [org. title: The Black Dahlia]

André Marx: Die Drei ??? und der Puppenmacher

Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #2. Mord unter Palmen.

Peter Hallama: Nationale Helden und jüdische Opfer. Tschechische Repräsentationen des Holocaust.

Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer: Die Drei ??? Späte Rache

Kim Newman: Professor Moriarty. The Hound of the D‘Urbervilles. (reread)

Vera Schiff: The Theresienstadt Deception. The Concentration Camp the Nazis Created to Deceive the World.

Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #2. Mord unter Palmen. (reread)

Josef Bor: Die verlassene Puppe [org. title: Opuštěná panenka]

Kari Erlhoff: Rocky Beach Crimes #1. Tödliche Törtchen.

Susanna Partsch: Wer klaute die Mona Lisa? Die berühmtesten Kunstdiebstähle der Welt.

Kathy Reichs: Virals #1. Tote können nicht mehr reden. [org. title: Virals] (reread)

Arthur Schnitzler: Reigen (reread)

Evelyn Boyd: Die Drei ??? Teuflisches Foul

Faye Kellerman: Der Zorn sei dein Ende [org. title: The Hunt]

J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye

Władysław Szlengel: Was ich den Toten las [org. title: Co czytałem umarłym]

Hanna Krall: Dem Herrgott Zuvorkommen [org. title: Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem]

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed

Thomas Mann: Der Tod in Venedig

James Oswald: Natural Causes. An Inspector McLean Novel.

Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar (reread)

Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? Melodie der Rache

Maria Rolnikaitė: Mein Tagebuch [org. title: Ja dolžna rasskazat']

Mark Thompson: Leatherfolk. Radical Sex, People, Politics and Practice.

James Baldwin: Giovanni‘s Room

Christopher Tauber, Hanna Wenzel: Rocky Beach. Eine Interpretation.

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun

Jonathan Kellerman: Unnatural History. An Alex Delaware Novel.

Robert Arthur: Die Drei ??? und die Geisterinsel. [org. title: The Three Investigators in the Secret of Skeleton Island]

Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #3. Eiskalter Rausch.

André Marx: Die Drei ??? Labyrinth der Götter

John Barth: Lost in the Funhouse

Langston Hughes: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes.

Claude McKay: Harlem Shadows. The Poems of Claude McKay.

Jonathan Kellerman: Exit. Ein Alex Delaware Roman. [org. title: Devil‘s Waltz. An Alex Delaware Novel.] (reread)

David Henry Hwang: M Butterfly

James Oswald: The Book of Souls. An Inspector McLean Novel.

Jonathan Kellerman: Time Bomb. An Alex Delaware Novel. (reread)

Manuela Günter: Überleben schreiben. Zur Autobiographik der Shoah.

Birgit Kröhle: Geschichte und Geschichten. Die literarische Verarbeitung von Auschwitz-Erlebnissen.

Alexander F. Spreng: Der Fluch (reread)

Sibylle Schmidt: Zeugenschaft. Ethische und politische Dimensionen.

Sibylle Schmidt: Ethik und Episteme der Zeugenschaft

Kari Erlhoff & Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? und die Salztote

Jeanette McCurdy: I‘m Glad My Mom Died

E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann

Hendrik Buchna: Die Drei ??? Drehbuch der Täuschung

Michael Scott: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #2. The Magician. (reread)

Alain Locke: The New Negro

Mascha Kaléko: Großstadtliebe. Lyrische Stenogramme.

Marco Sonnleitner: Die Drei ??? Der Tag der Toten

Georg Heym: Gedichte [herausgegeben von Stephan Hermlin]

Rose Ausländer: Hinter allen Worten. Gedichte. [herausgegeben von Helmut Braun]

Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

Paul Celan: Ausgewählte Gedichte. Zwei Reden. [herausgegeben von Günther Busch]

Rich Cohen: Lake Shore Drive [org. title: Lake Effect]

Jan T. Gross: Neighbors. The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland.

Kathy Reichs: Virals #2. Nur die Tote kennt die Wahrheit. [org. title: Seizure]

Jonathan Kellerman: Bones. An Alex Delaware Novel. (reread)

Akwaeke Emezi: You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty

Friedrich Schiller: Maria Stuart

Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho

Christian Handel: Die Hexenwald-Chroniken #2. Palast aus Gold und Tränen.

Maurice Leblanc: Arsène Lupin und der Schatz der Könige von Frankreich [org. title: L'Aiguille creuse]

E.T.A. Hoffmann: Nussknacker und Mausekönig

Marco Sonnleitner: Die Drei ??? Panik im Park

Ben Nevis: Die Drei ??? Tal des Schreckens

Michael Borlik: Ihr mich auch

Robert Arthur: Die Drei ??? und der grüne Geist [org. title: Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Green Ghost]

Barbara Köhler: Niemands Frau. Gesänge.

Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? Hotel der Diebe

Cornelia Funke: Tintenwelt #4. Die Farbe der Rache.

DNF:

Thomas Ziebula: Paul Stainer #1. Der rote Judas.

Faye Kellerman: Mord im Garten Eden [org. title: The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights]

[goalhofer]

2024 Chicago Cubs Players By Nationality

American: 22 (Yency Almonte, Cody Bellinger, Ben Brown, Michael Busch, Garrett Cooper, Yan Gomes, Ian Happ, Kyle Hendricks, Nicholas Hoerner, Caleb Kilian, Mark Leiter; Jr., Luke Little, Nick Madrigal, Miles Mastrobuoni, Julian Merryweather, Todd Smyly; Jr., Justin Steele, James Swanson, Jameson Taillon, Mike Tauchman, Jordan Wicks & Patrick Wisdom) Dominican: 2 (Christopher Morel & Héctor Neris) Japanese: 2 (Suzuki Seiya & Imanaga Shōta) Venezuelan: 2 (Adbert Alzolay & Daniel Palencia) Mexican: 1 (Javier Assad) Panamanian: 1 (Miguel Amaya)

[parfumieren]

Amanda (Amanda Lepore)

Of all the celebrities in the world, I chose her. I could have had Britney, J.Lo, Maria, Fergie, Celine, or Elizabeth Taylor-- heck, even Tilda Swinton, if androgyny was so compelling….

But no. My very deliberate first choice of celebrity perfume came from an aging transgender socialite with a rampant cosmetic surgery addiction and four dance-mix EPs that can best be described as unlistenable.

Why her? Why Amanda Lepore?

For those not in the know, Amanda Lepore is the steely-yet-vulnerable, thoroughly unshockable, plastic-fantastic queen of Manhattan's stygian depths. During the legendary '90's, Amanda ran with the likes of James Saint James, Richie Rich, DJ Keoki, and the Club Kids' notorious Svengali, Michael Alig. Her über-smooth, surgically-enhanced visage -- complete with cherry-red lips pumped full-to-bursting with collagen -- provided photographer and lifelong friend David LaChappelle with decades of inspiration. On the other hand, it's also attracted a particularly nasty brand of social editorial, scathing in its rejection of the blurred gender line.

But rest assured, I am not here to wield that weapon.

On the surface, Amanda's world is as far from my world as Pluto is to the sun. But I have been attracted to it all my life. I myself have walked the gender identity tightrope, as have many of my idols: David Bowie, Patti Smith, Nico and Candy Darling, Lili Elbe, Justin Vivian Bond, Kate Bornstein, Charles Busch, John Cameron Mitchell, Eddie Izzard, Divine. I identify more with these outlaws of the gender frontier than I do with Britney & Co. any day. And because of all this, I desperately wanted Amanda not to fail. I longed to see her perfume blow away all the haters and baiters and nasty naysayers.

Due to its limited production (only 5,000 bottles released) and prohibitive price tag ($900+), it appears that precious few samples of Amanda ever made their way into the hands of reviewers. Most journalists, online and off, merely recycled the most shocking snippets from the office press release. Its bottle (encrusted with 1,000 Swarovski crystals!) and its preposterous ingredients (red lipstick! Steamed rice! A dash of real Cristal® champagne"!) set Amanda up to be a magnificent train wreck.

Yet Luca Turin swore up and down that the damned thing had merit. He raved about the marvelous job done by Christophe Laudamiel to harness and tame its sizable iris content (which -- more than any amount of tacky bling -- surely accounted for that massive price tag).

If this was the Holy Grail of trash fragrances, loyalty drove this kitten to undertake a quest. In the end I found a tiny decant listed at a 60% percent discount-- perfect for me, since naturally I don't have a month's rent to spend on a single perfume. What else could I do? I snapped it up.

While waiting for its delivery, I confess I began to suffer from buyer's remorse. Had I really stopped to consider what a former Club Kid's perfume might smell like? I envisioned sweaty cleavage encased in a cruelly boned corset, whose black organza and lace had absorbed an evening's worth of subway stench, cigarette smoke, spilled bubbly and lightly toasted ketamine. (What can I say? I've read AND watched Party Monster far too often for my own good.) Even worse, I imagined the smell of the corset's matching black lace panties. A boozy, sexy, sticky, spent-all-night-at-the-club-and-can't-be-bothered-to-shower-now sort of smell. An ANGEL sort of smell.

What the hell had I done?

When Amanda arrived, I sat staring at the spray sample vial as if it held Eau de Kryptonite. I decided to apply it after a shower, not bothering to dress in case I found myself forced to break a land-speed record to get back under the hot spray.

Please, god, please-- don't let it be a scrubber, I found myself chanting. Come on, Amanda….

The first note shocked me cross-eyed. Are you fucking serious? I heard myself saying aloud. Apparently, yes she is. Delicate, delicious, and without a doubt feminine, here was the scent of steamed rice. When I first read those words in the press release, I'd thought it was a joke. But what now rose from my wrists was a remarkable facsimile of steamer-cooked Japanese short-grain brown rice, bran-rich and faintly woody. A mandarin note rode atop it, veiled as daintily in curls of steam as Lady Godiva in her long golden tresses. (Again, Amanda: are you fucking serious?)

A faint hint of fruity plastic -- the so-called "lipstick" accord -- followed, tailed by a tinge of something alcoholic. Cristal®? More like Gekkeikan. Yes, it was the unmistakable scent of warm plum sake. After expecting to be clocked in the head with a disco ball, to be ushered instead into the tatami room of a traditional kaiseki restaurant was near about the limit. The repast Amanda set before me was simple, impeccable, refined-- but she wasn't finished with me yet.

After ten minutes, the iris kicked in. The scent of iris shares so many olfactory characteristics with the notes that came before it -- rice, steam, gluten, wood, even plastic -- that I found myself whispering, Yes, yes, of course, I see it! It's not listed, but I trusted my own nose and that of Luca Turin: there's iris in here, all right. (In fact, I think that perhaps it alone creates that starchy-steam accord.)

After an hour, I was still fully engaged with the interweave of Amanda's three main accords: iris, rice, mandarin. At any given moment, one seemed more prominent than the others-- but a moment later, it gracefully ceded the foreground to another. I kept expecting a hostile takeover by something loathsome a la Angel, but it never came. Over and over, eternal, tranquil, they braided closely around one another - iris, rice, mandarin.

The watershed moment came when my spouse came home from work. I'd warned him that morning that my pulse points would be the staging area for an experiment-- possibly hazardous. Now I held my arm out to him. Correctly gauging the smile on my face as a green light, he leaned in cautiously to inhale, then nodded.

"That's really nice; what is that?" he said.

"It's Amanda," I replied.

"It's quieter than I expected," he said. "Pleasant."

"A keeper?"

"A keeper."

That night I wore it to an art gallery opening. With my spouse by my side and Amanda on my skin, I felt as though I was in the best of company. How does that song go?

Well she's all you'd ever want; She's the kind you'd like to flaunt and take to dinner. Well she always knows her place; She's got style, she's got grace-- she's a winner. She's a lady… and the lady is mine.

--Tom Jones "She's A Lady"

Scent Elements: Iris, mandarin, strawberry, woods, cucumber, "red lipstick", "steamed rice", and "champagne" accords. And Amanda. Beautiful, fascinating, unforgettable Amanda.

[sportscarolinamonthly]

NCS Race Recap: Dramatic victory at COTA gives Christopher Bell second straight NASCAR Cup win

March 2, 2025 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN, Tex.—Christopher Bell was prophetic. After winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23, Bell said 2.4-mile, 17-turn Circuit of Americas was a track he had circled for another potential victory. Sure enough, after passing Kyle Busch for the lead and staving off defending race winner William Byron over the last five laps at COTA, Bell…

[music-wrestling-nascar-fangirl]

@citrisz