#Dash is also good but like in an objective way like tempo is good not in a personal fave way

[undyinglantern]

yt comparison

tombi and nisekao really defined this year for me

surprised top 2 songs weren’t the other way around and somehow ra remains my top artist despite everything

[grasscorpse]

The Starry Sky and Leslie’s List: Chapter 3

*From Ynntranslations

The next day, when they had finished cleaning up after lunch, Isabella and Leslie met in the music room. “Is this the song you were talking about, Leslie?”

Isabella reached into the bookshelf and took out one of the old books of sheet music lined up there.

“Yeah.”

Leslie took the sheet music from her. He brought a music stand over, and set the score on top of it.

“It’s actually arranged for piano, so I’m not sure how playing it on a violin will work out…”

He carried one of the cases containing musical instruments over to the table, set it on top, and opened the lid. Inside, it held an old but well-maintained violin. 

Leslie removed the violin, the glossy brown surface reflecting the light, and set it against his shoulder, resting his chin against it.

Positioning the bow, he tried playing the first note.

A gentle sound echoed inside the music room.

Leslie gave a small sigh and glanced over at Isabella. He then took a deep breath, trying to dispel his anxiety, and began to play.

A calm melody filled the music room.

Isabella sat in a nearby chair and listened to his performance, clearly enjoying herself.

Dropping his gaze to the strings that he was sliding the bow over, Leslie followed the notes. The gentle music strangely reminded Isabella of Leslie’s singing voice, even though the song and sounds were so different.

When Leslie was finished, Isabella applauded.

“What a beautiful song!”

“Yeah, I love this one… But it’s so difficult. I’ve been practicing it for so long, but I still can’t play it perfectly.”

“Really? It sounded fine to me, though?”

She had thought that his performance just now had fulfilled the first item on his list. Isabella tilted her head quizzically.

“No, that wasn’t good enough. See where it gets complicated, right here? I always mess that up.”

Bow still in his hand, Leslie pointed at the score, making a face. Beside him, Isabella peered at the score, but she couldn’t understand anything other than that there was a string of notes that were connected to each other.

“Hmm.” Isabella thought for a bit, then raised her head away from the sheet music.

“I’ve got it. Why don’t you write down a copy of the part that’s giving you trouble, and then practice that by itself?”

Leslie’s eyes widened when he heard Isabella’s advice, and she smiled back at him.

“I don’t know much about music, but I can help you try to figure out what you can do to stop making mistakes.”

Leslie had honestly wondered if he was boring Isabella by making her come with him to practice, but Isabella had turned around and tried to help him in her own way. Leslie smiled.

“Thank you…”

Leslie played the part that he wasn’t good at over and over, then at the end, he played the entire song from the start one more time.

“Aww, you almost had it!”

By that point, Isabella had also figured out the part Leslie was having trouble with. Inwardly, Leslie marveled at how quickly Isabella could figure out literally anything.

Leslie put down the violin, and muttered, “To be honest, I do even worse when there’s someone watching, because I get nervous…”

“Oh? I didn’t know.”

Isabella pointed to the door and asked if he wanted her to go outside, but Leslie hurriedly waved his hands in denial.

“No! That’s not it… I meant, even though that’s usually true, I can play better if you’re here when I’m practicing,” Leslie said, averting his eyes.

Isabella looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “I’m glad,” with a smile of relief.

“Hey, can you play this one, too?”

“Huh?

When he heard the song that Isabella hummed, he couldn’t help laughing. It was the one he had composed, and Isabella was humming as a substitute for a title.

“Okay…”

Leslie picked the violin back up and positioned it, then began playing the melody while Isabella sang along. Partway through, Leslie decided to go with a different arrangement and increased the tempo a bit. Isabella laughed aloud at how cheerful it suddenly sounded.

“Okay, I need to get back to practicing, now.”

Leslie reviewed the section of the music that he hadn’t been able to play. Isabella glanced at the clock hung in the music room. Their free time only lasted until 5 pm.

“Hey, Leslie, why don’t you save the violin for tomorrow, and go ahead and move on to the next thing on your list?”

Before Leslie himself could remember which one that was, Isabella provided the answer. “‘Get a full score on my tests!’”

Isabella and Leslie sat side-by-side at a large table in the library.

“So when they ask for the surface area in this kind of problem, first you have to use , and that will give you object A’s…”

“Could… could you repeat that?”

With the notebook containing his homework open in front of him, Leslie was clutching his head trying to follow Isabella’s fast-moving explanation. She was kind enough to teach him how to do the parts he didn’t understand, but her explanations were so complicated that he could barely understand anything she was saying.

With a sigh, Leslie did a faceplant into his open notebook.

“There’s no way I can get a perfect score on the test tomorrow…”

“That’s not true! Once you’ve learned how to solve a problem, you just have to apply that,” Isabella told him—which was easy for her to say, as the one teaching him. Leslie wanted to say that it might be easy for her to do, but he resisted the urge.

“Hey, Isabella, Leslie, come play with us!”

“Soon we won’t get to play with Leslie anymore!”

A group of the younger children had come into the library, and were now standing on their toes and peering over the edge of the table. After noticing that the two had disappeared during their free time, the group had searched for them the whole time. Isabella and Leslie glanced at one another.

He hadn’t made any progress in his studies, but they couldn’t just say no to their little brothers and sisters. Leslie nodded, forcing a slight smile, and Isabella announced in a loud voice, “In that case, let’s try the next one, ‘be the last one left when we play tag’!”

Their little brothers and sisters cheered as Isabella stood up.

“W-wait for me, Isabella!”

Isabella and the others had immediately dashed out of the library, leaving Leslie to hurriedly gather his notebooks and papers and run after them with his arms full.

The child chosen to be “it” began counting, the sound of his voice echoing through the woods.

“This way, Leslie!”

Leslie was already breathing heavily. “Isabella, wait.”

Nimbly leaping over obstacles like rocks and bushes, Isabella made swift progress running into the depths of the forest. Leslie tried to follow her, but even a little bit of running left him out of breath. It took everything he had just to keep her in sight, and since he was looking straight ahead, he kept stumbling over rocks and tree roots.

Isabella glanced behind her, and when Leslie caught up to her, she pointed up and said, “Hurry and climb it before he gets here.”

“What?!”

Isabella was pointing to an enormous tree, thick with branches. Leslie was gasping for breath, doubled over, and he looked up at the tree and shook his head.

“I can’t climb a tree that tall!”

As Leslie tried to tell her that it was impossible, a look of sudden inspiration lit Isabella’s face.

“Then this is your chance to do number 5 on the list! ‘Learn to climb trees’!”

“What?”

“This way, we can take care of number 3, ‘be the last one left when we play tag,’ and number 5, ‘tree climbing,’ at the same time! Ooh, and I bet we can do number 8, too, if we keep going through the woods! That’s three at once!”

Isabella’s face shone as she spoke, certain that she had the perfect idea, and Leslie was struck speechless.

Isabella thought about things the same way that she played chess, always thinking about how to accomplish as many things as possible with a single move. Listening to her, she made it sound like it might really be possible for him to do everything on the list before leaving the House.

Unfortunately, whether her plans were good was an entirely different question from whether Leslie would realistically have any chance of carrying them out.

“I can’t reach.”

“It’s okay, just let go with one hand and try reaching over here.”

Isabella, atop a branch, extended her hand to him. Leslie was hanging onto a branch for dear life, kicking his feet uselessly in the air, unable to find a foothold.

“I don’t… think I can… AAHH!”

Leslie fell from the tree with a thud. Fortunately (or unfortunately), he hadn’t made it very far up the tree, so he wasn’t in danger of being hurt.

“Oww…”

“Leslie, what are you doing?”

Their little brother who was “it” emerged from a nearby thicket, having heard the noise, and he looked with astonishment at Leslie lying on the ground.

“Got you!”

“Ugh…”

Leslie slumped his shoulders at having been caught so easily by his little brother.

In the branches above, Isabella folded her arms and began considering her next move in this “chess game.”

“Number 4, ‘read all the books in the library’.”

“No, Isabella, there’s no way I can do that!” Leslie cried, looking at the mountain of books that Isabella had just dumped in front of him with a heavy thunk.

Leslie had been doing homework and studying on his bed before lights-out, when Isabella came in with as many books as she could possibly hold. Leslie’s eyes widened. After Isabella set the books down, she seated herself on the edge of his bed.

“Don’t worry! I’ll read them, too.”

“I’m… not sure that counts…”

Leslie took one of the books and opened it, but he wasn’t sure that he could finish reading even the one. It was a thick, difficult book titled “Mechanical Engineering and Human History.” Who would read a book like that in the first place?

He had only put that item on his list because he thought that if he could increase his base of knowledge, he might be able to become as smart as Isabella. As his eyes followed the words on the page, he scratched his cheek. He liked reading well enough, but when reading difficult books, it took him a long time to figure out each part.

“Isabella, it’s time for lights out.”

“Okay.”

Isabella was sitting on the edge of the bed, absorbed in reading the book on her lap. Even when replying to him, she never ceased turning the pages. Her speed left him wondering how she could possibly read that much in an instant, but she just kept turning the pages one after another.

One by one, their other siblings in the room fell asleep. Leslie could hear the sound of them breathing in their sleep.

Since they had to turn out the light in the room, he fetched a lamp, and the two of them furtively read by its light. Even so, they wouldn’t be able to keep doing this until Mama came to check on them.

“Hey, Isabella, you need to go back to your room.” Leslie said, worried, but Isabella, concentrating on her reading, never lifted her face.

The faint sound of footsteps emanated from the hallway.

“Isabella? Are you listening to me?”

“Leslie, pretend you’re asleep.”

“Huh?”

Isabella suddenly got up from the bed, where she had been sitting, and lay face-down on the floor, clutching her book. Leslie tried to ask her what she was doing, but in that instant, the door to the room opened.

Mama, who had come to make sure that they had the lights off, frowned at Leslie, who was obviously still awake.

“What are you doing, Leslie? Hurry up and go to sleep.”

“Y-yes, Mama.”

Leslie hurriedly shut his book and dived under the covers.

Geez, Isabella… If you knew Mama was coming, you could have told me.

His face half-hidden by the covers, Leslie watched Mama turn around to leave. Number 7 on his list popped into his head. “Get Mama to praise me for something other than music”—forget getting praise, he’d gotten a scolding instead.

After the door to the room closed and the sound of footsteps grew distant, Isabella stood up.

“Is Mama gone?”

“She is, but… you really need to go back now, Isabella.”

Isabella gave a small sigh, and set down the book she had just begun reading. Pushing her braid back behind her, she grumbled to herself, “I only got through ten books…” Leslie realized that beside her was an entire stack of books that she had finished.

Leslie glanced down at his first book, sitting on his lap, and sighed.

“Isabella… I don’t think I’m going to be able to do any of them,” Leslie said in a quiet voice, so as not to awaken the other children. Putting down the book, he opened up the notebook, which he had beside him.

“I just can’t do it.”

He had worked so hard for so long, by himself, in secret.

He had thought that maybe, if he could do all the things on his list, he would be able to change, to become someone different, but before he knew it, lost in his dreams, the day when he would leave the House had been set.

When he had been sorting through his things the day before, Leslie had already given up on trying to fulfill the items on his list. He was out of time, and it was over now, he thought.

But in a way he had never imagined happening, Isabella decided to help him out.

I never thought I’d end up working on the list with Isabella.

He had wanted to quit, thinking of it as an impossible challenge, but every time he did, he remembered Isabella smiling and saying “Why not? This is the last time you’ll be here.” That was the reason he had decided to work as hard as he could at in in the two days left until his departure.

He thought that maybe it could be possible, if he could tackle it with Isabella.

But the result was a disaster.

“Come on, you knew it would be that way from the start,” Leslie thought, slumping. Even if Isabella helped, that wouldn’t suddenly make him more capable.

Even after spending an entire day working at it, he hadn’t accomplished a single one.

“… And it’s not like I could do anything about a shooting star, either.”

Even aside from that one, he had very little hope for any of them. Doing all of them would be utterly impossible. Isabella leaned over toward Leslie, who had his face lowered.

“There’s still time, right? It’s too soon to give up.”

Isabella had wasted no time trying to cheer him up, and he smiled back at her—a smile full of self-loathing and loneliness.

“You’re incredible, Isabella… You can keep going and never give up, no matter what happens.”

Shadows from the lamp, turned down low, fell on Leslie’s face.

Leslie looked down at the list he had written.

“I wonder if my new father and mother will be disappointed when a useless guy like me shows up to be their foster child,” he whispered.

It had been weighing on his mind the whole time.

Leslie closed the notebook, and listlessly placed his hand on the cover.

“I’m think going to ask Mama tomorrow… if I can decline to go to that foster family.”

This was how Leslie had felt ever since hearing that they had found a foster family for him.

Even though there were other children who deserved it more than him.

Leslie looked at Isabella sitting right in front of him.

He wondered what he would do if, when he met his “parents” for the first time, they said “I don’t want a kid like this.” Maybe, even if they didn’t say anything, they would be disappointed and think “I wish we’d gotten a different kid.” His anxieties had done nothing but grow since the moment he was told about the foster family.

That was why fear had won out over hope regarding his new life that would begin soon.

Everyone would eventually leave the House. He had always known that his time would come, too, but once everything had been decided, he found himself frightened of going to live with a new family.

He wanted to stay in the House, now and forever.

He wanted to live here always, with Isabella, and Mama, and his siblings.

Which wasn’t to say that Leslie didn’t also long to see the outside world. It must be overflowing with so much music that they didn’t have in the House. He wanted to listen to an orchestra. He wanted to try playing music he didn’t already know.

He wanted as many people as possible to hear the music he had composed.

He had sometimes dreamed of the outside world like that, but Leslie continued to feel that, as long as he could be with Isabella in the House, he didn’t really want to go be with a new family.

If he left for the outside and a new family, they would be split up, and they would no longer be able to spend time together like this.

Laughing and talking about nothing in particular, struggling to keep up with her wild and unpredictable behavior, being encouraged by her kind words.

Singing together.

Just thinking about it made him feel so lonely he couldn’t stand it.

Leslie sighed. Isabella had silently listened to him, and he was about to tell her to go back to her room, for real this time. At that moment, Isabella, her head hung, opened her mouth and spoke.

“How can you say that, Leslie?”

“What…?”

Leslie started in surprise at the look Isabella was shooting him.

She was furious. The face that was always smiling so happily at him was now, in the lamplight, harsher than he’d ever seen. Shocked, Leslie found himself unable to say anything.

Isabella fixed her intense gaze on Leslie.

“They said they wanted you for a foster child. They chose you. Not me, or any other child in the House. So how can you say that?!” Isabella said, and pursed her lips.

“I-I’m sorry, Isabella… I didn’t mean—”

Flustered, Leslie voiced an apology and tried to reach out to her, but Isabella avoided it, too fast for him.

“… Forget it, Leslie. I don’t care anymore.”

Isabella spit out the words and ran from the room. The door shut, cutting Leslie off as he tried to call out to her.

Mama, who was there to inspect the rooms, was standing in front of the door to her room, but Isabella walked toward the room anyway.

On seeing Isabella appear from behind her, Mama slid her pocket watch back into her pocket.

“Isabella, where were you? It’s time for lights out.”

“I’m sorry, Mama.”

Walking around her, Isabella crawled into her own bed. For a little while, Mama watched her, but finally she said, “Good night, Isabella” and closed the door.

Now that the lights in the room were off, the faint blue light of the stars shone in through the window.

All around her, Isabella could hear the quiet breathing of her siblings who had already fallen asleep.

Her face buried in her pillow, the words she had spoken only a short time ago came back to her, and she felt a pain deep in her chest.

“…”

Why did I say that?

This was the first time she’d ever had a fight with Leslie.

She wrapped herself in the cool sheets, and her mind slowly calmed down from its overemotional state. The things she had said suddenly seemed so thoughtless and embarrassing.

It’s not Leslie’s fault…

“It’s mine.”

Isabella bit her lip.

When she had heard Leslie say that he wanted to turn down his foster family, her darker emotions had come surging out, and she hadn’t been able to hold them back.

Every time Isabella saw off another sibling, older or younger, she would always think to herself, deep down, “They didn’t pick me this time, either.”

Of course, she kept it to herself, and even within her own mind, she tried to extinguish those thoughts. They were all her precious, irreplaceable siblings. How could she not be happy for them when they could have a new life with a new family on the outside? She knew she should be happy for them.

But as other children kept being chosen, Isabella began to experience the first twinges of unease and a sense of inferiority.

She thought that there must be some reason she wasn’t being chosen, something lacking in her.

So she poured all her effort into improving at her studies and everything else. She was always a top scorer, volunteered to do chores, and even looked after the younger children. Isabella knew that Mama held her in high regard.

Yet no matter how hard she tried, other kids were always chosen.

If anything, it seemed like her siblings with lower scores were more likely to be chosen for foster families.

Isabella sighed, tossing and turning in her bed. She realized that her hair was still braided, and used her fingers to undo it. She laid her head back on the pillow, but she didn’t feel like she could sleep.

Leslie was so kind and gentle, and she had hurt him.

His face, struck speechless when he heard what she had said, appeared in her mind. It was the first time Leslie had made that kind of face because of her.

What do I do if Leslie hates me…?

Tears began to well up in her eyes, but Isabella held them back. She castigated herself, asking why, of all times, she had done this when they only had one day left—tomorrow—together.

Leslie’s song began to play in her mind, as she lay unable to sleep.

“…”

Isabella tried singing it, in a small voice, and gradually, a feeling of warmth filled her heart. Isabella kept on singing, in a voice so soft that only she could hear.

This song sounds like a lullaby.

Just listening to it made her feel at peace, and the worry and sadness she had felt until them vanished like smoke.

Leslie would leave the House tomorrow night.

Tomorrow would be the last day she could spend with Leslie.

I need to apologize him, and get him to forgive me…

As she thought about that, Isabella slipped into a deep sleep.

[thegeneralsnotebook]

Adventures in Deckbuilding #189: Shining Armor/Princess Cadance, Fastball Special (Blue Aggro) [Harmony]

Shining Armour/Princess Cadance/Fastball Special

Dash for the Rainbow

Sideboard Convention: Somewhat too abstract to be spelled out in one sentence, see the text.

It’s always jarring to come into a Crystal Games Mane after time spent working in any modern set. While it’s very true that this Mane is a whole heck of a lot better than Princess Cadance on her own, the principle that this set was shooting for, of Manes that would wait a while before flipping, is quite a foreign one compared to the way that we play the game today. In general in the modern game, flipping one’s Mane Character is the main objective of the very early game, and if it hasn’t been achieved by the second or third turn, something is amiss. The only exception to this being the Seaquestria Manes, which are so easy to flip that they can be left as tactical decisions, only flipped over when needed.

Granted, a lot of that might come from the legacy of Trading Traditions, which created a paradigm where an early flip essentially solved all of a deck’s requirement problems. Meanwhile, even discounting that tactic, the flip is still the primary way in Harmony of gaining access to a secondary colour because of the power of Singing Barrel and to a lesser extent Motivational Speech. Without a flipped Mane, entry can only come from Fire of Friendship or some sort of entry Friend, and while there are some okay ones out there, they tend to be avoided as they’re often only really useful in the early game and are underpowered draws later. The easiest way to get around all of these issues is simply to only play one colour.

Playing mono-colour is a lot easier in Harmony than it is in Core right now because in Harmony there exist a number of neutral cards that can offset some of each colour’s inherent weaknesses. The most well-known example of this is the fact that Blue has no access to normal Resource removal, but Seabreeze’s Flower and now Winterzilla allow a reasonable amount to be accrued even in a mono-Blue deck. There aren’t any colourless cards that solve Blue’s other weakness though. We’re still left with soft, tempo-oriented removal rather than the permanent stuff that other colours get.

Which finally is enough of a preamble that we can get around to talking about this deck itself. It was kind of interesting that Growing Confidence ended up getting banned in both Harmony and Core as I was thinking about this deck, as I realized that Shining & Cadance are a similar Mane in a way. Granted, it’s a very generous way of thinking about it, but with this Mane it’s kind of like we’re gaining an AT every time a Problem faceoff starts, with the caveats that in the short term we lose 1 AT each time, and the AT “gained” can only later be used to move our Friends at the start of a Problem faceoff. Note that the ability doesn’t care about who started the faceoff, so I think that it’s probably best used for a Problem faceoff that the opponent is starting, as especially in a DFO trade we’re likely to have a lot of stuff at home, and we get a good chance of directly turning those moves into points. It’s also a lot harder to properly make use of the ability on our turn, as given that the faceoff is already starting, our extra moves would only be giving us extra Power in that faceoff, rather than accomplishing a confront or swinging a faceoff may not have been expecting to win. Simply put, if we already started a faceoff, one can assume that hopefully we already thought that we were going to win it.

After all, winning faceoffs is something that Blue is very good at. I mentioned at the top that the concept of the sideboard here is a little too abstract to be properly summed up in a single sentence. Essentially, it comes down to whether we expect most of the game’s faceoffs to be taking place in the Score Phase or the Troublemaker Phase. In the former case, our Immediate-speed faceoff tricks are less important, while in the latter the cards that are built around Main Phase efficiency are less important. Per usual for any of these decks that I haven’t had the time to properly test, those thoughts are only theoretical and should be considered in that light.

With the singular exception of Bubbly Mare, who still sees occasional use thanks to her amazing Boosted text, the Crystal Games Manes tend to be broadly outclassed in the Harmony space, and unfortunately this one is no exception. Granted, the comparison with Growing Confidence is unfair given that the card got banned. Still, the card concepts are similar enough that the gulf between their power levels is illuminating. Things have changed a lot since The Crystal Games. And, barring the occasional misstep along the way, I’m given to believing that they changed for the better.

Funnily enough after writing that statement, it seems The Crystal Games is not done with me just yet. We’ll be returning next week to another great example of how much things have changed for the better since then. It’s the other UR Mane from that set: Spike, The Brave and Glorious!

[kidslovetoys]

What our children’s art can teach us

All children love to draw and paint, but why do they do it and what can their creations tell us about them? Dr Helen Jones explores the meaning behind the art and explains how to help your child’s creativity flourish:

Table of contents:

Art is personal

Realism vs expression

Modes of expression

The cross disciplinary nature of art: how it teaches us about other subjects

Final word

Art is personal

At the very earliest stages of evolution our forebears were making art. 

In 40,000 BC, creative symbolic artworks were being handcrafted from shell, stone, and primitive paint by homosapiens. But it begs the question: why?

Why has there been an enduring drive, spanning our entire existence, to leave marks, to make our trace in the world, to create?

It is one of the few things which distinguishes us from animals. We have this wonderful yet mysterious power to create distinctly personal and individual remnants of our existence and personality.

Art is a discipline that champions our individualism. It allows us to show and share our experiences of life, without hiding who we are.

‘As we have changed, our art has changed, and how we have defined our art has changed, but that fundamental instinct to play experiment, repurpose, test and reimagine has always been central. Just as play is a deliberate pushing of the boundaries, so art has refused to be solely defined by one idea or one set of people.’ (Michael Rosen.)

We’ve all heard ‘No one is you. That is your superpower.’ As an artist, and head of art, I’d argue that nowhere is this superpower more visible, than in our visual creations.

Art prizes the original. It prizes the unique.

It says if you don’t comply with a conventional norm, then good on you. I love telling children in my lessons, that in art there is no right answer or wrong answer.

Yet very often we can act, even subconsciously, as if there is. Forcing our children into a straightjacket of neat and realistic depictions of reality. 

Parents will ask me why one child can draw so much better than theirs, when perhaps they should be asking why we assume that child’s style of drawing is better.

There is a deeply-entrenched tendency to measure children's drawing by its ‘lifelike’ standards. But as John Matthews suggests in Drawing and Painting: children and visual representation: ‘The idea that the representation of objects is at the heart of drawing is completely wrong.’

Art is a cacophony of ideas, expression and imagination. What would the world be like if it were all logical, realistic drawing? Salvador Dali, Picasso, Pollock, Hirst, not to mention thousands of other artists, would never have dazzled us with their unique ways of seeing.

Perhaps we need to consider representation as ‘re-presentation’. Because as Matthews asserts: ‘what is ‘realistic’ to the child changes with age and context.’ Perhaps it is important to your child to draw you as a humongous, overly tall figure, because to them, you seem much bigger. Thus our adult definition of art doesn’t always align with our child’s way of seeing the world.

What’s more, there are many more forms of drawing than we often realise. Drawing through stitch, drawing in sand, drawing with a sparkler, drawing with wire and so on. Contemporary artists make drawings in all sorts of ways, in non traditional media, with unconventional tools. This allows them to express things they couldn’t have in any other way. 

Realism vs. expression

Simply forcing children to draw from life doesn’t aid artistic expression. We need our children to communicate what they are thinking, imagining and feeling in many languages, verbal, spatial, gestural, musical and visual. We want them to embark on a ‘representational adventure in which meanings are given sounds, actions and images.’ John Matthews

I tell my art students ‘a camera is for capturing a realistic copy of the world around you. Art is for capturing your interpretation of the world and for expressing your unique individuality’. Often this falls on deaf ears, so prevalent are beliefs about the hierarchy of representational depiction. But what is realistic? How do things look really? Unfortunately our fixed assumptions to these questions can, at best, hinder learning possibilities, or at worst, damage our children’s self-efficacy[LINK]. So often children have fallen prey to adults working from a deficit theory - looking for what’s ‘wrong’ or ‘missing’ from their artworks. This can really corrode a child’s confidence, but more than that, it’s not necessarily right.

We unconsciously place realism at the top of the ladder, and all the other steps below it are often relegated as scribbles or ‘nearly corrects’. As children climb this ladder, (often in standardised educational settings), they get less and less opportunity to draw freely. Spontaneous drawing which serves the intentions and interests of children is becoming increasingly hard to find in schools.  According to Matthews,  this is detrimental to children’s emotional and intellectual development, ‘The child's own spontaneous visual representation and expression has been devalued in favour of a fixed, acceptable, cultural standard’

So how can we avoid this?

Perhaps we should spend more time listening to what their drawings tell us. Just as we as adults use hand gestures, facial expressions, tone range and movements as we talk, children use these features in their artwork.  For instance, mark making can represent experiences of hide and seek, people leaving us and coming back into our lives, movement, such as going through tunnels, hiding underneath something, the feel and motion of swimming, and, importantly, it can reconcile traumatic encounters.  Art is a processing of these happenings, through thoughtful gesture and mark making, which is quite different than mere representation. Thus the ‘re-presenting’ might not look like what the child is responding to, but what is occurring is a significant translation of that event.

Modes of expression

Children capture different types of information, often following different intentions or modes of thinking in their work, some of which I have simplified for ease of understanding. 

Intellectual realism.

Sometimes children draw unrecognisable shapes and claim they are a certain person or object. While this may not be realism in the sense we know it, it could be ‘intellectual realism’ in that for the child it represents their internalised view of that object or person.  It shows what the child knows, rather than what the child sees.

Symbolism and representation.

The vast majority of learning is based on signs and symbols, such as language and maths for instance, and even social interaction. Drawing is an idealised way to grasp this nature of symbolism. Discovering that marks on paper can stand for things turns a cornerstone in one's mind - a huge developmental shift.

Emotional.

Art and feelings go hand in hand. Matthews says: ‘Children’s drawing actions are sensitive to fluctuations in mood, both their own and those of people around them. The child imbues drawing with emotion and representational possibilities.’ Perhaps this is why art therapy is so successful - emotions are made tangible as they are inflected on the surface of the paper and the surface of their minds.

Grouping.

Children might group together different types of marks such as dots or dashes or marks at the beginning or end of these lines - separating out their shape vocabulary and becoming adept at matching their actions to shapes. By grouping marks according to type, he is beginning a process of classification. This is the start of maths.

Art as play.

Art can be nothing short of imaginative play. Sometimes there is no intention, other than sheer joy and exploration. I often see children use three-dimensional objects and toys in a similar way to how they use drawing - reconstructing comparable scenes and dealing with related issues. This shows that mark making is tethered to all of our experiences, especially play which has creative overlaps.

The cross disciplinary nature of art: How it teaches us about other subjects

If we listen to our body closely enough we know what it needs. I also believe if we listen to our mind closely enough we know what it needs. And children are no exception, in that they subconsciously know what they need to learn. 

‘The child is constantly, actively, purposely, seeking out those particular experiences which will promote growth.’ John Matthews

Children are always in pursuit of learning, whether they realise it or not. For me, nowhere is this more visible than in their art. It makes their learning observable, and holds the power to teach a range of subjects and disciplines, and to make them fun.

Music and sound.

Listen to your child as they are drawing - what sounds do they make? I’ve seen children blend sounds and drawings together time and time again. My daughter's experiences with music - the tempo, beat, and patterns within the song - form a backdrop to the patterns and pulsating lines she produces.

Body awareness.

‘Proprioceptive’ information about the position of our joints and limbs, balance, posture and stance are heightened in art making. When making with our hands we learn how things move, how our body moves, and how shapes can be coordinated and controlled in a dynamic, swiftly changing format. Although I would argue that not only does art make us more aware of our physical selves, it helps us reveal our inner souls.

Mathematical.

The American professor of maths John De Pillis writes: ‘‘When learners have the opportunity to use their artistic skills and draw scenarios, they can more easily visualize and figure out math problems.’ Angles, geometric shapes, measuring, proportions, ratios of paint to water, scale and perspective are some of the mathematical gifts of art.

Linguistic learning.

Art is a visual language. A universal language, that anyone can speak. We all recognise certain shapes and symbols and know what they represent. Learning the language or art support language learning in all other areas. Being able to speak visually goes hand in hand with general communication.

Science.

Children can grasp some quite unfathomable scientific concepts in their art. For example, by attempting to represent invisible events like wind, music, suction, or showing clouds moving, rain coming down, spilling from a cup, or documenting movement trajectories. They learn how to organise space, time, patterns and sequences of movement which share characteristics with what they see in the outside world. They can translate experiences of crawling through tunnels, pouring liquid through tubes, looking through cardboard rolls, into their art. Children explore and rationalise all this through drawing.

Perspective.

In more sense than one. Children can gain mental perspective on the bigger picture in life, on personal issues and dealing with trauma, as well as exploring physical perspective. As you draw ideas occur, whether that’s how to deal with or respond to a certain situation, or logical constraints such as how things get bigger towards you, and smaller further away. This shouldn’t make sense in the minds of our little young ones, but through art it does.

Final word

Perhaps we need to ask ourselves what we believe is the major endpoint in drawing or painting. And not just to consider the destination but the journey. Realistic drawing is one way of approaching art in a multitude of possibilities.  So let’s stop looking for it as a ‘what’s missing’ from our children's art and encourage some freedom of expression for all.

When I consider my daughter's mark making, I can see that each image is saturated with communication, thinking and emotion. And that, for me, is far more valuable than a ‘picture perfect’ outcome.

from One Hundred Toys - The Blog https://ift.tt/3lXERpP

[ravagemyheart]

Tit for Tat

Request for user @lautrec-var-emreis.  Hope this satisfies!

TW: Language, and good ol’ fashioned smut.

It was a quiet evening, for a ravager ship anyway.  Another planet, another seedy port providing sketchy entertainment and booze. Normally I head out with the guys and partake in the senseless debauchery, but not tonight.  

No, a quiet ship and a few newly downloaded books where all too tempting a recipe to pass up.  

After a long shower with all the hot water I could desire, I dimmed the lighting on the bridge and cozied up in the captain’s chair.  

“If Yondu doesn’t like it he shouldn’t hog the comfortable chair for himself.”  

With any luck, most of the crew would spend the night in a brothel or on the floor of some club and leave me with an evening’s worth of peace.  I settle in quickly and soon enough lose myself in the narrative laid out before me.

Suddenly the familiar grinding of a heavy metal door cuts through the serenity of my quiet night in. Before I can seriously ponder just who was behind me they dispel any confusion quickly.

“And just what do you think you’re doing?”  

I move to stand up, however not quickly enough for my captain’s liking.  He made his way to me quicker than I could reply.

“What did I tell you ‘bout sitting in my chair, girl?  You ain’t earned the right to-,”

The last time I saw Yondu’s eyes this wide Peter had accidently trapped himself in the airlock. Instantly I recall the now egregious idea of lounging about in naught but my underwear and a tank top.  

Embarrassment washed over me and loosened my tongue.

“If you like what you see so much I would be happy to buy you a matching set.  Sir.”

“I said, get up,” he repeated, shoving a finger in my face.  Notes of the liquor he drowned himself in reached my nostrils.  I fan my hand and wrinkle my nose.

“Sure you wouldn’t feel more at home in that bottle you just crawled out of?”

“UP.”

I stare him down lazily, sigh, readjust my position and unlock my data pad.  He promptly yanks the device out of my hand, and throws it far across the room in one fluid and dismissive motion.  The smarmiest grin stretches itself across his features.  I shoot up instantly.

“Attagirl, now was that so hard?“

Without breaking eye contact I palm one of his figurines.  His expression turns dour on the spot.

“Well, looks like someone is sobering up really quick.”  

“You put that down right now, Y/n.  I’m not playin’ with you.”

He fruitlessly swipes at the object; I procure it behind my back and dash to the right of the chair. He is far more hammered than I originally thought as his movements prove to be delayed and sloppy.  Typically, Yondu has a frigid demeanor when something truly riles him, but not now.  He was heated and it further handicapped his actions.

My unbridled mirth at the entire state of affairs probably didn’t improve matters.

“Hold still, dammit!”

“‘Stand up, put that down, hold still’ my we are awfully indecisive today, captain,” I toss the bauble back and forth between my hands, making sure to project the same flippant attitude he bestowed to my reading device. This proves to be a mistake as my overconfidence fails to register that his limbs have far superior reach than my own.  

He snatches at the trinket while it briefly hovers in midair, yet instead of grabbing  it his palm lands squarely on my right breast.  

.

.

.

“Y/n!  I’m trying to tell you it was an accident!”

I continue marching down the corridor.

“And what pervert DOESN’T accidently grab a woman’s boob and decides to leave it there, gawking like a goddamned idiot?”  

He caught my arm and swung me around, forcing me to face him.  

“Now listen here missy, none of this would have happened if you hadn’t parked your ass in my chair.”

“None of this wouldda happened if ya didn’t park yer ass in mah chair.”

Yondu grabbed my arms and secured them close to my sides, bringing me inches away from his face.

“Do you ever shut up?” Before I can mouth a reply, Yondu crashes his mouth onto mine.  He greedily dominates the kiss, putting far more technique into it than I thought possible from someone so inebriated.  

He pulls back and wordlessly taunts me for a response.

I nudge my arms free, seize the sides of his face and continue the kiss, pushing him against the wall in the process.  Not be out done, he grabs me and pulls us into a nearby empty room.  I urge his shoulders out of his coat, while he slipped his hands under my shirt.  I gasp at the sensation of his touch, warm and rough.   Taking advantage of my shock he maneuvers me to an empty table then proceeds to gently push my chest down.  He drags his hands down to my hips, his fingers slip under the edge of the sliver of fabric separating us and peals them off.  

Oh, fuck.

“Wait,” I plead.  Precious few men have gone down on me while also making it genuinely enjoyable.  

“Hush,” he ordered as he spread my legs apart.  

“Fine.  Don’t say I didn’t try to help you.”

His tongue manipulated around, not overstimulating the most sensitive part of my anatomy.  He tested the waters with little complaint on my part until he found the motion that I responded to the best.  

And, Fuck.

I was dead wrong to assume he needed instruction.  Moans escaped my lips despite my attempts to conceal them, if I somehow quieted the pleasure rippling threw me he simply increased the tempo, forcing my hips to squirm and move with him to maximize the sensation.  The coil of pleasure knotting up within me grew hotter the longer we proceeded.  “Don’t stop,” became my most ardent prayer, and like a generous celestial being he granted my request, sending me plummeting over the edge.  My legs slump to the side as he pulled back, satisfied with his work.

“That’s my girl,” he chuckled.  The sound of his belt coming undone faintly echoed in the room.  I sit up and remove his shirt, lazily throwing it to the side. We kiss again, the pheromones from his salacious act fueling my desire for what was to come.  Without warning, Yondu wraps my legs around his waist, and props me up against the wall.  Wrapping my arms around his neck he begins gliding into me.  I pull back, enjoying the rhythm, and snake my arms up finding some sort of pipe.  Panting, I latch onto it and buck my hips in concert with his own.  His head lulls to the side as the increased sensation urged him to climb his own precipice.  “You’re fighting it,” I breathlessly comment.  “C’mon baby, come.  Come for me please.” “Fuck,” the speed of his thrusts suddenly quickens and becomes more wild until his peak is hit.  I feel his body shudder as the wall of pleasure washes over his features, instantly relaxing him.  

Hopping off the table, I pull my panties around my hips.

“Where ‘re you off to…?”

“Showers,” I reply heading towards the entrance. “You coming?”

He smiles lazily, and hoarsely chuckles, “Again?”

Fighting my own smile, I roll my eyes and exit the room, Yondu not far behind.

[drinkthehalo]

530-542 West 27 St

I find this history fascinating. We are living in the epilogue of a whole other NYC story.

Sound Factory (1989-1995)

"SoundFactory was on a dirty warehouse street patrolled by hookers and lowlife. You would file in around 4 or 5am, after a night’s sleep, just as dawn was breaking; leaving the reality of New York’s scuzzy concrete, to become enveloped in this bass cocoon completely removed from the rest of the world. It was a huge simple space made small and intimate by the power of the music it contained. You were treated like an honoured guest: fruit, cookies, cold water and coffee were yours for free, there were hundreds of dollars worth of flowers gracing the entrance, and fresh decorations every week. One week they dropped dollar bills from the ceiling. At the exit there was always a huge bowl of condoms, and a pile of pencils and notepads to exchange phone numbers.

And there was the music. Nowhere in the Factory could you not hear the dancefloor. And nothing can explain what Junior [Vasquez] used to be able to do. He could keep a driving relentless groove going for hours, while changing rhythms, tempos, styles: playing around but never once losing your mesmerised attention. He could work a record for astonishing periods: first teasing you with the tiniest hint deep underneath everything else, and going back to it again and again, exaggerating every great moment of a song until you’d swear he had three copies of it playing at once. He would loop a section up on a sampler so that even the most intense, double-tracked crescendo could be sent crashing even higher and higher..."

"The place has been written into legend. UK clubland adopted New York house and garage as a central inspiration, and this grand and remarkable club took on the status of myth, and joined the ranks of dance music’s most important places. Producers made records specifically for the Factory’s dancefloor; records were broken here that would later (much later) become worldwide hits; people travelled to New York just to spend a Saturday night/Sunday morning here; and its one DJ - Junior Vasquez - became a household name despite the fact that he refused to play anywhere outside his beloved club."

- From "The Death of Sound Factory" by Frank Broughton, 1995

“Vasquez’s association with the House of Xtravaganza and the House of Aviance lured voguers for the first time out of their Harlem ballrooms into a mainstream dance club. Every morning around 8AM, two men shining flashlights at either end, converted the back bar into a makeshift runway. Among those fascinated was Factory regular and Vasquez BFF Madonna, who was inspired to write her 1990 hit “Vogue.” "

- From the obituary of founder Richard Grant  

"The Sound Factory was something special. I’ll never forget the scene I witnessed when my buddy Ryan and I first stepped inside the cavernous club at 530 West 27th Street early one Sunday morning in August. It was about 2am and the party was just starting to get going (it wouldn’t reach its peak until 6 or 7 am).

The huge dancefloor was packed with men (and a few women), but it was completely dark except for a couple of strobelights, and I couldn’t make out much detail – I couldn’t even see the other side of the room; the steel columns and the hundreds of dancers just sort of faded off into the foggy distance. In the darkness overhead loomed what is surely history’s biggest disco ball; the shroud of fog and flickering strobes made it seem like a hovering spacecraft. There was a powerful sensation of movement – the mysterious but unified movement of a tremendous mass of people, like a tribal ritual, individual identity and desire absorbed into something much bigger.

The key to this was the overwhelming sound of course. The party was aptly named; the sound system was world famous for a reason. If you know of a better system anywhere, any time, please let me know. But though the sound was gigantic, monumental, it was perfectly tuned and adjusted for comfort – nowhere on the floor was it too loud or overbearing. It was all-encompassing, but you could also hear the person next to you, and hear each clap, whistle or foot-stomp from the dancers...

It didn’t even seem like music, but pure sound beaming from some other dimension. I’d been looking for what I thought would be a very gay, very fabulous and fun after-hours party, but had stumbled onto some dark, strobelit future-tribal proto-rave that was scary in its intensity – and made most of the other parties I’d ever been to seem weak by comparison. The fact that most of the revelers were gay men made it even more primal..."

"The overall production was superb. At times there would be muscular go-go dancers, naked except for white terry loincloths, performing on each of the four giant speaker stacks – twirling glowsticks on ropes as if they were flaming torches, enhancing the Dionysian mood. The service was top-notch – the staff were all super-professional, the dancefloor and restrooms were immaculately clean. There was no alcohol available. I’ll repeat this in case it’s hard for contemporary clubbers to believe: there was no alcohol available. The bar served only juice and water; late at night there would be copious bowls of strawberries, orange slices or chocolate mints to refresh the revelers.

There was original artwork hung around the common areas (including paintings of Junior himself, affirming his status as a superstar, if not object of worship), along with great little touches like fresh-cut flowers."

"It couldn’t last. The Sound Factory was busted up by NYPD one Sunday morning in March of 1995; undercover cops had made a series of drug transactions. The owners were soon evicted. Though I can’t agree with Giuliani’s draconian approach, the scene wasn’t all fun and games. Many revelers at the Factory were on some pretty hard stuff. Some dark stories have emerged from those times; witnesses have described seeing people overdose in the back rooms or on the streets outside the club." 

- Jim Poe in "Clubs that changed the world: New York’s Sound Factory" 

Twilo (1995-2001)

(one more video here.)

"Until its closing in 2001, Twilo was the most well liked and, its critics charged, most played-out nightclub to grace the streets of New York City since the seminal Studio 54. The gigantic "megaclub" once located at 530 W 27th St in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan regularly attracted a crowd of thousands to its warehouse-like dancefloor. Playing host to dozens of legendary DJs from around the world, the club was instrumental in popularizing international styles of house and trance music within the United States.

The clientele at Twilo was likely the most eclectic of New York's large clubs. On any given night, one could get lost in a sea of college students, office workers, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, ravers, punks and even an occasional clump of goths, contributing to a frenetic energy and harmonious vibe the likes of which, according to nostalgic fans, has yet to be duplicated by any nightspot in the city. Celebrity sightings seemed to be less frequent here than at other Manhattan clubs, a fact that many Twilo regulars considered a plus. Twilo was also equipped with a state-of-the-art sound system known as Phazon. This sound system, originally built by Steve Dash, was at the time unique to the venue. The sound system at Twilo was highly regarded by patrons and DJs alike for its sound quality. Some DJs went as far as momentarily leaving the DJ booth to hear their favorite records on the dancefloor. "

- From the Facebook page dedicated to memories of Twilo

"Nightclubbing is not a crime," reads a promotional t-shirt for Twilo's monthly techno night, Respect is Burning. Maybe not, but for the line of clubbers outside the popular venue earlier this month, it must have felt that way. A dozen or so cops formed their own line in front and casually surveyed the crowd while the patrons submitted to the complicated security checks required for entry. Above the cash registers, a huge banner blared in capital letters: "UNDERCOVER POLICE NOW ALWAYS ON PREMISES."

These are trying times for the Chelsea superclub. As the establishment embarks on a bid for international fame with the launch of a CD series, a national tour, a magazine, and the startup of its own label, the city is trying to close Twilo's doors for good.

Prompted by two deaths in the last two years, a series of undercover drug buys at the nightclub, and an October 8 incident involving the alleged cover-up by the club's security of three unconscious patrons, the city is suing the club, hoping to shut it down under the Nuisance Abatement Law—a regulation generally used to padlock doors of places involved with prostitution or drug dealing."

- Village Voice, “Trying Times for Twilo”

Spirit (2004-2006)

If you watch only one video, watch this one - hard to believe this was 27th St a few years ago, patrolled by cops on horses!:

(another video here, showing some very familiar spaces)

"When this cavernous, multi-level club opened in 2004, it was billed as the antithesis of the warehouse space's former tenant Twilo; this was going to be a spiritual dance palace where you could open your chakras organically (i.e., without pharmacological aid). A noble goal, perhaps, but the pretenses have since been abandoned for a more realistic formula: Loud Music + Lots of Space = Loads of Fun. Stairwells and a balcony overlooking the dance floor create dark kissy corners, while in the open terrain, big beats boom to a non-stop light show including large video-art projections. In the drinking room, a mélange line up at the blue-lit bar while Top 40 hip-hop pops. When the club pulls in marquee house D.J.s like Danny Tenaglia or Judge Jules, there's plenty of skin on display—even if said skin looks in need of more yoga and less liquor."

-  NY Magazine

"SPIRIT occupies the hallowed ground which previously housed the legendary nightclubs Sound Factory and Twilo. The gateway is distinctively marked with SPIRIT’s seven point star logo – the symbol of “Spirit” as defined in Native American myth. Entering this passageway to SPIRIT is the start of a holistic nightlife experience and uplifting personal journey. SPIRIT is made up of three distinct zones called MIND, BODY and SOUL.

The point of entry leads through a corridor and directs a pathway to a small mezzanine room. Here, Alex Grey’s art installation “Transfiguration” is displayed as a welcoming spiritual gesture, as are two paintings from Alison Grey. Navigating either of the illuminated staircases downward leads to SPIRIT’s auditorium, BODY.

Each semicircular level is encased in glass and latent with metal work. Moving closer to SPIRIT’s vast 10,000 sq foot center, BODY comes to life. BODY’s ceiling rises increasingly higher and pours upward into a 30 foot cathedral-like expansion. The room is saturated in red to signify the Root chakra.

A level above, the suspended DJ booth overlooks the dance floor of BODY. The VIP area is a visual allurement and luxurious vantage point for a view of the activity below.

The journey upward continues into SOUL and MIND which are both located one level above. The dining area SOUL is a refreshing, intimate place with an extensive “shared-space” table as its’ focal point. SOUL is a restaurant that doubles as a private event and party space. A view of the kitchen is parallel to the panoramic outlook of the dance floor below, through v-shaped sliding glass doors.

Completing the walk through all three zones moves onward into MIND. A waterfall is located just past MIND’s gateway. Just behind a rippling drapery await seven healing rooms, well suited for personal journeys guided by a variety of intuitives."

- Spirit’s description of itself, preserved at ClubZone

“On a Tuesday evening in a dance studio on the fourth floor of the Spirit club, a “mind-body-soul” center in West Chelsea, a crowd of 90 women in belly-baring tank tops and yoga pants and men in baggy T-shirts and running shorts ready themselves for a workout.”

- NY Magazine

"At a full board meeting last Wednesday night at Roosevelt Hospital, Community Board 4 recommended that the State Liquor Authority not approve a transfer of ownership for Spirit, the embattled West Chelsea nightclub at 530 W. 27th St. that was shuttered twice for alcohol and drug violations last spring and summer. 

Dealing with the police violations has reportedly cost the club millions of dollars; so, to keep down overhead, the club is currently open only for private parties.

According to C.B. 4 Chairperson Lee Compton, the board’s decision hinged on the club’s difficult history, as well as the oversaturation problem in West Chelsea, where a current total club-going capacity of more than 10,000 patrons has brought myriad problems for area residents, along with a formidable presence by the New York Police Department, which has been coming out in full force on weekends since late July, complete with klieg lights and mounted police. "

- TheVillager.com, 2006

BED (2005 - 2007)

(video here)

"Located in a bi-level penthouse at 530 West 27th Street, BED New York is the first downtown restaurant to combine two dining floors with a 360-degree rooftop view of the sweeping midtown New York skyline. BED New York measures more than 15,000 square feet and can hold up to 620 guests. The design and concept fuses seductive Miami sophistication with modern New York City style.

BED New York has purposefully created a seductive oasis offering a city escape in the midst of the Chelsea neighborhood. From the street, guests enter a private elevator to be taken up to the 6th floor restaurant where they enter the ritual of the BED New York dining experience. Guests are requested to take off their shoes and slip on specially designed slippers to join their friends on the unique bed platforms designed by Tempur Pedic that line the interior."

- BedZine

“Although the space offers a large open loft area on the main floor, “the deck” has attracted the most attention so far. Beds line the wooden deck and the open air encourages everyone to feel free spirited. DJs play mainly house and hip hop music, but nobody really cares. It’s the fresh air and flowing drinks that keep this place rocking. Be patient at the door, because the freight elevator (20-25 person capacity) is your only way up into this heaven. Expect long lines and frantic, yet experienced club goers. Along with Cain and Home, BED remains one of the key attractions on Bottle Service Boulevard.”

- ClubPlanet

"BED is the most relaxing dining spot in the city—once you get past reservation-takers, bouncers, elevator attendants guiding you to the sixth floor of the Chelsea warehouse, the mandatory entrée requirement, and the automatic 18% gratuity. Huge mattresses with mounds of pillows let you relax with a hot date or a small party, after you place your shoes in a cubby and put on BED’s complimentary socks. Nearly everyone is younger than 30; you’ll also be most comfortable if you’re a model or similarly beautiful person, preferably female. The trance music and slow-motion videos projected on screens attempt to soothe you, as do creative drinks like the blackberry julep, a new, fresh-fruit take on the mint julep. The French cuisine nouvelle has Caribbean and Chinese influences, reflecting BED’s Miami-based older brother. Main courses are also mainly seafood based, such as Caribbean lobster tail on roasted pineapple and celery, with a coconut-ginger sauce for tropical flair. Seared free-range beef tenderloin in Syrah wine sauce is an outstanding cut of meat served on mashed boniato, a sweet potato from Cuba and Florida. Even desserts are playfully inventive. A rare feast for every sense, BED is worth at least one visit. — Timothy Cooper

Reservations are absolutely required for the restaurant and for the upstairs rooftop terrace bar, which has beautiful city views, private draped beds, and a live band—as well as the same exorbitantly priced drinks as the restaurant downstairs."

- NY Magazine

“The all-night party at a vast Manhattan nightclub was meant to kick off a weekend of revelry for Orlando Valle, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Friday with 10 friends.

But instead, according to the police, a fight with a stranger led to a freakish accident, and Mr. Valle, who lived in the Bronx, died after falling head first down an elevator shaft onto an elevator car four stories below.

The accident occurred shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday at B.E.D., a sleek club on the sixth floor at 530 West 27th Street in Chelsea. The police, as well as Mr. Valle’s friends and relatives, said Mr. Valle had gotten involved in an argument between one of his friends and two workers at the club.”

-  NY Times (BED closed permanently afterward)

Home (2005 - 2010)

"This cozy nightclub has only been open for a month, but A-listers like Nick and Jessica, Tommy Lee and the Gastineau Girls have already made themselves at home in Home’s leather settees. Dark, red-lit, and windowless, it’s the perfect spot to see celebs who wish to be seen. There’s a two-bottle minimum regardless of whether you're ordering the $200 Moët or the $1500 magnum of Rosé. Reservations required, especially if you’re hoping for a Thursday night table."

- NY Magazine

"We got there around 10 and they weren't open yet.  They open at 11.  No big deal... we went around the corner to a bar to continue our binge drinking.

We came back after 11... and there was a LINE.  For a place that wasn't even busy.  A line for a place that just opened.  It wasn't a long line... but still a line.  We waited, and waited... and then finally they started letting people in.

$20 cover charge.  $20?!?  Are you kidding?  You are going to charge me $20 for a place with no people in it...?

We complained... they lowered our cover to $10.  We got in - there were about 5 other people in the place.  What the hell was that line for?

The DJ SUCKED and annoyed the crap out of me.  At first it sounded like he was just testing his stuff because he kept messing up and music was cutting in and out.  Then when the music was playing... he kept turning it down (messing up the beat) and screaming things like "$150 bottles of Grey Goose!"  Every single one of our group of 7 was rolling her eyes.

It also made me realize how ghetto the music is I listen to.  This place was playing things like TLC's Scrubs and Destiny's Child's Independent Women.  Really.  Clubs still play that?  Am I in middle school again... and is this a roller rink?"

" what I do like about HOME are the large couches that make up the parameter of the two different rooms and the terrace which is awesome and has a ton of seating and tables. I'm sure thats great in the summer time, but i'm sure it gets packed as well. "

- A representative Yelp review

Guest House (2005 - 2010?)

"With its L-shaped, banquette-lined space, Guest House is part lounge, part club, and all pick-up. It's dark. It's loud. And it's packed with eye candy. Adjacent to Home, its slightly older sister, Guest House is part of the dying breed of upscale lounges that actually have an emphasis on dancing. House dominates, but the DJs are known to play everything from Motown to disco to 50 cent…within the span of 20 minutes. With a sexy red glow and cozy tables for bottle service, it also works as a place for that seal-the-deal third date. You want the energy of a mega-club with still a hint of exclusivity? This is it."

- ClubPlanet

"Guesthouse allows you to relax on brown-leather banquettes as you watch beautiful people slink around the intimate space. The candle walls, giant table-length chandelier, low lighting and dark hues are reminiscent of an uber-luxe living room, and remind you that tonight you are a guest in a very different house."

- UrbanDaddy

"It’s not all that unusual to see a patron wearing sunglasses and stilettos (and exhibiting a good deal of flesh) step out of a canary-yellow Lamborghini on her way to this posh boite from the owners of neighboring Home. In the intimate room, she’ll then snag a reserved table for bottle service and take in a soundtrack of house and techno. One wall has a recessed display of hundreds of symmetrically placed candles; another is sheathed in an arresting wallpaper repeating Rorschach inkblots."

-  NY Magazine

“It really is just an extension of Home, which just isn't that great to begin with.  And, inexplicably, after about an hour, they cut off the bridge that links the two and stopped allowing people to move back and forth.  I mean, really, what is the point of having two connecting clubs if you're not going to let people go back and forth!”

“This is a bar version of the show "Jersey Shore" except without Snookie, who is the reason we watch in the first place! Tips: 

Guys: have a lot of money and get table service, otherwise don't plan on getting in right away (or at all). We had table service and the actual service was pretty terrible, but what do they care? With their mandatory tipping percentage on every bottle, they don't have to be nice to you. You're lucky you got in the door in the first place, remember? Girls: Make sure you have Mace to protect yourself.“

“I just can't believe that our society (especially in this economy) allows it to still be OK for bars/clubs to make customers fight to get into a place, only to be treated like crap and charged tons of money for a drink that is pretty much water with a splash of vodka on top.“

"They search you like you're an inmate at a correctional facility. The drinks are expensive. It's way too small for the crowd it gets on Wednesdays. The bouncers are crazy, I was allowed to go in between Guesthouse and Home by a family member who is a bouncer and another bouncer almost tackled me and started yelling at me. It could be nice because it's a nice space, unfortunately it's either B&T, ghetto trash or Euro trash. And the cavity search they put you through scares me... I mean... what kind of people come here?? Y'know those searches are based on it's history w/ it's clientele."

- Reviews from yelp, here & here

"The murder of Jennifer Moore has been described on 27th Street as a Lemony Snicket tale—a series of unfortunate events. Moore and her friend Talia Keenan were carded at the Guest House door that Monday night, but Moore flashed her sister’s I.D. After leaving the club, the two found their car had been towed. When they reached the tow pound on Twelfth Avenue near 38th Street, they were so drunk that the attendants wouldn’t give them their car. Keenan was so far gone that she passed out and an ambulance was called to take her to the hospital. Moore slipped away and was found several days later in a Weehawken Dumpster." - NY Magazine, see also The Murder of Jennifer Moore

***

Finally - recommended reading “The Short, Drunken Life of Club Row How 27th Street went from grim to glamorous and back again in five Jäger-soaked years” feature in NY Magazine

"Inside the New York Post office on Sixth Avenue, Sunday editor Lauren Ramsby commanded her reporters to bring her any news they could find about underage drinkers on 27th Street. It wasn’t hard: They were parading down the block in belly-baring tank tops, yelling about how many Jäger bombs they had downed. According to one Post reporter, Ramsby wanted “to blow the lid open” on the underage-drinking scene. “It’s the perfect story,” another Post reporter says. “It’s linked to a murder. You have the villain: club owners. They’re giving alcohol to underage girls. And then you have law enforcement falling down on the job. You have the city-bureaucracy aspect, you have the commerce aspect, you have the stricken family losing their child, you have a little sex involved because she was raped. It can’t get any better.”

Ramsby sent out a team including her youth-culture reporter, Elizabeth Wolff, a slight, loafer-wearing Brearley brunette. Wolff went to the street that weekend and saw the usual scene: puddles of vomit, women without shoes, men brawling, bouncers hoisting and tossing drunks onto the sidewalk. Some did not look like they would survive the night. “There was this girl—she had been walking toward Eleventh Avenue from B.E.D.,” Wolff recalls. “She had no shoes, she was drooling, and she looked like she was dead. She didn’t look like she was breathing. She just collapsed. Her friends were worried, but, of course, they had lost their other friends. So there was this, ‘Where do we go? What do we do? Do we get our friends?’ Eventually a cop came over and lifted her head and got an ambulance, but she was lying on the ground for 25 minutes before one came.”

By the next weekend, the police had flooded the zone. In the early weeks, there were at least 40 officers, some on horseback. They also brought floodlights, a digital flashing sign warning clubgoers that it’s a crime to show a false I.D., and a large bus, or, as the NYPD calls it, a “mobile command center.” Most serious for the club owners, the police forbade cars from passing through. They even stopped the restaurateur Roberto Vuotto of Naima, who had just run out of fettuccine, from driving in with a fresh batch from the Lower East Side.

“It’s a good block,” says Jon B. “Some people like to be in the middle of the craziness.” He plans to expand into the old Spirit space, taking over another floor in the old Twilo building. “This should be the club district.”

The police and barricades and blinding lights shifted the makeup of 27th Street. It’s now a stressful place for celebrities who seek a modicum of privacy. Shaq, who not long ago agreed to attend a party at B.E.D., gamely removed himself from his car at the Tenth Avenue barricade and tried to walk down the street. By the time he reached the club, several hundred revelers had surrounded him and he almost seemed to be dragging the crowd along. Bono, who recently planned to attend a Massive Attack party at B.E.D., reached the barricades, saw the crowds, and decided not to get out of his car. But for every celebrity or scenester who has abandoned the street, there is someone like Scott Jones, a plastics salesman from Hoboken, who comes to take it all in. “The cops got it blocked off,” he says of the block, “so it must be something, right?”

***

Note: You should probably still direct newbies to the ScoutingNY version of this history instead. :)

[thesweatystudententhusiastfan]

New Post has been published on 2017 - 2018 World Car Info

New Post has been published on http://www.carworldinfo.com/2019-infiniti-q70l-specs-and-price/

2019 Infiniti Q70L Specs and Price

2019 Infiniti Q70L Specs and Price – In the software of the most recent a long time or two, or would like for many different autos have genuinely been remarkably packaged and also dependant on hot photos through the Countries in Europe, mainly, all those bragging Teutonic men and women and even expressway improvement. Each time a $70,000 car approach on the scene with more than 400 torque on making contact with, our company is formed to predict sports activities criticisms and primarily no to 60 miles per hour in a substantial improvement. The Q70 lifestyles on Infiniti’s auto supervision constructing and the enhanced-wheelbase Q70L are at the maximum levels of the most successful – apart from it, you determine a higher well worth regarding the Q70 50 percentage type of pet (which Infiniti falters to). Eating almost everything jointly, the Q70 uses two wheelbases, two engine system options, and your selection of rear-stop or all-time press.

2019 Infiniti Q70L Redesign

The same as the transmitting, the Q70’s overall advantageous character is not typically unequivocally whatever we must get in touch with present-day time athletics automobiles, extravagance or nearly anything considerably more. In reality, just in Physical activities environment (options are Snowfall, Eco, and moreover Requirement). The suspensions make it possible for remarkably significantly more at times activity contrasted with is the champ in between the autobahn meisters, give will not be determined proficiently, and also braking differs- – 178 ft from 70 mph- – are so-so. That splitting up, by a car incident, was attained using the discretionary fantastic braking system design (some portion of your $3300 Premium quality Choose the deal) that is comprised of-of several-tube access calipers and two-garden hose rear finish calipers. With all the current V-8 electric motor device, the Q70L bears an incredibly productive upfront bodyweight predisposition, 55.4 percent of the front door auto tires. It contributes to understeer. Our Keep close track of Website characterizes it a sensing unit about the skidpad, even so, vivid extensive available streets whipping evacuations the understeer needle around instant or increased main. Every one of the well before is put in accurately just how the Q70L loads from present day-day time online games autos. Checked out exclusively for an enchanting, generously equipped delivers to go into the home from anyplace, the tale is furthermore beneficial. The directing costs more effective rankings for motion and also physicality contrasted from the 2015 examination, getaway good quality is accommodating, in clamor may differ are reduced, and furthermore, the V-8 discharges a satisfying unpredictability inside the Sport setting up.

It’s evasive blame along with the Q70’s examination of top rated the sports fishing range. The V-8- – positive Q70L’s rundown of essential abilities capabilities warmed greatest calfskin car seats with manage lumbar changes in advance. A warmed top-quality cowhide first wheel with energy tilting/increasing total freedom, hardwood cinder reduces, puddle brightness, an 8.-” touchscreen display shows with discovering and including the color of conversation affirmation, and an outstanding 10-presenter Bose stereo system plan. The gratification may be obtained by the operator and the explorers in traveling on the objectives how the considerable development of this new Scion TC gathering. The 2019 Infiniti Q70l is confident to get the normal and recommended features in this particular auto. The many tempo auto-guide transmission, improve industry problem manage, 7 in. Shading screen, XM FM radio station, 4-wheel Belly muscle tissues, and also Intelligent Essential are the standard features that could finish this auto. When, the way in which composition, Bose 10 loudspeaker excellent-top quality seem platform, warmed most beneficial seats, About See Keep an eye on in addition to Moving Point Standing, entrance area and also Back Sonar Strategy is the otherwise easily accessible implies that similarly throughout and offer the main reason with this auto. In the interim, this fantastic car, also, happens with the new refreshment within the barbecue and the Guided auto front aspect lamps.

Openness comes with a place of the options, which’s what issues for the L range. The 120.1-in. Wheelbase is 5.9 ins lengthier than that of the standard Q70, and even the vehicle broadens 202 creeps inside a measure for your area. Each one of men and female’s other ins has genuinely been deeded about your back again lodge, generating stretch out-out legroom in the rearward seated installation. The $1700 upcharge ($ 1500 in the V-6 Q70) to your moreover room works in the industry to reasonably more than $288 every “. Should you be Federal baseball organization-estimation, it might be warranted, regardless of all of the problems.

2019 Infiniti Q70L Specs

No matter, about the productiveness part of the generating extravagance difficulty, the Q70 appraisals as efficiently. Developed with the discretionary 416-Hewlett Packard V-8 electric engine (a 330-Hewlett Packard 3.7-liter V-6 is standard) and all-time vacation- – as well as a lot more wheelbase- – our Q70L take a look at vehicle thought to be a lot more impressive than two piles: 4174 lbs. That could be sizeable. However, an Audi A6 by using a supercharged 3.-liter V-6 and some wheel generate can also be much more substantial. So, burned out, the Q70’s V-8 drives it to 60 mls for every hour or so roughly in 5.5 secs and by indicates in the quarter-extended distance to 14.1 at 103 miles per hour. Oddly sufficient, the A6 we analyzed – 4242 body weight, 340 transfers – was snappier: 5.2 secs to 60, 13.7 at 105 within the quarter-extended distance. Undeniably, the 6-placement holding chamber Q70L with-tire travel we looked at in 2015 trailed the V-8 rendition to 60 by just .1 next. The V-8 ideal by itself versus its V-6 stablemate as charges climbed, however, the Q70 contends inside a market emphasized with trips beneficial in 60-miles per hour dashes of below-five secs. Many of them significantly less. The Q70’s producing car accreditations, similarly, are reduced by the absence of advancement paddles.

2019 Infiniti Q70L Release Date and Price

2019 Infiniti Q70l will probably be the top auto an examination of the challenges inside the global car show off. Unfortunately, there are some details by the business concerning the dispatch time and price for this vehicle unquestionably. As encouraged by the numerous parts of information, the manufacturer-new Infiniti Q70l set up might be propelled readily accessible about inside the secondly from remarkably final quarter concerning 2018, although the sticker label brand price is 50 money. 000 about $65. 000. For your auto, sweethearts need to be tolerant with regards to getting sitting down limited for your implementing specifics.

[mrephoto-blog]

The Quickest Way I Know To Lose 10 Pounds With The Best Diet For Women Over 50 And Lose 10 Pounds

Tips To Help You Lose Weight And Truly feel Excellent

It can be a quite fragile scenario in case you have a young child which is overweight. You might want those to be wholesome but have no idea what to do to enable them to lose the load they have wear. The policies in this article just might offer you some helpful tips you could combine in your home.

Exercise is really a consider weight loss. You should make an effort to get half an hour every single day.

If you have children, conference this target can be straightforward, just have fun with them! Motivate your young ones to travel out each day and throw round the soccer or possibly a frisbee. Go bicycle riding with them, or even only a go walking from the playground. Doing this will obtain 3 points all at the same time. 1) You are sticking with your regular workout. 2) It helps you may spend quality time together with your youngsters. 3) It can help you instruct your children appropriate fitness behavior!

Part of fat loss is regular removal. The greater speedily your whole body can relocate food and water through your program, the a lot less probability it will have to build up and accumulate weight. Although chemical substance laxatives are often a poor idea, a diet plan quite high in fiber (whole-grain products, a lot offruits and vegetables, and naturally, a lot of h2o) can keep one's digestive system in great doing work buy, which can assist in weight reduction endeavours.

A good way to slim down is just to eat healthier. Eating veggies, high quality sugars, healthful saturated fats, and lean meats can get you on the right track to getting far more healthier and lean. Stay away from steak and various junk foods including potato chips, biscuits and food and chocolate.

Prior to, a great way to slim down is to ready your dishes the night time. When you ready your dishes the night time just before, you won't must dash to arrive at work or where ever you're going and you'll generally promise you to ultimately have anything healthier to consume when you're starving.

Opt for exercise routines and activities you like to help keep you inspired. We have seen many reports that show weight loss and workout are attached. Lots of people have issues getting inspired to workout and get involved in basic activities. Try working out having a game made specifically to promote physical fitness, go on a stroll with the family or simply engage in outside the house with your little one.

Another great technique for losing weight faster is to be on a day-to-day go swimming. Fishing is really a enjoyable approach to burn calories without feeling such as you will work out. You are on the best way to your ideal entire body if you just go out to your garden and take a go swimming.

A very important factor to help you lose fat is to establish practical targets. They are quicker to achieve and you may feel great satisfaction when you've achieved them if you set sensible goals. From there you are able to establish even greater objectives you could accomplish.

Use up deep breathing. Meditation may be a wonderful way to take care of stress. Anxiety can bring about you to take in when you are not hungry. It may also be the power right behind plenty of your desires. Attempt adding a shorter deep breathing program for your day-to-day regimen. On the other hand, just try out meditation once you experience hunger between appointed food.

Drink espresso to manage your craving. Some individuals think that ingesting gourmet coffee speeds your fat burning capacity. Reports have found out that this may not be completely true. It can do, nevertheless, work to restrain craving for food and desire for food. In case you are concerned about your caffeine intake consumption, attempt consuming decaf alternatively. They have a similar benefits.

By picking the right food items to nibble on you will aid themselves lose fat. Consuming unprocessed foods which do not have lots of saturated fats or any other poor ingredients will help fat loss. Imagined into what the first is placing into their entire body will result in greater results to the individual.

In order to "get rid of" body weight, lots of slimmers will consider methods like liposuction treatment. Effectively, this isn't in fact losing anything at all in the grand scheme of issues. Except when you're working with how you will consume and exercise, you'll just placed that extra fat again on again then some, though yes, body fat sucked out from you could possibly force you to appear thin.

You must locate other actives which you get pleasure from should you be heavy since consuming is one and only thing that offers you enjoyment. Consider finding new hobbies which provide you as much delight as food items does. This will help you to only consume while you are feeling hungry, as an alternative to consuming for something fun to accomplish.

The not-so-secret, secret of weight-loss, is that it is simple (even though challenging). You must use up more calories than ingested. Your body can burn calories all day, and also employing up additional ones through exercise. By merely making use of up far more unhealthy calories than are taken in, you'll slim down.

If you're attempting to lose weight, stay away from power drinks as they are full of carbohydrates and excessive caffeine. Instead, consume a sheet of fruits for electricity, this can be healthier and can help you lessen your body weight.

One of the primary secrets in shedding weight is usually to average your food servings if you consume. This is certainly really vital, as the additional handful of bites that you just ingest during a food can add up to unneeded pounds. Reasonable your amounts on the quantity that will satisfy your food cravings for best weight-loss.

Cardio exercise will surely allow you to slim down, but you do not need to stay with cardio exercise at all times. Be sure that you're constantly changing issues up and are trying other kinds of workouts to help you lose fat. At the very least, ensure you're altering your jogging/operating tempo.

No one wants her or his little one to get made entertaining of as being overweight. Most importantly, no parent desires their little one to pass away earlier. Youngsters who happen to be obese, frequently are typically over weight grownups. You can make a change in your child's overall existence by simply using the info that has been presented.