#Diamond Horseshoe Review

[retropopcult]

Photographs of Disneyland by Loomis Dean, July 1955.

[omgthatdress]

At the height of his fame, Julian Eltinge was one of the most celebrated entertainers in the world. He starred on Broadway, toured all over the world, and even performed for England's King Edward VII.

Born William Julian Dalton, he moved to Butte, Montana when he was very young and spent most of his childhood there. The stories of how exactly he got into female impersonation are varied. According to legend, his father caught his teenage son performing in women's clothing in a saloon, and then sent him back to Boston. There, he joined the Boston Cadets Review at the Tremont Theater, and form there he worked his way to Broadway.

First appearing simply under the name "Eltinge," he presented a version of female impersonation that was different from the bawdy caricature that was popular at the time. He was graceful, elegant and beautiful, and presented himself as an actual woman. To use modern drag parlance, he was the OG fish queen. At the end of his act, he would remove his wig and reveal his true gender.

In 1911, his musical comedy play The Fascinating Widow, in which he played both male and female roles, launched him into superstardom. In 1914, he made headlines for the tremendous amounts of luggage he carried with him across his European tour, each suitcase stuffed full of elegant and elaborate gowns.

In his personal life, he adopted a hyper-masculine, rugged persona. He frequently got in fist fights with anyone who accused him of being a homosexual. Although he made public displays of "long engagements" with women, he never married and was not known to have had any romantic relationships in his life. After his death, many people who had once worked with him, including comedian Milton Berle, identified him as gay.

Although he appeared in several films, his career faded as movies replaced Vaudeville and laws were put in place to ban drag shows. In spite of this, Eltinge continued performing as much as he could, even until his death, collapsing on stage at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in New York City.

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: The High Hawks - “Temperature is Rising”

The High Hawks hold a mirror up to contemporary America - and don’t like what they see - on “Temperature is Rising.”

The third advance single from Mother Nature’s Show (Feb. 18) is thus a frustrated, slow-burning rock ‘n’ roll song that owes little to the supergroup’s roots (Leftover Salmon, Railroad Earth, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Great American Taxi and Hard Working Americans) as the vocals spill out through gritted teeth and over a tangle of electric guitars.

The temperature is rising/lie’s already spread/echoes all around us/taking what we want to be fed

Following “Diamond Sky” and “Somewhere South,” “Temperature is Rising” succeeds in critiquing modern trends with sincere concern and without sounding stilted or preachy. And the music is a perfect fit.

Grade card: The High Hawks - “Temperature is Rising” - B+

2/2/24

[thatrickmcginnis]

THE BLUES - John Lee Hooker, Brownie McGhee, Frank Frost 1986-87

My first and only subject at the beginning of my career was music and musicians, probably because I was also a music journalist at the time. I was aware that blues music's moment was quickly passing into history so I grabbed opportunities to capture blues musicians whenever they passed through town - people like harmonica player and singer Frank Frost, who I photographed live at Albert's Hall in Toronto's now-long-gone Brunswick House. Frost, who was born in Arkansas in either 1936 or 1938, was a relative youngster, and he was recorded by Sam Phillips at Sun Records, who put out his Hey Boss Man! LP in 1962; Elvis' guitarist Scotty Moore would later produce his records for Jewel Records in Shreveport, LA. He was rediscovered in the '70s and toured with his band, the Jelly Roll Kings, which is how I photographed him live in 1986. I don't esteem my concert photography highly - with sufficient skill and equipment, almost any photographer can get the same photos - but this is a little record of an authentic blues musican plying his craft in the kind of venue where most blues players who could tour would appear - a room in a tavern or bar frequented by students, fans and aficionados. Frank Frost died in 1999, at just 63.

John Lee Hooker was an authentic blues legend, and when I learned that he would be playing the Diamond Club here in Toronto I did my best to try to get a portrait session - or what passed for one. Hooker was born in Mississippi anywhere between 1912 and 1923, and left home as a teenager, never to see his parents again. After performing on Beale Street in Memphis he moved north to a job at the Ford plant and gigs in Detroit's clubs. His driving guitar playing and clever, playful lyrics made him an immediate hit once he started recording in 1948, and he was always the kind of blues musician loved by rock bands and artists who wore their blues influences on their sleeves. The dressing room at the Diamond was full of fans, including young women sitting with their arms around Hooker, putting on his white hat. He didn't seem bothered, but he still projected a fierce dignity that let them know when they were going too far. My friend and colleague Chris Buck also talked his way into the dressing room with his camera, and we shot Hooker side by side while he interacted with his fans. Two years later he'd have a huge hit with his record The Healer, and begin a very successful final act to his career that would end with him owning five houses - three in California, including one in Los Altos where he would die in 2001.

Brownie McGhee was born in 1915 in Tennessee, the older brother of musician Stick McGhee, and was crippled by polio at a young age. He taught himself to play guitar and was promoted as "Blind Boy Fuller No. 2" by Columbia Records after the death of the original Fuller in 1941. He teamed up with harmonica player Sonny Terry and the duo became a big success, with a four-decade career that was boosted by the folk boom of the '50s and '60s and appearances in the Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and in the 1979 film The Jerk. McGhee had just appeared with Mickey Rourke in Alan Parker's occult-themed thriller Angel Heart when I photographed him in 1987, playing the musician Toots Sweet and getting great reviews. Boosted by the publicity from the film, he went on a tour that brought him to Toronto, playing the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West, where I photographed him either before or after sound check in the laneway behind the club. Something went wrong when I was shooting McGhee and I ended up overexposing the roll by at least a couple of stops, which made the photos difficult to print back then, but have given the shots a suitably retro feel today after being carefully edited in Photoshop. McGhee played his last gig at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival and died in 1996.

[angpang81]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 925 STERLING SILVER LUCKY CRYSTAL EVIL EYE HORSESHOE STAR SUN CLOVER TURQUOISE.

[starlightinkwell]

From website: Pittsburgh Music History.

Pittsburgh Dance Instructor becomes Oscar wining star of  

"An American in Paris"

and "Singin' In the Rain"

Gene Kelly was the leading star in the classic Hollywood movie musicals from the mid 1940s through the late 1950s.  Multi-talented he was a singer, dancer, choreographer actor, film director and producer.  Audiences love his delightful singing, his athletic dancing, his charming good looks, and his likeable characters.  He is credited for reviving movie musicals and redefining dance in films.  Kelly was honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Academy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Screen Actions Guild, and the American Film Institute. The American Film institute ranks him 15th on their list of “Greatest Male Stars of All Time”.  His most memorable performances include starring roles in Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, On the Town, and Anchors Aweigh.  Gene was the star and choreographer of the film ‘An American in Paris” which won 8 Oscar awards including best picture and a special Oscar for Gene recognizing his contributions to screen choreography.  Singin’ in the Rain, called "a movie masterpiece" by Vincent Canby of the New York Times, has been voted the most popular movie musical of all time.  

Growing Up in Highland Park

Born Eugene Curran Kelly in Pittsburgh on August 23,  1912, Gene Kelly grew up in on Mellon Street in Highland Park. He attended St. Raphael’s elementary school and was an altar boy at the church.  His Canadian born father James Patrick Joseph Kelly was as sports lover and a sales executive for the Thomas Edison's Columbia Phonograph Company.  Every winter James, who loved hockey, flooded the backyard to make an ice hockey rink for the family. Gene learned to skate at age 5.

Gene's mother Harriet, who as a hobby performed in local stock productions, made all five of her children take music and dance lessons.  She enrolled the eight year old Gene in dance classes at Blinsky’s School of the Dance on 6th and Penn in downtown Pittsburgh. The Kelly kids Jay, Jim, Gene, Louise, and Fred began performing dance routines around 1921 as "The Five Kellys" at amateur vaudeville nights and charity events.

After getting in fist fights with neighborhood kids who called him a sissy, Gene quit dancing.  He preferred sports. He played on a men's amateur hockey team age at 14 and dreamed of playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Kelly's moved from Highland Park to 7514 Kensington Street in the Point Breeze neighborhood near Frick Park in 1924. Gene attended his first year of high school at the Sacred Heart School.

At age 15 Gene thought dancing would be a good way to meet girls, so he began dancing again. He took dance lessons while also playing on his high school football, baseball and hockey teams.  He also participated in gymnastics.  

Graduating from Peabody High School in 1929 he enrolled at Penn State to study journalism.  With the 1930 stock market crash hurting the Kelly family’s finances, Gene left Penn State planning to cut costs by living at home while studying at the University of Pittsburgh.  He dug ditches, pumped gas, worked as a soda fountain jerk and carpenter's helper, and danced to earn tuition money. Gene and his younger brother Fred devised dance routines and found work dancing in local nightclubs as the “Kelly Brothers”.

Gene Kelly Studio of Dance

Gene’s mother took a job as a receptionist at Boulton's dance school in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. When the owner Lou Boulton skipped town leaving behind a pile of unpaid bills, Harriet took over the dance school.  She paid the bills and renamed it the "Kelly School of Dance".  Gene at age 19 and his brother Fred became dance instructors.  Gene worked as a dance instructor while he attended studies at Pitt.  He taught tap, toe and ballet.  To learn routines Gene went to night clubs, movie musicals and vaudeville shows. He'd teach them the next day in his classes. With Gene’s growing reputation as a teacher the studio was renamed The "Gene Kelly Studio" of the Dance in 1932.  The Kelly’s opened a second dance school on the main street of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933.  Gene taught at the Johnstown school on weekends.  He continued to teach dance for six years.

The dance school was a great success, but Gene was not content being a teacher.  He want to be a choreography and director.  Gene wanted to combine the styles of ballet and tap-dance into a new American dance for.  To learn ballet he took classes from ballet masters in Chicago and New York during the summers.  Gene attened classes at Chicago Association of Dancing Masters.  Seeing his talent the school asked him to a few classes.  Gene also read every book that he could find on ballet in English and French.  He practiced constantly.  Putting his skills into practice Gene danced in an choreographed musicals while attending at the University of Pittsburgh.

Pitt's Cap and Gown Musical Reviews

Gene enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in 1931 studying economics.  At Pitt he joined the Cap and Gown Club, which staged four times a year at the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater along with an an annual event at the Nixon Theater.  Gene performed in the original musical comedy productions written by members of the Cap and Gown Club.  Completing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1933, Gene then enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh’s Law School.   After two months of study groups and torts Gene decided that he wanted to be an entertainer and dance teacher.  He dropped out of school to pursue his entertainment career full-time teaching at the dance studio and doing performances.  Gene remained a member of Pitt’s Cap and Gown Club serving as its serving as its dance director from 1934 to 1938.  He was the assistant director of their 1936 Nixon Theater show "Out for the Count".  Gene first created his rolling skating dance routine in the Cap and Gown's production of "Tt's Always Fair Weather".  Gene directed the club's 1937 production of "Trailer Ho" at the Nixon and then took the show on the road for performances in Johnstown, Bradford and Erie. In 1938 Gene Kelly choreographed and directed the Cap and Gown show "Pickets Please" at the Nixon.  

In addition to his work with the Cap and Gown Club did choreography for vaudeville and other organizations. Vaudeville acts that passed through Pittsburgh during the 1930’s hired Gene to create dance routines. In 1931 the Rodef Shalom Synagogue hired Kelly to teach dance and stage the annual Kermess show. He kept that position for seven years. Gene continued to perform with his brother. The Kelly Brothers performed in a theater for children at the Chicago World's Fair in 1934.

Broadway Stardom

In 1937 at the age of 27 Gene moved to New York City to become a choreographer. Unable to find work on Broadway, he returned to Pittsburgh to be the choreographer of the musical revue “Hold Your Hats” at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the spring 1938. He also danced in the production.  At the Playhouse, Gene was seen by Broadway choreographed Robert Alton.  Alton brought Gene to Broadway making him a star.

On August 5, 1938 just before his 26th birthday, Gene packed one small suitcase and returned to New York for his first role.  Alton hired Gene for a Cole Porter musical giving him his first dancing role on Broadway in November of 1938 as a chorus boy in "Leave It to Me".  Alton gave Gene a feature singing and dancing role in his next production “One for the Money”.  In 1939 Gene choreographed and danced in in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Time of Your Life".  Also in 1939 he choreographed Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe. He danced his way into the heart of cast member Betsy Blair, whom he married in 1941.  Gene became a major star in 1940 with his leading role in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey choreographed by Robert Alton.

Movie Musical Superstar

With his rise to stardom, Hollywood called.  His role in Pal Joey captured the interest of Louis B. Mayer and Judy Garland. Gene signed with MGM's David O’Selznick in 1941.  He was cast as Garland's romantic lead in his first movie For Me and My Gal (1942),  His breakout move role was in Anchors Aweigh in 1945.

After a long career as one of the world’s most beloved musical performers Gene Kelly died in 1996.

Singin' In The Rain

The Five Kelly's

The Kelly Brothers

Cap and Gown Club Production 1938

Pal Joey

All Music Guide

Gene Kelly Internet Movie Database

References

Pitt Cap and Gown Club In Annual Show at Nixon by Harold W. Cohen Pittsburgh Post Gazette April 23, 1936

Pitt Club Plans Show -The Pittsburgh Press April 7, 1936

Annual Pitt Show Satire on Dictators Pittsburgh Post Gazette April 2, 1938

The Kelly Kids -Harold W. Cohen Pittsburgh Post Gazette September 4, 1940

MR. KELLY, OR PAL JOEY; Portrait of a Dancer, From Pennsylvania To the Barrymore Theatre - Robert Van Gelder New York Times March 02, 1940

Gene Kelly Got to the Top Via a "Different" Route -Pittsburgh Post Gazette Dec 3, 1942

Gene Kelly Said He Never Wanted to be a Movie Star -Tom Shales Pitsburgh Press June 29. 1974

How Did Gene Start Dancing -Debra Gene GeneKellyFans.com Jul 20, 2011

[vintagelasvegas]

Moving a casino, Las Vegas, November 1944

“Bank Club” was one of the most common names for Nevada casinos, and Las Vegas had a few. This particular Bank Club was relocated from Boulder Hwy at Pittman to the area of today’s Wynn, then reopened in early ‘45 under the new name Casa Vegas. It has proven to be an elusive club on the early Las Vegas Strip – no photos have yet been found except one of the sign. Casa Vegas closed only a year later, reopening briefly as Diamond Horseshoe, then the Stork Club. Photo from Heidi Joelle, clippings from the RJ.

The Bank Club, gambling structure on the Boulder highway at Pittman, is being moved to a new location on the Los Angeles highway today. The establishment will occupy a site south of El Rancho Dio - Review Journal 11/13/44

The Casa Vegas Club, Las Vegas newest night spot, will hold its formal opening this evening in the new building located on the Los Angeles highway 91. Formerly the Bank Club the building was moved to the new site several months ago and has been completely remodeled and redecorated. - Review Journal 1/12/45

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: The High Hawks - “Somewhere South”

The High Hawks answer Jimmy Buffett’s boozy beach calls with the baked-by-the-sun-and-the-bud response of “Somewhere South.”

Musically pleasing with a rolling rhythm and joyful fiddle, the track is lyrically simplistic as Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman sings:

Somewhere south/we’ll be laughin’ and a-smokin’/feelin’ like we’ve got it figured out/there ain’t no doubt/I’ve got an intuition/there’s gonna be good fishin’/and we’ll finally get that time to all hang out/somewhere south

The track follows “Diamond Sky” ahead of the Feb. 18 arrival of Mother Nature’s Show, the second LP from the supergroup that also features members of Railroad Earth, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Great American Taxi and Hard Working Americans.

Grade card: The High Hawks - “Somewhere South” - C+

1/12/24

[angpang81]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 925 STERLING SILVER LUCKY CRYSTAL EVIL EYE HORSESHOE STAR SUN CLOVER TURQUOISE.

[cardandpixel]

RocketBook Flip - a rare review and it’s not a game!

Before I go any further, I feel I must point out that I don’t have any financial connection to RocketBook whatsoever – this isn’t a piece that was requested or courted by RocketBook or affiliates and I’m not receiving any reward or sponsorship either in product or direct payment for this article. I just like the damn thing and love it when an innovative piece of tech (in this case quite low key) just works. Hi I’m Paul, and I have a bit of a problem with notebooks – A4 lined, sketch, reporters, Black & Reds (ohhhh the sheer number of B&Rs), goofy ones, serious work ones, battered ones, pristine ‘for best only’ ones – and they all fill at an alarming rate. I make notes on everything. Working as a sound engineer and designer, there’s always mix notes, soundscape plots, ideas, VO notes and scripts, SFX ideas etc etc. At home it’s a very different story – it’s much worse. Game notes; blog notes; hurriedly scribbled quiz questions spurred by watching another episode of Mental Floss’ 500 facts about cheese; RPG notes and story ideas; my own script writing; world building; sketches; other creative ideas; song/music notes and ideas; and that’s before we get to to-do lists; and the dreaded ‘things I must remember’. So my journal life is many, varied and plenty. The usual issue is… ‘what frakking journal did I put that amazing idea in????’, and that’s way before we get to the utter horror that is possibly losing a whole journal or forgetting to bring one home from work. I’m 53, I forget more than I recall, and journals help bring some semblance of order to a massively chaotic and fertile brain. What I’ve needed for a long time is some way of organising all this info or centralising it in some way. Sure I’ve looked at apps – I used Things, Evernote, Notes, and One Note for years, and they are really, really good, but they relied on either having a charged device exactly when I need it (yeah – me too) or net access, which for a new-ish theatre, is surprisingly a bit of an issue at work. And the most important part – I actually enjoy the physical act of handwriting long-hand. I still write actual physical letters to people, it’s adorable and a bit creepy in this age, but I call it charming and leave it at that. Handwriting, for me, allows me time to think and process in a way that typing just doesn’t. Handwriting is slower, I rarely cross anything out, and so I always have the whole of the thought. So what I’ve ideally wanted for years, was a reliable way of organising all my notes and storing them electronically so I have access even without the actual journal, with OCR so they’re editable, and still being a tactile handwritten experience. I’m naturally a sceptic (I actually subscribe to Fortean Times – yeah – I card carry!) and so online ads and particularly FaceAche ads are a field day for critical thinking triggers. I don’t think I’ve ever received from Wish, exactly what I ordered from Wish. And so when an ad from RocketBook constantly kept popping up on my timeline a few weeks ago, I was naturally “it’ll never work” But their website looked legit enough – they had a dedicated UK shop, it was relatively steep to buy in but not so wild that if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be crying too much about the money wasted, and at the end of the day it was a 10th the price of a ReMarkable 2 which is actually what I thought would solve my problem. I’m furloughed at the mo and though I could argue the case for £300+ notebook (test me, I could), I just couldn’t justify it now. And RocketBook had a good summer intro offer. I ordered on the Wednesday, and the impressively glitzy and graphic-design-playbook poly package was dropped on my doorstep just 2 days later by my cheery postie who yelled up the drive “Package for ya, looks very exciting!!!!” I like that our postal service is still invested in the hopes and dreams of their customers. It was exciting. All the instructions for getting started with my new Teal RocketBook A4 Flip were right there before you even open it. The main body houses the pad and a cleaning cloth, and a clever little side pocket houses the supplied Pilot Frixion pen.

RocketBooks come in several models, all configured slightly differently. I have the Flip which is a top spiral-bound softback pad with 21 double sided ‘pages’ giving 42 pages in total. The Flip has lined paper one side, and dot paper on the reverse (great for D&D maps, impromptu tables, mixer channel plots etc)

DELIVERY & FIRST IMPRESSIONS The pads are nicely made, with sturdy covers (available in some really nice colours too) and a solid, thick plastic ring binding. Initially, The RocketBook does feel a bit odd. Its ‘pages’ are actually a synthetic polyester blend and feel quite shiny to the touch. The sort of surface you just instantly feel is not going to be great for ink! Each page is edge-to-edge lined or dotted with a heavy black border. At the bottom is a prominent QR code used for scanning and some very feint icons. These 7 icons are the key to the ease of use of the RocketBook series. But more later.

THE APP

The pads work with a companion app, that is absolutely free and available for Apple & Android. In fact, RB even do downloadable printable pages so you can try the whole system absolutely free before you buy – I didn’t, I just bought one, y’know. The app allows you to set up your destination locations, your preferences and does the actual scanning. Just one quick note, I have the app on both my phone and iPad and had to set-up the app the same for both, there appears to be no way of swapping preference settings between devices, though I can see why this may be intentional.

Currently, the RocketBook allows you to choose from the following locations to send files to: GoogleDrive, box, EverNote, DropBox, slack, OneNote, iCloud, OneDrive as well as simply to an email (or multiple) addresses and iMessage. Impressively, these are not fixed either, so you could choose your 7 destinations to be 7 email addresses of team members. These 7 locations are the icons at the bottom of each page. To select a destination for your file, you just make a mark in that icon box (tick, circle, something unsavoury) and that page will be sent to whichever you select. This makes the system very flexible indeed as not every page is necessarily sent to every destination. You always decide every time you fill a page. Change your mind on a second revision? No problem, add or change icons at any time and re-upload.

There’s a really handy table on the inside front cover for you to note what icon sends what where. This is also wipeable, so can be changed anytime.

I have mine set by default to:

Rocket > main email address (either as PDF, JPG, OCR embedded or as separate txt file)

Diamond > GoogleDrive (you can specify exactly what folder too)

Apple > iMessage

Bell > OneNote

That actually still leaves me 3 spare: shamrock; star; and horseshoe.

The app took me maybe 20mins to set-up, that included decision time for destinations and setting up a few target folders. It also included a few ‘test firings’. I didn’t get everything right first time and a few things didn’t send, but crucially, a tiny bit of digging revealed very simple troubleshooting (including the aforementioned issue with no sync’ing of phone and iPad), and all in I was finding the files in all the right destinations within about 30 mins. The website, FAQs and community are immensely helpful with any other issues as well. I had a tiny issue with OneNote seeming to take ages to sync, but I think that’s an issue with my OneNote settings, everything else was almost instantaneous. You can also handily set the app to auto-send as soon as it scans, or allow for manual review.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE ROCKETPAD The main reason I wanted to look at the RocketBook was the issue of reusability. My journal shenanigans are by no means the biggest ecological disaster on the planet, but if we are to believe Tesco (who probably issue as many receipts at our local Tesco Express in a day as journals I’ve ever used), every little helps. If I could find an ecologically better solution, I should at least take a look. The RocketPads work by partnering with Pilot pens called Frixion. The really clever bit is RB’s paper technology and how it works with the Frixion ink. At present, the pads only work with the Frixion pens – except the RB Colour which works with Crayola’s dry-erase crayons. When you write on the ‘paper’ with a Frixion pen, it remains wet for a few seconds and then dries pretty quickly. There’s no smudging whatsoever in transit, which is pretty cool. From then on, it may as well be permanent, until you have transmitted your page and decide you don’t want the text anymore.  To wipe the page clean, you can dampen the supplied cloth and just wipe the surface clean, it’s weird but it works! But then damp cloth in your bag? So I use kitchen roll to dampen, then wipe dry with theirs. Others even have an adorably kitsch spray bottle in their kit. RB reckon if you are not going to use the pad for a few months, to clean the pages as the ink can get trickier to shift after a long time, but for day-to-day use, I’ve tried writing and wiping well over 20x and the page hasn’t become discoloured or tarnished at all. The only pad different in the range is the Wave which cleans by microwaving! Do NOT do this with any of the others, bad things will happen. The ink doesn’t take scrubbing or any time to come up, I clean my pages in about 10-15s. The page can feel a little tacky when it’s damp, but leave a minute or so and the page will be back to normal. RB do say that odd things can happen if the book is left near a heatsource or in a hot car, vis-à-vis, the ink can completely disappear horrifyingly enough. They say that putting the pen or the pad in the freezer for a little while will actually restore the ink, but I’ve not tried it yet so can’t confirm or deny how that goes. Handy for spies in hot countries though, so there’s another target market. If you are always going to send your pages to the same places, then don’t erase the marked icons, and the page is ready for new notes straight away, otherwise, scrub them too.

I CAN’T READ YOUR WRITING – ARE YOU A DOCTOR? Initially, the RB pads send their files as scans of the pages in high contrast monochrome (colour is available) when you snap the page in the app (which auto-frames for you and takes maybe 10s to capture). The formats are either as images or PDF. If that had been it, I would have been quite happy, but the RB pads have another trick up their sleeve. Firstly, they have a function called ‘Smart Titles’ which allows you to name your files directly from the page by writing a filename between double hashtags ie ## this is my scrawl 24/8/20 ## and the file will pop up in your destinations with the filename “this is my scrawl 24/08/20” – this is insanely handy – there’s no protocol except your own and the hashtags, and it makes your files super easy to search. You can even send groups of pages as a single PDF. But the notebooks go even further. They actually offer full searchable OCR which the app can be set to send embedded in the PDF or image, or more usefully, as a companion separate .txt file. Now, my handwriting isn’t the neatest, but it’s not bad so I was prepared for some editing to be necessary, but impressively again, the OCR was about 90-95% accurate. In a page of text it missed maybe 3 or 4 words and even those not badly. This is all considering their full OCR is still only in beta! It gets confused with diagrams on the page, but that’s to be expected.

Text Generated by OCR: ## Blog post och test Aug 2020 ## This is a little demonstration of the OCR capabilities of the Rocket Book pads and app. I've told the lovely people that the hit rate is about 90-95% so please dant let me down here flip pad. Hopefully the file name will also prove another point further up in the section and not make me look like some charlatan or snake-oil salesman.Hope you enjoyed this demonstrahen, now go away and leave me to write the next great novella.Bye!

HOW MUCH? On average, I pay anywhere from £4-8 for a decent A4 notebook/journal, so at £30-37 (dependent on model), the RocketBook pads are not a whim purchase. That said, I get through a lot of journals in a year, and given that I would expect to easily get 2-3 years out of a RocketBook pad, then I’ve saved money. Will it replace all my notebooks? No. You need to be thinking of carrying this round as a kit: pad, Frixion pen (at least 2), and cloth.  RB do a series of portfolio sleeves for the pads but it does push the price up a bit still, but for a rep, engineer or salesperson, this still makes sense. They’re less bulky than a normal A4 pad too. What I would say is Tesco and Sainsbury’s currently stock Frixion pens and at much better prices than buying them from RB directly, I just paid £3 for 3 pens on offer at Tesco compared to £10 from RB. You get one pen with the pad, but you’re going to want more soon, so stock up next time you’re shopping for truffle oil crisps. If you use whiteboards a lot, RB also have you covered. Instead of the pad, £16 will get you a 4 pack of ‘beacons’ – little self-adhesive triangles that effectively do the same thing as the QR code in the pad. You don’t have the icon options obviously, but if you’re looking to distribute quick meeting or group notes, this would be a boon. CONCLUSION Considering this was a fairly speculative purchase on my part, my early experiences with the RocketBook Flip have been really impressive. The flexibility, the ability to store every page in a different location if you really wanted to make it fantastic for organising my notes, which can save me hours of finding the right ^^$&^$&$ notebook in the first place, then scouring that for the one paragraph I was looking for etc etc. The searchable text facility, in-app history for re-sending etc and last but no way least, functional handwriting OCR, makes the RocketBook not only novel, but actually useable! Would I buy another? As a second notebook – yes. I look forward to seeing what the actual longevity of the product is once I come off furlough and start cramming my day bag with all my junk and a notepad again, but yes, I’d probably just have one at home, and one for work, but make the last 5 mins of each day, scanning and sending work notes so I have them with me wherever. Impressively, the RocketBook Flip just works and it works well. ‘Er Across The Table has already sold several folk at her work on the idea and she doesn’t even have one herself yet! I love it. It’s taking a little adjusting to, but it’s all good. The most important thing though is the writing experience, and I have to say, the combination of the Frixion pen/ink and the polymer technology of the Flip, again, just works. It’s smooth, doesn’t skip or smudge for me (I know some right to left users and left handers have reported some issues) and feels great to write on. If anything I have to slow down a bit as the contact is so smooth that your writing can get a bit ahead of you! RocketBook have produced a cracker of a product. It might not seem like much, but if practical working journals are your thing (ie not create and keep things) then I can highly recommend the RocketBook series.

[artikgato]

2011 in review: Pokemon Black and White

Although these games came out on September 18, 2010 (and I did get a Japanese copy of White and play it on my not region-locked DS lite), they didn’t come out in the US until March 6th, 2011, so I’m counting them as my game of the year for 2011.

My experience with Black and White was very special. Like many people my age, I was obsessed with Pokemon from 1999 to 2001 when Red/Blue and Gold/Silver were coming out here in the west. I was in high school when Gold/Silver came out, and after that the fervor kind of died down. I was aware of Ruby/Sapphire when they came out, but didn’t have the means to buy a GBA at the time, and the same was true for Diamond/Pearl and the DS. A mystery gift-giver and HGSS got me back into Pokemon, but it was Black and White that really got me back into Pokemon. It was the first new generation since Gold/Silver that I got to be on the hype train for. It was the first one I was on the internet during and let me tell you, each new reveal of a Pokemon or character or location was a big hit of dopamine. I was hooked. 

I had been into cosplay for years by then, of course, and I had done a couple of Pokemon cosplays but never anything serious. And then May’s Corocoro leaked and I saw the design for Touko/White/Hilda and went “I can make that in two weeks” and I did, and there’s a reason she was my favorite cosplay of 2010. 

HGSS may have kick-started the decade for me and made the 2010s solidly the Decade of Pokemon, but Black and White really amped it up. I was at Anime Weekend Atlanta the weekend that they came out in Japan and one of the vendors just so happened to have a few copies, and I just so happened to have a non region-locked DS Lite to play it on. I knew enough Japanese to kind of grasp what was going on, and I had played Pokemon enough to be able to play blindfolded, so I played through the game entirely in Japanese and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. I played until my battery was exhausted and the impatiently waited for it to recharge so I could keep playing. I’m sure I did other things that weekend, but once I got my hands on that Japanese copy of White, that’s all I wanted to think about.

I stumbled across new Pokemon and characters and locations, and I’ve been chasing those highs for years now. Sword and Shield came close, but only because I intentionally stayed off of the internet for three weeks to avoid spoilers.

Playing it in English was of course a lot of fun, too. I made all of the opposite choices in my copy of Black, including playing as the guy, picking Tepig instead of Oshawott, and trying to only use Pokemon I never picked up in my Japanese playthrough. 

Like I said in my HGSS post, I understand why many people consider those games to be the best in the franchise, but Black and White absolutely are my favorites. Black and White have some of the best characters in the entire franchise. The main characters have great designs. Cheren and Bianca are great rivals. This gen gave us our first female professor! Sword and Shield may have been more dramatic about it, but this gen was the first time there were different gym leaders depending on the version with Iris and Drayden! We had iconic, memorable gym leaders and elite 4. And, of course, the VILLAINS. Ghetsis is one of the most iconic villains in the franchise, and EVERYBODY loves N. (And if you don’t like N, you can catch these hands.)

And speaking of N and Ghetsis, Black and White had THE best story in the franchise. What have the villain teams done since Black and White? NOTHING. Team Flare was a joke, Team Skull weren’t even evil, Aether Foundation wishes it had what Team Plasma had, and Team Yell barely did anything at all. 

Unova is one of the most memorable regions in the game, with scenery so diverse it puts even SWSH to shame, and actual SEASONS! Black and White also had some of the best music in the series! I mean, just try to listen to the Team Plasma battle theme without ROCKING THE FUCK OUT. You CAN’T!

This generation also gave me a whole new appreciation for bug types. Before Gen 5, if you had asked me my favorite type it would have been ice (because my favorite Pokemon always and forever is Articuno). And then Gamefreak blessed us with all of these:

No other generation has been this good to bug types. I was never a huge fan of bugs IRL before 2010. At best I thought butterflies and moths were pretty. After this game? I think beetles are CUTE. I love horseshoe crabs. I try not to squash spiders. I rescue crickets that have gotten into places they shouldn’t have. I LOVE butterflies and moths. ...I still hate ants a lot, but I’ve got to draw the line SOMEWHERE. Anyway I’ve been the bug-type gym leader in my local anime convention’s Pokemon League since 2011, and all because Unova brought it’s A-GAME. 

But it’s not just bugs, there are a lot of AMAZING Pokemon in Generation 5. Anyone that doesn’t like Trubbish or Vanilluxe can CATCH THESE HANDS. And there were some real standouts in the Gen 5 dex. All three starters are amazing! The regional Pika-clone is a FLYING SQUIRREL. We got the Litwick line and the Deino line both in this gen. We got the ultimate good boy Stoutland! Whimsicott and Lilligant! KROOKODILE. Maractus! Zoroark! Gothitelle and Reuniclus! Jellicent! Ferrothorn! Golurk! Braviary and Mandibuzz! The Muskedeers! The tao trio! Meloetta! ICONIC. 

To summarize, Black and White are my favorite Pokemon games in the entire series (yes, even more than the Kanto games) and a strong contender for my favorite game(s) of the decade.

[rabbitcruiser]

Architecture, Manhattan (No. 3)

The Hotel Paramount in New York City is a hotel located at 235 West 46th Street, to the west of Broadway. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, construction was completed in 1928. In 1988, the hotel was closed for an 18-month remodelling project. In 1990, the hotel, under the ownership of Ian Schrager and redesigned by Philippe Starck, reopened as the Paramount Hotel.The hotel underwent a seven-month-long renovation in 1998 at a cost of $7 million, which included enhancements to lobby lighting 

After purchasing the hotel in 1986, Ian Schrager was able to more than double occupancy rates in about two years, to 82%. Schrager sold the hotel in 2004 for $126 million to a Sol Melia Hotels and Resorts / Hard Rock Cafe joint venture. When Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Paramount was sold to Walton Street Capital. In 2011, the hotel was sold to Aby Rosen's RFR Holding. 

Various musicians have been associated with the Paramount. The Paramount Hotel Grill, a restaurant within the hotel, hosted jazz performances from the 1930s onwards. At the height of their fame in 1931, the Memphis Stompers performed at the Paramount Hotel. Charlie Barnet led a band there from 1932 onwards. From 1938 to 1951, theatrical impresario and songwriter Billy Rose operated "Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe" nightclub in the basement of the Paramount. The club was known for its vaudeville-styled reviews and chorus of showgirls, "Billy Rose's Long-stemmed beauties." The Diamond Horseshoe featured some of the top entertainers of the era, and was the inspiration for the 1945 musical film Diamond Horseshoe starring Betty Grable. 

Source: Wikipedia

[boarix]

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part XI

Gathering Lemons

Trigger warnings: canon language/violence/gun, drug and alcohol use. Suggestive/mature content.

Bloody mess warning!

Game spoilers!

Please enjoy

 “Data unavailable.”

“Wait… does that mean you don’t know or that you can’t tell me?”

“The age of agent designated ‘Deacon’ is not on file.”

“Dang…”

“Query. Why is this data relevant?”

Wraith spun around on the bar stool she had dragged into P.A.M.’s office, “I just wanna know is all. He won’t tell me cause he knows it frustrates me that he knows everything about me and I know… possibly jack, about him. Thinks it’s a big tickle.”

“Query. What is the definition of ‘big tickle’?”

“He finds it humorous.”

Walking to her office, Desdemona heard Wraith’s voice and stuck her head in to frown at her, “Deacon is not here General. He won’t be back for a few days…”

“Yes, thank you. I’m dropping some holotapes off for Hancock…”

“He still has you running errands for him, huh?” Desdemona’s face held a superior look as she walked away.  

“Rude… ass…”

“Query. Why are you interactions with agent designated ‘Desdemona’ increasingly confrontational?”

Wraith spun around a few more times, considering, “I suppose she’s pissed that I quit and yet I’m still hanging around. She’s probably worried about exposure and it’s manifesting as bitchiness.”

“Query. Why did you quit? Your mission success rate was near one hundred percent. Higher even than agent designated ‘Glory’ and agent designated ‘Deacon’.”

“P.A.M, you can just say Glory and Deacon.” Wraith had winced at Glory’s name and stopped spinning to blink tears away while looking at the floor. “I quit so I could focus on Minutemen operations.”

“That phraseology is not accurate.” P.A.M walked over to stand next to Wraith. Bending slightly at the waist, the modified assaultron seemed to be trying to make eye-contact, “Query. Do you blame yourself for agent designated ‘Glory’s’ termination?”

It was a strange question, considering the source and Wraith was momentarily speechless. “I… I’m very sad that she died. I… I might have fallen for her, had things been different. Oddly enough, no; I don’t blame myself. For once. Her death I blame on Maxson. She has been avenged but I’m still going to miss her.” She stood up and watched P.A.M closely. She was acting strangely. “That was a rather emotionally orientated query, missy. Where did that come from?”

“Since my assistance in its repair, the unit designated KL-E-O has frequently entered my office and engaged me in conversation. Some of the topics would be beyond your capabilities of understanding. Some have been filed under personal developmental data. The topic of a recent discussion was loss and personal accountability.”

“Personal… P.A.M, do you like KL-E-O?”

“Insufficient data.”

“Also, pretty sure KL-E-O is a ‘she’ and not an ‘it’.”

“Logic error. Unit designated KL-E-O has no biological data and does not possess gender-related chromosomes.”

“I’ll let her explain it to you. Do you look forward to your conversations?”

“Temporarily unable to process verbal input. Still processing.”

 Once topside, Wraith waved MacCready over to her and the two headed toward the Minutemen offices. Despite all the positive experiences with synths, he still found himself uncomfortable at Railroad HQ. As such, the former merc had been amusing himself by reading comics while Wraith had run her errand. As they crossed the street he gave her a recap on Grognak’s latest adventure, hoping to elicit a conversation. It didn’t take long for him to realize that she wasn’t paying attention and that she was lost in her head.

“So right about then I slapped Danse across the face and told him ‘No! Bad can! Very bad tin can!”

“Mmhmm. Is that right?”

Sighing loudly, the young man picked up his pace; positioning himself directly in her path so she stopped. Locking eyes with hers, he was clearly annoyed, “I’ve been standing around in the cold waiting for you and now you’re ignoring me. You off somewhere else, or what?”

“I told you to wait in my office, Mac. You chose to stand down here instead.” His pout, as adorable as it was, needled her, “Don’t be a baby. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Oh, yeah? Like, what’s so important?”

“Northern expansion… and asexual synth love.”

“Ugh. Gross.”

“Don’t be like that. You like plenty of synths and robots!” Wraith side-stepped around him and set her hand on the doorknob, “You get along well with Codsworth and Sturges. You and Val have played dart and Horseshoe tournaments as partners! You have always been sweet to Curie.” Wraith, in a bad mood, turned the screw, “And Mags; I’ve head you and her have gotten along really well…”

“Magnolia is..?” MacCready stopped in his tracks, his face turning tato-red.

“And I thought you said synth love was gross. Oh, well I guess lust is something different, huh?”

That hurt him. She could see it. Clenching his fists, he turned and walked away from her.

Oh. Over did it. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

 Wraith tortured herself reviewing their conversation for the rest of the day. Unfocused and irritated she muddled her way through various meetings, embarrassing herself and wishing like crazy the dim, winter sun would hurry to bed. She flip-flopped between being angry with MacCready and his prejudice, to being angry with herself for her lack of patience.

Hancock had been busy with meetings himself and she really didn’t want to run to him with this. Complaining about one boyfriend to another, who also happens to be his boyfriend… It all seemed so grade school.

Shuffling papers around in an angry huff, she willed herself to stay seated when someone knocked on her door, “Enter, please.”

MacCready crossed the room to her desk. Arms folded, he had a determined and grumpy look, “I went to talk to Mags…”

“Didn’t believe me, huh? Like I would make shit up…”

“Let me finish!” Unfolding his arms he whipped his hat off angrily and ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, “Please stop thinking the worst of me! Over and over I’ve watched you be kind, not just to me but to people that I would never even look twice at. Because you took a chance on me, ME of all people, I have looked twice.” He stopped with his hands out toward her, “I’m not saying this right…”

“It’s okay Mac. Take your time. I’m sorry I interrupted.”

Sitting on the edge of her desk, he reached for her hand. Pulling her to her feet, he led her around to stand between his knees. “I went to talk to Mags because I really like her. We were… are friends. I bought her a drink and asked her about… being a synth, I guess. The time we… spent together, wasn’t just mindless… I needed… I’m trying to see if…” Faltering again, he stopped and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to be a good guy, so don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m sorry too. I got shitty with you and it was uncalled for.” She wrapped her arms around his head, bringing it to her chest, “You are a good guy, Mac. I love you.”

There was another knock on her door and Wraith could tell by the cadence that it was Hancock. “Come on in, Mr. Mayor.”

Looking uncharacteristically exhausted, Hancock smiled at his lovers and their embrace, “Can I get in on that? I really need some friendly human contact right ‘bout now.”

“Rough day at the office, man?”

Hancock sighed contentedly as they settled into a group hug atop Wraith’s desk, “Ever have a day that seems to have it out for ya?”

The desk collapsed, sending all three into a pile on the floor.

“No dear. Please tell us all about it.”

 Two days later found Wraith and MacCready in Diamond City. Hancock had been expecting to join them but found his responsibilities to his city too pressing to leave.

“I’ll do my best to tag along with Bossy’s next run. Course, that being weather dependent…”

The cold had been intense, especially at night. So much so that many provisioner caravans, depending on their routes, had been delayed or temporarily cancelled.

Wraith made plans for dinner with Piper before heading over to the agency to check on her favorite detective. Valentine was sitting and shuffling papers in a frustrated way that was very familiar. He seemed to be searching for something and pushed his chair back to look under his desk while tsking and muttering to himself. Wraith giggled when he crawled head-first underneath. Her chortle made him jump and bang his head, causing several items to fall to the floor.

“OUCH!”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Val!”

Rubbing his head, his cheeks burned scarlet, “Oof! That smarts.” He smiled at her abashedly, holding his arms out for a hug.

“Can I help you find something? Where’s Ellie?”

“Believe it or not, I’m not completely helpless without her… not completely. John and MacCready with you?”

“No Hancock but Mac’s along. He’s up with Shaun. We were supposed to leave tomorrow but Mac says he smells snow so I might be in town for a couple of days. Is there anything that you’re working on that I can help with?”

Valentine shrugged evasively and turned back to his desk, “Nothing too heavy right now, kiddo.”

“Oh nonsense, no job’s too small, right?”

Valentine pursed his lips and folded his arms, “Eustace Hawthorne is a missing cat… statue.”

“Cat… like a figurine?”

“Just like.”

“Oh… Val…”

Despite a reduction in height, Valentine’s appearance and body language were still reminiscent of his gen 2  form and as such were uniquely his own. The Railroad had even managed to tint his eyes amber. Tilting his head to the side he offered her a trademark, self-mocking smirk, “What was that about ‘no job too small’?”

“Well, I mean it’s not exactly grand larceny or a kidnapping…”

“It’s nothing less then what I should expect. After all that has happened, I’m lucky the good people of Diamond City haven’t burned me at the stake.”

Her frustration boiling over, Wraith dropped the bright-side pretense, “What the hell?! I thought that we had moved past this. I came and worked that burglary case with you this fall! I… we… Piper…”

“It’ll be fine, sweetheart. I’ve been here before. Things are slow right now but they’ll pick back up. I can blame some of it on the weather. Apparently it’s too cold to get into trouble.” Removing his hat, he ran a hand through his jet-black hair and smiled at her. “Hey, since I have you here there’s something I’ve been wanting to run past you.” Holding his hat in both hands, Valentine looked at the floor, “I want to ask Ellie to marry me. Would you stand with me? Do you think John would too?”

Wraith burst into tears.

“Oh! Don’t you start cause I’ll get going and Ellie will come in to a flood!”

Wraith looped a finger through the fine chain she wore around her neck. Valentine knew that Preston had given it to her after rescuing his group at the Museum of Freedom. Reaching forward she gently grabbed the detective’s hand and brought it up to chest height. When she dropped the necklace onto his palm, Valentine could see that it held two simple gold rings.

Wraith and Nate’s wedding rings.

He tried to pull away as if she had handed him a live grenade, “No! I couldn’t possibly…”

“Please, Val. Nothing could make me happier. Think of them as my wedding gift.”

The detective relented and the two embraced. When Ellie returned she found them both puffy faced but smiling.

“Uh oh. Now what have you two gotten into?”

 Wraith could tell there was something wrong with Piper. All through dinner she had been distracted and quiet. As the children, MacCready and Ellie settled in to play Euchre, Valentine and Wraith joined her in her small kitchen. Valentine rolled up his sleeves to wash the dishes and Wraith grabbed a hand-towel.  

“What’s up Pipes? I can see something is eating at you.”

“Oh Blue, I didn’t want to bother you with it but it’s a disaster!” Piper threw her hands in the air and began pacing back and forth. “The long caravan to Megaton is missing! I had the Radio Freedom operator contact Murkwater and they said that they passed a week ago. A week!”

“This is perfect!”

Piper shared an alarmed look with the detective, “Jeez Blue, that’s not very sensitive…”

Wraith waved her hands at the misunderstanding, “No, no! I don’t mean I’m glad the caravan is MIA. Valentine don’t you think this calls for a master detective and his faithful sidekick?”

“Where are we going to find one of those, kiddo?” Valentine smiled at her, “I guess in a pinch, we’ll have to do. What about weatherman MacCready? Slogging through snow has lost some of its appeal since I’m now subject to cold and damp.”

MacCready sensed that he might be being left out and came into the kitchen. “What’s this about snow-slogging?”

“It hasn’t actually started to snow…”

“Wraith has voluntold us to go looking for a missing caravan, last seen ‘round Murkwater way.”

MacCready’s face was the picture of disgust, “In the swamp?!”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want, Mac. I wouldn’t force you.”

“What I’m I supposed to do? Sit around here with my thumb up my as… butt? You didn’t even bring a rifle with you!”

Knowing full well she could simply pick up a rifle from the Minutemen armory, Wraith gave him a sappy smile, “You’re my rifle, Mac.”

Managing to look both dejected and proud, MacCready sighed, “Oh goody.”

 “It’s snowing!” MacCready’s voice was muffled as he grouched at Wraith through his scarf. “I told you…”

“It’s just a flurry; don’t be dramatic.”

“It can go from a dusting to a full blown Nor’easter at the drop of a hat, sweetheart. We can’t be caught without shelter if the weather turns on us.”

After checking in with the settlers in Jamaica Plain, the trio had elected a rout that circumvented most of the swamp that surrounded the Murkwater settlement. Even so the going was cold, slippery, slow and damp; something which MacCready felt the need to mention as frequently as possible.

“Wraith, I am cold. I can’t feel my toes…”

“I’m sorry it’s miserable out fellas but we’ll be there soon and we’ll be inside and they’ll have a warm fire and it’ll be great. So hang tough.”

“Oh, thank GOD YOU ARE HERE!” The village head, Margaret, looked completely done in, “We lost power this morning! My engineer is missing, we are all freezing and all the food in the walk-in is going to spoil!”

MacCready started sputtering and making incoherent noises. Wraith was almost certain she heard a few things that sounded like profanity.

Valentine kept a level head, “Can’t you just open the freezer doors? It’s cold enough to freeze the Dead Sea out here.”

“No, Val that’s a bad idea. There are probably a lot of animals that will smell the provisions and likely come to investigate.” Wraith cocked her head to the side, “Hey, do yao guai hibernate?”

“They do and mirlurks are dormant this time of year too. Deathclaws however…”

“Yeah, but aren’t they cold…”

“The hell YOU GUYS!” MacCready’s patience had worn through, “I’M ABOUT TWO SECONDS FROM SETTING THE NEAREST BUILDING ON FUCKING FIRE! THAT’S RIGHT, YOU HEARD ME, FUCKING FIRE!”

Wraith set about organizing the settlers into teams: one group to cut ice as a temporary solution for the walk-in, another to build fires from emergency logs and a final, smaller group to help her work on the generators. Valentine moved from group to group, helping where he could and asking about the missing caravan as well as the missing Murkwater engineer.    

Working as quickly as possible, Wraith and her team had the generators back up before dark. In thanks, Margaret put together a large celebratory dinner in the common house. Sitting slightly apart from the rest of the settlers, Valentine broke the news to Wraith and MacCready.

“Behemoth.”

MacCready spat his food, “You have got to be kidding me!”

“What’s the big deal Mac? Should be easy to spot and then…” Wraith pantomimed taking a shot, “Easy.”

“This is just like with the deathclaw…” MacCready held out his rifle, “This caliber will not penetrate through the armor, hide and bone of a behemoth.” When Wraith opened her mouth to protest, he held up a finger, “What I mean is, not like what you want. It’ll be small wounds that will take time to bring it down. The best I could do is blind the thing and we all know how well that works.”

“We have a Fat Man.” Margaret had been walking by and overheard, despite their hushed tones, “Only have one mini but ones enough, right?”

“Oooo. MacCready like big boom!”

“Easy, killer.” Wraith smiled at the village head, “That’s kind of you to offer but I left that here just in case another mirelurk queen decides to drop by. We’ll find another way.” She could feel MacCready’s eyes boring into her head, “Something to add, Mac?”

“MacCready like… grrrr… ruiner.”

“And another thing, the locals seem to think that there might be a chance their engineer is still kicking. Would be bad form to blow the thing to kingdom come, if it has a captive.” Valentine steepled his fingers, “Locating it will be a trial; despite its size we’ll have to track it through the thick of the swamp. That’s no mean feat.”

“…keeps getting better and better…”

“There’s a between zero and none chance this will be resolved without a clear, concise plan.”

“I wish Hancock were with us; he’s a better strategist than I am. All my plans go straight to shit.”

“…and better…”

 It took the better part of a week to locate the behemoth. The Minutemen had encountered the humanoid earlier in the year when they dispelled a super mutant group. Wraith recalled the report that Preston had shared with her: it had been the only survivor and had fled south. The decision to stop pursuit was mostly an act of the soldiers own self-preservation, as changing the creatures instinct from “flight” to “fight” seemed unwise. After the Murkwater engineer went missing, a long patrol had been organized but to no avail. There wasn’t a correlation drawn between the super mutants and the current dilemma so when they found several empty mirelurk carapaces and a large game trail, they chalked it up to a “very large animal”.

The massive super mutant had been foraging north almost to the Suffolk school, to far south of the settlement in a fairly straight line, in its quest for dormant mirelurks. Once the trio found the well-stomped path, they followed it to small shack where the humanoid kept its stash. There they found the remains of the missing caravan.

“Well, that’s really too bad.” Valentine wasn’t naive enough to believe they could find the provisioners alive but he was hoping their end could have been quicker, less gruesome.

“I don’t see any of Henrietta’s gear here… she might be in its basket still.” Wraith was getting teary-eyed, “Poor kid.”

“There is a rise with a tree over there.” MacCready pointed west, “It should give me a good angle. I don’t like the light this early… I want to see… to make sure before we use the frag mines.”

Valentine gave MacCready a knowing smile, “Well, well. I see hanging out with a do-gooder has done you some good.”

MacCready blushed and rubbed his nose, “Yeah, I’m a real philanthropist now. Gave all my caps to charity ‘n everything.”

Set-up was rather simple as was their plan: a blind in MacCready’s selected tree would give him the opportunity to verify if the engineer had somehow survived her abduction. It was highly likely that she had not and to that end, the trio would use a combination of grenades and mines to eliminate the threat.

Once MacCready was safe in his perch, Wraith and the detective hunkered down separately and waited.

And waited.

“Damn. Should have brought walkies. Stupid, stupid… Boy, I hope Mac remembered his night-scope.”

He had. And as the sun dipped below the horizon, the former merc swapped out his equipment. He had been having a hard time keeping his hands warm and so found it to be a challenge despite his expertise. “None of this is fun. This flippin’ sucks! I’m a good guy. I’m a great guy! Wraith needs a good guy. Whelp, I’m that guy. Goody, great guy.”

Wraith felt their enemy even before it showed up on her Pip-Boy. The sound of a behemoth as it makes its way through the world is unmistakable: as if they were the resulting offspring of a union between a great forge-bellows and an elephant. As the creature moved toward its shack, Valentine and Wraith tensed and got themselves into fleeing/attack position. In the event that any of the three of them were sensed or seen, Wraith would engage until the other two were clear and then disappear. Both of her companions had been very vocal about her trying to bring the monster down herself.

“Here we go…” MacCready raised his rifle and took a deep steadying breath.

“Someone, please! PLEASE HELP ME! OH GOD, PLEASE!”

Henrietta was still alive. She was crying.

Wraith fought hard to stay in cover. Her berserker instinct told her she needed to run at the behemoth and tear it apart. With her teeth if she had to.

Calm. Stay calm. Breath. Gotta fall back, gotta regroup… No we can’t. We have to do something now!

Leaping to her feet, Wraith ran at the humanoid while yelling at the top of her voice, “MAC, WE HAVE TO BRING IT DOWN WITHOUT HURTING HER! IF I CAN GET IT TO THROW SHIT AT ME, THE ARMOR IS WEAK AT THE NECK AND UNDER THE ARMS!” She ducked and dodged as her surprised foe attempted to flatten her.

“I’M ALSO BEING A FOOL AND RUNNING AROUND SCREAMING!” Valentine had a borrowed shotgun and would occasionally shoot at the monster’s feet. This was more to drive it to a greater fury than to cause damage. After all, he didn’t want to accidentally kill the person they were trying to rescue.

It was a rather ridiculous scene: two grown adults running around a giant monster in the dark, shouting nonsense and firing their guns at the ground.

As predicted, the beast began to find things to throw at its tormentors. MacCready kept his focus despite the shenanigans, waiting for the right angle. Unable to predict the flight path of such a chaotic development, the trio had a collective “oh no” moment when a rather large rock narrowly missed MacCready’s blind and crashed into the tree’s trunk.

Things were rapidly heading toward shit.    

The tree groaned ominously and the sniper knew his precarious perch would not hold him for much longer, “Common ya big dummy, pick up a BIG rock. Show me what you’re made of!”

As if the behemoth had heard him, it stooped low and using both hands ripped an enormous bolder from the swampy earth. Raising it far above its head, it turned to zero-in on a target; presenting MacCready with a perfect view of its armpit.

“Oh, why thank you.”

The humanoid was so startled by the bullet’s impact that it dropped the bolder squarely on its own head. There was a terrible squishing sound and an enormous gout of blood. It stood that way for several seconds before pitching forward and crashing heavily to the ground. The impact caused MacCready’s tree to fall as well but the young man was able to avoid serious injury by bailing out at the last moment and rolling to safety.

Henrietta was in pretty bad shape. In addition to being malnourished and dehydrated, her left foot had been crushed between the behemoth’s back-cage and the various detritus it contained. Despite the competency of the medics, her foot was amputated.

“It’s going to be fine General.” The engineer tried to reassure an obviously guilt-ridden Wraith, “I will still be able to do my job and it’s amazing that I survived at all!”

Doing her best to school her features into a poker face, Wraith congratulated the young women and told her how proud she was to have someone of her caliber in the Minutemen.

The kid’s trying to make me feel better and she was just kidnapped by a literal monster, held captive for almost two weeks in the freezing cold and then had to have her foot cut off! Jeez!

“What in the Sam Hill possessed you to wander around in the swamp by yourself?”

The young woman blushed at Valentine’s question and mumbled at the floor, “Patrols had been seeing carapaces out there and I wanted some. I wanted to see if I could use them for something and I was too embarrassed to ask if they would bring some back to me.”

 Piper was grateful despite the unfortunate fate of her caravan. “You and Valentine… oh and MacCready… I guess… really came through for Diamond City. I’ll make sure everyone knows it too.”

“I don’t know Pipes; the caravan was lost because I never went out after that behemoth. Preston had even made a point to show me that particular report.” Wraith leaned back in the chair in Piper’s office while running her hand vigorously through her short-cropped hair, “I didn’t follow-up and so people and brahmin died.”

Piper smiled sadly at her friend, “Your hair is getting long. Are you growing it out because of the cold or do you want me to trim it for you?”

Bemused by the change in subject, Wraith nodded stupidly.

“Well, which is it Blue?”

“Umm, trim… please.”

The two women moved to the mayor’s washroom and Piper busied herself washing and trimming Wraith’s hair. The radio was softly playing and Wraith found herself relaxing as Pipers fingers massaged her scalp.

“Blue, do you remember what I said to you when you told me to run for mayor?”

“Mmm, hmm.” Wraith sat up and smiled as Piper leaned against the sink, “You said ‘you’re nuts! I can hardly keep a teenager in line, let alone an entire city!’.”

“And that’s when you said, ‘you care enough about the welfare of the citizens of Diamond City, that you were willing to risk your life!’. You went on to say how my dogged pursuit of the truth wasn’t just to get some scoop. It wasn’t just for notoriety but the most noble of quests; for justice!”

“I don’t know if those were my exact words…” Wraith knew what Piper was driving at, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do but it’s not the same thing. I dropped the ball.”

“You can’t hold yourself accountable for every bad thing that happens, Blue.”

“Watch me.” Wraith stood up while stretching. There was a slight twinge in her left arm and she rubbed it absentmindedly as she stooped to kiss Piper on the top of her head. “I’m not quite ready to make lemonade yet but thanks for the pep-talk.” She smiled disarmingly as she changed the subject, “Did I hear Val right, that he wants to cook dinner?”

Piper adopted her best Nick Valentine impression, “I want to be the sort of man who can cook for his girl! After all, she works hard all day too.” Laughing, she waved her hand dismissively, “Don’t worry. I’m going to help him make sure it’s edible.”

“You want some help?”

“Why don’t you go rest? No offence but you look pretty tired, Blue.”

“I am fine! I guess I’ll go bug Mac and Shaun for a bit…”

  “…the difference between the caliber. Got it?”

“Yes, Mr. MacCready. Hi grandma!”

Wraith walked into Home Plate and offered a wave to her boys, “Don’t let me interrupt. Is there something I can help with?”

MacCready shrugged, “Davidson said we could load clips and magazines; thought that might be good practice. You can help if you want or you could go rest… for once.”

“I’m fine, Mac.” Wraith reached to grab bullets from a shelf slightly above her head. As she took a step back with her hands full, she felt lightning flash through her left arm. Her hand spasmed and opened, sending the box to the floor and bullets everywhere. “Ow, crap!”

“Are you okay?” Shaun came running to help clean up.

“Yeah, kiddo. I’m okey dokey.” Embarrassed, Wraith crouched to grab some of the wayward ordnance out from under a table. Misjudging when she was clear, she clunked her head as she stood. “Ow! Fu…heck!”

MacCready, exasperated, had his face in his hands and proceeded to drag them down his cheeks to expose the pink of his lower eyelids.

“Gross, Mac.”

“No, what is gross is that despite all,” He swept his hands out as if reveling the room, “this; I know you can still whoop me.” He laughed a little even as he started to help. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. My left arm is being… I’ll talk to Curie when we get back. No worries.”

They both looked very worried.

“Why can’t I come with you, grandma?”

Wraith slung her right arm around Shaun and pulled him to her, “It’s still too dangerous, weather wise.”

“Yeahbut, you guys are going…”

MacCready sat in a chair and leaned back with his arms behind his head, “Hancock should be in Sanctuary by now and we said we’d meet him there. I miss Dogmeat too. I want to go home and hug my ghoul and my dog.”

“Oh, I see how it is! I’m not enough for you, huh.” Wraith walked over and gave her lover a kiss that he returned with gusto.

“Ugh, you guys are both gross!”

 “Wraith… SEE… right in front… NOSE! WE HAVE... STOP!”

The shrieking wind tore MacCready’s words from him and flung them around to mingle with the snow. Wraith could make out enough to understand and agreed that they needed to find cover. However, the blizzard made it almost impossible for her to see her Pip-Boy and without the map she was completely lost.

We could be wandering in circles for all I know!

Frustrated and tired, she stubbornly plowed ahead and ran face first into the side of a building. “OW! FUCK ME!”

MacCready’s lips were at her ear, “Can you at least wait until we’re inside?”

Wraith felt a shudder of need pass through her as she found the door. Relieved to see a partially obscured Minutemen insignia, she undid the padlock and let them in. “I don’t know Mac; it’s pretty cold in here. You think you’re up for it?”

He caught her arm and pulled her to him, “Wraith, I could be on fire and get it up for you.”

“Clothes off… I’ll get the fire going.”

“That… wasn’t…”

 Breathing hard, Wraith collapsed on MacCready’s chest. Her head swimming in the high of release, she listened to his heartbeat as it slowed back to a normal rhythm. When she tensed to stand up he wrapped his arms around her to keep her atop him.

She smiled as she laid her head against him. He would often hold her like this after making love. It seemed as though he was reluctant to end the feeling of “oneness”. When his grip relaxed she propped herself up to watch his face. That moment when he opened his beautiful eyes and smiled at her; she could live and die for that moment.

“I’m so lucky.”

“Funny… I was thinking the same thing.”

Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please see my master link post under my bio. Any questions/comments/concerns, my ask is open. =^..^=

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: The High Hawks - “Diamond Sky”

“Diamond Sky” sounds like a song by a country band.

And while it is a country song - a harmonic waltz with violin, piano and rimshot drums - the band that made it is a supergroup featuring members of Leftover Salmon (Vince Herman), Railroad Earth (Tim Carbone), Horseshoes and Hand Grenades (Adam Greuel) and Great American Taxi’s Brian Adams, Will Trask and Chad Staehly, who also played with Hard Working Americans.

The track announces the Feb. 16, 2024, arrival of the group’s sophomore album, Mother Nature’s Show, a musical trip down the Mississippi River whose songs are as varied as members’ day jobs.

So while “Diamond Sky” is 100 percent a country song, Mother Nature’s Show promises to be a genre-hopping LP with a country song in the first grooves and a whole lot of other stuff happening as the needle crosses vinyl.

Grade card: The High Hawks - “Diamond Sky” - B-

12/11/23

[angpang81]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 925 STERLING SILVER LUCKY CRYSTAL EVIL EYE HORSESHOE STAR SUN CLOVER TURQUOISE.