#Garry's being retired for the moment

[fuckyeslilkim]

Lil Kim's Squat Pose Is Iconic. Its Photographer Discusses it for the First Time

In a rare interview, Michael Lavine discussed the day he shot Lil Kim’s Hard Core cover, the booklet, and that feisty, nearly 30-year-old poster we just can’t get enough of.

Even though Michael Lavine has photographed OutKast, Ghostface Killah, JAY-Z, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown and many others, he didn’t start out capturing larger-than-life rap acts. Like multiple moments throughout his career, he just fell into the next phase of artistry, which was deifying a generation of Black storytellers.

Lavine’s interest in photography goes way back. He led his high school’s yearbook committee as the head photographer. Soon after, at Washington’s Evergreen State College, he studied traditional street photography in the style of Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand. While in Washington, he befriended the group responsible for the record label that became Sub Pop, and documented a then-emerging sound that, to this day, continues to inspire chart toppers. He wasn’t interested in being married to any particular genre or group though, because boxing yourself in isn’t the move. “I just never felt comfortable kind of being pigeonholed in anything to my own detriment. It's not good for business to do that,” he said. “You're supposed to kind of dive in, not pull away. But that's just how I was wired. I wanted to do my own thing.”

After fostering the trust of music industry greats (“I started working for Rick Rubin. He was one of my first clients and he hired me to shoot a bunch of his Death American acts because he was starting to do metal at that time,” Lavine recalled) and becoming a Black Book highlight, he fell into shooting some of the biggest rappers on the scene. His knowledge of capturing Black talent helped. “I was very good at skin color and doing warm skin tones and lighting people,” he said. “For some reason, I think there was this problem with white people who didn’t understand how to light Black people, which was just ridiculous.”

In short, he came, he saw, he snapped. Legacies were cemented in the process, most notably with an image of one of the greatest female rappers that has become one of hip-hop’s most beloved and recreated photos — Lil Kim’s iconic squat seen ‘round the world.

Below, the retired photographer gave Okayplayer a rare interview where, for the first time, he discussed the day he shot Lil Kim’s Hard Core cover, the booklet, and that feisty, nearly 30-year-old poster we just can’t get enough of.

This interview, which took place over multiple conversations, has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

When did you first meet Lil Kim?

The date was 7/30/96. The anniversary just passed.

What was your first impression of her?

My impression overall was she was not like she is, as in the present. She was very quiet and under the thumb of Big Un. Remember Big Un?

Are you talking about Lance “Un” Rivera?

Yeah. He was there. He was the man in charge of her and was kind of in control of the shoot. Kim didn't say a word. I don't think I spoke to her once about anything, but we had a nice rapport in front of the camera. She was great and we made a lot of pictures together, but I felt like there was this circus going on around us and it was just me and her. You get this intimate bond with your subject a lot of times. She's in her lingerie and rolling around on a bed. So, I was trying to be my normal, respectable self, and being professional and making the images with her in tandem.

I would direct her like, "Let's try this. How about coming over here? What if we lean this way?" There were a lot of sets. We had rented a brownstone in Manhattan probably. It was a couple floors. It might have been two floors. So there was a bedroom, a little balcony, a fireplace, and those big doors.

I interviewed Kim last year and she told me she just kind of dropped into the squat pose naturally.

It was very spontaneous. When you're doing photo shoots, at least when I was working, it was an organic process and you let things happen. It's like a creative flow. Whenever you have a creative director there holding out a [composition] like, "Here, do it like this," it just was always bad and kind of nothing. It was like the safest way to get whatever it is that they had in their minds. But to make a great photograph you have to let things happen. You just have to go with it.

There was no layout for her to do that pose. It just was natural. Part of it, I spent a lot of time low angle, meaning I was always kind of lying on the floor, crouching down myself. So, it's possible that one of the reasons she did it was because I was probably sitting on the floor looking up at her because that's kind of how I do. My style was based on the hero, meaning my job was to make people look like heroes with iconic style.

My style was based on making people look cool and giving them lots of options. So, we would take a lot of different kinds of photographs. I used different kinds of lighting. We moved very quickly. A lot of things happened and it was very much an exciting experience. Somebody had a set prop person there bringing flowers. For the cover shot, we had all those flowers in front of the fire, and the bear skin rug we brought that in. It was a normal hip-hop shoot. I was intimidated. It was a very hard day. Everybody was being kind of tough and intimidating, and nobody would talk to me.

Were you scared?

I was never scared, but they all had guns. It's not that I was scared..scared is not the right word. It's more like I felt kind of out of place a little bit. I didn't even speak with Kim. I was dealing with Un mostly, and Un had a lot of ideas. So we were trying to do all the things. I was getting coverage for him. He wanted to have her hold the honey bear. Remember, there's a shot of her holding a honey bear on the black satin sheets? We had a lot of props. I had a props guy. His name was Jerry Schwartz. He was very good and we had brought a bunch of stuff.

So, for example, I remember Puffy came in for a shot and I did one shot with Puffy and Kim together. And Puffy, I worked with him many times. He didn't even say hello to me.

I was just like, “Really? Do you have to be that way? You're so cool you don't want to embarrass yourself talking to the photographer, actually acknowledging him?”

I never really felt at home around Puffy. I think at that time, because I don't think he's like this anymore, but at that time he was — and I know this happened to several other people that I've witnessed throughout their careers — they're really striving. It's very hard at the beginning and they'll push, push, push. They're just about their thing and they don't care about you. So, he was yelling at everybody all the time.

On set that day?

Not that day. Other days.

Oh, just in general?

Just in general. Barking orders. But that day he came in briefly and we did the shot and then he left. There's one shot, I don't know if you've seen it, of them together on a wall. I don't even know why he was there. I can't remember. He had something to do with the record, I guess.

"There was no layout for her to do that pose. It just was natural," Lavine said of the image.

The image came out as the poster, “Lil Kim Coming Soon.” When you're there that day, you have no idea what images are going to stand out. Zero. There's just no way anyone could know. It isn't until there's time to contemplate the session when you edit it and you start to live with the images. And the graphic designer who, I can't remember who it was. Maybe you can find that out.

Maybe.

Let's see if there's a name on here. I don't know. Big Beat records? I don't know who that would've been. Atlantic maybe? I think it was Atlantic Records, no?

Lil Kim was [signed to] Atlantic.

It was Atlantic? Maybe it was, I don't know who it was. Liz Barrett? There were a bunch of people in the Atlantic art department at the time. I could probably look at the invoice.

Do you still have the invoice?

I don't know. Let's see if I do. '96...

If you do, you're the best records keeper of all time.

Yeah, there's Kim and Puffy right there. I have the whole job here. Ed and Carl were my assistants. The location was 24 West 10th Street. That's where we shot it. Here's something for you. Ready for this?

Yes.

So, these are notes from my conversation with the manager. "Little Kim. Female. She's the other woman, somersaults in bedroom, not raunchy. Doorway of bedroom, satin sheets. Blouse, undone. Honey in hair, on bed and on phone. Down pants. Unbuttoning pants. No whips and chains. Classy, sexy, lush, lustful. Candles in the background. Fruits and chocolates." There you go.

The notes Lavine was given prior to the Lil Kim shoot.

So, those were the notes that you were given before the shoot?

Yep. Those were the notes I was given before the shoot.

"Not raunchy" really stands out because I think you conveyed that.

"Not raunchy" — peekaboo, sexy shit.

Oh, man. Well, you did it. You accomplished the goal. And that actually flows really well into my next question, which was what do you believe they were trying to convey with the shoot?

It was funny that they hired me because I was known for not exploiting women in my photos. That was one of the reasons I didn't ever shoot women because back in the day, you were expected to shoot women with clothes off. I refused to do that and I never did it. I think this crouching picture was the raunchiest picture that I had ever done. Actually, that's not true. I did one once. But it was not my normal style, shall I say.

But also, it's an empowering image. I just generally felt uncomfortable sexualizing women throughout my career. That shoot was uncomfortable for me because I had to do that, and I think she was a little unclear as to what she was doing herself. I have no idea. I didn't talk to her. I'm not sure what she was thinking. Years later, I talked to her because we were both well complaining about this image being bootlegged.

She did mention that during our interview. That people were making t-shirts and making their own memorabilia.

It's completely illegal what they're doing, and it's got to be the most bootlegged image of mine. It's like whack-a-mole, you can't stop them. You send out your lawyers and then they just shut down and open with a different name. I could probably go out, spend some time and sue them all and she could, too. Who has time for that? If you have a lawyer and you have a lot of money, you could do that.

That sounds like a lot.

I mean, it's unfortunate. But she was talking about trying to do some merch of her own. The smart thing to do would be to get a deal with Merch Traffic or somebody that does merch, and then they would take care of trying to squash the illegal competition. But I thought that she was going to maybe have that happen this year, but I haven't heard from her.

But the image is just getting more and more famous. It's funny, you never know what kind of resonance an image is going to make and impress upon the culture at the time when you make it. It's rare that there's an instant classic. It's very hard to have that kind of impact these days just because of the nature of social media. Back then, there was a poster and that poster was the only poster. There was no other place to see it but the poster.

Now, it's everywhere.

That image really stands the test of time. Very few images stand the test of time like that image that I've worked on. It's one of my more recognizable images and I have a lot of them.

You do.

So, what can I say? It was a perfectly nice day. She was lovely. We had a nice rapport. The pictures came out great. I continued to work for many years after, and I'm retired now.

What made you jump into hip-hop photography?

Well, that's a funny question because I think my whole life, until recently, has been me falling into things that I wasn't planning on. I was driven to do photography so I was on that path. But if you would've told me my senior year, my fifth year of college, I was going to be shooting rock bands for a living for the rest of my life, I would've said, "Really?" I would've had no idea. But that fifth year [of college] I got a job to shoot a rock band and it just turned into —

The rest of your life?

It turned into the rest of my life. I never said, "I'm going to be a rock photographer." I never said that until I was one. Then, I had no plans on shooting hip-hop. It was an up-and-coming market at the time. I didn't know anything about it. I was friends with Kurt Cobain hanging out at rock shows, and really was unaware of a lot of hip-hop.

I did some hip-hop jobs early. I shot De La Soul, who I loved. I shot a few bands and hip-hop acts that were popular around that time. I got to know a lot of people in the business over time because I worked in it for so long. I was really close with Groovy Lou, who I loved as a stylist. June Ambrose. A lot of people.

But this was a defining moment. That shot, that poster when it came out, it made a lasting impact. It's still gaining speed. At that time, nobody knew who she was.

Did you know who she was?

I might've heard her name but not really. I just got hired on jobs. That's how I learned about people. I listened to the record before anybody else heard it. I got it first. But a lot of people were that way — I would learn about them on the job. That's how you learn because if I'm shooting 100 jobs a year, I don't have time to do anything but the job that's in front of me.

Did you listen to the album before the shoot?

Oh, I'm sure, of course. I don't remember the exact moment I listened to it but I always did. But that was part of the job, and we listened to it all day long during the shoot because that's what we did.

When did you realize that photo was really making waves?

Well, I think it happened over time. Obviously, the poster immediately was like, “OK, that's intense.”

Was it everywhere? Was it all over town?

It was everywhere. And when the poster came out it was powerful. It was a dramatic statement and it sent shock waves immediately. It was clearly influential at the time, I will say that. It was shocking and effective. It put her on the map.

Do you think it put her on the map more so than the cover?

Oh, yeah. The cover, who knows what the cover looks like? Nobody does.

[beardedmrbean]

A New York police department released body camera video showing the moments before an officer shot a theft suspect, but experts disagree on whether the footage should have been made public so quickly.

News outlets were given clips July 3 from three New Rochelle police officers' body cameras – the same day that one of them seriously injured Jarrell Garris after he allegedly reached for one of their guns.

"The fact that it was released so promptly goes toward the notion that there's not something being hidden here. There's transparency," civil rights lawyer Mayo Bartlett told Fox News Digital. The move helps police build trust with the community, he added. 

After receiving a 911 call that reported a man had stolen food from a local grocery store, officers Kari Bird, Gabrielle Chavarry and Detective Steven Conn confronted Garris, 37, on Lincoln Avenue near North Avenue in New Rochelle, about 25 miles north of New York City. 

The footage shows two female officers talking to Garris. "What were you doing in the store? You were eating the food?" one of the officers asked. 

Conn was shown arriving and telling Garris he was under arrest. As Garris was placed in handcuffs, he was seen struggling. "Tase him. Tase him. Tase him ... He's got a gun!" Conn yells. Garris put his hand on one of the officer's belts, then the video cut out before the actual shooting.

Bartlett, who co-chaired Westchester's Police Reform Commission, said the clips show the officers' actions were in compliance with police protocol, but there may be room for improvement.

"By the book, it seems to be fine, but maybe we need to reevaluate how we approach people as well," he said, noting that Garris appeared to begin resisting the moment Conn announced he was under arrest.

However, retired NYPD Sgt. Joseph Giacalone said there are downsides to releasing body camera footage so quickly.

"You have to do it when it helps the police and when it hurts the police," he said. "This case is cut-and-dried, but sometimes even things on camera are ambiguous."

If police delay releasing footage in a more nuanced case, the public might accuse them of a cover-up.

"The court of public opinion is worse than any court. One of these incidents can set off a riot in a matter of seconds," he said.

Giacalone, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he is a huge proponent of the NYPD using body-worn cameras but noted that the department rarely releases footage to the public.  

"Police departments need to come up with a happy medium," he said. 

Garris remains in critical condition at the Westchester Medical Center, authorities said. 

The video did not persuade Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., that the police shooting was justified. He mistakenly released a statement Friday saying that Garris had died. 

FLORIDA SUSPECT KILLED IN SHOOTING WAS ‘WAITING’ FOR DEPUTIES BEFORE OPENING FIRE, WOUNDING OFFICER: POLICE

His office later retracted the statement after learning that Garris was still alive but had experienced brain death, the Daily Voice reported.

Bowman said that Garris suffers from schizophrenia and called the shooting "senseless." 

"Police brutality has been sickening our country and taking the lives of our loved ones for decades," he added.

The shooting remains under investigation by the New York State Police and the New York State Attorney General's Office. 

[cursedmouthgall]

Reboot complete!

Meet Gallius Hinikuni, your friendly neighborhood demon who’s here to help! ...For the right price of course. Not much is know about this friendly fellow only that he shows up when needed or not needed. He tends to just show up when he wants to cause mischief. While he’s certainly not the most powerful demon around he’s certainly a bit of a talking point around certain parts of the city, more of a rumor mostly. Those who have been helped by him seem to say his price for helping seems to change, it could be something as simple as change for a twenty down to the usual deal with souls. Nobody can really figure out the fellow and nobody wants to try. While he himself is a demon, his family is rather...ordinary. His father an accountant, his mother a secretary turned house-wife and his best friend is a giant fluffy monster who runs a store downtown but he doesn’t want people to know about that. He’s supposed to be frightening after all, he can’t have people learning about that stuff! 

[epic-potato-crisp]

Wireless (AjinWeek2020/6)

Day 6: Favorite AU! / Dotard + Call of Duty

By @ryokasmagic

Note:  AU in which Satou is a Pro-Gamer.

…………

* Sam_The_Gaming_Man has started his first stream on Twitch! *

“Hello everyone, and good day from Tokyo!” The older man greets the audience with a bright smile, throwing up a peace-sign. He’s wearing a cap that’s covering parts of his face, but no-one can miss the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“First, I want to thank my over 1 million subscribers for making this possible by always watching my Let’s Plays- You guys are the real champions! Welcome to my debut stream!”

He tips his hat. “This whole social media landscape, if I may be honest with you guys, is quite the challenge for an old geezer like me. That’s why I have Oliver over here helping me out. Thank you, Oliver!”

Someone waves a walking stick in greeting in the background.

“And thank you to Terry and Garry, who carried all my equipment up here, and helped him install it.” He gestures around himself. “Here, you can see my entire setup!”

A photo briefly fades into the right corner of the stream, showing a desktop with two large monitors, a tower case standing at the bottom, a keyboard flashing in red, gaming mouse and various other electronics. “4 TB of storage and the best CPU on the market, according to Oliver!” He holds up his hands in resignation: “Please do not ask me for the details, I have long since given up on that particular aspect. I’m here for the game and the game only! As they say, I’m going in for the kill.” He chuckles.

A taller man appears in the background. “Eh- Sato- eh, Sam-san?” a voice asks uncertainly.

“Oh, Ted!” Sam beckons him closer in a gleeful voice, “Ted my man! Come here, come here! Say hello to our audience!”

Ted inches forward. He’s of above average height, his black hair is long and shaggy under a grey basecap, and he’s wearing a red sports-jacket. He also looks like he very much doesn’t want to be here.

“I’ve brought your refreshment.” Ted says, holding out a large glass filled with tea, ice-cubes, lemon, a straw and even a little turquoise umbrella on top.

“Ted, please, take a seat!” Sam insists and finally Ted does, sitting down on the stool next to him and hands him the glass, which he gratefully accepts.

“Thank you so much!”

Sam takes a large sip. Closing his eyes, he tilts back his head and lets out a content sigh. “Just what I need before a long streaming session. Ted, you really are an angel!”

Ted avoids looking at the camera. There’s a faint blush on his face.

“Can I go now, Sat- eh, Sam-san?”

Sam laughs, amicably patting his back. “Ahh, Ted always the shy one. Go on, I won’t keep you.”

Ted bows, mumbles his thanks and disappears in a flash.

“Where were we, where were we….” Sam studies the screen, “Right, today we will be tackling a very retro game, made possible by Oliver and his friend, the emulator. Super Mario Brothers, originally published for the NES! Haha, what a joy to go back to my roots!”

Sam takes another sip of his drink. “Mmm, delicious. On this note, a big thank you to my sponsors Nekozawa Tech! They have also gifted me this beautiful headset!”

He points to his face. The headset in question shines in a cardinal red, with cat-ears adorning the top.

“See, these can even be lighted up!” Sam explains, as he demonstrates, “It makes me feel right as though I bathed in the fountain of immortal youth!” He winks into the camera.

“And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a high-quality microphone.” He continues, lovingly patting the device in front of him. “If this has wakened your gaming spirit, click on the link in my description and get 40% of your next Nekozawa Tech order with the code EmperorSam! And now, back to the game!”

He rubs his hands, smirking.

“I do hope I won’t regret my boastful words the second I start World 1, but if you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m quite the pro at this game in particular. So, in order to keep this whole stream a little more interesting and personal, feel free to ask any burning questions you may have. Terry and Gerry over here are monitoring the feed and will pick the most exquisite ones for when I pass a level! Right, you two?”

“Back to business, baby!” a cheery voice shouts.

Sam nods. “That’s what I love to hear. Ah, and now, to no longer keep you- let the Games begin!”

….

Sam breezes through the first two worlds in record-time, audibly having a blast while doing so.

Apparently, so is his audience. His viewer count has tripled by the time they reach World 4.

“Sam, ready for some questions?” a voice asks in the background.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, Terry!” Sam flashes a confident grin at the camera, stretching and tilting his neck from one side to the next, until it gives a satisfying crack.

“telomere_freak wants to know: “Don’t you think Sam_The_Gaming_Man sounds a little too peaceful for someone of your caliber? How about killer_grandpa_606 or murderous_maniac_xoxo.”

Sam laughs heartily in response. “What a great first question to start of the round! You have a point, telomere_freak, my bloodthirsty nature – in games, of course, only- “yet again, he winks at the camera, “is not as subtle as I believed. I’m quite content with my name, however I do want to honour such a creative suggestion.” He spins around in his chair.

“Hey, Oliver?”

“Yes, Sam?”

“Can you add: “Killer_Grandpa_xoxo” to my twitter bio?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Wonderful! Thank you again, telomere_freak for your question. Do we have any others, Gary?”

“We have one here from yuuandai.” A second voice announces in the background. Someone, presumably Terry, cracks up with laughter.

“Guys, seriously? I see what you did there, but that’s so freaking lame!”

Gary clears his throat. “Yuuandai wants to know: “What was your occupation before becoming a pro-gamer?”

“Quite the serious one here.” Sam muses, taking down his headset for a moment. “Well, I won’t disclose too many personal details, but I can say I dabbled in International Trade before deciding to retire at my desktop. It might be difficult to imagine me all fancy in a business suit, but back then, it payed the bills. And it taught a lot about strategy at the same time.”

He puts his headset back on. “And now, let’s get ready for some entertainment!”

……

World 4 is destroyed in an almost ridiculous amount of time.

“I’d really feel sorry for these turtles.” he comments, “If they weren’t such fun to jump on!”

Unexpectedly, World 5 proves to be more difficult than Sam had anticipated.

His good mood doesn’t drop in the slightest. On the contrary, it seems have been heightened.

“What a rollercoaster!” Sam calls out in exhilaration, pausing the game after yet another death, “That’s an enemy how I like them- difficult to predict, difficult to conquer. Alas, I will take a short break. Terry, if you please?”

“kurochan100 wants to know: Will you be joining us for the Call of Duty Tournament next weekend?”

“What a question, of course! That’s something that even early stage dementia won’t let me forget.” Sam laughs, “Just a joke, folks.” He smirks. “My old brain works a little better than Ted would like it to sometimes.”

As if on cue, the taller man appears behind him: “Sat-, eh, Sam-san. Your medication.” He fidgets, pill box in hand.

“Ted, you’re truly an angel! Don’t stand there, sit, sit. You know my female fanbase appreciates your cameos.”

“Do they?” Ted asks quietly, fidgeting but taking a seat as expected of him.

“Why wouldn’t they? We all need a savior like Ted when your own hips become one’s mortal enemy.” Sam sighs theatrically, waggling a finger at the camera.

He then swallows medication in one go with a generous sip of iced tea.

“#tenshited is trending.” Terry calls out from the back, as #てんしてど moves up to number one of Japan’s most popular twitter topics.

“Ahahaha, is it? See Ted, the ladies just can’t enough get of you!”.

Ted mumbles something incoherent, pulling his basecap even lower.

“Wait a second though- “Sam frowns, “What user asked about the tournament again?”

“kurochan100.” Gary says.

“Wait, is it the kurochan100? Terry, check that please.”

“On it, boss. Oh, speaking of the devil: “It is me. You better have your weapons ready on Saturday.”- kurochan100.”

“Of course, it is them!” Sam chuckles, and waves into the camera.

“Shout-out to kurochan100! She’s an up-and-coming streamer, and a living legend at Call of Duty. Even Ted has experienced the joy of being crushed by her before. Haven’t you, Ted?”

“I need to leave.” Ted mumbles, and promptly disappears from sight.

“Some losses take longer to get over.” Sam comments, with a wry smirk, “Well, give her a follow on her Twitch channel, you won’t regret it! Except of course, if you’re on the opposing team!” He laughs loudly.

“Let’s continue.” he announces, turning back to the game. There’s a vengeful glint in his eyes.

“I still have a World to take over.”

[aion-rsa]

Parks and Recreation: Why is Everyone So Mean to Jerry?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Parks and Recreation is undeniably one of the most beloved comedies of the 21st century, and a lot of that can be attributed to the show’s sunny disposition. While comedies like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, South Park, and Parks’ direct inspiration The Office were often fueled by nastiness, cynicism, and boorishness, Parks and Rec used the unrelenting positivity of its main character and the warm relationships between its ensemble to create a feel-good atmosphere that naturally lead to laughs. 

Parks’ cheery portrayal of competent, well-meaning civil servants running into the grossly ill-informed, misplaced anger of their constituents has earned it the reputation of being the defining comedy of the Obama era. Throughout the tumultuous and divisive Trump presidency, populated with government employees who seemed as outwardly hostile toward the departments that they represented as Ron Swanson, fans and critics wrote about finding solace in old episodes of the NBC comedy. When reality showed us a spiteful, corrupt version of civic life, Parks and Rec was like a balm of niceness.

However, within Parks’ hopeful, friendly world, one particular piece of Trumpian ugliness often goes unmentioned in the gushing tributes to the series kindness — the treatment of Gerald “Garry/Jerry/Larry” Gergich. Most commonly referred to as Jerry as a sign of disrespect or just genuine apathy toward getting his name right, Jerry is the constant butt of the Parks Department’s jokes. 

Relentlessly bullied for his clumsy nature and ineptitude, Jerry is treated as one might imagine Donald Trump treats Chris Christie. Jerry is mocked moments after recovering from a heart attack, barely tolerated after a supposed mugging, and belittled after virtually every minor mistake. Parks writers try to make up for this by giving Jerry an idyllic homelife, content demeanor, and well-endowed manhood, but the mean-spiritedness of the Jerry material always has seemed at odds with the series genial vibe.

Perhaps the simplest reason for Jerry’s rough treatment by his coworkers is that  every sitcom needs a punching bag. And it just so happened that Jerry became the guy through happenstance. “We didn’t really have a character for Jerry at the beginning,” creator Mike Schur told the A.V. Club in the midst of the series third season. “We didn’t figure out Jerry until the episode where all the characters are digging up dirt about each other. Jerry meekly says to Mark, ‘A little birdie told me you have two unpaid parking tickets.’ And Mark says, ‘Well, a little birdie told me your adoptive mother was arrested for marijuana possession.’ Everyone laughs, and Mark says, ‘Oh, you didn’t know about that?’ And Jerry says, ‘I didn’t know I was adopted.’ 

“As soon as we came up with that storyline, for some reason everyone was digging up dirt on Jerry. And we realized that’s who he is: He’s the guy who wants to put his head down and get his pension, but is asking for it all the time. In the next three scripts—it was like throwing chum into the water—every script after that had 15 slams on Jerry. I remember having the discussion like, “We can do this, but we will have to do an episode where we show they care about him.”

There are a few examples of Jerry getting some love. Leslie comes to respect him after his retirement, Ben genuinely values his friendship and stands up for him, and Jerry eventually becomes the beloved mayor of Pawnee, but these moments feel few and far between. They certainly don’t make up for the constant trolling and cruelty Jerry is shown throughout the series.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Don’t get the wrong idea; Jerry jokes are frequently funny and add a little sourness to the sweetness, it just feels weird that the meanness is mostly directed at one man (though Kyle has a rough time too) and perpetrated by people like Leslie, who are otherwise beacons of kindness and compassion. In a political climate that could use a little bit more of Parks and Rec’s good qualities, let us go out of our way to show affection toward the Jerry’s in our lives — you know, the type of people that attempt to book the Four Seasons and mistakenly book Four Seasons Total Landscaping. 

The post Parks and Recreation: Why is Everyone So Mean to Jerry? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/02/28/bathurst-supercars-van-gisbergen-completes-victory-clean-sweep-at-mount-panorama-500/

Bathurst Supercars: Van Gisbergen completes victory clean sweep at Mount Panorama 500

Shane van Gisbergen completed a Bathurst clean sweep by comfortably winning the second heat of the Mount Panorama 500.

Starting from pole, the Kiwi ceded critical track position by being out-dragged by Cam Waters into Turn 1.

Van Gisbergen was clearly able to match the leading Tickford Mustang for pace, but, facing aero wash, was unable to find a way through.

That made the stops crucial, van Gisbergen opting to take his first service on Lap 14. Waters followed suit a lap later but his Tickford crew unable to get him out fast enough to stop van Gisbergen from charging into the lead.

Once in front it was a flawless display from van Gisbergen, who pulled 4.2s over Waters across the second stint.

He and Waters then pitted together on Lap 23, before van Gisbergen eased his advantage out 6.1s by the finish.

Speaking post-race, van Gisbergen said the middle stint was one of the best he’s ever done – as well taking a cheeky jab at Waters’ Monster Energy backing.

“It’s a team win, a strategy win,” said van Gisbergen.

“Unfortunately you can’t battle on track so we had to try to win it in the pitlane, and we did.

“That middle stint was just insane, it was so good to have such a good car and just push in clean air. It was qualifying laps the whole time and I was watching a sub-par energy drink get smaller in the mirror. It was awesome.”

Chaz Mostert made it two podiums for the weekend with a well-crafted third place. The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver had to pass a pair of Dick Johnson Racing entries along the way, charging by Will Davison in the first stint.

He then pressured Anton De Pasquale into a mistake on his out-lap after his first stop, a moment at The Chase on cold tyres for the DJR driver opening the door for Mostert to get by.

De Pasquale went on to finish fourth, while team-mate Davison slipped back down the order in the final stint. First he was jumped by Mark Winterbottom during the second round of stops, before locking the rears at the last corner a few laps from home, which let Jamie Whincup into sixth.

Scott Pye finished the race eighth ahead of Andre Heimgartner, with Nick Percat rounding out the Top 10.

The only non-finisher was James Courtney, who backed his Tickford Mustang into the wall at The Cutting on Lap 9.

Van Gisbergen now holds a 33-point lead over Mostert in the standings.

Supercars Mount Panorama 500 – Race 2 results

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1 Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Holden 1h26m39.2786s 2 Cameron Waters Tickford Ford 6.1276s 3 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Holden 8.6807s 4 Anton De Pasquale Dick Johnson Ford 19.3709s 5 Mark Winterbottom Team 18 Holden 23.2775s 6 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Holden 29.1513s 7 Will Davison Dick Johnson Ford 30.3906s 8 Scott Pye Team 18 Holden 33.1774s 9 Andre Heimgartner Kelly Ford 42.5386s 10 Nick Percat Brad Jones Holden 46.3388s 11 David Reynolds Kelly Ford 46.9541s 12 Brodie Kostecki Erebus Holden 48.3371s 13 Bryce Fullwood Walkinshaw Holden 49.2006s 14 William Brown Erebus Holden 54.7388s 15 Macauley Jones Brad Jones Holden 1m01.9955s 16 Zane Goddard Matt Stone Holden 1m03.6366s 17 Jake Kostecki Matt Stone Holden 1m06.5015s 18 Todd Hazelwood Brad Jones Holden 1m22.0643s 19 Jack Le Brocq Tickford Ford 1m31.3873s 20 Garry Jacobson Sydney Holden 1m38.9078s 21 Jack Smith Brad Jones Holden 2m05.2315s 22 Fabian Coulthard Team Sydney Holden 1 Lap – James Courtney Tickford Ford Retirement

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[tilltheendwilliwrite]

Sledgehammer*

Chapter Fifteen

Previous Chapter

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader  |  Word Count: 6276 Warnings: Angst, swearing, smut NSFW 18+ light bondage, Norwegian which may or may not be correct.

Song: Incomplete by James Bay (this one is for Steve)

The door slammed open with a bang, waking you, causing you to sit bolt upright with a gasp and scramble backward, running your shoulder into the headboard. A soft yelp, more surprise than pain, escaped your lips as you tried to orient yourself to the room and who or what was coming at you.

“Baby, you and me gotta talk,” Steve growled, shutting the door with a slam, making you flinch. His steps across the carpet slowed, ceased as the second door, this one to the bedroom, shut far gentler than the first one.

“Steve?” Fear tripped your heart to race and pound, still not quite awake from your crying induced nap. Groggy and disoriented, he was on you before you could comprehend what was happening.

His fingers wrapped around your ankle and dragged your body down the bed with a jerk, sending you to your back. His other hand closed in the front of your shirt and pulled you up, setting your head spinning with the swiftness of the move. Hot breath washed over your lips. His scent - overwhelming, intoxicating - filled your nose, your lungs, your soul.

“You don’t get to leave me,” he growled.

The sound, the actions, caused your belly to clench, desire rippling to life because, sweet Murphy, it was hot as hell when he went all Captain on your ass. “Steve.”

“No, now it’s your turn to shut up and listen!” he snarled. Once you swallowed hard and nodded, he continued. “You think after everything, all we’ve been through, all of it, I’d be better off without you? Do you know how much that hurts me? Goddamn it, (Y/N)! Are you trying to knife me in the chest, cause you’re succeeding!”

Gasping, you recoiled, going only as far as the threads of your shirt allowed. “Steve… no.”

“Then what? What is it? You think because you’re different now I can’t love you anymore?”

“I…” you stopped, unable to say it.

“You what?” he asked, voice no less harsh than before.

“I’m… no good to you,” you whispered, unable to stop the sob which accompanied the fresh tears falling down your face. “I’m getting worse, Steve.”

“Getting worse how?” he asked. 

The grip on your shirt loosened when he settled to the bed beside you, allowing you to fall to your back, but his fist remained resting over your heart, likely feeling it kick and jump with your emotions. You closed your eyes, eyes Natasha said were both haunting and disconcerting. Finding out Nat was made uneasy by anything had you feeling a little self-conscious over them now. 

“Everything is so loud. Smells so strong. Tastes so potent. The air on my skin is like fingertips brushing, always brushing, and the wind can feel like a slap.”

“It’s just an adjustment, darlin’. You’ll get there.”

Laughing hoarsely, you shook your head, lifting your hands to press them to your face. “You don’t get it…”

“Explain it to me.” What softness had been there was replaced by his Captain’s voice again.

It set your blood humming with his proximity. “You know Mike from logistics?”

“Yeah.”

You could hear the frown in his voice, wondering what you were getting at. “He’s got different cologne on today. Something with sandalwood and citrus.”

His intake of breath showed Steve’s surprise. “How could you… you haven’t…”

A wry smile flickered. “And he’s sleeping with Susan in accounting. I heard him bragging to Bryan from tactical.”

“Jeez… that’s… not possible.”

It shouldn’t have been. You’d spent your time either in this room or the lounge, there was no reason for you to have been anywhere close to logistics and accounting on the other side of the building to know either truth, but you did. “When I said I could hear everything, Steven, I meant I could hear everything. I can smell everything! The only place that drowns it all out is right here, in this room, or at your side. I can focus here. I can breathe here.”

“Baby,” he whispered, clearly shocked. He shifted, his hand flattening to slide up, curl around your throat.

His touch nearly made you purr it felt so good, so right, but you fought it down. “It’s not just being a Valkyrie again either. My hearing was good, like yours and Bucky’s good, but this is… insane. I can’t shut it down. I can’t turn it off. It all builds and builds and builds inside my head until I want to scream and beg for one moment of silence!” Pressing the heels of your hands into your temples, you ground your teeth together to keep the despair-filled sob from making its way free. Sighing, you let your hands fall to the bed.

When the touch of his forehead to your temple came, you shuddered for you could almost feel the tremors, the pain in his body for you, for your suffering. “Dollface, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because… you’re already worried. You have enough on your plate without your suddenly disabled girlfriend falling apart and adding to your stress.” Rolling away from him, you removed yourself from his touch. It made you ache and yearn for things you were no longer worthy of. “I knew once I told you, you’d want to be here all the time, stay with me, so I wasn’t freaking out, but you can’t, Steven. You’re Captain America. I may need you, but the world needs you more. I’m no good for you,” you breathed out a shuddering breath, curling in on yourself, “…not in this life.”

Hard hands latched around your wrists, dragging you back to him as he pinned them over your head, the length of his body holding you down, pressing you into the mattress. Harsh and laboured breathing washed across your face, and you knew, had you been able to see it, his face would be like thunder, his eyes dark and stormy skies, brows lowered in an intense glower.

“You’re not my girlfriend; you’re my sjelevenn! My damn soulmate! If you think I’d let anything come between us, you’d be wrong. I’d retire tomorrow, turn in my shield, and walk away from everything and everyone if that’s what needs to happen to keep you safe, make you happy.”

“No! Steve you can’t!” This was exactly why you hadn’t told him. “They need you!”

“You need me more.”

Shaking your head, you broke down, the tears coming hard and fast as you struggled to get free. “No! I won’t let you!”

He released your hands to cup your face. “Baby, I said if.”

It took a moment for the word to register, for your tears to slow enough to respond with a cautious, “If?”

Lips pressed to yours, soft and gentle, tender and sweet. A smile spread, followed by a chuckle. “I just had a moment of Disney déjà vu.”

Cinderella’s evil stepmother flashed through your memory, a tremulous smile followed. Steve was a sucker for the old classic cartoons. “What do you mean if?”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, voice barely a whisper, the pressure of his lips on yours no more than that of a feather.

“Yes. Always.”

“Then trust me now. I have a plan. Let me run with it. Don’t give in, baby. Don’t give up on me.”

“A plan? Steven, I’m blind! I’m an Avenger, a Valkyrie! Waiting at home like some forties housewife will kill me!”

“I don’t know,” he murmured, his nose brushing over the tip of yours in a shiver-inducing caress. “Seeing you barefoot and round with my brat might be kind of nice… one day.”

Heat rippled across your skin, his blush warming yours. Gripping his shoulders you sighed, knowing it was time for more truths, all the truths. “While I’m not opposed to that, someday, you don’t understand what it means to be Valkyrjur. We are a warrior race for a reason. I need to fight, Steve. And as your sjelevenn… I need to do it by your side. Sitting out, remaining behind… it would be a slow death to my soul.”

He jerked once, hard, before freezing in place. “What?” he whispered, horror lacing the words.

“What the Hounds did… it was not a kindness.”

“Jesus!” he swore, his forehead dropping to yours. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Your mouth opened, closed with a click when your teeth came together. “I don’t know.”

He pulled away, his weight leaving you, leaving the bed as he stood and went to the far side of the room.

Pressing your hand to your mouth, you stayed where you were, limp, lifeless, feeling hopelessness and despair fill your heart and drown your soul. You hadn’t lied, you didn’t know.

How did you tell someone you weren’t worthy to be with them anymore? That you were so damaged by what was done to you, you weren’t sure how to keep moving forward? That the only thing you had left to cling to was the love you shared, the love that refused to allow you to make any choice but to keep on, even when another part of you seemed to die a little more every day.

A drawer slammed, then silence except for the steady beat of Steve’s heart. He moved, fabric shifting. Something fell to the ground and made you frown. It sounded soft like… clothes?

His hands were back, grabbing the front of your t-shirt. They rent it down the middle shredding it open and ripping it from your body. Before you could even gasp a protest, fingers hooked the waistband of your sweats and sent them singing down your legs, the fabric leaving a friction burn it was peeled from you so swiftly.

“Steve!” you gulped, reaching out in denial.

“Weeks ago you asked me if I was punishing you for being Garry’s mentor. Do you remember what I told you when I had you pinned against the wall?” Command cracked in his voice like a whip, soft but deadly when his hands captured yours.

Something silky smooth wrapped around your wrists, tying them together as you gaped, looking very much like a fish you supposed, at the man you could no longer see. “That I… I wouldn’t need to ask.” Your arms were jerked up, and he tied what you thought was maybe a tie to the headboard.

“Do you need to ask, doll?” he drawled, hands landing on your hips and shifting you over to the middle of the big bed.

“No!” you squeaked when the brush of lips, the stubble of scruff, rubbed at your chest, the lacy bra you were in doing nothing to mute the sensation.

At least those you could figure out by touch. You may not be able to tell black lace from white, but at least you knew it was lace.

“No what?” he growled, hand sliding beneath you, making you arch as he snapped the clasp free, your chest coming in contact with his very bare one.

“No… Captain,” you breathed, already incredibly turned on.

Fabric tore, the straps a sacrifice to his hands when he ripped the bra from your arms. “Better. But oh, baby, you’re in so much trouble. You’re going to take your discipline like the good agent you are, aren’t you, doll?”

“Yes, sir,” you nodded, closing your eyes.

“Don’t you do that, (Y/N). You keep those eyes open.”

“But… they’re strange,” you whispered, turning your face away.

“Who told you that?”

You shrugged, unwilling to rat out Natasha.

His hand was gentle on your chin when he turned your face back. “They’re not strange. They’re haunting, different, but they make you look surreal, like magic. They’re beautiful, just like you are.”

“Oh Steve,” you whispered, lifting your eyes back toward him.

“But you ain’t getting out of this, doll face. You don’t get to keep stuff from me. Not stuff like this.” His lips closed over yours before you could speak, taking them in a searing kiss which left you moaning, a whimper flying free when he pulled away. “You need silence, baby? You need to find your focus? Then you focus on me.”

His hands stroked, sliding over your sensitive skin, making you feel every callus, every rough spot on his palms. Since the night in the med-wing, he’d been careful, gentle and sweet, understanding to a point how stressful this situation was for you even though he hadn’t realized the full extent of your depression and anxiety. These last few days had been trying, and by the time you’d gotten to bed, you’d been too exhausted to offer much more than a token cuddle before allowing sleep to steal you away so you could dream in colourful pictures again.

Steve hadn’t protested, letting you lead, content to merely hold you at night, but now, with the weight of his hands on your body, you wondered how you could have gone so long without this. Without his touch. A touch which now seemed to radiate his heart with every brush and squeeze.

His hands skimmed down to your hips, hooked into the waistband of your underwear. Fabric ripped beneath the pressure when he tore them from your body.

“Steve!” you gasped.

He’d pretty much destroyed every article of clothing you had on. “That’s sir or Captain, doll face. Besides, never really liked those anyway.” A wash of hot, moist air curled over your hip before lips pressed to the bone.

A moan jolted through you at the contact.

“We’re gonna discuss these concerns of yours, sweetheart. Each and everyone, and if you’re good, if you tell me the truth so I can help you get through them, I’ll make sure you get rewarded for it.”

Again the wash of breath preceded the slide of soft lips over your hip bone, down to the top of your thigh. “Wh-what kind,” a whimper escaped when his teeth nipped you, “reward, Captain?”

A big hand pressed into your thigh, shifted your legs apart, the bed dipping between them. His hand drew your leg up, placed it over the warm, velvet smooth skin of his shoulder, your heel coming to rest in the hollow created by his spine. Fingertips skated the back, making you arch, moan, open yourself wider.

“The best kind,” he whispered, his breath now heating your curls.

“Shit!” hissed out when warm and wet, his tongue slid swiftly up your core, flicked over your clit and disappeared.

“Now,” he murmured, the bed shifting as he settled. A firm hand pressed against your abdomen, fingers tugging lightly on your curls. “Tell me.”

The lick came a second time, slow and thorough, over the outer lip without dipping inside. It was pleasure and torture, so close to your aching bundle of nerves. “I feel…” you gasped, groaning when he stopped.

“You feel?” he nipped gently.

“Useless!” The tie around your hands jerked when you did as he sucked your clit.

“And?” he murmured, the sound vibrating through you when he didn’t lift his head.

“Unworthy,” you whispered. Another slow lick had your legs shaking. Everything was over sensitive now. Everything. To the point where your skin felt hot and achy, like the tiniest of attention could set you off.

“Of?”

His tongue pressed deep, making you moan. Already you could feel how wet you were, how slick and hot you felt. “Captain!”

“Of?” he growled, sliding a finger over your folds.

“You!”

All movement stopped, causing you to whine and arch toward his mouth. Your nose was full of his scent, of your arousal, of the sweat on his skin and the tang of salt from the tears you’d shed.

A rumble of sound, nearly a snarl rippled over your skin when he slowly pressed his fingers deep, two of them sliding over your walls in a caress which had your mouth falling open. “And why do you think you’re unworthy of me?” The grind of his teeth was loud in your ears as he clenched them tightly together.

The tide of concerns you’d been holding back broke to tumble from your mouth. “Because! I’m yours, and I can’t protect you! Even in this life, I watched your back. I kept you safe. How can I do that now? What kind of sjelevenn am I? What good am I? What use am I?” Crying again, body aching, straining, wrung taught with the stress, you shook with each ragged sob. “They took you from me!”

He shifted, the slide of his warm skin on yours came, his hand staying gentle, stroking through you folds, keeping you on the cusp, on the edge of pleasure as your mind struggled to deal with the pain of what had been done. When he settled again, the heat of his body nearly scorching beside you, his lips skimmed the side of your breast, his tongue laved your nipple, and you cried out.

“I’m right here, darlin’. How did they take me from you?”

Biting your lip, you shook your head, feeling stupid and childish. The fingers at your core slipped inside, soaked and slick with your arousal, thrust firmly, took you screaming high and stopped. “Please!” you begged.

“Tell me!” he demanded, lapping at your breast. His free hand, digging beneath you, slid up your back until it closed over the nape of your neck, holding you at his mercy. Thumb and fingers dug into the straining cords keeping you still.

It felt good, surprisingly good. Tension fell away, somehow stealing more of your control from you but making you feel safe, soft and pliant. The part of you which had been holding on so tight, staying strong for so long, finally let go.

Looking to where his voice came from you whispered, “He laughed… Garry laughed, all the time. When they put me in the chair, it was to take you away as much as it was to bring me back.”

“Baby,” he breathed, pain in every letter.

“They didn’t take my memories, but they still took you away. I can’t see you.” More tears, these silent, fell to soak the hair at your temples. “What if I forget, too? Forget what you look like. I couldn’t bear it.”

The hand between your thighs pulled away, making you whimper.

“Shhh. I got you, love,” he murmured.

The ties which bound you to the bed fell away, but you remained limp. It was as if he’d wrung you dry, forced every fear from you, but you weren’t upset, just… drained.

He shifted again, knees settling between yours, but his hands went beneath you, lifted you to straddle his thighs when he moved. His legs crossed as he sat down, yours were maneuvered around his waist allowing the length of his hard cock to press into your soft belly.

Held against him, you waited, quiet and still, unable to comprehend what he was up to. His hand wrapped your wrist, lifted your fingers, eventually bringing them in contact with his lips.

“Here,” he whispered, running the tips of your fingers over his mouth. “This is how you remember. Touch and remember.”

Inhaling sharply, eyes widening in surprise, you kept your fingers on his lips even after he released your wrist. Hesitantly, you traced the shape, the cupid’s bow, the full bottom lip. Lifting your other hand from where it hung limply over his arm, you brought both to the top of his head, ran your overly sensitive fingers through his hair, marvelling at the texture. It was soft, silky, and you could smell his shower from this morning.

You gently drew them over his forehead, strong and high, his skin warm. Your thumbs brushed over his eyebrows, the arch of them while his face took shape in your mind, mixing beautifully with your memory. The sharp slope of his nose, the shape of his ears, but when you shifted to his cheeks you found them wet, fresh tears trickling down his face.

“Oh… oh, Stevie,” you breathed, cupping his face.

“I know this is hard and scary, and frustrating, but you can’t leave me. When I lost you,” his breath caught, hands drawing you in flush to his chest, so his next words were spoken nearly on your lips. “When I lost you it was like someone ripped out my heart. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. I need you. Whether you stand at my back or my side doesn’t matter. Whether you fight to keep me safe or not, I can’t do this, all of this, without you to come back to.” His breath shuddered out, and lips captured yours, the kiss tender and full of emotion.

You’d forgotten in your worries there was another half to the equation, another piece to the puzzle. As he was your sjelevenn, you were his, and you had caused him pain by not confiding and relying on him to be what you needed when you needed it.

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you licked at his mouth, begging entry, pressing your tongue to his when he granted it. Sweet and hot, his tongue twisted with yours, fought against it, pushed it aside to nip at your lip, ending up with you moaning against him.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered when he finally released your lip. “Stevie, I’m so sorry.”

He sagged into you, his relief palpable with his face tucked into your throat. “Promise me you’ll let me try. I have a plan,” he murmured.

“I promise.”

“And that no matter what, you’ll talk to me about these things. No more running. You don’t run, can’t run ever again. It killed me last time to know he’d hurt you enough, made you doubt me enough, to send you scurrying.”

Nodding, you tightened your hold. “I will. I never meant to hurt you, Steve.”

“I know, sweetheart.” He kissed your throat, your jaw, your chin. His fingers trailed down your spine, settled on your buttocks and rocked your hips into him, your wet core sliding over his girth.

Gasping at the sharp burst of pleasure, you tilted your hips, leaning back to get better friction.

“Fuck,” he moaned softly, kissing the hollow of your throat before he lifted you up, brought you forward and dropped you down, impaling you swiftly.

“Oh, god, Steve!” Everything burned and ached as he stretched you open, but when you made to rock forward, he held you tightly against him by the hips.

“Did you think we were done, min vakre skjoldpike?”

The words rang bells, brought memories rushing to the surface and left your skin tingling. “Steve, how?”

“Thor,” he murmured, dragging the fingers of his right hand over your hip to sink them between you. His thumb found your hard bud, began to circle and rub as he kept you still. “He told me it was what Hel- what I used to call you.”

My beautiful shield maiden.

Throwing your head back, unable to handle the memories, the feelings, the sensations, you cried out in bliss when the edge you’d been riding for what felt like forever finally fell away.

Orgasm crashing through you, you sank your nails into Steve’s shoulders while fire and pleasure poured through your body. Panting heavily, your walls clenching tightly on the length of steel lodged firmly inside you only intensified the feelings racing through your veins.

“Damn, baby,” he grunted, a shiver running through him, clearly finding your release just as pleasurable.

The reverence in his tone made you smile. “That good, Captain?”

His hand shifted to grip your buttock, rocking you just enough to feel him slide through your walls. “So good,” he murmured, nipping at your mouth.

When you tried to pull him closer, his hand pressed against your belly. “Steve?”

“You haven’t learned your lesson yet.”

Brow arching, you stopped assisting, wondering what he was up to. When his thumb delved down, pressed again to your bundle of nerves you caught on quickly. “Oh, jeez,” you hissed, feeling the coil slowly wind tighter.

“That’s right, darlin’. You’re gonna come until I’m satisfied all these thoughts of keeping secrets are gone from your pretty head.”

“Shit, Steve,” you moaned.

His touch was like electricity, but when he leaned forward to bite gently the spot beneath your ear which seemed, somehow, to directly connect your core, it sent you reeling over the edge a second time with very little effort.

“Oh, fuck,” groaned from you.

“You’re so sensitive now, ain’t you, (Y/N)? Coming so easy like that. We’re gonna do it again. Over and over and over,” he growled against your flesh.

Sweat had begun to form on your skin, on his skin, making him slick and difficult to hold onto. His hand returned to your hip, his hold tight.

You imagined you’d have bruises later. Not that it mattered. You’d heal from them within hours, but while they lasted, they would be badges of honour to remind you of your disciplinary actions.

The strength is all his as he moved you against him, rocking and squeezing your ass. Its soft pleasure after the two screaming orgasms, just enough to make you shudder and moan. The position is so intimate, so close, it sets your heart singing, your soul reaching for his in a joining as old as time.

“Min modige kriger, mitt hjerte. Jeg elsker deg med alt jeg er.”  The words leave you, tumble from your lips on a soft cry.

“Baby, I…” Regret laced his words as he lifted his head from your shoulder.

When his fingers returned to your clit, you drew yours up his throat to cup his cheek. Your noses brushed, lips whispering together, his arms continuing to flex and drive you to reach for the stars. “My brave warrior, my heart. I love you with everything I am.”

He surged, abs flexing, thighs clenching, thrusting up as you pulsed around him. The action had your head spinning and fire blossoming in your belly when you tumbled from the heights to fall into the safety of his arms. Gasping, crying out again, unable to believe it was so easy, Steve surprised you when he groaned heavily.

“Fuck, baby,” he muttered.

A bead of sweat ran down your spine, and you smiled. “Are you gonna survive, Captain?”

He chuckled, hand shifting from your ass to the middle of your back. The other settled over your heart, urging you to lean away, changing the angle of his hard length inside you until the crown and thick ridge rubbed over your sweet spot.

“Oh, shit!” you squealed out when, somehow, he managed to slide you up and down his cock, his thumb returning to tease over your clit.

“Seeing as how your smart mouth still works, I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson yet, doll.”

A mantra of fucks fell from your lips when the burn in your belly, the tightly wound coil, grew and grew, making you pant and gasp. Your hands dropped to his thighs behind you, needing something to hold onto. When hot, moist air brushed over your breast, lips closed over your nipple and tugged, you screamed to high heaven, body simply shattering from the mind-numbing release.

“Min Gud, Steven!” you swore, words failing you.

He was panting, his skin slick. Dragging you back up, he held you tight to him, sloppy lips skating over your mouth. “That’s really fucking hot,” he growled, teeth tugging your lip. “I ain’t got a clue what you’re saying, doll face, but it’s sexy as hell.”

Planting your feet on the bed, you undulated against him, using your newly returned strength to assist you. “Jeg vil ri deg til ingen av oss kan gå,” you purred in his ear, your arms wrapping tightly around him, hand sinking into his hair, dragging his head back so you could attack his throat, the thrumming beat like that of a hummingbird’s wings.

He gasped, jerking you down on him with far more force than before. “Was that dirty, baby? It sounded it.”

“Extremely, Captain,” you murmured, sucking a mark in his throat.

“What,” he gasped when you bit him. “What did you say?”

Using your nose to trace the line of his jaw back to his ear, you whispered near it, “I want to ride you until neither of us can walk.”

His hands clenched on your buttocks. A sharp intake of breath and swelling of his cock showed how much he liked that idea.

You laughed, feeling powerful and glorious in the arms of your sjelevenn.

A hand was buried in your hair, forcing your chin to lift. He ravaged your throat, surging up on his knees, spreading your thighs wide across his. At his mercy, unable to move with the band of his arm around you, he snapped his hips forward, the action harsh and swift, nearly punishing, until you were clinging to him, nails scoring his shoulders and back.

“Oh god, fuck, Steven!” you wailed when the orgasm broke, rolling from one into the next until you felt light headed.  Everything pulsed, walls constricting around him, causing him to grunt with each retreat.

“So good, baby. Such a good girl,” he murmured, taking you to your back. “You ever gonna keep secrets from me again?”

You gave a slow shake of your head, body quaking with each delicious tremor still racing through you.

He brushed the hair from your face, wet with sweat and sticking to you. “You ever gonna run from me or think about leaving me again?”

“No,” you sighed, feeling floaty.

“No what?” he purred, kissing your face, leaving tender presses to your lips, nose and eyes.

“No… Captain,” you whimpered when he began to move again, long full strokes through your incredibly wet walls.

“One more, darlin’, just one,” he whispered, cheek brushing yours while he intertwined your fingers together. “You can do that for me, right?”

Whimpering, you nodded, already feeling the flutter in your belly.

“No more talk about worth, baby. Worth has nothing to do with it. You’re mine, I’m yours, we’re in this together whatever comes,” he breathed against you, drawing your hands over your head. “You hear me, baby doll?”

Arching into him, slick skin sliding over slick skin, you whined at the pleasure humming through your veins. Every orgasm had been better than the last, each one reaching higher, lasting longer. This one was no different, building and building in your belly until you could focus on nothing but the stroking of his hard cock, the sweat dripping from him mixing with yours.

Three hard thrusts made you gasp.

“Do you hear me, (Y/N)!” he barked.

“Yes, sir!” you cried.

“Good girl,” he whispered right before he bit you on the spot beneath your ear again.

Screaming in shock and pleasure, you core clamped around him, hard and fast, squeezing him tightly and making him groan, his control finally failing. The swift driving of his hips became erratic, an inhuman roar filling the room. Snapping his hips down, you felt the warmth when he swelled impossibly harder and succumbed to the milking of your body.

Collapsing slowly, he was careful not to fall on you, but his body still settled on yours, holding you there beneath him. Once his harsh panting had slowed, he detangled your fingers to cup your face, keeping it still for him. “No more foolish talk of leaving.”

“No more,” you agreed, knowing in your heart there was nowhere else for you but right here, with him, your soulmate, living and loving in whatever capacity you could.

“If you’ve got concerns, you need to talk to me, not Bucky or anyone else. I want to hear them from you.”

“So, Buck ratted me out, did he?” you smiled, bringing your hands to his back and gently stroking his skin.

“As he should,” Steve huffed, brushing his nose over yours.

“He’s a blabbermouth.”

“He loves you. We all do, but mostly me,” he said quietly.

Bringing your knees to his hips, you shivered when he stirred within you, slowly growing hard again. “Stevie?”

“Can you blame me? I can’t get that idea of yours out of my head, doll face.”

Chuckling, you rocked against him. “You don’t have to be careful with me anymore, Captain. I won’t break.”

He’d always been concerned if he truly let loose he’d injure you. That wasn’t really a problem anymore.

With a quick move, he rolled to his back, keeping you close and remaining deep inside. Once he settled, he took your hands and set them on his chest. “You should touch, baby. Everything, everywhere. Make sure it’s all nicely sealed away in your memory.”

“Maybe I should,” you quipped, rocking over his lap. “Du gjør ganske fjellet, sjelevenn,” you teased, smile smug.

“I can tell by the look you’re teasing me, woman,” he growled, but there was no heat in the words.

“I think you make a fine ride, a pleasing but… vigorous mount to have between my thighs, Captain. Such fun.”

“Fuck,” he moaned when you slid over him. “You’re even mouthier, ain’t you, doll?”

Letting your hands walk his chest, find and enjoy all the muscles all over again, you smiled. “Guess you’ll have to find out. Aren’t you lucky?”

His grunt of pleasure when you shimmied on top of him was all the response you needed.

***

Hours later, after she’d damn near succeeded in her wish of not being able to walk after her ride, and a shower in which he helped her organize everything, so the bottles ran in sequence - shampoo, conditioner, body wash - so she would always know where they were, Steve lay curled around his girl on the bed.

Soft and pliant, body warm in sleep, he watched (Y/N) sleep peacefully for the first time in days.

Before arriving at his room, he’d expressly forbidden FRIDAY from allowing anyone to get ahold of them, refusing to be interrupted until he’d gotten to the bottom of all the things she’d told Bucky. He knew, for the moment at least, he’d assuaged enough of her fears to keep her going, to keep her positivity up.

Tucking his nose in her hair, he inhaled deeply the scent which wrapped around her. This, right here, was his happiness, and keeping his girl happy and healthy was priority number one. If that meant he needed to step back, take some time off to help her adjust, he would do so in a heartbeat.

No one could tell him he didn’t deserve a break, and there were enough of them now, Avengers both experienced and new, to handle what could be coming their way. But there was only him for (Y/N).

Half of what she’d revealed had nearly ripped out his heart. She was too damn good at hiding what she was feeling, having hidden her initial feelings from him for a year before this, but no more.

Soulmates or not, a relationship took work, trust, and honesty. It was past time she stopped hiding from him and started relying on him.

Tightening his arms around her limp form, he was nearly asleep himself when the soft chirp of his phone had his eyes opening. Reaching for it on the nightstand, he lifted it enough to see the message from FRIDAY. It read only:

I found him.

Steve stared at it for a full five seconds, heart beginning to rampage, pound in his chest with the strength of a sledgehammer before he slowly extracted himself from the bed. Covering his girl with the thick duvet, hoping it would help retain his warmth, so she didn’t notice him missing, Steve left the room on silent feet.

Once the outer door shut, he ran for the lab, the one room that was nearly soundproof and, at this time of night, should be deserted.

Finding it dark, he murmured, “FRIDAY?”

“He’s here, Captain,” she said in her soft Irish lit, a screen flashing to life. A satellite image began flashing closer until the image shifted to the interior of a hotel on some island in the south pacific.

“Are you certain, and can you make contact?”

“Facial recognition has him at ninety-eight percent, and his companion at ninety-seven.”

Glancing at the file on the woman, Steve frowned but dismissed it for the moment. “Contact?”

“Neither is currently carrying a cell phone, but the woman at the table beside them is.”

“Call it,” he commanded, watching the happenings in real time thanks to FRIDAY’s hack of the hotel bar’s surveillance cameras. “I need you to mark the target in case they run.”

“Already done.”

Crossing his arms, he hummed in approval. “Good job.”

“Thank you, Captain.” She sounded pleased with herself, as she should be.

The ringing phone was picked up by the elderly woman at the table next to the couple. “Hello?”

“Ma’am, I need you to hand the phone to the man sitting to your right.”

“Excuse me?” she muttered.

“It’s a matter of great importance,” he fed urgency into his voice.

“Oh… oh, well then,” she was confused but turned to the man at the next table. “It’s for you.”

“Pardon?” he asked, cocking his head.

“Take the phone,” Steve said, knowing full well he’d hear.

Frowning, the man reached out, accepting it even as the dark-haired woman with him shook her head, her murmur quiet but indicating her dislike of the idea.

“Yes?” he said cautiously.

“Mr. Murdock,” Steve watched him stiffen in surprise. “My name is Steve Rogers, and I need your help.”

-Thus ends Sledgehammer. The story continues in Rise Up, where Steve and (Y/N) will face all new challenges as they learn to navigate a whole new world as well as just what it means to be the Leader of the Valkyrjur.-

[dannyboyk2000]

Reading vs Birmingham (EFL Championship) Match Preview; 5th May

Reading take on Birmingham City on the last day of the season, looking to end on a high note after a turbulent season for the Royals.

They will desperately be craving the win to celebrate Portugal Day- to remember the brilliant job current manager Jose Gomes has done since coming in to the club.

The side from Berkshire’s last game in the Championship was last Saturday when they lost 2-1 away against play off chasing Middlesbrough.

One bright light that came out of that game last week was that Danny Loader scored his first goal for the first team.

Birmingham come into this game trying to  make it 7 unbeaten in the league, after a good run of form towards the end of the season.

They have also had a turbulent season after their 12 point deduction which put them in threat of relegation at the time. However, this brilliant recent from from the Blues has seen them pull away from the relegation battle.

Birmingham drew 1-1 at home to Wigan in their latest Championship game last Saturday.

Recent form for both sides in the Championship

Reading- D/W/D/D/L

Birmingham- D/D/D/W/D

TV/Game information

This game is not being televised.

The best way to keep up with the game is by watching Gillette Soccer Sunday in this instance!

The game kicks off at 12:30pm (UK time) and is being played at the Madejski Stadium.

Team News Reading

John O’Shea will be hoping to return for his last professional appearance before he retires.

Reading stars Yakou Meite and Nelson Oliveira are out with injuries.

John Swift and Tyler Blackett are likely to miss this game through injury aswell.

However Saeed Ezatolahi and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson are both in line to make appearances in this game after returning from injury.

Birmingham City 

Birmingham will have late decisions to make as they bid to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games.

Blues boss Garry Monk says he has some "knocks and bruises" in his squad.

Predicted starting elevens 

Reading’’s predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1)- Martinez; Yiadom, Miazga, Moore, Gunter; Baker, Rinomhota; Barrow, Loader, Ejaria; Bodvarsson. 

Birmingham’s predicted starting XI (4-4-2)- Camp; Colin, Harding, Roberts, Pedersen; Jota, G.Gardner, Lakin, Maghoma; Adams, Jutkiewicz.

Manager Comments Reading Manager: Jose Gomes (Quotes Credit- Jonathan Low)

Looking forward to the summer

“The season will finish on Sunday and then it's about tough and hard work preparing for pre-season.

Now is time to prepare the best we can for Birmingham and try to show our fans we can play a good game, play good football, do positive things and try and finish the league with a positive energy.”

Birmingham being easier compared with previous games

“Birmingham are a tough team. When they had nine points taken off they were very near to the play-off positions.

“Physically they are very strong, direct football, tough players, very good dynamic so it will be a very difficult game.”

Aims for the transfer window

“I would like to fix everything before we start. I will talk with all the players I am not counting with after Sunday, it's also a sign of respect for them - giving the time to find a better solution for their career.

“And I will try to bring in and sign the new players as soon as possible. This way I can organise the squad in time for July 1 so we have the players we are counting on for pre-season.”

Birmingham Manager: Gary Monk (Quotes Credit- Official Birmingham Twitter account)

GM: "The ultimate aim is to end the season on a high, that unbeaten tag is still there and we want to finish it off, the players want to give it all they can to end the season unbeaten, with another three points." 

GM: "Just because of it being the last game and being in the position we are in, that we are safe, we still want to win the game and finish the season on a high note, we want to do that on Sunday with the right performance and the standard that we have set all season." 

GM: "We want to try & win the game, same as every other game, @ReadingFC have got themselves safe, it is their last home game, we have to be ready for what is coming from them, but more importantly we need to try and impose ourselves on them and cause them problems." 

Head to Head record   

These two sides have met 38 times over the years in all competitions, with Birmingham just shading the head to head record. The Blues have beaten Reading 14 times in all competitions, including their latest win earlier this season against the Royals, when they beat them 2-1 at Saint Andrews in the Championship.

There have been 11 draws between these two sides in all competitions over the years.

And the Royals have beaten Birmingham 13 times in all competitions. So can they win on the weekend to level up the head to head record?

Betting Odds/Match Predictions

Birmingham have been made favourites by Sky Bet to pick up the three points in this  match, with a Blues win being priced at 6/4. A draw between these two sides is being priced at 12/5. And a Reading home win is being priced at 13/8.

My realistic prediction for this game as a journalist is a 2-1 tight Birmingham home win. I think we have so many injuries and they are in form at the moment.

My optimistic prediction as a Reading fan is a 1-0 Royals home win, with Barrow scoring the only goal of the game.

Comment down below your score predictions and your predicted line ups.

By Danyal Khan

[nbatrades]

Golden State Warriors End Todd Fuller Partnership; Deal Center to Utah Jazz

On February 4th, 1999, the Golden State Warriors traded center Todd Fuller to the Utah Jazz for a 2000 second round draft pick (Chris Porter).

Coming off a 36-46 finish to the 1995-96 campaign, the Golden State Warriors were looking for help with the 11th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. With players like Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal, Steve Nash and Peja Stojakovic available, the Warriors opted for big man Todd Fuller. Fuller had been productive as a four-year player at NC State. In his senior season, he made the All-ACC first team after averaging 20.9 PPG and 9.9 RPG. 

The Warriors got off to a 3-10 start during the 1996-97 campaign. They never recovered and finished well short of a playoff appearance with a 30-52 record. Fuller began his NBA career starting at center for Golden State, but lost his spot nine games into the season. He ended up spending most of the season as a reserve behind veteran Felton Spencer. Overall, Fuller compiled 4.1 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 75 appearances (18 starts) and 12.7 MPG. 

After the season, head coach Rick Adelman was fired and the Warriors replaced him with P.J. Carleismo. The Warriors made some moves at center by trading Chris Mullin to the Indiana Pacers for Fuller’s 1996 draft class peer Erick Dampier. The team also drafted center Adonal Foyle from Colgate with their first round pick. 

The 1997-98 Warriors were a miserable bunch. The team began the season 1-13. At that point, star Latrell Sprewell choked coach Carleismo in practice and he would be suspended for the rest of the season. The team also made three trades during the season including a deal with Philadelphia that sent Joe Smith to the Sixers. At the end of the season, Golden State finished 19-63.

Fuller played less, but ended his second pro season with nearly identical numbers to his first year. The 6′11″ Fuller managed 4.0 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 57 games and 10.8 MPG.

The Warriors gave up on Fuller near the start of the lockout shortened 1998-99 season. Golden State was mocked for selecting Fuller over the previously mentioned names that all went on to become All-Stars. The Warriors looked to get off of Fuller’s salary in a trade that saw them acquire a meager second round pick.

Fuller ended his run in Golden State with 4.0 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 132 career games. He shot 43% on field goals and 69% from the free-throw line in that time.

The Jazz had to waive guard Saddi Washington to make room for Fuller on their roster. Washington had originally made Utah’s roster out of training camp.

Fuller went from a perennial cellar dweller in Golden State, to a title contender in the Utah Jazz. With Michael Jordan retired, the Jazz were one of the clear cut favorites for a title. Utah had Greg Ostertag and Greg Foster manning the middle, but Foster entered the lockout-shortened season recovering from a broken ankle.

Fuller was given some minutes as a backup during the 1998-99 season. The 6′11 big man appeared in 42 games (2 starts) and compiled 3.4 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 11.0 MPG. 

Utah started off the season with a bang, winning nine of their first 10 games. At the 40-game mark, the Jazz had the best record in the NBA at 32-8. They went 5-5 over the final ten games to finish 37-13 and in a tie with the San Antonio Spurs for the first seed. The Spurs owned the head-to-head tiebreaker (2-1), so Utah dropped from first to the third seed in the Western Conference.

The Jazz went on to the playoffs where they battled the Sacramento Kings in the first round. Expected to be an easy series, the Jazz dominated Game One with a 117-87 drubbing. Sacramento responded well in Game Two, stealing homecourt with a 101-90 win.

The third game was tight and went into overtime. Vlade Divac made two jump hooks late to give Sacramento an 83-81 edge with 22 second left. Fuller missed two free throws that would’ve tied the game, and John Stockton missed a three at the buzzer, giving Sacramento a stunning 2-1 series lead.

Facing elimination, the Jazz battled back on the road in Game Four. Facing a one-point deficit with 7.2 seconds left, Stockton managed to shake free from the defense off a Karl Malone screen and nailed a long two to give Utah a 90-89 lead with 00.7 seconds left on the clock. The Kings could never get off a shot and Utah managed to take the series back home for a decisive Game Five.

The series deciding game was close throughout and went to overtime. Despite cold shooting nights from Stockton (1-for-12) and Malone (6-for-19), the Jazz managed to pull through with an 11-4 advantage in overtime, They won the game 99-92 and the series 3-2. Fuller played in all five first round games and produced 2.2 PPG on 33.3% shooting and 3.6 RPG in 10.8 MPG.

Utah advanced to the Semifinals where they faced the 33-17 Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers built a 15-point advantage in the first half of the series opener, but Utah got back into the game. It was a close game, with Portland leading by four points going into the fourth quarter. The Blazers collapsed as Utah outscored them 19-5 to win 93-83.

The second game in Utah was tight once again. Portland managed to take a two-point lead late after a Greg Anthony free throw. With 9.2 seconds left, John Stockton missed a potential game-tying layup. Portland ended up tying the series with an 84-81 win.

Game Three in Portland saw the Blazers use a 25-2 run in the first half to power their way to a comfortable 97-87 victory. Blazers guard Isaiah Rider (24 points) guided Portland to a 3-1 series lead after a close 81-75 win. The Jazz got 23 points from Karl Malone and 22 points from Bryon Russell in a comfortable 88-71 win that prevented Utah’s playoff elimination. 

Game Six in Portland was close. Utah managed to get within two points on a Bryon Russell layup and Jeff Hornacek free throw with 1:21 left. Portland outscored Utah 12-2 in the final minute-plus to win the game 92-80 and the series 4-2. Fuller appeared in five of the six Conference Semifinals games and put up 3.0 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 10.2 MPG.

Fuller became a free agent after the ‘98-‘99 season. Utah and Fuller both expressed interest in a new deal. Fuller showed his commitment to the Jazz by playing in Summer League for the Jazz team despite not having a new contract. Fuller largely disappointed in Summer League and never signed a contract with Utah. Fuller ended up signing a deal with the Charlotte Hornets for the 1999-00 season.

The second rounder that the Warriors acquired from Utah became the 55th overall selection in the 2000 NBA Draft. The pick was used on forward Chris Porter from Auburn. A former SEC Player of the Year and second-team All-American during his junior season, Porter and Auburn's performance tailed off in his senior campaign. Porter's individual numbers dropped and he became a news headline after news broke that he had accepted money from a sports agent to prevent his mother from being evicted from her home. The infraction cost Porter the last eight games of the college season.

The whole scenario had dropped Porter from a likely first round pick to a late second rounder. A problem for Porter was his lack of a true position on the court. A power forward in college, Porter was the size of a traditional small forward in the NBA, but he lacked a jump shot. 

The 2000-01 Warriors struggled from the jump. The team lost seven of their first eight games. Things would not improve much as they finished a Western Conference-worst 17-65. Porter was able to see some action in his rookie season and start multiple games. The 6′8″ forward appeared in 51 games (35 starts) and posted 8.6 PPG on 38.9% from the field, 3.7 RPG, 1.2 APG and 0.9 SPG in 22.5 MPG.

In late August of 2001, Porter was arrested on drug possession charges in Alabama. Soon after, the forward would be a throw-in in a three-team trade with the Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers in late October of 2001.

Todd Fuller on the pressure he felt in Golden State (via Jazz.com):

“The franchise was really struggling, and they were looking for a savior every year it seemed like. I didn't fit that bill and never have through my career. It put tons of pressure on me, which was counterproductive.”

How he feels no pressure in Utah:

“I can certainly say it has helped that I can come in and not have all the excess pressure and feeling like I have all the eyes on me. Of course I’m the new guy here so everybody is going to be watching me anyway, but I don't feel like I have the extreme pressure that I had when I was with the Warriors.”

How Utah has more confidence due to veteran leadership:

“Here you’ve got a veteran base of players as opposed to the Warriors, especially my first year or two, where we only had a couple veterans. We’ve got some great players here in Karl [Malone] and John [Stockton] who are used to winning and used to success. And the confidence level is higher here than it was with the Warriors my first year.”

On his future with the Jazz and pending free agency:

“I don't even think about [free agency] now. There’s today, and then the next day, step by step, that's the only way I can look at things. There's a ton of basketball left this season, so there's still a long way to go.”

On the argument that the Warriors have nothing to show for recent lottery picks (via SF Gate):

“They’re going to have some backbone to the argument if they (critics) say that. Joe [Smith] was here just a couple of years and he was traded. I was here just a couple of years and I’m traded. I can’t argue there's nothing to show for it at the moment.”

Golden State Warriors general manager Garry St. Jean on why the trade was made (via SF Gate):

“The opportunity was there to acquire a pick where there wasn’t a salary involved coming back. Those were the key things.”

Utah Jazz vice president of basketball operations Scott Layden on Fuller’s development early on in Utah (via Jazz.com):

“A lot of people think you’ve got to wait three or four years for a big guy before he’ll actually make a contribution. So maybe we were fortunate he was able to fit into this system and be at the right time of when he was ready.”

Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan on how being in the right place at the right time is important for Fuller (via Jazz.com):

“Being in the right place at the right time is a very big factor in this league. Some players will have a chance maybe in one situation where they didn’t in another. If you realize the situation you’re in, you take advantage of it. One of the things that’s really unfortunate a lot of times is, you get a lottery player like [Fuller] was, expectations are high. They expect him to be a Jabbar or somebody like that. That’s really unfair. Then a guy like Todd comes in here and it's just ‘come and play.’ You don’t have to worry about where you were picked in the draft.”

Image via AP

[savetopnow]

2018-03-23 06 CELEBRITY now

CELEBRITY

E!

Cate Blanchett Talks Woody Allen Allegations and Says Social Media is "Not the Judge and Jury"

Tiffani Thiessen Reveals If Her First Kiss Was Really on Saved by the Bell

How Much Longer Will The Big Bang Theory Last?

Watch Elsa Pataky's 10-Meter Jump Into a Pool for Secret New Project

Here's Exactly What Angelina Jolie Buys at Whole Foods

Hollywood Life

Offset’s Alleged Baby Mama Celina Powell On Her Way To Give Birth — Should Cardi B Be Nervous?

Emily Ratajkowski’s Husband Anxious To Settle Down & Start Having Kids — Why She’s Hesitant

Ashley Iaconetti Cozies Up To Nick Viall After ‘Bachelor Winter Games’ Breakup: New Couple Alert?

Kevin Hart’s Attempt To Recruit LeBron For 76ers Hilariously Backfires: He Told Me To ‘Kiss His A**’

Sandra Oh Teases Possible ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Return & ‘Stepping Back Into Cristina’s Shoes’

Media Take Out

Desiigner Caught Taking A PIZZ On Someone’s House!! (PICS)

Comedian Sinbad Appears To Be SNITCHING On Russell Simmons . . . Says ‘MORE WOMEN’ Are Gonna Come Out With RAPE Claims!!!

Shirley Strawberry From Teh STEVE HARVEY RADIO SHOW . . . Is Being Sued . . . For Being a ‘DEADBEAT’!!

People

New PBS Documentary Revisits the Life of Chicano Lawyer and Activist Oscar Acosta

Kanye West Fighting to Be the Only Yeezy in Clothing Trademark Battle

Justin Bieber 'Definitely Not Finished' with Selena Gomez Despite Baskin Champion Sleeping Over at His House: Source

Luxury Fashion Brands That Are Anti-Fur

Lone Female Candidate for Maryland Governor Breastfeeds in Campaign Ad

Perez Hilton

Anton Yelchin's Family Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal Jeep Accident

The Birds And The B.S. Is Back With Cartoon Ana Gasteyer Singing Against Guns!

This Is Us' Justin Hartley Pulls A Jack With This Sweet Gesture For His Wife EVERY Morning!

Melania Trump Is *All Smiles* Standing Next To Donald Amid Reports That She 'Hates' What Her Life Has Become!

Jennifer Garner Played Happy Birthday In A Marching Band Uniform & Twitter Can't Deal!

Popsugar

14 Photos That Show Prince William Is the Apple of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Eye

Ryan Phillippe Is Too Sexy For His Shirt on the Beach, and Suddenly We Need 50 Cups of Water

Aww! Prince Harry Knew Meghan Markle Was "Very Special" the First Time He Met Her

Beyoncé and JAY-Z Are "on the Run" While Filming a New Music Video in Jamaica

Just a Bunch of Pics of Tom Hardy From Years Ago That Are Still Totally Relevant to Our Interests

Reddit Entertainment

Every Wes Anderson Film, Ranked

Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios buys the Weather Channel

Anton Yelchin Family Settles With Automaker In Fatal Jeep Accident.

Avengers 4 "Relies" on Ant-Man and The Wasp and Captain Marvel, according to Writers

Chris Evans Plans to Retire as Captain America After 'Avengers 4'

TMZ

Owen Wilson and Date Dance Away After Setting Off Fire Alarm with Cigarette in Bar

Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dead at 94

Donald Trump's Brother Says POTUS is a 'Great Sportsman'

Judd Apatow Says Garry Shandling Achieved Zen Ahead of New HBO Documentary

Model Adwoa Aboah Sues Management Company for $190k

The Shade Room

Toys ‘R’ Us founder Charles Lazarus Dies At 94 As Company Heads To Liquidation

A Wedding Photographer Captures The Moment A 6-Year-Old Boy Began Balling As He Watched His Mother Walk Down The Aisle

Police Arrest North Carolina Mom After Facebook Video Shows Baby Smoking Marijuana

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Addresses Cambridge Analytica Privacy Breach That Affected 50 Million Of Its Users

Bobby Valentino Named As A Suspect In GA Rape Case

Us Weekly

Sister-Sister Style: Famous Fashionable Siblings

It Just Got Easier to Work Out Like Jessica Biel

Relive Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson’s Love Story

Lena Waithe Weighs In on Aziz Ansari Sexual Misconduct Claim

Why Tilda Swinton ‘Laughed Really Hard’ When George Clooney Had Twins

[jeramymobley]

Profiles in Courage: Watch Starbucks’ Season 2 of ‘Upstanders’

Raising the bar on content marketing and brand storytelling, Starbucks’ second season of Upstanders is a collection of stories about “extraordinary courage in unexpected places.” It’s a tribute to people making a difference in their lives and communities.

Stories of extraordinary courage in unexpected places. #Upstanders returns Tues, Oct 10. http://pic.twitter.com/iKszjkhy4t

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) October 9, 2017

Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ Executive Chairman—who swears he’s not contemplating a run for political office—produced the series with veteran Washington Post journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Schultz told CBS This Morning, “The goal is there’s a better side to America than what’s coming out of Washington. Those stories are not being told. The sense of unity, compassion and empathy that’s going on in every city and town around the country has to be told. I think people are longing for truth and authenticity.”

“Starbucks has a really important opportunity to demonstrate the country needs a more compassionate society and a more compassionate government,” he added.

Meet the Season 2 Upstanders:

Knives, Fire and Opportunity: Chad Houser quit his job as the executive chef at a hot Dallas eatery and risked his career to open a restaurant staffed almost exclusively by former juvenile detention inmates.

The Wave to Recovery: Navy SEALs Alex West and Kyle Buckett spend their nights and weekends designing specialized surfboards for wounded warriors, helping them find strength and confidence in the waves.

From War to Montana: Mary Poole, a mother with no background in foreign policy, convinced her community to welcome refugees by harnessing hundreds of volunteers and embracing her opponents.

Befriending Her Shooter: Ian Manuel was just 13 when he shot Debbie Baigrie. A year into his life sentence, he called her to apologize. That eventually led to her forgiveness, an unlikely friendship and a mission to help free him.

Planting Hope in a Coalfield: Entrepreneur Brandon Dennison decided to address poverty in his native West Virginia by extending a hand of opportunity to former coal miners.

A Racist’s Rehabilitation: When Garry Civitello, a white man, admitted he was prejudiced on national television, Heather McGhee, who is President of the public policy organization Demos and a black woman, offered him advice to become a better American. Their exchange transformed his life and forged a remarkable friendship.

One Doctor’s Needle Fix: Hansel Tookes spent four years on a life-saving mission to convince Florida legislators to allow drug users in Miami to exchange dirty needles for clean ones.

Love for All in Utah: Stephenie Larsen forged past fear and skepticism to create the first LGBT community center in Provo, Utah, in an attempt to reduce suicides among gay teens and build bridges with the Mormon Church.

Saving Middletown: Ami Vitori gave up a successful big-city career and tapped her retirement fund to help rebuild the struggling Rust Belt community of Middletown, Ohio.

The Firefighter’s Rescuer: Seattle firefighter Mike Washington told colleagues about some of his most painful and personal moments to encourage them to seek help and draw more attention to stress among our nation’s first responders.

The Disappearing Island: Former South Carolina Republican congressman Bob Inglis, who once scoffed at climate change, overcame a humiliating defeat by deciding to take on skeptics within his party.

Starbucks is asking fans to tell them about Upstanders they know in their own lives on their Facebook page.

The post Profiles in Courage: Watch Starbucks’ Season 2 of ‘Upstanders’ appeared first on brandchannel:.

[tismroot]

GO THE KNUCKLE

The Back Page Byline: Damian Cowell

Take a trip down memory lane, back to a time when there were no video cameras, the umpy didn't really want to know and vengeance was dished out on the spot. Just keep your head down, says Damian Cowell.

It was Ted Whitten's first game. The boy who would become "Mr Football" was raw, but obviously talented, bursting to leave his imprint on the game. Keen to leave an imprint of another kind was Whitten's first VFL opponent, Richmond's Don "Mopsy" Fraser, one of the most feared players in the game. Mopsy's pre-match handshake was accompanied by a paralysing kick to the ankle. And when Whitten soared from the pack to mark and goal in Footscray's first attack, Mopsy quietly told him: "Do that again son, and you'll be in trouble."

Bluff, surely. Part of the game. The next time the ball arrived, there again was Whitten to mark and spear home a spiral punt with stunning accuracy.

Nothing happened. Nothing, that is, until just before three-quarter-time. Whitten sprinted for a loose ball, and suddenly, there was Mopsy, right behind him, close enough to deliver the chilling message: "This is it, son." The next thing Whitten remembered was waking up in hospital.

"This is it, son." Mopsy was giving Whitten a football education. He was acquainting Ted with one of the more jealously guarded tactical innovations of the pre-AFL era.

You are a coach, and your team is up against it. Where do you go when your on-ballers are second to the ball? Where do you go when your full-forward's getting thrashed? Where do you go when you can't get any run off the backline?

These days you would go to one of your 235 full-time assistants with the magnetic boards, so you could play chess with your multi-skilled, highly professional, ambidextrous, super-flexible modern footballers. In the old days, you would "go the knuckle".

It is a phrase that describes the great lost art of pre-meditated violence. When Mopsy said, "This is it, son", he was opening the history book Mike Munro-style to the days when giants like "Captain Blood" Jack Dyer and the fearsome Bob Chitty prowled the muddy fields with Depression-era grimness. It was often referred to in jocular conversation as "a bit of the old biffo" (which is about as non-onomatopoeic as you could get _ sounds more like some old Anzac Day drinking buddy, and not at all like having your jaw re-wired.) Then there was the popular phrase "to clean someone up" - now I'm sorry, but I thought cleaning up implied removal of mess.

Certainly, football has always been a contact sport, full of heavy collisions. But what made "going the knuckle'' special, was the element of volition, of pre-planning - "I think, therefore I knuckle."

Before the 1971 grand final, St Kilda coach Allan Jeans talked to his players about Hawthorn's champion full-forward Peter Hudson, and how the Saints would have to concede him at least five or six goals in the match. "Not if he's unconscious," came a voice from the back of the room, somewhere near St Kilda's Kevin "Cowboy" Neale. The Cowboy was of course joking, and it certainly wasn't his fault later in the match when Hudson went and shoved his left ear right in the way of Cowdy's fist during a loose ball contest. Hudson never did lose consciousness, but he went on to miss two chances from point-blank range to beat Bob Pratt's record of 150 goals in a season, and Hudson rarely ever missed. And so it was that "going the knuckle" determined football history, for neither Hudson nor anyone else has got near that record since.

In fact, speaking of Pratt, he was run over by a milk truck the night before the 1935 grand final against Collingwood, when he alone had stood between Collingwood and certain victory, which Collingwood promptly went on to achieve. No one ever proved any connection, but if there was, how about that for a creative application of the tactic?

Therein lies the science of the knuckle tactic. If you could not stop a whole team, then you would stop its key player. If you could not do this by restricting his supply of the ball, you could at least restrict his supply of oxygen - well, at least for a few crucial seconds, anyway.

"Going the knuckle" was football's instant wealth redistribution scheme, with the knuckle merchants its Robin Hoods. It was the One Nation Party of football tactics, born from the same dispossessed sense of "If I can't have it, then they're bloody well not going to get any, either". In the land of the tall poppy syndrome, to "go the knuckle" was to be a true Australian. And it was undoubtedly an art form. It takes skill to disguise a blow struck with fist, elbow or forearm, generally to the head of an opponent, hard enough to precipitate a sudden and marked decline in that player's subsequent influence on the game.

The skilled knuckle merchant incorporated it gracefully into the ebb and flow of his game - a blur of opposing jumpers, the ball goes back up the other end, and, hang on a minute, someone's down, he looks a bit like he's dead, doesn't he? Did you see it? No, I didn't either. Ah, well.

Of course, the further away from elite football you got, the less artful the application. A friend of mine played football for Parkdale in Melbourne's now defunct Federal League. He entertained me with the story of the grand final that was decided before the first bounce when the two key players of one team were grabbed in a headlock by their respective opponents and lovingly thumped into semi-retirement in front of an umpire too frightened to intervene. How gauche.

When you paid good money to go to a league match, you expected a certain standard, incorporating subtlety, accuracy, and concealment. League history is adorned by countless hard-men who knew how to commit acts of criminal assault with style and panache.

David Legge played for St Kilda in the '70s, and recalls his near-brush with the Grim Reaper's knuckle in a match against Hawthorn. Reaching forward to scoop up a loose ball, he sensed a brown and yellow jumper hurtling towards him, and he was quick enough to jerk backward and release the ball in time to see Leigh Matthews passing through the space he had occupied a split second earlier.

No "this is it, son" to warn him. Now, if that had been me, Matthews' jumper would not have been the only brown and yellow passing at that moment, I can assure you.

Matthews earned the name "Lethal" not just for his meanness, but for his devastating ability as a footballer - a rover who could kick a leisurely 11 goals, a matchwinner, time and time again.

But my word, he could be nasty. One of the creepiest bits of TV footage I've seen was the moment in the 1985 Hawthorn v Geelong match when, almost out of screen at the top of the picture, Matthews runs beside Geelong's equally mean Neville Bruns, and Bruns suddenly crumples like a suit that's dropped off its hanger.

The next clip from the match shows an ashen, drunkenly staggering Matthews being led off the field by trainers, his face covered in blood, a victim of that grand and honourable tradition, "the evener."

Bruns had his jaw rewired, and Matthews faced criminal charges, which was an indication that the era of Dyers and Chittys was coming to an end - the beginning of this new generation of softie footballers who obviously think there's something wrong with being hit by a bloke, then inviting him back for a post-match beer in the spinal ward.

Of course, a lot of the big hits in football history were fair, you'll argue. And you'd be talking about that other warm fuzzy phrase that has as much to do with fairness as "sweetbread" has to with sheep's pancreas, the "Fair Bump".

Footy custom defines that fist, forearm or elbow contact is naughty, but it's perfectly legitimate to make contact with a player provided you use the "good old hip and shoulder" (note that fuzzy old-friend terminology again.) I mean, what sort of girlie frock would complain about the use of the "good old hip and shoulder"? Hard, but fair, that's what the "good old hip and shoulder" is all about - Well, it would be if the two combatants were BOTH aiming at each other.

But what I find hard to fathom is this: player one can be running in one direction at full pace, with arms out trying to tame that errant footy, eyes for it alone, and then in like the clappers (whatever the hell that means) comes player two, whose sole intention is to "take out" player one - not, one would suggest, for a little dinner and dancing.

So you have one unprepared, unprotected body cannoned into by the "good old hip and shoulder" of a completely focused, taut, rippling ball of malevolent intention. And quicker than you can say "injuries consistent with a car accident", player one's day has taken a turn for the worse.

Everybody cheers player two, and the umpire awards him a free kick because player one has made no reasonable attempt to get rid of the ball, due to the rather unexpected presence of his own tongue in his windpipe. This, I feel, extends our definition of "fair" a little far.

And one of the least-discussed topics in football, (along with players' criminal records and what happens on footy trips) is the role of the coach. Did players "go the knuckle" purely out of personal vengefulness, or was it part of the team plan? We can only surmise, and funnily enough, if it did come directly from the coach, I can remember the tactic failing more times than it succeeding.

Who could forget the amazing 1989 grand final, and Mark Yeates' bile-inducing, blood-urinating "fair bump" on Dermott Brereton at the opening bounce? It was reduced to melodrama by Channel Seven years later when pictures of Brereton clenching his teeth and jogging back to the goal square, stopping off to wave away the trainers while having a quick spew, were run in slow motion to rousing music and a farcically dramaticvoice-over. However, despite that and Garry Hocking's "bit of the old biffo'' on Robert DiPierdomenico, Geelong still lost the game. As did Essendon the following year, when Collingwood seemed to become inspired after Gavin Brown won the Biffo lottery.

The most famous example of "co-incidental" violent acts leading a team to victory was the remarkable performance of Richmond in the 1973 grand final against Carlton. Richmond's Neil Balme, who later went on to become an erudite and innovative coach himself, went on a bit of a spring-cleaning frenzy, mistaking Carlton's Geoff Southby and Vin Waite's heads for the ball, and in the most memorable incident of them all, back-pocket Laurie Fowler executed a magnificently timed flying "fair bump" on Carlton man-mountain, captain-coach John Nicholls, who was 25 kilograms heavier, but thanks to Fowler, spent the rest of the match up there with the fairies. Coincidence? Let's add it all up. Richmond had been beaten by a rampant Carlton in the previous year's grand final, with virtually the same team, and again in the qualifying final of that year.

In that match, it was Southby who had tormented Richmond with a best-on-ground performance, and of course Nicholls was not only captain-coach and first ruck, but wielded an enormous influence over Carlton's fortunes.

So, what do we have - "a bit of the old biffo'', "a fair bump''. Two key players downed, two different agents of fate's dark hand sounds like orders came from the top, does it not?

It may have been in every coach's handbook back then, but you'll no longer find it there. Sadly, with trial-by-video, and football's new squeaky-clean corporate-box image, the modern era loomed like Mopsy Fraser and whispered "this is it, son" to the great tradition of on-field violence.

Admittedly, the game has become faster, slicker, more exciting without the constant threat of some heinous prince of darkness exacting his awful revenge on the innocent ball-carrier. But which of us armchair cowards watching the game didn't wish it as Peter Matera took his fifth running bounce? Which of us didn't wish it as Brett Heady walked into yet another open goal? Which of us didn't secretly imagine it as Peter Allen burst out in his red jumpsuit to entertain the pre-grand final crowd in 1980?

"Going the knuckle" was more than sport. It was a metaphor for life. Cruel and often random, but somehow just, like a tax-avoiding zillionaire discovering he has a degenerative disease, or a supermodel going bald. Life is full of Mopsys, Dyers and Chittys, waiting to spring out of a happy week and flatten you.

And the day my prostate goes the way of most men past a certain age, I'll know the four words on that doctor's lips, and speak them for him, and for us all. "This is it, son."

Caption: Four photos: A "bit of the old biffo" looms as Hawthorn's Dermott Brereton and Geelong's Steve Hocking eyeball each other during the 1989 Grand Final, but teammates had the restraining influence; Richmond strongman Neil Balme fires up in the 1973 Grand Final; Bomber Ken Fletcher checks on the health of Tiger Barry Richardson; VFA violence at its best (or worst)...Port Melbourne's Fred Cook is felled behind play in the 1976 Grand Final against Dandenong.

------------------------------

Publication:The Age

Publication date: 21-12-1998

Edition: Late

Page no: 8

Section: Sport

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Searchers Quotes

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• A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • All I want is to know the truth, to know and experience God. I’m a searcher, that’s what I’m all about. – Elvis Presley • And what is the problem? It is the old problem of the anxious searcher – the mythic in the interior castle, the poet-pilgrim in a dark wood not sure how to proceed. Which way is the right way? – Paul Elie • At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily. – Flannery O’Connor • At my age, and in my circumstances, what sinister object, or personal emolument had I to seek after, in this life? The growing infirmities of age and the increasing love of retirement, daily confirm my decided predilection for domestic life: and the great Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have no wish, which aspires beyond the humble and happy lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm. – George Washington

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Searcher', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_searcher').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_searcher img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Before I go off and direct a movie, I always look at four films. They tend to be The Seven Samurai, Lawrence Of Arabia, It’s A Wonderful Life and The Searchers. – Steven Spielberg • Finding is reserved for the searchers, we don’t find what we need, we find what we search for – Jim Rohn • I am a searcher… I always was… and I still am… searching for the missing piece. – Louise Bourgeois • I am one of the searchers. There are millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery & unspeakable beauty. We like forests & mountains, deserts & hidden rivers, & lonely cities. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know. – James Kavanaugh • I enjoy almost everything. Yet I have some restless searcher in me. Why is there not a discovery in life? Something one can lay hands on and say “This is it”? My depression is a harassed feeling. I’m looking: but that’s not it — that’s not it. What is it? And shall I die before I find it? – Virginia Woolf • I have known only one way of carrying on missionary work, viz., by personal example and discussion with searchers for knowledge. – Mahatma Gandhi • I like to say, when asked why I pursue science, that it is to satisfy my curiosity, that I am by nature a searcher trying to understand. If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day. – John Archibald Wheeler • I think sometimes I should do more carousing, because I don’t do much and maybe it would be fun occasionally. It’s hard for me to have fun and I’m a serious thinker and a searcher and funny from the front. – Garry Shandling • I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open? – Seneca the Younger • I worked as a title searcher for almost 25 years. It took awhile for it to become fulfilling because it doesn’t pay a whole lot, takes a long time to learn, and in the years of learning there are endless frustrations. And then it creeps up on you that you’re able to solve problems, answer questions and rebut any challenges to your work. – Larry Howes • ‘If he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him’ (Lk. 17:4). As the Searcher of hearts, the Lord knows that men are liable to very frequent trespass, and that, having fallen, they often rise up again; therefore He has given us the commandment to frequently forgive trespasses, and He Himself is the first to fulfill His holy word. As soon as you say from your whole heart, ‘I repent,’ you will be immediately forgiven. – John of Kronstadt • If you think of ‘Liberty Valance’ or ‘The Searchers,’ there are moments in there that you’ll never, ever forget… And it does not matter what century you are from. – Kevin Costner • I’m not a quester or a searcher for the truth. I don’t really think there is one answer, so I never went looking for it. My impulse is less questing and more playful. I like trying on ideas and ways of life and religious approaches. I’m just not a good candidate for conversion. – Ursula K. Le Guin • In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence. – Albert Einstein • In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence, for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions – Albert Einstein • In this world are very few things made from logic alone. It is illogical for man to be too logical. Some things we must just let stand. The mystery is more important than any possible explanation. The searcher after truth must search with humanity. Ruthless logic is the sign of a limited mind. The truth can only add to the sum of what you know, while a harmless mystery left unexplored often adds to the meaning of life. When a truth is not so important, it is better left as a mystery. – Bryce Courtenay • It seems almost oxymoronic to believe that this new idealism has led to a new pessimism about marriage, but that is exactly what has happened. In generations past there was far less talk about “compatibility” and finding the ideal soul mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for. – Timothy Keller • John Logan was kind of wrapping up – “Well, thanks for coming in…” – and I thought, “Oh, God, this is over and I’m out of here, and I really don’t want to leave.”So I said, “Can I ask you a question?” He said, “Sure.” “What movie do you think you’ve seen more than any other movie?” And he said, “Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers.” And I said, “Well, oddly, that’s the movie I’ve seen more than any other movie.” And I wasn’t just BS-ing. It��s true. It’s my favorite movie. – Brent Spiner • Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of invisible game. – Rumi • My mother was a Bohemian – in the good sense of the word. A searcher. And she investigated various religions. – Madeline Kahn • No truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration, nor any more fully demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a deep sense and a due acknowledgment of the governing providence of a Supreme Being and the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributor of rewards and punishments are conducive equally to the happiness and rectitude of individuals and to the well being of communities. – John Adams • Nothing could be more beneficial for even the most zealous searcher for knowledge than his being in fact most learned in that very ignorance which is peculiarly his own; and the better a man will have known his own ignorance, the greater his learning will be. – Nicholas of Cusa • Now, Friends, deal plainly with yourselves, and let the eternal Light search you, and try you, for the good of your souls. For this will deal plainly with you. It will rip you up, and lay you open, and make all manifest which lodges in you; the secret subtlety of the enemy of your souls, this eternal searcher and trier will make manifest. Therefore all to this come, and by this be searched, and judged, and led and guided. For to this you must stand or fall. – Margaret Fell • O philosophy, life’s guide! O searcher-out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life. [Lat., O vitae philosophia dux! O virtutis indagatrix, expultrixque vitiorum! Quid non modo nos, sed omnino vita hominum sine et esse potuisset? Tu urbes peperisti; tu dissipatos homines in societatum vitae convocasti.] – Marcus Tullius Cicero • Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?–TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature–a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price. – Robert A. Heinlein • Rely upon your own judgment; be true to your own conscience; follow the light that is within you; all outward lights are so many will-o’-the-wisps. There will be those who tell you that you are foolish; that your judgment is faulty; that your conscience is all awry, and that the light within you is darkness; but heed them not. If what they say is true, the sooner you, as a searcher of wisdom, find it out the better, and you can only make that discovery by bringing your powers to the test. Therefore, pursue your course bravely. – James Allen • Sailing heart-ships through broken harbors out on the waves of the night, still the searcher must ride the dark horse racing alone in his fright. – Neil Young • Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. – H. P. Lovecraft • Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, Or any searcher know by mortal mind; Veil upon veil will lift but there must be Veil upon veil behind. – Edwin Arnold • So the story goes, so I’m told The people he knew were Less than golden hearted Gamblers and robbers Drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers Like you and me – Dave Matthews • The best hiding spots are not the most hidden; they’re merely the least searched. – Chris Pavone • The grand highway is crowded w/lovers & searchers & leavers so eager to please & forget. Wilderness. – Jim Morrison • The great Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have no wish, which aspires beyond the humble and happy lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm. – George Washington • The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf – a philosopher or servant, – but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the world. – Robert Green Ingersoll • The search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don’t want to go there. – Bart D. Ehrman • The searcher’s eye Not seldom finds more than he wished to find. – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing • There are certain books in the world which every searcher for truth must know: the Bible, the Critique of Pure Reason, the Origin of Species, and Karl Marx’s Capital. – Al Capp • Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. – Aiden Wilson Tozer • This is also why it is wrong to treat God as a grand employment agency, a celestial executive searcher to find perfect fits for our perfect gifts. The truth is not that God is finding a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing – and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there. – Os Guinness • To escape the cycle of tragedy, we (searchers) have to be tough on the ideas of the planners, even while we salute their goodwill. – William Easterly • Vertical search engines that match your business, service or products with a target market offer you a higher conversion rate than traditional search engines. Because they have already qualified their interest by coming to a search engine with a specific focus, searchers will be more receptive to targeted advertising. – Marc Ostrofsky • We [with John Logan] started talking about The Searchers, and then he went on to tell me a story about when he first met John Wayne, and he said, “Hey, you be me and I’ll be Wayne,” and I said, “No, let me be Wayne!” Anyway, it was a very pleasant conversation, it was clear to him that I was a big movie fan, and by the time I got home, there was a phone call, asking if I’d mind doing one scene in the movie [The Aviator]. – Brent Spiner • We are in a period of searchers rather than of creators. – Pierre-Auguste Renoir • We long to be found, hoping our searchers have not given up and gone home. – Jerry Spinelli • We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love. – James Kavanaugh • We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. – James Kavanaugh • Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud. No other city is so spitefully incoherent. Whereas other cities flaunt there history – their presumed glory – in vividly placed monuments, squares, parks, plaques, and boulevards, such history as New York has been unable entirely to obliterate is to be found, mainly, in the backwaters of Wall Street, in the goat tracks of Old and West Broadway, in and around Washington Square, and, for the relentless searcher, in grimly inaccessible regions of The Bronx. – James A. Baldwin • Women are dirt searchers; their greatest worth is irradicating rings on collars and tables. Never mind real-estate boards’ corruption and racism, here’s your soapsuds. Everything she is doing is peripheral, expendable, crucial, and non-negotiable. Cleanliness is next to godliness. – Florynce Kennedy • Women are like the arts, forced unto none, Open to all searchers, unprized, if unknown. – John Donne

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Searchers Quotes

Official Website: Searchers Quotes

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• A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • All I want is to know the truth, to know and experience God. I’m a searcher, that’s what I’m all about. – Elvis Presley • And what is the problem? It is the old problem of the anxious searcher – the mythic in the interior castle, the poet-pilgrim in a dark wood not sure how to proceed. Which way is the right way? – Paul Elie • At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily. – Flannery O’Connor • At my age, and in my circumstances, what sinister object, or personal emolument had I to seek after, in this life? The growing infirmities of age and the increasing love of retirement, daily confirm my decided predilection for domestic life: and the great Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have no wish, which aspires beyond the humble and happy lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm. – George Washington

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Searcher', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_searcher').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_searcher img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Before I go off and direct a movie, I always look at four films. They tend to be The Seven Samurai, Lawrence Of Arabia, It’s A Wonderful Life and The Searchers. – Steven Spielberg • Finding is reserved for the searchers, we don’t find what we need, we find what we search for – Jim Rohn • I am a searcher… I always was… and I still am… searching for the missing piece. – Louise Bourgeois • I am one of the searchers. There are millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery & unspeakable beauty. We like forests & mountains, deserts & hidden rivers, & lonely cities. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know. – James Kavanaugh • I enjoy almost everything. Yet I have some restless searcher in me. Why is there not a discovery in life? Something one can lay hands on and say “This is it”? My depression is a harassed feeling. I’m looking: but that’s not it — that’s not it. What is it? And shall I die before I find it? – Virginia Woolf • I have known only one way of carrying on missionary work, viz., by personal example and discussion with searchers for knowledge. – Mahatma Gandhi • I like to say, when asked why I pursue science, that it is to satisfy my curiosity, that I am by nature a searcher trying to understand. If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day. – John Archibald Wheeler • I think sometimes I should do more carousing, because I don’t do much and maybe it would be fun occasionally. It’s hard for me to have fun and I’m a serious thinker and a searcher and funny from the front. – Garry Shandling • I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open? – Seneca the Younger • I worked as a title searcher for almost 25 years. It took awhile for it to become fulfilling because it doesn’t pay a whole lot, takes a long time to learn, and in the years of learning there are endless frustrations. And then it creeps up on you that you’re able to solve problems, answer questions and rebut any challenges to your work. – Larry Howes • ‘If he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him’ (Lk. 17:4). As the Searcher of hearts, the Lord knows that men are liable to very frequent trespass, and that, having fallen, they often rise up again; therefore He has given us the commandment to frequently forgive trespasses, and He Himself is the first to fulfill His holy word. As soon as you say from your whole heart, ‘I repent,’ you will be immediately forgiven. – John of Kronstadt • If you think of ‘Liberty Valance’ or ‘The Searchers,’ there are moments in there that you’ll never, ever forget… And it does not matter what century you are from. – Kevin Costner • I’m not a quester or a searcher for the truth. I don’t really think there is one answer, so I never went looking for it. My impulse is less questing and more playful. I like trying on ideas and ways of life and religious approaches. I’m just not a good candidate for conversion. – Ursula K. Le Guin • In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence. – Albert Einstein • In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence, for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions – Albert Einstein • In this world are very few things made from logic alone. It is illogical for man to be too logical. Some things we must just let stand. The mystery is more important than any possible explanation. The searcher after truth must search with humanity. Ruthless logic is the sign of a limited mind. The truth can only add to the sum of what you know, while a harmless mystery left unexplored often adds to the meaning of life. When a truth is not so important, it is better left as a mystery. – Bryce Courtenay • It seems almost oxymoronic to believe that this new idealism has led to a new pessimism about marriage, but that is exactly what has happened. In generations past there was far less talk about “compatibility” and finding the ideal soul mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for. – Timothy Keller • John Logan was kind of wrapping up – “Well, thanks for coming in…” – and I thought, “Oh, God, this is over and I’m out of here, and I really don’t want to leave.”So I said, “Can I ask you a question?” He said, “Sure.” “What movie do you think you’ve seen more than any other movie?” And he said, “Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers.” And I said, “Well, oddly, that’s the movie I’ve seen more than any other movie.” And I wasn’t just BS-ing. It’s true. It’s my favorite movie. – Brent Spiner • Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of invisible game. – Rumi • My mother was a Bohemian – in the good sense of the word. A searcher. And she investigated various religions. – Madeline Kahn • No truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration, nor any more fully demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a deep sense and a due acknowledgment of the governing providence of a Supreme Being and the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributor of rewards and punishments are conducive equally to the happiness and rectitude of individuals and to the well being of communities. – John Adams • Nothing could be more beneficial for even the most zealous searcher for knowledge than his being in fact most learned in that very ignorance which is peculiarly his own; and the better a man will have known his own ignorance, the greater his learning will be. – Nicholas of Cusa • Now, Friends, deal plainly with yourselves, and let the eternal Light search you, and try you, for the good of your souls. For this will deal plainly with you. It will rip you up, and lay you open, and make all manifest which lodges in you; the secret subtlety of the enemy of your souls, this eternal searcher and trier will make manifest. Therefore all to this come, and by this be searched, and judged, and led and guided. For to this you must stand or fall. – Margaret Fell • O philosophy, life’s guide! O searcher-out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life. [Lat., O vitae philosophia dux! O virtutis indagatrix, expultrixque vitiorum! Quid non modo nos, sed omnino vita hominum sine et esse potuisset? Tu urbes peperisti; tu dissipatos homines in societatum vitae convocasti.] – Marcus Tullius Cicero • Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?–TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature–a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price. – Robert A. Heinlein • Rely upon your own judgment; be true to your own conscience; follow the light that is within you; all outward lights are so many will-o’-the-wisps. There will be those who tell you that you are foolish; that your judgment is faulty; that your conscience is all awry, and that the light within you is darkness; but heed them not. If what they say is true, the sooner you, as a searcher of wisdom, find it out the better, and you can only make that discovery by bringing your powers to the test. Therefore, pursue your course bravely. – James Allen • Sailing heart-ships through broken harbors out on the waves of the night, still the searcher must ride the dark horse racing alone in his fright. – Neil Young • Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. – H. P. Lovecraft • Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, Or any searcher know by mortal mind; Veil upon veil will lift but there must be Veil upon veil behind. – Edwin Arnold • So the story goes, so I’m told The people he knew were Less than golden hearted Gamblers and robbers Drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers Like you and me – Dave Matthews • The best hiding spots are not the most hidden; they’re merely the least searched. – Chris Pavone • The grand highway is crowded w/lovers & searchers & leavers so eager to please & forget. Wilderness. – Jim Morrison • The great Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have no wish, which aspires beyond the humble and happy lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm. – George Washington • The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf – a philosopher or servant, – but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the world. – Robert Green Ingersoll • The search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don’t want to go there. – Bart D. Ehrman • The searcher’s eye Not seldom finds more than he wished to find. – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing • There are certain books in the world which every searcher for truth must know: the Bible, the Critique of Pure Reason, the Origin of Species, and Karl Marx’s Capital. – Al Capp • Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. – Aiden Wilson Tozer • This is also why it is wrong to treat God as a grand employment agency, a celestial executive searcher to find perfect fits for our perfect gifts. The truth is not that God is finding a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing – and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there. – Os Guinness • To escape the cycle of tragedy, we (searchers) have to be tough on the ideas of the planners, even while we salute their goodwill. – William Easterly • Vertical search engines that match your business, service or products with a target market offer you a higher conversion rate than traditional search engines. Because they have already qualified their interest by coming to a search engine with a specific focus, searchers will be more receptive to targeted advertising. – Marc Ostrofsky • We [with John Logan] started talking about The Searchers, and then he went on to tell me a story about when he first met John Wayne, and he said, “Hey, you be me and I’ll be Wayne,” and I said, “No, let me be Wayne!” Anyway, it was a very pleasant conversation, it was clear to him that I was a big movie fan, and by the time I got home, there was a phone call, asking if I’d mind doing one scene in the movie [The Aviator]. – Brent Spiner • We are in a period of searchers rather than of creators. – Pierre-Auguste Renoir • We long to be found, hoping our searchers have not given up and gone home. – Jerry Spinelli • We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love. – James Kavanaugh • We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. – James Kavanaugh • Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud. No other city is so spitefully incoherent. Whereas other cities flaunt there history – their presumed glory – in vividly placed monuments, squares, parks, plaques, and boulevards, such history as New York has been unable entirely to obliterate is to be found, mainly, in the backwaters of Wall Street, in the goat tracks of Old and West Broadway, in and around Washington Square, and, for the relentless searcher, in grimly inaccessible regions of The Bronx. – James A. Baldwin • Women are dirt searchers; their greatest worth is irradicating rings on collars and tables. Never mind real-estate boards’ corruption and racism, here’s your soapsuds. Everything she is doing is peripheral, expendable, crucial, and non-negotiable. Cleanliness is next to godliness. – Florynce Kennedy • Women are like the arts, forced unto none, Open to all searchers, unprized, if unknown. – John Donne

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Autumn Tests: Jeremy Guscott

Autumn Tests: Jeremy Guscott

Autumn Tests: Jeremy Guscott

The autumn internationals were the final chance for northern hemisphere sides to test themselves against their southern counterparts before Japan 2019

Four weeks of intense competition, varied opposition, new faces and old stagers.

Now, with the autumn internationals over and the clock ticking down to Japan 2019, how will England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland assess their efforts?

England

England operated a co-captain system with Owen Farrell sharing leadership duties with Dylan Hartley

When the dust settles, England will look back and regret not winning four out of four.

They will know they were a marginal offside decision against Courtney Lawes away from beating New Zealand. Victory would have been a huge psychological boost for Eddie Jones’ squad, but even in defeat they will know that, on their day, they can produce the intensity to match the southern hemisphere’s best.

They showed they can create opportunities and openings. They should have been out of sight against South Africa considering the try-scoring chances they created in the second half.

Owen Farrell switched into fly-half and fitted in seamlessly, but that was only to be expected considering his all-round excellence.

Must do better:

England victories did not come in the comprehensive, complete manner that Ireland’s did.

There were either aspects of their performance lacking – for instance finishing off those chances against South Africa – or a failure to maintain their standards across a full 80 minutes.

England produce second-half masterclass against Australia

Against Japan, both were true.

England need to play those games against limited opposition with more tenacity. They have to grind teams down and earn the right to play expansively.

Overcoming that psychological barrier and playing against the likes of Japan as if they were the All Blacks is particularly important to negotiating the World Cup pool stages.

Focus on: Maro Itoje

He is very bright academically but some of Maro Itoje’s on-pitch decisions need to be more rugby smart.

In 12 games for England this year he has given away 19 penalties. Three of those came against South Africa in the first autumn Test, when he was also shown a yellow card.

It’s a measure of the stratospheric standards that he set himself over 2016 and 2017 that these little details are being held against him.

But penalty count is a crucial metric for top Test teams. He is testing himself, he is testing the referee, finding out how much he can get away and how far he can push it, but ultimately he needs to find a balance to slow the flow of penalties against him.

Scotland

Scotland finish the autumn ranked seventh in the world

In 18 months in charge, Gregor Townsend has overseen some towering highs – such as the win over England in this year’s Six Nations or beating Australia in Sydney – and some real lows – such as defeat by the United States and Fiji.

This autumn did not really hit either extreme.

They won games they should have won, but did not seize the chance to take the decisive steps forward that victory over Wales or South Africa would have represented.

Must do better:

The discussion around Scotland invariably concentrates on the likes of Finn Russell, Huw Jones, Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland.

For Scotland to be more of a threat, we need to be talking about their forwards as much as we do their backs.

Maitland try secures win for Scotland against Argentina

They do a decent job of serving up ball to that vaunted backline, but, at the moment, they don’t offer a threat themselves. How well can they compete with the forcefulness of South Africa, England, Ireland and New Zealand?

A strong midfield runner would also provide them with a bit more variety in attack. Too often defences can set themselves up for a race to the wide areas.

The Six Nations will provide more answers. Last year they went to Cardiff in their Six Nations opener full of promise and hope, and came back on the wrong end of a 34-7 scoreline.

This year they have Italy at home first up, which should help them build into their campaign.

Focus on: Finn Russell

In the final game of their autumn series, Scotland experimented with Finn Russell at inside centre and Adam Hastings at fly-half.

The combination did not really click in a patchy 14-9 win over Argentina and Russell will surely go into the World Cup as the preferred option at 10.

Scotland need to see him play more shrewdly. His distribution can be fantastic, but his decision-making on when to throw the ambitious pass still needs work.

In the Six Nations, he took England apart with his passing. But against Ireland, his errors fatally undermined his team.

He doesn’t need to change his style necessarily, he just needs to be more accurate.

Wales

British and Irish Lion Liam Williams scored three tries across the autumn

England’s tackle accuracy this season is 87%. Scotland have managed 88%. Ireland are at 89%.

None can match Wales’ return. Warren Gatland’s side are at 90%. They are full of confidence after nine successive wins and a lot of that run comes down to their claustrophobically tight defence.

During their current winning streak, they have restricted opponents to an average of 13 points a game. That sort of frugality means they will have a chance to beat anyone.

Captain Alun Wyn Jones is defence coach Shaun Edwards’ voice on the pitch.

He may be 33 and have 120 Wales caps to his name, but he is pushing the ceiling still higher on his personal performance. He is somehow getting even better.

Must do better:

The question for Wales is whether they can maintain that defensive intensity, while adding more creativity and accuracy with the ball.

They need to be able to switch from defending in a strict structure to reacting instinctively to each other in attack.

Francis gives Wales early lead over South Africa

The try that Tomas Francis scored against South Africa this weekend is the sort of thing Wales need more of.

Flanker Ellis Jenkins felt defenders come off him, held onto the ball and linked with the prop to score. It looked simple but it took vision, decision-making and execution, all the things that the northern hemisphere sides are playing catch-up on.

Focus on: Justin Tipuric

With Sam Warburton’s presence at open-side flanker, the 29-year-old found game time limited in the past. Half of his 60 Wales caps have come off the bench.

Now, after Warburton’s retirement, he has his chance to shine.

Most players influence a match either through sheer weight of unseen work or a couple of game-changing moments or big plays.

But Tipuric seems to do both. He is relentlessly busy around the park, but also has the pace, ball-handling skills and breakdown knowhow to produce decisive passages of play.

When Taulupe Faletau, Aaron Shingler and Josh Navidi all get back to fitness, Wales will have a wealth of options in the back row.

Ireland

Ireland remain second in the world despite their victory over top-ranked New Zealand

What can you say about Ireland’s autumn?

When they beat New Zealand in Chicago in 2016, it was an upset. Their victory over the All Blacks in Dublin this time around, while celebrated long and loud, was not a surprise.

It was an unrelentingly excellent performance that day but the autumn as a whole showed the depth of Ireland’s quality.

Neither scrum-half Conor Murray nor centre Robbie Henshaw – absolutely key parts of Joe Schmidt’s plans – played any part in the four matches.

Luke McGrath and Kieran Marmion filled in at nine, Will Addison and Garry Ringrose slotted into midfield, and the machine continued to purr.

Must do better:

I don’t think Schmidt is ever satisfied.

He is a man of fine details and minute planning. He will be working on all the intricacies and variations, fine-tuning the wraparound options and double-team choke tackling, while attempting to iron out the few errors that remain and build more pressure on the opposition.

Focus on: Tadhg Furlong

Tadhg Furlong forces every other player on his team to look at themselves and redefine what they are capable of.

For a tight-head prop forward, he just seems to be ever present on the field. He is involved in everything, and in a way that makes such an impact on the course of the game.

He does that while bearing all that weight in the scrum and carrying 130kg (20st 6lb) of bodyweight.

I questioned last season how many of Ireland’s team would get into a World XV, given how many outstanding individuals there are across all positions.

But Furlong strolls into that World XV. Comfortably.

Jeremy Guscott was speaking to BBC Sport’s Mike Henson

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[kyreniacommentator]

  By Chris Elliott….

Over the past weeks and months we have been observing an increasing interest from TRNC residents of many nationalities coming together and, through their own initiative, organising cleaning of beaches and public places which has also had in many cases local authority support.

I am not aware of all of the groups operating clean up events but starting with the No Straws North Cyprus campaign this attracted support from the No Straws Walkers led by Garry Abbott Taff who have just completed a 5 day 125 mile walk from Cape to Cape across Northern Cyprus to try and raise the need for the use of alternative materials and also recycling and collective efforts to clean up our island.

No Straws North Cyprus

No Straws Walkers

In a similar fashion a group of Russian volunteers formed by Diana Suyunshalina and friends have been cleaning a number of beaches and had their numbers swelled by other like-minded volunteers who have helped them with additional support being given by the Mayor of Lapta, Mustafa Aktuğ and Alsancak  Mayor,  Fırat Ataser, who both attended cleaning events including the ancient city area of Lambousa.

Alsancak and Lapta Mayors joined and supported the cleanup

Here in Central Girne we have seen a number of beach cleaning events that were arranged by Gill Radcliffe of Cafe Deniz in Karakum to which increasing numbers of volunteers are coming to help with the cleaning.

Cafe Deniz beach cleaning in Karakum

We also noted in Tatlisu that another group had formed with help from Graham McIntyre and were active with cleaning and again with support from the local Mayor, Hayri Orcan  and this is what the Tatlisu Wombles group say on their Facebook page “Keep Tatlisu Clean Tatlisu Temiz tutun” :

What is the Tatlisu Wombles?

The idea of the Wombles is that we can all spare 30 minutes once a month to help clean up our local areas of Tatlisu. We can do it as individuals or with family or as a larger group.

For those too young to remember, the Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children’s novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways. (Wikipedia).

Tatlisu Wombles in action

This past week has seen a high profile cleaning event arranged by Oya Kutsal taking place in the 2,000 year old Roman quarry with many volunteer cleaners being transported by bus to the quarry by the Girne Municipality.

This event attracted much interest and BRT TV producer Engin Dervish was there with his film crew and we should see his report very soon.

Oya Kutsal has been involved with other cleaning events and also promoting preservation of ancient buildings and heritage and this is what she had to say:

“Day by day awareness is getting bigger and wider. New initiatives are being formed in different parts of the north and these groups are trying their best to create a cleaner Cyprus.

I am only one of those who feel for their country and are disturbed by the increasing dirt and the insensitivity in the society.

It is true that our streets are dirty. We all know that. We all see that. Because we see it, we react to it. On the other hand, our historical monuments are much dirtier and neglected than our streets. One cannot imagine the amount and variety of the dirt in the monuments unless he sees it himself. Streets are regularly cleaned by municipalities despite the fact that they will look the same next day. But since monuments are secluded, nobody is aware of the terrible dirt on them even the municipalities. So the dirt builds up and up and there is nobody around to react to it. Here the insensitivity has two destructive sides. Environment and cultural heritage.

Ancient paintings

Ancient paintings

My main concern has always been historical monuments. However, in today’s conditions they cannot be separated from the environmental problems. Chrysocava clean up event was a great success. With the great support of the municipality and the volunteers it was deeply cleaned. Students were brought there to help. But before they started cleaning, they were informed about the history of the site. A retired archaeologist was invited to the area to give a short lecture about the place. The residents were visited and asked to protect the site. In three hours the site was clean and people were aware of their cultural heritage.

Team briefing

The cleaning teams in action

At the moment I am working on a new project which will include the whole Kyrenia region from Esentepe to Karsiyaka. All the historical sites will be listed and initiatives will be formed in all towns and villages. All sites will be cleaned one by one and we will ask all the municipalities to take action to make all these sites visible. The municipalities will also be asked to organize regular tours to these hidden sites.”

Girne Mayor Nidai Güngördü and Oya Kutsal talking to a BRT film crew

2,000 year old Roman quarry

As we have noted the various cleaning activities being planned, we have helped to record these forthcoming events on the very successful Facebook page, Temiz Kibris/A Clean Cyprus click here which in turn has then shared the cleaning event news received with other Facebook pages to raise the profile of the North Cyprus cleanup movement.

Many groups are also coming back to Temiz Kibris/A Clean Cyprus with news and pictures showing the success of their events and this news is then shared again with other pages which reaches an increasing audience with more readers looking for more information and wanting to be part of the clean up movement..

International volunteers clean Kyrenia Ancient Roman Quarry By Chris Elliott.... Over the past weeks and months we have been observing an increasing interest from TRNC residents of many nationalities coming together and, through their own initiative, organising cleaning of beaches and public places which has also had in many cases local authority support.