#Model Citizen Magazine Reviews

[locustheologicus]

“The Big Beautiful Bill” is a Sin and an Abomination!

Trump’s budget Bill is under great scrutiny as it should be. Far from calling it a “Big Beautiful Bill” Elon Musk left the Trump administration this past week and in doing so he called the Bill a “disgusting abomination.” He went on to tell House voters.

“Shame on those who voted for it, You know you did wrong. You know it.”

Elon Musk is more concerned about this Bill from the perspective of his business model rather than a moral position. The Bill has raised great controversy and concern with NPR informing us of the consternation of those who analyze the economic impact of this Bill.

Since the House passed the bill, tech-billionaire Elon Musk has spoken out about its projected impact to the deficit, as has JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Speaking at an economic forum on Friday, Dimon warned continued government spending will create a "crisis" in the bond market by undermining public confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to pay back its debts. Sen. Johnson agreed.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) highlights the major economic concerns for Musk, Dimon, and Johnson. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion. This is what is raising the alarms in Congress especially with Republicans who thought that they were going to lower the deficit under this administration (a position they never seem to accomplish).

So while the overall economic concern is indeed concerning this bill troubles us further by going against the basic tenets of Catholic social teaching. The way it will affect the poor and the immigrants is of greater moral concern for our Catholic Church. America magazine offers this analysis on both those issues.

It is estimated that the legislation would cut $700 billion over 10 years in Medicaid spending, leaving 7.6 million American families without health-care coverage. It also reduces spending for food assistance to the nation’s poorest by an estimated $300 billion over 10 years, adversely impacting 40 million low-income persons, including 16 million children. As many as 5.4 million per year could lose food assistance from the cuts. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill transfers wealth from citizens with the lowest tenth of income to those with the highest tenth of income, the largest transfer in U.S. history.

On immigration, it appropriates $175 billion for a mass deportation campaign, which includes funding for a border wall, detention centers and a substantial increase in border and interior enforcement personnel. It allows these agents to remove people based on the suspicionof illegal activity, without judicial review. And it increases fees for such benefits as temporary protected status (T.P.S.), humanitarian parole and work permits for asylum applicants, leaving these important protection mechanisms out of the reach of qualifying families.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities does a thorough analysis on how this Bill will gut SNAP provisions and devastate these programs that will exacerbate poverty at the local level.

The CBPP’s analysis goes into greater detail including how local congressional districts will be impacted. Here we see, for example, their estimated monthly SNAP cuts based on this bill.

These provisions would cut 3.2 million adults off SNAP in a typical month, including 1 million older adults aged 55 through 64, 800,000 parents of school-aged children, and 1.4 million adults in areas with insufficient jobs, reducing federal spending by more than $92 billion through 2034.

The CBPP offers detailed analysis on the state impact of these proposed cuts and it is worth going over for anyone interested.

Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, tells us in the above article from America magazine that the Church must respond to this devastating issue which flies in the face of our social teachings. As the Archbishop puts it:

There is another factor for the church to consider in this debate, as well—its moral authority. Unless the church stands up for the poor and marginalized of the nation, consistent with Catholic teaching, its moral voice will be diminished in the future. There are times when the church needs to forsake political considerations and take a stand, even if that effort is unsuccessful. This is one of those times.

The USCCB has been attentive to this Bill as it passed through the House and along the way the US Bishops offered the following principles for Congress to apply.

Protect human life and dignity.

Care for the poor.

Family formation and strengthening.

Adequate revenue for the sake of the common good and avoiding future cuts to poverty programs.

Progressivity of the tax code.

Incentivize charitable giving and development.

Support parental choice in education.

Inclusion of immigrant and mixed-status families.

Energy and environment.

The USCCB has attempted to offer a balanced response to the budget looking at some positive concessions like ending taxpayers subsidization of abortion and gender treatment or assisting with private schooling support. But these small concessions are nothing compared to the way this bill will harm those in poverty and attack the immigrant community. It will also gut clean energy program and walk back on our few environmental regulations.

We who assist with basic human needs, access to food, security, housing, and employment, are deeply concerned that this Bill will exacerbate an already difficult reality. This situation forces us to consider how we can respond to the growing needs we will face if this Bill passes.

I believe Archbishop Wester is telling the Catholic community that this is one of those times to raise our prophetic sense of Gospel justice and call out this bill. Here is an action alert link you can use to add your voice to the issue and to urge your Senators to protect SNAP and Medicaid.

Perhaps in your advocacy you can remind your Senator of Jesus’ lesson of the Last Judgement.

[graymanbriefing]

2nd Amendment Brief: Illinois  The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has declined to hear a challenge to the "Illinois As*ault W*apons Ban" in the National Association for G*n Rights v. Highland Park case. SCOTUS opted not to review the challenge by leaving the lower court's decision intact, which upheld the state's authority to impose such bans. SCOTUS had previously denied an injunction against the Protect Illinois Communities Act" (PICA). PICA outlaws ri*le magazines with 10+ rounds and h**dg*n magazines of 15+ rounds. It bans "most" semi aut**atic rifl*s with fixed magazines. PICA also called for the formation of a ATF strike team and banned fire**m parts. It also bans devices such as trigger mechanisms. It banned 190 different types of fi*ear*s (targeting A*-15s). Citizens were given 90 days to discard newly illegal magazines or face felony charges but were also given an opportunity to register fi**arms to remain in compliance with the "grandfathering" provision". The bill also extended F**earm Restraining Orders from six months to up to a year. The bill further funded the creation of a strike force within the Illinois State Police that works in concert with the DOJ and the ATF. The bill also banned firea*s simply based on the brand name (make/model) of the w**pon. The IL law was passed following a 2022 "ma*s sh**ting" at the Highland Park Fourth of July Parade. Debrief: This decision alig...(CLASSIFIED, get briefs in real-time unredacted by joining at www.graymanbriefing.com)

[billconrad]

I Don’t Do Politics

    Living in a country that allows its citizens to elect their leaders is a privilege. To do so, we have spirited debates, chaotic elections, and complaints when an elected candidate does not live up to their promises. This has worked well for us, but a new disturbing trend exists. Our society has become more politically polarized than ever. This means that you are not with us; you are against us. It used to be that the only weapons in this war were television, magazines, newspapers, and books.

    Now, a nobody can post any wacky political idea they have, and millions of people get exposed to “the truth.” Streaming sites like YouTube have given rise to independent political analysts, influential commentators, and fake news. It is a lot to take in, and I have difficulty determining what a fact, opinion, lie, or targeted propaganda campaign.

    The central problem is that because a person can have political view A, it seems that the internet magically (search engines) knows this view and subjects the person to alternative opinions, which means that our A political beliefs are constantly bombarded. It now takes dedicated effort to believe in A without getting tricked by disinformation.

    How am I contributing to this surge? My books and articles add to the great pool of opinions and information. Plus, I view YouTube (and other sites), and my views alter the search algorithms. This means that if I often view A videos or read A articles, in a tiny way, you will be subject to more A noise. Yay!

    What is my political preference, and how strongly do I want you to adopt my politics? The answer is that I intentionally keep my views private for three reasons. The first is that my political opinions are my own. This means I do not wish to push my thoughts onto you because I do not think this is nice. After all, we have not been introduced, and instructing you how to vote would be rude. Enough people are splattering their views on this beautiful world without my help.

    Another part of this first reason is that if I said, I like A, and you like B, it is natural for you to disagree or attempt to educate me about B. While l enjoy reading comments about my work, I get enough political noise without asking for it.

    The second reason is what I call “the 25% rule.” If I stated my political beliefs, 25% of people would agree, 25% would not care, 25% might be annoyed, and 25% would dislike my politics. This means there is a low chance of success and unacceptable reader offense.

    Is the 25% rule realistic? The numbers may not be accurate, but I am sure you were recently exposed to political disinformation or fake news that made your blood boil. And this is my point. We all have topics that anger us, and politics tops that list.

    My third reason is that I do not wish to upset my readers. My goal for writing has always been to bring enjoyment. Even with this altruistic goal, my path has proven to be complicated. Readers span a wide range of personalities and backgrounds. For example, I got a harsh review because one scene in my second book was set in California. This trivial choice was enough to get a bad review. Really?

    However, there is a problem with suppressing politics. Timid books lead to timid sales. A writer must be bold to garner interest; this is a tough road to travel without offending readers. I took a bold political leap in my third book.

    One character was the President of the United States, and I modeled my approach after Tom Clancy’s book Clear and Present Danger. In his story, the political characters had typical political issues. However, Tom went far out of his way in not declaring which party the President belonged to and did not address political topics outside the plot. This choice resulted in an exciting story that did not offend the reader’s personal beliefs. However, not all readers took the bait, and there have been negative reviews concerning the politics.

    I have watched Tom Clancy’s interviews, and he had Republican tendencies. The problem occurred when his personal beliefs leaked into his character choices and some of the plot. Why? Tom is human, and humans can only do their best.

    I applied this same technique in my book. The President did not identify his political party, and I steered the plot clear of anything that would betray a preference for one political party or the other. This was a fine line because the plot revolved around a political scandal. While I tried my best, I am sure my choices loosely favored my own political beliefs. This was not too obvious from the reader’s perspective, and I think the story worked out well. Unfortunately, I saw one negative comment regarding politics. However, the comment compared my fictional creations to real-life events. I suppose, in a way, this is a compliment.

    Would I ever want to put my timidness aside and share political views? Keep in mind that I could use a pen name. While I mildly share my political opinions with friends and family, I do not wish to be an in-your-face political commentator. My political power comes out in force inside the voting booth. Yet, it is getting more difficult to remain silent. There is so much disinformation/noise/lies today that I want to counter. If anything, the political statement I would like to make is, “Please share fewer opinions.” But I suppose I will allow one political thought for this article. Hey everybody. Vote for A.

  You’re the best -Bill

  May 08, 2024

  Hey, book lovers, I published four. Please check them out:

  Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.

  Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

  Cable Ties. A slow-burn political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.

  Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions.

  These books are available in softcover on Amazon and in eBook format everywhere.

[modelcitizemag]

Sonny-Joe Flanagan

Sonny-Joe Flanagan                                               

@sonnyjoeflanagan                                                 

https://vimeo.com/200636777                               

Country                                                                                                      

Australia                                                                                          

State / Region                                                                                                                

NSW                                                                                                                              

Actor                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ABOUT                                                                                             

                                                                                   My personality is unique. I like meeting people from all around the world and working on a project. I like to work hard, and I'm not scared of how hard my journey is to come. I get excited about what's to come.

                                                                                                    Sonny-Joe, what are your passion and aspiration in life? How did you start as Actor?

 My mum uses to pay for my brother and me money to sing for her friends. I think it was a comp of who's kids are better so my mum would teach us to dance moves to show off in front of her filopino friends. Also, I found a VHS of Eddie Murphy doing his stand up comedy in Raw. That was the only VHS we owned and watched that every day and thought I want to do that one day and make people happy.

 Who is your inspiration in life Sonny-Joe? How do you stay inspired as an Actor?

 I'm inspired but a lot of actors there is so many talented people out there, and all their art is different, which is what I enjoy the most. I'm inspired by positive people who go for their dreams. I find that very addictive, and it's like a drug for me. I love passion in people.

 We all make mistakes Sonny-Joe, we wish we could take back. What was the mistake you made in the past that you wish you can take back?

 To stay in contact with my family more. When I was younger starting in acting, I was so determined to prove myself to my family that I worked so hard on my craft but push them away a bit. I wanted success so quickly and ignored my family. As I got older, I learnt you need your close ones to balance it all out as it's a hard road to go down.

 Sonny-Joe, How do you describe yourself in terms of working with clients?

 I'm super professional. I'm the guy that's 1 hour early as I have O.CD of being late haha. I'm very flexible, and I take great direction and work well with a team. In the film, it's not a one-person job, so everyone has to work together to get that final shot etc.

                                                  Please tell us Sonny-Joe, how do you prioritise work, social life, friends, and family?

 I do work two jobs through the week at night as I leave the day for acting and auditions. My weeks are full-on from living from one job to the next. I always make time for my friends and family, and you need that balance to feel human and normal again and not turning into a robot otherwise it's not fun anymore, and that's why you start it in the first place because it's fun and you love it.

                                                                                              Sonny-Joe, please give us an example of a time when you were able to persuade someone to see things your way at work successfully.

 I always live by example. If I work hard, I think other people around you will. Positive energy is very addictive, and people do feed off it, so I try my hardest to work hard and help others around me.

 Sonny-Joe, please tell us about your proudest professional accomplishment as an Actor.

 When I wrote and created my first short film "ECHIDNA", it was very personal and close to my heart, and once it was all finished I sat back and was like " wow I created that" it was such a rewarding feeling :)

 Sonny-Joe, please give us an example of a time you were able to be creative with your work. What was exciting or difficult about it?

 For some reason, I get my ideas in the shower. My first 10 mins of a shower, I zone out and start thinking, and my brain works at 1000 miles per second literally. I feel so much, and I get all m thinking out in the shower. I then finish the shower and write it down in notes on my phone, so I don't forget it. From there, I expand my ideas into a film, and then the ripple effect starts happening. It takes literally up to 3months to make a 4 min film, but I enjoy the process.

 What advice would you give to the people who want to be successful as an Actor?

 If you get that feeling where your like I would love to do that every day for the rest of my life, and it makes you happy and smile every day then go for it. It's a long process, a hard process, a very emotional process and sometimes a lonely process if you can gather that all of this process comes part of the job and your still happy then don't stop and go for it.

 Photo Credits:

Oscar Coleman Photography

Check out the latest issues of Model Citizen Magazine.

[bunkershotgolf]

Rockwind Community Links Ranked #1 Public Access Course in New Mexico in Golfers’ Choice 2022 List of Top Courses in Every State

Rockwind Community Links, an award-winning golf facility owned and operated by the City of Hobbs, has earned yet another accolade.  The new Golfers’ Choice 2022 rankings tallied reviews from its member visits to courses around the country in 2021.  Rockwind was voted the #1 course in New Mexico among the five public access facilities that made the list. 

Rockwind’s overall rating out of a possible 5 points was a 4.9.  Visiting golfers cited excellent course conditions, the fine Andy Staples layout, value and staff friendliness as the top features.�� In determining the best public access courses in each state, community members of Golf Advisor (part of the NBC Sports Group’s GOLF division that includes the GOLF Channel) submitted reviews for the annual Golfers’ Choice results.

Opened in 2015, Rockwind provides the citizens of Hobbs and golfers in southeast New Mexico and southwest Texas with an enviable amenity that was the first community links concept in the country.  Rockwind offers a championship 18-hole course, a 9-hole par-3 course with no tees, an expansive dual ended practice range and multiple short game areas, all at exceptionally affordable prices. 

Additional elements at the facility include a surrounding trail system complete with multiple trail heads, various outdoor seating areas, picnic spaces and scenic viewing points, public access to the site’s five acre lake plus a large open green space for events.  A restaurant services golfers and residents with a menu that features cuisine with a New Mexican flare.

Architect Andy Staples created the community links concept, which led the USGA to single out Rockwind for breaking the mold and being more than just a golf course in a special video entitled A Model Muni: Rockwind Community Links.

Rockwind’s most significant awards include: Ranked in 2020 by Golfweek at #2 in their Best Courses You Can Play in New Mexico list; rated by Golf Digest at #8 in the 2021-22 Best in New Mexico courses (public and private); named one of Golf Digest’s Best New Courses of 2015; cited as a Top Five New Golf Development in the World by Golf Inc. Magazine; and honored by Golf Advisor as One of the 24 New Courses That Shaped the 2010s.   

About Rockwind Community Links

The main course, which offers five sets of tees with playing lengths ranging from over 7,100 yards for the accomplished player down to approximately 4,200 yards for the forward “express” tees, has been designed to embrace the flat nature of the southeastern New Mexico landscape, keeping irrigation to a minimum and the turf fast and firm. The design provides challenging features such as large elevated greens, disguised bunkers and interesting ground contours.

 Architect Andy Staples has incorporated characteristics typically found on courses along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. built during the turn of the 20th century.  Rock walls line fairways and a large interior lake is in play on a few holes that attractively punctuates the course routing. The 9-hole par-3 course called Li’l Rock is meant to complement the dual-ended practice range and short game area.  It was built to facilitate walking, families, beginner golfers and kids.  The length of shots ranges from a sand wedge to a driver.  Rockwind Community Links also is a site for The First Tee of Southeastern New Mexico.  For more information, visit www.rockwindgolfcourse.com or call (575) 397-9297.

Photo Credit: Tony Roberts Photography

[papermoonloveslucy]

LOOK!  MEN ARE MESSY!

August 14, 1951

For the final shot of “Men Are Messy” (ILL S1;E8), the “I Love Lucy” props department mocked up a magazine cover using the actual August 14, 1951 edition of Look (volume 15, #17). The episode was filmed on October 25 and aired on December 3, 1951.

Lucy’s hillbilly photo covers up a trio of real Universal Studios starlets: Joyce Holden, Peggy Dow, and Julia Adams. The other cover photos are of Pope Pius XII, author Gayelord Hauser, and the B-47 Jet.

This episode is based on Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” “George Is Messy” broadcast June 4, 1950. In that script, the magazine that is mentioned in the final moments is Young Homemakers, not Look. 

Look was a biweekly magazine published from 1937 to 1971, with an emphasis on photographs rather than articles. A large-sized magazine of (11″ x 14″), it was a direct competitor to Life, which began publication months earlier and ended in 1972, a few months after Look shut down. 

Inside this issue of Look: 

Full page ad for Happy Go Lovely, an RKO musical comedy with David Niven, Vera-Ellen, and Cesar Romero

Full page ad for Cyrano de Bergerac, with Jose Ferrer.

Gayelord Hauser author of the book Look Younger, Live Longer.

Tarzan actor Lex Barker married Arlene Dahl, and is vacationing in Oklahoma.

Look reporter and photographer Ben Kocivar goes up in a B-47 Bomber.

Two page ad for Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

The Pope’s secret plans in case of war.

Tennis player Art Larsen.

16 top economists predict what the dollar will buy in December.

America’s ten most televised women. 

Movie review of A Streetcar Named Desire.

How Hollywood stars are created: includes Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, and others. 

The great American sandwich.

Full page color Camel Cigarettes ad with opera star Rise Stevens.

On the date this issue hit the newsstands, the publishing world changed forever with the death of William Randolph Hearst, one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in America. He was the model for the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst, however, did not own Look magazine. Look was founded by Mike Cowles of Des Moines, Iowa, and owned by Cowles Media. 

Look is also prominently featured in “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL S1;E32) with Lucille Ball on the cover... 

...and “Ricky Loses His Temper” (ILL S3;E19), with French actress Jeanmarie on the cover.   

"Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) opens with Ricky napping with the August 26, 1952 issue of Look Magazine over his face. Model Jean Zahorsky is on the cover showing off ‘dormitory duds’. It was no coincidence that this particular magazine and issue was used. It contained:

A full page Philip Morris ad with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. 

An article about CBS building a 25 acre city in Hollywood (Studio City) to house its television operations.

A review of the Bob Hope film Son of Paleface. 

It was even used for one of the flashback intro of a re-run during Lucille Ball’s pregnancy leave. Notice that Vivian Vance puts her hand over Ball’s photo, obscuring it from camera. It was common for Lucy and Desi to repay magazines providing coverage of their show with on-air placement. 

Although the script changes the real-life musician’s magazine Down Beat to Half Beat, Look Magazine plays itself. From 1952 to 1971 Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of Look nine times!  

More about LOOK, LIFE & TIME Magazines and Lucy!

RICKY: “Lucy, this man is not from Half-Beat Magazine.” LUCY: “He ain’t?” PHOTOGRAPHER: “No, I’m from Look Magazine!” LUCY: “Ewwww!”

[leemotionalwreck]

Of Black Chats and Fallen Angels (chapter 3)

Read it here on AO3!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | You Are Here | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 *********************************************

His eyes opened at the same time Nathalie opened his bedroom door. 

“Adrien.”

“Hmm,” he grumbled.

“School in ninety minutes,” Nathalie gave the form under the covers a once-over with a disgusted look on her face. “And please, take a shower.”

He hummed from under the covers. “I’ll think about it.”

Adrien swore he could hear her rolling her eyes. 

She huffed. “Shower. Now.”

Throwing the covers off of his face with a groan, he stared groggily at the ceiling. Despite reassuring Ladybug last night, Adrien had been terrified. Since when was Hawkmoth able to give his victims that much power? The akuma itself hadn’t been much of an issue. What had ended up taking them well over an hour to defeat was the citizens-- people everywhere were running wild. 

He hadn’t been able to sleep-- tossing and turning. Trying his best to force the images of burning buildings and dead bodies from his mind to no avail. There had been too many times that night when he’d had to step away from a structure close to collapse; oftentimes with people still inside. Of course, everyone knew that the miraculous ladybugs would fix everything in the end--

But it didn’t change the fact that the screams of Paris as the city burned had followed him into his dreams.

*********

Stepping out of the shower, Adrien noted the lack of noise as he tried his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Plagg was usually blabbering on about something or noisily shoving cheese down his throat on his holders’ bed before being stuffed into Adrien’s jacket. 

This time, as Adrien crossed his room to his dresser, he was met to complete silence.

“Plagg,” he called out, hoping Nathalie was far away enough for him to not be heard. “Plagg, where are you?”

Being answered in silence again, Adrien searched his entire room about three more times before finally hearing a voice from behind him.

“Do you ever miss it?”

Adrien turned from where he had been searching his desk to see his Kwami had been sitting on the windowsill, gazing at the sun. He sighed before answering. “I mean, yeah. Who wouldn’t?”

Because, truly, who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t want to return to a place of complete freedom? A place more beautiful than anything anyone could ever imagine. Paris seemed like a junkyard compared to where he had come from.

Plagg turned to face his Chosen, a heart-wrenching sadness in his cat-like eyes. “Then why did we have to leave?” 

Adrien stood in silence. He’d been asking himself that question a lot lately.

*********

He stepped out of his car, waving Gorilla goodbye as the model trudged towards the school entrance. Lack of sleep had caught up to him, and it didn’t help that it was finals week.

“I’m sure there’s no point in telling you this, but you look like shit, dude,” Nino said as he caught up with Adrien.

“And in other news,” he snarled in response. ”The damn sky is blue.”

Nino snorted. “Good morning to you too, princess.”

“Yeah, yeah I know,” Adrien sighed as he rubbed a hand down his face. “It’s just, we’ve got finals. Not to mention the fact that I’m booked for four days this week. It’s not the most I’ve had to do but last night’s attack didn’t help anything.”

“I don’t blame you,” Nino looked down to avoid tripping on his way up the steps, his bright orange headphones almost falling off of his neck. “The city looked like hell. My parents we at work and Alya got stuck at my place-- would’ve been great if Chris hadn’t begged to sleep in my room.”

Adrien’s mind wandered as Nino retold the story of how Chris ruined what would have been a great night for him and Alya, longing for the extent of his troubles to be annoying younger siblings and lack of alone time with his girlfriend.

 He walked towards the classroom in a dazed state, finally snapping back to reality when Nino pointed out there was a new girl sitting in their seat. Mme. Bustier must have noticed the confusion in his face because she explained it right away.

“Good morning to both of you,” she beamed as they waved. 

What was she always so happy about?

Both boys responded at the same time. “Good morning Mme. Bustier.” 

“I’m sure you must be wondering who this is and why she’s sitting here,” they nodded. The teacher turned to the girl. “Mlle. Rossi, would you like to introduce yourself to them and the rest of the class?”

The new girl stood slowly, her gaze constantly flickering to Adrien’s. “Hello everyone! My name is Lila Rossi, and I’m Italian,” He could have sworn she winked at him as she said that. “I’m sure many of you are wondering why I’m just now attending school, and it’s actually because I’ve just returned from my trip around the world! I’ve been everywhere with my mother; Beijing, New York, San Francisco, New Delhi, Achu, Rome, and now we’re here!”

“Really?” said Alix skeptically from the other side of the classroom.

“Oh, of course!” Lila said. “I’m extremely close to Prince Ali. We’re like this,” at that, Lila twisted her middle and pointer finger, making them intertwined. 

The new girl frowned at Alix’s skeptical expression. “I figured people wouldn’t believe me when I told them this, so here’s a picture of us in his throne room.” 

The class oohed and ahhed as Lila flashed a picture of her and the Prince exactly where she said they’d be. 

“I’ve also met Jagged Stone,“ she said, putting her phone in her messenger bag. ”He wrote a song about me, but never released it to avoid making his fans jealous.”

Max sniffed. “Excuse me, but why would Jagged Stone compose a song about an underage girl?”

Lila rolled her eyes dramatically. “Not like that, silly. It was just his way of thanking me for returning Fang after an incident.” A troubled look came over her face while she continued. “The pilot had been taking off and Jagged hadn’t realized that Fang wasn’t on the plane. We’d been having our weekly dinner and I was heading home when I saw poor Fang sitting there looking so scared.”

“I’m so sorry Lila,” Mme. Bustier spoke softly, but firm. “But could you please explain to them why you’re in Nino and Adrien’s usual spot?”

Lila sniffed and wiped away a few tears before continuing. “Of course, Mme. Bustier. I’m so sorry, it’s just-- I get so emotional thinking about the situation. What if I hadn’t been there to help? Fang would have been separated from Jagged for who knows how long!?” She fanned her face in an attempt to lessen the steady flow of tears from her face but continued to cry. “Ugh, I didn’t mean to cause such a scene on my first day back-- perhaps it would have been better had I just stayed with my mother back home in Italy--”

“Oh no,” their teacher interrupted. “Lila we’re so happy to have you here. Please, take as long as you need to calm yourself.”

As the new girl walked quickly out of the classroom, the faces of nearly everyone in the room were full of sympathy. Adrien shifted awkwardly next to Nino in the doorway as his teacher turned to face him. 

“Adrien, you have some of the best grades in the class, I figured it would be best to have you help her catch up on any missing work she has to do. As far as the new seating; while helping Fang, Lila suffered serious damage to her right ear and has hearing trouble. I hope you don’t mind helping her.”

Adrien turned to glance at Nino, who shrugged. “Uhm, sure. I guess I don’t mind.”

“Excellent!” Mme. Bustier clasped her hands together, a bright smile still on her face. 

Seriously, what was she always so happy about?

“Nino, if you don’t mind, you’ll be sitting in the back for the time being.”

A slight frown crossed Nino’s face but brightened when Adrien promised to let him copy his notes while he dozed off in class. 

*********

Eventually, Lila opened the door and slid right next to Adrien in the front row. Somehow, there were still a good six minutes before class began. He started to put his head down to get a quick nap in when a voice next to him began speaking. 

“Oh. My. Goodness,” said Lila-- her olive-green eyes impossibly wide. 

Adrien looked up to see Lila staring directly at him. “Uh, is there an issue?” he asked tentatively. 

“Are you the Adrien Agreste?” she gushed. Adrien noted the way her ”As in, son of fashion designer Gabriel Agreste?”

He chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, that’s me I guess.”

“How did I not realize that earlier? I’m such a big fan of your work! You looked amazing in the latest edition of Mensuel magazine. Your father’s designs for the fall line was ingenious. ”

“Uhm, thank you?” Stealing a glance behind him, Adrien saw a confused Alya and an amused Marinette.

She placed a hand on his thigh and frowned when he pushed it off. “You know, I’d love to get the chance to model with you someday. It would give us a great chance to get to know each other.”

Marinette sighed from behind them and Lila turned to face her. 

“Hello,” her smile seemed to stretch across her entire face-- any trace of her earlier meltdown completely gone. “I’m not sure we’ve met yet. Lila Rossi.” She stuck out her hand at Marinette. 

The designer smiled back sweetly, a hint of exhaustion and something else in her eyes that Adrien couldn’t quite place. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It’s nice to meet you, Lila.”

“You seem like a really great person,” Lila beamed. “I’d love for us to become closer friends, if that’s okay with you, of course.”

“I wouldn’t mind that at all,” Marinette grinned. “In fact, Alya, Nino, and I were all going to head to Andre’s after school-- you could tag along if you’d like.”

“I’d love that!” turning to Adrien, Lila grabbed his arm and smiled. “What about you Adrien? You’re not busy this afternoon, are you?”

Adrien eyed Marinette for any sign of annoyance. Once he decided he was in the clear, he agreed. 

“Yeah sure,” he said. “I’m always down for ice cream-- especially Andre’s.”

Mme. Bustier clapped her hands together, smiling once again, as the bell rang. “Alright everyone, please open your books to chapter eight for review.”

Besides, it was just ice cream. What’s the worst that could happen?

[arcticdementor]

At the end of last summer, Le Débat, France’s most prestigious intellectual review, accompanied its 40th-anniversary issue with a wholly unexpected announcement: It would cease publication forthwith. Le Débat and its three or four thousand loyal readers had maintained an allegiance to the political left since the Cold War — but the meaning of “left” has been shifting. Rivals now claim the term, particularly social movements that arose in France in the 1980s to champion what is variously called identity politics or social justice. After waging a decades-long twilight struggle against these movements, Le Débat has lost.

Intellectuals of all persuasions have been debating what that defeat means for France, and they have reached a conclusion: The country’s intellectual life has come under the sway of a more ideological, more identity-focused model imported from the United States.

Le Débat was always resistant to American imports. It never fully made its peace with the free market in the way that self-described social democrats in America did under Bill Clinton. Nor did it climb aboard the agenda of humanitarian invasions and democracy promotion, as left-leaning American intellectuals like Paul Berman and George Packer did. That was all fine. But Le Débat’s reluctance to partake of identity politics as it arose in France, always a couple of steps behind (and always in imitation of) American civil rights advances, brought the review into disrepute with a new generation of leftists.

Many French people see American-style social-justice politics as a change for the worse. President Emmanuel Macron does. In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody last spring, protests and riots across America brought the dismantling of statues and other public symbols — sometimes on the spot, sometimes after further campaigning and agitation. Aware that such actions had found a sympathetic echo among some of his fellow citizens, Mr. Macron warned that France would not follow suit. “It will not erase any trace or name from its history,” he said. “It will not forget any of its works. It will not topple any statues.”

By last fall Mr. Macron was also inveighing against foreign university traditions. “I’m thinking of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which has another history, and it is not ours,” he said, before singling out “certain social-science theories imported from the United States of America.”

To look at how Le Débat unraveled is to see that these tensions have been developing for years, if not decades. They bode poorly for the future of intellectual life in France — and elsewhere.

…

With Le Débat dead, its critics on the left are shedding few tears, having viewed the publication less as a venue for ideas to be argued with and more as an obstacle in the way of social justice. The historian Ludovine Bantigny, interviewed about the demise of Le Débat, had no pieties to spare about the marketplace of ideas. “By repeating that there’s a problem with immigration in France,” she said, “by waving around this so-called ideologization of human rights to question the legitimacy of new rights and by relaying the arguments of the Manif Pour Tous” — a movement against gay marriage — “the way Gauchet did, you wind up legitimizing magazines like Causeur or Valeurs Actuelles.”

Ms. Bantigny’s allusion to the “legitimacy” of these two very different magazines was curious. Causeur is a spirited monthly barely a decade old, edited by disillusioned anti-multicultural liberals; Valeurs Actuelles is a long-established archconservative newsmagazine on the Time/Newsweek model. Apparently one no longer debates the things written in magazines. One questions the “legitimacy” of the magazines themselves. Where did this very un-French attitude come from?

The editors of Le Débat have an answer: America. A few days after announcing that the review would publish no more, Mr. Nora spoke about its closing on Alain Finkielkraut’s radio show. Mr. Finkielkraut was pointing to disturbing tendencies in French intellectual life, but Mr. Nora wanted to take the conversation in a different direction: to the “mouvements à l’américaine” that start on campuses across the ocean and tend to show up in France. “What they call,” he said, “to follow the argument to its logical conclusion, cancel culture, which is to say the extermination of culture, the will to. …”

Here Mr. Nora paused before continuing: “Anyway, I daresay some of us are old enough to have echoes in our heads of Goebbels when he said, ‘When I hear the word “culture” I reach for my revolver.’”

[wikipediaredoengl199fa20]

Brennan’s Wikipedia Redo on Elon Musk page

Edits are in bold. Original Wiki page can be found here.

Early Life, Human Flight and SEC Lawsuit

Early life and family

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa.[15][16] His mother is Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada,[17][18][19] but raised in South Africa. His father is Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant and property developer.[20] He has a younger brother who was an early business partner of his, Kimbal (born 1972), and a younger sister, Tosca (born 1974), the CEO of the video streaming site Passionflix.[19][21][25] His maternal grandfather, Dr. Joshua Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian.[26] His paternal grandmother had both British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[27][28]

After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived mostly with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria,[27] a choice he made two years after his parents separated but which he subsequently regretted.[29] Musk has become estranged from his father, whom he has described as "a terrible human being... Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done."[29] He also has a half-sister[30] and a half-brother on his father's side.[31] After his parents divorced in 1980, nine year old Musk and his younger brother primarily lived with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria,[27]. This was a choice he made two years after his parents separated but it was one that he subsequently regretted.[29] Musk has become estranged from his father, describing him as emotionally abusive and tough to his children. [Kosoff 2020] He also has a half-sister[30] and a half-brother on his father's side.[31]

During his childhood, Musk was an avid reader.[32] At the age of 10, he developed an interest in computing while using the Commodore VIC-20.[33] He learned computer programming using a manual and, by the age of 12, sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.[34][35] His childhood reading included Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, from which he drew the lesson that "you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one".[29]

Musk was severely bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs.[29][36][37] He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School[37] before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.[38]

Although Musk's father insisted that Elon go to college in Pretoria, Musk became determined to move to the United States, saying "I remember thinking and seeing that America is where great things are possible, more than any other country in the world."[39] Musk knew it would be easier to get to the United States from Canada and moved there against his father's wishes in June 1989, just before his 18th birthday,[40][41] after obtaining a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother.[42][43]

Human flight

On May 30, 2020, SpaceX launched its first manned flight called Demo-2 becoming the first private company to both place a person into orbit and to eventually dock a crewed space-craft with the ISS.[108] Further, the launch was the first time since the end of the Shuttle Program that an American astronaut has been launched from American soil on an American rocket.[109]

During discourse with his peers when the technology of SpaceX was criticized or had the potential to cause fatalities, Elon Musk has described himself as the company's responsible chief engineer/designer, while giving the entire team at SpaceX credit for its success.[110][111]

On November 16, 2020, Space X successfully launched with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) four astronauts into their space mission on SpaceX Crew Dragon. They docked with the International Space Station (ISS) approximately 27 hours later. Unlike the test flight in May, 2020, this flight had a full set of scientific experiments planned for the trip, as well as plans for a stay on the ISS for six months. The launch was nearly stopped, as Elon Musk announced that he had symptoms of COVID-19 the day before the launch, but careful contact tracing verified that the astronauts had not been exposed.  This joint project, where the space vehicles are owned by Space X but with NASA buying their use for missions, means that Space X will be able to fly tourists, private scientists and others, with a projected ticket cost of $50 million for the trip. [Wattles 2020]

SEC lawsuit

In September 2018, Musk was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a tweet claiming that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private[149] (at a price of $420 a share, an alleged reference to marijuana[150]). The lawsuit claimed that verbal discussions Musk held with foreign investors in July 2018 did not confirm key deal terms[151] and thus characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies.[149][152] Musk called the allegations unjustified and that he had never compromised his integrity.[153] Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman, but he was able to remain as Tesla's CEO.[154]

Musk has stated in several interviews since that he does not regret sending the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. According to Reuters, Musk said the tweet was "Worth It".[155] According to ABC News, "As recently as Oct. 4, 2018, Musk issued a sarcastic tweet, describing the agency [SEC] as the 'Shortseller Enrichment Commission,' despite having agreed to settlement terms a week earlier that his company, Tesla, would monitor his tweets and other communications."[156] In a December 2018 interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Musk stated, "I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC."[157] On February 19, 2019, according to Forbes, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019.[158] The SEC reacted to Musk's tweet by filing in court, initially asking the court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of a settlement agreement with such a tweet, which was disputed by Musk. This was eventually settled by a joint agreement between Musk and the SEC clarifying the previous agreement details.[159] The agreement included a list of topics that Musk would need preclearance before tweeting about.[160] On May 19, 2020, a judge prevented a lawsuit from proceeding that claimed Musk's tweet on May 1 regarding the price of Tesla stock ("too high imo") was in violation of the agreement.[161][162].  Legal experts suggest that some of the legal actions by the SEC against Musk for stating his view, is a violation of First Amendment rights of free speech, and that he should have equal protection of free speech about his viewpoints on how successful his Tesla company will be. These experts argue that this is no different that the free speech protection provided to political figures. [Markham 2019]

Essay -

This essay addresses a review of the Wikipedia page of Elon Musk, an entrepreneur, industrial designer, engineer and also billionaire.  It is a detailed web page covering his extensive business ventures, and when converted to a single-spaced Word document, it was approximately sixteen pages long.  Three sections were addressed in this review, his Early Life, Human Flight, and SEC lawsuit.

There seem to be a number of biases in the Wikipedia page by omission of content. This might be considered implicit, perhaps someone forgot to add the information, perhaps they did not think it was important or necessary.  It also might be considered explicit, such as purposely excluding content that might give someone a different view of the subject, in this case of Elon Musk.   Some of the omissions could be in progress, such as the discussion of the November 16, 2020 successful space launch, which was covered in depth by the United States Press, both on media and print.  On the other hand, Wikipedia pages can be updated in a day, which often seems to happen when someone dies.

In the first part, Early Life and Family, there seems to be an explicit bias against Elon Musk’s father, and includes a quote from Musk, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, saying of his father, that he was "a terrible human being... Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done."  There is no clarification of what these evil things might have been, but it sounds pretty horrendous. There is no counter argument to provide any context for his father.  I modified it, changing the line above to one used in an article by Kosoff that refers to his father as being emotionally abusive and tough on his children.  This still conveys a difficult home life, but without evidence it doesn’t seem right to describe it as evil.  There did not seem to be any available resources on the father’s perspective of his son.   Also added the detail that Musk was only nine years old when he moved to live with his father.  I removed the line that described some of his ancestors as it seemed to try to provide implicit bias for him, in particular to explain why he might have the right to come to Canada first and then the United States as a citizen, since his ancestors were from there.  This convey that he is entitled because of his ancestors, but it seemed out of context to list one maternal and one paternal grandparent.

The section on Human Flight ended with the May 2020 test launch and did not include the highly publicized and successful mission launched with four astronauts on November 16, 2020.  This seems a dramatic omission, as it was all over the news.  This seems to me to be an explicit omission, perhaps because of the COVID-19 scare, which also meant he could not attend the launch, or if it was because some are jealous of the success of his ventures.

The SEC Lawsuit section presents an implicit suggestion that Musk is rejecting the right of the SEC to regulate company officers, in particular to protect investors. The SEC did have a number of legally defensible points, which led to a large fine and limiting Musk’s participation in the Tesla company.  However, there are some legal experts that also defend the right of Musk to have free speech about his opinion of how the company will do in the future, which is different that suggesting he has arranged for company financing to go private.

The revisions that I made primarily fill in gaps in the Wikipedia page, that indicated potential bias.  While much of the document appears to be very factual, the omissions, although only a few, can lead to bias.

The sources reviewed and then used for this review are included in the Works Cited section below. These included news articles, business stories and biography sites. There are also books available, that would have provided some additional depth and analysis, but they were not used for this particular review.

Works Cited - 

"Elon Musk." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

"Elon Musk Biography." The Biography.com website, A&E Television Networks, 17 Nov. 2020, www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

"Elon Musk Promoted Coronavirus Misinformation for Months. Then His Own Infection Kept Him out of SpaceX's Astronaut Launch." The Business Insider (Blogs on Demand), 2020. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.642824056&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kosoff, Maya. "Elon Musk's childhood was 'excruciating' and he got beaten up a lot." Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-childhood-was-excruciating-2015-5. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Markham, Jerry W. "Securities & Exchange Commission vs. Elon Musk & the First Amendment." Case Western Reserve Law Review, vol. 80, no. 2, 2019, pp. 339-79.

McLean, Rob. "Elon Musk Says He Has Moved to Texas." CNN.com, 9 Dec. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/tech/elon-musk-texas/index.html. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

Shephard, Alex. "Oligarch of the Month: Elon Musk." New Republic, vol. 251, no. 3, Mar. 2020, p. 5. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=141536506&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Wattles, Jennifer. "SpaceX launch: Four astronauts take off aboard Crew Dragon bound for ISS." CNN, 16 Nov. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/tech/spacex-nasa-launch-crew-dragon/index.html.

[lonelypond]

Soldier Game: Operation LA Smile

NicoMaki, Love Live, 5.2K, 1/?

Summary: Soldier Game is called in to protect a team of fashion designers who have been assigned to smuggle scientific data into a hostile United States. Working as models requires a new skillset and Nishikino Maki's first encounter with Yazawa Nico explodes with tension.

ROUND ONE

Sprawling government complex. Full of busy offices, tracking numbers and citizens, calls and meetings being held in a variety of languages. Competent, concerned, efficient bustle. Take a left at the Innovation For A Cool Earth Liaison office, down a very quiet hallway, and take an elevator to the second floor, where the lights were lower, and noises of grunting and bodies falling could be heard. Third door to the right was slightly ajar and inside, Tojo Nozomi, long purple hued hair in a very professional ponytail, had printouts spread all over her desk. And the latest fashion magazines in a row at the top like a barricade. And on her very very secure government issue but Nozomi tweaked to make it even more secure laptop the message from RiceQueen, pleading for help biohacking a prophylactic treatment for the coronavirus. Nozomi’s supervisor stared at her from the doorway.

“Come inside and close the door.” Nozomi shut her laptop, “I’ve read through all the files you had forwarded..

The Deputy Minister nodded and shut and locked the door. “And your conclusion?”

“I think we should go through artistic channels rather than our usual operatives.” Nozomi waved at the chair opposite her.

“What do you mean?”

Nozomi slid a magazine toward the Deputy Minister, open to a page with the latest collection from FeatherSmile Designs. Intricately woven graphene fabric that lit up with neon kanji. “We would have to upgrade their tech, but I think they could carry the message effectively.”

“But they’re not agents. We’d be putting civilians at risk.”

“We give them minimal details and protection. I’d need Soldier Game.”

The Deputy Minister nodded. “They’ve been on standby for months so that wouldn’t be a problem.”

Nozomi glanced at her laptop. “I’ve built a personal relationship with our US contact. I’d like to be involved.”

“That’s unusual.” A tilt back in the chair. Nozomi was starting to lose her audience.

“She’s very skittish.”

“It is difficult to get US visas.”

“For a mini movie in LA? The Governor has negotiated higher threshholds for funded projects. Here’s my plan.” Nozomi handed over a folder that had been marking a particular fashion spread. “We bring FeatherSmile in under the cover of assisting with increasing the positive response to Japanese businesses and citizens. I have a contact in California we’ve used before, Kousaka Honoka.”

The Deputy Minister read the plan over, “Bold thinking, Tojo. May be useful on several fronts. I’m impressed.”

Praise for the obvious wasn’t something Nozomi wasted time over. “People are dying, ma’am. Ignorance and bigotry are on the rise. And someone has asked us for help.”

“So what’s our first step?”

“Contact Yazawa Nico and Minami Kotori. Bring them in. And inform Soldier Game of their new assignment. I’d like to see them on some photoshoots now, rolled out over the next two weeks in separate locations. Maybe one of them vacationing in the middle of celebrities. Send Nishikino for that. She’s got the status.”

The Deputy Minister typed quickly into her phone, “Anything else.”

“I’ll be taking my driver.”

“Of course.”

“I have a list of gear we’ll be needing. I’ll put Sonoda on that and let Rin assist.”

“Then I’ll put Ayase and Nishikino in the field this week while Sonoda preps.”

“Perfect.” Everything on Nozomi’s list had been checked off. Now to talk to the tech team about upgrading FeatherSmile’s textile output.

###

Nishikino Maki, bright red hair under a floppy straw hat, stretched out on the chaise, her book next to her, the sun hot against the skin exposed by her bikini. And then the waiter’s shadow blocked her light. She tipped up the hat, with a snarl, “Just leave it on the table.”

The waiter nodded, placing the tall glass. Maki held up a finger to keep the waiter’s attention, reached over, picked up the glass, and sipped.

“Too salty.’ Maki spat in the sand. A murmur of horror rippled down the row of seats. “Take it back. Tell your master mixologist that Bloody Marys should let the tomato juice shine.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’d better be back here before I finish this chapter.” Maki picked up her book and took her sunglasses off, “Management fires my least favorite employee each and every day. Survival of the fittest.” Maki winked. “Or the cutest.”

Next to Maki, a banking dynasty scion fresh from the London School of Economics rolled her eyes at the vapidness of the idle rich. Nishikino had landed in Hawai’i last Thursday and by the weekend had been spoken of in terror by hotel staff members all across the Big Island.

 ###

Ayase Eli, blond hair in a tight bun, stretched, laying back across the barre, smiling at the smaller woman waiting next to her. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a job with a full dance studio.”

“Oh, are you a dancer?”

“Trained in Russia.” Eli’s tone was polite enough but something in the icy blue of her eyes encouraged the other woman to shuffle farther down the barre. Eli did another perfect move, “It’s great that dance is having such a strong surge. I’m hoping to get a job on a movie in LA or something.”

“Oh, that’d be cool. It’s hard to get work in the US now, with their strict visa limits.” The smaller dancer moved from first to third position.

Eli leaned forward, relaxing, watching herself in the mirror, “But haven’t you always dreamed about Hollywood?”

“Who hasn’t?” The other dancer dropped into a full plie.

###

Sonoda Umi had the supply list memorized, with her own additions. Soldier Game had their own preferences. Dressed in a simple black pantsuit, light blue shirt, gun holster hidden, Umi swiped the pattern that opened the door for her. A clerk greeted her.

“Sonoda-san.”

Umi glanced at the nametag, “Fujioka-san. Please inform Tojo-san that I will meet her driver in the Armory.”

A bow and Umi moved through the checkpoint. That was one of Umi’s favorite things about having to work from Headquarters. There were no unnecessary conversations, everyone prided themselves on efficiency and detachment, Umi felt not at home, but at work. Which was one of Umi’s more productive places. And Umi’s productive places were Umi’s happy places.

###

Yazawa Nico swivelled her chair, forcing her eyes away from the multiple screens in front of her. “Nico knows the computer’s doing most of the work, but…” Nico shook her head, “This much information is making Nico’s brain hurt.”

 Minami Kotori, in a custom made Rumi Rock yukata, was pinning fabric to a dressmaker’s dummy. “Take a break. We can finish programming the looms later.”

“Nah.” Nico shook herself, slapping her face, “Sooner we get it done, sooner we can cut the garments. Did we get the model measurements?”

Kotori nodded, “All the details. Did you see the pictures?”

Nico closed her eyes, yes, she’d seen the pictures, but how do you...then Kotori interrupted her with a giggle, “I’ve been having the most...exquisite dreams.”

Nico decided a change of topic was her best strategy before Kotori breached TMI territory.

“Anything we make will drape well.”

“And practically drip off.” Kotori giggled.

Nico refused to be lured to after hours chatter. “I think the redhead would look great in that lilac twisted tweed you showed me.”

“Ooohh, it would really bring out the lavender in her eyes. Tweeds will also easily disguise any patterning.”

“Yeah, if we use the free color slot to match their individual eye colors…”

“Oh, I can see it,” Kotori stepped over to her drafting table, swift strokes creating three almost capes, Nico guessed from her distant, odd angle.

“So we’re going with a Fall/Winter book?”

“Would you rather see them model bikinis?” Kotori asked wistfully.

Nico dropped her head to her clasped hands, exhaling. What the hell kind of trap question was that to ask a respectful, modern woman so so gay she can’t stop thinking about her new co workers playing nude beach volleyball? There was no safe answer.

“This is so much flashier and more complicated than our usual drop jobs. Can’t we just…” Nico really needed a steady girlfriend so she wouldn’t get preoccupied by random curves.

Kotori frowned, she’d had a late night conversation with their international headquarters. “Command thinks this ask is a mole trying to get information about our operations.”

“Damn. So flashy it is. All personality. Nico nico ni.” Nico, hands raised to her temple, smiled, then sighed, shrewd glance meeting her partner’s.

“Yeah.” Kotori bit the air.

New information absorbed and back on task, Nico considered the juxtaposition of life saving science and sexy swimsuits. Too distracting. But then again, no one would believe it was about anything but pretty women in pretty clothing. Everyone underestimated pretty women. And none of the models were shy about their assets, from the pics Nico had seen.

“Bikinis. Nico just thinks no one will notice the thin pinstripes are actually graphene circuits if they have those models to look at.” Plus, if Soldier Game was investigating them, that little fabric would make guns or recording devices harder to conceal.

Kotori raised an eyebrow at Nico, “You always have the best ideas, Nico.” A few quick adjustments with her pencil and the capes become beach covers, in linen, not tweed, “Ready to wear, on demand we are. With reclaimed fabric. Eco friendly.”

“Eco sexy.” Nico snapped her fingers.

“Sexy sexy” Kotori giggled.

Nico decided a mutual review of their corporate sexual harassment policy was a very necessary next step.

###

Umi stopped, pivoted on her heel and glared over packed duffle bags at the short, energetic ginger haired woman bouncing down the hall after her.

“Let me help, Sonoda-chan.”

“Everything is wrong with that.” Umi stated through gritted teeth.

The ginger shrugged, mischief flicking in chartreuse eyes, “You won’t let me call you Umi-chan.”

“Hoshizora-san.” Umi stated deliberately, as an example, “Perhaps I could speak to your direct report.”

“Nozomi-chan? Oh sure, she always loves it when I stop by her office. She’ll have tea ready and we can talk about what I found out about…”

Umi stopped the spread of information as quickly as she could. “Where is Tojo-san’s office?”

“Right this way.” Hoshizora sped down the hall. Umi briefly wondered if the cat like gimmicky gestures were the actual result of some kind of genetic experiment with cheetahs, but surely there would have been more rumors. Hoshizora skipped -- skipped?!?!?! -- through a door and Umi increased her pace to catch up. Pausing, she knocked, but the door was ripped open, the mini cheetah hybrid speaking to someone inside, “Sonoda-chan wants to see you, Nozomi-chan. She doesn’t like…”

Umi stepped inside the room, stern. “I can speak for myself.”

Tojo was dressed appropriately for the office, in a dark suit, unlike her driver’s Nadeshiko Japan soccer jersey and jean shorts, exuded polite propriety. “Please take a seat, Sonoda-san. How can I help you?”

Hoshizora slid into the chair behind the desk, “Sonoda-chan” Hoshizora winked, “objects to my “‘overt familiarity and lack of respect.””

Nozomi had a slight smile that bordered on a smirk. Umi adjusted her initial impression. She was beginning to suspect that this division was not run to military specs. Nozomi’s voice was a giggly, syrupy mess with hints of rural accent, “Now, now, Lt. Commander, I’m sure you are aware that you will be undercover beginning tomorrow.”

“Of course. I read the dossier.” Umi started to prickle.

“So why do you object to my assistant following my orders that you be eased into a non military environment by ignoring a strict hierarchy.”

Hoshizora, Rin, Umi corrected herself, was rocking the chair back and forth, silently laughing. Umi cleared her throat, “I was not aware those were...Rin’s orders.”

Rin leaned forward, eyes wide, sticking out her tongue.

“Are you going to be aware of everything happening on this mission?” Nozomi asked quickly.

If I can be, Umi’s head went, but she just shook her head in lieu of a verbal reply.

“So, as you are temporarily under my command, you should be aware that I find keeping my charges in a state where they are continually alert leads to the most successful missions. Perhaps not as planned as what you are used to from your time with the Defense Forces, but our skillset needs to be more flexible.” Nozomi tilted her head, almost coquettishly, “Do you understand, Lt. Commander?”

“Of course.” Umi stood at attention, her eyes locking on Rin’s, “Umi will be fine from now on, Rin-san.”

“Rin.”

“Rin.” Umi grinned. Deliberately.

“Good.” Nozomi leaned back against her desk, relaxed, Rin spinning in the desk chair. “And call me Nozomi. Tomorrow, we meet Yazawa and Minami and we need to have our covers locked down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Nope.” Rin giggled. “You’re slow.

Umi bowed. “My apologies, Nozomi. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. It’s why I requested your unit.”

Umi hadn’t been aware that the assignment had been an outside request. She’d been too eager to return to the field, even if it involved rather shameless activities. She made a mental note to pay more attention to details. And to cultivate Rin’s acquaintance. She seemed like the detail spilling sort.

“Where’s the tea, Nozomi-chan?” Rin rolled the chair to the credenza under the window.

“Why don’t you take Umi-chan down to the canteen and tell her about our last job.”

“Ooh, that’s a great idea. C’mon Umi, I’ll race you.” And Rin was out the door.

Umi glanced at Nozomi, who shrugged, “Better sprint.”

Umi sighed. So this was a test of physical as well as mental acuity. Fortunately, she had a route to take from here that would be a short cut. Umi headed to the window, raised it and dropped down two stories to the courtyard.

“Unexpected.” Nozomi watched as Umi landed lightly, then raced diagonally toward the kitchen’s loading doors. “Interesting.”

###

Maki Nishikino had never been subject to so much scrutiny. Especially while in this little clothing. The interest in the narrowed ruby eyes was clinical and the fingers that reached out to adjust the bow at her breast were disturbingly impersonal. She reverted to a childhood habit and wrapped her arms around her torso, stepping away from this Yazawa person with a frown.

“This one can’t seem to smile…” “Maki.” Maki snapped and Yazawa raised an eyebrow. “Call me Maki.”

“Maki.” Yazawa bit off every syllable, “doesn’t seem to get sunny or smiling so we’ll have to go for moody sexy on the shoot.” Yazawa stepped back, hands on hips, eyes still roving over Maki’s body in a way that made Maki feel like she was wearing even less. “So either slightly less fabric or a lot more.” “I can smile.” Maki bared her teeth at her antagonist.

Nico shook her head, relaxed her lips in a smile that somehow seemed to make the air glow around her, then called back casually over her shoulder, “Less clothing, maybe lose the top, lots of mood lighting, a fabric that will shimmer. Make a note for the photographer. Cool, wet mystery.”

Maki would have choked when Nico said wet with a smack of her lips but she was fortunately not drinking anything, just reaching out her hand for the water bottle

Now the other designer, Kotori was staring at Maki with speculative, measuring eyes, “Yes, I see what you mean, Nico. Maybe something that looks like washed up on a rocky shore.” “Mermaid? Hmmmm…” Nico gave  Maki one more head to toe examination, shrugged, rolled her eyes, and turned away, “Show me a sketch.” Maki pulled on her coverup and retreated to a chair, knees pulled up, trembling with anger and embarrassment. This was not what she expected this assignment to be. Where was someone she could kick? Or suture? Or shoot? Where were Umi and Eli?

Kotori suddenly purred as the door opened, “Oh, hello, Sonoda-san. Welcome to our temporary studio.” 

Maki thought studio was a generous description for a grungy boxing gym with a green screen set up in front of the ring.

Umi stepped in, dressed for some reason in her kendo workout gear, while Maki was wearing this wisp of thing that would get washed away in a light swell on a calm lake. Both Nico and Kotori were suddenly all attentive to the newcomer.

Umi, as polite as ever, bowed, “My apologies for my tardiness. One of my students had a minor injury I needed to tend.”

“Are they all right?” Kotori asked.

Umi nodded. “Just a small accident.”

“Good. We had a chance to start with Maki.” Kotori waved a hand in the direction of the chair, “If you’ll follow me into the locker room, I’ll get you suited.

“I am at your command.” Maki snorted, loud enough that Umi would hear so Umi pinched up her lips in a frown at the volume, Maki rolled her eyes and then was distracted by Nico with her hands on the arms of Maki’s chair, “Eyes here, Red.”

Maki was startled and snarled. “What do you want?”

Nico sighed, “Okay, Nico knows your brand is temperamental celebrity and we want other temperamental celebrities to see how all…” Nico flipped her hand dismissively at Maki, “this looks in our swimsuits, but it’ll help if you’re at least polite on the set. Don’t etiquette classes come with the wealth package. Or do you like getting thrown out of countries?”

“I can be civil.” Maki said coldly. “Oh good. Nico can’t wait to hear it. Now can you smile? Watch me.” WIthout even a beat, Nico leaned in, staring deeply into the depths of Maki’s eyes, paused just long enough that Maki’s breath caught, and then hopped back, a manic gleam in her eye and a sunblast of a smile on her face, “Nico Nico Ni needs you to act as pretty as you look.” Then there was a wink and Nico twirled, her back toward Maki and Maki had a minute to recover, “Nico will grab a camera and we’ll try the poses again.”

Maki groaned. Nico heard it and hesitated as she picked up the camera. Nico wasn’t a cruel woman. For all the red carpet photo shoots and TWIG selfies, this would be Nishikino’s first professional photoshoot. Which is part of why Nico was drill sergeanting Maki into the patented, 125% successful Nico Nico Ni practice practice practice mindset. The brat, though attractive in the conventional burn down the seacoast with laser eyes sense, would benefit from the confidence that came from repetition. Nico grabbed her oversized pink hoodie from the director’s chair and as she turned with the camera in hand, she tossed it at Maki, “Put this on.”

Maki hesitated, then shrugged into it, relaxing slightly at the warmth and additional coverage, “Why?” Nico shrugged, “This is just a practice shoot, you don’t need to freeze.”

“How did you?” Maki blushed when Nico raised an eyebrow and flicked her glance to Maki's chest for a second. Maki immediately looked anywhere but Nico, “I can handle it.” “Yep. Sure you can, Ma-ki. But tell the camera that.” “Huh?”

Nico raised the eyepiece, pointing the lens at Maki, “Confront the camera. Nobody worth your time wants passive pretty. We want fight.” Nico chuckled, “Hate hot. Flirt fight.”

“Flirt fight?” Maki said slowly, actually glad for some direction. “With you?” Nico lowered the camera, “With the lens. Nico’s not even here.” She raised her hand in front of her face like a magic trick and then Maki was looking at the lens again. Maybe if she imagined a target? 

Nico decided to help, “So what makes you mad?”

Maki’s lip twisted, “Exploitation.”

Fancy word. Nico wondered if that was personal.

“What makes you happy?” Maki shrugged.

Not thrown off by no answer, Nico kept up the patter, Soldier Game needed to up their casual talk game, Nico was doing all the work here. Of course, she was prepared to do all the work. Nico relied on no one.

“Hobbies?” Nico kept moving, her voice even. “Music.” Maki’s posture opened. “I play the piano.” “Nico cooks. Pick up those boxing gloves and put them on.” Commands camouflaged in conversation, after years in the fashion business Nico was a master.

Maki walked over to the table and laced into them.

“Hit the heavy bag.”

This was better, Maki thought as she pounded into the leather, feeling a little like Steve Rogers, stuck in a place he didn’t want to be.

“Classical?” 

“Jazz. Spent a lot of time in America, studying…Ellington, Basie, Baker, Chet, and Jospephine, Bessie Smith for the blues…” Maki had an easy rhythm going, hardly noticing Nico clicking away. “Then…” a snarl, “everything got openly toxic for women and Asians so I hit the road.” Good cover, Nico thought. Maki was Soldier Game's American link. “And you know Ayase and Sonoda how?”

“School. Families.” Maki shrugged, “We know the same…” her voice hardened, “people.”

“Got a jazz trio going?” Nico asked lightly. Maki laughed, the mood dispersing, rolling her shoulders and shaking out her arms before attacking the bag again.

“Look at me.” Not a request.

A graceful turn, sharp purple eyes snapped onto Nico, narrowing, curious, alert, cardigan slipping unnoticed off a shoulder, strong legs braced for the next blow.

“Got it.” Nico announced, lowering the camera with a flair. 

Maki tilted her head, “Got what?”

“Nishikino Maki.” Nico glanced down at her viewscreen, ruby eyes with a happy twinkle. “I’m about to rethink our whole campaign. Kotori likes sweaty.” Nico froze. Oh damn, she’d better go rescue the kendo champ.  “Wait here, Cassius.” And Nico hustled to the dressing room.

###

Kotori was sitting primly, legs crossed, hands folded in her lap, eyes never leaving the muscles on Umi’s back as the other woman changed into the swimsuit Kotori had chosen for her.  Nico barrelled through the door, Umi gasped and grabbed for a towel, and Kotori frowned and turned, “Nico, I was concentrating.” “Sure you were. But Nico has this genius idea. I took some pics of Red there,” Nico flicked her thumb back toward where Maki was slouching in the door, “with gloves and my hoodie over the suit and you’ll love the aesthetic. Just take a look. Plus, I ran a quick search on boxers…” “When did you have time?” Maki wondered. “There was a whole hallway; Nico is fast.” Nico slid next to Kotori, “Found Muhamad Ali quotes. One of them is “I’m too fast. I’m too smart. I’m too pretty." And with these three...”

“Nico” Kotori turned, wide eyed, hands reaching for Nico’s while Umi and Maki shared a confused glance, “That’s PERFECT.” “Nico knows.” “People will swoon.” Nico took a quick glance back at Maki, “Nico knows. And Ali's an American icon, so cultural resonance. Coated in pop culture candy."

Kotori stood up, muttering, totally ignoring Umi, who was standing with a towel clasped at breast level offering some cover for her bare torso. “Just a few changes, maybe robes, maybe some of those big, satin shorts, sliding down…” Kotori swept her hand down her hip.

“Nico can see it.” “Now that I’ve seen them I can…” “Yeah, yeah, less talk, we get on a plane in tomorrow, go make magic happen.” Nico shoved Kotori from behind, forcing the designer seamstress into a stumble toward the door. Nico picked up Umi’s shirt from where Kotori had been sitting on it, handing it to the owner with a wink, “You can thank Nico later.”

Umi grabbed on to the lifeline and nodded. 

“When Kotori finds you again, tell her Nico’s in the gym, setting up a few things for tomorrow’s shoot.” “Of course, Nico.” Umi buttoned up quickly.

“Thanks, champ.” Nico blew a kiss as she bounded out of the room, past Maki with barely a side glance. Umi chuckled.

“You’re amused?” Shocked, Maki settled across a bench, twirling a curl of hair.

“By Nico?" Umi considered. "Yes. She and Kotori have an interesting working dynamic. Completely different from ours, but just as professional in its own way, I think.”

Maki looked doubtful. “She seems a little flaky.”

“It’s mostly for show.”

“Really?”

“Yes, like when a bird displays its full foliage.”

“To impress someone? With flakiness?” “With energy. Very desirable from a mating perspective.” “You want to ma…” Umi, now flustered, rushed to interrupt Maki’s question, “Birds, birds do such things to attract a mate. I am a complete professional, as always.”

“As expected.” Maki agreed. Umi never cracked. Eli would occasionally start to have...Maki hated the f word....feelings, but Umi, Umi was always 100% on the job, ready, focused. Maki relied on that. What Maki did with....emotional precursors was work them out, leave them to wilt in the blaze of the open, actively exhaust her imagination so she didn’t have to wonder about things. Remembering a flare deep in devilish eyes and hands confidently maneuvering a camera, Maki considered if acting on the impusles flashing through her thoughts would be best before she got on a plane with Nico and flew into even more unfamiliar territory, Maki knew how she worked, and she knew who and what she would be thinking about. Nico’s exacting glance had had a tactile quality and Maki’s skin felt like it had been barely brushed by exploring fingertips. Which was going to be distracting. And Maki knew too well that distractions could be deadly.

“I’ll be in the gym. Don’t find me.” Maki decided.

Umi withheld her commentary. Every job was dangerous. Every Soldier prepared in her own way.

###

Nico had taken the green screen down and was in the center of the boxing ring, looking through a frame made by her fingers, muttering. Maki slid a weight in front of the door and approached the ring, hanging over the ropes.

“I saw you looking at me.” Accusatory snap. Why not? Hate hot. Nico had said that. Nico inhaled, sighed, and turned with hands open, “Look, Nico is sorry, and is so so professional, but you’re just so…” “Hot.” Maki ran a hand through her hair, “I know.” Switch the mood, check. Nico’s expression soured, “Okay. When did Nico sign up for your publicity blasts?"

“I don’t DO relationships," Maki announced, as if Nico had not spoken, "but you’re obviously into me, we have to work together, and I’d really rather not spend a lot of time wondering about whether you’re any good in bed,” Maki stepped through the ropes, strutted toward Nico, making certain to brush by the shorter woman, “like...you know.” And Maki shrugged, casually as she turned, and offhand arrogant multiple x rated seXXXy flashed neon in Nico’s mind.

Nico shook herself, quickly recalibrating the expected response. Ms. Too Cocky For Containment, Too Shy for Eye Contact here obviously wanted Nico to skip the apology phase and go right to impress. “Nico does fine. No complaints. Thousands of need more Nico texts.”

Maki’s quirked eyebrow read dubious as she leaned back, with liquid grace, in the corner of the ring. “Sure. Because your lack of detail encourages belief.” Amethyst eyes dared Nico.

Was this a trap designed to lower Nico’s defenses? Work of the mole? She and Kotori had decided wariness was essential with the new security team, but showing weakness was no way to keep the upper hand. And Nico thrived on the offensive.

“Would you like pics?” Two steps and Nico had blocked Maki into the corner, and the grungy, windowless gym had shrunk to the size of the ring as the combatants sized up their next moves, “Testimonials?” The tip of Nico’s nose had now landed a jab against Maki’s as dark pink lips landed the verbal followup, snapping, “Nico doesn’t even need a bed.”

Nico knew there was a big chance that saying that would completely blow the atmosphere and the super stupidly hot redhead who wouldn’t stop looking super stupidly doable would just collapse into hysterics. And, Nico thought, honestly that might have been a relief, because right now, Nico was pretty pretty sure pretty pretty Maki was smoldering with some fire Nico didn’t start and Nico wasn’t sure exactly what was supposed to happen. Or if everything would just explode.  But Nico had never gotten anywhere by not being bold.

“Oh really?” Maki pushed herself up, voice trembling slightly to belay the confidence in her actions, but as the movement rippled through her abs to her bosom, the thinking parts of Nico’s brain, the ones that had been slowing her down, shut off and her hands shot out to grab Maki’s waist.

“I liked you better down here.” Nico dropped Maki onto the stool, leaning in, one hand sliding slowly over Maki’s ear, through her hair, fingers exerting the lightest pressure on the neck, other hand holding Maki at the back of the waist.

“Oh.’ That squeaked out of Maki and Nico was suddenly at her neck, nibbling, confident, certain, as she felt moans her...opponent, sure let’s go with boxing analogies, was swallowing. Maki had not anticipated Nico’s response to be this fast. Or...effective. Maki could feel her heart hammering and Nico’s nearness raising the hairs on her arms. Was this a standard thing for Nico and models?

Nico nipped the earlobe and timed with the shudder, went for the hook, “Want more?” following quickly with an uppercut, her lips on Maki’s throat, slipping to the jaw, hand sliding down to tease Maki’s breast. Maki almost convulsed, no longer asking questions, all of her attention now on Nico’s next advance.

Nico heard a hiss. But no words.

“What was that? Nico was now between Maki’s open legs, leaning in in a way that would have surprised her at the brazeness of the move, if Nico’d been thinking at all, but no, she wasn’t, so she pushed in and Maki leaned forward, even as she squirmed on the stool, legs bumping Nico’s waist, her arms slipping through to wrap themselves in the ring ropes to either side.

“Maki?” Nico avoided the lips, even as Maki nearly roared, concentrating on the reddening chest above Maki’s bikini top, a hand on the bow and the bikini fell open, and Nico stopped for a heartbeat, breathless, she would be going there, as soon as…

A hissed word full of whispery need. “yssss.” And Nico bit, and Maki screamed, and the stool got kicked out of the ring, and Maki was suspended against the ropes, head thrown back, hair in crazy, bouncing tousles, and Nico could never watch another boxing match again, and every taste and touch of skin was so soft and supple and Nico had to dodge a thrashing leg, and Maki was about to rip the stanchion out of the ring, and Nico freed Maki's arm from the ropes, and fell backwards with both of them like they’d switched to wrestling and with Maki on top, Nico even impressed herself, hands flittering as fast as butterflies, kisses hitting as hard as taps on the speed bag, Maki mouthing nothing that made sense. And, then, with a cry, it was over. And for just a brief second, Nico caught a bright glance wide with wonder, then long lashes fluttered closed, and Nico had to scramble for something to cover them both as Maki passed out.

“Wow.” Nico sat, catching her breath, back braced against the stanchion that had managed to survive upright, redhead snoring at her side, under a beach towel. “But what the hell?”

Maki muttered and Nico hushed immediately. Now was not a time for Sleepy Beauty to be wide awake in beast mode. Nico was thinking.

A/N: Twitter, where I live, was in a Bodyguard AU mood so it got me thinking. And all this Maki X Not Nico stuff also got me grumbling. And here we are. Can't promise when the next chunk will come, as I am working on finishing Apocalypse Midnight Dance Party chapters (and Tiger By The Tail) but I wanted to post this start. Enjoy. And stay safe. And drop me a song for my Soldier Game playlist.

[asfaltics]

a creamery means

  A few enquiries began       1 as a “few fews accounted it       2 afterwards, and not of a few fews, that       3 so the Conversion - of a few fews is an Earnest of       4   A Few Wheres Where are you at, when everything you take goes to your head and even interferes with the poetry of your pedestrianism?       5   and the only lands cultivated are a few heres around       6 A creamery means, in a few heres. Just this about the       7 land has little chance of getting even a few Heres       8 depriving a few heres       9   you know an’t a few ! There’s       10 in rhyme, Nay, not a few : There’s many       11 Here, in a few anys       12 name ye a few : There’s       13   too “ove not a few, there’s two       14 now—only a few. There’s not encouragement       15 a few. There’s staym Ingincs, That stands in lines       16 A few anys after       17   a few, there’s a few and there’s a       18 ‘Red Book’ that’s read by a few. There’s       19  

sources (some OCR misreads, some not)

1 Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814), Vol. III, Chapter VII : 161 2 OCR misread of “a few Jews” (as are next two entries) ex Ed. Stillingfleet, D. D. (1635-99 *) his A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome, In Answer to a Book Entituled, Catholicks No Idolaters. The two first parts (London, 1676) : 773 3 ex Spes Fidelium: or, the Believer’s Hope. Being an epistolary dissertation, wherein the Doctine of the Millennium, or, The Thousand Years Reign of Christ with the Faithful upon Earth, is asserted, and prov’d from the Holy Scriptures... (London, 1714) : 110 4 ex John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, second edition (London, 1757) : 416 5 ex (Thomas) Nast’s Weekly 1:23 (February 18, 1893) : 6 6 OCR misread for “a few acres,” ex A New Universal Gazetteer... originally compiled by R. Brookes, M.D., the whole re-modelled and the historical and statistical department brought down to the present period by John Marshall, Esq. (1832) : 453 7 ex (with great OCR confusion) advertisement for Empire Cream Separator Co., in The Rural New-Yorker : A journal for the suburban and country home, vol. 62 (October 24, 1903) : 751 8 OCR misread of “even a few acres,” in Farmers’ Review vol. 35 (October 27, 1904) : 747 9 OCR misread of “a few honest men,” in the anti-union The Square Deal : A magazine devoted to industrial peace, published monthly by the Citizens Industrial Association of America (edited by Wilson Vance), 3:5 (December 1907) : 18 10 ex J(ohn). C(artwright). Cross (1770 ca.-1809, *), In Love, in Debt, & in Liquor : Or Our Way in Wales; a new musical drama, performed for the first time at Jones’s Royal Circus, St. George’s Fields. On Wednesday, June 28, 1797. (London, 1797) : 5 11 ex “A Lesson for Old Maids,” (From Oulton’s Poems) in The Spirit of English Wit; or, Post-chaise companion: being an entertaining budget of laughable anecdotes, smart repartees, prize bulls, pointed epigrams, humorous epitaphs, droll descriptions, sprightly witticisms, singular characters, bursts of merriment, curious advertisements, flights of imagination, effusions of fancy / including several original jeu d’esprits. The Fourth Edition. (London, printed for Thomas Tegg, 1815 (?)) : 109 12 OCR misread of “Here, in a few days, her sister deserted her,” ex Guildhall report in The Examiner No. 531 (London, March 1, 1818) : 143 13 ex a “ballad” in Robert Gilfillan (1798-1850), his Original Songs, (Edinburgh, 1831) : 138 on Robert Gilfillan, see wikipedia and, for a beautiful and engaging account, this from Significant Scots 14 OCR misread of “we’ve not a few, there’s two to one” in sheet music for “There’s Nothing Like It” in (?) Lafferty, Universal Favorites, a collection of songs (1856) here (a strange rabble-rousing song, includes a verse against abolitionists, another against “reform”) 15 ex “Number Five Brooke-street” Chapter 9, “Plans for the Night,” in The Dublin University Magazine : A Literary and Political Journal (March 1866) : 285-92 (287) 16 ex “Studies of English Authors” by Peter Bayne, on W. M. Thackeray, His Poems.—The King of Brentford’s Testament (in which are some lines from Thackeray’s poetic description of wonders displayed at The Crystal Palace exhibition), in The Literary World : Choice Readings from the Best New Books, and Critical Reviews (London, October 31, 1879) : 281 17 snippet view only, pointing to George D. Dornin, Thirty Years Ago : 1849-1879 (1879) 18 ex James H. Hyslop. “Summary of Experiments since the Death of William James : II. Carroll D. Wright, ” in Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 6:6 (June 1912) : 356 19 ex “Brayings of Balam,” in Everybody’s Poultry Magazine 24:10 (October 1919) : 650-652

—

1 of n  

[thetaeprint]

Kim Taehyung aka BTS V: A Prodigy Of This Generation

ITunes

1. Taehyung is the 4th Korean Artist and and 3rd Korean Solo to enter the US iTunes Singles Top 10 with Singularity (peaked at #4).

2. Singularity is the 3rd highest ranking BTS solo song in Worldwide iTunes Song Chart at #6. [Source]

3.His OST song “It’s Definitely you” with Jin charted in 52 countries and peaked at #1 in 3 countries.

​​Apple Music

1. Singularity is the 3rd highest charting BTS solo song in the Worldwide Apple Music Song Chart at #104. [Source]

Billboard Charts

•​​Japan Hot 100

1. Taehyung’s’s solo “Singularity” is the second BTS solo song to chart at #34 (after Daydream). [Source]

            Singularity  BTS (BTS)  #34

Total points --- 1,400

•​​​​K-pop Hot 100

1. Singularity debuted at #10. [Source]

"Intro _ Singularity" #10 May 28, 2018

•​World Digital Song Sales

1. Singularity peaked at #3 and charted for 3 weeks. (#1 & #2 were BTS). [Source]

2. List of Taehyung's songs which debuted 

A. Stigma (#10) 

B. Singularity (#3)

C. It's Definitely You (#8)

​​

Other Charts

•​​Singapore Regional Streaming   Top 30

1. Singularity entered at #16. [Source]

•​​​France Top 100 Downloads

1. BTS V’s solo “Singularity” charted at #100. [Source]

•​​​Hungary Single Top 40

1. Singularity debuted at #23.[Source]

​​Sales Record

•​​Single Sales

1. Singularity has more than 10k pure sales in the USA. [Source]

2. Singularity has sold over 100,000 units in the US. [Source]

Year-End Lists

1. BTS V is the second Korean solo (after Psy) to have his song‘Singularity’ in the NY Times’“The Best Songs of 2018” list. [Source]​​​

The 65 Best Songs of 2018 by New York Times

Singularity was at #20 with FAKE LOVE in the NY Times’“The 65 Best Songs of 2018’. It is the only Korean solo song in the list.

[Source]

2. Singularity is at #4 and is the only Korean song in the LA Times’ “Best of 2018: The 10 (orso) songs that demanded to be replayed”. [Source]

@ No. 4 BTS V, ‘Singularity’ by Los Angeles Times

Seoul’s hyperactive K-pop scene finally went mainstream in America this year thanks to BTS (V), the hugely popular seven-member boy band that topped the Billboard 200 twice on its way to a sold-out tour that stopped at Staples Center for four shriek-filled nights. Yet the group’s most arresting song from 2018 was also its least frenzied: “Singularity,” a breathy, methodically paced soul jam with echoes of D’Angelo and Luther Vandross.

3. Singularity was included with FAKE LOVE and LY: Tear in The Guardian’s “best albums and tracks of 2018”. It is the only Korean solo song in the list.[Source]

4. Singularity and Daydream are the only BTS solo songs which charted in the PopAsia's Top 100 Asian pop songs of 2018.[Source]

PopAsia's Top 100 Asian pop songs of 2018: 50-1

BTS: Singularity @ #24

From V's deep vocals to the minimal funk bass and piano propelling the rhythm, "Singularity" is breathtaking, teasing in its languid pace and melancholic undertones. It's essentially a work of art.

J-Hope: Daydream @ #23

This is what sunshine sounds like if it was produced by one of K-pop's biggest stars. While it bops along with tambourine and addictive percussion, the lyrics go deeper as J-Hope confronts the juxtaposition of daydreaming despite living a dream life.

Streams

1. Singularity is the “fastest” BTS solo song to reach 60M streams on Spotify. [Source]

2. Stigma is at #36 in the BTS' Official Top 40 most streamed songs in the UK. [Source]

SoundCloud

1. BTS V’s song “Scenery” is the second biggest 24 hours debut on SoundCloud with 5.95M streams. [Source]

2. Scenery is the most liked song on SoundCloud in the first 24 hours record with 372K likes. [Source] [Source]

3. Scenery is the fastest BTS solo track to reach 20-50M plays. [Source]

4. “Scenery” accumulated the most streams in a 24-hour period (not the first 24 hours, Promise has that record) after listing a total of eleven million streams within one day. [Source]

5. BTS V's solo track "Scenery" breaks the record for fastest song to hit 100 million streams on SoundCloud, in just over 14 days. [Source] [Source]

6. BTS occupy the record for the top three most streamed and liked debuts in the history of SoundCloud via solo songs from Jimin, V and Jin. [Source]

7. Scenery is at #14 in the SoundCloud Top 15 Most Streamed Songs of All Time. [Source]

Radio

1. V’s song “Singularity” was played for the very first time in U.K BBC radio. It’s a first time for any idol’s solo song to be played. [Source]

3. V’s song Scenery was played by NRJ Radios Digitales, France. [Source]

4. US radio station KissChattanooga played 4 songs of V for 15 min as a special, making good debut of ‘Scenery” in US radio. [Source]

5. 'Scenery' was aired in a Korean radio program, the first among songs released on SoundCloud. Although it is a free song which has barriers to be aired in broadcasting, it was aired in a radio program. [Source] [Source]

YouTube

1. Singularity is the fastest solo Korean artist MV to surpass 10M views (15 hours). [Source]

2. Singularity is the 3rd fastest solo Korean artist MV to get 3M Likes.

3. Singularity is the highest BTS solo in the YouTube Weekly Global Chart at #19. [Source]

4. Singularity is the fastest BTS solo song to surpass the 90M views. [Source]

5. Singularity is the third fastest BTS music video to surpass the 10 million count. [Source]

6. Singularity becomes the fastest BTS solo MV to reach 100 million views. It is also the 2nd BTS solo MV to reach 100M views. [Source] [Source]

7. BTS V’s solo “Winter Bear” debuted at #25 on the Global YouTube Music Videos Chart. In grabbing a Top 25 position, it notably outranks any other video by a Korean act. [Source]

Wins/Nominations

1. Order of Cultural Merit (2018) - Won

2. President Award (2017) - Nominated

3. Best OST (MMA 2017) - Nominated

4. Best Idol Actor (Soompi Annual Awards 2018) [Source] - Won

5. Best Acting Ensemble (Soompi Annual Awards 2018) [Source] - Won

6. Best Choreography for Singularity (Soompi Annual Awards 2019) - Won

Other Achievements

1. BTS V was included as "The Most Daring" in the Highsnobiety's List of Grammy 2019: Grooming Looks. [Source]

2. List of songs accredited to his name by the Korea Music Copyright Association. (ID # 10005240) [Source]

3. Kim Taehyung aka V was named the most handsome face of 2017 by TC Candler. [Source]

4. V came at #5 in the TC Candler’s “The 100 Most Handsome Faces of 2018”. [Source]

5. He was placed first in the Starmometer’s “100 Asian Heartthrobs of 2018” list. [Source]

6. V was also selected as the “Most Handsome Man In The World” in 2018 according To Famous Star 101. [Source]

7. TATA, which V had participated to design, is the bestseller among the BT21 line. Line Friends’ people said the re-order couldn’t catch up the demand of TATA.

[Source]

8. Among the BT21 characters (when they were launched), TATA was always sold out & out of stock. [Source]

9. Out of all BTS and K-Pop related words, V was revealed to be the most searched term on Google from 2013 to 2018.

10. After a month of Singularity's release, Guardian added it to the Top 50 songs for the month of June 2018 playlist. [Source]

11. Kim Taehyung was ranked as the 9th most preferred idol of 2018 by Gallup Korea. [Source]

12. Chilean magazine ismorbo included V's "Scenery" on their report "12 newly released songs you should listen to". [Source] [Source]

13. V was drawn in the cover of Marvel comic 'Runaways' #11. [Source]

14. Kim Taehyung or V came at #1 in the Asian Male for I-MAGAZINE FASHION FACE AWARDS YEAR 2018. [Source]

1stKim Tae Hyung

SOUTH KOREAI-MAGAZINE FASHION FACE AWARDS YEAR 2018 - ASIAN MALE

5. Japan’s “Play Up” contact lenses which V modeled got sold out in Japan. His lenses were not only the #1 on the websites sales charts, but also the first to be sold out among BTS members. [Source]

16. In Tumblr’s ‘Year in Review 2018’, V ranked #3 on the most popular K-POP Star Top 50. All members ranked from #1 to #7 in the Top 10. [Source]

17. V  turned a traffic light spot in UK into a tourist spot. [Source]

18. BTS V’s tweet received 1 million 'likes' in 4 hours and 23 minutes, which is the record for the shortest period of '1 million' likes. [Source]

19. 4 O'Clock was selected as the #1 unreleased BTS song by topstarnews (Promise #2 and Ddaeng is #3). [Source]

https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/327128519/download?client_id=Iy5e1Ri4GTNgrafaXe4mLpmJLXbXEfBR

20. The BISCO (Busan Infrastructure Corporation) marked and posted the path which V walked and took a photo in the Busan Citizens Park and recommended that path to take a walk. The photo was taken before the BTS MUSTER in Busan. [Source] [Source] 

21. The Royal Academy of Arts’ shop added a sentence “As worn by K-pop star V  from BTS” on their online website of Paint Palette brooch as he wore that brooch. [Source] [Source] The Palette Brooch got sold out. 

[Source]

22. Daegu Seogu Bisandong pre school, which is known to have been attended by V will be relocated and the original building will be remodeled for tourist attraction with BTS V's theme. 

[Source]

23. In less than a hour after V posted a video wearing a Lissom green shirt on BTS Twitter, both green & ivory shirts from this brand sold out and are currently out of stock. 

24. Bruno Major gave a shout out to BTS V  on his IG post. [Source]

25. Producer/writer of 'The Simpsons' Al Jean responded to V’s request to be 'Drawn like a Simpson’. [Source] [Source] [Source]

26. According to Famous Birthdays, Tae is at #48 in the top 48 most popular Pop singers in the US. [Source]

27. Taehyung is at #2 in the “The Top 50 Most Searched K-Pop Male Idols In Mid 2019” according to Google. [Source] [Source]

28. BTS V helped increase the sales of a small charitable company called Choi Changnam made or ccnmade. The fund raised from their sales are used to sponsor dogs, cats and children with heart disease. [Source]

29. V’s perfume Eu de Musk was the first and only perfume that sold out in less than an hour at the VT Cosmetics Carollton Texas, USA and even VT Cosmetics Vietnam said that Eau de Musk is out of stock all over the world. [Source]

30. V is the 2nd most searched K-pop idols based on global Google searches in 2019 according to Nielsen. [Source] [Source]

31. V was praised for his unique tone and charming vocals by vocal coaches and musicians such as Rok-Town, JoongSeob Shim, Adam Mishan, Charlie J Perry, Yoon Jong Shin etc. [Source] [Source] 

32. Just immediately after V’s  Seoul promotional video was released, fans were mesmerized by BTS V's cuteness and trendy fashion especially the robe he was wearing in the advertisement. Curious Army flocked online to search for the clothing brand only to be amused and disappointed at the same time-THE ROBE WAS SOLD OUT----AGAIN

https://twitter.com/TK_MyBaBies

33. BTS V's  Mattel dolls has also sold out globally. Fans attested that they were not able to get hold of the doll in Barnes and Nobles New York, and even from  the famous SM Megamall, one of the biggest and most popular shopping malls in the Philippines, where even the BTS V DOLL ON DISPLAY was sold out. The doll is not even available for order online, based on an ARMY's testimony. 

[https://www.allkpop.com/article/2019/09/bts-v-achieves-another-all-kill-sold-out-clothes-and-toys-harnessing-the-power-of-his-brand-name] 

[carolinesiede]

My 2019 Writing Roundup

Not to get too New Age-y, but 2019 felt like a very ~transformative~ year for me. I turned 30, got a literary agent, and became a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. After feeling like I’d hit a plateau in my late 20s, it was nice to experience a sense of forward momentum again, even if the lack of financial stability in this career is a constant background stress. Still, on the whole my sixth year as a full-time freelancer felt like a time where I kinda, sorta figured out what I’m doing. Instead of struggling in murky waters, I’m at least actively swimming in them.

I continued to write for The A.V. Club, The Spool, and Consequence of Sound, plus took on new outlets in The Verge and Polygon. I also had an article about romantic comedies published in Southwest Airline’s in-flight magazine and was asked to talk about Hallmark Channel Christmas rom-coms on Canadian radio. Speaking of rom-coms, 2019 was the second year (and first full-year) for When Romance Met Comedy, and I feel like the column really came into its own this year. It’s by far the biggest undertaking of my career (I’ve covered 47 films in total so far!), and I’m really excited to continue shaping its voice in 2020.

Beyond finding a regular fitness routine and seeing Cats onstage for the first time, the biggest personal project I undertook in 2019 was immersing myself in the world of film and film criticism—something I started in mid-2018 and really amped up this year. My goal was to watch 300 new-to-me movies this year, and I wound up watching 355! (Including 129 new releases.) Regular access to CFCA screenings and screeners allowed me to be a bigger part of the film critic conversation than I’ve been in the past, which was exciting. I also tackled a bunch of blindspots from the past decade and put together a list of my 50 favorite films of the 2010s, which you can see right here:

Over on the TV side of things, I bid farewell to the Netflix Defenders universe with binge-review coverage of the final seasons of The Punisher and Jessica Jones. Those Marvel binge-reviews were a big part of my early career, so seeing that universe come to a close was bittersweet. It’s always nerve-wracking when a semi-regular assignment ends, but I’m hopeful that new projects will pop up to take its place.

Putting together this year-end retrospective also made me realize I was on a lot of podcasts in 2019, including jumping in as a regular guest on the Cinematic Universe podcast in the latter half of the year. Podcasting is something I really enjoy (I find talking so much easier than writing!), and I’d love to do more of it in the future.

With that, I’ll leave you with wishes for a Happy New Year and a roundup of all the major writing I did in 2019. If you enjoyed my work this year, it would mean a lot if you would support me on either Kofi or PayPal. Or just share some of your favorite pieces with your friends!

My 15 favorite TV shows of 2019

My 15 favorite films of 2019

Op-eds and Features

“Rom-Com Revival” for Southwest The Magazine

Avengers: Endgame doesn’t earn its big “girl power” moment

An MCU breakup could be a terrific step forward for Spider-Man

“What is a weekend?”: A catch-up guide to Downton Abbey’s cast and characters

Nope, seeing Cats the musical will not help you understand Cats the movie

Let’s talk about the ending of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women

TV Coverage

Doctor Who’s 2019 New Year’s Special

The Punisher S2

Jessica Jones S3

The Crown S3

This Is Us S3 and S4

Supergirl S4 and S5

Rent: Live

Jane The Virgin fill-in

The Tony Awards

The Little Mermaid Live! 

When Romance Met Comedy

27 Dresses doesn’t deserve your hate and neither does Katherine Heigl

Bride & Prejudice weaves an impressive cultural critique into a Bollywood-inspired Jane Austen update

How does the original What Women Want hold up two decades later?

In 1990, Pretty Woman changed romantic comedies forever

For one brief, wonderful moment, Eddie Murphy reinvented himself as a romantic-comedy star

20 years later, 10 Things I Hate About You remains a model for how to do the teen rom-com right

Lloyd Dobler is Cameron Crowe’s original manic pixie dream date

We're just not that into He’s Just Not That Into You

Romance is the weakest aspect of one of the most celebrated rom-coms of the ’90s

To All The Boys and Netflix reminded the world why it’s smitten with rom-coms

Imagine Me & You gives a lesbian love story the classic rom-com treatment

Queer resilience thrives in this rom-com about love in the time of the AIDS crisis

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is bubbly and smart, just like Marilyn Monroe

The Best Man capped off one decade of black rom-coms and inspired another

Nicolas Cage romanced Cher in one of the weirdest rom-coms ever made

After a decade of discourse, (500) Days Of Summer is basically the Fight Club of rom-coms

It’s No Strings Attached versus Friends With Benefits in a rom-com showdown

Adam Sandler’s sweetness makes The Wedding Singer a rom-com worth growing old with

The Philadelphia Story delivered one of the most star-studded love triangles ever

13 Going On 30 made Jennifer Garner a rom-com star—and gave tween girls a sleepover staple

Celebrate Halloween with Warm Bodies, the film that tried to make zom-rom-coms a thing

In the 2010s, rom-coms went indie and saved themselves in the process

Sandra Bullock became a rom-com star with a cozy love story about crushing loneliness

With just two storylines, The Holiday paid tribute to the entire rom-com genre

The A.V. Club

The maudlin Five Feet Apart anoints a new pair of winning young stars

After thinks it’s beautiful, that’s what makes it tiresome

Teen Spirit has plenty of it

Ramy is a Muslim millennial comedy with impressively big questions on its mind

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson’s new comedy The Hustle pulls an inelegant con

The Sun Is Also A Star turns a compelling premise into a lackluster teen romance

The Art Of Racing In The Rain is a doggone mess

You don’t need to love Springsteen to like the thoughtful crowd-pleaser Blinded By The Light

The well-meaning Brittany Runs A Marathon can’t quite go the distance

Renée Zellweger zings in a Judy Garland biopic that clangs

The Downton Abbey movie is as pleasant as a cozy cup of tea

Tall Girl’s familiar teen love story fails to reach new heights

The new Lady And The Tramp feels like a ’90s update of a ’50s classic

The Verge/Polygon

Tigers Are Not Afraid puts a Pan’s Labyrinth spin on a poignant Mexican drug war story

The gloriously surreal space epic Ad Astra is half a great movie

An AI affair fuels a midlife crisis in the eerie science fiction drama Auggie

The painfully generic new animated Addams Family deserves no snaps

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is boldly bonkers

Netflix’s apocalyptic teen comedy Daybreak is an exhausting sugar rush

The Current War is basically Amadeus for electricity

Is Playmobil: The Movie just a reskinned Lego Movie?

The Spool

The LEGO Movie 2: Everything is About Half as Awesome

Isn’t It Romantic: An Instant Postmodern Rom-Com Classic

The Aftermath: Sumptuous but Surface-Level Melodrama

Late Night: A Sparkling Comedy With a Lot On Its Mind

Plus One: An Indie Millennial When Harry Met Sally

The Farewell is A Poignantly Funny Goodbye

Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A whimsical mid-life crisis

After the Wedding: A grown-up drama that doesn’t trust its own story

Falling Inn Love: Love, New Zealand Style

Paradise Hills: Harajuku Gossip Girls

Consequence of Sound

Brexit Takes An Engaging But Ultimately Shallow Look At the 2016 Vote

What Men Want Flips the Script and Finds Mixed Results

Dumbo Delights Without Ever Fully Taking Flight

Someone Great Continues Netflix’s Romantic Comedy Revival

Aladdin Has the Animated Classic’s Songs, But Less of Its Personality

MindMeet Interviews

Nadine Hack and Global Citizens Circle: Creating Connectedness

Podcast Appearances

Filmography: When Harry Met Sally

Filmography: Tim Burton’s mature films (Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, Big Fish, Big Eyes)

Debating Doctor Who MCU Edition: Avengers: Endgame

Cinematic Universe: Alita: Battle Angel

Hall of Faces: Friends

Cinematic Universe: Joker

Hall of Faces: The West Wing

CBC Radio: Hallmark Christmas movies

Cinematic Universe: The Wolverine

Cinematic Universe: Awards Special—The Cuppies 2019 (Part One)

And here are similar year-end wrap-ups I did in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

[modelcitizemag]

Sergey Lukash

Sergey Lukash                                                        

@sergey_lukash                                                           

https://www.instagram.com/sergey_lukash/                                                     

Country                                                                                                      

Ukraine                                                                                            

State / Region                                                                                                                

Kharkov                                                                                                                         

Photographer                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ABOUT                                                                                             

                                                                                   If I want to do something I'll do it. I work hard to achieve my goals. I try to always have my feet on the ground.

                                                                                                    Sergey, what are your passion and aspiration in life? How did you start as Photographer?

 Inspires family, friends, everything around.

 Who is your inspiration in life Sergey? How do you stay inspired as a Photographer?

 Alexi Lubomirski

 We all make mistakes Sergey, we wish we could take back. What was the mistake you made in the past that you wish you can take back?

 I would like to go back and come to today's favourite work much earlier.

 Sergey, How do you describe yourself in terms of working with clients?

 Loyal, friendly, very neat and demanding to herself

                                                  Please tell us Sergey, how do you prioritise work, social life, friends, and family?

 There is something to strive for, to grow. Both professional and personal.

                                                                                              Sergey, please give us an example of a time when you were able to successfully persuade someone to see things your way at work.

 I think I have a good intuition. It helps with everything.

 Sergey please tell us about your proudest professional accomplishment as a Photographer.

 Every client is my achievement!

 Sergey, please give us an example of a time you were able to be creative with your work. What was exciting or difficult about it?

 It is challenging to have inspiration on click; it is difficult to assemble a team for a particular project, i.e. to find people working with you on the same wave.

 What advice would you give to the people who wants to be successful as a Photographer?

 Work hard

 Photo Credits:

Photographer: Sergey Lukash @sergey_lukash

Check out the latest issues of Model Citizen Magazine.

[amyckdotco]

Rushiraj Shah

Rushiraj Shah                                                          

@rushirajsshah                                                             

http://www.rushirajshah.com                                 

Country                                                                                                      

Canada                                                                                             

State / Region                                                                                                                

BC                                                                                                                                  

Photographer                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ABOUT                                                                                             

                                                                                    Photo Credits:

Photographer: Rushiraj Shah

Check out the latest issues of Model Citizen Magazine.

[nosusdotco]

Rushiraj Shah

Rushiraj Shah                                                          

@rushirajsshah                                                             

http://www.rushirajshah.com                                 

Country                                                                                                      

Canada                                                                                             

State / Region                                                                                                                

BC                                                                                                                                  

Photographer                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ABOUT                                                                                             

                                                                                    Photo Credits:

Photographer: Rushiraj Shah

Check out the latest issues of Model Citizen Magazine.