#and evgeny 2007

[thingsmk1120sayz]

[rearte2]

by Evgeny Utkin, 2007

[justineportraits]

Evgeny Balakshin The Bathhouse 2007

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

SET FOUR - ROUND ONE - MATCH ONE

“There Will Be No Miracles Here” (2007-09 - Nathan Coley) / "Symphony of the Sixth Blast Furnace" (1979 - Evgeny Sedukhin)

THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE: This one’s a popular one. I’ve seen a lot of different pictures of it floating around online—these are just two of my favorites. It never fails to hit, though.

There will be no Miracles Here was (and possibly still is? I’m not sure if it’s still standing) a work of art that quoted, according to the National Galleries website, “a seventeenth-century royal proclamation made in a French town believed to have been the frequent site of miracles.” The site further says, “Coley’s practice is based in an interest in public space, and how systems of personal, social, religious and political belief structure our towns and cities, and thereby ourselves.”

It definitely makes me examine my social and political belief structure. Every time I see it I have to say the words slowly, feel them in my mouth: “There will be no miracles here.” It’s become, oddly enough, a litany for me. It’s a reminder, for me, that the only way out is through; that when I think I have no one else, I have myself. No one can save me but me. With every challenge I overcome, I say it to myself again: “There will be no miracles here.” It makes me feel scared and alone and proud to be alive, where I am. I’m here, in spite of the miracles, in spite of the lack of them. (@sherlockwatson)

SYMPHONY OF THE SIXTH BLAST FURNACE: The composition of the industrial machinery and the rays of artificial sun beaming through billowing steam set a glorious backdrop to the miniscule figures set in silhouette on the catwalks. Its as if this was painted just to remind you how small you are, set against the vastness of industry, and how beautiful it can be. (@lupinus-bicolor)

("There Will Be No Miracles Here" is an outdoor light installation by Scottish artist Nathan Coley. It is 6 m high and is on display at Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art (Modern Two).

"Symphony of the Sixth Blast Furnace" is an oil on canvas painting by Soviet artist Evgeny Sedukhin.)

[pikilos]

Evgeni Malkin helping out with building a structure during the Habitat for Humanity event at the American Airlines Center.

12/23/2007

[x]

[sergeifyodorov]

i cringe to even say this because it just feels so off but a (let's be honest, sidgeno) fic where sid goes to anaheim instead in 2005 (and maybe even baby bedard later if we dodge the conspiracy theories and just play pretend, as god intended) would rewrite my brain tbh. captain evgeni malkin? only seeing each other twice a year? a ducks v pens final? or it could even be like your tony fic but make sid go to other teams in a hell loop.....

now this is CERTAINLY an interesting prospect. the ducks in those days were so diff tho like... sid wouldve been teammates with SERGEI FEDOROV, RYAN GETZLAF, Hart-era COREY PERRY, and motherfucking TEEMU SELANNE... that's immediately a superteam. they won the cup in 2007 even without sid!!!! what even!!!!! maybe they'd still be the mighty ducks idk that branding change was a bad idea the old colouring/jersey goes kinda hard. sid with his pale, red-cheeked face, each feature somehow both too big and perfectly balanced, and that coal-dark hair in the Silly-Ass Ducks Jersey.

anyway with western conference sidney we'd have soooooo much more fun with the geno/ovi rivalry also... esp in 2009 when geno goes on that Conn Smythe Murderous Rampage (and defeats the caps on the way). sorry im temporarily ignoring sidgeno here but thinking thoughts anyway.

the real sid rival in that case would likely be the SHARKS.... ough. not that i know much abt that sharks era but they were so so good in there for so long (looking at them now makes this hard to believe but. it's true) and the SEDIN-ERA CANUCKS and EARLY KOPI KINGS.... all that to say the western road trips of the era would have thoroughly sucked for literally anyone who was anyone.

sorry nerding out about superteams. back to sidgeno we'd have to do this w like a.. hm. pittsburgh without sidney is different. they're still a reasonable team that's avoided having to be sold/moved but it's not hardly so much a hockey town. meanwhile anaheim's rabid; sid's practically a hollywood icon. not great when you're closeted, is it, to be a celebrity. so on his own eastern road trip, he slinks out in pittsburgh and walks until he finds a gay bar. and who does he see at this gay bar but a tall, familiar russian with an expressive face and hands the size of dinner plates?

because even a hockey superstar can get away with cruising in pittsburgh, because nobody cares in pittsburgh. the two of them get to talking, sid more to geno than geno to sid because sid's like, friendly and chatty and secretly so, so jealous of this kind of privacy. and it kind of. goes from there

[ta9158234]

The mass grave

In November 2008, Mikhail Beketov was attacked and brutally beaten. He spent the next 18 months in hospitals, where doctors removed the shattered skull fragments that pierced his brain and amputated his right foot and three fingers on his left hand. He spent the rest of his short life confined to a wheelchair, barely able to speak. Five years later, Beketov died.

The journalist’s assailants were never identified. Beketov suggested that Khimki Mayor Yuri Korablin may have been behind the attack. Several months earlier, he had started receiving threats, and in 2007 someone set fire to his car. Beketov said the intimidation was linked to his critical news reporting about construction projects approved by the city.

From 1994 to 2001, Mikhail Beketov served as the press secretary for Khimki Mayor Yuri Korablin. After leaving office, he used his own resources to launch Khimkinskaya Pravda, an opposition newspaper that was highly critical of the city’s new mayor, Vladimir Strelchenko. Beginning in 2007, Khimkinskaya Pravda covered various local conflicts, including the battle to preserve the Khimki Forest. The newspaper made a name for itself with a series of articles about the reburial of the remains of six military pilots from a mass grave located in a public square near the Leningrad Highway.

The authorities in Khimki justified the mass grave’s relocation as necessary for the expansion of the Leningradskoye Highway (though journalists also reported that officials were concerned about prostitutes working in the same public square, supposedly “defiling the memory of Russia’s fallen war heroes”). Local activists argued that the pilots’ remains were moved to free up land for the construction of a new shopping center. After reporting by Khimkinskaya Pravda, national TV networks and other activists started paying attention to the story about the mass grave.

Mikhail Beketov wrote that tractors were used to pull up the soldiers’ graves, and the men’s bones were tossed into plastic bags. Some of the remains were apparently lost. On network television, Beketov shared photographs he’d taken at the former site of the mass grave, showing what appeared to be human bones lying around. Because of the newspaper’s coverage, and because Beketov accused him of destroying his car, Mayor Strelchenko filed a defamation lawsuit against Khimkinskaya Pravda’s founder.

Today, business centers occupy the forested space for which Beketov gave his life. After the public controversy, however, Khimki’s authorities stopped short of building up the territory completely (though the land was already demarcated on the city’s estate map), and officials limited development to the roadside area. A year after the pilots were reburied, a business center was built a few hundred yards from the former site of the mass grave. The building belongs to Evgeny Golovkin, the son of Nikolai Golovkin, who managed Moscow’s Main Internal Affairs Directorate from 2001 to 2014. The companies that eventually took up residence at Golovkin’s business center include several businesses then owned by the wife of Vyacheslav Nyrkov, the head of “Ritual-Khimki” (the enterprise that was responsible for reburying the pilots).

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

For anyone who can't read it:

“Our son wants to be a soldier”: an interview with Ukraine’s first lady

Olena Zelenska on the war, homeschooling and Russia’s hit squads

Jun 19th 2022

By Oliver Carroll

The barbed wire, sandbags and sniper positions of Ukraine’s presidential compound make a dramatic backdrop for a photoshoot. But Olena Zelenska looks drained when she appears, wearing a flowing, electric-blue suit and clutching a pair of high heels to don for the photos. Ukraine’s first lady admits to being a reluctant interviewee.

The contrast with her media-hungry, jollier half is obvious. But her mood picks up when a familiar, husky voice roars from behind an open door: “I heard you were in the building.” The president smiles as he appears, then hardens at the sight of journalists, whom he seemingly wasn’t expecting. For five minutes, the photoshoot becomes the Volodymyr Zelensky show. “I wanted to see my wife, and now you’re making me work,” he quips to me, before turning for the camera. “You want our faces too, not only our backs?”

It was always going to be an adventure with Volodymyr, says Zelenska, from the moment he and two friends simultaneously proposed to Zelenska and two of her friends, when they were all travelling together in a white minibus as twenty-somethings. “Girls listen, we’ve had a chat, and this is what’s going to happen,” is how Zelenska, now 44, remembers his pitch. The high-school sweethearts had already been dating for eight years, but it wasn’t love at first sight, Zelenska says. She isn’t sure that she even liked him at the start: “He was just a boy I knew, someone I saw change from seventh grade to eleventh grade.” The two were united by their sense of humour (hers was better than his, she says) and a common group of friends who later formed Kvartal 95, the entertainment company that made Volodymyr famous. There was no question of Zelenska agreeing or not to the minibus proposal, let alone anyone getting on their knees: “It was fate, and all of that.” The three couples ended up getting married a week apart in the summer of 2003.

She was impressed by his daily videos – but thought they should have been half the length

They had grown up alongside each other in Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city in southern Ukraine, now near the front line of the war. She remembers romantic summers spent with Volodymyr and their friends, listening to music and hanging out by the river. Their choice of a career in comedy – she wrote the scripts, Volodymyr performed – later propelled them to the bright lights of Kyiv, which has since become their home. It was there that her husband, having played the part of a teacher-turned-president in a popular TV series, “Servant of the People”, launched his audacious bid to become the real president in 2019. They could never have expected what was going to happen to Ukraine. “We were naive,” she says. “We thought that we could win through honest work and graft. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than that.”

It was still dark when Zelenska woke up on February 24th 2022, thinking that she’d heard fireworks. Her husband was already in the room next door, fully clothed. “It’s started,” he said, and immediately left. It was Zelenska’s task to tell her nine-year-old son Kyrylo, and 17-year-old daughter Oleksandra, what was happening. She told herself she mustn’t cry as she walked down the corridor, quaking. But when she got to the kids’ rooms she realised they were already awake and “knew everything”.

She told them to get ready for a trip to the countryside: “I had to show that everything was just great, cool, that it was an adventure.” By that evening the three of them were in a secret location far from the capital; her cheeks hurt after a day of fake smiles.

The first lady says she survived the early days on a mix of adrenaline and Valerian before the latter ran out. She tried not to think about her husband being named as target number one for Russian hit squads – or about herself and her children being target number two. The “professionals” would do what was necessary to keep them all safe: “I understood that I understood nothing, but was responsible for the kids and needed to react to the situation.” Like Ukrainians across the country, the presidential family suddenly divided along gender lines. He donned military green and showed his battle face to the world. She kept her private vigil, tending to the home front.

Every time the sirens wailed Zelenska and her children would rush down to the bomb shelter; up and down, up and down again. She couldn’t sleep, and often watched her nine-year-old as he napped or played on his phone. One time she dozed off only to be woken by her son. “Mum,” he said, “time to go to the shelter.” Many of her friends – actors and writers – signed up for Ukraine’s army and territorial defence. When her husband introduced martial law, banning any man aged 18-60 from leaving the country, many women fled with their children; others, like her, found a wartime role away from the front.

“Civilisation is a thin film, torn very quickly. It’s frightening to realise that it’s not shared by people living alongside us, not shared by the monsters of Bucha”

Civilisation is a “thin film torn very quickly,” says Zelenska. Her immediate fear about what the Russians might do – to her family, to her country – turned into a dawning realisation of all that mankind is capable of. “We thought that everyone was the same, that the decades of humanity in Europe were the values we all lived by. That turned out not to be the case.” News of atrocities in Bucha, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol have unfolded like a bad film, she says. “It’s frightening to realise this thin enamel of civilisation is not shared by people living alongside us, not shared by the monsters of Bucha.” She goes on: “Mariupol can happen anywhere at any time in any country. Now I really think that anything is possible.”

As the world woke up to the horrors of war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky became a figurehead of the free world. Many have remarked on his extraordinary evolution from showman to international statesman, but Zelenska says she has not been surprised by it. “Volodymyr was always someone I could rely on. That simply became more obvious to more people.” Before the war, she used to take it personally when Volodymyr was criticised. But he was always brave enough to be himself, she says. “It’s an illusion that an actor remains an actor. He’s as open as a human being can be. I can read his face like a book, and I’m sure you can too.”

The couple didn’t see each other for over two months. Like other Ukrainians, Zelenska watched her husband’s daily speeches to the nation on social media – she was impressed by them even if, she suggests, the finished product should have been half the length. “Volodymyr always says I criticise him too much, that I never praise him enough,” she allows herself a rare bellow of laughter. She also observed her husband’s blooming facial hair (trimmed back since she returned to Kyiv recently). His beard reminded her of happier times: summer holidays when filming was over and he could let himself go. In wartime, it meant something else.

The pair spoke regularly during their time apart, and he’d chat with the kids “about all sorts of things, even just nonsense”. But it was the first lady who sat with her son as he did his homework, and coaxed her daughter through her final year of school. She made the meals, not that that was a big change: her husband was always a weekend cook, a meat-on-sticks kind of man.

“Volodymyr always says I criticise him too much, that I never praise him enough”

When Volodymyr became president in 2019, Zelenska took on initiatives appropriate to a first lady: improving school meals, promoting Ukrainian culture, tackling gender inequality. To hold such a role during wartime has added a unique set of pressures. She talks of others experiencing trauma, but she too feels it. She wouldn’t wish the situation on anybody. “No one wants to be at the epicentre of these terrible events,” she says. She stopped writing scripts – this was no time for comedy – and diverted her energies into evacuating vulnerable children and rolling out psychological support. Last year she convened a network of first ladies – now she mobilised this group to help arrange treatment abroad for hundreds of ill and injured children. Jill Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine in May; Brigitte Macron greeted a flight of evacuees arriving in Paris: “The plane was full of terrified mums and kids, and to see her climb on board was a wonderful gesture.”

Zelenska worries that, with the flight of so many Ukrainians abroad, much of the country’s potential has disappeared. But the future is almost too frightening to think about, she says. For now, every Ukrainian has to protect what they have, “to survive and live at any cost”. Like Zelenska herself, many have already returned from havens elsewhere and are now daring to live something of a normal life. Yet “the idea that it’s an ordinary summer is an illusion”. War rages in the east. Atrocities unfold. And everyone knows that life is on hold – including her own. She still does not see her husband more than once or twice a week.

Like other parents, Zelenska fears for the next generation. The most unfortunate ones are receiving their young in body bags. Zelenska knows she is lucky to have her children close by. Her daughter is about to turn 18, and will soon go to university in Kyiv. Her son has longer to go before reaching that milestone: “I really hope that when he’s 18, we will have had many years of living in a free and peaceful country,” says Zelenska. At present, life – and Ukraine – seem a long way from that. “The most frightening thing of all is that he tells everyone he wants to be a soldier.” ■

Oliver Carroll is a correspondent for The Economist in Ukraine. You can read the rest of our coverage of the war here

PHOTOGRAPHS: FRANCO PAGETTI / VII AGENCY

Here we have a new interview with Olena! It's kinda ironic, their son wants to be a soldier. I hope he will change his mind in the future. 😉

[incorrect-penguins]

Sidney Crosby: Please could you go to the shop and get a carton of milk, if they have avocados get six.

Evgeni Malkin, coming back from the store with six cartons of milk: They had avocados!

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #81

Yuri!!! on Life

Sayo Yamamoto x Mitsurou Kubo conversation

Part 3.

The cue to start watching figure skating for me was Torino Olympics.

Interviewer: Why did you start watching figure skating?

Y: I've started watching figure skating after I quit my job at a company.

K: After you quit your job?!

Y: At the end of 2003 I left Madhouse Studio and since 2004 I've been working on anime production and as anime director as a freelancer. So after I quit the company, I've watched Torino Olympics, Vancouver Olympics, Sochi Olympics… Around the time of Torino Olympics, I haven't been yet in a position where I could control my work schedule that much, so I haven't got much free time. From around that time, the number of skaters I was interested in started to gradually increase.

K: So who were you interested in at that time?

Y: Stephane Lambiel, Johnny Weir, Jeffrey Buttle, Brian Joubert. Just by saying those names, you start to get excited, right (laugh).

K: I know! At that time I hadn't known much about figure skaters, but I was interested in them.

Y: And Evgeni Plushenko was there too! You couldn't help but be interested.

K: At that time the percentage of foreign skaters that were absolutely amazing was very high.

Y: Even when they just showed skaters waiting for the 6 minutes warm up session, I remember thinking "What a picturesque shot!", and fascinated I was taking pictures of my TV screen… When you start talking about which performance of which skater was good, then it's always like: "But if you mentioned that performance, you have to also mention this one…". It's difficult to talk about your favourites, when you're basically a fan of all skaters… But if I have to, I'd say that Stephane Lambiel's FS at Worlds in 2007, "Poeta" left a huge impression on me. Why didn't I watch it live at the Worlds? I want to time travel and smack myself for not watching it live - like: why haven't you watched it when there's nothing more important that you could have possibly been doing than watching the Worlds!?!

K: So just like this, you have experienced how scenic figure skaters are, am I right?

Y: Right. At that time I haven't even thought about going to see competitions in person. I was actually even wondering what type of people can just go and see the competitions live. The first time I went to see figure skating live in person, was much later and it was to see Johnny Weir's exhibition program "Poker face" in 2009. And then it was like rolling down a steep slope…

K: Among my friends and managers, there are a lot of people who like ballet and various sports, so I have been going with them to see ballet, or football, or F1. That's why I knew that if there was somebody who knows a lot about the discipline and I can trust them, then I would be fine working with them, because the groundwork, so to speak, has already been done. And you are a fan of skating, so the groundwork was there, when you asked me to work on the project. That's why I just jumped in with no hesitation, knowing that you would teach me a lot about figure skating. I don't know when I will get this money back, but I paid from my own pocket to see competition after competition.

[powerplayunit]

The stories you don't know about Evgeni Malkin's journey to 1,000 points

Mar 13, 2019 (x)

Evgeni Malkin is not one to take for granted having scored 1,000 points in the NHL. However, but he does have more lofty goals on his mind.

“I know what (Sergei) Fedorov did,” Malkin said, referring to his childhood idol. “I want to have more than him.” Goals? Points? Games? “More goals. More points. Of course. And Fedorov has three Cups, same as me. So I need one more. Maybe two. I don’t know. At least one.”

Despite his omission from the NHL 100 a couple of years ago, Malkin remains a star with few peers regarding achievements. He is one of only a handful of players to claim the Stanley Cup, and the Art Ross, Calder, Conn Smythe and Hart trophies. He is also one of only five Russians to join the Millennium Club among scorers.

Those who know Malkin best shared their memorable stories from his run to 1,000 points.

Geno pulls rank Sidney Crosby thought he knew “the rules.” He was wrong. And even though Malkin spoke few words of English during his earliest days with the Penguins, he knew enough to pull rank on the other young superstar center in Pittsburgh.

Prior to Malkin’s first regular-season game at the old Civic Arena in 2006, he and Crosby instinctively remained behind as Penguins teammates took to the ice for the opening period. As it came down to Malkin and Crosby, each player looked at each other wondering which one should go next.

“And we couldn’t really say it, right?” Crosby said, smiling. “And I’m, like, ‘Geno, you can go.’ I mean, like, ‘You. Can. Go.’ And he’s, like, ‘Oh no, you go.’ You know? And that’s, like, the most he would hear at that point.”

Again, Crosby insisted that Malkin be the penultimate Penguin to take the ice. Malkin held firm.

Crosby suggested they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to break the stalemate.

“And then I’m, like, ‘Wait a second, he’s not going to know what Rock, Paper, Scissors are,’” Crosby said.

Crosby next tried cutting to the chase. He explained that Malkin should go next so that Crosby could go last. Again, Malkin held firm.

“He goes, ‘No, three years (in) Super League,’” Crosby said. “I go, ‘This is the NHL, I went last year.’ He goes, ‘Super League (is) best league in the world.’ And I’m, like, ‘What?!’

“What he just said was more than I heard him say up to that point.”

And at that point, Crosby experienced Malkin’s preference to make a point in a roundabout way.

“He was basically trying to say, ‘Hey, I’m older, you’re younger — I’m going (last).’ But he couldn’t say that in English. So I said, ‘OK.’ And so I ended up going second, and that’s how it goes.

“That’s the story of why Geno goes last, you know? To this day, we still go in that order.”

Geno gets a crush

Max Talbot had no idea how he would handle rooming with Malkin on the road during the 2007-08 season. Between them, they spoke three languages but didn’t have one in common.

After the first couple of road trips, Talbot realized that he and Malkin did have something in common: the “Transformers” movies. During his second NHL season, Malkin became obsessed with the original “Transformers” film after Talbot purchased it on their hotel room’s television the night before a game.

“Oh, Geno watched it, like, every night,” Talbot said. “I mean, it’s not a great movie, you know? You can see it once or twice. But Geno … he always wanted to watch that ‘Transformers’ movie. You could say it got a little bit annoying.”

One night, Talbot attempted to coax Malkin into going out for dinner. Malkin declined. He invited Talbot to order room service and join him for a viewing of his favorite movie. It became the last straw.

“I said, ‘Geno, why do you always watch that movie?’” Talbot said. “He said, ‘Look (at) girl, learn English.’ And, honest to God, I probably laughed for the next five minutes.

“He had a crush on that actress (Megan Fox). He watched the movie because she was in it, right? And I guess (Sergei) Gonchar had told Geno to learn English by watching the same movie over and over. So, Geno watched that ‘Transformers’ movie because he liked that girl.”

A few weeks later, during his first group interview with Pittsburgh media, the ice was broken when Malkin recognized the word “Transformers” during a question I asked. The next day, when reading my story to Malkin, Gonchar did Talbot a favor.

“Gonchar said to Geno, ‘You know, there is a second movie,’” Talbot said. “And all I could think was ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ At least it wasn’t the same movie the rest of the year.’”

Geno learns to lie Technically, these next anecdotes are not from Malkin’s days with the Penguins. However, they were provided by his parents Vladimir and Natalia, who almost as beloved in Pittsburgh as their son.

As a 4-year-old in his native Magnitogorsk, Malkin and his father played 1-on-1 hockey outside the apartment complex where the family lived. Evgeni was behind the net one day when Vladimir shot a puck that deflected and hit Evgeni in the eye.

“I said to him, ‘What do we do? Your mom will surely be upset,’” Vladimir said. “He said, ‘Let’s not tell mom, she won’t let us play anymore.’”

Later that night, during supper, Natalia never asked her youngest son or his father about a mark near Evgeni’s eye. She did not say a word about anything during dinner.

“You could tell she knew,” Vladimir said. “We never have talked about it.”

About seven years after that incident, Evgeni was again injured — this time during an off-ice training session. He landed wrong while jumping. His leg was broken, and Evgeni was forced into a cast and to use crutches.

“This was before a tournament,” Natalia said. “We let him go with his teammates, but insisted, of course, that he could not play.”

Natalia and Vladimir were unaware that Evgeni’s coach had seen him playing tennis — the sport was a favorite pastime for Evgeni and elder brother, Denis — while on the crutches. The coach was convinced Evgeni could still help their team win the tournament even though Evgeni could not walk.

At the rink, Evgeni’s teammates helped him cut the cast off his leg with a rusty saw and then cram his foot into a skate boot. Evgeni returned home without a cast, still using crutches and also carrying a trophy awarded to the tournament MVP.

“I was not happy with him; but, yes, I was happy for him,” Natalia said. “It was never easy to keep him from hockey. I blame his father.”

Geno sees his future

Penguins centers Evgeni Malkin (left) and Sidney Crosby raised the Stanley Cup for the third time in June of 2017. (Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)

The day before Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final — so, the day before the biggest game of his life — Malkin walked into the players’ lounge at Civic Arena and spotted me sitting against a doorway’s wall. During a 20-minute conversation, he discussed the many differences from the previous postseason, which ended with the Penguins watching the Detroit Red Wings skate with the Cup in Pittsburgh.

Malkin, who played injured during that 2008 Cup final, was healthy this time around. He had the postseason lead in scoring to prove it. But he wanted more than the Conn Smythe Trophy he would ultimately claim.

He pointed to a picture on the wall that showed Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr each holding up the Stanley Cup from the Penguins’ championship win in 1992.

“Me and Sid,” Malkin said. “We get our picture. It’s time.”

On the page of my notebook, I scribbled Malkin’s words and marked the time he said them into my digital recorder. I asked if I could write that part in my story advancing Game 7 at Detroit.

“Yes, you write (it), Rossi,” Malkin said. “Because we (will) win.”

The Penguins won the 2009 final. The Red Wings watched them take laps with the Cup on Joe Louis Arena’s ice. It was Malkin’s first team title at any level as a professional.

He needed another couple of Cup wins by the Penguins to finally get that picture with Crosby, though.

It was taken after the Penguins finished off the Predators at Nashville in Game 6 of the 2017 final. As he had in 2009, Malkin was the top scorer in the 2017 postseason. On the ice, he and Crosby recreated the Lemieux-Jagr pose from 1992.

That picture hangs in Malkin’s condominium on Fisher Island in Florida.

Geno gives props Gonchar had been gone from Pittsburgh for a couple of seasons when Malkin headed to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show in June 2012. Though their bond had strengthened in Gonchar’s absence, Malkin’s big night was not on Gonchar’s mind the evening of the broadcast.

“We were just sitting down at the table for dinner, and I turned on the TV with (eldest daughter) Natalie to watch cartoons,” Gonchar said. “I start getting all these text messages: ‘Great job.’ ‘Such wonderful things for Evgeni to say.’ And I didn’t get it — like, ‘What are they talking about?’”

Gonchar and his family had not planned to watch the televised broadcast of the NHL awards show. “I knew he would win,” Gonchar said. “I knew he would tell me about it.”

Malkin had already given one acceptance speech at the ceremony, so he was somewhat unprepared when taking the stage to accept the Hart Trophy. And in a callback to his first couple of seasons with the Penguins, when Malkin lived with the Gonchar family, he turned his MVP moment into a tribute to his best friend.

Thankfully, that best friend’s daughter showed Gonchar a video replay of the speech — after the cartoons, though.

“You know, I wanted to talk to him right away — after those text messages,” Gonchar said. “I called and left him a message. He never called me back.”

Instead, Malkin showed up the next afternoon at Gonchar’s house. He had a miniature Hart Trophy with him. And a fishing rod.

“He spent, like, the next 10 days with us,” Gonchar said. “It was a lot of time fishing and swimming. It was not different from any other time he was with us.”

Well, it was different one afternoon. Gonchar asked Malkin about the dedication.

https://youtu.be/RR8V88ClAtw

“He said, ‘Why talk, just watch (the) video,’” Gonchar said, laughing.

“But Evgeni was saying that he had to give a speech if he won and how he thinks everything’s been said when he won the other awards. He was telling me he just felt like he wanted to say something else. But he did not really prepare another speech. He wasn’t thinking. He was feeling emotions. It just came out.”

And that is as far as Gonchar allowed Malkin to go with the conversation about the Hart Trophy dedication.

“He was getting very emotional,” Gonchar said. “I was emotional, too. So we started talking about something else.

“We’re still Russian, I guess.”

Geno finds a friend One afternoon in August 2012, Evgeni and I walked through the Kremlin’s grounds with a photographer. The idea was to get some photographs of Malkin walking near historic sites that were a quick hop from his Moscow apartment. We would consider these for photos for the cover of his authorized biography.

During those couple of hours, Malkin started feeling his sweet tooth and stopped by a street vendor’s ice cream cart. A boy approached. Malkin offered to buy him a cone. The boy accepted.

As Malkin and the boy chatted, a woman hurried to the reigning MVP of the NHL. She appeared to scold the boy, then Malkin. In an attempt to calm her — or at least explain himself — Malkin motioned as though he would to pose for a ceremonial faceoff. He then mimicked shooting a puck with an imaginary stick. As he did this, the boy pointed and repeatedly shouted “Malkin!” but the woman remained defiant.

She grabbed the boy’s ice cream cone and handed it to Malkin. She left with the child’s hand in hers.

Malkin smiled as he rejoined our group. I asked what had happened. He explained that the woman did not want to spoil her son’s dinner. I suggested he track them down and explain who he was.

“I did,” Malkin said. “I say, ‘I’m Evgeni Malkin!’ She (did) not care. Maybe if I was Sid.”

Malkin waited a beat. His timing revealing the comedian he could have become had he not been born to do this hockey job.

“Sid (does) not eat ice cream,” Malkin said. “It’s why he’s (the) best player.”

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS ANTI – GRAVITY??

Blog#107

Wednesday, July 21st ,2021

Welcome back,

Gravity, you undoubtedly remember, is the attractive force between objects. It holds you to the planet and keeps the planet orbiting around the sun. As you might imagine, the idea of reducing, canceling or protecting against this effect of gravity is highly appealing.

Antigravity technology would revolutionize space exploration and energy production. It would slash the energy demands of travel and transportation. First, however, we’d just have to drastically alter our understanding of physics and figure out how to counter this powerful force.

As such, antigravity technology remains both the Holy Grail and a red flag. There’s been no shortage of hoaxes, conspiracy theories and credibility – straining reports regarding its research.

For example, in 1992, Russian physicist Evgeny Podkletnov claimed to have successfully tested a device that shields an object from gravity. The experiment involved levitating a superconducting disc above a magnet. No one – including NASA researchers – has been able to replicate this experiment in the nearly two decades since that time. In 2002, noted aviation journalist Nick Cook’s research into supposed Nazi antigravity research failed to win over critics. You might be starting to see why “antigravity” is a taboo subject.

Or why NASA has chosen previously to research antigravity through projects with names like Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project (1996-2002). NASA even published a booklet titled “Responding to Mechanical Antigravity” to help amateur and professional researchers, most of whom submitted ideas (as many as 100 per year) involving machines that falsely appeared to create an antigravity effect.

And just in case you’re wondering, NASA’s zero – gravity flights aboard modified C-9 aircraft are not examples of antigravity. Neither is the levitation effect achieved in 2007 by countering Casimir force, a quantum force that essentially causes objects to stick to one another – a type of nanofiction. Antigravity, on the other hand, involves lessening the effects of gravitational pull on an object, and the science just isn’t there yet.

Many scientists strongly believe that antigravity isn’t possible, given what we know about the universe and the laws that govern it. So for now, all those amazing antigravity gizmos are going to have to remain within the realm of science fiction.

SOURCE: science.howstuffworks.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, July 24th, 2021)

“WHY DO WE THINK THAT THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE IS ACCELERATING??”

[rinkrats]

What stands out about Crosby’s captaincy?

Yohe: Probably how incredible Crosby is with young players. If I had a dime for every time I’ve seen Crosby hanging out with players recently recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after games or practices, I’d have retired long ago. He has a special way with people and his greatest strength is that, though he’s one of the world’s most famous athletes, he’s almost freakishly down to earth. He literally has time for everyone and treats Evgeni Malkin the same as he treated Dustin Jeffrey. It was the secret to the 2016 championship. The Penguins decided to go young and bring up Bryan Rust, Matt Murray, Tom Kuhnhackl and Conor Sheary. He made them feel at home.

Rossi: The Penguins staged a media event inside the Igloo Club at Civic Arena to officially name Crosby as captain. About a month had passed since their opening-round loss to the Senators in the 2007 playoffs. Crosby, who played that series with a broken foot, showed up in a suit that fit snug. “It’s tight, right?” he said, poking fun at himself. “I haven’t been able to do anything because of the foot. If this is what happens when I don’t work out for a month, I’m probably going to get huge after I retire.” His combination of self-awareness and self-deprecation was startling given everybody in the room had gathered on his behalf. But I’ll never forget the last thing he said to me at that event: “Hey, good luck with the house thing — that’s a big deal.” Somehow, Crosby had heard from somebody that I was headed straight for the closing on my house after covering the event. I vividly remember driving to the closing in my car and thinking how ready he was to wear the ‘C,’ that his recognition of my big moment on his big day was something only a natural captain would do.

Favorite quirk?

Rossi: When Crosby really wants to get a point across, he uses a person’s first name instead of their nickname. Don’t know if this is intentional or something from his subconscious. But it’s rare, sort of private, and probably the thing I’ll remember most about him after everything else.

Gentille: Probably the times he randomly grows a mustache and doesn’t shave for a while. Sometimes, there’s no rhyme or reason — just a dude making a goofy facial-hair decision and sticking with it. Nothing to see here. From a guy who isn’t all that funny, deliberately or otherwise, it’s a window into … something. It’s also possible that he just likes having a mustache from time to time, but I’m choosing to add another layer of intentionality. Also, I know I mentioned it already, but the sandwich thing … putting jelly on top of peanut butter, not on the other piece of bread, is unfiltered insanity.

Yohe: I always enjoy watching him stickhandle on the logos in each building during warmups. You know why? It’s the only time you’ll ever see Crosby act like anything resembling a showoff. I’m not even saying he’s being one. But you could theoretically argue, “He’s got some of the greatest hands of all time, and he’s letting people know.” His work on the McDonald’s logo at PPG Paints Arena is very much the stuff of legend.

Crosby’s future looks like …

Yohe: It’s a tough one to answer because he’s so incredibly guarded in certain ways. But I would suggest he’ll always be involved in hockey, and presumably with the Penguins. He truly does love the game and, though he might take some time away from the game after he retires, I bet it won’t be for long. He comes from hardworking people, and he’s not the type to do nothing the rest of his life. My guess is he’ll play until he’s at least 40, maybe longer if his body allows. Then he’ll join the front office in some capacity, or perhaps ownership. He’s got the money to do it.

Gentille: I don’t think anyone knows, really — and that’s cool. The only guarantee, to me, is that whatever he does, he’s going to want to do. Maybe that’s playing until he’s 40, maybe not. Maybe it’s taking the Steve Yzerman route to the front office, maybe not. Maybe it’s spending a couple of post-career years hanging out in Southern California, maybe not. He’s in control, though. And I’m not sure he’s gotten enough credit for that so far.

Rossi: Here’s what I’ve never heard Crosby say, on or off the record: that he plans to play past his current contract. That being the highest-paid player is important. That he wants to play for another franchise. He has said he appreciates that people in Pittsburgh respect his privacy. He has said that he’d like for him, Malkin and Letang to finish what they started. He has said he doesn’t think about where he’ll finish on the all-time goals and points list. And I’ve never known him to lie, so taking Crosby at his word seems a safe bet. I’d like his future to include fatherhood because there’s a joy to him when he’s around teammates’ children that makes me wonder if what Sidney Patrick Crosby was put on this planet to do just about better than anybody else isn’t limited to playing hockey.

-Sidney Crosby through 1000 NHL games, 18 Feb 2021

[shintin]

Forget Me Not: Chapter 3 (Blue scarf and hat)

↳ Gojo Satoru x Female Reader

Description: Imagine that from the moment you opened your eyes into this world, you had no choice but to kill and shed the blood of others, that you had to fight alongside Toji Fushiguru and die with him.

What would you do when they force you to do something you don't like? When the torment of conscience presses on your throat, will you give up? Now think about a day that life gives you another chance; how would you use it?

This is the story of a murderer who seeks salvation. Will she find it in the arms of Satoru Gojo? Or will pain find her sooner than redemption and drive her out of heaven forever?

Genre: heavy angst, sad love story, maybe tragedy, violence, lonely hearts, broken souls, +18.

Tags/Warnings: mentions of blood, violence against women, death, etc.

Author Note: We have Toji here :) There are pictures related to the story at the end of the chapter :)

Song Recommendation: Evgeny Grinko - Dusty Room

Chapter index -> Next chapter

Year: 2007 (flashback)

The girl pulled her knife out of the man's waist. He stumbled a few steps and fell on the ground.

Her irritated eyes crawled from the blood on the knife towards the indentations from the man's nails on her hand. The wound didn't matter. Her hand would soon heal. Yeah, being a half curse also had its benefits.

She bent down and lifted the inner corner of her black and red kimono, carefully cleaning her knife with it. Then took the keys and a brown box out of the man's pockets and put them in her own.

As the girl walked down the dark, narrow alley to the street, she pulled the clips out of her hair, and finally, her hair found a chance to dance with the wind.

She reached the sidewalk and looked at her watch. Toji was late. Again. She sighed and lowered her head. It was difficult for her to breathe in the city. The stench of curses was suffocating her.

She was overwhelmed by her thoughts and didn't notice that the little girl with brown hair and a pink dress looked at her with curiosity. The girl gave her a big smile.

Y/N, who didn't know how to react, quickly blushed and looked the other way. But, she looked at the little girl with the corner of her eyes. After some time, the little girl left, leaving our girl with her thoughts again.

After making sure the kid was gone, her gaze returned to the ground. A few minutes later, two people were standing a few steps away from her, and they seemed to be having a heated conversation.

"I don't want to say goodbye~, but we have an exam tomorrow, and we have to go home. I will miss you soooo much, baby~."

"Don't be silly; we have been together since this morning, and we will see each other again tomorrow."

"I know~, but you are so beautiful that it is impossible not to miss you. Look, I close my eyes, and here we go; I missed you already~."

"What if I kiss you? Will you stop acting like a child?"

Hearing this sentence, Y/N raised her head, and while looking at their make-out session in confusion, she slowly put her hand to her lips.

Beeeeeeeeeeeep

The car horn made the girl jump! She quickly lowered her hand and looked at Toji with an emotionless gaze. "You are late."

"I know. Get in." Toji's tone sounded cold.

Without further waiting, she opened the car door and sat in the front seat.

"There are extra clothes in the bag; take off that bloody ones." He used to order her about everything. No freedom.

She bent down and opened the black bag, pulling out a black sweater, pants, and old shoes. As she was unbuttoning her kimono, she turned to Toji and said: "I don't want to play the role of a prostitute to kill someone."

"Why not?" Toji slowed down the car.

"Because I don't like to be touched."

Suddenly, the car stopped on the side of the road, and at the exact moment, Toji hit the girl's mouth hard with the back of his hand. She didn't expect this. Blood flowed from her nose. But that alone didn't calm Toji's anger. He turned his head and took the girl's chin firmly with his hand, and looked into her eyes.

"How dare you disagree with me, you ungrateful bitch? Ever since I found you, I have put food in front of you, and taught you how to hide your fucking cursed energy from sorcerers so that they cannot exorcise you. Is this how you answer my favors?"

The girl's heart was pounding. She could feel all his pain in her heart.

Toji released his hand from her chin and grabbed her throat.

More pain flowed to her heart.

"Enjoy these days, because if someone finds out what you really are, not only will they not touch you, but they won't spit on you either. You're nothing but a walking monster, Y/N!"

The blood dripped from her nose onto Toji's hands. He loosened his grip from the poor girl's neck only then. Once released, her head hit the window. A muffled sound came out of her mouth.

"I told you to change your clothes! Give me those keys and the box. We have another job to do. Hurry up!"

Y/N said nothing and just obeyed. She had learned her place well during her time with Toji.

Two years with Toji had taught her that she was only a tool in his hands. After all, they weren't a family. However, Toji had disappointed his own family as well. So she didn't expect anything else.

But whatever she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about whether the carwash employee had a chance to survive that day or whether Toji had chosen to feed her death painting womb to that girl to quench his curiosity.

Y/N was a half-cursed creature, separated from her eight siblings for nearly 500 years and passed hand in hand between sorcerers and humans for many years. Due to that, she never had a clear understanding of the real world and life. After spending two years with Toji, she thought that living and killing people in return for money and unconditional obedience was the best option that life had offered her.

There were days when she looked in the mirror at her face, hands, legs, and body, which were slowly changing shape. Her face looked nothing like that poor girl. She had grown taller; her eyes and voice had changed.

Y/N always believed she was a parasite who stole someone else's body and rooted herself in it. On many nights, she had nightmares that she had been turned into the ugly monster Toji talked about.

The girl gently untied her kimono, took it off, and threw it in a black bag after wiping the blood from her nose.

Toji glanced out of the corner of his eye while she undressed. His gaze fell on her thighs, with smooth skin and well-shaped breasts hiding under her underwear, and whispered, "fucking whore" before looking back at the road.

Poor Y/N had no sense of shame. No one had taught her social matters. So without noticing Toji's glances, she quietly put on her clothes and sat silently. Her eyes looked outside for the rest of the ride.

After two hours, Toji's car pulled up in the parking lot of a motel out of town. As usual, Y/N left quickly, threw the bloody bag in the trash, then followed behind Toji to the motel. The two of them went their separate ways.

She unlocked the door and walked in. The motel room was an old, dirty, damp room. Y/N entered the room, put Toji's belongings on the table by the window, and sat on a chair.

A few minutes later, Toji entered the room with a thin, bald man.

The bald man looked around the room and said: "Oh Zenin, I see you have demoted from the family mansion to this dump motel." A fake laugh lingered on his lips.

"I'm not a Zenin anymore. My last name is Fushiguro. Try not to forget!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. Let's get back to business." The bald man laughed again and then handed a file to Toji.

"My boss wants you to kill this high school girl named Riko Amanai."

"Just this? tch, is this a fucking joke?" The corner of Toji's lips went up, and the most disgusting grin in the world formed on his face.

"Two students from Jujutsu school are going to escort her. I don't think the job will be that simple." Then he gave Toji a photo of two boys, one with black hair and the other with white hair.

The thin man looked at Y/N and shivered. He wasn't comfortable being in a room with her, so he pointed at her with his head. Suddenly Toji turned his attention to Y/N. "Hey brat, come on, this is your reward for today's good job. Go buy something to eat."

Y/N knew that jujutsu sorcerers hated her being, and Toji would never discuss his plan in front of her. So, as always, she had no choice but to get up, take the money, and leave the room.

The cold air of the night caressed her face. She hugged herself with her arms before going down the stairs.

Ah, another fact about our girl: Y/N never had a clear understanding of the meaning of money. Toji had taught her nothing about the concepts of social life except killing people and hiding from others. After all, a murderer didn't need to learn social rules. The only thing she knew about money was that these magic papers could fill her belly.

The supermarket lights were flickering from a distance, and fortunately, she knew where to go.

As she was walking towards the supermarket, someone called her.

"Hey, girl!" She looked to her left and right. The tired voice called her again.

"I'm talking to you. Yes, the one who is wearing black from head to toe."

Y/N turned back and walked towards the old woman and stood in front of her.

"Don't you want to buy a warm scarf and hat for winter?" Y/N tilted her head to one side.

She had been in the city several times and seen people wearing scarves and hats when it was cold. But she always had more important things to do, such as killing another miserable woman or man, than wasting time shopping for clothes. It never occurred to YN to buy a scarf or hat for winter. But now that she had an opportunity, she reached for a black scarf and hat.

Black, the only color she had worn all her life.

The old woman shook her head, pulled the chosen ones out of the girl's hand, and gave her the blue ones with snowflake patterns instead.

"Try this one."

Y/N obeyed as usual and tried on the blue ones. Strangely they were soft. A smile of satisfaction sat on the old woman's lips.

"Lucky you, you are beautiful, and every color suits you."

Y/N's eyes widened in surprise. This old lady thought she was beautiful. After hearing her words, she felt a strange warmth in her heart and put her hand on her chest. Was it the same feeling of happiness that made people smile?

As a half curse who was always drawn to bad feelings and sadness, Y/N experienced a strange and unknown feeling for the first time in her whole life. She put the money Toji had given her in front of the old woman.

"Thank you," Y/N said, and she returned to the motel room with her hat on and the scarf around her neck.

That was her first time owning anything.

A/N: The hat in the story:

The motel room in the story:

[pikilos]

Evgeni Malkin

NHL Winter Classic

December 31, 2007

[goaliekisses]

For Recchi, the most memorable goal that Crosby scored came the next season when the Penguins hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 7, 2007.

"I remember the one I made a crappy pass over and he dove," Recchi said with a laugh. "It was right at the end of a period. He dove, but that's just typical. They always say you can never make a bad pass to a great player. That was a perfect example, because it wasn't a great pass."

Evgeni Malkin, who has earned the most assists on Crosby's goals over the years, didn't pick up a point on that one - but also singles it out as his favorite because of the determination that Sid showed on the play.

"I was behind and I saw everything. I'm not just talking about his jump; I'm talking about he tried so hard to score," Malkin said. "He started in the D-zone and he saw Mark Recchi a little bit in front of him. And he just started to skate so hard and go in a straight line, and I just knew he was going to score because he went so hard. He was so hungry to score and I remember he dove and just a little chip to the puck. It's an amazing goal."

Coincidentally, Crosby ended up assisting on Recchi's own 500th goal, scored later that month on Jan. 26, 2007.

aww