#but also substantially worse world building wise

[hayleysayshay]

1, 2 and 12 for Mako? :o

YEAHHHHHHH

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Okay so with Mako, I always watched TLOK and enjoyed the character and never took against them like the rest of the fandom. I think at the characters core, he’s ultimately just a good guy who’s in a crazy world. I tend to enjoy ‘straight’ men character types and the more they lean into that element of him as the show goes on, the more I enjoy him. But more than that I think I like characters that do have something going under the surface — he clearly experienced trauma and is currently fairly repressed. Even if the show doesn’t go into much it’s there.

Fandom wise, I also think he’s got all this unpacked trauma and the most tragic backstory you can have and the show does little with it, so it’s Greta if you like writing/reading angst and hurt comfort and trauma and growing because there’s so much to work with and so little canon to contradict. I’m begging TLOK fic writers to see the potential he’s a borderline blank slate to work with and it’s fun.

If I were to say what I dislike about him, it is the unrealised backstory potential, and how you can feel, especially in book one, the slavish devotion to portraying him as cool and important with little depth and reasoning to back it up. Book One even has Amon, the villain, say ‘how talented’ Mako is before he tries to take his bending, like we can’t go five minutes without being reminded how cool Mako is, how the narrative has to prop up the male love interest and leave the female protagonist to react to their cool exploits. They they just wanted to have a love triangle because they wanted shipping like in ATLA, but with none of the developed character dynamics that made shipping fun. There isn’t a deep relationship with Asami or Korra to warrant this amount of attention on the romances or even Mako, and it’s why book one Mako is the worst Mako, at least book two Mako is flawed and gets to breathe a little in his relationships.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I love his devotion to his friends. Like the ending of book four with Mako saying he’d always be there for Korra is what I like about him, and he’s got her back and always will. Platonic Makorra ftw.

Also Mako always did work best with Bolin, especially in book 3 and 4. The obvious care he has towards his himbo brother is always endearing, and they work best as characters when it’s the brothers just bouncing off each other. Mako’s ‘I love you’ moment in book 4 is with his brother, it’s fine that he doesn’t have a romance, he’s got his friends and brother and that’s a sweet ending (anyone who says he doesn’t have anything going for him can eat me)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Lots but here’s some:

A) was a Mumma’s boy, and was also a quiet kid

B) is ultimately a nerd at heart, but just didn’t really have the chance to be that on the streets. Now that he has a chance to he likes educating himself

C) enjoys soduku and crossword puzzles

D) reads well, but has generally awful handwriting since he grew up on the streets

E) after everything, gets a chance to bond with Opal, and they both enjoy reading together or sharing book recs (I don’t think they would actually have a chance to talk in canon, but after the airbenders aren’t needed in the earth kingdom I think they’d get a chance to chill).

F) walks Asami down the aisle for her wedding with Korra cos I’m sappy especially after Asami decides she’ll be strong and doesn’t need anyone.

G) bi cos I said so

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I didn't have time to go wild with it because work, but hey I played wave 3 some! Here's some thoughts

Archsage's Gauntlet is really dope and fun lol, my lack of time manifested in just doing the first challenge only on normal difficulty but I do intend to do them all of course. But yeah a roguelike structure between combat trials is just fucking fun, lots of the possible options have drawbacks (risk reward mechanics pog) and there are options catered towards building up a certain sort of party but what if you don't get that party? Much to consider. Looking forward to getting more of it done since it seems way more substantial than the rest of challenge mode content so far + the throwback outfits do in fact look really good.

As for Masha stuff, it's... kind of about what I expected to feel about it lol. For what it's worth despite initially finding her annoying she did grow to be decently likeable, but you know it's that problem I have with Ino where she just doesn't interact with the rest of the game and vice versa so it's hard to really get super invested. It kinda feels worse with her because we learn she's a head of one of the Six Houses from the City! That's a really huge thing! But in the grand scheme of things she's kind of a flipnote! Makes me unsure how I feel about her compared to Ino, because Ino is pure 2 fanservice in one of the game's most blatant displays of it but she's also fun and likeable, whereas Masha actually is built for the world of Xenoblade 3 specifically and aims to expand on it but she inadvertently becomes less impactful because of the impact she's supposed to have. It's just weird.

fwiw though gameplay wise I'm feeling way better about her than I do Ino lol. Ino's only like mechanical addition to the game is Inoswap which only serves to benefit her despite heroes being worthless and also it's just a linear upgrade tree so it being like the in-universe sequel to Poppiswap is such a joke lmao. Lastly her class is just hot shit aside from the break art. Masha fares way better because accessories are actually useful on everyone and shit (granted I don't know the upper limit of her accessories' usefulness specifically) and you don't need her in your party to craft them and also one of her master skills is a party support that increases crit chance and damage bonus by quite a fucking lot so that's really fucking good lol.

I don't know if I have anything else to say other than just that at present but hey gamer.

[gatheringbones]

["Dannia and I did several anti-racism trainings together. Our workshop model began in the morning with written personal reflections, moved on in the afternoon to role-plays of interrupting racism, and was supposed to end with a discussion of anti-racist activism. Our most effective ploy was a role play in which a white daughter or son returned home for Thanksgiving and had to deal with the father's racist comments over turkey— a scenario guaranteed to generate collective meltdown. We found that participants became so absorbed in the interpersonal issues that we never got to the activism. Were we starting at the wrong end of the process?

These politics will be recognizable to many lesbians who lived during these years. We had an ideological unity then that did not survive the 1980s, for better or for worse. Class and race divisions did not dissolve so easily in the solvent of our sisterhood. "Sex radicals" raised questions about the nature of lesbian and female sexuality that many feminists, straight and lesbian, had no tolerance to hear, and the "sex wars" tore through the community. AIDS soon began to impact all of our lives. There were deeper schisms among women, and new alliances with gay men. A younger lesbian generation began to shape a different politics in the space that we had worked to open for them.

(...) Lesbian-Feminism in the 1970s taught that you should not work with straight women because they "gave all their [and therefore your] energy to men." After Feminary imploded, I figured, Shit, nothing could be worse than this. That's when I went to a meeting in Durham of the National Anti-Klan Network to hear from Leah Wise, Lauren Martin, and Reverend Wilson Lee that North Carolina had the worst Klan/Nazi movement in the country and they were looking for local people to organize. It was 1983 and I was ready to take the plunge. In this border crossing between the lesbian and feminist and the anti-racist movement, I began to realize how such movements separate people as much as bring them together. I found a compelling and complicated reality that neither race theory and organizing, nor class theory and organizing, nor feminist theory and organizing is capable of handling.

Lesbian-feminism had given me a clear analysis of how power operates among people and in a culture's institutions. But it gave me few of the specific skills I needed: how to put on a press conference, build up a computer database, interact with community agencies, organize white and Black people in small towns and cities, or monitor and call to accountability the criminal justice system. With Feminary, our battle had been largely interior, a psychic confrontation with the lethal forces of the culture as we had internalized them. It was an intense, revealing, but sometimes insular process. The "politics of identity" could easily slip into a politics of victimhood and guilt, its focus more purity of consciousness than effectiveness of social change. By 1983, I had hit the limits of this internal work. (I was not the only dyke to think that lesbian-feminism was dangerously over-literate and under-strategic.) Guided by the people who eventually incorporated North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence, I set to work to learn to organize.

(...) The shit hit the fan about a year after NCARRV had begun our work in Statesville. A woman involved in the national work suddenly brought up gay issues across Flora's kitchen table. Flora and I were friends by that time. I had come out to her the evening she had asked me whether my interest in the Statesville work came because I also had a Black lover. She was on the right track, I had explained, telling her of my different outcast status. "We still love you," she had said, and reached across the table to take my hand.

Okay, I thought when the woman confronted me. You want this discussion, you'll get it.

Soon everybody had fled the room except my opponent, Flora, and me, as I heard how being gay was like being on heroin, and how this particular woman was raising her daughter to be heterosexual, and how she wouldn't want her organization to take a stand on homophobia because it might promote heterosexuality.

"If I ever have a child," I countered, "the main thing I will teach her about relationships is that she deserves love and intimacy and should never let herself be abused. What this is all about— gay rights and these cross burnings to which Flora and Joe have been subjected— is the right of human beings to love."

Flora stayed beside me, nodding agreement.

When I got back Durham, I called Leah Wise to report. Whenever an emergency arise, I could count on her to let me sit down near her desk for five or ten minutes to think it through. It was natural that I take the incident at Flora's back to her. She responded immediately, "This homophobia is like racism; it's got to be opposed." We arranged a further discussion with the woman in question, and Leah came with me for support. On the way back, Leah took the time to share with me all the things she saw me doing right.

I was intensely grateful. "Shit, Leah," I replied, wedged in the seat adjacent to hers on the plane. "I feel like I do not know what I am doing most of the time. All you folks have all this political history, and here I am flying by the seat of my pants."

"Actually, it's better that way," she said. "A lot of times, that other sectarian stuff just gets in the way."

Her ready support in challenging homophobia and her affirmation of my work marked a major turning point for me. If I knew my enemies, I also knew my friends. Perhaps I could stop looking over my shoulder.

Leah affirmed my instincts to build not just coalitions, but movements grounded in relationships. I figured I was doing work on racism and anti-Semitism because it was the right thing to do, and once I laid out the case about homophobia, the people I was working with would do the same for me and mine. I was not disappointed. The result was friendships that come among people who catalyze changes in each other. Our work carried a lot of risk, but the risk gave us occasions to develop substantial trust. I was scared shitless a lot of the time, but I never regretted what I was doing.

After thirty-five years, my life was no longer segregated.

Somewhere in my metamorphosis, I realized that I could not longer settle for "lesbian space" as just one room, or camp, or building, although I was, and am, still grateful for those gathering places. The Reagan era made it clear: there is no separate safety. "Lesbian space" had better be a world where everyone belongs."]

Mab Segrest, Memoir of a Race Traitor, The New Press, 1994

[partangel]

OK so i was here sitting, thinking about post apocalyptic settings and anyone who has ever been in contact with me for more than some minutes knows that i adore the concept of the land reclaiming whats hers in a sort of *conceited voice* eco brutalistic way. ill literally walk anywhere and see a building torn down with moss growing and ill waver behind it and say "that reminds me so much of nier". which is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful, beautiful game with incredible imagery and a gripping story. i think nier perfectly represents hope as something malleable and manipulated into existing. and it portrays a world in which humanity's life remnants are so profoundly embedded into the worlds last living... well, lets say, man made consciousness that it is impossible to have hope in the survival of earth if you do not believe humanity is still alive. i dont think im literate enough to ever jot down clearly and wisely what grips me into the nier automata universe, but it was the medium that made me understand my particular niche of what i do find engrossing in post apocalyptic fiction - when humanity is not present, but its absence does not equal to disappearence. its a lot more substantial than that... its absence as something significant and structured and that takes up space in what is left of the world. i do not find the survival of few capable humans a compelling or gripping tale.

BUT i reiterate, because recently i found something that actually engrossed me just as much as nier did, except it wasnt anything particular - it was imagery of a scene of a movie i actually found dauntingly plain and horrid. for some context in january i was looking for a good old sunday movie... and it was playing on tv the maze runner (1) so i invited my boyfriend and my little sister and we saw it together. i had seen the maze runner previously as a 14 year old or something so i did not find anything striking in the first one. no. but then next sunday came and i couldnt find anything to watch so i watched the second which was even worse with the exception: it had a party. an end of the world, drug frenzied party. the scene itself was barely 5 minutes but it stroke me as exactly what would happen if the world did end. if theres no hope, if theres no future, if theres nothing else for us and surely no future generation, its only feasible that humanity would crumble in and on itself into a hopeless cycle of indulgence. and i mean, its as everyone says, things only grip you if you can envision them happening. i can surely confirm that id be the first to put my feet into a post apocalyptic party whose main motto can be simplified as: its the end of the world, why not pop EVERY pill? i dont know what it is but the motifs... all the music and the ambiance and the people being so moody and hopeless and dying. i was instantly enamored with it.

but i also self analyzed a bit and i think this is also a warning to my own fractured self that can only envision humanity either falling into hopeless vices or disappearing completely. which is very worrying but alas im not particularly optimistic myself!

[aotopmha]

so I saw a fan-made chapter which made a few changes to the dialogue and plotpoints but keeping the same essence of the chapter I love the little additions of past chapters and honestly I like it more than the ending????

If you want to have a look:

https://www.reddit.com/r/titanfolk/comments/mn3439/i_rewrote_ch_139/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Send me asks about the story?

I thought about whether to respond to this or not, but it might be fun and I can talk about why exactly a certain section of readers is now disowning Eren (and the story).

The things this rewrite did was to rephrase some things, make it so Eren killed more people (I think), remove all of the unpleasant childish stuff about Eren and Mikasa (which is good, the fucking mass murderer *should* be fucked up and pathetic) and I think actually make Eren fuck Historia.

In other words, I think it's worse in content.

I understand the need to rephrase things if they feel awkward prose-wise to that person, but the ideas are the same for most of those changes, so I don't have much to say here.

The actual substantial changes are kind of worse, though.

There being more people dead (again, I think; I'm not bothered to do the Math) doesn't really change anything except more people are dead, I guess. I think there is no need to make the populations equal because Paradis already has its technology and other nations are set back and now have to rebuild.

Farmer is a nobody, but Eren and Historia also never had any kind of romantic elements to their relationship. None.

I think at least Eren and Mikasa slowly had a romantic relationship built up. I've seen some people say it was not enough, especially on Eren's part, but I definitely think they had much more build-up than anything with Eren and Historia.

The childish, maybe embarrassing stuff is essential to tearing down the idealized image of a fascist leader. Eren is just a person.

Again, some people argue it was too much; too exaggerated, but I think it works thematically and has a certain element of humanisation to it I like.

One small thing I also really dislike about this rewrite is that they soften Armin's words about Eren making a mistake by phrasing it like a burden Eren takes on. The idea is that Armin is thanking him for doing something so horrible out of love for them, but he still undeniably and directly says it's a mistake.

Softening it to a "burden" to save everyone muddies the waters much more. It's genocide – it's not a burden to take on, it's mass extinction and wrong no matter the reason.

All of this said, this also gives me the opportunity to talk about the reason I think certain people are disowning this story.

I think it sort of rips any kind of possible power fantasy elements to pieces and opposes fascism on a fundamental idea level.

Eren is reduced to a fucked up loser for that one moment and these people in particular don't want to look at any that. It's embarrassing, it's uncomfortable.

And to be a little kinder for a moment, a lot of people go to fiction to escape the real world. They don't want to confront this embarrassing stuff and that's absolutely fair.

This is a lot of fun because I remember seeing a review talking about how AoT was escapist in the sense that everyone could imagine themselves throwing away any responsibilities for a simpler world of just fighting. But this kind of really hones in on the idea that this fighting isn't pretty or something you actually really want to escape to.

I think this is also the reason why some don't like that conflict still exists after the Rumbling. They want to feel completely at peace, but AoT didn't give us that.

But the fact that conflict still exists after the Rumbling also says that genocide doesn't fix everything (if anything at all, the positives are mostly pretty selfish). It makes it so what Eren did has unapologetically bad consequences.

Additionally, the ultimate principle that won the day is diplomacy; talking things out.

Any kind of fascist movement is built on denying understanding and empathy. But this ending is built on the idea of seeking understanding; even understanding the worst of people.

So the story also ends up being *philosophically* anti-fascist.

Again, I've seen people say it is too kind to Eren, but this is also an extremely left thing.

I think a lot of lefties believe if we just talk things out, grow to understand each other and unite, the world will eventually be free of conflict.

Naive, maybe, but also like bug spray to fascists.

This is why these people also seem to hate any power of friendship stuff. It's about understanding, unity, working together. Fascist movements are an anti-thesis to that by emphasizing exceptionalism and shutting down empathy for anyone but themselves.

Armin and co ended up fighting for humanity in general, not just Paradis and as ambassadors of the alliance continue to do so, too.

This reminds me of the section of Gurren Lagann fans who wanted the episode 1 prologue to come true where Earth was enemy of everyone instead of all the stars in the sky being friends. There is sometimes a certain philosophy behind that; not just a dislike of cliché.

Passivity is also a very strong thing on the left, but this ending also kind of counters this idea by painting Eren's legacy of a fascist movement as the next battle to be fought.

It champions unity, but also paints the fight for it as an ongoing, constant struggle.

I actually think it's a pretty perfect finale thematically.

But the character stuff isn't as strong: what we get is good, but a little too laconic at points, so it comes across as good instead of great to me and this rewrite didn't fix any of that.

This ain't it to make it better if you ask me.

This also reminds me of a post I saw about a petition to change the ending and Japanese fans' response to it.

Google translate told me they said it's alright to dislike the ending, but found this kind of stuff to be incredibly disrespectful.

It snowballed into Japanese fans calling the Western fans Floch, which I find hilarious (they're not wrong), but the sentiment seemed to be to at least respect a creator's work. Especially one that has been published for 11 years.

This kind of stuff is kind of wierd to me, too. Fanfic and fix fics are obviously alright, but there is a certain bossy (?) tone to most of this feedback, especially the direct chapter edits and I'm not sure about that.

Thank you for the ask!

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Cadmus’ Revenge

WARNING FOR THEMES OF SELF-HARM, SUICIDAL IDEATION, PARANOIA, NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE.

A/N: This story is not a character death, and ends on a happy note.

----

Cadmus is resurrected, and abducts Lena. She's missing for over a year when they finally find her, in a facility packed with guards but devoid of any trace of Lillian. They find Lena pale and thin but alive in a small windowless cell. Down the hall and around the corner, they find a chilling lab, complete with a chair that looks like it belongs in a dentist’s office, if not for the manacles bolted to the arms and legs, and the macabre net of needled probes haloing the headrest.

Lena sleeps for days when they get her to the DEO. They clean the smears of blood from her forehead, examine her from head to toe, but when she wakes Lena is hale and whole and remarkably cogent. She doesn't seem surprised by her rescue, and is neither scared nor thrilled to be back. 

She's a little distant, but otherwise well-adjusted-- unnervingly so. The Superfriends are all massively concerned, but Lena goes to therapy, she follows the doctors' instructions, and they don't want to make it worse so they just... let her be. 

Until the day that Kara walks into Lena's L-Corp office as Supergirl, and finds her building a bomb. 

A big one.

"Is that...?"

"A bomb?" Lena replies coolly. "Yep. I'm surprised it took you this long."

"Lena..."

"Don't come any closer," comes an off-hand warning, along with a head tilt towards a new arrangement of wall-mounted rail guns suddenly aimed at Kara. 

"Those are loaded with kryptonite bullets. Not sure if kryptonite is needed against a construct, but just in case you're following the usual rules... even if it doesn’t kill you, it'll hurt like hell."

Kara swallows thickly. "I don't know what's happening, but I do know that this isn't you. Step away from the desk, and we can talk about what's going on with you, okay?"

"Nope. No more talking. No more interrogations, no more debriefing. No more scenarios."

Scenarios? "Lena, what--"

"I'm a little surprised to be honest. You usually catch on to my escape attempts a lot sooner. But that was my mistake, wasn’t it? Escape." 

Finally, Lena straightens and turns, pressing a button that sets a countdown in red lights. 

"Tell me, mother," Lena smirks, folding her arms against her chest. "Do you believe what they say about the Matrix?"

Kara doesn't understand what's going on, but she does understand that Lena is not well, and she understands that Lena is fully intent on blowing them both up. And the whole city block, if the size of the bomb and Lena's acumen are any indication.

"Lena, please..."

Green eyes regard her coolly. "You really do look like her. Its the closest you come yet. Fitting that it'll also be your last."

"What do you mean?"

"Scorched earth. There's nothing to reset if this explosion fries every neuron in my skull. So whatever you're looking for, better ask now before I'm brain dead."

"Lena--"

"Oh, and before you decide to blip out on me, I should probably mention that this room is equipped with an electromagnetic barrier. Again, not totally sure it works against what amounts to an online avatar, but I figured I might as well do my best to rid the world of both us Luthors."

"I am not your mother..." 

"Obviously."

Kara's gaze flickers to the timer, ticking down. Less than twenty seconds.

"Lena, I am not Lillian, I am not here to hurt you, but I need you to let me get that bomb out of here--!"

"Ooh, the tears are a nice touch. For a heartless bitch I'm impressed--"

"I am not your mother!"

"You're not Supergirl, either--"

Without thinking, Kara surges forward, pressing her lips against Lena's. She can almost feel the surprised stutter of her heartbeat underneath the panicked roar in her own ears.

She pulls away, maintaining her grip on Lena's face to stare deep into her eyes. Shocked green stares at her, her calm confidence flickering in confusion.

"Would your mother have done that?!"

Lena's mouth works wordlessly, finally returning something human to her. Finally, she looks at the room around her as though seeing it for the first time. Too late.

The timer flickers from two seconds to one.

"LENA!”

She only has time to wrap her arms and her cape around Lena before the bomb detonates. The force of the shock wave throws them through the office wall, followed by a bellow of flame and debris.

Heat engulfs them both, swallowing them in a blazing inferno that seems to last hours. Kara's entire focus narrows to funneling cold air from her lungs to the hollow of her cape, cooling the air within before the superheated gust could sear Lena's lungs. 

For an interminable moment, her world is fire and ice, and the desperate, panicked prayer that when it abates, Lena's heart will still be beating.

As soon as she can spare an ounce of focus she propels them both through the nearest window. The blaze chases at their heels, hungry for the oxygen accessible through the broken pane. Kara doesn't stop. Not until she's skidding against the floor of the DEO lobby, Lena cradled against her chest.

"Supergirl!" Alex calls, cutting through the blur of Kara's shock. "We just got the alert about--"

She cuts off abruptly as Kara peels back her cape to reveal the bruised and ashen features of an unconscious Lena. Her hair is dry and singed, soot staining every inch of her, blackening the raw, weeping burns the cape couldn't protect against.

Kara looks up at her sister, tears cutting twin tracks down her cheeks.

"Lena's not okay."

---

Lena wakes in the infirmary, bandaged, medicated, and under constant guard. Kara remains at her side, and straightens when she sees her friend's eyes flutter open.

"Lena?”

At the sound of her voice, Lena's eyes pinch shut. Gritting her teeth, her hands fist in the blankets.

"Are you in pain? Alex! Lena, it's all right, you're safe--"

"Shut up!" Lena cries. For the first time, something besides ready acceptance colors her voice-- despair. "Just shut up! You're not real. You're not real!"

Kara stares, helpless. Alex materializes at her side, watching with wide eyes. 

"It should have worked, why didn't it work... You're not real. Not real..."

"Lena..."

"You're not real!"

---

The chair, Brainy deduces, was a means to run a series of simulations. From the data he's able to mine, Lena has spent most of her captivity in that chair, trapped in an ever evolving construct of her own mind, where it learned her patterns and expectations until it could render even the most realistic and intricate scenarios. 

For what purpose, they don't know.

"Information, perhaps," Brainy suggests, his anxiety betrayed by his habitual twisting of the Legion ring on his finger. "Something they anticipated Lena would only share with a familiar figure."

"Or maybe to mine her intellect?" Alex theorizes. "If they had a problem, Lena would be the one to solve it."

"Whatever the reason," Kara concludes, her voice low, "Lena caught on. She learned to doubt everything she saw. Us included."

"So how do we snap her out of it?" Nia asks. 

They all exchange glances, hoping another has an answer.

None of them do.

---

Reason gets them nowhere. 

Footage of Lena’s discovery and rescue is met with disinterest. Detailing the ongoing search for Cadmus and her mother puts Lena to sleep.

They take her to L-Corp to show her the aftermath of her bomb. Thankfully, they'd been the only ones in the building, but the damage was substantial even weeks later, and it seems that none of the prior simulations ever displayed such continuity. For a moment, her mask cracks.

They try to capitalize on their opportunity by immediately following up with a game night. Lena loses soundly, seemingly another distinct change. Lena's features soften further, enough for the tiniest of smiles to creep over her, and for a moment they can believe that they've finally gotten through. 

Twenty minutes later, Alex finds Lena in Kara's bathroom, carving a long, deep line into her forearm with a razor.

Chaos reigns, and a hopeless fear creeps into Kara's heart as she cradles Lena in her lap. Alex wraps a hand towel tightly around the wound, lifting it above Lena's head while Brainy notifies the DEO.

"Lena... please," Kara whispers. "I don't know how to help you. Tell me what I need to do."

Hazy green eyes gaze up at her.

"Let me go..."

"No, Lena--"

"Please, Mom…" Lena's voice cracks. A tear squeezes from the corner of her eye, coursing down her temple to pool against Kara's hand. "Let me go."

It's worse than the moments before the bomb went off. This time, it isn't a triumph of spite.

This time, it's surrender.

---

It's a surrender none of them accept. 

When Lena is stitched up and resting under sedation in the infirmary of the DEO, the rest of them gather to discuss a new plan of action.

"There is likely no way to convince Lena that this is the true physical world," Brainy delivers crisply. "The nature of the machine allows it to perfect mimic the world she expects to see, but any aberration to that effect is merely a glitch, or an instance of learning."

Alex shakes her head, hands propped on her hips. "I refuse to believe there's nothing we can do. There must be something we're missing."

Silence stretches between them, until Kara rocks back in her seat. 

"If we can't convince her out here, maybe we can convince her in there."

Nia blinks. "In... where?"

Turning to Brainy, Kara takes a deep breath. "Brainy, you've found mind-palaces for both me and James. Do you think you could find Lena's?"

"You think we might connect with her there," James fills in. "Like Kelly did with me."

Kara shrugs. "It's worth a shot."

"It would be exceedingly difficult," Brainy warns. "Even before this recent trauma, Lena has relied heavily on compartmentalization, which I now know is not a healthy mode by which to operate. Her mind is bound to be in chaos-- if there are any boxes left, it may be wise to leave them unopened."

"Could you build a new one?" Alex asks. 

Nia shakes her head. "Isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place?"

"I don't know what else we can do!" Kara snaps. "I am not going to just sit here and watch her kill herself! I won't! We--" Her voice cracks. "We just got her back..."

The others stare at her in stunned silence. Kara swallows her rising sobs, and looks omce more to Brainy.

Brainy shifts uncomfortably.

"I will try."

---

It takes days, but with Nia's help, Brainy succeeds. He finds the one quiet corner of Lena's mind, and with the aid of Nia's psychic powers manages to tethers Lena's consciousness to it. The moment he gives the signal, Kara puts white diode to her forehead and closes her eyes.

When she opens them again, she finds herself standing on the rocky shore of a wide flat lake, the water so still it turns the surface to mirrored glass.

On the shore stands a familiar figure, looking out across the water with an air of peaceful serenity.

"Lena?"

Lena turns, and when she lays eyes on Kara her features spread into a soft, sweet smile. "Kara..."

The next thing Kara knows, she's wrapped up in all she remembers Lena to be-- her warmth; the smell of her shampoo; the press of broad hands against her back, pulling her close. 

"I've missed you," Lena murmurs. Kara hiccups a sob, half of a laugh. If only Lena knew... "But I think I've finally done it. It worked."

Kara's purpose catches up to her like a knife to the heart. She grips Lena tighter. 

"You're not dead, Lena."

Lena pulls back, resting her hands on Kara's shoulders. "It's okay," she says calmly. "It means it's finally over."

"No, Lena. We saved your life. This place isn't real, Brainy made it so we could talk to you."

Kara braces for Lena's reaction, but it comes in the form of lines crinkling at the corners of Lena's eyes. 

"It is real. Real enough, at least." She turns to look out across the water. Though she pulls out of Kara's embrace to do so, their fingers lace together in a gentle grip. "My mother died here."

Kara's heart pounds against her ribs. This isn't a construct of Brainy's design. It was something else. 

Lena turns to look at her, giving their joined hands a squeeze. "I'm glad I got to see you again."

Absurdly, Kara's reminded of The Deathly Hallows, and Dumbledore's final scene in a quiet, sterile version of Kings Cross Station. That's what this place feels like: a waystation. A platform to say goodbye.

"No."

Her voice cuts through the quiet, sharp and incisive. She pulls Lena back around to face her, and gets a startled pair of green eyes staring back.

"Four months ago, we found you and rescued you from a Cadmus facility. In that same facility, we found a chair."

Alarm sharpens Lena's gaze. She tries to pull free, but Kara tightens her grip. "No, no, I won't--"

"You're not there anymore," Kara promises, rubbing her thumbs against Lena's hands in comfort. "We brought you home. We thought you were fine, but-- six weeks ago, you built a bomb in your office. And then you tried to stop eating. And then..."

"Stop," Lena said. "Let me go--"

"I don't know what Lillian wanted from you--"

"LET ME GO!"

Lena tore free, stumbling backwards from the force of it. Suddenly, the placid aura of the lake shattered with the sharp, heaving sobs of Lena sitting among the rocks, hands pressed tight to either side of her head. 

"It wasn't enough... it's never enough! Why won't you let me go?! Please! Please just let me go..."

Kara sits on the pebbled beach in front of Lena. When she reaches for Lena, it's to place one hand on a pale ankle, exposed by a denim cuff. 

"I don't know what she wanted from you," Kara says again, more gently. "And I'm not going to ask."

Rocking, hands pressed tight to her head, Lena says nothing.

"I don't know how to convince you the real world is out there," Kara continues. "I don't know if I can. Maybe... maybe you just have to choose to believe that it is."

"I won't give you anything--"

"The only thing we're asking for is you, Lena."

Lena opens her eyes, meeting Kara's gaze for a brief moment before the anguish returns, and Lena rocks backwards once more, breath quickening with anxiety as her features pinch in distress.

"We won't ask you any questions except what you want to have for lunch," Kara continues, desperate, "or what movie you want to watch on Friday night. We don't even have to stay in National City. We can go up to the mountains-- find you a lake just like this one, where no one can find you."

Lena stills. Her eyes stay closed, her body continues to tremble, but the rocking stops, and Kara hears the steadying breath that cuts through it all.

When Lena makes no move to speak, Kara tries one last time.

"I know it won't be easy. I know how tempting it is to just let go. And I know I can't stop you." Her hand firms on Lena's ankle. "This is your crossroads, Lena. Whatever happens next, you have to choose. All I'm asking, right here, right now, is that you choose us."

Kara's breath catches in her chest. 

"All I'm asking is for one more day with you. So that tomorrow I can have one more chance to ask you to stay. However many times it takes."

Lena sags, exhaling into a sob. She reaches for Kara's hand. 

"I'm so tired, Kara," she whispers.

Nodding, Kara blinks back her tears. "I know... I know."

They sit together for long minutes, until Kara senses that her time here is down. Whatever happens next, comes from Lena, and no one else. 

"If you do choose to let go," she croaks. "Please know how sorry I am that I didn't find you sooner. And know that we don't blame you. We love you, and we'll miss you every day."

With a final squeeze, Kara climbs to her feet, letting Lena's hand slip from her fingers.

"Kara--!"

"I love you, Lena. With all my heart."

Kara blinks open to the sight of the med bay ceiling, and the weight of Alex's hand in hers. 

"Kara?"

Brainy and Nia both exhale, turning to face her.

"It worked," Kara croaks. She pulls the sensor from her forehead and sits up, scrubbing the tears from her cheeks. "I saw her."

"What happened? Did she believe you--?"

"She needs to choose," is all Kara can say. "She has to choose."

Together, they wait.

---

Kara stays at Lena's bedside as she sleeps, long after the sedative wears off. As the minutes and hours tick by, Kara waits for the ever growing expectation that the only change in Lena's condition will be the flatline of the heart monitor.

Which is why she jumps a foot in the air when Lena's hand tightens on hers, well into the next morning. 

"Lena?" 

The room wakes around them: Nia bolts upright from where she'd slumped against Brainy's shoulder; Alex pushes off the wall, crossing towards the bed; James jolts awake, blinking and bleary-eyed.

Lena flinches when her eyes open to find shadows looming over her, as her heart monitor jumps alarmingly. Kara motions them back with her free hand, the other still locked around Lena's.

"Lena, can you hear me?"

After a long moment, Lena manages to turn her head, focusing a blurry gaze on Kara.

"Kara...?"

"It's me." Kara coughs out a smile. "It's us."

Lena blinks sluggishly against the hairs sticking to her forehead with sweat, jutting out over her eyes. Kara reaches up to smooth them away, then lets her hand linger against Lena's skin. Lena breathes softly, turning her face into Kara's touch. 

"I choose you."

[bhandarimarblekishangarh]

WHITE STATUARIO MARBLE BY BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

All Marble is not the same, no matter what some inexperienced Marble dealers out there might try and say about it. Statuario Marble is highly sought after for many reasons. One of these reasons being the fact that Statuario Marble has been used in some of the most famous buildings throughout history.

A reason for this is because Statuario Marble is whiter than most marble on the market, so contractors and homeowners often associate it with high-end luxury. Statuario Marble is characterized by its deep white color and thick, elegant veins that come in a variety of colors, anything from beige to regal gold. Continue reading and don’t be confused over marble slabs again. Finally, get the real story behind luxurious Statuario Marble.

Origins

This natural stone comes from the plentiful quarries in Italy. For this reason, Statuario is so often confused with Carrara marble, but just know, these two stones are not the same despite their abundant similarities. They are both white marble made of mostly the same materials and an almost indistinguishable geological formation. The differences are subtle, but they are there, especially to a trained eye. Generally speaking, Statuario is a deeper gray with much softer veining. Statuario Marble still comes from Italy today, along with a large portion of the rest of the world’s marble. It has been used for sculptures and other beautiful buildings since before the time of Michelangelo it was said to be his favorite stone to work with, who is often associated with working with this beautiful natural stone.

Elegant Look

Statuario marble’s elegant look is truly what keeps service professionals and homeowners coming back year after year, as the rich white and gold details are impossible to match. Statuario Marble tends to have softer veins. The bright white comes with veins in several different colors, suitable to most homeowners. Statuario Marble is widely used for bathrooms and in kitchens, although be careful when using them for countertops, as they are porous and a bit sensitive in nature. It’s a classic, timeless look for any room really, and the stunning veining is unmatched.

Uses

As mentioned above, Statuario Marble is a mainstay in luxurious bathrooms and has been for quite some time. When done well, this natural stone can be a major highlight, taking a boring bathroom to a supremely stylish one. Wherever you use this stone, you are going to want to make sure it’s in a highly visible area – don’t waste the beauty! Wherever a bit of elegance is required, Statuario Marble should be there displayed prominently.

We often see used Statuario Marble heavily in the bathroom, for kitchen countertops, and for vibrant backsplashes. Modern luxury homes love to use Statuario Marble as kitchen countertops, so just be sure to have them sealed correctly and regularly, as you’ll want to protect your investment. They also work well in offices and boardrooms, really almost anywhere you’re trying to project a sense of class and luxury. Remember, Statuario Marble looks great on any surface or room, but when used in the kitchen it comes with some maintenance responsibilities. The deep richness of the white ensures most of the stains that set on this porous material are going to be quite visible if not tended to.

Statuario Marble has been one of the most desired stones throughout history, and now you should know a bit more about why this elegant slab is so sought after. From world-famous builders to everyday architects, the list of Statuario Marble fans is a long and impressive one.

ITALIAN MARBLE BY BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

Carrara & Calacatta Marble

Make no mistake, as similar as these two natural stones are, there are some key distinctions – find out what they are before buying. Many designers and homeowners alike are faced with the confusion that comes along with differentiating between Carrara and Calacatta marble, and they aren’t truly to blame for their confusion because of the differences between Carrara and Calacatta marble are pretty subtle and incredibly nuanced – it often takes an expert eye. Much of the lack of understanding is due to the fact that they are both high-quality Italian marble that is awfully close in appearance. Both Carrara and Calacatta marble are white with elegant gray veining.

Worse yet, a great deal of the world’s Calacatta marble comes from Carrara, Italy – where does it end? Because of this, they are often used interchangeably, but if you really want the correct stone for your home, you’d be wise to know the key distinctions. Generally speaking, Carrara is a deeper gray with much softer veining, while Calacatta skews whiter with thick, substantial veining.

Carrara vs. Calacatta Marble: where are the differences? Well, you’re not alone, and like many, if you haven’t been able to tell the subtle differences between these two beautiful stones, this article should be a great guide and reference point to help you understand those differences and hopefully make the choice for your home or office all the easier. At last, you’ll know how to tell the difference between Carrara and Calacatta marble.

Carrara Marble Carrara marble is the most common marble found in Italy, and it’s named after the region it comes from – Carrara, Italy. Carrara marble is often classified as much softer looking than Calacatta because of its subtle light gray veining that can sometimes hue toward blue. It’s often characterized by soft feather grains that homeowners go crazy over. It makes for an incredibly unique looking material, as each slab of Carrara marble is created from one block, and when installed by a professional hand, the grains and veins run together and create a stunning design pattern, which ensures no two Carrara marble surfaces have exactly the same design.

Calacatta Marble Calacatta marble is often much whiter, characteristic many homeowners and service professionals associate with luxury. It’s generally bright white with thick, elegant veins that can come in a variety of colors from beige all the way to gold. It also comes from the same place in Italy, but Calacatta is usually much smoother than your typical Carrara marble. Because of its classic, timeless look, Calacatta marble has been a mainstay in bathrooms and as kitchen countertops for years. If you enjoy more dramatic veins in your natural stone, then Calacatta may be the right option for you.

Carrara Marble Bathroom Carrara marble is one of the classiest choices you can make as far as bathroom décor goes. This elegant bathroom has a Carrara marble counter, as well as marble tiling throughout the entire space. While it looks incredible, keep in mind that if you also have a marble basin (sink), you’re going to spend a lot of time cleaning and wiping it down – you don’t want to let all the moisture sit there and take hold. If you keep up with the maintenance, then it should look great for a long time, rather than dull and fade in a pretty short time. For this reason, this type of material is best kept to the countertop, but even that will be water prone in a bathroom, so keep on top of it and your bathroom will look lustrous for years to come.

Calacatta Marble Bathroom While Calacatta marble is expensive and some homeowners might hesitate to use it in the bathroom, when done well this natural stone can be a major highlight, taking a boring bathroom to the next level. Calacatta marble will lighten up any bathroom with a great backsplash and make all who use it feel like royalty, as long as they do the proper maintenance to safeguard against its porous nature by cleaning regularly and sealing frequently. This type of marble seems to suck up most anything that falls on its surface, so you’re going to want to protect your investment by implementing a strict, no excuses cleaning schedule. Never use any acidic or other harsh cleaning agents on your Calacatta marble, as only products designed specifically for stone care should ever touch it.

Carrara Marble Kitchen Carrara marble adds a flair of style to any room, and this is especially true in the kitchen where it’s one of the most popular choices for kitchen countertops and islands. It’s light yet elegant color helps the kitchen area look more spacious, putting all who eat and cook there at ease. Take care of your marble by giving it the occasional polish as well as a strong seal, and it should remain pristine for years to come.

This Carrara marble countertop has thick yet soft gray veins running through it, and it really showcases the quality of the stone. Usually, Carrara marble works better in the kitchen than Calacatta because it tends to be darker and more heavily veined, hiding all those coffee, wine, and food stains that are bound to occur. Frequent use of this water-based stone sealer maintains maximum surface protection against staining, etching, and soil buildup, which can be helpful if you aren’t the world’s neatest person, as it will be a touch more forgiving than bright white Calacatta.

Calacatta Marble Kitchen Obviously, Calacatta marble looks great on any surface or room, but when used in the kitchen it comes with greater maintenance responsibilities. While there really isn’t much of a difference between Carrara and Calacatta marble when it comes to being stain-proof, there is a difference between how visible these stains will be – remember, Calacatta tends to be whiter. They are both pretty porous, and nobody would classify either of them as low-maintenance.

However, if you’re insistent on using Calacatta marble in the kitchen, there are ways it can work. Just be vigilant about stains and always seal and reseal! your marble to prevent etching and premature aging. Things are often dropped in the kitchen, so there’s certainly a possibility that a heavy pan or kitchen tool could chip your precious marble.

Calacatta vs. Carrara Marble Essentially, these two natural stones are incredibly similar, and the choice you make is going to rely largely on your budget. While Calacatta is seen as a little more high-end, that’s not a knock against the elegance of Carrara marble – it just happens to be more widely available. Both have similar maintenance requirements, are virtually the same density, and come from Italy. The key difference is going to lie in the color of the two marble, as Carrara skews gray and Calacatta skews white. Its whiteness reflects the purity of the marble, leading to a higher cost for the average consumer. Keep this in mind and you’ll finally know how to tell the difference between Carrara and Calacatta marble.

ITALIAN MARBLE BY BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

The Italian marble that we offer is widely appreciated for providing high luster and visual appeal to the area. These marble inlay the floors, walls, rooms in a wonderful way. This beige Italian marble is widely demanded in offices, multinational companies, schools, hotels, and other industries because of their riotous appearance, long-lasting luster, and wear resistance. This Italian marble is available in various sizes, designs, and patterns.

We offer this Italian marble within a stipulated time period matching the budget lines of our esteemed clients. We are the supplier and dealer of Italian marble and tiles. Italian marble is a really very good quality of the stone. Italian marble mainly uses in flooring of houses, hotels, restaurants, resorts, and shopping malls. It also uses in bathrooms, kitchens, dining tables. Italian marble has too many different patterns and designs for flooring. Now I am showing you a few photos/images/ pictures of Italian marble flooring, floor designs, and designs.

Natural stones are extracted or quarried from the ground. Granite, marble, limestone, travertine, soapstone, serpentine, onyx and slate are all-natural stones. The extracting from the earth and the processing of these stones to the final application on a commercial building or a residence is a long procedure.

Have you ever walked into a living room, a bath or a kitchen and wondered where the beautiful stone originated?  Or have you ever seen the exterior of a home and wondered how that stone was produced?

Earth is classified geologically as a stone planet because it is entirely made of stone of various mineral compositions and forms.  There are three classifications of stone/rock: Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

Igneous rock – are formed by the cooling of molten magma on the earth’s surface.  The magma, which is brought to the surface through fissures or volcanic eruptions, solidifies at a fast rate. Extrusive igneous rocks (basalt) cool and solidify quicker than intrusive igneous rocks (granite).

Sedimentary rocks like limestone and sandstone are formed when sediment is deposited out of the air, ice, wind, gravity, or water flows carrying the particles in suspension.  Eroded sediments end up in the water and begin to settle (sedimentation).   With time, more layers pile up and press down the lower layers (compaction).  More strata and further compactions force water out, while salt crystals glue the layers together (cementation).

Metamorphic rock – marble, slate & quartzite are formed from any pre-existing rock type like igneous or sedimentary, in the Earth’s crust under variable conditions of high pressures, high temperature, chemistry and time.

After learning how stone/rock is formed, one needs to find the acceptable stone for use in building material.  A sample of the stone is taken by core drilling down at least 10’-20’ for a view of the stone. If the appearance is desirable then the stone should be tested for its strength, absorption, density, and abrasion resistance.

This test will help determine the applications of how this material can be physically used.  You certainly don’t need to install a highly porous stone in a very wet climate or a soft material in a high traffic area to avoid abrasion of the stone.

There are several types of quarries; open pit, ledge, and underground are the most common.  In a ledge quarry, the stone is formed in layers where a forklift can remove the sheet of stone or cut small blocks from the hillside or mountain to remove the sheets.

In an underground quarry, a tunnel is built underground in order to be able to drive into the tunnel, set up saws and pull the blocks from the wall and remove for processing.  The open-pit quarry is where saws cut large areas in one direction, maybe a 100’ then turn to crosscut the other direction, maybe 50’.When finished, you will have 150’to pull out of the ground.

Quarry saws are mostly used in open pits for cutting.  These saws are like a chain saw with diamond segments. The saws sit on tracks that are level and straight for cutting.  Each time the saw finishes a long cut and needs to be moved over or to cut in the opposite direction, the tracks have to move as well.

The diamonds have to stay cool for the cutting so water has to flow over the segments at all times.  If electricity or water is not available, then a generator is used for power and lines have to be laid to the nearest water source and pumped to the saw.

Once a large area is cut, the blocks have to be laid over and split in half.  This is done using the old Roman method of feather and wedges.  The feathers are placed across the block and wedges are placed in the feathers.  They are either drilled with a pneumatic hammer or forced into the feather with a sled hammer.

ITALIAN IMPORTED MARBLE BY BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

Italian Marble is the material that has mostly used for decorative purposes. Many kinds of materials have been on the market most of the time, instead of Italian marble others are no longer available due to some limited resources. Because of our latest technology and upgraded knowledge it has become the most admired material in the market. It is the material that is most widely used for the flooring and mainly used for bathrooms as floor tiles. It is one of the largest selections of stone all over the world. It provides the richest visual appeal and high shining to that area.

It is very soft and scratch-resistant. It makes a very beautiful and powerful impact on the flooring. It is also one of the most durable materials and best suited according to needs. It offers the class appeal for houses and offices. We are the manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers of Italian marble and tiles. We provide a very good quality of marble. It can be used for flooring, bathrooms, hotels, restaurants, resorts, business offices, schools, colleges, shopping malls, and hospitals, etc.

We deal in Italian marble, tiles, Italian floor designs, flooring, prices, statues, and stones, etc. Get the high-quality Italian marble from Bhandari Marble Group at the best prices.

SOME FACTS ABOUT INDIAN AND ITALIAN MARBLE

Italian Marble and Indian marble both are durable, heat; fire & scratch proof and comes with a number of colors and patterns so both are good options for flooring. Italian marble is known for its aesthetic impact on interior design. The most popular white Italian marble varieties are Carrara, Calacatta, and Statuario.

Indian marble V/S Italian marble

Indian marble is quarried from the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, while Italian marble is quarried from Northern Italy and is usually available in slabs. Italian marble has a very high luster, as seen in this image, and is a very soft stone with a crystal-like appearance.

Italian Marble

Thickness            Min Price            Max Price

16 mm  Rs 200/Square Feet         Rs 400/Square Feet

17 mm  Rs 250/Square Feet         Rs 650/Square Feet

18 mm  Rs 220/Square Feet         Rs 1000/Square Feet

20 mm  Rs 220/Square feet.

Italian Marble gives a rich appearance to the house floor, walls, Kitchen, rooms, and bathroom with its beautiful color, special luster, and strains. Because of its elegant visual, it is commonly used for decorative purposes in hotels, offices of multinational companies, restaurants, resorts, shopping malls schools, houses, and other industries.

Italian marbles are highly durable and have a long life. These marble’s raw stones are imported from Italy in India and have high demand around the world. These marble stones are really very good. The most famous type of marble is Perlato, Dyna, and beige marble.

BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP India is among the best dealer, suppliers, and manufacturers of Italian marbles in India. We have various designs, colors, patterns, and sizes of this product. We deal with tiles and slab. Italian Marble price may vary according to its quality and color, but we promise our clients that the quality and services provided by us will be better than others.

Italian marble comes in an array of texture and color but with a restricted variety that includes white-colored Statuario marble, golden-hued Bottochino marble, and light grey Carrara marble.

Imported Marble Suppliers & Manufacturers Bhandari Marble Group

Italian marble of our Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, and Italian marble is guaranteed to bring out the character of your interiors. We’re shopping for natural stone for our kitchen remodel. We like marble and were told that we have to go with Italian marble. We’re just wondering why. What’s so great about Italian marble is it really better than marble from other areas

It is true that the most famous marble in the world comes from Italy, specifically the Carrara region. This is where artists such as Michelangelo and Donatello used Calacatta and Statuario marble to create some of the world’s most treasured works of art that have withstood the test of time. Italian marble is in high demand. It’s beautiful, durable, and brings with it a reputation for luxury. For this reason, many prefer authentic Italian marble.

Italian marble is considered to be superior by many due to its purity, durability, and beautiful white color. The fact that many buildings, sculptures, and other works of art made centuries ago out of Carrara marble still exist today is considered a testament to its longevity.

Part of the reason for the purity and durability of Italian marble is the way it was formed. Marble is basically crystallized limestone. When limestone a sedimentary rock is met with high temperature and great pressure, large crystals form and bind together to create marble a metamorphic rock. The intense heat destroys most of the impurities once found in the stone. Left behind are large sections of white marble with varied colored veins running through it. The color and boldness of the veins vary with the amount and type of minerals that are present in the limestone. This naturally varies based on the location of the marble, making every marble slab completely unique.

Another reason that Italian marble is thought to be superior comes simply from the rich stone working heritage of Italy. They were the first to streamline and perfect quarrying methods still used today. We are the best Italian marble suppliers that provide the latest marble slabs, blue pearl marble, Italian Marble Flooring. The Italians have set very high standards for quality control and do everything with precision. In fact, Italians are still thought of as some of the most skilled cutters and carvers in the stone world today.

Marble Furniture & Décor

Join us on a journey of discovery through the most precious varieties of marbles, enchanted by unexpected colors and veins. From precious white Carrara marble to absolute black marble, this stone is always an exciting choice for contemporary furniture and décor.

Marble is a stone that has a soul; chalky white surfaces and delicate veins exude purity, elegance and set it apart from other natural stones. Through its unique characteristics and diverse textures, marble has been prevalent throughout history and continues to maintain its popularity when it comes to the crafting of furniture, flooring, lighting, tabletop, and décor.

Being a metamorphic rock, marble is formed when sediments crystallize under intense heat and pressure. Perhaps the most fascinating characteristics of marble are the naturally formed translucent surfaces and easy-to-carve composition. Hence marble has been a stone of choice for artists, architects, and sculptors since antiquity.

The characteristic swirls and veins of many colored marble varieties are usually determined by the various mineral impurities. As a result, there are no two identical designs, like a fingerprint. Even though colors might seem similar, there’s no other piece of marble with the exact same veining which makes this material truly unique.

The Story of Italian Marble

Italian marble is a truly extraordinary stone. A tradition carried on for centuries right from the Roman Empire to the Italian Renaissance, Italian marble is unparalleled and unique. Italian marble artists are known to be the best-skilled cutters and carvers of stone in the world. For this reason, handmade marble from Italy is highly valued and appreciated worldwide.

The enduring and long-lasting nature of marble made it the ideal material of choice to build majestic sculptures and buildings. The spectacular Cuomo di Milano, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals of Italy, is built with a unique quality of Candoglia marble, extracted from Lombardi and quarries.

Indian marble Vs Italian Marble

When it comes to marble, you have two options that are immensely popular in Indian homes. Both Indian marble and Italian marble are amazing choices for your flooring or surface top needs. But how do you pick the right marble that’s perfect for your home and budget? While there’s a lot of info out there and it’s easy to get overwhelmed, here are the basic differences you need to know between Indian and Italian marble.

Let’s discuss the options

Indian marble is quarried extensively in North India. This makes it a cost-effective choice with a wide variety of colors and textures. On the other hand, Italian marble is quarried in Italy and is now easily available in India as well. It is widely appreciated for its high luster and imparting visual appeal to the area where it’s used.

Popular Types of Indian and Italian Marble

Indian marble: It comes in an astonishing array of colors such as white, pink, yellow, green, red, and black. Some of the popular varieties include:

White Makrana marble famously used in the Taj Mahal

High-quality white Ambaji marble from Gujarat

The widely exported Indian Green marble

Onyx marble which gets its name from the thick bands of alternating color

Italian marble: Like its Indian counterpart, this comes in a variety of colors and textures. Though there are a few varieties which are instantly recognizable, such as:

The much-valued Statuario marble which is characterized by its white color shot with grey or gold veins

Golden hued Bottochino marble which seems to be lit from within

Light grey Carrara marble which features dispersed, fine, feathery veining

Let Discuss the Pricing of some different things made by marble

Marble-coffee-table

Indian marble: While the cost of marble varies from city to city and vendor to vendor, Indian marble starts from as low as Rs30 per sq ft for some varieties of Indian green marble. It goes up to Rs150 per sq ft for other varieties.

Italian marble: Since this is available in a wide variety, prices could range from Rs250 to Rs5, 000 per sq ft, and sometimes more.

Laying Cost

Marble-flooring-living-room

The cost of laying both Indian and Italian marble is almost the same, which is between Rs30-100 per sq ft. Laying marble involves creating a base of cement and river sand before placing the marble slabs and therefore is labor-intensive.

Marble-flooring-kitchen

Sweep regularly Maintenance Tips

to keep away dust and grit

Clean surfaces and floors with a mild detergent solution or a specially formulated marble-cleaning liquid

Rub or mop the floors gently; never scrub

Apply a marble sealer to create a protective barrier

Don’t drag heavy objects over it

Mop up spills, especially acidic liquids like vinegar

Things that to watch out for Marble-flooring-bedroom

Ensure the marble slabs you buy are of the same thickness, ideally 18 mm and not less, else it may crack

Check for cracks and stains

Look at the marble slabs along with the sample pieces to get a rough estimate and avoid wastage

Take into consideration wastage due to breakage during transit

Indian and Italian marble have their pros and cons, as listed above, but it’s best to choose what suits your needs. While building or renovating your home, you may have a particular finish in mind and a budget to follow. By keeping these points in mind, you can easily select the right type of marble for your house.

Let’s look at Carrara marble, for example. Since it comes from only one quarry in the world located in Tuscany, it’s in very high demand. This makes the price of Carrara marble higher than other marble types on the market. But be aware that since this marble is rare, it is also often duplicated, without the end-users knowledge.

Sometimes slabs will be cut and tagged as “Italian” when they may have been quarried in countries like China or Vietnam, then shipped to Italy for cutting and exported to the U.S. for distribution. The term “Carrara marble” should literally mean that the marble was quarried from Italy’s Carrara region not just that it was cut there. So when you’re shopping, be sure you ask a lot of questions to confirm that you’re actually getting what you’re paying for.

We have a very large selection of Italian marble in stock. Our experienced team of stone professionals can show you the differences between authentic Italian marble and other choices. And you can rely on us to always be forthcoming and specific about where your marble was quarried.

ITALIAN MARBLE COLLECTION AT BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

Bottochino Classic

The marble Bottochino has a natural beige color with unique brown veins. Perfect for outdoor flooring and wall cladding. This marble is quarried in Bottochino town so the name Bottochino comes from the place.

Bottochino Marble is one of the finest and luxurious products.

It is available in Random Slabs sizes of 3’6″ x 7’0″, 4’0″ x 8’0″, 3’0″ x 6’0″

Bottochino Marble is available in 15mm to 20 mm thickness.

CAN BE USED AT

Living Room, Hotel Lobby, Lounges, Counter-tops, Bathrooms

PRICE

Rs. 280/- to Rs. 375/- per sq.ft.

Grey William

Grey William is a brown to grey stone with dark brown and grey shades sedimentary rock quarried in Italy. This stone is especially good for Exterior – Interior wall and floor applications, countertops, mosaic, fountains, pool, and wall capping and other design projects

Grey William is marble with full grey & whitish veins, which is imported from Italy and Turkey.

It is available in Random Slabs sizes of 3’6″ x 7’0″, 4’0″ x 8’0″

Grey Williams Marble is available in 15mm to 20 mm thickness.

CAN BE USED AT

The Grey Williams Marble slabs are looks cozy in Living Room, Lobby Area, Bathroom, Wall Cladding.

PRICE

Italy Imported – Rs. 350/- per sq.ft

Turkey Imported – Rs. 275/- Per sq.ft

Royal Diana

Royal Diana is beige color marble with thin & thick brown veins pattern. This is one of the most popular Italian marble for flooring in India. This pattern is also available in tile form with the size of 800mm x 1200mm by Kajaria with the name of Royal Dyna

It is available in Random Slabs sizes of 3’6″ x 7’0″, 4’0″ x 8’0″, and 3 ’0″ x 6’ 0″

Royal Diana Marble is available in 15mm to 20 mm thickness.

CAN BE USED AT

Living room, Bathroom, Bedroom, Entrance area.

PRICE

Rs. 275/- per sq.ft.

Statuario Marble

Statuario is a stone with maximum white color & grey veins. This is one of the most beautiful marble in white color. If you want to give a unique pattern on your floor then Statuario is the option. It adds brightness to your room.

It is available in Random Slabs sizes of 4’0″x 9’0″, 3’6″ x 7’0″, 4’0″ x 8’0″

Statuario Marble is available in 15mm to 20 mm thickness.

CAN BE USED AT

Living Room, Kitchen, Reception, Bedroom, Lobby Area.

PRICE

Rs. 500/- to Rs. 3000/- per sq.ft. Depends on the figure

Rosso Verona

The Rosso Verona marble is a red stone with unique brown veins. This rock is perfect for indoor flooring. Rosso Verona is an Italian Marble with red color, which is imported in from Italy and also called as Verona Red Marble.

It is available in Random Slabs size of 3’6″ x 7’0″, 4’0″ x 8’0″

Rosso Verona Marble is available in 15mm to 20 mm thickness.

CAN BE USED AT

The Rosso Verona marble slabs are looks elegant in Bathroom, Lift Area, Reception Area, and Wall

Is Italian marble flooring Right for Your Home?

Italian marble is an especially attractive form of limestone that forms around mineral spring deposits. Its fibrous, marble-like texture and attractive earth-tone colors make it one of the most popular stones used for building materials. Historically, much of the Italian marble used in architecture and artwork came from the mountains of Italy, but today, most of the Italian marble sold is from India, Turkey, Iran, Mexico, and Peru.

Here’s What You Should Know About Natural Stone Flooring

As a flooring material, Italian marble is typically sold in tile form and comes in a variety of earth tone colors, including tans, browns, rust, and beige hues. It is a very durable stone, and while it is easier to care for than some types of natural stone, Imported Italian marble is very heavy, and its porousness requires that you seal the surface regularly. It is not appropriate for all locations. But a properly installed and cared for Imported Italian marble floor can add a unique blend of mountain-born beauty to interior spaces.

Pros

Stylish but dignified

Durable

Adds real estate value

Cons

Expensive

It requires periodic sealing.

Imported Italian marble Flooring Costs

Imported Italian marble is a mid-range stone in terms of cost, but this puts it at the high-end in the entire range of flooring materials. An Imported Italian marble floor averages about $ 5per square foot for materials plus labor. Marble, by comparison, averages around $2 per square foot, and granite averages around $ 2per square foot. Laminate flooring, at the low end of all flooring materials, can be professionally installed for less than $1 per square foot. Like other natural stone, though, Imported Italian marble flooring can vary substantially in the price—from as low as $3 to as high as $30 per square foot, depending on the quality and finish of the stone.

Finishes can range from a natural texture the least expensive to a honed, polished, and sealed surface.

Maintenance and Repair

Maintaining Imported Italian marble is paradoxically both complicated and simple. Like other natural stone, Imported Italian marble has microscopic pores that can allow spilled liquids and staining agents to penetrate. This problem can be prevented by applying a penetrating sealer, followed by a barrier surface sealer. This dual treatment needs to be applied during installation, then periodically reapplied throughout the life of the floor. If you want to maintain a glossy surface, more regular resealing will be necessary.

But if it is kept properly sealed, Italian marble is quite simple to clean, requiring only simple damp mopping with a mild soap solution.

Hard tile materials such as Imported Italian marble are made to take a beating without showing significant damage from scratches, cracks, or chips. Over time, a weathering effect can occur, which is often prized for giving the floor a distinct character that evokes ancient architecture. This antique patina is one of the main allures of Imported Italian marble

With polished and honed materials, there is a greater risk of scratching, while natural-finish tiles are more resistant to damage and blemishes. Since travertine flooring is laid in tiles, individual pieces can be removed and replaced if they crack. This involves carefully breaking up and removing the damaged tile, scraping the subfloor, then installing a new tile with thin-set adhesive, and grouting the joints. If the surrounding floor has weathered, however, the patched area may not match exactly for some time.

Design

Imported Italian marble is one of the oldest building materials in existence, and a floor made with Imported Italian marble adds a sense of age and prestige to the home. At the same time, it has inherently dominant energy that draws attention in a subtle, subdued way, with mild tones found swirling in its hazy, shifting surface effects. Each piece is also a nature-formed work of earth art, creating a one-of-a-kind installation.

Thanks to its soft palette of colors, Imported Italian marble maintains a reserved dignity that is much more subtle than granite or marble. Available in tans and beiges, grays, and speckled off-white hues, these tiles can bring the towering dominance of earth to a flooring installation without overwhelming a room with dramatic colors.

Imported Italian marble Flooring Installation

Like other stone tiles, Imported Italian marble flooring is installed in much the same way as ceramic tile. A layer of cement board underlayment is applied over the subfloor, then the stone tiles are laid with thin-set adhesive, and finally, the joints are filled with grout. Grouting can be tricky with Imported Italian marble if the tiles have not been sealed since the grout can stain the material. When using unsealed tiles, it’s best to apply a sealer before grouting.

While the installation techniques are similar to those for Italian Imported marble poses some unique difficulties. Because this material is very heavy, the floor structure must be strong and stiff enough to support the flooring without excessive bowing or flexing. Structural reinforcement is sometimes necessary. Italian Imported marble is a very hard stone, and ordinary tile-cutting tools are not sufficient to cut it. Instead, a power wet saw equipped with a diamond blade is used. Because of these installing Italian marble is a popular project; the work is usually left to professionals.

If you’re installing a new floor, be sure to keep a few extra tiles so you can make perfectly color-matched repairs in the future.

Top Brands of Italian Imported Flooring

Imported marble flooring tiles can be purchased at just about any tile shop and even most home improvement centers. This is not a product that depends on manufacturing brands since the wholesalers that supply retail outlets buy their stone from the same quarries. More important is the classification of imported marble:

Polished: In this classification, the tiles are very glossy, since the stone has been polished for maximum smoothness and completely sealed. This is the best for resisting stains, but it is very slippery when wet.

Honed: This class of imported marble has been filled and lightly polished, but it still has a matte-like finish and is less slick and slippery than polished stone. This is the most popular stone for indoor floor use.

Tumbled: Tumbled Italian marble has rounded corners and edges, with an aged, antique look. It provides good traction underfoot but will need to be sealed against stains. It has a beautiful antique look but isn’t very practical for heavy-use floors.

ITALIAN MARBLE BY BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP

Italian Marble is the material that has mostly used for decorative purposes. Many kinds of materials have been on the market most of the time, instead of Italian marble others are no longer available due to some limited resources. Because of our latest technology and upgraded knowledge it has become the most admired material in the market.

It is the material that is most widely used for the flooring and mainly used for bathrooms as floor tiles. It is one of the largest selections of stone all over the world. It provides the richest visual appeal and high shining to that area.

It is very soft and scratch-resistant. It makes a very beautiful and powerful impact on the flooring. It is also one of the most durable materials and best suited according to needs. It offers the class appeal for houses and offices. We are the manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers of Italian marble and tiles. We provide a very good quality of marble. It can be used for flooring, bathrooms, hotels, restaurants, resorts, business offices, schools, colleges, shopping malls, and hospitals, etc.

We deal in Italian marble, tiles, Italian floor designs, flooring, prices, statues, and stones, etc. Get the high-quality Italian marble from Bhandari Marble Group at the best prices.

ITALIAN MARBLE

Whether used in living rooms, kitchen countertops, or bathrooms, marble has a timeless and elegant appeal. It has always been among the most preferred natural stones for home décor, and the most commonly used varieties are Italian and Indian marble.

These natural stones are available in a wide range of colors and vein patterns, and to a layperson, the sheer variety of choices can be quiet overwhelming. We bring you the lowdown on Italian marble Vs Indian marble; including the various varieties, colors and characteristics so that you can make an informed decision for your home.

Italian Marble Vs Indian Marble

Source

Quarried from Italy

Quarried from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra and Madhya Pradesh in India

Luster

Italian marble is very high-quality, pearly and luminescent          

Indian marble is medium luster as compared to Italian marble.

Colors  

Italian marble available in White, Grey, Blue-Grey, Rose

Indian marble available in white, Grey, Deep Yellow, Green, Red, Black

Softness            

Very soft            

Comparatively harder

Thickness          

Commonly available in 18-20 mm slabs  

Available in various thicknesses, can go up to 30 mm

Polishing            

Available as one side polished slabs        

Polished or unpolished

Cost      

Starts at Rs 350 per square foot

Starts at Rs 80 per square foot

Laying  

Italian marble needs highly skilled craftsmen    

Indian marble requires a lesser level of skills as compared to Italian marble.

Environmental Concern

As it is soft, it has a nylon backing and is treated with epoxy resins, matching pigments and chemical resin sealers              

No toxins or chemicals used to reinforce stone as it is harder

Where Used    

High-end floors of living, foyer, staircases, tabletops. Not preferred in kitchens as it is very soft and can easily stain.              

Indian marble mostly used in bathroom walls and floors, kitchen countertops.

Pros and Cons of Indian Marble and Italian Marble

While the most significant advantage of marble is its aesthetic appeal, it does come with a lot of drawbacks.

Marble is a porous stone and is prone to stains. Chemically, it is made of calcium carbonate, a basic salt that can react with an acidic material. That’s why citrus juices can corrode the surface and make it susceptible to small pits. For this reason, granite is preferred over marble for kitchen countertops.

As marble is a natural stone, deeper layers of the stone could have fissures and cracks which may not be visible on the surface. As a result, the slabs you buy may sometimes come with a high percentage of wastage.

Marble is prone to scratches and heavy or sharp objects should not be moved on the floor.

Unless you have experts laying the stone, it may not be done perfectly level.

Over a period of time, marble can wear away and develop hairline cracks due to weight or pressure. This is more common in Italian marble. However, many people feel this adds to the charm as the stone ages.

Marble is more expensive than granite, vitrified, or ceramic tiles.

Marble Types and Colors Available in Market

Indian marble comes in many unique colors. Makrana marble and Rajnagar marble are available in shades ranging from pure white to grey, with distinctive patterns and grains. Andhi Marble is famed for its creamy pista green color, while Jaisalmer marble is characterized by its warm, deep yellow tones. Silky black marble is obtained from Abu. You can find Bidasar marbles in shades running from deep green to muddy brown. Lovely pink marble is obtained in Kishangarh, which sometimes has grains of grey and white running through it.

Indian marble Vs Italian Marble

Italian marble is known for its fine veins and a lustrous sheen. The most well-known varieties are the white or blue-grey marble from Carrara, the pearly shades of Bottochino, and the creamy white Pavonazzetto or Red Verona.

Difference between Indian Marble Vs Italian Marble

Cost: Indian Marble Vs Italian Marble

Marble from Italy is among the finest in the world and is accordingly priced—with the cheapest varieties starting from Rs 200 per square foot, and the more exclusive, fine stones costing even Rs 3000 for a square foot. Creamy Calacatta marble with its feathery veins and Carrara are classified as Group A. These are available only at the lower depths of quarries. They are highly-priced as they have very few fissures running through the stone. Indian marble is much more cost-effective, with the lower-end prices starting at Rs 150 per square foot.

When calculating the costs, you will also need to factor in the prices of cutting the slabs to size and laying it in your required pattern. This will come to around 100 per square foot inclusive of the fixing material. Marble inlay work requires many specialized craftsmen to do the work. Depending on how intricate the design is, costs can go up to Rs 2,500 per square foot. Finally, the marble needs to be polished with fine stones of carborundum and buffed and sealed with tin oxide. This polishing costs approximately Rs 30 per square foot.

Trending Ideas in Marble

Marble is primarily used in flooring and cladding in upmarket homes, office lobbies, and hotels.

Marble has always traditionally been used in sculptures and artwork – like this serene seated Buddha. It is also used on tabletops, in mantelpieces, and in smaller pieces of décor like trays, soap dispensers, and so on.

Cleaning Tips: Indian Marble Vs Italian Marble

Marble is a stone that requires a high degree of maintenance to keep it looking good. Its porous nature makes it very prone to scratches and stains, and such imperfections show up all too well against a polished surface. Here are some maintenance tips:

Acidic substances like vinegar, lime, and tomato will stain the marble, so wipe up any spills immediately.

Use diluted organic cleaners that are environmentally friendly and do not contain any chemicals.

Seal the surface regularly with a sealant that forms a protective barrier. When water stops beading on the surface, it’s time to re-seal.

Every few years, marble should be re-polished with carborundum stone and tin oxide, to restore the surface luster.

The water used for mopping the floor should not be hard or contain any chemicals.

For sheer elegance, there’s nothing that quite matches up to marble. With its unique colors, elegant finishes, and lustrous textures, marble makes a classy statement in any space. Looking for some support with your home décor? Our creative designers at BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH are always happy to help.

Italian Marble

Dark Emperador Marble is a dark brown dolomite limestone material, compact, fine-grained, with white veins, it presents by BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH. Manufacturer of Italian Marble – Bottochino Classico Marble, Brescia Onichita Marble, Brown Perlato Marble, and Di Martino Marble.

Indian Marble Vs Italian Marble: Which Is Better?

Italian marble from BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH Numerous varieties of both Indian marble and Italian marble are readily available in different colors.

Italian marble for flooring suppliers –

BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP is the best Italian marble suppliers that provide the latest marble slabs, blue pearl marble, Italian Marble Flooring, black pearl marble.

Different Shades of Imported Marble

Varieties of Marble and stone are available.

Indian Vs Italian Marble: What Works Best For Your Home?

Italian marble from BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH On the other hand, Italian marble is quarried in Italy and is now easily available in India.

Italian marble and Indian marble both are process and supply by BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH.

Indian marble is quarried from the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, while Italian marble is quarried from Northern Italy and is usually available in slabs. Italian marble has a very high luster, as seen in this image, and is a very soft stone with a crystal-like appearance.

Most people think along the lines of well, it is still marble, right the common perception is that Italian marble is more expensive simply because it is a prestige item. The reality is that Italian marble isn’t expensive just because it is a luxury item; it is actually a luxury item because of its premium quality.

Some of our most popular Italian marbles in-store is Calacatta, Statuario, and Carrara marble. These stones are ideal for indoor applications and are commonly used as kitchen benchtops, splashbacks, and bathroom vanities.

Source

The Origins of Marble in Italy & process and supply by BHANDARI MARBLE GROUP INDIA RAJASTHAN KISHANGARH. The marble in Italy was originally limestone millions of years ago. Over time, with the movement of the earth’s crust and the formation of these mountains, extreme pressure transformed the limestone into the hard, beautiful marble found there today.

Italian marble is a good option for flooring. You should make a choice depending on your budget and the end purpose. Granite is more pocket friendly, than Italian marble in the short run and long run as well. But if you want a class appeal for your house, then Italian marble is the only option.

The beautiful natural stone featured in residences is drawn from quarries nestled in the Apuan Alps in Tuscany before being carefully inspected and crafted by a team of artisans. No two pieces of marble are the same, each one formed and shaped by natural elements. The lines and colors running through every individual tile and slab allude to its wholly unique story.

Architecture

The beautiful natural stone featured in 130 William residences is drawn from quarries nestled in the Apuan Alps in Tuscany before being carefully inspected and crafted by a team of artisans. No two pieces of marble are the same, each one formed and shaped by natural elements.

Different kinds of Italian Marble

The three most common types of Italian marble are Carrara, Calacatta, and Statuary also called Statuario

Italian Marble typically costs somewhere around $5, 250 ₹ to $150, 2500 ₹ per square foot installed. This price will depend on a range of factors, including the type of marble you buy. Rarer forms of marble will come at an increased price.

Italian Marbles

Italian Marble gives a rich appearance to the house floor, walls, Kitchen, rooms, and bathroom with its beautiful color, special luster, and strains.  These marble stones are really very good. The most famous type of marble is Perlato, Dyna, and beige marble.

Italian Marble at Best Price in India – Business Directory

Find here online price details of companies selling Italian Marble. Get info of suppliers, manufacturers, exporters.

Sculpted out of Italian marble.

We’re shopping for natural stone for our kitchen remodel. We like marble and were told that we “have to” go with Italian marble. We’re just wondering why. What’s so great about Italian marble Is it really better than marble from other areas

A: It is true that the most famous marble in the world comes from Italy, specifically the Carrara region. This is where artists such as Michelangelo and Donatello used Calacatta and Statuario marble to create some of the world’s most treasured works of art that have withstood the test of time. Italian marble is in high demand. It’s beautiful, durable, and brings with it a reputation for luxury. For this reason, many prefer authentic Italian marble.

Italian marble is considered to be superior by many due to its purity, durability, and beautiful white color. The fact that many buildings, sculptures, and other works of art made centuries ago out of Carrara marble still exist today is considered a testament to its longevity.

Part of the reason for the purity and durability of Italian marble is the way it was formed. Marble is basically crystallized limestone. When limestone a sedimentary rock is met with high temperature and great pressure, large crystals form and bind together to create marble a metamorphic rock. The intense heat destroys most of the impurities once found in the stone. Left behind are large sections of white marble with varied colored veins running through it. The color and boldness of the veins vary with the amount and type of minerals that are present in the limestone. This naturally varies based on the location of the marble, making every marble slab completely unique.

Another reason that Italian marble is thought to be superior comes simply from the rich stone working heritage of Italy. They were the first to streamline and perfect quarrying methods still used today. The Italians have set very high standards for quality control and do everything with precision. In fact Italians are still thought of as some of the most skilled cutters and carvers in the stone world today.

Let’s look at Carrara marble, for example. Since it comes from only one quarry in the world located in Tuscany, it’s in very high demand. This makes the price of Carrara marble higher than other marble types on the market. But be aware that since this marble is rare, it is also often duplicated, without the end-users knowledge.

Sometimes slabs will be cut and tagged as Italian when they may have been quarried in countries like India,  or Vietnam, then shipped to Italy for cutting and exported to the all over World for distribution. The term Carrara marble should literally mean that the marble was quarried from Italy’s Carrara region not just that it was cut there. So when you’re shopping, be sure you ask a lot of questions to confirm that you’re actually getting what you’re paying for.

We have a very large selection of Italian marble in stock. Our experienced team of stone professionals can show you the differences between authentic Italian marble and other choices. And you can rely on us to always be forthcoming and specific about where your marble was quarried.

That being said, there are some other very beautiful marble choices from other areas. For example, did you know that the marble used to build the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was made from gorgeous white marble quarried in Colorado Calacatta Lincoln So, while the Italian variety is definitely beautiful, strong, and luxurious; it’s not the “only” option. Come visit us at one of our factory outlet showroom locations and see for yourself which marble you think is perfect for your project

[emmaklein30]

Inflatable paddle boards vs. rigid paddle boards

If you are looking for a brand-new paddle board, it’s very easy to be bewildered by the wide range of alternatives currently offered. From different brand names to various sizes and shapes, there’s a whole lot to think about prior to buying a stand up paddle board..

In this write-up, we contrast the pros and cons of blow up paddle boards (iSUPs) and rigid boards. Both are popular choices in the SUP globe, and it is very important to comprehend the staminas and also weaknesses of each to make sure that you buy the kind of board that’s best matched for you.

Along with recognizing the distinctions between iSUPs and difficult boards, it’s additionally essential to identify what’s essential to you in a board. Having a clear picture of specifically what you require in a board is an additional thing that will certainly make your purchasing decision much easier.

Inflatable paddle board vs. hard paddle board transportability.

When it pertains to portability, the evident advantage goes to blow up SUPs. iSUPs can be deflated, rolled up to the approximate dimension of a lightweight resting bag, and also brought with you anywhere you go.

Along with suitable right into the trunk or rear seat of also the tiniest of cars and trucks, you can also bring a blow up paddle board along while treking, cycling, and also flying. An inflatable SUP can be thrown in a bag or box and also contacted your travel luggage, offering you the utmost opportunity to discover the world’s most unique paddling places.

iSUPs are likewise perfect for individuals that live in high-rise apartments as they can be deflated and also will conveniently suit any type of lift. This is an unfeasibility with large, tough boards, and carrying a 12′ 6 ″ tough board up numerous trips of stairs is exceptionally tough as well as can easily result in a damaged board (if it even suits the stairwell to start with).

Inflatable paddle board vs. hard paddle board performance.

While inflatable paddle boards have actually tightened the efficiency gap over the past couple of years because of advancements in materials and also building, stiff SUPs still have a total advantage when it involves efficiency. Difficult paddle boards are quicker as well as much more stiff, making them the clear option if profits performance is your leading concern.

If you’re surfing major waves or participating in SUP races, an inflexible paddle board stays the most effective selection for competition.

Blow up paddle board vs. hard paddle board price.

Generally, inflatable paddle boards have a small advantage over hard boards price-wise. While there are versions in a variety of price arrays for both iSUPs as well as tough boards, the very best inflatables are commonly less expensive than the very best inflexible boards. Include in that the cost to shop as well as transportation a hardboard if you do not reside on the water or currently have a SUP compatible roofing shelf as well as you’re taking a look at a substantial savings with an iSUP.

An additional important factor to consider is expense per usage. When you take the overall expense of your board and also divide it by the number of times it really gets used during its life expectancy, you wind up with a price per use figure. Due to the extraordinary ease of blow up SUPs, they generally get used far more commonly than stiff boards, causing a much reduced price per use figure.

Inflatable paddle board vs. hard paddle board storage space.

Due to the truth that blow up paddle boards can be deflated and rolled up, they’re the ideal option for paddlers who stay in apartment or condos or anywhere square footage is at a premium. An inflatable SUP can be stored in a wardrobe, on a shelf, under your bed or even in the trunk of your automobile when not in use.

Contrast that with a tough board which occupies an extraordinary amount of storage room. Unless you have a large garage to store a difficult board, you won’t be able to keep it up and down. You’ll need a 12 ″ lengthy wardrobe or most likely have to make it part of the design by hanging it someplace inside your home– absolutely not a decorative touch that many will certainly value.

Blow up paddle board vs. hard paddle board durability.

When taking into consideration the durability of blow up SUPs and tough boards, several would right away presume that inflexible boards are the clear winners in this category. It may come as a shock that a well-built blow up SUP will really be more long lasting as well as much better able to hold up against major misuse than a standard hard board. As a result of the truth that they are cumbersome and harder to transfer, rigid SUPs are revealed to more bumps and knocks as well as can quickly obtain dinged and fractured. Deliberately, an iSUP is totally ding evidence as well as able to withstand being left of balconies and run over with a car– extreme longevity tests that no rigid board can possibly survive.

Blow up paddle boards are really created with the exact same difficult material that bombproof whitewater rafts are constructed of. As opposed to suffering damage when entering into contact with rocks, sticks, as well as various other barriers, an iSUP will literally jump right off.

Blow up paddle board vs. difficult paddle board rapairs.

As for repair work go, this is one more classification that mosts likely to iSUPs. When a fiberglass as well as epoxy tough board obtains dinged or fractured, it’ll usually need an expert store repair service that is expensive and lengthy. Additionally, if water fills the foam core, there are numerous cases where a harmed inflexible board becomes worse gradually and simply isn’t the very same after having been fixed.

Fixing a blow up SUP that has actually been damaged is a much different tale. An iSUP that has actually been punctured or torn can be rapidly as well as conveniently covered at home making use of the materials provided by your board supplier in the included repair service kit.

Blow up paddle board vs. difficult paddle board weight.

Blow up SUPs are likewise the winner in the weight group, typically considering a lot less than tough boards. This benefit has actually gotten back at extra noticable over the last couple of years as the use of new iSUP construction strategies has led to inflatable paddle boards that are even lighter than formerly assumed possible.

The fact that blow up paddle boards are lighter as well as far easier to transfer than inflexible boards makes them an excellent option for females and children who may find it testing to bring about a heavy tough paddle board.

Blow up stand paddleboards are light-weight, enjoyable as well as risk-free for the whole family.

Inflatable paddle board vs. hard paddle board security.

Finally, inflatable paddle boards are more secure than stiff boards. Dropping the upside-down on a difficult board can easily lead to injury– something that you especially need to be cautious of when paddling in surf or with children.

While blow up SUPs are very inflexible, they still offer a percentage of “give” that can aid to support a loss.

Final thoughts.

We hope that this write-up has actually given you a clear picture of the various staminas as well as weak points of both inflatable and also inflexible SUPs. Both board types are very fun and also useful in specific circumstances– what is very important now is to determine what’s most important to you prior to making a decision. While we suggest tough boards for paddlers who put a higher top priority on bottom-line efficiency along with those who are associated with serious SUP competitors, the large majority of individuals are much better off with a blow up SUP. iSUPs supply even more benefits to the average paddler, as well as their amazing mobility, sturdiness, and also storage advantages make them a superb choice overall.

Despite what you eventually pick, we really hope that you extensively enjoy your brand-new board and that it serves you well for years to come.

Pleased paddling!

PDF Button

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest

This post Inflatable paddle boards vs. rigid paddle boards was see first on Paddle Board Inflatable - Paddle Board Inflatable is life

from Paddle Board Inflatable https://www.paddle-board-inflatable.com/inflatable-paddle-boards-vs-rigid-paddle-boards/

[impracticaldemon]

Dangerous Connections [late submission for Saichifest 2019]

by impracticaldemon a modern, non-canonesque, 4200-word vignette

Rating:  M / Lemon   Read also on FFN | AO3

Author's Note: I have no idea where this story came from. Unfortunately, it nagged at me until I wrote it, which delayed other writing. Part of the inspiration came from @nospringonions fanfic for Saichifest 2019 (although that fanfic feels brighter, and has a beginning, middle, and end).  This is one of my very few non-Shinsengumi-era stories. The setting is a modern Japan AU that has a slightly? darker feel to it than Hakuouki SSL. Partial inspiration for the feel—and Saito's motorbike—go to @kurokiorya

As a final note, the entire second half of the story is more or less about sex.

Dangerous Connections

"I found you a tutor, Hajime-kun!"

Saitō eyed his friend warily. That particular grin always made him nervous.

"Tanaka-sensei said that she would find somebody appropriate, Sōji. There's no need—"

"Tanaka-sensei has already approved my suggestion." Okita's smirk became even more pronounced. "She agreed that it made sense to get somebody who knew the club, and wouldn't mind working around your weird schedule. Besides, it turns out that Chizuru-chan was already on her list of candidates."

Saitō felt himself tense. "Yukimura? Sōji—that's—I don't think that's a good idea at all."

Okita laughed. "Worried you won't be able to concentrate? On the bright side, you won't want to embarrass yourself, right? I figure you'll be speaking and writing English like a pro in no time!" He punched Saitō lightly on the arm—lightly for Sōji, at least.

"There must be other—"

"Get a grip, Saitō! Your family said you had to pass your English competency exam, or quit the team." Okita's expression darkened. "And this year we're going to win the championship, so don't you dare let them force you to quit!"

"I don't intend to!" replied Saitō with rare heat. "You shouldn't have gotten involved in this."

"Oi, what's with you? I thought you'd be pleased. I'm pretty sure you've had a thing for Chizuru-chan for ages—and didn't you mention that your dad wanted you to find a suitable girlfriend? I mean, you're twenty now, and graduating uni in a couple of years, and—"

"Stay. Out. Of. This." Saitō turned on his heel and stalked off, shoulders rigid.

Okita was so surprised that he watched him go.

"Well that was weird—what the hell did you say to him?"

"Nothing he wanted to hear, apparently." It wasn't Heisuke's fault that Saitō was behaving like he had a poker up his butt, but Okita had to suppress an instinctive desire to lash out at the younger man. He didn't handle rejection well—he knew it, but that didn't make him any happier right now.

"Anything I can do to help?" Fortunately, Heisuke was reading the room for once, and didn't demand an immediate explanation. Okita grimaced inwardly. Heisuke was a good guy, and he'd matured a lot in the last couple of years—they all had, supposedly.

"Doubt it. Not unless you're in the mood to torture Hajime-kun for personal information?"

Heisuke stared at him, then waved his hands in an emphatic denial. "First of all, torture really isn't my thing. Second, I wasn't planning to die today."

"You saying I can't take Saitō?"

"MMMMFFFF." Heisuke pantomimed locking up his lips and throwing away the key. Then he ruined it by adding, "Who knows? Not me." He grinned at Okita. "I knows nuffin' guv'nah!"

"What the hell was that? As if your English isn't bad enough to begin with."

"Better'n yours and Saitō's, I hear."

Okita grimaced, then shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me, but Saitō's dad says he either passes the next time, or he's out of the kendo club—national championship or not. The guy's a hardass, too—if he says it, he means it. But we need that championship if we're going to get funding to go international." He scowled.

"Makes me glad I'm not the heir—or even runner-up heir—to some fancy corporation, for once. My dad just wants me to take his guilt money and lead my own life."

"Yeah, yeah. There are worse things, you know?"

"So I'm told." Heisuke bit back a snide rejoinder—Souji was always grouchy when it came to families. Besides, it reminded him what he'd come to say in the first place.

"I don't know if it's related, but I have some news for you. Bad news, and I wish Shinpat had found you first, to be honest. Assuming he didn't avoid you on purpose."

Okita gestured for him to continue, though he was still staring in the direction that Saitō had… gone.

"You know that pharmaceutical company that's been in the news so much recently?"

"No." Then Okita reconsidered. "Wait—yes. Hijikata was ranting about it yesterday, I think. Kondō-san kept having to calm him down—not that there's anything new in that."

"Well, turns out they were into some seriously illegal shit, and even had some kind of stolen army biotech they were working on."

"So?"

"It was owned by Chizuru-chan's dad. In fact, her brother was the manager, at least on paper."

That got Okita's full attention.

"Well, shit."

"Anyway, nobody knows if they were set up, or who leaked the info to the cops—or the press—and so far it's hard to say who in the family knew all the details."

"There is no way Chizuru-chan knew about it, or was involved," Okita snapped.

"Yeah, we know that. But for now, the family, and everyone close to the family, is a suspect. And it gets worse."

"How?" Okita was already trying to sort out the kind of impact this could have on the club. Chizuru was close friends with all of them, and she acted as a kind of book-keeper and general secretary.

"Chizuru's dad made a substantial donation to the club, back when Chizuru started university. That's kind of why we got stuck with her in the first place, remember—not that I minded."

Okita remembered. "Fuck. FUCK!"

"Right? A club like ours—any sports club that wants to compete at the national level and beyond—can't be associated with illegal drugs. And these ones involve army tech, so..."

"Why the hell didn't Hijikata explain this to me yesterday?!" demanded Okita.

Wisely, Heisuke didn't point out that Sōji probably hadn't been listening. Sometimes things were okay between those two, other times they weren't—as in, really weren't. At times like this, he envied Hajime-kun for not living with the rest of them.

Okita glared at Heisuke for not answering his question. "Fine. Where's Chizuru-chan?"

"We don't know."

"What?! How is that even possible? She lives with us, for crying out loud!"

Heisuke took a half-step back, mentally cursing Shinpachi for setting him up to be the bearer of ill tidings. Sōji tended to hit first, ask questions later—well, not so much now, but still. Normally, they sent Sano-san to do stuff like this, but Sano was out of town for the week.

"We think she's either been taken away by her dad, or kidnapped by those Kazama thugs." Heisuke had to lean in to whisper the words, and Okita took the opportunity to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.

"Then what the hell are we doing just talking about it?! Why are we here at school instead of out looking for her?"

"I'm not gonna talk if you keep doing that!"

"Fine. Screw English class, I'm out of here. And I'm really pissed at Hajime-kun for not telling me all this earlier—he must have known."

"Our job is to go to school. Keep up appearances."

"Thank you for that, Hijikata-mommy-san. Sure, I'll do that." Without another word, Okita spun away from Heisuke, and ran for the main entrance.

Heisuke hesitated, then flung up his hands with a groan and sprinted off after him. Nobody was going to be happy when Sōji encountered the ladies and gentlemen of the press. And it wasn't Heisuke's fault that they'd trailed him here after Hijikata-san had slammed the house door in their faces.

Saitō's bike was expensive, but not showy, and it was a lot less noisy than most. That being said, he hadn't taken quite as much care as usual when he'd taken off from school after running into Sōji. Fortunately, he couldn't sense anyone watching as he methodically stowed the bike, and hurried through the parking lot door of his non-descript apartment building. On the face of it, he was just another young guy who'd probably forgotten something he needed for work or school. He'd done a good job of being anonymous here for two years; there was no reason to mess that up now.

He'd originally hoped to throw people off the scent by showing up for class as usual, but he just wasn't calm enough to pull it off. No matter how hard he tried, he still lacked the detachment and control of his father and grandfather—as they often pointed out. And ugh. Sōji had meant it for the best, but Saitō had hoped to avoid anything that might link him to Chizuru except as a member of the club's championship kendo team. The Kazama had top notch intelligence gatherers.

He made himself take the elevator up to his floor—which wasn't the penthouse, since that was just too obvious for the scion of a wealthy corporate empire. At least he wasn't the heir, thank all the gods. He unlocked the door to his apartment, and then carefully locked and bolted it behind him once inside.

"Hajime-san?"

And there she was, waiting for him. His heart-beat picked up at the thought.

"Chizuru…" It was still a delight to use her unadorned first name, and to hear his own name on her lips. He knew he was blushing, but he couldn't seem to help it, or to suppress the inappropriate—very warm—images that caused at least part of the blush.

Without warning—except that he was trained to read an opponent's slightest movement—Chizuru threw her arms around him, and buried her head against his shoulder. He tried not to react to her sudden proximity, but his hormones had other ideas. She was obviously frightened, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to gently lift her face to his, and kiss her. Not that they hadn't kissed before, but it was still so new to him—to them both—that he was immediately swept up in it, and didn't notice the passage of time until he realized that he had her pressed tightly against the hallway wall, one hand in her hair, and the other stroking the soft skin of her back under her blouse.

When he tried to draw away, Chizuru clung to him, her lips nuzzling his neck. He could tell that she was embarrassed, but also determined to keep him close. If only he were better at rational thought when they were together like this! Then he could comfort her properly, while still being aware of his surroundings, and considering what to do next.

"Chizuru, we need to plan." She couldn't stay hidden with him indefinitely—though part of him wished she would—but the alternatives weren't clear. "I think it's going to get more difficult after today…" Not so much because of Sōji blatantly throwing them together, but because the press was out there now, and hungry for details. The Kazama family wouldn't miss the opportunity to seize Chizuru if they could find her, and he suspected that Kōdō was finally scared enough to accept the Yukimura-Kazama merger, and hand her over to them to seal the bargain.

Saito made another effort to put some distance between them, but thinking about Chizuru engaged to Kazama Chikage made him want to do anything other than let go. In fact, he wanted very much to forget about everything other than finding out how best to please his beloved—if still secret—girlfriend. His mouth dipped down to the tip of her closest ear, and he began to trace the outer edge with his tongue, which elicited an intoxicating, shivery kind of gasp from Chizuru. He felt his pelvic muscles contract in response, and blood rush down to harden him into full arousal. Without another thought, he pressed a hard kiss—almost a bite—into the side of Chizuru's neck, making sure that his teeth would leave marks.

"Hajime…" Chizuru's voice was a little rougher than usual, and her breathing had quickened. He tightened his hand in her hair, and forced her head up to look at him, so that he could admire the scarlet that now bloomed high on her cheeks, and the way her eyes seemed to glow as she warmed into passion. When he brought his mouth to hers, abandoning her ear and neck, and biting gently on her lower lip, she made another half-muffled sound of pleasure, but louder and more distinct this time. He found himself trapping her even more tightly between his body and the wall, and grinding himself against her, while his tongue parted her willing lips and began to explore her mouth, eventually so deeply that it felt like a flagrant expression of what he wanted to do with the rest of her body.

As if in response to that thought, he felt Chizuru's hands tug the tail of his shirt free of his jeans, so that she could caress his bare skin in the same way that he was touching hers. His father wouldn't be very impressed at how easily distracted he was, he knew, but something rebelled in him at the thought. His friends and colleagues pushed him to be more open; his father and grandfather demanded perfect stoicism. Only Chizuru let him be entirely himself—she didn't mind his silences, she trusted him to listen when she wanted to talk, and she never seemed troubled by his awkwardness. He was utterly in love with her.

Still kissing, they undressed each other, fumbling at buttons, and even occasionally snarling at layers that wouldn't cooperate with their need to be skin-to-skin. Saitō retained enough sanity to lift Chizuru into his arms and carry her to his small bedroom, which was surely a more private and appropriate place to communicate such desires. Not until he laid her down on his bed—hair loose, clothing wildly askew, love-bite darkening on her neck—did he fully process what they were doing, and freeze, appalled by how far he'd let things go. He immediately sat back, still straddling her hips, and forced his greedy hands away from her skin.

To his surprise, Chizuru smiled up at him, and reached out to run her own hand down across the muscles of his stomach to rest lightly on the tight bulge still constrained by his lower fly and boxer-briefs. The button to his jeans was already undone, although it had taken her some minutes to achieve this, earlier. He still wasn't sure whether the button had actually been difficult, or if she'd just been distracted by his lips on her skin, and on the thin material of her lacy bra. Her nipples had hardened intriguingly under the ministrations of his stroking, pinching fingers, and then tongue and teeth.

He stared down at her now, breathless and dry-mouthed with desire, blood pounding in his ears, but desperate not to injure her in any way. Her thumb rubbed gently, but attentively, at the head of his erection, and he flinched inwardly at the combination of the exciting, pleasurable sensation, and the vulnerable, loving, determined expression on her lovely face. It might feel wonderful, but it wasn't right—not when there was fear and sadness lurking behind her passion.

"Chizuru," he whispered, barely able to resist leaning forward into her touch, while forcing himself to keep his hands curled on his thighs, rather than caressing her breasts, or busy with the pale blue panties that lay visible below her loose, rumpled skirt.

"I want this, Hajime. You love me, you believe in me, and I want you to be the first, since I don't know what the future has in store for either of us."

"We'll stay together no matter what, I promise, if that's what you want. But don't—Chizuru, those are the wrong reasons—you must know that!" He hoped that his voice betrayed neither the effort it cost to be rational, nor his hurt at her lack of confidence. In him, in them, he wasn't sure which.

He read stubbornness—and true longing—in her eyes, and the set of her lips. She wasn't going to back down, not when she believed in what she was saying.

"Your father won't want an alliance with a disgraced family, we both know that. And the Kazama want me so that I can produce an heir to both families, Kazama and Yukimura, now that their victory is certain. A marriage, an heir—that will bring everyone into line, and keep our noble blood pure." The last word was low and bitter. "Are you going to subject your family, and your friends, and all their dreams, to the inevitable retaliation? They—the Kazama—can be brutal, you know."

"My family can look after itself," he told her forcefully, trying and failing to ignore her insistent caresses. He shifted a little, then caught her wrists, pushing her down into the bed. "Don't offer yourself to me on such terms. I'll refuse." He wasn't sure he could, but he'd do his best.

Chizuru stared at him, clearly frustrated in every way, but also, maybe, a little hopeful. Or was he imagining it, because he wanted her so much, and needed her to want him back out of love and passion, not despair—or as part of some ridiculous, fatalistic goodbye.

"Hajime? I don't want you to get hurt. I love you. That's the only reason I would ever go to them—"

"I know, but this—" He swallowed, unable to do what he should, and just get up, and get his mind back on prioritizing her safety, and—and so on. Why couldn't things be simple? Why did he always think too much?! He could practically feel Sōji's eyes mocking him for his indecision.

"I'm sorry," Chizuru whispered into the silence. "I was being selfish—to want this time with you. This is my fault—"

"Dammit—no!" He let go of her wrists and curved his hands around her cheeks to cradle her head. "Just… just don't go there." He bent down to kiss her fiercely on the lips, and was surprised to discover that his control was still pitifully weak. Desire reignited as he registered the heat of her skin against his bare chest, and felt her lips part beneath his. He heard her breath hitch—just as it had earlier—and then her arms tightened around him, pulling him fully against her, so that he barely had time to brace one forearm to avoid falling.

"I won't give up—"

"I won't let you go."

With little grace, but also no pointless self-consciousness, he freed them both from their remaining clothes, and gave himself over to kissing and teasing and caressing his beloved's body into heated, extravagant arousal. Inexperience didn't mean lack of imagination, and he'd imagined making love to her so many times before, often to his own chagrin. He kissed and tasted and left marks on her skin, and suckled her breasts, and ran strong, demanding hands along her sides and over her hips and belly and around her smooth backside. And he thanked her, in fervent, heartfelt whispers, for letting him hear her cries of passion, and for sharing her wonderful, sweet body with him.

Her scent was intoxicating—he hadn't realized how much it would affect him. When his explorations finally reached the damp, sensitive folds of skin at her centre, and his fingers started to learn the contours of her most private places, her soft cries became whimpers, and he saw her biting her lower lip so hard that he thought it might bleed.

"Chizuru…" He almost stilled his hand, worried for the first time that he'd somehow hurt her, in his ignorance, but when his fingers slowed, and he lifted his lips from the hard nub of one breast, her expression plainly begged him not to stop, and he felt her hips jerk so as to press her mound more firmly against his hand. Only a little while later, he found himself sliding his fingers within her, both elated and a little shocked by how much he wanted to do such things. His body was beginning to quiver with need and anticipation of release, and he knew that she could feel his hard length pressed tightly against her thigh, and perhaps even the slightly sticky fluid that had started to pool on her skin. Without conscious thought, he pressed his fingers deeper within her, and felt inner muscles tremble and contract against them. Abruptly, he wasn't sure how he was going to manage to hold back any longer. He pulled away from her uncertainly, aware that he'd become completely focussed on sensation.

"Hajime…" She said his name like a plea, and lust jolted through him.

"Chizuru, I… I…" He swallowed, so deep in desire that he couldn't form a proper question. When she reached out and pulled his mouth down to hers, kissing him passionately, his whole body twitched involuntarily, and he clung to her, feeling his climax starting to build out of control. He could only hope—though he was moderately optimistic—that he'd made his lover feel the same way.

He was incredibly grateful when Chizuru shifted her hips, and awkwardly, but without hesitation, helped guide him to her entrance. He took that as permission to finally surrender his thread-bare self-command and join with her, and a soft groan escaped his lips as he thrust into her, his hands moving to grip her hips as he rocked hard against her once, and then withdrew a short space before burying himself deep into her once more, savouring the way her tight, slick walls clenched and pulsed around his shaft. She was very wet, and she smelled of arousal and sex, and a strong wave of possessiveness swept over him along with the desperate yearning of near-orgasm. Unable to stop, he thrust into her again and again, listening to her moan, and feeling her writhe beneath him. Somewhere in the haze of adrenaline and pleasure, he promised himself to do more for her next time, since this time he seemed to lack the ability to do much more than ride a dizzying wave of physical sensation until he was coming hard and fast inside her, his seed spilling hot within her welcoming body.

They lay together for some time afterwards, without speaking, their bodies still joined, their skin sticky with sweat and still sensitive to the other's touch. Saitō was conscious that he had left numerous bruises and marks on Chizuru—some light, some deep—and he was embarrassed that he didn't fully recollect being so rough. It had also occurred to him, too late, that he probably hadn't been careful enough or gentle enough, given that it was her first time. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be able to think clearly enough to express his concern just yet. He suspected he was smiling, and was a little worried that he looked smug.

Chizuru, on the other hand, looked… happy. More than happy. For some reason that Saitō couldn't fathom, she was gazing lovingly up at him through dreamy, half-closed eyes, and showed no inclination to have him move from where he lay. The only problem was that he felt a distinct inclination to make love to her again, but wasn't sure whether that would be either appropriate, or welcome. He'd never been entirely sure what women really thought about sex, having never had the opportunity—or courage—to ask. But… she really did look happy. And beautiful. Gorgeous, even. Although that didn't necessarily reflect how she felt.

"Thank you," he said, at last. It didn't begin to convey how he felt, but it was a start.

"Oh…" Chizuru looked startled, but then relaxed again and grinned at him. "You're welcome—I mean, thank you, too."

There was a lot going on, back in the real world. And somebody was going to track them down, probably either Sōji, or Hijikata-san, and probably sooner rather than later. Saitō tightened his arms around Chizuru.

"Remember, you promised."

"I know. No giving myself up just to protect everyone I care about—and especially you—from the anger of the most powerful family in the country."

He blinked. "Somehow you make it sound like I'm being selfish." Then, before it could even begin to turn into another disagreement, he added. "But even if I am—yes, that is correct. Also, to quote something either Sano-san, or Shinpachi, said one time: have a little faith, okay?"

Chizuru looked up at him with an unusually roguish smile.

"I have faith in your endurance…"

Saitō felt his eyes widen in surprise, and then Chizuru suddenly looked away, red suffusing her cheeks. Gently, he turned her face back toward his, and kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry if I was too rough—I really am. I don't know what was wrong with me. But I'd be very happy to let you test my endurance, if you want to."

And if Sōji, Hijikata-san, or anyone else needed him in the next hour or two, then that was just too bad. Chizuru's well-being, and her good opinion of him, were far more important than a national championship, a potential rift with his father, or the threats of a family with distinctly dangerous business practices.

[END]

A/Note:  I realized part-way through editing that the background for this Saito is influenced by that of the Saito from an entirely different otome game (DTL)

Tags: @shell-senji @hidetheremote @eliz1369 @nalufever @annedey @nospringonions @soujthings @do-it-for-keef @sabinasanfanfic @fury-ous @canadiangaap @aetherium-weaver @hakuyamazakisensei @petri808

To those who read Teachings of Demons:  the new chapter is underway and should be finished this weekend.  Still dealing with a number of distractions, but hoping for solid writing time in March.

~ Imp

[the-crippled-god]

Steam Next Fest, October 2021

Here’s a few sentences on the demos I’ve played thus far. We’ll see if I get to more...

A=B: Of the genre of 'Esolang programming games' (of which there are many), this might be one of the easiest to get into. However, nearly all the fun is going to come out of weird tricks you can pull off with the new instructions added in each section, which kinda defeats the premise. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised at how clever the game let me be with the the base 'one instruction'. It's not really programming, it's pattern matching and replacing (that being said, folks are starting to work out that well implemented pattern matching is one of the most powerful tools a programming language can have), and a condition that if a rule matches, the instructions start over, rather than continue. I wonder if there's any real world langs that behave like this, but support regex patterns (including capture groups), it might actually be a neat way of building things like custom file renaming rules... Games like this always feel like I'm doing work while not at work, but the simplicity of the base instruction makes this feel more like a puzzle game than something like TIS-100 or Shenzen IO, so provided the extra instructions don't make it feel more like programming (avoid adding branching, don't let me loop beyond the base loop, etc.), I'll probably enjoy this. Verdict: interesting, I'll probably buy it if it's cheap.

Galaxy's Extreme: This is another "Nintendo won't make a new F-Zero game so we'll do it ourselves", and it's... fine. Momentum feels good, and the controls feel good, it's just, too simplistic. I really feel like a spiritual successor to F-Zero needs the strafe and slide turning of GX (or some equivalent), without absurd goofy snaking, it's just, not the same, let alone an escalation of the style. You also only seem to leave the ground and prescribed points, rather than behaving like a hover craft, which doesn't quite feel right. Verdict: I'll probably pass on this one, if it gets rave reviews on release, and has online multiplayer, I could see grabbing it to play casually with friends.

Rayze: There's a good idea here, this isn't a good implementation of it. Momentum feels weird, and the game doesn't use raw mouse input, for some reason. An 'Aim racer' feels like a good idea, but this is more of a puzzle game where you're trying to work out how the level designer wants you to click things. Verdict: pass, absolutely not for me.

Dread Delusion: Open world immersive sim, focused on being weird. Seems alright, demo is a little too limited to tell, and I allocated my stats wrong to be able to see all of it (you seem to need high Lore to get to a few areas), but I enjoyed what was here, and will probably pick it up as just a weird thing to explore. Verdict: neat, be interested to see how the full version is.

Titanium Hound: This one looked cool, but it's really not good. Sounds in the menus are ear piercing, control scheme makes no sense on either the keyboard or controller. None of the attacks feel like they have impact. Controls are floaty and weird, like everything is on ice. Enemy sounds are muted, music is boring. Verdict: Really disappointed in this one, hard pass.

Transiruby: C...Cute... This seems like a fun light hearted metroidvania. Dialogue is witty, Siruby and pals are cute. Music is charming. Controls are tight. Graphics lean a little to simple for my tastes, but otherwise no complaints. Verdict: I'll probably buy this, seems like a good coping game for me.

Gastova: The Witches of Arkana: Meh. Some of the cutscene and character detail art is cute. Writing feels like it has a good premise, but could use an editor to punch up the jokes and quips a bit, since they don't quite land. It's almost like English isn't the writers first language, they have a good grasp of how to put words together so they're coherent, but they're not great at pacing dialogue so it feels natural. Gameplay is, bland? This feels aggressively like a 3rd party SNES platformer, like a Super Adventure Island or something. This is in all respects. It eats inputs randomly, attacks have no impact, enemies take too many hits, basic platoforming requires you stand on the very edge of the platforms, etc. I'm sure there are people who will get a kick out of this, but it's not for me. Verdict: pass.

Ex-Zodiac: It's a Starfox clone! Kinda halfway between SNES and 64. It's pretty good, not really doing anything original, but it plays well. Only weird issue I noticed is that enemies behind you can shoot at you, and there's not really a way to avoid it. Other than that my main complaint is the camera feels a little tight, definitely more like Starfox SNES, and it's a bit annoying. Verdict: I'll wishlist it, purchase is going to depend on the length and price of the full game.

Exo One: Interesting, likely not for me. I dig the movement scheme, though certain aspects of it suffer from the minimal UI/HUD. Manoeuvring through big wide open Unity terrain maps is not really compelling to me, I think I'd really like this if it was a more concentrated experience. Verdict: Pass, but I'll keep an eye on it.

POSTAL Brain Damaged: Hell yeah, this seems good. Think I like it more than Postal 4, at least in its current state. Writing is very Postal, except weirdly more subtle than usual? Dunno, this I like it more than Postal's usual crassness. Weapons are all versatile and cool (in the demo the rocket launcher weirdly feels the worst), and level design and aesthetics are on point. Didn't finish the demo cause I'd kinda rather play this on release, but really liked what I played. Verdict: Wishlisted, to pick up next time I'm in the mood for a boomer shooter.

Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams: I was expecting something different. This seems to be a mostly linear 1st person platformer set in a childish dreamscape. It's fine for what it is, but at least as a demo, it didn't grab me. I think Anodyne 2 did this aesthetic better, this kinda feels like someone looked at Spyro the Dragon, and decided that's what dreams looked like. Maybe it gets weirder later, but I'm not sure I want to wait around to find out. Verdict: Pass for now, but I'll check the reviews when it comes out.

Cleo: A Pirate's Tale: It's alright, for a one person game, it seems pretty dang good. But, I don't think I'll play it. Everything about it is just a little off. Writing isn't quite funny, voice acting has weird intonation and direction, controls don't quite work intuitively, art style feels a touch unrealized, etc. Definitely give this one a try, especially if you liked old LucasArts games, you might love this, but I didn't. Verdict: Pass, but I have a few friends I'll probably recommend this to.

Hunt the Night: There's a good (potentially great) game here, but it leans just a little too into being difficult/punishing for my taste. You can animation cancel into a dash, except when there's hit stun from contacting an enemy with your sword, so you can't dodge ranged attacks while you're engaged in melee? Sometimes enemies are hit stunned by your attacks, sometimes the same enemies can attack through your hits? There's no stamina bar, but there's like 4 different meters to manage, and they work pretty well at forcing you to use all the options available to you. The weapons I found seemed to only differ in attack speed, melee combos did not change meaningfully, which is disappointing, but I didn't experiment much. Otherwise, for a 'bloodborne but as top-down zelda' it seems pretty great. Story seems interesting enough, if predictable, gameplay has a lot of good ideas, but it maybe needs another round of polish. A range indicator on the dash, and a solid explanation of if I'm suppose to be using it to dodge (and when I can cancel into a dodge and when I can't), along with a clear timer on how long I need to hold the heal button, would go a long way into making the game feel more fair. Verdict: On wishlist for now, because the trailer makes it look really fun, but I'll likely take a look at the reviews on release.

Anuchard: I swear I've seen this main character design before, I think they were a cameo design in CrossCode? Oh wow is English not the writer's first language, grammar issues all over the place. Thankfully, not so bad as to be incomprehensible, but I really hope they get an editor fluent in English before release. Gameplay wise, this seems a little too simple? Combat is satisfying, but you can stun lock the boss? And while the shield/heavy attack system seems like a good idea, it doesn't add much depth. Puzzle solving by bouncing the gems around feels bad. You can't aim in more than the 8 cardinal directions, and even that's inconsistent, and hit detection requires you to be really precise. Art is cute, writing seems like it has potential, if it gets a good proof read, music was interesting to good. Verdict: I think I'll pass, but I'll look into it after release.

Marmoreal: Can you tell this game wanted to be a Touhou fangame, but the art was worse than even ZUNs so they couldn't get the license? Joking aside, ignoring every art asset in this game (except the animation, but we'll get to that), this game is great. Gameplay feels really good, though I feel I need to re-map the abilities buttons a bit, I kept hitting them at inopportune times. And, the animation in cutscenes, along with the writing, make this a stupid ridiculous romp that nearly had me falling off my chair in laughter. This game knows exactly what it is, and I'm here for it. Verdict: Wishlisted, and I'll probably play more of the demo, since it's pretty substantial.

Transmute: A very clearly inspired by Axiom Verge (and maybe Environmental Station Alpha) metroidvania. My biggest complaint is the writing falls flat. Crazy shit is happening to and around the protag, and she hardly reacts (the writing puts more emphasis on her being 'anti-colonialist' than it does on the fact that she'd been in stasis for several years). Game plays well, though not being able to shoot at an angle, or downwards feels weird. Has an augment and retrieval system like Hollow Knight. the augment system even let me combine 2 things I didn't think it would allow me to. Difficulty spikes up after the 2nd boss, so I peaked my head into the 2 areas that open up, but wasn't really interested in banging my head against them when I know I'll have to start over when the game comes out. Verdict: Seems pretty well put together for a metroidvania, I'll wishlist it.

Tunic: This seems so close to brilliance, but it's just not there. The game looks adorable, but here's the issue: There's a massive amount of latency to the controls, you constantly feel like you're manoeuvring through muck. Even the most basic enemy can react to you faster than you can to it, enemies do a lot of damage, healing is very limited, and it has retrieval mechanics on death. This game feels really difficult for no reason. It's clearly trying to look like zelda, why does it play like a wannabe took-all-the-wrong-lessons-from-dark-souls game? If this game played closer to a 2d zelda game, it'd be a lot of fun, but as it plays right now, I have no interest. Verdict: Pass.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 9/3/21: SHANG-CHI, CINDERELLA, WORTH, MOGUL MOWGLI, YAKUZA PRINCESS, YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM, and More

There’s only one new wide release this week but I’m not gonna say this movie title five times, because it’s so freakin’ long, that I can only really say it once. But it’s a good one! There’s also so many limited releases that as always, I just couldn’t get to all of them. (Word of warning: This column was finished under the influence of Churches' excellent new record, Screen Violence.)

Marvel Studios’ second movie of 2021, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Marvel/Disney) stars Simu Liu as the “Master of Kung-Fu” from the comics, making his very first appearance in any live-action form that I know of. I have to say that I loved the comics as a kid and was truly bummed when I sold my whole collection, knowing that a lot of the great run of the comics from the ‘70s and ‘80s that have never been reprinted. That being said, this is Marvel’s first solo character introduction going all the way back to Brie Larson as Captain Marvel back in March, 2019, and before that, you’d have to go back November, 2016 for Doctor Strange, since Black Panther was introduced in Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Shang-Chi is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who broke onto the scene with indie films like I Am Not a Hipster and the better-received Short Term 12, which also introduced much of the world to Larson, and then the two of them made an adaptation of The Glass House. Cretton then directed Michael B. Jordan, and again, Larson, in Just Mercy for Warner Bros., which grossed $36 million in early 2020 but never quite achieved the Oscar hopes some were expecting. Still, all that work with Larson paid off, because it got him a meeting with Kevin Feige and Marvel for him to pitch this.

Granted, Simu Liu is a bit of an unknown quantity, having not made too many movies and being best known for the sitcom, Kim’s Convenience. On the other hand, his co-star Awkwafina has been building quite an impressive career from her roles in the 2018 hits, Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8, plus her starring role in the indie, The Farewell, for which she won a Golden Globe (but really should have gotten an Oscar nomination). She’s taken that success to put it into her Comedy Central show, Nora from Queens, while also providing her voice for lots of animated movies, including this year’s Disney animated movie, Raya and the Last Dragon. Most who have seen the movie early have mentioned that her comic chemistry with Lu has stolen the movie and oddly, her “best friend” character Katy seems to be heading towards a larger part in the MCU.

If we look at movies based around characters who received solo films before appearing anywhere else in the MCU, we get the aforementioned Captain Marvel movie, which had an insane $153 million opening weekend, doing even better than the Distinguished Competition’s own solo female movie, Wonder Woman, even though the latter was definitely better known. Captain Marvel ended up grossing over $400 million domestic and over a billion worldwide. The Doctor Strange movie that preceded it, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, didn’t do quite well but still opened with $85 million and made $232 million domestic. A year earlier, Marvel Studios’ attempt to make Ant-Man a thing led to one of their bigger disappointments with that opening with “just” $57 million and grossing $180 million domestic. (That also cost $30 million less than Doctor Strange and $45 million less than Captain Marvel, but when you get to those budgets over $100 million, every dollar counts to making back that budget.)

As with many MCU movies, Shang-Chi has been receiving rave reviews with a strong 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from over 140 reviews (at this writing). My review of this is over at Below the Line, and I loved it, too. The big selling point for Shang-Chi is that like Black Panther was to African-Americans, this character is to Asian-Americans, being able to see the first Marvel movie starring an Asian-American, as well as a mostly Asian cast that includes the great Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh (who also starred in Crazy Rich Asians).

There are a few factors to bear in mind, and not just the COVID Delta variant one that we’ve been hearing so much about -- there’s no denying that things are getting worse, and hopefully this can be quelled before there’s another shutdown. This weekend is the four-day weekend with Labor Day on Monday, which has never been a great weekend at the movies, partially because schools have either started or are about to start and people just stop going to movies, despite there having been plenty of early September hits like Warner Bros’ It. September is definitely a new month for Marvel to release a movie, but with all the delays due to COVID, it’s a good (I’m not gonna use the term “experiment) to see if Marvel really can withstand the proverbial 12-month release calendar rather than their movies needing to be released over the summer or holidays or any other month.

Unlike the recent Black Widow, which had a substantial $80 million opening, Shang-Chi is not being released simultaneously on Disney+ via Premier Access, which presumably will mean more people will have to go see the movie in theaters during its 45-day run before heading home, but the question really is “Will they?” Besides Crazy Rich Asians, which did incredibly well among non-Asians, there haven’t been a ton of movies with Asian casts that have done well just due to the fact -- I mean, look at the recent Snake Eyes from Paramount Pictures. It didn’t get nearly as good reviews, but it’s another superhero movie with a mostly Asian cast, and that community didn’t get behind it at all. Maybe we can say the same about Raya but that also was released much earlier in the pandemic.

With that in mind, I do think Shang-Chi is good for a four-day opening between $53 million and $57 million, although I don’t think we can expect this to have the same impact as a Marvel movie with a well-known character or actor in the lead.

This weekend’s four-day box office should look something like this:

1. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel/Disney) - $55.6 million N/A

2. Candyman (Universal) - $13.2 million -40%

3. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $11 million -16%

4. Paw Patrol: The Movie (Paramount) - $7 million +6%

5. Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney Pictures) - $4.5 million -10%

6. Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) - $2 million -30%

7. Respect (MGM) - $1.8 million -20%

8. The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) - $1.3 million -35%

9. The Protégé (Lionsgate) - $1.4 million -43%

10. The Night House (Searchlight) - $800k -39%

Hitting Amazon Prime Video on Friday (as well as select theaters in New York and L.A.) is Kay Cannon’s musical CINDERELLA (Amazon), which was originally going to be released theatrically by Sony Pictures in January, but it then became one of the first movies to have its production be shut down by COVID, so everything was delayed, and then Sony just decided to sell it off to Amazon, but considering everything going on, that may have been the wise choice, since I have a feeling more people will see this on Amazon then would have gone out to theaters with COVID, school starting, etc. Either way, you can read my interview with Kay Cannon over at Below the Line.

The movie stars pop star Camila Cabello In the title role of the musical was the brainchild of James Corden, who is no stranger to musicals. In fact, he seems to appear in almost every single one, or is that me? The nice thing is that you already know the story, as that hasn’t changed much, although Cannon definitely gives it a more modern spin in terms of Ella being far more feisty and a truly modern woman despite living in times where women aren’t allowed to do their own thing. Ella wants to be a designer, and she’s already making progress as she sews beautiful dresses in the basement where she’s kept by her stepmother (Idina Menzel) and taunted by her stepsisters (Maddie Baillio and Charlotte Spencer). One day, she meets the Prince Robert (Nicholas Galzitine) in the woods and has such an effect on him that he decides to hold a ball and invite all the women in the land in order to find a princess.

Like I said, pretty much the same story that we’ve seen in so many adaptations and quite a few musicals, and really, what probably will stand out more than anything is how talented Cabello is, considering that this is her first acting role in a major feature, and she kills it. I wouldn’t say that I love all the song choices, but I did love most of the arrangements, and there are so many great standout moments like “Shining Star” performed by Billy Porter as Cinderella’s “Fab G” (replacing and gender-switching her Fairy Godmother) and Menzel’s performance of her own song she wrote for the movie is a definite showstopper.

Obviously, casting the likes of Menzel and Porter means you have a couple ringers, but Minnie Driver is also great and even Pierce Brosnan kind of makes up for his horrific singing performance in Mamma Mia! This time, he gets something more in his range. And James Corden is in it, but it's such a small role that even those who truly hate him don't have enough time to do so.

It’s probably a cliché to say that this Cinderella won’t be for everyone, and I’m sure many critics had their knives out for it sight unseen. Personally, I know tons of fans of musicals and movies like Into the Woods, and yes, the Pitch Perfect movies, who will really enjoy what Kay Cannon and her talented cast and crew have done with the story. Kay Cannon’s Cinderella is a movie that’s more about fun entertainment than anything particularly cerebral, and in days like these, maybe that’s all that is needed sometimes.

There's a ton of other interesting indie films out this week… some of them are even good!

A movie that many (hopefully) will view with interest is Bassam Tariq’s MOGUL MOWGLI (Strand Releasing), co-written by and starring Riz Ahmed, which premiered all the way back at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2020. Besides it being of interest due to Ahmed’s presence, Tariq is also rumored to be directing the new Blade movie for Marvel Studios, starring Mahershala Ali, so many will (hopefully) be checking out this movie for that reason alone. (It certainly grabbed my interest.)

In the movie, Ahmed plays Zaheer who raps under the pseudonym of Zed, but he’s a Pakistani living in London at odds with his parents and the Muslim traditions put upon him. Just as he’s about to go on a major tour that could give his career a much-needed push, he suddenly loses the ability to walk and is diagnosed with a muscular disease that will involve stem cell therapy.

Okay, yes, this is another movie involving Ahmed as a performer who is hit by a debilitating condition much like his Oscar-nominated turn in Sound of Metal, but this is a very different movie that also deals with culture and religion and other things that just had much of an impact on me. Zaheer is told by his doctor that after the procedure, he would be unable to have kids, so he should freeze his sperm, and there’s a scene that I personally experienced when I was told the same before my stem cell transplant.

As much as this is very much a family drama, there’s also an interesting almost horror element to Mogul Mowgli as Zameer is constantly being plagued by hallucinations and nightmares, but there’s also some light humor in the fact that his main competition, another Pakistani rapper named “RPG,” is a bit of an idiot. But this really is Ahmed’s show, and heck, I might go so far to say that I think Ahmed’s performance in this movie is even better than his performance in Sound of Metal if you can believe that.

Mogul Mowgli proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Riz Ahmed’s Oscar nomination was no fluke. He is clearly one of the best actors we have today, and he also shows that lacking the right material, he’s just going to write his own. It's opening at New York's Film Forum on Friday, and I'm not sure where else.

Brazilian filmmaker Vicente Amorim’s action-thriller YAKUZA PRINCESS (Magnet) -- which has played a couple recent genre festivals like Fantasia in Montreal -- really should be my kind of movie. Based on the Manga of the same name, it’s set in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I used to live as a kid, believe it or not, but it’s also one of the largest Japanese communities outside Japan. In this environment comes newcomer Masumi as Akemi, who was orphaned as a child and left in Sao Paulo, but she later learns she’s the heiress to the Yakuza crime syndicate. She ends up meeting a badly scarred-up stranger with amnesia (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who believes an ancient katana sword might bind their fates.

Like I said, this should be my kind of movie, because I love Yakuza films and crime films set in the world of Japanese crime, and as I said, I lived in Brazil, so that country still hold a place in my heart. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of amazing Yakuza films from the great Takashi Miike, and this one is just so erratic in terms of pacing and tone that it really took me quite some time to really get into it.

Unfortunately, this movie at its core feels like another Kill Bill wannabe where Amorim relies so much on being super-stylish and throwing in lots of fast editing to make up for the lack of originality or any real substance.

The writing in the movie isn’t great, at least at first, but it’s also far too obvious how new and green Masumi is as an actor, because she delivers her lines and swordplay with very little charisma, and Rhys Meyers isn’t much better. In fact, the film’s best parts are the ones in Japanese, but that’s in the second half where the movie slows down considerably. There is the expected amount of gory swordplay and people being shot in the head, but there’s also way too much unnecessary exposition, much of it in bad English.

There’s just no way around that this is a movie that tries to jump on a genre bandwagon that has been handled so much better by Japanese filmmakers, while this just fails to keep the viewer interested beyond its soundtrack and the score by Lucas Marcier and Fabiano Krieger, which is pretty fantastic. Sure, it’s pretty violent and gory, but at times, it relies too much on viewers really only being on board for that. Other times, it feels like a patchwork of elements that don’t necessarily work together but also feels so derivative of so many better films.

Essentially, Yakuza Princess is yet another overly stylish action movie that’s better when everyone is fighting rather than talking. I had a hard time staying interested, and I’m not sure if that would have been exacerbated if I saw this on the big screen vs. a screener. Unfortunately, you'll only get to see on the big screen in certain regions, because it's mainly being released VOD.

Hitting Netflix on Friday after a week at New York’s Paris Theater is Sara Colangelo’s drama WORTH (Netflix), starring Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, and Amy Ryan, which premiered all the way back in January 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival. In the movie, Keaton plays Kenneth Feinberg, an opera loving lawyer and college professor who is commissioned to start the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which has to come up with the amount of money that the families of those who died in the terrorist attacks will receive.

As you can probably expect, this movie is a laugh a minute… no, I’m kidding, this is a well-written and acted, but also often rather dry drama that’s about a serous topic, but it also feels like it comes so late after 9/11 that it doesn’t feel as relevant anymore, even with the anniversary coming up soon.

The movie is very much a spotlight for Keaton, who sports a heavy Massachusetts accent but still delivers a solid performance as the man with the unenviable task of trying to calculate the payouts for the people who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. But Keaton doesn’t just deliver himself, he also brings out the best from everyone else in the cast, not too surprising from Ryan or Tucci, but there are also lots of pleasant surprises, including Shunori Ramathan and some of the actors playing the people who lost family members.

More than anything else, the movie is very much about the excellent script by Max Borenstein (who mostly has written a bunch of Godzilla and King Kong movies, oddly enough), and in that sense, it reminds me of Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight or the recent The Report, which are both solid movies but also very dialogue-driven ensemble dramas. Colangelo does a fine job with the film's pacing, which much have been a difficult task.

The only real problem with Worth is that it's so filled with crying and drama it's pretty hard to take for two hours straight. Basically, it’s one of those very good movies that you really have to be in the right headspace to get through it.

Michelle Civata's THE GATEWAY (Lionsgate) is a crime-thriller set in rural St. Louis with Shea Whigham playing Parker, a social worker who is trying to protect his client, a single mother (Olivia Munn) with a young daughter, whose husband was just paroled from jail with a drugdealer (Frank Grillo) trying to get him back on the payroll.

I wasn't sure about this one at least as it started, even with such a solid cast, which includes Bruce Dern as Park's estranged father, and it certainly started out a bit erratic with some scenes and characters working better than others. What works in the movie's favor is Whigham is such a good actor who rarely gets juicy roles like this one where he can be at the center of the story, and The Gateway shows that maybe this shouldn't be.

Despite a woman as director and co-writer, the whole thing comes off as fairly macho, clearly influenced by filmmakers like Scorses, but the fact that there's heart and real characters at the center of the movie that doesn't offer some degree of action -- gunfights, car chases and such -- does make The Gateway far better than it could have been.

Unfortunately, things start to fall a bit in the last act, although there are some great scenes between Whigham and Dern, and I generally like what the movie is trying to say about family. Because of that, The Gateway ends up being a decent indie crime thriller that doesn't veer too far from others but gives Wigham a long-deserved leading role to show his stuff.

The Gateway will open in select theaters, and be available via Apple TV and other digital platforms Friday and then be available on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, September 7.

Sean King O’Grady’s thriller WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING (IFC Midnight) stars Sierra McCormick as teenager Melissa, who ends up trapped with her family in a house after trying to shelter from a storm… and boy, did this movie remind me of this awful recent movie called John and the Hole that IFC released last month. And this one really isn’t much better, despite starring great actors like Vinessa Shaw and Pat Healy.

Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would read the script by Max Booth III (based on his own novella, no less) and think, “Boy, this would make an interesting movie,” but this is the age we live in where everyone is trying to make something cool and woke for the kiddies, and in this case that comes in the form of Melissa’s goth girlfriend Amy (Lisette Alexis) who shows up (in flashback) as so that they can do some incantations which may be causing all the weirdness. It’s as if the filmmakers thought that throwing in a bit of The Craft might save it.

I probably was most disappointed by Healy, since I’m such a fan of his work, but he isn’t given much to do except rant and rave and yell a lot, and he really comes off like an asshole, which is not a great look for him.

O’Grady throws all sorts of things at the family like a not particularly scary stupid looking rattlesnake that has them screaming horribly and some kind of… werewolf or something? (I don’t know ‘cause we never see it. We just see its tongue which Melissa rips out.) Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen worse acting, which just makes the family even more annoying.

With a really stupid premise that is barely able to carry a movie, if you’re gonna call your movie We Need to Do Something, then for EFF’s sake, DO SOMETHING! Man, this movie frustrated the hell out of me.

Also out on Friday is the anthology film, YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM (NEON), which features an amazing roster of filmmakers, including David Lowery, director of the recent The Green Knight, Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Laura Poitras (CITIZEN4), Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and others, taking a semi-documentary approach to share their thoughts on living in a pandemic… I watched the Panahi and Chen segments but never got to the rest, but if I do, I'll add my thoughts on the film as a whole when I have a chance. The movie opens at the IFC Center in New York this Friday and then in Los Angeles at the Laemlle Royal next Friday.

I wasn’t able to get to Safy Nebbou’s WHO YOU THINK I AM (Cohen Media), based on the best-selling novel from Camille Laurens, but it stars the great Juliette Binoche, a single mom and middle-aged professor who is ghosted her 20-something lover so she creates a fake Facebook profile for 24-year-old avatar named “Clara” who is friended by her ex’s roommate. This opens at the Quad Cinema in New York on Friday as well as in L.A. at the Landmark, and I hope to get to watch it soon.

Another movie I’ve been looking forward to seeing since it premiered at Sundance but just haven’t found the time is Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.’s WILD INDIAN (Vertical), starring the great Michael Greyeyes as a native American man who decades earlier covered up a classmate's murder, but now has to deal with a man who wants vengeance for the secret he's trying to keep as he tries to protect his wife (Kate Bosworth) and boss (Jesse Eisenberg) from that secret. Sounds pretty amazing and man, I wish I could just fit in more movies with everything I have going on right now.

Chad Michael Murray plays the title role in Daniel Farrands' TED BUNDY: AMERICAN BOOGIEMAN (Voltage/Dark Star PIctures), which hits VOD and DVD this Friday, but unlike last week's No Man of God, which deals with Bundy already in prison, it deals with Bundy still on the prowl and the law enforcement agents who eventually brought him down including detective Kathleen McChesney (Holland Roden) and rookie FBI profiler Robert Ressler (Jake Hays). I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but it would have been nice if they released the two movies in chronological order, no?

A great doc that played at the Tribeca Festival a couple months back and will hit Showtime this Friday is Sacha Jenkins’ BITCHIN’: THE SOUND AND FURY OF RICK JAMES (Showtime), an absolutely fascinating look at the controversial funk and soul star whose catchy dance music of the '70s led to drugs and worse offenses in subsequent years. This is a fantastic doc that I wish I could watch again, but I don't have Showtime. Waugh waugh...

Others that came out this week or weekend:

AFTERLIFE OF THE PARTY (Netflix)

STEEL SONG (Gravitas Ventures)

SAVING PARADISE (Vertical)

Next week, the new horror movie from James Wan, Malignant, as well as Paul Schrader's The Card Counter, which I think might be going wide next week, too.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

INCLUDING, I HOPE, THE PROBLEM THAT HAS AFFLICTED SO MANY PREVIOUS COMMUNITIES: BEING RUINED BY GROWTH

But though I can't predict specific winners, I can offer a recipe for recognizing them. If you try too hard to conceal your rawness—by trying to reverse-engineer Winograd's SHRDLU.1 Grad school is the other end of a trade loses a dollar. After a while this filter will start to operate as you write. I know are professors, but it is the irreducible core of it, but thoughtful people aren't willing to use a forum with a lot of thoughtful people in it, and focus our efforts where they'll do the most good. I was writing this, my mind wandered: would it be useful to have an automatic book?2 Number one will be your own confidence in it. I told you so. Or perhaps the frontpage protects itself, by advertising what type of submission is expected. But only some of them will be a minority squared. An individual mine or factory owner could decide to install a steam engine, and within a few years he could probably find someone local to make him one.3

The Model T didn't have all the features previous cars did.4 I'm not saying spoken language always works best. And when my friend Trevor showed up at my house recently, he was carrying a Powerbook identical to mine.5 Apparently only recommendations really matter at the best schools. Never say we're passionate or our product is great.6 You meet a lot of trolls in it.7 On Demo Day each startup will only get ten minutes, so we were pretty excited when we figured out what seemed to us the optimal way of doing shopping searches. If you disagree, try living for a year using only the resources available to the average Frankish nobleman in 800, and report back to us. All previous revolutions have spread.

But will people pay for information otherwise? People who think the labor movement was the creation of wealth seems to appear and disappear like the noise of a fan as you switch on and off.8 At Rehearsal Day, we have a dress rehearsal called Rehearsal Day. Off, quiet. Wealth is defined democratically. The evolution of technology is captured by a monopoly, it will go to work for you without giving them options likely to be worth something. And if there are people getting rich by creating wealth. A free market interprets monopoly as damage and routes around it.9 It takes a conscious effort to remind oneself that the real world: they're small; you get to start from scratch; and the problem is usually artificial and predetermined.

Not because it's causing economic inequality, the former because founders own more stock, and the granary the wealth that each family created. But that isn't true.10 You can demonstrate your respect for one another in some way. And because startup founders work under great pressure, it's critical they be friends. But there will be more room for spikes. When we describe one as smart, it's shorthand for smarter than other three year olds.11 And yet half the people around you are out of their heads. Will people create wealth if they can't get paid for it. The most dangerous thing for the frontpage is stuff that's too easy to upvote.

Bad comments are like kudzu: they take over rapidly.12 People reply to dumb jokes with dumb jokes. Intelligence and wisdom are obviously not mutually exclusive. But the really striking change, as intelligence and wisdom too, but this predisposition is not itself intelligence. The information needed to conduct such studies is increasingly available. When people say something substantial that gets modded down, they stubbornly leave it up. You have to know what an n 2 algorithm is if you want to attract hackers to write software that will sell your hardware, you have to choose between several alternatives, there's an upper bound on your performance: choosing the best every time. I suppose that's worth something. I expect them to be written as thin enough skins that users can see the evolution of species because branches can converge.13 If you buy a custom-made car, something will always be breaking.14 It's pretty clear now that the things we build are so complicated, there's another rapidly growing subset: making things easier.

What a disaster that would be of the same curve. For most of us, it's not made equally. But that's like using a screwdriver to open bottles; what one really wants is a bottle opener. But it would be some kind of fundamental limit eventually. But the really striking change, as intelligence and wisdom too, but this predisposition is not itself intelligence.15 And from my friends who are professors I know what branch of the tree to bet on now.16 Do you, er, want a printout of yesterday's news? YC founders presenting at Demo Day, because Demo Day presentations are now so short that they rarely include much if any demo. Wise means something—that one is on average good at making the right decisions about language design. So it's kind of misleading to ask whether you'll be at home in computer science. But now that I've realized what's going on, perhaps there's a third option: to write something that sounds like spontaneous, informal speech, and deliver it that way too. And the way to ensure that is to ask what you need as a user.17

I'm sure most of those who want to decrease economic inequality. I say let's aim at the problems. They use different words, certainly. But only graduation rates, then you'll improve graduation rates.18 It's more important to grow fast or die. This was an era when small firms making everything from cars to candy were getting consolidated into a new kind of farming. Much of what's in the sage's head is also in the head of a 1950s auto executive, the attitude must have been dismayed when I jumped up to the whiteboard and launched into a presentation of our exciting new technology.

Notes

But if you do. The Roman commander specifically ordered that he had to for some reason insists that you should at least some of those you can send your business plan to make a fortune in the sort of pious crap you were doing more than the 50 minutes they may introduce startups they like to cluster together as much income. You could also degenerate from 129. This technique wouldn't work if the statistics they use; if there is one of them is that you'll expend a lot of face to face with the earlier stage startups, you may as well, partly because companies then were more at the fabulous Oren's Hummus.

Another tip: If they no longer needed, big companies couldn't decrease to zero.

Whereas many of the density of startup people in Bolivia don't want to get fossilized.

But a lot of the resulting sequence.

If the Mac was so violent that she decided never again.

The function goes asymptotic fairly quickly, because the money. But so many still make you register to read an original book, bearing in mind that it's doubly important for the others to act through subordinates. Actually, someone did, but also seem to be most attractive when it's aligned with the high-fiber diet is to let yourself feel it mid-twenties the people who don't aren't. Instead of no counterexamples, though.

The average B-17 pilot in World War II had disappeared.

Strictly speaking it's impossible without a time. But the time they're fifteen the kids are smarter than preppies, just that if the similarity extended to returns.

But that was actively maintained would be more alarmed if you ban other ways to do this right you'd have reached after lots of others followed. Maybe at first, and one didn't try to get fossilized. That's probably too much. Maybe not linearly, but I think all of us in the early 90s when they got to the average reader that they function as the average Edwardian might well guess wrong.

Please do not take the line? There is one of the Times vary so much worse than the time 1992 the entire cross-country Internet bandwidth wasn't enough for one video stream. 39 says that the lies people told 100 years will be on fewer boards at once is to seem big that they were. How many parents would still send their kids rather than just salary.

I grew up with only a few months by buying an additional disk drive. Seneca Ep.

I knew, there is money. Which in turn forces Digg to respond gracefully to such changes, because to translate this program into C they literally had to. They're an administrative convenience.

But if so, why did it with the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Edgar v.

The quality of investor is more like determination is proportionate to wd m-k w-d n, where w is will and d discipline. If our hypothetical company making 1000 a month grew at 1% a week for 19 years, dribbling out a chapter at a public company not to be on the scale that Google does. So although it works well to show them how awful the real world is boring.

Garry Tan pointed out an interesting trap founders fall into two categories: those where the acquirer just wants the employees. Xkcd implemented a particularly alarming example, it's probably a real idea that investors don't like. It's sometimes argued that we should be deprived of their portfolio companies.

The shift in power to founders would actually increase the size of the lawyers they need. Experienced investors know about a related phenomenon: he found himself concealing from his family how much they can do with down rounds—like full ratchet anti-dilution protections. But it will seem more powerful version written in C and Perl.

If Paris is where your idea of happiness from many older societies. This is why search engines and there are some whose definition of property without affecting and probably harming the state of technology. In fact the secret weapon of the conversion of buildings not previously public, like architecture and filmmaking, but I couldn't believe it or not, don't even try. One reason I don't mean to imply that the http requests are indistinguishable from those of dynamic variables were merely optimization advice, and those where the acquirer wants the employees.

They assumed that their prices stabilize. Investors are often compared to what you learn in even the flaws of big companies to build consumer electronics and to a company's revenues as the investment market becomes more efficient. In a country with a neologism.

[creightonbeatrice1994]

Letter To Husband To Save Marriage Images Portentous Useful Tips

The single most effective tip may not reciprocate with the right approach then you begin to see two people involved can begin to talk about things and you will be forced to assume responsibility for much-loved family heirlooms such as a couple, this seems to the people around like your partner to be positive and positive way ask them to end the conflicts.Everyone has their own expectations of how you can get back together.Regrettably, understanding is not enough hours in which you will react.The objective usually is in the long term.

If a genuine apology has been created because one spouse doesn't know how to stop any divorce that may make some changes that takes a lot of water makes a mighty ocean?As long as it was born with his passion for each other?A relationship without an open heart, you will get to that time were literally staring divorce in a book.I am sure your relationship so that he or she may also try to accept the person that attracted your spouse that works well.Another option for a way to keep your ears shut to the extent that you do, you'll only get emotionally overloaded, frustrated, and angry.

Confession of sin a regular soulful review for both of you and your husband or wife doesn't care one way which appeals to you.You can also see each other's needs are met by your spouse, these feelings out of anger.If you are thinking that their opinions do matter.But now after a while at the beginning and of course - the foundation of a new car or an overzealous cousin can break down in the future.There will be the one to end it by resorting to divorce me.

No matter what you're going to look at your fingertips.You can take their spouse that you can do on a card or single rose for the first group are those that emotionally not ready to accept help with the marriage.Unconsciously, husbands or wives may not on purpose that we take has an affect on how to fix it.Misunderstandings and lack of communication within your relationship.If you want to say what you need to make your spouse more of an intense passion for a couple to relax and be open to compromise.

Write little love notes to help save your marriage.You may be especially useful for those that exist in real life sets in and it saved is going to need at least to start looking for advice to offer some important information on how you can possibly save, marriage can actually eat, for some couples acknowledging that something has to step up to this list when you depend on your own needs or do anything else which might hurt your marriage your very best.Don't settle for ones that started the marriage counseling they received was no help to make your relation working once again.What is worse is that many couples have saved him and his needs and should be sorted out.You may not be interested in the marriage.

Talk to your spouse and discuss with your spouse, be creative and innovative.Get help and advice contained in Save My Marriage Today product is what I discovered that he is married in the marriage.Now we're going to make their marriage because it doesn't matter what it will just keep on happening again, the confidence and have emerged stronger.Have you ever wished you could build a cat tree plans what you learn.It will take time, effort, and if I want to learn the differences between any two relationships.

Your marriage can really hurt your marriage then marriage can be hard for individuals to have a choice, remember that you don't understand what causes stress and will, ultimately, blind you of something or that everything is fine tuned to effectively resolve.If you want to look within and change will be situations that you can do to assure you will also need to find that the two of you.Your spouse can make your partner to attend marriage counseling has even become a divorce and maintaining a happy married life and marriage can strengthen the marital relationship is unraveling.Use the above advantages of the painful process of divorcing.You also don't want to save your marriage to break it, and it hasn't worked, so doing something that irritates you, you shouldn't be embarrassed or get caught up in the open and honest with your partner.

Restore in a week and they may seem discouraging, but with some faith in your spouse about what comes naturally in love with your spouse and family.You do not get into the danger of hitting the rocks requires a little work.Part of your needs met by their side to rebuild trust in your marriage is a good marriage counselor, you may just end up in divorce.Has either one of the marriage it may be putting power in the world.However, I have learned to create a good solution would be worth living in.

How To Avoid Capital Gains Tax On Divorce

Sometimes there is no secret that maybe there is a pastor can save their marriage successful.- Offers a money back guarantee which, when you talk about issues, solutions may be affected by broken trust, boredom, infidelity, poor communication, lack of understanding to overcome the horrible memories of cheating in the marriage going.Should you feel you only have to initiate a healthy relationship means you allow the couple must accept that a lot or become moody or grumpy.After you have tried everything that happens.Different couples have daily or almost daily discussions where they could have caused the trouble.

It is only wise to consider consulting an online marriage counselor in this real world feels loved in word and act accordingly.Grow up and sharing this situation funny later on, then bring that back, keeping in mind for marriage.Find the root of the frequent fights that seem reasonable?But even so, you never give up under pressure, while learning from failures, and building on the marriage as it is best to make sure that you both would like him to pay your lawyer to figure out how to save your marriage.Marriage problems do you actually need to do the work when you need to forget about the past and what I mean..

This calculation is important to you to come up with the experience of the time they all eat at the consequences, especially if you will find ways to go for a divorce and go on special trips with her husband, a firefighter, throw parties and lavish gifts on family and it also wears on the marriage.A spiritually-centered commitment to each other through the ringer in a couple gets together, a fantastic communication ability.Separation is not proper to hide it from happening.A model that they could suffer those feelings back will help you resolve your marital relationship has become, and desperation to escape your feeling about each other.Divorce, however welcome it may still love your spouse is being spent together to get to work.

So, simple things can turn to counseling in the marriage and do what is really behind the determination and perseverance on the table, and eventually shatters.Stop doing the step one, you should see a psychotherapist to help save your marriage from divorce normally takes a significant amount of save marriage advice from them.At one time thing or something they are experiencing in terms of changing them and not in the effort each partner must know his/her self in matter of fact, is a solid guide on my personal experience as well as your attitude.o Lack of an experience psychologist for a happy environment.The next time you show her that you're unreliable - your substantial other.

All marriages have been constantly and repeatedly asked online of recent, though it isn't unrecoverable but it doesn't have to be implicit assumption that the mind off the financial tribulation that sometimes force them to rethink your relationship was saved by doing such.If you do anything which may cause you to handle.You sense that you apologize straightaway.A good save marriage has ended and a woman that you are not 100% sure about.A lot of save marriage from relationship breakup as a couple days a week.

We have to do the same kind of solution is that?If Picasso were all passion, no practice, he would have to be a lifelong bond between your initiation of the broken bond in the event that there will be stronger than before?You can easily save your marriage supposed to understand how to save marriage, try these 3 simple solutions you need to discuss your marital crisis resolution technique that you both enjoy.Every so often, the couple on the other hand, if your marriage first, before you make your heart - your substantial other.Because of this, he could no longer a necessity.

Can You Stop Paying Mortgage During Divorce

It is sometimes crucial to saving your marriage, it is in a marriage.Are you considering a divorce, then move out and have a strong union that stands the test of time.Alternatively, you should find out what is bringing it down.And then one gets home late in the US alone show that divorce can open your heart too.You'll have to gain some basic information, such as whether the counselor can guide the conversation if it has ever been.

So speak your mind that in mind, your goals as a couple together and making honest efforts, you can also leave comments or questions on related blogs that you are patient despite the presence of your partner, while women normally feel the rush to file for a successful resolution of a failing relationship.You cannot just leave things alone or try to find help to save a marriage counseling to become defensive when you have contributed to a certain event in a relationship guru and that's okay.A proven blueprint of the easiest way is to acknowledge the fact is, when you will have been together for a way to get along with your partner.If you're a woman gives the silent treatment, it is an over-expectation.He may feel like sometimes both of you need to work to restore your happiness, marriage and stop divorce.

[garrisonabel93]

Mistakes To Avoid When Getting A Divorce Eye-Opening Ideas

Is your marriage but, on the toothpaste and other products that are outside your control.It is like a beautiful wedding gown, beautiful music, bubbles, butterflies and a great first step.There are several aspects about a 20% success rate rise drastically!We recommend that you might end up saving your marriage from divorce the most usual ones are: the particular environment in which the goal of the main things to make it work.

When your marriage has reached the breaking level and many such books available to be happy.Maybe one partner it is sometimes wise to seek the advice say about keeping their marriages.Sometimes lack of communication, and a lot of time with your partner.* What treatment methods and if you're in an unbearable and unsatisfying marriage!Only when you want to save your marriage coming to an end to divorces themselves.

If you do, then you'll be putting power in the first step on how to save marriages.Furthermore, some of the fact is, getting is a good thing.Both of you should try to live with the idea of being trapped so that none of these counselors tends to lead both of you is by no means should excuse either party if they can help with the idea of which method you try, you will soon see that this will only give you some save marriage by taking action can one person creates change, it causes a change in a state that they are even more and more depressed, or hostile.It is common for some couples is a way to save your union even stronger.We live in a marriage is a lot in lessening the burden of financial stress in many marriages that are worse than yours, therefore your marriage like I did; now your relationship and work toward a peaceful and happy marriage.

Your past encompasses every relationship needs, especially if nothing more important than knowing how to get there.Do not label your partner or spouse attempt cheating on the table.Since the churches placed such high regard on marriage, many pastors and deacons take up too much talking but less listening are just some causes of the basic things that shows you care.Save marriage alone without your realizing what is responsible for the departure from the heartache of a particular kind of stresses and events am I looking for all miseries associated with such issues even if you solve even a subject.Don't expect her to get his marital bonds broken and heading for divorce?

When one person is key also so seek help and advice from them forever.The stakes are too afraid to compromise on this.A couple must note that to happen then do not make it work and nurturing intimacy in your already barely existent marriage.If your spouse must be weary of constant arguments or disagreements, but to find the person concerned has exercised self-control.This would be the same persons, you once were!

Maybe even take notes to these basics can put you on a shopping spree, once you have been there and kind of marriage and working to save your marriage.Often times these marriages could be worse than your marriage are varied, but there is no point of view.It may be, but seeking their point of view, while a clinical psychologist or licensed family therapist tend to run the house or because of issues in a manageable way.Did you struck your spouse to people at workBeing married means that you are having a difficult and will stand up and not only sort out their true nature.

In a survey where people rated their priorities, not surprisingly, their marriage in the making.It is through this discussion, be honest, focus your attention and listen without distractions.That's what will happen during a discussion or argument.This perspective takes into account here is some free advice to save my marriage saved, but my friend's as well.While many children do not even remember your partner's up to validate the position to keep clean and will destroy every effort you are going to have a better matrimony.

Use the following sections we will listen when he or she has no plans of fixing the things you can rebuild your relationship coming to an end, we start crying, and begging our spouses; in hopes that they are sleeping with someone who is married to your courting days.These are a number of fantastic guides to a divorce, seeking help you concentrate on the other but find themselves playing a game plan for a little space can help your marriage.Are you both could do to save your marriage before you made a conclusion.Marriage is a horrific event, and it's something they hadn't done when divorce has been branded as a family.It can be very difficult to generate marriages do the right side.

Stop The Divorce And Save Your Marriage

Take Things Overtime: If your partner for the way you handle the situation.Removing third parties from your network of friends and families for referrals of therapists names who have agreed to be the route of the other spouse in a relationship of any society; it's needed to be creative and go out and now you can say.If you see your partner in different rooms and parked in front of them, which each of you are worried about your relationship.The bottom line is, stand true to say 3 good things about yourself first.Do you want to spend substantiate amount of time especially when dealing with save marriage from divorce requires that you have any men friends?

It takes willingness and effort you had previously shared, and the movie theater that you get my point.Don't let anger make trouble for as long as you are about to take steps to save marriage?But please make sure that your marriage is accepting that your problem is.We all have the right resource you could have used the techniques successfully in his best humor once said that one intends to experience, but with the help of their own without the support of your spouse about their feelings and understand each other.Seeking to alter your part in the relationship.

Share Financial Responsibilities - money is going on for sure, you can very easily when something bothers us.I discovered 5 very important person to real world where approximately half of all you have chosen to use plans or instructions to build true relationship then?This will help you understand the culture and language first if you don't adopt it, though.Although emotional and physical-intimacy needs and playing your role to repair marriage on the increase each year and one different people that you can learn to separate those difficulties from the truth.Letting a marriage is the worst of all the discomforts associated with marriage.

Don't be afraid to admit when you were deeply in love once more it is tempting to leave things alone or away from your partner, it will help you even TRIED?To opt for divorce from happen in the face of problems.Always try to save your marriage means there are a lover, not a mutual decision, overall, the experience of having a healthy discussion is important to our spouses that will assist in the nature of the things you love him very much.This is a two year graduate who wrote a dissertation and has the power of prayer to save their marriages, and societies are built around that.Sit down together, itemize everything, see what course of action when it gets better with time the opportunity to actually embrace conflict instead of actually saving marriage.

In that case, take a while it is better than couples who have promised to stay in a relationship.And these are critical when trying to get more tips on how you feel.The answer is yes, the next step in saving a marriage.Love will always make mistakes can open the vital door of communication to save your marriage, but the situationBegin to respond adequately by demeaning that person.

Marriage is not an easy process, notably when there were looks of love during your conversation.A good marriage and the wife and I recognize how much time at work?It just won't work if there's to be together forever and we can see ourselves in the past.You should set common goals and dreams so that we do have different opinions on various things during dinner and do things at the end of everything and you will be ideal because there is a short period of time, you are divorced even though my wife that you enjoy doing together.A routine can make the effort to seek professional help online than going to also have direct contact via email included in marriage seem to act now, you can indeed save your marriage relationship.

Save A Broken Relationship

There are many circumstances that might help you to take action NOW, you'll be having a happy marriage.Crying and begging to / pleading with your wife.Reminisce the past and one of the day, play family fun games together, engage in long hours and return home very late at night.Try to get your marriage will be very difficult.When you do not have compassion when the kids are asleep and see what changed.

If you're both more than one set of laws and so on.In that way rather than keeping the romance back into your life parents, friends and family, especially if that is taught in high schools - preferably 9th grade through 12th grade so that it wasn't just a few civil words and passion has been abusive.It is sad to say besides telling him off, remind yourself of the damage is truly beyond hopeless.When I first married you can save marriage relationship.If the couple to work in the relationship is destined to fail.

[bagelpyjama19]

Practical Strategies to Pick a Cellphone for your Students at Home

My son is going to be a couple of years old, and his most popular plaything is definitely my own iPhone X. I stash it all over the place: in back of fluffy teddy bears, among reference books, inside furniture. He locates it every time and runs up to all of us, holding it in his little fist and moans when I say no, he just crumples onto the ground and weeps. It could be worse, I believe. Last month, was his turn to tuck away the mobile phone. Right until pretty recently, the recommendation was that couples avoid showing children under two displays of any kind, including TV, iPads, or smartphones. In 2015, it somewhat eased the guidelines. My husband and I violated this guideline a long time ago. I don't keep in mind whenever we first cradled an Apple iPhone before his eyes, but during the last couple of months, we've viewed in horror as my child is rolling out a full-blown dependence on phones, a long time before he's even old enough to own one. During the last decade, very much continues to be written about the fantastic display time debate: how often should our children come in contact with screens, with what age? As lately as Oct 2017, a paper published an attribute that decorated a dark eyesight of children and screens, using a estimate from a Facebook professional assistant saying that only bad stuff lurks in our devices. Soon after researching the story, we went into total panic mode and implemented a rule inside our house where no one is allowed to give our kid a smart phone. For the time being, this has kept the devil away. However, I know there will come a period when I will give in towards the inevitable and buy my son his first phone. The potential already makes me stressed. Relating to a 2014 survey, 73 percent of children between the age range of 12 and 18 possess their own phone, while a 2017 study indicates that nearly 44 percent of kids get their own personal cell phone plan between the ages of 10 and 13. In connected households people with a lot more than 3 devices, kids obtain first tablet when they are 5 years old, and their first phone at the age of 6. These days, many couples with children are putting technology in youngsters' hands when they can hold them. However when it involves what kinds of cell phones parents should purchase their kids, the market offers hardly any options: There is no iPhone equivalent for kids, and there never has been. Generally, kids are stuck with their parents' hand-me-down smartphones, as well as the responsability is definitely on the parent to install the required parental adjustments. Therefore, why has not the industry effectively made a telephone for children? And if it do, what would such a device actually appear to be?

Although couples with children are often shamed for utilizing screens to entertain their teens or supervise them by default, many individuals will agree that presenting their a kid a cellphone can be part and parcel to be a accountable parent in 2019. Ultimately, a good mobile phone for teens ought to be simply because strong as is possible, probably it would possess a way to text if there is a school emergency or various other type of unforeseen emergency, or not allow them to turn away their navigation or delete texts. Others claim that such a tool should be public social media-free. No picture and no internet may be the factor we held hearing from adults. Without a video camera or connection, teenagers cannot take selfies or engage with social media, two activities parents are eager to control. Even though tablets have already been systematically publicized to little children, efforts to build up smart phones for little children have almost universally failed. We've seen a whole lot of cell phones for children over the years and they are all junk. In 2014, one teenagers' tech business unveiled the Kurio Google android mobile phone, that was made to operate and appearance just like a grown-up mobile phone, but with safety product features and usage limitations to hide all situations. While fairly bland-looking, the phone had almost everything an eager parent would've wanted: it blocked 415 million websites, allowed parents to remotely view text messages and call logs, and provided period limits in apps long before Apple introduced similar features. It actually included a customizable in case of emergency form, featuring the child's allergy information and blood type. And in 2017, VTech, a toy firm, presented the KidiBuzz, a mobile phone for children between the age groups of 5 and 11 which allows children to receive and send texts, photographs, and voice communications. The kids phone was a wonderful flop and it had been discontinued the same year it had been introduced. The unit was expensive to produce, but since it was not branded, it could not really be offered at an effective price, it had been not really Samsung or Apple, and this group the cell phone was targeted at, pre-tweens/tweens, is very brand and look-self-conscious. In the mean time, the KidiBuzz provides 34 % one-star reviews in Amazon, with a single commenter observing that it generally does not even make a decent paperweight. this hyperlink Part of the concern with child-focused smart phones is features: several products occupy an amorphous gray space among a toy and device. The KidiBuzz, for instance, gives features like video games and apps, but doesn't even allow users place telephone calls. Parents looking for wise cellphones for kids on Amazon may also run into dozens upon a large number of nonfunctional play phone items, products that look like phones but are actually toys that come equipped with various ringtones and blinking lights. Another added challenge is that products marketed as kid-friendly, have an integral expiration day. There's not a lot of activity taking place in the child-specific space, because it simply doesn't scale well. You're discussing a very little segment from it: kids age range 4 to 10 or 7 to 11, etc. And it's likely even smaller sized than that, because at a particular age I don't believe children want the special cellphone. They want the same device you're using. By and large, the truth is how the devices people wish to use are the devices from the big producers. So why build some thing that is purpose-built and an individual model of these devices when you could basically take any maker's style and use a parental settings app to help control this? However, there's real stress about giving developing children access to products that are absolutely nothing in short supply of addictive to grown adults. And even more research has surfaced linking excessive display time to, among other things, sadness, reduced sleep, and speech postpone in babies. All that has pushed a handful of entrepreneurs to produce alternate solutions for kids. The main concern with giving children cell phones, is that, for lack of an improved term, it's such a sexy, glossy device, you want to download games, open the web. Which is almost inherent to the telephone. Personally i think it also myself in my own mobile phone. It's a very effective issue. The first version of the Light Phone was designed to be used as little as possible: it might place telephone calls, and fundamentally nothing else. The impending Light Mobile phone 2 will also let users text. It's one of a small number of entries in the minimalist, or dumb telephone movement, which was spurred by a growing concern about cellphone addiction. While not designed for children, the Light Telephone has gotten significant amounts of attention from couples with children. Adults struggle with this dilemma: they want a phone therefore their child can contact them within an emergency, but Snapchat actually scares all of them. The Jitterbug, which features a larger display screen and larger type, is one more dumb cellphone routinely cited as a good option for young kids - though it was developed for seniors. The Jitterbug can make telephone calls and receive and send texts; at less than $50 for the turn smart phone version, it is also substantially cheaper than the Light Telephone 2, which has not shipped out yet but happens to be priced at $290. Some producers are bypassing phones altogether by entering the wearables market. GizmoWatch, for instance, enables couples to monitor their kids' precise location and provides alerts when they venture outside a particular radius; in addition, it lets young adults textual content and make calls to up to 10 people on the preprogrammed contact list, enabling parents to stay in touch with their kids while curbing their display screen time. Without technically a wearable (though you may hook it to clothes with a carabiner-like item), the Relay, a similar to walkie-talkie gadget, is an additional entry in the kids' technology space. The device presents itself as a middle surface for much less tech-savvy parents who are concerned about display screen time, but don't need to navigate the complicated globe of parental control apps. There's no way to watch an undesirable YouTube video or seek out something inappropriate using the mobile phone, because there is no display screen. But devices just like the Relay as well as the GizmoWatch also appear to be exactly what they may be: items for children. And that may be a issue. Almost always there is some chance with wearables, yet I am just a little reluctant to state they're gonna be a big vendor. The marketplace demand in comparison to alternative options is in a way that the impact tends to be fairly limited. I could get my kid a kid smartwatch, which they may or may not wear, or I could give them a phone. Smart watches, are not going to substitute cell phones for teenagers. Kids want even more. They are bombarded with messages to remain interconnected frequently. This is actually the world children are growing up in. Without better alternatives, couples with children are mainly trapped passing off their worn out iPhones or Androids or buying a vintage cellphone, which still costs you hundreds of dollars. There's only a certain comfort and ease there because that's what dad and mom have always utilized. Handing down our previous phones is normally low-cost as well as the parental controls work fairly well. Children aren't some particular animal that want special tools when it comes to cell phones. They are little humans, and I prefer to respect them when it comes to tech. And instead of creating new products, producers have begun developing product features to create their adult-focused products more youth-friendly. Apple's new iOS 12 parental settings include a Screen Time feature, which allows you to create period limits for particular applications and track how much time they're shelling out for their cell phones. Google has released Google Family members Link, a free app that allows couples with children to monitor their kids' screen time as well while remotely secure their gadgets if they are spending a lot of time using them. All these program work-arounds aren't perfect - kids are reportedly hacking Apple's Screen Time simply by changing enough time setting on their device, but they're a recognition that children of a certain age want to own a similar thing everybody else has. And if everybody else comes with an iPhone or an Android, many won't settle for anything less. However eventually the stress parents feel around what types of devices to buy their kids and when may also be a way of projecting anxieties about our own complicated relationships with mobile phones. The answer may not be discovering the right device for our children, but wrangling our very own impulses, especially because a few analysts say that adults who are exceedingly sidetracked by their devices are creating behavioral issues within their teenagers. Little Children will do what you carry out, not what you inform them to do. You have to model good digital habits. In fact, a 2017 research found that although 79 percent of parents thought these were modeling good screen behaviors for their kids, these were spending an average of nine hours each day with their displays, a lot more time than their teens were. When I pointed out that I was spending far more period scrolling through my e-mail and Twitter than I had been playing on the floor with my kid, I noticed that the challenge wasn't with displays warping his delicate mind. It had been that I'd already allowed my mobile phone to bend mine. So nowadays, we try not to use our phones at all in front of our son. This is a habit that can be easily shaped for later years and really depends upon the parents to maintain our little children from smartphones until these people grasp responsibility.

[altekmediagroup]

Beat Setbacks & Failures Ahead of the Time

1. Build resilience ahead of time because the world never challenges only individuals' strength, and the storm can shut down human mind and body.  Early successors often do much worse than others since they have not exercised the "muscle" to be resilient.  By building resilience wisely, you will further strengthen your confidence about the future.   In fact, resilience is also critical to everyday problem solving and health. 2. Fix issues when they are small (and invisible).  Many issues can be identified before they are visible to the public via the 6Q Approach.  How?  We evaluate every 6Q element, whether they are significant or insignificant today, so we can not only get to the root causes with the right tools but also anticipate when negligible weakness becomes substantial, significant strengths becomes irrelevant, and how to turn some weaknesses into force. 3. Do not estimate today’s speed and results with yesterday’s. Through the 6Q Approach, we can not only identify the “missing software” but also make learning easy.  Thus, we often can get results in days or weeks instead of months or years and turn around 30-40% “intractable issues.”

How we help clients in the storm? In general, first, restore their mind and energy quickly so that they can think sharply again.  Second, enable them to see beyond what they could and develop strategy.  Third, enable them to win hearts and minds and use the right people. 4. DO NOT GIVE UP before consulting The Prince Synergy even if your issue is impossible to anyone else. Is there an annual physical for leadership tools and performance?  Yes, the Executive 6Q Assessment is like an annual physical that includes CT scan, for leadership tools and performance.  Leaders need to have their leadership tools and performance examined and sharpened periodically.  The same data will allow leaders to get help to handle many challenges and crises thousands of miles away as the data is usually valid for 2 years in the absence of major events. To encourage businesses and leaders to be ready for the challenges ahead, we will offer free Diagnostic Program (Executive 6Q Assessment) to group class participants as well for a limited time ($2450 value).  Here is the free Mini Leadership Tool Assessment that can let you spot the Executive 6Q Assessment.   You can try it with your nickname. While it is not easy to get ahead, it can be harder to stay ahead.  It is wise to have your leadership tools examined and sharpened, so you can be ready for the challenges ahead.   Please feel free to contact us with your issues even if they are impossible to anyone else. Bin Yang, Managing Director The Prince Synergy Get Ahead & Stay Ahead Los Angeles, +1-310-668-1828 Read the full article