#caregiver!john price

[bwayfan25]

ER period drama AU? Era is totally up to you

So my immediate thought was "typical Victorian Era AU" because that's where my mind initially went. However, while I was out on my walk, I started thinking about my personal favorite era, which is the Edwardian Era/1910s. But that led me to thinking about Chicago in the late 1800s, so I ultimately arrived on "1890s vigilante (ish) AU" (so big TW for violence and abuse)

1. The philanthropy of the Carter family meld with the servant nature of the Weaver family to create the Carter House, a settlement house that offers classes and basic services to people regardless of class, color, or creed. The Carter is a lot less hands-on than the Weaver family is, with the exception of John Truman Carter III, who runs the medical clinic inside the house.

2. Day-to-day operations are overseen by Ms. Kerry Weaver, daughter of the co-founders. She has a hand in every pie, and regularly helps out in any area that needs it, from the kitchen to the classrooms. Those visiting the Carter House are treated with respect and care regardless of who they are, but must follow the rules while they are there as enforced by Ms. Weaver. The click of her cane is a warning to be on your best behavior or else face the consequences. Those who have faced the consequences spread a cruel rumor to other visitors that her limp is due to a run in with the dagger she keeps hidden under her dress. They are wrong on both accounts; a dagger did not cause her disability nor does she carry one. She instead carries a pistol. (As anytime you are welcoming to all, you will encounter those who see that as a problem.)

3. Susan Lewis runs an inn in the same neighborhood as the Carter house, but those who know it say it appeals to a much shadier audience. They are not entirely wrong, as those who frequent The Drunken Dame Inn often run into those who have been found on the wrong side of the law. But what they do not understand is that it specifically caters to those who have been wronged by the law. Sex workers, addicts, criminals those whose "crimes" have more to do with who they are than something they did - this inn was meant to be their haven. It was founded on behalf of her late sister Chloe, who fell in with some bad people and ultimately paid the price for it with her life. Susan couldn't save her, but perhaps she can save someone else.

4. Doug Ross is the police captain for the neighborhood. He considers himself above the corruption of his peers, but only in so much as he doesn't take bribes to look the other way. But sometimes he gets pushed over the edge and steps outside of the rule of the badge. This happens mostly when he sees children abused by their caregivers or newboys struck by the wealthy who see the children as beneath them (as evidenced by the way they kick at them). He does his best not to do anything while on the beat, but as soon as he is off the clock, he deals his own brand of justice. He is always careful, though, never to do so in front of the children.

5. Mark is a green(e) grocer. Elizabeth runs one of the most powerful gangs in the entire city. Everyone assumes that Mark either doesn't know what his wife does or just doesn't care. The truth is a mix of both. Elizabeth is very good at dodging questions and basically has made Mark think she does work in protecting the vulnerable a la the Carter House or Susan's inn. It's not entirely a lie, but it leaves out many key (and sometimes gruesome) details. Mark thinks she's just protecting those she serves, so he doesn't pry. When asked about his wife's work, he just says he thinks it's nice that she is so passionate about her work in the community.

[alphaternal]

* MAISIE LOCKWOOD

Benjamin Lockwood’s only daughter had died in 1995, a little over two years after the incident which ultimately destroyed Jurassic Park. Devastated and desperate with grief, Lockwood did the unthinkable: he attempted to clone a human child from the DNA of his daughter. When they were young men, John Hammond and Benjamin Lockwood built a custom lab under Lockwood’s estate, which ultimately led to the founding of International Genetics Incorporated (InGen). He had all the resources at his disposal, and no authority to stop him. When Hammond had discovered what he was doing, their friendship was shattered, and Hammond had him removed from InGen entirely. But he did not stop Lockwood. Hammond had loved Maisie like she was his own family,  empathizing with his friend. But he could no longer support him, in any capacity. Lockwood agreed to remove himself from InGen’s board of directors with very little compensation, under the condition that Hammond agreed not to speak of what he had done (and secretly continued to do).

Lockwood’s guilt over this gross breach of ethics is palpable, especially as he is dying from a terminal illness. He wants redemption. He wants to ‘save himself,’ as he had put it. 

But why? What is so genuinely terrible about human cloning?

Animal cloning exists, and has existed for decades, commonly conducted through Somatic Cell Nuclear Transplantation. But primates have always been particularly difficult to clone, arguably more so than any other species on earth. Since the 1950s, when researchers successfully cloned a frog, scientists have cloned dozens of animal species since then, including mice, cats, sheep, pigs, cows... and, of course, dinosaurs. In each case, researchers encountered problems and complications that needed to be overcome with trial and error. It was not flawless, and certainly not always successful. Under Masrani Global, InGen had refined and perfected the cloning process for genetically engineered and gene-spliced animals, creating a seamless and patented transition. But Lockwood had no access to their resources or research, and was no longer welcomed by the company. 

Maisie’s remains were never buried; her body was kept in cryostasis to provide ample samples for Benjamin’s obsessive research in human cloning. There were trials and there were errors. At first, he had used the wombs of living people, under the pretense of requiring a surrogate mother. Lockwood targeted several surrogate agencies, and made huge donations to their organizations, effectively discouraging suspicion. He would also pay the surrogate mothers the full price they requested, regardless if the embryos made it to full term or not. Artificial wombs were also utilized, engineered and refined over several decades; artificial wombs proved to work better, but were not completely successful. Overall, his research would constantly hit a wall. Deformities. Miscarriages. Trial, and error.

Until August 19, 2006;   finally,  a breakthrough.  Using an enhanced artificial womb, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC),  Extrauterine Fetal Incubation (EFI), and CRISPR-C9 gene editing technologies, Maisie Lockwood was born again.

But at what cost? The lies, the violation of ethics...

Maisie’s clone was homeschooled, isolated to the estate, and raised primarily by her governess Iris and Benjamin Lockwood himself, until he was diagnosed with spinal meningioma. As a child, she would naturally trust her caregivers, and learned very quickly that asking too many questions about her "mother" would upset her grandfather (at one point, he had even cried). She had no knowledge of her true origins, and was carefully deceived by her “grandfather” and governess. By all accounts, they raised her with the love and affection a child needed, but they did not allow her to leave the estate. As a result, Maisie is incredibly imaginative, and is known to pretend to go on safaris around the Lockwood mansion. She was the perfect physical replica of her original, and naturally curious, but wary of strangers (running away when Claire turned to look at her and caught her spying, and hiding from Wheaton as she spied on him, too). She also appears to have a photographic memory, after easily inputting a security code she had watched Eli use to enter the Lockwood’s underground lab. She can scale and climb Lockwood’s mansion, very likely because she had been doing this for a few years to escape her room and explore the grounds of the estate. Her behavior and her situation indicates that she very rarely left her home. In all her young life, she had never left Northern California.

The circumstances regarding Maise’s birth and how she had came to be born was something that Owen could not ignore. Genetic power had been unleashed; cataclysmic, man-made change. But Maisie Lockwood was just a child; that was all Owen saw. A child who needed help, needed protection, needed to recover from the tragedy of losing her grandfather and nearly being torn apart by a genetically engineered monster. She needed a safe environment.

Owen knew that Maisie’s future would be a series of traumatizing events if he didn’t actively interfere. Eli Mills was legally assigned to be her sole guardian after Lockwood died. Eli was dead. She had no birth records, no hospital records (Lockwood had a personal doctor that took house calls), and would ultimately be syphoned into the foster care system. Lockwood was also a wealthy man. If it is discovered that his death was unnatural, that he was murdered, Maisie’s origins would come into question. Owen knew it would only be a matter of time before people realized the truth... and what happens, then? Would she end up in a sterile lab, being poked and prodded, and made into someone else’s experiment? The whole world would gawk at the first successful human clone in history. Maisie would never be able to live a normal life.

So, he took her. Damned the consequences. He would go on to homeschool her, shelter her, and essentially make sure she lived a normal, healthy childhood, recovering from her trauma. Owen will eventually put her through public school, after making special arrangements to give her a new identity. When she is thirteen, they have a serious conversation in which Owen asks her if she would like to be adopted, if she’d like to call him dad.  After everything Maisie had been through, she deserved to decide. She deserved to know that her consent was important, first and foremost.

[olicitytropes]

Olicity Tropetastic Awards: Other Inspirations

One of the coolest, and most popular, things about fanfic is that you don’t have to stick to canon for inspiration. We can plop our favorite characters into almost any situation using the books, movies, and tv shows we love. Call it an alternate universe, call it a crossover, call it awesome. Our love for Arrow and for Olicity brought us together, but here are some writers who used other sources to give us the best of both worlds! 

@allimariexf’s recs:

Gotta Be Compatible - theshipsfirstmate

Magic Mike AU.

Felicity and the girls go to a strip club in Metropolis for Caitlin's bachelorette party.

**Award: Best Lost-Boy Oliver and Playing-It-Safe Felicity (who find themselves in each other!)**

Breaking All The Rules - griever11

Five letters that were never meant to be sent, two ex-friends who soon rediscover their friendship, and one fake relationship that honestly, isn't really fake at all.

Or, you can't really pretend to be dating each other when what you really want is to be really dating each other.

An Olicity AU, loosely based on To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

**Award: The Longest Mutual Pine Award**

Someone Else’s Sky - punchdrunkdoc

Oliver Queen, the Starling City Vigilante, moves out of his family home into a small apartment.

But he has an unexpected roommate.

A 'Just Like Heaven' AU

**Award: Most Brilliant and Beautiful Season 1 “What-If” (also known as: THIS FIC MADE ME CRY REAL TEARS and FEEL ALL THE THINGS)**

Baby Daddy - moreorLessJess

Bartender Oliver Queen was living his twenties to the fullest, he lived with his best friend John Diggle, and his brother in everything but blood, Tommy Merlyn just moved in to their apartment as he started his professional baseball career for the Starling City Rockets. On top of that, his childhood best friend Felicity Smoak, who was no longer goth and instead blonde and beautiful, was back in town and they were hanging out again.

Oliver thought his days were going to be filled with partying, one night stands, and boys weekends while also spending quality time with the girl everyone kept telling him he was in love with.

Until his ex girlfriend dropped a baby on his doorstep who turned out to be his son.

After a lot of thought and Felicity Smoak peptalks, Oliver decides to keep and raise his son with the help of his friends.

Or the Freeform sitcom Baby Daddy AU that no one asked for but I needed to write. Aka Oliver and Felicity are childhood friends and are hopelessly in love with eachother and everyone knows but them, oh and now they're raising a baby.

What could go wrong?

**Award: Fluffiest Childhood Friends Trope**

Absolutely, Probably - theshipsfirstmate

Oliver tells his ten-year-old daughter a story about the loves of his life.

RomCom AU based on the Ryan Reynolds movie "Definitely, Maybe" for the Arrow Summer Movie AU Challenge.

**Award: Most Achingly Beautiful Delayed-Happily-Ever-After**

The time to make up your mind about people (is never) - nashtag

Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak had a whirlwind Vegas romance—and a tornado of a divorce a year later. Two years after that, Oliver is about to marry his old flame, Laurel Lance. But when his father is caught cheating with another executive, he must let two journalists cover his wedding to preserve the family name.

Philadelphia Story/Arrow AU, with a dash of Flash crossover.

**Award: Most Heart-wrenching But Hopeful Second Chance at True Love (with a happy ending, of course)**

@tangled23works’ recs:

The Governess - @laurabelle2930

Felicity Smoak is a 22 year old Governess for the newly orphaned Thea Meryln. Thea's caregiver is the mysterious lord of Thornfield manor Oliver Queen. Based on the amazing novel by Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" inspired this prompt from @lalawo1

**Award: Best Affectionate Bickering**

Welcome to the Party - @bushlaboo

Die Hard inspired AU – Oliver Queen, an SCPD officer, tries to save his wife, Felicity Smoak, and several others, taken hostage by terrorist Edward Fyers during a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. [Borrowed some dialogue from the show and the movie; it was too good to pass up.]

**Award: The Olicity/Die Hard AU I Didn’t Know I Needed But Enjoyed Immensely**

Velocity - MachaSWicket

SUMMARY: There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? AKA, the Olicity Speed AU.

**Award: Best ‘If you’re not leaving, I’m not leaving’ Moment That Made Me Cry**

Separate Lives - shannyfish

It was luck that Madelyn Smoak and Mackenzie Queen met at summer camp during a fencing match. Neither of them expected to pull off a mask and find a reflection of themselves staring back. But in the days that followed the girls learned that they were sisters– twins, separated by their parents. Madelyn had been raised in London with tech genius and blonde bombshell Felicity Smoak, while Mackenzie grew up with their father, Oliver Queen, the owner of Green Arrow Vineyards. When the girls devise a devious plan to switch parents, neither of them expected that what they’d really be fighting for was putting their family back together again. (Parent Trap AU)

**Award: Most Entertaining Olicity-Have-Kids-Who-Plot-Against-Them Fic**

@msbeccieboo’s recs:

Two Weeks Notice - LucyHatesJosh4Eva

Oliver Queen has a reputation as an insufferable playboy and a habit of hiring very inept, very attractive attorneys to represent his multi-billion dollar family corporation. So when an act of corporate espionage lands Felicity Smoak in his office on the heels of his last hiring debacle, her law degree and tech experience seem like the way to please his shareholders and his unhappy mother. He expects her smart mouth to cause him a huge pain in the ass; however, he doesn’t expect to trust and like her. Over time, Oliver starts to rely on Felicity for everything, and his world comes to a crashing halt when she gives her two weeks notice.

Retelling of the adorable rom com “Two Weeks Notice” starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. I love this movie, and borrow some plot and some dialog with appreciation and joy. Updates on Mondays.

**Award: Most Wonderfully Frustrating ‘Just Tell Each Other How You Feel, Dammit’ Fic**

In Every Star, I See Your Face (Call Me in the Morning) - @jsevick

Felicity's new internship is full of... complications. (Grey’s Anatomy AU)

**Award: Best Olicity Playing Doctor, Literally**

Love Like Battleships - @callistawolf

Six Days Seven Nights AU - Felicity is a driven career woman on a much-needed vacation with her doting boyfriend. Oliver is a charter pilot with a history of running from complications (and his life). They clash from the start, two wrongs rubbing up against each other the wrong way. What happens when a nasty storm causes them to crash on a deserted island, alone, together?

**Award: Most Untraditional Appearance of a Trousersnake in a Fic**

Between Hello and Roses -  charmingwords23

Felicity Smoak had no idea what she was getting herself into when she signed on to be the star of the new season of The Bachelorette. With plenty of drama, adventure, heartbreak, and romance, this season promises to be the most shocking and dramatic yet!

**Award: Cheesiest (in the best way) Reality TV Olicity**

Surreal but Nice - angelica 

"After all... I'm just a guy, standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him."

a.k.a.

One Wednesday, Felicity Smoak of Tech Village meets Oliver Queen, the movie star. (Notting Hill AU)

**Award: Most Adorable Bumbling Felicity**

@memcjo’s recs:

Are These Your Glasses? - IIIIRENE

When Queens Consolidated throws a masked ball for New Year's Eve, Oliver and Felicity meet for the first time. They dance all night long until Felicity mysteriously flees from the venue dropping her glasses in the process. Unfortunately Oliver never got the name of the gorgeous blonde in the emerald dress, but he has her glasses and he will stop at nothing to find her so that they can continue where they left off.

Olicity AU inspired by Cinderella

**Award: Best Olicity Fairy Tale**

How to Save a Life - witchy2008

DWTS!AU. Oliver Queen has been pushed into competing to improve his image and subsequently the QC stock prices. His professional partner, Felicity Smoak, is working on coaxing him into putting some of his ghosts to rest.

This week, Team Olicity presents Oliver's most memorable year with a contemporary dance dedicated to Shado.

**Award: Best Sexy Olicity Dancing SO Sexy**

seemingly impossible (but not untrue) - @alexiablackbriar13 

Genius historian Dr Felicity Smoak unknowingly and accidentally calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript within the Oxford Bodleian Libraries - a book that has been lost for centuries.

Felicity wants nothing to do with magic, despite her heritage and unruly, powerful abilities. But her discovery of Ashmole 782 sets the world of creatures stirring.

With a mystery afoot and new, dangerous magical abilities manifesting for her to navigate, she is approached by the enigmatic vampire biochemist Professor Oliver Queen, who seems to have a deep interest in both the manuscript… and her.

Based on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

(No knowledge of ADOW or background is needed for you to read this fic!)

**Award: Best Felicity and Oliver Being Drawn Together Against the Odds**

Move - @bushlaboo

Push inspired AU. When people with psychic abilities are discovered governments around the world setup agencies to handle and secretly experiment on these enhanced individuals, one such agency is ARGUS. They're testing a powers boosting drug, Mirakuru, which will allow them to build the most powerful psychic army in the world. The only thing standing in their way is the vision of world’s most powerful Watcher who set in place the means to allow her daughter to foil their plan over a decade ago.

**Award: Best BAMF Felicity Smoak**

@smoaking-greenarrow’s recs:

How To Train Your Vigilante - @alexiablackbriar13

In a world where dragons exist and roam the earth, Felicity Smoak considers herself to be a normal if not slightly nerdy IT girl, with complicated family issues, a fascination with the winged predators and a slight ‘saving people’ complex. Her entire world changes when she meets Oliver, the infamous deadly Night Fury - and a genetic experiment - who flies around Starling City taking down criminals.

Their partnership will be one that rocks the world. 

(How To Train Your Dragon AU)

**Award: The ‘Oliver as Toothless is Brilliant and Spot-on’ Award**

The Big Catch - @nodecaff4me

The lives of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak could not be more different.

He was an infamous billionaire playboy and heir to a fortune 500 company who did everything he could to reform himself into everything his family wanted him to be. She was a struggling single mother of two girls, doing her best she could do get her family through after her whole life in Boston had fallen apart in the aftermath of her ex-husband’s criminal mischiefs.

Both their worlds collide after his yacht’s Wifi-network collapses somewhere along the Oregon coast and he is forced to harbor in a small sleepy town called Elk Cove and hire an IT specialist to fix it only to refuse to pay her for her work in the end.

All bets are off when she learns that he was laying in the county hospital with amnesia after an accident and she could finally get her revenge...

An #Olicity Overboard AU (WIP)

**Award: The ‘I’ve Never Seen This Movie but This Fic is Everything I Need’ Award**

Stones of Time - arrow_through_my_writers_block

AU. Felicity Smoak is halfway across the world on a mission to recover the rumored mystical waters known as the Lazarus Pit. But when fate tosses her back in time and into the company of rogue League of Assassins members, she's caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse... soon falling for the mysterious Al-Sah-him, otherwise known as Oliver Queen. Will she find a way back to her time, or will love and adventure keep her in the past to possibly change the future? *inspired by Outlander

**Award: The ‘Perfect Fic for Your (my) Arrow and Outlander Obsessions’ Award and a Bonus ‘Fangirl Swoon’ Award for Al-Sah-him**

Fate, Luck, and Tequila - Emilyymay_x

The Olicity AU based on the film 'Just My Luck'

Oliver is a billionaire playboy with all the luck in the world.

Felicity Smoak is an excellent IT assistant at Queen Consolidated, with the most rotten luck ever.

When they meet at a masquerade party, they have no idea how much the tables will turn.

**Award: The ‘Better Than the Movie’ Award**

Werewolves and Vigilantes - Emilyymay_x

When Felicity finds out who her father is, and finds out he lives in Beacon Hills with his son, Felicity has to go and meet them. Little does she expect the crazy in Starling to be ten times worse in Beacon Hills... a whole new level in fact… (Teen Wolf inspired)

**Award: The ‘Best Combination of TV Shows Crossover’ Award**

Let us always find each other (in every world, in every story) - imgoingtocrash

Instead of asking Felicity to work on the ATOM Exosuit, Ray brings Felicity on to help him create a device that allows the user to theoretically travel to parallel universes. When Ray turns the theoretical into reality by stealing one of the prototypes and attempting to find his dead wife at the cost of ruining other universes, Felicity follows him. What begins as an attempt to stop her boss from going places he doesn’t belong turns into a realization that some people will always find a way to be together, no matter what.

A Thousand Pieces of You inspired AU, but no book knowledge is required.

**Award: My New Favorite ‘Exploring Other Universes Fic’ Award**

@blondeeoneexox’s recs:

Kerosene and Desire - @smoaking-greenarrow 

An Olicity Notebook AU with a darker twist.

**Award: Most Intense, Sweet, Topsy-Turvy, Beautiful Notebook AU (With the Best Cliffhanger!)**

Home is Where the Heart is - CSM

AU. This fic is loosely based on the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Puppy love is for fairytales and storybooks, they don't exist in the real world and all Oliver wants is for her to sign on the dotted line, a clear cut divorce. But being married to the most stubborn woman in the world and their equally opinionated mothers, Oliver knows this trip back home is going to be anything but easy.

**Award: Most Sass-Filled, Funny, Romantic Olicity AU**

Where You Lead (I Will Follow) - @jsevick

Oliver Queen’s careful routine at the diner he owns is disrupted by Stars Hollow’s newest residents, a single mom and her young daughter searching for a new life--and his own simple life will never be the same. (Gilmore Girls AU)

**Award: The Slowest of Slow Burns That I Wish We Could Have More Of!**

The Sound of an Arrow - thecomebackkids99

Five years ago, Oliver Queen lost his wife in a car accident.

Twenty years ago, Felicity Smoak's father kissed her on the forehead and disappeared from her life.

Now, she is the nanny for the six adorable Queen children, fighting to restore love in the mansion and trying to deal with the difficult-to-get-along-with Oliver, all the while as she continues to stumble upon evidence that could drag the Queen family further into darkness. (The Sound Of Music AU)

**Award: Most Emotional Rollercoaster**

Felicity the Virgin - javajunkie

When Felicity is accidentally artificially inseminated with hotel mogul Oliver Queen's sperm, her life changes in more ways than she could have ever imagined. Jane The Virgin - OLICITY STYLE AU

**Award: Most Beautiful Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers to Family Fic**

[my-proof-is-you]

In Our Blood - Ch. 1

Request from  junnuevosoltransformalarealidad: Hey! Can you do one where reader is the little sister and she has a "normal" life aside the hunting (she does mostly research), where in a hunt she gets hurt and the boys find out she's been harassed at college/high school/whatever (you pick)? I love your writing!!

*NO Wincest

Warnings: rape/non-con

Masterlist

*I do not own any pics or gifs

**Here is a short little first chapter to give you a taste. Enjoy!

Being a Winchester was never easy. 

You’d been living with your brothers for years now. They were your half-brothers; you shared a dad: John Winchester. Before he died, you’d seen your dad here and there. He’d always come to visit on your birthday but had tried to keep you and your mom away from the supernatural. 

Being John Winchester’s family came with a price, though. 

John was a good hunter. But even good hunters make mistakes. 

His was in the form of a monster that got away. A monster that wanted revenge for John killing its mate. 

A monster that killed your mother. 

You were fairly young when she was killed, and thankfully for you, John did the right thing and took you into his family. 

Your brothers were a bit older than you; you and Sam were the closest at ten years apart. 

To say they were surprised when your dad brought you home would be an understatement.

They recovered quickly, though, Dean stepped back into his caregiver role that he had been out of for a few years, and this time he had Sam to help him. Your brothers were really the ones that raised you. 

Of course, that meant that they were insanely protective of you.

Since your dad died, you had traveled around with them. You helped out on hunting cases, sometimes actually doing some hunting--but mostly doing research. You tried to have a normal life, and your brothers wanted you to have that, too. 

After you found the bunker you were able to actually finish high school and enroll in some community college courses. And while that made you feel pretty normal, you still spent your free time helping rid the world of monsters, which was actually the opposite of normal. 

“Y/N/N, did you find anything that can help us on this case?” You looked up from your computer, watching as your oldest brother ran a frustrated hand down his face. 

“Since you asked three minutes ago? No.” You rolled your eyes, looking back at the screen in front of you. Dean sighed, and you could almost hear the silent exchange going on between your brothers behind you.

“What?” you asked with an attitude. You loved them, but they were getting on your last nerve.

“He’s just...frustrated is all, Y/N,” Sam replied. He was sitting across from you at a table in the library. 

“Well, so am I,” you snapped back at him. You didn’t mean to.

Both of your brothers furrowed their brows at your response. 

You took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I think I’m just tired. Maybe if I lay down for a bit it will clear my head.”

“Sure, Y/N/N. You deserve a break. We’ll figure out what to make for dinner and wake you up when it’s ready,” Sam responded, giving your shoulder a squeeze as you walked by him. 

You plopped down on your bed, laying back to stare at the ceiling. Your brothers were sweet, and it wasn’t their fault you were in a bad mood. 

You had been in a bad mood for a few days. 

You had been in a bad mood since you’d been raped. 

Forevers:

@malfoysqueen14

@divadinag

@lynne1993

@awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce​

@infj-slytherclaw

Deanies:

@tftumblin

@deans-baby-momma

@akshi8278

@weepingwillowphoenix

@playingdeep17

[miningmyminecraft]

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It’s nice to see a romance featuring OFWs that doesn’t sensationalize the challenges of working life and strikes a meaningful, empowering tone. Helmed by prominent director Cathy Garcia-Molina, this romance topped 2019’s Philippine box workplace and gained great important acclaim. This is the plot ofJohn Denver Trending—a hidden Pinoy indie film gem from 2019. In an age when cyberbulling and social media-driven disinformation are hot matters, this film helps viewers understand that online speech has real-world penalties, while not feeling overly preachy. Our third finest Pinoy film of 2019 is a authorized procedural drama—Verdict.Verdict follows the case of Joy, a Filipino housewife who stabs her abusive husband Dante in self defense.

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Set in Negros, Oro, Plata, Matatraces how the struggle affected the lives of two aristocratic households. Its imagery and dramamakeit a case research in nice Filipino films. In sum, the On The Job director asks the movie-going public to have faith in Filipino movies. Bernardo and Richards prepared intensely for their roles; Bernardo spent time away from the other cast members to construct a way of isolation. What results is a sensible and empathetic efficiency that avoids the hole sugariness of other Filipino romances.

No extra ticketing or scheduling problems; they’re finally obtainable with just a faucet. The movie was filmed in simply three weeks, and stars a lot-liked Filipino actress Nora Aunor, in what many pundits price as the best performance of her profession.

The movie walks the line between documentary and drama, strolling us by way of Joy’s seek for justice in opposition to Dante. The movie contains an anthology of 5 different tales that includes designated classroom cleaners in a Tuguegarao highschool. Each of the tales touches upon the theme of “cleanliness”—whether why not look here or not bodily, moral, or otherwise. A cast of first-time actors brings the five tales to life, and offers them an authentic, pure feel. Those who went to highschool in the Philippines could find moments of tender nostalgia in Cleaners‘ narratives.

Affluent Julie Monserrat falls in love with student-slash-combo participant (that's much like at present's DJ) Dido, and their forbidden romance rocks the entire town. Already a traditional, thisMike de Leon opus has been described by many as one of the best Filipino films of all time. Starring Mark Gil in his most iconic function as Sid Lucero, it explores the fraternity culture during the last phases of martial legislation in the Philippines.

Vic Silayan plays a terrifying patriarch with a stranglehold over his family, together with his newly married and hapless daughter (Charo Santos-Concio). Diaz-Abaya was one of many strongest feminine voices in Philippine cinema, and on this period drama she lambasted the commodification of girls as strongly as she ever had. A son returns to his hometown along with his new bride in tow, solely to have her be the item of his father’s lust as a result of her resemblance to his deceased spouse. Swirling with themes of oppressive patriarchy and Oedipal complexes, shot through with startling violence, Karnal is as close to noir as Philippine films can get.

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, de Leon was making cinemagoers swoon with this mild coming-of-age love story between an aimless student/aspiring songwriter and the attractive woman whose marriage in the end proves to be a heartbreaking wakeup name to their dream of being together. I keep in mind being pissed off as a result of I was too younger to catch this true-crime thriller when it first got here out at the 7th Metro Manila Film Festival. Based on the Nick Joaquin article “The House on Zapote Street”, Kisapmata proved too darkish for audiences’ tastes for the time, however its standing as a harrowing exploration of the shadowy corners of the Filipino psyche stays unparalleled to this present day.

She aptly and intensely portrays Tin’s vulnerability in a way that doesn’t feel overly sentimental. As the second-highest grossing movie of 2019 within the Philippines,Alone/Together reaped nice financial rewards for telling its story properly. Adapted from the hit Korean movie agree with of the same name,Miracle In Cell No. 7won the love of critics and audiences with its heartwarming father-daughter story. Building upon the Korean unique,Miracle In Cell No. 7 tells the story of a mentally disabled man named Lito who’s wrongly jailed.

It is properly-acted and is likely one of the finest-crafted films within the decade. It indulges followers to revel within the state of kilig by seeing their favourite celebrities do a dance of will-they-or-won’t-they despite the fact that everyone knows the ending.

Dukot is a dramatic action crime film set within the Philippines starring Enrique Gil, Christopher De Leon, and Shaina Magdayao. The film tells the story of a center-class government official whose estranged son gets kidnapped. When the abductors demand a high sum for ransom, he should come up with the money before it’s too late. The dramatic comedy Four Sisters and a Wedding stars Brenna Garcia, Bea Alonzo, and Bea Basa and is ready in Manila, Philippines. The film recounts the story of a Filipino family consisting of four sisters and a brother.

After failing her structure board exams, Mara meets Gali , a deaf signal language instructor. The two develop an unlikely connection as they find consolation in every others’ imperfections. Made by millennial-focused Black Sheep Productions,Alone/Together follows a normal romance storyline but executes it well. The film stars real-life couple Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil as the leads—a girl named Christine “Tin” Lazaro and a boy named Rafael “Raf” Toledo, respectively. Tin research artwork, and Raf studies Biology en path to changing into a physician.

Set in a crowded and underfunded government hospital, the movie finds humanity within the dankest corners and the harshest of conditions. What might have been just another love story set in an unique land is reworked by Jason Paul Laxamana into an affecting portrait of escape, with the potential for romance between a beleaguered film star and a troubled expatriate. Lav Diaz and Brillante Mendoza are as active as ever, supported not by an area constituency however by the demand of foreigners for his or her distinctive views. There are additionally many other filmmakers who are producing films on their very own, risking fortunes and careers to not create content for media companies however movies to be screened in a movie show.

John Denver Trending has glorious cinematography and nicely-developed characters (John Denver’s mom is an particularly interesting figure). This makes its on-line witch hunt story feel all the extra resonant, and illuminates the raw horrors of internet-pushed mobs. Director Arden Rod Condez retains the narrative tightly centered, and never lets it descend into the same irrationality that a few of its characters embody. Impressively, this extremely relevant film is Condez’s directorial debut.

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A caregiver named Jaica is employed by Vivian, a successful businesswoman who recently found she was unwell. Little does Vivian know, Jaica performs a considerably larger function in her life— one which reconnects her to her distant son. At that time, Siguion-Reyna, son of movie legend Armida Siguion Reyna, was known special info for breaking barriers. One of his earlier films, additionally that includes Roces, wasLigaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin, which illustrated rape. It was initially given an X rating and was only aired to the general public after quite a few concessions that resulted in scenes on the slicing ground.

When Lito’s fellow inmates notice he’s an harmless man, they assist smuggle in his young daughter Yesha so the two can proceed bonding. Starring Kapamilya actress Kathryn Bernardo and Kapuso star Alden Richards, Hello, Love, Goodbye is the best-grossing Filipino film of all time.

This intensive, months-lengthy course of results in a movie that literally looks like nothing else that Pinoy cinema has to offer. Ulan could be about love, nevertheless it’s not your average Filipino romance. The film stars Nadine Lustre as a author named Maya, who’s struggling to find romance and happiness. As Maya journeys via life,Ulan weaves fantastical tales from her creativeness and childhood as a reflection of her psyche. We see her speaking withtikbalangsin one second, and typhoons in one other.

If you’re trying to celebrate the occasion within the consolation of your personal house, you might be interested in doing so by catching up on must-see titles Philippine cinema has to supply — or, when you’ve already seen them before, watching them unfold all over again. Initially hard to find , these motion pictures have been made accessible to extra audiences thanks to different streaming platforms.

Most of the Philippines' critically acclaimed films are gritty and heavy, but this Maryo de los Reyes basic sticks to the reality of highschool, which is light, relatable, and fun. There are many extra intricacies between and after these occasions, and you may need to essentially watch Karnal to understand why it's such a fantastic Filipino movie. The combination of a powerhouse forged and formidable director Peque Gallaga led to this beautiful Filipino traditional.

The movie tells the story of mysterious happenings in a remote village which end in Ferdinand E. Marcos implementing Proclamation No. 1081, which locations all the Philippines under Martial Law. The movie delves into the difficulties of the village folks as they cope with this new proclamation. The drama Himala takes place in a poor Filipino village and stars Nora Aunor, Veronica Palileo, and Spanky Manikan.

When the brother, the youngest of the siblings, declares that he plans to get married, the sisters devise a plan to speak him out of it, revealing the deep-seated animosity they've for each other. The romantic drama The Hows of Us stars Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla, and Darren Espanto.

Any benefit thisAlvin Yapan filmevaporated when word got out that a canine was killed throughout production. Based on the true story of the "Gata Four Massacre" in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, it received a number of accolades and obtained positive critiques. The dog killing, nonetheless, resulted in Senate hearings and closed-door meetings. The scene was eventually edited out, but its impact has one way or the other lasted. Have you ever come across a movie so controversial, so bold that the President needed to step in to ban it from public viewing?

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Anyone who didn’t will nonetheless benefit from the 5 stories’ easy however meaningful takes on adolescence. Another more distinctive Filipino love story that came out in 2019 wasIsa Pa with Feelings .

It seems to be the case for lots of the nation's most groundbreaking movies. Mang Kepweng was a popular comic strip by Al Magat a couple of humorous village albularyo. The character was dropped at life by comedy legend Chiquito and it spawned a number of installments, with Mang Kepweng and Son being the fourth film within the sequence. Dindo Fernando, Vilma Santos, and Hilda Koronel play a person, his wife, and his lover on this Danny Zialcita film about the intricacies of marriage and adultery. The in style Filipino movie won six prizes on the 31st Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards , including Vilma Santos' third Best Actress win.

It’s a type of films where the protagonist has to make a tough alternative – on this movie, K’na has to make a sacrifice between her village clans and real love. all not on Netflix – can now be accessed freed from cost, due to the kind hearts of our filmmakers. We’ve listed 10 of these local films – from blockbuster hits to horror movies – under. It’s a black comedy by the use of city fairy tales and magical realism. It has impeccable use of cinematic language — from scoring, to cinematography, to editing.

It reached P880 million box office mark after a month of hitting the cinemas. The movie is not a typical “LizQuen” love story that showcases the Philippine Art and nostalgic 90’s vibes. It depicts the story of a pair who faced many challenges from their school romance to turning into actual adults entering the real world. 2019 has been a great yr for Philippine cinema as it supplied numerous motion pictures that entertained a lot of Filipinos throughout the globe. You can watch more award-successful Netflix Originals, documentaries, motion pictures and TV reveals by choosing a plan that’s best for you.

The film tells the story of the romance between the young couple, Primo and George, who dream of building a life collectively and are already devising their future. However, their plans are put to the take a look at when they're confronted with obstacles that put their relationship in danger. Set in the Philippines in 1972, the drama From What is Before stars Perry Dizon, Roeder, and Hazel Orencio.

The movie tells the story of Elsa, a Filipina villager who claims she has been visited by the Virgin Mary. The go to changed her life as she now appears to have particular healing powers. Her newfound talent begins to trigger hysteria in her small village.

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This Jose Javier Reyes movie is known for being known as "a properly-made gentle porn movie" by none aside from then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Live Show, which was originally named Toro, depicted the lives of poor individuals who had to resort to performing lewd acts on stage to outlive. It is among the few extensive-launch movies that featured full-frontal nudity. After pressure from the Catholic Church, the President herself had to suspend it from airing on theaters. Though initially banned by the MTRCB, it was allowed to re-air after the title, which meant pay-per-view sex, was changed.

The film tells the story of Basha and Popoy, a young couple deeply in love who spend all of their time together. But when clashing ambitions and tensions come into play and the couple splits up, they're both feeling devastated and heartbroken. Strangely sufficient, pandemic motion pictures have turn into extra in demand because the coronavirus outbreak. If you have received the guts to sit by way of movies that observe the results of a virus, check out our suggestions. A record of greatest Filipino motion pictures would be incomplete with no Dolphy starrer.

It indulges the equipment behind the love team to flex its muscular tissues, creatively and financially, proving the online value of the pair by putting out an enormous-display romance that’s so rigorously calculated to a fault . And lastly, it indulges the actors to show their benefit as reliable actors, with tacked in confrontation scenes and weepy dialogues that profess the true nature of formulaic love. The marriage is a attainable gateway to a greater life however Teria’s leaving, the way in which the movie is a one-take shot of her going across the island earlier than reaching the pier, more so embodies the ills and the heartaches that kind the core of the Filipino diaspora. Are the “mainstream” and “indie” labels even applicable nowadays, when budgets and industry don’t considerably differ?

If it’s a matter of sensibility, how can we distinguish when “impartial” filmmakers are directing studio-backed motion pictures, whereas established actors and filmmakers from the big networks are also increasingly going “indie”? And let’s not even delve into the query of whether or not it’s primarily based on notions of quality.

Produced by then-married couple Nora Aunor and Christopher de Leon, the World War II-set drama follows Rosario , a woman deserted by her lover when he joins the Resistance, solely to then fall in love with a Japanese soldier . But Hello, Love, Goodbye is the mother of all migrant dramas—and never why not pinoy movies just because it's officially the best grossing Filipino film of all time. The dramatic motion crime movie Metro Manila, set in Manila, Philippines stars Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, and Althea Vega.

The story revolves round beautician Coring as he takes in Nonoy , who is the son of his crush. With Lino Brocka behind the digital camera, Ang Tatay Kong Nanaydelves into the themes of homosexuality and single parenting through a comedic lens. This Filipino film is a traditional rich-woman-poor-boy romance delivered to life by actors Vilma Santos and Bembol Roco and director Celso Ad Castillo.

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The movie follows the story of Oscar Ramirez and his household who flee a lifetime of poverty in a small village in northern Philippines to the bustling heart of Manila. The quick paced lifestyle and hardened locals quickly overwhelm the household, and Oscar should do what he needs to to survive in the massive metropolis. The romantic drama One More Chancestars John Lloyd Cruz, Bea Alonzo, and Derek Ramsay.

[grigori77]

2019 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 1)

30.  GLASS – back in 2000, I went from liking the work of The Sixth Sense’s writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to becoming a genuine FAN thanks to his sneakily revisionist deconstruction of superhero tropes, Unbreakable.  It’s STILL my favourite film of his to date, and one of my Top Ten superhero movies EVER, not just a fascinating examination of the mechanics of the genre but also a very satisfying screen origin story – needless to say I’m one of MANY fans who’ve spent nearly two decades holding out hope for a sequel.  Flash forward to 2016 and Shyamalan’s long-overdue return-to-form sleeper hit, Split, which not only finally put his career back on course but also dropped a particularly killer end twist by actually being that very sequel.  Needless to say 2019 was the year we FINALLY got our PROPER reward for all our patience – Glass is the TRUE continuation of the Unbreakable universe and the closer of a long-intended trilogy.  Turns out, though, that it’s also his most CONTROVERSIAL film for YEARS, dividing audiences and critics alike with its unapologetically polarizing plot and execution – I guess that, after a decade of MCU and a powerhouse trilogy of Batman movies from Chris Nolan, we were expecting an epic, explosive action-fest to close things out, but that means we forgot exactly what it is about Shyamalan we got to love so much, namely his unerring ability to subvert and deconstruct whatever genre he’s playing around in.  And he really doesn’t DO spectacle, does he?  That said, this film is still a surprisingly BIG, sprawling piece of work, even if it the action is, for the most part, MUCH more internalised than most superhero movies.  Not wanting to drop any major spoilers on the few who still haven’t seen it, I won’t give away any major plot points, suffice to say that ALL the major players from both Unbreakable and Split have returned – former security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has spent the past nineteen years exploring his super-strength and near-invulnerability while keeping Philadelphia marginally safer as hooded vigilante the Overseer, and the latest target of his crime-fighting crusade is Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), the vessel of 24 split personalities collectively known as the Horde, who’s continuing his cannibalistic serial-murder spree through the streets.  Both are being hunted by the police, as well as Dr. Ellie Staple (series newcomer Sarah Paulson), a clinical psychiatrist specialising in treating individuals who suffer the delusional belief that they’re superheroes, her project also encompassing David’s former mentor-turned-nemesis Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), the eponymous Mr. Glass, whose life-long suffering from a crippling bone disease that makes his body dangerously fragile has done nothing to blunt the  genius-level intellect that’s made him a ruthlessly accomplished criminal mastermind. How these remarkable individuals are brought together makes for fascinating viewing, and while it may be a good deal slower and talkier than some might have preferred, this is still VERY MUCH the Shyamalan we first came to admire – fiendishly inventive, slow-burn suspenseful and absolutely DRIPPING with cool earworm dialogue, his characteristically mischievous sense of humour still present and correct, and he’s retained that unswerving ability to wrong-foot us at every turn, right up to one of his most surprising twist endings to date.  The cast are, as ever, on fire, the returning hands all superb while those new to the universe easily measure up to the quality of talent on display – Willis and Jackson are, as you’d expect, PERFECT throughout, brilliantly building on the incredibly solid groundwork laid in Unbreakable, while it’s a huge pleasure to see Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark (a fine actor we don’t see NEARLY enough of, in my opinion) and Charlayne Woodard get MUCH bigger, more prominent roles this time out, while Paulson delivers an understated but frequently mesmerising turn as the ultimate unshakable sceptic.  As with Split, however, the film is comprehensively stolen by McAvoy, whose truly chameleonic performance actually manages to eclipse its predecessor in its levels of sheer genius.  Altogether this is another sure-footed step in the right direction for a director who’s finally regained his singular auteur prowess – say what you will about that ending, but it certainly is a game-changer, as boldly revisionist as anything that’s preceded it and therefore, in my opinion, exactly how it SHOULD have gone.  If nothing else, this is a film that should be applauded for its BALLS …

29.  THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON – quite possibly the year’s most adorable indie, this dramatic feature debut from documentarian writer-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz largely snuck in under the radar on release, but has gone on to garner some well-deserved critical appreciation and sleeper hit success.  The lion’s share of the film’s success must surely go to the inspired casting, particularly in the central trio who drive the action – Nilson and Schwartz devised the film with Zack Gotsagen, an exceptionally talented young actor with Down’s Syndrome, specifically in mind for the role of Zak, a wrestling obsessive languishing in a North Carolina retirement home who dreams of escaping his stifling confines and going to the training camp of his hero, the Saltwater Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), where he can learn to become a pro wrestler; after slipping free, Zak enlists the initially wary help of down-at-heel criminal fisherman Tyler (Shia LaBaouf) in reaching his intended destination, while the pair are pursued by Zak’s primary caregiver, Eleanor (Dakota Johnson).  Needless to say the unlikely pair bond on the road, and when Eleanor is reluctantly forced to tag along with them, a surrogate family is formed … yeah, the plot is so predictable you can see every twist signposted from miles back, but that familiarity is never a problem because these characters are so lovingly written and beautifully played that you’ve fallen for them within five minutes of meeting them, so you’re effortlessly swept along for the ride. The three leads are pure gold – this is the most laid back and cuddly Shia’s been for years, but his lackadaisical charm is pleasingly tempered with affecting pathos driven by a tragic loss in Tyler’s recent past, while Johnson is sensible, sweet and likeably grounded, even when Eleanor’s at her most exasperated, but Gotsagen is the real surprise, delivering an endearingly unpredictable, livewire performance that blazes with true, honest purity and total defiance in the face of any potential difficulties society may try to throw at Zak – while there’s excellent support from Church in a charmingly awkward late-film turn that goes a long way to reminding us just what an acting treasure he is, as well as John Hawkes and rapper Yelawolf as a pair of lowlife crab-fishermen hunting for Tyler, intending to wreak (not entirely undeserved) revenge on him for an ill-judged professional slight.  Enjoying a gentle sense of humour and absolutely CRAMMED with heartfelt emotional heft, this really was one of the most downright LOVEABLE films of 2019.

28.  PET SEMATARY – first off, let me say that I never saw the 1989 feature adaptation of Stephen King’s story, so I have no comparative frame of reference there – I WILL say, however, that the original novel is, in my opinion, one of the strongest offerings from America’s undisputed master of literary horror, so any attempt made to bring it to the big screen had better be a good one.  Thankfully, this version more than delivers in that capacity, proving to be one of the more impressive of his cinematic outings in recent years (not quite up to the standard of The Mist or It Chapter 1, perhaps, but certainly on a par with the criminally overlooked 1408), as well as one of the year’s top horror offerings.  This may be the feature debut of directing double-act Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, but they both display a wealth of natural talent here, wrangling bone-chilling scares and a pervading atmosphere of oppressive dread to deliver a top-notch screen fright-fest that works its way under your skin and stays put for days after.  Jason Clarke is a classic King everyman hero as Boston doctor Louis Creed, displaced to the small Maine town of Ludlow as he trades the ER for a quiet clinic practice so he can spent more time with his family – Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color, Stranger Things), excellent throughout as his haunted, emotionally fragile wife Rachel, toddler son Gage (twins Hugo and Lucas Lavole), and daughter Ellie (newcomer Jeté Laurence, BY FAR the film’s biggest revelation, delivering to the highest degree even when her role becomes particularly intense).  Their new home seems idyllic, the only blots being the main road at the end of their drive which experiences heavy traffic from speeding trucks, and the children’s pet cemetery in the woods at the back of their garden, which has become something of a local landmark.  But there’s something far darker in the deeper places beyond, an ancient place of terrible power Louis is introduced to by their well-meaning but ultimately fallible elderly neighbour Jud (one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from screen legend John Lithgow) when his daughter’s beloved cat Church is run over. The cat genuinely comes back, but he’s irrevocably changed, the once gentle and lovable furball now transformed into a menacingly mangy little psychopath, and his resurrection sets off a chain of horrific events destined to devour the entire family … this is supernatural horror at its most inherently unnerving, mercilessly twisting the screws throughout its slow-burn build to the inevitable third act bloodbath and reaching a bleak, soul-crushing climax that comes close to rivalling the still unparalleled sucker-punch of The Mist – the adaptation skews significantly from King’s original at the mid-point, but even purists will be hard-pressed to deny that this is still VERY MUCH in keeping with the spirit of the book right up to its harrowing closing shot.  The King of Horror has been well served once again – fans can rest assured that his dark imagination continues to inspire some truly great cinematic scares …

27.  THE REPORT – the CIA’s notorious use of torture to acquire information from detainees in Guantanamo Bay and various other sites around the world in the wake of September 11, 2001, has been a particularly spiky political subject for years now, one which has gained particular traction with cinema-goers over the years thanks to films like Rendition and, of course, controversial Oscar-troubler Zero Dark Thirty.  It’s also a particular bugbear of screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion, Side Effects) – his parents are both psychologists, and he found it particularly offensive that a profession he knows was created to help people could have been turned into such a damaging weapon against the human psyche, inexorably leading him to taking up this passion project, championed by its producer, and Burns’ long-time friend and collaborator, Steven Soderbergh.  It tells the true story of Senate staffer Daniel Jones’ five-year battle to bring his damning 6,300-page study of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program, commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee, into the light of day in the face of increasingly intense and frequently underhanded resistance from the Agency and various high-ranking officials within the US Government whose careers could be harmed should their own collusion be revealed. In lesser hands this could have been a clunky, unappetisingly dense excuse for a slow-burn political thriller that drowned in its own exposition, but Burns handles the admittedly heavyweight material with deft skill and makes each increasingly alarming revelation breathlessly compelling while he ratchets up the tension by showing just what a seemingly impossible task Jones and his small but driven team faced.  The film would have been nought, however, without a strong cast, and this one has a killer – taking a break from maintaining his muscle-mass for Star Wars, Adam Driver provides a suitably robust narrative focus as Jones, an initially understated workman who slowly transforms into an incensed moral crusader as he grows increasingly filled with righteous indignation by the vile subject matter he’s repeatedly faced with, and he’s provided with sterling support from the likes of Annette Bening, delivering her best performance in years as Senator Dianne Feinstein, Jones’ staunchest supporter, the ever-wonderful Ted Levine as oily CIA director John O. Brennan, Tim Blake Nelson as a physician contracted by the CIA to assist with interrogations who became genuinely disgusted by the horrors he witnessed, and Matthew Rhys as an unnamed New York Times reporter Jones considers leaking the report to when it looks like it might never be released.  This is powerful stuff, and while it may only mark Burns’ second directorial feature (after his obscure debut Pu-239), he handles the gig like a seasoned pro, milking the material for every drop of dramatic tension while keeping the narrative as honest, forthright and straightforward as possible, and the end result makes for sobering, distressing and thoroughly engrossing viewing.  Definitely one of the most important films not only of 2019, but of the decade itself, and one that NEEDS to be seen.

26.  DARK PHOENIX – wow, this really has been a year for mistreated sequels, hasn’t it?  There’s a seriously stinky cloud of controversy surrounding what is now, in light of recent developments between Disney and Twentieth Century Fox, the last true Singer-era X-Men movie, a film which saw two mooted release dates (first November 2018 then the following February, before finally limping onto screens with very little fanfare in June 2019, almost as if Fox wanted to bury it. Certainly rumours of its compromise were rife, particularly regarding supposed rushed reshoots because of clashing similarities with Marvel’s major tent-pole release Captain Marvel (and given the all-conquering nature of the MCU there was no way they were having that, was there?), so like many I was expecting a clunky mess, maybe even a true stinker to rival X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  In truth, while it’s not perfect, the end result is nothing like the turd we all feared – the final film is, in fact, largely a success, worthy of favourable comparison with its stronger predecessors.  It certainly makes much needed amends for the disappointing mismanagement of the source comics’ legendary Dark Phoenix saga in 2006’s decidedly compromised original X-Men trilogy capper The Last Stand, this time treating the story with the due reverence and respect it deserves as well as serving as a suitably powerful send-off for more than one beloved key character.  Following the “rebooted” path of the post-Days of Future Past timeline, it’s now 1992, and after the world-changing events of Apocalypse the X-Men have become a respected superhero team with legions of fans and their own personal line to the White House, while mutants at large have mostly become accepted by the regular humans around them.  Then a hastily planned mission into space takes a turn for the worst and Jean Grey (Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner) winds up absorbing an immensely powerful, thoroughly inexplicable cosmic force that makes her powers go haywire while also knocking loose repressed childhood traumas Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) would rather had stayed buried, sending her on a dangerous spiral out of control which leads to a destructive confrontation and the inadvertent death of a teammate.  Needless to say, the situation soon becomes desperate as Jean goes on the run and the world starts to turn against them all once again … all in all, then, it’s business as usual for the cast and crew of one of Fox’s flagship franchises, and it SHOULD have gone off without a hitch.  When Bryan Singer opted not to return this time around (instead setting his sights on Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody), key series writer Simon Kinberg stepped into the breach for his directorial debut, and it turns out he’s got a real talent for it, giving us just the kind of robust, pacy, thrilling action-packed epic his compatriot would have delivered, filled with the same thumping great set-pieces (the final act’s stirring, protracted train battle is the unequivocal highlight here), well-observed character beats and emotional resonance we’ve come to expect from the series as a whole (then again, he does know these movies back to frond having at least co-written his fair share).  The cast, similarly, are all on top form – McAvoy and Michael Fassbender (as fan favourite Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto) know their roles so well now they can do this stuff in their sleep, but we still get to see them explore interesting new facets of their characters (particularly McAvoy, who gets to reveal an intriguing dark side to the Professor we’ve only ever seen hinted at before now), while Turner finally gets to really breathe in a role which felt a little stiff and underexplored in her series debut in Apocalypse (she EASILY forges the requisite connective tissue to Famke Janssen’s more mature and assured take in the earlier films); conversely Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) get somewhat short shrift but nonetheless do A LOT with what little they have, and at least Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult still get to do plenty of dramatic heavy lifting as the last of Xavier’s original class, Raven (Mystique) and Hank McCoy (Beast); the only real weak link in the cast is the villain, Vuk, a shape-shifting alien whose quest to seize the power Jean’s appropriated is murkily defined at best, but at least Jessica Chastain manages to invest her with enough icy menace to keep things from getting boring.  All in all, then, this is very much a case of business as usual, Kinberg and co keeping the action thundering along at a suitably cracking pace throughout (powered by a typically epic score from Hans Zimmer), and the film only really comes off the rails in its final moments, when that aforementioned train finally comes off its tracks and the reported reshoots must surely kick in – as a result this is, to me, most reminiscent of previous X-flick The Wolverine, which was a rousing success for the majority of its runtime, only coming apart in its finale thanks to that bloody ridiculous robot samurai.  The climax is, therefore, a disappointment, too clunky and sudden and overly neat in its denouement (we really could have done with a proper examination of the larger social impact of these events), but it’s little enough that it doesn’t spoil what came before … which just makes the film’s mismanagement and resulting failure, as well as its subsequent treatment from critics and fans alike, all the more frustrating.  This film deserved much better, but ultimately looks set to be disowned and glossed over by most of the fanbase as the property as a whole goes through the inevitable overhaul now that Disney/Marvel owns Fox and plans to bring the X-Men and their fellow mutants into the MCU fold.  I feel genuinely sorry for the one remaining X-film, The New Mutants, which is surely destined for spectacular failure after its similarly shoddy round of reschedules finally comes to an end this summer …

25.  IT CHAPTER 2 – back in 2017, Mama director Andy Muschietti delivered the first half of his ambitious two-film adaptation of one of Stephen King’s most popular and personal novels, which had long been considered un-filmable (the 90s miniseries had a stab, but while it deserves its cult favourite status it certainly fell short in several places) until Muschietti and screenwriters Cary Joji Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman seemingly did the impossible, and the end result was the top horror hit of the year.  Ultimately, then, it was gonna be a tough act to follow, and there was MAJOR conjecture whether they could repeat that success with this second half.  Would lightning strike twice?  Well, the simple answer is … mostly.  2017’s Chapter 1 was a stone-cold masterpiece, and one of the strongest elements in its favour was the extremely game young cast of newcomers and relative unknown child actors who brought the already much beloved Loser’s Club to perfectly-cast life, a seven-strong gang of gawky pre-teen underdogs you couldn’t help loving, which made it oh-so-easy to root for them as they faced off against that nightmarish shape-shifting child-eating monster, Pennywise the Dancing Clown.  It was primal, it was terrifying, and it was BURSTING with childhood nostalgia that thoroughly resonated with an audience hungry for more 80s-set coming-of-age genre fare after the runaway success of Stranger Things.  Bringing the story into the present day with the Losers now returning to their childhood home of Derry, Maine as forty-something adults, Chapter 2 was NEVER going to achieve the same pulse-quickening electric charge the first film pulled off, was it?  Thankfully, with the same director and (mostly) the same writing crew on hand (Fukunaga jumped ship but Dauberman was there to finish up with the help of Jason Fuchs and an uncredited Jeffrey Jurgensen) there’s still plenty of that old magic left over, so while it’s not quite the same second time round, this still feels very much like the same adventure, just older, wiser and a bit more cynical.  Here’s a more relevant reality check, mind – those who didn’t approve of the first film’s major changes from the book are going to be even more incensed by this, but the differences here are at least organic and in keeping with the groundwork laid in Chapter 1, and indeed this film in particular is a VERY different beast from the source material, but these differences are actually kind of a strength here, Muschietti and co. delivering something that works MUCH better cinematically than a more faithful take would have. Anyway, the Loser’s Club are back, all grown up and (for the most part) wildly successful living FAR AWAY from Derry with dream careers and seemingly perfect lives.  Only Mike Hanlon has remained behind to hold vigil over the town and its monstrous secret, and when a new spree of disappearances and grisly murders begins he calls his old friends back home to fulfil the pact they all swore to uphold years ago – stop Pennywise once and for all.  The new cast are just as excellent as their youthful counterparts – Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy are, of course, the big leads here as grown up Beverley Marsh and Bill Denbrough, bringing every watt of star power they can muster, but the others hold more interest, with Bill Hader perfectly cast (both director and child actor’s personal first choice) as smart-mouth Richie Tozier, Isaiah Mustafah (best known as the Old Spice guy from those hilarious commercials) playing VERY MUCH against type as Mike, Jay Ryan (successful on the small screen in Top of the Lake and Beauty & the Beast, but very much getting his cinematic big break here) as a slimmed-down and seriously buffed-out Ben Hanscom, James Ransone (Sinister) as neurotic hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak, and Andy Bean (Power, the recent Swamp Thing series) as ever-rational Stan Uris – but we still get to hang out with the original kids too in new flashbacks that (understandably) make for some of the film’s best scenes, while Bill Skarsgard is as terrifying as ever as he brings new ferocity, insidious creepiness and even a touch of curious back-story to Pennywise.  I am happy to report this new one IS just as scary as its predecessor, a skin-crawling, spine-tingling, pants-wetting cold sweat of a horror-fest that works its way in throughout its substantial running time and, as before, sticks with you LONG after the credits have rolled, but it’s also got the same amount of heart, emotional heft and pathos, nostalgic charm (albeit more grown-up and sullied) and playful, sometimes decidedly mischievous geeky humour, so that as soon as you’re settled in it really does feel like you’ve come home. It’s also fiendishly inventive, the final act in particular skewing in some VERY surprising new directions that there’s NO WAY you’ll see coming, and the climax also, interestingly, redresses one particularly frustrating imbalance that always bugged me about the book, making for an especially moving, heartbreaking denouement.  Interestingly, there’s a running joke in the film that pokes fun at a perceived view from some quarters that Stephen King’s endings often disappoint – there’s no such fault with THIS particular adaptation.  For me, this was altogether JUST the concluding half I was hoping for, so while it’s not as good as the first, it should leave you satisfied all the same.

24.  MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN – it’s taken Edward Norton twenty years to get his passion project adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel to the big screen, but the final film was certainly worth the wait, a cool-as-ice noir thriller in which its writer-director also, of course, stars as one of the most unusual ‘tecs around.  Lionel Essrog suffers from Tourette syndrome, prone to uncontrollable ticks and vocal outbursts as well as obsessive-compulsive spirals that can really ruin his day, but he’s also got a genius-level intellect and a photographic memory, which means he’s the perfect fit for the detective agency of accomplished, highly successful New York gumshoe Frank Minna (Bruce Willis).  But when their latest case goes horribly wrong and Frank dies in a back-alley gunfight, the remaining members of the agency are left to pick up the pieces and try to find out what went wrong, Lionel battling his own personal, mental and physical demons as he tries to unravel an increasingly labyrinthine tangle of lies, deceit, corporate corruption and criminal enterprise that reaches to the highest levels of the city’s government.  Those familiar with the original novel will know that it’s set in roughly the present day, but Norton felt many aspects of the story lent themselves much better to the early 1950s, and it really was a good choice – Lionel is a man very much out his time, a very odd fit in an age of stuffy morals and repression, while the themes of racial upheaval, rampant urban renewal and massive, unchecked corporate greed feel very much of the period. Besides, there’s few things as seductive than a good noir thriller, and Norton has crafted a real GEM right here. The pace can be a little glacial at times, but this simply gives the unfolding plot and extremely rich collection of characters plenty of room to grow, while the jazzy score (from up-and-comer Daniel Pemberton, composer on Steve Jobs, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) provides a surprising complimentary accompaniment to the rather free-form narrative style and Lionel’s own scattershot, bebop style.  Norton is exceptional in the lead, landing his best role in years with an exquisitely un-self-conscious ease that makes for thoroughly compelling viewing (surely more than one nod will be due come awards-season), but he doesn’t hog ALL the limelight, letting his uniformly stellar supporting cast shine bright as well – Willis doesn’t get a huge amount of screen time, but delivers a typically strong, nuanced performance that makes his absence throughout the rest of the film keenly felt, Gugu Mbatha-Raw continues to build an impressive run of work as Laura, the seemingly unimportant woman Lionel befriends, who could actually be the key to the whole case, Alec Baldwin is coolly menacing as power-hungry property magnate and heavyweight city official Moses Randolph, the film’s nominal big-bad, Willem Dafoe is absolutely electrifying as his down-at-heel, insignificant genius brother Lou, and Boardwalk Empire’s Michael K. Williams is quietly outstanding as mysterious jazz musician Trumpet Man, while Bobby Canavale, Ethan Suplee and Dallas Roberts are all excellent as the other hands in Minna’s detective agency.  It’s a chilled-out affair, happy to hang back and let its slow-burn plot simmer while Lionel tries to navigate his job and life in general while battling his many personal difficulties, but due to the incredible calibre of the talent on offer, the incredibly rich dialogue and obligatory hardboiled gumshoe voiceover, compelling story and frequently achingly beautiful visuals, this is about as compulsively rewarding as cinema gets. Norton’s crafted a film noir worthy of comparison with the likes of L.A. Confidential and Chinatown, proving that he’s a triple-threat cinematic talent to be reckoned with.

23.  PROSPECT – I love a good cinematic underdog, there’s always some dynamite indies and sleepers that just about slip through the cracks that I end up championing every year, and one of 2019’s favourites was a minor sensation at 2018’s South By Southwest film festival, a singularly original ultra-low-budget sci-fi adventure that made a genuine virtue of its miniscule budget.  Riffing on classic eco-minded space flicks like Silent Running, it introduces a father-and-daughter prospecting team who land a potentially DEEPLY lucrative contract mining for an incredibly rare element on a toxic jungle moon – widower Damon (Transparent’s Jay Duplass), who’s downtrodden and world-weary but still a dreamer, and teenager Cee (relative newcomer Sophie Thatcher), an introverted bookworm with hidden reserves of ingenuity and fortitude.  The job starts well, Damon setting his sights on a rumoured “queen’s layer” that could make them rich beyond their wildest dreams, but when they meet smooth-talking scavenger Ezra (Narcos’ Pedro Pascal), things take a turn for the worse – Damon is killed and Cee is forced to team up with Ezra to have any hope for survival on this hostile, unforgiving moon.  Thatcher is an understated joy throughout, her seemingly detached manner belying hidden depths of intense feeling, while Pascal, far from playing a straight villain, turns Ezra into something of a tragic, charismatic antihero we eventually start to sympathise with, and the complex relationship that develops between them is a powerful, mercurial thing, the constantly shifting dynamic providing a powerful driving force for the film.  Debuting writer-directors Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell have crafted a wonderfully introspective, multi-layered tone poem of aching beauty, using subtle visual effects and a steamy, glow-heavy colour palette to make the lush forest environs into something nonetheless eerie and inhospitable, while the various weird and colourful denizens of this deadly little world prove that Ezra may be the LEAST of the dangers Cee faces in her quest for escape.  Inventive, intriguing and a veritable feast for the eyes and intellect, this is top-notch indie sci-fi and a sign of great things to come from its creators, thoroughly deserving of major cult recognition in the future.

22.  DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE – S. Craig Zahler is a writer-director who’s become a major fixture on my ones-to-watch list in recent years, instantly winning me over with his dynamite debut feature Bone Tomahawk before cementing that status with awesome follow-up Brawl On Cell Block 99.  His latest is another undeniable hit that starts deceptively simply before snowballing into a sprawling urban crime epic as it follows its main protagonists – disgraced Bulwark City cops Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Tony Lurasetti (BOCB99’s Vince Vaughn), on unpaid suspension after their latest bust leads to a PR nightmare – on a descent into a hellish criminal underworld as they set out to “seek compensation” for their situation by ripping off the score from a bank robbery spearheaded by ruthlessly efficient professional thief Lorentz Vogelmann (Thomas Kretschmann).  In lesser hands, this two-hour-forty-minute feature might have felt like a painfully padded effort that would have passed far better chopped down to a breezy 90-minutes, but Zahler is such a compellingly rich and resourceful writer that every scene is essential viewing, overflowing with exquisitely drawn characters spouting endlessly quotable, gold-plated dialogue, and the constantly shifting narrative focus brings such consistent freshness that the increasingly complex plot remains rewarding right to the end.  The two leads are both typically excellent – Vaughn gets to let loose with a far more showy, garrulous turn here than his more reserved character in his first collaboration with Zahler, while this is EASILY the best performance I’ve seen Gibson deliver in YEARS, the grizzled veteran clearly having a fine old time getting his teeth into a particularly meaty role that very much plays to his strengths – and they’re brilliantly bolstered by an excellent supporting cast – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’s Tory Kittles easily matches them in his equally weighty scenes as Henry Johns, a newly-released ex-con also out to improve his family’s situation with a major score, while Kretschmann is at his most chilling as the brutal killer who executes his plans with cold-blooded precision, and there are wonderful scene-stealing offerings from Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier, Don Johnson (three more Zahler regulars, each featured with Vaughn on BOCB99), Michael Jai White, Laurie Holden and newcomer Miles Truitt.  This is a proper meaty film, dark, intense, gritty and unflinching in its portrayal of honest, unglamorous violence and its messy aftermath, but fans of grown-up filmmaking will find PLENTY to enjoy here, Zahler crafting a crime epic comparable to the heady best of Scorsese and Tarantino.  Another sure-fire winner from one of the best new filmmakers around.

21.  FAST COLOR – intriguingly, the most INTERESTING superhero movie of the year was NOT a major franchise property, or even a comic book adapted to the screen at all, but a wholly original indie which snuck in very much under the radar on its release but is surely destined for cult greatness in the future, not least due to some much-deserved critical acclaim.  Set in an unspecified future where it hasn’t rained for years, a homeless vagabond named Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is making her aimless way across a desolate American Midwest, tormented by violent seizures which cause strange localised earthquakes, and hunted by Bill (Argo’s Christopher Denham), a rogue scientist who wants to capture her so he can study her abilities.  Ultimately she’s left with no other recourse than to run home, sheltering with her mother Bo (Middle of Nowhere and Orange is the New Black’s Lorraine Toussaint), and her young daughter Lila (The Passage’s Saniyya Sidney), both of whom also have weird and wondrous powers of their own.  As the estranged family reconnect, Ruth finally learns to control her powers as she’s forced to confront her own troubled past, but as Bill closes in it looks like their idyll might be short-lived … this might only be the second feature of writer-director Julie Hart (who cut her teeth penning well-regarded indie western The Keeping Room before making her own debut helming South By Southwest Film Festival hit Miss Stevens), but it’s a blinding statement of intent for the future, a deceptively understated thing of beauty that eschews classic superhero cinema conventions of big spectacle and rousing action in favour of a quiet, introspective character-driven story where the unveiling and exploration of Ruth and her kin’s abilities are secondary to the examination of how their familial dynamics work (or often DON’T), while Hart and cinematographer Michael Fimognari (probably best known for his frequent work for Mike Flanagan) bring a ruined but bleakly beautiful future to life through inventively understated production design and sweeping, dramatic vistas largely devoid of visual effects.  Subtlety is the watchword, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t fireworks here, it’s just that they’re generally performance-based – awards-darling Mbatha-Raw (Belle) gives a raw, heartfelt performance, painting Ruth in vivid shades of grey, while Toussaint is restrained but powerfully memorable and Sidney builds on her already memorable work to deliver what might be her best turn to date, and there are strong supporting turns from Denham (who makes his nominal villain surprisingly sympathetic) and Hollywood great David Strathairn as gentle small town sheriff Ellis. Leisurely paced and understated it may be, but this is still an incendiary piece of work, sure to become a breakout sleeper hit for a filmmaking talent from whom I expect GREAT THINGS in the future, and since the story’s been picked up for expansion into a TV series with Hart in charge that looks like a no-brainer.  And it most assuredly IS a bona fide superhero movie, despite appearances to the contrary …

[royalalbertamuseumblog]

Christmases Past

by Julia Petrov, Curator of Western Canadian History

Children’s toys were often made to prepare boys and girls for their future roles. Let’s see what the ghosts of Christmas Future foretold for a few Albertan children in the 1920s and 1930s.

One lucky Alberta boy named John Scott Livingstone had a loving aunt who spoiled him and his brother and sister with presents. John’s mother was a widow, but her sister worked as a nurse, and made sure that her nephews and niece had presents every Christmas. As John lived on a farm in Olds and his aunt lived in Calgary, she purchased the presents through the Eaton’s catalogue – much like we order gifts online today!

This toy locomotive set retailed for $1.00 in the 1925-26 catalogue, about $15.00 today. It came in a large box, which was left at the foot of his bed by Santa Claus on Christmas morning. The donor and later, his children, obviously loved playing with it, because the passenger car has since been lost.

This sporty red Packard coupe car could be made to race when a key wound up the clockwork mechanism inside.

This Louis Marx & Co. wind-up tractor originally came with a figure of a farmer. Aunt Kathleen would have paid the equivalent of about $10.00 for it in around 1931. John loved to play with it on top of his mother’s ironing board. Tractors would have been a familiar sight around the area.

This German-made wind-up toy plane, which retailed for $1.00 in 1923 but only $0.50 by 1925, was so well-loved that John took it to an instructor at NAIT to make replacement parts. The propeller and wings move when the key winds the coiled spring inside.

Interactive mechanical toys were popular gifts marketed towards boys interested in engineering. Eaton’s sold several different kinds of steam engine models in the 20s and 30s. John must have learned his lesson well, because after he moved to Edmonton in the late 1940s, he worked for the natural gas provider Northwestern Utilities.

Jessica Hanna’s father managed the Edmonton Hudson’s Bay store, so he was able to purchase this expensive German porcelain doll and premium wicker doll carriage for her in 1922, when she was just 4 years old. In today’s prices, this gift would be worth around $200! The doll’s name was Marjory, and both her original hair and clothing have since been lost; the doll’s wig was replaced with Jessica’s own baby hair. Marjory’s realistic face and fully-jointed body made her a miniature baby. The carriage was also a smaller replica of popular models for real babies at the time. Jessica obviously enjoyed learning caregiving, because she served as a nurse in England and Belgium during the Second World War, and was one of the founders of the Women's Emergency Shelter and WIN House.

Maxine McLeod Harrison had a great Christmas in 1935, when she was given these toys. Maxine learned to sew on this miniature machine, which was bought at the Singer store on Jasper Avenue, and made clothes for her dolls, just like her mother made clothes for Maxine on her full-size Singer sewing machine. Maxine also enjoyed playing with the Gunthermann typewriter for several years until she was 11 or 12 years old. Typing was a useful skill for girls, many of whom would become administrative assistants in offices, stores, or factories, as Maxine herself did when she grew up.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Americans cutting costs, looking for second jobs (Bloomberg) Over half of working Americans have considered holding multiple jobs to pay their living expenses as inflation remained stubbornly high in September and real wages fell. About 38% of workers have looked for a second job, while an additional 14% have plans to do so, according to a survey of more than 1,000 full-time US employees by Qualtrics International Inc., which makes software used by over 16,000 organizations. At the same time, 18% of working adults said they had moved to an area with a lower cost of living to cut expenses, and another 13% plan to do so. Working parents, in particular, are in the hot seat. About 70% say their pay isn’t keeping up with rising expenses. A recent Brookings Institution study estimated that the current spike in prices means it will now cost more than $300,000 to raise a child to age 17, up $26,000 since inflation took hold.

Online school put US kids behind. Some adults have regrets. (AP) Vivian Kargbo thought her daughter’s Boston school district was doing the right thing when officials kept classrooms closed for most students for more than a year. Kargbo, a caregiver for hospice patients, didn’t want to risk them getting COVID-19. And extending pandemic school closures through the spring of 2021 is what many in her community said was best to keep kids and adults safe. But her daughter became depressed and stopped doing school work or paying attention to online classes. The former honor-roll student failed nearly all of her eighth grade courses. “She’s behind,” said Kargbo, whose daughter is now in tenth grade. “It didn’t work at all. Knowing what I know now, I would say they should have put them in school.” Preliminary test scores around the country confirm what Kargbo witnessed: The longer many students studied remotely, the less they learned. Some educators and parents are questioning decisions in cities from Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to remain online long after clear evidence emerged that schools weren’t COVID-19 super-spreaders. Now, there are fears for the futures of students who don’t catch up.

A 1990s relic, floppy disks get second life at California warehouse (Reuters) It has been two decades since their heyday, but one bulk supplier of the iconic 3.5-inch floppy disk used to store data in 1990s says business is still booming. Tom Persky runs floppydisk.com, a California-based online disk recycling service that takes in new and used disks before sending them onto a reliable customer base—he reckons he sells about 500 disks a day. Who buys floppy disks in an age when more sophisticated storage devices like CD-ROMS, DVDs and USB flash drives have been made increasingly obsolete by internet and cloud storage? Those in the embroidery, tools and dye, and airline industry, especially those involved in aircraft maintenance, says Persky. “If you built a plane 20 or 30 or even 40 years ago, you would use a floppy disk to get information in and out of some of the avionics of that airplane,” said 73-year-old Persky. The warehouse also holds 8-inch floppy disks—an even older storage medium—including one labeled as containing the 1960 John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon U.S. presidential debate.

Norway on edge about drones (Washington Post) Norwegian officials warned that there could be more arrests after at least seven Russians—including the son of a close associate of Putin—were detained in recent weeks for flying drones or taking pictures near sensitive areas, prompting an investigation by the domestic intelligence service.

Backlash grows after protester assaulted in Chinese consulate in U.K. (Washington Post) The treatment of a Hong Kong protester in Britain who was seen being dragged into the Chinese consulate in Manchester and beaten on Sunday has raised concerns about the quashing of dissent outside of Chinese borders. Iain Duncan Smith, a member of the British Parliament, said at a news conference Wednesday that Zheng Xiyuan, the consul general in Manchester, was probably involved and that other diplomats were “certainly” involved, calling the episode “an abomination here in the United Kingdom.” Duncan Smith called for any Chinese diplomat involved in the assault to be sent home. “They will no longer be welcome,” he said. “They will be persona non grata, whoever they are, and as high as they go, they will be on their way back to Beijing.” Such a move risks escalating tensions between London and Beijing, said Chien-wen Kou, a political scientist at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. “Assuming that the British side does expel the diplomats, China would likely retaliate strongly,” he said.

Boris Johnson eyes comeback bid as UK Tories pick new leader (AP) Several British lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were trying to scoop up support on Friday ahead of a short, intense contest to replace Liz Truss as the nation’s leader. Truss quit on Thursday after a turbulent 45-day term, conceding that she could not deliver on her tax-cutting economic plans. Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt are among the bookmakers’ favorites—along with Johnson, who was forced to resign by the party just over three months ago after becoming mired in scandals over his ethics and finances. His return would be a remarkable resurrection for a politician who is popular and polarizing in equal measure. Johnson, who remained a lawmaker after stepping down as prime minister, has not said whether he will run, but his allies in Parliament are working to gather support.

A Shrinking Town at the Center of France’s Culture Wars (NYT) A shrinking town set among cow pastures in Brittany seems an unlikely setting for France’s soul searching over immigration and identity. It offers a cafe run by a social club, a museum dedicated to the Brittany spaniel and a hefty serving of rural flight—forlorn empty buildings, their grills pulled down and windows shuttered, some for decades. So when town council members heard of a program that could renovate the dilapidated buildings and fill much-needed jobs such as nurses’ aides and builders by bringing in skilled refugees, it seemed like a winning lottery ticket. But what town leaders saw as a chance for rejuvenation, others saw as evidence of a “great replacement” of native French people that has become a touchstone of anger and anxiety, particularly on the hard right. In no time, tiny Callac, a town of just 2,200, was divided, the focus of national attention and the scene of competing protests for and against the plan. Today it sits at the intersection of complex issues that have bedeviled France for many years: how to deal with mounting numbers of migrants arriving in the country and how to breathe new life into withering towns, before it is too late.

General who led Syrian bombing is new face of Russian war (AP) The general carrying out President Vladimir Putin’s new military strategy in Ukraine has a reputation for brutality—for bombing civilians in Russia’s campaign in Syria. He also played a role in the deaths of three protesters in Moscow during the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 that hastened the demise of the Soviet Union. Bald and fierce-looking, Gen. Sergei Surovikin was put in charge of Russian forces in Ukraine on Oct. 8 after what has so far been a faltering invasion that has seen a number of chaotic retreats and other setbacks over the nearly eight months of war. Putin put the 56-year-old career military man in command following an apparent truck bombing of the strategic bridge to the Crimean Peninsula that embarrassed the Kremlin and created logistical problems for the Russian forces. Russia responded with a barrage of strikes across Ukraine, which Putin said were aimed at knocking down energy infrastructure and Ukrainian military command centers. Such attacks have continued on a daily basis, pummeling power plants and other facilities with cruise missiles and waves of Iranian-made drones.

Ukraine urges citizens to turn off appliances, save power after airstrikes (Washington Post) As Ukraine braced for severe power shortages following an extensive bombing campaign by Russia of civilian infrastructure, the governor of Kyiv on Thursday urged residents of the capital region to shut electrical appliances between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., including electric heaters, washing machines, boilers and other devices, like refrigerators and WiFi routers, considered essential to modern life. “This applies to everyone,” the governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, tweeted. “Today, even one saved kilowatt is a help to our energy system.” Ukrenergo, the national electric transmission company, said that short-term shutdowns of electric service had begun on Thursday in parts of the capital city. Russian bombs have destroyed roughly one-third of Ukraine’s 104 autotransformers, crucial components of the country’s Soviet-era power system, which make it possible for electricity produced by the country’s nuclear, gas and coal-fired plants, to be transmitted across a vast network of trunk lines, Ukrainian officials said—raising fears of a winter without, power, heat or hot water.

Myanmar villagers say army beheaded high school teacher (AP) The decapitated body of a high school teacher was left on grotesque display at a school in central Myanmar after he was detained and killed by the military, witnesses said Thursday, marking the latest of many abuses alleged as the army tries to crush opposition to military rule. According to witnesses’ descriptions and photos taken in Taung Myint village in the rural Magway region, the headless body of 46-year-old Saw Tun Moe was left on the ground in front of the school’s spiked gate and his head was impaled on top of it. The school, which has been closed since last year, was also burned. Myanmar’s military has arrested tens of thousands of people and been blamed for the deaths of more than 2,300 civilians since seizing power last year from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

As leaders meet, Chinese hope for end to ‘zero-COVID’ limits (AP) As China’s ruling Communist Party holds a congress this week, many Beijing residents are focused on an issue not on the formal agenda: Will the end of the meeting bring an easing of China’s at times draconian “zero-COVID” policies that are disrupting lives and the economy? It appears to be wishful thinking. As the world moves to a post-pandemic lifestyle, many across China have resigned themselves to lining up several times a week for COVID-19 tests, restrictions on their travels to other regions, and the ever-present possibility of a community lockdown. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, praised the policy at the opening ceremony of the congress. He said it had prioritized and protected people’s health and safety and made a “tremendous achievement in striking the balance between epidemic response and economic and social development.”

Ebola Worries in Uganda (1440) Global health officials warned yesterday that a strain of the Ebola virus currently spreading in Uganda poses a significant risk to both the general population and health workers in the country. At least 64 cases and 24 deaths have been confirmed since an outbreak was formally declared a month ago. It marks one of Africa’s most significant bouts with the virus since a 2018-20 outbreak left almost 2,300 people dead in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A vaccine protecting against the Zaire ebolavirus—the strain behind the 2013-14 outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people—has been deployed, however, the formulation is ineffective against the current strain, Sudan ebolavirus. At least eight infections have been identified that cannot be linked to previous infected patients, suggesting the virus is spreading through communities undetected.

ISIS fighters terrorize Mozambique (Washington Post) In northern Mozambique, one of the Islamic State’s newest branches is fueling a brutal insurgency that has raged out of sight in small villages and remote forests since late 2017. Women are kidnapped and kept as sex slaves, boys are forced to become child soldiers, beheadings are weapons of terror. The conflict has claimed about 4,000 lives; nearly 1 million people have fled their homes, separating countless families. The violence and instability also threaten one of the world’s most lucrative deposits of natural gas. As Russia’s war in Ukraine drives up gas prices, fueling fears of scarcity across Europe, northern Mozambique’s reserves of liquefied natural gas, or LNG—the third largest in Africa—are viewed as vital. But the five-year-old Islamist insurgency there has halted most production. Africa has become a new frontier for Islamist militant groups in recent years, with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State spreading rapidly across the continent.

[orbemnews]

Jobless Claims Tick Up, Showing a Long Road to Recovery: Live Updates Here’s what you need to know: The Forecast Salon in Birmingham, Ala. A pickup in business activity nationwide has fed hopes that workers’ prospects are improving. Credit…Wes Frazer for The New York Times A year after they first rocketed upward, jobless claims may finally be returning to earth. More than 714,000 people filed for state unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was up modestly from the week before, but still among the lowest weekly totals since the pandemic began. In addition, 237,000 people filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program that covers people who don’t qualify for state benefits programs. That number, too, has been falling. Jobless claims remain high by historical standards, and are far above the norm before the pandemic, when around 200,000 people a week were filing for benefits. Applications have improved only gradually — even after the recent declines, the weekly figure is modestly below where it was last fall. But economists are optimistic that further improvement is ahead as the vaccine rollout accelerates and more states lift restrictions on business activity. Fewer companies are laying off workers, and hiring has picked up, meaning that people who lose their jobs are more likely to find new ones quickly. “We could actually finally see the jobless claims numbers come down because there’s enough job creation to offset the layoffs,” said Julia Pollak, a labor economist at the job site ZipRecruiter. But Ms. Pollak cautioned that benefits applications would not return to normal overnight. Even as many companies resume normal operations, others are discovering that the pandemic has permanently disrupted their business model. “There are still a lot of business closures and a lot of layoffs that have yet to happen,” she said. “The repercussions of this pandemic are still rippling through this economy.” Shoppers in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Germany and other countries have cut their value-added taxes to encourage consumer spending.Credit…Lena Mucha for The New York Times The European Central Bank’s chief economist argued on Thursday that fears of a big rise in inflation are overblown, a sign that the people who control interest rates in the eurozone are likely to keep them very low for some time to come. The comments — by Philip Lane, an influential member of the central bank’s Governing Council whose job includes briefing other members on the economic outlook — are an attempt to calm bond investors who are nervous that the end of the pandemic will lead to high inflation. Fueling their fears, inflation in the eurozone rose to an annual rate of 1.3 percent in March from 0.9 percent in February, according to official data released on Wednesday, the fastest increase in prices in more than a year. Market-based interest rates have been rising because investors worry that President Biden’s $2 trillion stimulus program will provoke a broad increase in prices for years to come. The interest rates that prevail on bond markets ripple through the financial system and can make mortgages and other types of borrowing more expensive, creating a drag on economic growth. Despite big monthly swings in inflation during the last year, the average had been remarkably stable at an annual rate of about 1 percent, Mr. Lane wrote in a blog post on the central bank’s website on Thursday. That is well below the European Central Bank’s target of 2 percent. “The volatility in inflation over 2020 and 2021 can be attributed to a host of temporary factors that should not affect medium-term inflation dynamics,” Mr. Lane wrote. That is another way of saying that the European Central Bank is not going to panic about short-lived fluctuations in inflation and put the brakes on the eurozone economy anytime soon. On the contrary, Mr. Lane’s analysis suggests that the European Central Bank will continue trying to push inflation toward the 2 percent target. In March, the central bank said it would increase its purchases of government and corporate bonds to try to keep a lid on market-based interest rates. Mr. Lane said it was no surprise to see “considerable volatility in inflation during the pandemic period.” He attributed the ups and downs to quirky factors that are not likely to recur. Germany and some other countries cut their value-added taxes to encourage consumer spending, then raised them again later. The price of fuel fluctuated wildly. People spent almost nothing on travel, but increased spending on home exercise equipment or products that they needed to work from home. That affected the way inflation is calculated and made the annual rate look higher, Mr. Lane said. “The medium-term outlook for inflation remains subdued,” he wrote, “and closing the gap to our inflation aim will set the agenda for the Governing Council in the coming years.” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, has argued that increasing oil output too fast would be risky.Credit…via Reuters OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are expected to meet by videoconference Thursday to discuss whether to ease production curbs on oil as countries around the world try to expand from pandemic lockdowns. Analysts say recent events will support the views of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, who has argued for caution in increasing supply, noting the risks of swamping the market. But other outcomes are possible at the meeting of the group known as OPEC Plus, including modest increases and even cuts in oil production, France’s reimposition of a national lockdown, announced Wednesday, underlines persistent doubts about the pace of recovery from the pandemic, as have rising case numbers in the United States. After modest increases when the Suez Canal was recently blocked by a cargo ship, oil prices were rising again on Thursday, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, about 1.6 percent higher, to $63.75 a barrel. “All signs seemingly point to the group maintaining current production levels,” Helima Croft, head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. Yet pressure may also come to increase supply. Members of the OPEC Plus group are withholding an estimated eight million barrels of a day, or about 9 percent of current global consumption. As the global economy recovers, it will become increasingly difficult for the Saudis to persuade others to restrain supplies. A ChargePoint charging station in Berkeley, Calif. Shares in ChargePoint rose 19 percent on Wednesday. President Biden’s infrastructure plan supports the use of electric vehicles.Credit…John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday and tech stocks were set to extend their rally as traders focused on optimism about the economic recovery. Shares in Europe and Asia were also higher before the Labor Department’s latest weekly report on initial applications for state unemployment benefits. Bond yields pulled back from their recent 14-month high. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 3 basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 1.71 percent. Last week, jobless claims were at the lowest for the pandemic, but economists have warned against assuming this is the new trend because of measurement issues. New data released on Thursday showed a slight rise in claims for unemployment benefits, On Friday, the Labor Department will publish its monthly jobs report for March. Biden’s Infrastructure Plan On Wednesday, President Biden laid out a $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which included money for a range of activities, including repairing roads and bridges, building affordable housing and caregiving facilities, and expanding access to broadband. It would be paid for by an increase in corporate taxes, undoing some of the cut by his predecessor, President Donald J. Trump. The infrastructure plan also includes spending about $50 billion on the semiconductor industry, where a global shortage in chips has disrupted car manufacturing. Shares in Micron Technology, an Idaho-based chip maker, rose nearly 5 percent in premarket trading. The plan includes $174 billion to encourage the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles. Tesla shares rose 2.7 percent in premarket trading and ChargePoint Holdings, which has a large network of electric-vehicle charing stations, rose 9 percent premarket, extending a 19 percent increase on Wednesday. Elsewhere in markets Most European stock indexes were higher even as more lockdowns were announced in the region. In France, restrictions have been expanded to more regions and schools will close for several weeks. In Italy, business closures will extend until the end of April. But a series of reports published on Thursday showed manufacturing activity picking up in Europe. Oil prices rose ahead of a meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, at which they are set to decide production quotas for May. Brent Crude, the European benchmark, rose 1.23 percent to more than $63 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, climbed 1.5 percent to just above $60 a barrel. QuantumScape, a California-based start-up working on a technology that could make batteries cheaper, said it had reached a technical requirement that would clear the way for a $100 million investment by Volkswagen. QuantumScape’s shares jumped 13 percent in premarket trading. On Friday, markets will be closed in the United States, Europe and some other countries for Good Friday. The occupancy rate in nursing homes in the fourth quarter of 2020 was down 11 percentage points from the first quarter, but there are hurdles to staying out of facilities.Credit…Amr Alfiky/The New York Times The pandemic has intensified a spotlight on long-running questions about how communities can do a better job supporting seniors who need care but want to live outside a nursing home. The coronavirus had taken the lives of 181,000 people in U.S. nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities through last weekend, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation — 33 percent of the national toll. The occupancy rate in nursing homes in the fourth quarter of 2020 was 75 percent, down 11 percentage points from the first quarter, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, a research group. The shift may not be permanent, but this much is clear: As the aging of the nation accelerates, most communities need to do much more to become age-friendly, said Jennifer Molinsky, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard. “It’s about all the services that people can access, whether that’s the accessibility and affordability of housing, or transportation and supports that can be delivered in the home,” she said. But there are hurdles for those who wish to stay out of a facility, Mark Miller reports for The New York Times: A major shortage of age-friendly housing in the United States will present problems for seniors who wish to stay in their homes. By 2034, 34 percent of households will be headed by someone over 65, according to the Harvard center. Yet in 2011, just 3.5 percent of homes had single-floor living, no-step entry and extra-wide halls and doors for wheelchair access, according to Harvard’s latest estimates. Medicare does not pay for most long-term care services, regardless of where they happen; reimbursement is limited to a person’s first 100 days in a skilled nursing facility. Medicaid, which covers only people with very low incomes, has long been the nation’s largest funder of long-term care. From its inception, the program was required to cover care in nursing facilities but not at home or in a community setting. “There’s a bias toward institutions,” said Judith Solomon, a senior fellow specializing in health at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Marigold Lewi and Kimberley Vasquez outside their high school Baltimore City College this month in Baltimore, MD.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times A year after the pandemic turned the nation’s digital divide into an education emergency, President Biden is making affordable broadband a top priority, comparing it to the effort to spread electricity across the country. His $2 trillion infrastructure plan, announced on Wednesday, includes $100 billion to extend fast internet access to every home. The money is meant to improve the economy by enabling all Americans to work, get medical care and take classes from wherever they live. Although the government has spent billions on the digital divide in the past, the efforts have failed to close it partly because people in different areas have different problems. Affordability is the main culprit in urban and suburban areas. In many rural areas, internet service isn’t available at all because of the high costs of installation. “We’ll make sure every single American has access to high-quality, affordable, high speed internet,” Mr. Biden said in a speech on Wednesday. “And when I say affordable, I mean it. Americans pay too much for internet. We will drive down the price for families who have service now.” Longtime advocates of universal broadband say the plan, which requires congressional approval, may finally come close to fixing the digital divide, a stubborn problem first identified and named by regulators during the Clinton administration. The plight of unconnected students during the pandemic added urgency. “This is a vision document that says every American needs access and should have access to affordable broadband,” said Blair Levin, who directed the 2010 National Broadband Plan at the Federal Communications Commission. “And I haven’t heard that before from a White House to date.” Some advocates for expanded broadband access cautioned that Mr. Biden’s plan might not entirely solve the divide between the digital haves and have-nots. The plan promises to give priority to municipal and nonprofit broadband providers but would still rely on private companies to install cables and erect cell towers to far reaches of the country. One concern is that the companies won’t consider the effort worth their time, even with all the money earmarked for those projects. During the electrification boom of the 1920s, private providers were reluctant to install poles and string lines hundreds of miles into sparsely populated areas. Taxpayers who received unemployment benefits last year — but who filed their federal tax returns before a new tax break became available — could receive an automatic refund as early as May, the Internal Revenue Service said on Wednesday. The latest pandemic relief legislation — signed into law on March 11, in the thick of tax season — made the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits tax-free in 2020 for people with modified adjusted incomes of less than $150,000. (Married taxpayers filing jointly can exclude up to $20,400.) But some Americans had already filed their tax returns by March and have been waiting for official agency guidance. Millions of U.S. workers filed for unemployment last year, but the I.R.S. said it was still determining how many workers affected by the tax change had already filed their tax returns. On Wednesday, the I.R.S. confirmed that it would automatically recalculate the correct amount of benefits subject to taxation — and any overpayment will be refunded or applied to any other outstanding taxes owed. The first refunds are expected to be issued in May and will continue into the summer. The I.R.S. said it would begin processing the simpler returns first, or those eligible for up to $10,200 in excluded benefits, and then would turn to returns for joint filers and others with more complex returns. There is no need for those affected to file an amended return unless the calculations make the taxpayer newly eligible for additional federal credits and deductions not already included on the original tax return, the agency said. Those taxpayers may want to review their state tax returns as well, the I.R.S. said. People who still haven’t filed and expect to do so electronically can simply answer the questions asked by their online tax preparer, which will factor in the new tax break when they file. The agency provided an updated worksheet and additional guidance in March for taxpayers that prefer paper. Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets, demonstrated above in 2017, will equip soldiers with night vision, thermal vision and audio communication.Credit…Elaine Thompson/Associated Press Microsoft said Wednesday that it would begin producing more than 120,000 augmented reality headsets for Army soldiers under a contract that could be worth up to $21.9 billion. The HoloLens headsets use a technology called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, which will equip soldiers wearing them with night vision, thermal vision and audio communication. The devices also have sensors that help soldiers target opponents in battle. The deal is likely to create waves inside Microsoft, where some employees have objected to working with the Pentagon. Employees at other big tech companies, like Google, have also rejected what they say is the weaponization of their technology. But Microsoft has long courted Defense Department work, including a $10 billion contract to build a cloud-computing system. Amazon had been seen as a front-runner to win the contract, but the Defense Department chose Microsoft. Amazon claimed that President Donald J. Trump had interfered in the process because of his feud with Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive and the owner of The Washington Post. A legal fight over the contract is still active. Soldiers have tested the Microsoft headsets for two years, the company said. The Army said the devices would be used in combat and training. Microsoft said its testing of the headsets had helped the Defense Department’s “efforts to modernize the U.S. military by taking advantage of advanced technology and new innovations not available to military.” The devices will “provide the improved situational awareness, target engagement and informed decision-making necessary” to overcome current and future adversaries, the Army said in a news release. In 2018, Microsoft won a $480 million bid to make prototypes of the headsets. The Army said Wednesday that the new contract to produce them on a larger scale was for five years, with the option to add up to five more years. Source link Orbem News #claims #Jobless #Live #Long #recovery #road #Showing #Tick #Updates

[frankkjonestx]

Five big questions about when and how to open schools amid COVID-19

It’s back-to-school time in the United States, but for the world’s leader in coronavirus infections and deaths, what “back to school” means is anything but clear. Many countries have gotten ahead of the pandemic with extensive testing, tracing and quarantining. That tight control means that children in Denmark, Singapore and China have returned to school, with extra safety measures.

The situation is fundamentally different in the United States. No other country has attempted to send children to school with coronavirus infection levels as high as they are in some parts of the country. Many large school districts, including those in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston, will begin the school year with all kids learning from home. Other districts have yet to announce their plans, which may include models that mix in-person learning with remote classwork.

School districts have been struggling to make the call, given a lack of data on how to reduce risk. Two major scientific societies have provided some guidance. On June 25, the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommended that policy decisions be made with the goal of having children in school, in person. The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine agreed, urging in a July 15 report that to the extent possible, in-person education should be prioritized, particularly for young children and those with special needs.

Doing so in a way that minimizes risk will come at a hefty price. The National Academies’ report estimated a price tag of $1.8 million for an average U.S. school district with around 3,300 students. That would pay for personal protective gear such as masks, hand-washing stations, cleaning supplies and extra staff so that students could be spread out. Of course, even if a district spends the funds, there are no guarantees that students, teachers and staff won’t get sick.

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The price of keeping students home is harder to quantify, and could be even greater. In addition to missing out on academic and social growth, some kids in lockdown face greater risks of abuse, neglect and hunger. And to go smoothly, remote learning requires reliable internet service, a safe place to work and adults standing by to help. That kind of support is impossible for many families, particularly those with parents or caregivers who can’t work from home.

Here, experts weigh in on five of the biggest questions on when and how to reopen schools, if not safely, then as safely as possible.

Is there a “safe” level of COVID-19 for reopening schools?

Unfortunately, there is no threshold level of COVID-19 spread in a community that guarantees the safety of sending kids back to school. But if SARS-CoV-2 is under control, that reduces the risk that there will be outbreaks when schools reopen.

Schools “are a microcosm of the community,” says Wendy Armstrong, an infectious disease physician at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “What happens in there reflects what’s going on elsewhere.”

Communities can use three basic metrics for assessing the virus’s spread: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and how many tests for SARS-CoV-2 are coming back positive. There are no magic numbers for these metrics, Armstrong says; instead of looking at one day or one value, it’s important to look at trends over the course of two weeks. “If your trends are not coming down, then there’s a problem,” she says.

The World Health Organization has an extensive list of public health criteria to consider before reopening a community at large. Among them is a rate of positive SARS-CoV-2 test results of less than 5 percent in the previous two weeks.

This number, called the positivity rate, is one way to tell whether a state or county is doing enough testing. On August 3, only 17 states plus the District of Columbia were equal to or below 5 percent positivity on average over the previous week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Not so positive trend

The World Health Organization suggests communities hold off on opening until the rate of positive test results is below 5 percent in the previous two weeks. Yet, as of August 4, 35 states had positive test rates above 5 percent. A high positive rate suggests that an area is mostly testing the sickest people and not casting a wide enough net to know the true spread of the virus. The rates here are state level, but ideally, each school district would know its local rate of positive tests to help with decision making.

H. Thompson

Some states, including Delaware and Oregon, have announced conditions they expect to see before schools can reopen. Oregon Governor Kate Brown said on July 28 that among other requirements, counties must meet two criteria three weeks in a row: a positivity rate of 5 percent or less and 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents in the preceding seven days.

But even if SARS-CoV-2 is well under wraps in a community, that doesn’t mean the work is done. Infection control measures are still necessary. Denmark and Norway, where community spread was low, avoided outbreaks by limiting class size and student interactions, among other steps. But in Israel, where curbs on class size were brief, a high school with crowded classes that let students remove face masks during a heat wave suffered a large outbreak, researchers report online July 23 in Eurosurveillance.

What is known about kids transmitting the virus at school?

Children can certainly transmit the coronavirus, says Aubree Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “But it seems fairly clear that, at least for young children, they probably transmit less” than other age groups. The details of how or why, however, are a moving target.

Some of the latest studies emerging from other countries tell conflicting stories. A study tracing nearly 60,000 contacts of 5,706 COVID-19 patients in South Korea, for instance, revealed that 10- to 19-year-olds may transmit the virus more like adults, researchers from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported online July 16 in Emerging Infectious Diseases. But kids younger than 10 appeared less likely to pass the virus on to others — infecting only 5.3 percent of contacts living in the same home.  But kids are more likely to have mild disease or be asymptomatic, so they can easily be overlooked as transmitters, Gordon says. A preliminary study from Italy, posted online July 29 at medRxiv.org found that children younger than 15 were more likely to transmit the virus than older age groups.

When children do get sick, they appear to carry plenty of virus. A preliminary study of symptomatic people, posted July 19 at medRxiv.org, found that children have the same amount of virus in their bodies as adults do during an infection. Another small study found that children younger than 5 have even higher amounts of the coronavirus’ genetic material in their upper respiratory tract than older kids or adults do, researchers report July 30 in JAMA Pediatrics. 

But because kids most often have mild COVID-19 symptoms or are asymptomatic, perhaps they don’t cough as much and therefore release less virus into the air around them. The reason kids don’t often get sick is also still unclear, although younger children may have lower amounts of the protein that the viruses hijacks to break into cells, called ACE2, in their upper respiratory tracts than older kids or adults, researchers report May 20 in JAMA. That could mean children younger than 10 might have fewer susceptible cells for the coronavirus to infect.

Fewer inroads

Some studies suggest that young children are less likely to get infected with the coronavirus. One potential reason is that kids younger than 10 may have lower levels of ACE2 – a protein that the coronavirus uses to break into host cells – in their respiratory tracts than older children and adults. This graph indicates that ACE2 levels, measured as the percentage of RNAs from ACE2 in relation to total RNA, in the nasal passages are lower in young people than older people.

ACE2 levels in the nasal passages of different age groups

C. Chang

C. Chang

Source: S. Bunyavanich, A. Do and A. Vicencio/JAMA 2020

Despite all this, the number of COVID-19 cases in children is going up across the United States. As of July 23, state-level data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association showed that children represented 8.4 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases — up from 3.7 percent in mid-May. That increase could be because more kids are now getting exposed (SN: 6/3/20), or because they are only now being widely tested.  

Any school that opens will want to know when the virus is spreading within the student body. One solution is to test all kids at regular intervals, with those testing positive quickly notified and kept home. But schools largely lack the infrastructure for that much testing, and in many places, getting results back  can take over a week.

“It’s just not going to be feasible in most areas of the country,” says Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Northwestern University in Chicago. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend universal testing of all students in its latest guidelines for schools. Instead, the agency suggeststesting only students with COVID-19 symptoms and those who have been in contact with a confirmed case.  

“The onus is going to be on families to keep kids at home if they have symptoms of any kind,” says Sandra Albrecht, a social epidemiologist at Columbia University. Schools must also keep an eye on the community, says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. If cases spike, schools may have to close again.

Should schools open all at once?

Some countries have adopted a staged, gradual approach, allowing elementary schools to reopen for in-person education sooner than middle or high schools, for instance.

Denmark allowed children up to age 12 to go back to school first. Similarly, Norway began with day cares and preschools, and then progressed to first through fourth grades before allowing older kids to return to school. Those strategies make sense, some researchers say, since young children seem to be less likely to get sick or to spread COVID-19. Also tipping the scales in favor of school for the elementary school set: Young children aren’t able to participate in remote learning as well as older children. 

Communities can also link their reopening stages to infection rates and kids’ needs. For instance, Uruguay allowed children in less-populated areas to return to school first, before adding in disadvantaged kids and then high-school seniors.

Then there’s the hybrid model — some days in school, some learning from home. “On its face, it seems like maybe that’s a good idea,” says exposure and risk scientist Joseph Allen at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, because it could help space out kids and reduce their time with others. “But when you start to dig down into it, you realize that it’s a flawed strategy that’s not based on any empirical evidence or data.”

Some experts suggest that older children stay home and attend classes online so that younger children, who don’t do as well with remote learning, can be spread out within empty high schools.Gary S Chapman/Photographer’s Choice RF/Getty Images

Many children would be mingling with other people on their off-school days, then bringing those exposures back into classrooms. In some cases, younger kids would have relatively fewer contacts if they were in school five days a week in stable groups, Linda Darling-Hammond, an education researcher and president of the Learning Policy Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. From a virus-spreading standpoint, she says, various mixtures of settings “would be much more dangerous, frankly.”

Would it help to group kids in bubbles or pods?

In March, people were asked to stay home to flatten the upward curve of coronavirus infections. By shrinking our social spheres, we could block the virus’ spread. That led some people to form small groups with little outside interaction. The same strategy can be used in schools.

“If you have kids in one classroom or one pod that do get sick, it doesn’t spread like wildfire through the school,” Allen says. A bubble or pod also makes it easier for contact tracers to track exposure. If a child or teacher tests positive, the bubble can be quarantined instead of the whole school.

Bubbles are easiest to form in elementary schools, where classes usually include a stable group of kids and a teacher, Darling-Hammond says. Large high schools pose more challenges, but “the same principle would hold even in a high school of 2,000,” she says, with 100 students sharing four teachers and a counselor, for instance.

Denmark and Norway have adopted the pod strategy for elementary school students, in addition to reopening schools in stages. And in Canada’s hard-hit Quebec province, some students will return to school bubbled into groups of six.

“The smaller the bubble, the better,” says computational epidemiologist Daniel Klein of the Institute for Disease Modeling in Seattle. An unpublished simulation of school children in Washington State, created by Klein and colleagues, found that bubble sizes of about 20 students and one teacher created a “significant benefit,” he says. The researchers haven’t yet been able to model the effects of other bubble sizes.  

But to be effective, kids have to stay in their bubbles. Situations like after-school care and bus rides could foil the bubble benefits. “The bubble bursts very quickly, as soon as you start bumping into other people,” Darling-Hammond says.

Keeping children in small “bubbles” at school might help curb the spread of COVID-19, but events outside of class, such as bus rides, may pop the bubbles.Adam Robison/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal/Associated Press

What physical changes can schools make to reduce risk?

Schools can reduce risk that infections will spread by focusing on three major categories: airflow, reconfiguring the building interior to enable social distancing and hygiene.

Encourage airflow. There’s mounting evidence that coronavirus can linger in the air in aerosols — small respiratory droplets people generate when they talk or breathe (SN: 7/7/20). Students and teachers in schools will be doing plenty of talking and breathing (SN: 4/2/2020), so dilution of classroom air with fresh air from outside is critical, explains L. James Lo, who studies building ventilation at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, many school ventilation systems aren’t up to the task of bringing in enough fresh air, Lo says. Most systems already operate near capacity, and would be expensive to upgrade. So one option might just be to purchase smaller air cleaning units with good filtration and a high air flow rate. “For a very large room … it’s not feasible … but if you have a small office you could purchase a portable air cleaner that has good filtration and flow rate,” Lo says.

Another place with a lot of fresh air? Outside. Outdoor classes “could be ideal; there’s precious little evidence of transmission outside,” says Ed Nardell, a pulmonologist at Harvard Medical School.

See all our coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Keep the distance. Public health experts recommend that people stay at least six feet apart, which can be hard to do in schools. Some schools are trying to spread people out, by limiting class sizes and setting up one-way hallways so that people walk “next to each other, not facing each other,” Lo says. The less people can breathe in each other’s faces, the better.

Some experts suggest keeping high schoolers working remotely at home and using the high school buildings to spread out the elementary students.

Then there’s the bus, another social distancing challenge. More than half of schoolchildren take the bus to school. And many parents don’t have the means to chauffeur kids to and fro. So bus riders need to wear masks and socially distance, which calls for a drastic increase in the number of buses and routes.

When it comes to physical barriers, masking is a must, but also a challenge for children. “Because [masks are] so uncomfortable, there has to be consideration of length of day,” says Rainu Kaushal, a health services researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. “If you can get four hours every day with a mask on but can’t get six hours, schools need to think about that.” That might mean young children would go to school only for half a day, if that’s how long they can tolerate a mask. Kaushal also advised building in mask breaks, times when kids could run around outside — where transmission is less likely — with their masks off.

The CDC also recommends partitions and sneeze guards. “You definitely impede the transmission between people” with partitions, Lo says, “but you need to devise a very strong … cleaning strategy” because particles will deposit on those surfaces.

Young children at school in Bangkok, Thailand, in June wear masks and work separated by clear partitions in the time of COVID-19. When it doubt, experts say, the more defenses the better.ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images

Clean everything. Hand hygiene is very important, and soap, sinks and alcohol-based sanitizers need to be in good supply. The entire classroom should be cleaned daily — desks, chairs, everything. “I would err on the side of multiple cleanings a day,” Kaushal says. Every effort will help. “It’s a layering of our defenses.”

One last layer: Children should be up to date on their vaccines — all vaccines. “You don’t want to have an influenza outbreak on top of a COVID outbreak,” Tan says.

All of this is daunting, but Americans can take some lessons from other nations. “Something like 20 countries have successfully reopened,” Kaushal says. In a June 30 JAMA Health Forum article, she and her colleagues drew lessons from those successful school opening. “I think it can be done,” she says.

There is no federal plan to track the spread of the virus in U.S. schools. Reopening schools during a pandemic will be a massive collection of experiments, carried out by thousands of school districts making decisions independently. Only time will tell whether some of these efforts will work.

.image-mobile { display: none; } @media (max-width: 520px) { .image-mobile { display: block; } .image-desktop { display: none; } } from Tips By Frank https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-kids-schools-opening-when-how-risks

[futuremarket]

Household Robot Market Size 2025- Sales Revenue, Grow Pricing and Industry Growth Analysis

Household Robot Market Size

Increasing interest in the development of robotic technology globally and surged cost efficacy in the making of household robots primarily drive the household robot market. According to the analysis done by Market Research Future, the global robotics market is expected to develop to USD 93 bn by 2024 at a CAGR of 15.5% throughout the review period of 2019 to 2024. The worldwide household robot market is predicted to attain USD 8.5 bn by 2025.

Giant players like LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co Ltd., Husqvarna employ their technical know-how in making industrial robots to manufacture cost-effective and efficient household robots, which is propelling the market growth. The application of robots encompasses services such as maintenance, installation, reprogramming, and repair. While the household robot services segment comprises a small segment of the market, manufacturers can exploit the prevailing infrastructure to offer quality service for household robots.

The development of the worldwide consumer electronics market is surging the upgradation of electronic elements that are crucial for the cost-effective making of robots. The worldwide household robots market benefits directly from this advancement and an expanding number of household applications can now be automated easily. Robots with progressive AI are gaining popularity increasingly as companions and pets. The progressive heuristic learning abilities of entertainment robots adds worth, accelerating demand. Enterprises like Blue Frog Robotics cater exclusively to this market. This competitive and large market is capitalizing on the expansion of related markets such as semiconductors, AI, and electronics, to automate domestic applications.

Labor-intensive chores like window and pool cleaning, and vacuuming are consistently being automated, which is contributing directly to the expansion of the house cleaning robot segment. Lawn care and maintenance is an extensively labor-intensive task that can easily be accomplished by robots with several robots made specifically for lawn maintenance. Enterprise like Robomow almost exclusively make lawn mowing robots. Furthermore, social withdrawal is turning into an increasingly common occurrence with a large number of population residing in developed economies leading virtually secluded lives. The problem is critical enough for the UK to encompass loneliness in the remit of the Minister for Sport and Civil Society and for the government of Japan to identify it as a medical incidence called hikikomori. Robotic firms are largely being adopted by isolated people to meet their companionship requirements and curb the impact of loneliness on mental wellbeing.

Progressions in AI and surged affordability are leading to the development of the companion robot market with fair returns on investment. Besides, the robotics toys market includes pet robots, hobby robots, and educational robots. For instance, Lego came with the Mindstorm make-it-yourself robot kits. A rising aged population in France, Germany, China, and Japan, with sub-replacement fertility has led to the need for replacement of human caregivers. Japan is pioneering innovation of elderly caregiver robots and there is an accelerating demand for such robots in China and Germany. Compliance with ISO 13482:2014 is needed for categorization as an elderly assistance robot with focus placed on enabling the safety of usage. Laundry robots can fold laundry faster and more effectively than humans.

Technological progressions in smart laundry applications have mostly been restricted to drying and washing, however, the manufacturers are not turning their focus to the automation of the intricate procedure of folding laundry. Automated laundry frameworks that can handle drying, folding, and washing, are in the nascent stage and have the ability to revolutionize the household laundry appliance market. The prominence of the household appliance market leads a fully automated platform that can participate into several tasks with minimum interference. Robot kitchen assistants and butlers fall under this section. They need seamlessly incorporated mechanical parts, state-of-the-art sensors, and advanced AI. Although expensive, these robots extend the potential for development if the production costs are curtailed; this is being supported by the gradual decline in cost of the individual parts needed in the advanced machines.

Regional Analysis

Geographically, the market is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, and the Rest of the World. APAC dominates the household robot market. Increasing investment towards household robot industry spurs the market in APAC.

Key Players

Key Players dominating the market include Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., IRobot, Neato, LG Electronics Inc., Lego, Dyson, Ecovacs, and John Deere.

More Information@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/household-robot-market-8196

About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Reports (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research and Consulting Services. Contact: Market Research Future +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com

[the-record-obituaries]

Jan. 22, 2020: Obituaries

Mary  Lovette,  75

Mary Frances Greene Lovette, age 75, of Millers Creek, passed away Sunday, January 19, 2020 at her home. Mary was born November 15, 1944 in Wilkes County to Coolidge Edmond and Ella Mae Staley Greene. She attended Old Fashion Baptist Church. Mary was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, J.C. Lovette; daughter, Mary Darlene Lovette; grandson, Jacob Ellis.

Surviving are her daughter, Brenda Combs of Millers Creek; grandchildren, Alicia Ellis, Floyd Combs both of Millers Creek, Lindsey Combs of Raleigh; brother, Archie Greene and spouse Celia of Cricket; sisters, Edna McGuire and spouse Floyd of Wilkesboro, Nancy Harless and spouse John, Kathy Huffman and spouse Brent all of Millers Creek; eight great grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be held 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 22,  at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Max Combs officiating. Burial will follow in Arbor Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Miller Funeral Service from 12:00 until 1:00 on Wednesday, prior to the service. Flowers will be accepted. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

 Maxine  Winstead,  93

Mrs. Maxine Davidson Winstead, age 93 of Wilkesboro, passed away Saturday, January 18, 2020 at Wake Forest Baptist -Wilkes Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM, Wednesday, January 22,   at First United Methodist Church of North Wilkesboro with Dr. Tim Roberts and Mr. Jim Swofford officiating. Entombment will be in Scenic Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. The family will receive friends from 12:00 until 1:30 prior to the service in the Faith Center of First United Methodist Church of North Wilkesboro.

Mrs. Winstead was born February 9, 1926 in Randolph County to Causey J. Davidson and wife Jessie Lewallen Davidson. She was a homemaker and a member of First United Methodist Church of North Wilkesboro.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband; W.E. (Willie) Winstead and her five sisters and brothers.

She is survived by two daughters; Pam Lenderman and husband Keith of Wilkesboro and Sue Teague and husband Jeff of Wilkesboro, two grandchildren; Kelly Lenderman  Plumley and husband, John Ryan Plumley of Mt. Holly, NJ, and Meredith Pennington Wingler and husband Dustin Wingler of Wilmington, NC and two great granddaughters; Drew Willa Plumley and Emma Lilly Plumley. A special friend and sister in law; Doris Davidson of Randleman and several nieces.

Special Thanks to Mountain Valley Hospice, Rose Glen Village and Wilkes Senior Village Traditional Living for the love and care they showed her.

The family requests no flowers but please make a donation to your favorite charity.

David  Gambill,  76

David Paul Gambill, age 76, of Wilkesboro, passed away Friday, January 17, 2020 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center-Wilkes Regional. Mr. Gambill was born June 6, 1943 in Wilkes County to Buel "Buck" and Paulene Bumgarner Gambill. He was preceded in death by his parents; grandparents; numerous aunts and uncles.

Surviving are his son, Sherman Buel Gambill and spouse Jessica of Cary; grandson, Camron Gambill of Cary; half-brother, Jerome Gambill and spouse Jennifer of Elkin; aunt, Carol Shirley Triplett of Wilkesboro; uncles, Robert Gambill and Russell Gambill of North Wilkesboro; nieces, Grace Elizabeth and Lily Hope Gambill; and multiple cousins throughout Wilkes, surrounding counties and other states.

Mr. Gambill enlisted in the United States Navy and completed boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Base where he looked forward to serving his country before receiving an honorable medical discharge.

Throughout his life, Mr. Gambill worked in several careers alongside his father and uncles at Gambill Brother's Construction Company, in grading, building and concrete finishing before also working at Hobe's Ham. He retired from Abitibi-Price and later returned to part-time work at Lowes Foods.

Mr. Gambill enjoyed being with family and friends, Sunday dinners at both of his grandparent's houses, reading, history, astronomy, science fiction, westerns, classic movies, classic cars and NASCAR. He was a strong advocate of caring for those in need and for rescuing and loving animals.

Graveside service was January 20, at Mountlawn Memorial Park, with the Rev. David Sparks officiating. Pallbearers were Jerome Gambill, Chad Gambill, Steve Johnson, James Elledge, Tony Durham and David Ledford. The family would like to thank the following group of professionals who gave great care and respect to Mr. Gambill; Dr. Tomas Vybiral and staff at Blue Ridge Cardiology, attending physicians and staff at Hugh Chatham Hospital, attending physicians and staff at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, Dr. Harsh Barot and staff at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center-Wilkes Regional, Mountain Valley Hospice, and numerous other caregivers. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Humane Society of Wilkes, PO Box 306,  North Wilkesboro, NC 28659 or to the American Cancer Society, c/o Annette Battle, PO Box 9, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

 Ethel Owens, 99

Ethel Elizabeth Owens, age 99, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Friday, January 17, 2020 at Wilkes Senior Village. Mrs. Owens was born September 1, 1920 in Wilkes County to Everette and Polly Garris. Ethel loved cooking and sewing. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John P. Owens; daughter, Betty Brock; son, Raymond Owens; grandchild, Phillip Richard Owens; and great grandchild, Kendra Cothren.

Surviving are her sons, Everette Owens, Sr., Phillip Owens and spouse Willa, Roy Owens all of North Wilkesboro; grandchildren, Tim Brock and spouse Sherry of Mulberry, Ravonda Pruitt and spouse Jerry of Traphill, Johnny Owens of North Wilkesboro, Everette Owens, Jr. and spouse Anna of Kings Mtn., Gina Holloway and spouse Frankie of Mtn. View, Dina Gibson of Charleston, South Carolina, Cindy Owens and spouse William Garrett of Moravian Falls; numerous great grandchildren; and numerous great great grandchildren.

Funeral service was January 20,   at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Jimmy Gilreath officiating. Burial followed in Mountlawn Memorial Park. T Flowers will be accepted. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  Pallbearers were Everette Owens, Jr., Johnny Owens, Timmy Brock, Cody Brock, Kenny Brock and Anthony Bailey.

  Eva Richardson, 87

Mrs. Eva Jean Chambers Richardson, 87 of Traphill, passed away on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at her home.

Eva was born on July 18, 1932 in Wilkes County to Sherman Rosco Chambers and Myrtle Octavia Welborn Chambers.

Eva is preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Harrold, Lee, Dwight, Bill Chambers; sisters, Pat Chambers, Edmie Joyner.

Eva is survived by her husband Rev. Jackie Richardson of the home; sons, Michael Richardson (Donna) of North Wilkesboro, Tim Richardson (Renee) of Hays, Jamie Richardson of Traphill; daughters, Debbie Asbell (Allan) of Kernersville, Tina Boles (Lee) of Texas, 14 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren.  

The Family  conducted a Celebration of Life Service  January 19, at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.  

Brother Tracy Nichols and Rev. Brady Hayworth officiated.

Adams Funeral Home of Wilkes has the honor of serving the Richardson Family.

  Richard Anderson, 74

Mr. Richard" Larry" Anderson, age 74 of Roaring River, passed away Thursday, January 16, 2020 at his home.

Memorial service wasJanuary 18th,  at Briar Creek Baptist Church with Pastor Wesley Mosteller and Pastor Scott Bishop officiating. The family will receive friends from 2:00 until 3:00 prior to the service at the church.

Mr. Anderson was born March 12, 1945 in Wilkes County to Robert "Jack" Lucis Anderson and Ella Mae Blackburn Anderson. He retired from Stroh's Brewery and Tyson Foods as a Chicken Farmer. Larry was an avid golfer and a good friend to all. Mr. Anderson was a member of Briar Creek Baptist Church

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a daughter in law; Michelle Shew Anderson.

He is survived by his wife; Kay Rist Anderson of the home, two daughters; Kimberly A. Weatherman and husband Bryan of Jonesville and Lisa A. Douglas of Elkin, three sons; Richie Anderson of Roaring River, Paul Layne of Raleigh and Aaron Layne of Wake Forest, ten grandchildren; Megan Crosswhite and husband Matt, Lakyn Stewart, Halle Day, Bailey Martin and husband Eddie, Anna Anderson, Tia Sparks, Cassidy Layne, Alex Layne, Olivia Layne and Parker Layne, five great grandchildren, Trenton Sparks, Ansley Crosswhite, Grayson Crosswhite, Waylon Martin and Ellison Crosswhite and a brother; Russell Anderson of Roaring River.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to New Beginnings Community Church 1843 Old Pipers Gap Road, Cana, VA 24317 and Woltz Hospice Home 945 Zephyr Road Dobson, NC 27017.

  Maggie Combs, 71

Mrs. Maggie Bumgarner Combs, age 71 of Wilkesboro passed away Thursday, January 16, 2020 at Accordius Health at Wilkesboro.

Funeral services  were January 18,  at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Millers Creek with Rev. Keith Lyons officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.

Mrs. Combs was born September 21, 1948 in Ashe County to Thomas Franklin Rogers and Maudie Jane Huffman Rogers.  She was a member of Oak Grove Baptist Church. She loved attending church, loved her family and the Staff of Accordius Health.

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by a daughter; Gwendlon Bumgarner, a great grandson; Joshua Foster, Jr., two sisters; Maudie Sue Dillard and Mary Ruth Hart and one brother; John Franklin Rogers.

She is survived by two daughters; Melissa Sheeler and husband David, Crystal Call and husband Marty all of North Wilkesboro, two sons; Charles Bumgarner and wife Karen and Chris Bumgarner all of Hays, seven grandchildren, Theresa Mooney, Devin Sheeler, Jared Sheeler, Seth Call, Billie Jean Bumgarner, Edgar Silva, Greta Silva, four great grandchildren; Kamron Foster, Michael Walker, Jr., Grayson Walker and Levy Sheeler and one sister; Connie Hart of Purlear.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Oak Grove Baptist Church Scholarship Fund, Oak Grove Church Road, Millers Creek, NC 28651.

  Edgar Beshears, Jr. 73

Mr. Edgar Lester (Bucky) Beshears, Jr. age 73 of Winston Salem, formerly of Wilkes County passed away Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

Graveside services were January 19, at Yellow Hill Baptist Church with Rev. Ryan Penley officiating.  

Mr. Beshears was born December 12, 1946 in Wilkes County to Edgar Lester Beshears, Sr. and Katherine Holland Beshears. He was a member of Fishing Creek Baptist Church.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother; Stephen George Beshears.

Mr. Beshears is survived by two sisters; Jennifer B. Osborne and husband; Brown of Moravian Falls, Susan B. Odom and husband Terry of Greensboro, a sister in law; Kim Beshears of Hays, two brothers; Ben H. Beshears and wife Ethel of Purlear and Bobby Kenneth White of Wilkesboro and several nieces and nephews.

Flowers will be accepted.

 Jackie Broyhill, 65

Mrs. Jackie Sue Summerlin Broyhill, 65, of Millers Creek, passed away on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at her home.

Jackie was born on April 5, 1954 in Wilkes County to James Edward "Ed" Summerlin Sr and Georgie Pearl "Bobbie" Lovette.  

Jackie is preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Tonya "Sunshine" Walsh; sister, Judy Johnson and grandson Jayln Walsh.

Jackie is survived by her husband, Randy Broyhill; son, Shawn Walsh of Wilkesboro; daughter, Tammy Walsh of Wilkesboro; brothers, James E. Summerlin jr, David Allen Summerlin (Kim); 3 grandchildren, Justin Walsh (Asia Castilleja), Harleigh Walsh, Baileigh Walsh all of Millers Creek and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation was January 18, 2020 at West End Baptist Church. The funeral service was  at 1 p.m.  Burial followed at Mountlawn Memorial Park in Wilkesboro.  

Rev. Brian Miller and Pastor Matt Jones  officiated.

Adams Funeral Home of Wilkes has the honor of serving the Broyhill Family.

  Conrad McNeil, 88

Mr. Conrad Leon McNeil, age 88 of Wilkesboro passed away Tuesday, January 14, 2020 in SECU Hospice Home in Yadkinville.

Funeral services were January 18,   at Lewis Fork Baptist Church with Rev. Dwayne Andrews, Rev. Sherrill Wellborn and Pastor Ronnie Ellis officiated. Burial with military honors by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1142 was in the church cemetery.  

Mr. McNeil was born January 5, 1932 in Wilkes County to Arthur H. and Bessie Virginia Shepherd McNeil.  He was a member of Lewis Fork Baptist Church. He served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War.  

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his wife; Maria Del Consuelo Perales McNeil, three sons; Michael, Arthur and Gary McNeil, three sisters; Irene

Robertson, Hellen Blackburn and Clara Faye Ellis and five brothers; Ralph, Arvil, Tyre and an infant brother Claude McNeil and Roy Shepherd.

He is survived by four grandchildren; April, Justin, Carrena and Shane McNeil and two great grandchildren; Kaden and Kinsleigh Hackett.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Lewis Fork Baptist Church, 395 Lewis Fork Baptist Church Road, Purlear, NC 28665.

Online condolences may be made at www.reinssturdivant.com

  Tom Alexander, 92

Thomas Finley "Tom" Alexander, 92, went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at his residence on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

Born in Wilkes County on April 14, 1927, he was the son of the late John H. Alexander and Ella Ballou Alexander.

Tom was a WWII veteran who served in the United States Navy. He retired from driving trucks local and long distance.  He traveled in 49 different states. He loved people. He had a warm and friendly personality. Tom never met a stranger. He was a member of Grandview Baptist Church in Waynesville.

In addition to his parents, he was also preceded in death by five sisters and two brothers. Those left to cherish his memory are his wife of 67 years, Peggy Duncan Alexander; one daughter, Melissa Jones (Jay); three grandchildren, Annette Doom (Robb), Jennifer Taylor (Phillip), Jonathan Jones, and four great grandchildren.

Thank you to Pastor Barry Willett and our church family at Grandview Baptist Church for all the expressions of love through prayers, calls, visits and cards.

A graveside service will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, January 17, 2020 at Scenic Memorial Gardens in Moravian Falls, North Carolina.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Haywood Hospice, 43 Bowman Drive, Waynesville, NC  28785. We want to say a special Thank You to nurse Stephanie Jones. Every member of the Hospice team has been very gracious, kind and helpful.

The care of Mr. Alexander has been entrusted to Wells Funeral Homes and an online memorial register is available at "Obituaries" at www.wellsfuneralhome.com

 Ellen Kay Lankford, age 57

Miss Ellen Kay Lankford, age 57 of North Wilkesboro, passed away Monday, January 13, 2020 at her home.

A Celebration of Life Service was held 2 p.m., Saturday, January 18, 2020, at Arbor Grove United Methodist Church on Arbor Grove Church Road in Purlear, with Rev. Dr. Susan Pillsbury Taylor officiating.

Speakers were Mr. Ken Welborn, Mr. Larry Griffin and Mrs. Janet Lael Wood. The family received friends immediately following the service in the fellowship hall of the church.

Greeters during the service were Heather Dean and Allison Ivey.

Miss Lankford was born August 1, 1962, in Wilkes County to Samuel Hayden and Willa Mae McNeil Lankford. She was a laboratory scientist with Guilford County Health Department and was a member of Arbor Grove United Methodist Church.

Ellen always excelled in school. She attended Millers Creek Elementary and West Wilkes High schools. During her senior year, she transferred to Wilkes Central High  School to take advanced classes, which allowed her to enter college as a sophomore. She went to Appalachian State University in Boone where she earned her bachelors degree in biology. She continued her education at Wake Forest Baptist Medical School and Appalachian State University, going on to earn her masters degree in biology.

During high school she worked for Winn-Dixie grocery store in North Wilkesboro and later for Blue Ridge Opportunity Commission under the late Betty Baker. After completing her college education, she worked at Davie County Memorial Hospital in Mocksville. Later, she went to work for the Guilford County Health Department as a laboratory scientist. She also worked part-time at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro in the same capacity.

She lived in Greensboro during most of her working career. She retired from the Guilford County Health Department. Ellen moved back home to Wilkes in August 2015.

Ellen had no children, but rather looked at her brothers, Mike and Jerry's, children as her own. Later, when Jerry's grandchildren arrived, she acted as a grandmother to those children as well. In return, they all loved her dearly.

Although she had many hobbies and interests - mostly dealing with more intellectual endeavors - her main passion and love was for her family, whom she treated wonderfully.

Ellen was also an accomplished pianist and vocalist. She could also play the dulcimer.

She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers; Gary Steven Lankford and Michael Grayden Lankford.

Ellen is survived by a brother; Jerry Alfred Lankford of Millers Creek, five nieces; Eva May Lankford and fiancé Robert Carlton of Millers Creek, Heather Renee Greene and husband Joven of Wilkesboro, Jennifer Osborne and husband Edwin of Millers Creek, Anna Lankford and husband Josh Church of Millers Creek and Gabriella Lankford of Hamptonville and two great nephews; Sammie Osborne and Charlie Church. Ellen is also survived by her two dearest friends: Janet Lael Wood of Wilkesboro, and Lisa Church of Millers Creek.

There are also four special people Ellen claimed as family. They are Destiny, Cassidy and Samantha Toliver - whom she considered nieces - and their father, Ken Toliver, all of Wilkes. They are the children and husband of Ellen's dear friend, the late Carmel Toliver.

Special music was provided by Gabriella Lankford, Destiny Toliver, Larry Griffin and Rev. Dr. Susan Pillsbury Taylor.

Memorials may be made to Window World Cares St. Judes Children's Research Hospital 118 Shaver Street North Wilkesboro NC 28659.

Online condolences may be made at www.reinssturdivant.com

  Stephen Morris Coulter, 78

Stephen Morris Coulter, age 78, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Monday, January 13, 2020 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He was born January 15, 1941 in Catawba County to Ray and Mozelle Smith Coulter. Mr. Coulter attended the Lutheran Church of the Atonement. He worked many years for Vannoy Lankford Plumbing and four years at the Ebenezer's Attic. Mr. Coulter was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother, Richard Coulter.

Surviving are his wife, Gwynda Bussell Coulter; brother, Gary Coulter and spouse Pam of Newton; one niece and several nephews.

Graveside service will be held will be private. The family will receive friends at Miller Funeral Service from 6:00 until 8:00 Thursday night. Flowers will be accepted. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences may be made to www.millerfuneralservice.com

 Lee Edward Kilby, 52

Lee Edward Kilby, age 52, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Monday, January 13, 2020 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Lee was born June 26, 1967 in Wilkes County to Nonnie Edward "Eddie" Kilby and Delores Mae Shumate. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle; doing toy runs with the Hillbillies; and loving his dog Oppie. Mr. Kilby was preceded in death by his grandparents, Bern and Violet Shumate, Gather and Ella Kilby and his wife, Beatrice Kilby.

Surviving are his son, Joshua Lee Kilby of North Wilkesboro; brother, Blake Edward Kilby of North Wilkesboro; mother, Delores Trivette and Fred Wagoner of North Wilkesboro; father, Eddie Kilby and Renee Mendenhall of Dobson; his best canine friend, Oppie; and large extended family.

Funeral service will be held 3:00 p.m. Sunday, January 19, 2020 at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Tommy Mikeal, Rev. Keith Honeycutt and Rev. Dean Adams officiating. Burial will follow in Crossroads Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Miller Funeral Service from 1:30 until 3:00 on Sunday, prior to the service. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to the Communities in Schools, 613  Cherry Street, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences may be made to www.millerfuneralservice.com

[laughtrout72-blog]

Weekend Picks: Last Chance For Winter At Dilworth Park, Cinderella On Stage, NHL Stadium Series And More

It’s another can’t-miss weekend in Philadelphia full of great events, including the end of winter — sort of.

The winter attractions next to City Hall — collectively known as Winter at Dilworth Park — wrap up for the season on Sunday. Don’t miss one last chance to embrace the season at the ice rink, cabin and Wintergarden.

Speaking of wintry things, the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series welcomes the “Battle for Pennsylvania” on Saturday for a very special game outdoors at Lincoln Financial Field as the Philadelphia Flyers try to defeat the intrastate rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

On the arts scene, Broadway Philadelphia puts a modern twist on Cinderella at the Academy of Music, local acts celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic Things Fall Apart album by The Roots at World Cafe Live, the Barnes Foundation opens an exhibit of early photography and The African American Museum in Philadelphia closes its exhibition about cotton and slavery.

Select concerts this weekend — including James Blake, Flogging Molly and Scott Bradlee’s Modern Jukebox — are part of the Visit Philly Live Nation Hotel Package, a stellar hotel package that includes up to $230 in show-enhancing perks, including free hotel and concert parking, complimentary food and drinks during the show and other bonuses.

And lastly, don’t miss a chance to turn a fun weekend into a sleepover. Book the Visit Philly Overnight Hotel Package for a winter weekend getaway featuring up to $218 in free perks.

Follow Uwishunu on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.

Read on for our guide to this weekend in Philadelphia.

Attractions | Center City

Last Chance: Winter at Dilworth Park

It's the final weekend for this popular winter destination near City Hall, where visitors can ice skate, warm up in the cabin and stroll through the wintergarden...

Attractions | Avenue of the Arts

Swing @ the Kimmel at the Kimmel Center

The interactive (and free!) virtual-reality swing temporarily installed inside the Kimmel Center sparks nostalgia for childhood and playground memories...

Opening: Into the Mural at Meg Saligman Studio

Visitors get a closer look at mural making in this self-guided immersive experience that includes a scavenger hunt and hands-on adventures...

Visit Philly Overnight Hotel Package Winter Getaway

Book a Philly getaway for stays this winter and get up to $218 in free perks, including free hotel parking...

Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest

Skate on the Olympic-sized ice rink, warm up in the cozy lodge, enjoy boardwalk eats and play arcade games at this open-all-winter waterfront attraction...

Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens

Delicate orchids drape windows, spill from planters and float overhead in this stunning display, on view all winter...

Black History Month in Philadelphia

This weekend's celebrations include a Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson tribute (Friday), an Underground Railroad discussion (Saturday) and a focus on enslaved cooks' influence on food (Sunday)...

Philadelphia Fishing Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center

Catch a fish in the trout pond, check out the latest rod and reed designs and stop by seminars about specific species of fish...

Live Music, Comedy, Theater and Dance

Theater | Avenue of the Arts

Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Academy of Music

This weekend only, enjoy Broadway Philadelphia's modern take on this classic fairy tale, complete with elaborate costumes and sets...

74 Seconds...to Judgment at the Arden Theatre Company

Philly playwright and director Kash Goins (Creed, Split) wrote and stars in this story of six deadlocked jurors struggling to define "justifiable homicide"...

Shen Yun at the Kimmel Center

Classical Chinese dance and live orchestra music bring 5,000 years of ancient performance traditions to life on stage...

Last Chance: Broads at Plays & Players Theatre

Comedy theater company 1812 Productions honors the funniest females of the '40s, '50s and '60s in this three-person revue that ends Sunday...

Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale at Theatre Horizon

Three women tell the story of gentrification in Harlem in this funny and emotional one-weekend-only show...

Ongoing Exhibitions

Last Chance: Cotton at The African American Museum in Philadelphia

Philadelphia artist John E. Dowell explores the relationship between cotton and slavery through photographs and installations in this exhibit closing Sunday...

Exhibitions | Center City

#TrackTakeover at Walnut-Locust Station

Works by local artists replace 110 ad spots in the subway at SEPTA's Walnut-Locust Station in this installment meant to spark civic and public art awareness...

Fabulous Fashion: From Dior's New Look to Now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Museum exhibit meets runway fashion in an exploration of color, materials and evolving trends that includes pieces from iconic designers from around the world...

America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far at the Please Touch Museum

Kids and their caregivers can see mosques, explore global markets and learn about local and global Muslim traditions at this hands-on exhibit...

More Must-See Exhibitions in Philadelphia

Philadelphia's museums and galleries showcase can't-miss art and objects from around the globe and around the city...

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is on stage at the Academy of Music for five performances this weekend. (Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella | Photo by Carol Rosegg)

Final Fridays: Celestial Bodies at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

An evening dedicated to the cosmos includes ink painting lessons, dance performances and a tour of the museum's recently reopened Chinese Galleries...

Events | Northern Liberties

The Spruce Foundation's Cabaret: Snowball Revue at the Ruba Club

Philly burlesque performers Honeytree Evileye, Kyla Ren and more perform, and New Liberty Distillery provides signature cocktails at this LGBTQIA* fundraiser...

Live Music, Comedy, Theater and Dance

James Blake at The Fillmore Philly

The soulful singer is touring behind his first album in almost three years, Assume Form, at this show that's also part of the Visit Philly Live Nation Hotel Package...

An Evening of Stand Up Comedy: Seth Meyers at Keswick Theatre

The Emmy Award-winning Late Night with Seth Meyers host and Saturday Night Live alum performs two shows in Montgomery County ...

The Philadelphia Flyers take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the outdoor Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Philadelphia Flyers)

Sports | South Philadelphia

2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field

The Philadelphia Flyers face the Pittsburgh Penguins in round two of this Pennsylvania hockey battle, which takes place at the home of the Philadelphia Eagles...

Food and Drink | University City

15th Annual Beer Fest at World Cafe Live

More than 30 brewers, including many local independent makers, share three-ounce samples of their beers with a backdrop of live entertainment, prizes and giveaways...

Opening: Ancient Egypt at the Penn Museum

A special exhibit and the reopening of the Artifacts Lab offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of objects in the under-renovation Lower Egypt Gallery...

Kennett Winterfest in Kennett Square

Bundle up for this seventh annual beer, food and music festival, featuring pours from 60 breweries and tunes from Chester County-based band AfroBear...

Bouts on Broad at The Met Philadelphia

Boxing returns to North Philadelphia inside the newly renovated historic opera house with fighters Gadwin Rosa, Branden Pizarro, Malik Hawkins, Jeremy Cuevas and Samuel Teah on the bill...

Live Music, Comedy, Theater and Dance

Things Fall Apart: 20 Year Celebration at World Cafe Live

Chill Moody, Zeek Burse and more local acts celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of the iconic Things Fall Apart album from The Roots...

Theater | Avenue of the Arts

The Life and Legacy of Marian Anderson at the Kimmel Center

The world premiere of the film about Anderson's life showcases the songstress' Philadelphia roots and her role in breaking down racial barriers...

Flogging Molly at The Fillmore Philadelphia

The punk rock group with Irish influences is on tour behind its new album due in June at this show that's also part of the Visit Philly Live Nation Hotel Package...

Silent Disco at XFINITY Live!

Experience an immersive kind of concert in a noiseless space where everyone rocking out can only hear the music in their headphones...

See the new photography exhibit, From Today, Painting is Dead, opening Sunday at the Barnes Foundation. (Photo courtesy Barnes Foundation)

Exhibitions | Logan Square

Opening: From Today, Painting is Dead at the Barnes Foundation

A new look at old photography explores the beginning of the art form through nearly 250 never-before-seen photos taken between the 1840s and 1880s...

Food and Drink | Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill Restaurant Week

A dozen restaurants offer fixed-price dinners between $30 and $64, plus BYOB options and free parking after 6 p.m....

Oscars Party & Screening at the Philadelphia Film Center

Movie lovers dress up and spend Hollywood's biggest night in Philly with food, drinks, a silent auction and the Academy Awards playing on the big screen...

Live Music, Comedy, Theater and Dance

Music | South Philadelphia

Michael Bublé at the Wells Fargo Center

The crooner is on tour fresh off the release of his 10th studio album, Love, and ready to perform top hits like Everything and Haven't Met You Yet...

Music | North Philadelphia

Philadelphia Orchestra Free Concert at Teatro Esperanza

The Philadelphia Orchestra continues efforts to bring its music to nontraditional venues with a free (registration encouraged) afternoon performance...

Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox at The Met Philadelphia

The group's Welcome to the Twenties 2.0 Tour adds 1920s jazz influences to current pop hits to help prepare the audience for the 2020s at this show that's also part of the Visit Philly Live Nation Hotel Package...

Source: https://www.uwishunu.com/2019/02/things-to-do-in-philadelphia-this-weekend-february-22-24-2019/