#emanuel fair

[boricuacherry-blog]

The woman who was found murdered in her Redmond apartment had recently moved to the area and loved to ride her motorcycle and was, according to her supervisor at a Bellevue software-development company, "a shooting star."

Arpana Jinaga was a 24-year-old software-quality engineer from India who was building a circle of friends, exploring the region on her motorcycle, and reveling in the freedoms the United States had to offer her. She had attended Rutgers University, won an international software award, and was a rising star at the Bellevue company she worked for. Described as outgoing and friendly, she would try anything just to say she had attempted the experience. She had, on a whim, joined a motorcycle club after seeing a woman riding one on the street. She practiced Tae Kwon do, volunteered at an animal shelter and fire department, and she'd done all of this within only eight months of moving to Redmond, Washington.

From the Indian town of Hyderabad, Arpana's father was a professor of computer engineering and her mother a homemaker. She was close with her younger sister Pavitra and her family. Growing up, Arpana was creative, enjoying singing, dancing and gymnastics, described by everyone as a girl with a bright and bubbly personality.

When she was younger she entered a design hardware competition, doing so well, potential universities paid attention. She excelled in computer engineering, and in the specialty of embedded systems. She also sang in a band. When she was 21, in a microchip design competition against thousands of people, Arpana placed top twenty. Each contestant received their own design kit, and Arpana created a communications jammer with hers, attracting even more attention. In 2005, the Indian Express wrote an article about her, entitled "Young Inventors," in which she was interviewed on her love for computers and innovation. She dreamed of being a professor like her father.

Her father encouraged her to apply for the masters program at Rutgers in New Jersey. And she did, traveling to the U.S. to major in engineering. After arriving she began working at EMC as a software quality assurance engineer. In only 6 months, promoted to lead programmer, a testament to her work ethic.

In 2008, she was transferred to a new office in Redmond, Washington, a suburb just outside of Seattle - the tech town where Microsoft and Intendo were started - moving into the third floor of an apartment in the Valley View apartment complex.

Each floor in the complex only had about five or six rooms, but she quickly made friends there. This was when she bought a Suzuki motorcycle and began lessons on driving it and joining the Pacific Northwest Riders, a local motorcycle club. She also volunteered at the Redmond Fire Department and an animal shelter in Bellevue. She loved animals and would speak of one day opening one for endangered animals.

On the eve of October 30, she planned to host a Halloween party at the complex. Each room would have a different theme in the building, and her costume would be Little Red Riding Hood. Over a dozen people mixed with each other and people seemed to enjoy it, and at 9pm, Arpana and her friends were still having fun. She walked the halls with a glass of wine, posing with people for pictures. At around midnight, she had everyone come to her apartment to eat pizza. After that, they all made their way to the first floor and continued the party.

Just before 3am, things started to slow down. Her friend Jessica remembers a conversation they had shortly before they parted ways that evening. Arpana was telling her how lucky she was to be a woman living in the U.S., and how hard things were growing up in India. Jessica tried to tell her that things weren't always so easy in the U.S. either, to which Arpana began to cry, simply stating, "You have no idea."

Still slightly emotional, she retreated back to her own apartment around 3am, alone. But despite her leaving alone, for the next hour, her neighbor reported hearing what they thought sounded like consensual sex. They heard muffled moaning come from her apartment walls.

At 8am the next morning, her neighbor was woken up by what sounded like a growing sound that sounded like either someone having sex, or vomiting, coming from Arpana's apartment, followed by a loud thud - then the sound of running water.

When Arpana's family waited for her phone call that next day, they received no call. They texted her, and received no response. The family called someone they knew to check on her.

This person agreed and went to knock on her door, but surprisingly, the door just swung open. The door frame and the lock had been broken. When he and a neighbor entered the room, there were clear signs of a struggle. They walked into Arpana's bedroom -

and that's when they found her laying face down on the floor, under a sheet, naked, and covered with blood. When authorities arrived, the immediately knew this was a homicide. An overwhelming smell of bleach permeated the room, as if someone had tried to clean up, and Arpana's comforter was in the tub, soaking in water and bleach. Blood was still on it though. The rest of the sheets were missing. Police also found Arpana's tampon, which was presumably in at the time of the attack and was now on the floor of her bedroom. Bleach was on the furniture, and motor oil had been dumped all around the apartment, and around her body.

Arpana's body was taken for an autopsy, which confirmed she had been raped. Unfortunately no DNA was able to be gathered, likely due to a condom being used. She also had blunt force trauma to the head, several of her teeth had been broken, she had bruises on her stomach, thighs and wrists, and her own underwear had been used to gag her mouth. Duct tape had also been placed over her mouth. Death was determined to be asphyxiation, which was done with a bootlace. Her fingers were stained blue with toilet cleaner and she had bleach and motoroil over her from the waist down, as well as small burn marks. It appeared that someone had attempted to light her body on fire but failed, since motoroil isn't flammable. Her bloodstained bathrobe and bedsheets were found in a dumpster outside the apartment. Arpana's ID, her blackberry phone and her digital camera were missing.

Police were suspicious of one of Arpana's neighbors - Cameron Johnson. There were some discrepancies in his timeline to police, and police found printed out maps for pawnshops in his car, printed at 10am, but he claimed he woke up at 10am. He also said he went to Denny's that morning then drove two hours to the Canadian border but wasn't let through because he didn't have a passport with him. When asked about this, he said he was just in the mood to explore. Canadian officials, however, stated that he tried to "blow through the border gates."

One neighbor said he came home at 3am the night of the murder and saw a man at Arpana's door who was between 5'11 and 6'3, with olive skin - a description that matched Cameron - talking to someone in the apartment. But since Arpana's door had been kicked in, it's hard to know if these two incidents are connected.

It was also discovered that someone had been using Arpana's computer at 3:29 that morning.

To everyone's surprise though, the man police ended up arresting was 27-year-old Emanuel Fair.

Emanuel Fair had been going by the name 'Anthony Parker.' According to Detective Coats, he was looking at photos from the Halloween party, when he noticed Fair, who was dressed as a construction worker, in the background of the photos. He stood out as the only black man at the party. He also appeared to be an outsider. He started sending the photos out to other officers, asking if anyone knew him. Turns out they did - there was a warrant out for his arrest.

Emanuel Fair had a criminal record. He had gang affiliations and had been arrested many times before for various crimes - robbery, gun possession, drug possession - and, what caught Detective Coats' attention - a rape charge.

Only four years earlier, he had been charged with raping a minor, after that minor called 911 and reported it. The 15-year-old reported him violently raping her at gunpoint. When apprehended, he claimed the encounter was consensual, which legally it wasn't, since she was a minor. He took an Alford plea and pled guilty to third degree sexual assault, where the max imprisonment is only five years.

Because he was considered a level 1 offender, he only served two years of his sentence and got out.

There was a warrant out for his arrest because he had broken his probation and failed to update his sex offender status in the registry for the second time.

After he had been released from prison in 2006 he was couchsurfing, and ended up on the couch of Leslie Potts, who lived in same complex as Arpana. Leslie had met Fair over MySpace.

Apparently, Fair and Cameron Johnson had spent a lot of time together at the Halloween party the night Arpana was murdered.

And it turned out that Fair's DNA was found at the crime scene, and specifically, on the duct tape found over Arpana's mouth. His DNA was also found on her neck, and mixed in with the blood found on the robe in the dumpster. He was also interviewed multiple times, and found to have inconsistencies in his story. Leslie didn't see him until the morning, so she couldn't confirm where he was. Also, he claimed to have been asleep between 1 and 2am, but during that time he had made 20 different calls to people. Leslie also said she found an empty condom wrapper on the table that hadn't been there before.

The tape that was found on Arpana's mouth had strands of her hair on it, as well as a lot of Fair's DNA - this meant it couldn't have been transfer DNA, and Fair did touch this piece of tape. It's also believed she was wearing the robe when she was attacked, which is why Detective Coats found it compelling that Fair's DNA was found mixed in with the blood on it. His DNA was also found on toilet paper in the bathroom. Cameron's DNA was on the can of motoroil - an amount of DNA that meant he had at some point physically touched it. A forensic DNA analyst stated that the evidence pointed to Fair committing the crime, and that Cameron might have been apart of the clean-up. Fair's DNA appeared to be the one tied to the crime though.

Fair was charged with first degree murder and rape, and transferred to King County to await trial. Detectives did not, however, have enough evidence to charge or convict Cameron with a crime.

Fair's defense attorneys claimed he was only looked at due to racism. They also questioned the legitimacy of the forensic technology used. This hindered the case going to court for several years, in order for detectives and prosecutors to prove the legitimacy of the technology. At the time it wasn't as commonly used [although now it is]. The DNA technology company refused to give over the source code that ran the program [he didn't want it stolen by other companies], so that held up the case going to trial for years. In the end, it was verified that the DNA technology was very reliable.

Seven years after Fair's arrest, the trial began, but it was a hung jury. They were deadlocked. Another trial was held. Because Cameron was possibly also implicated in the crime, Fair's defense attorneys used that as a cause for reasonable doubt that Cameron could have been the one responsible. This was enough reasonable doubt for Fair to get off. That, along with the fact that Fair's previous rape charge and criminal convictions could not be disclosed in the trial.

This case is still left without a conclusion, as a result.

[kitsunetsuki]

Deborah Turbeville - Model Wearing a Dress by Ungaro (Vanity Fair 1984)

[alpaca-clouds]

Analyzing the New Nocturne Trailer

Alright: I promised some folks yesterday to make an analysis for the new trailer - so I am going to do just that. Fair warning: this will not have a whole lot of historical details, because I think there is just not enough about historical context in this trailer to talk about that. So more... general influences and speculations.

We start the trailer off with Emmanuel standing by a grave during what is either a night or still the eclipse caused by Erszebeth. It is impossible to say. Sadly, there does not seem to be any name on the gravestone (if it even is that), so it is hard to say who it could be. Someone on a server speculated that it might be the empty grave of Tera's sister (I doubt she managed to drag the body from Russia to France), which I could see. It could also be that we learn something more about Emmanuel's backstory.

From all we got implied, Emmanuel joined with the Knights Hospitaller when they were on Malta, so he was not with them in Jerusalem. We can also say that he is Frenchman. So there is something going on with him giving him the background of him and the hospitaller.

Something else of note: This grave is underneath a Wisteria tree. And Wisteria's are connected either to youth/something new or it is a symbolism for a deep devotion. The latter probably fitting rather well with Emanuel.

Next we have these few frames of Erszebeth in her lion form fighting Richter. Something that is interesting to me in this one: It almost feels here as if Erszebeth has no control over her power. Which would make sense, because it is heavily implied that she stole Sekmet's powers by drinking from Sekmet.

I am spitballing here, but something tells me that Olrox has drunken from Quetzalcoatl in a consensual way (almost guessing it was so that a dying god could live on), while in Erszebeth's case it was more an act of colonialism of some sort.

We have next these two very short flashes. Richter down on the ground and bleeding - and then Tera attacking. The trailer of course implies that Tera is implying a Richter who went down. But the background is different. Tera is somewhere in the forest in what appears to be some celtic ruins (more on that a bit later), while Richter is on some city street.

I am fairly certain actually that the Richter scene is fairly late in the season.

We then have the eclipse ending. I am very interested to know the context of this. It seemed in season 1 as if Erszebeth wanted to keep the eclipse just eternally to protect her vampires - but maybe she also understands that she cannot do that given she has also human followers.

We also see Maria (probably in the company of everyone else) hiding out at some ruins.

If I was going to hazard a guess, this is a scene within the first 5 minutes of episode 1.

We have then a few quick shots of first Richter, Annette and Alucard together. Then one of Richter fighting what is clearly Drolta. And then one... that could be either Drolta or Tera from the clothing. Though given that Richter has the same ripped off sleeves as in the Drolta fight, I am gonna assume it is Drolta.

This goes doubly, because the background here is the same as in the fight of Alucard and Drolta later in the trailer.

The we have another grave scene with flower imagery. In this case we have Juste in front of a grave. Once more there is no name to be seen on the grave, but I have seen a lot of speculation - based on what happens in the game - that it might be Lydie's grave, while Maxim is either a vampire or a werewolf now.

We will see, I guess.

There was also a discussion on the server on what the tree was. Is it plum or cherry. I am gonna say, this is a Kanzan cherry tree, given that the stigma is not as pronounced as it would be in a plum flower. And the Japanese cherry tree is obviously a symbol of fleeting youth and fleeting beauty.

Then we have a shot with Erszebeth mustering her new army. Notable about this is that Erszebeth is back to her normal vampire form in this shot - and that it seems now that she has a whole lot more night creatures now. Has Emmanuel figured out how to createm ore night creatures, or if she has found another way to acquire night creatures. We will see.

We have also several scenes of our main characters in this building. There are several shots of this. And this does not seem to be Tera's home, given that the windows look different, if I am not fully mistaken. So that leaves us the question: Where are they here? Who allows them to stay with them?

Then we have these shots of Alucard on a warfield surrounded by soldiers. We see later that they are fighting against the vampires lead by Drolta, who is not dead. (I might note: As I said. I told y'all that Drolta was not dead. It was obvious.)

Notable about this scene is that Alucard is surrounded by Republican Soldiers. So soldiers who are loyal to the revolution. While at this time the royal soldiers and the revolutionary soldiers wore fairly similar uniforms, the hats are notably different.

So we can tell from this, that our heroes manage to get the revolutionary forces up to Machecoul. I am wondering how that is going to happen. Who will get this support?

Either way, I am gonna hazard another guess: This is from the last two episodes of the season.

Something that seemingly also happens on the battle field is Alucard attacking these three figures. All three are dark-skinned and Alucard attacks them. Two of them also clearly wear ancient egyptian garbs. And that implies they are somehow connected to Sekmet, either through Drolta or Erszebeth. I am really interested to see what is up with this.

I said this before: The reason I was fairly certain that Drolta was still alive was two fold. One: Drolta is Katie Silva's favorite character. lol Two: Drolta is clearly very heavily connected to how Erszebeth has gotten access to the blood of Sekmet, given that we know that Drolta was a priestess of Sekmet. So she kinda has to survive given that she will be important to understanding Erszebeth. :P

I am still somewhat wondering whether she will be loyal to Erszebeth and such.

Then we have some shots of Richter and Annette fighting some night creatures (though one of them might also be Drolta in a monster form - we will see - given it has the same tail as her, and hooves). One of the fights is happening in the church again.

Then we have this scene of Juste and Tera fighting. Again, this is a celtic place, given the stones - and I am fairly certain that this is the same place where Maria has her little revolutionary meeting in episode 1 of the first season. We had those celtic stones standing around there as well. Which is obviously interesting given the themes of colonization and the fact that they have been colonized as well.

It is obviously also interesting that Juste is fighting Tera - clearly to take this from the kids.

Something several people have already noticed though is that Tera in these scenes seems to be under some sort of control. Her eyes are flat and empty.

I might also remind you though, that we have so far very little information on how vampires and fledglings work in this world. In a lot of vampire media it also is a theme that fledgling vampires in the first months/years of their life being fairly hard to control and more animal than person. This might be a possibility here, too.

It could be that Tera is controlled by Erszebeth, but it could also just be that she is a fledgling in a sort of blood frenzy or something like that.

Then we have this scene with Maria and Seiryu in the church. It is clear from Maria's gaze here, that she is either in a deep shock, or really, really angry. From all we know she never summoned Seiryu before. And we see also that the portal she summons Seiryu through is nothing like the other portals she uses which are light and golden.

However, this portal is a lot like the one we see on the poster that went around yesterday, where a bear comes through the portal.

Now, I am fairly certain that with the summons they go with the same direction that I and a lot of other writers use: The summons she is using are somehow connected to the otherworld, which in this probably connects not only celtic spirits and fae, but pretty much similar concepts from all around the world.

But the thing is, as I said: The bear usually in East Asian mythology is a shorthand for "a god". And of course dragons in Asian mythology are also minor gods. And I am going to assume that this does tie in once more with the theme that we clearly have: Divine bloodlines. This is a divine bloodline as well, that ties Maria to the Asian spiritual gods.

But she is very much not in control over those powers yet.

We know that she never knew how her magic worked. She explains that much in episode 2 of the first season. And given that this is so clearly a theme of Nocturne... Yeah, that is going to be tied to that.

Then we also have this shot of Drolta and her knew outfit. I will be honest, I have nothing much to say about that. She once more has the horns - and again: Drolta is not a vampire, she is a succubus. And as such we do not know what kind of rules might apply to her.

As you might notice on the screenshot above: It is fairly bright in the background. And she does not use anything to protect herself from the sunlight.

Then we have another scene of Olrox holding back Mizrak, which is notably the only time we see either character in the trailer. (It should be noted that Edouard, my baby boy, is completely absent from the trailer. Q-Q) It is fairly hard to say what the context of the scene is. So far I do not see anohter scene with a similar background, so it is really hard to say.

Some part of me is going to assume that Mizrak might be the reason that the revolutionary forces are there for the big battle. But that is once more just me spitballing. He just seems to be the most likely character to get those soldiers there.

Then we have several scenes of Drolta fighting. Some of the shorts show her on the battle field, some of them are her and Alucard (who shape shifts into a bat swarm during it). And once again: I am fairly certain that the earlier scene of Richter on the ground happens in the same scene of Alucard and the shape shifting here.

Again: I am going to assume that Drolta will probably show up in episode 3 or 4 again, after the fakeout death, and that they will have some bad fights against her and Erszebeth, and that the revolutionary forces will show up for the finale of the season. That would make the most sense from a writing perspective.

Lastly we have also this shot of Richter. This also probably happens in the context of the Drolta dight, as it is fairly clear he looses his sleeves in that fight.

But yeah, that is so far all I could get from the trailer.

Cannot wait for season 2.

Also: I am very sad that I did not get to see my baby boy Edouard. Where is my son?!

[fans4wga]

[ID: Tweet from Discussing Film @/discussingfilm that says, "Highest paid Hollywood execs in past 5 years:

1) David Zaslav - $498M

2) Ari Emanuel - $346M

3) Reed Hastings - $209M

4) Bob Iger - $195M

5) Ted Sarandos - $192M

These CEOs refuse to pay actors less than 2% of their revenue to make a fair deal (Source: https://cnbc.com/amp/2023/06/01/top-hollywood-exec-made-498-million-in-5-years-while-writer-pay-fell.html)"

Attached are 4 images with the logos of Netflix, Warner Bros, Universal and Disney. end ID]

[fashionbooksmilano]

Emanuel Ungaro

Mémoire de la mode

Christine Orban

Editions Assouline, Paris 1999, 80 pages, 16x22,3cm, ISBN 978 2843281208

euro 48,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Manuel Ungaro pare les femmes comme il les désire. Et c'est parce qu'il les aime qu'il s'adresse aux hommes. Dépassés le savoir-faire, les académismes... Tout cela n'est rien si le vêtement n'est pas transcendé par l'émotion. L'émotion comme matière première. Si l'exercice consistait à n'utiliser qu'un seul mot pour qualifier son œuvre, c'est celui qu'il faudrait choisir. Selon Paul Claudel, " la poésie ne peut exister sans émotion ". La couture d'Ungaro non plus. Regardez, touchez ses modèles : on entend presque la mélodie et le souffle du créateur accompagner chacun d'eux. Les jolies choses cachent avec délicatesse et modestie tant de passions tourmentées.

12/06/24

[bluesidrasketchbook]

I have been tagged! @staring-at-my-keyboard ! Now my many alt-accounts have come to haunt me.

The upside about drawing profiles: No second eye. The downside: Everything else :')

So here are my beloved babies, and the cameos (credit to FBG) I stare at while imagining them. From the top: Emanuel, who smiles less and less the more I draw him; Ophelia, the ray of sunshine that is smiled upon by the universe and Muru, who flocks to self-destruction like a moth to a very hot flame.

Bonus: Ixbalanqúe, but especially and most of all: Tilly! Xib doesn't have an account, I just picked the only Tomb-Colonist there was. Fair to say that even the best glasses in the Neath couldn't save this man's eyesight.

... wait, this is a game of tag, isn't it? uuuuuh, @letters-of-fire makes awesome profile images, let's tag her so she has no other choice >:)

[illustratus]

The Knight of Sayn and the Gnomes by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

The Knight of Sayn and the Gnomes is a scene from a German ballad in which Ermengarde, daughter of a squire, is promised to Kuno of Sayn if he can ride his horse up the rocky cliff to her father��s castle. With the gnomes help, the knight completes the journey and the fair Ermengarde is his forever!

[motherofplatypus]

Bisan Owda is a journalist in Gaza that keeps updating about the barbaric genocide actions that israel committed with weapons supplied mainly by US, all the while living through that genocide itself.

Over 30k+ has been killed, and over 15k+ of those are children and babies.

The celebs and artists who wanted to rescind Bisan's nomination are as follow:

Ari Ingel, Executive Director, Creative Community for Peace

David Renzer, Former Chairman/CEO Universal Music Publishing Group, CCFP Chairman & Co-Founder

Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive & Music President, Electronic Arts, CCFP Co-Founder

Rakefet Abergel, Actor/Director, Cyclamen Films

Orly Adelson, Former President of ITV Studios, America

Marty Adelstein, CEO, Tomorrow Studios

Anne-Marie Asner, Co-Founder, Animation Israel

Jeff Astrof, TV Producer/Showrunner, Other Shoe Productions

Michael Auerbach, Partner, Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein

Dean Bahat, Attorney, Ziffren Brittenham

Andrea Ballas, VP Comms, CBS

Jackie Barrie, A&R Manager, Nvak Collective

Richard Baskind, Partner & Head of Music, Simons Muirhead & Burton

Aton Ben-Horin, Executive VP of Global A&R, Atlantic Records Group

Steven Bensusan, President, Blue Note Entertainment Group

Adam Berkowitz, Founder and President, Lenore Entertainment Group

Sharon Bialy, Casting Director, Bialy/Thomas & Associates

Josh Binder, Co-Founder and Partner, Rothenberg Mohr & Binder, LLP

Neil Blair, Founding Partner, The Blair Partnership

Selma Blair, Actress, Author, Advocate, Sainted Productions

Rebecca Blumberg, SVP Ad Sales, Paramount

Evan Bogart, Songwriter & CEO, Seeker Music

Benjamin Budde, CEO, Budde Group GmbH

Bruce Burger, Producer, RebbeSoul

David Byrnes, Attorney, Ziffren Brittenham

Civia Caroline, Social Impact Consultant, CLiC Impact

Pamela Charbit, Director of A&R, Warner Music Group

Emmanuelle Chriqui, Actor, Yellow Ray Entertainment

Leanne Coronel, Talent Manager, The Coronel Group

Raye Cosbert, Managing Director, Metropolis Musi

Paul Craig, Ceo, Nostromo Management

Doug Davis, NATAS Member, 2x Emmy winner, The Davis Firm

Rebecca De Mornay, Actor

Jamie Denbo, Co-Executive Producer, Grey’s Anatomy, ABC/Disney

Josh Deutsch, Chairman/CEO, Premier Music Group

Avi Diamond, Director, Film/TV Sync, Warner Music Canada

Craig Dorfman, President and Owner, Frontline MGMT

Rachel Douglas, Manager, Range Media Partners

David Draiman, Frontman, Disturbed

Jeremy Drysdale, Screenwriter, bigbamboo

Craig Emanuel, Ryan Murphy Productions

Hannah Epstein, Agent, CAA

Rami “Kosha dillz” Even-Esh, Rapper/Comic/Actor

Lindsay Fabes, Actor

Ron Fair, Record Producer & CEO, Faircraft Inc.

Sharon Farber, Composer, Score by Score Music

Danny Federman, Owner, Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club

Eric Feig, Attorney and TV Academy Member, Feig/Finkel

Patti Felker, Attorney, Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP

Ken Fermaglich, Partner, United Talent Agency

Ross “Remedy” Filler, Artist

Shalom Fisch, President, MediaKidz Research & Consulting

David Fishof, CEO, RRFC Films, LLC

Siri Garber, Publicist, Platform

David Gardner, President, Artists First

Barbara Garshman, CEO, Garshman Productions LLC

Gary Gersh

Gary Ginsberg, Senior VP, SoftBank Group Corp.

Brian Ralston, Composer/Producer, Studio 74 Music, LLC

David Glick, Founder & CEO, Edge Group

Zusha Goldin, Celebrity Photographer, Zusha Goldin

Michael Goldwasser, President, Easy Star Records

Andrew Gould, President, Music Publishing

Scott Greenberg, Partner, LBI

Steven Greenberg, Founder and President, S-Curve Records

Daniel Grindlinger, Writer

Ronnie Harris, Partner, Harris & Trotter

Michael Hirschhorn, Manager, Streaming and Sales, Atlantic Records

Linda Edell Howard, Attorney, Novick Law

Rich Ingram, Artist/Creator

Neil Jacobson, Former President, Geffen Records, Founder & CEO of Hallwood Media

Michael Kaplan, Writer/Producer

Sam Katz, Music Manager, Homebase MGMT, LLC

Zach Katz, CEO & Co-Founder, Fixated

Ketura Kestin, Film Producer, Serendipity Productions

Amanda Kogan, Manager, Aaron Kogan Management

Keetgi Kogan Steinberg, Writer/Producer/Showrunner

Jason Kozel, Creative Executive, Range Media Partners

Rick Krim, CEO, Krim Music + Media

Evan Lamberg, President, North America, Universal Music Publishing Group

Sherry Lansing, Former CEO, Paramount Pictures

Colin Lester OBE, Founder/Chairman, JEM Music Group

Sean Liebowitz, Agent

Koura Linda, Founder & CEO, Space Dream Productions

Marci Liroff, Intimacy Coordinator/Casting Director

Cory Litwin, Managing Partner, Range Media Partners

David Lonner, CEO, The David Lonner Company

Ben Maddahi, President, Unrestricted Publishing & Mgmt

Gabriel Mann, Composer

Deborah Marcus, Executive, CAA Foundation

Susan Markheim, Full Stop Mgt., The Azoff Company

Amanda Markowitz, Actor/Producer, SAG/AFTRA & PGA

Orly Marley, President, Tuff Gong Worldwide

Devra Maza, Screenwriter

Debra Messing, Actor/Producer

Hilary Michael, Agent and Partner, WME

Beth Milstein, Writer

Jennifer Morrow, Actor, CAA

Patrick Moss, Writer, Moroccan Boychik

Robert Munic, Writer/Showrunner, Pull The Pin Productions, Inc.

Lisa Nupoff, Manager, iminmusic management

Scott Packman, Founder and Managing Member, SSP Partners LLC

Mark Pinkus, President, Rhino Records

Jonah Platt, Actor/Producer

Wendy Plaut, SVP Music & Celebrity Talent, Paramount Global

Jessica Poter, Writer, Gustavo Anibal Productions

Golan Ramraz, Writer/Producer, EGX Film Factory

Bruce Resnikof

Frederic Richter, Producer, Writer & Researcher

Wendy Robbins, Executive Producer, Creators Inc

Dan Rosen, President, Warner Music Australasia

Rick Rosen, Co-Founder, Endeavor, WME

Aaron Rosenberg, Partner, Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light

Gregg Rossen, Screenwriter

Michael Rotenberg, CEO, 3 Arts Entertainment

Joshua Rothstein, CEO/Founder, Ice Cream For Dinner

Haim Saban, Chairman and CEO, Saban Capital Group

Glenn Sanders, Writer/Director/Creative Director, Masonry Creative

Ayelet Schiffman, SVP Head of Promotions, Island Records

Paul Schindler, Senior Partner, Greenberg Traurig LLC

Jordan Schur, CEO and Chairman, Mimran Schur Pictures and Suretone Entertainment

Adam Schwartz, Writer

Sam Schwartz, Partner, Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency

Jay Schweid, Founder/CEO, ephelants/Village

Adam Segal, President, The 2050 Group

Ben Silverman, Chairman and Co-CEO, Propagate Content

Ralph Simon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Mobilium Global Limited

Tamar Simon, Owner/CEO, Mean Streets Management

Martin Singer, Attorney, Lavely and Singer

Halle Stanford, President of Television, The Jim Henson Company

Mimi Steinberg, Writer/Producer

Jonathan Steinsapir, Partner, Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir

Gary Stiffelman, Founder, GSS Law

Traci Symanski, CEO, Co-Star Entertainment

Aaron Symonds, Film Composer

Fernando Szew, President, Fox Entertainment

Tal Tavin, Actor

Adam Taylor, President, APM Music

Michael Testa, Casting Director, Michael Testa Casting

Fred Toczek, Partner, Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan LLP

Eric Tuchman, Writer/Producer, MGM-TV

Noa Vinshtok, Streaming, Range Media Partners

Joshua Washington, International Recording Artist, JoDavi Music LLC

Avi Weider, Filmmaker, Loop Filmworks

Jon Weinbach, President, Skydance Sports

Nola Weinstein, Tech Executive

Ilana Wernick, Writer/Producer, Fox

Modi Wiczyk, Co-Founder, MRC

Evan Winiker, Managing Partner, Range Music

Seth Yanklewitz, Casting Director, Yanklewitz Pollack Casting

Sharon Tal Yguado, Founder & CEO, Astrid Entertainment

Ky Zaretsky, Manager, Range Media Partners

David Zedeck, Global Co-Head of Music

[Sources: here, here, and here]

[coovieilledentelle]

🇮🇹

Le célèbre lavoir médiéval de Cefalù se trouve au niveau de la mer, mais à quatre mètres en dessous du niveau de la rue Vittorio Emanuele, et on y accède par un large escalier incurvé en pierre calcaire « lumachella ». Les nombreux lavabos sont alimentés par des sources d'eau qui coulent à travers 22 ouvertures en fonte le long des murs ; les supports utilisés par les blanchisseuses pour faire la lessive sont encore visibles dans les bassins.

[dragonner0]

Leshy - an Understanding

He hadn't quite had the time to think about it, but now he realized. He was near-enough invulnerable to any conventional means of war with his cataphract armor, his footsteps thundered in his wake, he could cut through most light armor with the Champion sword at his hip, and now, he could finally see again. He felt amazing, but there was a part of him that whispered something he couldn't quite discern.

Leshy felt like a god again, and yet something was missing. But what?

He was contemplating that question when he was approached by Emanuel. "May I sit here?" He asked, gesturing to the seat Leshy's legs covered.

Leshy hummed, then grunted and shifted so that he was sitting upright. "Seat's open," he said.

Emanuel didn't like him. He knew that. They tolerated each other, if only because there were only eleven or so people in their settlement, but the fire-loving yellow cat would much rather sit with someone other than Leshy, if the other couch cushions weren't bein replaced after a mold problem. He'd never said why. To be fair, one could easily infer.

Emanuel opened his book, the title reading simply "the Kindly Panda" at the top of a simple cover. There were several bookmarks in it, Emanuel's being a fiery orange-yellow at about the halfway mark.

"Is it good?" Leshy asked absentmindedly. His own bookmark was sitting in one of the tomes on the bookshelf, but he really wasn't a big reader. The tomes were weird, anyways.

Emanuel didn't answer for a second, but eventually said, "it's the best we've got. Which isn't much."

Leshy merely hummed, tapping his foot lightly. The two of them were silent for a long time, then a lifter rolled up next to Emanuel and set a small note in his lap. The worm apparently didn't get to see what the note said, but he was pretty sure he saw a list and some coordinates.

Whatever it was, Emanuel sighed in annoyance and put his bookmark back in the book. "The one time I get to rest," he said, patting the small mechanoid as he stood. "Oh no, we can't just make some vegetarian meals for a while, no. We need to get meat and keep hunting and never stop, not even when we're exhausted, because we're out of steel and we're-"

"Would you like a companion?"

Emanuel stopped in the middle of his spiel. "I- you're offering to accompany me?" He asked, staring bewildered at the worm.

Leshy shrugged. "I don't have much else to do."

Emanuel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, of course you don't. Why would you. You're our friendly neighborhood cataphract, of course."

"I have a champion sword," Leshy offered, patting the grip at his waist. "Plus, a fresh extra pair of eyes has to count for something, doesn't it?"

Emanuel stared for a few seconds, then sighed. "Let me get my gun first. Then you can go mess around in the snow with your blasted sword."

>---

As it turns out, giving a man a sword that can cut through nearly anything without substantial armor is a great way to keep them from shutting up. This was sis fifth - or perhaps it was sixth - time asking Emanuel if he could just run in and use his sword.

"For the last time, no," the yellow cat said, exhausted already. "Your big, heated sword will probably burn up all the good meat. I, on the other hand, intend to be precise with my shots."

"Yes, because your exploding gyrojets will be so much better at preserving your game's condition," Leshy teased, grinning beneath his helmet.

"I have accuracy and well-laid traps on my side," Emanuel said in return, focusing back in on the sights of his LMG. "Gyrojets are instant and deadly, unlike your sword, and I can know exactly how it will affect the victim." As he said that, he let loose a couple rounds, three of which sent wood chips and soil scattered along the snow, and the fourth went straight into it's target - a stallion - exploding in its chest.

"My, such good preservation of meat," Leshy mocked when the sound of small explosions stopped echoing between the mountains. "We could definitely salvage... a couple legs from that. So long as Heket remembers her centuries of practice butchering, at least."

Emanuel growled, but stood to collect his kill anyways. "I was trying to scare it further into the trees," he said, slinging his weapon around his back. "Every time I want to hit something I barely hit my mark, but the moment I'm not shooting to kill... lamb damn it."

"I would've done better with a sword," Leshy mused.

That was Emanuel's snapping point. "Oh, well I'm sorry big guy, but I don't know if you noticed, but I'm the one hunting and you are the one who decided to stick along, so could you please either-" He stopped for a moment. "Actually, why am I offering you to stay? Go back to the temple, worm. And stay there."

"Eh, the temple's noisy," Leshy said simply. "I prefer it out here."

"I did not offer you to go back I told you," Emanuel hissed. "Go do- whatever. I don't care."

Leshy, of course, couldn't quite do whatever. Since Andrea, Damios, Yocum, and Rozzie were all out doing something-or-other in the Mule, they didn't have any new work being qued up, and the hydroponics farming was all that survived for winter. All that needed harvesting was the cotton, for which they happened to have an Agrihand. The last thing that Leshy wanted to do with his new sight was operate some drill or carve stone chunks in the quarry, especially since they also had a Tunneler named "Mr. Krabs" specifically for that.

He, of course, summed all that up as "I'd rather stay."

Emanuel simply hissed, before turning sharply and trudging through the snow to claim her kill. Leshy followed, finding it much easier given his attire weighed several times as much as he did. "Go find the rest of the stallions, and don't talk to me," he growled, kneeling just outside the puddle of blood and burned gore that sank into the snow.

Leshy frowned, but listened to the cat nonetheless. Annoying people was fun, especially getting people to start a fight with him, but for some reason, it felt... different with Emanuel. Sure, it felt different with his siblings and the Lamb, but he understood why. Everyone else usually just ignored it for the most part, which was fair, and he gave them all space.

So why does Emanuel feel different?

Rather than focusing on the odd feeling, which meant tucking it away into a far corner of his mind, and instead stopped to listen for the sounds of hooves on the snow. They would be muffled by the snow, but after more than a millennium of blindness, he had learned to pick up on far softer sounds.

There was a bird somewhere, singing its rather serene song. His branch-like antlers twitched as a gust of wind rattled a few leafless trees, and somewhere he heard a loose branch fall.

He heard something running. Something big - a muffalo or a bear, if he had to guess. Maybe it was chasing Emanuel's game.

...

It was getting closer. Not to him, but to the still-in-the-open Emanuel. He whirled around on the spot and saw that Emanuel had perked up, his ears swiveling as he listened to probably the same thing as Leshy.

Then he jumped up and yelled "Shit!" as he scrambled to get out his gun, only for a maddened megasloth to headbutt him to the ground before he could get his first shots off.

Leshy, being quick to respond, charged at the large mammal, his hand going to the hilt of his sword and swinging it at the attacker, the not-yet-solidified living metal leaving a deep gash on its arm. Rather than focus on him, however, it bit into Emanuel's ankle and thrashed, somehow not quite managing to rip the foot off. As its head swung toward Leshy, the worm quickly brought down his now-solid sword on its neck, cutting through the spinal cord. As the body collapsed, lifeless, he passed the blade to his off hand and wedged his foot between the creatures jaws, using his and his free hand to pull them open.

Emanuel's foot... had seen better days. Leshy was sure that, even with Glitterworld medicine, he'd need a prosthetic. He'd live, despite his swearing.

But there were two megasloths in the area. Leshy was violently reminded of that when a two-ton beast tackled him, sending them both rolling into a deep ditch, his sword lost in the process.

With little else to do, Leshy punched at the creature, but Scaria wouldn't let the animal stop, even as his bionic arm broke its rib.

He thought for a moment that he'd be killed there, once it managed to dig its claws in his devilstrand fabric. Pain sprang up in the side of his head as one of his antlers was snapped. He thought he saw something moving at the top of the ditch, before a large paw blocked his sight.

Then he heard gunshots, and he was showered in deep red. The megasloth went still, noticeably lighter than it had been originally. After a moment, he heard Emanuel call down, "Leshy? Fuck, I didn't hit you did I?"

Slowly, Leshy heaved the animal corpse off of himself and got into a sitting position, looking up at the yellow cat. Then he began to laugh as the adrenaline in his system did its work.

"Stop laughing!" Emanuel called down. "I need - fuck, I need help! I-I'm sorry for earlier but- fucking Lamb, my leg!"

Leshy found it quite hard to stop laughing, despite the circumstances.

>---

...

...

Watching Emanuel was boring.

The cat did nothing but read, really. Sometimes he said something, sometimes not. Leshy tried to get him to play a game, no budge. So then he tried getting some spare Smokeleaf(even though Kallamar would probably be very angry to learn his brother got his patient high), just for a reaction, but still almost nothing.

And yet he kept coming back. He didn't know why, it wasn't like Kallamar would have any other patients, but Leshy was almost always with Emanuel.

The only word he got came lust before his injured leg was going to be replaced by the bionic one Lambert got off a caravan.

"Thank you," he said. "For saving me. I just wanted to say that before I went under."

Leshy nodded. "Your welcome," he responded. "I guess you owe me one."

"We're even, at best," Emanuel said before he took his anesthetic. A few seconds of silence passed before Emanuel asked, "what exactly does it feel like... having a bionic limb?"

Leshy thought for a long moment, rolling his mechanical arm and feeling the servos twitch and flex. "It's like... having a part of you that isn't a part of you, I guess. It's... not exactly something I can describe."

Emanuel hummed. "Well, I guess we'll see."

Leshy nodded again, then stood. "I should go. The healroot needs harvesting," he said, despite it already being hours after he perhaps should have gone to harvest it.

There that same feeling was. He still couldn't quite figure out what it was, but Emanuel had something to do with it. Curious. He'd have to ask Shamura about it sometime.

[h0n3y-reads]

The Edge of Sleep by Jake Emanuel: a review.

The Edge of Sleep is a book based off the podcast of the same name, originally made in 2019. I have listened to the podcast in full but it was a while ago. The book is pretty faithful to its source material, with a few new things, and some updates for pop culture. Overall, I think I can say I liked this book. However, the journey we took to get there was chaotic. Fair enough, considering it's a book about the end of the world. Spoilers ahead.

We start off with a dreamlike sequence featuring our main man Dave. Considering the ending, this scene has some major foreshadowing that I like. Afterwards, we meet Dave's best friend and coworker Matteo, piping in with consistently incorrect pop culture references. After a little more exposition we meet the rest of our main group, nurse Linda and Dave's ex girlfriend Katie.

There's quite a few differences in character development already from the podcast, but I don't want this whole review to just be comparisons, so I'll try to keep them minimal and only when relevant.

Dave and Matteo skip out on work to head to what's left of an Independence Day party, only to find several corpses laying around the mansion, with no idea how they passed. They make their way to the hospital and find Linda dealing with the same situation. Dave gets more and more anxious about Katie's refusal to pick up his phone calls.

The group eventually meets up in person, and they try to figure out a way to keep themselves awake, look for any other survivors, and figure out why people are dying in their sleep.

We also get a couple of new characters, the most important being Millie and Eli. Millie is a self described agoraphobic insomniac with an exhausting remote job, and Eli is a young disabled blogger also struggling with insomnia. We switch between these two groups every so often.

Now, do I like these characters? Sure. I'd say Linda is my favorite, for her straightforwardness and problem solving nature. I'll admit I liked Matteo in the podcast more, as I feel he was a better friend to Dave and a more enjoyable character. One thing I do appreciate is Emanuel's attempt to flesh out Katie more. I did feel like she was lacking character and motivation in the podcast outside of being Dave's ex. Although, the way they've chosen to go about it in the book isn't my favorite, because while they have added new things, they've also taken scenes that happened between Dave and Linda in the podcast, and swapped Linda for Katie. I feel like they could've just added a couple more scenes with Katie and Dave organically.

In terms of Millie and Eli's characterization, I can tell what they were going for. Millie is the tired, exasperated older character with a surprisingly familial nature. Eli is the young and inexperienced kid who wants to be an adult. However, I feel like the characterization later in the book doesn't match up with the characters we are introduced to, and it's laid on a bit too thick. For example, as far as I can tell, Eli is a teenager, maybe an emancipated minor with his own apartment. He's an orphan, so no parents to take care of him but he seems to manage on his own. But when he meets up with Millie the whole "young and inexperienced" thing is played up so much that he feels like a child. On the flipside, Millie seems like your average tired millennial, but when she's with Eli she's suddenly twenty years older and 'motherly'. In one passage, Eli describes her as "a regular grown-up, with creases in her face that he hasn't yet developed, and skin that's damaged from too much sun. She's probably been married twice already". If I read things correctly, Millie is 29?? I get that they're going for the whole "found family" thing but these characters don't know each other well enough yet, and neither does the audience.

There's quite a few conflicts between our main group, particularly with one or more characters going up against Linda. In particular, we meet Ruth Nelson, an old lady who's miraculously still awake and calling for help deeper inside the hospital. Turns out Katie knows Ruth, as she and Ruth's daughter went through rehab together. Ruth is a cancer patient nearing the end of her life, and once she learns about the mysterious phenomenon taking the lives of everyone who falls asleep, she decides she doesn't want to live anymore. This brings up an immediate moral dilemma between Katie and Linda, but also within Linda herself. Supposedly it was Ruth's idea to go to sleep and be hooked up to an MRI machine while she dies, to give our survivors any information they can get, but this feels like a huge conflict that could've been fleshed out more. On the outside, Linda seems calm and collected, and intent on giving Ruth a choice with all the information she needs, but internally she feels like she's taken advantage of her. Katie is obviously distraught, and insists that Linda 'poisoned' Ruth's mind.

Afterwards Dave decides to make the second sacrifice of the evening by volunteering to fall asleep and be woken up just before he dies. We get some valuable information, in which we learn that the Dream Warriors are contacting people through their dreams and telling them to come to the island of Aristera where they reside.

The book skips around within each chapter to explore the perspectives of different characters. I think this sort of format works well for the podcast, but the book feels a bit disjointed. One thing I noticed was that scenes will ramp up in action, leading to the climax of the section, and then immediately switch to another perspective. It might work once or twice, but this happens multiple times throughout the novel and I feel like for a quite a few of these scenes, it's not ideal.

Several of the chapters are what I would call buffer chapters, in which we meet a series of characters right before they fall asleep and die. I guess these chapters are meant to connect the audience with the rest of the population and emphasize the scale of loss by creating connections with these people. At times, I felt like they distracted us from the main plot.

Dave and Katie are definitely the most important characters in the book, rekindling their relationship throughout this whole crisis and finding comfort in each other. Dave finally opens up about his traumatic childhood and intense nightmares, something he wasn't able to do in their relationship previously, and the two are committed to each other in a way they weren't before.

Dave's nightmares are a major plot point for the whole book, as he's been dreaming of the Elephant his whole life. Surprisingly, he's also met the Dream Warriors in his sleep as well, establishing a connection early on with the Whale.

While the other group tries to survive, Millie and Eli take a roadtrip, first to stock up on medication, picking up a wayward hitchhiker on the way, and then set for Cynagen, a pharmaceutical corporation that the hitchhiker believes is responsible for all this. The mini group goes through several crises, including the hitchhiker Chewdot falling asleep in the backseat, and a car crash as a result of Millie's narcolepsy. Their fate is left unknown by the end of the book.

The most important scene in the book is the flight leading up to the landing at Aristera. Things are getting harder as the main group is going on three days without sleep, but they're all trying their hardest. Katie doesn't make it out of the flight, falling asleep soon after they take off, but Matteo does, as opposed to his untimely demise in the podcast. Aristera itself is much more developed, with a colony of survivors from all over the world having made it here. But before our main cast can get to the colony, they are pulled into a living nightmare with the Elephant. Despite the horrors mean to manipulate him, Dave remembers the Whale and uses that knowledge against the Elephant. Just as the scene reaches its climax, with Dave seemingly injuring the Beast, we switch again to a new section of the chapter where the fight has already ended. Again, this format really doesn't work here.

When the group does finally make it to the colony, they are greeted with food and beds, and the insistence that they can sleep safely here. Dave eventually goes on to meet the Dream Warriors and the Whale itself, but the explanation here is hard to understand. The Dream Warriors have been with Dave his whole life, but I still don't really understand how.

The book ends with all of our previously dead characters from the buffer chapters becoming undead, and slowly making their way to Aristera.

Overall, the book was a wild ride. There were a lot of things I liked about it, though I can't say I enjoyed it more than the podcast. I am curious to see if there'll be another book anytime soon, seeing as the epilogue set up for one.

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used, which suspended executions during Biden's term. But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings.

While running for president in 2020, Biden's campaign website said he would “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.”

Similar language didn't appear on Biden's reelection website before he left the presidential race in July.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden's statement said. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

He took a political jab at Trump, saying, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called for those “caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” He later promised to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China's harsher treatment of drug peddlers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers.

There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term, more than under any president in modern history, and some may have happened fast enough to have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus at the federal death row facility in Indiana.

Those were the first federal executions since 2003. The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889.

Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The president's announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The announcement also followed the post-election pardon that Biden granted his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges after long saying he would not issue one, sparking an uproar in Washington. The pardon also raised questions about whether he would issue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House worries could be unjustly targeted by Trump’s second administration.

Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes their sentences will be commuted.

Martin Luther King III, who publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, said in a statement issued by the White House that the president "has done what no president before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penalty’s racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness.”

Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was converted, said the execution of "the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace."

“The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.”

[redlabopedagogique]

#La Petite école : un oeuf, une rose trémière, un bougainvillier, un hortensia et un cosmos.

En Pologne à Pâques on décore des œufs préalablement cuits. Pourquoi pas en faire en céramique pour que Louison puisse les garder comme souvenir sur les années. Et pourquoi pas aussi pour les enfants de la Petite école. Pour cette année c’est trop tard, nous sommes à la veille de Pâques. La céramique demande du temps : faire le moule, attendre qu’il sèche, faire un tirage, le cuire … puis le peindre. Je m’y prends trop tard. Ce sera pour l’année suivante. Je fais donc le moule cette semaine. Je trouve toujours ça très beau comme objet. 

Jeudi matin

Il est là sous mes yeux, les deux parties du moule et le positif à l’intérieur, l’orignal d’une longue série à venir, dans plusieurs mois, presqu’une année entière, pour nos prochains enfants.

À l’atelier cette après-midi du même jour, Soma, Zahra, Emanuel et Mohammad sont avec moi pour faire leur fleur. Une rose trémière, un bougainvillier, un hortensia et un cosmos. Ils découpent, concentrés. Ils s’alternent pour aller voir Julie. Ils s’échangent des blagues que je ne comprends pas toujours, des sourires. Soma murmure « doucement, un petit peu, bonjour, je parle le Dari, très bien, ça c’est qui… » Mohammad lève la tête, la regarde, puis se remet à sa branche de bougainvillier. 

Vendredi

C’est la fête c’est l’anniversaire d’Amadou. En rentrant du parc Mohammad et lui se parlent en arabe, ils rigolent ensemble. Derrière Zahra rigole aussi timidement. Je dis à Amadou « Mais Amadou tu comprends si bien l’arabe ? » « Oui oui Madame » me sourit-il. « Et Zahra, tu comprends aussi? ». Oui me hoche-t-elle de la tête en souriant aussi.

« Alors ça c’est une école incroyable je leur réponds, tous les enfants comprennent et nous les grands on comprend plus rien ». Ils explosent de rire.  

Vendredi soir

« Coucou Maya,

Cette chanson m’a tout de suite fait penser à toi, à vous. Pour plusieurs raisons, d’abord c’est Antony and the Johnson’s, deusio il est question d’enfance, et ce que j’adore c’est qu’il parle de lui, garçon, et aussi des filles.

Donc il envisage une frontière ténue entre les unes et les uns. Puis troisièmement, c’est une belle chanson pour Louison et aussi pour Gaston qui je suis sûre l’entendra d’où il est.

J’écoute la chanson à ma fenêtre, une mésange se pose sur la branche juste devant moi, prend dans son bec toute la mousse qu’elle peut, pour aller plus loin construire son nid, qui accueillera bientôt, ses oeufs de l’année. 

[alex-the-nonsensologist]

Disney Dreamland - Part 1: World Galleria

I posted about my idea of a Mysteryland a while back and decided to finally post the rest of my ideas for my personal Disney Park (nicknamed Disney Dreamland; may change the name later, who knows). This outline is a mix of ideas and random commentary related to each idea (I tend to blab a lot in my writing. Sorry in advance). Some ideas are half-baked as I only have an idea how I want them to look and feel rather than function, other ideas are intentionally left vague because they are dependent on experts on the subjects (which I am not). Also, I had trouble coming up with nice-sounding names, so that's why you’ll see a lot of names that are just basic descriptions in quotation marks. Would love some feedback wherever possible!

A bit of background, I originally envisioned this park as a Disneyland in New York (it's one of my favorite self-indulgent daydreams), and that led to my park being a sort of homage to the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair by featuring some iteration of all four of the attractions that debuted there, as well as my version of Main Street being a sort of mini World’s Fair. 

Shout-out to @disneylanddilettante , I was inspired to write this after reading her ideal version of Disneyland.

World Galleria

My version of Main Street would be under a lovely glass roof to shield from the weather, and resemble a Victorian arcade. Inspired by Tokyo’s World Bazaar (their equivalent of Main Street), and in homage to similar places throughout Europe’s history, such as The Great Exhibition of 1851, Passage des Panoramas in Paris, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Italy, etc. 

The architecture would be mostly Victorian with a bit of Turn of the 20th Century. To help carry the theme of “World’s Fair”, international restaurants would be featured here; their building exteriors would follow the Victorian look, but their signage, window displays, and interiors would fully reflect their respective cultures (for example, see Restaurant Hokusai in Tokyo’s World Bazaar).

The entire place would have plenty of ventilation, especially in the summer, to prevent it from feeling like a greenhouse. To help traffic flow, the street would have crossroad branches in the middle like Tokyo does, leading out into Adventureland on the left, and Discoveryland on the right. The parade does not run down this route (more on that later). This allows the center crossroads space to have special decorations for seasonal events, again just like Tokyo does. 

The entire avenue would have accessible second stories to make space for everything. I would also love to have at least one little alcove or mini-courtyard somewhere to relax, containing a small garden with a decorative fountain. 

Disney Dreamland Railroad main station: Victorian style with partial glass ceilings. Other stations will be in each of the five lands, all appropriately themed, and with dioramas in the tunnels teasing each land’s theme / attractions. I also think it would be really neat if the park’s entrance ticket booths were underneath this station.

Great Moments in Storytelling: Successor to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, one of the four New York World’s Fair attractions. Due to personal reasons, I’m not entirely comfortable making any President, past or present, shown as a celebrity or a friendly buddy. So I decided, how about famous authors instead? Perhaps Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, or all three and more? There would also be a narrative or discussion of some kind, so it’s not just them spouting random popular quotes from their works.

“Mini Disneyland model” : The models of the Storybook Land Canal Boats are a very neat idea, but I personally prefer taking my time to see models up close, not in the blink of an eye from afar. I think it would be really cool to have a scale model of the original Disneyland as an homage, and a learning exhibit.

“Galleria Cinema”: Showcases old Disney shorts, including Steamboat Willie, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the Alice Comedies. Maybe on special occasions it could even showcase foreign films, like The Red Balloon.

Penny Arcade: Mutoscopes and other coin-operated games. 

World Emporium shop.

"Snack tin shop": In Asia the parks sell snacks in these absolutely GORGEOUS decorative tins. This shop could sell a variety of international snacks with unique Disney art themed to each region / culture on the tin. 

Wishing You Were Here: Stationary shop and post office. Send postcards to your loved ones. Yearly calendar with exclusive artwork available here (Tokyo’s calendar artwork is ASTOUNDING). 

For restaurants, I would include restaurants with the following cuisines: 

Japanese, as a nod to Tokyo Disney Resort (French and Chinese cuisine will be elsewhere in the park).

Norwegian, Moroccan, and Canadian, as a nod to the remaining countries of EPCOT that won’t have restaurants elsewhere in the park.

Thai, as a nod to Amphibia without specifically being IP themed, though there could be a few hidden references to the show in the decor and menu.

Greek. Interior could be themed to mythology and have a few hidden references in the decor to the animated Hercules.

There won’t be any American cuisine in this area as they can already be found elsewhere in the park.

‘‘ it’s a small world ’’

One of the four New York World’s Fair attractions. In place of the classic Disney castle, here I put "it’s a small world" as my park’s icon. If you think about it, Small World is in its own way a kind of castle, it certainly looks like one, but also a small city. I think it neatly adds on to the theming of World Galleria.  Shout-out to @pureimagineering , who also imagined Small World as a park icon, but for different reasons.

This version’s facade would be castle-sized. Color scheme could be either pastels, or white with various shades of blue, and touches of gold. Entrance and queue would be on the back of the building to leave the front free for live entertainment, and nighttime fireworks and projection shows. The main central garden plaza hub would at least be the size of Tokyo’s, but nowhere near as big as Shanghai's, who only gets away with it because their castle is so dang huge. The hub would be surrounded by a river making it an island, much like Orlando’s hub. Features include a structure inspired by Tower of the Four Winds, and fun topiaries. For my park, the parade would follow a similar route to Tokyo and Shanghai, originating from the west and wrapping around the central hub before exiting eastward. 

There would also be a back garden plaza behind the ride building, with plenty of topiaries, flower gardens, and a little river running through the garden with lovely bridges crossing over it. This area transitions into Fantasyland. There would be an international buffet restaurant and a gift shop placed on the second floor of Small World, above the ride, with the entrance also on the back of the building. The classic clock tower would of course be in front, but there’d also be a smaller version in the back for the people in the queue and the restaurant.

A World of Tastes: International buffet. Interior architecture would resemble the finale room of the ride. Buffet would feature a little bit of something from every single country featured in the ride, with emphasis on cuisine not already featured anywhere else in the park.

‘‘it’s a small world’’ Toy Shop: Does anyone remember the singing Small World Animators’ Dolls that Disney Store released back in 2013 / 2014? I would love to have this store re-release them, as well as mini playset versions (non-singing). The store can of course also sell other Disney character plush, and plush keychains in unique outfits like the ones sold in Tokyo.

The Ride Itself:

I definitely want to have a queue designed by Joey Chou like the one he did for Tokyo’s version’s 2018 renovation. He is pretty much this generation’s Mary Blair. I just love all the kinetic sculptures, the delightful murals, and star-shaped lights dangling from the ceiling. It’s all so adorable and colorful!

For the ride itself, there would be more countries added. For example, Europe could have a few more Eastern European / Slavic countries at the end to transition into Asia. Similar to Hong Kong’s version, the Asia room would also have more dolls and scenes, but rearranged so that the Middle East is in the back to better flow into the Africa room. I would also definitely add the Mandarin and Cantonese versions of the song to Asia’s audio. It would be great if there were more countries represented in Africa, or at least a portion added for the savanna, a marketplace scene, and Mount Kilimanjaro. Maybe also include audio of the song in Swahili and Zulu. I’m not opposed to a North America room, so long as there is decent representation of various Native American tribes, and Canada.

For the ride music, I’d love a version that closely resembled the soundtrack that Paris used to have. I think the instrumentation and vocals from that version is simply top tier joy-inducing. For the finale room I’d use the EPIC orchestral rendition from the Small World finale unit in Tokyo’s Electrical Parade Dreamlights.

While I myself have no problems with the dolls, I am willing for the dolls’ faces to be redesigned to be slightly more cartoony to reduce any uncanny valley.

Controversial opinion, I personally have little issue with most of the Disney character cameos that are in the Hong Kong, California, and Tokyo versions of the ride. Since most of the human characters are portrayed in doll form, and the non-humans match the stylized look of the animals throughout the ride, they tend to blend in rather well and make for a fun Easter Egg game. I will admit, some characters stand out too much, like the Toy Story gang, or had unnecessarily extravagant sets added just for their sake, like Rapunzel who had her whole tower added in Tokyo. As a middle ground, for my version of Small World, I narrowed down the Disney cameos to only 4 specific groups in homage to the movies that Mary Blair had a heavy influence on. 

Alice in Wonderland: I’m a little biased as Lewis Carroll’s Alice is my favorite book. Alice and the White Rabbit fit in well at their current location next to the UK chessboard, and are fine to leave as is. 

Peter Pan: Peter and TinkerBell flying above the audience works just fine as they are decently hidden out of view most of the time. While I think Wendy sitting on the moon is a very cute image, I’ll leave her out to keep the cameos to a minimum.

Cinderella: The current versions stand out a little too much, especially Hong Kong’s where she and Prince Charming have the castle added behind them. For my version, I would only have Gus and Jaq tucked away on the Eiffel Tower (where Mary’s cameo is hanging out), but I would also have the Eiffel Tower rendered in white, blue, and silver in the style of Cinderella Castle.

The Three Caballeros: While Donald, José, and Panchito stand out the most of the four cameos I’ve picked, they were part of a genuine cultural movement as a result of the Good Neighbor policy, not to mention warmly received by Latin America, so they’re perfectly in the spirit of Small World, and I think they’re fine to leave as is.

Starting in the hub, the five themed genre lands of the park, going clockwise, are:

Adventureland

Mysteryland

Fantasyland

Create-It-Land

Discoveryland

[viofitz]

Review: Fujimi Super Tune Up F Series

Introduction:

Fujimi Mokei Co., Ltd. is a Japanese model manufacturer based in Shizuoka Prefecture. It produces plastic model kits of a variety of vehicles, including model aircraft, model cars, model ships and model armored vehicles along with historical structures and science fiction kits. Since "mokei" means "model" in Japanese, "Fujimi Mokei" is often called "Fujimi Model(s)" in English. Due to the popularity of Formula One cars, they also produced their own 1/32 scale F-1 cars. Judging from their respective boxarts, the cars were seemingly based on the 1989 Formula One season. Which probably also released that year, a year earlier before Tamiya or ARII released their own F-1 cars. It seems like there're 2 versions of this series, since 2 of them I got has variant colored boxarts. The white boxarts version, they're included with large rear velgs, small front velgs and plastic tires. While the dark colored boxarts was included with gold plated wheelsets and sponge tires.

No. 01: Mclaren Honda:

Once again due to the popularity of Mclaren, many toy companies including Fujimi took the chance to make their own product for money making. The car was based on Mclaren MP4/5 judging on the artwork and the year they released this line. However, this conversion wasn't inspired from the Legendary Ayrton Senna version but, rather Alain Prost.

Design thoughts: Unlike Tamiya and ARII, this representation of Mclaren appeared to have blocky shape on it's side fairings and the nose is very thick. I like Fujimi's representation of Mclaren car as well.

No. 02: Benetton Ford:

The car was based on B189 and most likely based on either Nelson Piquet or Emanuele Pirro version and unlike Tamiya & ARII, B189 has bright green colored bodyshell. Although, the actual car has 5 color schemes.

Design thoughts: Also digging on this. Perhaps, out from all release, this is the most colorful livery coming from Benetton Ford since both Tamiya and ARII made B190B and B192 versions which only got less colorings on their livery.

No. 03: Leyton House March:

Well, pretty unique Fujimi actually released something different than both Tamiya or ARII. The car was based on March 881 driven by Mauricio Gugelmin and has turquoise colored bodyshell.

Design thoughts: I gotta admit, despite being underrated, this is one of the cool yet unique. Unfortunately, the side part of the rear nose was made to be quite narrow, thus hinders fitting into it's chassis since the battery locker will blocking the bodyshell's side rear nose. You'll have to remove the battery locker of you want to fit the bodyshell into the chassis

No. 04: Ferrari:

Well, other than McLaren, Ferrari is the 2nd that caught attention to even Fujimi to make their own. It was based on Ferrari 640 and like every Ferrari cars it has red colored bodyshell and it was inspired from Gerhard Berger's car instead of Prost, since Prost is still on McLaren team back in 1989.

Design thoughts: I like how this car appeared to be the slimmest of all but, it's nose is quite bold. This is pretty different representation since both Tamiya and ARII made the Ferrari cars looking very broad.

No. 05: Black Special

Unlike the others, Black Special is a fictional car made by Fujimi and after a close inspection from me, the black special is literally McLaren Honda bodyshell in black color. It seems like it was meant to be a special release from Fujimi.

Design thoughts: Well, despite being a recolor but, this car is looking pretty wicked and badass, I love how Fujimi also went wild on producing their own original design instead of referencing another F1 cars.

No. 06: Lamborghini:

To be frank... I couldn't find an actual car that has livery like this but, since it was called Lamborghini, it can be assumed the car was inspired from Lola LC89. However, the bodyshell wasn't even based on Lola but, it was a reused of Leyton House March bodyshell in navy blue color. I guess this is just another one of Fujimi's special release. Unlike the others, the car's livery doesn't even have any numbering.

Design thoughts: I personally like this one most, it's simple and I really like the color, eventhough it was loosely inspired from a certain F1 car. Like Leyton House March, it's bodyshell won't fit if the battery locker is attached on it's chassis.

Super Tune Up F Series Chassis:

The chassis was build similar like the old class tamiya mini 4WD chassis however, despite the looks it doesn't have any 4WD features. Even the kit only got 2 gears to attach, and each kit was included with 2 types of gear, red for standard run and black for speed run. The gear box appeared to have exposed view on the motor and gears. The terminals are silver color, I gotta say the chassis mechanism was designed to be way too simple. Each kit were included with 2 types of keylock; the standard one and the one with rear bumper. I know the photo contents are inconsistents, since one of them were already half assembled and the Ferrari one was already fully assembled while the rests were still in unassembled condition but, to tell you the truth it took me 3 years to complete this Fujimi kits. They're way harder to find than Tamiya or ARII, which I don't really care anymore getting them unassembled or fully assembled or even what versions that I got.

Thoughts:

I love the colorful bodyshell of these compared to ARII which mostly only got 4 colors although, it surprised me a little that some of the bodyshells are simply a reused from certain previous kits. But, the variable colorings helps to hide their similarities vaguely. And... I never expected that they're not designed for mini 4WD despite they looked like one. Gotta admit the driver cars they picked are nothing famous except Alain Prost. It's no wonder the line became so underrated and not many people know this but... Atleast, I'm happy enough to be able to complete them all. The main problem from this kits, several kit with white boxarts suffered breakable plastic tires, I guess it's pretty understandable since they've been aged so long thus making them brittle eventhough I bought them brand new unassembled. And the Leyton House March/Lamborghini bodyshell would be reused by Academy Model Kit (Korean plastic model company) to make their own Mini 4WD car called Hot Wings with slight alterations, mainly for fitting their own Super-1 chassis.

Paintapp and decals by Archyd

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.26 (before 1940)

657 – First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I. 811 – Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is seriously wounded. 920 – Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at the Battle of Valdejunquera. 1309 – The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V. 1509 – The Emperor Krishnadevaraya ascends to the throne, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire. 1529 – Francisco Pizarro González, Spanish conquistador, is appointed governor of Peru. 1579 – Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a "fair and good" bay on the coast of the Pacific Northwest (probably Oregon or Washington). 1581 – Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): The northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II. 1703 – During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession. 1745 – The first recorded women's cricket match takes place near Guildford, England. 1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. 1775 – The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General. 1778 – The Emigration of Christians from the Crimea in 1778 begins. 1788 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States. 1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom. 1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War begins. 1822 – José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar. 1822 – First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis. 1847 – Liberia declares its independence from the United States. France and the United Kingdom are the first to recognize the new nation. 1861 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run. 1863 – American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends; At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces. 1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal at Bayreuth. 1882 – The Republic of Stellaland is founded in Southern Africa. 1887 – Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement. 1890 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina the Revolución del Parque takes place, forcing President Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman's resignation. 1891 – France annexes Tahiti. 1892 – Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain. 1899 – Ulises Heureaux, the 27th President of the Dominican Republic, is assassinated. 1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation). 1918 – Emmy Noether's paper, which became known as Noether's theorem was presented at Göttingen, Germany, from which conservation laws are deduced for symmetries of angular momentum, linear momentum, and energy. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Germany and Italy decide to intervene in the war in support for Francisco Franco and the Nationalist faction. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete with the Nationalist victory.