#four continents 2017

[figureskatingcostumes]

Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter's tango costumes at the 2017 Finlandia Trophy and 2018 Four Continents.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? 1984

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The song was recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts such as U2, Sting, Wham!, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Phil Collins, as well as the US group Kool & the Gang. The song was recorded in a single day in November 1984, and the single was released in the UK on 7 December 1984.

It entered the UK singles chart at number one, where it remained for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one. It sold a million copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997". UK sales passed three million on the last day of 1984. The song also reached number one in 13 other countries. It was released in the US on 10 December 1984 and sold 1.9 million copies in its first eleven days on release but did not reach number one, due to the more complex chart system, which counted airplay as well as sales. Despite outselling the official number one by four to one, it did not make the top ten due to a lack of airplay, and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song had sold 11.7 million copies worldwide by 1989 and 3.8 million in the UK by 2017.

Most retailers agreed to sell the record at its cost price of £1.35 including VAT. The British government donated an amount to the charity equal to the amount of tax they had collected on the single. The song raised £8 million for Ethiopia within a year, far exceeding Geldof's hopes. When Wham!, who appeared on "Do They Know It's Christmas?", reached number two with their single "Last Christmas" (poll #445), they donated their royalties to the Band Aid Trust. The success led to several other charity singles, such as "We Are the World" (1985) by USA for Africa, and spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief and the 1985 Live Aid concert. In 2010, the BBC apologised after falsely reporting that money raised by Band Aid and Live Aid had been diverted by rebels and used to pay for weapons.

Critics objected to the song's depiction of Ethiopia and Africa as barren. Ure said the song was secondary to the purpose of raising money for the cause. It was re-recorded and re-released in 1989, 2004 and 2014. All three reached number one in the UK, and the 1989 and 2004 versions became Christmas number ones. A new mix, combining elements of the previous versions, was released in 2024 for the 40th anniversary. For the 2014 version, several contentious lyrics were rewritten, and the song was changed to focus on Ebola rather than famine. The new lyrics have also been criticised as promoting stereotypes and condescension. Criticism from Africans regarding the song remained: in 2014, African activists and Twitter users complained that the song disregarded the diversity of the continent of Africa and ultimately did more harm than good for the people.

Several publications and commentators have described the lyrics as racist and demeaning towards Ethiopians. Ethiopia is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, yet the lyrics and title imply that Africans would be unaware of Christmas at all. Peter Gill, one of the few Western journalists in Ethiopia at the time, said: "As Ethiopians have pointed out ever since, they did of course know it was Christmas because the starving were mainly [Orthodox] Christian."

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" received a total of 48,7% yes votes.

[yuzurujenn]

[2024.08.05] AERA x Yuzuru Hanyu: 24.8.12-19 No. 37

person in focus

"After all, it's frustrating when I can't perform well."

A session with photographer Mika Ninagawa for the first time in a year. In a long interview exclusive to this magazine, he talks about the ideals he pursues.

Writer: Takaomi Matsubara

Professional skater Yuzuru Hanyu

Born December 7, 1994 in Sendai. 2009 Won the Junior Grand Prix Final at age 14. 2010 Became the youngest Japanese male to win the World Junior Championships. 2011 While practicing at a rink in Sendai, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, and he had to live in an evacuation shelter. The rink where he was training was temporarily closed. 2012 First participated in the World Championships, coming in third. 2013 Graduated from Tohoku High School. Enrolled in a correspondence course at the Faculty of Human Sciences at Waseda University, studying human informatics and cognitive sciences. Won his first Grand Prix Final. Won four consecutive titles thereafter. 2014 First Asian gold medal in men's figure skating at the Sochi Olympics. First World Championship win. 2017 Second World Championship win. 2018 Second gold medal in men's figure skating at the Pyeongchang Olympics. 2020 Won his first Four Continents Championship, becoming the first man to win all major international junior and senior competitions. 2022 Participated in the Beijing Olympics. In July, announced his professional career. The ice show "Prologue" was held in Yokohama in November and in Hachinohe in December. 2023 In February, the ice show "GIFT" was held at Tokyo Dome. In March, the ice show "notte stellata" was held in Miyagi Prefecture. In March and April, he appeared in the ice show "Stars on Ice" (Osaka, Iwate, Yokohama). In May and June, he appeared in the ice show "Fantasy on Ice" (Makuhari, Miyagi, Niigata, Kobe). In November, the ice show "RE_PRAY" tour began at Saitama Super Arena. The following year, it was held at SAGA Arena in Saga in January, Pia Arena MM in Yokohama in February, and Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Miyagi in April. 2024 In March, the ice show "notte stellata" was held in Miyagi Prefecture. In May and June, he appeared in the ice show "Fantasy on Ice" (Makuhari, Aichi). On September 15th, he will be performing in the "Noto Peninsula Reconstruction Support Charity Performance Challenge" in Ishikawa Prefecture.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been two years since he made a new start as a professional figure skater in the summer of 2022. In 2024, he led three successful ice shows: "RE_PRAY" (Saga, Yokohama, Miyagi performances), "notte stellata" and "Fantasy on Ice".

The shoot with Mika Ninagawa for the first time in a year began with a cheerful greeting from each other, "Thank you for your continued support this year," and "Thank you." When she said to him, "You're still as young as ever!", Hanyu replied with a smile, a little embarrassed, "I'm almost 30."

"Move freely."

With those words, he made expressions and gestures as he pleased.

Various scenes were set up in the vast studio. Hanyu, who changed costumes and was photographed in each scene, moved and made expressions freely, sometimes under instructions and sometimes as if he was imagining (creating) a story himself. The people watching repeatedly let out gasps of amazement as the images were displayed one after another on the computer monitor. It was nothing short of amazing how he instantly exuded various moods - from boyish with a hint of innocence to cool and seductive.

His creativity was not limited to the way he behaved as a subject. When the BGM was played during the shoot, his body naturally responded to the music, and he also requested songs himself when he saw the costumes. There was also a moment when he saw a prop that had been set up and asked, "Do you have one more of these?" This revealed his high level of creative awareness.

The shooting has completed.

"Thank you very much," he said, and there was something light-hearted and cheerful about it. After a year, what he showed in the studio was a more mature and expressive side to him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exclusive interview with this magazine

[In pursuit of a distant ideal]

He is now in his third year as a professional figure skater. Reflecting on his days of taking on unprecedented challenges, he spoke about what he has gained from them and what the future holds.

Photo: Mika Ninagawa    Writer: Takaomi Matsubara

Yuzuru Hanyu, the journey continues

hair & make up: Noboru Tomizawa  styling: Masataka Hattori costume: NEEDLES    BED j.w. FORD    YUKI HASHIMOTO  prop styling: Ayumi Endo

Yuzuru Hanyu started out as a professional figure skater in 2022. In his first professional ice show, "Prologue," he performed the first solo ice show in history. He skated for nearly two hours, with a structure that richly conveyed his skating career. Following "Prologue," he then performed a solo show at the Tokyo Dome for the first time in history, "GIFT." The ice show filled the gigantic venue, which had never been seen before.  After "Prologue" and "GIFT," he held the performance "notte stellata" in March 2023, which was filled with thoughts and prayers for March 11. It has been a year since our interview last summer, following those three performances.

Changes in the "depth" of thinking

"When I was interviewed a year ago, it had just been a year since I turned professional. I had a desire to grow and learn more specialized things. In the year since then, I think that my technique, expression, and many other aspects have changed. Among them, I feel that I have had many more opportunities to think about expression. I have been thinking about expression even in my daily life. I think that the way I think about my show, the way I think about each program, the depth of those things has clearly changed." He talks about what triggered the change in the past year. "First of all, I had to spend more time thinking about writing a new ice story after GIFT and also about my own performance.” The new ice story was "RE_PRAY", under the title "ICE STORY 2nd".  It opened on November 4, 2023 at Saitama Super Arena. It was performed in Saitama for two days, on that day and the following day, and in the new year it was performed in Saga on January 12th and 14th, and in Yokohama on February 17th and 19th, for a total of six performances in three cities. After the premiere in Saitama on November 4th, Hanyu said the following. "First of all, I myself have learned from games, manga, novels, and various other sources, about what life is all about, how precious life is, and other similar things that everyone else roughly feels.

In games, the concept of life is really light in a sense, and you can repeat it, so you can use characters to do all sorts of things and push forward with curiosity. If you apply that to the real world, you might be a person who has the drive to grab hold of dreams, or conversely, from a different perspective, you might be a very terrifying person. But if you could do it all over again, I'm sure people would try it."

24 hours a day, always skating

In this story with a game motif, the question of "choice" is often depicted. We make choices in our lives, even if we are not aware of it. What if you choose a different option than the one you originally chose? Or would you choose the same option? This story asks the audience, which serves as an opportunity to reexamine their way of life. Of course, just like "Prologue" and "GIFT," the fact that this story was completed and received with overwhelming acclaim was due to the performance of Hanyu, who was the sole performer. And even after six performances, he did not try to stay in the same place. He continued to evolve. There were many evidences of this growth at the final performance of the Yokohama show, for example. The movements in the performance of "Chicken, Snake and Pig" where he moved forward as if resisting the shackles. The performance of "Megalovania", following a silent performance without music with only the sound of his edges resonating, was more integrated with the music than in previous performances. Not only in the production aspects, but also in the details of Hanyu's performance itself, there were traces of refinement here and there. After the Saga performance, Hanyu spent his days preparing more rigorously for the Yokohama performance.  "Of course, I trained and restricted my diet. Well, how should I say it, there are 24 hours in a day, but I spent the entire time on nothing else but skating. In other words, skating was always present, 24 hours a day.” "That's right. To put it simply, it felt like I was spending every day just working on 'RE_PRAY'." The reason he spent all his time facing skating was because he had regrets about the Saga performance. "After all, it's frustrating when I can't perform well." However, the standards of frustration have changed from when he was a competing athlete.

Still not enough

"Gradually, the focus is shifting from scores to an evaluation. If something technical that I had planned didn't go well, then my evaluation vector changes and my perspective shifts. I couldn't accomplish what I wanted to accomplish in Saga, so I was simply disappointed." After spending 24 hours focused on skating, the Yokohama performance came. After the final performance, he said, "I feel a sense of accomplishment like winning the Olympics." While he felt a sense of fulfillment, he wasn't completely satisfied. He also felt that his ability had not yet caught up with what he wanted to do. "So I feel like there are still things I need to study more. Of course, I think I'm evolving. I think I'm getting better. But I still feel like it's not enough. As I keep digging deeper and deeper, my ideals become higher, and the things I want to express are becoming more and more specific. The more my ideals become more concrete, the more I feel like I'm not catching up." He is aware that he still has areas where he needs to improve, especially in the finer details. This is something he realises now, which he didn't feel this way when he was competing in the sport. "It's impossible to realise this when you're a competitive athlete. After all, if you can jump, you win. To be honest, if you couldn’t jump, there was no point in talking about it, as the outcome of the competition was pretty much decided by how many types of quadruple jumps there are and where you put them in the program. For example, what memories do you have of this song, the background of this song, what is the story you want to express, how will the story and the song fit together, or what meaning is in the choreography, to be honest, there’s not much room to think about them. You have to complete all your technical elements in one go in the four minutes of a competition (free skate), so that's all you can focus on."

A world not in first place

Win the match. In a competition, that is set as a goal. "Since I had already achieved that, there was no way I could go any higher. If you think about it in the world of competition, I won first place, so even if I tried harder, I couldn't get any higher than first place. In other words, I just tried to see how long I could maintain that first place position.

But in the world I'm in right now, even if I think I'm in first place, it may not be. It’s a place where I can think, "I'm still at the bottom". When I look at the various works of art or technically excellent things from around the world, I feel that there are still many things I can't do, so I think that I still have a long way to go." When he moved from the world of competition, which was fixed in a sense, to a new world, it was no longer a confined space. However, whether one knows its vastness or not, whether one feels that there is an endlessly wide world out there, is up to the individual. So even though the world is infinite, some people only notice a limited space. Or, there are those who limit the space themselves.

Right now, Hanyu thinks, "I still have a long way to go." He feels like he's at the bottom. This is because he knows that the world is endlessly vast. The reason he feels this way is because he has the ambition to move forward without being content with the present. So instead of seeing the place he has arrived at as the end point, he knows that there is still space to go beyond that.

Ideals evolve

"I may have surpassed the ideal I had a year ago. But the sense of distance between me and my ideal is probably the same as it was a year ago. For example, if the distance between me and my ideal a year ago was 10 meters, it may be 10 meters, no, 11 meters now. That's how I feel. I'm living and experiencing life, I see information every day, and in the midst of that, my ideal evolves. My ideal gets further and further away. But at the same time, through what I have seen and experienced, I'm sure I’m also one step closer to my ideal." Then, after a short pause, he continued with a smile. "As long as I want to, I think I can continue for the rest of my life." The skater is still on his journey, striving towards the ideals he has built with his own will. 

Source: AERA issue 24.8.12-19 No.37, pg 9-15 Info: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0D89L6LS2

[mariacallous]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s looming return to office is causing sleepless nights in Europe. Diplomats expect Trump 2.0 will cause more headaches because the world is less stable today than it was in 2017.

Chief among their fears is the growing partnership between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. “Trump is getting one global theater. And everything our adversaries are doing right now seems connected,” a Western security official said, on the condition of anonymity.

It’s unclear if Trump—not shy about his domestic agenda coming first—understands exactly what the prospect of an alliance between four nuclear powers whose leaders hate the United States means.

“These are four countries who are already working together against American interests,” said Brett Bruen, former White House global engagement director. “North Korea is helping Russia invade Ukraine. Iran’s proxies are attacking ships in the Red Sea. China is buying Iranian oil. It all fits and could get worse if Trump becomes more isolationist.”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s decision to aid Russia by sending troops to Ukraine is the most surprising and ostentatious example of how the axis of autocracies might continue to grow.

The benefits to the Kremlin are obvious: Russia has suffered heavy losses since the start of the war, and North Korea is willing to help plug that gap by sending its own men to near-certain death.

What’s in it for Pyongyang is less clear. “There is significant risk of North Korean soldiers defecting as soon as they arrive in Ukraine—something the South Koreans are preparing for,” said John Everard, the former U.K. ambassador to North Korea. “Defections from his elite special forces would embarrass Kim. It would also be a major embarrassment if his troops turn out to be useless. It could damage his reputation as a man to be truly feared.”

However, Everard also said that Kim needs a backup plan. “North Korea has been almost solely reliant on China for a long time, and China has been signaling its displeasure at Kim’s new relationship with Russia,” Everard said. “Meanwhile, we don’t know what Kim is getting in return for sending troops to Russia. Perhaps he wants help developing new nuclear weapons and missile technology, or perhaps he has been forced to agree to send troops because, now that his stockpiles are exhausted, he can no longer meet Russian demands for munitions.”

NATO officials fear a global escalation of the European conflict. If North Korea continues to support Russia, does South Korea support Ukraine by sending missiles? Might Ukraine strike North Korean targets? And if it did, would North Korea demand China makes good on treaty commitments to protect North Korea? While alliance sources say that is “close to China’s worst nightmare,” it’s being seriously considered.

Anything that eases Russia’s burden in Ukraine gives Russian President Vladimir Putin room for his long-term objective: weakening the West and expanding Russian influence. Europe will continue as his primary target.

“The Kremlin and its proxies have attempted to influence multiple elections in Europe with the specific aim of installing pro-Russian politicians or governments across the continent,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House.

Whether it’s claims that the United States sees Europe as a colony via NATO or that Ukrainian neo-Nazis are offering human sacrifices to pagan gods, there are thousands of examples of Kremlin proxies seeking to coerce Europeans into hating Putin’s enemies. This type of activity often peaks during elections and has helped Kremlin stooges, such as Irakli Kobakhidze in Georgia, win elections or grow in strength across Europe.

Obviously, anti-West and anti-NATO sentiment is a danger in Europe itself, but it also has consequences for Americans. “The United States benefits when Europe’s economy thrives. It benefits from a strong Europe standing up for U.S. interests further afield, especially in Asia. There is no benefit to the United States if Europe becomes a Putin playground,” Giles said.

For Iran, the new axis of autocracies provides answers to some existential questions. Bluntly, Iran needs allies, and its relations with the other three are largely transactional.

“Iran plays different roles for each of these actors: To Russia, it’s a military partner and potential thorn in the side of the United States. To China, Iran is key to energy security and specifically the security of oil shipments from the Gulf,” said Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media, a website that publishes analysis on the Middle East.

Iran, a country with multiple regional enemies—chiefly Israel—might seek increased military support later. This could be of concern to the United States if the region becomes less stable in the coming years. “The main threat that Iran could potentially pose for the United States is in the region, with American military bases and other facilities potentially at risk in the event of an all-out confrontation,” Ali Shabani said.

All the potential chaos the other three can cause would suit China well, especially if Trump whacks Beijing with steep tariffs once in office.

One European diplomat explained that a common fear among their peers is that Trump doesn’t fully grasp how many moving parts there are nor how they interact with each other. There is legitimate concern, for example, that Trump will cut a deal on Ukraine and pull back from NATO. Doing so would expose European security and leave the continent vulnerable to Russia. Trump also wants to impose tariffs on European exporters.

“You cannot withdraw support for Europe’s security, hit their economies, then expect their companies to stop selling semiconductors to China or consumers to not buy cheaper Chinese goods, which means what happens in Europe now could have consequences for Taiwan, which would have consequences for allies in the Indo-Pacific. It��s all connected,” the diplomat said.

Fears that Trump doesn’t take global affairs seriously are hardly new. But what might be different in his second term is how much, or how little, attention he pays to the rest of the world.

“The first time around, people were worried he would be looking for reasons to hit the red button,” Bruen said. “I think this time, it’s more concerning that he will turn a blind eye to the rest of the world and see the behavior of people like Putin and [Chinese President Xi Jinping] as not being America’s problem.”

Trump might want to focus on a purely domestic agenda, as is his right. But enemies are looking at a potential void right now and seeing an opportunity to reach a shared objective: to take a major bite out of Washington’s global influence and swallow it up themselves.

[rinkasisopods]

wishing a happy retirement to south korea's dabin choi! dabin is the 2017 asian winter games champion, which was south korea's first figure skating medal at the event. dabin has placed top ten at the 2018 olympics, 2017 worlds, and three four continent championships. her results at 2017 worlds secured two tickets for south korea at their home olympics.

zzikssa

[yuzu-all-the-way]

Yuzuru Hanyu Through the Years MasterPost (senior)

Yuzuru Hanyu's first and last* senior competition figure skating costumes, White Legend (SP) & Ten to Chi to (FS)

*Technically the last costume is the Haru Yo Koi gala costume, but I'm focusing on the competition itself

1) Olympics Through the Years (2014; 2018; 2022)

2) Grand Prix Series Through the Years (2010-2019)

3) Japanese Nationals Through the Years (2010-2015; 2019-2021)

4) Four Continents Through the Years (2011; 2013; 2017; 2020)

5) World Championships Through the Years (2012-2017; 2019; 2021)

6) World Team Trophy Through the Years (2015; 2017; 2021)

7) World record-breaking reactions Through the Years

___________________________________________________________

This concludes the summary of Yuzuru Hanyu's senior competitive years.

After turning pro on 19th July 2022, Yuzu has continued breaking "world records", this time related to what ice shows look like and what can be done within an ice show.

[o-craven-canto]

Four scenarios for the formation of the next Pangea-like supercontinent, between 200 and 250 million years after our time. (Sources: "The next supercontinent", Stephen Battersby, 2017; "Back to the future: Testing different scenarios for the next supercontinent gathering", Davies et al., 2018)

In all these scenarios, for the next 50 million years or so Africa keeps crawling north, pushing against the southern edge of Eurasia until the Mediterranean disappears, replaced by a colossal mountain range.

1. Novopangea. The current trends continue: the Atlantic keeps growing from the mid-Atlantic ridge, and the Pacific keeps shrinking, its crust consumed by the subduction zones of the Ring of Fire and fueling the volcanoes of Japan and Peru. Africa breaks along the Great Rift, sending an eastern continent out into the Indian Ocean until it collides with Australasia. As the Pacific disappears around its one-billionth birthday, North America merges back-to-back with East Asia, trapping Australia and Antarctica in the middle.

2. Pangea Ultima or Proxima. As Atlantic crust grows older, it finally gives way, and the small subduction zones on the eastern coast of the Americas join into a massive trench. The Atlantic starts closing once again. The new subduction also splits Antarctica in two pieces, with the eastern half entering the Indian Ocean. The continents rejoin in a configuration similar to the original Pangea, although the Old World -- with which Africa and Australia are solidly fused -- rotates so that Africa wedges between the Americas. The remains of the Atlantic and Indian ocean form a Mediterranean-like inland sea.

3. Amasia. The eastern subduction zone of the Americas only opens partially, causing them to rotate. Both the Atlantic and the Pacific remain open, except for the far north of the Pacific. What closes is the Arctic Ocean, as all continents converge northward, without much changing their shape. Australia pushes hard against Northeast Asia, merging fully with it. The exception is Antarctica which remains at the South Pole, surrounded by a massive circumplanetary ridge from which all new crust is produced and by a narrower subduction ring that will raise volcanoes all around its coast.

4. Aurica. This time, both the Atlantic and the Pacific close up. The dominant ocean is a completely new one: Eurasia tears in two along the Indus valley and the rift of Lake Baikal, with the western half travelling west, and the eastern half (with Australia) east, until they both collide with North America on its opposite sides. For a while, the Ring of Fire is an Atlantic phenomenon. South America is similarly crushed between Antarctica and Africa.

In any case, eventually new rifts will form, and the new supercontinent will also shatter like Pangea once did (and before that, Rodinia), producing new continents of unrecognizable shape.

Video: Novopangea

Video: Pangea Ultima

Video: Amasia

Video: Aurica

[theseshipsshallsail]

So, I wrote a little thing for Fall in Love with Charmie.

Dedicated to @tandaforever for organising this little fest, and @valgal78 for making me aware of it.

Prompts are CMBYN promo era - hurt/comfort - the sweater of love. (Though lets be honest, this all stemmed from one particular line like usual) 🧿❤️

No sweaters were harmed in the making of this fic, and all🦎go unmentioned and irrelevant as they should be.

UNDER AND OVER (AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN)

There’s a low, droning vibration stemming from the walnut coffee table; his mobile, he assumes, long-since ignored within the pocket of his discarded jeans. A lone sock dangles accusingly from the overhead light fitting: a fate reminiscent of the boxers draped over the dresser mirror. Some might be shocked, he’ll admit, at his lack of designer deference, but Armie’s tracksuit is likewise abandoned on the hotel carpet, and Tim…

…well.

Tim couldn’t care less for wrinkled McQueens when the other man’s clutching his naked waist like his life depends on it.

When the telltale creaks of the king size mattress are all but smothered by the hiccupped moans spilling from his desert-dry lips.

When the searing heat gathered at the base of his spine is a fail-safe indicator he’s about to come untouched: the relentless drag of Armie’s cock against his screaming prostate making his balls draw tight in preparation.

And perhaps he says some of that out loud, because Armie surges upright with a shaky nod, a mottled flush extending from his hairline to his beautifully bare chest as he crushes their mouths together. Tongue delving rough and possessive: claiming him twice over.

It’s been weeks since the promo ended. Since they were on the same continent, let alone the same bed. Tim needs him like he needs his next breath - crazy as the thought may be - and starved of such contact by dint of their hectic schedules, a limited diet of filthy text messages and late night video calls only served to fan the flames. 

The connection they forged that dreamlike summer refuses to fade. They’d both fallen irrevocably. Hard and heedless: regardless of the pain. But here and now there’s nothing to stand between them. Nothing else beyond the suite’s four walls. Tim’s entire world hinges on the salty tang of Armie’s collarbone - the scratchy stubble tickling his temple - the dizzying rush of blood hurtling through his quicksilver veins, and for all that he finds himself drowning in the intimacy, it doesn’t stop him from craving more.

It never does.

Never will.

That said, an actor’s life is one of flexibility: adapting to the changing tides. Inspiration strikes in a blink, and flashing a salacious grin he reaches behind him, snagging the soft grey sweater he’d stripped from Armie’s body not twenty minutes earlier; sighing in bone-deep contentment when the lingering scent of herbal shampoo and expensive cologne envelopes his arms and torso in a familiar, woollen embrace.

Saccharine, maybe, but when Armie burst in on a routine piano lesson - drawing him into a love unforeseen - the quirks and insecurities he’d spent years repressing soon became free. 

Accepted. 

Wanted and explored. 

Half the pleasure is knowing what this does to you. Knowing you like seeing what it does to me, Armie told him once, drunk on the build moreso than the wine, so it’s no surprise when his partner simply smirks in return, brows knit in fond amusement as he nuzzles the droopy collar.

“Don’t think I’m complaining,” he murmurs, the raw urgency of before notably absent. “But what happened to pants off, Hammer: no clothes ‘till Thursday?” 

He has a point. A damned good one, at that. Yet -

“I want to feel you surround me, even when you’re inside me,” Tim replies, leaning forward to kiss him for all the times he couldn’t. “I want to smell you on my skin, even when we’re apart...”

“Fuck…”

“You’re mine,” Tim says, wrapping the sweater’s cuff around his sensitive glans. “And I’m yours,” he declares, smearing it with the sticky pearls. 

Armie’s eyes grow glassy as he realises his intent, and keeping him pinned by cock and stare alike, Tim proceeds to pick up the pace; leaving him in no doubt that sooner or later, the rest of the world will know it too.

[judgerizzo]

"Nathan Wei Chen (born May 5, 1999) is an American figure skater and author. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (2018, 2019, 2021), the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), a ten-time Grand Prix medalist (8 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze), a 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22)."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN CHEN !

[justforbooks]

Born a photographer March 29, 1944. Abbas Attar was an Iranian transplanted to Paris. He dedicated himself to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. In a career that spanned six decades, he covered wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa during apartheid. He also documented life in Mexico over several years, and pursued a lifelong interest in religion and its intersection with society.

From 1978 to 1980, Abbas photographed the revolution in Iran, to which he returned in 1997 after seventeen years of voluntary exile. His book Iran Diary 1971-2002 is a critical interpretation of Iranian history, photographed and written as a private journal.

During his years of exile Abbas traveled constantly. Between 1983 and 1986 he journeyed through Mexico, attempting to photograph a country as a novelist might write about it. The resulting exhibition and book, Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, helped define his photographic aesthetic.

From 1987 to 1994, he focused on the growth of Islamism throughout the world. Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, the subsequent book and exhibition, spanning twenty-nine countries and four continents, attracted special attention after the 9/11 attacks by Islamic jihadists. A later book, Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey (2000), and touring show, explored Christianity as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon.

Abbas’s concern with religion led him in 2000 to begin a project on animism, in which he sought to discover why non-rational ritual had re-emerged in a world increasingly defined by science and technology. He abandoned this undertaking in 2002, on the first anniversary of 9/11, to start a new long-term project about the clash of religions, defined as a culture rather than faith, which he believed are turning into political ideologies and therefore one of the sources of the strategic struggles of the contemporary world.

From 2008 to 2010 Abbas travelled the world of Buddhism, photographing with the same skeptical eye. In 2013, he concluded a similar long-term project on Hinduism.

Most recently before his death, Abbas was working on documenting Judaism around the world.

A member of Sipa from 1971 to 1973, then of Gamma from 1974 to 1980, Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a member in 1985.

On Wednesday April 25, 2018 the Iranian photographer Abbas Attar known simply as Abbas, died in Paris, aged 74.

According to Abbas, in a 2017 interview with Magnum, there are two photographic methods: “One is writing with light,” he said, “and the other is drawing with light.” While he viewed other Magnum photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson as adherents of the latter, the former was the foundation of Abbas’ practice. In lieu of placing his focus on single moments in time, he looked at his photographs as interlinked elements of a greater whole. In this sense, Abbas was a storyteller, and his images were pages of tales on celluloid, which were no less arresting when viewed (or rather, read) in isolation.

In the same interview, Abbas noted that it was a 1968 trip to New Orleans that made him understand the importance of what he called “sequencing”, or creating a narrative thread through a series of images. Examples of this can be seen in Abbas’s book Return to Mexico: Journey Beyond the Mask (1992), a document of his travels through the country in the 1980s.

His books aside, Abbas’ work has been the subject of exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world, including the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Museum of Singapore, Galerie FNAC and the Magnum Gallery in Paris, and the Grey Art Gallery at New York University.

“It is with immense sadness that we lose him,” Dworzak said. “May the gods and angels of all the world’s major religions he photographed so passionately be there for him.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[rabidline]

2023 ONE PIECE ON ICE: THE CAST (SO FAR) - ALABASTA KINGDOM ARC

SHOMA UNO as MONKEY D. LUFFY 2018 Olympic Silver Medalist, 2022 Olympic Bronze Medalist 2022, 2023 World Champion 2019 Four Continents Champion, 2022 Grand Prix Final Champion Japanese National Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022) NOBUNARI ODA as USOPP 2006 Four Continents Champion, 2008 Japanese National Champion Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist (2009, 2010), Grand Prix Final Bronze Medalist (2006, 2013) RINKA WATANABE as TONY TONY CHOPPER 2022 Skate Canada Gold Medalist, 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy Gold Medalist 2022 Grand Prix Final 4th Place, 2023 Worlds 10th Place MARIN HONDA as PRINCESS NEFELTARI VIVI 2016 World Junior Champion, 2017 World Junior Silver Medalist KAZUKI TOMONO as KOZA 2022 Four Continents Silver Medalist, 2018 Worlds 5th Place 2022, 2023 Worlds 6th Place 2022 Japanese National Bronze Medalist TAKAHITO MURA as SIR CROCODILE 2014 Four Continents Champion, 2011 Asian Winter Games Silver Medalist Japanese National Bronze Medalist (2008, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017) RIKA HONGO as MR. 2 BON CLAY 2015, 2016 Four Continents Bronze Medalist, 2014 Rostelecom Cup Gold Medalist 2014 Japanese National Silver Medalist PRINCE ICE WORLD TEAM

[figureskatingcostumes]

Misha Ge performing in the 2017 Four Continents gala.

(Source: meridian10)

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Two new satellites added to Galileo constellation for increased resilience

The European Galileo satellite navigation system keeps growing: a new pair of satellites has joined the constellation after a journey on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 18 September at 00:50 CEST (17 September 18:50 local time).

The 13th launch in the Galileo programme, performed by SpaceX under contract with ESA, has taken Galileo satellites number 31 and 32 (FM26 and FM32) to medium Earth orbit, extending the constellation to make it more robust and resilient. In the coming weeks, the new satellites will reach their final destination at 23 222 km, where they will be tested prior to starting operations. 

ESA Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto said, “With the deployment of these two satellites, Galileo completes its constellation as designed, reaching the required operational satellites plus one spare per orbital plane. The remaining 6 Galileo First Generation satellites are expected to be deployed in 2025 and 2026 for increased robustness and performance, solidifying the resilience and reliability of Galileo and enabling uninterrupted delivery of the world’s most precise navigation.” 

ESA, as design authority and system development prime, together with manufacturer OHB, has developed and tested 38 satellites since the conception of Galileo. All but six satellites have been launched, with the remaining ones ready to join the constellation starting next year. They will be launched in pairs by Ariane 6, ESA’s new launcher that successfully completed its inaugural flight in July. Thereafter, the first batch of Galileo Second Generation (G2) satellites, currently under development by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space, will also be placed in orbit by ESA’s heavy launcher. 

Galileo, onwards and upwards

2024 has been a busy year in the Galileo programme, that moves ahead at full speed. In April, the first dual launch of the year placed satellites 29 and 30 in orbit. After a successful early orbit phase and test campaign, the pair entered into service in September.  

Just a few days prior to the April launch, Galileo’s new Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals started broadcasting. This encrypted navigation service is specifically designed for authorised governmental users and sensitive applications, contributing to increase Europe’s autonomy and resilience in the critical domain of satellite navigation. 

Also in April, Galileo’s ground segment, the largest in Europe and one of the continent’s most critical infrastructures, was migrated with no user impact. This upgrade was needed in part to prepare the system for Galileo’s Second Generation, that is being built by European industry. G2 satellites will be ground-breaking with fully digital navigation payloads, electric propulsion, a more powerful navigation antenna, inter-satellite link capacity and an advanced atomic clock configuration. 

About Galileo

Galileo is currently the world’s most precise satellite navigation system, serving over four billion smartphone users around the globe since entering Open Service in 2017. All smartphones sold in the European Single Market are now guaranteed Galileo-enabled. In addition, Galileo is making a difference across the fields of rail, maritime, agriculture, financial timing services and rescue operations. 

A flagship programme of the EU, Galileo is managed and funded by the European Commission. Since its inception, ESA, as system development prime and design authority, leads the design, development and qualification of the space and ground systems, and procures launch services. ESA is also entrusted with research and development activities for the future of Galileo within the EU programme Horizon Europe. The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) acts as the system prime for the operational system provider, ensuring exploitation and safe and secure delivery of services while overseeing market demands and application needs.  

[mariacallous]

The right-wing wave surging through Europe picked up size and speed on Sept. 29 as Austria’s hard-right Freedom Party won the country’s general election. Following on the heels of far-right victories in eastern Germany and the Netherlands earlier this year, Austria joins the likes of Italy, Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary as European Union members where extreme rightist parties have—armed with unabashedly illiberal, authoritarian agendas—rendered the political establishment impotent.

Openly calling for a Volkskanzler (people’s chancellor) to lead the country—just one piece of Nazi lingo that party head Herbert Kickl regularly employs—the Freedom Party took 29 percent of the vote, catapulting it over the ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party, which sank to 26.5 percent, and the Social Democrats to a meager 21 percent. The Freedom Party’s record result though is not enough to form a government on its own. Moreover, the centrist parties’ totals, when combined with the spoils of one of two smaller parties—one liberal, one green—would constitute the makings of a majority.

But the Freedom Party is now front and center in Austrian political life. On the campaign trail, Kickl promised to turn the country into “Fortress Austria” by stopping migration cold, “remigrating” (that is, expelling) Austrian citizens with foreign roots deemed unable to integrate, purging the education system, and neutralizing the public media. He rants against “gender madness” and “climate communism.”

The Freedom Party also owes a particular debt to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the crisis, the Freedom Party alone assumed the stance of critic and championed freedom of choice in response to pandemic-driven restrictions and requirements. The conspiracy theories that swirled around the crisis fed the Freedom Party’s own body of irrational accusations and baseless explanations. The government did itself no favors by imposing four nationwide lockdowns, stiff penalties for noncompliance, and nearly 40 weeks of school shutdown.

The Freedom Party buttressed its prominent place in the annals of Europe’s postwar extreme right. It initiated the far right’s modern normalization in Europe when it took a place in government under the People’s Party in 2000, breaking the country’s mostly rigid pattern of conservative-social democratic leadership that had marked the Cold War era and beyond. When the Freedom Party’s charismatic frontman Jörg Haider temporarily became vice chancellor in 2000, the event was so unprecedented—even scandalous—that EU members isolated the Vienna government and imposed political sanctions until he resigned from the party leadership. Critics feared that tolerating an EU member with such questionable democratic credentials would legitimize it—and encourage imitators across the continent. (This happened even though Haider’s politics, when measured up against Kickl’s, were relatively moderate.)

And this is exactly what happened. In 2017, the Freedom Party returned to government—in control of six ministries, including defense, the interior, and foreign affairs—this time with no fuss from Brussels. Yet the coalition lasted less than two years, falling out in disgrace when Freedom Party leader and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was caught on video in an Ibiza hotel room soliciting funds from a purported Russian national and expressing intentions to take over and censor Austria’s most widely read newspaper.

It is a sign of new times that the possibility of today’s yet-more-radical Freedom Party coming to power is now acceptable in European company. There are no major protests or calls for sanctions. Moreover, it trashes the hypothesis—heard in Germany regarding the AfD—that stints in government will discredit incompetent, conspiracy-preaching populists whose outrageous pledges can’t possibly turned into effective policy. If the sordid 2019 video footage didn’t kill off the Freedom Party, presumably nothing will.

The extent of the right-wing shift within Austria—and its implication across Europe—isn’t superficial, and the results cannot be written off as a “protest vote” or as a diffuse swipe at the system. Kickl is an extremist among extremists who appeals to Austrians’ worst instincts—and with this triumph, he contributes to a playbook that Europe’s extreme right has been drafting since the 1990s.

“Our studies in recent years,” said Andreas Kranebitter, the director of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance, a Vienna-based research institute, in an interview with Foreign Policy, “show that there is more racism and antisemitism in the population, and a higher number of people adverse to foreigners and hostile to immigration, than at any time in recent decades.”

The Freedom Party, Kranebitter said, has spurred and accompanied this trend, even reinserting into the party program Nazi terminology such as Volkskanzler and Volksgemeinschaft, the latter referring to a homogenous ethnic community. “These are code words that right-wing militants understand very well, and ever more new supporters are accepting of or indifferent to, too,” he said. “And this now includes more women, professionals, college educated, and young people.”

Ulf Brunnbauer, an Austrian historian at Regensburg University, agrees that Freedom Party backers are not largely protest voters. “This might have been the primary motivation of its voters in the 1980s and 1990s,” he told Foreign Policy, “when the party broke the political duopoly that governed Austria since 1945. But today, the Freedom Party is the party of the establishment, too. Austrians understand very well that the party is racist and authoritarian, Kickl himself full of hatred and notoriously pro-Russian and anti-immigrant. Most people voting for them do so out of ideological conviction. It almost reflects the average person in Austria society.”

And this, Brunnbauer said, is in part a consequence of the Freedom Party’s meticulous groundwork. “They have systematically invested into propaganda work and built an alternative media universe. The party has created a new sense of ethnocentric patriotism and engaged broadly in local government. The Freedom Party learned from [Italian theorist Antonio] Gramsci: Political power rests on cultural power. The Freedom Party has transformed Austria’s political culture.”

This process—again, much like in Germany—includes the consternating transformation of the country’s traditional conservative party, the People’s Party. Whether as a result of the shifts in societal opinion or the Freedom Party’s success in tapping it, the conservatives have put up no fight against the far right, but rather have embraced ever more of its stances on migration, even etching in its program that asylum-seekers should have their valuables confiscated at the border, purportedly to cover the costs of processing them.

This year alone, Karl Nehammer, the country’s conservative incumbent chancellor, has dangled one piece of populist bait after another in the face of conservative constituencies, such as the denial of social benefits to asylum-seekers during the first five years of their tenure in Austria. “Our aspiration is a social welfare system for those who can’t work—not for those who don’t want to,” he said, referring to migrants. And, in addition to offshoring asylum procedures outside of the EU, the party has proposed that there should also be prisons in third countries for sentenced migrants.

On the issue of immigration, opined Die Presse, a conservative Austrian daily, the People’s Party “is barely distinguishable from the Freedom Party.” And as in Italy, France, and elsewhere, it didn’t pay off: “All those in favor of such policies have long been voting for the Freedom Party,” the newspaper concluded. The 11 percent points that it shed went largely to the Freedom Party.

Kranebitter and other observers note that the pandemic played an important role in the Freedom Party’s reemergence. When Austria made vaccination compulsory late in 2021, Kickl exclaimed: “As of today, Austria is a dictatorship.” The Freedom Party’s poll ratings shot up to around 30 percent, concluding its brief stay in the post-Ibiza scandal doghouse.

“Austria not only pursued a very restrictive coronavirus policy,” argued the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss-based, German-language daily newspaper, “but many of its measures also differentiated between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. This caused deep resentment among those who felt discriminated against by the state. This feeling has occupied those affected much longer than the memory of arduous restrictions.” The fiasco wounded all three government parties (the People’s Party, the Social Democrats, and Greens) in one shot, while the Freedom Party stood defiantly against what many felt as injustice.

As it was in 2000, the Freedom Party is now among Europe’s far-right pioneers again, proving that a once-discredited, ultraright party can still upturn and defile an entire political culture. The lesson will not be lost on Central Europe’s other pro-Russia populists.

[sunskate]

Thank you for the comprehensive review of HB, who are genuinely my favorite team. It’s so interesting to see how much they’ve improved over the years. I thought their midnight blues in 2016-2017 was good, but actually reflected where they were in their development, in that they didn’t have the speed or depth of edge that VM did in that same season. But the midnight blues they did in the 2022 Olympic season was so improved. I feel like because they were always chasing that spot within the US, that they never got enough credit for how much they improved over the course of their career. I can’t think of another team that was as good as HB without winning a big senior title maybe in the history of ice dance.

ohh that's sad about HB not holding some major senior titles - but it's not true they don't have any - they won Four Continents in 2018. but goes to show how titles don't necessarily mean that much compared to how you make people feel. i know the time i saw them compete live they were unforgettable. lol i'm tearing up right now just thinking about it

i don't think they've ever gotten their due from judges. they were beginning to when they took their break, but maybe what had happened before had taken too much of a toll. i just hope whatever they choose to do, they'll be healthy and can feel the love and appreciation they've inspired in people who've watched them

in 2016-17 they were 19/22, turned 20/23 mid-season. VM's midnight blues that year was a high high bar to compare anyone to - by the time 2022 came around, H/B were near the ages that VM were for PYC

i didn't know H/B have a website

[yuzu-all-the-way]

Yuzuru Hanyu's K&C reactions to breaking World Records (Through the Years)

Historical world records (during the +/-3 GOE ISU scoring system)

1) October 19th, 2012 (Skate America) - Parisienne Walkways 95.07

2) November 23rd, 2012 (NHK Trophy) - Parisienne Walkways 95.32

3) December 5th, 2013 (GPF) - Parisienne Walkways 99.84

4) February 13th, 2014 (Sochi Olympics) - Parisienne Walkways 101.45 (Yuzu was the first men's single skater in history to score above 100 points)

5) November 27th, 2015 (NHK Trophy) - Ballade No. 1 106.33

6) November 28th, 2015 (NHK Trophy) - SEIMEI 216.07 (Yuzu became the first men's single skater in history to score above 200 points)

7) November 28th, 2015 (NHK Trophy) - Total 322.40 (Yuzu became the first men's single skater in history to score above 300 points)

8) December 10th, 2015 (GPF) - Ballade No. 1 110.95 (Yuzu was the first and remains the only skater to score above 110 points before the 2018-19 season*)

9) December 12th, 2015 (GPF) - SEIMEI 219.48

10) December 12th, 2015 (GPF) - Total 330.43 (Yuzu remains the only skater in history to score above 330 points prior to the 2018-19 season)

11) April 1st, 2017 (World Championships) - Hope & Legacy 223.20 (Yuzu became the first and remained the only skater in history to score above 220 points in the free skate prior to the 2018-19 season)

12) September 22nd, 2017 (Autumn Classic) - Ballade No. 1 112.72

Modern World Records (*during the +/-5 GOE ISU scoring system introduced in the 2018-19 season)

13) November 3rd, 2018 (GP Helsinki) - Otoñal 106.60

14) November 4th, 2018 (GP Helsinki) - Origin 190.43

15) November 4th, 2018 (GP Helsinki) - Total 297.12

16) November 16th, 2018 (Rostelecom Cup) - Otonal 110.53 (Yuzu became the first skater in the new system to score above 110 points)

17) March 23rd, 2019 (World Championships) - Origin 206.10 (Yuzu became the first skater to score above 200 points in the new system)

18) March 23rd, 2019 (World Championships) - Total 300.97 (Yuzu became the first skater to score above 300 points in the new system)

19) February 7th, 2020 (Four Continents) - Ballade No. 1 111.82