#love that george is of course the fashion innovator

[muzaktomyears]

We all fell in love with Astrid’s black leather outfits. Influenced by her, Stu was the first to appear in a black leather jacket. George soon followed suit in a jacket bought off a waiter for £5. Then the rest of us got into line; buying cheap bomber-style models which we wore with the tightest of jeans and cowboy boots. George also discovered the cowboy boots shop on the Reeperbahn, creating some envy when he first turned up in a black and white pair. John and I hared off at the earliest opportunity to follow suit; Lennon chose a pair of gold and black, mine were red and black. Paul, who had a reputation amongst the group of watching his pfennings, stood out for some time but eventually conformed with a black and blue pair. To top off the whole ensemble we bought pink flat caps! These seemed necessities at the time and were primarily intended to be stage outfits, although they became our everyday wear too. No wonder we were becoming poorer by the minute.

Beatle! The Pete Best Story, Pete Best and Patrick Doncaster (1985)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Schiaparelli’s ‘Inferno’: A journey to Hell and back

I’ve always wondered if today’s self-absorbed creative directors and edgy designers at the leading luxury fashion houses based in Paris are familiar with George Santayana’s cutting observation that, “Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.” On the evidence of this year’s Paris Fashion Week I think not.

For the Spring 2023 collection at Paris Fashion Week, Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry revealed in pre-show notes that he was specifically drawn to Dante Alighieri’s magisterial Divine Comedy. He was especially inspired by Inferno, the 14th-century Italian poet’s renderings of Hell. Present as spectators and models were some of the internet’s favourite muses, such as Kylie Jenner wearing taxi-dermied outfits with hyperrealistic faux animal heads affixed to a fitted gown.

The singer Doja Cat was also there, appearing bald and covered in red gemstones at the steps of the Petit Palais like a demonic red figure. In other pieces, gold-painted torsos and metallic sculptural heads paid tribute to the house’s founder, Elsa Schiaparelli, and her ties to Surrealist artists like Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, and Meret Oppenheim during the 1930s. She was the subject of a recent retrospective at the the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris last year in 2022, and her collaborations with those artists demonstrated a propensity to shock audiences with strange garments that at times merged human bodies with animal features.

Throughout the haute couture show, Roseberry brought to life versions of Dante’s epic poem’s three allegorical animals: the lion, the leopard, and the she-wolf. Accordingly he dressed three super models, Shalom Harlow as the leopard, Naomi Campbell as the she-wolf, and Irina Shayk as the lion. All three haute couture dresses were sculpted and embroidered by hand, “celebrating the beauty of nature and guarding the woman who wears it” said the proud creative director.

When I read that particular remark I almost choked on my tea. I was sitting in a nearby Parisian café with my younger sister, who was visiting me in France, and one of our French-Nordic cousins who actually works in the luxury brand corporate world as a senior exec in LVMH. Through our cousin we had managed to see one or two of the fashion shows last week. It’s not really my cup of tea, but I gave in to indulge my visiting sister and my cousin who loves her job. 

Many people outside of haute couture world of Paris Fashion Week, focused on the spectacle of cruelty of seeing three stuffed animal heads on the bosoms of three super models strutting on a fashion show runway. Most of the criticism was misplaced as it showed little understanding what a haute couture show is all about. It allows the talented designer to let his/her hair down and show off their most off the wall ideas, and above it’s meant to be playful.

That said, I, however, was focused on what Daniel Roseberry actually said of his collection. I thought it was a misquote but no, as it turned out later, it’s what the designer said.

I resisted the urge to feel ‘offended’ and to look around for a pitch fork to join the unruly easily offended mob to denounce the designer. To me it wasn’t about the Surrealist heritage of Schiaparelli that the creative director drew inspiration from for one part of his show - that’s what one might expect from that fashion house. Nor was it the animal depiction on dress gowns that was pretty par for course for any haute couture fashion show - which I personally found garish and in bad taste - but which drew the public outcry against the perception of animal cruelty.

No, it was the crime of cultural vandalism against Dante himself.

I have no idea if Roseberry has actually read the Dante’s Divine Comedy or not but from his remarks that his hideous creations were “celebrating the beauty of nature and guarding the woman who wears it” he clearly hadn’t or was high as a kite on drugs and high energy drinks.

So I’m going to discuss Dante’s three wild beasts as Dante wrote them.

In the opening Canto of the Divine Comedy, Dante encounters three ferocious animals: the leopard, the lion and the she-wolf.

In the first canto of the Inferno, Dante, having gone astray in a dark wood, reaches the base of a sunlit hill (later described by Virgil as “the mountain of delight, the origin and cause of every joy”) and begins to climb - only to find the way blocked by three beasts. First, a leopard appears.

And almost where the hillside starts to rise - look there! - a leopard, very quick and lithe, a leopard covered with a spotted hide. He did not disappear from sight, but stayed; indeed, he so impeded my ascent that I had often to turn back again.

It is a spring morning, and “the hour and the gentle season” give Dante “good cause for hopefulness” upon seeing the leopard - but then he sees a lion.

but hope was hardly able to prevent the fear I felt when I beheld a lion. His head held high and ravenous with hunger - even the air around him seemed to shudder - this lion seemed to make his way against me.

When the third beast appears, Dante gives up hope entirely.

And then a she-wolf showed herself; she seemed to carry every craving in her leanness; she had already brought despair to many. The very sight of her so weighted me with fearfulness that I abandoned hope of ever climbing up that mountain slope. . . . I retreated down to lower ground.

When you read Dante - in Italian or in translation - nothing you read ever so simple and nothing should be taken at face value. Indeed in the Divine Comedy almost nothing is said without good reason. Take the verse preceding the appearance of the three beasts.

When I had rested my body there a while I then started again up the barren slope the more powerful foot always behind the other

Dante refers to the manner of his climb. He makes the climb with ‘the more powerful foot always behind the other’. One foot (the more powerful) is always behind (lower than) the other. This is a difficult line to interpret. It could of course simply be a description of how someone climbs a hill. You plant one foot in the ground and then push up allowing the other foot to 'land' and secure your position.

If Dante is talking about a stronger (firmer) foot and (presumably then) a weaker foot and talks about the one being lower than the other, there is probably a deeper meaning behind it. In Dante's thought world it was sometimes said that in the 'pilgrimage' towards heaven, we walk on two 'feet' (or legs); the Will and the Intellect. Because the Will, the stronger of the two, is always desiring what it shouldn't, our journey forward towards God is therefore hampered. We limp our way to heaven! So Dante could be saying that his Will lags behind his Intellect as he strives to find the light of God, making his journey up those slopes that much harder. The (weaker) Intellect is having to drag the (stronger) Will upwards towards the divine light.

An alternative explanation is inspired by a comment from St Augustine to the effect that 'love is the foot of the soul', in other words the driving force of the soul's  quest for God. So, Dante could be suggesting that his stronger foot (love) pushes his body up the hill towards God. Personally I prefer this more optimistic image of his ascent; after all, he begins his climb in hope and anticipation.

And so we have to ask ourselves as we come to the three beasts, is there a deeper meaning to these animals beyond their physical power and scariness. Yes, there is.

When Dante engages with myths throughout his Inferno, he’s also leaning into this tradition of animals as allegories. He’s striving to teach a lesson, as mythical creatures punish sinful souls for eternity. Invoking creatures from antiquity, Dante’s Inferno moulds pagan hell into a Christian design. These mythical creatures are behemoth reminders for potential sinners about the consequences of their actions.

Even from the opening canto of Dante’s Inferno, we find our titular character lost in a dark and winding wood. As the woods darken, he feels his consciousness enter a strange state - a feeling that he likens to death (Inferno 1.7). As this shroud covers him, Dante encounters the first mythical creatures in the Divine Comedy. Leopards and lions were not native to Italy. Travellers relayed tales of these beasts to illuminators and scribes, and information about them would be published in bestiaries. Leopards were often incorporated into coats of arms when there were descendants of adultery in a lineage. The leopard Dante encounters is “very quick and lithe” (Inferno, 1.32). Perhaps the leopard is meant to symbolise a sin associated with impatience or hubris. Lions were often symbols of Christ, akin to Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia but in this case the lion was “ravenous with hunger” (Inferno 1.46), which may have been a reminder to the reader about the dangers of gluttony.

The importance of animals goes beyond face value. Animals appearing in stories always contain allegories. The beasts symbolised the major categories of sin: incontinence, violence and fraud. Or as they are more commonly called - lust, pride and avarice. In her commentary, Dorothy L. Sayers explains that these categories of sin were associated with the three stages of life - lust with youth, pride (self-conceit) with the middle years and avarice with old age. Of course, they can attack a person at any time of his life.

Symbolism can help us enormously when reading Dante but it is also important I think to try to read the text itself and take clues from the way Dante uses the symbols. The Leopard is mesmerising, clever, quick and very pleased with itself, displaying its gaudy spots for all the world to see. The Lion terrifies even the air around it with its appearance (and presumably its roar) but the most noticeable thing about it from Dante the pilgrim's point of view is how proud it is as it hold its head up high. The third beast, the she-wolf, is one that has brought grief to many people. Her leanness speaks of an insatiable appetite; no matter how much (or how many people!) she eats she never thrives, never grows fat, she is never satisfied.

If Dante's world each of the beasts represented different vices or sins - the leopard as a symbol of lust, the lion a symbol of violent pride and the she-wolf as a symbol of avarice and fraud - then these  could also either represent Dante's own besetting sins which prevent him from reaching heaven, or perhaps the three levels of hell which are divided according to the kind of sin committed. In the first circle Dante the pilgrim will find those guilty of avarice and incontinence (not the bowel kind), in the second circle sinners guilty of violence and in the third, those responsible for crimes of treachery and fraud.

It’s easy to see then these animals as symbols of divine judgement on Dante. Dante is not ready to find the divine light. He is still under judgement. His sins have not been dealt with and as we shall learn, only by descending to hell and rising through the mountain of purgatory will he be able to find that light as a 'saved' soul.

All three wild beasts are mentioned in the bible and used as symbols of the kind of fate that will befall the people of God as divine judgment.

In Hosea 13:4-8 God says that he will be like a lion and a leopard (and an angry mother bear!) towards his ungrateful, apostate people.

In Jeremiah 5.1-6, Jeremiah fails to find one godly (just) person in the city of Jerusalem. Failing to do so God promises that judgement will come like this:

Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,     a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns     to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great    and their backslidings many. (NIV)

If indeed the wild beasts represent the judgement of God in the Old Testament through Hosea and Jeremiah, in the New Testament they take another form entirely. And this may well have played a part in Dante’s thought. It is entirely possible that Dante is thinking of the Apostle Paul's reference to 'fighting wild beasts in Ephesus' (1 Corinthians 15.32).  Of course Paul didn't mean he actually wrestled lions and wild beasts. He meant that dealing with those who opposed him there was just like being a gladiator in the arena fighting lions and bears. And the people who opposed him were the institutions of Ephesus, the city authorities, the trade guilds, the business leaders.

Dante the pilgrim, following in the footsteps of the Apostle struggles with his own 'wild beasts'. the wild beasts who had plotted against him, and exiled him from his native city in 1302. Dante the pilgrim walks in the footsteps of Paul. He also walks in the footsteps of Christ who was alone in the wilderness with the wild beasts for 40 days and 40 nights. Although the the original intention of the gospel writers may have been to conjure up the impression of a restored Eden, for Dante those accounts would have conjured up the idea of conflict and danger.

Like Paul and like Christ, Dante the pilgrim has to struggle with ferocious animals in his journey towards God, just as Dante the writer has had to in his journey.

Who or what then are these forces, these wild animals who prevented Dante from finding the true path? Interestingly these animals were all prized in one way or another in Dante's native Florence.

There is evidence that a leopard and a number of lions were kept and publicly displayed in cages in Florence in Dante's day near what is today the Loggia del Bigallo, as a sign of Florence's power and prestige.

The lion was also part of Florence's coat of arms. Scholars have noted that Dante was familiar with the writings of Richard of St Victor who had associated the leopard with the sins of deceit and fraud. The lion was associated in medieval bestiaries with the sin of avarice (because of its apparently insatiable hunger) as well as with pride. These are 'civic sins' as much as personal vices.

Was it Florence's avarice and pride that was in the front of Dante the writer's mind when he described the leopard's gaudy spots and the lion with its head held high? Is it perhaps the city that had turned against Dante and thrown him out to live a life of exile that prevents the progress of the pilgrim towards paradise?

The she-wolf is the most daunting beast of all. She proceeds terrifyingly, step by step stalking forward, threatening and relentless. Dante comments:

The very sight of her so weighted me with fearfulness that I abandoned hope of ever climbing up that mountain slope. . . . I retreated down to lower ground.

Surprisingly perhaps it is the she-wolf, not the leopard or the lion that finally causes the pilgrim to despair. Wolves were considered to be symbols of fraud and deceit as well as sexual immorality and prostitution.

In his hugely influential work The City of God, St Augustine had commented that in his time prostitutes were known as she-wolves and a brothel was known as a 'wolf den'. He suggested that this verbal link gave rise to the famous origin myth of Rome, according to which the two twins Romulus and Remus, the offspring of the god Mars and the their mother (whom he had raped) Rhea, were abandoned to die but were saved and suckled by a she-wolf. Augustine suggests that instead, they were found and fed by an unknown prostitute i.e. by a 'she-wolf'. From this play on words came the legend that it was a literal she wold who found and fed them.  In the City of God (Book 18 chapter 21) Augustine writes as follows:

“Procas ruled before Aemulius. Now Aemulius had made his brother Numitor's  daughter, named Rhea, a Vestal Virgin; she was also called Ilia, and was the mother of Romulus. The Romans wish to say that she conceived twins by Mars; for, in this way, they honoured, or excused, her unchastity. They offer as proof of this the legend that, after their exposure, the infants were suckled by a she-wolf. For they hold that this species of animal belongs to Mars; and so, therefore, the she-wolf is believed to have offered her teats to the little children because she recognised in them the sons of Mars, her master.

There is, however, no lack of people who say that, when the exposed infants lay wailing, they were first taken in by some unknown whore, and that hers were the first breasts they sucked - for ‘she wolves’ (lupae) was the name given to whores, which is why houses of ill repute are even now called ‘wolfouses’ (ilupanaria). Afterwards, it is said, they came into the care of a shepherd called Faustulus, and were nurtured by his wife Acca. And yet if, in order to convict the man who was king, and who had cruelly commanded that these infants be cast into the water, God willed to help the children through whom such a great city was to be founded, and to have them rescued from the water by His divine intervention and suckled by a wild animal: is there anything very wonderful in this? “

- Translated by W. Dyson (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

So, according to Augustine, it wouldn't be surprising if God had supplied a real she-wolf to find and feed the abandoned babies, because God is merciful and just, but in fact the stories he has heard suggest a different explanation. Namely that it was a human 'she-wolf', a whore, who had found them.  

It is also interesting that Augustine links the god Mars with the story. The wolf, he says, is one of Mars' own creatures' i.e. a beast with a special affinity to Mars. Is it relevant that the city of Florence had adopted Mars as its own patron 'star'? It may also be relevant that the name of the Guelf faction, some of whom had ordered Dante's expulsion from Florence, was linked to the German word for wolf (Welf).  Dante's enemies in Florence were 'wolves'. It seems the clue lay in the name.

But it may not have been only Florence Dante wanted to suggest to readers' minds. In addition it seems that by the time Dante wrote the Divine Comedy the Papal Curia had adopted as its own symbol the famous statue of Romulus and Remus suckling from the mother she-wolf on the Capitoline Hill. The she-wolf was of course the defining myth of Rome’s founding. Several ancient sources refer to statues depicting the wolf suckling the twins. Livy reports in his Roman history that a statue was erected at the foot of the Palatine Hill in 295 BC. Pliny the Elder mentions the presence in the Roman Forum of a statue of a she-wolf that was "a miracle proclaimed in bronze nearby, as though she had crossed the Comitium while Attus Navius was taking the omens". Cicero also mentions a statue of the she-wolf as one of a number of sacred objects on the Capitoline that had been inauspiciously struck by lightning in 65 BC: "it was a gilt statue on the Capitol of baby being given suck from the udders of a wolf." Cicero also mentions the wolf in De Divinatione 1.20 and 2.47.

The Capitoline Wolf was widely assumed to be the very sculpture described by Cicero, due to the presence of damage to the sculpture's paw, which was believed to correspond to the lightning strike of 65 BC. The 18th-century German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed the statue to an Etruscan maker in the fifth century BC, based on how the wolf's fur was depicted. It was first attributed to the Veiian artist Vulca, who decorated the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and then reattributed to an unknown Etruscan artist of around 480 - 470 BC.

So for centuries The Capitoline Wolf was almost universally recognised as an Etruscan statue from the early part of the 5th century BC. It was only in 2006 that an Italian art historian and restorer, Anna Maria Carruba, published a detailed critique against the accepted view. She argued that the bronze had been cast with a method unknown in classical times, and that marks left by the artist on its surface were more typical of the Middle Ages. Barely a year later in 2007, Rome’s top archaeologist and heritage advisor,  Prof. Adriano La Regina, reported that over 20 tests using radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating don at the University of Salerno suggested that the wolf portion of the statue may have been cast between 1021 and 1153. Overnight one ancient Rome’s oldest artefacts became one of city’s youngest.

Given the pride and place of this famous statue, The Capitoline Wolf, given by the Church of Dante’s time, it adds an extra dimension to any reading Dante’s words about the she-wolf. For the wolf, the creature of Mars, the symbol of Rome and now of the church was a big thing in 13th century Italy. It is this beast that scares Dante the most, that strips away his hope and forces him to turn around.  It is this beast he says which has been ‘the despair of many’. It is not a surprise then to find that throughout the Inferno he likens various damned souls to wolves.

Again the bible may have played a part in his thinking Jesus warned his disciples to watch out for the false prophets, the wolves who come dressed in sheep's clothing. Ithink it’s too much of a stretch to say it was a direct attack on the church or the papacy of Boniface VIII but it does lend credence to the possibilities of personal corruption for those in the church who flirted with earthly temptations and sins - the very sins that destroyed souls and blocked humanity’s upward path to heavenly salvation.

For Dante there was no distinction between the inner and the outer person or between the individual and social.  The individual did not live a life apart from his or her wider life in the state and in the church. Sin was something that affected everything and everyone. These beasts may well represent sin or vices with which Dante the writer was only too familiar in his own experience but to me it seems highly likely that they represent above all the forces he saw around him which, in his mínd, prevented people finding the beauty and love of God. The Apostle fought his wild beasts in Ephesus. Dante fought his in Florence.

The mythical figures featured in Dante’s Inferno lean on a long tradition of animals as allegory. As Dante journeys through the realms of the afterlife, these beings can lend a helping hand on the long and winding road through hell, purgatory, and heaven.  While the creatures of the Inferno intend to scare sinners straight, they themselves also suffer as the embodiment of their respective sins.

While hell is where sinners languish, it remains a complex and captivating place. Dante filled his entire Divine Comedy with bizarre creatures from across literature, and they serve a similar purpose to any beast in a story: to distill morals or a lesson. Their presence makes the story memorable, even for modern readers like us today.

Dante’s Inferno brings readers on a journey through hell, replete with allegories from across time like sitting through a hellscape of a Schiaparelli haute couture fashion show during Paris Fashion Week. As time wears on, Inferno’s wild beasts offer captivating perspectives on our very modern sins of lust for affirmation, pride in our self-centredness, and an avarice for material comfort.

But I don’t wish to end on a downer because Dante is not a pessimistic poet. Most readers never proceed beyond the macabre thrills of Dante’s ‘Inferno’, with its grotesquely inventive torments. Those who do ascend from the “Inferno” find some of Dante’s most lyrical verse in his ‘Purgatorio’. But it is the least-read of the three books, ‘Paradiso’, that makes sense of the other two. It shows, Dante was not just a poet of crisis, but also a poet of hope:

The ‘Divine Comedy’ is that rarest thing, an epic poem with a hopeful ending. It is about getting a second chance - and ultimately finding joy, a Christian understanding of joy in the light of God’s saving grace.

[star-consultant]

Bright are the stars

You need a Beatle song that perfectly encapsulates your sign? Of course you do. (Spotify playlist) 

Aries—“I Saw Her Standing There” 

One two three FOUR! An eager and intense song for an eager and intense sign. Aries falls hard and fast, with a tendency to rash vows that everyone doubts they mean—but Aries doesn’t doubt. Paul (who later styled himself as a "ram” at a key point in his creative development) makes good on the Cardinal Fire vibe with his exuberant vocals, and John of the Aries rising contributed the street-smart innuendo that utterly makes the song: And you know what I mean. Fittingly, this song kicked off the group’s first album, which itself has plenty of Aries “HELLO I AM HERE TO MAKE A MARK ON YOUR WORLD! (like me plz ok? this is my heart and i am Doing My Best??)” energy. 

Taurus—“All I’ve Got to Do"

A song that takes its sweet time but burrows deeper than the average ear-worm into your consciousness. It’s a patient song that is unassuming but knows exactly what the hell it’s doing. The intensity builds bit by bit, so that you’re unaware when the power of the bridge comes crashing down. Describes the Taurean romantic ideal: lazy, loyal, cozy, constant, tender, and ever-so-true. Also, “All I’ve Got to Do” is featured on the second album, With the Beatles, which has plenty of other Bullish touches, noticeable even with a casual glance at the tracklist: “Don’t Bother Me,” “Not a Second Time,” and “Money (That’s What I Want).” 

Gemini—“She Loves You”

Paul is a Gemini Sun, and throughout his catalogue it shows. But perhaps he never topped the Twinniness of this energetic, optimistic, breathless, gossipy classic. It was composed “eye-to-eye” with John, a truly dual-authored song, and one the rare Beatles numbers where the two lead vocalists double up on every single line, in true (Nerk) Twin fashion. Also the first but definitely not the last of their many “third-person narratives,” Paul’s novelistic instead of confessional slant being distinctly a Gemini thing. The speaker in this one couldn’t be more enthusiastic about this relationship if it were already repaired, and he couldn’t be more enthusiastic about it if it were his. Love is great! People reconciling is great! You should be glad, dumbass! But the real corker? What makes this so Gemini that it hurts? Yoko has confirmed that in the early 70s, during her separation with John, she actually had Paul play agony aunt. Then, during that meetup in L.A. where they were last photographed together, Paul urged John to “apologize to her” and get back together... which he did. That’s right. "She Loves You” is not merely a Gemini’s song: it’s a Gemini’s life. 

Cancer—“Octopus’s Garden”

Ringo the Crab’s musically-complex fantasy about an underwater sanctuary where children are “happy and safe,” he and his lover can be together, and there’s “no one there to tell us what to do.” George (a triple Water sign himself, probably not-so-incidentally) always insisted that his best mate’s song Had Depths, and he himself supplied a lot of them: check out his lead guitar lines. They function as emotional counterpoint. When Ringo’s vocal line is especially wistful, the guitar is bright; when Ringo ends on a confident note, the guitar is quirky, ironic, even stiff-upper-lip pessimistic. Result: a shifting kaleidoscope of FEELS. The Moon approves. 

Leo—“Good Day Sunshine” 

Paul perfectly expresses his own Leo moon with a sublime, vibrant ode to laughter, love, and pride on a cloudless summer day. The bit in the lyrics about she knows she’s looking fine and I’m so proud to know that she is mine? That’s not marring the high tone of the song: that is part of the tone. Hear us roar! And by “roar” I mean "laugh and canoodle, coz Leo is about living the good life, bitches.” 

Virgo—“Please Please Me” 

What’s fair is forkin’ fair, mate! A exemplary blend of Virgo’s Mutable passive-aggressive sensitivity with its Elemental directness... half-critical, half-begging... plus the very sign-typical humblebragging. About their sexual prowess. Damn, Virgo. People forget how Earthy you really are sometimes. But here we are. In very Virgo fashion, instead of ditching the girl he’s decided to harangue her. On a more meta note, the Beatles were still studio virgins when they first began crafting this song, and it took several passes and incorporation of George Martin’s feedback before it became the bursting pop hit as we know it now. There’s that Virgo work ethic paying off.

Libra—“Strawberry Fields Forever”

The imagery of the title suggests an eternal harvest. But the star sign resemblance goes deeper than that: Always, no, sometimes think it’s me, but, you know, I know when it’s a dream. I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes, but it’s all wrong... that is, I think I disagree. Did you just hear your Libra roommate rambling after a joint, or did you listen to verse three of “Strawberry Fields”? Same difference. The song is absolutely lovely, as anything associated with the child of Venus should be, and innovative, as befits a Cardinal sign. Most of all, even in all of Libra Sun John’s weighing and weed-wandering, he knows one thing: he’s got to take someone else along with him. A companion, stat! 

Scorpio—“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

George of the Scorpio moon and Scorpio ascendant had to really lean into this side of his nature to even get this damn track properly recorded. He resorted to the social power play of inviting Eric frickin’ Clapton into the tense post-India studio just to get Lennon, McCartney, and Martin to give his song proper Beatle recording magic. Which it deserved. The dark drama of the hard-won arrangement is the perfect Scorpio accompaniment to the moody, reflective lyrics about “all the love there that’s sleeping” in this weary world. There’s tender, horrified pity here for those who are stifled into inauthenticity: I don’t know how nobody told you how to unfold your love. I don’t know how someone controlled you; they bought and sold you... Bonus points for the Watery ‘just can’t even’-ness of not being able to so much as pick up a damn broom. 

Sagittarius—“Something” 

You’re asking me, will my love grow? I don’t know, I don’t know! A deeply instinctual lover knows that Cupid has done hit a bullseye. He remains emphatically ambivalent about the future, but he knows what he feels in this moment, and in that moment is romance and wonder that is as deep as the earth is from the heavens. Sags are intense, but of all the Fire signs they are most far-seeing and detached (due to their Mutable quality, which makes them see the world a bit more like an Air sign does). “Something” keeps trying to capture that je-ne-sais-quoi, and despite the speaker’s happiness he can’t help but circle back again and again to take another shot at that the mental target. A philosopher even when in love. Ultimately, however, he doesn’t want to leave her now... which for a restless Sag is already saying a ton.

Capricorn—“Revolution”

John let his unfashionable midheaven Capricorn off the leash with this blunt, pointed savaging of radical and violent revolutions. (Given the tanks on Tiananmen Square and the millions dead on the killing fields of Cambodia, I can’t say that his cautionary note about “destruction” and “minds that hate” was unnecessary.) Few things are more Capricorn than ‘Oh, you want my money? Yeah, first show me that you’ve done your fucking homework, mate.’ Bonus Earth points for the fact that he somehow worked sex—a lot of sex—into this political track. 

Aquarius—“Come Together”

John of the Aquarius moon’s decidedly loony attempt to write a political campaign song in order to stop Reagan. (The result was too weird for Timothy Leary, whose reaction was pretty much ‘wtf? I don’t think even I have enough residual acid in my system for this one... ’) John invokes the ideal of collaboration, but his call to solidarity is built around fantastical lyrics that no one can comprehend: He wear no shoeshine, he got/Toejam football, he got/Monkey finger, he shoot/Coca-Cola, he say/I know you, you know me... Oh, right. The lyrics contain exactly one discernible message: One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. How Aqua. Also in true collaborative Water-Bearer fashion, the arrangement really makes the song (special mention to the tight, tight work of the rhythm section). Bizarre genius that attracts a true team effort—it doesn’t get much more Aquarius than that.

Pisces— “I Want to Tell You”

The wall of sound builds up thickly enough that soon the words seem to be traveling through the sea to reach you: I want to tell you my head is filled with things to say... But when you’re here, all those words, they seem to slip away. A gorgeously, emotionally tongue-tied song... about being tongue-tied. Written by George, a Pisces Sun, this absolute mystery of a lyric is all emotion and no logic. If he seems to act unkind, it’s only him, it’s not his mind. Okay, Fishboy. Good thing the track is compellingly lovely and utterly relatable. Which suits the Pisces life exactly: ‘I don’t know what I mean, but it’s exceedingly beautiful and I want you to share it with you very, very much.’ 

[gayenerd]

This interview was the cover story for the 17th issue of Jaded In Chicago. It was conducted in September of 2004, several weeks prior to the release of American Idiot. It was a fitting end to the fanzine that was named after the band, as “Jaded In Chicago” references Green Day’s 1994 MTV concert special. To come full circle by interviewing the band that inspired the zine’s moniker was somewhat surreal.

With the release of American Idiot, Green Day has transcended punk rock. By crafting the first punk rock opera and fashioning what is likely the first tasteful concept album of the new millennium, they’ve provided pop punk bands everywhere with a blueprint for how to mature gracefully. Additionally, as much as American Idiot is about innovation, it’s also a return to the fundamentals of punk rock. The album sears with dissent, takes aim between the eyes of the Bush administration and contains a dangerous sense of unpredictability. It’s been ten years since Green Day was the most popular band in the world and with any luck American Idiot will allow them to recapture that title in no time. (Interview with drummer Tré Cool).

Bill – Before we talk about American Idiot, I wanted to discuss the infamous “lost” album first. About a year and a half ago, you guys recorded what was to be the follow-up to Warning, but reportedly the master tapes were stolen. What can you tell me about what happened?

Tré – We just knew that if it ever came out, we couldn’t do any of those same songs on the actual record. If somebody puts it out, like crappier versions of the songs, it’s going to totally ruin it. Plus, it happened right around the same time that Billie wrote the song “American Idiot” and most of “Holiday.” We were in the middle of working on those songs, so we just decided not to look back and we kept going forward.

Bill – I’ve read that you feel American Idiot is “maximum Green Day.” Why exactly do you feel this way?

Tré – Well, because we’re firing on all cylinders, ya know? Everything about even just being in the band now feels so right. Everything from the recording process to the live shows to our ambitions. This might sound kind of dumb, but even the clothes we’re wearing during photo shoots. It’s more together like a band.

Bill – People are certainly expecting this record to be political, but I think they’re going to be surprised when they hear how you really go for the throat with some of the lyrics. Examples of this would of course be the title track and also the breakdown section of “Holiday.” What are some of the main reasons why you’re so pissed off with this country?

Tré – It’s more like confused and jaded, if you will, (laughs). The bombardment of bullshit, fake news, like Fox News and CNN. All the reality-based shit that’s on television, stuff like Fear Factor that the government is using to keep everybody like good little sheep and not asking too many questions. It’s like how if a cop hears you use the word “terror” it basically means he can take any normal American citizen’s rights away from them. A cop can do that at his or her discretion if they think you might be a terrorist or whatnot. The whole Patriot Act. It’s like do we actually have any rights after all? We don’t have the right to a proper election, we already found that out. The fabric of our government right now is basically just made out of one hundred dollar bills that are drenched in oil. As far as this upcoming election goes, I know that John Kerry is extremely conservative and he’s nowhere near the liberal we need in the White House to clean up the mess. However, he’s not George Bush. Kerry’s money is in ketchup. Bush’s money is in oil and blood. I’d choose ketchup over that, (laughs).

Bill – How do you hope people react to these songs?

Tré – I hope they can look past the strong language and go into the meaning of it. I hope they realize there’s a bit of sarcasm. I hope they don’t feel that we’re telling them what to do. We’re just sort of pointing the fingers at ourselves, saying like “I don’t want to be an American idiot or I don’t want to be a part of this bullshit.”

Bill – Talk about the character called “Jesus of Suburbia.” What sort of journey does he embark on throughout these songs and what made you choose this type of format for your songwriting?

Tré – The album is sort of like a timeline of his life. Depending on where you’re at with your life, you probably fit somewhere on that timeline yourself. Whether it’s the “Holiday” party stage, or the “Give Me Novacaine” drug stage or the “Extraordinary Girl” being in love stage; all these different stages in life show that what paths you choose will inevitably lead you somewhere. It’s not necessarily the happiest ending in the world, but it’s pretty realistic.

Bill – Are you at all worried about some of your fans possibly being alienated by the two nine-minute rock operas found on the album?

Tré – I don’t think they’ll even notice they’re nine-minute songs. They’ll think they’re a bunch of short songs put together. It’s definitely short attention span theater. It’s not like Wilco, where they have a ten-minute song with the same drumbeat and the same chord progression. Not saying anything bad about Wilco, they’re a fine band. They’re great to relax to and drink iced tea to, (laughs). I think we’d get bored doing that. We just sort of get to the point, say what we want to say and move on to the next part of the song. The way the energy flows in the songs is sort of like the way America is now too, just so scattered. There’s a big misrepresentation of how we feel in this bullshit climate right now.

Bill – One of the most important topics you address on this record is the American media. Specifically, how it perpetuates fear amongst the public and does little to question the President’s follow-through on his promises. Do you think the average American is aware of how the wool is being pulled over their eyes?

Tré – No, not at all. Say you see some guy driving down the street with a Bush/Cheney sticker on his Chevy S-10, beat-up truck with a pair of flip-flops hanging off the back. I want to ask him, “Why the fuck are you a Republican? What’s in it for you, dude?” Bush isn’t doing a thing for those people. He’s not helping them get a better truck or put food on the table. He’s not going to give them a tax break. Republicans don’t care about you. They’re not going to try and help you in any way. They just want to use you and get your dead peasants insurance once you’re gone.

Bill – Tell me about the upcoming club dates that you have scheduled where you plan to perform American Idiot in its entirety. Who came up with the idea and what are you looking forward to most about it?

Tré – I’d credit Pete Townshend with the idea. We’ve always admired The Who and their lack of inhibition as far as going for whatever crazy idea they had. As crazy as something like Tommy was when it was just a small idea, compared to what it’s become now, it’s pretty insane. They did A Quick One, where they played that live. That was a quick one, but ours is an hour. Basically, we just want to kick The Who’s ass. I listened to Who’s Next yesterday, which a lot of people are comparing American Idiot to. We totally got them beat. I’ve always aspired to be as good of a drummer as Keith Moon and I think I’ve fuckin’ passed by him on this record.

Bill – Roughly ten years ago, Dookie was released and went on to sell over ten million copies and become one of the most notable albums of the ‘90s. A decade later, I think you’ve constructed in American Idiot what is arguably your strongest record yet. Is there anything specific that you hope American Idiot accomplishes?

Tré – Yeah, I think it’s about time that people think of Green Day in a different light. We’re not snot-nosed kids anymore, we’re men now. I want people to think of us more as one of the mainstay supergroups of today. I’m not asking for too much, (laughs). We’re superheroes in our own minds. We think we’re really cool, why doesn’t everybody else?

Bill – What was the weirdest thing about being the biggest band in America in 1994?

Tré – I don’t think we really had time to enjoy it when it was happening. We were just trying to pay our rent and be able to make records for the rest of our lives. We didn’t know anything like that was ever going to happen. It sort of freaked us out a bit, but at the same time I was kind of busy just moving and doing it. We didn’t have time to look back since we were doing so much. By the time we had taken a break to make Insomniac it was like, “Do you guys know what you just did?” We were like, “Oh…shit.”

Bill – Earlier this year, Thick Records released the Out of Focus DVD, which featured live Green Day footage circa 1992. What are some of your favorite memories from playing at McGregor’s in Elmhurst, Illinois?

Tré – Demetri. Demetri was this male stripper that came onstage for some girl’s birthday at McGregor’s one night. They had her sit in this chair and the stripper did his thing for her. It was fuckin’ hilarious. In the middle of our show too. We took a timeout and let her get her strip on. I think that was the last time we played McGregor’s actually. I remember seeing State Street and I remember taking acid in Chicago. I remember going to the lake and wondering why all the fish were dead. I was inside Buckingham Fountain too. It was real hot out and I got in there during the Blues Fest. There were like a million people down there, but just one in the fountain. Of course this cop was like, “Get the fuck out of there! What are you thinking?” I was like, “I don’t know. I’m fried, dude.”

Bill – Do you have any comments regarding the rumors connecting members of Green Day to the mysterious band known as The Network?

Tré – The only connection is that their record was on Adeline, which is a label run by Billie Joe’s wife. That’s a few degrees of separation if you ask me. I think they’re getting a lot of mileage out of telling people they’re Green Day or pretending to be Green Day. The Network is not Green Day. Bastards.

Bill – Growing up I know that bands like the Ramones and The Who were very influential for you. What’s it like to now be one of the biggest influences on an entire generation of punk bands?

Tré – It’s kind of wild. Especially when younger bands meet you and they’re all nervous and stuff. You sort of get a little paternal with it, like “Ah…my children.” I feel like Michael Landon from Little House on the Prairie.

Bill – What has been the hardest part about achieving all the success you’ve attained?

Tré – I think you can pretty much choose what you want to deal with. You can choose for it to be difficult or you can enjoy it. It’s kind of up to the person.

Bill – After seven albums, what aspects of punk rock are still fresh and exciting to you?

Tré – I like seeing new bands. Bands that aren’t carbon-copied pop punk bands. Bands like Dillinger Four fuckin’ excite me. I think the Rock Against Bush compilation is a pretty damn good CD. There are some older bands on there that are still going strong and some younger bands that are real fresh and exciting too.

Bill – What does the future hold for Green Day?

Tré – I think whatever we put out next has got to be really fuckin’ good. After American Idiot we set the bar so high. It’s kind of like, “Now what are we going to do?”

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

The Princess Bride: A Product of the Times

The 1980s were an age of surplus in terms of just about everything.  From the music and clothes to the explosions on screen, the 1980s were a clear example of excess, of wealth of ideas and resources, and nowhere was it more obvious than in the movie industry.

From teen films to comedies to blockbuster action extravaganzas, the 1980s movie industry, led by directors like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Richard Donner and more, brought a combination style of ‘throwback’ + innovation to many of their films.  Movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones directly imitated and updated sci-fi and adventure serials from Spielberg and George Lucas’s youth, whereas films like Joe Dante’s Gremlins poked fun at ‘50s B-Movie horror movies. John Carpenter’s The Thing provided an updated look at a classic monster flick, and his The Fog called back to plenty older ghost stories, while making something new of his own.  Although the 1980s was a period of exploration in film, with new genres being pioneered and explored in different directions, part of that exploration included looking backward and experimenting with previously existing genres, with the up and coming generation of ‘Movie Brat’ directors choosing to play with elements they’d grown up knowing and loving themselves.

That extended to the fantasy genre.

From the pulpy style of the Low Fantasy Conan the Barbarian films to the magical feeling of movies like Labyrinth or Willow, the 1980s theaters experienced a major boom in terms of fantasy films, experiencing varying levels of success.  From Excalibur to Legend, these new fantasy films took risks with special effects, methods of storytelling, and styles of characters (although lots of them became known as Cliche Storms).   These movies utilized unique spins on fairy-tale stories and legends, updating and modernizing aspects of them and either making them darker, or finding new ways to acknowledge the fantastical elements of the story.

Most interesting is that, in the 1980s, the fantasy genre didn’t have a whole lot of history to draw from.

Unlike the B-Sci-Fi flicks from the ‘50s or the Creature Features, or even the adventure serials that would go on to spark Indiana Jones, there wasn’t a lot of previous canon in the fantasy genre.  Films like The Wizard of Oz, which were landmarks in the genre, didn’t have a whole lot of obvious influence on the sword-and-sorcery films that came afterwards.

Now, you may be asking why all of this matters.  Or why any of it matters, in fact.

Here’s the thing: no film is an island.  Every movie, (some more than others) is directly influenced by the culture it exists in, and the pool of resources that have come before it, especially in the cases of the films directly designed to emulate genres or specific movies that have already been made.

And that certainly seems to have been the case, at least partially, as far as The Princess Bride is concerned.

Despite being released in the 1980s, with the original book by William Goldman written in 1973, The Princess Bride doesn’t wholly read like it’s contemporaries in the fantasy genre.  If you watch it alongside the likes of Ladyhawke, Labyrinth, and Legend, you’ll find that more about the film stands out other than not following my alliterative pattern.

In many of the other fairy-tale-esque stories populating Hollywood during this decade, the characters talk and act very much like they are in a very grand story.  There is gravity to the situation and most of the characters, (exception being some of the creatures in Labyrinth) and the story is typically an epic one.

The Princess Bride, on the other hand, manages to avoid this tone and story structure, by including a very traditional fairy-tale plot: save the princess from the evil prince, but by going about it using styles more typical of a different era entirely.

Rather than using the fantasy, action, or even adventure styles traditionally used by the 1980s, The Princess Bride utilized something a little earlier: the swashbuckling style of the 1930s.

Due to the way that the story and characters are written (with a sharp, sly, tongue-in-cheek edge), The Princess Bride cannot be played as a straight fantasy film (check out the Genre article to hear more), and while it does retain plenty of the 1980s charm about it, it also uses the fast-dialogue and witty humor found in stories like The Adventures of Robin Hood and other swashbuckler stories from that decade of adventure films.  Watching the fencing match between Inigo Montoya and Westley is eerily similar to many such fight scenes in older action-adventure movies, and listening to the dialogue during this and other sequences, the humorous tone with dry, quick wit, is also an echo of older screwball-style dialogue.

Whether this was intentional or not, the fact is, this makes The Princess Bride’s style very fresh and new in the middle of the fantasy boom of the 1980s.  It also had a very interesting side effect:

It made The Princess Bride ‘timeless’.

The idea of something being ‘timeless’ is an interesting topic in the film world.  

The word ‘timeless’ is best defined as ‘not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion’.  It carries the implication that, applied to film, a ‘timeless’ movie would be one totally understandable and relatable years after the culture has changed.  Carried further, the ideal ‘timeless’ movie would be one with no cultural identity of its own, completely orphaned from the original context that the story originated in.  In other words, this is a story that can be enjoyed no matter how much time has passed.  Typically, this word gets applied to period stories, sci-fi films, or fantasies: stories not set in the contemporary time period.  

In direct contrast, of course, the word ‘dated’ is simply used to apply to anything created in a discernible time period.  This word typically carries the connotation of ‘old-fashioned’.  This word’s connotation is that, (applied to film) a ‘dated’ film is one that is less understandable by those looking from outside that particular culture or time period.  This would be a film that hasn’t ‘aged well’, most often describing contemporary films of the day.

So, here’s the thing.

These definitions, while technically correct, are far more complex than this in the film world.  

By the dictionary definition, no film is truly timeless.  Every film is a product of the times they were created in, because people who lived in those times created them.  Every movie, every piece of media are products of the times they are from, but they are not defined by them.  A film is not ‘dated’ because it shows the culture, or the technology of its time, or uses that technology when trying to create the world of the movie itself.  A movie is not dated because it uses puppets instead of CGI.  

As I mentioned, a film is considered ‘dated’ in a true sense if it is less understandable or enjoyable in hindsight, from a place outside of that specific culture.  Less easily overlooked are ideas, and here’s what truly does date a movie.

It really doesn’t matter if a film is made in the ‘70s and set in the far future, or made in the ‘50s and set in the distant past, because quite frankly, the movie is still being made in that decade.  As a result, even period films end up carrying the thumbprint of the contemporary ideas of the people who made it.  Indiana Jones is best remembered as an ‘80s style action hero because although his films are set in the 1930s and made in the style of adventure serials from that time period, the style of action and characterization was very current, in order to update the genre.

The ideas and thematic core of a film, how certain topics and characters are treated and viewed, both in universe and in the narrative, can be what truly dates a film, even if it has none of the recognizable trimmings like a tie-dye shirt, and here’s where we can tread into good vs. bad territory: because while in some cases, the ideas can be pleasantly positive, in others, the opinions presented by the filmmakers can be rather uncomfortable to modern audiences.

So, all of this is to lead us to an important question:

Is The Princess Bride timeless, or at least, as timeless as movies can get?

Well, some would argue no.

A glaring problem with modern movie-goers is the character of Buttercup, who, as I mentioned in the ‘Characters’ article, really doesn’t do much apart from getting passed-around, fought over and protected.  Admittedly, especially to a generation used to Princess Leias, Marion Ravenwoods, and even Lilis, Buttercup seems largely useless, relegating the only woman of the film (aside from Valerie, Miracle Max’s wife) to a plot device, an object without much personality.

To a lot of moviegoers, this is pretty blatantly bad representation: there are two named women in the movie, and one of them has less than five minutes of screen time, and the other essentially exists as nothing other than the title of the film.  The film also employs a distinctly monochrome cast, another element that can lead to people pointing to a different era of Hollywood, one that didn’t tend to focus on that kind of representation, or in the case of Buttercup, borderline problematic representation.  

There are other moments of issues: Westley’s line about ‘there are penalties when a woman lies’ and his berating her for ‘moving on’ and getting married when she’d long thought him dead might rub modern moviegoers the wrong way.

In the end, though, is this…a problem?  A detriment to enjoyment of the movie as a whole?  Do these elements actively work against the movie in a modern environment?

Well…yes and no.

It is true that now, films are making an active step towards more diverse representation, and that is certainly a good thing.  Many movies now are also including more female characters with stronger characters than the distressed plot-devices of old.  Heck, even other movies of the 1980s were instituting more ethnic diversity and female characters with more agency in films like Aliens, Baby Boom, The Color Purple and Willow.  

Looking back, it can be easy to wince at those moments in The Princess Bride and make the assumption that the film was just being outdated because of when it was made, or due to the ‘fantasy’ period, or even because it’s deliberately utilizing story elements from 1930s films, but in the end, those elements don’t actively hurt the narrative.

Female characters don’t have to be sword-wielders like Sorsha from Willow, or Silk-Hiding-Steel like Isabeau from Ladyhawke.  Princesses don’t have to always take over their own rescues.  In the end, there’s more support for female characters in the variety offered by the 1980s rather than the eradication of any weak female characters whatsoever, because as it turns out, some women are weak, just as some are strong.  (It would have been nice if the weak character wasn’t the only female one, though.)

Is The Princess Bride progressive?  Well, no, not really, but it’s not regressive, either.  It doesn’t actively serve as detriment to the film to notice these things, not in the same way that other movies experience backlash for outright sexist and racist content.  As it stands, The Princess Bride is an excellent movie that manages to stand the test of time because it is so ridiculously fairy-tale-esque.  As I said before, the old-fashioned story and dialogue paired with the budget and technology of a 1980s film (except for the ROUS, which is charmingly unbelievable) manages to create something similar to George Lucas’s Star Wars trilogy: a film that is as removed from its cultural context as a piece of media can be (aside from the Grandson’s bedroom decor).

It is potentially largely this element, this aspect of borderline ‘timelessness’ that has allowed The Princess Bride to stand as a forgotten, overlooked classic for over thirty years.  That, combined with the genuine warmth, humor, and passion of the film itself, will allow it to continue to stand for far longer, as long as we keep telling our children fairy-tales.

Don’t forget to leave a comment, like, or some other form of love if you enjoyed this analysis, and please, follow for more articles like this!  Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

[vuldromeda]

After the War

Rating: General Audiences

Fandom: Harry Potter

Categories: F/M, M/M, F/F

Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood (implied), Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom (implied), Ron Weasley/Lavender Brown, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter

Word Count: 1365 words

Summary: This is just my version of the Epilogue that was definitely never written. Takes place roughly three years after the Battle at Hogwarts, I just want them to be happy and try to take care of themselves.

Read on AO3 here or continue reading below!

Harry woke up with a choked gasp, sitting up in bed and grasping at his forehead desperately. Breathing heavily, he collected himself, forcing himself to remember that that was in the past, his nightmares truly were just nightmares and not visions. Harry glanced at the drawn curtains surrounding his bed, cast with Hermione’s wards and his silencing charms. He knew that Hermione got even less sleep than he did, which was saying something, so he refused to let up the silencing charms despite her protests.

Once Harry’s heart slowed, he opened the curtains and put on his glasses before casting a tempus. 6:30 am. He groaned. Knowing he wouldn’t get back to sleep, he rolled himself out of bed and went to the kitchen, knowing he’d find Hermione there, downing coffee and filling her time with research, baking, or spell creation. She never got over the habits she picked up on the run, always busy and ready to go. As he padded into the entrance, he made sure to make his footsteps a little bit heavier than he needed so she could acknowledge his presence without panic.

It was no surprise to anyone that they had decided to move in together after the war, buying a cottage in the outskirts of Hogsmeade so Hermione could finish school, and Harry could figure out his life. They needed time away from it all, and with Ron taking the victory as a way to drink himself into stupors and glamorize his war stories, they could only count on each other. Well… that wasn’t entirely true, Harry thought. Hermione had insisted all of the trio seek help from a psychiatrist, a squib that knew just enough to think them sane but not enough to be in awe of them, and had near instantaneously diagnosed the both of them with C-PTSD.

While Ron refused to listen to the psychiatrist (he found himself confused by anything muggle), the Golden Girl and Boy were able to just skirt the edge of unhealthy coping mechanisms, using each other as support to prevent them from going too far. There were still nights were Hermione came home with bottles of firewhisky and tears in her eyes, but Harry made sure to lock the floo and hold her close, just as she did when he found himself taking a little too much pain relief potion.

“Harry!” Hermione whirled around from the counter she had initially been leaning against when he entered, her arm moving to cover the counter corner. Harry’s eyes narrowed in the spot, so he quickly moved to hug her, looking over her shoulder to see the open firewhisky next to her coffee. Rough night, then.

“Hermione…” She shook her head to herself, holding onto him tighter.

“I know, I just…” She let out a sob. “I wish I didn’t look as broken as I felt.” He knew she was talking about her arm and neck; she had taken to wearing turtlenecks no matter the weather to prevent some of the horrified gasps. During one of her long nights in the library, wand in hand, Malfoy hesitantly approached her, palms up as a sign of peace. Over time, they had gotten to be… not friends, exactly, but at least acquaintances. Draco had explained that Bellatrix’s dagger had been imbued with her magic, a unique combination of runes and charms that made it near impossible to heal from fully. And so, Hermione set her sights on innovation, turning their small office space into a brewing/dueling room, a dangerous combination for anyone other than her.

She had, of course, found herself at the forefront of R&D for healing and defense, blessed with Neville’s perfect flora and Luna’s… Luna-ness. As surprising as the pair were, they worked well once Hermione stopped debating every last word they exchanged. Luna had a way of saying what Hermione needed, but in the most indirect ways that drew her to new trains of thought. While it was safe to say that Ron was no longer one of her best friends, they were still close, and Harry and her set aside at least one night a month to spend with him, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. Speaking of that…

“You never have and never will look or be as broken as you think, Hermione. Come on, let’s sit, and I’ll read to you, okay?” He pulled away from her a bit, smiling gently. “We need to set up game night later, but first, you need to rest.” With a nod, Hermione wiped off her tears and allowed him to pull her into the living room, their book left on the side table for them to comfort each other as needed. As he read to her, he thought about the past few years, how far they pushed each other to improve.

They had both decided to improve Hogwarts, making their cottage even more convenient. Harry’s original goal to become an Auror had fallen flat as he quickly realized how terrible of an idea it was to keep himself in action. He was the boy who lived not once, but twice, the wizarding world could stand without him every once in a while. But, he couldn’t quite leave behind DADA, and so he became the first professor to hold that position for over a year since Voldemort cursed the position. It was his second year, and he found himself in love with the job, meeting with Hagrid and Neville during his off periods frequently. True to her fashion, Hermione used hers as an opportunity to either prepare materials for Madame Pomfrey or continue her experimentation, smoke and loud noises commonly coming from her classroom’s door as she used the extra cauldrons to her advantage.

She often retreated to the potion room before the weekly Sunday dinners at the burrow, arriving with spots of soot as she rushed into Molly’s arms. The Burrow felt empty more often than not, Ginny losing some of her spark without Fred around to spur her on. George came over rarely, instead going over for brunch during the weekday where there were less people, making it easier to forget about his missing twin. At least he had Ron, who had moved in with him to help restore the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes and comfort George. Harry was glad that, while now they were further apart, Ron had begun drinking less when he moved in with his brother.

Without being in a daze all the time, Ron had ironically been the first to find different relationships with others, going back to seeing Lavender, but slowly this time. Now, a year since they started dating, she was being brought fully into the fold, Ron bringing her to their cottage for game night. But Harry couldn’t reminisce long, as he found himself having to get ready and set up for the night, as he had read through just under half the book with Hermione, letting themselves find comfort in each other’s presence. Since their time on the run without Ron, their sibling-like bond had become all but permanent. They knew it would only be broken by death or worse, making them a bit of a package deal considering how much they used physical touch to comfort one another.

Once they had set up and their guests had come, Hermione found herself with a notebook and pen (“Not all of us are stuck in the last century, Ronald”), writing down ideas as they come to her during her conversation with Luna. As they perplexed Lavender with their muggle board games (“What’s a spanner and how does it become a murder weapon?”), Hermione had a chance to relax a bit more than usual. She knew she’d always find it ironic that it was Ron and not Harry who had committed to someone first, but she could tell that the cottage owners simply weren’t ready yet. However, as they joked and laughed together, Hermione caught Neville catching Harry’s eye, and seeing as Luna was becoming where her sights were set more and more, she smiled to herself. They weren’t ready yet, but, she wrote down on the corner of her page, they would be soon.

[cristinaarce]

Strengths and Weaknesses

Let me start saying that probably one of my weaknesses is talking about myself.  I could talk hours about the great things that other people have done or have created, but it is just a challenge to find the words to talk about myself without feeling like a self-centric person.

Having said that, I do know that I have many great qualities and skills because, without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

For those new around here, let me introduce myself, I am Cristina Arce, the owner of a photography business and a fine art online store, both based in Toronto, Canada.  I started my photography business in 2002, and since then, I have worked across the board of photography, from fashion, corporate and entertainment headshots, to commercial, editorial, and product photography.  Currently, my main focus has been branding and social media imagery for clients who need amazing photos for their businesses.  

I am also a graphic designer with extensive experience of over 15 years in web and print design, over seven years as an email marketing design specialist, and over five years as a manager overseeing a creative department of 18 employees.  I went to university to get a degree in graphic design and publicity back in the early 2000s, and another in photography after that.  I recently went to college to get a social media and management certificate, and currently, I am taking three courses online about business from Western University and George Brown College.

I can easily talk about what I do because that is something that I am very passionate about.  But I did not really mention anything about myself.  Yes, by telling you what I have done for a living, you may have guessed that I love to study and that I am really good at business.  However, the reality is, it has not always been easy, and I had to get over many challenges and learn many new skills on the way.

One thing that everyone trying to go into a new business or starting a new venture needs to do is evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, so they can have a clear idea of where they will need help, or where they will need to learn more in-depth.

Strengths and weaknesses

You may find several blog posts and articles all over the Internet about the many essential qualities that most business owners should have.  Some articles have lists of over 20 or 30 specific skills. And a lot of them will make you think that if you do not have all of them, you won’t be able to ever run a small business - I do not think it’s necessarily true.  

Even though I don’t think you do not need to have every single quality when you are successfully launching a business, you definitely need to prepare yourself to wear many hats.  And sometimes all of them at the same time!

Every person is unique.  You all have strengths and weaknesses, not only personal ones but also as professionals.  The same goes for your business.  Every business requires a different set of skills according to the products or services offered.

(Image source: Capscratch, Redbubble)

Today I won’t be giving you a list of all the essential qualities that you need to run a small business; instead, I am going to put myself on the spot and tell you with entire honesty what are some of my personal and professional strengths and weaknesses that I have discovered through the years as a freelance creative.

I will make it as a list because I love lists!  :)

STRENGTHS

I love to-do lists and sticky notes

I love to help people

I am a “glass-half-full” kind of person.  I try to find the good in people and opportunities from rough moments.

I am very easy-going

I like to share advice from my own experience

Love to start projects and new adventures

Love to be organized, and keep track of everything that’s going on

Love to start every year with a new paper agenda, and write down my goals

I am definitely a visual person and love to create vision boards for my projects

I am used to wearing several "hats" at the same time

I am always analyzing risks and opportunities

I have determination and perseverance

I am very artistic and creative

I am bilingual, I speak English and Spanish.

WEAKNESSES

I am naturally a nice person, so some people may try to take advantage of it.

I am a perfectionist and focus too much on getting things perfect instead of getting them done.

I take too much on my plate, and I cannot finish the many projects I am working on

I do not know when to stop without feeling defeated.

I do compare my behind the scenes with other people’s highlights, which brings self insecurities

Most of the time, I am overthinking when analyzing risks and opportunities. LOL

I get overwhelmed when I am given too many options to choose from.

Oh, definitely bookkeeping, accounting, and banking stuff!  I am so thankful that people love to do these tasks, so I can outsource it!

Why is it so important about knowing these qualities about yourself?

Before jumping onto the entrepreneurship wagon, I was an employee for a large company, and didn’t know all the little and not so little things that were happening behind the scenes.  I did not know that since I was the business owner I had to look for new clients, keep them and making them happy, deal any complaints or suggestions, finding suppliers, changing suppliers, bookkeeping, accounting, social media, website creation, website maintenance, marketing and advertising, government paperwork, finding ways to innovate, creation of new products/services, prototypes, testing of those products/services, etc.

Why am I telling you all this? Because knowing everything that needs to be done, and being able to identify what you do well, and what you do not do so well, will help you to find the best solutions to those challenges.

For example, I am not a math person; I could even get a headache just thinking of doing the taxes myself.  I know it's one of my weaknesses.  So, as a business owner who HAS to do bookkeeping, accounting, and fill out the taxes every single year, what did I do?  Well, I planned ahead and saved some of my income to be able to hire someone to do that for me.

Remember, another solution is, if you do not want to hire someone, you can always go back to school and learn those new skills.

(Image source:  GaryVee Wallpapers, a Quote from Gary Vaynerchuk )

 Now, it's your turn.  Take a pen and a paper, and write down your strengths and weaknesses.  As you evaluate yourself, be honest.  You will only hurt yourself if you are not.  If you find a weakness, try to find a possible solution, like what I did for my accounting challenges.

Leave a comment telling us one of your strengths and weaknesses, and what may be your solution to your weakness.

During the next weeks, I will be posting more about entrepreneurship, some new business ideas that I have, and I will be showing the progress of starting this new venture.  Thanks for stopping by! :)

[scotianostra]

21st September 1832 saw the death of Sir Walter Scott.

Walter Scott is synonymous with our history as a nation, his novels are world famous, many made into TV series and films, as well as plays, he collected Scottish folk tales from an early age and his fertile mind interwoven all these stories into his own, his Waverley series of novels ran from 1814 to 1832 and included the infamous Rob Roy, as well as many other characters like Captain John Porteous, who I covered earlier in the month, Scott told his story in The Heart of Midlothian in that series. 

He met Robert Burns when he was only 15 at a house in Edinburgh, where also present were some of the greatest minds of The Scottish Enlightenment including, Adam Smith, Dugald Stewart, Adam Fergusson and James Hutton. Scott was born in Edinburgh, but the Borders Region often claim his as their own, and no wonder. A frail boy, when he was two, he suffered from polio which left him lame. Young Scott spent much of his growing up years in Sandyknowe, near Smailholm Tower, with his paternal grandparents. He was a voracious reader, reading almost everything he laid his hands on, right from history and drama to fairy tales and romance.

At age 7 he returned to Edinburgh for his formal schooling, at the Royal High School of Edinburgh. By this time, he was able to walk but with a pronounced limp. On finishing his schooling he returned to the Borders, to Kelso for six months, studying at the local grammar school. In 1783, he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study classics. There he befriended the aforementioned Adam Ferguson and Thomas Blacklock.

In 1786, he apprenticed at his father’s office as a Writer to the Signet. Taking up a career in law, he went back to the university to gain a formal degree in the subject. Completing his studies, he became a lawyer in Edinburgh and was called to the bar in 1792.

In 1798 he began his literary career, his early publications were, not Scots in origin, but translations of German versed ballads by Gottfried August Burger, ‘The Chase’ and ‘William and Helen.' A year later saw a return south when he was appointed Sheriff-Depute of the County of Selkirk. 

In 1800, his first original work, ‘Glenfinals’ and ‘The Eve of St John’, was published. Written in a short narrative style, the poetry brought him much public attention and appreciation. His childhood interest in border ballads finally took the form of three volume poetry collection by the name, ‘Minstrelsy Of the Scottish Border’ which was published in 1802-03. With this collection, he attempted to restore the original compositions but with a touch of romanticism. The collection also gave a glimpse of his long-standing interest in Scottish history.

These were all poetry work, and he continued in that vein for a number of years, making a name for himself with works like, Marmion, The Lady of the Lake, and The Lord of the Isles’.

In 1806, he was promoted as the clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The appointment was welcomed as it supplemented his income from his writings. 1809 saw him persuade his friend James Ballantyne to establish a publishing house in Edinburgh. However, by 1825, the firm was on the verge of bankruptcy. Most of earnings from his writing thereafter were directed at clearing the debts incurred.

After gaining a celebrity status through his collection of poetry, Scott turned his attention to prose fiction. He attempted to portray the Scottish historical events in an innovative fashion. His first novel Waverly was published anonymously in 1814. It dealt with the subject of the Scottish Rebellion of 1745. It was a runaway success, most people suspected it was Walter Scott's work but his identity was not revealed until 1827. 

You may have read that Scott has gone down in history as the man who invented the Romantic Novel, well this is due to the fact that before his Waverley masterpiece this form of writing was seen as inferior to the verse that was so popular until then. His explorations and interpretations of Scottish history increased his popularity by manifolds, he suggested that the Scottish crown jewels be sought out and was there when they were found in Edinburgh Castle, they have been on display there ever since. 

By 1830s, he suffered from frail health, a condition which worsened further. After his grand tour of Europe, he returned to Scotland in 1832. Shortly afterwards he died on September 21, 1832, at his home in Abbotsford.

Nowadays we remember Walter Scott with his magnificent monument in Princes Street Gardens, and also every day in The Bank of Scotland Banknotes, all of which bear his image, he is noted as the man who saved our currency as there were plans to start phasing out our notes, starting with the £1 and 10/ in 1826, there was outrage, and  Scott using a pseudonym wrote a series of letters to the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, the response being the government backed down and we retain our notes to this day. 

Waverley Station, Edinburgh, Heart of Midlothian football Team and several Monuments were made in his honour.  Glasgow beat Edinburgh to put up the first monument in the middle of George Square in 1837, of course it is not as grand as the one in his hometown, but a decent offering all the same. If ever in New York City look up the Statue in his honour in Central Park, a replica of the one on Edinburgh's monument, it was unveiled in 1872. A bust of Scott is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument at Abbey Craig, and an amazing 12 streets are named are named after Scott's books or characters in Vancouver, Canada. 

Legend has it that after his death his funeral cortege passed, what is now known as Scott's View, five miles from his home of many years Abbotsford, the horses pulling his hearse were his own, and they were so used to pulling over there so the writer could admire the lovely view, they too stopped on their way to Dryburgh Abbey, where he is interred.

[findmyrupertfriend]

August 1, 2015

For a lot of people, it’s hard not to think of Rupert Friend as being the prim-and-proper British gentleman type, as the actor is perhaps best known for his performances as prim-and proper British gentleman characters. Most notably, he played the charming George Wickham in the 2005 movie adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” and the regal Prince Albert in “Young Victoria.” Of course, his actual acting range covers a much wider selection of character types and has rather recently expanded to include cold-blooded spies/assassins. Fans of TV series “Homeland” are, of course, familiar with his on-screen alter ego Peter Quinn, and we’ll see Friend’s take on the eponymous bald and barcoded assassin in this month’s “Hitman: Agent 47.”

Off-screen, however, Friend brings funny and gentlemanly in equal doses. The latter comes into play especially when his fiancée is concerned. The English actor, director, screenwriter and producer is currently engaged to an American athlete, actress and fashion model Aimee Mullins. Ms. Mullins, by the way, is also a whiz on prosthetic innovation and a double amputee with three Paralympic records to her name. And that’s on top of a lengthy filmography and her incredible modeling career, which includes being the muse to Alexander McQueen. If this isn’t a match made in heaven, we don’t know what is.

DA MAN: So, the scuttlebutt is that you’re also into video games, including the “Hitman” series. Well, at least “Hitman: Absolution” and, yes, we peeked at your AMA on Reddit. Now, do you feel that “Hitman: Agent 47” is a good adaptation of its source material? Rupert Friend: I feel that it’s important to reinvent rather than be literal when interpreting existing source material. It’s not so much an adaptation as an extension of the world of Agent 47. This new film is a window into an earlier time in the life of this character.

DA: The character that you play, while definitely a good guy, earns his paycheck by offing people in cold blood. How do you manage to manifest these contrasting traits in your portrayal of him? RF: I wouldn’t be so sure that he’s a good guy. I always thought anti-heroes were cooler than superheroes, anyway.

DA: You did a lot of your own stunts, right? Were there any particularly memorable sequences you can tell us about? RF: Breaking a guy’s neck, with my legs, while my hands were handcuffed to a table. [Beat] Fifty-three times.

DA: Of course, we’re also starting to hear about “Barton & Charlie & Checco & Bill.” Can you give us a brief rundown about this upcoming movie you’re directing? RF: It’s a classic story about con artists, each thinking they’re ahead of the other. At the same time, it’s also a love story about finding out what really matters.

DA: While “Barton & Charlie & Checco & Bill” will be your feature directorial debut, you’ve also directed, written and produced several short films. What is it that you like the most about being behind the camera? RF: I don’t have to wear makeup.

DA: Will directing become a bigger focus in your career from now on? RF: Yes, I love making up stories and then writing them down. I also get excited when collaborating with other people. I’m very interested to work on new material, and not just my own.

DA: Moving on to TV, we’re now waiting for the fifth season of “Homeland” to start airing. Is there anything you can tell us about what to expect from the show this time around? RF: It’s another reboot for “Homeland.” It’s two and a half years on, Carrie is working in the private sector, Quinn’s been in some kind of hell hole for most of the past two years. They’re all reconnected in Berlin. Days are long, fuses are short, fireworks will happen.

DA: After five seasons, what’s the best part of being on the “Homeland” cast for you? RF: You never really know what’s going to happen next …

DA: What about the most difficult or challenging part? RF: You never really know what’s going to happen next …

DA: A lot of people know you from titles like “Pride & Prejudice” and “The Young Victoria” where you’re always playing the role of a prim and proper gentleman. And even in your newer and more action-oriented roles, like in “Homeland” and “Hitman: Agent 47,” you tend to fit the “cultured warrior” type. Have you ever played a part that was more laidback, boisterous or all-out crazy? RF: I wore lederhosen, danced a Bavarian jig, and coughed out my own heart in “The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers,” which you can get on iTunes.

DA: What else do you usually do when you’re not working? RF: I like building fires and reading, cooking, and watching movies. I also like video games, but have to be careful as I can lose days.

DA: Right now, what’s the most important thing in the world for you? And why? RF: Aimee Mullins. As if she needed explaining.

DA: Last question: What, do you think, is your most defining trait? RF: I don’t really know how to answer this particular question. The idea of having a “defining trait” depresses me. I do like doing funny voices though.

[ediplace]

A Story for Introverted New Marketer

It was an unusual year for everyone, especially for a new graduate international student. Since 2020, I have applied for over 100 jobs and composed over 50 versions of my resume and cover, yet did not network with professionals on LinkedIn over 5 times. A meek and introverted personality makes me used to looking for problems in myself instead of chatting with new friends. The seminar held by Lori Nave in George Brown College provides me with an invaluable experience to take a peek at the life of those who I would like to be in the future. Through this course, I have learned their methodology, career developing trajectory and insights on the future of the marketing industry and exchanged my premature thoughts during the case study project. Karen Makedon, the expert in B2B marketing of technology, shared her story of leveraging limited resources to build up a healthy small business through technicals other than digital marketing. Nicole Hutzul, who has over 20 years of experience in CRM and SaaS-based marketing fields, depicts her adventure of career choice along with the development of the technology. The unquenchable desire of seeking the opportunity that integrates the data-driven and innovative mindset with the current marketing landscape motivates her to become a pioneer of experimenting these new ideas and tools to solve the real business issues. Jefferson Darrell, a public relations master, displayed the social aspect of marketing and the customer-oriented methodologies to design marketing strategies. And so many other remarkable professionals and alumni poured out their precious experience to the green-hand marketers like me. 

Admittedly, everyone has their own pace and path towards success. One thing that every lecturer mentioned is to network and get to know the thing that you didn’t understand. Marketing is a human-based science that requires people to experiment with the hypothesis and to publish the paper that can be testified by other marketers. Like lecturers have different opinions on the impact of emerging technologies such as Blockchains on the future of marketing, the tracks of marketing strategies are hodgepodge and theoretical unless I will be able to practice them by myself. I cannot feel more confident and optimistic about my choice on marketing automation, CRM as well as personalized marketing. On top of that, their story about failure, countless practice and challenging the status quo inspired me a lot to pursue the route that not many people would love to choose. Although marketing seems like a field with a low entry boundary and is looked down on by other sorts of analysts in the business field, the iteration of technology makes the industry interesting, humane and full of opportunities.

After receiving and absorbing all these practical knowledge and recommendations, I cannot wait to start my own networking adventure on LinkedIn. To be honest, I am an exceptionally active user of LinkedIn yet never posted any opinions or thoughts on others’ arguments or achievements. In the beginning, viewing people’s profiles was stressful and arduous. Whenever I find an awesome job post, I get used to searching the profile of an existing employee of this specific position in the company and then compare my experience with them. Although it was a shortcut to understand the hiring standard and company’s preference, it definitely doesn’t help to build up confidence before you start trying. In order to build up confidence, I tried to look for a person who understands the pain of international students as well as the industry’s landscape. I realized that one of my instructors graduated from GBC and has been the marketing manager in the leading hospital in Ontario. So in my leisure time, I booked an appointment with him to discuss my resume. Before the meeting, I took the initiative to research his background and interests in video games which is a common topic between us. Thus, in the conversation, I started with a small talk about the games and then touched on my failed experience in job hunting. I’m glad that he understood my attempt to get some recommendations regarding networking. He kindly provided me with websites where he receives the news every day so that he would start an interesting topic with strategies easily and then shared some profiles of his friends and previous co-workers who might be interested in hiring interns like me. Although he emphasized the networking taboo such as never asking for a job referral in the first meeting, don’t send a long message to someone who is likely to be busy etc., he cannot help to compliment the homework I have done before the meeting and the qualified and relevant skills I mentioned during the conversation. 

Through this unforgettable experience, I suddenly opened myself and felt much more prepared and confident about chatting with strangers on LinkedIn. In the following networking experience, I repeated the same process I did before; however, for this time, I introduced myself with confidence and a small talk that is relevant their background and industry. In this way, more and more successful chats with professionals in the industry I loved, such as ECommerce Analyst working for fashion retail companies, HRs in Big 4 consulting companies, and candidates just like me from other programs help me to build a clearer picture of my personal branding of a combination of hard-core data analytical skills and compassionate marketing strategy skills. In the end, I successfully landed on the E-Commerce Analyst co-op position at Harry Rosen through chatting with the previous employees in this position.

In the end, I would say I am definitely not a person who speaks perfect English or has a strong personality to motivate myself to confront the interpersonal challenges, but I tried hard enough to break the dilemma and start earlier. For any new fellows just like me, there is nothing to lose unless you just don’t want to start. All the resources I mentioned are free and possible for everyone. Find your pace and path and rush to the end. Thank you for reading my blog! 

[royallypsychotic]

Christian Dior Purse Photographs And Premium High Res Footage

Apparently, in 1995, France’s then First Lady Bernadette Chirac, gifted Lady Diana with the latest creation from the House of Dior. The Lady Dior was first introduced in 1994 beneath the inventive course of Christian Dior’s successor, Gianfranco Ferré. Initially, the bag was nicknamed Chouchou – French for “the favourite” – and was only renamed a yr after its first launch. wikipedia Harry Archer is an editorial assistant at Editorialist engaged on trend, beauty, and every thing in between. A recent graduate from The London College of Fashion, he has interned at Esquire, the Gay Times, and Attitude magazine. When he is not invested in pop culture, you'll discover him engrossed in a book, working from natural choice, or doing a red wine rendition of Can't Fight the Moonlight from the critically acclaimed movie Coyote Ugly. The bag was first launched in 1994 by then-creative director Gianfranco Ferré, and the style was famously beloved by Princess Diana, who was gifted the accessory by France’s First Lady, Bernadette Chirac, in 1995. Ferraro has posted tons of photographs prior to now few weeks with Dior luggage, backstage, and in full make-up and clothes from the brand, and nearly every time has captioned the picture with #ad, and even credited the photographer. In any case, the folks chosen to promote the Saddle Bag 2.zero all have one thing in common. The reimagined version of the classic Lady Dior purse was the second collaboration between Chicago and Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri. Another one of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s creations for Dior, the Dioevolution Bag proved that trend is all concerning the revolution. First launched in Dior’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection and discontinued by 2020, the Dior Dioevolution Bag was created to make a daring trend statement. 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Gucci Replica Handbags are simple to gather, replace, and perfect for feeding the shopaholic's bag cravings. Furniture › Designer Replicas › Replica Designer Chairs. The design of CHRISTIAN DIOR PRE-OWNED Lady Dior Cannage 32 Mini Tote Bag is straightforward and stylish, simple square bag kind, with none extra decoration, just hanging the four-letter metallic pendant on the deal with. This is the superior custom spirit that Dior brings to us, exposing traditional luxurious in simplicity. Princess Diana’s favorite black leather day bag is both practical and aesthetic, and can additionally be Lady Dior’s original type. The diamond-shaped grid above is a novel image of Replica Dior Bags products.

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Best Places to Visit in Paris France

Paris, France is a dynamic and fascinating international center for culture, fashion, art, and design. Its spectacular cityscape is dotted with busy boulevards and deep river channels. Beyond these historical landmarks, beyond the skyscrapers and packed traffic, lies the vibrant, fashionable, and eclectic city of Paris. This dynamic metropolis is the embodiment of creativity, elegance, and innovation. Here, you can discover the best places to visit in Paris, France.

Paris is a very attractive city, with a rich cultural and historic heritage. It is home to some of the most famous attractions of Europe, like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and Gardens on the Seine. The main districts and tourist destinations are: Central Paris, Eastern Paris, Southwest Paris, City Center, Outre les Gues, and Outre les Marion. Tours and travel are available to maximize your experience. Below, we offer you the best ways to visit Paris, France.

One of the best places to visit in Paris, France is the Eiffel Tower. You will get an amazing view of the Paris skyline from up high. A number of websites offer a guided tour of the tower, which includes photos, descriptions, maps, and videos. On certain days, you may also be able to hear live segments of the Eiffel Tower Observation Wheel. The observation wheel offers a unique opportunity to experience Paris from the point of view of all the tourists and Parisians who use it each day.

If you are a lover of art and culture, you will love to visit the Louvre. This is one of the most popular museums in the world and is also one of the most famous attractions in Paris. You can visit the main building of the museum, as well as its massive outside courtyard. You can also walk through the streets that surround the museum, taking in the rich artwork and architecture.

Another great way to see Paris and to explore the best places to visit in Paris, France, is to take a train tour around the city. A number of trains line up across the border of France, from England, Germany, and Spain. While you are on this trip, you can stop at various attractions to see off-site attractions, such as the Picasso Museum and the Galerie Georges de la Tourguise. These can be fun ways for travelers to really enjoy the city.

For those interested in culture, there is no better place to go than the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Monaco. This is a wonderful 2nd impression of Paris that will surely leave an impression. This museum is housed in an old palace, and you will see some of the best examples of French artwork in the world. It has hundreds of works of art ranging from ancient to modern, and everything in between. While you are there, make sure to take in the beautiful gardens surrounding the palace.

When you want to experience the best places to visit in Paris, France, for your next vacation, you might consider making a trip to La Suquet region. Here, you can walk through the narrow streets of old villages and visit the rustic farmhouses that dot the landscape. The villages themselves contain many hidden treasures, like medieval castles, chateaus, and barns.

Another popular attraction in Paris, France, is the Eiffel Tower. The tower is one of the most famous attractions in the world, and you can visit this attraction if you are able to make it out of the city during off-peak hours. While visiting this attraction, you will be able to see the Eiffel Tower clock tower and see the world's largest clock. It has four faces, and it is visible from any part of the world. Of course, if you are going to visit any of the best places to visit in Paris, France, during off-peak times, you should consider taking a cable car. You will be able to enjoy Paris nightlife while being able to see the most famous landmarks in the city.

[aion-rsa]

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

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So, maybe there isn’t enough Christmas and holiday programming on TV for your liking. We get it. You can’t be stuck at the mercy of broadcasters and cable networks all the time, not when there are so many Christmas movies to watch, right?

Read more

TV

Christmas Movies and TV Specials: Full 2020 Schedule

By Den of Geek Staff

Movies

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

By Alec Bojalad and 1 other

Well, because we’re a little crazy, we’re working on an index of every Christmas movie and other piece of seasonally appropriate holiday-themed film available on various streaming services. Just bookmark this page, scroll on through the alphabetical list, hit the links, and it can be Christmas whenever you need it to be! And if you spot some stuff that we missed, just let us know in the comments and we’ll see about getting it all added for you.

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Hulu

What is it about the holidays that makes it feel like we’re on the verge of the end of the world? Regardless, if you’re going to capture Christmas season ennui in a movie, you might as well go all out. That’s exactly what British holiday film Anna and the Apocalypse aims to do. Anna is a Christmas zombie musical comedy. Because why have one genre when you can have them all?

Read more

TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Hulu

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

Run Review: Sarah Paulson Terrifies as Mommie Dearest in Hulu Movie

By Don Kaye

Ella Hunt stars as Anna Shepherd, a secondary school graduate who plans to embark on a grand travel tour before heading to university. Those plans come to a grinding halt, however, when a zombie infection starts to spread throughout her town. Anna gets together with some friends as they try to survive both the holidays and the encroaching zombie apocalypse. 

Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014)

Netflix

Those looking for Christmas cheer won’t find it here. Black Mirror isn’t necessarily known for its happy endings and it’s 2014 Christmas special, “White Christmas” is no different.

Still, there is an audience out there that definitely wants this level of Scroogery. Plus it stars Jon Hamm! “White Christmas” follows three seemingly disparate stories. Jon Hamm is Matt, a mysterious man with a mysterious job who viewers watch in three different environments: once as a gross pick-up artist helper, once as a digital “cookie” salesman, and once as an occupant in a cozy cabin on Christmas Day.

What do all of these have to do with Christmas? Watch and find out. Then weep for the collapse of humanity.

A Charlie Brown Christmas Special (1965)

Apple TV+ – Arriving Dec. 4

“A Charlie Brown Christmas Special” is one of the most enduring holiday classics in the pop culture canon. Originally airing in 1965 on CBS, it was an experiment from The Coca-Cola Company to see if Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters could carry their charm over to a new medium…and boy could they.

The half-hour picks up with Charlie Brown down in the dumps and unable to capture the Christmas spirit. Thankfully, his friends know just what to do. Soon ol’ Chuck is directing the school Christmas play and nabbing a pitiful Christmas tree with Linus. This is “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special’s” first year as primarily a streaming entity, though Apple TV+ is allowing it to air on PBS on Dec. 13.

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Netflix

If a Christmas movie is only as good as its Santa (surely someone out there abides by this rule), then Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles is one heck of a Christmas movie. This family film produced by Chris Columbus features Kurt Russell ascending to his final form as Hot Santa Claus. 

Read more

TV

New on Netflix: November 2020 Releases

By Alec Bojalad

TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Netflix

By Alec Bojalad

The plot follows two children who are struggling to believe in the magic of Christmas after the death of their firefighter father. But the spirit of the season seizes them when they encounter the ultimate stand-in father figure: Kurt Russell Santa. The Christmas Chronicles is your classic, by-the-book family holiday yarn with a fun actor at the center and elevated production quality. Its sequel is also available to stream on Netflix. 

Doctor Who Christmas Specials

HBO Max

If the British know one thing, it’s tea. If they know two things, it’s tea and Christmas specials. Many big-time U.K. television shows have their own excellent holiday specials. Decades-old sci-fi institution Doctor Who, however, takes the cake when it comes to Christmas excellence.

HBO Max has 12 seasons worth of Doctor Who Christmas specials dating all the way back to the modern continuation’s first Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. Each episode is an hour-long treat of Doctor Who and Christmas goodies and should the joy of watching them ever peter out, there are plenty of bonus materials to watch as well.

Frozen (2013)

Disney+

Frozen, an animated movie you might have heard of, technically takes place during summer. But it sure doesn’t feel that way after Queen Elsa freezes the fjord and belts songs about the snowmen she and her sister want to build. Indeed, there is hardly a more festive film for the holidays than this celebration of self-love and familial love. Rather than being the story of a princess falling for a prince, Frozen is about the love between two sisters, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell), and how that bond can transcend fear, isolation, and lifelong trauma like losing your parents at an early age.

Read more

Movies

Christmas Movies on Disney+ Streaming Guide

By David Crow

Movies

Frozen 2: ‘Show Yourself’ Song Was Almost Cut from Movie

By David Crow

Fairly sophisticated stuff for an animated movie, Frozen became a bona fide classic in large part due to its songbook by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, with “Let It Go” standing out as an anthem for self-empowerment and the realization of identity. And if you overlook the fact you heard that song probably five thousand times, it still has that same resonance, which is why children are drawn to its message, as well as Elsa’ irresistible ice powers brought to dazzling life. When you factor in Anna’s own awkward charm, the power the two radiate together is warming in any season.

Home Alone (1990)

Disney+

Another holiday classic from Fox, Home Alone remains a millennial touchstone for this time of year, and a gift that keeps on giving. Yes, everyone remembers the end where Macaulay Culkin tortures two bumbling goons (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) as if they’re Elmer Fudd, but the movie has a lot more going for it than just slapstick sociopathy. Indeed, when Kevin McCallister isn’t being a sadist, this film has an earnest appeal about celebrating the fantasy of a kid living by himself at home.

When his parents leave Kevin McAllister home alone for Christmas—it was an accident!—he has a luxury house to himself that he lounges about as if it were a giant playground with free ice cream, pizza, and R-rated movie viewing parties. Things go a little pear-shaped though when crooks try to rob the joint, but he handles that in glib fashion, all while sweetly pining for his mother. In fact, as you get older, Catherine O’Hara’s trials and tribulations to get back home to her baby boy in time for Christmas are as amusing as Kevin’s hijinks. (John Candy! Polka music!! Polka Christmas music!?!) But probably the reason this is a real classic has a lot to do with John Williams’ eternally heartwarming score.

Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)

Hulu

The concept of Hulu horror anthology series Into the Dark is a simple one. Starting in October, every month would see the release of a new horror movie, usually revolving around a theme or holiday within that month. So naturally December 2018’s entry, Pooka!, brings its chills to Christmas. Directed by Nacho Vigalondo from a script by Gerald Olson, Pooka! introduces one of the cutest creepiest critter since Gremlins.

Struggling actor Wilson Clowes (Nyasha Hatendi) takes on a job operating a giant fur suit of a toy company’s upcoming holiday season to, Pookah. Pookah has two modes, naughty or nice. Soon Wilson comes to find that the suit is starting to effect his overall mood and the naughty mode may last outside the confines of the suit.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Amazon

Now if you could only watch one Christmas movie every holiday season, it’s gotta be this one, right? It’s a Wonderful Life has been a winter staple ever since…shortly after its 1946 release. The film infamously took a little while for audiences to catch on they they were in the presence of a classic. And now it lives on Amazon for the time being as the go-to spot for holiday cheer.

If you haven’t watched this movie in a while, it can be surprising just how tenuously tied the whole thing is to Christmas. Though the story of George Bailey begins on Christmas Eve 1945, the movie takes audiences throughout the entirety of his life, Christmas Carol-style. But of course, in the end the angels have gotten their wings and Christmas is in full thrall. Certainly, It’s a Wonderful Life will be all over the traditional TV calendar, but it’s nice to know that it’s on streaming as well for those who just can’t wait.

Klaus (2019)

Netflix

Since the hallowed days of Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated Christmas specials, there hasn’t been much movement or innovation in the realm of animated Christmas movies. Klaus, written and directed by Sergio Pablos, seeks to change all that in Klaus.

This crisply animated feature serves as an alternative history version of the story of Santa Claus. Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) proves himself to be the worst student as a postal academy and is sent to the North Pole where his lack of letter-delivering abilities won’t do anyone any harm. There he discovers Klaus (J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone and likes to make handmade toys. Sounds pretty familiar. 

Klaus is both a technical marvel and an effective little Christmas story.

Last Christmas (2019)

HBO Max

Shortly after taking in the cheerful trailer for Emma Thompson and Paul Feig’s 2019 holiday hit Last Christmas, the Internet stood up as one and agreed on an important point: there’s a twist in here, isn’t there? And of course, the Internet was right…as it so often is.

Last Christmas features a very prominent and important twist in its plot that you’ll have to watch the movie (or read Wikipedia) to figure out. But twist or no, this is a perfectly enjoyable entry into the modern Christmas canon. Emilia Clarke takes some time off from torching King’s Landing to star as Kate, an aspiring young singer going through hard times around Christmas. That all changes when she meets the alluring and devastatingly handsome Tom (Henry Golding). What follows is a minor Christmas miracle.

The Santa Clause (1994)

Disney+

Tim Allen really was on top of the world in the 1990s, wasn’t he? The star of ABC’s popular Home Improvement sitcom, and just a year away from becoming a Pixar legend in Toy Story, Allen could get any family entertainment greenlit. Thus enters Disney’s The Santa Clause, a movie that posits “what if Tim Allen became Santa?” That’s pretty much what happens when Allen’s schmo-y Scott Calvin inadvertently is responsible for the death of the previous Santa who slips off his roof.

The consequence of Scott’s mistake is he puts on the red and white outfit to finish Santa’s sleigh ride that night, much to the delight of his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Little does he know that by donning the suit, he has entered into a “Santa Clause” which means he becomes the big guy—literally so as he gains 100 pounds of weight and a white beard overnight. It’s still amusing now, but our favorite bit will always be David Krumholtz as the no-nonsense North Pole elf from Brooklyn.

Surviving Christmas (2004)

Amazon

One enduring hallmark of the Christmas movie genre is how bad many of its entries are. Of course, there are some well-executed classics that command one’s attention and respect, but for the most part they all blend together into a pleasant cheerful mush that can be on in the background while one decorates their tree.

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TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Amazon Prime

By Alec Bojalad

TV

Amazon Prime Video New Releases: November 2020

By Alec Bojalad

But even by the dismal standards of Christmas movies, 2004’s Surviving Christmas is particularly dismal. This Ben Affleck/James Gandolfini starring vehicle very much earns its 7% Rotten Tomatoes score. In a way, however, that makes it a must-watch holiday classic. Affleck stars as a rich advertising executive looking to reconnect with his past. What better way to do so than to pay the current occupants of his childhood home to spend Christmas with them? Much James Gandolfini grumpiness ensues.

A Very Brady Christmas (1988)

Hulu

A Very Brady Christmas was a 1988 made-for-TV movie that brought together the entire original cast of The Brady Bunch save for Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady). Olsen was on her honeymoon at the time and I cant’ figure out if that’s a great reason or a weird reason to miss a once-in-a-generation TV event.

A Very Brady Christmas centers on a very simple and very relatable concept: getting the whole family back together for Christmas. This is a hard enough logistical challenge for a “normal” family, and a damn near impossible one for a family with six kids. Will the Bradys be able to pull it off? Watch and find out!

Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)

HBO Max

“Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” is one of the most enduring sentences in Christmas history. It comes from an 1897 newspaper editorial in which The Sun (of New York) editor Francis Pharcellus Church responds affirmatively to young Virginia O’Hanlan’s question about the existence of Santa Claus.

Read more

Movies

Wonder Woman 1984: Does HBO Max Premiere End Theatrical Releases as We Know Them?

By David Crow

TV

HBO Max New Releases: November 2020

By Alec Bojalad

This 1991 TV movie of the same name dramatizes the already-quite dramatic story. Charles Bronson, of all people, stars as Church, who is dealing with the death of his wife and the trauma he endured as a war correspondent during the Civil War. It turns out that one little girls credulous belief in the impossible is all that many adults need to get back into the spirit of the season.

And here’s the complete list, just in case you don’t like our choices!

5 Star Christmas (2018)

Netflix

12 Days of Christmas Eve (2004)

Peacock

12 Dog Days Till Christmas (2014)

Hulu

12 Pups Of Christmas (2019)

Hulu

Alien Xmas (2020)

Netflix

Alone for Christmas (2013)

Peacock

American Rodeo: A Cowboy Christmas (2016)

Amazon

Angela’s Christmas (2017)

Netflix

Angela’s Christmas Wish (2020)

Netflix

Angels in the Snow (2015)

Hulu

Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)

Hulu

Back to Christmas (2004)

Hulu

Barbie: A Christmas Carol (2008)

Hulu

Barbie: A Perfect Christmas (2011)

Hulu, Peacock

Beyond Christmas (1940)

Amazon

Black Christmas (2019)

HBO Max, Peacock

Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014)

Netflix

A Bell for Christmas (2014)

Peacock

Bob’s Broken Sleigh (2015)

Netflix

BoJack Horseman Christmas Special (2014)

Netflix

A Bride for Christmas (2012)

Amazon

Chico Bon Bon and the Very Berry Holiday (2020)

Netflix

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Mid-Winter’s Tale (2018)

Netflix

Christmas, Again (2014)

Amazon

Christmas with the Andersons (2016)

Hulu

Christmas Belle (2013)

Hulu

Christmas Break-In (2019)

Netflix

The Christmas Calendar (2017)

Hulu

A Christmas Carol (1938)

HBO Max

A Christmas Carol (2019)

Hulu

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Netflix

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two (2020)

Netflix

Christmas in Compton (2012)

Hulu

Christmas Crush (2019)

Hulu

Christmas Cruise (2017)

Peacock

The Christmas Dragon (2014)

Amazon

Christmas in the Heartland (2013)

Peacock

Christmas on Holly Lane (2019)

Amazon, Hulu

Christmas Inheritance (2017)

Netflix

A Christmas Kiss II (2015)

Hulu

The Christmas Lodge (2014)

Amazon

Christmas Matchmakers (2019)

Peacock

A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)

Hulu

Christmas Mystery (2014)

Peacock

Christmas Perfection (2018)

Hulu

Christmas with a Prince (2018)

Amazon

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

Netflix

A Christmas Princess (2019)

Peacock

The Christmas Ride (2019)

Amazon

A Christmas in Royal Fashion (2018)

Peacock

A Christmas Solo (2019)

Hulu

A Christmas Snow (2011)

Amazon

A Christmas Tree Miracle (2015)

Amazon

Christmas Twister (2012)

Peacock

Christmas in Vermont (2016)

Hulu

Christmas in Wonderland (2007)

Amazon

A Cinderella Christmas (2016)

Hulu

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas (2009)

Hulu

Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (2020)

Netflix

Dash & Lily (2020)

Netflix

Dear Santa (2011)

Amazon

Deck the Halls (2006)

Hulu

Disney Channel’s Epic Holiday (2020)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 11

Disney Channel Holiday House Party (2020)

Disney + – Arriving Dec. 18

Disney Holiday Magic Quest (2020)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 11

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (2020)

Netflix

A Doggone Christmas (2016)

Amazon

A Dogwalker’s Christmas Tale (2015)

Hulu

The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009)

Hulu

The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation (2010)

Peacock

Dragons: Rescue Riders: Huttsgalor Holiday (2020)

Netflix

Dreamworks Happy Holidays from Madagascar (2005)

Netflix

Dreamworks Holiday Classics (2011)

Netflix

Dreamworks Home For the Holidays (2017)

Netflix

Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas (2014)

HBO Max

Elf-Man (2012)

Amazon

 Elf Pets: Santa’s Reindeer Rescue (2020)

Netflix

Every Other Holiday (2018)

Hulu

Eve’s Christmas (2004)

Hulu

Free Rein: The Twelve Neighs of Christmas (2018)

Netflix

A Flintstone Christmas (1977)

HBO Max

A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993)

HBO Max

Get Santa (2014)

HBO Max

Girlfriends of Christmas Past (2016)

Hulu

A Go! Go! Cory Carson Christmas (2020)

Netflix

The Heart of Christmas (2011)

Hulu

High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special (2020)

Disney + – Arriving Dec. 11

His and Her Christmas (2005)

Hulu

Holidate (2020)

Netflix

The Holiday Calendar (2018)

Netflix

Holiday Home Makeover with Mr. Christmas (2020)

Netflix

The Holiday Movies That Made Us (2020)

Netflix

Holiday Road Trip (2013)

Peacock

Holiday Rush (2019)

Netflix

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Netflix

Holly’s Holiday (2013)

Hulu

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

HBO Max

Home For Christmas (2019)

Netflix

How to Ruin Christmas (2020)

Netflix

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011)

Hulu

Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)

Hulu

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Netflix

Klaus (2019)

Netflix

The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Last Holiday (2006)

Peacock

Let it Snow (2019)

Netflix

Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Hulu

The March Sisters at Christmas (2012)

Hulu

Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special (2020)

Apple TV+ – Arriving Dec. 4

Married by Christmas (2016)

Hulu

Merry Happy Whatever (2019)

Netflix

Miracle on Christmas (2020)

Amazon

Mighty Express: A Mighty Christmas (2020)

Netflix

My Dad is Scrooge (2014)

Hulu

My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas (2005)

Hulu

My Santa (2013)

Hulu

Nailed It! Holiday! (2018)

Netflix

A Nanny for Christmas (2010)

Hulu

Naughty and Nice (2014)

Hulu

A Nasty Piece of Work (2019)

Hulu

Neo Yokio: Pink Christmas (2018)

Netflix

New Year, New You (2019)

Hulu

A New York Christmas Wedding (2020)

Netflix

A Norman Rockwell Christmas Story (1996)

Amazon

Nothing Like the Holidays (2008)

HBO Max

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 4

The Oath (2018)

Hulu

Once Upon a Time for Christmas (2017)

Hulu

Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas (2016)

HBO Max

Operation Christmas Drop (2020)

Netflix

Pee-wee’s Playhouse: Christmas Special (1988)

Netflix

Power Rangers: Megaforce: The Robo Knight Before Christmas (2013)

Netflix

Power Rangers Super Samurai: Stuck on Christmas (2012)

Netflix

Prince of Peoria: A Christmas Moose Miracle (2018)

Netflix

A Prince for Christmas (2015)

Peacock

A Princess for Christmas (2012)

Amazon

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

Netflix

A Puppy for Christmas (2016)

Hulu, Peacock

Rare Exports (2010)

Amazon, Hulu

A Royal Christmas Ball (2017)

Peacock

Santa Buddies (2009)

HBO Max

Santa Pac’s Merry Berry Day (2016)

Netflix

Santa Girl (2019)

Netflix

Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (2012)

HBO Max

The Search for Santa Paws (2010)

HBO Max

Second Chance Christmas (2017)

Hulu

The Secret of the Nutcracker (2007)

Hulu

The Smurfs Christmas (1982)

HBO Max

So This is Christmas (2012)

Hulu

The Spirit of Christmas (2015)

Hulu

A StoryBots Christmas (2017)

Netflix

Sugar Rush Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Super Monsters: Santa’s Super Monster Helpers (2020)

Netflix

Super Monsters Save Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Super Monsters and the Wish Star (2018)

Netflix

Surviving Family (2014)

Amazon

The Swan Christmas Princess (2012)

Hulu

This Christmas (2007)

Hulu

The Town Santa Forgot (1993)

HBO Max

True: Winter Wishes (2019)

Netflix

The Truth About Christmas (2018)

Hulu

A Very Country Christmas (2020)

Amazon

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (2011)

HBO Max

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

Netflix

A Wedding for Christmas (2017)

Peacock

Wonderoos: Holiday Holiday! (2020)

Netflix

Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas (1982)

HBO Max

Yogi’s First Christmas (1980)

HBO Max

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[jeremystrele]

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

TDF Design Awards

by Lucy Feagins, Editor

RaeRae House by Maynard Architects. Photo – Peter Bennetts

Quandong Cottage by Zana Wright. Photo – Caitlin Mills.  Highgate Park House by Vokes and Peters. Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

CJH Studio by Penthouse M. Photo – Cathy Schusler. Malvern Residence by Doherty Design Studio. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Whynot Street Carport and Pool by Kieron Gait Architects. Photo – Cristopher Frederick Jones. Garden House Garden by Ben Scott Garden Design. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

HARU Light by Skeehan Studio. Photo – Rachel Byron. Ceto Collection by Ross Gardam. Photo – Haydn Cattach.

Chromatic Fantastic Cabinets, Danielle Brustman. Photo – Jonathan Griggs. L’Art de vivre Lounge Chair by Fomu. Photo – Sean Fennessy. Styling – Jess Lillico

Annie Coop Textiles by Annie Coop. Photo – Lillie Thompson. The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection by North. Photo – Hilary Faye.

Holding Light by Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary. Photo – Daisy Watt. Graft Vase Series by Liam Flemming. Photo – Grant Hancock.

100% Recycled Eyewear by Good Citizens. Photo – Dan Hilburn. New Model by Dowel Jones and Soft Serve Studio. Photo – Cricket Studio.

Studio Collection by Lucas Wearne. Photo – Lucas Wearne. J5 Cabinet by James Howe. Photo – Peter Ryle.

Gulnura Table by Foolscap Studio + Foolscap Studio. Photo – Tatjana Plitt. In Absence by Edition Office + Yhonnie Scarce. Photo – Ben Hoskings. 

Drum roll please…. in partnership with Laminex, today we share the finalists in the 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards!

From incredible Australian homes in the Residential Architecture category; to thoughtful, detailed craftsmanship in the Handcrafted category; to innovative and inspiring ideas in the Sustainable Design or Initiative category, the thing I love most about our Awards program is the broad range of projects it encompasses – big and small! It really presents such a thorough and varied snapshot of the design landscape in this country, and if this Awards program is anything to go by, there’s so much to celebrate.

We have 119 finalists (!) across 10 categories – Residential Architecture (supported by Brickworks), Interior Design (supported by DeLonghi), Landscape Design, Lighting Design, Furniture Design (supported by Jardan), Textile Design, Handcrafted, Sustainable Design or Initiative (supported by Country Road), Collaboration and Emerging Designer (supported by Phoenix Tapware).

The shortlisting process this year was not for the fainthearted! Over countless emails, Zoom calls and a couple of socially distanced meetings, we worked alongside our 25 judges to refine each shortlist. Honestly – it wasn’t easy, the calibre was so high across the board, and we’re so grateful for every single entry. THANK YOU to everyone who entered, and of course, to our expert judges for lending their time and wisdom to the process.

While each shortlisted project is listed below, the photographs here represent only a small sample of the lineup! You can see more about each finalist right now on our Awards website. We’ll be taking a closer look at all these projects over the coming months, as we get closer to our Awards Ceremony in November. (Fingers crossed on that!).

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

This category seeks to award one standout Australian residential architecture project. Ground-up builds, renovations and additions are all eligible within this category.

Judges: John Wardle (John Wardle Architects), Rachel Nolan (Kennedy Nolan) and Karen Alcock (MAA Architects)

The Residential Architecture award is supported by Brickworks.

Austin Maynard – RaeRae House Benn & Penna Architecture – Balmain Rock Vokes & Peters – Highgate Park House Topology Studio – House at Otago Bay Anthrosite Architects – Waratah Secondary House Clare Cousins Architects – Beaumaris House Zana Wright – Quandong Cottage Archier & HIP V HYPE – Davison Street Emma Mitchell Architects – CLT House MRTN Architects – Good Life House Andrew Burges Architects – Bismarck House Sibling Architecture – Glassbook House Lineburg Wang – Park Road House Ron Kennon Architects  – Fitzroy North House 02 CO-AP Architects – Woollahra Courtyard House Jesse Bennett Studio – Tjuringa FMD Architects – CLT House Studio Bright  – Ruckers Hill House

INTERIOR DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian residential interior design Project created by an individual or studio.

Judges: Miriam Fanning (Mim Design), Chelsea Hing (Chelsea Hing) and Juliette Arent (Arent & Pyke)

The Interior Design award is supported by De Longhi.

Flack Studio  – Potts Point Residence Flack Studio – Middle Park Residence Fowler & Ward  – Bourke Street Apartment Studio CD  – Art House Workroom – Toorak Residence Edwina Glenn – Brass House Robson Rak Architecture & Interiors – Spanish Queen House Studio Gorman  – The Quarterdeck YSG Studio  – Budge Over Dover Studio Moore  – Ross Farm – Barn Studio Moore – Ross Farm – Dairy Hearth Studio  – Slow Beam CJH Studio – Penthouse M Doherty Design Studio – Malvern Residence Two

LANDSCAPE DESIGN 

This category seeks to award one standout Australian Landscape Design project. Residential, public and community gardens completed within the last three years are all eligible within this category.

Judges: Paul Bangay (Paul Bangay Garden Design), William Dangar (Dangar Barin Smith) and Georgina Reid (The Planthunter)

Acre – Dune House Kate Seddon Landscape Design – Tarrawarra Estate Pathway Kate Seddon Landscape Design  – The Composed Garden Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design – Native Retreat Studio Garden Ian Barker Gardens – Deepdene Tristan Peirce Landscape Architecture – Cottesloe 01 Rolling Stone Landscapes – Amongst The Trees Keiron Gait Architects + Dan Young Landscape Architect –Whynot Street Carport and Pool Eckersley Garden Architecture – Yarra River Cascading Garden Garden Life  – Palm Beach Garden Ben Scott – Garden House Garden

LIGHTING DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian lighting design project. Individual products or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke designs, one-off lighting projects and installations are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Volker Haug (Volker Haug Studio) and Kate Stokes (Coco Flip)

Skeehan Studio  – Haru Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Liam Fleming & Dean Toepfer  – Solute Ross Gardam – Ceto Koskela – Ngalya/Together Studio Henry Wilson  – Pillar Copper Design  – Flask Lighting System Takeawei – Lighthouse Lamp Alex Earl  – Olid Ring Pendant Pop & Scott –Cosmos Collection

TEXTILE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian textile design project. One-off textile designs, textile collections and textile-based fashion or homewares products will be considered in this category.

Judges: Cassie Byrnes (Variety Hour) and Luciana Wallis (Warwick Fabrics).

Kip & Co with Bábbarra Women’s Centre – Kip & Co x Bábbarra Annie Cooper – Annie Coop Textiles Baina – Collection .01 Ellen McKenna  – From Art To Fashion Gemma Threadgate  – Sleep Magpie Goose – Magpie Goose North Home – The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection Gorman & Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency – Mangkaja x Gorman Pampa – To-yik-ca CASTLE – Little Garden Bedlinen

FURNITURE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian furniture design project. Individual products and/or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke pieces, fixed and freestanding furniture designs are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Nick Garnham (Jardan) and Khai Liew (Khai Liew Design).

The Furniture Design award is supported by Jardan.

Adam Goodrum & Arthur Seigneur – Exquisite Corpse Credenza Danielle Brustman – Chromatic Fantastic Cabinet Manapan x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Table AKWT – Itto Table Cenzo – Loop Chair Ferguson George – Flyde Lounge Chair Fomu – L’Art de Vivre Lounge Chair Foolscap Studio – Soufflé Lounge Hugh McCarthy & Foolscap Studio – JX8 Dining Table James Howe – J7 Day Bed Manuel Canestrini & Colin Whitehead – Symbiont Coffee Table Oku Space – Breezeway Cabinet Studio Thomas Lentini – Central Park Road Table Biasol Studio – Comoda Sofa

HANDCRAFTED

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian handcrafted project, completed by either an individual, group or organisation. A single handcrafted functional, decorative or wearable item, or a handcrafted product range are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Amanda Dziedzic (Amanda Dziedzic Glass), Elisa Carmichael, Bruce Rowe (Bruce Rowe Studio)

Tjunkaya Tapaya of Tjanpi Desert Weavers – Tjanpi Teapot James Lemon – Pest Chairs Szilvassy – Aether Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary – Holding Light Georgina Proud – Glass Houses Cut Throat Knives – Imprint Kirsten Perry – The Lost Homes of Soft Boiled Beings Liam Fleming – Graft Vase Series Nicolette Johnson – Assemblage Siân Boucherd – Oyster Shell Tantri Mustika – Lithify

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN or INITIATIVE 

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian sustainably designed product, concept, idea or initiative, developed by either an individual, group or organisation. This includes functional products, furniture and lighting, as well as concepts, ideas and community initiatives with positive environmental outcomes.

Judges: Karina Seljak (Seljak Brand) and Jeremy McLeod (Breathe Architecture)

The Sustainable Design or Initiative award is supported by Country Road.

Adam Cornish Design & Junglefy – Junglefy Breathing Wall Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Dowel Jones & Soft Serve Studio – New Model Five Mile Radius – Waste Terrazzo Good Citizens – 100% Recycled Eyewear Commune & Co – Cirque du Soil Koala Eco – Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Returnr – Deposit-return system + products Seed & Sprout – Raise The Bar Melbourne Food Hub – Grow/Source/Eat Sussex Taps – Circa Waverly Woolen Mills – 100% Natural Fibre

EMERGING DESIGNER

This category seeks to award one designer, architect, independent creative or studio, working in any creative discipline, who has launched their own professional practice within the last three years.

Judges: Sophie Gannon (Sophie Gannon Gallery) and Simone LeAmon (Hugh Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, NGV).

The Emerging Designer award is supported by Phoenix Tapware.

Pierce Widera – Architects and Interior Designers Brahman Perera – Interior Designer Cassie Hansen – Ceramicist CJH Studio – Interior Architects and Product Designers James Howe – Furniture Designer Fowler and Ward – Architects Neighbourhood Studio – Sculptor Kennon – Architects and Interior Designers

COLLABORATION

This category seeks to award one collaborative design project, where two or more separate creative practitioners, businesses or entities have come together to create one collaborative product, product range, installation, built structure or other creative project.

Judges: Amanda Henderson (Gloss Creative), Jeremy Wortsman (The Jacky Winter Group) and Megan Morton.

Nudie Jeans x Waverley Mills – Recycled Blanket Arthur Seigneur & Adam Goodrum – Exquisite Corpse Centre for Appropriate Technology, Elliat Rich & Outside Assembly -Wren Furniture Suite for ApMurra Furniture Edition Office & Daniel Boyd – For Our Country Edition Office & Yhonnie Scarce – In Absence Manapan Furniture x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Furniture Suite Nicholas Johnston & Kristian Klein – Krof Cutlery Obus & Olana Janfa – Olana x Obus Pan After & Alice Oehr – Paper Pattern Collection The Big Group & Koichi Takada Architects – Landmark by Lexus

Phew!

Winners will be announced in an awards ceremony at Deakin Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne on Thursday, November 5th, 2020.

You can explore photographs of all the shortlisted projects over on the TDF Awards website. Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of each category shortlist over the coming weeks – starting with a closer look at the Residential Architecture finalists next Monday!

[olivia-fashion-journeys]

Liz Burton lecture.

The liz button lecture I found very interesting.

She starts off with a real Jouney of her career and how she is Constantly learning as a fashion designer, in industry for 9 years, at different stage of life, wanted to teach, pass on skills. degreased was in fashion design and contour, , so liked to make fitted, body shaped clothing. summer, travel, internship at George (Asda),, colour pallets, worked briefly in china in a factory, taiwien, hotshots, 

after uni worked for a supplie, became a sportswear designer, TRV distribution, football and rugby kits, for games and training etc 

Avon, asis, worked with nightwear and lingerie design, interesting learned a lot, but not what shevwanted to do so much (sportswear designer) so moved on and establishing creative freedom.

Lingere and nightwear design assistant  at T, novelty, swimwear, senior designers, had little understanding of the amount of work she had, and a strong almost overwhelming workload, also dipped into activewear too, struggle with lack of effective communication with the senior designers between themselves.

Corporate designer, uniform, costa, HSBC, primary M&S, nationwide, Jeff banks collaboration with PCAW, stick to brief.

Product development, key trends, ideas, date, see to end.

Design manager promotion, lots of challenges, responsible, growth in company, meant more responsibility, bigger teams etc 

main jobs, included organising inspirational trips, factories visits, design presentations, brands and conntacts, focus groups, development goals, fits, samples, toilet, contact with factory and patten cutters, new ideas, costing and sales and design and time scales.  learned it’s unfortuantly not all about the design, often price, fabric and fit are more important than the design.  

Other establishments and achievements, visting lecture, at BCU, and gives talks to many secondary and art schools. CAD courses, establish some shoe making skill with jut shoes, QA couches, impact, couses with interfek, introduction  to fibres, yarns and fabrics.

Travel, worldwide, personally been to Europe, USA, Asia.

Extra’s, footwear, photoshoots, HSBC awards

The process to final product. design teams on CAD, programs work better, as if someone is off, work can be easily done/editied, and caught up. responsible for fit, quality, contact with manufacture, e.t.c.

HSBC, relaunched brand, deign was body inclusive, trendy and was extremely reflective of the colour palette, and unique message, highly received and praised.

Pitti Uome, mens trade show in Florence, Italy, where models are not on runway, but in fact walk around so clothing is seen in more practice way,  this inspired her to create a menswear relaunch for HSBC, inspired by the empowerment of dressing in menswear, and how it could be revolutionary.

Innovation , warm up jacket, ling had on/off switch that had hidden heat pad in, so jacket could warm up and cool down, designers for workers who are often outside for periods of time for example mail services.

light-up innovation, for airport ground staff, safety, better visibility, lights in front and back, suggested in the cuffs of jacket, (hands-free), no need for torchlight.

Another innovation, was print reveal, burned patten into it by 2mm using laser cutter, not visible unless water, could be useful as selling points in toy shops etc, also for servicekind, who work outside in rain etc

royal mail, include accessories, focused on practical weight distraction, by splitting weight on both sides of the body, also this increased the amount of post able to fit, and be carried by 25%, and acceories were not asked for, went above and beyond to ensure happiness for customer.

collaborative projects, include multiple with Jeff banks leading to job possible oppuntities,  Vivienne Westwood, (in the middle of the last photo above)for vision alantic, uniform was a hit, the colour, and quality. and with Gok Wan, for TU, focusing on lingere and shapewear, focused on structure and body-control, which was part of the degree she studied and was trained in.

transferable future skills helped for lectures, and designer 

learned new skills, intro to gouache, shoe making, watercolours (flora).

designed logo for faced prints for little love Cornwall, interviews/blogs 

stichey -podcast

sell yourself creatively, team why me in it etc

Overall this has been really useful and I may try some of the courses of the summer. In relation to my project it has had only a little significannce in ways I can consider expanding the concept and design, for my final outcome