#rafi was here studios

[rafiwashere]

Dear Artist, The Wait is Almost Over!

Hello, my beautiful creative human family! I’m thrilled to finally announce that Dear Artist, Letters From A Rogue book is on track to be released on October 25th, 2024—mark your calendars, set your alarms, and prepare your victory dance!

Hello, my beautiful creative human family! I’m thrilled to finally announce that the pre-order books for Dear Artist, Letters From A Rogue is on track to be released on October 25th, 2024—mark your calendars, set your alarms, and prepare your victory dances! Currently, I’m wrapping up my ridiculous yet totally motivational doodles for the book (yes, there will be some silly Rafi-style art…

[mingis-orangejuice]

Love and Deepspace Boys with an MC that's good with children Part.3: Rafayel

Summary: Rafayel desperately calls you to help him take care of his little nephew. Rafayel can't stand him but how difficult can one little kid be?

a/n: this one is my fave out of all the fics I've written so far. I love drama queen Rafayel. I made him as dramatic as possible, he's literally jealous of a 5-year-old kid cuz you're giving him more attention. Yep that's my man and imma stick beside him

Genres/Warnings: just pure teeth rotting fluff

Word count: 1173

Other parts: 1, 2, 4

“So what do you say will you help me pretty please?” Rafayel said from the other side of the call. He had called you to ask if you’d help him with his little nephew. He was stuck taking care of him since his cousin and her husband went off on another spontaneous trip. 

“Fine, as long as you pay double, bodyguards don’t babysit for free.” you joked

“Yeah sure double, I’ll even pay triple if you want just get here quickly!” you heard a crash in the background of the call and Rafayel screaming then he hung up.

You were only joking about wanting payment you didn't really think he would agree to it, but that crash had you concerned. Why was he so desperate for your help? How bad can one little kid be?

At Rafayel’s house, you let yourself in with the spare key. You hear your boyfriend yelling, another small voice laughing and the sound of something breaking. You follow the sound to the living room. The whole room was trashed. Mess everywhere, canvases and brushes on the floor, and paint everywhere even on the ceiling. Did a tornado pass through his living room? You see Rafayel chasing a young boy around the room as he causes more trouble “Rafayel what’s going on?”

“Oh thank goodness you’re here” He stops chasing the boy and runs up to you to greet you with a hug “He’s terrible, he’s destroyed everything in my studio I don't know what to do he just won't stop” Rafayel looked like he was almost about to cry.

“Who are you?” the boy stops in front of you “Are you Uncle Rafi’s girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I am” You bend down and put out your hand to shake his. “It’s nice to meet you, sweetie, what’s your name?” 

The little boy looks up at you with a big smile, completely enamoured by you “I’m Nate. Are you really Uncle Rafi’s girlfriend you’re way too pretty for him” he looks at Rafayel and sticks his tongue out.

“Hey I'll have you know that she is my girlfriend and she loves me, so there!” Rafayel sticks his tongue out at Nate too.

“Stop it you two.” you flick Rafayel’s forehead “You’re the adult in the situation you shouldn’t let him take advantage of you” you scold him as Nate laughs under his breath

“He started it, plus he doesn’t listen, he’s just a bad kid, we should bring him to an orphanage and leave him there,” he says pointing at Nate while hiding behind you.

You sigh and turn to look at Nate. “Nate, sweetie did you mess with your uncle’s art?” he nodded shyly. “That's not very nice now, is it” This time he nodded no. “you know you’re not supposed to do that right?”

“But Uncle Rafi was being so boring, I wanted to play tag but he just wanted to paint. He said he needed silence for his work so he left me in here alone.”

You turn and look at Rafayel. “Is that true?” He also just nods, looking like he was being scolded by his own mother. “Rafayel you can’t just leave him alone with nothing to do, what did you think would happen, he’d just sit there for hours doing nothing? No wonder he did all this, he was bored. You could have at least given him something to do.”

“I don’t know what kids like to do, that's why I called you. You’re so smart and would know exactly what to do to help your boyfriend in need riiight?” he attempted to flatter you so that you’d help him.

You sigh again. “Ok well, first we have to clean up this mess...” 

“I think you should make Nate clean it up himself, to make him learn his lesson” Rafayel glared at Nate.

You gave Rafayel the “mom death stare” and he quickly shut up “We are all going to help clean and then both of you are going to apologize, ok?” 

They both look at each other and then back at you. “Ok,” they both say. reluctantly

Later after the mess had been cleaned, you three sit on the couch exhausted. You hear a little tummy rumble.  You look to Nate “Oh are you hungry, maybe we should make something to eat” You head to the kitchen and Nate follows behind you holding your hand. Rafayel see this and jumps up from the couch trying to get in between you two. You push him away “Raf seriously, you’re jealous of a 5-year-old?” he looks a little embarrassed then quietly takes your other hand on the way to the kitchen. Nate looks over and sticks his tongue out at Rafayel again without you noticing. 

You guys cook up a nice simple meal for you all to enjoy but it wasn’t easy. Throughout the whole thing, they were both fighting for your attention. Rafayel was constantly giving you little kisses while you were trying to cook and Nate would keep pulling you away to get you to lift him up so he could get different ingredients or so he could sit on the counter. You found the little fight amusing so you let it go on since it was harmless.

You’re now sitting at the table to eat and the rivalry is still going on. “Come on just eat the food” it's healthy” Rafayel begs Nate “You need to eat something”

“No! it's yucky. I don’t wanna!” Nate whined and pushed his plate away from him.

“Nate sweetie, can you please eat all your food? If you do then you’ll become strong enough to be a hunter like me” You said with a smile. Nate instantly listens and shoves spoonfuls of food into his mouth. He’s finished in no time.

Rafayel looks at you in disbelief. How did you get this little brat to listen so easily? After Nate finished eating you got him ready for an afternoon nap. He gladly listened to everything you said while constantly glancing over at Rafayel to make sure he knew that he was only going to listen to you and not him. You put Nate in a bed in one of the guest rooms and waited for him to fall asleep. Right before you and Rafayel left the room Nate sleepyily said “ Uncle Rafi You should marry her I want her to be my new auntie.” 

You both look at each other and then back at him. “That’s the plan” Rafayel looks at you and winks. 

“Good,” Nate says right before he drifts off to sleep

You and Rafayel are now back on the couch, he holds your hand and looks into your eyes. “Hey thanks for today, you were a really big help I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you” 

“You don’t have to pay me, at least not with money.” You kiss him and give him a sly grin 

“Careful if you keep that up we’ll end up making another Nate” he laughed and kissed you.

[farfallasims]

Acquaintances

Anastasia's day consisted of helping her childhood friend, Serene Yoga Studio owner, Paloma Summers move into her new apartment when she ran her neighbor, Rafi Andreas.

Although not new to town, the 32 year old never stayed for long as he was a yachtie, specifically a private chef for super yachts in New England. His career resulted in many 6 week departures from town, but maybe meeting Anastasia could change that.

P.S. Rafi was originally made by @rhdweauni0 from their sim dump that you can find here. Massive thank you to this talented creator for making these gorgeous sims for us lil simmers to drool over ♡

[choosejoyangel]

Not Another Macallan

With love, Vanessa @choosejoyangel. :) Thank you to @whoevrwhatevr for encouraging me to write. I am grateful.

Author's note: Anything SVU-related belongs to their respective owners. The original character, Christmas Grace Lennox, and everything else belong to me. I am on no other platform besides Tumblr, Vimeo, and Google/YouTube at my handle, @choosejoyangel. Enjoy, angels! :)

Just some positive goodness to brighten your day!

Soundtrack: Queen-You're My Best Friend and Dave Matthews Band-Crush <3 :)

I thought it would be more engaging for the reader to follow Rafael and Rita’s banter if it were written as a transcription. Get cozy as you imagine being in the same room as besties for life, Rafael Barba and Rita Calhoun, reflecting on an evening most likely spent alone, just the two of them starting the night at their favorite ice cream parlor over a banana split debating a case and ending the night keeping each other warm like they have always done since their Harvard Law days. Rita realizes it is time to let Rafael know how much he truly means to her, and that includes showing him he deserves to be happy with the woman he does not want to imagine his life without. Who is this woman? Is it her? Or, is Rita helping her best friend allow himself the chance at true love with someone else? 

Rita: Why are you in my kitchen, Rafi? It is your birthday, not mine.

Rafael: You know I hate surprises.

Rita: Then why are you trying to hide your smile?

Rafael: I am not smiling.

Rita: And I am 39.

Rafael: For the sixth year in a row.

Rita: I should have bought you another bottle of Macallan.

Rafael: I liked this gift better, Rita.

Rita: Speak up, babe. Did you lose your speaking voice all of a sudden?

Rafael: I liked this gift better, Rita!

Rita: I heard you the first time, but I wanted everyone still here to know how cuddly you are.

Rafael: You can take the man out of the Bronx.

Rita: But you can’t take the Bronx out of the man. I get it, Rafael. We don’t like letting our guard down. It may work in the courtroom but not in the bedroom. 

Rafael: You never had complaints about either of our bedrooms, sweetheart.

Rita: Never! 

Rafael: I trust you.

Rita: I trust you too, Rafi.

Rafael: Um, are you up to finish tonight with a bang?

Rita: I don’t think that is a good idea.

Rafael: What is wrong? I’m so sorry. I loved my party. Seeing everyone from work…um.

Rita: And home?

Rafael: Yes.

Rita: If not for her, you and I would celebrate your birthday over a banana split.

Rafael: Her?

Rita: Yes, Mistletoe.

Rafael: You mean Christmas?

Rita: Mistletoe, Christmas, who cares?

Rafael: Her name is Christmas, and yes, you do care.

Rita: Who in their right mind names their kid after a holiday? 

Rafael: It’s not important. Leave her alone. She is my friend, Rita.

Rita: Friend, eh?

Rafael: Yes, my friend.

Rita: I have known you for over twenty years, Rafael Barba. 

Rafael: And?

Rita: I have not seen that look on your face since, um, well, you know who I am talking about.

Rafael: Yelina?

Rita: Ugh! I thought I told you never to repeat her name in my presence.

Rafael: Come on! Yelina broke my heart, not yours.

Rita: Don’t say her name!

Rafael: Okay!

Rita: Christmas helped me plan your surprise birthday party. She was a big help, considering my caseload. It’s not like she has much to do besides play in her art studio.

Rafael: She works in her art studio, Rita. That is her job, and she is busy, too.

Rita: I know, Rafael. I love it when you defend her. You start blushing, and your green eyes get brighter in defense of what you call her “your friend”?

Rafael: I hate you.

Rita: I hate you too.

Rafael: She helped you?

Rita: Yes, she did. And the feeling is mutual between you and her. 

Rafael: Are you psychic now?

Rita: No, I am a woman. 

Rafael: Oh, I didn’t know.

Rita: I am trying to tell you that I don’t think it is a good idea for us to have sex anymore, Rafael.

Rafael: You and I can still be friends.

Rita: You will always be my best friend, Rafi.

Rafael: You will always be my best friend, too, Rita.

Rita: Christmas is your best friend now.

Rafael: I am allowed to have two best friends.

Rita: I know. She wants you to be happy, even if it may be you and me. I assured her that you and I are or were what young people like her call “friends with benefits.”

Rafael: She is not that young, Rita. 

Rita: You were in high school when she was born, Rafael.

Rafael: It does not bother us; does it bother you?

Rita: No!

Rafael: Will you be happy?

Rita: I am happy, and I am happy for you too. Besides, I am seeing someone.

Rafael: Really? What’s his name?

Rita: She.

Rafael: Well, okay then. What is her name? 

Rita: She is a lawyer; that is all I will tell you for now.

Rafael: Please tell me her name before you put a ring on her finger. 

Rita: Changing subjects.

Rafael: I was kidding. I do hope to meet her if that is what you want. 

Rita: You will be the first to know. 

Rafael: I think Christmas is still here. 

Rita: Of course she is. I can smell the holly from here.

Rafael: Rita! 

Rita: If you want to help in my kitchen, make some coffee for us, Rafael. 

Rafael: I don’t want to ask her to leave yet.

Rita: The coffee is for her, too, silly. If she leaves, you leave with her. You two live near each other. Oh, you have protection?

Rafael: Rita, I am not discussing my sex life with you.

Rita: She is cute. Ask her to spend the night with you.

Rafael: Rita.

Rita: I don’t want to find out you didn’t at least give her a kiss goodnight. And you know I am not talking about a chaste kiss between friends, Rafael Barba!

Rafael: You won’t, Rita Calhoun.

Rita: She and I are friends now.

Rafael: Hmm.

Rita: Rafael and Christmas sitting in a tree…

Rafael: I will meet you in the sitting room.

Rita: You better hide that blush of yours.

Rafael: Rita.

Rita: What?

Rafael: Thank you.

Rita: You’re welcome. 

Rafael: I love you, Rita.

Rita: I love you too, Rafael.

Rafael: My wish came true.

Rita: Yes, it did. Happy Birthday, Rafael. Now, get out of my kitchen.

⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°⋆˚✿˖°

[indiejones]

KISHORE AND RAFI - OF BOLLYWOOD’S BIGGEST ELEPHANTS & IT’S MOST SUCCESSFUL STORY EVER.

Where geniuses recommended geniuses as replacements, not once but three times within the same story!

Story being - Rajesh Khanna had just announced to the world, after his mega successful year 1969, arguably the greatest singular year for a single artist, & one of his 6-7 consecutive years that saw him deliver ~ 50 films, all of which today find proud place in Indies All-Time Top 500-600 Hindi films ever!..that no other singer would ever playback for him, except the great Kishore Kumar! Naturally then, whenever any song for a Rajesh film would be orchestrated, Kishore would be the person to call for blindly. .. Same for this one song in 'Haathi Mere Saathi' (one of Khanna's 25 films royally included among Indie's All-Time Top 100 Hindi Films ever!) ..the Bengali maestro came to the studios, & started his rehearsals. Yet, for some peculiar reason, he found this particular song very hard to get right, such that even after several attempts & rehearsals, he just couldn't get himself to be satisfied. He kept thinking to himself, & slyly looking at the music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal all this while, when finally Kishore got up & exclaimed "This is Rafi's song! Only Rafi can sing it!". Kishore perhaps in his genius, sensed that this deeply Rafi number was only given to him, coz of the hero's grand media announcement..and choosing to make a gracious exit would be the best course for sake of art. Yet composers & producers now were in a quandary as to how the megastar would react!..to which the meastro asked them not to worry (perhaps knowing that his deep friendship with Khanna would turn the tide), & as exactly how turned out. But the next problem- Twas considered a big insult in music circles then (& those were the finest most sensitive brilliant musical times indeed) for a singer to be the replacement..& here was Rafi the great, put in that position! Wonder how he'd react?! Not to be a worry, as Rafi saab, famous for his super large heart & angelic demeanor, didn't bat an eyelid, & accepted what was offered!

The result- 1. One of the only entries in record books, of arguably the greatest post-independence singer of Bollywood, ever singing, for it's greatest ever actor! 2. A music album that broke all records, winning the producing music company a silver disc for sales, for the first time! 3. A film that not only turned out to be the biggest hit of the year, but counting for inflation (& only competing with Bahubali) remains the biggest ever Bollywood hit by a South Indian producer!

Hereby dedicated to all animal lovers, & esp animal activists doing yeoman service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kBLExOafhQ

[ib2se]

MusicMonday 🎶 B:sides ~ Train 2 Chill

💿 All Albums from Chant Records 💿

1. [5:14]

East of the River, co directed by Daphna Mor & Nina Stern – Cveta Moma Ubava Performed by: Daphna Mor: Recorders Nina Stern; Recorders Tamer Pinarbasi: Qanun Jesse Kotanksy: Violin Shane Shanahan: Percussion Composed by Traditional Macedonian Arranged by Daphna Mor and Nina Stern Produced by Daphna Mor and Nina Stern Engineered by Aaron Nevezie Recorded at Bunker Studios. Brooklyn

2. [4:21]

The Lie Detectors (Eyal Maoz & Asaf Sirkis Duet) – Rice Performed by: Eyal Maoz – guitar Asaf Sirkis – drums Composed by Eyal Maoz Arranged by Eyal Maoz and Asaf Sirkis Produced by Eyal Maoz and Asaf Sirkis

3. [5:31]

Nonoko Yoshida & Kim Yooi – Blood Orange Performed by: Nonoko Yoshida 吉田野乃子 (alto sax, udu)

Composed by Nonoko Yoshida Arranged by Nonoko Yoshida Produced by Nonoko Yoshida Engineered by Yoshihiro Tsukahara Recorded at Studio Riccio (Sapporo – recorded and mixed on September 8th, 2017)

4. [5:33]

Eyal Talmudi – Train to Chill Performed by Eyal Talmudi, Beno Hendler Composed by Eyal Talmudi Arranged by Eyal Talmudi Produced by Eyal Talmudi Engineered by Eyal Talmudi Recorded at The Ashtray Studios Peace to all

5. [7:20]

Gregor Frei ASMIN – Franklin’s Son Performed by: Gregor Frei – tenor sax Ran Wehrli – alto sax Dave Gisler – guitar Pascal Ujak – bass Maxime Paratte – drums Composed by Gregor Frei Arranged by Gregor Frei Produced by Gregor Frei Engineered by Will-y Strehler Recorded at St. Leonard’s Church Recorded in the ruin of the St. Leonard’s Church in St. Gallen. The church was burned out about one year before the recordings.

6. [1:11]

Hu: Vibrational (Adam Rudolph) – HAKUNA Performed by ADAM RUDOLPH Composed by ADAM RUDOLPH Arranged by ADAM RUDOLPH Produced by ADAM RUDOLPH & CARLOS NINO Engineered by BRYAN CARLSTROM Recorded at CLEAR LAKE STUDIOS This track is from UNIVERSAL MOTHER CD Full CD download available here: Bandcamp.com

7. [5:55]

Ouzo Bazooka (Ira Raviv, Adam Scheflan, Dani Ever-Hadani, Uri Brauner Kinrot) – TURKUM Performed by: DRUMS – IRA RAVIV BASS – ADAM SCHEFLAN KEYBOARD – DANI EVER-HADANI GUITAR – URI BRAUNER KINROT Composed by URI BRAUNER KINROT Arranged by OUZO BAZOOKA Produced by URI BRAUNER KINROT Engineered by URI BRAUNER KINROT Recorded at Track is from the album ‘SONGS FROM 1001 NIGHTS’ (STOLEN BODY RECORDS)

8. [9:10]

Kevin Norton’s Breakfast of Champignon(s) – “Deep Tanks” Performed by Helen Yee- violin; Julia Simoniello- electric guitar; Angelica Sanchez- piano; Noah Berman- electric guitar; Steve LaSpina- bass; Kevin Norton- drums, vibraphone & percussion. Composed by Kevin Norton – published by Enduring Heart (ASCAP) Produced by Kevin Norton Engineered by Scott Friedlander Recorded live at The Stone (NYC), July 18, 2017 as part of the Stone Residencies: Kevin Norton “Deep Tanks” is one of 12 songs from the song-cycle, Staten Island: All that is solid melts into air – the premier performance of the song-cycle (slightly different instrumentation and personnel) from Roulette (NYC) is available on Bandcamp.com.

9. [5:27]

Past the Mark (Vince Pastano & Marc Urselli) – Tortellini Blues Performed by Vince Pastano & Marc Urselli Composed by Vince Pastano & Marc Urselli Arranged by Vince Pastano & Marc Urselli Produced by Marc Urselli Engineered by Marc Urselli Recorded at EastSide Sound from the CD: “Hakhel Tribulation” available on Nu Jazz Europe records NuJazzEurope.eu

10. [4:49]

Rafi Malkiel Ensemble – Danza Magica Performed by Rafi Malkiel – Euphonium Anthony Carrillo – Bongo, Timbas, Bells, Chekere, Maracas Dave Hertzberg – Upright Bass Henry Cole – Drums Set Jack Glottman – Piano Anat Cohen – Clarinet Chris Karlic – Tenor Saxophone Itai Kriss – Flute, Vocals Steve Gluzband – Trumpet Gili Sharett – Bassoon Ronald Polo – Tambora, Snare Drum Morris Canyate – Alegre, Platillos Sergio Borrero – Llamador, Maraca Composed by Rafi Malkiel Arranged by Rafi Malkiel Produced by Rafi Malkiel & Pablo Mayor Engineered by Recorded by Randy Crafton at on July 28-29 2006 Mixed and Mastered by Ilya Eli Lishinsky at Artsonic Studios Recorded at Kaleidoscope Studios 1 jingle incl tune from Kmag #107 af Loopmasters Samples & 2 jingles from B:sides on Spotify

  Veckans BibelVers: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” ~ Matthew 6:26-27🎧

Drink Espresso - God bless U! /MrZ :)

🎧 #Spotify #LennArrrt

#Playlist 📰 #ib2 http://ib2.se/BsidesTrain2chill.htm

[1d-discourseoftheday]

Fri 15 Jan ‘21

Everybody is listening to NOBODY IS LISTENING!!!! (I know, so cheap, that's on par with New Direction headlines, I'M SORRY OKAY. Never again.) Anyway the album debuted at #1 on the worldwide itunes charts and in dozens of countries, there's more awesome merch (socks! masks! mugs!), and Zayn (or various manifestations of him) are everywhere. He tweeted “Just wanna say, it feels great to share this with you all! everyone’s support and love means a lot, here’s to a great year hope it better than the last!” and he's out there answering comments (that'll be him; would a PA bother with those fancy fonts?), but is it him texting people back from the snippet number? Unlikely... is it him in the listening party chats? IDK but there's definitely a Zaynbot (well, staff in this case) in there as well (if you don't believe me the “we appreciate you” is a clue lol), is it him doing all the boring promo retweeting, ehh, and so it goes throughout the promo, Zayn is everywhere but where is ZAYN?? I feel like the blurring of the line between the man and the various bots would make (human) Zayn pretty pleased, the man loves a robot after all! HOWEVER, it would be a special kind of robot that would select the “I'm fingering myself” tweet (in which he was NOT tagged) to answer (“ya wha?”), and how lucky are we to have the real ting among us for this brief moment: who else, I ask you. WHO ELSE. And, of course, we got the biggest pure Zayn shot of all: the ALBUM! He also liked a tweet about the fact that Tightrope samples an Urdu song (by Mohammed Rafi), and reposted a fan's story from a NIListening listening party ft homemade party hats that were markedly classier than the no doubt expensive custom-made ones from Zayn's bday party, and a sexy new publicity pic was posted. We also got footage from a truck all tricked out to be a NIL-mobile! The back of the box van is filled with an installation of mirrors and NIL faces and black light and a spinning platform-- footage from there showed very few people present and they spoke of having a COVID-safe release party but given that there was a pro camera team present, there's speculation it was perhaps used to film a video or something as well. But whether or not that happened it does seem they drove it around to use for private celebration, a lot of people from Hadid circles posted about being there and there being a kid dance time and stuff. Lots of cool trippy footage from inside.

Today's Harry news again slants towards TPWK video chat rather than movie studio sponsored romance-- in what little Holivia news there is we get an interesting backpedal focus on being told that if Olivia and Jason were still together when Harry came into the picture (if this were real which it isn't) he “didn't know” and, in so many words in big old headline type, “Harry is blameless.” Furthermore, the idea that this might be “just a phase” for Olivia has been introduced. That astrologer was pretty on the nose in some predictions, but May or June for a Jason/ Olivia reconciliation seems awfully conservative to me; I'd be very surprised if we had to wait that long! Anyway, if they're trying to redirect Harry news to be about his music, I'm on board! Today we got more from Gabe and Ben Turner; Gabe says “He works to a really high standard but he’s unbelievably kind to literally everyone, all the time. Even if he’s under pressure, he never drops his standards of the right way to behave and being kind to people... You watch the way he is with the runners, producers, sound people, whoever… He’s treating them with so much love and respect that everyone works as hard as they possibly can to make his vision come true because he’s so joyful to be around” which could sound like more damage control, except that it's exactly what everyone who's ever worked with him says, so we know it's true. Ben tells us that the Golden vid was supposed to be different-- “the initial idea was Harry driving around LA with different people getting in and out of the car, people who were significant to the album or his life.” I guess it's handy they had the idea already right there to recycle for Holivia pics; but also I'm glad the video was what it ended up being instead of that. They also tell us that the TPWK vid was always going to be the final piece of the Fine Line era (“It was always supposed to be the last thing on the album run as an ending beat”) but that it ended up being held back longer than originally intended because the album did so well (and probably because of the way things were stretched out by COVID) and how that ended up being strange- “the video has stayed the same but the world has disappeared.”

An affordable candle from Target has been found that allegedly smells like... Louis? Reviews specify that he smells like “clean laundry” (I have to admit I have heard that said before) and vanilla and so does the candle, which is called 'cozy nights' and is said to also be 'a cute color' (it's white). I might want to pair the candle with a slight eau de wet dog, cause in MY fantasy Louis hangout Cliff is for sure there too, but the target candle buying audience may be fantasizing about, uh, different scenarios than me...

And finally, Niall on Niall; “epic... jesus I'm way too much“ (yes with laugh faces) plus he comments on his 14 million spotify listeners-- “next time we're gona get much higher.” He also posted to suggest folks should give Heartbreak Weather a listen so it seems he hasn't yet given up on getting higher numbers THIS time.

[ireadyabooks]

Books to Read in 2021

It’s a NEW YEAR, everyone! 

We made it through 2020, and whether or not you hit your reading goal this past year, don’t worry! 2021 is a new year for your TBR, and we have an AMAZING line-up of books you should add to your reading list ASAP.

THE LIFE I’M IN 

This story of the power of forgiveness and second chances presents the unflinching story of a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking. In Sharon G. Flake's latest and unflinching novel, we follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking.

HOLD BACK THE TIDE

A darkly seductive story of murder, betrayal, love, and family secrets in a small town in the Scottish Highlands. Alva knows that her father killed her mother, but she can’t prove it. The more she investigates though, the more she realizes that the truth can be more monstrous than lies/ And while you might be able to outrun anything that emerges from the dark water, you can never escape your past . . .

MUTED 

Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean "Mercury" Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not. Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken.

THE POETRY OF SECRETS

A lyrical portrait of hidden identities and forbidden love set against the harrowing backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Isabel’s dreams to pursue poetry and a partner of her own choosing are thrown into jeopardy when the Spanish Inquisition reaches her small town. 

SHURI #2: THE VANISHED 

Shuri, the Princess of Wakanda (and sister to the Black Panther), sets out to save a group of kidnapped girls in this all-new, original novel by New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone!

BRIDGE OF SOULS

Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows . . .unless it's the other way around? Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. And the city's biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.

FOLLOW YOUR ARROW

When bisexual influencer CeCe breaks up with her girlfriend, Silvie, she’s devastated. But then she starts falling for a new guy who has no idea she’s internet famous...and CeCe wants to keep it that way. But as her secrets catch up to her, she finds herself in the middle of an online storm, where she'll have to confront the blurriness of public vs. private life, and figure out what it really means to speak her truth.   

MIRROR’S EDGE

The danger rises and the deception grows in the heart-stopping third book in the New York Times bestselling Impostors series! Are twins Frey and Rafi on the same side . . . or are they playing to their own agendas? If their father is deposed from Shreve, who will take control? And what other forces may be waiting in the wings?

ZARA HOSSAIN IS HERE

Zara's family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become US citizens. While dealing with the Islamophobia that she faces at school, Zara has to lay low. But when her tormentor vandalizes her house with racist graffiti, a violent crime puts Zara’s entire future at risk. Now she must pay the ultimate price and choose between fighting to stay in the only place she's ever called home or losing the life she loves and everyone in it.

REMEDY

It's a mystery - why is Cara so sick? It feels like she's been sick all her life . . . but she and her mom have never stayed in one place long enough for doctors to really understand what's happening to her. Now, at fourteen, Cara is tired of being tired, and sick of being sick. Unable to afford the care she needs, Cara's mom starts a Caring for Cara campaign online. The money starts pouring in. But something's not right to Cara. And the harder she looks, the less she understands.

HEARTSTOPPER VOLUME 3

The third volume in the poignant and sweet Heartstopper series, featuring beautiful two-color artwork! Charlie didn't think Nick could ever like him back, but now they're officially boyfriends. Nick has even found the courage to come out to his mom. But coming out isn't something that happens just once, and Nick and Charlie try to figure out when to tell their friends that they're dating. Not being out to their classmates gets even harder during a school trip to Paris. As Nick and Charlie's feelings get more serious, they'll need each other more than ever.

THE BLOCK

In the second book of The Loop trilogy, Luka is trapped in a fate worse than death. But now that he knows the truth about what he and his fellow inmates are being used for, it's more important than ever that he not only escapes, but that he builds an army.

ON THE HOOK

Hector has always minded his own business while he works towards a better life. Until Joey, whose older brother, Chavo, is head of the Discípulos gang, tells Hector that he's going to kill him: maybe not today, or tomorrow, but someday. And Hector, frozen with fear, does nothing. From that day forward, Hector's death is hanging over his head every time he leaves the house. But when a fight between Chavo and Hector's brother escalates, Hector is left with no choice but to take a stand. It's up to Hector to choose whether he's going to lose himself to revenge or get back to the hard work of living.

MISTER IMPOSSIBLE

Do the dreamers need the ley lines to save the world . . . or will their actions end up dooming the world? As Ronan, Hennessy, and Bryde try to make dreamers more powerful, the Moderators are closing in, sure that this power will bring about disaster. In the remarkable second book of The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater pushes her characters to their limits – and shows what happens to them and others when they start to break.

THE GHOSTS WE KEEP 

Everything happens for a reason.At least that's what everyone keeps telling Liam Cooper after his older brother Ethan is killed suddenly in a hit-and-run. Feeling more alone and isolated than ever, Liam has to not only learn to face the world without one of the people he loved the most, but also face the fading relationships of his two best friends in the process. Soon, Liam finds themself spending time with Ethan's best friend, Marcus, who might just be the only person that seems to know exactly what they're going through - for better and for worse.

SIMONE BREAKS ALL THE RULES

Simone is shaking things up by making a bucket list of everything she hasn’t been able to do thanks to her strict Haitian immigrant parents. But as the list takes on a life of its own, things get much more complicated than Simone expected. She'll have to discover which rules are worth breaking, and which might save her from heartbreak.

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF

Skylar is ready to show everyone that her latest app is brilliant by winning an academic competition. To do that, she's going to use it to win State at the Scholastic Exposition, the nerdiest academic competition around. But when she falls for one of her team members and things get complicated, is her path to greatness over before it begins?

THE GIRL FROM THE SEA

A graphic novel about family, romance, and first love! Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl. Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.

RISE TO THE SUN

Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Toni is reeling in the wake of the loss of her roadie father and desperate to figure out where her life will go from here. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again). When the two collide at the Farmland Music and Arts Festival, it feels like kismet. But when something goes wrong and the festival is sent into a panic, Toni and Olivia find that they need each other, and the music, more than they ever imagined.

YOU & ME AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Hannah Ashton wakes up to silence. The entire city around her is empty, except for one other person: Leo Sterling. Leo might be the hottest boy ever (and not just because he's the only one left), but he's also too charming, too selfish, and too devastating for his own good, let alone Hannah's. Together, they search for answers amid crushing isolation. But while their empty world may appear harmless . . . it's not. Because nothing is quite as it seems, and if Hannah and Leo don't figure out what's going on, they might just be torn apart forever.

IN THE SAME BOAT 

Sadie is ready for the race of a lifetime: The Texas River Odyssey. But then her brother ditches her and she has to pair up with her former best friend, Cully. It's irritating enough that he grew up to be so attractive, but once they're on the river it turns out he's ill-prepared for such a dangerous race. But as the miles pass, the pain of the race builds, they uncover the truth about their feuding families, and Sadie's feelings for Cully begin to shift. Could this race change her life more than she ever could have imagined?

THE GREAT DESTROYERS 

In this alternate-history novel, Jo joins the Pax Games: an Olympics-style competition that pits pilots of mechas against each other. But when fighters start dying in the arena, Jo is drawn into a deadly political plot. In a global arms race between superpowers, playing out in violent games that only humanity could create, comes a chilling story of clashing titans, ruthless competition, freedom, and the girl caught in the middle of it all.

[cloveroctobers]

ELLADINE SARABI

IG info/bio: @/ellasardineabi | 18.5k followers | Artist | i was born with glass bones and paper skin♡

25 years old

Born & raised in Cardiff, Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Father was in the n*vy and moved his family around a few times until he and his wife came to a agreement that it would be best for the family to grow up in one solid place

whereas he would leave for months at a time living elsewhere

Which was hard on the family at times since he is viewed as the rock of the family

He eventually left the n*vy after serving 20 years & was so thankful to, he hated it and how it messed with him mentally

He’s also of Iranian heritage

Her mother is of German heritage

Has her own restaurant that serves authentic German food

Both of her parents instilled hard work, discipline, generosity, and how to be practical in their children

Elladine is the middle child

Has a brother that is ten years older than her and then a younger sister who is seven years behind her

Canon: there is currently a discussion going on if they are going to bring their (maternal) nan/mam-gu home since the nursing home isn’t providing the proper care their nan needs

Her mother has a rocky relationship with her mother that she doesn’t like to discuss with her children but her husband knows all about it

Her nan has Alzheimer's and is becoming violent

it has become difficult seeing her most days

Elladine came into glassblowing after being involved in many classes in secondary such as workshop class

which became her fav since she was able to manipulate many materials such as metal, wood, and glass

She also took a auto body class which was interesting but she wasn’t too thrilled about it. Got away with a B- but knew she could do better if she really wanted to but she didn’t need the class to graduate so allow it

Currently works in a glass studio where her work is displayed/sold and she’s one of the main ones that makes great profit

has bought her own space for her own studio and is slowly making it to her liking with her assistant, yes she’s got one!

Hopes to be in that space within the next 6 months...it would have been a little sooner if we weren’t dealing with a global p*ndemic!!! but ya know life f*cking sucks sometimes!!!1!!:) especially if people don’t gaf

Moved back in with her parents so that she could not only help with her nan but get her studio ready, her parents approved since she was working towards something and realized her talent

I definitely see elladine going through a grunge phase and it probably still slips out every now and then lol

Her childhood room is still in shades of raspberry, gray, and a deep purple

always been plus-sized/fuller than the rest but it’s literally hereditary since her mom is built the same way who got it from her dad

Her family never made her feel ashamed as they shouldn’t and none of her true friends made her feel different since they were all of different sizes!!! besides who’s really friends with someone because of their bodies? Ur really ugly if that’s how u roll js

Always a respectful student and not too afraid to spark up a convo with you but can be a little nervous if the person is more of a “I have to warm up to you first” since she’ll feel like she’s annoying you if she carries the convo at first

Takes her time in relationships because she’s scared of getting hurt, cause breakups are not fun! Especially if theyre your friend on top of that

Although Friendship breakups are much worse let’s be honest here!!!

Has noticed that a few of her exes like to bring up that she’s controlling or too bossy in relationships and that makes her a little insecure since she doesn’t view it that way??

She knows what she wants and likes things a certain way, and she can see how it can kinda come off that way based on how she approaches/says things and tries to be better at toning it down and not being offensive to her significant others

Always has a plan and likes to follow it, she definitely keeps to-do lists on a daily

Takes trips to see Nicky often and vice-versa, every moment they spend together feels like it’s meant to be, even when it’s them just simply chilling in each other’s spaces, he’s truly one of her best friends and he feels like the missing part of her life

He offered for her to move in with him but elladine didn’t accept it since she wanted to be there to help with her nan and in fact—she wanted to be the one to ask HIM to move in with her

but if they make it long enough, they’ll go house hunting together...maybe

I get Shawn/Angela relationship vibes from them (boy meets world for those who aren’t aware of this couple and I’m not just saying this because they’re interracial as well lol) did I say this already about someone else? Brain fart lol

everyone relationship has their flaws so when they hit a bump in the road...elladine immediately wants to fix it but it comes off as more critiquing, moodiness/blaming the other

while Nicky can be defensive/argumentive/a little condescending on his end

To get through it, they normally go on a walk together in complete silence until they’re ready to speak again or they take a break from each other

I think words of affirmation is her love language

Taurus sun + Virgo moon + Capricorn rising?

“The girl on the motorcycle” is one of her fav films — no this is not metaphoric to her love life

Loves watching things with captions on since she always finds herself doing something else while watching anything (which irks Nicky a little bit but that’s just the way elladine is and he loves her so he deals with it)

Will rewind something if she missed it too

Canon: never had morning sex before

but can now say she has ;) & understands the pros people say about it and it outweighs the cons in her book

Will start the whole song over too if she missed her fav part in it

She also enjoys billiards since her brother used to work in a pool hall and when he had to watch her because she was “too young” in her words to stay home by herself he would take her there even tho technically she wasn’t supposed to be there but he was screwing his boss’s daughter so it was quite fine

her sister has a crush on Gary & ships elladine with him, which they joke about every now and then + he doesn’t follow her back, which is okay! Not a big deal but her sister keeps sliding in his dms (he’s now single)

She NEVER thought she would be on THE love island and wasn’t that confident that she’d find a real love that carried on outside of the show but Nicky has proven her wrong 🥲

She’s 5’5–5’6

Probably shops at Zara & top shop and has no issue picking pieces that flatter her “pear” figure, she loves all that is of her body: the pudge, love handles, cellulite and all (she’s very confident and won’t let anyone see her moments of doubt when it comes to her frame)

Loves mythology but will tell bill stfu if he comes near her trying to argue about anything in that subject

Very competitive and will rush through certain things, leaving one to think that she’ll fail somewhere but rarely does

If she’s not near or away from the mountains or the sea for long period of time she gets very moody!!! Guess that’s the Welsh in her huh?

Loves fireplaces, they’re super cozy and very romantic if you catch ella’s drift 😏

Probably smells like jasmine & pink pepper idk

Wants to travel to Iceland one day

Knows her way around a car but dreads having to get it fixed or fixing it herself?

Loves driving until her road rage kicks in? Oh you’re gonna go around her to get in front of her? Never that. She’ll always be in front of you and will break check you if you try her “Drewgi” she mutters

Early riser and goes to bed early too lol

She’s the crying drunk lmao

Automatically vieve has become one of her best friends from the villa but it deff didn’t feel forced like it normally would have just because their bfs have a podcast together, they talk about everything together. EVERYTHING! It feels like she’s the big sister she never had, yet they’re only a year apart lol

They have ft sleepovers and man is it fun!

Forgave lily but at the same time can’t fully see herself being friends with her like vieve tried to encourage before they went on the yacht...sorry everything can’t be Kumbaya over here sis

It sucks to say but it was easier? She doesn’t know if that’s the right term or not... for her to forgive rafi than it was lily and it’s fucked up but that’s the way it is. It’s not like she contacts him on seperate messages or anything like that! She’ll talk to him via group chat and that’s pretty much it. She knows it was all part of the show and production’s bs for ratings but that doesn’t mean it still didn’t hurt

Wishes him success on his shows/movies but doesn’t engage/watch them

What does she post? I feel like she posts maybe three times a month and a lot are outfit pics but tends to go live more so to chat with the people! She’ll also show all what glassblowing entails while chatting away! She loves that part and is pretty open about things but knows how to keep some things private

Personally wasn’t the biggest fan of season 1 but admits she wishes she had mc’s balls in terms of what she would have done if she was in elladine’s place when lily picked Nicky, “ugh! I wish I had her strength rising through my veins in that moment. Absolute riot. Adore her.”

‘“Licky” is a ugly ass ship name anyways so who’s really winning here?!’

Celeb crushes? Iwan Rheon, Henry Zaga, Anthony Welsh, jason derulo, & LaRoyce Hawkins

Listens to: soleima, Marisa Maino, Ava Max, poppy, Caroline polachek, Donny Hathaway, Phil Good, & SAINt JHN

Anthem — M.I.A. “Bad Girls”

[itsjustmyfantasyroom]

Some Hot Shot

Back to the Fresh Starts Series continuation. This piece is a rare one that isn’t episode based. This is more of a Background to the reader.

Warning: Most life situations. Mentions talks of death of a parent, death of a grandparent and touches very very light on a verbally abusive ex boy friend.

Enjoy, its a softer side of our Barba xx

Rafael walked in from work, mentally drained and overly tired. He could smell the amazing smell that was your cooking coming from the oven. As he walked into the kitchen, he seen a white pearl envelop sitting on the bench, on top of some other mail with your address written in fancy gold lettering.

"Hermosa" he yelled out

"One second" you walked out of the bathroom freshly showered in navy track pants and his grey Harvard t-shirt.

"Hey Rafi, I missed you today. Dinner shouldn’t be much longer" you said as you walked over to him.

"I missed you, so much" he hugged and kissed you Hello. "Just let me have a quick shower" you smiled at him and kissed his nose.

By the time he came out, you had just sat dinner on the table. You made a pasta bake, one of Sonny's recipes. He came and sat down and started to eat. He seen the pearl envelop sitting on table next to you,

"Mi Hermosa, what's that?" He nodded towards the it. You took a deep breath, how would you sell this to him.

You didn't have an overly big group of friends, but you had friends none the less. Your group wasn't unpopular but wasn't popular either. Your best Friend Gwen, who you still kept in contact with here and there, you guys were always together, joint at the hip your Mum's used to say.

But Gwen always wanted everything to be handed to her, you guessed that's pretty much what life did to her anyway, so she was used to that treatment. She always caught the eye of boys where ever you guys went. You were always the token friend who the guys that were hooking with her, their friends had to "deal" with.

That was life pretty much till the highest years of high school, until you met Jeff and Rodger. They were best friends in the same grade as you. You guys had never taken notice of them before, till they hit puberty and the game changed.

Of all the girls they could have picked, they picked you guys. Jeff was from old money, so of course Gwen made a bee line to him. Rodger was softer, kinder and down to earth, at the beginning anyway. He came from a long line of police officers from both sides, and that was his goal, which was yours also. That was really the only thing you guys had in common. His home life was good. He lived together with his grandparents, his parents and little brother. Because his Mum and Dad's were both officers for the next town over, his grandparents were the main care givers, but when his parents were around they were amazing.

Your future goals became your relationship goals. While Gwen and Jeff were just skipping through life, not really worried about the future because of Jeff's family money, you and Rodger worked hard. You were both accepted into the academy straight out of high school. Moving there off campus and into a small studio apartment, just enough for you both for the time you guys would be there. Everything was going great.  You both wanted to move to the big city, you of course wanted to be a Detective and Rodger wanted to work his way up to Chief.

After being there about 2 months, Rodger got a phone call to say his Grandfather had a heart attack and didn't make it. That was start of everything falling apart. He was very close to his Grandfather, it broke him in half. You both went home for the funeral and then went back pretty much straight away.

Rodger started skipping classes and staying in bed all day. You tried to get him help but he didn't want it. Then he started to take things out on you. Not physically, but verbally. If you passed you got in trouble, if you stayed up studying you got in trouble, anything you did you got in trouble. He got 3 warnings to pick up his game, which he took no notice of. He was kicked out and sent home. Lucky they had an empty dorm you could move into after he left.

You did long distance for the remaining of your study, if that’s what you would really call it, talking maybe once a week if that. He didn't come to your graduation, and when he saw you after your first shift in your police uniform he broke up with you, he couldn't handle it.

Gwen was still with Jeff, it was hard to be away from Rodger and still be friends with Gwen. Before you knew it he turned bitter and twisted towards you, so you started to keep your distance. You did what you had to do to study and pass and then put in for the job at SVU. Which you got and you started your new life. You moved to New York for the love of your career, but you found the love of your life and amazing group of co-workers that were now your best friends. Rafael knew all about this relationship as did the squad. Gwen also knew about Rafael.

"Well--you know my friend-my best friend Gwen from back home?" He nodded at you. "She is getting married in a couple of months, and we have been invited-- I have also been asked to be her maid of honour" Rafael looked at you sensing you had more to say. "I have to go up the weekend before for her hen’s night and then stay that week till the wedding. And I wanted you to come with me for the week. We can stay with my Mum and I can show you around town." You paused and could see him thinking it over. "There is just one thing I'm not happy about, but there is nothing I can do about it" he raised one eye brow at you "Rodger is best man, so-- he will be my partner"

He put his fork down on his plate and sat back in his chair.

"I'll have to ask the DA for the time off, but I would love to come. It will be great to see where your roots began, and see your Mum again." he said with a smile.

"You don't mind about Rodger?"

"What's there to mind? Your with me now, if you can stand up to my ex the way you did, I'm sure I can too if I need too" Rafael winked at you.

You got up from your seat, walked over and sat on his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"And anyway way Hermosa, why would be I worried about someone that doesn't wear suspenders.” His famous smirk came to his face.

****

You spoke to Liv the next day and she approved your week, Sonny was going to cover for you. Rafael put in the dates with DA and it was approved by the end of week. You booked your bus tickets there and back, your Mum was going to pick you guys up for the bus station and drive you home.

"I need to get fit" you sighed as you took a bite of pizza.

"Why? You look fine" Nick scoffed back

"You know what it's like when you go home for the first time in a while, you have to look your best"

"Start running with me before work" Amanda smiled at you.

You took Amanda's suggestion and that's what you started to do. Every morning you guys would meet up, run then be home in time to shower and head back in with Rafael for work. He didn't quite understand why you were doing it, he loved you just the way you were, but it made you feel good and way your body had started to change shape he found it hard to keep his hands off you, even at work.

Gwen told you to pick your own dress, but she told you the colour she wanted. Amanda offered to go with you one weekend to try on dresses, and she gave the tick of approval when you picked the one you could both agree on.

"Running has done wonders for your body, if that's even possible" Amanda rolled her eyes “You look stunning. I bet your ex is going to be pissed" she laughed as you giggled back walking out of the dress shop.

"I don't think he will be pissed at that. He is already pissed that I'm in SVU, once he founds out Rafael is the ADA. I’am worried, he is nasty" You rolled your eyes.

"And if I were him I would be worried about your smart ass mouth, you have balls girl and that boyfriend of yours when it comes to you Barba doesn't hold back. Good luck to him if he starts" Amanda raised her eye brows at you.

****

You guys had packed for the week on the Thursday night and you both finishing early on the Friday to get your bus.

Rafael hadn't seen your dress yet, but he was excited. Gwen had told you that Jeff had invited him to the buck’s night which was on the same night as the hens at a different bar. You both decided it wasn't the best idea, so he was going to stay home with your Mum and he would pick you up when the night was over.

Your mum was waiting for you both as the bus pulled up. You both got off and she couldn't contain her excitement. She walked over to Rafael first and gave him a big hug.

"It’s so nice to see you again Rafael"

"Like wise" he gave her a  big smile.

"Hello Sweet heart" your Mum gave you a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Mum, I've missed you"

"Same sweetheart. Get your bags and let’s go, I have some fried chicken to make, hope you’re hungry"

Your house wasn’t much, but it was home. It was just two bed room. It was just enough for you and your Mum. Your Dad passed away when you were 16 and your Mum had to work two jobs to pay it off.

Rafael walked in and felt warm and cosy straight away. There were photos of you everywhere at different stages of your life. But the one that made his heart swell was of a big one of you above the TV. It looked like your graduation. You were in your full police uniform looking down at a photo you held in your hands in a frame, a photo of your Dad. You saw Rafael standing there looking at it, so you walked over and put your chin on his shoulder, wrapping your arms around his waist.

"I wish you could have met him. He would have liked you" Rafael lent his head on yours, a small smile coming to his face.

"I'll start dinner, you guys freshen up" Your Mum shouted from the kitchen.

"Come Rafi, let's put our stuff in my room"

You took his hand in yours and led him down the hall. Your door was at the end. As he seen it he giggled to himself. It was just how you left it. It was covered in posters of your favourite bands and theatre shows. You tuned the knob and pushed it open.

It was an average size room. You had a built in to the right, with a white desk next to that, and then a book shelf next to that with every shelf filled with books and  some photo frames in front of the books that you had left behind. Either side of your bed was a bed side table, and on the left side wall, roof to floor with more posters.

Rafael put down his bag and walked over to the wall in awe.

"Wow, mi Hermosa, where did you get all these posters?"

"Mostly magazine" you smiled.

"Y/N can you come and set the table please?" your Mum yelled out.

"Come on Rafi, I'm starving”

****

"How do I look?" you walked into the living room to your Mum and Rafael sitting having a coffee together. Rafael’s eyes widened and his mouth slightly dropped open.

You had a dark purple dress on with short puffy sleeves, an elastic waist band, with a low scoop neck, which came down and rested just below the start of your breast. The dress flowed down to your mid thighs. Your heart necklace rested around your neck, diamond studs in your ears, black strappy sandals, light make up and your hair in big curls.

"Wow sweetie, you look pretty" your Mum smiled over at you.

"Beautiful mi Hermosa"

"I almost feel like you shouldn't be dressed like that going out when your boyfriend is at home with your Mum" your Mum and Rafael both laughed together.

"Ha Ha…. Rafi are you ready? I'm going to be late"

"Let us know when you’re ready and we will come and pick you up" Your Mum said as you kissed her on the cheek.

"Rafael dinner will be ready by the time you come back"

The ride to the bar was fun, you guys laughed and joked, and you pointed out different things as you drove past, telling him a couple of stories along the way.

"I' am going to miss you tonight Rafi"

"I'll miss you too" he grabbed your hand in his and kissed the back. "Don't drink too much OK" he laughed at you

"That's if I even drink at all" you huffed at him. Just then you guys had pulled up at the bar.

"You call me as soon as you want me to come and pick you up. Have a great night, I love you" he lent over and grabbed your face with both hands, pulling you to him and kissed you deeply.

"I love you Rafi" you opened the door and got out. You shut it waved at him and blew a kiss walking towards the door.

"Y/N" You heard from the back of the bar, you knew that voice, Gwen. She came running towards you and jumped on you wrapping her arms around your neck. You wrapped your arms around her waist.

"I've missed you so much. Welcome home"

"I've missed you too G" You said into her ear.

She let you go and grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the back, where there was a table set up along the back wall.

"Everyone can't wait to see you" Gwen smiled at you.

It was mostly her cousins that you had grown up with and Jeff's not so little anymore sister. Everyone was happy to see you, all getting up to kiss and hug you Hello. Dinner was severed and you all had a glass of wine served to you.

"So little Y/N, living in the big city working for SVU, that must be fun" said Nancy, one of Gwen's cousins sitting next to you.

"Yeah I love it actually. It can be hard, but it's the best move I ever made" you smiled back.

"Gwen told us you have a boyfriend" said Lucy with a smirk, another cousin.

"Yeah, his name is Rafael. Rafael Barba, he is the Assistant District Attorney"

"You never told me that. When you said his name was Rafael that didn't even click" Gwen sassed back at you, "He's a big deal. I have seen him on the TV, he is so handsome" Gwen giggled.

"Thank you" you smiled back

"So how did that happen? He's older then you right? He looks older" Gwen said. All eyes were on you waiting for an answer.

"Age is just a number" you answered back and went on to tell them how it happened and how you guys got together.

"Rodger is going to be pissed when he hears about this" Jeff's little sister Wendy laughed, “He hasn't been in a relationship since your break up. My Daddy gave him a job at the bank and helped straighten him out a little, but he drinks like a fish in his down time. But in fairness, he may not have been in a relationship since you, but he has been in a LOT of women" they all started to laugh around the table. You smiled slightly and took a sip of your wine.

The night was fun you guys laughed and danced and had a great time. You saw a few faces around that you knew and had some small talk. You didn't drink anymore after dinner.

It was 1 am and Gwen was off with the fairies. Mostly everyone had left, it was just you, Gwen and Wendy. Wendy wasn't a big drinker so she was good. But Gwen couldn't even stand straight. You sat her down on a chair,

"I’ll message Rafael and get them to come and pick us up, my Mum will drive you guys home" Wendy nodded.

You messaged Rafael and he replied straight away that they were on the way. It was only 10 minutes from your place too the bar. You waited 5 minutes and then helped Gwen stand. You put an arm around your neck and one around her waist and led her out, Wendy following close behind. When Rafael and your mum pulled up, he could see Gwen laying on you, he got out and opened the back door.

"Do you need help Hermosa?"

"I'm good thanks Rafi, that's Wendy by the way" you nodded towards her

"Hey Rafael, nice to meet you" she held out her hand to shake his.

"Nice to meet you Wendy" he smiled.

You sat Gwen on the seat and pushed her back and shut the door, you walked around and slid into the middle and Wendy got in next to you, Rafael back in the front.

"Hey Mrs Y/L/N, thanks for taking us home" Wendy said from the back seat.

"Hi Wendy, No problems" your Mum smiled.

On the drive to Wendy's, which Gwen was staying there the night, she moved her body towards yours and wrapped her arms around your neck. The smell of the alcohol from her breath made your stomach churn.

"Why did you leave me? You are my best friend and you just up and left. You never call—you never message, you’re always busy with work and that handsome boyfriend. I bet he's good in bed. I wouldn't mind a go! Let's swap for a night before Saturday, you can have Jeff and I'll have Rafael" Gwen slurred while Wendy was laughing loud.

"Gwen, my Mum is here, and so is Rafael" you gave her a warning tone "And I don't like to share you know that, he's mine. Your drunk, go to sleep"

TBC

[rafiwashere]

The Art of Quitting Your Own Band… Four Times Before Breakfast

You know that feeling when you're getting ready for something big, and every fiber of your being is screaming at you to quit? Well, this morning, I quit my band about four times before I even had my coffee. And yet, I will be playing at Curb Market at 4pm

You know that feeling when you’re getting ready for something big, and every fiber of your being is screaming at you to quit? Well, this morning, I quit my band Better On The Drums about four times before I even had my coffee. And yet, here I am, getting ready to face the music—literally—at the Curb Market in Oil City today at 4 PM. Over the years, I’ve become pretty comfortable speaking in…

[dweemeister]

Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Almost a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, globalization has pierced the remotest corners of the planet. The examples academics and politicians cite demonstrating this globalization are almost always economic, but the most profound examples are cultural. Once known only in South Asia, Indian cinema has burst onto a global stage. Its stars and its most popular directors seem larger than life. Reading on some of modern Bollywood’s (Hindi-language cinema) personalities, I find few of their biographies compelling beyond their unquestionable status as South Asian and international celebrities – I won’t name names here because that is for another time. That is partly a result of not watching enough Bollywood films. It is also because I am making unconscious comparisons between those modern actors to actor-director Guru Dutt. Dutt was a tragic romantic – off- and on-screen – to the point where those personas can become indistinguishable.

As an actor, Dutt can be as charming a romantic male lead as anyone, as well as lend a film the dramatic gravitas it needs. As a director, he refined his sweeping visuals and theatrical flairs over time. That artistic development culminated with Pyaasa (1957) and his final directorial effort, Kaagaz Ke Phool (“Paper Flowers” in English). The latter film is the subject of this piece. Both films elevate themselves to a cinematic altitude few movies anywhere, anytime ever accomplish. They are, for lack of a better word, operatic* – in aesthetic, emotion, storytelling, tone. In Kaagaz Ke Phool, Dutt once again lays bare his artistic soul in what will be his final directed work.

An old man enters a film studio’s empty soundstage, climbs onto the rafters, and gazes wistfully at the darkened workspace below. We learn that this is Suresh Sinha (Dutt), a film director whose illustrious past exists only in old film stock. The film is told in flashback, transporting to a time when his marriage to Bina (Veena) is endangered – the parents-in-law disdain his film work as disreputable to their social class – and he is embarking upon an ambitious production of Devdas (a Bengali romance novel that is among the most adapted pieces of Indian literature to film, the stage, and television). He is having difficulty finding someone to play Paro, the female lead. Due to this conflict, Bima has also forbidden their teenage daughter, Pammi (Kumari Naaz), from seeing Suresh. Pammi is sent to a boarding school far from Delhi (where Bima and her parents reside) and further from Mumbai (where Suresh works), without any sufficient explanations of the spousal strife.

One rainy evening, Suresh generously provides his coat to a woman, Shanti (an excellent Waheeda Rehman). The next day, Shanti arrives at the film studio looking to return the coat. Not knowing anything about film production, she accidentally steps in front of the camera while it is rolling – angering the crew who are tiring of yet another production mishap. Later, while viewing the day’s rushes, Suresh casts Shanti as Paro after witnessing her accidental, but remarkable, screen presence. She achieves cinematic stardom; Suresh and Shanti become intimate. When the tabloid gossip eventually reaches Mumbai and Pammi’s boarding school, it leads to the ruin of all.

What did you expect from an operatic film – a happy ending?

Also starring in the film are Johnny Walker (as Suresh’s brother-in-law, “Rocky”) and Minoo Mumtaz (as a veterinarian). Walker and Mumtaz’s roles are vestigial to Kaagaz Ke Phool. Their romantic subplot is rife with the potential for suggestive humor (she is a horse doctor), but the screenplay never justifies their inclusion in the film.

Shot on CinemaScope lens licensed by 20th Century Fox to Dutt’s production company, Kaagaz Ke Phool is Dutt’s only film shot in letterboxed widescreen. From the onset of his directorial career and his close collaboration with cinematographer V.K. Murthy, Dutt exemplifies an awesome command of tonal transition and control. Murthy’s dollying cameras intensify emotion upon approach: anguish, contempt, sober realization. These techniques render these emotions painfully personal, eliminating the necessity of a few lines of dialogue or supplemental motion from the actor. The effect can be uncomfortable to those who have not fully suspended their disbelief in the plot or the songs that are sung at the time. But to the viewers that have accepted that Dutt’s films exist in a reality where songs about infatuation, love, loss, and regret are sung spontaneously (and where revelations are heard in stillness), this is part of the appeal. Dutt and Murthy’s lighting also assists in directing the narrative and setting mood: a lashing rainstorm signaling a chance meeting that seals the protagonists’ fates, the uncharacteristically film noir atmosphere of the soundstage paints moviemaking as unglamorous, and a beam of light during a love melody evokes unspoken attraction. That final example represents the pinnacle of Dutt and Murthy’s teamwork (more on this later).

As brilliant as his films (including this) may be, Dutt suffered during mightily during Kaagaz Ke Phool’s production. In writings about Dutt, one invariably encounters individuals who believe Dutt’s life confirms that suffering leads to great art. Though I think it best to retire that aphorism so as not to romanticize pain, I believe that the reverse is true with Guru Dutt – his later directing career contributed to his personal tribulations. In some ways, that suffering informed his approach to what I consider an informal semiautobiographical trilogy of his films: Mr. & Mrs. ’55 (1955), Pyaasa, and Kaagaz Ke Phool. Dutt directed and starred in each of these films. In each film he plays an artist (a cartoonist, poet, and film director, respectively); with each successive film his character begins with a greater reputation, only to fall further than the last. The three Dutt protagonists encounter hardship that do not discriminate by caste, professional success, or wealth.

For Dutt’s Suresh, he is unable to consummate his love for Shanti because the specters of his failed marriage haunt him still. He never speaks to his de facto ex, but marital disappointment lingers. Why does he bother visiting his stuffy in-laws when he knows they will never change their opinions about him? Abrar Alvi’s (the other films in the aforementioned informal Dutt-directed trilogy, 1962’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam) screenplay is silent on the matter. Also factoring into Suresh’s hesitation is his daughter, Pammi. Pammi is young, looks up to both her parents, and cannot fathom a parent being torn from her life. Her reaction to learning about Shanti implies that neither of her parents have ever truly talked to her about their separation. Pammi does not appear to blame herself, but it seems that her parents – intent on protecting their child, perhaps speaking to her not as a soon-to-be young adult – are loath to maturely talk about the other. In a sense, Pammi has never mourned her parents’ marriage as we see her deny the tabloid reports about Suresh’s affair and express anger towards her father when she learns the truth.

When Suresh’s film after Devdas flops, his film career is in tatters. But Shanti’s popularity is ascendant, creating a dynamic reminiscent of A Star is Born. In a faint reference to Devdas, Kaagaz Ke Phool’s final act contains anxieties about falling into lower classes. If Kaagaz Ke Phool is contemporaneous to its release date, one could also interpret this as concerns about falling within India’s caste system (reformist India in the late 1950s was dipping its toes into criminalizing caste discrimination, which remains prevalent). Suresh’s fall is stratospheric and, in his caste-conscious, masculine pride, he rejects Shanti’s overtures to help him rebuild his life and film career. This tragedy deepens because Shanti’s offer is in response to the contractual exploitation she is enduring. We do not see what becomes of Shanti after her last encounter with Suresh, but his final scenes remind me, again, of opera: the male lead summoning the strength to sing (non-diegetically in Suresh’s case) his parting, epitaphic thoughts moments before the curtain lowers.

Suresh’s and Shanti’s respective suffering was preventable. Whether love may have assuaged his self-pity and alcoholism and her professional disputes is debatable, but one suspects it only could have helped.

Composer S.D. Burman (Pyaasa, 1965’s Guide) and lyricist Kaifi Azmi (1970’s Herr Raanjha, 1974’s Garm Hava) compose seven songs for Kaagaz Ke Phool – all of which elevate the dramatics, but none are as poetic as numbers in previous Dutt films. Comments on two of the most effective songs follow; I did not find myself nearly as moved by the others.

“Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” (roughly, “I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies”) appears just after the opening credits, as an older Suresh ascends the soundstage’s stairs to look down on his former domain. The song starts with and is later backed by organ (this is an educated guess, as many classic Indian films could benefit with extensive audio restorations as trying to figure out their orchestrations can be difficult) and is sung non-diegetically by Mohammed Rafi (dubbing for Dutt). A beautiful dissolve during this number smooths the transition into the flashback that will frame the entire film. That technique, combined with “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari”, prepares the audience for what could be a somber recollection. However, this is only the first half of a bifurcated song. The melodic and thematic ideas of “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” are completed in the film’s final minutes, “Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari” (“They All Fall Apart, One by One”; considered by some as a separate song). Together, the musical and narrative arc of this song/these songs form the film’s soul. For such an important musical number, it may have been ideal to incorporate it more into the film’s score, but now I am being picky.

Just over the one-hour mark, “Waqt Ne Kiya Haseen Sitam” (“Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us”; non-diegetically sung by Shanti, dubbed by Geeta Dutt, Guru’s wife) heralds the film’s second act – Suresh and Shanti’s simultaneous realization of their unspoken love, and how they are changed irrevocably for having met each other. Murthy’s floating cameras and that piercing beam of light are revelatory. A double exposure during this sequence shows the two characters walking toward each other as their inhibitions stay in place, a breathtaking mise en scène (the arrangement of a set and placement of actors to empower a narrative/visual idea) foreshadowing the rest of the film.

Dutt’s perfectionist approach to Kaagaz Ke Phool fueled a public perception that the film was an indulgent vanity exercise with a tragic ending no one could stomach viewing. Paralleling Suresh and Shanti’s romantic interest in each other in this film, the Indian tabloids were printing stories claiming that Dutt was intimate with co-star Waheeda Rehman and cheating on Geeta Dutt. These factors – perhaps some more than others (I’m not versed on what Bollywood celebrity culture was like in the 1950s, and Pyaasa’s tragic ending didn’t stop audiences from flocking to that film) – led to Kaagaz Ke Phool’s bombing at the box office. Blowing an unfixable financial hole into his production company, Guru Dutt, a man who, “couldn’t digest failure,” never directed another film. Like the character he portrays here, Dutt became an alcoholic and succumbed to depression in the wake of this film’s release. Having dedicated himself entirely to his films, he interpreted any professional failure as a personal failure.

Kaagaz Ke Phool haunts from its opening seconds. Beyond his home country, Dutt would not live to see his final directorial effort become a landmark Bollywood film and his international reputation growing still as cinematic globalization marches forth. Dutt’s most visually refined films, including Kaagaz Ke Phool, are films of subtraction. The cinematography and music make less movement and dialogue preferable. Kaagaz Ke Phool is a film defined about actions that are not taken and scenes that are never shown. The result is not narrative emptiness, but a receptacle of Dutt’s empathy and regrets. Exploring these once-discarded, partially biographic ideas is not for faint hearts.

My rating: 9/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

* I use this adjective not to reference operatic music, but as an intangible feeling that courses over me when watching a film. Examples of what I would consider to be operatic cinema include: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan); Greed (1924); The Red Shoes (1948); and The Wind (1928). Some level of melodrama and emotional unpackaging is necessary, but the film need not be large in scope or have musical elements for me to consider it “operatic”.

[unanuvola]

Rafael was studying in his studio, when he heard a slam from the front door. Instinctively, he looked at his watch, surprised to see that it was almost six o'clock. He was so deep in books since morning that he didn’t even realized that it was already dark outside the windows.

After three days without Sonny, busy in a series of cases in collaboration with the SVU team, Rafael couldn’t stop daydreaming about spending some quality time with his boyfriend. Naively, he imagined that as soon as Sonny would step home, he would run into his arms, instead he heard heavy steps crossing the studio’s door and his first thought was that Sonny was headed to their bedroom, to change himself in more comfortable clothes.

He sat up from the desk with a smile on his face, savoring the anticipation of some junk food, a movie and cuddles on the sofa in Sonny’s long and strong arms.

Rafael didn’t have the time to close the door behind his back that he heard Sonny yelling his name. The tone of his voice was worrying, but the most alarming fact was that he called him Rafael, not amore mio or Rafi and the only time he called him with his full name was when there was something wrong.

“Rafael come here now!” he repeated, almost growling.

When Rafael stood at the bedroom’s door, he didn’t expect what he was actually seeing. A shoe flew from the walk-in closet and he could clearly hear Sonny railing against his shoes.

“Is everything alright, mi sol?” Rafael asked tentatively, clueless on what was happening to his boyfriend.

Sonny stormed out the walk-in closet, wielding a shoe like it was sword, and he stopped just a few inches from Rafael’s face.

“No Rafael! Nothing is fucking alright, okay?!” Sonny shouted, right in front his boyfriend’s face. He was visibly angry, but his watery eyes betrayed that there was something more.

Fortunately the times in which Rafael saw him angry could be count on the palm of a hand, and he couldn’t deny that one of those times was his fault, but this.. He never saw Sonny like that.

Rafael put an hand on Sonny’s cheek, stroking lightly, and for a second he thought he was able to give him some relief, but he was wrong.

“Would you like to tell me what happened? It’s work related or-”

“This happened!” showing him the shoe, “Can you believe that someone told me that my shoes say police? I’m.. What? Do you think it’s funny?”

Rafael cursed the giggle that escaped from his mouth and now he realized it was to late. “Absolutely not! I was just..”

“Do you think that this is stupid? Or you too think that I’m stupid?

Rafael couldn’t believe at those words, "Excuse me, who dared to call you stupid?” he grabbed Sonny’s hands that were tight in fists, but Sonny moved away, whispering a nevermind.

“Please Dominick..”

“I said nevermind!” he yelled, his fist so tight that the knuckles had become completely white.

Rafael came up with him, not caring about his nevermind. He couldn’t stand the distance between them. He needed to touch him, letting him feel his presence, to demonstrated that, if Sonny was falling apart, he was ready to catch him. “Talk to me, Sonny.” Rafael cupped Sonny’s face. “I promised you that I would be here for you no matter what, why don’t you trust me? Let me help you.”

“Apparently I’m not good enough for being an ADA, even my fucking shoes aren’t good enough! Why did I pursue this career when no one ever supported me?”

Those words took Rafael’s breath away and Sonny noticed it because immediately tried to reach his boyfriend’s arm, but this time was Rafael’s turn to step back. Sonny was moving his mouth, probably telling him that he was sorry for what he said, but Rafael couldn’t actually hear him, since in his ears there was just the echo of those unjustified words. “Okay, it’s better for me to go to the studio.”

“Rafael..” Sonny whispered, but Rafael pretended to not hear him and rushed to the home office.

He knew, okay. He knew that Sonny was tired, he knew the pressure of being the new ADA, he knew the difficulty of connecting with new colleagues, he knew that at the beginning nobody takes you seriously because you’re the new one. He could understand all these thoughts because they were the same he had when he started his career, but.. But shouting that no one never supported him in all those years,well.. That hit right in Rafael’s feelings.

Rafael closed the door behind his back and lingered there a little bit more, breathing deeply with his eyes closed, trying to cool down. It will pass, it’s just a moment, he thought opening his eyes and heading through the desk. He sat down, his eyes fixed on the door, hoping to see Sonny coming in, but it didn’t happen. A sigh escaped from his mouth. Rafael absent-mindedly opened the book that he was studying before the breaking of Sonny storm into their home, but after a few minutes he realized that he was staring blankly at those pages, so he decided to wait for him, doing the best thing he could do: dwelling over and over on what Sonny’s said in that fit of anger. 

Rafael knew that he didn’t actually mean it, however the only thought that Sonny wasn’t feeling totally supported, it made him nauseated. That no one that Sonny spitted like fire, it wasn’t directed to him. If at beginning those two words smacked him like a slap in the face, now, that his mind was more clearer, he could safely say that he had always helped him, even before he realized that he had a crush on the fresh new detective Carisi, even when he made childish jokes about Fordham because he was sure that no matter in which university Sonny was, he would be a great lawyer. When Rafael found out that Sonny was attending night classes, he tried to involve him, at first subtly, but then he began to realize that he was enjoying those exchange of words. Every time Rafael sarcastically replied to a Sonny’s right observation, he was so secretly and sincerely proud of him, but he was too shy to confess it. He was proud when he graduated, he was proud when he passed the bar, he was even prouder when Sonny, still a detective, ignored the frequent “You’re a cop, stop talking like a lawyer”. Sonny worked so hard to get where he was and knowing that there were still some people trying to bring him down, send Rafael over the edge.

Why for the others Sonny was never good enough, when in fact he was better of most of his colleagues? Probably he was biased, but Rafael couldn’t not be at Sonny side. He stand up, eager to comfort Sonny, even if he didn’t want, when he heard a light knock and then he saw the door slightly opened.

“May I?” asked Sonny in a whisper.

When Rafael finally saw him, his heart missed a beat. His boyfriend’s eyes were teary and swollen and his nose was brightly red. “Of course amor..” and suddenly he saw Sonny covering the distance between them and hugging him tight, almost desperately.

“I- I’m s-sorry..” he sobbed, his face buried on Rafael’s shoulder.

“Está bien, cariño, don’t worry,” he whispered, caressing Sonny’s back.

Sonny left up his face, large tears streaming down his cheeks, “I-I swear Rafi, I-I-I di-didn’t mean it.. Those words..”

Rafael put his hand on his cheek, his thumb on Sonny’s lips who was leaning to his touch, “I know.” he simply said, his thumb now was gently stroking Sonny’s face, trying to wipe away the tears, then Rafael’s fingers slipped down on his neck, brushing that small glimpse of naked skin. Sonny flinched under his touch and Rafael had to refrain his desire of holding him tight in his arms and making love to him on the floor of his studio. His fingertips fondled the soft texture of Sonny’s shirt and Rafael couldn’t stop from touching him until he reached his boyfriend’s hand. “Would you like to sit on the sofa with me?” asked, holding his hand tight. Sonny nodded and he followed Rafael silently.

They sat and remained in silence for few seconds. Rafael didn’t want to force Sonny to tell him what happened, he wanted to make him feel comfortable and let him know that he would speak only if he really want it. Rafael patted his legs and Sonny knew exactly what to do. He lay down on the sofa, his head on Rafael’s knees and he relaxed under his boyfriend’s touch. No words were needed in that moment, there were just them. The only sounds that were filling the room were the breath of Sonny that finally was quieting down and the low moans that occasionally escaped from Sonny’s mouth caused by Rafael’s skilled fingers that were caressing his hair.

“Do you think I’m stupid if I hoped that my best friend would have been happy for my new position as ADA?” asked Sonny out of the blue.

Rafael was surprised hearing that, but, secretly, he wasn’t surprised to know who made Sonny upset.

“Amanda.. I had an argument with Amanda.”

“Hmm.. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I-I was just entered in the precinct and the Liv updated me on all the cases that I was following. Then we went to her office to listen to Miss Baca’s witness, the same trans girl that told me that my shoes say police,” a snort escaped from his mouth,“ when Amanda came in. At first we were discussing about Chloe’s case, but then.. I still can’t believe it. We were in the middle of the precinct, with all the other colleagues around us, and she started to yell at me that if the squad was having a hard time, the fault was mine. Mine! And you know why? Because I left them, no wait, I left her for pursuing my dream. Rafael, she told that I was stupid to think that she was happy for me. My best friend lied to me for months.”

Rafael hummed, trying to remain calm, but deep down his heart he was seething. “I’m sure that she didn’t mean it. She was tired and maybe her stress level was that high that she found herself yelling at you those things.” and he was really hoping that there was a grain of truth in the words that he just said.

“No Rafi, I was exhausted too, but I didn’t shout our personal matters in front of all the precinct. You know that Amanda didn’t speak to me for days when she found out that I was giving you a second chance after your return?”

Of course, he didn’t know it, since Sonny hadn’t confided in him, “Maybe she was worried about I would hurt you again..”

Sonny moved from Rafael’s knees and sat up. His face was a little less tense, but in his eyes, that were still puffy, Rafael could read the disappoint. “She wasn’t worried, she was just disappointed that I didn’t tell her immediately. Why she’s like this? I supported her, I helped her with the girls, I spent so many evenings speaking with her and reassuring her that everything would be fine. I love her, she is my best friend and, yes, maybe right now I’m a busy with my new work, but I’ll always be there for her.”

“And she knows it? I mean, you told her this?” Rafael asked, while his brain was busy to think that he had to speak to Amanda as soon as he can.

“She already knows it, Rafi.”

Dios mío, ayúdame tú, Rafael thought. Those two were a mess and Rafael always found himself putting a patch on their friendship. It didn’t matter how many times Rafael had told himself that it was the last time he would help them, he would have done it anyways because he knew how much Sonny cared about Amanda. “Sonny, in this moment she needs some assurances. She needs to hear from you that no matter what, you’ll be always by her side, not as a work partner, but as a friend. Talk to her.”

“What if it wasn’t the stress talking, but she really meant those words?”

“I am going to ask you a thing, okay?” Sonny nodded, trying a little smile, “Before you cried out at me that no one supported you and implicitly I was part of that no one. Did you mean it?”

“Absolutely not and I already apologized.”

“You hadn’t a proper meal and a proper sleep for days. You felt the pressure of all those cases on your shoulders. Was your exhaustion maybe talking?”

“Yes.”

“Talk to her.”

Sonny threw himself into Rafael’s arms, sitting on his legs. Rafael could feel Sonny mouth’s near his ear, his warm breath brushing his skin, “What would I do without you?” he whispered.

“Just what you usually do!”

Sonny chuckled, knowing that this was a obvious lie, “I swear that I will support your career as a judge with all my strength, even if it will keep you busy every day and we will only be able to see each other at night and you will be so tired that you won’t even want to kiss me and ..”

Rafael kissed away Sonny’s last words. “You’re so dramatic. First of all, I just submitted my name to the judicial nominating commission and it is not certain that they’ll elect me and second, I’ll never be tired of kissing you and as a proof we will spend the night kissing like two teenagers. But first, please, listen to my advice and talk to her, it’s important for the both of you.”

"Okay, I can do this,” he nodded firmly, ”I’m going to write at Amanda and then, I’ll call that bakery in Staten Island and send to the squad some cannolis, but all this can wait until tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep, to eat, to wash myself and change to more comfortable clothes and, above all, I need you. And since the order of this list is purely random, I could begin from you. Obviously if you want.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you want to go buy some shoes worthy of an ADA? I know that small boutique that sells only Italian shoes..” he proposed, sliding his arms around his waist and drawing him even more towards himself.

Sonny pouted and shook his head, “Nah, my old shoes are still very fine and then they remind me where I came from and all the sacrifices that I made.”

“Okay counselor, I’m ready to fulfill your wish list.”

——

[from: Amanda 1:17AM] we’re good.

°

A/N:

Thank you so much for reading♡

I didn’t watch the episode, I apologize in advance if there are any inaccuracies.

English is not my first language, please forgive any mistakes.

[shankarjaikishanfansassnintl]

30 June Kalyanji Virji Shah (Kalyanji-Anandji): 92nd Birth Anniversary

By

Siraj Syed

Kalyanji Virji Shah (Kalyanji-Anandji): 92nd Birth Anniversary 30 June 1928-24 August 2000

From sleeve notes written for SaReGaMa’s LEGENDS CD set in 2009: More than half a century after the cobra swayed to the clavioline, masquerading as the been, in ‘Tan dole mera man dole’, its notes still reverberate across India, and in many other parts of the world. It was, and remains, Kalyanji Virji Shah’s best-known musical signature. Kalyanji had first used the instrument in a film called Naag Panchami (1953, music Chitragupta), but that went largely un-noticed. ‘Tan dole’, a Hemant Kumar tune from a box-office hit, was the chart-topper of 1954, so listeners took good notice of its mesmerising been theme. Developed in France by a designer named Constant Martin, the clavioline was introduced in 1947. Five years later, musician Kalyanji was playing it here, in India, in film song takes. Four years after Nagin, Kalyanji had arrived as music director, with Samrat Chandragupta. And the following year, younger brother Anandji, who was a child actor and chorus singer too, joined him to create the K-A team that stood firm for over 40 years. Nevertheless, as Anandji, some four years younger (now 88), is often heard saying, “Kalyanjibhai is watching all this from above. He is very much with us in spirit.” Kalyanji Virji Shah died in the year 2000, at the age of 72.

Born in Kundrodi village of the Mundra taluka in Kutchh, the brothers grew up in Mumbai, where their father ran a food-grain store. Inclined more towards music than academics, they developed the self-taught ability to play a host of instruments, and formed part of school bands. By 1944-45, the teenager siblings had started playing in film song recordings. Big brother set up his own band in 1950, calling it Kalyanji and Party, with Purshottam Upadhyaya singing ‘Too mera chaand maen teree chaandnee’, the super-hit Naushad tune from Dillagi, to thunderous encores. The band performed in Bombay and in other nearby towns. For a while, the businessman in him did surface, and Kalyanji started a tailoring shop in partnership with a friend. Destiny, however, ensured that the shop did not prosper, drawing Kalyanji even closer to a world where a needle was something that played a gramophone record, not a device to stitch clothes with.

Many of us have heard the popular tunes the brothers composed for films like Samrat Chandragupta, Bedard Zamana Kya Jane, Chhalia and Bluff Master, the last two being the earliest directorial forays of director Manmohan Desai, but few would be aware that it was producer Subhash Desai, Manmohan’s brother, who gave Kalyanji his music directorial his break. Impressed with his prowess at song recordings of various recognised composers, Subhash saw a competent future music director in Kalyanji, and made him an offer that was strange, but nevertheless one that he could not refuse. Would he agree to a contract offering him 11 film assignments as music director, with a fee of Rs. 5,000 for the first film, Rs. 10,000 for the second…a recurring Rs. 5,000 increment per film, non-negotiable? The offer was too good to resist, so Kalyanji agreed, but he did ask Subhash, “Why11 films? Why not 10? Or 12?” The reply was convincing, “Eleven is my lucky number.” As it transpired, they did not do 11 films together, but Kalyanji’s career choice was made.

The K-A success story begins with Kalyanji’s kingly debut, Samrat Chandragupta. ‘Chahe paas ho’ is a touching lyric, with a tinge of sadness, as is the next number, ‘Door kahin tu chal’, another Rafi-Lata duet, from Bedard Zamana Kya Jaane, both penned by Bharat Vyas. With a title like Madari, there had to be a snake-charmer and his been in play, and the theme track, penned by Faruk Kaiser and rendered by Lata and Mukesh, indeed provided flashbacks of the legendary Kalyanji patent. Soon after he wrote his first song for them in Chandrasena, Gulshan Bawra penned a real gem in Satta Bazar, and this time the brothers invited their mentor Hemant Kumar to join Lata in the recording room, with amazing results. Who can forget ‘Tumhe yaad hoga’? Not yet the He Man he was to become in his later years, Dharmendra in Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere was emoting to Mukesh’s emotion-charged playback, rendering Shamim Jaipuri’s rich poetry. Graduating from smaller set-ups into a Raj Kapoor vehicle, K-A hit big time in Chhalia. Nonsensical verse from a sensible writer, Qamar Jalalabadi, ‘Dum dum diga diga’, with Mukesh providing playback to Raj’s on-screen antics, set the aisles afire.

Soon, they were signed to compose for Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath, a Shashi Kapoor starrer, and Bluff Master. Both films enjoyed reasonable success and the music went around too. In Bluff Master, we find the rare phenomenon of four voices being used for the same actor: Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Shamshad Begum (Shammi Kapoor in drag) and Rafi. It was Rafi who immortalised ‘Govinda ala re’ and sang the duet ‘Husn chala kuchh aisi chal’ with Lata. Anand Bakhshi wrote inspired lyrics for Phool Bane Angaare, and Mukesh, as usual, delivered them with consummate artistry. By 1964, K-A were in the Premier League. That very year, they came up with such melodious tracks as the lilting ‘Humsafar mere humsafar’ (Purnima), where they teamed up with Gulzar, a rarity, and the two Mukesh solos from Ji Chahta Hai and Himalaya Ki God Mein. The former was written by Majrooh, not a K-A regular. Another infrequent teaming worked very well, as Hasrat Jaipuri wrote and Rafi sang in great style, ‘Dil beqarar sa hai’ (Ji Chahta Hai). Melodious, hummable and catchy. A ghazal on Shammi Kapoor with Bakhshi writing and Rafi singing may not be a common occurrence, but just savour ‘Teri zulfen pareshan’ (Preet Na Jane Reet). Staying with Mukesh on Shashi, after MLMH, the duo came up with a moody duet in Juari, ‘Humsafar ab yeh safar kat jayega’. If there was still any doubt about the standing of the duo in the rankings, Jab Jab Phool Khile laid to rest all criticism. Every track was heard everywhere. The songs had it all: pathos, fun, longing, depression, pep. For both K-A and Anand Bakhshi, the success of JJPK was to remain a milestone forever.

Rafi provided playback for debutant Rajesh Khanna in the theme song of his debut vehicle, Raaz, re-uniting K-A with Shamim Jaipuri, producing haunting results. Indeevar’s lyrics sang of cruel fate in Dil Ne Pukara, and who better to voice them than Mukesh, as ‘Waqt karta jo wafa’. In the same vein was the Suhag Raat lament, ‘Khush raho’. Manna De came in to give playback for Pran in Upkar and Zanjeer, rendering two of his most acclaimed numbers. It took the duo 19 hours to record ‘Mere desh ki dharti’, the patriotic anthem of Upkar. Saraswatichandra, based on a literary classic, needed the linguistic mastery of Indeevar to weave in the songs, and the author of ‘Kasme vaade pyar vafa’ made it count. Filmfare awarded the duo for the best music of the year. It was still pristine K-A, full of melody, working with Lata and Mukesh. Another award followed some years later, for Kora Kagaz, which had a pathos-laden title-track in the voice of Kishore. Not many might realise, but K-A used Kishore Kumar for the first time in the 1968 film Suhag Raat, singing a sad song, a full decade after the duo had started their career. A comic song was rendered by Manna De while Mukesh was called-upon to put across the other sad lyric.

Only Rafi could have set swinging mood for Shashi Kapoor to gyrate on screen in ‘Nain milakar chaen churana’ (Aamne Saamne). Rafi for Shashi it was again in Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati and Raja Saab. Part of the female vocals in Raja Saab came from Suman Kalyanpur. Suman had sung for K-A in MLMH and JJPK too, and was to partner Manhar in his first hit number in Vishwas. Giving Hemlata her break in the same film, K-A paired her with good-old friend Mukesh. Soon, the duo was to show its preference for rotating the strike, training and honing a host of budding singing talent, while reverting to the established names with equal regularity. Like a lot of extremely popular Mahendra-Manoj Kumar, Kishore-Amitabh Bachchan and Kishore-Rajesh Khanna outings. Incidentally, K-A took three days to record the back-ground score of Suhaag Raat, while they needed a whole month for Purab Aur Paschim. For the ‘Om jai Jagdeesh Hare’ bhajan of PAP, the composers used 50 chorus singers to get the effect normally created by violins. They called it human resonance. Delay (natural echo) was the highlight of ‘Mere mitwa’ (Geet). The child-like double speed of ‘Na sun sun sun bura’ (Priya) was simply achieved by recording on spool-tape at a particular speed and playing it back at double the speed. Most of their work was done at the Famous, Tardeo, recording studio.

There is Rafi, and not Kishore, for Rajesh Khanna, oozing sensuality as only he could, in Chhoti Bahu: ‘Yeh raat hai pyasi pyasi’, echoing musician hero Rajendra Kumar’s heart-rending call in Geet and charting a romantic route for Dharmendra in Kab Kyon Aur Kahan? He also offers love lessons in Upaasna; in the Haath Ki Safai duet, he makes a solemn promise of eternal love; and he goes on Dilip Kumar for the intoxicating ‘Peete peete’ duet with Asha Bhosle in Bairaag. As Western as it gets is the rare title chorus ‘Pretty pretty Priya’ (Priya) and as Sanskritised as it can get is the Kishore hilarity ‘Priye praneshwari’ (Hum Tum Aur Woh). Kalyanji-Anandji made Shatrughan Sinha sing in Kashmakash, Amitabh Bachchan in Laawaris and Anil Kapoor in Chameli Ki Shaadi. They also gave ample opportunities to the emerging talent of 70s’ generation, as you can sample on the Shailendra Singh, Suresh Wadkar, Anwar, Alka Yagnik and Kanchan tracks.

Known for their hundreds of stage performances, in India and abroad, both brothers also enjoyed a sturdy reputation as funsters, with a joke for every occasion and a keen sense of self-deprecating humour. They once famously described themselves as medical practitioners. “We offer all lines of treatment. If some producer approaches us with symptoms that demand a classical approach, we recommend the Ayurvedic style of medicine: Slow, but efficacious in the long-term. On the other hand, if some film-maker wants to experiment with the musical score of his film, we suggest Homoeopathic type of tunes: May work, may not. Some element of risk is involved. If, however, he wants the juke-boxes to jingle and listeners to start singing along instantaneously, we churn out Allopathic compositions: Like injections, they have instant, strong effect, but the effect may wear out sooner.” Music, along with laughter, is the best medicine known to mankind. Kalyanji-Anandji have already issued a statutory warning to your troubles to keep away, for there’s no place for them, ‘Mere angne men tumhara kya kaam hae?’

[letterboxd]

Photograph.

Ritesh Batra shares his top five Indian dramas of all time, as his newest feature arrives in cinemas.

Filmmaker Ritesh Batra arrived to wide acclaim with his box office smash The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan. Taking away a Cannes prize and a BAFTA nomination, he followed his debut with a one-two punch of English-language films in 2017. Batra directed Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in Netflix film Our Souls at Night and adapted Julian Barnes’ award-winning novel The Sense of an Ending.

Now he returns to his native Mumbai, reuniting with The Lunchbox star Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Photograph, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival to warm praise. “This is a real-world romance without the fanfare,” writes festival ticket-holder Mike Bayles on Letterboxd. “It warms the heart from a deeper, more authentic place.”

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra and director Ritesh Batra.

Rafi (played by Siddiqui) is a struggling street photographer who convinces a shy stranger, Molini (Sanya Malhotra), to pose as his fiancée to satisfy his family’s pressure for him to get married. When his elderly grandmother insists on meeting her, the pair develop an unexpected connection in spite of their vast cultural differences.

While the romantic premise was inspired by exuberant Bollywood musicals and Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew, Batra wanted to tell “a very real story about people living in Mumbai today and to have more of a feeling of an independent arthouse film than a Bollywood extravaganza”.

In keeping with the spirit of his roots and style, we asked Batra for his top five Indian dramas of all time. His list—all highly rated by our members—includes a mandatory Satyajit Ray classic and an Ivory Merchant outing. See the list on Letterboxd or read on for more.

Ritesh Batra Recommends: Five of the Best Indian Films

1. Pyaasa (1957) Directed by Guru Dutt

A classic musical about a struggling poet trying to get his work published in post-independence India. Pyaasa translates to ‘wistful’, which perfectly sums up the tone of Ritesh Batra’s filmmaking. He shares his choice for favorite Indian movie with Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Shraddha Kapoor and it ranked number 160 on Sight & Sound’s all-time 2002 poll. “It’s not just poetic in itself but it understands the poetry as the fuel of human soul, as something that connects us and makes us who we are,” raves Still Here.

2. Garm Hava (1974) Directed by M.S. Sathyu

After the joy of Pyaasa, Garm Hava is a more serious film that deals with the post-Partition plight of Muslims in 1940s India. Its influence was so impactful that it’s credited with pioneering a new wave in Hindi Cinema. The 2014 restoration is awaiting home distribution, but those who have seen it say it’s a “contender for both the greatest Indian film of all time and greatest performance by an Indian actor [star Balraj Sahni]”. Ritesh Batra agrees.

3. The Big City (1963) Directed by Satyajit Ray

Fortunately for us, Satyajit Ray’s films are well preserved and you can stream The Big City on our favorite new toy The Criterion Channel. His 1963 film makes history with its subversive take on working women challenging the patriarchy. It ranks in Letterboxd’s top 200 of all time and our members discover and decipher it every day. “There’s such a compelling mixture of melodrama and matter-of-factness in The Big City that it feels impossible to nail down,” notes Alex.

4. Shakespeare-Wallah (1965) Directed by James Ivory

Shakespeare-Wallah is only the second of 23 films Oscar-winner James Ivory directed using Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s scripts, and it made a big impression on Ritesh Batra early on. It follows a troupe of English actors who travel around India performing Shakespeare’s plays, and covers a transitional phase where Bollywood begins to replace theater. Fun fact: Satyajit Ray composed the score. Letterboxd members praise the “incredibly beautiful and effective black-and-white photography”.

5. Salaam Bombay! (1988) Directed by Mira Nair

Bollywood’s second-ever movie nominated for an Oscar, Mira Nair’s drama sticks to the streets of Bombay, viewing life’s struggles through the eyes of twelve-year-old Chaipu. According to Dany, it’s a film “that doesn’t hold back even for a second” and marks a notable achievement for women filmmakers, with a female director/producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.

Distributed by Amazon Studios, ‘Photograph’ is in US cinemas now.

[raystart]

Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2019

We just finished our 4th annual Hacking for Defense class at Stanford. At the end of each class we have each team give a Lessons Learned presentation. Unlike traditional demo days or Shark Tanks which are “here’s how smart I am, please give me money,” a Lessons Learned presentation tells a story of a journey of hard-won learning and discovery. For all the teams it’s a roller coaster narrative of what happens when you discover that everything you thought you knew was wrong and how they eventually got it right.

Watching each of the teams present I was left with wonder and awe about what they accomplished in 10 weeks.

The eight teams spoke to over 820 beneficiaries, stakeholders, requirements writers, program managers, warfighters, legal, security, customers, etc.

By the end the class all of the teams realized that the problem as given by the sponsor had morphed into something bigger, deeper and much more interesting.

Our keynote speaker was Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and the designer of the Oculus Rift. He’s now the CEO/founder of the AI-focussed defense contractor Anduril Industries.

If you can’t see the video of Palmer Luckey click here

Presentation Format Each of the eight teams presented a 2-minute video to provide context about their problem.

Followed by an 8-minute slide presentation follow their customer discovery journey over the 10-weeks. All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas, Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique.

All the presentations are worth a watch.

Team: Panacea

If you can’t see the Panacea 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Panacea team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Panacea slides click here

Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship This class is part of a bigger idea – Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship. Instead of students or faculty coming in with their own ideas — we now have them working on societal problems, whether they’re problems for the State Department or the Department of Defense, or non-profits/NGOs, or for the City of Oakland or for energy or the environment, or for anything they’re passionate about. And the trick is we use the same Lean LaunchPad / I-Corps curriculum — and kept the same class structure – experiential, hands-on, driven this time by a mission-model not a business model.

Mission-driven entrepreneurship is the answer to students who say, “I want to give back. I want to make my community, country or world a better place, while solving some of the toughest problems.”

Team: Learn2Win

If you can’t see the Learn2Win 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Leanr2Win team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Leanr2Win slides click here

It Started with an Idea Hacking for Defense has its origins in the Lean LaunchPad class I first taught at Stanford in 2011. I observed that teaching case studies and/or how to write a business plan as a capstone entrepreneurship class didn’t match the hands-on chaos of a startup. And that there was no entrepreneurship class that combined experiential learning with the Lean methodology. Our goal was to teach both theory and practice.

The same year we started the class, it was adopted by the National Science Foundation to train Principal Investigators who wanted to get a federal grant for commercializing their science (an SBIR grant.) The NSF observed, “The class is the scientific method for entrepreneurship. Scientists understand hypothesis testing” and relabeled the class as the NSF I-Corps (Innovation Corps). The class is now taught in 9 regional locations supporting 98 universities and has trained over 1500 science teams. It was adopted by the National Institutes of Health as I-Corps at NIH in 2014 and at the National Security Agency in 2015.

Team: Embargo NK

If you can’t see the EmbargoNK 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the EmbargoNK team presenting click here

If you can’t see the EmbargoNK slides click here

Origins of Hacking For Defense In 2016, brainstorming with Pete Newell of BMNT and Joe Felter at Stanford we observed that students in our research universities had little connection to the problems their government as well as the larger issues civil society was grappling with. Wondering how we could get students engaged, we realized the same Lean LaunchPad/I-Corps class would provide a framework to do so. That year Hacking for Defense and Hacking for Diplomacy (with Professor Jeremy Weinstein) with the State Department were both launched at Stanford.

  Team: Common Ground

If you can’t see the Common Ground 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Common Ground team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Common Ground slides click here

Goals for the Hacking for Defense Class Our primary goal was to teach students Lean Innovation while they engaged in a national public service. Today if college students want to give back to their country they think of Teach for America, the Peace Corps, or Americorps or perhaps the US Digital Service or the GSA’s 18F. Few consider opportunities to make the world safer with the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community or other government agencies.

Next, we wanted the students to learn about the nation’s threats and security challenges while working with innovators inside the DoD and Intelligence Community. While doing so, also teach our sponsors (the innovators inside the Department of Defense (DOD) and Intelligence Community (IC)) that there is a methodology that can help them understand and better respond to rapidly evolving asymmetric threats. That if we could get teams to rapidly discover the real problems in the field using Lean methods, and only then articulate the requirements to solve them, could defense acquisition programs operate at speed and urgency and deliver timely and needed solutions.

Finally, we wanted to familiarize students about the military as a profession, its expertise, and its proper role in society. And conversely show our sponsors in the Department of Defense and Intelligence community that civilian students can make a meaningful contribution to problem understanding and rapid prototyping of solutions to real-world problems.

Team: Deepfakes

If you can’t see the Deepfakes 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Deepfakes team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Deepfakes slides click here

Mission-driven in 30 Universities Hacking for Defense is offered in over 25 universities, but quickly following, Orin Herskowitz started Hacking for Energy at Columbia, Steve Weinstein started Hacking for Impact (Non-Profits) and Hacking for Local (Oakland) at Berkeley and will be starting Hacking for Oceans at Scripps. Hacking for Conservation and Development at Duke followed.

Instead of students or faculty coming in with their own ideas — we now have them working on societal problems, whether they’re problems for the State Department or the military or non-profits/NGOs, or for the City of Oakland or for energy or the environment, or for anything they’re passionate about. And the trick is we use the same Lean LaunchPad / I-Corps curriculum — and kept the same class structure – experiential, hands-on, driven this time by a mission-model not a business model.

Team: IntelliSense

If you can’t see the Intellisense 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Intellisense team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Intellisense slides click here

Team: Gutenberg

If you can’t see the Gutenberg 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the Gutenberg team presenting click here

If you can’t see the Gutenberg slides click here

Team: PredictiMx

If you can’t see the PredictiMx 2-minute video click here

If you can’t see the video of the PredictiMX team presenting click here

If you can’t see the PredictiMx slides click here

It Takes a Village While I authored this blog post, this classes is a team project. The teaching team consisted of:

Pete Newell is a retired Army Colonel currently a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy and CEO of BMNT.

Steve Weinstein a 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley technology companies and Hollywood media companies.  Steve is CEO of MovieLabs the joint R&D lab of all the major motion picture studios.

Tom Bedecarré was the founder and CEO of AKQA, the leading digital advertising agency. Four decades as part of the most successful advertising agencies in the world.

Jeff Decker is a social science researcher at Stanford. Jeff served in the U.S. Army as a special operations light infantry squad leader in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our teaching assistants Nate Simon, Aidan Daniel McCarty, Mackenzie Burnett and Diego Cervantes. A special thanks to Rich Carlin and the Office of Naval Research for supporting the program at Stanford and across the country. And our course advisor – Tom Byers, Professor of Engineering and Faculty Director, STVP

We were lucky to get a team of mentors (VC’s and entrepreneurs) who selflessly volunteered their time to help coach the teams. Thanks to Kevin Ray, Lisa Wallace, Rafi Holtzman, Craig Seidel, Todd Basche, Don Peppers, Robert Locke, and Mark Clapper.

We were privileged to have the support of an extraordinary all volunteer team of professional senior military officers representing all branches of service attending fellowship programs at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC) at the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) as well as from the Defense Innovation Unit. These included:Tim Mungie, Tim Murphy, Matt Kent, Todd Mahar, Donnie Hasseltine, Jay Garcia, Kevin Childs.

And of course a big shout-out to our sponsors. At United Nations Command Security Battalion – CPT Justin Bingham, Air Force Air Combat Command – Mr. Steven Niewiarowski, Office of the Secretary of Defense Asian & Pacific Security Affairs – Chief of Staff Julie Sheetz, U.S. Coast Guard – Security Specialist Asad Hussain, IQT – Vishal Sandesara, Veterans Adminstration – Kristopher “Kit” Teague, Chief Operating Officer, IARPA – John Beieler, DNI – Dean Souleles

Thanks!