#rsc prize

[ut-rsc]

Finally, after 2 years (sob), I am done with the all the prizes for the winners of the RSC event 2021!! I am so very sorry it took me so long! 😭

Here’s the first prize for @master-malice who requested a pic of Nightmare having a romantic moment with their sona/OC (?) while the rest of the Bad Sans crew is in the background, watching them. This was a very ambitious picture for me because of the background and all, but I’m happy with how it turned out, and I hope you’ll like it as well!! Your second picture will be up in a few days!

[con-cognito]

Late prize for the lovely and super patient @agreementtale who requested art for their fic, Agreement! Here, UF!Papyrus just met the child and doesn't really know what to do with them... Hopefully they can become friends!

Thank you for your patience and for participating in the RSC event! ♥

[soloshikigami]

I need to remember to post here more.....

The past 2-3 weeks have been rough, getting back to work, and then life went sideways via a family tragedy. I'm still trying to get over that and take it easy as I right myself again, but looking at everything that I have on my task list, it gets... overwhelming. Especially in the face of the fact that I just kind of don't want to do anything, but that's not good either, because then it makes me more nervous and feel like shit, and it turns into a vicious cycle. I'm on the lookout for a therapist.

While I haven't updated MegalodonTale in months, I think it's going to see hiatus until January/February. I'm hoping that I can stick to this time frame and use the next three months to perhaps get some backlog done for it. I have a commission to work on, and two prize fics from the RSC event I helped with over the summer. I also have a gift I'd like to put together for a very lovely person, and NaNoWriMo is coming up. So already with just writing, I have a lot to do.

I have been trying to finish cleaning and organizing some areas in my home, and some extra time may have to be given to my parent. There's quite a bit to do both inside and outside my home, and it would be great if the weather would cooperate a bit, but autumn tends to bring rain to my area.

So, here's hoping that I find the energy and motivation to get myself back on a proper track soon, or at least start getting things finished so I can take them off my task list.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me <3

[ingravinoveritas]

WOW AL does not miss a single thing! Good Omens 2 news date just came out and she’s already posting pictures of her promoting the show using a water bottle with the name on it. Also, GT. PLEASE PLEASE go look on her story RIGHT fucking now because she actually said that people have dmed her saying that she’s burning food on purpose for instagram content and she talks about it!! ALSO, radio silence from Anna for a while now and she decides to break the news with promo for Good Omens. I truly truly truly hope this isn’t some way relating to her being in the show. SO MUCH HAPPENING AMY PLEASE TALK ABOUT IT

Hi, Anons! I did indeed see all of the posts that you have mentioned, so yes, quite a lot going on today. I'm going to divide this response into two parts, first starting with the GO 2-themed Insta stories. Let's get the visuals up so we can discuss:

I know there's been some content over the past week or so that I haven't gotten to talk about--AL posting that terrible picture of her and Michael on May 1st barely an hour after Georgia had posted a new picture of David; a few days after that, Georgia posting a picture with Birdie and AL immediately following it with a picture of her and Mabli; and the weird pictures Georgia posted of David looking pissed off/annoyed after the RSC event--so I do apologize for falling behind a bit. But obviously this is all relevant to today's events, so here we go.

First of all, it seems pretty clear that these posts were planned and coordinated ahead of time. The water bottles, the sunglasses, even the striped shirts all seem deliberate and purposeful (one of my followers even suggested the black/white contrast may have been done to reflect Aziraphale vs. Crowley). The word "opportunistic" comes to mind, as well as marveling at (to quote @daziechane) AL telling people to stay hydrated "when she's the thirsty one."

But I think what you said is very interesting, Anon #2, in that Michael and David (and Ty/Peter) are not promoting the show, while Georgia and AL are. This certainly could speak to them not being it (which I hope is the case), as well as them showing off their 'consolation prizes,' so to speak. I particularly got that vibe from AL's post--a very "Look what I have that you don't" bragging sort of vibe, which I also usually get from her pictures with Michael--but mainly what it feels like to me is that Michael and David are busy having actual careers and don't need to constantly remind us how they feel about GO, whereas Georgia and AL are still trying to prove something.

It just feels desperate, and in AL's case, a bit stupid, as she didn't even mirror her camera when taking the picture, so the words on the bottle are backwards, and if this is meant to be PR/promotion, why wouldn't you be sure the writing is legible? Also, I'm not sure what Georgia is doing to the bottle, but I think we can safely say that David has less of a gag reflex than she does:

So, now let's go on to part 2 of this answer, which is regarding the videos Georgia posted about burning food. For those who haven't seen the video, you can watch it here:

I think it's worth noting that prior to the videos, she posted yet another picture of burnt food, so it seems as if the picture was just an excuse to post the subsequent videos.

I'm glad to know that other people have been calling her out for this, though. And the excuses she gave in the video seemed like exactly that--excuses for the fact that she is self-involved and can't be bothered to check on the food she is cooking. It also seems incredibly hypocritical to me that Georgia has previously reposted an Insta story about the cost of living crisis in the UK and the absurdity of spending money on the Coronation while people are going hungry, while having no problem wasting food herself.

Ultimately, my takeaway from the videos is that Georgia has and will continue to do whatever she has to for the sake of content, regardless of how hypocritical or tone deaf it comes across. But it seems clear that others have noticed what we all have, and I'm hoping that the willingness of folks to call her out will maybe--maybe--make her think twice before posting such content again. I'm not entirely hopeful, but, well...you never know.

As for Georgia/AL having Tumblr and seeing what we say, I honestly am not sure, though I tend to doubt it. My guess is that people are calling Georgia out on Instagram, where she can readily see it, and that's what spurred this response. (I'm 94% sure though that Michael did visit my blog once like four years ago when he was still heavily into the fandom, and that he sent me this Anon in response to a het fic I wrote about him.)

But Georgia and AL would have us believe they're too busy/too important to be caring what fans say, so if for some reason they have nothing better to do than wander over to Tumblr to read what people are saying, my take is that none of us can control what they do--we can only control what we do. And I'm not going to alter my blog or the honest conversations I try to facilitate on it just on the minuscule off-chance that one of them might be lurking.

So those are my thoughts on the events of today. Notable developments all, yet none of them hold a candle to the news of the GO 2 release date, and the wonderful new promo poster. It'll certainly be interesting to see where things go from here on out...

[canyousonicme]

REVIEW: THE TEMPEST: Alex Kingston is a magnificent Prospero

Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon

If there were prizes for inventive recycling of props, this RSC staging would get the soup-tin statuette. Oil drums are rolled to illustrate anecdotes, drunkards quaff from petrol cans and Ariel’s flute is twisted together from plumbing pipes. With references to “the quality of the climate” and “mutinous winds”, The Tempest sustains director Elizabeth Freestone’s contemporary interpretation with little strain, helped by the opening storm being made by man. Or, in this version, woman. Alex Kingston’s Prospero, though still an exiled “duke” of Milan, is mother to a daughter. This affects the text, neutralising Shakespeare’s “farther” puns and forcing recounts in Miranda’s lines about how many men she saw before Sebastian, while Prospero’s rather creepy concern with the security of Miranda’s hymen feels unlikely from a bohemian modern mother. Gender-stubbornness about Shakespearean roles would have robbed us of great Lears from Glenda Jackson and Kathryn Hunter, and also of Kingston’s magnificent, revelatory Prospero. “Our revels now are ended” and “this rough magic I here abjure”, the soliloquies disavowing super-powers, are often played as elegiac farewells, but from Kingston feel closer to Christ at Gethsemane, a war between two natures. This Prospero rages against the dying of her might. Heledd Gwynn’s Ariel, hair and makeup channelling Aladdin Sane, is alternately punchy, touching and tuneful until a spectacularly athletic exit. A very modern staging that is fundamentally true to the text and the RSC’s intellectual, rigorous, clear-speaking traditions. At the Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until 4 March.

[denimbex1986]

'There are elements within Macbeth that can feel rather hokey to contemporary audiences. From the three witches to Banquo’s ghost, what would have thrilled Elizabethan audiences can have the opposite effect today. The genius of director Max Webster‘s production at the Donmar Warehouse is to subvert the supernatural into the psychological, with visual representations dispensed with in favour of auditory equivalents.

The trigger point to Macbeth’s vaulting ambition, the “weird sisters” (stylised in the historically more misogynistic “wayward sisters”) are robbed of their corporeality. This formlessness allows their haunting prophecies to become more darkly persuasive. Here, the mere suggestion whispered into Macbeth’s ear (and indeed ours) takes root and compels his blood-soaked journey to become King hereafter. Never has a production made real so clearly that foul whisperings are abroad.

With audience members required to wear headphones throughout the performance, the production’s much-debated decision to use binaural sound gives laser focus the the inner workings and ever-darkening psyche of the titular character.

Gareth Fry‘s exceptional layered and dimensional soundscape offers a formidable intimacy that goes beyond the label of “immersive”. That the performers are afforded a full range of vocal expression, uncoupled from the need to project, gifts this take on Macbeth a rare closeness to the heart of the drama...

Given that David Tennant is known for his talent of bringing comedy to his roles (his first RSC role as Touchstone in As You Like It in 1996 was described as “unusually funny”), his Macbeth follows a very different path. Any humour is delivered with a mordent cynicism, any charm revealed to be a mask. From the moment he clocks the witches’ prophecy about Banquo and his heirs, his Macbeth is marked as much as a politician as he is a soldier. The predictions of elevation from Thanes of Glamis to Cawdor to King are received with a willingness that suggests the ambition was always there.

Tennant’s Macbeth has the steely ruthlessness of a modern politician with their eye on the prize. Webster’s production heavily hints that the Macbeths’ own lost child has left a void in which personal ambition has been allowed to grow. Their relationship, compared to the fecund joy of the Macduffs, feels transactional.

Tennant’s triumph in the role is to drain Macbeth of his humanity step by step until there is no point of return. He moves swiftly from temptation to slippery politicking to murder and onwards as he willingly strips any goodness away from the character. He is extraordinarily commanding in the role. Tennant understands the measure of the man and plunges in full tilt. This is a brave, memorable and genuinely chilling Macbeth from a very much loved actor.

While Tennant’s inspired and compelling performance dominates, the supporting cast buoy up his achievement. The Macduffs are exceptional. In contrast to the Macbeths’ fractured sense of family, their natural state is one of loving and contentment. It’s hard to remember a more affectionate portrait of mother and her “poor monkey” son than the one created by Rona Morison and Casper Knopf. It’s their easy warmth that gets extinguished so violently that fuels Noof Ousellam‘s nuanced, heart-ripping scene where Macduff learns his family have been murdered. It’s horribly dark...

Ultimately while David Tennant dominates proceedings, in this case, it’s not because he’s famed for high-profile TV and film roles. It’s because he offers an irresistible, uncompromising Macbeth. It’s nothing short of masterful how incrementally he becomes in blood / stepped in so far. It’s chillingly effective how the ambitions of his Macbeth hollow out what is left of any tenderness.

The bleakness and the yearning void placed at the heart of this production of Macbeth will linger in the minds of all who get to see it. It’s a fittingly thrilling end to the Donmar’s 30th-anniversary season.'

[sszeemedia]

KILN THEATRE ANNOUNCE THE UK PREMIÈRE OF SANAZ TOOSSI’S PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING ENGLISH

Kiln Theatre today announces the European première of Sanaz Toosi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, English. Directed by Diyan Zora, the production completes Indhu Rubasingham’s final season as Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre. The production is presented by the RSC in association with Kiln Theatre, and opens at The Other Place as part of Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s first season there as…

[peterviney1]

English - review

Review of the Pulitzer Prize winning play ENGLISH, by Sanaz Toossi (LINKED). This is at the RSC’s The Other Place studio theatre until the end of May, then it moves to The Kiln in London for the month of June. It’s set in Iran, in an English class. It’s a must for ELT teachers but it’s also a very good play on cultural identity. My review goes into a lot of ELT detail too.

[graciebarrahimeji]

#Repost @gbwear with @use.repost

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🔺 Like and Save this Post⁠

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🔺 Comment and tell us why you're proud to wear the Red Shield⁠

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✍️ And mark your calendars! The Red Shield Classics ROPE SURF CAP and LAPTOP BACKPACK will be available for everyone on TUESDAY APRIL 16th at 9am pst!⁠

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[goldenconceptindia]

Luxury Redefined: The Top Picks in Apple Watch Cases

While the tradition of wearing luxury watches as a symbol of class and style is still prominent, the classic wristwatch has been replaced by the iconic Apple watch. It's only fitting that your prized possession deserves an equally exquisite case. When it comes to luxury Apple Watch cases, the choices are endless. 

Golden Concept, a name synonymous with luxury and innovation, offers a stunning range of Apple Watch ultra luxury cases in multiple editions that redefine what it means to be fashionable and functional. 

The Classic Edition The Golden Concept Classic Edition luxury Apple watch cases are perfect for those who appreciate the timeless appeal of a traditional watch. Crafted with precision and passion, this edition seamlessly blends modern innovation with classic design. The materials used, such as genuine leather and metallic finishes, not only enhance protection but also exude an aura of sophistication.

The RSC Ultra

The RSC Ultra Edition is designed for those who crave adventure and demand the utmost in durability. It’s made to create the toughest Apple Watch ever, with a rugged carbon composite case adorned with titanium detailing. Its specialized strap crafted from fluoroelastomer is perfect for the most extreme situations. This Apple watch ultra luxury case is a reliable companion for the modern adventurer’s boldest escapades.

The Royal Edition

Golden Concept's commitment to innovation and timeless design is epitomized in the Royal Edition. The hallmark of the Royal Edition is the patented "Hatch-Bezel." This innovative feature allows for a seamless, single-click installation of your Apple Watch, making it remarkably user-friendly. The Royal Edition is designed to be both distinctive and elegant, with an exclusively crafted metallic finish. It transforms your Apple Watch into a classic timepiece, taking your style beyond the ordinary.

The Evening Edition 

For special occasions and evening soirees, the Evening Edition offers a touch of glamour. Some of the watch cases in this edition feature Swarovski crystals, adding a touch of sparkle to your Apple Watch. It's the perfect accessory for those nights when you want to stand out. 

The Racing Sport Edition 

For those with an active lifestyle, Golden Concept offers the Racing Sport Edition. Designed by our master artisans, this case is engineered to give you the most rugged and durable Apple watch. This work of art was meticulously crafted with 50+ individual components. It is not just a case; this case is a companion for athletes and adventurers.

Golden Concept offers a unique range of luxury Apple Watch cases, each designed to cater to your distinct style and preferences. In a world where gadgets are an extension of our personality, it's only natural to want them to reflect your unique style. With Golden Concept, you aren't merely protecting your device; you're elevating it to a work of art.

[onenettvchannel]

NEW THIS MORNING: Cash Prizes in all Local Contestants of the 1st Mr. and Ms. PWD 2023 have gradually paid and released at the City Hall of Dumaguete [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

(FILE PHOTO and SCREENGRAB COURTESY: RSC via FB VIDEO & Google Images)

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- After a month of its local pageant event at Mr. and Ms. PWD 2023 late-last July 2023 in Pantawan People’s Park… The Local Government Units (LGUs) of Dumaguete and Persons with Disabilities’ Affairs Office (PWDAO) have announced that all local participants and contestants across the selected barangays are now fully distributing and to disburse cash prizes in person at the City Treasurer's Office in Burgos Street, Brgy. 4, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental; beside the City Hall in Santa Catalina Street.

(PHOTO COURTESY: OK Photo Supply via Brgy. Pulantubig Activities and Developments / FB PHOTO)

Individuals of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) including a Freelance Journalist, News Reporter and Presenter (Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong), whose one with a Best Speaker & 1st Runner Up win in Men Category at Brgy. Pulantubig; along with Best in Play Wear, Formal Wear and Photogenic named Jhun Mae Somoza Vilos of Brgy. Motong in Women Category, whose also a contestant win in the aforesaid 1st Runner Ups.

(FILE PHOTO and SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Dumaguete.com website / RSC via FB PHOTO)

The winners will receive major cash prizes worth PHP5,000 (U$D90) as a Grand Champion, followed by 1st Runner Up pays PHP3,000 (USD53) and 2nd Runner Up ends with PHP2,000 (U$D36). Special prizes including Best Speaker individuals as an example will also to be paid in full. We recently spoke to Ms. Ester, City Treasurer's Office (CTO) in charge to receive cash prizes to be paid in person on our news team to OneNETnews.

LGU officials and PWDAO said that they were fully acknowledged to participate as contestants after joining a first local pageant here in the City of Gentle People.

Mr. and Ms. PWD opens a potential 2nd year in 2024 for those if you're an eligible PWD individual and a resident in the specific barangay of Dumaguete for whatever past reasons of its autistic and/or mental health problems.

SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong via FB Video (Freelanced Photojournalist & News Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

-- OneNETnews Team

[justforbooks]

Dame Hilary Mantel, who has died aged 70 after suffering a stroke, was the first female author to win the Booker prize twice, which she did for the first two volumes in her epic trilogy of the life of Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall (2010) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012). The novels, which collectively weigh in at about 2,000 pages, have sold 5m copies worldwide, were made into an acclaimed BBC series (2015) staring Mark Rylance, and adapted by Mantel herself for the RSC stage version (2014), a process that she loved. The trilogy culminated with The Mirror and the Light (2020) and the death of Cromwell; it turned out to be her final novel. All told in the present tense, the novels constitute a feat of immersive storytelling and a monumental landmark in contemporary fiction.

Before Cromwell, Mantel had written nine novels, including A Place of Greater Safety (1992), about the French Revolution; Beyond Black (2005), a characteristically dark and idiosyncratic tale of a medium in Aldershot; a memoir, Giving up the Ghost (2003); and three collections of short stories. Although she received good reviews, her sales were modest and none of her novels had even been longlisted for the Booker. “I felt very much like a niche product, very much a minority interest,” she said in an interview with the Guardian in 2020. But it was only with Cromwell and her decision “to march on to the middle ground of English history and plant a flag”, as she put it, that she found a huge readership. It was the novel she had been waiting all her career to write.

Born Hilary Thompson in Glossop, a village in Derbyshire, she was the daughter of working-class Catholic parents with Irish ancestry who had moved to Manchester; her mother, Margaret (nee Foster), like her mother before her, had left school to work in a mill when she was only 14. Hilary’s father was Henry Thompson, but she took her surname from her mother’s second husband, Jack Mantel.

Hers was not a happy childhood. “The story of my childhood is a complicated sentence that I’m always trying to finish, to finish and put behind me,” she wrote in Giving up the Ghost. If she were to give it a pigment, she continued, it would be “a faded, rain-drenched crimson, like stale and drying blood”.

When she was six, a man called Jack had come for tea, she wrote. “One day Jack comes for tea and doesn’t go home again.” The neighbours gossiped and children at school teased her about their living arrangements.

They all lived together until her mother and two younger brothers moved to a semi-detached house in Romiley with Jack. She never saw her father again. “My childhood ended so, in the autumn of 1963, the past and the future equally obscured by the smoke from my mother’s burning boats,” she said. Until she was 12, she was a devout Catholic, and she went to Harrytown Convent school, Romiley.

She met her husband, Gerald McEwen, when they were 16, marrying in 1973, the year that she graduated from Sheffield University with a law degree. Instead of becoming a barrister as she had planned, she got a job in a department store and started reading about the French Revolution. She said she never thought of becoming a novelist until she “actually picked up a pen to become one” and even then it was only because she felt she had missed her chance to become a historian. She started her first novel, A Place of Greater Safety in, 1974, when she was 22. It would be two decades before it was published. In 1977 she and Gerald were sent to Botswana for his work as a geologist. She started teaching, but in her head she was always in 1790s France, writing whenever she could.

The impulse to write grew out of her sense that something was seriously wrong with her. While she was at university she started having terrible pains, but was told they were psychological and was prescribed antidepressants and anti-psychotic drugs. There followed years of pain, misdiagnosis and denial. It was only in a library in Botswana that she self-diagnosed severe endometriosis. When she was 27 and back in England over Christmas, she collapsed and underwent major surgery at St George’s hospital, which was then at Hyde Park Corner, central London, “having my fertility confiscated and my insides rearranged”, as she described it.

But it was recovering from the operation that cemented her determination to write. Unable to find a publisher for A Place of Greater Safety – it was not a great time to be trying to publish historical fiction – she shrewdly changed tack, forming what she called “a cunning plan”, and started on a contemporary novel, Every Day Is Mother’s Day, which was immediately snapped up in 1985, followed a year later by a sequel, Vacant Possession.

While her literary career was finally taking off, her marriage was foundering, and a year after her operation she and Gerald divorced, with Mantel returning to Britain. Gerald also came home, and barely two years later they remarried so that he could take up a job in Saudi Arabia. They moved to Jeddah in 1982, and this provided the inspiration for her fourth novel, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1988). A Place of Greater Safety was published four years later.

After returning to Britain, for many years she was a lead book reviewer for the Guardian, as well as film critic for the Spectator. Although sitting on various committees – the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Authors and the Advisory Committee for Public Lending Right – and teaching, she never saw herself as part of any literary set, and was always slightly apart from her famous contemporaries such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. The publication of The Giant, O’Brien in 1998 and Beyond Black in 2005 saw her begin to break out of being “a literary novelist” – at least in terms of sales.

And then came Cromwell. It was no small irony that after years of not being able to publish her first historical novel, she found fame with a book set during the reign of Henry VIII. “It was as if after swimming and swimming you’ve suddenly found your feet are on ground that’s firm,” she said. “I knew from the first paragraph that this was going to be the best thing I’d ever done.”

The debilitating pain and periods of ill health of her early years never left her. And in 2010, shortly after winning the Booker prize for the first time, she was back in hospital for yet more operations, a period she chronicled in a diary for the London Review of Books. “Illness strips you back to an authentic self, but not one you need to meet. Too much is claimed for authenticity. Painfully we learn to live in the world, and to be false,” she wrote.

After the success of Wolf Hall, she and Gerald moved to the Devon seaside town of Budleigh Salterton, which she had visited when she was 16 and where she had promised herself she would one day live. Gerald became her manager and was always her first reader. Never afraid of long hours, she liked to write first thing in the morning, and when she was deeply immersed in a novel she often would write in bursts during the night. She still had many notebooks full of ideas and projects she wanted to begin.

In 2013 she caused a minor outcry in a speech at the British Museum in which she described Catherine Middleton as a personality-free “shop window mannequin”, drawn from her fascination with public perceptions of the female body, and she wrote a powerful essay for the Guardian to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. She was made a dame in 2014.

As her agent of nearly 40 years, Bill Hamilton, said: “You always have to remember how much her background and ferocious intelligence made her an outsider, and how her chronic ill health made her a stranger even to her own body. In her writing she had to invent everything from scratch. She wrote eloquently about how hard it was to know what each new sentence had to contain, and what surprises lay just round the corner, like the presences that populate her books: ghosts, and the ghosts of what the future might hold.”

Mantel did much to encourage other writers, and was generous with her time for anyone she met professionally. Equally, Hamilton said: “When success arrived she enjoyed it gleefully, as she knew it was so hard-earned.”

Gerald survives her.

🔔 Hilary Mary Mantel, author, born 6 July 1952; died 22 September 2022

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[lovelydialeonard]

Popcorn Group have announced this year’s judging committee along with their longlist of brave and imaginative new plays for the Popcorn Writing Award. Partnering for the first time with BBC Writersroom, Popcorn offers a prize fund of £6,000.

Judging the award this year will be Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson (Hamlet, Almeida and West End; King Lear, West End), Olivier Award-winning producer Francesca Moody MBE (Fleabag, West End), globally celebrated portrait artist Jonathan Yeo, award-winning comedian Jack Rooke (Big Boys, Channel 4), ⭐️ star of stage and screen Lydia Leonard 💘 (Ten Percent!, Amazon/AMC; Wolf Hall, RSC), BAFTA and two-time Emmy and Ivor Novello nominated composer Nainita Desai, and award-winning director and artist, Charlotte Colbert.

[mywingsareonwheels]

Further observations on “Endeavour” (while I’m watching season 5):-

- did anyone give Shaun Evans permission to be that beautiful and to make me ache for Morse even when he’s being a prize git?

- did anyone give Roger Allam permission to be that awesome and glorious?

- okay *now* I’m beginning to see the Morse/Max thing. :-)

- nice that the Whump The Morse game continues, even if less than in earlier seasons. Russell Lewis is blatantly a whump and a hurt/comfort fan and I respect this about him so very much. More comfort needed to balance things pls though. (NB: I do know we probably won’t get it...)

- IT’S JOHN MCANDREW PLAYING THE CINEMA ORGANIST HI JOHN MCANDREW so for those who don’t know he played Pippin in the utterly superb 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and his voice does not appear to have markedly aged in the decades since. :-) Also he played Claudio to Roger Allam’s Benedick at the RSC in the 1990-91 production of Much Ado About Nothing with Susan Fleetwood as Beatrice and ALEX FUCKING KINGSTON as Hero and I so wish I’d seen that. (https://www.photostage.co.uk/shakespeare/much-ado-about-nothing/1990-1991-rsc.html More about it here.)

- Oh No I know what’s coming for Fred and Win and I wish it wasn’t. :-( Must read/reread more Thursdays Being Happy And Adopting Morse fics.

[scotianostra]

Happy 70th Birthday actress Lindsay Duncan born in Edinburgh November 7th 1950.

Lindsay's father had served in the army for 21 years before becoming a civil servant. Her parents moved to Leeds while she was still a child.

After studying drama in London she began working on Eighties TV productions such as Dead Head and Traffik. She was awarded a Laurence Olivier award for best actress in a new play in 1987 for her portrayal as La Marquise de Merteuil in an RSC production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and from there her career went from strength to strength.

My favourite roles from Lindsay are playing thee girlfriend in the excellent ITV series Travelling man opposite Leigh Lawson, and the bitchy Barbara Douglas in Alan Bleasdale's GBH. Other TV appearances included, A year in Provence, Reilly, Ace of Spies, Spooks, Doctor Who and more recently Churchill's Secret, all quality dramas.  Her only role with a Scottish accent was the 2003 film Afterlife which also starred Kevin McKidd and Isla Blair. 

Fans of Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock might remember her as Lady Smallwood, she was als in the recent series A Discovery of Witches on Sky in 2018, appearing in 5 of the 8 episodes, her lartest project, a psychological horror called A Banquet, is in post production just now, it marks the feature directorial debut of Scottish filmmaker Ruth Paxton, whose previous work includes Paris/Sexy, winner of the best UK short prize at the London Short Film Festival in 2011

She cut her teeth in theatre and has always supported this genre with stage roles all through her career as well as starring in several films ranging from Star Wars: Episode I to Mansfield Park. Lindsay is married to fellow Scottish actor Hilton McRae, and the couple have a son, Cal, born in 1991.

[materialsworld]

Materials World’s top feature of 2019

As 2019 is drawing to a close, the Materials World team wanted to highlight a couple of stories to end the year on a high note. On Wednesday we shared the news story that got the most clicks on our website in 2019.  Today, we are sharing the top feature. We hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas from the editorial team. 

15 UNDER 30

By: Idha Valeur 

IOM3 is looking to the future and celebrating young talent and ambition. Idha Valeur talks to the ones to watch in STEM.

Kyle Saltmarsh Age: 27 Job: Robotics Engineer at Woodside Energy. Education: PhD Engineering in Submarine Vibration and Acoustics, BSc in Physics and Applied Mathematics, BME (Honours). Current project: Deployment of robotic technology onto Woodside’s oil and gas plant for surveillance, and performing tasks through robot manipulation. Achievements: Best honours thesis, several hackathon wins, top IBM 2018 graduate in Australia/New Zealand, 2018 Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition Winner, world’s largest bungee jumper, blogger and hosting a podcast to inspire people in technology. Ultimate goal: To positively impact the world through the power of technology.

Kyle Saltmarsh     Image credit: Brent Campbell 

Jennie Palmer Age: 26 Job: Research Engineer. Education: Undertaking an EngD in Structural Metals for Gas Turbine Applications, BEng in Aerospace Engineering, with a year in industry, Swansea University. Current project: I am researching the development of bespoke test facilities and fundamental understanding of thermo-mechanical fatigue crack growth behaviour in titanium alloys. Achievements: Graduating with a BEng in Aerospace Engineering with First-Class Honours, presenting my research at national and international conferences, having research published in an internationally recognised journal and a Green Belt Certificate in Lean Six Sigma. Ultimate goal: To become a well-established, technical expert in my engineering field.

Jennie Palmer     Image credit: Jemima Bond 

Ilija Rašović Age: 27 Job: Lecturer at University of Birmingham Education: MEng in Materials Science at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. DPhil in Materials at St Cross College, Oxford. Current project: The use of fullerenes — nanometre-sized balls of carbon — in biomedical applications. One of the methods I have devised, to make them soluble in water, helps in the formation of large self-assembled structures that hold great promise as multi-modal drug delivery vehicles. Achievements: The IOM3 international Literature Review Prize in 2016. Final of the IOM3 Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition in 2017. I joined the P1 Graphene Solutions as an advanced materials engineer and became a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. In 2019, I joined IOM3’s Younger Members’ Committee. Ultimate goal: To make a contribution to the wide deployment of transformative nanomedicine in a clinical setting within my lifetime. My broader vision is to continue to champion materials science and make more accessible the obfuscated world of academic research.

Ilija Rašović     

Amanda Field Age: 25 Job: Development Engineer. Education: BEng Materials Science and Technology, University of Birmingham. Current project: Trying to finish my PhD on additive manufacturing of tungsten for nuclear fusion reactors. It’s challenging but worthwhile because the success of nuclear fusion would go a long way to solving the energy crisis. I’m working in additive manufacturing. Achievements: I have presented my work at international conferences. I was involved with an experimental parabolic flight campaign for the European Space Agency where we used a demonstrator device to 3D print metal in zero gravity. I came second in the IOM3 Young Persons Lecture Competition. Ultimate Goal: To keep working in additive manufacturing. I’d like to stay in R&D as you get such variety in your role and you have the potential to make significant improvements to a product or a technology, or design new ones yourself.

Amanda Field    Image credit: Luke Carter 

Jack Saunders Age: 25 Job: PhD Student in Materials Chemistry. Education: MChem with a year in industry, University of Manchester. Undertaking a PhD in Materials Chemistry, University of Manchester, in collaboration with AkzoNobel. Current project: To analyse the impact of different polymers on the corrosion protection afforded by emulsion paints. I aim to achieve this by synthesising and testing polymer’s corrosion performance. This is to better understand how polymer chemistry can affect the corrosion protection offered by the dried paint. Achievements: A First Class Master’s degree in chemistry. My PhD at the School of Materials at The University of Manchester. Awarded the President’s Doctoral Scholar Award. Presented my work at conferences such as the RSC’s MacroGroup YRM, Dublin, 2018. Won the regional Young Persons’ Lecture Competition this year. Ultimate goal: To develop my research and management skills in order to have my own research group in the field of polymer chemistry and colloid science.

Jack Saunders    Image credit: University of Manchester  Megan McGregor Age: 25 Job: PhD Candidate at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge. Education: MSci in Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, specialising in Materials Science. Current project: A PhD project investigating a new intermetallic alloy for commercial gas turbine engines. Specifically, trying to develop a novel coating material required to attach abrasives onto the end of rotating turbine blades, in pursuit of a more efficient sealing system. Achievements: I enjoy teaching in the department, and was recently awarded the Departmental Demonstrator Prize. I talked at the Cambridge Science Festival and the inaugural Cambridge Soapbox Science event. I will be representing the South Eastern Region in the final of the IOM3 Young Persons’ Lecture Competition this year, selected for an RCUK Public Policy Internship at the Government Office for Science in 2018, where I got to contribute to government policy. Ultimate goal: To see the material I am working on make it into a commercial gas turbine engine. I want to take my expertise in this area into industry, and be able to contribute to the development of the hybrid-electric aircraft sector.

Megan McGregor    Image credit: Andrew Jeskins 

Abigail Georgia Robinson Age: 22 Job: Geology student. Education: MGeol in Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, graduating in 2020. Current project: I will co-lead an expedition to the Lofdal Complex, Namibia, which hosts a suite of carbonatitic and silicic igneous rocks, some of which are enriched in heavy rare earth elements. I aim to integrate geological field data with geochemical and isotopic datasets to model the petrogenesis of the scientifically interesting igneous rocks. Achievements: I was awarded the prestigious Laidlaw Scholarship in Research and Leadership in 2018. This supported my field campaign in Armenia, to investigate the interplay between climate change, hydrology and medieval irrigation systems. I did a research placement at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre where I learned to code in Python and used this to statistically investigate the geographical origin of lunar meteorites across the lunar surface. This work was included in Dr Marissa Tremblay’s published abstract and presentation at the 2019 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, USA. Ultimate goal: I plan to embark on a PhD on the tectonically imposed planet-wide cycling of the volatile elements. I plan to be an active communicator promoting an understanding of geoscience and the global scale problems that we, the geoscientists, can work to solve.

Abigail Robinson      Image credit: Evan Margerum 

Federica Rosaria Lisa Age: 24 Job: Technical Graduate at British Steel. Education: MChem Chemistry with Forensic Science with a year in industry, University of Leicester. Current project: A variety of research and development projects – one on understanding and reducing the factors that influence power and electrode consumption at the ladle arc furnaces in the secondary steelmaking process. Achievements: Graduated with a First Class Honours and secured a 12-month industrial placement and a place on a graduate programme. I succeeded in my secondary school exams after moving to a new continent and starting International School. Ultimate goal: To work for a sustainable discovery/development that will improve lives and I would like to lead a company. I would also like to promote the importance of education, support developing countries in the construction of more schools and strengthen the educational system.

Frederica Lisa    Image credit: Johnny Gallagher  Daniel Everington Age: 26 Job: Materials Technologist – Surface Engineering. Education: MEng Aerospace Engineering with a year in industry, University of Sheffield. Current project: Surface engineering at Rolls-Royce. I’m involved with different projects across the engine, including compressor sealing systems, hot end environmental protection and anti-seize coatings. Achievements: Developed a novel method to flow test ceramic filters used in the investment casting process. The technique contributed to a 3% improvement in casting yield and the reduced variation helps lower the amount of metal. Patents may be filed on the work. Ultimate goal: I’d like to work with academia to co-develop novel coatings/surface treatments. I enjoy the challenges that come with working on new technology as the answers can’t simply be found in a textbook.

Daniel Everington     Image credit: Alistair Coast-Smith 

Louise Gale Age: 28 Job: Materials Engineer at Rolls-Royce Plc. Education: MSci & MA in Natural Sciences, specialising in Materials Science, University of Cambridge. Current project: The development of ceramic matrix composites for introduction into aerospace gas turbine engines. My responsibilities include running mechanical testing programmes, supervising work at our university partners as well as the analysis and fractography of tested samples to elucidate damage mechanisms. Achievements: Completing the Rolls-Royce Graduate Scheme, including obtaining funding for an international placement in the Materials Testing Department in Berlin. I became Technical Lead of a £2.5mln project which was part of a government-funded programme to develop SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites. I developed the £7mln, three-year materials development component to the follow on project that was approved in late 2017. Ultimate goal: To become an expert on ceramic and composite materials systems.

Louise Gale      Image credit: Stephen Gale 

James Grant Age: 24 Job: EngD student with TATA Steel and M2A, Materials and Manufacturing Academy. Education: School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, College of Engineering, Swansea University. Current project: Development of novel coating solutions for the improvement of pre/post heat treatment of carbon steel conveyance tubes. My project aims to reduce high-temperature oxidation caused by the normalising process. Achievements: I developed a novel anodisation system for fabricating alumina masks in the molecular beam epitaxy application. In addition to this, my placement with Merck successfully optimised electrophoretic fluids to further enhance the E-ink display technology. I’ve been competing in the 2019 IOM3 Young Persons Lecture Competition. Having won the SWMA heat and the South West Regional, presenting at the national final in May. Ultimate goal: To educate and encourage the next generation of students to take up STEM subjects. I hope I can engage and excite a younger audience about materials science and demonstrate the opportunities available in engineering.

James Grant      Image credit: James Grant 

Vidya Chamundeswari Narasimhan Age: 28 years Job: Post-doctoral Research Fellow Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTU. Education: PhD in Materials Engineering. Current project: Developing responsive nasogastric tubes for the elderly and using nature-derived biopolymers for biomedical applications. Achievements: Young Scientist Award conferred by VIWA in India, Title Winner of the IOM3 Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition 2017, Women in Engineering Travel Grant in 2018, Chair of the Young Scientists Forum at the European Materials Research Society conference in Poland 2018. Ultimate goal: To lead and manage a diverse team, foster interdisciplinary collaboration and offer R&D support for cutting edge research in the healthcare sector. I also want to contribute significantly towards mentoring the next generation of young girls towards pursuing exciting careers in STEM fields.

Vidya Chamundeswari     Image credit: Dr Rohit Satish  Frederick Cooper Age: 28 Job: Research Engineer and PhD student. Education: BEng with Honours, Swansea University. Current project: Microstructural and mechanical characterisation of flow formed F1E – a novel, maraging steel. Achievements: Used flow form to develop materials for detailed metallographic, micro-textural, and mechanical assessment. I run two small businesses, have an Associate Diploma from the National College of Music, and an Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and was appointed as a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers. Ultimate goal: To complete my current project and transfer a comprehensive mechanical property database detailing static and fatigue performance to a major engineering sponsor – to enable novel component manufacture. Further, I would like to use my experience to develop a career in public engagement or education.

Frederick Cooper    Image credit: Lauren Ednie Photography 

Robert Hoye Age: 28 Job: Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow. Education: PhD, Cambridge University, BE(Hons). Current project: I am looking at two areas that could accelerate the scale of photovoltaics. This makes an attractive technology for producing clean energy, especially in remote regions. Achievements: Developed a recombination contact to couple a metal-halide perovskite top-cell with an n-type silicon bottom cell, which lead to new design rules to identify promising classes of materials that could tolerate defects, and an all-inorganic device structure that led to 80% external quantum efficiency in solar cells. This went on display in the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden, Germany. 2018 Young Engineer of the Year Award by the Royal Academy of Engineering, which also awarded me £500,000 to start an independent group at the University of Cambridge. European Forbes 30 under 30 list. Ultimate goal: To create new classes of defect-tolerant semiconductors that can be used as low-cost and efficient top-cells in tandem with silicon.

Robert Hoye      Image credit: Zoe Chung 

Matthew Wadge Age: 24 Job: PhD Researcher. Education: BSc(Hons) Biomedical Materials Science & PhD (ongoing), University Of Nottingham. Current project: Exploring novel formation and ion-exchange reactions of titanate surfaces for biomedical applications. Achievements: Achieved eight awards during my undergraduate degree including the Best Student Prize, Best Project Prize, and The Armourers and Brasiers’ Best Student Prize for achieving the highest project mark within the faculty. I have since won the Armourers and Brasiers’/TWI Best BSc/BEng Student of the Year Award, Best Oral Presentation Prize from the UK Society for Biomaterials Conference in 2018. Published my first journal paper during the first year of my PhD. I am one of the Nottingham coordinators for this year’s Pint of Science festival. Ultimate goal: To try and improve a patient’s quality of life, from improving fixation of hip stems for improved longevity, through to antibacterial surfaces for minimising infections. I aim to continue on into academia post PhD to share my experiences, and hopefully train the next generation of bioengineers and biomaterial scientists.

Matthew Wadge     Image credit: Matthew James