#rueda looks like hes 7

[inhidingxoxo3637]

There is only 4 years between all of these guys

[theoutcastrogue]

“The Feud” (1926), by Federico García Lorca

Fight with Cudgels (c. 1820–1823), one of Francisco Goya’s Black Paintings.

Halfway down the gorge knives of Albacete, beautiful with enemy blood, shine like fish. In the sour green a hard light of a card cuts out enraged horses and profiles of riders. Two old women cry in an olive tree. The bull of the feud climbs right up the walls. Black angels were bringing handkerchiefs and snow water; angels with big wings of Albacete knives. Juan Antonio de Montilla rolls dead down the slope, his body full of irises, a pomegranate in his temples. Now he rides a cross of fire down the road of death.

               *

Through the olive groves come judge and Civil Guard. The sliding blood is moaning the mute song of a snake. Civil Guardsmen, Sirs, it’s the same as always: four Romans are dead and five Carthaginians.

               *

The afternoon, grown wild with figs and hot murmurs swoons and falls into the rider’s wounded thighs. And black angels were soaring through the western sky. Angels with long tresses and hearts of olive oil.

Atropos, or The Fates (c. 1820–1823), one of Francisco Goya’s Black Paintings.

Notes

Reyerta / The Feud. Ms. dated August 6, 1926. Sent to Guillén the following month (EC 573–74) with the title “Reyerta de mozos” (Brawl [Feud, Dispute] between Young Men). Published in La Verdad (Murcia) on October 10, 1926; and, with the title “Reyerta gitana” (Gypsy Brawl), in the Catalan literary magazine L’Amic de les Arts, June 1927. [N.B. In 1928 the poem was included in Lorca’s seminal collection Romancero gitano.]

According to Lorca, this poem is an image of random violence, expressing “a silent, latent struggle all over Andalusia and Spain among groups that attack each other without knowing why, for mysterious reasons: because of a look, a rose, a love affair two centuries old, or because a man suddenly feels a bug on his cheek”. Richard Ford in A Handbook for Travelers in Spain (1855) marvels that “where an unarmed Englishman closes his fist, a Spaniard opens his knife. Man, again, in this hot climate, is very inflammable and combustible; a small spark explodes the dry powder, which ignites less readily in damp England.” Derek Harris believes that the reference to playing cards in line 6 “indicates a reason for the fight while the verb recortar [cut out] indicates that the horses and the horsemen of lines 7–8 are in silhouette.” Robert G. Harvard points out that “cards depict motifs in profile, and the equivalent of a jack in Spanish cards is a horse and rider.” Lines 29–30 bring out the enduring nature of the violence, referring not only to the Punic Wars for the possession of Spain but also, ironically, to classroom competition among Spanish children. In some schools, particularly Jesuit ones, the class was divided into competing teams, the “Romans” and the “Carthaginians”. 2: Albacete: town between Madrid and Valencia famed for its navajas, with long blades that fold back into a handle.

Navaja, Spain, probably Albacete, 19th century [x]

[Translation by Will Kirkland and Christopher Maurer, notes by Christopher Maurer. From Federico García Lorca: Selected Verse (Revised Bilingual Edition, Macmillan, 2003). You can read the poem in the original Spanish below the cut.]

Reyerta

En la mitad del barranco las navajas de Albacete, bellas de sangre contraria, relucen como los peces. Una dura luz de naipe recorta en el agrio verde, caballos enfurecidos y perfiles de jinetes. En la copa de un olivo lloran dos viejas mujeres. El toro de la reyerta se sube por las paredes. Ángeles negros traían pañuelos y agua de nieve. Ángeles con grandes alas de navajas de Albacete. Juan Antonio el de Montilla rueda muerto la pendiente, su cuerpo lleno de lirios y una granada en las sienes. Ahora monta cruz de fuego, carretera de la muerte.

               *

El juez, con guardia civil, por los olivares viene. Sangre resbalada gime muda canción de serpiente. Señores guardias civiles: aquí pasó lo de siempre. Han muerto cuatro romanos y cinco cartagineses.

               *

La tarde loca de higueras y de rumores calientes cae desmayada en los muslos heridos de los jinetes. Y ángeles negros volaban por el aire del poniente. Ángeles de largas trenzas y corazones de aceite.

[pinkcaseotakadl]

Diabolik lovers ‘’5th Anniversary book ‘’ [Laito’s interview] ~translation|traducción~

Thanks to @bittersweet-faerietale  for having helped  me with the translation!!

1. Right now, what are you into?

Nfu♪ Are you interested in what I'm into~? Well, since you asked, I'll tell you♪ Recently I'm interested in this camera. It has a good performance~ With this I can take pictures of those places of Bitch-chan~♪ Hey, It's okay, right?

2. What kind of fashion are you into lately?

If I had to tell my fashion, then it are the hats♪ I'm recently wearing different shapes' hats~ Rounder hats, or larger hats.I recently tried using one with feathers.

3. What habits do you have that you’ll do without realizing?

My habits? You mean like when I'm in town and I see a girl but my eyes drift to her legs? Or like when I imagine what color underwear she is wearing, or what type of design will they have?But that's just my instincts, so it can't be helped~ Ah, but as I thought, Bitch-chan's legs are the best~

4. How do you spend your days-off?

Of course you ask when I do this~ and that~ with Bitch-chan? Ohhh~? Could it be that you just recently thought of unusual things? That's bad~I have not really said anything indecent, you know~?Besides I am a gentleman, so what Bitch-chan wants to do, or the place where she wants to go, is what we will do on our date~

5. What do you wear to sleep? 

Such a thing how you are interested about what clothes I sleep... You are a per-vert♪ But that's fine, I'll tell you especially.I wear usual pajamas, one that is smooth to the touch, so when you touch your skin on the fabric it feels nice~

6. What do you definitely do before sleeping? 

Of course, I give Bitch-chan a goodnight's kiss~ If I don't have enough of Bitch-chan then I'll not be able to sleep~Just kidding~ Well, it's not just a kiss, but still the rest is a secret of Bitch-chan and mine.

7. What part of your body you like the best?

Of course, it's the mole that I have on the corner of my mouth♪ Moles are sexy. Besides, is not it exciting to find moles on unusual places?

8. What do you like the most of your room?

What I like the most, huh~ As I thought, it's my bed. The dreams you have in bed can be obscene, nfu♪ Besides, sleeping in it feels nice, it's perfect.It's so large that we can sleep together, and there is even room for two more pillows

9. Tell us one memorable impression that you have of yours brothers.

Let's see, even if you ask me to remember it, it's complicated. Since we have spent a lot of time together.I have a lot of silly/absurd memories, you know? Like when I ate Kanato-kun's macarons, and he got angry. Or like when I got involved in Ayato's joke and Reiji got angry~

10. What you think of KarlHeinz? 

I don't know anything about that person~. What is that person thinking? Well, apart from him [that person] nobody else knows what he's thinking [That person].I don't think about him at all. For now.

11. Where would you go on a date?

Mmm~ Where would it be okay? To a store where there are lots of macarons? Bitch-chan likes sweet things too.And also, it's a bit simple, but maybe to a theme park? Riding the mechanical attractions, so that her skirt starts to shake when we climb into those attractions, and also flirt within the wheel of fortune~That would be pretty fun.

12. What does a girl do to make your heart skip a beat?

When women cross their legs. The beautiful legs of girl being crossed, sounds good. Without noticing, I finish looking at them~When they have black stockings, and high heels look more sexy. Now I'll tell Bitch-chan to wear that.

13. How does her blood taste? 

Bitch-chan's Butler, Laito-kun, will tell you especially to you~ The flavor of Bitch-chan's blood, is a mischievous taste♪It's so sweet and thick, once you taste it, you will not think of anything other than blood to the point where you feel sick.Once you feel the scent of her blood, you will not be able to breathe.

14. From which body part do you like to suck her blood?

From your thighs, perhaps it's not obvious~ Once you bite those soft thighs from Bitch-chan's legs, her sweet blood will flow through your mouth... ahh, just imagining it made me wants to drink her blood~

15. What does her existence mean to you?

What is Bitch-chan for me? Let's see, Bitch-chan is special. For me, she's the only special girl that I drink blood from in this world.Because there's no way I'm not interested in that naughty girl. From now on let's have a lot of fun, Bitch-chan♪

Español abajo~

1. En este momento, qué es lo que te gusta?

Nfu♪ Estas interesada en lo que mis gustos~? Bueno, ya que lo preguntaste te lo diré♪ En lo que recientemente estoy interesado es en esta cámara. Es de bastante rendimiento~ Con esto puedo tomar fotos de esos lugares y de aquellos lugares~  de Bitch-chan~♪ Oye, esta bien, no es así?

2. ¿Qué clase de moda estás teniendo últimamente?

Si tuviera que decir mi estilo, entonces son los sombreros♪ Recientemente estoy usando distintos sombreros con diferentes formas~ Los que son redondos, o los que son más grandes. Hace poco probé usar uno con plumas.

3. ¿Tienes algún hábito que haces sin darte cuenta?

Mis hábitos? Como cuando estoy en la ciudad y veo a una chica pero mis ojos se desvían a sus piernas? O como cuando imagino de qué color será la ropa interior que esta usando, o que tipo de diseño tendrán? Pero eso es sólo mi instinto, no puedo hacer nada al respecto~ Ah, pero como lo supuse, las piernas de Bitch-chan son las mejores~

4. ¿Como pasas tus días libres?

Por supuesto dices cuando hago esto~ y aquello~ con Bitch-chan? Ohhh~? Podría ser que recién acabas de pensar cosas raras? Eso esta maal~ Yo en realidad no he dicho nada indecente, sabes~? Además, yo soy u caballero, así que lo que quiera hacer Bitch-chan, o al lugar donde quiera ir, es lo que haremos en nuestra cita~

5. ¿Qué usas para dormir?

Algo como que te interese con que ropa duermo... eres una per-ver-ti-da♪ Pero esta bien, especialmente te lo diré. Yo uso un pijama común, uno que sea lizo al tacto, así cuando tocas la piel sobre de la tela se siente agradable~

6. ¿Qué es lo que definitivamemte haces antes de dormir?

Por supuesto, le doy a Bitch-chan un beso de las buenas noches~♪ Si no tengo suficiente de Bitch-chan entonces no podré dormir~ Sólo era broma~ Bueno, no es solamente un beso, pero aún así lo demás es un secreto de Bitch-cha y mio.

7. ¿Cual es la parte de tu cuerpo que más te gusta?

Por supuesto, es el lunar que tengo al costado de mi boca♪ Los lunares son sexys. Además,  no es emocionante encontrar lunares en lugares inusuales?

8. ¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tu habitación?

Lo que más me gusta, eh~ Como lo pensé, es mi cama. Los sueños que tienes en la cama son obscenos, nfu♪ Además, dormir en ella se siente agradable, es perfecta.  Es tan grande que podemos dormir juntos, e incluso hay espacio para dos almohadas más.

9. Cuentanos un recuerdo con tus hermanos.

Veamos, aunque me pidas que recuerde, es algo complicado. Ya que nosotros hemos estado pasado mu~cho tiempo juntos. Tengo un montón de recuerdos tontos/absurdos, sabes? Como cuando me comí los macarrones de Kanato-kun, y lo hice enojar. O como cuando quedé atrapado en la broma de Ayato y Reiji se enojó~

10. ¿Qué piensas de KarlHeinz?

No sé nada de esa persona~. Qué es lo que esa persona estará pensando? Bueno, a parte de él[esa persona] nadie más sabe lo que esta pensando[Esa persona]. No pienso nada sobre él. Por ahora.

11. ¿A donde irias en una cita?

Mmm~, a donde estaría bien? A una tienda donde hayan muchos macarrones? A Bitch-chan también le gustan las cosas dulces. Y también, es algo simple, pero tal vez a un parque temático? Montar atracciones mecánicas, que su falda comience a agitarse cuando subamos a algún juego, y coquetear a dentro de la rueda de la fortuna~♪ Eso sería bastante divertido.

12. ¿Qué es lo que una chica hace para que tu corazón salte?

Cuando las mujeres cruzan sus piernas. Las hermosas piernas de una chica siendo cruzadas, suena bien. Sin darme cuenta las termino mirando~ Cuando tienen medias negras, y tacones altos lucen más sexys. Ahora le diré a Bitch-chan que vista eso.

13. ¿Como sabe su sangre?

El mayordomo de Bitch-chan, Laito-kun, te lo dirá especialmente a ti~ El gusto de la sangre de Bitch-chan, es un sabor travieso♪ Es tan dulce, espesa, una vez que la pruebes ya no pensarás en otra cosa que no sea la sangre hasta el punto en que te sientas enfermo. Una vez que sientas el aroma de su sangre ya no vas a poder respirar.

14. ¿De que parte de su cuerpo te gusta chupar la sangre?

De sus muslos, qué acaso no es obvio~ Una vez que muerdas esos suaves muslos de las piernas de Bitch-chan, su dulce sangre estará fluyendo por tu boca... Ahh, de sólo imaginarlo me dieron ganas de beber su sangre~

15. Qué existencia es ella para ti?

Qué es Bitch-chan para mí? Veaamos, Bitch-chan es especial. Para mi es la única chica especial dentro de este mundo de la cual bebo sangre. Porque no hay forma de que no me interese en esta chica tan traviesa. Desde ahora en adelante divertamosnos un montón, Bitch-chan♪

[vivaitalianmovies]

5 Pedro Almodóvar Film and Wine Pairings

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has more than 130 awards on his resume, including a Best Screenplay Oscar for 2002’s outstanding Talk to Her. His films have grossed more than $65 million in the United States alone – no mean feat for a foreign language director. Suffice it to say, he’s Spain’s most famous filmmaker.

Few things go better with a movie than a bottle of wine, so I decided to take a break from this site’s usual Italian movie focus, pull some inspiration from our new book Decoding Spanish Wine, and put together some potential wine pairing ideas for your next Almodóvar movie viewing.

True, pairing wines and movies is a wholly subjective (and slightly ridiculous) undertaking, but it’s a ton of fun and an awesome way to learn more about European wine regions and varietals. And, as it turns out, Almodóvar’s parents were both involved in making and selling wine.

Using five of Almodóvar’s top movies as a jumping-off point and looking at filming locations for inspiration for wine selections, here are some choice pairings to consider. Salud!

1) Talk to Her

Almodóvar’s unforgettable drama about two men and the women in comas they look after scored him a Best Director Oscar nomination, his only nod in that category. It’s sheer filmmaking brilliance, with beautiful stylistic flourishes, generous servings of Almodóvar’s trademark eccentricity, and plenty of dramatic heft.

Talk to Her, like many of Almodóvar films (see Labyrinth of Passion, The Flower of My Secret, Live Flesh, etc.) was shot and/or takes place at least partly in Madrid.

Madrid is located in the Vinos de Madrid DO, but this wine region is rarely exported to the United States. So, for your Talk to Her wine pairing, consider a bottle from the Calatayud wine region, located about an hour’s high-speed train ride from Madrid.

Given its darker subject matter, a red feels like the right selection here, and that fits perfectly with Calatayud, which is best known for its Garnacha. Better still, you can find great Garnacha wines from Calatayud at a very reasonable $10-$15 price point.

Examples:

1) Evodia Old Vine Garnacha: We featured this one in our “Top Value Buys” chapter in Decoding Spanish Wine. Easy to find and typically running $10 and under, this is signature Garnacha at a great price.

2) 2015 San Gregorio Single Vineyard Las Martas Garnacha: Readily available at Total Wine and nabbed a 93 rating from James Suckling. Priced around $12.

3) 2017 Bodegas Breca Garnacha De Fuego: Currently selling for well under $10 at WineLibary.com.

2) All About My Mother

This riveting Almodóvar drama, which won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, kicks off with a single mother witnessing the death of her beloved teenage son. This tragedy spurs her to travel to Barcelona to seek out her son's transgender mother, a fascinating journey that takes on mounting resonance as the film proceeds.

All About My Mother’s central setting of Barcelona provides an ideal setting for exploring some local wines. Penedès, the birthplace of Spain's famous sparkling wine Cava, is a mere 30 minutes away, giving you the perfect reason to bring out some bubbly. (Mercat Brut Nature Cava is readily available and a rock-solid choice typically running around $15.)

However, given All About My Mother's more somber tone, a red wine feels like the more appropriate pairing, so I'd actually recommend selecting a bottle from the nearby Priorat region. This is a super-hot wine area that's established itself as one of the wine world's most important and prestigious growing regions, offering plenty of powerhouse bottles to match the intensity of Almodóvar’s film.

You'll find a lot of intriguing blends here, with native grapes like Cariñena and Garnacha frequently mixing with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.

Examples:

1) 2014 Grifoll Declara Predicat Priorat: Comprised of Garnatxa Negra (another name for Garnacha), Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, this wine is medium plus in body with dried red and dark fruit flavors. Think spicy cherry, plum and blueberry, with a dry finish that’s super lasting. (Read the full CostcoWineBlog review.)

2) 2014 La Conreria Priorat Tinto: Currently available at Total Wine for around $22, this Garnacha-based blend tallied a lofty 93 rating from Wine & Spirits.

3) 2016 Costers Del Priorat Petit Pissares: Well-reviewed blend of Garnacha and Cariñena currently going for $20 via Wine Library.

3) The Skin I Live In

This uneasy thriller, a 2012 Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, stars Antonio Banderas as a brilliant-but-troubled plastic surgeon obsessed with creating a new skin.

The Skin I Live was shot in northwest Spain in Galicia, an area dubbed “Green Spain” for its lush fields and frequent rains. It’s also home to the Rías Biaxas DO, a Spanish wine region known for its tasty Albariño wines.

Albariño is a white grape varietal that’s easy to find and a real crowd pleaser, pairing well with a wide variety of foods and an excellent pairing choice for your The Skin I Live In viewing pleasure.

Examples:

1) 2016 Burgans Albariño Rías Biaxas: Another pick from our “Top Values” chapter, it’s readily available and quite tasty, with just a touch of sweetness on the finish. Runs $12-15.

2) 2016 Martin Codax Albariño Rías Biaxas: Flavors of apple, nectarine and apricot headline this widely sold Albariño, which nabbed an 89 rating from Wine Enthusiast.

3) 2016 Luzada Albariño Rías Biaxas: A frequent Trader Joe’s offering, this crisp white boasts a much more enjoyable flavor profile than you’d typically expect from a $7.99 bottle.

4) Volver

Frequent Almodóvar collaborator Penelope Cruz stars as Raimunda, a woman wrestling with her past while raising her daughter and dealing with her deadbeat husband. It’s a juicy role and Cruz proved more than up to the task of tackling it, scoring a Best Actress Oscar nomination among many other accolades.

Volver, released in 2006, remains Almodóvar’s biggest box office hit, grossing $13 million in the U.S. and $85 million worldwide. Part of the film was shot in the Castile-La Mancha region in central Spain, which is also the general area in which Almodóvar was born.

This area is home to the La Mancha and Valdepeñas DO wine regions, and since the former is generally more available, let’s zero in on that region for your movie pairing.

There’s a real grab bag of grapes grown in La Mancha, and the region is definitely a wine wild card. Shop around and you can find some incredible wines for under $15 and sometimes even less than $10.

Examples:

1) 2016 Bodegas Volver La Mancha Tempranillo: When it comes to wine-movie pairings, it’s tough to beat drinking a Volver while watching Volver.

2) 2015 Campos Reales Tempranillo La Mancha: A full-bodied red that’s usually priced under $15 and frequently shows up on top value lists.

3) 2014 Protocolo Tinto: Often available well under $10, this is a steal of a bottle at that price.

5) Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Almodóvar’s international breakout stars Carmen Maura as a television actress who embarks on a memorable journey, filled with eccentric characters, to find out why she was dropped by her lover.  

As the most comedic film on the list, Women on the Verge calls for a white wine. It was also shot in Madrid (birthplace of Carmen Maura as well), so let’s venture a bit northwest to the Spanish wine region of Rueda for your wine pairing. (You could also head south back to La Mancha for a variety of whites.)

Rueda’s whites are the most consumed in Spain, and the region is known for its Verdejo, a Spanish white varietal that’s been surging in popularity as of late.

Examples:

1) 2017 Bodegas Naia Rueda Verdejo: Wine Spectator recently dropped a cool 91 rating for this lively white.

2) Argami Rueda Verdejo: Grab some Spanish cheese and crack this food-friendly bottle, currently available at Total Wine.

3) 2017 Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo: Typically priced under $10, this widely distributed Rueda white provides a budget-friendly intro to Verdejo, striking a good balance of fruit (apple, citrus) and acidity.

Yo, Where’s the Rioja Tempranillo?

For many fledgling wine drinkers, Spanish wine IS Rioja Tempranillo. However, this region isn’t particularly close to any of the filming areas we’ve discussed above, so Almodóvar’s core films represent a perfect opportunity to try some different Spanish regions and varietals, as I’ve detailed above.

However, if you just gotta have some Rioja Tempranillo, the area is closest to Madrid of those settings listed above (about 3.5 hours), so Talk to Her is probably your best pairing option. Here are a few recs to get the party started, courtesy of my Decoding Spanish Wine co-author Andrew Cullen:

1) 2012 Hidalgo Tradicion H Rioja: “Massive flavor and depth of profile. Just luscious to a point where it’s hard to stop drinking. Dark fruit, blackberry, anise, dry, sticky in the finish. So much to like here.” (Read the full review.)

2) 2009 Bodegas Montecillo Rioja Gran Reserva: “Elegance all around; the result of aging good grapes and enjoying the wine in a great drinking window.  Soft and smooth, with dark fruit, blackberry, black licorice flavors with dark chocolate notes and a spicy earthy and dry finish.” (Read the full review.)

3) 2014 Kirkland Signature Rioja Reserva: “I can say that I haven’t tasted any Riojas in this price range that come close to this bottle ... an insane value buy for $7.” (Read the full review.)

So there you have it, five classic Almodóvar films, recommended movie/wine pairings and more than 15 bottles to check out. Enjoy your film viewing and wine drinking, and hit me up in the comments below with your favorite pairings!

Related Reading:

1) “Italian Wine and Italian Movies: 5 Classic Films to Raise Your Glass To”

2) “Italian Wine and Italian Horror: A Taste of Italy on Halloween Night”

3) “Decoding Spanish Wine: A Beginner’s Guide to the High-Value, World-Class Wines of Spain”

[mer-birdman]

7KPP Week Day 7 - Future

Theo, Theo, Theo — his name is new and it's his and it sounds beautiful coming from his husband's lips.

The sea breeze tosses his bangs across his face, and he laughs into it from where he's holding onto the rigging of the Blackwater with one hand and gazing out at the horizon with the other shielding his eyes from the sun. His chest is bound and his shirt billows around his hips, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he doesn't think he's ever felt freer. He laughs as loud as he wants, and nobody tells him to bring his legs together and look demure, because nobody tells men these things like they do ladies. 

And he's a man here.

"Theo, my glitter and gold, come down from there and join me!" From far below, a familiar, precious voice calls up to him, the sound full of sunshine and sly delight that Theo can't possibly resist. He swings himself down from rope to rope until his boots — strong, heavy boots that they'd never let him wear as a Countess — thump on the deck and muscular arms immediately clamp around his waist to lift him into the air again. "There you are! If I didn't know better, Glitter, I'd say you love the sky more than you love me — say it's not true!" Turning his head over his shoulder to meet his husband's bright eyes and cheeky smile, Theo hums thoughtfully. "Well, the sky's never threatened to kidnap me, so..."

Hamin laughs out loud and puts him down, leaning back to rest his hands on his hips with a smile that, in Theo's opinion, rivals the sun and the sea itself. "Ah, you wound me! And besides, you were just as implicit as I was, Glitter. Even though you made us go through all those awful formal affairs."

"Oh?" Theo raises a wry brow. "You mean our wedding? Because I'm yet not sure about Hise, but back home we generally don't consider a drinking competition and about eight different rueda circles to be all that formal. And," He leans in, smile turning just a bit sly and suggestive, "You certainly didn't seem to mind later that night." 

Green eyes sparkle, and Theo flashes back to said wedding night fondly. The festivities had been wonderful (how had he ever gone without doing the rueda every other day?), but he'd been so worried about what came after that he almost had a nervous breakdown in their bedroom, and they'd spent the first fifteen minutes in their wedding bed with Hamin gently talking him through the panicky haze he'd fallen into. He'd been worried that Hamin wouldn't want him, knowing that he didn't have the normal parts, and it had taken his husband a good five of those fifteen minutes just to convince him otherwise.

Of course, within no time the convincing became very easy indeed.

Hamin seems to remember this as well, and grins rakishly. "Oh, surely. Fancy a repeat, my glitter and gold? I'm sure Leala could manage the ship for twenty minutes... or a few hours..."

"Fucking is for the evenings, Cap! And for the sake of the seas, none of us need to listen to your foreplay!"

He lazily salutes in the direction of his first mate, who's leaning down from the crow's nest with what must be an absolutely amused expression (Theo can't tell from down here, but he knows Leala by now and she would definitely be laughing at them more than anything). "Aye-aye, ma'am!" Turning back to Theo, his smile becomes a little gentler, and he offers his hand. Their fingers lace together, and he makes his way across the deck with Theo in tow until they stop at the railing along the side, looking down at the water below. "I actually do have a reason for calling you down. Leala just told me we're within a day of Skalt, and we received word from Galanth earlier that they'll be waiting at the port."

"A— really? We're that close?"

He grins, untangling their fingers to instead drape his arm over Theo's shoulders and knock their heads together. "That close. They even said that there's a medicine man in town who can show you how to prepare it properly and all."

"Wow." Tears prick at Theo's eyes, and he turns to look towards their destination, still just a speck in the distance. Two years ago, he couldn't have ever imagined this. He would have been glad, at that time, to just wear trousers without someone looking down their nose at him and whispering nasty things once they thought he couldn't hear. But now — now he's free, he can dress how he wants and bind his breasts, everyone calls him a man and his name fits even though his skin doesn't, and his husband has sailed them across the sea to find an herbal remedy for even that. "I— wow. We're that close."

A brief pause, and then— "Hey, I bet I can grow a better beard than you."

"Well," Hamin smiles, leaning sideways to press their lips together briefly, and Theo laughs, "is that a challenge, Theo?"

He grins.

"A promise."

Two years ago, the future had been soon. But today, with his husband's arm around his shoulders and hope on the horizon, the future is now.

Crossposted to AO3!

[insurancepolicypro]

How A Hangover Led To A $12,460 ER BillKaiser Well being Information

Markian Hawryluk

DENVER — Two days earlier than his marriage ceremony, Cameron Fischer had one heck of a bachelor social gathering, hitting a couple of bars within the Outdated City part of Fort Collins, Colo., together with his associates into the wee hours. The following morning, the 30-year-old IT skilled from close by Loveland wakened with a killer hangover.

“I couldn’t maintain something down,” Fischer stated. “I simply felt depressing.”

He was in such dangerous form that, with their marriage ceremony day quick approaching, Fischer’s fiancée urged him to depart their rehearsal dinner in Denver and head to an emergency room to be rehydrated.

That resulted in an excellent greater headache: a medical invoice that was initially $12,460, all informed. That was greater than twice the price of their marriage ceremony.

Fischer’s case is a sobering illustration of America’s well being care system. With few constraints on how emergency rooms set costs, hospital programs have jacked up charges and coded affected person visits as being extra advanced than beforehand, which will increase the funds they obtain from insurance coverage. The outcome: ER companies have among the fastest-growing costs within the well being care system.

Many well being economists suppose free-standing ER services, just like the one Fischer visited — that are banned in lots of states however thriving in Colorado — are significantly culpable. Whereas such ERs preserve they’ll’t survive on charges paid by Medicare and Medicaid, knowledge suggests they’re profit-seeking engines constructed primarily in high-income ZIP codes.

Extra From The Mountain States

DENVER — Two days earlier than his marriage ceremony, Cameron Fischer had one heck of a bachelor social gathering, hitting a couple of bars within the Outdated City part of Fort Collins, Colo., together with his associates into the wee hours. The following morning, the 30-year-old IT skilled from close by Loveland wakened with a killer hangover.

“I couldn’t maintain something down,” Fischer stated. “I simply felt depressing.”

He was in such dangerous form that, with their marriage ceremony day quick approaching, Fischer’s fiancée urged him to depart their rehearsal dinner in Denver and head to an emergency room to be rehydrated.

That resulted in an excellent greater headache: a medical invoice that was initially $12,460, all informed. That was greater than twice the price of their marriage ceremony.

Fischer’s case is a sobering illustration of America’s well being care system. With few constraints on how emergency rooms set costs, hospital programs have jacked up charges and coded affected person visits as being extra advanced than beforehand, which will increase the funds they obtain from insurance coverage. The outcome: ER companies have among the fastest-growing costs within the well being care system.

Many well being economists suppose free-standing ER services, just like the one Fischer visited — that are banned in lots of states however thriving in Colorado — are significantly culpable. Whereas such ERs preserve they’ll’t survive on charges paid by Medicare and Medicaid, knowledge suggests they’re profit-seeking engines constructed primarily in high-income ZIP codes.

“It’s as a result of they’ve discovered that they’ll get away with it,” stated Vivian Ho, an economist with the Baker Institute at Rice College in Houston.

Fischer might need averted the massive invoice had he sought remedy earlier within the day. However by 7 p.m. on a Saturday, pressing care services have been closed. He checked Google Maps for the closest emergency room and — clutching a trash can — headed to HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle, a free-standing ER within the Denver suburb of Thornton.

The ER seemed to be devoid of sufferers, simply a physician and a few nurses on obligation. Fischer informed them what had occurred, that he didn’t do medicine and doesn’t typically drink.

“I knew precisely why I used to be there,” he stated. “It wasn’t that I had some unknown purpose for my signs.”

A nurse began an IV, gave Fischer two baggage of saline and a dose of Zofran, an anti-nausea treatment. She drew blood, though Fischer stated he wasn’t informed what assessments can be run on the blood pattern. He was out of the ER inside 45 minutes, feeling a lot better.

Facility Charges As Worth Of Entry

A couple of weeks after Fischer’s April marriage ceremony, he acquired the medical invoice.

It included a $7,644 “facility payment” — an expense hospital programs cost to cowl their overhead prices of preserving an ER open 24 hours a day and prepared for any emergency.

Facility charges are set on a scale from 1 to five, relying on how extreme the affected person’s situation seems throughout the preliminary triage. The ER rated Fischer’s go to as a four, one among reasonably excessive complexity when it comes to care wants.

“There aren’t any limitations on the ability charges that they’ll cost,” stated Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement for the Colorado Client Well being Initiative, a nonprofit client advocacy group. “The ability payment for over $7,000 is just obscene.”

The Well being Care Value Institute, an unbiased, nonprofit well being analysis agency, just lately analyzed tens of millions of insurance coverage payments to get a greater sense of the ability charges ERs have been charging. It discovered the costs almost doubled from 2009 to 2016, outpacing general well being spending 4 occasions over. In Colorado, the common facility payment charged for a Stage four go to grew from $1,064 to $2,336.

Insurance policy usually don’t pay the complete cost however pay a negotiated fee for in-network hospitals. The Middle for Enhancing Worth in Well being Care, which maintains a database of insurance coverage funds in Colorado, discovered that insurance coverage paid a median of $1,754 for a Stage four facility payment in 2018.

Nonetheless, these costs pale compared to the payment charged to Fischer. “That looks like an outlier on the excessive finish,” stated John Hargraves, a senior researcher on the institute who led the ER research. “That’s greater than triple what it was in 2016.”

Different research have discovered that ERs are more and more coding visits on the greater four and 5 complexity ranges than in previous years. It’s not clear whether or not that displays a deliberate try by hospital programs to extend funds or a shift in the kind of sufferers who go to emergency rooms. It’s doable the expansion in pressing care facilities is siphoning off much less advanced instances.

The invoice for Fischer’s emergency room go to was $12,460 — greater than twice the price of his marriage ceremony the subsequent day.

Therapy Prices For A Hangover

Fischer’s invoice included $500 for a whole blood rely, a take a look at the net worth comparability instrument Healthcare Bluebook says could possibly be had for lower than $20 in a physician’s workplace. He was charged greater than $1,300 for a whole metabolic panel, a routine take a look at that usually prices about $31.

The 2 liters of saline, which the ER billed at $700, can be found at Walmart for $10.99 a liter.

And spa-like hydration companies in Denver market IV fluids for hangover reduction consisting of the identical mixture of saline and nausea meds that Fischer acquired within the ER for simply $168.

The ER additionally charged Fischer $970 for a drug take a look at, one thing he stated he by no means consented to endure. Medicare sometimes pays well being care suppliers about $114 for a similar take a look at.

“If you take a look at the invoice, clearly the costs are astronomical,” Fischer stated. “However it was additionally the work that was carried out with out my authorization. That was fairly irritating.”

HealthONE officers stated the costs at its ERs are greater than at pressing care clinics or different outpatient settings as a result of the ERs are staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and can’t flip away any sufferers no matter their potential to pay. So the sufferers who pay for care at their ERs subsidize those that present up and may’t pay.

“The transfer towards higher-deductible insurance coverage has put a pressure on a lot of our sufferers, however we perceive their option to pay a decrease month-to-month premium, and we additionally perceive their frustration with the bigger out-of-pocket bills they might expertise consequently,” HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle spokeswoman Betty Rueda-Aguilar stated, in a written assertion to Kaiser Well being Information. She added that Fischer introduced with signs of alcohol poisoning and needed to be handled accordingly. The corporate declined an interview.

Emergency rooms are inclined to lose cash on critically ailing sufferers, in addition to on Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured sufferers, stated Dr. Jesse Pines, nationwide director of medical innovation for US Acute Care Options, which helps employees greater than 200 hospitals and ERs. These services attempt to make up the distinction with much less sick, privately insured sufferers, like Fischer.

“To make the economics of an emergency division work, these sufferers need to subsidize the system to make the distinction stability out,” Pines added.

However as extra privately insured sufferers have high-deductible plans, he stated, it’s been tougher and tougher for hospitals to gather on their payments from sufferers who don’t pay.

Free-Standing ERs

Free-standing ERs, equivalent to North Suburban, could have discovered a method to skew their affected person combine towards those that will pay. A report from the Colorado Well being Institute discovered that free-standing ERs are inclined to arrange store in high-income neighborhoods. There, residents usually tend to have higher-paying industrial insurance coverage, fairly than Medicare or Medicaid, and are likelier than different sufferers to have the ability to pay for out-of-pocket prices their insurance coverage doesn’t cowl.

Colorado has greater than 50 free-standing ERs, based on the report, trailing solely Texas and Ohio. They’re licensed as “group clinics and emergency facilities,” a designation initially developed to assist rural and underserved communities in Colorado that might not in any other case afford inpatient hospitals. However the report recognized solely eight free-standing emergency departments in rural Colorado — all in prosperous ski resort cities.

For Fischer, the negotiated charges beneath his well being plan knocked the $12,460 invoice right down to $four,694. The plan paid $2,102. That left Fischer with a invoice of $2,593, an quantity he stated he can’t afford to pay.

“That’s fairly the costly bachelor social gathering,” Fischer stated.

“It’s as a result of they’ve discovered that they’ll get away with it,” stated Vivian Ho, an economist with the Baker Institute at Rice College in Houston.

Fischer might need averted the massive invoice had he sought remedy earlier within the day. However by 7 p.m. on a Saturday, pressing care services have been closed. He checked Google Maps for the closest emergency room and — clutching a trash can — headed to HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle, a free-standing ER within the Denver suburb of Thornton.

The ER seemed to be devoid of sufferers, simply a physician and a few nurses on obligation. Fischer informed them what had occurred, that he didn’t do medicine and doesn’t typically drink.

“I knew precisely why I used to be there,” he stated. “It wasn’t that I had some unknown purpose for my signs.”

A nurse began an IV, gave Fischer two baggage of saline and a dose of Zofran, an anti-nausea treatment. She drew blood, though Fischer stated he wasn’t informed what assessments can be run on the blood pattern. He was out of the ER inside 45 minutes, feeling a lot better.

Electronic mail Signal-Up

DENVER — Two days earlier than his marriage ceremony, Cameron Fischer had one heck of a bachelor social gathering, hitting a couple of bars within the Outdated City part of Fort Collins, Colo., together with his associates into the wee hours. The following morning, the 30-year-old IT skilled from close by Loveland wakened with a killer hangover.

“I couldn’t maintain something down,” Fischer stated. “I simply felt depressing.”

He was in such dangerous form that, with their marriage ceremony day quick approaching, Fischer’s fiancée urged him to depart their rehearsal dinner in Denver and head to an emergency room to be rehydrated.

That resulted in an excellent greater headache: a medical invoice that was initially $12,460, all informed. That was greater than twice the price of their marriage ceremony.

Fischer’s case is a sobering illustration of America’s well being care system. With few constraints on how emergency rooms set costs, hospital programs have jacked up charges and coded affected person visits as being extra advanced than beforehand, which will increase the funds they obtain from insurance coverage. The outcome: ER companies have among the fastest-growing costs within the well being care system.

Many well being economists suppose free-standing ER services, just like the one Fischer visited — that are banned in lots of states however thriving in Colorado — are significantly culpable. Whereas such ERs preserve they’ll’t survive on charges paid by Medicare and Medicaid, knowledge suggests they’re profit-seeking engines constructed primarily in high-income ZIP codes.

“It’s as a result of they’ve discovered that they’ll get away with it,” stated Vivian Ho, an economist with the Baker Institute at Rice College in Houston.

Fischer might need averted the massive invoice had he sought remedy earlier within the day. However by 7 p.m. on a Saturday, pressing care services have been closed. He checked Google Maps for the closest emergency room and — clutching a trash can — headed to HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle, a free-standing ER within the Denver suburb of Thornton.

The ER seemed to be devoid of sufferers, simply a physician and a few nurses on obligation. Fischer informed them what had occurred, that he didn’t do medicine and doesn’t typically drink.

“I knew precisely why I used to be there,” he stated. “It wasn’t that I had some unknown purpose for my signs.”

A nurse began an IV, gave Fischer two baggage of saline and a dose of Zofran, an anti-nausea treatment. She drew blood, though Fischer stated he wasn’t informed what assessments can be run on the blood pattern. He was out of the ER inside 45 minutes, feeling a lot better.

Facility Charges As Worth Of Entry

A couple of weeks after Fischer’s April marriage ceremony, he acquired the medical invoice.

It included a $7,644 “facility payment” — an expense hospital programs cost to cowl their overhead prices of preserving an ER open 24 hours a day and prepared for any emergency.

Facility charges are set on a scale from 1 to five, relying on how extreme the affected person’s situation seems throughout the preliminary triage. The ER rated Fischer’s go to as a four, one among reasonably excessive complexity when it comes to care wants.

“There aren’t any limitations on the ability charges that they’ll cost,” stated Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement for the Colorado Client Well being Initiative, a nonprofit client advocacy group. “The ability payment for over $7,000 is just obscene.”

The Well being Care Value Institute, an unbiased, nonprofit well being analysis agency, just lately analyzed tens of millions of insurance coverage payments to get a greater sense of the ability charges ERs have been charging. It discovered the costs almost doubled from 2009 to 2016, outpacing general well being spending 4 occasions over. In Colorado, the common facility payment charged for a Stage four go to grew from $1,064 to $2,336.

Insurance policy usually don’t pay the complete cost however pay a negotiated fee for in-network hospitals. The Middle for Enhancing Worth in Well being Care, which maintains a database of insurance coverage funds in Colorado, discovered that insurance coverage paid a median of $1,754 for a Stage four facility payment in 2018.

Nonetheless, these costs pale compared to the payment charged to Fischer. “That looks like an outlier on the excessive finish,” stated John Hargraves, a senior researcher on the institute who led the ER research. “That’s greater than triple what it was in 2016.”

Different research have discovered that ERs are more and more coding visits on the greater four and 5 complexity ranges than in previous years. It’s not clear whether or not that displays a deliberate try by hospital programs to extend funds or a shift in the kind of sufferers who go to emergency rooms. It’s doable the expansion in pressing care facilities is siphoning off much less advanced instances.

The invoice for Fischer’s emergency room go to was $12,460 — greater than twice the price of his marriage ceremony the subsequent day.

Therapy Prices For A Hangover

Fischer’s invoice included $500 for a whole blood rely, a take a look at the net worth comparability instrument Healthcare Bluebook says could possibly be had for lower than $20 in a physician’s workplace. He was charged greater than $1,300 for a whole metabolic panel, a routine take a look at that usually prices about $31.

The 2 liters of saline, which the ER billed at $700, can be found at Walmart for $10.99 a liter.

And spa-like hydration companies in Denver market IV fluids for hangover reduction consisting of the identical mixture of saline and nausea meds that Fischer acquired within the ER for simply $168.

The ER additionally charged Fischer $970 for a drug take a look at, one thing he stated he by no means consented to endure. Medicare sometimes pays well being care suppliers about $114 for a similar take a look at.

“If you take a look at the invoice, clearly the costs are astronomical,” Fischer stated. “However it was additionally the work that was carried out with out my authorization. That was fairly irritating.”

HealthONE officers stated the costs at its ERs are greater than at pressing care clinics or different outpatient settings as a result of the ERs are staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and can’t flip away any sufferers no matter their potential to pay. So the sufferers who pay for care at their ERs subsidize those that present up and may’t pay.

“The transfer towards higher-deductible insurance coverage has put a pressure on a lot of our sufferers, however we perceive their option to pay a decrease month-to-month premium, and we additionally perceive their frustration with the bigger out-of-pocket bills they might expertise consequently,” HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle spokeswoman Betty Rueda-Aguilar stated, in a written assertion to Kaiser Well being Information. She added that Fischer introduced with signs of alcohol poisoning and needed to be handled accordingly. The corporate declined an interview.

Emergency rooms are inclined to lose cash on critically ailing sufferers, in addition to on Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured sufferers, stated Dr. Jesse Pines, nationwide director of medical innovation for US Acute Care Options, which helps employees greater than 200 hospitals and ERs. These services attempt to make up the distinction with much less sick, privately insured sufferers, like Fischer.

“To make the economics of an emergency division work, these sufferers need to subsidize the system to make the distinction stability out,” Pines added.

However as extra privately insured sufferers have high-deductible plans, he stated, it’s been tougher and tougher for hospitals to gather on their payments from sufferers who don’t pay.

Free-Standing ERs

Free-standing ERs, equivalent to North Suburban, could have discovered a method to skew their affected person combine towards those that will pay. A report from the Colorado Well being Institute discovered that free-standing ERs are inclined to arrange store in high-income neighborhoods. There, residents usually tend to have higher-paying industrial insurance coverage, fairly than Medicare or Medicaid, and are likelier than different sufferers to have the ability to pay for out-of-pocket prices their insurance coverage doesn’t cowl.

Colorado has greater than 50 free-standing ERs, based on the report, trailing solely Texas and Ohio. They’re licensed as “group clinics and emergency facilities,” a designation initially developed to assist rural and underserved communities in Colorado that might not in any other case afford inpatient hospitals. However the report recognized solely eight free-standing emergency departments in rural Colorado — all in prosperous ski resort cities.

For Fischer, the negotiated charges beneath his well being plan knocked the $12,460 invoice right down to $four,694. The plan paid $2,102. That left Fischer with a invoice of $2,593, an quantity he stated he can’t afford to pay.

“That’s fairly the costly bachelor social gathering,” Fischer stated.

Facility Charges As Worth Of Entry

A couple of weeks after Fischer’s April marriage ceremony, he acquired the medical invoice.

It included a $7,644 “facility payment” — an expense hospital programs cost to cowl their overhead prices of preserving an ER open 24 hours a day and prepared for any emergency.

Facility charges are set on a scale from 1 to five, relying on how extreme the affected person’s situation seems throughout the preliminary triage. The ER rated Fischer’s go to as a four, one among reasonably excessive complexity when it comes to care wants.

“There aren’t any limitations on the ability charges that they’ll cost,” stated Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement for the Colorado Client Well being Initiative, a nonprofit client advocacy group. “The ability payment for over $7,000 is just obscene.”

The Well being Care Value Institute, an unbiased, nonprofit well being analysis agency, just lately analyzed tens of millions of insurance coverage payments to get a greater sense of the ability charges ERs have been charging. It discovered the costs almost doubled from 2009 to 2016, outpacing general well being spending 4 occasions over. In Colorado, the common facility payment charged for a Stage four go to grew from $1,064 to $2,336.

Insurance policy usually don’t pay the complete cost however pay a negotiated fee for in-network hospitals. The Middle for Enhancing Worth in Well being Care, which maintains a database of insurance coverage funds in Colorado, discovered that insurance coverage paid a median of $1,754 for a Stage four facility payment in 2018.

Nonetheless, these costs pale compared to the payment charged to Fischer. “That looks like an outlier on the excessive finish,” stated John Hargraves, a senior researcher on the institute who led the ER research. “That’s greater than triple what it was in 2016.”

Different research have discovered that ERs are more and more coding visits on the greater four and 5 complexity ranges than in previous years. It’s not clear whether or not that displays a deliberate try by hospital programs to extend funds or a shift in the kind of sufferers who go to emergency rooms. It’s doable the expansion in pressing care facilities is siphoning off much less advanced instances.

The invoice for Fischer’s emergency room go to was $12,460 — greater than twice the price of his marriage ceremony the subsequent day.

Therapy Prices For A Hangover

Fischer’s invoice included $500 for a whole blood rely, a take a look at the net worth comparability instrument Healthcare Bluebook says could possibly be had for lower than $20 in a physician’s workplace. He was charged greater than $1,300 for a whole metabolic panel, a routine take a look at that usually prices about $31.

The 2 liters of saline, which the ER billed at $700, can be found at Walmart for $10.99 a liter.

And spa-like hydration companies in Denver market IV fluids for hangover reduction consisting of the identical mixture of saline and nausea meds that Fischer acquired within the ER for simply $168.

The ER additionally charged Fischer $970 for a drug take a look at, one thing he stated he by no means consented to endure. Medicare sometimes pays well being care suppliers about $114 for a similar take a look at.

“If you take a look at the invoice, clearly the costs are astronomical,” Fischer stated. “However it was additionally the work that was carried out with out my authorization. That was fairly irritating.”

HealthONE officers stated the costs at its ERs are greater than at pressing care clinics or different outpatient settings as a result of the ERs are staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and can’t flip away any sufferers no matter their potential to pay. So the sufferers who pay for care at their ERs subsidize those that present up and may’t pay.

“The transfer towards higher-deductible insurance coverage has put a pressure on a lot of our sufferers, however we perceive their option to pay a decrease month-to-month premium, and we additionally perceive their frustration with the bigger out-of-pocket bills they might expertise consequently,” HealthONE North Suburban Medical Middle spokeswoman Betty Rueda-Aguilar stated, in a written assertion to Kaiser Well being Information. She added that Fischer introduced with signs of alcohol poisoning and needed to be handled accordingly. The corporate declined an interview.

Emergency rooms are inclined to lose cash on critically ailing sufferers, in addition to on Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured sufferers, stated Dr. Jesse Pines, nationwide director of medical innovation for US Acute Care Options, which helps employees greater than 200 hospitals and ERs. These services attempt to make up the distinction with much less sick, privately insured sufferers, like Fischer.

“To make the economics of an emergency division work, these sufferers need to subsidize the system to make the distinction stability out,” Pines added.

However as extra privately insured sufferers have high-deductible plans, he stated, it’s been tougher and tougher for hospitals to gather on their payments from sufferers who don’t pay.

Free-Standing ERs

Free-standing ERs, equivalent to North Suburban, could have discovered a method to skew their affected person combine towards those that will pay. A report from the Colorado Well being Institute discovered that free-standing ERs are inclined to arrange store in high-income neighborhoods. There, residents usually tend to have higher-paying industrial insurance coverage, fairly than Medicare or Medicaid, and are likelier than different sufferers to have the ability to pay for out-of-pocket prices their insurance coverage doesn’t cowl.

Colorado has greater than 50 free-standing ERs, based on the report, trailing solely Texas and Ohio. They’re licensed as “group clinics and emergency facilities,” a designation initially developed to assist rural and underserved communities in Colorado that might not in any other case afford inpatient hospitals. However the report recognized solely eight free-standing emergency departments in rural Colorado — all in prosperous ski resort cities.

For Fischer, the negotiated charges beneath his well being plan knocked the $12,460 invoice right down to $four,694. The plan paid $2,102. That left Fischer with a invoice of $2,593, an quantity he stated he can’t afford to pay.

“That’s fairly the costly bachelor social gathering,” Fischer stated.

from insurancepolicypro http://insurancepolicypro.com/?p=1291

[kanaruaizawa16]

Kanaru Abe Presents: Julián Puerto, drummer on Kraken

From: Kraken Photoset Series 5/7

Banner: Concierto de la Juventud, August 2014, Medellín, Colombia. Front drawing by Kanaru Abe 1. A photo posted during the “Rock al Parque Rueda por Latinoamérica” event in México who reunited some Colombian bands, among them, Kraken. The photo was posted on Julián’s Birthday, in 2013 year. 2. From “Kraken ~ Un Homenaje Real sobre Esta Tierra” live in Bogotá in May 28th 2017 3. Greeting the camera with the horns, during the recording ot the Promotional Video of “La Barca de los Locos” at Ozzy Bar Rock, in March 2013 4. Taking a chill, during the recording ot the Promotional Video of “La Barca de los Locos” at Ozzy Bar Rock, in March 2013 5. With Ricardo Wolff. Apparently, it’s from 2012 year. 6. From “Kraken 30 Años ~ La Fortaleza del Titán” live in Medellín, December 18th 2013 7. Eating potato chips and hamburguer on backstage while talking with Andrés Leiva, on backstage before of the live of “Kraken 30 Años ~ La Fortaleza del Titán” 8. From one of the lives of Kraken Filarmónico 2014 at Jorge Eliécer Gaitán theater in Bogotá, July 2014 9. From one of the lives of Kraken Filarmónico 2014 at Jorge Eliécer Gaitán theater in Bogotá, July 2014

----

Name: Julián Puerto Nicknames: Juliancho (used often by his bandmates), Juli (some fans) Birthplace: Bogotá D.C., Colombia Birthdate: May 19th 1979 Entered on Kraken in: 2009 year Position: Drums Albums he appears: Humana Deshumanización (2009) (Did not record anything, but he’s mentioned by his bandmates on their thank-you texts as thankfulness for having joined the band. He also appears on the promotional images of the album, such as posters) Kraken VI: Sobre Esta Tierra (2016) (Drums, pre-production) Kraken 30 Años: La Fortaleza del Titán (live DVD 2014&2017) (Drums and back vocals) El Legado (2017; compilatory, limited edition and collector-targeted EP release produced by Psychophony Records) (Drums on “La Barca de los Locos [2013 version]”)

Other bands: La Xtrema (Drums; since 1995) Black Memory (Drums; 2012 and since 2017) Director of the Rock Group of the Universidad Católica de Colombia Mecánica Nacional (Drums; 2010-2012) Former member of Parálisis Social, Marca Pájaro and Son Latino

Other work info: Music Production teacher at Universidad Católica de Colombia

During the last phases of the recording of Humana Deshumanización album, by early 2009, Carlos Cortés left the band. In 2018 year Rubén Gélvez revealed, without giving names, that he left because of internal conflicts. Because of this, Julián Puerto auditioned and joined. He was already working with Kraken as rehearsal replacement drummer by late 2008 under recommendation of Rubén, his long-term friend and his bandmate in La Xtrema, so he was invited to begin to work with the band after of the definitive leaving of Cortés: The last person to leave officially Kraken (since Elkin Ramírez never made such announcement and was considered officially the vocals of Kraken until the day of his death, and his position as official singer is treated as irreplaceable). Eventually, he joined. Still, Carlos Cortés got the credits he deserved as performer of drums and as coauthor of the songs of Humana.

While Julián became the last one of the actual lineup to join (without count the special situation of Ricardo Wolff), he’s experienced on the music industry, since around 1992-1993. Also he has not only knowledge and experience in rock, also has experience on pop, rap, and latin rhythms, among so many others. He’s also a producer. He also has some singing skills, being often trusted on live on back vocals, but this role is not often on studio recordings, such as Kraken VI, but on live performances. Often, filling the spaces of studio-only back vocals.

Julián is recognized for his versatility and technique, sober but efficient, powerful, energic and full of feeling. The energy think is so remarkable that it’s said that on the final timed rehearsals of Kraken Filarmónico 2014 Julián was ending up worn out by the half of the performance. This forced to all the band to keep more measured and calmed performances for avoid tiredness.

Off-stage, he’s described as very mellow, humble and sweet person with everybody, and even his thank-you texts are very effusive. But for some reason, he likes to pose as rude guy on the photos with fans, unless when he’s too tired to even think about it.

Out of all the musicians of Kraken, Julián was the first one I met personally. I met him shortly before of the live of May 28th while I was doing the queue, and it was around one hour after I fulfilled the mission of give to the band the box, by giving it to Andrés Ramírez. I found Julián taking a breath, sitting on a little place, and I asked to someone on the queue if the person was Julián because he looked to me very familiar. Honestly I was not sure what I wanted to tell him, I decided it out of the blue because of yeah. He told me he was very tired, and I told him I knew because I was worried of the band performing three days in a row and with travelling. When I talked him about the box, he got surprised because of meeting the person who did the keychains, and I think I got the shock of my life because of his hug. I also met him a pair of times afterwards, he’s very kind and cool.

I hope you like this photoset as much as I did. Now I finished the instrumentists photosets, the next one will be of the actual “boss”, Andrés, and i will close with Elkin.

See ya! :3

[zitak]

My husband and I just spent 3 days in Madrid, Spain. It took almost a full day to get there with all kinds of flight issues and such but I was determined to not let that get to me and decided to put mind over matter and make the most out of the short time there.

Our hotel was north of the center of the city in the Conde Duque district,  but walking distance to almost everything. After settling in to our room we took a stroll (even though it was raining) to meet our daughter and her boyfriend at a local restaurant that they had found. On the way there, we spotted numerous fun looking tapas restaurants and bars. It seemed likely that this would be another eating holiday.  I was quite tired and not hungry after the big travel day so just had a cocktail before we crashed for the night.

The next day we had  a delicious breakfast at Federal Café, a super popular place opened by a couple of Australian expats who first started one  in Barcelona. It’s full of lots of healthy and tasty options and excellent coffee. I loved my avocado toast with poached egg and felt energized and ready for the day.

Before heading to Madrid, we did do a bit of research and found a company called Devour Madrid that does some amazing tours around the city. While I hadn’t actually booked anything with them, we arranged to meet with one of their guides for a chat. Luke Darracott is an Englishman living in Madrid who  loves all kinds of food, wine and traveling. He’s also a tv host for a variety of food/travel shows and so I was pretty certain we’d hit it off.  I showed Luke a list of tapas places our wonderful friend in Almeria, Maria Virgina sent us and he loved her selection. At the top of the list, was Casa Toni so we made our plan to go there that night.

While the rain was holding off for a bit, we strolled over to see the Royal Palace, one of Madrid’s main attractions. There was too long a line to go in so instead we headed over to the Sorolla Art Gallery, a recommendation from Luke. It’s a beautiful house with sculptures, ceramics, furniture and jewelry as well as the artist Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida’s paintings.

As dinner is quite late in Spain, with most people eating after 10PM we first scheduled to see the flamenco show at Casapatas. Starting at about 8PM it was an hour and half of almost nonstop music and dancing and was rather exhilarating. By now, the tapas places around were open and starting to fill up so we quickly made our way to Casa Toni where we were taken to a table upstairs and promptly brought a bottle of local Madrid wine while waiting for our food. This place is known by the locals to have some of the best traditional tapas such as pigs ears and lamb intestines and so, yes, I had to try them. I’m not a fan of the pigs ears but the lamb intestines that were fried and wrapped around a vine were really delicious. We also had some chorizo (some of the best I’ve ever tasted) and a really good eggplant dish, patatas bravas (fried potato cubes with a spicy sauce)and some prawns with garlic.

We woke up to more rain the next day and so decided to visit the city’s History museum to get a better understanding of Madrid’s evolution as an urban city. It’s a small and easy museum to navigate and also free to enter.

We then took the metro to the La Latina district to check out the Mercado de La Cebada, a 2 story  indoor market full of stalls with meats, vegetables, fruits and seafood as well as some newer wine and beer bars and where on Saturday, the seafood aisles become a crowded and festive eating and drinking extravaganza. Thankfully, Luke met us and handled the ordering and found us a space so we could take part in this local happening. We had a very nice local Rueda wine (all of 7 euros) with mussels, octopus and delicious white anchovies.

Finding out how much I love cheese, Luke then took us to a tapas bar nearby that had an amazing assortment of cheese along with all kinds of local wines by the glass. In fact, the place called Almacen de Vino was actually a storehouse for wine that used to hold wine in casks and then sell it to the locals. The tiny place was packed and the smell of cheese wafted all around. I got to taste about 3 different types while sipping some nice monastrell.

Back on the metro, we now headed to one of Madrid’s best wine shops, Lavinia, located in the elegant Salamanca district. This large store has a restaurant upstairs where we sat down with a glass of sherry and some complimentary tapas before I browsed around and found the sherries that I ended up purchasing. After a full day of almost non stop eating and drinking, it was a simple snack and drink before heading off to bed.

The final day in Madrid was cold and windy but thankfully, not raining. Deciding it would be a good day to shop we headed to the biggest department store in Spain (and in fact, Europe, El Corte Ingles.  We went to the one on Plaza Callao since we heard it had an entire floor dedicated to gourmet food and drink. The Gourmet Experience, as its called, is on the 9th floor and has an amazing outdoor terrace with beautiful views of Madrid. We managed to get some photos before rain began again and browsed the amazing display of hams, cheeses, olive oils and other Spanish delicacies. If only I could take it all back home with me.

Heading out to the Gran Via, we popped in and out of shops until we were hungry for a bite. The rain had picked up, once again, and we needed to find a place in a hurry. Fortunately, we were right by a pretty place called La Carmen in the Plaza del Carmen and found ourselves in this friendly, stylish and very comfortable restaurant. The menu was diverse and reasonable and we shared some excellent roasted pork ribs, bull’s tail risotto, a cheese and sausage platter, spicy potatoes and the popular, fried squid sandwich. A couple of glasses of albarino and I was completely satisfied.

The rain had now stopped so we made the plan to walk back to our hotel. On the way, my daughter spotted an authentic looking Vienese café and we reenergized with coffee and hot chocolate.

We made a stop on our way to see the Temple of Debod, an Egyptian monument dating back to the 2nd century BC. It was gift to Madrid  and reconstructed there in 1972. It’s located in La Montana park near the Plaza de Espana that has more fabulous views of the city and surrounding mountains.

Our final meal in Madrid was at the charming and cozy El Jardin Secreto (Secret Garden), for a light dinner and a couple of glasses of wine. My husband had pig trotters that were super moist and tasty and I had a crepe filled with cheese that was simply okay. While the food might not have been the best in my opinion, the cute atmosphere was worth the visit.

The next morning, we had a quick bite at the hotel, filling up on Spanish ham and cheese before our easy taxi ride to the airport.

The three days were complete and I am thrilled that this short trip was so gratifying.

Cheers and all the best,

Zita

            Meandering through Madrid My husband and I just spent 3 days in Madrid, Spain. It took almost a full day to get there with all kinds of flight issues and such but I was determined to not let that get to me and decided to put mind over matter and make the most out of the short time there.

[newstfionline]

Why we’re exhausted: Stress and social media are taking their toll

Bill Ervolino, USA Today, Oct. 9, 2017

Marie Sullivan says that she knew something “wasn’t quite right” during a doctor visit, five years ago.

“I thought I might be anemic, but the results of my annual physical were fine,” the Paramus, N.J., resident recalls. “All my numbers were in the normal range. The blood work turned up nothing. I said to my doctor, ‘Are you sure? What’s wrong with me?’”

Her doctor told Sullivan, “You’re getting older.” But Sullivan, 60, wasn’t buying it. “I’m not that old,” she says. “I used to have tons of energy. I know you slow down as you age, but I’m physically exhausted all the time. And I know I’m not the only person who feels this way.”

Exhaustion. Weariness. Fatigue. Whichever phrase you prefer, recurring tiredness seems to be the new normal for a growing number of people, regardless of their age or background.

Causes range from illnesses such as anemia, depression, hypothyroidism, diabetes and heart disease to the increasing overuse of technology and its implications on our mental well-being.

Yes, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can wear you out, says Dr. Patricia Bratt, a therapist and psychoanalyst with offices in Livingston and New York City.

“Social media can run the gamut from being fabulously uplifting to being totally depressing and exhausting,” says Bratt, who is also the director of trauma and resilience studies at the Livingston, N.J.-based Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis. “And this applies to all ages.”

Bratt works with young adults who check their social media constantly--at all hours of the day and night--and they all complain about being tired.

“It impacts their sense of themselves and their identities and makes them anxious,” she says. “Social media has created a new sense of impulsivity and urgency, it can make them feel overwhelmed by what is happening in the world, and all of these factors can be fatiguing and can impact how they sleep.”

Sleep apnea and poor diet are other common culprits of fatigue. And then there is the most obvious cause of all: not enough sleep, which often goes hand in with overwork.

In July, a survey conducted by the National Safety Council found that 97% of Americans have at least one of the leading risk factors for fatigue, which include working at night or in the early morning, working long shifts without breaks and working more than 50 hours per week. Forty-three percent of respondents said they do not get enough sleep to think clearly at work, make informed decisions and be productive.

Three years ago, Dominick “DJ” DeRobertis of Pearl River in Rockland County, N.J., was one of those people. Now 39, DeRobertis works in the construction industry. He drives trucks, operates other heavy machinery and was having problems staying awake.

“I was sleeping two, three hours a night, waking up frequently and was always tired at work,” DeRobertis recalls. “I was taking these 15-minute power naps every two hours. It was bad. Then I put on some weight, and that just made it worse.”

Larry Rodriguez of Fort Lee had a similar complaint. A toll collector on the George Washington Bridge, he suffered from sleep apnea as well as shortness of breath, which he attributed, in part, to his work. “The hours, the fumes ... I would wake up tired and I’d be tired all day,” Rodriguez says. “Then, I’d leave work and take a nap as soon as I got home.”

Both Rodriguez and DeRobertis took part in studies at the Sleep Center at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and were diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Rodriguez now sleeps with a machine called a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), which delivers a steady stream of pressurized air into his airways. “And the results were immediate,” he says. “I still like a nap once in a while, but I’m not a zombie anymore.”

DeRobertis uses a variation on the CPAP called a BPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) machine, which has an additional pressure setting. (The BPAP is used for patients who need to get more air in and out of their lungs while they sleep.)

“I can’t recommend it highly enough,” DeRobertis says of the BPAP. “It changed my life. I don’t have that constant tiredness anymore.”

While sleep apnea is relatively easy to diagnose, other forms of chronic fatigue are not.

Dr. Maria Vila, a physician at Atlantic Health System’s Chambers Center for Well Being in Morristown, N.J., says fatigue is one of the most common complaints among her patients. And, no, she doesn’t think “You’re getting older” is a particularly helpful diagnosis.

“I hear this all the time,” Vila says. “Patients are told, ‘You’re getting older ... you’re a woman .. you’re menopausal ...’ and so on. That’s not what we do here. I start by looking at the patient’s history, their diet, exercise, sleep patterns and stress levels. Then I move on to blood tests. Almost everyone says they were told that their blood tests were ‘normal.’ But I’m not looking for normal. I’m looking for optimal.

“We look at the biochemical processes in your body,” Vila continues. “Is there a vitamin deficiency? We can test for that. Do you have elevated cortisol levels? Remember: Elevated cortisol can your affect your thyroid. What about food sensitivities? Dehydration? All of these things can cause fatigue and we address all of them, without medications. We use supplements, lifestyle changes, stress relief, massage, yoga ... until those numbers come up. Again, we don’t want normal, we want optimal.”

Gary Schulman, a certified fitness trainer from Oradell, N.J., who works with clients coping with chronic diseases, including diabetes and arthritis, also favors a natural approach to fatigue and warns that people living with stress should not ignore it.

“People say stress can kill you, and they’re right,” Schulman says. “In today’s society, most people are on this disease continuum that I call stress without recovery. They’re dealing with stress from relationships, jobs, the toxins they put on their skin, the toxins they eat. And if they continue on that course, it eventually leads to chronic disease, thyroid problems, high blood pressure and more.”

Schulman says that every out-of-shape client who comes to him complains of recurring tiredness. His recovery plan: cardio workouts with some resistance training (beginning at a rate the client can handle), breathing exercises and stress management. As for diet, he urges clients to eliminate refined sugars and processed foods and limit or eliminate wheat products and refined carbs.

“Even if you’re not gluten-intolerant, it can cause inflammation and you’ll feel better without it,” Schulman says of the composite of proteins found in wheat. “As for sugar, the more you consume, the worse you’re going to feel and look.”

Dr. Vila isn’t quite as strict. “I don’t do everything right,” she says, “and I don’t expect people to do everything right. But diet-wise, if you can do 80% good and 20% bad, that’s a good place to start.”

Other causes of fatigue? Dr. Theophanis A. Pavlou, a pulmonologist focused on sleep medicine at the Sleep Center in Teaneck, N.J., deals regularly with sleep apnea patients. “But we also look for related disorders such as hyperthyroidism and hypersomnolence, which is a recurring desire to fall asleep,” he says.

And what about fatigued folks who don’t have sleep apnea, vitamin deficiencies or diet problems, but do have sleepless nights and a lack of energy during the day?

“We’re living in a very complex society,” says Dr. Carlos Rueda, chairman of behavioral health services at St. Joseph’s Healthcare System in Paterson, “and this causes all kinds of problems. We are dealing with perceived threats from everywhere, economic uncertainty, and we are in constant state of fight and flight. And, of course, people are constantly receiving stimuli from their computers and their phones. You need this if you want to stay competitive but this is also creating constant stress that disrupts sleep and disrupts your circadian rhythm.”

Dealing with these stresses, Rueda says, requires time management skills and re-learning how to relax. “Set a time, say 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., when you turn off your computer and TV screens,” he suggests. “We aren’t supposed to be receiving and processing information 24/7. Stop. Take a pause. You want to sleep better? Go sit under a tree and read a book.”

[footballleague0]

Oscar Valdez returns to Arizona to fight in front of family as a world titlist

To featherweight world titleholder Oscar Valdez, Tucson, Arizona is a second home.

He was born about a half hour away, just over the border, in Nogales, Mexico, to an American mother and Mexican father, and spent a good chunk of his childhood growing up in Tucson. He lived there from ages 4 to 9 and went to elementary school there before moving back to Nogales with his father.

His mother still lives in Tucson as do many friends and relatives.

TV lineup for the Top Rank Boxing card on Friday (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN, 10:30 p.m. ET; WatchESPN prelims, 7:30 p.m. ET) at the Tuscon Arena in Tuscon, Arizona:

• Middleweights: Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) vs. Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs), 12 rounds, for Golovkin’s unified world title

• Featherweights: Oscar Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) vs. Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs), 12 rounds, for Valdez’s world title

• Super middleweights: Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs) vs. Jesse Hart (22-0, 18 KOs), 12 rounds, for Ramirez’s world title

• Featherweights: Michael Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Kenny Guzman (3-0, 1 KO), 6 rounds

“I have some long-time friends that I played with when I was a kid and I have a lot of uncles here, cousins. My family is actually very big,” Valdez said this week. “I have family in Ohio, I have family in Arizona, I have family in Mexico and I have a lot of family here in Tucson as well.”

Valdez has fought just once so far in Tucson, a third-round knockout of non-descript opponent Ernie Sanchez in December 2015.

But now Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) is returning to his second home to defend his 126-pound world title when he takes on Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs) on Friday night at the Tucson Arena.

Valdez-Servania headlines a Top Rank card, which will be televised live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET, with the preliminary bouts and main card streaming live on the ESPN App beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

When he last fought in Tucson, Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian, was one of boxing’s elite prospects. He returns to the city with a world title and as a rising star.

“I consider Tucson my second home,” he said. “I lived here for a while (and have) the privilege of coming back and forth — coming back to Tucson when I live in Nogales.

“I fought here two years ago but I wasn’t a champion in front of my fans and my people then but I was always going to bring back a title and now I get a chance to do it and I am very excited. I am always excited but for this a lot of my family is going to be there and support me in this fight.”

In the co-feature, super middleweight world titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw from Mexico, will defend his belt for the second time when he meets mandatory challenger Jesse Hart (22-0, 18 KOs), 28, of Philadelphia.

Oscar Valdez, left, defends his featherweight title against Genesis Servania on Friday. Photo provided by Mikey Williams/Top Rank

In another televised bout, featherweight prospect Michael Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs), 25, the popular Irish Olympian, will take on Kenny Guzman (3-0, 1 KO), 30, of Kalispell, Montana, in a scheduled six-rounder. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes Valdez can become a star in boxing. He believes he has what it takes: talent, a crowd-pleasing style and he is bilingual, making him appealing to Mexican fans as well as Americans. Arum said having him fight in Tucson is way to establish a home base in the United States while also looking to branch out to other areas.

“Tucson is a great city and I really love it there and they have very enthusiastic boxing fans,” Arum said. “We are going to do well at the gate. Tickets are really flying out so, yes, why not use Tucson as a base. But we have big plans for Oscar. He is on the road, we believe, to superstardom. There will be a lot of places – Los Angeles and Las Vegas — clamoring for Oscar and his fights. We expect to have some really major fights for Oscar in the near term against guys who are big names in the featherweight division.”

Valdez, 26, will make his third title defense against Servania (29-0, 12 KOs), 26, of the Philippines, who has an impressive record but little experience against any top opponents. His biggest win came by 12th-round knockout against former junior bantamweight world titlist Alexander Munoz in 2014, but Munoz was faded at that point and fighting two weight divisions above where he had won his world title.

“I think it’s a great opportunity and a lot more people are going to be able to watch me now. That’s what I want. I want to be recognized and being on ESPN is going to be a great opportunity and I’m excited for that. … ESPN is seen all over the world. Our fights will be seen everyplace imaginable.”

Oscar Valdez

“This is my first time getting into the ring and fighting for a world title. It’s exciting,” Servania said. “It’s my fight to win because I have trained so hard for this opportunity. It will be my hardest fight but you will soon see I came to Tucson to win and become the new world champion. I respect Oscar Valdez. He has a great Olympic background, and has proven his ability as a professional. However, I am ready for this fight and I will do my best.”

Servania will be boxing in the United States for the first time and Valdez is the heavy favorite. Valdez, however, said what he is supposed to say – that he has prepared for a hard fight.

“I worked so hard in this training camp with (trainer) Manny (Robles). I am prepared for Servania. He is rugged and strong. He has my upmost respect,” Valdez said.

Valdez’s last four fights have been on pay-per-view cards that did not generate huge audiences. His last fight, a tough decision win against Miguel Marriaga on April 22, headlined a Top Rank pay-per-view show that likely didn’t generate 50,000 buys. Valdez and Arum are happy to have this fight on ESPN, where Valdez can gain far more exposure than he has before.

Oscar Valdez, right, won the featherweight belt with a TKO victory over Matias Adrian Rueda in 2016. Chase Stevens/AP

“I think it’s a great opportunity and a lot more people are going to be able to watch me now,” Valdez said. “That’s what I want. I want to be recognized and being on ESPN is going to be a great opportunity and I’m excited for that. … ESPN is seen all over the world. Our fights will be seen everyplace imaginable.”

Arum recently made a deal with ESPN to be the long-term home of his company’s fighters and he said Valdez, who recently signed a contract extension with Top Rank, is one of the young fighters he promotes who will reap significant benefit from the deal. He said the deal will allow Valdez to gain wide exposure while fighting at least three times per year.

“We are going to have him matched against top, top featherweights and junior lightweights and the audience that we’ll be attracting starting (Friday) will be absolutely huge and so Oscar will go in the same realm as the other superstars in boxing,” Arum said. “This development we have with ESPN is really a breakthrough and the guys that benefit most are talented young men like Oscar Valdez.”

Eugene “Cyclone” Hart was a middleweight boxing contender in the 1970s in Philadelphia, but he never got a world title shot. In the co-feature of an ESPN-televised Top Rank event on Friday, his son Jesse challenges for a super middleweight world title.

If Valdez defeats Servania, Arum hopes to eventually match him with another top featherweight, namely former titlist Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Northern Ireland. It’s a fight that would be can’t-miss action.

Arum believes the fight can be made because Frampton signed this week with manager Matthew Macklin’s MTK Global. Macklin and Top Rank have a close relationship and the company signed Macklin’s top prospect, Conlan, out of the 2016 Olympics.

“Carl Frampton, who is a tremendous featherweight, has signed on with Matthew Macklin’s group and Matthew manages Michael Conlan, who will be on the card Friday night, so there is a possible fight against Frampton that now becomes relatively easy to arrange,” Arum said.

Valdez would like to unify titles, but a match with Frampton is also appealing to him.

“Of course, I am not looking ahead of this fight but I would definitely love to fight Frampton,” Valdez said. “After this fight I can think about that.”

The post Oscar Valdez returns to Arizona to fight in front of family as a world titlist appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from http://ift.tt/2xVHNNm from http://ift.tt/2hi7EYX

[giantsfootball0]

Oscar Valdez returns to Arizona to fight in front of family as a world titlist

To featherweight world titleholder Oscar Valdez, Tucson, Arizona is a second home.

He was born about a half hour away, just over the border, in Nogales, Mexico, to an American mother and Mexican father, and spent a good chunk of his childhood growing up in Tucson. He lived there from ages 4 to 9 and went to elementary school there before moving back to Nogales with his father.

His mother still lives in Tucson as do many friends and relatives.

TV lineup for the Top Rank Boxing card on Friday (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN, 10:30 p.m. ET; WatchESPN prelims, 7:30 p.m. ET) at the Tuscon Arena in Tuscon, Arizona:

• Middleweights: Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) vs. Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs), 12 rounds, for Golovkin’s unified world title

• Featherweights: Oscar Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) vs. Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs), 12 rounds, for Valdez’s world title

• Super middleweights: Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs) vs. Jesse Hart (22-0, 18 KOs), 12 rounds, for Ramirez’s world title

• Featherweights: Michael Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Kenny Guzman (3-0, 1 KO), 6 rounds

“I have some long-time friends that I played with when I was a kid and I have a lot of uncles here, cousins. My family is actually very big,” Valdez said this week. “I have family in Ohio, I have family in Arizona, I have family in Mexico and I have a lot of family here in Tucson as well.”

Valdez has fought just once so far in Tucson, a third-round knockout of non-descript opponent Ernie Sanchez in December 2015.

But now Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) is returning to his second home to defend his 126-pound world title when he takes on Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs) on Friday night at the Tucson Arena.

Valdez-Servania headlines a Top Rank card, which will be televised live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET, with the preliminary bouts and main card streaming live on the ESPN App beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

When he last fought in Tucson, Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian, was one of boxing’s elite prospects. He returns to the city with a world title and as a rising star.

“I consider Tucson my second home,” he said. “I lived here for a while (and have) the privilege of coming back and forth — coming back to Tucson when I live in Nogales.

“I fought here two years ago but I wasn’t a champion in front of my fans and my people then but I was always going to bring back a title and now I get a chance to do it and I am very excited. I am always excited but for this a lot of my family is going to be there and support me in this fight.”

In the co-feature, super middleweight world titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw from Mexico, will defend his belt for the second time when he meets mandatory challenger Jesse Hart (22-0, 18 KOs), 28, of Philadelphia.

Oscar Valdez, left, defends his featherweight title against Genesis Servania on Friday. Photo provided by Mikey Williams/Top Rank

In another televised bout, featherweight prospect Michael Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs), 25, the popular Irish Olympian, will take on Kenny Guzman (3-0, 1 KO), 30, of Kalispell, Montana, in a scheduled six-rounder. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes Valdez can become a star in boxing. He believes he has what it takes: talent, a crowd-pleasing style and he is bilingual, making him appealing to Mexican fans as well as Americans. Arum said having him fight in Tucson is way to establish a home base in the United States while also looking to branch out to other areas.

“Tucson is a great city and I really love it there and they have very enthusiastic boxing fans,” Arum said. “We are going to do well at the gate. Tickets are really flying out so, yes, why not use Tucson as a base. But we have big plans for Oscar. He is on the road, we believe, to superstardom. There will be a lot of places – Los Angeles and Las Vegas — clamoring for Oscar and his fights. We expect to have some really major fights for Oscar in the near term against guys who are big names in the featherweight division.”

Valdez, 26, will make his third title defense against Servania (29-0, 12 KOs), 26, of the Philippines, who has an impressive record but little experience against any top opponents. His biggest win came by 12th-round knockout against former junior bantamweight world titlist Alexander Munoz in 2014, but Munoz was faded at that point and fighting two weight divisions above where he had won his world title.

“I think it’s a great opportunity and a lot more people are going to be able to watch me now. That’s what I want. I want to be recognized and being on ESPN is going to be a great opportunity and I’m excited for that. … ESPN is seen all over the world. Our fights will be seen everyplace imaginable.”

Oscar Valdez

“This is my first time getting into the ring and fighting for a world title. It’s exciting,” Servania said. “It’s my fight to win because I have trained so hard for this opportunity. It will be my hardest fight but you will soon see I came to Tucson to win and become the new world champion. I respect Oscar Valdez. He has a great Olympic background, and has proven his ability as a professional. However, I am ready for this fight and I will do my best.”

Servania will be boxing in the United States for the first time and Valdez is the heavy favorite. Valdez, however, said what he is supposed to say – that he has prepared for a hard fight.

“I worked so hard in this training camp with (trainer) Manny (Robles). I am prepared for Servania. He is rugged and strong. He has my upmost respect,” Valdez said.

Valdez’s last four fights have been on pay-per-view cards that did not generate huge audiences. His last fight, a tough decision win against Miguel Marriaga on April 22, headlined a Top Rank pay-per-view show that likely didn’t generate 50,000 buys. Valdez and Arum are happy to have this fight on ESPN, where Valdez can gain far more exposure than he has before.

Oscar Valdez, right, won the featherweight belt with a TKO victory over Matias Adrian Rueda in 2016. Chase Stevens/AP

“I think it’s a great opportunity and a lot more people are going to be able to watch me now,” Valdez said. “That’s what I want. I want to be recognized and being on ESPN is going to be a great opportunity and I’m excited for that. … ESPN is seen all over the world. Our fights will be seen everyplace imaginable.”

Arum recently made a deal with ESPN to be the long-term home of his company’s fighters and he said Valdez, who recently signed a contract extension with Top Rank, is one of the young fighters he promotes who will reap significant benefit from the deal. He said the deal will allow Valdez to gain wide exposure while fighting at least three times per year.

“We are going to have him matched against top, top featherweights and junior lightweights and the audience that we’ll be attracting starting (Friday) will be absolutely huge and so Oscar will go in the same realm as the other superstars in boxing,” Arum said. “This development we have with ESPN is really a breakthrough and the guys that benefit most are talented young men like Oscar Valdez.”

Eugene “Cyclone” Hart was a middleweight boxing contender in the 1970s in Philadelphia, but he never got a world title shot. In the co-feature of an ESPN-televised Top Rank event on Friday, his son Jesse challenges for a super middleweight world title.

If Valdez defeats Servania, Arum hopes to eventually match him with another top featherweight, namely former titlist Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Northern Ireland. It’s a fight that would be can’t-miss action.

Arum believes the fight can be made because Frampton signed this week with manager Matthew Macklin’s MTK Global. Macklin and Top Rank have a close relationship and the company signed Macklin’s top prospect, Conlan, out of the 2016 Olympics.

“Carl Frampton, who is a tremendous featherweight, has signed on with Matthew Macklin’s group and Matthew manages Michael Conlan, who will be on the card Friday night, so there is a possible fight against Frampton that now becomes relatively easy to arrange,” Arum said.

Valdez would like to unify titles, but a match with Frampton is also appealing to him.

“Of course, I am not looking ahead of this fight but I would definitely love to fight Frampton,” Valdez said. “After this fight I can think about that.”

The post Oscar Valdez returns to Arizona to fight in front of family as a world titlist appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from https://dailystarsports.com/2017/09/21/oscar-valdez-returns-to-arizona-to-fight-in-front-of-family-as-a-world-titlist/ from https://dailystarsports.tumblr.com/post/165584395116

[roamingmom]

Last week we took an impromptu trip through Spanish Wine Country.

Not only did we escape the kids for a few days, we were joined by our fave Canadian/Bahamian duo, Tim and Rebecca Tibbitts (T & B).

Aside from being some of the best humans I know. This pair happens to be a world-class Chef and Sommelier Team. They came to Spain for a work/play adventure and to shop for wine. As supportive friends, we felt obligated to help them with their research and to offer our poor translation abilities.

So, last Wednesday, I found myself (sipping cava) on the AVE Train bound to Valladolid (Capitol of Rueda), to meet my crew for an ass kicking few days of sipping grapes.

Rueda

This little Spanish D.O (Denominación Origin) is the best kept secret of Spanish Wine. There are only 60 Estates throughout the region. Few people visit this area. There is such little tourism….. the Bodega operators are actually surprised to see you.

Unlike popular Rioja there aren’t many hotel choices. We stayed at the Parador in Tordesillas. Not fancy. However, the old manor style villa was interesting and clean.

The Rueda D.O straddles León-Castile and is best known for the Verdejo variety of wine. Verdejo wines are dry, fruity, and light to medium bodied…a great choice for a warm patio afternoon. Other notable whites are: Viura and Sauvignon Blanc. 

Much lesser common reds are: Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Garnacha.

We even stumbled upon a Bodega, Palacio de Bornos, which produced a high quality traditional method (champagne) sparkling wine. The Brut Nature is 100% Verdejo and bottled for 3 years. Delicious and a great buy.

Ribera del Duero

From Rueda, we made treks (145 Km) to Ribera del Duero. Located in the northern plateau of Spain, the landscape here is rather boring compared to neighboring majestic Rioja. Yet, don’t be fooled. This D.O produces some fabulous wines that give the more celebrated Rioja some serious competition.

There are roughly 300 estates in Ribera del Duero. The highest concentration being in Peñafiel. The D.O here requires that 75 percent of the vines be Tempranillo and the majority of the region exclusively bottle Reds.

The other grape varieties are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha, Pinot Noir. 

*Albillo – the only white

Categories are similar to Rioja:

Crianza – Aged  2 years, with at least 12 months in oak.

Reserva – Aged 3 years, with at least 12 months in oak.

Gran Reserva – Aged 5 years (min.), with at least 24 months in oak.

On a whim, we stopped at Bodegas Resalte de Peñafiel after recognizing the name. We literally rang the doorbell and cold called for a tasting. Fortunately, they happily accommodated us. We thanked them by buying some wine.

We stayed just outside the capitol (Arando de Duero) at the Hotel Torremilanos. The boutique hotel resembles a French Style Chateau and has recently been completely refurbished. The striking hotel is situated on a family owned winery. One of the proprietors, Juan Pablo, treated us to a private tour and a great array of tastings. Great experience – super service!

Touring Torremilanos with the proprietor, Juan Pablo

Bigger is often better.

  Rioja

A short drive the next day took us to Rioja. The first night we stayed in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The Parador Hotel (Parador de Santo Domingo de la Calzada), occupies a 12th Century Hospital that took in the pilgrims traveling the famed: “El Camino de Santiago“, or the “Way of St. James.”  The Hotel is in the heart of the ancient village beside the cathedral.

T & B had a contact for a local Cellar Master in La Guardia. After a few lost in translation moments we found the Master himself, Basilio Izquierdo, at his small Bodega in La Guardia, Rioja.

Master is actually an understatement. As it turns out, Basilio is a Spanish wine making legend. He is also one of the most charming and likable characters I’ve come across. He regaled us with wine tales in Spanish and French as we tasted many barrels and a few precious bottles he held aside. Our tour ended, but our time carried on through lunch in the village.

Basilio rocked up to Los Parajes, a fabulous local spot, with his personal stock in hand. Clearly, well-known to the staff, we were given the royal treatment. Los Parajes did not disappoint for food, service and ambience. The building was complete with a 16th Century Wine Cellar and Tapas Bar.

Basilio Izquierdo, Cellar Master

16th Century Wine and Tapas Bar

The next day consisted of more exploration of Rioja and a cross-over into Basque country where we stayed in Elciego, the home of Bodegas Marqués de Riscal.

Rioja wines are controlled by the Denominación de Origen Calificada (D.O.Ca).

The Red varieties of Rioja are: Tempranillo (60%), Garnacha Tinta (20%), Graciano & Mazuela usually make up the rest.

The White varieties of Rioja are: Viura (prominent), Garnacha Blanca (adds body) and Malvasía (adds aroma).

Rioja is a magical part of Spain. Ancient wineries line the narrow picturesque streets. The old villages are layered with stone houses and cobbled roads. The backdrop is an interesting mix of lush Mediterranean forest, generous mountains and lunar-esque areas. It’s also a stark contrast between old and new. Many modern buildings and massive-scale wineries are now part of the scenery. None being more pronounced than the hotel at Marqués de Riscal, designed by Canadian Architect, Frank Gehry.

The Hotel is a sharp contrast to the native landscape. This unique property embodies and celebrates the colors and hues of the local wines and the gastronomic history of the region. The winery is a massive-scale production and lacks the intimacy and heart of the smaller vineyards. However, the hotel gets it right. The decor, comfort, and service are spot on. The well deserved Michelin starred restaurant on the property is also spectacular!

T & B chillaxed in the Spa.

Finally, it was time to start home. We veered south to drive 450 Km to Tarragona and stay at Le Méridien Ra. It was a quick pit stop and a welcome sea break on the Med.  It was also supposed to be our “break” from wine. However, they welcomed us on arrival with Cava…Oops. Then we found Brockmans Gin at the bar. …Oops again…

El Priorat

The reason for our massive detour to the east coast of Spain was for a final night in Priorat.

Priorat is a high-end, up-and-coming wine area. Governed by the D.O.Q. (Denominació D’origen Qualificada). If you’re wondering why that sounds like odd Spanish….welcome to Catalan country.

Only an hour and a half south of BCN, this is an accessible region of Spanish wine country. Priorat has steep sloping terraces and a much different terrain to the wineries in the north. The region grows:

39% Garnacha

27% Cariñena

14% Cabernet Sauvignon

12% Syrah

6% Merlot

We visited Cellar Perinet, where we were fortunate enough to have another hook up.

The family and friends rate got us VIP treatment and a behind the scenes look at this fascinating property. Perinet is new to the wine scene and Wow! They are currently barreling some great product. They also have a state-of-the-art facility with an amazing team. Definitely one to stay tuned for.

Our final hurrah was at Trossos del Priorat, a tiny (7 room) boutique Hotel/Winery buried into the side of a hill. The Hotel was kind enough to let us take over the kitchen. So, we declined their tour, drank our Perinet and watched Chef Tim iron chef food brought in specially from Barcelona.

From Start to finish, it was an amazing 5 Days of Wine and an epic road trip. The final drive home (1000 km) to Andalusia even seemed painless. T & B bought some great wines for Flying Fish Bahamas.

We all had a super time catching up and likely drank a barrel of wine in the process.

  Have you been to Rueda, Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Priorat?

Would you like to go?

Hit me up and I’ll help point you in the right direction. ¡Salud!

x

5 Dias de Vino Español – 5 days of Spanish Wine. Last week we took an impromptu trip through Spanish Wine Country. Not only did we escape the kids for a few days, we were joined by our fave Canadian/Bahamian duo, …

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Raffin to face two decisive races in fight for Moto2 title

Sunday’s FIM CEV Repsol round looks like being decisive with Jesko Raffin (Swiss Innovative Investors Junior) poised to take the Moto2™ European Championship title against poleman Edgar Pons (AGR Team). Raúl Fernández (Angel Nieto Team) in Moto3™ and Alex Millán (Aro Racing) in the European Talent Cup will head off their respective races in this penultimate round of the championship at the Circuit de Albacete this weekend.

Moto3™ leader Raúl Fernández will start from pole for the first time this season to try to clinch the title after posting the best lap time of the day – a record of 1:33.843 – and was the only rider to lap below 1:34. Teammates Jeremy Alcoba and Sergio García (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0), complete the first row of the grid.

Manuel Pagliani (Leopard Junior), second in the general standings 32 points behind Raúl Fernández, will start back in tenth position, on the fourth row of the grid, and will have a lot to make up to avoid the leader’s victory. Although there are still 75 points at stake, Raúl Fernández could be crowned champion of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship in Albacete if he manages to increase his advantage to 51 points, that is, take 19 points more than his closest rival – a difficult but not impossible task.

In Moto2™, Edgar Pons dominated his rivals in the two qualifying sessions, posting an unmatched time of 1:31.945 in the morning session. The AGR Team rider will lead the grid for the third time in a row, this time accompanied by by Héctor Garzó (Team Wimu CNS) and Jesko Raffin. Raffin only needs four points more than the poleman in the first of Sunday’s two races to take the Moto2™ ECh title for the second time. If he doesn’t make it in the first race, he could still become champion in the second race of the day. In Superstock 600 Alejandro Ruiz (Reale Avintia Academy) was the quickest rider.

Alex Millán (Aro Racing) took his first pole in the ETC with the fastest time of 1:37.044 achieved in the morning session. Interestingly, in the six rounds of this category this season no rider has been poleman twice. Next to him will start Xavier Artigas (Honda Impala) and José Antonio Rueda (Talent Team Estrella Galicia 0.0). The Honda Impala rider also has a chance to take the ETC title in Albacete as he leads the category with a 21-point advantage over Víctor Rodríguez (Ikono Motorbike Laglisse), who will set off fifth, with 50 points still in play. Xavier Artigas will be champion if he wins the race – which would be his first victory of the season – regardless of the result of his rivals, though in fact six riders are currently still in the running for the title.

The program for this weekend in Albacete is two races in the Moto2™ category and one each in Moto3™ and the ETC.

Sunday’s race schedule is as follows:

Moto2™ Race 1 (20 laps):              11.00

ETC (18 laps):                                12.00

Moto3™ (19 laps):                          13.00

Moto2™ Race 2 (20 laps):             14.00

Cuna de Campeones (11 laps):      15.00

Dani Rivas Cup (8 laps):                15.45

As usual, entrance to the paddock will be free over the weekend. In addition, FIM CEV Repsolfans who go to the circuit on Sunday morning will be able to take part in the Pit Lane Walk. Passes will be available at he main entrance to the paddock from 9.00, but only the first comers will get a pass, with a maximum of two passes per person. The Pit Lane Walk will take place at 10.15 am and start from the outside of the control tower.

The FIM CEV Repsol’s TV presence continues to grow in both Europe and the rest of the world. In Spain, Movistar MotoGP broadcasts live all of the scheduled races of the Moto3™ JWCh, Moto2™ ECh and ETC, as does BT Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Italy, Sky will broadcast live the Moto3™ JWCh and Moto2™ ECh races.

Eurosport, through Eurosportplayer (France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Romania), will also offer live coverage of all of the Moto3™ JWCh and Moto2™ ECh and ETC races. In Portugal, Sport TV consolidates its commitment to motorcycling by broadcasting live or recorded versions of all the races scheduled throughout the season. For the first time Hungarian fans will be able to enjoy the ETC thanks to recorded broadcasts on the Spiler TVchannel.

Fans in Latin America, the United States, Canada and France will be able to watch recorded versions of all the races through Motosport TV, while their OTT will broadcast the races live.  Band Sports television extends its coverage of the FIM CEV Repsol by showing recorded versions of the Moto3™ JWCh and Moto2™ ECh. Also joining TV coverage of the championship, the Edgesport Channel will air live all the Moto3™ JWC and Moto2™ ECh and ETC races, as well as being available 24/7 on various platforms with coverage in Abu Dhabi, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Pacific Islands, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Solomon Island, Thailand and Vietnam.

In addition, in those countries without television coverage, all races will be broadcast live on the championship’s Youtube channel.

All the results and information about the Championship are on the official website: www.fimcevrepsol.com