#seamless glitter borders

[prntwrlddesign]

[phoenixduelist]

@memcria , for Esmeralda based on the August 20th starter

Slight trouble was stirring at the Austro-Hungarian borders as the Queen decided to send a mock invite to the previous oppressors to join her in celebrating Hungary's independence. Petty? Absolutely. Was everyone in Buda laughing at her audacity? Of course. Perhaps even the Ottomans had a chuckle, considering how their ambassador accepted her offer with surprising amount of respect. He was probably already drunk somewhere, after all, Buda wasn't exactly new to them.

That being said, the castle doors opened wide for anyone wishing to spend the day there, she was quite sure it was Count Bélássy who fainted upon announcing. Merchants filled streets and castle alike, most of their products free or cheap, as they had been paid previously by the Queen. Harvest flourished despite the recent wars waged, she saw no downside of feeding the lower classes and paying for the merchants' craft upfront for a seamless celebration.

Performers could be found at every corner, dancers, storytellers, actors, musicians, and of course fencers. The swords were blunt, therefore Rozália would've taken no delight in the activity; she had her own attraction for the old times' sake, not involving dull blades. The Queen of course refused to sit and smile nicely throughout the whole day, itching to move, mingle, to have an unfiltered opinion on how people were feeling and how they saw her.

Continuing King Matthias' infamous peasant disguise which sparked many folk tales, she followed in his footsteps steadily, ditching the crown and jewels something more simple. A flowing blouse with bright red roses sewn up to the shoulders, high waisted fitted pants with a leather underbust corset, two swords sewn into the material, completed with simple knee high riding boots. The only accessory was the swordbelt, although that was more like a part of her. Her hair kept short and unruly, a little blessing in disguise in the summer heat.

Especially when she spotted some extremely elegantly dressed ladies violently fanning themselves. Well, she said the castle is open for everyone. Maybe they were scared of her lurking, waiting in a dark corner. The thought brought a deep chuckle from her, they weren't so wrong after all.

Rozália was pleased to see her orders being followed, both regarding food and allowing in whoever wished. She adored dancers, meanwhile she wasn't bad, the shimmering ebony haired woman was obviously more talented and head turning. While all eyes followed the graceful woman's form, some ladies stomping onto their husbands' feet for looking bordering on disrespect, Rozália slipped most of the sum she decided to carry with herself into the pot.

She was magnetic, no reason in trying to deny the fact. She didn't perform because she had to, because she wanted to; that was brighter than the sun glittering on the Danube. Therefore she waited a respectable time after her dance ended and the crowd was distracted by a new attraction.

“Pardon me, Miss” her rich voice cut through the blur of the background noise with confidence, the accent stronger than usual as a result of not using the language in a while. Maybe she didn't speak English...nevermind, she will try Spanish and Italian then.

“You must have heard this from many before, allow me to add the truth to the pile: I haven't seen a lady finer than you in this city. Kingdom, possibly.” petal lips smiled softly, hiding its thorns within. Rozália had no intention to hurt or even to frighten her, quite the opposite. Maybe it was better she probably didn't recognize her, she would've hated if she felt threatened into keeping her accompanied if she didn't wish to.

“May I be so bold to ask for your name?” the Queen bowed slightly before returning to her full height, no doubt imposing by its own, along with her build “Of course, I understand if you don't wish to share. In that case, I will leave for you to enjoy the festivities in peace.”

[digitaldetoxworld]

Exploring the Artistry of Makeup: A Journey Through Colors, Textures, and Expression

 Makeup has evolved from a mere enhancement tool to a colourful shape of self-expression and creativity. Beginner-friendly makeup routine for girls for many women, it's no longer pretty much covering imperfections however about reworking into a canvas wherein colours combination into feelings and textures meld into self belief. From diffused normal seems to bold creative statements, make-up gives an infinite array of opportunities. Let's delve into the complex global of makeup, wherein each brush stroke tells a story.

Foundation: The Canvas

Every masterpiece begins with a strong foundation, pretty literally inside the global of makeup. Foundation units the base for the whole look, night out skin tone and offering a clean canvas. There's a coloration and formulation for every complexion, whether or not you opt for liquid, powder, or cream foundations. Choosing the proper basis is vital; it may decorate herbal beauty or create a ideal finish for a special event.

Eyes: Windows to the Soul

The eyes are possibly the maximum expressive characteristic, and make-up accentuates their attraction. Eye makeup stages from diffused eyeliner and mascara for a sparkling, wakeful look to dramatic smokey eyes that command attention. Eyeshadow palettes are a playground of colours, supplying countless mixtures to in shape any mood or outfit. Techniques like cut creases, winged liners, and glitter accents exhibit the artistry and talent in the back of eye makeup.

Lips: Bold Statements

Lipstick is extra than just color; it is a announcement. Whether it's a conventional crimson, a playful purple, or a bold black, lipstick completes the appearance and speaks volumes about character. Matte, satin, gloss, or liquid, the texture can exchange the whole vibe of an outfit or temper. Lip liners define the shape, even as lip balms and glosses add hydration and shine. Each swipe of lipstick is a party of femininity and confidence.

Cheeks: A Touch of Radiance

Blush and highlighter upload dimension and radiance to the face. Blush brings a herbal flush to the cheeks, enhancing the younger glow. From peachy tones to rosy colours, blushes complement diverse pores and skin tones and moods. Highlighter, on the other hand, adds a luminous sheen to the high factors of the face, catching the mild with every movement. Together, they invent a healthful, sculpted appearance that exudes energy.

Tools of the Trade: Brushes and Sponges

Behind each ideal makeup application are the gear that make it possible. Makeup brushes are available numerous shapes and sizes, each designed for particular purposes like blending eyeshadow, applying basis, or sculpting cheekbones. Sponges, mainly splendor blenders, provide a seamless finish by way of evenly distributing product and blending edges effects. Clean tools ensure sanitary utility and extend the lifespan of make-up products.

Skincare: The Foundation of Beauty

Great make-up begins with outstanding pores and skin. Skincare routines tailor-made to character needs make sure a smooth canvas for makeup software. Cleansing, toning, moisturizing, and treatments like serums and mask cope with issues including acne, dryness, or growing old. Healthy skin now not only enhances makeup but additionally reduces the want for heavy coverage, permitting natural beauty to polish through.

Trends and Innovation: Pushing Boundaries

The splendor enterprise is continuously evolving, with new traits and innovations shaping make-up possibilities. From Korean skin care exercises to eco-friendly make-up brands, clients have extra alternatives than ever earlier than. Trends like minimalistic makeup, graphic liners, and monochromatic appears dominate fashion runways and social media feeds, inspiring creativity and experimentation amongst make-up fanatics.

Cultural Influences: Celebrating Diversity

Makeup is a frequent language that transcends borders and cultures. Different regions and traditions impact makeup trends and techniques, showcasing variety and celebrating individuality. Cultural icons and influencers redefine splendor requirements, promoting inclusivity and representation within the beauty enterprise. Makeup becomes a tool for cultural expression, honoring historical past while embracing modernity.

Empowerment and Confidence

Beyond aesthetics, makeup empowers individuals to express themselves authentically. Whether it's boosting confidence for a job interview or channeling creativity through avant-garde looks, makeup has transformative power. The ritual of applying makeup can be therapeutic, offering a moment of self-care and reflection. Makeup storage ideas for girls' rooms it's not just about looking good but feeling empowered and confident in one's skin.

[fakesurprise]

Caer’Junt was not how the stories had described it, not that a one of them had agreed on anything at all beyond that no one should go there. It was on the edge of the Grey Wall, implanted into the side of a living mountain, obsidian glittering in the morning sun to cast reflections which vanished upon being seen. A single storey, this tower, the rest of it dug deep into the mountain below. Feint veins of grey and black could be seen in the ancient stone, as if it had muscles that were trying to flex and expel an intruder. A narrow road led up to the entrance, taking the winding path of least resistance.

The tower had no windows but was made of glass forged by magic. It meant something: most things did, here.

I walked up slowly. The tower had no guards: such a place as this has no need of guards, and that was one of those reasons was why I had come here. I pulled my tan cape tightly over my cloak and quickened my pace, unable to shake the feeling of being watched. Even under noonlight, the air here had a chill. It was a mere two hours down the side to where my mount waited, if Sunshadow had not found cause to flee. My erstwhile guard had fled the day before upon realizing my destination: I owed them no ill will since only one had tried to kill me.

I had a sword at my side, and dagger in a boot, and a third hidden elsewhere: none of them were a reassurance. There were perhaps twenty beings living in Caer’Junt at present; I did not know how many of them could be called people. Perhaps the Sealers had their ways to deal with them, but I had only trained briefly in their ways and left to find a way that was wider than a narrow journey through life. Ironic, given this narrow path I had ended up upon.

The tower had no door as I approached. The glass looked impossibly smooth despite the fractal light it cast. It was somehow both see-through and opaque and I tried to grasp that a doorway flowed into existence where the road ended at the tower base. The glass looked too sharp, the shadows beyond it sharper still. I removed neither weapons nor clothing as I stepped inside: a moment of shifting darkness, as if the world had moved while I remained still, and then a warmer darkness.

A large, wide room lit by sourceless wan green light. Rich earthen stone was warm and pleasant even through my boots: there was a well-made wooden table – Euikal, given the rich woods that flowed together to make a seamless piece. Three chairs surrounded it, all the same design and devoid of backing. There was a stairwell beyond the table leading down into the mountain, and at the table sat an old man in light brown robes.

He was bald, with a short white beard flecked with grey and hands smoother than a Principality could easily claim despite a few wrinkles from old age. His head was turned toward me, and I could see the gaping holes where his eyes had once been.

His name, I knew. There were stories about him before he first removed his eyes. Barthanwaite was said to have failed to unify fifteen years ago because he spoke to two random people and incited a bloody conflict without trying. He looked old, but not harmless and carried himself with a calm certainty.

“Kylim the Unseen?” I said, making my voice a question.

The old man inclined his head slightly. “Come, sit.”

I walked over and sat: the table had two bowls off clear water to drink from an an ornate metal bell of northern make, ice-blue but devoid of their usual runic markings.

The chair shifted slightly under me until I fit easily in it. Euikal wood fetched prices fit to bankrupt entire cities. My back ached, but I ignored it.

“May I have your name and business?” he asked politely.

“Liesh Klimth. I have come here on behalf of the Principality Dyos Vkondis, who seeks aid to protect the western borders against an assault from Karqella.” I removed the cape and set it on the table, where it rolled up into a tight scroll. “I come with a travelscroll for proof, and the name that he seeks.”

The old man rang the bell, one simple gentle peel that barely echoed. “And that would be?”

“The Silent.”

The old man leaned forward slightly. It was hard to tell, given he had gouged out his eyes, but I had the feeling he was frowning. “What do you know of the Silent?”

“Nothing. I suspect it is why I was given this assignment.”

[tajmirrortours0]

Royal Rajasthan Tour by Taj Mirror Tours Company.

Royal Rajasthan Tour by Taj Mirror Tours Company

India is a place of vivid culture, and nowhere is this more evident than in Rajasthan. Known as the Land of Kings, Rajasthan has gorgeous palaces, massive forts, and a past steeped in heroism and grandeur. Exploring this regal state with Taj Mirror Tours Company offers a carefully designed experience that brings you deep into the heart of Rajasthan's heritage. From the pink-hued palaces of Jaipur to the glittering lakes of Udaipur, our Royal Rajasthan Tour allows you to witness the grandeur of India’s imperial past while experiencing sumptuous hospitality.

Why Choose the Royal Rajasthan Tour? The Royal Rajasthan Tour by Taj Mirror Tours is created for individuals who like to experience the magnificence of Rajasthan in all its majesty. Whether you are charmed by the breathtaking architecture of old palaces or intrigued by the tales of renowned Rajput monarchs, this tour gives a comprehensive cultural experience. In addition, it allows you the ability to stay at heritage hotels, dine like royalty, and observe the magnificence of Indian royalty up close.

With Taj Mirror Tours, you can enjoy a hassle-free, well-organized vacation through Rajasthan's most iconic cities. Their skilled guides bring the region’s history to life with interesting stories, while their carefully planned schedule ensures you see the most of what Rajasthan has to offer.

Royal Rajasthan Tour Itinerary This itinerary normally spans 10 to 12 days, including some of the most notable cities and attractions in Rajasthan. Here’s a thorough look at the areas you’ll explore during the tour:

Day 1: Arrival in Delhi Your Royal Rajasthan Tour commences in Delhi, where you will be greeted by a representative from Taj Mirror Tours. After a seamless transport to your hotel, you can spend the remainder of the day relaxing or visiting the bustling streets of India’s capital.

Day 2: Delhi Sightseeing On your second day, you’ll embark on a guided tour of Delhi, including both Old Delhi and New Delhi. Highlights include:

Red Fort: A UNESCO World Heritage Site and an architectural wonder of Mughal grandeur. Jama Masjid: One of the largest mosques in India. India Gate: A war memorial dedicated to Indian soldiers. Qutub Minar: The tallest brick minaret in the world, surrounded by magnificently planted gardens. In the evening, experience the city’s numerous gastronomic options at one of Delhi’s fine dining restaurants.

Day 3: Delhi to Jaipur - The Pink City On Day 3, you’ll embark from Delhi and drive to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Known as the Pink City, Jaipur is known for its beautifully constructed palaces and colorful markets. After checking into your hotel, you’ll have some free time to explore the city’s bustling bazaars or simply rest in the comfort of your hotel.

Day 4: Exploring Jaipur’s Royal Heritage Your trip of Jaipur begins with a visit to Amber Fort, a majestic hilltop fort that gives amazing views of the surrounding region. You can reach the fort on an elephant ride or via a jeep, and once inside, you’ll be astounded by the elaborate construction of the Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) and the expansive courtyards.

Other must-see landmarks include:

Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds): An iconic structure recognized for its distinctive façade with numerous tiny windows. City Palace: The house of the royal family, with a museum showing relics and royal costumes. Jantar Mantar: An ancient astronomy observatory. Day 5: Jaipur to Jodhpur - The Blue City After a full day of exploring in Jaipur, you’ll drive to Jodhpur, widely referred to as the Blue City due to the blue-colored buildings that border the streets. Jodhpur is home to the towering Mehrangarh Fort, which stands over the city and gives sweeping views of the surrounding desert.

In the evening, enjoy a leisurely stroll around the colorful markets of Jodhpur, noted for their fabrics, handicrafts, and traditional Rajasthani jewelry.

Day 6: Jodhpur Sightseeing Your day in Jodhpur will include a visit to the Mehrangarh Fort, one of the largest forts in India. Inside the fort, you’ll discover museums featuring royal palanquins, arms, and paintings.

Another feature is the Umaid Bhawan Palace, half of which is still the residence of the Jodhpur royal family, while another section has been converted into a magnificent hotel. You’ll also visit the tranquil Jaswant Thada, a stunning marble cenotaph created in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II.

Day 7: Jodhpur to Udaipur - The City of Lakes On Day 7, you’ll leave Jodhpur and drive to Udaipur, commonly called the Venice of the East because to its stunning lakes and palaces. Upon arrival, you’ll check into your hotel, which is likely a heritage house facing one of Udaipur’s magnificent lakes.

In the evening, enjoy a boat trip on Lake Pichola, taking in the gorgeous vistas of Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace.

Day 8: Exploring Udaipur’s Romantic Charm Udaipur is known for its palaces, gardens, and lakes, and your day will be spent touring some of its most iconic sites, including:

City Palace: An elegant palace complex that gives panoramic views of Lake Pichola and is home to various museums. Saheliyon Ki Bari: A magnificent garden that was formerly a sanctuary for royal ladies. Jagdish Temple: A magnificent Hindu temple devoted to Lord Vishnu. In the evening, you can enjoy a cultural performance displaying traditional Rajasthani dance and song at Bagore Ki Haveli.

Day 9: Udaipur to Pushkar - The Holy City After touring Udaipur, you’ll continue to Pushkar, one of India’s most sacred cities, noted for its Brahma Temple and Pushkar Lake. The Pushkar Camel Fair, conducted annually, is also a notable attraction that draws travelers from all over the world.

You’ll see the historic Brahma Temple, one of the few temples in the world dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, and take a walk around Pushkar Lake, where pilgrims flock to take sacred dives.

Day 10: Pushkar to Delhi On the final day of your vacation, you’ll return to Delhi for a nice night’s relaxation before your continuing travel or flight home.

What Makes Taj Mirror Tours the Perfect Choice for a Royal Rajasthan Tour? Taj Mirror Tours is recognized for delivering unique travel experiences, and the Royal Rajasthan Tour is no exception. Here are some of the primary benefits of choosing them for your journey:

Expert Local Guides: Their guides are informed and passionate about the history and culture of Rajasthan, guaranteeing you obtain valuable insights during your journey. Luxurious Accommodation: You’ll stay at heritage hotels, offering a royal experience that evokes Rajasthan’s regal history. Customized Itineraries: Taj Mirror Tours provides flexible tour options, allowing you to create the itinerary based on your preferences and interests. Comfortable Transportation: Their trips offer well-maintained, air-conditioned vans for a smooth and enjoyable ride between destinations. Unique Experiences on the Royal Rajasthan Tour This tour includes various unique experiences that allow you to enjoy the beauty of Rajasthan:

Stay at Heritage Hotels: Experience the royal lifestyle by staying at former palaces and havelis that had been transformed into luxury hotels. Cultural Performances: Enjoy traditional Rajasthani folk dances, music performances, and puppet displays that showcase the rich cultural legacy of the region. food: Relish real Rajasthani food, featuring delicacies like dal baati churma, laal maas, and ghewar. Best Time to Visit Rajasthan The best time to visit Rajasthan is during the winter months from October to March, when the weather is cool and pleasant. This makes sightseeing comfortable, and the region’s celebrations, such the Pushkar Camel Fair and Desert Festival, take place during this period.

FAQs 1. Is the Royal Rajasthan Tour suitable for families? Yes, this tour is family-friendly and may be enjoyed by individuals of all ages. It offers a mix of sightseeing, cultural experiences, and relaxation time.

2. Can I modify the tour? Absolutely! Taj Mirror Tours is noted for its flexibility, letting tourists to modify the itinerary to incorporate certain sights or additional excursions.

3. What should I pack for the tour? Light, comfortable attire is recommended, along with sun protection like hats and sunglasses. If traveling during the winter, make sure to take appropriate clothing for the cooler desert nights.

4. Are meals included in the tour? Many of the travel packages include breakfast and sometimes lunch or dinner, especially in heritage hotels. You can taste local cuisine at numerous locations along the journey.

5. What are the primary highlights of the Royal Rajasthan Tour? Key attractions include trips to Amber Fort, City Palace (Udaipur), Mehrangarh Fort, Lake Pichola, and Pushkar Lake, along with the possibility to stay in royal heritage hotels.

[jaikumarmanufacturer]

Adorning the World: Elevate Your Jewelry Business with Grow Business for Sure

In the realm of jewelry, where craftsmanship meets creativity, the quest for the perfect partners is an integral part of the journey. For businesses aspiring to flourish in the jewelry industry, Grow Business for Sure emerges as a beacon. As a B2B business directory, it seamlessly connects Indian jewelry manufacturers, jewellery wholesalers, jewelry exporters, and more. In this blog, we explore the glittering world of jewelry and showcase how Grow Business for Sure can be the catalyst for success in this exquisite industry.

Crafting Elegance: Indian Jewelry Manufacturers

India has long been celebrated for its rich heritage of jewelry craftsmanship. Grow Business for Sure recognizes the artistry that Indian jewelry manufacturers bring to the table. The platform acts as a virtual showcase, connecting businesses with manufacturers who specialize in intricate designs, quality materials, and cultural authenticity. From traditional pieces to contemporary creations, the directory ensures a diverse array of jewelry options for businesses worldwide.

Wholesale Wonders: Jewellery Wholesalers

The allure of Indian jewelry extends beyond borders, creating a global demand for wholesale options. Grow Business for Sure serves as a conduit, connecting jewellery wholesalers with manufacturers. This partnership ensures that retailers around the world can access a curated selection of wholesale Indian jewelry, allowing them to cater to diverse consumer tastes and trends.

Global Sparkle: Jewelry Exporters

In an interconnected world, jewelry exporters play a pivotal role in bringing the sparkle of Indian craftsmanship to international markets. Grow Business for Sure extends its reach by connecting businesses with jewelry exporters. This global network ensures a seamless exchange of exquisite Indian jewelry, enriching the global market with the beauty and cultural significance of these precious pieces.

Designs that Dazzle: Jewelry Designers

Behind every captivating piece of jewelry is the vision of a designer. Grow Business for Sure recognizes the contribution of jewelry designers and provides a platform for them to showcase their creations. The collaboration between designers and manufacturers ensures a continuous flow of innovative designs, keeping businesses at the forefront of jewelry trends and consumer preferences.

Wholesale Hub: Wholesale Indian Jewelry

The demand for wholesale Indian jewelry continues to rise, driven by its unique blend of tradition and modernity. Grow Business for Sure positions itself as a wholesale hub, connecting businesses with suppliers who specialize in bulk orders. This ensures that retailers have access to a vast inventory of wholesale Indian jewelry, allowing them to stock their shelves with a variety of styles and price points.

Connectivity in Carats: Jewelry Suppliers

A vital link in the jewelry supply chain, jewelry suppliers play a crucial role in ensuring a seamless flow of products. Grow Business for Sure facilitates this connectivity, connecting businesses with reliable jewelry suppliers. This collaboration ensures that businesses can source the materials they need to create their own unique pieces or add finishing touches to existing designs.

Grow Business for Sure: Your Gateway to Jewelry Success

As a B2B business directory dedicated to the jewelry industry, Grow Business for Sure is not just a platform; it's a gateway to success. The platform's user-friendly interface and robust networking capabilities make it an indispensable tool for businesses aiming to establish or expand their presence in the global jewelry market.

The Future of Jewelry: Brilliance, Diversity, and Collaboration

In a world where jewelry is not just an accessory but a form of self-expression, the future lies in brilliance, diversity, and collaboration. Grow Business for Sure stands at the forefront, guiding businesses towards partners who can provide jewelry solutions aligned with these values. The platform is not just a directory; it's a key player in shaping the future of the jewelry industry, fostering a world where businesses can thrive by adorning the world with beauty and craftsmanship.

In conclusion, Grow Business for Sure is the compass that points businesses in the direction of jewelry excellence. Embark on a journey with Grow Business for Sure and witness the transformation of your jewelry endeavors, empowering them to shine brightly in a world that continues to appreciate the timeless beauty of Indian jewelry.

[gazette-change-of-name]

Overcoming Chaos: Your Comprehensive Checklist for a Smooth Name Change Transition

You've decided on a new name! Whether it's for a post-marriage glow-up, a corporate revamp, or simply accepting a new identity, changing your name may be exciting. But often, in the midst of all the chaos, a crafty gremlin that goes by the name of "logistics" may pop out of the shadows. Do not be alarmed, daring name-changer! To ensure a seamless shift and to slay that gremlin, use this extensive checklist.

      Getting Ready for the Paper Dragon:

Get your birth certificate and marriage licence; these are like keys to the kingdom of bureaucracy.

Apply for a new Social Security card with your new name. Because Social Security is the gatekeeper of all financial matters, give it top priority!

Driver's License: Hit the DMV and update your license – driving incognito with an old name is frowned upon (and illegal).

Passport: If you have wanderlust in your soul, update your passport. Remember, travel with the right name is less stressful than impromptu border interrogations.

Controlling the Beasts of Finance:

Banks and Credit Card Companies: Let them know that you have changed your name. There will be a delivery of fresh cards, guaranteeing easy banking.

Loans and Investment Accounts: Make sure your investments don't get lost in the name transition chaos. Refresh your information with lenders and brokers.

Mortgage and Property Deeds: Notify your mortgage lender of any property you own, and update your new name on property deeds.

Conquering the Communication Chimera:

Employer and Professional Organizations: Let your workplace and professional associations know about your new name. Update your email signature and internal profiles.

Utilities and Subscriptions: From phone bills to gym memberships, inform service providers about your new name. Avoid unwanted surprises, like internet bills addressed to someone else.

Tell your friends and family about it! Send out an email, post on social media, or give someone a call to announce your new name.

Bonus Tips for a Glittering Transition:

Create a master list: Track all organizations and accounts you need to update. Crossing them off feels like winning!

Be proactive: Don't wait for bills to arrive – be the name-change ninja and get ahead of the curve.

Embrace the double life: For a while, you might have two names in circulation. Patience and polite reminders are your allies.

Celebrate!: Changing your name is a big deal! Treat yourself to something special when the dust settles.

Name change after marriage

Name change after marriage, a deeply personal decision steeped in tradition and evolving personal identities, is a common yet complex process.

Passport change of name after marriage

Luckily, the process of a passport change of name after marriage is often straightforward, but knowing the steps involved can ensure a smooth transition.

Changing last name after marriage

The decision of changing last name after marriage is deeply personal, woven with threads of tradition, self-discovery, and commitment

Remember, this checklist is a customizable guide. Tailor it to your specific needs and celebrate your new name with confidence! With a little planning and organization, your name change can be a smooth and empowering journey. Now go forth and conquer that paperwork dragon!

[vphkvideoproduction]

Video Production in Hong Kong: Unveiling the Art and Expertise

Hong Kong, a bustling metropolis known for its vibrant culture and pulsating energy, has emerged as a beacon in the realm of Video Production Hong Kong. From the glittering skyscrapers to the tranquil landscapes, this cityscape has become a hub for creative minds and production wizards, showcasing an unparalleled fusion of Eastern aesthetics and Western influences. If you seek a captivating narrative brought to life through visuals, Hong Kong stands at the forefront, offering an array of talents and resources to transform concepts into cinematic masterpieces.

The Tapestry of Hong Kong Video Production

Blend of Tradition and Innovation

In the heart of this bustling city lies a creative tapestry where tradition intertwines seamlessly with innovation. Much like the city itself, video production in Hong Kong thrives on the convergence of the old and the new, leveraging age-old techniques while embracing cutting-edge technologies. It's akin to crafting a symphony where traditional instruments harmonize with futuristic beats, creating an unparalleled audiovisual experience.

Diversity in Expertise

Hong Kong, often touted as the melting pot of talents, is home to a diverse pool of video production experts. From visionary directors to skilled cinematographers and adept editors, the industry hosts a rich ensemble of individuals who breathe life into scripts and concepts. Like a well-rehearsed orchestra, these professionals synchronize their skills to orchestrate seamless productions, each contributing a unique note to the final composition.

Innovation-driven Approach

Innovation is the heartbeat of Hong Kong's video production landscape. With access to state-of-the-art equipment and avant-garde techniques, creators here push the boundaries of imagination. They transform mundane scenes into mesmerizing visual feasts, akin to an artist wielding a brush to turn a blank canvas into a captivating masterpiece.

Unveiling the Essence of Hong Kong's Video Production Studios

Exquisite Studios

In this bustling metropolis, video production studios serve as sanctuaries of creativity. These studios, akin to laboratories of imagination, are equipped with cutting-edge technology and offer a myriad of services ranging from pre-production planning to post-production finesse. Picture a potter's wheel where ideas are sculpted and refined into cinematic marvels.

Cultural Inspiration

What sets Hong Kong's video production apart is its ability to draw inspiration from the city's rich cultural heritage. The fusion of Eastern philosophies and Western influences is evident in the storytelling and visual aesthetics, creating a unique tapestry that resonates across borders. It's akin to savoring a blend of diverse flavors in a culinary masterpiece - each ingredient adding depth and character to the final dish.

The Impact and Reach

Global Influence

The videos born from the dynamic production houses of Hong Kong transcend geographical boundaries. They captivate audiences worldwide, transcending language barriers through the universal language of visuals. Much like a compelling novel that enthralls readers regardless of their background, these videos weave stories that resonate deeply with viewers globally.

Business and Branding

For businesses seeking to establish a compelling brand presence, Hong Kong's video production prowess offers a gateway to success. The captivating storytelling and high production values elevate brands, forging emotional connections with audiences. It's like crafting a signature scent that lingers in the minds of consumers, creating an enduring brand identity.

Conclusion

In essence, Hong Kong's video production landscape is a symphony of innovation, tradition, and cultural richness. It's a realm where skilled artisans craft visual tales that transcend boundaries and captivate hearts. Like a tapestry woven with threads of creativity and expertise, Hong Kong stands tall as a beacon of excellence in the art of video production, beckoning creators worldwide to join this mesmerizing journey of storytelling through visuals.

[holidayspackagesglh]

From Bollywood to Hollywood: Exciting USA Tour Packages for Indians

Lights, camera, action! If you've ever dreamt of walking down the same streets as your favorite Bollywood or Hollywood stars, this blog post is your golden ticket to an unforgettable adventure. We present to you an exciting array of USA tour package from India, bridging the gap between the glitz and glamour of Bollywood and Hollywood. Let's dive into the enchanting world of cross-cultural exploration and cinematic magic with these carefully curated USA tour packages!

Lights of Bollywood: Exploring the Heart of Indian Cinema

When it comes to Bollywood, the magic unfolds on the big screen, showcasing vibrant dance sequences and captivating storylines. Begin your USA tour package from India with a visit to Hollywood's Bollywood District, where the Indian film industry's influence is beautifully celebrated. Stroll through the Walk of Fame, adorned with the handprints of Indian actors who have left their mark in Hollywood. Immerse yourself in the rich history of Indian cinema at the Hollywood Museum, a treasure trove of memorabilia that pays homage to the Indian artists who've made a mark in Tinseltown.

A Star-Studded Affair: Hollywood's Glittering Lights

As you transition from the dazzling lights of Bollywood to the glittering allure of Hollywood, prepare to be star-struck. Your USA tour package from India includes a VIP tour of iconic film studios, offering a sneak peek into the making of your favorite Hollywood blockbusters. Feel the rush of excitement as you stand on the same sets where legendary films were brought to life. Capture the moment with a photo beside the iconic Hollywood Sign, an emblem of the entertainment industry's grandeur.

From Mumbai to Manhattan: The Best of Both Worlds

Pack your bags and get ready for a seamless transition from Mumbai's bustling streets to the vibrant energy of Manhattan. Your USA tour package from India isn't just about the glitz and glamour of the film industry – it's a holistic experience that combines the best of both worlds. Indulge in a Bollywood-inspired dance workshop in the heart of New York City, surrounded by skyscrapers that echo the grandeur of Mumbai's film city. Unwind with a Bollywood-themed dinner, savoring flavors that bridge the culinary gap between two continents.

Cinematic Landscapes: Exploring the USA's Bollywood Backdrops

As you traverse the picturesque landscapes of the United States, you'll discover that the country serves as the perfect canvas for Bollywood's breathtaking backdrops. Your USA tour package from India includes visits to locations that have played pivotal roles in Indian films. From the Grand Canyon, which served as the backdrop for Bollywood blockbusters, to the charming streets of San Francisco, immortalized in numerous song sequences, each destination tells a cinematic story of its own.

VIP Access: Behind-the-Scenes Hollywood Experience

Get ready for an exclusive behind-the-scenes adventure with your VIP access pass to Hollywood's most coveted attractions. Walk in the footsteps of your favorite stars at Madame Tussauds Hollywood, where lifelike wax figures bring celebrities to life. Take a private tour of Universal Studios, witnessing the magic of movie-making up close. Your USA tour package from India isn't just a vacation; it's a front-row seat to the spectacle of Hollywood's entertainment industry.

A Culmination of Cultures: Bollywood and Hollywood Fusion

As your USA tour package from India reaches its climax, revel in the fusion of two distinct cinematic cultures. Attend a Bollywood-Hollywood fusion concert that brings together the best of both worlds. Witness choreographed performances that seamlessly blend the grace of Bollywood dance with the contemporary flair of Hollywood choreography. It's a celebration of diversity, creativity, and the universal language of cinema that transcends borders.

Conclusion: Lights Out on an Unforgettable Adventure

In conclusion, these USA tour packages from India offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to traverse the landscapes that have shaped the cinematic narratives of both Bollywood and Hollywood. From the star-studded streets of Hollywood to the vibrant energy of Manhattan, each destination adds a new dimension to your journey. So, pack your bags, grab your camera, and get ready to embark on a cinematic adventure that transcends continents and captures the essence of two of the world's most iconic film industries. Lights out on one chapter of your life, and action on the next – your Bollywood to Hollywood USA tour awaits!

Must Read: From Taj to the Tower: Europe Tours for Indian Travel Enthusiasts

[belerencodex]

The Elemental Planes

Arrush: Plane of Fire

The elemental plane of fire, Arrush, is a heavenly body just slightly smaller in size than Beleren itself. This slight difference in scale is made up for in the blazing firmament that envelops the sky, a brass ring of mind-bending proportion encircles the plane, the solar portal set into it like a jewel in a crown, rotating once across the passing of a year.  This band of brass acts as a barrier between two rippling curtains of fire, across the northern sky the blazing light burns pale blue, across the southern sky it burns bright gold.  The planet below bakes under this perpetual firestorm and as flames belch and ripple off of them they create clouds of burning ash and embers that roar over the landscape below, a landscape of lakes of molten gold and seas of lava. The plane is pockmarked with volcanos that erupt frequently. Earthquakes plague the plane, ripping deep fissures that bubble up molten metals from the core of the plane and clouds of poisonous gas. Of the elemental planes, Arrush is the closest in terms of proximity across the Astral Plane to Beleren, it burns brightly in the night sky shifting as it tilts and twirls from gold to blue light and back, meandering in a looping pattern in its orbit.

Kaletphai & the Brass Bazaar

Stable portals to the planes other than Azfealar and the Feywild are rare in the history of Beleren. Dragons in particular do not easily allow their existence, but in the modern age of the Material Plane there is one large and notable exception. In the heart of the capital city of Kulvin, Bayuz, there is a huge gate in the middle of a wide square. The gate is made of huge blocks of polished black lava rocks, the bubbles and ripples across it’s uneven surface have been filled in and smoothed out with brass through magic and alchemy. In the face of each stone, set into the surface are large squares of carnelian and glimmering opal intaglios. Inset in this door are a pair of immense brass doors covered in reliefs showing images of legendary Efreeti warriors and sultans encrusted with rubies. This is the Kaletphai Gate, through this portal is an identical gate constructed in Arrush. This gate lies the heart of a parallel city of the name Kaletphai. The gate is only active in the summertime, but on the first day of summer it swings open and a procession of merchants of the exotic races of Arrush parade through the streets of Bayuz. Kaletphai is a city of Efreeti nobles and Azer merchants ruling over a broad swatch of Ifrit, Azer, fiendish, even fire dragon slaves. The elites of this city of immense palaces of glittering steel and bronze and sweltering tenements of seamless stone and iron fences and gates is the cultural hub of Arrush, while many more Efreeti live beyond its obsidian walls in their own estates, travelers from across the planes come to Kaletphai to trade all manner of goods in the infamous Brass Bazaar where anything from an angel’s soul to relics of long dead giant kingdoms can be found there.

The Crawling Fortresses of the Azer

The proud and orderly Azer live in extremely disciplined societies of rigid caste systems, members of higher castes have total ownership of those of the lower levels, creating a broad division in society between the slave castes and the ruling castes. At the highest levels of the slave castes are the Janissaries, warriors bred and raised from birth to fight and die for their masters. At the bottom are the Sullies. Most of the Azer live in titanic mechanical cities that crawl across the plane on hundreds of spider-like legs, rolling treads, or in rare cases sail across the lava seas with the aid of ships with tungsten plated propellers and hulls. The Sullies are the lowest level workers of Azer society, often among their ranks are prisoners of war in the frequent skirmishes between different Azer clans, dishonored masters, and criminals, and those born to Sullied parents. They work in the fast moving and dangerous gears that drive the engines and locomotion of their mobile bastions, stoking furnaces, repairing mechanisms without ceasing operations, climbing up chimneys to scrub out soot buildup, and handling waste disposal and recycling in the city. In the ranks of the masters, the Goldbloods form the ranks of the merchants, the lowest level of masters, they do not actually create or produce anything that Azer society respects or requires, trade with other races is often seen as a grudging necessity, something of an embarrassment to a clan to admit they need things they can’t make themselves. At the highest ranks of the Azer’s master castes are the Steelbloods, this master-crafter caste value invention, engineering, and order above all else. Steelbloods are required to learn their bloodline’s craft and prestige is tied largely to the quality of their inventions and the products created by the slaves in their factories. The Azer weren’t always this way, millennial ago they were conquered by the Efreeti and for generations they endured harsh treatment at the hands of the genies, after finally achieving their own independent societies they turned on each other though, those Azer who had risen to wealth and power didn’t free their slave brethren, instead creating a social system that told them that they owed their labor the the clan and to the glory of their race.

The Furnace Hills of Zilektak

Deceptively the highlands hills of Zilektak seem almost like a place in the Material Plane, the soft sides of sandy-soiled ridges and the broad, flat valley basins they surround are covered over in brown grasses, on Beleren one might expect this to be grasses withered in the dry heat of summer, the Ktaki Grass though goes through it’s entire life cycle looking like the hem of brittle tindergrasses one would find bordering blasted deserts. In the life cycle of this grass it’s only water comes in the form of short bursts of steam and mist from geysers that dot the landscape, all it takes is a single rain though and Ktaki grass will burst to life, growing quickly in brittle, dry clumps with fluffy seed pods clinging to the tallest strands. Wild winds carrying embers from distant places and lightning strikes from the fast-moving ash clouds overhead spark fires that burn Ktaki grass as fast as it grows, creating a constantly shifting tapestry of flaming lines, charred and blackened fields of burnt grass, and fresh blooms of dry, tan grasses under clouds of water vapor. This land of constant upheaval is a peculiar wonder of Arrush as well as being the stomping grounds of the marauding hordes of the vicious Salamander race, serpentine bodied humanoids who lay broods of eggs pools of magma in the volcanic mountains that overlook Zilektak. Salamanders are hateful and warlike, sometimes taking contracts to serve other races, sometimes launching campaigns against other natives of the plane or against members of their own race. There is no record of them ever invading Beleren but some suggest this is simply because nothing written down would be left after it.

Rizvadi and the Rebel Seven

At the heart of the lava sea that covers much of the surface of Arrush lies an immense structure of seamlessly shaped metal. A citadel of gleaming tungsten with walls hundreds of feet tall, tall spires of metal that seems shaped as if by the hand of a blacksmith of unimaginable size. At the highest point at the center of the citadel the tallest tower reaches upward to the roof of the plane, a staircase on the top most level rises up into the open air reaching high enough that one could step through it to cross through the solar portal when it spins into place once per circuit. This is the impenetrable fortress known as Rizvadi, home of the Suriyan insurrection known as the Rebel Seven. In one of his many journeys, the Prophet Suriyan came to Arrush and found audience with the ancestors of those ifrit who had converted to the new faith. Few denizens of the plane were willing to listen to the doctrine of peace and coexistence with the other planes. But there were those with whom it struck a chord. Four Efreeti nobles whose lineages had fought valiantly for the Suriyan cause converte. Suriyan showed the principles of his egalitarian class system to the Azer, at each fortress he visited the Steelbloods gnashed their teeth and cursed him as a radical bringing disorder and discontent but among the oppressed there were those who felt the call of a better life. Eventually four heroes of the slave castes of the Azer led exoduses from their fortresses, for many years this collection of anarchists and heretics wandered as hunted, reviled nomads wandering the far reaches of Arrush. But eventually they found salvation in friendship, Suriyan practicioners from Ovsk and Tannishai crossed through the solar portal, Djinni monks and wizards defended the lesser members of the Suriyan heresy of Arrush and ferried them to safety in the tungsten citadel conjured into being by the metalcraft magics of the Shaitan. The Rebel Seven and their kith and kin have held this mighty fortress ever since against countless assaults by their many enemies. Among their ranks are many legendary warriors and masters of martial arts who great heroes of Rijan have taken epic journeys to train with.

The Oridao Desert

Across much of the southern hemisphere of Arrush is a nearly empty desertscape. It was in the deepest depths of this vast sea of dunes that the first Suriyan heretics hid from their pursuers. The sands of Oridao are a mixture of glass silica and powdery ash dotted with pumice stones. Fire cyclones spin across the vast emptiness of this desert realm leaving long scars of glittering glass and smouldering ash in their wake. By curious chance the two sands of Oridao don’t mix naturally, the winds may pick up and blow some amoung across the surface but underneath the dunes and sandstone bluffs are striped in pale yellow and black ripples that become clearly visible flying overhead. Phoenixes, one of the few pure souled creatures of the plane make their nests out of shaped glass here and became a great symbol of hope for the wandering Suriyans in their time of peril. Other than that little else lives out there except mindless golems of sand and desert glass and mephits. Some say there is a city lost beneath the sands, a city of clockwork automatons of brass, mechanical beings that slew their creators and began to create their own society. For a time they ruled the plane from their desert citadel, crafting the great ring that now holds the solar portal in stable orbit. It’s said that before that it had spun and weaved wildly across the sky, sometimes crashing into the plane’s surface and fracturing the already fragile tectonic planes to create even greater waves of chaos. It’s not known what exactly caused the downfall of these ancient automatons but legend says simply one day the desert swallowed them up, pulling their wondrous city deep beneath the surface, lost for eternity. Stories of treasure maps and sightings of metallic towers stretching up out of the sands have haunted the planes for millennia, tempting demons, angels, and mortals alike to their ultimate demise

[annami84]

FISH TANK FRIEND 

All Mr Martinelli wanted was some peace and quiet. A pause from the ebb and flow, the wheeling and dealing that his job as a global executive required. A place to which he could retreat, breathe and just be. A place where the world didn’t trickle in and where he could take a break from being in the constant process of civilization-building, if but for a little while. Money was no issue. It was nigh on his only non-issue, and between global meetings and business trips he’d hired a renowned real estate firm, of which his colleagues and peers in the industry spoke warmly. He hadn’t had time to make his own inquiries, but in a city like Buenos Aires and a country like Argentina what difference would it make? The only people you could really trust were family and friends. The real estate agent had been exasperating, even for someone in property, utterly lacking in style or finesse. He answered his cell phone each time it rang, as if to demonstrate his own importance and he took the first opportunity to shake his watch out from under his garish shirt cuff just to brag about how much it had cost. Martinelli suffered through a number of meetings with this unbearable man, who was conducting a personality assessment by way of asking him to point at various architectural models, drawings and images of design hotels that all had the same eggplant-colored accent walls, muted spot lighting, and fluffy chalk-white towels.

After the agent had taken stock of his income and his foreign bank accounts, he’d had to enumerate his wives-children-lovers and the in-laws who might be expected at Sunday barbecues on the terrace in order to establish how large the property should be. Then he’d jokingly asked if Martinelli was one of those many men who potentially enjoyed tying his wives/lovers/visiting friends to the headboard, if a private gym was of interest or if the communal one in the basement would suffice. Finally the cascade of questions came to an end and a few options finally floated to the surface.

Throughout the whole process he’d been clear about the apartment having to be new, not some fusty upper-middle-class fin de siècle colossus where you’d have to deal with confused old ladies knocking on the door, asking to speak with their deceased husbands or the spirits of grandparents still sweeping over the parquet floors. Newly built, shiny and empty was the ticket. The future was his melody. He wasn’t interested in having to contend with another person’s style or their wear and tear, or Argentina’s many historical skeletons in the closet, for that matter. There were few things he despised as much as this country’s interminable folklore, which only served to impede all progress and development. Even a freshly newborn baby seemed to long for a return to its mother’s womb or out into some two-century-old gaucho-ridden field rather than for its own bright future, and therefore the country’s eternal curse seemed to be reborn with each curly brown-haired, attention-seeking child. This was of course one of the main reasons he’d never settled down, much less had anything to do with any of the country’s hysterical women whose entire identity seemed to be based on a love for all these frustrating mini-nostalgias.

 Once the papers were signed and he was turning the key in the lock of his dream property for the first time, he was grateful for the agent’s exhaustive lines of questioning. They’d paid off: the apartment was perfect. Open plan, like in the loft he’d had in Singapore, a large American kitchen with a glossy black bar for quick breakfasts and an airy Scandinavian dining room. Connected to it was a living room, guest room and a glassed-in winter terrace featuring a built-in bath tub with jacuzzi jets. The view was of a few still unfinished gated-community skyscrapers that formed a protective crescent around his building and beyond them was etched the rest of the city’s skyline. He walked through the silent rooms, stopping to admire the view, enjoying the empty rows of living rooms across the way. He caught himself wishing they’d never finish construction. That their windows would never light up.

It was only when he sank with relief into his large Patagonian leather sofa that he, perhaps for the first time, understood how substantial his new home in fact was. The leather pillows didn’t seem to react to his body weight; it was nothing but a feather to them. Surely they would become more comfortable with time. After all he’d been the one who’d asked for brand new everything, so he should be nothing but pleased. He went to the bedroom where the king-size bed reigned, flawlessly made with pressed Egyptian silk sheets. He stood in front of it, thought for a second, then jumped. Soft and yielding, it received him, embracing his body. He sighed with pleasure, folded his hands over his chest and looked up at the ceiling. Enjoying the bright chalk-white paint and the lamp’s sharp lines. If only Argentinians could learn to appreciate clean lines. Would they then realize the problem with their labyrinthine roads and grandmother’s threadbare pillows? He sighed and let go of the thought as though it were an umbilical cord and let it sail away through the air. He had promised himself that this home would be a free zone. A place where these eternal unanswerable questions would be put out of his mind. He went out to the winter terrace and turned on the bathtub tap. It bubbled, churned and hissed, but no water came out. He kept turning the tap until it wouldn’t turn anymore, turned it back, pressed and prodded the buttons and knobs. Spotlights embedded in the floor lit up, the radio turned on and started bouncing between Sting, Buddha Bar and Miranda Mirandola’s repulsive horoscope show. He pushed the same buttons to put a stop to it, but managed instead to raise the volume and lower the base. Miranda’s preaching and Sting’s illegal alien was blaring from several speakers. Desperate, he looked for a circuit breaker but the smooth, pure-white walls betrayed not the slightest bump, nook or groove. Heart-pounding, he ran into the living room and quickly shut the glass door. He swore under his breath and went to get a drink from the kitchen. Unsure if he would find anything, he opened the stainless steel refrigerator. It was full. Full of mineral water and various miniatures of plastic-wrapped cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, and salad dressing. Dejected, he grabbed a bottle of water. Why all of these milk-based salad dressings? Hadn’t he checked the lactose intolerant box in the interview? Made it clear that he never cooked at home, always ordered in? A nightmare scenario played out in his mind in which some service person had been charged with delivering pre-packed bags of groceries each and every day like some sort of unwanted extra mother. In the name of service. He’d be forced to have a word with that joker at the real estate firm — the man couldn’t have misunderstood his views about his private sphere to such a grave degree, could he? How much clearer could he have been about the outside world being unwelcome here?

 He downed the water and went to check on the monstrous alien-spacecraft of a tub he had out on the terrace. It was overflowing. He lurched open the sturdy sliding door, on a mission to save the glittering black stone floor and himself a future of feuds with neighbors and drawn-out legal action. He turned the tap in every direction as Miranda Mirandola’s soothing voice answered questions about how bad an idea it would be for a Virgo to date a Scorpio during Mercury Retrograde. The faucet wheezed, and he sank down next to the jacuzzi, the water wetting his pants. The black marble was seamless and seemed to have been hewn from a single piece. Of course he knew it was impossible with a surface area of this size, but he delighted in the illusion. Content, he ran his fingers over the delicate patterns, like pale wisps of fog caught in the stone. He was gripped by sudden fatigue and made for the bedroom, decided against brushing his teeth, crawled under the blanket and between the soft smooth sheets. The bed was enormous and his body felt small but safe in this bombastic environment and soon he was in a deep, calm sleep.

He woke up to the pattering of rain on the bedroom window. Layers of dark grey clouds hung around the skyscrapers and the helicopter pad on the nearby private Swiss hospital blinked red behind the crescent of buildings that marked the border of their sheltered utopia. Naked, he jumped out of bed, wrapped the thick but cool coverlet around him and stood by the window. Everything was cast in monochrome shadows down to the Swiss Medical building, which seemed to be spun in a cocoon of red thread. He opened a window and reclined in the lounger, a beautiful Danish design piece. He stretched out his legs and lay there until lunchtime became afternoon then early evening, not once giving a thought to the time. Out of the blue, he decided to start a water fast. He was barely aware that there was such a thing, but nonetheless decided to only drink water for a while. Three, four days? Maybe five? Chuckling at the absurd idea, he realized that he didn’t have to explain himself to anyone. Much less to the sky, rain, or horizon. They if anyone would know how beautiful the world could seem after water had spent a few days washing the debris and dust particles into the earth, making it possible to breathe again. Mostly the idea of the water fast came about for the sake of the apartment. So that the two of them would be at somewhat comparable starting points, both cleansed and reset. He dragged out a crate of Evian and laid back down in the lounger, anticipating nothing more than being thirsty or needing the toilet. He drank and drank, peed while humming and watched the rain pour down drizzle pause, only to time and time again summon the strength for yet another deluge.

Hungry but satisfied, he lay down to sleep. A few hours later he woke up to a rainbow, a burst of sunshine and thunder all at once. The gods must be crazy, he thought, happy to be installed in the completely un-crazy universe of his new apartment. He realized that establishing some form of routine in his new home was essential. At the very least, an end-date for the fast. He pulled on a pair of underwear, thought for a while, took them off and walked naked into the kitchen. On the American breakfast table was his iPhone. He felt an urge to smash it to pieces on the stone table, but collected himself, choosing to instead ignore the steady flow of beeps notifying him of updates, phone calls and urgent emails. Instead he cast an eye on the five-day weather forecast. The bad weather would last three days, which sparked the decision to end the fast then, too. He wondered whether he should seek out information on how to fast but realized that it went against the nature of the project and instead drank two bottles of Evian in a row. Thunder rattled the windows. He looked out over the room and what he saw made him scream in fright. A sea, a lake, a pool, a bright, monstrous surging aquarium had risen between him and his view of the sky and the uninhabited skyscrapers across from the winter terrace. Shocked, worried but alert he ran to the sliding glass door. Rain was splashing against the trim of the terrace doors but there was no indication that any had seeped through. The glass seemed to be braced and bulletproof against the hundreds of cubic meters of water that must have filled the terrace overnight. He was as though entranced by the water. Who was responsible for this? He himself or the bathtub? Was it still filling up? He stood very close to see if the water level appeared to be changing. The jacuzzi seemed dead, down to the lone bubbles of oxygen rising to the surface, which was at head height. Or wait. He pressed his ear to the glass. Somewhere in there Miranda Mirandola’s voice was still clucking, warped and slowed by the body of water. He listened tensely. What she was saying wasn’t audible but he decided it was in line with his wishes and new ideals. During an ad break he sat down on the floor, cross-legged.

It was an insensibly lovely sight. The stone floor emitted a melancholy darkness, the hazy skyscrapers glimmered beyond and Miranda Mirandola’s voice sounded like a gurgling mermaid. The beauty aside, he knew he had a problem. A big one. He wanted to keep his indoor ocean but the question was how slapdash a construction job was this, actually? Would the pressure from the water raze the terrace and flood his newly renovated dining room and kitchen? Would it trickle into the apartment below or form a lagoon on his kitchen floor? He pulled on a wrinkled shirt and dress pants and knocked on the downstairs neighbor’s door.   “Martinelli,” he said, reaching out his hand and introducing himself as new to the building. He inquired as to whether the neighbor might have noticed a leak in his apartment after the night’s heavy rain. The man chortled as he shook his head. “My, my, young man. You’ve only been here two days and already you’ve forgotten how much you’ve paid for this ironclad armored fort? This building has been constructed to withstand tsunamis, sieges from any great power, yes even mass invasions of the angry poor from the outskirts. Everything down to the tubes of glue was NASA certified.”

 Reassured, he thanked him, apologized for having taken up his time, went back to his place, and locked the door. Smiling, he neared the aquarium and stood reverentially in front of the glass walls. Humming happily, he played some music on the surround system. He turned the volume up to the max and danced a victory dance as if he and the indoor ocean had won a big multi-year contract  with a strategic global partner. Soon he noticed he didn’t really have much energy left after a day without food and took a break to fetch another Evian from the fridge. He knocked back the bottle, never taking his eyes off his ocean. He lowered the volume and started moving more slowly and rhythmically to the music. At first it was like his head was coming up with a move, which it then asked his body to carry out, but soon they flowed together as though there were no negotiation between body and brain. They worked seamlessly together. His smile grew wider and wider and he got more and more into it. His jumps were no longer hops, his arms no longer flapping and spinning on his toes stopped making him dizzy. He ran through his home and flung open the windows and the doors. He repeated each movement for the empty, unfinished living rooms across the way, cool evening air filtered through the open windows. Mid-movement he decided there was one song he simply had to listen to. Hot and slightly sweaty he thanked his maker for granting him restraint when he’d wanted to destroy his cell phone. He connected it to the sound system, pushed “repeat” and rushed back to the balcony. He took his place, in anticipation of the first beat. Michael Jackson’s first verse and the body’s response in dance. One arm. Then the other. Knees to the ground. Stranger in Moscow. Again and again.

I was wandering in the rain. 

Mask of life, feelin’ insane. 

He danced and danced until he collapsed in a pile of sobs on the floor. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes hard. Tried to calm his senses. He pulled his bone-weary self together and went to the bedroom. Took a seat on the bed, but changed his mind and dragged his coverlet down to the aquarium. He made his bed on the leather sofa and communed with the water. Tomorrow he’d call Miranda Mirandola with the lingering questions he had and then he’d see. Except for the water fast, everything was wide open. The rain storm would continue for another two days. by: Annamaria Olsson  translation: Saskia Vogel

[bk-lostintranslation]

Shoddy Shodō / Commentaries on Globalization

We prefer the foppish superficiality of the Japonaiserie to the more prismatic understanding necessary for Japonisme – because the latter rests on the premise of cultivating an understanding of others, and therefore of ourselves...

One needn't be a Zen philosopher to appreciate the elegant simplicity of Japanese calligraphy. An intriguing juxtaposition of stark yet subdued, there is an undeniable dynamism to the text that attests to the visual nature of Japanese aesthetics themselves.  More engaging still is the preparation and ritual imbued within the art:  the water poured into the dark slab of the inkstone, the hand-carved sumi ground against the edge of the basin, the translucent washi paper held down by paperweights, the elegant little compartments for paintbrushes and the rows of glossy ink bottles. During the lesson, when taking everything out and arranging it around the table, there was a pleasing sense of harmony – but also of playfulness, not unlike having a tea-party for dolls. The effect, in my case, was unfortunately spoiled when I first dipped my paintbrush into the ink – then immediately made an ugly blot on the paper.    

Considered one of the most highly regarded forms of Japanese art, calligraphy – or shodō – is perhaps as recognizably tied to Japanese culture as cherry blossoms, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, geisha, kabuki, Hokusai's The Wave or iconic shots of Mt. Fiji (Aato, et al, 2013). Yet this fascination and growing preeminence of the Japanese visual form abroad is by no means a corollary of the recent Japanization-wave that has seen the nation's culture surfacing as a global phenomenon. If anything, as far back as the nineteenth century, Japanese aesthetics have wielded a tremendous influence on their Western counterparts, beginning with the Meiji Restoration, when Japanese imports first began to trickle into European markets.  

Artistic motifs and geometric designs unique to Japanese art were emulated; Japonisme, as defined by Philippe Burty, became a veritable craze in the West. Everything from furniture, crockery, textiles, architecture and performance arts borrowed from stylistic elements unique to Japan. Cloisonne techniques were applied to vases and jewelry; furniture was ebonized to emulate the gloss of Japanese laquerwork (Ji & Ukai, 2013; Ono, 2005). Household names such as Degas, Cassatt, Bonnard, Manet and Van Gogh were inspired by Nipponese woodblock prints, whose refined simplicity and distinct use of figures, shadows, colors and compositions allowed for greater flexibility from traditional artistic conventions. Indeed, Van Gogh would go so far as to claim "...all my work is in a way founded on Japanese art" (Nute, 2000, p. 13)     

Today, vibrant skeins of Japanese art and culture continue to weave themselves through the fabric of daily life. Whether it is dining on gas-station sushi, flipping through the pages of a popular manga at the nearest Barnes and Noble, browsing online for Harajuku-inspired fashions (Milk, Bape, COMME des GARÇONS), sprintzing on the latest perfumes by Issey Miyake or Kenzo, gawping at Takashi Murakami's sakura-infused collaboration with Louis Vuitton – or practicing the ancient art of shodō all the way out in a Texas University – there is no denying that Japanese cultural and artistic trends have proliferated the unlikeliest places. Pink globalization, the proliferation of the kawaii, the superflat, the moe; earnest debates about the art of minimalism as embodied by wabi-sabi, academic works on the iconography and semiotics of anime – the sheer scope of Japanese aesthetic concepts abroad is testament to their transnational allure.      

For many, this enjoyment of all things Japan stems from the nation's protean and hybrid culture itself – one that absorbs multiple outside influences and reinvents them into something undeniably its own. Others argue that this very fixation – almost a fetishization – of all things distinctly Japan-flavored may not be a modern translation of adulatory Japonisme at all, but of the more unkind Japonaiserie, which refers to the superficial transference of Japanese style into Western art, but can also be applied to the broader typecasting of Japan as an exoticized wonderland within which commodity fetishism and orientalist idealization converge.   

The question, then, becomes:  is the image of modern Japan that is absorbed abroad today merely loaded with all the concomitant denotations of cultural otherness, similar to the Japan-fever saturating Europe decades before – or is this obsession with the 'authentic' ethos of Japan the true crux of the issue?   Jean Paul Sartre, of course, has argued that, "If you seek authenticity for authenticity’s sake, you are no longer authentic" (Daigneault, 2000, p. 25). Taken in that sense, true Japaneseness means little on its own. The very notion that in order for something – whether a concept or an object– to be considered Japanese, it must be rigidly and uniformly Zen or Shinto, or unspoiled by the diluting forces of globalization, is patently ridiculous. The different facets of Japanese aesthetics have long been imbued with both ancient philosophies and Western influences alike, in a bricolage that some have dubbed schizophrenic, others multivalent – but which remind us that Japan's relationship with modernization has not been a seamless overnight transition from rustic, Edo-period mura to the glittering neon-soaked streets of Ginza, but an ongoing, discordant and often self-contradictory process that at once borrows from, and lends itself to, external influences.   

Yet, no matter how multifaceted the origins of Japanese aesthetics, or how versatile their range – from a gorgeous Kabuki play of Aoi no Ue to a secondhand store selling lacy Gothic Lolita dresses to my own pitiful attempts at shodō without even a rudimentary inkling of its Zen tenets – the fact remains that these principles are translated as undeniably Japanese abroad (Berger, 2010; Dorman, 2016; McKevitt, 2017). More to the point, in crossing geographic and cultural borders, they become almost emblems of Japaneseness. They are consumed, copied, critiqued for that very quality – a fact that once again harkens back to Sartre's remarks on authenticity: If the self-conscious Japaneseness of these aesthetics is the root of their appeal, are they truly Japanese at all?  Or have they merely become hollow self-referential symbols – a Japan not celebrated as Japonisme, but its blander, shallower cousin of Japonaiserie, which posits pretty fluff and frippery as valuable based simply on their 'cool Japan' provenance?   

To be sure, these concerns have been raised before. Issues with nation branding and soft power have been brought up consistently when examining the worldwide dissemination of Japanese culture and aesthetics. Prominent theorists from Koichi Iwabuchi to Joseph S Nye have remarked on how the carefully crafted face of Japan abroad is meant to foster certain ideas and images; to render Japan a personality that is implicitly institutionalized, and to socialize the rest of the world to a particular viewpoint. Similarly, in her book Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, Christine Reiko Yano notes how works on nation-branding utilize the "language of marketing," and how the act itself is dependent on "the image others hold" (2013, p. 259).  In essence, by packaging itself abroad, the nation 'others' itself. It transforms its cultural legacy into a collectible object d'art. It can even be said that the very act of nation-branding is an indulgence in the nation's own objectification.  

While this strategy may seem workable from a marketing standpoint, with Japanese art and pop culture serving as a vital export and a tool of diplomacy (MacWilliams, 2015), there is also a disquieting whiff of the transactional that enters the equation – and in particular devalues the relationship between the aesthetic creation and its appreciator. Aficionados of Japanese art and tradition would like to believe that their relationship with the works they love and the nation they spring from is more nuanced than simply consumer and product. The very conception that it might be otherwise erases the link between not only the maker and the product but the seller and the consumer, devolving the cultural output into hollow merchandise unto itself.   In his work, The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts, Craig Hayden notes that,

While it is evident that culture appears to predominate in Japanese soft power, the application of culture, both in public arguments and embodied programs and initiatives, suggests a marked tendency toward objectification of culture through products ... [Yet] the value of culture for soft does not stem from its intrinsic capacity to convey deep-seated values or to establish credibility by demonstrating Japanese policy motives – culture "works" by providing a means of access to further engagement with Japan, as part of a fan community, as a student of language, etc. Culture in this sense reflects the networks of connection (2012).

With that in mind, it is difficult to envision that level of connectivity emerging from a purely commercial model of culture. It is equally difficult to imagine this particular strategy of soft power benefiting Japan in the long run. Playful lessons in calligraphy, zany volumes of manga, picturesque Zen garden kits and the frilly extravaganza of Lolita fashion subcultures are all intriguing facets of Japan in and of themselves. But they are not the entirety of Japan – and the very notion that they might be runs afoul of constructing the "Japanese social body as an imagined wholeness (McRoy, 2008, p. 93)." 

More to the point, this over-reliance on tired bromides and artistic stereotypes calls to attention the dangerous Orientalism tacit in both Western consumption of Japanese cultural and aesthetic input, and Japan's own marketing and masquerading of itself as a playground of the fantastical or eccentric – an act that precludes complex global discourse based on mutual learning as well as enjoyment. As Chitty, Ji, Rawnsley and Hayden note, the issue with Japan's formula of "glib branding schemes is the impossibility of capturing the full sweep of Japan's diversity..." and that "public diplomacy ought to be more profound than a beauty contest (p. 410-412)."   

This does not imply, of course, that Japan's efforts to promote itself on the global stage are without merit. As mentioned, Japanese art forms – from Kabuki to calligraphy, from video games to anime – are hailed as vital facets in a broader strategy for fostering both foreign policy and economic growth. Yet, the key to their commercial success, sheathed within pontifications of "cultural odorlessness", is a self-conscious localizatization, or perhaps even "glocalization", which impels Japan to tailor its culture as a product that best fits its contextual reception (Hayden, 2012; Iwabuchi, 2007).   To be fair, where marketization is concerned, culture becomes as easy to convert into a commodity as anything else. But the involvement of money flattens this mode of self-promotion by rendering it public – and by proxy, entrenched in the civic and legal hallmarks of consumption, as all merchandise is. The moment anything – an idea, an item, a sentiment – is placed on sale, its inherent value is measured solely in terms of its economic merit, and therefore its quantifiability.  

It was intriguing to note the internalization of this mindset during the calligraphy lesson. As fellow students grappled with their brushes and dribbled ink across the rice-paper (which, I confess, appealed to my horrid sense of schadenfreude), our chief complaints comprised of "Why isn't this easier?" – "I thought it would be more fun" – "Why aren't I instantly perfect at this?"    Yet, as the teacher was quick to remind us earlier in the lesson, calligraphy – as the purest form of ideography – requires kinetic grace as well as inner focus, neither of which are possible with a rigid composition, especially not on the first try. Easiness, fun and perfection are not the point of the endeavor – the process is. Yet the process is difficult to appreciate when one is accustomed to seeing their enjoyment of Japanese 'products' as transactional – no different from flipping through manga, or browsing the selection of anime on Netflix, or placing a Japanese BB-cream in an online shopping basket at Sephora.   

How does one immerse themselves in the conceptual complexities of an aesthetic when he or she is so used to viewing the culture from within an economic model, where even something as benign as a shodō class absolutely must, somehow, telegraph the entertainment value associated with Japan, as a place of "fantasy and difference? (Anheier, 2011, p. 277)   It is a reminder, that hand-in-hand with quantification goes decontextualization. That, in turn, brings us back to the dilemma of Japonisme versus Japonaiserie – within which commodity fetishism masquerades as exoticism, playing up to Western constructions of an enchanted but ultimately reductionist view of Japan. Learning about another culture should, in theory, be more broad-ranging and multi-faceted than that. There should be a sense of both parties engaging each other over the landscape of the art, the language, the history.      

Yes, we have crossed the point where conceptions of Japanese culture and aesthetics can be understood as statically mystical, existing in a space completely separated from politics or pedagogy. Yet we do ourselves a disservice by imbibing only prettily-packaged, surface-level tokens of would-be Japaneseness – and Japan's soft-power strategy a greater disservice for pandering to it.

Perhaps it is a dark casualty of globalization, to forge not connections but new methods for labeling the objects of our interest into purely superficial categories based on their consumptive appeal, because to examine them from a broader lens runs the risk of them examining us in turn. Far tidier and safer to classify each other, with meta-tags and marketing, into archetypes and icons to consume without any tangible outcomes of a bilateral exchange. Here is a Geisha in a colorful kimono, coyly twirling a parasol – an exoticized symbol of feminine Otherness as much as a performative embodiment of iki. Here is a cup of sake, sipped with no substantive appreciation for its quality, but for the mere fact that it is an extension of the would-be unusual smorgasbord of Japanese cuisine. Here is the shodō lesson designed to suit the American temperament – Zen-free and upholding no aesthetic stance beyond being a straightforward source of amusement.    It is easier to absorb the classifications posited by fetishized images of Japan, and Japan's internalization of that fetishization for marketing and nation-branding, so we can imagine we know the culture without actually knowing it, and to ourselves avoid being known. Why not, when classification conveniently precludes in-depth judgement?   

There is an inherent cowardice in this strategy of soft power – for both parties engaged in the dance. There is a shortsightedness to this act of self-definition which is dependent on flawed teleology and a trap of circular logic wherein culture is served up as a commodity to be devoured, yet the power and resonance in that strategy remains dubious at best, limited at worst. Or perhaps that is the point, because it allows for the luxury of atomizing another culture on our own terms, while conveniently avoiding the dialogic parity that can only emerge with each party possessing an equally strong and honest voice (Tabachnick & Koivukoski, 2004).  

We prefer the foppish superficiality of the Japonaiserie to the more prismatic understanding necessary for Japonisme – because the latter rests on the premise of cultivating an understanding of others, and therefore of ourselves, while the former provides an easy means to evade an external gaze that tells us something about ourselves we aren't comfortable with confronting. It is easier to project a one-dimensional persona into a realm of the same. It is easier buy into the delusion that we have hermetically sealed ourselves and others into an airtight wrapper of self-affirmation – and to cling to it with a blind, nearly onanistic tenacity.   

References

Anheier, H. K., & Isar, Y. R. (2011). Cultures and globalization: heritage, memory & identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Berger, A. A. (2010). Tourism in Japan: an ethno-semiotic analysis. Bristol: Channel View Publications.

Chitty, N., Ji, L., Rwansley, G. D., & Hayden, C. (2017). The Routledge handbook of soft power. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group.

Daigneault, P. (2000). Sartres early moral theory. Routledge. Abingdon, UK.

Dorman, A. (2016). Paradoxical Japaneseness: cultural representation in 21st century Japanese cinema. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hayden, C. (2012). The rhetoric of soft power: public diplomacy in global contexts. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Iwabuchi, K. (2007). Recentering globalization: popular culture and Japanese transnationalism. Durham: Duke University Press.

Ji, M., & Ukai, A. (2013). Translation, history and arts new horizons in Asian interdisciplinary humanities research. Newcastle: Cambridge scholars.

Macwilliams, M. W. (2015). Japanese visual culture explorations in the world of manga and anime. Abingdon: Routledge.

McKevitt, A. C. (2017). Consuming Japan: popular culture and the globalizing of 1980s America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

McRoy, Jay (2008), “The Horror Is Alive. Immersion, Spectatorship, and the Cinematics of Fear in the Survival Horror Genre,” Reconstruction, Vol. 6, No. 1

Nute, K. (2000). Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan: the role of traditional Japanese art and architecture in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. London : New York: Routledge.

Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: the means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs.

Ono, A. (2005). Japonisme in Britain: Whistler, Menpes, Henry, Hornel, and nineteenth-century Japan. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

Satō, S., Roshi, G. A., Fujiwara, S., & Sato, A. O. (2013). Shodo: the quiet art of Japanese Zen calligraphy: learn the wisdom of Zen through traditional brush painting. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.

Tabachnick, D., & Koivukoski, T. (2004). Globalization, technology, and philosophy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Yano, C. R. (2013). Pink globalization: Hello Kittys trek across the Pacific. Durham: Duke University Press.

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How can you enjoy your visit to the UAE with a 14 days UAE visa?

The United Arab Emirates is the most happening place on the globe. This centrepiece offers a huge range of entertainment, activities and sports for visitor and travellers to enjoy and explore. The UAE  is loaded with amazing local food and country-specific cuisines which are curated by world-class chefs. Food is the heart of Dubai. Easy availability of quick bites and dine-in options has made this place the most visited one for many years. Accommodations that suit all pockets are dotted almost everywhere in the UAE. Easy commuting on local transport has given many options to visitors that suit them according to their needs and requirements.

But the icing on the desert is the lucrative visa process. UAE offers 14 days UAE visa, 30 days UAE visa and 90 days UAE visa. It is extremely easy to apply for a 14 days tourist visa online. Most travellers opt for a 14 days UAE visa to experience the hidden secrets of UAE as the UAE 14 days visa fee does not dent the pocket. For a seamless experience on applying 14 days UAE visa online, there can be no better choice the www.instauaevisa.org.

This blog will guide you towards how you can enjoy your visit to the UAE on a 14 days UAE visa. You can plan your route according to the attractions and the emirates which you can visit to enjoy the same.

Let’s take off.

Burj Al-Arab, Dubai–

You can spend all day and night admiring the first man-made island hotel in Dubai. Pillared at a drive of 40 minutes from Dubai International Airport, this iconic structure on the Jumeriah Beach is a royal landmark in Dubai. In the day time, it offers an excellent backdrop for movies, photoshoots and sightseeing. You can also visit the Burj-Al-Arab by booking a table in the most stylish restaurant decked up with azure interiors, the Skyview Bar and restaurant. Dotted with real gold pillars in its interiors, world-class hand made carpets, uber crystal chandeliers and beautifully crafted tile designs- all of this allure the visitors to crave for more.

The hotel is built in the shape of an upright yacht, symbolising the ancient way of travelling and trade. Suites here are decorated with royalty next level. The atrium raises your brow with top and bottom view. The night beauty of Burj-Al-Arab will leave you in awe as it is all lit on the shore of Arabian Gulf. A stroll at one of the most pristine and beautiful beaches in Dubai, you will have prestigious neighbours like a wave-shaped hotel Jumeriah Beach Hotel and Burj-Al-Arab.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi–

If you plan to land at Abu Dhabi International Airport, you will have many reasons to stay there and enjoy the emirate. The most blingy attraction here is undoubtedly the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Washed in white marble with super fine craft in its interiors will be a soulful visit for you. UAE has a habit of creating world records. The mosque rolls out the world’s largest Iranian carpet beautiful enough to leave you awe-struck. The centre of this mesmerising structure glitters with Swarovski chandelier that leaves the shine of its crystals glowing at night. This attraction is a must-visit to witness the wonders of human skills and conversions of the ancient handicrafts. You must pay your visit to the library within the mosque. It holds eminent books on Islamic religion, science, arts, calligraphy, history of UAE and many such more.

Louvre, Abu Dhabi-

Another hot spot in this emirate that is worth admiring the engineering limits of raising a structure.Imperial artwork sourced from around the world is displayed here in the museum. The entire structure of the museum is erected by mind-bending architects and designers. A beautiful amalgamation of different cultures is witnessed here in the amazing artwork along with modern art, early history and contemporary sketching. Serene man-made water patches surrounding the museum act as cooler to the building as UAE temperature soar high in summers.

Jebel Jais, Ras-Al-Khaimah–

The highest mountain peak in the UAE is the Jebel Jais mountains. You can enjoy the mighty peaks on the world’s longest zipline in Ras-Al-Khaimah. The rouged hills spiking above the clouds gives trekkers and hikers an adventure of a lifetime. A one hour and 20 minutes drive from Dubai is all that it takes to reach this emirate. The drive itself is extremely thrilling. While you ride up the Jebel Jais, roads snaking their way to the top leave you breathtaking, giving you the feel of the Fast and Furious atmosphere. Recently, the roads have been developed to accommodate travelers driving their way to the mountains for adventure activities. Days are pleasant but nights are chilly here.

Sharjah Arts Museum, Sharjah–

This emirate has been christened by the UNESCO as the Cultural Capital of the UAE. The most significant museum in the UAE which is dedicated to Arts is the Sharjah Arts Museum. An hour drive from Dubai International Airport is worth for ancient and art lovers. Museums in the UAE are big and dense learning centres about Islamic Culture and religion. Prominent painters from the Arab world and outside have their artworks displayed here. The place hosts exhibitions throughout the year attracting a large number of art lovers.

Jebel Hafeet, Al Ain-

The second highest point in the UAE is Jebel Hafeet kisses two emirates- Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Due to its proximity to the Hajar Mountains, it is majorly a part of the UAE. A day trip is highly recommended to this summit. You can take the trip from either Abu Dhabi or Al-Ain. Just touching the Omani borders, this place has awesome vistas to offer to its visitors. An hour drive is good to accommodate your travel plans. Abundant desert views await their spectators paired with winding roads towards the top of the cliff.

Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation, Sharjah-

One of the finest museums and learning centres of the the UAE is the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation. Rare manuscripts, well layout exhibits of the Islamic empire in the early ages of Islam and religious documents excite history explorers to dig deep in the structure’s wealth. Situated in Sharjah, the building of the museum is quite spacious to accommodate visitors who wish to sit, relax and spend a good amount of time.

Al-Bidyah Mosque, Fujairah–

One of the country’s most important historical sites is the Bidyah Mosque. It is the oldest religious place for worship in the UAE. Standing since 1000 years, this mud structure was once a prominent place in the Islamic Golden era. The mosque is ell built in those time with proper ventilation systems and space to offer namaz. It is stationed in the small village and popularly known as ‘Ottoman Mosque’.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai–

The world record-holding structure is magnetic and majestic in personality. Hailing as one of the most prestigious addresses in the world, this structure has surpassed all engineering and architectural limitations. Spiking above the clouds hovering the blue skies of Dubai, the tower offers an Observation Deck for the curious eyeballs. You can view the spectacular borders of the country when the sand is down. Burj Khalifa is decorated with the Armani’s floaing on one of the floors of the tower. From its suites to its restaurants to its spas to its pools to its residential nests- this metal cone has gained fame and name multifold.

Beaches of the UAE–

This country is decorated with pristine beachline, giving the locals and visitors several options for entertainment. You should spend a day or two on the beaches of the UAE for adventurous activities and scenic views. You can see local out there for picnics, family outings, live events and concerts on the beautiful coastlines. Many four and five-star resorts have private beaches. So you have to carefully approach the blue waters to avoid breaching private spaces of patrons.

Deserts of the UAE–

Not only the water but the sand of the country has also hidden mysteries beneath itself. And at the same time, it offers high adrenaline sports o make your visit fun-filled. Desert safari’s, dune buggy rides, camping in the sand and enjoying ancint cuisine buffet are some things which should not be missed. Sunrises and sunsets in deserts are great story tellers. A hot air balloon ride can make your entire day.

Al-Bastakia Quarter, Dubai–

If you want space away from the city, Al-Bastakia will prove to be a heaven. High rugged mud walls with a small market of its own alongside restaurants and hotel accommodations- it’s an ancient city within a metropolitan city. Recently restored, the early days of the living style of UAE locals is experienced here. Coffee spots and calligraphy lessons are some of the gifts which can be taken away with pride.

Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi–

For car and speed lovers, this is a proven haven. Families and groups head to this spot to enjoy speedy fun-filled rides all tutored by Ferrari. For about 2 hours drive from Dubai, this place should not be missed. Booking of tickets in advance is recommended to avoid long queues.

Soak in Souks–

When in the UAE, souks are an excellent way to explore trade and commodities available in the country. Ancient style bricked wall alleys are ornated with local spices, local perfumes, attires, souvenirs and the list is too long to write. Just go and you will never regret it. The best way to approach souks in Dubai is through a Dhow Cruise. The most economic water taxi or water transport that will give you a good frame to learn the ways hoe earlier people use to travel and trade.

Your stay in the UAE on a 14 days UAE visit visa will be full of fun and frolic if design your itinerary keeping in mind the above hot spots.

Travel Safe.

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    The Pros

Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard

The Cons

Not as fast as other ultraportables; Quiet speakers

Verdict

Acer recaptures the throne for the world’s thinnest laptop while offering a vibrant display, comfortable keyboard and 4G LTE capability.

All hail the king! Acer’s Swift 7 ($1,699) is officially the world’s slimmest clamshell laptop, measuring just 0.35 inches thick. Somehow, Acer managed to fit a gorgeous, 14-inch display; a comfortable, full-size keyboard; and 4G LTE connectivity into that tiny frame. And despite having a thinner battery, the notebook squeezed out over 9 hours of battery life in our testing. But a few sacrifices had to be made at the altar of svelteness. For the Swift 7, it’s a pair of weak speakers and a 7th Generation Intel Core processor that trails the fastest ultraportables.

Design

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook. Weighing 2.6 pounds and measuring 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches, the Swift 7 makes the HP Spectre 13 (2.4 pounds, 12 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches), LG Gram (2.2 pounds, 12.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches) and Huawei MateBook X Pro (2.9 pounds, 12 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches) look thick around the middle. However, when it comes to weight, the Swift 7 is a middleweight compared to its competitors.

The Swift 7’s design is a marvel. Made of black CNC aluminum, the laptop is not only sleek but also surprisingly substantial. I didn’t feel an innate urge to chuck it as I did with the Lenovo LaVie Z. Instead, I spent a significant amount of time admiring the exterior, with its nearly seamless construction.

Thanks to its fanless design, the notebook looks like a single piece of metal, with the exception of the rear hinges and the glittering chrome Acer logo on the lid. Speaking of those hinges, they enable the display to lie flat at a 180-degree angle.

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook.

I particularly liked the Swift logo embossed at the back of the device and the way the bottom edges of the system thicken via an oh-so-delicate curve. Best of all, thanks to a special nano coating, the Swift 7 withstood the assault of my typically oily fingers, keeping a relatively pristine finish.

The laptop’s interior is just as captivating. The deck is also made of cool-to-the-touch black aluminum. The island-style keyboard is enclosed in a modest recess toward the top of the deck and is flanked by a fingerprint scanner with a diamond-cut border.

It’s a small, elegant touch that Acer employed on the touchpad and the display. My only gripe with the Swift’s design is that the webcam is mounted in the bottom display bezel (more on that later).

Ports: Welcome to the dongle life

When you’re working with a laptop as thin as the Swift 7, you’re going to take a hit in the portsdepartment. The Swift 7 has a pair of USB Type-C ports and a headset jack on its left side. On the right, there’s a power button and the nano SIM slot.

So what does that mean for folks looking to connect a mouse or an external hard drive? Dongles, dongles and more dongles. In addition to its power cord, the Swift 7 ships with a multiuse dongle that has a USB 3.1 port, a USB Type-C port and HDMI.

Display

The Swift 7’s svelteness doesn’t stop at the chassis. The 14-inch IPS panel is only 0.8 inches thick, and it’s topped with a 0.02-inch-thick pane of Corning Gorilla Glass. Acer has reduced the size of the top (0.38 inches) and side (0.36 inches) bezels, though they’re not as thin as the Dell XPS 13’s barely-there InfinityEdge bezels (0.2 inches). Still, I’m a fan of the vanishing-bezel trend.

Bezels aside, the Swift 7’s 1920 x 1080 screen is bright and bursting with color. When I watched the Support the Girls trailer, Regina Hall’s honey-brown skin glowed against her magenta top, while the sun played up the golden highlights in her hair. Details were crisp enough that I could make out individual strands of hair cascading in the sunlight.

The Swift 7’s display can reproduce a whopping 143 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That’s more vivid than the 111 percent produced by the HP Spectre 13, the 128 percent from the LG Gram and the 124 percent from the Huawei MateBook X Pro , and also better than the premium-laptop average.

When we measured the Swift 7’s brightness, it averaged 304 nits, which was just enough to top the 302-nit average and the Spectre 13’s 247 nits. The Gram was a little brighter, at 307 nits, but the MateBook was the brightest of all, at 458 nits.

When used as a touch screen, the Swift 7’s 10-finger capacitive panel is quick and responsive, keeping pace with my scribbles and doodles.

Audio

A thin chassis doesn’t typically make for big sound, and the Swift is no exception. Mounted at the bottom of the notebook, toward the back, the Swift 7’s pair of speakers are weak —  so weak, in fact, that they couldn’t fill my relatively small bedroom, even with the Dolby Audio software. I had to turn off my air conditioner to really hear Jazmine Sullivan’s “Let It Burn.”

MORE: The Best Laptops for Business and Productivity

Once I made the required adjustments, the keyboard and synths were pretty clear, with punchy percussion. Sullivan’s luscious alto poured out from the speakers, and yet I still felt like I had to get closer to really hear anything. In short, make sure you have a pair of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker handy when you’re listening to music or watching movies on the Swift 7.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Fingerprint Scanner

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the keys’ 1 millimeter of key travel (1.5 to 2 mm is the minimum), their 71 grams of required actuation force (we consider 60 grams the minimum) helped to create a bouncy typing experience on the island-style keyboard. I hit my usual 70 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. The white backlighting made typing in the dark pretty easy, since it sufficiently illuminated the text on the keys.

The most polarizing aspect of the Swift 7 is its Precision Touchpad. The 4.8 x 2.5-inch pad is pretty big and made of Gorilla Glass. My fingers had plenty of space to perform Windows multitouch gestures such as pinch to zoom and three- and four-finger swipe, and presses on the superwide space delivered a speedy, accurate response.

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised.

But outside of the touchpad’s silky-smooth feel and size, I believe many people are going to take issue with the lack of a click. That’s right; attempts to click on the bottom corners of the touchpad won’t deliver the expected right or left mouse button functionality. Instead, I had to adjust to double-tapping to get the desired effect, and I still haven’t figured out how to drag and drop.

Positioned along the left side of the keyboard, the fingerprint scanner lets you unlock your laptop using Windows Hello. Setup takes about a minute after you create a traditional password, and consists of repeatedly placing and lifting your finger on the scanner for approximately a minute.

Performance

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times. Intel’s Y-series chips are specifically built to accommodate fanless designs, but they tend to lack the power of regular U-series chips. It’s a decision that puts this ultraportable at a disadvantage compared to its peers. Still, I had no issues when streaming an episode from the second season of Luke Cage with a Twitch stream playing in one of the 17 other Google Chrome tabs I had open while running Windows Defender.

The performance deficiency showed as soon as we began running synthetic benchmark tests. On Geekbench 4, which measures overall CPU performance, the Swift 7 scored 6,011, which is far below the 10,946 premium-laptop average. Armed with their 8th Gen 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U processors, the HP Spectre 13, the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram achieved 13,090, 13,018 and 11,154, respectively. The Core i5 version of the Dell XPS 13 scored 13,254.

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times.

On our productivity test, the Swift 7 took 3 minutes and 1 second to pair 65,000 names and addresses — far longer than the 1:35 average. The MateBook completed the task in 1:49, the Gram took 1:19 and the XPS 13 finished in 1:15.

MORE: Which Laptop CPU is Right for You?

During the File Transfer test, the Swift 7’s 256GB NVMe SSD copied 4.97GB of mixed-media content in 19 seconds, for a speed of 267.9 megabytes per second.  That’s somewhat short of the 280.6-MBps average but still better than the Gram’s (512GB M.2 SATA drive) 169.6 MBps. However, the MateBook and its 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD was faster, with a rate of 282.7 MBps. The XPS 13 hit 339.2 MBps, nearly tying the Spectre 13’s 339.3 MBps.

Armed with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, the Swift 7 can play older titles such as BioShock Infinite. You can even play some Overwatch, but more graphically demanding titles, like The Witcher 3, are out of the system’s reach. The svelte device delivered 31 frames per second on the Dirt 3 test, which is slightly above our 30-fps playability average but a long way from the 70-fps average as well as the frame rates from the Gram, the Spectre 13 (Intel HD Graphics 620) and the MateBook (Nvidia GeForce GTX MX140), which hit 50, 57 and 117 fps, respectively.

When we ran the 3DMark IceStorm Unlimited test, the Swift 7 obtained 55,870. That’s not enough to match the Spectre 13 (75,114), the Gram (67,989), the category average (84,885) or the MateBook (116,359). The XPS 13 also scored higher than the Swift 7, at 77,584.

4G LTE

Ever been on a business trip when you needed to shoot off an important email, and the internet connection was incredibly spotty or nonexistent? Acer hopes to alleviate that pain point by adding a nano SIM slot so that the Swift 7 can have 4G LTE. And if you don’t have a nano SIM card handy, you can use the laptop’s embedded eSIM technology to get service via software.

In case you want to take the Swift 7 for a spin before you invest in another SIM card, Acer has teamed with mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Transatel for global cellular service. The laptop includes  a one-month free trial of up to 1GB, so you can get a taste of the out-of-the-box connectivity.

Battery Life

Because of the Swift 7’s tiny dimensions, I wasn’t expecting it to have good battery life, especially once I learned that the two-cell lithium-ion battery is 23-percent slimmer than standard laptop batteries. But the system lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

The Acer outlasted the 8:41 premium-laptop average and the HP Spectre 13’s 5:16, but both the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram lasted longer, with runtimes of 9:55 and 10:46, respectively The Core i5-powered Dell XPS 13 lasted 12:37 with its 1080p nontouch screen and 8:53 with its 4K display and Core i7 CPU.

Heat

No fan, no problem. Thanks to Intel’s ultra-low-power processor, the Swift 7 doesn’t get particularly hot. In fact, after 15 minutes of streaming a full-screen HD video, the laptop was well within our 95-degree-Fahrenheit comfort threshold. The touchpad measured 79 degrees, while the middle of the keyboard and bottom registered 80 and 84 degrees, respectively.

Webcam

I can’t even call the Swift 7’s 720p integrated webcam a “nose cam,” since it lacks the strategic angling of webcams on similarly skinny systems like the Dell XPS 13. Rather, the Swift has a torso cam, which cut my face out of the picture when I was sitting down but was positioned perfectly when I was lying down and typing in bed.

As for the actual photos, the color accuracy was on point, capturing the exact shade of blue of my bedroom walls and the varied gradients of wood in my headboard. The pictures were full of visual noise, which obscured fine details like the white flowers on my dress.

Software and Warranty

Acer preinstalled its usual suite of branded software, including Care Center, which lets you check system diagnostics and create and manage backups. You also get Quick Access, where you can enable or disable Bluelight Shield, which reduces blue light to protect your eyes, and Color Intelligence, which automatically optimizes the image quality based on what’s displayed.

Thanks to Windows 10, there is a bit of bloatware on board here, such as Drawboard PDF, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure and Dolby Access, which can enhance your headphone listening experience.

Bottom Line

In the battle for slim laptop supremacy, Acer has the industry’s number. The Swift 7 offers a stunning touch-screen display, a comfortable typing experience and over 9 hours of battery life in a shockingly thin design that’s lovely to behold and hold. However, for $1,699, I wish Acer had offered more performance oomph, as Intel’s ultra-low-power Core i7-7Y75 CPU isn’t as swift as the latest 8th Gen Kaby Lake processors.

For $1,499, you can get the Huawei MateBook X Pro, which offers better performance, a brighter display and longer battery life. However, that system is heavier and 42-percent thicker than Acer’s slice of tech. Overall, mobile professionals searching for the absolute slimmest notebook in the land should definitely snatch up the Acer Swift 7.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor Operating System Windows 10 Home RAM 8GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 256GB Hard Drive Speed n/a Hard Drive Type PCIe NVMe SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 14 Highest Available Resolution 1920 x 1280 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive None Optical Drive Speed n/a Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 615 Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Mobile Broadband 4G LTE Touchpad Size 4.8 x 2.5 inches Ports (excluding USB) USB Type-C Ports (excluding USB) Headset Ports (excluding USB) Fingerprint Scanner USB Ports 2 Card Slots nanoSIM Warranty/Support 1 year limited warranty Size 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches Weight 2.6 pounds Company Website http://www.acer.com

Acer Swift 7 (2018) Review

The Pros Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard The Cons…

Acer Swift 7 (2018) Review The Pros Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard The Cons…

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    The Pros

Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard

The Cons

Not as fast as other ultraportables; Quiet speakers

Verdict

Acer recaptures the throne for the world’s thinnest laptop while offering a vibrant display, comfortable keyboard and 4G LTE capability.

All hail the king! Acer’s Swift 7 ($1,699) is officially the world’s slimmest clamshell laptop, measuring just 0.35 inches thick. Somehow, Acer managed to fit a gorgeous, 14-inch display; a comfortable, full-size keyboard; and 4G LTE connectivity into that tiny frame. And despite having a thinner battery, the notebook squeezed out over 9 hours of battery life in our testing. But a few sacrifices had to be made at the altar of svelteness. For the Swift 7, it’s a pair of weak speakers and a 7th Generation Intel Core processor that trails the fastest ultraportables.

Design

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook. Weighing 2.6 pounds and measuring 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches, the Swift 7 makes the HP Spectre 13 (2.4 pounds, 12 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches), LG Gram (2.2 pounds, 12.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches) and Huawei MateBook X Pro (2.9 pounds, 12 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches) look thick around the middle. However, when it comes to weight, the Swift 7 is a middleweight compared to its competitors.

The Swift 7’s design is a marvel. Made of black CNC aluminum, the laptop is not only sleek but also surprisingly substantial. I didn’t feel an innate urge to chuck it as I did with the Lenovo LaVie Z. Instead, I spent a significant amount of time admiring the exterior, with its nearly seamless construction.

Thanks to its fanless design, the notebook looks like a single piece of metal, with the exception of the rear hinges and the glittering chrome Acer logo on the lid. Speaking of those hinges, they enable the display to lie flat at a 180-degree angle.

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook.

I particularly liked the Swift logo embossed at the back of the device and the way the bottom edges of the system thicken via an oh-so-delicate curve. Best of all, thanks to a special nano coating, the Swift 7 withstood the assault of my typically oily fingers, keeping a relatively pristine finish.

The laptop’s interior is just as captivating. The deck is also made of cool-to-the-touch black aluminum. The island-style keyboard is enclosed in a modest recess toward the top of the deck and is flanked by a fingerprint scanner with a diamond-cut border.

It’s a small, elegant touch that Acer employed on the touchpad and the display. My only gripe with the Swift’s design is that the webcam is mounted in the bottom display bezel (more on that later).

Ports: Welcome to the dongle life

When you’re working with a laptop as thin as the Swift 7, you’re going to take a hit in the portsdepartment. The Swift 7 has a pair of USB Type-C ports and a headset jack on its left side. On the right, there’s a power button and the nano SIM slot.

So what does that mean for folks looking to connect a mouse or an external hard drive? Dongles, dongles and more dongles. In addition to its power cord, the Swift 7 ships with a multiuse dongle that has a USB 3.1 port, a USB Type-C port and HDMI.

Display

The Swift 7’s svelteness doesn’t stop at the chassis. The 14-inch IPS panel is only 0.8 inches thick, and it’s topped with a 0.02-inch-thick pane of Corning Gorilla Glass. Acer has reduced the size of the top (0.38 inches) and side (0.36 inches) bezels, though they’re not as thin as the Dell XPS 13’s barely-there InfinityEdge bezels (0.2 inches). Still, I’m a fan of the vanishing-bezel trend.

Bezels aside, the Swift 7’s 1920 x 1080 screen is bright and bursting with color. When I watched the Support the Girls trailer, Regina Hall’s honey-brown skin glowed against her magenta top, while the sun played up the golden highlights in her hair. Details were crisp enough that I could make out individual strands of hair cascading in the sunlight.

The Swift 7’s display can reproduce a whopping 143 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That’s more vivid than the 111 percent produced by the HP Spectre 13, the 128 percent from the LG Gram and the 124 percent from the Huawei MateBook X Pro , and also better than the premium-laptop average.

When we measured the Swift 7’s brightness, it averaged 304 nits, which was just enough to top the 302-nit average and the Spectre 13’s 247 nits. The Gram was a little brighter, at 307 nits, but the MateBook was the brightest of all, at 458 nits.

When used as a touch screen, the Swift 7’s 10-finger capacitive panel is quick and responsive, keeping pace with my scribbles and doodles.

Audio

A thin chassis doesn’t typically make for big sound, and the Swift is no exception. Mounted at the bottom of the notebook, toward the back, the Swift 7’s pair of speakers are weak —  so weak, in fact, that they couldn’t fill my relatively small bedroom, even with the Dolby Audio software. I had to turn off my air conditioner to really hear Jazmine Sullivan’s “Let It Burn.”

MORE: The Best Laptops for Business and Productivity

Once I made the required adjustments, the keyboard and synths were pretty clear, with punchy percussion. Sullivan’s luscious alto poured out from the speakers, and yet I still felt like I had to get closer to really hear anything. In short, make sure you have a pair of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker handy when you’re listening to music or watching movies on the Swift 7.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Fingerprint Scanner

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the keys’ 1 millimeter of key travel (1.5 to 2 mm is the minimum), their 71 grams of required actuation force (we consider 60 grams the minimum) helped to create a bouncy typing experience on the island-style keyboard. I hit my usual 70 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. The white backlighting made typing in the dark pretty easy, since it sufficiently illuminated the text on the keys.

The most polarizing aspect of the Swift 7 is its Precision Touchpad. The 4.8 x 2.5-inch pad is pretty big and made of Gorilla Glass. My fingers had plenty of space to perform Windows multitouch gestures such as pinch to zoom and three- and four-finger swipe, and presses on the superwide space delivered a speedy, accurate response.

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised.

But outside of the touchpad’s silky-smooth feel and size, I believe many people are going to take issue with the lack of a click. That’s right; attempts to click on the bottom corners of the touchpad won’t deliver the expected right or left mouse button functionality. Instead, I had to adjust to double-tapping to get the desired effect, and I still haven’t figured out how to drag and drop.

Positioned along the left side of the keyboard, the fingerprint scanner lets you unlock your laptop using Windows Hello. Setup takes about a minute after you create a traditional password, and consists of repeatedly placing and lifting your finger on the scanner for approximately a minute.

Performance

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times. Intel’s Y-series chips are specifically built to accommodate fanless designs, but they tend to lack the power of regular U-series chips. It’s a decision that puts this ultraportable at a disadvantage compared to its peers. Still, I had no issues when streaming an episode from the second season of Luke Cage with a Twitch stream playing in one of the 17 other Google Chrome tabs I had open while running Windows Defender.

The performance deficiency showed as soon as we began running synthetic benchmark tests. On Geekbench 4, which measures overall CPU performance, the Swift 7 scored 6,011, which is far below the 10,946 premium-laptop average. Armed with their 8th Gen 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U processors, the HP Spectre 13, the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram achieved 13,090, 13,018 and 11,154, respectively. The Core i5 version of the Dell XPS 13 scored 13,254.

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times.

On our productivity test, the Swift 7 took 3 minutes and 1 second to pair 65,000 names and addresses — far longer than the 1:35 average. The MateBook completed the task in 1:49, the Gram took 1:19 and the XPS 13 finished in 1:15.

MORE: Which Laptop CPU is Right for You?

During the File Transfer test, the Swift 7’s 256GB NVMe SSD copied 4.97GB of mixed-media content in 19 seconds, for a speed of 267.9 megabytes per second.  That’s somewhat short of the 280.6-MBps average but still better than the Gram’s (512GB M.2 SATA drive) 169.6 MBps. However, the MateBook and its 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD was faster, with a rate of 282.7 MBps. The XPS 13 hit 339.2 MBps, nearly tying the Spectre 13’s 339.3 MBps.

Armed with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, the Swift 7 can play older titles such as BioShock Infinite. You can even play some Overwatch, but more graphically demanding titles, like The Witcher 3, are out of the system’s reach. The svelte device delivered 31 frames per second on the Dirt 3 test, which is slightly above our 30-fps playability average but a long way from the 70-fps average as well as the frame rates from the Gram, the Spectre 13 (Intel HD Graphics 620) and the MateBook (Nvidia GeForce GTX MX140), which hit 50, 57 and 117 fps, respectively.

When we ran the 3DMark IceStorm Unlimited test, the Swift 7 obtained 55,870. That’s not enough to match the Spectre 13 (75,114), the Gram (67,989), the category average (84,885) or the MateBook (116,359). The XPS 13 also scored higher than the Swift 7, at 77,584.

4G LTE

Ever been on a business trip when you needed to shoot off an important email, and the internet connection was incredibly spotty or nonexistent? Acer hopes to alleviate that pain point by adding a nano SIM slot so that the Swift 7 can have 4G LTE. And if you don’t have a nano SIM card handy, you can use the laptop’s embedded eSIM technology to get service via software.

In case you want to take the Swift 7 for a spin before you invest in another SIM card, Acer has teamed with mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Transatel for global cellular service. The laptop includes  a one-month free trial of up to 1GB, so you can get a taste of the out-of-the-box connectivity.

Battery Life

Because of the Swift 7’s tiny dimensions, I wasn’t expecting it to have good battery life, especially once I learned that the two-cell lithium-ion battery is 23-percent slimmer than standard laptop batteries. But the system lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

The Acer outlasted the 8:41 premium-laptop average and the HP Spectre 13’s 5:16, but both the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram lasted longer, with runtimes of 9:55 and 10:46, respectively The Core i5-powered Dell XPS 13 lasted 12:37 with its 1080p nontouch screen and 8:53 with its 4K display and Core i7 CPU.

Heat

No fan, no problem. Thanks to Intel’s ultra-low-power processor, the Swift 7 doesn’t get particularly hot. In fact, after 15 minutes of streaming a full-screen HD video, the laptop was well within our 95-degree-Fahrenheit comfort threshold. The touchpad measured 79 degrees, while the middle of the keyboard and bottom registered 80 and 84 degrees, respectively.

Webcam

I can’t even call the Swift 7’s 720p integrated webcam a “nose cam,” since it lacks the strategic angling of webcams on similarly skinny systems like the Dell XPS 13. Rather, the Swift has a torso cam, which cut my face out of the picture when I was sitting down but was positioned perfectly when I was lying down and typing in bed.

As for the actual photos, the color accuracy was on point, capturing the exact shade of blue of my bedroom walls and the varied gradients of wood in my headboard. The pictures were full of visual noise, which obscured fine details like the white flowers on my dress.

Software and Warranty

Acer preinstalled its usual suite of branded software, including Care Center, which lets you check system diagnostics and create and manage backups. You also get Quick Access, where you can enable or disable Bluelight Shield, which reduces blue light to protect your eyes, and Color Intelligence, which automatically optimizes the image quality based on what’s displayed.

Thanks to Windows 10, there is a bit of bloatware on board here, such as Drawboard PDF, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure and Dolby Access, which can enhance your headphone listening experience.

Bottom Line

In the battle for slim laptop supremacy, Acer has the industry’s number. The Swift 7 offers a stunning touch-screen display, a comfortable typing experience and over 9 hours of battery life in a shockingly thin design that’s lovely to behold and hold. However, for $1,699, I wish Acer had offered more performance oomph, as Intel’s ultra-low-power Core i7-7Y75 CPU isn’t as swift as the latest 8th Gen Kaby Lake processors.

For $1,499, you can get the Huawei MateBook X Pro, which offers better performance, a brighter display and longer battery life. However, that system is heavier and 42-percent thicker than Acer’s slice of tech. Overall, mobile professionals searching for the absolute slimmest notebook in the land should definitely snatch up the Acer Swift 7.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor Operating System Windows 10 Home RAM 8GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 256GB Hard Drive Speed n/a Hard Drive Type PCIe NVMe SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 14 Highest Available Resolution 1920 x 1280 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive None Optical Drive Speed n/a Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 615 Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Mobile Broadband 4G LTE Touchpad Size 4.8 x 2.5 inches Ports (excluding USB) USB Type-C Ports (excluding USB) Headset Ports (excluding USB) Fingerprint Scanner USB Ports 2 Card Slots nanoSIM Warranty/Support 1 year limited warranty Size 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches Weight 2.6 pounds Company Website http://www.acer.com

Acer Swift 7 (2018) Review The Pros Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard The Cons…

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Must Read: From Taj to the Tower: Europe Tours for Indian Travel Enthusiasts