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noblecrumpet-dorkvision · 7 years ago

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Monk Week: Martial Arts Styles

image credit: David Gaillet

There are many real-life examples of martial arts that you can pull from to describe your attacks and moves when roleplaying a monk. It’s definitely more flavorful to specialize in one technique so that other players can imagine how your character moves. A Muay Thai monk is going to move a lot differently than an Aikido monk. Think of how distinctly the four different nations in Avatar: the Last Airbender fight. There’s even a short behind-the-scenes video about them. Figure out what sort of style you want to use and that can help you flesh out your monk. Look up some tutorials on moves and styles unique to your martial art and use for your character! All it takes is watching a few online tutorials or demonstrations; it's not like we are giving up roleplaying to learn secret martial arts for forty years. Here is an exhaustive list of well-known martial arts that exist from around the world:

http://www.blackbeltwiki.com/martial-arts-styles

Here are some of my favorites (click the names for videos):

Aikido: Japanese. Focuses on evasion, joint locks, and redirecting attacks away from you. Looks sort of like dancing.

Bajiquan: Chinese. bursts of energy and powerful elbow strikes. Movement is slow and melodic but punctuated by powerful, lightning-fast strikes.

Canne de Combat: French. sporting cane fighting. I mostly just want to see a gentleman monk.

Capoeira: Brazilian. Dance fighting.

Hung Ga: Chinese. Many styles based on animals. (Crane, Dragon, Leopard, Snake, Tiger)

Iaijutsu: Japanese. Art of drawing a sword; many forms.

Kung Fu (Monkey): Ape-like movements to attack from surprising angles or to fool opponents into thinking you are off-balance. This is where the Drunken Master style comes from. Also if you haven't seen that Jackie Chan movie shame on you.

Kung Fu (Praying Mantis): Redirecting attacks, joint locks, pressure point strikes, and traps.

Muay Thai: Thailand. Kickboxing with powerful knee and elbow attacks. Also here’s some bonus Ong Bak

Sikaran: Philippines. Almost exclusively a kicking martial art, with arms and hands used only for blocking.

Taekkyeon: Korean. leg sweeps, high kicks, spiraling arm movements to confuse enemies, soft movements with powerful force.

Example: Drunken Fist

image source: Jackie Chan in Drunken Master

To give you an example of what sorts of notes you might take, I will do my own with a style that Wizards has already made a subclass for: the Drunken Fist. A lot of people will either be confused or upset I didn't go into detail about the drunken style this week so I might as well sate your hunger for it here. And here is a link to Wizards' stats for the drunk monk for those that were unaware of it. Note that I know close to nothing about martial arts. I am just a guy with access to Google.

Drunken Fist Techniques:

Daoist Style of the 8 Immortals (as seen in the Drunken Master Jackie Chan film). Names can be used for names of moves, words of wisdom, or roleplaying.

Lu Dongbin: leader of the immortals, magic sword on his back. Style involves swaying back and forth to trick the enemy. Fast punches that return to a pose as if holding or drinking from a cup. Move where he kicks behind him.

Li Tieguai: cripple with one leg and a cane. Style is mostly standing on one leg and tumbling. The standing leg is kept rigid and ahead of you while moving. Leg sweeps, drop kicks, and a weird jump-and-tumble while grabbing the rigid leg.

Han Khongli: carries a cauldron of wine. Style mimics this by always returning to a stance with arms outstretched before you as if holding the "cauldron." Though Jackie mostly just does a bunch of punching, Wikipedia says it involves powerful tackles, so use this when describing a grapple attack.

Lan Caihe: immortal with a bamboo basket. Has a “sudden waist attack.” Seems to be holding this imaginary basket higher than the cauldron god and with one hand in front of the other.

Zhang Guolao: the elderly donkey rider. Most of this style involves kicking but has some notable moves. An airborne spinning double kick that ends by falling to the ground face-up, then kipping up into a front flip. Another is with the body rigid on the ground, held up by one arm and hopping while the other arm punches. Another that seems usable for any style is bending over backwards and punching the enemy at chest-height.

Cao Guojiu: the young and clever immortal. Most notable moves were flips, including one flip with his hands behind his back. The Wikipedia says this style includes locks and breaking joints, as well as attacking vulnerable parts of the body. This seems like a drunken Praying Mantis style (based on description alone).

Han Ziangzi: the flute-player. Hands return to a position mimicking holding a flute. This form is often used in the film when blocking or deflecting attacks, mostly with the wrists. One notable move was a raging forward attack with flailing arms.

He Ziangu: Miss He, who "flirts with the enemy to cover her short-range attacks" according to Wikipedia. This is likely the key part of drunken fist, which is luring opponents into a false sense of superiority. Use this when getting up close and personal and for comedic moments. Twist the waist whenever you dodge an attack.

Jumping to the side and backward onto one knee, twisting the waist towards the jump, likely to engage someone who was to your side or while stumbling about the battlefield to suddenly engage a foe.

Named moves found on YouTube:

Lotus Nymph Scattering Flowers: one hand up and other down while waggling fingers.

Han Khonli Waving a Fan: slapping back and forth with one hand.

Attracting the Phoenix with the Flute: In the flute position but spinning backward in a circle to presumably dodge.

Goliath Offering Wine: Cauldron position spinning around for a punch.

General Guan Stroking his Beard: the move itself wasn't notable, more like a position. I would pretend this move is a barrage of attacks or deflections mimicking stroking a beard. The name sounded cool so it's gotta be used.

Other observations:

Snakelike waist movements

Circular arcs with outstretched arms while flailing.

Stumbling has a certain rhythm to it as the center of balance moves back and forth.

Lots of interaction with the ground via drop-kicks or fake-outs or leg-sweeping.

Always miming taking a deep swig to seem off-balance. In-game this can be done by actually carrying a drink in-hand.

Anyway those are the sorts of things I would keep in mind after researching a fighting style. It’s more of a martial ART anyway, so describing your monk’s attacks is more about capturing the feel of it than knowing exactly how to execute every last move.

Tune in tomorrow for some new homebrew subclasses for the monk! (no Drunken Fist but trust me there are some rad ones!)

#dungeons & dragons #monk week #monk #martial arts #D&D #roleplaying #DnD #dungeons and dragons #drunken fist #drunken master

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kcrabb88 · 7 years ago

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By Force of Friendship

Note: A little early, but since my workday is crazy tomorrow I wanted to go ahead and get this up since it was written. So here you go! My contribution for Barricade Day(s) 2017. Warning for....a lot of sads. I think a lot about how Enjolras was the last man standing and must have seen his friends fall, and this is the result of that.

The acrid, smoke drenched air reeks of death.

Yet as Enjolras knocks down a National Guard officer with the butt of his gun, life rushes through him. His heart smacks against his chest, his breaths rapid and ragged in his ears. Dawn breaks over the horizon, bathing the barricade in gold and red light, casting shadows in slices on the ground. His blood feels hot in his veins, every inch of him pulsing with feeling.

They were going to die.

His own words resound in his head.

Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.

He was going to die here. His friends, his family, were going to die here, too, unless a miracle occurred, unless the people of Paris suddenly came rampaging through the streets, rebellion in the swift approach of their footsteps.

But he doesn’t hear them.

But he thinks in the likely event he doesn’t survive the day, he’ll hear them from whatever lies beyond.

He believes that.

Pools of sunlight cut through the shadows at his feet, a reminder, a reinforcement of his belief.

The Corinthe stands ruined above him, the window shot through, glass fallen shattered to the paving stones below. Someone he can’t see presses another weapon into his hand. A broken sword, the blade cut off at the center, the hilt still fully attached. He keeps fighting, sweat dripping down his face and from the ends of his too-long blond hair, blood streaked across his knuckles, gunpowder blackening his palms. He fights and fights and fights, sometimes with the elegance of his canne de combat, and sometimes with the spirit of Bahorel behind the force of his swing, less refined, but no less effective. Thinking of Bahorel only makes him think of Prouvaire, and he slams the hilt of the sword into the nose of a national guardsman who approaches, knocking him to the ground.

The sword breaks, and someone hands him another weapon.

Things happen quickly.

He doesn’t even see Bossuet or Joly fall, only sees them through a break in the smoke laying side by side, their hands outstretched toward one another. The sight kicks him in the stomach, sucking the air out of him, but there’s no time to think, no time to grieve, no time no time no time because there’s another gunshot close by, whizzing past his ear, and then another, a familiar, subdued cry piercing the air, as if the person bites their lip against the sound.

Feuilly.

He flings himself low to the ground next to Feuilly, picking up his friend’s pistol from the ground and firing at the national guardsman who would prevent him, striking him in the stomach. He shuts his eyes against the memory of the artillery sergeant, turning toward Feuilly. Feuilly looks back, the life already half-gone from his eyes. Enjolras grasps his hand and Feuilly holds tight, voice hoarse as it emerges.

“I believe what you said,” Feuilly says, coughing, blood gathering in the corners of his lips, mere minutes left of life, death tugging him away already. “I believe it. That dawn. I was…I was angry at the people who said they’d come but didn’t. But they will. I know they will, one day.”

“Yes,” Enjolras says, tears stinging his eyes, gunshots and screams echoing in his ears. “Yes they will. You are a brave man, my friend. So brave.”

Feuilly smiles, lifting one hand up toward Enjolras’ face. Enjolras sees the faded paint stains lingering on his skin, focusing on those instead of the blood. He removes Feuilly’s hat, brushing the sweaty auburn hair from his face. Something explodes, shards of wood flying into the air in a cloud of smoke, and Feuilly’s eyes fall closed, his grip going limp. Enjolras barely registers the loss before another guard comes at him. He picks up the gun again, hitting the guardsman in the stomach without mercy.

He wishes there was time for mercy.

He thinks of the man who shot the shop keeper, hears the winter in his own voice.

You have one minute. Think or pray.

He hears his pistol shot go off, sees the man slump to the ground, dead.

Boiling rage courses through him. He never spends much time blaming: only looking forward, working, solving problems and inventing strategies. Building coalitions. The anger simmers beneath, but not this hot, not this overpowering. Now it explodes in his chest, amplified by the ghosts of those who came before him, fighting this fight, sacrificing everything for it, loving the future of their country and its people-he looks back over at Feuilly-loving the world enough to risk whatever came for progress. Yet there were people who would stop them. People who sat comfortably in their towers, looking down at this destruction below.

But through this destruction, came hope. Through this destruction came momentum, even in loss. Their names might be history’s dust and ashes, but their cause lived on. Someone would remember them.

He fights and fights and fights. Seconds or minutes or hours pass, he cannot tell which. He cannot even feel his body screaming at him, cannot feel the ache pulsing through his bones.

Another shout nearby, and a flash of curly brown hair near the area where they keep the wounded.

A soft voice, usually merry.

“Enjolras…”

Enjolras knew that voice anywhere, he knew it like he knew his own.

Courfeyrac.

A bullet to his chest, Enjolras realizes. He has minutes, at best.

Enjolras pulls him closer toward the door, shielding them momentarily from the hail of gunfire. He places both hands against Courfeyrac’s own, palm to palm, their fingers intertwining.

“I knew you’d find me,” Courfeyrac says, a hint of his usual smile on his face, his dark green eyes rife with pain. “When I saw the bullets coming, I knew you would come, too.”

“I wouldn’t let you be alone,” Enjolras says, mastering himself. “Not if I could help it.”

“I kept hold of my sword cane, can you believe it?” Courfeyrac asks, a laugh on his breath. “You take it. Knock one of those bastards down with it for me. Goodness I sound a bit like Bahorel, don’t I?”

“A tad,” Enjolras says, leaning closer, his face warm with emotion. “He’d like it.”

Courfeyrac searches his dirty face, letting go of one of Enjolras’ hands and sliding it against his face, the edges of his fingers entwining with the sweaty blond hair.

“You emanate that light I’ve always loved you for, even now,” Courfeyrac says, voice going low, pain making him twitch. “You match the dawn, don’t you? That dawn can’t die, even if we can. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” Enjolras says, voice shaking. “Yes that’s right.”

Courfeyrac shuts his eyes, and Enjolras wants to beg him not to go, wants to beg him to stay for just another minute.

“I love you my friend,” Courfeyrac says. “You know that don’t you? I know I tease you.”

“I know,” Enjolras says, resting his free hand on Courfeyrac’s cheek. “I love you. I love you.”

Courfeyrac’s hand slides from Enjolras’ hair, hitting the paving stones. Enjolras takes the hand he still holds, pressing a kiss upon the knuckles.

Then, he has to go.

He pulls Courfeyrac’s still intact sword cane out, fighting and fighting and fighting some more. There’s barely any of them left, and soon, the barricade will fall. Just as the sun settles fully in the sky above, he sees it, his heart screeching to a halt in his chest.

Combeferre, helping a wounded soldier, three bayonets running him through from behind.

A shout emerges from Enjolras, something visceral and agonizing. It rips up his throat, and the guardsmen turn, wide-eyed, dashing off in the other direction, away from the lightning in his glare. He catches Combeferre as he falls, but he’s already dying, already almost gone. Enjolras lowers him to the ground, pressing their foreheads together.

“It was worth it,” Combeferre rasps, barely audible, fingers grasping Enjolras’ sleeve. Enjolras feels as if someone has ripped his soul in half. Don’t go he wants to say. Please don’t go. “I will see you, my dearest friend. Shine bright until they find you.”

“I love you,” Enjolras says again, thinking he hasn’t spoken the words so often in one day since he was a child, even if he carries the sentiment with him always. “And I will. I promise you. Quiet now, it’s all right. I’m here with you.”

“And I…you,” Combeferre says, pulling Enjolras’ hand toward him, pressing a ghost of a kiss to his palm. Enjolras sees that intelligent twinkle in his friend’s eyes one last time before he’s gone.

“Combeferre…” Enjolras mutters. “Combeferre. Combeferre.”

Something in him snaps. For reasons he doesn’t understand, he takes Combeferre’s spectacles off his face, sliding them in his own pocket, pressing a kiss to Combeferre’s forehead before engaging in the last dregs of the fight, dedicating himself to it until his last breath, more of his own words resounding in his ears.

Oh! The human race shall be delivered, uplifted and consoled! We affirm it on this barricade. Whence shall arise the shout of love, if it be not from the summit of sacrifice?

He uses Courfeyrac’s sword cane until it breaks, filled with the power of one who doesn’t fear death, because now it stands inevitable.

O my brothers, here is the place of junction between those who think and those who suffer; this barricade is made neither of paving-stones, nor of timbers, nor of iron; it is made of two mounds, a mound of ideas and a mound of sorrows. Misery here encounters the ideal.

He bursts into the remnants of the Corinthe, rushing up the skeleton of the staircase, seeing the remaining men using the bottles of acid they’d prepared like clubs, the pained shouts ringing in his ears.

Here day embraces night, and says: I will die with thee and thou shalt be born again with me. From the pressure of all desolations faith gushes forth.

He reaches the upstairs, hitting guardsmen in the head with the only thing he has left; the barrel of a single gun.

Sufferings bring their agony here, and ideas their immortality.

But they keep coming.

This agony and this immortality are to mingle and compose our death.

An odd, eerie silence falls. The gunfire dies. The cannons go quiet. Even the moans of the dying cease. He places the billiards table between himself and the approaching footsteps.

The last man standing.

Men rush up the stairs and into the room, but they don’t step near him, afraid.

“He is the leader! It was he who slew the artilleryman. It is well that he has placed himself there. Let him remain there. Let us shoot him on the spot,” one says, followed by others.

He’d wondered if they’d arrest him and put on a show of his trial only to kill him later. But if they were going to kill him, he’d rather die here among the physical memories of his friends. Alone, but not really. He’d seen Marius outside, but he knows not what became of him.

“Shoot me,” Enjolras says, staring them down, flinging away the remaining piece of his gun, challenging them to kill him respectfully.

They stare back at him, searching his bloodied face.

“Take aim!” one shouts.

Another offers him a blindfold, which he declines. They question him and he answers automatically.

And then, a voice.

“Long live the republic! I am one of them.”

Grantaire.

Grantaire was risen from slumber. Grantaire was alive.

“Long live the republic!” Grantaire shouts again. “Finish us both at one blow.”

Enjolras meets Grantaire’s eyes, seeing the belief within them, the belief he always knew could arise. The belief that arises like Paris will, one day. Emotion strikes him again, overflowing. He touches his pocket, where Combeferre’s spectacles rest.

“Do you permit it?” Grantaire asks, more sincere here in this moment of death than ever before.

Enjolras reaches out, clasping Grantaire’s hand. Even now with death barreling toward him, he is not alone.

The last thing he knows before the bullets strike him is his own smile sliding across his face, unfinished.

#Here it isssssssssss #I cried reading parts of this aloud to my roommate aha #Well it is Barricade Day #Barricade Day #My fic #Les Mis #Les Miserables #Canon era

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dailyaudiobible · 6 years ago

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01/29/2019 DAB Transcript

Exodus 8:1-9:35, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalms 24:1-10, Proverbs 6:1-5

Today is the 29th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and like every day of my life and hopefully of yours too, it's great to be together here with you for these few minutes that we can step aside from all the chaos and distractions and just…just breathe…just sit…just let God's word speak to us. And, so, that's what we're here to do and that's what we will do. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week and we find ourselves in the middle of a pretty dramatic situation where plagues are descending upon Egypt and God is setting His people free. Exodus chapter 8 and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, today in the book of Exodus the plagues began to devastate the Egyptians and, you know, we probably have all heard of the plagues sent upon Egypt. This is a pretty famous story. But now, we’re kind of reading it order and as it happened, and Pharaoh had been warned and God had even given signs to warn Pharaoh. The thing is, Pharaoh could not get his mind around at all the idea of a God that was higher than himself and the gods of Egypt, right? So, any God coming into his land and saying, you know, do anything whether it be let my people go or have oatmeal for breakfast, like, no god gets to come into this land and tell Pharaoh what to do. And, so, he's bristled and thinks himself as a son of God himself. So, there's this struggle that is happening in today's reading. So, the Nile River, the freshwater source was turned to blood, and the frogs invaded the land, and the gnats swarm infested Egypt, and then flies, which I hate by the way, pestered and contaminated the countryside, and the Egyptian livestock died, and boils and sores begin to break out on the Egyptian population, and then this legendary hail fell from the sky that destroyed the crops. And every single time Pharaoh summoned Moses and begged for help and relief, right? He asked him, “pray for me.” And, so, Moses did pray and then the plagues were relieved and then at each turn Pharaoh hardened his heart. He thought the whole thing over and was like, “who is this foreign God coming into my land trying to take over not only my land but also to push me around?” So, you think about it. Even though they were being devastated systematically it hardened his heart. And, I mean, it’s not like we don't do the same thing. It's not like, you know, if somebody comes at us with a demand and their coming kind of invading our space with this demand, it’s very easy for us to resist and harden our hearts toward them even if what they're telling us is the absolute truth. So, this is what's going on here only a grand, a much grander stage.

And then in our reading from the New Testament from the book of Matthew there’s a story that's also a very famous story that's known as the story of the rich young ruler. And, so, this rich young ruler who’s, you know, we can look at this person as arrogant or we can look at this person as anything, but the Scripture reference to this guy is that he is actually devout and trying his very best to follow the Mosaic law and serve God. And, so, he comes to Jesus and he's got questions about eternal life. What do I need to do? What good must I do to have eternal life. That's the question. It's fair. So, like this guy’s devoutly serving God and comes to Jesus to ask this important question. And Jesus tells him to obey the great commandments and the guys like, you know, I have, I’ve tried my best to do everything that I've been taught. So then Jesus says to him, “if you want to be perfect, go get rid of everything”, well He says, “go, sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and then come, follow me.” And I see that every year and I’m like, man, Jesus is inviting this rich young ruler to become a disciple, “come and follow me” is what He says to everybody who becomes His disciple. But in this case the man had a lot and any he was saddened but he walked away. And, so, in this encounter we see Jesus doing what He always does. Like, He takes stock of the situation, what's being presented to Him and then He goes around behind all of that to what's really going on. And we’ve talked about this before because we go out into the world and we present something but then there’s this interior monologue or this interior life that we have. Jesus is after that life, the true one, the real one, right, the unspoken one, the one that is within us not the one that we are presenting. And, so, we watch this over and over and over because that's what Jesus is after, the truth, what is real. And, so, in this particular story with the rich young ruler, Jesus invited him to get rid of the one thing that gave him status and security, like the one thing that was giving him an identity outside of God. This is a devout person obeying the rules trying to follow God but he's got this thing, his wealth in this case, between him and God. It’s like this idol and his life and Jesus is after it. So, that gives us an opportunity. Maybe that's not our issue. Maybe we don't need to go sell all that we have and give it to the poor because that's not the thing that’s between us and God. But what are we valuing more than a relationship with God? I mean, that's a stark thought because our initial reaction is nothing but that's…that may not be as accurate as we think. What are we valuing more than our relationship with God? Because as stark as that is, that's where to find the idols in our lives. And in the story of the rich young ruler we realize once again a true life of faith is going to be and has always been an all or nothing proposition. And that's the thing that we’ll see distinctly as we continue to journey into the Gospels.

Prayer:

Father once again here we are with plenty…plenty to consider. You’ve brought up plenty of things in these stories for us to look at, the way that we resist and harden our hearts, the way that we allow idols to continue to dwell between us and You. These are big things. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come and we continue to open ourselves up. Nothing is off limits to You. You can go anywhere in our lives that You want to go, You can touch anything in our lives that You need to touch because we trust You. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that's on the homepage and I thank you. If what we’re doing together by taking this journey through the Scriptures brings good news and life and light and encouragement and direction into your world then thank you for being life-giving back so that each and every day the global campfire continues to burn, and we continue to keep all of the servers spinning. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this is Protect You with His Wings from Virginia. I’m calling on 23 January. I have two shout-outs and one prayer request. Christina with a bumpy dog, I believe your name is Christina, I just started listening to the Daily Audio Bible this fall, so I didn’t write your name down, I’m sorry, I think you have leukemia. You were calling from a hospital, you were let out for Christmas. I heard your call and I haven’t heard you in a while. I would like to hear your voice and I’m praying for you. Jeff from Virginia you called about a restored relationship your father and grandfather. I’m praying for you and my prayer request is also for restored relationship with my father. I’m also asking for prayer for my dad’s salvation. He’s 76 years old and his health is failing. I don’t really have much of a relationship with my dad. I love my father. He is not only an atheist, but he’s verbally abusive to anyone who is of faith and believes in God. He’s extremely toxic, he’s very manipulative. My mom’s an alcoholic and is codependent upon him. I have been counseled by a trusted pastor, a social worker counselor and several women in the faith who are women ministry leaders. They’ve all advised me to set boundaries which he’s crossed. And, so, I’ve been advised to stay away. I cannot reach him, but I know God can and I’m asking for your prayers Daily Audio Bible faithful believers. Fellow prayers in the Lord, please pray for my dad’s salvation. Please pray for a restored relationship. God bless this wonderful podcast. Thank you Brian, Jill, China and all of those behind the scenes. God bless you.

Hello this is Anne from Charlotte North Carolina and I just wanted to thank everybody that calls in and shares prayer requests and praise reports because it helps me feel trust in community. And I wanted to respond to many people but today is to Tim from Michigan. And Tim I was so moved, and I had to call. You said that you are listening with us now and you are hoping for enough faith to become a Christian. And I wanted to encourage you that, I think you already have enough faith. And many decades ago when I became a Christian I just got alone and I got down on my knees and I asked God if He was real and Jesus was really the King of Kings and Lord of lords and the Savior of the world and I wanted to know Him, I wanted to give my life to Him, I wanted Him to be real to me, I wanted Him to save me and forgive me my sins and asked Him if He would do that. And He did. And He will for you too. All you have to do is have enough faith to speak that question of asking God and telling Him those things. It’s not hard. It just…it does take humbling ourselves enough to admit that we need God, where he is God and we’re not. I like thinking of when we have to go to sleep every night, it’s one way God reminds us that He’s God…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Sherry who Loves to Worship in Southpass Cal and I just want to tell you how much I love, love, love you all. I just am amazed at this wonderful family that we have. Thank you, Brian, and all that is behind him lifting his hands to make this possible. And I love your readings and I can’t live without it. I’ve been doing this since, I think, spring of 2009 and it’s so exciting. Just wanted to lift up…well…first of all I want to thank Miguel for praying for my pastor back in the day when you were asking for prayer requests for our churches or pastors and so I just wanted to let you know that it was really heavy on my pastor’s heart at of the time, it’s been years, we’d been kind of homeless, we’d been renting halls and things like that and we are now in our own building and you prayed for that and thank you so much. And then I wanted to lift up Margo from, actually she’s now in the UK heading to Liberia. And I just wanted to tell her that I have been praying for you nonstop and daily ever since you let us know that you have this call upon you and your husbands lives. And I just want to say you are courageous. I know that is hard to follow the call. I can’t know exactly what you’re going through, you know, but it just kind of lets us know when we are…don’t have anything or comforts around us that we really look forward to what is ahead. And as that’s the hope and you’re gonna be sharing that. So, I’m about of time, so I just want to say I love you, I’m praying for you and God bless you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Stanley from Maryland. I haven’t called in a long time. I’d like to call and just pay for…pray for others. For a long time, I’ve __ calling and I don’t know…just thinking may be like it’s too busy…I’m too busy…or I just can’t do it, I don’t know. But I’d like to pray for those who are affected by shame and guilt and pride because these are things that I’m asking God to help me to deal with. So, God, I know that I can’t deal with these things on my own, pride, shame, guilt, frustration with life and I feel like I’m flailing and anxious all the time and I want to stop because I know that there is rest with You and I want to live in the present and be able to enjoy the call that You have on my life and not be so worried about the future and what’s missing. Help me God, help others, help others who are facing disappointment, things that they can’t control. Help us to release these things to You and to seek Your help and ask for help and to get rid of our pride in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi everyone, Daily Audio Bible family, this is Beth calling from the Bay Area and I’m calling in again. I called last week as well for prayer but today I was listening to this guy who called in. I’m sorry I don’t remember your name but you’re from South Africa, but you live in London. And I just want to say thank you and praise God for your encouragement and your message of hope, it was exactly what I needed to hear, that God’s already answered my prayer before I even spoke it. And it reminded me of the day I was diagnosed with breast cancer about a month ago. That morning Brian read Psalm 131. And I’m reading it from The Message Version but is says, “I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.” And that was exactly what I needed to hear that morning, that like a weaned child with its mother I am to be content. And the Lord told me that he’s __ . I heard him tell me that, not audibly, but I knew it and that was when I knew even before I was diagnosed…before I heard the diagnosis. But anyway, I know the Lord is with me, I know He’s going to use this, and I would just appreciate everyone’s continued prayers but I just want to thank everyone who calls in and encourages one another. And I just love this family so much. I love you all. Have a good night. Bye.

Oh, my goodness, hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is God’s Girl in East Texas. I’ve had stomach surgery since I last caught talked to guys and had a hernia fixed, but my God reigns. And I was thinking about when my little five-year-old grandson was here the other night. We were trying to go to sleep and he kept talking and he says, “Kiki”, he calls me Kiki, “can we please listen to the Daily Audio Bible?” So, I turned it on and it just helps him and it’s so cute because every time I turn the Bible on, give it about 10 minutes, he’s is out like a light. The soothing word of God, that’s how I take it. It’s the word of God is such a medicine for our souls and our minds and in these last days it just seems like things are getting worse, but our God reigns, and He wants us to stay faithful to Him. I love each and every one of you. Happy new year. Brian and your family, the Lord bless you and happy new year to you. Thank you for this beautiful and precious ministry. My husband drives a truck, he’s on the road all the time and he listens to it as well. So, our families connected in so many ways to keep the Lord our God close as possible. But I just wanted to call in and tell you guys I love you and Jesus bless you and keep looking up. Our redemption draws nigh. Bye-bye.

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moviesihaveseenbeforeiamdea-blog · 7 years ago

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#746 Stranger than Paradise

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Released: October 1, 1984 (US)

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Written by: Jim Jarmusch

Starring: John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson

Had I Seen it Before? No

Sad soundtrack fact: Jim Jarmusch shelled out a chunk of the film’s $100,000 budget for the rights to Screamin’ Jaw Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You,” but found out later that the money went entirely to the recording company who held the rights. Jarmusch tracked down Hawkins and gave him a bit of the film’s profit, and the two became friends for the rest of Hawkins’s life.

This is an ugly movie. Jim Jarmusch is one of those enigmatic “cool guy” cultural icons, and he has had an influence on everyone from Kevin Smith to liberal arts students getting their Masters’ in Kansas, and his filming style is uncompromising and a little up its own ass, but hey...it works. He is the kind of artist who retains the rights to his negatives and feels the need to state in interviews that he has never seen a Star Wars film as way of accumulating cultural currency with the hip crowds who are unaware that there is a difference in Jarmusch probably telling the truth about not having seen Star Wars and them pretending not to have seen and loved Star Wars as a child.

Jim Jarmusch is a man who could pull off wearing sunglasses indoors.

And the beginning of the Myth of American Cool in the independent movie scene begins with Jarmusch’s 1980s debut Stranger than Paradise, which won the Cannes d’Or prize for film debut and cemented the director’s legacy from the start as someone of an unassailable pedigree.

But that’s neither here nor there.

The movie as it stands on its own was a stark contrast to the hyper-stylized and beautifully shot The Red Desert and The Last Wave, but Stranger than Paradise is no less enigmatic, though it is less abstract. The bare-bones plot of the film is that Willie, a do-nothing living in New York, unwillingly hosts his Hungarian cousin Eva in his apartment for ten days. There she is introduced to Willie’s do-nothing friend Eddie, and the three of them proceed to do nothing for most of the film.

The film has a three-act structure, featuring Eva in Willie’s apartment in New York, Willie and Eddie going to visit Eva one year later in Cleveland, where Eva lives with Willie’s Aunt Lotte while working at a hot dog stand, and a third act featuring all three of them going on vacation to Florida, which they believe will be paradise, but is, in all actuality, no more interesting to them than New York or Cleveland.

Eszter Balint and John Lurie as Eva and Willie, in WIllie’s New York apartment (Source)

Highlighting this sameness and routine of the characters’ lives wherever they go is Jarmusch’s anti-aesthetic. Every scene of this movie is one shot, featuring no coverage and very limited tracking and virtually no zoom (I say “virtually” only to cover my ass, but I’m reasonably certain I didn’t see any zoom). These scenes all last a few minutes each and aren’t setup with complex blocking or extended monologues common to long-takes in others movies (*cough* Birdman). Most of them are simply the three characters sitting around doing mundane activities, having empty conversations. These shots end and a few frames of black separate them before another scene begins unceremoniously.

There’s an idea in physics that I’m going to misunderstand or butcher for the purpose of the metaphor here, but it’s said that the relative space between atoms and their protons and electrons is crazy huge, filmed with empty space, meaning that in any object of seemingly certain solidity, be it a desk, Mount Rushmore, or even your own body, the rules of the game dictate that it is comprised of mostly nothing. And so is Stranger than Paradise, a movie filled with enormous amounts of nothing that somehow remains solid.

The cinematography and directing, which could have easily come off as amateurish, functions instead as a reinforcement of the lives of the movie’s characters. Willie, Eva, and Eddie live out a life that is day-by-day, moment-to-moment, with their decisions in one day or evening only tangentially connected to whatever it is they decide to do tomorrow.

This is made explicit in the beginning. Unlike the New York of Woody Allen’s films, the city is presented here as a cultural wasteland. There are no celebratory skyline shots, no montages of city life. Willie doesn’t show Eva around, only warns her of which areas not to visit on her own. Inside his apartment, Willie watches football on a tiny portable TV, plays card games by himself, and lies around in his filth. You can almost smell the stale air of farts, body-odor, and an apartment complex that is not up to code. There is a malaise in Willie’s life that Eva shares with him without ever seeming to give into.

Willie, Eva, and Eddie (Edson) on a beach in Florida, bored. (Source)

The movie may be dingy and gross and uninterested in plot specifics, but it’s filled with a very absurd kind of humor. If you were a precocious child who picked up The Outsider in junior high and loved it, this is a movie for you. When Willie and Eddie---who never seem to have much more connection than gambling---swindle enough money to go on vacation, they choose Cleveland in the winter to go see Eva. I’m not sure what they expected to find, and I don’t know if they did either, but Cleveland in the winter is a hellhole of snow and more snow. Eddie is unimpressed, and after a few days remarks that "You come someplace new and everything looks just the same.” The joke being that, the way Jarmusch has filmed this, everything does look the same.

I loved this movie in a similar way that I love Clerks. There’s a pointlessness in the characters’ lives in each of them that is familiar to anyone. I know as well as anyone that sometimes it feels like I am filled with so much time that I do nothing with. Living often feels like a big illusion of doing your best to keep from realizing that what you’re doing in your day-in, day-out is mind-numbingly boring and empty, and that if you give into the default setting of simply tolerating this existence, you’re liable to watch TV to kill an hour or two, or play cards simply because you don’t know how to do anything else.

It is all too easy to fall into a rote or endless routine of simply existing, and any attempts to escape it are going to put you to the task of trying to decipher if it was your life that was boring, or if it was just you.

Final thoughts:

For real, I cannot recommend FIlmStruck highly enough to anyone who wants a richer selection of movies than what Netflix offers. As someone who for the longest time assumed Netflix was the beginning and end of streaming services, FilmStruck has really opened my eyes.

Willie asking Eva about who called on the phone: “Who rang? “Yes, the telephone rang.”

I love how the boys muscle their way into Eva’s date and make him pay for their tickets, only to cock-block him the whole night. The reveal a few scenes later that they have over $500 between them only makes it funnier.

I felt some overlaps with this movie and Jean-Luc Godard’s Band of Outsiders, mostly in the dynamics of the three characters. Though less overtly sexual in their interactions in Paradise, there is still some underlying tension between Eva and Eddie, and even Willie, who seems to broadcast restraint. But to broadcast that kind of restraint means there has to be something that needs restraining.

The way the boys dress to me seemed like an affectation, a sort of nod to the noir tough-guys of New York and other cities from a bygone era of movie-making. Willie, in particular, seemed to channel his best Bogart impression.

This movie made me wonder what in the world people did while on psychedelics before the internet. I love a good adventure as much as anyone when I’m tripping, but sometimes it’s also fun to sit around and watch some bat-shit crazy or weird or beautiful movie or video. Did people just sit around blasted out of their fucking minds watching QVC at 2 a.m.?

This movie really is the anti-Red Desert. Both depict industrial and overly-developed neighborhoods, but The Red Desert finds a poignancy in that despair, a beauty in it. Stranger than Paradise sees it all as mundane, and any suffering that might come with it to be passive.

#movies #stranger than paradise #jim jarmusch

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andrea-cristina-travel-blog · 7 years ago

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10 Instagrammable Must Do Vacation Spots

The world is full of majestic places, and so many of them beckon to have their picture taken (though we typically prefer a video). These 10 Must Do Vacation Spots top the list of most Instagrammable destinations around the world. Sure, there are some wonders that did not make the list, and the runner-up section could take on a few more articles of its own. 10 Instagrammable Must Do Vacation Spots Machu Pichu, Peru Machu Picchu is one of those destinations on virtually everyone’s bucket list – and for good reason. This iconic, archaeological World Heritage site (designated by UNESCO in 1983) was allegedly built by the Incan people in the fifteenth century, either as a royal estate or a sacred worship site. The precision of the stone construction, which sprawls over five miles, employed a style and technology otherwise unknown to the area. Its existence is so unusual, many feel that there is no way this could have been constructed by humans alone, at that point in history. Whether a man-made wonder or a product of otherworldly intervention remains up for debate; nevertheless, no one can deny its spectacular beauty or fail to marvel at the mysterious splendor. Rome, Italy When in Rome… This city transports you to a distant time, while simultaneously offering more iconic sites than in any other spot on the planet. Immerse yourself in the quixotic and frantic energy of this bustling metropolis. Enjoy the land’s authentic and delectable cuisine. Sample the region’s world class wine – Frascati, a varietal that’s been produced form more than two thousand years. While you are fully sated, visit prototypes of many of the world’s most fantastic architectural achievements such as the Colosseum where gladiators clashed, and the Pantheon, an elaborate “temple of every god.” You will be just blocks away from the magnificent Trevi Fountain and Vatican City, home of The Basilica of St. Peter. Galapagos, Ecuador The Galapagos Islands, home to myriad endemic species popularized by evolution’s first legend, Charles Darwin, must be seen by anybody and everybody on Earth who have the means. It’s endless and friendly cache of wildlife, includes but is certainly not limited to curious seals, playful sea lions and gigantic sea tortoises are kind to visitors, thanks to a significant lack of natural predators. This 19(ish) island archipelago, sprinkled off Ecuador’s Pacific Coast is a double World Heritage site (land and sea). Each magnificent island boasts its own unique landscape, ranging from barren black volcanic rock to white, pristine sand beaches that bathe in turquoise blue waters. Sydney, Australia A popular destination for everybody from backpackers to billionaires, Sydney has an experience for every type of traveler. Begin your day with a 3.7 mile walking track leading from Bondi Icebergs pool, past Aboriginal rock carvings and culminating with lunch at at a Coogee Beach seaside eatery. Visit koalas and kangaroos at Taronga Zoo, dare to bridge climb at Sydney Harbour and book tickets to the Sydney Opera House, a 20th Century, architectural masterpiece. You will also discover that “Sydneysiders” take their food seriously, with many of Australia’s most awarded and innovative restaurants peppered throughout the city. Wash the culinary offerings down with the fruits of indigenous wineries including Penfolds, Yellow Tail, Wyndham Estates, Norman and others. Barcelona, Spain Cast yourself into the inviting throes of a fascinating mix of cultures and fabled architecture that has marinated to perfection over the last two millennia. A place that has inspired artists such as Gaudi, Dali, Picasso, Miro’ – all of whom have left their indelible mark upon the Catalonian countryside. Iberian visitor mornings include walks along sun-drenched Mediterranean beaches, with afternoons spent traversing towering temple columns, ancient city walls and subterranean stone passages. Enjoy a mid-afternoon siesta because the Night belongs to Barcelona! As the Sun falls, the fun dances into the streets with live music and inviting aromas overcoming the senses. Melt into the fluid moments. Paris, France One visit alone is scarcely enough to absorb Le vrai Paris. That however, that should not deter you from seeking fine balance of café culture, designer boutiques and a handful of popular attractions spoken as, “touristiques.” Purchase a museum pass and explore up to 60 of the “incroyable” urban museums and monuments without waiting in lines. Gaze at the work of Ce’zanne, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas at The Musee’ d’Orsay – followed by tea at the Palais-Royal Gardens, a hidden gem tucked nestled beyond the walls of a 17th century palace. Then you’re off to tour sacred Notre-Dame or the iconic Eiffel tower for the ultimate selfie. Cap off the day with an twilight ride down the Seine on a Bateau Mouche. Ooh-la-la! Tokyo, Japan The fascinating confluence of rich traditional culture meets obsession for modernity. A neon-lit, sci-fi’esque cityscape of soaring towers is juxtaposed with the Kabuki stage and Shinto shrines culture, inextricably linked by the inviting pink of cherry blossoms. Explore evenings in Shinjuku with sky-high lounges, jazz dens, spellbinding lights, with endless action pumping on, well into the morning hours. While fashionistas must visit Harajuku, a gathering point for the eccentric and tomorrow-minded. Tokyo pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, building taller more elaborate towers in the spiritual center-point of this densely populated land. An ageless city that reinvents itself by the moment. Cannes, France Don your biggest sunglasses, long scarf, and hop in a convertible headed for the French Riviera. At playground for rich and famous, there is no shortage of luxury. Every hotel and restaurant, finer than the last, will have you feeling like Cagny or Garbo as you take a stroll down the Promenade de la Croisette, the iconic waterfront avenue adorned with picturesque beaches, eateries and one-off boutiques. Dine al fresco after a visit to March Forville, the incredible open air farmer’s market, featuring virtually anything you could you could ever want to eat – all on colorful display. Or discover the lovely cobbled streets of Le Suquet that wind their way to the city’s apex for a view unmatched. Cannes not only plays host city to the world’s most prestigious annual film festival, but serves as the backdrop for a number of movies including: To Catch A Thief, French Kiss and Femme Fatale. Bavaria, Germany Bavaria with the dramatic Alps as a backdrop, is a story-book forest of castles perched high atop scenic mountains. In fact, Schloss Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. Postcard perfect, your senses will drink in resplendent scenes – the tinkling of cowbells awash in sprawling clover fields. The state capital is Munich, a celebrated for its annual Oktoberfest beer festival where grandiose ompah music rises above the din of lederhosen-dressed attendees reveling in the moment frothy steins. The Romantic Road scenic route starts right in Wurzburg and winds south through pastoral villages and walled, medieval towns, finally culminating in the foothills of the Alps near Germany’s southern border. Explore this region which fulfills its promise of “Gemutlichkeit” (contentedness and comfort) at every turn. Edinburgh, Scotland When you think of Edinburgh, what is it that comes to mind? Golf? Kilts? Or, maybe it’s the incomparable Whisky? Perhaps, it’s all three. Avid golfers gravitate to this bonnie land, home to some of our planet’s oldest and most famous courses. This compact hilly capital of Scotland is charmingly divided into two sections, the medieval Old Town which has preserved much of its medieval street plan and Reformation-era buildings – and then the elegant, Georgian New Town, an area richly adorned with gardens and neoclassical buildings. Perched high above the city are the bold stone turrets of Edinburgh Castle, home to Scotland’s Crown Jewels and the fabled Stone of Destiny used in the coronation of Scottish rulers. It would be safe to say the journey would not be complete, or even worthwhile, without a Scotch Whisky tour. While dining in Scotland was never “the point” of a visit (think Haggis), an influx of innovative chefs have successfully taken Edinburgh beyond pub fare with many popular and exciting eateries to discover. The post 10 Instagrammable Must Do Vacation Spots appeared first on Must Do Travels.

https://mustdotravels.com/10-instagrammable-must-vacation-spots/

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3one3 · 7 years ago

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The Sequel - 844

Deep Dive

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea/BVB players, and random awesome OC’s (okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

“Are you going to be able to sleep, or too much jet lag?” a sleepy Christina asked between yawns under her favorite forward’s arm and against his stomach. There was a movie on the TV in the lounge that she wasn’t watching, a nice knitted throw on her legs, and two dogs behind them in a sort of cave made with the help of the back cushion on the couch.

“I only slept a couple of hours on the plane this morning, so I’m tired,” André yawned back. He was only half-watching the film. It was a nondescript Tom Cruise action movie that came on after Charlie Wilson’s War, which was one of Christina’s favorites. Movie night was wonderfully domestic for him. It was very novel to have a family dinner at 7 instead of going to a packed restaurant at 9, to try to teach Lukas how to play checkers instead of going to a nightclub to drink and people-watch for yet another night in a row, to listen to his wife read a bedtime story to his son instead of incessant thumping bass music, and to wind down the evening on the couch with her instead of going to bed alone and wishing the time difference didn’t guarantee that she was sound asleep and unavailable to talk. The afternoon in the water and on the jet skis wasn’t too bad either.

“I wanna go to bed, but I don’t wanna move. You’re comfy.”

“Want me to carry you?”

“Yes.”

“Too bad.”

“Meanie.”

“If you walk your own lazy butt downstairs, I’ll rub your back in bed.”

“Deal.” Christina ripped her blanket back and got up so quickly that she actually felt a little dizzy. Spencer and Lucky didn’t appreciate the sudden exposure to the air conditioning and bright light of the TV screen. There was puppy yawning and indignant looks from them even as they got up. They still needed to be carried downstairs. Their dad brought them because their mom disappeared. She couldn’t wait for a Schü back massage. As magic as Juan’s hands could be, they were too small and considered to provide the kind of back rub experience that André’s could. His hands were enormous and his fingers were pudgy and sort of haphazard at times, and that made them very good for administering aggressive massage services.

He sat on the back of her thighs and began the pampering treatment at her shoulders. Her lower back was the real trouble spot and he knew that, so he wanted to work his way down and save that for last. The skin he pushed the heel of his palm into and kneaded in his fingers was much darker than when he last got to touch her that way. The muscles underneath were just as firm feeling to his fingertips, and parts of her spine stuck out like always. Her body felt familiar and right to him. It only looked different. He couldn’t feel through her shoulder blades or her butt that significant happiness and peacefulness he saw in her. That vantage point inevitably made the player think of more intimate activities, and he was curious if that would be the avenue through which he could feel the change- if she had more love to give, somehow, or a different level of openness not obtained in so long that he’d forgotten it was there and didn’t notice it was missing. Christina’s sore and tired back got kisses too. She offered unplanned, quiet little moans of satisfaction in return.

“Are you gonna hold me now?” she inquired when he announced that her massage was finished. “I need spooning so I can, like, hug your arms around me. I want to hold you, actually, but I don’t want to talk to your back and if I put my face in your chest then I’m going to be unhappy because your shirt probably smells like whatever detergent Georgina used to do all your laundry today instead of the regular soap from home.“

“I’m ready for spooning,” André yawned while collapsing on the bed beside her. He held his arms out invitingly for her to back into once she put her nightshirt back on. His tone was very laissez-faire. Inside, he was more than ready for spooning. He was more than ready to go to sleep with his girl in his arms instead of all by himself. She was going to be warm, and squishy, and nice smelling, and he couldn’t wait. Christina felt slightly disoriented for a second because she’d been sleeping on his side of the bed all week, with Juan. Getting settled against him and feeling his familiar arms close around her waist was like going home though. She put her left arm over his and held onto his wrist so she could play with the hair on the back of his palm.

“If whoever becomes the new manager at the club doesn’t like you, you can retire and become a house husband. I would love to have you on-call for back rubs,” the very relaxed and comfortable rider sighed.

“Yeah? Who’s going to pay for your horses and shoes?”

“Dirk.”

“Is he home yet?”

“Last night. I’m so tired, babe,” she yawned on her pillow. It had a brand new jersey sham on it. There was a sheet change that morning. “I know you said you want to work out in the morning but I think I’m going to put leggings and a sweatshirt on and just watch you work out, mkay?”

“Lazy.”

“This is my week off!”

“Why leggings and a sweatshirt?”

“It’s really cold in the gym/toy room. I’ll sit in there and have coffee while you sweat.”

“I’m teaching you how to scuba dive tomorrow, finally.”

“Really?” Christina’s body grew with excitement in André’s arms, and he smiled at her energy. They never got around to trying out the scuba gear on their first trip aboard Lilly XO, and he knew his girl had never had any other opportunity to dive. She was too young when her Dad took her places one might like to dive, and she was too pregnant when they went to St. Barths. It had been many years since he donned a mask and tank either but he’d done it many times on previous holidays and couldn’t wait for the chance to teach his wife something, and turn the tables. She was always teaching him things.

“You want to try, yeah?” he asked back, still smiling because the answer was obvious.

“Duh.”

“We’ll tell the captain to take us somewhere good.” The player shut his eyes and nestled closer to his girl, invigorated inside by the ability to offer up something that excited her so.

“I’m already somewhere good,” she cooed back, being deliberately cheesy as she pulled his arm as if to tighten his hold on her. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, Prinzessin.” André kissed the bit of her shoulder not covered by her shirt, and let his lips stay there on her skin for an extra second. He could tell he was missed, even in spite of all the fun Christina said she was having in Cannes, and all the fun it was plain to see in her photos, and on the livestreams of her interviews. He knew her confliction between him and Juan was serious. He knew she really did love them both, and that there was no way she spent the previous week lamenting that it was short and she’d lose one player for the other soon, or that she saw it as some kind of tradeoff. Surely she would be disappointed about her time with the Spaniard having a deadline, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t also looking forward to being with her husband. They hadn’t been apart for all that long, and she still seemed so relieved to be reunited. Not a single phone or text conversation between them went without a “miss you”, and none of them were lip service, or habit. André knew she was still his girl, whether she wanted to be or not, and was quite sure from all the evidence available to him that she really wanted to be. That made it very hard for him to be upset about anything she did with his former teammate, or her talking about him, or that he was the one there with her when she apparently turned some kind of corner in terms of her relationship with herself- the voice in her head- and with her top horse. What he took from that moment, lying in bed with her, was that it really was worth it to let her have the relationship she wanted with Juan. It affirmed that it really was good for her, and that was good for him too. It was just very difficult to accept that he couldn’t be good for her all on his own. He hoped that was only temporary.

“Are you sleeping back there or thinking?” Christina whispered when the silence of his introspection went on too long for her liking.

“Thinking about you putting the air tank on and falling over backwards.”

“I bet you look sexy in flippers.”

“I look sexy in everything. Including you.”

“Oh god, boyfriend, not tonight,” she giggled. “I’m so tired and my tummy is so full of popcorn. I don’t feel very sexy.” Please don’t think it’s because of Juanin, the equestrian continued to herself. It’s really not. I’m just not in the mood. I just want to be together but do nothing. Just be close, and still.

“I know. I wasn’t suggesting it. I’m in a pretty good place here too. And I have a new thing.”

“What kinda thing?”

“Getting off before I work out.”

“Wha?”

“A couple of times in Miami I jerked off before I went to the gym. The chemicals in the body after orgasm make it easier to get up for the exercising, no pun intended. It like gets the body ready, and you start better. You should try it, Prinzessin,” André recommended with simplicity and calm, because he wasn’t joking or putting her on at all despite her firm belief that he was just messing with her. “Get off with me in the morning and then work out instead of sitting on your butt in leggings and sweatshirt.”

“I’m down for the getting off part but not the exercise part. Vacation,” Christina mumbled. It was getting hard to resist the urge to let herself succumb to sleep. Once she was sure her partner wasn’t going to bristle and be snide about potential causes for her lack of sexual interest, it was easy to go back to feeling like she was in the most comfortable place and circumstance in the whole world. Her body felt loosened up and less sore, she had that Happy Place™ magic working on her just from being the little spoon to André’s big one, and there was no background stress to trouble her mind. That was the big difference. That was the corner turned. The background noise was gone, at least for the time being. “Don’t let go of me until absolutely necessary, okay?”

“Never letting goooooooo.” The German squeezed her exaggeratedly tight, and laughed maniacally in her ear. Her body curled up even more around the arm across her waist. She had to laugh too, because his breathe near her ear tickled, and because his super villain accent was ridiculous. That whole concept of being still and comfortable was rather spoiled, but it was no bother. André took up all the space vacated by her tightening shape, smothering her body with his own, and opened and closed his teeth playfully on the top of her ear. Christina couldn’t shrink enough in his arm to get away from his chomping or his squeezing. The more she tried, the more trapped she found herself.

“This is not what I meant!”

“Don’t care. Mine. Not letting go. Nomnomnom.”

“Stahhhhhhp,” she begged through her laughter. André wouldn’t let up. He stopped chewing her ear only to pretend to bite at her cheeks, and her temple, and her chin, all while squeezing her and enveloping her under his left leg and hip, effectively smothering all of her with much of himself even as she fought her way onto her back. The under-siege rider attempted to stop the onslaught by meeting his terrorizing lips with her smiley ones. He continued to torture her for a few seconds, and then eased up when she smooched him another time. “I was all ready to pass out,” she complained after. “So were the puppies. Now they’re all excited.” Spencer and Lucky got out of the blanket during the commotion, and were on alert beside her, ready to play.

“They’ll get over it.” Her face. I missed this face. I feel like I haven’t seen it in a year, the player thought as he watched Christina blink up at him with all of her feigned indignation shaded by a persistent grin. I missed this girl that changed my life every time I needed it. Where has she been all this time? Where did she go? What happened to her? How did she come back? Really. What brought her back? His carefree mood collapsed under the weight of nagging questions. “What happened this week, pretty girl? Hm?” he asked, his face mirroring that change in attitude and thus causing a reactionary change on his wife’s too. She frowned back.

“What do you mean?”

“How did you get to the good place? What changed for you this week? Everything is different.” André went out of his way to keep his voice soft and avoid sounding accusatory, or like he was upset. He settled back on his side again too so that he wasn’t literally hovering over her and implying some sort of threat. Her expression grew sympathetic, because she knew her answer would be unsatisfying.

“I have no idea,” she explained with a little shake of her head. “I’ve taken the same two horses to shows before, and we’ve gone to similar places. I’ve been without you. I’ve been without Lukas. I’ve been with Juan. I’ve even been at shows with him. Dirk has won stuff. The same group of other riders have been around. I can’t imagine having Isa instead of Tom makes a difference. The only other variable is this boat.” The idea that her partner might be upset inside because he thought whatever changed for her and helped her let go, at least for the time being, of a big chunk of the ugly weight she’d been holding onto for so long, might have to do with being away from him and/or being with someone else just hurt her so much. It upset her stomach, or she was at least reasonably sure it wasn’t that she ate a bunch of popcorn and then got in a playful tussle. She wasn’t prepared to conclude that those things were responsible for her positive shift. Her body language adapted to support her hope to assure her partner that he wasn’t on the outside looking in, and she turned on her side too to face him and touch his waist. “I can’t think of anything else. I also can’t believe sleeping on a sailboat is the key to happiness. Maybe it’s just that you and I have worked through enough stuff that this was the time- that it wasn’t that something changed this week but that another step in the evolution just happened to come now. Maybe it’s not that this week was good for me, but that last week, with you, at home, was...significant? And then I get here, and the horses are good, and like you’ve been saying lately, I have some momentum, and then the atmosphere here is so nice, and so chilled out, and I’ve missed Juan for a few weeks, and maybe he has contagious happiness because he just won the Premier League and he’s writing a book of poems- that’s a secret by the way,” Christina digressed, losing track of what she was even trying to say. It was hard to explain coherently that which she was only piecing together in her head for the first time in real time. “I don’t know. I don’t think anything happened. Just like I don’t think any one thing happened that messed everything up in the first place. Where I was- that happened over time. It wasn’t one thing. It would only make sense that it changes over time too.” Right? I know I thought at times with Juan that it was Juan but...I just proved that that doesn’t make sense. I’ve been alone with him for days at a time before.

“You’re sure there wasn’t something? Not a talk you had, or like...a moment of clarity?” André watched her blues intently, trying to keep the scrutiny out of the look he gave back to her. He didn’t want her to know that he was so skeptical of her word that he needed to find backup for it in her always-honest eyes. What he saw was pain, and distress, but not insincerity, or deceit.

“I’m sure, babe.” I almost wish there was something like that, Christina realized. If there was a thing or a moment, then maybe I would know what to do about it. Maybe it would dictate some logical course of action. “I would tell you if there was something like that.”

“Okay. You just seem so different in every way today compared to a week ago at home. I want you to be able to be happy all the time, or to at least know how to get back to it since that’s not realistic, so I want to know if there’s something...so I can help next time,” the BVB man testified in order to help put her at ease. He didn’t want her to be so worried that he was worried. He may not have been definitively able to lay claim to being the cause for her restoration, but he definitely didn’t want to be the cause for its premature reversal. He wanted that look off her face.

“Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Just keep talking to me, and listening, and being patient, and real.”

“Okay.”

“And kiss me and then be my soup spoon again so I can sleep,” Christina smiled before puckering up. André mirrored her fish face for a silly kiss, and then she wiggled over onto her other side to get back into the preferred position. She was altogether very pleased with how well it was working out for her whenever she simply told her players what she needed them to do for her. They somehow kept listening and obliging.

“Tiny teaspoon Prinzessin,” the one married to her mumbled through her hair when it overwhelmed his face like an octopus.

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bighousela · 7 years ago

Video

vimeo

WAVE A man wakes from a coma speaking a fully formed but unrecognizable language baffling linguistic experts from around the globe. Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaveShortFilm Folllow on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waveshortfilm/ WAVE - TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/214217381 Director’s Bios Benjamin Cleary is an Irish filmmaker living between London and Dublin. In 2015 he wrote, directed and edited his first short film, Stutterer, which won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short at the 88th Academy Awards in February 2016. Stutterer has played at more than 80 festivals worldwide and has won over 20 awards including a Cannes Young Director Award, an Irish Film & Television Award (IFTA) and a London Critic’s Circle Award. In addition to this Benjamin was selected for the esteemed Les Nuit En Or scheme in France as one of 30 award-winning directors from around the world to tour Europe presenting their work. Benjamin is represented by Anonymous Content for film & TV in the US. In the UK he is repped by Ian Benson of The Agency, London. TJ O’Grady Peyton is an Irish director who graduated from the London Film School’s prestigious graduate program in 2010. Fresh into the professional ad space, he was shortlisted for the Young Director Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2013 and 2015, later earning a People’s Voice Award at The Webby Awards in 2016. He has created narrative-driven commercials for such top clients as BMW, Gatorade, Cadillac, Coke, Nespresso, and Conde Nast, among others. A cinephile from a young age, TJ infuses a cinematic edge and emotional through line in all of his work, no matter what length. TJ is represented by Decon in New York and he is currently studying screen acting in one of Ireland’s leading creative hubs, Bow Street. Later this year he will be acting alongside Ellen Page in zombie thriller “The Third Wave”. The Story of Wave July 2015. Ben had spent over a year making STUTTERER which had just started its festival run. After editing the film for ages and caught in the throws of festival submissions, he was in dire need of jumping into something non STUTTERER related. TJ had just returned from directing a commercial in Australia for Gatorade with NFL Quaterback Cam Newton and was very eager to direct a short while also sink his teeth into some more acting. Ben and TJ had been mates for years and have always wanted to collaborate. After chatting one night, TJ mentioned that he wanted to give acting a proper go. Ben had seen him in a small Irish indie feature a few years previously and was impressed. They decided that Ben would write something for TJ to act in and both would co direct. The rules were simple: zero budget, under five minutes, and something they can shoot on a weekend with a few mates… Cut to: nineteen months later. 14-ish shoot days. Over thirty crew members. Twelve actors. Twenty locations. Fourteen outfit changes. One made up language. One Phantom. One Alexa. One 5D. Dawn shoots. Night shoots. Storm shoots. Sleepless nights. Three post houses. 46 VFX shots. Entire vats of coffee. Sixty youtube videos from every continent. And a world premiere in Tribeca. That original plan to come up with something tiny and contained went out the window when Ben read an article about an Englishman who had suffered a severe stroke. When he recovered, the man was speaking fluent Welsh even though he hadn’t lived in Wales since he was a young boy. Ben became fascinated with the phenomenon and started to discover similar cases around the world. He wrote a script loosely based on these strange happenings – but the kicker being that the protagonist would be speaking an entirely new language. Over the course of an intense month of work, Ben and TJ started planning how they would bring WAVE from script to screen. Excitement started to build! Enter: producer extraordinaire, Rebecca Bourke. For the first week or two Ben and TJ started rounding up a few mates and loosely planning a shoot in Ben’s flat (while they worked out how to create a made up language that would sound believable). But things really got going when they managed to convince Rebecca to join the team. Rebecca is a talented producer who runs a production company called Assembly in Dublin. Suddenly the whole thing took on a more professional feel and started to gain momentum. Over the next nineteen months, the team found themselves pulled in all directions. Everyone was busy, many of us being taken away to work outside the country. WAVE became this process where like it’s protagonist – our production had to discover its own short hand to make this passion project come to life. We would get together every few months when everyone was in Dublin to shoot a bit here, and a little bit there. And slowly but surely everything began to fall into place. We had the excellent cinematographer Burschi Wojnar on board who has his own Alexa and was immensely generous with his time. As the lead actor, TJ was on his own in many of scenes so we were able to shoot whenever we wanted. And we had Rebecca on hand to organize a watertight shoot and call in the favours whenever needed. It was tough at times and frustrating and the project went through many ups and downs, but it was actually a great way to make a film and WAVE became a passion project that everyone loved being a part of. The genre police would probably call WAVE a dramedy, and there’s probably truth to that, but from deep pain, comes great comedy, and Ben + TJ do feel deeply connected to the films tragic current. Its those moments Ben + TJ find most fascinating to explore. Alienation. Isolation. Loneliness. Empathy. At it’s heart the directors hope WAVE is successful in exploring the human condition in an interesting way. In the end, the team have (finally) made a film that they’re all very proud of. If they had to do it all again starting tomorrow, would they be crazy enough to dive back into the deep end? The answer might just be yes. Credits: CAST Gasper Rubicon - TJ O’Grady Peyton Frank - Emmet Kirwan Leaf - Tiny James Huldvar - Danny Kehoe Doctor - Daniel Reardon Speech Therapist 1 - Caoimhe O’Malley Speech Therapist 2 - Barry Kinsella Russian Doctor 1 - Conor Fleming Russian Doctor 2 - Rebecca Bourke Girl at bus stop - Sarah Flanagan Extras on Bray promenade - Pauline Curtin, Margaret Colgan, Matthew Pereira, Sandra Kurova, Casper & Bear, Owen Quigley, Bridie Horan, Neal Swaine, Andrew Kingston, Julien Torades, Jack Nother, Marguerite Collins VO Artist - TBC CREW Director - Benjamin Cleary & TJ O’Grady Peyton Writer - Benjamin Cleary Producer - Rebecca Bourke Production Company - ASSEMBLY Director of Photography - Burschi Wojnar 1st AD - Stephen Rigney Art Director - Jill Beecher Phantom Operator - Seamus Connolly Costume Designer - Sarah Flanagan Script Editor - Seamas O’Reilly Gaffer - Kevin Fox Focus Pullers - Mark Hannon, Gosia Zur, Keith Pendred Clapper Loaders - Conor Fleming, Denise McKenna Camera Assistants - Sam Whelan Sound Recordist - Frank Asencio, Dean Murray, Rob Moore Boom Operators - Anthony Assad Make Up - Orlaith Shore Assistant Art Dept - Brian Quinn Production - Dave Minogue Paramedic - Ian Fitzgerald Camera and Grip - Widescreen, Film Equipment Hire and Viko Nikci Lighting - Teach Solais and Cine Electric Studio - Replay House Post Production - Screen Scene Editor - Nathan Nugent Post Producers - Alan Collins, Peter Greene Motion Graphics - John O’Riordan VFX - Bob Corish Compositor - Zdravko Stoitchkov - Absolute Post Production Assistant - Geri Krasteva - Absolute Grade - Gary Curran - Outer Limits Caoimhe Maguire - Outer Limits Graphic Designers - Sinead Foley and Emma Grattan Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Foley Artist - James Latimer Music - Nico Casal Blogs - Dave Byran entertainment.ie, Buzzfeed Social Media - Annabel Cleary LOCATIONS Bray Head Hotel Royal City of Dublin Hospital Roma Takeaway Sandymount Strand Dublin City DART SPECIAL THANKS Jim Duggan, Jake Walshe and Hubert Montag at Screen Scene Absolute, Adam Clarke, Outer Limits YouTube Ena Cummins at Bray Head Hotel Lulu and Shay Cleary Sarah Flanagan Hannah Vickers Caoimhe Doyle Gemma Davey Donnacha Brady John Keepler Sean Sheehy Alison Callinan Ian Fitzgerald John Nally Renaldas Damijonaitis Historic Interiors DenLors Tools Geri Krasteva Amy De Bhrun Mike Donnelly Gareth Averill Roisin Scott Credits Dagmar Barr Ciaran Irwin Maria Fiorentini Emer Casey Stephen Doring Flaminia Iacoviello Hazel Lowry Jessica Massey Manuel Pombo Jake Fox YouTube Video Contributors Joe O’Grady, Teresa O’Grady-Peyton, Michael Garvey, Marco Hinojosa Patricia Cahuantzi, Carmen Tarín, Karl Moran, Spesialista Band Michael Binchy, Suhaila Binchy, Aurelia Binchy, Tess Bunworth Sheelin Conlon, Billy Clark, Mark Hayes, Flaminia Iacoviello,Fiona O’Farrell Stephanie Burchell, Marcella McLoughlin, Sheila Lynam, Don Veale Emma Fleetwood, Nykol O’Shea, Ciaran Murray, Jennifer Dunne, John McCoy Annabel Cleary, Winnie Cleary, Lulu Cleary, Shay Cleary, James Hartshorn Gosia Zur, Carmen Leuthi, Burschi Wojnar, Matt Cooper, Gemma Fitzgerald Mark Fitzgerald, Ian Fitzgerald, Michael O’Connor, Jenny Bourke, Kristof Van Marsenille, Ruth Bourke, Adrian Bourke, Hugo Bourke, Adrien Bourke Julien Bourke, Jane Bourke, Lochlainn Sweeney, Suina Sweeney, Eoin Sweeney Henry Bourke, Emily Kennedy Bourke, Beibhinn Bourke, Isabel Gargollo Nicole Hajj, Josua Gerner, Jan Gerner, Danilo, Ariandia, David Magnier Lisa Fawsitt, Keith Elliott, Caroline Elliott, Megan Campbell, Alex Moran Roderigo González-O’Brien, Pelayo Vazquez-Roderiguez, Javier RomeroCumbreras, Javier Blanco-Villarroel, Luke Arragutainaq, Eva Arragutainaq Annabelle Arragutainaq, Aaron Zaska,Todd Davis, Michael White Savannah James-Bayly, Laura Murphy, Luke Kenny, Michael Mello William Langslet, Santiago Munez, Kaori Taketani + friends, Mark Kearney Tara Kearney, Katerina Graham MUSIC Emilie Simon - Franky Knight - “Les Amants Du Même Jour” The Chantels “Sure of Love” Margaret Murray The Childrens Opera Group “Sumer is Icumen” Margaret Murray The Childrens Opera Group “Simple Simon” David Bowie “Rock n Roll Suicide”

WAVE - TRAILER

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