#this is my new addition to my flyers primer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

broadstflyers · 3 years ago

Text

The Philadelphia Flyers: A Saga, Section IX: Traded But Not Forgotten

Link to Table of Contents

Trade season has emotionally wrecked us all. after the 2020-2021 season, we as fans knew changes were for sure to come. so, this is basically an archive for the stuff I wrote for them back in march 2021. yes, this hurts.

FORWARDS:

Michael Raffl, #12

Nickname(s): Raffy

Position: Right Winger

Draft class: undrafted, signed in 2013 by the Flyers

Time On Team: 7 years

Where He Is Now: Washington Capitals

It seems as though Raffy tends to take on a mom role with the younger players.

source

After Gritty threw his hat on to the ice for Joel Farabee’s hat trick against the Islanders on 1/18/20, Raffy thought it would look better on himself instead, so we got this lovely gif.

source

Raffy is pretty laid back on the ice, but don’t you worry, he still pushes and shoves quite a bit. He’s a solid forth liner, and when he’s injured, he’s tough to replace on that bottom six.

Here’s a link to that Giroux and Raffl interview in that top gif.

Nolan Patrick, #19

Nickname(s): Patty, baby cat (Hayesy gave him that one), Nolpats

Position: Center/Wing

Draft class: 2017, 2nd overall

Time On Team: Roughly 4 years

Where He Is Now: Vegan Golden Knights

Patty is a relatively reserved player, but he isn’t afraid to retaliate if someone does him wrong. Some Penguins player laid a nasty hit on him in the Stadium Series, and he shook it off on the bench and went back out there and hit him back.

Multiple players are happy to have Patty back.

TK and Nolan are inseparable best-friends. TK is the loud, feisty short one and Patty is the tall, intimidating, quiet one. TK always sticks up for Nolan. Simple as that. When Nolan couldn’t play last year because of his migraine disorder, we were all upset because a) no one deserves something like that, b) Nolan had to miss the season and c) that meant no TK and Nolan interactions. But now that Nolan’s back, we just can’t get enough of how TK missed him and how he’s always by his side now.

Do y’all see how how happy TK is for Nolan? Tears.

source

Here’s them stuck in a parking garage. I think this will suffice for the friendship dynamic feel.

And here’s an article about their best bromance moments.

Here’s Nolan mic’d up at the Stadium Series. Just like TK, some of Nolan’s iconic moments came from here, such as “I’m 200%” and “Bro, how did he score?” Because he didn’t know how Giroux scored. If you’re unfamiliar with the Stadium Series game, this will honestly give you a quick rundown on how that went.

Jakub Voracek, #93, Former Rotating Road Alternate Captain

Nickname(s): Um..I can’t think of one? I think Kevin Hayes messes around with his first name lmao but I’m not sure

Position: Right Winger

Draft class: 2007, 7th overall

Time On Team: 10 years

Where He Is Now: Columbus Blue Jackets

Ahhhh, Voracek.

source

He has absolutely NO time for ANYONE’S shit. I think that’s fantastic. Context for the tweet below is that reporter wrote a crappy column on how Voracek was the reason why the flyers were collapsing back in 2016 and has been overall not nice to the team (Voracek doesn’t forget).

source

He also isn’t afraid to step in and fight someone. When Nolan had the guts to go after a player for a crappy hit on G, Voracek was like “No son, you’re gonna die” so he went in WITH Nolan.

For years, he blocked fans on Twitter and had some beef with them here and there, but he left us a parting statement, one that reassured us through his classic voracek humor that he will always be a flyer.

ITI

source

let's hope I don't add anymore people because I would become more mentally unstable.

______________

DEFENSEMEN

Philippe (Phil) Myers, #5

Nickname(s): Mysey, Leaf Eater (because he’s as tall as a giraffe, says Kevin Hayes), I call him Philly Myers lmao

Shot: RH

Draft class: Undrafted (!!)

Time On Team: Roughly 2 years

Where He Is Now: Nashville Predators

Yes, he was undrafted. He was invited to the Philadelphia Flyers rookie development camp in about 2015, and they signed him to his first professional deal in September 2015. He finished out that season in the QMJHL (Quebec Major Juniors Hockey League). They called him up in 2019 against the Detroit Red Wings. He started the 19-20 season in the AHL, but he worked his way into a permanent line-up spot.

source

He also scored the OT winner vs the Islanders in the 2020 SCP.

Read more about Philly Myers here.

Robert Hagg, #8

Nickname(s): Bobby

Shot: LH

Draft class: 41st overall, 2013

Time On Team: 4 Years

Where He Is Now: Buffalo Sabres

He blocks a lot of shots for us and is one of our physical guys. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know much about the guy, because as Gudas (a former Flyers D-man) said, he speaks three words per game.

source

BUT- I did find this mic’d up, so you can watch that if you want.

Shayne Gostisbehere, #53

Nickname(s): Ghost, he has Ghost Bombs (his “bomb” of a shot from the point), his name is represented by the ghost and bear emojis

Shot: LH

Draft class: 78th overall, 2012

Time On Team: 6 Years

Ghost! He’s had a tough season or two with his knee surgeries and trying to bounce back. He’s been looking more or less a lot better, and we’re happy for him.

source

Him and his fianceé (soon to be wife) have three french bulldogs who he loves very very much. You can meet him and his little family here.

Erik Gustafsson, #56

Nickname(s): Gus

Shot: LH

Draft class: 93rd overall, 2012

Time On Team: 2 months

Where He Is Now: Montreal Canadiens

This is Gus.

source

He was signed after the retirement of Matt Niskanen. Not much to say about him, as he’s in and out of the lineup.

#this is my new addition to my flyers primer #i made it back in march omg #this thing is my baby #i will be updating the forwards and defensemen chapters of the primer with all our new additions!!#this is basically an archive for the players that have been traded #this feels like marvel all over again #jake voracek #phil myers #robert hagg

6 notes · View notes

helixqpn · 8 years ago

Text

Looking Back at Lesbifiesteras and Burlesquimeras: Queer Women Searching for Space in mid-2000s Mexico City

By Islandia

April 25, 2017

In the mid-2000s, the small group of queer women friends I was a part of had grown sick of spending so much time at “ladies nights” in the Zona Rosa, Mexico City’s quasi-official gay ghetto: these were lesbian events at gay men’s nightclubs and bars. There were a few queer women oriented nightspots and “fiestas de mujeres” (code for invitation only lesbian house parties) in Mexico City at the time, but not as many, as regular or as inexpensive as “ladies night;” it seemed these were the most abundant nightlife options for lesbians at the time. Designed to attract a niche clientele of women on otherwise slow weeknights, the bathrooms could be dirty, the beer could be warm, and the shows were a mistranslation of the Mexican gay men’s party protocol of drag queen number followed by a muscle-boy strip show, to a chicas version of the same drag queen act followed by a strip show starring women called gogas. Though many of us found it wasn’t really a lesbian-friendly concept, and felt uncomfortable in the face of rumors that the performers “hated lesbians”, a significant percentage of the crowd appeared to love the show.

Eager for nighttime fun and short on cash, my small circle of friends and I spent a lot of time at these events, held, as they were, on Wednesday or Thursday nights. Getting up to a weekday’s work the morning after, we’d curse having done it (again). Thinking and talking about the unfairness of the dynamic, it became clear the grim nightscape we inhabited was a direct product of a gendered economy and politics of nightlife in gay ghettos and urban spaces in general. By the same token, we understood that if we wanted to create an alternative, we could never ever expect to make a profit. So, we began to consider lesbian party organizing; being enrolled in Humanities academics at the UNAM’s Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, as most of us were at the time, a knack for lost causes and love of cheap thrills came naturally.

Saturday Night Parties as a Political Project

We called our effort Meras efímeras, a phrase that does not actually make much sense in Spanish, and roughly translates to “the mere ephemeral women”. Initially there were five of us, Anahí, Sandra, Chichis Glam, Artemisa and myself (Islandia). The first opportunity to have a party came up when Artemisa’s grandmother went on a long trip at the end of 2005, and we could access her rooftop patio from Artemisa’s apartment. Finding an affordable physical space in which to have such an event had been (and would remain) most challenging part of our lesbifiestera project. Our mission was to host a themed monthly lesbian dance party (open to all) that was strictly on Saturday nights, and always included a performance, show, or presentation of some kind. Branding the initiative as a political one that reclaimed nighttime fun and queer performance as a lesbian “cause” infuriated some feminist lesbians, and was received as a welcome novelty by others. Chichis Glam and Artemisa created two original music and poetry shows: “Efímeros goces” (2006) and “Inés, yo con tu amor…” (2007) which attracted a lot of attention around Meras efímeras in queer cultural circles. Consequently, we received invitations to present the show or speak about party organizing at academic and political conferences such as the III Encuentro de Escritor@s sobre Disidencia Sexual e Identidades Sexo-Genéricas at the Universidad Veracruzana, as well as at artistic events such as the XVIII Semana Cultural Lésbico-Gay. Guest performers at our parties included lesbian theater troupe Las Hijas de Safo, and we co-organized with Kumbia Queers one of their first presentations in Mexico City at El Pasagüero.

Transition from Dance Floor to Stage

After a couple of years, the project took a turn when we met Old Ma Femme, a New York City based burlesque performer, who offered to teach us a workshop. While we didn’t expect to actually perform after the workshop, our teacher insisted we produce a public recital. To everyone’s surprise, the show was a success, and the energy generated there pushed us to create Burlesquimeras, a self-produced queer/punk/camp burlesque troupe that involved most of Meras efímeras but also some amateur newcomers such as Glitter and Gabina Estrella, as well as professional actress and cabaret siren Minerva Valenzuela “ladelcabaret.” And our teacher, Old Ma Femme, would sometimes plan her trips to Mexico to coincide with our presentations where she performed as headliner.

So, our organizing focus shifted from a dance party featuring a performance to a performance with an after-party. Efforts to find spaces for suitable for parties became efforts to find places to with a stage and/or changing room (no matter how improvised) and made the work of organizing that much more complicated. Burlesquimeras tended to attract a more mixed crowd of queers than lesbian-centered Meras efímeras events, but it was just as much of a not-for-profit venture.

We organized and improvised shows around the Mexico City in gay and non-gay bars such as La Vora, El Mancera, and Marrakech Salón at cultural centers such as El Faro de Oriente and Buzón de Arte, in coffee shops such as I Love Myself, and even in the lobby of the Virreyes Hostel. Burlesquimeras was also invited to perform at public events such as the rally after Oaxaca City’s Primera Marcha-Caléndula por la Diversidad Sexual, and the International AIDS Conference which was held in Mexico City in 2008.

Looking Back Ten Years Later

I should point out that in the mid-2000s online social media was not the organizing tool it is now; we relied on flyers that had to be designed, printed, photocopied and physically handed out (which would take us to the Zona Rosa and its “ladies nights” time after time), and a Yahoo! Groups mailing list. The work was exhilarating, but also exhausting, and the money made only covered basic expenses. Because of this and other personal factors, I slowly retired from performance and party organizing beginning in 2009. My compañeras also began to find themselves unable to keep up with the demands of the work, and Meras efímeras and Burlesquimeras disappeared towards 2012.

In June of 2016 we threw a belated ten-year anniversary party for Meras efímeras in Oaxaca City, where Chichis Glam has set up Casa Estudio Chichis Libres, a studio and B&B. On the same night, there were police attempts to violently remove unionized schoolteachers protesting neo-liberal impositions on the public education system that were camped out in the city’s main plaza. A few days later, our return to Mexico City was detoured by more violence towards the teachers union at the hands of the militarized police forces in Nochixtlán; six were killed while the government claims the police were not armed.

These violent events put party and performance, even if it is part of an anti-capitalist queer platform, in an ambivalent and troubled political situation. Meras efimeras and Burlesquimeras began just as Mexico declared an internal war on drugs in 2006 which has escalated and caused displacement, disappearance, and murder of hundreds of thousands of people. Our political aim ten years ago was to create space for celebrating lesbian and queer lives and creativity, but as the war is reaching a peak in 2017, I’m not sure how to celebrate queer life. As femicide/feminicidio and transfemicide/transfeminicidio∗ become a crisis, how does one have a lesbian dance party?

___________________________________

*Transfemicidio is a term used in Latin America to indicate that transwomen are often targets of gender-based violence and murder not only because they are women but because of the additional stigma of being transgender or transsexual that targets them for violence and death. The term transfemicidio operates similarly to the ways that US-based transfeminist scholar Julia Serano frames trans-misogyny: indicating that transwomen face discrimination, oppression and violence not only because of a socially-normative hatred of women, but of the socially-normative hatred of transwomen specifically (See Serano's Trans-Misogyny Primer).

____________________________________________________________

Lesbifiesteras que buscaban diversión en la Ciudad de México de los dosmiles: Recordando a Meras efímeras y Burlesquimeras

Por: Islandia

A mediados de la década del 2000, en mi pequeño grupo de amigas lesbianas nos habíamos hartado de pasar tanto tiempo en las llamadas “ladies nights”, es decir, noches apartadas para un público femenino, en el barrio de antros gays de la Ciudad de México conocido como la Zona Rosa. En ese entonces existían unos cuántos centros nocturnos lésbicos, y no faltaban las clásicas “fiestas de mujeres” (léase: fiestas lésbicas en casa particular a la que se llega sólo por invitación). Sin embargo, parecía que la opción más inmediata y accesible en cuanto a diversión nocturna para un público de mujeres queer eran las dichas “ladies nights”. Puesto a que éstas solo sucedían entre semana (martes, miércoles, jueves o domingo) su objetivo era atraer a un nicho de consumo (mujeres, lesbianas) a los antros gay para hacer más rentables las noches menos concurridas por el público masculino. Dado lo anterior, era común encontrar baños sucios, cerveza al tiempo y shows que imitaban la dupla que se les presenta los hombres gay; o sea, un número travesti seguido por un espectáculo de desnudo, nada más que en este caso el segundo era interpretado por mujeres a las que se les conoce como gogas. A muchas nos parecía un tanto machista por tratarse de un espectáculo que entiende a la mirada erótica lésbica como simple traducción el deseo masculino a un cuerpo de mujer. Era particularmente incómodo cuando se escuchaban rumores de que las gogas “odiaban” a las lesbianas, y sin embargo, a buen porcentaje del público asistente parecía encantarles el show.

Pero ávidas de diversión nocturna a precio accesible, mi palomilla de amigas y yo pasamos mucho tiempo en estos eventos. Al día siguiente, levantarse para enfrentar un día laboral era una auténtica pesadilla y no sé cuántas veces habríamos jurado que no lo volveríamos a hacer. Tras mucho lamentar entre nosotras la injusticia de esta dinámica, nos dimos cuenta de que esta triste realidad de nuestra vida nocturna era producto directo de la inequidad económica basada en el género y cómo ésta le da una dimensión política al comercio nocturno en barrios gay, y en el espacio urbano en general. Al mismo tiempo entendimos que si queríamos crear una alternativa no podíamos esperar que resultara ser gran negocio. Siendo, al fin, amantes de las causas perdidas como sólo pueden serlo chicas de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM y sus amigas, comenzamos a considerar la organización de fiestas lésbicas.

Fiestas en sábado como proyecto politico

Tras mucho deliberar, nos hicimos llamar Meras efímeras, una frase que reflejaba nuestras pocas ganas de tener sentido lógico. Al principio éramos cinco: Anahí, Sandra, Chichis Glam, Artemisa y yo. Pudimos organizar nuestra primera fiesta cuando la abuela de Artemisa le dio permiso de tener una reunión en su azotea en noviembre del 2005. Habría que explicar que la señora se encontraría en una larga vacación fuera de la ciudad, y que la azotea tenía acceso directo desde el departamento de Artemisa en el edificio contiguo. Así pues, encontrar espacios económicamente accesibles para nuestros eventos sería siempre el reto más grande de nuestro proyecto. Nos propusimos como misión tener una fiesta lésbica (abierta a todo público) mensual, que fuera siempre en sábado, y que siempre tuviera algún tipo de show o espectáculo que pudiéramos considerar “cultural” en un sentido amplio de la palabra. El hecho de que proclamáramos que nuestro proyecto era político al considerar a la diversión nocturna y las artes escénicas como una auténtica causa lésbica enfureció a algunas lesbianas feministas, mientras que otras lo recibieron como una buena nueva. Chichis y Artemisa crearon dos shows originales de música y poesía: “Efímeros goces” (2006) e “Inés, yo con tu amor…” (2007) los cuales atrajeron la atención de círculos literarios y culturales. De tal forma que recibimos invitaciones a presentar el show o hablar sobre nuestro trabajo de organización de fiestas en conferencias políticas y académicas como el III Encuentro de Escritor@s sobre Disidencia Sexual e Identidades Sexo-Genéricas en la Universidad Veracruzana, y eventos artísticos tales como la XVIII Semana Cultural Lésbico-Gay. La lista de artistas que se presentaron en nuestras fiestas incluye al grupo de teatro Las Hijas de Safo, y coorganizamos con las Kumbia Queers una de sus primeras presentaciones en la Ciudad de México en el Pasagüero.

De la pista de baile al scenario

Después de un par de años, nuestro proyecto tomó un giro cuando conocimos a Old Ma Femme, una artista de Nueva York, quien ofreció darnos un taller de burlesque. A pesar de que no pretendíamos realmente convertirnos en vedettes, Old Ma Femme insistió en que teníamos que hacer una presentación pública para culminar el taller. El éxito de aquel show fue una grata sorpresa, y la energía que ahí se generó nos impulsó para crear un proyecto independiente de burlesque llamado Burlesquimeras: institutrices de belleza universal. En él nos encontrábamos la mayoría de las Meras efímeras, pero también artistas amateurs como Glitter y Gabina Estrella, así como la actriz y cabaretera profesional Minerva Valenzuela “ladelcabaret.” A la vez, era común que nuestra madrina, Old Ma Femme, hiciera coincidir sus visitas a México con nuestras presentaciones para encabezar el espectáculo.

De tal forma que nuestro enfoque cambió de organizar una fiesta con un show, a un espectáculo después del cual se abría pista para bailar. El reto de encontrar un lugar apto para una fiesta se complicó aún más al necesitar ahora un espacio con un escenario y un vestuario (por más improvisados que estos pudieran ser). El público de Burlesquimeras era más mixto que el de mayoría lésbica de las fiestas de Meras efímeras, pero seguía siendo una iniciativa sin fines de lucro.

Organizamos e improvisamos presentaciones a lo largo y ancho de la Ciudad de México en bares gays y no gays como La Vora, El Mancera y el Marrakech Salón; en centros culturales tales como El Faro de Oriente y Buzón de Arte; en boutiques como I Love Myself, y hasta en el lobby del Hostal Virreyes. Burlesquimeras también fuimos invitadas a presentarnos en el mitin tras la Primera Marcha-Caléndula por la Diversidad Sexual en Oaxaca y en los eventos artístico por la XVII Conferencia Mundial del SIDA con sede en la Ciudad de México en el 2008.

A diez años de distancia

Debo mencionar que mediados de los dosmiles las redes sociales no eran aún la herramienta de organización que ahora son. En aquellos tiempos nos valíamos de volantes que había que diseñar, imprimir, fotocopiar y repartir (tarea que nos llevaría, casualmente, a las “ladies nights” de la Zona Rosa de las que tanto tratábamos de huir), y a de grupo de correo electrónico en Yahoo (tarea que nos llevaba a pedirle su correo a las asistentes a la entrada de nuestros eventos). A pesar de que estas labores podían ser divertidas en sí, también nos dejaban exhaustas y el dinero que se recuperaba sólo cubría los gastos de la operación. Por este y otros motivos personales, comencé a alejarme del espectáculo y la organización de fiestas en el 2009. Lo mismo sucedió eventualmente con mis compañeras, de tal forma que Meras efímeras y Burlesquimeras dejaron de tener actividades completamente hacia el 2012.

En junio del 2016 conmemoramos (con unos meses de retraso) el décimo aniversario de Meras efímeras en Oaxaca, donde Chichis ha establecido la Casa Estudio Chichis Libres. Esa misma noche hubo enfrentamientos entre la policía y lxs maestrxs de la CNTE acampados en el centro de la ciudad, como cada año, en protesta por las imposiciones neoliberales al sistema de educación pública y su sindicato en México. A los pocos días, nuestro regreso a la Ciudad de México se tuvo que posponer por más violencia hacia lxs maestrxs en un bloqueo carretero en Nochixtlán en el que fuerzas policiacas militarizadas mataron a seis, mientras que el gobierno sostiene que la tropa no llevaba armas.

La violencia de estos eventos me hace cuestionar la relevancia de una proyecto basado en la fiesta y el espectáculo, por más que estos sean un proyecto político queer y feminista sin fines de lucro. Meras efímeras y Burlesquimeras comenzaron su trayectoria al mismo tiempo que México declaraba una guerra contra las drogas en el 2006, una guerra que ha escalado y provocado el desplazamiento, desaparición forzada y asesinato de cientos de miles de personas. Nuestra meta política hace poco más de diez años era crear un espacio para celebrar nuestra vida y nuestra creatividad como mujeres fuera de la heteronorma, pero mientras que la guerra sigue en ascenso en el 2017, no estoy muy segura de cómo festejar. Hoy me pregunto ¿cómo se tiene una fiesta lésbica en tiempos de feminicidio y transfeminicidio?

___________________________________

Photo Credits:

"The crowd at Meras efímeras first anniversary party at El Vicio in Coyoacán, Mexico City (2006),” Photo by Islandia / "El público en la fiesta de primer aniversario de Meras efímeras en El Vicio en Coyoacán, Ciudad de México (2006)," Foto de Islandia

"Digital flyer for Meras efímeras 10 year anniversary (2016)," Flyer de Islandia / "Volante digital para la fiesta del décimo aniversario de Meras efímeras en 2016," Volante de Islandia

"The roof-top crowd at one of our first parties (2005)," Photo by Islandia / "Aspecto de una de nuestras primeras fiestas en azotea (2005)," Foto de Islandia

"Chichis and Artemisa performing "Efímeros goces" at a Meras efímeras party in the Chanti Ollin squat (2006)," Photo by Islandia / "Chichis y Artemisa en presentación de "Efímeros goces" en una fiesta de Meras efímeras en la casa ocupada Chanti Ollin (2006)," Foto de Islandia

#lesbian #lesbian performance #lesbian mexicans #lesbian latina #mexico city #queer mexico #lesbian mexico #performance art #burlesque #queer latinas

1 note · View note

itsworn · 7 years ago

Text

Backstage Past Part 2: 1955

Pivotal.

A year that opened brightly with unprecedented prosperity, new-car horsepower, and interest in auto racing closed darkly in the wake of James Dean’s fatal highway crash and a rash of on-track tragedies. Newfound concern about vehicle safety would shape the American automotive industry in general, and motorsports in particular, in ways unimaginable before two-time-defending-champ Bill Vukovich died while leading the Indy 500 and a Grand Prix car mowed down more than 80 fans two weeks later in France. Future installments of this series will recall scrutiny by politicians and law enforcement, an industry-wide racing ban, secret factory skunkworks, and other effects felt well into the 1960s.

Magazines published by Trend Inc. had been documenting high performance on black-and-white film since Robert “Pete” Petersen and Bob Lindsay hatched HOT ROD in January 1948, followed soon by Motor Trend. Not until this year, though, did Pete—by now a sole owner—ask photographic director Bob D’Olivo to start retaining and organizing employees’ negatives after developing. The company’s early 1955 acquisitions of competitors Motor Life and Hop Up and absorption of their respective photographers instantly spiked the volume of incoming film. The simple logging-and-filing system D’Olivo implemented on March 27, 1955, grew into the vast photo archive that uniquely enables HOT ROD Deluxe to serve up so many milestone images. Oftentimes, we’re afforded the additional luxury of choosing an outtake to the published shot that some editor with the same choice—but far less time—picked, instead, in the heat of the moment and a deadline.

How telling that the first batch of film ever entered into the photo lab’s handwritten log book, director D’Olivo’s work at an amateur sports-car race, included four action frames of a Porsche Speedster that rated no picture or mention in Motor Trend’s event coverage. It would be another half-century before company archivist Thomas Voehringer came along to wonder, investigate, then confirm that the young driver smacking a hay bale in his competition debut was a little-known actor awaiting release of his first feature films, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. Countless such surprises are sprinkled amongst approximately 3.5 million black-and-white needles in Robert E. Petersen’s photographic haystack. Unknown numbers of worthies will be discovered or rediscovered as our archive research progresses through the 1950s and into the ’60s. Whether by lucky chance or dogged digging, to unearth some previously unpublished image of lasting significance is to strike gold. We’ll be sharing that ore as we shovel it up, one year per episode.

Backstage Past follows the pictorial-heavy format of HRD’s preceding historical series (Golden Age of Drag Racing, 2014-’15; Power Struggles, 2015-’17), with some added value: personal snapshots taken by and of Petersen staffers roaming America with cameras, free film, and virtually unlimited access. Adult beverages might’ve been involved, too. Readers of a certain, ahem, maturity who followed their journeys once before will surely enjoy the shenanigans. You kids will want an app for traveling back in time. Don’t leave home without the magic Trend Inc. business card that seemingly opened every gate and door.

(Photo: Wally Parks)

Everything went Chevrolet’s way this year. The all-new, V8-equipped, hot-selling Chevy was selected to pace the Indianapolis 500, and the superstar nicknamed “Miss Chevrolet” was Indy’s most famous race queen ever. If your house had a TV set or even a radio in the 1950s, there was no escaping Dinah Shore singing, “See the USA/In your Chevrolet ….” Starting in 1951, she sang the so-called “Chevy Jingle” to a loyal audience of millions at both the beginning and end of her Emmy-winning NBC variety show, the first network show hosted by a female. Backed here by the Purdue University Band, she belted out “Back Home in Indiana” before the race, inviting the crowd to sing along to a second chorus, and gamely stuck around to kiss Bob Sweikert in the winner’s circle. (Photo: Ray Brock)

Yup, that thing’s got a Hemi in it: Tony Capanna’s Wilcap Co. swapped a little Red Ram Dodge into the Dean Van Lines Special (left) that finished second in the previous Indy 500 with Jimmy Bryan and an Offy aboard. Bryan and Bob Christie alternately practiced at qualifying speeds before blowing engines in the Hemi car that Motor Trend proclaimed “unmistakably the people’s choice.” The ambitious effort ended up against the wall on the warm-up lap for Christie’s lone qualifying attempt. When the fuel motor exploded, the rear wheels locked up and spun him into the wall. Bryan had slightly better luck in Al Dean’s conventional Kuzma-Offy (right), finishing 24th after dropping out with fuel-system problems. HRM photographer Eric Rickman’s regular “circuit” of L.A. shops gave him the familiarity that enabled such a candid shot of champ-car legends like (from left) engine builder Capanna; Hall of Fame chief mechanic Clint Brawner; sponsor Al Dean, who owned Dean Van Lines; and car builder Eddie Kuzma. Rick’s future road roommate, Tex Smith, wrote in his book that Rick enjoyed back-door access wherever he roamed, working quickly without wasting film. (See Inside Hot Rodding: The Tex Smith Autobiography; June ’55 HRM; Aug. ’55 Motor Trend, HRM, & Motor Life.)

Three rolls that Rickman logged into Petersen’s in-house lab on May 9, 1955, as “Thrifty Drug NHRA Show” mystified archive divers for decades. In our July 2010 issue, founding HRD editor David Freiburger published six pages of parking-lot pictures, including one showing NHRA’s third employee and Drag Safari organizer, Chic Cannon, with an L.A. sheriff’s deputy. Left unexplained were who organized the event, and why, and how a gathering of so many famous hot rods, race cars, sport specials, and especially customs apparently never made HRM or its sister magazines. In 2013, Cannon’s autobiography answered the first two questions: “Since I had some experience organizing car clubs, Wally gave me the position of [NHRA] National Club Advisor. My cousin, Art Crawford, was in marketing … and had Thrifty Drug Stores as a client of his. They were developing new shopping centers all over Southern California, and Art asked me to help promote the grand openings…. So in 1954 and ’55, I organized about a dozen car shows.” As for why at least two were thoroughly photographed on Petersen film but never made print, Chic’s insight leads us to suspect that Rick’s assignment came from NHRA president Wally Parks—not his HRM boss and editor, also named Wally Parks. Possibly the photo lab supplied sets of prints, only, to NHRA and/or Chic’s cousin for promotional purposes, while the negatives were filed, as usual, with the publishing company. Historian Greg Sharp recognized the Barris-built ’51 Mercs of Bob Hirohata and Dave Bugarin alongside Bob Dofflow’s ’50 Ford, all magazine-cover cars. Adds Sharp: “Dave Bugarin was from San Pedro, where I grew up. In the early 1960s, it sat forlornly in primer at a Signal gas station on Western Avenue. I wanted it in the worst way and could have bought it for $300. My dad simply said, ‘You’re not buying that car because I don’t want people to think that hoodlums live here!'” (See Chick Cannon’s Gone Racin’: From Horseback to Horsepower.)

Bill Vukovich, Indy’s two-time-defending champion (1953-’54), was a runaway favorite to three-peat right up to his fatal accident. He held the lead in 50 of the race’s first 56 laps and was cruising at a record average speed of 136-plus, 17 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, before the crash. Vuky led 486 of his last 800 laps at the Brickyard and an incredible 71.7 percent from 1952 to 1955. During time trials, tech editor Ray Brock took advantage of HRM’s pit-row access to capture a relaxed team of Jim Travers (leaning on windscreen), Jim Naim (in T-shirt), and Frank Coon (obscured behind them). Chief mechanics Travers and Coon, previously lakes racers with the Low Flyers of Santa Monica, partnered as the “TRA” and “CO” in TRACO Racing Engines. We can’t identify the onlookers on either end.

Attempting to avoid a multicar wreck on the backstretch, Vukovich clipped rookie Johnny Boyd, catapulted over the wooden rail, and plowed into a parked truck, Jeep, and safety-patrol car. From all reports, he likely died before the flames erupted—one of six open-wheel AAA driver fatalities this year alone. HRM editor Wally Parks arrived with his camera right after the firemen. The American Automobile Association soon ended its long association with auto racing, creating a vacuum hastily filled by USAC the following year. (See Aug. ’55 Motor Trend, HRM, & Motor Life.)

Los Angeles engine-builder Tony Capanna brought two baby Hemis to Indy, a nitro version for qualifying and a more-durable methanol combination for race day. Going by the severe destruction, we’d guess this to be the fuel motor that exploded on the warm-up lap leading to Bob Christie’s aborted qualifying attempt. Since Hemis were restricted to the same 270 ci as the powerful, race-bred Offys, Capanna rightly figured that the only replacement for displacement was nitromethane, and lots of it. Whereas an Offy team might add 10-to-15 percent to enhance qualifying chances or position, then run the race on straight methanol, Capanna calculated that his stock-block Dodge wanted 85-percent “pop” to produce comparable power. His autopsy determined that oil starvation, not “liquid horsepower,” was this engine’s downfall. (See June ’55 MT; July ’55 HRM; Aug. ’55 Motor Trend, HRM & Motor Life.)

It’s been said that Robert E. Petersen eventually launched magazines about all of his hobbies. Two favorites were firearms and fishing, as illustrated by a sequence that Bob D’Olivo captured from a second boat. Lacking any back issues of Water World, we can’t say whether our gunslinging, shark-spearing leader subsequently showed up in print.

Eric Rickman tripped his shutter just as everyone turned to check out the chopped coupe rumbling into the classic scene. The Drag Safari’s Deer Park, Washington, NHRA regional meet brought Petersen’s imbedded photographer into Spokane and the original Thrifty Auto Supply. Magnifying the background of this scan revealed two bystanders to be Safari leader Bud Coons (right) and announcer Bud Evans.

Not many hot rodders have influenced the hobby as much as the late Norm Grabowski, whose revolutionary roadster pickup costarred in the hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip and, together with Tommy Ivo’s much-publicized imitation, ignited the T-bucket craze. This B&W outtake from HRM’s Oct. ’55 cover story shows the reversed ’40 Ford spring hangers that pushed the ’37 Ford axle forward to clear the radiator. Norm also stretched the frame 5 inches in front to accommodate an Olds V8 boosted by a GMC supercharger, a rare sight on daily drivers of the era.

Besides being a brilliant engineer and technical writer, the late Racer Brown possessed a photographer’s eye. The relatively few rolls cranked through his futuristic 35mm Leica after D’Olivo started the archive contain clever compositions like this illusion of two guys working inside the engine compartment vacated by a severely set-back engine. Racer exposed three rolls on this July day at Paradise Mesa Drag Strip, near San Diego, but we’ve seen no magazine coverage.

So, your kids and grandkids think that selfies were invented after the phone camera, huh? Rather than leave his last couple of frames blank, freelance contributor Ray Brock finished off a roll labeled “Installing Duals on a Chevrolet” with two mug shots sure to entertain the lab technicians back home. Photographers were known to prank one another by discreetly grabbing the other guy’s camera and capturing entertaining, if not downright embarrassing, subjects that only came to light during developing. Sometimes, mischievous lab workers secretly make prints that circulated through Trend Inc.’s internal mail system before the camera’s owner ever saw an image attributed to him. (The late Brock became HRM’s invaluable Detroit connection, officially joined the staff in late 1956 as research editor, and ultimately rose to the top of the masthead as publisher, twice.)

One of the rolls that Rick submitted from the Drag Safari’s stop in Elizabeth City, N.J., included the earliest image we’ve seen of the new or near-new ’55 Corvette that would become as familiar to HRM readers as any rod, custom, or race car. Sixty-three years later fellow travelers Bob D’Olivo and Chic Cannon both drew blanks about the purchase circumstances. So did Rick’s son, then living in Texas with his mother and sister. “Unfortunately, he never related the story of how or where he found it to me,” e-mailed Michael Rickman. “He looks so happy.”

Would you believe a Cadillac with two billet Engle cams rotating inside aluminum castings bolted onto stock heads? When Ray Brock visited Tom Cobbs in July, the homemade combination was said to be fresh from spinning 6,000-plus rpm on Hilborn’s dyno. The crafty lakes racer proclaimed this to be the primary engine for his (ex-Pierson brothers’) fuel coupe at the upcoming Bonneville Nationals, backed up by a couple of proven Merc flatheads. However, we’ve found no published evidence that the OHC conversion ran there, or anywhere. (See Sept. ’55 HRM)

Either the OHC Caddy was merely a sophisticated diversion (unlikely) or Stu Hilborn changed Cobbs’ mind just before Bonneville by offering the Chevy V8 that Hilborn had been secretly developing for land-speed racing since receiving one of the earliest assemblies in 1954. Since touted as the first small-block modified specifically for record setting, the blown 265’s debut was spoiled by insufficient spark from three different magnetos. Racer Brown reported that high cylinder pressures produced by the 15-psi huffer overwhelmed the ignition above 4,500 rpm. Cobbs would hang onto the whole, historical setup for the rest of his life. His family sold the complete engine to collector Ralph Whitworth, who displayed it for several years in the office of his stillborn museum in Winnemucca, Nevada. Its whereabouts since Whitworth’s 2016 death are unknown. (See Nov. ’55 HRM; Dec. ’55 CC.)

Carl Kiekhaefer’s Hemi-powered heavyweights dominated both major stock-car circuits this year. While teammate Frank Mundy (not shown) was winning the AAA crown, NASCAR champ Tim Flock (right) was racking up a record 18 Grand National wins and 15 placings in 45 events, leading fully 40 percent of his laps. He and big-brother Truman Fontello Flock (left) are pictured in Darlington’s pits prior to the Southern 500 (Nov. ’55 MT). “Fonty” had taken the Grand National title in 1947, the final season of Bill France’s National Championship Stock Car Circuit. Their older brother, Bob, had a brief-but-spectacular career (36 starts, four wins, 11 top fives, 18 top 10s) that was ended by a broken back. All three siblings are NASCAR Hall of Famers. A sister, Ethel, also made history by running more than 100 Modified events, including two NASCAR shows. In a July 1949 race on Daytona’s beach course featuring all four siblings, she finished 11th in a ’49 Cadillac, ahead of both Bob and Fonty (Tim was second). All told, the family started 379 NASCAR races and earned 230 top-10 finishes.

Whoever aimed Rickman’s camera at Petersen’s crew certainly caught Bob D’Olivo (left) and Wally Parks (center) by surprise, while Rick himself (second from the left) looks bemused. Car Craft editor and future PPC executive Dick Day is on the far right. Wally evidently gathered the all-star editorial team to present HRM’s huge Sportsmanship Award to Don Schleicher for doing an unknown good deed during the Kansas portion of NHRA’s rain-interrupted National Drags.

The little kid dressed up like an airman and pretending to accept the NHRA Nationals Top Eliminator trophy is none other than LeRoi “Tex” Smith, USAF fighter pilot. Subsequent civilian careers with HRM and NHRA started with flying into bases near Drag Safari meets and assisting track setup and tech inspection. An appreciative Safari team affectionately dubbed the volunteer “Boy Lieutenant” and “Lieutenant Fuzz.” After separating from the service, he was recruited for HRM by editor Parks in 1957. He remained at the forefront of hot rodding and automotive publishing right up to his death in 2015, the same year that his long-awaited life story appeared (Inside Hot Rodding: The Tex Smith Autobiography).

Drag racing’s first national showdown and NHRA’s first four-day event was less the overnight success that the Trend Inc. monthlies would have readers believe than an “overnightmare” in Kansas. Drag News reported that the bumpy tarmac of Great Bend Municipal Airport caused so many drivetrain failures during the September 29-30 time trials that NHRA officials spent Friday night supervising a partial repaving. Overnight Saturday and throughout Sunday, the meet was drowned by what HRM called the area’s “worst rainstorm in 30 years.” Faced with an extended forecast for more of the same, and with only the Dragster class winner and overall Top Eliminator yet to be determined amongst all-Western cars, Wally Parks made the controversial call to postpone the meet’s conclusion to November 19-20—in Arizona, 1,000 miles away (thus the two-part event coverage in the Dec. ’55 and Feb. ’56 HRM).

If the facade seems familiar, yet you never saw this massive Los Angeles building, close copies of its tailfin-inspired towers greet visitors to Disney parks in both Florida and California. Inside the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, this Olds-powered custom won the Street Roadster class at Bob Petersen’s 1955 Motorama. Greg Sharp advised that owner-builder Hanky Rootlieb became a pioneer manufacturer of reproduction sheetmetal for early Fords. The company still operates in California. Not so the Pan-Pacific, whose 100,000 square feet made it the world’s largest inhabited wooden structure. The building was L.A.’s main venue for indoor events from 1935 until 1972, when it was displaced by a bigger convention center and abandoned by all but squatters. For the next 17 years, the property’s fate was debated by politicians, developers, and preservationists. Nothing got resolved until May 1989, when a fire blamed on a transient consumed the 54-year-old building. The site ultimately became Pan-Pacific Park, instantly identifiable by a scaled-down tailfin tower atop its recreation center. (See Aug. ’56 HRM.)

If this outtake seems familiar, it’s because the frame is similar to others on possibly the most-reproduced, most-ripped-off roll of images in an archive bursting with approximately 8.5 million individual negatives and transparencies. Adding insult to personal injury, Bob D’Olivo’s portraits of Kenneth Howard, aka Von Dutch—with and without a flute—in this goofy setting are too often either uncredited or miscredited to D’Olivo’s internal, eternal arch-rival, Eric Rickman.

Rickman got Von Dutch to strike a variety of poses in front of L.A.’s Competition Body Shop, wherein the cantankerous artist had set up shop. Humorous images from Rick and his boss, photographic director Bob D’Olivo, were combined in the Feb. ’56 CC, a package that began with editor Dick Day’s humorous column about assigning the accompanying interview to unsuspecting writer Jack Baldwin, who’d never heard of Von Dutch—and never got a straight answer to his prepared questions.

The late Racer Brown never left home without his Cross ballpoint pen and a slide rule, recalled D’Olivo, his colleague, close pal, and soon-to-be racing partner in Corvette’s first national-championship season (see July ’16 HRM). Few folks outside of the company suspected that HRM’s longtime tech editor belonged to an extremely wealthy family and never needed to work. After leaving the publishing business, he found more success as a racing camgrinder.

New-car road tests don’t always end happily. Incriminating evidence occasionally turns up in the archive (though never in back issues). HRM’s Brock raced fast American iron on the sand in Florida, on the salt flats, and on dragstrips without crashing, but he met his match in this 11.7ci (191cc), 9.9hp Messerschmitt. The German wartime aircraft manufacturer’s tricky, airplane-style steering bar swiveled side to side to turn the 4.00-8 front tires. These tandem-passenger three-wheelers weighed just 507 pounds and became fairly common in Competition Coupe/Sedan classes, whose liberal rules allowed any production body, imports included.

The post Backstage Past Part 2: 1955 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/backstage-past-part-2-1955/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hot Rod Network

1 note · View note

placetobenation · 7 years ago

Link

The 27th edition of New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament begins on Monday and if you’ve ever thought about dipping your toe in the water now’s the time to do it. The format provides a great opportunity for new viewers to familiarise themselves with the heavyweights of the company and will set up the next six months of feuds, taking us all the way up to Wrestle Kingdom in January. I hope this guide will encourage some of you to get in on some of the best wrestling in the world. Let’s get to it!

The Tournament

New Japan has held annual tournaments under various guises since 1974, but following a year off, it was rechristened the G1 (Grade One) Climax in 1991 and has remained that way ever since. The night of the finals is second only to the company’s January 4th Tokyo Dome show in terms of prestige. The current format (since 2012): a round-robin tournament split into two blocks of ten wrestlers. The winners of these blocks will face each other in the final and the winner of that match, assuming it’s not IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada, gets a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom in January. Every match has a 30-minute time limit with two points for a victory, one point for a draw, zero points for a loss.

As with the last few years, the tournament is taking place over 19 shows, running A Block one night, B Block the next. There are five G1 contests per card, with the participants from the other block, plus the rest of the roster, wrestling in undercard tag matches (note: for most shows I’ll only be reviewing the G1 matches). The benefit of this layout is that it ensures everyone has a decent number of days off from wrestling hard-fought singles matches and it’s easier to keep track of standings.

The Wrestlers

A Block

Bad Luck Fale (4th year)

It’s been a decent 2017 for the big Tongan. The Bullet Club stalwart reached the final of the New Japan Cup in March and though he lost that match he went on to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP title a few months later. Both that title challenge and the Cup final against Katsuyori Shibata were very good matches, proving he can still bring it with the right opponents. In fact, at this point he’s surely underrated in his ability to deliver in big matches. He also remains a believable monster – a giant compared to most in the company – and is capable of beating anyone.

Hirooki Goto (10th year)

In my primer for last year’s tournament I said Goto’s time had passed and it was hard to see him doing well. Not so. Goto was a surprise finalist, losing to Kenny Omega, and then went on to beat former tag partner Shibata for the NEVER Openweight title at Wrestle Kingdom. His run with the belt was not exactly inspired and he recently lost it to Minoru Suzuki, but despite general apathy towards him and his reputation as a choker, the guy can go in the ring. Still, a repeat of last year’s slightly fortuitous run is hard to see.

Kota Ibushi (3rd year)

Ibushi hasn’t wrestled in New Japan since September 2015, although I’m reliably informed that he’s been getting inside tips about goings-on from his good friend Tiger Mask W. Thanks in part to his participation in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic last year, Ibushi is among the best-known entrants in the G1 and his official return to the New Japan ring is a rare treat. Having somehow been convinced to take part in this gruelling month-long tour, I would imagine the high-flyer known as the Golden Star will be eager to remind the world just how good he can be.

Tomohiro Ishii (5th year)

A quiet year for the Stone Pitbull in general, although as always he has delivered in the tournaments, reaching the semi-final of the New Japan Cup and the final of the recent US Championship tournament in Long Beach. The diminutive badass also enjoyed (I assume) a brief run as tag champion with fellow CHAOS stablemate Toru Yano. He always delivers in the G1 and has arguably been the MVP of last two editions, so even if he’s not going to win it, it’ll be worth keep an eye on his matches.

Togi Makabe (14th year)

Aside from a few recent tag match appearances, Makabe hasn’t been seen much lately. Unfortunately, that’s partly because his Great Bash Heel tag partner, Tomoaki Honma, suffered a career-threatening neck injury earlier in the year. The one-time IWGP champion is a Bruiser Brody-inspired brawler, still one of the most well-recognised faces of the company thanks to his TV show and his reputation is such that he could believably claim a win against anyone in the block. Just don’t expect him to sell.

Yuji Nagata (19th year)

The age-defying veteran has had a fairly quiet 12 months, with his focus now firmly on the development of future talent through the dojo. As he demonstrated in his 2016 run with the NEVER title, however, Nagata is still able to match the level of his opponent, and given who he shares the block with that could mean some very good matches over the coming weeks. As this is his last G1 tournament and I expect him to go out on a high.

Tetsuya Naito (8th year)

The insolent and aloof trickster who leads the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable recently lost the Intercontinental title to Hiroshi Tanahashi after holding it since last September. Perhaps it’s for the best, since he was terribly abusive towards that poor belt and now that he’s out of that relationship he can set his sights on the IWGP title. A heavy favourite for the block, if not the whole thing.

Zack Sabre Jr. (Debut)

The technical expert debuted with the company in March and made an immediate impact by beating Shibata and joining the heel stable Suzuki-gun. It’s proven to be a natural fit for the 29-year old Brit and I’m excited to see him in the ring with everyone in the block, such is the uniqueness of what he brings to the wrestling ring. His pure grappling ability gives me the feeling he’ll be pushing for a place in the final.

Hiroshi Tanahashi (16th year)

Much like last year the Ace of the Century is going into the tournament at less than 100%. On this occasion the injury is a partially torn bicep and he’s forgoing surgery at the moment because he’s still an essential draw for the company. Still, that didn’t stop him from beating Naito for the Intercontintal title at Dominion. His star power and popularity is seemingly undiminished and he’ll main event many of these shows despite not being one of the favourites for the first time in a long time.

YOSHI-HASHI (2nd year)

The puppyish underdog of CHAOS has an innate ability to draw sympathy from crowds, something he was able to harness in an impressive run in the G1 last year. That momentum has largely stalled in the time since, but a recent challenge for Minoru Suzuki’s NEVER title suggests he has a role to play in singles competition. Translating the fire he discovered last year into wins this year is going to be tough, though, and in such a block like this a solitary win would be an achievement.

B Block

Michael Elgin (3rd year)

Two years on from his debut, Big Mike remains a crowd favourite thanks to his feats of strength and consistently good matches. But 2017 hasn’t been Elgin’s year, not in New Japan at least, and a failed Intercontinental title challenge and first round losses in the New Japan Cup and US title tournament will surely only spur him on to better last year’s 5th place finish. The Canadian has been a quality addition to the roster and a run to the final would be no less than he deserves.

EVIL (2nd year)

Despite coming to the ring dressed as the grim reaper and firing lasers from his fingers, the Los Ingobernables member has straight-ahead brawling style (when he’s not using chairs to gain an advantage, that is). A very short run with the NEVER belt and a New Japan Cup semi-final are the standout singles moments for a man who’s mostly been plying his trade in multi-man tag matches, but even those brief opportunities suggest to me that there’s been improvement. A repeat of last year’s four wins would be a decent showing given the competition.

Satoshi Kojima (15th year)

Last year, Kojima selflessly gave his spot in the tournament to long-time tag partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan – the latter’s final G1. Now, the founder and lone member of Bread Club (not counting his Twitter followers) is back with a point to prove. He won the tournament in 2010, which isn’t so long ago that it’s out of the realm of possibility that it could be repeated, but now that he’s firmly in the veteran category Kojima might consider slapping down some of the young upstarts to be a job well done.

Kazuchika Okada (6th year)

The reigning IWGP champion, leader of the CHAOS stable, and New Japan’s Ace. His ongoing title reign, now 13-months long, has been an extraordinary run of hard-fought battles against a wide variety of challengers and has demonstrated a level of fortitude and determination befitting The Man. It has been ten years since a reigning IWGP champion won the G1 (Nagata in 2007) and it would be the cherry on top of this outstanding reign if Okada could manage that feat this year.

Kenny Omega (2nd year)

Kenny won the G1 last year, becoming the first-ever non-Japanese person to do so. And in his debut appearance, no less. As you may have heard, he went on to unsuccessfully challenge Okada for the IWGP title at Wrestle Kingdom and recently pushed the champ to the limit in a one-hour draw at Dominion in June. A few weekends ago he became the inaugural United States Heavyweight Champion, beating Ishii in the final of a two-day tournament in Long Beach, and while he’s not yet claimed the big belt, he has become one of the Top Five guys in company. After his rise in the past 18 months, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bullet Club leader reach the final once more. But a back-to-back winner? We’ll see.

Juice Robinson (Debut)

In his time with New Japan the former CJ Parker of NXT has improved beyond measure. His endeavour has been rewarded this year in the form of title shots against Goto and Naito, neither of which he won, but both of which did enough to demonstrate that if the development continues the company will have a serious prospect on their hands. He’s going into the tournament hungry and I expect him to pull off an upset or two, while undoubtedly being outmatched most of the time. Go Juice!

SANADA (2nd year)

Los Ingobernables de Japón’s stoic submission specialist has spent most of the last year teaming with his stablemates in multi-man tag matches. A bit of a shame, since last year’s tournament had him looking like a breakout star thanks to some notable victories and strong performances. His singles matches have been limited in 2017, but there are plenty of fresh opponents here and plenty of opportunities to remind people of what he has to offer.

Minoru Suzuki (7th year)

The terrifying Suzuki returned to New Japan (along with his namesake stable) the night after Wrestle Kingdom following a two-year stint in NOAH. He went straight for the top dog, attacking Okada and coming close to besting him in a title match in February. Since then, he’s won and successfully defended the NEVER Openweight title, and given his stable’s propensity for interference of the most blatant fashion I fully expect him to (unnecessarily) cheat his way to several big wins.

Tama Tonga (2nd year)

In the time since last year’s tournament, Tama’s tag team with real-life brother Tanga Loa – Guerrillas of Destiny – has really clicked and by now they have held the titles three times. Last year I predicted a winless run but he came away with four, including a victory over Tanahashi, so despite being a tag team specialist he will be regarded as an unpredictable and dangerous proposition for his block opponents.

Toru Yano (12th year)

The Sublime Master Thief remains comfortingly consistent in his style, that being to cheat at all costs and win via low blow whenever possible. As a serial member of odd couple tag teams, it was no surprise that he and CHAOS stablemate Ishii managed to win the tag titles at Wrestle Kingdom, though their glory wasn’t long-lived. For those of you who haven’t encountered Yano before, know that he’s a spoiler and will almost certainly beat one of your favourites. Oh, and he’ll try to sell you his DVDs while he’s at it.

How To Watch

The opening show on Monday will be FREE to watch on New Japan World and features Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi. Not bad, right?

New Japan World is 999 Yen (currently under $9) per month and will be streaming all 19 shows, with the opening four and final three getting English commentary from Kevin Kelly and Don Callis.

Here’s the English sign-up page.

Due to a kind of logic I don’t quite understand, a customer is charged at the turn of the calendar month and not on a monthly basis from the sign-up date. Because of this, it’s wise to sign-up as early in the month as possible to avoid being charged twice in quick succession. What I’m saying is: do it, do it now!

The site was recently overhauled and is now easier to navigate, but I would still recommend using Google Chrome if you’re watching on a computer. The video seems to run more smoothly and the auto-translate feature is helpful on occasion too. Also, this year the company launched a dedicated English-language website, which is a great resource for information and I’d recommend its use in keeping up to date with the tournament.

There we go, you’re ready to enjoy a month-long feast of great wrestling. See you on Monday for the opening night.

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

0 notes

ewe-ex · 8 years ago

Text

A new, shiny ListMaster

This week's demands maintained the course of development.

It’s time to make that great leap into Hi-Fidelity Mockups! Do note that this is something all-together new to me, and is definitely my least-explored topic in my formal education as of today.

Excellent! Let’s get to work.

This means Framer js Framer with Atom Framer with Atom and Node js No? Why do I feel that a Mac should have been strongly recommended as a standard tool for this program? … How about Marvel? Marvel it is! Marvel, you are Marvel-ous! You see what I did there? I'll stop. There was just so much work put into deciding which platform will be best to use. I already miss my wireframes. I hope they are doing well without me.

While the sketches of the wireframe for ListMaster showed promise, it became difficult to deside exactly what to reduce the application to in the translation from desktop to a mobile format. I believe there could be a clean mobile ListMaster with all of the functionality of the original, but how would I do that? Let’s start with some notes, of course!

One thing I'm going to do a little differently is try spending more time gathering information about what people do want in place of more sketching. I'm also curious to see what happens if I sketch less. This may seem odd, but I do have my reasons. I have been chronically terrified of sketching, in general, for most of my life thus far. There was something about the permanence of putting any utensil to a medium that kept me asking repeatedly, constantly "Is this right? How do I know? Why am I doing exactly this?" until I made a few terrible shapes, a wiggly line, and a retreat from the paper. I know I've come a very long way in a short time, but could I show myself some hard evidence that it can not only be something enjoyable, but something that brings about success and thus satisfaction with my work? Sure. This is the time for it!

To progress this more Hi-Fi project, I started with my old notes from the wireframe and just kept making more notes around those. Who may have the ideal perspective to help me gather delicious data? Why, none other than some of my coworkers. They are meet the profile of being very technically literate (some, perhaps too plugged-in) and have suddenly found themselves in that place in life where they must shop to survive. Perfect!

Some user ultra-basic user research. (professionals, don't do this. I’m a qualified undergrad)

What I officially determined was that this small representation of the user base was, indeed, desiring features such as a master list, a recipe ingredient adding button, other recipe functionality, and a weekly flyer feature. I appear to have been spot-on! One participant was so excited when I showed her that I had already sketched out her ideas, resulting in a positive user-experience of the moderator (me). They did give me the idea to add focus on store information, as navigating about different store sites can be oddly time-consuming.

However, these users were asking for some things that I had considered, but decided against adding to the full application. For example, one requested a map. I agreed that a map for your local stores might allow you to optimize a grocery route. Then, the participant countered that he wanted a map of the store to find the items. Ha! Surely, you jest dear participant! “No, and quit calling me Shirley”, she responded. In my wounded retreat I decided to meet half-way and add a screen for navigation, seen below.

One thing I learned is that when making a Hi-Fi mockup, it takes more work AND consideration to add features or make changes. The complete lack of detail allowed a more systematic view of what I was doing, even if it was as simple as groceries. I see the most successful apps, but I have not yet seen the pattern for creating that contemporary "this is perfect, of course it wouldn't look like anything else" design. I think we call this the “unavoidable” concept. It’s a big deal right now, particularly due to fake news. On my wireframe, a feature just needed a space on some paper and a few pen strokes. I think not having established a unifying theme as a first step was one of my biggest issues. This made the addition of more features feel like a run-on sentence about nothing.

Let’s look at what happened:

https://marvelapp.com/f7jbbb6

Or for those wishing for the more realistic experience:

A sample of the MarvelApp screen:

I feel like this was fair for my first-ever mobile application attempt. Time ended up being a bigger restraint than I had thought. There are some things that I am still excited about possibly adding in, if I had the time. A barcode scanner, like the one used in "Buycott" would be superb! Think of the real nutrition-tracking you could do! Think of how quickly you could make a detailed review page!

Sketchbook Artifact:

Things I would do the next time: - I was having fun using this as an opportunity to see my mobile app-version of free-writing, and I'm not very happy with it. However, I must solidify exactly where I'm starting in my natural level. If this were not the route I was taking, I would have started with analyzing some currently existing apps, such as the Main and Vine one.

○ I like them, and I wish they were doing better. It would be great if I could help establish balance for the places that carry some of my favorite foods. Just a thought.

- If I had more time, I would have found a serious book or primer on mobile app design. I haven't really considered what's out there. In fact, mobile design has to be my least-broached topic. I feel that I like it more than I thought I would.

Extra: I’d like to see if I can make a simple, useful page just for my informational needs to see how that goes. I volunteer at a youth robotics group, and it would be great to have a ready reference to turnover when I am no longer able to help. Ohhhhh, I have to do this now.

User Testing:

+ Simple

+ Very useful! Can we have this??

- (something that I think was a hint at it being not too ...shiny?)

- No recipe ingredient feature! Wah!

+ Easy to navigate

- - - no clear visual theme

These...I can live with. For now.

Thanks for tuning in!

0 notes

amazonauthorinsights-live · 8 years ago

Photo

Use metadata to help readers find your book

By Kindle Press

{Article_Date}

Strong book details can work wonders for discoverability.

You’ve put the finishing touches on your manuscript, created an eye-catching cover, and selected a great title. Next, it’s time to publish your story. No matter how you choose to publish, you’ll be asked to provide information that describes your book. The info you provide will be used to create your book’s listing on Amazon or elsewhere. This descriptive information is known as metadata. Metadata can be divided into two categories: (1) the information that helps readers discover your book, and (2) the information that helps them decide whether to purchase it.

Metadata

Types of Metadata

Helps Readers Find Your Book:

Category (genre)

Keywords

Content – when your book’s words are used to help improve search results

Title, author name

Helps Readers Decide to Buy Your Book:

Cover

Description

Length

Sale price

Other non-metadata items that help readers decide to buy your book include book reviews and a preview of a sample of the content itself using Amazon’s Look Inside feature.

“Book Detail Page” and Description

Your Amazon “book detail page” is your book’s product listing on Amazon and is a critical part of your marketing story. It could be considered your book’s “home page” on the Internet, and it is where readers will find the necessary information to decide whether or not they want to purchase and read your work.

An essential part of appealing to buyers is a well-written book description. Think of it like the back-cover text of a paperback, or the inside flap of a hardcover book. This is the first exposure potential readers have to the content of your story and your writing style. Keep the following things in mind as you craft a description:

Only include the main plotline. Avoid convoluting your description with every subplot and secondary character. It’s best to just describe the main characters and primary plotline in your book.

Keep it concise. Make sure that your description is short, to the point, and is written in the third person (present tense).

Put on your marketing hat. This is your opportunity to talk directly to readers. Use words that evoke an emotional response in order to spark their interest.

Cliff-hangers are okay. Find the angle in your story that will leave readers asking, “What happens next?” and include it in your description to entice potential customers to want to read more.

Start the description off strong. Many readers may be clicking on your detail page from their mobile phone or when they’re on the go. Therefore, make sure the opening sentence grabs their attention.

“You’re not just writing your description for your back cover. You’re also writing this for your social media network, as part of your bio information for personal appearances, for flyers and other print material, etc. This isn’t just for you; it’s for your fans.” —R. W. Ridley, author of The Takers.