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cdevroe · 3 months ago

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My next computing setup

The idea of trying to paint the full picture of my computing needs exhausts me for some unknown reason. Even this short post has been a chore. But I thought it important to get some of my thoughts down because it helps me to clarify my own thinking and will hopefully help me make some decisions. And I would love it if you commented via my website, on Mastodon or Micro.blog or email or USPS.

The main issue is that it just so happens that I find myself at a time where I have a 5+ year old Intel-based MacBook Pro, an 8 year old iPad Pro, and a 4+ year old iPhone 12 Pro Max.

All of these devices are currently working fine, their software is up-to-date, and except for the MacBook Pro – their batteries are in very good shape. (The MacBook Pro has never had great battery life.)

One could say that I do not need to upgrade any of these devices just yet. I could likely hold out another year. But Apple has made it plain that the M-series chipset has their full attention. There are apps from the App Store that will not run on my Intel-based Mac (the iOS/iPad OS apps). The upcoming Apple Intelligence features will not be available for any of my current devices.

To add to the incentive, I’ve had a good year financially. I could use an expense or two to write-off before the end of the year. In fact, based on my math, I think I’ll want a fairly big expense if possible. (Try as I might, I’m having a hard time understanding exactly how much I should be trying to write-off.)

So, let’s just say that I’ve decided I should upgrade one or all of my computing devices before the end of the year. What should I buy?

I work at my desk about 98% of the time. In over 20-years of using a laptop as my primary computing device, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used it on my lap. I have had years of more mobile work – going into coworking spaces or working both at home and an office – and years where I’m only at home. Currently I work almost exclusively in my home office connected to a display.

My main computing tasks are programming, graphic, video, and photo editing, and most recently running local LLMs.

I’m wrestling with the following questions:

Since I work from home, should I switch to a desktop computer?

For the few times per year that I travel, should I keep my current MacBook Pro or should I trade up to an M-series laptop for compatibility reasons? This way I’d have both a desktop and laptop computer.

For years I’ve not had enough internal storage to have my ever growing photo library (~1TB as of this writing) on-device, should I finally buy more enough to do so?

Am I kidding myself that I feel like I need to max out whatever device I buy for what I do day-to-day? Perhaps I only need a relatively inexpensive laptop and I’d be fine?

My strategy when buying new work hardware is to buy as much computing power as I can reasonably afford and then don’t think about it for about 5 years. This strategy works and it helps me mentally when I consider the price tag.

For instance, if I price out a maxed out Mac Studio today (with an M3 chipset, not an M4 like I would likely wait for) it comes to around $8000+ USD. Which, likely seems like a lot of money to many but it really isn’t. I use my computer for 12-hours a day nearly every workday. Over a 5 year period it is only $1,600 a year. Or $6 per workday. Ask any business owner if $1,600 a year in expenses is a lot – I assure you that being a computer programmer is likely the least expensive profession known to humankind. For context my 16-inch Intel-based MacBook Pro was about $4200 USD.

But then $8000+ wouldn’t be my only expense. A new iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPad Pro would bump it up to well over $10000 USD. Still, in my opinion, not a lot over a 5 year time span.

Stay with me here.

But then I circle back to the last of my six questions above; do I really need this much compute? Or can I get away with far less? Should I just buy a used M3-based laptop and see if that would be plenty? Should I keep what I currently have until they don’t work at all? Should I go all-out?

I have no idea!

I’m leaving the comments open on this post because I genuinely wonder what all of you think I should do.

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doctorshire2 · 2 years ago

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Doctor Who Tours

Doctor Who is now considered a British Institute and has come a long way since it first aired on November 23rd 1963. The very first show saw the Doctor travel 100,00 years into the past to help some dim cavemen discover light. After 26 seasons and seven Doctors later the series came off our screens in 1989 much to the disappointment of the huge devoted fanbase. In 1996 an attempt was made to revive Doctor Who but it wasn't until June 2005 when it came back with a vengeance with Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor that put the series back on the map as it were. It then went on for 5 years with David Tenant portraying the Doctor until 2010 when Matt Smith took over the role. Today it is still a great family show and has attracted many new fans.

If you're a new or old fan of the show there are Tours and museums you can go and see some of the locations and memorabilia of this classic show. The Doctor Who Tour of London will take you on over 15 locations from the show, some from the new series and some from old sites like the location of The Invasion and Resurrection of the Darleks. The tour also takes you to the TV museum in London where you will get to see some of the costumes worn in the show and props used. Also you can buy gifts and memorabilia from the shop.

You will learn all about how the shows were made so the tour is also educational. If you want to take pictures of the locations that's not a problem. Remember the front door of 10 Downing Street in Aliens of London? Well you can get up and close to this and get your picture taken in front of the door. Rose Tyler fans will love the tour as you get to drop by her home in the show.

Why not go that extra mile and actually meet a Doctors in London Who star. Well this is possible with private or group tours. You will get the general tour but included will be a pre-arranged meeting or lunch with a celebrity from the show. This will obviously depend on availability of the celebrity and the cost will reflect the popularity of that celebrity.

There are tours in London and also Wales. The Wales tours take you to Cardiff where you will see lots of location which were featured in shows since 2005. You can leave from London or at Leigh Delamere services station on the M4. There is a Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff which you get to see. At the end of the Doctor Who tour you get a souvenir group picture sent you by email which is a nice touch.

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/travel/a-new-kind-of-hamilton-show-this-time-on-lake-michigan/

A New Kind of ‘Hamilton’ Show, This Time on Lake Michigan

CHICAGO — Audrey Burcham and Grace Troelstrup got up at 5 a.m. Saturday to be sure they’d make it on time. By 7, three hours before a large “Hamilton” exhibition opened here, they were standing at the front of the line with their moms. Audrey, 12, was clutching an Alexander Hamilton doll as well as a hard-bound collection of inspirational tweets from Lin-Manuel Miranda and, of course, a Playbill; Grace, 13, was wearing a gold star “Hamilton” knit cap and toting “Hamilton: The Revolution,” the explanatory book known to fans as the Hamiltome.

“We’re obsessed,” Audrey said. Grace nodded in agreement. “Hamilton is our life now.”

Hamilfans (yes, that’s what they call themselves) have a lot of ways to engage with the juggernaut musical. There’s the show itself, of course, now playing in six productions in North America and Britain, with a seventh expected at some point in Germany, and the books and the app and the cast recording and the mixtape.

But now “Hamilton,” created by Mr. Miranda, has taken a step that appears to be without precedent in the theater world. On an island in Lake Michigan (well, it’s called Northerly Island, but it’s really more of a peninsula attached to a popular park) the show has erected a huge shed in which it has created a high-tech exhibition that combines entertainment (a 3-D theater offers a rare you-are-on-the-stage view of Mr. Miranda leading the Washington cast in performing the show’s opening number), education (more than you probably want to know about the Articles of Confederation) and commerce ($25 for your very own pair of King George socks).

The exhibition is a commercial venture, overseen by Jeffrey Seller, who is the musical’s lead producer, and designed by David Korins, who is the musical’s set designer. It has been capitalized for $13.5 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — more than the cost of the original Broadway musical, which was $12.5 million. Tickets are $39.50 for adults, $25 for children and free for Chicago public school groups.

The show is betting that interest in “Hamilton” remains so high, both among those who have seen the show and those who have not, that it can sustain the exhibition here for months and then move it to another location — San Francisco or Los Angeles are “logical options,” Mr. Seller said. It is built to tour, although it will require space — the exhibition occupies 35,000 square feet in a hangar-like structure that is 300 feet long and 100 feet wide — and expense: Moving it will take 80 trucks, compared to just seven to move a touring production of the show.

The exhibition is starting in Chicago in recognition of the musical’s success here, where the first production outside New York opened in 2016, and the musical has now been seen by more people in Chicago than in New York.

Among those who attended a ribbon-cutting on Friday was the mayor-elect of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, who said she had seen the musical four times (once in New York, three times in Chicago), and was “blown away by everything about it.”

The exhibition is a cousin to any number of museum-lite shows, often combining artifacts and fun-for-the-family activities in a selfie-conducive setting, that have been mounted in association with television shows (“Downton Abbey”), movies (“Jurassic Park”), games (“Angry Birds”) and musical groups (the Rolling Stones). Some are mounted at nonprofit institutions — just within the last year, New York has seen museum exhibitions about David Bowie (at the Brooklyn Museum), Harry Potter (at the New-York Historical Society) and Tolkien’s Middle-earth (at the Morgan Library & Museum). But many are in less rarefied for-profit settings — at shopping centers, for example. Just this week, a “Hunger Games” exhibition is opening inside a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

“Brands are looking to connect with consumers, and people are looking for an experience that is more than being on their phones all the time,” said Tom Zaller, the chief executive of Imagine Exhibitions, which helped conceive this project but is no longer working on it. “There have certainly been other ‘Hamilton’ exhibitions that museums have done, but your typical ‘Hamilton’ theater fan is probably less likely to go to a history museum than to hear Lin-Manuel Miranda tell them the story.”

The immersive exhibition tracks the life of Alexander Hamilton, who was the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, from his childhood in the Caribbean to his fatal shooting on a dueling ground in Weehawken, N.J., and it also uses his life as a tool for exploring early American history.

It follows the arc of the musical, but also delves into issues that are only lightly mentioned onstage — like the role of slavery in the economy of the Americas, including colonial New York, and offers information about soldiers of color, women at war and Native Americans. A room focused on the election of 1800 features silhouettes of those excluded from voting in early America, including women, enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans and poor whites.

There are carnival-game-style exhibits that try to help visitors understand Hamilton’s concern with debt, banking, and manufacturing policy, and, inside a facsimile of George Washington’s wartime tent, there is a tabletop plan for the Battle of Yorktown featuring toy ships and soldiers that move by magnetization. There is a room with a spiral path to represent the hurricane that affected Hamilton’s early life, there are quotes about Hamilton from famous Americans and there’s a legacy area where visitors can write down their own wishes for America.

“I have so many people come up to me and say, ‘I hardly knew anything about Hamilton, and I want to know more,’” Mr. Miranda said in an interview here. “This is for them.”

There are, of course, many nods to the musical, including an audio guide narrated by Mr. Miranda and two other member of the original cast — Phillipa Soo and Christopher Jackson. The exhibition also has a soundtrack that will be familiar to fans — it’s a reorchestrated instrumental version of the show’s score, recorded in a Los Angeles studio by a 27-piece band.

Scattered throughout are small white signs that correct historical inaccuracies in the musical. On the audio guide, Mr. Miranda refers to them as “tweaks to history” and “fun facts that set the record straight.” The most significant, given the debate in some circles over how the musical depicts its hero’s relationship to slavery, is a sign that says that “The real Hamilton wasn’t an abolitionist, but he did oppose slavery.”

Mr. Miranda is straightforward about the fact that his musical is not precise history. In a welcoming video to the exhibition, he says, “I made a lot of things up,” and in the interview he said, “Don’t expect to pass a test on Argentinean politics by watching ‘Evita.’”

The exhibition aspires to greater historicity. Joanne Freeman, a professor of history and American studies at Yale, served as an adviser and narrates some of the audio; Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor of American legal history at Harvard Law School, served as a consultant.

“There are two ways to respond to the musical — one is to say, ‘Everything is not accurate, and I don’t like that,’ and the other is to say, ‘Everything is not accurate, so come with me and let me tell you more,’” Professor Freeman said. “I’ve been studying this period for many decades, and I’ve never seen this kind of interest — people want to know more, and it’s a wonderful thing that the show wanted historians to come in and offer a responsible version of more.”

Professor Gordon-Reed, who called the musical “fictionalized biography,” said the exhibition “attempts to tell the story in broader context.” “I imagine lots of young people will be there, and this will give them a more nuanced view of what happened in early America,” she said.

Early attendees seemed impressed. Among those lined up for the opening were Alex Lipp, 19, of Chicago, and Cyandra Bennett, 19, of Sheldon, Ill. On Friday night, they had seen the musical in Chicago — Ms. Lipp cosplaying as King George and Ms. Bennett as Hamilton. And on Saturday morning, Ms. Lipp showed off a forearm tattoo with words from the show’s libretto, “History has its eyes on you,” while Ms. Bennett had the show’s signature star drawn in black makeup under her left eye. Because they were in the first group to move through the museum, they got an unexpected bonus — they spotted Mr. Miranda in the last room, and got a selfie with him. “It was surreal — I was shaking really hard,” Ms. Lipp said. As for the exhibition, she said, “There was literally nothing I didn’t like.”

#m1 travel news southbound #snow and travel news #travel news 2br #travel news buxton #travel news m4/5 #travel news underground

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wifi-crusader · 3 years ago

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Reader who's a gun nut... scenario with characters

So I saw a bunch of ways of the reader getting pulled in. I think I saw something about a character coming into the real world and yatta yatta.

So what if a character goes into irl world through the readers systems screen that just so happens to be in their basement/armory then just see reader cleaning a M4 or other gun Reader just looks up, grabs another gun from a shelf, loads it then aims it at the character for self defense reasons. I don't know what to label this as so let's just go with this shall we?

Jean (First 5-star and waifu)

She looked at the gun with a questioning look, it reminded her of Fatui Pyroslinger's weapon when she fought some of them while you played her. She, not wanting to harm her God, raises her hands in manner of submissiveness. "Just how the hell did you get in here?" Her God asked her, "I came for you to bring back to your rightful throne your greatness." She answered while putting her right hand on her heart. "As the one you've kept when you first basked me in your warmth, it was decided I must travel to your realm" Jean continued. "Holy s#!>, Sagau is real" you mumbled to yourself as you set down the gun or your choice and helped her up.

Beidou (Why isn't there fanart of her cosplaying/looking like Metal Gear Rising Raiden? She got the eye patch, heels, electricity powers, and can parry!)

As the Uncrowned Lord of the ocean, she believed it was best to swim the data stream and when you pointed your gun at her, she realized she shouldn't use her combat skill because one, she didn't want to hurt you and two, she didn't have her weapon. "What in the Kentucky fried hell, how did you get in here?" You asked her. Her response was "Everyone in Teyvat wishes to see you, our God, and its my duty to bring you back to your throne" She said while standing up ans grabbing the guns barrel. "Sagau is real..." you mumbled to yourself as you put the safety on.

Shenhe (She didn't come home for me :[ )

You were the one who made her feel at place, the one that gave her a new home in your warmth, she became dedicated to you and wants you fleshy form by her side. As soon as you took a break to clean your weapons, she broke into your world. When you pulled out your gun, she grabbed it and broke it in half. "What the-!" You were interrupted by Shenhe grabbing you and just YEETing you back into Genshin, literally.

---------------------------------------------------

I don't feel like I got the character spot on, but hey, I'm kinda new to this so just deal with my dumbass until I get better with this ok?

#sagau #beidou #jean gunnhildr #Shenhe #gun #reader insert

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rebeccalouisaferguson · 3 years ago

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"I always just rode the waves,” Rebecca Ferguson says with a shrug. The comment hangs in the air, as if the Anglo-Swedish 37-year-old is only now processing that a combination of currents and tides has led her not just to an acting career but to the brink of big-screen stardom.

“I’ve never been ambitious,” she says. “I’ve always thought that that was a bad thing.” She’s seen others in the industry consumed by constant striving and asked herself why she hasn’t hungered for fame since childhood, slept in cars outside castings, barged into directors’ offices or thrown herself in the path of a producer. “But should I not be burning for this? Out meeting people and networking for the next job?” says Ferguson, who has chosen the sort of quiet, private life outside the big city that so many actors claim to crave. “My life just took another turn. But I’ve always thought: Am I where I should be?”

At the moment, on this late July day, Ferguson is slumped in the backseat of a Mercedes-Benz sedan, crawling through rush-hour traffic on the M4 out of London. She is capping off a hectic week during a particularly busy period. Most immediately, she’s coming from a table read for Wool, the Apple TV+ adaptation of Hugh Howey’s bestselling postapocalyptic trilogy. Ferguson is both the star and, for the first time, an executive producer. “I’m sitting in all the different rooms, listening and learning like the students,” she says. She’s filming Mission: Impossible 7, her third tour of duty in the long-running series that first brought her widespread recognition. She’s also promoting the film Reminiscence, the sci-fi noir written and directed by Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy in which Ferguson stars opposite Hugh Jackman. And now she is starting a press push and festival prep for her role as Lady Jessica ahead of the much-delayed release of Dune (in theaters October 22), director Denis Villeneuve’s reimagining of Frank Herbert’s novel. “After this film, I think everyone will see what I see in her,” the filmmaker says. “She has a beautiful, regal, aristocratic presence, elegance. But that was not the main thing: The most important thing for me was that depth.”

After tracing a long, meandering path, Ferguson has landed in a rare and rarified position: ascendant in her late 30s (still an anomaly for women in the film industry) and sought after by some of the biggest names in the business. “When you meet Rebecca, you just see it. She’s very open, candid, collaborative, hardworking, funny—and not pretentious,” says Tom Cruise, who handpicked Ferguson to star opposite him in the Mission: Impossiblefilms, which are known for their demanding shoots. “She just rose to the occasion every single time.”

In February 2020, when the pandemic began, Ferguson left Venice, where she’d been shooting Mission: Impossible 7, and hunkered down with her husband, their 3-year-old daughter and Ferguson’s 14-year-old son from a previous relationship at their farm in Sweden. After four months, Ferguson returned to the M:I set and basically hasn’t stopped working since.

Dune has sat idle for far longer. By the time the movie premieres, more than two years will have passed since it wrapped. Ferguson recently asked to screen the film again: “I miss it,” she says. She ended up bringing along her Mission: Impossible co-star Simon Pegg. After the credits rolled, Pegg broke into a smile and wrapped her in a congratulatory bear hug. “That’s all I needed,” she says.

Despite being a sci-fi epic based on a novel from 1965, Dune feels “very timely,” Ferguson says, pointing to its handling of environmental issues, religious zealotry, colonialism and Indigenous rights. The plot of the film, which cost an estimated $165 million, centers on occupying powers battling for the right to exploit a people and their planet, named Arrakis, for melange (or spice)—the most valuable commodity in Herbert’s fictional universe, a substance that provides transcendental thought, extends life and enables instantaneous interstellar travel. “Spice,” Ferguson says, “is equally about the poppy and oil fields.”

Ferguson’s Lady Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, a powerful secretive sisterhood with superhuman mental abilities. She defies her order by giving birth to a son, Paul (played by Timothée Chalamet), who may be a messianic figure. “She basically just f—s up the entire universe by having a son out of love,” says Ferguson. In her hands, Jessica is equal parts caring parent, protector and pedagogue. Among the skills she wields and teaches Paul is “the Voice”—a modulated tone that allows the speaker to control others.

The movie was shot in Norway, Hungary, Jordan and Abu Dhabi, whose desert landscape stood in for Arrakis. Filming there was particularly arduous, as temperatures exceeded 120 degrees Fahrenheit, limiting the shoot window to only an hour and a half each day at 5 a.m. and again at dusk. “We were running across the sand in our steel suits being chased by nonexistent but humongous worms,” Ferguson recalls, referring to the sand-beasts later rendered in CGI. “To be honest, it was one of the best moments ever. It was the most beautiful location I’ve ever seen.”

Back in London, Ferguson is approaching home. She leaves the following day for a small town on the coast of England, where she plans to spend her first vacation in two years and to do some surfing. “Let’s hope it’s good weather,” she says. “If not, I’ll surf in the rain.” Not that she’s the sort to paddle out into storm swells. “I think I’ve managed to stand on a board once in my entire life,” she says. “But it was quite a high. Complete surrender to the waves and total control all at once.”

Born Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström to an English mother and Swedish father, Ferguson grew up bilingual in Stockholm. She immersed herself in dance from a young age, enjoying ballet, jazz, street funk and tango. Despite being shy and prone to blushing and breaking out when forced to speak publicly, Ferguson found she was at ease in front of the camera. She dabbled in modeling and then, at 15, attended a TV casting call at her mother’s urging. Ferguson ended up getting the lead role in Nya Tider (New Times), a soap opera that became wildly popular, splashing Ferguson’s face into Swedish homes five times a week.

When her role ended about two years later, Ferguson was adrift. She had no formal acting training to fall back on, no clear sense of how to steer a career and no major connections to the industry. She had a short run on another soap and appeared in a slasher flick and a couple of independent shorts, then…nothing. “I was famous in Sweden, but I didn’t really have an income anymore,” she says. “So I went and I worked in whatever job I could get.” That meant stints at a daycare center and as a nanny, in a jewelry shop and a shoe store, as well as teaching tango, cleaning hotel rooms and waitressing at a Korean restaurant. She eventually landed in a small coastal town named Simrishamn, where she lived with her then-partner and their toddler son, content to be a where-are-they-now celebrity.

When fame again came calling, Ferguson ran away. She was at the flea market when she recognized the acclaimed Swedish director Richard Hobert, and he saw her. As he shouted her name, Ferguson grabbed her son, who lost his shoes and sausage, and fled. “I panicked,” she says. “I don’t know why.” When Hobert eventually caught up to her, Ferguson tried to act nonchalant as he proceeded to tell her he’d admired her work and pitched her on the lead role in his next movie: “I’ve written this role, and I think I have written it for you. Do you want to read the script?”

Her work in Hobert’s A One-Way Trip to Antibes earned her a Rising Star nomination at the Stockholm International Film Festival. She quickly got an agent in Scandinavia, then one in Britain. On her first trip to take meetings in London, she read for the lead in The White Queen, the BBC adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s historical novels about the women behind the Wars of the Roses. Ferguson got the part, and her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of England, earned her a Golden Globe nomination and the admiration of at least one Hollywood heavyweight.

Ferguson was in the Moroccan desert filming the Lifetime biblical miniseries The Red Tentwhen the assistant director whisked her off her camel. “We’re going to have to pause shooting,” he said as he asked her to dismount. “Tom Cruise wants to meet you for Mission: Impossible. We’re going to fly you off today.”

Cruise had seen Ferguson’s work in The White Queen and her audition tape and couldn’t believe she wasn’t already a major star. “What? Where has this woman been?” Cruise recalls exclaiming to his new Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie. “She’s incredibly skilled,” Cruise says, “very charismatic, very expressive. As you can tell, the camera loves her.” Ferguson landed a multi-picture deal to star opposite Cruise in the multibillion-dollar franchise. He and McQuarrie built out the role of Ilsa Faust for Ferguson, creating the anti-Bond girl, an equal to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. “We could just see the impact she could have,” he says. “She’s a dancer. She has great control of her body, of her movements. She has the same ability to move through emotions effortlessly.”

Ferguson threw herself into the films and quickly found a shorthand with the cast and crew. “There was a dynamic that worked very well with all of us,” she says. “One of the things I absolutely love is doing all the stunts.” That physicality has given her a reputation as an action-minded actor. “It doesn’t matter that I’ve done 20 other films where I don’t kick ass,” Ferguson says. “Mission comes with such an enormous following. That was what made my career.”

Ferguson’s M: I movies bracket a number of films in which she played opposite marquee names: Florence Foster Jenkins, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant; The Girl on the Train, with Emily Blunt; The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams; Life, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds; Men in Black: International, with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson; The Snowman, with Michael Fassbender; Doctor Sleep, with Ewan McGregor. And now Dune, opposite Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Zendaya and Chalamet, whom she calls “one of the best actors, if not the best actor of his generation—of this time.” She was similarly impressed by Zendaya, who plays the native Fremen warrior Chani. “She’s quite raw and naughty and fun,” says Ferguson. “She has an enormous f— off attitude.”

When Ferguson first spoke to Villeneuve about appearing in the movie, “he started telling me about this woman who was a protector, and a mother, and a lover, and a concubine,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘I’m sorry. You want me to play a queen and a bodyguard? And you want me to kick ass and walk regally?’ I was like, ‘Denis, why would I want to do that? That’s the last thing I want to do.’ ”

After the call, Ferguson says, “I went downstairs to my hubby and said, Oh, my God, he’s amazing, but I’m not going to get the job. I just criticized the character.” Ferguson worried she was being cast as a stereotypical “strong female character,” where “it’s constantly, ‘She looks good, and she can kick.’ That is not what I want to portray.”

Ferguson hasn’t always been able to work with collaborators who’ve given her the space to question or opine. “I’ve been bashed down. I’ve been bullied,” she says, though she opts not to say by whom. That was never a concern with Villeneuve, who welcomed her critique. He and his co-writers had already decided from the start to make women the focus of their screenplay adaptation, and he promptly offered her the part.

“I want Lady Jessica to be at the center, the forefront. For me, she’s the architect of the story,” Villeneuve says. “I needed someone who will convey the mystery and the dark side of the film in a very elegant and profound way. Rebecca was everything I was hoping for. She’s so precise. She brought a beautiful, controlled vulnerability—it becomes very visceral on-screen.”

Ferguson vaguely recalls trying to watch the 1984 version of Dune, directed by David Lynch, in her youth, but she fell asleep. And she had never opened Herbert’s novel until being offered the part in the new adaptation. As she dug into the book, she says, she learned that her character was subservient and far more like a concubine, forced to eat alone in her bedroom, not spoken to and not allowed to speak. Ferguson ended up relying primarily on Villeneuve for her research and prep—his notes and comments, his references and the pages in the book he suggested she focus on. “I would feel ignorant not to have read Frank’s book at all,” Ferguson says, though she admits there are parts of the sprawling novel (which Villeneuve is splitting into two films) she’s only skimmed. “I have to finish it.” That will not happen on her upcoming vacation, however. “Absolutely not,” she says “I am surfing.”

By the way, if you saw, I am snaking on the ground, snaking around my room to get good Wi-Fi—it’s not some dance or yoga thing,” Ferguson says. “You have to do that in this old house.” It’s a week and a half after our first meeting, and Ferguson is at her new home, a more than 500-year-old property southwest of London that has, over the years, been home to numerous English Royals. It’s more spartan than stately now. “Empty except for a rock star,” she says, turning her phone’s camera to reveal a framed duotone poster of Mick Jagger that’s leaning against the wall. “We haven’t even started renovating.

Ferguson has returned from her holiday fortified and with renewed confidence, thanks in part to her success on the surfboard. “I went up nearly every time,” she says cheerfully, “but the waves weren’t very high.” She shrugs. “I was proud. I was up. I rode them, not the other way around.”

After years of going with the flow, Ferguson is eager to replicate that sense of control in her career. She values her role as an executive producer on Wool, she says, “because I am, for the first time, a part of it from the beginning.” She relishes weighing in on every aspect, from casting (the show recently added Tim Robbins) to cinematography to her character—which has not always been easy for her. “Why do I feel it’s difficult to speak up? I still battle with these things,” she says. Alluding to those times she was pushed around in the past, Ferguson says, “I was angry, but it was more me getting off at ‘How can I let that happen? Why am I letting myself react this way?’ And I take it with me to the next thing where I go, ‘OK, how do I stop that from happening?’ ”

She is learning that she can ride on top of waves without giving up her agency or maybe just let them break against her. “I want to feel I can go home and think, That was a hard day or that pissed me off—and that’s OK,” Ferguson says, with a nod and tight smile. “Because I still stood there as Rebecca. I didn’t shift.”

#rebecca ferguson #interview #dune interview #mi7 interview #wool interview #tom cruise #denis villeneuve #mission impossible #dune 2021

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phantom-of-notre-dame · 4 years ago

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Top 5 places in history you would visit via time travel?

OHHHHHHH BOI

Rome during the reign of Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) cause the Borgia Bitch in me hasn't died

Henry VIII's court (oh to be a fly on that wall every time he got a new wife)

I'm getting into the History Channel Vikings again, but I'm not certain where I'd want to be exactly

I wanna see the weasel with Hegelochus the Greek actor in 408 BC

I'd want to meet Frida Kahlo, but I'm not super picky on the exact when and where

EDIT: HONORABLE MENTION: M4 suggested going back to see The Grinning Man live and I was like "YEAAAAHH"

Ngl this was a lot harder than I thought. Like, it should not have been this hard.

Thanks for the ask!

#madeline answers #onceupon-a-decembr

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travelfilmable · 4 years ago

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All things POTTTER!

Oh Harry Potter, my childhood films there was not a film that would come out that my friends didn't scream "THE NEW HARRY POTTER IS OUT, WE NEED TO GO, WE NEED TO GO" so as expected we went, after all it was that or staying at home watching whatever your parents wanted to watch (BORING). If you didn't know, Harry Potter came to our screens in 2001 and was taken away in 2011, the fantasy world written by J.K.Rowling, followed 3 young wizards into the world of magic fighting the ever lasting return of he who shall not be named (Voldemort.. Voldemort..). The 8 part series of films grossed over a billion dollars! if that's not telling you how popular it was then i don't know what will.

Mr. Potters lasting shenanigans over the 8 films kept us on the edge of our feet, waiting for the final fight between Harry and Voldemort, which did not disappoint. To this day the Harry Potter franchise is still very popular from the streaming of its films (SKY HAS A HARRY POTTER CHANNEL), merchandise and the visits to the movie scenes. Now for my British audience we don't have to go far to visit these amazing scenes, personally I visited the village where the train to Hogwarts (Hogsmeade station) located in Goathland, Yorkshire embarked on its next adventure. - A brief overview of some of the places you can visit, don't worry i will be adding a comprehensive guide soon on my website:

So lets move onto where you can take your next adventure.

Goathland, Yorkshire:

I visited here with my university group back in 2017, as part of our tourism course. It was inspiring to think just a few years previous, this scenic North Yorkshire Village became the ending scenes of the Philosophers stone. You know, all the trouble the 3 wizards had been through that year, they return back to Hogsmeade station where Hagrid see's them off. Build in 1865 and going virtually unchanged throughout the decades, the North Yorkshire Village of Goathland located within North Yorkshire Moors, it is free to visit here as part of a screen tourism escape, you can also take the stream train to immerse yourself in the experience of Harry Potter (although it wont be the Hogwarts train, the steam train still has the benefit of giving you the fantasy of traveling to Hogwarts yourself. London, Britain

Australia House: Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone:

This is where the magic started, the shots taken here were of the interior shots of Gringotts, remember the miserable goblins who ran the bank? yes, here we go! you can actually visit this place for free! albeit you cannot actually go inside but being able to view this on your trip round London or as part of your Harry Potter tour of the city, it is well worth seeing, you might run into some miserable goblins along the way.

Kings Cross Station: every movie:

We all know this famous place, were all the students of Hogwarts descend into chaos getting on the train for the next school year running into the famous brick wall (this always made me cringe or laugh when Harry and Ron couldn't get through), you can actually visit, have your picture taken along side the Trolley in the wall with the rightful Gryffindor scarf and visit the Harry Potter shop to indulge in their wide range of merchandise (even the books and films!). If you wanted to visit here it is completely free and best of all you can start your unofficial tour here! (because this is where it all starts.. right?). You can also visit St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which in the Chamber of Secrets, it was used as the entrance to King's Cross Station.

Claremont Square: Order of the Phoenix, Deathly Hallows part one

This place is just awesome, the special effects to move the houses was just unbelievable, we as Harry Potters fans would remember this little gem as the hide out for the Order of the Phoenix, also known as 12 Grimmauld Place, the ancestral home to Harry's Godfather Sirius Black, but is also invisible to muggles (so bring out your inner wizard). The shots are only of the exterior of the housing but the nostalgic part is remembering the scenes of escaping wizards, plotting new plans and remembering that little moment between Sirius and Harry together as family.

Leadenhall Market: Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone

The exterior of Diagan Alley and the Leaky Cauldron. Build in 1881 it is one of London's Victorian Markets, walk in the shoes of the character you want to portray and lead yourself down the beautiful scenes of this historic market, its free to enter!

Millennium Bridge: Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Price

Construction of the Millennium Bridge started in 1998, completed on the June 10th 2000 (Visit Britain, 2021), just before appearing on the Half blooded prince. This little beauty featured in one of the most tense scenes in Harry Potter, the Millennium Footbridge collapses! take a walk across the bridge, you might see some death eaters along the way.. I'd hold on for dear life..

Reptile House, London Zoo: Harry Potter and Philosophers Stone

This building was used as as whole, and was the baseline of the storyline where Harry learns he can speak to Snakes and liberates the Burmese Python. This was actually a cool way to show Harry's special skills. But I think I'd preferred it if Harry set the snake on Dudley, I will just settle for him being trapped in the snakes home instead. This will set you back a little money but for the attractions here you can make a day of it as too fulfilling your Harry Potter experience. Child (14.85) Adult (19.80).

Durham Cathedral: Philosophers Stone; Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban

HOGWARTS! well, part of it anyway. This beautiful cathedral was used as severalexterior and interior shots of Hogwarts, founded in 1093 and proclaimed as a World HeritageSite in 1986, visiting this Harry Potter Favorite per guided tour will set you back£5 per person, admission into the tower (Adult - £5, Children under 16 - 2.50).

Alnwick Castle: Philosophers Stone & Chambers of Secrets

Another part of the exterior of the famous Hogwarts castle, Alnwick Castle was used as part of Philosophers stone and Chambers of Secrets, with its gothic features and architecture it's easy to understand why this was used as the exterior for Hogwarts. The exterior is recognizable as the area were Harry and fellow wizards fly their broom sticks with Madame Hooch, and also were Harry learned he would be an excellent Quidditch player. The courtyards of this impressive castle is known for the background as the wizards walking outside and around the castle, it is also where that cool scene of Harry and Ron crashing Mr. Weasleys car into that dam tree! A very nostalgic place to visit for your Harry Potter fix, although it is a public place, why not dress up and really play your favorite character as they would many years ago.

Here you can visit in Alnwick, within the English County of Northumberland,you can travel here by train / car. however there are fee's. Castle Entrance: Adult £14 - Child £7.20 Garden: Adult 11.50 - Child £4.18Castle & Garden: Adult £23.85 - Child £9.88 (these prices are subject to change)

If anything the money is worth it for a family day out or take your friends and to really immerse yourself in the fantastic role play of Harry Potter.

Malham Cove: Deathly Hallows part one

This little gem of a place is where the Harry and Hermione hide from Voldemort. Ron had already stormed off due to his paranoia (horcruxes problems!) and the two young wizards were forced to set up camp to figure out their next move. This place seems hidden away, however it is actually 1km north of the village of Malham. Uniquely shaped from a past river, its any wonder why the writers of Harry Potter had chosen it. British hidden gems seem to be the best place. You can visit here for free (fee for parking), this would be a great opportunity in the summer for a day out, Take the day to find horcruxes, play within the roles of your favorite characters and believe he who shall not be named is after you.

Lacock Abbey : Philosophers Stone & Chamber of secrets

Ah Snape's potions class, poor Snape having to deal with these young wizards that don't have a clue, even though all he ever wanted to do was the Dark Arts class. You can also visit the Potters Parents home! Deep within Lacock, you will find a perfectly normal family home, with a dark secret, the wizards had it re-built to keep muggles non-the wiser, but we have all seen this in the Philosophers stone, its an awful wreck! You can visit here on a day tour including return bus travel, a visit to Salisbury and Bath £54 for Adults - £44 for children. Virginia Water: Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire This beautiful place was used as Hogwarts Lake, where Harry rode on the Hippogriff in the Prisoner of Azkaban and were Hermione passed on messages through the Goblet of Fire to Harry and Ron. Spooky.You can visit here for free, its location is just off Heathrow Airport (M3 & M4 for maximum accessibility).

Ashridge Wood: Goblet of fire (Hertfordshire)

The woods were the Quidditch World Cup is held. Free to visit (visitors centre - 10am-4pm)

Seven Sisters country Park: Goblet of Fire

This Scenic view and a marvelous walk is the seven sisters cliffs were used as the background where Harry walks up the fill to find the transportation boots that will take him to the Quidditch World Cup. It is free to take a walk alongside this beautiful Area, Parking will set you back around £3.50 for the day, but that is cheap to be able to take a walk around the area where Harry had taken that faithful walk.

Hardwick Hall: Deathly Hallows

The main setting for the death eaters meeting at the Malfoy Mansion, The main hideout for death eaters, it was also were poor muggle professor Charity Burbage was eaten by Nagini (Voldemort's snake) as she wasn't a true believer in pure bloods. Located in Chesterfield, you can drive here and park for free! although going inside the manor will cost; Adult 12.60 & Child £6.20. Well worth to see the Malfoy manor surely.

Gloucester Cathedral: Philosophers Stone; Chamber of Secrets and Half blooded price

This beautiful cathedral was used for various of shots inside these films, walking through these manors would feel like walking within Hogwarts itself. Imagine yourself as a young wizard walking to your next class or waiting for Voldemort to come get you!, Located in Gloucester, it is free to visit and have an imaginative day out to really immerse yourself into the Harry Potter lifestyle. If you really want to feel the full experience of the Harry Potter tour, you can take your own wizarding walk through the city, walk in the steps of your favorite characters or take the Harry Potter Bus Tour of London. The length of the tour is 2-3 hours, highlights include, Luggage Trolley Pictures with Platform 9 3/4, Walk in the footsteps of Hagrid and Harry going all the places they travelled within the first film, visit the entrance to the Ministry of Magic and the location used for the Leaky Cauldron; Learn some movie-making scene secrets in different locations. Prices vary throughout the year; so take a look here: Harry Potter Bus Tour of London | VisitBritain | VisitBritain (visitbritainshop.com)

Other places to visit: London City Hall - Greater London Authority

Great Scotland Yard - where Harry and Mr. Weasley entered the phone box into the ministry of Magic, no phone box though! it was only a prop (GUTTED)

Piccadilly Circus: Exterior shots of the 3 wizards rushing through London's west end for safety from the dark wizards.

New College (Oxford): Goblet of fire- where everyone sports the "Harry Stinks" badges during Triwizard Tournament (£3 fee).

#Harrypotter #Harrypottertravel #Harrypotterfilmset #tourism #travel

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caydencarinopablo · 4 years ago

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T-34: Soviet Technology

It’s 1941. The Germans have launched Operation Barbarossa, and the situation in the Soviet Union is extremely dire. Panzers are everywhere, and are destroying many Soviet tanks. However, the Soviets have their own tricks up their sleeves...

The design of the T-34 started in 1937. Mikhail Koshkin is recruited by the Red Army development offices to work on a new tank to replace BT tanks. The prototype, designated A-20, is equipped with 20 mm of armor and a 45mm gun like the gun on the BT-7 and BT-5. It has a convertible drive that allows it to run on wheels without caterpillar tracks. On road, this meant it could travel ~50 kilometers per hour, though in combat it was complex to repair and usually gave no advantage when in a fight.

In Khalkhin Gol and Lake Khasan, BT tanks use engines that catch on fire easily when hit by incendiary anti tank weapons. The flammable liquids that are in the anti tank weapons seep into improperly welded armor, setting the tank ablaze. Soviet tanks are not invulnerable to the 37mm guns on the Japanese tanks, and are easily destroyed.

The shock of this led Mikhail Koshkin to decide to ask Josef Stalin to redesign his tank, with 32mm front plating, a powerful 76.2mm gun, and bigger tracks. Stalin approves, and the tank’s design is underway. After tests, the new prototype, the A-32, is as fast as the A-20. However, Koshkin decides, it needs heavier armor, and gives it 45 millimeters of armor! It also is given a more up-to-date 76.2mm gun. He names it the T-34, after the year 1934 when he decided to start on the tank.

2 T-34 prototypes were completed in 1940, and Koshkin decided to impress Stalin by driving a whopping 2000 kilometers from Kharkov to Moscow. Then, he drives it to the Mannerheim Line, and finally, back to Kharkov.

However, Mikhail Koshkin does not survive. He gets pneumonia, and shortly dies after. It appears that the T-34 does not have a heater out of all things.

T-34s are soon mass produced after the start of Operation Barbarossa. They are very powerful against the Germans, and in one German report, it is stated that several anti tank shells are fired on one T-34, but it is not enough to wipe out the tank and it goes on towards German lines.

The tank does very well in Operation Barbarossa. The Germans thought it would be another easy picking, that the Russians would have inferior tanks. It wasn’t true. It came as a shock, to the Germans. Their anti tank weapons ricochet or simply don’t penetrate. They need bigger, 105mm or 88mm guns to wipe them out.

More T-34 variants such as the T-34-76 and 85 are produced, in response to heavier German tanks like the Tiger I. T-34s are responsible for assisting in the encirclement of the Germans in Stalingrad. In 1943, newer tanks like the Panther are however responsible for destruction of many T-34s. Meanwhile, newer tanks like the IS-2 are introduced to the battlefield by the Soviets, greatly allowing for more destruction of enemy tanks, however more tanks are destroyed by the T-34. The Soviets slowly crept through Poland, and eventually Germany, after the Battle of Kursk, and while the Panthers could destroy the T-34 at long distances, a shortage of molybdenum for fortifying tank armor meant Panthers could have catastrophic damage on parts like the lower glacis of the tank.

World War 2 was not the end for the T-34. Oh, no. Of course not. The T-34 was used in the Korean War by North Korean forces, and American weapons like the Bazooka and the Chaffee’s 75mm gun were unable to penetrate it. However, following the introduction of tanks such as the M4 Sherman and M26 Pershing, the NKPA began to slowly lose tanks before altogether abandoning use of armor after 1950.

The T-34 was also used in more conflicts such as the war in the Balkans, the Angolan Civil War, in the Vietnam War, and heck, it’s sometimes used today as well!

However, after World War 2, the T-34 was somewhat being phased out in favor of the other tanks such as the T-44 and T-54. The former was kept a secret however, and the latter was used in the Afghan-Soviet war.

The T-34 was a well made tank by the Soviet Union that was easily mass producible and very powerful. If you look hard enough, you even can find a T-34 on the market!

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theconqueeror · 4 years ago

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Games deleted from Steam - A Sale!

you wanna be a rebel and have games that steam removes from their store?!?

if so, I got you covered! I have codes for a ton of games that were in the store but later removed. you can still activate them/add to library/install/play but they can't be bought. we’re talking 150+ titles here!

I'm giving each for $2, if you want multiple copies or big bundles we can talk cheaper prices too!

List of all games is under the read more link, in alphabetical order so go wild (askbox/messages are open ✌️)

before you ask, I got these as promos from the devs back in the day when I was reviewing/promoting indie game creators. turns out most aren’t satisfactory to steam’s new rules so here we are. I have multiple copies of most too so really just get them off my hands, please?

80's style

Accurate Segmentation 3

Adventures of Heroes

AironBall: The Floating Lands

Alien Bubble Destroyer

Alien Invaders

AppleSnake2

Arcane ReRaise + Arcane PreRaise

Archery Practice

Attack Of Mutants

Aviation Hurricane Storm

Athopiu - The Final Rebirth of Hopeless Incarnate

BACK TO EBATORIA

BAIKO

Baikonur Space

Bitcoin Clicker

BitRay

Blackwater Bayou

Blood of Old

BoneBone: Rise of the Deathlord

Capture the monster

Castle Rencounter

Cave Adventures

Caves!

Cludbugz's Twisted Magic

Crankies Workshop: Grizzbot Assembly

Crankies Workshop (not sure which edition)

Crazy Alien

Crazy Pirate

Crypts of Anak Shab

Crystal City

Cunning Fox

Cyborg Detonator + Beast Blaster + Zombie Boom

Dead Pixels Adventure!

Death Penalty: Beginning

Deep Blue

Defend the planet

Demon robot runner

Disco Zombie Rampage 2

DOKA 2

Dolphins-cyborgs and open space

Douche Bag

Dracula's Library

Dropping of the Dead

Dungetris

Endorlight

Energy nodes

Epic drag puZOOls

Epic PVP Castles

Epic roll

Fable Rush

Fable Rush OST (DLC)

Far Cnight

FEAR 3

Finder

Five Rooms

Flotus

Fly the plane

Fruit Pop II

Furry Stories: Alpha-Male

G-DINO'S JUNGLE ADVENTURE

GAI travel

GALAXY 3D SPACE DEFENDER

Glitch Simulator 2018

Golf Extreme

GooCubelets (3 in 1: GooCubelets, GooCubelets 2, The Algorithm, OCD, The Void)

Gravity puzzles

Greeng 2D Dungeon

H.I.S.T.O.R.Y T.O.R.C.H.K.A 2

Halloween Girl

Hard Rock Zombie Truck

Heroic Dungeon

Heroic Dungeon OST (DLC)

Hurricane Ship Ghost

In The Fighting

Incoming Forces

Infinite Fall

Infinite Road

Injured by space

Jump to the circle

King

Killer Backflip 5

Knife Battles

Laggerjack

Learn to Drive on Moto Wars

Light Gravity Cube

LittleBigSoko

Lock Parsing 2

Lord VS Nas Vai

Machine With a Big Gun

Mad Dagger 2

Measurement Problem

Mini Gold Coop

Mission Wolf

Monsters & Anomaly

Monsti

Neonicum

Ninja from Hell vs. Reptiloids

NitroRage

Occult Raise

Ochkarik

One Tank to Rule Them All

Outer Space

Outrunner 2

Owen to have fun!

Pain Train

Paint Skills

Park the Car

Potatoe

Poultry Panic

Pressure

Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again x2

Psi Project 2

Psychedelic platformer

Quadrant M4

Rage Parking Simulator 2016

Raccoon Hero Under The Sea

Ranger in Spider's den

Rise Up

RKN - Roskomnadzor Banned The Internet

RKN Simulator

Russian world cup battlegrounds

Safeguard Garrison Space Colonies

Santa Runner

Sleengster

SNIPER TANKS

Soccer Versus

Space Chaos

Spaceguy 2

Star Shield Down

Stickman - Killer of Apples

Street Racing

Street Racing - OST (DLC)

Super Furi Puzzles

Symbiotic Overload

Tanks!!!

Tank Game

Teenager vs.Tropical Mutants

The Battle for the Hut

The Best Of MagiCats

The Crypts of Anak Shaba

The Last Mission

The Last Photon

The Ninja Path

The Orb Chambers II

The Wanderings Dragon

THREE CANDYBERRY MATCH

Torch Cave 2

Torture Chamber

Trials of Illuminati (6 packs: Assorted Jigsaw, Sea Creatures, Christmas Time Jigsaw, Cityscape Animated Jigsaws, Snack Time Jigsaw Puzzles, Women of Beauty)

Tritan Initiative

Turn the bridge

Uganda know de way

Unknown Battle

Vault of Honor

Warlords Awakening

Weird Dungeon Explorer: Defender

Weird Dungeon Explorer: Run Away

WildGooChase

Why So Evil 2: Dystopia

Why So Evil, Why So Evil 2: Dystopia, Brilliant Bob

World of Tea

WWII – TD

Yellow: The Yellow Artifact

Your Car Shooter

ZAMBI 2 KIL

Zatwor trilogy: Absconding Zatwor, Break Into Zatwor, Fiends of Imprisonment

#steam codes #steam games #steam keys #video games #game sale

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dominiodei · 5 years ago

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Revelations: Dominion

(a transcription of syfy’s official dominion lore)

CHAPTER 4

The city maintains a Merchant Economy based on bartering, where material items are valued by numerical credits.

Beneath the city lies an Underground Holding Area for unstable possessed, which doubles as a prison for law-breakers. This is colloquially referred to as “ The Asylum.” (LOC: 4QFJ 123 900)

The New Delphi legal/disciplinary system mirrors their barter economy (“eye for an eye).” The details of this system remain unclear.

The citizens utilize verbal, written, and radio communication.

The transactions are conducted on the city’s Central Trading Floor (LOC: 4QFJ 123 855): a high volume area with 2 armed guards (weapons: M7 Bayonet w/ Sheath + SIG Sauer P226 Semi-Auto Pistol)

Weapons and ammunition are in high demand, and Empyrean weaponry maintains the highest trade value.

The city’s leader is Julian (last name unknown). He is 38 years old, 6’0, 170 lbs., with brown hair and green eyes. His notable personal qualities are his charisma, authority, and volatility.

Julian resides in private chambers (LOC: 4QFJ 123 954) and travels with a Security Detail: 2 armed guards (weapons: rifles/M4 Carbine w/ ACOG Scope and side arms/SIG Sauer P226 Semi-Auto Pistol). Julian maintains a high-level security system. The entrance tunnel (LOC: 4QFJ 123 560) is armed by 6 guards clad in Full Improved Outer Tactical Vests (IOTV) (weapons: Kalashnikov rifles). 10 Empyrean Steel Net Traps line the perimeter, and 3 Armed Humvees are stationed at: 50 ft. N, 50 ft. E, 50 ft. W. Additional transportation includes 5 Armed Humvees /color: camo/ no visible plates. And 5 Jeep Wranglers/ color: black/ no visible plates. Security deficiency: Entrance tunnel is not guarded 24:00 – 02:00, MWF.

FOR FOLLOW UP

Five to seven times a week, Julian takes a blue urn into a hidden room in his chambers (“Room X”). Audible screams occur in 5-minute intervals of 30 seconds. After 20-30 minutes inside Room X, Julian exits with the urn in hand.

NEXT MISSION

Obtain further intel regarding the occurrences in Room X—including relationship between blue urn and activity in room, storage location of urn, Julian’s role in TBD activity.

#per historia (lore)

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venus-says · 5 years ago

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Aikatsu on Parade! Episodes 01-05

It’s time to get this Parade on the road!

After a much-needed break, I feel like I'm ready to get back into writing about Aikatsu.

On Parade started roughly a month ago and like what has been usual I won't "dissect" each episode and I'll give a more general review of the first 4 episodes.

As a general overview On Parade is good. It's not brilliant or anything, it still feels like we're in Friends! territory, but it's fun once you let critical thinking aside. It's very obvious this is a series trying to cash in on nostalgia and more often than not shows with this premise can be annoying, but so far the nostalgia card hasn't been overused which's a huge plus.

From these 5 episodes, I have only five elements of the show that I really dislike.

The first two points are TOO MANY STAGES and TOO MANY RECYCLED MATERIAL. The performances on Aikatsu are usually the high point of the episode or at least the thing we expect the most, but the way they're doing it is just too much. I would rather see one stage, maybe two, per episode, with updated and consistent CG graphics, rather than three performances especially when there's really no need for that much. Episode 2 could've happened with just Mahiru and Yume&Mio's stages, Message of Rainbow and Your entrance were more than enough for Episode 3, we should've gotten a single Honey Cat performance (maybe You x I) to go along with Jalapeño's in Episode 4, and Identity should've been the only one we got in the Halloween episode. When you have that many stages it just feels like they're padding the episodes up, especially when they don't even bother to update the CG models. Like Akari had two completely different models in episode 5 and it was just SO WEIRD. I know CG is expensive, I know y'all are trying to play with nostalgia, but this just ain't fun.

The third one is regarding the special coords for this season. In the promotional stuff for the arcade, they make it seem like Legend Premium Rares are something SO SPECIAL, they transcend regular PRs, heck Ichigo's one looks like an evolved form of her first PR. But then episode 2 comes out and Yume pops on the stage with her special coord like if it was nothing and it bugged the hell out of me, it was just the same as Friends and the Jeweling Dresses, they don't feel special AT ALL. Now I'm more okay with it and It doesn't bother me as much, I still wish they had at least one scene of them saying how this coord came to exist but I'm already over this fact.

The fourth point is the whole basis of this show. When written down, a door appearing and the girls traveling to different schools seemed like a very fun concept, however, the execution has implications that once you stop for a minute to really think how things work your brain gets messed up. I know that this was probably the only way to make this work without messing up with past continuity, but this whole different worlds/dimensions thing IS SO COMPLICATED. I wish they were just traveling through space and they had retcon things to make the three shows fit in a single universe, rather than start messing up with this kind of stuff.

And the final point I have issues with is characters. First, the show seems to have got rid of any irrelevant character, I mean it was good because M4 hasn't appeared yet (THANK GOD), but like characters like Luka, that ended her season on a high position, weren't nowhere near the spotlight. I didn't expect this show to give any kind of development to characters that weren't the past main protagonists and Raki, and I'm totally fine with that. But even Raki has been lacking development. Don't get me wrong, I like Raki, but her personality is a huge double-edged sword and the fact that the show doesn't punish her for messing up turns her into a flat-lined and uninteresting character sometimes.

Another problem I have is with her dream, she says she wants to wear a PR she made, and the game already gave her a PR which means it'll probably be happening in the show very soon which implies she'll be reaching her goal before the half-point of the season. What I think they mean by that is that she wants to make a PR that's UNIQUE to her and she'll keep making PRs based on other idols coords until it happens, but if that's really the case they don't make a good job at making this clear. Now, Episode 6 seems that'll give her some development and I'm very hopeful to see it in action.

Despite all these flaws, there's a lot of things this show gets right.

I know I just said Raki is a problem, but she's also a solution. When she works she's amazing, she gives the best reaction faces EVER, and she can be very adorable, and from what we've seen from her sketchbook she can make lots of fun designs and I'm excited about it. Also, her mad scientist sister is a lot of fun, even though we've seen so little of her so far.

I can't deny that seeing the cross-generation interactions has been incredible so far, and we've even got some non-expected matches in these few episodes and they all work wonderfully! Yume and Mio sound like best partners, Aine and Ako were surprisingly very fun, Mirai and Akari were probably the most unexpected of the bunch but it was so magical! Honey Cat and Jalapeño was probably the most obvious interaction so far, but that's no detriment for the bond they make on that episode.

Another thing that to me is great is the fact that they don't forget what Raki's main thing is, we're always seeing her looking for inspiration, trying to learn about designing, and actually making her own stuff, that to me is an essential point to make me like Raki as much as I do.

I can't talk about Aikatsu without talking about music, and while we only got technically three new songs so far they've all been very good.

Your Entrance is a great OP, both as song and as the actual opening sequence, my favorite version is, of course, Raki's solo as an insert song, there's something about the lines "I know the end will never come / We will always be alright / I’m forever by your side / trust me as I trust you" that I really love, it gives me a certain desperation vibe, like if the producers are trying to say "THIS IS NOT THE END" and I just love it for some reason. The new ending isn't my favorite rendition of Idol Activities! but it still gives a warmth to my heart and the sequence while very simple is still very beautiful. Speaking of endings the returning rotational endings are a very nice touch. Yume and Mio's version of STARDOM is very good, it may be a sacrilege but I really think Mio and Yume work better together both musically and as characters than Aine&Mio and Yume&Rola ever did (sorry).

These are small things that I also like, first the show keeps the continuity of each series picking up more or less right after each one has ended, I like that other idols can get dragged by Raki's doors because it makes more dynamic, the girls don't need to be always moving to be able to meet new people and it also makes for more creative mix and matches of idols, and I also like that the aphorisms are back because of all ending segment we got this is the best one (I'm just glad the horrible card segment from Kagayaki no Jewel is gone tbh).

And these are pretty much my opinions on the first batch of episodes of Aikatsu on Parade! I feel like I complained a lot, but I'm still very pleased by this season and very excited for what's to come, there's a moment where they talk about achieving things with the help of other people and as much as I know they're probably talking about Raki learning from seeing others and learning to cooperate there's a part of me that's just so excited in hopes that it's a new character coming up and UGHHHH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. I'm also very excited to see my faves again at some point, and I'm really hyped for the Mizuki x Elza x Hibiki collaboration they hinted at in the banner for the next wave of cards for the game, it'll be a lot of fun to see Yoko voicing Elza and Hibiki at the same time, I wish we could see backstage videos of that happening. XD

ANYWAY, I feel like I've talked way too much already. What are your thoughts about On Parade? Do you have any theories about how this Aikatsu multiverse things work? Is there anything you're excited to see? Please let me know, let's talk about it. See ya~

#Aikatsu on Parade!#aikatsu

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allblackvswales · 2 years ago

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Watch New Zealand All Blacks Wales Rugby Live Stream Online

Rugby lovers have been counseled to plan ahead and avoid travelling by using educate at the day of the All Blacks vs Wales Rugby 2022 match in Cardiff subsequent month. Wales are set to tackle New Zealand at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, November five, but severe regulations are expected as strike action might be taking area at the rail community.

The fit will take area at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on November five. Fans were told not to tour via teach on the day.

Additionally there might be a full city centre avenue closure from eleven.15am till 7.15pm on the day of the suit with bus services because of be diverted at the same time as the closures are in place.

There can be no trains running from Cardiff after the suit, so as to start at 3.15pm, and those making plans to travel by means of vehicle have been advised by way of Cardiff Council to plan ahead because the M4 is expected to be busy.

All Blacks Wales 2022 November 5th Sam Whitelock and SBW of New Zealand

Fans have been counseled to keep away from the congestion in Cardiff by means of using park and ride centers at the Cardiff City Stadium in Leckwith or County Hall in Cardiff Bay. Earlier this yr there has been good sized disruption with 15 miles of queueing visitors as an Ed Sheeran gig inside the metropolis coincided with the begin of the half of-term smash causing some fanatics to overlook the show and Cardiff council's leader to confess he turned into "concerned".

The date of the New Zealand recreation coincides with the cease of half of time period in Wales which means roads are in all likelihood to be busier than normal too.

The RMT and TSSA unions have introduced full strike days for November 5, 7, and nine, with TSSA motion quick of a strike also announced on November four, 6, and eight ensuing in nearly a complete week of rail disruption. On the entire strike days, consisting of November 5, Network Rail has stated that most trains throughout the Wales and Border community will be suspended, with severely-decreased services jogging east of Cardiff and to the Valley Lines most effective.

While Transport for Wales (TfW) is not involved in either dispute its offerings may be affected because it relies on Network Rail team of workers to run trains on an awful lot of the community. Typically up to 35,000 humans journey to Cardiff via educate for worldwide rugby matches with greater than 20,000 getting a go back domestic.

Inbound capability through rail inside the hours main up to kick-off can be heavily decreased – two-thirds decrease than ordinary – and there will be no trains scheduled from Cardiff following the match. The final provider will depart from Cardiff Central before 5pm. Nick Millington, performing course director at Network Rail Wales and Borders, said: "I’d like to apologise to passengers for the ongoing disruption due to business motion. We in no way like having to tell human beings now not to journey by rail but making sure humans can accurately get domestic needs to be our precedence."

Transport for Wales managing director Jan Chaudry-Van der Velde added: "The protection of our passengers is always our primary concern and, due to the excessive impact of the economic motion on our potential to run offerings, we're advising customers not to travel through train on Saturday, November 5, and to make opportunity journey arrangements. We’ll hold to work collaboratively with our companions to ensure we will help the event going ahead as properly as possible."

Richard Bowland, customer service and operations director for Great Western Railway (GWR), stated: "We’re actually sorry to all rugby fanatics who might normally be journeying with us to and from Cardiff Central. Unfortunately, due to the confined operating window resulting from this industrial motion, we’re not able to provide train services after the match and should therefore tell supporters now not to tour to the sport via teach."

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has also cautioned enthusiasts travelling into the city for the game to find alternative shipping in the event that they had at the beginning planned to tour by means of teach and to anticipate delays on their trips. A spokesman from WRU said: "The UK rail network can be seriously disrupted on Saturday, November five, because of deliberate industrial motion. We strongly advise supporters traveling into Cardiff to are trying to find opportunity delivery. Wales v New Zealand is always a tremendous experience and we sit up for welcoming supporters lower back for the outlet match of the Autumn Nations Series however we urge supporters to plot beforehand, permit masses of time to get into the town, and expect delays to their adventure."

For key information approximately avenue closures, bus diversions, and parking facilities at the day of the suit see beneath. All Blacks vs Wales live rugby

Cardiff Council has announced that road closures might be in area from 11.15am until 7.15pm as part of a full metropolis centre street closure. The St Mary Street taxi rank out of doors the House of Fraser will also near in the course of these hours earlier than re-starting at 7.15pm. The roads being closed between these hours encompass:

Kingsway from its junction with North Road to its junction with Duke Street.

Cowbridge Road East from its junction with Cathedral Road to its junction with Westgate Street.

Tudor Street from its junction with Clare Road to its junction with Wood Street (access for citizens and traders might be authorized thru Fitzhamon Embankment)

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/travel/check-in-hotel-review-the-generator-miami-in-miami-beach/

Check in: Hotel Review: The Generator Miami, in Miami Beach

Rates

Bunk beds from $23; private doubles starting at $102; plus an additional, $22.80 resort fee per room, or per person in a shared room.

The Basics

Europe’s hip hospitality brand, Generator, made its stateside debut in Miami Beach last October. A hybrid between a hostel and a boutique hotel, the pocket-friendly property has 344 beds spread across four categories: female-only shared accommodations, mixed bunk quarters, private rooms and suites housed in a revamped, 1940s-era condo building and an adjacent former villa. An eminently Instagrammable lobby (neon selfie signs included) is stocked with iMac computers, a billiards table and photo booth, and connects to a spacious solarium with Moroccan-style seating. Two restaurants offer surprisingly sophisticated cocktails and elevated comfort food both indoors and out. And what Generator Miami lacks in beachfront property, it makes up for with a palm-studded pool setting that serves as a melting pot for international solo travelers, couples and families content to mix and mingle.

The Location

Set 100 feet from the beach on Collins Avenue, Generator Miami joins a cluster of high-profile hospitality projects in the Mid-Beach area like Faena Hotel Miami Beach, The Freehand and The Miami Beach Edition, en vogue for their buzzy restaurants and night-life haunts. Nearby, Citi Bikes and free trolley loops traveling along Collins Avenue are affordable ways to explore South Beach sights like Ocean Drive in the famed Art Deco District, Española Way, Lincoln Road Mall and South Pointe Park. Culture hounds are a 20-minute walk from The Bass museum, Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony.

The Room

Arriving before the 3 p.m. check-in, we were lent free towels to use at the pool or beach. We reserved a private-king room, and our request for an upper floor was granted; the view did not disappoint. The sun-drenched corner unit overlooked the downtown city skyline, the Intracoastal Waterway and a scenic slice of ocean. Minimalist Art Deco-leaning décor consisted of an iron-frame canopy bed with a midnight-blue leather headboard, a three-seat sofa under graffiti-esque artwork, a TV, and an Eames-style desk and chair. Candles and plants provided a homey touch. With no closets and one open shelving unit attempting to function as a wardrobe, expect to live mostly out of your suitcase on the floor. A Smeg mini-fridge stocked with craft beer comes topped with a tray of goodies (price list was missing), including snacks, liquor, a travel adapter, cheekily named playing cards, a dental kit and a racy “love bag” highlighting the brand’s playful English wit.

The Bathroom

The sparkling bathroom flaunted a white-on-white industrial motif with subway-tile walls, a hexagon mosaic floor, a simple mirror and a wash basin that could have used a hand-towel rack. A three-tier utility cart provided ample storage for his and her toiletries, and four wall hooks were ideal for drying wet bathing suits and pool towels. The shower area had a square window, a chrome-plated hand shower and woodsy-scented Guild + Pepper toiletries from London-based Gilchrist & Soames.

Amenities

Generator Miami is chock-full of entertainment provisions. Fun games like Shut the Box, a traditional pub dice game, are scattered poolside, and a long lineup of conveniences is available for purchase behind the 24/7 front desk, including plastic ponchos ($5.35) and flip flops ($7.50). Guests can also rent bikes, skateboards and electric scooters for roughly $12 per day; off-site car parking is $25 daily. Luggage lockers are available for shared rooms ($7 to $10/day) (bag storage is free for private rooms); there’s free Wi-Fi; and dogs up to 25 pounds are welcome in private rooms ($50 fee). In lieu of a gym, there’s free beach yoga for guests every Saturday morning.

Dining

“Our cocktail program is backed by an even better kitchen,” said our waiter at The Jim and Neesie, Generator Miami’s low-lit anchor restaurant. Our meal commenced with a perfectly chilled Negroni Supreme ($13), featuring raspberry-and-pistachio infused gin, bell pepper Campari, vermouth, lavender mist and a block of ice carved with the Generator logo; melt-in-your-mouth Hamachi tartare ($16); and hearty citrus-roasted carrots ($13). An entree called Crackling Salmon ($28) with sunchoke hash and pork belly is outstanding. The Driftway pool bar serves up delicious achiote-spiced chicken tacos ($8), inventive cocktails ($12) and original frozen drinks like the guest-favorite “Friesling” ($12). À la carte breakfast is offered daily, but don’t miss Driftway’s Sunday Brunch with local kombucha ($6), brioche French toast ($13) and Tostada Chilaquiles ($14). (An 18 percent service charge is automatically included on all checks.)

#b b c travel news #travel news gatwick #travel news m4/5 #travel news video #travel news york a64 #zuji travel news

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