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the-nerktwins · 6 years ago

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There’s more to “Another Day” than meets the eye…or, ear…

Sometimes the most interesting thoughts are captured during discussions. I recently began a thread in a Beatles forum I’m a member of, about Paul’s song “Another Day” and the deeper meaning I personally found within it. The conversation veered into two different directions. One was the concept of the lyrical content being overlooked for a few possible reasons, not the least of them being that the protagonist was a woman. The other branch of this conversation veered towards was the musical anatomy of the song and how it serves to add texture to the story the lyrics are telling.

It’s with regret that I report that some participants completely overlooked the musical complexity of this track. To illustrate, here are a couple of key quotes from respondents in the thread I started:

“In contrast to 'Eleanor Rigby, 'Another Day' is cute and perfect instead of full of contrast and dynamics. The cozy comfort of the music itself reflects the bland predictability of the protagonists' life, as depicted in the song. I'm just not sure that's the best approach to take. I think John and George's (Martin) influence would have added some dimension.”

“Yes it's typical of McCartney to wrap a dark story in a cute song. He likes to hide things (even from himself).”

I was left wondering if me and these posters were even listening to the same song! I was also reminded of how ready people are to default to and parrot the (false and grossly oversimplified) talking points that the fandom has been spoon-fed about Paul’s songcraft since the 1970’s. Paul is hardly ever regarded as a valid artist in his own right outside of the Beatles collective, that is terribly, truly wrongheaded in every imaginable way.

I find it galling that many fans still want to hear his early, solo work with a “Lennon filter” applied to it. I’ve seen people saying things like, “This song is good, but if he’d done it with John it would’ve been GREAT!” I completely disagree. McCartney’s compositional abilities by 1967 had evolved to the point where he could “hear” in his head almost exactly what he wanted his final product to sound like. He was adept at articulating his vision to producers, engineers, and bandmates rather early on.

It also hasn’t escaped my notice that certain fans resent his abilities within the confines of the Beatles’ collective since it did contribute to some friction within the band during their late period, and then they turn around and completely ignore his competency when it comes to his solo work (and lament that he couldn’t collaborate with Lennon or George Martin on particular solo songs). It’s a paradoxical mentality and I’m not shy about denouncing it. It gives me whiplash, if I’m quite honest about it!

Since I don’t know (and didn’t ask) the participants about whether they’ve had any experience as musicians, I can make some allowance for the fact that people who’ve played music can hear things in a piece that non-musicians may not pick up on. The thing is, there exist a fair number of sources which could at least illustrate what’s going on musically in “Another Day.”

As for me, since I have a musical background, and I can HEAR what’s going on. To me there are “contrast and dynamics.” The song builds, crescendos, and comes back down again. There's a lot going on in terms of time signature changes, and decorative elements which add texture to the story being told. It’s brilliant! I realize that someone who has little to no musical experience could miss it. There are musically-inclined people out there who can explain it, however, and I went looking online for just that. I conducted two simple Google searches: “Paul McCartney Another Day Musical Analysis,” and “Paul McCartney Another Day Sheet Music.”

With the second search, I found a website which allows the user to play a midi file of the song (with the lead vocals, backing vocals, and every instrument) while the user is taken through the sheet music. The parts being played highlight what’s going on in the song as it’s playing. If someone is inexperienced as a musician, it can serve as a nice, visual aid to see just how complex a composition is, and how much is going on within it. Here’s a screenshot of the site, and a link to “Another Day” for illustrative purposes.

"Another Day" by Paul and Linda McCartney on MuseScore.com

To me this is proof-positive that "Another Day" isn't just a cutesy, fluffy song.

For some further argument in the favor of the musical merits of this song, I stumbled upon comments from fans in the Steve Hoffman music forums, in a thread called "Paul McCartney 'Another Day' Appreciation Thread"

After the bit ".... leaves the next daaaaayyyy..." there's this descending run on the guitar that is perfectly placed, but very difficult indeed to play. – Edgard Varese

yeah, another day is an absolutely killer track. to me its really the perfect song: catchy as hell, yet imaginative and really far more complex than a casual listener would ever realize. i also agree with the thoughts on the rythym guitar. great song to learn for any guitar player, not just for the rythm, but for the chords also. i believe it starts with a g to a b7 with an f# bass and really you've got me hooked from there – andyw676

Listen to the bassline...amazing. – Stateless

I've always loved this song, everything about it really. The undertone of Rigby-esque sadness was obvious to me from the get-go, and the yearning in the "sometimes she feels so sad" bit as the music shifts up and down chromatically always put a lump in my throat. Paul's very good at getting some of the more delicate emotional shadings in his songs. Great song. Thanks for the thread! -- Gardo

That song has some crazy chord changes, and lots of em. Makes it special. – Dave D

To diverge just a little bit into lyrical territory, there were some nuggets of push-back within this Steve Hoffman thread against the typical appraisal of this song, namely it being labeled as “lightweight” or “trite” by certain critics or fans.

Similarly, on "Another Day" if you read the lyrics carefully you may come away feeling not uplifted by a catchy little ditty but a mite saddened by the sometimes crushing loneliness of the modern grind. Personally I love the "At the office where the papers grow..." and "Alone in her apartment she'd dwell..." parts, some of Paul's best lyrics. Remarkable concision. – Dr J

I don't consider it quite as light as I did. It's almost a social commentary on the way women's lives were in the 70s, although not a knock at anyone specific. I admit I'm stealing a little of my wife's analysis. – kevinsinnott

I find it interesting to note that the second poster needed some assistance from a woman regarding his appraisal of the lyrical content. It’s another reminder of the depressing reality that this song is likely written off as superficial and lightweight, and not much analysis applied to it, but because the protagonist is a woman. Just as a lot of our struggles as women are ignored or ridiculed, a song written by a male who sympathizes with our plight is written off as “silly” and “fluffy” by male fans, even if the lyrics have a dark subtext.

To me, the song speaks of something dark and existential going on within the protagonist's psyche, and Paul himself is simply a narrator, imploring the audience to empathize with her as much as he does. And by empathizing with the plight of a woman, Paul unfortunately gets labeled a superficial square who creates “Muzak” and isn’t “Rock N’ Roll” enough. And that’s not right any way you slice it. Even more ironic is that not long after "Another Day," Lennon at the behest of his wife would be singing and talking about Women's struggles for equal rights and the injustice of it all. He glibly missed his former songwriting partner's intent in this song. That's not unlike John at all, however, and that's certainly not the point of this essay. It's just an observation I found interesting.

"Another Day" also speaks to me as an acknowledgement that people who are highly functional can and do suffer depression; people are coached to wear a mask of being “OK” because it’s not socially acceptable to admit you are not OK. Just keep your head down, go to work, do what you’re supposed to do, get on with it, and don’t tell anyone about your problems…

“As she posts another letter to the sound of five People gather 'round her and she finds it hard to stay alive.”

To go back to the song being marginalized as a little bit of radio-friendly, pop fluff, when to me it clearly is NOT for a moment, I want to acknowledge something. Fans were less able to access opposing literature and materials in the early 1970’s, and McCartney himself wasn’t talking much to the press (and unless you’re a brand-new fan, you know why), so I can see why people sort of accepted this viewpoint at the time.

As Erin Torkelson-Weber has pointed out in interviews and on her blog, “The Historian and the Beatles,” Paul’s relative lack of response to the talking points being pushed by John and Yoko within their post-breakup PR campaign, as well as Paul choosing not to give too much weight to the unfair critical appraisal of his work that was tainted by rock music “journalists” essentially siding with John and Yoko, really created a vacuum, allowing for the fandom’s appraisal of Paul’s work to be dominated by this narrative. Therefore, it’s natural that many, if not most fans in 1971 would buy into these sentiments.

What I find annoying is that this tendency continues to persist within the fandom, even among younger fans! This is despite having a considerable amount of evidence available at our fingertips that can serve to point out how very wrong this narrative truly is, up to and including the damn sheet music!

With the ability we now possess to access contemporaneous source material and examine all of it objectively, and the ability to listen to virtually all of his music for free via the major, online streaming services, it demonstrates laziness when people within the fandom choose not to think for themselves regarding McCartney’s genius and artistic merit separate from the other Beatles (namely Lennon).

“Another Day” isn’t the only McCartney work I’ve seen suffer under-appreciation by fans, but it’s an excellent example to illustrate my point, since it was specifically singled out by Lennon and early 70’s rock critics and used as a device by Lennon and the prominent rock critics of the day to publicly mock McCartney and call his integrity as an artist into question.

A lot of McCartney’s solo work is written off in a similar fashion, and what a terrible shame that is. Quite frankly, I think people are depriving themselves of a lot of pleasure by simply dismissing McCartney and avoiding his music (or sticking to his “greatest hits” without delving into his catalog and giving everything a thorough listen), based on these antiquated appraisals of his work.

In conclusion, I hope this essay didn’t come across too harshly. I just hope it may inspire people to listen more carefully to Paul McCartney’s solo work and give him the credit as an artist that he duly deserves.

#another day #musical analysis #my posts #paul mccartney #solo #songs

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lucienfairfax · 7 years ago

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now, Noah (Fallout 4)!

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

His mother is a messy subject, ngl. He did love her, but it was only after she died that he fully realised how much. Also, he never realised the truth of his conception and her illness until much later, and that really added weight to his survivor’s guilt and his awe of his mother.

When he was young, because he was young and didn’t know any better, he hated that his mother was always too tired/sick to do anything with him. Even though his grandmother was there to help, he felt neglected and unimportant for a lot of his childhood, until he grew up a little and realised it wasn’t exactly about him, it was something out of their control. He felt guilty about his brattiness for a long time, even though his mother never seemed to hold it against him. (It always astonished him how much she understood.)

Noah’s mother is the foundation of Noah’s goodness and compassion -- he learned to show it to her, and she gave it back to him and taught him how to show it to himself. In the same way, he shows it to everyone, because he learned how everyone deserves it, even (especially) when they are not easy to be compassionate to. (This is a great weapon in his arsenal when it comes to dealing with the Wasteland problems, and avoiding Atom’s influence.)

7. What was the economic status of their family?

Noah grew up lower-class -- his mother’s illness prevented her from being able to work, so she collected disability instead. He never really wanted for anything, but he also didn’t have anything extra very often. He only got into CIT on a full scholarship, which was fortunate.

When he married Zora, their assets combined put them comfortably in the middle-class bracket.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

I call Noah dumb a lot, affectionately, because although he’s very intelligent -- remember that full ride to CIT I mentioned? -- he... falls prey to predatory people easily, and he’s rather gullible at times. He is soft-hearted and doesn’t have a whole lot of faith in himself or his ability to do good, which makes him an easy target.

But he can jury-rig almost anything in the Commonwealth, he can fix synths (with a little training), and he has the diplomacy skills of a professional. So, you know.

16. What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

He works as an engineer (robotics engineering is his speciality, but he does other kinds in a pinch) in the pre-War days, which is a pretty lucrative and stable profession. Those skills end up coming in handy post-War, too, seeing as knowing how to make broken or otherwise-useless things work in one’s favour is a survival necessity when you live in a nuclear wasteland. People have an easier time depending on someone who can rig their water pump or outfit their settlement with multiple defenses and will do it for nothing except the joy of the practice.

He is also the General of the Minutemen, which isn’t as much a profession as it is a... duty, I guess you could say. He (with Preston’s help) does the boring work of managing an outfit like the Minutemen, so that the Minutemen can focus on doing what they do best -- helping the Commonwealth. It is boring work a lot of the time, but he believes in the Minutemen, and he considers it an honour to help them.

Later, he is Director of the Institute, and that’s a lot like being the Minutemen’s General, except with even greater responsibility and notoriety. The Institute’s abysmal reputation in the Commonwealth is now his problem, and although he is determined like hell to fix it, it’s... definitely not easy or fun, and for a while it almost seems futile. But, hey, that’s Noah -- Patron Saint of Causes So Lost They Seem Fuckin Stupid.

22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?

Zora was his wife, in pre-War times. Preston Garvey is the most important person in his life in post-War times (within a few years, everyone just calls them husbands, because that’s functionally what they are). He also takes other close companions, like High Rise and Ellie Perkins, and he loves them just the same-- but none of them have quite the impact that Preston does on Noah’s life.

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

Before the War, Noah dressed respectably during the day and like a biker heathen at night (much like Zora, although Zora found it harder to maintain her dual identity). He cleans up nicely, but he’s never been more at home than he is in the Wasteland, where his leather jacket, ratty jeans (complete with gun holster), shitkicker boots, and permanent five o’clock shadow is like a uniform for him. He is the quintessential “looks like he can kill you / is actually a cinnamon roll (who can still kill you but will cry about it later)” trope, lmao.

33. Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health?

He does drink, but not terribly often -- it’s not good to work on machinery or manage fragile intra-community relations while drunk, you know. Mostly he does it with his friends and lovers, during downtime. Also, he’s a lightweight, so it’s not like he has to drink a whole lot anyway.

The stimulant chems disturb him (largely because of what happened to Mama Murphy, but also just in general) so he avoids them. But either way, radiation itself has psychoactive effects on him, to the point of being a potent hallucinogen and dissociative -- this is obviously a direct product and therefore a mark of him being Atom’s son. It’s the state of being that all Children of Atom (the religious kind, none of them literal children of his, as much as they’d like to be) aspire to -- being immune to the harmful effects of radiation and instead being made porous by it, their consciousness transcended, their knowledge expanded.

36. Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

There’s a part of Noah that does perversely seek suffering, and that part is probably the part that innately knows what he is and how he was made. Luckily, it seems to be pretty satisfied by, like... rough sex and whatnot. LOL

But the part of Noah that he inherited from his mother is the stronger part, and that part wants suffering for no one. Now, in the parallel timeline where Atom does win Noah over, and makes him Heir of Atom and High Confessor of the Children, the seed of darkness that exists in Noah has grown exponentially -- so that’s a whole different story, there. There is a wide streak of psychosexual sadism in High Confessor Noah that one day I’m going to have a lot of fun writing about...

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Noah wants to feel like he’s overcome the darkness woven into his genes and soaked into his blood. He wants to feel like he’s been of some good to the world, instead of just making matters worse. He wants to know that Atom hasn’t won -- at least, not yet.

He wants to know that Preston Garvey loves him, and is glad to have lived after all.

He needs to be useful, to be indispensable. He needs to be needed. He needs his suffering to have not been in vain, and he needs others’ suffering to have not been in vain, either.

And really, most of all, Noah wants and needs peace of soul and mind. He has never once in his life felt that, and he so desperately wants to just... breathe, and feel the warmth of something divine that loves him as he is, and know that all is well. He wants his mother to embrace him and tell him that he is everything she could have ever wanted, no matter how he was created, and that she’s waiting for him.

#about.noah #.noah #fallout

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retphienix · 7 years ago

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Alright, this is a mess of photos from all over the first stream because I want to talk about the mechanics I’ve come to see so far since those are BY FAR the most interesting things in this game so far.

This game is experimental as HECK, and to be honest, it works in a lot of ways. But it also falls flat in a few ways.

I’ll try to avoid just giving a tutorial but I might end up doing that anyway.

Let’s start with something that doesn’t really work that well in my opinion. Progression? Kinda dumb. Basically, in an attempt to simplify the RPG aspects, they removed access to information. Which is NOT simplified, it’s bad. If you can present the information indirectly, it’s good. If you can’t, and you just remove direct access without offering a way of understanding- it’s bad.

Basically, on the back of the box it literally advertises:

“Unique design eliminates random battles and experience points”

The random battle system is the same as Trigger, monsters appear on the map and you can avoid them if you don’t want to fight. That works. That’s good. That works WONDERS for promoting proper character growth without demanding grinding.

The experience points though? Bad. Terrible. Dumb. Poorly implemented.

When you complete a battle, you have no idea if it helped you or not. You get a little bit of money (good) and some raw materials (good) and these almost, ALMOST make combat worth it inherently, but they don’t do enough.

It is important that combat feels rewarding. This is most easily accomplished by combat making you stronger through experience points, proficiency points, any kind of ‘points’ that increase your strength over time.

Gold and materials are a great step towards making combat worth it without XP, but they just don’t do quite enough. It’s like 70% of the way there to being worth it.

So how do you get stronger?

INVISIBLE EXPERIENCE POINTS. MEANING THE SELLING POINT IS MEANINGLESS AND BAD.

When you complete a fight, you MIGHT get stronger, and you have little to no idea what influences that.

Now, the lack of XP usually exists to prevent grinding at a pace that makes the game too easy, but to be honest, I’m pro “The ability” to grind.

I’m not pro-grinding, mind you, but I’m pro “the ability” to grind. Allowing grind allows a player to tune things to their own skill level- or to indulge power playing if they want to (I love power playing to be honest).

I mentioned that you still “level up”, you just don’t know when or how- so that kind of defeats the purpose of not having XP. So they doubled down and did milestones as well.

You have a star level, which determines how strong you are capable of getting- and this level increases as you defeat bosses. THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.

IT’S FLAWED. BUT GOOD.

The idea being they are preventing you from power leveling before an encounter by giving you a temporary cap.

Sounds good on it’s own! Flawed (Allow the player to grind if they want or balance your encounters to properly level) but okay!

But add that to having invisible XP and WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?!

IS THIS FIGHT WORTH IT?! DO I GET STRONGER FOR KILLING THIS ENEMY?!

WAIT, WOULD I BE GETTING STRONGER, BUT I ACCIDENTALLY HIT MY CAP AND I DON’T KNOW BECAUSE YOU DON’T TELL ME THAT EITHER?!

WHAT’S GOING ON?!

Poorly implemented- compare that to much simpler systems.

Paper Mario.

Paper Mario also has caps, but handled much better.

Instead of invisible experience where you have no idea if you’re getting credit for this fight or not- it shows you exactly how much XP you get for each fight (like a normal game).

I mentioned this is a similar and better system and here’s how:

Paper Mario utilizes soft caps and diminishing returns in order to prevent power playing while still allowing wiggle room- all while being VERY clear with the player on what is going on.

You kill a goomba- you get 10 xp.

You kill a goomba- you get 9 xp.

You kill a few more, suddenly they are giving 1 xp. You now know that you are “too strong” and have hit the soft cap.

Continue on and they will give 0 xp, meaning you’ve hit the actual cap.

YOU KNOW THAT YOU WERE BEING REWARDED FOR COMBAT. AND NOW YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE AT THE CAP.

NEITHER OF WHICH ARE PRESENT IN THIS “No XP” SYSTEM IN CROSS, WHILE ACCOMPLISHING THE EXACT SAME PRINCIPLE OF PREVENTING OVER-GRINDING.

The leveling system is flawed. I do not know if combat is worth doing outside of the monetary gain.

Now I hadn’t expected to struggle to convey my thoughts on the leveling system- but here we are, so here’s a quicker read on the other mechanics which I much more prefer!

Grid system:

The way spells and abilities work is AWESOME. I LIKE THAT A LOT. You have a grid (that expands as you level) which can basically be explained as “Level 1 slots, level 2 slots, level 3 slots etc”.

Each spell/item/tech in the game has a level and a level range “EG: 5 +- 5″

And you can place that spell anywhere within that range (previous spell is a level 5 spell, but can be placed up to level 10 or down to level 1) and it becomes more or less powerful depending on your placement while also increasing/decreasing the COST of casting that spell.

THAT IS SO COOL AND FUN TO USE AND I AM EXCITED TO USE IT MORE. GOOD. It feels a little lightweight and like it could be further developed, but as is I really like the concept of arranging your spells as you please- deciding if you want to spend very little for a light heal, or spend a lot for a HUGE nuke. VERY GOOD.

Side note- Spells can be cast once per battle, meaning your slots are one time use per combat (other than items which are 5 time use) I like this too. It prevents spamming and allows you to build up a character based on their slots, such as having 3 level 1 cures or 1 level 3 cure and having those matter.

Affinity (type) System:

It’s pokemon typing but simplifies to 3 1v1s (Red v Blue | Green v Yellow | Black v White). It’s good for making all characters weak to an element, and I like the way it was taught to the player- by having the enemy FAIL to properly manipulate the system. That was entertaining and taught me that there are spells that change affinity as well as spells that attack using a specific affinity.

Field Effect System:

Not a fan. Basically, the last 3 spells used influence the field effect, each subsequently buffing their affinity and weakening the competing affinity. It feels a bit meaningless right now, and I can see it only mattering for debuffing say a fire boss’s spells by casting a bunch of water spells before he can use his spells- but the thing is- you’re fighting a fire boss... You’re going to be doing that anyway? It feels a little pointless? And the fact that summons apparently work ONLY if you have a full triple effect on the Field (Triple Blue to summon a water summon etc) that just sounds tedious. I don’t know. Not a fan.

Accuracy attack System:

I LIKE THAT. Simple, clean, and I love how it plays into the next system. When you go to melee attack you have 3 levels of strength to choose between, basically equating to “Weak and accurate, medium and reliable, strong and inaccurate” and each subsequent attack (strung together in a combo), so long as they all hit, increase the subsequent accuracy of your attacks. So you might see 50% accuracy on the strong attack at first, but hit the enemy with 3 weak attacks (for an easy 90% accuracy hit) and now that strong attack has 87% accuracy! I like that!

Build/Spend resources System:

VERY GOOD. MOSTLY. The way you cast spells in this game is by saving up “Element” by landing melee attacks.

Quick Attacks grant 1 Element | Medium attacks 2 | Strong attacks 3. You can interrupt combat (so long as you have stamina left) to cast a spell, or simply alternate between melee and spells each “turn” (turns work more freeform and honestly it’s a little off putting since you don’t know when the enemy will interrupt, but it’s no different than an ATB system mixed with a slower turned base system).

The positive is that it feels really good to land a melee combo, and then spend those resources on a big spell as mentioned above where you can put spells in different grids to cost different amounts of the resource.

The negative is that this means a spellcaster character is ALSO a melee character BY DESIGN- and this kind of feels strange. Forcing the less physically capable characters to swat the enemy just so they can cast a spell sounds and feels bad.

I will say- the positive does outdo the negative- but it’s a bizarre system none the less! I like it! I just think spellcasters should probably have alternative means of building resources (maybe they do later on! Maybe not though and that’s fine). Something like a “Focus” command that does no damage but gives them a free 4-5 Element bar? I’m spouting nonsense.

Basically my take away on this system is that I’ve never seen an RPG use “Build/Spend” mechanics outside of an MMO! And I really don’t like most uses of it in MMOs (I enjoy managing a hefty pool of resources, like a rage bar- I don’t enjoy managing small number resources, like Rogue combo points). It turns out if you slow such a system down to a turned base (mostly) gameplay- I REALLY ENJOY UTILIZING IT!

Also the chief beat me up.

#RetPlays #Chrono Cross

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forgetspecifics · 7 years ago

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Such Sights are Bright - Chapter 5: Maybe I’ll just Fall

Yang somehow has the most eventful New Year's experience of her life, drunk Blake makes her dramatic return, and shit gets a little too real.

Other links: Ao3 FF.net

Notes: YOOO SORRY 9,600 words hopefully makes up for the wait?? (insert it's over 9000 joke)

January (Winter) /

On New Year’s Day – well, morning – Yang did not have a hangover. She’d made sure to avoid that; where Sun got alcohol for a bunch of teenagers was beyond her, but it had been difficult to bear witness to the wonder that was drunk Blake. One would expect that Yang would’ve easily gone back to her irresponsible persona, but, one would be wrong.

Because getting drunk and losing your inhibitions was not conducive to keeping a secret.

She should have kept her friend under a more watchful eye, but to her own credit, she tried. She later suspected that Sun was working against her; refusing everything he shoved at her in those stupid red cups – he couldn’t get Yang to confess under the influence, so Blake was the next target. It wasn’t Blake’s fault that she was a lightweight, nor was it his, but he was going to be in trouble once Blake woke up.

The party was tame, in her opinion. Herself, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora had been invited to Sun’s place while his parents were out of town. Neptune was also obviously present, and so were the boys’ friends Scarlet and Sage. Nobody too crazy, though Nora was accountable for about fifty percent of any craziness; Sun himself thirty-five percent, and the rest of them all contributed to the remaining allocation. It had gone well, until her friends forgot the concept of privacy.

Yang blamed Sun the most, purely because he used Nora as an outlet for announcing possibly the worst party game in existence – Nora couldn’t refuse a game – and so she watched helplessly as truth or dare finally came to claim her poor soul. That was, until Ren saved her by asking her if she’d like to sit it out with him. He had a knack for telling when people were uncomfortable, and it was an understatement to say Yang was not comfortable with being at the mercy of Sun.

There was not much she could do as Blake; already pretty tipsy, was roped into the game. Dares were passed around; Nora daring Pyrrha to kiss Jaune, Neptune daring Scarlet to eat wet bread – she’d never seen somebody gag that much – and as expected, Sun wasted no time in asking Blake truth or dare. Yang didn’t know she’d been holding her breath until Blake finally said truth. At least there would be no kissing dares, not that she approved of dragging non-participants into the game. Truth was hardly going to get him any good information, since Blake did not like her.

But alas, from the couch she and Ren sat upon, she heard the monkey Faunus ask the cat Faunus, “Blake, if you had to kiss someone in this room, who would it be?”

Yang was instantly fuming at the blatant attempt to embarrass her, and words had promptly slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Oh, fuck off!”

In turn, the outburst caused the circle of friends on the floor to swivel their heads to look at her. Even Ren looked a little surprised, and that was saying something. It took all her willpower to not go over to Sun and smack his arrogant smile off his face when he had said, “Something, wrong, Yang?”

She would have given him a piece of her mind, if not for the fact that Blake giggled and proceeded to whisper-yell, “I already kissed Yang!”

Everybody gasped – it was like a soap opera – save for Ren and Yang herself. Because she was livid.

Sun on the other hand, was living. “I was right! You two are gayer than a rainbow!”

“That’s not true!” Yang found herself standing, heart racing. “It was a kiss on the cheek,” she realised she’d admitted that it was kind-of true, but still. It didn’t mean he was right. If she was honest with herself, she had no idea why she was bothering to deny it anymore, but then again, Blake was right there watching her.

“You only kissed her cheek?” Nora asked, sceptical of both of their behaviour.

Blake shrugged. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”

“I see,” Nora replied. “Alright, people. Lock them in the closet!”

“I thought we wanted them to come out of the closet, not go in it?” Jaune said, misunderstanding her literal meaning.

“We are not locking them in a closet, Nora,” Pyrrha interrupted, sending a disapproving look to her orange-haired friend, “let me handle this.” The tall girl had wasted no time in whisking Yang away to talk in private.

Yang quickly broke down her situation to the only girl that she could trust to keep her secret. Pyrrha was at least understanding of what she was going through, but her advice was something Yang already knew would come.

You have to talk to her about this.

She just put on a brave face when they returned to everyone in the midst of dancing dumbly to some music, but it had been hard to keep it up when Sun had shimmied on over into her personal space.

He kept his voice discreet. “Dude, Blake wants you. Why are you making this so hard on yourself?”

Why was she? She looked over at Jaune who had taken Pyrrha’s hand, both of them looking quite content. Nora even had Ren doing ridiculous dance moves with her too; Neptune and Scarlet were surprisingly dancing in-sync, and Sage was spinning a laughing Blake in a casual waltz. There were cute couples and good friends, though she felt a pang of jealousy of seeing Blake with someone else. And it was ridiculous.

Her eyes watched Blake move. She was less graceful than usual, but all the more attractive; she was carefree. “I need to figure this out on my own.”

Sun placed his hand on her shoulder. “What more is there to figure out?”

It took a moment, but she looked him in the eye. “How the hell I’m going to tell her.”

“You’ll think of something. Go dance with her,” he smiled goofily.

Though she hadn’t quite forgiven him, he did have good intentions, and he was finally letting up. He followed her over to Blake and Sage, intervening one last time.

“May I borrow him, lady Blake?” Sun mocked Scarlet’s British accent, cutting in on the dancing pair.

“Why of course, mister Wukong, sir,” Blake did a much more accurate impersonation, as Scarlet exclaimed something nonsensical about Sun – boi was the affectionate term – in his signature birdcall. Blake then turned to her and offered a hand.

“Would this lady like to dance?”

Yang ignored the slight blush she felt adorn her face, but let a smile grow on her lips unbidden as she too spoke with a faux-accent too. “Why, it would be an honour!”

They took turns leading each other in a waltz to eighties classics – Scarlet had said something about hauling oats? – and Yang found it progressively harder to keep Blake from falling over her own feet. It reminded her of their outing to Ozpin’s. Alcohol dismantled Blake’s restraint then, and it had not let her get away this time, either. She had no doubt sober Blake would have never said that she’d kissed her. There was every possibility that unlike herself, Blake didn’t want to admit she was attracted to Yang, and if it was true, that presented…a problem. More of a problem than she already had, that was.

Being so focused on enjoying the moment with Blake, Yang almost forgot what day it was until someone remembered to switch the TV onto the local news station. The countdown to midnight was approaching fast as the group gathered around. She was getting ready to count along; at least she wouldn’t mess up like every other year she had been wasted.

She was about to chant ten, just like everyone else, until Blake completely stole her attention by whispering in her ear.

“I think it’s your turn to kiss me.”

It was funny how a few words could take her breath away. Not funny like ha-ha funny, but funny like she would never forget it for the rest of her miserable life.

Ten.

Yang barely choked out a response. “What?”

Nine.

“Come on, Yang,” she had only provoked Blake to practically cling to her.

Eight.

Maybe she could make it out alive of this. “You’re joking?”

Seven.

Blake was not joking. “Everyone else is gonna be doing it, it’s tradition.”

Six.

Goddamn kissing traditions were the bane of her existence.

Five.

“It’s just a kiss on the cheek,” Blake said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Four.

“Not everyone-” Yang began to turn her head, but was stopped by grabbing hands.

Three.

“Don’t look at them, look at me.”

Two.

She shouldn’t have listened to her, because now they’d made eye contact and even though Blake had said cheek, Yang was thinking of everything but. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, you know.”

But Blake wouldn’t know. She probably wouldn’t even remember this. And she seemed at least a little desperate, and it made Yang really wonder if Sun was totally right.

One.

“Happy New Year!”

It was well after noon by the time the black cat Faunus woke. Although, to her, she felt more like death reincarnated. “I feel awful,” she groused, still wrapped in a thick fleece blanket and struggling to sit upright in the chair Sun had pulled out for her when she’d stumbled into the kitchen.

For her sake, he kept his voice down, whether or not he knew she had extra ears to be mindful of. “You’re a lightweight, Blake. You were drunk, like, an hour after you got here.”

Too tired to refute that she was, in fact, a lightweight, she was more concerned at the length of time he’d mentioned. “But I don’t remember the whole night! Oh, God, please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.”

“I wouldn’t say anything stupid,” Sun’s smile was reassuring, but, his words weren’t.

“What does that mean?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“You were all over Yang like white on rice,” he leaned against the kitchen counter, still jovial.

Blake knew very well that Sun had been convinced that she and Yang were an item, but this was bad if he was telling the truth – what had she done? “I was what?”

“You,” he pointed at her, “were all over Yang.”

He took her silence as a sign to keep talking. He must have thought she didn’t understand what he was saying, but really, she was just trying to wrap her pounding head around it all.

“Take it from the Chinese guy, rice is white all over. Yang’d back me up. She’s Chinese too, we like rice,” Sun rambled, “but we like all kinds of rice, so maybe I should have used a different analogy,” he added, thinking he’d confused her.

A different voice chimed in, “You’re generalising your own culture, Sun.” It was then that Yang walked in on their conversation, oblivious as to why they were talking about rice. “You’re finally awakey, Blakey. How’s the old noggin’?”

In a knee-jerk reaction, Blake turned her frustration onto its source. “Don’t call me that.”

Yang recoiled at the hostility. She knew how hangovers could be bad for moods, but even for Blake, that was harsh. “Hey, don’t get mad at me. It’s Sun’s fault,” she said, happy to direct Blake’s ire onto their mischievous friend. He suddenly looked a lot less carefree now that he’d been blamed.

“Clarify,” Blake demanded over Sun’s spluttering.

“Everything you drank came from the monkey bar,” Yang resisted laughing at her own joke for once – even though it was a good one – and proceeded to boil a kettle to make some calming tea for her friend. Sun hadn’t even thought of that, since he was probably too busy being sneaky.

“Did you just make a pun outta me?”

Ignoring Sun, Yang sat down with Blake. “There wasn’t much I could do. Everything I took away from you, he replaced just as fast.”

“Throwing me right under the bus, here,” Sun said, cowering and meekly laughing when furious amber eyes locked onto his.

“That’s the plan,” Yang leaned back in her chair, tempted to let this play out. “Pour the lady some tea, would ya? It’s the least you could do.”

Stuttering in agreement, he promptly delivered a steaming mug to a very irritated Blake.

“Leave us,” like a queen would order a peasant, a disgruntled Blake shooed the apologetic boy away. More than happy to escape, Sun gave Yang a thanking-prayer motion behind Blake’s back.

“What happened last night?” Blake cut to the chase before Yang had a chance to say anything.

“Is that what you were talking about?” She was in no rush to discuss it, but she was curious about the whole rice thing.

“Sun said…something,” Blake wrapped her hands around her cup of tea, but did not drink. “I trust you’ll at least tell me the real story.”

“Nothing happened,” Yang didn’t even look at her. When she did, though, she seemed nervous. “Well, not nothing, but not not nothing?”

To that, Blake said nothing – nothing was an appropriate response to more nothing, but she did raise an eyebrow slightly.

Yang sighed. “What did he tell you?”

“Apparently, I was all over you like white on rice,” Blake recounted in her signature monotone, ever the face of nonchalance.

“So that’s why he was talking about Chinese people and rice,” Yang tried to lighten to mood to no avail. She’d have to tell Blake sooner or later, and it was going to be sooner. “He got you drunk because I refused to get drunk. He wanted one of us smashed, and you were a much easier target to get a confession out of.”

Under Blake’s bow – which had managed to stay secure – cat ears stood attentive. “You don’t mean?”

“I do,” Yang nodded. They both knew, that with Sun, it was always about their relationship. “It sorta worked, too.”

“I’m never drinking again,” the Faunus muttered.

Yang contemplated what to say. This could end up being a very awkward conversation that she wasn’t sure she was ready to have. She tried for honest with a bit of humour. “Long story short, you announced you’ve kissed me before, and everyone went nuts.”

Blake’s cheeks became rosy as she went on the defence. “Why would I do that? It’s not even true.”

“I said the same thing,” the blonde shrugged. “Nothing came of it…until it was time for the midnight countdown.”

“We did not kiss at midnight,” Blake’s face had become hard to read, but to Yang, she sounded kind of disgusted. It was disconcerting.

“Do you think I’d take advantage of you like that?” Yang hadn’t meant to sound so defensive, but honestly, that’s how she was feeling right then. Blake had never acted this way before, even during conversations with similar topics.

“You wouldn’t have the chance to,” the Faunus said hastily, “I wouldn’t…do that.”

Her emotions were beginning to bubble under the surface, and Yang couldn’t stop them showing for long, she knew that. “I hate to break it to you, but it was your idea.”

Blake moved her cup tea to the side so she could lean forward on the table. “Yang, tell me what happened.”

“You kept insisting when it was counting down,” Yang growled, making it abundantly clear that she hadn’t asked for it herself. Why should she be interrogated for something when she had been the one that was pestered? “It was just a kiss on the cheek, like you said.”

“That’s it?” Blake leaned back. Rubbing her temples, she sighed in relief. “Thank God it wasn’t anything worse.”

Worse?

It was happening again. This was it – this was what it felt like to have fallen for someone that you really shouldn’t have. She didn’t know that it would hurt this much to have her fears confirmed, and it made her so damn angry. “Oh yeah, wouldn’t want me to get the wrong idea after throwing yourself at me.” She was mad at Blake, and she was mad at herself.

“Excuse me?”

Blake feigning innocence did nothing to quell her internal rage. Was she really that clueless about what she said and did?

“I’m sorry,” Yang said with fake politeness, “I didn’t realise that sober Blake and drunk Blake had different sexual orientations.”

There was still no reaction from her friend; no retaliation. Indifference was something Yang despised. It was just how she imagined Raven would act.

“Yang, you’re overreacting-”

“I’m overreacting? I’m not the one pretending it didn’t happen! You can’t even remember it, but I do!” Yang remembered everything; every betrayal in her life. She stood and the chair legs scraped on the floor, no doubt hurting Blake’s sensitive hearing – if her shouting hadn’t already.

“I waited around to see if you were okay, but I guess I didn’t need to. Enjoy your tea,” she ignored Blake’s face as it turned to shock and pulled her jacket on. She was leaving. “Happy new year.”

Heavy steps travelled to the front door, followed by a slam, and a motorcycle engine revving then peeling out.

Blake heard Sun curse in the other room, and he took tentative steps towards her. She felt like crying. He asked, “I guess it didn’t go well?”

A beat passed before her tears fell.

Fast forwarding to five days later, it had been the longest amount of time that they’d not seen or spoken to each other since they met.

And it was driving Yang crazy.

While she hadn’t outright admitted anything, she’d done a lot worse than that. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Blake’s face; every time it made her feel like an idiot. Emotions had gotten the better of her, and ruined everything.

She was lucky she hadn’t taken a spill the way she drove home that day – reckless and too pissed off to care much about consequences. That was where her luck had run out, though; as the days progressed she’d gotten more irritable and clumsy. Every night she’d lost more and more sleep, and tonight she felt it’d be completely sleepless, with her brain going over everything in her head again.

It was probably because Blake hadn’t contacted her – not in her own anger, and not even to apologise. So, Yang stayed silent too. It was childish, but for once in her life, she couldn’t help but act that way. Once again, Raven’s past actions were affecting her life. It was a shitty excuse to behave that way, but everyone was a product of something – it just so happened that she was a picture-perfect product of abandonment.

Why had her mother bothered to have a kid just to leave it behind?

And why had Blake bothered to be so reassuring about being accepting of homosexuality? She’d been open to flirting, comfortable with it, she flirted back. Was it really just the alcohol talking?

So what if it was? She already had conceded that could be just it – but it didn’t make sense to Yang. If she wanted answers, she’d have to talk to Blake. It could ruin their friendship, but at this point, it might be too late to save it, too.

Although…Blake had flirted with her at other times. Maybe there was hope.

The spark of optimism made Yang hastily pick up her phone, but as soon as she tried to call Blake, her nerves returned. She settled for re-reading the text messages she’d received from Sun. It was easy to tell that he’d overheard their argument – it was hard not to – so he hadn’t been grilling her for an explanation. No, he texted her a few hours after she’d taken off to chastise her for making Blake cry.

At least he was still on her side – well, he still was convinced they were perfect for each other. He’d been sending her different ideas on what to do, and she appreciated the effort, but it was easier said than done to fix her mess. A little teamwork sounded appealing at the moment, since her own courage was waning.

Yang started to type out a plea for his help just as the phone came to life. The contact photo she’d set of Blake stared at her – she had refused to smile for the photo – and Yang was just about ready to go into cardiac arrest. An opportunity had just presented itself to her. She could take the chance…no.

She had to.

Yang answered the call, but failed to speak.

“Yang?” Blake’s voice brought her back to Earth. She didn’t sound angry.

“Hey.”

“What- um, what’s up?”

Yang had never heard such a bad attempt at a conversation starter. But it also meant that she wasn’t the only nervous one; nor the only guilty one.

“Oh, y’know,” she said casually, “just…missing my best friend.” She heard a muffled laugh.

“I miss you too,” Blake said quietly. “I know it’s kind of late-”

“Eight-thirty isn’t late,” Yang interrupted.

She heard Blake sigh through the phone. “It is when I’m asking if I can come over.”

“Come over as in, tell me how much of a jerk I am…or impromptu sleepover where we paint our nails and stay up all night talking, come over?”

There was a little contemplative hmm. “How about both?”

Yang finally felt relieved for the first time in days. “I wasn’t sleeping tonight anyway. Come on over.”

“See you in a bit, then,” Blake said, hanging up.

That had been easy. There was no animosity. But had it been too easy?

She quickly updated her little sister of the situation via text, feeling like she could use a bit of Ruby’s everlasting encouragement.

Stepping out onto the curb, Blake took the box that Sun held out to her.

“Thanks for the ride, Sun,” she smiled at him as he gave her a thumbs up, “and the pizza.”

“You know I only did this on the condition that you guys fix this mess and stop avoiding each other! My boss would kill me if he found out, then he’d fire me.”

“You better get going, then.” Blake was grateful that her and Yang’s mutual friend cared enough for both of them to help her out. He delivered pizzas part-time; it was the perfect way to get to Yang’s in the evening and have an icebreaker. She waved goodbye to him and walked up to Qrow’s front door.

Hopefully it won’t be the last time I do, she thought. After knocking, it wasn’t long before she heard the lock click and found herself face to face with the latest person in her life she was afraid of losing.

Steeling her resolve, Blake presented the warm box to Yang, “I brought apology pizza.”

“Was I supposed to get you a bribe too?” Yang asked with a small laugh, taking the food and motioning her inside, out of the chilly air.

Blake felt that their back and forth joking from earlier was a good sign, so she kept it going. “You mean you didn’t?”

She must have sounded more serious than she intended, or Yang was just too nervous to realise it was sarcastic. “No, no! Wait right here,” Yang held up a finger with a big cheesy grin, “one second.”

“Yang-”

“Uh-bup-bup!” Yang disappeared down the hall, still holding the pizza.

Blake busied herself with removing her coat and beanie. “I was joking,” she said to herself.

Arms behind her back, Yang returned in a matter of seconds. It was impressive how easily she was able to think of anything, let alone something believable, to get for her.

Yang flourished, presenting a single purple flower. “Voilà!” She used the French term energetically, holding it out for Blake.

It was a little odd to think that someone like Qrow, or even Yang, had a vase of flowers in the house. Nonetheless, it was a lovely shade of purple; Blake focusing on the petals before realising it was the same colour as Yang’s eyes. Even though she knew Yang hadn’t prepared it, it somehow felt more thoughtful than sauce and cheese on bread.

Blake accepted the flower, fighting the warm flush that was threatening to creep up her neck. She wished she had known that a mere flower could produce butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “Merci beaucoup, je l'aime,” she thanked Yang in French, hopeful that it would distract the blonde from noticing her reddening cheeks.

“Whoa,” Yang gawked, clearly not expecting it. “Pardon your French!”

Blake deliberately rolled her eyes. “Pardon is French, Yang.”

“Sooo, you speak French? That’s kinda hot,” Yang said despite the implications – Blake was glad Yang wasn’t going to be afraid to speak her mind around her, but she definitely had lost the battle with her blush when Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

She allowed herself the satisfaction of talking again in French, just to see Yang’s confusion, as payback.

Yang responded the best way she could to a foreign language. “It’s hot, but I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Blake repeated herself, in English. “Yes, but the pizza is getting cold, and that is a waste of a free pizza.”

“Ah,” Yang replied.

Blake shouldn’t have been surprised, but Yang then spouted a sentence that was assumedly Chinese. Raising her brow, she silently asked for a translation.

“I said, I don’t wanna waste free food,” Yang winked, and led her to the pizza that was sitting in the kitchen next to a vase of the purple flowers her gift had originated from. Perhaps her friend did like floral decoration. As lovely as the flower was, Blake didn’t really have anywhere to hold it, nor did she particularly like the idea of letting it wilt.

Blake carefully slotted its stem back into the vase with its kin. “I’ll retrieve this when I leave.”

Yang looked a little disappointed that Blake’s flower was now just another set of petals in the arrangement again, insignificant.

“I promise.”

Yang nodded after hearing that, and opened up the pizza box, grateful for the edible distraction. She was also pretty hungry; having been fretting too much to bother eating. Consciously, she avoided jumping right into the awkward conversation they were going to have to have. “Where’d you pick up French?”

“I was allowed to choose a secondary language to learn in my home-schooling. Little Blake thought it was the language of romance,” she held back a laugh at the speed Yang took and devoured a slice of pizza.

“Aw,” Yang said still chewing, “what does Blake think about it now she’s all grown up?”

Blake took her own helping of pizza, smiling wistfully. “I think I was young and naïve.”

“Well, that’s just depressing.”

Yang wasn’t wrong. It was sad, how hopeful she’d been as a child; it was a far cry from her present self. “It’s wasn’t meant to be uplifting, Yang.”

The blonde just stared at her. The scrutiny of her gaze was intense. “You are such an enigma, Blake Belladonna.”

“Some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.” Knowing Yang, she was going to take that as a challenge. Yet she seemed to ignore it, picking up the pizza box once again and audibly sighing.

“Let’s go sit down on the couch and get the hard part over with. The suspense is killing me,” Yang walked away, her mood having switched from laid-back to serious.

As they got comfortable, they both fidgeted. Blake wasn’t expecting an apology. People never seemed to say sorry to her – for anything.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I was out of line, about everything.”

Yang was constantly surprising her, and now was no exception. She was different to other people in her life. She isn’t him; Blake felt terrible that she even had to remind herself of that when Yang had never done anything to harm her. She had intended to be the one apologising, and wasn’t going to withhold it just because Yang had also felt guilty.

“And I’m sorry too,” nonetheless, Blake was still clueless about certain details. “I don’t know what I said, but I made you upset, and that’s the last thing I wanted.”

Yang gave her the tiniest hint of a smile. It was enough to calm her frayed nerves, and it was certainly much better than the shouting she’d gotten last time they spoke.

“It’s not what you can’t remember you said,” Yang let out an airy laugh as she took another helping of pizza. “None of that was bad, even if it made me really confused.”

Blake followed her lead, taking her second helping as well. “I didn’t start speaking in French, did I?” She thought it was funny, but on second thought, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise that she could speak French just now, if she had already done it before.

“No, I meant it made me confused,” Yang said, not bothered by talking with her mouth full of food. She did however, finish chewing before adding quietly, “about my feelings.”

“Oh,” Blake was not quite prepared for such honesty, and giving such a lame response almost made her cringe.

“Yeah,” Yang had a face of discomfort, doing the cringing for them both. “Blake, I’m not mad at you anymore. I was, but only because you acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Still, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

In her mind’s eye, Blake could see that angry version of Yang towering over her in Sun’s kitchen. The blonde had been intimidating, and that brought unpleasant feelings to the surface. It also made her realise that just because she had never experienced it, Yang had always had the ability to act that way. She’d knocked over Cardin Winchester, after all. But, sometimes, words could hurt more than physical violence, and she’d hurt Yang with her own, and vice versa.

She deserved to be scolded; reprimanded with scathing words that would teach her a lesson. Instead, the only thing Yang was doing was seeking her forgiveness. This was what she wanted, but nearly all her life, she’d been taught that humans only wanted to hurt her.

“How can you not be angry with me anymore?”

“My anger was misplaced, Blake,” Yang glanced her way before lilac irises became focused on something distant. “I let it get to me because I have this stupid idea in my head that everyone that tries to disregard me is doing the same thing my mother did when she up and left me. She wasn’t fair to me…but I wasn’t fair to you. You’re not her.”

For once, the strong passion that Yang usually spoke with was gone. Replaced with a gentle sadness that broke Blake’s heart. Yang knew exactly what it was like to have somebody that was supposed to take care of you break that promise; both of them had unintentionally let their past experiences affect them in the present.

“Yang, it’s not stupid, and it’s not your fault.” Blake, against her better judgement, moved closer when Yang became downcast. The need to reassure Yang when she was vulnerable won out over possibly making the same mess all over again.

With the utmost care, Blake placed the palm of her hand on Yang’s cheek, guiding the blonde to look at her in the eye. She tried not to think about how soft her skin was, or that it was warmer than hers, or that if you stared long enough, you would see a ring of deep, rich burgundy surrounding purple irises.

“None of it is your fault,” she repeated, and she’d say it a thousand times over if that was what it took for Yang to believe her. If she could be convinced that her past did not define her, then she owed it to Yang to reiterate that she didn’t do anything do to deserve abandonment.

Blake felt Yang lean ever so slightly into her hand.

It felt like they were frozen in time, along with Blake’s breathing. She didn’t dare move, lest everything shatter before her eyes. She would not let up until Yang knew she meant her words; she would not hurt Yang again.

“Okay.”

Suddenly, Yang was smiling and Blake could breathe again. It wasn’t exuberant, nor was it done gleefully. It was small, but appreciative.

It was beautiful.

Blake embraced Yang; not just because she wanted to, but because she was scared she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from doing something more. She just couldn’t do that to her.

“Thanks, Blake.”

She sensed that Yang was still not quite ready to let go, and she was happy to wait.

“Can I just ask you one thing?”

At Yang’s tentative question, Blake felt her heart beat a little faster. They’d done well so far; come to an understanding, and everything was forgiven. What else was on Yang’s mind?

Upon separation, Blake tried to keep her expression as measured as her words. “That depends on what it is.”

Again, Yang was hesitant. Blake had never seen her this way before. “Why were you so worried about us…about what might’ve happened?”

Upon contemplation, Blake found that it was an easy enough question to answer – but the easy answer was going to make things complicated, so she chose to be truthful without a specifying a reason. “Because, despite what I said or implied, it would have been a very big deal. There is nothing that would change the fact that I trapped you in an uncomfortable situation.”

She hoped Yang understood. At least one of them would understand what was going on in her head. If there was one thing Blake was sure of, it was that she had never been more unsure of herself in her life. She’d laugh at the irony if it wasn’t so frustrating.

“Hey, we all make mistakes sometimes,” Yang reassured her, smiling again like her normal self.

Blake huffed. “What is it about alcohol? It’s like it wants me to embarrass myself.” She hadn’t made any mistakes. Drunk Blake had made all the mistakes! If she didn’t drink at the party, she wouldn’t have acted the way she did.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Blakey!” Yang relaxed into the couch after taking another helping of the dwindling pizza. “I’ve done way worse things with half the amount of booze,” she commented casually.

“Such as?” Blake inquired, grateful that Yang was always trying to cheer her up. She would have been in trouble if Yang had tried to press her for more answers.

“You don’t wanna know, and I don’t wanna remember.”

Yang cried in indignation as Blake swatted her arms for such an incriminating response. “That is hardly reassuring, you party animal.”

“It’s not like I did anything that wild,” Yang added hastily, fending off the Faunus’ hands, “there’s no raunchy stories!”

Golden eyes rolled, a heavy sigh following the halting of Blake’s hands. Then, Yang grinned, looking much too happy for her own good.

“That I can remember!”

“Yang!” Blake cried, resorting to outright shoving the blonde’s shoulder. She knew Yang did these things on purpose, and Yang knew that she would always react this way. The cackling of laughter that always followed was quite telling of that.

“Okay, okay!” Yang said, letting up and rubbing her arm, as if Blake had the capacity to even remotely hurt it. “At least you didn’t call me a jerk like you were supposed to.”

Blake stared at her friend with stern eyes, but there was a ghost of a smile on her face. “Oh, there’s still plenty of time for that.”

After the girls’ stomachs were sufficiently stuffed, and they’d embarrassedly recounted how both of their lives were uneventful and lacklustre the past few days – totally unrelated to one another’s absence – there was finally a lull in the conversation.

Yang was caught off guard when Blake decided to save them from an extended silence.

“You know, I was pleasantly surprised to see that bouquet of flowers in the kitchen. I just didn’t take Qrow as the type.”

“Those are mine, actually. I couldn’t resist Carnations ready to bloom, and I bought them for…” Trailing off, Yang never elaborated. Blake didn’t know if she had been about to say they were bought for a specific reason or a specific someone.

“I mean, they’re, uh, a nice colour?”

What Yang wasn’t telling Blake was that on New Year’s Day, hours after she’d regretted how she treated her, she’d gone out to try and find the nicest flowers to apologise to her with. Only after she purchased them had she realised she had no clue where Blake lived, and by then she had deflated and lost all her resolve, so she gave up and brought them home instead – if only to remind her of her immense failure.

“You know what type of flower they are?” Blake was giggling now.

Yang pouted in response. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m not,” Blake said, even though she most definitely was. “It’s just cute.”

Yang’s pout was replaced with her arms crossing. It’s cute. “In that case, I’ll only talk about flowers from now on.”

Blake did not laugh at her again, but she was still at least mildly amused. “I had no idea your knowledge of flowers was that extensive.”

“Dad likes to garden,” Yang explained, “me and Ruby had our own sunflowers and roses to take care of too.”

Before she could get made fun of anymore, Yang tried to bring the conversation around to something more useful – useful meaning trying to come up with some sort of way to break it to Blake that she was totally gay for her. It sounded much easier than she knew it was going to be, but at least she had a good segue.

“Speaking of, it’s almost Spring! Do you know what that means?”

Not willing to play a guessing game, Blake’s answer was technically accurate, but lacking in effort. “It means…it’ll be March soon.”

Yang rolled her eyes, fond of the Faunus’ talent for never-ending indifference. “It means you won’t have to suffer in the cold anymore.”

She wanted to remind Blake that the weather would soon be much more suitable to doing activities – outdoor activities (which Yang was also fond of). She had begun to think that it’d be best to bring up the conversation on how she felt while walking around town in the sunshine with Blake; maybe going out for lunch, yada yada yada.

She’d asked Qrow; as he was a long-time resident of the city, if there were any places to visit in the springtime. He’d shrugged, claiming he knew none. That hadn’t necessarily meant there was none, he just didn’t care for parks and the like. All Yang had gotten was the excuse that they always say in Canton you Canton-joy yourself. It was a good pun, but not very helpful. He’d not bothered to ask why, in particular, Yang wanted to go to nice places – but the questioning looks he’d given her said it all.

It was then apparent she had nobody to turn to – well, except her friends. As far as she was aware, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren and Nora had grown up in Canton, or in the surrounding area at least. Scarlet and Sage were also an option, and Sun was likely to gather his own friends to help her out (she hoped). That meant she had six knowledgeable people, plus Sun and Neptune, as possible wingmen/women.

Yang was broken from her fantasy thoughts of the perfect date-but-not-a-date by the subject of them.

“I have you, so I don’t have to suffer in the cold at all,” proving herself right, Blake made herself quite at home snuggled up to Yang’s warmth. “Spring is useless to me.”

Yang wasn’t really willing to reject that statement, if she was being chosen over warmer weather. Still, she had to find a convincing truth to get Blake to go out with her. “But haven’t you heard? This Spring will be the best!”

“And where did you hear that?”

“Oh, everyone’s been saying that.” Nobody had been saying that. “It’ll be our first Spring as friends! We can go on walks in pretty parks, and have picnics. Oh, I have this great sandwich with cottage cheese I think you’d like. And there’ll be flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees!”

Yang’s enthusiasm for the flora and fauna was not shared by Blake.

“What is it with you and bees?” The ravenette asked incredulously. It was something she’d been wondering about for a while now – she hadn’t ever met anybody with such an affinity for insects.

The blonde was shocked and appalled, dramatically insisting, “Have you seen bumblebees? They’re so cute!” That was not enough on its own though. “Plus, black and yellow,” Yang gestured between them both, referring to their hair (and general favouritism) of the colours, “is a good combo.”

A small cough came from Blake, though she quickly retorted, “Maybe you don’t need me, then, if you have bees,” rejecting the idea of humouring Yang’s obvious hint about the two of them.

“I do love bees,” Yang cooed. “But, let me tell ya, I always wanted a cat. As a kid, I used to see the Maine coon cats around town and think, ooooh they’re so big and cuddly! I might just get one, if you leave me.”

Blake abruptly snorted, finding that slightly ridiculous. “And it will be black with yellow eyes, and you’ll name it Blake!” She faked excitement and went along with Yang’s plan, if only for a second, just to shoot it down with her trademark sarcasm. “Oh, wait. You already did that.”

Yang harrumphed. “You got me, there.” So she hadn’t realised how dumb that had sounded. At this rate, she’d put her big foot in her big mouth and let something even stupider slip, like the only cat I ever want to cuddle is you, Blake. There was a part of her that thought she’d get in trouble for that, but Blake had made jokes about her feline features before – funny ones, that had made Yang laugh. She’d missed laughing with her.

“Can I just say, I feel a lot better now that we’re friends again,” Yang said aloud, not having considered how it might have sounded. “Not that stopped thinking you were my friend! Just, you know?”

Blake hummed in agreeance. “I know. I never thought we would be friends in the first place, but now I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you.”

It served as a reminder that Blake held no animosity towards Yang for their differences or the reason for their slight falling out. It also made Yang wonder what the hell was going on. Surely she wasn’t that good of a person to be trusted this much, and certainly not by someone that grew up being told humans like her didn’t even exist.

The only explanations Yang could think of was that she was a better person than she realised, or Blake was holding herself back for some reason. And she’d be damned if she didn’t figure out which one it was.

“Well, if it’s anything like the last couple of days, it’d probably suck.” Yang took her assumptions from how miserable she’d been – and considered herself lucky if Blake felt the same way.

“Is that an indirect way of saying my life would suck without you?”

“Totally,” Yang laughed, “and, since you’ve been gone, I can breathe for the first time!”

“Are we just making obscure references to Kelly Clarkson now?”

“No, Blake, I’m totally serious.” Her constant snickering said otherwise. Abruptly, as she was well capable of, Yang abandoned an amused Blake on the couch to jump onto the coffee table. Taking care to not step in the pizza box as she brought her feet down like she was performing to an arena of people, Yang brought her fist to her mouth, dramatically miming the greatest singing Idol of American history. “How can I put it, you put me on, I even fell for that stupid love song. Yeah, yeah, since you been gone.”

Blake smiled at the blonde that was shimmying on the table; her hair bouncing, legs working in those stupid short shorts of hers. If she wasn’t enjoying watching Yang having fun and her nonsensical antics, she’d have gotten up there too – okay, maybe not. It wasn’t her house, or her table, to dance on.

Yang continued on. After all, they were having fun, and they needed it after everything. “How come I’d never hear you say, I just wanna be with you,” she sung to Blake, knowing it wouldn’t come off as a real question. Even though, deep down, she could relate to it. Yang tried not to think about that, though, pushing it out of her mind.

Blake held up a finger, catching Yang’s attention. “That song was about breaking up.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Yang seemed to deflate, her happy energy fading.

“I enjoyed the show nonetheless. Very entertaining, great stage presence. I’d vote Yang Xiao Long to be the next American Idol.”

“If only they still produced it, and not trashy shows about trashy people’s lives,” Yang sighed, stepping down to the floor, “oh, except for the Bachelor. I’ll binge watch that any day of the week.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Blake replied, not one for reality shows that pitted numerous people against each other for the heart of a single person.

Yang’s phone buzzed with a text in the confines of her bra, the girl almost forgetting she’d put it there (her shorts lacked the luxury of pockets). Earlier, she’d hurriedly messaged Ruby; who’d known about her sulking the whole time, that Blake was trying to make up with her. Her sister had sent a well-wishing back, but not before asking, you mean kiss and make up? And then make-out? with a kissy face as well. Yang appreciated the girl’s positive attitude, but she hated how good Ruby was at poking fun at her.

When she opened the text, it was a simple question:

Have you told her yet?

She was about to reply, until she did a double take at who had sent it, Abs Wukong; complete with a banana emoji next to his contact name (he’d taken the liberty of making his own nickname). She wasn’t even annoyed that Sun was trying to help this time, she was more worried about how he knew that she was with Blake. Another buzz brought another message from the monkey Faunus.

Your welcome for the pizza, btw!

Slowly, her brain made the connection in her head, but before Yang could once again scold Sun for his constant nagging, Blake interrupted her train of thought.

“Are you trying to set your phone on fire by glaring at it?”

Yang realised she had been practically glowering at the screen. At this point, she was not willing to admit that she and Sun had been arguing for almost a month about something that involved Blake without her knowing.

“Sorry, I’ll be one sec,” she began furiously typing while trying to think of a legitimate enough excuse. “Just tryna help Rubes with…” Yang trailed off, as her priority was to reply to Sun.

You’re* as in, you’re going to explain what you know RIGHT NOW!

In a time of improvisation, Yang learned her mental capacity was severely lacking when she finished her sentence with, “…uh, a homework problem.”

Oh, yeah. Real smooth.

“Right,” came Blake’s disbelieving drawl.

Yang chose to ignore her. She didn’t have a better lie than that anyway, even if it was terrible.

Sun replied, I was just the bribery guy I swear! Blake asked me to help win you back ;)

Honestly surprised at that revelation, Yang decided to grant mercy – everything had turned out fine, anyway. Blake had reached out to Sun, of all people, to help her. After the things he’d said about them, and done to them, it didn’t make sense to ask him – unless Blake was hiding something. That was always the answer to things these days, and, it failed to make Yang feel any better. Regardless, if she were to have Sun as support, criticising him wasn’t exactly the way to keep him on her side

I guess I owe you one, banana boy. TTYL. She sent off her last text before tucking her phone away again.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just blatantly lie to me, since you look a little conflicted,” Blake had the sincerity to sound concerned; an invitation in her voice that she was open to talking about it, but Yang was in no state to discuss anything just yet.

She needed to plan.

“I’m not lying,” Yang said entirely unconvincingly; voice much too snappy to be credible.

“So, Ruby needs help with homework on Winter break?” Blake questioned in turn, not really caring about what excuse she was getting. Yang was suddenly behaving oddly, and she didn’t like being kept in the dark after recent events. What were the contents of those text messages that’d so drastically changed her mood in a few minutes?

Noting that Yang couldn’t make eye contact with her, she patiently waited for an answer. She wouldn’t demand anything, no. That wasn’t how friendship worked. Especially when Yang allowed her to keep as many secrets as she did. She’d wade through whatever obstacles Yang threw her way slowly, surely, not pushing too hard – because Yang usually caved, anyway.

“She…has extracurricular activities?”

“Yang,” Blake called softly. It failed to garner Yang’s attention, the blonde just standing awkwardly with her hands by her sides. The Faunus, not wanting to risk an argument, dropped the subject. “Are you alright?”

“Actually, I think I need some fresh air,” long legs started inching towards the hallway. “Is- is that okay?”

Truly baffled, Blake wanted nothing more than to pursue the issue and Yang – but she had been in the same position before. Sometimes, people just needed space.

“Sure, Yang. Take your time,” Blake wore what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Fair warning though, if you’re gone too long, I’ll find a book to read and you’ll have that to deal with.”

What she said was in jest, as Yang knew all too well how difficult it was to get Blake Belladonna to put down a book when she was enthralled with a story.

She knew she had said something right when Yang smiled just slightly, replying, “I’ll take my chances.”

And Yang had meant it, because time ticked away slowly; agonisingly, her absence approaching half an hour with Blake having held out on picking up a book. Concluding that she’d given Yang plenty of space and time, she only had two choices – wait even longer, or join her outside. The fact that it was positively freezing outside at night didn’t make her decision any easier, but one of Yang’s discarded hoodies was sitting in the living room.

That about sealed the deal for Blake; she’d be better prepared to sit out there with her friend if need be. Picking up the dark navy hoodie, she realised it was much too large for herself, let alone Yang. On the front, worn letters read Maine State Police; the garment tag had the name T. XIAO LONG scrawled over the care instructions tag in waterproof marker.

It was Taiyang’s, then. Blake wondered if Yang had taken it specifically because she would miss her father, or she had already claimed it before moving – not that it mattered. It was rather unimportant, really. Practically wrapped in the hoodie, Blake ventured to the back of the house in the dark, easily spotting Yang sitting out on the paved patio. It wasn’t hard to see such a blonde mane, even in low light.

Blake opened the door; hinges announcing her presence with a slight creak, and from shadows she slipped into the moonlight. Yang didn’t move, but when Blake entered her peripheral vision and sat next to her on the cold stone she finally addressed her.

“I thought you said I would have to deal with you stuck in a book, not you stealing my clothes.”

She spoke with a fondness that Blake could appreciate. If there was one thing about Yang, it was her uncanny ability to exude a comforting aura.

As usual, Blake danced their familiar conversational waltz, with a witty comeback that was almost instinctual. “Your clothes? Since when does your name start with a T?”

“You can’t steal the hoodie that I already stole,” Yang protested, as if it was obvious.

“Consider it a loan, then.”

Yang simply hummed noncommittally, barely taking the time to look at Blake. Her eyes were trained on the clear sky; stars visible – but not to the extent that it was anything to write home about. Cities tended to have lacklustre star displays. Blake wondered if Yang was used to better views in Maine; she had mentioned she grew up in a small and mountainous town.

While she had the chance, Blake let herself observe Yang uninhibited – it was often hard to catch her distracted like this. Being able to see more than the average human at night had its advantages, but she had to remind her brain that she shouldn’t stare for too long, no matter how much she would have liked to. Blake could have sworn she caught Yang’s eyes reflect a trail of stardust that flickered by in the dark sky.

Proving she wasn’t insane, Yang quietly asked her if she had seen the shooting star.

“Yeah, I did.” Convinced that the universe was intent on teasing her temptations, Blake tore her eyes away before she dug an even deeper hole and fell right in; pining after someone she couldn’t have – that was a very bad idea, and she needed to stop and move on.

“Not that I mind,” Blake tugged on borrowed long sleeves to keep her fingertips warm, “but you’ve been out here a while.”

“I was just thinking about some things, lost track of time, I guess.”

Blake found Yang’s answer too vague to be of any help. “And…are these things bothering you?” She asked an equally vague question, hoping that Yang would bite and play ball with her.

The blonde did bite, but immediately threw the ball back in to Blake’s corner. “Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?”

“Either one is fine.”

“Short answer, yes. Long answer…” Yang paused to think briefly. “Uh, hell yes.”

Despite being struck with the desire to be able to try and fix Yang’s problems, Blake was well aware she was terrible with problem solving; even if she knew what the issue was. There was not much she could do but be empathetic.

“I’m not going to tell you to confide in me, since that’d make me quite the hypocrite. I also don’t have words of encouragement, because I know that some things are just frustratingly difficult to deal with. Talking about it might not solve anything, but it might help you feel better.” Blake had learned that over the past few months. Having someone new to trust was something she’d appreciated after losing many people dear to her heart. “I always feel a little lighter after opening up to you.”

She also had begun to feel a lot more than just lighter; more than what was strictly platonic, when Yang had responded so well to all her history. Her brain, trained by many years of White Fang gospel, rejected those feelings so vehemently. She battled with the confliction that she continued to grow more attached to Yang every time they were alone, especially as of late – her drunkenness on New Year’s Eve had shown cards that she had tried so hard to keep to her chest.

Convinced enough by Blake’s answer, Yang spoke again. “Do you ever have a problem that should be easy to deal with, like, the answer is right in front of you…”

Blake felt a shiver that she would blame on the cold, not on how Yang seemed to be reading her mind.

“…but something is just making it so much more complicated than it needs to be?”

If only you knew, Blake thought. Instead of saying that, though, she tried to be more helpful. “I think that if the answer is easy enough, you should say to hell with whatever is making it so complicated.”

“I think my attitude is rubbing off on you, Blakey,” Yang’s shoulder bumped slightly into Blake’s, their bodies in much closer proximity than before.

A simple thank you would have sufficed, but Yang loved to use that infernal nickname. Blake rolled her eyes. “Oh, drat. I don’t think they’ve found a cure for sunny-little-dragon-itis.”

“Well, I’m glad there’s no cure for your sass. I love it when-”

“I’m feisty. I know,” Blake cut in, as if finishing Yang’s sentence for her would alleviate the constrictions in her chest she knew she would get from the often-stated compliment.

Yang stretched her legs and slowly stood from the ground, briefly swiping any dirt from her behind before reaching a hand down for Blake to help herself up with. “Taking my clothes, giving me advice, and finishing my sentences. What did I do to deserve you?”

Blake, feeling much too embarrassed to worsen her erratic heartbeat and warm cheeks with a real answer, parroted Yang’s response from earlier once she was upright. “Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?”

The laughter that it elicited from Yang, along with the fact that she hadn’t released Blake’s hand from her own, served as the final push over the edge.

Oh, yes, Blake was falling for this wonderful human, and she had no way of stopping it.

Notes: Song: 'Sleepin'' All the delay for this was about 80% in my control, my bad. Most of what I had written for a long time seemed filler-ey (maybe it still reads that way, idk) and felt like I was taking two steps back with their relationship with only one step forward to make up for it. I hope it turned out alright! P.S. see how many references to voice actors of characters you can spot, I put a few in! *wink* Also, I figured people would be watching RWBY though, and wouldn't miss me that much lmao. Hope y'all have been enjoying Volume 5! I certainly have. I post all my thoughts and episode 'reviews' on my personal tumblr. Any updates on my writing progress can be found on my writing tumblr. here's hoping they fuckin mention Blake in the episode that's about to come out!!also I know the real months are almost catching up with my story timeline and I hope real time doesn't get ahead of me! comments will help encourage me <3 thank you for reading!

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #bumbleby #rwby bumblebee #bumblebee #rwby fanfic #bumbleby fanfiction #bumbleby fanfic #slow burn bees #the bees #otp #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #jnpr #sssn #sun is best wingman #otherwise he isn't good for much else #ssab #such sights are bright

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tgcnews · 7 years ago

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Jason Miceli & Matt Plourde Inducted into TGC Hall of Fame

Jason Miceli & Matt Plourde were inducted into The Game Crafter Hall of Fame because their game, Queen’s Quest, won the Gamehole Dungeon Crawler Challenge. Congratulations! Their designer interview is below.

Tell us about yourself and how long you've been designing games.

Jason Miceli (JM): Ever since I garbage picked my first copy of Risk when I was 12, I've had the itch;) Needless to say, I grew up a geek, before being a geek was cool. I remember creating (very lightweight) D&D campaigns in middle school, and I started designing my own board games by the time I was in high school (well over 20 years ago). I kicked off my first game design business during college, which turned out to be nothing more than a tremendous tax writeoff... it wasn't until 2012 that my business partner Matt and I had enough life experience, as well as readily available online resources such as The Game Crafter, to do finally something "for real." Thus became Geek Fever Games.

Matt Plourde (MP): I think it started in middle school for me with a game called Hotels. We played it until the cardboard frayed, and then started making our own -bigger- versions of the game until we covered an entire ping-pong table (that version was a bit overboard and took weeks to play). I met my business partner (Jason Miceli) in high school and we designed many games together through the years. Finally, in 2012, we made it official and created Geek Fever Games.

Please tell us about Queen's Quest.

JM: Queen's Quest was designed to be the most authentic roguelike available on the tabletop. Authentic roguelike, right down to the use of ASCII graphics and original 16-color VGA RGB codes. Why? Well, mostly because we COULD, without hiring an artist. For Matt and I, the biggest area we lack skills in is illustration, so candidly the ASCII approach was originally little more than a nice convenience. However, Matt and I are both old-school gamers and devout lovers of the roguelike "genre," so we quickly became super passionate about it, and ultimately felt it might actually have some legs in the marketplace.

MP: I’ll use Jason’s answer^^

Where did the idea for this game come from?

JM: Umm... I think I was simply trying to come up with styles/themes/genres that I haven't seen done elsewhere. This just popped into my brain space. I came up with other interesting ideas at the same time, but this was the one that stuck out as both unique and something we could feasibly do ourselves. So it seemed prudent to pursue.

MP: Same as Jason’s answer ^^

What makes this game special/unique?

JM: Aside from the obvious untapped theme, we're also proud to have devised a game framework that allows for asymmetric gameplay, a non-traditional game flow (players do not have individual turns in Queen's Quest), a rich dungeon-crawler experience, and of course strict adherence to the authenticity of a true roguelike. That last part introduces elements such as: procedurally generated dungeons, tons of random monster possibilities, non-linear gameplay, random boss monsters, and perma-death.

MP: Same as Jason’s answer ^^

Did you create a design journal for your game? If so, did you publish it somewhere we can link to?

JM: You bet! We created a WIP thread on BoardGameGeek here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1813026/wip-queens-quest-tabletop-roguelike

MP: Same answer ^^

Did you already have the idea for Queen's Quest in your head before the Gamehole Con Dungeon Crawler Challenge was announced?

JM: Yes. We hadn't taken it much further than a playable combat system, but the overall concepts and design intent were there. We actually wanted to get it in the previous year's Gamehole Gauntlet contest, and then again the TGC Big Box contest, but timing just didn't work out in either case. Once I saw a Dungeon Crawler contest emerged, it was clear we owed it to ourselves to complete the game and get it submitted!

MP: I come from a long-history of tabletop RPG’ing, so I’ve always wanted to build a dungeon crawler that captured some of the best elements of a tabletop RPG, without the time commitment. Both Jason & I had disparate notes on how this should come together, and I think we successfully crafted a fantastic experience.

What made you decide to enter your game into the contest?

JM: We knew from the start that we had something really special with Queen's Quest. We felt we had a great shot at winning the contest, but even if we didn't we knew we wanted to complete the game and see what could become of it. As with most TGC contests, the deadline helped force our hand to accomplish just that.

MP: Same answer ^^

Would you have been motivated to work on the game as much as you did without the contest?

JM: In this case, yes. Maybe not on the same timeline, but as mentioned above, this one was already gaining legs and deserved to be taken to the next level.

MP: Same answer ^^

Has winning inspired you to enter more contests or design more games?

JM: I'm going to say no to this... I think my own inspiration has been present and abundant since day 1 of starting Geek Fever Games, and it has only increased over time. If we didn't win this contest, I think I would still be just as motivated to continue pushing, both with this game and countless others. I'm THRILLED we won, and that fact has already helped us with several publisher negotiations, but I don't believe the win itself changed much for my own level of inspiration - I'm guess I'm driven by a primal need!

MP: Yes and no. On the “Yes” side, it was thrilling to win one of these contests and the Rodney is a great trophy. 😊 I do like designing to tight constraints, so I can see myself entering more contests.

On the “No” side, the reality is that we’re always working on multiple projects and something’s always in the hopper. Winning the contest didn’t help with motivation – the ideas need to get out somehow, and we’re in constant design-mode.

Could you describe any influence The Game Crafter has had on your success as a game designer?

JM: TGC has been immensely important to Geek Fever's growth and success. The very presence of TGC was the primary reason we decided to kick off Geek Fever Games in 2012 (based on our understanding at the time, we figured it provided us a real shot), and since that time TGC has remained our strongest resource, partner, safety net, and friend in the industry. With the ability to create prototypes, print (self-)published games, sell games via TGC's storefront, gain extra income through designer tables, gain PR opportunities through the podcast and other networking, participate in design contests, and most recently stay productive with the new component studio, how could any indie designer even exist these days without using TGC?

MP: ^^ same answer

What’s next for you?

JM: Until more recently my answer would have been "making it to Essen" with one of our games, getting a game reviewed by Tom Vasel / The Dice Tower, and printing a long-run with a mainstream publisher. With these milestones now behind us, next on the list would be having a game go to reprint (underway as we speak), launching an expansion to an existing published game (also underway), designing for a known IP / license (we're pitching to acquire one or two soon), and eventually landing a game on the shelves at Target (some possibilities are in the works). Clearly some lofty goals in there, but we're up to the challenge!

MP: I’m currently designing a tabletop RPG, which is a different animal altogether and something I’ve always wanted to do. Aside from that, I attend all the conventions with Geek Fever Games and/or one of our publishers – so feel free to drop by our booth in 2018, wherever we are. And, Geek Fever is constantly developing games, so I’m always helping my partners with their designs and such.

Any last words of encouragement or advice to all of the designers reading this?

JM: *Execution* is the key! Great ideas are a dime a dozen... you gotta push push PUSH to drive your little gem through all these crazy obstacles and hurdles. You need to learn more stuff than you ever thought possible. You need to push your introverted self to new levels of discomfort. You need to grow the thickest skin and elicit painful but honest feedback about your game, and then you need to learn what to do with that feedback - not everything may be directly applicable, but some of it may be the most important feedback, even if that represents the need to strip your baby down to studs and rebuild. It's super hard work... but the rewards on the other end are otherworldly!

MP: It’s a saturated market, but there’s a reason it’s saturated – we’re in the midst of a Board Game Renaissance!! Embrace it! Enjoy it! My specific advice actually comes from my *brief* days as an author: Get in front of people! Even Stephen King *still* attends conventions, meets fans and signs books. He understands that to remain relevant, he needs to remain in front of people. Schlep yourself to conventions, unpubs and other events with your game(s). Talk to people. Play with people. And, eventually, demo your game with the aim to sell it to people. Stay relevant & active.

Cheers!

#the game crafter #hall of fame #board games #game design #board game design

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wristwatchjournal · 5 years ago

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The Petrolhead Corner – Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations – Part 3

To complete the triptych of articles covering weird and wonderful innovations from the automotive world – part 1 and part 2 can be read here – we once again delve into history and uncover some amazing creations. After turbine engine cars or illuminated tires (yes, for real), The Petrolhead Corner tries to up the ante once more and deliver some curious machines that tried to hit… but missed.

It has been a lot of fun gathering these stories, learning and sharing unique vehicles in our weekly Petrolhead Corner. And yes, we will continue the stories but this is (for now) the final instalment dedicated to the weird and wonderful automotive innovations. And I think I have another interesting line-up for you, a mix of road cars, concepts and racing cars. But more later this year.

Citroen Kar-a-Sutra

Calling a car ‘Kar-a-Sutra’ undoubtedly raises a few eyebrows, and I must admit it sounds quite cheesy. And yes, I am kind of stretching the concept of a car here as this was a mock-up only and not a drivable machine like all the other entries in these three articles. As a concept vehicle though, it ticks all the boxes for weirdness and can even be regarded as somewhat of a precursor to the MPV and many other expandable, shape-shifting concept vehicles.

The Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is a concept by architect Mario Bellini, Pirelli, Citroën and a furniture company and the latter seems to be quite obvious when looking at images of this thing. It was built for the 1972 MoMa exhibition, ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’. The emphasis for the Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is on the interior of the vehicle. The idea is that the interior is more than just space for a number of people moving from point A to point B. It is intended as a temporary living space, bars any sanitary amenities though, but with reconfigurable seating which can be turned into a comfy, velvety lounge area.

The roof of the car is what makes this car so extraordinary, as it can be raised from 4 feet while driving to 7 feet while stationary. It featured ingenious sliding windows tucked into the body when lowered, sliding out to keep a confined space when raised.

Technically this is not an actual (concept) car as it cannot be driven but it is worth a mention as it predates what many consider the first MPV’s by well over a decade; the Renault Espace was introduced in 1984, over a decade later.

There’s very little additional information, but the Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is covered by Petrolicious and the architect himself is interviewed by DesignBoom.

Nissan DeltaWing

All entries on this list combine innovation with weirdness and this one is no different; the DeltaWing project. The initial idea was to have a very narrow front profile to reduce drag and increase efficiency in both engine development and aerodynamics. Combined with a lightweight build, the car would theoretically need a less powerful and thus less thirsty engine but still be able to run at a competitive pace. The project was first proposed as a new single-seater chassis for Indycar, but the Indycar organisers decided to run a more conservative chassis from Dallara instead.

The team of DeltaWing Technologies, who proposed the prototype to Indycar, turned it into a car that was eligible for the Le Mans 24 hours under the Garage 56 regulations, with the help of Nissan as a sponsor. These Garage 56 stipulations mean that each year a radical, innovative project has the chance to gather real endurance racing experience and test their project to the limit. Each Garage 56 entry is not eligible to win though, it is purely a test-program for teams. In 2012 the roadster version was the first DeltaWing that entered the gruelling race. A 1.6-litre turbocharged inline-four pumped out about 300bhp which at first doesn’t sound like much compared to the 1000hp LMP1 cars. A big factor is weight and drag though and the Nissan DeltaWing weighed in at under 500kg’s without a driver and was thus able to run quite impressive lap times. Despite looking very promising on paper and backing up its potential on track, six hours into the race it was shunted off track and into a wall by another car and was out of competition.

Two years later, the DeltaWing project was back at Le Mans but now as a coupe, and labelled it the ZEOD RC (Zero Emissions on Demand Racing Car). It had a hybrid-electric powertrain with a 400bhp turbocharged 1.5-litre engine and an electric engine developing 295bhp. In its first lap into the race, it reached 300 kilometres an hour on electric power alone, a very impressive achievement! A gearbox-issue sadly meant another retirement for the DeltaWing. For more information on these cars go to DriveTribe.com.

Brooks Walker ‘Fifth Wheel’ system

You think parking assistance is a modern invention, due to the need of computers? Oh no, it really isn’t! It was first conceived in the 1930s by a man called Brooks Walker. Patented in 1932 and first shown to the public a year later, this specific innovation cannot be credited to a single car or brand as it was designed as an aftermarket installation. It is quite interesting to see though. And despite mayor efforts by Mr Walker it never caught the imagination of US carmakers. It is basically a very early, very rudimentary form of parking assistance we know today.

It basically consists of a trunk-mounted fifth wheel, mounted perpendicular to the other wheels and lowered by a mechanical or hydraulic arm. You would pull up to a parking space, turned in the nose of the car, lowered the fifth wheel which would then pull in the back end of the car into the parking spot. Really rather ingenious, and quite a funny thing to behold.

The upside is it requires less space to park in comparison to regular parallel parking, the downside being it took up all available trunk space. The system never caught on despite all efforts, even into the fifties. In the fifties, it was marketed as an extra use for a spare wheel and was constructed in such a way it could be fitted to just about any trunk. Walker installed the kit on a 1953 Packard with a continental kit (spare wheel outside of the trunk) to free up the trunk again. You can see it in action here:

youtube

More information on this innovative system on Hagerty.com

Milliken Camber-Car

One of the mysteries surrounding setting up a race car is the positioning of a car’s wheels. Wheelbase, track width, positive or negative camber, toe-in or toe-out; it all greatly influences the dynamics of a race car. It also should be adjusted according to the conditions a car is run in, as a rally car requires a completely different set-up than, let’s say an F1 car. It affects wear, grip, braking, acceleration, aerodynamic flow, all very scientific stuff.

To explore various cambers for a car, legendary engineer Bill Milliken developed the Milliken MX-1 “Camber-car”. The car was developed with the idea to adjust camber positions and learn what the influences of various set-ups are on handling and driving capabilities. It featured a tubular chassis, with multiple mounting points for the suspension resulting in a set-up anywhere between 0 and 50 degrees of camber.

Power came from a two-stroke six-cylinder engine, producing 80bhp. No real performance figures are specified but that is not what the car was intended for. Basically constructed as two motorbikes leaning in, it had difficulty running in a straight line until some adjustments were made. When all issues were sorted out, the car cornered at remarkable speeds, proving the concept to an extent. The Milliken MX-1 was tested for a number of years but made its first public appearance at the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bill Milliken, 91 years of age at the time, piloted the car up the Hillclimb-course. There’s a short very low-quality clip available on YouTube where you see the car in motion but that’s it.

Rinspeed sQuba

Arguably one of the best car-related scenes in a movie is from the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Mr Bond is pursued by some bad-guys in his white Lotus Esprit. After the perilous chase, he reaches the end of the road and jumps his car off a pier. You’d think it would be the end of him, but no. Turns out the car is a submarine! After fending off more thugs underwater, he eventually drives out of the water, onto a beach, lowers a window, drops a fish and drives off!

The car used in the underwater scene is a second Lotus Esprit, converted to be a fully working submarine. Despite what the movie suggests, the road car did not convert into the submarine. There is only one car I know of that can pull off that stunt in real life; the Rinspeed sQuba! As the name sort of suggests it is an actual scuba-diving car, based on a Lotus Elise (a white one, as a nod to the Esprit).

Rinspeed is a Swiss company who have been building some of the wildest, innovative concept cars for over 40 years. The sQuba stands out though, as I believe it still is the only truly submersible car in existence. From a technical perspective, it is a very complicated thing to do. The solution was to make it electrically driven. From the outside it only a set of propellers are visible underneath the rear of the car and a pod on either side for under-water control. The interior is clad in water-resistant material and all instruments are designed to provide information for both driving and diving the car. A pair of oxygen tanks are fitted, with piping and masks allowing the drivers to breathe.

A ton of interest was shown when this car was launched, presented at the 2008 Geneva auto show but it never made it into production. The scalability of the prototype to a production-ready car is simply not there, with the concept car costing 1.5 million dollars. More information on Rinspeed.com and Motor1.com. Also, check out this video of the car in action:

youtube

Covini C6W

Some say 2 wheels are better than 4, some say it the other way around, but few people join the conversation stating 6 wheels is the way to go. There are some very well-known cars featuring six wheels, especially amongst petrolheads. For instance the Tyrrel P34 and Williams FW08B, both featuring a double axel at the front (Tyrrell) or at the rear (Williams).

Regarding road cars perhaps the completely bonkers Mercedes-AMG G63 6×6 comes to mind, or the Panther 6, but I would like to focus on the Covini C6W and the C6W Spider. Both these cars were constructed by Covini, an Italian company founded in 1978 and has built a number of prototypes over the years with this one being their wackiest. No doubt fitting an extra set of wheels to a car can be beneficial in some areas but in terms of looks, it is…. disturbing I guess.

The original idea for a six-wheeled car by Covini stems from the late seventies, most likely following the impact of the Tyrrell P34 in F1 in 1976 and 1977, and the introduction of the Panther 6 in 1977. The Covini C6W (2004) and C6W Spider (2008) were developed with the idea that, much like the other six-wheelers, a larger contact patch in the front would help a car corner better and faster. It would also result in a bigger surface for the brakes, reducing wear and increasing braking capabilities. Also, when one front wheel suffers a puncture, the theory is the other wheels would balance it out so it would still be considered driveable.

A full carbon fibre body ensured a kerb weight of 1150kg, and being powered by 434 horsepower 4.2 litre V8 from Audi, the top speed was a respectable 300 kilometres per hour. More details on this six-wheeled wonder on DriveTribe.

The post The Petrolhead Corner – Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations – Part 3 appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.

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cooldavidkentposts · 6 years ago

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Recycling back to the future

Paper was already going offshore. Glass was mostly going into new bottles but as waste generation continues to increase, glass has exceeded the limit for glass making and needs new markets. There are enormous stockpiles of glass all around Australia.

Investment was needed then to establish local manufacturing but shipping to Asian markets put an end to any prospects for investment in local plastic manufacturing. Many plastic products that were at proof-of-concept stage floundered because of lack of confidence in obtaining sufficient supply to justify local investment in manufacturing. Successful HDPE, PP, PET and mixed plastic products were becoming market ready but needed market support.

Moving forward we need to be careful to ensure that we aren’t reinventing the wheel when it comes to developing recycled-content products. After four decades in the waste and recycling industry, we believe that sufficient value-added recycled content products for higher-value markets already exist. Many of these products and markets were originally developed in a localised strategic context and only need funding resources to resurrect them. Many of these strategies and technologies were forgotten, obscured by the passage of time.

While the dry recycling fractions were being shipped offshore, the recycled organics segment took a different route — localisation. This was primarily due to several key factors including transport costs for lightweight materials, biosecurity issues and the lack of perceived value in the products (there isn’t a spot market for recycled organics).

Several market research and characterisation reports and field research studies culminated in a comprehensive marketing strategy. The strategy, developed by Centre for Organic Research and Education (CORE) in 2000, was influenced by direct input from an EPA NSW convened expert reference group consisting of LGAs, EPA NSW, Dept of Agriculture, processors and universities. This created a robust strategic context for sustainable market demand including for value-added products that can reduce reliance, and put downward pressure, on gate fees. The strategy is as applicable today as it was then, if not more so.

Careful not to put all the eggs in one basket by reliance on one market, the group advocated for pursuing a diversity of key market priorities based on robust research evidence including strong technical efficacy, innovation, receptivity and affordability. The landscape market was already well entrenched with strong demand, so the sectors selected for demand acceleration were agriculture, rehabilitation, environmental remediation and special projects. It seemed like organics was well set to create its own sustainable local markets.

But what happened? A change of government that didn’t see itself as having a key role in developing recycling markets stifled progress. Due to low policy support, much of the momentum was lost. It became quicker and easier to tender collection and leave the markets up to the waste processors to worry about. Ensuing mounting stockpiles have now provoked a response. Twenty years and many millions of dollars later, funds are being granted for market development because of a market failure to create sufficient markets for all recycling fractions including for the rapidly increasing quantities of organic waste being generated.

CORE, on behalf of, and in collaboration with, its members continued to pursue recycled organic markets on a shoestring budget derived mostly from member levies and small sporadic grants. Intuitively, it seemed obvious that because of the substantial technical benefits of adding organics to soils, peri-urban farmers would “lap it up”. Experience revealed that, as good as the results were, many farmers did not have sufficient resources to pay for materials. After an early adopter burst flattened and drought set in, it was confirmed that agriculture would not be the panacea expected, confirming the diversity pathway promulgated by the EPA Expert Reference Group in 2000.

Repeated experiential research conducted by CORE showed there were major affordability issues for farmers. Even with lower-cost farming system modifications introduced by CORE, most farmers simply do not have the money to purchase recycled organics, even at prices subsidised by gate fees.

CORE began to view the peri-urban agriculture sector as primarily a “contingency” market. When there’s too much stockpiling in the system farmers can take the lower-cost “overflow” materials. Lower-cost farming systems with low processed but compliant products maximised demand in the sector but it is still falling well short of the demand needed for the volume of organic waste being generated.

This low-cost, low-processing approach was not viewed favourably by some public and private sector organisations who have different ideas about the organic processing and supply business model. The fact is that the “overflow” contingency model allows time to develop other markets as well as preventing dumping on existing markets that would have had a more catastrophic impact on industry pricing and bottom line.

The lesson to those dealing with the current waste crisis is to spend the time on identifying and assessing the markets before considering what products to “remanufacture”. Consider customer affordability and chose demand led, not supply push strategies and tactics.

Our concern is that some public and private sector organisations don’t understand fundamental marketing. It takes more than public relations exercises to create sustainable market demand. A few ad hoc projects do little to increase purchasing patterns, it’s longitudinal campaigns based on solid market research that create sustainable demand. We hope that the lessons of the past will guide the allocation of funding that doesn’t reinvent the wheel and avoids the mistakes of yesterday. Unfortunately, we have already seen very costly instances of this.

Nearly 85% of all recycled organics is marketed at the low price, highly processed end of the marketing matrix. This has led to an emphasis on high gate fees to subsidise manufacturing costs.

More emphasis needs to be placed on value-added applications for all quality processed recycled materials. There are many products already out there ready to go. Proper market analysis, product development and evidence-based marketing strategies need to be developed by experienced professionals.

CORE is now creating recycled content products, systems and markets for glass, plastics and organic recyclables. We reiterate our 25-year position of advocating market diversity as outlined in the 2018 Blueprint for Market Development. We urge decision-makers to support a shift to a portfolio of a “marketing mix” with low-, medium- and high-value products and markets. Well-developed strategic approaches can incentivise the waste and recycling industry to look for more, higher-value markets. This may even enable industry to invest in further R&D and marketing to make Australia self-sufficient in beneficially utilising its recycled materials and subsequently restore the confidence of the community.

*Eric Love, Chairman and Christopher Rochfort, CEO of Centre for Organic Research & Education (CORE) have experience spanning four decades. They are the originators behind many of the innovative technologies and practices in the recycling, waste, agriculture, landscape and stormwater markets that are now commonplace in the Australian community.

Key innovations initiated include:

Instigate and deploy wheelie bin systems for waste and recycling.

Deployment of robotic arm bin lifting system.

Deployment of the first Australian material recovery facilities.

Instigate composting of recyclable organic waste.

Development of low-cost farming systems using recycled organic materials.

Characterisation and strategies for recycled organic market demand creation.

Development and systemisation of Advanced Biofiltration Technology.

Kerb Gully Bypass System (STAR System).

With a partnership extending over 25 years, the founders have established several successful businesses including companies, partnerships and not-for-profit entities and held leadership and director roles in these companies and in industry associations in the respective sectors in which they operate.

source http://sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/waste/article/recycling-back-to-the-future-806860349

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stocksnewsfeed · 6 years ago

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Brands Debut New Products at COTERIE | Fame | Moda | Sole Commerce

NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — During the women’s September Market in New York, over 2,000 exhibiting brands will debut new products at COTERIE, Fame, Moda and Sole Commerce taking place September 15-17, 2019 at the Jacob Javits Center. The September market creates an environment where brands and retailers from around the world have the unique opportunity to interact, engage, and drive business. For additional information and to register for a media pass, please contact: [email protected] is a preview of announcements exhibitors will showcase during COTERIE, Fame, Moda, and Sole Commerce in New York September 15-17, 2019:COTERIE Brands Include: A-line Clothing (booth#: 6916) – A-line Clothing is showing for the first time ever in the US! Chapter 05 (Spring/Summer 20) – ‘Floating through momentum’ – is inspired by childhood memories, such as beautiful dandelions that we used to ask for wishes, fresh fruit, organic materials and textures…Premium quality, unconventional shapes, versatile pieces, simplicity, details and an X-ray print representing brand’s DNA: transparency! https://www.alineclothing.comAdriana Contreras (booth#: 539) – Adriana Contreras is inspired by empowered women, women who dare to live authentically; women who are bold, fierce, and still feminine. The collection Countryside fall 2019 take you to a place where you will find happiness and nostalgia. http://adrianacontreras.co/Alashan Cashmere (booth#: 6565) – Alashan Cashmere is delighted to announce our Spring 2020 Collection release. Comprised of Claudia Nichole, Caroline Grace and Douglas Anthony, Alashan creates both timeless and contemporary styles. Our Spring collection elevates seasonal fashion through texture, prints and our signature rainbow of color. Come see the new Claudia-on-the-Go Silk/Cashmere Lounge Sets. http://www.alashancashmere.comAmpersand Heart (booth#: 639) – New York based AMPERSAND HEART creates collections using vintage fabrics in limited editions. This sustainable concept of sourcing unique and pre-existing fabrics allows the brand to offer exclusive and one-of-a-kind artisanal made capsule collection. Heavily influenced by indigo, AMPERSAND HEART expands the boundaries of natural indigo dye, from denim to unique hand-made colorful tie-dyes made through shibori style techniques. https://ampersandheartny.comAnatomie (booth#: 6679) – First and only apparel brand to receive Forbes travel guide recognition! First and only apparel brand to become global alliance partner with virtuoso luxury travel network. https://anatomie.com/apMStyle (booth#: 6285) – apMstyle, which was the center of Dongdaemun Wholesale Market, the place where K-fashion starts, now goes beyond Korea to the U.S. market. We are planning to publicize the trendiness of Korean fashion and the excellence of materials. This is apMstyle’s second time participating at COTERIE where we will introduce unique and sophisticated designs of 16 brands. We are fully prepared to welcome buyers from all over the world. https://www.apmstyle.com/Aratta (Booth#8010) – Aratta will be debuting their Spring20 Collection and also showing the iconic pieces from Holiday19! This inspiring line is known for its use of mixed-fabrics, embellishments, and unique themes. The Collection is full of flowy feminine silhouettes, printed silks, embroidered details, and one-of-a-kind pieces. http://shoparatta.comBevini Modena (booth#: 7233) – Well known for the unbeatable quality and styles of our Italian made handbags Bevini Modena is introducing a new unlined collection for the everyday women. Designed to fall beautifully against the body, this luxurious Python printed leather shoulder bag is large in size and lightweight, perfect for busy day and fun nights. https://bevinimodena.com/Blondish (booth#: 1026) – New to COTERIE! Fine woman’s shoe line made in Spain by local artesian from Elche, the Mecca of the shoe industry, made for all kind of woman, lifestyle comfort on heels. https://www.blondish.comBotti (booth#: 635) – BOTTI São Paulo is showing for the first time ever and opening up to the wholesale market with its debut SS ’19 Collection. Founded in 2013 by Bruna Botti, the brand namesake is a reference in the luxury shoes market in Brazil. Botti stands out in the competitive shoe market for using leathers with different textures and for adding a new look to python – one of their favorite materials. https://www.bottisaopaulo.comBrigid McLaughlin Pty Ltd (booth#: 740) – The Porcelain Brigid McLaughlin collection premieres in the USA at Coterie New York 2019. The collection is renowned for its quality natural fabrications and hand-stitched detail. Slow Clothing; the new luxury: Artisanal, Sustainable, Ethical. Unique, quality clothing designed and carefully crafted to last; Australian resort dressing at its best. https://www.brigidmclaughlin.com/Brodie Cashmere (booth#: 6837) – Brodie Cashmere is a new member of the Sustainable Fibre Alliance. https://brodiecashmere.com/Brunette the Label (booth#: 7854) – Brunette the Label’s obsession with Juicy Couture tracksuits has sparked a collaboration! The Brunette x Juicy capsule is available to view ahead of its upcoming FW19 release. Brunette is also launching their new 1981 Vintage Collection showcasing Brunette’s vision of uplifting all babes, all day, every day. #babessupportingbabes https://brunettethelabel.com/Camilyn Beth (booth#: 6353) – Camilyn Beth will be showing the ‘Monstera’ Gown that was just launched as part of our ‘gown in one day challenge’. This is a challenge where Cami, the designer, creates a new gown from sketch to product launch on the website in one business day! This process really shows the process of how a designer can create a beautiful piece & create it from a bolt of fabric in a few short hours to a customer being able to shop it directly! http://www.camilynbeth.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdPwhFr5NLI Catherine Deane (booth#: 280) – After introducing biodegradable packaging in 2019, Catherine Deane takes one step closer towards natural balance and a plastic-free environment with the release of eco-friendly styles in her SS20 collection. Weaved from recycled yarn, enchanting butterfly lace forms a selection of extraordinary and versatile styles, perfect for any and every occasion. http://www.catherinedeane.com/Catherine Gee (booth#: 6336) – Catherine Gee is returning to EDIT, and the brand has just opened its Flagship boutique in Santa Barbara, CA. The SS20 collection is a colorful, silk driven collection full of gorgeous dresses, jumpsuits and separates inspired by Santorini and the Mediterranean climate. Catherine Gee is expanding into the market with accessories coming for FW20. https://catherinegee.comCharmosa Swimwear (booth#: 546) – Charmosa is a swimwear brand committed to our planet, all of our fabrics are eco-friendly and biodegradable. We are not just taking care of our environment but also protecting our clients using fabric with SPF50. Inspired on third dimension, we developed micro-flowers that are hand dyed and embroidered creating a 3D feeling. We also created a triangle top that has hand dyed strings attached on top of it. They are placed in a way that creates a small net. This and much more will be presented at COTERIE. https://charmosaswimwear.com/Chor (booth#: 742) – New to COTERIE! CHOR is a Brazilian and Carioca luxury jewelry brand for contemporary women full of personality. The female anatomy is the basis for all Sheila Chor’s creations, 100% handmade with ultra-light metals that perfectly fit the feminine curves. The concept “wearable art” aims to delight women with the hybridism between art and fashion, through luxury pieces that reveal an elegant boldness in their DNA. https://lojachor.com.brCloth & Co. (booth#: 7569) – Showing for the first time at COTERIE, Australian label Cloth & Co. is presenting a new range of organic cotton clothing. Beautiful quality ethically made essentials. http://www.clothandco.co/DIFF Eyewear (booth#: 7256) – DIFF Eyewear will be growing their roster of collaborations with new partnerships including Grammy Winning Artist, H.E.R., and Cameran Eubanks of Southern Charm and Casey Holmes. In addition, DIFF will continue to expand charitable efforts by providing the gift of sight through funding of various healthcare initiatives globally. https://www.diffeyewear.comDilamani (booth#: 7123) – From first impressions to the final rose, nothing made us happier than seeing Hannah Brown in our very own Dilamani jewelry during Season 15 of The Bachelorette. Shop all of the Dilamani jewelry worn by Hannah Brown in Season 15 of The Bachelorette at Coterie! http://www.dilamani.comEsstee Fashion (booth#: 7574) – Dubai-based, Kenyan Designer Esstee Fashion to show at COTERIE for the first time! Her eye-opening fashion pieces and positive energy is creating a great deal of anticipation surrounding her mission of empowering Women Entrepreneurs around the world. Her Kenyan childhood memories of women behind sewing machines has encouraged her to bring them to the limelight of the International fashion platform. https://www.essteefashion.comEva Franco (booth#: 7448) – Eva Franco is debuting its Spring 2020 Collection at COTERIE. Visit us at Booth 7448 for a first look at the collection which combines whimsical fabrics sourced from around the world with feminine shapes to create unique pieces that beget conversation and are loved by women across generations. https://evafranco.comFallon & Royce (booth#: 7145) – Summer 2019 has been the best season by far for Fallon & Royce. With all the excitement of making The O List as one of Oprah’s favorite things, we didn’t think it could get much better. But then it did… We were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to make custom bags with cheeky wording for this year’s 2019 US Open! https://shopfallonandroyce.comFeller (booth#: 6918) – FELLER 2020 Raincoat Collection Uses New Fabric Technology with Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Performance. FELLER has announced their Spring 2020 collection will be using the latest performance technology from Baltic Works® / Halley Stevensons. Featured are two new 100% cotton fabrics that use carbon-free, biodegradable, durable-water-resistant finishes: Discovery ™ cotton and Waxed Cotton Denim. https://www.feller.clothingGabrielle M (booth#: 277) – GABRIELLE M, a modest RTW evening wear line that was once a tailor-made one of a kind couturier experience is debuting her first wholesale collection this Spring Summer 2020. Using her repertoire of customer favorites and infusing them with this season’s influences, it is a retailer must see! https://www.gabriellemdesign.comGem-Water (booth#: 20) – Crystals for Humanity is a new line of reusable crystal straws by Gem-Water. The crystal straws are food-safe, high-polished, stainless steel featuring hand-selected, fair mined, tumbled crystal charms in either amethyst, rose quartz or clear quartz, and available in three colors: rose gold, yellow gold and silver. Reduce. Reuse. Revitalize. http://www.gem-water.com/Gissa Bicalho Brand (booth#: 7231) – Gissa Bicalho Brand dived in an ocean of possibilities and went deep within its ethnic roots. Creating pieces handmade in Brazil using acrylic as raw material, two collections are now displayed in the COTERIE show: Neo Native and Sea Soul. Find out today what makes these accessories become museum-selected pieces! https://www.gissabicalho.com.br/Glorinha Paranaguá (booth#: 728) – New to COTERIE! As a tribute to Brazilian handcrafts, Glorinha Paranaguá bags are unique and explore traditional materials and techniques of the land. The bamboo clutch reached overseas markets and became a brand icon. Timeless and unique piece, is presented in all collections, being reinvented in different formats and sizes for the summer 2020. http://www.glorinhaparanagua.com.br/Graciela Huam (booth#: 479) – GRACIELA HUAM is showing for the first time ever in the American market at COTERIE in and is opening up to the wholesale market with its Spring Summer 2020 – Return to the origin, collection. Every season it presents unconventional and experimental craftsmanship full of personality, design, high quality and contrasts, using Peruvian and sustainable materials as Alpaca, Alpaca Suri, Baby Alpaca, Pima Cotton and Linen, created by skilled craftspeople in Peru. The results are versatile collections of playful knitwear and asymmetric designs, high end craftsmanship pieces in a contemporary and ready-to-wear Alpaca 2.0 style. https://gracielahuam.comHaes (booth#: 156) – After presenting her first runway show Haes comes to COTERIE this September with Charms, their new Summer 2020 Collection. Prints and details with a touch of sophistication, from all shapes and textures, enchant yourself. https://www.haes.com.br/Hunter Bell NYC (booth#: 124) – HUNTER BELL NYC is BACK at COTERIE with its debut of the Spring 2020 Collections, introducing Harrison Bell for a Mommy & Me offering! The line is known for its feminine flair and the pursuit to design romantic silhouettes that radiate beauty, boost confidence, and empower women to have fun with fashion. http://www.hunterbellnyc.comIorane (booth#: 447) – Photographed in a waterfall in Brazil, SS20 campaign is intended to translate the freshness of the season. One of the collection’s strengths are the embroidered rustic linens and the colorful liaise, which in addition to characterizing the entire natural creation of the collection, it added sophistication and an innovation factor. https://shoponline.iorane.com.br/Josie Bruno Vintage (booth#: 7202) – Josie Bruno Vintage booth #7202 will be featured in the TMRW section presenting emerging designers. JBV will be unveiling new techniques in repurposing vintage camo jackets. New color palettes and creative use of sheer fabrics will be presented for the first time at COTERIE. JBV is recognized for hand finishings and vintage embellishments to create one of a kind garments. “Our goal is to recycle every inch of our jacket parts to create a uniquely sustainable garment.” – Patti Bruno. http://josiebruno459.com/Kleed Kimonos (booth#: 541) – New to COTERIE! Celebrating the diverse wild side of the African bush, Portugal based brand KLEED is all set to launch its vibrant collection of sustainable kimonos and loungewear in Europe and across the globe. KLEED’s spring/summer 2019 resort wear line captures the true essence of the African wildlife. The brand’s founder Carolina Cruz has collaborated with the Indian renowned artist, (how created bar Palladio, Jaipur) Vikas Soni, to craft an exclusive line of sustainable pieces, painted as an ode to the country’s Bengal tiger. 5% of Kleed’s revenues supports rhino conservation in Africa. https://kleedkimonos.com/Lavish by Tricia Milaneze (booth#: 7148) – Lavish by Tricia Milaneze is a luxury fashion jewelry brand defined by its hand-crafted ethereal designs. The company has been in the market since 2005. All pieces are crocheted, and 100% hand made. The base materials are copper wire and 18karat gold filled. All colored wires are copper based and enameled. The stones are crystals and glass beads. https://www.lavishbytm.comLebel Group, LLC (booth#: 343) – NEW to COTERIE for Spring 2020!! The LEBEL GROUP team is really excited to participate in COTERIE this September for the first time since the launch of its coveted showroom. Marco and his team are proud to bring new & talented emerging designers from all over the world to the show. These new designers have not been at COTERIE in the past so this a great opportunity to bring newness to your customers! Find the list below:– Judith & Charles / Canada – Cecilie Copenhagen / Denmark – Happy Sheep / Italy – Shan Collection / Canada – Parden’s / Italy – Little Joe Woman / Bali – Alvin Valley / New York – Michail / Los Angeles – Black Score / United KingdomWe look forward to seeing you soon and have a great market! http://www.lebelgroup.com/Louise Hendricks (booth# 7204) – Louise Hendricks is showing her jewelry collection for the first time at COTERIE. A Parisian native, she is influenced by her country France, inspiring women, and History. She is mixing bohemian fantasy and urban rock attitude. She presents her new line: revisiting the ages, as if jewels had lived many adventures. Inspiring and protective jewels to wear like talismans, inviting us to prolong its story. http://www.louisehendricks.com/site/welcome.htmlLuizas & Co (booth# 631) – Luizas & Co brand present the first Beachwear Resort Collection at COTERIE, you can see swimsuits with sustainable fabrics with very feminine details; kimonos and tunics with very unique handmade embroideries, headbands and turbans in perfect matching combinations and an exclusive hand looms handbags collection, for the perfect Mediterranean style….Unique Portuguese Artisan’s works wait for you! https://www.luizas.coMain Strip (booth#: 5065) – New to COTERIE! MAIN STRIP is a lifestyle brand created for young fashionistas by young fashionistas. Simply put, we love making clothes for people like us and people like you. Our goal at MAIN STRIP is to make you feel confident and young. https://www.mainstripusa.comMargot Elena Companies (booth#: 28) – Romantic, dark and mysterious, Dead Sexy fragrance notes include Deep Vanilla, Exotic Wood and White Orchid while hints of Ebony round out the sumptuous scent. Created with our loyal customer in mind, these new products take TokyoMilk to the next level: sophisticated products that are not only beauty accoutrements, but also thrilling lifestyle additions. https://margotelena.com/Mishky Inc (booth#: 7237) – Our Fall Winter 2019 Collection will surprise you with new jewelry with minimalist architecture – Inspired designs and our more artisanal and nature-inspired pieces. Our modern architectural designs include our bar-and-sphere Freckle earring, our Taliesin stylized cylindrical earrings, our trapezoidal Seagram earrings and our Curutchet necklace, among others. http://www.mishky.com/ML Monique Lhuillier (booth#: 370) – Spring 2020 marks the expansion of ML Monique Lhuillier’s contemporary lifestyle collection. ML Monique Lhuillier initially was launched as an eveningwear collection. For Fall 2018, the brand introduced separates, a category which has grown substantially over the past few seasons. This season, a comprehensive contemporary separates collection will debut and includes new categories such as knit wear as well as increased offerings in jumpsuits, two-piece dressing and day dresses. https://moniquelhuillier.com/collections/ml-monique-lhuillierMS Diseños (booth#: 8055) – @ms_disenos__ is a new and upcoming Latin American brand showcasing a very versatile maxidress collection that can be worn alone, layered or can be dress up or down. They come in a variety of colors and prints and all are one-of-a-kind. The brand is launching for the first time a capsule collection which includes the maxidress, a beautiful silk blouse a short and a long skirt. @ms_disenos_ will debut their capsule collection at COTERIE in NYC, along with the collaboration of the brand, @laobradeartesoyyoofficial mixing inspirational art with design. http://www.msdisenos.com/Nach (booth#: 7050) – Nach is above all about animals, nature and design. This new collection tends to be a poetry of underwater fauna and flora. Corals, shells, shellfish, and colorful fishes are intertwining gracefully. Nach goes with you for a wildly marine and colorful style. https://www.nachbijoux.com/NeroGiardini (booth#: 903) – NeroGiardini, one of Italy’s premiere brands with distribution throughout Europe, is excited to debut our first collection for North America! Be one of the first to see our Spring/Summer 20 Collection at Footwear@Coterie Booth 903. Made in Italy since 1989. https://www.nerogiardini.it/en/made-in-italyOlivella (booth#: 31) – Olivella – The Mediterranean Diet For your Skin is premiering its first ever skincare vote. You asked, we listened. Thanks to all of the feedback we came up with 5 new potential products. Come select the products YOU would want to have Olivella launch in 2020. https://www.olivellaline.com/Oneseason Australia (booth#: 629) – At Oneseason, our summer 2020 collection is packed full of bright and bold prints for a season full of color. La Dolce Vita meets Cuba with oversized florals and giant paisleys printed onto soft washed cottons. In contrast we offer a strong neutral palette of tonal golds – perfect for the endless days of sunshine. https://www.oneseason.com.au/Pirette (booth#: 24) – PIRETTE, the original surf-born beauty line, is showing for the first time at COTERIE, Booth 24 and announcing the launch of a skin renewing Coconut Oil Body Scrub and an Invisible Dry Shampoo. Our new products feature our signature coconut, surf wax and sunscreen scent and quality, nourishing ingredients. https://pirettebeach.comRi Noor (booth#: 7016) – Ri Noor is making its debut at COTERIE, showing a collection of contemporary fine jewelry that celebrates the captivating beauty of precious gemstones and the luxury of fine craft. Alongside the new collection will be one-of-a-kind and limited series jewelry featuring rare and specially sourced gemstones. https://www.rinoor.com/Richer Poorer (booth#: 8140) – Welcome to the new Richer Poorer. If you know us, you’re probably thinking to yourself – damn, these guys stepped it up a few notches. If you’re getting to know us, thank you for joining along. We’ve been at this building a rad California brand / your favorite clothes – thing for about eight years now, and we can’t wait to show you what’s new (spoiler alert: EVERYTHING). Better fabrics, new fits, impeccable quality, unique styles you won’t see from other brands – and all at a sharp price point that will ensure these goods will be flying off your shelves. http://www.richer-poorer.com/Rio de Sol (booth#: 632) – The brand expands the collection with some amazing accessories: Frescobol bats (Beach bats) and hair accessories – we also start to design some beachwear. The Rio de sol’s Spring summer collection is bigger and has more variations, let’s make an ovation for the medium coverage bottom: The comfort bottom. Come to visit us and discover all this news. https://riodesol.com/Ritva Falla Oy (booth#: 6732) – Mika Piirainen has been nominated as the head designer of the Finnish Ritva Falla Collection. Piirainen also has, and still continues, to design garments for Marimekko. He is known for his minimalistic and practical style, designing clothes for the modern woman, who enjoys both quality and comfort. His first collection will arrive to stores in Spring 2020. http://www.ritvafalla.com/COM/Roller Rabbit (booth#: 160) – Roller Rabbit will be showing its Spring 2020 collection which takes inspiration from the Kingdom of Bhutan. The brand, known for its happy prints, and stunning silhouettes, will be showing everything from ready-to-wear, to pajamas to a newly developed lounge collection. http://rollerrabbit.com/Rubyyaya (booth#: 8011) – Rubyyaya launches its global travel collection…from St. Tropez and Portofino to the wilds of Africa, Rubyyaya is creating a storm of fun and frivolous adventure. See it at Coterie Booth 8011. https://rubyyaya.comRyzí (booth#: 7028) – Ryzi is exhibiting for the first time its collection in the international market. The Brazilian brand brings a distinctive design, inspired by different places around the world, and this summer brings the theme of the Brazilian northeast. Ryzi believes in expression throughout the design. https://www.ryzi.com.br/Sabbai (booth#: 7155) – Sabbai’s passion for creativity is to transform textures, joyous colors, and fabrics into luxury handbags. Its ability to develop prints, embroideries and overlay into textiles is the soul of sabbai’s DNA. Our collection “viento” SS2020 captures the Colombian landscape, where it explores the conservation of our nature. https://sabbai.netSave the Duck (booth#: 6517) – Kuntal Joihser was supposed to reach the top of Mount Everest in May. He arrived on May 23, 2019, climbing the toughest of Mount Everest routes, the north side. Climber Dean Maher, ascended south side on May 18, 2019, making Save the Duck the first 100% animal free brand to have climbed Mount Everest from both sides at the same time. https://savetheduckusa.com/Serpui (booth#: 7218) – Serpui’s brand new Resort ’20 collection takes us on an inspiring trip along Italy’s Amalfi Coast. The understated sophistication of that area, combined with the traditional craftsmanship of the Italian riviera inspired the designer to create a collection filled with color, texture and unexpected details. http://www.serpui.com.brSoko (booth#: 7041) – Our collaboration with Reformation just launched, Harper’s Bazaar covered it! We partnered since we both focus on ethical & sustainable fashion. I can share link if needed. http://www.shopsoko.com/Sous Les Paves (booth#: 6939) – New for this season the client can customize their bag within our Parisian workshop, they can do a mix and match between the models, leather colors or ethic canvas, the signet which is the DNA of the brand and the strap or chain http://www.souslespaves-paris.comThacker New York (booth#: 7240) – Thacker New York is back for the third consecutive year and will be debuting for the first time the release of their new Spring 2020 Collection, as well as their immediates and Holiday Collection! This cutting-edge line is inspired by bold architectural design and a desire to simplify your life with a few, well-curated capsule pieces. https://thackernyc.comTic Tac Toe (booth#: 7623) – New to COTERIE! More bag, less baggage…Tic Tac Toe in an innovative new concept in handbag design. Each style features bags in 3 sizes that combine to form must-have bag for every day. Our unique design allows the wearer to clip sections on or off. Wear them one, two, or all three together. Tic Tac Toe bags merge low key luxury with the ultimate versatility. https://tictactoenyc.com/Tucker (booth#: 146) – Tucker is now producing completely on demand. Styles are made to order and delivered in 10-14 days! https://www.tuckernyc.com/Vanessa Wu (booth#: 7151) – Vanessa Wu is a French shoe designer established in Paris. Her mission is to design shoes for women with a fashion pulse. After a noteworthy presence at Anthropologie NYC, the brand is opening up to the wholesale market and launching its distributors access for American retailers. https://www.vanessawu.fr/en/Vismaya (booth#: 7172) – Vismaya, a brand offering vibrant collection of scarves, neckerchiefs, wraps and kimonos has chosen to collaborate with street artist Colette Miller of the Angel Wing Project and contemporary artist, Bruce Rubenstein for a specially curated collection of accessories. Colette Miller and Bruce Rubenstein’s spectacular paintings are transformed into wearable art. Vismaya is thrilled to share these one of kind collections with you. http://www.vismayacollection.com/WARDROBE by Dominika Budny (booth#: 6345) – WBYDB – minimalistic fashion label – is debuting at COTERIE. We develop a permanent fashion collection with a sustainable supply chain: striving to produce locally using high quality ecological or stock textiles. Our mission is to positively impact the fashion industry by supporting sustainable productions and impacting the habits of customers. https://www.wbydb.com/Yukio (booth#: 627) – The second phase of the Yukio Summer Collection 2020 was inspired by the female figure and organic forms, so nonlinear shapes has predominant presence in the collection’s prints. Just like introduced in the first part of the season, the prints were all done manually by Yukio using mixed illustration techniques. The color chart combines neutral tones, such as, off-whites, and nude – with other vibrating colors encompassing various shades of the natural coral. https://www.yukio.co/MODA Brands Include: AYLIN AYLIN COLERI-Luxury Cotton Resort Collection (booth#: 5943) – AYLIN COLERI designs are produced from premium plant-based materials which are certified by OEKO-TEX®. We use only the highest quality sustainable Cotton, Linen, Bamboo and Tencel in our collections. AYLIN COLERI creates elegant and timeless designs for destination traveling which are healthy, practical, multi-functional, and sexy. Our styles are complimentary to all body types. We are a rapidly growing, woman-led American startup company serving upscale markets globally. http://www.AylinColeri.comBeljoy (booth#: 6042) – Béljoy is the new, up and coming accessories brand you will not want to miss at MODA. We have an extensive line of on-trend jewelry that is created by Haitian artisans in order to restore dignity and inspire change. Béljoy was the exclusive jewelry line advertising for COACHELLA this year. http://www.beljoyhaiti.comFornash (booth#: 6060) – FORNASH is launching their NEW Tila bead bracelet colors at MODA. Our Tila bead bracelet is our top selling collection. Stores are selling out in three days of receiving their shipment. http://www.fornash.com/La Moda Clothing (booth#: 5954) – La Moda Clothing is partnering with Fundbox to offer terms to our esteemed buyers. Starting September 05, Buyers can apply for terms up to Net 60 by with Fundbox pay. Fundbox Pay is a new payment solution from Fundbox, the small business financing-focused fintech firm that you might know from their business line of credit and invoice financing products. Fundbox Pay, their new product, offers a way to give B2B buyers and sellers what they want. http://www.lamodaclothings.comPetit Pois Inc (booth#: 5625) – Celebrating 20.20.20 Anniversary “The Impossible…Possible Dream”, “Made in USA”, “On-Site” – See our Factory Tour Presenting Spring 2020 with a retrospective inspiration; known for her beautiful printed mesh, designer Viviana Gabeiras is bringing artist Norbert Klauber paintings into 3-dimensional designs, expanding her premium collection of dresses and adding Resort Bridal Line. Ageless & Timeless Lifestyle! https://www.mypetitpois.com/Pure Woman By Ecoline (booth#: 6156) – PURE WOMEN the LABEL is showing its high fashion, (leather bags) line for the first time ever in the USA. “Our mission is to create and encourage beautiful hand techniques & surface ornamentation inspired for women who celebrate individuality” …….Lali Sahni https://www.ecolineindia.comTRVL Design by ID Accessories Inc (booth#: 6038) – TRVL Design by ID Accessories, TRVL Design is showing for the first time with their debut collection of Fall-Holiday ’19 travel cosmetic bags for immediate delivery. The collection is designed for any traveler and features lightweight and stylish patterns in custom colors that coordinate and can be monogrammed- and make a great gift! https://www.trvldesign.comZenzii (booth#: 6052) – ZENZII is excited to debut new colors and jewelry designs in their latest Fall and Winter 2019 Collections. New emerald green styles, modern pearl designs, and holiday handmade pieces will be exclusively showcased first at MODA NYC. http://www.zenziiwholesale.com/FAME Brands Include: Active Basic (booth#: 5065) – First time ever, Active Basic is coming to FAME! From Premium Basic to 2019 Fall/Winter collection, Active Basic is proud to present wide range of garments for Woman & Junior as well as its latest addition, Missy line. https://www.activebasicusa.comAmerica & Beyond (booth#: 5159) – Happy News! America & Beyond, your favorite boho luxe brand, supports the Saidham children’s cancer hospital in India. Every order placed with A & B helps us to continue to support this cause and we thank you in advance for your help! We are excited to announce that we now offer Mommy&Me clothing for all seasons! We have little girls clothing in sizes 4-6X and 8-14, as well as matching women’s S/M/L. Come see us at our booth for a special offer! https://www.americaandbeyond.usBeulah Style (booth#: 5059) – Beulah is proud to announce our AW19/20 and SS20 will be exhibited at the New York Fame Show. http://www.beulahstyle.comBlowfish Malibu (booth#: 5261) – Blowfish Malibu recognizes that the shoe industry contributes to environmental issues and are trying to do their part to fix this. For SS2020, Blowfish Malibu has announced the launch of Balla4Earth, a heritage style with an upper made of recycled materials to help encourage recycling and re-use of products. http://www.blowfishshoes.comCcocci (booth#: 5065) – CCOCCI will be introducing brand new fall and winter collection at the upcoming fame show. We are thrilled to share our brand with new and existing customers all over the nation. http://www.ccocci.netFashionGo (booth#: 5065) – FashionGo’s booth will showcase some of the hottest west coast vendors such as Main Strip; Just USA; Active Basic; Listicle; Sophie Marie; and shoe vendor CCOCCI, new to FAME. Uniquely, visitors can browse and shop with multiple vendors in one space and purchase through one easy check out system. https://www.fashiongo.netLucy Paris (booth#: 5010) – Lucy Paris at FAME! Check out our New Collection at Booth #5010 https://www.lucyparis.comNaked Zebra (booth#: 5229) – Naked Zebra hitting the East Coast for the first time at Fame. With our new fabrications and vibrant colors, Naked Zebra is ready for a great Fall-Holiday while we roll into Spring 2020. https://naked-zebra.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhOr 0oy45AIV0R6tBh2FMAZfEAAYASAAEgIeM_D_BwENicholette-A (booth#: 7053) – Coterie chose to highlight NICHOLETTE-A, making its wholesale debut, as one of the best NEW brands. Based in New York and founded by a London architect returning to her fashion roots, NICHOLETTE-A approaches handbag design with architectural sense – creating a fresh blend of versatile style and bold structure. https://nicholette-a.comStaccato (booth#: 5126) – Staccato is back at Fame! We’ll be showcasing all our favorite sweaters of the season. From basic cardigans to novelty knits, we’ve got you covered. https://www.staccatoshowroom.com/Sophie Marie (booth# 5065) – Sophie Marie debuts her line at Fame! The FW 2019 and upcoming Resort 2020 line as well as some basic staples for the Sophie Marie wardrobe will be on display. With an easy take on modern fashion, let Sophie Marie bring out the modern you that feels like home. http://www.sophiemarie-la.comThread Collective/NUMERO (booth#: 5281) – Get your first look at our new spring-summer 2020 collection featuring 70’s inspired silhouettes. Bellbottoms, jumpsuits, short-shorts and a variety of high-waisted styles come together to create an overall boho vibe. A fashion – forward denim collection not to be missed. https://www.numerobrand.com/Unique Vintage (booth#: 5254) – Unique Vintage will present the first New York City preview of their SS20 collaboration with ‘I Love Lucy’. Designed in celebration of the iconic female trailblazer, the 1950s-inspired line embodies the flirty glamour of the classic TV show, made for today’s contemporary woman and available in sizes XS to 5X. https://www.unique-vintage.com/pages/wholesaleSOLE COMMERCE Brands Include: Carrano (booth#: 5332) – Carrano Shoes introduces stylish sculptural heels that are perfectly engineered. Carrano will dazzle and add a pop of color to any wardrobe. It’s a very exciting moment for Carrano as we consolidate our collaboration with some amazing fashion lovers as Thassia Naves and Lissete Rondon. https://www.carranousa.com/CoFi Leathers (booth#: 5477) – CoFi Leathers is honored to be recently featured in Voyage Denver. The article, “Meet Stephanie McTigue of CoFi Leathers in Near Cherry Creek” highlights how CoFi was founded, shares details about CoFi’s unique printed leather line of handbags and shoes, and celebrates the brand for it’s consistent 40%+ annual growth over the past 5 1/2 years, since the brand was first launched. https://cofi-leather.gogecko.comKore Corp SAC (booth#: 5354) – Kore a Peruvian shoe brand, for the first time is participating in SOLE COMMERCE and is thrilled to announce the launch of our O/W ’20 Alpaca’s collection, as we contribute with the reduction of environmental damage, creating sustainable shoes. Sharing the best of Perú with the world! https://kore-shoes.comSeychelles (booth#: 5522) – Seychelles Footwear is introducing Seychelles For All, a new unisex collection arriving to market in Spring 2020. For the first time ever, the brand will be carrying two styles in extended sizing up to women’s 14 and men’s 12. Acknowledging a demand for more inclusive styles and sizing, the capsule collection includes a lace up sneaker and a leather cross band sandal each in a variety of colors. http://www.seychellesfootwear.comVolta Atelier (booth#: 5332) – VOLTA ATELIER is a Brazilian brand of sustainable leather accessories with a socially conscious production method. It was one of the brands selected by the Green Products Award in Germany in 2019. Fernanda Daudt, Volta’s founder, was invited to present Volta’s Case in the United Nations, at the Library Studio Hall seminar. VOLTA will display new items as the straps made of plastic beads. These straps were produced in partnership with a Brazilian NGO which assists women victims of domestic violence and former inmates. https://voltaatelier.comAbout COTERIE: COTERIE is the premier global event within the New York marketplace that bridges women’s apparel and accessories designers to the international ‘Who’s Who’ of retailers that runs concurrently with Sole Commerce, Fame, Moda. COTERIE builds exclusive shopping experiences from the ground up so that designers and buyers can create synergies that fuel their businesses, continuing to be a platform for generating revenue and inspiring trends.About Fame: Fun, fresh and full of cool trends, FAME is a one-stop shopping destination where the retailers discover ready-to-wear young contemporary and trend-driven fashion for women.About MODA: MODA is an upscale event providing a concise mix of modern contemporary ready-to-wear collections that showcase some of the most desired names in the industry. In a refined and elegant environment, MODA creates an inspiring place to conduct business and network, giving retailers the opportunity to discover everything from the latest trends to updated classics.About SoleCommerce: SOLE COMMERCE is the leading women’s & junior’s footwear and accessory event, sitting alongside COTERIE and coinciding with New York Fashion Week. Serving as a gateway to the U.S., SOLE COMMERCE provides footwear brands access to the country’s largest concentration of women’s ready-to-wear and footwear retailers on the Eastern Seaboard.About Informa Markets | Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade, innovate and grow. Our portfolio is comprised of more than 550 international B2B events and brands in markets including Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure, Construction & Real Estate, Fashion & Apparel, Hospitality, Food & Beverage, and Health & Nutrition, among others. We provide customers and partners around the globe with opportunities to engage, experience and do business through face-to-face exhibitions, specialist digital content and actionable data solutions. As the world’s leading exhibitions organizer, we bring a diverse range of specialist markets to life, unlocking opportunities and helping them to thrive 365 days of the year. For more information, please visit www.informamarkets.com.

The post Brands Debut New Products at COTERIE | Fame | Moda | Sole Commerce appeared on Stocks News Feed.

source https://stocksnewsfeed.com/globenewswire/brands-debut-new-products-at-coterie-fame-moda-sole-commerce/

#stocks #stocksmarket #stocknews

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regulardomainname · 7 years ago

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A Brief History Of WordPress

One of the internet’s greatest attributes is the way it levels out the playing fields. Social media grants an equal voice to everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances. Blogs enable anyone to self-publish their life stories or celebrate something they’re passionate about, without needing a publisher or sponsor, and online technology is constantly evolving to put power into the hands of the people. For the many, not the few Consider website design. In the early 2000s, this was a mysterious process driven by design agencies. They would listen to a client’s explanation of what was required, design something to their own tastes, and then invoice several thousand dollars. Requests were often waved away with airy talk of “challenges”, while most clients had little recourse to push back or complain. After all, building a website in HTML from scratch was incredibly complex, and HTML editors at the time (FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc) weren’t especially intuitive. No wonder GeoCities and MySpace pages were so popular – they represented the closest many consumers could get to a self-designed online presence. Then along came WordPress. It originated as a fork of the b2/cafelog blogging tool, written in PHP. Despite enjoying modest success, b2/cafelog was a resource for IT professionals who understood about LAMP stacks and open source architecture. From day one (specifically May 27, 2003), WordPress was intended to be universally accessible. It introduced the world to the concept of a content management system – a robust framework in which standard templates could be customized and published as standalone websites. It provided many people’s initiation to WYSIWYG editors, which have gone on to dominate everything from greeting card personalization through to graphic design. How it works WordPress enables users to modify existing templates without fundamentally affecting the source code or functionality. Consequently, the websites are robust since the level of achievable adjustment is limited to aesthetic factors like background images or positioning of individual elements. However, from a user’s perspective, it’s often impossible to identify a customized website as using identical architecture to another site featuring different visuals. Simpler templates are generally marketed as free, whereas more sophisticated ones command a fee. However, the true genius of WordPress centers on the minimalism of its core architecture. A standard template occupies a compact footprint on a host server, making it quick to host and download. Rapid page loading times are a significant factor in search engine optimization, giving websites a head start in the battle for a respectable position in web ranking results. Even so, the developers always knew their customers would want to adapt and modify websites beyond simple blogging platforms. As a result, they devised the concept of plugins… Plug and play Plugins were in use long before WordPress popularized them, but this was the platform that gave them ubiquity. It was always the developers’ intention that the standard package should be as streamlined as possible, only to be expanded when necessary. However, for the first two releases, users had to alter the program code themselves. That was clearly impractical for non-technical consumers – less than a year later, the concept of plugins had been introduced. Plugins are standalone pieces of code, designed to bolt onto the core architecture and perform one or more specific functions. They link to the core software at designated “hook” points, running custom code when triggered but remaining dormant at other times. This immediately simplified the process of adding more complex functionalities to the lightweight framework, while avoiding the risk of destabilizing core files. Growth and refinement When it was unveiled in 2004, the WordPress plugin directory contained fewer than 150 downloads. Some were very specific; one added a CAPTCHA field to comments forms to tackle the growing scourge of spam comments. Others had broader remits, including timeline generators and CSS compression. The concept of a pick-and-mix add-on directory proved hugely popular, and within a couple of years, developers were making considerable sums from devising slick plugins as solutions to specific problems. These days we take the choice of over 56,000 plugins for granted, but it was uncharted territory 15 years ago. As the plugin directory swelled, so did WordPress’s influence. In 2006, the company only had five employees, but high-profile investors were beginning to pledge series A and B funding. This was the year of the first WordCamp, where users and developers gathered to discuss ideas and share insights; today, there are almost 800 annual WordCamps in over 60 countries. In 2008, a theme directory was created where users could develop and upload their own site templates to the overall pool. Today, there are several thousand free themes on offer. However, the biggest growth involved WordPress’s user base. By 2011 it powered 12% of all live websites around the world. Today, that figure stands at over 29%. WP has grown from a platform used by amateur bloggers to the foundations for websites by BBC America, Sony Music, Microsoft and Reuters. Thousands of books have been published about how to get started or ways to boost web traffic, many penned by members of one of the most vibrant user communities ever seen. Continual reinvention WordPress has been endlessly refined and improved since day one. Spell-checking was introduced in 2007, custom menu management appeared in 2010, while audio and video support was added in 2013. 2018 will probably – in hindsight – become synonymous with the all-new Gutenberg editing environment, introducing a simpler aesthetic through the use of blocks. Each component on a page – galleries, lists, body copy, buttons – will become a standalone code block. And because each block is a stable chunk of code, future websites will combine greater adjustment with increased stability. The introduction of Gutenberg represents the first part of a three-pronged plan to evolve towards full site customization, freeing consumers from the limitations of existing templates. It demonstrates how WordPress continues to evolve, and why its history is still being written on a daily basis. Create your own WordPress masterpiece today with Midphase. Start building now! The post A Brief History Of WordPress appeared first on The Midphase Blog. http://dlvr.it/QlKQVc www.regulardomainname.com

#WordPress #plugins #update #websites

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darwinbigelow · 7 years ago

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There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE

Did you know you can soundproof a room with drywall? Or install some that can take a (literal) beating? During a recent tour of National Gypsum headquarters in Charlotte, NC, I learned a lot more about what makes their Purple XP drywall products so unique.

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Anyone out there a fan of the show, How Its Made? As a kid, I found this behind-the-scenes look at how everyday objects are created fascinating. Perhaps, in a small way, it influenced my adolescent brain into a career of showing people how I make/build/fix/renovate. (Funny that I didn’t really think about it until I started writing this last paragraph, but huh — neat!)

Often, when I start working with a brand as part of a blog partnership, I get invited to one of their manufacturing plants. For the brand, it’s one of the better ways to understand their products on a fundamental level: their company’s history, their motivations, their employees, the work that goes into new product development, and all sorts of things that lead up to the last step of using it in a home. For me, it’s an invite to the living version of the show I used to watch as a kid.

This fall, I’ll be working with National Gypsum and using one of their unique types of Purple XP drywall for a new sponsored project. But until I took the trip, I pretty much assumed all drywall was relatively the same. I mean, other than making sure you use the correct thickness for your wall or ceiling, that’s really all there is to it, right?

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

It seems like I am learning a lot about water this year: moisture is the enemy of keeping a safe, clean, worry-free home. Indoors and out, bathrooms and kitchens — all of your home regularly interacts with water. At the same time, we need to prevent mildew, mold, and rot. That’s why we use pressure-treated wood and flashing tape on outdoor projects; it’s why polybutylene pipes became a problem; and it’s why we get all freaked out when we see a leak in our ceilings. It’s a very simple concept, and yet it is a very tall order for most manufactured products. I will now and forever remember the quote I heard while in Charlotte:

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

Purple XP® drywall: if the name doesn’t mean much to you yet, it’s worth noting. What differs most about this product (other than the noticeable color, of course), is that it’s manufactured to be moisture, mildew, and mold resistant. You may have read about me using paint products with mildew-resistant properties in the past, and the reason is the same: to prevent that very expensive call to a remediation specialist. Toxic mold is not only extremely hazardous to have in the home, but it can be very expensive to remove (and once it’s in the drywall, it has to be ripped out). While paint products are still a good idea, it’s not going to do me much good if the back paper on the drywall is heading to Mold City.

Less than a month later after my trip, I had problems with my air conditioning unit, which forced me to cut a big hole in my ceiling. There was also the time my master bath’s hot water valve popped right off, flooding the room. Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl was also on the trip (I love it when we get to hang out!); she’s had her share of not-so-fun adventures with mold. Eventually, I think every homeowner has a story of close calls or giant disasters!

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

Bottom line is, if using a product likes this keeps mold from growing in the first place, and you may not always catch something growing behind your walls, it’s smart to prevent it rather than spend thousands of dollars repairing the damage (or deal with the health effects on those who live in the home).

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

So, I started this whole post about how things are made. And I definitely learned more about that during the trip. As you might assume from the name National Gypsum or drywall’s other name, “gypsum board,” drywall is created from gypsum. Plenty of it is blasted out of quarries all over the country, which looks a lot like this when holding it in your hand:

But, drywall is also possible due to a byproduct of coal burning power plants. By filtering out and reusing this byproduct, it saves literal tons of waste from landfills. National Gypsum has also been making the paper that goes on the front and back out of recycled materials since the 1960s. And since having to rip out less drywall from mold damage keeps old home materials out of landfills, when you think about it, Purple is actually pretty green.

We got the opportunity to walk the entire length of the (extremely clean and hot) manufacturing center, and it was kind of amazing to see the mix come out in liquid form and be hardened to the touch by the time we walked to the end. They scooped up some of the liquid product for us in cups as well, and we could watch little filaments form on the edges as we walked through. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to film this part of the tour (pretty standard since they don’t want me accidentally capturing something important to their competitors), but I’ll have a video for you guys soon on all of the other cool things we got to see! In the meantime, you can catch this How Its Made version.

Specialty Drywall Types

As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, one of the biggest surprises for me was to learn that there is far more to drywall than I thought. Some are made for areas that get knocked into a lot, and some are made to prevent neighbors from making each other miserable:

XP® — the “normal” XP stuff is meant for most wall applications, and especially in areas where moisture might eventually be a threat, such as bathrooms (non-wet areas), kitchens (non-wet areas), basements, and laundry rooms. If you are building a new home or tearing out walls, I would recommend using it wherever drywall needs to be replaced (after all, the ceiling of my living room is really nowhere near a room I’d think I’d have a moisture issue, and yet, here I am).

Hi-Abuse XP® and Hi-Impact XP® — both of these drywall types are made for areas where the walls might take a beating. But where Hi-Abuse XP is more meant to resist scratches and scuffs (think hallways, stairways, or places where furniture gets moved around), Hi-Impact XP can literally be beaten with a bat and still hold up to its job. It’s got a fiberglass mesh inside the core, so it can withstand some impressive abuse! I know I’m only 5’2″, but I played fastpitch softball growing up… I really hammered this wall, and only broke through after repeatedly hitting it HARD in the same exact spot. Workshops, playrooms, frat houses, maybe the tasting room at a brewery… it’s a perfect match. If you’ve ever had to repair a hole punched through a wall, you know that running some joint compound over a dent is far easier than patching a hole.

SoundBreak XP® — This was my FAVORITE thing to learn about during the trip. Almost all of us are familiar with “thin walls” and noisy neighbors in hotels, apartments, townhomes or condos. Sometimes, it’s as though a neighbor only has to blink and you can hear it through the walls. An interesting piece of info shared was that, with the popularity of mixed-use real estate and the conversion of commercial buildings into high-rise lofts, noise-related lawsuits are becoming much more common for real estate developers. So, a lot of them are starting to pay more attention to the cost vs. risk of using cheaper, lightweight drywall where noise slips right through. But that’s not what got me so excited…

SoundBreak XP Retrofit® Board — THIS. This product is so cool, because it can be applied on TOP of your existing drywall to add a sound barrier! It’s super thin, so it can be installed without demo-ing your walls, which saves a LOT of time and labor. I can think of all sorts of applications for something like this: nursery walls, media rooms, bedrooms (hehe), or even a home office or workshop. With the effort I’ve been putting into doing both written and video tutorials this year, I have a greater need for cutting out background noise (barking dogs & air conditioning/fans are really inconvenient for voice-overs, so I usually have to do it in my master bedroom closet!). And like many of my woodworker friends who find their creativity at night, I would love the opportunity to learn new skills without annoying my neighbors (or the bearded guy sleeping upstairs).

Competition

To give us some “hands-on” demos, they first presented a few pointers on how to better tape drywall seams and install drywall properly. I was very into it, since I have had a little experience with both repairing old drywall and installing new drywall over paneling. Even though I have learned a lot through my own DIY efforts, it’s great to get some solid tips from an expert in the field.

Then, they had the group of us — me, Brittany, and a handful of professional remodelers (that was quite a different experience, since almost all of my trips include only DIYers and this had pros in the mix!) take part in a competition!

Considering that at least one member of our group had decades of experience doing this exact task (and coughcough, used his tape measure to make sure he got exact 12-inches on center when the rest of us were told we couldn’t measure — but no, I’m not bitter ), it wasn’t really a shocker to me that I lost. I was glad to know that I can hold my own in the room, though!

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

Before you guys think that I’m going to only sing the virtues of Purple, there is one thing that I will say is a negative, at least in my area: availability. It’s available in big box stores in some places, but where I live, I’ll probably have to order it (especially if it’s something like Retrofit). It’s not that I have an issue with working with local suppliers (I think it’s good to support local business). It’s that I’m no stranger to needing eight trips to get supplies in a single week, and at least one of them will be 15 minutes before closing. So, whenever I consider working with a brand, I heavily weigh whether or not the “extra effort” is worth it. As cool as a product might be, I certainly don’t want to add to my DIY frustrations by the store being closed while there’s still daylight and I have a deadline to meet, or having something only available if I buy in bulk. Pros have enough experience to create a list they can more easily stick to. But that’s not my life, and I don’t want to pretend it is. And it wouldn’t be honest to advocate that you should make extra efforts that I wouldn’t be willing to make.

As you probably guessed, I had zero problem telling the marketing team exactly this. A homeowner needs more than just the product’s benefits or cost; the experience can still be intimidating and frustrating. And that’s ultimately why I chose to work with them. Because a pro can know all day and night why one product might be better than the other and advocate for it with ease. A brand’s sales team can work their magic to get a product into stores to test sales performance. But if there’s something out there that will solve a DIYers problem and we don’t actually know it exists, we can’t go looking for it or ask the store to start carrying it. This is one of those times where it might legit be worth it, and we’ll see once I install!

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); from Home Improvement http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheUglyDucklingHouse/~3/HhbMc5hsJuI/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#home improvement

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endlessarchite · 7 years ago

Text

There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

Specialty Drywall Types

Competition

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

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georgeycowell · 7 years ago

Text

There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

Specialty Drywall Types

Competition

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); from Home https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/theres-a-drywall-for-that-touring-national-gypsum/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#construction

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lowmaticnews · 7 years ago

Text

There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

Specialty Drywall Types

Competition

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

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alexrodriguespage · 7 years ago

Text

There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

Specialty Drywall Types

Competition

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); There’s a Drywall for That? | Ask for PURPLE published first on https://vacuumpalguide.tumblr.com/

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garagedoorsbrighton · 7 years ago

Text

There’s a Drywall for That? | Touring National Gypsum

Click on these to jump to a section in this post (trying out a new feature with longer posts with lots of info, let me know if you like it):

Fighting Moisture, Mildew, Mold

How Drywall is Made

Nifty Specialty Types of Drywall

Our Drywall Competition at National Gypsum HQ

Turns out — not true! If you see those purple drywall panels in the store, they have a few secrets up their sleeve…

Ask for Purple — Because It’s Moisture, Mold, and Mildew Resistant

When owning a home, it’s not a matter of if you will have a moisture problem, it’s when.

A rare occasion where we’re hanging out but not covered in muck ;)

How Its Made — Purple is… Green?

Specialty Drywall Types

Competition

Why I’m Working With Ask for Purple

The post There’s a Drywall for That? | Touring National Gypsum appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

More Where That Came From

How To Fix and Skim Coat Damaged Drywall

How to Remove Wallpaper

Painting Prep after Drywall Repair

More Skim Coating Tips

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); from Ugly Duckling House https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/theres-a-drywall-for-that-touring-national-gypsum/

#Ugly Duckling House

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