#wilder woods tour 2019

[latenightcinephile]

Film #914: 'La La Land', dir. Damien Chazelle, 2016.

I really like old-school Hollywood musicals, and I've always been sad that it's a genre that has gotten harder and harder to find in modern Hollywood. Most of the genre has since been supplanted by Disney films and either low-budget works or jukebox musicals, produced because there is a ready audience for the songs. While there has been a shift towards film adaptations of Broadway hits in the last decade or so (Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2012), Into the Woods (Rob Marshall, 2014), Cats (Tom Hooper, 2019)), it's a poor sign of the genre's health that there are no longer any major actors renowned for their consistent career in musicals - no Astaires or Crosbys or Garlands. So imagine my glee on hearing that a new, original musical was being made! One that hearkened back to the Hollywood spectaculars of the 1940s and 1950s! La La Land! The promotional photos looked reminiscent of the soundstage musicals that I had fallen in love with! At long last, it was time!

So, I didn't watch it for seven years. I don't know exactly why I didn't - a combination of having a lot going on in my life that stopped me getting to theatres, and then an internal rebellion against the amount of praise the film was receiving. It certainly wasn't helped by the Oscars debacle - there's nothing that diminishes a film's prestige quite like conspicuously not winning the Best Picture award. Finally, this year, I sat down to watch it, hoping I would be wrong, and that the shine would still be there - that I would be transported.

La La Land is not bad. It's also not transcendental.

Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) and Seb Wilder (Ryan Gosling) have both moved to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. Mia wants to be an actress, but has found work in a coffee shop on the Warner Brothers studio lot. Seb hopes to revitalise jazz music in Los Angeles by refurbishing a famed jazz club. Mia encounters Seb by chance, and loves his music, but their first few interactions are filled with hostility - road rage, a thwarted introduction at the moment Seb is fired (in a cameo by J. K. Simmons, who also starred in Chazelle's Whiplash in 2014), and a terrible Hollywood pool party. Finally warming to each other, the two begin dating and encouraging each other to pursue their dreams in whatever way possible - Mia by performing a one-woman show, and Seb joining a jazz-pop band fronted by Keith (John Legend). Just before Mia's show opens, Seb returns from touring, and the two argue bitterly over their future and how to reconcile their two careers, ending with Seb spitting vitriol about how Mia cannot stand his success. The two break up, and Mia returns to her childhood home.

Shortly after this, Seb receives a message for Mia, inviting her to a casting call. He goes to retrieve her, and her audition is a success. The two talk about how, while their lives are not compatible, they'll always love each other. Five years later, Mia is a successful actress and Seb has opened his club. They once again meet by chance and, after considering what their life together could have been, they each go their separate ways once more.

You might notice that, in this description, I haven't paid much attention to the songs or music in this musical. That's because, in all honesty, not very much of it was memorable to me. The opening number 'Another Day of Sun', and 'City of Stars', the song that gets used as a motif throughout, remain catchy, but they're the only tracks that left a mark. That's a real shame, because they're not really the turning points of the film. And while Gosling and Stone show that they're relatively accomplished as singers and dancers in this film, it's also clear that they're not accustomed to doing this kind of work regularly. 'A Lovely Night' is a prime example of this - it's a couple's dance number, and the choreography is not exactly simple, but Stone and Gosling look like they've learned the dance in isolation from each other. This is a number where the easy chemistry that the two of them have temporarily gets put on hold so that they can focus on the steps.

And I'm aware that this is an incredibly pedantic thing to gripe about. I don't mean to damn with faint praise - these actors are doing something difficult, and doing it well. What really gets me is that, when you're making a musical, you have all sorts of tricks to cover over these brief weaknesses, and La La Land often doesn't use them. The score feels oddly quiet, even in its more bombastic numbers. 'Another Day of Sun' starts things off, but the opening vocalist sings, rather than belting, and by making the score supposedly diegetic to start, there's not enough there to support her. I know I ended my last write-up by expressing gratitude that films were now available to watch outside the cinema, but this is an instance where I wish that I'd seen this years ago. I just couldn't turn my speakers up far enough to get lost in the spectacle.

Talking to people about this film, there seems to be an even split on this matter: either you can lose yourself in what's going on, or you can't, and if you're in the latter camp, the musical side of La La Land is too banal. It's colourful and pretty - filmed gorgeously by Linus Sandgren - but I'm reminded of the maxim of musicals, attributed to Rob Marshall: "When movement isn't enough, you dance, or when speaking isn't enough, you sing." A few people I've asked about the film raised similar ideas - that it feels like Chazelle is trying to force an exuberance from his audience when there's not enough genuine emotion to support it.

This is what makes the second half of the film better for me, and this is where I found myself able to embrace the film more. The latter half of Mia and Seb's relationship, once they've actually fallen in love properly, is powerfully-acted, and the reprise of 'City of Stars' is beautiful. The break-up scene is absolutely stellar, and either Gosling and Stone could justifiably call this one of the best scenes of their career. In a musical, though, this height of emotion would normally call for a song or a dance, and there isn't one here. The emotional height that does get a song is Mia's audition, where she sings 'The Fools Who Dream' in what appears to be a single take. This is an excellent performance, and it alone could have been responsible for Stone winning the Best Actress Oscar that year. Then, of course, once Mia and Seb have briefly reunited, they share a fantasy sequence that is filled with a longing that's deeply affecting.

The thing that upsets me most about the film is that once you've started dissecting it, you see how underwritten parts of it are. The opening leaves its characters adrift, trying to sell you on optimism and exuberance that don't have enough of a foundation - no matter how many BMX stunt riders and parkour experts 'Another Day of Sun' crams in, it feels thin - and even the break-up scene is mostly successful because Stone and Gosling have easy chemistry and the ability to sell you on ideas by injecting them with emotion. That doesn't prevent the central conflict from seeming like a contrivance.

Seb is, admittedly, insufferable at times (I'm not going to get into whether he's a white saviour of jazz, because plenty of people have made arguments on both sides of that topic and I could easily agree with either camp). I think his biggest flaw is that he's unable to articulate his motivations, which makes the conflict a bit of an idiot-ball plot. Faced with having to explain why he's 'sold out' by joining Keith's group rather than following his passion for pure jazz, he can't do it and immediately belittles Mia. It feels like it would be easy to explain that someone could find satisfaction in playing two different subgenres of jazz, and even playing them off each other to push the boundaries of music further. That feels like something Seb would genuinely believe in (and something that Chazelle, being a musician, would also be familiar with). It would also open up opportunities for more complicated conflicts - a jazz battle! A tortured artist number! - without affecting the overall plot. I just don't think the film has the expansiveness to tackle it.

Yeah, this sounds like I'm trying to assassinate the film. I liked it, honestly. I was still humming 'City of Stars' a week later, and it made me like Stone and Gosling more as actors, which I hardly thought possible. All the breathless excitement, though, about the film resurrecting a genre, and changing the course of film history... it was overblown, without a doubt. La La Land proved that these films could still be made, and very successfully. The fact that so many modern musicals are either adaptations of things proven to work, or jukebox musicals where the plot is largely incidental, shows that crafting a fully successful musical is not just about the songs but about the plot that links them. La La Land does it better than most, but it's not what I was craving it to be.

[wilderwoodsfans]

[lorilovesowls]

Few goodies from last night 🙌🏻

[needtobreathe-throughsmoke]

[wrestlingisfake]

Final Battle preview

Rush vs. PCO - Rush is defending the ROH world title.  As far as I can remember, Rush is undefeated in Ring of Honor.  The only singles loss in ROH that I could find for PCO was his last shot at the world title.  It is probably worth noting that each man’s contract is expiring at the end of the year, and there has been little word on whether either of them plans to re-sign.

Rush is probably the hottest star in wrestling that isn’t signed to WWE, AEW, or New Japan.  You see his entrance and you can tell this guy is a big ass deal, far beyond anything else going on in ROH.  I’m still surprised they managed to sign him.  Pierre Carl Ouellet, meanwhile, is a minor name from the 1990s enjoying a cult resurgence as a monster brawler with a Frankenstein gimmick.  At 51, PCO isn’t a hot prospect bound for the big leagues, but he’s a can’t-miss draw at the super-indy level.  So this is arguably the biggest match ROH could deliver in 2019.  It reminds me of a big match from ROH’s early days, where a WWE fan wouldn’t get the appeal but hardcore indy fans saw it as a dream match.

Even someone like me, who only half pays attention to ROH, can see the appeal of this match.  Rush’s matches are fast and intense, and he quickly destroys guys with big explosive moves.  PCO’s matches are about how he feels no pain and keeps getting back up to do increasingly insane spots.  This is, fundamentally, the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.  I can’t believe we’re getting such a match from “The guy who taught Tetsuya Naito how to be cool” versus “The Mountie’s tag team partner,” but such is wrestling in 2019.

Ring of Honor has really fallen off a cliff this year.  The core of their star power left to found AEW, and their alliance with New Japan seems to be at its lowest ebb.  The whole controversy of CMLL firing Rush and Dragon Lee, who have become key figures here, would also seem to be a bad sign for the ROH/CMLL alliance as well.  So it’s been a rebuilding year for the company, and frankly I haven’t been impressed with what they’ve rebuilt.  Except for this one match.  This is very symbolic of their one shot to turn things around for 2020.  I hope they don’t blow it; I expect that they will somehow.

My gut tells me Rush is moving on to greener pastures, whereas PCO probably can’t do much better than being a big fish in a small pond.  Wild as it sounds, I think we might get a title change tonight.

Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham - This is for the Briscoes’ ROH tag team title.  The biggest question mark here is that Lethal broke his arm back in October, and although he’s vowed to make it to this match it remains to be seen if he’ll be healed enough to really go.

I haven’t followed the story closely, but Lethal and Gresham were friends until Gresham decided that he needed to cheat to get ahead, and then they fought over that, and then they reconciled, and now they’re both whacking the Briscoes with chairs.  I’m still not sure if the Briscoes ever officially turned babyface this year.  So to me this is a pretty standard 2019 ROH story, where there are no heroes and everyone’s an asshole.

In theory this should be a down-and-dirty brawl between two teams that would prefer to fight than wrestle.  But since it’s not officially billed as a street fight or anything, what we’ll probably end up with is a basic wrestling match where they just sneak a few weapon shots and low blows behind the ref’s back.  That’s fine to build to a bigger, wilder spotfest later, but not so much to be a featured tag match on Final Battle.  I guess Lethal and Gresham will win the belts with shenanigans to set up a rematch.

Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee Ryu Lee - Taylor is defending the ROH television title.  Dragon Lee had been a big name in CMLL, and a frequent representative of the company in New Japan, and of late he’s been getting involved in ROH through his brother Rush.  But since CMLL suddenly fired him, and they own the rights to the name, he’s now adopted the name “Ryu Lee,” using the Japanese word for “dragon” to honor his new deal with New Japan.  Lee’s preference among those three companies is to work for New Japan, so now that he’s got that contract I am very curious whether he remains a ROH regular.  I suspect this match will be the first clue.  Taylor has been a dominant champion but Lee has friends in high places, so the one they want to push should be very telling.  I’m kinda thinking Taylor retains.

Matt Taven vs. Vincent - Vincent used to be Vinny Marseglia, a member of The Kingdom stable with Taven and TK O’Ryan.  I’m not sure what happened to O’Ryan after Taven lost the ROH world title, but Vincent turned on Taven and has gone all in on the gimmick of being a horror movie slasher.  This means Taven is doing the “asshole champion you come to respect drops the title and then improbably turns babyface” thing.  I’m not sure I buy that, but I guess ROH kinda has to make the best of what they have to work with.  All I know is when I see Taven plugging his DVD I’m just reminded of when TNA put out that Jeff Jarrett retrospective as if he was Triple H or something.  Anyway, I guess the King of Kings King of the Mountain King of the Kingdom needs to win this match.

Mark Haskins vs. Bully Ray - This is being billed as a street fight, so the match cannot end by count-out or disqualification.  Bully Ray has been playing the bitter veteran bullying young guys for the better part of two years now.  He was mainly feuding with Flip Gordon, but even after they blew that off he just kept doing it, and when Flip turned heel they just sort of switched to Haskins.  They’ve even got Bully going after Mark’s wife like he did with Flip’s wife.  It’s the exact same fucking thing.  Which, I suppose, means Bully has to win this match to generate more heat for more rematches.  I would literally rather be escorted into a room where Bully bitches me out for being a bad fan than watch this crap one more time.

Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon vs. Bandido & Flamita - All right, so months ago Juice Robinson came to ROH to found a stable called Lifeblood, with the goal of elevating some new stars to replenish the roster after the AEW exodus.  Well, in an apt metaphor for ROH’s fortunes in 2019, Lifeblood quickly fell apart with half the team disappearing from ROH, leaving Bandido, Mark Haskins, and Tracy Williams.  They tried to recruit various guys to fill the void, but nobody has stepped up and Flip Gordon even turned heel on them to join Scurll’s Villain Enterprises.  Then Flip blew out his elbow during the heel turn.  Anyway, Haskins has his hands full with Bully Ray, and I don’t even know where Williams is, so now Bandido is starting a new tag team with Flamita and this is the closest we get to blowing off the Lifeblood/Villain Enterprises feud.

Scurll’s contract with ROH actually ended a couple of weeks ago, but he has a handshake deal to work this show and the one on December 15.  The big questions now are which company he’ll sign with and how ROH will write him out of the company.  But presumably those questions won’t be answered until the 15th, so even at this late date we’re still in a holding pattern, and I’m guessing they’ll keep acting like  everything is normal.

Logic would suggest Scurll should do the job so ROH can put over Flamita and Bandido.  Then again, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that Bandido is getting ready to leave, so you never know.

Jeff Cobb vs. Dan Maff - This is basically a battle of two big mean guys.  Cobb is just back from a month-long tour with New Japan.  Maff is a recent acquisition, and notably filled in for Brody King to help Marty Scurll and PCO defend the ROH trios title.  That kinda makes me wonder if Maff could end up playing a role in the final fate of Villain Enterprises, but that probably won’t affect this match.

Cobb is--say it with me this time, folks--expected to have his contract come up soon, and may or may not be getting ready to leave.  If he’s staying, he should probably win this match to build him up for whoever is champion going forward.  If he’s leaving...well, Maff seems to be a budget version of Cobb, so it would make sense to have him be the guy to send Cobb packing.  We’ll just have to see what happens.

Angelina Love vs. Maria Manic - Love won the women’s title at the last ROH show I watched, but it turns out she lost it back to Kelly Klein shortly thereafter.  Then Klein suffered a concussion, which turned into a pretty big story abut ROH not taking care of her and letting her contract expire, and I don’t know what’s going on with the women’s title anymore.  I occasionally wonder if they’ll even continue to have a women’s division after this show.  Manic is clearly their big new project, but apparently they almost let her go to NXT before locking her into a contract.

The story of the match is that Manic is a big mean monster and Love is terrified of her.  Usually in this kind of story the heel gets to demonstrate that they can come up with some clever way to outwit the monster, and the match is about whether that works or not.  But as far as I know they haven’t given Love anything--she seems to just be a lamb led to the slaughter.  It’s possible Love is preparing to leave and this is the blowoff for her character.  If so, I’m not sure who will be left to fight Manic.  There’s only like five other active women in the official roster, and I haven’t seen any of them wrestle in months. 

Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry vs. Silas Young & Josh Woods - This is scheduled for the pre-show.  Young and Woods are apparently calling themselves “2G1T” (“Two Guys, One Tag”), which is possibly the most alarming sign of the creative energy left in this company.  I think Castle and Hendry have been passive-aggressively feuding and teaming for months and I’ve kinda given up trying to figure out where this is headed.  I guess Castle and Hendry win.

Rhett Titus vs. Kenny King - Another match set for the pre-show.  Titus and King were a tag team ages ago, but now King is a wannabe top heel and Titus is a prelim guy.  Well, I guess they’re both in the pre-show so technically they’re both prelim guys.  I assume the point is to give King a win, but if this guy was ever going to be something in ROH, he would already be well beyond the point that beating Titus would mean anything.

[roswellroamer]

Roswell, GA to Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦 10,700 miles 4/18-19/19

It has been a while. Over two years in fact. I find that writing here is beneficial in so many ways, yet also somewhat dreaded. Beneficial in that the exercise causes, no, forces you to encapsulate the day's adventure and experiences into a few hundred words and a handful of photos. Also since this creates a (Semi) permanent record of your sensory experiences for you to have and reflect upon when desired. Even if that is rarely done, having organized and researched a bit to "pen" your thoughts at or near the conclusion of a daily journey is a great resource to have both in the moment and down the road. Dread may be a bit harsh but is the word that comes to mind since after a long day (or in this case two) and a heavy meal and perhaps (hypothetically?) a few beers with your mates, one of the last things you'd opt to do is to stretch out in your bed to jot down a summary of the day before sleep overtakes your eyes. Many a night I have dozed whilst tapping on this iPhone screen. Anyway, I am happy to catalogue a relatively brief rundown of each day. For me mostly, and for whomever would like to share in my version of this traveling adventure.

Two years ago, I concluded my ride through Patagonia with the preceding post and some new friends with whom connections were made from our random choice of the same adventure ride in February 2017. Three of the 8 on this African adventure are friends from the Patagonia trip. Two Aussie buds (Jim/ Andy) and our local South African host, Rod. Bike trips engender that type of camaraderie that bridges time and distance. The shared experiences both good and bad quickly cement even nascent friendships into long lasting ones. I hopped a flight to Amsterdam but a day earlier than expected due to an Air France glitch and my wanting to arrive a bit earlier than I had booked. Flights to Europe are somewhat routine for me as I used to travel monthly across the pond. However after an 8+ hour flight to AMS, a new twist was the 11+ hour jaunt nearly due South to Cape Town. 19 1/2 hours in the air and a full 28 hours door to door is a serious journey. No glitches however and one benefit of arriving the next night is that you don't have to wander the streets in a haze of jet lag. My Aussie buds were waiting for me at the Mt. Bijoux guesthouse and we put a dent in my mini bar stock while catching up. Then off to bed at 1A and right back on schedule. This is a big weekend in Cape Town. The Two Oceans Marathon is a storied event which is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. Due to the road closures and mayhem associated with this event, we have opted to begin our 2019 African Adventure just north of Cape Town. In a area called Blouberg with a beachfront view of the Atlantic and infamous Table Mountain, looming high above the electric urban confines of Cape Town.

After an altogether too short evening's rest, we gathered for a very nice breakfast in our guesthouse. Just me and the Aussies at this point. Poached eggs, cheese plate, breads and buns, sausage, bacon, tomato, fruit salad with edible flowers, yogurt, etc. all right by the water with a view of Table Mountain. Good thing we all happened to stroll to the beach before breakfast since a marine later rolled in during "brekky" (Aussie for breakfast) and we were dealing with different cloud layers and even some occasional mist much of the afternoon. We were picked up by our organizer Gavin in his truck and shuttled down to Stu's warehouse where our rental bikes were prepped and waiting. Gavin is one of Rod's mates who happens to run a business here taking folks on tours around Southern Africa on his Honda Africa Twin adventure bikes. Our bikes looked nearly new and were all outfitted with new knobbies. The local folks also had 140 liter customized bags made for our trip complete with embroidered names made for our journey! Hats, T-shirts, and bound itineraries were also passed out at the warehouse and greatly appreciated! Sweet swag. Rod didn't take much convincing to lead us on a ride through eponymous Cape Town, hugging the coastline to the Cape of Good Hope. Cape Town is a real city. Sprawling impressively with lights stretching into the darkness by plane last night. Exploring many neighborhoods and the bustling waterfront by day today and with an awareness of the Atlantic Ocean's presence a constant reminder. We rode about 200km's today but undulating and winding our way through some fantastic areas. The ocean view villas of Clifton with steep stairs and even elevator access from the narrow Victoria Road above the water. The range of housing is as you might expect extreme. We've passed a number of shanty town developments where lots of folks live in scrap metal tents with no space between them for acres upon acres. Some of those have begun to be replaced by government built low income housing. Similar to what we know but smaller and more crowded to US versions. But opulent villas abound, especially along the water Many are named. When you ride by a Hard Rock Cafe as we did in Camps Bay today, you know you're in the midst of a heavily touristic area. One thing of interest is the climate here. It is more temperate than I expected. Not to judge based on one day's experience and also knowing the climactic moderation afforded by the ocean(s), still I was surprised by the number of palm trees and had a special surprise when we rode right by a large flock of iconic pink flamingos off the road not far from here. Not the plastic ones we have in the south! One challenge when riding in countries in the British Commonwealth, is your ability to flash the biker's salute. Since we're on the " wrong" side of the road, your throttle hand is most often unable to take a break for the two fingered acknowledgement to passing bikes. Especially without cruise control. So, I learned first by observing then by query, that a slight nod of the head towards the approaching bike replaces the two fingered salute around these parts.

After a tasty lseafood unch in Hout Bay (Dutch for wood since the landing ships harvested the abundant forests for needed wood upon landing there through history) on the water, we wound our way up and over the Chapman's Peak toll road and past the Cape, where Atlantic Ocean (cold) meets the Indian Ocean (warm). Some of the beaches we rode by have penguin viewing though we saw none today. All had spectacular white sand and a few had surfers and even a kite boarder. Ironically the last and only time I've seen penguins in the wild was my previous entry here on Tumblr, from over two years ago! At every pull off there were also signs reminding us of the dangers of baboons, of which we also saw none today. I didn't know what to expect on the wildlife front for this three week journey but it sounds like we will likely see most of the iconic game here. Lions, crocs (not the shoes), elephants, hippos, etc. Having heard some of Rod's lunchtime stories about how scary lions are, it has moved up significantly on my list of possible concerns for our journey! 🦁 As a prelude, we are embarking on a 4000+ mile journey from here north through Namibia into Zambia and Botswana and circling back south to Cape Town. We are aiming for the dramatic destination of Victoria Falls and the Zambezi river. Skirting though or around the Namib desert and the Okavango delta, this trip has me really excited to see what comes our way during the next three weeks.

A fun evening was had by all with loads of laughs and beers (girls were drinking gin and tonics on tap!) at Cowboys & Chefs. I enjoyed an ostrich filet. Really delicious and as tender as a filet mignon. Figured when am I gonna see that on the menu and one of the innumerable sights today was a sizable ostrich farm on our peninsular circle route. Gotta get some sleep since my budgeted one hour has already stretched for two and it is approaching 1 AM with a 5:40 wake up. Ready to leave the city behind and head into the wilderness.

[drunklander]

A short drive through the leafy forest of Cumbernauld, a town just outside Glasgow, leads to a dusty lot where an 18th century version of Wilmington, N.C., has been built for the fourth season of “Outlander.” Wooden shop facades line streets that dead-end into the dirt and promise wares residents would have needed in Colonial times.

But if the narrative setting of the Starz series, based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels, is shifting to America, the show remains firmly rooted in Scotland. So rooted that Scotland’s only film studio, Wardpark Studios, was built to accommodate the show. So instead of relocating its production from Cumbernauld, “Outlander” has recreated this Southern port town as it was a decade before the Revolutionary War.

“Every year we seem to reinvent the show, and that’s always a challenge,” says producer Matthew B. Roberts, sitting in his office in Wardpark Studios, which has expanded since 2013 to four soundstages, multiple workshops and the new Wilmington backlot. “The typical television show will be centered around a place, and then you flow story in and out of that place. But we don’t usually have that. In the first few seasons, when you needed a location or you needed a castle, we just went outside. In the new season, they land in America. So that was the challenge for season four: America in Scotland. We can’t go out and find that castle. We have to build everything.”

The 13 new episodes, based largely on “The Drums of Autumn,” the fourth book in Gabaldon’s series, brings the newly reconnected Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) Fraser, as well as Young Ian (John Bell), to North Carolina to make a life in the New World. There they encounter Jamie’s aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy), who presides over a vast plantation called River Run; Jamie and Claire eventually build their own homestead in Fraser’s Ridge.

For Heughan, the storyline felt like a chance to explore the roots of what makes America so special.

“We get an opportunity to show America in its infancy,” Heughan says. “It’s exciting to show that America is this land of immigrants and different cultures coming together and really sharing where they came from.”

Prior to shooting season four, Heughan traveled to North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains and spent a week exploring the area to better understand Jamie’s journey. “I was amazed at how similar it was to Scotland,” he says. “The landscape is much bigger, but it does have a wild, old feel to it. There were times when we were on set and you’d look out and you could almost be looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains. They’ve got a history to them that feels very familiar.”

For time-traveling Claire, who previously lived in 20th century Boston, history lies in the past and the future. Now, returning to America in 1767, she knows what’s to come — the Revolutionary War and the rapid growth of slavery in the South.

“She knows what she’s walking into, in many ways,” Balfe says. “She has a lot of concerns about staying anywhere near River Run because seeing slavery firsthand, knowing that all of this is going on and the extent of it, is very hard for her. But she also thinks there’s a possibility of a new opportunity. It’s a safe place to settle before being forced to take a side in this impending war. It’s strange, but it’s also beneficial for her sometimes. Trying to work around knowing what she knows and knowing what’s coming in the future, but also using it to her advantage.”

In order to create Colonial America, production designer Jon Gary Steele built separate interior and exterior sets for River Run and Fraser’s Ridge, a cabin where Claire and Jamie build their new home. The interiors were constructed, with great attention paid to details like custom chandeliers and ornate wallpapers, inside the soundstages; the exteriors were erected on location in the Scottish wilderness. These set pieces, along with the Wilmington backlot, will stay in place for the next two seasons, which also take place in America. The fake Wilmington will even be expanded for next season. Steele’s goal is to keep things both truthful and in line with the overall aesthetic of the series.

“We do tons of research to make it as historically accurate as possible,” Steele says. “There’s not much to show what Wilmington would have looked like during this period because the paintings would be more from [the years] later, but we went from plans drawn of the city and etchings, and we tried to make it as close as possible.”

Still, the new setting had to fit in with the show’s tonal palette as well, which meant taking a few liberties when it came to historical accuracy. For example, the walls in River Run don't necessarily match the time period. “A lot of the plantations had very pale walls and pale colors. When we started doing samples, it didn’t look like ‘Outlander’ to me. It wasn’t rich. So I switched it. I wanted to make River Run more in line with the colors of ‘Outlander.’”

The exteriors were especially tricky since there needed to be a visual continuity between North Carolina and Scotland.

“We can’t use the quintessentially Scottish landscape,” says Hugh Gourlay, who is the supervising location manager. “But if you take a little bit longer to look and examine Scotland in comparison with aspects of North America, it fits very well. The woods, the rivers, the hillsides all work very well. It will be a fun thing for fans to find out what was filmed in Scotland and what was used as stock shots from North America. There’s plenty in Scotland that delivers very nicely for us.”

“You need to create a coherent world the audience can settle into and believe is the world of Jamie and Claire in North Carolina in the 1770s,” adds Gourlay. “That’s as important as the actual physical location we’re in.”

The actors especially enjoyed spending time on the new sets, which helped fully situate them in the feeling of Colonial America.

“We’re used to working on sets that are very old — old castles that have a heritage and history,” Heughan says. “We’re suddenly on these new sets, and you get the feeling because that’s literally what America was. People just going and building things.”

“That Wilmington backlot reminds me of watching some behind-the-scenes thing in Hollywood,” Balfe adds. “As an actor. being on that is very cool because you really feel like ‘Wow, this is TV.’ I still get that feeling every time I walk onto those kind of sets. They create these little worlds.”

Since production on the show began in 2013, Wardpark Studios has grown immensely – and will continue to grow as work on season five begins in early 2019. What was initially an unused warehouse is now a fully integrated studio that employs more than 200-250 people during filming. Wardpark is, in fact, the only film studio in Scotland, a fact that has prompted a recent push for the creation of at least one more. It is just one example of what is known as the “Outlander Effect.” Almost immediately after the show debuted, fans began flocking to the Highlands in search of the show’s castles and standing stones; a cottage industry of location tours continues to thrive.

“Throughout our story, Scotland really is one of the characters, and we never really leave her,” Roberts confirms. “There are things the fans and the audience will see.”

“I was always slightly confused by Americans coming to Scotland and trying to reconnect with their Scottish culture,” adds Heughan. “Now I realize ‘Of course they are.’ We’re only a couple of generations removed from the people who actually went [to America]. I’ve come to realize that we’re distant cousins really. In our show, there’s a celebration of that. Scotland is definitely still a really strong part of the show.”

[charlesandmartine]

Saturday 9th February 2019

Mallacoota is the most easterly town in the state of Victoria. When we leave here on Monday, we shall cross the state line into New South Wales and just two more stops before we reach Sydney. Mallacoota has had quite a low key history, but did have early settlers as long ago as 1841 as well as a modest gold rush in the 1890 but with only one successful operation, the Spotted Dog Mine. A writers camp was established here in the early 1900s which possibly explains its arty nature. The only claim to fame seems to be during ww2, it was the headquarters of the RAAF coastal surveillance unit. We shall have a tour of this facility tomorrow.

Mallacoota is to be found at the estuary where the bottom lake of two meets the sea. The top lake is fed by two large rivers, the Genoa and the Wallagaraugh. I suppose looking back to school days, the configuration might have been called a delta, but what do I know, I'm not sure I got O level geography. It is certainly a beautiful area and there are very remote wildernesses with no access except from the sea or a great deal of walking. The town of Mallacoota is nice, with just enough in it to sustain a human existence. The only blot in my opinion. Is the camping/ caravan site right slap bang wallop by a section of the lake. But there is a lot of lake.

Our movement today has been modest; a general mooch around town, lunch on the beach, a drive to find the ww2 camp in preparation for tomorrow. The big event then was the storm and hail! What!? In Australia I hear you say, well it has been funny weather, and they desperately need the water. The sun is back out again and we may go for a walk shortly after our lamb dinner. Taking the car might be interesting. To get to our little house in the woods, we need first to drive across a field (no track) just across grass. Officially its called a paddock! Looks like a field to me. Then bump along a track of joined up potholes which are passable when there has been no rain. Oh, we said to Mr Europcar, we shalln't need a 4 wheel drive.

Hopefully the lamb will be good and the sun will shine tomorrow.

[jockpoetry]

8 & 30 🎶

8: name an artist/band that isn’t touring at the moment who you’d really like to see in concert

😔 the answer to this one is always Hey Rosetta! they pseudo broke up/are on hiatus as a band but i still dream of being able to see them live

30: name an album you really love that you haven’t listened to in awhile

mm. Wilder Woods self-titled album was constantly playing for me when it came out in 2019 but I haven't given it a listen in a second.

[wilderwoodsfans]

📸: 50pts and Tyler Leaman

[lorilovesowls]

No need to wait by the bus after the show 😀❤️🐻

[needtobreathe-throughsmoke]

[patternsintraffic]

My Favorite Albums of the Decade

I generally don’t like to stray from the topic of my music on this site, but I’m making an exception today. With the decade coming to a close I’ve seen a lot of folks sharing their personal top albums of the decade lists, and I thought it would be a fun exercise to try out myself. I ended up creating a top 20 list and turned it into somewhat of a long-form writing project, writing a few sentences about each album and my connection with it. Rather than throw it into the void of social media, I’d rather keep it here where I can better organize and present my thoughts. So if you ever wondered what kind of music inspires me or informs my musical output, give this a read!

I love writing about and sharing music in general, so this project was a lot of fun for me. I hope you find something to love in here, or just enjoy reading a little bit about someone else’s musical journey with some albums you may or may not be familiar with. As the title says, this is a list of my personal favorite albums of the past ten years. I would never attempt to present the most popular, or influential, or even best, albums in a list like this. I wouldn’t have much interest in that endeavor, and the albums on this list are almost certainly none of the above. These are simply the albums that I found the most enjoyment in, and that meant the most to me personally, in the 2010s. Without further ado:

01. Civil Twilight - Holy Weather (2012)

I would be hard-pressed to come up with an album that better encapsulates the kind of music that I was drawn to in this decade. The tracks on Holy Weather are dynamic, emotive, and draw a perfect balance between accessible and experimental. I was so enamored with this album upon release that I felt a genuine sense of pride watching the band command a large room while opening for Mutemath during 2012's Odd Soul tour. These songs deserved to be heard in arenas.

02. Lights - Skin & Earth (2017)

This one missed the top spot by the thinnest of margins. If I want to have fun listening to music, I know I can throw on Skin & Earth at any time and have an absolute blast. Nothing else I heard this decade made me want to move as much as this album does. Wall-to-wall standout tracks on here that range from delicate to acutely powerful. There are moments on this album that carry the kind of electricity that I’ve rarely felt from music since I was first forging a connection with it as a teen. Just the perfect pop album for my tastes.

03. Bear’s Den - So That You Might Hear Me (2019)

I really enjoyed Bear's Den's 2016 sophomore album Red Earth & Pouring Rain, and was disappointed in my initial listens of this year's follow-up. Further listens have revealed an album that has grown on me as much as any in my lifetime. The depth of beauty and poignant songwriting in these 10 tracks, some of which are anthemic rock tunes and some of which are acoustic confessionals, is astonishing. Of all the artists on this list, this is probably the one that has me most excited to hear what they do next.

04. Butch Walker - Afraid of Ghosts (2015)

Butch is my favorite songwriter of all time, and I could have just as easily put 2011's The Spade or 2016's Stay Gold in this spot. While those albums are primarily fun and lighthearted, I gave the edge to Afraid of Ghosts, which is built on melancholy atmosphere and heavy-hearted lyrics inspired by the death of Butch's father. The songwriting is beautiful and dripping with longing, even when it comes in the form of dirty, lusty rock tune and album standout "Bed On Fire."

05. Wild Party - Phantom Pop (2014)

If Skin & Earth is the perfect pure pop album for my tastes, Phantom Pop is the perfect pop-rock album. These songs are breezy, fun, infectious, and charmingly quirky. It's a shame that this album never found an audience in the indie rock scene, as I could have easily seen these guys taking the torch from a band like Motion City Soundtrack. Instead they went radio silent shortly after this album's release until resurfacing this year with a couple of singles.

06. Marianas Trench - Ever After (2011)

If it's not already evident at this point, I love a great pop song. It doesn't get much poppier than these tracks, which go right up to the line of being too sugary without quite going over. Josh Ramsay's soaring vocals carry this fantasy-inspired concept album that stacks hooks upon hooks upon hooks. I was making frequent four-hour drives at the time of Ever After's release, and it was usually the soundtrack, as it would reliably keep me upbeat and awake. The constant exposure ensured that these songs would be branded in my mind forever.

07. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods (2012)

Silversun Pickups have become one of my favorite bands over the past decade, as they continue to pump out consistently great albums without, in my opinion, a misstep in their career to date. If 2009's Swoon had been released a year later, it would be here (or likely even higher), but Neck of the Woods somehow lives up to its predecessor's impossibly high bar. The driving bassline in "Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)" is a piece of music that I think about with impressive frequency even when I haven't heard the album in months.

08. Graham Colton - Pacific Coast Eyes (2011)

There was a period around the turn of the decade when Graham Colton was the 1B to Butch Walker's 1A on my list of favorite songwriters. He doesn't have the same sonic range as Butch, but there's something warm and welcoming about his southern singer-songwriter output that feels like home. Listening to Colton's records and watching him play live around this time was deeply inspirational to me. What he was doing was simple, sincere, and relatable in a way that made my dream of pursuing my own music seem attainable. Pacific Coast Eyes was also the first album that I crowdfunded, and I remember waiting with baited breath in the months before the album’s release for updates and insider info about the creative process of one of my favorite artists.

09. The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (2018)

This is another charming, quirky, magnetic pop-rock album that is helplessly catchy. Besides the infectious single "Turn," Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life gives us "White Lies," "Out of My Head," and "Ice Cream," which are all just undeniable. The other tracks more than hold their own. These are the huge choruses I live for.

10. Thursday - No Devolución (2011)

The first time I heard this album was on one of those aforementioned four-hour drives, and it almost put me to sleep at the wheel. This wasn't the Thursday I'd fallen in love with on War All the Time and A City by the Light Divided. The vocals were buried in the mix and the songs just weren't connecting. But I returned to it after a few months and found a beautiful and layered piece of work that I never expected from this band. Nowadays it's hard not to call this my favorite Thursday album, despite how much some of their earlier work affected me during my formative years.

11. Paper Route - The Peace of Wild Things (2012)

Paper Route crafts a brand of experimental indie rock that doesn't sound quite like any other band I've heard. A lot of that individuality stems from frontman JT Daly's unique vocal performances, which drift effortlessly from falsetto to a more speak-singing delivery. This album is full of intricate drumming, electronic flourishes, and of course, big hooks. Their 2016 album Real Emotion is just as good. I could have flipped a coin to decide which one to put on this list.

12. The Maine - American Candy (2015)

I wouldn't argue with anyone who said that this band continued to improve with their subsequent records Lovely Little Lonely (2017) and You Are OK (2019), but this is the album that I personally enjoy listening to the most. This was the moment that I realized that The Maine had graduated from their neon-scene beginnings and become a band that I could really get invested in. I love the classic, breezy pop sound of this album and how it doesn't always take itself so seriously (see "My Hair," "English Girls," and "Diet Soda Society"). Another album that always feels good when I hit play.

13. Acceptance - Colliding by Design (2017)

Acceptance somehow returned 12 years after their debut album with a near-perfect version of what their band could sound like in 2017. They carried over the tunefulness and great songwriting from Phantoms and threw in some maturity and a few synths. The end result is an album full of impressive moments that is even better than I remember every time I put it on.

14. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (2015)

Andrew McMahon is one of my favorite songwriters, full stop. However, the final Jack's Mannequin album People and Things and his first solo endeavor, The Pop Underground EP, didn't excite me as much as his previous music had. Just when I was ready to accept that his newer output may never connect with me quite like his early records with Jack’s and Something Corporate, he dropped this first album under the Wilderness moniker and pulled me back in in a big way. Tracks like "Canyon Moon," "High Dive," and "Maps for the Getaway" retained the earnestness of his early songwriting while glossing it up with a new pop sheen. I guess I'll never grow out of McMahon's music.

15. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It (2016)

The 1975 have become a buzz band during this decade, and for my money this is their strongest collection of songs to date. They took a big swing here, with 17 tracks clocking in at 74 minutes. It is remarkable that this album takes a spot on my list even though I don't care much for some of the more extended cuts, which are primarily the experimental and instrumental offerings. It speaks to the strength of the rest of the songs, which include "A Change of Heart" and "Somebody Else," two of the most simultaneously heart-wrenching and danceable songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing.

16. Blindside - With Shivering Hearts We Wait (2011)

For most of the first decade of the 2000s, Blindside were my undisputed, all-caps FAVORITE BAND. I channeled all of my awkward, pubescent, high school teen angst into their 2002 album Silence, and it was such a close companion during those formative years that it might never be replaced as the most important album of my life. By 2011, my taste in music had become considerably less aggressive, and songwriters like Butch Walker and Graham Colton were assuming Blindside's former mantle. But the band returned for one last gasp, six years after the release of their previous full-length. With Shivering Hearts We Wait was easily Blindside's best output since 2004's About a Burning Fire, mixing some more experimental elements in with their brand of radio-ready (if the radio were to ever play rock music again) post-hardcore.

17. Small Talks - A Conversation Between Us (2019)

Myrtle Beach, SC native Cayley Spivey hit me out of nowhere with this album in 2019. I had never heard of Small Talks prior to this year, and decided to check out this album on a whim. What I got was a collection of pop and rock songs that are diverse, infectious, and, true to the album title, feature lyrics that sound like they were plucked from intimate conversations with a trusted friend. I saw the band perform this album in full in front of an audience of about 20 people this year. I won't be the least bit surprised to see them selling out exponentially larger venues in the near future.

18. Hellogoodbye - Would It Kill You? (2010)

I enjoyed a handful of early Hellogoodbye songs. "Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn," "Call N' Return," and "Here (In Your Arms)" are catchy as hell, but the band's output as a whole was uneven. Since they had a number of tracks I would classify as joke songs, I wasn't inclined to take them entirely seriously. That all changed with the release of Would It Kill You?, which ditched the bombastic electronic noises for more natural instrumentation and featured songs about relationships and self-examination as we age into adulthood. I was a year out of college and beginning my career when this album was released, and it was the perfect pop album for the coming-of-age moment I was living.

19. Steve Moakler - Wide Open (2014)

I had never heard of Steve Moakler when I saw him open for Graham Colton in 2011. Despite his youthful appearance, I was blown away by his songwriting and stage presence, and left the show with his first two full-length albums on CD (truly a sign of the times). His 2011 album Watching Time Run captivated me with its charming approach to pop singer-songwriter fare, but the 2014 follow-up Wide Open was where Moakler really found his voice. It retained some of the pop elements of his earlier output, while the overall sound and production started leaning into country territory. His albums after this one fully embraced the country sound and put him on the map as an up-and-coming star, but Wide Open still stands above the rest to me as the perfect blend of Moakler's former and current musical styles.

20. Arctic Monkeys - AM (2013)

Arctic Monkeys aren't a band that I would have ever expected to end up on this list. Their debut album, critical darling Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, doesn't really mean anything to me. I casually followed their career and kept up with their singles, but was never tempted to dive into their full albums until 2011's Suck It and See. I enjoyed that album a fair amount, but I was truly infatuated with AM in 2013. That was a tumultuous year in my life when I was enduring a lot of change and being pushed far out of my comfort zone. This is a straightforward rock record that is brash, groovy, sexy, and exactly what I needed at that time. I latched on tightly, and am still glad to rock out to AM at any opportunity.

There you have it, folks! My decade in 20 albums. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wish everyone a relaxing holiday season and a happy New Year. My resolution is to release the next PiT full-length album in 2020! It won’t be easy, but I did treat myself to some new recording equipment this Christmas and I’m eager to get to work. When there’s news, you’ll see it here. Wish me luck!

[arnoldjaime13]

Blog Tour: WOUNDED HEROES ANTHOLOGY With An Excerpt & $10 Amazon GC #Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the WOUNDED HEROES ANTHOLOGY blog tour! Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway below!

About the Book:

Title: WOUNDED HEROES ANTHOLOGY

Author: Pamela Ackerson, Debra Parmley, Teri Riggs, Maggie Adams, Nia Farrell

Pub. Date: November 7, 2019

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 131

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, TBD

Five Degrees of heartwarming to melting stories ─ Five stand-alone love stories with swoon-worthy heroes that will leave you breathless from award-winning International, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling authors Pamela Ackerson, Debra Parmley, Teri Riggs, Maggie Adams, and Nia Farrell.

* A Rosa for Russell ~ Who in their right mind falls in love with the enemy?

** Two Step, New Steps  ~ Wounded cop Len Yardley doesn’t expect to find love while he’s healing from a gunshot wound but the air force veteran can’t help falling for perky Leanne Bobbin who brings out his protective instincts and makes him laugh.

*** Bringing Her Home ~ Can Thomas Raintree bring home the woman he loves, but had to leave behind?

**** As Time Goes By ~ Blake’s determined to find out who killed his best friend, and his widow holds the key ...not only to the murder, but also to Blake’s heart. 

***** Fallen ~ An Army chaplain priest’s faith is tested when he falls for his PTSD therapist.

Fallen by Nia Farrell Excerpt:

Ilsa Fischer was his obsession.

Father Andrew, the pastor of St. Margaret’s, had listened to his confession and assigned him penance.  Father Vincent found the feel of his rosary comforting.  The rounds of Hail, Mary’s were cathartic.  Knowing his situation, Father Andrew had encouraged him to linger longer, to find solace in the arms of the Church and see if he could bear to step into the other side of the confessional after he’d had to leave the door open on his.

It was one thing to be a penitent, seeking forgiveness and absolution.  But to be a confessor was to serve as God’s voice on earth.  It was a privilege and a responsibility that he did not feel worthy to perform with such stains upon his soul.  He’d strayed far enough in his mind to feel lost.  So far he hadn’t managed to find his way back home.  Instead, he’d been wandering like Moses in the Wilderness, helpless to help himself let alone those around him.

Father Vincent inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the scents of incense, burned-out candles, and lemon oil wood polish rising from the rows of pews and the walnut confessional on one side of the nave.  Dating from the nineteenth century, the ornate cabinet had been designed and built to suit the patron who’d paid for much of the church’s construction.  Solid doors ensured privacy for those seeking absolution and allowed the priest to closet himself from the world and focus on the person on the other side of the screened partition.  He had used the padded kneeler when he confessed to Father Andrew, but a chair had been added for those who needed it.

God called him to notice the place of forgiveness.  Compelled to answer, he reached for the confessional door.

A time-worn bench spanned the back of the space, empty, beckoning, drawing him inside.  The walls started to close in.  He drew a steadying breath and recited the Twenty-Third Psalms.  Called to be a shepherd, he thought of his last flock and wondered how many survived.

He should pray for their souls.

And his.

Father Vincent closed his eyes and drew the door shut behind him.  With his thoughts turned inward, he was able to tolerate the small space of the confessional and lift up his unit in prayer.  He was asking for strength for himself when the sound of footsteps made him halt mid-thought.

The other door opened and closed, sealing the parishioner inside.

Panic gripped his chest, stealing his breath and squeezing his heart.  This wasn’t his parish.  This wasn’t his church.

He shouldn’t be here.  He was an imposter.  An interloper.  A sinner as in need of forgiveness as the other person who had come seeking it.

He’d been alone in the church when he’d entered the confessional.  Whoever had come in didn’t know that Father Andrew had gone.  He forced himself to stay silent.  If they thought that no one was here, they’d leave him alone.

If he pretended to be asleep, maybe they’d torture someone else.

Just that fast, he was back in his pit, starved, dehydrated, with flea bites and burn marks covering his skin like the plague.  He swallowed a whimper, choking on it, silently keening, praying to die.

The memory of Ilsa’s voice pulled him back from the hellhole of Iraq to awareness of where he was.  The walls started to close in on him again.  He reached for the door, intending to apologize and flee.

“Forgive me, Father.  I’m sorry.  I don’t know how this works.”

Father Vincent froze, recognizing the silken voice that had eased him from more than one episode and had slipped him into an altered state when she’d talked him into being hypnotized.  He thought that he had imagined it, but Ilsa was here, on the other side of the screen.

Ilsa was here.

About the authors: 

Pam Ackerson:

Wife, mother, international and Amazon bestselling author, and time traveling adventurer. Born and raised in Newport, RI where history is a way of life, Pamela Ackerson now lives on the Space Coast of Florida where everyone is encouraged to reach for the stars! A hop, skip, and jump from Disney World and fun-filled imagination and fantasy. Non-fiction, WW2, inspirational, self-help marketing and advertising, historical fiction, time travel, westerns, Native American, and children's preschool/first reader books.

PamelaAckerson.com

@PamAckerson

Debra Parmley:

Debra enjoys writing historical romance and writes a 1920's flappers romance series, each book about a different flapper. She also writes contemporary and holiday romance, a dystopian romance trilogy; paranormal romance, fairy tale romance and poetry. She is a professional speaker and a world traveler who often brings home folk tales and music from countries she has visited. Her five favorite things are shooting primitive archery with her Mongolian horse bow, shooting long guns, shooting pool, walking on the beach, and hearing from her readers. Each card and letter is a joyful treasure, like finding that perfect shell on the beach. DebraParmley.com

@DebraParmley

Teri Riggs:

Teri Riggs is a USA Today Bestselling author. As a child, Teri made up her own bedtime stories. When her children came along, Teri always tweaked the fairy tales she told her daughters, giving them a bit more punch and better endings when needed. Now she spends her days turning her ideas into books. She lives in Marietta, GA with her husband.

Teri-Riggs.com

@TeriLRiggs

Maggie Adams:

Maggie Adams is an international and Amazon Best Selling romance author. Her first book in the Tempered Steel Series, Whistlin' Dixie, debuted in Amazon's Top 100 for Women's Fiction, humor, on November 2014. Since then, she has consistently made the Amazon best seller 5-star list with her books. HerTempered Steel Series has launched the tiny town of Grafton, Illinois, into international recognition with sales in Mexico, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and the UK and her follow-up paranormal series, Legends, looks to do the same! She is the recipient of the Dayreader Reviews Best of 2015 for Leather and Lace, the Readers Favorite Award for Something's Gotta Give in 2016, the Indie Romance Convention Romantic Comedy Award 2017 for Forged in Fire and the 2017 New Apple Awards nomination - Suspense for Cold as Ice.

Facebook Page

@AuthrMaggieAdms

Nia Farrell:

Author Nia Farrell is a four-times Golden Flogger Finalist, a founding member of the Wicked Pens, and a multi-genre author who is published in nonfiction, poetry, music, articles, and children's books, with one documentary screenplay under her literary belt. She had nine nominations in the 2016 Summer Indie Book Awards; her BDSM MMF ménage erotic historical As Wicked as You Want was voted #1 Erotica and #10 overall in The 50 Best Indie Books of 2016, and Pride and Punishment was voted Best Historical Romance in the 2017 Menages Romance Readers Favorites.

NiaFarrell.Wordpress.com

@AuthrNiaFarrell

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

12/2/2019

Mythical Books

Guest Post

12/3/2019

BookHounds

Interview

12/4/2019

Two Chicks on Books

Interview

12/5/2019

Jaime's World

Excerpt

12/6/2019

Reese's Reviews

Review

Week Two:

12/9/2019

Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog

Review

12/10/2019

DelightingDelilah

Excerpt

12/11/2019

Book Briefs

Review

12/12/2019

Shelf-Rated

Review

12/13/2019

Books a Plenty Book Reviews

Review

[openingsny]

We are pleased to announce the opening of our annual group exhibition, The Lovely Wild, curated by Jenn Cacciola and Frank Sabatté. . . . On view September 6 - October 17th, 2019. Opening reception: September 12th, 2019, 7-9 pm Artists Walk-through (guided tour led by the curators): September 19th, 7- 9 pm . . . The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, corner of W. 60th St. and Columbus(9th) Ave., NYC Daily Hours: M-F 8am-5pm / Sat. 8-6 / Sun. 8-6:30 pm . . . Looking out into the wilderness, not knowing where you are headed or where we are headed, artists must go into that wilderness and have conversations - conversations where all involved are changed such that the wilderness is no longer fearful but hopeful; not a place of terror, but one of peace. . . . Participating Artists: Robert Aitchison, Kayo Albert, Michael Berube, Vivian Charlesworth, Sarah Crofts, Andy Dinh, Randy Dixon, Ashley Garret, Syd Glasser, Keena Gonzales, J. Grabowski, Katerina Lanfranco, Christopher Lin, Brittany Miller, Willemien Mostert, Eleanor Gay Murphy, Julianne Nash, Maia Nero, Hilary Opperman, Oksana Prokopenko, Ingrid Roe, Anthony Santella, Nikki Schiro, Lothar Troeller, James Vanderberg, Brian Wood, Etty Yaniv, John Zmuda. . . . A new work for the organ composed especially for this exhibit by Juilliard graduate Anne Qian Wang will be performed during the reception. . . . Artwork will be exhibited within the unique space of the interior of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle on the corner of Columbus Avenue and W. 60th Street in New York City. . . . For more information: mail@openingsny.com Press Contact: Frank Sabatte 212-265-3209 ext. 218 www.openingsny.com (at Church of Saint Paul The Apostle, NYC) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1l6b0qFZHe/?igshid=19pgazym4a0yu

[weekendier-blog]

Check out our blog for a recap of this weekend's camp/swim/hike trip. Link in profile, mobile friendly. Views and comments to our original content help us compete as a local small independent business, so please consider hitting that link. http://www.718c.com/blog/2019/8/11/ffv4mhjvaezgbx3aj4jyw4gtjugyf1 Check out www.718c.com/adventure for upcoming Bike Tours, Micro-Tours, Day Hikes, Camping Trips and Classes. #camping #hiking #woods #tents #bikecamping #bikepacking #biketouring #adventure #anventure #camp #hike #sleepingbags #wilderness #nature #backpacking #outdoors #nature #maloufsmountain ⛺🌲🗻🌄. (at Malouf's Mountain Sunset Campground) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ENkFzFVt4/?igshid=fjldwlqfn770