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It's almost Halloween, which means costume parties are around the corner. But the hardest part of this holiday is often choosing your costume. TV from the last 12 months is a great place to find inspiration. Whether you prefer to buy something new, repurpose items from the depths of your closet or make an ensemble from scratch, there is a television show to match your Halloween party needs.
One of this year's most anticipated returning shows, Stranger Things—which just so happens to be set at Halloween—will hit Netflix on Friday, October 27. If you want to dress as your favorite monster-hunter or enhanced individual, this might mean some very last-minute costume construction, especially if you you're planning on going as Eleven and were banking on a blonde wig and pink dress—so 2016. This year, think curly hair and denim overalls to get her tween look. Accomplishing this is easy; all you need is a gray sweatshirt and white t-shirt. Nosebleed makeup is optional, but will sell the idea that you haven't just picked a random outfit from your wardrobe. Other recent Eleven clothing additions show her layering in a plaid shirt and coat; fairly common items, but a trip to the thrift store will better suit the vibe of '80s nostalgia. As for the boys, their Ghostbusters' suits couldn't be more '80s appropriate. How about going as one of the kids dressed as a Ghostbusters character?
For another costume within a costume suggestion look no further than the Big Little Lies finale where the leading ladies of the award-winning miniseries dress as different characters played by Audrey Hepburn. Etsy has you set for Holly Golightly accoutrements if you want to pull a Madeline, but a little black dress will also suffice.
GLOW, another Netflix original set in the '80s, resonated with viewers because of the do-it-yourself charm of the early costumes. Ruth, an unemployed actress who auditions for an all-women wrestling team, uses household items like rubber gloves and a shoelace to make her first wrestling ensemble. Her jazzercise garb is ideal for the ring and bodysuits are easier than ever to find, having made a comeback over the last year. American Apparel's Spandex department has them in everything from gold to leopard print. Pair one with blue lipstick in Blue-tiful Kitty from Katy Perry's CoverGirl collection and hair with maximum volume so everyone knows you are a Gorgeous Lady of Wrestling.
For more reasons to go '80s thrift shopping for your Halloween look, why not choose one of the many spy disguises used by Philip and Elizabeth Jennings on The Americans, a drama series about two KGB spies living in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War. Grab yourself a wig, some oversized specs and a dowdy sweater to appear completely unassuming. The only downside is some might mistake you for going full hipster.
Costume designer Ane Crabtree has delivered some of the most iconic costumes on TV, first with Westworld followed by the Emmy award-winning Handmaid's Tale. For a Westworld-themed look, take cues from Dolores' mid-season change of outfit, or turn yourself into a technician with simple white coveralls. Just paint the sleeves red and walk around with a tablet.
If you're handy with a sewing machine, there are patterns available on Etsy for The Handmaid's Tale's iconic capes and wings. This ensemble is instantly recognizable and it also doubles as a political statement, as this has become one of the symbols of the real life resistance movement.
Winter is coming, so bundling up in a Game of Thrones costume has the added benefit of keeping you warm. Costume designer Michele Clapton revealed that this Ikea rug is the inspiration for the Night's Watch costumes. Or you could even try to be a little bit more adventurous and turn yourself into Jon Snow's direwolf ghost. Here's a couple of mask suggestions to help.
Twin Peaks has a number of great costumes to emulate for Halloween, like the simple Agent Cooper black suit and the abstract steam kettle version of Phillip Jeffries. The latter will definitely be a conversation starter. There are also truly scary costume ideas from both the original series and revival: double denim wearing Bob and the soot-covered Woodsman. Just remember to ask people "Got a light?" for maximum creepiness.
For the ultimate in easy costumes, look no further than Mr. Robot and grab a black hoodie, skinny jeans, black T-shirt and F Society mask. Elliot, a computer programmer-slash-vigilante hacker, briefly wore a Josh Groban shirt in the season 3 premiere, if you want to mix things up with a very specific reference..
And if all else fails, make like Hollywood and revive something from TV past such as X-Files' Mulder and Scully. Grab a trench coat, flashlight, suit and homemade FBI badge for that good old-fashioned reboot nostalgia.
With so many iconic reboots and riveting new releases, it can be overwhelming when choosing what to watch, let alone what to wear. Whether you pull a costume together from your closet or the store, or DIY something uniquely your own, let primetime TV and Netflix releases be your guide.
Emma Fraser is the creator of TV Ate My Wardrobe and spends most of her time writing about TV, fashion and costuming, like Abbi and Ilana's Broad City style, the wigs on The Americans and Fleabag's lipstick. Emma has a MA in Film and Television, and she holds Angela Chase responsible for this path. You can find her on Twitter @frazbelina
More by Emma Fraser:
The Woman Behind Chadwick Boseman's Impeccable 'Marshall' Attire
'Mark Felt' Costume Designer on Conveying Power Through Ugly, 1970s Ties
It's Going to Get Ugly in 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' Season 3
Where to Shop All the Looks From HBO's 'Insecure'


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Ravi Chopra hospitalizedOct 23, 2012 IANS
Mumbai, Oct 23 (IANS) Filmmaker Ravi Chopra, son of late B.R. Chopra, is warded at the Breach Candy hospital here due to a lung ailment.
A hospital source told IANS: "Yes, Ravi Chopra is here and is in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)."
According to informed sources, the 66-year-old filmmaker was taken to hospital a few days back.
Ravi Chopra directed "The Burning Train" (1980), "Aaj Ki Awaz" (1984), "Baghban" (2003) and "Baabul" (2006) among others.
Filmmaker Yash Chopra, Ravi Chopra's uncle, died Sunday.
More News

subset: commoncrawl


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So let's check a bit of your personality and imagination!If you went to a desert island and you could take one (and only ONE!) item with you, what would you take?Myself would bring a cellphone with gps and hope for it to have signal LoL!So I could be savvveeddd ASAP!And you?
I would take a plane or a car so I could get out of the desert. I don't think a cell would get a signal in the desert.
A car? In a desert island??? ~~
Lol I have ADD, I misread. Ok, I would take a boat with a full tank of gas.
Have to be a Jack Daniels' distillery. Pretty much cope with anything then.
My Dragon. Ain't no way I'm getting stuck on a desert anything.And yes. He's an item.
I would take frogdropping, she has a dragon.
lol nice. how do you know her dragon would like you?
Smells like a free meal to me
She likes me and that's enough for her dragon. If not, I'd just have to hog tie him for a day or two with vines.
Because Kevin likes everyone. He assumes all that know him/hear of him/etc already adore him.Pure math.And good call ralwus. Me and Kevin count as one 'thing'Unfortunately ...
If I went? Who says I'd go? I don't want to be stuck on a desert. If I haaad to. Hm. Lots of water? My boyfriend? Heck, I dunno!
I do not trust anything that breathes fire.
Hehe, actually only red dragons breath fire... White breathe frost, black acid and so on... Which kind of dragon is yours, frog and what does he spews?
Kevin is currently silver. And he's an Irregularity Dragon. Which just means he was an *whispers* accident.And he spews fire. Occasionally he spews Dinner back up.But mostly he spews BS.
Typical male then?
What he spews is part of why I've decided he's male. He won't tell me. As in anyting I want to hear.And that is another reason ...
I want to change my item. I would take a jet pack like that dude on espn flew. That would be a nice rush.
I'd take a teleporter ... I hate long commutes home.
If I could take one item it would be a communications device that worked on the island to get me the hell outta there!
Being of Cuban descent, I'd take an old truck that i could convert into a boat.
Ooooh! That is very droll.
A fishing Pole to pass the time away...
a man of course
Blondepoet, you have got most of the men now, they will all be here when you get back. If you take a man just make sure he has a GPS capable phone with a full battery, we do not want to go losing our fair poet..
LMAO I would need a man to harpoon the fish, climb the trees and get a coconut down, body warmth at night,also I am not good at starting fires outside, only inside in my kitchen,also you would not need to find a ball like Tom Hanks did and talk to it. So many benefits, great company, not saying I can't live without one of course, but in that situation, a must I think
Practicality wins the day and you have read Swiss family Robinson or Robinson Crusoe. Besides if you are stuck for twenty years the kids could look after you!
Exactly Sixty my point exactly, besides it beats one of those whirling things
I had a really tough time deciding what I would bring...and then I saw blondepoet's profile pic.decision made.
Awwww you are so sweet do not listen to Eric we have this thing going on between us, it is a long story,he is a little stirrer but so loveable.
Camouflage Paint...so the rescue plane couldn't find me.
The door from a '57 Chevvy.So I could roll down the window when it gets really hot.@ ElliottM: Welcome to Hub Pages. And you've bitten off WAY more than you can chew with BP. For starters, she'll put you to work collecting prawns.
I just want to nibble on her a bit.....I wouldn't bite....promise.
Hahaha I hope you don't mean for cannibalistic reasons
he's more likely to give you crabs than prawns!
hahaha Cindy only one way to find out...
ROFL a girl has to have her prawns you know xox
And that's just crazy Eric.....you know it's just going to let the heat in!!!!
Toothbrush....... Brush teeth, comb hair, clean nails, facial scrub, smooth eyebrows, skin fish..........
Health Care you breaking all the rules, one item you are allowed, ooooooo
BP, the toothbrush is my only item......
Haha oh the shame of me I misread it, oh my, forgive me, I was thinking you had a whole suitcase, you reckon a toothbrush would really do the trick? Wow you asked for something so small and me so big
You would clean your nails/skin fish and then brush your teeth with it?? No thanks. My item would be either a boat or a boy.
just the opposite Colebabie... then sun dry the brush in salt water.... Hey, we are on an island and you have to adjust a tad bit.........
or I could bring the handcuffs, whip, and lube.... Oh yeah!!! Party time !!!!!!!!!!!!
Well I was gonna say vibrator, but opted for a boy instead. Vibrators need batteries
Oh, the above comes in one package........ So one item, right ??
Ahhh, girl with gusto...... No rechargeables though. Do they have solar powered batteries??
A yacht stocked with supplies (all kinds lol)
A viberating object. LOL Kidding Kidding. ha
Oh come on tell the truth now you are serious,ROFL
I was wondering why she wanted to take a washing machine to the island. Where would she plug it in ??
Hahaha Eric, well I once took my hair dryer camping to Fraser island, mmmm she must have been thinking of a washing machine,I mean what else could it have been ?
Hahaha, yer not kidding! You would not have thought of it if you were. You just don't want it to be left behind. LOL
Can you hear a hummimg sound C.C
No, I hear lots of thunder now as storms are coming in. Tornadoes likely. Got to go. bye
Oh no, hope it is all ok C.C, bye my friend.xox
Seriously, if something happened and I found myself on a deserted island, I would hope I had a blank journal with a never-ending pen inside. I would keep a journal, express my adventures, thoughts, and feelings until either death or being rescued. If I survived, then I would have a book and movie deal all in one.........Wishful thinking....
My World Edition Blackberry! I could take pictures, video, read/send e-mail, know where I was with the GPS and e-mail people my whereabouts to come get me. It also has AIM, Twitter and the internet so I could approve my hubpage comments and check my google adsense earnings.I could look up all sorts of information about how to start a fire without a lighter and how to ensure water is safe to drink.After the battery ran out, I'd be screwed. But hopefully by that time, the rescue crews would be on the way!
A do not disturb sign!
Im thinkin a 'survival kit' (complete with rations,like they give those army boys)Kinda like island life
I am on a desert island, it's overated
Maybe you should be my one item CG after all we are having a gay relationship together
Oh tell the world, you just can't keep our secret. Last night was good though, you are without doubt my best lover
Oh yes and you were pretty darn fine yourself,ooooooooo, can't divulge all the ins and outs of it here.
I preferred the ins Laters my love x
OMG !!! There are 5 natives running out of the bushes I gotta run. Not away from them, towards them, a cabin girl has her needs
Ohhhhhhh you abandoning me, well I just saw six little crabs running towards a hole on the beach, I gotta run. Not away from them, but a girl has her needs :)No you go ahead Cabin Girl you know where the real pudding is after you are done
I got Crabs too
Your crabs were sensational. Geez you and Sufi got something in common he has crabs too
And Blondepoet didn't fulfill them ???? Wow.
I am not a greedy woman I let her experience the not so good so she knows where the honey pot really is you see.....
Were they blue crabs, Blonde?
Haha Cin, yes I think so they were cold I think
When did I get crabs....damn.....can't trust anyone anymore.
I had lobster yesterday does that count?
After reading Cindy's latest hub... A rugby player would be ALL I need!
Now this lady has all the right ideas
I would take Blondepoet. Now if she took a laptop with an everlasting battery.
Aww I am good value Sixty, you would never wish to be rescued ever again.With an imagination so vast and a simple diet of prawns and crabs what more could a man want?
Prawns are fine but it would depend on the type of crab. Perhaps a lobster or two would be better?
Sixty, you reckon the Springboks will wallop the Lions tomorrow?
They should but the Lions have done well. Lions have a proud history over the years.
I have no idea who the lions are (BP hangs her head in shame)
The Lions are the British and Irish Lions, a composite rugny side made up from the Original four nations of britain namely English, Scottish, Welsh and the Northern Irish who are not part of Britain, hence the name. In other words the best rugby players from each of the four national sides. They only tour about every four or five years abd generally make up a pretty powerful side. The toured New Zealand and Australia about four years ago.
Gulp Sixty I must have been making beads or creating chaos at the time as I can't remember them.....(BP slinks away in shame)
I bought some of those solar chargers to take with me this week. They look amazing and can charge up anything digital and ipods, phones etc. Maybe have to sneak in one of them!
Chargers Cin?? What do they charge?
Blonde you have to drool over the rugby player pics
I am but an innocent girl Cindy can not be corrupted by such things...
solar chargers could charge your vibrator.Innocent? Humpf!
Awww snookykins can you not see the ring of light above my head? How many vibrators do you have Cin anyway? Someone once gave me a bright green one, I only had it for a day and the cleaner lady of the house I was staying at stole it for her own devices I never saw it again
I laugh in your general direction
She could use my solar charger to charge it, these things are amazing!
Ohhh avoiding my question mmmmm, you still have not told us how many you have Cin...
I would take a fishing pole...you have to eat you know.
Oh wow a wave of tiredness has overtaken me, goodnight Eric G and Cin, don't do anything I would not do now you here...xoxox
Am off to a big drinking and dancing goodbye party! cya
If I took one item it would be to TAKE MY ASS OUT OF THERE.
ROFLMAO!!!Thanks for all your great replies, people! So much imagination eheh!
Duct tape... you can do anything with duct tape!
I would take nothing. Then maybe I would stay sane from running and doing for of these kiddos.Please send me there, I beg you.
I would take a solar powered laptop, so I can check my Adsense account.
...oh...and to get some more hubs on here...
If I had blondepoet, that would all I would need!
Aww I am blushing, bless your little cotton picking socks
On a tropical island with a choice of only one item..My Choice is Simple: A Geny's Bottle!
I would take my husband since he just told me he would take a bag of weed if he had to choose one item
Then a Lawn Mower might be better!
Indigenous is smiling and getting his Lawn Mower ready
what is weed?wink,wink...
Is that you Pest?
I am with you Sixty I believe Pest is back here under a different alias I bet my boots on it
by Infobrowser 10 years ago
A Nintendo DS
by lizzieBoo 12 years ago
Imagine being stranded on a desert island and assuming the island had good weather, what things would you really miss about your present life, apart from friends and family?
by Wendi Gjata 8 years ago
Desert Island: What 3 foods/ combonations of food would you bring?I would definitely bring Grilled chicken salad, Tomatoes, lasagna with veggies!
by cmumm86 11 years ago
If you were stranded on a desert island, would you eat an endangered species to survive?
Desert Island: What 3 books would you bring?One book I would definitely bring would be Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, and The Giver!
by marymootoo 12 years ago
How would you escape from a desert island?If you where like Robinson Crusoe and marooned on a desert island how would you cope and what would you do to make your escape?
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Every morning I wake up to the same routine. I log into the Tinder account of a 45-year-old man from Texas—a client. I flirt with every woman in his queue for 10 minutes, sending their photos and locations to a central database of potential "Opportunities." For every phone number I get, I make $1.75.
I'm what's called a "Closer" for the online-dating service ViDA (Virtual Dating Assistants). Men and women (though mostly men) from all over the world pay this company to outsource the labor and tedium of online dating. The matches I speak to on behalf of the Texan man and other clients have no idea they're chatting with a professional.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that these ghostwriting services exist. Tinder alone produces more than 12 million matches a day, and if you're a heterosexual American, you now have a one in three chance of meeting your future husband or wife online. But as e-romance hits an all-time high, our daily dose of rejection, harassment, and heartbreak creeps upward, too. Once you mix in the vague rules of netiquette and a healthy fear of catfishing scams, it's easy to see why someone might want to outsource their online-dating profile to a pro, if only to keep themselves sane.
But where does the digital social assistant end and the con artist begin?
The online seduction manual
When I tell people that I work as an online-dating assistant, their initial reaction is of morbid curiosity. "How did you even find out about that?" they ask, voices lowering, leaning in.
In November 2017, I ran across an ad seeking "people with good Tinder skills" for a job as a "Virtual Dating Assistant." At first I thought it was a joke, but I completed their online form out of pure fascination. I received a callback three days later.
Apparently, professional writers make for good online-dating assistants; knowing how to seduce strangers with the written word is the company's mandate, after all. But the intake interviewer seemed just as interested in my ethical flexibility as he was in the journalistic details of my résumé. Could I work in an "moral gray area?" Would I be comfortable ranking clients' photographs? Was I dating anyone currently?
I learned that there are two main types of writers at the company: "Profile Writers," who create seductive and click-worthy profiles based on facts our clients have supplied about themselves, and "Closers," who log in to clients' dating accounts at least twice a day to respond to messages from matches.
Despite hiring writers to do this work, virtually none of what the company does requires creativity of any kind. Profile Writers follow strict guidelines, often recycling the same half-dozen clichés over and over again. If a client has a dog (jackpot!), all the Profile Writer needs to do is search for the word "dog" in their manual and choose from a list of dog-related one-liners, like this one:
"Hey. As an animal lover, I want to find out your opinion… dressing up your dog: yes or no?"
The process for Closers is a bit more complicated. The initial training period lasts several weeks before we're given access to clients' accounts, during which we must read several training manuals and submit draft responses to fake matches. At first, my trainer encouraged me to get creative with my replies, but by the third week, I was still getting back extensive rewrites. My most frequent mistake was asking career-oriented questions, which were deemed too difficult for some women to answer. "She seems more simple," my trainer would write in response. "Let's try a different approach." My meaningful questions would disappear from our shared GoogleDoc, replaced by simpler, condescending small talk.
My Closer manuals were written by the company's founder, Scott Valdez, a self-taught dating expert with a background in sales. The manuals have titles like Women On Demand and The Automatic Date Transition, and are loaded with his personal insights into the primal female brain. We are to treat them as dating-assistant gospel.
"There's no question about it," reads one chapter, "women want to date the alpha male. They are naturally drawn to the 'leader of the pack.'" Valdez elaborates later in the manual: "The alpha male is the selector, he chooses… he is not chosen." But how do you present yourself as an Alpha? "Never compliment her without a qualification," he writes. "Let her know what you want in a woman and make her explain why she fits those criteria."
"I'm not a psychologist or self-proclaimed expert in the multiple facets of human psychology," Valdez told Quartz in a phone call. "I consider myself to be a marketer, a matchmaker, and a dating expert." He lists the books he's read that inform his methods: Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational, David J. Lieberman's Get Anyone To Do Anything, ("which kind of scared my mom"), and the classic Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.
"Online dating takes effort, and effort equals time," he continued. "With [dating apps'] explosion in popularity, it means that you have a huge dating pool at your fingertips, but you're also in direct competition with everyone else in your area. So if you want to have a chance at meeting your most intriguing matches, you need to have the best possible profile, photos, and messages."
In my guise as a middle-aged American male, it's my job to pursue women on our clients' behalf. These people are often in their early 20s; young women with less dating savvy are easy targets for the company's methods. "Rule 1: Don't make her think too hard," the manual says. "When writing sales copy…the goal is to reduce her 'cognitive load' so she's more likely to reach the end and still have energy to write out a reply."
What does a "low cognitive load" pick-up line look like? My personal favorite:
A beautiful seaplane. A suitcase full of cash. And a dashing co-pilot. Whereto?
These pick-up lines are mostly sent by a third type of employee, "Matchmakers," who send out opening messages en masse across every dating platform imaginable: Tinder, Bumble, match.com, POF, Luxy, and Seeking Arrangement, to name just a few. As part of the company's all-inclusive service, Matchmakers will scour these platforms for potential matches and then send copy-and pasted opening messages to those who fulfill their clients' preferences, such as "must love cats" or "should know how to cook."
But combing through each woman's profile would require too much time, so Matchmakers are instead taught to generalize a client's preferences as much as possible and then select an opening line that could work for hundreds of women. For example, does Client X like to travel? That's easy: Client X's Matchmaker can search the company manual for the word "travel" and select from a handful of vague travel-related greetings. From there, after the client has approved the message, a one-liner blitz will rain down on dozens of dating sites, targeting hundreds of women with the word "travel" in their profiles.
"We have a lot of ice-breaker messages that are billed around specific interests, like yoga or skiing or having a very short profile," Valdez told Quartz. "If there's a message that the client doesn't like, we take it out of rotation." After the Matchmakers have made contact, the Closers then step in to keep up the flirty banter and, hopefully, get their client a date. Clients are sent weekly emails to alert them of numbers we've scored or, for Platinum clients, when and where to go for a date we've arranged.
This messaging "blast" technique may appear lucrative compared to the average neighborhood yenta, but it has occurred to me that good matchmaking may not be in the company's financial interest. When a client pairs up, they leave the service. And with ViDA charging each client anywhere from $495 to $1,695 a month for its services, there is a significant financial incentive to keep them coming back.
So, tell me about yourself
Originally a sales guy with no time for "real dates," Valdez grew ViDA's brand out of his own experiences in the dating world. Before Tinder normalized "DTF" ("Down To Fuck") as an opening salute, Valdez would send copy-and-pasted pick-up lines to dozens of women a day and track their effectiveness on spreadsheets. "Online dating is a numbers game," he would write in the ViDA training manual years later.
His idea for a digital-dating-assistant service started in 2009, when he was frustrated with the amount of time it took to search for matches online. "I was working 60 to 70 hours a week and simply didn't have time to keep up with online dating," he said. "Before my life had gotten so crazy, I'd managed to develop some material that worked really well on the dating sites I was using. But I was at the point where I was only able to return messages sporadically, which obviously didn't go too well with the matches I was interested in."
"I found myself wishing there were two of me," he continued. "I thought, 'Why couldn't I just take what I had developed, and train someone else to sound like me, and outsource my online dating to him?'" After finding someone on Craigslist who "did a really great job," Valdez started thinking about how many people were in the same position: time-poor professionals who might benefit from some of the lessons he'd learnt. "If it weren't for my relentless dedication to cracking the code to meeting and attracting the right person, I probably wouldn't have met the girl I'm with now."
Today the company employs 80 people and boasts 2,500 "satisfied customers." But the same cannot be said for all of its employees.
I asked my coworkers how they handle the moral flexibility that the work demands. One male Closer told me that it felt rewarding to "help men too old to understand the internet," and that "some people are too busy for all that." Another writer told me that "finding love is a mysterious process, so we use data."
The service's data-driven approach to professional flirting became clear to me during my training. "We've discovered that a surprisingly large portion of the online dating process can be systematized into what is essentially clerical work," read one line in my training manual. "Really, when you think about it, you're writing sales copy."
To this end, every message I send is logged into an automated system that analyzes response rates. Closers regularly discuss what works and what doesn't, swapping tips in extensive email chains. There are required monthly team meetings, in which Closers help workshop opening messages and pitch new ideas. While the list of company-approved opening lines is constantly evolving, the formula is almost always the same: a vague reference to something on the match's profile, followed by an extremely easy question, like "I see you're into yoga…. so answer this question once and for all: which is better, hot or not?"
Paradoxically, ViDA's manual says that honesty is key to seduction. One chapter titled Don't Lie includes lines like, "There are few things women hate more than insincerity" and "If you've told your date you're a six-foot-tall astronaut when actually you're 5 ft 9 and sell insurance, she's going to find out."
"It's about trust and making sure we represent them in a way that's comfortable for them and feels authentic, because at the end of the day they're going to be the one going on the date," he added over the phone. "It's important that everything that we do feels right and feels true to who they are."
But I'm not an astronaut or an insurance salesman. I'm a woman sitting in my living room in Montréal, running proxies on my smartphone and laptop. I'm logged into my client's Tinder and match.com accounts, appearing on these platforms (with the help of numerous fake GPS services) to be the man I'm pretending to be. I sit on my couch and wait for messages to arrive in their inbox.
"Oh, you like Pink Floyd?" I write to one match. "Cool. I saw them in concert in '77." This technically isn't a fib: My client did see Pink Floyd in 1977—though I wasn't born until 1992.
I was three weeks into my contract when I encountered a client whose age was listed as 25. Written beside his photos was a casual disclaimer: "…he's actually 33 but wants to present like 25 to attract younger ladies." Shaving two or three years off of a client's age was common practice, but eight years felt predatory. I sent an email inquiring about the company's policies, and never heard back.
"If a client requests it, we may add an inch or two onto the displayed height or shave a year or two off the listed age, but we don't like to do anything that's really big," Valdez explained to Quartz. "The goal is for the client to meet their matches face to face and hopefully spark a long-term relationship. So big lies about important facts undermine that goal. We make sure our clients understand that."
Despite my attempts at embracing the "Alpha Male" attitude, the training staff have repeatedly told me that my writing is "too female," a characteristic that has never been fully explained. To mitigate this "error," I've been told I need to use shorter sentences, ask fewer questions, use fewer smileys, wait longer to reply, and set up dates before even asking if the woman is interested. If a woman doesn't respond to our cheesy pick-up lines or cough up her number by the third message, I'm instructed to move on, as the match is no longer cost-effective.
Closers aren't paid for the time they spend waiting for new messages, so I reread my clients' intake questionnaires in order to bill my base salary of $12 an hour. Every client must answer 50 or so questions about themselves when they first sign up and go through a 90-minute interview, supplying Profile Writers and Closers with nuggets of mundane information. Most of it is useless when it comes to fuel for flirtatious banter—like "I took piano lessons until I was 5 years old," or "I had fun at my sister's wedding"—but these lifeless anecdotes are all we have to draw from.
Several times a day, female staffers receive Photo Ranking Requests, in which we rank new clients' photos in order of attractiveness. This helps Matchmakers select which photos to use when building or updating a client's dating profile. "We don't like to declare that this client's a 9, this client's a 6, or compare our clients in any way," Valdez said. "We do, however, rank the attractiveness of a single client's photos against one another. We just employ a data-driven ranking process for choosing the most attractive pictures…We do this internally to determine a client's optimal photo lineup." He mentioned that OkCupid used to run a similar service, and Tinder can also optimize your photographs so that the most popular are shown first.
One Profile Writer I spoke with (I'll call him Doug) was candid about his dilemmas over the company's practices. After working as a Closer for two years, Doug had asked to switch to Profile Writing. He'd taken to referring to Closer work as "the dark side."
Doug told me that a lot of clients never call the women "who have been really engaged emotionally and are responding to our messages." Once Closers receive their commission for getting a number ($1.75 each), they move on. But if a woman never hears from the client—the man she believes she's been corresponding with the whole time—she might send more messages through the app, upset that she hasn't heard from him. But the Closer is no longer allowed to reply, so he ghosts her. There's no more money to be made.
"I am creating these bitter women out there," he said. "I ask myself if I'm part of the problem."
Doug learned to unmatch from women once he'd received his commission. It was easier for him that way.
Fool's gold
What kind of person would pay strangers to score them dates online, and then not even bother to call? Clients who can afford to ignore phone numbers because they receive so many a week are internally referred to as "Cash Cows." They go on several dates a week for months or sometimes years on end, traveling frequently to new areas and an ever-expanding pool of women. These clients tend to be younger men in high-powered finance jobs.
Valdez said that the typical client profile tends to be somebody between the ages of about 28 and 52, with most being in their 30s. (He also claims that one third of their clients are female.) From there, it divides into two camps: those who "have more money than time," and those who are just plain frustrated. "Entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers," he lists. "Programmers, too—especially programmers in the Bay Area. We get a lot of them."
These types of professionals are money rich but time poor, he explains. Valdez referenced a recent survey that shows online love seekers are spending 10 hours a week on dating sites and apps. "Our clients have successful careers," he said. "They work, they travel often, and they just don't have that time. So the need a company like ViDA fills is allowing them to delegate this particular aspect of their lives to an expert, just as many have financial planners, landscapers, personal trainers, and mechanics on speed dial."
Indeed, there are plenty of older men seeking age-appropriate, long-term relationships online. These are the types of clients Doug and Valdez always refer to when justifying the service, as our work helps them navigate unfamiliar territory. After all, internet culture does not come naturally to some, and many of our clients are widowed or divorced retirees.
I asked one of my trainers if the company takes on any married clients. Men looking to quietly set up extramarital affairs would benefit from the company's all-hands approach; they wouldn't even need to install the dating apps or visit the websites we use. Matchmakers will select their best photos, Profile Writers will make them sound appealing, and Closers will do all the flirting for them. Our clients need only check whatever email they've provided for date locations and phone numbers.
My trainer was quick to reassure me that they refuse those prospective clients. "Even if the guy's lying about it, Scott has a whole system for how we deal with that situation."
When asked about this policy directly, Valdez pointed out that their website clearly states that they do not take on married clients or those looking to cheat; he also said that the extensive on-boarding process tends to weed out any immoral actors. "I couldn't sleep well at night knowing we are helping people wreck their families. We've never knowingly helped cheaters," he says. "There are a lot of other ways I'd prefer to make money than helping people mess up their family."
Is it even legal?
The company's practices may be unethical—but they're not illegal. Once the company obtains the client's permission to impersonate them online, there are no laws against what Closers do.
Instead, it's left to individual platforms to crack down on fake accounts. OKCupid, for instance, makes it clear in their terms of service that third parties are not allowed to open accounts, and it's not uncommon for clients' profiles to get flagged and deleted. But from a legal perspective, unless a Closer harasses or threatens a match, exposes a client's confidential information, or asks for money, everything they do is legal according to US, Canadian, and UK law.
But legality aside, these cut-and-paste flirtations perpetuate negative gender stereotypes, and they reinforce an oversimplified (and destructive) view of romantic expectations.
As dating platforms become flooded with calculated, flirtatious spam, men and women on these sites learn to emulate personalities that yield quantifiable results. This means playing down unique traits and unorthodox views to the point where a total stranger—like me—could literally do it in their place. By trying to appeal to dozens, if not hundreds, of strangers at the same time, we forfeit our ability to take risks and experiment with social norms; only placing safe bets robs us of new and genuine experiences.
But the steepest price of this online anonymity appears to be human decency, which—as I'm often reminded at ViDA—doesn't lead to dates.
For example, one match told me that she'd just put down her family dog. Still in training, I wasn't sure what to do. I wrote out an apology for her loss and sent it to my instructor for approval. He crossed out my response and wrote underneath: "Alpha Males don't apologize." What we sent back instead was an upbeat story about our client's two dogs, which was a shamefully inconsiderate reply in my view. I expected to never hear back from her, but three exchanges later, she was sending me her phone number.
It was my first commission: $1.75.
Had she blamed my client's callous response on internet miscommunication? Or was she learning—just as I was—that reaching out for a unique connection online would lead only to awkwardness and rejection? Every time she has an interaction in which her feelings are ignored—whether it's online or in-person—I worry that she'll learn not to talk about her emotional needs, or any needs of any kind.
As the disillusioned masses learn to offer less and expect nothing, companies like these can take advantage of this extraordinarily low barrier to entry. That cringe-worthy "dashing co-pilot" opening line might sound impossibly lame—but it works. (And at least it's not the bare minimum "DTF?" or an unsolicited dick pic.) As a result, businesses such as these are an economic inevitability.
* * *
I was given my first female client after two months with the company. Women seeking out our services require a very different approach. When talking to my new client's matches, I was told to make her voice sound "feminine (soft, warm, delicious, flowing, focusing on how she feels about things)." I had to "focus less on her career and more on her outside life…write longer sentences, more emoticons, and be more playful."
In Doug's view, it's our job to act as gatekeepers for these female clients—to make sure no subpar matches make it through. "Women are so put into a box, and they aren't going to represent what they really want," he said. According to him, a Closer should ask the tough questions that female clients aren't comfortable asking themselves: Does the match want children? Are they looking for something serious? Are they dating anyone else right now?
I took his advice to heart and played hardball with my female client's matches. None of the men fit her description of what she wanted, so by the end of the first week, I had not pursued any phone numbers. I was reprimanded for not producing results, and for wasting both the company and the client's time.
"Our clients are interested in finding their ideal match, and if the writers aren't getting them closer to that goal, then we're not fulfilling our commitment to our customer," Valdez said. "So we might realize that a writer's writing style isn't a fit for a client or the match that client wants to attract, so we simply shift them to a client that he or she is better equipped to help."
Another Closer was given my account. Overnight, they scored seven numbers from the matches I'd already vetoed—an additional $12.25 in their pocket.
I decided to make my exit soon after.
My initial curiosity about these dating assistants had morphed steadily into deep disgust: with the company, with Valdez and his manual, and—above all—myself. The sight of my first paycheck sent me crawling back to bed in a guilt-ridden panic.
I grew suspicious of my own dating accounts—not just of the men I matched with, but of my own ability to present a likable version of myself online. Every new conversation felt like a minefield, filling me with equal parts boredom and dread. To my dismay, I started to want my own virtual dating assistant.
This all begs the question: Have you unknowingly flirted with a professional Closer? Me, even?
As we grow accustomed to foisting more and more complicated emotional tasks onto digital butlers, we lose our ability to tolerate inelegance or find value in social failure. Moments of awkwardness and heartbreak are an inevitable part of the dating experience, and they are essential in our evolution into mature adults. By outsourcing our courtship to robots (and robot-like humans) we might save ourselves some pain in the short term, but it degrades us, simplifies us, and fails to provide for our ultimate goal of finding someone accepting of our flaws. In this age of automation, romance isn't just one click away—it's guaranteed.
But if you're willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel, what isn't?
Follow Chloe on Twitter. Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Note: This piece was updated with a more recent opening line currently in rotation that is sent by Matchmakers.


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Without much warning or debate, the Senate passed an amendment directing the Federal Reserve to reduce the hidden "swipe fees" that banks collect from retailers each time a customer makes a purchase with a debit card.
Merchants, who had complained that the $20.5 billion in annual fees were biting into their profits, were elated. Banks were stunned. Their lobbyists tried to reverse the move, but when the overhaul of the nation's financial regulation was passed by Congress last July, the debit card cut survived.
Now, as the Fed faces a deadline in April to write the rules for the lower fees, banks and debit card companies are engaged in an all-out assault on Capitol Hill, enlisting a growing cadre of lawmakers and lobbyists to push for changes, delay or outright repeal. Banks contend the proposed cut in fees — to 12 cents per transaction from an average of 44 cents — will leave many of them unable to afford to issue debit cards to customers or will force them to raise other consumer banking charges to cover the costs. They also claim retailers will reap unfair profits.
A coalition of banks and card companies have plastered subway cars and Internet sites with ads warning, "Bureaucrats want to take away your debit card!"
"I am appalled that our members will shoulder tremendous financial burden and still be on the hook for fraud loss while large retailers receive a giant windfall at the hands of the government," John P. Buckley Jr., the president of Gerber Federal Credit Union of Fremont, Mich., told a House of Representatives subcommittee last week.
This week, a trade group of convenience store owners will storm Capitol Hill with their side of the story.
"These fees are stunting business growth and hurting efforts to hire more workers and expand operations," Douglas Kantor, a lobbyist for the Merchants Payments Coalition, a retailer trade group, said recently.
The lobbying has been intense over the last year with the card companies and banks hiring, among others, Sam Geduldig, a former adviser to Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio and the House speaker, and Regina Mahony, formerly a senior adviser to Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks lobbyists.
Representatives of the retailers include the former Republican Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, and Sheryl Cohen, a former chief of staff for Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the Democratic senator who sponsored the financial regulation bill and is now retired.
This debate is but one area where the consequences — intended and not — of the sprawling Dodd-Frank financial regulation law are coming to light. In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chairman, predicted that portions of the law would have to be reversed. "And that's going to create very high degrees of uncertainty," Mr. Greenspan said, something the markets hate.
Lawmakers tried to soften the blow by exempting smaller banks from the fee cap. But now even those institutions with less than $10 billion in assets oppose the law. They say that if they continue to levy the current, higher fees, their debit cards will not be able to compete against the big banks, which will charge lower fees because they have no choice. They gained a significant ally when Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, told a Senate panel last month that he thought a two-tier fee system would not work.
Several lawmakers who supported the debit card amendment or the broader financial regulation bill as a whole are now reversing course, as the antibank climate here softens. "I believe the Fed was given too narrow of set of rules" with which to draft the regulation, said Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who sponsored Dodd-Frank in the House, which never voted separately on the debit-fee amendment. "Now there is genuine political pressure to do something. It's very much in play."
At least two Republican senators who voted for the debit card amendment last year — David Vitter of Louisiana and Michael D. Crapo of Idaho — have expressed reservations, urging the Fed to consider "all costs to the issuers," including the cost of protecting themselves against fraudulent use of debit cards, which totaled $1.4 billion in 2009, according to the banks.
The law requires the Fed to limit debit fees to the "reasonable and proportional" cost of each transaction, and the Fed proposed a rule that did not yet include the cost of fraud protection.
Banks encourage consumers to use debit cards by signing for their purchases, rather than entering a personal identification number at the cash register. Card companies and banks earn higher fees on signature-debit transactions, but they also incur higher rates of fraud.
The fee cap still has some powerful backers, who say it should it take effect in July as scheduled. They are led by the amendment's original sponsor, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.
Mr. Durbin accused the debit card companies of employing "scare tactics" by saying the government wants to take away cards, or that merchants might no longer accept them.
The banks are already trying to make up for the lost revenue, with lenders like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bancorp charging fees for things that once were free, like paper statements or online banking. TCF Financial, a Minnesota regional bank that relies heavily on revenue from debit card fees, has sued the Federal Reserve board to block the enactment of the Durbin amendment.
Banks and credit card companies contend that the fee cap will create a windfall for giant retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, which they say generate the bulk of debit card transactions, while doing little for small retailers.
Banking lobbyists eagerly point to a conference call in which a Home Depot executive told financial analysts the proposed rule would lower its debit fees by about $35 million a year.
Small-business owners, for their part, cite what they say is the devastating impact of rising debit card fees. Small banks and credit unions say they depend on debit fees to allow them to offer other services, like free checking. "Under the current proposal," Frank Michael, president of Allied Credit Union of Stockton, Calif., told the subcommittee, "we are going to lose money on every transaction."
Eric Dash contributed reporting.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ac1457fa49f08c004a3441139abe6f0d


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Saturday, February 14, 2015
Did You Know This About A Waffle Iron?
It's called a waffle iron, but let's not be technical. Ask yourself, "Can I waffle that?" Brownies, cinnamon buns, hash browns! Shield Spirit brings you 7 outrageously delicious recipes... so dig that waffle iron out of the cabinet.
Posted by: Various Authors
Shield Spirit has become an excellent destination for all the news that really matters. Twitter


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Total Pageviews
Sunday, February 17, 2013
11 comments:
Too wonderful! Will we be invited to a blackbird wedding soon?ReplyDelete
This gave me such a smile my dear. Lovely work! xxReplyDelete
Fabulous...so enchanting..I am smiling..this carries such a fun sense of spirit and whimsy..I love it..they are adorable and enchanting..too sweet for words!! Beautiful!ReplyDelete
And he's wearing such a fine hat. We have to know what happens next.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 18, 2013 at 8:13 AM
Funny! I'm still smiling at your whimsy, Electra. The Christmas card is a winner, too.xxReplyDelete
What whinsical fun! She's adorable and he's quite fetching as well. Good work!ReplyDelete
Hahaha I like your take on this...great job!ReplyDelete
Ha, ha, ha! Brilliant! Great take on the blackbird theme.ReplyDelete
Hahaha so funny, love your delightful sense of humour!ReplyDelete
Hahaha! Excellent my friend!ReplyDelete
Lovely work and beautifully done!
Great piece of work!ReplyDelete


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You are a captain in the Continental Army. You are in the Battle of New York in Long Island. You volunteer to disguise himself and go behind enemy lines so that you can report on where the British troops are moving.
You are called America's first spy. You are a Yale graduate and serve under General Washington. In September 16, 1776, you pose as a teacher and gather information on the British about their camps and forts.
You head into a tavern and take a seat. A friendly face approaches and sits next to you. He orders a drink and leans in close to let you know that he is a Patriot spy too! Do you believe him?


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Saturday, September 27, 2008
book dots
today i'm going to the quilt show with my friend eva, but before if go, here's a quick peek at a book that i made using multi-colored dots on black fabric. i printed one of my ACEOs onto canvas and then machine stitched it to the front cover. the inside covers are lined with moss green canson paper and the writing pages are torn from italian velata. i hope i find some really great fabrics today...i'm always in the mood for adding to my collection!
Posted by lori vliegen at 9:46 AM
Labels: aceo, believe, black, fabric, handmade book, italian velata paper, moss green, seek, trust
1 comment:
- Martha Lever said...
Another winner!! I like this one too. Did you hear from Miss Dazie?
- September 27, 2008 at 3:18 PM
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Clever Cup-and-Sleeve Packaging
by Rob Croft
Disposable coffee cups differ little from brand to brand whether it's a 50-cent cup of "Joe" from a street cart or a $5 latté from a swanky coffee shop. These generic paperboard cups with plastic lids also can present a spillage problem for consumers seeking a quick coffee and a Danish in the morning.
Many premium coffee marketers have overlooked structural packaging as a means to compete beyond product flavor. They should rethink their packaging design to improve functionality, branding and cross-sell opportunities.
Our "blue-sky" coffee cup concept builds upon the paper cup platform with a number of evolutionary improvements.
Our "blue-sky" coffee cup concept builds upon the paper cup platform with a number of evolutionary improvements.
For starters, we've replaced the traditional thermal band with a corrugated polyethylene film to create a stylish, translucent, conical carrying tube.
This sleeve grips the tapered sidewalls of the cup and extends upward to create a handled carrying place for pastries.
This sleeve grips the tapered sidewalls of the cup and extends upward to create a handled carrying place for pastries.
Unlike a paper bag, the carrying tube ensures the cup is always upright in transit. The flat base of the cup provides stability when the package sits on a table.
Perforations in the film allow the user to remove the top half of the tube for regular sipping, once the consumer reaches their drinking destination.
Sipping options
A modified, stock paperboard lid replaces the conventional sip lid. This new lid features a punched hole and a snap-in polypropylene "sipper." A tethered plug in the sipper allows the user to close the opening when in transit.
The injection-molded sipper also accepts a drinking straw, which provides controlled sipping and safer drinking while driving. (The user does not have to rock his/her head backward to drink.)
The use of a paperboard lid leads to greater branding opportunities on the sides and top of the lid, in the form of embossed and printed graphics.
As the diversity of coffee shops increases, brands will have to provide a more complete coffee product offering, rather than simply competing on the basis of "great taste." Clearly, the brand that delivers lifestyle-relevant cup packaging with superior imagery and functionality will "roast" the competition. BP
The author, Rob Croft, is Managing Partner of Swerve Inc., specialists in 3-D brand design. Contact him at 212.742.9560 or email@example.com


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As I've said before, I'm drawn to the primitive look of the 18th and 19th centuries, but when it came to renovating our keeping room, I hesitated using the drab colors of that time period--not because I don't like them. I do. But, the keeping room/kitchen is long and narrow. The darker colors might make the room appear smaller.
I've always liked the lighter, whiter side of primitive decor that's so popular these days. But, how do I fit it into our keeping room that doubles as a pioneer settler's home during our workshops on open hearth cooking?
I thought for a long time on this. Finally, I hit upon an idea that makes me happy and fulfills our goals at the same time.
Since we're all about cotton, I'll base my color palette on those neutrals--white, browns, grays. The primitive cabinets that we'll move into the keeping room will get a white wash look to them, and I'll accent it all with the staples of a cotton farm--denim, burlap and unbleached feed sacks. While the pioneer woman of the early 19th century may not have used a white wash on her furniture, her grandchildren may have. I'll display the white ironstone for our daily use and change it out to red ware for our workshops. Pieces of pottery will fit in with either choice.
I was excited. . .and began to collect inspiration from many sources. . .
from A Fine Farmhouse
and Faded Charm Cottage
and French Country Cottage
and many others on the net.
from my plans--years ago--to checkerboard the floor.
The ideas just keep coming. . .
When will we start?
First a fresh coat of paint. . .
Then we'll move in the primitive cabinets and place them along the wall. . .
It feels so good to finally have a plan. Now, I'm motivated to complete the project.
I'll keep you posted on our progress. . .
Linking to:
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm Cottage
Linking to:
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm Cottage


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Blitz Kids are a band whose star is on the rise. The fact that the queue for the doors stretches halfway down Union Street a full hour before the gig is testament to that.
Inside, the band take to the stage following the best intermission music I've ever heard at a gig – highlights include 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce and 'Love is an Open Door' from Frozen – and deliver a slick, masterful display of wonderfully written pop punk. Opening with 'Sometimes' and single 'Run For Cover'.
The band just ooze energy and charisma, whilst clearly enjoying what they're doing. The set mainly focuses on new album 'The Good Youth' and the recently released 'Never Die' EP, with only two songs appearing from their earlier releases, one of which, 'Maybe We'll Die, Maybe We Won't' is peppered with sections of Weezer's 'Hash Pipe', which always gets you in my good books. However, a My Chemical Romance cover does not – What? I don't like MCR. Sue me. – but the band somehow make a good stab at covering the classic 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' and, mercifully, cut it short. However, before the aforementioned cover, singer Joe James states that they "don't usually do covers", obviously not counting the aforementioned Weezer tribute and the impromptu cover of The Proclaimer's '(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles' which occurs in the sort of 'encore' – they didn't leave the stage, because we'd "see through the illusion of us standing just over there" – but the crowd lap up every second of it.
The last two songs 'All I Want Is Everything' and the epic 'Perfect' close out the show and fine style, and the overall feeling is that this is the last time we'll be seeing Blitz Kids in venues as small as this. Can't imagine any band deserving it more, really.
By Fraser Bryced.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);


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Hello All! Welcome to the February Release Sneak Peeks for Paper Sweeties! Debbie has some lovely new products coming out this week on the 15th! Today I am sneaking a peek at just one stamp from one of the sets called "Pretty Posies". I used a flower stamp to create a subtle border on the top and bottom of my card in white ink.
I debated about adding a bow or some of Debbie's lovely sequins but after trying several things I decided I like it just the way it is....clean and simple and with all the focus on the sentiment! I hope you like it too!
Jill Norwood
Jinny Newlin *special Guest Designer*
I used "Pretty Posies" stamps and sweet cuts and the following sets to create my "I Love You" card above:


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Mobile Bingo Apps At Canadian Dollar Bingo
The Best Mobile Bingo Apps Available at Canadian Dollar Bingo
If there is one thing that most casino game players can agree on, it's that modern mobile devices are extremely well-suited for just about any game. Poker, roulette, slots, and many others play incredibly well on touch screens, and one game that has continued to surprise in just about every way is bingo. Bingo has come along way since it was first created half a decade ago, and while it was mostly a game belonging to churches and other small groups, its venture into the online world has been a resounding success.
Bingo is the perfect game for modern mobiles, and some of the best mobile bingo apps available can be played at any time, from any location, and with real money, meaning the chance of real winnings in return. Finding the best mobile bingo apps available does not have to be a chore, and should never take more than a few minutes.
Finding Bingo Apps
This is the first place to start when trying to find the best real money bingo apps available, and there are a number of ways players can find exactly the kind of game that will suit them best. Comparison Canadian bingo sites such Canadian dollar bingo are the best course of action as opposed to simply searching online, because these sites are especially designed to help players find only the best mobile bingo apps available. For example casino sites such Raging Bull Casino Review usually come with links to the apps, information on which casinos are the best, as well as various tips and tricks to help improve your overall bingo experience.
Using The Apps
Once you have found a bingo app that appeals to you, there are different methods of playing the app, depending mostly on what the casino offers. The best mobile bingo apps available can simply be downloaded directly onto your device of choice, and once downloaded, you can play the game at your will. Many of these apps also automatically hibernate in case you need to turn your attention to something else, meaning that you can carry on playing straight away.
Some online casinos also offer some of the best mobile bingo apps available as part of a client that can downloaded to any device, and these special clients offer players a wide variety of different games to play, including more than once form of bingo, as well as access to other games.
While downloading apps is usually the preferred method and most often the method that works best, players also have the ability to load up any casino on their mobile browser and enjoy bingo.
The Benefits of Mobile Bingo
There are plenty of benefits to playing some of the best mobile bingo app available, and many would agree that it's the perfect way to enjoy the game. Number one is the sheer convenience of having your favourite bingo game right there on your smartphone or tablet, and no longer will you need to sit behind a computer or drive to a bingo hall to enjoy the game.
There is also often the chance to play live games, which means players can compete against each other in virtual bingo halls found all over the world.
The best mobile bingo apps available are also automated, and players don't have to constantly watch their app to see if they win, because the app will alert you of a bingo and automatically call it for you.
Playing bingo online at Canadian Dollar Bingo is easier than ever, thanks to the best mobile bingo apps available.


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Matilda Doll
Little ones will love to make friends with Matilda, one of the beautiful Meri Meri classic fabric doll family. She's soft and huggable and perfect to take on adventures. She's expertly crafted from calico with plaited pink wool hair and sweet embroidered features. She is stylishly dressed in a striped top and tutu skirt, but she can easily be re-outfitted in any of our doll dress-up kits (available separately).
Matilda is crafted from cotton with a polyester filling
She has sweet stitched features and pretty plaited pink yarn hair
She is dressed in a gorgeous green striped shirt and white netted sequin tutu skirt
Gold thread detail adds shimmer and shine
Suitable for ages 3+
Product dimensions: 181 x 489 x 76mm
1 in stock
SKU: Matilda-Doll-MM Categories: Dolls, Meri Meri, Stationary, Stickers, Toys Tags: Dolls Meri Meri Stationary Stickers Toys


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RISE Learning Project on the Monitoring & Evaluation of Reintegration of Children and Adolescents – Consolidated End-Term Report for Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Since 2015, the RISE Learning Network has been promoting and facilitating learning on recovery and reintegration (R&R) approaches that improve outcomes for children and adolescents affected by sexual exploitation (CSE) in three focus regions – Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
A major aspect of RISE's work is the implementation of three Learning Projects aimed at capturing and generating learning at the grassroots level in a practical manner. Consequently, the first Learning Project is focused on strengthening the awareness and capacities of organisations on the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of their reintegration interventions in order to more effectively track children's and adolescents' wellbeing and inform relevant programmes and policies.
This report is based on a compilation of end-term reviews submitted between December 2017 and March 2018 by the Learning Partners in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA) and aims to capture key results, learning and innovative practices at the conclusion of this RISE learning project.


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Speaking is an unfair advantage to position authority and connect with the audience. However, for most of the people speaking on stages one of your goals is to get high quality clients from the experience.
Getting the chance to take the stage is an honor and a thrill. I love speaking to an audience that is looking for answers to their pain. They want new perspectives, and they want to discover what has blocked them from their success. The speech is a catalyst to growth and new thinking.
And that speech is just the start.
When you give a speech, there is only so far that you can take the audience. You may have 3 minutes, or you might have 3 hours; either way, you give a speech to the audience that gets them to see a new perspective and there is always more they are craving. This is if you are giving them a speech that addresses either a pain they have or a path to a new future.
I only work with businesses and leaders in the B2B market. My clients speak on stages have more than just a speech to offer. Frankly, they are usually not even interested in speaking fees. My own experience and those of my clients have seen that the "back end" offer is more valuable than any upfront money an event is prepared to pay. When I say "back end" I mean the services that my clients offer to their clients. For some, it is consulting services and for others, it is programs like training or coaching. My point here is that the "back end" should be the primary focus if you want to use speaking to get clients.
Remember, the speech is just the start!
When you accept this, you have to create a message that compels the audience to take action. You must also delivery it in a way that makes them want to seek you out for more another conversation.
Let me share with you four principle elements of speaking that allows you to get clients with your next speech. It is the MAID formula. You will see that the key elements create the acronym M.A.I.D. Here we go:
The Message
The core message that you give to the audience plays a huge role in them hiring you after you get off the stage. Think about the speakers you have heard. You begin to ask to yourself "Do they understand me?" and "Can they help me?" If they don't give a message that relates to you and is a top concern, you likely will be distracted in your seat. You will check your email and jot down other things to do. You will be checked out.
Your message gives the audience more than information. It exposes a GAP in their thinking. It fills that hole with a new perspective. If it fails to do either of these, they will never remember you or your message. And what I really mean is they won't consider hiring you.
I gave a speech in Chicago to a group of 75 creative entrepreneurs. After giving my targeted message, I walked away from that speech with twenty business cards. I ended up getting four new clients within a week of the speech. The best part was one audience member remembered the speech a year later and looked me up. He has been a client of mine for nearly two years. When I look at the "back end" of the speech, just that one speech started more than $30,000 in revenue for my business. By the way, I didn't get paid a speaking fee and had to pay my own travel expenses to that stage. It was a small investment with a big return.
When your message is great, it shatters old beliefs and gives them some thing new to believe in. And when your message is unique, they see the path that you offer as new and valuable.
If they have heard your message somewhere before, they will rarely be moved to action.
The Audience
To craft the right message, you must know the audience. It is too common to assume that everyone needs your message because you know how valuable it is for them.
Have you heard the saying, "You can't be all things to all people"? Well, the other part to that is that you can't write a message (i.e., give a speech) that is for everyone. You have to know exactly who you are talking to. When I'm speaking to a new group, I will often interview a handful of people that will be attending the event. I will also research others that are in the same audience profile to discover how they think. I want to know what they really want. And I want to know what they have tried before. I want to discover what they believe to be true, but in reality, it is false.
Knowing your audience gives you a chance to craft a message that strikes right to their soul. It is not broad or full of vague references. It is precise and more like a rifle than a shot gun. In other words, knowing your audience is filled with your ideal client is essential to your success in getting new clients.
I know this is a message from "Captain Obvious." However, you might be surprised at all the people that know who their ideal audience is….and yet they speak at places that my have one or two of those in attendance. To get clients from you speech, you want in the presence of those that know you have the experience to serve them. You have influence in that market. If you these beliefs are missing, you will struggle to get clients.
I had a client that spoke on five stages before he started getting clients from speaking. The main difference was the audience. Those first four speeches were not filled with the right people. His message was not aligned with where they were at that moment. The fifth stage was a game changer. He generated more than $50,000 in revenue when we spoke to the right audience.
If you have been speaking for a while, you have to wonder if you are filtering out the engagements that are not an ideal fit for your business.
The Invitation
This is the secret to getting the audience to take the next step with you. It is often completely omitted and if it is included it is done ineffectively.
When you look at the popular and famous speakers, you will never see the invitation. You don't see it on TED talks. You don't see it from the likes of Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King or Tony Robbins.
The reason you won't see it from those speakers is they are not concerned with getting clients from that speech. The big speakers get there speaking fees. They have a strong influence with the market. They can be subtle and even omit anything that looks like an invitation.
The invitation is a moment in the speech that invites the audience to connect with you after the speech is over. It is clear and compelling. It gives them the permission to see you after you get off the stage. It is best with under 500 people in the audience, but it can work with some bigger audiences too.
Let me be clear here. This is not a PITCH. It is not an offer to buy your stuff in the back of the room. When done well, it is not considered salesy or slimy. It works with those speeches that don't allow pitches.
I like to think it is a chance to connect with you after the speech to get their questions answered in a private conversation. I have been using some variation of the invitation for more than four years. I started out with a soft invitation. I tip-toed through it with hesitancy. Over time, I use the invitation as a way to separate those that are serious from those that are merely interested.
Check out this example of the invitation in a recent training I gave to clients. It is a word for word script of what I say during my speech. Well, it is close to the exact words. I don't memorize my speech word for word. Listen to it to see how you can adopt it for your next speech.
Oh, yeah! Every time that I forget to include the invitation in a speech, there is a dramatic difference in the number of people that take the time to come up to me after the speech. I have learned that you have to invite them to the next step with you and don't assume they know your next step. For me (and my clients), the next step is to get them into a conversation as it relates to the speech they just heard. It is a natural extension of a great speech to getting to know the ones that are serious.
When crafting your message, you can include the invitation just before the close of your speech. Don't let it be the last words they hear. And if you must do a question and answer (Q&A) period, you should put the invitation after the Q&A and before the final words of your speech. Here is a free training on the invitation.


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In news sure to make the child inside of every one of us giddy with excitement, The Film Stage is reporting NBA superstar LeBron James has expressed interest in some intergalactic basketball action for a Space Jam sequel.
Now before you go and get too exited about the news, keep in mind there is actually no confirmed movement from Warner Brothers towards putting another Space Jam project in motion. James took it upon himself to post a Tweet exclaiming his love for the original film and wishes he could star alongside our favorite Looney Tunes someday, but that's literally the only information there is on a possible sequel.
That said, James' massive fanbase and huge marketing appeal may be an intriguing point for studio executives to consider, especially if the baller could convince a few friends and teammates to accompany him on the big screen. Warner Brothers could be sitting on a gold mine considering the star's popularity, so we'll have to see if James' Tweet can spark momentum.
With all the other franchise reboots going on, I'd be ecstatic to see Bugs and Daffy suit up alongside some of the NBA's most talented players. LeBron James could just be the tip of the iceberg, possibly calling names like Dwight Howard and Dwayne Wade from the bench, providing the prospect of seeing our favorite players in a whole new light.
Space Jam is a classic film from my childhood and got me through many a rainy day, so I can't deny a huge nostalgia factor also plays into my interest in a sequel – and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
What do you guys think, could current NBA stars provide a reboot worthy rival for the Monstars?


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Continuing in homily 42, St. Isaac gives us another warning. When you find unchanging peace, that is, when everything is going smoothly for you most of the time, then "beware: you are very far from the divine paths trodden by the weary feet of the saints. For as long as you are journeying in the way to the city of the Kingdom and are drawing nigh to the city of God, this will be a sign for you: the strength of the temptations that you encounter. And the nearer you draw nigh and progress, the more temptations will multiply against you."
To tell you the truth I don't know if I should be frightened or comforted by this word. On the one hand it is frightening because I am seeking for peace and I strive to overcome trials: I want to be in the condition where I experience "unchanging peace…when everything is going smoothly for [me] most of the time." On the other hand, it is a comforting word because, while I may at times experience peace on a certain level, I am never really completely at peace; and I am almost always struggling to control myself—my thoughts and my feelings and my words and my actions.
However, St. Isaac goes on to differentiate the kinds of trials that, on the one hand, may be evidence that a person is drawing near and progressing in the Kingdom of God, and on the other hand are evidence of pride in one's heart. The trials that may be evidence that one is drawing near to the Kingdom of God are "not of worldly trials that come upon some in order to bridle their wickedness and their manifestly wicked deeds." Rather, St. Isaac is referring to trials that he says are "suitable to monks dwelling in stillness." I think that this category of trials can also be extended to include those trials suitable for those who are pursuing inner stillness even while living in the world. For while the outer circumstances of those living in the world are different from the outer circumstances of those who live in monasteries, still I think the inner experience is often very similar.
Let's look first at the kinds of trials St. Isaac specifically mentions as being those "that God allows to fall upon men who are shameless, whose thinking is exalted in the face of God's goodness, and who abuse His goodness in their pride." When these sorts of trials afflict someone, St. Isaac suggest that these are not a sign that someone is necessarily drawing closer to God; rather, they are a sign that God is humbling their pride—which, by the way (and this is very important) is in itself a good thing. That God is humbling my pride means that God is at work in my life. God has not abandoned me. So if, like me, you recognize that the trials and temptations you face often come from this first list, it doesn't mean that you are making no progress at all in your repentance, in your relationship with God. St. Isaac will say later in this homily that it often happens that we experience both categories of trials at the same time. That is, as one is progressing in the Kingdom of God (as evidenced by trials in the second list), there may still be lingering pride in one's heart that God lovingly helps us eradicate by allowing temptations in this first list to continue in our lives.
So what are the trials and temptations that God allows to continue in our life to delivers from our recalcitrant pride? Some of the trials in this category that St. Isaac mentions are the loss of wisdom, and foolish speech and behaviour. When wisdom abandons me and I constantly make foolish choices, make stupid comments and do foolish things, then I know: my pride has gotten the better of me and in God's mercy He is allowing me to rediscover humility through my own stupidity. Two other trials in this category are "the piercing sensation of the thought of fornication" and a quick temper. It seems that I can sometimes go for days at a time without any serious thought of sexual sin or without losing my temper (albeit, I must acknowledge that this may have nothing at all to do with virtue and everything to do with being an old man). However, sometimes, temptations of these sort seem to suddenly come upon me so that the sensation is quite "piercing." It's as though I am being stabbed; it's as if the rage or the tempting thought has gotten a hold of my mind and my body and my emotions so completely and so quickly that it takes the full force of my will and my focus to keep from sinning with my mouth or actions and to shut down the "piercing sensation" in my mind and body. When this happens to me, St. Isaac says, it is because of my arrogance. God in His great mercy is delivering me.
St. Isaac specifically mentions several other trials all of which, his says are means by which God delivers us from pride: the trial of desiring your own way; the trial of wanting to argue; the trial of making promises that you cannot keep; the trial of accusing or blaming others, or of using inappropriately strong language; and the trial of thinking or speaking blasphemous thoughts against God (i.e. accusing God or saying things about God that are not true). There is one more trial in this category that I specifically want to look at. It's the trial that is "endlessly to seek out some new thing for oneself through false prophesy." I highlight this trial specifically because it hits so close to home for me as a former Charismatic. It took me years, even after I had become Orthodox, to stop looking for the new thing that God was doing, to stop trying to "hear" from God what new thing I was supposed to do or be a part of. St. Isaac tells us that this sort of trial, the trial of seeking the new thing through a supposed prophetic insight, this is evidence that God is humbling us.
But then there is the other category, the category of trials and temptations that can be signs of our drawing nigh to the Kingdom of God. St. Isaac tells us that "at the time of these trials we should have within us two contradictory things which are wholly unlike each other. These are joy and fear. Joy, because we are found in the path trodden by the saints, or rather, by Him Who gives life to all things…. But we should have fear [too] because perhaps we are being tried through these things by reason of pride." In other words, although St. Isaac lists several trials that are indicative of "a blow inflicted by divine love" as opposed to those in the previous category that are "the fruit of pride," still one must remain on guard against pride. As soon as one begins to think confidently that he or she is manifestly "drawing nigh unto the city of God," as St. Isaac puts it, based on this or that trial they are experiencing, then certainly they are missing the mark and pride has crept in and darkened their perception. And yet, although one must always beware of pride, there is also a place for joy. Joy and fear together, St. Isaac tells us.
And so, what then are the trials that St. Isaac mentions in this later category, trials that he says "are inflicted by the parental rod for the soul's progress and growth, and wherein she may be trained"? Surprisingly to me, St. Isaac mentions sloth as the first example of a trial inflicted by God on a person for the training of his or her soul and as evidence that he or she is drawing near to the city of God. He also mentions despondency, bodily pains, enfeebled limbs, confusion of mind, temporary loss of hope, darkened thoughts, absence of help from people, and scarcity of bodily necessities. These, St. Isaac tells us, are the sorts of trials that God allows in our life "for the soul's progress and growth" and they are signs that we are walking on the same path that our Savour walked.
How do such trials train us?
By these trials "a man's soul feels herself lonely and defenceless, and his heart is deadened and filled with humility, and he is trained thereby to yearn for his Creator." These trials train us to yearn, to yearn for God, for the Kingdom of God. When sickness or despondency or confusion or poverty or physical pain keeps us from what our heart longs to do in prayer or service or ascetic practice for God, then St. Isaac tells us, it is God Himself who is training us. It is God Himself who is training us to yearn and long for Him. And it is this yearning and longing for God that is the central experience of holiness; it is what the saints experienced; it is the hunger and thirst that will be quenched completely only in the Age to Come.
However, the experience of these trials is almost always a mixed bag. As I mentioned above, one experiences joy and fear at the same time. St. Isaac also says, "In them are mingled both consolation and griefs, light and darkness, wars and aid. In short, they straiten [or constrain] and enlarge. This is the sign of the increase of God's help." St. Paul likens this experience to birth pangs, contractions leading to birth: painful constriction and then temporary relief. These are the birth pangs of the Spirit within us giving birth to holiness, giving birth to the life of Christ within us. God does not leave us on our own at these times, even if sometimes we feel alone. St. Isaac explains that "A trial does not come unless the soul has first secretly received both a portion greater than the measure which she had formally received[,] and the Spirit of grace." However, although the grace precedes the temptation or trial, for the testing of human freedom—for God never forces us to come to Him—our awareness of the temptations precedes our awareness of the gift of grace. Hence, St. Isaac says, "in reality grace comes first, but in the awareness of the senses, it delays."
And so we experience the pain of apparent abandonment, or as the Old Testament prophet puts it: "for a brief moment I turned away from you, but with great loving kindness I will gather you" (Isa. 54:7). We experience abandonment, not because God has abandoned us. No, God has already given us His Spirit and the Grace we need to pass through the trial before us. God has given us what we need, but we do not experience the gift first; otherwise, there would be no room for human freedom. First we must choose to cling to God, to long for His help even when it seems so far way. And then, then we notice God's help. Then we realize that God has been near us all along.
So, to sum up, St. Isaac has given us a kind of diagnostic tool. A way of looking at our trials and temptations and gaining some little insight into what they might be about. He explains to us the experience of joy and fear together, and helps us discern when pride has, again, crept in. However, even such tools and insights as St. Isaac offers us are of little value on their own. We need the help of others. As we humbly accept the insights of others, spiritual fathers and mothers, friends, parents and loved ones, it is only then that discernment has a chance. We all have terribly broken internal guidance systems, so it is only as we triangulate with others that we find our way to our goal of the Kingdom of Heaven.


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Eat breakfast, have dinner and supper, order author's cocktails.
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The main feature of the TSARSKY Bar & Restaurant central hall — is fantastic lighting.
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There is a night atmosphere in this zone: muffled light, compact tables and soft sofas.
Afternoon zone — an open terrace in eastern style in soft colors.
There is a lot of light and quietly here. Due to large panoramic windows and many natural materials in design: wood floor, tables and natural fabrics.
Take a gastronomic trip around the world, without leaving the center of the capital.
The basis of the TSARSKY Bar & Restaurant: French, Italian and Pan-Asian kitchen.
Every day we are ready to surprise you with the signature recipes of our chef and prepare your favorite dishes.
If you want, we will organize delivery.
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Choose the fitness menu TSARSKY Bar & Restaurant, which was created by the chef along with the doctor-dietician TSARSKY.
Our guests can be certain of the usefulness of cooked meals.


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wine tasting
What is a Wine Tour?
If you are new to the scene of being a wine connoisseur, you know that it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to remember all the wording about tannins and body and fullness etc.
If you find yourself confused or wanting to learn more, a wine tour is something that can help you refine your wine tasting palate.
Many Wineries throughout the Tampa Bay Area offer wine tastings so that you can learn about the wine and take your time when choosing which one to take home to enjoy.
In Florida we offer many festivals, one of which includes the Wine and Food Festive Largo Fl. It's a fantastic opportunity to try different wines all at one spot!
We all know that wine festivals don't last forever (although we wish they would!) so as an alternative to that, Largo Limousines offers a Wine Tour exploration!
We can make the festivity just by offering you a place to relax and enjoy wine while we help you pass by the driving time that it takes to get from one winery in Largo Florida to another in the Tampa Bay.
Obviously wine tours and festivals are intended to be a celebration and fun!
We fully support the educational experience offered at such wine ventures!
Since we know you might have a lot of enjoyment and take full advantage of the "free" wine tastings, we would love to help you drink responsibly by giving you rides on and off the scene.
Let Largo Limousine service provide you with a designated driver who is committed to your safety the entire night.
Our prompt and punctual chauffeurs will help you get in and out of the limo, open the door for you, offer a helping hand when opening wine bottles in the limo and offer suggestions on where to go (if it wasn't already made into an itinerary).
Our drivers are flexible as well and can accommodate last minute or off the list requests.
As a professional group of wine lovers ourselves, we would like to provide you with some information on the Wine and Food Festival in Largo and some of the local wineries that are worth stopping by on your Limousine Wine Tour.
Let's start with the Festival!
Held in the "winter" time on ClearWater Beach, the Clearwater Beach Food & Wine Festival is a culinary and wine adventure!
Enjoy the inviting water and the supreme and gleaming beaches as you participate in the festivities of this fantastic event!
Near the Hyatt Regency Resort, the Clearwater Beach Uncorked includes over 100 wineries and of course lots of wine!
The festival also offers decadent food and micro-brews and craft beers for the more chest hair growing drink.
Now on to the Limo Tour, our favorite adventure of wine tasting!
First of all, we want to express to you that a lot of wineries offer FREE tastings and tours! You can't get much better than that! Here's a list of some of the fantastic Wineries and a little info about the wine they offer and a bit of history about these local businesses.
· Murielle Winery –Family Owned
· 688 Fine Wine & Spirits – Family Owned
· Aspirations Winery - Home of Swamp Juice Wine! Family Owned
· The Florida Winery
· Florida Orange Groves Winery – Family Owned
As you can see there are several fantastic wineries in the Largo, Florida Area. Let Largo Limo Service be a part of keeping you safe on an wine touring adventurous day!


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Title – See Jayne Play
Author – Jami Denise
Jayne King lived in a world of players. She'd been groomed by her father to win, taking no prisoners in her quest to reach the top.
But, it was never enough. She wanted out, and just when she finds her escape, she's pulled back into the underground crime world of Las Vegas. One phone call spins her life out of control, and she once again has to live her life behind a mask of lies.
Her body is for sale, but her heart is off limits.
Flynn Maguire, professional gambler and notorious ladies' man, always wins. Always. As the heir to the Maguire Grand Hotel and Casino fortune, he's always had his desires delivered on a silver platter. When he crosses paths with Jayne King, he will stop at nothing to have her.
Nothing has ever stood between him and what he wanted, and there wasn't an amount of money he wouldn't pay to own her. He realizes too late, that money can't buy her heart, and he finds himself in a place he never thought he'd be. Out of luck.
His hands were strong, smooth, and his fingers gave the perfect amount of pressure on the arches of my feet. It felt amazing, and I couldn't remember the last time a man had touched my feet, if ever.
His eyes were bright as he stared at me. He never missed a beat, rubbing and probing my feet like a professional. I was mesmerized, once again, lost in his eyes like a tamed lion.
"So, tell me, Miss King, do you enjoy being a tease?"
I couldn't help it, I laughed. "I think you have it all wrong, Mr. Maguire. I only tease if I'm paid to tease. Otherwise, I always deliver."
He hummed. "Yes, I guess you do. Up."
"Where do you want me?" I asked. My voice cracked. The look in his eyes told a thousand stories, and I wanted to read them all. I needed to know what he was thinking.
My confidence was failing. Miserably. He left me frustrated and confused. I had to get myself together and take control.
Author Bio
Jami Denise is a romance writer from Southern California. While she waits for the next felon to come along and sweep her off her feet, she writes about swoony bad boys and sassy gals that make them squirm. She also loves cats, cars, cupcake flavored lip balm, and cherry limeade.
Author Links


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