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Charlotte is no stranger to being on national television. The Queen City has had several of it's local spots featured on "Diners, Dive-In's and Dives". The Improper Pig, Bang Bang Burgers, and the Landmark Diner to name a few.
We have another one to add to the list, Metro Diner. A hometown family restaurant from Jacksonville, FL serving up comfort, smiles, flare and warm welcomes since 1938. They are not new to North Carolina with three other restaurants in Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Pineville. They just opened a new restaurant in Matthews and there is one coming soon to Huntersville. You can also find them in eight other states if you're on any road trips: Alabama, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nevada, Georgia and Indiana and of course their home state of Florida.
Their dishes might seem familiar in name but Metro Diner puts a couple new tricks in there to make it their own. Having lived in PA for a couple years I immediately recognized the Steak Salad as a Northern dish. They enjoy cooking and creating their own ideas that stem from local favorites. Take their Shrimp 'n' Grits dish for example, it's made with a shrimp gravy sauce rather than a traditional tomato base or their San Francisco Benedict with avocado and tomato.
Metro Diner offers familiar yet unique menu options that make it a bit more fun that just eating bacon and eggs, which is still a staple order of course. It's good to try something new from time to time and this is the right place to do it.
A few dishes I know very well were put to the test at Metro Diner's newest location in Matthews, and I was pleasantly surprised at their vision for each. True to the original ingredients with only a small twist.
Huevos Rancheros | eggs, fried tortilla shells, chorizo, black beans, onions, peppers, melted cheese, salsa, sour cream, jalapeños, green onions
Charleston Shrimp 'n' Grits | two fried cheese grit cakes, roasted red peppers, andouille sausage, shrimp, onion, peppers, shrimp gravy sauce, bacon and green onions
Pittsburgh Steak Salad | garden salad, NY strip steak, French fries, blue cheese
Fried Chicken and Waffle | half a fried chicken, Belgian waffle, powdered sugar, strawberry butter, sweet and spicy honey sauce
My favorite was the Chicken and Waflfes, mainly due to the sweet strawberry butter. I have never had fruit butter before. I didn't even know it was a thing until now. Secondly was the Shrimp 'n' Grits because of the cheesy grit cakes. Yum.
I'll be ordering a few more dishes next time to try out… Pound Cake French Toast, Chicken Pot Pie, and Yo Hala on the Square which is two slices of challah bread stuffed with bananas, brown sugar, cream cheese and hazelnut syrup topped with a blueberry strawberry compote and powdered sugar…wow. I will probably need several cups of coffee to wash that down!
Connect with Metro Diner on Social Media – FB | Insta | Web | Twitter


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Angels surround a beautiful soul
Carrying the weight of a hundred
Traitors in her past.
Simple tears stream down the face
Of a statue losing its soul
To the decay of the toll that life takes.
A small child breaks at the very second
He stops believing in justice
As his mother is taken from him.
A mind
Or a cliff
Both precipitous
Yet the blind try to seek
The deaf continue to hear
The ignorant spew more false information
Than intelligent ones speak the truth.
I sit in a room dangling the truth
Between fingers that only want
What I would never give to them.
They ask me
"Are you afraid of the dark?"
Yet everything that has ever happened to me
Happened in broad daylight.
Why in the world
Would I be afraid
Of the dark?

subset: commoncrawl


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VirtuaGirl Kate Shoo – Fragile pictures
Kate Shoo is a Topless DJ from Prague. She has already spent one year traveling all over the World to perform amazing shows in the biggest clubs.
Kate Shoo likes to discover the World, savor seafood, play music and dance.
This impressive beauty is simply born to perform! — CZECH REPUBLIC, 35/26/35, BROWN-HAIRED, European


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Last Sunday my friend Cristina and I went to the beach in the city. It was a last minute decision and we arrived there around 4pm, just in time for some golden hour photography. We didn't plan to take any photos, but I had my camera with me, and a white dress that I recently purchased for a few dollars at a thrift store. We took a few snaps for about 30 minutes, all natural light, 50mm lens, wide lens aperture (thus some blurry images), and this is what came out.
Beach Portrait Session with Cristina
in Portraits


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Sand Blasters Item ID: #521
New 60 Gallon Sandblast Cabinet Sand Blaster Air Tool
Product Information:
Item Description
Want to clean rust, old paint, corrosion and grime off parts quickly and easily?
Need to clean parts at home or a small shop?
Includes :
What you Need :
Warranty :
1 Year Parts 90 Day Labor
Item Reviews


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Arnaud Charlet is the lead of Product Engineering at AdaCore and the CodePeer product manager. In addition, he has recently led the design and implementation effort on the SPARK-to-C technology. Arnaud previously worked on the implementation of the GNAT tasking runtime and on GNAT Programming Studio, both as a software engineer and as product manager.
No entries exist by that author.


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It's exactly ten days ago today that Moneyweb reported on the website's "teething problems" citing, among others, difficulties in lodging annual returns and dealing with a call centre that takes up to an hour or more to answer calls, and when it does, it seems unable to assist with queries adequately. This week Moneyweb experienced the frustrations first hand.
By Larey van der Westhuizen, Managing Director of Statucor
Johannesburg, 12 May 2015 – Privately owned companies would benefit greatly from having fully independent, non-executive directors on their boards, providing them with objective input, insight and oversight of their businesses.
Statucor and BDO, in association with MPowered, invite you to a series of interactive BEE Forums at which we will unpack the impact of the new BEE Codes, and how you can make them work for your business.
The forums will take place on 27 January, 4 March, 26 March and 15 April.
To attend or find out more, please click here
The 80-plus directorships that some board members in South Africa reportedly hold are a "physical impossibility" without cutting legal corners and doing the basic principles of good corporate governance injustice.
By law, every company is required to hold an annual general meeting (AGM) within 18 months of the date of its incorporation and, thereafter, once a year.
A private company is in essence a company whose shares are privately held by, for example, the company's founders, a group of private investors or a subsidiary of a larger company. The main advantage is that the sale of shares is restricted and the shares cannot be offered to the public thereby protecting the shareholders' interests.


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Solid beech frame, wooden, rice rust or upholstered seat.
This chair can be stained to one of our Standard Stains or any stain / colour of your choice.
Available upholstered in our range of Fabrics, Faux Leathers, Real Leathers or C.O.M.
Two year frame guarantee.
The classic Vellias chair has a traditional, solid beechwood frame and is available with a wooden, rice rush or upholstered seat. The wide range of frame stains and fabric options allows this chair to be tailored to any modern or traditional décor. Strong legs finished with plastic pads to help protect floor surfaces whilst the wonderfully simple design of the solid wooden frame delivers durability and stability. It's tough and robust design makes it ideal for pubs, restaurants and cafés.
Width: 44cm
Height: 95cm
Depth: 49cm


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The Stan Winston School Offering Kaiju Creation How To Series
The Stan Winston School of Character Arts is offering a five-part series detailing how to create a kaiju suit.
Stain Winston was a legendary special effects artists best known for his work on The Terminator series, Aliens, Jurassic Park among others. After his death in 2008, his family set up the Stan Winston School of Character Arts in order to help others get into the craft he loved so much.
The school is offering a five-part series called "How to Fabricate a Monster". This series stars special effects artists Bill Byran (Ghostbusters, Men in Black) and Ted Haines (Cowboys and Aliens) as they detail each and every single step required to create a full kaiju suit.
The parts available currently are part 1: Design, Pattern & Prototype, and part 2: Detailing, Texturing & Mechanisms.
Each part is between five and six hours long and costs 59.99 to stream, or 64.99 to purchase a DVD.
Source: Stan Winston School
David Crawley
Latest posts by David Crawley (see all)
- Where Are They Now?: Kamen Rider Kabuto - June 21, 2017
- Where Are They Now?: Juken Sentai Gekiranger Part 2. - May 12, 2017
- Where Are They Now?: Juken Sentai Gekiranger Part 1 - May 11, 2017


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Monday, 20 June 2011
Video Nasty #9 - The Burning
The story concerns a summer camp janitor nicknamed Cropsy who's accidentally set on fire by some kids after a prank goes badly wrong. Some five years later Cropsy, now horribly disfigured returns to the camp to seek revenge... So far so Friday the 13th, but The Burning is a rare instance of a film lifting whole chunks from an earlier film and actually improving upon the original. Rare also is a horror film where all the elements fall perfectly into place. British director Tony Maylam's direction is classy, even at times stylish - look out for a great Argento-like shot early on in the film where a jet of blood hits a mirror, momentarily illuminated by a flash of lightning. Maylam maintains a furious pace throughout - even the film's most infamous sequence where some teens are slaughtered on a raft is furiously cut together, the five kills done and dusted within 30 seconds, lending the sequence a powerful frisson similar to the first murder set piece in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Tom Savini's make-up effects are riotously gory - Cropsy's weapon of choice, a garden shares (appropriate given his name) snips off fingers, and slices through throats. As was the MPAA policy towards the incoming tide of slasher films, the film was cut in the US to avoid an X rating. In the UK, the BBFC had much of the carnage removed but in a bizarre mix up The Burning's UK VHS distributor Thorn EMI inadvertently put out the uncut version and the film found it's way onto the DPP's list of obscene titles. Rick Wakeman who collaborated with Tony Maylam on an earlier film, the hard-to-see ski jumping documentary White Rock, returns for soundtrack duties and contributes a spellbinding synthesizer score, surely the best thing Wakeman ever composed.
The film is not without some blemishes of course, mostly to do with it's slavish adherence to the slasher movie formula - there are a few tiresome gags along the way, and the film sometimes adopts the none-too-subtle killer's point-of-view, whereby the camera lens looks smeared around the edges of the frame and Wakeman's score assumes a high-pitched drone. There's perhaps a little too much "C'mon you guys" dialogue but the cast of unknowns are actually quite likable and engaging for the most part. Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame makes an early appearance and provides some comedy, and among the young cast you might spot Holly Hunter who incidentally survived Cropsy's blades to go and make The Piano.
A definitive release of The Burning seemed a long time coming. In the UK, the first DVD edition had some cuts, and a European release though uncut featured a weak transfer. The 2007 US disc courtesy of MGM is the one to go for. The 1.85 anamorphic widescreen transfer is simply gorgeous, with excellent detail and fine, vibrant colors. The night time scenes which looked so muddy on VHS now look especially clear. Audio is absolutely fine, and for extras, there's a very good audio commentary by director Tony Maylam and journo Alan Jones, plus a very good featurette entitled Blood 'N' Fire Memories in which Tom Savini reminisces about the film and shares some video footage he shot on the set.
Originally the film was to be known as The Cropsy Maniac but the title was switched at the 11th hour to The Burning. Meanwhile another film was in production under the working title The Burning and had to be released under the alternative title Don't Go In The House. Joseph Ellison's film actually did some jail time with The Burning when it appeared on an early draft of the DPP's list, but was subsequently removed.
8 comments:
Great stuff Wes, It's nice to see a positive review for The Burning, all too often it gets slagged off. It has a special place for me, it was one of the first films I found to be available in a cut and uncut version.ReplyDelete
Thanks Mart. Yeah, it really is a great movie, and the first Video Nasty I had seen before I knew such things existed. I think Friday the 13th Part 2 and The Burning are the best teenage holocaust films. That slow dolly on the girl in the shower is pure porno, but I absolutely loved her when I was a kid. She's still unbelievably cute. The Thorn EMI tape is long gone now, destroyed from too many plays, but I still have the cover somewhere...ReplyDelete
THE BURNING!ReplyDelete
Class 'A' slasher fare, killer all round. Essential. How some people fail to give it merit is beyond me. Oh no, wait a minute, I get it now - it's because they're - damn, lost it again. So, I still don't get why this could be deemed anything other than a classic of the slasher genre.
Wakeman's score is an incredible example of the limits of analogue synth ferocity in the kill scenes, and the scene at the start where Cropsy's burnt hand grabs the male nurse used to tie knots of dread in my stomach when I watched it as an early teen. Wes rocks!
Many thanks Jeremy. Yeah, that hospital scene is fantastic... in fact when I re-watched the film at the w/end, I wondered how anyone could work in those burn units. Those two pre-credit sequences, the burning of Cropsy and the hospital scene really kick the film off on a high...ReplyDelete
What was the mix up at the BBFC that you mentioned, Wes? I remember in the pre-cert days, films were still cut to shreds in the cinema but released uncut on video and that was the selling point - STRONG UNCUT VERSION!!!ReplyDelete
So, the BBFC had cut the film for theatrical screenings and this was the version Thorn EMI were supposed to issue on VHS, but the wrong master was used and the uncut version was mass produced and widely distributed. Thorn EMI later issued a cut version in line with the BBFC when the mistake was noticed, but by then there were a lot of copies of the uncut version out there in circulation - I was still seeing copies on video shelves in Ireland in the early 90's...ReplyDelete
I like this movie a lot - saw it years after on VHS - and now on Blu-Ray in the video vault. I can't say it improves on Friday the 13th - that lengthy stalk among the rocks doesn't end up adding much to the movie, and they short shrift Cropsy's reveal until the end, and even then poorly. If you burn a guy to a crisp and get a great makeup effect - show the damn thing! It's a case of 3 1/2 stars to Friday's 4 for me.ReplyDelete
I'm a Burning fan I must say, I like this one much more than the original Friday the 13th - and the ample amounts of naked flesh were a huge draw when I saw this in my teens - the slo-mo shot of the girl running at the baseball game with breasts in motion is one of slasherdom's sexiest moments...ReplyDelete


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A private seller from Germany is currently offering a BMW E36 M3 from 1997 for a whopping €164,500 ($221,000)
A private seller from Germany is currently offering a BMW E36 M3 from 1997 for a whopping 164,500 EUR ($221,000).
The ad says this is not a regular M3, as it is tuned by JML and is one of only two Lippert 356CS models ever made. The car in question has only 32,950 km (20,000 miles) on the odometer and seems to be in generally good condition.
This M3 is fitted with a 5.6-liter V12 engine from BMW 850 CSi, which replaces the stock 3.2-liter inline six unit. The seller says now the German sports coupe has 500 PS (368 kW) under the hood, which is significantly more than the 380 PS (280 kW) of the standard 850 CSi.
The M3 is also equipped with 19-inch alloy wheels, an ABS system, a board computer, electric windows, a leather interior and much more.
The current owner of the car is asking 164,500 EUR ($221,000) for it with more information available on request. Just for comparison, the base 2015 BMW M3 costs around 47,000 EUR ($62,925) in the USA. If you go for carbon ceramic brakes, the price is bumped by 6,074 EUR ($8,150), while the Driver Assistance Package is an additional 1,415 EUR ($1,900) and brings a side-view camera, autonomous braking, a lane departure warning system and blind spot monitoring.


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Post Event Evaluation for Advisors
You will use this form to assess and evaluate your WSUSA events after they have taken place. It is suggested to complete this evaluation no more than 1 week following your event in order to remember details and reflect on the activity. Be sure to include all of your event information (budget, notes, pictures, etc.) to help archive this event for future teams to look back on.


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The Kindle DX pdf support does not support changing font sizes, nor zooming or panning. I gather that Savory does all these for the Kindle 2. Is my inference correct? Have you any plans for Savory on the DX?
I'm finding that math is rendered well on the DX, but even in landscape mode (where larger fonts are usually used) it can be a challenge to read. Worse, in landscape the (half) page breaks are 'hard' so you cannot choose to display a particular part of the page--if what you want falls on different sides of the break, you're out of luck.
Richard, Jun 19 2009 on s.ly


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Bert de Waele will race the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, after missing the opening Classics last weekend.
De Waele is not quite happy with his season yet. "I barely raced 60 kilometres so far," he said. "I crashed in the opening race La Marseillaise and suffered injuries to a few ribs." After three days he was back on the bike. "Just when I was pain-free, I started having problems with my right knee." He had to take seven days off completely and is only able to ride since last Thursday. "The pain is not gone completely, but the doctors gave me the green light."
De Waele will be part of a strong Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team that also includes David Boucher, who was in the first break in the Omloop and finished 13th. Frédéric Amorison is also nominated; he was chasing with Nick Nuyens (Rabobank) and Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) after the Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team) and Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) pair. Amorison ended the race in sixth place.
The rest of the team had a solid Flandrian weekend as well. Kevin Neirynck, Koen Barbé, Filip Meirhaeghe and Geert Verheyen all finished in the first chase group on Saturday, 45 seconds behind the winners. Denis Flahaut completes the team.


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Re-Reading Watchmen: Issue #8
|"Watchmen" Chapter XIII: "Old Ghosts"
Each week until the March release of Warner Bros.' film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen," Eisner-Award winning retailers Carr D'Angelo (Earth-2 Comics in Sherman Oaks, CA) and Atom! Freeman (Brave New World in Newhall, CA) will review one chapter of the landmark DC Comics graphic novel with a new perspective.
Carr is reading from his "Absolute Watchmen" while Atom! is perusing his well-worn early edition trade paperback. There's also a full set of original issues handy to settle the questions of what was in the first printing and what wasn't.
As the excrement hits the propeller, we thought we'd bring in one of our favorite rabble-rousers, Steve Marmel. Steve started his professional career by earning beer money in college by standing up on a stage with a microphone and making fun of liberals. Stand up on those kinds of stages long enough and eventually someone will ask you to write fart jokes for cartoons. Do that long enough and eventually someone will let you create a show for the girl other tweenage girls will want on their iPod covers. This is how you become Steve Marmel. Oh, and you might want to get injured by karate girls and start a political blog along the way.
All of that is to say that Steve Marmel is a comedian, writer and producer who's credits include his own Comedy Central special, "Fairly Odd Parents," "Yin Yang Yo," a Disney channel series that premieres next week, and, I swear to god, six episodes of "Hollywood Squares."
Pages 1, 2 & 3: When Hollis drunk-dials Sally. Meanwhile, back at the newsstand and corpse-raft.
CARR: One major bit of poetic license is the concept of preparing for Halloween by wearing your costume in the street the week before. Moore and Gibbons wanted the image of the kids in costume with the title "Old Ghosts," but it's a stretch. Or two Brits with a lack of understanding of American culture.Â
ATOM!: I haven't smoked in 15 years or so, but I think I would choose Hollis' beer and cigarettes over Sally's wheat germ and ginseng.
CARR: When my wife and I were house hunting for our first home, we used to nickname the houses we saw based on decor. The "mermaid" house had a mermaid carved into the poolside cement. The "serial killer" house had clown paintings and secret rooms. And the "owl house" was chock full of owl collectibles and knick-knacks just like Hollis Mason's apartment. There was an owl-shaped welcome mat, an owl-shaped weather thermometer, all these little owl objects everywhere. It was a nice house and for a minute, I was expecting to see a Minutemen photo on the wall. And probably, Hollis bought none of this stuff. It starts with one person buying you an owl then everyone thinks you collect them. Â
ATOM!: Dr. Long just can't seem to escape Ole' Inkblot.
MARMEL: And why is he wearing an "Old Timey" football helmet? Â Is he going to go back in time and play for the Green Bay Packers? Â By the way, this is as good of a time as any to say, even two panels of this pirate thing is enough for me. Â I get that it's metaphorical, but I just want to see neutered middle-class people in spandex, por favor.Â
CARR: Repeating this scene of Long at the newsstand shows that the last few issues are all happening contemporaneously. It's almost like the reader experiences the story of "Watchmen" the way Dr. Manhattan experiences life: repeating the same timeline over and over.Â
Pages 4 & 5: Dan & Laurie get ready for a caper. Get it? He's wearing a cape.
ATOM!: So, finally Dan gets laid and now he's loungin' around in a t-shirt, got his hair in just the right shape of owl that he likes and gets to do some detective work with his owl-computer. Life is good.
MARMEL: Â I like the fact that Dan kept the Owl Cave up just enough that if he wanted to use it to get laid, he could. Â I mean, it's not like it's run down, but it's not completely in disrepair. Â It's almost like he knew – "One day, I'm gonna need this to impress a girl after the New York Comic Con."
CARR: The design of these pages is pretty cool. Atom! was talking about the restrictions of the nine-panel grid in the first issue, but now, as the story gets bigger, the panels get bigger and break out of their "prison."Â
ATOM!: "Oh Dan, I'm sorry. I keep mentioning Jon. He just pops up when I don't expect it." Sometimes foreshadowing just isn't enough. You have to eightshadow.
MARMEL: Â "Wow, Dan. Â A lot of guys can't rock the dockers, but you can."
ATOM!: "I know. The flat panel front really shows off my eightshadow."
Pages 6 & 7: Rorschach catches up with a little friend.
ATOM!: I have a buck that says that if they use the insulting puns in the movie, it gets a laugh every time.
MARMEL: I love panels four, five and six.  It's almost as though Mulhearney is talking to his own genitalia.  "What's that little Mulhearney?  It burns when I talk?"Â
CARR: It's a great example of post-modern comic book storytelling. If a character shows up who is shorter than the bottom of the panel, well, all he gets is a word balloon. Usually in comics, villains are hidden artificially by being drawn in shadows or focusing the camera off their faces (the way Eisner only showed the Octopus's gloves in "The Spirit," for example). But here's a villain we don't see right away just because he's not tall enough.Â
ATOM!: "You're alone in the valley of the shadow" is a great line.
MARMEL:  This is the first time I've ever noticed this, but Rorschach looks a little like an all grow'd up version of Archie, from Archie comics.  If I had noticed that before, I would have probably cheered for Big Figure.  Archie was a jackass who strung girls along, and if it was Archie in there, I'd have for him to get a shank in the liver.  Archie was a tool.
CARR: I have always wondered if the villains like Moloch and Big Figure had any specific precedents in the Charlton Comics. I don't know if The Question had any sort of Rogues' Gallery.Â
Pages 8 & 9: Dan, The Fuzz, and more green sugar cubes.
ATOM!: It's amazing how quick post-coital, bad-ass Dan wears off and gives way to the cardigan-wearing, doddering Dan.
CARR: Here's a 20-year-later thought: the way Moore and Gibbons use newspaper headlines to build the tension and create the feeling of an imminent World War III. It has to be 1985 because newspapers don't serve the same function in the modern world. They are old news the moment they are printed. If "Watchmen" happened today, Dan would be getting headlines on his iPhone.Â
MARMEL: This is a good cop. Finds the sugar cubes, notices the owl, smells Laurie's cigarettes in the air (and spots her cig holder) and asks Dan if he smokes. Â When we don't see him, he's probably helping old ladies cross the street. Â Consequently, I'm sure this guy dies in the end. Â
ATOM!: I give up. Maybe the sugar cubes are green and they were supposed to be when Rorschach pops them.
CARR: Finally, after eight issues you have figured it out. In the original printing of the first issue, they were colored incorrectly so the green ones looked wrong later. Obviously, the cubes are an important clue and were supposed to be green all along.
ATOM!: You can just come out and call me dumb. I probably won't understand you anyway.
CARR: I'm trying to figure out if there's comic-book history significance to 1977. If he picked 1974 or 1975, I would argue Moore was drawing a parallel to the "modern age" of comics, which is usually tied in to the emergence of the new X-Men. But maybe 1977 marks the end of the Silver Age for Moore?
MARMEL: Â Judging by the photo in the "Watchmen" hardcover, it's probably the last time Alan Moore got a haircut. Â (He's not off limits, right? Â It's just a joke, right? Â We're all fans here, right?)
CARR:Â Alan Moore just put a curse on you, Steve.Â
MARMEL: Â Yay! Â Alan Moore knows my name!
Pages 10 – 21: Paste-up, Sketch-up, Carve up, Hook up, Hang up, Break Out. Â
ATOM!:Â It's easy to forget that, not too long ago, "Cut and Paste" used to refer to razorblades and glue.
MARMEL: Â It reminds me how I feel when I watch "Superman: The Movie" and see the typewriters as writing devices, or Margot Kidder sane. Â Baffling in the context of time.
CARR: The previous scene ended with Dan saying "deadline." We've kind of avoided talking about the Moore "every transition needs to be connected" obsession, but some of them do feel forced. Like that one.Â
CARR: More storytelling things you can only do in comics: the six-panel scenes on top of the page while the Nite-Owl/Silk Spectre story progresses in larger panels below. You can say "split screen" in movies, but with the exception of "The Thomas Crown Affair," it usually comes off cheesy.
ATOM!: Ang Lee just put a curse on you, Carr. Say, who are these mysterious creative types on a desert island?
CARR: And what are they creating? I remember the first time I read this scene and was like, "What the hell is going on? How does this have anything to do with the mask-killer conspiracy?" At the time, I did not know a lot about Lovecraft, but in retrospect I imagine there is something Chthulu-like about this design–not to mention the disturbing sexual imagery.
MARMEL: Â It does look like something that even Captain James T. Kirk wouldn't hit, and that's saying something. Â
ATOM!: This scene that takes place on either side of the jailhouse bars is bad-ass.
CARR: And similar to the hacksaw scene in Rorschach's "origin." Give the villains a terrible choice to make. But tell me this, if the thug has a knife, why couldn't he cut through the cloth that Rorschach tied the bald guy with? I suppose he didn't want to take a chance putting his arms in the cell, but still…
MARMEL: Â Good thing for Rorschach that his main villains in the joint were fatty and shorty. Â Moore did a smart thing – using two white dudes with physical issues to mock. Â It's a whole different "Wow, that's dated" conversation if he's got Rorschach being attacked by an African-American and he goes all Archie Bunker on him. Â Â
CARR:Â You know I am loving all this owship stuff.Â
MARMEL: Â This entire sequence falls under the "stuff I can't wait to see in the film and I'm sure they'll have time for it since I doubt they're doing the pirate stuff" category. Â
CARR:Â I suppose "diving head first into things" tells us that Rorschach killed Big Figure via death by swirly, but the dialogue is a bit heavy-handed.Â
CARR: Nite-Owl set up emergency secret identities years ago. Not sure I caught that line before. More foreshadowing. But it's also another example of Dan's "run away" style of heroism.Â
Pages 22 – 24: Pack it up. Pop-up Jon.
ATOM!: It seems that Moore is trying to tell us that Jon can only see flashes of the future and is trying to connect the dots.
MARMEL: Â I find it interesting that Moore thought it was important to cover Jon's nads here. Â Plus, he's reading about his past, which he knows. Â That's gotta be a special kind of bored to have to do that.
CARR: I think Jon lives with some killer deja vu that makes him feel like he can't change anything. It's one of the basic philosophical discussions about God and pre-destination. If God is omniscient and knows the future, how can man have free will? Am I choosing to buy a DC Direct Bat Signal if God knew I was going to do it from the beginning of time?
ATOM!: Poor Dan. I bet he designed that belt when his tummy was flat and regrets it every time he sits down now.
CARR: Have we talked about the Gordian Knot Lock Company? They are the ones who fixed the locks in Dan's apartment and maybe Moloch's as well.Â
MARMEL: Â I still miss Jon's nads.
CARR: "I'll be damned." "Oh sure. At the very least." Great exchange between our cops, who I have been calling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.Â
MARMEL: I love the one guy at the foot of the tunnel taking one last futile rifle shot at Dan's escaping Owl ship. If it were a '50s TV series, he'd have emptied the gun on Superman's chest, and thrown it at the "S." Â And thrown it like a girl, too.
Pages 25 – 28: Memento.
CARR: One Easter egg is on page #27, Hollis Mason has a copy of the Philip Wylie's novel "Gladiator," reputed to be one of the inspirations for Siegel and Shuster's Superman. Arguably the first piece of superhero fiction.
ATOM!: Obviously, the plan is not to show Hollis's old face until his death mask, but why is what I don't get.
CARR: And the shadow makes an actual mask on his face. There is one clear shot of him in the first issue, when he says Dan was a better Nite-Owl, but it does seem a clear decision not to show him. Maybe because the Golden Age heroes exist more as an idea than actual characters? "Watchmen" is clearly a six-character play. But you're right, for a character whose voice we hear for four issues' worth of "Under the Hood" backups, there is something odd about the decision to keep his face off-panel.Â
CARR: I love that middle panel on page #27, Nite-Owl beating up all of these "science villains" as Moore would come to call them in later works like "Tom Strong."Â
MARMEL: Â I like the dog in the mask. Â Of course, what they should really be obscuring with a mask is that dog's butt. Â That's the first thing any other dog is gonna look at anyway.
CARR: I have a very strong memory of reading this issue for the first time. I was working at "Starlog" magazine in New York, and on the day this comic came out, I took an early lunch and took the subway to Forbidden Planet in the Village to get the issue as early as possible. And I read the comic on the subway ride back and I was devastated when Hollis Mason was murdered. It is such a senseless crime. And in that last panel, the blood on the base of the statue actually makes it one word: ingratitude.Â
ATOM!: The quote is from a poem called "Hallowe'en" and, if Google is any judge, was written to give pretentious teenagers something to use in the Quotes section of their blogs.
CARR:Â The quote made me laugh because I read "dumb" as "stupid" instead of "mute."
MARMEL: Â So much subtlety that I missed the first um… hundred times I read it. Â Â But then again, I was in college, and back then, I got my comics on Fridays, so there was an excellent chance my weekend had already begun.
The New Frontiersman.
ATOM!: Who hasn't, at some point, "had it up to here with these commie cowards?"
MARMEL: Â What's the difference between "The New Frontiersman" and "O'Reilly Factor?" "Frontiersman" is more subtle.
CARR: There's some serious hate-mongering here that's hard to read. This issue runs the gamut of reasons to wear masks, from the innocent kids trick-or-treating on Halloween, to our costumed crime fighters, to a comparison with the Klan protecting "American culture" from being "mongrelized." I do like the idea that the Boston Tea Party was in essence the first Justice League adventure, but seriously, the editor of "The New Frontiersman" is not the guy you want defending your masked antics.
Carr D'Angelo is a member of the Board of Directors of ComicsPRO, the Comics Professional Retailer Organization. and co-owner of Earth-2 Comics in Sherman Oaks, California, the 2007 winner of the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. Visit them online at: http://www.earth2comics.com.
Atom! Freeman co-owns Brave New World Comics (2008 winner of the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award) in Santa Clarita with his wife Portlyn. Since Watchmen came out the first time, he's lived in 10 different houses, had 5 different jobs, got married, bought a business and had a son. Read it today and maybe you can, too.
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Regional North America Canada Business and Economy Shopping Sporting Goods
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Offers paddling crafts, accessories and clothing. Features product descriptions, resources and contact details. Locations in Smithers, B.C. and Calgary, Alberta.
Sells prescription swim goggles with corrective lenses and aqua goggles for swimming and other water sports. Online ordering available.
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Sells paintball products and accessories, ready to ship anywhere in Canada. Locations across the country.
Bayco Golf
Features products, instructional videos, tradeshow listing, distributor information and contact details.
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Offers bikes, components and accessories for mountain and road bicycles. Comes with product descriptions, pictures and bicycling articles.
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Suppliers of hoof boots that take the place of metal horseshoes. Also sells saddle pads, fly masks and related equine products.
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Bombardier store and authorized service agent for Mercury, Mariner, and Evinrude outboards. Offers online shopping for parts and vehicles. Located in Alberta Beach, Alberta.
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Relocating to Georgetown
Thinking about Relocating?
No question about it. Georgetown Texas is the place to be! Established more than 160 years ago, this charming small town has all of the conveniences of the big city right at your doorstep. With an emphasis on architectural preservation, economic growth and annual events, this small town has earned a reputation.
Discover unique urban village living with the perfect combination of city convenience and small-town charm, less than 30 minutes from downtown Austin.
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As part of The Summit at Rivery Park, you'll enjoy convenient access to hotels, dining, shopping and entertainment, plus plenty of room to stretch your legs and your imagination. Explore miles of hike and bike trails nestled among the sparkling San Gabriel River, connecting your home to Lake Georgetown, community parks and the historic Georgetown Square.
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Cummins Diesel Memphis, TN
Cummins Diesel Memphis, TN
Project Information:
General Contractor: Legacy Construction Services, Memphis, TN
Insulation Contractor: Integrity Energy Solutions, Greenville, SC
Product Application: RetroShield® System
Project Size: 25,000 square feet
Completion Date: July 2010
The Problem:
Legacy Construction Services, Memphis, TN is in charge of renovations to improve energy efficiency and the appearance of the Cummins MidSouth region facilities.
Project Solution:
Integrity Energy Solutions installed Fi-Foil's RetroShield System in the first renovation of this Cummins Diesel MidSouth facility in Memphis, TN; and has now been contracted to do 10 more facilities in the South, as well as, a 200,000sf engine distribution warehouse in Memphis, TN.
Legacy Construction Services selected this insulation system because it allows the installers to work around Cummins Diesel's product inventory and equipment with scissor lifts, and eliminates any down time for the company.
Cummins MidSouth L.L.C. is the exclusive distributor of Cummins and Cummins Onan products (service engines and related technologies) in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In addition, Cummins Mid-South, L.L.C. serves the panhandle of Florida, southern Illinois, eastern Missouri, and western Tennessee.


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Fancy yourself as a budding entrepreneur? Then you can pick up some practical advice from Feltrim Group Chief Executive Garrett Kenny and other top business leaders in a new book.
The inspiring book, simply called Entrepreneur, which has just been published by Mithra Publishing, features sound advice and tips from Garrett and 27 other "inspiring business leaders who set the standard".
Each chapter examines the problems that the experienced business leaders have confronted. It shares the insights they have gained while developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in and supervising their companies.
Garrett's chapter is called The Entrepreneur's Mindset, in which he discusses what makes an entrepreneur and reveals some of his own experiences in leading Central Florida real estate developer and agent, Feltrim Group. He illustrates his philosophy with examples from his career and provides tips to budding entrepreneurs.
Dealing with people and being able to think on your feet is essential for would-be business people, says Garrett. It's often a battle of wits, but entrepreneurs have to be able to look at any deal a few moves down the chess board, as it is crucial in doing business at any level.
"Determination not to give up regardless of what challenge you face – and I've faced many – means there is always a solution as long as you believe in what you are doing. You need to also go with your instincts, learn from lessons and naturally have a bit of luck.
"I think entrepreneurship is a mindset. You can give people advice, tell them what to watch out for, and, some advice is very useful and can stay with you, but you can't teach entrepreneurship. It's something that is innate; it's really about belief and determination, about creativity, about being able to spot opportunities and going for them. You don't need to be intellectual, but you do need to be intelligent."
The book explains how entrepreneurs see an opportunity which others do not fully recognize to meet an unsatisfied demand or to radically improve the performance of an existing business. They have unquenchable self-belief that this opportunity can be made real through hard work, commitment and the adaptability to learn the lessons of the market along the way.
The Entrepreneur costs £20 (around US$32) and is available through Mithra Publishing.
Tags: Feltrim, Florida, Garrett Kenny, Property, The Entrepreneur


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INGREDIENT LIST Apple Danish 400g: Apple (34%), wheat flour (thiamine), sugar, butter, egg, apple juice (from concentrate), margarine (vegetable fats and oils, milk solids), thickener (1412), yeast, sultanas, lemon juice (from concentrate), salt, cinnamon, emulsifiers (vegetable – 471 soy, 475), citric acid.
Contains wheat, milk, egg and soy. May contain traces of peanuts and tree nuts. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.


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2019 Garage Sale Sign Up will begin January 2019
Sullivan Panorama is awesome! Located minutes to South Surrey, White Rock and Cloverdale, Sullivan Panorama is a young, vibrant and family friendly community experiencing huge growth and change.
Popular neighbourhoods include Sullivan Station, Panorama Heights, Sullivan Heights and Panorama Village all surrounded by parks and green space. The multi-million dollar Tong Louie YMCA complex at Sullivan's centre helps to bring our residents together through sport and recreation offering a variety of programs for families, children, youth and adults.
Our schools, community leaders and area professionals are all highly engaged in the community contributing to a sense of togetherness but what makes Sullivan Panorama truly awesome is you! Young, hip and vibrant, families bring an active urban energy to our suburban location making for a truly liveable hood!


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Finally - a drawback to dating Teen Wolf!
Girl #1: What's wrong?
Girl #2: Today I spent, like, an hour getting a dog hair out of my eyeball.
Girl #1: What? How did you do that?
Girl #2: I don't know... but every day I wake up with dog hair in my eyeballs.


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- Home /
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- Taittinger Brut Champagne 75cl
Taittinger, one of the few Champagne Houses to remain independent , owns one of the largest vineyard in France thus guaranteeing a consistent high quality and finesse. It has a taste of brioche with hints of honey and fresh fruit.
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In this Issue
- Volume 34.2 (2004)
- Special Issue: Latin America in Film (Part 2 of 2)
- Issue
- View |
The Historians Film Committee exists to further the use of film sources in teaching and research, to disseminate information about film and film use to historians and other social scientists, to work for an effective system of film preservation so that scholars may have ready access to film archives, and to organize periodic conferences and seminars dealing with film. A journal of film and social sciences will be established at the earliest practicable date in order to facilitate the exchange of information among scholars and others concerned with film. Efforts will be made to contact interested scholars in other social science organizations with a view toward creating a common association of film researchers. Similarly, contacts will be maintained with foreign scholars concerned with film use.
published byCenter for the Study of Film and History
viewing issueVolume 34.2 (2004)
Editorial Board
Peter C. Rollins, Popular Culture Center
Associate Editors
Deborah Carmichael, Oklahoma State University
Richard Bartone, William Patterson University
Robert Fyne (Book Reviews), Kean University of New Jersey
Jennifer Langdon-Teclaw (Book Reviews), University of Illinois at Chicago
Jason P. Vest (Book Reviews), Washington University
Michael K. Schoenecke (Film Reviews), Texas Tech University
Robert C. Sickels (Film Reviews), Whitman College
Samuel A. Chambers (Film Reviews), University of Redlands
Ron Briley (Pedagogy and Syllabi), Sandia Preparatory School
Lacy Landrun (Webmaster), Oklahoma State University
Editorial Advisory Board
Suzanne Broderick, Heartland Community College
Greg Bush, Univeristy of Miami
Thomas Cripps, Morgan State University
Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University
Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University
Gary Edgerton, Old Dominion University
Raymond Flelding, Florida State University
Leslie Fishbein, Rutgers University
Sam Grogg, American Film Institute
Andrew Horton, University of Oklahoma
Martin A. Jackson, Co-founder, Historians Film Committee
Garth Jowett, University of Houston
Lawrence W. Levine, George Mason University
Charles Maland, Univeristy of Tennessee
Frank Manchel, University of Vermont
Steve Mintz, University of Houston
William T. Murphy, President, AV Archives
Donald E. Staples, University of North Texas
Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University
Robert A. Rosenstone, California Institute of Technology
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., CUNY Graduate Center
Jennifer Tebbe, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
Robert B. Toplin, University of North Carolina-Wilmington
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Copyright © 2004 Historians Film Committee.


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A Taste of the
Peak District
Peak District foreign language study …
Get Some Fresh Air While You Study a Foreign Language
You might think that to need learn a second language you need to spend endless hours in a stuffy classroom. Thankfully this isn't the case anymore and you can enjoy classes at home or in your workplace if it suits you better.
In fact, you can even go one better and carry on studying while you are breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the spectacular scenery of somewhere like the Peak District.
Read a Book
One of the simplest ways to practise a foreign tongue while you are outdoors is by taking a book with you. Then you simply have to find a pleasant place to sit down and read it. This is a gentle pleasure which can help you break up a hike, take some sun or just make your meals more interesting. If you really want to put yourself to the test then what about getting hold of a travel guide for the area you are in which has been written in the language you are learning?
Listen to Music
Music in your second language is another wonderful pleasure which you can enjoy while you are away from home. If you go onto a trusted music download site on the internet then you should find a great variety of songs to listen to. This is a particularly useful idea if you are planning on a long hike or cycle and want to put some music on while you do it.
Speak to Tourists
Finally, if you are going to be somewhere as appealing to tourists as the Peak District area is then you stand a good chance of bumping into some foreign tourists along the way. If you are lucky you could meet some friendly visitors with whom you can practise for a spell. One of the best ways of improving your skill with any foreign tongue is by talking to those people who speak it as their native language. What could be better for doing this than a wonderful setting and a relaxed frame of mind? If you are an outgoing sort of person then this will probably come naturally to you. If you aren't then you should try plucking up some courage and giving it a go anyway. I love my Italian courses in Manchester but the thought of getting out into the countryside to speak the language makes the thought of studying even more enticing.


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There is not as much to direct as there once was, but Southern Methodist expects no trouble in finding a new director for its scandal-ridden athletic department. The school's president, A. Kenneth Pye, said a seven-member search committee made up of three students, three faculty members and an administrator would be announced within a few days and was expected to have its work completed by October.
S.M.U. officials have already been doing some preliminary searching and have come up with a couple of candidates. One is Ted Leland, the Dartmouth athletic director, and the other is John Erickson, a former University of Wisconsin basketball coach and Milwaukee Bucks general manager, who seems especially eager for the S.M.U. post. Erickson, who has been the director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since 1972, has already made plans to leave the organization.Continue reading the main story


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Oh mai, another three-shot by Saya? Indeed, Saya couldn't help herself, she likes doing short stories like this, because giving herself a limit sort of forces Saya to speed up the plot of a story in a way that she wouldn't do otherwise. Besides, Saya's been dying to write Kanda as a geisha for the longest time..!
Disclaimer: Saya doesn't own the characters. Also, please note that while Saya researched a lot for this fic, it is by no means historically accurate, and Saya knows that, so don't bother telling her that she's got some wrong facts in here.
Rated: This chapter is perfectly K+. Later chapters will not be.
1-Beautiful Disgrace
Kanda Yuu did not understand why he was the one who was sold. Kanda did not understand a lot of things, but at the moment, that was what was most prominent in his mind. Why had it been he who was forced to leave? Why did anyone need to be sold in the first place, and why him? Since when were sons sold anyway? Granted, he was the youngest of his three siblings, but still, it was most unusual for a family to sell off their son. He had an older sister, and while he wouldn't wish this on her, he didn't understand how he came to be the one who was sold off.
It was all because of his good-for-nothing father, Kanda decided. They were a poor family and even Kanda's mother worked out at the docks with his father. The only one who didn't work was his older sister, because she was now of marrying age, and their parents didn't want her to scar her hands or injure herself working. Kanda's father hoped above all else that she would marry someone rich. Even Kanda worked, though he was only 7 and therefore couldn't do much of the really hard work that brought in the most money.
But despite this, Kanda's family was horribly poor, and it was definitely his father's fault. His father, who gambled away in hopes of winning a fortune, rather than saving the little money they made. What the man didn't spend gambling, he spent drinking away his problems. Then he had the gall to blame everyone else; blame his wife for raising lazy children, blame his daughter for not being a lady worth marrying, blame his eldest son for not sending the family enough money, blame Kanda for not being big enough to be of use. Everything was always everyone else's fault, and boy, did he let them know it.
And so, deciding that having one son working away from home wasn't enough, Kanda's father sold him to some strange place in Kyoto. Kanda had always wanted to see the ancient capital, but not like this. Kanda's mother begged his father not to sell him, but nothing could stop the man once he'd heard how much his son would be bought for.
So after numerous examinations that left Kanda feeling afraid and invaded, money left reluctant hands and was readily taken into his father's greedy ones. A moment later, Kanda was torn from his sobbing mother and thrown into a barred couch. It did not sink in until long after his voice had gone horse from yelling for his mother, until after he had grown too tired to fight against the hands that restrained him, until after he was left with no voice and nothing else to do but sit in the corner of the couch and sob dryly because his tears had dried up, that he had been sold and would never be able to return home. He had seen his mother for the last time, he would never know if his sister ever did get married, and he would never again receive hopeful letters from his loving brother who was working in Tokyo. His only solace was that he would never again have to see his mother be beaten by his father, or be hit himself.
Time passed with no measure as the country side gave way to towns and cities, and before Kanda realized it, he was in the city of Kyoto. The road was lined with shops, businesses, homes, and beautiful sweeping trees. For a moment, Kanda managed to forget his circumstances as he admired the passing city.
Eventually, the coach pulled to a stop in front of a large building, that Kanda would later find out was an okiya(1). He was roughly pulled out of the carriage and dragged into the okiya. He was too tired to resist anything anymore, but he was also too numb to function, so he just let the men who'd brought him here sit him down and take off his shoes before entering the okiya.
As he was brought up into the hall, he passed what had to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. Her long ebony hair was swept up into an intricate bun at the top of her head, with a fringe that framed her thin face perfectly, the lowest layer of her hair hanging down her back. A pale blue kimono made of the finest silk and embroidered with silver was wrapped around the woman, her azure blue obi and eri accentuating her pale features. A charming smile rested on her lips, and as she stopped in the entry way to put on her zori, a servant struck two pieces of flint together over her back for good luck.
Once the woman was gone, Kanda shook his head and looked forward again. He was led to a room at the very end of the main hallway, and told to bow at the door. He did as told and a moment later the door was opened, and the scent of smoke hit his nostrils. He was told to enter and kneel, so he quickly came in and sat before a man who was smoking a pipe. Said man looked rather young, and had outlandish straw-colored hair and dark blue eyes. The man was handsome in a sort of exotic way, and Kanda wondered if he was really Japanese, or a foreigner. He was calm and yet seemed very intimidating.
"So this is the one you just brought in all the way from the countryside, right?" The man asked, inspecting Kanda with his eyes. The two who escorted him nodded, and were then dismissed. As soon as the two were gone, the man suddenly seemed to become less composed and frightening. Kanda relaxed a bit at this.
"Your name is Kanda Yuu, right?" Kanda nodded. "My name is Bak Chan, but you'll be calling me Oto-san. Do you know where you are right now, Kanda-san?" Kanda shook his head no. Bak sighed to this, secretly wishing his little errand boys would inform their charges of what was happening to them. Perhaps they would be less frightened if they knew they were coming to an okiya and not a brothel.
"You're in the Chan okiya, which is located in a special corner of the hanamachi district of Kamishichiken(2). This okiya is not for your typical geisha, however," Bak explained; half of what he said was going right over Kanda's head. Bak paid no mind to Kanda's confusion and just continued on.
"This section of Kamishichiken is reserved for patrons with...unique tastes. All the geishas here are males, and you, who have been sold here, will train to become one yourself." Kanda tried hard not to show just how dumbfounded he was. A geisha? Weren't those supposed to be beautiful women? And did that mean the woman he'd seen leaving the okiya was actually a man? Kanda found himself slightly uncomfortable with that thought.
"I don't get it," Kanda said honestly. "I can't be a geisha, so why am I here, really?" Bak sighed once again, because he really didn't want to explain this to a child but there seemed to be nothing else he could do.
"Your parents sold you to me, because they needed money and I was willing to pay a good price because I need new apprentices. You now have to take on the debt your family created when they sold you to me by working here to earn back the money I paid to get you. You'll also have to pay back the cost of your schooling. This is a male geisha okiya and you will work here, odd idea I know, but get used to it." Kanda's shock was renewed by this information. He couldn't believe it, his parents had really sent him off to become a...a geisha.
After this new information had set in, along with the reoccurring fact that he had been sold and his own fatigue, Kanda felt himself black out.
"Hey, onii-chan, I think he's waking up now!"
Kanda woke up to a soft, dainty voice calling out to an unknown figure. He next noticed a cool weight on his forehead, and realized it was a wet cloth. His eyes slowly cracked open, and he saw a small, round face hovering over his own, wide, violet-colored eyes staring down at him. The girl's lips parted into a smile when she saw his eyelids flutter open, and she sat up straight and motioned for the other person, who was apparently her brother, to come over.
"Ah, so he's rejoined the world of the waking, hm?" The man asked, smiling kindly down at Kanda. The man looked slightly familiar, but in his current state Kanda couldn't remember who he was. Slowly, Kanda sat up, as he did he felt small hands on his back helping him. He gave the two strangers inquiring looks, before inspecting the room he was in.
The floor was all tatami matting, almost empty except for a few hastily made futons and a dresser. Kanda noted two sliding doors, one which most likely lead to a closet or storage room, and the other to a hallway. Looking to the two people in the room, he saw that the girl was smaller than he was, she was probably a year or two younger too. She had mid-length black hair that was tied up in pig-tails, and was clothed in a simple checkered yukata. Her brother had long black hair similar to her own tied back in a low ponytail, a slim pale face and eyes that were a few shades darker than the girl's. He was also clothed in a light-colored yukata, though it was obviously of a much higher quality. Finally, on the bridge of his nose sat a pair of angular glasses.
"Wh-who are you...?" Kanda asked, slightly annoyed with the feeble tone in his voice. The young girl smiled when she heard his voice.
"My name is Lee Lenalee, and that's my onii-chan, Komui. What's your name?"
"...Kanda...Kanda Yuu, and where am I now?" Kanda realized after he asked that he must still be in the okiya he'd been sold to. He supposed it would be a good idea to learn where in the okiya he was though.
"You're in the servant's quarters of the Chan Okiya," the older of the siblings, Komui, answered. "It's rather plain but this is where you'll be staying for the time being, at least until you've finished your shikomi(3) training."
Shikomi training? What was that? Was it some kind of training for the job he'd apparently be doing? Kanda's confusion must've shown on his face, for Komui continued on to explain that shikomi was the first level of his training to become a geisha. Kanda would work as a servant in the okiya, and go to school to learn the basics of the geisha arts. Kanda could do that, he was used to doing housework. Apparently, this stage of training would last until he was proficient in the arts, and Kanda secretly wondered if he could keep himself at this level his whole life if he just purposely failed his classes.
"So for now you'll be rooming with me, and the other four apprentice geisha living here," Lenalee said, smiling as though this was the best thing that had happened all year. "I hope we can be good friends!"
Kanda raised an eyebrow to this, wondering if he really wanted to make any friends at all, but reluctantly answered, "...Friends...sure."
A few months of peace and repetitiveness passed for Yuu at the okiya, and he found that Lenalee had indeed become his friend, though he hadn't exactly wanted to make any. Still, being with someone who could get a little annoying occasionally was much better than being alone in this odd place, he decided. Besides, he needed someone to fill the silence with chatter while he worked.
There was one other kid too, who was about his age, that was also an apprentice. Daisya was much more lively than Lenalee was, and tended to be much more of a troublemaker too. Unlike Kanda, he was not beautiful in a feminine way, and was really more handsome in a boyish way. Yuu supposed that once the boy's hair grew out that problem could be fixed with enough makeup.
And boy, did geisha wear enough makeup. He had to help Komui with his in the mornings, and even he wore quite a bit of it, though apparently because he was a full-fledged geisha, he was wearing less than Daisya and Kanda would when they became maiko(4). The reason had something to do with natural beauty and some other stuff that Kanda didn't really pay attention to.
Today started out like any other day, Kanda woke and changed into his school's uniform yukata, then woke Lenalee and helped her prepare breakfast. He brought breakfast to Oto-san, before leaving with Daisya and the other three apprentices (who didn't have the patience to put up with Kanda's cold attitude) for school.
Their first class was dance, which Kanda oddly enough excelled at. He tried not to, really, but he seemed to have a natural grace that made it impossible for him to mess up the steps. Even when he did use extreme amounts of willpower to make himself fall out of line or do something wrong, his teacher either dismissed it because it was such a rare occurrence, or considered his mess-up some feat of genius that had somehow made his dance unique. Oh, how Kanda hated that class.
Dance class was only rivaled in hatred by singing class though. Kanda disliked this class for the simple reason that he found it humiliating to sing at all. His voice was nothing special, but he wasn't horrible either, and Kanda was thankful that his skill (or lack thereof) was not pointed out constantly in this class. Oddly enough though, Daisya seemed to do well in this class, though his...unique lyrics and style could've had something to do with it. Kanda decided Daisya was better suited to being a comedian, rather than a geisha.
Instrumental classes were the same as dance classes, much to Kanda's chagrin. His original goal had been to completely fail all of his classes, and this should've been the easiest of them to fail, but them his finicky personality came into play. He had never realized it before, when he was living with his family and could never seem to do anything right, but he simply couldn't stand to not do his best, and he couldn't stand not being the best when he could be. So Kanda practiced more than he wanted to or needed to, paid close attention to his sensei's instructions, and excelled in that class as well. Splendid.
After lunch Kanda had tea ceremony, ikebana, and calligraphy classes. He somewhat liked calligraphy because he was learning how to write better, which was practical, but the other two classes bored him to no end, though he was apparently a wonderful tea server with a knack for making lovely flower arraignments and had a wonderful aesthetic sense. Kanda wished it were easier to fail.
"Really Kanda-san, you could be every sensei's darlin' if you just lost the "I really don't want to be here" attitude," Daisya commented, as they left the school grounds for their okiya. Kanda shot Daisya a withering glare, before sighing out his exhaustion from the day.
"I can't act like I want to be here when I don't. I just wish that having a bad attitude was enough to fail..."
"Geez, you're at the top of most of your classes and yet ya wanna fail. If it makes you feel any better, you fail at failing, at least. Still, what I wouldn't do for your marks..." Daisya trailed off, imagining a self that could play the shamisen without making even himself cringe at the sound. He had practically been raised in the okiya, so he couldn't really understand what Kanda had against being an apprentice geisha there. Sure, Daisya understood that it hadn't been Kanda's choice to live how he did and would, but he couldn't understand just how Kanda really felt, and therefore would never understand why Kanda couldn't just get over it and live happily.
Likewise though, Kanda, who had been forced into this lifestyle, couldn't understand why Daisya liked it so much. He realized that Daisya had been raised to think the okiya was a great and wonderful place and that he had chosen to be there, but he couldn't wrap his head around the idea of being happy and perfectly content with studying to be a professional cross-dresser.
Sighing again, this time in a more irate manner, Kanda quickened his pace so that he could reach what he was now slowly accepting as his new home sooner. At first he'd felt alone at the okiya, and he did his best to make himself as isolated as possible. He hadn't wanted anything to do with that world or the people in it, and really he still didn't. But all too quickly, the kind, welcoming atmosphere had corroded away the walls he'd built around himself. Well, at the very least, compared to his old home, this place was warm and more like what a home should've been like.
"Okairi, Kanda-kun, Dai-kun!" Lenalee greeted the two of them at the front of the okiya as they stepped into the yard. Daisya waved to her enthusiastically, and Kanda gave something more like a quick flick of the wrist. The two boys quickly changed out of their uniforms and into working clothes, so that they could help Lenalee with whatever chore she was doing at the moment.
As it turned out, she was cleaning the floors. So she, Daisya, and Kanda lined up together with their hands pressing wash cloths onto the floor, and ran down the hall in three straight lines in the parody of a race. Kanda won of course, because he had the longest gait and the most leg strength. Cleaning was much easier this way, though they couldn't do such things while working on other chores.
After they had circled the okiya's wrap-around porch and lost all of their breath in the process, the three collapsed at a turn, breathing heavily, Lenalee and Daisya laughing while Kanda tried his best not to let a smile escape him.
"Ever the winner, hm Kanda-kun?" Daisya asked, smiling slyly in Kanda's direction. "You couldn't even find it in yerself to be a gentleman and let the lady win. For shame." Daisya shook his head in mock-disappointment, for which Lenalee hit him over the head with a rolled up wash-cloth playfully.
"Hey! I'm just makin' a point on your behalf!" Daisya huffed. Lenalee and Kanda both rolled their eyes.
"Che, where I come from girls win their own races and don't depend on men to let them. Lenalee will get faster and eventually beat me. Eventually," Kanda stressed, as though he didn't want to be beaten by her too soon.
"Hmph, what kinda place did you grow up in? All I can make out about the place is that they don't teach boys to be chivalrous," Daisya said, without any real seriousness. He himself had been raised to always treat a lady with respect, but that was primarily because even their okiya's strange little corner of the hanamachi was controlled by women, and therefore it was an inborn trait in the men to kiss up to them.
"What kind of place did you grow up in? The only thing anyone seems to have taught you is to treat women like porcelain instead of like human beings. That and how to cross-dress to impress," Kanda shot back, and Daisya had the grace to look a bit embarrassed about the cross-dressing point. Or maybe the 'treat women like porcelain' point, whichever it was Kanda hardly cared.
"Well, for your information, I grew up right here in this okiya," Daisya said with a hint of pride. Lenalee gave Daisya a look that said she'd heard this story a million times, but would stick around to hear it again. Kanda raised an eyebrow, but gave no other indication to the fact that he was somewhat interested in what Daisya had to say.
"Yup, I was born and raised in the hanamachi. My birth mother was a geisha in one of the normal okiya whose danna had gotten her pregnant. She died in the birthing process, and the stupid guy didn't want his wife finding out about me. Since no one knew what to do with me, they sent me here. I was raised here by Bak and Komui and Fou! They have been the greatest family I could've hoped for, and I am proud of what they have taught me, and what they have planned for me!" Kanda decided that entire story had led up to Daisya saying he had not been embarrassed about the cross-dressing comment after all. Still, it explained a whole lot, even though it had been a rather simple version of the story.
Kanda's mind did not stay on the actual story long though, for a question had formed in his mind. "Who's Fou?" he asked, giving Lenalee and Daisya curious looks.
"Fou is Bak-san's assistant," Lenalee said helpfully. "She's very kind, though somewhat..."
"Brutish is the word the big Oto-san uses," Daisya finished. "They argue a lot but Bak never gets rid of her. You'd almost think he enjoys getting knocked 'round by 'er. You could say the person who really runs this place is her and not Bak." Lenalee nodded reluctantly, embarrassed on Bak's behalf.
"Ah, I think I've seen her around, now that you mention it," Kanda said. "She's the one that keeps him in his office all the time, constantly yelling at him to get his work done and what-not."
"Yep, that's Bak's keeper, Fou."
"Ahem." The three froze as someone behind them cleared their throat pointedly. Turning slowly, they all cringed at the sight of Bak, standing with his arms folded over his chest, anger clearly displayed on his face. "So you three gossips have time to sit around and chit-chat but you can't find it in you to finish polishing the floors, hm?" Though Bak kept his voice level, his expression was become more and more fearsome.
Quickly, the kids scrambled for their cleaning supplies, hoping they would be able to get their things and get away before Bak threw one of his (admittedly comical) fits. Before the three could escape though, a rather loud and feminine yell hit their ears with horrendous volume.
"BAKA-BAKU!" Yelled the voice, and the yell was quickly followed by a kick.
"HEY! THAT'S BAK-SAMA TO YOU!" Bak yelled back, pointing accusingly at the small woman who'd kicked him. She huffed and smirked at him, giving the kids a sideways glance.
"Picking on children when you should be sorting out your bills? At this rate you'll get behind again, Baka-Baku." Bak did a full-body twitch when he heard this, and cursed colorfully as the woman, who Kanda decided must have been Fou, dragged Bak back to his office.
"I see..." was all Kanda said, before the three of them decided to get back to work, inwardly laughing all the while.
It was getting late, and though the sun had not yet set, it would sink below the horizon soon enough. Lenalee had woken with a fever that day, and thankfully enough it was Kanda and Daisya's day off from school, so they stayed close to her and watched her carefully in Komui's stead. The man had begged shamelessly to be released from his duties until Lenalee got better, or at least until her fever broke, but a sympathetic yet stern Bak told him that it was impossible and that he should just take solace in that fact that she had friends to look after her.
So Komui had left for his engagements feeling forlorn, and had promised bloody murder to all if his beloved sister was not taken care of properly.
And it was because Lenalee was ill that Kanda was currently outside of the okiya, and outside of the hanamachi as a whole, as a matter of fact. He was given a fairly large amount of money to buy some medicine for the girl who had by now been seen to by a doctor. Said doctor was an old man of small stature, who wore very odd eye make-up and had bizarre hair. He'd never caught the man's name, and it seemed that everyone just referred to him as Doctor anyway, so he would do the same.
That same doctor had told Bak that Lenalee was not simply fevered, and would need some expensive medicine or other that could only be bought at a certain pharmacy outside of the hanamachi. Without thinking, Bak had told Kanda, who was the nearest person at the time, to go and fetch said medicine.
So here Kanda was, outside of his area of familiarity, with a rather large amount of money tucked away in his obi. He felt like he was bait for every mugger in the area, and he didn't like it. Not only that, he was just a tad bit lost, for he had never been out of the hanamachi since he came to the okiya. Thankfully it was still light out, and there weren't too many dubious people on the streets yet, but soon, soon they would be out and about. Kanda hoped he'd reach the pharmacy and exchange the money for medicine before then.
Hoping to speed up the process of purchasing the precious medicine, Kanda walked up to the nearest wholesome-looking establishment he found, and located the owner.
"Excuse me," he said, gaining the kind-looking man's attention. "I'm looking for this place, but I don't really know where to go from here." Kanda held out a scrap of paper that had the pharmacy name on it, and showed the man the name. The elderly man smiled kindly, before informing Kanda that the store he was looking for was just around the next corner. Bowing low in thanks to the man, Kanda left, feeling both embarrassed for having been lost, and relieved that he could finish his chore quickly now.
And that he did. Kanda located the store quickly, had shown the clerk the name of the medicine and the note from the Doctor asking for a week's prescription, and left once he had procured the medicine. However, it seemed he had not been quick enough for by the time he had gotten out of the store and down a few streets, the sun had completely set. Kanda did his best to remember how he'd gotten to where he was, but everything looked different in the light of innumerable lamps. Sure, it was plenty bright on the streets, but they looked so strange and menacing, cast in shadows that moved with the wind.
Kanda could not manage to find any familiar territory, and this was worrying him. But he was not one to panic in such circumstances, and resolved to do what he had done before, even though most of the places he'd have preferred to go into to ask for directions were closing for the night. He would just have to step into a more risky place was all, he thought simply.
Resolute in his decision to get home quickly for Lenalee's sake and for his own, Kanda turned to enter the nearest establishment. Before he could even take a step forward however, a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and held him back.
"Hey lil' girl, you lost?" Kanda cringed at the way he'd been addressed. It was true that he was a bit thinner than a healthy boy should've been, and his hair did pass his shoulders by an inch or so, but he liked to think that he still looked enough like a boy to be recognized as one when he was seen. Then again, he'd never seen himself from behind as this stranger obviously had, and maybe he didn't want to. It might shatter his illusions about having barely there and discouraged masculine attributes.
"Come play with oji-san and I might bring you home." Kanda shivered in disgust, amazed to find that people actually said things like that. Kanda turned and shrugged the man's hand off.
"I'm a boy, idiot," was all he said, and his raised middle finger was his little p.s.
"Oh, don't be so 'fraid," the man continued on as if he hadn't heard Kanda at all. Now that Kanda was looking at him, it was clear to see he was drunk. Night had only fallen all of ten minutes ago, and this guy had already thrown back enough alcohol to get himself hammered? Kanda decided that this man was quite obviously a slacking drunk who couldn't hold down a job and therefore had far too much time on his hands, which he spent drinking. Kanda hated such people with a passion.
Kanda was about to turn back and walk away from the man when he was taken by the wrist in an unexpectedly tight hold, and dragged off. Kanda fought and resisted as much as he could, spouting out a stream of obscenities that he had learned from Fou, whom he found to be wonderful company, if not a bit of a bad influence.
"Oi! Let go of me you damned drunk!" He yelled as he tried to pry the man's hand off of his wrist. His efforts doubled as fear began to creep forward and eat away at his anger and indignation.
Just as he was starting to get tired from all of his struggling, a third hand, smaller than the man's but larger than Kanda's, grabbed the drunk's own wrist.
"Let go of my friend, you creep," a male voice demanded, it sounded young but determined. Kanda's eyes moved up the person's arm to his face. The boy looked to be in his early teens, with hair a shade of orange Kanda didn't believe could occur naturally in any Japanese person. His messy hair covered a good portion of his face, but Kanda could still see little strings going across his forehead and left cheek. The lone eye that could be seen was a vibrant green that swam in the dim lamp lighting of the street. Kanda decided that this kid must be a foreigner.
Discouraged by an outsider's interference and that outsider's outlandish appearance, the man soon left Kanda alone with the strange boy. However his wrist was only free for but a moment, before the boy had taken it himself and began leading Kanda in the opposite direction the older man had.
At first, Kanda was too stunned to say anything or even resist being led around like this, but soon he found his head again and pulled his hand back. His wrist slid easily from the boy's light grasp.
"Where are you taking me?" Kanda asked, feeling rather shaken and confused at the moment.
"Home. You live at the Chan okiya, right?" The boy replied, to which a surprised Kanda nodded. "Then what are you waiting for kid? Ya can't trust anyone else on this street ta bring you there."
"Then why should I trust you?"
"'Cause I'm going where you're going." Kanda, not sure what to make of this, decided that he would be better off trusting this kid rather than anyone else of the street, and allowed himself to once again be led by the hand.
Kanda didn't realize he liked the hanamachi so much until he was back in it again. He knew these streets, and he knew that the flower town he lived in was much safer than the world beyond its borders. Now that he was in familiar territory, he no longer felt the need to stay with the mysterious boy who was leading him along, but decided that he would allow the boy to lead him the rest of the way; He had said they were going to the same place anyway, right?
Kanda felt truly at ease only when the two of them reached the front entrance of the Chan okiya. The moment he freed Kanda's hand, the redhead turned to leave. Strange, the boy had said they were going to the same place, hadn't he? Maybe he'd just meant they both belonged to the few male okiyas that were all clumped together in the area? Before Kanda could think about his actions, he reached out and grabbed the strange boy's sleeve.
"Ah...Thank you for bringing me back," Kanda said, for his newfound honor would not allow him to let this person walk away without at least thanking him. "I will repay you if the chance ever arises."
The redhead looked back at Kanda, with one eyebrow quirked and a little smile on his face. He turned back to face Yuu, and pat his head in a way that Kanda decided was irritatingly patronizing. Still, he said nothing, for he owed this person for saving him from a creep and bringing him home.
"How about for now you just tell me your name?" The boy asked, with a bright grin. Kanda obliged and introduced himself with a bow.
"Kanda Yuu, hm? I'll be sure to remember that. See you around, Kanda-san." The boy said, and this time Kanda let him walk away. Kanda turned to open the door to the okiya, but it was opened from the inside and revealed Daisya, who all but tackled Kanda to the ground when he saw him.
"Thank goodness! Sorry 'bout sendin' ya out alone. Bak forgot that you've never been out of the hanamachi before. We were so worried that you got lost or abducted or worse! Next time you go out, bring someone with you, ok?" Kanda, already used to Daisya's overly energetic and enthusiastic way of doing things, sighed from his position on the ground under his friend and nodded.
"I'm alright now, I had some help getting back. You can get off of me now."
"Help? Did you get picked up by some perverted oji-san or something?" Daisya asked as he got to his feet and offered Kanda a hand. Kanda took it gave Daisya a look that clearly asked how he knew.
"Yeah, but I got away from him. That wasn't the person I got help from anyway," Kanda said when it seemed like Daisya was getting worried. "Some kid who lives in the hanamachi helped me back."
"Oh, that's good. That old guy didn't do anything to you before you got away right? It'll lower your worth later on if he did." Daisya asked, still looking very concerned.
"No. And what do you mean, lower my worth? What kind of things are you talking about, anyway?"
"I dunno and I don't know. But something like that happened to one of the other apprentices once, and that's what Oto-san asked when he heard."
"Oh," was all Kanda said, and the two of them finally went inside.
It wasn't until Kanda was in the okiya that he realized he'd never bothered to ask the mysterious boy for his name. And it wasn't until he found that same boy in the servant's quarters, sitting right next to the Doctor and speaking with Bak that he realized the redhead might have just become the newest addition to his life.
The wide, amused and decidedly annoying grin the boy had welcomed Kanda with made him wonder if he really wanted this addition.
1. An okiya is like a boarding house for geisha. They live there, and the okiya pays for their schooling and necessities.
2. Kamishichiken is the oldest hanamachi (geisha district) in Northern Kyoto.
3. First stage of a geisha's training, where she goes to school and does daily chores around the okiya.
4. Maiko are apprentice geisha.
5. The hairstyles described in this fic will not be the traditional geisha styles, simply because it'd be a crying shame to bind up everyone's pretty, pretty long hair...go creative rights?
Also, please note that while Saya did her research for this fic to get it as accurate as possible, there will be plenty of discrepancies in it, and the things said in this fic about geisha and their lifestyle should not be considered fact. Clearly this is not historically accurate, so please don't get at Saya over that. That's about it for this a/n. Saya out.


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text:
Debt management
A Debt Management plan is a debt solution for anyone who has unsecured debts that they can't afford to repay and owe money to more than one creditor. Typically a firm is paid a fee to liaise with all of the credit suppliers concerned and help to establish and implement a repayment plan that is tailored to individual requirements. Debt Management Plans are not loans. The DM firm negotiates to freeze interest and charges allowing breathing space to reduce the debts over time and encourages the creditors to liaise directly with them and not with the client. A DMP requires the person to have a surplus income each month.
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text:
Sep 26 2017
2 kinds of impartial created perform of school students: data text and breakdown of the cause
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text:
Road Closures in Haverford Township for the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club
Fri, Apr 19th 2013 12:38 pm
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Fax: (610) 446-7703
Please contact me at (610) 639-5148 for more information about this property or to schedule a showing. I specialize in Springfield , PA real estate and Springfield homes for sale.
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Beds: 7
Acres: 1.98
Zoning: SINGL
Heating: Oil, Hot Water
Sqft: 3952.00
Parking Capacity: 0.00
Est Age: 308
Basement: Full
Courtesy of Keller Williams Realty-wilmington


text:
Couple scared by intruder under bed
Couple scared by intruder under bed
DELTONA, Fla. —
A couple returned to their Deltona home to find a burglar hiding beneath their bed, according to authorities.
A man noticed a hand pull away from under his bed when he sat on it Tuesday night. The man then grabbed his wife and left their Normandy Boulevard home.
When the two returned, the bed was flipped over and the backdoor was wide open.
Nothing appeared to be missing at the home.
Anyone with information in this case should contact authorities.