text:
Thousand Autumns – Chapter 13
Translator: MoMoePom
Editor: Draygan, Forseti
First published on Ainushi.
Chapter 13
Synopsis: What taste of ecstasy would it be?
Early the next morning, they hastily buried the abbot and the two little monks before entering the city.
After the event that happened last night, Chen Gong was like a bird that would be startled by the mere twang of a bow. He didn't want to stay in the city any longer. Even when he saw the distant sign of the Six Harmonies Association's sub-hall, he had no intention to go forward and only wanted to drag Shen Qiao to walk faster. Caught between a laugh and a cry, Shen Qiao said to him, "Nobody will notice us. They don't even know our names and will only go after the others. You don't need to worry this much."
Right after he finished, they heard someone tittering from the wall next to them. "I would say his concern is necessary. But again, the light was so dim last night that I didn't even notice what a charming face this mister has. I almost missed it!"
The voice was sweet and cute. Most importantly, it sounded extremely familiar.
Chen Gong thought he recognized the voice. As he raised his head, he saw a young girl sitting on top of the wall, smiling at them sweetly. She was wearing a red dress, her black hair was held up in two buns by two gold rings. Apart from her voice, there was not even one spot on her resembled the little monk from last night.
Were it in the past, if such a beautiful woman was to walk on the street, Chen Gong would definitely give her quite a few glances. However, now as he thought of the horrible deaths of the three monks in Beyond Cloud Monastery, he only felt a chill creep over him and didn't even have the courage to give her another look.
Bai Rong smiled, "Why are you so scared? Shouldn't you be happy that you get to meet an old friend again? I came here just for you two!"
Shen Qiao couldn't see, so he only cupped his hands towards the source of the voice. "May I know why this lady is looking for us?"
Bai Rong pouted, "What do you mean by 'this lady'? It sounds like we're strangers. My family name is Bai, Bai Rong. It's another name for 'peony', therefore you can also call me 'Little Peony'!"
As she spoke, her body moved and appeared in front of them in a flash.
Bai Rong seemed to have a greater interest in Shen Qiao, she even tried to touch his face.
Just as her finger was about to caress his face, Shen Qiao seemed to have noticed her intentions and took two steps back.
Bai Rong giggled and said straightforwardly, "Last night, one of you was reading the script, while the other heard the entire thing, so I assume both of you must have remembered a lot of its contents. I'm going to write them down from memory now, but there are some places that I can't recall accurately, therefore, I need your help. As for the reward… after we finish, no matter which one you prefer, beauty or wealth, you will get what you wish for~"
She dragged out the last sentence. There was an underlying current of seduction in her coquettish voice, it was enough to sway the heart of any man.
Chen Gong felt his ear burn and he was about to agree, but he suddenly felt a vice-like grip from the hand on his shoulder. He recovered from his muddled state and started to shake his head at once so rapidly like it was like a rattle-drum. "But I can't read!"
Shen Qiao also said, "You're looking for the wrong people. He's illiterate, and I'm blind. All I did last night was to read word by word from the book. I already forgot everything after I finished reading, so I'm afraid that we can't offer any help."
Bai Rong smiled, "Of course you can't remember because you are so nervous and alarmed right now. You can take your time to think it through after you go back with me, maybe you can remember a lot by then. Do you really have the heart to reject such a pretty girl like me?"
She didn't wait for them to answer after she finished, instead, her hand grabbed right towards them.
Alarms in Chen Gong's head went off. His body wanted to run away, but as he saw that slender white hand approach him, he lost all of his strength and could only watch that hand brush across his shoulder. His legs went soft and his entire body collapsed onto the ground, paralyzed.
"Junior marital sister, you are in such a good mood. Are you planning to kill someone again?" An extremely handsome face but with an old voice appeared at that same moment.
A man jumped off the wall and landed as light as a feather on the ground. Bai Rong's face turned slightly pale as he smiled at her. "We don't see each other often. Isn't junior martial sister happy to see me?"
Bai Rong had to put Chen Gong and Shen Qiao aside for now and focus on dealing with the unwelcome guest before her eyes. "What is senior martial brother talking about? I was unable to react just now because I was too happy with surprise. I haven't seen you for such a long time."
Huo Xijing glanced at her with a faint smile. After passing Chen Gong, his gaze landed on Shen Qiao. His expression changed, revealing his interest in the latter. "Such a pretty mister. Junior martial sister is going to kill him anyway, why don't you give me his face first and kill him afterward?"
Bai Rong stepped forward in between Shen Qiao and Huo Xijing unobtrusively. "Junior martial brother sure likes to joke, I've never thought about killing them. Speaking of which, why is junior marital brother here? Don't tell me that you traveled thousands of miles just to chat with me about the good old days?"
Huo Xijing answered, "I've heard that junior martial sister had an extremely big stroke of luck last night. I happened to be passing by, so I decided to drop in and take a look."
Bai Rong replied, "What kind of riddle is senior martial brother talking about? I don't seem to understand~"
Huo Xijing gave a light snort, "Last night, the Six Harmonies Association appeared outside the monastery in the city outskirts with the remaining script of The Strategy of the Vermillion Yang, but the script was destroyed by Yan Wushi. You were also present at the time. I've heard that before the script was destroyed, Yan Wushi asked someone to read it aloud once. According to how smart junior martial sister is, I believe you've already written it down and are ready to hand it over to Master, am I right?"
Bai Rong stuck out her tongue like how little girls coquettishly feigned anger. "Considering how much I respect Master, for something like this, of course, I have to hand it over to Master directly and let him decide how to handle it. It can't be that senior martial brother wants to steal my credit after hearing the news, right? Because I certainly won't allow that~"
Huo Xijing said, "Your senior martial brother actually has a good idea. Why don't you let me keep it for you? We can then go back and report to Master together. This way, we won't have to worry about you losing it."
Bai Rong laughed, "Senior martial brother, do you think I'm stupid?"
Huo Xijing also laughed, "It breaks my heart that you distrust your senior martial brother this much!"
This pair of martial brother and sister were laughing and talking while smiling, but the truth was that there were swords and blades hidden behind each of their words. Both of them stared at the other's unguarded weak spots as they spoke.
Bai Rong didn't dare lower her guard for even a split second. She knew clearly that Shen Qiao had run away with Chen Gong, but she was too busy to take care of them. She had to put all of her focus on Huo Xijing for fear that she would fall into his traps before she was even aware.
Huo Xijing raised his eyebrows, "They left. Isn't junior martial sister going to chase after them?"
Bai Rong smiled, "I think senior martial brother is more important than them."
The conversation sounded extremely loving and sentimental, but both of them knew in their heart that was not the case at all.
Chen Gong didn't know how Shen Qiao managed to pull him up, drag him along and escape together. Shen Qiao couldn't see, even with the help of his stick, he had been running into this and that as he moved. Chen Gong had no strength left and could only give Shen Qiao directions from behind. The two of them ran for over an hour before Chen Gong finally panted, "S-Stop, I can't run anymore…"
Shen Qiao slowed down, but his expression didn't become any less dignified, as he walked towards the nearest inn.
Chen Gong hurriedly asked, "Are we not exiting the city? Let's hurry and get out, so that devilish woman can't catch up with us!"
Shen Qiao explained, "All the more reason for us to stay here. They are definitely expecting us to leave the city as well. There are more people in the city, so it won't be that easy for them to find us. Let's put up at the inn for a night first and find a chance to leave the city tomorrow. She won't be able to pay any attention to us for a while with that man there."
They walked into the inn and asked for a room. Chen Gong noticed that despite Shen Qiao had been walking pretty fast, he looked utterly exhausted. He remembered that Shen Qiao's body was much weaker than his and how normally Shen Qiao had to stop to catch his breath every time they walked a little far. Feeling a bit sorry for him, Chen Gong suggested, "I'll sleep on the floor tonight, you can take the bed."
Shen Qiao didn't decline the offer out of modesty like he normally would because he really couldn't hold on much longer. Ever since Yan Wushi poured inner qi into his body and made him strain his eyes last night, he had been feeling weak from head to toe. He was merely holding onto his tension prior to this, and now once he was able to relax, he immediately became dizzy and was about to collapse.
Chen Gong was quite curious, "They're martial brother and sister, but how come they act like they are enemies? That guy is a little weird, too. His voice sounds like an old man, but his face is so young!"
Rubbing his temples, Shen Qiao replied, "Because he practices 'Solar Scheme' [1]."
Chen Gong asked, "What's 'Solar Scheme'?"
'That name sounds quite imposing,' he thought.
Shen Qiao explained, "It's a face-switching art. Peeling the skin of other people and fusing it with his own using some kind of secret arts in order to stay young and beautiful forever. For those two people, either one of them would be a thorny person to deal with. If it weren't for them not getting along with each other, we would not have escaped successfully today."
Chen Gong felt his blood run cold from listening and couldn't restrain himself from crying out, "How can there be skill this malicious?!"
Shen Qiao couldn't force himself to stay awake anymore and lay down with his clothes on. He turned to his side, his body slightly curling up and his eyebrows faintly furrowed together on his pale face–it almost looked like he was in his final days.
When Chen Gong first started to travel with Shen Qiao, he was worried that Shen Qiao would collapse at any moment, but he got used to it afterward, seeing that Shen Qiao was like that all the time.
He suddenly thought of something and asked, "Didn't you say that you don't remember anything? How do you know he's practicing face-switching art?"
"Oh, I can remember a little sometimes."
Chen Gong's mouth twitched.
"Let's sleep. We still need to get up early tomorrow." Shen Qiao clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore. He turned over, his back facing Chen Gong.
Chen Gong was left with no choice but to lie down after him.
He had a nightmare that night. In it, his face was peeled off and replaced by a wrinkled face of an old man. He couldn't even recognize himself from the mirror. He was horrified and woke up at the end with a shock. It was almost noon, and the bed was already empty.
Shen Qiao was gone.
It gave Chen Gong a start. He jumped up while his head was still muddled and touched the bed. It was already cold. Just when he was trying to decide whether he should go out and look for Shen Qiao, he saw Shen Qiao push open the door and walk in.
He heaved a sigh of relief, "Where have you been?"
After these days of traveling together, even though Chen Gong never said anything, but deep in his heart, he was already used to having Shen Qiao as a companion without knowing it.
In the eyes of the others, since Shen Qiao was blind and his health was not good either, there had to be a lot of inconvenience in his everyday living that needed Chen Gong's help. However, the truth was that Chen Gong often listened to Shen Qiao. Thanks to Shen Qiao, they had avoided many wrong paths.
Shen Qiao closed the door and said softly, "Let's part here today."
Chen Gong went blank for a moment, then he jumped up. "Why?!"
Shen Qiao explained, "After Bai Rong finishes dealing with her senior martial brother, she might turn around and look for us. As for the Six Harmonies Association, even though I managed to send them away last night when they offered to travel together with us, it's not guaranteed they won't regret it afterward."
He paused for a second and sighed, "Also, that Murong Qin should be an expert from the imperial court. Catching us would be a piece of cake for him if he sends out people from the government to look for us. It's true that one of us is blind while the other is illiterate, but the temptation of The Strategy of the Vermillion Yang is simply too tremendous. We end up hearing something that many people want so badly all their lives yet can't get a hold of. Compared to the other people who were present, we could not be any less of a pushover–any martial artist is capable of taking away our lives."
Chen Gong stammered, "T-then what should we do? It's not like we want to hear it. That thing sounds so abstruse, no one wants to hear it!"
"It is not a man's guilt, but the wealth he carries. We appeared last night together, and it has already created an impression for the others. The only way out for us now is to part and be on our own way."
After a moment of panic, Chen Gong realized that this was indeed the only possible way out. If they were to really be involved in a confrontation, other people could probably beat them to ground with no more than a punch. This sense of powerlessness surged inside him and became an even greater sense of despair — Chen Gong hated himself for his incompetence, but there was nothing he could do.
"…Fine then." Agreeing reluctantly, he looked at Shen Qiao. "But will you be alright by yourself?"
Shen Qiao laughed, "Why wouldn't I? Back then when we were in Funing District, you saw how well I could do by myself."
Chen Gong agreed, but he couldn't feel happy about it no matter what. "Will we be able to meet again after we leave the city?"
"It would depend on fate then. Are you still going to Six Harmonies Association?"
Chen Gong shook his head. He was quite clear on that. "Their vice chairman already knows me. It's like walking right into a trap if I were to go there again. Everyone knows I've heard that stupid script, and they would certainly try to dig up something from me."
"Where are you planning to go then?"
Chen Gong was disheartened. "I'll see as I go. Perhaps there would be a time when I run out of money, then I might just settle down at the place I'm in. Anyway, people have to eat."
"The Six Harmonies Association is a big sect after all and therefore has a high threshold. You might not be treated well even if you can make it. It's better to find a small sect that has moral standards which are upright and just. With your wisdom and talent, I think you'll stand out soon enough."
"Whatever. I don't want to go south anymore. I want to head to the north, all the way towards Ye City. I heard it's pretty prosperous there, so maybe there are more opportunities for me to make my mark."
Chen Gong wasn't very spirited when he said it. He didn't have many things to pack–only two sets of clothes with him that he could just tie his bundle and leave. Before he left, he looked back and saw Shen Qiao quietly sitting there, with his bamboo stick placed in front of him. Even though his eyes had no focus, he was faced towards him, as if he was seeing Chen Gong off.
Chen Gong couldn't tell why, but he felt his nose twitch and his voice caught in his throat as he said, "Y-you, you take care."
Shen Qiao nodded, "You too."
They were two strangers who came together by chance, happened to travel together, and due to some reason, parted and went their own way in the end. This was something that could not have been more common, but Chen Gong, who was only a teenage boy, had yet to learn how to take it calmly.
Shortly after Chen Gong left, Shen Qiao also started to pack his clothes in preparation for exiting the city. He was going to leave from the southern gate so that he wouldn't run into Chen Gong. It was true that by leaving separately the targets would be dispersed, but he had another reason for it.
Chen Gong was alert and high strung all the way as he exited the city. Only after seeing that no one followed after him or tried to stop him did he finally feel relieved.
Huai Prefecture was not far from Zhou Dynasty. Travelling merchants frequently passed by here, and there were people carrying and selling goods during daytime even outside the city gates. Cries for customers could be heard here and there, making it quite a bustling scene. Chen Gong didn't have time to look closely since he had been focusing on avoiding those powerful people. Now that he was within the prosperous fair, the mindset of a teenage boy that loved bustling scenes emerged again.
However, he didn't dare spend too much time looking around. After taking a cursory walk around, he bought two freshly baked steaming hot pancakes to eat on his way and headed out to the north along the official road.
After he was about a hundred steps out of the fair, he heard a burst of stampeding sounds of horses from behind, with screams and wails mixed in it. Chen Gong hurriedly turned around and saw a few people sprinting out from the city towards him, followed by a large troop of men on galloping horses with bows in their hands.
He didn't know what was going on and stood still where he was for a moment, but the sight of those people getting closer and the people that followed after them even started preparing their bows to shoot his way frightened him out of his mind. He started to run together with them subconsciously, even though his head was still muddled, unable to understand why such a scene would suddenly appear out of nowhere.
Not only him, all the commoners around the city gate were thrown into disorder, screaming incessantly as they fled in all directions.
Chen Gong didn't dare to even turn back his head. He ran forwards as fast as he possibly could while thinking in his head that his luck really could not be worse. Incidents kept happening wherever he went.
After he had been running for a while, Chen Gong suddenly heard the sound of an arrowing piercing through the air as it whizzed past his ear and disappeared into the bush in front of him.
His leg became soft and he almost fell forwards.
Sounds of people screaming and falling to the ground could be heard from behind him. Laughter from people riding the horses came from a distance, they sounded quite pleased with themselves.
Someone flattered, "Commandery Prince's [2] archery skill is amazing! I would say Prince could hit any target within the distance of a hundred steps and would never miss!"
The laughter suddenly came to a stop. The person raised his voice, "No one is allowed to touch the fastest one in front. I'm going to shoot him!"
Who else was running faster than Chen Gong? No one!
He suddenly realized what was happening!
Most of the high officials and noble lords were fond of hunting, but some of them were extremely perverse. They didn't like to hunt animals but had a special interest in hunting live people. They would release prisoners and slaves and command them to run as fast as they could, then they would shoot them with arrows and didn't care whether their prey would die. This was called human-hunting.
Chen Gong had only heard about it after he left Funing District. At that time, he thought it was something rare and clicked his tongue together with the others as he listened. Now when the story became real and happened right to him, it was not interesting at all!
After realizing what was happening, his heart was beating faster than the drumbeats and was about to jump out of his chest!
Chen Gong suddenly stopped, turned around and prostrated on the ground as he begged in loud voice, "Please spare my life, Your Highness! Please spare my life! I'm not a game! I'm not even a prisoner or a slave! I'm a person in good standing!"
"So what? I can kill you if I want to!" The leader laughed casually, but after he saw Chen Gong's face, he let out a sound of surprise. "Raise your head and let me see."
Chen Gong mustered up the courage to raise his head, his face filled with dread and fear.
But Mu Tipo found him amusing. "The skin is a little dark, but still pretty. The limbs seem flexible, too. If I am to spare your life, what do you have to repay me?"
Chen Gong was confused. "I would happily do anything at Your Highness's order…"
Mu Tipo laughed softly, "All right then. Someone bring him back and clean him up!"
Chen Gong left home since he was young, and it was not like he didn't understand anything about the society out there. Seeing that everyone on the side looked at him with a strange expression, along with the words the person just said, he suddenly realized that this person took a liking to him as a boy-toy [3]!
In the country of Qi, among the upper-class nobility in particular, a boy-toy was not something rare. For several generations, the emperors of Qi had been interested in both sexes. Since subordinates tended to follow the example of their superiors, homosexuality was practiced in large-scale at the lower levels, too.
Chen Gong wasn't aware that he had met the most famous one among the emperor's favored officials, but it didn't stop him from being frightened out of his wits after realizing what just happened. He shouted as he kowtowed, "Please spare my life, Your Highness! I, I don't look good. I don't want to go back with you!"
Mu Tipo's face darkened.
Chen Gong's heart was thumping.
He learned a few punching and kicking moves from Shen Qiao, but the other party had a group of people with him, each of them had blazing eyes and brought weapons on the side. The few martial arts tricks he had were absolutely useless against them. Before he could even get close to the nobleman, his heart would have been pierced by thousands of arrows already.
Chen Gong once thought he feared nothing, but at this very moment, he finally realized how naive and ridiculous he was. He wasn't afraid before because he was capable of coping with those situations, and he was afraid now because he didn't even need to figure out who were these nobles in front of him to know that they were definitely not someone he could afford to offend.
The servant on the side started to laugh again, "Commandery Prince, I've never seen anyone as insensible as him!"
Another person echoed, "That's right. It's not like he's exceedingly beautiful either. It was his fortune that Prince is interested in him. How could he dare to refuse! It's better to just shoot him here!"
Mu Tipo's eyes narrowed. He slowly raised the bow in his hand.
"Your Highness! Please let this lowly person explain to you!"
Chen Gong's head went blank with a buzz. He didn't have time to think it through before he blurted out, "This lowly person doesn't have good looks and thus is not worthy to be treated so highly by Your Highness, but this lowly person does know, does know a person! He's a lot prettier than me… No! He's even prettier than all of these people you brought combined!"
All of the people following Mu Tipo were good looking men. After hearing Chen Gong's words, they all burst into laughter, ridiculing how little Chen Gong knew about the world.
"Look how rustic he looks, yet he's saying he has seen people prettier than us!"
Mu Tipo didn't say anything. His hand pulled out an arrow decorated with white feathers, and it seemed like he was about to draw the bowstring and shoot it.
Chen Gong was covered in cold sweat. In a life and death crisis, he was unable to think of anything else before he shouted, "That person is right in the city. We've just parted. If Your Highness doesn't believe me, I can bring you there. He has a good appearance, it's just that his eyes aren't very good. I-I'm just a-afraid that Your Highness won't like him because he's blind!"
Hearing the word 'blind', Mu Tipo finally felt a bit interested. "That being said, I've never played with a blind person before. I would assume that you don't have to blindfold him when you tie him up in bed?"
His frivolous tone stirred up a burst of filthy laughter.
Chen Gong had finally witnessed that these officials had absolutely no moral principles. But his words were already out, and it was too late for him to regret them. He said to himself that Shen Qiao's skill was better than his, maybe he could fight off these people. Or maybe by the time they got there, Shen Qiao would have already left.
All kinds of thoughts flashed across his mind in a hideous mess as he blankly sat there without moving. The servant approached Chen Gong on his horse, holding his chin up as he commanded, "Hurry and bring us there!"
Chen Gong clenched his teeth, "Your Highness. Actually… actually that person's health is not good. Even though he's pretty, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed…"
Mu Tipo ridiculed, "Looking sickly… that's even better. Playing with him would be a whole different feeling. Even if he dies while playing, it would be his own problem, and no one can blame me for it! It's fine if you don't want to show us the way. Why don't we replace him with you? Your body is strong, so presumably, there will be no problem however we play with you. How about making you take off your clothes and play together with my wolfhounds? They happen to be in heat right now, and I was worried that I couldn't find them something to mate with!"
Chen Gong's eyes widened. He could never imagine that there were people so ruthless and savage in this world. He was trembling from head to toe from Mu Tipo's description and could no longer bear to put up any resistance.
'Don't blame me, Shen Qiao. I have no other choice.' He thought to himself.
Chen Gong led the large troop into the city and arrived at the inn they had been staying in. Only half a day had passed since he left.
The innkeeper still remembered him. Seeing that he had returned with an entire troop behind him, the innkeeper didn't dare to treat him shabbily. He hurriedly came up to greet him, "Would you like to…"
Chen Gong couldn't help but to turn around and look at Mu Tipo. The latter had covered his nose, frowning from the sight of the inn's crude interior. He was reluctant to enter, so he only ordered a few of his underlings to enter with Chen Gong to investigate.
"Is the person who checked in with me still here?" Chen Gong made a gesture with his hand. "His eyes are bad, and he was holding a bamboo stick."
The innkeeper immediately replied, "Yes, yes. He's still here in his room. He hasn't come down yet."
Chen Gong's heart thumped with joy, but then a sense of guilt rose from within it. However, the sense of guilt didn't last long before someone interrupted.
The underling that came with Mu Tipo frowned and barked at Chen Gong, "What're you waiting for? Hurry and bring us upstairs!"
The underling had makeup on his face. His manner was somewhat unnaturally affected and flowery. Chen Gong didn't even want to give him a second look. However, he could not disobey the person's words, therefore, he had no choice but to slowly lead him upstairs, hoping that Shen Qiao had already left and yet at the same time that Shen Qiao was still there.
Chen Gong brought him upstairs and knocked on the door.
After the third knock, he heard a familiar voice answer from inside. "Who is it?"
Chen Gong was unable to describe the feeling in his heart at that particular moment. He swallowed hard before replying, "It's me."
"Chen Gong? Why are you back? Come in." Shen Qiao was a little surprised, but his voice was as gentle as always.
Chen Gong's feelings became extremely complicated, his sense of guilt welled up inside him all at once.
"Why don't you go in?" Mu Tipo's underling became impatient and gave him a hard push.
Chen Gong staggered forward and pushed the door open.
Shen Qiao was sitting by the window, his face turned slightly outwards as if he was appreciating the scenery outside. But Chen Gong knew he had lost his sight completely after that night.
"Tut. So this is the beauty you were talking about? He's not very…"
The underling paused mid-sentence and didn't know how to continue as Shen Qiao turned around.
Mu Tipo's eyes brightened as he walked upstairs by himself after his impatience got the better of him from waiting downstairs.
He came from a poor family and started to lead an over-extravagant life only after his mother had gained power and he started to hang out together with the emperor later. Therefore he paid extreme attention to people's attire and would disregard anyone whose manner of dressing wasn't gorgeous enough.
Shen Qiao's clothes weren't made of good materials, and he only tied his hair up simply. There wasn't even a jade hairpin. He simply wrapped it in a cloth piece that had the same azure color as his clothes.
However, Mu Tipo couldn't move his eyes away at all.
The course materials could not hide the outstanding quality of the beauty himself.
His mouth felt dry even as Shen Qiao expressionlessly 'looked' at him. He could barely hold back the urge to step up, press him down, tear his clothes, and violate him against his will.
"Chen Gong, who else did you bring with you?"
Hearing his slightly ignorant voice, Mu Tipo felt himself becoming even more excited.
What taste of ecstasy would it be when this person cried while knitting his brows? He couldn't even imagine.
Mu Tipo even thought it through, he would first keep the person in Huai Prefecture till he was done playing with him and then give him to the emperor of Qi, Gao Wei. Just like him, Gao Wei also liked to play with things that were different. If he could send over such a blind beauty, the emperor would definitely be pleased.
"What's your name?" He asked Shen Qiao.
Shen Qiao slightly frowned, but instead of answering, he just repeated, "Chen Gong?"
Translator's Notes:
[1] Solar Scheme (偷天换日 tou tian huan ri): Literally means to steal the sky and put up a sham sun, or putting up a gigantic fraud/scheme.
[2] Commandery Prince (郡王 jun wang): High title of nobility, ordinarily prefixed with a place-name (Mu Tipo's full title was Chengyang Commandery Prince or Commandery Prince of Chengyang) designating the noble's real or nominal fief. Normally granted to the sons of Imperial Princes, but in this case, Mu Tipo was very much favored by the Emperor.
[3] Boy-toy (娈宠 luan chong): Males, usually young boys, who were kept and used as sexual objects by the wealthy and the powerful ones.
Just want to let you guys no I didn't drop this serie, but with the rapid expansion of our site, we are running a little short on editors currently! Sorry for the long delay of this chapter. We welcome anyone if they are willing to help out in our group, and please refer to the contact page if you're wishing to join! Yes, we are recruiting! Our dear Yan Wushi who has almost stayed missing since the beginning will start to hang out more with all of us MC beginning next chapter! And woa we finally got to see how this Chen Gong guy, who has been hated by the readers for so long for taking up ML's space, turns out! 😛 Enjoy~


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ATO update: hottest spot in Avdiyivka's industrial zone, 3 WIA reported
At the end of the past day, the situation in the zone of the Anti-Terrorist Operation has not changed significantly. Russian-occupation forces continued violations of ceasefire, using mainly grenade launchers and small arms, that's according to the press center of the ATO Headquarters.
The epicenter of confrontation remains the so-called "Promzona," the industrial area on the outskirts of Avdiyivka. After 18:00 on Friday, the militants fired at Ukrainian positions thrice from mortars of various calibers, a tank, and grenade launchers. The Ukrainian troops did not hesitate to return fire and were able to suppress the enemy. In one of such shootouts, a Ukrainian soldier was wounded.
In the Mariupol direction, for almost an hour militants hammered Ukrainian fortified positions from 82mm mortar and large-caliber machine guns on the outskirts of Chermalyk.
At the end of the day, Ukrainian positions near Pavlopil, Lebedynske, and Shyrokine also came under enemy fire. As a result of the shelling of Ukrainian strongholds in the area of Vodiane, another Ukrainian defender was wounded.
Read alsoMilitants fire over 60 shells at Ukraine positions near Krymske in Donbas, ATO HQ reports 1 WIAOn the Luhansk line, Friday night was relatively quiet. However, scattered episodes were reported of gangs firing small arms and grenade launchers near Novozvanivka and Novo-oleksandrivka.
In general, over the past day, illegal armed groups violated ceasefire 25 times.
Three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action.
As UNIAN reported earlier, pro-Russian gangs once again fired at residential areas of Zaitseve, using small arms.

subset: commoncrawl


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Turkey arrests one after deadly Istanbul suicide bombing
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Turkey said Wednesday it had arrested one person in connection with a deadly suicide bombing that ripped through the historic heart of Istanbul, killing 10 tourists, most of them Germans.
Ankara has said that Tuesday's attack was carried out by a 28-year-old Syrian who belonged to the Islamic State (ISIS) group and had recently entered Turkey from Syria.
One person was arrested on Tuesday evening in connection with the bloodshed, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Wednesday, without explaining the suspect's role in the strike.
In the wake of the attack, Turkish security forces rounded up 68 suspected ISIS members across the country, state media said, but it was not clear if any of them were directly connected to the Istanbul bombing.
"The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way," Ala told a news conference in Istanbul alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
De Maiziere said there was "no indication" the attack specifically targeted Germans, saying there was no need to cancel travel plans.
"It was an attack against humanity," he said. "I see no reason to refrain from trips to Turkey."
But the German foreign ministry has advised its nationals to keep away from large groups in public places and tourist attractions in Istanbul.
German tourism giant TUI said customers who had booked trips to Istanbul can switch destination without paying a penalty.
Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks blamed on jihadists over the last year, including a double suicide bombing in October in Ankara that killed more than 100 people.
But Tuesday's bombing was the first time in recent memory tourists had been targeted in the heart of Istanbul.
The bomber, identified as Nabil Fadli, detonated his charge on Sultanahmet Square which is home to Turkey's most visited historic sites including the Ottoman-era Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia church.
The explosion went off by the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt that was re-erected by the Roman Emperor Theodosius and is one of the city's most iconic landmarks.
The Sabah daily said the bomber had entered Turkey as a refugee from Syria on January 5.
He was then fingerprinted by the Turkish migration service, explaining why the authorities were able to identify the bomber so rapidly after the attack.
The Hurriyet daily said Turkey's spy agency had twice issued warnings over the risk of a suicide attack in Istanbul.
Police on Wednesday removed a cordon preventing access to the area of the attack, which was quickly thronged by media and some tourists, a correspondent said.
Some placed red roses by the obelisk, which appeared to have sustained no damage in the bombing.
Almost all of the victims were German, with Ankara giving the figure of nine while Berlin put the number at eight. Peru also said one of its nationals had died in the attack.
Another 15 people were wounded, most of them Germans but also Norwegians, Peruvians and at least one Turk. Two Germans were in serious condition.
The tourists were part of a group of 33 who had been staying at a boutique hotel in the upmarket Galata district and had been bussed to Sultanahmet that morning, media reports said.
"I saw the young man pull the pin and I shouted 'run!' in German. Then we started to run away, and the bomb instantly exploded," the group's tour guide Sibel Satiroglu told investigators, the Hurriyet newspaper said.
In impromptu remarks at his weekly audience, Pope Francis called on all believers to pray for the victims.
"May the Lord, the merciful, bring eternal piece to the departed, comfort to their families, the solidarity of all society and may he convert the hearts of violent men," he said.
Long accused of failing to crack down on ISIS, Turkey has in recent months moved against jihadist cells operating on its territory.
Among those arrested in the wake of Tuesday's bloodshed were 16 people suspected of planning a major attack in Ankara, Anatolia news agency said.
On Wednesday, three more suspected ISIS members were detained in the southern resort city of Antalya. All three are Russian citizens, it added.
And a week before the attack, 220 people "identified" as ISIS members were detained in Turkey, the interior minister said on Wednesday.
Despite criticism from Western allies that it was not doing enough in the fight against ISIS, Turkey is now hosting aircraft from the US-led coalition engaged in deadly attacks on the jihadist group strongholds.


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Jokes about tofu aside, it really is a wonderfully versatile food. Nutritional benefits include:
- high protein
- significant fiber
- a fermented food
- significant source of minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc and calcium (if made with calcium sulfate method)
- low fat
But its most useful attribute might not be nutritional. It's extremely easy to use and rather flavorless. Which means you get to create the flavor with seasonings, sauces and cooking techniques. There are plenty of recipes that make it easy to substitute tofu for meat, particularly chicken.
Tofu tastes nothing like chicken. As noted above, it has very little flavor. Chicken has a mild and distinctive flavor, but not as heavy/meaty as beef or pork. So certain chicken recipes are particularly easy to adapt to a vegan or vegetarian version with tofu. Added benefit: tofu really doesn't have to be cooked, just heated. And unlike chicken, it's not messy; you don't have to carefully wash off your cutting board and knife to prevent bacterial contamination.
I found a recipe for tandoori chicken skewers, and thought it would work with tofu, with a few adjustments. One adjustment: tofu will not work well on skewers on a grill. The tofu would easily stick and then fall apart when you tried to pick it up. It works fine baked in the oven. As this recipe uses yogurt, it's vegetarian but not vegan.
Tandoori Tofu
- 1 package of firm tofu
- 1 cup plain yogurt (not Greek style)
- 1-1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne to taste
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 TB canola or peanut oil
- lime wedges and mint or cilantro leaves for garnish
- Heat oven to 300º
- Drain the tofu and cut it into 1 inch cubes
- Mix together the yogurt, spices and oil
- Gently mix the tofu with the yogurt mixture. Arrange tofu in one layer in a glass or ceramic baking dish.
- Cover dish with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and heated through.
- If you like, broil briefly to brown the tofu chunks before serving. This is not necessary.
- Garnish with lime, chopped mint and/or cilantro and salt to taste. Serve with rice or flatbread (like naan), both good for mopping up extra sauce.
Can this be made vegan? It would mean using something other than yogurt for the sauce. You could try a soy yogurt, but those might not hold up as well to heating. Another option would be canned coconut cream. It should work for texture, but would add more fat, in case that's an issue.


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Crucial 16GB kit (4GBx4) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL8 @1.35V Ballistix Tactical LP UDIMM 240pinKey Features
- Module Size: 16GB Kit (4GBx4)
- Package: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM
- Feature: DDR3 PC3-12800
- Unbuffered
Put your game face on.
When it comes to gamers, PC enthusiasts, and power users, we know you take performance seriously. That's why we created Crucial® Ballistix® Tactical memory—to help take your system to the next level. Featuring an XMP profile for advanced speeds and timings, a stylish black PCB, and a custom heat spreader for improved thermal design and heat dissipation, the Ballistix Tactical series is designed to keep pace with power systems.
Serious Reliability.
With Ballistix Tactical memory, we understand something important about gamers: your memory should equip you to win. To ensure that you get a reliable memory upgrade, we test every single Ballistix Tactical module in our Systems Compatibility Group to make certain that it meets our exacting specifications. If it doesn't meet or exceed the performance levels that we advertise, then it doesn't leave our doors. Ballistix Tactical DDR3 modules are available in the most popular densities in regular height, low profile, and LED options and are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.*
Low profile design. High-performance efficiency.
Need more space in your system? The Ballistix Tactical series offers modules in a low profile design to bring you more clearance around your system's CPU cooler and lower voltages for increased energy efficiency. Designed for performance enthusiasts and small form factor builders who have limited space for cabling and airflow, the Tactical LP memory option features all the benefits you've come to expect from our Tactical series—just in a smaller package that features advanced thermal dissipation. Not only are Tactical LP modules up to 16% lower in height than competing modules, their power requirement is less, too.** Using up to 10% less power (1.35V) than standard modules (1.5V), Ballistix Tactical LP memory helps reduce the heat in your system and keep it cool.
Crucial—quality you can depend on.
Crucial is a trusted name when it comes to DRAM, and that's no coincidence. As a brand of Micron, one of the largest manufacturers of DRAM in the world, we work with our engineers to design, refine, test, manufacture, and support our extensive line of memory modules. With a product portfolio that includes thousands of different DRAM upgrades for more than 50,000 systems, we've got one specifically designed for your computer. For more than fifteen years we've kept gamers and system builders happy with premium quality memory and outstanding customer service.
Timing is everything.
The new Crucial Ballistix Tactical Series is designed for performance enthusiasts, gamers and power users. Ballistix Tactical features increased speeds and timings, a black PCB, and enhanced heat spreader for improved thermal performance. If you are looking for reliable, quality memory ideal for stability and compatibility while kicking up the performance factor, the Ballistix Tactical Series is a perfect fit. Available in DDR3 in all popular speeds and densities.
Trusted name.
When you buy Ballistix, you buy confidence. We back our products with limited lifetime warranties and outstanding service and support. At Crucial, each one of our Ballistix modules passes rigorous testing to meet or exceed specifications. Pricecompetitive, high-quality, and reliable, the Crucial Ballistix Tactical series gives you the serious advantage you've been looking for.
Features and benefits
- Designed for performance enthusiasts, gamers and power users
- Enhanced heat spreader
- Advanced speeds and timings (XMP Profile)
- Premium quality DRAM
- Black PCB
- Proven stability and reliability
- Crucial: a trusted name inmemory
- Limited lifetime warranty
Play to win.
Crucial Ballistix performance memory is designed to give the upper hand to gamers, performance enthusiasts, and overclockers. With faster speeds and lower latencies across the entire line, and multiple configurations that include user-controlled LED lights, internal temperature monitoring, low profile modules, and more, it's hard to lose when your system is going Ballistix. Every Ballistix module is tested at the component and module level before, during, and after production to ensure that it meets our award-winning standard for quality and reliability. From the novice gamer to the most demanding overclocker, Ballistix performance memory delivers a range of premium-quality memory that's backed by a limited lifetime warranty and extensive reliability testing.
Benefits of Ballistix
- Faster speeds and timings than standard memory
- Lower latencies than standard memory
- Custom heat spreaders for improved thermal dissipation
- Wide variety of modules: low profile and LED options
- Available in popular DDR2 and DDR3 speeds and densities
- Extensive quality testing built into each and every module
Multiple levels of performance.
No matter which type of memory you choose — Crucial memory or Crucial Ballistix performance memory — Crucial DRAM is designed to help your system perform at its best. To help you choose the right type of memory for your system, we've developed the following pointers.
Choose Crucial memory
If you use your computer for home and business tasks. For common applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel (along with the Internet and email, of course), your system will run great on premium-quality Crucial memory — and it will work even better if you increase the amount of memory in your system. Crucial memory is designed for mainstream systems and is a great fit for most computer users.
Choose Ballistix Tactical, Ballistix Tactical Tracer, or Ballistix Elite performance memory
If you want your system to really go Ballistix. With even faster speeds and timings, custom heat spreaders, and lower latencies across the board, Ballistix high-end performance memory is designed for gamers, enthusiasts, case modders, and overclockers who require advanced levels of performance. Ballistix high-end performance memory is available in DDR3 modules for the fastest speeds and timings.
No matter which type of memory you choose — Crucial memory or Crucial Ballistix performance memory — all of our modules are premium-quality DRAM and include limited lifetime warranties, outstanding tech support, and guaranteed compatibility if you purchase on Crucial.com and use our System Scanner or Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool to find it. What are you waiting for?
*Box quantity refers to the number of units contained in this product's outer packaging. It does not refer to the number of products purchased for the quoted unit price unless otherwise stated.
Ballistix BLT4C4G3D1608ET3LX0BEU (4GBx4) Tactical DDR3 PC3-12800 DIMM
- Brand: Crucial
- Product Code: Ballistix BLT4C4G3D1608ET
- Availability: In Stock Ships in 1-2 days
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Tags: ballistix, blt4c4g3d1608et3lx0beu, 4gbx4, tactical, ddr3, pc3, 12800, dimm
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text: Not to end up being confused using the United kingdom studio room group that gave the globe the Joe Meek-produced instrumental "Telstar," or the Midwest group that recorded "Scalping Party" in Cuca, or the Kennewick, Washington combo from the same name, this band of Tornadoes burst onto the country wide scene with among the very first browse instrumentals, "Bustin' Surfboards," in 1962. A family group music group, the Tornadoes' lineup contains two brothers (Gerald and Norman Sanders), their cousin Jesse Sanders, and a pal, Leonard Delaney. They began as an instrumental group from San Bernardino, California known as the Vaqueros. After adding sax guy George White towards the lineup, they transformed their name towards the Tornadoes. Their lone nationwide chart entrance was nonetheless a significant one, with "Bustin' Surfboards" in 1962 producing the playlists in metropolitan areas that were considerably removed from almost any browsing activity and signaling the origins of browse music being a nationwide trend. Although using an off-brand echo device instead of the Fender reverb device (which hadn't come to exist however), the record got the prerequisite audio of the fledgling genre, employing a solid surfer's stomp drumbeat and crashing influx sound files throughout. Even more recordings followed, having a name modification towards the Hollywood Tornadoes for his or her next two singles in deference with their English namesakes, who got charted higher with "Telstar." Their 4th solitary, "Shootin' Beavers," was prohibited from radio play due to the so-called suggestive name. No more strikes had been forthcoming, although they do release one superb recording that stands among the first — and greatest — types of the genre. So when Quentin Tarantino presented "Bustin' Surfboards" in his 1994 film Pulp Fiction, the bandmembers consequently reunited — minus saxophonist George White colored — release a Bustin' Surfboards '98 three . 5 years after their unique hit.


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There's no place like home. Especially when it looks like this. I can't tell you how much I wish the east coast could borrow just a little bit of Oregon. I'd be the happiest girl alive.
Of course, I'm biased.
Do you feel the same about your own home state? If you could live anywhere, where would you live?


text:
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
2 comments:
- janee said...
Aren't we all?!
This is one of my favorite pieces of yours, Roz. I love the little green bead/pea hidden in the mattresses.
- February 20, 2008 at 9:39 PM
- Alicia Padrón said...
I know what you mean Roz.. don't know why we are like this though.. but its true.. we are our biggest critic!
This is adorable. Love all of those fabrics.. and the kitty with the crown..awww :o)
- February 21, 2008 at 6:22 AM
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Virgin Atlantic's arrivals lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 – which it calls the Revivals Lounge, and which is shared with Delta Air Lines passengers – is having a refurbishment, starting on 12th August.
Unfortunately, as part of the work, the spa treatment room is being removed. Instead, Virgin Atlantic will be taking over the space to add an extra two shower rooms, taking the total from 18 to 20.
There is no change to the spa service at the Heathrow, Gatwick and New York JFK departure Clubhouses.
Virgin's website for the Revivals Lounge at Heathrow T3 is here. Our last review of the Virgin Revivals arrival lounge is here. In general, it is a surprisingly small space compared to the British Airways facility in Terminal 5 but it does the job!
How to earn Virgin Atlantic miles from UK credit cards
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Flying Club miles from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Flying Club miles. That page is regularly updated with the latest special offers and will still be accurate even if you are reading this article months after publication.
(Want to earn more Virgin Flying Club miles? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)


text:
What would it take to create the most ethical watch possible? The founders of Sprout Watches asked themselves the same question when coming up with their product. The company values transparency and shares where their materials are sourced from as well as how they're made.
"We dont believe in inflated claims with lots of exclamation points at the end (no one likes to be screamed at)," Sprout Watches says on their website. "What we do is tell you the truth about who we are, what we do and what we can & cant do to make our product more environmentally friendly. We believe in promising less and delivering more."
The watch company uses a lot of biodegradable materials in the creation of their watches, and emphasize their use of corn resin, fish leather, organic cotton, mineral crystal lenses and mercury-free batteries.
Contact Information
Sprout Watches website
Sprout Watches on Twitter
Sprout Watches on Facebook
Sprout Watches Uses Biodegradable Materials and Mercury-Free Batteries
Bianca — February 28, 2012 — Social Good
References: sproutwatches


text: There are some things that you just have to see and do in Amsterdam. A lot of people don't know that there are actually three red light districts in Amsterdam. Most people only know about the most popular one De Wallen; however, there are two more that offer some different


text:
I have been using Echodot & Alexa Skills since 2 weeks now, there are two major caveats I have noticed till now. First is that there is no background processing support e.g. Music Playback when using another skill, and second many a time the response takes, relatively, a lot of time, and makes me wonder whats wrong, only to be surprised with a sudden burst of sound. Looks like Amazon is at fixing the later one.
In an announcement today, Alexa Developers announced Progressive Response for skills. This will help developers to keep the users engaged while their queries are still being processed. In development terms "developers can now send content to users in stages"
Till now, skills used to work as push-button radio responses where both skills and user had to wait till one response is complete. Using progressive response, developers can use that time to inform, amuse, engage, and delight your users. Maybe it can ask another question, and keep it on the stack, add their own promotion, ask for confirmation. Possibilities are huge.
As per Amazon, its a great feature for Echo devices with screen i.e. Echo Show, and Echo Spot. However, in order to be certified as an Alexa Screen Skill, skills should start within two seconds of being launched.
For example, in the updates to the HistoryBuff reference skill published today on the developer portal, the skill sends interstitial text that can be used to confirm that the skill heard the right date and to acknowledge that it is processing the request (e.g. "Getting history facts for August thirtieth.")
If you are into development, you can check out the technical documentation to find more information. More here


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Ten Outskirts Press authors sell almost 3,000 books collectively during the month of October
(PRWEB) November 22, 2016
Outskirts Press, the #1-rated self-publishing company according to Top Consumer Reviews, has announced the highest selling authors for October 2016.
With the help of Outskirts Press and the many options it offers to assist authors in the successful publishing and marketing of their books, these authors have sold almost 3,000 books in the month of October alone:
1. Asif Anwar, MD - Critical Care, Trauma, and Emergency Medicine
2. Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol - Letters, To The Men I Have Loved
3. Nikki DuBose - Washed Away: From Darkness to Light
4. Priscilla Hansen - Forever Friends
5. Chris Adams Kalima - From Darkness to Light
6. Kymistry - Coco's Hood Love
7. Kevin Muldowney, PT - Living Life to the Fullest With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
8. Chidozie Osuwa - What She Feels
9. Emerson Perry - A WAVES Desire
10. Richard Preston - Serenity Granted
Outskirts Press congratulates these authors not only on their writing, but also their marketing skills and commitment to success.
About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press helps authors develop and publish high-quality books by offering exceptional design, printing, publishing, distribution, and book marketing services. Top Consumer Reviews ranks Outskirts Press #1 because they are passionate about delivering outstanding customer service, affordable pricing, industry-leading royalties, and a team of hands-on, US-based publishing experts. At http://www.outskirtspress.com you can publish your book, your way, today.
# # #
Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com 1-888-OP-BOOKS


text:
Perceptions of Quality in e-Learning: a Case Study
AbstractDeparting from an online survey targeted at trainees of e-learning courses intended for
professional training, which was preceded by an exploratory qualitative study, we
propose future utility as an important dimension in the appraisal of the quality of e-
learning. Our results show that future utility is the second most important dimension of
quality in e-learning for professional training, following satisfaction. We also conclude
that three major factors explain the perception of quality: training attitudes, training
process, and training utility. Additional conclusions are that final motivation and
perceptions of quality are affected by the length of the course, that professional
certification courses lead to higher perceptions of immediate and future utility, and that
perceptions of value are also related to utility. These findings are particularly useful for
those who plan or design e-learning courses and are interested in the impact of the
training processes.


text: ocre Posted October 21, 2009 That's exactly what they intended to do by locking out those configurations. Eh, . it. It's not worth getting this whole argument started again only to have you return to your original (and incorrect) assertions. OMG! my assertions never changed????? Not at all Do you still not understand .........it wasnt to punish those very small number of ppl, it was to try to get brand new sales of the gtx series when they have little else to compete on right now. It had nothing to do with the ppl who already bought ATI cards and physX although it did effect them. And they left the old drivers on site as well as stand alone physX drivers so their cards were never useless. I cant believe you dont get it, still. You are not that shallow. This move has many politics involved and none of them were to punish ATI owners. This was a decision based on a lot of things but in the end their hopes were to persuade anyone who was going to buy a new GPU these days to consider that if they want physX they should get an Nvidia GPU, becasue Nvidia only official supports physX in an all Nvidia system. It had nothing to do with the ppl who already bought this configuration, this was to try and have sales when they couldnt compete with the 5XXX series much in any other way. Get over it, it wasnt an attack against ATI owners, it wasnt an attempt to get them to buy an nvidia card to replace the ATI. it was to get the ppl who were just trying to decide what to buy a reason to get a gtx 200 series. I hope you can at least except this much, my stance has never changed. I am tryin to relate but it seems no matter what i say, some ppl choose to think about this all backwards. From the beginning i havent change anything. ATI and physX card owners can still download the older drivers and a physX update from the nvidia website. I have only heard of one person (ivi) that had issues with that on an older game, but they never removed the drivers that allow for this. They wasnt trying to punish those ppl, they were aiming at getting new sales for the gtx200 series cards in the wake of the ATI 5XXX. Like today, yesterday, and next week if someone wanted to buy a new GPU, they may want physX, well now they have a reason to buy the gtx 275 when the 5850 eats it alive, and there is nothing nvidia can do about it execpt use the physX to their advantage. It is a bad situation they are in, they have got to sell their cards, Can you understand now that it wasnt to do with the few ppl that had those configurations before the driver change? It is not even complicated, but i guess it gets attention, and sounds so good, like tabloid good, huh. I give up, say what you want, but Nvidia could do a lot more if their intent was to punish ATI/Nvidia ppu owners. I am sorry if thats as far as you can see, but it is not the case. Everyone who bought into those configurations still can have it even without a driver hack. All the drivers necessary are still available to them on the nvidia website. But say what you like..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
Highlights And Shadows in Your Photography: Take More Control
Use new controls in Lightroom 4 and Adobe Camera Raw 7 to fine-tune the yin and yang of highlights and shadows
Use new controls in Lightroom 4 and Adobe Camera Raw 7 to fine-tune the yin and yang of highlights and shadows
How to keep organized and sane when you're working and reworking your RAW files.
A quick guide to the interfaces for video and audio that you'll encounter as you get into working with motion
As you get into multimedia, the alphabet soup of file formats can be confusing. Here's a quick reference guide to common file types.
How to understand the role of color contrast in black-and-white
With the right software, you can increase resolution and maintain top image quality
From capture to final output, there are many pieces to the puzzle for producing the ultimate black-and-white images
There seem to be two paths to becoming a rich and famous photographer: 1) Go to photo school; and 2) Assist for a great photographer. I chose the former route, and apparently I should have chosen the latter because I'm neither rich nor famous. But I'm a working photographer, and I did learn a lot of great things in school—not the least of which was how to create any color with strobes and gels.


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Yorktown Market Days to feature more local artists this fall
October 31, 2012
Yorktown Market Daysbegan this year's season in May with more than 30 vendors offering seasonal fruits & vegetables, fresh seafood, eggs, poultry, beef & pork, fresh breads, baked goods, peanuts, organic & gluten free items, plants, cut flowers, pasta, sauces, coffee, jams & jellies and much more.
Located on the banks of the York River between Buckner and Ballard Streets, the markets continue this fall and holiday season with monthly markets on Saturdays, Nov. 10, and Dec. 15 with extended hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
More than 32 local artists are participating in the 2012 season, offering one-of-a-kind quality art for sale. The November and December markets will feature over 15 artists to include the following.
§ Rob Ingalls (Photography)
§ Seth Fisher (Photography)
§ Barbara Meier (Stained Glass)
§ Marilyn West (Acrylic Paintings & Jewelry)
§ Paige Joyner (Dog Coats & Beds/Knitted Items)
§ Paul Cochran (Bottle Cap Art)
§ Jean Thompson (Wine Bottle Cheese Plates)
§ Bob Leek (Pottery)
§ Randy Goodyear (Wind Chimes)
§ Jacqueline McNeil-Steorra (Etched Glassware)
§ Sue LeGault (Baskets)
§ Kim Steele (Jewelry)
§ Jay White (Silversmith)
§ Wayne West (Seaglass Jewelry)
§ Betsy Minney (Pottery)
§ Art Wolz (Wood Carving, Fish Prints, Driftwood)
§ Kino Alpaca Criations (Live Alpacas for petting/photos, fleece, socks, gloves, hat, etc.)
Entertainment is also offered each week including bluegrass, folksongs, sea shanties, country, western, swing, and Americana tunes. Visitors can also sample specialty shops at Riverwalk Landing offering patriotic items, home décor, clothing, jewelry, art, rugs and more, all while enjoying the river view.
Free parkingis available in several public parking areas throughout historic Yorktown. No rain dates are scheduled for the Market Days. In the event of inclement weather, please call the event weather hotline at 890-3520 for updated information. For directions to Yorktown and a more detailed schedule of events, call 890-3500 or www.yorktownmarketdays.com.
Yorktown Market Days is presented by the Riverwalk Landing Business Association and York County. Special thanks to the market founding sponsor 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union and market sponsors Saude Creek Vineyards, Farm Bureau Insurance and Nelson's Grant for their continued support.
York County to Observe Veterans Day in Yorktown on Nov. 12
October 31, 2012
"Letters from War" is the continuing theme of the annual Veterans Day ceremony held in Historic Yorktown. Gather with members of the York County Historical Committee as they pay tribute to those who are serving, and have served, our nation in times of war.
In remembrance of Veterans Day 2012, the Historical Committee will observe the occasion with a memorial service in the Board Room, Second Floor, York Hall, 301 Main Street, Yorktown, on Monday, November 12. The service will begin at 12 noon and will include a tolling of the bell, presentation of the colors, singing of the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, laying of honors, and "Taps." There will also be a special recognition of all Veterans of our Armed Forces. Refreshments will be served immediately following the ceremony.
Though Veterans Day is actually November 11, this program is scheduled for Monday so as not to conflict with church services.
This year the guest speaker will be Chief Warrant Officer 5 (Ret.) Michael R. Gwinn of Dare, Virginia. CWO 5 Gwinn entered the United States Army in 1977, and served for over 30 years, retiring in 2007. He has served in Grenada, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan as an U. S. Army Aviator. He is the son of (Ret) Colonel John and Ruth Gwinn of Lewisburg, West Virginia. Col. Gwinn is a World War II and Korean War Veteran, entering the Second World War shortly after Pearl Harbor. Chief Gwinn is married to the former Kelly Edmonds who is the Assistant Principal at B. C. Charles Elementary School in Newport News. They currently have a son, Second Lieutenant Michael T. Gwinn serving at Fort Benning, Georgia as a United States Army Infantry Officer.
For more information, call York County Parks and Recreation at 890-3500.
If you no longer wish to receive this notice, please unsubscribe here.
This notice was sent via a server that does not accept emails. DO NOT REPLY.


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'By having more babies and forcing a population explosion, Muslims can take over the UK,' says Jihadist preacher, Anjem Choudary, as he also warns that ' the next 9/11 will be in the UK.'
Anjem Choudary, right-hand man of exiled preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed, said: "It may be by pure conversion that Britain will become an Islamic state. We may never need to conquer it from the outside." Many Muslims are having 10 or 12 children per family. The swollen Muslim population would be enough to conquer Britain from inside, they claim. He added: "We do not integrate into Christianity. We will ensure that one day you will integrate into the Sharia Islamic law."
HAT TIP: JIHAD CHAT 022681print.html


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Dr. John Mcnamara Boone Jr, MD
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March 10, 2020
Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc. (OWFI) conference coming up on May 1 and 2. Great bunch of people. One of the better conferences around. OOPS, maybe next year.
October 30, 2019
I begin a six-week class tonight at Francis Tuttle Career Center titled Revisions Make Your Fiction Compelling. The instructor is Richard Crum who worked many years for National Geographic. He has a fantastic C.V., and I am very excited by the opportunity to learn.
September 25, 2019
Looking forward to Kansas Writers Group, October 4-6.
September 2, 2019
Printed Words Autumn issue. My piece on pp. 24-25.
August 31, 2019
I attended the WriterCon 2019 conference in Oklahoma City. Well organized, great speakers. William Bernhardt should be complimented for organizing this conference.
August 6, 2019
My flash fiction piece, Alone in Warsaw, was selected for publication by Amanda Steel in the U.K. for the autumn issue of Printed Words.
July 8, 2019
The Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc. selected for publication a flash fiction story I submitted several weeks ago. The Report is published three times a year, and in each issue offers two pictures for authors to write a five-hundred-word flash fiction story. I am honored to have my short fiction selected for the Summer 2019 issue.
May 4, 2019
Oklahoma Writers' Federation conference – Mystery and Suspense category
January 17 – February 21, 2019
Joy of Writing class, Francis Tuttle Technology Center.
Copyright 2017-2020 by Mark Edward Jones, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034.
All rights reserved.


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So currently I am trying to get my body re-aligned correctly using things like Egoscue method that my friend Sean over at his Body Restoration Clinic has set me up with. I hope to some day get certified to also teach all of you these exercises to help you get rid of aches and pains. For a long time I didn't want to start something like this since I am not certified and I am a nut about proper form and body mechanics so you don't get injured or further aggravate existing problems. Yet, I figured I have some good stuff to share with all of you – and if I keep it simple it will go okay.
Anyways, so these series of exercises take me about 30 mins to do and I like to do them before I do my cardio so I am training my body to work properly (more about that later). (Besides training your body to work properly in line so you don't get aches, the excercises – and they are exercises believe me, I will incorporate some of the easier ones into my workouts such as #10 on workout #2 – is they make you feel nice and relaxed just like a massage. Really, they do!) So I started these at about 7:15 this morning…and finished them at about 10:45!
No, I didn't workout that whole time, silly. You know that. I had the DH asking for some help with lunch, kids wanting breakfast, preschooler wanting to learn his new computer games, baby needing a nap, cleaning up from breakfast, etc. The point is, I just keep trying and I WILL get them in.
But even after all this I still wanted to get some real cardio in, at least 10-15 mins (okay, I was aiming for 20 but time is short and it is hot outside!) Baby is waking up from nap, #1 is having a melt down since I tell him computer time is over…and I am supposed to be getting ready to go to the park for a lunch/play date right now. But I am determined to get some cardio in…especially since I am encouraging all of you to get your workout in!
What did I do…set #1 up with some watercolor paints in the garage (we have a table for him), brought the high chair out and set #2 up with some snacks, and wham I got a good 12-13 minutes in before I called it quits to right this.
See, where there is a will there is a way. Don't feel like you have to get even a whole 20 mins in to make it a workout. I know I used to think that if I couldn't make it at least a 1/2 hour it wasn't worth it. But you WILL reap benefits from just a few minutes of getting your heart rate up…both physically and mentally. It is not about the daily grind with your workouts, but about the long-haul…and you have a better chance of sticking with the long haul if you do even just a little bit more often than a lot not so often!
So – how do YOU get your workout in?


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It's the middle of week five and I have still not had any alcohol or soda. I had a couple moments of weakness in the form of a piece of candy last week and a Girl Scout Cookie over the weekend. It made me feel crappy, but I'm over it now. Onward and upward! 😊 I've been great about getting my workouts in and sticking to my planned meals and snacks. I even had a trip to my home town for a "Bubbly Brunch" and turned down a donut cake (yes, there is such a thing as a donut cake!) andsaid no to the bubbly. It feels good to have self-control most of the time, even if I have a few minor slip ups.
Lisa's Body Back Journey - Week 5
Lisa Wilder


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PL/SQL Challenge was upgraded to 1.7.
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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
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Arkadelphia, AR 71923-9634
Enjoy some Southern down-home cooking at this family-style restaurant.Also has a gift shop.
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Arkadelphia Area Attractions
Checkered Flag
Reynolds Science Center Planetarium
Historical Tour of Arkadelphia
Andrews Candy Company
Clark County Library


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Wine In Tube was created in 2007 by passionate French wine growers to offer high quality packaging to facilitate the
sampling of their wines. Receiving great enthusiasm, this concept was launched to the market in 2009 and so began the
journey of this extraordinary product; fine and luxurious wines by the glass without opening a bottle.
WIT is a patented glass bottle of 100ml. Its technology helps preserve the taste of wine. The identity of its origin is maintained by screen-printing.
The process of transferring the wine is done under a controlled and oxygen free environment, to prevent the wine from undergoing organoleptic degradation.
WIT then guarantees a perfect seal over time.
The aluminium caps are recognized by winemakers for providing one of the best defences against wine oxygenation during long term storage.
The glass meanwhile, is totally impervious to air and the WIT wine can then be stored for a period of several years (2-3 years).
The tube was designed in partnership with INRA Montpellier and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers in Paris for the proper preservation of wines.
The tubes are recognized to be a feat of award-winning technology by different labels such a:
AGROPOLE http://www.agropole.com/anglais.html
Trophy Oenovation http://www.technopole-bordeaux-montesquieu.fr/en/
The Innovation Awards SITEVI http://en.sitevi.com/
Design Observer http://designobserver.com/
OSEO Excellence http://www.oseo.fr/


text:
Avoiding the obvious 'Well, it didn't work' punchline, reading this article made me think "blimey, drinking in the morning should ring alarm bells."
As someone who has had no more than a dozen drinks in the last decade, it would be easy for me to be pious. Ellie Goulding, like her music or not, seemed to be fairly sensible, keeps fit and has run marathons.
I am very sober and very dull. I doubt alcohol would change the latter.


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King Whirlpool: King bed, loveseat, electric fireplace, fridge, microwave, coffee pot, whirlpool in room, cable TV, air conditioning, heat
Room Photo Gallery
Cancellation Policy:
In the event you must cancel your reservation, your deposit will be refunded (less a $10 office charge) provided your request is received 10 days prior to your arrival date. If less than 10 days notice is given, there will be no refund. (If you booked on a third party website, such as booking.com, expedia or hotels.com, your reservation follows the cancellation policy on that website.)


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Scrabble & Words with Friends Word Unscrambler
Definition of Andesyte
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Joyetech Batpack Kit with ECO D16
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|Jul 12, 2008, 2:51 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 248
We arenow thinkingwe might buy a G9 for timeswe cant takeour D40 DSLR. I think some time ago I saw mentionedsome place that therecould be a dust issue on this particular model,where dust is drawn INSIDE by thethe lens actionand shows upinside of the lens, andwould be I imaginemajorproblem forowners of this camera, :shock:
Can any one please advise if this is so and should I not go ahead and buy one. The G9 looks to be a very suitable replacement for my A80 and A95 cameras that have not had any problems at all over 4 years or so but are slow and the screens a little to small for my eyes to see these days. Any opinions and are there any other issues with the g9 thank you Rodo. uk.:bye:
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|Jul 15, 2008, 1:54 PM
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Location: Marquette, MI
Posts: 285
I have read about the dust issues on the G9 on other forums, but most of us G9 owners have NOT experienced this problem. Mine is four months old, and no dust issues. I've recently seen others with much older G9s say they have not had the problem. There are folks who have had it, and have sent it to Canon for cleaning. I've also seen some G7 owners with the same issues.
One posting suggest you could clean out the dust using a vacuum cleaner, while others have had to send it in for repairs. I have a four year old Canon A620 with the same lens design, and no dust in it. Some have the A650 IS and say they have no dust issues. The A650 IS shares the same lens as the G9. It's a vexing problem for those that have had the problem.
The G9, and all current point and shoot cameras have small sensors with too many megapixels on them. The result is image noise visible to pixel peepers starting at ISO 100. Here is an article on the situation;
If you take most of your pictures on the G9 using ISO 80, then the images will be great. At ISO 100 it is still very good, and you may or may not feel image noise needs to be post processed. There are some recent cameras that appear to handle noise a little better, but they all have some noise issues with their smaller CCD sensors. The G9 CCD is 1/1.7", which is fairly large among the current crop of P&S cameras.
Most of the dreamers are hoping Canon and other companies come out soon with a newer model that will have either a larger sensor, or even less MP on the same size CCD, to help better manage noise and dynamic range. The rational types believe the Marketing Department still rules, so they are not holding their breath for this change.
Most of us G9 owners are very happy with the camera, and work within it's known limitations. All cameras have them. A lot of G9 owners have extensive DSLR kits (not me), and prefer to carry the highly capable G9 with them, either as part of their DSLR kit, or simply as an excellent tool that is much more comfortable and convenient for travel and family pictures.
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Color Commentary: Naomi Shohan
American Beauty is ravashing in red, but it's the blues that make it pop. Production designer Naomi Shohan discusses her work on iconic films.
As the production designer on such visually distinctive films as American Beauty, Constantine and I Am Legend, Naomi Shohan's work affects audiences on many levels, from the emotional to the intellectual.
Shohan had aspirations of becoming a painter when she won a scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts at the age of 16. The school, though, had no interest in old-fashioned art. It was all about avant-garde conceptualism. "My first day at Cal Arts I went looking for where the live nude models were, and they sort of laughed at me," says Shohan. So she dropped out, took a job making holograms in San Francisco, and for a while studied philosophy at Stony Brook in New York. Then, pretty much by happenstance, she wound up a production designer—a career that she loves.
This year, Shohan lends her talents to A Winter's Tale, again teaming with director Akiva Goldsman, and the film adaptation of the '80s crime drama The Equalizer, directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Naomi Shohan: I had a boyfriend who was directing an exercise video—a post-apocalyptic exercise video. And I made post-apocalyptic sets where rocket ships crashed through the ceiling with vines and crap growing all over them. And at one point I thought, I could really do this. It was called The BodySculpture System, and I have no idea if it was ever distributed. The boyfriend ran off with the choreographer, leaving me with my copy of the tape and a cockroach-infested apartment. So I brought the tape around and let everyone know I was the art director and that's how I got my start.
At the time there were a lot of nonunion, extremely low-budget productions, and if you were willing to work, they were willing to exploit you and call you a production designer. After a few of those, I got a job at HBO that was a little more legitimate. I started as a set decorator, and in the middle the production designer was unable to complete the job, so I did it. After that, I began to get work that was much better than the earlier, straight-to-video in Saudi Arabia stuff.
NS: Basically, the production designer is responsible—either independently or collaboratively with the director, depending on how much input the director likes to have—for basically everything in front of the camera that's not an actor.
NS: Well, first you read the script, and you can't help seeing things a certain way. Me, I think about the quality of the project, what the genre is, how I want the audience to receive the material. Off the top, I usually have an impression of what that is. Then I'll analyze it a little bit more and figure out what I need to do to make the various beats of the story play as well as they can. There's a big component of script analysis and a visual interpretation of that.
Then you have a conversation with the director, and if you and the director feel like you're in sync about what this thing is you're making together, you get the job.
NS: I may have an idea about that, but my first impressions are usually more abstract. The directors often want you to tell them what color things are, but in the beginning I don't like to tell them because that usually evolves. I try to be as general and theatrically descriptive as I can without getting extremely specific from the get-go. I like to work off of the tone and atmosphere and the beats because it's going to take me awhile to crystalize it into something real.
NS: American Beauty actually did start with a color conversation, and the conversation was that the colors should be cool except for the roses and ultimately the blood. I very consciously went with a blue palette because blues just pop the reds really well. We have the roses at the beginning of the movie and we have Annette Bening in a red dress and we have the red door on the house. And, of course, the falling petals.
I think I got the job when they asked me how I would do the petals falling from the ceiling. I just sort of went the Ray Harryhausen way, where I didn't say, "Oh, visual effects." I said "We'll build the ceiling on the floor, she'll lie down and we'll drop the petals then reverse the film." And that's exactly what we did.
Finally, we have Kevin Spacey's blood on the table. So it's kind of a progression of red that was bracketed and highlighted by the coolness of blue.
Blue is also a color we would use to describe some sort of idea of middle class perfection. The point of the story, it seemed to me, was that Annette Bening's character is striving very hard to live the American dream. She's got the perfect American house and everything is perfect. So coolness was also a good device because it's distancing. Even though you're inside the characters, there's sort of an analytical, "looking at" quality to it, and coolness serves that.
Another thing I discussed with Sam Mendes [the director] was symmetry, which is also a good device to describe the stricture of her idea of perfection. For the house, Sam wanted to see classic Georgian, center-entrance architecture, and we looked all over Hancock Park [a section of Los Angeles with stately old homes]. Then one day I realized the house is not a Hancock Park house, where it's genuinely gracious. This is a contractor's version of a Hancock Park house. And then we found the right one—the brand new, striving-real-hard-for-the-American-Dream version of a Hancock Park house. Those were some of the elements that defined the design in that movie.
NS: I read a lot of the Constantine comic books, and what I really loved about them was that the character is kind of this slacker dude who really would prefer not to be bothered by the spirits. So even though he performs heroically, he'd rather not and he does it really grudgingly. I found that incredibly charming.
In the comic book he lives in London [in the film it's Los Angeles]. It's very grungy and the city is real, but what's going on is supernatural. So what I discussed with Francis Lawrence, the director, was how do you create that combination of gritty reality and comic book edge. Francis is a very visual director and has a very strong graphic sensibility. So he would take a lot of photographs of places and you'd immediately get the vibe he's after.
You know, there are aspects of a real city that can be surreal in comparison with the city as people imagine it. When you say New York City or Los Angeles, there's its general public persona, but there are also all these marginal places. You can drive around LA and see these crazy things that you can't believe. Like this little corner with a house that had turrets and a mariachi place underneath and a great view of the city. Those kinds of places were really interesting to explore for Constantine.
There was also a description of where Constantine lives—a long, long, long place over a bowling alley. We chose a bowling alley downtown and his apartment is designed to belong to that building. And there's a thing in the script where he opens all the blinds at once and closes all the blinds at once, so having a long row of windows was really important. And one night I was thinking about the crucial moment when I had to define the colors, and it seemed to me it should be green. It's a rich, luscious green, sometimes seen as a primer for steel in old buildings. It makes things fanciful, credible, but not quite normal. Imagine Constantine's apartment with any other color in place of green and you'll see what I mean.
There's also a scene where they wanted to go behind the bowling alley and see the machines working. But when you actually go behind an alley, the machines are in these enclosed boxes and you can't see anything. So I put in a bunch of mechanical stuff that looks like the things that move the pins. And there's somebody who has a lair at the end of the bowling alley, this guy who's a magical-potion maker. Well, in this bowling alley there was a handyman room, and the handyman had shelves on which he had hung jars by their lids. I thought that looked really, really cool. So after Constantine and the girl, Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz, run down the row of these Edward Scissorhands-y objects that are supposed to be the bowling lane machinery, they come to the lair and the ceiling is totally covered with these jars with glowing stuff in them, red, green and gold, and it looks just great.
NS: It's partly logistical. If you know what's going to be filmed first, then you work in that order. Or else you work with the most challenging. Then you kind of put a little fun into it, do a bunch of sketches, and work out floor plans.
Every set starts with a ground plan because you want to understand the geography of the scene. You want to know how people are going to be moving around. You're also imagining the lighting. Is it evenly lit? Is it a shadowy room? What's the emotional quality of the light? Then you might have conversations with the director of photography to make sure your idea coincides with theirs. But you've got to build lighting in.
The next thing that's going to happen is that I'm going to have a set designer. I'll tell them the architectural particulars and a plan of the area and thumbnail that out. And I'm going to have illustrators and I'm going to show them my thumbnail sketches, and if I can I'll find some photos or painting references to give them an idea of how I want the place lit, in addition to whatever description I might give verbally.
The set designer does the actual set drawings. That's a very detailed process. It's sort of involved. You work in quarter-inch, and when you're satisfied with the details, you go ahead with the working drawings, which are a little bit larger and have all of the details like window jambs, masonry, those kinds of things.
After that, you're going to discuss it with the director, and you're going to say, "Does this geography work for you?" Then you give as many set drawings as you've developed to the illustrator, who can take them and draw the set, sometimes in three dimensions.
At this point the people who are financing a movie want to know what it looks like. No one wants to put down zillions of dollars without knowing what they're getting. And they're completely right. So the director is going to present these drawings to the studio. When they approve them, you can go ahead and build.
Once we're building, my role is to make sure all the details come together. I make sure the place or the set has the feeling and conveys the atmosphere that I understood it needed to have. You try not to make changes because they're expensive. And for me, because I do love paint, painting is what brings it to life.
NS: We always paint with an eggshell so that we can put a glaze on. You don't just paint it and leave it. In American Beauty there's not a lot of variation, and to your eye it's going to look pretty flat, but it's going to look flat in a way that the director of photography can light it for atmosphere. Without that you're just dead. The whole thing just lies there.
Constantine had layers and layers and layers of paint, and then a glaze, and then something to make it look like there were underpainted layers, and then more glaze. That gives a very different atmosphere. It becomes very rich and dense. There are all kinds of degrees of painting and all of it changes, really subtly, the way the light behaves and the way an audience is going to see it.
The word I keep coming back to is atmosphere. You want to have the physical reaction that you're looking for. In American Beauty, it's kind of a constrained reaction. And in Constantine it's a kind of mysterious reaction. It's an emotional reaction that comes from analysis. So when I walk onto the set, until I have that reaction I'm still painting. When it feels that way to me, then we're done.
NS: If you want to be a production designer, you should see how the department works, so it wouldn't hurt to be a production assistant. It's an inglorious job because you have to do things like get lunch. But the ones who are really smart and great, you give them interesting work to do, like research and other things that aren't regulated by a union. And you can find out from that whether you really want to be a part of this or not.
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Money Talks: Tik for Tok—what do Donald Trump's latest threats mean...
Hammer and fist: The Communist Party is reasserting control in Vietnam
American indifference has contributed to a crackdown on dissidents
Bridal paths: Demand for wives in China endangers women who live on its borders
Local residents often turn a blind eye to trafficking
Damage control: Trauma medicine has learned lessons from the battlefield
Civilian doctors are saving more lives after terrorist attacks by copying their military peers
Digging up the past: A powerful new documentary series on the Vietnam war
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick unearth painful memories just as American politics have become explosive again
More money, less freedom: South-East Asia's future looks prosperous but illiberal
Democracy is losing ground even as the region grows richer
No man's land: Property disputes are Vietnam's biggest political problem
The Communist party does not know how to handle them
Princesses of the blood: Who gets into more wars, kings or queens?
In European history the answer is queens, especially married ones
Banyan: Can TPP go ahead without America?
The Pacific trade pact would still benefit the other 11 members
On the horns: Might legalising the rhino-horn trade actually help the rhino?
Just as likely, it would spur demand, further endangering the creature
When elephants fight: How China's Asian neighbours survive great-power rivalry
Smaller Asian countries are adept at being everyone's friend, but the job is getting harder
Dock and cover: Vietnam uses an old naval base to make new friends
Cam Ranh Bay is welcoming American warships again
Daily chart: The number of executions worldwide fell in 2016
But alarming figures from Vietnam are reflective of Asian countries' persistent use of the death penalty
Deathly silence: Vietnam executes many more people than previously thought
It is the third-most-bloodthirsty country after China and Iran
Raiders of the lost barks: The agency that accounts for missing American servicemen
The crack military unit whose quarry is not foreign enemies but long-dead soldiers
Banyan: Red v green in Vietnam
The Communist Party's inability to control pollution is corroding its authority
Gendercide: The war on baby girls winds down
How one of the world's great social problems is solving itself
Ambiguity of assembly: A plan to legalise Vietnam's private charities and clubs is shelved
But the state does not have the capacity to do their work
Wildlife conservation: Grim pickings
Vietnam's crackdown on traffickers of endangered species is only superficial
Privatisation in Vietnam: Cream of the crop
Vinamilk is one of the attractive firms on sale from Vietnam's government
The music of English: Obituary: Hanoi Hannah died on September 30th
Trinh Thi Ngo ("Hanoi Hannah"), broadcaster for Voice of Vietnam, was 87
Driving in Vietnam: Four wheels good, two wheels better
A proliferation of cars threatens to clog Vietnam's big cities
Vietnam's economy: The other Asian tiger
Vietnam's success merits a closer look
Asia's next tiger: Good afternoon, Vietnam
Having attained middle-income status, Vietnam aims higher
South-East Asian history: Striving for unity
A thoughtful history of Vietnam
Money Talks: Tik for Tok—what do Donald Trump's latest threats mean...
Daily chart: How America's jails are helping spread covid-19
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