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gucciwins · 1 year

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Can you write one where Harry accidentally posts a photo of y/n on his story. But she hasn’t noticed yet and when he comes home he just keeps apologizing but she doesn’t really mind.

Okay…you didn’t say harry and bel but that’s where my brain went through. So here’s a little something. roughly 1kish 💜

Harry thought social media was a nice way to connect with fans, but he mostly used it to post on his stories to show his friends new documentaries he was watching, his favorite wine, and new songs his girlfriend was always showing him. It was his own private world that only his close friends could see.

His girlfriend was busy at work today working on a photo shoot with a friend’s new lipstick line and needed Bel to be a test subject, and she was more than happy to help. Harry was sitting in the studio listening to everyone’s thoughts on their new song when he heard his phone ring. Harry can’t help the smile that takes over his face when he sees Bel’s contact name.

Bel: what do you think?

He stares at the attached photo of you posed in front of the mirror, a seductive look on your face, and he knows that look well. Fuck. He wants to be there with you giving you everything you could ever dream of.

Harry: You’re the most beautiful person in the world. I’ve convinced you’re an angel. 😭😘 xx

Harry: How’d I get so lucky xx

Bel: stopppp 🙈 xx

Bel: love you, mi vida. will see you when you get home xx

Home.

You loved his house.

You saw it as home. He’s been wanting you to move in for ages, but you always were hesitant. Now slowly, he’s noticed you bring more items over, you’ve made less effort to spend equal time in both your homes and, instead, happily stay in his large house that has begun to feel even more of a home with you around.

Harry was so lost in his head, staring at the photo you sent, that he decided to share it with his friends. He did it often, sharing pictures of you both or you alone happily showing you off. He was always careful to add it to his private story. Harry captioned it: pretty girl. He added a yellow sticker of the sun that read, “you are my sunshine” as Harry was adding it to his story Tom called for him. He locked his phone and focused on Tom and Mitch, who had been trying to get his attention for the last few minutes.

“Sorry, I’m all yours now.” He promises.

Mitch laughs, “oh wait until I tell Bel that,” he teased.

Harry playfully shoved him, telling Mitch to play the track again.

They got to work for ten minutes when all their phones started ringing simultaneously. Harry reached for his and was flooded with messages and calls. Mainly from Jeff and Viola.

Shit.

This could not be good.

“H, you posted on your story,” Mitch tells him.

Harry is too focused on calling back Jeff to focus on what Mitch is saying. “Yeah, earlier.”

“Jeff, what’s going on?”

Jeff laughs, “H you posted Bel on your Instagram.”

Harry rolls his eyes, “what else is new?”

“No, Harry. You’re not hearing me,” Jeff explains. “You posted her on your story for your 48 million followers on Instagram.”

Harry gasps, “fuck.”

He quickly hangs up on Jeff and opens Instagram, and around his name is a pink circle and not the usual green. Oh, he’s the worst. The world knew they were dating, but you sent him the photo privately, and he shared it for the world to see. He deleted the story but knew there was no point because there must be thousands of screenshots.

“I-I need to go home. Fuck.” He runs a hand through his hair, not knowing what your reaction will be. “I need to apologize. Bel was on her way home.”

Mitch gives him a pat on the back, “it’s Bel chances are she brushes it off like nothing.”

Harry doesn’t want to risk any chances and rushes out of the studio. He tries calling you, but it goes straight to voicemail. “Come on, Bel.” He gets home in twenty minutes and is relieved when he spots your car in front. He hurries inside, throwing the door open, not bothering to slip off his shoes. Something you will chastise him for later. You’re caught by surprise by the door opening and Harry rushing in that you drop your book, and you know you’ll have trouble finding the page later.

“Harry?” He hurries over to your side, worry etched all over his face. “Amor ¿qué pasa?”

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He kneels in front of you and holds your hand tight. “I didn’t mean to. I’ll do anything for you to forgive me.”

You sit there, getting more confused by the minute. “H, what are you apologizing for?”

Harry is so lost in his own head and repeating his apology that he doesn’t seem to hear a word you’re saying.

“Harry!” You raise your voice, and it’s enough to snap him out of the panic he’s put himself in. You soften, “baby, tell me what happened?”

Harry takes a deep breath, rubbing, bringing them close to his chest, needing it for comfort. You would do anything to see his dimpled smile.

“I posted you on Instagram,” he shares, dejected. “On my public. Not the private one.” His voice sounds defeated, and you hate that something as a photo of you sent him into a panic.

It breaks your heart, seeming him upset. You know it was an accident. Of course, you do.

“H, want you to listen to me, okay?” Harry nods, keeping his emerald eyes focused on you. “I’m not mad or upset,” you assure him.

“You’re not?”

You shake your head, “H, I saw it the minute you posted. I get your notifications. Sent you a text to check, but you didn't reply, so I assume you knew, and I let it be.”

Harry tilts his head, looking like a confused puppy. “You knew?”

You let out a small laugh, “I did.”

“Why didn’t you answer my call?” You know he must have been referring to a few minutes ago on his way home.

“Left it charging upstairs,” you apologize.

Harry sighs, letting his head drop into your lap. You run your hand through his hair and let him take however long he needs to let this all go. Although, you have the perfect idea to help him forget the incident.

“I love you, Bel.”

You repeat the sentiment, happy to have him home.

“Do you want to make it up to me?”

“Thought you weren’t upset,” he mutters.

You giggle, “no, I mean for scaring me for the way you barged inside.”

Harry raises his head, an eyebrow raised, and waits for you to go on. “See, I happen to like this position we’re in. Except, it’d work better if I had less clothing on.” A smile spreads on Harry’s face, and you know this moment will be one you laugh about on a later date, but for now, this is the perfect distraction.

“I am so lucky to have you in my life, Bel.” He whispers as he helps remove your joggers.

You feel the same way.

#harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles blurb #harry styles fanfic #harry styles love on tour #love on tour series #harry styles fic rec #harry fic rec #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff

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valofaxwords · 3 years

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Creating an Ethical Model for an Algorithm

My idea for a social media site/platform would be one that would help counteract against the negative impacts on body image site’s such as Instagram and Facebook have had on people. These sites damage body image by giving people the perception that they should be always looking their best when compared to the many celebrities and influencers they follow on the sites. Sites like Instagram or TikTok strive now on their many influencers and celebrities that post how glamourous their life is or photos of themselves which gives others the false perception that this should be something to strive for, to always be this happy and good looking at these celebrities without thinking of how the few benefits of these sites is that you can keep track of your own friends and see how they are doing. So, my idea is to keep that as insular as possible. For my social media platform/app, you can bring together a small group of your friends into an exclusive circle to share photos with each other with the purpose of bringing up one another and then to gamify it in order to promote the body positivity of the app. My first thought of the usage of this app would be to maintain workout routines between friends and keep updated on how they are doing with their workouts. Personally, I have found it to be more helpful if I have a friend to talk about my exercise and progress without them also attending the same gym with me. I believe this experience would be extended to non-workout related and be as a way to promote body positivity between friends without the outside eyes or expectations of other people.

For the gamification element, to gain points within your group, you are required to post at certain intervals of time set by you and your friends, to check up with everyone. Points would be awarded for keeping within the time limit, as well as posting compliments to pictures posted. Once a friend has posted a picture, all other friends are given access to said photo and are able to edit the photos with cute frames or stickers akin to how a Cue machine works. This would be how we track whether people are keeping to commenting on each other’s photos. The pieces you would use to decorate each other’s photos are only referencing positive things, and only work to enhance the photo without body reshaping photos tools or other typical beauty photo manipulation. With the points earned by posting photos, commenting on your friends’ photos, and decorating your friends’ photos, you can spend the points to receive new stickers or objects that you can later add to more photos.

The algorithm used to maintain the website would be used to collect the data from users on how exactly they are using the app, if they are using it correctly, which objects/stickers/photo elements are being used the most, and how long people continue to use the app. Since it is a niche idea, the algorithm would be mainly used to understand when the dropping off point of this would be and help maintain user’s long-term usage. Things that would not be measured or collected would be the actual photos people are using, only the data about them would be kept. The photos themselves should not be accessible to anyone else but the people in their own groups and will not be kept for the use of the algorithm. Factors to be considered would be exactly who is using the app and what kind of groups emerge. Dependent on the types of users the app would bring in, the model may change to better suit the needs of those users. For example, if the majority of users lean towards the exercise maintaining idea or aspect, the model could evolve to include recording workout times, calorie burned counts, or help document workout types and how many reps done. Based on how the user data, the app may be tweaked to be biased towards those who use the app for workout progress instead of casually sharing photos with friends and gravitate towards being more of a fitness app than a social media platform.

In order to outlive the pitfalls of normal unethical algorithm processes, the data collection will be kept to a minimum. Data collected from users would be relegated to either pure data collection for statistical purposed or bug reporting. The data collected for statistical purposes would be kept to processes that involve what aspects of the app are being used to most to better understand what users want from their experience. Data collected of aspects of the app that are not being used will help to understand where to better focus our attention and to help make the experience better for the users. Images posted would not be collected and users would remain any of their photos or creations as their own, meaning posting on the app would not relinquish ownership of their photos. Since there is no data being collected on the photos themselves, it would help keep any racial bias that many facial recognition applications or beauty manipulation applications may already have. Since you create the groups and allow who comes into your group, any forms of harassment could be managed easily by the members of the group, meaning if one user begins to harass the others in the group, the group has means of banning or excommunicating them from their group and would have a strike when entering and others. To deter harassment by using other people’s photos, users will not have the opportunity to edit these photos with anything negative as all the options for editing only have positive connotations. A possible counter to avoid users using photos of people outside the group, the only photos that can be posted to one another are photos created within the camera application at the time, meaning they can not import any photos from their devices but must take the photo within the app. There would also be options made very apparent about the extent to which a user wants their photos manipulated. Users can opt in and out of the following to their photos: adding frames, adding stickers, adding comments, being able to save the photo or screenshot, or how long the photo remains visible.

#CSUFWGST320BADDIES

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bbbburrito · 3 years

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Battlefield 2042 Beta Open, App Integrations, Merch and School

Introduction

Good evening you crazy cybernautic bean! There's a lot of things happening this month that I need to go over. A bunch of these updates have to do with technical shit. Then I also have to talk about future scheduling because of how hectic my school is going to be. There are some nuances when it comes to tech so bear with me. I'll touch up on each idea later on in the next blog so I can update you. What I am doing are dynamic projects that take time to implement and also require a lot of data which takes time to build.

The Main Idea

Google Analytics

I was recently tasked by my marketing class To complete a LinkedIn learning project certification. I was able to choose Google Universal Analytics out of all the certifications and decided to implement that on my website. As I was going through the Google Analytics course, I learned how to collect data from geo locations (Not to the granular detail like actual home address) from IPs that visited my site. A couple people volunteered on my Discord a few days ago for testing and the data that was collected was beautiful. I'm able to manipulate data to understand the people that come to my site and hopefully this will help me cater my contents to different audiences depending on the volume of people who visit me from certain areas. GUA is very powerful and I hope to use it for the years to come. I eventually do want to sell merchandise in the most efficient way possible and hopefully this site will be able to tell me different aspects of my site like bounce rates, merchandise sales, and etc. For right now, I just want to look at the geo located traffic. I only have a couple days worth of data, but eventually I want to grow it to several years so I can accurately gauge demographics that watch me.

Battlefield 2042 Beta

The Halo Infinite Beta test was a failure in part due to me having so many accounts with Microsoft. I created many Microsoft accounts over the past several years without deleting them and standardizing my games and accounts to one email address. Because of this, I did not have authorized access to the beta because I used a multitude of emails to sign up for the Halo Insider program. This backfired and I wasn't able to access the beta when it came out in time. I won't let this happen again with the Battlefield 2042 Beta And hopefully when I access this it will be a little bit more standardized because I haven't opened many accounts with Origin. The beta should come out within 2 weeks and I will be playing that and multi-streaming.

App Integrations

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to integrate a lot of applications together using automated software from third parties. I mainly use zapier for cross-platform Integrations. It was mostly a success on various platforms with the exception of infinite feedback when I cross link several channels together. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that these application integrations did not come for free. Integrating through zapier costs a monthly fee of $20 per month. As much as I want to integrate these applications together, I decided to opt out for the meantime because the cost didn't justify the amount of people that come to my stream. I'm currently on a tight budget because I'm unemployed. With all the fixed costs from operating my website, buying merch, and trademarks my hands are tied behind my back. When I'm able to get a sufficient following on patreon, I will definitely reconsider. All of the integrations are still existing on my account. I'm able to have one integration on a basic free account. I'm using that integration to post to my Twitter automatically. If and when my patreon reaches a certain threshold of subscriptions, I will use it to automatically post across different media sites faster and more efficiently. One can only hope. As I posted on my Discord, here's a map of all the Integrations I currently have and future ones that I propose to do I tried using other applications like IFTT, but nothing is as easy as zapier. Not only does it make my content automated, streamlining would be much easier and my workflow would be faster. Depending on how willing I am. I might buy this before I reach the patreon threshold just so I can blow up faster. I'm deciding whether I'm getting big just based on my content alone or because of streamlining my media. However, Zapier would be a great boost.

Merch

I do have new merch coming on in. I have brand new vinyl stickers that are 9 inches in diameter. I'm also constructing a longboard for marketing purposes. all of my materials have arrived now, but I need to find a way to present them within my stream so that more people would be interested in buying merchandise. I was originally just thinking about posting a couple pictures of my website. But because the majority of people that watch my streams are online watching my videos directly, I was thinking about adding a PNG with a transparent background using AVI on Vegas. Right now all the merch is just sitting in my room. I need to find a better way to promote it so that people are interested in buying that stuff. That takes time and I think I'll be doing some editing at the end of the semester when I do have time. That or whenever the next holiday comes around.

Stream Schedule

I had my first set of midterms last week. The results were all over the place. I kind of knew that I needed to focus more on studying. However, now that I have a good idea of how much it takes for me to study for a certain class, I think it is within my best interest to reduce my streaming to 2 hours from Thursday through Sunday. I will also stream earlier so that I do have time to finish up any class work or assignments for the next day. I have a tendency to procrastinate and utilizing that extra hour do dates of submissions is a game changer. Not only that but recently I've been feeling overwhelmed with 3 hours knowing that I have assignments that are due later on. This is only temporary, and it will definitely change throughout the time of the year and whether I have a break or not. The busier I am, the less I will stream and vice versa. This will also give me more time to focus on tasks like updating my stream bitrates, changing my settings and updating my websites; all which are important for a high quality stream. My new schedule is Thursday - Sunday 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) Los Angeles.

Conclusion

These are the beginnings of utilizing data to better help cater to my audience. I'm trying to lay down the infrastructure so that it'll be easier right now then later on in the long term. It looks a lot more professional and he retains people's attention a lot better. I have plenty more ideas to make my channel better but for right now I'm focusing on these things. Hopefully later on down the road I'll be able to measure my progress in October and see whether these new Integrations were worth something. Before this the biggest project I had was creating a network server and that could easily transfer data. That was a success. I'm trying to move on and apply that to the network that I have. My main goal is to just make things easier for everybody to find my content and get a couple laps in without having to click all over the place.

Thank you all for reading this update. I appreciate your time for reading this and I hope to see you soon!

Gerry

#extra new exciting

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spicynbachili1 · 6 years

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Ride 3 shows how far Milestone has come and how far it has yet to go

I am falling (off my bike) so I am taking my time on my journey.

Federico Spada and the staff at Milestone S.r.l. are obsessed with motorcycle racing. It is what they do. It is just about all they do. Whereas this 12 months’s Gravel featured conventional vehicles, vehicles, and different four-wheeled automobiles, the bread and butter of the studio’s output for the previous decade plus has been bikes. Every year, Milestone releases new entries in its long-running MotoGP and MXGP franchises, and The Monster Power Supercross collection that launched earlier this 12 months will likely be one other yearly product. 2018 has been an enormous 12 months for the Italian developer with 4 video games hitting retailer cabinets up to now this calendar 12 months, with the fifth and closing one set to reach on the finish of the month.

After a brief delay, Experience three is lastly set to launch for PlayStation four, Xbox One, and PC on the finish of the month. It is a sport Spada has spent the previous two years engaged on, creating tracks and creating what is perhaps Milestone’s most formidable sport but. At launch, Experience three will function 230 totally different racing bikes, with some relationship again so far as the 1960s, in addition to 30 totally different tracks and greater than 700 totally different items of customization that can permit gamers to make their bikes, and their racers, their very own.

“We wished to provide the participant the power to totally customise not solely the bike,” Spada defined to me at a latest hands-on with the title, “however the total driving model as effectively. With Experience three, we’re pouring our love for motorsports and for motorbikes inside the sport. Even when they’re new to motorsports, they will truly begin to really feel one thing for the bike since you set up a reference to it as you progress inside your profession and proceed to race together with your bike.”

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That profession mode has been rebuilt from the bottom up for Experience three. After gamers create their racer, both male or feminine, they’re going to got down to full numerous challenges which are introduced as racing magazines. Every journal will deal with particular tracks, bikes, or moments from motorcycle racing historical past. As a great profession mode ought to, it’s going to push gamers to develop their horizons by racing on all of the tracks with as many various bikes as potential, from the 2018 Ducati Panigale V4 all the best way to the 1969 MV Agusta 500cc Three-Agostini. The sport is promising to be an encyclopedia or motorbikes with greater than 300 whole to be included with free and paid post-launch DLC.

For my hands-on session, I acquired to check out two of the bikes within the sport, one from the superbike class and one from the bare class. Inside seconds it is clear to see simply how otherwise these bikes deal with. The superbike made for finer turns whereas the bare bike was a bit heavier once I began to lean. Spada says every of the totally different motorcycle classes will deal with in their very own distinctive methods, and as I discovered, not each bike is right for each obtainable monitor.

The 30 tracks obtainable within the sport — none, in the meanwhile, are deliberate for DLC — are based mostly on actual racing tracks in addition to well-known paths motorists love referred to as “nation tracks” that take what’s beloved concerning the routes and makes them palatable for avid gamers.

“Nation tracks are locations from around the globe identified to bikes to be actually cool, actually majestic landscapes to journey in,” Spada defined, “however we did not simply resolve to painting the fact as it’s. For instance, the Garda Lake monitor, I used to be the designer for this monitor. We began with the drone scanning materials, and from that knowledge, we determined to design and make the monitor extra interesting to gamers. Generally, having three hairpin turns proper after the opposite will not be that enjoyable for avid gamers. It is totally different for vehicles as a result of you possibly can drift, however for bikes, it is not that enjoyable. So we determined to have our take to painting what’s attraction about being in that spot.”

The windy, lakeside path of Garda Lake was the primary of two tracks I used to be in a position to check and, as I do not play motorbike racing video games all that usually, I proceeded to crash on each different flip. As a result of my mind is, at this level in my life, mainly an enormous ball of cottage cheese slowly seeping out of my ears, I saved attempting to press L1 to activate the Milestone staple rewind options out of each crash irrespective of what number of instances Spada jogged my memory it is R1. As I used to be the final individual he spoke with that day, I am certain it was an actual pleasure to cap off a day of interviews with a simplistic chucklehead like myself.

Once I wasn’t crashing, I used to be getting an amazing take a look at the (typically) beautiful Garda Lake, delivered to life with the Unreal engine. Experience three would be the fifth sport from Milestone to make use of the engine, and the facility of it could completely be seen in each bike within the sport.

“Utilizing Unreal engine has actually allowed us to push our graphics to be good, clear, and crisp,” Spada mentioned. “So we’re in a position to play with lights and shadows to create a really vivid and full of life panorama that modifications as you go. We even managed to step up the sound with it. Whenever you drive by tunnels or on the totally different tracks, the engine will echo or muffle relying on what’s taking place across the bike.”

Going by the tunnels of Garda Lake was an amazing showcase of the standard sound results Milestone is using for Experience three, however sadly is not wasn’t the very best showcase of the engine’s graphical capabilities. Working on a PS4 Professional, there was sporadic pop-in all through the race and the timber had a sure low-resolution high quality to them that jogged my memory of the artwork route for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, although I am not fairly certain that is the intention of the builders. Very similar to with earlier video games Milestone has made utilizing the engine, some tracks will merely look higher than others. For this hands-on, it was the second monitor I attempted out that completely stole the present.

Macau, impressed by the actual Macau Grand Prix monitor, is a lovely although finally horrible monitor from a first-time rider. The lengthy straightaways of town, lit up in neon extra, rapidly fade into darkness as riders must works with little or no gentle as they try and hold tempo by the numerous twists and turns of the moist monitor. The town lights of Macau are actually in a position to pop as a result of the race takes place at night time, a primary for the franchise as a result of Unreal engine.

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Gamers will be capable of completely gentle up their bikes as effectively with the brand new livery editor. Gamers have full management of the look, model, and coloration of the decals and stickers they will create and share on-line for his or her bikes. There are 100 layers to work with and anybody who provides it a strive can create one thing tremendous official, like a sticker for an actual racing firm they admire, or one thing actually silly, just like the Pickle Rick decal one other Milestone rep confirmed me.

The livery editor will likely be nice for the long run, however my favourite function of Experience three is there to assist gamers proper from the beginning. The sport will embody many choices that permit you to tailor the expertise to your choice. You possibly can modify the physics if want be to make the sport extra arcadey or extra lifelike. There may be additionally an extremely useful racing line function that, together with the rewind button, will assist gamers higher find out how they’re imagined to strategy every flip. This line seems at each flip for each monitor and is color-coded to let you understand how quick you must be approaching it. Inexperienced is sweet, pink is you are aiming for a spectacular crash. At Macau, it was an important software that allowed me to complete the race in addition to I did, which was in final place however not embarrassingly unhealthy final place.

Regardless of franchises like Forza and Gran Turismo promoting within the hundreds of thousands, motorbike racing continues to be a small area of interest, supported by a loyal group of what I am simply going to imagine are largely European followers. If there’s any developer to have an opportunity as elevating the game to the extent of these two different franchises it is Milestone, and if there’s one sport that can get them nearer to that degree of excellence it is most likely Experience three. It is a work of ardour, as Spada defined, “Creating Experience three has been actually demanding when it comes to assets and information, however the cool factor is that we’re having enjoyable whereas doing so and it displays how the sport, in the long run, comes collectively.”

There’s quite a bit I would wish to see out of the way forward for the Experience franchise. The bikes from the 60s are an amazing addition, however as this sport sells itself as an encyclopedia for bikes, one that can break it is personal Guinness World Document for many licensed bikes in a online game, I would like to see extra of car’s historical past. I ask Spada about going again even additional in historical past to incorporate one thing just like the BMW R75 or Daimler Reitwagen, the motorbike equal of the Mercedes-Benz Patent Motor Wagen 1886, in addition to the opportunity of together with Vespa scooters within the collection. Spada mentioned whereas he could not give me a particular reply on these, he did say these are the kinds of questions Milestone has been mulling over.

Experience three launches November 30 for Xbox One, PlayStation four, and PC. There’s a season move additionally obtainable for buy that can improve the full bike rely to greater than 300 bikes. For PlayStation four Professional and Xbox One X house owners, the sport will be capable of run at 60 frames per second.

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houseofvans · 7 years

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Sketchy Behaviors | Jenny Sharaf (SF)

Never afraid to reinvent herself or her art, San Francisco based artist Jenny Sharaf’s works are fluid and spontaneous; her approach fearless and at times vunerable; and her style cool and comfortably bad-ass. We’ve not only been fans of her visual and abstract creations, but also her passion to work with her community in SF and Oakland to spread art and creativity – from her work with the Lab’s 24-Hour Telethon, The Parking Lot Art Fair to her most recent project- the Public Art Tour. Sharaf shares some insight into her work and process; important issues and themes; and her thoughts on the contemporary arts scene in this installment of Sketchy Behaviors.

Photographs courtesy of the artist

Tell us a bit about yourself and your art background.

My name is Jenny Sharaf and I live with my partner-in-all-things John in San Francisco where we are the parents of an 80lb blue nose pitbull named Lola. Though i live in San Francisco, my wanderlust is at an all time high and if I’m not traveling the world, I’m plotting my next escape.

I grew up in a relatively small beach town in Los Angeles called the Pacific Palisades. Surrounded by salt-licked-waves and girls tanning on smooth beaches, my favorite place growing up was the bluffs; where I could sit above it all and watch it from a distance. I certainly was not your typical California beach babe, but I was wildly inspired by its appeal.

I found myself in San Francisco and went back to school at Mills College to receive my MFA. At Mills my ideas about feminism and California culture collided and my art was heavily influenced because of it.

My life now is a state of constantly making art. Whether it be painting, working on something digital or organizing big public art events in the city, or climbing some construction scaffolding in Paris to smack one of my stickers on the side of a building, I am always finding news ways to reinvent myself and my art.

How did you end up creating art and doing it professionally? And what have you learned along the way?

I’m just doing what I love doing and sometimes people agree to pay me for it. I create new work and new concepts non stop, I contact people that inspire me in hopes of collaborating. Even though I’m afraid at times to be vulnerable, I put myself out there every single day in hopes of new people discovering my art and hopefully falling in love with it. Being an artist can feel very scary, I think maybe I love being scared.

You’ve mentioned “process” as an important aspect of your work. Could you take us through your creative process?

When I’m in the studio or working on a project on site, I always love that intense moment of chance and not having a plan. It takes a serious level of trust in yourself and the materials. Those are the wonderful times that feel one-the-line and frightening, but are always rewarding. In those painting meditative moments, I have no sense of time and space. My best work and most dynamic ideas come out of a period of making and thinking simultaneously.

What important issues and themes do you find yourself and your work drawn too? Why are these important to you and how do they permeate into your works?

Artists are vitally important to our culture, our story and our future. They represent our freedom of speech and expression. The contemporary moment that we are living in feels very historical. Artists are more necessary now than ever and we all should critique the world around us through whatever means possible. As I’m finishing this interview, I’m watching Trump’s first week in office. It doesn’t feel real, but it very much is. This is a call to duty. This is the first president that rose to power on twitter and a tv game show. Currently it’s scary times. I suggest everyone find a great apocalypse outfit.

The colors and abstract drips of your work are some of our favorite things. You recently created a beautiful interior for last year’s Fog Fair and a mural for the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. How did this come about and how do you approach the design of interiors and exteriors?

Both of these opportunities came through curators & designers following me on instagram. Charles de Lisle and Cultured Magazine invited me to collaborate with them on a “reading room” for the FOG art fair. It was a lot of fun and it was a moment to make something large, inclusive and accessible to an art crowd. For Ace Hotel, their art director at the time; Matt Clark, approached me after seeing an instagram post by artist, Thomas Campbell. The art world is sometimes a really nice place after all! It’s also really wonderful when one project leads to the next.

Whether you’re calling it “placemaking" or whatever new buzz word we’re using, it’s rewarding to create a work of art that people want to include in their own story. I will always love painting on canvas, but it feels much more exciting to do “murals” or large-scale installations, where the audience can insert themselves and interact with the art directly. It’s less egocentric, even though I do always appreciate a @tag :), but mainly just so I can see others enjoying my work!

From painting, murals, videos, installations to paint on paper and digital works, do you have a preferred medium and if so what do you specifically enjoy about it? Is there a medium you’ve have yet to tried and are dying to?

I’m always dying to try new things, new ideas, new materials. I probably have about thirty ideas going in my head at any given moment. As as a preferred medium, I love paint and always have. It’s the most temperamental and if you do the dance, it will talk back in this amazing way. It’s literally fluid (duh), so you have to be a bit go-with-the-flow to fully embrace the stuff. There’s nothing better than a painting session with your headphones blasting and paint just flowing oh-so-naturál. There are a million things I want to try that I haven’t yet. It’s hard to predict where it will go….That’s part of the reason I love being an artist.

What has been some of the best art advice you’ve gotten and some of the worse?

Best art advice– Dream bigger. Don’t be shy. Don’t glass-ceiling-yourself.

Worse art advice– Be practical and realistic.

Not only are you a passionate artist, but you’re really activity in your community with various projects that are focused on community engagement and about promoting the arts. Can you talk specifically about how you founded The Lab’s 24-Hour Telethon and tell us about it and its purpose. What other community based activities are you working on or currently developing?

Throwing big art events in the Bay Area is really important work to me it helps keep the art scene alive for the community and for myself. I was approached to come up with the task to raise money for the The Lab. I grew up on TV and I’ve always been particularly enamored by it because my parents were in the business. They were TV journalists and were always deep diving into the life of some interesting personality. I loved the idea of bringing that to life in a new form and so the The Lab’s 24-Hour Telethon was born. It helped majorly that Cinefamily had been doing a super awesome telethon as well. It was in the zeitgeist. San Francisco needed a version. It ended up being a big success that I am extremely proud of. Since then, I’ve done projects with San Francisco’s Department of Public Works that involves giving new life to public places by highlighting our local contemporary artists.

Most recently, I’m working on a program called Public Art Tour. It’s going to be an online experience and a series of big public events, bringing attention to local artists and San Francisco’s downtown public art. We are scheduled to do a massive party under the Bay Bridge, closing down the Spear Street’s cul-de-sac and making some legally permitted-noise;) Maybe Vans wants to set up a skate ramp? Call me.

The Parking Lot Art Fair that you founded in the Bay Area sounds like a super fun and exciting get-together. How would you describe this event to folks? What has been the best aspect of this for you?

It was a blast. Basically, The Parking Lot Art Fair was a renegade art fair outside of a “legit” art fair at Fort Mason (in San Francisco). All the artists set up very very early morning, as soon as the parking was free and permitted. At that point, the chaos began. The best part was being able to see the Bay Area art scene spread out in oceanside parking lot and realizing how much talent and weirdness this place still has left. San Francisco and Oakland have had many growing pains in the last few years and because of it the art scene has also foregone many changes. In terms of housing costs (studio space, etc) a big portion of our community has had to leave. So to be able to celebrate a more fringe art scene feels insanely gratifying.

How would you describe your personal style? Favorite Vans?

My personal style is all over the place. I like to be comfortable. When I’m not in my painting white or navy onesies and painted Vans (raw canvas pair I’ve probably had for 10 years), I love to play with fashion and try on different looks. Right now my look is very Gloria Steinem plus a sixties-Italian-cyclist inspired; ripped black jeans, my boyfriend’s cashmere sweater and a fringe black suede jacket. I always wear sunglasses - my look never feels complete without them.

My favorite vans are the classic black and white checkered low tops. They always look effortless. OR the high top surfer-girl-chic sneaks.

Name 5 of your favorite artists, followed by some of your top 5 favorite bands / musicians to create too.

Artists: Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, John Baldessari, Joan Brown, Alicia McCarthy

Music: Paul Simon, alt-J, Jungle, Ace of Base,Haim

What are your thoughts on the state of contemporary art? The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good - the art world is accessible than ever because of social media and the internet. You can basically get anyone to see you work these days, which is a big change from ten years ago.

The bad - there’s still a lot of old white guys that seem undeserving of shows, but they know people and they already have money to create massive bigger-the-better machismo art.

The ugly - the art world is huge, and can be incredibly hard to navigate and can be mean. We should all work harder to be nice to each other, especially about something as special as art.

You’ve worked with various clients and done many collaborations. What have been some of the most rewarding projects? What do you like best about collaborations and what are some of the aspect you’d like to see changed or evolved if any?

I love collaborating with cool brands. Working with the Ace Hotel is always awesome. Such great people and a company that really gets the creative experience. I just worked with this handbag line Luana Italy. They really let me do whatever I wanted and honored my voice as an artist, which I always greatly appreciated. I think big brands are finally embracing and empowering the artist's’ voice– allowing the space it takes to achieve that.

What would you tell folks who want to follow in your footsteps? Pitfalls to avoid and/or words of inspiration.

I’d say, don’t follow in anyone’s footsteps. That’s always something to remind yourself. Make your own path and listen to your own visual / conceptual impulses.There is absolutely no rule book or how-to guide to being an artist. It looks different for everyone. I by no means have figured it out, but I do try to practice trusting the inner voice and taking risks.

Lastly, what’s up for 2017? Any exciting projects you can let us in on?

For 2017, I plan on working hard, painting like a madwoman and traveling. I’m doing some fun projects with B&O Play by Bang and Olufsen as a cultural ambassador- public art events, listening parties, contemporary art experiences. Also, I’m curating a weekend at Ace Hotel and Swim Club Palm Springs on March 18th called “What’s Your Name / Who’s Your Daddy” featuring Sahar Khoury, Alicia McCarthy, Francesco Igory Deiana and Jess Meyer. Also, planning some mural projects overseas, but it’s too early to talk about. Don’t want to jinx it! Follow me on instagram to keep up with it all:)

Website | Instagram | Public Art Tour

#vans #vans art #vans girls #jenny sharaf #painting #sf artist #mural #arts

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sunflowerheartwriting · 7 years

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Escape: 17

I’m not even sure anyone is still reading this or not. lol! I’m just posting updates mainly because i want to finish it and just in case someone will stumble upon it in the future! Don’t forget you can read previous chapters, here on FF.net!

Damn, this woman was going to kill me. First, she demands she comes with me and now she’s giving me the death stare, because we’re in a disagreement.

She directed me the back way to the Junk Yard, so I parked a few yards away so we wouldn’t be seen. The junk yard, lucky for us was not in the city but on the outskirts of the forest from which we came. It was placed on a huge stretch of land with hundreds, probably a thousand beat up, torn apart and whole cars. A building was centered in the middle of the junk pile, but it was still a small one story building. There were no gates, no cameras, just the cars and the wide open land that in one direction lead to the wild open countryside and the other lead to the dense forest.

It was strange for me to see such a low security place, but Levy informed me that in the country, nothing ever really gets stolen and people trust each other, unlike the people in the city.

Mistake number one was the owner leaving so early and mistake number two was him trusting people so easily. But that’s not why we’re bickering quietly behind a set bushes that kept us hidden. The towering trees helped keep us in the dark, but we were currently laying belly down on the ground peering through the leaves, trying to make a selection.

“Why not the yellow one?” she said pointing in the direction of an old Volkswagen Beetle that had an old rustic yellow paint on it. Even though it looked in good shape, I refuse to be acquainted with it.

“I’ll be damned if I get my big ass in that tiny thing! I’ll get stuck or something.” I spat eyeing the small car with disgust.

“But it’ll be perfect. No one would expect us to be in it.”

“I said no!” I demanded, watching her lips turn into a soft pout as she sighed in defeat.

“Fine, how about the black one, right there.” She said pointing to a sedan sized car that look almost brand new.

“What’s wrong with it? It looks new.”

“See that sticker on the windshield? It means it’s been towed, so nothing’s wrong with it, hopefully.”

Eyeing the car, I squinted my eyes to see what she was talking about, but all I could see was a white blob on the left side of the windshield. Damn, she either have good eyes or I’m getting old and need to go to the eye doctor.

“So, we finally agree on a car?” she asked eyeing the lot for more prospective vehicles.

“I guess so.”

“Alright! I’ll go get it.” She said jumping up, but I immediately snatched her right back down.

“Wait, wait. Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to stay here, I will get the car.” I said keeping a hold on her arm, so she wouldn’t bolt away.

“It’s like you said, you’re too big. I’m smaller, so it’ll be easier for me to maneuver the lot and not be seen.”

“Like hell, you’ll be spotted instantly with you hair.” I said grabbing a few locks. I was shocked by how soft it was and just by touching it, it released her signature smell of old paper, ink and vanilla.

I don’t understand how that’s possible when we’ve been on the run for a while now. She should smell like dirt, or maybe worse, me. I got so lost in thought that I didn’t realize I was twirling the strands in my fingers.

“Gajeel?”

“Um, sorry. It’s like I said, you’re not going.” I cleared my throat but continued to play with her hair.

“Then who’s going to drive the truck? I can’t even see over the steering wheel.”

She had a point and the last thing we need is her crashing the thing. “Fine but be careful and if you don’t meet up with me in 10 minutes I’m coming to find you.” I stated letting her go. She gave me nod and smiled before bolting up out of the bushes.

I watched as she sprinted through the cover of the trees and into the lot.

“Damn, she’s fast. I didn’t know she could run like that.”

I never took my eyes off her, but to be honest, it was hard to keep track of her with her moving so fast. All I could follow was the flash of blue that would pop up suddenly. A proud smile curled my lips as I knew I would not regret bringing her…at least not yet anyway.

Seeing the prized vehicle move with ease out of the lot, I took that as the signal to run back to the truck to wait for her.

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“Told you I could do it.” She gloated as I got out the truck that was officially returned back to the old couple’s garage.

Not wanting to admit I was wrong I just nodded my head. “Yea, yea ok. No need to be so proud about stealing a car. I thought you were better than that Levy McGarden, or am I wrong?” I asked leaning forward, invading the woman space who leaned against the hood of the stolen car.

Her face scrunched up and she stood up straighter meeting my gaze head on, without backing down. I tried to hide the smile that threaten to break at the small woman feistiness but it was very tempting. She was very tempting.

“I may be helping you but that’s only because I’m going off my gut instincts and I know you’ll need my help. Also, I believe you didn’t kill those people.”

I was taken aback by her words and desperately wanted to prove her wrong. Prove to her that I’m indeed a bad person and she shouldn’t be anywhere near me, but I knew she was still afraid. Even though she stood strong, her bottom lip quivered and I desperately wanted to bite it.

Trapping her with my arms on both sides of her, I placed my hands on the hood of the car, making her back up into the grill.

“How do you know that I’m not a crazy murderer and that your gut instincts are wrong about me?”

“You would’ve killed me a long time ago, if that was the case.”

“What if I just kept you around for eye candy and to look after Rogue?”

“Eye candy? What are you talking about?” she asked confused but I could tell, she knew full well what I meant by the way her neck flushed and the heat traveling up to her ears.

“Oh, you know what I mean. I’m not a boob guy, I’m more of a-uh well you get the point.” I smiled evilly rubbing the outside of her thigh, slowly moving up to her behind.

She went stock still, with eyes as wide as a grapefruit and face as red as tomato. I gave her butt a slight squeeze and she let out a high pitch squeak as she slapped me.

“Don’t touch me! I know what you’re doing and it’s not gonna work.” She frowned shaking her hand. I knew it hurt, because that slapped nearly knock the taste out my mouth and stung like hell.

But that didn’t stop me, I have to keep her at a distance, had to make sure she was at least still afraid of me and won’t get too close. She was already nearly breaching my iron walls, and I promised I would never let another woman get past them. I have to make sure she stays on the edge around me, but still help me.

I can see in it her eyes, the way she desperately want to know everything. Those beautiful, curious golden brown eyes that begs to soak up every information it can get ahold of. But, in order to protect the innocent woman in front of me, I have to taint her idea of me and shake her trust. I think a little teasing will do the job.

“Damn, you nearly made me bite my tongue.” I said rubbing my jaw, knowing her slap will most likely leave a mark.

“Well, you deserve it, so will you move so we can get going?” she asked pushing her hands against my chest, trying to move me away from her but I only moved closer.

“What’s the matter? You don’t want me touching you?” I asked placing my hands on her hips, lifting her up and placing her on the hood. She fought me all the way, flinging her hands wildly and yelling at me to let her down. Pinning her hands behind her back with my hand, I used the other to play with her hair.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she hesitantly asked her breath picking up in pace.

“I can tell you like me, Levy.”

“I do not! You’re crazy!” she spat, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“Oh, really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as inched my face closer to hers with a devilish smirk on my face. I smiled wider as I watched her eyes grow wide with fear and anticipation, unsure of what I would do. I felt her warm breath fan my face as I inched closer.

She was about to say something when I finally made my move. Dipping my head, I bit down onto the soft skin of her exposed shoulder, reveling in the surprised squeak she let out. I soothed it with light kisses, moving my mouth up to her neck. Kissing and tasting her skin, getting lost in the little gasps she would release every time I would nibble on her, leaving little red marks on her delicate skin.

My mind fogged with the sounds she was making, deterring me away from my original plan and letting my hormones get the better of me. I had to get a grip and fast before this woman drive me insane and I won’t be able to control myself. My control was already slipping, hanging on by a very thin rope.

Slowly, I pulled myself away looking at her dazed expression and flushed face. Damn, was she enticing and good to look at. My heart beat drummed in my ears and I tried desperately to catch my breath, trying not seem as rattled as she was. Clearing my throat, I backed away from her quickly composing myself. I want to say something, something to make her mad at me but I can’t. I already touched her without permission, I bet her view of me change. But why can’t I make it worse? I want her to despise me, hate me even, but….I can’t. If this was any other random woman I decided to kidnap, it’ll be different. I’ll even feel differently.

I watched as she slid off the hood of the car, her composure in check as she fixed her clothing.

“Can we go now? I rather us not be here longer than we have to.” She spoke as she walked to the passenger side door, opening it slowly. Her eyes were still in a daze but I could see hurt them and I immediately regret what I did.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I agreed as I walked to the driver side, getting in with a heavy chest.

“All that play talk and teasing, it was all fun and games just to rattle you up. I didn’t mean it. Well I did, but that’s beside the point.” I wanted to say exactly that but the words got stuck on my tongue, gluing themselves to the inside of my mouth as I got us back on the road.

“So where to now?” she asked her voice soft and calm.

“I have to go back to my apartment.”

Her head snapped towards me quickly, with big round confused and concerned eyes. “Are you stupid? The police has to be all over your place or at least watching it, to see if you come back.” She argued.

“I know that, but there’s something I need there and I’m hoping the police didn’t find it.”

Shaking her head in disagreement she continued, “How are you going to get in? You’re not that hard to miss.”

“I’m going to get go in for me.” I smiled looking at her shocked expression. “You told me to trust you and I’m going to trust you with this. If you fail, we both go to jail.”

“So, no pressure.” She scoffed crossing her arms over her chest, mulling the idea over. I can tell she was thinking of different possibilities and by the look of her face, none of them were working out. “Alright, I’ll do it, just tell me when and where to go.”

“That’s my girl. We’re going to do this at night, so we’re gonna have to camp out somewhere so I can give you the rundown of the plan.”

“And where is that going to be?”

“No idea, I was hoping you would think of something, since you know you’re way around.” I shrugged, knowing only the action parts of my plan not the whole where are we going sleep part.

The car was quiet for a few minutes as she thought of some options and that gave me time to think of what is to come tomorrow night. So when she clapped her hands together in exclamation at her decision it made me jump nearly causing me to swerve off the road.

“What? What is it?” I asked impatiently.

“Ok, here are our options. We can park somewhere and sleep in the car, but by the looks of you, I can tell you’ll need a lot more space. We could risk trying to get a motel or we can go to my bookstore.”

Thinking about our options, she was right about the first, my bones will kill me if I slept in this small car and taking the chance of a motel and someone spotting us was way too risky for my taste.

“I guess your book store is the only chance we have, but wouldn’t the police be watching that too?” I asked unsure of the later.

“I doubt it, my store has nothing to do with the investigation. I’m pretty sure they looked there and probably wrecked the place but I doubt they’ll use their man power watching over some small shop when they could me hunting down a mad man.” She smiled smugly that made the corners of my mouth almost tick up. Almost.

I guess that is our only option for now. “Ok, I guess we have no choice, so tell me where to go.”

Even though I know where it is, I didn’t want her knowing that. Before handing Rogue over to her, I made sure to research her properly. I, of course made one surprising discovery but I thought it best not tell her until she’s ready. The bookstore wasn’t a surprise, so whenever I had a long break, I would sneak over to her shop and watch her work and play with Rogue. They never saw me, I’m sure of it, but I’m positive Rogue knew I was always watching over him.

#fairy tail #fairy tail ships #gajevy #gale #ftfanfic #multigajevy #ftfanfics #escape #Gajeel X Levy #gajevy fanfic

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adonis-koo · 3 years

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oh my goodness!!! Thank u sm for the tag @wearenot7withu 🥺🥺 it takes me awhile to see these but I always try my best to do them!!! Edit: this somehow got posted before I could finish so bare with me 😭

1. Why did you choose your url?

Adonis is the Greek god of beauty, he was so beautiful that Aphrodite and Persephone were both smitten with him, an agreement was made between the two Goddess’s that Adonis would spend a third of the year with Aphrodite and another third of his year with Persephone, the last third with his own free will. Jungkook is probably the most beautiful man I have EVER seen in my life, both in looks and personality, so if I ever associate him with a Greek god, it’s Adonis, hence my url (that and how everyone would probably fight to the death to be with this man and same tbh)

2. Any sideblogs? If you have them name them and why you have them?

The only side blog I have that is active would be @miss-ficrecs and it’s dedicated to reblogging and reviewing fics, anything that gets reblogged on there gets reblogged onto here so more people can see it!

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

If we ignore account wise I’ve been here for like 8 years now 😭 I created my first account when I was a young impressionable 13 year old and it was Supernatural stan account 🤢 obviously deleted for good reason

4. Do you have a queue tag?

I don’t! I’ve attempted to have a queue tag before but I just don’t use the queue option enough for it to be useful for me!

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

I’ve been writing fanfiction for over half my life now and I had started on a plethora of other platforms before Tumblr and had grown out of most other websites. I originally started this blog as just a place for me to explore BTS (as I was still relatively new to the fandom) but had intentions of using it to write if I had the desire to get back into again (I had taken a break at the time but given what type of blog I am we see what happened)

6. Why did you choose your icon?

I feel like it’s pretty well known on my blog but I practice witchcraft, so I saw these cute little witch icons and thought it was fitting! I sometimes use filters and stickers so it goes which each theme I’m using but it pretty much stays the same no matter how much else I change on my blog

7. Why did you choose your header?

Much like last question the theme I’ve been attempting to keep up with is the wheel of the year! So last major pagan holiday was Ostara which is the beginning of spring and is typically associated with planting and flowers blooming, hence my header was in theme of flowers (as growing flowers was part of my celebration for Ostara)

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

Ummm I could be wrong but I’ll take a guess and say it would be my writing: sate! It’s close to 4K and I’m pretty shocked to this day, it was my first ‘longer’ fic I had wrote that was originally going to be a oneshot but because it was so popular I decided to just make a whole verse for it with all the other members!

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I can think of 5 off the top of my head but I think I have around 8-10 mutuals and I love every single one of them 🥺

11. How many people do you follow?

Somewhere around 130 I believe!

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

I have actually lmaooo but those were back in my early days of using this app

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

I mean it depends on the definition of using lmfao, I check tumblr fairly frequently but I don’t actually reblog of anything like that except maybe once a day?

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? Who won?

Noooo hahaha, I tend to keep to myself on tumblr since it’s mainly my outlet for just writing or occasionally venting

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

I feel like they’re extremely redundant on tumblr as a whole, “you need to reblog this” posts are typically filled with information that most people who use tumblr already know and therefore I feel like it’s not really serving a purpose for anyone other then being used as a guilt tactic for reblogs, hence why you probably don’t see them that often on my blog

16. Do you like tag games?

I love them!!! I just ummm 😣 often forget that I get tagged in them, or I start on them and never finish and they get buried in my drafts, so please tag me if you think of them and I’ll try my absolute best to get around to it!

17. Do you like ask games?

Even better!!! 😫 especially if they’re for stories

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Hahahah oh god like all of them?? They’re all such incredible writers and they’re some of the ones who I uses to read and inspired me to start writing on here!

19. Do I have a crush on a mutual?

Not any actually crushes BUT id platonically marry all of them 🙇‍♀️

20. Tags?

!!! @sweetbunnykook @rmsbicycle @jungkookiebus @fortunexkookie

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allknow-how · 6 years

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My Guide: the BEST Itinerary for India

I get e-mails from readers who are planning to backpack India and they want the details: who to fly with, how to get their visa, should they use a travel agent, & an itinerary for India (where should they go and in what order). I’ve noticed that since I posted the only packing list you need for India, I don’t get questions about packing anymore. I’m assuming that is because it helped people.

I am finally answering these FAQs about India! Some of your questions don’t have simple answers! I’m doing very detailed posts about a handful of the topics. The first up is, “Where should I go, and in what order? I want to save money.” First, I’ll explain what options I took in my India itinerary. Then I’ll discuss the pros and cons of the following suit. I’ll follow up with other route options that I considered or plan to take soon.

Tips for Traveling to and in India If you’re serious about having the trip of a lifetime, check out my India Guide ebook which is a complete guide to India and has 6 years of travel experience expertly organized to plan your trip from A to Z. Read more about the book here. For the best budget flights, I always use Kiwi. They search the low-cost carriers! I mean you can easily fly all over India for $200! You absolutely need a visa for India! I use and recommend iVisa for everyone coming. Check here to get a quote for your specific country. If you need a guide, here are my posts for US Citizens and for UK Citizens. I also, ALWAYS recommend getting travel insurance. World Nomads covers everything from emergency care to lost luggage. You can get a quick quote here. Here’s my full post on what exactly it covers and doesn’t. Whether or not to book ahead… I have written a lot about how to book and where to stay in India. If you’re on a budget, check out my hostel guide to India here. Otherwise, I love using Agoda to compare different hotels. If you want to do a tour to check out a lot of these at once, there is one that does it ALL and it’s the ultimate India tour from G Adventures, the only tour group I recommend in India that covers the whole country. I have a list of the best itineraries I suggest for group tours in India as well. I trust G Adventures for these tours. They have international standards and my close friends have taken these tours and loved them. The Best Itinerary For India (3 Months) Rajasthan First, I flew into Mumbai.

From there I went to by train to Rajasthan. This is where Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Pushkar, and Jaipur are. If you’d rather, check Kiwi to see how cheap flights are to Rajasthan instead.

You need about 3-4 weeks for this state. I didn’t feel the need to see Gujarat and felt like I’d seen enough of this area to head north. I traveled this state by bus.

Himachal Pradesh Next, I went to Delhi to regroup, meet a friend and got my butt up to the mountains. I was mainly in Himachal Pradesh and the surrounding states. These include Shimla, Sarahan, Kullu, Manali, back to Kullu, Dharamsala, McLeod Ganj, Amritsar, and Rishikesh.

Next, another break back in Delhi, which is a hub that seems impossible to miss. Agra + Varanasi Then I went to Agra, which is where you’ll go if you want to visit the Taj Mahal. Next, I went to Varanasi.

Goa + Hampi After Varanasi, I took a train back to Delhi to catch a cheaper flight to Goa and Hampi. If you will be spending a week or more in Goa (which I highly suggest) then do check out my $25 e-book. The Insider’s Guide to Goa is 170-pages long and will guarantee you have the best time in Goa, meet other travels, and chill at all the coolest places. Click here to purchase.

Kerala I was meant to go to Kerala and go on the backwaters but meeting Ben in Goa kind of stopped my trip there, although we did go to Hampi together. With this route, it would be really easy to head south by train to Kerala. From there, you can fly back to Mumbai and catch a flight home. OR you could fly to Kerala from Delhi, and do Goa after, then back to Mumbai to fly home. The second option there would prevent you from taking

The second option there would prevent you from taking the second flight. Summary of my Itinerary for India If you look at a map you’ll see that I covered most of the NorthWest and a nice chunk of the far North. You would think I missed the main bits of India, and in a sense I did.

This is the thing: The places I went are tourist friendly. I’m not saying they’re like when you hop Thai islands and get stickers like a child. What I mean is that they are places you’ll like visiting. Tourists pick these cities for a reason.

No matter how “touristy” someone says a city is in India, this is STILL India. In my opinion, it’s not touristy at all, even in Goa.

Is there a “Tourist Trail” to follow? If you go into many other areas, you’ll find they aren’t ready for tourism. Although that may be what you’re looking for, I think you’ll be disappointed. It won’t be like a book you read where some girl found a local village and met people who changed her life… most likely, seeing as though India has almost 1.3 BILLION people, you will end up in a bustling town with nowhere to stay and people trying to rip you off because they haven’t seen a tourist.

Most likely, seeing as though India has almost 1.3 BILLION people, you will end up in a bustling town with nowhere to stay and people trying to rip you off because they haven’t seen a tourist.

If you are coming to India to “find yourself” or see the spiritual side that India is popular for, you probably won’t find it in the cities, unless you take mass amounts of Xanax. Westerners go to the same places Indians have for centuries because they are awesome.

Westerners go to the same places Indians have for centuries because they are awesome.

The path I took is a pretty common tourist trail mainly because it allows you to see the desert, ride a camel, play in the Himalayas, visit the Dalai Lama’s new home, visit Rishikesh the birthplace of yoga, see the Taj Mahal, watch the cremations on the Ganges, and beach it up in Goa.

The biggest tourist trail of all is the “Golden Triangle”: Delhi, Agra, Jaipur which is what most international tours to India will take you on if you have a week or two. The next major India tour would probably be a Rajasthan tour which usually adds on to the Golden Triangle tour. When I started on that path, I was unaware it was the tourist trail, I just realized it was the only route that made sense. No one does it in the same order though, and I found it hard to find travel buddies. I did have to do a total180 and take my itinerary backward because of seasonal changes.

When you are in Italy and you pick a random town to go to, you find beauty and nice cafes…. I hate to tell you it just isn’t the same in India. If you have limited time, you should take a moment and think about what you want to do, see, and experience. Next, figure out where you can do those things. Place dots on a map; do a little planning. Take a hard look at it to see which route makes for the best!

Yoga in India If you are interested in taking courses but want to pay safely and not get ripped off, you can use bookyogaretreats.com for retreats and bookyogateachertraining.com for YTT. These are owned by the same team and they only list the best of the best on there. There are reviews for other yogis who have been there so you can dive in and do some serious research. I recommend sorting by the “top recommended”.

The top places for yoga in India are Rishikesh, Dharamshala, and Goa.

What did you miss that you still want to do? There is much more I want to see. My bucket list for India is never-ending. As a tourist, you get a six-month visa usually. This just isn’t enough time to see what India has to offer. I am so happy with what I saw in my time there, which was three months, and I didn’t leave with any feelings of longing for other cities I missed.

Fast-forward to now I’ve been living in India and traveling to loads of places, not on the so called tourist trail. I can tell you for sure that if I had to re-do my path I wouldn’t change a thing. I didn’t come to India as a backpacker to eat at the Hard Rock Café in Bangalore with all the expats (although I love it now!), I came to see exactly what I saw.

The main places I missed were:

Calcutta, which was fine because I’d had enough big city, The North East, which I’ve now visited Pondicherry (the French colony) Kerala backwaters (now been here as well) The southern-most tip of Tamil Nadu where the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and Arabi Sea meet. This is also where Gandhi’s ashes were scattered. I missed the rural areas but later wandered around Karnataka for a month. There are much more, but those were ones on my list of places I was interested in. If you follow the itinerary I set, and don’t fall in love in Goa, you’ll have time to go to Kerala. You could fly from Delhi down and check out Kovalam, Varkala, Kochi, and then bus up to Goa.

You could fly from Delhi down and check out Kovalam, Varkala, Kochi, and then bus up to Goa.

Keep in mind, that this was a three-month trip. If you go for six months, add Calcutta, Sikkim, and Pondicherry. There are so many famous temples, like the Kama Sutra one, that I missed, but I still have time. Take some time to read about India before you come and see what you want to do. Once you have that, you’ll easily make an itinerary that will leave you satisfied at the end of your journey.

I have my original list of places I wanted to see on my three-month trip, and even almost two years since I left on that backpacking trip and living in India, I still have yet to even finish 75% of it.

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lindyhunt · 6 years

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The 27 Best Instagram Accounts for Design Inspiration

Instagram has become a finely curated destination for gorgeous photos, videos, and visual content that all clamor for the best Likes and comments. It's as if the urge to visit a modern art museum can now be satisfied from the comfort of our own homes -- or bus seats, or lunch breaks.

That is, if you follow the right people. As social media generally provides a platform for individuals to become brands, so it goes for the artists and designers who have found Instagram to be a method of building a miniature, digital art gallery -- a social portfolio, if you will.

And as for the people seeking remarkable design work? Jackpot.

But to help you narrow your search, we've done a bit of our own curation of the best Instagram accounts to follow for design inspiration. We've broken the list down by category: illustration, graphic design, pop art and installation, color palettes, street art, photography, typography, and calligraphy -- although, you might notice that some of the work below could fall onto more than one list. notice some of their work could fall into a number of different lists.

Check out how these artists are sharing their work with the world -- we're sure you'll find them as inspiring as we do.

The 27 Best Instagram Accounts for Design

Click on a category below to jump to that section:

Illustration

Graphic Design

Pop Art & Installation

Color Palettes

Street Art

Photography

Typography

Calligraphy

Illustration

1) Steve Harrington: @s_harrington

Steve Harrington is a Los Angeles-based designer who describes his own style as having a "psychedelic-pop aesthetic." His Instagram is full of his brightly colored, playful illustrations, many of which he's created for brands -- most notably Nike, for which he's designed sportswear, including shoes.

instagram

2) Rachel Ryle: @rachelryle

Rachel Ryle is an illustrator, an animator, and a storyteller -- and she combines all three on her Instagram account. Most of her posts are beautiful, clever, and often super cute stop-motion videos like the one below. She told Mashable that each animation takes 15–20 hours from the beginning concept to final editing, on average. If you like her work, Instagram is the place to follow her: It's her most dedicated channel for showcasing her work.

instagram

3) Mikey Burton: @mikeyburton

Mikey Burton, based out of Chicago, calls himself a "designy illustrator" -- his way of saying he works part time in both. Burton has done work for clients like Converse, ESPN, Target, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, and Esquire. He's been working on a lot of editorial pieces lately, which he posts proudly on his Instagram -- along with other, often-whimsical illustrations both as sketches and as final, published projects.

instagram

4) Jamel Saliba: @melsysillustrations

Jamel Saliba, a.k.a. Melsy, is equal parts artist and entrepreneur, having quit her job in her mid-twenties to become a successful, full-time fashion illustrator. Her sketches are beautifully done and cover themes like fashion, friendship, and love -- all in the style of contemporary chic. Since her initial success on Etsy caught the eye of consumers and brands alike, Melsy's done client work for Hallmark, T.J.Maxx, and Home Goods.

On Instagram, she posts a combination of illustrations added to her portfolio, as well as those celebrating events or holidays, like the illustration she posted for Halloween.

instagram

Graphic Design

5) Neil A. Stevens: @neil_a_stevens

Neil A. Stevens specializes in poster design, and he's particularly good at creating sharp, dynamic pieces. He's created posters for many cities and countries around the globe, including a handful for the Tour de France.

instagram

6) Hey Studio: @heystuxdio

Hey Studio is made up of three designers: Ricardo Jorge, Veronica Fuerte, and Mikel Romero -- and is one of Spain's most popular graphic design studios. A lot of their work features stunning geometric shapes, which they post to their Instagram account in combination with pictures of their team during the creation process (and when they're just fooling around).

Tip: Shuffle through the entire carousel of images in the post below to see the full dimension range of work.

instagram

7) Luke Choice: @velvetspectrum

Luke Choice is an Australian living in New York whose work covers graphic design, illustration, and typography. His style is very colorful and very unique -- I especially love the 3D illustration work he does, some of which are crazy cool animations. Check out his Instagram feed to see his latest work, from his own personal projects to collaborations with brands like Nike.

instagram

Pop Art & Installation

8) Jessica Walsh: @jessicawalsh

I'm so inspired by Jessica Walsh, both as a designer and as an entrepreneur. She joined the design firm Sagmeister & Walsh, Inc. at age 23 -- back when it was just Sagmeister, Inc. Two years later, the firm's founder Stefan Sagmeister took her on as a partner when she was only 25, and the firm eventually became Sagmeister & Walsh. They've designed work for very high-profile clients, such as Levi's and HBO.

Walsh's Instagram account is a gorgeous display of her own work, the firm's, and design inspiration from others.

instagram

9) Daniel Aristizábal: @darias88

Colombian Digital Artist Daniel Aristizábal's talent is transforming regular, everyday objects into surreal, colorful renditions that are full of character. His work is "saturated with science references, retro hues, strange imagery, bold geometric patterns, and a playful sense of the absurd," reads his SkillShare bio.

Follow him on Instagram for a peek into how he sees the world, including the collaborations he's worked on with clients like Toy Nail Polish and Refinery29.

instagram

10) Dschwen LLC: @dschwen

Dschwen LLC is a creative studio based in Minneapolis that employs collaborative designers throughout the United States. Their design projects are created mainly for brands -- including some big names like Amazon, Apple, Juicy Couture, General Electric, Uber, Twitter, and more.

They've won a plethora of awards, including a Design Gold at Cannes Creativity Festival for the second image below, "traffic cone in disguise," which they created for Twitter and Niche. Their Instagram page is chock full of creative, surprising, and clever designs -- including some sweet animations.

instagram

11) Leta Obierajski: @letasobierajski

Leta Obierajski is a New York-based art director and graphic designer with an eye for bright colors, angles, and curves. What I like about her Instagram account in particular is that she writes descriptive Instagram captions that give her followers a behind-the-scenes look at her thoughts and processes, making for an incredibly interesting read.

For example, in her caption for the image below, she describes her collaboration with a fellow designer on this installation for local restaurant Le Turtle:

instagram

Color Palettes

12) Design Seeds: @designseeds

The folks behind Design Seeds' Instagram account do a wonderful job of showing their followers just how important color schemes are to beautiful design. They use Instagram to create color palettes inspired by images submitted to them on Instagram using the #SeedsColor hashtag. This is a fun way to share their passion for nature's beauty while encouraging engagement.

instagram

13) Canva: @Canva

As a design tool, it makes sense that Canva's Instagram account would be centered around design. Not only do they post gorgeous photos and design work, but I especially love their color palette series, where they create color palettes based on photos, much like Design Seeds.

As an added bonus, they include the names and hex codes of each color and prompt their followers to punch the hex codes into their Canva color wheel to use them in their own designs.

instagram

Street Art

14) Jaime Rojo: @bkstreetart

Jaime Rojo isn't a street artist; he's a photographer of street art. One of his goals, which he articulates on his website, is to photograph new public art, street art, graffiti, and urban art as they're created, not just in Brooklyn, but all over the world (thanks to a partnership with Urban Nation Berlin). He keeps an eye on developing trends and strives to lead a worldwide conversation about how these trends affect popular and art culture. His Instagram is a live collection of his photographs, in which he credits and tags the artist when known.

instagram

15) Biafra Inc.: @biafrainc

Biafra Inc. is an anonymous Minneapolis-based street artist who creates his work via spray paint, screen printing, stencils, stickers, and posters. As he tells it, his work is often "a visual retelling of stories that are apart of his life." As a self-proclaimed news junkie, he also incorporates socio-political themes in his work from time to time. His Instagram account is an inspirational showcase of his work in a variety of urban environments all over the Midwest.

16) Fumeroism: @fumeroism

"My art is an extension of my character, bold and uninhibited, assertive and unorthodox." That's how anonymous street artist Fumeroism describes his colorful, expressive, contemporary street art. His designs are often caricatures of real subjects, like his portrait of fellow street artist Sebastien Waknine in Barcelona in the image below. Follow Fumeroism on Instagram for colorful, bold, and energetic street art in locations all over the world.

instagram

17) Banksy: @banksy

Unsurprisingly, the famous British street artist Banksy often goes for long peiods of time without posting to his Instagram account. And yes, it is his official account -- Banksy's publicist Jo Brooks confirmed it in a tweet:

@hookedblog Hey Mark that IS the official instgram account and the only official account

— Jo Brooks (@brightonseagull) February 25, 2015

But when he does, it's not something you'll want to miss.

For example, in February 2015, after almost a year and a half of nothing new on Instagram, Banksy posted a caption-less photo to his Instagram account of a brand new, never-before-seen piece of street art that Paste Magazine theorized appeared to be "done over a door. The location has not been discovered or revealed as of yet." Follow his account to scroll through some of his great work and to stay in the loop in case a new piece appears.

instagram

Photography

18) VuThéara Kham: @vutheara

When it comes to beautiful photography, there are a whole lot of Instagrammers to choose from. One of my favorites is Paris-based photographer VuThéara Kham, who actually started his career on Instagram and became quite popular in the Instagram community. Follow his Instagram account for gorgeously framed photos of Paris' (and other European cities', as per below) landscapes and people.

instagram

19) Hiroaki Fukuda: @hirozzzz

Instagram is actually the basis of Hiroaki Fukuda's photography career, which is why his posts on there are so darn good. Like Kham, Fukuda started as an Instagram hobbyist in Tokyo and ended up gaining a huge following.

When big brands caught wind of his talent and began hiring him for different projects, he became a full-time Instagrammer. Now, he travels all over the world taking photos for companies like Nike and Christian Dior. Side note: He told CNN in an interview that he likes when people comment on his photos ... so comment away!

instagram

20) Dirk Bakker: @macenzo

Although Dirk Bakker is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer, he likes to take photographs of art, design, and architecture -- and post it to his Instagram account. He has a keen eye for taking something "normal" -- like cranes or a staircase -- and transforming it into a stunning image with a great sense of depth. He's especially talented at capturing repetitive patterns like lines, geometric shapes, forms, and colors, making for striking images with strong visual impacts.

instagram

21) Max Wanger: @maxwanger

Max Wanger is a Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in portraits, including wedding photos. His Instagram posts are a combination of his personal photography and the work he's done for clients. What I love about his photos is that they have a romantic, personal touch, and often make beautiful use of negative space.

instagram

Typography

22) Erik Marinovich: @erikmarinovich

Erik Marinovich is a lettering artist and designer and an entrepreneur. In addition to drawing letters, logos, and type for big brands like Nike, Target, Google, Facebook, Sonos, and Sharpie, Marinovich has also co-founded Friends of Type, a collaborative blog and shop, and Title Case, a creative work space that runs workshops and lectures. His Instagram account is a great showcase of his impressive lettering work, from branded design work to impressively cool doodles.

instagram

23) Ahda: @misterdoodle

Ahda, the man behind the Mister Doodle pseudonym, is a hand letterer who's done design work for big brands like Element Skateboards, The Sunday Times U.K., Citizen Apparel, and more. His specialty is incorporating his beautiful, curvy hand lettering into shapes and illustrations. Check out his Instagram for photographs of his lettering work, including t-shirt designs and creative showcases of his projects alongside relevant props.

instagram

24) Cyril Vouilloz: @rylsee

Cyril Vouilloz, a.k.a. Rylsee, is a Berlin-based designer with a fun and experimental take on typography. His unique hand-drawn lettering work plays with lines and dimensions -- and what makes his Instagram posts so cool is that many of them show his fingers "interacting" with his illustrations, enhancing the optical illusions in a way that'll blow your mind a little bit. Browse through his crazy cool work on Instagram, and follow him to see what original artwork and distortions he comes up with next.

instagram

25) Arabic Typography: @arabictypography

Beautiful typography doesn't just mean Latin letters. In fact, some of the most beautiful typography in the world comes from Arabic script. There are many features that make Arabic lettering so aesthetic: It's written from right to left, it can include accents and dots or lines, and its letters can vary in shape depending on their position in a word.

The Arabic Typography Instagram account, run by Egypt-based Noha Zayed, is a collection of beautiful Arabic typography -- from signage to street art to tattoos -- that's crowdsourced from all over the world.

instagram

Calligraphy

26) Seb Lester: @seblester

Artist and Designer Seb Lester is one of the most famous calligraphy artists on Instagram, with over one million followers (as of this posting). The vast majority of his posts are actually videos -- and for good reason.

"So much of calligraphy is about movement and rhythm, and a short video can capture the beauty and the magic of calligraphy in a very Internet-friendly format," he told The New Yorker. "Recurring words in people’s comments are 'mesmerizing,' 'hypnotic,' and 'satisfying.' For reasons I don’t fully understand, people clearly enjoy watching the process of something perceived as 'perfect' being made from start to finish.”

instagram

27) Lindsay Oshida: @lindsayoshida

Lindsay Oshida is a Los Angeles-based graphic designer who posts beautiful calligraphy work to her Instagram account. She gained a lot of attention on Instagram for her "Game of Thrones" quotes, which she posted once per day during the ten days leading up to the 2015 season premiere.

For example, she did her piece "Kill the crows" (the image below) in black letter with walnut ink, according to The New Yorker, and the black crows were sketched using a crow-quill nib -- "a calligrapher in-joke." She's since posted quotes both from "Game of Thrones" and other popular TV shows, and claims other calligraphers have followed her lead.

instagram

We hope this list helped you find some new designers to follow. May your Instagram feed be much more beautiful for it!

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joronomo · 7 years

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Observations on an Italian Summer Sojourn

New Post has been published on https://joronomo.com/observations-on-an-italian-summer-sojourn/

Observations on an Italian Summer Sojourn

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We survived our Italian summer – it was tough, but someone’s got to do it!

It’s hard to learn even the most basic tourist phrases of another language (hello; excuse me; pardon the fart; where is the toilet?; waiter, the check!; please remove your thumb from my nose) in 4 weeks.

I have several anxieties that appear mainly when traveling outside the U.S., such as: When and how much do I tip? Will there be toilets? Are the trails well marked? Will they realize I’m an American and insist that I explain the last election (I cannot)? Can we return our rental car without incident? Will there be toilets?

Fun facts about the opera Rigoletto, seen in Verona: Apparently it does not depict how a clown loved then lost an overweight cross-dresser named Gilda. Rather, this classic Verdi opera is about a deformed hunchbacked jester whose redeeming quality is his devotion to his daughter Gilda, who falls heavily for the handsome misogynistic Duke of Mantua, who starts Act III with “La Donna e Mobile” (you’ve heard the tune), its most famous aria (technically, canzone – not to be confused or spellchecked into “calzone”). The first stanza begins:

La donna è mobile Qual piuma al vento, Muta d’accento — e di pensier.

In the old days, before simultaneous English translation, I assumed this was a song about a woman, Donna, who used her mobile phone to call (“qual”) her pal Al Vento, who had a muted accent and two pensions.

With simultaneous English translation, I finally appreciate that the song is a five-minute smackdown of women. The first passage translates roughly as follows:

Woman is fickle. Teases and tickles. Mean and despicable — won’t eat my pickle.

The food in the Dolomites is incredible, though as much Germanic (wurst) as Italian (pasta). We cannot resist insanely over-ordering at the first of our four 5-star, 5-course, all-inclusive meals, stumbling from the table sick to our stomachs. But we exert better control the next two nights, leaving merely nauseous. And by the last evening we’re back to our U.S. dining out behavior, simply uttering an exasperated “Why did we eat so much?” as we exit.

Still, by skipping lunch and walking endlessly we keep weight gains within targeted range. (Thus, literally by the skin of our teeth, we avoid returning home and immediately having to buy a new, plus-size wardrobe. Rather, it’s just the usual post-vacation dieting resolutions.)

Driving in the Dolomites is an experience, mainly in quick-shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear and back again. I hope the rental company didn’t charge extra for 5th — I barely used it. (I could have skipped 4th, too, except on the A4.)

The tag on the car keys said “gasoline”; the sticker on the gas cap read “diesel”; the attendant clearly thought I was an idiot for asking his advice (diesel, moron) and needing help pumping the gas (though he himself had to reset the handle to get it going).

I enjoy biking and like bikers. But the 200th time I had to downshift to 1st, or full-stop the car, on those narrow, twisted, steeply-inclined roadways, to avoid running a Lance Armstrong wannabe off the road, I was ready to start running them off the road.

In July there are A LOT of tourists in the Dolomites (but with a surprising dearth of English spoken) (maybe my countrymen also feared having to explain the last election) (a young UK couple we met worried they might be called on to defend Brexit). We were rarely more than 100 feet from other hikers on the popular trails and, on the most popular, such as Tre Cime, it felt like a Hajj pilgrimage. Indeed, after we took the funicular to Resciesa, we chanced upon a Catholic service that culminated in a congregational climb up the nearest hilltop to a large wooden crucifix, a true pilgrimage for many.

With all those people passing by – one way or another – I was often on a 4 “buongiorno” per minute pace, a personal best in foreign greetings. (It became so quickly ingrained that my first week back in the States, I had to resist saying it to everyone I passed. After one forgetful buongiorno, to people joining me on an elevator, I immediately burst into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast, pretending I was just playing a character.) (Oddly, this seemed to unnerve them more than my knee-jerk buongiorno.)

At Lake Como we stayed in Varenna, prompting this ditty (a parody of Louis Armstrong’s “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”):

You say Varenna and I say Verona, You say Sienna, I’ll visit Sedona. Varenna, Verona, Sienna, Sedona. Let’s call the whole thing off!

Varenna happens to be on the opposite side of the Lake from Bellagio, Menaggio and the male favorite, Fellatio.

No, we did not see George Clooney.

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Howard Zaharoff reads (a lot), writes (mostly humor), teaches (occasionally) and practices law (doesn’t everyone?). He is the author of “Stump Your Lawyer!” (Chronicle 2007), and his work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Amazing Stories, Computerworld, The Journal of Irreproducible Results, The Annals of Improbable Research and the books Growing Up Jewish (Penguin 1987) and Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble (and Further Improbabilities) (Workman 1993), among other places.

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at-mercatino · 7 years

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Rereading At mercatino one year later

This blog comes from writing, which in my path led me from describing photo albums to talk about me. Progressively it has become my primary form of expression, means of information and way to do truth. My blog is about my experience in collecting.

My business began a long time ago and takes place mainly at Mercatino di Via Armorari; it is about the sale of small and popular collectibles, mass-produced. If I had been able, the best way to manage my items and earn something would have been, over the years, to create one or more catalogs, price lists, a database, or even better a website, in which I could also tell. I made do on this form that took me, with the intention of writing a few pages on what I knew, because my prediction was a decrease or cessation of what I was doing, which should have been a hobby. Although unlikely, a story could be a way out to close it. I wrote in Italian and translated into English, in order not to remain a stranger to this important foreign language.

I started my blog describing the objects with which I kicked off my little business, top up cards and phone cards. Time wanted it to coincide with my father's advanced illness, with whom I have always done it. The first and fundamental page was published a few days before his death. My writing has become, thus, the memory of so many years with my best friend, which I never forget and always I go to find.

One year later

In mid-September 2016, a year after the publication of my blog, returning in Milan, my city, from the long summer vacation, that as usual I spend in Barzio, a beautiful mountain village in Valsassina, in my brother's house, I reread it, because it's a good idea to look at your work after a long time. In that time I had improved me in reading and writing, doing constant exercise by writing a blog about my walks on Grignone on the side of Pasturo. I thought it would be enough a month, making small changes. In my head I was thinking about my next tasks, fix some programming code that adds content to the pages I write from external data files, watch again my photos, studying a best arrangement in folders, and rereading and correcting my photos albums' captions. Never perspective turned out to be so wrong!

Rereading At mercatino one year later, it seemed completely inadequate to speak about cards, with bad names and information, and none with reference to the source, many redundant. The form appears mediocre, the introduction is absent and definitions are missing. But, because the spark appeared to me still good, and phone cards and refill cards were soldiers and my companions of many years of battles, and always alive, I decided to rewrite all my articles. The other drastic solution would be to delete them, and I would already have done it if there had not been there my image and that of my father.

My lab

I say here about the tools of my work and where it was done, in an environment that requires tranquility. I wrote this story with a computer, using Sublime Text 2, a sophisticated text editor for code, markup language, and prose. It's a really simple and fluid software, I've never had a problem.

I wrote mainly with my desktop computer from the living room of my apartment, with back pain, because of which I lay down on the couch from time to time waiting for it to diminish and I can resume my work, and the sore butt leaning on my office chair with armrests; also the belly and stomach have their weight, blocking or delaying what I'm doing. On Thursday morning, I composed with my laptop computer from the tables of Esselunga's Atlantic Bar not far from home, where dad went every day to have breakfast and play sudoku; I accompanied him during his last month and a half, when he was suffering and needed assistance. I seem to see him still in front of me, looking at me in front of my computer. I finished it the following summer at Barzio, on the solid wood table covered by a sunflowers carpet in the living room.

The work redone

I have devoted to this second version many hours a day for many months, really committing myself, not only the head and the heart, but also nerves and muscles. I was supported by the conviction that it would be better to improve what I had already done, which it would come back, rather than undertaking new things, and that it would be a good exercise. It consoled me that the new draft of the articles seemed to me better written; however, at each subsequent rereading the good vote became sufficient, and then, often the sufficient one insufficient, and so to get better again. My belief and the satisfaction of the result, although partial, did not let me down to the ever-present and new difficulties, such as the necessary explanations and the number of topics that became more and more. I am reminded those points that made me fear that it was not possible to continue and I would have given up everything.

The first time at the end of October, describing TIM ricariche, I exceeded the temptation to leave for the complexity, and perhaps the uselessness of my job, dividing this topic into four pages, which made it affordable. Then, it was the difficult page Collecting, and it returned several times during the translation of articles in English, which usually involved rewriting in Italian. The months went by, autumn gave way to winter and new year, and new pages were by partition, subdivision into two or even more of the existing ones, while other pages were created for untreated arguments, as definitions. At the beginning of spring, when I thought I was close to the end, it missed in fact a few articles to translate, I realized that I did not say about payphone, forgot Chiama Gratis and Carta Azienda by Telecom Italia, which I collected together with my father, and, above all, the telephone, its history and telecommunications. As soon as I start, I realize I have not even said about the form of my blog and where I have posted it.

To fill this gap, in a month, I wrote, in the Italian draft, layout and text formatting, hyperlinks, style of citing sources, summary and other articles. These pages will not see the light, because the blog has its purpose, which requires limitation, and because it has already spread too far. There will be no also Telephone, that comes from the Greek: τῆλε, tēle, "far" and φωνή, phōnē, "voice", meaning together "distant voice", and its history with the first patent by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. My last study turned out, however, to be particularly profitable. Finally, I added, the page sections, that redesigned them and made readable with pauses, and adjusted the citation style.

Post on Tumblr

I posted At mercatino on Tumblr, the social networking website, which only in the end I found out to be a microblogging platform, while my story went in the opposite dimension, with long pages, linked together, and with so many references. Most of them are phone cards on Colnect, while others, by citing the source and enriching the reader, avoid plagiarism. The number of posts is, by now 60 (and in Italian 61)!! My two-language page management was not the best because it requires several copy-paste operations to add the link, from English to Italian in Al mercatino or vice versa; it is easy to make mistakes and each one makes me nervous.

Finally and at last, I understood that the addition of every page on the internet is always laborious, because the links to its web address must be managed. It becomes a published content, and efforts will focus on it for it to be adequate and eventually update it, slowing down and taking time out of any future activity, that could be more important.

My riflection

It emerges that, telling an activity of over 20 years in a blog -- that my mother, who saw me writing in front of the computer all this time, calls the researches -- is too demanding, there are indeed too many topics. The idea is confusing and zero economic gain: I do not believe, in fact, selling any more cards for what I'm writing, and the blog is not even advertising to my business, which probably would not even have to be.

And you think that phone cards and mobile phone top-up cards were only a part of the starting project, which included talking about landscape postcards, thematic postcards, advertising postcards, in particular those distributed in public places in special containers, such as Promocard postcards, tram tickets, stickers and more. Likewise, I would have created countless articles with the definition and study of the object, searched and cited sources, summarizing the story of the publication, possibly in multiple pages when the dimension became over-sized, identifying common groups and templates as the logo and written to back, rejoiced in the presence of numbers, which allow an ordering, listed images, most of all those that remain carved into my memory, praised Absolut postcards and those that depict Internazionale players, saying some anecdote and sale. And since I think it is enough in this form of story how much it is done for phone cards and refill cards, it is enough for the rest what is written on the main page.

Conclusion

My treatise on phone cards and top-up cards is now new in this second version. Until the end, it was changed the first page, the most autobiographical. As a matter of fact, the section our Sunday morning and part of its content is of the last day; maybe, because there was, it was necessary to have written all the other pages. Also this and last it is relevant.

I understand that, for Italians, it is finally written in Italian and sometimes it sounds good, more in the latest articles than in the early ones. In English, it is less worse than the first version. One has always to be grateful and give praise to God when it is allowed to correct and improve; then it is right to stop. There will not be Rereading At mercatino two years later, nor will there be any more posts and nor will be At mercatino 2. Being public, when I deem it appropriate if it were inadequate, there may be, instead, changes. My blog according to Google Analytics is read by a few.

Meanwhile, I continue to go at mercatino, alone, dad from above always watches as guardian angel.

Italiano

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rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years

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Chefs+Tech: Evolving Consumer Tastes Change the Premise of Fast Food

McDonald's new Quarter Pounder is made to order, making it slower to arrive than the rest of the fast food chain's menu. Erik Larson / Bloomberg

Skift Take: In an age of technology and get-it-now, it seems counterintuitive that fast food would slow down service, but that's what's happening as the industry adopts fresh ingredients and made-to-order meals.

— Kristen Hawley

Editor’s Note: In September we announced that Skift was expanding into food and drink with the addition of the Chefs+Tech newsletter.

We see this as a natural expansion of the Skift umbrella, bringing the big-picture view on the future of dining out, being fanatically focused on the guest experience, and at the intersection of marketing and tech.

Bonus: We now publish C+T twice weekly.

Is It Still Fast Food When it’s No Longer Fast?

I hesitate to call this a trend because it’s a pretty universal move toward healthier living, but over recent months several fast food chains have made major announcements about switching to fresh (versus frozen) food or higher-quality ingredients. But the thing about fast food is that it’s predicated on the basis that you receive your food fast. This is why frozen ingredients and heat lamps and mass production and quality control exist in the industry — to give you a predictable product, quickly. As consumers become more conscious about their food, fast food is evolving to meet demands, but some consumers may not understand the tradeoff. For example, McDonald’s has started using fresh beef cooked to order in its Quarter Pounder burgers. Great, right? Except the service flow is disrupted if you order one of these sandwiches; in the drive-through, customers are asked to park their car while the burger is made. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, having to wait an extra three minutes in the car for any part of my Happy Meal was pure torture.

According to a Reuters report, the new Quarter Pounder takes about a minute longer to arrive than the previous version. A minute isn’t long when you’re sitting down at a full-service restaurant, but adding a full minute to drive-through times is significant, and messaging to the consumer about what to expect is tricky. Still, more options (especially of the healthier variety) are welcome, and many of the chain’s other offerings haven’t changed and arrive with the same speed we’ve come to expect from the most famous fast food restaurant in the country. Still… what does it mean when slowing down service — even for good reasons — changes the basic notion of fast food?

Delivery Apps aren’t Hurting In-Store Visits

As the battle between delivery apps rages on, analysts are keeping a close eye on what adoption and usage of these services means for brick-and-mortar restaurants. According to one recent report, delivery apps do not lead to significant drops in in-store restaurant traffic. Instead, consumers are using them in tandem with in-store visits. If anything, by this measure at least, restaurant delivery apps should be analyzed against grocery store visits and delivery services.

This could also signal that consumers think differently about restaurant delivery versus in-restaurant dining experiences. This is also good news for restaurants that notoriously work hard to protect the in-store experience and may be potentially hesitant to cede control to a delivery driver.

Instagram Stories Is Perfect for Restaurants (And Growing Like Crazy.)

Instagram’s Stories feature is now used by 250 million people per month, adding 50 million users in two months. Stories have become a more casual way for Instagrammers to share snapshots and video, adding text, stickers, and drawings. They’re fun and they’re fleeting — all stories disappear after 24 hours. Yes, this is exactly like Snapchat, which only has 166 million active users.

The Stories feature has changed the way many people use Instagram. The traditional feed is reserved for more curated and composed images while Stories serves as a catch-all for everything else. The feature lends itself to food and restaurants particularly well in a couple of ways. For example, a restaurant can meticulously curate its Instagram feed, featuring composed, plated, well-lit, well-styled dishes and use Stories to give a behind-the-scenes look at the kitchen or the staff or the ingredients or anything that goes into day-to-day restaurant workings that might not seem refined enough to land on the main feed.

Rene Redzepi used this feature particularly well during Noma Mexico’s run last month; every day he introduced followers to different local produce he and his staff were including in the meal. Restaurant review site The Infatuation uses Stories to post “restaurant review ride-alongs” which is a fun and engaging twist on the traditional review. While it may seem like a lot of work for something that disappears in 24 hours, the beauty of Stories is that it’s meant to be off-the-cuff and less composed. It’s a great tool for a business’s marketing and social engagement efforts, and also great as restaurant patrons share photos of their meals conveniently geotagged with a restaurant’s name and location. And it seems with Facebook’s backing and Instagram’s highly-engaged users, there’s still a ton of room for growth.

David Chang on Failure

In a world of celebrity chefs and Yelp reviews and Instagram photos and text messages and all of the good and bad that comes with the modern restaurant experience, David Chang has been top of mind and tip-of-the-tongue for anyone who talks, thinks, or writes about the modern dining experience (this writer included). From my perspective, he is honest, open, and willing to discuss all aspects of the business publicly, including failure. He’s a prominent figure in the industry, so when Maple, the New York-based delivery-only startup he advised closed last month, the press jumped on his involvement. His response essentially boiled down to: sometimes things don’t work out but experimentation and growth is positive, which is an important thing to remember when every business venture is scrutinized, criticized, photographed, and shared under a microscope.

On a recent appearance on the Eater Upsell podcast, he continued the honesty, which is a fantastic commentary on the state of restaurants and technology. A few choice quotes:

On Yelp: “I believe Yelp is probably going to be one of, if not the only, source of food criticism.”

On Ando, his delivery-only restaurant: “We’re making the right kinds of mistakes and I’m fascinated by that, mainly because I love delivery, but also I know it has to work. The only way we’re going to get to that point is by trying new things and [messing] it up.”

On failure and growth and iteration: “Unfortunately and fortunately, the good gets praised and the bad gets scrutinized. I want to make sure that doesn’t prevent us from trying more shit out. It pains me, more than you guys know, to let people down. It sucks, because no one’s a harsher critic than myself. But I can’t even imagine what Momofuku would be like if everything was perfect from the get go. That would scare the shit out of me.”

Digestifs:

Blue Apron wants to raise half a billion dollars in its IPO —Bloomberg

Everyone offers meal kits, now even the Cayman Islands — Skift

Know your audience: a guide to LA’s best avocado toast — NYTimes

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

Text

Chefs+Tech: Evolving Consumer Tastes Change the Premise of Fast Food

McDonald's new Quarter Pounder is made to order, making it slower to arrive than the rest of the fast food chain's menu. Erik Larson / Bloomberg

— Kristen Hawley

Editor’s Note: In September we announced that Skift was expanding into food and drink with the addition of the Chefs+Tech newsletter.

Bonus: We now publish C+T twice weekly.

Is It Still Fast Food When it’s No Longer Fast?

Delivery Apps aren’t Hurting In-Store Visits

Instagram Stories Is Perfect for Restaurants (And Growing Like Crazy.)

David Chang on Failure

On a recent appearance on the Eater Upsell podcast, he continued the honesty, which is a fantastic commentary on the state of restaurants and technology. A few choice quotes:

On Yelp: “I believe Yelp is probably going to be one of, if not the only, source of food criticism.”

Digestifs:

Blue Apron wants to raise half a billion dollars in its IPO —Bloomberg

Everyone offers meal kits, now even the Cayman Islands — Skift

Know your audience: a guide to LA’s best avocado toast — NYTimes

0 notes

wait-what-no-way · 7 years

Text

Interview with Chris RWK

Where are you from Chris?

Staten island, NY.

Where did the idea and name for Robots Will Kill come from?

The name or site?

Both

In the early 2000's there were not a lot of art websites out there; especially ones that showcased graffiti, sticker art, wheat pastes, etc. Also around that time I was approaching galleries and they really weren't showing stuff like that either. I went into two galleries in Soho and both asked, "How old are you?" I said, “What does that matter?” They said, "Come back in a few years." I said, “But you didn't even look at my slides.” After that I had a bad feeling about galleries. So I spoke to my friend Kevin and we decided to make a website that would showcase the artwork that was overlooked. We launched in early 2001. We always said "You wouldn't give us a space, so we built one." This was before websites became easy. It was before social media. It was a great place for artists of all mediums to show what they could do. It amazed me that someone in New York could be seen by someone in Japan, and they could be seen by someone in Australia. I was up in Vermont for a month working on some stuff and one night my friend Chris Rini was working on a painting while I was doing stickers. He did this big cell phone holding a person to its "ear" and I just looked up and said, "Ha, robots will kill." It went along with the robots I was drawing so it clicked. The name for me really meant the fact that some people do something so much they become robotic. They lose interest in other things. You can work and become a robot and lose your love of art, music, fun etc.

So you got the website up and running, where did you get all of the photos from?

In the beginning the photos were ones that I took over the years. Once people started coming to the site they would email or mail copies of photos. We would then upload them. Then Kevin was able to develop an anonymous self-upload feature. That’s when everything changed. Images were pouring in and the site was updated every few hours. At the time, sites weren't live life social media.

That's insane. I remember stumbling upon the website around '07 and couldn't believe the amount of writers that were on there. How did you and Kevin promote yourselves?

Nice. In the beginning we had a big link exchange drive. A lot of sites hadn't heard of it so we would approach them about doing it. I'd advertise in a few magazines such as Peel magazine, Beautiful/Decay, and a few others. The biggest response was from the stickers. Putting them up, the trades, collaborations, etc. Link exchanges fell off because websites weren’t as important. I stopped doing magazine ads cause the big ones wanted a lot of money and the smaller ones that I liked stopped being made. By then the site had a huge following.

Time and dedication always prove to have the best results. As an artist, who has had an influence on your work?

As far as work ethic I'd say my dad and friends. People who work really hard have always surrounded me. As far as graffiti, art, and that stuff there's a huge list. One would be people I pass everyday. Seeing them and how, in their own world they are helping bring on ideas for new work. As far as style, that I'll just give a list of some artists: Veng, Vin Rega, Peeta, Jos-L, Flying Fortress, Over Under, JesseR, Mike Die, kevRWK, ECB, Gary Larson, Jim Davis, herb smith, Walt disney and his 9 old men, Sugar Fueled, NoseGo, kaNO, Lou Pimentel, Basquiat, Daniel sprick, Vers718, Big daddy Ed Roth, MQ, Emit, Sub, Gaze, Scribe, Jive, East, Cycle, Tuke, all the DF guys, Twist, Nite owl, Mike giant, Biafra, MCA/Evil design, Kem, Mike Egan, crash, Monty Montgomery, Zimad, Weirdeyeone, JPO, Chad pierce, Atoms, These are all artists I'll look at randomly and regularly. It's funny because looking at the old masters might not make sense for someone with my kind of work, but it does. The lighting, shadows, compositions all matter and those guys had so much of it down pat.

Yeah you can always apply different techniques to your own work. That's awesome. What was the biggest venue you had the opportunity to showcase your work at?

Thank you very much. Venue as far as seen by the most amount of people? Hmmm, there's been a bunch of projects that I've been lucky enough to be apart of that have large followings or get seen on a regular basis. The walls in NY can be seen by a ton of people a day. I've also done work at the World Trade Center, Spotify, Citizen M hotels, Rabbit Movers, Armani Exchange, Red Bull, and a bunch others that I'm forgetting.

That's incredible. That's got to feel really good knowing you'll have work that is basically going to last your entire lifetime and then some. How often do you sketch?

Yeah it's definitely incredible and I'm honored and humbled. Pretty much everyday. At my 9-5 job I sketch on post it notes; Ideas for paintings, characters etc. I also sketch on my commute to work and home.

Where have you had the opportunity to travel to for your art/ RWK?

All over parts of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia , Connecticut, Indianapolis, parts of Florida and I just got back from Colorado and Utah.

How often do you and the team do limited releases like shirts or hats?

As far as RWK stuff it's mainly me who does the merchandise. I try and release stuff every few months. Hats a little less because of costs. Shirts and sweatshirts I've done a lot of over the years and have a bunch in the works. The limited edition enamel pins have been fun. I usually do a run of 100 and they've sold out in about 24-48 hours.

Very cool. How do you think RWK has impacted the graffiti scene?

To be honest I'm not sure. I know for years I've had people tell me stuff like "Yo I grew on that site.... I would sit for hours at the library to check it out… I was excited to see my work on there....” “It was amazing to see stuff from other countries that I would never make it to.” So by hearing that I'm hoping it made a big impact, but at the same time people forget. It's almost like it's taken for granted. People love talking about the stuff that's gone and how great it was. Yeah it was great but what happened? Why did it stop? Where is it now? We're still here. Not Done Yet, Not By Far.

Who would you like to give a shout out to?

I always hate this question because I worry about forgetting people. So I won't name individuals. Family and friends, all the artists who have inspired me, artists I've worked with, all the people who have visited RobotsWillKill.com, all the people who bought stuff, all the people who helped spread the word, everyone following @chrisrwk and @robotswillkill on social media, people who doubted me, and you for interviewing me. I'm honored.

Chris, thank you so much for your time. I'm honored myself for the opportunity to talk with you. This has been a really great experience

#graffiti #RWK #RobotsWillKill #ChrisRWK #NYC #Interviews #WritersInk #ScrapYardNYC #NYCGraffiti #Art #Wheatpaste #graffitiart #canvas #StatenIsland

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addcrazy-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Add Crazy

New Post has been published on https://addcrazy.com/500-miles-within-the-2017-chevrolet-camaro-zl1-convertible-and-coupe/

500 Miles within the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible and Coupe

ONCORD, North Carolina – Contrived? Maybe only a little. However, Chevrolet’s idea to offer us a 2017 Camaro ZL1 to force to Daytona Seashore, Florida, made sense once the organization brought up the numbers: 650 for 500 to the 500.

As in 650 horsepower from the supercharged LT4 6.2-liter V-8. As in 500 miles from Concord, that is just north of Charlotte, to Daytona Seashore. And 500 once more, as within the Daytona 500, where Chevrolets would start at the front row, each from Hendrick Motorsports – more approximately that during a second – which might follow the Camaro ZL1 tempo car to the green flag, driven through the semi-retired Jeff Gordon, who gained 4 NASCAR championships for Hendrick and Chevrolet. Tidy!

It might be great for Chevrolet if we ought to document the logo received the Daytona 500, However of the route it didn’t. Polesitter Chase Elliott ran out of gasoline, allowing Stewart-Haas driver Kurt Busch to get the past for his first win in the first race after the four-vehicle Stewart-Haas team switched from Chevrolet to Ford.

Regrettably for Ford, although, as high-quality as the 526-horsepower 2017 Mustang Shelby GT350 is, Chevrolet’s ZL1 has the clean, modern gain inside the 50-yr Pony vehicle wars. Yes, Stay clear of has the pleasant 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat, however, the chassis and aerodynamics are a few years behind the most up to date Camaro and Mustang.

The primary enchantment of this ride – apart from the plain using-a-hotrod-to-a-NASCAR-race – was to peer how properly the ZL1 dealt with a 500-mile drive in a day. Which brings us back to the first forestall closing Wednesday night time: Hendrick Motorsports, home of contemporary NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Elliott, and 7-time NASCAR Monster Power Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

No longer noticeably, Hendrick Motorsports was a ghost city, with a maximum of the important thing gamers in Daytona. A handful of employees in the shop that homes the automobiles for Johnson and Earnhardt banged on bodies and measured shells with templates, probable operating on vehicles for soon-to-come races in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

But that didn’t rely upon, as we came to see the large Hendrick Historical past Center, which isn’t always open to the public, no pics allowed – although if you buy a vehicle from the Historical past Middle, you get an excursion. Automobiles available for buy range from a 1990 Chevrolet Suburban ($39,990) to Gordon’s 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a 4-time Martinsville NASCAR winner, for $four hundred,000.

The Heritage Middle – and this isn’t always to be harassed with Hendrick’s 15,000-square-foot museum, which is open to the general public–is surely packed with an eclectic series of stuff that both has a private that means to Rick Hendrick, or that he simply likes. There’s a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am “Smokey and the Bandit” automobile that Mrs. Hendrick offered for Rick, which has just double-digit miles, and there’s a beautiful 1961 Corvette, Hendrick’s first of a multitude of Corvettes. Of simply greater than 200 Vehicles right here, half are Corvettes. And the most amazing part of the Background Center collection is the wide variety of particular Corvettes which might be Hendrick’s favorite: 1967, 427-powered Stingrays. Thirty-seven of them. And each automobile in the collection is ready to run on the turn of a key. If you have ever driven a Corvette powered by using a 427-cubic-inch engine – and we’re speaking any 427, Now not just the holy-grail LS7, 435-horsepower Tri-Power model – the car become a rocket at the dual carriageway But ponderous round metropolis, threatening to overheat or foul a plug or par-boil its two occupants in warm climate. It shook, it rattled, it roared, and it frequently took little extra than a Sunday force to reason the Corvette-loving husband to change in his massive-block prize on some thing more docile, or face divorce. Apologies if this sounds sexist, However men who anticipated a hundred-pound spouse to embrace a 4-velocity, 427 Corvette as her every day motive force better have married Shirley Muldowney.

Which brings us to the 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1: It’s a automobile that, When you have very quick friends which could match on the package deal shelf that passes for a rear seat, is genuinely delighted to carpool around Manhattan. In particular with the brand new 10-speed automatic transmission, which, we’ll cross beforehand and tell you currently, is the unmarried most mind-blowing characteristic of the 2017 ZL1. It replaces the 8-velocity automated we had within the 640-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V some weeks ago, the most effective characteristic we got here returned complaining about after a 700-mile weekend in the Caddy. It tended to shudder slightly because it hit eighth gear, and the engine dropped returned to four cylinders to save fuel. No such trouble inside the ZL1, However Not lots within the manner of gas savings, either: Our mileage ran quite near the bleak EPA ratings of 12 mpg town, 20 toll road for the automatic, and 14 metropolis and 20 toll road for the six-speed manual.

buy the automatic, and you’ll pay $1,595 extra than the manual, and $2,100 within the federal “gas guzzler” tax ($1, three hundred for the six-pace). This brought the sticker of our loaded ZL1 convertible with the automatic to $72,325. The six-speed coupe we drove, which had a base rate of $sixty two,135, turned into about $five,000 greater than that out the door.

And talking of out the door, we had been Thursday morning, after a briefing on the auto. Car magazine has already given you the details in multiple stories; this time our task become to inform you the way it all worked on an actual journey.

the primary half of the 500 miles, we spent inside the aforementioned six-pace coupe, which turned into optioned heavily, which includes the $495 MyLink audio machine with navigation, and an eight-inch touchscreen. It’s exceptional to look the expenses of nav structures dropping in view of the truth that all of us have smartphones, or lacking that, a wonderfully first-class $89 TomTom from Walmart.

The six-speed guide is nicely-matched to the engine’s prodigious Electricity. The shifter itself is stiff, however the car was logo-new, and after a few thousand miles it’ll be great. Seize action is firm However doesn’t require a lot of stress, even though take-up is a touch abrupt.

Specially, as I learned, if you don’t know the way to power a guide, as my car-mate did No longer, or at the least hadn’t driven one in years. Clutch take-up is definitely abrupt then, until you get the grasp of modulation. Or don’t. both way, we made it to the checkpoint unscathed, in which we swapped the coupe for a convertible, additionally grey, because the Ferrari pink and yellow models have a tendency to be dual carriageway Patrol magnets.

The convertible pinnacle drops and increases fast, and works at hurries up to 30 mph. Wind buffeting is present However tolerable even at 80 mph and beyond. Inside, the Recaro seats, standard, are great – thin and light as you would expect in a performance automobile “looking after” its weight (4,148 pounds with the automated in convertible shape, 2 hundred kilos lighter than its predecessor), However secure and supportive even after an extended day inside the cockpit. Gadgets and controls are reasonably intuitive, But having just pop out of a 2017 Lexus GS F, they regarded greater complicated than vital.

Coupe or convertible, outward visibility remains an problem with the Camaro, though admittedly lowering the pinnacle provides for your sightline. the new Camaro is better-looking than the previous model, Mainly the extensive-bodied model used here to squeeze the large, very capable Goodyear F1 Supercar tires below their respective fenders, But it’s nonetheless pretty excessive-waisted. Even at a top of six toes, resting my arm in the open window is much less relaxed than I want it was, because given the ZL1’s exhaust note, I’d force it with home windows down plenty.

2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 rear three area 02

As referred to, as we cruised down Interstate 95 beyond the Florida nation line closer to Daytona Seashore, that 10-velocity automated, which we feared might be annoyingly busy, was something But. It is a transparent transmission, seemingly inside the right equipment regardless of the circumstance. It’s a winner.

And so is the magnetic-ride suspension, which continues to prove its really worth in most every software: stiff whilst you need it to be, and pretty compliant while you don’t, it’s a actually all-reason system that, matched to the large Brembo brakes, works equally nicely on the track and on the street. Even inside the stiffest putting, the journey became tolerable at the Interstate. Properly done.

So we made it to Daytona Beach within the Camaro ZL1, if Not pretty to Daytona Global Speedway, wherein – since the Daytona 500 is a restrictor-plate race – we would have arrived with greater horsepower than any automobile NASCAR had on the track this weekend, and for that remember, at least as an awful lot horsepower as any entry inside the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports activities-vehicle staying power race some weeks ago. It’s a right of passage for any high-horse street automobile to power thru the lengthy flip-one tunnel beneath the music and, um, display what the car feels like below heavy acceleration. Didn’t get that hazard. Maybe next time.

And talking of subsequent time: Saturday afternoon, Chevrolet amazed all and sundry at the experience while it unveiled the 2018 Camaro ZL1 with the 1LE package. In brief, in case you just ordered a 2017 ZL1, you’ve got already been trumped.

The 1LE is avenue-legal, with aircon and all that, However it’s an clearly committed song rat with a suspension advanced by means of Multimatic (the organisation that builds the brand new Ford GT), and among the mounting factors at the ZL1 which are cushioned with the aid of a nice rubber bushing are honestly metal-to-metallic on the ZL1 1LE. This means superb stiffness at the tune (desirable!) and ideal stiffness for your day by day power (Perhaps Now not so top! See connection with 427 Corvette above).

https://addcrazy.com/

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