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askallegiantflyfare · 1 year

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10 Awesome Things To Do In The USA That You Should Try!

The United States of America is not just a country that symbolizes contemporary lifestyle and carries great weight in global administration. It embodies more than that.

The diverse culture, history, and landmarks of the United States are truly remarkable. Deal with Allegiant Airlines Book a Flight for vacations. With breathtaking attractions, baseball stadiums, and unforgettable road trips, there is an endless supply of fascinating experiences to be had throughout the country. These activities are steeped in American tradition and are sure to captivate your interest without fail!

10 Best Things to Do in USA |Allegiantflyfares

With many activities available in the USA, it cannot be easy to select the most suitable ones for our interests. Fortunately, this blog is here to provide comprehensive coverage for our needs.

Empire State Building: Climb 102 Floors

Climbing 102 floors of stairs or taking the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building is an absolute must for anyone visiting the United States of America. The breathtaking view of New York City from each passing floor is well worth the effort and will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression. So challenge yourself and make the trip to the top - you won't regret it!

Location: 20 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001, United States

Entry Fee: INR 1424 + taxes

Timing: 8 AM to 2 AM

White House: Take A Guided Tour

The historical significance of this location is undeniable, as it has played a crucial role in shaping America's history. It is the exclusive venue where pivotal political decisions are made, and visitors can gain insight into American history through guided tours. Moreover, this location is the official residence of the President of the United States and is accessible to the public during specific hours.

Location: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States

Entry Fee: N/A

Timing: Tuesday – Thursday: 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM

Friday – Saturday: 7:30 AM to 1:30 PM

Golden Gate Bridge: Catch A Glimpse Of The Sunset

The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic American landmark prominently featured in countless Hollywood films. It's a must-visit destination for couples, especially during the picturesque moments of sunrise or sunset. The awe-inspiring views from the bridge create an atmosphere that's second to none and ideal for sharing with a significant other.

Location: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA, United States

Entry Fee: N/A

Timing: 24-hours open

Grand Canyon: Behold The Beauty

The United States proudly boasts a magnificent 277-mile stretch that provides a truly breathtaking view to anyone who visits. Taking in the sunrise or sunset from this location is undeniably one of the most enjoyable activities to partake in with friends as you all bask in the sheer beauty of the place and let go of any inhibitions.

Location: Arizona, United States

Entry Fee: INR 2152 per vehicle || INR 1793 per motorcycle

Timing: 7 AM to 6 PM

Explore the Wildlife at Yosemite National Park

Yosemite is unquestionably a breathtaking park that draws numerous visitors all year round. The park boasts a fusion of natural beauty, awe-inspiring views of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and an attractive village brimming with many restaurants and shops. It's an unparalleled destination for families seeking abundant thrilling activities in the USA.

Location: California, United States

Entry Fee: INR 2152 per vehicle

Timing: 24-hours open

Watch an Exciting Game–Football at AT&T Stadium

Although there are excellent football clubs throughout America, Dallas is the best place to watch the game. The AT&T Stadium can accommodate up to 85,000 people and has two large screens to ensure everyone can see the game. Even if there are no games scheduled during your visit, it is still worthwhile to take a tour of the stadium.

Location: Texas

Entry Fee: INR 2295 for the tour of the stadium

Timing: Monday-Saturday: 10 AM – 5 PM

Sunday: 11 AM – 4 PM

Relive Your Childhood with the Fantastic Treats at Walt Disney World

Touring Disney World is a great option if you're looking for a fun family activity in the USA. This wonderland offers thrilling theme parks and water parks for kids and adults. You're guaranteed to have a blast and leave feeling energized and enthralled! Activities like water splash and kinds of roller coaster ride you could enjoy at Walt Disney World. Not whether you are an adult, or old it will be exciting to your weekend in Orlando for sure. When you are on the trip with your kids, then you should surely add this place to your itinerary while planning the trip.

Location: Orlando, FL, United States

Entry Fee: Around 7,600

Timing: Usually 9 AM to 8 PM for theme parks (Timings for different parks may differ)

Pizza: Taste Happiness

When traveling to the US, you must indulge in the quintessential dish of deep-dish pizza, which can be found in Chicago. These pizzas are one of a kind and should be noticed during your trip. Ensure you visit the top restaurants, including Pizzeria Uno, Tano's Pizza, and Nino's Pizza, to experience the full culinary delight.

Location: Anywhere in the USA

Entry Fee: N/A

Timing: Differs

Experience the Glory and Pride Across the USA in Rushmore National Memorial

The cliffside boasts stunning carvings of the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. This highly sought-after attraction draws in 3 million visitors annually thanks to its engaging museum exhibits.

Have you ever wondered about the reason behind the four carved faces on this mountain? These sculptures immortalize these presidents as a tribute to their significant impact on the country. Their names and achievements will forever be remembered in this magnificent monument, serving as a testament to their legacies.

Location: 13000 SD-244, Keystone, SD 57751, United States

Entry Fee: N/A

Timing: 5 AM to 11 PM

Glance at the Scenic Beauty of the Grand Canyon

The United States boasts a magnificent attraction spanning 277 miles, offering a breathtaking view to all visitors. Witnessing a sunrise or sunset from this location can be one of the most captivating activities to partake in with friends. Immerse yourselves in the site's beauty and let go of any inhibitions for an unforgettable experience.

Due to the heavy rainfall, the northern rim has recently been shuttered, and most probably, it will open on 4 June 2023. Unfortunately, dropping off your plan for the Grand Canyon National Park tour this month would be best.

Location: Arizona, United States

Entry Fee: INR 2152 per vehicle || INR 1793 per motorcycle

Timing: 7 AM to 6 PM

Following the above description respectively, you might have even eased on preparing baggage in addition to Allegiant Air Seat Selection for an uninterrupted travel.

Conclusion:-

Discover some of America's UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and more. For a complete list of natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the USA, check it out.

Source Url: https://diigo.com/0si02z

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strongceqpower · 2 years

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More effective Cover Reviews of the most effective Travel Trailer Covers Sold on typically the Internet and Store Stores

Usually a backyard enthusiasts begins to display interest in some sort of travel trailer any time they think that that they have outgrown the "sleeping in typically the outdoors or tent" phase and are ready to take advantage of the luxuries of residence and yet nonetheless have that sensation of living and camping outside from the ocean or pond or in the particular mountains or leave. Getting a travel movie trailer is definitely an investment that the RV user hopes can last intended for many years plus numerous excursions. Travel trailers can and will last with regard to years, sometimes decades. The interior will keep its looks just as long as it is protected by sunlight exposure. If an RV is left uncovered typically the sun's UV light will beat down on the rv and fade typically the interior upholstery, curtains, blinds, carpets, and even bedding. The exterior displays its age group quite a lot faster as compared to the interior. Throughout only a matter of years some sort of travel trailer of which is left vulnerable, unguarded, isolated, exposed, unshielded, at risk from the weather, will exhibit rapid and steady outside damage when the particular decals fade, split, spilt and ultimately use off. Your invisalign aligner window and door closes will turn gray to black inside just a year. The welded joins that connect the sides will expand and contract together with every snow drop because freezing/melting period that happens when the snowfall melts on the particular roof crevices although remain in the particular crevice, then re-freezes in the tiny, microscopic crevices. These stitches will expand inevitably with the freeze cycle that produces a widening from the connecting stitches. This constant routine of water freezing, melting and re-freezing will eventually trigger problems using the roof structure which results within too costly repairs.

The particular easiest way in order to stop the aging procedure on your traveling trailer is to be able to cover it with the best MOBILE HOME cover for typically the area in which the traveling trailer will be kept and for the time in which an individual will be holding your camping truck. With so numerous RV covers about the market just how are you going to be able to locate the cover that will you need?

Wintertime Covers for Journey Trailers 20-33 feet Cost & Guarantee

Expedition by Eevelle Cost: $205 -- $321 Warranty: 3 years

ADCO Designer created using Tyvek Cost: $262 - $365 Warranty: 2 years

Poly Pro 3 by Classic Accessories Expense: $273 - $341 Warranty: 3 many years

Camco Ultraguard Expense: $262 - $415 Warranty: 2 years

CoverKing 600 Denier Presidium Cost: $375 : $575 Warranty: Repair for 1yr

If a travel truck is stored from the summer in the particular extreme Southeast plus Southwest, the protect should be made through an extremely tough durable woven stuff. Travel trailers which can be in the sun year-round must have a new cover with best UV protection. Winter snow covers (like the Expedition, PolyPro 3, Camco Ultraguard, CoverKing Presidium & the Tyvek ADCO cover) disintegrate in a few brief months if they are utilized to protect the particular RV through typically the summer. The non-woven fabric cannot stand up to the intense UV rays found in this area of the United States. There are two RV covers made of woven stuff. The first cover that is manufactured with the most up-to-date technology in UV stop protection is named typically the PermaPro RV include made by Classic Accessories. This MOTORHOME cover is backed by the newest technologies in extra strength UV block security. http://staticcaravansalescumbria.com/ cover is manufactured out of a gentle weight extra power ripstop fabric that will is tear tolerant with nylon rearrangements in the materials. The information resembles of which employed in parachutes plus athletic wear. This water-repellent fabric resists rain and environments to be able to an just about all season protective RECREATIONAL VEHICLE cover. This traveling trailer cover amounts in cost through $375 - $505 and is supported by a four-year warranty.

The Goldline MOBILE HOME cover sold by Eevelle has very long been named the best RV cover by customers and even dealers alike. The particular Goldline RV covers are designed in order to outperform almost every MOTORHOME cover in all the important categories of MOTORHOME protection- strength, toughness, water repellency, etc . The extra strength yet supple Goldline Tru-weave woven cloth will manage the best winds and will stand up in order to the ultimate UV light of the sunlight as well seeing that being a water-repellent rain & environments semi-custom storage cover. This travel truck cover ranges in cost from $455 - $578 and it is backed by some sort of five-year warranty. Typically the Goldline is in addition the only MOTORHOME cover made intended for small travel trailers (10 - twenty ft. ) just as well as the extremely large kinds (up to 46 ft. long).

#caravan #travel trailer

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footjohn01 · 3 years

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<h1>The Remarkable Background of the Iconic Ford F-150</h1><br>

A red 1980 Ford F-150 Custom-made While the Ford F-150's history officially began in 1975, earlier vehicles prepared for America's favored automobile|Ford You can debate just about anything concerning vehicles and vehicles, but one thing is impossible to suggest: Ford F-150 is the undeniable heavyweight champ of American roadways. No lorry has been even more important or offered more models because this pick-up's debut in 1975. As of 2017, the F-150 as well as its durable counterparts covered the sales graphes for 35 straight years. That's quite a run, and also these vehicles beat the competitors in their section for also longer (40 consecutive years). But the F-Series pickups didn't appeared of no place throughout the 1970s. Ford introduced its iconic pick-up way back in 1948, after The second world war. Prior to the F-1 launching that year, the car manufacturer's trucks were simply modified vehicles. The 1948 design changed that, and the F-Series proceeded its development right into the 21st century. Nowadays, the F-150 as well as durable models sport one of the most advanced technology and indoor comfort that pickup have ever before seen. It absolutely didn't begin by doing this. Here are 25 snapshots of Ford's F-Series pick-ups-- from the earliest days of its predecessors to the most up to date off-road conqueror. 1. Ford Version T vehicle 1925 Ford Version T vehicle 1925 Ford Model T vehicle|The Henry Ford To discover the origins of Ford trucks, we have to go completely back to the 1910s, when the car manufacturer transformed the Model T right into a pick-up. As the picture shows, this vehicle was bit more than a roadster with a flatbed fitted over the back wheels. Nonetheless, also such a basic configuration got items relocating the very early days of customer transport. 06 f150 raptor grill 2. Greater utility in the 1930s 1932 Ford Roadster pickup By 1932, Ford trucks boosted significantly in the utility department|Ford While there was evident appeal for a Version T vehicle, Ford improved upon the concept with the Version An and Model B. The bed was longer as well as the weight circulation better, so there was lots of appeal for vehicle customers throughout the Depression, particularly with the arrival of the vehicle's V8 engine. Yet it was still a roadster and had its share of constraints. 3. Joining the 1940s war effort 1941 Ford Express Ford vehicles entered into the battle initiative after 1941|Ford The hardtop, long-bed truck principle materialized by the late 1930s, and also by the time 1941 versions appeared, there were several alternatives for customers. Among the options were brand-new V6 engines to accompany the V8 and also four-cylinder choices. Ford obtained both the grille styling as well as the underlying platform from automobiles here, and also introduced extra truck plants by 1941 in case the United States entered the war. Customer manufacturing ended for numerous years after the Pearl Harbor intrusion. 4. Birth of the F-Series Two men wearing stetson lean on a red Ford F-1 truck as it rests parked before a house Ford F-1 truck from its debut year|Ford Complying With The Second World War, Ford introduced its very first all-new truck system with eight different designs. From the half-ton F-1 to the three-ton F-8, consumers had plenty of selections. Engine choices ranged from a 95-horsepower V6 to a 100-horsepower V8. F-Series trucks began with a modest, utilitarian appearance and also higher usefulness than its precursors. 5. F-100 marks a new generation A light eco-friendly 1953 Ford F-100 1953 Ford F-100|Ford In 1953, Ford celebrated its 50th wedding anniversary with the introduction of second generation F-Series versions. The front grille changed considerably (new engines additionally showed up), but this redesign was more comprehensive. A boosted V8 engine, longer measurements, better presence, and also automatic transmission were presented. So were hood ornaments as well as the classification we identify today: F-100 as well as F-250 replaced the three lightest pickups in the schedule. 6. Even more power for 1954 A red 1956 Ford F-100 with tractor as well as combine drives via an area 1956 Ford F-100 with tractor as well as combine|Ford Updates for F-Series trucks proceeded throughout the second generation While the wraparound windshield offered enhanced exposure for drivers, updated power specifications increased their alternatives on the job site. 6 cylinder engines maxed out at 115 equines by 1954, while the V8 engine pushed the envelope to 130 horsepower. Even more power came over the 1956 version year, with the F-Series V8 engine delivering up to 173 equines, according to Edmunds. 7. F-Series third generation. A front-facing Ford F-100 from 1960 1960 Ford F-100|Ford You can not assist staring adjustment in the face when comparing the second and also third generations of F-Series trucks A square grille and increase the number of fronts lights welcomed Ford truck consumers beginning in 1960. Three years previously, the 1957 versions debuted the pickup's wider taxicab as well as other updates. Beginning in 1959, Ford began providing 4x4 in manufacturing facility models. 8. Fourth generation Ford vehicles. 1963 Ford F-250 sits parked on a rocky terrain 1963 Ford F-250|Ford With four-wheel drive capacity and also over 200 horse power showing up by 1965, fourth generation Ford vehicles proceeded the march to the modern age. Super Task trucks had made their debut in 1958, and this shot from 1963 is a take a look at the model year's Ford F-250. Two headlights returned for those that ran by evening. 9. Launching of the Ranger 1967 Ford F-100 Ranger 1967 F-100 Ranger|Ford Starting with the F-Series's 5th generation, truck customers might select from 3 trims: base, personalized, and Ranger. Choosing the Ranger meant grassy floorings, a typical chrome grille, as well as much more comfy seats. By 1970, before fifth generation models ended their run, a 4th trim (XLT) got in the picture. 10. Extra style and also functionality 1971 Ford F-250 rests parked in the grass 1971 Ford F-250|Ford Laws mandated side reflectors starting in 1968, as well as this heavy-duty model from 1971 shows how Ford rolled that into a badging opportunity. An upgraded V8 engine now delivered up to 220 horse power. At the same time, the relentless restyling of the grille proceeded apace. 11. A powerhouse sixth generation 1973 Ford F-Series pick-up View of a Ford F-Series on the Louisville, Kentucky assembly line, circa 1973|Ford Sixth-generation (1973 to 1979) F-Series vehicles were remarkable for a number of reasons, but we'll begin with the arrival of SuperCab for 1974. Dodge had spearheaded the pickup with extra seats, and Ford felt required to respond. Yet another V8 engine entered the picture too. But America's favorite truck was about to be birthed. 12. Birth of the Ford F-150 A red 1975 Ford F-150 sits parked in front of a construction website 1975 Ford F-150|Ford Why was the F-150 needed? By the mid-1970s, consumers found themselves caught between the not-quite-capable-enough F-100 as well as the mighty F-250. This version bridged the gap beginning in 1975, as well as concerning one third of F-Series sales were made up of F-150s that year. While America commemorated its bicentennial in 1976, F-Series vehicles began their run atop the sales checklist that remains to this particular day. 13. The decisive 7th generation 1980 Ford F-150 Ranger sits parked atop a mountain F-150 Ranger from the 1980 model year|Ford To put the seventh generation's influence in perspective, we look to chronicler James W. Wagner. "The 1980 model was an advancement generation," Wagner stated. "It was all brand-new-- most likely the greatest adjustment in 40 years-- and had a solid emotional appeal with the twin I-beam front suspension. It seems from that factor on, points truly went Ford's means as far as trucks were concerned." 14. Custom packages as well as fatality to F-100 F-150 from 1985 rests parked in front of a lake By 1985, a new focus on style and-- a lot more notably-- way of life had actually entered the picture|Ford Starting in the early 1980s, Ford truck consumers might style their trucks with personalized paint packages. The new focus on way of life motivated promotional photos such as this one showcasing a family members appreciating a day by the lake. These trucks delivered at work and fit sufficient to appreciate after hrs, Ford suggested using its advertising and marketing. Keep in mind the blue-oval symbol making its first appearance on the grille. F-100 production ended in 1983. 15. Go into eighth generation Archival shot of 1989 Ford F-150 1989 Ford F-150|Ford Beginning with the 1987 model year, Ford F-Series vehicles had actually entered their 8th generation. Wraparound auto parking lights as well as conventional fuel injection were two essential upgrades. F-350 and also heavier models became part of a new Super Responsibility line. The freshly simplified grille enjoyed a long run with the complying with generations. 16. New styling hints after 1991 A black 1991 Ford F-150 1991 Ford F-150 with 'Nite' bundle|Ford In the last years of the F-Series's 8th generation, vehicle fans got brand-new efficiency and also styling bundles. Among them, the sturdy service bundle made the task for snow plows easier. For 1991, the "Nite" bundle delivered a blacked-out F-150 for consumers looking to stick out from the legions of Ford vehicle owners. 17. The high-performance F-150 A red 1993 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning 1993 SVT F-150 Lightning|Ford Since 1992, when the 9th generation F-Series made its launching, Ford had actually enjoyed more than a years on top of America's sales charts. Normally, the car manufacturer saw a possibility to experiment and launched a performance version through the Special Vehicle Team in its inaugural year. Utilizing its remarkable handling, this 1993 SVT F-150 Lightning might amount to or defeat a 1993 Ford Mustang GT in long track runs. 18. Much more nine generation modifications 1996 F-150 SuperCab rests parked atop a hill 1996 F-150 SuperCab|Ford On top of brand-new performance models, the Ford F-Series additionally obtained significant cosmetic upgrades in its 9th generation Developers were looking to interest yet one more young generation of customers. A special Eddie Bauer trim entered the picture in 1995. 19. F-Series notes its 10th generation. Ford F-150 from the 1998 version year 1998 Ford F-150|Ford Major adjustments gotten here with the 10th generation of F-Series trucks that began in 1997. The nameplate celebrated its 50th wedding anniversary in 1998 as well as (to mark its modernity) Ford dropped chrome from the grille as well as added more contours than these trucks had actually sported in decades. Heavy-duty trucks obtained their very own F-Series Super Obligation line starting in 1999. 20. F-Series for the 21st century 2004 Ford F-Series 2004 Ford F-Series makes its launching|Mike Heffner/Getty Images The first redesign of the new millennium brought an all-new system for the F-150 (2004) and, lastly, for the Super Duty trucks (2008 ). Developers had actually highlighted even better convenience as well as designing in the front runner pickup for the 11th generation This version cycle had a really brief run, as well as ended at the start of the Great Recession. 21. A brawnier 12th generation. A F-150 pick-up rests on the assembly flooring at the Kansas City Ford Assembly plant October 2, 2008 in Claycomo, Missouri. 2009 Ford F-150|Larry W. Smith/Getty Images Wartime America appeared to apply its influence on the 12th generation of F-Series trucks. There was no questioning the intensity of the 2009 F-150 with its bold grille as well as hostile stance. Midway via the model cycle (2011 ), Ford challenged soaring gas prices with the very first 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine in the F-150. 22. Super Obligation expands in credibility 2012 Ford F-Series Super Obligation 2012 Ford F-Series Super Task|Ford Toward the end of the 12th generation of F-Series trucks, Ford Super Obligation designs drifted close to perfection. The 6.7-liter Power Stroke turbo diesel engine ended up being an alternative in 2011. A few years later on, with numerous decades in guides as well as numerous models on the road, iSeeCars.com counted a lot more F-250 Super Task vehicles above 200,000 miles than any other automobile. 23. The aluminum F-150 A red redesigned Ford F-150 Platinum-trim 2015 Ford F-150|Ford If you think of major automaker wagers, the 13th generation F-150 is near the top of the list. After numerous decades atop the sales charts, Ford left steel for a light weight aluminum truck body-- and also it functioned. The new F-150 came to be the initial pickup to get a five-star NHTSA security score and also an Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security Top Security Choose classification. Since the results remain in, we can state Ford nailed the redesign and also just improved the track record of its front runner vehicle. 24. The post-apocalyptic warrior 2017 Ford Raptor 2017 Ford Raptor|Micah Wright/Autos Cheat Sheet If you find yourself stuck on the road after an apocalypse, we recommend flagging down a 2017 Raptor. Ford took the idea of a performance pickup and kept up it below, equipping Raptor with 510 pound-feet of torque and also substantial interior conveniences. Nonetheless, we'll merely explain the extremely appealing aesthetic cues. We can't think of a cooler-looking pickup on the road. 25. The 2018 version Ford F-150 for the 2018 design year 2018 Ford F-150|Ford One century after Ford debuted its initial Version T vehicle, the 2018 F-150 got in the scene. New advanced collision security innovation as well as the F-150's ideal towing capabilities were essential upgrades. On the other hand, basic start-stop attributes made it more affordable than any type of previous design. While we're uncertain about the next century of truck manufacturing, Ford shut its very first 100 years on the job in vogue.

#ford2

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darlinrogue · 3 years

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Matt Hardy

For me because I can’t write an actual analysis

I-Con (ˈīˌkän) noun

1. One who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol

2. A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something

3. An entity that will not die

4. A being or force that is stronger than death

5. MATT HARDY

The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City was a scene set in Adam Page’s dreams. The stage had hosted acts like Brittney Spears, Avenged Sevenfold, David Bowie, Paramore, All Time Low, Guns N’ Roses, Korn, Iron Maiden, and two farm boys from the rural south who somehow sneaked in before the curtain fell. The wrestling fans in t-shirts, jeans, and bawdy signs, didn’t match the elegant balconies they crowded. The ring was a jagged piece of metallic architecture placed on an old warn, wood floor. Adam Page, twenty-two years old, settled in the far corner with his heart in his throat and his childhood idol adjacent to him. The microphone lifted to Matt Hardy’s lips like he intended to speak. At that moment as Matt Hardy looked over the crowd, it was like a fantasy. Something he spun-up while he bounced on the trampoline with his sister and begged her to let him try the Twist of Fate one more time.

In the 1970 census, a few years before his birth, Matt Hardy’s hometown of Cameron, North Carolina had a whopping population of 204 individuals. In 1990, when Matt and his brother Jeff were mimicking the moves they learned off TV on the trampoline, the population was an impressive 215. Cameron was a small town in the heart of tobacco country, Virginia and Carolina being one of the few places in the United States to grow the desired plant. Running down to the coast, once out of the foothills of the Appalachians and Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina was flat and balmy. Unlike the dense red clay of the Piedmont region, the soil was silty and perfect for farming. Matt probably never saw more than a few inches of snow a Winter. A few hours to the East and he’d stand at the edge of the Atlantic. Along the cat’s claw thin barrier Islands, he’d watch the waves wash over white sand. Hear the whispers of shipwrecks the vicious coast of North Carolina claimed.

A stupid kid like Adam Page, eyeballs glued to the TV screen as WWF played Monday Night Raw or later Smackdown, heard these stories of the Hardy Boyz and looked at his own life. Aaron's Creek, Virginia, made Cameron look like a metropolis. Adam’s hometown was so small it didn’t even deserve a Wikipedia page. His family had deep roots in Virginia because it was a state for lovers. His father also raised tobacco and Adam grew-up amongst the viridian fields, laid out for acres around the house he grew up in. There wasn’t a lot of money for Christmas most years and Adam knew more about the intricacies of cattle farming than he sometimes cared to admit to his classmates. Yet, while his best friends extolled the Hardys for their daredevil stunts, ladders, and chairs. Adam idolized them because they were a proof of concept. That it was possible for a hard-working, farm working, Virgin-lina boy, to grow-up and be hot shit.

In 2013, Adam was starting to warm-up, with a brand new Ring of Honor contract and some neon green trunks. At Final Battle, the crown jewel event of the promotion he just signed-to, Adam had no choice but to laugh as Matt Hardy was almost booed out of the arena the moment he got a mic in his hand. It made Adam feel like a hero. Of the two, the audience preferred Adam Page to Matt Hardy, just incredible. Of course, Matt Hardy, the iconic, was a manipulative and arrogant son of a bitch, who claimed more than was his to take. Never meet your heroes, they say, and when Adam met his, he was kind of a dick. Yet, when Matt Hardy clasped his hand and gave him a firm handshake, that felt like a small victory. An inner ten-year-old in Adam promised to never wash it again.

It was also a statement. A statement that even if Matt Hardy thought he was better than this everybody, he still had to treat Adam with some measure of respect. Never once did Adam allow the stars in his eyes to blind him. There was no point in fighting a legend if it was only half the legend— Adam was going to get all of Matt Hardy, or nothing. So, he slapped Matt Hardy across the cheek and dragged out the old champion.

A year later, when Adam worked under Hardy’s personal brand, OMEGA, Matt would talk up the youthful Adam Page. Call him the future of wrestling, with his impressive moonsaults, clever counters, fearless attitude, and ‘never say die’ mentality. It was a good showing that night. Adam showed a lot of heart. Surely, he impressed someone upstairs— but he didn’t win. And Adam didn’t know what the point of having ‘heart’ was if he couldn’t win with it. Having ‘heart’ is the wrestling equivalent of a participation trophy.

In the Hammerstein Ballroom though, in 2013, a Twist of Fate would plant Adam on his head and the match would end at seven minutes and twenty seconds. That same night, just a couple of months after their New Japan debut, the Young Bucks defeated ACH and TaDarius Thomas. In due course, the Jacksons would join the Bullet Club with one Kenny Omega. Next month, Jimmy Jacobs, Roderick Strong, and BJ Whitmer formed the Decade, then called Adam out in the same breath, all for daring to dream bigger than the East Coast that Ring of Honor frequented. That night, in New York City, in the heart of Manhattan, the Hammerstein ballroom became a pivoting point for Adam’s life. Matt Hardy was Adam’s first breakpoint.

Through the course of 2014, Adam followed Matt’s invitation into OMEGA and crisscrossed central Carolina in search of his next break. Alongside his then tag-partner, Corey Hollis, Adam wrestled one more match in the ring with Matt Hardy. With the addition of his equally strange brother: Jeff Hardy. An eight-man tag where for a bizarre moment Adam was in the corner with the Hardy Boyz. Twenty years on from WWF ladder matches and the two men, closer to forty than thirty, could still go. Go with the speed and intensity of their youth. With the reckless abandon that defined their careers. These were the type of guys who looked at a wrestling ring and asked, “ you know what needs ?” Then answered: “More hardware.” Watching Matt Hardy, Adam learned when to slow, when to hasten, when to wait, when to press the advantage. Little tricks of the trade. He absorbed all of it like a sponge and held it tight to his chest. Treasure and gold to spend a little farther down the road.

Adam learned that Matt Hardy ran equal parts hot and cold. He was a little off, in a way that wasn’t healthy, but Adam blamed that on a history of concussions and injuries. Arrogant but in a way that was condescending and so he was always willing to groom a newbie to greatness. In fact, Matt Hardy took great pride in taking some young kid and making them a ‘star.’ In a way, every OMEGA recruit was some pet project of Matt or Jeff Hardy. No better way to pat yourself on the back than to make someone. It was never about the protege, though, it was about Matt Hardy. It was about his ego trip, to be able to say—

‘Look what I did for Adam Page.’

And he could cash in his ‘good person’ chip for the week.

Oh, and how Adam knows how it goes. Like, a favorite catchy tune.

BJ Whitmer ruffled his hair and a stupid twenty-four-year-old, hoping for approval, construed it as affectionate. Unaware that the gesture was more like the way a man polishes the rearview window of his new SUV. Yeah, he likes the vehicle, it’s expensive, he’s invested a lot, and he’d get really pissed if someone keyed the paint, but it was nothing but an object. A thing that he owns. A possession to be used and thrown away when it was no longer interesting. Adam was a good boy though and he’d do anything to be wanted, needed, useful. Even pick-up a chair and go against his better nature. The waves of frustration, internal conflict his own actions created, broke him until all that was left was a defensive, angry man biting at any hand that came too close. So, Adam no longer recognized who he was in the mirror. BJ Whitmer didn’t want to see ROH Champion Adam Page, he just wanted someone to carry his bags.

Falling in line with Cody was like falling into an old groove, well worn and well-trodden. When Cody handed that chair to Adam, he knew exactly what to do with it. How to hold Kenny fast and to twist his head so he’d see his incoming braining. Years ago Adam had been wounded and he had never healed. The blood festered and boiled, a slit through his throat hemorrhaging down his bruised chest. Cody stuck his finger in Adam’s festering resentment and anxiety, dug out his trachea. Weaponized Adam’s unspoken fear that Kenny Omega thought he was better than Adam Page and he was using Adam like BJ did two years ago. When Kenny ripped the US title from Adam’s hands and handed it back to Jay White —who he thought they all hated anyway— it was like a slap in the face. That was his moment, Cody declared, he ruined, he stole it. It took a couple of drop kicks from Kota Ibushi and a V-trigger he couldn’t technically remember, for Adam to realize he’d been played. Cody brought Adam no closer to his moment and Adam had ruined his closest friendships. All for a stupid belt.

Kenny never remarked on all of it, probably because he thought Adam too pitiful to deserve admonishment. Or, that his loyalty could be bartered for with games of Mario Tennis. So long as Adam stayed in line and kept his mouth shut, they were fine. Or, maybe Kenny was more forgiving than Adam gave him credit for. That was too much logic for his brain to handle these days, though.

His family once owned a gentle Paso Fino gelding. A sweet boy with soft brown flanks and soulful black eyes. While riding with his father Adam asked if he could cross a field with the horse, if the Paso Fino would canter. Could he persuade this gentle creature to do such a thing? His father chuckled and waxed, “of course you can, he aims to please.” And sure enough, Adam and the Paso Fino flew across the field, in the long smooth gait of the breed. It was beautiful and for a second it was like they shared a mind, but he wished his father never said those words to him. Because every so often, “he aims to please,” applies better to Adam than the horse.

FTR put a bit in Adam’s mouth and led him by the bridle for three months. Somehow their inevitable betrayal came as a shock. It had just been that drinking and joking with Kenny was nice, but the tension in the EVP room was like poison. While the Bucks sat easy, Adam was dying, and FTR, in their caring familiarity was like a breath of fresh air. He wished he could’ve been there for Kenny but he had been there for Kenny and didn’t he deserve a chance to unwind? Unwork the knife from his gut and enjoy an evening with old friends? Stupid, stupid, stupid, so stupid, so blind, so eager to please, that he’d trade real friends for fake friends. FTR played Adam’s fragile ego like a fiddle and left him in the aftermath of his own decisions. Alone and with just Kenny, who no longer wanted anything to do with him.

And after all those lessons, it was painful to realize that Adam Page was just another trinket for the Young Bucks to marvel over. A living, breathing camera stand to film BTE bits and then do the complex editing, giving a polish to the final product. That was the deal, he understood and agreed to it walking into the Bullet Club. He was to be the problem solver. The replacement big guy now that Gallows was gone. Adam beats up the enemies of the Bullet Club and he stays out of the title shot picture, good deal. A jobber they can hand a trio belt to and smirk over because the Bucks are such good guys. Adam really thought they were his friends and Adam wished he could say he used the Bucks like he used BJ but he never loved BJ like he loved Matt and Nick. It was the first time he was ever happy being a prop but it still hurt, especially the outrage in their eyes when he started thinking for himself.

How dare he become a tag-team champion when that’s what they wanted?

That was the deal though with Matt and Nick, that he stayed out of the way. Adam violated the terms and their friendship crumbled around the broken covenant.

Kenny though, out of all of these betrayals and losses which had left Adam numb to the idea that he was better off alone—

Kenny fucking hurt.

Some of the ideas lacked foundation. Some floated in the bottoms of bottles of whiskey. Some were inklings from years of standing behind a man he was never going to beat. Most of them made Adam feel like an asshole. The ideas went along the tune of:

That Adam was a shitty replacement for Kota Ibushi, the golden lover trapped on the other side of the pacific. When he was in Japan and had unwedged his head from his ass, Adam liked Kota. Kota was brilliant, a true star, and he understood, totally, why Kenny loved him. There was nothing personal or even resentful in this uninspired realization. It wasn’t jealousy. It was the truth and it was a truth Adam had to bear when Kenny let him collapse in the middle of the ring at All Out. Kota Ibushi could win a G1. Become the intercontinental and IWGP heavyweight champion all in one night. Adam couldn’t even beat Chris Jericho. Kota Ibushi was the God of wrestling and Adam Page was the dirty sinner kicked down to the dust where he belonged.

That Adam was a useful tool for Kenny. Just good enough in the ring to carry a tag-team when Kenny was at the far end of a losing streak. A good bolt of confidence, standing on the shoulders of a younger guy. Before he launched off and took the world title belt he so rightfully deserved. The gleam in Don Callis’ eye when Adam shook his hand told him that this was all part of the plan. Adam was written into the script and hit every line he was supposed to. Adam wondered if he was chosen because he was volatile and insecure, and Callis knew that would just push Kenny away. Away and towards Don Callis, and his machinations. Don used Kenny and Kenny used Adam— maybe, it was just Don all along.

That Adam was a pretty thing Kenny could flirt with. Soft, yielding, supportive, loyal, and eager to put his energy towards someone willing to take it. Like a fucking dog, or something. Hope told him there was something to the way Kenny murmured ‘cowboy’ to him in their private moments. That Kenny’s interest went beyond physical and a desire to be topped by a handsome guy like Page. The bitter reality, the pessimist and realist in him, told him it was hollow, fake, that he was being played again. Damnit, though, if he wouldn’t take those crumbs. Because he couldn’t say ‘no’ to Kenny when he smiled. Because he loves Kenny and he can't stop loving Kenny.

He truly was eager to please.

“Well, it’s okay. You can’t be number one forever anyway, right? Sometimes you gotta take a back seat, and I don’t mind taking a back seat, if it’s to you, buddy.” And Kenny had smiled and nudged his elbow, and Adam hadn’t thought about it as he fiddled with his silly little action figure. When Adam thought back on that interview and thought back on all his twisted thoughts about Kenny, he had almost broken down crying. Because he didn’t know what was true. Kenny was high-up there in his mind and Adam wasn’t sure he could ever shoot him down.

The second Adam Page snatched the title from Jay White’s hands he had known the truth. The light had shone in his eyes and he had flinched. He realized the cost of fame and fortune. The crossroads he stood at, paralyzed in fear and trembling to make a choice. Maybe, he was grateful when Jay defeated him and he could return to the darkness. However, the taste, the warmth of the light, the way his chest swelled and his heart rose, pure, innocent, like a child seeing his first snow, was addicting. Adam knew that he had to step out of the shadows. Out from behind Kenny, Cody, and the Bucks, or he would perish there in the dark. They were never going to turn around and dredge him out of the abyss.

Adam had never realized there was a choice, though: his friends or his soul. And he wonders how many times those friends had made it. How many times the Bucks chose some merch sales over him. How many times Kenny chose a title over him. He knows Cody had chosen his ego over him. Was there a balance? Someplace where you can stand in the light and have those you love with you? For flashes of moments, he sees it, in the Golden Elite, or when the Bucks flanked Kenny in the ring. The balance was called love and it could overcome all trials, or so he’s told. It could mediate the choice between yourself and others.

Yet, Adam knows he’s chosen wrong once or twice, already. So, he’s not sure that kinda love is for him.

John Silvers was on one knee, hand extended, with a goofy grin that Adam had come to appreciate. For the first time in a year, he had felt light and free. It had been nice to exist in a bubble of appreciation and warmth. Yet, there was no room to wiggle, and like a caged, fearful animal, Adam lashed-out. The wording got to him, on the following night when he was thinking about it. He said: ‘I can’t,’ and not ‘I won’t.’ Like, he was physically incapable of saying ‘yes,’ and yet the Dark Order seemed to think ‘no’ was an impossibility. How did they get so screwed-up?

Friendships come with obligations and Adam was aware he’d been shirking his. Not because he felt entitled but because he wasn’t sure he could bear the weight. That he wouldn’t take a stumbling step and collapse on his fractured bones. And that would just be a different kind of a disappointment for the Dark Order than just hearing ‘no’ right out the gate. It’d be his failure with the Bucks and Kenny all over again. Anna was right, Adam had to move on, so they could move on, and maybe it left him bitter that he couldn’t utter an apology, but that’s how things shake-out these days.

The Bucks didn’t want his apology either.

And now, that brought him back to Matt.

Matt Hardy reappeared like a literal ghost in the Summer and Adam still wasn’t sure if the whole Damascus thing was a bit or not. Just that while he sat in a warm bath, water up to his knees and bubbles floating around his elbows, he looked up Benjamin Franklin on his phone. “Franklin was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.” Given that Adam Page’s passion since childhood was professional wrestling and throwing his delicate body through tables, none of that resonated with him. And he wasn’t sure if Matt meant he really was the reincarnation of a founding father, or if it was just an apt comparison, but something about the phrase:

‘Join or Die.’

Felt like the story of his life.

Adam’s father kept records of all the songs he listened to when he was growing up. On a rare lazy Sunday, he’d put on the vinyl and let it spin so the music filled the house. Marty Robbins sang of quick finger rangers with big irons on their hips. Waylon Jennings and Lee Greenwood, dreamed of something lost, something mournful, as they rode alone. There was a cost to independence, and beneath the wide brim hat were tired, dark eyes, haunted by those the cowboy left behind. He rode into town looking for a lost love or a home, or just some water for his horse. He’d leave as soon as the plot finished and the town was saved but while the townsfolk rejoiced their salvation, the hero slipped from the jubilee. He was looking for a place he belonged and this was not it, and Adam wondered if he kept looking because there was no place he belonged.

After Dynamite, he took shots in his living room with his dogs laid over his legs and he thought about his wording. ‘I can’t,’ he told John, because, reasons he couldn’t justify in front of an audience of five thousand. So, it seemed fitting that this odd friendship he developed, with another group looking to use him and throw away, began with Matt Hardy. Began when he eliminated the iconic legend from the ring and ended with Matt Hardy, in the ring, begging Adam not to change in the hallway.

Adam didn’t believe a single word Matt said.

He didn’t believe he was a good person who deserved to be happy. He didn’t believe that the Dark Order was awkward — it was, and that’s why he wept with whiskey last week. He didn’t believe that there were no strings attached. He didn’t believe that Matt’s intentions were good or genuine, or even kind. Hell, he never believed John Silver when he called Adam handsome and amazing because that kinda flattery was useless.

He did believe that Matt was going to use him. He did believe that when Matt Hardy brought down the other shoe it was going to hurt like hell. He did believe that by this point, Adam was so calloused, scarred, and numb, that the pain wouldn’t even register. He did believe that he was so desperate, alone, and miserable, that he’ll take any bone thrown at him. He did believe that whatever plan Matt Hardy cooked-up for him was going to end up with him back in the dirt. He did believe that he no longer cared enough about himself to care. He did believe that all he wanted was a place to hang his hat and to lace his boots.

He did believe Tony Schiavone when he said, “you should take him up on that.”

Because, shit, who wants to change by catering?

#‘The Hangman’ || Adam: IC #‘Deals with God’ || Adam: Verse #this is rock bottom ya'll #this has gotta be it

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lapsedgamer · 4 years

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Death Stranding (PS4)

Death Stranding is the culmination of four years of anticipation and, for me, mild concern. Hideo Kojima was taken from the height of his career at Konami and the more-is-more excess of Metal Gear Solid V, and thrust in to an environment where he had - seemingly - far fewer resources at his disposal but not even the slightest hint of oversight. The years of development steadily revealed a director who was in no way financially constrained, and whose Hollywood aspirations seemed to be more heavily indulged than ever. Yet to actually sit down and play the end result is to meet a new kind of Hideo Kojima game, one that is markedly different in tone and style, which indulges his need to spell out every bit of world-building and research but which provides a structure where that content can actually be appreciated, one where gameplay expresses theme and cinematic flourishes are a garnish and a dessert rather than the core of the experience. This is perhaps the most Hideo Kojima game yet, but it is also one of his most creatively successful.

Death Stranding opens in media res in the style of the best science fiction, dropping the player in to conversations full of of unexplained but curiosity-piquing terminology that invite you to sit, listen, interpolate and reason out how the story world must work. It is, if anything, too mysterious - the player is thrust in to a mission of nation-spanning importance without a grasp of some of the more important character relationships that are supposed to motivate it - but it cultivates the mindful, steady, curious mindset that is the primary tone of the game, and it sets the you up for the explanations and background reading that will turn from a trickle to a steady flow as you progress.

The gameplay cultivates a similar sense of patient contemplation and constant observation. Sam Bridges’ movement in the game world is engagingly tactile but demands a steady and considered awareness of the terrain and his own current state. The left stick does not merely direct Sam across the landscape in the fluid, effort-free manner of the modern third-person adventure but very noticeably shifts his centre of balance. Run down-hill at a clip and you’ll feel his front-heaviness start to get away from you; ease back or even pull back on the stick and he’ll continue to descend at speed for a time but with his body more strongly centred over his scampering boots. Stride across widely spaced broken boulders and you will become conscious of the need to alternate left and right movement to balance out Sam’s inertia, lest he begin to pivot off in to a spiral and eventually crumple on to one side.

In time, this becomes second nature but never becomes automatic. The game doesn’t demand the constant, finicky persistence of a Bennett Foddy game, but nor can you simply set your eyes on the horizon. It’s the closest a game has come to the sensation of a good hike, your brain absorbed by the task of placing your feet while devising the best route across the terrain towards your ultimate goal in the distance. Even when the game gives you equipment and upgrades that make traversal easier, these are balanced such that you are using your focus in a different way, not abandoning it entirely. A rope may allow you to abseil down a precarious cliff-face and skip a lengthy walk, but the abseil itself - and any subsequent climb back up - needs care, lest you knock your backpack cargo on an overhang and send it plummeting to the ground below. Bionic legs that automatically assist your balance on rough terrain come with a dramatically reduced cargo-carrying capacity which will tempt you not to use them. Vehicles all come with jump buttons, not to greatly enhance their manoeuvrability but because of the absolute certainty you will wedge them, and their un-carryable tonnage of precious cargo, in between some boulders. (Their turning radii are even tuned so that you need to consider the best line to follow on paved highways.)

Movement itself is at the bedrock of the game’s hierarchy of goals. Your medium-term objective in Death Stranding is always a cargo delivery from one place to another, which must be completed according to certain conditions of volume of goods, speed, or cargo damage. Individual deliveries can then be manually threaded together, in the manner of Elite or any MMORPG fetch quest, in to an overall plan, which will boost your standing with multiple customers in an efficient manner. To play Death Stranding is to be conscious of the relationships between structures in space and the topography upon which they lie, and to exploit them to the best overall benefit.

This is game design and a tone which almost entirely reject conventional ideas of mastery and excellence. In Kojima’s other games, success depended upon acting with skill, speed, and excellence, but Death Stranding consistently rewards persistence, thoughtfulness, and planning, and denies you the opportunity to achieve a friction-free, graceful effortlessness. Even the game’s finale ranking system is grindable; Kojima simply does not care whether you reached your grade by doggedly completing a thousand shoddy deliveries or dramatically resolving one hundred excellent ones. A great Death Stranding player is not to be found weaving through the landscape like a death wind as in Metal Gear Solid V, but standing patiently in a river waiting for their stamina to rebuild, or contemplating the long way down a mountain rather than the swift, risky descent of a cliff face.

Which brings us to theme, and the first time in many years that Hideo Kojima has successfully communicated his game’s ideas through the gameplay itself. The core concept of connection is clearly expressed in the delivery-based gameplay, which as I’ve mentioned forces you to consider the spatial relationships between locations. The cargoes themselves tell stories about subtler connections: who might be sending which objects to who tells you about their collaboration, cooperation, and perhaps even attitudes. These connections are made concrete by your ability to build structures in the world, with each bridge or ladder or road speaking to the links between the previously-isolated denizens of the United Cities of America. These connections are in turn shared between the different players: structures and even misplaced cargo and vehicles from other players’ worlds will appear in your own, and vice versa, to be exploited, improved and recovered towards your now-shared goal of reconnecting America.

The game reinforces at every stage that you must collaborate to succeed. Structures are expensive, particularly in the early game, but by sharing with others you can create a better, less-frustrating and more survivable world. Hiking through the snow and rounding a hill to find another player has built a refuge for your cold, wet, hungry Sam is like spotting a warm cafe window on a cold and lonely evening. You will be rewarded for, and you can reward, this altruism: the sending kudos every time I come across a rope or ladder has conditioned me to smash the like button on every social network I use with a ubiquity and enthusiasm that I was sure had been washed away by cynicism. This may be the best and most positive argument yet that games have the capacity inherent in all art to influence people’s thoughts and behaviour.

Kojima’s newfound emphasis on thematic gameplay has not tempered his love of narrative exposition, but it does fit Death Stranding better than his previous, more action-oriented games. The opening couple of hours and the finale are exposition-heavy cut-scene-fests in a universe full of vaguely human ciphers with motivations that are relatable yet communicated entirely through exposition. (There’s some remarkable Hollywood talent here doing its best to sell it, but the scenes focused on each character are, enjoyably, completely incongruous with each other, like a low-key Spider-Verse treatment.) But for the bulk of the game, all eighty contemplative hours of it, the player is left largely to their own devices, with the scene-setting and research-regurgitation coming almost entirely in the form of text dumps. In Death Stranding, more than any Metal Gear Solid game, there is time to mentally unpack the ideas about human connections Kojima is lecturing you about, and a setting and goals that actively encourage you to consider the implications. As narrative fiction it’s unsubtle, with cloth-eared dialogue and a bias towards expressing its ideas verbatim rather than through the characters, relationships, or even much of the plot, but viewed as part of a game, and of this game, it actually works well.

There is actually an idea I’ve been toying with, since Tim Rogers made the case that Hideo Kojima writes non-fiction, that perhaps he is a creator of edutainment games: that the nearest analogue of something like Death Stranding or Metal Gear Solid 2 is not Stalker or The New York Trilogy, but Crystal Rainforest or Granny’s Garden, or I guess Where On Earth Is Carmen San Diego (we never had that here, but we got the TV show), a game where you’re given a great deal of non-fiction knowledge in an enjoyable, interactive environment. True, Death Stranding lacks quizzes to test you on your acquisition of the knowledge, but I think that’s probably the least important part of any edutainment game’s design. I made the joke recently that Hideo Kojima spent one hundred hours reading about the words, concepts, and objects related to the English word “hand”, and by golly he’s going to make you sit down and do the same thing, but I’m not sure it was entirely a joke, or that it’s particularly negative for the game to work this way. Perhaps Death Stranding is the world’s greatest multimedia educational experience. Perhaps Hideo Kojima should just start giving TED talks and get it all out of his system.

Death Stranding is entirely itself in a way only an indie game or a Hideo Kojima production can be, and was destined to be divisive. Its patient, mindful pace and resistance to streamlining are bound to frustrate those who approach games as sport, and its needlessly convoluted plot and casual disregard for narrative will turn off those expecting an interactive movie from the supposed master of the form. But the past few months of going for long, productive hikes in the mountains, surrounded by ghosts and rewarded by lectures about puzzling scientific curios, has been a genuine pleasure.

A modern classic.

#death stranding #kojima productions #ps4 #hideo kojima #edutainment

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holy-mountaineering · 4 years

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This spread is for @coldestcaress

Here’s the full Qabalistic Tree of Life Spread that I do and here you are. What I’m going to do is go through and briefly explain each card, its position on the Tree, and then I’ll give you a summary/synopsis of the spread as a whole. You know the routine.

Think of this spread as a sort of quantum map, or even the land of a regular map, everything is happening at once, in each place. It’s important to think of yourself as moving “through” the map but you are also simultaneously everywhere at once. For the sake of this specific experiment, think of this as a map. Maybe as a person, the Qabalistic Adam Kadmon.

Where we’re starting the journey from is Kether, the monad, the first sign of creation. We’ll call this your hometown, since it is where you’re from originally. Here we have the 2 of Disks, Change.

This is the old saying, “The only constant is change.” This is finding stability in the aforementioned changing. In other words, when stuff gets different, strap in and hold on, steady yourself, and get ready to go into the unknown. Look a bit before you leap but understand that position is king, not appearances. You’re building toward the unknown and pretending to know is not the kind of posturing you should bother with. Not looking for the result of the change, being in the motion, and enjoying, embracing the motion toward the unknown is where you should position yourself.

Disks are Earth, matter, the material world, your everyday life and 2s are the suit trying to formulate into something from the rawness of the Aces or the beginning of the idea of Earth. Astrologically, the influential and expanding Jupiter is in the highs and lows of the Goat-Fish Capricorn, think rollercoaster, possibly one that goes underwater. And like rollercoasters, they’re scary but probably not going to be the cause of your death. Unless they go underwater, that sounds dangerous. This is a great time to be aware that you’re moving around and kind of always will be. Enjoy the twists and turns of the ride and don’t stress yourself about how and when it will end.

In Chokmah, which is like your freeway getting you out onto the road out of your hometown is the 8 of Wands, Swiftness.

This is the idea that a huge fire can burn a city down but harnessed it can power a city. The idea here is of the atom harnessed not to destroy but to produce great and beneficial energy, like a power plant. The wands on the 8 have turned to electricity, the light a rainbow.

Harness your actions into the most efficient and useful manner, energize (Sagittarius) your intellect (Mercury).  If you’re having trouble with what you’re trying to accomplish, look at it through a ”new lense” that splits the light and makes it more visible.

In Binah, which is ruled by Saturn and for the sake of this reading we will call the first stop on your roadtrip. You haven’t really arrived anywhere but you’re stopping and getting a chance to repack your car in a more efficient way. Sitting in Binah is the super duper fun 10 of Swords (mental and communicative) Ruin.

Astrologically, this is Sol the Sun or your center being split by the duality of Gemini or duplicity. This is like making a decision by not making one. Your intellect is collapsing in on itself due to building duality or otherness conflicting with how you think of you. This is being “of two minds” but they duo doesn’t seem to work together very well. The good news is that they’re damn near done working together at all. 10s are the highest number card or as intense as it gets.

Try to integrate your splitting and increasingly destructive thinking and/or communicating, make meaning out of this chaos. And hey, don’t worry, it’s peaked and now you have to slide down the mountain of crazy you just climbed.

In Chesed which is ruled by Jupiter and again for the sake of this experiment we’ll say involves your influence and benevolence in your current trip is a previously discussed card this evening, XVII The Star, Heh, Aquarius.

Despite its name making me think of water, Aquarius is an air sign. Aquarius the water-bearer is the vehicle for the water she is baring. The life giving water flows through her. It has been said that “Tzaddi is not the Star” and Crowley made it so in the Thoth deck. There is a mystery in this attribution of the Hebrew letter to this Tarot card that I will not go into.

I read this card called the “Universal Principle of Self-Worth” or trusting yourself as the vehicle of transmission. Her gaze is toward her reflection in the cup above her and she is pouring through herself to the areas below herself.

Trust that you’re a worthy conduit to transmit what nourishes life. Trust that your shit is real and who you are makes you capable. That which is above wishes to come below through you.

Across the Tree in Geburah, which is Mars Town, where you find your drive and what you’re trying to accomplish/conquer is the seat of your pants, the Prince of Wands, the airy part of Fire.

This is thinking about what you’re doing while you’re doing it. This is an “on the job training” experience. You’re in the midst of or have hurled yourself into an action that you have to be mindful of while you’re doing it.

Learn about what is going on in your life and your actions by paying attention while you’re moving along and accomplishing things. You might not have time to take it all in right now, but it is time to do the damn thing while the damn thing is happening.

In Tiphareth, the Sun and center of gravity holding all this in place, the heart pumping the blood through this, your heart is the 6 of Wands, Victory.

This is organizing each action to interact with another to create friction at the intersections. 6s are like the idealized form of each of the suits, in this case FIRE or action, movement. Victory is achieved through strong organization. Here the strands come together to form the rope you pull yourself up with. Each piece is strong on it’s own but when you twist them together correctly you have a much better tool.

Don’t do isolated things, use each action to build on your goals.

In Netzach, Venus town, where you have the realization about how this is going to change you as a person with a personality is VI The Lovers.

These Lovers aren’t about romantic love as much as it is the ‘Love unites the divided.’ This is the ceremony part of the alchemical wedding or the announcement of the intention to dissolve duality. Coagula.

All inverse and adverse elements of the card are brought together under the blessing of the Initiator who is giving the sign of the enterer. This is to say he is blessing your entering into this union of your shadow and conscious self.

You have some work to do on making a more unified you. There are issues that once brought together and balanced make more sense. Bring opposites or aspects of yourself you’re not familiar with/comfortable with together in your life to make a more complete whole. Set intention to do this, maybe even formally.

In Mercury Town Hod-ville, where all the Universities are and everyone has real intellectual shit going on is the Ace of Wands, The root power or source of Fire, action, motion.

The Ace of Wands or Fire is the big bang of impetus to action, every other motion afterward is spawned from that moment. In practical terms this is the initial event or action that in it’s uncontrolled state causes a series of reactions. The first drive toward an end or event, the force that sets things in motion. The explosion that brings things to life might be a really messy ordeal. This is all the subtlety of a burning baseball bat with ten flames for nails. Regardless of the problem of stagnant things getting burnt, the Ace of Wands causes shit to happen and Will to drive forward. Remember that this is a tool, the Wand of the Magus and should only be profaned in useful and/or hilarious ways. You wouldn’t use a flaming baseball bat to get a moth off of your curtains (probably) and so the Ace of Fire can also be related to brute force or overreaching the necessary force.

On the Moon in Yesod, the receptive and reflective place that is alot about the feelings that you’re picking up from all this is the 3 of Cups, Abundance.

Like all 3s this is the first shape (triangle) the suit takes, in this case Water or emotion, intuition, and connectedness to life. This card is about taking care of your basic emotional shit that connects you to other people in your relationships so that you might build and move on intelligently. The intelligence and communicative abilities of Mercury are in the maternal and intuitive Cancer.

Try to put some basic form to how you’re feeling right now. Don’t focus on a finished product like healing every relationship you’ve ever had, just start putting it together the most basic way you can so you can move forward in a new and more complete place.

Down here in Malkuth-istan, the everyday life mundane, waking up pooping, and going to work world is the 9 of Cups, Happiness.

I call this ‘mutually beneficial relationships’ or expanding influence (Jupiter) going or being pulled both ways (Pisces). Each cup has its own source but everything is flowing into each other down to the base of the 3x3 structure. There is a lot of water and all it represents and it hasn’t reached its peak yet and is still driving upward and outward.

Cultivate relationships and connective feelings that aren’t lopsided or just giving/taking. Keep building you’re not done yet.

SO, short version is, you’re going through an undeniable real life “shit’s getting different” change and you have the opportunity to use the energy collected from this change to really get shit done and power those projects you’re working on. Here’s a piece of advice: instead of organizing your mind around the ruin and everything that’s gone wrong lately, get you mind ready for the come down from all the fuckery. The dumb shit has reached its end and now it’s time to trust yourself and that you’ve pulled through.

Now, what you’re going to be doing from here on out is figuring it the fuck out while it happens. You again are going to have some great opportunities arise to power through what you’re trying to accomplish but it is crucial that everything you do, each action you take is building into the “master plan” which you’re gunna both need and figure out if you just take your foot off the brakes and trust that you know what you’re doing.

None of this is just for the sake of you doing it, by the way. You’re working on a more complete you and that’s going to require a bit of dedication to yourself and to this whole you. The parts of you that you’re trying to maybe get away from really just need to be accepted and integrated into you. Ya are who ya are and no amount of ignoring it will change it. Marry yourself, love that uncomfortable place and bring it in.

And to further a point, DOOOOOO. Your thought process as well as what you’re communicating to the world should be focused on WHAT you’re DOING, not anything else. This period of your life is for acting, doing, and going. That being said, you’re gunna have some feelings and need to be around folks that make you feel at least basically emotionally secure. Nothing is going to get in your way more than disrupted feelings and being around dysfunctional people and interpersonal relationships with that mess. You should work on cultivating relationships that are reciprocal right now, especially networking with folks to help you accomplish all this cool shit you’re about to do!

Ta Da! Hit me up with any questions, comments, or concerns!

-Frater N0ught

#tarot card spreads #magick #divination #cartomancy #occult #altars

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mrb33 · 4 years

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Forever Art Mooching

Some of the Fab art I’ve seen in Mayfair galleries these last couple of weeks:

James Turrell

At Pace Gallery until March 27 2020

From the PRESS RELEASE: James Turrell’s recent Constellation works, the focal point of this exhibition, are the culmination of Turrell's lifelong pursuit. Generating what the artist has called “spaces within space,” these luminous portals are instruments for altering our perception; gazing into them results in the slow dissolution of the boundaries of the surrounding room, enveloping the viewer in the radiance of pure color. Fusing the temporal, sensuous, and illusory qualities of his projection works and architectural installations, the Constellations synthesize several aspects of Turrell’s practice. Unlike his early projection pieces, however, they are not about generating an illusion; instead, they greet the viewer with the actual materiality of light, what Turrell calls “the physical manifestation of light, which we have trained our eyes too readily to look through rather than to look at.”

Monochrome 2

At Ordovas Gallery until 25 April 2020

Dan Flavin’s Untitled (for Charlotte and Jim Brooks) 4 (1964)

From THE PRESS RELEASE:Monochrome No.2 focuses on a selection of blue works by nine contemporary European and American artists as they contemplate the colour’s complex associations and aesthetic possibilities through a variety of media. The myriad hues that make up this enigmatic colour evoke the elemental as well as the emotional, tint our memories, and are apt, according to Goethe, ‘to disturb rather than enliven’. From an intimate blue ballpoint pen drawing made by Jackson Pollock in the late 1930s to a specially commissioned neon work by Joseph Kosuth, the exhibition touches upon the depth and diversity of blue, prized throughout the ages as the rarest and most mysterious of colours.

Joseph Kosuth - Nineteen Eighty-four(Orwell) #4 (2019)

Jackson Pollock - Untitled Pen, blue ink and brown crayon on paper c1939-42

Installation shot

Installation shot showing Roy Lichtenstein Seductive Girl (study) 1996

Yves Klein - La Marseillaise (ANT138) 1960

Cy Twombly - Untitled sculpture 2005

Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Untitled (loverboy) Blue paper, endless supply 1990

Heaven And Hell Are Just One Breath Away

Andy Warhol at S2 until 28 February

1985-86

From THE PRESS RELEASE: S|2 London presents a spotlight on the last cycle of paintings by Andy Warhol. Warhol was raised in a devout Byzantine Catholic household in Pittsburgh and was found to have retained a personal commitment to his faith throughout his life. Alongside his interest in consumer culture and celebrity, Warhol also explored religion and mortality within his practice, particularly towards the end of his career. The exhibition at S|2 will include works from this late period, including examples from Warhol’s 1986 Last Supper series, his iconographic crosses and skull, as well as his appropriations of religious pamphlets and slogans such as the prophetic Heaven and Hell Are Just One Breath Away! that became one of his final works.

Crosses 1982

The last supper 1985-86

The Last Supper 1986

1985-86

Christ $9.98 (Positive) 1985-86

Skull 1976

A line Can Go Anywhere

Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner to 22 February 2020

From THE PRESS RELEASE: This will be the first major presentation of the artist’s work outside of the United States and will include a number of her key forms, focusing in particular on the relationship between her wire sculptures and wide-ranging body of works on paper.

An influential artist, devoted activist, and tireless advocate for arts education, Asawa is best known for her extensive body of hanging wire sculptures. These intricate, dynamic, and sinuous works, begun in the late 1940s, continue to challenge conventional notions of sculpture through their emphasis on lightness and transparency. Relentlessly experimental across a range of mediums, Asawa also produced numerous drawings and prints that, like her wire sculptures, are built on simple, repeated gestures that accumulate into complex compositions. Although she moved between abstract and figurative registers in her sculptures and drawings, respectively, viewed together, the works in this exhibition nevertheless incite a rich dialogue and find commonality in their sustained emphasis on the natural world and its forms, as well as in their deft use of the basic aesthetic concept of the line. As she noted, “I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.”1

Born in rural California, Asawa was first exposed to professional artists while her family and other Japanese Americans were detained at Santa Anita, California, in 1942. Following her release from an internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, eighteen months later, she enrolled in 1943 in Milwaukee State Teachers College. Unable to receive her degree due to continued hostility against Japanese Americans, Asawa left Milwaukee in 1946 to study at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, then known for its progressive pedagogical methods and avant-garde aesthetic environment. Asawa’s time at Black Mountain proved formative in her development as an artist, and she was particularly influenced by her teachers Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, and the mathematician Max Dehn. She also met architectural student Albert Lanier, whom she would marry in 1949 and with whom she would raise a large family and build a career in San Francisco. Asawa continued to produce art steadily over the course of more than a half century, creating a cohesive body of sculptures and works on paper that, in their innovative use of material and form, deftly synthesizes a wide range of aesthetic preoccupations at the heart of twentieth-century abstraction.

Work on paper at The Black Mountain College using BMC laundry stamp

detail

“It doesn’t bother me. Whether it’s a craft or whether it’s art. That is a definition that people put on things. And what I like is the material is irrelevant. It’s just that that happens to be material that I use. And I think that is important. That you take an ordinary material like wire and... you give it a new definition. That’s all.” —Ruth Asawa 2002

After Sight

Benode Behari Mukherjee

at David Zwirner until 22 February 2020

From THE PRESS RELEASE: The first solo presentation in Europe devoted to Mukherjee, the exhibition will focus on the artist’s collages from the late 1950s and 1960s, after he lost his sight.

A pioneering Indian modernist, Mukherjee blended imagery and iconography from Indian life with a signature visual style influenced by Indian, East Asian, and Western art practices and traditions. Mukherjee studied with the celebrated artist Nandalal Bose as one of the first students at the renowned Kala Bhavana, the fine-arts institute founded by the poet Rabindranath Tagore at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal. The curriculum of Kala Bhavana was structured similarly to that of the German Bauhaus (Tagore travelled to Europe often, and he visited the Weimar Bauhaus in 1921), with students encouraged to explore form and style in an open manner with various mentors. Rather than depicting mythological or nationalistic imagery, common themes and subjects among Indian artists at this time, Mukherjee examined nature and his immediate surroundings. He created works in a variety of media, from graphite drawings to wall frescoes, all of which exhibit a deeply modernist yet highly individualistic and contextually specific sensibility towards form, color, and composition. As art historian Juliet Reynolds writes: ‘[Mukherjee’s] attempt… was to reconcile Indian folk and classical art with far-eastern calligraphic painting, European early-Renaissance conventions and modern idioms.’

Cat 1965

To Exalt the Empheral

Alina Szapocznikow, 1962 – 1972

at Hauser & Wirth to 2 May 2020

From THE PRESS RELEASE: In a brief but explosively inventive career, Alina Szapocznikow (1926 – 1973) radically re-conceptualised sculpture as a vehicle for exploring, liberating and declaring bodily experience. ‘To Exalt the Ephemeral: Alina Szapocznikow, 1962 – 1972,’ reveals the full expressive potential of this pioneering Polish artist’s work through the material innovations she made during the last decade of her life and is the first solo presentation of Szapocznikow’s work in the UK since her acclaimed exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield in 2017.

The details of Szapocznikow’s biography have been well documented and readings of her work have often emphasised her experiences. Born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1926, she survived the horrors of concentration camps as a teenager. In the post-war years, moving from Prague to Paris, she ultimately abandoned the Socialist Realism endorsed by the Polish government, as well as the prevailing winds of modernist abstraction, to embrace Surrealist tendencies and the Pop-influenced New Realism of the Paris avant-garde, championed by Pierre Restany. Working furiously as she cycled through phases of artistic growth, Szapocznikow engaged themes related to the body with full intensity. In the last decade of her life, her experimentation with new materials acquired particular focus and force, yielding works that dramatically challenged the traditional language of sculpture and presaged approaches central to art today. Her work and life were cut short in 1973 when, at the age of 46, she succumbed to cancer.

‘To Exalt the Ephemeral’ begins with one of Szapocznikow’s pivotal works, made in 1962. ‘Noga (Leg),’ a plaster cast of the artist’s right leg, marks her shift away from the mere representation of the human body to a tangible imprint of her own personhood. Here, a single limb, detached from the larger structure that has defined it, becomes a symbol of individuation and a vehicle of pleasure, while nodding to the mechanical forces that commodify the female body.

Building on the idea of reproduction, Szapocznikow experimented with new industrial materials, including polyester resin and poured polyurethane foam. As the artist explained, ‘Plastic materials seem perfect to me for attempts to express and capture our age because of their repetitive possibilities, their lightness, their colours, their transparency, their inexpensiveness. The age of modular multiplication, of swift mass consumption, of automatic repetition. These symptoms that are so characteristic, so superficially gay and so sadly monotone and moving. I hope to be able to explore deeply the problem of the repeated module, in direct contact with the module’s industrial reproduction.’

Themes of mortality and violence have been a point of focus in the reception of the work, yet Szapocznikow equally mined the erotic and the absurd as terrains of investigation.

Through her material experiments, Szapocznikow generated a series of lamps, exemplified here by the ‘Lampe Bouche (Illuminated Lips)’ (1966) works, functional sculptures of glowing female lips extending from elongated stem-like bases. ‘Sculpture Lampe (Sculpture Lampe)’ (1970) combines a phallus-like form with a breast, the fragmented and juxtaposed body parts implying fetish objects. Although the artist lived and worked in Paris at the time, her focus on malleable material as a proxy for the body firmly positions her among contemporaries practicing in the United States, including Eva Hesse, Hannah Wilke, and Lynda Benglis, as well as noted friend Louise Bourgeois, to whom Szapocznikow dedicated and gifted two lamp sculptures similar to those on view.

Souvenirs (Polyester resin and photographs) 1967

Man with Instrument 1965

Window

Isa Genzken at Hauser & Wirth to 2 May 2020

From THE PRESS RELEASE: ‘Window’ is an exhibition at our London gallery by Isa Genzken featuring a new and unseen body of work. Genzken’s immersive environment expands on the themes of travel, through elements of an aircraft cabin, and the window as a juncture between interior and exterior spaces. In this respect, it reveals the artist’s interest in architecture and light, a topic of enduring resonance in her work as seen in the landmark exhibition in Chicago in 1992, ‘Everybody Needs at Least One Window’.

Isa Genzken has long been considered one of Germany’s most important and influential contemporary artists. Since the 1970s, Genzken’s multifaceted practice has encompassed sculpture, photography, found-object installation, film, drawing and painting. Her work borrows from the aesthetics of Minimalism, punk culture and assemblage art to confront the conditions of human experience in contemporary society and the uneasy social climate of capitalism. Throughout her fifty-year career, Genzken’s primary focus has always been sculpture, and although her style has remained varied, her work has maintained a striking common thread and internal truth to both her vision and to the works of art themselves.

Love, By Any Means Necessary

Kendell Greers at Stephen Friedman Gallery to 5 March 2020

From THE PRESS RELEASE: A solo exhibition of new works by South African artist and curator Kendell Geers who lives and works in Brussels. The title of the exhibition derives from the protest movements of the 1960s and is inspired by a statement by Malcolm X about the use of violence in political liberation. At the centre of the exhibition is a large-scale black and white neon spelling out ‘REVOLUTION' in reverse so that the hidden word ‘LOVE' reads forwards. The artist explains, "In the wake of more than a century marked by affluence, we now stand at a dangerous crossroads... The Land Rights Claims in South Africa, the fence along the USA border, abortion rights in Alabama, the European refugee crisis, the ‘gilets jaunes', Brexit and climate change are not separate problems, but all simply facets of one larger problem of disintegration, dissolution, alienation, denial, segmentation, prejudice and bigotry in the name of profit." In today's highly charged socio-political climate perhaps the most subversive act of all is to love. In the gallery window another neon spells out the letters FUC KING HELL. This play on words is characteristic of Geers' use of language in his practice. A wordsmith and a trickster, in this exhibition Geers aims to put love back into the revolution "by any means necessary".

Geers also draws inspiration from the contradictions inherent in his identity as an African artist. Describing himself as an ‘AniMystikAKtivist', he weaves together diverse Afro-European traditions, including animism, alchemy, mysticism, ritual and a complex socio-political activism laced with humour and irony. A large bronze female figure stands like a sentinel in the gallery window. Her hands have been cut off and replaced with shards of glass. From each broken arm a chain dangles, resembling shackles from which she has liberated herself. A group of smaller bronze masks are influenced by Kota reliquaries, the first sub-Saharan African artworks to be exhibited in the West, examples of which were on display during Pablo Picasso's famous visit to Musée d'ethnographie du Trocadéro, Paris in 1907. In one of these works Geers has used a cast of his own mouth to close the mouth of the sculpture, bestowing it with "a kiss where art meets life".

Geers describes this exhibition as "a resurrection of spirit through an invocation of nature." A new series of paintings and works on paper, ‘Les Fleurs du Mal', is titled after a volume of poetry by Charles Baudelaire. Charged with an intense longing and melancholia, these paintings depict cut flowers whose petals simultaneously take the form of bullet holes or wounds. Severed from their roots and invoking a memento mori, the beauty of these blossoms lies in their fragility. The repetition of an emblem in these works is also inspired by Dutch wax batik fabrics, whose brightly coloured patterns are a symbol of African identity yet are designed in Indonesia and produced in the Netherlands. The investigation of repetitive patterns is also found in the artist's wallpaper that covers the gallery wall and teases the viewer's peripheral vision.

Geers creates work that aims to disrupt commonly accepted moral codes and principles. At the 1993 Venice Biennale he officially changed his date of birth to May 1968, a momentous year in world history for human liberation and equality. Employing a wide range of references- from the realms of history of art, pornography, iconography and kitsch- his work reveals razor-sharp humour that plays with the viewer's repulsion and ridicules racial or religious stereotypes.

#mayfair

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brynandchristopher · 4 years

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The 3 Musketeers

Hello again! It is a bittersweet thing to say this will be our last post from New Zealand. We have had an absolutely wonderful time here and in part don’t want it to be over, but we are also ready to move on to our next adventure in Australia. We are looking forward to a little bit of routine and stability, as well as a new landscape to explore in a new van!!

The last time we checked in we had just finished the Kepler Track and were waiting to meet up with some friends of mine. We left Lake Dunstan and headed through a deep river/reservoir gorge between Cromwell and Alexandra to go see my college best friend, Camille, and her boyfriend, Aaron. They had been picking cherries and training young trees for about 7 weeks and when we arrived they had just finished their stint on the orchard. A lot of people here get a working holiday visa which allows them to stay for up to a year, and up to 2 years if 3 months of farm work is completed. Camille and Aaron were pretty sick of Alexandra so we headed out into the hills of Otago to camp for a few nights at a cool secluded freedom camp they knew of called St. Bathan’s place.

We spent 3 nights in St. Bathan’s and had a blast. It was situated around a bunch of cattle grazing pastures nearby to an old abandoned gold mine. The gold mining operation had left a large pit in the ground which over the decades filled up with rainwater and is now a lovely lake! We spent our first night there hanging out with Camille and Aaron and catching up on all of their adventures. We stayed up late into the night, having a few drinks, and freezing our toes off. It got really cold but we persisted in staying up and enjoying the amazing array of stars. We got full views of the milky way and it was definitely the best stargazing we’ve done during the trip. The next day we walked over to the lake and spent the day basking in the sun, listening to music, and climbing the fragile cliffs and jumping back down into the lake! We made dinner together and had another night of hanging out and listening to hilarious stories about Ireland, where Aaron is from.

The next day was very gloomy and we spent most of the day watching The Mandalorian in our van, great show, highly recommend. It cleared up in the evening and Camille and I were treated to a few impromptu duets from Bryn and Aaron once he had enough whisky to bust out his guitar.

The next day we left St. Bathan’s and went back to Alexandra to hang out at a lake nearby to the orchard Camille and Aaron worked on. It was an awesome lake with cool waterbirds and big cliffs all around. We hung out on the beach for a while and attempted our highest cliff jumping of the trip (~40 feet). It was a beautiful day and after taking care of some final logistical things in town, we all set out to a freedom camp in that river/reservoir gorge we came into town through called Champagne Gully. We enjoyed a last dinner together before going our separate ways the next morning. It was so much fun to see an old friend and spend a few days socializing, Bryn and I aren’t sick of each other but having other people around is nice sometimes :).

The next morning was my birthday! Woohoo. We spent the beginning of the day at a cafe so I could watch my favorite soccer team, Manchester United, play my least favorite soccer team, Chelsea. Since it was my birthday they made sure to win for me :). We had some lovely drinks and treats at the cafe to celebrate and then headed to Queenstown to shower at the free service station. Bryn had planned a special dinner/activity for my birthday but wouldn’t tell me what it was, just that we had to be in Queenstown that evening. After hanging at the service station and talking to my fam, we drove into downtown. We parked the car and walked along the docks until we reached a famous old steamship, the TSS Earnslaw and Bryn finally let me in on the secret - we were taking a steamboat cruise across Lake Wakatipu to a traditional farm for a gourmet all-you-can-eat bbq dinner. The cruise was beautiful and we stood out on the front deck while we braved the wind and enjoyed the view. The farm was immaculate and definitely used for private functions and weddings from time to time. There were tons of flower gardens and a cool old Victorian style house where dinner was served. We got a lovely table overlooking the water and treated ourselves to a little bit of everything they had to offer. I think I went back to the buffet 4 or 5 times and was very, very full by the end of it. After dinner they did a demonstration in this cool outdoor amphitheater of how they shear sheep as well as a live demonstration of their herding dogs herding a flock of sheep down a hill. The control of the dogs was incredible, using different pitched whistles to signal them to stalk, bark, run, stop etc. There were two dogs were highly adept in working together and it was an awesome learning experience. After that we got back on the boat and headed back across the lake. There was a piano singalong of old folk songs in the back of the boat and Bryn and I sat right up by the piano in the heart of the diehard geriatric singers and sang our voices hoarse - there were some people that were suuuuper into it and it was really fun and hilarious to be a part of. Bryn even requested happy birthday at the end and I got a nice birthday serenade from a bunch of strangers :).

The next day I got a wonderful belated birthday present :). My sister Madeline flew across the world to come visit us for 9 days. She arrived in the late afternoon and our first day we shopped for a few things, made a nice dinner in our Airbnb, and rested up so she could get over the jet lag quickly. The next morning we got up early and headed into town to kick off the festivities. We found a really good deal on a 3 person parasailing over Lake Wakatipu. It was such an amazing view as we were towed up behind a boat over the lake and a really fun way to kick things off. After our morning parasailing ride we walked around Queenstown and did a little bit of shopping before heading into the public flower gardens along the lake. After a lot of walking and minorly sore feet we decided to stop for lunch at a famous local restaurant called Fergberger. We got ourselves a meat pie, a burger, and the NZ version of a Boston creme donut. All of them were fantastic and a special treat, as we normally don’t eat meat or dairy.

We had planned to do a cruise on Milford sound the next day but the landslides had destroyed the roads and still were not open to personal vehicles. We didn’t want to spend ~250 dollars for a commercial coach and cruise upgrade option so we made a change of plans and headed back to Wanaka where Bryn and I spent a few days a couple of weeks back. We went back to some cool cliff jumping and lazy river spots we found and stayed at a huge open campground in the woods and made friends with a bike packer named Karl. He serenaded a family of ducks with his flute and he and Madeline were fast friends!

The next day we headed north up to Mt. Cook. We planned to go all the way up into Mt. Cook National Park but when we arrived the weather was very clouded and drizzly so we decided to wait until the next morning for better weather and camped at a lake. We made an amazing dinner of portabella mushroom burgers and red kumara (like a sweet potato) fries and snuggled up in the van to play a rousing game of monopoly. As monopoly always does, the game dragged on quite a bit, and I won by forfeiture - me and my sisters play monopoly back home so it was a really fun throwback game night. The next morning we got up early and drove an hour or so into the national park. We made a first stop and did a 3 km hike up to an overlook of the Tasman glacier. It was the first time Madeline had seen a glacier so that was really cool, and the views of the mountains were absolutely gorgeous. We continued up the road to its end where there were hundreds of cars/vans parked at the staging camp for a plethora of hikes. We opted not to join in on the difficult and crowded trails but just hung out, had some snacks, and enjoyed the view of NZ’s tallest mountain. After we left we had a hefty driving day and made it a long way south to yet another lakeside campground.

The next day we drove even further south to the town of Bluff. We had spent the last 3 nights staying at freedom camps in our van - we had to pitch a tent as well because the van really only has space for 2 people - and were a bit weary of the cold and loneliness accompanying being alone out in the tent so we booked some more cheap Airbnb’s. The Airbnb in Bluff was really nice and after driving to the end of the peninsula at the end of NZ we utilized the real kitchen space to make an Italian feast of salad, gnocchi and vegetarian bolognese sauce, and garlic bread (and a little bit of wine).

The next day we drove through the Catlins, a large forested area of southern New Zealand stopping along the way at some really cool natural features. We went to two different waterfall areas which each boasted multiple waterfalls and took in the beauty and got some great pictures. We stopped for a couple hours in a small town called Owaka so Madeline could take an online test back home which she took at the local library - after that we did a little souvenir shopping before heading to Jack’s Blowhole. After a sizable walk we made it to the blowhole, which was over 600 feet inland and nearly 400 feet deep! It was really crazy to see the tides flow in and out and spray up, we got there at high tide so it was in ideal form. After that we headed to Kaka Point, a small beautiful seaside town where we got another Airbnb up on the cliffs. Our host, Mary Jo, was super nice and gave us some good advice of what to do around there and let us play with her Red Heeler, Matty. I don’t have enough dogs in my life… :( The next morning we woke up very early to go to a lighthouse ~15 min away for sunrise. Madeline was in a sleepy stupor and was unable to rouse herself so Bryn and I made the journey on our own. It was really nice to be out in the early morning hours and we got some absolutely amazing views at Nugget Point. There were large rock outcropping all around the peninsula that looked like nugget of gold (or chicken). It was a lovely morning, despite a cloudy and slightly underwhelming sunrise. After going back to the Airbnb and making breakfast, we headed back through the Catlins to stop at some of the spots we didn’t have time to see on the first pass. We went to the famous Purakaunui falls as well as Curio bay. Curio bay had a petrified forest outcropping along the sea that is now home to the rarest species of penguin in the world. We were graced with a lucky sighting of the 2019 bird of the year, the Hoiho (noisy in Maori) or Yellow-eyed penguin. We were able to get reasonably close and watch it hang out along in petrified forest rocks. We went to a cafe afterwards and had some really nice snacks before heading to Weir Beach. We camped in a big open field along the ocean at the farthest south point in all of NZ this night and luckily, it wasn’t all that cold.

The next morning we got up early and drove to Dunedin for our final day together. We got to our Airbnb and after taking showers we went into town. We walked around town a bit, stopping in some art galleries and cool shops to get a few souvenirs. We got a gelato in the main square downtown and played ping pong in the park for a while. Afterwards we went to the Black Dog, a chic restaurant bar for a final meal together. We shared cream of tomato soup as a starter and a chocolate mousse for dessert, along with our individual entrees of course - it was a really nice last supper together. We headed back to the Airbnb and hung out and snuggled before going to bed. We got up and drove to the airport the next morning for Madeline’s very early flight - I was very sad to say goodbye to her but am so thankful she came. I miss her and my family a lot so it meant a lot to me that she came all this way to see me. <3

After we said goodbye to Madeline we packed up and did a long haul drive up to Christchurch where we are now. We will be in Christchurch for another ~2 weeks trying to sell our van and then we will head to Australia!!! Wish us luck selling the van, we might need it! :)

Expect our best,

Christopher and Bryn

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melissawalker01 · 4 years

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ATV Accident Lawyer Midway Utah

Historically, the first Anglo-Americans to visit the area just east of Mount Timpanogos were members of a fur-trapping brigade led by Etienne Provost in 1824. For many years, the valley was referred to as Provo or upper Provo; the river running south through the valley still bears the name of that explorer but the town became known as Midway City. A wagon road completed through Provo Canyon in 1858 brought the first settlers to the area. In the spring of 1859, many more families began moving farther to the west along Snake Creek. Two small communities were established, called the Upper and Lower Settlements. One was later named Mound City because of the many nearby limestone formations. In 1866, Indian hostilities grew and territorial governor Brigham Young encouraged settlers to construct forts for protection. The two small settlements reached an agreement to build a fort halfway or midway between the two existing communities thus the beginning of our modern day town named Midway. It was in the 1860s and 1870s that a large number of Swiss families arrived with names such as Gertsch, Huber, Kohler, Probst, Zenger, Durtschi, and Abegglen, among others, some still are found in Midway today. Midway was incorporated June 1, 1891.

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From the beginning, Midway’s industry was based on livestock and farming; however, as the town grew so did the need for building materials. In the early 1850s sawmills were built with three main operators: Henry T. Coleman, John Watkins, and Moroni Blood. In 1861, John H. Van Wagoner constructed the first commercial gristmill. Soon followed retail stores, one of which was the Bonner Mercantile Store. Later other retail stores were built by Henry T. Coleman and Simon Epperson. As the town grew so did the need for additional stores a confectionery and grocery store, blacksmiths, livery stables, boarding houses, and other businesses soon fulfilled the growing town’s booming economy. Nearby mines, particularly those in Park City, also began to play an important economic role in many Midway households, and did so into the late 1960s. Because of the many ninety-degree-pluses hot water springs or ‘hot pots’ in the Midway area, several resorts were developed including Schneitter’s Hot Pots (now the Homestead) and Luke’s Hot Pots (now the Mountain Spa); both were established in the 1880s. Important civic improvements were made in the 1930s and 1940s. A concrete sidewalk program began in 1938, and the Midway Recreation Center, usually referred to as the “Town Hall,” was dedicated in June 1941 which is now the center of many community events including the famous Swiss Days held each fall.

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Midway Swiss Days brings thousands of people to its tiny town. it was originally called Harvest Days and was established in 1947 through the efforts of Luke’s Hot Pots Resort owners Joseph B. and Pauline S. Erwin and a number of local enthusiastic supporters. The club became known as the Midway Boosters and continues today to play a role in many city improvements and activities. Although agriculture is still a significant industry, recreation has fast become an important aspect of Heber Valley’s economy. Local recreation attractions include golf courses, Deer Creek Reservoir, Wasatch Mountain State Park nationally known Homestead Resort and the Olympic Venue Soldier Hollow. Soldier Hollow is home to world-class cross-country skiing, tubing and soon will add one of the State’s largest golf courses to its venue. As the world changes so does the community and as the world discovers Midway and its charm, we hope we have captured some of the past and preserved all of those future visitors and citizens of Midway to enjoy.

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What You Need to Know and Do after an ATV Accident

In case you didn’t know, ATV stands for “All Terrain Vehicle” and there are many uses for them besides fun. People use them to plow farms, plow snow, and even to transport materials. And the accidents that come from ATVs are from these uses as well as recreational ones. In the United States, alone, ATVs are responsible for 100,000 injuries and 650 deaths every year but think about how many more people get on ATVs when they’re on vacation? Yet most of never even think to stop about the risks and injuries that happen from ATVs. The next time you find yourself with an ATV and you’re asked to sign some kind of contract before riding one, learn about what some of the most common ATV injuries are, how to legally protect yourself, and what to do if you ever find yourself in need of injury lawyers.

Before Going ATV Riding

In many states, you must register an ATV if you buy one and you must have insurance if you want to ride it out on the open road. In addition, some states also require special licenses for the driver and there are strict age restrictions on who can ride one. For instance, some states require children under a certain age (usually 16) to ride with supervision, which is probably a good idea because ATVs are responsible for about 77 children’s deaths per year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Of course, if you choose to not follow the law, no one will ever know but if you ever find yourself in an accident, you won’t have any legal protection and you can be charged for not following state regulations. Always check with your local DMV before buying or riding an ATV.

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ATV Insurance

While some states require you to have ATV insurance before riding one, some don’t, which leaves many ATV users to think they probably won’t need one. But we’ll tell you this: most ATV users who get into accidents never thought they would need one too. Those who had it were glad they did and those who didn’t regret it. Depending on the type of ATV insurance you buy, it can cover a range of damages and risks. Some cover bodily injuries, some cover property damages, some cover collision damages, and some cover all. In a worst case scenario, you can end up in an accident where you hurt yourself or someone else severely and you would have to pay thousands of dollars for medical expenses and property damages. Even if you just have a medical ATV insurance, it would cover your entire medical expenses, otherwise, your health insurance will be your only safety net. At the end of the day, the choice to get ATV insurance or not is up to you but as with most auto insurances, some coverage is better than no coverage.

After ATV Accident

Right after an accident, you should seek medical help as soon as possible. Even if you feel fine, there can be internal or delayed injuries that you can’t see or feel until later on. Go and get yourself checked out in the hospital just to be safe.

Among those who reported being in ATV accidents, the most common injuries were: • Arms and hand (29%) • Head and neck (27%) • Legs and feet (22%) • Torso (20%) • Other (2%) But keep in mind; you can have one or multiple injuries when you get into a 4-wheeler accident.

Brain Injuries: Of all the ATV injuries, brain injuries are probably the most worrisome because you cannot see them from the outside and sometimes symptoms might take up to days or even years to show up. This makes the cause of the injury difficult to trace and it poses a problem if you end in court. Traumatic brain injury, memory loss, and permanent concussions are some of the more severe injuries that can happen to ATV crash victims. Children are especially more susceptible to brain injuries because their bodies are smaller and the impact of the crash can harm them more.

Spinal Cord Injuries: Spinal cord injuries are another type of damage to look out for if you’re ever in a four-wheeler accident. Aside from being painful, spinal cord injuries can be devastating because they can cause a person to become disabled. They can lose their ability to walk, to move, and drastically change the quality of the person’s life. A less experienced but similar injury in its potential affect on your life is one that causes hip pain, which can be easily overlooked initially.

Seek Medical Attention: Regardless of severity, all ATV injuries should be examined. If you ever get into an ATV accident, never underestimate the amount of damage it can do to your body. Always go to the hospital as soon as possible to get your whole body checked out. Recovery from ATV injuries is both time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, it can put you out of work for weeks, months, or even years. If you’re looking into getting legal compensation for your injuries, make sure you keep formal documents of all your injuries and doctor’s visits.

Document Wreckage: If possible, make sure you get pictures of the accident. This means pictures of the vehicle, the environment, and any visible injuries on yourself and anyone in your party. These pictures will serve as evidence and give you leverage if you do end up going to court. You’ll also want to obtain a police report in case you end up needing a lawyer. Get Names of Witness: If you end up crashing into another vehicle or someone else’s property, or even your own, get the names of everyone that is involved. If it’s another vehicle, make sure you take down their license plate number, contact information, and insurance information. For insurance and legal purposes, you’ll need all of this information in case any of your information is called into questioned and needs to be investigated. If the other party involved is unwillingly to cooperate, do not try to force them. Call the police and take down whatever information you can. Take pictures of their license plate if it’s there. You are also not legally bound to answer any of their questions.

Get Legal Help

One study of an ATV accident in Midway found six victims permanently damaged and needed $11.5 million dollars to pay for basic long-term skilled care until they’re 65 years old. Without legal representation, the six victims involved would not have been able to get the money they were entitled to care for themselves and their families. Even if your accident doesn’t bring about such extreme consequences (and we hope it doesn’t), you might be entitled to legal compensation for whatever damages happened to you. Vehicle accidents of any kind can cause a lot of mental, physical, and financial stress on the victims and the victims’ families. After you get the medical treatments you need, find a lawyer that specializes in vehicle accidents to get a free review of your accident. ATV injury lawyers are especially knowledgeable in this area and will be able to quickly access your case.

Even if the cause of your accident is unclear, get a lawyer’s opinion on the accident. What if the manufacturer of your ATV had a recall for your ATV years ago but the seller never informed you? What if the road your accident happened on had caused several other accidents? Our point is, you don’t know what you don’t know and a lawyer will be able to help you find out.

Notify Your Insurance

If you have ATV insurance, notify the company and send in all the necessary documentation to file a claim as soon as possible. In situations where another party was involved, make sure you get the names and contact information of the other people. If you have evidence to prove it was the other party’s fault, get their insurance information and notify their insurer. If, however, you don’t have evidence but strong reasons to believe it was the other party’s fault, you’ll need to get a lawyer.

Have Fun But Be Prepared

We do not mean to scare you about riding ATVs but we do think it’s important that you are aware of their dangers and are prepared if you ever find yourself in an ATV accident. To put things into a healthier perspective, deaths account for less than one percent of all 4-wheeler accidents. Most ATV injuries are not fatal and most victims heal from them. But the emotional, physical, and mental scars that are left can take a toll on the injured person. If you suspect you have any emotional or physical traumas from an ATV or vehicle accident, don’t be afraid to get in touch with one of our ATV injury specialists for a free case review of your accident. All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are 3-wheel and 4-wheel motorized vehicles designed for off-road riding. ATVs are used for both fun and rescue, as they provide quick and easy access in off-road areas. Unfortunately, every year, many people including children are severely injured in ATV accidents. Some victims suffer fatal injuries.

According to the most recent available Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) statistics, more than 100,000 ATV injuries occurred in a single recent year, with 25 percent of those injuries affecting children under the age of 16. CPSC reports that, on average, 568 adults and 144 children die in ATV crashes every year. ATVs have a high center of gravity and are prone to roll over. Riders can be trapped underneath these vehicles that weigh up to 600 pounds. They are not designed for use on public roads, and drivers often fail to see ATVs, which can result in collisions. As with motorcycle riders, ATV riders have no protection whatsoever from the vehicle in an accident only whatever protection their protective gear provides them. Many different factors may contribute to ATV accidents, including: • Vehicle defects. • Improper positioning on the vehicle. • Too many riders on the vehicle. • Lack of protective gear. • Operating an ATV at unsafe speeds. • Riding on paved roads. • Operating an ATV under the influence of drugs or alcohol. • Negligence of other drivers.

Types of Injuries in ATV Accidents

Since ATV riders are virtually unprotected, a range of serious injuries can result from accidents. Of the more than 100,000 ATV injuries that occurred in one recent year, the CPSC reports that there were: • 31,400 arm and hand injuries (29 percent). • 29,300 head and neck injuries (27 percent). • 23,100 torso injuries (22 percent). • 22,800 injuries to the legs and feet (21 percent). • 1,300 other injuries (1 percent). Particularly when riders do not wear helmets, traumatic brain injury can be a devastating result of ATV accidents. Crushing injuries, torso injuries and paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries are common when ATVs roll over. Fractures, contusions and abrasions are also common. In the most tragic cases, ATV accidents result in death.

Who May be Liable for an ATV Accident?

Liability for an ATV accident depends on what caused the accident and how it occurred. If the accident and injuries were caused by the faulty design of the vehicle, the ATV manufacturer may be liable. If a driver who failed to see an ATV on the road caused the accident, that driver may be liable for the ATV riders’ injuries. An ATV passenger injured in an accident caused by the negligence of the operator may be entitled to a claim for damages against the operator.

If you have been injured in an ATV accident due to the negligence of another person or because of faulty manufacturing of the vehicle, speak with a Long Island four-wheeler injury attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to file a claim for compensation for the injuries you have suffered. Our knowledgeable motor vehicle accident attorneys can evaluate the circumstances of your accident and advise you as to whether you have a case, who could be liable and what damages you may be able to claim. We handle accident cases on a contingency fee basis, and you will pay us no fees up front when you work with our firm. Call Ascent Law LLC now for a free consultation. We respond to messages as soon as possible, and we can come to you if you are in the hospital or unable to travel.

Midway Utah ATV Accident Lawyer Free Consultation

When you need legal help with with an ATV Accident Injury case in Midway Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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Source: https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/atv-accident-lawyer-midway-utah/

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wirika125-blog · 4 years

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Morocco Travel Information

We at Morocco Stars Travel get numerous queries all the time regarding Morocco. We tend to attempt toad keep this list updated so you'll be able to get an understanding regarding however we tend to run our Morocco tours and the way you'll be able to best expertise the country with our company. Please have a visit to our web site. Be at liberty to succeed in out and provides the U.S.A. Associate in the Nursing email if you've got any queries in any respect.

Morocco Stars Travel is developed over than seventeen years of expertise, that allowed to Morocco’s travelers to fancy their Morocco visit;

Best things to try and do in Morocco:

Testing Morocco Food

Eating couscous and tagline:

Morocco guests needless to say they'll love feeding the flavors, seeing the regional selection, and planning to extremely appreciate however long every dish took to arrange. Tagline (cooked with meat, dates, nuts, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and saffron during a clay pot) was out and away from my favorite Moroccan dish. Additionally price making an attempt is that the Berber omelets, that are an egg, tomato, onion, and herbs, additionally grilled during a clay pot?

Drinking mint tea:

Travel to Morocco its superb expertise. During a country wherever “having a beer” isn't an issue, local’s substitute pots mint tea, there’s even Associate in Nursing art to running it: the upper the pot, the better. I couldn’t get enough of this minty, sweet treat and sit within the tea retailers look football game with the locals. I need to have drunk a pot or 2 daily. Man, That employees Are addiction!

Hearing the decision to prayer

While I’ve been to preponderantly Muslim countries before, in the geographical area, I’ve ne'er toughened Associate in Nursing Arab Muslim country or detected the decision to prayer. There was one thing lovely regarding the melodic nature of the decision, and it had been a good grandfather clock at half a dozen a.m. seeing individuals flock to the house of God in their white prayer garments was novel cultural expertise I couldn’t facilitate however observe.

Morocco is an Associate in nursing improbably destination. At times, it had been making an attempt, stressful, chaotic, and fulls my senses, except for all the stresses of travel, it had been a rustic wherever I felt out of my part and like I used to be actually somewhere new and totally different. I am white-haired that feeling and everything else regarding Morocco.

Sandboarding in energy unit Chubb

Once at energy unit Chubb, the sand dune surf riding will begin! However, don’t forget… initial you've got to climb up the Dunes! The upper you climb, the higher the ride down, the quicker your board can take you. And what goes up, must, most of the time, come down. You hope to ride down the dune as quick as you'll be able to create the trouble of climb up to the highest whole price!

Quad and buggy

Morocco Stars Travel offers you a chance to get Morocco by Quad and buggy within the Sahara of Morocco is one among the foremost superb mechanical desert journey and Sahara Desert experiences in Morocco. If you're a fan of quads and dunes buggies, you need to completely expertise quad biking and recreational vehicle within the Sahara. The bulk of tours of Morocco begin from Marrakech collectively of the highest five world travel destinations. Don’t miss this superb desert journey within the Marrakech Sahara. From Marrakech or from any Moroccan town, we are able to prepare a tour to the Sahara and cause you to expertise quad biking or buggy and a few alternative desert experiences like sandboarding. Except for Morocco imperial city tours, cultural tours, and coast city tours. We are able to organize any style of trip.

1- Morocco desert tours its superb Associate in Nursing terrific that all Morocco travel person should do it; A visit to the Moroccan Sahara is unquestionably an expertise everybody ought to have a minimum of once in their lifespan. it's a journey well definitely worth the effort and you'll have fond reminiscences to last you forever. Imagine yourself on a canceled ride, trekking through the rolling orange Sahara of energy unit Chubb Dunes. There’s nothing around you and everyone you'll be able to hear area unit the footsteps of the artiodactyls mammal on the soft sand. The sky is huge and clear within the day and crammed with many bright stars in the dead of night. It’s terribly peaceful expertise, one relay identified to most of the Western World

Marrakech rubber-necking

With its heat days, busy nights and verdant fragrances, Marrakech could be a fascinating town for even the foremost discerning soul. Although a booming touristy trade will stifle a number of its charms, there is a unit still ways that to induce slightly of magic in ‘The Red City’.

While many folks could associate this thousand-year-old Moroccan town with labyrinthine alleyways and snake charmers, Marrakech is really equal components ancient and mode

Fes visit guided Morocco stars travel provide several tours and visit.

Fes town is one of the necessary cities in Morocco which each and every traveler should visit with the native guide as a result of its thus exhausting to go to this town while not the native guide, Fes it was the primary capital within the country and it’s the oldest town altogether geographical region.

Chefechouan Trip recently become sort of a prime destination in Morocco beneath name blue city

Morocco Imperial cities holidays during this tour the travelers can have the chance to get and compare between medieval ages and actual way thus our experienced team can provide this expertise with our skilled guide

Enjoying the beach and food of Essaouira

The charming settlement, Essaouira is that the recent Portuguese town of Mogador.

It was fortified by a French creator Vauban follower. These influences have given an exquisite and distinctive result. Today, the town is bitten by a bit turning into a city of artists.

Essaouira features a terribly favorable microclimate that ensures a light winter and funky in summer. I’ll additionally mention an exquisite beach, protected by islands Purpuraires.

Artisans of Essaouira area unit notable for inlay on root growth cedar and provide a good vary of things from the memento to components of the article of furniture and works of art

Seeing Aid Benhaddou

This day excursion can pass fully through the chain of the High Atlas by the route of Tizi n’Tichka, passing the very best road in Africa; admire the mountains of the gorgeous and ancient Berber villages. You’ll notice the distinction between the 2 sides of the chain: the North maintains a transparent Mediterranean character, whereas the South is way a lot of arid and Saharan. This is often marked within the vegetation, however additionally within the mode of construction of ancient housing that takes into consideration climate terribly totally different.

Morocco hiking

Trekking consists to run on feet within the mountains. Morocco Stars Travel organizes trekking in several places such as: High Atlas, Dades gorges, Rose natural depression, Saghro mountain, M’goune Gorges and Todra Gorges.

We area unit makes a specialty of treks in Morocco into the Atlas Mountains: Toubkal, M’Goun, Sara, Saghro ranges, Tafraot space, Bougamaz natural depression and Amezmiz natural depression, which might be tailor created to fit your desires, from a 1 day guided walk to finish treks. We are able to be custom-made to the amount of day’s accessible, size of the cluster (from single travelers to giant groups), level of fitness and accommodation needed.

Meditation and Yoga

Meditation could be straightforward observes accessible to any or all, which might cut back stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning the way to meditate is easy, and therefore the edges will return quickly. Here, we provide basic tips to induce you started on a path toward bigger disposition, acceptance, and joy. Take a deep breath, and findable to relax.

« Yoga is a useful gift of India’s ancient tradition. This tradition is 5000 years recent. It embodies the unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. it's not regarding exercise, however, to get the sense of unity with yourself, the planet and therefore nature. By dynamic our way and making consciousness, it will facilitate in well being.

Morocco Stars Travel offers you a chance to seek out your soul, Set within the tranquility of an exquisite landscape within the heart of Sahara Desert dunes, wherever you'll be able to observe the Yoga and Meditation, taking time to relax and revel in all the delicious native food. It’s simply a fabulously fun and helpful experience! Realize the first page here http://www.moroccostarstravel.com/

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agent-7-at-your-service · 5 years

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The Hamartia Arc: Through Brine and Tides (Part 2)

((Agent 7, Bigfin Splatoon, Kimun and the Neanderthal Tribesmen, and Laguna “Garza” Rayne, Abigail Atled Calliostro, and others belong to me

Agent Blueshift belong to @myzzy

Wonder Inkling and Wonder Inkling Jr. belong to @inklingleesquidly

Agent 0 belongs to @son-of-joy ))

The naval ink-mine fields that were lined from the Koma-ga-take Mountain Peak to the city of Muroran have been breached. The fishing boats that were mustered at Aomori were able to carefully disarm the bombs as quick and efficient as possible. The entire right side of the first line was clear, and the counterattack fleet proceeded to sail into the bay, starting with an attack on Muroran. The other cities in the bay were being fired with ink-artillery: Date, Oshamambe, Yakumo,Toyoura, Toyako, and Mori.

The counter-attack is already begun.

Colonel Jenna and Gravis arrived in the port city of Muroran. The waters were occupied with Agent 7′s counter-attack fleet.

All the Amemasu Military units stationed at there were all wearing gas masks with red-lense eyes. It was a sign that they would stand and fight. Sharklings, who are the commanding officers of the militia, welcomed the neanderthal and the pikeblenny with a salute.

Gravis and Jenna proceed to the Institute of Technology where they will deliver the commands from.

“Report!” Gravis commanded.

“The ships have been deployed to stop them at the Hakucho Bridge, but it seems they have fishing boats that are rendering the ship propellors immobile,” an Amemasu Commanding Officer reported.

“We cannot risk any more warships to be deployed until those fishing boats are eliminated!” Another Amemasu Commanding Officer reported.

“All ground units stationed in Muroran are placed on hold,” An inkling Amemasu private reported, “All commanding officers gave the order to rally at watchtower points, marked with spotlights.”

Colonel Jenna looked at the private unit. “Where’s your commanding Officer? I expected them to come to me instead of a messenger boy.”

“He was wounded critically. One of the enemy warships shot his flag vehicle at the Hakucho Bridge—” The inkling gets shot by Colonel Jenna by an Octo-shot.

The colonel took a deep breath and proceeds to have a map layout of the city along with some pieces to represent the units of the Amemasu Federation and Agent 7′s Campaign Army.

“I heard there were attacks before this, on Hokuto and Kojima Island.” Colonel Jenna taps her fingers on the two areas. “I will not risk sending reinforcements less risk splitting up defenses. Radio them to fight with all they got until the last man is dead. If Jason wants to deliver a piercing attack, he will need to pierce deep through these defenses. Let’s play his game.”

The officers saluted. “Glory to the Federation!”

Under the Hakucho Bridge...

“Beta 4.13, Beta 8, with me! Agent Recruits, the navy is yours. All able soldiers prepare to super jump onto the Hakucho Bridge!”

“Right!” Beta 4.13 responded.

“That’s crazy! But whatever can get us out of these waters!” Beta 8 replied.

“Wonder Inkling and Wonder Inkling Jr. are right behind you, Agent 7!” Wonder Inkling replied.

“I’m ready to splat some Amemasu!” Agent 0 hyped.

“Ready when you are, Seven,” Blueshift replied.

Currently, the fleet cannot go any further past the Hakucho Bridge less they ram into the enemy fleet. Their propellors may be down, but the ships were still armed and ready to board with enemy ink-shooters.

A number of counter-attack fighters volunteered, numbering up to 75 people; the rest remained in the ships to help stoped the boarding enemies. All of them were armed with Inkopolis brand ink-weapons. Despite the numbers, their power was enough no matter the situation, especially in war.

“On the count of three, jump,” Agent 7 commanded, “One... Two... Three!”

They all turn into their cephalopod forms and jump out of the ship and onto the concrete platforms of Hakucho Bridge. Abandoned cars were present, and there was no sign of the enemy coming.

“Okay, so far so good.” Agent 7 move onto instructing where to go. “Two-thirds of the counter-attack will go south of the bridge to make it look like we made out attack on the peninsula, Hijack some vehicle and go Mad Max on them... I mean just fight them with vehicles! I will lead a third north of the bridge to head straight to the Takasagocho Ward.”

“Agent 0 and I take care of things around the peninsula,” Blueshift offered.

“This is going to get interesting.” Agent 0 prepared his ink-blade.

“Then that means we’ll be with Agent 7, fighting towards Takasagocho,” Wonder Inkling stated.

And with that, they split up, Blueshift and Agent 0 went off to do some hit-and-run tactics and hijack some vehicles with the two-thirds of the counter-attack. Agent 0 swung his ink-blade, splatting the Amemasu’s militants; he even hit a sharkling elite down with his built-in shield.

Blueshift was able to clear a vehicle parking area with his ink-disks. They disks ricochets around and splatted the militants and knocking out the elites. When it was clear, their contingent went into to steal keys and take over the wheels.

Agent 7 and the Wonder Inklings would go north of the bridge to fight their way through rushed defense who didn’t prepare for this lightening attack.

Since Agent 7 and the Wonder Inklings were going on foot, they and the third of the counter-attack took a while to reach the Takasagocho Ward. They had to pass through a few facilities, neighborhoods, and hills to get to Chiribetsu Park. At this point, they looted some intel to get an understanding of the terrain and how the defense was planned. Here, this is where they’ll take the high-command by surprise.

Agent 7 instructed like a military general, barking orders at his men.“The contingent will split into teams of four. Create a chain of diversions to keep the Amemasu busy and confused. Make sure they don’t see you. Don’t get caught. Cover your tracks. I need five volunteers to come with me and the Wonder Inklings to go further north. Our target is the Muroran Institute of Technology, and we will set up a beacon.”

Agent 7′s contingent did so and split up; they would be wreaking havoc on several vital spots of the military heart. It left many of the Amemasu forces in disorder, reacting strongly to all the attacks but lacking any protocol to rebound.

Agent 7 and the Wonder Inklings made their way towards one of the buildings of the Institute. They would encounter a few guards and splatted them without warning. When they reached a room where the operations are being handled, there are no signs of anyone working there. Equipment and computers were still on, but no one to operate them.

“No one?” Junior questioned.

Agent 7 puts his N-zaps away and searched. “Maybe they left something.”

For minutes, they would be going through the data that was left behind. They weren’t able to figure out where everyone in the room went. It was until Agent 7 searched through a personnel computer that he found a lead.

“From Colonel Jenna...” Agent 7 presses the button.

A screen popped up and it showed a recorded video message. A Neanderthal in military uniform was glaring at the camera.

“Agent 7. You sure came quite quickly to this area.” Colonel Jenna adjusted her military cap. “I was going to stand my ground along with Gravis, but the attack you’re throwing seem to hit hard on my defenses. However, I was able to mitigate the attack by forcing my men to fight until the last man is dead. Look to the windows.”

“What does that mean?” Agent 7 then looked at the windows which had closed blinds.

“Hmm...” Wonder Inkling Sr. walked over and opens the blinds. She is then shocked. “Get down!”

Agent 7 and the Wonder Inklings quickly took cover and avoid and inkling blast stronger than any blaster in turf wars. The ink bubble sent bursts enough to cover the room in ink and sabotage the equipment and computer present.

Out the window was a view of the athletics grounds. Gravis and Jenna were there along a few Amemasu Sharkling Elites. Gravis, the yellow pikeblenny, is carrying a cannon that he ripped off a tank. He was using it as his personal weapon of choice.

When Agent 7 and the Wonder Inklings recover to look out the window, Jenna and Gravis were already boarding a convoy.

“They going to escape!” Junior alarmed.

“We have to follow them...,” Agent 7 ordered, “We have to rally everyone... at Date.”

“Agent 7?” Wonder Inkling Sr looked at him.

“Forget the beacon... they’re a living target...” Agent 7 took out his N-zaps. ‘They have to be...”

“Seven!” Wonder Inkling Sr objected.

Agent 7was silent for a moment, and he took a deep breath. “Stay with the counter-attack.... stay with the counter-attack... Alright, let go then...”

Despite the hesitance, they leave immediately. A flare is fired into the sky to signal a rally and the contingent responded and followed. Agent 0 and Blueshift already had their contingent arrive when the streets of Muroran. They hijacked a number of jeeps and armored cars.

“Took you long enough!” Agent 7 actually didn’t expect the two agents to do this. “Some of the elites are retreating to Date.” He gets into the jeep with Blueshift and Agent 0.

“Why a retreat?” Blueshift questioned.

“They’re probably retreating to another defense point,” Wonder Inkling Sr speculated.

“Who knows, I want all fleets to stop at Date. We’re camping there for the night.” Agent 7 ordered as the wheels started turning. “I’ll radio the fleets the message.”

#The Hamartia Arc #Through Brine and Tides #Part 2

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liquidink21 · 5 years

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Half-Life 4 Redux

Since writing up that big post about concepts I had for Half-Life 4 I’ve managed to get it together into a coherent story, which I’ll post here.

HλLF-LIFE 4

Chapter 1: Brave New World

For the first time since HL1 Gordon isn’t immediately dumped there by the G-Man or Vortigaunts. He’s implied to have been part of this world for some time. The entire chapter runs contrasted with HL2’s Point Insertion; instead of a tense walk through the dystopian City 17, after leaving his train Gordon takes a leisurely work to work. Instead of downtrodden citizens surrounded by metrocops, the citizens seem fairly happy though hard at work.

By interacting with the citizens in a few situations and by watching a newsreader on the old Breencast monitors, the player can pick up what they’ve missed since HL3 (they can ignore it if they want). The Combine has been overthrown, and humanity had begun rebuilding and establishing their own societies again. They are in the city of New Odessa, capital of a state known as the Foundation, created from the old Sector 17 resistance. The player learns of an “Empire” that exists in contention with the Foundation.

Level layout is as linear as ever, but instead of cops and barricades the player it blocked by more hopeful and innocent looking things like construction work and things like that. In the distance New Odessa’s citadel can be seen in a partially dismantled state. It’s midday. The citizens have a more normal and varied clothing palette than the old Combine double-denim. In reference to a dismantled suppression field, several young children and pregnant women can be seen. Eventually the player is railroaded to Gordon’s workplace, a large governmental looking building.

Chapter 2: Threshold

This building has mix between office complex and scientific laboratory aesthetics to it. Gordon is directed by linear level design and some characters giving directions to where Gordon needs to go. If the player wants to go off the path a little they can meet and speak to Kleiner and Magnusson. They can also catch a world map, with the Foundation in East Europe and the Empire around the Great Lakes. The level however progresses when Gordon meets with Colette Green and Gina Gross, Gordon’s lesbian scientist friends. Like in Anomalous Materials Gordon is clearly about to get up to some work that he’d know but the player isn’t privy too.

Colette and Gina show Gordon to the HEV Mark VI. This new model has been upgraded with Combine technology and takes a few visual cues from the Combine Elite model in the helmet (yes, they have fucking helmets). It has gravity guns built into its hands! After donning the suit, the women lead Gordon to a teleportation room. As the women sets up the teleport, Barney comes in and speaks to them. He warns them that there’s been a spike in aggression from the Empire, as they blame the Foundation for a series of attacks on their facilities. The women assure him they’ll be careful.

They are teleported to a large Combine structure out in the Wasteland. It resembles the Beta Air Exchange for no reason other than mythology gag. It’s late afternoon. It’s made evident that Gordon is here to help harvest Combine technology from it. As Gina sets up some machinery (a teleporter to take them back) Colette and Gordon head into the structure. Colette helps the player learn some sort of new puzzle (I don’t know what kind. I’m a writer, not a video game dev.)

Gordon is eventually left on his own while Colette and Gina flirt keep talking over radio. Before the player gets bored the structure is attacked in a cinematographically spectacular way, by Hunter-Choppers like in HL2 but they’re stamped with a logo of the Earth. Colette and Gina tell him to flee back to the teleport. They manage to get away, but before Gordon can get through the teleporter is destroyed. Fortunately, the environment around it has a nice linear looking structure that allows Gordon to flee to safety into the next level.

Chapter 3: Breakdown

The environment over the next two levels is semi-alpine woodland, much like the Outlands in Episode 2. Gordon loses the Hunter-Choppers and finds an abandoned shack, with a few zombies and headcrabs. This is basically a little tutorial in fighting. Gordon has to throw physics objects at them, and soon finds a crowbar to help. After passing the shack, Gordon is railroaded to a structure in the distance. There are a few zombies in the way. In another building, a more intact and unabandoned structure, he meets “General” Odessa Cubbage who has been seriously wounded. He reveals that the Empire has launched a full-scale attack on the Foundation. As he climbs onto a table with a medkit, he gives Gordon his pistol and apologises for not having anything bigger.

It is sunset. Gordon goes out to fight Imperial troops directly now. Their design is reminiscent of the metrocops. At first he is harassed by their mechanical units; they still make use of manhacks. Very soon he is able to get his hands on the SMG and begin fighting in earnest. Although mostly against their soldiers and lesser robots, in the distance he can see APCs and even larger tanks in battle in out-of-bounds areas. He sees only a few Foundation troops, hauled up and having difficulty against the Imperial forces. There are also sporadic headcrabs and zombies having fun amongst the battle.

Soon Gordon meets up with the Foundation’s counterattack. Large robots that resemble Dog but more professionally built show up and begin hurling APCs off cliffs. A character, revealed to be Winston, the wounded Marine from HL2, explains to Gordon that they’re trying to push back and destroy the Imperial beachhead. Alongside the Foundation forces, Gordon moves through the battlefield. It becomes apparent both sides make use of teleportation; the Foundation making use of more Black Mesa style portals and the Empire sending troops through Aperture style portals.

They make their way to an old building the Empire has appropriated. While not the Imperial landing point, it’s being used as a rallying point so Gordon and Foundationers besiege it and clean it of Imperial troops. There are a few turrets, not of the Combine design but the Aperture design. A soldier reveals that the way to the Imperial beachhead is patrolled by many more tanks and helicopters. Fortunately, the base they just captured has an unmanned tank that was in the middle of maintenance. Gordon takes it for himself.

Chapter 4: Imperial Entanglements

It is night. The player is treated to a nice vehicle level. The tank is quick, resilient, and its cannon makes things go boom! It’s not invulnerable like previous HL vehicle levels. It has a regenerating shield that serves as hitpoints. Gordon moves through a winding canyon up against Imperial APCs, other tanks, and at least a pair of helicopters. At the end of the canyon, the Empire springs some sort of trap that forces Gordon out of the tank. He has to continue on foot.

He’s moved some distance ahead of his fellow Foundationers, but the pressure (and player impatience) forces him to move on without them. The Imperial beachhead is an old bunker built into a mountain, already fortified. Gordon manages thanks to linear game design to sneak his way inside. The bunker has a similar architecture to the White Forest base, but influences of Imperial occupation evident. There are Aperture style turrets guarding the corridors, and their supply crates resemble weighted storage cubes. The Empire is also fielding robotic soldiers that resemble Atlas and P-Body’s earlier concept art.

Gordon wrecks shit up, but it unfortunately captured in a tractor beam that resembles an Aperture excursion funnel. He is surrounded by soldiers and is confronted by a man they refer to as and resembles the Beta concept art of the Consul. He gives a brief angry speech about Gordon ruining their plan for conquering the Foundation, and blames the Foundation for attacks on Imperial soil. He sentences Gordon to death. He mentions that many Imperial citizens view Gordon as hero against the Combine, so he opts for a quick and bodiless execution there. They open a pair of Aperture portals on two pistons either side of Gordon and smoosh him between them, expecting him to be dumped out of existence.

Chapter 5: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Instead of killing him, the Portal smoosh dumps Gordon in Xen. Not a bad form of execution assuming the victim doesn’t have a HEV suit. Gordon however survives to wander the realm of Xen to find a way back. Xen resembles to it depiction in Blue Shift. Pinkish-grey landmasses amongst the yellow-blue sky of clouds spreading out forever, and it all takes place on a single Xen continent rather than an island. He encounters a few different biomes moving across Xen (I’m 100% sure what kinds but they should be distinct from Black Mesa’s). This level serves as the equivalent of We Don’t Go to Ravenholm or Residue Processing; it’s a break from the action as Gordon traverses out-of-context terrain.

The enemy for these levels is purely the Xen wildlife. There is no Empire here. There are also plenty of puzzles for Gordon to solve, like the traps in Ravenholm or the conveyor maze in Residue Processing. About halfway through this level Gordon encounters a wandering Vortigaunt, who offers to help Gordon back to Earth. We’re treated to a few maps reminiscent of the tour of the Antlion caves in Episode 2, what with the Vortigaunt companion and all. They arrive at a distinctly manufactured complex, resembling a mix between the Nihilanth’s old factories and human architecture. It’s revealed that this is a Foundation colony, and generally implied that the Vortigaunt works there for the Foundation. The Vort gets a teleporter up and running and says it will take Gordon “where he needs to be.” Gordon takes the teleport.

Chapter 6: The Right Man

The teleport dumps Gordon right in the middle of a Combine facility, manned by surviving Combine soldiers. Gordon has to quickly fight his way out, heavily disrupting the facility. As escapes, he discovered himself in the middle of a wasteland. Hunter-choppers, stamped with the Imperial insignia, begin assaulting the facility but don’t notice Gordon. Gordon climbs to higher ground and is given a better look at the facility. If the player is smart, they can work out that this is a giant teleporter “plug” that drains water from Earth. Since the ocean wasn’t completely drained in HL2, it can be assumed this facility is in a large lake. It’s implied the Combine there were trying to open another portal to summon reinforcements.

Gordon is in a wasteland. It resembles the old beta concepts for the wasteland. The area is craggy and sandy and has winding canyons that maintain linear level design. It is day, with a small set of dark clouds off in the distance in the skybox. The main enemy is Xen wildlife, especially Antlions which roam the area. A hunter-chopper patrols ahead and gets sight of Gordon. Instead of trying to gun him down, it creates portals from which stronger and stronger Imperial forces try to kill him. Attempting to enter a portal lands Gordon in a barracks type room with no way to escape, forcing him back. Gordon is made to travel some distance though this chapter, emphasised by the maps generally all taking him in a relatively straight line. He follows the path of a railway set above the wasteland floor, apparently built during the Combine era. He has to brave Antlion tunnels on a few occasions too.

In the distance Gordon sees a structure. With nowhere else to go, Gordon “decides” (map design forces him towards) to check it out. As Gordon gets close, terrible explosions erupt from within. It’s identifiable as an Imperial structure at this distance. Entering through a breach in its walls, Gordon briefly sees a battle between Imperial forces and a mysterious dark figure. If the player looks closely, they can see the G-Man watching too. The figure escapes on a train. Gordon has to face off against the remaining Imperial forces and then has a boss fight of sorts with that helicopter that’s been chasing him. After shooting down the helicopter another train arrives. It’s made obvious to the player somehow that they’re meant to enter the train.

Chapter 7: The Wrong Place

The train segment is composed of two segments. At first Gordon fights through corridors on the train against the Imperials. The second he’s on an open segment with several turrets he can man to defend himself against attempts to stop him. This entire segment should play out like that really fun train level in Crysis: Warhead (the pinnacle of non-Half-Life gaming). On the path ahead, tanks, hunter-choppers, and other armed trains try to stop Gordon.

The environment starts out as more wasteland, before moving through a tunnel for some time, during which the soldiers from the other half of the train try to get Gordon off the train. When the train emerges, it is in a forest. A different style of forest to the Outlands; it’s a midwestern style forest that’s clearly dying. There’s a bit more of the train side shooting before it comes to a stop via violent derailment. Freeman is plunged into an almost dried up river and ends up on its shore. It’s still midday, but the dark clouds now take up half of the sky.

Gordon pushes onwards, following the trail of the railway. He finds himself around a small suburban town covered in collapsing slum-like constructions, entirely infested with zombies. They all seem to be moving somewhere before seeing Gordon. As he moves past the town, he goes through a much thicker area of trees before emerging at the wall. The wall is enormous and surrounds a city. It resembles old earth architecture enhanced by Combine fortifications enhanced further still by modern human architecture. It is manned by Imperial troops and is fending off a large-scale zombie attack. Gordon slips his way inside, and once caught engages in battle with the Imperial forces. He witnesses the mysterious figure from before fighting Imperials themselves, and again the G-Man is watching them. During the battle, a walkway collapses and Gordon plummets and is knocked unconscious.

Chapter 8: Chirality

Gordon awakens in a prison, stripped of weapons and HEV armour. Outside his cell are a few cops who seem, at best, bored. They have very different designs from the old metrocops; they resemble modern riot police instead. Before long there’s a knock at the door, and a rebel and Vortigaunt pair kill the cops. The rebel reveals herself to be Noriko from HL2, and frees Gordon. They explain he is in the Imperial capital, New Rome, and that his suit has been taken to a special testing facility. They give Gordon civilian clothes (nothing more than a pickup that does nothing), take him outside and point out the facility in the skyline. The storm has now covered the entire sky, giving the city that dark beta City 17 atmosphere. Noriko and the Vortigaunt (implied to be the same one from the Xen level) apologise that they can’t help Gordon get the suit but they’re known to the Empire and have to go hide.

Gordon, weaponless and suitless, is treated to a second “Welcome to City 17” level. The Imperial city is much more like the original Point Insertion. There are checkpoints and cops and scanners everywhere. Differing from City 17 is the fact the Empire makes an effort to keep its people happy. Propaganda is less vague and explicity comments on the hardships citizens face by scapegoating Vortigaunts and other aliens. There is a military parade showing off the big guns to the citizens, being played up as defending against further alien invasions. There are Vorti-cells torturing and siphoning trapped Vortigaunts for energy. As Gordon walks past all this, the police begin stirring as they learn that there’s an escaped prisoner. Gordon makes his way to the Imperial testing facility and sneaks in. The next sequence is a mix of stealth and puzzles to get to the HEV suit.

By the time Gordon is reacquainted with the suit, his presence has alerted the guards. Police and soldiers try to stop him, and Gordon has to flee the building and have a brief Route Canal type flight from them. He gets his weapons back from dead enemies pretty quickly as he flees. Instead of escaping the city Gordon ends up in a factory dedicated to arms manufactury. Citizens are fleeing and soldiers and cops intervening. The factory is being assaulted by the mysterious figure again. This time they notice Gordon back. They take off their mask and reveal themselves to be Alyx Vance. Her suit resembles a futuristic version of the leather suit Gordon was going to wear in the earliest drafts of HL2. It’s not sexy in the slightest; it looks like a black straitjacket to emphasise Alyx’s enslavement to the G-Man. Their reunion is cut short as more Imperials try and flush them out. The pair are separated, and Gordon is forced to flee underground.

Chapter 9: Unconscionable Ethics

Heading deeper into the underground, Gordon accidentally finds himself in some sort of maintenance area, and continuing from there, finds himself in an Aperture Science Laboratory. It resembles the office areas from Portal 1. It isn’t long before Gordon is noticed by the vast surveillance network of the facility. A voice over a pervasive PA directs lethal military androids and all sorts of other mechanical Imperial units. Fleeing from them, Gordon makes his way to the bottom of the facility, finding a sealed off wing. Gordon finds himself in an enrichment shaft and plummets to the bottom.

The enrichment shaft not as deep as the ones in the Portal 2 complex (hinting just slightly that it’s a different Aperture facility). It still has the same design as the Portal 2 complex, though neither the sphere nor the shaft is flooded by goo. They’re infested with Antlions instead 😊. Making his way back up, Gordon encounters a strange little machine plugged into a power source. It claimed to be Cave Johnson, founder and CEO of Aperture Science, uploaded into an AI machine. His life is torture and craves death and asks to be unplugged and hurled into the abyss. Before Gordon can fulfil this wish, more Lethal Military Androids attack Gordon. Johnson is now curious and wants to find out what’s going on and asks to be plugged into Gordon’s suit. He becomes a pickup then and accompanies the player for the rest of the game.

Gordon re-enters the active Aperture complex while Johnson lists to him what sort of Aperture equipment he should pick up and various ways they could backfire and kill them. Gordon retrieves none of those as he is captured quickly and locked in a sealed chamber, like Chell is at the start of Portal 1. The Consul reappears and has some sort of gloating speech. Important note about the Consul: he’s meant to be a foil to Breen. Breen was a practically powerless figurehead for the Combine but had a pretty deep understand of what was happening what with the Combine and the G-Man and all that. The Consul, in command of the Empire, is the most powerful man on Earth, but has no understanding of anything outside of the range of his guns. Anyway, the Consul leaves Gordon’s fate to that voice on the PA, revealed to be an Aperture Science Personality Core named Octavian, ordering that he be killed in the test chambers.

Octavian briefly runs through what test chambers are available, while Johnson assures Gordon he’ll give him the hints to get through the test. Octavian mentions portal gun tests, gel gun tests, camera tests, and time-machine tests (references to Portal, Aperture Tag, F-Stop, and Thinking with Time Machine) but Gordon lacks the necessary equipment to run any of those tests. What Gordon does have are guns, so Octavian puts him on a live-fire course for military androids. There, Gordon is pitted against all the robotic units of the Empire, including a few he hasn’t seen before.

Before the player can get bored, they’re offered a way out. A pried open piece of wall, similar to a Ratman den, lets the player back into the maintenance section. It plays out like a briefer version of the chase at the end of Portal. Gordon ends up in Octavian’s chamber. Octavian is strapped into a chassis, similar but distinct to the GLaDOS one, strapped with guns and flamethrowers. A boss battle plays out, far more direct that the puzzle bosses of Portal. Octavian’s chamber is at the top of the facility, and as it falls apart from battle damage, Gordon is let loose back into the city.

Chapter 10: Hunt Down The Vance

There are alarms going off, helicopters flying overhead, and smoke rising in the distance. It is night and the storm has cleared. Everything should look wet like it’s been raining heavily in Gordon’s absence. Gordon pursues the rising smoke, and meets up again with Noriko, who reveals Alyx is leading an uprising against the Empire. The scale of things imply that the uprising is small and lacking the popular support of Imperial citizens. It is in fact mostly composed of Vortigaunts freed from Vorti-cells. The player is told they need to find a meet Alyx again.

Fighting towards the citadel, much like the ending of HL2, Gordon goes up against the full strength of the Empire, more or less. The tone of this level should be that the real action is centred around Alyx, and that Gordon is following in her wake only facing the Imperials attempting to flank her. Gordon is aided by stray rebels and Vortigaunts, though there are few of them. At some point, while under attack by lethal military androids, Gordon would come across a computer outpost, and Cave Johnson would ask to be plugged in. Hacking into their systems, he manages to turn the Aperture robots against the Empire, at least for the time being.

Eventually Gordon reaches the citadel. Alyx is already inside by more subtle means, but Gordon is forced to fight his way in through the front gate, aided by the revolting military androids. After some sort of boss battle that I haven’t thought of ensures, and Gordon makes his way in.

Chapter 11: Veni Vidi Vici

The Imperial Citadel is very different from the one Gordon assaulted in HL2. While the base Combine architecture is still there, the Empire has added their own architecture into it, giving it a more human feel. There are blatant offices and barracks built into it, giving it the sense that a human Empire is actually run from the Citadel rather than it being a giant factory with a figurehead’s office on top. Combat in this citadel is very vertical, like the Lost Coast cliff but with manufactured walkways. There are also a lot of Aperture Science technologies being used that make it feel like Portal 2.

In a few breaks from combat Gordon can see a few snippets of how the Empire’s citadel runs. It still operates as an enormous factory, with hunter-choppers and tanks being churned out of production lines. There are Combine soldiers taken prisoner being led to production lines to be converted into synths (okay, I didn’t mention this before since I was focusing on story rather than individual enemies but the Empire fields synths. Not the old Combine kind, but new human-based synths we see being made here.) Cave Johnson suggests he get plugged in to hack into the system but panics and asks to be taken out; the Empire has learned of his computerised presence and has improved their firewalls.

Eventually Gordon is captured, yet again. He is taken before a large chamber of figures revealed to be the Senate of the Empire, led by the Consul. While the Consul wears his smart black suit, the senators are all in anachronistic robes. There’s a flamboyantly over-the-top dressed woman who is apparently the “Empress” serving as a head-of-state to the Consul’s head-of-government. With one look at the senate the player should cease seeing the Empire as a serious geopolitical entity and realise that it’s just the power-fantasy for a bunch of freaks with superiority-complexes. The Consul puts on a brief show trial for Gordon, but before the player gets bored Imperial troops arrive to evacuate the senate.

Alyx crashes into the senate chamber and frees Gordon. Once the guards are dealt with, the pair are finally reunited properly. Alyx reveals she has been constantly fighting for a long time. She hasn’t had a proper rest beyond sporadic food, drink, and lavatory breaks since the G-Man whisked her away. Apparently, Earth’s success against the Combine has inspired other slave worlds to begin fighting against the universal union. She warns that the Combine hasn’t forgotten about Earth, and if the Empire tries to go ahead with its plan of interdimensional conquest (I haven’t mentioned that in this document, but yes, it should be made clear through the game the Empire dreams of becoming a universe crossing empire like the Combine, but human-centric) then the Combine will be back within seconds.

Chapter 12: Critical Point

Alyx takes Gordon in an elevator down to the depths of the Citadel. There, at the very bottom, the Empire has been gathering its forces. A vast hanger off all sorts of combat vehicles, mech-suits, and robotic units (they’ve gotten them back under control now) all ready to be deployed. Alyx has been in the Empire for a week (it should really be obvious by now she was one behind the attacks the Empire blamed on the Foundation) and has learned they intend to start their conquest imminently. She hopes that her rampage has given them pause in launching it but wishes to dismantle their launching point anyway. The pair are captured again one last time. Cave Johnson spots the machinery they intend to open a portal with and identifies it as the same kind used by Aperture Science in the Perpetual Testing Initiative.

The Consul gloats that they shall be witness to the beginning of Earth’s expansion into the cosmos. Alyx pleas with him not to proceed and explains the Combine situation. The Consul assures her that they’ve planned well in advance, and that their target destination is not in the Combine’s sphere of influence (possibly imply he’s targeting Race-X? I don’t know). Cave Johnson mentions the Combine are familiar with the Perpetual Testing Initiative Device and would be able to track it.

As predicted, as soon as a portal is opened the Imperial armada is ripped to shreds. The Combine (their insignia’s clearly visible) deploy the largest synth seen in the series yet; a set of what can only be described as tentacles crossed with centipedes with drills on the ends. It rampages in the hangar knocks Alyx and Gordon free. As synths pour through the portal and engage the Empire (the player can start shooting if they like), Alyx says they must shut down the portal. Johnson points out that the PTI device has been ruined in the synth attack; they’ll have to close it using the Combine’s equipment on the other side. They charge against the synths and make their way into the Combine Overworld.

This is the same place glimpsed through the Portal at the end of HL2. They are standing inside another citadel’s hangar, where the full body of the centipede-tentacle synth is being deployed. There is a console where Cave Johnson can be plugged in. Given the alien operating system, it takes him several moments to get any control of the system. It takes about as much time as, say, a boss fight with the giant synth. As it dies, Alyx spots more flying synths of gargantuan nature heading towards them. Cave says that he’ll close the portal as soon as they cross it. He assures Gordon he’s okay to stay in the Overworld; that living inside the Combine’s circuitry hiding from their anti-virus programs would either give him the death he asked for when he met Gordon or give him a life of excitement worth living. Gordon and Alyx return through the portal.

The hangar appears lifeless, until a wounded and furious Consul appears, blaming Gordon for everything has happened, accusing him of consorting with the Combine. He climbs into a surviving mechsuit, and the final boss fight begins (Yes, a fucking mech suit. Blame Wolfenstein; I’m a slut for it). A mechsuit is inherently less impressive than a giant centipede octopus, so this fight has to be tricker and more satisfying that one (How? I don’t know. I’m writer, not a game dev).

Once defeated, the Consul tries to self-destruct and take Gordon and Alyx with him. As the explosion goes off, time stops. The ending of HL2 happens in reverse. It is Gordon that’s frozen (emphasised by hands held rigid in the air or something), while Alyx keeps moving. The G-Man shows up and congratulates Alyx on her latest success, blah blah, and they disappear as he keeps rambling. Gordon is held in front of a frozen explosion for a few more seconds before purple Vortigaunts begin appearing and rescue Gordon. Fade to black, and credits roll.

#half life

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