#why not this one in which Andrei reflects on several of them? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hauntthenarrative · 10 months

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here's why you should vote Andrey Bolkonsky. this will include a play-by-play summary of Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812 (leaving out some details that don't pertain as much to Andrey) but i feel it's necessary to fully illustrate how MUCH he impacts the show.

in "Prologue", the opening line is "there's a war going on out there somewhere and Andrey isn't here". the first thing we see is Andrei leaving for war. the line of "Andrey isn't here" is repeated throughout the whole number. Natasha, Prince Bolkonsky, and Mary are introduced through their relationship to Andrei ("she loves Andrey with all her heart", "Andrey's family totally messed up"). in "Pierre", Pierre says "my friend fights and bleeds while i sit at home and read". he's comparing himself and his failures to Andrey, who he thinks is doing the good and noble thing.

in "Moscow", Natasha and Sonya go to moscow to visit their godmother, Marya. they both say they are happy to stay with Marya "while we wait on our fiances, fighting in the war". later in the song, Natasha cries for Andrey, saying she loves him and can't wait to see him. at the end of the song, Marya tells Natasha to visit Andrey's family to win them over, since his father is opposed to their marriage. we have a song introducing the family, "The Private and Intimate Life of the House", in which Prince Bolkonsky says he will not give money to Mary or "Andrey's harlot". then there's "Natasha & Bolkonskys", where Natasha meets Andrey's family. which she's only doing to benefit their relationship. the meeting doesn't go very well, so when Mary brings up Andrey ("i want you to know how happy i am that my brother has found happiness"), Natasha thinks she is mocking her. we then go into "No One Else", where Natasha sings to the moon about how much she loves Andrey.

next is "The Opera" and "Natasha & Anatole". at the opera, Natasha meets Anatole, who advances on her. this is important later. during "The Duel" we learn 2 important things: Anatole is married and madly in love with Natasha. skipping to "Sunday Morning", Natasha lights a candle in the mirror to see her future. when she sees a man lying down, she says "Andrey will never come or something will happen to me before he does". she then reflects on her feelings towards Anatole, when she says "have i broken faith with Andrey?". Marya then leaves to visit Prince Bolkonsky's to convince him of Andrey and Natasha's relationship. in "Charming", Helene convinces Natasha to come to her ball, despite her engagement (to Andrey). during "The Ball", Natasha dances with Anatole and he kisses her. her first thought is to think of Andrey, then thinks of what it meant.

now we're onto act 2! we open with "Letters". Pierre writes to Andrey, telling him how he wishes he was at war with him and the happenings in moscow. Natasha struggles with what to write, torn between Andrey and Anatole. Anatole writes a love letter to Natasha, which fully wins her over. in "Sonya & Natasha", Sonya discovers Anatole's letters and confronts Natasha about them. Sony asks if Natasha has refused Andrey and to think of the family to which Natasha says that Andrey said she was free to refuse him and says "perhaps all is over between me and Bolkonsky". after Sonya leaves, Natasha writes a letter to Mary saying she is unable to Andrey.

we then hae several numbers where Anatole blands to abduct and elope with Natasha, but his plans are ruined by Sonya telling Marya. during "In My House", Marya reprimands Natasha for planning to elope with Anatole. She says "What are we to tell Prince Andrey, eh? Oh what do we tell your betrothed?" to which Natasha replies "I have no betrothed, I have refused him". this is the first she has told her family of her refusal. in "A Call to Pierre", Pierre visits Marya after she asked him to "relating to Andrey Bolkonsky and his betrothed". Marya tells Pierre that Natasha has refused Andrey and she tried to elope. Pierre then tells Marya that Anatole is married and she says that "when Andrey comes home, he will challenge Anatole to a duel". to prevent the duel, Pierre goes to find Anatole.

during "Pierre & Anatole", where Pierre throws Anatole out of moscow, we see Natasha poison herself with arsenic. in "Natasha Very Ill", we learn she told Sonya and she is now getting treatment. Sonya then says Andrey is set to return home. THEN. then we have "Pierre & Andrey", which is the ONLY number Andrey shows up in. he gives Natasha's letters to Pierre, which he tells Pierre to give to her. by doing this, Andrey is breaking his ties to Natasha. Pierre tries to dissuade him from this, mentioning how Natasha has been very sick and how Andrey once said a fallen woman should be forgiven. Andrey says he should ask her for her hand again, but he isn't that kind of man. he says if they still want to be friends, he will never bring up Natasha again. lastly (not really, for propaganda reasons it is), we have "Pierre & Natasha". Natasha says that Andrey is Pierre's friend and that he once told her she should become friends with Pierre. she tells Pierre to ask Andrey to forgive her. Pierre tries to give her the letters, to which she says "i know that all is over. i know that it never can be".

even in the number about Pierre & Natasha, Andrey is in every single corner of the show. he is costantly haunting and influencing the narrative!!!

#not polls #asks #natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812

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elliemarchetti · 5 years

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Somewhere to Start (part 8)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Other Harry Potter fics:

Slytherin!Hermione AU (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6)

The Deal (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5)

The Polaroids The Sixth and Seventh Polaroids

Words: 2003

Standing up, Viktor almost tripped over his feet. The Weird Sisters attacked a slow and lugubrious melody that seemed decidedly unsuitable for the joyous celebrations of Christmas and above all for his mood but still advanced on the lit dance floor, taking care not to pay too much attention to the looks that he and Hermione above all had attracted all the time; being a public figure he was always in the spotlight but all those attentions seemed to him an invasion of his private life and he feared that in the long run they would’ve bothered Hermione so much as to induce her to ask him to accompany her to the dormitory and put an end to the evening, but a moment later she had grabbed his hands and adjusted one around her waist, making him forget all his worries. Like they had practiced before, after a few steps he made her do a pirouette, or at least it was how Hermione called them, making her periwinkle skirt made of an inestimable number of flounces open like a blooming flower, attracting many other looks. They obtained the long desired privacy when the second song began and many of the spectators flocked to the dance floor together with their companions: Viktor saw the youngest of the Weasleys squinting in pain when Neville clumsily stepped on her foot, but the view was obscured by Dumbledore whirling along with an incredibly graceful Madame Maxime. When Mad-Eye Moody, who was engaged in a clumsy two-step with another Hogwarts professor, approached, Viktor stiffened but tried to conceal loudly clapping at the end of the song.

"Do you want to sit down?" asked Hermione worriedly, but he shook his head and kept dancing, trying to avoid Angelina and one of the Weasley twins, so wild they risked to run over whoever was near them, until they were out of breath and with their mouths dry like the desert.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked, following the look of his lady, who had come to rest on Potter and Weasley, sitting together with a girl probably Indian at one of the tables near the track.

"Thank you," she replied in the tone of someone apologizing, before heading briskly toward them.

Although he wanted to leave her space, he was also willing to spend as little time as possible away and give her the magical evening she deserved, but he was still Viktor Krum and it was obvious that no one was going to let him go back to his companion, so he answered Karkaroff's questions quickly, he exchanged a few words with some Beauxbatons boys and even scribbled a quick autograph for a third-year Hufflepuff boy who nervously told him he had begged his sister to invite him so he could meet him person without having to disturb him during the meals. The thing pleased him and touched him too but the feeling didn’t last long because, before he even got in line for the drinks, he noticed that a small crowd had gathered around the table where Hermione had gone and Weasley's voice was resounded half-way through the song change. When he finally managed to reach her, Hermione was open-mouthed and her cheeks were so red that Viktor wondered, for a fraction of second, if that worm hadn’t slapped her, given also the malign expression he displayed.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" he was saying. "He’s one of Karkaroff’s students, he knows who you’re friend with, he's just trying to get close to Harry ..." he growled, before stopping abruptly at his sight. Viktor didn’t consider himself a violent person but he knew he was capable of arousing a certain fear, so he wasn’t particularly surprised when Hermione took his hand, as if to calm him, and whispered: "He’s drunk, he’s not worth it.”

"For your information," he hissed at the red-haired boy who seemed to want to disappear under the table, or perhaps his friend’s shadow "I'm not interested in getting close to Harry," he said, placing particular emphasis on the name and imitating his English accent, "nor to those who are or are not Hermione’s friend, as opposed to those present. Therefore, if you don't mind, I would go back to my evening and I advise you to do the same or leave, I don't care, as long as you don't disturb us anymore, understood?” he concluded, scanning everyone’s faces and finally returning to meet the terrified gaze of the one who, looking at him well, was just a stupid and childish boy, unable to see the true value of people and above all to understand the decisions of the one he should’ve considered as part of his family. The small crowd dispersed as quickly and silently as possible, while Hermione, who had come close enough for him to be able to hold her shoulders, looked at his friends with clear contempt.

"Didn't we have to go get drinks?" he asked, and she nodded, no longer meeting the two boys' eyes, even when they returned to dance.

"Would you like to take a walk?" he asked her when he was convinced that the room was designed specifically to make him sweat like a pig. She seemed enthusiastic, so they skirted the dance floor and went out into the Entrance Hall. The door was still open and the dancing lights of the fairies in the rose garden gleamed and glittered as they descended the steps, at the end of which they found themselves surrounded by bushes, winding ornamental paths and stone statues. It wasn't as romantic as it looked from above and surely the presence of all those people didn't help at all, so they walked silently until they reached a particularly beautiful fountain, on which the moonlight was reflected, silvery. There was a bench nearby, and if they had managed to ignore Fleur and his companion who kissed passionately somewhere in the maze they could have had a brief moment of intimacy. But the words, all that he had thought to tell her since he had invited her, and perhaps even before, didn’t arrive, the feeling that it wasn’t the right time to tighten a lump in his throat.

"I just don't understand his reaction." Hermione said after a while, interrupting the silence. Viktor had in mind several reasons why her friend might’ve behaved that way, but he said nothing, noting how obvious his lady's need to talk about it was.

"He wasn’t interested in inviting me and he doesn't even feel any senseless dislike for you, since when you arrived he did nothing but blab about autographs and photographs. Think, he even has your model on the bedside table!"

Viktor said nothing, but to every detail she added it was clear how much she had been, or perhaps still was, in love with him. Although it hurt him deeply, partly because he was aware of being better than that weak asshole, partly because it was Hermione they were talking about and he would do anything to be worthy of her attention and affection, he still listened to her, girding her shoulders when she shivered. "Perhaps, however, the thing that hurt me the most was his belittling of what we are, whatever it is, because no one has ever made me feel this way, nobody has ever been so interested in me ..." she added, but her voice it broke mid-sentence and it took her a while to recompose. "As a child, before Hogwarts, I didn't have many friends. No one was interested in talking about books or spending afternoons at home when the sun was out and you could play in the park, so when I came here and they made me feel accepted, it was enough. With you, though, it's different." she concluded, and leaned her head against his shoulder, as if emptied, and though it seemed she wanted to add something, Viktor didn't insist and silently stroked her bare shoulder until Fleur's moans were too much to bear and they came back running and giggling, with large swarms of multicolored fairies that rose as they passed. Despite the hitch, Viktor's plan went well and they danced a long time before joining Darina, Alicia, Poliakoff, Andrei and their companions, who were talking about giants. One of the two unknown girls seemed visibly bored, but Viktor was certain that Hermione would’ve liked the subject and surely she would’ve had some interesting notions to add, so he didn’t give particular importance to the reason why the discussion was started until he realized that the base was Hermione's half-giant friend.

"And who cares if his mother was a giantess?" the bored-looking girl asked once she had stopped probing the room.

"Well, none of those who know him, because they know he's not dangerous, but many might consider him inherently evil if they knew of its origin." replied Hermione and it was obvious she experienced it on her skin and so she continued for a quarter of an hour until, around midnight, the Weird Sisters announced the last song and everyone decided to dedicate themselves to one last dance, a slow one, before having to leave.

"I'm sorry things went like this," Viktor whispered to her about halfway through the song.

"Why?" she asked, raising her head from his chest to look at him. She didn't look sad or disappointed, just curious to know what was bothering him, and maybe even a little drunk.

"I wanted it to be perfect, because you deserved a perfect evening, and instead your friend first, then Fleur and that guy in the park and now even my friends are starting to gossip!" he exclaimed, frustrated.

"Your friends said nothing wrong. Rather, I'm sorry for Poliakoff," she said, pointing with a nod to the poor fellow who seemed to be looking for all the ways to further draw his lady to him "but everyone knows that Allison Barnes was hoping to be invited by someone else."

“Really?” he asked, glancing at the girl with the long blond hair that fell on her bare back like golden curls. She was beautiful, although for his tastes she was trying too hard, and she struggled to imagine that any boy his age could wish for someone else when someone like that hoped to be invited. "He was the one who invited Fleur, right? Darina says that Alicia heard that she used her Veela powers to get invited..." he began, but Hermione seemed to hold back laughter so much he had to ask her what was happening.

"You were the one she wanted to be invited by” she replied, with a bright smile on her face. “She was so sure that in the end you would’ve invited her that she refused everyone until you sent me the snitch and then she found herself having to accept the invitation of someone she didn’t liked to not look like a fool with all those to which she had already said someone invited her.”

“But I never saw her!” he exclaimed, making her laugh again.

“This doesn’t mean she hasn’t done everything she could come up with to be noticed.”

“She could’ve run naked in the hallways and I would’ve never seen her anyway: since I came here I had eyes only for you.”

She looked at him with an expression of exaggerated perplexity but added nothing else and returned to lean against his chest until the song ended, after which she joined the loud burst of applause with which the Weird Sisters took their leave. They said good night in the Entrance Hall, and as he watched her walk away, a strange sensation flooded his mind, making him almost physically ill: she hadn’t yet disappeared in the stream of people who crowded the stairs and he already missed her.

"So," Andrei asked, "did you give her her gift?"

Viktor blushed in shame and his friend needed no further answers: he had forgotten to give her her Christmas present.

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icedanceupstarts · 5 years

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2019 Russian Nationals Preview

In which deciding to do our previews alphabetically seemed like a much better idea before we got here and half the ladies have a last name starting with “S”. We have quite a few questions going into this event and are looking forward to getting at least some of them answered. Who will win the National title? Who will make it to Winter Universiade, the World Championships of the second tier? Can Russian ice dance, our favorite beautiful trashfire, keep up this resurgence or will we run this train right back off the rails? Will there be any YouTube videos left or will your trusty mods have to get increasingly descriptive? Let's find out!

Sofia Evodkimova/ Egor Bazin

Age: 22/23

Started Skating Together: 2007

Season's Best: 168.31

Rhythm Dance: Not sure the two halves of this Come Together

Free Dance: Nocturne + Sarabande Feat. Badass Cantilever Lifts

Evodkimova/Bazin are a testament to what grit and perseverance will get you. Never the most decorated or celebrated of juniors, they've hung in there to get a number of international assignments as their more decorated fellows dropped behind them and/or gave up entirely. They're unlikely to be in the running for the Euros team, but luckily for all the young dance teams here, this is one of the years Winter Universiade is held, and in Russia to boot. They lost their international head to heads with both Shpilevaya/Smirnov and Skoptcova/Aleshin earlier this season, but have a tendency to sneak their way up the standings when you least expect it. They finished a solid fourth at Rostelecom Cup, their first GP event since 2016 and the second of their career. We're not entirely sold on their rhythm dance, as we've made our stance on the use of a second rhythm clear, but they have fun with and they have a great lift in the first half. The free dance is better for them, starting out with the softer lyrical that's so popular, but with great lifts and transitioning into a more dramatic second half, ending in a choreographic lift that perfectly utilizes the climax of the music. They're not the most hyped team, but they're always solid, and could place higher here than you might expect.

Annabelle Morozov/ Andrei Bagin

Age: 17/22

Started Skating Together: 2017

Season's Best: 151.55

Rhythm Dance: Nepotism Tango

Free Dance: A 97 in the Land of Golden Spin

It's hard to know quite what to say about these two. Despite our qualms regarding much of their career choices, like why they decided to make their international debut at a grand prix event or why Annabelle went straight to seniors in ice dance, they've been doing about as well as you could expect. They have some genuinely nice qualities-- they're a tall, leggy team, they're fairly expressive and she in particular gives good face, they have solid spin positions and lifts, and while not the steadiest, their twizzles are big and fast, and the besti squat transition into them in the free dance is quite nice. Andrei's partnering is solid as well, helping Annabelle transition smoothly to ice dance. They just really lack the technical skills. It's not just that they struggle with hitting their levels, a number of top teams do as well, but for Morozov/Bagin a level 2 step sequence is a great day for them, rather than a disappointment. While a lot of programs are more open these days, with this team it's clear it's a necessity rather than a stylistic choice. What they should be looking for here are just two solid performances, with none of their characteristic bobbles, and maybe a level or two. Their scores are behind the other teams, but have been improving surprisingly rapidly. And even if they don't beat their competition for Winter Universiade outright, this team seems to find ways to end up on competition entry lists regardless.

Betina Popova/ Sergey Mozgov

Age: 22/23

Started Skating Together: 2016

Season's Best: 170.47

Rhythm Dance: All Face, None TES

Free Dance: All Face, None TES 2: Electric Boogaloo

This is one team you can never accuse of being boring. Their programs are perfectly choreographed to their strengths, with fantastic lifts that don't get enough credit, creative transitions, and a performance style that would work just as well in an arena three times bigger. If Russian Nationals could just be these two performing everyone else’s programs, it would be significantly more entertaining and far less stressful. Surprisingly enough, Popova/Mozgov are still one of the newest teams in this field, and it certainly seems like these two were meant to skate together. Betina has always been a dynamite performer and Sergey has really stepped up the past two season. They had a phenomenal nationals debut last year ranking third in the free dance, and while that will be a much tougher order to fill this season, they do have making the Winter Universiade team on their goals list. Hitting their levels will be important, as will striving for high GOEs. They have some of the most innovative and difficult lifts in ice dance right now, and while they aren’t always the smoothest and most polished, they’ve cleaned them up a lot since the start of the season but their GOE has yet to reflect that. Popova/Mozgov have talked about how skating for the crowd is the most important thing for them, and if there’s a team that can find an audience anywhere with any material it’s these two.

Anastasia Shpilevaya/ Grigory Smirnov

Age: 19/21

Started Skating Together: 2012

Season's Best: 167.94

Rhythm Dance: In which Nastya is way beyond just double jointed

Free Dance: Just like, four times as many joints as is reasonable or necessary

The 2016 Youth Olympic Champions and 2017 Junior National Champions have had a rough year, through no fault of their own. After their fourth place finish at 2017 Junior Worlds they seemed like they were on their way up, but injury and required surgery later that fall ended their junior career on a whimper after just one competition. It also gave them some troubles in getting their senior career started, as they are the only team featured in this write-up that has yet to make their senior GP debut. A good placement here and earning a berth to Winter Universiade will be essential for them. They're a young team, and small in stature, and so don't generate quite the same level of power and ice coverage of some of the other teams here, but make up for it in other ways. They use her incredible flexibility to create amazing elements and interesting transitions, and their twizzles are absolutely top notch. They've always been entertainers and the tango is nice for them, letting them display their drama as well as their leg kicks which almost makes you forget how short they are. Their free dance is modern without being soft, and establishes itself as being completely different from anyone else's program right off the bat, and not just because no one else can get their elbows to do that. They've struggled some with levels in the past, but at their best they're more than capable of contending for that top 5 and a place on the National Team.

Victoria Sinitsina/ Nikita Katsalapov

Age: 23/27

Started Skating Together: 2014

Season's Best: 201.37

Rhythm Dance: What Goes Around Doesn't Quite Come Around

Free Dance: Bach in Business

If you tried to count on the fingers of both hands how many times this team has been written off over the past four years, you'd have enough, but only barely. Fresh off a silver medal at their first GPF as a team, they'll be looking to follow that up with their first National title. Sinitsina/Katsalapov have been in this position before-- three years ago they were leading Bobrova/Soloviev in the short dance by four points, only to blow their lead in the free with their then-characteristic errors. This season they've been rock solid, skating under immense pressure in tough fields, saving elements, getting strong levels, and recovering from minor early bobbles like champions with nerves of steel. They're not quite the performers that their rivals Stepanova/Bukin are, and their programs are decidedly more traditional. We think this works better in their tango which is just stunningly choreographed and danced by these two, whereas their free dance can sometimes come off a little stale, particularly in the first three quarters before it comes alive in that final minute. However both programs are strong vehicles for their skating that the judges have responded well to. The big thing they'll want here is to get their rotations on their lift in the rhythm dance, which is the only place in that program where they've struggled with levels, generally doing well on the pattern that has tripped up so many teams this year. If they can nail both programs, they stand a good chance of winning their first national title.

Anastasia Skoptcova/ Kirill Aleshin

Age: 18/21

Started Skating Together: 2013

Season's Best: 179.78

Rhythm Dance: Who isn’t Maria de Buenos Aires

Free Dance: Not the MJ Medley You Might Expect

The reigning Junior World champions had a bit of a rough start to the season, with her ankle injury delaying preparations and forcing them to make their senior debut at Skate Canada. Their rhythm dance came together pretty quickly, and as expected is a great vehicle for them after having won junior worlds with a tango free dance. Their free dance has received less positive reception, and it's definitely not as great a fit for them as last season's free dance, although we still think several aspects of it work. The choreography makes great use of their strong unison, partnering, and lines, and they seem to have a lot of fun performing it. It's modern without being lyrical or abstract, which is a relative rarity in today's dance field. They had some early season struggles, particularly in the free dance, but improved with every outing to claim their first senior international medal at Tallinn Trophy with all new personal bests. They're one of the teams who will be fighting for a spot on the Winter Universiade team, and their stronger levels in the rhythm dance could be what helps them come out on top of that tier. They'll need to deliver a stronger performance in the free dance than the ones they delivered in their Grand Prix events, avoid wobbling on that tricky curve lift or running out of steam towards the end, and they can see how close they can get to the podium.

Alexandra Stepanova/ Ivan Bukin

Age: 23/25

Started Skating Together: 2006

Season's Best: 200.78

Rhythm Dance: I Can't B(elieve) It's Not Tango

Free Dance: Am I the One to Make Everyone Forget Liebestrauma

Coming off a disappointment at GPF where they wound up off the podium, Stepanova/Bukin will be out for blood here. They have some of the most dynamic, appealing programs of the entire international field, and their more modern programs and strong performance quality will have them contending for the gold. Their rhythm dance may not be the most tango-y, but it's a standout program that feels even more fresh and dynamic in a sea of more traditional tangos, and utilizes their lines and body shaping to incredible effect, aside from being one of our personal favorites. Their free dance utilizes their chemistry and energy to create one of the most dynamic, entertaining programs of the entire season. They've always had unique, interesting choreography, but often with packaging and/or music that fought against them instead of carrying them. This season everything has come together with them to fit the mood they're trying to create in both programs. In order to win their first national title, they'll need to strengthen their tech-- no more Bs-- all while keeping the crowd on their side, which is a strength of theirs. They've never been a team to give up after disappointments, bouncing back after every set back they've had over the years. Don't expect these two to cede the Russian #1 spot without a fight.

Tiffani Zagorski/ Jonathan Guerreiro

Age: 24/27

Started Skating Together: 2014

Season's Best: 184.37

Rhythm Dance: Unusually Seasonally Appropriate Tango Dress

Free Dance: Tipsy Blues

Last in the alphabet but not in our hearts! Zagorski/Guerreiro are kind of an island unto themselves right now. They're unlikely to challenge the top two teams without serious mistakes, but they shouldn't have a problem defending their bronze medal from last season as long as they stay on their feet. They've always been extremely strong pattern dancers, a quality that netted them their first GP medals and a trip to GPF where they ended up #notlast. What's been holding them back this season has been the free dance. It's a good program, but they lost a lot of training time over the summer due to her knee injury, and have been struggling with the complexity of it in their past three outings. GPF was their best yet, and hopefully they can show continued improvement here. They have a stunning early lift in that program that unfortunately has so far not had it's intended impact because they tend to look on the verge of tipping over in the entry, and it'll be moments like that that they'll want to have sharpened to show what they can do before Euros. We don't expect them to have changed their ending pose where she looks like she's passed out on top of him, but as always we live in hope! They're going to have a tough time making it to Worlds, but we would have said the same about them making the Olympic team earlier this year, so who knows? Ice dance is forever a magical mystery ride, and it's best to be prepared and use every opportunity to improve themselves just in case.

#ice dance #season: 2018 2019 #2019 russian nationals #preview

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stateofsport211 · 2 years

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#WatchMoreDOUBLES: Doubles are entertaining, too!

Yesterday marked the one-week suspension of my sports Twitter while trying to alternate between tennis Instagram and Tumblr for this time being. This allows me to reflect back on why I started writing longer within these 2 platforms instead, and I got reminded of one of the campaigns I pushed for during my shorts sports Twitter moments when Rome Masters 2022 Men's Doubles draws came up.

I barely could recommend any early interesting matches (read: popcorn matches), I could only laugh because of the amount of those early interesting matches (at least, to me), that this tournament's draw has resulted in. I jokingly said to myself "Is this draw even drunker than ever before for an ATP 1000?" until I saw it again.

Throughout the different sections of the draw, I could categorize those interesting matches. This is where I start to put my own words, why I become an average doubles fan (and enjoyer, basically), and why I also pushed the agenda of #WatchMoreDOUBLES. I marked 3 of my own version of popcorn matches, among uncountable others, below:

Rublanov (Andrey Rublev/Karen Khachanov) vs Ramsbury (Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury)

Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski (note: they just won Madrid 2022 as this was written omg) vs Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer

Tomislav Brkic/Nikola Cacic vs. Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos

(To also introduce you to another part of doubles, I am going to use internet ship names for those pairings that I know of).

Then, what made me start stanning doubles and also pushing the agenda of watching more doubles, among any other random things I used to do when on my sports Twitter?

Why Do I Also Stan Doubles?

Let me start by illustrating:

I made this meme by myself several days ago, which might be our state of fandom today. From my little observation, only a handful of us is a doubles fans (or an average enjoyer, even). The pie graphics is a meme template that might not reflect the whole stats but is illustrative enough to explain it.

Tennis has a lot of categories, which mainly are singles (men's, women's), doubles (men's, doubles, mixed, the latter usually in Grand Slams), or team (combination of singles and doubles, something like the Davis/Billie Jean King Cup). While to my knowledge, we are all familiar with singles (along with their records and so on), we realize that "doubles are oftentimes left out." Left out in coverage, in matches broadcast, and more, while it is totally, and equally, fun and entertaining in-between singles-induced suspense.

While as fellow fans we are trying our best to hype doubles so they can get equal coverage as singles, there are three reasons that made doubles fun for me, I'm going to explain them into three keywords: the game, the trollage, and the side memes.

The Game

Game-wise, we might think that "oh, since we play doubles, we only cover half of the court, then take turns with our partner for that matter" (or somewhere along the lines of, made light of doubles because you're playing with a partner). I would like to say, playing doubles have its own ups and downs.

Each one on the pair takes turns oftentimes on who is serving, who is standing by around the net, or somewhere along the lines. Then comes the return and net moments. Something I noticed when there is at least someone that is still singles-active (read: still plays singles) is their all-court coverage, which oftentimes results in "an unreal angle winner." But we could not rely on that alone.

📸 Tennis TV

A recent example here is Dodig's unreal angle winner from their Madrid 2022 R1 encounter against Golubev/S. Gonzalez [note: before turning full-time doubles several years ago, notice Dodig used to also play singles!].

Of course, doubles' mental part is built differently from what my little observation can tell. You can see a lot of interactions, ranging from what I call (sorry, competitive debate, for borrowing this term) "case-building (Illustration: Do I need to stay here? Oh yes sure!)," all the high-fives, to a little of "hey, what's going on?" (the latter is just own interpretation, especially if your partner got distracted). It does not stop the uniqueness of the doubles game, however, these (little?) interactions are also what makes doubles fun (remember, internet oftentimes made a meme or even made a fan edit out of these alone), while not forgetting the game-related aspects (from serves to errors!).

The Trollage

These past few months, I observed that there are frequent singles players "willing to try doubles" or more than that, to put it in my own words (and I remember this quote back from Twitter): "let's team up, try doubles... but ended up defeating a team that is literally comprised of all doubles specialists!" The latter is what we could say the trollage.

For illustrative purposes, I decided to remake a meme I used to tweet, somewhere along these lines.

I understand inside the tennis fandom there are pros and cons to allowing frequent singles players (or a pair comprising of them) to try their hands in doubles, in which for already stacked tournaments (like a 500 or 1000) their entry by singles ranking (which is allowed at tennis tours, to my knowledge) could mean a team comprising of literally doubles specialists' participation at stake (or the latter ended up being an alternate). On the other hand, we also witnessed how, for example (I'll take it from the first 5 months of 2022 as this piece is written), The Special Ks (Thanasi Kokkinakis/Nick Kyrgios), while they are currently processing their singles comeback, could literally win a Slam (last Australian Open 2022!), making anything is still actually possible in tennis, making me think that "well, even frequent singles players can play doubles and win titles!" Another one in this category would be Hubisner (Hubert Hurkacz/John Isner), who managed to win a doubles title in Miami!

📸 Tennis TV (on Twitter)

Isner hugging Hubi after their Miami doubles win. Literally, a pairing that I initially did not expect to go really far, but interesting to watch them play (also judging by how they play their singles!).

Despite its pros (as a random fan, I appreciate the willingness to try your hands at doubles!) and cons, there's a good chance we can see more of the trollage in the future. This can make doubles really fun (and more views, especially if there are frequent top singles players playing!), however, game-wise it can make us (especially doubles-only people) reflect on what aspects we should step up in.

The Side Memes

📸 dotdotennis on Instagram & Twitter

The illustrations of a fan-made doubles affair side meme (this is the closest example I could get), which I dubbed The Karslandrey Affair, which consists of Karen Khachanov-Aslan Karatsev-Andrey Rublev, and the possibility of 3 doubles pairs made of this alone: Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev, Andrey Rublev/Aslan Karatsev, and Karen Khachanov/Aslan Karatsev. The pictures were drawn between Indian Wells & Miami 2022, where: Andrey Rublev played with Aslan Karatsev for Indian Wells doubles, Karen Khachanov for Miami doubles (and more frequently throughout their careers), and there was one instance where Karen Khachanov played doubles with Aslan Karatsev–during the Davis Cup 2021.

The other interesting part that motivates me to follow more doubles (and the most fun part) is the side memes it caused to the fans. There are two types of doubles side memes (read: not a game-related meme, but it could rather be an off-court imagination related or a pairing related meme) that I discovered (and even made a fan edit of), which are:

Shipping doubles pairs (as if they are a couple, or they are?): We concatenate the first letters of both pairs' names, either their first, last, or nicknames. While these ship names are now extendable to potential (either parody, inclusive of bot-generated or not, or real) doubles pairings or singles encounters, shipping doubles pairs not only makes it shorter for you to type in for platforms like Twitter but also feels like they're a "real couple" (which is applicable in both men's, women's, or mixed doubles). The internet gave me some good examples, like Rublanov (Andrey Rublev/Karen Khachanov) or Ramsbury (Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury). These ship names could also be iconic, like (let me borrow this, fam) Peeka (John Peers/Aslan Karatsev).

The Affair/The Bachelor: Since it is completely common in tennis not to have a fixed doubles partner (but instead, you can even switch partners every several moments, even though maybe you have someone who, if you played with, have the best results together), these are often perceived as "them seeking true love (read: fixed doubles partner)." Someone on Twitter had an idea of making "The Bachelor" episodes out of this quest, in which I already made 2 fan edits out of this alone for a particular player (back when I was on Twitter, I have a good chance to get them here/tennis Instagram).

Especially for the latter, those memes are made for pure entertainment only. However, the memories of those memes and fan edits are tremendous, which makes watching (or following) doubles even more enjoyable with this additional element.

Closing Thoughts

Well then, if you have yet to try your hands watching doubles, then you better start! It provides tons of equally entertaining matches, a wider perspective on how to see the doubles game (even if you have a limited tennis knowledge like I am, just an average fan here), and even more entertaining side memes along the way! Following (or for those who play, playing) doubles has its own, unique ups and downs, but the fun, the suspense, is something else that we all should experience!

Let's keep hyping doubles throughout the tennis fandom by #WatchMoreDOUBLES!

P.S. I thank The Tennis Tribe for continuously hyping doubles via their social media platforms and website. Discovering their account during the Indian Wells when my sports Twitter was yet to be suspended, with their hashtag #WatchMoreDOUBLES, made me realize that doubles are equally entertaining to watch–that I also share the same sentiment–after I reflected on how, at one time during the Australian Open 2022, when everybody watched an early blockbuster singles match, I decided to watch a random doubles match (which was also fun!). At least, being a weirdo has its own benefits now because I can now appreciate doubles more, and I hope by this campaign I can share this equal appreciation of doubles with all of you in the tennis fandom!

#WatchMoreDOUBLES #tennis news #tennis tips #tennis updates #atp world tour #atp challenger tour #wta tour #grand slam #davis cup #billie jean king cup #writeups

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stevedonnellyfaith-blog · 5 years

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Hermiting (Post 91) 6-3-15

I had forgotten just how muggy the Ohio summers could get. As I remember back, the humidity didn’t really set in until the middle of July through August. I don’t recall being able to spread the May air like peanut butter. They say that an old man’s memory is like swish cheese, so I have been mulling over what February realities I might have also wiped from my cerebral hard drive. I have a vague recollection about something called shoveling and a wispy half-memory of my wet eyelashes welding together after leaving a sports practice.

The process of our family becoming acclimated to life in the Buckeye State is ongoing. People here use the word “awesome” quite a bit and say “hecka” not at all. Nicholas, Abby and the dogs have now arrived safely, so Natalie is teaching them the local lingo. She is now on summer vacation, and naturally, has been ill in bed for the last several days. My sister, Amy, also paid the house a visit with her cat in preparation for her own emigration back from neighboring Pennsylvania at the end of the summer. She is a teacher and has accepted a job in the English Department at the school where our father taught for close to half a century.

It is a full house with representation from three generations and three species. Not too long ago, this was how everybody lived except there might even have been another generation or two present to chime in with their opinions, to require changing or to complain about the outlandish new contraptions and styles. Even with our measly three age groups present, we are periodically annoying each other. The full house has been a particularly difficult transition for me as my life in California was very solitary for the last six months or so.

Near the end of the road with my last employer, I was largely living at work, commuting or sleeping. My work day ran from 5 AM to 5 PM on a light day. I ran into Abby and Nicholas about once a week, mostly on Monday nights. I usually talked with our expatriate Natalie for a quarter hour each evening on my drive home. That was about it for regular communication with others of a non-professional nature.

I spent most of my work day on the factory floor but had surprisingly little meaningful interaction with people. During breaks and lunches I retreated to my upstairs bunker in a deserted hall of the building that had been left vacant through a near decade of staffing reductions. Each midday repast consisted of a cup of oatmeal and a few minutes of a video game on my phone. If you ruled out my Monday meetings of the Men of Saint Joseph, there are probably Montana mountain men that had more meaningful personal collaborations and interfaces in an average week than I was totaling.

It was just Stephen, the dogs and myself at 387 Madera St. Our conversations pretty much consisted of: “What’s for dinner,” “Take your medicine,” and “Why are your pouring Tapatio and Tabasco on meat that was marinated in Sriracha?” That was about the sum total of Stephen’s and my nightly discourse. The dogs and I didn’t converse hardly at all.

Mostly I moved through my days like a solitary chess knight, incapable of getting much accomplished, trotting about in an ineffective dance of survival. I suppose I lived an active interior life, if you count worry and fatalism as an effective use of time, which it wasn’t. Sometimes I read enjoyable books, but cancelled our television to prevent myself from sinking too heavily into the Premier League soccer season and hot rod shows on the Velocity channel. All and all, it was a pretty much the life of a hermit expect it was missing piety, useful reflection, prayer and a closeness to God. My fatal grind into complete secular isolation seemed to be halted mostly by the good people of IHM parish and finally by the great mercy of being handed my final pay stub by The Man. God had a different plan for me or He could see that I was going to do no better than what I was doing so he moved my cheese.

Actually, the several weeks of my unemployment were a very helpful interlude for me. I attended daily Mass and had several breakfasts with men that I had become close to during Pam’s and Nicholas’ illnesses. With a firm understanding not only that God exists but also a belief that He had things well in hand, I pretty much left things in His capable control with regard to my job search. I interviewed with only three companies and received two offers in circumstances which also provided a strong indication as to which of the two offers was the one I was intended to take. Other than the frozen highway in Wyoming, everything seemed to go smooth enough so that I understood that I was on the right path. Upon arrival I began to immerse myself into family life and found that I could still interact with relatives and be considerate of other’s feelings although I still have my bad moments.

When I get aggravated at a family member, it is still awful tempting to turn inward again. Although the house isn’t large, there is usually a room to retreat to, or a way to avoid someone who is getting on my nerves. It is not hard to give my dad the slip, he has two titanium knee caps, so I don’t have to run far or fast when we are not getting along. With all the electronics available in modern day life, it is also easy to disappear Houdini-style emotionally and mentally out of the actual presence of other people even when you are in the same room with them. Still I don’t expect God mailed me across three quarters of a continent to cyber hide from my family in a Facebook game or electronic sports page. I try to appreciate the valuable time that I have been given with my folks, kids and siblings that I previously would have squandered.

Providentially, at Sunday Mass, the Feast of the Trinity, the local Teen Life priest gave a good homily in which he explained the imagery of the Russian icon of the Old Testament Trinity painted by Andrey Rublev between 1408-25. Having studied Russian and visited Greece, I have always liked iconography and had seen the work. It is, admittedly, not my favorite, because the black squiggly thing in the back right of center has always bothered me. Still, I like the story of the three Persons of God eating a meal with Abraham on their way to reconnoiter Sodom’s inequity, so I tuned in to what the priest had to say.

He explained that Rublev painted an empty area among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a symbol of what our relationship with God is meant for us. Our purpose in our Earthly existence is to learn to occupy that space among and between our Three-in-One God. Father Jim talks about how as a young man he had a relationship with God alone but then later came to know Jesus through Mary Magdalene. Anyone who has experienced one of his homilies can see that Jim also now has a close relationship with the Holy Spirit. Many of the rest of us are more one dimensional in our worship with most of our attention going towards Jesus. The priest’s homily explained that God wants more for us than a one dimensional relationship and Jesus will help introduce us to the Father and the Spirit if we just ask.

The homily made a lot of sense to me, and it got me thinking as well. I would not make a good hermit, because I like being alone too much and not in a good way. It used to drive Pam to distraction that whenever she gave me the silent treatment, I seemed to revel in the solitude. I expect that the point of being a hermit is to draw away from the world and closer to God; removing yourself from the world so that you can more fully immerse your consciousness in yourself or an entertainment is exactly the wrong idea. I think God has taken that option off the table for me. I will reside hereafter in the midst of noisy family life with little refuge for solitude as the basement has proved entirely too dusty even though it serves as a partial sanctuary from the humidity.

#God #Jesus #The Holy Spirit #The Virgin Mary #The Holy Trinity #Andrei Rublev #Family #Solitude #hermit #prayer #piety #Who Moved My Cheese #Life Teen #Old Testament #grace #faith #hope #love

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artstarstv · 5 years

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Interview with Lyuben Petrov

Prague-based artist Lyuben Petrov brings a peculiar pop culture twist to classic mythology. He paints princesses with mouths full of bees and gives elegant figures with a hip hop twist. Imagine Tim Burton meets Hieronymus Bosch brought together by a magician who drapes fantasy, illusion and a cabinet of curiosities. One painting features a woman in golden slippers draped in a mermaid outfit, another has a man in a queen’s gown. Bees, bugs and birds play prominent roles in Petrov’s paintings, giving clues as to the final meanings of these canvases. Many of his artworks bridge together fairies and medieval figures in apocalyptic scenarios. As he just opened his solo exhibition Plays of Nature, which runs until March 2 at Galerie Youn in Montreal, Petrov spoke to me about fairy tales, mythology and magic.

Why is the show called Plays of Nature?

Lyuben Petrov: My paintings are quite narrative: I like to manipulate time and the history or stories encoded in them. Just like in a play. I set up new heroes to change the décor, or I connect several plays and construct a whole new piece of work. All of this is deeply related to nature, the time we live in and the history we create – even the identity of man in general. I try to look iconic. But I do not want to put history first and foremost, though it’s an illusion in which I want viewers to believe. The colors, their combination, the interplay between them, are also important. This is also a play. Turning colors into feelings, impacts, passion – this makes us believe the picture itself and it becomes reality.

The apocalypse means a lot of different things to different people, what does it mean to you?

Yes, the apocalypse I depict can be taken in many different ways. For me, it’s a New Beginning. Ending one period begins another. I have the feeling that this is the age we live in. I think we’re on the verge of something big. We just have to cross the border, but it already depends on us. I’m not trying to ask complicated questions; I just want to show something of mine, my honest world. This is a reflection of the reality we live in.

What do you hope to be the message in your mythological paintings?

The message is quite important to me, but I do not want it to be very specific. I want mythological messages in my creations to interweave and connect. I often put humor in my paintings, or themes like pop culture, science, mythology; this gives my surreal vision even more rich visual contents. The message is that the audience is immersed in my world and looking at things from another angle. Just open your eyes, stare and feel.

What is your favorite fairy tale and why?

I like fairy tales that are related to nature, or where the action is set in a fabulous magical place. When it comes to such tales, my imagination starts to work in an extraordinary way. I like fairy tales with sorcerers, perhaps because I feel like one sometimes, creating illusions and enchanting viewers with colors. I like the duality found in fairy tales; I use it often in my works.

Why do you show subjects which are hybrid animals?

More precisely, I use human hybrids or some kind of metamorphosis. The inspiration comes in part from Greek mythology. If we scientifically follow the morphology of the human body, there is a lot of evidence, but my explanation is rather allegorical, related to modern times. Man becomes marginalized in nature. I feel that we are moving further and further away from it. In fact, I try to portray a mystical creature, like a modern man, a creature who lives in nature as one.

How has your upbringing in Sofia shaped your vision as an artist?

In 2007, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sofia. I spent four years there, but I cannot say that it was crucial for my construction as an artist or more specifically for a modern vision of one. To some extent, my time there showed me the way I wanted to go, but everything was over already. In fact, right after my graduation at the National Academy of Arts, I left for the Czech Republic. There, the scene is distinctive and gave me more opportunities for realization. When I lived there, I really began to believe – and especially to believe in what I do.

What do you draw from Bulgarian artists like Boyan Dobrev, Andrei Daniel and Ivo Bistrichki?

They were my teachers and professors at the Academy in Sofia and the secondary school of art in Burgas. I’ve taken something from everybody. I have had a lot of teachers: these names are not the only ones to deserve a mention. I will always remember those who helped me in my development as an artist. One who deserves my gratitude is Professor Martin Mainer at the Brno Academy in the Czech Republic. He has helped me think differently and look at things from another perspective, experimenting and having more faith.

Check out Lyuben Petrov on Instagram.

#lyuben petrov #youn galerie #galerie youn #juno youn #montreal #canada

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newsnigeria · 5 years

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/western-media-invente-gru/

How the Western Media invented the “mysterious murderers from GRU”

Source: https://vz.ru/world/2019/10/9/1002097.html

Translated by Scott Humor

The New York Times has published another article “to expose the subversive work” of the GRU in Europe. We are talking about nothing less than the activities of an entire military unit, the purpose of which is to conduct “subversion, sabotage and murder.” What does this military unit actually do, and how convincing are the published accusations?

In fact, the topic has long grew cold. The peak of attacks on the GRU came in the summer and autumn of last year against the background of the “Skripal’s case.” The campaign against the GRU took a form of daily harassment, which, in addition to the British and American media, were joined by liberal publications and “experts” in Russia. No real facts were presented, back then and now, but as a whole the “revelation” looks plausible for the Western audience, because it contains some figures, symbolizing the names of Russian military units (they might look for the English-speaking public as an interesting charade), and fitting random factoids. It reads like a spy-sabotage thriller – and, surprising, that this all has not yet found its reflection in Hollywood.

The current publication in the NYT is exactly the same: a collection of disparate assertions without any specific confirmation. It is impossible to draw any conclusions from this text. It’s just another material of the faded anti-Russia propaganda campaign, new in which was only another digital designation of the Russian military unit.

According to NYT, citing unnamed intelligence officials in four Western countries, the “coup attempt” in Montenegro, the “destabilization campaign” in Moldova, as well as the poisoning of Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev and ex-GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal in the UK involved the same unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces (GRU, since 2010 – the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces). The publication notes that security agents in Western countries have concluded that these operations are part of a coordinated and ongoing “campaign to destabilize Europe.” According to them, it is conducted by an elite top-secret unit of Russian intelligence, which specializes in “subversion, sabotage and murder.”

According to the New York Times, the group, known as “the Unit 29155,” has been active for at least a decade, but Western authorities learned of its existence recently. It was first identified in 2016 after the failed coup in Montenegro, but “the extent of the activities of Western intelligence agencies realized” only after the poisoning of the Skripals in 2018. The unit is allegedly located in the Moscow headquarters of the 161st Special Purpose Training Center.

According to Western intelligence agencies, other employees of the GRU, most likely, don’t know about the existence of this unit.

The press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, to whom the newspaper sent a request about the Unit 29155, redirected journalists to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. And it is clear why – in this story almost everything is a lie with the exception of the sincere reaction of Peskov. Representatives of the “intelligence in the four countries” heard, of course, a certain ringing, which was shared with an employee of the NYT, who also, apparently, is not too familiar with the Russian military and intelligence realities. And just with life, in general. No sane person can imagine that the military unit with the usual number “is unknown to other GRU employees,” “was identified only in 2016” and it is unclear how it is “mobilized”. To write this one has to not know anything about the realities of modern Russia.

Let’s start with the fact that the 161st training center (a.k.a. training center, GCHQ) has existed since Soviet times. Previously, it was located in the suburban objects so called “dachas” (for example, in Razdory) and there were trained special services and armies of the allied states. Now “dacha” in the town Razdory is abandoned and has become object for stalkers and junk dealers, which search there for artifacts like casings from educational radio transmitters 1970-1980’s to trade on flea markets. Another object m\u 29155 until the early 2000s was listed on the balance of the FSB in the Serebryany Bor (as an ordinary warehouse), but then was liquidated by the government of Moscow along with two dozen objects in the resort and park area of Serebryany Bor during its reconstruction.

[Washington used to have its Embassy retreat property in the Serebryany Bor until it was taken from the US in quid-pro-quo after Washington stole Russia’s owned properties in the US. Only in a pseudo-reality invented by the American Media the highly sensitive military training center would be located next to the US Embassy dacha on a small river island. S.H.]

Now military unit No. 29155 is located in Northern Izmailovo on 11th Park street and is a shameful for the “elite and top-secret units of the GRU” crumbling building behind the sloping white concrete fence, familiar to any soviet person.

[S.H. From the 2009 the military unit 29155 is listed in the All-Russia Business Directory as FEDERAL STATE INSTITUTION Military Unit 29155 with its actual street address, name of its commander and the state tenders.

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ КАЗЕННОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ “ВОЙСКОВАЯ ЧАСТЬ 29155”]

It is unlikely that NYT employees ever visited this not the most touristy area of Moscow, but this imbalance was compensated by the statement that the elite unit, “destabilizing Europe,” is experiencing difficulties with financing.” As a proof, the NYT refers to the data from open sources that the commander of the unit General Andrei Averyanov allegedly lives in the Khrushchev built five story apartment building near the m\u and drives an old Soviet built “Zhiguli-five”.

All of these looks strange for respectful American publications. Not only do they not even try to double-check the information, they just invent it. Petrov and Bashirova are invented to be in the military unit 21955 based on the photos from the wedding of the daughter of General Averyanov. Also in this article mentioned the military unit 74455 (Scientific Center of Cryptography on Komsomolsk Avenue and Svoboda street, whose employees were accused by the US of hacking Hillary Clinton’s emails, as the newspaper VZGLYAD wrote in detail) and the m/u 99450 as the main source of “destabilization.”

[See also, What are military units #26165 and #74455 in Mueller’s indictment, S.H.]

The history of these digital designations is as following. In 2009, during the reform of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, was created the Department of Special Operations (USO), subordinated personally to the Chief of the General Staff (back then it was General Nikolai Makarov). USO was formed on the basis of the center “Senezh” in Solnechnogorsk district, which was the m\u 92154.

And in April 2011, a second Special Purpose Center was established, subordinate to the head of the GRU in Kubinka-2 (aka “Zazaborye”, aka “Kuba”). In 2013, the new chief of the General staff Valery Gerasimov announced the beginning of formation of the Special Operations Forces Command (SDF). Then in 2013, Senezh and Kubinka began active construction of infrastructure. The Special Operations Forces Command (SDF) had received a designation as the military unit number 99450, which now the NYT accuses of all mortal sins, especially pressing for the “annexation of the Crimea.”

In Senezh emphasis is placed on parachute training, although here is also located the Department of Marine Special Operations (there is also a unit in Sevastopol) and the Anti-Terrorism unit.

Mountain training is carried out in North Ossetia (m \ u 90091) and the basis for the training and survival center “Terskol” in Kabardino-Balkaria. In general, these are assault army units trained to storm objects and destroy enemy bases, and not spy-style “killer-poisoners” and “Europe destabilizes.” Several units of security and protection are not even professional and comprise conscripts – a unit of reinforcements, command guards, a unit of material support, a technical platoon, a communication unit, a unit of new recruits.

On the territory of the military town of Senezh, a training, airborne and fire complexes are located, in addition to a canine complex, an indoor swimming pool, a sports hall, a tactical town for practicing actions in settlements, a helicopter pad, as well as a platform for driving special equipment, medical and office premises. In Kubinka (unit 01355) all roughly the same with emphasis on physical training.

Training of officers is carried out in the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School – RVVDKU (faculty of special and military intelligence and department of application of special purpose units) and Novosibirsk higher military command school – NVVKU (faculty of special intelligence and department of special intelligence and airborne training).

At the same time, parts of the S.O.F. experience a constant shortage of personnel with “non-physical” training. For example, there is a chronic lack of specialists with knowledge of foreign languages, which is a global problem (in terms of S.O.F., first of all, they look at the physical training). The French 13th Dragoon parachute regiment (13e Régiment de dragons parachutistes) of the S.O.F. of the French army’s Land forces in 2014, with a staff of 751, had 707 men in service for the same reason. At the same time, there is evidence that General Makarov, creating the Russian S.O.F., actively adopted the experience of Western colleagues – the French, Germans and Italians (Italians are traditionally strong in the training of naval combat swimmers). In 2012, in order to exchange experience, General Makarov visited a similar American S.O.F. training center in Tampa (Florida).

Nevertheless, the creation of the S.O.F. units, not included in the GRU, but tied directly to the leadership of the General Staff, went slowly because of funding problems and quiet bureaucratic sabotage. Now, the Russian S.O.F. – one of the best in the world, as shown by the experience of Syria.

So, where is here the Skripals, attempt of revolution in Montenegro, Bashirov and Petrov, the Bulgarian arms dealer and Hillary Clinton? All the more tied in one knot by the NYT’s “sources.” Texts like the one published by the NYT are created solely to maintain interest in a faded topic.

The main message of the article: be afraid of the Russians, especially their GRU, which is prone to cruelty (these are actual words of one of the “American experts”).

Having discovered a new three-letter combination – GRU – two years ago, the Western media consistently hammers into this one point: the Russians have some terrible brigades of murderers, from whom no one is protected because of their brutality. Evidence-zero. There is not even an elementary knowledge base on this topic, and to visit the 11th Park street and knock on the crumbling fence is really scary.

We can, of course, ignore this. What this leads to we saw on the example of almost daily mockery of the Russian military intelligence. Surely, the Russian intelligence services will remain silent this time, providing a lot of food for thought to those who will continue to invent schemes of involvement of Russian military units in something off color.

By the way, Gebrev traded Bulgarian and Russian made weapons to the Middle East through the channels of the CIA and managed to annoy half of the Arab world, in addition to the CIA and Israel. Maybe, the NYT should dig somewhere in there?

The featured image: Russian Spetsnaz Special Operation Forces

#russia #U.S.A

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bern33chaser · 5 years

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How to Write Dialogue

Dialogue refreshes. Seeing quotation marks on a page has been proven to increase readability, which means that readers find the page more interesting. And you want your readers to stay interested. Dialogue breaks up “gray text” and gives your eyes a break too.

Dialogue uses basic rules for punctuating and formatting:

When the speaker changes, hit Return and start a new line (which Maeve Maddox demonstrates in Formatting Dialogue.)

Put punctuation, such as the closing comma, inside the quotation marks.

A colon can be used in a script, but in other forms of writing, you don’t routinely punctuate dialogue with a colon.

TOM POLHAUS: Heavy. What is it? SAM SPADE: The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.

Here are some suggestions for more effective dialogue:

Do something, don’t just talk. Conflict creates action out of dialogue. If everything is dialogue, it’s a play. In real life, people do things while they talk, and they don’t talk all the time.

Don’t be yourself. New writers need to “find their voice,” but when you write dialogue, it’s not your voice now, but another’s. If they all sound like you, they all sound the same. Figure out what makes your characters different from you – perhaps age, life experiences, or social status – and how those differences affect their speech.

Who’s speaking, please? If it’s hard to tell the characters apart, your reader will be confused, bored or frustrated. Ali Hale gives several solutions in Dialogue Writing Tips. For example, you can have each character speak at his or her own rate, fast or slow, terse or wordy, big words or little words, long sentences or short, rude or polite. Vocabulary can also distinguish characters. They may express agreement in different ways: “Aye,” “Yup,” “Ja,” “Okey dokey,” “Absolutely,” “For sure, dude!” “Indubitably.”

Limit extreme dialect. In the 1800s, authors would represent a regional or cultural group by phonetically spelling their pronunciations, leaving out dropped endings, and so forth: “Och, dat wuz fright’nin’ an’ no dou’t!.” Unfortunately, deliberately adding misspellings and apostrophes makes your writing harder to read. Maeve Maddox and Kate Evans provide a better way in Showing Dialect in Dialogue and Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect.

You don’t have them with “Hello.” In fact, start your dialogue after the greeting. Leave out the fluff, pleasantries, and repetition. Real speech can be so repetitious that professional transcriptionists have special keys to avoid typing words such as “Okay” and “Fine.” Some people can have an entire conversation using only the word “Fine.” But don’t put it in your novel. Skip past the boring details. Really, it’s not the details that are boring, but the vague parts.

“How are you doing? Fine? Glad to hear it. How is your family? Fine?”

If a dialogue doesn’t advance the plot or expand the character, omit it. People all over the world say “Looks like rain” every day – everyone can agree on the weather – but you don’t need to do it in your story unless the rain would ruin an important action or object.

You don’t have to use complete or grammatical sentences. Real-life dialogue isn’t like that. People interrupt themselves, pause, change their minds, and so on.

Show their motivation. Or at least, show they have motivation, even if what it is remains a mystery. They may not be telling the truth or telling everything, but they have reasons for saying what they do.

Don’t have the maid tell the butler what he already knows. Yes, dialogue is a great way to feed details to your reader, but it needs to reflect what your characters would have actually asked.

“Is Heathcliffe Manor dark and dismal?” “Yes, as you remember from working here for the past thirty years, the previous owner had most of the windows painted over.”

Try it out, out loud. Reading your writing audibly to yourself (or someone else) helps you decide whether your dialogue is natural. It may cause you to shorten parts of it by showing you that you need to breathe.

Avoid the info-dump. Sometimes at the beginning and the end of a detective novel, someone says:

“First, tell me everything you know about the murder.” “Tell me, how in the world did you figure out that the butler did it?”

But an info-dump isn’t as much fun as revealing information naturally.

“This gold mirror must be four feet wide! How will we get it downstairs?”

From this one piece of dialogue, we can surmise that strangers are moving rich people out of a multi-story house.

Limit the cast. The more characters there are, the more confusing the conversation can be. If it’s hard to distinguish character voices spread through the story, it’s even harder to distinguish them when they’re all talking at once.

About dialogue tags

A dialogue tag tells you who is speaking. Writers and teachers disagree about what else it should do.

“Call a taxi,” she said. “Taxi!” he shouted. “Where you wanna go?” the driver said gruffly.

Some teachers want their students to choose from the hundreds of alternatives to said, telling them, “Said is dead.”:

“Stop the presses,” he bellowed. “Everything will be fine,” Kate reassured them. “Y’all need to meet my grandson,” she gushed. “Only the Shadow knows,” he whispered.

J.K. Rowling is notorious for her adverbial dialogue tags, which she usually places in the middle of a dialogue. Three examples from a single page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:

“Oh yes, everyone’s celebrating all right,” she said impatiently. “You can’t blame them,” said Dumbledore gently. “I know that,” said Professor McGonagall irritably.

On the other hand, Stephen King advises writers to avoid adverbs and use nothing but said: “While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.” He also says, “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

Journalists are taught to use only two verbs in dialogue tags: said and asked. Adding adverbs or using more colorful verbs compromise their objectivity.

I agree with Stephen King. The word said doesn’t distract from the dialogue itself. It is unnoticed and unobtrusive. Dialogue is a character talking. A dialogue tag is you talking. The writer’s rule is “show, don’t tell,” and when you add an adverb to a dialogue tag, you are “telling.” You are also drawing attention to yourself.

When it comes to verbs, I distinguish between active verbs such as croaked or whispered and descriptive verbs such as threatened or urged. Saying “he croaked” shows your reader the sound of the speaker’s voice, something which they wouldn’t otherwise know. Saying “he threatened” is a crutch – the reader should be able to see the threat in the dialogue itself.

I never say ‘She says softly.’ If it’s not already soft, you know, I have to leave a lot of space around it so that a reader can hear that it’s soft.” – Toni Morrison

More suggestions for dialogue tags:

Don’t use impossible verbs. Several commonly used dialogue tags represent actions that can’t really be performed while speaking.

“That’s not necessary,” laughed Bob.

If this could happen in real life, this would sound more like:

“That’s (ha ha) not (ha) necessary (ha ha),” said Bob.

Laughing and talking simultaneously is not possible.

Avoid Tom Swifties. The authors of the Tom Swift adventures of a century ago didn’t limit themselves to said because they believed in elegant variation. As a result, dialogue tags with obtrusive verbs and adverbs have been parodied in a class of puns called “Tom Swifties.”

“Someone has let the soup boil over!” Tom said hotly. “It’s pouring rain outside,” Tom stormed. “I’ll hold the flashlight for you,” Tom beamed. “I prefer pancakes,” said Tom flatly.

Don’t be like Tom.

Is this dialogue tag necessary? Sometimes you don’t need one. In a conversation between two characters, the reader can assume that alternate lines are spoken by the same character. Here’s an example from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace with some of the dialogue tags removed:

“Forgive me!” Natasha said in a whisper. “Forgive me!” “I love you,” said Prince Andrei. “Forgive…” “Forgive what?” “Forgive me for what I di…did.”

Can you use an action tag instead of a dialogue tag? You don’t need a dialogue tag if you have just identified the speaker in a different way.

The detective abruptly snuffed out his cigarette. “How about you and me working together?”

In this case, he reader understands that the detective is speaking.

Dialogue is not just for fiction. Try including dialogue in everything you write, even scholarly papers and business memos. Seeing quotation marks brightens the eyes of an academician as much as anyone else. Instead of formally summarizing what your employers said to you, why not quote them word-for-word?

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Original post: How to Write Dialogue from Daily Writing Tips https://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-write-dialogue/

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mrsteveecook · 5 years