text:
Roleplay Palace
Where you can roleplay, and can do just about anything else!
-}--> Marvel Universe.
Roleplay Palace :: Writing :: Roleplays :: Private Roleplays (PRPs)
Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
by miss.alice on Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:36 am
"we left humanity behind"
characters;;
Wade Wilson
Alexandra Blake
Avery Wright
Cecile Bernadette
Amelie Jones
Last edited by miss.alice on Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:43 am; edited 3 times in total
miss.alice
Famous Poet
Re: -}--> Marvel Universe.
age / occupation / description / power / history
•Alexandra Blake;;
21/ bartender / medium-length dark brown hair, usually in a loose ponytail, grey eyes, 5''6, moderately skinny but works out on a weekly basis, tends to wear black t-shirts or tanks at her work place with skinny jeans and converse, but on required nights she wears cocktail dresses, always keeps a knife on her person / liquid control / Xandra grew up in a bad neighborhood with a good-for-nothing father and a mother who worked every night at the local strip club, she learned of her powers at 12 after she was cleaning up after her father when she pulled the alcohol out of the carpet, until recent years she kept her powers secret and rarely used them until someone broke into the store she worked at while she was there and stopped them via the water fountain
•Avery Wright;;
28/ information broker / pixie-cut bright red hair that curls when humid or wet, hazel eyes, 5''8, wear's Capri's on a regular basis with flowy tanks or midriffs showing off her toned stomach and stomach piercing, has a tattoo on her right shoulder blade that's a single black rose, works out in her own personal gym on a daily basis / none / Ave's life was boring with no adventure what-so-ever, her parents being dull with uninteresting jobs, this being said she was quickly attracted to the dangerous part of New Jersey and had a knack for hacking into hard-to-hack firewalls, once knowing she could sell information for tons of money she quickly got into the grey part of the world and became infamously known for up-to-date info for 'cheap' prices.
•Cecile Bernadette;;
24 / s.h.i.e.l.d. agent / a-line brown hair that curls slightly at the ends, green eyes, 5"4, tiny in general, tends to wear nice dresses but does wear pants when needed, always keeps her gun on a thigh holster / none / grew up around s.h.i.e.l.d as both her parents worked there. also grew up around all the Captain America paraphernalia and swore one day that she would meet him. took up the agent job when she was 18, and has been there since.
•Amelie Jones;;
28 / ex-military & Tony's personal assistant / long blonde hair usually in a pony or braid or whatever, grey eyes, stands 5"7 and has a little bit of a more muscular build, has a wide variety of clothing, although her "super suit" is shorts, a hoodie with her insignia and boots, which are like Tony's so she can fly places. / shadow control / grew up in a basic household in the farmlands outside of New York with 3 brothers and her parents. enlisted into the military at 18. was kidnapped and tested on at 23 during a mission in Iraq. was given her unfortunate power after a year. escaped at 24 and was discharged honorably after her incident. started to work for Tony Stark after his run in with Ten Rings. now his secretary and in a relationship with him.
by Karou Heiwajima on Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:13 am
Alexandra Blake, Alex for short, made her way to her work place the Dancing Irish bar and club. She was the best bartender there and one of the most handsomely tipped. With one headphone in playing some random song she'd downloaded long ago, Alex passed massive hordes of people in business attire. It was the end of the work day for them, but hers was only starting. She'd lived in this city the majority of her late teenage life and current adult life and knew all of the sounds Manhattan made by heart. Upon hearing police sirens she looked up to see if she could get a glimpse of the infamous web-slinger Spiderman. Alex had a small crush on the hero and always found his humor under-appreciated by most. What? She was on tumblr so of course there was something wrong with her humor. With no blue and red hero in sight, she picked up her regular walking pace and made her way to the bar.
Avery Wright, the best DAWN information broker in the US. Well, at least thats what her clients tell her. She was currently working on gathering information on the local Maf, nothing too hard, and putting it onto an unbreakable flash-drive for a client. For the little important information the local Maf provided, she would have to do a little digging. Really, just planting daisy's in a garden digging. But she would be paid well and that's what mattered. She was in desperate need of some new keyboards and light-bulbs. Not those cheap-ARM crap at Staples. She had a guy who made them, the keyboards, especially for her but it was spendy. Avery got up from her desk and stretched, her stomach demanding that it was to be fed. She sighed heavily and went into her kitchen on a mission for easy to cook food.
"You found my weakness."
"It's small knives!"
Karou Heiwajima
Unknown Poet
This was bad. Really really bad.
Peter Parker was a pretty good kid. Good grades, nice college, came home before curfew, etc etc. But when he put his suit on, everything went downhill.
Today he was currently chasing after some robbers who could fly (who would have thunk?), probably from some technology they also stole. Too high tech for these dumbos. The problem was that he couldn't get his webs to go fast enough to catch them, and he was starting to get exhausted.
"C'mon dudes, it'll be easier if you just turn yourself in!" He yelled. They disagreed. Typical.
Out of the corner of his eye, Peter spotted the bright lights of the Dancing Irish Bar sign. He thought maybe, after this, he'd go there to lay low and relax a bit. He had time and could easily get in. As he thought, his next web he was shooting attached to one robber, who then fell with a loud noise.
And then he fell. On top of a girl with dark hair and a pretty face.
This was really, really, really bad.
On the other side of town, Deadpool was stumbling home after a long day of... doing what he usually did on a day to day basis. Today had sucked and he was ready to go home, put on a movie and heat up those frozen chimichangas he got a few days ago. His stomach growled and his mouth watered at the thought.
As he approached the complex he lived in, a thought struck him. What was that hot girl down three rooms doing tonight? Having absolutely no idea what troubles would come with this idea of his, he went down three doors from his own, and simply pushed the door open.
"Honey, I'm hooooome~"
When Cecile was a little girl, she told herself she'd meet Captain America before she died. She... never really expected to well, work with him.
So that's how the five foot, four inch girl found herself in Brooklynn, standing in front of the prestigious Steve Roger's door. Her hand was raised, her mouth flat into a thin line. She couldn't knock-- not yet. Truth be told she'd worked with Roger's earlier when some Norse God thought he could take over Manhattan and then the world. That was fun. She shot some aliens and got her ARM saved by her personal hero. That was great. But other than that she had a few conversations with him. Mostly about his past and such. Never really got too deep into him.
But now she had to work with him again. Fury had given her orders to make sure he was save. Apparently coming back and saving the world made you some enemies. He never evaluated after that. A soft exhale left her, glaring at the door. She could do this.
Knock. "Steve? It's me, Cecile."
Working for a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist had it's ups and downs, and Amelie knew every single up and down.
The biggest down was constantly having your house blown up or completely wrecked by people who hate you, or well, your husband. To be fair: the Manhattan condo wasn't that bad but she missed her tower (at least, the 12% of it that was hers), missed the sights of the city below and missed the smell of the air up there.
The Manhattan condo smelled like old air and dust. The thought of it made her nose itch. So to counter the feel of sneezing, Amelie shoved more Chinese food into her mouth.
Tony had been gone for god-knows-what for a good 6 hours now. And she was bored. The food had been the most exciting part and she was almost done with it. Her head tilted back to lay against the couch and a loud groan escaped her lips.
"Boooored!" She yelled into the empty condo, before eating more of her now cold food.
Steve Rogers, the oldest but hottest guy on the plant. Well, according to this thing on the 'Internet' on a 'website' called 'tumblr'. Jeez,he'd hoped by now people would know how to spell. He had been catching up on the times and such when he heard a gentle knock and a small, sweet voice call out "Steve? It's me, Cecile." Oh Lord in heaven, help me now he thought. He could've recognized that sweet voice anywhere. Cecile worked at S.H.E.I.L.D and was an agent there. As far as he knew, her job consisted of worrying over fellow workers and finishing months of paperwork on time. In Steve's eyes, she was adorable yet beautiful. He had a problem with that seeing as he was technically 95 years old. Shrugging, he walked over to the door, prepared himself for the adorable shortness behind the door, and opened said object. Instantly he looked at Ceciles vibrant green eyes and how short she was before he answered, "Hello there Agent Bernadette. Does S.H.E.I.L.D need me? Is there an emergency?"
Tony could smell the Chinese as he was entering the hallway to his condo. Amelie must've ordered some and hopefully, there was still some for him. 'Doubtful.' he thought. He'd been gone for 6 or some odd hours with no contact of any sort with his lovely wife. Really, being a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist was hard and finding your 'soulmate' was even harder. Although Tony didn't believe in such a childish thing, he'd been slightly, slightly convinced that Amelie was the one. He'd never tell her though, he'd never live it down. He opened the door only to hear "Boooored!" being yelled throughout the empty condo. He waited for any more random outburst but was met with quiet munching. "Babe I'm hoooooome~ Is there still food for me?"
Alex was just a few yards away from the Dancing Irish when suddenly she was on the ground with something, more like someoneon top of her. "Wonderful. I've always wanted to be under someone in the middle of a sidewalk." she said sarcastically. At least she had a story for her drunken customers. They all liked hearing stories for some odd reason. Anywho, whoever was on top of her didn't get off. Alex was starting to think that only working her stomach muscles were a bad idea. "Uh..? Sir person dude? Would you kindly get off, I mean not that I don't enjoy being under you and cushioning your fall, its just I'm going to be late for work."
Aves was in the midst of cooking mac and cheese with some cut up hotdogs when Deadpool decided to pop in. Really, with as often as he visits she shouldn't be surprised nor should she jump when he announces his coming in. But come on, she lives alone with only rare visits from people who cant operate a cellphone. She swore loudly and quickly turned to face her visitor, "You could've knocked like a normal person Deadpool! You almost made me throw my mac and cheese up into the air!" she said. Taking her food off of the burner, she walked up to him with her hands on her hips. Today she was wearing her hotwheel pj pants and a loose black tank. She never really wore pants unless she needed to go out. "Care to explain this sudden appearance?"
Having to crane her neck to look people in the eye was Cecile's least favorite part of being short. That currently applied as she looked at the very hot and yet very old Steve Rogers. Her mouth opened slightly as she searched for her words but-- his face was handsome and it was distracting.
She caught herself a moment later and cleared her throat before speaking. "N-No, uh." She glanced around before looking back up at him. "Fury's assigned me to you to make sure you're safe. I-I mean, I bet you can handle any discrepancies because you're, w-well, you but--" You're babbling nitwit. Cecile took in a slow, deep breath. "...yeah." A small smile crossed her features, even though she was mortified beyond belief and was slightly turning red in the cheeks.
"Absolutely none!" Amelie said, lifting her empty take out box in the air before turning slightly in her seat to look at him with a smile. Being the small town, farm life girl she was raised to be, she always had the whole mentality of there being "the one" in one's life. And she really thought that was Tony to her, even if he was a playboy, billionaire , genius, philanthropist that constantly got on her nerves. Not that she'd ever admit that. Ever.
A slow grin spread across her lips after a moment as she looked at him. "Kidding. I saved some for you in the fridge." She set her box down on the coffee table, and looked back at her husband. "So, what have you been up to?" She questioned slowly, briefly looking him up and down before returning to his face.
Peter wanted to jump off the nearest cliff right at that moment. He was very, very glad he was wearing a mask at that moment because he was red from embarrassment.
"I'm so, so sorry." He said, pushing himself off the girl before moving to the side. And that was the moment he realized people had created a small circle around them and the other man, who was groaning and trying to get up at the same time. Quickly, he stood up, before he gently grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled her up. At this angle, he could really see her pretty face. A smile broke out behind his mask. "Again, I'm really sorry miss."
And then he was gone, the robber under his arm as he raced off to find the others.
Peter couldn't help but notice the girl had a Drinking Irish logo on her shirt. Now, he would definitely go there after this and find her. Maybe apologize again. But he would definitely get her number. That he was sure of.
Wade shrugged as he walked over to the counter, listening to the door shut behind him. "Who else comes over but me though?" Slowly he jumped up to sit on the counter. He grinned as he watched her walk up. "Oh come on babe, when don't you like my random appearances? They always end the way you like~" He raised his hands, thumb and pointer out as a small 'aaaaye' left his mouth. And then he waited. To be smacked. As per usual.
Alex was not only surprised to be effortlessly pulled up by the sitting offender, but his voice. She knew it well. It was Spiderman. The local hero of Manhattan with under-appreciated humor had just landed on her and helped her up. The mild pain in her hip was proof that he landed on her. Oh god, she had just sassed Spiderman. Oh no, oh hell no. That was probably her first and last time she would be within touching distance of the web-slinger. Oh yeah, she would be having some whiskey if someone payed for her drink. Maybe two. Maybe she'll take home a bottle or five. Alex got up and watched the hero sling his way with criminal in hand out of sight. She slowly went into the bar and got ready for the long, long night ahead.
Avery rolled her eyes and punched him, quite hard in fact, in the gut. "Babe, I'm about to flippin eat. No dirty do talk until I break out the wine." she said, walking back to her now ready mac and cheese. She poured the contents of the pot into a large bowl and started to devour the food with a fork in hand. After eating about an eighth of the bowl, she offered some to Wade, "I do get visitors at times. The pizza guy does count Wade. So does the mail man, even if he smells like eggs." she said.
Steve nodded, relieved that he wasn't needed for combat reasons for once. He grinned at Cecile's babbling, it was cute. God, she was the physical representation of cute. After she was done babbling, he chuckled, "Well, thanks for the check up Agent. So, uh..." 'Uh oh..' he thought, "Does that mean you're assigned to live with, uh, me?" he asked. Without waiting for her reaction or answer, it was his turn to babble, "I mean, uh, I'm totally okay with it, kinda. I mean when I say kinda I mean that I'm not totally sure how it would work out like sleeping arrangements and room space. This is a small place for two-" 'Steve you idiot, Tony can throw parties in here' "people and I've just never bunked with a woman. Not that I'm uncomfortable with your gender but I've bunked with fellow soldiers and-" 'Steve. Just calm down.' "I mean I'm just curious is all."
Tony was going to put on his pouty face when Amelie revealed that there was indeed food for him. He rushed to the fridge and grabbed his box and threw it into the microwave. After he set a time he looked at his beautiful wife. "Hm? Oh, just helping Nick with adjustments to the helicarrier. Also challenged the forensic's crew to a serious Mario Kart battle. Jenkins won again and I don't know how. Maybe he's hacked the game." he said while quickly giving his wife a brief kiss on the forehead. The microwave beeped and he when after his food, "I didn't think it would that 4 hours to finally beat the guy but hey, I did it." Tony grabbed his food and sat down next to his spouse. For the duration of the next five minutes he ate Chinese and stared at her. DAWN, he got lucky. Really flippin lucky that this lady loved him for him and not his money. She even saved him some Chinese food. It was a match made in heaven.
A good hour or so later, Peter walked into the Drinking Irish, backpack slung over one shoulder. He pulled his hood off and headed to the far edge of the bar stand, sitting down and slightly swinging in his chair.
The other robbers had put up quite the fight, which was exhausting. But in the end, the were delivered in front of the police station, tightly wrapped in webs with his signature stuck one via sticky note. Then he ducked into a dark alley, made a quick change into his civilian clothes before he started walking back to the bar. In the 20 minute walk, he thought about the girl he so gracefully landed on earlier. What was her name, he wondered, noting that there had been no time to ask. He eventually shrugged it off, realizing he'd find out soon enough.
The TV in the bar was on, currently on the late night news, and Peter grinned to himself as he listening to the reporter talk about him. He looked around, and lo and behold, he spotted the dark haired girl from before. "Excuse me, miss?"
The punch felt like nothing to Wade, but he decided to over-dramatic it. He fell to the floor with a loud thump, wrapping his arms around his stomach and howling out an "ouuuuch!". After a minute, he sat back up, and grabbed the bowl. Pulling off his mask enough to eat, he quickly started shoving forkfuls into his mouth. "The pizza and mail guy do not count." He stated with mouthful, pointing at Avery with his fork. "People you don't pay to see do could, i.e. me." He shoved more mac and cheese in his mouth before handing it back. "Sooo, can we break out that wine now so I can continue?" He grinned.
Cecile kinda just stared at him as he babbled, green eyes wide and blinking. She waited until he was done and then pushed her suitcase into his view with her foot. "Yeah, it does mean that." She paused, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "I'm sorry if it's intruding, it is Fury's orders. I could always get a hotel room if you're uncomfortable. There's a hotel nearby..." She paused, thinking. "...I think." 'The nearest one is a mile or two south.' Her thoughts told her. "Yeaaaah..." She looked down, her cheeks turning a brighter red. After this, she was going to shoot Fury. Fucker was probably laughing his ARM off his office by now.
"Jenkins? Isn't that the same guy who was playing Galaga on the helicarrier?" Amelie's head tilted slightly, and she smiled warmly when she got a kiss on the forehead. "I'm proud of you for winning, even if it took 4 hours." She looked at him as he looked at her, and she blinked a few times. "Tony you're staring. Is there food on my face?"
Steve shook his head, way too much he thought afterward, "Nonononononono uh no, that's fine. Really it is, I have a spare room you could use. There's just uh.... Stuff in there I never use." he said. 'Shit Steve, let the girl in.' "Uh, why don't you come in? It is your new home base." he said nervously with a nervous chuckle. What the hell Steve, stop being nervous. Just think of her as a cute little kitten.... NO. Hell, now I wanna hug her. "Ah, you have anything to eat yet? I wanna try this pizza place but... I'm not up to date on how to order." he said shrugging.
Tony nodded, "Yep, same guy." he answered between mouthfuls. He felt like he was king of the world when she said she was proud of him. Ladies like a winner. Once Amelie stated the fact that he was indeed staring at her, he smoothly answered, "Do you count? Cause you look hella delicious sweets." Oh yea, still got it he thought to himself. He grinned wide while swallowing the last bit of his food. He wiggled his eyebrows and said, "But seriously, delish. Are you up for dessert? Cause I'll have you if you'll have me." he chuckled.
Alex had been working non-stop for an hour with serving drinks and telling her eventful story of how she got to meet the web-slinger. "Pish posh hun. That's a load of bull and you know it. Now how about a rum and coke?" asked a regular. 'I think his name is John. There's a lot of Johns.' she thought to herself. The news popped onto the small TV at the bar and started to talk about said hero. Her face heated up but it was dark enough that no-one would notice. "Excuse me miss?" 'Spidey?!' she thought as she, calmly, looked around for the source of the voice. She only found a handsome dude at the bar. Not Spidey, but a hotty. Hell, her luck was good today. "Yea? What can I get for you dude?" A cutie on duty was what she needed to forget about her previous events with a certain spider.
Avery ate the last of the food and set the bowl down. She glared at the merc, "CAR I work out. Your healing factor is a pain sometimes. They so count. I even know their names." When she received a weird look she threw up her hands in defense, "What? I like to know if my pizza and mail guy aren't fresh outta prison." She shuffled out of the kitchen and into her pantry, "Babe, don't rush me. You rush, no dirty doing will be done tonight. Now, Beringer or Blackstone?" she asked, bending down.
Cecile smiled softly. "Thanks." She leaned down, picking up her suitcase and stepping inside before setting down the bag again. She straightened out her nice dress, which she realized was over fancy for the situation. "Where is this room? And uhm, no, no I didn't." Her smile widened slightly. "You... you don't? I can show you, don't worry. What pizza place is it?" She picked up her suitcase again, waiting. Her eyes very quickly glanced him over. 'Thank you God for this man in front of me. A+. Good job.
An eyebrow raised slowly as Amelie started at her husband with a "are-you-fucking-kidding-me" look. "I'm going to punch you in the dick if you ever say that again. Holy shit that was so corny I'm gonna--" She exhaled, covering her face with her hands. Not quite known to Tony though, a light blush slowly covered her cheeks. She was still quite the sucker for corny pick up lines like that. She wasn't sure why but it was a curse. And she would never let Tony see. God, she'd never hear the end of it from her stupid, attractive husband.
"Hi." He said as she walked up, flashing her a smile. "Well, what do you have without alcohol?" Peter turned around to look at the TV as the reporter talked about his... incident before with the lady taking his order. 'That's embarrassing.' Slowly, he looked back at her, his smile widening. "That looks like you. You have a run in with the web slinger lately?" The words tasted weird in his mouth. He sounded like Jameson and it made his stomach churn.
"Is it reaaaally a pain though? Because it's really not." He paused, crossing his arms over his chest. "They so do not count!!" Wade huffed, pouting like a child with his mask still half way up his face. "Can I have both babe? And you wouldn't ever not do the dirty do so that threat doesn't work!"
Alex nodded a hello and answered, "I make a mean Virgin Bloody Mary. Just a warning though, it'll taste like it has the liquid courage but it doesn't." she said, already whipping it up. Using her powers, stealthily of course, she whipped it up and served it, "On the house pretty boy." Alex then heard the embarrassing story and she almost laughed when the man asked the question. "Jesus PRINCESS dude. Yea that's me, though I didn't notice the camera crew. Hm. Anyway, Spidey did in fact fall onto me. I feel so bad though. I fucking sassed him and and I'm just trash." she said. God, she was trash. White trash. Heh, look who's the hipster now.
Avery got both out and then proceeded to glare at her lover, "They so do!" she hissed as she set the bottles onto the granite table top. She then grabbed two wine glasses, one made of glass, one made of metal. One too many glasses had this little shit broke. She poured herself the Blackstone and the Beringer for Wade. "You cocky dick, what do you think I did before I met you? The dirty do wasn't a constant on my agenda." she purred before giving him his wine glass.
Steve pointed to a hallway to the left, "Down there, second door on the left. If you find anything you don't want in there, I'll take it out." he said. Oh god oh god oh god oh god, she looked so DAWN perfect and cute in her dress. He hoped she dressed this way all the ti- No. Jesus PRINCESS Steve pull yourself together. "Uh I think it was something along the lines of Papa Slerpy? Kerby... No! Murphey. I think. Ah and thanks, you're great." he said. Pssh, 'you're great', lame Roger's. Lame.
Tony smirked but just to be safe he scooted a little bit away from her. Whenever she covered her face he thought she was so cute. The way she got mad at him was adorable and he simply couldn't resist. "Aw, don't be mad at me sweets. Why don't a break out the wine? Or would you want something else?" he asked in all seriousness. Shit, it took a lot of self restraint to not cuddle with his wife right now. Maybe after a little wine. Yea.
"Thanks." Peter spun the paper coaster around his finger as he waited, glancing at the TV again. "Well," He said, turning back to look at her as he was served his drink. "Oh, thank you. But congrats on your new found fame." The bar was buzzing a little louder than when he came in. He took a small sip of his drink and he was so glad he decided to come in here. This drink was delicious! And it did vaguely taste like it had the liquid luck in it, coming from his past experiences with alcohol.
"I doubt he's offended miss. He wouldn't be all that super if he was." He winked as he took another sip.
"Do nooooot~!" Wade sang out before he slowly clambered to his feet again. The strain of the day was starting to take place on his muscles. He'd be sore in the morning, probably, but oh well. He slowly took the glass from his lover and rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon, you so did the dirty do with yourself before I was here. Don't lie to me." He grinned over the rim of his glass before he took a long drink.
After being pointed to Cecile's new room for awhile, she nodded and walked over to the door, pushing it open with her foot. She flicked the light on and set her stuff down, briefly glancing around before turning around and walking back. She smiled warmly again. "Ah yes, the classic Papa Slerpy." A light laugh escaped her. "Right, I can order that. How to you like your pizza, Mr. Rogers?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes.
...Okay maybe she was upping her flirting just a bit, but hey. She'd be here for awhile, and well, what happened happened. She'd roll with it, especially with Steve. She was, however, vaguely curious where this was coming from. Like, shit, she was still a virgin and blushed brighter than a tomato when she flirted usually.
"....I'd love some wine, actually." Amelie mumbled through her fingers as she slowly fell over to lay on the couch. After a moment, when she was sure her blush was completely gone, she reached down to tug her pajama shorts down slightly and fix the strap on her tank top. Did she ever mention how bloody hot in was in Mahattan? Too hot to be normal.
"Do we still have that fancy wine from awhile back? It was a gift from... uhm, uhm..." She snapped her fingers, trying to think of the name of the person.
Steve blushed slightly, "Don't mock your elders." he muttered quietly. He then chuckled at his own joke. "Uh I'm up for anything except for anchovies. I had a bad experience with those." he said. He shivered at the thought of eating suck horrid scum. Whoa whoa whoa, wait. Did she just call him Mr. Rogers? Didn't she know she could address him normally? Oh wait. Maybe it was flirting. Oh how he hoped that was what it was. Probably not. Oh no, she just got more cute. His eyes skimmed her, Oh sweet baby jesus, her parents made the best specimen of cute. I'm so very fucked.'
Tony immediately got up, "I believe we do." he said walked over to their wine cellar. "Wasn't it from Alex? I don't remember..." he half yelled through the room. He hated to sound muffled. His voice was too DAWN sexy to be muffled. "Found it~!" he sang as he walked back into the living room, wine glasses in hand. He poured some for him and then for Amelie, "Here you are." His eyes quickly glanced over the body of his wife, who was trying to cool down from the Manhattan heat. Tony inwardly fist pumped, 'There is nothing I love more than Manhattan heat.'
Alex scoffed, "Yea thanks. If it means more tips I'm bringing home, I will not be complaining." She cleaned some glasses and glanced over at the TV every second or two. If the DAWN remote wasn't broke, she'd change the channel. She stepped back to grab her mug, a Spiderman mug no-less, and sipped some coffee from it. She set it down and returned to her work. "You have a point there. If anything, I'm sure he'd appreciate some good humor. Anyway, how's the Virgin? Yay or nay?" she asked. She already knew the answer but sometimes people just didn't like the way the Virgin Bloody's tasted.
Avery blushed, "Goddammit Wade, solo dirty doing don't fucking count. If pizza and mail guy don't count then solo action don't count either." she said, smoothly her blushed only slightly dusting her pale complexion. She took a sip of her wine and savored the flavor. "Blackstone knows how to make hella rad wine." she stated before taking more sips.
by miss.alice on Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:12 am
Another laugh escaped Cecile and she nodded as he spoke. "Alright, I know what to get." She pulled her phone out of her hidden pocket, unlocking the screen before dialing Papa Murphy's (she knew the number by heart now, seeing as it was common lunch at Shield). She slightly turned away as she ordered the pizza, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. She saw that in a movie once and apparently it counted as flirting, but she wasn't entirely sure.
After awhile, she muttered her "thank you"s and then hung up before turning back to the patriotic god in front of her. "They have a lot of orders going on right now so it'll be a good hour or so. Anything you want to do in the mean time? We have time to burn." She smiled again, shoving her hands in her pockets along with her hand. Ideas buzzed through her head, although most of them weren't child appropriate. God, where was this coming from? This sudden... what was the word that she heard teens say when she walked around downtown...? Ah yes, thirst. Where was this sudden thirst coming from?
"Oh god, right. I forgot about that. It should be good then." She slowly sat back up, thanking him as she took her glass. She took a quick sip as she looked around the living room area. "God, do we not have AC here? It's hot. Really really hot." She took another sip of her wine as she looked over at him, grey eyes scanning his face. "Or did you have it removed because quote: you look better in less clothing Amelie." Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Peter raised a thumbs up as he took another drink. "It's great. Amazing actually." He eyed the spiderman mug and couldn't help the small grin. He'd might have to invest in one of those, as soon as he found out who was selling them. "And he really does appreciate good humor." There was a long pause before Peter registered what he had said. 'Shit.' "I mean, in theory. The guy who delivers most criminals to the police department with a sticky note with a heart on it probably enjoys good humor. Lot's of sarcasm too." A small pause. "Again, in theory."
"Babe, c'mon. Solo dirty absolutely counts, your mailman that smells like eggs and the pizza guy do not." Wade rolled his eyes again, taking another long sip of his wine. Rather than savior it like a decent fucking person, Wade just drank. Quick and to the point, as per usual. "And hella rad babe, really." He looked at her with an eyebrow quirked up under his mask.
by Karou Heiwajima on Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:38 am
Alex smirked, "Awesome and thanks for the compliment." she said. She continued to serve other costumers but kept conversation to a minimal. The Virgin guy was quite interesting and quite the catch. "Theory? Pssh, please a guy who serves out good humor appreciates good humor. And that sticky note thing? Fucking beautiful. I applaud Spidey on his humor." she said, clapping slightly for effect. She fought back a yawn and quickly gulped down the rest of her coffee. 'Well shit. There goes my coffee.' she thought to herself. Alex returned to her mundane tasks and glanced at the young man. "So, what can I call you? I mean if 'Pretty Boy' or 'The Guy Who Bought The Virgin' suits your fancy, I'm not arguing. My name's Alexandra, call me Alex." she said cleaning yet another whiskey glass.
Avery shook her head, "Babe no. And do you fucking think I can't see your eyebrow quirked under your mask? Titty bitches man." she grumbled. Honestly, she loved the guy even with his unhealthy obsession of chimichanga's and tacos but sometimes he should do decent things like a decent person. Like admit the fact solo doesn't fucking count. "You're just drinking my wine and complimenting me so you can get into m pants." she purred.
Steve had to physically turn his head away from the beauty in front of him. Goddammit God was cruel and he fucking knew it. When she was done ordering she said that they had time to burn. And his mind immediately went to fondue doing. 'Steve stop being an animal.' he cursed to himself. "Uh, wanna watch a movie? Tony brought a lot over and I don't know which to watch first." he said. Truthfully, he did want to watch a movie and back in his days, watching a movie with a pretty lady was considered a date. At least if she picks the Wizard of Oz, he could actually pay more attention to Cecile than the movie itself. But he highly doubted that.
Tony's grin widened, "Pretty sure I said better in no clothing but tequila does shit to my memory." he chuckled. Oh he was gonna get sucker punched for that. Oh but it was worth it. He sipped his wine and sighed happily, "Pretty sure Jarvis is working on it. It was working last night, I know that for sure." he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, a mischievous glint in his brown eyes. "Something about it being 'too fucking cold to enjoy short' or something."
"Anytime." Peter smiled as he watched her and continued on his drink. As the news ended, he slowly started tuning everything else out except for the lady with the pretty face. Named Alex. 'Nice name.
' He briefly thought. "What you don't know is that those suit me just fine." He chuckled and set his drink down. "Peter. Peter Parker. It's nice to meet you Alex." 'Formally this time, instead of just crashing into you in the middle of the side walk.'
"Titty bitches." Wade repeated, before a laugh left him. "Right right of course." He looked over at her, and his head tilted to the side slightly. "You forgot the free food part too." A slow grin crawled onto his face.
'God bless America for this wonderful person in front of me.' Cecile shook her head slightly before she smiled again, eyes bright. "That sounds nice. You know, I remember you knowing a reference from Wizard of Oz when we were on the helicarrier... want to watch that?" She circled around the couch before she sat down. She adjusted the skirt of her dress as she continued. "In truth, I've never actually seen it. My parents weren't ones for movies so I've only just heard about it." Small shoulders shrugged slightly as she looked back at him.
"Tequila does shit to everyone's memory and it also makes clothes disappear soo..." Amelie smiled against the edge of her glass before taking another sip as vague memories of her military life came back. The times they had off and have alcohol had always been a wild ride. She dismissed the memories with a small shake of her head and looked at her husband for a long moment before gently nudging him. "Shut up." Grey eyes rolled before looking away from him.
Steve grinned like a child, "Yea I'm totally up for watch it. A classic is always the best." he said. Proud of himself for knowing how to work a DVD player, he soon was able to get the machine to work and play the movie. He sat down on his dark brown couch and patted the seat next to him, "You can sit on the couch with me if you want. No reason for you to stand around." he said. 'This is sending me to hell but she's so cute.'he thought to himself.
Tony nodded in agreement, "And yet we still drink it because we're awesome." he said with his all-to-familiar famous smirk.He finished his wine, too quickly to his liking but oh well, and cuddled with his wife, "Dang girl, you are hot. In more ways than one but jesus." After saying that he cuddled closer and rested his head on her's. He breathed in her scent, smelling vanilla and cinnamon, a strange but thrilling combination. "Did you shower while I was gone?" he asked.
Alex giggled at Peter's first answer and nodded, "Peter. Nice name. Nice to meet you as well." she said. She filled the cleaned whiskey glass with said drink and gave it to a customer. After serving a few more needy people, she turned back to Peter. "So what brings you here? A pretty boy like you ought to be with friends or something. They not include you for whatever reason?" she asked. God she felt like she was prying but she needed to know. I he was here alone then yay for her. If not then boo. Boo fucking hoo and then she would definitely be taking 5 bottles of whiskey home.
Avery rolled her eyes and shoved him slightly, knowing no damage had been done. She finished her glass, relishing in the last bittersweet taste of the plum wine. "You look tired babe. Why not lie down and relax for once?" she suggested. Although she was pretty sure she would have to join him whether she wanted to or not.
by miss.alice on Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:16 pm
Cecile was slightly amazed that he could work a DVD player. She smiled and slowly sat down beside him, adjusting her dress again. "When did you learn to do that?" She said, motioning to the DVD player in question with a small flick of her hand before she looked up at him again, a smile on her face. She vaguely tuned into the start up music playing in the background, and realized she probably wasn't going to be watching this movie in it's entirety.
"True that." Amelie said with as laugh, and had just decided to set down her glass for a moment when her husband decided to cuddle with her. A groan left her and she feebly tried to push him away. "Tony, it's too hot for thissss..." She whined softly. But, none the less, she still wrapped her arms around his neck to bring him closer. "Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?"
Peter nodded in agreement and, for the few minutes Alex was busy, he just looked at her while he drank. His eyes skimmed over her features and her body and-- whoops. His eyes snapped back up to her face when she was talking again. 'Shit shit shit.' "Uhhh... I just decided to come here... after," He paused, thinking quickly of an answer. "work... Oh, and yeah, not really. I have... weird hours of my job so, I get excluded a bunch." 'Good save Parker. Good save.'
Wade snickered softly, finishing up his drink and setting the metal cup down after a while. When she suggested relaxing, a small hum escaped him as he thought. "Only if you come with me~" He said after pondering for a moment, standing in front of her and looking down with a small grin.
Last edited by miss.alice on Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:24 am; edited 1 time in total
by Karou Heiwajima on Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:40 pm
Alex looked at Peter with a quirked up eyebrow but smiled, "I know how you feel. Working in a bar isn't exactly the best thing for making friends." she said. She looked at the time on the Corona lit-up clock on the wall and happily sighed. Alex took off her waist apron and got out from behind the counter with a small glass of whiskey in hand. "Mind if I join you while I'm on break?" she asked taking a small sip of her drink.
Avery sighed and set down her wine glass, "Fine fine fine, but no immediate dirty doing. Okay?" she grinned. She loved to tease him but in the end he always got what he wanted. Unless she was working, then he could whine and pout like a puppy until she was done. Avery walked over to her room, the door already wide open, and crawled onto the bed. It was a great mattress and a good buy. She looked up from her position and motioned Wade over with a finger.
Steve smiled proudly, "I figured it out thanks to the manual it came with. I watched a few movies on it like the Sound of Music and Marry Poppins. Both great." he said. The movie started up and he quickly turned his head towards the moving picture. His eye's would quickly look at Cecile for only mere seconds at a time before returning to the movie and then back to the lady next to him.
Tony grinned when he was pulled closer to his wife's body. He turned and looked at her, "I can smell the new body wash you bought. I like it, you need to buy it again." he answered. To emphasize this, he brought his head to her neck and kissed it tenderly. After a few more butterfly kisses he looked up at her, "It suits you very well. The scent of the body wash I mean. Sweet yet with delicious spice." he purred.
A small laugh escaped Peter. "What are you talking about? I mean you got John over there and... David, and then 'Pretty Boy who ordered the Virgin'." A bright smile crossed his features. "Not at all." He said and patted the seat next to him before he took a long swig of his drink. "But no, that's very true. Too busy with the job for going out and enjoying life." He looked down at the inside of his cup.
"This is becoming a downer. So, why did you decide to work here Alex?" He questioned, turning slightly to look at her again.
"No promises~" Wade chuckled as he followed after her. He leaned against the door frame as he watched her climb into bed, and let out a low whistle. "Have I ever told you how lucky I am?" He purred out as he slowly walked over to the bed before climbing up over here. "Because I'm really fucking lucky."
"I'm proud of you." Cecile said with a small laugh at looking at his proud smile. "Those are great movies too. Julie Andrews is a gift." She said before she quieted down and turned her attention to the movie when it started. As the movie slowly progressed on, Cecile slowly started leaning over until her head rested on his shoulder. 'Sweet baby jesus he is warm.' She thought, briefly remembering her small stature meant she had poor circulation and was always cold. 'God he's just so perfect. Help me....'
"Mmm..." Amelie hummed in thought but a few little laughs escaped her. His kisses tickled-- it was probably his stubble, she thought. "I'll be sure to pick up some more then, next time I'm in town." She looked down at him and smiled softly, letting one on her hands gently run through his hair. God, she was pretty lucky when she thought about it.
Steve had watched the young lady slowly but surely get close enough to lean on his shoulder. A wave a nervousness spread through his body like a wild fire. Cecile was so cute and surprisingly cold so he wanted to heat her up. Not in a 'lets do fondue on the couch' but in a 'lets cuddle during the movie' kinda way. Hopefully she wouldn't mind a casual arm around her. Steve slowly moved his arm around her small frame, settled his hand on her arm. Automatically his thumb began to make small sweet circles on the petite woman's arm.
Tony hummed a response as he planted one last kiss on her cheek. Secretly, he loved it when Amelie ran her slim fingers through his hair. He felt like a dog being happily petted by his beloved master. However he'd found this amazing woman was beyond him. But he wasn't complaining. Tony's arms gently embraced his wife as he stole a kiss from her lips, "As far as women go, you're the best sweets." he purred.
Alex chuckled and nudged Peter slightly, "Tell me about it." she said. She took another swing of her drink, rolling the tantalizing liquid over her tongue before swallowing. She turned and looked at the man and shrugged, "Well besides the nice pay and tips, I guess you could say mixing liquids is a superpower of mine." 'Shit Alex, no. No telling the cutie on duty about your talents.' Alex straightened up slightly, "I mean I'm crazy good at it.... Not like a power or some sort..." 'Good job Alex, you have possibly convinced the guy that you're a superhero or something. You're fucking smart.'
Avery inwardly groaned when Wade answered but grinned when she heard him whistle. She knew she had booty. As Wade climbed over her, her grin widened, "Babe, you're so fucking lucky to have me. I'm hard to catch." Her arms quickly circled his neck, hands connecting and her limbs loosely hanging from her lover. "I'm even harder to impress." she hummed.
by miss.alice on Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:02 am
A small jolt went through Cecile when she felt his arm on hers. Not that it was unwanted it was just, wow, she didn't think he'd do it that quick. A soft, happy sigh left her as she felt circles being drawn on her arm and she moved just a little closer to him, sapping off his heat. 'This is very nice.' She thought, a lazy, but happy smile on her lips. She glanced up at him, taking in his features before she turned her attention back to the movie.
More soft laughs escaped Amelie as she looked up at her husband, a pleasant shiver going down her spine. She hummed softly as she took in his words, and gently tugged him down impossibly closer so she could steal a kiss back. "As far as men go, you're perfect Tony." She whispered softly against his lips, a warm smile spreading across her face.
"I can believe that." Peter said as he lifted his glass slightly before taking another drink. "Never really heard of someone who's always been good at making drinks but you learn something new everyday." He took another sip, his feet swaying slightly. He side glanced at the pretty face beside him. "You in a relationship with anyone?" 'Smooooth Peter, smooth.'
"I've impressed you countless times before though." Wade said with a chuckle as he kept one arm flat against the bed while the other slid down his lover's body to rest on her hip, gripping gently. "Should I remind you of all the times?" He purred, tilting her hips up slightly so he could fit in between them. He leaned down, leaving a small kiss on her lips. "Because I can remember all of them~" He hummed softly. Her lips still tasted like the Blackstone from earlier, and he kissed her again just to taste it more.
by Karou Heiwajima on Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:33 am
Alex bit back a laughed of surprise but said, "Ain't that the truth." she said. She took a quick swig of her drink and crossed her legs before looking at Parker. "Depends on whose asking, Pretty Boy." she grinned. She laughed slightly at her own attempt at flirting and answered his question, "In all seriousness, people think its fun to date the bartender until they realize they can only, rarely, get a night to mingle."
Avery shivered at every touch she was given by the merc above her. Oh boy, she was in trouble now. No way out of this one. "Oh I know babe. They were all pleasureful experiences." she purred, bringing herself up to Wade and kissing his nose, then his lips. Sweet baby jesus, she was in for a night of fun. Avery ran her hands slowly down his muscled back and then down his arms, "You're one lucky man Wade. Super fucking lucky."
Steve felt Cecile moved closer to him and he was content with this amount of contact. Perfect amount of semi-cuddle but nothing too fondue-ish. He watched the movie comfortably along with his all-to-frequent glances at the lady nuzzled next to him. He could live a long, fulfilled life with just this. That is if he ever got the courage to share his feelings with Cecile. 'Rogers, you're a grown man whose fought many evils, done outrageous stunts, and downed 4 bottles of Brandy in one night. Yet you can't muster up the courage to admit feelings. Good job.'
Tony smirked with pleasure as he got a kiss stolen from him. "Remember that you said it, no me babe." he teased as he pulled her into a breathtaking kiss. No mouth muscles involved, just hungry lips attempt to break the atomic boundaries to simply get closer to one another. After pulling away for the sneaking need to breathe, Tony's wolfish grin returned to his face, "How about we take this to the bedroom?"
by miss.alice on Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:04 am
"So people have tried before, to date the bartender, is what you're telling me. But no one currently?" He felt like he was prying but, eh, oh well. He glanced back at the Corona clock in the corner and took the last sip of his drink. Peter turned slightly in his chair, supporting his head with his hand as he looked at Alex, a smile on his face. "Also, why do you call me Pretty Boy? Am I really that pretty?" He said with a laugh. "I mean, I appreciate it, but still."
"I know I am." Wade replied, a cocky grin on his face. The hand on her hip slid up slightly and he gently tugged on the waistband of her Hotwheel's pajama pants. "Let's not," He pressed kisses down her neck now. "forget how lucky you are." He looked up at her as he placed a kiss right in the middle of her chest.
The amount of body contact that was going on was heavenly. Cecile was getting happier with every given moment. Maybe she wouldn't hit Fury (not like she would in the first place) for this. Because she could get very, very used to this. Slowly, Cecile brought her legs up, sitting with her knees to her chest as she kept watching the classical playing in front of her. She tugged the dress skirt back down, seeing as it had rose to her mid thigh by that action. She glanced up at Steve again. Oh yes, she could get used to this.
"Don't let it get to your head now Tony." She laughed again but it was cut off by her husband kissing her and god, she was never more happier to be his. His kisses were better than that expensive wine, and it sent nice tingles down her spine. As he pulled away and she sucked in precious air again, she looked up at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes at his suggestion. "Sounds like a plan."
by Karou Heiwajima on Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:34 am
Steve noticed Cecile shift her position and adjust her dress accordingly. God she was so cute. He shifted slightly as well, into a more comfortable position, and ever-so-gently placed his head on her's. Inside his mind, he was screaming with nervousness and pride that he had just done the previously stated action. Steve let out a small, audible sigh of content as the movie progressed.
Tony smirked and stood up, swiftly picking up his wife with little effort. "A plan that I utterly love." He walked towards the bedroom, giving his love butterfly kisses on the forehead. Once reaching their destination, he gently placed her on the bed. Nope, this was indeed a good night. A very very good night. He crawled onto the bed next to Amelie and kissed her once more.
Alex nodded and finished the last of her drink, "No one currently." she confirmed. She gently slid the glass away from her before looking at Peter once more. "Don't fret Peter, its a habit of mine. Actually, you're the first guy in a while that I've used a pet name for." 'Oh no Blake, you did it now. He definitely knows that you're intentionally flirting with him. Shiiiiiiiiiit.' Alex quickly, but calmly, got up and picked up their glasses, "You want another one?" she asked. 'Fucking smooth Blake.'
Avery rolled her eyes at Wade's response. Her hand caressed his face as he slyly kissed the middle of her chest. 'Fucking Deadpool and his ways.' she thought. God he was talented with his mouth, in more ways than one. She bit back a mewl of pleasure as he did what he did. "I'd never forget that babe." she said in a low, sexy tone.
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Banish the winter blues with a few product switch-ups.
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text:
\section{Introduction}
	Consider the solution of linear algebraic equations
	\begin{equation}\label{eqn:axb}
Ax=b,\quad A\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n},\quad b\in\mathbb{R}^{m},
	\end{equation}
where $A$ is the full column rank matrix, which comes widely from many scientific and engineering computation, for instance, discrete PDEs, image reconstruction, signal processing, option pricing and machine learning.

Kaczmarz method is one of the well-known iterative projection method,
which was firstly proposed in \cite{1937K} and further extended to block and inconsistent case in \cite{1980E,1981C}.
Since the linear convergence of randomized Kaczmarz method was established by Strohmer and Vershynin \cite{2009SV},  variants of randomized Kaczmarz method are presented and deeply studied \cite{2018BWgreedy,2019BW,2021DHZMY,2022JZY}.
On the other hand, iterative methods based on Householder orthogonal reflection also attract much attention from the community of numerical linear algebra.
Cimmino \cite{1938cimmino} firstly proposed a general iteration scheme with orthogonal reflections and  prove the convergence  as long as the
rank of $A$ is greater than one.
Ansorge \cite{1984Ansorge} gave the relations between the Cimmino and Kaczmarz method for the solution of singular and rectangular systems of equations and proved the rate of convergence for a predescribed weight.
Further, block Cimmino method\cite{1995ADRS,2018TMA} and extended Cimmino method \cite{2008PPS} were proposed and investigated.
For more details of the Cimmino method, we refer the reader to \cite{2004Benzi}.

Recently, Steinerberger\cite{2021Steinerberger} studied a surrounding method
which randomly reflects the start point and take the average of all the reflective points
as the approximate solution.

In this manuscript, we proposed a restarted randomized surrounding method, which take the average of several randomly reflective points as the new initial value and repeat the iterations.
Theoretical analysis provee the convergence in expectation when the row index is chosen with likelihood proportional to $\|a_i\|^2$,
and show the upper bound of the rate of convergence in expectation is faster than the surrounding method.
Numerical experiments further verify our analysis, and show that restarted strategies are efficient which can greatly accelerate the surrounding method.

The organization of the rest paper is as follows. In Section 2, we give some notations and propose the restarted randomized surrounding algorithms. In Section 3, the convergence analysis is given and compared with the existing results. Numerical experiments are presented in Section 4 compared with the surrounding method. Finally, in Section 5, we end this paper with the conclusions.

\section{The restarted randomized surrounding method}

In this section, after introducing  the notations and reviewing the existing method, we introduce the restarted randomized surrounding method for solving the linear equation \eqref{eqn:axb}.

Denote $a_i^T=[a_{i1},a_{i2},\ldots,a_{in}]$ and $b_i$  be the $i$th row of $A$ and the $i$th entry of the right-hand side vector $b$ respectively, the solution of the linear equations \eqref{eqn:axb} is actually the intersection point of the $n$ hyper planes
$a_i^Tx=b_i  (1\leq i \leq m)$.

By choosing $i_k$ from the set $\left\{1,2,\cdots, m \right\} $ with probability proportional to $ \| a_{i}\|_2^2$,
Steinerberger \cite{2021Steinerberger} proposed a surrounding method, which first randomly reflects the initial value
on the hyper plane $a_{i_k}^Tx = b_{i_k}$  as follow
\begin{eqnarray}
x_{k+1}  &=& x_k+2\frac{b_{i_k}-a_{i_k}^Tx_k}{\|a_{i_k}\|_2^2}a_{i_k},  \\
   &=& (I - 2\frac{a_{i_k}^Ta_{i_k}}{\|a_{i_k}\|_2^2})x_k+2\frac{b_{i_k}}{\|a_{i_k}\|_2^2}a_{i_k}.
\end{eqnarray}
After $M$ times reflection, the approximate solution is given by
 the average of all the reflection points $ \frac{1}{M} \sum_{k=1}^M x_k$.

Assume $x_\ast$ is the exact solution of the linear equation \eqref{eqn:axb},
Steinerberger \cite{2021Steinerberger} proved that  the approximate solution approach to the exact solution when $M$ goes to infinity, e.g.,
$\lim\limits_{M \rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{M}\sum_{i=1}^{M} x_k= x_\ast$,
and the convergence rate in expectation is given by
	\begin{equation}
	\mathbb{E}\left\|x_\ast-\frac{1}{M} \sum_{k=1}^{M} x_{k}\right\| \leq \frac{1+\|A\|_{F}\left\|A^{-1}\right\|}{\sqrt{M}} \left\|x_\ast-x_{0}\right\|.
	\end{equation}

From this theorem, it is seen that the convergence rate of the randomized surrounding method is strongly relying on the number
of the iteration.
This means that to achieve the tolerance of the convergence, it is required to generate quite a number of reflective points which is very expensive.

In order to accelerate the convergence of the randomized surrounding method,
we proposed a restarted randomized surrounding method,
which firstly randomly reflects on a set of hyper planes and  then  take the average of the reflection points as the initial value to restart the iterations.

The framework of the restarted randomized surrounding method (abbreviated as RRS) can be described as follow:

\begin{algorithm} [H]
	\caption{Restarted randomized surrounding (RRS) algorithms}
	\label{alg2}
	\begin{algorithmic}[1]
		\Require  $A$, $b$, initial guess $x_{0}=y_{0}^{(0)}\in\mathbb{R}^{m}$, restart number $q$
		\Ensure approximate solution $x_{k+1}$.
		\For {$k=0,1,2,\ldots$ }
		\For{ $i = 1,2,\ldots,q-1$}
		\State Select a row index $i_k$ randomly according to $p_{i_k}=\frac{\|a_{i_k}\|^2}{\|A\|_F^2}$

		\State Set $y_k^{(i)}=y_k^{(i-1)}+2\frac{b_{i_k}-a^T_{i_k}y_{k}^{(i-1)}}{\|a_{i_k}\|_2^2}a_{i_k}$
		\EndFor
		\State Compute the approximate solution:  $x_{k+1}=\frac{1}{q}\sum_{i=0}^{q-1}y_{k}^{(i)}$
		\State Update $y_{k+1}^{(0)}=x_{k+1}$
		\EndFor\\
		\Return $x_{k+1}$
	\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}

We plot a sketch graph to demonstrate the idea of restarted randomized surrounding method  in Figure \ref{fig:sketch2},
where the green diamond points are the approximate solution which eventually converges to the center, the true solution.
In Figure \ref{fig:sketch2}, the star points and circle points denote the randomized reflection points generated in the first and second loop respectively.

\begin{figure}[!htbp]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.5\linewidth]{sketch2.pdf}
	\caption{Sketch of restarted randomized surrounding method}
	\label{fig:sketch2}
\end{figure}

\section{Convergence analysis}

Denote the Householder reflection matrix corresponding to the $i$th hyper plane by
\begin{equation}
H_i=I-2\frac{a_{i}a_{i}^T}{a_{i}^Ta_{i}},\quad i=1,2,\ldots,m.
\end{equation}
which is an $n\times n$ orthogonal matrix.
We give the convergence of the restarted randomized surrounding method as follow.

\begin{lemma}\label{mythm1}
Denote  $x_\ast$ and $x_k$ be the true solution of linear equation \eqref{eqn:axb}
and the $k$th approximate solution generated by the restarted randomized surrounding method.
In every iteration, $q$ reflections are randomly computed where $i_k$ is taken  from the set $\left\{1,2,\cdots, m \right\} $ with the probability $p_{i_k}=\frac{\|a_{i_k}\|^2}{\|A\|_F^2}$.
Then, the sequence $\{\|x_k-x_\ast\|\}$ is non-increasing.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
	Without loss of generality, we assume that rows of index $\{i_{1},\ldots,i_{q}\}$ are selected in $k$-th iteration step and set
	\begin{equation}
	Q_{j}=H_{i_j}H_{i_{j-1}}\cdots H_{i_1},\,Q_0=I,\,j=1,\ldots,q.
	\end{equation}
	where $I$ represents the identity matrix of size $n$. Since $Q_{j}$ is a product of the Householder matrices, $Q_{j}$ is orthogonal and nonsingular.

	Hence,
	\begin{equation}
	\begin{aligned}
	x_{k+1}-x_\ast&=\frac{1}{q}\left(\sum_{i=1}^{q}y_k^{(i)}\right)-x_\ast\\
&=\frac{1}{q}\sum_{i=1}^{q}(y_k^{(i)}-x_\ast)\\
	&=\frac{1}{q}(Q_1+Q_2+\cdots+Q_q)( x_{k}-x_\ast).
	\end{aligned}
	\end{equation}
	Due to distance-preserving transformation,
	\begin{equation}\label{equalcondition}
	\| x_{k+1}-x_\ast\|\leq \frac{1}{q} \sum_{j=1}^{q}\|Q_{j}(x_k-x_\ast)\|= \frac{1}{q}\sum_{i=1}^{q}\|(x_k-x_\ast)\|=\|(x_k-x_\ast)\|.
	\end{equation}

	Because the linear combination is convex, the equality in \eqref{equalcondition}  holds if and only if
$$x_{k}-x_\ast=Q_1 (x_{k}-x_\ast)=\cdots=Q_q(x_{k}-x_\ast).$$
 If $x_k\not=x_\ast$ and $\mathcal{N}(A)=\{0\}$, then $\|\frac{1}{q}(Q_1+Q_2+\cdots+Q_q)\|<1$, which yields the sequence $\{\|x_k-x_\ast\|\}$ is decreasing.
\end{proof}

From the Lemma \ref{mythm1}, it is seen that the restarted randomized  surrounding  algorithm is convergent.
Further, we estimate and analyze the convergence rate of the restarted randomized surrounding algorithm as follow.

\begin{theorem}\label{th:con}
Denote $x_\ast$ and $x_k$ be the true solution of linear equation \eqref{eqn:axb}
and the $k$th approximate solution generated by the restarted randomized surrounding method.
If $i_k$ is taken with the probability $p_{i_k}=\frac{\|a_{i_k}\|^2}{\|A\|_F^2}$
and  $q$ reflections are  randomly taken in every iteration, it holds
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{E}\|x^*-x_{k}\|^2\leq \gamma^{k} \|x_0-x^*\|^2, \quad 0<\gamma<1,
\end{equation}
where the constant $\gamma<\frac{1}{q}+\frac{2}{q^2}\sum_{i=1}^{q-1}(q-i)\|\mathcal{L}\|^i$ and $\|\mathcal{L}\|=1-\frac{2\sigma_{\min}^2}{\|A\|_F^2}$.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Denote $\langle \cdot,\cdot\rangle$ be the Euclidean inner product,
for all $ x,y\in\mathbb{R}^{n}$, $i_j\in\{1,2,\ldots,m\}$,
we have
	\begin{equation}
	\begin{aligned}
	&\mathbb{E}_{i_j}\left(\langle y, Q_{j}x\rangle\right)
	=\mathbb{E}_{i_j}\left(\langle y,(I-2\frac{a_{i_j}a_{i_j}^T}{\|a_{i_j}\|^2})Q_{j-1}x\rangle\right)\\
	=&\langle y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle-2\mathbb{E}_{i_j}\left(\langle y,\frac{a_{i_j}a_{i_j}^T}{\|a_{i_j}\|^2}Q_{j-1}x\rangle\right)\\
	=&\langle y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle-2\langle y,\sum_{j=1}^{m}\frac{\|a_{i_j}\|^2}{\|A\|_F^2}\left(\frac{a_{i_j}a_{i_j}^T}{\|a_{i_j}\|^2}Q_{j-1}x\right)\rangle\\
	=&\langle y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle-\frac{2}{\|A\|_F^2} \sum_{j=1}^{m}y^Ta_{i_j}a_{i_j}^T
Q_{j-1} x\\
	=&\langle (I-\frac{2}{\|A\|_F^2}A^TA)y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle:=\langle \mathcal{L}y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle.\\

	\end{aligned}
	\end{equation}

	Similarly, it is obtained that
	\begin{equation}
	\mathbb{E}_{i_1,i_2,\ldots,i_{j}}\langle y,Q_j x\rangle=\mathbb{E}_{i_1,i_2,\ldots,i_{j-1}}\langle \mathcal{L}y,Q_{j-1}x\rangle=\mathbb{E}_{i_1,i_2,\ldots,i_{j-2}}\langle \mathcal{L}^2y,Q_{j-2}x\rangle=\cdots=\langle \mathcal{L}^jy,x\rangle.
	\end{equation}
	Since $\mathcal{L}= I - \frac{2}{\|A\|_F^2}A^TA $ is a symmetric matrix,
	\begin{equation}
	\begin{aligned}
	\rho(\mathcal{L})=\|\mathcal{L}\| \leq 1-\frac{2\sigma_{\min}^2}{\|A\|_F^2},
	\end{aligned}
	\end{equation}
	where $\sigma_{\min}$ is the smallest singular value of $A$. Thus,
	$$
	|\mathbb{E}_{i_1,i_2,\ldots,i_{j}}\langle x,Q_j x\rangle|\leq \|\mathcal{L}^jx\|\|x\|\leq \|\mathcal{L}\|^j\|x\|^2.$$

	Let $e_k=x_k-x_\ast$ and it holds that
	\begin{equation}
	\begin{aligned}
	&\mathbb{E}\|x_\ast-x_{k+1}\|=\mathbb{E}\|x_\ast-\frac{1}{q}\sum_{j=0}^{q-1}Q_{j}x_k\|^2=\frac{1}{q^2}\mathbb{E}\|\sum_{j=0}^{q-1} Q_{j}e_k\|^2\\
	&=\frac{1}{q^2}\left[\sum_{j=0}^{q-1}\langle Q_{j} e_k,Q_{j} e_k\rangle+2\mathbb{E}\sum_{j=0}^{q-2}\sum_{\ell=j+1}^{q-1}\langle Q_{j}e_k,Q_{\ell}e_{k}\rangle\right]\\
	&=\frac{1}{q}\|e_k\|^2+\frac{2}{q^2}\mathbb{E}\sum_{j=0}^{q-2}\sum_{\ell=j+1}^{q-1}\langle Q_{j}e_k, H_{i_\ell}\cdots H_{i_{j+1}}(Q_{j}e_k)\rangle\\
	&\leq \frac{1}{q}\|e_k\|^2+\frac{2}{q^2}\sum_{j=0}^{q-2}\sum_{\ell=j+1}^{q-1}\|\mathcal{L}^{\ell-j}\|\|Q_{j}e_k\|^2 \gamma\|e_k\|^2,
	\end{aligned}
	\end{equation}where $\gamma$ is a constant. By calculating, $$\begin{aligned}
	\gamma&=\frac{1}{q}+\frac{2}{q^2}\left[(q-1)\|\mathcal{L}\|+(q-2)\|\mathcal{L}^2\|+\cdots+\|\mathcal{L}^{q-1}\|\right]\\
	&\leq\frac{1}{q}+\frac{2}{q^2}\left[ (q-1)\|\mathcal{L}\|+(q-2)\|\mathcal{L}\|^2+\cdots+\|\mathcal{L}\|^{q-1}\right]<1,\
	\end{aligned}$$
when $\|L\|<1$.

	It holds that
	$$\mathbb{E}\|x^*-x_{k+1}\|^2\leq \gamma\|x_{k}-x^*\|^2\Rightarrow\mathbb{E}\|x_*-x_{k}\|^2\leq \gamma^k \|x_0-x^*\|^2.$$
\end{proof}

As a consequence of Theorems \ref{th:con}, when restart the proposed algorithm every $q$ reflection for $k$ times, i.e., total $kq$ iterations,
then  the convergence rate of restarted randomized surrounding method
is $\gamma^k=O(\frac{1}{q^k})$, which is much less that $O(\frac{1}{kq})$, the rate of the randomized surrounding  method  when $k>2$ and $ q >2$.
It show the potential that the restart randomized surrounding method
could be faster than the randomized surrounding  method.

The restarted randomized surrounding method can be generalized into
more efficient approaches by introducing the relaxation.
For instance, the restarted randomized surrounding method can still converge when
the approximate solution
is chosen to be the convex linear combination $x_{k+1}=\sum_{i=0}^{q-1} \omega_{k}^{(i)}y_{k}^{(i)}$, where weights $\sum_{i=0}^{q-1}\omega_{k}^{(i)}=1$ and $\omega_{k}^{(i)}>0$.
Moreover, the restart number $q$ in the iteration
could be flexible to get  better numerical performances.

\section{Numerical experiments}

In this section, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficiency
of the restarted randomized surrounding method  and compare with the original randomized surrounding method.

All the methods start from the zero vector and stop when the norm of relative error vector (denoted by `ERR') satisfy
$$\text{ERR}=\frac{\|x_k-x_\ast\|_2^2}{\|x_0-x_\ast\|_2^2}\leq 10^{-6},$$
or achieve the maximal number of the iteration, e.g., 5000,
where $x_k$ and $x_\ast$ are the $k$th approximate solution and exact solution of the linear equations respectively.
 The number of iteration steps (denoted by `IT'), the elapsed CPU time in seconds (denoted by `CPU')
of the randomized surrounding method (abbreviated as `RS') and the proposed restarted randomized surrounding method are compared.
All the computations are performed in Matlab R2018b in a PC with 1.80 GHz CPU and 4G RAM.

{\bf Example 1.}
The test matrices is generated by using the Matlab routine $A=\text{randn}(m,n)$
where the components are normally distributed random numbers.
The consistent linear system is constructed by $b=Ax^\ast$ where the exact solution $x^\ast$ is an all-one vector.

The curves of the relative error versus the number of the iteration are plotted in Figure \ref{fig:ex1} for the RS, RRS(5), RRS(10) and RRS(20) methods respectively.

\begin{figure}[!htbp]
	\centering
	\subfigure[$A\in\mathbb{R}^{3000\times 100}$]{
	\centering
		\includegraphics[width=0.4\linewidth]{ex1a.pdf}
	}
\subfigure[$A\in\mathbb{R}^{100\times 3000}$]{
		\centering
		\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{ex1b.pdf}
}
\caption{Convergence curves for overdetermined and underdetermined cases}
\label{fig:ex1}
\end{figure}

From Figure \ref{fig:ex1}, it is observed that the restarted randomized surrounding method converges with
	expected exponential rate and the curves decrease much steeper than that of randomized surrounding method  in both the underdetermined and overdetermined cases. It indicates that restarted randomized surrounding method is much efficient than the original randomized surrounding method for underdetermined and overdetermined cases.

In order to further compare the convergence performance, in Table \ref{tab:over} and Table \ref{tab:under}, the number of iteration and the elapsed CPU time of randomized surrounding method and restarted randomized surrounding method for $q=5,10$ and $20$ are listed for different sizes respectively.
All results are computed averaged over 40 trials.

\begin{table}[!htbp]
	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{|cc|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline
			\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{}  & $1000\times 100$ & $2000\times 100$ & $3000\times 100$ & $4000\times 100$ & $5000\times 100$ \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RS}}
			& IT   	  &  5000 	 & 5000 	 & 5000 	 &  5000 &	 5000  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0088 	 & 0.0093 	 & 0.0100	 &  0.0097 &	 0.0107  \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(5)}}& IT   	 &  1929 	 & 1830 	 & 1812 	 &  1804 &	 1776  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0035 	 & 0.0036 	 & 0.0040	 &  0.0039 &	 0.0041  \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(10)}} & IT   	 &  2062 	 & 1962 	 & 1952 	 &  1945 &	 1950  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0036 	 & 0.0038 	 & 0.0050	 &  0.0041 &	 0.0044  \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(20)}} & IT   	 &  2163 	 & 2092 	 & 2061 	 &  2064 &	 2043  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0038 	 & 0.0041 	 & 0.0047	 &  0.0043 &	 0.0045  \\ \hline
		\end{tabular}
	\end{center}
	\caption{Numerical results for overdetermined case}\label{tab:over}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!htbp]
	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{|cc|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline
			\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{}  & $100 \times 1000$ & $100\times 2000$ & $100 \times 3000$ & $100\times 4000$ & $100\times 5000$ \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RS}}
			& IT   	 &  5000 	 & 5000 	 & 5000 	 &  5000 &	 5000  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0282 	 & 0.0584 	 & 0.1114	 &  0.1847 &	 0.3399  \\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(5)}} & IT   	 &  1729 	 & 1608 	 & 1541 	 &  1531 &	 1472  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0093 	 & 0.0182 	 & 0.0331	 &  0.0539 &	 0.0922  \\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(10)}} & IT   	 &  1893 	 & 1740 	 & 1663 	 &  1672 &	 1666  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0102 	 & 0.0194 	 & 0.0371	 &  0.0596 &	 0.1052  \\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(20)}} & IT   	 &  1978 	 & 1893 	 & 1805 	 &  1775 &	 1741  \\ \cline{2-7}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}& CPU  	 &  0.0106 	 & 0.0211 	 & 0.0404	 &  0.0630 &	 0.1112  \\ \hline
		\end{tabular}
	\end{center}
	\caption{Numerical results for underdetermined case}\label{tab:under}
\end{table}

From Table \ref{tab:over} and Table \ref{tab:under}, it is seen that
the restarted randomized surrounding methods are efficient,
and require less steps and CPU time than randomized surrounding method.
Among these methods, the restarted randomized surrounding methods with $q=5$  performs the best,
which indicate that a small number of restart may greatly improve the rate of convergence.

{\bf Example2.} The test matrices are chosen from the SuiteSparse Matrix Collection. The property of the matrices including size, density, rank, and Euclidean condition number (i.e., cond ) of the tested matrices are given in Table \ref{info}.

\begin{table}[!htbp]
	\centering

	\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
		\hline
		name                       & $crew1$          & $bibd\_13\_6$   & $cari$          & $bibd\_16\_8$          \\ \hline
		size                         & $135\times 6469$ & $78\times 1716$ & $400\times1200$ & $120\times 12870$  \\ \hline
		rank&135 &78&  400 &120\\\hline
		density                         & 5.38\%           & 19.23\%         & 31.83\%         & 23.33\%          \\ \hline
		cond                       & 18.20            & 6.27            & 3.13            & 9.54        \\ \hline

	\end{tabular}
	\caption{Information of the matrices from the  Matrix Market}\label{info}
\end{table}

	\begin{figure}[!htbp]
		\centering
		\includegraphics[width=14cm]{rs_mm.pdf}
		\caption{Convergence curves for the matrices from Matrix Market}\label{fig:mm}
	\end{figure}

The curves of the relative error versus the number of the iteration are plotted in Figure \ref{fig:mm} 	for randomized surrounding method and restarted randomized surrounding methods respectively. From Figure \ref{fig:mm}, it is seen that all the restarted
randomized surrounding methods converges faster than the randomized surrounding method, which further confirm the efficient of the restart technique.

	In Table \ref{tab:mm}, the number of iteration and the elapsed CPU time of the randomized surrounding method and restarted randomized surrounding methods when $q=5,10,20$ are listed  respectively.

\begin{table}[!htbp]
	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{|cc|c|c|c|c|} \hline
			\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Method}  & $crew1$          & $bibd\_13\_6$   & $cari$          & $bibd\_16\_8$         \\ \hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RS}}
			& IT   	 &  50000 	 & 50000 	 & 50000 	 &  50000  \\ \cline{2-6}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}
			& CPU    &  22.3069   & 5.2526   & 4.2073  &  79.2887 \\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(5)}}& IT     &  11921   &\bf{2027}   & \bf{6319}   &  \bf{3592} \\ \cline{2-6}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}   & CPU    &  5.2916   & \bf{0.2139}   & \bf{0.5388}  &  \bf{5.5906} \\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(10)}} & IT     &  11545   & 2210   & 6901   &  3914\\ \cline{2-6}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}    & CPU    &  \bf{5.0950}   & 0.2319   & 0.5826  &  6.0782\\\hline
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{RRS(20)}} & IT     &  \bf{11456}   & 2399   & 7256   &  4304 \\ \cline{2-6}
			\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}    & CPU    &  5.1426   & 0.2502   & 0.6167  &  6.6959 \\\hline
		\end{tabular}
	\end{center}
	\caption{Numerical results for the matrices from Matrix Market}\label{tab:mm}
\end{table}

From Table \ref{tab:mm}, it is seen that the
restarted randomized surrounding methods are efficient,
and require less number of iteration and CPU time than the randomized surrounding method.
For the  matrix `crew1', RRS(10) require the least CPU time while RRS(20) take
the least number of iteration; for the other three examples,
RRS(5) require the least CPU time and the least number of iteration.
This implies that the restarted strategy is efficient and can greatly
improve the convergence while the optimal restart number is possibly  problem depended.

{\bf Example 3.} Finally, we compare these methods in solving a 2-D parallel-beam tomography problem and a seismic travel-time tomography problem generated by AIR tool box.
The right term is $b=Ax_\ast+e$ where $e$ is the noise vector and the relative noise level  is 0.01.
The signal-noise ratio (SNR) is defined as
$$\text{SNR}:=\frac{\sum_{i=0}^{n}x_i^2}{\sum_{i=0}^{n}(x_i-\hat{x}_i)^2},$$
where $x$ is the original clean signal, $\hat{x}$ is the denoised signal, and $n$ is the length of the signal. The greater the SNR, the better the denoising effect.
The reconstruction  images are compared  in Figure \ref{fig:pb} and \ref{fig:st} for  a 2-D parallel-beam tomography problem and a seismic travel-time tomography problem respectively, after $100m$ iterations where $m$ is the number of rows.

\begin{figure}[!htbp]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=15cm]{ex3a2.png}
	\caption{2-D parallel-beam tomography problem where $A\in\mathbb{R}^{23883\times 2500}$}\label{fig:pb}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[!htbp]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=15cm]{ex3b2.png}
	\caption{2-D seismic travel-time tomography problem where $A\in\mathbb{R}^{2500\times 2500}$}\label{fig:st}
\end{figure}

From Figures \ref{fig:pb} and \ref{fig:st}, it is observed that
the restarted randomized surrounding method can remove the noise and restore the real image efficiently.
Moreover,
the images reconstructed by the restarted randomized surrounding methods
are better than that of the randomized surrounding method
from the viewpoint of the sharpness of images and higher values of SNR.
Among the three approaches, it is seen that the recovered image of RRS(10) is the
best.

\section{Conclusions}\label{secconclu}

In this paper,  restarted randomized surrounding methods are proposed for solving large linear problems. The convergence theory and convergence rate are established for a given row selection rule. Numerical experiments verify the proposed algorithms are efficient and outperform
the existing method for over-determined and under-determined linear equation, as well as in the application in image processing.

\bibliographystyle{plain}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
« Filmi Geek metapost | Main | Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) »
Yaadon ki baaraat (1973)
यादों की बारात
In my review of Hare Rama hare Krishna, I recounted the tale of my discovery of filmi music through the sparkling "Dum maro dum" on a Bollywood compilation CD. My next favorite track on that disc was a pretty, melodic tune called "Chura liya hai tumne." Like "Dum maro dum," "Chura liya" is an R.D. Burman tune, sung by Asha Bhosle. It also turns out that like "Dum maro dum," "Chura liya" is picturized beautifully on Zeenat Aman - so it seems I was destined to become a Zeenat fan.
Unfortunately, "Chura liya" also turns out to be the one of the few aspects of Yaadon ki baaraat ("Procession of memories") that is above average. The film is, in most respects, an unremarkable masala film. Its plot is a standard Bollywood trope: Three brothers are separated in childhood after their parents' vicious murder at the hands of some ruthless criminal. The youngest brother Ratan (Tariq), raised by the family's nanny, grows up to be a rock-and-roll singer, performing a nightly cabaret show at a swanky hotel. The middle brother, Vijay (Vijay Arora), was found and adopted by a kindly old widower who works as a valet for a wealthy man. The eldest brother, Shankar (Dharmendra), grew up on the streets, to become a fairly accomplished crook.
Like the lives of the separated boys, the story of Yaadon ki baaraat splits into separate tracks so different in tone - and in quality - that it almost seems to be two distinct movies. One, is a perfectly enjoyable light romance: Vijay falls for a beautiful, mischeivous college girl named Sunita (Zeenat Aman) and poses as a wealthy, cultured gentleman to try to woo her, leading to an escalating prank war. On the film's other track, Shankar is hell-bent on avenging his parents' death, but he is sidetracked when a high-tone criminal gang hires him for a heist. Unbeknownst to Shankar, the leader of the gang - an absurd caricature in the mold of a Bond villain - is the man he is hunting for vengeance.
Eventually, of course, Shankar figures out the truth about his new boss, Vijay gets his girl, and the three brothers are reunited, thanks to Ratan's nightly performance of the song their mother had sung to them when they were boys. Unfortunately, the journey toward that stock Bollywood ending is not as fun a ride as it could have been, and the result is a film that is barely adequate as a timepass.
The Vijay-Sunita romance was sweet enough, and the fun battle of practical jokes seems to be the antecedent to the college films of later decades like Dil. The Shankar thread, though, is a pointless underworld drama with little to redeem it. It is a shameful waste of Dharmendra, who exudes such charm in his ruffian-with-a-heart-of-gold roles in films like Sholay and Seeta aur Geeta. Costuming didn't do as good a job concealing his paunch in Yaadon ki baaraat as in Sholay a few years later - or perhaps it's just that Veeru in Sholay was such an appealing character that it didn't matter that he had a little spare tire. In Yaadon ki baaraat, though, Dharmendra is just a dour, wooden thug; he is so stiff that I wonder if that belly of his wasn't stuffed into a corset. He has little to do in the film but scowl and punch people.
Ultimately, I think, Yaadon ki baaraat is remembered more for its R.D. Burman soundtrack - especially the stellar "Chura liya hai tumne" - than for its story or performances. The rest of the soundtrack is not bad, though none of it is as transcendent as that one beautiful song. The title song has an added bonus - it features a delicious 6-year-old Aamir Khan:
Aww! The soundtrack also features a classic Asha/R.D. rock and roll number, "Lekar hum diwana dil." Unfortunately, this song's picturization may be the worst I have ever seen in a film not called Disco Dancer. Among other things, it includes an awful, stompy, writhing performance by Neetu Singh, early in her career - later in the 70s she was a graceful and lovely heroine in such classics as Amar Akbar Anthony. It's hard to believe that it's the same girl.
Posted at 05:41 PM in 1970s, Masala, Timepass | Permalink

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package org.broadinstitute.hellbender.engine.spark;

import com.esotericsoftware.kryo.Kryo;
import htsjdk.samtools.SAMRecord;
import org.apache.spark.SparkConf;
import org.apache.spark.serializer.KryoRegistrator;
import org.broadinstitute.hellbender.utils.read.ArtificialReadUtils;
import org.broadinstitute.hellbender.utils.read.SAMRecordToGATKReadAdapter;
import org.broadinstitute.hellbender.testutils.SparkTestUtils;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class SAMRecordSerializerUnitTest {
    public static class TestGATKRegistrator implements KryoRegistrator {
        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
        @Override
        public void registerClasses(Kryo kryo) {
            kryo.register(SAMRecord.class, new SAMRecordSerializer());
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void testSerializerRoundTripHeaderlessSAMRecord() {
        SparkConf conf = new SparkConf().set("spark.kryo.registrator",
                "org.broadinstitute.hellbender.engine.spark.SAMRecordSerializerUnitTest$TestGATKRegistrator");

        // check round trip with no header
        final SAMRecord read = ((SAMRecordToGATKReadAdapter)ArtificialReadUtils.createHeaderlessSamBackedRead("read1", "1", 100, 50)).getEncapsulatedSamRecord();

        final SAMRecord roundTrippedRead = SparkTestUtils.roundTripInKryo(read, SAMRecord.class, conf);
        Assert.assertEquals(roundTrippedRead, read, "\nActual read: " + roundTrippedRead.getSAMString() + "\nExpected read: " + read.getSAMString());
    }

    @Test
    public void testChangingContigsOnHeaderlessSAMRecord(){
        final SparkConf conf = new SparkConf().set("spark.kryo.registrator",
                "org.broadinstitute.hellbender.engine.spark.SAMRecordSerializerUnitTest$TestGATKRegistrator");
        final SAMRecord read = ((SAMRecordToGATKReadAdapter)ArtificialReadUtils.createHeaderlessSamBackedRead("read1", "1", 100, 50)).getEncapsulatedSamRecord();

        final SAMRecord roundTrippedRead = SparkTestUtils.roundTripInKryo(read, SAMRecord.class, conf);
        Assert.assertEquals(roundTrippedRead, read, "\nActual read: " + roundTrippedRead.getSAMString() + "\nExpected read: " + read.getSAMString());

        read.setReferenceName("2");
        read.setAlignmentStart(1);

        final SAMRecord roundTrippedRead2 = SparkTestUtils.roundTripInKryo(read, SAMRecord.class, conf);
        Assert.assertEquals(roundTrippedRead2, read, "\nActual read: " + roundTrippedRead2.getSAMString() + "\nExpected read: " + read.getSAMString());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub