The Sound of Music opens on September 27.
(SPOT.ph) The Sound of Music, a musical based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, is a timeless classic that has captured the hearts of many generations. "My Favorite Things" and "Do-Re-Mi" have become standards in any children's' songs playlist that anyone can pretty much hum the tunes. But for a kid who fantasized about becoming a von Trapp child, these songs are more than catchy melodies. They're part of a dream that's now about to come true as The Sound of Music announces its lineup of Filipino child artists chosen to participate in the production's Manila leg on September 27.
In a press conference on July 19 at Diamond Hotel in Manila, the producers of The Sound of Music narrated how more than 400 talented young actors and actresses from all over the Philippines came to three grueling rounds of auditions in May. They had their heights measured, harmonizing skills tested, and ability to pick up on hard choreography challenged. In the end, 18 kids were chosen for the coveted roles of the six of the seven von Trapp brood: Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. Some of them have backgrounds in theater and film while some are performing for the first time onstage.
Familiar names include 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival Best Child Performer Krystal Brimner (Honor Thy Father, Annie), Asia's Got Talent Finalist Gwyneth Dorado (Annie), Tory Cortez (Newsies, Hansel and Gretel), and Rayne Cortez (Hansel and Gretel). Farthest away from home is Kyle Rafanan who hails from Talisay City in Negros Occidental.
They will be joining the rest of the West End cast led by Carmen Pretorius as Maria Rainer and Mark Rayment as Captain von Trapp. Rehearsals with The Sound of Music Children's Director, Jonny Bowles, starts in August.


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Q: Calling zone.run in leaflet popup within Angular5 app We have an angular5 application with an embedded leaflet map.  This map binds a popup to various points which in turn open a details component.  This convoluted process works fine in chrome and firefox but is failing with an enigmatic "Syntax error" in Internet Explorer.  You can view the app at:
http://ptappdev.gisdata.mn.gov/ptappt
Click on any of the map markers and then click "view details".
In case it is a problem with javascript nested quotes I have tried a whole range of escaping patters.  Still no luck.  The code generating this popup is:
        layer.bindPopup('
' + feature.properties[Object.keys(feature.properties)[0]] + '
open website
 {window['angularComponentRef'].component.showResultDtlViaMapTip('
      + '"' + feature.properties['name'] + '",'
      + '"' + feature.properties['id'] + '",'
      + '"' + feature.properties['park_admin_id'] + '"'
      + ');})'
      + '" style="cursor: pointer; cursor: hand; ">view details
'); // 1 initial load
  }
}).addTo(this.map)//.on('click', this.onMarkerClick);

The resulting html is:
 {window['angularComponentRef'].component.showResultDtlViaMapTip("Upper Sioux Agency State Park","530","spk00277");})" style="cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;">view details

Any ideas on whether this is a syntax error with zone or a problem with my nested quotes.  Or perhaps something else entirely?  I would be grateful for any assistance.

A: Arrow functions have been introduced in ES2015 and are not supported in Internet Explorer.
Your expression looks compatible with the use of a normal function, so simply replacing your arrow function by a normal one should solve your syntax error while preserving functionality.

A: Thanks for the fix suggestion.  For reference, here is the new functional rewritten code, not using arrow functions:
view details

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Top 10 Best Self-Tanners of 2022 – Reviews
If you don't like exposing yourself to dangerous UV rays to achieve the tan you dream of, you can always substitute tanning lotions with self-tanners who for the most part, get the job done equally well. You must also consider the fact that tanning takes an awful lot of time, whereas self-tanners can be applied in just a matter of minutes with roughly the same results.
If you're looking for an alternative to tanning lotions that doesn't involve you spending dangerous amounts of time out in the sun, then you should at least consider getting a self-tanner instead. To help you through, we put together a list of the ten best self-tanners money can buy.
Best Self-Tanners – Reviews
10Paula's Choice Self-Tan Concentrate
For people who can't go a day without using moisturizers or lotions, Paula's Choice Sunless Self-Tan concentrate should be considered the perfect choice as it goes well with face or body creams of any kind. The concentrate is highly effective and allows users to pick the darkness of the tan they need by mixing the appropriate amount with their body creams.
Lighter to medium-tan bronzes can be achieved with one or two pumps while deeper tans require a few more pumps depending on how dark you need your skin to be.
9Vita Liberata Self-Tan Mousse
Famed for its perfect bronze tans that can last up to three weeks after a single application, this odorless, toxin-free self-tan mousse is a great way to keep your skin looking bronzed for long periods of time.
It comes in three different shades (Fair, Medium, and Dark) to perfectly suit all skin types. Although it requires a 24-hour period during which no moisturizer should e used, the self-tan mousse can hydrate your skin and help it retain its natural colors.
8St. Tropez Express Advanced Self-Tan Mousse
St. Tropez Advanced Self-Tan Mousse gives you the power to choose what kind of tan you would like. Based on its original DHA-based mousse formulation, the Express version creates a tan that becomes progressively darker the longer it is left on.
The lightest tan can be achieved by showering an hour after applying it while the richest bronze tan is gotten when the mousse is left on for three or more hours. It is easy to apply, pleasantly fragrant, and does not contain any oily residues to speak of.
7Skinerals Organic Californium Sunless Tanner
Featuring one of the most pleasant fragrances and a formulation that keeps skin well bronzed for up to a week, Skinerals Organic Californium Tanner is a great choice by all standards.
The foamy formulation can be applied evenly without streaking or forming unpleasant blotches. This is facilitated by a soft padded Skinerals microfiber tanning mitt that comes with the self-tanner.
6St. Moriz Instant Self-Tan Mousse
This self-tan mousse is considered more fragrant than the previous brand since its formulation does not contain the odor-inducing DHA that many self-tanners tend to have. It is capable of creating nice, rich tans that can last up to four days before needing a reapplication. The guide tint washes off easily after a shower, leaving behind a smooth, richly bronzed skin that appears naturally suntanned.
5Banana Boat Sunless Self-Tan Lotion
This is a straight-forward self-tan lotion that can create light to medium-bronzed skins in just a few hours. Among its best features is its particularly pleasant smell and the great results it achieves after each proper application.
Although the Tanner might create some slight streaking, using velvety mitts can solve that problem as long as you know what you're careful. It is a great option for first-time tanners and people on a budget.
4Tan Physics Sunless Tanner
The DHA-based formulation used by Tan Physics creates some exquisite tans, especially when used correctly and in the right amounts. Although it may take more time to bronze the skin, this sunless tanner can last up to seven hours after application.
The formulation also contains skin-nourishing ingredients such as Argan oil, caramel, Aloe Vera, Soybean oil, orange peel extracts, and vitamins A, C, and E.
3St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse
The much acclaimed St. Tropez Self-Tan Mouse is famed for turning pale skin a glorious bronze shade that can last up to ten days using its DHA-based formulation. The self-tanner dries quickly and leaves no oily residue whatsoever.
After application, it takes a few hours to work but as soon as the tint is showered off, it leaves a radiant, natural tan that will leave your skin looking divine for days after its application.
2Beauty by Earth Natural Sunless Self-Tan Bronzer
Perfect for creating both bronzed and golden skin, Beauty by Earth is a top-of-the-range sunless self-tanner that allows progressive tanning routines. It is packed with skin-nourishing ingredients such as green tea extracts, coconut oil, Shea butter, and Argan oil which keeps skin perfectly nourished and healthy throughout. The bronzer can last a maximum of four to five days before it requires reapplication.
1Fake Bake Flawless Self-Tanner
Seen as one of the best self-tanners on the market, the Fake Bake Flawless Sunless Self-tanner is loved for its tropical scents and its quick-drying nature. What's also great about it is that it can be applied evenly and smoothly using a provided velvet mitt to create a perfectly even bronzed skin that will look even better after a few hours.
The self-tanner achieves this long-lasting tanning effect using Erythrulose and DHA, which shouldn't cause any damage to the skin as long as you don't suffer from any preexisting conditions. In fact, this self-tanner neither contains harmful parabens nor does it leave behind any oily residue, making it ideal for everyday use.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


3.25" x 4'' inches Food Safe Adhesive Self-Sealing Resealable Clear Plastic Flat Cello Wrap Cellophane Favor Candy Cookie Treat Jewelry Retail Gift Bags 100pcs - KAUF.COM is exciting!
These are crystal clear, resealable cello bags for packaging. These have the self adhesive strip on the lip. Peel off the strip, and fold the top over to the body of the bag to seal the contents. Flat bags (no gusset) - please consider the thickness of your item when choosing the size of bag you need. Impress your customers with a unique crystal clear solution, provide 'Retail Pack' appearance and beautiful finished look for your product. Cello bag is non-porous, super-clear, non-stretching and generally stronger and more rigid than Poly bags. It is commonly used for packaging foods and displaying merchandise at retail. This bag feels slick and "crinkly" - not "soft" like a sandwich bag.


The American Trucking Association projects that the trucking industry is poised for serious growth by 2022. The forecast suggests that overall revenue for the industry will rise almost 66% and tonnage will increase 24% by 2022.
However, 2016's economy saw slow growth, shipping rates and volumes. Due to low demand, excess inventory and infrastructure bottlenecks, revenue YOY only rose 0.2%. But 2017's trucking outlook improves: demand, spending and manufacturing are expected to pick up.
The driver shortage still overshadows the industry, and is expected to get worse. There aren't enough qualified drivers filling open positions, and the aging workforce is retiring.
Adding to the enduring driver shortage, the ELD mandate has caused some drivers and small carriers to exit the industry completely. 51% of carriers indicated that they've lost drivers who did not want to operate under ELDs. ELDs are mandated for use by all commercial drivers who track HOS begins December 2017. 81% of large fleets (more than 250 trucks) reported that they have already achieved full ELD implementation, while small fleets (less than 250 trucks) are much slower to ELD integration; only 33% have fully integrated ELDs into their fleet.
Shippers have little interest in using carriers that are non-compliant. Some shippers are stepping up and asking carriers to begin installing ELDs now. According to John Larkin of Stifel Financial Corp., shippers have decided it's too risky to wait until December to see if their core carriers have sufficiently implemented the technology.
"Based purely on regulatory issues, we're predicting we're going to hit 100% capacity utilization sometime in the middle of the year," says Larry Gross, FTR.
The other regulatory issue facing the trucking industry? Hours-of-Service and the outcome of the FMCSA's studies. The association's results will greatly affect the rules on driver rest periods. With stricter operation rules, drivers' productivity will take a hit, which in turn will tighten capacity. Plus, carriers will find additional pressure to increase pay to keep drivers and have technology available so that drivers can be on schedule.
Experts expect a capacity crunch to hit the industry in late 2017. "A 1-2% shift in capacity could be an earthquake. That shift and a little spark to demand will give you that '2014' feel," says Brian Fielkon, Jetco Delivery.
The trucking industry is constantly changing; oil prices fluctuate, regulations are authorized and/or challenged, technological advances streamline processes, and environmental responsibility continues to move up the priority list. Carriers and shippers can work with a 3PL to enhance their businesses, connect to a larger network and focus on core competencies.


text:
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You are here: Home » Travel and Leisure » 5 Reasons to Holiday in France next Summer
5 Reasons to Holiday in France next Summer
By Howard • Nov 15th, 2013 • Category: Travel and Leisure
Vieilles Charrues Festival
cc licensed ( BY SA ) flickr photo shared by Mathieu
France has long been one of Europe's favourite holiday destinations, but sometimes it's easy to forget just how much there is going on during the summer months. From majoring sporting events to vibrant carnivals and music festivals, there's plenty to do on top of the usual highlights such as sightseeing and sampling of some of the world's finest cuisine.
1. Tour de France
There are few more evocative events in the sporting calendar than the Tour de France, regardless of whether or not you're a fan hitting the saddle yourself.
In 2014, the Tour will kick off in Yorkshire, returning to the UK for the first time since 2007. However, it's the French stages that will be the real highlight, with the world's best cyclists gathering to compete across the 3500 kilometre route, crossing picturesque countryside and some of the country's most famous cities before the final sprint down Paris' Champs-Elysées on 21 July. As ever, it promises to be quite a spectacle, with plenty of action taking place near Calais for those tempted by a short ride by ferry.
2. Bastille Day
July 14th is one of the most important dates in the French calendar. Bastille Day, or La Fête de la Bastille or La Fête Nationale, is the festivity of independence marking the first major event of the French Revolution of 1789, the storming of the infamous Bastille prison.
Today, this national holiday is marked with a military parade up the Champs Elysées, along with festivals, spectacular firework displays and cries of 'Vive le 14 juillet!' ('Long live the 14th of July!'). While the largest activities may centre on Paris, every town or city tends to put on its own events. These may vary greatly in scale, but the party spirit is very much the same throughout.
3. Cannes Film Festival
From May 14 to May 25, the city of Cannes will again become the focal point for the world's film industry, with heavyweight names from Hollywood and beyond descending on the French Riveria.
However, the festival is strictly invitation only, with trading or selling tickets deemed to be illegal. If you are offered tickets, especially online, the chances are they will be fakes so be extremely cautious.
Despite this, it is still possible to watch a screening. Scores of people each year line up outside the festival holding signs asking for tickets. Many of them are lucky, some more than once. There are spare tickets out there – it's just that getting them will take some confidence and more than a little fortune.
If you are one of the lucky ones, remember to dress appropriately. A tuxedo or black ties is obligatory for men, and gowns expected for women. This is a formal requirement – anyway, you wouldn't want to be walking down the red carpet looking anything other than your absolute best.
It's also worth noting that finding places to stay is extremely difficult during the festival. Hotels are typically booked up months in advance, and hostels and boarding houses are non-existent. You may have better luck camping or staying out of town, but public transport can be unpredictable. Despite all these challenges though, it's more than worth it if you can get in. There really are few other occasions like it.
4. Paris Carnival
Since it was resurrected in 1997 following a 50-year absence, the Paris Carnival has become one of the most exciting annual events in the city's summer schedule.
On5th July next year, the capital will again be blur of noise and colour as the Dimanche Gras (Fat Sunday) parade winds its way from Place Gambetta to the Hôtel de Ville. Meanwhile, the streets will be filled with a stream of musicians, jugglers and street performers vying for your attention, along with a horde of visitors and residents in flamboyant fancy dress costumes.
5. Vieilles Charrues Festival
As France's largest festival, Vieilles Charrues takes over the region of Carhaix-Plouguer, with more than 200,000 music fans making the pilgrimage to Brittany each summer.
The line-up for 2014 is yet to be announced, but over the past few years the event has played host to a number of major names, from punk pioneers Iggy and the Stooges to Bruce Springsteen and Elton John. Last year was a particular highlight too, featuring Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Germany's Rammstein and 60s legends Santana.
Sam Wright is a freelance writer and journalist based in Norwich, Norfolk. He has travelled extensively through France, and visits every year.
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Beatriz Ferreyra (b. 1937)
GRM Works (1967-2011)
Beatriz Ferreyra has been at the forefront of electroacoustic music composition since 1963 when she joined the Groupe de Recherches Musicales as one of Pierre Schaeffer's research assistants. She is one of very few composers still performing who was instrumental at the beginning of Schaeffer's theories of sound objects and reduced listening techniques. She continues to compose commissioned works and perform around the world in a career that has spanned some sixty years.
From the 1960s until 1997 Beatriz composed tape pieces for multi-speaker performance using three or four Revox reel-to-reel tape machines at each concert. She now works on Pro Tools with GRM plug-ins but still uses the Revoxes for certain tape techniques that can't be achieved with computer software. Beatriz discusses her music in the Schaefferian way, as a series of impulsions [sharp attacks], iteratives [repetitions], percutés [percussive hits], and trames [sustains] whilst also using her own onomatopoeic descriptions such as 'schkllang, prrrrwip, ferrrwisssssh, takatak' communicating sounds freely and directly as she hears them.
Her music is about movement; the movement of sounds around a performance space, or the positioning of sounds as point sources within the illusory stereo field between loudspeakers. It is also about movement within individual sounds, where each one is a composition of different shifting components and a 'little structure' in its own right, with its own character. She likens her sounds to a Russian doll, inside each is another one, which contains another, and so on.
During her time at Schaeffer's studios, Beatriz developed her own research project, Objets Construits, (constructed objects). These are layers of short sounds, chords made of different noises. Each layer is isolated on a separate piece of tape to analyse the relationships between components and the effect of minimal alterations in pitch, dynamics or timing, to the overall perception of the chord. This was a way of thinking about sound slowly and patiently, of taking time to experiment, analyse and contemplate each manipulation, that is lost in the speedy world of vast ready-made digital sound libraries and the immediacy of save and recall buttons.
In Beatriz's work, small, playful sounds interact like chattering creatures and merge into vast cavernous and mysterious immersive landscapes. These three signature pieces use snippets of speech which are gradually deconstructed to create abstract textures, interweaving vocals with percussive and sustained sounds. Small, playful sounds interact like chattering creatures and merge into vast cavernous and mysterious immersive landscapes. La Baballe du Chien Chien [The doggie's little ball] (2001) is a playful take on the way that we speak in a childlike way to pets. A brief narrative at the start invites the listener into this 'pet speak' scene, with the sound of footsteps and chatter. These gradually crescendo and morph into a cacophonous swirling explosion. Deux Dents Dehors [two teeth sticking out] (2007) is a pun on Bernard Parmegiani's piece Dedans Dehors [Inside Outside] (1977), composed for his birthday. It takes snippets of lively vernacular and processes these into complex patterns of unintelligible and unrecognisable speech, in sustained or percussive sequences and glissandi. Heullas Entreveradas (2018) is a new commission that transforms vocal sounds into choral textures which fragment, granulate and transform into continuous whorls and tidal washes interspersed with her trademark short silences."
UbuWeb Sound | UbuWeb


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MM8.03 - Structural Properties of Linear Carbon Chain Inside Carbon Nanotubes under High Pressures
Recent studies of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in aqueous media have showed that water can significantly affect the mechanical properties of the tubes [1, 2]. CNTs under hydrostatic compression can preserve their elastic properties up to large pressure values, while exhibiting exceptional resistance to mechanical loadings.
It was experimentally observed that CNTs with encapsulated carbon linear atomic chains (CLACs), when subjected to high hydrostatic pressure values, present irreversible red shifts in some of their vibrational frequencies. In order to address this phenomenon, we have carried out fully atomistic reactive (ReaxFF) [3] molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.
We have considered the cases of finite and infinite (cyclic boundary conditions) CNTs with encapsulated CLACs of different lengths (from 9 up to 40 atoms). Our results show that for pressure around 10 GPa causes the coalescence of two chains. The calculated vibrational spectrum shows that the longer chains (after coalescence) present a smaller resonant frequency, consistent with experimental observations. Also we show that for extreme high pressures (up to 10 times higher than the experimental one) the CNTs are deformed in an inhomogeneous way due to the CLAC presence. The CLAC/CNT interface regions exhibit convex curvatures, which results in more reactive environments [4], thus favoring the formation of covalent bonds between CLACs and CNTs. This process is irreversible with the new formed covalent bonds continuing to exist even when the external pressure is released. A red shift from 1850 to 1750 cm−1 in the C-C mode of the chain was calculated, thus suggesting new interaction between chains and carbon nanotubes.
[1] V. Vijayaraghavan and C. H. Wong, Comp. Mater. Sci. v79, 519 (2013).
[2] C. H. Wong and V. Vijayaraghavan, Phys. Lett. A v378, 570 (2014).
[3] A. C. T. van Duin, S. Dasgupta, F. Lorant, and W. A. Goddard, J. Phys. Chem. A v105, 9396 (2001).
[4] D. Srivastava, D. W. Brenner, J. D. Schall, K. D. Ausman, M. Yu, and R. S. Ruoff, J. Phys. Chem. B v103, 4330 (1999).
Gustavo Brunetto, State University of Campinas


Wheels in a backpack make it more convenient to travel and hence, one of the most preferred luggage choice. A wheeled backpack becomes far more flexible and functional for the travellers who prefer to drag their luggage and carry it only when required. A wheeled backpack is ideal for business travellers who travel with laptops and other essentials. They can get a wheeled laptop backpack with a dedicated compartment to keep the laptop safely and other dedicated pockets to pack the essentials in a convenient and efficient manner. These wheeled laptop backpacks are ideal for people who have more stuff to pack along with their laptops.
We at luggage UK have curated a wide selection of wheeled backpacks to meet different requirements of our customers. Our range includes wheeled backpacks of different sizes, materials, colours and brands for every customer's unique preference. Our expansive collection includes some of the most prominent brands including Delsey, American Tourister, Samsonite Luggage, Caribee and Epic among others.


Anyone here ever made their own baby food?
I have not but I might try it once or twice when baby is here but I don't think I will do it all the time.
This is something I totally want to do when I have a baby (or so I say now, heh). I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's pretty easy (as long as you have a food processor or blender).
I'd love to hear anyone's stories, if ya got 'em!
The other books on Amazon seemed aimed more at toddlers than infants... I think I'd need to go to a bookstore and actually flip through these first, though. If I find one I LOVE down the road, I'll definitely let y'all know (and I hope you'll share if you find one you love too).
I did, when Alexis was on baby food. BUT, only for maybe 3-4 weeks? It really got to be a hassle for me. Took longer.. and I was spoiled by the convenience of a jar.
I haven't but I am going to try this time.
I plan to when I have kids!!!
i did and it is actually really easy.


Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra 10 minutes. Heat an iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa.


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Sipler v. Trans Am Trucking: Does this case mean no need to do a liability set aside?
MEDICARE COMPLIANCE , MSAs
By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC
Sipler was injured when a bus he was riding was struck a truck owned by Trans Am Trucking. The case was set for trial but settled on the eve of trial. The agreement to settle was a payment of $225,000 in exchange for a release from all claims arising out of the accident. There were not other terms discussed or agreed upon. Defense counsel drafted a release and the case was dismissed without prejudice but the court retained jurisdiction to enforce settlement.
Defense counsel sent a proposed release that contained a confidentiality clause and provisions relating to Mr. Sipler's health care liens and future care. Specifically, the plaintiff could not claim reimbursement from Medicare for injuries arising out of the accident; his private insurance could not pay for claims arising out of the accident because those injuries were preexisting and Medicare would not pay for any future treatment for injuries arising out of the accident. Plaintiff counsel refused to accept these provisions and defense counsel refused to consummate the settlement agreement without those provisions. A motion to enforce the settlement by plaintiff counsel ensued.
In bringing his motion to enforce settlement, plaintiff counsel argued that the parties didn't agree to confidentiality or any provisions relating to health care; federal law does not require the plaintiff to disquality himself from Medicare benefits or establish a set aside and defendants had not authority to protect the rights of Medicare. Defendants argued that federal law requires personal injury settlements to protect the rights of Medicare with respect to both past and future medical expenses.
In its analysis of the issue, the court went through NJ law relating to enforcement of an agreement to settle. It also went through the basics of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. The court then correctly goes on to point out that Medicare never paid anything for Mr. Sipler's care and he had private health insurance which was primary. The court stated that "Mr. Sipler may not seek payments from Medicare for such expense to the extent they are provided for by his health insurance policy and/or the settlement." This is correct as the private health insurance coverage would be primary over Medicare.
The court, even though it didn't have to go any further, then addressed the question of whether the MSP requires language in the release specifying "(1) his obligation not to seek such payments from Medicare and (2) a particular portion of the settlement amount to be set aside for future medical expenses arising out of the accident." The defense cited the Sally Stalcup memo of 9/29/11 for the proposition that a set aside wasn't necessary. The court correctly points out that there is no federal law that requires set aside arrangements in personal injury settlements. The court in dicta does draw some distinction between workers' compensation settlements and third party liability settlements relating to the question of whether there is a need to set aside funds. In the end though the court states that the "parties in this case need not include language in the settlement documents noting Mr. Sipler's obligations to Medicare or fashion a Medicare set-aside for future medical expenses."
I think the foregoing quote from the holding says it all. This opinion was on a motion to enforce settlement due to a dispute over release language. "In sum, the parties in this case need not include language in the settlement documents noting Mr. Sipler's obligations to Medicare of fashion a Medicare set-aside for future medical expenses." I don't think it has much impact on the current landscape. Additionally, this case didn't involve someone who would need a set aside as a primary payer existed in the form of his private health insurance provider.
The issue is whether the client can treat with Medicare for their injuries post settlement. In my opinion you don't have to do a set aside any more than you have to set up an SNT for someone that is on Medicaid. However, the client must understand the risks associated with failure to set up a set aside if they are on Medicare. Just because a court says you don't have to set it up, doesn't mean that Medicare will not refuse to pay for injury related care in the future. If Medicare denies payments to an injury victim, what impact do you think that Federal District Court opinion will have while the client goes through a 420-day internal appeal process with Medicare before they get to a federal district court? Medicare has become more aggressive with post settlement enforcement of the MSP for future injury related care and has the information from every settlement including the ICD9 codes related to the injuries as a result of the mandatory insurer reporting.
As some of you may know, CMS regulations regarding set asides might be coming in the very near future. There is currently a proposal for proposed regulations. AAJ commented on it along with many state TLAs. Everyone believes the regulations will require something but we aren't sure exactly what that will be yet.
For the time being, we recommend making sure the client is aware that if they are a Medicare beneficiary then the settlement may impact their future eligibility for injury related care. If they want to be cautious, they can get an allocation done and then set money aside. If not, counsel should document their file about the plaintiff being educated about the risks.
To view the opinion, click HERE


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Dot the Eye
Adrie Le Roux
Diane victor
Anton Karstel
Barry Barichievy
Bastiaan van Stenis
Dylan Graham
Gordon Froud
Guy Du Toit
Jan Blohm
Koos Kombuis
Frederik Eksteen
Liezel Prins
Ruhan Janse van Vuuren
Sarel Petrus
Tarien Engelbrecht
Diane Victor was born in 1964. She is a renowned South African artist whose works remain a poignant visual centrepiece in our modern times.
Victor's list of accolades is a tremendous as her body of work is. And this is simply because of her powerful work and necessary voice. Throughout her works, it is apparent that her humility speaks for the underdog. She places ideas in alternative perspectives, and invites the viewer to acknowledge alternative ways of being and seeing.
Victor's work exists in a sphere of black and white. And as striking as these are, it is the textural meeting of the two that demands attention. It is the constant teetering between the binaries, and she masterfully encapsulates this moment in the whispers of soft detail that contrast the hard lines of the artworks. This binary extends to the interpretation of the work; from the satirical scrutiny of ideological constructs to the role of the woman's role in society. The idea that there are always two sides to every truth and only one that is heard becomes questionable, as Victor encourages the viewer to look at their world from every perspective. In this way the alternative to the norm is offered, and it is in this that perceptive shifts may be undertaken. It is said that artists cannot change the world, they can merely present it may hold an element of truth, but the representation of reality is the eternal starting block to change. The decision, essentially, lies with the viewer themselves.
Victor is constantly experimenting with new ways making marks. This textural decadence is always surprising, as the viewer does not know what to expect next. From the marks made with fire (through burning candles, books and money) in her Burning the candle at both ends series to the marks inspired by a stained ceiling in the Stained gods series, she redefines what it is that an artist needs to create art. Her current experimentation with stone and light is again a dualism that embodies the hardness of reality, and the light exists despite of it.
Her voice, that of the logical black and white of being, resonates in the art that she produces. Victor does not present slogans – she creates works that subtly urge the viewer to reconsider their views on everyday living.
Diane Victor currently works and resides in Johannesburg, South Africa.
To purchase an artwork or receive more information please contact art@dottheeye.co.za
All images shown on this site are © of the respective artists.


Editor's note: Ruth May wrote this column in August 2017. Click here for an extensive update.
Party loyalty is often cited as the reason that GOP leaders have not been more outspoken in their criticism of President Donald Trump and his refusal to condemn Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. Yet there may be another reason that top Republicans have not been more vocal in their condemnation. Perhaps it's because they have their own links to the Russian oligarchy that they would prefer go unnoticed.
Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.
During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard "Len" Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik's donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik's holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.
Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC and his Florida First Project received $1.5 million through Blavatnik's two holding companies. Other high dollar recipients of funding from Blavatnik were PACS representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at $1.1 million, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at $800,000, Ohio Governor John Kasich at $250,000 and Arizona Senator John McCain at $200,000.
In January, Quartz reported that Blavatnik donated another $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Committee. Ironically, the shared address of Blavatnik's companies is directly across the street from Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York.
Len Blavatnik, considered to be one of the richest men in Great Britain, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K. He is known for his business savvy and generous philanthropy, but not without controversy.
In 2010, Oxford University drew intense criticism for accepting a donation of 75 million pounds from Blavatnik for a new school of government bearing his name. Faculty, alumni and international human rights activists claimed the university was selling its reputation and prestige to Putin's associates.
Blavatnik's relationships with Russian oligarchs close to Putin, particularly Oleg Deripaska, should be worrisome for Trump and the six GOP leaders who took Blavatnik's money during the 2016 presidential campaign. Lucky for them no one has noticed. Yet.
Oleg Deripaska is the founder and majority owner of RUSAL, the world's second largest aluminum company, based in Russia. Len Blavatnik owns a significant stake in RUSAL and served on its Board until November 10, 2016, two days after Donald Trump was elected.
Deripaska controls RUSAL with a 48 percent majority stake through his holding company, EN+ Group, and the Russian government owns 4.35 percent stake of EN+ Group through its second-largest state owned bank, VTB. VTB was exposed in the Panama papers in 2016for facilitating the flow of billions of dollars to offshore companies linked to Vladimir Putin and is under sanctions by the U.S. government.
Deripaska has been closely connected to the Kremlin since he married into Boris Yeltsin's family in 2001, which literally includes him in the Russian clan known as "The Family."According to the Associated Press, starting in 2006, Deripaska made annual payments of $10 million to Paul Manafort through the Bank of Cyprus to advance Putin's global agenda.
Len Blavatnik's co-owner in RUSAL is his long-time business partner, Viktor Vekselberg, another Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. Blavatnik and Vekselberg hold their 15.8 percent joint stake in RUSAL in the name of Sual Partners, their offshore company in the Bahamas. Vekselberg also happens to be the largest shareholder in the Bank of Cyprus.
Another oligarch with close ties to Putin, Dmitry Rybolovlev, owns a 3.3 percent stake in the Bank of Cyprus. Rybolovlev is known as "Russia's Fertilizer King" and has been in the spotlight for several months as the purchaser of Trump's 60,000 square-foot mansion in Palm Beach. Rybolovlev bought the estate for $54 million more than Trump paid for the property at the bottom of the crash in the U.S. real estate market.
The convoluted web that links Putin's oligarchs to Trump's political associates and top Republicans is difficult to take in.
Trump and Putin have a common approach to governance. They rely heavily on long-term relationships and family ties. While there have been tensions between Putin and Deripaska over the years, the Kremlin came to Deripaska's rescue in 2009 when he was on the verge of bankruptcy by providing a $4.5 billion emergency loan through state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB), where Putin is chair of the advisory board.
VEB, known as President Putin's "pet bank," is now in crisis after sanctions applied by Europe and U.S. in 2014 have isolated it from the international banks that were the sources of its nearly $4 billion in hard currency loans that, according to Bloomberg, mature this year and in 2018.
Russia's international currency reserves are near a 10-year low, which has put further pressure on the president of VEB, Sergey Gorkov, to find sources of international rescue capital. Notably, it was Gorkov who met secretly with Jared Kushner in December at Trump Tower. Kushner's failure to report the meeting with Gorkov has drawn the attention of the Senate intelligence committee that now wants to question Kushner about the meeting.
CORRECTION, 12:11 p.m., August 7: The headline on an earlier version of this column incorrectly said Blavatnik is Russian. He was born in Urkraine during the Soviet era.
An earlier version of this column used the name Leonid "Len" Blavatnik. He changed his first name to Leonard.
The column has also been updated to remove language describing the online presentation of a press release about Blavatnik resigning from the RUSAL board because it lacked context.


text:
Hidden: First in a New Mystery Series (Black Hat Thriller #1) (Paperback)
By Karen E. Olson
This tense and twisting novel of identity and suspense marks an intriguing new departure for cozy mystery writer Karen E. Olson.
Nicole Jones - if that is her real name - lives off the grid. She doesn't have a licence, passport or bank account. She definitely doesn't own a computer. She hasn't left her refuge, Block Island, in fifteen years. She's hidden from the world and she likes it that way. Nicole doesn't use a computer, not because she's afraid of it, but because she's afraid of what she - a badass hacker in her past life - would do with it.
When the last person Nicole wants to see suddenly reappears, using a name he knows will draw her out, Nicole realizes that her time hidden is now ending. Her past secrets tumbling into the open and her carefully-constructed new life set to fall apart, Nicole must re-hone her long-suppressed computer skills in order to escape from an island that is no longer a haven, but suddenly a prison.
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Series: Black Hat Thriller
Thrillers - Suspense
Hardcover, Large Print (July 29th, 2016): $36.95
Hardcover (December 2015): $28.95


A powerful combination of Retinol, Collagen, Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, and Niacinamide makes up this cutting-edge 5-in-1 super charged anti-aging gel.
Loaded with concentrated active ingredients, this brightening gel works to improve the appearance of skin color and tone while leaving skin feeling firmer, looking stronger, and appearing more plump. Hydrate and brighten skin appearance with the power of 5 key ingredients in an easy to use targeted applicator.


The ACES playing card has long been a part of TACO and when the design for it was shared in the epic unused design thread of 2017, the idea to turn it into a patch was born. The patch is designed to look exactly like the actual ACES card.
If you're new to this, TACO stands for Timbers Army Covert Ops, the group made up of Timbers supporters who live in Seattle and the surrounding area.


Auburn senior Samantha Cerio underwent surgery on Monday after dislocating both knees in last weekend's NCAA regional meet.
Fortner (306 career victories) led Purdue (1997) and Auburn (2009) to conference titles in the Big Ten and SEC, respectively.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host the Final Four and NCAA championship game next year (April 4 and 6).


text:
Q: How to Separate a string to multiple parts I have some Persian text (direction rlt) that I want to separate them.
Example:
$str =" کامپیوتر : وسیله ی الکتریکی است 1.ماوس 2.کیبورد
       و مانیتور 3. کیس
چاپگر: وسیله ای است برای پرینت بر روی معمولا کاغذ
موبایل : نوعی تلفن است به صورت سیار و بی سیم
که جدیدا خیلی هم رایج شده است
و اکثر انسان ها دارند
خانه : محلی برای زندگی است. 1. حیوانات 2. انواع انسان ها
برای خود خانه می سازند. ";

I want this output:
{
    arr[
       {
         word: "کامپیوتر",
         mean: "وسیله ی الکتریکی است 1.ماوس 2.کیبورد و مانیتور 3. کیس"
       },

       {
        word: "چاپگر",
        mean: "وسیله ای است برای پرینت بر روی معمولا کاغذ"
       },

       {
        word: "موبایل",
        mean: "نوعی تلفن است به صورت سیار و بی سیم که جدیدا خیلی هم رایج شده است و اکثر انسان ها دارند"
       },

       {
        word: "خانه",
        mean: "محلی برای زندگی است. 1. حیوانات 2. انواع انسان ها برای خود خانه می سازند."
       }
      ]
}

Well, I think I can't just use explode(":", $str). Because the mean of word is not contestant, it is sometimes in several lines. I think I need to regex. So how can I do that?

Edit: An English example:
$str = "apple : it is a fruit
       computer : 1.an electronic device for storing and
        processing data typically in binary form 2. according to
        instructionsgiven to it in a variable program"
        wall: a continuous vertical brick or stone structure
        that encloses or divides an area of land. 1. on the
       wall 2. brick wall 3. climbing wall";

I want this output:
{
    arr[
       {
         word: "apple",
         mean: "it is a fruit"
       },

       {
        word: "computer",
        mean: "1.an electronic device for storing and processing data typically in binary form 2. according to instructionsgiven to it in a variable program"
       },

       {
        word: "wall",
        mean: "a continuous vertical brick or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land. 1. on the wall 2. brick wall 3. climbing wall"
       }
      ]
}

A: You can use the following regex:
'~\h*(?<term>[^:\n]*?)\s*:\s*(?<mean>(?:(?!\n\h*[^\n:]*:).)*)~us'

See regex demo
I am using the named capture groups so that you could access them easier later on. Note that you need /u modifier to work with Unicode strings in PHP regex!
The regex matches:

*

*\h* - 0 or more horizontal whitespace

*(?<term>[^:\n]*) - Group 1 named "term" that matches 0 or more characters other than : and \n

*\s*:\s* - 0 or more whitespaces followed by : and zero or more whitespaces

*(?<mean>(?:(?!\n\h*[^\n:]*:).)*) - Group 2 named "mean" that matches any characters (since I am using /s modifier) that are not starting a sequence like spaces+term+:. This (?:(?!...).)* construct is called a tempered greedy token. You can unroll this as (?<mean>[^\n]*(?:\n(?!\h*[^\n:]*:)[^\n]*)*) for better performance (192 steps vs. 1226).

Use the regex with the preg_match_all rather than with preg_replace since you need an array:
$str =" کامپیوتر : وسیله ی الکتریکی است 1.ماوس 2.کیبورد
       و مانیتور 3. کیس
چاپگر: وسیله ای است برای پرینت بر روی معمولا کاغذ
موبایل : نوعی تلفن است به صورت سیار و بی سیم
که جدیدا خیلی هم رایج شده است
و اکثر انسان ها دارند
خانه : محلی برای زندگی است. 1. حیوانات 2. انواع انسان ها
برای خود خانه می سازند. ";
preg_match_all('~\h*(?<term>[^:\n]*?)\s*:\s*(?<mean>(?:(?!\n\h*[^\n:]*:).)*)~us', $str, $m, PREG_SET_ORDER);
print_r($m);

See the code demo.

A: This is a better way to do it.
This works but you have an extra step to do trimming of newlines in the meaning.
Just sit in a find loop. When you get a match, just run this replace on
the contents of meaning - group 2.
Then just store the results in an array.
Find:  \s*\r?\n\s*
Replace: " "
Main regex:
(?m)^\h*([^:\r\n]*?)\h*:(.*(?:\s*^(?!\h*[^:\r\n]*?\h*:).*)*)
Formatted and tested:
 (?m)
 ^
 \h*
 ( [^:\r\n]*? )                # (1) Word
 \h* :
 (                             # (2 start) Meaning
      .*
      (?:
           \s*
           ^
           (?!
                \h* [^:\r\n]*? \h* :
           )
           .*
      )*
 )                             # (2 end)

Output:
 **  Grp 1 -  ( pos 1 , len 8 )
کامپیوتر
 **  Grp 2 -  ( pos 11 , len 62 )
 وسیله ی الکتریکی است 1.ماوس 2.کیبورد
       و مانیتور 3. کیس

---------------------

 **  Grp 1 -  ( pos 75 , len 5 )
چاپگر
 **  Grp 2 -  ( pos 81 , len 43 )
 وسیله ای است برای پرینت بر روی معمولا کاغذ

---------------------

 **  Grp 1 -  ( pos 126 , len 6 )
موبایل
 **  Grp 2 -  ( pos 134 , len 90 )
 نوعی تلفن است به صورت سیار و بی سیم
که جدیدا خیلی هم رایج شده است
و اکثر انسان ها دارند

---------------------

 **  Grp 1 -  ( pos 226 , len 4 )
خانه
 **  Grp 2 -  ( pos 232 , len 76 )
 محلی برای زندگی است. 1. حیوانات 2. انواع انسان ها
برای خود خانه می سازند.


text:
Introducing the BLUE Pacific Act
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email
Washington, July 30, 2020
Tags: National Security , Foreign Relations
Madam Speaker,
I rise today in support of H.R. 7797, the Boosting Long-term U.S. Engagement in the Pacific Act, also known as the BLUE Pacific Act. I am proud to have introduced this bill together with my colleagues Congressmen Ami Bera, Ted Yoho, Brad Sherman and Don Young, as well as other members of our Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus.
Scattered across the vast waters of the Pacific from Hawai'i and Rapa Nui to Palau and New Caledonia are countless isles and atolls that constitute what we know as the Pacific Islands and their sub-regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The collective land and maritime exclusive economic zones of the Pacific Islands cover more of the Earth's surface than the land areas of China and Russia combined. These islands are home to diverse and dynamic cultures and people on the front lines of climate change and facing significant challenges to long-term sustainable development.
The United States is not some remote power in this integral part of our world. For two centuries we have been, and today we are, a Pacific nation. We have jurisdictions of our own among the family of Pacific Islands, including my home state of Hawai'i. We have longstanding ties with all of the Pacific Islands, be they independent nations, countries in free association, or territories of our friends and allies. Countless Americans died to liberate our Pacific neighbors in storied battles including Tarawa, Peleliu, Guadalcanal and more during the Second World War. In my own district is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, the final resting place of so many of these warriors.
Our foreign policy in the Pacific Islands is driven by this deep historical relationship and the shared interests and values built by decades of consistent but quiet engagement. Over the past twenty years, the United States has provided over $5 billion in assistance for the region. In the past decade, multiple Administrations and Congresses have heightened our engagement in the Pacific Islands as we have focused our attention on the Indo-Pacific region.
Reflecting this renewed attention to the Pacific Islands, last year I joined several of my colleagues in co-founding the first-ever, bipartisan Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus. We are dedicated to promoting greater understanding of this region and advocating for a sound United States foreign policy in the Pacific Islands that advances our shared interests and values.
Our BLUE Pacific Act establishes a comprehensive, long-term framework for United States foreign policy in the Pacific Islands focusing on three essential pillars: security, development and shared values. Our legislation would expand diplomatic and development presence; increase maritime security cooperation and assistance; deepen and diversify trade; support regional economic and social development in areas like public health and education; invest in climate adaptation and climate resilient infrastructure; coordinate with existing regional institutions and like-minded allies and partners; promote shared values like press freedom and gender equality; and strengthen people-to-people relationships and civil society. It would back up our commitment by authorizing $1 billion in assistance programs for the region for each of the next five fiscal years, more than triple current levels of assistance.
In naming this bill, we not only pay tribute to the concept of the "Blue Pacific" embraced by leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum as a shared identity and platform for collective action, but also intend for our efforts to be informed by and coordinated with the work of existing regional institutions and frameworks. This legislation would also integrate these programs with those of our like-minded allies and partners, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and more.
I have no doubt that introduction and enactment of the BLUE Pacific Act will be welcomed by our partners and allies in the Pacific Islands. In uncertain times, this legislation sends a clear and powerful statement of what our foreign policy seeks to achieve: a regional order built on mutual assistance and benefit, free of coercion, and fully respectful of the sovereignty of all nations . We seek to empower the countries and people of the region to determine the course of their own destinies. As a Pacific nation, we hope to share in that future alongside our Pacific Islands neighbors.
The BLUE Pacific Act is a first step in that direction. I encourage my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring the BLUE Pacific Act and urge swift consideration of this critical legislation.
U.S. House Passes Annual Defense Authorization Measure Including $1.0 Billion to Address the Red Hill Fuel Crisis
Testimony of Congressman Ed Case on FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act
April 27, 2022 | Posted in Speeches & Testimony
Case Supports Defense Department's Proposed Additional $1 Billion Fund To Address Red Hill Water Crisis
March 28, 2022 | Posted in Press Releases
Case Says Congress-Passed Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Measure Boosts IndoPacific Defense-Related Spending and Enhances Hawaii's Presence and Role


Hey Pascal. I don't mean to disturb. I sent you a PM, I just want to confirm if you got it. Thanks.
Ok good. Im glad you were able to fix it!
Hey man, how are you? I have a quick question, do you have by any chance an extra pair of Deluxe TF Prime Wheeljack swords?
Hey dude... quick question: Was the degreaser you used to remove Jetfire's red chrome the Greenworks brand? How much is that stuff?
Coincidentally my birthday is ALSO on September 23 .... but 1979 !!
how much to ship to montreal quebec j4w 3g1 ??


Relaxing background music for massage and spa treatments.
Traditional Welsh, Scots and Irish arrangements and original songs composed and performed by Stephanie Bennett on wire strung Celtic harp, nylon strung Celtic harp, pedal harp and keyboards, accompanied by musicians playing Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes), pennywhistle, tenor recorder, soprano recorder, flute and cello.
Classical music by Mozart, Saint-Saens, Bach, Beethoven, Albinoni and Dvorak, arranged, performed and recorded live on keyboards and piano, accompanied by musicians playing flutes, oboe, English horn, viola and harp.
Delight in Baroque classics by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Gluck, all selected, arranged and performed on keyboards, pedal and folk harps by Stephanie Bennett joined by an ensemble of musicians playing flutes, cello and recorders.
A lush, soothing collection of original music designed to slow the rhythms of the body and the nervous system while entertaining the listener with beautiful melodies and instruments chosen from a pan-cultural palette.
Discover orchestral music for family relaxation composed by Emmy-award winning composer/ musician, Stephen Cohn. Enjoy soothing yet modern interpretations of familiar folk melodies in a classically composed suite. Recorded in Prague, with members of The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.


text:
Golden Exits (2017) - Alex Ross Perry
Alex Ross Perry's Golden Exits is a introspective study of family, relationships, and self; a relatively plotless film which aims to unearth and explore the various aspects of companionship, desire, and self-satisfaction that make any meaningful relationship an ongoing, always evolving construct. Playful in its formalism, Golden Exits implores an intersectional narrative about two families and places a young foreign girl directly in the middle; a character who inevitably becomes the catalyst for the surfacing of underlying tensions in both households where existential dread, unhappiness, deceit, and the general malaise of everyday life has begun to take its toll. Imploring a heavy use of fades for transitional shots, Golden Exits manifests itself as a series of vignettes, providing slices-of-life over the course of a few months where we are able to get both intimacy and scale in its many wonderful characterizations. The cinematography is often tight, claustrophobic, and in turn intimate; with Perry's lens aiming to capture the emotional intimacy visually that he does through written word. The writing style of Alex Ross Perry is introspective yet theatrical; with various diatribes and bits of dialogue walking a fine-line between being introspective and overwrought. In this regard, Golden Exits does feel a little inorganic or masturbatory in its prose during various moments, but the film counteracts this with a general emotional honesty and maturity that is hard to ignore. Golden Exits is the type of film that is "about nothing" and in turn about everything; one which taps into a wide array of emotions through its various hots of characters; each of which is struggling to find their version of happiness. While perhaps not for everyone due to its pliable formalism, Golden Exits is a journey through the unspoken and unsurfaced emotional baggage of day-to-day life, one which provides a resonant and existential portrait of self and companionship.
Some Came Running (1958) - Vincent Minnelli
An honest, mature work, Vincent Minnelli's Some Came Running is a dense tapestry of familial conflict, class hierarchy, and moral relativism, providing one of the most poignant deconstructions of social capital every committed to celluloid. Through its traditional linear narrative formalism, Same Came Running reveals the toxic nature which social capital can have not only on the individual, but society as a whole, as the film follows Dave Hirsh, a disenfranchised veteran returning from the war to his hometown of Parkman, Indiana. The formal definitions of protagonist and antagonist by-and-large ring hallow in Some Came Running, as every character, from Dave, to his successful businessman brother, Frank, are given dimension and depth. Same Came Running reveals the subjective nature of morality through its exploration of social capital, revealing how a character's general empathy and humanism is rarely accurately defined by either societal norms or social status. Frank and Dave are brothers placed on different sides of society, due to there class or status, yet as the film progresses Some Came Running reveals their true characters as human-being, one which goes against the social expectations. Frank is respected in society, a man whose become just as concerned with his image/status in larger society as he is with the genuine well-being of his brother, a man whom has just returned home from the war. Frank isn't a vicious character, he isn't mean-spirited, he is just oblivious, one whose self-centered nature has manifested itself to new extremes due to his financial success, as the weight of social capital, and what he could stand to lose, begin to strain his familiar relationships, in particularly with his "lower-class" brother. Frank's characterization is essentially one about the darker implications of American culture, one in which self determination can blind oneself from the importance of general humanism and empathy. Frank thinks he cares about his brother's success and well-being but it's merely a warped deception, as it's autocratic in nature, driven by his Frank's own desires for his brother to do in life what is expected of him to do. Yet as the narrative unfolds, Frank is the one whose decisions directly and indirectly bring large potential harm to those around him, his adultery not only a heinous deception to his wife, but also one that inevitably sends his daughter down a seedy path. To the audience, Frank is a character who projects he has it all together, but he doesn't', while Dave is never presented that way; Dave has problems, we know it, but we respect him more due his ability to be honest with himself, his unwillingness to dictate the lives of others while not adhering to societal demands. Dave isn't an autocrat, he simply wants to live life the way he sees fit, and while he has his own demons related to self-defeat, we respect him for not doing what his brother does - using his social capital to coerce the will of others. The social capital, or lack-there-of, is perhaps best pronounced in the film's exploration of female agency. Both main female characters in this film come from backgrounds that couldn't be more varied. Gwen French, an intellectual and creative writing teacher, presumably has nothing in common with Ginnie, the vulgar "easy" woman, yet they both struggle to be heard, due to each of them going against the larger societies implications of what a woman should and shouldn't be. Ginnie is a character whom is looked down upon due to her hedonistic behavior, much like frank, but Gwen comes from the other side of the spectrum, being a highly intelligent woman whom is respected on the surface, yet it's clear her potential is limited due to her gender. Each of these woman are victims of a society that views them as female first and not an individual, characters whom form a love-triangle with Frank; which further more pushes Minnelli's thematic assertions related to moral relativism forward. The love triangle that unfolds between these characters is presented in a geniune and mature way, one in which is emotionally messy, which finds Dave stuck between the morally acceptable, virtuous life with Gwen vs. the deprave, hedonistic life with Ginnie. It's not really a choice for Dave, as he himself is drawn heavily to Gwen, who herself struggles with the prospects of being with a semi-troubled man who appreciates her looks far more than her intellect. it's revealing that Dave doesn't directly make this choice in the end, as our vessel for this story also falls victim to his judgmental nature; he views Ginnie as a fun but beneath him, having little value to Dave due to her disinterest in intellectual pursuits. Gennie, a character whom is described as a pig in the course of the film's running time ends up being the empathetic, selfless soul in the entire story, a character whose lack of social status due to intellectual shortcomings make her an afterthought through much of the film's running time, yet in the end she is remembered for sacrificing herself for another, committed the ultimate selfless act, one which it's hard to imagine any of the other characters in this story doing. She is a passive character for much of the story, one that pales in comparison to Frank's social status among their class, but she supports him, she loves him regardless of not being able to grasp all his intellectual thoughts. Ginnie is a character whose morals would be degraded by most due to how she conducts herself, yet she comes to represent arguably the most important and humanistic quality of all - love. An incredibly dense piece of storytelling and artistry that works both intellectually and emotionally on multiple plains, Vincent Minnelli's Some Came Running is an astute study of agency, social capital, and morality, a film which pleads for less superficial judgement in society towards the individual.
Tragedy Girls (2017) - Tyler MacIntyre
Grotesque, subversive, and wickedly fun, Tyler MacIntyre's Tragedy Girl's traverses the horror genre, playfully deconstructing a host of its tropes while it slyly provides a vicious commentary on what it deems is our impoverished culture where vanity is reinforced by the givings of the digital age. Centered around Sadie and Mckayla, two teenage crime reporters who capture a serial killer and hold him hostage in an subversive attempt to raise their social media profile to stardom, Tragedy Girls' is a pointed, blunt take down of our vapid, celebrity obsessed culture, one where our strive for validation is paramount to the that of the empathy for others. A horror comedy with bite, Tragedy Girls is far from subtle, wearing its social commentary with brass and playful nihilism, detailing characters who profit off the degradation and decimation of others. One could certainly argue the films assertions can be shallow and far from nuanced or intellectually cutting in approach, yet the way Tragedy Girl's uses the character Lowell- the kidnapped serial killer-implies at least one counterpoint that this says otherwise. This characterization that embodies the traditional horror film killer - a blank slate psychopath, in in contrast to our two main leads. In Tragedy Girls Lowell is a character which is effectively inept, he is an afterthought to the audience, forgotten for most of the story. The space he occupies in the film itself is an assertion, and an effective one, as Tragedy Girls showcases how this type of evil pales in comparison to the narcissistic nature which our contemporary culture can project on impressionable minds. With a playful tone, Tragedy Girls is an emphatic, somewhat shallow, slashing of contemporary culture; a worthy addition to the horror comedy which satifies in both macabre and comedic designs.
Perversion Story (1969) - Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci's Perversion Story is a devilishly enjoyable psychological thriller; a mystery full of stylish excess and narrative intrigue that encapsulates the era of late-1960s San Francisco, one which had been transformed due to the sexual revolution, with Fulci offering up a vivid snapshot of a time in which sexual freedoms were having far-reaching impacts on the general zeitgeist of American culture. Fulci's transfixing artifice is on full display, as Perversion's Story's stylish excesses subvert and seduce the viewer; with every flourish the perfect juxtaposition for its narrative, one which follows a prestigious doctor attempting to discover the mystery behind his wife's death. Fulci offers up a transfixing snapshot of San Francisco in the late 1960s, a document of the time period, in which the Italian filmmaker both observes and projects the culture of the area, as the film interjects many of the cities more iconic landmarks into the narrative, making the city a character itself in his story. A filmmaker whose always shown an interest in carnal desire, in particularly the psychological power which lust and sexuality can have over morality and logic, with Perversion Story Fulci places hedonism front and center, challenging the puritanical influences of American society through the normalization of sexuality. The best example of this is how our main protagonist is a prestigious and well-respected doctor; He is a man who himself is hedonistic, yet good-natured, one which effectively challenges the puritanical order of what defines a good member of society. The plotting of Perversion Story sees this character traverse the underbelly of San Francisco, one in which sexual liberation is front-and-center; as he attempts to prove his innocence to the authorities which suspect fair play. Perversion Story's narrative offers up enough twists and turns to keep the viewer engaged and mysterious from start-to-finish, yet what makes this Fulci effort so intriguing is what it offers up as a document of the time-period, one in which hedonism was becoming socially acceptable due to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
I Am Not A Witch (2017) - Rungano Nyoni
Set in an unnamed African country, Rungano Nyoni's I Am Not A Witch is a quietly fierce, harrowing story of Shula, an 8-year-old girl, whom after a banal incident is accused of witchcraft and sentenced to state custody. She is taken to a witch camp, where she is indoctrinated into this class of society, one which is extorted and abused by the government officials which manage them. Her government sponsor, an opportunist, sees rich financial gain from young Shula, who is abnormally young to be considered a witch, setting up a one-sided toxic relationship between the two of them, where his greed and her quiet, passiveness lead to tragedy. I Am Not A Witch is an assured debut, a piercing character study that reveals the corrosive nature of authority, and the toxic effects the collective will can have on the individual. I Am Not A Witch asserts that whether this authority is derived by theological or ideological roots makes little difference, as the film showcases an individual in Shula, a young innocent girl, whom is destroyed under the weight of the collective will. The witches on the compound are characters whom have long succumbed to the oppressive will of the autocratic collective - one that views them as dangerous- they accept they are property of the state. Shula is a quiet character, one which barely speaks at all, yet her journey is one that sees her be extorted and possessed, lacking even the most basic liberty or free will over her body and her actions. Shula accepts her place at first but there is a quiet sense of rebellion in this characterization that builds as the film progresses, with her her actions in the conclusion confirming what is quietly suggested - she will not succumb to the desires of anyone, she will have free will over her body and soul. While some may interpret the film's conclusion as a statement about the intrinsic balance between freedom and safety, I Am Not A Witch acknowledges this balance but its final frame, where we see the white ribbons waving freely in the wind, suggests that the filmmakers solely understand that liberty of the individual is most paramount.
A Ciambra (2017) - Jonas Carpignano
While a tad by-the-numbers in its formalism, Jonas Carpignano's A Ciambra is a harrowing coming-of-age story which is assertive in its general disgust for tribalism, hierarchy, and cyclical nature of humanity in a dog-eat-dog world. Its main protagonist, Pio, is a character desperate to grow up fast. He drinks, smokes, and attempts to bed the woman of his small Romani community in Calabra on a near nightly basis, idolizing and romanticizing the lifestyle of his elder brother. Pio is crafty, being one of the few people who can traverse the various factions of the community- the Italians, Africans, and Romanis, but he is desperate for the same responsibilities as his elder brother which involve petty theft and grand theft auto, whatever necessary to survive in this desolate region where the Italians rule the land. When his brother is arrested, Pio attempts to be "the man of the family', which leads to his youthful naivety and innocence being completely shattered under the weight of the dog-eat-dog nature of his world. While Jonas Carpignano's A Ciambra certainly falls into the coming-of-age canon, being a film first and foremost about the loss of innocence, these assertions have been seen a thousand times before. Couple this with the film's overall visual design, one which is visceral and chaotic to-a-fault, being far too claustrophobic and frantic early on to the point of distraction, A Ciambra was a film that had me concerned early on. By its conclusion, A Ciambra won me over, touching on lots of interesting assertions related to tribalism, societal repetition, and the general coercive nature of such collectivist trappings, yet it relies heavily on its strong characterization to keep the viewer engaged early on. Carpignano's characterization of young Pio is well-observed, a balanced one which manages to exhibit Pio's assertive nature while still slyly reminding the viewer of his youthful naivety. He is a character who externally projects toughness and responsibility, occupying spaces usually only occupied by adults, yet we are reminded of youthful nature throughout this narrative as well, whether it be due to his childish fear of trains or his shyness when it comes to various social interactions, in particularly when he watches the soccer match with the African migrants. A Ciambra's establishes this community as one with an oppressive and well-established hierarchy, where the local Italians effectively rule over both the fellow Romani, and the African refugees. Through Pio's personal journey, we see the cyclical effect such hierarchy has on common decency, with Pio eventually betraying his friend, an African migrant, who has shown more empathy and compassion for him than his own family, falling victim to the tribalism of his community. Pio, in his youthful naivety, doesn't have the same tribalism or collectivist identity as the adults in these various factions, and as narrative progresses, you can slowly see this being extracted from him. His ascent into adulthood runs parallel to his collectivist, tribalistic identity, one that leads towards a somber conclusion in which we see Pio effectively loose not only his innocence, but a part of his personal identity.
By the finale of this film, Pio is a character whom has seen his innocence shattered, and while he questions the way things are, he inevitably falls inline and excepts his reality, he has now become a man among his Romani tribe but at what cost to his empathetic soul?
A Fantastic Woman (2017) - Sebastián Lelio
A piercing character study about identity, empowerment, and mutual respect, Sebastián Lelio's A Fantastic Woman is the story of Marina, a transgender woman, who finds her whole life thrown into a state of uncertainty after the untimely death of her lover, Orlando. In the wake of her companion's death, Marina quickly finds nearly every aspect of her life and relationship with Orlando under siege, with Orlando's ex-wife and son, among others, viewing this woman with disdain, and at times, even aggression, as they needle and probe Marina's whole existence, questioning her relationship with Orlando, her unconventional lifestyle, and even her right to mourn his death. Through Marina's struggle to pay respects to the man she grew to love, A Fantastic Woman showcases the attempts by Orlando's family to casually erase her from the equation, using her "unconventional" lifestyle as way to banish her. With Orlando deceased, his son and ex-wife no longer have to try to understand or comply with his choice of partner, which leads to their mentality rooted deeply in complete exile. Under the guise of civil conversation, and the need to keep things "within the family", Orlando's son and ex-wife aim to extinguish any connection between Marina and Orlando, unable to recognize that it's through their own fears and hate that they curse the name of their deceased father/ex-husband. Her being a transgender, grants them both the grotesque agency, to disavow entirely. Through Marina's struggle to deal with Orlando's death and her fight to be able to say goodbye through the same traditional channels as everyone else, A Fantastic Women provides astute observations on identity, demonstrating that one's own personal identity is not merely constructed from within but rather crafted, at least in part, by the shared experiences one has with others they value. Social interaction, whether romantic in nature or platonic, helps craft and shape individuals own psyches in various ways, and for Marina, Orlando was her strength, he empowered her due to viewing her in the way she wanted to be viewed, with his tragic and untimely passing leaving her in an emotional crises, alone again in a world which feels threatening to her. In a sense, it isn't too dramatic to say that Orlando was Marina's lifeline, a character, who due in part to his status as a successful business man, forced the world around him to value and respect her as an individual. At its core, A Fantastic Woman is a story of empowerment, following Marina as she slowly and surely finds her own agency after the death of the man who gave her so much support. Through her tumultuous fighting with Orlando's family, A Fantastic Woman reveals a woman who is finding her independence through her fight, a woman who is slowly forming her own identity through a combination of this individual struggle and her fond remembrance of Orlando, which constantly reinforces her choices and gives her strength. Sebastián Lelio's direction is stylish but never excessive, with the insertion of surrealist flourishes being paramount in visually expressing our main character's internal struggles, accentuating the underlying pain, fear, and longing associated with traumatic personal loss without cheapening the harrowing, grounded realism of Marina's struggle. Featuring a powerful lead performance from Daniela Vega, A Fantastic Woman is a powerful character study about one woman's struggle for respect and in turn personal empowerment in a society that hasn't quite caught up.
Comradeship (1931) - Georg Wilhelm Pabst
An emotional plea for pacifism that effectively skewers the intrinsic absurdities of war and conflict, Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Comradeship is one-for-the-ages, a film which skillfully uses a tragic mining calamity as a vehicle to pronounce the filmmaker's disdain for nationalism and distaste for war and militarized conflict. Centered around an old Germany mine, which at the end of WWI was split into two to accommodate the new border location between France and Germany, Pabst's Comradeship chronicles the chaos that ensues when a fire breaks out on the French side, leaving a group of French miners in peril. Stranded deep below and running out of time, the french miners quickly find themselves aided by their equals on the German side, who form a rescue group to help their fellow miners. An assertive piece of filmmaking that doesn't shy away from its overarching message, Comradeship has a layered anti-statism, anti-authoritarianism message, a film which recognizes that true power and good stems largely from the people themselves. Nearly all the various authority figures throughout this film are obstacles that stand in the way of saving lives, from the border patrol agents, to the French authorities whom are effectively worthless at the scene of the mining fire, Pabst's Comradeship showcases various authority figures as obstructions, state-instruments, whom effectively cannot help due to their nationalistic or authoritarian allegiances to the nation-state. Individuals who wield the power and authority which comes from their respective nation-states only obstruct and frustrate the mining community, yet in the end it's the community and the miners which inhabit it that save themselves and come together in the ashes of this catastrophe. From the German miners whom rush to help their french counterparts eschewing the border to save time, to the french housewives themselves, whom grow frustrated by the ineptitude of the state response, the various members of the community work together to solve this problem. Whether it's intentional or not, Pabst's pacifist, humanistic message rings of the merits of Anarchism - one in which the coercive effects of hierarchy, power, and authority vanquish. The craft and artistry implored by Pabst throughout Comradeship is masterful, as the film visually draws many parallels between the mining accident and war itself. The chaos and aftermath of the mining collapse, the general haze and confusion which takes place harkens to any wartime battlefield, with Pabst even bluntly imploring a visual juxtaposition at one point between war-time and the mining collapse, exhibiting through visuals the fractured psyche of one trapped miner and ex-WWI veteran, a man whose confusion has reached an apex under the weight of such paralleled trauma between his time on the battlefield and the current mining catastrophe. Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Comradeship uses this mining accident to reveal the trivial nature of borders themselves, a film that skewers the false sense of group identity and virtue people achieve through belonging to a collective, in this case nation-state, while recognizing these any such classifications only subverts our larger empathetic nature as humans.
Have a Nice Day (2017) - Jian Liu
A plea for more humanism in a world driven heavily by greed, self-interest and detachment, Jian Liu's Have A Nice Day weaponizes its low-key crime narrative to touch on larger assertions about the state of humanism in our contemporary, every-changing world. Set in Southern China, Have A Nice Day effectively establishes a bag containing a million yuan as its main protagonist, one which finds itself constantly exchanging hands among a diverse group of people from different backgrounds, each driven by personal motivations and the promise which this material object can provide. Have a Nice Day is blunt and assertive, using its animation to showcase China in a darker, seedier fashion, one in which poverty lurks around every corner, hiding in plain site behind the massive infrastructure changes happening in the region. While it would be easy to call many of these characters selfish that would be far too simplistic. They are all out for themselves of course, but what Have A Nice Day manages to create with its characterizations are individuals who driven by the desire to make their lives better, many losing their better judgment to the allure which this case of money offers them- a way out. These characters feel shaped and molded by their environment, one which hasn't proven very forgiving, leaving them hardened and detached from others. This money is a destructive force which effectively leads to misery and death for everyone who comes across it, their internal self-interest, detachment, and greed leading them to misery and even death. For Have A Nice Day, this million yuan and the chaos it causes throughout this blood-soaked narrative is symbolic representation of the state of humanism in the world, one which recognizes the ever-growing detachment happening in the information age.
Downhill Racer (1969) - Michael Ritchie
Transversing the tropes and cliches of the underdog sports story, Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer provides the anti-thesis to films such as Rocky; a terse and transfixing psychological study of a man driven to reach the top of the mountain of his career. Centered around the self-assured David Chappellet, a young hotshot skier who gains a spot on the American Olympic team after another skier gets badly injured on the slopes, Downhill Racer is a complex, many-faceted character study, one that is constantly probing its young subject, intent on unearthing the inner psyche of a character who simply put, wants to be the best. Bold in its relative plotless formalism, at least when compared to most mainstream American features, Downhill Racer is film in which much is told throughout the use of didactic dialogue or forced plotting, with Ritchie's observant eye and Redford's multi-dimensional performance slowly revealing the inner-workings of this character. To call Downhill Racer a condemnation of the underdog sports story is perhaps a bit harsh, yet Downhill Racer does reject the simplicity of such films, unwilling to merely accept the competitive drive of its main protagonist as nothing more than that, slowly revealing a man in Chappellet whom is scared of failure and whose outward confidence and general self-interest are directly linked to his underlying fear of defeat and the lack of accreditation which would come with it. Chappellet's whole identity both internally and externally are defined by his ability to win on the downhill, and perhaps what makes Michael Ritchie's film so memorable is its ability to slowly reveal the tragic nature of this character, a man whom deep down doesn't know what he wants whom is chasing a ghost - the accreditation, fame, and fortune he feels he deserves. Downhill Racer's visual aesthetic is crafted much in the same mold as its characterizations, being intricately detailed yet unconventional by traditional mainstream American filmmaking standards, imploring a cinema-verite aesthetic that feels authentic in both its action-packed skiing moments and its quieter, character moments, evoking the underlying tension that lurks not only at every turn of the race but also that which lurks within our young protagonist, a man whom is desperate to be appreciated and remembered. In its finale Downhill Racer remains ambiguous and unsatisfying by traditional standards for its unwillingness to openly state its assertions. The viewer isn't told anything outright, yet the glance shared between David Chappellett and the racer who follows him, a younger German boy who nearly eclipsed him, says plenty. In this quiet moment, Chappellet has learned something about the finite and overall cruel nature of sports itself, understanding now how quickly things can change and recognizing that personal drive and achievement alone won't bring internal satisfaction. He is a character whom chases the ghost of greatness, yet in this moment he recognizes the objective nature of sports and competition, his near defeat in itself offering a glimmer of hope for this self-centered character, one that will lead him to recognize that an individual's value or worth isn't merely valued by external success. Juxtaposing the film's denouement with its opening, in which a skier's injury takes him out of Olympic competition, Downhill Racer reveals itself as one of the best sports film's ever made. Downhill Racer acknowledges the therapeutic or virtuous nature that competition and personal accomplishment can have on the individual while simultaneously warning against the short-sighted nature of placing too much value on one's competition-based successes, especially in sports in which success is finite and fleeting. Winning medals and being heralded as one of the best skiers in the world could bring David Chappellett what he wants short term, but will it be enough in the end? The denoucement of Downhill Racer, and the many-faceted characterization which preceded it, suggest otherwise.


text:
The Autostraddle Insider: Issue 63, November 2019
By Riese
Letter From Your Editors
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Look, it's us! The writers and other content creators of this FINE WEBSITE.
It's a bizarre twist of televised timing that The L Word is coming back just as the decade closes out, bringing us back to where we started from, here — brought together once upon a time by stories that felt compelling to us in a way we weren't all quite ready to name but needed, just the same, to talk about. Or maybe what we really needed was a space to begin telling our own. Recently in Slack, Heather shared a Marie Claire article from 2009 about Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page and it was wild to remember a time when a not-out lesbian and her straight best friend eyeing each other flirtatiously was worthy of no less than 16 articles and a spot on our "2009 Icons" list. Now we have over 150 TV shows with queer characters that aired in 2019, part of a massive database listing hundreds of shows that tried to show us who we are. "Settling" always fel...
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Riese is the 39-year-old Co-Founder and CEO of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, blogger, fictionist, copywriter, video-maker and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and then headed West. Her work has appeared in nine books including "The Bigger the Better The Tighter The Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image & Other Hazards Of Being Female," magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. Follow her on twitter and instagram.
Riese has written 2909 articles for us.
Reine #2: Foreplay
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The Oolong tea is one of the most fascinating teas. It is complex on the aroma, taste, color and smell. There are different oxidation degrees for the Oolong tea. As the oxidation increases the color, flavor and aroma also increases. Note:Traditionally the tea oxidation is called "fermentation". Previously I had the word "fermentation" instead of oxidation in my blog and this was deliberate for traditional purpose. On the first Oolong brewing lesson I got (almost 30 years ago) the tea master insisted on the word "fermentation" and not oxidation. Technically is oxidation, traditionally "fermentation".
The Oolong is one of the most famous teas in the world. It is made with the leaves of Camellia sinensis.. The name Oolong means "black dragon tea".
The main sources of the Oolong tea are China in the Fujian province and Taiwan.
The top quality Oolong teas are very expensive but they bring some flavors and aromas that are priceless. Most of the time the price is associated to quality. This doesn't mean necessarily that a very expensive tea will be more enjoyable than a lower priced tea.
The Oolong teas are usually sold in 50 grams( 1.5 oz) packages in China and 125 grams (4.5 oz) in the US.
One of my favorites is the Guan Yin from Fujian,China.
The Guan Yin tea is brown green. The leaves are twisted and very solid. They will open nicely when put in hot water. The tea color is yellow.
Here is a traditional brewing ritual.
The typical tea ritual is the Gongfucha or simply Gongfu, that has several variations. Here is one: the set up is made on the top of a a wooden or bamboo tray that has a metal tray under to collect the water and the tea disposed during the brewing. The teapot, decanter, filter, drinking and sniffing cups are put on the top.
The typical Oolong tea set. On the tray clockwise from the rear left the sniffing cup, transfer pot, filter, teapot and drinking cup.
The teapot (gaiwan) and transfer pots are made of clay or glass. Some teapots are made as crafts and are signed by the artist sometimes commending prices of hundreds of dollars. The drinking and sniffing cups are usually made of white porcelain with or without design. The purists prefer the true white cups.
The tools as observed on the side are composed of: a fine straw shaped tool to unplug the teapot when leaves clog the orifice; a measuring spoon for the leaves and to transfer them to the pot; a tongue to handle the cups after washing with hot water or tea; a spoon to remove the tea leaves from the pot and finally the top of the tea tools holder is used as funnel to direct the leaves to the teapot.The tools are made of wood, steel or bamboo.
First hot water is used to wash the teapots and cups. The water is removed from the teacups with the help of the tongue. The "funnel" is put on the top of the teapot and the measured tea leaves are added to the pot.
Water at 180 to 190 F is poured to the teapot until it overflows, then teapot is covered and additional water is added to the top in order to uniform the temperature inside and outside the teapot. The first brew washes the tea leaves; the first tea is used to wash the cups and the transfer pot.
Now the first tea is brewed to drink. Hot water is added to the teapot, the lid is put and tea is stepped for 2 minutes; then tea is poured through the filter to the transfer teapot. From the transfer teapot the tea is poured to the sniffing cup. The sniffing cup is covered by the drinking cup and both cups are quickly inverted.
The sniffing cup is removed from the drinking cup. The Oolong tea remains in the drinking cup. The sniffing cup is sniffed to enjoy the delicate smell and aroma of the Oolong tea. Soon the drinking cup will be taken to savor the tea.
Here is the tea set with the first brew of Oolong tea. One sniffing cup is already separated from the drinking cup and the other is ready to be removed. The drinking cup has the formidable tea to be enjoyed.


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