Video Production essays

Video Production essays Video production is something I have been doing for approximately 5 years now and I continue working with it as a hobby and a part time business. The field of video production is growing rapidly in many exciting and new ways, one of which is film now undoubtedly film is larger than any time it has ever been, it is no longer the way it use to be where the story and the direction were the main aspects of making a hit. New technology has led to new advances in film such as 3d Animation and sound production, movies now are rated for things like sound quality and production, special effects and quality of production where a few decades ago a good flick became a good flick because of the way it was filmed and the story it told. In other ways video production has been growing technologically as well as artistically, it is becoming more and more competitive to make a good video for even simple businesses like those who film events. In my field I film events like weddings and engagements, and believe it or not even though it doesnt sound like such a huge job, I believe that the minimum budget for such a business lies somewhere around fifty thousand dollars, most of which would be spent on a six thousand dollar camera, a three to six thousand dollar editing station and that is not counting miscellaneous equipment like batteries and tape. Why tape you ask? Well DV and MiniDV is becoming a standard format which you can use over and over as if it were a hard drive, well in a sense it is because unlike the conventional VHS tapes that record picture magnetically on a strip of tape, DV records or better said encodes data on tape in a similar way as a floppy would, which is the very reason why the quality is so good. Besides having an eye for video and knowing what to do when looking through a viewfinder, pretty much being your own director/camera man it takes a good amount of skill and artistic qualities to edit and pr...

The Scandal That Led to Milo Yiannopoulos Downfall

The Scandal That Led to Milo Yiannopoulos Downfall Breitbart editor and alt-right star Milo Yiannopoulos was poised to become a household name in the United States. Viewed as a bigot, Internet troll, and homophobe by his detractors- he’d likened feminism to cancer, told gays to â€Å"get back in the closet† and led a campaign of harassment against black actress Leslie Jones- the British transplant to the U.S. made headlines in early 2017 after his college tour sparked violence. When the University of California, Berkeley, canceled a Yiannopoulos speech because riots broke out on the campus in response, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to suggest that the university should lose federal funding for not supporting free speech. That the president would take the time to allude to him on social media signaled that Yiannopoulos, best known in right-wing circles, had successfully entered the mainstream. But less than a month later, the provocateur would lose his Simon Schuster book deal, his invitation to speak at CPAC, and his job at Breitbart. How did this dramatic turn of events come about? A review of Yiannopoulos’ life, career, and controversies reveal some of the factors that led to his rapid rise and shocking fall.    Early Years and Education Born Milo Hanrahan on Oct. 18, 1984, to a Greek-Irish father and an English mother, Yiannopoulos grew up in Kent in Southern England. Years later, he would change his surname to Yiannopoulos in honor of his Greek grandmother. Although he is now considered a darling of the alt-right movement, which has been linked to anti-Semitism, Yiannopoulos says that he has matrilineal Jewish ancestry. He grew up as a practicing Catholic, however, with his mother and stepfather. The openly-gay Yiannopoulos has indicated that he consented to have a sexual relationship with a Catholic priest, despite being underage at the time. This claim would factor into his downfall at the height of his career. By his teens, Yiannopoulos, who didn’t get along well with this mother’s husband, lived with his grandmother. Although he attended both the University of Manchester and Wolfson College, Cambridge, he never earned a degree, but his lack of education did not prevent him from having a journalism career in the United Kingdom. Journalism Career Yiannopoulos’ journalism career took off after he began working for the Daily Telegraph, where he developed an interest in tech journalism after reporting on women in computing in 2009. He also appeared in a number of broadcast news outlets and programs, including Sky News, â€Å"BBC Breakfast,† â€Å"Newsnight† and â€Å"10 O’Clock Live,† discussing topics such as feminism, men’s rights, the gay community and the Pope. Through this project  the Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100, he ranked influential European tech startups in 2011. That same year, he launched the Kernel, a tech journalism site. The online magazine became embroiled in scandal two years later after contributors to the publication sued for thousands of pounds of back pay. Yiannopoulos eventually paid six contributors the money owed to them. After changing ownership a couple of times, the Kernel was purchased by Daily Dot Media in 2014. Yiannopoulos served as an adviser but no longe r ​as editor. Political  Leanings Yiannopoulos has said he’s not interested in politics, but as his career progressed, he increasingly expressed views that aligned him with the alt-right, of which he’s described himself as a â€Å"fellow traveler.† He is said to have skewed coverage of 2014’s Gamergate controversy, which led to attacks, including death and rape threats, against prominent women gamers who’d criticized sexism in video game culture. Yiannopoulos described the women as â€Å"sociopathic,† despite the fact that they were the victims of relentless online attacks that forced them out of their homes when their addresses and other personal information were revealed on the Web through  a practice known as â€Å"doxxing.† In 2015, he organized a meeting of Gamergate supporters which received a bomb threat, as did a Society of Professional Journalists event featuring Yiannopoulos discussing Gamergate. Despite the outrage he sparked, Yiannopoulos’ notoriety earned him a position with Breitbart News Network, which named him  tech editor in 2015. The far-right news organization has been accused of reporting misinformation and fueling racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny through its content. Former Breitbart News chair Stephen Bannon serves as an assistant and chief strategist for Donald Trump, whose election to the presidency has coincided with a rise of racial harassment  and white supremacist activity, including the killing of an Indian engineer and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Jewish magazine the Tablet has taken issue with Yiannopoulos for aligning himself with organizations that promote a racist, anti-Semitic or misogynistic agenda while maintaining that he doesn’t personally harbor such views. Tablet writer James Kirchick pointed out in 2016 that Yiannopoulos only mentions his matrilineal Jewish heritage when the anti-Semitism of his supporters comes to light. He said that Yiannopoulos’ Jewish heritage didn’t prevent him from wearing an Iron Cross medallion- a symbol of the Nazi regime - as a young man. Yiannopoulos has also defended himself against racism charges by saying that he prefers black men as lovers. â€Å"Like the insistence that he can’t be an anti-Semite because his mother has Jewish ancestors, Yiannopoulos’ assertion that his carnal desires inoculate him from the charge of bigotry is a deflection ploy,† Kirchick asserted. â€Å"Ironically, it’s also a form of the identity politics he claims to despise. While the ‘social justice warriors’ (SJWs) Yiannopoulos mocks say they cannot be racist or anti-Semitic on account of their identities, Yiannopoulos flimsily asserts the same about himself. The alt right should be absolved of similar imputations, Yiannopoulos says, because its spokesman is a gay half-Jew with jungle fever.† A Professional Troll The year 2016 saw Yiannopoulos’ star rise exponentially. That’s in large part because he kicked off his â€Å"Dangerous Ft† college tour in late 2015, which led to protests nationwide at universities such as Rutgers, DePaul, the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Los Angeles. During this timeframe, Yiannopoulos began to earn a reputation for being a professional troll. Twitter, for example, suspended his account in December 2015 after he indicated on his profile that he was BuzzFeed’s social justice editor (which he was not). Twitter suspended his account once again after he made anti-Muslim remarks following the June 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from the social media site in July for inciting a campaign of racial harassment against black actress Leslie Jones, a star of the all-female â€Å"Ghostbusters† remake. He compared Jones to a man, and his fans likened her to apes, a comparison white supremacists have long used to dehumanize blacks. Yiannopoulos denied culpability for the racist abuse Jones received but was still banned from Twitter, as hed also crafted fake tweets photoshopped to look as if theyd been sent from her account. He later said that he was thankful for the ban for giving him more notoriety. The idea that Yiannopoulos is simply a troll using politics to become famous spread when BuzzFeed quoted a  Breitbart intern saying â€Å"Milo Yiannopoulos is not one person.† Reportedly, 44 interns are responsible for crafting his articles and social media posts. Yiannopoulos seemed to admit as much at first, saying that was the norm for someone with a career like his. But he later backtracked, implying that he didn’t rely on ghostwriters. Whatever the case, critics such as Kirchick contend that Yiannopoulos is a â€Å"rank opportunist.†   He shouts â€Å"outrageous things solely designed to upset liberals. He has nothing original or interesting to share,† Kirchick asserts. Because he makes his points in a â€Å"crude† fashion, however, Yiannopoulos manages to court controversy and stay in the news. In December 2016, Yiannopoulos made headlines after news spread that publishing giant Simon Schuster had just given him a book deal with a $250,000 advance. The announcement not only prompted the Chicago Review of Books to stop reviewing Simon Schuster books but also black feminist writer Roxane Gay to walk away from her book deal with the publisher. Pride Before the Fall At the onset of 2017, arguably more Americans than ever had become familiar with Milo Yiannopoulos. On Jan. 20, the same day as Trump’s inauguration, Yiannopoulos spoke at the University of Washington. Violent demonstrations took place outside, with a Yiannopoulos supporter shooting a protester at the event. The gunshot resulted in life-threatening injuries, but the victim survived.    On Feb. 1, Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak at UC Berkeley. An estimated 1,500 protesters gathered outside. Some started fires, engaged in vandalism and pepper sprayed passersby, leading the campus police to cancel his appearance. This provoked Donald Trump to tweet about defunding the University of California for not upholding free speech. The outcry over Yiannopoulos’ college tour didn’t deter comedian Bill Maher from inviting the journalist on his â€Å"Real Time† show on Feb. 17, however. And the very next day, Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, announced that Yiannopoulos had been invited to speak to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC). The invitation sparked some conservatives to speak out in opposition, but CPAC stood firm. Then, a conservative blog called the Reagan Battalion tweeted a video from 2015  of Yiannopoulos saying he consented to have a sexual relationship with a priest when he was a teen. It went on to tweet out other videos of Yiannopoulos defending underage males having sex with adults. In the clip that sparked the most controversy, Yiannopoulos said: â€Å"Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys to discover who they are, and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable and sort of a rock where they can’t speak to their parents.† Yiannopoulos also made a snarky remark about the priest who allegedly abused him. â€Å"I’m grateful for Father Michael,† he said. â€Å"I wouldn’t give nearly such good [oral sex] if it wasn’t for him.† He also made a point to say that sex with young teens did not constitute pedophilia, as sex with children did. Due to these remarks, Yiannopoulos was widely accused of advocating for adults to have sex with underage teens. The backlash was swift. CPAC disinvited him from its conference. Simon Schuster canceled his book deal, and Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart after staffers said they would quit if he wasn’t fired. Yiannopoulos expressed regret for his choice of words, but it wasn’t enough to convince his former allies to stand behind him. â€Å"I’ve repeatedly expressed disgust at pedophilia in my feature and opinion writing,† he said in a Facebook statement on Feb. 20. â€Å"My professional record is very clear. But I do understand that these videos, even though some of them are edited deceptively, paint a different picture. I’m partly to blame. My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’ I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.† Now that Yiannopoulos’ career at Breitbart is in the past, members of the groups he offended- women, Jews, blacks, gays- question why only  his remarks about the age of consent led his supporters to disavow him. Why didn’t it concern CPAC, Simon Schuster et al. that Yiannopoulos had made odious remarks about women’s rights, gay rights or civil rights generally? They argue the idea that only his tacit endorsement of pedophilia made Yiannopoulos unfit for the large platform he was given sets a low bar for civil discourse and  overlooks the impact of bigotry  on the marginalized.

Privatisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Privatisation - Essay Example However, it can be argued that since 1978, the country is experiencing gradual process of transition from centrally planned economy to an economy where the resources are allocated through market mechanism (Kikeri & Kolo, 2005). Nonetheless, the economic reform in China has had a profound impact on the economic system of the nation over the last two decades but the nature of the transition is still identified to be incomplete. It has been observed that prior to price reform in China, it acted as an instrument for state’s redistribution policies. Correspondingly, it has been ascertained that during the regime, central government controlled the process of all the major commodities. However, the price reform in China has led to the commencement of ‘freely-operating market signals’ almost in all the sectors of the economy. The price liberalisation facilitated in responsive supply towards the consumers demand as well as downstream producers which dramatically resulted i n greater allocative efficiency. The price deregulation reduced the state’s role in fixing and guiding prices to a substantial extent. Besides, prior to 1978, the policies of the Chinese government have been firmly based on the principle of self-efficiency while importing only those commodities that could not be produced and at the same time exporting goods only to pay for imports. Notably, trade constituted only a small proportion of the Chinese economy. In other words, trade was monopolised and predominately controlled by the central Government ministries. The trade liberalisation policy in China has dramatically led towards encouraging foreign investment and trade while it also resulted in determining the increasing imports and exports by market forces reducing the State’s control over the international trade. Correspondingly, this process led to the increased participation of private firms thus reducing the State dominance (Mina & Perkins, 1997). The

Martha McCakey Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Martha McCakey - Case Study Example Moreover one of her old classmates working for the same company also encouraged her to join that company and finally she decided to join Praxis Associates. (Kyurinyan, 2006) Martha McCaskey was a hard working young woman who believed in good ethical standards at the work place. She never believed in short cuts to achieve targets. She has completed many successful projects at a fast pace and soon became a valuable member of the company. As a business tactics, Praxis Associates often hired ex employees of their competitors to obtain valuable information regarding the functioning of the competitors. They have divided the division into two sub groups; old guards and new guards. Old The attitude of the top management of Praxis associates was motivated only by the profit. They were ready to engage in any sort of activities to capture business and also they never believed in business ethics. For them, Business is a competitive world where only the smarter ones will succeed and the others will fail. In order to achieve targets anything can be done as per their moral standards. Moreover they forced the employees to go up to the maximum extent to achieve the targets. They never bothered about retaining the employees. It is under this circumstances Martha McCaskey asked to complete a project. It was a crucial time period of her career. The successful completion of that project will ensure her higher bonuses and promotion. But she found no way to complete the project without compromising her ethical standards. She was forced to decide whether she wanted to maintain her integrity and high standards or to compromise with all such things. Morality and ethical standards are vanishing gradually from the modern world. Globalization and liberalization policies made the competition immense in the business world. It is extremely hard to survive in a highly competitive business world by keeping all the ethical standards. Business is a smart game where most of the moves

Morris Lapidus Miami Beach Hotels Design

Morris Lapidus Miami Beach Hotels Design Morris Lapidus was one of the most important architects of the 20st century, not because of what he built but because of the way he thought and his willingness to break rules. His architecture manifested both popular culture and the collective unconscious. Through his designs- synaggogues and large-scale housing as well as the famous shops and glamorous hotels-he had a powerful way of enhancing an experience and lifting peoples spirits. His introduction to the Miami hotel scene began when his friend the architect Charlie Spector brought him to a meeting with Ben Novak, partner of Harry Mufson, to edit plans for the Sans Souci hotel on Miami Beach. Morris was sketching various parts of the hotel that could be made more interesting. He indicated that the exterior should have imposing pylons and a circular drive to dramatize the entrance. Several days later he got a phone call from Harry Mufson, asking when he could come to Miami Beach. The two resort hotels , Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, makes us see architecture differently. We can describe the form, tectonics, content, and detail of the resort hotels different as a pedestrian or when we drive a car. Lapidus resort hotels, were stage sets for tpuristic spectacle and glamour more than built demonstrations of distinctly modernist theories and practices. Miami, was the farthest extension of North America into the Caribbean, far enough from the rest of the United States to nurture exotic tropical fantasies. There is a reason that makes both of these resort hotels more prestigious and more as an image of Miami then any other hotel. In 1952, Morris Lapidus landed the job of the largest luxury hotels of Miami Beach, the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc perhaps the most famous hotels in the world. He designed the hotel in such an artistic and symbolic way that when you pass by the hotel by car or as a pedestrian, your brain captures its style and symbols so that you can separate it from other hotels.Fontainebleau and Eden Roc are located in Miami beach, between the beach and Collins avenue, where the best oceanfront hotels are based. It is a perfect location to impress tourist who comes to the beach and sees all the luxury resorts facing the ocean. The fronts of the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc look to the Collins avenue, the architectural structure and the decoration plays a big role in this part. The strategy here is to impress and make the building prestigious and interesting. If you are a tourist and driving a car in the Collins Avenue, you will see several Miami Beach hotels next to each other, almost all of them having the same color and design. Fontainebleaus perception is different than what the other hotels have. You can enter to the hotel by taking the entrance road. You will see multiple tall palm trees aligned and white sculptures matching the color of the building that are located in front of the lobby and on the waterfall. Compared to other luxury resorts, Eden Roc can also be easily distinguished. When by pass as a pedestrian,by car or even by a plane you will be able to compare Eden Roc to other buildings. As a pedestrian you will see that right by the entrance road, there is a big text of Eden Roc with a special font that makes it more unique. As a flying passenger, if you are passing over Miami Beach, you will see that all the buildings are colored white and have almost the same structure. So if you can not distinguish the buildings by its shape which is the case for most people, Morris Lapidu put the text of Eden Roc with the same font as the one at the entrance. Fonts are really important for branding, it gives a perception depending on the type of the font and also makes people remember the brand. These two luxury resorts inside are as prestigious as their exteriors. Morris Lapidus designed a modernism based on north?south connections. His hotel environments were containing Latin designs and tropical themes.   Lapidus interiors were juxtaposing his proven idea to commercial space with regional elements such as natural stone, singing birds and tropical foliage. With the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, he was called as the as hotel doctor and hotel designer. From the idiosyncratic pedestal base to the bold curves of the two hotels, Fontainebleau and Eden roc broke with orthodoxy and defined Lapidus signature hotel

Iron Crowned Chapter 4

Distracting your enemies by saying shocking things is a classic way to get an attack in. If this ghost had wanted to catch me off guard and move in, this would have been her chance. Instead, she just hung there in the air, staring at me. I forced my jaw closed and kind of wished Kiyo had stuck around to hear this bizarre development. Finally, I said, â€Å"That's not what I do. And anyway †¦ I mean, wouldn't you kind of know? Wouldn't you have seen it?† â€Å"No,† she said mournfully. â€Å"Whoever did it shot me in the head before I could see. They made it look like a suicide.† I grimaced. Weak ghosts often appeared in their final state, as they'd looked at the time of death. This one was strong and able to appear as she remembered herself, for which I was grateful. I wouldn't have wanted to see her after that gunshot. â€Å"Well, I'm sorry for your †¦ loss,† I told her, wondering why I hadn't already banished her. â€Å"But private detective work isn't my thing.† â€Å"I can't go to one!† she cried. â€Å"Or the police. Only you can see me. All the other ghosts said you were the one to go to.† â€Å"All the other – what, do you guys have a country club or something?† â€Å"Please, Miss Markham,† she begged. Her eyes were so, so sad. â€Å"I have to find out. If someone dangerous is walking around, I have to know. My family has to know.† From what I knew, family was usually behind most homicides. â€Å"Look, you're obviously strong. You have to be in order to move around like you do and come outside. It makes sense. If you're this upset about what happened, then you're bound strongly to this world while the, um, murder's unsettled. So, the odds are, you probably could appear to someone else. Wouldn't work on most humans, but you might get someone close to you to see you and hear you.† â€Å"But would they believe me?† she asked bitterly. â€Å"They'd think they were imagining things. You're the only one who knows this is real.† I shook my head. â€Å"Sorry. I don't investigate this stuff. Certainly not for ghosts. You're getting my best offer here. Otherwise †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I held up the wand. â€Å"You move on to peace.† She scowled and disappeared. Yes, a very strong ghost, one who should have already been in the Underworld right then and there. I shouldn't have stopped to talk. But what was one more ghost when I was already letting so many slide by? Kiyo's accusatory words came back to me. I felt like I was doing a half-ass job in both worlds, too divided to give either my full attention. Nonetheless, I made the most of my day in Tucson. I knocked off three more jobs for Lara, much to her relief. Jobs meant money, meaning both of us got paid. She'd hinted in the past that our drop in work was creating financial problems, enough that she might need a second job. That made me uneasy because a second job could easily turn into her only job. Finding an administrative assistant who could schedule and bill supernatural appointments wasn't that easy. I came home at last to an empty house, with a note scrawled from Tim saying he had â€Å"a gig† tonight and that there was fettuccine alfredo in the refrigerator if I wanted it. Eating in front of the TV, I selfishly felt resentful that he'd go out on one of the few nights I was home. But why wouldn't he? He certainly had a life, one I was hardly in. What really brought me down was that on a night like this, I once would have been over at my mom's eating dinner. For a second, I stared at my phone and considered taking the plunge. But, no. If she wanted to get in touch clandestinely, she would. Calling now would risk me getting Roland, who would hang up on me. Or most likely not answer. Frustrated, I decided I didn't want to stay here anymore. It was weird, especially since I'd wanted to come home so badly earlier. Yet, I felt like I wasn't welcome in my own house. I showered off the day's fights – no gentry baths for me – and headed right back to the Otherworld. I almost never came and went the same day, but suddenly, my kingdom seemed like the only place I had friends at the moment. They were surprised to see me back so soon. I found Shaya and Rurik playing chess in a formal sitting room, leaning together and laughing as she planned her next move. Both jumped when they saw me. â€Å"Your Majesty,† said Shaya. They'd instantly gone from casual to formal mode. â€Å"Sit, both of you. You should know better.† I sat as well, sinking into a down-filled love seat that I'd inherited from the castle's previous owner. Shaya and Rurik returned to their seats, relaxing somewhat. â€Å"We didn't think you'd be back for a while,† said Rurik, ever blunt. Shaya looked twitchy, like she wanted to get up, despite what I'd said. â€Å"Should I have the kitchen start preparing dinner?† â€Å"No, no, don't bother.† It was common among gentry monarchs for every meal to be a full-fledged banquet, particularly dinner, hosting the full court. With my schedule and the fact that I didn't even keep a full court – just the essentials – that was not the case around here. My kitchen staff had it easy, and I certainly didn't want them to get in a sudden panic over a meal they would have normally started on hours ago, had they known I'd be there. I stared off at the empty fireplace, which had been unused since I'd taken over. Had the Thorn Land shifted into winter, we might have needed it. A kingdom's seasons bent to its monarch's will, and although Tucson was in winter right now, my subconscious apparently thought summer was the proper state. Shaya and Rurik regarded me patiently, wondering what it was I wanted, if not dinner. I wasn't sure myself. I fumbled for something to say. â€Å"News or messages on the war front?† â€Å"No,† said Rurik. Not surprising. Ranelle had probably only just gotten home. She was likely feasting with the Linden King right now. I met Shaya's eyes. â€Å"It's probably dinnertime at Dorian's, huh? Or close to it.† She tilted her head thoughtfully. There were no clocks in the Otherworld, but she had a good sense of the time. â€Å"I would imagine so, Your Majesty.† â€Å"Do you think he'd mind unscheduled visitors?† â€Å"You?† Shaya laughed. â€Å"Hardly.† I glanced between the two of them, feeling a smile creep onto my lips. â€Å"What do you say? Should we go crash his party?† â€Å"Party crashing† might not be a colloquialism among the gentry, but it didn't take Shaya or Rurik long to figure out what I meant. Both sprang to action. I couldn't travel alone during wartime, so Rurik had to assemble a military escort for us. Shaya left to alert the civilians who'd go with us and make herself ready for a royal visit. Both of them were excited, I could tell. Humans and gentry weren't so different, in a lot of ways. Once at Dorian's, Shaya and Rurik would have few official duties. This was the equivalent of an Otherworldly night on the town. In my rooms, I found my handmaiden Nia anxiously awaiting me. Gentry magical skills ranged greatly. I controlled weather. Dorian could rip apart the earth. And Nia? Her talent was in beautifying others, in hair and clothing. Like those of my cooks, her skills were often underutilized. â€Å"Let's get ready,† I told her. Her face lit up, and she practically ran to the wardrobe. â€Å"Which would you like, Your Majesty?† Her hand hovered near a black cocktail dress from the human world, then moved to a gauzy blue sundress. Then, she hesitated altogether and glanced at me questioningly. It wouldn't have been out of character for me to show up at a state function in the jeans I already wore. After my earlier loneliness, I was excited to see Dorian – almost desperately so. He seemed like my only connection right now, and I suddenly liked the idea of surprising him. â€Å"The peach one,† I said. Nia nodded, her fingers skimming the dresses. Finding no peach, she frowned and rechecked them. Then, her gaze went to the other half of my wardrobe, where the gentry dresses she and others had had made for me hung. Her eyes widened as she pulled out a peach silk dress she'd probably never thought would see the light of day. â€Å"Your Majesty!† was all she could gasp. It was like Christmas morning for her. With coppery hair, I had to be careful with what colors I wore, but this was a warm enough shade of peach that it worked. The fabric was shining and fluid, like some living thing. The dress was one long piece, clinging around the torso and then flaring and falling like water from the waist to the floor. Gold ribbons laced up the back, decorated with aquamarines. Straps, also made from strings of aquamarines, hung loosely off my shoulders around my upper arm, trailing more streams of silk beneath my arm and giving the illusion of sleeves. For all intents and purposes, it was a strapless dress, leaving my arms, shoulders, and a healthy amount of cleavage exposed. â€Å"I think I need a bra,† I said, eyeing the way the thin silk wrapped around my chest. â€Å"But that's how it's worn!† said Nia. Gentry, in fashion and other ways, didn't always share the same taste as humans. Nia knew this, and I could see in her face she was terrified I'd do something human to ruin this dream-come-true of finally dressing me properly. â€Å"Fine,† I said. â€Å"But keep my hair down.† Hopefully it would give me some coverage. Lack of a haircut had my ends just barely touching my shoulder blades lately. Nia took this as an acceptable compromise, going over every lock of my hair so that it was smooth and slightly curled at the ends. Aquamarine barrettes (the gentry loved jewels too) were placed strategically throughout my hair, and she forced more jewelry on me in the same color scheme. After a bit of cosmetics, Nia deemed me fit to be a queen. I planned on bringing her to Dorian's and was about to tell her we should go when a strange and unexpected thought came to me. â€Å"Nia †¦ can you get my sister ready too?† â€Å"Your †¦ your sister, Your Majesty?† She was equally surprised. â€Å"Is she coming?† I thought about it, wondering the same thing. I never let Jasmine leave the castle and its grounds, for everyone's safety. Yet, I couldn't shake the thought of how bored and lonely she seemed. Plus, I'd forgotten her Twinkies. â€Å"Yes,† I decided. â€Å"She's coming. Be fast.† Nia nodded and headed toward my door, off to whatever closet she always produced endless stores of dresses and jewelry from. Jasmine had once been the mistress of this castle's former king; for all I knew, her wardrobe was still here. â€Å"Nia?† I called. The gentry girl paused. â€Å"Long sleeves.† Nia nodded again, catching my meaning. It was no secret among the gentry that the Thorn Queen kept her sister a prisoner. That didn't mean I wanted her chains flaunted, however. And when my whole entourage met up to leave, I could see that Nia really was magically gifted with beauty. Jasmine – who looked utterly stunned by this unexpected field trip – wore a dress made of pale green velvet. It was floor-length like mine but had long bell sleeves that did a good job of hiding the chains. The dress was more modest than mine too, but I had a feeling Nia hadn't done it to protect Jasmine's fifteen-year-old modesty. Most likely, Nia didn't want the queen's sister to draw more attention than the queen herself. The minimal jewels on Jasmine proved as much, and the looks from my own people showed that I was definitely attention-getting. I doubted they'd ever seen me dressed up like a full-fledged gentry woman. Riding a horse in that dress was a pain in the ass. It wasn't the first time I'd done so, and I was glad the skirt wasn't as snug as the top. I was also glad our route was short tonight. The Otherworld folded in upon itself, taking travelers through ways that seemed impossible but which often proved the most direct path. These paths also cut through other kingdoms – often my neighbors'. Knowing this, our party was on high alert as we rode, everyone tense. To my relief, the road didn't take us through the Rowan Land – as it frequently did. The only transition between my land and the Oak Land was a brief stint in the Willow Land. Not comforting, but safer than enemy territory. Once Dorian's castle was in sight, my group's mood lifted, and the party-crashing spirit returned. His home was exactly what you expected from a castle, multi-turreted and made of heavy dark stones, with stained glass windows. As always, it was autumn in the Oak Land, and although night prevented me from seeing the orange-leaved trees, the smell of harvest and touch of fall chill on my skin reaffirmed for me what season it was. Scattered on the castle grounds, I spotted small clusters of peasants around campfires, watching us curiously. Like me, Dorian had war refugees seeking aid from their monarch. The sight of their faces twisted my stomach, and I forced myself to look away. Servants took our horses, people scrambling at our unexpected arrival. Guests dropped in all the time for dinner – especially at Dorian's – but we were VIPs. I walked briskly toward the banquet hall while groveling stewards scurried at my side, promising proper accommodations for my companions and checking on anything else we might need. I came to a halt when I reached the banquet doors. Even I with my bad human etiquette knew I had to be announced first. A herald swung open the door, revealing light, color, and noise. Dorian had about a hundred people in there tonight, gathered around various tables on chairs and couches. Most were gentry nobility. Some were his soldiers. Others were creatures of the Otherworld, types I fought when they crossed to the human world. As I'd guessed, dinner was already being served, with servants scurrying around and the guests chatting and eating. That all came to a halt when the herald's voice rang out: â€Å"Her Royal Majesty, Queen Eugenie Markham, Called Odile Dark Swan, Daughter of Tirigan the Storm King, Protector of the Thorn Land, Beloved of the Triple Moon Goddess.† I would never get used to all those titles. Conversation dropped, and then there was the usual screeching of chair legs as people hastily stood up. Once I would have cringed from this, but I knew what was expected now. I began to stride forward but stopped after two steps. Most of my soldiers had stayed at the doors, and none of the rest of my retinue would be announced since I had no high-ranking nobility with me. Almost. I glanced at the herald. â€Å"My sister, announce my sister.† His eyes bugged, and I could guess his confusion. Not only was that kind of a weird request coming from me, it was also hard for him to manage since Jasmine didn't have any official titles. The guy was fast on his feet, though. That was his job. â€Å"The Lady Jasmine Delaney, Daughter of Tirigan the Storm King, Sister of Eugenie the Thorn Queen.† That got a few surprised glances. I smiled at the herald. â€Å"Thank you,† I said softly. â€Å"Only next time, announce my name before our father's.† He blanched. â€Å"Y-yes, Your Majesty.† I entered the room at the head of my party, startled I'd said that to the herald. Where had that come from? A need to diminish Storm King? A desire to tout my own importance? Whatever the reason, I already regretted the words. A long walkway stretched through the room, and halfway down it, Dorian emerged from the crowd and stood to meet me. I reached him, and he took my hand, giving it a long and languid kiss. Among the gentry, that kiss was perfectly acceptable for receiving one's lover or a visiting monarch. â€Å"My dear,† he said, lifting his eyes. They swept over me in that clever, efficient way of his. To all those watching, he was as calm and in control as always, his lips curved into the devil-may-care smile normal for him. Still, I could imagine his surprise. He hadn't expected to see me this soon. He certainly hadn't expected to see me in full queenly glory. I might have been Christmas morning for Nia, but for Dorian, I was dessert being served before dinner. â€Å"You and yours are very welcome.† It was a formality, one that returned the guests to their seats and declared my party was under Dorian's hospitality, meaning no one here could do us any harm and vice versa. â€Å"I guess ‘soon' does mean all sorts of things,† he murmured. He glanced toward my cleavage. â€Å"All sorts of things.† â€Å"Hey.† I kept my voice as low as his. â€Å"Are you looking down my dress?† â€Å"My dear, I want to do much more than look down it. Much, much more. And I want to do it now. I don't suppose,† he added, â€Å"that your transformation came along with an embracing of many of our other superior customs?† He was referring, of course, to couples scattered about the room who had promptly returned to amorous activities after I was announced. People made out, took off clothing, and even had sex with ease in public. Some guests watched, but most went on with their meal as though nothing out of the ordinary were happening. â€Å"No,† I said firmly. â€Å"Are you sure?† he asked, leaning closer. â€Å"No one would take it amiss. Indeed, many would find it reassuring to see their king and queen consummating their relationship. It's a sign of dominance and power.† â€Å"I'm here for dinner,† I said sweetly. Underneath my prim attitude, his words and his body language were already getting to me. You would have thought we'd last had sex a year ago, not this morning. I might not consent to his exhibitionism, but if I said I wanted to go to his bedroom right now, he'd immediately turn around and walk out with me. â€Å"Dinner, it is,† he said regretfully. â€Å"Perhaps I'll serve you something special. And I'm sure you'll enjoy our guests tonight.† He began steering me toward the hall's front. His throne sat on a high pedestal, and below that was the head table where he'd been dining. My eyes fell on the aforementioned guests, and I nearly stopped walking. Instead, I glanced behind me and called, â€Å"Rurik?† I'd given instructions for Shaya and Rurik (and a handful of guards) not to leave Jasmine's side. They were seeking out their own table, and even though they were halfway across the room, Rurik heard me and turned. With a sharp head nod, I gestured for him to join us. He crossed the room swiftly, arching an eyebrow when he saw the dinner guests and understanding why I'd want one of my own people around. There, sitting at the head table and watching me with cold blue eyes was Ysabel – Dorian's former lover.

Loneliness Of Mice And Men - 1364 Words

Loneliness in Of Mice and Men REVISE Loneliness is defined as sadness because one has no friends or company, and people’s most common response to loneliness is looking for someone or something to take away their loneliness. This is a common trait in the characters of the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck which follows the experience of migrant farm workers George Milton and Lennie Small after they are run out of Weed, California and go to another ranch near Salinas, California during the Great Depression. Throughout the entire story, Steinbeck illustrates how Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife express the same trait of loneliness and their search for someone or something to quell their loneliness. One of the more forefront characters in the story is Candy, who is the very kind and helpful â€Å"swamper’, or maintenance man, of the ranch and befriends George and Lennie soon after they arrive at the ranch. Of the many lines Candy says throughout the book, the line â€Å"I d make a will an leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, cause I ain t got no relatives or nothing†¦ (Steinbeck 58) opens up Candy’s feelings about his life and his emotions. The quote shows how Candy has no relatives and few to none really close friends because of his old age relative to George and Lennie and the rest of the farmhands, which makes him feel isolated and lonely. Candy wants to fill that void of loneliness by giving the money to George and Lennie and living and working on the farm theyShow MoreRelatedLoneliness in of Mice and Men721 Words   |  3 PagesLoneliness in â€Å"Of Mice and Men† Friends are needed in a person’s life for emotional stability whom without would lead to a life of loneliness and solitude. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters Crooks, Candy and Curly’s wife exhibit a form of loneliness. They are driven to George and Lennie’s friendship because they lack support and that emotional stability in their own lives.A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Dont matter no difference who the guy is, longs he withRead MoreLoneliness in Of Mice and Men970 Words   |  4 PagesLoneliness in Of Mice and Men The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, takes place during the Great Depression era in the 1930s. Life changed dramatically from the thriving 1920s. Work was hard to find because of the bad economy, and everybody lived tough lives. It was even tougher for African Americans, women, and the elderly because they were all considered useless at the time. Everyone had no respect for them, and they were very low on the social pyramid. Due to their low status and respectRead MoreOf Mice and Men (Loneliness)2148 Words   |  9 PagesOf Mice and Men essay on Loneliness is a basic part of human life. 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The idea of loneliness was strongly conveyed through the characters Crooks and Curley’s wife, they are both key examples of lonely andRead MoreOf Mice and Men Essay on Loneliness1318 Words   |  6 PagesMarch 2014 Of Mice and Men Literary Analysis Essay on Loneliness â€Å"Actually, feeling lonely has little to do with how many friends you have. It s the way you feel inside. Some people who feel lonely may rarely interact with people and others who are surrounded by people but don t feel connected† (Karyn Hall 2013). Truthfully, loneliness is something almost all people fear. It s a deeper feeling then just being isolated. It s feeling distant or disconnected from others. Loneliness is so much more