text:
By Alan Scherstuhl
The Blue Room (La Chambre bleue)
By Alan Scherstuhl
By Stephanie Zacharek
Gone Girl Is Smartly Crafted, Well-Acted, and a Bit Too...
By Stephanie Zacharek
By Aaron Hills
The Subway's the Star in BAM's Transporting Retro
By Melissa Anderson
By Alan Scherstuhl
Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem
By Stephanie Zacharek
Rob Zombie's Halloween isn't quite a remake of John Carpenter's 1978 slasher masterpiece. The first hour, which vividly and viciously imagines the dirt bag childhood of an abject little psychopath named Michael Myers (the exquisitely wormy Daeg Faerch), might be considered a prequel. Yet even when it kicks in on familiar turfMichael's escape (slash) from the loony bin (strangle) and hunt (slaughter) for his sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton)Zombie's up to something all his own. Horrific as it is, Halloween isn't so much a horror film as a biopic, and a superb one at that. The life and times of a fictional monster may not be as respectable a subject as a historical monster like, say, Idi Amin or Truman Capote, but Zombie's portrait is every bit as reverent, scrupulous, and deeply felt as any Oscar grubbing horrorshow. Note the strange circumspection, the discipline of tone, the utter lack of snark, the absolute denial of gore-for-gore's sake. (Yes, Eli Roth, there is such a thing as "torture porn"and you're a dumb dirty perv.) Can you feel the love? If anything, Zombie indulges too much sympathy for the devil; his Halloween deepens Carpenter's vision without rooting out its fear.
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FeaturedNoa Restaurant / Kamp Arhitektid
Editor's ChoiceVideo: Ole Scheeren on Height and Density
In Residence: Knud Holscher
NOWNESS takes you inside Danish architect Knud Holscher's minimalist, brick-and-glass home on a suburban cul-de-sac just 25 minutes north of Copenhagen. Holscher, one of Denmark's most acclaimed architects and industrial designers, built the 1970s home to experiment with what he believes makes an ideal home: a modest open plan, clean lines and simple interiors.
Milken Institute School of Public Health / Payette
Architects: Payette
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Area: 161100.0 ft2
Year: 2014
Photographs: Robert Benson
Salvaged Stadium: Harvard GSD Student Yaohua Wang's Proposal for Post-Olympic Adaptation
Olympic host cities around the world are increasingly facing issues of post-event sustainability, with many stadiums and arenas falling into disuse and dilapidation mere months after the games. The soaring costs associated with constructing Olympic facilities have plagued organizers for decades, resulting in an all-time low number of bids from host cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics, according to the International Olympic Committee. Yaohua Wang is a recent architecture graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a native of China - where facilities constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are slowly being converted to new post-Olympic uses, typified by the transformation of the Watercube into the city's newest waterpark. Wang's thesis project, Salvaged Stadium, delves into the afterlife of Olympic facilities, providing a solution for arena reuse with potential for application worldwide.
Find out how Wang re-evaluated the Olympic development problem after the break
Call for ArchDaily Interns: Spring 2015
ArchDaily is in need of a select group of awesome, architecture-obsessed interns to join our team for Spring 2015 (January – June)! If you want to spend your days researching/writing about the best architecture around the globe – and find out what it takes to work for the world's most visited architecture website – then read on after the break…
Kirkmichael Primary School / Holmes Miller
Architects: Holmes Miller
Location: Ayrshire House, King Street, Oldmeldrum, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire AB51 0EQ, UK
Contractor: Clark Contracts Ltd
Year: 2014
Photographs: Andrew Lee
Artworks by Architects to be Auctioned for Maggie's Centres
For its annual Charity Christmas Auction, this year London's Anise Gallery is planning to raise money for Maggie's, the cancer care charity which has commissioned high profile buildings from architects such as Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, OMA, Richard Rogers and Snøhetta. The Anise Gallery's auction features works by both artists and architects, including four architects who have contributed Maggie's Centres themselves: Ted Cullinan, Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre, and Piers Gough of CZWG, responsible for the Newcastle, Oxford, and Nottingham Centres respectively.
Others featured in the auction include architects Alison Brooks, Peter Murray, Jack Pringle, Christophe Egret, Rab Bennetts Je Ahn and Stuart Piercy, alongside artists including Ben Johnson, Norman Ackroyd and Jeanette Barnes. Until the auction on December 6th, all the works are on display at the Anise Gallery, however online bidding opens on November 26th here - alternatively, check out a selection of the available lots after the break.
Last Is More: The Miesian Lesson
The following is an excerpt from Last Is More: Mies, IBM and the Transformation of Chicago. The Langham Hospitality Group commissioned architectural photojournalists Robert Sharoff and William Zbaren to document the transformation of eminent architect Mies van der Rohe's IBM Building — the last skyscraper he designed — into The Langham, Chicago. In this chapter, Sharoff and Zbaren provide a more detailed look into the period between 1965 and 1975, when Mies's influence on Chicago's skyline was at its most pervasive.
The construction of the IBM Building occurred midway through a legendary period in Chicago architecture—the decadelong building boom between 1965 and 1975, when Mies's influence on the city's skyline was at its most pervasive.
During these years, numerous Miesian structures by firms such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, C. F. Murphy Associates, and Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett were erected, and the city's reputation as the founder of American modernism was finally and firmly established. The best of those buildings continue to dominate the skyline.
House F / Finckh Architekten
Architects: Finckh Architekten
Location: Germany
Area: 214.0 sqm
Year: 2014
Photographs: Courtesy of Finckh Architekten
Is Heatherwick's Garden Bridge "Nothing But A Wasteful Blight"?
After a fortnight of highs and lows for Thomas Heatherwick and British celebrity Joanna Lumley's campaign for a garden bridge stretching across London's River Thames, Rowan Moore of The Observer has meticulously described the project as "nothing but a wasteful blight." Although he acknowledges that support for the bridge "has been overwhelming," he argues that Heatherwick – though an "inventive and talented product designer" – has a past record in large scale design which "raises reasonable doubts about whether his bridge will be everything now promised."
Fine Arts Museum / Estudio Hago
Architects: Estudio Hago
Location: Badajoz, Badajoz, Spain
Architect In Charge: Antonio Álvarez-Cienfuegos Rubio & Emilio Delgado Martos
Area: 3298.0 sqm
Year: 214
Photographs: Fernando Alda
House Feurstein / Innauer‐Matt Architekten
Architects: Innauer‐Matt Architekten
Location: 6867 Schwarzenberg, Austria
Area: 140.0 sqm
Year: 2011
Photographs: Adolf Bereuter
KURO Building / KINO Architects
Architects: KINO Architects
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Area: 75.0 sqm
Year: 2013
Photographs: Daici Ano
Braunschweig Hortitecture Symposium to Explore Synergies of Architecture and Plant Material
Starting December 10, the Hortitecture 01 Symposium will kickstart a (free) public lecture series in Braunschweig, Germany, centered around brainstorming synergistic strategies for integrating architecture and vegetal matter. Stefano Boeri, MVRDV and WORKac are among a list of interdisciplinary experts that will join together to offer discussions focused around the exploration of vernacular wisdom and contemporary architectural solutions to sustainable building problems. More on the symposium, after the break.
JAJA Wins Second Prize for Swedish Housing and Market Hall Hybrid
JAJA Architects has won second prize in an open competition for a combined affordable housing and market hall in the heart of Katrineholm, Sweden. Designed for a site currently occupied by an arcade and bus stop, the hybrid proposal, known as "Torghallen," focuses on reconnecting two open plazas by devoting the ground floor to the public.
The jury, which selected JAJA's design ahead of 135 other proposals, stated: "The clear concept of a light building that touches the ground in few points creates a strong connection and transparency between the surrounding urban spaces."
Housed en Adra / EXarchitects
Architects: EXarchitects
Location: Adra, Almería, Spain
Architect In Charge: Claudia Cruz, José Salinas
Construction: Holtzdesign.es
Area: 65.0 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Miguel de Guzmán
Video: A Conversation with the Architects of the 9/11 Memorial Museum
"Typically, museums are icons that contain exhibits. This is the inverse: the exhibit is the icon."
In this video, architects Steven M. Davis, Mark Wagner, and Carl F. Krebs of Davis Brody Bond come together to discuss the design process and visitor experience of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Technical complexities and deeply emotional responses challenged the architects to craft an immersive experience of remembering. From the enormous scale of the site, to the celebration of the iconic surviving artifacts, the designers describe the overwhelming authenticity preserved by the memorial.
Wagner explains, "It pushed us architecturally, to not just look at the physical attributes, but to dive in emotionally… we need markers in our history, we need something to bring us back to that moment." It is this authenticity and embedded emotive power that the architects aim to enhance. Watch the video above to listen in on the conversation.
Critical Round-Up: Renzo Piano's Harvard Art Museums
With the opening of the Harvard Art Museums a week ago today, Renzo Piano was able to finally complete on a project which, in various guises, has been in progress for seventeen years. The relationship between Piano and Harvard began with a 1997 plan to build a new branch of the Fogg Museum on the Charles River and ended, after objections from locals and then the 2008 recession, in the decision to consolidate the university's three museums (The Fogg, Busch-Reisinger and Arthur M Sackler Museums) under one roof.
With its long history, restricted space, the listed facade of the original Fogg Museum and the ultimate difficult neighbor in Le Corbusier's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the Harvard Art Museums project was inevitably going to cause a fuss on completion. So how did Piano do? Find out what the critics said after the break.
House at the Pond / HPSA
Architects: HPSA
Location: Hubertus Street 5, 4201 Gramastetten, Austria
Area: 50.0 sqm
Year: 2014
Photographs: Dietmar Hammerschmid

subset: commoncrawl


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New best friends monkey around
Date: May 7, 2009
by: The Observer Staff
Spider monkeys Willie and Bonnie bonded instantly.
After each suffered the loss of a cage mate, both monkeys needed a new friend. Willie moved to Sarasota Jungle Gardens from Gatorama, in Palmdale. She and Bonnie were joined together in one cage Tuesday, May 5, after they had been placed in separate enclosures during the quarantine stage.
Many wondered if the 30-year-old females would be compatible. When Willie stretched her golden arm out to meet Bonnie's charcoal fur, it was evident by their sounds and body language that the two would be fast friends.
To see the new furry friends, visit Sarasota Jungle Gardens, 3701 Bay Shore Road.
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- Nov
23 2nd Annual Sarasota Fall Fine Art Festival
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
- Nov
24 Baby Wearing Dance Class
10:00 am - 11:00 am
- Nov
27 Thanksgiving Free Public Talk & Veggie Potluck
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
- Nov
29 Light Up Siesta Village and Holiday Parade
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
PHOTO GALLERY:YPG volunteers at Girls Inc.
Members of the Sarasota Young Professionals Group pitched in to help wrap gifts for Project Santa's Helpers on Saturday at Girls Incorporated.
PHOTO GALLERY:Riverview Kiltie Band Concert
The Riverview High School Kiltie Band kicked off the 2014-15 concert season with a performance Thursday night at the Riverview Performing Arts Center.
FYI Friday: Your weekly news roundup
Catch up on the week's most important and most interesting news stories from Sarasota, Longboat Key and East County with FYI Friday.


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Radical Politics: The Obama administration isn't satisfied with locking in votes for Democrats by giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. Now it's also trying to unlock ex-con's votes through felon re-enfranchisement.
In a Georgetown University speech, Attorney General Eric Holder last week called state laws barring convicted felons from voting racist measures that "strip African-Americans of their most fundamental rights."
"Throughout America, 2.2 million black citizens — or nearly one in 13 African-American adults — are banned from voting because of these laws," he asserted. "In three states — Florida, Kentucky and Virginia — that ratio climbs to one in five."
He demanded lawmakers repeal such "unjust" restrictions and restore voting rights for felons. Failure to act, he suggested, puts them in league with Jim Crow segregationists from "post-Reconstruction states."
Really? The attorney general just maligned virtually the entire nation. With the exception of Maine and Vermont, every state keeps at least some felons from voting.
Last we checked, Delaware and Iowa weren't "post-Reconstruction states." Felons in those states lose their right to vote permanently. Nor were the deep blue states of Maryland, Wisconsin, New Jersey, New Mexico or Washington, where felons still can't vote while on parole or probation.
And it's not just 2.2 million African-American felons who can't go to the polls. The laws also disenfranchise 3.6 million non-blacks, most of whom are white.
So a solid majority — 62% — of the "unjustly restricted" aren't even black, which hardly makes this the civil rights issue Holder makes it out to be.
Why focus on blacks? Simple: They overwhelmingly vote Democratic. That's more than 2 million more votes for the president's party.
Never mind that, Holder says. What matters is such laws' "disparate impact on minority communities."
Regrettably, that's only because blacks commit a disproportionate amount of serious crimes. While Holder thinks that also shows racism, even liberal social scientists concede racial bias doesn't explain the prison gap.
"Blacks are not singled out for stricter or more frequent prosecution, nor do they receive longer sentences once criminal history and other sentencing factors are taken into account," University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Amy L. Wax has written.
Holder insists felon disenfranchisement laws are "outdated." But the legislative record shows the 1965 Voting Rights Act was never intended to give convicted felons the right to vote. And federal voting laws passed in 1993 and 2002 only reinforce such measures.
Objective standards of competence and judgment must be met to enjoy the right to vote, standards that have zero to do with race.
Children and the mentally impaired don't meet those standards, and that's why they're not allowed to vote. Adults who commit serious crimes against their fellow citizens don't meet those qualifications, either.
If you don't follow the law, you can't demand a role in making the law by voting for lawmakers. Convicted felons give up that privilege — black, white or purple.
Cyberwar: The director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers, has warned a congressional panel that China has the capability to knock out the entire U.S. power grid. This is a first-magnitude threat.As severe as U.S. national security problems are with the militarily resurgent Russia ...
Amnesty: Now that President Obama has made the Constitution a welcome mat for illegals to wipe their feet on, Republicans can make a series of moves. This should be treated as the national emergency it is.For the president to shield up to 5 million aliens from the deportation that statute requires ...
Corruption: Smoking-gun emails show how the administration sought to derail a CBS reporter's investigation of its "gun-waking" operation — a reporter whose computers were mysteriously and mercilessly hacked.Fast and Furious, along with Benghazi, is one of the two "phony" administration ...
Lying With Statistics: In April, we doubted that the surprisingly high ObamaCare enrollment numbers could be trusted. Turns out, we were right to be skeptical. The White House had been vastly inflating the figures all along.This week, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell admitted that ...
In his immigration speech Thursday night, President Obama announced his intention to sign an executive order that "temporarily" (or until his term is over in January 2015) allows an estimated 4 million illegal aliens to remain in the U.S., he merely formalized what he was already doing. He never ...


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|In-game screenshot of the latest section of the first map
Digital Distress
Level Design by Serge Jaeken
Monday, November 17, 2014
Quake II: Zero Signal update # 12
Geplaatst door Serge op 22:37 No comments:
Friday, November 7, 2014
Quake II: Zero Signal update # 11
|Editor shot of a new part of the first map
Geplaatst door Serge op 15:35 No comments:
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Switcheroom updated
Doom - The community project called Switcheroom has received some minor fixes. This is the version that is also uploaded to the /idgames archive. The Switcheroom page on this website has already been updated with the latest version available for download.
Geplaatst door Serge op 21:37 No comments:
Labels: Doom, Switcheroom
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Quake II: Zero Signal update # 10
Quake II - To speed things up a little, I've made a schedule so that I map at least six hours per week. The first week is over and I already noticed a considerable amount of progress. Besides some work on aesthetics, I've also started to work on a new area of the map. I'll post some screenshots when I've made the new area a little more presentable.
Geplaatst door Serge op 15:56 No comments:
Sunday, October 26, 2014
General - I started to add labels to my posts so it's easier for visitors to keep track of things. For example, if you see a new post about Quake II: Zero Signal, you can either follow the label Quake 2 and see all posts which involves the game or follow the label Zero Signal where you can see every post about that specific project for the game. The labels can be found at the bottom of each post. I will use labeling from now on, so keep in mind that older posts might not show up when using this.
Geplaatst door Serge op 16:27 No comments:
Labels: General
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Quake II: Zero Signal update # 9
|Development sceenshot of Quake II: Zero Signal
Geplaatst door Serge op 18:38 No comments:
Monday, October 20, 2014
Switcheroom released!
Doom -The final version of the community project Switcheroom is out! You can find a description, some screenshots and a download link under the Collaborations tab to the right. Enjoy!
Geplaatst door Serge op 13:59 No comments:
Labels: Doom, Switcheroom
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Shoe Size
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After trying on over a dozen pairs of boots, this one was the best of the best. Thank you for having such a large selection of work boots to choose from.
San Antonio, TX
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I bought this boot for my husband birthday since he needed more work boots. At first when he saw them he didn't like the style so much but he put them on and said they were comfortable. The next day my husband wore the boots to work and he came home saying that his feet felt much better already. The other boots he had hurt his feet way to much so he needed something soft and comfortable. We thought that they wouldn't be very relaxing for his feet since they are steel toe. These boots helped his feet very much and I'm one happy wife I made this purchase. Before this I didn't shop at sears much just for my appliances. One day I decided to walk in to shop for some clothes and shoes and found great deals. I absolutely love sears and they are rated my favorite five star store now. I can't stop talking about them.
Concord, NC
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I bought these boots for my husband and he loves them. In the past we had to get innersoles for his boots for comfort, but these he has not needed to add anything to. Seem to be durable as well.
Wichita, KS
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My husband loves them! He said they are light weight and great for his job.
Port Huron, MI
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My husband bought these for work and he said they were very comfortable, better than more expensive brands he has worn before. The first pair he bought lost one of the rivets but we easily returned them and were replaced with a new pair.
Ontario, CA
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The reviewer indicated they are affiliated with this product. The reviewer indicated they received a sample of this product.
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I purchase them 6 months ago in store at full price. A month and half after later one of the hooked pulls out of the leather, should have returned them then but didn't. Now I have developed 3 corner tears near the edge of the steel toe on both sides (same boot that the hook pulled out of). I am just glad I discovered it before stepping in the 160 degree water at work.
Gold Canyon, AZ
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These boots are rugged, comfortable and fit great.
Memphis, TN
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Best work boot, don't feel like regular steel toe boots.
via sears.com
My husband liked these boots but ended up returning them because they were so heavy on his feet. He did say that they were comfortable and made well.
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Love it
By Shopdiva
from Toronto
I am always scared to order shoes online since I have one foot wider and have high arches. Isaac is amazing my first purchase from his collection and love them. They fit so comfortably and all the details in the shoes, from the straps to the hinges are so pretty. Its all about the tiny details that he does as he is one of the best out there and glad to have taken a chance and got these shoes. I got the gold tone and might order some of the other colours as they fit my feet well and a pretty sandal for summer as I cant wait to wear it as flats rule and they are sexy.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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My first Isaac purchase
By Miaou LeChat
from Hanover, Ontario
I have just received these great looking shoes in navy. My mistake was I ordered them in a wide fit, which is a little big. But, I punched another hole in the strap and the shoe does fit somewhat better now. I am keeping them as they are what I am looking for in a stylish sandal.The cork bed feels comfortable and the price is great!Thank you, Isaac
( 6 of 6 customers found this review helpful)
Comfy but issues with sizing
By Cathy
from Etobicoke, ON
I purchased two different colours in 6W, the navy sole was right size, however the straps were too big, my feet were completely loose in them. The gold pair on the other hand fit just right, no issues with loosenes, the left one felt a bit tight, and the sole did seem a bit shorter. Very comfy, but sizing is very strange!!


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On their video, they claim to have been secretly, actively infiltrating some of the MSM to influence them report about the events when they happen...
I can understand, common sense, they still are not very into advertising about themselves, if they positively appeal for such event to occur.
I have no rational idea who could they be, though I could maybe speculate about an existing specific group which uses a language that resembles a lot how this prophetic theme is phrased in the video.
But I'm not willing to share here on the Daily Paul, would be vastly too off topic and I don't want to pollute this place I respect too much with what would appear as very controversial speculations to some, anyway. Focus: Ron Paul!
All I know is I'm not part of it (AFAIK!), of that Freedom Reigns. Maybe "regretably". Or not.
If for just one thing, I've been having a way too busy schedule just sustaining myself or my family over almost two decades, to be able do THAT, also! Oh, and yes, to sustain the welfare state, here or there, too.
"Cyril" pronounced "see real". I code stuff.
"To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous." -- Confucius
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The bike-falling-off contagion
May 13, 2014 § 23 Comments
There was a very big women's bicycle race on Sunday for the Amgen Tour of California. In America, women's bike racing is unimportant compared to men's bike racing, which is saying something because men's bike racing was recently rated as being less important than an old TV dinner.
There are many reasons that women's bike racing is less important than something that is already less important than an old microwave chicken pot pie. The three reasons are sexism, gender discrimination, and misogyny. Those reasons came to bear explaining why so many women fell off their bikes on Sunday.
Eleven separate bicycle-falling-off incidents were catalogued, an impressive number even for cycling, where people regularly fall off their bicycles and often do so into steel barriers, beneath the wheels of speeding trucks, and off steep cliffs. The causes of this terrible contagion made their way to the only place that people ever calmly discuss anything, i.e. Facebag. Many explanations were put forth, including reasoned analyses that ended in "fuck you" and "you suck" and other indicia of dispassionate discourse.
Wanky solves the bicycle-falling-off problem
Some pointed to the grave problem of Internet coaching as the culprit. "People get coached on the Internet but they don't get coached on how to ride their fucking bikes in a group and fall off their bicycles properly."
Others pointed to the rose-tinted glasses that find the solution to every modern problem in a past world where everything was perfect. "Back when we used to ride our bikes with wooden rims and we had to flip the wheel to change gears, everybody knew how to ride. It's this influx of [fill in name of contemptible influx here] who weren't raised the old-fashioned way that are causing all the problems."
Still others pointed to the need for clinics. "People should only get a racing license when they pass my skilz klinik. Everyone who passes my skilz klinik never krashes."
None of these folks really nailed the problem, although there did seem to be quite a bit of self-dialing as various posters proffered their various qualifications. The problem is quite simple, and is expressed by the Peter Principle:
Anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails such that all people rise to their natural level of incompetence.
This means that if you have been racing for very long, you're as bad as you're going to get, which is just bad enough to get shelled, gap out other riders, cross wheels, smash into barricades, and ultimately fall off your bicycle. If these things are not happening to you, you aren't racing in your proper category yet. If they are, you know you have arrived.
The bad news: it's not just everyone else
Indeed, the entire Amgen women's race was designed to rapidly promote as many people as possible to their maximum level of incompetence by putting regional racers in the mix with the country's top pros, then expanding the normal women's field size of about 40 riders to a whopping, road-clogging peloton of 108 racers.
As you might expect, the winner was one of the best riders in the land, Carmen Small, followed by another of the best riders in the land, Corinne Rivera. As you might also expect, the forty-three riders who DNF'ed included a hefty contingent of regional riders who were far, far out of their league. In accordance with the Peter Principle, the best riders for the most part did fine, and many of the riders who were promoted en masse to the next level instantly found their level of incompetence by crashing once, twice, even multiple times.
The good news: it's okay to suck
Since everyone eventually sucks, and since most people suck sooner rather than later when it comes to riding in the middle of an internationally televised world-class bicycle race when their normal fare is a parking lot crit, there's no dishonor or even much to be surprised about when it comes to the bicycle-falling-off phenomenon. It either has happened to everybody who races or it eventually will, and it's certainly no one's fault in the sense that "the peloton is filled with incompetents" because every peloton is always filled with incompetents.
As with most bike races, it's much easier to point the finger at the bonehead who "crashed you out" (still waiting for the bandaged rider in a neck brace to come up to me and complain that "I crashed myself out because I suck") than to look at the real problems with women's bike racing, alluded to above.
Any configuration of a bike race will contain a certain percentage of incompetents, and the larger the field, the higher the percentage. So what? If you find yourself at the bottom of one too many piles, and you don't like neck braces, it's time for you to choose smaller, easier races. There's a certain level of bike handling you will never exceed. That's okay, and all the skilz kliniks in the world won't help you … much.
Since most metrics show that women like to ride and that there is a bustling trade in women's bikes and gear, the real question is why doesn't Amgen put on a women's tour that parallels the men's? That way you would have a smaller field with fewer incompetents. The crashes would still happen (see Peter Principle, above), but presumably they would be fewer because the selection criteria would be more strict.
In fact, if the same thing had played out in the men's field and ten or eleven regional men's teams had swelled the ranks of the Amgen men's tour, there would have been mayhem. Guys in SoCal who are legendarily awesome (especially in their own minds) would turn into barricade fodder if they suddenly had to race with UCI Pro Tour elites. Actually, they wouldn't last long enough to crash, as the peloton would pull away so quickly that their race would finish before it started.
So if the question is "Why does Amgen promote just one lousy Waring Blender mix-and-mash race for the women?" then the answer is fairly unsettling, but unsurprising. Races organized by men, for men, to include men are never going to provide equal platforms for women.
Now that sucks.
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Bring lawyers, guns, and money. And beer. Don't forget the fuggin' beer.
May 6, 2014 § 13 Comments
This Sunday is a special day for mothers. It is a time when some of the biggest advertising firms in America urge us to display our love for our mothers, for example, by reserving tables at fancy restaurants. There is nothing that says "I love you" more than another charge on your credit card that you can't afford, and there is nothing more memorable than mediocre food at a crowded eatery where you're served by an overworked and pissed-off waiter.
I've never done well with days of remembrance. Take birthdays, for example. My idea of a great celebration for Mrs. WM's 47th was dinner at the All Indian Sweets and Snacks carry-out buffet. We went formal and ate in the shop, jammed next to the buckets of ghee and some sweaty Pakistani dude with bad breath, but no one can deny that it is the very finest and most delectable Indian food you can get anywhere for $4.95.
I thought she'd be thrilled that I managed to take five people out for dinner for less than $35. She wasn't. In fact, she still isn't, and hints have been placed that Mother's Day had better be a blowout of love. There had better be some dogdamned love shown, some appreciation trotted out, and some words of adulation bandied about, or else. You can probably even add a "fucking else" and it wouldn't be an overstatement.
Buttercup, why do you build me up?
I can tell you right now that Mother's Day is going to be a big disappointment, at least for her. Why? Because it's on the same day as the 805 Series crit in Lompoc, and I've pitched in to rent an RV, reserved a keg, and made plans to spend the three-day weekend racing my bike.
There are gonna be three guys with their three wives in an RV for three days in Lompoc, along with a keg of IPA. Now tell me again why I'm supposed to give a crap about Mother's Day? I mean, she's not even my mom.
Race of the century
If you're looking for a great way to climb into the doghouse for the next year and peg the door shut with a nail gun, you should be at the 805 Series, too. Pre-reg is already 60% full, and it's going to be a fantastic weekend.
Tons of credit goes to woodchopper and local madman Mike Hecker, who, in a wildly delusional state, thought it would be great to bring a big, legit bike race to the Santa Ynez Valley, even though no one knows how to spell "Ynez." Yet as with all delusional bike crazies, their delusions are built on the hallucinations of the madmen who went before them.
In this case, Mike owes a huge debt to Roger Worthington and the Dana Point Grand Prix. Dana Point was the first race on the calendar to bring huge quantities of beer, entertainment for kids, prize checks that cleared, and a festival atmosphere to local SoCal crit racing. Each year Dana Point has set the high watermark for a professionally run, all-in, big-name crit that everyone wants to win or at least finish or at least come home in a neck brace from.
Mike has taken the cue, broken it over the head of USA Cycling's traditional model of "bike racing = Ontario" and put on an event that in its first year qualified it as the best crit series in California. This year there will be three days of racing rather than two, and Friday's biggest races will take place at night. Just so you know, I plan to take Charon in the twilight crit. Hopefully it will end in a straight-up drag race, so he can taste the fury of my mad finishing kick.
The beer garden will be back, the prize list will be more veiny and swollen, and hopefully the weather will repeat last year's trick of 100-degrees-plus with a searing hot headwind. Nothing is more fun than a technical course and unendurable heat, if only to watch the racers melt into puddles and stick to the pavement while you're under a shaded tent sipping Firestone IPA.
See you there. Really looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day with you.
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No blood pools
May 5, 2014 § 27 Comments
I teed up at 9:20 AM. There were sixty other old people, all over the age of 50. The checkered flag fell and we clipped into various levels of anxiety. Me, I, mine was minimal because it was just another bicycle race and the worst that could happen was death.
Roger had smoothed out the course from its heyday in 2009. That was my first and only attempt, when we spit down the quick hill onto a hard right-hander. There is a channel across the street when you hit the turn, and back in the bad old days the disorganizers had only shut down half of PCH, which meant you went screaming, flying, then oh-shit-Mary-mother-of-dog gimme a fucking handful of the biggest brakes you got because you were following the numbnuts in front of you who was following the numbnuts in front of him who was following the numbnuts in front of him who was coming in way too hot, hot like honey-I'm-so-glad-to-be-home-after-three-months-on-the-road-hot, and by the time the bad, broken tune of the accordion effect had reached you, mid-pack, you were squealing brakes and coming too damned fast too damned close to the giant steel barricades that cordoned off the highway.
Chris Hahn's brother had flipped his bike and broke his frame and his wheels and shattered his hip that day. The medic tent had been a MASH unit, and none of that bothered me nearly as much as this, the terrible nightmare I still have and see with the same Technicolor I saw it in 2009: the giant, wet, glistening red pool of blood in the turn, a pool augmented lap by lap, race by race until it was a bona fide puddle of gore.
Progress in the name of sport
Today there was none of that. The course took the full two lanes on PCH and the inconvenienced commuters, made minutes late for their afternoon drunken stupor, could either stew in their juices or pull over and hop into the beer garden. Many did.
We were off and running, forty minutes of sad testosterone, sagging skin, incipient melanoma, drippy urinary tracts, and memories of what we thought we used to be but in fact never really were. I sat at the back and cruised through the turns.
It is easy racing in a giant blob of old people on a short closed fast course. No matter how fast the fast riders go, the blob goes faster, reabsorbs them, belches, farts, picks its teeth, waits for the sprunt.
Three riders dashed away and their teams "blocked," which is another way of saying none of the old people wanted to race their bikes, especially if it meant going as fast as the three people out there in the wind. But the blob has its own fears and desires, and before long it came to life and sucked them back.
I may have been part of that.
Visualizing defeat
With old people, even sixty or seventy of them, there are several core principles that define their bicycle races. The first is that none of them wants to die. This differs wholesale from all of the 5′s, all of the 4′s, all of the 1′s and 2′s, most of the 3′s, and half of the 35+ racers.
Those people race their bikes truly, because if you are not willing to die now, today, this moment, then you are not racing, you are simply following other racers, or, in the case of the entire 50+ field, in which no one even wants to get paralyzed or to lose a limb or to come home covered head to toe in bandages, you're simply pedaling fast. I should note that exactly forty-one of them pedaled faster than I did.
With six laps to go we were all back together. This was the point where that which we expected, predicted, and knew would happen did in fact come to pass. The great unwashed mass of riders acknowledged what math could have told them before they ever signed up: their chance of winning was zero percent. But cyclists are generally innumerate, and it takes the blunt trauma of reality to demonstrate what could have been learned with a calculator over a beer and a sandwich. The blunt trauma was this, the same thing it always was: in order to win the race you must now do three impossible things in succession.
- Move up fifty places so you are on Thurlow's wheel.
- Stay there until the final 200 yards.
- Pass Thurlow and whomever is in front of him.
None of these things was possible. In order to move up, you would have had to go 35 miles per hour. As an old person, you could not do this. Even if you could, you would have found twenty other people just as hopeless as you fighting for that one magical wheel. None of them would have given it to you, so you would have been pedaling at 35 miles per hour, which you couldn't do, by yourself, out in the wind, which, after the first turn, would have thrust you all the way back to sixtieth place, where you began.
Even if you had been able to get to the front and barge your way onto Thurlow's wheel, then what would you have done? You would have had to come around him. How would you have done that? You've never passed him in your life, except for that one time before a race when he was standing on the sidewalk adjusting his brakes. And then, even if you had done all of these impossible things in succession that you had never done before singly, and in fact don't even know how to do, there would still have been the issue of the one or two people like Craig Miller or Mark Noble who would still have been in front of you. How would you have passed them?
Answer: you wouldn't have, and you didn't.
This was all a best case scenario, of course. More likely, you would have gotten to the front gassed and done something stupid, crashed onto your chest or spine or neck and had forty people run over your head and teeth.
How to properly finish the race
As a result, with six laps to go the race separated itself. Everyone who knew that 1-2-3 above was impossible drifted to the back. That was most of the field. Twenty riders either surged to the fore or locked in their position. They were still not willing to die, so it wasn't technically a bike race, but at this point they were certainly willing to kill someone else, which was extra incentive to stay at the back and mug for the cameras.
Having won neither a placing nor a prime, I came up to Roger after the race and congratulated him for having removed the blood puddle corner. He smiled and gave me a free giant bottle of beer, proving that you can often get better results in a bike race by knowing the right person than by showing any type of athletic talent or skill.
On the way back to my car I saw Peta. She waved me over to her table, where she was having a cup of coffee and a light breakfast with David Miller, a Cat 4 who had been willing to die that day and had earned 3rd place as a result. I was so excited to be invited to join her that I tripped, dropped my bottle of beer on the paving stones and shattered it into a million pieces. My shoes filled with cold beer. Peta didn't seem as happy to see me anymore.
I went beerless back to the car, leaned my bike against it, and changed. I had signed up for the 35+ race later in the day but after losing my beer had lost my enthusiasm as well. I got into the car and drove off, forgetting about the bike, which landed with a loud crash in a pile of gravel and dirt.
Once home I read the newspaper and thought about signing up for the 805 Race Series next weekend. I took out my calculator and ran some numbers on a napkin. "Zero percent," it said.
"Yes," I nodded, well into my second bottle of beer. "But I wonder to how many decimal places?"
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Give me forty
April 1, 2014 § 21 Comments
On the last day of the San Dimas Stage Race I hurried to the line. The ref read our last rites, blew the whistle, and off we went, careening through six turns, a modest incline, and a screaming downhill that dumped into a 90-degree turn onto the finishing stretch.
My goal was simple: earn another DNC crown to go with the string of them I'd won in every crit now since the Dana Point Grand Prix in 2008, when a lummox clipped one of the steel barriers on the left and started a pachinko cascade of bikes, wheels, screaming idiots, and soft-cartilage-and-bone smearing along the pavement at 30 mph. "DNC," by the way, stands for Did Not Crash.
Downtown San Dimas was an idyllic place to race. The start/finish was packed with spectators. The town was charming. The weather was perfect. Nothing could possibly go wrong, and in fact nothing did until the last turn on the last lap, when things not only went wrong, they went horribly wrong while slinging ass downhill at 40 mph some dude on the BonkBreaker team took the hard right hander a bit too hard and wound up splaying himself against the barricades, crashing out Steve Klasna in a great glorious finale of crunching, smashing, cursing, and opprobrium.
This of course is the price of trying to win bicycle races. You must take chances. Those chances will not always pan out. When they do not, you will pay with skin and gristle and purple scars that you can point to years later, grotesquely, as you pull up your pant cuff and itemize the scars to queasy-looking coworkers at the water cooler. This is generally a day or two prior to the time you get your termination notice, assuming you have a job, which of course as a self-respecting masters pro bike racer, you don't.
You know you're in trouble when the liberal arts major is calling you out for your bad math
I knew that by skulking in the rear, sitting up long before the sprunt, and letting Troy Huerta madly dash by to beat me for 46th place, I would almost certainly earn another DNC crown, and I did. What caught me unawares was the announcement "One lap to go!" and the Pavlovian shark attack that ensued when they rang the bell lap.
It caught me by surprise because I checked my watch and noted that they had rung the bell at about 32 minutes into the race, meaning that we finished our 40-minute event in about 34 minutes. Nor was it the first time that a masters race had been shorted. In fact, it's a tradition at virtually all SoCal crits to hear the bell lap five minutes shy, sometimes more, of the scheduled forty or forty-five minute race.
The rationale, of course, is that it's better to end the race a few minutes early than a few minutes late — better for the promoter, that is. The inanity of a 35-minute crit for the 45+ racers (and incredibly, for the 35+ racers as well) was shown on the course itself. With a star-studded field of truly great racers, the peloton averaged over 28 mph for the entire race. The 35′s averaged over 29. In other words, it wasn't a bike race. It was a drag race.
Forget tactics. The strongmen kept the foot on the gas for the entire time, ramped up a lead out train at the end, and awarded the spoils to the flat-out fastest guy in the field. In our race that was Bill Harris. In the 35′s it was Charon Smith.
And although those two guys can win any crit of any length, it greatly diminishes the racing element of the event when it's set up to be so short that there isn't even a mathematical possibility of a breakaway. Why not just make it two laps? Thirty-five minutes isn't long enough to make a dent in the big engines, and it's not long enough to create the pauses that lead to attacks, breakaways, and the thrill of, you know, tactical bike racing.
Don't blame the promoters, they voted for McGovern
Of course the real illness is the proliferation of categories. Promoters only have a limited amount of time to close off downtown or to occupy an office park. Many crits have as many eleven categories, without even providing kiddy races or junior racing events. Dana Point in 2014 has thirteen events beginning at 7:50 … and no junior races, either. The Cat 5′s and the 30+ 4/5′s race an absurd — yes, absurd — twenty minutes.
The attraction of multiple categories for promoters is maximal entry fees. The attraction for the bicycle riders is the illusory hope of a trinket. The victim is the sporting event itself, where the spectators are virtually guaranteed to witness a mass gallop finish every single time. Is that fun to watch? Hell, yes! Who doesn't want to watch Charon out-kick a hundred guys in the last 200 yards so that it looks like a greyhound racing a bunch of pet rocks?
But we don't need to stand around baking our brains in the hot sun to watch an outcome that will be the same whether the race lasts forty minutes or four.
Also … don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. Unless it's also raining.
When the flyer advertises a 40-minute or 50-minute race, then the promoter should run a race for the advertised length, the same as when a gas station advertises gas for 4.15 a gallon: it means a gallon, not 3.75 quarts.
If, because I'm old and slow, I only deserve forty minutes of competition, don't short me on my lousy forty minutes unless you're prepared to welcome me back to the registration table and refund my money. Five minutes hacked out of a 40-minute race is 12.5%, and for a $35 entry fee, that's $4.37 that just got lifted out of my back pocket. In real terms, that's half a six-pack of Racer 5 IPA.
Of course the simplest solution is the worst one. Make the races longer and decrease the number of events. Maybe the sport would be more exciting if my precious 50+ category and all the other sandbagger categories got axed, leaving us with longer, more exciting events for six or seven categories of genuinely fast people who had the legs to race a technical crit like San Dimas or Dana Point for an hour or more. Maybe lengthier, tougher courses would produce, better, tougher racers.
Or maybe not. Maybe without a 30+4/5, a 50+, or a 65+ category the sport would just dry up and blow away. You know, like it has in Europe.
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Diving for the gap
March 29, 2014 § 11 Comments
The 50-mile road race in San Dimas started at 7:50 AM.
The day began by charging into narrow spaces, skittering across the road avoiding insane people who were trying to crash me out, slamming on the brakes to avoid instant death, crazy accelerations to pass the clotted clump of confused obstacles in my way, screeching around potholes, racing into crowded turns, tense hands clenched in a death grip, and barely avoiding being rammed from behind … and that was just on the freeway driving to the race.
As I stood in line waiting to sign in, I couldn't help but marvel at the wonderful volunteers who had gotten up at dark-thirty in order to help make this event happen. Unpaid, smiling, and happy to lend a hand, they had to wait a few minutes until the race organizers provided them with the sign-in sheets. While 50 or 60 riders waited patiently in line, the biggest prick-ass prima donna from the South Bay began loudly criticizing the volunteers.
"Where are the sign-in sheets? This isn't right!" he bitched. "I have to get ready! Where's my sign-in sheet?"
Everyone looked surprised at this amazing display of douchebaggery until they recognized who it was, then they shrugged. "Oh, it's him. Again."
Strategy is key
The SPY-Giant-RIDE team boasted 37 riders in a field of 23, so before the race we huddled to plan how we would wrest control from PAPD (prick-ass prima donna) even though our best placed rider was so far back we needed a calculator, sextant, and sundial to figure out the time difference.
"If we get all three time bonuses, then win first, second, and third, conquer the field with a breakaway that puts thirty minutes on the peloton, and the rest of the riders get swallowed in a giant sinkhole, there's a slight chance we could get on the podium," one of our riders said. "Absent that, we're hosed."
As each loyal rider asked what role he could play, duties were explained.
"Hit it hard on lap two. Keep the pace hard, so that PAPD has to work. He's only human."
"Define human!" one rider demanded.
One of the other team leaders chimed in. "We're going to have to ride the front and go with constant attacks. Stay towards the fore and as soon as there's a lull, launch. Make them chase."
Everyone agreed to give it their best and to use our superior numbers to put the rest of the field in difficulty.
After the team huddle I pulled Dandy and Mongo aside. "Look, wankers," I said. "Fuck that shit. We gott execute Sub-plan B."
"Sub-plan B?" asked Dandy. "What's that?"
"It's simple. This race is packed with guys who will devour us whole. Team Leader told us to 'ride the front.' Dude, that's where the pain is. The only thing that will happen at the front is bad. Screw the team. We gotta survive. So, Sub-plan B has two steps: 1-Cower. 2-Hide."
They mulled it over. "Doesn't that make us weasly non-team player traitorous dickweeds?" asked Dandy.
"Yes," I said. "But it also means we have a chance of finishing and not getting dropped on the very first lap."
"What do you calculate the chance?" asked Mongo.
"One in half a billion."
Their faces brightened at the possibility. "We're in!" they said in unison.
Planning the work, working the plan
Although I hadn't told them, Sub-plan B had an ulterior motive: protect my 31st placing. It would take a whole crew of sub-par wankers working together to keep me in thirty-first, but with Mongo and Dandy committed to the strategy, I knew it might work.
"Anyway," I told them as we rolled out, "chill at the back. The first lap is going to be a warm-up effort anyway, nothing crazy."
Within minutes we were all on the rivet, struggling to hang onto the poisonous tail of the swinging whip as the maddened peloton charged up a grade that felt steeper than the interest rate on a payday loan. I struggled over the top, gassed. "Jon!" I shouted over to my teammate who was in his first race back after having a full hip replacement. He'd ridden less than thirty miles in the last six months, yet was easily keeping up with the murderous pace. "That was the big climb, right?"
He gave me a funny look. "Climb? No, dude. That's just a roller. When we hit the climb, you'll know it."
I slinked to the back and hung on for dear life. Far too soon we hit the actual climb, and as Jon had predicted, it was unambiguous. I've felt worse and gone harder and done more intense efforts, but they all involved being chased, caught, and beaten by my older brother and his friends.
Dandy and Mongo were fine. "Kind of fast for a warm-up, though," said Mongo as six or seven fatty tuna riders got chucked out the back.
As the pack shrank the pace never let up. Each time we neared the top of the climb we had to go over fifty feet of faux cobbles that were really nothing more than little bricks with cracks in between. The shaking and jarring that attended each passage was intense, and I could only think about how pathetic this was compared to the European races where the cobbles are actual cobbles, the climbs go on for a kilometer or more, and the weather is often cold and wet and miserable.
By the fifth lap the pack was much reduced and I barely struggled over the climb. The sixth time over I popped, along with Mongo and Fireman. The final lap we rode together in a smooth and professional paceline, with me sitting on the back and shouting instructions. "Go faster! Pedal harder! Give me some food!" etc.
Thanks to their ability to follow my instructions, we made the time cut, then dashed off to Eureka Burgers to enjoy a jalapeño and egg cheeseburger with fries and four or five double IPA's. I don't remember exactly what happened after that, but I woke up under a tent several hours later as a concerned teammate kept saying, "Are you okay? Are you okay?"
I mumbled that I was, which was excellent because it was just in time for our pre-race strategy for the final day of the stage race, a 40-minute crit over a twisty, technical course.
"Okay guys, listen up," said Team Leader. "Tomorrow everyone's going to be tired after three days of hard racing." Then he looked pointedly at me. "And some of us were tired, or appeared to be tired, before the race even started." He looked at me some more. "But we have to use our superior numbers in the crit."
Assistant Team Leader chimed in. "Yeah. The weak-ass flailers, er, I mean, uh, the lower-placed GC riders need to go to the front early on." He looked at me as I pretended to be asleep again. "Wanky! You and Mongo and Dandy can do something tomorrow to justify all the eyewear and kits and discount swag for once in your sorry lives by taking a fuggin' pull. Got that?"
"Who? Me?" I said.
The team turned on me in unison. "YEAH! YOU!"
"Aw, c'mon guys," I pleaded. "I couldn't do anything today. My feet hurt. My legs were sore. I cramped. I ran out of salt tablets. I had a vanishing twin. My wheels were out of true. It was an herbal tea. My meat was tainted. I didn't have the right warm-up. I'm not good at fast descents. My taint was meated. I'm a slow climber. Beer."
They had already returned to the strategic discussion, but at least I had my marching orders.
Take. A. Pull.
To me, that sounded mighty singular. As usual, when tomorrow rolls around, I'll be all in. Maybe. Unless I'm not.
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The five stages of time trial grief
March 28, 2014 § 27 Comments
Clinical psychologists have worked since the 1950′s to explain and understand the mental processes that underlie time trialling. The most famous of these, "The Five Stages of Time Trialling Grief," was developed by Wouter Herndydoo, a Belgian time trial psychologist who observed riders as they progressed through the phases of a time trial. His research created a paradigm that we still use today to analyze, understand, and to help riders cope with the emotionally devastating consequences of finding out that in the "race of truth," everything they've convinced themselves of is, sadly, a lie.
At the San Dimas Time Trial today, where I participated (vaguely) in the 4.25-mile climb up Glendora Mountain Road, I observed numerous riders attempting to cope with the mental collapse inherent in such a challenging event. What follows is a primer for wives, girlfriends, husbands, and significant others who have to live with the ruined and psychologically destroyed bicycle racer after coming home from San Dimas, tail between legs, thin crust of salt on the brow, and a bag full of excuses about why he/she "just didn't have it today."
By monitoring your cyclist you will be able to observe as they progress through the 5 Stages of Time Trialling Grief, and you will be able to help them adjust to the "new normal": that state where they realize the profundity of how badly they really suck.
The stages …
Denial — As the reality of going hard, uphill, full gas, for 20 minutes or more is hard to face, one of the first reactions that occurs the moment when the rider begins to swallow his tongue is Denial. What this means is that the time triallist is trying to shut out the reality or magnitude of the situation, and begins to develop a false, idealized, completely false reality. The biggest lie the rider tells himself is this: "I'm gonna catch my minute man." The minute man, of course has vanished forever into the haze.
Anger — "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; '"Who made me sign up for this bullshit event?" are thoughts common to this phase. Once in the second stage, the rider recognizes that denial cannot continue, and not just because the wattmeter shows an average output of 98. Due to overwhelming pain flooding the things, shortness of breath, and being passed by three fat people in granny gears who started 3, 4, and 12 minutes back, the rider is very difficult to soothe with the typical lies that supporters shout while out on the course, e.g. "You're killing it!" and "Looking good!" The anger leads to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. "Why am I so slow?" "Why is everyone shouting at me?" "Where am I?", etc. Anger can manifest itself in different ways. The rider can be angry with himself (extremely rare), or with others (extremely common), and especially those who are passing him like he is chained to an outhouse while taking a dump. It is important to remain detached and nonjudgmental when dealing with a rider experiencing anger from time trial grief. Pretend that his lame justifications are true, and nod sympathetically. "I know you were in the wrong gear," "They're all doping," and "What a bunch of sandbaggers!" will likely defuse much of the rage, along with a baby bottle and a fresh diaper.
Bargaining — "I'll do anything for a few more seconds"; "I will give my life savings to buy some faster wheels"; "Time to start doping … more!" are common responses to getting shit out the back in the first kilometer up Glendora Mountain Road, or worse, averaging 31 mph for the first mile and then 7 mph for the rest of the course. This third stage involves the hope that the rider can somehow "pick it up" as the course gets progressively harder, or avoid finishing with a time that is unbearably humiliating when posted on Facebook, where his mother is usually watching. Usually, the negotiation for a faster time is made with a higher power (Dog, Buddha, THOG) in exchange for a reformed lifestyle ("I'll never drink again!"; "I'm gonna lose 30 pounds starting TODAY!" and, most common, "I promise to start training — really!"). Other times, the flailer will use anything valuable as a bargaining chip against another human agency to extend or prolong the moment before total collapse. Psychologically, the individual is saying, "I understand I am a clogstacle-like boulder trying to roll uphill, but if I could just do something to buy more time … is it illegal to sell my children on eBay?" Riders facing less serious trauma can bargain or seek to negotiate a compromise. For example "Can I sit on your wheel for a few seconds while you pass? The ref's not watching." Bargaining rarely provides a sustainable solution, especially in time trials, since even if the passer is willing, the fact that he's passing means the wheelsuck will eventually get shelled anyway.
Depression — "I'm so sad, why bother with pedaling?"; "I'm going to die soon so what's the point?"; "I miss my Tuesday crit practice where I can cut the course and raise my hands in victory, so why go on?" During this fourth stage, the grieving rider begins to understand the certainty of a humiliatingly slow time that will be analyzed, pointed to, and laughed at behind is back or worse, to his face. The riders's result will be a mid-pack finishing time for a Cat 4 beginner, a 9-year-old girl, or a fast walker on crutches. Much like the existential concept of "The Void," the idea of riding, if not life itself, becomes pointless. Things begin to lose meaning to the rider, who no longer fantasizes about Campy electronic shifting, winning a sock prime, or moving up in the SoCal Cup standings from 79th to 77th. Because of this, the rider may become silent, refuse to talk to anyone after the ride, and spend much of the time crying and sullen. This process allows the grieving time triallist to disconnect from his teammates and sponsors possibly in an attempt to avoid further trauma in the form of having to do additional TT's later in the season. Depression could be referred to as the dress rehearsal for this "aftermath." It is a kind of acceptance with emotional attachment. "I'm a slug-like bat turd, but that makes me unhappy." It is natural to feel sadness, regret, fear, and uncertainty when going through this stage, especially when your magazine is empty at Mile 2 and Phil Tinstman or Chris DeMarchi come by so fast that their draft almost knocks you over. Feeling these emotions shows that the rider has begun to accept the situation. Often times, this is the ideal path to take, to find closure and make his way to the fifth step, Acceptance of Wankerdom.
Acceptance — "I suck like an industrial drainpipe, and that's okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for getting my gonads stomped with spiked boots."; "All the women are faster than me, and the men, too. And the children. Such is life." In this last stage, riders begin to come to terms with their utter unsuitability for time trialling despite the finest equipment, the slipperiest helmet and clothing, and no matter how many times they parade around on the Parkway on a TT bike. This stage varies according to the rider's situation. Riders who have died a particularly awful death on, say, an uphill TT like GMR, can fantasize about alternate realities such as, "I'm really a sprinter."; "I'm more of a rouleur."; "Actually, I'm best at recovery." TT-dead riders can enter this stage a long time before the people who have passed them, often close friends and teammates who just think their pal is a total wanker and hungover rather than someone whose entire collection of bike paraphernalia is about to wind up on Craigslist. Years later, the rider typically accepts a calm, retrospective view, such as that often heard by Fields, who is known to say, "What a stupid sport," and "Bike racing is such a colossal waste of time."
Anyway, I hope this re-cap helps, because tomorrow it's going to be even worse with the road race. Good luck.
You can ensure that I'll be able to afford extended grief counseling after today's TT (3oth out of 55 with a wankish time of 19:34) by subscribing to the blog! Everything here is true except for the parts I've made up, which is all of it. Click here and select the "subscribe" link in the upper right-hand corner. I'll be glad you did.
Chasing the shark
March 27, 2014 § 9 Comments
The phone rang. "Yeah?" I said.
It was Scooter. "The start times are up. Have you seen yours?"
"Start times? For what?"
"The time trial. You signed up for the San Dimas Stage Race, remember?"
"Oh. Yeah." This was a massive salt-peter in the peter pill.
"And guess what?"
"I've already lost ten minutes on the field?"
"No, dummy. You're the third rider off!"
"That makes sense. They always send the slowest guys first. That way everyone can fly by them 5 miles an hour faster and have a good laugh."
"Not at San Dimas. Your 30-second-man is THOG."
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope. Go see for yourself. And your minute man is Jaeger."
"Jaeger? My teammate who beat me in the 50+ Barnacle Butt category last week by fifteen minutes?"
"So what you're saying is that I have two guys ahead of me who I'll never see, and the whole field behind me who will all pass me like I'm chained to a block of concrete going down a gigantic ocean waterspout."
"Don't be so negative. You've trained hard for this."
"I have?"
"Sure! You're peaking for this race, remember when we talked about it in January? San Dimas was the most important race on your whole calendar! Remember? You had a plan to do specific uphill time trial power workouts. Diet. Meticulous care and attention to your rest and recovery. You were gonna slash through this race like a Brazilian farmer chopping fresh acreage out of the jungle. Remember??"
"Vaguely. I mean, yes. I remember."
"So? You been doing all that, right?"
"All what?"
"The TRAINING, you numbskull! The training!"
"Oh. That. Well, I got a little off course in January, then things didn't work out so well in February because of a beer issue, and in March I had a couple of cases at the office start to heat up. But other than that, yeah, I suppose I'm still on schedule."
"Good. Because Leibert is on fire. And Konsmo is just a few riders behind you; he's flying, and going uphill is what he does. So it'll take everything you've got."
"What if all I've got is, you know, a droopy stomach and not much gas in the tank?"
"Dude! This is your race! Those guys are all beatable. THOG? So what if he's a former Olympian and one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport? So what if you've never beaten any of the other 35 guys in the race ever, at anything? So what if time trialling is what you do worst? Tomorrow is the day you cut loose! Get into the pain cave! Bring the big hammer! Make it hurt so good, baby!"
"I don't know," I said doubtfully. "The last time I did a time trial was about five years ago and even though I did the perfect pre-race donut and chocolate eclair race prep, it didn't turn out so good. And, like, I haven't really practiced since then."
"No problem. Here's what you do."
"Yeah?" Scooter was so enthusiastic, I started to get hopeful.
"Just go out there and hammer! Everything you've got!"
"Hellz. All that crap about going slowly and finding your rhythm … fukk that! Time trial equals balls out. Throw down from the go-down!"
"So I should just pound it from the start?"
"Like it was the last 200 meters on the Champs-Elysees! All out! You'll catch everyone by surprise and go so fast you'll be finished before you actually get tired."
"Wow. I'd never thought of doing it like that before."
"Of course not. You have to innovate to win, and you can do this. Full gas from the first pedal stroke. You'll thank me when you're standing on the podium."
"With great advice like that, I'm thanking you now. I feel better. I've got a game plan. I can do this!"
"Hey, by the way," said Scooter, who is often in financial difficulty. "Could I borrow a hundred bucks? I'll pay you back next week."
You can ensure that I'll be able to pay for even more entry fees ny subscribing to the blog! Everything here is true except for the parts I've made up, which is all of it. Click here and select the "subscribe" link in the upper right-hand corner. I'll be glad you did.


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Rakvere, Estonia
Pikk 3, 44307 Rakvere, Estonia – Show map
Excellent location – rated 9.2/10! (score from 322 reviews)
Rated by guests after their stay at Katariina Guesthouse.
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11 properties in Rakvere
Including hotels, apartments, villas and more.
322 verified reviews
We verify all reviews from guests who have stayed at Katariina Guesthouse. Find out more.
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Katariina Guesthouse's staff speaks: Russian, Finnish, Estonian, English, German
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Food & Drink
Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast in the Room, Restaurant with Dining Menu
WiFi is available in the hotel rooms and is free of charge.
Free public parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
24-Hour Front Desk
Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Family Rooms, Heating, All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)
Russian, Finnish, Estonian, English, German
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Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
One child under 7 years stays free of charge when using existing beds.
One child under 2 years stays free of charge in a crib.
One older child or adult is charged EUR 10 per person per night in an extra bed.
The maximum number of extra beds/cribs in a room is 1.
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Villa Theresa Hotel is located in Rakvere, in the unique oak forest, one of the few remaining in northern Estonia. The town centre is 1 km away.
Score from 258 reviews Wonderful
The Wesenbergh is a modern hotel in the center of Rakvere, half-way between Tallinn and the Russian border. It offers free Wi-Fi and free private parking.
Score from 250 reviews Very good
Okka Guesthouse is located in a quiet area in Rakvere, just a 2 km drive from the Rakvere Castle. Free WiFi access is available. The property offers a communal sauna, as well as a terrace and a...
Score from 5 reviews Good
Located in the centre of Rakvere, Art Hotell offers accommodation in individually designed room with free Wi-Fi. The hotel features on-site all-year art exhibitions. Rooms here are spacious and...
Score from 149 reviews Excellent
very nice hotel, clean room, good breakfast
no air condition, very bad ventilation
The room was cold. The bathroom is common. The bed is uncomfortable. The room is very small.
A good basic hotel. A very good breakfast. Centrally located.
A triple room is a bit crowded.
Clean quiet rooms, not too small. We stayed in a triple room, where all the beds were separate. It took some time to get two of the beds together, but we managed. Breakfast was nice, nothing to complain about. The staff was excellent though, knowledgeable and helpful. All in all a nice stay.
Miniscule TV with mostly russian channels.
the hotel is located just near the . fortress, the big attraction of Rakvere, the breakfast was very good, maybe because of the fact that there is a good restaurant in the basement of the hotel, friendly stuff
the windows in the room are at the ceiling and have no cover, that's why it was pretty hard to get asleep until very late
good location good breakfest
noisy at night
+ Nice and clean room (we had one in the loft) + Decent breakfast + Good WiFi + Good location
- A bit noisy doors on the floor (we heard everyone coming in and out)
Restoran, workers, town, room
toilet, carpets in hallway smelled bad, towels where dirty.
Clean, close to castle and on nice street, receptionists all spoke English good enough
For a small town in Estonia, I thought the price was high, but all hotels in Rakvere were relatively expensive for a small town
Very nice place to stay at in the perfect location to have a look around at Rakvere.
Clean rooms and bathroom. Quiet and comfortable. Nice buffet breakfast included in the price.
Quiet place. Easy parking. Nice restaurant.
Hotel's staff is kind. Breakfast is tasty.
It is a little problem with airing (we were in the middle July).
Cozy place in the very downtown, clean, and good value. Great breakfast - forget saussages and scrambled eggs, food can be far better, served in nice decorated restaurant. Most city sights are within walking distance, very convenient.
Only minor detail is there was no aircon in the room. My room was under the roof which may be in hot days very warm.
Nice hotel with friendly staff. Good place to stay if you are looking for a cozy accommodation
simple but clean, cheap, quite location, barbecue area
quite far from the centre of town but no problem with car and quite
Breakfast didn't contain cheese nor butter (just marge).
Very nice small hotel near Rakvere castle. There is good restaurant dowstairs and tastry breakfast.
On Friday very good concert and dances :) The hotel situated in the old city.
Nice restaurant downstairs, with huge portions and very kind staff. Nice wooden building, cozy room, excellent location.
- Good location - Free parking in front of building - decent breakfast
Parking place
Too small roomy and too earliest breakfast
The breakfast was good, the rooms were clean and the staff was friendly. No complaints at all.
Staff is Excellent!
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Items tagged portraits in MV Collections
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Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 18 items
Photograph - Wedding Portrait, Machiko Mizuta & Douglas Bryce, Framed, 1953
Framed wedding portrait of Machiko Mizuta and Douglas Bryce, taken in 1953 in Australia. Machiko Mizuta met Douglas Bryce, an Australian army engineer, during his posting to Kure in occ ...Images: 2
Photograph Album - Japan & Machiko Mizuta, Japan, circa 1948
Photograph album, created and kept by Douglas Bryce, an Australian army engineer who was posted to Japan immediately after World War II. The album contains almost solely photographs tha ...From: Kure, Japan Images: 26
Photograph Album - Private John Lord, Gallipoli & Egypt, World War I, 4 Nov-20 Dec 1915
Army book used as a photograph album, containing images of Gallipoli and Egypt during World War I. Photographs were taken by an unknown soldier between 4 November and 20 December 1915 ...Images: 8
Photograph Album - George Simpson Millar, 5th Australian Light Horse, Gallipoli, 1915-1917
Album of photographs believed to have been taken by Australian serviceman George Simpson Millar, 5th Australian Light House, Gallipoli, 1915. Contains 103 small black and white photogra ...Images: 1
Crate - H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, to W. Anderson, Plaster Moulds of Relief Profile of H. V. McKa ...
Crate containing two plaster moulds of left hand side relief profiles of HV McKay by Wallace Anderson, made between 1926 and 1928. The crate appears to be a recycled travelling crate, o ...Images: 16
Plaster Mould - 'Relief Profile of H. V. McKay', Wallace Anderson, 1926-1928
One of two plaster moulds of left hand side relief profile of HV McKay made by Wallace Anderson, between 1926 and 1928. The moulds would have been made after H.V. McKay's death on 21 Ma ...Images: 8
Photograph Album - Trooper George Simpson Millar, 5th Australian Light Horse, Egypt, 1915
Photograph album containing 49 photographs of army life in Egypt in early 1915, prior to the Gallipoli landings. The photographs were taken by Tpr (later Lt.) George Simpson Millar, 5th ...Images: 4
'Mazzucco' - Basket Weaving, Giovanni D'Aprano, Nudgee, Victoria, 1970s
Alternative Name: Mallet This mallet was made by Giovanni D'Aprano from the branch of a chestnut tree which he grew on his Nudgee property in Melbourne's outer east in the 1970s. It is ...Images: 4
Needle - Basket Weaving, Giovanni D'Aprano, Italy, 1850s
Large needle brought by Giovanni D'Aprano from Italy when he migrated to Australia in 1948. It originally belonged to his grandfather and dates back to the 1850s. It is typical of the s ...Images: 2
Scythe - Basket Weaving, Giovanni D'Aprano, 1940s
Small scythe brought from Italy by Giovanni D'Aprano when he migrated to Australia in 1948. It is typical of the style of tool used to cut the 'stramma' or reeds which Giovanni uses for ...Images: 4


text:
I wanted to test out doing a feature.
These are my fav street photos out of my fav street photos folder!
..so basically my favourite of favourite street photos so far
Feature. 100 Watchers.Thank you everyone for getting me this far. I now have over 100 watchers which is really exciting
And each one of you has made the difference. So I thought the best way to thank you would be to feature a picture from everyone...
I thought I should start with my first watcher and awesome friend Susie aka. TheUglyMuffin http://theuglymuffin.deviantart.com/
...::: :::...
Poznan, I love u. by LeWhiteRabbit Man by MarySk SOMEWHERE IN GOTHAM.... by Asquidcalledzelda Fernan Lake by Nostan Fix you by Lookingthroughlenses The sun trickles through me by tanaya-photography Afternoon Rays by Spewii 04 by Helija rainbow hair by coralineyb D u s k | the play of colors ! by WalkMyPath Tesnjar by vojis 41 by alina9v lejos de... by tothemo0nandback Jockey's Moon 3 by krusti7 Fly, little bird by jmpotter Morning Rays wallpaper by YadavThyagaraj Pink And White by MiiissStrify Greenie by Birthstone forest after snow storm by Carchariodon Moonlight by YongL LEXUS IS F at Ahrweiler City square by gamerandimagener :thumb283870177: JHSDFJQK by OhMyGodLetMeSingUp Snooooooooooooooooooooooow by emptymemories321 Waiting by Wetterlage Depth by AshleyPhotography411 :th
From My Favorites: VIIIA collection of deviations I've added to my s.
Volume I | Volume II | Volume III | Volume IV | Volume V | Volume VI | Volume VII | Volume VIII
Wonderful artworksWonderful artworks
These photos are just wonderful! I think they deserve more support, so feel free to them or comment.. or why not, give a llama or their owners :iconjoyloveplz:
Spread the love! :iconcocoloveplz:
Drunk by Rain by Manon-Blutsanguen
Forget me not by fruitpunch1_ by T00xicpandadon't hurt me by wolf-minoriClose by MartinStranka
.:: Fairywren ::. by Whimsical-DreamsMouse by KameolynnSnack Heart Healthy by JeanFanNew Hope by AljoschaThielen
Sweet Warmth by incolor16The chains of time... by Kara-aThe Chair Project by uglybugCrimson and Ivory by brittmiscast
cocktail time by OrwaldHiding by astridle:th
Big Feature ♥ H E L L O ♥
Take a look at these beautiful photos and give them a lot of faves!!
Here's a group of great artists:
Hunger Games District 4 by PixieCold
Something Old Something New by goRillA-iNKThe Night All Our Dreams Take to The Skies by goRillA-iNK
Little adventures by ssilverartistLittle superman dream by ssilverartistLittle mermaid by ssilverartist
Smoke by AprilElizabethHope by AprilElizabeth
I only know by Fra-EmerSlowly by Fra-Emer
Sparkle by Kara-aYin and Yang by Kara-a
Pastel Coloured Plant Squares FeatureHurray! I'm doing a feature at least, Kara-a motivated me with her little contest c: so, my dear watchers and visitors, for all of you, I collected a bunch of pastel coloured plants in square format. A really long theme, but there are so many great works out there so I had to specify it. Hopefully you'll get it as "colour themed" feature, Kara-a! (:
Buds and Blooms by micky3846 sometimes its a blue dream by kyokosphotos Like a sunny day by Invi-Light I do remember... by Fra-Emer Sincerely Yours. by micky3846 4629 by mitazu08 almost summer by tjasa Green by myuneko626 Soft by MateuszPisarski As a nenuphar... by kim-e-sens Tranquil by nhuthanh lonely by odelagt :thumb173187031: please say you remember by LuizaLazar VI by sandrawiklander Sticks. by micky3846 Vijelie by a14onymus Cone rain. by dragonfly-oli VII by sandrawiklander Legend by henwen In C by Al-Baum le chardon bleu by kim-e-sens V by sandrawiklander speckled by kim-e-sens Day's eye by MaaykeKlaver Nature's tears. by mylittlebluesky Sea Green by mj-magic :thumb277
Square IMy first square feature. Hope you like all of these amazing photographs as much as I do!
If you it then this article to spread it around!
7/52 - A line by ScarletteDeathLacrimosa by Pajunen
Walking On Broken Glass by pixlmania
afternoon miracle by LauraZalengaAsylum by JeanFan
We Sugared Our Apples by ifsantag
Flamboyante by kim-e-sensdealing gently by Lisa-Schneider
Let it rain by Justine1985
WNC - Monthly Feature No. 20Don't forget to this feature if you like it.
You can also "+1" it on Google+
>>> [link] <<<
This is a selection from last month's submissions to
a group dedicated to black and white artwork.
Sit down, stare at the screen...
...and enjoy!
No_ship_inside by anticuusBW portrait I by Alexandre-Bordereau
I was lying. by gloeckchenRosy Selfie by lampguruGhost of the White River by iNeedChemicalX
between by BlackCocktail
I by WWinchester1986P1100993 by crossfading
Abstract and Surreal Spotlight Vol. 13Einsilbig's
Spotlight Vol. 13
Abstract and Surreal
The Spotlight
Salamandrian Blues
by AiniTolonen
in the interest of space
by kevinsaintgrey
This Morning
by KizukiTamura
The Fondest Memory
by hayley--jade
by rezzann
lonely walk
by deadendsoul
Drops of Gloom
by Ellke
by DropxLife
Can Someone Please Show Me The Way?Anathema, The Beginning and the End
>>> http://grooveshark.com/s/The+Beginning+And+The+End/4zuW0L?src=5 <<<
Inside this cold heart is a dream
That's locked in a box that I keep
Through The Mist by mheuf829 by SlevinAaron
Through The Mist by mheufMight swim by mehrmeerThrough The Mist by mheuf
829 by SlevinAaronThrough The Mist by mheuf829 by SlevinAaron
Buried a hundred miles deep
Deep in my soul in a place that's surrounded by aeons of silence
You Are My Solitude by MartinStrankaThose Days by AnemiasymptomYou Are My Solitude by MartinStranka
Those Days by Anemiasymptom
Those Days by Anemiasymptom
You Are My Solitude by MartinStrankaThose Days by Anemiasymptom
The Power Of Colors.Colors are so powerful. Power is strength. Strength is shown in saturation. And saturation is color.
Colors are wonderful.
Enjoy this little compilation of the power of colors!
577897 by aleksandra88June by Zhivago86
13 by annashakina
- Behind the Trees - by ldinami7el a d y l a c e by SaphoPhotographics
Rise Of The Phoenix by Nellekenature by maaaxxxi
Discombobulate by Nelleke
Bokehlicious In Light by Oer-Wout A new day is born. by incredi city of blinding lights by elalma Quench by Nariscuss reach the city steps tonight by Kenrocks Burning Book by HouaVang bright city lights. by wisesparrow In my mind. .. by addy-ack Morning Angel by diensilver 299. by shadddow Shades of the night by LuPri 356. by shadddow Pureness by Econita Beautiful wishes. by incredi 254. by shadddow Bokeh dream by AM4Y786 Purple dew by Piipsy The gift of a winter evening by Kokopa Rings of Saturn by EivindHansen Bokeh eclipse by pqphotography il pleut II. by extrasist0le OoOOoOOoOooOOOo O by Bomb-Creator Drops of bokeh by Saswat777
Little Bottle by khrmnens :thumb284523491: In loving memory by diensilver Golden shine by Fra-Emer Butterfly Bokeh by FreyaPhotos Mademoiselle Rouge and her fairy lights by ChanelRossouw morning bokeh by iCECREAMTRUCKFUCK Goodmorning by ByLaauraa Only Magic by AloriaTheZombie Curious Baby Roe by RoeEbo I'm Here, You There by djusa bokeh by moitisse Be Light by solefield Life Inside A Snow Globe by AimishBoy Lights and Mysteries by solefield Meme's eyes by Live-InTheMoment :thumb342853827: :thumb196060280: c p f by NineOneThree dear love, by Zaratops :thumb11211274
Ode to simplicity - Monthly special XXIWe proudly present a glorious selection from the July Gallery submissions Ode-to-simplicity.
Open your eyes.
Open your soul.
Feel the beauty flow within.
Don't forget to this journal if you like it.
Different Types by matze-end Infinite Horizons by DpressedSoul
:thumb384153874: Calmness by EintoeRn 1078 by Mords
Curve and the Lighthouse by KrzysztofJedrzejak the dissident by m-lucia Looking at the clouds by hunterside
Regis by kasys fade and then return by BlauBeerKuchen Deadly tools by freMDartet
Collected and arranged by augenweide
Kind regards,
Ode-to-simplicity team
i love things simple by simplicity-fan keep it simple by simplicity-fan
free e-magazine about fine art photography
Compelling-Feature June'12Compelling-Feature June'12
Thank you to every artist, who submitted such wonderful artwork. Keep it up!
Kitty Cat by JessyPhotography
bon appetit by PhotosThyria
Merops apiaster by RichardConstantinoff
Day time by lieveheersbeestje
Just The Tree Of Us. by andy-j-s
Ouzel Falls by TheYellowstoneWay
Ode to simplicity - Monthly special XXIIWe proudly present a glorious selection from the August Gallery submissions Ode-to-simplicity.
Open your eyes.
Open your soul.
Feel the beauty flow within.
Don't forget to this journal if you like it.
Rustic by Einsilbig Rustic by Einsilbig
Rebellion by Pierre-Lagarde Rebellion by Pierre-Lagarde Rebellion by Pierre-Lagarde
The Simple Things by Einsilbig The Simple Things by Einsilbig The Simple Things by Einsilbig
Flow by LydiaRhianne Rapture by Phoenixstamatis Rapture by Phoenixstamatis
/ by odpium Flow by LydiaRhianne Rapture by Phoenixstamatis
/ by odpium / by odpium Flow by LydiaRhianne
Mono Square Series XXX by insolitus85 Defence II by KrzysztofJedrzejak Softly by MatsHolmberg
six by MustafaDedeogLu six by MustafaDedeogLu six by MustafaDedeogLu
Softly by MatsHolmberg Defence II by KrzysztofJedrzejak Mono Square Series XXX by insolitus85
when the day is done by BlauBeerKuchen when the day is done by BlauBeerKuchen when the day is done by BlauBeerKuchen
of time and tide and tininess by BlauBeerKuchen of time and tide and tininess by BlauBeerKuchen of time and tide and tininess by BlauBeerKuchen
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| o by LowKnee |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| o by LowKnee |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| o by LowKnee
Heaven's crying.. by dragonfly-oli :thum
WNC - Monthly Feature No. 13Don't forget to this feature if you like it.
You can also "+1" it on Google+
>>> http://www.gplus.to/dpressedsoul
WNC - Monthly Feature No. 19Don't forget to this feature if you like it.
You can also "+1" it on Google+
>>> https://plus.google.com/u/0/111292197443269807673/posts <<<
This is a selection from last month's submissions to
a group dedicated to black and white artwork.
This months' feature is dedicated to the memory of our fellow admin and friend
who died in a car accident on June 4.
In my dreams I can see you by YourForgivenessLast Farewell by DpressedSoul
-Direction of railway- by Janek-SedlarLantern by KizukiTamura
WNC - Anniversary Feature No. 1This is a selection from last year's monthly features of
made by the whole team!
Enjoy our very first anniversary feature!
l e t h a r g y by bitterev MoonChild by ZanaSoul
In The Shadow Of The Old Tree by ParallelDeviant .:S:. by AnonimousDreamer Chrome by disies
Grottammare ::1 by MisterKey A wind and rain bridge by lwc71 Starecot i vrteleskata by dimitarmisev
Shadow I by Hengki24 Madness of Gustav Klimt by VesnaSvesna
Tribute to M. C. Escher by mheuf wendepunkt by scheinbar Real Estate Bubble by MichiLauke
Fifth Floor by ro-mi-go Vertigo by bittersweetvenom daybreak by sth22art
Abstract and Surreal DDs for DecemberI think we're much smarter than we were.
Everybody knows that abstract art can be art,
and most people know that they may not like it,
even if they understand there's another purpose to it.
(Roy Lichtenstein)
Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only
what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.
(Salvador Dalí)
Enjoy this summary of last month's DDs for Abstract & Surreal Photography in chronological order:
bugman by 42k The Receptionist(s) by Niophe
cosmic winter by 8o-clock Inception by BennyBrand
III by Yoohaz Stairway To Heaven Live by Olga-Zervou
Spirits of December by KatjaFaith To infinity and beyond IV by mitazu08
Broken 1 by Rob1962 Between Worlds by TamarViewStudio
Lost in Loops by S4SH4X venom by LiStroeh
:thumb143742553: Merengo by DimensionSeven
Wind fate by Mordsitha Forest of the Gods by rubberman542
Lost man by MichelRajkovic flamenco by aartvocado
Feature. In the streets.I wanted to test out doing a feature.
These are my fav street photos out of my fav street photos folder!
..so basically my favourite of favourite street photos so far
Street in the Puddle II by Sulde Sounds of light by SilverScreened ...praha XVI... by roblfc1892 Little life. by mylittlebluesky Boston: The Backstreet. by inbrainstorm A man on The way . by Ahmedoow Young Photographer by rh89 forgotten for a while by disies old picture by eileenvanuitert Fog by Tamerlana Upside-Down by DamienVassart Dream Ride. by magnesina Le journal - Block DXXX by bwiti chocolaterie. by magnesina Pushkin gallery by Tamerlana Rainy Days by sup3r-Xer0 Chasing pavements by iNeedChemicalX 215478 by Djoe the city by andyietok our concept of what we call time by ConceptualMiracles Stop Watch by siddhartha19 Baku on her mind by seloart 1rst snow by Misslulu07 Ghost Children. by PhotographyPaulineR IMG 6057 copy by h20baby93 185.365 by ByLaauraa La messagere by ambrosia3 Exposed Through Overexposure by PEN-at-Work Never Say Never by Beerlogoff IMG 5663 copy by h20baby93 IMG 5197 copy by h20baby93 Malpa by SarahSpielman Farewell Summer by anna-earwen 162.365 by ByLaauraa My December by incolor16 Boston: Cedar Line Way. by inbrainstorm I'm done with you by adrianismyname New York I by xa-xa-xa :thumb19957622
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