text:
Release Day for “Take Two”!

TakeTwoFS_v1Today is release day for Take Two  from Dreamspinner Press. I’m so excited to share this new novel with readers – I hope it will leave you with a big smile at the end!

Take Two is a sweet and funny story about getting a second chance at love. Some angst, some adventure, hot sex, and lots of silliness and romance.

Wesley’s a slightly uptight college history professor. Sam is a Hollywood superstar. Entirely different personalities, but they fit well together. At least they did until Sam’s career took him away from Wesley and their life in New York City. Wesley’s the first one to admit he still loves Sam, but his heart has just started to heal and he’s doing his best to move on. Sam, on the other hand, knows he wants Wesley back and he’s willing to grovel if he needs to.

Sam conspires to take a role in a less than D quality movie about a pirate that’s being filmed on location at the North Carolina coast, and manages to trick Wesley into consulting on the movie. But will Sam’s over the top antics to get Wesley back work? Maybe. Maybe not.

I hope Take Two  will leave you with a big smile on your face! -Shira

Blurb: Shiver me timbers! When Professor Wesley Coolidge accepts a summer job as a historical consultant to a pirate movie being filmed in North Carolina, the last person he expects to bump into is his soon-to-be-ex, movie star Sander Carson. Just like the flamboyant pirate he’s playing, Sander, aka Sam Carr, is used to getting what he wants, and he makes it clear he wants Wesley back in his life.

Sam acknowledges it’s his fault they split up. He lost Wesley when he left their life in New York City behind for a career in Hollywood. But Wesley has finally managed to put the pieces of his heart back together, and he isn’t interested in Sam and Wesley: The Sequel. Sam soon realizes that convincing Wesley to give their relationship a second chance will take much more than apologies and reminders of good times past. If he wants Wesley back, Sam will have to show Wesley that they really can sail into the sunset together—a real-life happily-ever-after that won’t end once the final credits roll.

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Author Bio: Shira Anthony was a professional opera singer in her last incarnation, performing roles in such operas as Tosca, Pagliacci, and La Traviata, among others. She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle.

Shira is married with two children and two insane dogs, and when she’s not writing, she is usually in a courtroom trying to make the world safer for children. When she’s not working, she can be found at the Carolina coast aboard Land’s Zen, a 35’ catamaran sailboat, with her favorite sexy captain at the wheel.

Shira can be found on:

Twitter: @WriterShira

Excerpt from Take Two:

The setup – The night before, Wesley realized Sam set him up. Wesley drank a little too much, and he wakes up on Bald Head Island where the film he’s agreed to consult on is being shot. He doesn’t really remember getting to the island, but he remembers what happened before he passed out….

When Wesley finally made his way to the sink to splash some cold water on his face, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and cringed.

Reminder to self: don’t drink when Sam is around. He repeated this thought several times as he trimmed his beard and mustache. Sam was dangerous enough without the booze.

Wesley made it downstairs a half an hour later, slightly less rickety after having showered and shaved. The smell of coffee grew stronger the closer he got to what he guessed was the kitchen. He walked through the living room into the kitchen and—

“Morning, sunshine!”

Wesley grabbed a countertop to steady himself as his heart slammed against his ribs and his head began to pound again. “Shit. Sam. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.” Sam appeared only slightly remorseful.

“What are you doing here?”

“Making you coffee?” Sam offered Wesley a large mug, which Wesley took. The coffee smelled incredible, dark with a hint of chicory. Splash of milk, hint of sugar.

Of course he knows what kind of coffee you like—he made it for you every day for years.

“Thank you.” Wesley took a long sip. A few more cups and he’d feel human again.

“One step closer to your happy place?” Sam turned back to the stove.

Wesley ignored the question and drank some more. Sam had always been a morning person. He’d been a night person too, when Wesley really thought about it. Sam was always up. Always happy. Irritatingly so. Then again, if those were pancakes Sam was cooking, Wesley was inclined to forgive him his cheerfulness.

Sure enough, Sam handed him a plate full of Sam’s special sourdough flapjacks. A small bouquet of wildflowers at the center of the table created a burst of color in the otherwise white kitchen. Sam had probably picked them himself. The flowering stalks of rosemary interspersed with the blooms smelled really good.

Fuck. It was hard to complain when Sam was doting on him. “Sam, I really don’t need—”

“I’m just making sure you eat,” Sam said, pointing to the table.

Sam had always worried too much about him, like he was some delicate flower in need of protection. The reality was that Wesley had always been as healthy as a horse, and at six feet tall and 190 pounds, he was hardly a shrinking violet. Maybe compared to Sam’s six-foot-three-inch frame and 230 pounds of muscle, he wasn’t Superman, but…. “Sammy,” Wesley warned.

“I know, I know, I’m leaving,” Sam said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’ve got an early makeup call anyhow. I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat.” He set the remaining flapjacks on the table.

Wesley repressed a sigh. “Thank you.” Whatever he and Sam were to each other—or weren’t—Sam was a good man.

“Someone will be by around ten to take you to the set.” Sam was out the door a second later. “See ya!”

Wesley rubbed the bridge of his nose and released a slow breath. If he was going to make it through the summer, he needed to relax. Sam was old news.

Wesley reached for one of the pancakes and nibbled his way around the crispy edge. Fuck. The man can cook. He sighed as he savored the soft interior, allowing the slightly sweet fluffiness to flood his mouth. Heaven. Okay, so Sam was old news, but Wesley could still enjoy the pancakes, couldn’t he?

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Monday, March 19, 2018
  • Friday, Nov. 10, 2000
Andy Newell Creates A Ripe Sound In San Rafael

Composer/ sound designer Andy Newell has launched ripe sound, a music/sound design house headquartered in San Rafael. For the past 15 years, Newell operated earwax productions, San Francisco, with partners Jim McKee and Barney Jones. According to McKee, earwax will continue as a music/sound...

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text:
Aira & the Song of the Wind Dragon

Available now
Product rating. 5 out 5 stars
1 Reviews
Limit 5

Product Details

Join forces with Aira and Lumia to protect the Wind Dragon!

VIP Points

Defend the Guardian Wind Dragon from the shadow bat! Set features a 3-level music school, airship with shooter, 2 mini-doll figures, plus bird and bat figures.

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Seek the magic within to help Aira, Lumia and the Guardian Wind Dragon face the shadow bat! This amazing LEGO® Elves toy for girls and boys features a fully posable and buildable wind dragon with transparent wings and space for 2 mini-doll figures. The set also includes a bat airship with shooting function and spinning propeller, and a ‘floating' island music school with opening entrance door, hidden chest and rotating sign. Includes 2 mini-doll figures, plus bat and bird figures.

  • Includes Aira and Lumia mini-doll figures, plus Sebastian the bird and Phyll the shadow bat figures.
  • Features a buildable Cyclo the Guardian Wind Dragon figure with transparent wings, movable head, legs and tail, opening jaw, space for 2 mini-doll figures, and space on the head for a magic Wind ‘diamond'.
  • Also includes a 3-level music school with opening entrance door, rotating sign and 2 hiding places, ‘floating' island that moves by sliding the lever, and a bat airship with shooting function and spinning propeller.
  • Slide the lever on the back of the music school to move the ‘floating’ island from one side of the school to the other.
  • Lift the special ground section in the music area to find the secret plans to the cyclone bow.
  • Discover the hidden box in the basement of the music school to retrieve and construct the cyclone bow.
  • Accessory elements include 2 shooting studs, a cherry, harp, music notes, conductor's baton, bow instructions, magical Wind ‘diamond', Lumia's power-up staff, bed, cherry cupcake, lute, organ and a chest, plus a buildable cyclone bow.
  • This amazing toy for girls and boys is suitable for ages 8-12.
  • Other mischievous little bats can be collected in selected LEGO® Elves sets.
  • Guardian Wind Dragon measures over 2” (7cm) high, 8” (21cm) long and 9” (25cm) wide.
  • Music School measures over 5” (15cm) high, 3” (10cm) wide and 1” (5cm) deep.
  • Airship measures over 3” (8cm) high, 2” (7cm) long and 3” (8cm) wide.
Aira & the Song of the Wind Dragon is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Charming This is the set I was most excited for (I have been very impatient waiting to be able to get the new sets in the uk) and I'm not disappointed! I love all the details and musical instruments in the music school and the wind dragon has an interesting build different to previous dragons, although it freaks me out a bit that it only has two legs, the ombre clear wings are very pretty. The elves don't really fit in the building but it's cute putting your other baby dragons and small creatures in there! The design of the school floating worked really well and looks very magical. Overall I love it and can't wait to build the other new creatures! I would love more sets with cute buildings and scenes like the treetop hideaway, magical bakery, rodalyn's healing hideout and starlight inn in the future though.
Date published: 2018-03-01
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Valentine's Bee

Price9,99 €
Available now
Product rating. 4.83 out 5 stars
6 Reviews
Limit 20

Product Details

Say “I love you” with a LEGO® BrickHeadz Valentine's Bee!

VIP Points

Declare your love with this LEGO® BrickHeadz Valentine's Bee, featuring movable wings, a pot of honey, red heart, flowers and a buildable collector’s baseplate.

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Build your way to someone’s heart and say “Bee my Valentine’s honey” with this cute LEGO® BrickHeadz construction character. Check out its cute pink cheeks, movable wings, detachable heart decoration, pot of honey, and roses and sunflowers. It also comes with a buildable collector's baseplate with a seasonal calendar and BrickHeadz logo for your loved one to display in their home, office or anywhere they like.

  • Buildable LEGO® BrickHeadz Valentine's Bee construction character features decorated eyes, movable wings, detachable heart decoration and a pot of honey.
  • Also includes buildable roses and sunflowers.
  • Each LEGO® BrickHeadz construction character comes with its own buildable collector's baseplate featuring a seasonal calendar and BrickHeadz logo.
  • Have fun growing your LEGO® BrickHeadz collection with other characters from your favorite films, TV series, games and comics.
  • Mash up your LEGO® BrickHeadz construction characters to create supercool hybrids or your own amazing characters.
  • Stands over 3” (9cm) tall without baseplate.
  • Baseplate measures over 4” (12cm) wide and 1” (5cm) deep.
Valentine's Bee is rated 4.8 out of 5 by 5.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Adorable I wasn't especially interested in Brick Headz until I saw this seasonal range. This bee is completely adorable. This is the first Brick Headz I have built and it was a nice solid, quick build. I like that there are bricks inside the bee to give it weight and make it feel solid. The details, like the wings that can move and the little stinger, are great. You also get two sets of flowers, so you can use roses, sunflowers or both. I managed to squeeze all the flowers onto the display. The heart and honey pot are fun details too. I bough this for display, but kids could play with the bee itself if you wanted to. This is a great buy for $10.
Date published: 2018-01-19
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Seasonal Brickheadz... What a great idea!! Brickheadz don't seem to get a lot of love but they do from me. In fact, the only ones I don't own are the Comicon giveaways. It looks like the seasonal Brickheadz come with more pieces than the typical ones which is nice and at the same price point. They are also the perfect desk accessory at work. Keep 'em coming, Lego!
Date published: 2018-01-10
Rated 5 out of 5 by from love it its very cute and pretty ...i have the others too ：D the best Collection！！！
Date published: 2018-01-18
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Nice to look at It's a nice set. Lots of detail more of a decoration then one to play with.
Date published: 2018-02-15
  • y_2018, m_3, d_16, h_21
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text:
Hard to find
Creator ExpertLEGO®

Assembly Square

Price259,99 €
Available now
Product rating. 4.81 out 5 stars
99 Reviews
Limit 5

Product Details

Celebrate ten years of Modular Building with the Assembly Square!

VIP Points

Enter the magical world of the Assembly Square, with its elaborate facade and host of shops and amenities featuring unsurpassed details and surprises. Includes eight minifigures and a baby figure.

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Take a trip to the amazing Assembly Square, developed to celebrate ten years of LEGO® Modular Buildings, featuring a wealth of unsurpassed, intricate details and hidden surprises. Easy-to-remove building sections provide access to the highly detailed interior, comprising a ground level with a bakery, florist’s shop and café, a middle level with a music store, photo studio and dental office, and an upper-level dance studio and apartment with access to a rooftop terrace with barbecue. The exterior of the building features a detailed sidewalk with outdoor café furniture, fountain, streetlamps and a highly elaborate facade with beautifully detailed windows and doors, three buildable shop signs, spired tower and a decorative roofline. Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO Creator Expert Modular Building series 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10246 Detective’s Office and 10251 Brick Bank. Includes eight minifigures and a baby figure.

  • Includes eight minifigures: a dentist, barista, baker, florist, music store assistant, dancer, photographer and a LEGO® fan, plus a baby figure.
  • The three-level Assembly Square features an authentic, elaborate facade with detailed windows and doors, three buildable shop signs, spired tower, decorative roofline and a rooftop terrace, plus a detailed tiled sidewalk with a fountain, outdoor café furniture and two streetlamps. The highly detailed interior includes a bakery, florist’s shop, café, music store, photo studio, dental office, apartment and a dance studio.
  • Ground level features a bakery with counter, cash register, shelves, opening oven, wedding cake and assorted buildable pastries and treats; a florist’s shop with counter, cash register, garden tools, flower arrangements, bouquets and a blue and yellow macaw parrot element; and a café with espresso machine, counter, bench seating and pie elements.
  • Middle level features a music store with a buildable drum set, two guitars and saxophone element; photo studio with buildable classic camera and adjustable tripod; and a dental office with buildable reclining chair, waiting area, telephone and a sink.
  • Upper level features a dance studio with buildable piano and reflective mirror element; an apartment with buildable foldout sofa bed, detailed kitchen, toilet, micro LEGO® train, modular buildings and Eiffel Tower, and access to a rooftop terrace with buildable barbecue, table and a neglected plant.
  • Accessory elements include a ballerina skirt, Chihuahua, pretzel, ornamental chicken and candy. Also includes a buildable telephone, grill, baby carriage and buildable lamps.
  • Remove the building sections to access the detailed interior.
  • Adjust the camera tripod and take photos all around the square.
  • Recline the dentist chair and reveal those pearly whites!
  • Open the oven door to remove your freshly-baked pastries.
  • Fold out the sofa bed and relax while you admire your modular buildings collection!
  • Celebrate Modular Buildings with this awesome 10th anniversary LEGO® Creator Expert set!
  • This set offers an age-appropriate build and play experience for ages 16+.
  • With over 4,000 LEGO® pieces, this model will really put your LEGO® building skills to the test!
  • New-for-spring-2017 decorated elements include a dentist torso, dentist window and 2x3 tile with the 10182 Café Corner box front.
  • Includes lots of curved and corner angle tiles, garage doors used as box windows and LEGO® Technic excavator scoops used as roofing elements.
  • Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO® Creator Expert Modular Building series 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10246 Detective’s Office and 10251 Brick Bank.
  • Measures over 13” (35cm) high, 14” (38cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep.
Assembly Square is rated 4.8 out of 5 by 99.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Looking at my Assembly Square makes me smile!! My 24-year-old son (who has always LOVED Legos) gave me my first Lego set this Christmas, the Winter Workshop. He gave his Dad one of the airplane sets. Building our Lego sets on Christmas Day was SOO much fun!! While our son supervised us, my husband and I spent several hours lost in the world of Legos (when we were supposed to be packing--haha!). It was a blast! Then my son casually mentioned that Lego has a whole line of modulars. That got my attention since I love anything miniature. And then he mentioned the 10-Year Anniversary, Assembly Square. I knew when I saw it that I HAD to have it! So, I just finished it and am in awe at the intricate detailing, inside and out! The only improvement would be if it were lit up so the interior can be fully appreciated. But I've found some lighting kits that will work nicely for that. I am very impressed that not a SINGLE piece was missing from my set. Each time I couldn't find a piece (and there were many), I thought, well, with over 4,000 pieces, it's bound to happen. But every single time I found the missing piece (I had usually used the wrong piece in an earlier step). The last piece I couldn't find was when I was 99.99% done with the set. Turns out, it was hiding under my computer's keyboard. Haha! I can't wait to get more modulars to add to my little Lego city I want to grow!! Playing with Legos makes me feel like a kid again!! :-)
Date published: 2017-01-18
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Worth the value and good instructions for children I bought this Assembly Square for my 9-year-old brother as a surprise gift. Last year i bought him the truck which is about 3000 pieces and this time Assembly square is about 4000 pieces. I thought it would terrify him but he absolutely loved and enjoyed it! He took about 12 days and each day about 1-2 hours, so total time usage would be approximately 15 hours - 20 hours. I am amazed by the attention to details of this production, even in that tiny bit drawer in the cashier area, there is a one hundred dollar bill piece to be put inside that drawer! haha! The production is worth the money and very detail-oriented. Especially for children it is a great training tool. The instruction book is very logical and gives space to speculate what’s next and how the building consists of. He is a LEGO fan and I can’t wait to bring him more LEGOS! I am so proud that he finished this piece with determination, curiosity and most importantly, Much interests! If you are reading this and know some other items that are more challenging, please let me know and I will definitely look into it. I hope LEGO will have some sort of competitions so he can participate with other LEGO Lovers!
Date published: 2018-01-26
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Amazing level of detail Having always 'created my own' Lego builds, I have been sceptical about the enjoyment level from a kit. I came across Assembly Square while selecting doors and windows to boost my supply and my husband bought it for me with a view to 'use' the elements from the kit. When the kit arrived, I was amazed at the size of the box and vast array of pieces and thought it looked so cool that I would build the kit. I have had so much fun building this and marvelling at the amazing detail and ingenious use of bricks! I now see the many hours of enjoyment that can be gained from a 'kit' build and would urge anyone else who feels the same to give one of the expert builds a try. Needless to say, I will not be breaking this down and our daughter is now nearing completion of the bank and I have the detectives office on the way ready to start next week! We plan on building a whole street. The build took a total of approximately 16 hours - I only built at week-ends and took my time to make sure it was perfect. The instructions were brilliant, very easy to follow. This set is a little more expensive than the others but at just over 4000 pieces and the amazing level of detail, it is understandable.
Date published: 2017-02-26
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A Beautiful Detailed Modular Set I wasn't going to buy another Lego Creative Expert Set for awhile, but after seeing how detailed this set was -- I couldn't resist. What really made me pull the trigger was seeing the dentist office and apartment that had a bathroom. Even though I don't like going to the dentist the details that Lego put into that dentist office was amazing and the rest of the rooms are just as good when it comes to details. The Photography Studio is a little small, but I love the old fashion camera. The Dance Studio with the mirror and the very detailed piano is just beautiful. The only room that I have a small gripe with is the outdoor grill, it's bland compared to the other rooms. I think I might add an umbrella to that room, so if it rains the minifigures won't get wet. This is only my third creative expert modular build, so I really can't comment on the easter eggs that Lego has put into this set from previous modular sets. However, one won't be disappointed if one is new to the modular scene. This set is a little more expensive that most modular sets that Lego has done, but it's worth it if one is a lego fan which I definitely am. I know there are cheaper solutions, but being a graphics designer I know that buying true Lego is the proper thing to do. The designers and everyone involved in the manufacturing process at Lego deserved to make the money of the product. The only thing I get disappointed in is when I finish building a Lego set and building the Assembly Square was fun, but the build went too fast. It was also challenging at times, but not to bad. I have found out that separating the parts before starting to build helps out a lot. I think the playability on this set would be extremely good, for I even find myself posing the minifigures when going to take pictures. Pushing a button so the pastries come out of the oven in the bakery is just cute. I'm 53 years old and find building Legos to be fun, for it's like building a jigsaw puzzle that when all the pieces are together it forms something that can displayed for a long time.
Date published: 2018-02-27
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text:
Gray Baseplate

Price5290 Ft
Available now
Product rating. 4.13 out 5 stars
24 Reviews
Limit 50

Product Details

Add another useful piece to your LEGO® collection with this Gray Baseplate!

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Explore product details and fan reviews for Gray Baseplate 10701 from LEGO® Classic. Buy today with The Official LEGO® Shop Guarantee.

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Whether you’re creating a street scene, castle, or something of your own imagination, this gray-colored 48x48-stud baseplate is the perfect starting point for building, displaying, and playing with your LEGO® creations.

  • Measures 48x48 studs or 15'' (38cm) x 15'' (38cm)
  • A great supplement to any LEGO® collection!
Gray Baseplate is rated 4.1 out of 5 by 24.
Rated 4 out of 5 by from GRAY BASEPLATE The size of this baseplate is great, but value of money, kind of poor. LEGO should make baseplate this size in EVERY COLOUR!
Date published: 2017-02-10
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Very Very Useful The base plate is very large, and is great for building structures and setting up scenes; which is exactly why I bought it. The bottom is flat, so it is thin and flimsy. I didn't plan on stacking it on anything so I'm OK with that. I recommend this to anyone who needs a lot of stud coverage.
Date published: 2017-01-18
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great for display! I collect minifigures and putting them on a shelf wasn't an option. I took a photo frame from Ikea and sticked the base plate with double-sided tape. So I can easily use the plate later for another project.
Date published: 2015-11-07
Rated 4 out of 5 by from GARGANTUIN this set [baseplate] is very useful, in fact VERY BENDY, you would have to put a very large surface under it, here are pros. and mons: PROS. #1. it is very good for building sets on with family #2. good for putting LEGO boxes on MONS. #1. baseplate is so thin and wide it could snap #2. bottom looks very odd [LOL]
Date published: 2017-11-10
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text:
Lightning Jet

Price19990 Ft
Available now
Product rating. 5 out 5 stars
7 Reviews
Limit 20

Product Details

Speed to the rescue with Jay’s Lightning Jet!

VIP Points

Swoosh into battle against the rapid-shooting crab with Jay’s Lightning Jet, featuring a spring-loaded shooter and rotating electro-disc. Includes 6 minifigures.

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Save Ed and Edna from the shark army’s crab with Jay’s Lightning Jet in this thrilling THE LEGO® NINJAGO® MOVIE™ set. The jet has a handle for easy pick-up-and-play and maximum swooshability, plus an opening minifigure cockpit, spring-loaded shooter and trigger-activated rotating electro-disc. The crab features posable legs, a snapping pincer and 6-stud rapid shooter, and the set also includes 6 minifigures with assorted weapons to dial up the role-play conflict.

  • Includes 6 minifigures: Jay, Ed, Edna, Crusty, Jelly and Shark Army Thug.
  • Lightning Jet features a handle for easy play, opening minifigure cockpit, spring-loaded shooter, trigger-activated rotating electro-disc, adjustable wings and lots of antennae.
  • Crab features 6 posable legs, a snapping pincer and a 6-stud rapid shooter.
  • Weapons include Jay's spiked flail, Crusty's fish chainsaw, Jelly's stud-shooter and fish with extra studs, and Shark Army Thug's fish hammer.
  • Also includes Ed's wrench element.
  • Recreate and role-play exciting THE LEGO® NINJAGO® MOVIE™ scenes.
  • Lightning Jet measures over 7” (20cm) high, 17” (44cm) long and 11” (30cm) wide.
  • Crab measures over 2” (6cm) high, 3” (9cm) long and 4” (12cm) wide.
Lightning Jet is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 7.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Awesome set Got this for my son who is crazy about Jay. It looks kind of flimsy but it absolutely is not, the core of the build is rock solid and while you might catch a lightning rod while flying the whole sub assembly will come off meaning no small parts flying around. The action features are cool and the dart shooter can knock over shark army vehicles pretty easily!
Date published: 2018-01-04
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Looks more like a Space Ship... Looks more like a Space Ship... But awesome all the same!! This was an enjoyable build, to say the least, and I certainly enjoyed the exclusive Minifigures. The jet itself is quite large, compared to some of the other vehicles I've gotten before. And yes, it looks like something from "Guardians of the Galaxy," other than Ninjago. Along with that, there is a very convenient "handle" to use, when you wish to fly your jet around, much like Ronin R.E.X. However, I think that the creators could have added a bit more color balance with the jet, as there is a lot of royal blue,(which I'm not against) but not enough black. I'm not going to let that one detail get in the way of me enjoying this though. As for the Minifigures, you get Jay, his parents Ed and Edna, Crusty, Jelly, and a Shark army thug. I like the Minifigures prints, and feel that Lego once again did an outstanding job!
Date published: 2017-08-04
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Awesome Brought this for my son who loves Ninjago. This has to be the best lego movie set. Very fun to build n play with.
Date published: 2017-10-15
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Ninja-Go!! This was my first Lego Ninjago set I have bought in years and I must say I'm very very impressed with this set not only was it a fun build, its fun to play with and it looks great on desplay!! However the build was harder than I expected but that's not a bad thing, just a little challenging. All in all I would highly recommend this set if you want something unique and a good bang for your buck from Lego!!
Date published: 2017-08-16
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Rapunzel´s Tower

Available now
Product rating. 5 out 5 stars
1 Reviews
Limit 5

Product Details

Help Rapunzel groom Maximus and play out life in the tower.

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Help your child recreate scenes from Disney Tangled or create new stories of their own with LEGO® DUPLO® Rapunzel’s Tower… then rebuild the model into something new!

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Disney Tangled fans will love to build and rebuild Disney Rapunzel’s Tower in different ways, helping to develop their fine motor skills. This LEGO® DUPLO® Disney toy is perfect for role-playing daily life in the tower, from grooming the horse or painting outside to letting down Rapunzel's long hair from her window and tucking her into bed under the covers. Includes a LEGO® DUPLO® figure: Rapunzel, plus a Maximus the horse figure.

  • Includes a LEGO® DUPLO® figure: Rapunzel, plus a Maximus the horse figure.
  • Features a tower with an opening door and window, bed, 2 drawers and a chair.
  • Accessory elements include a hairbrush, fabric bed cover and a tile decorated as Rapunzel's painting.
  • Create endless role-play adventures around this much-loved Disney Princess trapped in her tower.
  • Use this set to play out daily routines and caring for animals with your toddler.
  • Help your child master basic construction skills with this easy-to-build LEGO® DUPLO® Disney toy.
  • LEGO® DUPLO® products are specially designed to be fun and easy for little hands.
  • Suitable for ages 2-5.
  • Rapunzel’s Tower measures over 11” (28cm) high, 4” (12cm) wide and 4” (12cm) deep.
Rapunzel´s Tower is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Very cute! I bought this yesterday for my baby sister’s 1st Birthday! She absolutely loves it! I bought it at Target and spent $30, the price seems very reasonable for the set. It was very easy to put together and didn’t take very long. Definitely would recommend!
Date published: 2018-01-31
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RC Tracked Racer

Available now
Product rating. 4.52 out 5 stars
27 Reviews
Limit 20

Product Details

Travel over the toughest terrain with the RC Tracked Racer!

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Race, spin, turn and accelerate at amazing speed with this rugged, fully motorized, remote-controlled LEGO® Technic RC Tracked Racer model with huge tracks for ultimate maneuverability.

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Spin, turn, clamber over obstacles and race at breakneck speed with this fully motorized, remote-controlled LEGO® Technic RC Tracked Racer, featuring a lime-green, white and black color scheme with decorative stickers, driver’s cab with roll bars and two large tracks, each powered by six wheels. Drive forward or backward, left or right and make 360° turns. Rebuild to create an RC Off-Road Truck.

  • Features a high-speed, fully motorized, remote-controlled vehicle with large tracks.
  • Check out the fresh lime-green, white and black color scheme with cool stickers.
  • Drive forward, backward, left and right, perform turns up to 360° and drive over large obstacles with ease.
  • A uniquely decorated LEGO® Technic 40th Anniversary brick is included with this model.
  • Includes the following LEGO® Power Functions components: two medium motors, one receiver, one battery box and a remote control.
  • This LEGO® Technic model is designed to provide an immersive and rewarding building experience.
  • This set offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 9-16.
  • Designed for indoor use only.
  • 2-in-1 model: rebuilds into an RC Off-Road Truck.
  • Batteries not included.
  • RC Tracked Racer measures over 3” (9cm) high, 8” (22cm) long and 6” (16cm) wide.
  • RC Off-Road Truck measures over 5” (15cm) high, 7” (20cm) long and 6” (16cm) wide.
RC Tracked Racer is rated 4.5 out of 5 by 27.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great reasonably priced RC tracked vehicle Being a fan of RC, tanks and Lego this was an ideal set for me. I have built many RC kits over the years and the simplicity of Lego click together electronics is a nice change from soldering everything together. The build time was quick and the set was easy to put together. There are two models you can build and both look equally great. I have some slow RC tanks and was looking for a tracked vehicle with a bit more speed. The only negative for me is it is not quite as fast as I thought it would be. That said for a Lego kit the performance is still impressive. Another thing I like which really adds to tracked vehicles are the tank controls where each stick controls a track independently. This is much more fun than other rc tracked vehicles which use standard turn left/right setups just like a car. Overall I am very happy with this set and hope to see more RC sets in the future. It would be great if Lego started using 2.4Ghz radio for their rc equipment and maybe offer it as an upgrade to infrared sets. This set also comes with a brick celebrating 40 years of Lego Technic which you can see in the photos.
Date published: 2016-12-24
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A Fun Little Technic Set As a middle age Lego fans, the time I played with Lego and used them as dioramas was long passed. Normally I would collect them and leave them in their boxes in mint condition. But this set is different. This RC Tracked Racer reminds me of those RC vehicles that I played with when I was a kid 30 years ago. And this is a fantastic set. It is easy to build yet provides a very enjoyable experience, what's more is the play-ability afterward. The vehicle is very responsively, reasonably fast,. and I like to experiment with it, finding out what kind of terrains it could and could not manage. Also it has very good $$ values, for it's price it comes with 2 M-motors, 1 battery box, 1 sensor and 1 remote. I highly recommend this set to everyone who wants to 'interact' with their Lego.
Date published: 2017-10-22
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great set Great set to build, and the car runs perfectly. The remote control doesn't go to far, but it's enough to have fun and fare to the price of this set.
Date published: 2017-08-06
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Good Technic start set I got to know this set from a lego fan web page. I am not a big Technic enthusiast (I have a few rather smaller and simpler Technic sets) but this set looked simple enough and the price looked good to me. I liked the idea of having a rather faster vehicle with tracks. As I bulit the set I knew I did not make a mistake buying it. It was really easy to build. Drivng it is enjoyable for kids and adults. We keep on testing driving through various types of obstacles, we also like to test its climbing rate which is pretty impressive. Driving is pretty easy once my brain stop mixing left for right and vice-versa. Rubber parts (unfortunately not part of this set) inserted into the tracks improve the driving performance to unbelievable level. The track platform can serve as basis for various types of upper body. For this we often use non-technic lego parts. We keep on experimenting with the set and maybe I will in the end become a Technic enthusiast too.
Date published: 2017-06-25
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Naida & the Water Turtle Ambush

Available now
Product rating. 5 out 5 stars
1 Reviews
Limit 5

Product Details

Help Naida defend the Guardian Water Turtle from the shadow bat!

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Join Naida and the Guardian Water Turtle as they battle the evil shadow bat! Set features a small island with disc shooter, boat with chain shooter and chain, plus bat and small turtle figures.

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Seek the magic within to help Naida protect the Elemental Guardian creature! This exciting LEGO® Elves building toy features a large buildable water turtle with movable head and legs, and space for a mini-doll figure, plus a small island with disc shooter and a boat with chain shooter and space for a bat. Includes a mini-doll figure, small turtle figure, fish figure and a bat figure.

  • Includes a Naida mini-doll figure plus Furi the shadow bat and Calypso the baby turtle figures.
  • Features a buildable Cory the Guardian Water Turtle figure that includes space for a baby turtle figure and space on the head for a magic Water ‘diamond'.
  • Also includes a small ‘floating' island with disc shooter and space for a fish, plus a small boat with a chain shooter and space for a bat figure.
  • Hop on the back of the Guardian Water Turtle and take a ride.
  • Jump over to the island and load the disc shooter to fight the evil shadow bat.
  • Launch the chain from the boat’s chain shooter to knock the ‘diamond’ from the turtle’s head.
  • Accessory elements include a cupcake with cherry, Naida’s power-up staff, 2 discs, 2 flowers, map, magic Water ‘diamond' and a fish.
  • This exciting building toy is suitable for ages 7-12.
  • Other mischievous little bats can be collected in selected LEGO® Elves sets.
  • Guardian Water Turtle measures over 1” (4cm) high, 4” (12cm) long and 3” (9cm) wide.
  • ‘Floating’ island measures over 1” (5cm) high, 3” (9cm) wide and 2” (6cm) deep.
  • Boat measures over 2” (6cm) high, 2” (6cm) long and under 1” (2cm) wide.
Naida & the Water Turtle Ambush is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Awesome set! My son and I have had so much fun building and playing with this set . It is so cute!
Date published: 2018-01-31
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text:
Step by Step Tutorial - You are Loved

Michele Paul from Isa-Bella Studio in Natal shared another GORGEOUS and fun tutorial for a layout she created using the beautiful Prima Zella Teal Paper Collection, Scrapbook Studio's Just Because Stencils with some Nuvo Mousse as well as some other items available from Scrapbook Studio and other craft stores.

We love the soft and ethereal look of this layout - Zella Teal has been one of our firm favourites at the shop and we still have lots of these papers!

Thank you so much for this, Michele!

Enjoy this and remember to share your projects using some of our Papers and other products you have purchased from Scrapbook Studio!

You are Loved Small

The white card stock was prepared Dina Wakley clear gesso (a thin layer and allowed to dry)

For my paper I used the Prima Zeal Teal collection

Prima flowers mini Daisy white and Aqua

Melange Art pebbles

White flower stamens

Celebr8 - You are Loved chipboard word

The Nuvo mousse was used with a pallet knife and applied as is thru the stencil. You get a beautiful shimmer on the stencil colour. I used Pure Platinum

Stencil Nuvo

The background was created using the Nuvo mousse.

Colours used Aquamarine, Pure platinum and Cosmic brown

Nuvo mousse is water soluble so you can add to water to form a spritz

I used a small pallet knife of each into a 3-separate small spray bottles the more you use the stronger the colour, shake very well. (the colours are very pastel)

You will get an incredible shine once the spray dries on your background.

DSC 0832

Nuvo Crystal Drops- Ivory Seashell was used to create pearls on the stencil twirls

Nuvo Drops

I have used natural fibre behind the flower and coloured it with K-craft product glimmer mist. Metallic silver

Fibres Mist

I cut the roses from the paper and glued to the back of the melange art pebbles with Tombow

Melange Pebbles

Below are some more close ups of the layout.  Hope you will be inspired!

DSC 0829  DSC 0832  DSC 0847

Inspiration Sketch March 2018

We have been inundated with requests for another inspirational sketch - here is a sketch based on a layout Cariena created.
Remember to share your layout based on the sketch with us on our Friends of Scrapbook Studio Facebook Group or email it to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  You never know if you might be rewarded for sharing!
Cariena Life is better with friends 2018

December 2017 Class Schedule

Click on the image below to download our FABULOUS December/January Class Schedule!
December 2017 Classes Edited

Step by Step Tutorial - Friends for Life

Michele Paul from Isa-Bella Studio in Natal sent us this GORGEOUS and fun tutorial she did using our Just Because Paper Collection with some Prima and other Mixed Media Products.

We love how she incorporated the Mixed Media products on the layout.

Thank you so much for this, Michele!

Enjoy this and remember to share your projects using some of our Papers and other products you have purchased from Scrapbook Studio!

Friends for life

DSC 0780

Products used:

Finnabair Art Basic Heavy Gesso Black

Finnabair Rust Effect Paste

Nuvo mousse – cosmic brown

Distress paint Tim Holtz- broken China

2x celebr8 -fishing net die cut

4x Just Because-Futterby paper

2x Just Because- Measured blooms

1x Just because-Elements

1x just because- let’s talk

2x Just Because – In season

1x Just because -Flourishing

6X Black foam core strips cut 3cmx29.5cm

1x Celebr8 word Friends for life (I cut the twirls of either side at the top of the word)

DSC 0766

Techniques used

Painting the word

Painted the word with black gesso and then did the rust effect paste I used a paint brush with the white bristles (Stiff brush) waited for it to dry and added a bit of the broken china distress paint

To Create the wood effect:

I used 12 strips of masking tape about 36 cm long

(Please note I like to use my packaging plastic packets and then I can throw away)

I adhered the strips onto my plastic bag.

step 1

Painted with black gesso and waited for it to dry

step 2 gesso

Then did the rust effect first the brown leaving bits of the black

step 4 rsut paint and yellow of the rust effect

Then the rust and yellow

Then adhered 2 strips to the 3cmm strips of foam core lengthwise

rust effect strips adhered to foam core

I used 3 strips of each side of the layout

DSC 0766

Painting the fishing net

I painted the fishing net in back gesso and waited for it to dry.

The used Nuvo Mousse cosmic brown on my finger and rubbed onto the net randomly.

Hope you enjoyed this Tutorial.

DSC 0772

Black Friday/Cyber Monday

  Newsletter 24 November 2017

We have some FABULOUS deals for you this year for BLACK FRIDAY through CYBER MONDAY!

24-27 November 2017

Only valid while stocks last.

*** Due to large volumes of orders and delays nationwide with Couriers due to Black Friday congestion, your order might take a few days longer to be delivered. We thank you for your understanding. ***

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text:
Isole - The Calm Hunter - LP Gatefold Coloured

Availability : Out of stock

Limited Pressing of 300 copies in heavy 180g DARK GREEN Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve!
  • Stream the album

  • Additional Information

    Band Isole
    Title The Calm Hunter
    Label Cyclone Empire
    Generic musical style Stoner / Doom / Sludge
    Detailed musical style Epic Doom Metal
    Catalog # CYC1501
    Release Date 2 Sep 2015

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VLA2253.004.06 / Golden Embellished Wax Fabric

€ 96,80 6 yards

Other colours

Show in meters

In stock

Our delivery partners aim to deliver your Vlisco order within 2 to 4 working days.

Free shipping on orders above € 220,- in selected countries. This online store offers free shipments to Africa, Australia, USA, Canada, all EU countries and Switzerland for all orders over 220 euros (total order price).

Product information

This design by Nico Verbart shows elements of the game of chess. The checkered board is printed in gradually changing colours, creating a gradient look in the design.

  • Guaranteed Real Dutch Wax Block Print
  • 100% cotton / 120 gr/m²
  • The photo shown is 91,4 x 120 cm (1 yard piece)
  • Golden Embellished Wax Fabric

Shipping method

  • DPD

Vlisco sends your parcel with trusted partners UPS and DPD. The shipment options available to you may differ per destination address.

Payment method

  • Adyen - MasterCard
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  • Adyen - Ideal
  • Adyen - Sofortüberweisung
  • Adyen - Bancontact - Mister Cash
  • Adyen - AliPay

We aim to offer the most relevant payment methods to you in a SLL encrypted environment. Currently we offer the following payment methods:

  • Mastercard
  • Visa
  • PayPal
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  • Bancontact / Mr. Cash
  • Alipay

Your order will be dispatched upon receipt of the total order amount.

Care instructions Wax Hollandais

       Hand wash with lukewarm water
       Wash light and dark colours seperately
       Wash inside out (on reverse)
       Do not wring, rub or twist

       Do not bleach

       Dry in the shade (don't expose to direct sunlight)
       Hang to dry
       Do not tumble dry

      Iron inside out (on reverse)
      Maximum temperature for ironing is 150 °C
      Iron inside out (on reverse)
      Maximum temperature for ironing is 110 °C

Dry cleaning

      Do not dry clean


text:
For the women, by the women.

I’ve recently been watching a lot of films and TV made for women, but more importantly, made BY women. I always thought I couldn’t stand “womens tv” but I’ve realised that’s mostly when it’s made by men, or made to reinforce some sort of ideology for the benefit of men. The show that really caught me on this is BBC’s Call the Midwife, of which the second season is premiering with a Christmas Special next month on the 24th.

The creative team behind the TV show boasts a number of women at every stage of production. So although women are behind costume & makeup as usual, they are also responsible for editing, visual effects, camera and sound, as well as the majority female directors and producers. So although the show is by no means produced by an all-female workforce, it is definitely female-centric. Especially when you consider the subject matter, cast, and the fact that pretty much all other film and television is controlled by a very male-dominated population.

It’s so refreshing to watch a television show that is genuinely made FOR women, a TV show in which you are not made to feel uncomfortable because the narrative doesn’t stop every 10 minutes in order to showcase a bit of female flesh to reassure any men watching that although these women seem strong, they do still have their place. Although the women are midwives or housewives or prostitutes, the show manages to not stereotype them, and show them in an impartial light, that displays them as people rather than madonnas or whores. There’s also very few accounts of a woman sacrificing herself for “love”, which is usually the point at which I just turn off whatever it is I’m watching. The dismissal of any men in the audience also lets the humour run freely, allowing the female spectators to laugh at toilet humour, and treat men as playthings or sex objects, as so many of us do in reality – shock horror.

Speaking of crude humour, the 2011 film Hysteria by Tanya Wexler pretty much focuses on it. The story of how the first vibrator came to be invented is a pretty brilliant one, and personally, I think they should be screening this film in schools. The entire film is a wink and a nudge to the “myth” of female sexual pleasure, and I genuinely believe that aside from the love story the film centres around, there is nothing of women that men in general would recognise in this film. As the film industry tends to cater more towards men, the film doesn’t necessarily exclude men, but rather invites them to join protagonist Mortimer Granville on his journey to learn more about what it means to be a woman. Also, Maggie Gyllenhaal is amazing throughout.

Another industry that focuses pretty much wholly on men is that of stand-up comedy. Last night I watched Sarah Millican’s Chatterbox and she managed to really make me laugh as well as just generally cheering me up and making me feel better about myself. Woop. A lot of her comedy comes from acknowledging that a male audience is watching, but not really caring that they’re present. One male in the audience audibly recoils from the word “fanny” during her show, and she’s quick to pick up on it, asking “is it my fanny in particular that offends you, or is it all fannies?”

Really, I don’t know why there isn’t more media doing this. It’s not like the texts I’ve mentioned so far haven’t been popular or made a shitload of moolah, and it’s not like their corresponding industries don’t have plenty of women trying to break through. As far as I can tell, it’s the same old masculine hold on power that they really don’t feel like letting go of, and passing it off as avoiding risk.

You do also have to take into account the difference between the American film industry and the British television industry. Something so commercial as Hollywood is always going to play it safe, whereas the BBC is less reliant on attracting that apparently ever-lucrative male film audience. Plus it’s well known that if you want big numbers in television, you have to aim for the women. (Although I’m sure that’s the kind of thinking which has led to the X-Factor and How to Look Good Naked.)

I do have to mention that Hollywood is looking slightly better these days after the release of Bridesmaids in 2011, but with the What to Expect when you’re Expecting, Friends With Kids, The Five-Year Engagement etc bandwagon that followed I’m really not seeing anything that progressive. When films are made with a predominantly male crew, for a patriarchal industry, you’re still going to see women who look a certain way (with “comedic” tokenism, see Melissa McCarthy’s character in Bridesmaids) and are primarily concerned with (heterosexual) romance and being in constant competition with each other. Which really, is what they’d want us to be doing. Rather than owning the night like the women from Midwife, or finding our own sexual gratification as in Hysteria. Really, does the industry think men’s egos are that fragile?

P.S. This post was originally 7,000 words long. So it might seem a bit disjointed. Maybe I’ll do a thesis on it one day instead.

1 Response to “For the women, by the women.”

  1. 1 yij.se April 3, 2013 at 6:13 am

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FOX Killing Fringe slowly – moving it to Friday DEAD ZONE November 23, 2010

Posted by showmescifi in
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Fringe is a great show, which is why it is so shocking that FOX is killing it off.

Oh they’re not killing it like the cowards at SyFy that cancel a show midway through a season then don’t air the final episode..

No FOX has a special kind of hell for Fringe

The hell called Friday night. No SciFi show ever survives the Friday night timeslot and Fringe won’t be the first.

1. Tom Baker - November 24, 2010

At first I was a fan of Fringe, then I didn’t like it, and now I do again…

2. FED UP WITH NETWORK STUPIDITY - November 25, 2010

It doesn’t surprise me. The individuals at these networks that is responsible for “timeslots” must have a mandatory rule that their IQ must be “50 or below”. Some networks are worse than others. Most people know when a show does well and when it doesn’t, so why don’t these brainless execs. get it. Oh!, maybe they are trying to create room for another “Reality Show”…JUST WHAT WE NEED!!
It’s a dirty shame “Fringe” is a good show. It will be sad to see it go. With all the time and money that goes into these shows maybe they should try something different. “If the show tanks because of the timeslot, “CANCEL THE EXECS. JOB”. That would be a motivation to do the right thing. There are plenty of Unemployed people that would gladly step up to the plate…

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HAVANA, June 4, 2008

(CBS/ Reinaldo Gil)

(CBS) This story was written by CBS News producer Portia Siegelbaum in Havana.
“Buy local. Eat seasonal. Eat organic.” All now commonplace admonitions in the United States.

But while none of these slogans are household words in Cuba, 70 percent of the vegetables and herbs grown on the island today are organic and the urban gardens where they are raised are usually within walking distance of those who will consume them. So in one blow Cuba reduced the use of fossil fuels in the production and transportation of food. And they began doing this nearly 20 years ago.

The island nation’s move to organic and sustainable farming did not arise from its environmental consciousness, although there was an element of that also. The main reason was the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cuba’s only source of petroleum and main trading partner at that time.

Overnight long lines formed at gas stations that all too often ran out before all their customers could fill up. Traffic was virtually non-existent. Chinese “Flying Pigeon” bicycles replaced both private and public transportation.

“Puestos” as Cubans call the produce section of their rationed grocery stores displayed only empty bins as agriculture ground to a halt. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers vanished. Tractors became relics of a former time. Oxen pulled the plows that furrowed the fields.

Finding food for the dinner table became a day-long drudge. Cubans visibly lost weight. The communist youth daily, Juventud Rebelde, ran articles on edible weeds. Daily caloric intake dropped to about 1600 calories.

Organic agriculture “made its appearance at that moment as a necessity and that necessity helped us to advance, to consolidate and expand more or less uniformly in all 169 municipalities,” says Adolfo Rodriguez. At 62, he is Cuba’s top urban agrarian, with 43 years experience in agriculture.

He says there are now 300,000 people employed directly in urban agriculture without counting those who are raising organic produce in their backyards as part of a State-encouraged grassroots movement. In all, Rodriguez claims nearly a million people are getting their hands dirty organically.

With 76 percent of Cuba’s population of just under 11 million living in cities, the importance of this form of farming cannot be over emphasized, says Rodriguez.

I think that Cuba’s urban agriculture has come to stay.
Adolfo Rodriguez, urban agrarian
The urban gardens have been dubbed “organoponicos.” Those located in never-developed empty lots primarily consist of raised beds. More complicated are those created in the space left by a collapsed building, not uncommon in cities like Havana where much of the housing is in a very deteriorated state and where all it takes is a heavy tropical rainfall followed by relentless sunshine to bring down a structure.

“We have to truck in the soil,” before anything can be planted, explains Rodriguez. “The basic issue is restoring fertility, the importance of producing compost, organic fertilizers, humus created by worms,” he says.

In a majority of cases the fruits and vegetables are freshly picked every morning and go on sale just with a few feet of where they grew. Only in exceptional cases, such as the densely population municipality of Old Havana (as the colonial section of the capital is named) do the organic fruits and vegetables travel a kilometer or so by a tricycle or horse drawn cart to reach consumers.

Havana residents line up at the organoponico at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue, which grows a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs. (CBS/Manuel Muniz)

Lucky are the Havana residents who live near the organoponico at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue. Occupying nearly an entire city block, it grows a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs, as well as ornamental plants. It will even sell fresh basil shoots for customers to plant in their own herb garden. On a recent day, customers were offered the following fresh produce at reasonable prices: mangos, plantains, basil, parsley, lettuce, garlic, celery, scallions, collard greens, black beans, watermelon, tomatoes, malanga, spinach and sweet potatoes.

Luckily for Cubans in general, organic here is not equivalent to expensive. Overhead costs are low. The produce is sold from simple aluminum kiosks, signs listing the day’s offer and prices are handmade, electricity is used only for irrigation, and no transportation other than walking from the raised beds to the kiosks is involved. The result? Everything is fresh, local and available.

Convincing Cubans to buy this produce, especially the less familiar vegetables, so as to prepare earth friendly meals, presented a hurdle. The ideal meal on the island includes roast pork, rice and beans and yucca. A lettuce and tomato salad was popular. But the idea of vegetable side dishes or an all vegetarian meal was inconceivable to most.

“We’re cultivating some 40-plus species but you have to know who your customers are,” says Rodriguez. “We can’t plant a lot of broccoli right now because its not going to sell but we’re making progress.” For example, he notes, in the beginning practically no one bought spinach. Now, all the spinach planted is sold. Persuading people to eat carrots, according to Rodriguez, was an uphill battle. “We had to begin supplying them to the daycare centers,” so as to develop a taste for this most common of root vegetables.

The “queen” of the winter crop is lettuce. The spring/summer “queen” is the Chinese string bean. Cuba’s blazing summer sun doesn’t allow for growing produce out of its season, even under cover, except in rare circumstances.

The saving of heritage fruits, vegetables and even animals has also gotten a boost from the urban agrarian movement. The chayote, a fleshy, pear-shaped single-seeded fruit, had virtually disappeared from the market. Now, Rodriguez says, 130 of Cuba’s 169 municipalities are growing the fruit that many remember from their grandmother’s kitchen repertoire in which it was treated as a vegetable, often stuffed and baked.

“We are working to rescue fruit orchards that are in danger of extinction,” stresses Rodriguez. “We’ve planted fields with fruit species that many of today’s children have never even seen, such as the sapote. To save these species we’ve created specialized provincial botanical gardens,” he explains.

Similarly, the urban agrarian movement is rescuing native animal species such as the Creole goat and the cubalaya chicken, the only native Cuban poultry species.

Currently spiraling global food prices are hitting the island hard. Cuba has been importing just over 80 percent of the food consumed domestically. The government is making more land and supplies available to farmers and this may well include chemical fertilizers and pesticides in an attempt to greatly reduce this foreign dependency.

Adolfo Rodriguez, Cuba’s top urban agrarian (CBS/Reinaldo Gil)

Rodriguez does not believe this push to quickly increase agricultural output will negatively impact on the urban organic movement. Even during the 1990s, known in Cuba as the “Special Period,” he says, the potato crop continued to receive chemical pesticides and fertilizers. And even today, the 30 percent of the non-organic produce includes, for example, large-scale plantings of tomatoes for industrial processing.

“I think that Cuba’s urban agriculture has come to stay,” concludes Rodriguez. “That there is a little increase in the application of fertilizers and pesticides for specific crops is normal but that’s not to say that the country is going to shift away from organic farming, to turn our organic gardens into non-organic ones.”

Written for The Nation on May 15, 2008

When tens of thousands of people staged demonstrations in Mexico last year to protest a 60 percent increase in the price of tortillas, many analysts pointed to biofuel as the culprit. Because of US government subsidies, American farmers were devoting more and more acreage to corn for ethanol than for food, which sparked a steep rise in corn prices. The diversion of corn from tortillas to biofuel was certainly one cause of skyrocketing prices, though speculation on biofuel demand by transnational middlemen may have played a bigger role. However, an intriguing question escaped many observers: how on earth did Mexicans, who live in the land where corn was domesticated, become dependent on US imports in the first place?

The Mexican food crisis cannot be fully understood without taking into account the fact that in the years preceding the tortilla crisis, the homeland of corn had been converted to a corn-importing economy by “free market” policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Washington. The process began with the early 1980s debt crisis. One of the two largest developing-country debtors, Mexico was forced to beg for money from the Bank and IMF to service its debt to international commercial banks. The quid pro quo for a multibillion-dollar bailout was what a member of the World Bank executive board described as “unprecedented thoroughgoing interventionism” designed to eliminate high tariffs, state regulations and government support institutions, which neoliberal doctrine identified as barriers to economic efficiency.

Interest payments rose from 19 percent of total government expenditures in 1982 to 57 percent in 1988, while capital expenditures dropped from an already low 19.3 percent to 4.4 percent. The contraction of government spending translated into the dismantling of state credit, government-subsidized agricultural inputs, price supports, state marketing boards and extension services. Unilateral liberalization of agricultural trade pushed by the IMF and World Bank also contributed to the destabilization of peasant producers.

This blow to peasant agriculture was followed by an even larger one in 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect. Although NAFTA had a fifteen-year phaseout of tariff protection for agricultural products, including corn, highly subsidized US corn quickly flooded in, reducing prices by half and plunging the corn sector into chronic crisis. Largely as a result of this agreement, Mexico’s status as a net food importer has now been firmly established.

With the shutting down of the state marketing agency for corn, distribution of US corn imports and Mexican grain has come to be monopolized by a few transnational traders, like US-owned Cargill and partly US-owned Maseca, operating on both sides of the border. This has given them tremendous power to speculate on trade trends, so that movements in biofuel demand can be manipulated and magnified many times over. At the same time, monopoly control of domestic trade has ensured that a rise in international corn prices does not translate into significantly higher prices paid to small producers.

It has become increasingly difficult for Mexican corn farmers to avoid the fate of many of their fellow corn cultivators and other smallholders in sectors such as rice, beef, poultry and pork, who have gone under because of the advantages conferred by NAFTA on subsidized US producers. According to a 2003 Carnegie Endowment report, imports of US agricultural products threw at least 1.3 million farmers out of work–many of whom have since found their way to the United States.

Prospects are not good, since the Mexican government continues to be controlled by neoliberals who are systematically dismantling the peasant support system, a key legacy of the Mexican Revolution. As Food First executive director Eric Holt-Giménez sees it, “It will take time and effort to recover smallholder capacity, and there does not appear to be any political will for this–to say nothing of the fact that NAFTA would have to be renegotiated.”

Creating a Rice Crisis in the Philippines

That the global food crisis stems mainly from free-market restructuring of agriculture is clearer in the case of rice. Unlike corn, less than 10 percent of world rice production is traded. Moreover, there has been no diversion of rice from food consumption to biofuels. Yet this year alone, prices nearly tripled, from $380 a ton in January to more than $1,000 in April. Undoubtedly the inflation stems partly from speculation by wholesaler cartels at a time of tightening supplies. However, as with Mexico and corn, the big puzzle is why a number of formerly self-sufficient rice-consuming countries have become severely dependent on imports.

The Philippines provides a grim example of how neoliberal economic restructuring transforms a country from a net food exporter to a net food importer. The Philippines is the world’s largest importer of rice. Manila’s desperate effort to secure supplies at any price has become front-page news, and pictures of soldiers providing security for rice distribution in poor communities have become emblematic of the global crisis.

The broad contours of the Philippines story are similar to those of Mexico. Dictator Ferdinand Marcos was guilty of many crimes and misdeeds, including failure to follow through on land reform, but one thing he cannot be accused of is starving the agricultural sector. To head off peasant discontent, the regime provided farmers with subsidized fertilizer and seeds, launched credit plans and built rural infrastructure. When Marcos fled the country in 1986, there were 900,000 metric tons of rice in government warehouses.

Paradoxically, the next few years under the new democratic dispensation saw the gutting of government investment capacity. As in Mexico the World Bank and IMF, working on behalf of international creditors, pressured the Corazon Aquino administration to make repayment of the $26 billion foreign debt a priority. Aquino acquiesced, though she was warned by the country’s top economists that the “search for a recovery program that is consistent with a debt repayment schedule determined by our creditors is a futile one.” Between 1986 and 1993 8 percent to 10 percent of GDP left the Philippines yearly in debt-service payments–roughly the same proportion as in Mexico. Interest payments as a percentage of expenditures rose from 7 percent in 1980 to 28 percent in 1994; capital expenditures plunged from 26 percent to 16 percent. In short, debt servicing became the national budgetary priority.

Spending on agriculture fell by more than half. The World Bank and its local acolytes were not worried, however, since one purpose of the belt-tightening was to get the private sector to energize the countryside. But agricultural capacity quickly eroded. Irrigation stagnated, and by the end of the 1990s only 17 percent of the Philippines’ road network was paved, compared with 82 percent in Thailand and 75 percent in Malaysia. Crop yields were generally anemic, with the average rice yield way below those in China, Vietnam and Thailand, where governments actively promoted rural production. The post-Marcos agrarian reform program shriveled, deprived of funding for support services, which had been the key to successful reforms in Taiwan and South Korea. As in Mexico Filipino peasants were confronted with full-scale retreat of the state as provider of comprehensive support–a role they had come to depend on.

And the cutback in agricultural programs was followed by trade liberalization, with the Philippines’ 1995 entry into the World Trade Organization having the same effect as Mexico’s joining NAFTA. WTO membership required the Philippines to eliminate quotas on all agricultural imports except rice and allow a certain amount of each commodity to enter at low tariff rates. While the country was allowed to maintain a quota on rice imports, it nevertheless had to admit the equivalent of 1 to 4 percent of domestic consumption over the next ten years. In fact, because of gravely weakened production resulting from lack of state support, the government imported much more than that to make up for shortfalls. The massive imports depressed the price of rice, discouraging farmers and keeping growth in production at a rate far below that of the country’s two top suppliers, Thailand and Vietnam.

The consequences of the Philippines’ joining the WTO barreled through the rest of its agriculture like a super-typhoon. Swamped by cheap corn imports–much of it subsidized US grain–farmers reduced land devoted to corn from 3.1 million hectares in 1993 to 2.5 million in 2000. Massive importation of chicken parts nearly killed that industry, while surges in imports destabilized the poultry, hog and vegetable industries.

During the 1994 campaign to ratify WTO membership, government economists, coached by their World Bank handlers, promised that losses in corn and other traditional crops would be more than compensated for by the new export industry of “high-value-added” crops like cut flowers, asparagus and broccoli. Little of this materialized. Nor did many of the 500,000 agricultural jobs that were supposed to be created yearly by the magic of the market; instead, agricultural employment dropped from 11.2 million in 1994 to 10.8 million in 2001.

The one-two punch of IMF-imposed adjustment and WTO-imposed trade liberalization swiftly transformed a largely self-sufficient agricultural economy into an import-dependent one as it steadily marginalized farmers. It was a wrenching process, the pain of which was captured by a Filipino government negotiator during a WTO session in Geneva. “Our small producers,” he said, “are being slaughtered by the gross unfairness of the international trading environment.”

The Great Transformation

The experience of Mexico and the Philippines was paralleled in one country after another subjected to the ministrations of the IMF and the WTO. A study of fourteen countries by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization found that the levels of food imports in 1995-98 exceeded those in 1990-94. This was not surprising, since one of the main goals of the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture was to open up markets in developing countries so they could absorb surplus production in the North. As then-US Agriculture Secretary John Block put it in 1986, “The idea that developing countries should feed themselves is an anachronism from a bygone era. They could better ensure their food security by relying on US agricultural products, which are available in most cases at lower cost.”

What Block did not say was that the lower cost of US products stemmed from subsidies, which became more massive with each passing year despite the fact that the WTO was supposed to phase them out. From $367 billion in 1995, the total amount of agricultural subsidies provided by developed-country governments rose to $388 billion in 2004. Since the late 1990s subsidies have accounted for 40 percent of the value of agricultural production in the European Union and 25 percent in the United States.

The apostles of the free market and the defenders of dumping may seem to be at different ends of the spectrum, but the policies they advocate are bringing about the same result: a globalized capitalist industrial agriculture. Developing countries are being integrated into a system where export-oriented production of meat and grain is dominated by large industrial farms like those run by the Thai multinational CP and where technology is continually upgraded by advances in genetic engineering from firms like Monsanto. And the elimination of tariff and nontariff barriers is facilitating a global agricultural supermarket of elite and middle-class consumers serviced by grain-trading corporations like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland and transnational food retailers like the British-owned Tesco and the French-owned Carrefour.

There is little room for the hundreds of millions of rural and urban poor in this integrated global market. They are confined to giant suburban favelas, where they contend with food prices that are often much higher than the supermarket prices, or to rural reservations, where they are trapped in marginal agricultural activities and increasingly vulnerable to hunger. Indeed, within the same country, famine in the marginalized sector sometimes coexists with prosperity in the globalized sector.

This is not simply the erosion of national food self-sufficiency or food security but what Africanist Deborah Bryceson of Oxford calls “de-peasantization”–the phasing out of a mode of production to make the countryside a more congenial site for intensive capital accumulation. This transformation is a traumatic one for hundreds of millions of people, since peasant production is not simply an economic activity. It is an ancient way of life, a culture, which is one reason displaced or marginalized peasants in India have taken to committing suicide. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, farmer suicides rose from 233 in 1998 to 2,600 in 2002; in Maharashtra, suicides more than tripled, from 1,083 in 1995 to 3,926 in 2005. One estimate is that some 150,000 Indian farmers have taken their lives. Collapse of prices from trade liberalization and loss of control over seeds to biotech firms is part of a comprehensive problem, says global justice activist Vandana Shiva: “Under globalization, the farmer is losing her/his social, cultural, economic identity as a producer. A farmer is now a ‘consumer’ of costly seeds and costly chemicals sold by powerful global corporations through powerful landlords and money lenders locally.”

African Agriculture: From Compliance to Defiance

De-peasantization is at an advanced state in Latin America and Asia. And if the World Bank has its way, Africa will travel in the same direction. As Bryceson and her colleagues correctly point out in a recent article, the World Development Report for 2008, which touches extensively on agriculture in Africa, is practically a blueprint for the transformation of the continent’s peasant-based agriculture into large-scale commercial farming. However, as in many other places today, the Bank’s wards are moving from sullen resentment to outright defiance.

At the time of decolonization, in the 1960s, Africa was actually a net food exporter. Today the continent imports 25 percent of its food; almost every country is a net importer. Hunger and famine have become recurrent phenomena, with the past three years alone seeing food emergencies break out in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and Southern and Central Africa.

Agriculture in Africa is in deep crisis, and the causes range from wars to bad governance, lack of agricultural technology and the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, as in Mexico and the Philippines, an important part of the explanation is the phasing out of government controls and support mechanisms under the IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs imposed as the price for assistance in servicing external debt.

Structural adjustment brought about declining investment, increased unemployment, reduced social spending, reduced consumption and low output. Lifting price controls on fertilizers while simultaneously cutting back on agricultural credit systems simply led to reduced fertilizer use, lower yields and lower investment. Moreover, reality refused to conform to the doctrinal expectation that withdrawal of the state would pave the way for the market to dynamize agriculture. Instead, the private sector, which correctly saw reduced state expenditures as creating more risk, failed to step into the breach. In country after country, the departure of the state “crowded out” rather than “crowded in” private investment. Where private traders did replace the state, noted an Oxfam report, “they have sometimes done so on highly unfavorable terms for poor farmers,” leaving “farmers more food insecure, and governments reliant on unpredictable international aid flows.” The usually pro-private sector Economist agreed, admitting that “many of the private firms brought in to replace state researchers turned out to be rent-seeking monopolists.”

The support that African governments were allowed to muster was channeled by the World Bank toward export agriculture to generate foreign exchange, which states needed to service debt. But, as in Ethiopia during the 1980s famine, this led to the dedication of good land to export crops, with food crops forced into less suitable soil, thus exacerbating food insecurity. Moreover, the World Bank’s encouragement of several economies to focus on the same export crops often led to overproduction, triggering price collapses in international markets. For instance, the very success of Ghana’s expansion of cocoa production triggered a 48 percent drop in the international price between 1986 and 1989. In 2002-03 a collapse in coffee prices contributed to another food emergency in Ethiopia.

As in Mexico and the Philippines, structural adjustment in Africa was not simply about underinvestment but state divestment. But there was one major difference. In Africa the World Bank and IMF micromanaged, making decisions on how fast subsidies should be phased out, how many civil servants had to be fired and even, as in the case of Malawi, how much of the country’s grain reserve should be sold and to whom.

Compounding the negative impact of adjustment were unfair EU and US trade practices. Liberalization allowed subsidized EU beef to drive many West African and South African cattle raisers to ruin. With their subsidies legitimized by the WTO, US growers offloaded cotton on world markets at 20 percent to 55 percent of production cost, thereby bankrupting West and Central African farmers.

According to Oxfam, the number of sub-Saharan Africans living on less than a dollar a day almost doubled, to 313 million, between 1981 and 2001–46 percent of the whole continent. The role of structural adjustment in creating poverty was hard to deny. As the World Bank’s chief economist for Africa admitted, “We did not think that the human costs of these programs could be so great, and the economic gains would be so slow in coming.”

In 1999 the government of Malawi initiated a program to give each smallholder family a starter pack of free fertilizers and seeds. The result was a national surplus of corn. What came after is a story that should be enshrined as a classic case study of one of the greatest blunders of neoliberal economics. The World Bank and other aid donors forced the scaling down and eventual scrapping of the program, arguing that the subsidy distorted trade. Without the free packs, output plummeted. In the meantime, the IMF insisted that the government sell off a large portion of its grain reserves to enable the food reserve agency to settle its commercial debts. The government complied. When the food crisis turned into a famine in 2001-02, there were hardly any reserves left. About 1,500 people perished. The IMF was unrepentant; in fact, it suspended its disbursements on an adjustment program on the grounds that “the parastatal sector will continue to pose risks to the successful implementation of the 2002/03 budget. Government interventions in the food and other agricultural markets… [are] crowding out more productive spending.”

By the time an even worse food crisis developed in 2005, the government had had enough of World Bank/IMF stupidity. A new president reintroduced the fertilizer subsidy, enabling 2 million households to buy it at a third of the retail price and seeds at a discount. The result: bumper harvests for two years, a million-ton maize surplus and the country transformed into a supplier of corn to Southern Africa.

Malawi’s defiance of the World Bank would probably have been an act of heroic but futile resistance a decade ago. The environment is different today, since structural adjustment has been discredited throughout Africa. Even some donor governments and NGOs that used to subscribe to it have distanced themselves from the Bank. Perhaps the motivation is to prevent their influence in the continent from being further eroded by association with a failed approach and unpopular institutions when Chinese aid is emerging as an alternative to World Bank, IMF and Western government aid programs.

Food Sovereignty: An Alternative Paradigm?

It is not only defiance from governments like Malawi and dissent from their erstwhile allies that are undermining the IMF and the World Bank. Peasant organizations around the world have become increasingly militant in their resistance to the globalization of industrial agriculture. Indeed, it is because of pressure from farmers’ groups that the governments of the South have refused to grant wider access to their agricultural markets and demanded a massive slashing of US and EU agricultural subsidies, which brought the WTO’s Doha Round of negotiations to a standstill.

Farmers’ groups have networked internationally; one of the most dynamic to emerge is Via Campesina (Peasant’s Path). Via not only seeks to get “WTO out of agriculture” and opposes the paradigm of a globalized capitalist industrial agriculture; it also proposes an alternative–food sovereignty. Food sovereignty means, first of all, the right of a country to determine its production and consumption of food and the exemption of agriculture from global trade regimes like that of the WTO. It also means consolidation of a smallholder-centered agriculture via protection of the domestic market from low-priced imports; remunerative prices for farmers and fisherfolk; abolition of all direct and indirect export subsidies; and the phasing out of domestic subsidies that promote unsustainable agriculture. Via’s platform also calls for an end to the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights regime, or TRIPs, which allows corporations to patent plant seeds; opposes agro-technology based on genetic engineering; and demands land reform. In contrast to an integrated global monoculture, Via offers the vision of an international agricultural economy composed of diverse national agricultural economies trading with one another but focused primarily on domestic production.

Once regarded as relics of the pre-industrial era, peasants are now leading the opposition to a capitalist industrial agriculture that would consign them to the dustbin of history. They have become what Karl Marx described as a politically conscious “class for itself,” contradicting his predictions about their demise. With the global food crisis, they are moving to center stage–and they have allies and supporters. For as peasants refuse to go gently into that good night and fight de-peasantization, developments in the twenty-first century are revealing the panacea of globalized capitalist industrial agriculture to be a nightmare. With environmental crises multiplying, the social dysfunctions of urban-industrial life piling up and industrialized agriculture creating greater food insecurity, the farmers’ movement increasingly has relevance not only to peasants but to everyone threatened by the catastrophic consequences of global capital’s vision for organizing production, community and life itself.

Other Nation articles on the subject…

  • Haiti on the ‘Death Plan’

    REED LINDSAY: Protesters decry high food prices–and the savage cost of “free trade” agreements.

  • The World Food Crisis

    JOHN NICHOLS: We must rein in the global food giants who reap profits at the expense of the planet and the poor.

  • Milk Wars

    DAVID E. GUMPERT: As struggling dairy farmers seek profits by responding to rising consumer demand for raw milk, regulators are taking a hard line.

  • Banana Kings

    EMILY BIUSO: The history of banana cultivation is rife with labor and environmental abuse, corporate skulduggery and genetic experiments gone awry.

  • The Big Yam

    JOHN FEFFER: Chinese hearts, minds and pocketbooks get a lot of attention from the Eastern and Western consumer markets.


text:
You becoming the moon

I realized

Halfway to late last night
That it has been a year

Since you became the moon

I left your room as ancient Rome

Praising something I could not understand
Because you cast light

And I could not understand
I gave you names like
Goddess

But all civilizations collapse
Even great ones

Often perhaps

Because they are great ones

And though I once thought it impossible

I have forgotten prayers
I once could trace in the dark
Like freckles on your back

There we times

We only loved each other in darkness
And your moon shine
Could only fight the sun for so long

For four months

I would only ever and always collapse next you

When you were already asleep

And wake up
When you were already gone
So the sun rise
Stopped spelling beauty
And started forcing goodbye
Through defiantly sealed shut windows
We barricaded ourselves against
But making myself in to steel
Had turned me cold
I am no longer ancient Rome

But like so many decades of peeling paint
You have left in me

Whole aqueducts
that I longer know how to fill

Only remind me of you

You lioness
You soldier

With more layers of armor around you
And sharp teeth

That still did not stop you

From biting into my shoulder
And crying

There were nights I was terrified of you
Your brightness
Could be blinding
Your shrine

A monument now to “I’m sorry”

And heaps of letters I never finished

Is like marble columns
Collapsed and dissolved
And still drawing my breath

Despite the decades between us
I still find ways to pray

I thought you were eclipsed
But the truth is

You were never the moon
You have become and have always been
One constellation

Brighter sometimes than any

Bringing beauty even in darkness

And yes, sometimes only in darkness
Dotting the sky

Like freckles I could still trace on your back
Your light

Coming towards me from millions of years ago

Is still visible on nights

When it’s late enough
And the streets are as empty

As ruins

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text:
Your Guide To Boxing And Moving Wine | Signature Cellars
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Your Guide to Boxing and Moving Wine

boxing wine

22 Dec Your Guide to Boxing and Moving Wine

If you are moving to a new home and need to transport wine or any other liquor bottles, you need to ensure they are packed properly, so that the stock stays intact. While this might seem like a simple thing to do, your wine bottles can break very easily if the packing is inadequate. Here is a simple guide that will help your box and move wines in the right manner:

#1 Check your Inventory

Check your wine inventory and identify what you want to keep, well before you begin packing. Wine bottles can be heavy and if you are paying by weight to move them, it’s best to consider which of them is worth moving and which aren’t. If you are moving over a long-distance and don’t want to shell out excessive amounts of money for transportation, consider gifting some of the wine to family and friends.

#2 Source the right supplies

If you have very expensive vintages in your wine collection or have very few bottles to move, you need to make sure that nothing breaks while it’s being moved. In these situations, you should consider buying specialty wine shipping boxes and most well-established courier companies supply them; this is something you should check in advance.

The boxes have in-built Styrofoam dividers that help keep the bottles in place while effectively protecting them from colliding against one another, and are available in varying sizes that can hold either 6/12 bottles. These boxes can be expensive, but help ensure your bottles reach the destination without breaking. The other option is cell boxes; these have cardboard dividers that keep the bottles separate. If you aren’t using these boxes, you will need packing paper and packing tape as well as a marker for labelling.

#3 Use sturdy boxes with a secure base

If the bottom of the boxes are flimsy, attempt lining it them with pieces of thick, stiff cardboard and secure them well. Reinforce these with good quality packing tape. Check the box to ensure it has the ability to hold weight and never use damaged or worn boxes.

#4 Wrap each bottle carefully

If you haven’t purchased wine shipping boxes, you’ll need to wrap each of the bottles to keep them secure and safe. When packing opened bottles, make sure you tighten the caps well. Once you have rolled the bottle in the wrapping paper, mould the bottle’s neck as you roll to make sure it’s tightly wrapped. Secure all the wrapping with tape and ensure there aren’t any loose ends.

#5 Box the wine bottles methodically

Place each of these wrapped bottles in the cell-divided box, ensuring the bottom of each of them is well protected. Once you have placed all the bottles in the box, gently shake it to check if you hear any clanging. If the wine bottles are moving around excessively, add some more packing paper or use some packing beans to fill the gaps.

#6 Tape up the box

Once you are satisfied that the wine bottles are secure and safe tape the box well using packing tape. Make sure you label all the boxes with their contents and mark them as fragile as well.

#7 Load the boxes

If you are handling the move yourself, ensure you place the liquor boxes properly on the bed floor of the moving truck instead of just stacking them above any other boxes or furniture.

For any more information on sparkling wines or custom wine cellar design and installation, you can call Signature Cellars on 1300 570 636 or use this contact form to get in touch with us. We’ll be pleased to assist you and provide custom solutions that match your requirements.

Thanks for reading,
Neil Smallman
Signature Cellars
1300 570 636

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text:
The Silly Robots Podcast

There’s a new thing in town. And by town I mean the internet. And by the internet I mean the thing that drives us all mad.

But I digress.

The Silly Robots Podcast is here, and we would love it if you would join us. Your hosts are Silly Robot Will and Silly Robot Grant, and we talk about lots of stuff. And things. We also have guests. You know, podcast stuff. The first episode is already up, and we will be publishing new episodes every Friday. Please subscribe! You can find us on iTunes, and also at our website.

Here’s a sneak preview of some of our upcoming episodes…

  1. Intro
  2. Interview with author Nick Thacker
  3. Music Review – The Dear Hunter: Act IV, Rebirth in Reprise/CHVRCHES Every open Eye
  4. Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu Ray review

Thanks for reading, now please go listen! You can also follow the show on Twitter and Facebook!

Have you picked up the latest book?


text:
Nathaniel the Tarantula

A little while back I wrote about my boy’s awesome idea for this year’s Halloween costume. I am pleased to report that, through a collaborative process, his idea developed from conception to the real thing.

Kids tarantula costume

BIG spider…

AND he’s a finalist in a halloween photo contest!

Vote for The Tarantula to win this contest in two easy steps:

1. View the great photo of our spiderific creation by Tangerine Photography.

2. Click LIKE to vote for The Tarantula.

Thanks for your support.

Here’s how it all started…

Kids tarantula costume sketch

Up, up and away…

You may or may not know that I sew. A lot, actually. So much that I’ve started a separate blog to chronicle my projects. Most recently, I helped a good friend design and construct 26 (twenty-six!) superhero capes for her daughter’s 6th birthday party.

Read more…

“Step into my parlour…”

You know, for someone who wants the simple life, I seem to have a rare talent for planning complicated projects.

Hallowe’en is coming. It’s always been my favourite holiday, even more so now that I’m a mom. For about a month now, my 5-year-old and I have been dialoguing about what costume he wants me to make this year. First, it was a skeleton and I must admit I found the idea of buying a costume oddly inviting – waaay easier (and cheaper, too, as it turns out). Then, he suggested a ghost. A small section of my artistic side died at the suggestion of a sheet with holes cut in it. He must have sensed it because his next idea was a robot. Finally, lastly and no turning back or changing of minds, he has decided on a tarantula.

Since settling on the creepiest of all spiders, he has been asking every day when I plan to get started. We did some sketches, which he coloured, and purchased the fabric yesterday. I’ll post my progress.

Yes, it may look messy, but believe it or not, it makes sense to me.

View from the back.

Just trying to get my head around all the pieces we’re going to need to put this puppy together.

The black and rust-coloured fun fur is absolutely perfect. Now, all I have to do is turn 2-dimensional swaths of fabric into a 3-dimensional gigantic spider. No problem!