Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Four Seasons by Matthew Bright The Surf Club. From the moment it first opened its doors on New Year’s Eve 1930, The Surf Club has hosted history. It is here that you will find Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club, an oceanfront destination bringing a new era of glamour elevated with chic Italian dining and a world-class spa. Accommodations. With privileged beach and pool views, our Ocean Bungalows are luxurious hideaways located on the second floor of The Surf Club’s legendary Cabana Row. From the earliest years, original architect Russell Pancost instinctively understood that these sun sanctuaries would always remain the true soul of The Surf Club. Northern Ballet: Dangerous Liaisons review – more sedate than seductive. N ame recognition is important for ballet companies: make a ballet of a familiar story, get bums on seats, stay afloat. But that doesn’t mean a known title always makes a good ballet. Northern Ballet’s David Nixon first tackled Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses in the 90s, and he’s not the only choreographer to do so – some thought Liam Scarlett’s version one of his best ballets. You’d think all that romping and decadence would be a no-brainer, but the convolutions of the plot, especially those involving letters passed from one person to another that we’ll never read, are hard to fathom despite Nixon’s attempts at giving pointers in the voiceover introduction. The prevailing attitude, as exemplified by the Abigail Prudames’ Marquise de Merteuil, is aloof and manipulative, to coolly one-dimensional effect. With a synopsis at hand, you’ll discover that the Marquise and her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont (Joseph Taylor) are planning various seductions, merely for sport, involving the virginal Cécile Volanges (Rachael Gillespie), the married Madame de Tourvel (Antoinette Brooks-Daw) and Matthew Koon’s Chevalier Danceny; the latter’s naive enthusiasm ruined by the Marquise’s ploys, but Koon’s bright presence and darting jumps always a pleasure for the audience. Joseph Taylor and Antoinette Brooks-Daw in Dangerous Liaisons. Photograph: Emma Kauldhar. The first act’s scene-setting is sedate rather than bodice-ripping, probably what 17th-century aristocratic life was really like (when you want it to be more like Nicholas Hoult’s court in The Great). Vivaldi’s Four Seasons forms the soundtrack, played live. There’s no denying the greatness of the music, but there’s a reason choreographers now tend to favour more cinematic scores that help narrate the action. Things hot up in the second act when real feelings get involved. Brooks-Daw has the best part as the virtuous, strong yet vulnerable De Tourvel, the only one emotionally invested from the off. Nixon is a good dance-maker, often finding interesting ways to start a phrase, and he sews some motives into the steps, like Taylor’s Valmont demonstrating many different ways to throw a woman in the air, tossing Gillespie aggressively or carefully holding Brooks-Daw aloft like a thing of wonder. But while some moments cut through, there’s not enough real passion or tangible plot to seduce. At Sadler’s Wells, London, until 10 June. Northern Ballet perform Contemporary Cuts at Sadler’s Wells, 11-12 June. “My Father Is Made of Light” in Steampunk Universe. My proto “Anito-Punk” story “My Father Is Made Of Light” was recently published in the anthology Steampunk Universe edited by Sarah Hans. This is an older story which was the seed for a longer, later work called “Father is the Blood, Mother is the Wine” which originally came out in Lontar Volume 9. The anthology also features works by Maurice Broaddus, Ken Liu, Malon Edwards, Suna Dasi, Emily Cataneo, Matthew Bright, Pip Ballantine, Jody Lynn Nye, and Lucy Snyder. HOME AGAIN. I believe it was in college during a presumably addled viewing of Freeway –that deliriously nasty, white trash piss-take on Little Red Riding Hood from writer-director Matthew Bright– when I first swore my undying allegiance to its leading lady, an up-and-coming young actress named Reese Witherspoon. Such was our affinity for this particular performance that before the end credits my friend Greg insisted he would someday marry her. Sadly, superstardom precluded Witherspoon from starring in any more filthy indies as cheerfully appalling as Freeway , and she never did end up with Greg. But twenty years later the diminutive spitfire remains a crackerjack comedienne and typically the best thing about whatever she happens to be in. Witherspoon’s precision-timing and Type-A intelligence elevate everything around her, even a picture as anodyne as Home Again . Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, whose mother Nancy Meyers has cornered the market on cozy comedies of affluence with strong female leads and exquisite interior design, Home Again strives to be in the same league as mom’s Something’s Gotta Give , It’s Complicated or The Intern – but it lacks a certain specificity in the screenplay department. The characters all feel one draft away from being distinctive, and while we’re at it the set decoration could use some touching up. Witherspoon stars as the daughter of a deceased Hollywood legend, and from context clues we can surmise he’s like if John Cassavetes had won an Oscar and his movies actually made money. Upon separating from her sleazy New York music mogul husband (a mugging Michael Sheen) she takes the kids and moves back into Dad’s sprawling Hollywood mansion to get some tart advice on starting over from her mom (Candice Bergen, who I guess is supposed to be playing a Gena Rowlands who got dumped.) During a drunken night out on her fortieth birthday, our heroine recklessly hooks up with a handsome dullard (Pico Alexander) thirteen years her junior and faster than you can say “cougar” she’s got him and his two equally obnoxious film school buddies crashing in her dad’s guest house, where they all indulge in some mildly amusing sitcom shenanigans. Reese rocks several pairs of mom jeans and her formidable charisma carries these three young actors I doubt we’re going to see in another big movie anytime soon. It’s one of those not unpleasant nor surprising stories in which at the end everyone’s in a big rush to get to the school play. There isn’t an awful lot at stake here and never any question of Witherspoon ending up with either her banal boy toy or Sheen’s preening, penitent hubby. To the extent that Home Again is refreshing it’s in that here’s a picture about a sexually desirable middle-aged woman who is pursued by several men before deciding that she deserves better than all of them. She deserves a better movie, too. 2021 NFL free agency: set to return to Patriots on reported four-year deal. The aren’t finished signing free agents just yet. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the team has agreed on a four-year deal with Lawrence Guy to keep the veteran defensive tackle in New England through his age 35 season. The Patriots are therefore adding to a busy day in which they already re-signed fan favorite James White and added veteran special teamer LaRoy Reynolds. Since arriving in New England, Guy has built a reputation for being a reliable interior presence, amassing 235 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and 13.5 sacks over his first four seasons. A first time captain in 2020, Guy was the lone bright spot in the Patriots 26th ranked run defense, leading the defensive front seven in run stuffs. That same run defense seemed to be a major factor in the Patriots free agent philosophy this offseason, as Guy will become the ninth front seven player to receive a contract from the Patriots since the start of the new league year. That list includes defensive lineman Henry Anderson, , , Carl Davis, and Deatrich Wise Jr. as well as linebackers , , and Raekwon McMillan. Guy, Anderson, Godchaux, Davis, Adams, Wise, , , Nick Thurman, Bill Murray, and Michael Barnett are all well equipped to play interior roles, and with the Patriots expected to implement more three down fronts in 2021, it is to be expected that that list of names will be competing for a few number of spots. This move brings the Patriots’ roster to 79 players, meaning they only have 11 available for remaining free agents, draft picks, and undrafted rookies.