Let me guess, Patti LuPone says as she plinks olives into a martini. You came here to be a movie star.

Here, of course, is Hollywood, where dreams are made, faked, defeated and deferred. In Ryan Murphys Hollywood, a seven-episode limited series that comes to Netflix on Friday, LuPone plays Avis Amberg, a former actress married to the head of Ace Studios. Ace Studios, while fictional, looks like Paramount Pictures, walks like MGM and green-lights pictures more progressive than any the Golden Age birthed. Set in the late 1940s as the studio system began to wane, Hollywood enjoys this dizzy cocktail of history and hopeful make-believe.

As a kid, Murphy watched Hollywood oldies with his grandmother and became particularly attached to three actors: Anna May Wong, Hattie McDaniel and Rock Hudson all of them, he felt, stifled by the studio system.

I was attracted to the idea of lost potential, he said in a telephone interview last week. And maybe worried about it myself, that I was not going to be allowed to be who I wanted to be because of who I was.

After completing the first season of his series Feud, set in 1960s Hollywood, he mulled a more factual series honoring the systems victims. But ultimately, it was just too fragmented and also, to be honest, too depressing, he said.

He began to think along revisionist lines, instead, imagining what might have happened if people of color had been offered work commensurate with their talent, if the industry had allowed its queer members to live openly. Happy endings all around.

Hollywood, which he created with Ian Brennan, mingles actuality and what-if. Real people like Hudson (Jake Picking), Wong (Michelle Krusiec) and McDaniel (Queen Latifah) rub elbows and more with invented ones like David Corenswets Jack, an aspiring actor and sometime gigolo, and Darren Crisss Raymond, a biracial director who passes for white. Others merge fact and fictions, like LuPones Avis, inspired by David O. Selznicks wife, Irene Selznick, or Joe Mantellos Dick, a homage, at least in part, to the movie whiz Irving Thalberg.

To help sort entertainment history from fantasy, here is an introduction to the real-life figures who populate this counterfactual Hollywood and the inspirations for several of the seriess fictional characters. Action!

An actor who would ride the beefcake craze of the 1950s, Hudson, born Roy Harold Scherer Jr., came to Hollywood in the late 1940s.

He knew how he looked, said Picking, who wore facial prosthetics to play Hudson, a former Navy aircraft mechanic. He would stand out in front of the studio gates in his uniform hoping to bump into someone influential.

A bit player in the 40s, Hudson, who signed with the talent manager Henry Willson, graduated to westerns, adventure pictures and melodramas, earning an Oscar nomination for his work in Giant. In 1959, he starred opposite Doris Day in Pillow Talk, a comedy in which his character briefly masquerades as gay. He projected an attractive yet unthreatening masculinity, said Steve Cohan, an author and film historian.

Willson thwarted tabloid attempts to out Hudson as gay and Hudson later married Willsons secretary, Phyllis Gates, in what was possibly a lavender marriage meant to further allay suspicion. (Gates denied this. We were very much in love, she told a biographer.) In 1985, Hudsons publicist confirmed a diagnosis of AIDS, and two months later, Hudson became one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS-related complications.

A serial abuser and a starmaker with an impeccable eye for brawny, unformed talent, Willson helped rename and introduce actors such as Hudson, Tab Hunter and Troy Donahue, as well as women like Natalie Wood and Lana Turner. For a while there, he understood how to make his own little factory of these strapping all-American men and plug them into the movies, said Jim Parsons, who plays Willson in Hollywood. That doesnt excuse the despicable behavior by any means.

The well-documented behavior included demanding sex from his male clients and various forms of psychological abuse, even as he protected his roster from hostile press and blackmailers. He ranks right up there with Harvey Weinstein as one of the towns greatest monsters of all time, Murphy said. Deserted by his clients in later life, he died destitute.

Hollywoods first Asian-American star, Wong, a third-generation Chinese-American, grew up in Los Angeles, where her parents ran a laundry, and went on to appear in dozens of silent and sound films.

She was captivating, said Emily Carman, a film professor at Chapman University. Her presence radiated charisma and elegance.

A fashion plate and a publicity darling, she rarely won principal parts (her later B movies are an exception) or unexoticized roles. As Wong, played by Michelle Krusiec, says in the series, They dont want a leading lady who looks like me.

The role of O-Lan in The Good Earth, the film adaptation of Pearl S. Bucks China-set novel, seemed made-to-measure for Wong. But the production code, a self-censoring charter major studios adopted, prohibited romantic scenes between actors of different races. Since Paul Muni, a white actor, had been cast as O-Lans husband, the part instead went to Luise Rainer, a white actress who played O-Lan in yellowface and won an Oscar for it. The Good Earth producers offered Wong the role of a seductress, the movies villain, but she refused it.

An alcoholic who experienced periods of depression, she died in 1961 at the age of 56. Her lonely death, that for me was very sad to discover, Krusiec said.

The first person of color to win an Oscar, McDaniel, the daughter of former slaves, began her career in vaudeville, as did several of her siblings. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s and soon found screen work playing maids.

She was a scene stealer, Carman said. She knew how to mobilize that stereotype to her advantage.

She fought for the role of Mammy in Gone With the Wind, arriving for her screen test in a real maids uniform. She won an Oscar for it, though at the ceremony itself she was relegated by the events organizers to a segregated table. While she hoped the award might unlock a broader away of roles, Hollywood only saw her as a maid.

Later in her career, some African-American activists attacked McDaniel for accepting regressive roles. Her stock response: Id rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be a maid and make $7.

A woman had to make a living, said Queen Latifah, who plays McDaniel. But it was a waste of her talent. She was a powerhouse. She could sing. She could dance. She could act. She was smart. She was funny. She had timing. She was brilliant.

In the third episode of Hollywood, the film director Cukor (Daniel London) throws a wild party with an elite guest list, including Leigh and Bankhead, and a crew of sex workers to provide postprandial entertainment. Cukor, who directed The Philadelphia Story and Gaslight, did host louche parties, many of them all-male. Leigh (Katie McGuinness), who played Scarlett OHara in Gone With the Wind, and Bankhead (Paget Brewster), who tested for the role, were both close friends of Cukors. In the late 40s, Leigh was about to appear in the stage version of A Streetcar Names Desire and was experiencing episodes of bipolar disorder. Bankhead, known as one of Hollywoods most accomplished seducers of women (including McDaniel, according to a persistent rumor) as well as men, had recently had a hit with Alfred Hitchcocks Lifeboat.

Though Murphy disclaims any interest in Bowers, Dylan McDermotts Ernie runs a service station that doubles as an anything-goes bordello. This dovetails with Bowerss claims, aired in a controversial 2012 memoir, that he spent decades providing sexual services to the Hollywood elect, first as a pump jockey then as a party bartender.

Whatever folks wanted, I had it. I could make all their fantasies come true, he wrote in the introduction to Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars. The book alleges that Bowers arranged liaisons for the likes of Hudson, Cole Porter and Leigh (who all appear in the series as clients), as well as Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. (The stars he wrote about were already dead but the families of some of them, like Cary Grant, disputed the claims.)

Within Hollywood, Jeremy Popes screenwriter character, Archie Coleman (glancingly inspired by James Baldwins Hollywood experience), sells a script about Entwistle, a 23-year-old aspiring actress who finally achieved brief fame by jumping from the H of the Hollywood sign, back when the sign still spelled Hollywoodland.

Born in Wales, she moved with her father to New York and began acting as a teenager, including a tour with the New York Theater Guild and in a number of Broadway plays. In the spring of 1932, she came to Los Angeles with a play and stayed to shoot her only film. Her contract was not renewed. After telling her uncle she planned to visit friends, she disappeared. A hiker discovered her body at the foot of the sign.

Originally posted here:
Hollywood Offers Alternate History, and Glimpses of a Real One - The New York Times

Chennai-based president of South Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Ramachandran Ganapathi says, If they are not safe, how can we be safe, he wondered before adding, at the risk of offending them, they must be encouraged to take a test, given protective equipment, sanitisers and even a shower before they begin their work.

Priya Gopalan, a mother of three and a homemaker from Bangalore, would not think of letting her maid go. Where can one find such reliable people, she asked and said, I used to do more than half the work even earlier. But I have had this maid for the past four years and we have gotten comfortable with each other.

Jaipur-based senior Public Relations professional Jagdeep Singh felt that people would not mind paying maids their wages for March and April. But if the lockdown gets extended, then they might decide to do away with house helps, he said. At least one Noida based housewife, however, has been thanking the lockdown for giving her the opportunity to bid goodbye to her maid. She was never regular, came at her own convenience. Once the lockdown is lifted, I would not like to have her again, declared a resolute Renu Bhatia.

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Housemaids need a helping hand - National Herald

Scotland is in lockdown. Shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. We're not exaggerating when we say that the future of the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter is under threat.Please consider supporting the Reporter in whatever way you can by paying just 85p for a copy of the paper, when you're shopping for essential supplies for yourself and others, or by subscribing to our e-edition here.Thanks and stay safe................................

An engineer from East Kilbride has carriedout essential repair work on the Maid of the Loch - 70 years after his father helped build the ship.

The remarkable connection spanning seven decades has delighted Eddie Van der Stighelen whose Belgian father was foreman of the engineering workshop at the Glasgow shipyard where the much-loved paddle steamer was built.

Eddie, whose company specialises in construction industry tools and plant maintenance, offered to restore the Maid of the Loch's windlass after discovering via social media that help was being sought with the ship's renovation.

However, the work took on a much deeper significance because of the family's connection to the ship.

Eddie explained: "My father, Jan Van der Stighelen, was a Belgian national who served in the Belgian Merchant Navy from before WW2 until the wars end.

"My parents had met during the war and were married in Glasgow in 1943, but after the war they returned to Belgium where their first two children were born.

In 1951, the family moved from Belgium to Glasgow and my father started working for the shipyard A&J Inglis at Pointhouse.

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"Later that year, work started on building the Maid of the Loch, and as foreman of the engineers shop, his skills would have been in much demand."

The Maid of the Loch was constructed at the Glasgow shipyard, but was dismantled and brought to Balloch where her sections were reassembled.

Eddie said: My brother, who is four years older than me, remembers being taken in my fathers van to Balloch, presumably to the slipway where the Maid was constructed and launched into Loch Lomond.

The ship's windlass - which is required for handling the mooring warps - was in poor condition and it had to be dismantled, cleaned and inspected to ensure it could still be made to work again.

Eddie said: "Thanks to the quality of the materials used and the robustness of the design the windlass renovation is almost complete."

Now he hopes his company, Vantech Engineering Services, will be given the chance to carry out more engineering work on the ship.

The Loch Lomond Steamship Company, the charity which owns the Maid, says the repair of the original piece of equipment is another step forward in its aim of returning the historic ship to full sailing condition.

It added: "So the Maid has benefitted from the skills of this amazing engineering family with Jan the father as the shipbuilder and Eddie his son, almost 70 years later, the renovator."

Maid of the Loch is the last paddle steamer to be built in Britain, and sailed on Loch Lomond until 1981.

A 1.1 million refit last year refurbished two of her public rooms back to her 1950s style, and restored her engines back into steam operation for the first time since 1981.

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Eddie works on Maid of the Loch repairs - 70 years after his dad helped build the much-loved ship - The Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter

SINGAPORE - Twenty victims of credit-for-sex scams have been penalised for flouting circuit breaker measures as they had left their residences to procure sexual services, a non-essential activity.

The victims procured these sexual services by leaving their homes to buy gift cards or to make payment at AXS machines and were each issued a composition sum of $300 for flouting safe distancing regulations under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations, the police said in a statement on Thursday (April 30).

Between April 18 and 29 this year, the police received separate reports from at least 20 male victims, aged between 18 and 52, that they had fallen prey to credit-for-sex scams.

In total, the victims were cheated of more than $50,000.

In most cases, the victims had befriended the scammers or searched for sexual services through online applications such as WeChat, Tinder and Michat, or websites such as Locanto and Skokka.

There were also instances where scammers would proactively approach the victims through these online applications or websites to offer sexual services. The victims were then instructed to either make advance payments via AliPay credits at AXS machines or buy iTunes or Google Play gift cards and send over the redemption codesin exchange for the sexual services.

The scammers then became uncontactable after the advance payments were made.

In the first three months of the year, the police received 237 reports of credit-for-sex scams, with more than $613,000 cheated. The number of cases reported increased by 40.2 per cent and the total amount cheated increased by more than $211,000 when compared with the same period in 2019.

The police advised the public to be wary of friend requests or online listings offering escort, massage or sexual services as they may be fraudulent in nature.

Police said scammers may employ scare tactics to threaten victims into making more payments. They urged the public not to accede to the scammers' demands or give out personal details such as their credit card information.

They added that people should take the circuit breaker measures seriously, and avoid going out during this period.

Those in doubt or have information related to credit-for-sex crimes can call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000, or visitthiswebsite.

People who need urgent police assistance can call 999.

To get scam-related advice, the public can call the anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688 or visit this website.

Members of the public can also join the "Let's fight scams" campaignby signing up to receive up-to-date messages and share them with their family and friends.

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20 victims of credit-for-sex scams breached circuit breaker rules by leaving homes to procure sexual services - The Straits Times

Callous thieves have stolen a gazebo that was reportedly being used to treat patients at a Burton doctors' surgery.

The green gazebo was last seen on Friday, May 1, before thieves swiped it from Bridge Surgery between then and this morning.

It is thought it was being used as an outdoor shelter and consulting area in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen doctors change the way they work in order to combat the virus.

Staffordshire Police confirmed the theft was reported to them this morning.

A spokesman for the police force said: "It was reported to us at 9.30am that the gazebo had been stolen from Bridge Surgery on St Peter's Street.

"It was described as two-by-two metres and green and was last seen on Friday.

"Any witnesses or anyone with information can get in touch by calling 101 and quoting incident number 136 of May 4."

The surgery has been approached for comment.

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Gazebo reportedly used to treat patients stolen from Burton GP surgery - Derbyshire Live

Another summer Shuswap tradition has been postponed due to COVID-19

The Wednesday on the Wharf (WOW) concert series, presented by the Shuswap District Arts Council at Salmon Arms Marine Park, will not be proceeding this year.

For 26 years the concert series has provided residents with a place to gather with friends and family on the grass at the park gazebo stage to enjoy the lively sounds of talented musicians, states the arts council in a media release.

In 2020, however, the events that have unfolded with the COVID-19 pandemic have led to the cancellation of many community gatherings, and WOW has now been added to the list of summer festivals that will not happen this year, reads the release.

The 12-week series was set to begin in June, but provincial health authorities are not expected to lift the restriction on gatherings of 50 or more people until the end of summer.

Read more: In photos: Music lovers make their way to Wednesday on the Wharf

Read more: Net cast for musical acts to play Salmon Arm concert series

Since WOW attracts anywhere from 300 to 600 people, stated the arts council, this clearly exceeds the limits of what is considered a safe outdoor gathering.

This is not the situation that any of us were hoping for, said program manager Astrid Varnes. We were hoping we might be able to offer a shortened season, perhaps with a mid-July or August start, but it is not to be.

WOW is not just about the music, its about connecting with friends and family, about audiences dancing and having a picnic, and we realized we couldnt offer WOW in a way that would ensure everybodys health and safety.

The arts council is committed to long-term, sustainable cultural planning, and will continue to work toward a 2021 season that is adaptable to the new reality that is the performing arts sector.

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Another summer Shuswap tradition on hold due to COVID-19 - Salmon Arm Observer

Long before the coronavirus pandemic crushed the economy and slowed real estate sales, some high-priced residential properties were lingering on the market.

Asking prices were dropped and negotiations took place to close the deal. Here are examples:

621 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland's Forest Park sold for $850,000 on Feb. 28, 2020 by Don Jones with Casey Jones of John L. Scott.John L. Scott

$350,000 price drop in Forest Park: 621 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland sold for $850,000 on Feb. 28, 2020, a reduction of $350,000 since being listed for $1.2 million on April 24, 2018, according to public records.

The house with sweeping valley and coast range views was built in 1989 on 1.94 acres and has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and 3,473 square feet of living space. The gated driveway leads to a five-car garage, greenhouse, gazebo, tool building and raised garden beds and in-ground sprinklers.

Possible apartment with kitchen and separate entry in lower level with unbelievable storage and/or shop potential said listing agent Don Jones with Casey Jones of John L. Scott. See active listings

2524 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland sold for $1,465,000 on March 25, 2020 by Mary Ann McDowell with Darrin Amico of Hasson Company.Hasson Company

$234,000 price drop in Forest Park: 2524 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland sold for $1,465,000 on March 25, 2020, a reduction of $234,000 since being listed for $1,699,000 on June 24, 2019 (It was listed at $1.9 million on July 30, 2018).

The French Country-style house, built in 1995 on 1.22 acres, has a real concrete stucco exterior and real stucco interior walls plus three fireplaces. French doors, balconies, three bedrooms, four bathrooms and 4,625 square feet of living space.

Among the landscaped grounds are a saltwater pool, sauna and hot tub.

Quality construction throughout. Zinc windowsills and thresholds, said listing agent Mary Ann McDowell with Darrin Amico of Hasson Company. See active listings

3510 S.W. Sherwood Place in Portland sold for $1.35 million on April 16, 2020 by Dennis Laird of Windermere Realty Trust.Windermere Realty Trust

$200,000 price drop in Portland Heights: 3510 S.W. Sherwood Place in Portland sold for $1.35 million on April 16, 2020, a reduction of $200,000 since being listed for $1.55 million on July 19, 2019.

The custom home was built in 1962 on 1.03 acres and designed to frame city, river and mountain views over Marquam Park and have direct access to trails and OHSU. The house has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 4,383 square feet of living space.

There is a fenced yard and deep, two-car garage.

Designed for privacy by the father of Pacific Northwest architecture John Storrs. A recent remodel kept the original design integrity intact. Updates include a luxury master suite, complete kitchen and all bathrooms. Nearly every surface has been thoughtfully recreated, said listing agent Dennis Laird of Windermere Realty Trust. See active listings

13731 N.W. Glendoveer Dr. In Portland's Forest Park sold for $1 million on April 15, 2020 by Don Jones with Casey Jones of John L. Scott.John L. Scott

$195,000 price drop in Forest Park: 13731 N.W. Glendoveer Dr. in Portland sold for $1 million on April 15, 2020, a reduction of $195,000 since being listed for $1,195,000 on April 6, 2019.

The Craftsman house with a wraparound porch was built in 1999 on 1.02 acres and was showcased in NW Naturals Street of Dreams.

The custom luxury home has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a bonus room and 4,876 square feet of living space.

Theres a double staircase, crown moldings and wainscoting, and refinished hardwoods, said listing agent Don Jones with Casey Jones of John L. Scott. See active listings

13810 N.W. Charlton Road in Portland sold for $1,050,000 on April 15, 2020 by Matt Mahaffy of Windermere Realty Trust.Windermere Realty Trust

$100,000 price drop in Sauvie Island: 13810 N.W. Charlton Road in Portland sold for $1,050,000 on April 15, 2020, a reduction of $100,000 since being listed for $1,150,000 on Feb. 20, 2020.

The custom house, built in 2002 on 2.11 acres, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an indoor sauna and 2,176 square feet of living space.

There is a covered outdoor patio with a wood-burning pizza oven and a three-bay, 30x50 shop.

Completely designed and reimagined by award-winning Olson Design Build at the end of Charlton Road, making it extremely private, said listing agent Matt Mahaffy of Windermere Realty Trust. See active listings

48000 E. Larch Mountain Road in Corbett sold for $850,000 by listing agent Michelle Smith of RE/MAX Equity Group.RE/MAX Equity Group

$75,000 price drop in Corbett: 48000 E. Larch Mountain Road in the Larch Mountain Corridor sold for $850,000 on Feb. 13, 2020, a reduction of $75,000 since being listed for $925,000 on May 30, 2019.

The two-level, traditional-style house, built in 1995 on 13.58 acres, has five bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 4,021 square feet of living space.

A gate opens to a blacktop driveway. There is extensive decking plus outbuildings, including a 3,600-square-foot shop and 1,200-square-foot tractor barn.

Get away from it all. Experience nature at its finest. Amazing opportunity to raise your family and animals on extremely quiet and private acreage in a low wind area in the Corbett School District, said listing agent Michelle Smith of RE/MAX Equity Group. See active listings

--Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman

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On the market: Portland homes that finally sold after a huge price cut - OregonLive

Tom Creans third Georgia mens basketball team will certainly have his fingerprints all over it.

Not a single player will remain from the roster he took over from Mark Fox in March of 2018.

The players Crean will have this coming season will all have been recruited to Georgia by him. That became assured over the weekend after forward Rayshaun Hammonds became the seventh player from this past seasons roster to depart. Hammonds is staying in the NBA draft where he joins Bulldog teammate and possible No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards.

"Im just in the process of building our team on a daily basis," Crean said. "We are certainly in a remodeling phase with all that we are losing this year with the three senior guards and Anthony and Rayshaun. Out staff is working very hard at being flexible and focused on helping our current players finish the semester and understand what they have to do to improve."

College basketballwith underclassmen leaving for the NBA and an active transfer portalhas become a sport where rosters are often in flux from season to season.

The Bulldogs again are in that mode after losing four of their top five scorers and rebounders from a team that went 16-16 overall and 5-13 in the SEC. In addition to losing Edwards and Hammonds, guards Jordan Harris, Tyree Crump and Donnell Gresham completed their eligibility and forwards Rodney Howard (transfer to Georgia Tech) and Amanze Ngumezi (transfer to Jacksonville State after being suspended) are now elsewhere.

Georgia is set to bring in at least six newcomers for the 2020-21 season including four-star recruits in guard K.D. Johnson from Hargrave Military and forward Josh Taylor from Norcross.

Crean indicated that Georgia could be looking for more on the transfer market.

An intriguing name popped up on Sunday: Arizona State big man Romello White, who played at Wheeler High in Marietta, could be a graduate transfer.

"We are actively recruiting and we would like to get older and more experienced," Crean said.

George Mason graduate transfer guard Justin Kier adds an experienced presence to the Bulldogs. He played in just nine games last season due to a foot injury and led his team in scoring in 2018-19 at 14.5 points per game while averaging 6.5 rebounds per game.

"Justin brings shooting, attack off of the drive, spacing, playmaking and unselfishness to the offensive side," Crean said. "Defensively, he rebounds the ball extremely well for a guard and can defend the ball. Hes been extremely well coached. There is no doubt about that."

Hell join a core that includes sophomores that were part of one of the SECs top recruiting classes a year ago: guard Sahvir Wheeler and forwards Toumani Camara and Christian Brown.

Wheeler averaged 9.0 points and a team-high 4.5 assists per game. Camara, who averaged 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and tied for the team-high in blocks with 18, is listed as the No. 30 overall pick for 2021 by NBADraft.net.

The 6-foot-9 Hammonds had an uneven junior season but led the team in rebounding at 7.3 per game and was second in scoring at 12.9.

"Rayshaun improved in many areas," Crean said. "We would have loved to coach him in his senior year but now we will support and help him every step of the way. Rayshaun and his family made the decision that they feel is best for them and his future. My role is to provide information and then support that decision the best I can."

Some highly-sought after targets remain involved with Georgia.

Top 6 pic.twitter.com/snxT8VgPAf

Five-star center Moussa Cisse from Memphis lists the Bulldogs in his final six along with Kentucky, Florida State, Memphis, Georgetown and LSU. Five-star 2021 forwards Jonathan Kuminga and Michael Foster are also considering Georgia. They both could reclassify to 2020, but the G-League is also attracting elite prospects.

"Not having the spring, and in all likelihood not having the summer, is hard for all programs but especially with our youth and lack of scoring returning," Crean said. "We will remain very active."

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More roster turnover has Crean in remodeling mode with all players he recruited - Online Athens

Its no secret that kitchen remodeling can be super unnerving. The project involves a plethora of tasks that include planning, budgeting, finding the right designer, and so on. All our efforts to elicit information from different resources is hardly gratifying. How do you deal with the situation?

Simple. You take one step at a time. Start out with aligning your priorities and your budget, then the right choices will follow.

Now, considering the prime role that your kitchen plays, all your invested efforts are bound to be a big pay off in the future. We arent only broaching the resale value but also the changed status as a modern kitchen it implies that the space must be treated with deserved reverence.

Despite all, why are we petrified at the idea of starting a kitchen remodel? Its simple. We are scared of details and dont know how to handle them. So, how do we go about?

Thats where we have you completely covered! This article treats you to all the basic information for a kitchen remodel.

Ask yourself the reasons to renovate your kitchen. Follow this up by drawing a line between what your kitchen needs and what you want but can do without. Figuring out the basic purpose will help you invest where it is needed without going overboard.

A well-defined budget is your best guide here. Concentrate on the areas that need maximum attention and then put the not so urgent ones on hold. You can even DIY certain tasks to save money.

By all means, indulge in DIY projects wherever feasible, but leave the intricate tasks to seasoned professionals. Its not going to do you any good if in the end your project is affected by your overambitious DIY aspirations.

Make sure that the design theme of your kitchen aligns with the rest of your house. If it doesnt, time to go back to the drawing board!

Isnt this one of the primary reasons to opt for a remodel? Needs change with the change in time. Your children are perhaps on their way to becoming teens. You may have your parents living with you who may be in their advanced years. It follows that your kitchen storage must meet every new and changing need. In other words, you have to plan ahead of time. If youre planning to upgrade your kitchen, new cabinetry can contribute greatly to sprucing up your space.

The appliances in your kitchen exude style and grace with their presence. Their functional efficiency adds to the overall picture of a contemporary kitchen. Make sure that your kitchen imbibes sleek appliances with clean lines and high-tech features. Invest in hidden, built-in appliances to save space and add a statement to your space.

Lights here and lights there! What a difference lights make on the ambiance of your space!

I suggest you go overboard with them to add sparkle to your kitchen (literally)! Go for task lighting under the cabinets. A series of pendants can be used in a small kitchen and to brighten up your island. You may have led strips along the edges of cabinets and a chandelier for a dramatic impact. However, remember to keep aside a dedicated budget for this aspect, and you can have all the fun as you go along!

* This article is posted by and in partnership with Kitchen and Bath Shop, a kitchen and bathroom remodeling store located in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

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Everything You Need to Know to Upgrade Your Kitchen in 2020 - The DC Post

I cant think of a better place or a better team as I look to the future of my business

GENEVA, Ill. (PRWEB) May 04, 2020

In April of 2000, Brian Hogan, owner of Hogan Design & Construction (HDC), had the vision to be more than a construction company and a desire to go beyond building. Hogan imagined a process that focused on building relationships and breaking free of industry norms and preconceived notions from which, expectations are understood, embraced, and eventually surpassed. This is the HDC foundation and formula for success.

Your needs above all else are more than a mantra at HDC. Providing residential and commercial clients with an innovative full-service remodeling and home builder solution is just the beginning of the proven HDC process, developed and honed over the past 20 years. The dedicated team of HDC designers, project managers, carpenters, and support staff are committed to delivering fully functional dream spaces, transforming homes and businesses alike with Design-Build and Selection Assisted Build services.

With the launch of a new website, award-winning project design, and quality craftsmanship, HDC has built a reputation based on integrity, dependability, and customer service excellence. Generosity and kindness describe the HDC company and community philosophy. Through sponsorships, charitable donations of time and talent, and activism, the HDC team contributes to their community, finding and at times, creating causes and collaborative cooperatives that improve the quality of life in their region.I cant think of a better place or a better team as I look to the future of my business, said Brian Hogan, Owner, and Founder of Hogan Design & Construction (HDC). I look forward to the next 20 years, to serving my community and industry with pride and admiration.

Established in 2000, Hogan Design & Constructions (HDC) proven process has been developed and honed since our inception 20 years ago. We have built a reputation based on our integrity, dependability, high-quality work, and excellent customer service & satisfaction. We dont just build spaces. We develop long-lasting relationships that deliver your dreams. For more information on HDC, please visithttp://www.hdcbuild.com. Beyond Building.

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Hogan Design & Construction (HDC) Celebrating 20 Years of Community Collaboration and Remodeling, Renovation, and Home Building Excellence - PR...