Virginia Beach trolleys rev up for the season, serving the resort area, along Shore Drive
The VB Wave trolley service returns for the summer season Sunday with an extended route and a new app to pay for fares.
Trolley ridership was up 59% last year as compared with 2023, according to Hampton Roads Transit, which operates the routes. New this year, Route 31, which services campgrounds and the Virginia Aquarium, will extend from Rudee Inlet to Atlantic Avenue and 18th Street.
Also new this season, riders can purchase tickets through the new GoMobile app with a credit card. Mobile ticketing is only available for The VB Wave trolley — not other HRT services.
An adult single trip on VB Wave costs $2; a one-day pass is $4.50, and a three-day pass is $8. Discounted fees are available. Children ride for free while accompanied by a fare-paying adult.
VB Wave also connects to HRT bus lines, including Routes 20 and 960 express service to downtown Norfolk.
The trolleys, augmented by regular HRT buses, serve three routes:
Route 30: Extends from one end of Atlantic Avenue to the other. Stops along the way at shops, restaurants, museums and more with service about every 15 minutes from 8 a.m.-2 a.m. daily through the Neptune Festival, Sept. 26-28.
Route 31 (aquarium/campground): This route is being extended from Rudee Inlet to Atlantic Avenue and 18th Street from campgrounds and tennis courts, fun parks and the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. Route 31 will operate daily every 20 minutes from 9:30 a.m.-11:10 p.m. through Labor Day and again on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only from Sept. 5 through the Neptune Festival.
Route 35 (Bayfront Shuttle): Services between Parks Avenue/19th Street up Pacific Avenue to Shore Drive/Pleasure House Road. Route 35 services the Oceanfront, First Landing State Park, Edgar Cayce's A.R.E., Fort Story at Atlantic Avenue and 88th Street, North End beaches, Chesapeake Bay beaches and bayfront restaurants on Shore Drive. Operates daily, about every 30 minutes, from 8 a.m.-12:30 a.m. through Labor Day and on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only through the Neptune Festival.
For more information about the VB Wave Trolley, including fares and maps, visit https://gohrt.com/modes/vb-wave-bayfront-shuttle/.
To use HRT's new interactive system map, visit https://gohrt.com/system-map.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
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Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
'The Home': Pete Davidson goes dark in retirement home horror movie from 'Purge' filmmaker James DeMonaco
DeMonaco talks Davidson's horror skills, teases 'Purge 6' and recalls the impact of watching Francis Ford Coppola 'handcuffed' by the studio for 'Jack' The man behind the Purge franchise, writer/director James DeMonaco, put fellow Staten Island talent Pete Davidson into the horror genre for his new film The Home (now in theatres), a genre-bending thriller set in a retirement home. Davidson plays Max, who's fulfilling his court-ordered community service at the retirement home, when he start suspecting there's something sinister happening in this, frankly, creepy residence. "I saw certain people in my life getting older and some of the facilities that they were put into, I found the facilities quite creepy in and of themselves, ... especially to a little boy who saw these things growing up," DeMonaco told Yahoo about where the idea for The Home started. "I saw a very scary one when I was a young man, and that stayed with me." "And then there were various things that played into that, I think, over the years, [but] that was probably the seed. And my writing partner, [Adam Cantor], ... something happened with his grandparents that mirrored my experience when I was a very young man. ... And then for me, there was a movie that had a great influence on me, it was Robert Altman's 3 Women, which is set at an elderly spa in the desert. ... I think it's one of the great films ever made, and it has incredible creep factor." While The Home leans into its "creep factor," the majority of people still associate Davidson with comedy, but DeMonaco knew that he had the ability to take on a different genre of storytelling. "He literally lived down the street from me here in Staten Island, ... his mom still lives down the street," DeMonaco said. "People know him as a comic, but I knew him as something else. ... He surprised me at how good an actor he was outside of the comedy." "I wrote it during COVID and my buddy Adam, a local guy too, ... we were writing and thinking, well who's of this age, 26, 27, there's not many names out there. ... We're not going to get Chalamet. I was writing with Pete before that. We were, ... oddly, writing a comedy right before COVID hit, and we were keeping in touch during COVID. ... There was something natural in ... the character of Max in The Home that I felt that Pete could tap into. ... Pete had some trauma in his life, a lot of trauma in his childhood, so I felt he could relate to what Max was going through. Pete's an artist, Max is an artist. And he, I think, purges some of that trauma through his art, and I felt Max was doing what Pete does also. So I felt there was something there." 'I need to be invested in the character's plight' The most lofty task for DeMonaco in The Home is achieving this slow burn of the story, but also building tension effectively to give the audience a powerful final act. "The Purge, I always say, is like a punch in the face. I thought here ... we were building something with various layers and twists and turns that The Purge really doesn't have," DeMonaco said. "I wanted to get to this point where the audience would need a cathartic release, ... as Max did. ... I also wanted them to be so angry at certain characters in the film, without giving anything away, that I felt that they would be looking forward to this last 20 minutes." "Sometimes I think filmmakers were forced, when we work in certain parameters, we have to pull punches. We can't show everything we want to show. And I was like, no, no, if I'm going to do this, we're going to go, we're going to turn it up to 11. ... It's a matter of always giving [the audience] enough, but not too much, especially when you're dealing with somewhat of a mystery." DeMonaco added that having the audience engaged in Max's journey was critical to the build up of tension in the film "I think, hopefully, Pete's engaged in the mystery of what's happening in The Home, and the audience will stay with him and want to follow him," DeMonaco said. "I know that there are some horror films that kind of work just as visceral rides, but I think for me, I need to be invested in the character's plight. So we took a lot of time, I think, trying to build what Max went through, the trauma of his past." "And I think when you get to the editing room, that's where everything changes. And you could throw out all your ideas and say, alright this is going too slow, we need to move this faster. Let's move this scene up here, because we need a little jolt for the audience to give them a little more. ... My producer says it's almost like a a Swiss clock. It's got a lot of moving parts and you've got to make sure they're all fitting, and we're just giving enough to the audience, and not letting them sit there in the dark for too long." Big budget vs. more control But when it comes to filmmakers having to "pull punches," DeMonaco highlighted that there's a trade off between working on a big budget film, with more "parameters," or having more freedom, but working with a smaller budget. Taking advice from famed producer Jason Blum, DeMonaco was told, "the smaller your movie, the more control you have." An example of that for DeMonaco was working on the 1996 film Jack, which DeMonaco wrote with Gary Nadeau, and the film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring the late Robin Williams. "I was always writing to direct, that was my path to directing. And I wrote a couple of big movies, big budgets compared to what I'm working with now, ... big directors, and I noticed how they were handcuffed by the studio system, because, somewhat understandably, you're dealing with tens of millions of dollars, and that doesn't include marketing budget," DeMonaco explained. "When I worked with Francis Ford Coppola on my first film, I don't think any of us were truly excited by the film. ... He was really handcuffed by the studio. There was a cut of that film that was much darker, much more interesting to Francis and I and my co-writer at the time. Yet, because of the budget level, they even reeled in Francis Ford Coppola." "And so when I saw this [I thought], what are they going to do to me? ... So when I started getting closer to directing, when I met Sébastien Lemercier, my producer, ... we always had somewhat kept the control. ... When we made Purge one we shot it in 18 days, and it was not easy at all. Even This Is The Night we shot in 25 days. ... At the end of the day, I think that not having people tell you what to do, there's a great benefit to that. Having said that, I do wonder what it's like to make a $100 million film and have all those toys." James DeMonaco teases 'Purge 6': 'We meet some really cool women' As DeMonaco shared that he's finished the script for Purge 6, he also addressed navigating the pressure of continuing the franchise, but also doing it from a place of passion. "I did one job, literally, for money, ... and it was terrible. What I wrote was terrible. ... And this probably really limits me, but I have to work from something that comes from another part of me, that is not just motivated by money or just product," DeMonaco said. "So I knew Jason was calling, studio's calling saying, 'Yeah, we want another one.' ... I'll be honest, I wrote one before this one. I had written another one, but the budget was too big. ... We were going to try something different and go big, and that didn't really work out." "So I told Jason and he gets it, Jason's great, he's a wonderful producer. So he's like, 'You've got to feel it.' But I think there's always part of Jason that's like, if you don't feel it, we may have to hand off the reins to someone else. [Sébastien and I], we always said we do have a fear that if we hand it off to someone else, it could be turned into something that we don't like. We always see it as a morality tale, and not that everybody has to see it like that, but ... we want to continue what we see. So it was a little pressure of, I'm afraid what someone else will do with it, but I did stick to my kind of internal guns, like make sure you feel something in your soul, because you know you're not going to do good work otherwise. And I think it worked out, meaning everything kind of came together timing-wise where I had an idea, there was some time to do it, and I just finished The Home, so it all kind of came together nicely." As fans are anxiously waiting to see what DeMonaco has in store for Purge 6, the filmmaker stressed that he always said he wouldn't go back to the franchise if he "didn't have something," but particularly in today's political climate, he had a story to tell. "There's always a sociopolitical commentary within the Purge movies, and I try not to be preachy, although I think I got preachy in four and five, but I try not to be that preachy," DeMonaco said. "We're in such a weird political time now that something hit me about, I guess five months ago when I pitched the studio my new idea, and they seemed to be really jazzed." "I would say that we get to see some of our old favourite characters. ... We meet some really cool women in this one. That's the tease. We meet some really, really cool women, and I think that's all I probably should say, but that's a big part for you, 90 per cent of it. So I'm pretty excited."
Forbes
3 minutes ago
- Forbes
GCAL By Sarine's Discerning 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade For Diamonds
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That perspective is shared by Angelo Palmieri, president of GCAL by Sarine, a New York-based diamond grading laboratory. 'Cut is what transforms a dull, lifeless rough crystal into the brilliant polished diamond we all cherish,' said Palmieri. 'It's the most controllable of the 4Cs — and the one that truly unlocks a diamond's beauty. A superior cut brings out maximum fire, brilliance, and sparkle. It's also what sets premium manufacturers and retailers apart. Because without an exceptional cut, even a flawless diamond can look ordinary.' While diamond cuts are graded from Excellent or Ideal, then down to Poor at the bottom of the scale, 'some labs' designation of Excellent cut diamonds,' Palmieri observed, 'is based on a wide range of parameters that may include stones with less than ideal proportions in their depth, table, and/or angles. Such proportions can dull the stone's overall brilliance and obscure their fire.' To provide more discerning grading service to designers, retailers and consumers, GCAL by Sarine created the 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade standard. Angelo Palmieri observed, "Some Excellent cut diamonds embody less than ideal proportions in their ... More depth, table, and/or angles. Such proportions can dull the stone's overall brilliance and obscure its fire." How The 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade Identifies Superior Diamonds 'Our 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade differentiates a higher level of diamonds than those that are graded as Excellent,' Palmieri related. 'Industry statistics indicate that more than half of all round brilliant cut diamonds receive 'Excellent' Cut grades, yet less than 1 per cent of those qualify as 8X®,' he continued. 'We developed 8X® so that buyers anywhere in the world can confidently and quickly select the most brilliant and beautiful diamonds, even if purchasing online, sight unseen.' (The 8X® standard can be used to analyze and grade both natural as well as lab-grown diamonds.) From consumers looking for the most precise, scientifically-advanced diamond grading information to diamond jewelry manufacturers, designers, retailers, estate jewelers and auction houses, GCAL by Sarine's proprietary AI-driven, 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade identifies the absolute best of the best round brilliant and fancy-shaped diamonds from those that are graded as merely 'Excellent,' or 'Ideal.' FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder As Julie Yoakum, President & Chief Brand Merchant for Helzberg noted in an email interview, 'Helzberg believes in empowering customers with both choice and confidence, whether they're selecting a natural or lab grown diamond. GCAL's comprehensive lab grown diamond reports play a critical role in upholding our standards by providing the same rigorous level of detail, accuracy, and assurance that we provide for natural diamonds.' Whether purchasing online or in-person at a Helzberg store, Yoakum related, 'These reports help us deliver transparency to customers and give them peace of mind, and the knowledge that their future heirloom has been created with the care and craft they've come to expect from Helzberg over the last century.'Only diamonds that earn an 'Excellent' score in polish, external symmetry, proportions, ... More optical brilliance, fire, scintillation, optical symmetry and shape aesthetics qualify for the 8X designation. A deficient score in any single category automatically disqualifies the diamond. How GCAL Developed 8X Standards For Fancy-Shapes Creating a cut grade for fancy-shaped diamonds is exponentially more complex than for round brilliant diamonds. Each shape requires its own set of parameters, aesthetic considerations, and performance metrics. The scientific process that developed the 8X® Cut Grade for all diamond cuts, including fancy-shaped stones, is grounded in over 25 years of GCAL laboratory data. In broad strokes, the process involves multiple distinct components, beginning with data collection and performance imaging. As Palmieri recounted, 'GCAL has assessed the optical light performance of over one million diamonds. We have the ability to capture brilliance, fire, and scintillation in videos, as well as photo micrographs of the crown and pavilion, and images of optical symmetry,' he said. 'Along with high-precision proportion measurements, our trove of visual and measurement data enables us to understand what separates the highest of high performing diamonds in any given shape.' Regarding the identification of top performers, drawing from the dataset mentioned above, GCAL by Sarine then isolates the highest-performing diamonds in a particular shape (such as ovals, princess, marquise, pear, radiant). These are stones that demonstrate exceptional light return, fire, scintillation, balanced symmetry and minimal light leakage, along with ideal shape outline. 'These exemplars are the foundation of our standard,' Palmieri said. Analyzing Proportions And Faceting; Defining Acceptable Ranges GCAL by Sarine reverse-engineers all top-performing stones by using high-level proportion analysis tools to create wireframe facet diagrams of each stone. It then labels all facets, measures angles, and assesses combinations, plus observes how subtle variations like pavilion depth vs. crown angle may affect light performance. According to Palmieri, 'This process is shape-specific. For example, a princess cut must have a crown height of 10–15 percent and two distinct pavilion angles with a minimum 20-degree differential. Ovals and pears are analyzed for bow tie presence, shoulder bulge, and shape symmetry.' Finally, marquise stones are evaluated for table alignment, tip precision, and balanced brilliance. Along with this analysis, Palmieri related, 'We define tight proportion windows for each shape, not just static measurements but relationships between facets. These tolerances allow cutters to produce 8X diamonds across various sizes and length-to-width ratios while preserving optimal performance.' Fire is activated when white light travels through a diamond and is dispersed into a rainbow ... More spectrum of colors. Such flashes of color come alive whenever the diamond moves. Validation Through Optical Testing Every proposed 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade candidate diamond is directly assessed, as opposed to merely estimated. According to Palmieri, GCAL tests for brilliance or white light return; fire or colored light dispersion, scintillation, a.k.a. sparkle under motion, optical symmetry or uniform facet reflection pattern. Then there are tests for shape aesthetics that involve bow tie evaluation, outline symmetry, and bulges. All these points are measured using proprietary technology, precise photography as opposed to renderings, and real-time performance testing, free of any approximations or simulations. Rigorous Standards, Supplier Tools And Feedback Only diamonds that earn an 'Excellent' score in polish, external symmetry, proportions, optical brilliance, fire, scintillation, optical symmetry and shape aesthetics qualify for the 8X designation. A deficient score in any single category automatically disqualifies the diamond from fulfilling the 8X standard. To best serve manufacturers, GCAL provides proportion spec sheets and allows file submission prior to cutting. This enables diamond cutters to validate whether or not their planned proportions will meet the 8X standard, thus saving them crucial time, cost, and yield. In 1919, Marcel Tolkowsky's round brilliant cutting formula calculated the number and placement of ... More 57 facets to maximize light return by enabling light coming into a diamond to get refracted upward through the stone's table and crown— so that it dazzles the viewer. 8X Cut Grade Builds Upon Tolkowsky's Brilliant Tradition It can be argued without fear of hyperbole that the 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade is one of the diamond industry's most consequential advances since the 1919 publication of Marcel Tolkowsky's book, 'Diamond Design.' Tolkowsky, a Belgian mathematician from a diamond-cutting family, was the first to detail the mathematical principles for maximizing a round brilliant diamond's sparkle and brilliance. His formula focused on those precise angles and facets needed to achieve the best light return in a diamond. Tolkowsky determined that a round brilliant cut should have 58 facets and specific measurements for the crown, pavilion, and table to optimize brilliance and fire. Tolkowsky's method, variously referred to as the Tolkowsky Cut, Tolkowsky Ideal Cut or Ideal Cut, has been the diamond cutters' and jewelry industry's North Star for decades. 'It's one of the finest cuts, one that's often used in high-end jewelry,' Palmieri observed. According to Paul Hung, founder and CEO of Singapore-based jewelry manufacturer JannPaul Diamonds, 'Consumers drive demand.' Today's information-hungry consumers demand fact-based, detailed evidence regarding a diamond's nature and value. 'With the new GCAL 8X® Proprietary certification,' Hung observed, jewelers and retailers can provide a deeper, more discerning level of service to customers. This standard, he added, allows them to '…keep up with the rapid shift in the demands of a new generation of consumers. After 20 years of searching for a laboratory that can grade diamond cuts accurately; Hung claimed, 'I have found that GCAL, especially with its 8X® cut grade, meets all the criteria that I have been looking for. It allows consumers to look at a certificate, understand it, and walk away knowing that they have purchased the most beautiful diamond.' A superior cut brings out a diamond's maximum fire, brilliance, and sparkle. It's also what sets ... More premium manufacturers and retailers apart, Angelo Palmieri explained, "Because without an exceptional cut, even a flawless diamond can look ordinary.' Delivering Consistency, Transparency And Trust 'GCAL fully embodies the essence of consumer protection and transparency in the diamond industry,' said Hung. 'In my honest opinion, GCAL is currently the most stringent laboratory in the world, and they have never compromised on grading results. For the past 6 months, I have been working with the team of GCAL, testing their consistency by sending them various diamonds. Through this process, we have discovered that GCAL has remained consistent with the original grading system first established by the Gemological Institute of America. We have found almost no discrepancies in color and clarity grading.' For example, Hung continued, 'Two diamonds could be graded Triple Excellent or (what was formerly known as Triple Ideal Zero, though one is far superior to the other. GCAL, on the other hand, has the 8X technology and scientific knowledge' to map the nature of each diamond with unparalleled precision, thus identifying the one that is qualitatively better than the other. As Yoakum explained, 'Helzberg offers a selection of lab grown diamonds graded to GCAL's exacting 8X standard – an industry breakthrough that elevates grading to a new level of precision and integrity.' By assessing all eight critical aspects of cut and requiring each to fulfill the criteria to receive an 'Excellent' rating, Yoakum added, 'the 8X standard brings an unprecedented level of transparency and consistency to the customer experience. GCAL by Sarine's proprietary technology allows retailers to confidently assure customers that their lab grown diamond meets the highest benchmarks for beauty and craftsmanship.' Every diamond that earns GCAL's Ultimate Cut Grade standard is accompanied by a QR code that syncs ... More with the lab's mapping and imagery of that stone. There are other reasons why industry pros value 8X®. Ken Harrison of Quality Gold, a Fairfield, Ohio jewelry company with offices and operations in the U.S., Canada, India and Peru that serves more than15,000 retailers, offers a topical take on this new cut grade. 'Over the past few years there has been a flood of lab-grown diamonds coming into the supply chain causing a dramatic decrease in the price of this type of diamond.' (Even with the increased supply, however, U.S. demand for lab-grown diamonds continues to grow in the US. While GCAL by Sarine's AI diamond grading methods use advanced camera and lighting systems to ... More examine and record the color and clarity of diamonds, their machine learning algorithms analyze the captured images to produce grading results that are unparalleled in repeatability, consistency, and accuracy. As Harrison relates, 'I've seen reports that over 50 percent of all U.S. bridal jewelry, which forms the bulk of the jewelry industry, will soon be lab-grown and that this figure will continue to rise. What I want to offer our retailers," he stated, 'is a lab-grown diamond that is superior in brilliance and cut, which would differentiate it from what the masses have. 8X fits the bill. While the cutting and certification for 8X costs Quality Gold a bit more, the added value of offering consumers a finely cut diamond far outweighs the added cost. Why not give people the most brilliant and beautiful lab-grown diamond on the market?' Harrison asked. '8X identifies the best of the best.' According to a 2015 survey by the wedding planning website The Knot, men spend an average of 4.8 months researching and selecting a diamond engagement ring. (That's roughly 20-21 weeks of investigative shopping.) It stands to reason that many customers seeking a superior natural diamond or lab-grown stone will appreciate the 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade's hyper-precise, time-saving assurances as much as manufacturers and retailers do.
Washington Post
3 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Alec Baldwin talks his love for 'Peanuts' and the 'immeasurable' effects of his trial
SAN DIEGO — Alec Baldwin says the year since his trial suddenly ended with a dismissal has been far better than the few years that preceded it, and the affect that time has had on him has been 'immeasurable.' 'Something as powerful as that happens in your life, you don't know how much it changes you,' he said. 'I can't even tell you how different I am from three-and-a-half years ago. And what I want and what I don't want, and how I want to live my life and not live my life.'
