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gb-patch · 4 years

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Ask Answers: January 28th, 2021 (Part 1)

And we’re back with many more ask answers! Thank you for waiting.

Is lizzie/the main character tripping over a rock a random event in barbecue? or does it require certain choices? i picked the same choices in multiple different playthroughs but ended up with three different outcomes (1. nothing happens 2. liz trips 3. i trip)

Yep! It’s completely random. Just a little moment of life you don’t have control over, haha.

wait just double checking you stated that derek would be another romantic interest you can pursue in step 4 right??? im just asking cuz hes my fav character

oh wait and btw i was the one that asked the question about derek being in the step 4 just now, and will you have to pay extra for like a dlc or something bc i play the free version rn and i just wanted to check!!

Yeah, you will eventually be able to romance him, but unfortunately it is a paid DLC. Cove is the only love interest who’s entirely free-to-play. You can follow our social media for when we giveaways for a chance to win a key for it, though.

i know that y’all said the step 3 dlc and step 4 will be released early 2021, is there any update to that? for example, a rough amount of days/weeks until release? no pressure at all, i’m super excited!! <3

The Step 3 DLC will be about in maybe two-two and half months or so. Step 4, we’re not entirely sure. Maybe a few months after the Step 3. We don’t want to give set dates until we’re really close to the release since otherwise we wouldn’t be able to 100% guarantee them.

First off love the game. Second I'm a little confused on how the nsfw dlc is gonna work. Because based on some stuff you've said it sounds like a patreon only thing and others make me think it could be an itch/steam thing after the fact? Would you mind clarifying for me 😅. Also if it's a patreon only thing do you need to become one before it's released?

It’s not going to be on Steam/Itch. The actual game of Our Life is safe for teens with no adult content. Any 18+ stuff we’re releasing is separate bonus content. Right now the only for sure plan is having it available through Patreon. If there’s another hosting site that’s not Steam or Itch that’d be easier for people than Patreon we might consider uploading it there too, but nothing else is set.

If you want the bonus Moment you’d have to join once it’s already out or sometime after the release. Joining now would get you our current rewards, but wouldn’t get you future content that’s coming later.

this is probably an awkward question and i apologize, feel free not to answer, but i just wanted to address the elephant in the room....will step 4 acknowledge covid/2020 world events?? i kind of hope not bc i'd like to just exist in a fictional version of the world where things are happy in this quaint seaside town and the world isn't falling apart, but i'd understand if there are some references to it. just thought i'd ask so i can Prepare if that makes sense

Step 4 isn’t going to include Covid or even reference it. When we set Step 4 in that year we definitely didn’t know there’d be a global pandemic during it. It’s too late to move the timeframe earlier or later, but we’re not going to make Step 4 stressful for anyone because the real world became so much more stressful. The universe of Our Life will just be an even more idealized place than it was before.

hiiiii! i'm really sorry if this is a bother. i was just curious if cove has a canon setting for each step, like is it canon that he stays candid the whole game and is super sporty for instance and the rest are variations? thank you for your time!

None of those settings are canon. They’re all equally valid.

I love the game and Cove so much that I ended up spending most of the holidays playing it. Definitely worth it! Idk if you're taking suggestions/criticisms, but I chose the peach skin tone and seeing it written as "my peach skin" in the game broke immersion for me because I kept thinking it was referring to the fruit instead of my skin color. I think that skin color is most commonly referred to as "fair" but "peachy" or "rosy" would work too if you're looking for a different word

Thank you for sharing your experience. We’ll change it to “peachy” in the next update!

So I accidentally overwrote a save file with a different one, is there any way I can recover that save?

Sadly, there isn’t. Not unless you had a backup of the actual save file files in a separate location you can get. I’m really sorry. You can try using the skip feature to quickly speed through the game and get back to where you were though.

Do you try to maintain the color scheme for the clothing throughout the years in Our Life?

Yes, though in hindsight not as much as I wished I did, haha. It could’ve been a little more cohesive. It was a bit too broad in my opinion.

I noticed that Cliff mentions he wasn’t much older than Cove before finding out he was going to be a father when he finds MC in bed with Cove during Part 3 so doesn’t that Cliff and Kyra were teenage/young parents?

Yeah, Cliff was nineteen and Kyra was eighteen when Cove was born. They were just a couple of kids.

Does Cove have a favourite holiday?

It changes depending on the year. Around Step 1 he’s not a huge fan of a lot of holidays because he’s not together with his whole family for them. But once he’s older and Kyra comes around more, he starts appreciating major family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas more than other holidays because he knows how it feels not to have that. Though summer vacation is of course his most favorite all the time, if that counts as a “holiday”.

I tried to join your patreon but I can’t seem to? The website keeps saying something went wrong and to try again.

I’m sorry you’re having trouble! I think contacting Patreon support would probably be the best option if the joining process itself is having issues.

How much is it to become a part of your Patreon? I don’t have a lot of money currently but would love to help you out more than just buying the games and dlcs.

Aw, I appreciate you wanting to support but the Patreon is really optional. You don’t need to push yourself to join if you don’t have extra funds for it. To still answer the question, the tiers are $1, $5, $10, $15, and $20 in USD. Each come with different perks.

I had this idea for a future daughter for the MC and Cove being named "Poppy", after the flowers on their hill~

That’s a really sweet idea! I’m sure Cove would be a fan.

So if you don't mind me asking, how do you get Cove to propose to you in Step 4 and not the other way around?

I’m afraid that’d be too big of a spoiler to give away before the epilogue’s release, at least in terms of specifics. Generally you’ll just have to be patient and try not to propose first, haha.

will we get to move in with cove in step 4 😮?? or is that a secret

You can be living together with Cove in Step 4! Though you wouldn’t get to see the place itself. That’s up to your imagination.

Is it bad that I'm completely in love with Cove's dad... What I gotta pay to romance Cliff 😭 (I don't mean as Jamie because that would be wack)

That’ll cost one million 20 twenty dollar bills, haha. I’m really glad you like him, though sadly we aren’t able to make a separate game where you can romance Cliff. I wish we had enough time to make tons of new scenes/extra stories in the Our Life world, but it just takes too long. Maybe people will make fanworks about it.

—–

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ourlifeba #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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photo credit Jim Huylebroek for the New York Times

* * * * *

Michael J. Tallon

“I've been thinking about Afghanistan over the past few days, as many of you have, as well. It's obviously a crazily complex and chaotic system right now, and it would be hard to predict how things play out in the coming weeks or months. There could very easily be a confrontation between Taliban forces and US/Coalition forces in Kabul. That really depends on unit cohesion and chain-of-command durability on the Taliban side - with the big question being, "How far can we push them during the evacuation?"

After a hideous day or two at the airport about a week ago, it seems that something like an orderly evacuation is in process. Sure, it's crazy. Sure, there are thousands of people outside the airport, desperate to get in. But no one is flushing onto the runways. That happened in an understandable panic when the Ghani government fled (with hundreds of millions of dollars in their luggage), and the Taliban emerged from all over Kabul. Note this: You never saw video of an army triumphantly marching on the capital city. Why? Well, eerie as it may be, it's because they were already there.

As of two days ago, C-130 flights have been leaving on the hour, and we're clearing about 5000 people a day. Given that we've set a schedule of last-wheels-up for August 31, that means we'll move about another 50,000 allies and vulnerable families out of the country, and to make sure we are maximizing those efforts, it appears that some forward actions have been taken. French forces went and grabbed some of their people two days ago from a house in Kabul. Yesterday, a Chinook helicopter hopped over to the Baron Hotel, a few hundred meters from the airport to grab some folks. More of that will likely happen, which might - just might - cause a reaction from Taliban forces on the ground. That could get very ugly, very quickly, and I'd imagine there are lines of communication open between Taliban leadership and US military leadership to prevent that from happening. Oddly, as politics make strange bedfellows, the Biden Administration, the US Military, and the Taliban all want the same thing right now. They want the US out of Afghanistan, and can likely be marshaled in that direction. Still, near-term chaos could ensue if someone on the ground gets pissy.

That stuff is all really unclear. But blow the perceptual lens out a bit - to the next few years - and things get a little clearer.

1) Very soon, western military forces will be gone from the country, at least in sizeable formations. Never doubt the penetrative capacity of US Special Forces, but the force presence will likely be down to dozens, rather than thousands.

2) The Taliban will need to figure out how to run a country. They clearly have some capacity for taxation and enforcement, but the rest of it - maintaining a power grid, providing water and electric infrastructure, some semblance of healthcare - will be an enormous challenge. Also, as they'll be attempting to fund a state, they'll need significantly more resources than they have required so far for the support of an advancing army. The 2019 GDP of Afghanistan was about $20 billion dollars. For comparison, the GDP of New York State is $1.5 trillion. So, it's not a rich country, and for the past 20 years, a sizable percentage of that wealth came in from US military largess - and most of THAT got siphoned off to a corrupt cadre of elites who managed to be such awful people that their countrymen would rather have the Taliban in charge - and that's something.

The GDP of that troubled nation is going to take a massive hit this year, on top of which, the Biden Administration has recently frozen about $10 billion dollars of Taliban funds that they had secured in US banks - which is mindblowing in and of itself.

So, how do they get that money back? How do they entice other foreign investors to provide the needed resources? How do they do that in a region of the world where there are predators on all sides? It's gonna be mighty tricky, but one potential way forward would be to TRY and reform their most brutal of practices.

No one has any illusions about the Taliban becoming liberal adherents of Enlightenment principles, but maybe there will be a push for fewer public execution festivals in the town football pitch? Maybe rather than banning all women and girls from reading, they'll keep the schools open, but demand the girls dress in burkhas. I don't know if that will be the case, but there are at least some early signs that some "moderate" Taliban will lean that way. This leads to the next likely scenario a year or two out.

Civil War.

3. Go back through your history of radicals taking over as governing forces. The French Revolution is the most commonly used example of what happens when purists are put into the position of actually running a state. Though you could also look to Ireland in 1922-23. This is admittedly analogy as history and might be completely wrong, but my sense is there's a real possibility of the Taliban fracturing along "reformist" and "purist" wings. IF the Taliban leadership tries to live inside the rules of the community of nations; if they try to moderate their practices to encourage investment and growth, THEN you might very likely see the rise of a revanchist faction who really, truly believes the world should be returned to the fashion of seventh century Saudi Arabia.

Add to that potential chaos the reality that small fiefdoms of well-armed local leaders with significant self-interest in controlling the flow of limited resources will emerge all over the country, and these past years could end up looking rather peaceful by comparison - which would bring us to the next point - Afghanistan is in an ugly, ugly neighborhood for geopolitics.

4. Afghanistan is bordered by four major geopolitical forces. Pakistan to the south, Iran to the west. China to the east, and Russia (under its regional proxies, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan) to the north. For the past twenty years, the United States has been on the ground, and that served to limit (but not stop) their influence in the region. Of the four major players, Pakistan has been particularly active in supporting the Taliban and allowing them to have cross-border safe-havens which made defeating them practically impossible.

But how in the hell will those four power centers resolve the coming decades in what will likely be a very chaotic, poor, corrupt, and broken land? Russia and China will both be working hard and brutally to blunt the spread of militant Islam on their borders. Pakistan will now need to deal with its violent attack dogs as a neighboring government, potentially destabilizing the political reality of Pakistan itself. As to Iran . . . my Lord, I have no clue. All I know is that the Taliban are Sunni and the Ayatollahs are Shi'a - and that's its own 1000-year-old can of worms.

-----

I've been writing this now for an hour or so. I do that sometimes just to try and think through the complexities, and I end where I began. No matter how ugly these past few days have been, I think that Biden both made the right choices, and is doing a pretty damn good job, all things considered. The pressures on Afghanistan are brutal - the poverty, the corruption, the geopolitical crucible in which it sits, the religious divisions, the tribal rivalries, the forces of modernization and radical revanchism, the international finances. Ugh.

Back in 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to John Holmes. The subject was the Missouri Compromise which threatened to destabilize the nation by expanding slavery to the West but kept it whole by allowing Maine to join in the East - thereby balancing the interests of Northern free-staters, and Southern slavers. He understood that slavery ultimately would provide to great an internal pressure to keep the country whole - and he feared the day those forces would eventually tear us apart. He wrote of slavery that "we have the wolf by the ear, we can neither safely hold it, nor safely let it go."

That's been the case with Afghanistan since we first invaded nearly 20 years ago, and as the fourth President who had to make this choice, Joe Biden finally accepted it was time to make Afghanistan someone else's problem. Yeah, he got bit by the wolf. Yeah, a lot of people are going to suffer. But when you look ahead at the absolute horrorshow of Central Asia in the next fifty years, my sense is that history will determine he made the right terrible choice.

Love to you all.

Thanks to Michael J. Tallon

#political #Afghanistan #Michael J. Tallon

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libermachinae · 4 years

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Schematics [Or, Another Chance] – Ch. 7, Team

Also available on AO3! Notes: @prowlweek Last day! I went pure fluff on this one, gotta end on a happy Prowl note.

⏳ 🚧 🚓 ⌛ 🏗 🚧 ⏳

Prowl stumbled back through the rift, body swaying as he fought for equilibrium. It had been centuries since he’d last accessed the timestream, and he knew this would be the final time; he’d forgotten the extent of the effect it had on his frame. His spark was burning hot like an inferno within its chamber, the photons excited beyond their normal capacity, and his sensors were trying desperately to recalibrate while he still felt himself about to crash back to the floor.

Large hands caught him, shoulder and waist, and he leaned gratefully into the hold, letting it stabilize him while he waited for his vision to stop spinning.

“Easy, Prowl,” Long Haul murmured into his audial. “We’ve got you.”

He knew it was true. Though he was not well enough yet to see them, he spark still could feel the presence of the others around him, the beacons that had guided him back to his place in time. They were nearby, but not pressing, giving him space to come back on his own terms before they showered him with the worry he knew them to be feeling.

“I know,” he said, his voice rough with static. “I’ll be alright. Just give me a klik.”

“Need anything? Energon?” Sweet Scavenger, who Prowl knew could not stop himself entirely from offering aid, though he still kept his distance while he waited for the okay.

“I think I might purge it,” Prowl admitted. His entire frame felt delicate, hypersensitive as it readjusted to being back in a space physical bodies were meant to inhabit. Long Haul’s fingers, wide and blunt, were about all he could handle at the moment, though bit by bit the zip and sting of off-balance tactile sensors were fading.

“As soon as you’re up for it, we should probably get you somewhere cooler,” Mixmaster’s voice said. “You’re not overheating yet, but it’s a near thing, and if you can’t take in coolant, we’ll need to stay on top of it.”

“I’ll get the fan going.” Retreating footsteps accompanied Bonecrusher’s words. They were a good pair, Prowl mused, a solid unit that bolstered the cohesion of the team as a whole.

“Hey, you still with me, Prowl?” Long Haul asked, gently lifting and tilting Prowl so they were closer to facing each other. His tone, though calm, revealed a hint of anxiety that Prowl’s spark ached to soothe, a feeling greater than the waning discomfort left by the timestream.

Prowl cautiously onlined his optics and smiled at the sight of the familiar faceplate, the gentle glow of an optic band whose purple matched his own.

“Of course,” he said, “where else would I be?”

“None of that slag,” Long Haul chided, his tone light again. “You got this dopey look on your face. Needed to make sure you didn’t fry your processor or something.”

Prowl realized that he was smiling. It was something he did a lot now, though he hadn’t realized it before going back and seeing how foreign the concept had once been to him. He remembered the constant anger, the fear, the ever-present sense and expectation of betrayal, but in a distant way. Those were memories he’d learned how to suppress and dilute, so the old emotions didn’t infest the present and drive him to the same behaviors that had so nearly cost him this. He didn’t want to think about those things right now, so instead he focused on the feeling of Long Haul’s hands, the smell of so many living engines around him.

“Was just thinking,” he said.

“About?”

“The team.” He tossed his gaze aside to look on the assembled members and his optics landed on Hook, stood behind Mixmaster and Scavenger and watching Prowl was a nervousness that should have had no place here. Before he could think about what he was doing, he was wriggling to get free, and despite a concerned hesitation Long Haul did let him go. Prowl stumbled, reached out and let Scavenger be his support.

“Hook,” he got out, and at the request the named teammate stepped forward, taking Prowl’s arms when they were offered to help him keep his balance. Prowl leaned in, capturing Hook’s lips in a warm, soft kiss that tasted of iron and crackled with a sparkling twinge of electricity. A gentle glossa swept across his bottom lip and Prowl hummed, sinking into the feeling he’d steadfastly refused himself in the confines of the timestream.

The kiss lasted a klik, probably longer, and Prowl only broke it off because he felt himself starting to get dizzy again. Still, he stayed close and rested his forehelm against Hook’s, grateful when the other lowered his optic lights so they weren’t glaring into each other.

“Did I do alright?” Hook asked, quiet. It wasn’t a secret, what they’d done, but there was still something private about it, something shared only between the two of them. Prowl’s processor was still reeling from the revelation that Hook had managed to keep it a secret for all these years, trying to compute how many times he’d missed clues or near-admissions.

“You did perfectly,” Prowl said. “I’m so proud, my dear, and grateful.”

“Grateful?”

“You gave us this chance,” Prowl said. “Everyone has played a role in making it work, but you were the one who made it possible. I always knew that, but never the full extent of it.”

“I was just following your orders,” Hook said, though he was beaming under the praise. It was a gorgeous sight, and Prowl could not help stealing another kiss to that grin before he reclaimed his place.

“And I, yours,” he pointed out. “We make a good team.”

“We do,” Hook agreed.

“We all do?”

Prowl turned to look at Scavenger, still standing nearby with a posture that said he wanted to be involved but didn’t want to invade their moment. If his frame had been up to it, Prowl might have laughed, but instead he let go of Hook with one hand to reach out to Scavenger, drawing him into their huddle. He leaned over to kiss Scavenger, too, grateful for though unable to reciprocate his enthusiastic nibbling.

“The snoggers are at it again,” Long Haul complained. Prowl broke off the kiss to smirk up at their teammate, who stared down on them with his arms crossed and posture unimpressed. “Go easy on him, Scav. Don’t need him offlining because we literally blew his processor out.”

“If you’re so jealous, Long Haul, you could have gotten that mouth with your frame overhaul like I suggested,” Prowl pointed out.

“Nah, somebody on this team’s gotta maintain some dignity,” Long Haul said as his stance relaxed and he stepped forward, doing the best he could to wrap the three of them in an outer layer of hug. The closeness was a little much for Prowl, but it wasn’t uncomfortable yet and he knew, despite whatever fronts they put up, they needed assurance that he was okay.

To perhaps everyone’s benefit, it didn’t last too long.

“Hey, hey, this is the exact opposite of what I said,” Mixmaster said, stepping forward to break up the impromptu cuddle until it was just Hook and Prowl hanging onto each other. “Prowl’s temperature is rising. Hook, get him in front of that fan before he melts into a puddle of slag.”

“Sure thing, Mix,” Hook said, looping an arm around Prowl’s waist so they could walk over to the cooled pocket of the cave they’d set up ahead of time. Scattered around were a few stacks of extra energon, a basic med kit, and a few more heavy-duty supplies in case they’d needed to hold him together while they rushed to a proper hospital. Bonecrusher was standing by their industrial fan, adjusting its angle while Prowl sat down so he was in the center of the blast. Despite the noise and the extra sensory information getting force through his doorwings, the cool air felt wonderful against his hot plating, and he allowed his optics to dim a moment as he savored it.

“You good there, Prowl?” Hook asked from above. He’d stayed by Prowl’s side but hadn’t sat down yet.

“Could be better. Here.” Prowl reached up to lightly tug on Hook’s hand. As soon as his teammate was sitting, Prowl leaned over to cuddle against his side, grateful both for the contact and the support of a body much more stable than his own. Hook’s arm wrapped around his back, gently squeezing his shoulder.

“Aw, so sweet,” Mixmaster said, standing off to the side so he wouldn’t be in the way of the fan. There was a glint in his optic that Prowl knew too well.

“Are you taking image captures?”

“Just figured Springer will want proof when we tell him that we got you safely back from the timestream, then lost you again because you couldn’t keep your hands off Hook.” The mech whose rescue mission Prowl had framed as a bounty hunt all those years ago had asked to be kept informed of their status.

“Can you blame him?” Hook asked, though he started to shift away, something Prowl could not abide by.

“My temperature is dropping,” he pointed out. He leaned more of his weight on Hook, preventing him from moving unless he wanted to risk dropping Prowl on the ground. “Maybe not as quickly as if Hook weren’t here, but it’s not at such a critical level for that to be an issue.”

Mixmaster looked like he had more argument in him, but then Bonecrusher appeared behind him, wrapping his arms around Mix’s midsection while his chin came to rest on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, Mixer,” he said, so soft Prowl knew it was only intended for Mixmaster; that the rest of them could hear it was merely incidental of the cave’s acoustics. “We got him back and he’s safe. The worst part’s over.”

Prowl saw Mixmaster minutely lean back into the touches, his optics flickering as Bonecrusher’s hands brushed along delicate seams, playing at the wires underneath. It was an attractive scene, but Prowl knew that if he spent too long watching his frame would start to overheat again. He turned his attention to Hook, who he wasn’t surprised to find was looking at him in turn.

“What?” he asked, feeling playful.

“Just glad this worked out, Prowl,” Hook said, expression relaxed but a little more serious. “And, uh, sorry that I kept this a secret for so long. What with you trusting us and all.”

Prowl’s processor scrambled for something to say to that. To buy himself time, he kissed Hook again, offlining his optics so he could focus on the feeling of soft lips, smooth glossa. In the background, Bonecrusher and Mixmaster’s hushed conversation had devolved into pleasured moans and hums, and nearby the increasing pitch of busy engines said that Scavenger and Long Haul were finding their own fun. Later, once they were back in their own ship and Prowl didn’t feel like his frame was at risk of rattling apart, he was going to drag all of them into their berth and savor each one, their unique tastes, delighted voices and rumbling engines.

He’d forced himself to forget how willing he’d been to lose it all, how he’d been ready to sacrifice their lives as well as his own in his reckless rescue mission. The ache of four million years of exhaustion had still been heavy in his spark, and he’d hoped that some part of the plan, getting back at the Decepticons for what had been done to him, saving Springer from the timestream, letting himself extinguish in the attempt, would be the thing to finally ease it. He’d refused to know then what he did now, and he pressed deeper into the kiss, hoping Hook would understand it as his own apology.

When they broke apart, Prowl did not immediately online his optics, but lay his head on Hook’s shoulder, letting the familiar frame hold him up as it had for so long.

“We’re a team,” he said, which he now knew meant, in language the Decepticons had used to keep from sounding too much like squishy, softsparked Autobots, I love you.

#maccadam #prowl week #prowlastator #prowl #constructicons #transformers #my writing #longfic #schematics #team

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bubble-tea-bunny · 6 years

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to feel the sun from both sides

[newt scamander x reader]

author’s note: shorter than the stuff i’ve been writing lately but still just as nice i hope(: might write for theseus next

word count: 2,330

The months are growing colder, and the drop in temperature becomes even more apparent at the day’s end, when the sun is on its way out. A gust of wind blows strong enough to ruffle Newt’s robes and a shiver runs down his spine. His cheeks and his nose are probably red from the chill, and he manages to free a hand in the midst of his task to bring his scarf up over the bottom half of his face. Ah. That feels better.

He doesn’t see you approach because his back is turned, and he would’ve heard you, would’ve heard the sound of your shoes sifting along the cool grass, if he weren’t preoccupied with the little animal cradled his palm. He’s alerted to your presence when you speak up, and he twists around, but carefully so as not to jostle the small bowtruckle.

“I was wondering where you were,” you state with a smile.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” Newt’s tone is apologetic as he pulls down his scarf to be heard clearly, the cool air once more nipping at his skin. He talks quietly but he always does, and you don’t mind one bit. “I wasn’t able to find you after dinner and I wanted to come here before it got dark, so…”

“It’s fine.” You wave your hand dismissively. It’s easy to be lost in the sea of students flooding out of the Great Hall, so you don’t blame him. You sit down against the trunk of the tree, and Newt follows suit. “I’m sure they missed you.”

Newt looks over, wondering what you mean, and notices your attention is on the creature in his hand. He glances down at it as well. “Yeah… I guess they have.” It’s silent for a moment, then he continues: “Hold out your hand.”

Your eyes widen a fraction but you do as he says, and you go stock still as he sets the bowtruckle into your awaiting hand. Its little legs feel odd on the sensitive expanse of your palm, and it takes several steps, so you rotate your wrist to accommodate it. It walks across your knuckles, where it chooses to remain. Newt watches it fondly, and it looks right back at him, like it knows who he is. And then from beneath floppy brown hair his gaze slides up to you—you’re considerably more relaxed now, and your features are so soft in the radiance of dusk.

“I don’t know why you get so nervous,” he remarks. “You’re a natural.”

You chuckle and as the bowtruckle resumes walking, you hold up your other hand for it to transfer onto so it doesn’t fall off. “You’re the natural, Newt. Simply holding them is nothing compared to what you can do.”

Newt smiles. “But they like you, you know. I can tell.”

You hum, as if to ask Yeah? but you don’t say anything else. Newt assumes that to be the end of the conversation, and he leans his head back on the tree trunk. The bowtruckle appears to have found a comfortable position to rest in, and you allow yourself to return to watching the setting sun. It’s nearly gone, and your breath materializes in front of you with every exhale. Soon the moon and stars will emerge, and they’ll light your path to the castle.

“Would you write a book?” you ask out of the blue.

Newt purses his lips and contemplates the inquiry for a few seconds. He doesn’t ask about what because it’s obvious what he’d write about. The idea isn’t out of the realm of possibility. He keeps journals on his research, though it’s only been on creatures found here at Hogwarts. There are many out there still, throughout the world, to be sought after and studied and cared for. An expansive task but a wonderful one.

“I would,” he responds finally. “But it’d be hard to do that research alone.”

This prompts you to look at him, and he’s watching you with utmost sincerity. The implication of the statement pulls a grin from you, and he mirrors it subconsciously. You’d been attached at the hip from the moment you started talking to each other as first years, and though your adventures have begun at Hogwarts, they wouldn’t end there.

You sigh lightly and take in the night that has fallen around you, stare up at the sky like you’re in a crystal ball and you’re looking past the glass. “Will I never be rid of you, Scamander?” you tease.

Newt shakes his head. “Not at all,” he shoots back playfully.

You laugh, then sigh as you settle down. “I’ll gladly join you, Newt. Just don’t go falling in love with me while we’re at it.”

There’s a twinkle in your gaze to accompany your smile, and he knows you’re playing around, but he swallows as he mulls over what you’ve said. The smile drops from his own face once you turn away and attend to the bowtruckle in your hand. He hears you asking it if it’s doing okay, and if it’s sleepy, but your voice sounds distant, like you’re farther than you actually are, his own thoughts at the forefront and pushing everything else to the margins. He traces the line of your profile with his eyes, from your forehead to the slope of your nose to your lips, and farther still he follows the curve of your chin as it leads to your jaw, and the sleek column of your neck. And as he continues to sit here next to you, so close he can feel your body heat, and you grin at the animal you’re holding and he swears it’s enough to light up a whole room, he thinks it’s a little too late for that.

———

He tries though. By Merlin, does he try. Being out on the field helps distract him, because there, the work comes first, and in these instances you maintain a professional relationship, that of researcher and assistant. You take notes while his hands are busy looking over the current beast of interest, and he knows he rambles and his brain can move faster than his mouth at times and it does but you’ve always been able to turn it into something cohesive. He gives you his journals to write in, and it’s easy to figure out which sections are yours because they’re neater, and in addition to the skillfully done diagrams of hippogriff talons and erumpet horns, you leave silly doodles in the margins.

The bounds of professionalism aren’t concrete, and neither of you wished them to be anyway. When he’s working late into the night, nothing but a candle to illuminate the pages, you come to him as his friend once more, his best friend, and you tell him he needs to rest and you won’t take any excuses. You set your hand on his to stop his writing, and he glances up at you sheepishly because he knows you’re right but really, he’ll be done soon, just one more sentence—

“There will always be tomorrow,” you murmur.

And the corner of his lip twitches, a smile fighting its way to the surface. You’ve never had to do much to convince him. “Okay.”

For all your denials that you could never be as well-versed in magical creatures as he, over the years, that’s changed, whether or not you even noticed. He taught you as you both went along, traveled from country to country, and it hadn’t been long before you had his confidence in the subject. Or at least something very close. And in those times where you may falter he’s the one to reassure you, telling you it’s okay to approach the thunderbird you’re observing and who’s looking at you closely in kind, two curious souls observing each other.

Gently he takes your wrist and guides your hand to rest on the soft feathers, and your eyes glow and so does your smile and he’s left wondering if he’s seeing things that aren’t actually there because maybe just maybe he’s imagining you like you’re the face he’s given to the beautiful haze of color just before the sun disappears behind the horizon and oh how he hopes desperately this isn’t the case.

But your skin is warm and as his hand slips down to his side, some of that residual heat remains in his palm, and it feels too real to be any figment of the imagination. In the subsequent moments filled only by the low rasps from the thunderbird’s throat that mean it’s happy, Newt looks from it to you and back again and maybe it’s more like you’re the same soul and in an exercise of extraordinary self-awareness the splendid beast that towers over you has looked into a mirror and understood that those are its eyes gazing back. And the flood of love Newt has for you rushes in like it had on day one of an undetermined total (for he’d really like to be with you forever).

He’s honestly not sure if he’ll ever tell you how he feels, because stuff like that, it isn’t his thing. He trips over his words whenever he’s not talking about his research and he has trouble maintaining eye contact with people, and the issue is increased tenfold when it involves you because the way your eyes seem to burn into him, see through him, is altogether too intense and he loves it but he also hates it because you pull him apart so easily. And maybe he should mind it but he doesn’t because you’re also the one to put him back, not with a wave of your wand and a whispered spell but with your hands, lithe fingers taking each fragment and fitting them together, one by one, slowly and surely, until he’s whole before you, and he would stand prepared for the next time he falls for you, into a million tiny pieces.

A portion of your notes doesn’t sound complete to Newt as he reads it over, then re-reads it a few times in an attempt to make sense of them. A few thoughts jotted down at the bottom are scrambled and disconnected. Usually he wouldn’t linger on these points and would move on, but it just so happens that he needs these particular lines for what he’s working on. With a sigh rife with exhaustion from hours of work, he stands and, journal in hand, exits the study and walks to the lounge, where he knows you’ll be.

There’s shuffling and the sound of your footsteps as you exclaim Poppy! and Newt’s not thinking much of it, but he should have and he understands that now because he turns the corner and says your name to announce his presence, and he’s startled first by your kneazle who just barely avoids running into his legs as it scampers off, and second by you, who’s taken off after her and you barrel into him, knocking you both off your feet.

“Oof!” Newt hits the floor with a thud, you on top of him. His journal had slipped out of his hand and lays face down to his right, but he doesn’t take notice. You push yourself up to look at him properly, eyes wide and brows knitted together in worry.

“Are you okay?” you ask. “I’m so sorry, Newt. It’s just, Poppy stole my pen and wouldn’t give it back and—”

“It’s fine,” he assures you, smiling. The concern starts to slip away and you nod, and then it occurs to him that neither of you has made any moves to stand. Your hands are braced against his chest, and his arms are wrapped around your waist, having found their way there by instinct when you’d run into him and he went to cushion your fall. Laying on the hardwood floor is hardly comfortable but he’s comfortable holding you, and you seem to be comfortable being held by him.

You stare at each other, and again Newt is overwhelmed and he has to avert his gaze and it goes to your lips and they look so soft, like velvet, and he wonders if they feel like it too. He swallows hard, and his mouth opens to say something but what? He has no idea what to say, and should he speak up he doesn’t know what would leave his mouth.

His mouth merely hangs open slightly, words not quite reaching his tongue, and he figures he must look rather stupid, but you seem to pay no mind or even notice as you lean in those last few inches and he learns you taste of caramel creams and peach blossoms. His eyes slide closed as he kisses you and his senses are filled with you you you and he’s breathing you in like you’re keeping him alive. It is a little ridiculous to still be wondering if this is truly happening, that this isn’t some hallucination, but he can’t help it because years have been spent thinking about it, dwelling on it, on all the what-could-be’s and what-if’s, and suddenly it’s what-can-be’s and what is.

You pull away just enough to allow yourself to breathe, and your eyes remain closed. Newt focuses on your lashes that delicately kiss your cheeks, and he wants to do that too. To kiss your cheeks and your nose and each corner of your lips because he loves you so much it hurts. When your eyes open, revealing that charming gaze that holds so much power over him, to a degree he’s not certain you’d ever understand, his heart drops into his stomach and it rouses the butterflies there, and they take flight. He can’t think straight but that’s okay, and at the sight of your captivating, marvelous, lovely, brilliant and every other word which might represent magnificence smile, he smiles too, in disbelief and relief and everything in between.

#newt scamander x reader #newt scamander imagine #fantastic beasts imagine #fantastic beasts #newt scamander #crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts and where to find them #bubble-tea-bunny #queue

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The Top Albums of 2018 (So Far)

I think I say this every year but fuck it – the music 2018 has blessed us with in its first six months has been extraordinary. With all the insane shit happening around us and to us in this day and age, it feels like music is the only sane thing we have. So below we have our top 20 favorite releases of the year thus far. If you can’t find something to love on this list then you just aren’t trying hard enough – this is an eclectic list that encompasses multiple genres and styles. I can’t wait to see what the next six months brings to our ears. Note: You can share your own list in our music forum. The Top Albums of 2018 (So Far) 1. Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers Brian Fallon came up in the New Jersey punk scene writing nostalgic rock songs about ferris wheels and that old house in Asbury Park and sleeping on the beach. He did it all so damn well that his band, The Gaslight Anthem, famously earned the Springsteen seal of approval. Fallon is a Jersey boy through and through, which makes the idea of his new departure of a solo record—an organ-led, British-invasion-influenced solo record recorded in New Orleans—so fascinating. That he completely pulled it off, continuing his incredible hot streak of albums that began with 2008’s The ’59 Sound, proves that Brian Fallon is among America’s greatest living songwriters. Following his solo debut, 2016’s great if slightly by-the-numbers Painkillers, Sleepwalkers feels far more confident and mature, as Brian Fallon stretches his skillset into a dozen interesting new territories. The NOLA flavor shows up when Fallon experiments with sultry new rhythms in “Come Wander With Me” and the horn-driven title track. “Forget Me Not” references the Beatles in the bridge to signal to listeners that, yes, this is a ‘60s pop song. There is a sizable dose of Pearl Jam in the grungy guitar tones on “My Name Is The Night (Color Me Black),” and there is just enough Barry Manilow flavor in stadium-sized ballad “Etta James,” which sounds like if “Mandy” were performed by a guy with neck tattoos. Still, despite the rampant experimentation, Sleepwalkers is as cohesive a record as we’ve come to expect from Fallon over the past decade, making it one of the most exciting moments in his impressive discography and one of 2018’s most well-crafted records. [JB] 2. The Wonder Years – Sister Cities “I feel like if you’ve been following The Wonder Years, this is where it’s been going,” frontman Dan Campbell states in the teaser trailer for Sister Cities, and he’s spot on. This is the band’s most dynamic album yet, which says a lot considering how much the band has grown with every release. “Raining in Kyoto”, one of the heavier songs the band has written, introduces the central theme of the record, which is that no matter how far apart we may be physically, we’re all connected by our shared humanity: “an older man stood close by and smiled at me / I rung the bell like he did, I told you I’m sorry / a makeshift funeral, I tried setting you free.” On the other side of the world during his grandfather’s funeral, Campbell found solace in a place that didn’t share a spoken language, but a language of grief and love. The album’s closer, “The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me,” is The Wonder Years at their most vulnerable: “when I was in shambles / when I got too weak / the ocean grew hands to hold me.” The song, and the album as a whole, is about darkness and loss, but it’s also triumphant. It’s about realizing that our individual struggles are our collective struggles. At our lowest points, our humanity—the ocean—lifts us up and carries us home. [SS] 3. Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour While Kacy Musgraves is a country artist, it’s hard to characterize Golden Hour as a strictly country album. She’s been bending the genre since her release of Same Trailer Different Park in 2013. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me what genre Golden Hour is placed into because it’s just a good album. Some song on the record (“Slow Burn,” namely) require warming up to them before you can enjoy them in the full context of the album, but I didn’t mind giving this a few spins before it sank in. “High Horse” is a catchy tune and it’s not the only one on the record. With each song, you get the sense that Kacey just wants to do her own thing without focusing on what it’s going to be labeled as. Her personality shines through and that’s what makes this album a fun one to listen to. [DC] 4. Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz Spanish Love Songs are a band that play a particular brand of denim-jacket-punk that feels informed in equal parts by Against Me!…As The Eternal Cowboy and “The Authority Song” by John Mellancamp. Many of their songs contain lyrics where lead vocalist Dylan Slocum fears out loud that he will be killed in an act of random gun violence. This is to say that Spanish Love Songs are an American rock band. Schmaltz is greater than the sum of its parts. At first take, Spanish Love Songs sound a lot like The Menzingers, but that comparison is far too simple to leave unexamined. Compared to the Americana-influenced punk bands that preceded them, Spanish Love Songs’ choruses are more immediate with a notable to well-crafted vocal melodies and the inclusion of synthesizers to punch up the pop elements. The vocals are more frantic and anxious, as Slocum agonizes about the intersection of the aging process, the death of loved ones, and the definite timeline of his own life. Sure, the music Spanish Love Songs make may sound familiar, but the band have nailed the execution to the extent that Schmaltz is handily one of 2018’s most exciting releases from a new band. [JB] 5. Now, Now – Saved Every once in a while the perfect album seems to come along at the perfect time for me. I hear it, it just clicks, and it becomes not only my soundtrack for a few weeks, but my soundtrack for the year. Right now, that’s been the newest album from Now, Now. I find myself returning to Saved when I’m looking for a pick-me-up, when I’m looking to get into my feels on a late night, and when I’m just trying to zone out after a long day at work. The kind of album that just feels perfectly made for where I’m at and what I’m looking for from a record right now. I’m a sucker for pop-music that retains a strong emotional resonance. For music that is full of huge choruses and melodies while maintaining an emotional core. By and large, I think that’s the thread that’s followed me through my entire musical journey. It’s what really draws me to music in the first place. As we reflect on the albums that have made the first part of the year so special for us, I think about what’s going to stay with me through the rest of the year as well. I’ll be playing “SGL” while the sun’s out all summer, listening to “Knowme” as the leafs start to change colors, and have “P0WDER” on repeat in my headphones by the fire this winter. It’s an album for all seasons, for all moods, and it’s been my runaway favorite of the year so far. [JT] 6. Pianos Become The Teeth – Wait For Love After spending the last three Pianos Become The Teeth records recounting the life, love, pain, and loss of his father from multiple sclerosis, the band’s latest album Wait For Love features frontman Kyle Durfey exploring his own fatherhood, as he got married and had a child after finding some sort of closure on 2014’s Keep You. Wait For Love isn’t a happy record nor a sad record – it’s a realistic one that beautifully and painfully captures all the intoxicating highs and devastating lows of being a husband and father. The record is as emotionally complex as you’d expect from a Pianos record, but Durfey’s melodies have never been more powerful, surrounded by the band’s increased gracefulness in their musicianship and enhanced by David Haik’s pulsating and brilliant drumming. From the initial euphoric wave of “Fake Lighting” to the gorgeously intense closer “Blue,” Wait For Love is bursting with some of 2018’s most heartfelt, vulnerable tracks as Pianos Become The Teeth earnestly march into the next exhilarating phase of their career. (DB) 7. Pusha T – DAYTONA It’s been a long season for hip-hop, filled with new releases and controversy in equal measure. While many have taken Kanye West to task for his inane infatuation with Trump and a number of right-wing pundits, there was a certain curiousness ascribed to the announcement of his ambitious Wyoming Sessions. West set out to release five G.O.O.D Music albums within a month, and while ye may be polarizing enough to finally keep some listeners from buying into the producer’s schtick, the first release of these sessions, Pusha T’s DAYTONA, may be the best of the bunch. DAYTONA is as close as it gets to an instant classic, and the publicity surrounding the release, for better or worse, fuels that fact. In some ways, DAYTONA is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Pusha T – that is, luxury drug raps – but in another way, the album pushes new boundaries for the rapper. From the melodicism of opening single “If You Know You Know” to the stunning guitar samples on “The Games We Play” and “Santeria,” King Push manages to mix more braggadocio and quotables in just seven tracks than most rappers are capable of in an hour-plus. [AM] 8. Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog There is no voice in modern rock and roll as unique and indescribable as Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan. A constant see-saw between something beautiful and ugly, she undertakes a variety of different approaches, as if her voice is assuming a different character each time. And it’s so very apparent on the band’s incredible third album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog – a record that encapsulates a catharsis in the most imperfect yet perfect ways. Tracks like “How You Got Your Limp” and “Not Abel” prove that you don’t need to be abrasive to be impactful, each song channeling the tender yet spastic density of the band’s music. Bark Your Head Off, Dog may be the most visceral record of 2018, innately sticking with you long after the final track has finished playing. [DB] 9. Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer Josh Tillman is one of the most divisive voices in indie-rock, for reasons that are clear, but also somewhat silly. It seems many can’t stand the performer’s growing penchant for satire and theatrics, and if that’s the case, many will rejoice upon hearing his shortest and least ironic offering under the moniker yet. Taking sonic cues from his entire discography, God’s Favorite Customer is a piano record, a comparatively minimalist affair that often bursts into lavish compositions that would make a Beatle blush. Rooted in heartbreak and isolation, Gods Favorite Customer offers the unique songwriting chops fans have come to love as well as an unbridled and often bleak look at this particular songwriter’s process. An album of pleas, Tillman chastises himself on “Just Dumb Enough to Try” (“But I’m just dumb enough to try/To keep you in my life/For a little while longer”), but also switches places with his partner on standouts “Please Don’t Die” (“And honey, I’m worried ’bout you/Put yourself in my shoes/You’re all that I have/So please don’t die, wherever you are tonight”) and “The Songwriter.” Saving its least performative bits for the B-side, God’s Favorite Customer is the unfortunately common high point of an artist’s career mirroring a low point in their personal life. [AM] 10. Jeff Rosenstock – POST- If Jeff Rosenstock’s We Cool? is about the internally-directed disquiet that comes when an anxious person starts noticing the aging process, and if WORRY. is about the externally-directed disquiet that comes when an anxious person decides to get married and settle down in a troubled political climate, POST- is about that same anxious person trying their absolute hardest to keep it together in the era of Donald Trump. While POST- doesn’t shake up the WORRY. sound all that much (discounting some experimentation with longer song structures in the opening and closing tracks), Rosenstock has clearly gone through significant changes since Inauguration Day. Specifically, he’s writing from a much lower place. While Jeff postured himself as the flag-bearer in the movement against all that is fucked up in the world on WORRY., POST- finds the singer full of anxiety and paranoia with nothing but questions to offer. Did my friends and neighbors vote for him? How can I speak out against this? Is there really any point in doing so? Can I start a new life in Australia or something? And while “Let Them Win” doesn’t begin to start answering these questions, it does present the only possible conclusion, the only mantra that feels within reach: no matter how bad things get, we’re not gonna let them win. [JB] 11. Fall Out Boy – MANIA If you could put me in a time machine that looks like a DeLorean and shoot me back to the release of Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave, and let me tell myself that in 15 years the band would still be going strong, and, in fact, may have just released their best album? I’d probably believe time-traveling-Jason. I’ve always believed that this band is special and it’s thrilling for me to watch their career unfold. The constant has been the band’s ability to write very good songs. They’ve walked through a variety of different genres and branched out their sound, but I’d argue that the the underlying “Fall Out Boy-ness” has always remained. (Uh, ditto for people arguing about them on my forums.) MANIA has quickly grown to be one of my favorite Fall Out Boy albums. I’m drawn to this brash confidence I can feel in the songs. It’s got a pulsing soul that reverberates through a razor-tight 36 minutes. Between foot-stomping choruses and soul-baring ballads, it’s the amount of pure fun that I find in the album I’m drawn most to. In a world that feels more hellish each day, there’s a comfort to this record. I’m not surprised this band is still cranking out great songs all these years later, but I’m always pleasantly surprised when I not only find something to like, but something I genuinely want to listen to. Well done you little pleasing purple record you. [JT] 12. Lord Huron – Vide Noir Lord Huron, the indie rock group from Los Angeles, have had quite a few years to grow into their trademark sound of atmospheric landscapes and wandering journeys. Vide Noir, the third studio album and their first on a major label, was mixed by Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips) and self-produced by front-man Ben Schneider, in which he has crafted his early career masterpiece. Schneider recently credited this album to a new habit of taking nighttime drives around LA and the “search for meaning amidst the cold indifference of the universe,” according to his recent social media posts. This album in particular speaks to the late night journeys that Schneider had become accustomed to and takes the listener on a rewarding path of self discovery. Lord Huron are at their most comfortable when they experiment with these sonic landscapes and there’s plenty of this apparent on this LP. [AG] 13. Caitlyn Smith – Starfire Some artists just have those voices that you can’t deny. You might not usually listen to the genre they hail from, and you might not even love the songs, but you can hear them sing and understand why people love their music. Adele is one of those artists. Chris Stapleton is one of those artists. Jeff Buckley, when he was alive, was one of those artists. And Caitlyn Smith is one of those artists, too. For my money, Smith’s debut, titled Starfire, is one of the two or three most well-sung LPs of the decade so far. I’m guessing that one listen to the theatrical tour-de-force “East Side Restaurant” will be enough to tell you why. While Smith’s voice is the centerpiece, though, Starfire is what it is because of the songwriting. Smith has been waiting for this moment for a long time, releasing a series of EPs and writing songs for everyone from Garth Brooks to Dolly Parton to Meghan Trainor and John Legend. Starfire encapsulates that long-haul story into a record about chasing a dream until it breaks your heart—and then chasing it even harder. Songs like “Don’t Give up on My Love” and “This Town Is Killing Me” ache with the sting of everything you sacrifice when you gamble your life on a fool’s hope of music industry success. “They buried my granddad without me/’Cause I was out on the road at some one-off show in Tupelo/And I can’t take that one back,” Smith sings in the latter. Starfire is an album built on a lot of miles, a lot of lonely nights in shitty motel rooms, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. You can hear every ounce of what the journey cost in the songs, so when Smith belts something like the rafter-shaking key change at the climax of “Tacoma,” it feels like nothing less than a triumph of the human spirit. [CM] 14. Camp Cope – How To Socialise and Make Friends There’s a renaissance of primal, emotionally-charged punk rock coming out of Melbourne, Australia right now (roo-rock?) and the all-female Camp Cope is leading the charge. Lead singer Georgia Maq started as a solo artist, but added Kelso Hellmrich and Sarah Thompson to great effect on their second studio album, How to Socialize & Make Friends, a loose reference to the classic Dan Carnegie self-help book published in the 30’s. Maq is equal parts sincere, sarcastic, bitter, and brazen singing about gender politics (“And all my success has got nothing to do with me/Yeah, tell me again how there just aren’t that many girls in the music scene”) and just surviving in a world not built for sensitive people (“But sometimes it’s hard to go outside/And I’ve been driving way too much/I’ve been too lazy to fix my bike”). Her beautiful banshee scream is reminiscent of Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan’s, but nothing about Camp Cope is purely derivative. Now in their prime as a band, they have created a place for themselves all their own. [DK] 15. Underoath – Erase Me The first time I heard “rase Me, I was let down—but somehow totally vibing with album standout “No Frame.” And then I listened again. And again. The songs started wiggling their way into my head. And then I listened again. The next thing I knew, I was belting every song for weeks on end. I’d trusted Underoath for fifteen years, and they delivered again, despite my initial reaction. Listening to an album “freed from religion” was listening to the catharsis of a man not afraid to address God from a place of vulnerability and honesty unafraid of how he was perceived in the asking, conquering the addiction demons of his past, and coming to a new sense of identity—all while exploring new avenues of sound for the band. Some defined these new sounds as selling out—and while I would’ve preferred more “Hold Your Breath”-type songs to “Rapture”-type songs—I’m all for bands writing what they want to write. This will never be remembered as their greatest album, but with enough time, it becomes an intensely personal album if you let it. The soaring chorus of “In Motion” or the absolutely crushing bridge of “ihateit” spoke directly to my life experiences. Spencer sang words echoing the thoughts I’ve kept on scraps of paper only I see. When I come to music, I just like to be seen. Thirteen years after “Young and Aspiring” changed my life, Underoath still makes music that sees me. And I still see them. I’m so happy for the continued success and happiness they’ve found along the way. Erase Me is an album about the journey, and I’m already excited for what the destination of a next album promises. [GL] 16. Soccer Mommy – Clean Perhaps no other artist understands coming of age in the 2010s the way Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison does. Her first proper full-length, Clean, displays her knack for chronicling the uncertainties of young love, feeling misunderstood, and avoiding one’s parents in a way that feels far more mature than the subject matter would suggest. Take “Flaw”’s honest retelling of a relationship gone sour, culminating in the self-aware line: “I choose to blame it all on you, ‘cause I don’t like the truth.” Or listen to the rollicking, defiant single “Your Dog,” a screed against a controlling boyfriend that turns into a positive affirmation of her autonomy. It’ll be exciting to watch Allison grow, but for now, Clean is a hell of a first step. [ZD] 17. Animal Flag – Void Ripper Animal Flag’s latest full-length, Void Ripper, is aptly named. It’s the band’s darkest and heaviest release yet, and the music is every bit as crushing and apocalyptic as Matt Politoski’s lyrics behind it – lyrics like, “everyone I know will die” and “life is short, it always ends.” While Politoski’s lyrics are admittedly depressing, they’re also his most personal and thought-provoking yet. He and the rest of Animal Flag have torn through the void, and what they discovered on the other side was something beautiful. [ZD] 18. Frank Turner – Be More Kind Frank Turner is an Englishman, dutifully touring his way around the world and then back again, racking up a whopping 2,202 shows under his belt. So if anyone knows what might help our country right now, it’s probably the very world-weary Frank Turner. On Be More Kind he prescribes one part decency (“Be more kind, my friends/Try to be more kind”) , one part rage (“Let’s make America great again/By making racists ashamed again.”), and one part persistence (“Put on your brave face, honey, your brave face/It’s funny how fear can bring your focus in tight”). It’s a winning formula and the subject matter forces Turner to slow down in way he’s never done before. He leans in hard on the end-of-the-world theme with titles like “21st Century Survival Blues” and “Making America Great Again,” but mostly gone are the fast guitars and punk power chords, replaced instead with sensitive acoustic strumming and even, on standout track “Blackout”, a clubby dance beat. Turner crafts a surprisingly mellow, insightful album, one that feels, more than ever, like one he’s been wanting to make. And if takes an Englishman with four chords to save our country, well, we’ll take it any way we can get it. [DK] 19. The Republic of Wolves – Shrine After my first listen of Shrine I knew that this was a very special record. On their 3rd LP The Republic of Wolves return to their roots. This record delivers an album full of dynamic dark alt rock songs that are sure to fill a void for some. Lyrically, Shrine is a concept album that centers around Japanese folklore while still touching on relatable themes such as heartbreak (Birdless Cage) and spiritual conflict (Bask) . One of the album’s highlights is the centerpiece “Dialogues,” which takes the listener through a musical journey of both loud and soft dynamics, while also containing a call back a track on the bands first LP “Monologues.” The production on shrine is fantastic and contains some of the best guitar tones I’ve heard this year. This record delivers on many layers and is a must listen for fans of dynamic alternative rock. [Teebs41] 20. Turnstile – Time & Space If you’re looking for 2018’s most wild ride look no further than Turnstile’s Roadrunner Records debut, Time & Space. Blending the perfect mix of shout-along choruses, super groovy musicianship, and just the right amount of heavy to get the pit moving (thanks to Will Yip’s crisp production), the Baltimore quintet is the most exciting and unique band to emerge from the hardcore scene in years. “Generator” flows like an out-of-body experience, elevating above any and all distractions, while the fuzzy crunch of “Moon” features a guest turn from Sheer Mag’s Tina Halladay and the blistering “Right To Be” features added production from none other than Diplo. Clocking in with 13 tracks at just under a half hour, Time & Space proves that the tired ideas of what hardcore should be will not stop Turnstile from getting freaky and releasing one of the best albums of the year. [DB] Contributor Key * [CM]: Craig Manning * [JT]: Jason Tate * [AM]: Aaron Mook * [SS]: Scott Surette * [ZD]: Zac Djamoos * [DC]: Deanna Chapman * [DB]: Drew Beringer * [AG]: Adam Grundy * [GL]: Garrett Lemons * [JB]: John Bazley * [DK]: David Kallison Contributor Lists Jason Tate * Now, Now – Saved * Fickle Friends – You Are Someone Else * Fall Out Boy – Mania * Half Waif – Lavender * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Dessa – Chime * The Neighbourhood – The Neighbourhood * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Natalie Prass – The Future and the Past * Pennywise – Never Gonna Die * Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer * Soccer Mommy – Clean * Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz * Nathan Gray – Feral Hymns * Illuminati Hotties – Kiss Yr Frenemies * The Republic of Wolves – Shrine * Lykke Li – So Sad So Sexy * The Longshot – Love is For Losers * Annie-Marie – Speak Your Mind * Tonight Alive – Underworld Drew Beringer * Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer * The Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog * Turnstile – Time & Space * Petal – Magic Gone * Self Defense Family – Have You Considered Punk Music * Beach House – 7 * Pianos Become The Teeth – Wait For Love * Sleep – The Sciences * Tiny Moving Parts – Swell * Jeff Rosenstock – POST- * Culture Abuse – Bay Dream * Rolling Blackouts C.F. – Hope Downs * Dance Gavin Dance – Artificial Selection * Wax Idols – Happy Ending * Now, Now – Saved * Hurry – Every Little Thought * Drowse – Cold Air * Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs * Anthony Green – Would You Still Be In Love Adam Grundy * Lord Huron – Vide Noir * Middle Kids – Lost Friends * The Aces – When my heart felt volcanic * CHVRCHES – Love is Dead * The Neighbourhood – S/T * Moon Taxi – Let the record play * Car Seat Headrest- Twin Fantasy * Kendrick Lamar/VA – Black panther soundtrack * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Senses Fail – If there is light… * Dashboard Confessional – Crooked Shadows * Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night sweats – Tearing at the Seams * Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino * The Voidz – Virtue * Underoath – Erase Me * Superorganism – S/T * Ben Howard – Noonday Dream * Pennywise – Never Gonna Die * Father John misty – Gods favorite customer * The Longshot – Love is for Losers Craig Manning * Caitlyn Smith – Starfire * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Tenille Townes – The Living Room Worktapes * Dawes – Passwords * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Donovan Woods – Both Ways * Field Report – Summertime Songs * Brothers Osborne – Port Saint Joe * Steve Moakler – Born Ready * Dierks Bentley – The Mountain * LANCO – Hallelujah Nights * Ashley Monroe – Sparrow * Brandi Carlile – By the Way, I Forgive You * Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain * Parker Millsap – Other Arrangements * The Dangerous Summer – The Dangerous Summer * The Church Sisters – A Night at the Opry * Snow Patrol – Wildness * Ashley McBryde – Girl Going Nowhere * American Aquarium – Things Change Scott Surette * the wonder years — sister cities * the republic of wolves — shrine * pusha t — daytona * dance gavin dance — artificial selection * hop along — bark your head off, dog * jeff rosenstock — post- * pianos become the teeth — wait for love * turnstile — time and space * cardi b — invasion of privacy * soccer mommy — clean * jpegmafia — veteran * tiny moving parts — swell * the dangerous summer — the dangerous summer * senses fail — if there is a light, it will find you * pennywise — never gonna die Deanna Chapman * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Hidden Hospitals – Liars * Marian Hill – Unusual * Caitlyn Smith – Starfire * Brothers Osborne – Port Saint Joe * The XCERTS – Hold On To Your Heart * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Hurry – Every Little Thought * Elder Brother – Stay Inside * The Longshot – Love Is for Lovers Zac Djamoos * Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz * The Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Soccer Mommy – Clean * Animal Flag – Void Ripper * Camp Cope – How to Socialise and Make Friends * Long Neck – Will This Do * awakebutstillinbed – what people call low self-esteem… * Pianos Become the Teeth – Wait for Love * illuminati Hotties – Kiss Yr Frenemies 1 * Mighty – Mighty * The Republic of Wolves – shrine * No Thank You – All It Takes to Ruin It All * Black Foxxes – Reidi 14. Runaway Brother – New Pocket * Speak Low If You Speak Love – Nearsighted * Jeff Rosenstock – Post- * Toy Cars – Paint Brain * Late Bloomer – Waiting * Barely Civil – We Can Live Here Forever * Casey – Where I Go When I Am Sleeping Aaron Mook * Caroline Rose – LONER * Porches – The House * Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer * The Sidekicks – Happiness Hours * Pusha T – DAYTONA * Beach House – 7 * American Pleasure Club – A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This * Donovan Wolfington – Waves * Kraus – Path * Mount Eerie – Now Only Chrisanne Grise * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending * Lord Huron – Vide Noir * Florence and the Machine – High as Hope * Leon Bridges – Good Thing * David Byrne – American Utopia * Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer * Frank Turner – Be More Kind * The Longshot – Love is for Losers * Kate Nash – Yesterday Was Forever David Kallison * Camp Cope – How to Socialize and Make Friends * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz * Sorority Noise – YNAAT * Frank Turner – Be More Kind * Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog * illuminati hotties – Kiss Yr Frenemies * Coach Phillips – Learning How To Swim EP * Pelafina – Sorry In Advance * Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Tiny Little Houses – Idiot Proverbs * The Penske File – Salvation * Childish Gambino – “This is America” single * Juice WRLD – Goodbye and Good Riddance * Pllush – Stranger to the Pain * Nahan Gray – Feral Hymns * Animal Flag – Void Ripper John Bazley * Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz * The Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Staten – I don’t want to be alone anymore * Now, Now – Saved * Pusha T – Daytona * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Kevin Gates – Chained to the City EP * Kississippi – Sunset Blush * Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer * Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog * The HIRS Collective – Friends. Lovers. Favorites. * Jeff Rosenstock – POST- * A Will Away – Hear Again EP * J Cole – KOD * Saba – Care For Me * Tiny Moving Parts – Swell * Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel * Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy * Animal Flag – Void Ripper * Zaytoven – Trap Holizay Garrett Lemons * Underoath – Erase Me * The Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Beyonce & Jay-Z — Love Is Everything * Jeff Rosenstock – POST- * The Weeknd – My Dear Melancholy * Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy * Frank Turner – Be More Kind * Shawn Mendes – Shawn Mendes * Dashboard Confessional – Crooked Shadows * Pianos Become The Teeth – Wait For Love * The Dangerous Summer – The Dangerous Summer * Senses Fail – If There Is A Light… * The Republic of Wolves – Shrine * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer * Migos – Culture II * Now, Now – Saved * Justin Timberlake – Man of the Woods * Pusha T – Daytona Ryan Gardner * The Wonder Years – Sister Cities * Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Pianos Become The Teeth – Wait For Love * Now, Now – Saved * The Sidekicks – Happiness Hours * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * The Dangerous Summer – The Dangerous Summer * Underoath – Erase Me * Turnstile – Time & Space * Soccer Mommy – Clean * Harms Way – Posthuman Tommy Monroe * Pusha T – Daytona * Anne-Marie – Speak Your Mind * Charlie Puth – Voicenotes * Cozz – Effected * First Aid Kit – Ruins * Vance Joy – Nation Of Two * Princess Nokia – A Girl Cried Red * Fall Out Boy – Mania * Camila Cabello – CAMILA * Jay Rock – Redemption * Beyoncé & Jay-Z – Everything Is Love * Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer * Cardi B – Invasion Of Privacy * Royce da 5’9 – Book Of Ryan * Migos – culture 2 * J. Cole – KOD * The Dangerous Summer – The Dangerous Summer * Julie Bergan – Turn On The Lights * Kids See Ghosts – KIDS SEE GHOSTS * Kanye West – Ye Aj LaGambina * Now, Now – Saved * Pianos Become The Teeth – Wait for Love * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Animal Flag – Void Ripper * Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Jeff Rosenstock – Post- * Tiny Moving Parts – Swell * Fall Out Boy – Mania * MGMT – Little Dark Age Eric Wilson * Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour * Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers * Mayday Parade – Sunnyland * Camila Cabello – Camila * Mike Shinoda – Post Traumatic * Fall Out Boy – MANIA * Mat Kearney – Crazytalk * Dashboard Confessional – Crooked Shadows * Tonight Alive – Underworld * State Champs – Living Proof --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/features/articles/the-top-albums-of-2018-so-far/

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anawat2050 · 3 years

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d33-alex · 4 years

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The Challenge of Marxism

Enlightenment liberalism sets freedom and equality as the standard by which government is to be judged, and describes the individual’s power of reason alone, independent of tradition, as the instrument by which this judgment is to be obtained. In so doing, liberalism creates Marxists.

I. The collapse of institutional liberalism

For a generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, most Americans and Europeans regarded Marxism as an enemy that had been defeated once and for all. But they were wrong. A mere 30 years later, Marxism is back, and making an astonishingly successful bid to seize control of the most important American media companies, universities and schools, major corporations and philanthropic organizations, and even the courts, the government bureaucracy, and some churches. As American cities succumb to rioting, arson, and looting, it appears as though the liberal custodians of many of these institutions—from the New York Times to Princeton University—have despaired of regaining control of them, and are instead adopting a policy of accommodation. That is, they are attempting to appease their Marxist employees by giving in to some of their demands in the hope of not being swept away entirely.

We don’t know what will happen for certain. But based on the experience of recent years, we can venture a pretty good guess. Institutional liberalism lacks the resources to contend with this threat. Liberalism is being expelled from its former strongholds, and the hegemony of liberal ideas, as we have known it since the 1960s, will end. Anti-Marxist liberals are about to find themselves in much the same situation that has characterized conservatives, nationalists, and Christians for some time now: They are about to find themselves in the opposition.

This means that some brave liberals will soon be waging war on the very institutions they so recently controlled. They will try to build up alternative educational and media platforms in the shadow of the prestigious, wealthy, powerful institutions they have lost. Meanwhile, others will continue to work in the mainstream media, universities, tech companies, philanthropies, and government bureaucracy, learning to keep their liberalism to themselves and to let their colleagues believe that they too are Marxists—just as many conservatives learned long ago how to keep their conservatism to themselves and let their colleagues believe they are liberals.

This is the new reality that is emerging. There is blood in the water and the new Marxists will not rest content with their recent victories. In America, they will press their advantage and try to seize the Democratic Party. They will seek to reduce the Republican Party to a weak imitation of their own new ideology, or to ban it outright as a racist organization. And in other democratic countries, they will attempt to imitate their successes in America. No free nation will be spared this trial. So let us not avert our eyes and tell ourselves that this curse isn’t coming for us. Because it is coming for us.

In this essay, I would like to offer some initial remarks about the new Marxist victories in America—about what has happened and what’s likely to happen next.

II. The Marxist framework

Anti-Marxist liberals have labored under numerous disadvantages in the recent struggles to maintain control of liberal organizations. One is that they are often not confident they can use the term “Marxist” in good faith to describe those seeking to overthrow them. This is because their tormentors do not follow the precedent of the Communist Party, the Nazis, and various other political movements that branded themselves using a particular party name and issued an explicit manifesto to define it. Instead, they disorient their opponents by referring to their beliefs with a shifting vocabulary of terms, including “the Left,” “Progressivism,” “Social Justice,” “Anti-Racism,” “Anti-Fascism,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Critical Race Theory,” “Identity Politics,” “Political Correctness,” “Wokeness,” and more. When liberals try to use these terms they often find themselves deplored for not using them correctly, and this itself becomes a weapon in the hands of those who wish to humiliate and ultimately destroy them.

The best way to escape this trap is to recognize the movement presently seeking to overthrow liberalism for what it is: an updated version of Marxism. I do not say this to disparage anyone. I say this because it is true. And because recognizing this truth will help us understand what we are facing.

The new Marxists do not use the technical jargon that was devised by 19th-century Communists. They don’t talk about the bourgeoisie, proletariat, class struggle, alienation of labor, commodity fetishism, and the rest, and in fact they have developed their own jargon tailored to present circumstances in America, Britain, and elsewhere. Nevertheless, their politics are based on Marx’s framework for critiquing liberalism (what Marx calls the “ideology of the bourgeoisie”) and overthrowing it. We can describe Marx’s political framework as follows:

1. Oppressor and oppressed Marx argues that, as an empirical matter, people invariably form themselves into cohesive groups (he calls them classes), which exploit one another to the extent they are able. A liberal political order is no different in this from any other, and it tends toward two classes, one of which owns and controls pretty much everything (the oppressor); while the other is exploited, and the fruit of its labor appropriated, so that it does not advance and, in fact, remains forever enslaved (the oppressed). In addition, Marx sees the state itself, its laws and its mechanisms of enforcement, as a tool that the oppressor class uses to keep the regime of oppression in place and to assist in carrying out this work.

2. False consciousness Marx recognizes that the liberal businessmen, politicians, lawyers, and intellectuals who keep this system in place are unaware that they are the oppressors, and that what they think of as progress has only established new conditions of oppression. Indeed, even the working class may not know that they are exploited and oppressed. This is because they all think in terms of liberal categories (e.g., the individual’s right to freely sell his labor) which obscure the systematic oppression that is taking place. This ignorance of the fact that one is an oppressor or oppressed is called the ruling ideology (Engels later coined the phrase false consciousness to describe it), and it is only overcome when one is awakened to what is happening and learns to recognize reality using true categories.

3. Revolutionary reconstitution of society Marx suggests that, historically, oppressed classes have materially improved their conditions only through a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large—that is, through the destruction of the oppressor class, and of the social norms and ideas that hold the regime of systematic oppression in place. He even specifies that liberals will supply the oppressed with the tools needed to overthrow them. There is a period of “more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to the point where that war breaks out into open revolution” and the “violent overthrow” of the liberal oppressors. At this point, the oppressed seize control of the state.

4. Total disappearance of class antagonisms Marx promises that after the oppressed underclass takes control of the state, the exploitation of individuals by other individuals will be “put to an end” and the antagonism between classes of individuals will totally disappear. How this is to be done is not specified.

Marxist political theories have undergone much development and elaboration over nearly two centuries. The story of how “neo-Marxism” emerged after the First World War in the writings of the Frankfurt School and Antonio Gramsci has been frequently told, and academics will have their hands full for many years to come arguing over how much influence was exerted on various successor movements by Michel Foucault, post-modernism, and more. But for present purposes, this level of detail is not necessary, and I will use the term “Marxist” in a broad sense to refer to any political or intellectual movement that is built upon Marx’s general framework as I’ve just described it. This includes the “Progressive” or “Anti-Racism” movement now advancing toward the conquest of liberalism in America and Britain. This movement uses racialist categories such as whites and people of color to describe the oppressors and the oppressed in our day. But it relies entirely on Marx’s general framework for its critique of liberalism and for its plan of action against the liberal political order. It is simply an updated Marxism.

III. The attraction and power of Marxism

Although many liberals and conservatives say that Marxism is “nothing but a great lie,” this isn’t quite right. Liberal societies have repeatedly proved themselves vulnerable to Marxism, and now we are seeing with our own eyes how the greatest liberal institutions in the world are being handed over to Marxists and their allies. If Marxism is nothing but a great lie, why are liberal societies so vulnerable to it? We must understand the enduring attraction and strength of Marxism. And we will never understand it unless we recognize that Marxism captures certain aspects of the truth that are missing from Enlightenment liberalism.

Which aspects of the truth?

Marx’s principal insight is the recognition that the categories liberals use to construct their theory of political reality (liberty, equality, rights, and consent) are insufficient for understanding the political domain. They are insufficient because the liberal picture of the political world leaves out two phenomena that are, according to Marx, absolutely central to human political experience: The fact that people invariably form cohesive classes or groups; and the fact that these classes or groups invariably oppress or exploit one another, with the state itself functioning as an instrument of the oppressor class.

My liberal friends tend to believe that oppression and exploitation exist only in traditional or authoritarian societies, whereas liberal society is free (or almost free) from all that. But this isn’t true. Marx is right to see that every society consists of cohesive classes or groups, and that political life everywhere is primarily about the power relations among different groups. He is also right that at any given time, one group (or a coalition of groups) dominates the state, and that the laws and policies of the state tend to reflect the interests and ideals of this dominant group. Moreover, Marx is right when he says that the dominant group tends to see its own preferred laws and policies as reflecting “reason” or “nature,” and works to disseminate its way of looking at things throughout society, so that various kinds of injustice and oppression tend to be obscured from view.

For example, despite decades of experimentation with vouchers and charter schools, the dominant form of American liberalism remains strongly committed to the public school system. In most places, this is a monopolistic system that requires children of all backgrounds to receive what is, in effect, an atheistic education stripped clean of references to God or the Bible. Although liberals sincerely believe that this policy is justified by the theory of “separation of church and state,” or by the argument that society needs schools that are “for everyone,” the fact is that these theories justify what really is a system aimed at inculcating their own Enlightenment liberalism. Seen from a conservative perspective, this amounts to a quiet persecution of religious families. Similarly, the pornography industry is nothing but a horrific instrument for exploiting poor women, although it is justified by liberal elites on grounds of “free speech” and other freedoms reserved to “consenting adults.” And in the same way, indiscriminate offshoring of manufacturing capacity is considered to be an expression of property rights by liberal elites, who benefit from cheap Chinese labor at the expense of their own working-class neighbors.

No, Marxist political theory is not simply a great lie. By analyzing society in terms of power relations among classes or groups, we can bring to light important political phenomena to which Enlightenment liberal theories—theories that tend to reduce politics to the individual and his or her private liberties—are systematically blind.

This is the principal reason that Marxist ideas are so attractive. In every society, there will always be plenty of people who have reason to feel they’ve been oppressed or exploited. Some of these claims will be worthy of remedy and some less so. But virtually all of them are susceptible to a Marxist interpretation, which shows how they result from systematic oppression by the dominant classes, and justifies responding with outrage and violence. And those who are troubled by such apparent oppression will frequently find themselves at home among the Marxists.

Of course, liberals have not remained unmoved in the face of criticism based on the reality of group power relations. Measures such as the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly outlawed discriminatory practices against a variety of classes or groups; and subsequent “Affirmative Action” programs sought to strengthen underprivileged classes through quotas, hiring goals, and other methods. But these efforts have not come close to creating a society free from power relations among classes or groups. If anything, the sense that “the system is rigged” in favor of certain classes or groups at the expense of others has only grown more pronounced.

Despite having had more than 150 years to work on it, liberalism still hasn’t found a way to persuasively address the challenge posed by Marx’s thought.

IV. The flaws that make Marxism fatal

We’ve looked at what Marxist political theory gets right and why it’s such a powerful doctrine. But there are also plenty of problems with the Marxist framework, a number of them fatal.

The first of these is that while Marxism proposes an empirical investigation of the power relations among classes or groups, it simply assumes that wherever one discovers a relationship between a more powerful group and a weaker one, that relation will be one of oppressor and oppressed. This makes it seem as if every hierarchical relationship is just another version of the horrific exploitation of black slaves by Virginia plantation owners before the Civil War. But in most cases, hierarchical relationships are not enslavement. Thus, while it is true that kings have normally been more powerful than their subjects, employers more powerful than their employees, and parents more powerful than their children, these have not necessarily been straightforward relations of oppressor and oppressed. Much more common are mixed relationships, in which both the stronger and the weaker receive certain benefits, and in which both can also point to hardships that must be endured in order to maintain it.

The fact that the Marxist framework presupposes a relationship of oppressor and oppressed leads to the second great difficulty, which is the assumption that every society is so exploitative that it must be heading toward the overthrow of the dominant class or group. But if it is possible for weaker groups to benefit from their position, and not just to be oppressed by it, then we have arrived at the possibility of a conservative society: One in which there is a dominant class or loyalty group (or coalition of groups), which seeks to balance the benefits and the burdens of the existing order so as to avoid actual oppression. In such a case, the overthrow and destruction of the dominant group may not be necessary. Indeed, when considering the likely consequences of a revolutionary reconstitution of society—often including not only civil war, but foreign invasion as the political order collapses—most groups in a conservative society may well prefer to preserve the existing order, or to largely preserve it, rather than to endure Marx’s alternative.

This brings us to the third failing of the Marxist framework. This is the notorious absence of a clear view as to what the underclass, having overthrown its oppressors and seized the state, is supposed to do with its newfound power. Marx is emphatic that once they have control of the state, the oppressed classes will be able to end oppression. But these claims appear to be unfounded. After all, we’ve said that the strength of the Marxist framework lies in its willingness to recognize that power relations do exist among classes and groups in every society, and that these can be oppressive and exploitative in every society. And if this is an empirical fact—as indeed it seems to be—then how will the Marxists who have overthrown liberalism be able use the state to obtain the total abolition of class antagonisms? At this point, Marx’s empiricist posture evaporates, and his framework becomes completely utopian.

When liberals and conservatives talk about Marxism being “nothing but a big lie,” this is what they mean. The Marxist goal of seizing the state and using it to eliminate all oppression is an empty promise. Marx did not know how the state could actually bring this about, and neither have any of his followers. In fact, we now have many historical cases in which Marxists have seized the state: In Russia and Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, and Cambodia, Cuba and Venezuela. But nowhere has the Marxists’ attempt at a “revolutionary reconstitution of society” by the state been anything other than a parade of horrors. In every case, the Marxists themselves form a new class or group, using the power of the state to exploit and oppress other classes in the most extreme ways—up to and including repeated recourse to murdering millions of their own people. Yet for all this, utopia never comes and oppression never ends.

Marxist society, like all other societies, consists of classes and groups arranged in a hierarchical order. But the aim of reconstituting society and the assertion that the state is responsible for achieving this feat makes the Marxist state much more aggressive, and more willing to resort to coercion and bloodshed, than the liberal regime it seeks to replace.

V. The dance of liberalism and Marxism

It is often said that liberalism and Marxism are “opposites,” with liberalism committed to freeing the individual from coercion by the state and Marxism endorsing unlimited coercion in pursuit of a reconstituted society. But what if it turned out that liberalism has a tendency to give way and transfer power to Marxists within a few decades? Far from being the opposite of Marxism, liberalism would merely be a gateway to Marxism.

A compelling analysis of the structural similarities between Enlightenment liberalism and Marxism has been published by the Polish political theorist Ryszard Legutko under the title The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies (2016). A subsequent book by Christopher Caldwell, The Age of Entitlement (2020), has similarly documented the manner in which the American constitutional revolution of the 1960s, whose purpose was to establish the rule of liberalism, has in fact brought about a swift transition to a “Progressive” politics that is, as I’ve said, a version of Marxism. With these accounts in mind, I’d like to propose a way of understanding the core relationship that binds liberalism and Marxism to one another and makes them something other than “opposites.”

Enlightenment liberalism is a rationalist system built on the premise that human beings are, by nature, free and equal. It is further asserted that this truth is “self-evident,” meaning that all of us can recognize it through the exercise of reason alone, without reference to the particular national or religious traditions of our time and place.

But there are difficulties with this system. One of these is that, as it turns out, highly abstract terms such as freedom, equality, and justice cannot be given stable content by means of reason alone. To see this, consider the following problems:

1. If all men are free and equal, how is it that not everyone who wishes to do so may enter the United States and take up residence there?

By reason alone, it can be argued that since all men are free and equal, they should be equally free to take up residence in the United States. This appears straightforward, and any argument to the contrary will have to depend on traditional concepts such as nation, state, territory, border, citizenship, and so on—none of which are self-evident or accessible to reason alone.

2. If all men are free and equal, how is it that not everyone who wants to may register for courses at Princeton University?

By reason alone, it can be argued that if all are free and equal, they should be equally free to register for courses at Princeton on a first come, first served basis. This, too, appears straightforward. Any argument to the contrary will have to depend on traditional concepts such as private property, corporation, freedom of association, education, course of study, merit, and so on. And, again, none of this is self-evident.

3. If all men are free and equal, how can you justify preventing a man who feels he is a woman from competing in a women’s track and field competition in a public school?

By reason alone, it can be said that since all are free and equal, a man who feels he is a woman should be equally free to compete in a women’s track and field competition. Any argument to the contrary will have to depend on traditional concepts of such as man, woman, women’s rights, athletic competition, competition class, fairness, and so on, none of which is accessible to reason alone.

Such examples can be multiplied without end. The truth is that reason alone gets us almost nowhere in settling arguments over what is meant by freedom and equality. So where does the meaning of these terms come from?

I’ve said that every society consists of classes or groups. These stand in various power relations to one another, which find expression in the political, legal, religious, and moral traditions that are handed down by the strongest classes or groups. It is only within the context of these traditions that we come to believe that words like freedom and equality mean one thing and not another, and to develop a “common sense” of how different interests and concerns are to be balanced against one another in actual cases.

But what happens if you dispense with those traditions? This, after all, is what Enlightenment liberalism seeks to do. Enlightenment liberals observe that inherited traditions are always flawed or unjust in certain ways, and for this reason they feel justified in setting inherited tradition aside and appealing directly to abstract principles such as freedom and equality. The trouble is, there is no such thing as a society in which everyone is free and equal in all ways. Even in a liberal society, there will always be countless ways in which a given class or group may be unfree or unequal with respect to the others. And since this is so, Marxists will always be able to say that some or all of these instances of unfreedom and inequality are instances of oppression.

Thus the endless dance of liberalism and Marxism, which goes like this:

1. Liberals declare that henceforth all will be free and equal, emphasizing that reason (not tradition) will determine the content of each individual’s rights.

2. Marxists, exercising reason, point to many genuine instances of unfreedom and inequality in society, decrying them as oppression and demanding new rights.

3. Liberals, embarrassed by the presence of unfreedom and inequality after having declared that all would be free and equal, adopt some of the Marxists’ demands for new rights.

4. Return to #1 above and repeat.

Of course, not all liberals give in to the Marxists’ demands—and certainly not on every occasion. Nevertheless, the dance is real. As a generalized view of what happens over time, this picture is accurate, as we’ve seen throughout the democratic world over the last 70 years. Liberals progressively adopt the critical theories of the Marxists over time, whether the subject is God and religion, man and woman, honor and duty, family, nation, or anything else.

A few observations, then, concerning this dance of liberalism and Marxism:

First, notice that the dance is a byproduct of liberalism. It exists because Enlightenment liberalism sets freedom and equality as the standard by which government is to be judged, and describes the individual’s power of reason alone, independent of tradition, as the instrument by which this judgment is to be obtained. In so doing, liberalism creates Marxists. Like the sorcerer’s apprentice, it constantly calls into being individuals who exercise reason, identify instances of unfreedom and inequality in society, and conclude from this that they (or others) are oppressed and that a revolutionary reconstitution of society is necessary to eliminate the oppression. It is telling that this dynamic is already visible during the French Revolution and in the radical regimes in Pennsylvania and other states during the American Revolution. A proto-Marxism was generated by Enlightenment liberalism even before Marx proposed a formal structure for describing it a few decades later.

Second, the dance only moves in one direction. In a liberal society, Marxist criticism brings many liberals to progressively abandon the conceptions of freedom and equality with which they set out, and to adopt new conceptions proposed by Marxists. But the reverse movement—of Marxists toward liberalism—seems terribly weak in comparison. How can this be? If Enlightenment liberalism is true, and its premises are indeed “self-evident” or a “product of reason,” it should be the case that under conditions of freedom, individuals will exercise reason and reach liberal conclusions. Why, then, do liberal societies produce a rapid movement toward Marxist ideas, and not an ever-greater belief in liberalism?

The key to understanding this dynamic is this: Although liberals believe their views are “self-evident” or the “product of reason,” most of the time they are actually relying on inherited conceptions of what freedom and equality are, and inherited norms of how to apply these concepts to real-world cases. In other words, the conflict between liberalism and its Marxist critics is one between a dominant class or group wishing to conserve its traditions (liberals), and a revolutionary group (Marxists) combining criticial reasoning with a willingness to jettison all inherited constraints to overthrow these traditions. But while Marxists know very well that their aim is to destroy the intellectual and cultural traditions that are holding liberalism in place, their liberal opponents for the most part refuse to engage in the kind of conservatism that would be needed to defend their traditions and strengthen them. Indeed, liberals frequently disparage tradition, telling their children and students that all they need is to reason freely and “draw your own conclusions.”

The result is a radical imbalance between Marxists, who consciously work to bring about a conceptual revolution, and liberals whose insistence on “freedom from inherited tradition” provides little or no defense—and indeed, opens the door for precisely the kinds of arguments and tactics that Marxists use against them. This imbalance means that the dance moves only in one direction, and that liberal ideas tend to collapse before Marxist criticism in a matter of decades.

VI. The Marxist endgame and democracy’s end

Not very long ago, most of us living in free societies knew that Marxism was not compatible with democracy. But with liberal institutions overrun by “Progressives” and “Anti-Racists,” much of what was once obvious about Marxism, and much of what was once obvious about democracy, has been forgotten. It is time to revisit some of these once-obvious truths.

Under democratic government, violent warfare among competing classes and groups is brought to an end and replaced by non-violent rivalry among political parties. This doesn’t mean that power relations among loyalty groups come to an end. It doesn’t mean that injustice and oppression come to an end. It only means that instead of resolving their disagreements through bloodshed, the various groups that make up a given society form themselves into political parties devoted to trying to unseat one another in periodic elections. Under such a system, one party rules for a fixed term, but its rivals know they will get to rule in turn if they can win the next election. It is the possibility of being able to take power and rule the country without widespread killing and destruction that entices all sides to lay down their weapons and take up electoral politics instead.

The most basic thing one needs to know about a democratic regime, then, is this: You need to have at least two legitimate political parties for democracy to work. By a legitimate political party, I mean one that is recognized by its rivals as having a right to rule if it wins an election. For example, a liberal party may grant legitimacy to a conservative party (even though they don’t like them much), and in return this conservative party may grant legitimacy to a liberal party (even though they don’t like them much). Indeed, this is the way most modern democratic nations have been governed.

But legitimacy is one of those traditional political concepts that Marxist criticism is now on the verge of destroying. From the Marxist point of view, our inherited concept of legitimacy is nothing more than an instrument the ruling classes use to perpetuate injustice and oppression. The word legitimacy takes on its true meaning only with reference to the oppressed classes or groups that the Marxist sees as the sole legitimate rulers of the nation. In other words, Marxist political theory confers legitimacy on only one political party—the party of the oppressed, whose aim is the revolutionary reconstitution of society. And this means that the Marxist political framework cannot co-exist with democratic government. Indeed, the entire purpose of democratic government, with its plurality of legitimate parties, is to avoid the violent reconstitution of society that Marxist political theory regards as the only reasonable aim of politics.

Simply put, the Marxist framework and democratic political theory are opposed to one another in principle. A Marxist cannot grant legitimacy to liberal or conservative points of view without giving up the heart of Marxist theory, which is that these points of view are inextricably bound up with systematic injustice and must be overthrown, by violence if necessary. This is why the very idea that a dissenting opinion—one that is not “Progressive” or “Anti-Racist”—could be considered legitimate has disappeared from liberal institutions as Marxists have gained power. At first, liberals capitulated to their Marxist colleagues’ demand that conservative viewpoints be considered illegitimate (because conservatives are “authoritarian” or “fascist”). This was the dynamic that brought about the elimination of conservatives from most of the leading universities and media outlets in America.

But by the summer of 2020, this arrangement had run its course. In the United States, Marxists were now strong enough to demand that liberals fall into line on virtually any issue they considered pressing. In what were recently liberal institutions, a liberal point of view has likewise ceased to be legitimate. This is the meaning of the expulsion of liberal journalists from the New York Times and other news organisations. It is the reason that Woodrow Wilson’s name was removed from buildings at Princeton University, and for similar acts at other universities and schools. These expulsions and renamings are the equivalent of raising a Marxist flag over each university, newspaper, and corporation in turn, as the legitimacy of the old liberalism is revoked.

Until 2016, America sill had two legitimate political parties. But when Donald Trump was elected president, the talk of his being “authoritarian” or “fascist” was used to discredit the traditional liberal point of view, according to which a duly elected president, the candidate chosen by half the public through constitutional procedures, should be accorded legitimacy. Instead a “resistance” was declared, whose purpose was to delegitimize the president, those who worked with him, and those who voted for him.

I know that many liberals believe that this rejection of Trump’s legitimacy was directed only at him, personally. They believe, as a liberal friend wrote to me recently, that when this particular president is removed from office, America will be able to return to normal.

But nothing of the sort is going to happen. The Marxists who have seized control of the means of producing and disseminating ideas in America cannot, without betraying their cause, confer legitimacy on any conservative government. And they cannot grant legitimacy to any form of liberalism that is not supine before them. This means that whatever President Trump’s electoral fortunes, the “resistance” is not going to end. It is just beginning.

With the Marxist conquest of liberal institutions, we have entered a new phase in American history (and, consequently, in the history of all democratic nations). We have entered the phase in which Marxists, having conquered the universities, the media, and major corporations, will seek to apply this model to the conquest of the political arena as a whole.

How will they do this? As in the universities and the media, they will use their presence within liberal institutions to force liberals to break the bonds of mutual legitimacy that bind them to conservatives—and therefore to two-party democracy. They will not demand the delegitimization of just President Trump, but of all conservatives. We’ve already seen this in the efforts to delegitimize the views of Senators Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, and Tim Scott, as well as the media personality Tucker Carlson and others. Then they will move on to delegitimizing liberals who treat conservative views as legitimate, such as James Bennet, Bari Weiss, and Andrew Sullivan. As was the case in the universities and media, many liberals will accommodate these Marxist tactics in the belief that by delegitimizing conservatives they can appease the Marxists and turn them into strategic allies.

But the Marxists will not be appeased because what they’re after is the conquest of liberalism itself—already happening as they persuade liberals to abandon their traditional two-party conception of political legitimacy, and with it their commitment to a democratic regime. The collapse of the bonds of mutual legitimacy that have tied liberals to conservatives in a democratic system of government will not make the liberals in question Marxists quite yet. But it will make them the supine lackeys of these Marxists, without the power to resist anything that “Progressives” and “Anti-Racists” designate as being important. And it will get them accustomed to the coming one-party regime, in which liberals will have a splendid role to play—if they are willing to give up their liberalism.

I know that many liberals are confused, and that they still suppose there are various alternatives before them. But it isn’t true. At this point, most of the alternatives that existed a few years ago are gone. Liberals will have to choose between two alternatives: either they will submit to the Marxists, and help them bring democracy in America to an end. Or they will assemble a pro-democracy alliance with conservatives. There aren’t any other choices.

by Yoram Hazony, President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, and author of The Virtue of Nationalism

#Socialism #Marxism #Liberalism #Conservatism #Politics #Republican #Democrat #Trump #America First #Woke #American Patriots #USA

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radioactivepeasant · 7 years

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Vader finding Luke half frozen on a Hoth like world? Maybe IPC-verse?

Like a prompt, or are you asking how that would work? (I’m not entirely sure which, so I’ll go with the latter with a touch of the former)

The trouble probably starts with some miscommunication in the Alliance. It’s a very widespread organization, after all, and just going off that council scene in Rogue One I don’t think they’re always as cohesive as they need to be.Now, whether that miscommunication was a data error, a clerical mistake, or someone who had a problem with Skywalker’s somewhat treasonous interactions with Vader, no one is really sure. And the time, effort, and paperwork it would take to get to the bottom of the matter would be time and resources taken from other parts of the war. So it remains a mystery, though Wedge has his suspicions.

At the outset, it was probably meant to be a simple mission. As “simple” as anything involving a Skywalker, an Antilles, or an Antilles’s Imperial brother-in-law can be, anyway. They’d find the asteroid prison, free a political prisoner both as a strategic asset to the Rebellion and as a good-faith gesture from their tenuous allies, and head back.

Here’s the thing the briefing didn’t cover, thanks to that miscommunication mentioned earlier: the temperatures on that asteroid are Hoth-cold in the best of times. It gets so much worse during the night cycle. The small prison is equipped to deal with that by lowering an extra atmospheric shield over the whole base. Once that shield is down for the night, anyone caught outside is out of luck and probably out of life, too.

So most likely what happens is Luke does what he does and either gets stranded outside the shield accidentally, or understands what’s going on and chooses to be the last one in line so that the rest of his group stays safe because he’s a commander and those are his guys, and darned if he’s going to lose even one.

He probably tries to go into a meditative trance to protect himself, at which point he decides to bite the proverbial bullet and contact his father – which he’s been trying to avoid lately, so as to preemptively curtail any possible ideas fellow Rebels might get about him being the kind of guy who runs to dad when things get difficult.As one might suspect, Darth Vader is decidedly displeased with the whole affair.Not least because Luke is rambling in his head about I think this is actually worse than Hoth , and considering how Luke tends to downplay the Hoth Incident (which he can always tell bothers Luke, but Luke somehow seems to have gotten the absurd idea that telling it as it is would worry him. Sith don’t worry! he says as he worries) then this must be pretty bad.

Of course, having been standing by in case of emergency on the other side of the planet the asteroid orbits, he and the Executor turn up at the proper coordinates pretty sharpish, ready to retrieve one Luke Skywalker, and several Rebel soldiers, and one political prisoner. At least they can maintain a better cover this way: failed Rebel incursion, attempted escape, harsh Imperial retaliation. Makes sense. Vader would leave the soldiers to go collect Antilles and Company while he makes a beeline for where he can sense his son. Who is in Poor Shape.

He’s only been stuck outside for three hours and he looks as bad as he did after a night in the snow on Hoth.

Cue a long stay in the medbay and a hovering helicopter-dad of a Sith who really isn’t sure if he wants to hug the boy or shake some sense into him because what was he thinking?! And didn’t he know the shields would come down at night? Who briefed his team?! Luke, frankly, is a little too tired and shaken to argue back this time (Vader is secretly just as relieved by this as by his survival) and mostly sits there muttering “Yes, Father. No, Father. I’m alright, I swear. I didn’t mean to worry you, Father.”(and that’s the one that makes Vader pull up short, suddenly having flashbacks to his padawan days where Obi-wan would be in a mildly apoplectic state after he’d done something foolish)

At which point he very very awkwardly relents and hurriedly mutters that he’s simply relieved that he found Luke in time. He’s halfway out the door when Luke rasps,“I love you too, Father,” Annnd Vader is lucky there’s no other personnel around to see or other Force sensitives around because that catches him so badly off guard he near falls over in the doorway.

#imperial problem child #adventures in skywalker wrangling #dad vader

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dinodrifterdarsh · 7 years

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Toffee's apparent demise (and Star's resurrection)

Well, The Battle for Mewni certainly was a rollercoaster of emotions. A lotta stuff happened in it, but I’m going to focus on what’s likely to be the most contentious thing: Toffee’s apparent death. Okay, it’s not so much apparent as it is kinda-confirmed by staff, and the story itself (Eclipsa’s crystal cracking) but there’s still a lot to unpackage.

At first, I wasn’t sure if Toffee was truly dead, and while I certainly want him to come back as a cameo or something, I’m pretty sure he’s actually dead-dead (at least physically, cough cough). Now, a lotta folks (including me earlier) think that the “Toffee can regenerate” thing means the demise is pretty open-ended, for good reason. Characters with regenerative powers, especially powerful ones, are notorious for not actually dying, and Toffee himself has escaped situations where he’s apparently died (Storm the Castle).

But I hypothesize that when Toffee reforms his body, it’s not his original body. It’s a body made out of the black goop that’s Star’s corrupted magic. By doing this, Toffee loses the bulk of his regenerative abilities and/or is vulnerable to Star’s (new?) magic, which is the antithesis of Toffee’s literal being. Toffee is then mostly destroyed/neutralized by Mewberty 2.0 Star’s magic blast, and had his physical form finally finished off by Ludo. Oh, and Star might now be made up of magic.

There are several pieces of evidence that support this hypothesis, so let’s start from the beginning.

The first time we see Toffee get injured is in Storm the Castle, when Star blasts his arm off with an unnamed spell.

Notice that Toffee’s wound is flesh-coloured. Oh, and the pink butterflies surrounding it. Toffee takes it pretty well all things considered.

This is the first time we see Toffee regenerating. It’s his real body, and we see that the arm growing back is very flesh-colored, similar to the stump it comes from. After most of it grows back, the arm returns to the natural grey-blue tone Toffee has.

This is also what we see with Rasticore and his arm growing back.

Now let’s contrast that with what we see happen when Toffee is injured in his titular episode.

In a great emotional moment, Marco, thinking his best friend is dead and gone, punches straight through Toffee in a fit of rage. Given the location of where Marco punched Toffee, it’s clear that Marco was trying to kill Toffee by punching through his heart.

But wait, where did Marco get this strength from?

Punching through someone’s body is not easy at all, and in that very same episode, Marco is unable to free Star by breaking the metal restraints with his bare hands (and hurts himself instead). Something’s fishy, and even Toffee notices it.

Look at Toffee’s facial expression. He’s pretty shocked by what happened. He knows Marco is a regular human, and he knows Marco has some martial arts skill. Why did Marco suddenly get strong enough to punch through Toffee? Or did Toffee actually get weaker?

Look at what’s on Marco’s hand. It’s not blood, it’s not any fleshy bits you’d expect given that we’ve seen Toffee’s original body have what looks to be flesh and blood. It’s the sludge we see inside Ludo-space.

It’s the same sludge that Toffee is made of when he’s possessing Ludo.

It’s Star’s magic, even though Star doesn’t recognize it (and Toffee does...HMMM).

Only Toffee has corrupted it.

Remember, something was draining magic from the universe. We didn’t know what that would look like, and a lotta folks suspected it was Toffee. Turns out that’s correct, and we can literally see all the magic that Toffee has corrupted, and it’s lots.

We see when Toffee makes the deal with Moon that his sludge form gets sucked up and out of Ludo-space, and it goes….somewhere, notably leaving behind a ton of it.

And it manifests on Ludo’s body in this gruesome sequence.

Notice how the sludge is becoming not only Toffee’s skeleton and body, but even the suit. Toffee’s body is literally being made out of (Star’s) corrupted magic.

And when this corrupted magic-made body is injured, the wounds look different than the one’s we’ve seen on Toffee’s original body. There’s no flesh-colored wound, there’s not even internal organs. The wound is made of goop which we see on Marco’s hand, and the hole just gets filled up.

But what are the (practical) implications of this? For one,Toffee is less durable than before, because the black goop is just that-goop. It’s not too tough given that Star can swim around in the stuff, but it is pretty viscous. Another possibility is that Toffee might not have the same regenerative powers he used to. Remember, this new body is not an exact replica of his original body-we don’t know if it can regenerate to the same extent as earlier.

But Toffee isn’t the only one rebuilding a body out of magic.

When Star dives down and has her talk with Glossaryck (who appears to give her the magic seed), she dips down into a cauldron. Now, the specifics of that are for another time, but the important thing for this whole spiel is the color of the cauldron when Star dips down into it. Namely, golden.

Much like this. Yes, it’s Star’s magic.

And this time, Star’s magic is purging (or overwriting, or just outmassing) Toffee’s corrupted version of Star’s magic.

This culminates with Star being reborn in a golden (Mewberty) form.

Compare the sequence of events that lead up to the rebirths of Star and Toffee.

Toffee became stuck (intentionally) in Ludo-space after the Whispering Spell blew up Star’s complete wand in his face. He eventually gets out and rebuilds his body using Star’s corrupted magic, which is seen in the form of black goop.

Star uses the Whispering Spell to blow up Toffee’s half of the wand and gets stuck inside Ludo-space too. She eventually gets out and rebuilds her body using her own, golden magic goop.

The fact that Star’s yellow magic is overwhelming/purging Toffee’s corrupted magic comes up in the final sequence. When Star fires this spell-a spell she’s never used nor known-we see that it’s the same color as her magic-that distinctive golden hue.

When Toffee gets hit by this, he immediately starts reverting to his goop form. We see this happen to his suit and flesh and skeleton, which are made up of corrupted magic.

By the time the blast finishes, Toffee is left with a mostly-melted upper torso with black goop dripping off of him.

Notice how Toffee’s skull looks all warped and melted. It’s not bones that have melted, it’s the corrupted magic that makes up Toffee’s skeleton falling apart/being degraded due to Star’s own golden magic.

I believe that while Toffee successfully corrupted Star’s magic, with Star’s rebirth, she was able to undo that corruption and restore her magic to its proper (golden) state. Star’s golden spell similarly undoes/purifies Toffee because it’s once again her magic undoing Toffee’s corruption of Star’s magic (which is what literally makes up his physical form).

Toffee is on his last legs after the blast. Er, metaphorically speaking. He’s made up of corrupted magic, not flesh and blood. Star’s rebirth and spell are antitheses to Toffee’s very being, and he’s falling apart. Toffee can’t regenerate because there isn’t enough of (Star’s) corrupted magic left (making up his body at least), due to her rebirth and the spell itself. Ludo toppling the pillar splatters what’s left of Toffee, who at this point is degenerating into more and more goop (possibly having a harder and harder time maintaining physical cohesion as he nears death). All that’s left of Toffee is a goopy pulp under a pillar and an eyeball.

And so a great villain finally meets his (likely) demise. Hopefully, my explanation of Toffee’s demise makes some sense, but feel free to chuck constructive criticism and feedback and alternative theories at me!

Oh, and here’s some food for thought. Yes, Toffee’s physical form was destroyed, again. But what happened to the rest of Star’s Toffee-corrupted magic? Was it all purged and returned to being Star’s magic?

Or did some of it remain, somewhere-and if so...is Toffee’s essence or even mind still in it?

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #the battle for mewni #star #marco #toffee #ludo #magic #resurrection #death #analysis #hypothesis #or something

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system-architect · 7 years

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fractal chronicles: chaos isles fractal

yesterday i mentioned that i was going to start doing in detail text-and-picture documentations of the fractals that are relevant to the plotline of FotM and dessa’s lab!! a lot of folks are interested in these but the wiki doesn’t cover much, and it can be hard to find youtube videos that examine all the details or give you enough time to process/read npc dialogue, plus for varying reasons not everyone wants to or can do the actual fractals themselves!!

so, i will be starting a series of these where i go through the fractal run in order posting all the dialogue and explaining the general run of the fractal! i’ve only done chaos isles so far so we’re starting there as “chapter 1″-- i’ve heard that uncategorized fractal is also story relevant but likely only makes sense later on so i’ll go back and retroactively cover that when i feel it’s relevant

anyways, enjoy, please avoid putting spoilers for future story fractals (nightmare, shattered observatory) in the reblogs or tags so that folks browsing won’t get spoiled!! without further adieu here’s my playback--

(to view bigger images, right click open them in a new tab and change the 500 at the end of the url to the number 1280)

upon entering the fractal, the first thing you immediately notice is that it’s a visual mashup of many of the fractals you’ve done before, and this npc dialogue begins kicking off (dessa always commentates on your fractal adventures, but the mysterious voice is New):

Dessa Observation Mode: Amazing. This fractal seems to incorporate energy signatures from multiple fractals.

Mysterious Voice: Wait, where and when did you come from?

Mysterious Voice: No, no, no. You’re going to ruin everything!

Mysterious Voice: I’m warning you-- you don’t belong here. Get out now.

Mysterious Voice: You should know that I have a fully charged diaphanous diffraction randomizer.

Mysterious Voice: Which I will use if you continue to meddle in my affairs.

Dessa Observation Mode: I don’t understand. These instability readings are unprecedented. Where are you?

Dessa Observation Mode: Some new form of chaotic instability emanating from your location is threatening the cohesion of the other fractals.

Dessa Observation Mode: Wait, what could this mean? Was... someone already in there ahead of you?

Mysterious Voice: (sigh) Now’s not a good time to chat. That’s enough from her.

Dessa Observation Mode: There’s some-- (static) radiant chaotic-- (static) this frequency...

Mysterious Voice: There. No more outside help for you. Give up yet?

during or after this text, you kill some npc enemies who first appear as veteran chanters (from cliffside fractal) but as you kill them they turn into the prisoner/experiment mobs from the uncategorized fractal, and then you kill a power core sitting on a table, which looks like a miniature version of the power core from that same phase in uncategorized fractal

the whole area looks like a mashup of these fractals!

[image: the starting area of the fractal is crumbling overgrown ruins similar to the cliffside fractal, but there are randomly some asuran consoles laying about in the rubble as well. a tunnel towards a new area can be seen straight ahead, and a small ramshackle staircase leading up and off to the right]

if you have a keen eye, right upon entering the fractal you’ll notice an object named “lost journal page” off to the side in some rubble and interacting with it progresses the “notetaker” achievement as well as gives you this dialogue:

“Though it takes precious minutes away from my construction, I have endeavored to keep a journal; my genius must be chronicled.” -- Journal Entry 1

before walking into the tunnel towards the next area of the fractal, there’s a small aforementioned jump puzzle of planks going off to the side of the ruins, and that leads to a tiny cave with the second page of the journal:

“My witless subordinates don’t grasp the urgency or import of the project. My design isn’t coming to fruition as quickly as initially scheduled, but I’m confident the results will justify the delay.” -- Journal Entry 2

after that you head through the tunnel into a small jumping puzzle area similar to the uncategorized fractal! the sky changes from foggy daylight to a starry, misty green backdrop as well

[image: all of the players in the party heading up the suspended platforms. there are a lot of asuran building elements as well as some ramshackle poles similar to cliffside fractal. the sky is a misty green nighttime background with many stars]

on your way up the stairs you encounter some golems named “JT-12″ and unfortunately i didn’t get it in a screencap, but these golems have silvery gold plating with white lights and golden wings that are the same model as the golden wings backpack!

past this area, you head through a small tunnel and enter a wider open area still full of mashed up fractal elements, this time with the addition of ascalonian and charr buildings from the urban battleground fractal. there’s a lot of neon blue glowy asuran platforms

entering the room reveals a fairly wide open boss battle like area with several cat golems, and prompts this dialogue from Mysterious Voice:

Mysterious Voice: Pummeling by kitty cat golems.

Mysterious Voice: You deserve this humiliation.

[image: a field of blue platforms resting on ascalon-esque grass. four differently colored golems, named CHOP K1T-A, DOC K1T-A, BLIGHT K1T-A, and PLINK K1T-A are standing lined up in front of a closed door which is also ascalonian in appearance]

you then defeat the golems and a legendary chaos anomaly spawns, with fight mechanics somewhat similar to the anomaly boss in the thaumanova fractal. the mysterious voice commentates throughout this fight, and every time the anomaly loses 25% more HP, the anomaly turns invulnerable and the voice sends in more golems that lessen in number but strengthen each time, eventually reaching champion rank. the golems that you kill first will always respawn stronger, it’s not randomized!

[image: the party fighting the legendary rank chaos anomaly]

battle dialogue:

(after defeating initial wave of golems) Mysterious Voice: Your efforts are only helping me to eventually defeat you.

Mysterious Voice: I’m analyzing your fighting skills and compensating with iterative golems.

(chaos anomaly reaches 75% health and another golem wave spawns) Mysterious Voice: Let’s just eliminate that last golem and strengthen the next assault instead.

(chaos anomaly reaches 50% health and the third wave of golems spawns) Mysterious Voice: Ready to meet my latest creations? No? Too bad!

(upon killing that wave of golems) Mysterious Voice: (sputter) Oh, come on. Really...?

Mysterious Voice: You asked for this. I’m incarnating the ultimate killer golem to deal with you.

Mysterious Voice: You will not survive the next encounter.

(chaos anomaly reaches 25% health, final golem spawns) Mysterious Voice: You are obnoxiously persistent.

(the final golem dies) Mysterious Voice: Why are you doing this to me?

(chaos anomaly dies) Mysterious Voice: Your interference is threatening all the progress I’ve made in here.

[image: the chaos anomaly, freshly deceased. an achievement in the corner reads “Kitty Compactor: 1/4 Champions K1T Golems Defeated”. the door the golems were previously guarding has opened]

near the very entrance to this area, to the right as you come out of the hallway, is a platform with a charr tent on it that can be carefully jumped down to without dying (but you need a mesmer or to die and checkpoint to get back up). inside is the third lost journal entry:

“An inexplicable surge of potent magic allowed me to successfully penetrate the Mists! Hopefully these imbeciles will have the lab repaired by the time I’m finished here.” -- Journal Entry 3

as you entered the anomaly room you could see another lost journal entry off to the left on some suspending platforms/rubble which you can climb over to without aggroing the golems. this is the fourth journal entry and my party accidentally got it before the third one but i’m putting them in the correct order as i transcript this

[image: the players standing on a piece of wall reading the fourth journal]

the journal reads:

“My diaphanous diffraction randomizer is the key technological advancement to successful destabilization of the fractals. So long as it maintains a charge, its power is boundless.” -- Journal Entry 4

past the newly opened door is an area with ascalonian walls, jade shards (from solid ocean fractal), and trees and snow from the snowblind fractal. up and to the right is a small jumping puzzle which grants you access to the fifth journal entry:

“A minor oversight in calculations means initial time estimates were slightly optimistic-- the diffraction randomizer’s recharge rate is negatively impacted in the Mists if its charge is fully depleted.” -- Journal Entry 5

you then proceed down some steps into a snowy forest area

[image: players standing on some asuran platforms, looking down at the snow. there’s a burning ascalonian building off to the side]

entering the area prompts some dialogue from the voice:

Mysterious Voice: Sure is getting cold and dark, isn’t it?

Mysterious Voice: Feel free to quit whatever it is you imagine you’re doing in here.

edging in further grants you a special action skill of a torch and gives you a short “warmth” buff, just the same as snowblind fractal. (if you haven’t played that fractal: the area damages you with hypothermia and you utilize the torches to light fires, giving you the warmth buff, which prevents hypothermia) more npc dialogue is prompted:

Dessa Observation Mode: (static)-- you’re hearing-- (static) try following-- (static) light...

Mysterious Voice: Oh no you don’t. There. Was she always this stubborn?

the next area is pretty short and straightforward-- the party runs through the forest. there are four bonfires along the way which you need to light in order to keep warm. as an additional challenge, giant jade maw tentacles (from solid ocean fractal; they are invulnerable to attacks and have a giant knockback move that hurts) and various enemies spawn to try and kill you. all you need to do is make it to the end of the forest to progress the instance

[image: party reaches the end of the forest. the area looks like the snowblind fractal, a dark snowy woods, but with random jade chunks strewn about. half the party is dying and/or dead and i’m sitting there being useless and taking screencaps of dialogue instead of helping them. rest in piece]

reaching the end of the forest prompts some dialogue:

Mysterious Voice: Okay, that’s enough of that. Time to snuff those fires.

(note: same voice/character but the NPC’s name changes as the NPC physically spawns in the boss room as a hologram) Mysterious Asura: Allow me to demonstrate that I’m the one in control here.

before jumping down towards the final boss room, you can backtrack into the forest (which no longer inflicts the hypothermia debuff) to find the 6th missing journal page, off in a corner on top of a jade shard:

[image: me chillin on a jade shard reading the journal entry. the notetaker achievement reads 6/7 journal pages recovered]

the entry:

“‘The sky is the limit’ is a mantra often recited by people of lesser vision. I believe my device will prove the folly of this shortsighted hypothesis. I intend to verify it once we’re finished here.” -- Journal Entry 6

on your way down to the boss platform, there’s the 7th and final journal entry just underneath the bridge!

“Even a writer of my undeniable prowess can’t adequately detail the genius of my breakthrough in the detail it deserves. Perhaps I’ll test the thumper’s destructive capabilities on this subpar journal.” -- Journal Entry 7

...thus apparently the mysterious asura used this ‘thumper’ gadget on his journal and sent the pages flying across the fractal. what power!! after that, it’s boss time

[image: party standing on the platform just before the boss area. the boss platform is basically a giant disco dancefloor on top of a big floating rock. various elements from various fractals are suspended in the air around the platform, including an aetherblade ship and lava rocks]

the boss NPC is a charr called the “legendary brazen gladiator” and it has a special buff on it called shielded, which reads “Immune to damage. Aether grid attacks disrupt the shielding.” if this wasn’t enough to allude to mechanics, approaching the platform kicks off more dialogue:

Mysterious Asura: (sputter) Don’t stand on the active grid-- that shorts out your shield!

Legendary Brazen Gladiator: Yeah, yeah.

the fight is pretty straightforward, you pull the gladiator into the lit up pink tiles (which light up in different patterns and the pattern can change) to disable his shield so you can damage him! the tiles will damage you a bit and daze or stun you (can’t remember which; i think stun).. the asura periodically pitches in in the form of dropping weights onto the field (the same thumper weights from molten facility fractal) or summoning waves of golems to harass you

[image: the fight in progress]

there is various battle dialogue!

(upon first entering the dancefloor) Mysterious Asura: Calibrating the diaphanous diffraction randomizer...

(phases afterwards; some while changing floor patterns, others when sending in golems etc):

Mysterious Asura: Watch your step!

Mysterious Asura: Let’s make this more exciting, hmm?

Mysterious Asura: (sigh) Looks like my support is required here.

(this happens again-- his dialogue seems to be randomized, not perfectly scripted) Mysterious Asura: Let’s make this more exciting, hmm?

Mysterious Asura: Sending in some backup.

Mysterious Asura: Let’s try an alternate pattern.

upon killing the gladiator, the fractal is considered stabilized and you get your chest and the prompt to go back to the observatory! if during the fight you hadn’t noticed the mysterious asura standing up on a floating platform nearby (albeit as a hologram), you probably will now as he has some last words for you

[image: NPC titled Mysterious Asura sits grumbling up on his little floating platform. you can’t tell from this picture but the platform is a floating rock (likely a piece of a model from the underground facility fractal) that’s off to the right side of the DDR platform when you enter the room. he has a hologram visual effect on him but his model is selected so you can see what he looks like without the aura]

the dialogue:

Mysterious Asura: (growl) You’re undoing all of my hard work!

Mysterious Asura: I’d destroy you for this, but it seems my DDR is out of energy for now.

Mysterious Asura: (sigh) I was so close, too...

Mysterious Asura: If and when our paths intersect again, I plan to make you regret this.

(the hologram of the mysterious asura disappears)

Dessa Observation Mode: (static) Hello...?

Dessa Observation Mode: Okay, you should be able to hear me again. Thought I’d lost you back there...

Dessa Observation Mode: Some unexpected interference, nothing a bit of linear frequency modulation couldn’t overcome.

Dessa Observation Mode: Let’s get you back here so I can debrief you on your subjective observations.

and that.... ends the fractal!! it’s a relatively easy but pretty fun fractal to run and that’s the introduction to the fractal storyline that ran parallel to living world season 3! the next fractal in the series is nightmare, followed by shattered observatory, which i’ll do write-ups for as well! (+ one retroactively for uncategorized when it becomes relevant enough i can explain story implications) keep your eyes peeled as well for me uploading more photos and whatnot to my blog so you can see more of the visuals of the fractals without me cluttering this post up too much more

that’s it, i hope this transcript helps some folks out, reminder to not put spoilers in the tags or reblogs (for both my sake and other peoples’) and feel free to hmu ingame (im Oneiroid.9245) if you need any help/teaching with fractal scales 1-20!!

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #fractals #gw2 fractals #fractal chronicles #i put the npc dialogue into actual text transcripted quotes so that they are screen reader compatible in case that helps anyone!#there are some images in here but i caption them #i spent a long time on this mjgdkfhg captioning stuff is a lot more arduous than you'd expect ok !! i hope people enjoy it #I DIDNT PROOFREAD THIS TOO MUCH BTW APOLOGIES FOR ANY ERRORS

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annbrighthaus-blog · 5 years

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LinkedIn is an asset in the B2B industry and works well as a networking tool for all businesses. To maintain connections, build new ones, and nurture potential clients, LinkedIn is king. There are countless ways to use this social media platform as a marketing tool. From content distribution to building contact lists, the possibilities are endless.

While there’s no LinkedIn rule book which describes the exact way to use the platform, there are some right and wrong ways to market yourself. For those new to LinkedIn, or struggling to develop a cohesive flow, here are 6 mistakes to avoid.

1. Goofy Photos: LinkedIn is not Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. There’s a place for fun photography and goofy selfies, but this isn’t it. Remember, even if you’re using a personal profile, rather than a business profile, your account is linked to your brand. Connections who see your photograph will affiliate it with your company and it could be damaging.

To avoid photography disaster, use a professional photo. This doesn’t need to be taken by a photographer at high resolution, but it should be clear and against a neutral back drop. Face the camera, smile, and put your best foot forward with a professional outfit. You’re the face of your brand, so it’s important to always look the part, even in your selfies.

2. Weak Headers: There’s already so much content floating around the internet that delivering a weak heading could cause your profile to be ignored. Your headline should encapsulate who you are, but it also needs to draw in a crowd. Don’t use clickbait or anything too unprofessional, but do use keywords and language which entices connections to click.

Do a bit of digging around and see what other leaders in your industry are writing on their own accounts. This is a great opportunity to see what’s successful and what isn’t based on connection counts. Popular profiles are sure to have some strategies you can work with to build up your own profile.

3. Forgetting a Cover: They say to never judge a book by its cover, but everyone does. That’s why cover images are crucial on LinkedIn. It helps tell the story of you, your brand, and your business. If you leave that space empty, you’re suggesting that either you’re too lazy to fill it in, or you have nothing interesting to add. These are horrible things for potential clients to think about your brand.

If you don’t have a branded cover photo, consider a tasteful stock image which is relevant to your industry. There are many free stock photos for use, some of which are available directly through LinkedIn.

4. Leaving Out Your Skills: You may not want to use LinkedIn as a digital resume, but leaving out skills and recommendations weakens your profile. Remember, even if you’re not trying to sell yourself to an employer, you can always sell yourself to a potential client. Consumers are smart, and they like to see who they’re getting into business with. Keep your skills relevant to your industry and position, and the rest will work itself out.

Don’t worry about coming off as vain. This is a description of you, what makes you great at your job, and how you excel in your field. Take the time to really consider what’s important to you in the workplace. What do you provide to your company that nobody else can? This is what sells you.

5. Ignoring Comments and Messages: Social media is called this for a reason, and while LinkedIn is professional, it’s still considered a social platform. Ignoring connection requests, comments left on your content, or private messages could be missed leads. Whether you’re in marketing, sales, or customer service, missing a connection can be detrimental to your business.

If you can’t keep up with connection engagement, consider hiring a communications rep, or employing automation. Chat bots are a great way to provide some form of feedback to messages. Just be sure you tailor any chat templates, so it’s personal to your brand.

6. Going Generic: Companies who use LinkedIn to market have one final hurdle to overcome; generic conversation. Messaging and commenting becomes tedious when you do it all day long, but still, you need to personalize your content. Even if you use some form of automation, tweaking it to reflect your brand, the customer you’re addressing and the situation is key. Your connections aren’t looking for the brush-off. If somebody is interested in your brand, confirm their interest by being enticing.

There’s nothing worse than finding something you’re interested in learning more about only to find there’s nothing intriguing about it. The same stands for outgoing lead generation content. When you send messages to draw in new connections, contacts and clients, use new, fresh, innovative language.

LinkedIn doesn’t have to be a scary beast. It’s simply a marketing tool like any other you use. When used correctly, it stands to provide you with business support, contact building, and search engine optimization benefits. When used incorrectly, it could damage your brand or leave you looking uninterested.

The best way to see which way your profile is leaning is to check it out for yourself. Look at your profile from a stranger’s point of view. Is your picture professional? Does your headline grab your attention? If you were a potential customer, would your content make sense and describe your brand and product well? These are all things to think about when building your account.

#SEO #brighthaus #LinkedIn

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jeremystrele · 6 years

Text

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Creating A Hygge Home This Winter

Now that cooler temperatures are upon us, it’s the perfect time to embrace hygge design. Pronounced “hoo-gah,” the Danish word means “comfort” and who couldn’t use more of that? With that in mind, we’ve decided to bring you our best tips for creating a hygge aesthetic. Use them to keep your home feeling warm and cozy all winter long.

Build the room around a neutral color palette. Image: Intro

Start with neutral colors

Color is the first building block for any design. It helps to set the tone for the space and to bring the different design elements in your space together in a cohesive manner. Hygge spaces are no exception to this rule, which is why you should always start your hygge designs by relying mainly on a neutral color palette.

Since hygge is all about comfort, neutral tones give the eye plenty of places to rest. With that in mind, you’ll want to stick with softer neutrals, in particular. Work in plenty of soft grays, rich creams and icy blues. You’ll want to limit the use of higher contrast neutrals like black or dark brown, as these can be more visually taxing.

Hygge is all about creating comfort. Image: Rosanna Parker Interiors

Focus on comfort

An article in TIME explains the Danish concept as “an approach to living that embraces positivity and enjoyment of everyday experiences.” Practically, it’s about enjoying life’s simple pleasures, like the feeling of curling up under a blanket or slipping into bed after a long day.

From that perspective, creating a hygge home is all about infusing the space with a feeling of comfort. To do that, you want to ensure that your furniture is as plush as possible. Think big, comfy sofas and gloriously overstuffed chairs.

You also want to invest in plenty of textiles. Textiles like rugs, woven wall hangings, pillows and blankets will do a lot to bring warmth and, therefore, comfort into a room. Layer them one on top of the other to add some visual complexity into the space, but don’t get too caught up in making the layers look neat. Hygge is also about accepting imperfections as a part of life.

Add in plenty of soft lighting. Image: Louise de Miranda – 30’s Magazine

Include plenty of soft lighting

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: creating the right lighting scheme has a huge effect on the way a space feels. If you need proof, just think about how draining overhead, industrial lights can feel in an office setting. Alternatively, remember how peaceful and relaxing lighting some candles feels at the end of a long day. In this instance, we’re looking to set the latter mood.

To that end, make sure to bring plenty of soft lighting into the room. In this case, while every room does need some ambient lighting, it should almost be an afterthought to your other types of lighting. Here, you’ll focus on including some accent lighting like soft fairy lights or even candles

Avoid any unnecessary clutter. Image: June

Stick to the essentials

Keep in mind, what’s not included in these interiors is just as important as the pieces you select. A central principle of hygge is allowing yourself enough material pleasures to feel comfortable without feeling the need to go overboard. This is one occasion where less is more.

To do this effectively, your best bet is to start from scratch. Remove all the items from the space and, once you have a blank canvas, move them back in piece by piece. Think like a curator and decide individually whether each item adds specific value to the design. Whenever you’re unsure, feel free to leave that piece out.

We know that, for some, negative space can feel uncomfortable at first. If you’re one of these people, try not to give in to your initial impulses. Give yourself some time to adjust to the room’s new design. If, after a few days, the space still feels too empty, consider which parts of the design need work. Tweak those until you find your perfect balance.

To maintain a sense of comfort, especially in the winter, make sure your room temperature is an after thought. You can do this by setting your smart thermostat to work with your schedule. Also consider the use of other warming devices in your home such as a fireplace, electric blanket or oversized sweater. What is more comforting then curling up on the couch in front of the fireplace on a snowy winter evening? Happy Hygge!

The post Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Creating A Hygge Home This Winter appeared first on Freshome.com.

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cessanderson · 6 years

Photo

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Creating A Hygge Home This Winter http://bit.ly/2TR9DRW

Build the room around a neutral color palette. Image: Intro

Start with neutral colors

Hygge is all about creating comfort. Image: Rosanna Parker Interiors

Focus on comfort

Add in plenty of soft lighting. Image: Louise de Miranda – 30’s Magazine

Include plenty of soft lighting

Avoid any unnecessary clutter. Image: June

Stick to the essentials

The post Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Creating A Hygge Home This Winter appeared first on Freshome.com.

Tara Mastroeni

#Freshome.com - Interior Design & Architecture Magazine

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doranedwardsmajorproject · 4 years

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Somatic Voice and Listening Workshops 1 and 2

‘Deep listening is sometimes called compassionate listening. Every one of us should train himself or herself to do this, because this is the most important practice if you want to help. But, first, we have to listen to ourselves. We have to listen to our body, we have to listen to our own sufferings.’ (Thich Nhat Hahn, 2017)

Workshop 1, London College of Communication, February 2020

Workshop 2, online from London and Montreal, April 2020

In a previous post I included the first chapter of my dissertation on somatic voice and listening. In that dissertation I analyse a non-lingual embodied vocalisation technique called Toning. This practice is used in music therapy and clinical practices to bring connection and awareness to oneself and others by resonating the abdomen, chest and facial bone cavities with the lowest comfortably sustained note that’s vibration can be felt. The purpose of the dissertation was also to question the existing active/passive binaries of ‘hearing’ and ‘listening’ within sound studies and sound arts discourse whereby, ‘hearing’ is considered the unconscious reception of sounds and ‘listening’ the concentrated awareness of what is being heard. Furthermore, these processes have generally been considered to occur through the auditory system or, more specifically, the ears.

What vocal toning provides is an example of the energetic basis of sound and the somatic basis of the experience of that vibrational energy. When one resonates one’s own body cavities with one’s own voice and simultaneously feels that resonance, voice and listening become one and a feedback occurs - the pleasurable sensation of that resonance. The non-lingual nature of toning and the anti-logical basis of pleasure means that, whilst the awareness is drawn to the bodily sensation, and the mind is not drawn to the referential universe of emotions and memories constructed by words, thinking and the notion of being a separate “self” may momentarily cease. A consequence of this vibration and lack of thinking is the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing the body to heal from stress based illness. In Snow et al’s study Exploring the Experience and Effects of Vocal Toning, these outcomes documented in solo toning as well as ‘meditative effects, heightened states of awareness.

Workshop

In the workshop, I guided the participants through three practices – Julian Daizan Skinner’s body scan meditation (adapted form Zen Master Hakuin’s Nanso No Ho, or healing ointment meditation), Five Element Qigong, and vocal toning (Skinner. 2018, 5762).

Meditation In the meditation, grounding the body in a crossed-legged position was established by forming a firm triangular base between the ‘sit-bones’ and the feet or knees. By noticing where in the body the breath can be detected, the body becomes more relaxed and the breath may sink lower into the belly. Wherever it rests, accepting this and not trying to force or change it is the essential part of the practice. This non-judgemental, non-analytical acceptance can then be continued by bringing awareness to sensations in the crown of the head, and then very gradually guided down the head and body in spirals, always paying attention to what can be felt and allowing stress and tension to fall away. It should also be noted at this point, that this awareness of sensation is the same awareness of sound vibration that David Toop experienced during his “Skin and Bone Listening,” and Pauline Oliveros in her ‘sensing listening with the palms of the hands.’

Movement Five Element Qigong follows five different sequences with varying repetitions of movements that follow slow breath and allow for ‘clearing’ or letting go of stress or unwanted emotion. These practices were a little technical to describe, which, after the deeply grounding meditation, may have required too much thinking for the participants to follow, even if the feedback was mostly positive.

Vocal Toning Music therapist Susan Elizabeth Hale gives great recognition to the importance of ‘just listening’ in vocal toning, ‘I’m listening with my breath, I’m listening to my body, I’m listening to myself and I’m allowing the sounds to move through me’ (Hale, 2019) For this reason I applied Hale’s approach of guiding the participants through three subtle levels of vocalisation; Toning from the body, toning with emotion and toning in a more neutral manner for healing. Following these warm ups, I directed the participants to branch-off on their own and explore different pitches and vowels to detect resonance in their bodies. This gave them the opportunity to find the lowest note that resonated in the chest or belly. A fundamental aspect of Rinzai Zen chanting, as we saw in chapter one, is the focus on the “tanden” (found in the centre of the body three fingers below the navel) as it is considered to be the body’s energetic centre in the meridian system. A sensitivity to this was improved greatly by the awareness of sensations in the body that had been established with the previous two practices. Rejoining, I allowed free exploration of vowel sounds and pitches to let the participants find their voices and connect with the group. Following this, I provided the instruction to listen in a non-judgemental/analytical way, as was applied in the meditation. Finally, I directed them to attempt the previously described group listening technique described by Rinzai Zen teacher, Meido Moore as we all came on to an “o” vowel sound. The session became noticeably deep with the voices forming a harmonious cohesion where it was evident that no single voice sought to dominate. Naturally allowing the toning to end, the process of written feedback began immediately after the toning came to an end and before the participants had an opportunity to talk so as to maintain the focus of their experience.

Participant Feedback

1. What sensations do you notice in your body? “tingling, pulsing, heat, cold, short vibrations, tensions” “heaviness in feet, vibration in whole body, energy in back” “warm in face, belly, ecstatic energy, deeply relaxed”

2. How would you describe your experience of toning? “vibrations on chest, subtle vibrations inside belly to pelvic floor” “Vibrations in body, increased when others sung” “strong vibration in belly and chest”

3. How would you describe the experience of the listening and awareness techniques? “calm, strong, sad” “moved, feeling of transcendence, in love, melancholic, soothed, sorrowful” “sensual, calm, relaxed, serene, meditative, energetic, stimulated”

4. Awareness of self during solo and group toning? “Present, listening, being” “stronger awareness of self with solo. In the group toning I forgot about myself” “some analysis in solo but moments of dropping into the middle in group”

1. What was your experience of the listening techniques? “intimate, flowing. It allows to feel more and think less.” “slowing, connecting” “Group connection”

The introduction of meditation and movement clearly indicate that, in comparison to vibration being felt primarily in the face and head, it was felt all through the body with one participant even perceiving the vibrations of others in the group in their own body. Surprisingly, “sadness” featured for two participants but was coupled with non-emotional states associated with parasympathetic dominance and limbic brain (emotional) deactivation seen in the neurodynamic tests of Om chanting (Kalyani et al, 2011). Similar outcomes of meditative states and heightened states of awareness and attention occurred. The Rinzai Zen group listening technique appears to have contributed to this as participants stated that it allowed for less thinking and more feeling and “forgetting” oneself, suggesting that the experience of one’s “self” as being a separate entity from the “other” lost its stability. In

Toning

Toning is a specialised technique of vocalisation used in music therapy and various clinical settings which is derived from ‘ancient’ chanting methods (Boyce-Tilman, 2000) across many spiritual systems including Sufi Mysticism and Rinzai Zen Buddhism.

Often referred to as the natural or embodied voice, it is a nonverbal practice that omits rhythm and melody for sustained vowels that intentionally resonate different parts of the body to promote healing.

The technique is well documented in holistic literature as a self-administered tool for healing in the therapeutic setting where positive results have been described in; female survivors of sexual abuse (Macintosh 2003); pediatric pain control (Loewy et al 1997); palliative care as ‘one of six “creative techniques” used for “relationship completion” (Clements-Cortés, 2016, 126); whilst in vocal psychotherapy it has been considered ‘essential in trauma work’ by fostering ‘an embodied connection to oneself […]’ (D. Austin, 2009, 35). A neurodynamic examination of ‘OM’ chanting also found that the voice’s vibration stimulated the vagus nerve[1]and deactivated the limbic system[2]as was also found in ‘vagus nerve stimulation treatment’ for sufferers of depression and epilepsy (B. G. Kalyani and G. Venkatasubramanian. 2011, 1).

But the voice in sound studies literature is often given over to the domain of the intellect where by it is a carrier of interiority, embedded in pre-lingual, non-lingual and lingual signification and psychoanalysis with the effect of neglecting the body for a discursive voice (Dolar, 2006; Chion, 2016), a potential ‘linguistic imperialism that subordinates the sonic to semiotic registers’ that overshadow its vibrational basis (S. Goodman, 2010, 81-4 in: Sterne, 2012, 71).

Whilst toning could be analysed by an observer as containing dense layers of nonverbal signification, the self-administered process, as we shall see, when engaged with fully, cannot be a site for analysis for the participant, as the apparatus of the intellect are exactly those which become inactive. In this sense, it is the experience of the physical properties of the voice as vibrational energy in the body that require investigation.

‘Exploring the Experience and Effects of Vocal Toning’

In Snow et-al’s ground breaking study (2018), these aforementioned outcomes were, for the first time, tested by interviewing participators after two types of tests; one including the singing of lyrics of familiar songs, and another of toning. After just 7 minutes of toning participants experienced “shifts in attention, awareness, and consciousness” that felt “meditative,” “calm,” and “relaxed”whilst the singing of songs produced more emotional responses such as “nostalgia,” “tenderness,” and “joyful activation” due to the referentiality of the words (Snow et al, 2018, 222). Conversely, the ‘absence of meaning’ in toning saw the state of ‘peacefulness’ override all other emotions (Ibid, 239). Furthermore, by focusing awareness on the vibration of the voice in the body participants experienced themselves phenomenally leading to present moment awareness and an “intense sense of euphoria” (Ibid236-7). Other psychophysiological data of toning tests found respiration to decrease to almost precisely six breaths per minute (Ibid cited Bernardi et al., 2017) which optimises cardiovascular function, endogenous rhythms[3], reduces anxiety (Ibid cited Clark & Hirschman, 1990; Koole, 2009) and has a calming effect on the nervous system (Ibid, 245 cited van der Kolk).

From this survey alone, it is evident that the voice has capabilities far beyond those of communication, but to understand how this unique modality produces the aforementioned effects, and where it may sit within the sound arts discourse, the conditions of their occurrence must be identified and evaluated. These could be described as the aural and somatic experience of the vibrational resonance of one’s own nonverbal, embodied voice whilst producing sustained pitches of vowels, or; absence of language, vocal production of bodily vibrational resonance and focus of awareness on the auditory and haptic sensations. The cost of not hearing/listening

Listening in the field of sound arts is consistently analysed from the perspective of external sounds coming in, or internal thoughts going out (or staying in). But how are we listening to our bodies, not just in what they perceive from the external world, but as ecologies in themselves? What might we be neglecting? Although vocal toning is not a new practice, the knowledge of, and possibility to use one’s own voice and listening, two central concerns in the field of sound arts, as a method to activate the relaxation response, directs attention to the role of listening in the amelioration of stress. If we consider the distraction and disruption that stress brings to one's ability to be present, it could also be said that it effects one's ability to be here/hear, and that includes with the world around us and with what our bodies may be telling us. Physician Dr. Gabor Maté describes the stress response system and the cost of not listening to its warning signs;

Discharges of nervous system, hormonal output and immune changes constitute the flight-or-fight reactions that help us survive immediate danger. These biological responses are adaptive in the emergencies for which nature designed them. But the same stress responses, triggered chronically and without resolution, produce harm and even permanent damage […] What has happened is that we have lost touch with the gut feelings designed to be our warning system. The body mounts a stress response, but the mind is unaware of the threat […] We no longer sense what is happening in our bodies and cannot therefore act in self-preserving ways. The physiology of stress eats away at our bodies not because it has outlived its usefulness but because we may no longer have the competence to recognize its signals. (Maté. 2019, 35-36)

If we go against our critique of hearing/listening binaries just for a moment to say that 'hearing' is the passive reception of sounds, then what we actually perceive diminishes with a lack of awareness of sensations in the body. If we cannot hear, we cannot listen. In the case of Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening and Sonic Meditations, the awareness of sensations was relearned through mind-body practices. Although Dr. Maté states that we no longer have the ability to hear our bodies, he does in fact recommend meditation and Qigong, which not only allow us to retrain in recognizing, or hearing/listening to the signals, but also provide respite and therefore the conditions for healing in the processes he outlines above.

By combining the research from vocal toning, voice and listening in Rinzai Zen chanting, and mind-body techniques, I have developed a provisional workshop to explore the potential for these practices to contribute to the efficacy of the effects of vocal toning by heightening awareness in the body and calming the mind. Finally, Snow et al's vocal toning test was undertaken only individually and without particular focus or instruction for listening. By working in a group, as in the case of the female survivors of sexual abuse (Macintosh, 2003), the process of toning together led to deep group connection. A method of group listening described by Meido Moore is implemented in Rinzai Zen chanting as a way of further establishing this connection;

‘Hearing the sound of others, chant in such a way that you feel as if their voices enter your ears and pass out through your own mouth. This means that we should chant in oneness with others rather than as an expression of ourselves. One of my students has compared this to being like a reed instrument that sings as air blows through it.’ (M. Moore. 2018, 128)

By feeling the pleasurable sensation of the resonance of one’s own voice in their body whilst placing auditory listening on the group, or even further, singing the voices of others, the potential for analysis of one’s own experience decreases and connection to the group increases. As Stephen Connor's metaphor of a bow being drawn across a stringed instrument resembles the ‘strain’ of the voice in chapter one, this technique redirects the notion of individual internal strain with a further 'expansion of hearing' as an auditory impression of group oneness. If, as I concluded in the first chapter, that non-lingual "embodied" vocalisation with maintained focus of awareness on an object of perception (the pleasurable sensation of resonance of the voice in the body) allows the observer and the object to 'become one,' then this listening technique opens the possibility for the same experience with the group.

To maintain a degree of continuity with Snow et al’s test in my own workshop, I provided the same Geneva Emotional Music Scale when inviting the participants to give feedback of their experience.

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stevenhwicker · 5 years

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Leadership Accountability Pays Off Big

There’s a vast difference between believing in accountability in theory and actually admitting fault in practice. The temptation to shift accountability can be overwhelming when oncoming stakeholders are moments away from fully blaming you for some failure or impactful mistake. It’s definitely a moment that calls for a leader to tap his or her inner hero to rise to the daunting occasion. But, the big payoff of standing on a principle of personal accountability in leadership has long been proven. Let’s consider the enormous consequences of not embracing leadership accountability and the even larger rewards of developing leadership competency in accepting accountability.

On the History of Leaders and Their Failures

All new leaders should be advised from the outset of their leadership careers that failures are inevitable. More importantly, leaders need to understand that failure is a necessary part of the business leadership learning process. Consider great leaders you’ve heard talk freely about their past failures, whether they’re failures of innovative attempts, of well-planned processes integrations, of major new product roll outs, or even of entirely new company launches.

Monumental failures are in the backgrounds of some, if not most of the world’s greatest business leaders. Successful leaders typically reflect on, and credit their failures with indispensable contributions to their knowledge. They will say that those failures and the resilience born from them shaped their futures and enabled their best ideas. They go on to rise up from their admitted failures and move toward their next challenge, with the new wealth of necessary learnings that become the seeds of their greatest achievements to come. Elevate Recruitment & Training Consultants

So, the first action item for leaders looking to improve their record of personal accountability is to embrace the potential for failure in everything you do. Recognise that living with the potential for failure is the human condition. It even more profoundly defines the leadership condition, as that is a higher-risk condition, far more fraught with contingencies that can upheave the best laid plans.

Business Consequences of Leaders Not Accepting Accountability

The delicate structure of a workplace culture of accountability can rather quickly deteriorate into a tense atmosphere of mistrust and self-defensiveness, when the organisation’s leader(s) demonstrate(s) unwillingness to maintain the level of leadership accountability that people need in order to be able to rely on them for honesty and fair treatment.

The business consequences of not accepting personal accountability include inadvertently promoting a workplace culture of non-accountability. Failure to accept accountability signals to all, a breach of personal integrity in company leadership. When the leadership integrity proves untrustworthy:

People on staff who are most inclined to follow suit can be expected to feel free to deny accountability and shift blame for their own mistakes.

The rest of the team will come to mistrust their situation.

Ultimately, the most talented employees will defect, seeking a safer work environment.

Those who stay on for their own reasons learn to keep their heads down and expect anything.

Even people with the strongest personalities. who try to stay on board, become increasingly stressed by the untenable situation of trying to sustain employment in an unfair, unpredictable workplace. They finally grow weary of coping with its instability, and look for alternative employment.

Business Benefits of a Leader Accepting Accountability

A chain of the effects occurs on the thoughts and actions of everyone above and below on the hierarchy of authority, when a leader does, or does not accept accountability. Hence, one’s leadership future in a company and in an industry, and the atmospherics and financial success of a company are all driven by the perceptions of the character of the leader.

When good leaders demonstrate personal accountability, and foster a workplace culture of personal accountability, a wave of positive change sweeps through the organisation.

Team cohesion becomes stronger.

A stronger sense of employment security is instilled in workers.

Mutual trust is increased between workers, between workers and management, between management and external stakeholders, between company and vendors, and ultimately between company and customers.

Among all the interested parties, confidence in each other and in the company as an institution rises.

Personal performance pride, and pride in being a part of the company comes to characterise the team.

Greater pride in belonging to the company and increased support for its success develop.

The natural effects of greater teamwork, stronger sense of employment security, higher levels of trust and confidence in the company, and increased performance pride and company pride all contribute to improved individual and team performance, which altogether leads to:

Higher rates of employee engagement, satisfaction and retention.

Improved product and service quality.

Increased customer satisfaction and retention.

Increased profit margins.

Strengthened reputation and brand.

Increased growth rates.

How to Build a Workplace Culture of Accountability

All stakeholders, including employees, have an important economic interest in the success or failure of the company’s operational systems and processes. People are naturally eager to strive toward milestones that mark their stages of progress toward their goals, goals that include those they share with their team at work. People also always naturally want to do well as part of their social/work group, and they want to feel proud of their own behaviour and their group’s culture. So, developing a workplace culture of accountability is a process, not an impossible dream. Leadership Training Melbourne

With some encouragement, the average workplace can be elevated to one of exceptional pride in personal and group integrity, where people accept personal accountability as a badge of honour. The Harvard Business Review offers some great advice in ‘Accountable’. Here are some ways to promote this kind of exemplary company culture of accountability:

Acknowledge how naturally difficult it is for humans to accept accountability, due to the sense of personal risk associated with admitting fault.

Live an example of personal integrity, including acceptance of accountability.

Set consistently clear expectations, before work begins on any project.

Ensure that people are able to meet the expectations you set.

Obtain acknowledgement of understanding of, and acceptance of your expectations.

Recognise when it’s time to pass projects on to others, if it is beyond the ability of a struggling employee to succeed in it.

Model accountability consistently for staff, contractors, and even for your superiors.

Provide constructive criticism.

Encourage creative problem solving, and ensure safe risk taking for innovation.

Express appreciation, and reward accomplishments.

Give objective feedback, and ask each team member what you can do to help them meet their goals.

Modify objectives, processes, timelines, and assignments as needed to help ensure success.

Delegate responsibilities, evaluate outcomes, celebrate successes, and work together with employees on performance issues.

Empower employees, and make sure they understand that the more control they have over their work, the naturally greater their accountability becomes, and that that’s a good thing.

Establish attainable benchmarks for progress and quality on tasks and projects, monitor progress, and provide needed coaching.

Encourage employees to try their ideas for process and quality improvements, without fear of consequences for errors or failures of their improvement efforts.

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