#[benjamin] doomed wisdom

[fertilisedovumcell]

Wisdom/philosophy quotes

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.” ― Hermann Hesse, Demian. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend

"The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong." ―carl Jung

"we are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our body, which is doomed to decay…, from the external world which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless force of destruction, and finally from our relations with other men… This last source is perhaps more painful to use than any other. (p77)” ― Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” ― Albert Camus

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“Despite men's suffering, despite the blood and wrath, despite the dead who can never be replaced, the unjust wounds, and the wild bullets, we must utter, not words of regret, but words of hope, of the dreadful hope of men isolated with their fate.” ― Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion and Death: Essays

“It's not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing—they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me.” ― Stephen Fry, Moab Is My Washpot

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers - Socrates

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure….you are above everything distressing.” ― Spinoza

“The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd.” ― Nicholas Tharcher, Rebels & Devils; A Tribute to Christopher S. Hyatt

“Criticism of others is thus an oblique form of self-commendation. We think we make the picture hang straight on our wall by telling our neighbors that all his pictures are crooked.” ― Fulton J. Sheen, Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons from Cana and Calvary

“One of the greatest tragedies in life is to lose your own sense of self and accept the version of you that is expected by everyone else.” ― K.L. Toth

“All is mystery; but he is a slave who will not struggle to penetrate the dark veil.” ― Benjamin Disraeli

“Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely.” ― Erma Bombeck

“What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.” ― Epictetus

[alternative-architecture]

[The door rattles, and then opens slowly.]

[Adam-37(?) is standing in the doorway, looking disheveled and panicked. Eyes wide, he stares into the room. He looks about ready to bolt...]

NoNoNoNoNoNo

-@73-mada

[!!! Adam pauses his pacing. Abram and Benjamin look up from where they were talking in low tones.]

Are you okay?

[alternative-architecture]

[Abram's petting Meyer when he gets a notification:]

ERROR: TT2 DESYNCHRONIZATION DETECTED

DESYNCHRONIZATION FROM TIMELINE DETECTED (ARCHITECTURE_DAYSRESIDENTIAL, RECORDS_MAINOFFICE)

TIMELINE RECTIFICATION IN PROGRESS...

ARCHITECTURE_DAYSRESIDENTIAL ....... 097% (ETA COMPLETION 2m39s)

RECORDS_MAINOFFICE (ETA BEGINNING 33m40s)

ETA FINAL COMPLETION 46m17s

[Oh.]

[Abram shoots off a notification to the others, alerting Hokma especially to get anything from this universe out of his office quickly, and prepares to mourn - ]

[There's a cry from the other room. Abel has somehow been transported to the middle of Day 47, severely drained but alive. Adam, who had been passing through on his way back to Day 49, immediately hurries him to the closest first aid kit with a very relieved Abram's help; Abel can be heard pointing out Adam's new hair accessory.]

[Mid-anime episode, Aaron feels something shift in his guts, and the pins-and-needles lessen slightly. An instant later, the walls of the containment unit vanish around him as he yells in surprise (though it's not really surprising for a reflection to follow his original anywhere he goes), and he's thrown unceremoniously into Day 49's main room to await Adam's return.]

[Benjamin doesn't have long to puzzle over the USB files, as the drive suddenly vanishes from the computer. He sees the notification a second later, and worries. Will he be okay back home? He hopes he'll be allowed to live separate from Hokma. He doesn't want to die.]

[...Wait, he could probably just stay in Day 48, couldn't he...]

[The future for Alternative Architecture may be uncertain, but for now, it seems bright.]

OOC Notice

You've probably noticed the lack of posts on my Lobotomy Corporation blogs. Due to waning interest in the roleplay they are a part of, I have decided to discontinue them, at least for the time being.

I don't plan to delete the blogs. At some point I may decide to reactivate them, whether to rejoin the same roleplay or to be part of a new one; for now, though, consider them inactive.

I'll be reblogging this to all the blogs that I'm discontinuing, with a short IC explanation of what happened next attached.

[mariacallous]

We were told that abortion would not be a major issue in the midterm elections. Over the past weeks, pundits and political strategists alike suggested that the outrage over the Dobbs decision had been momentary, capricious; that by election day, women would forget. They insisted that the surge in new voter registrations among women was a fluke, or irrelevant.

Ahead of the election, it became conventional wisdom among a kind of self-serious, mostly male political commentator to insist that not only were the Democrats doomed, they had doomed themselves, specifically, by talking about abortion too much. The party had dragged itself down with a social issue that was ultimately not very important, we were told. The Democrats were going to lose, and it was going to be because they had spent too much time catering to the flighty and unserious demands of feminists.

Instead, abortion rights proved a hugely motivating force for voters in Tuesday’s midterms. A still-potent anger at the Dobbs decision drove women and young people to the polls, propelled the most vocally pro-choice Democratic candidates to victory, delivered decisive wins for abortion-rights advocates in every state referendum on the issue, and helped to dramatically improve the Democrats’ performance in what was supposed to be a “bloodbath” election favoring Republicans.

We now head into 2023 with Democrats holding onto a chance to keep the Senate; if they lose the House, they will only lose it by a handful of seats. There was no bloodbath; there was barely a paper cut. Abortion rights, and the women voters who wanted to defend them, are a big part of why.

None of this was what was supposed to happen. To hear the Republicans tell it, they didn’t think that the Dobbs decision would cost them at all in this year’s midterms. As recently as last week, party strategists and rightwing pundits were projecting wild confidence, assuring writers like the New Yorker’s Benjamin Wallace-Wells that the post-Dobbs moment of anger and energy that animated Democratic voters had passed – and that it had not dimmed Republican prospects.

“In the end, Republicans didn’t find a way through the political fact that many of the voters they wanted to win were against them on abortion so much as wait it out,” Wallace-Wells wrote last Friday, channeling the shrugging attitude toward the abortion issue that had been conveyed to him by Republican insiders. “They simply absorbed the political hit and moved on.”

Even the polling, which throughout the summer and early fall suggested that abortion remained a motivating issue for voters, was explained away, dismissed as a mere “blue mirage”. One Republican strategist hypothesized that Democrats, consumed with emotionalism, were answering their telephones more often, in the hope of being polled. “Answering a political poll itself became a kind of expression of political identity.”

Others, like the Washington Examiner’s David Keene, claimed that the large numbers of women voters claiming that abortion would affect their vote were in fact women who were anti-abortion, who would enthusiastically vote to support abortion bans. In retrospect, of course, this seems like risible wishful thinking by Republicans, the kind of thing one can only believe if you live in a deep Republican partisan bubble, and don’t often talk to women. Or maybe it was the kind of bluster that’s meant to intimidate political opponents into thinking that the Republicans were more confident ahead of Tuesday’s elections than they really were.

But if Republicans were just bluffing when they said that they didn’t think abortion rights would impact the midterms, many prominent Democrats seem to have believed them. In the weeks ahead of the vote, a series of highly visible party insiders and off-the record insider sources were preemptively blaming the Democrats’ anticipated loss on their supposed overfocus on abortion.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wrote a column entitled “Democrats shouldn’t focus only on abortion in the midterms. That’s a mistake”. Sanders’ piece denounced the party’s supposed overfocus on abortion as both politically unwise and morally treacherous. “While the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy.”

This sentiment was not confined to Sanders and his ilk on the left. On the other side of the party’s political spectrum, the centrist Democratic strategist and PR executive Hilary Rosen appeared on television to lambast the party for paying too much attention to so-called social issues. “I think we’re going to have a bad night,” Rosen said on CNN. “When voters tell you over and over and over again that they care mostly about the economy, listen to them.”

In predicting a so-called “red tsunami,” in late October Josh Kraushaar, of Axios, appealed to the data. “Biden delivered a speech Tuesday pledging to codify Roe as his first act if Democrats elect more senators and keep the House,” he wrote. “But there’s worry in Democratic circles that abortion-centric messaging is keeping candidates from talking about the economy. A new Monmouth poll found 63% of respondents wish Biden would give more attention to ‘issues that are important to your family’ – including 36% of Democrats.”

It seems almost insultingly remedial to have to explain why this framing – the notion that somehow the midterms could either be about the economy or they could be about abortion – is so wrongheaded. Because, of course, abortion access is central to the economic prospects of working people. But to acknowledge this, you have to acknowledge something that still seems incomprehensible and out of reach for many of our most esteemed shapers of political opinion: that when we think and speak of economic and political subjects, we are speaking of women.

It is women whose prospects shape the economy, women who are workers and consumers; it is women who dream to advance economically, to retire or finish school or buy a house; it is women whose economic prospects, along with their health, dignity and freedom, have been curtailed by Dobbs.

The stigma surrounding abortion helps to marginalize the issue in the American political imagination; the silence surrounding it conceals just how common abortion is, and how central abortion access is to women’s lives. One in four American women will have an abortion by age 45; many, many more of them know what it is to fear the upheaval of an unplanned pregnancy, to pee on a stick in the loneliness of a bathroom stall as your dreams hang in the balance.

To say that this experience of hope, aspiration, anticipation, fear is somehow not as serious as the dreams and aspirations of men – to say that it is somehow not an “issue that is important to your family” – is at best to misunderstand the problem and at worst to suggest that women’s lives are not of political concern at all. If the midterm results are any indication, American women voters disagree.

[writerofblocks]

tagged by @honeysides to post my character’s MBTI types lets go

tagging @gatmora, @the-wizard-ell, @chyrstis, @vicekings

Bridget Summers: ENFP-A (The Campaigner)

Campaigners (ENFPs) are true free spirits – outgoing, openhearted, and open-minded. With their lively, upbeat approach to life, they stand out in any crowd. But even though they can be the life of the party, Campaigners don’t just care about having a good time. These personality types run deep – as does their longing for meaningful, emotional connections with other people.

Lucia Lieberman: INFJ-T (The Advocate)

Advocates are the rarest personality types of all. Still, Advocates leave their mark on the world. They have a deep sense of idealism and integrity, but they aren’t idle dreamers – they take concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting impact.

Advocates’ unique combination of personality traits makes them complex and quite versatile. For example, Advocates can speak with great passion and conviction, especially when standing up for their ideals. At other times, however, they may choose to be soft-spoken and understated, preferring to keep the peace rather than challenge others.

Ahkasa Sohloni INTJ-A (The Architect)

These personalities can be both the boldest of dreamers and the bitterest of pessimists. Architects believe that, through willpower and intelligence, they can achieve even the most challenging of goals. But they may be cynical about human nature more generally, assuming that most people are lazy, unimaginative, or simply doomed to mediocrity.

Architects derive much of their self-esteem from their knowledge and mental acuity. In school, people with this personality type may have been called “bookworms” or “nerds.” But rather than taking these labels as insults, many Architects embrace them. They are confident in their ability to teach themselves about – and master – any topic that interests them, whether that’s coding or capoeira or classical music.

Architects can be single-minded, with little patience for frivolity, distractions, or idle gossip. That said, it would be a mistake to stereotype these personalities as dull or humorless. Many Architects are known for their irreverent wit, and beneath their serious exteriors, they often have a sharp, delightfully sarcastic sense of humor.

Benjamin Anderson: INTJ-T (The Architect)

Architects question everything. Many personality types trust the status quo, relying on conventional wisdom and other people’s expertise as they go about their lives. But ever-skeptical Architects prefer to make their own discoveries. In their quest to find better ways of doing things, they aren’t afraid to break the rules or risk disapproval – in fact, they rather enjoy it.

But as anyone with this personality type would tell you, a new idea isn’t worth anything unless it actually works. Architects want to be successful, not just inventive. They bring a single-minded drive to their passion projects, applying the full force of their insight, logic, and willpower. And heaven help anyone who tries to slow them down by enforcing pointless rules or offering poorly thought-out criticism.

[futurebodies]

Afrofuturism Reading List (starting point)

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler: The first of Octavia Butler’s Patternist series to be published, Patternmaster places readers to a distant future where the world is ruled by oppressive telepaths. The result of generations of selective breeding, the clairvoyant tyrants use their power to enslave those who lack psychic abilities. Throughout the pages of Butler’s narrative, the telepaths simultaneously make the lives of “mutes” and “clayarks” (those who lack telepathy) difficult and cause dissension amongst the Housemasters, the government officials who rule the world with greedy hearts and iron fists. A tale of political and familial division, human cruelty, and resilience, Patternmaster is a haunting critique of capitalism, colonization, and exploitation. (link to purchase: https://bookshop.org/books/patternmaster/9781538751466)

This Planet is Doomed: The Science Fiction Poetry of Sun Ra by Sun Ra: The poetry of Afrofuturist and jazz legend Sun Ra is undeniably cosmic. Comprised of galactic visions and futuristic musings, the luminescence of each stanza is infused with stardust and an ancient wisdom that examines the complexity of the cosmos and humanity. Much like his musical compositions, Sun Ra’s poems thread together mythology, mysticism, and sci-fi, offering his audience a unique glimpse into the mind of a visionary. This Planet is Doomed volleys between retrospection, humor, and joy. The prophetic urgency of his work transcends time. The worlds that his poems conjure will leave you in awe.(link to purchase: https://www.abebooks.com/Planet-Doomed-Ra-Sun-Kicks-Books/30856847716/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade-_-product_id=COM9780965977715USED-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwna2FBhDPARIsACAEc_X0OSj9D4DQwMnk169bLJI45HG4Y5k_Z2OzMBAAvqELjWOvy1e5mHIaAlcCEALw_wcB)

Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction by Andre M. Carrington: André M. Carrington’s Speculative Blackness surveys the way race is depicted in fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian narratives and how fictive imaginings of Black identity impact contemporary culture and communities. Throughout this inarguably timely book, Carrington grapples with what these genres mean to Black Americans and their ability to shape the future in an empowering way. Whether analyzing the way race is handled in Marvel comics or the implications of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Benjamin Sisko, Speculative Blackness is an accessible and academic meditation on the limitless potential of Black storytelling.(link to purchase: https://bookshop.org/books/speculative-blackness-the-future-of-race-in-science-fiction-9780816678969/9780816678969) 

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon: In this debut, Solomon takes the classic “generation ship” trope in a new direction, and does it with skill and verve. Aster, the primary narrator, is a self-taught healer onboard the enormous spaceship Matilda, which has been traveling in search of a new home planet for many generations. Instead of creating a new society and culture, humanity has fallen back on its worst history. The upper decks are landscaped, lush, beautiful, and populated entirely by white people, while the lower decks are populated by the darker-skinned inhabitants of the ship: enslaved, rationed, and patrolled and abused by armed guards. Ruthless violence keeps them working for the upper-deckers, and a religious dictatorship enforces class and race order across levels. Aster, a lower-decker, doesn’t have any plans to be a revolutionary. But when her friend Giselle points out a coded message in Aster’s dead mother’s diaries, everything begins to shift. (link to purchase: https://sistahscifi.com/collections/litbooks/products/unkindness-of-ghosts-book-by-rivers-solomon)

Some Black-Owned Bookstores to support (all of the links above are black-owned with the exception of abebooks):

https://sistahscifi.com/

https://www.missreadbooks.org/

https://aalbc.com/

http://www.thelitbar.com/

[alternative-architecture]

Benjamin? The Head let you stay alive? - @thewellsheart

Carmen???

[Benjamin reminds himself, with some difficulty, that this isn't the Carmen from his universe.]

...What does the Head have to do with anything? ._.

[misterfantastic]

Exactly six months into my journey of reading comics my favorite characters are:

Reed Richards

Doctor Doom

Emma Frost

Benjamin Grimm

Tony Stark

Kristoff Vernard

HERBIE

Bobby Drake

Pete Wisdom

Bucky Barnes

Johnny Storm

[alternative-architecture]

Okay?

[Is that... normal here?]

Uh, don't panic, but there's a chance that @birdbraind is an Abnormality.

- Benjamin, @alternative-architecture

Ah, neat! I think we have other non human employees here as well, so its fine

[a-darla-ble]

Music, Maestro!

You, Darla fans, remember that one publication I made about the non-orchestral songs for the film Shazam!, right? Well, here are now the full orchestral songs of that same film, conducted by Londoner Benjamin Wallfisch. But first, here is his bio:

Born August 7, 1979 as Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch, the son of Elizabeth Wallfisch (née Hunt), an Australian Baroque violinist, and Raphael Wallfisch, a British cellist. He is the eldest of their three children. His paternal grandparents are pianist Peter Wallfisch and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was a member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. They were Jewish emigrants from Breslau, Poland.

He has composed and contributed to music for over 60 feature films since the mid-2000s. Asides Shazam!, his compositions include original scores for A Cure For Wellness, Hidden Figures, Lights Out, Desert Dancer, It (2017 version) and Blade Runner 2049. In 2017, he was jointly nominated with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer for Best Original Score at the 74th Golden Globe Awards for his work on Hidden Figures, and a BAFTA Award and Grammy Award for Blade Runner 2049.

In 2014, Wallfisch was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is also a member of Remote Control Productions, a company by Hans Zimmer.

Wallfisch resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife Missy and daughter Lola.

Here is the YouTube link to the soundtrack available to hear: https://www.youtube.com/playlist…

Music 1 - The Shazam! theme is played during the end credits, right after the mid-credits scene.

Music 2 - In a flashback scene from 1974, young Thaddeus Sivana (Ethan Pugiotto), while riding with his father and older brother in Upstate New York on Christmas Eve to his grand-parents' mansion, got suddenly transported, alone, to a place called the Rock of Eternity where he would meet this mysterious wizard as this latter was looking for a pure-hearted champion to replace him. However, after being tempted by the Seven Deadly Sins, trapped in statues, to take the Eye of Sin for power, the wizard reconsidered and sends him back to 1974. This piece was heard during that scene.

Music 3 - This score was played while the Shazam! Wizard, growing weaker, uses his seeking spell to continue looking for a champion, no matter how long it takes. It would finally pay-off in the year 2019 in Philadelphia - to a street boy named Billy Batson.

Music 4 - Billy Batson, age 14, kept on searching for his long lost mother since a decade ago from place to place, until he found one hoping this would be it, This piece was heard while he reminisced about how he lost his mother at a carnival. We see little Billy, age 4 (David Kohlsmith), with his mother (Caroline Palmer) as she was trying to pop the balloons with darts to win a prize for her son.

Music 5 - The once young Thaddeus Sivana has eventually grown up and becomes Dr. Sivana, who had never forgotten his encountering in 1974 and vowed to return to the Rock of Eternity and gain power from the Eye of Sin. While we hear this score, Sivana figured out, through interviewed witnesses from around the world, that there were seven symbols needed being written seven times. A skeptical Dr. Lynn Crosby (Lotta Losten) didn't believe it until the door in Sivana's office activated the passage to the cave - and in the process reducing Dr. Crosby to dust, but her glasses.

Music 6 - Returning at last to the Rock of Eternity after all these years, Dr. Sivana confronts the Shazam! Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to take the Eye and gain power, which he finally did and got the best over the wizard while this score is playing along.

Music 7 - Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is being chased by the Breyer twins (Carson MacCormac & Evan Marsh), in the background, from Fawcett Central School to the nearest subway station after rescuing his foster brother Freddy from their bullying. This incident was perhaps fate as the following event will occur, changing his life forever. This music was played throughout.

Music 8 - While this music is played, Billy meets the wizard choosing him as the new champion. By saying the magic word and touching his staff, the wizard can at last transfer his powers to the new champion, Shazam!, giving him: - The Wisdom of Solomon - The Strength of Hercules - The Stamina of Atlas - The Power of Zeus - The Courage of Achilles - And the Speed of Mercury The wizard then vanishes into dust, leaving Billy with his new adult body and super-strength.

Music 9 - Knowing that his new brother, superhero fanboy Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), might help him with his new identity, Shazam! (Zachary Levi) lets him in on his secret. Together, they found that he was indeed "stacked" with super-powers.

Music 10 - Revenge can be sweet, whether for good or bad, as we see Dr. Sivana, after killing his brother Sid along with the other members of a board meeting at Sivana Industries, confronting his father (John Glover) to make him see that he gained power, with the help of his allies, the Seven Deadly Sins - and killing him as well afterwards.

Music 11 - While showing off his new lightning powers to the people outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Shazam! accidentally struck a bus's front tire, driving it to the edge. After his awkward attempt to use an old mattress in hoping it would soften the fall, our new hero had to catch the enormous vehicle - with a satisfying result, saving everyone inside it.

Music 12 - Dr. Sivana finally meets this new champion and demands him to hand his powers over to him immediately. This battle with a super-villain was Billy's ultimate test. Sivana however got the best of him, as our new hero couldn't fly yet, by grabbing him and bringing him up high in the atmosphere and lets him go to a dooming fall.

Music 13 - After his dooming fall, Billy halted to a close shave as he could finally fly and had to deal with this new foe in black in a new definition of street-brawling, all under the watchful eye of Freddy.

Music 14 - The brawl between Shazam! and Dr. Sivana went on as they ended up in the mall and in a toy store. After being slammed by Sivana through the store window, Shazam! had to get away from him by flying inside the mall before being struck by Sivana. Having no choice, Shazam! transformed back to Billy in order to blend in with the panicking crowd.

Music 15 - Seeing that Freddy was looking for Billy, and realizing the latter would supposedly be the new hero according to the bus rescue news report on the TVs at the mall, Sivana forced the crippled fanboy to tell him where he lives, which would put the other kids in danger as well.

Music 16 - At long last! Billy, thanks to Eugene's search online, has finally found his long-lost mother, Marilyn, who has moved on and remarried while his real father, C.C., was in prison in Florida for ten years. Billy found out that she has abandoned him on purpose because she couldn't afford to keep him since she was too young. Billy then tells her that he too had to move on to his new family.

Music 17 - After his reunion with his real mother, Billy received a call from Freddy's phone by Dr. Sivana, letting him know that he holds his foster siblings hostage and demands that he comes home immediately.

Music 18 - Forcing to return home to save the others, Billy was ordered by Dr. Sivana to relinquish his powers to him after their arrival to the Rock of Eternity and will let them go, or else they will die. In tears, Darla (Faithe Herman) pleaded Billy not to go and stay with them, but Billy tells our bespectacled beauty that that's what good big brothers would do.

Music 19 - Following Billy and Dr. Sivana to the Rock of Eternity, Darla, Eugene (Ian Chen), Freddy, Pedro (Jovan Armand) and Mary (Grace Fulton) found whatever they salvaged from home and decided to take head on against Sivana and his "big fat ugly-eyed head, " as Darla would put it bravely, until he lets Billy go.

Music 20 - Here, we see Mary being such a great big sister watching over Darla as they watched Dr. Sivana blasting out through the roof of The Booty Trap strip club. The kids have no time to waste and ran to the nearby carnival in hoping to lose themselves inside the crowd. Protect our little Darla, Mary. We love her so much.

Music 21 - In a divide and conquer method, Mary would hope that Sivana would not be able to follow all of them. However, the dangerous doctor sends his Seven Deadly Sins after them, and succeeded.

Music 22 - Billy managed to escape from the clutches of Dr. Sivana, but the latter has the others hostage, yet again, inside the big tent. When he threatened of having Darla killed by Greed (YOU MONSTER!!!), Billy had no choice but to give in.

Music 23 - While Billy had to relinquish his super-powers to Dr. Sivana, he remembered what the wizard told him about sharing his power with the others by simply touching the staff. Not giving up yet, he managed to defeat Sivana and taking the staff away from him, with enough time to share his powers with his new family, becoming superheroes themselves.

Music 24 - It is done - the kids, thanks to Billy, have now become superheroes with their own unique abilities, including Freddy who can now fly as Super Hero Freddy (Adam Brody, in blue) with full joy.

Music 25 - While our new family of superheroes fight against the Seven Deadly Sins, Shazam! and Dr. Sivana face-off for what may be a final showdown in the Philadelphia skyline.

Music 26 - Shazam and the rest of the Shazamily finally won against Sivana and saved the city from destruction. And at the same time, they gained fandom from the cheers and applause of Philadelphians, resembling very much of a big stage play.

Music 27 - Returning back to the Rock of Eternity and placing the Eye of Sin back to its rightful place, thus imprisoning the Seven Deadly Sins back in statues, they realize along the way that they have something else - a lair. They have their own lair - something Billy and Freddy were looking for during the film, even by asking a real estate agent about one.

Music 28 - The following Christmas morning, the whole family gathered for breakfast and Billy told them that he finally found a new family - them - and how much he is very grateful for that.

Music 29 - In a mid-credits scene, when we hear this musical score, an imprisoned Thaddeus Sivana, still looking for a magic formula by writing on the walls, is approached by this talking caterpillar, going by the name Mr. Mind, who proposes an alliance between the two and there are alternate ways in discovering magic.

[sapphirescalemate]

music tag!

you can tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping! (tagged by @pbrty2 )

1: Gravity’s Union - Coheed & Cambria

2: The Doomed - A Perfect Circle

3: Until The End - Breaking Benjamin

4: Transcendence - Lindsey Stirling

5: The Only One - Evanescense

6: Hard Out Here - Lily Allen

7: Disease - Hollywood Undead

8: Swag - Lindsey Stirling

9: The Broken - Coheed & Cambria

10: Toys - Coheed & Cambria

Just got my wisdom teeth taken sooo ay chill time, here’s some shuffled songs n stuff

I tag @dannidorina @bishieblues @eloquentspeeches @twixtandshout @insanelyadd @pedantricks @neophyte-redglare , not pressure tho lads!

[dailyaudiobible]

10/21/2019 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 37:1-38:28, 1 Timothy 6:1-21, Psalms 89:38-52, Proverbs 25:28

Today is the 21st day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today as we move ourselves into our workweek and start living into this shiny, sparkly, new week that we have before us as we begin to make our decisions and choices and think about things. And we have come here to allow God's word to inform us on that and to transform our thoughts, that we might have the mind of Christ on things. And, so, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we’re continuing our journey through the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Today we’ll read chapters 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Jeremiah things…things are pretty dire in Jerusalem and life-threatening for Jeremiah. Like, there are people that want him dead now because he keeps prophesying surrender, right? And you understand that. It would be like a person prophesying in front of the White House in the United States of impending doom and that we should surrender to this country that is threatening. And that is actually what God was telling Jeremiah to say. That is actually what His will was. He was going to wipe the slate clean and a lot could have been spared, including the king's life and including the city of Jerusalem, but they would have to walk out and surrender to the Chaldeans. So, just putting ourselves in that position, especially from like a national perspective, we’re talking about the king here. We understand the complications involved in all of that. And, so, as the factions were developing inside the city and the starvation that was ensuing in the mayhem of the city being strangled to death by this blockade, we see how things are disintegrating. So, even when people were after Jeremiah's life, what did the king do? He said, “like, how am I going to be able to stand against you? He's in your hands”, right? Because at this point it's all falling apart. The only thing between the Babylonian army and the people inside Jerusalem was a wall. Like, that's the only thing. But inside those walls, as was the plan, like this is…this is the strategy of taking this city, society is falling apart, right? So, there's anarchy happening. So, there isn't any unity to fight and there’s a lack of food. So, they’re growing weaker and weaker and weaker to fight. And we remember back when we began this book and all of the events that were happening at that time from the beginning of the book, there were prophets, in fact all the prophets were saying, “the Babylonians will never get in the city. The Babylonians are going to go back. All the stuff that was taken from us is going to be returned. The Babylonians, the Babylonians will never defeat us.” And they were obviously wrong and we’re not hearing much from their voices anymore. And Jeremiah’s telling king Zedekiah, “like, look, this is this is going to happen because this is God's will and this is what he intends to do. There's no turning it back. Even if you were to destroy the whole army of Babylon, and there were just like some wounded soldiers left in tents, they would stagger out of their tents and burn this city to the ground.” So…so as things continued to deteriorate, fear and panic and an overwhelming sense of gloom and doom were like disintegrating, undermining the power structures. And for lots of people the message that Jeremiah was prophesying of surrender made him look like a traitor. And, so, he buys this field in Benjamin and it just looks like he's gonna defect. Everybody is paranoid and as Jeremiah's trying to leave the city he gets arrested and he ends up in a dungeon and then king Zedekiah frees him and then he's held under house arrest and then he's later thrown into an empty well where he’s supposed to die, but he was rescued from the pit. And then after that, the king comes to him again, secretly. And, so, we can see how much things have fallen apart inside the city. The Kings meeting secretly asking Jeremiah to give him like the straight truth, what God is actually saying about the predicament. And it’s not like Jeremiah hasn't said that. So, Jeremiah's freshly out of a well where he was thrown in to die. Now he’s out of the well standing before the king. The kings asking him to give him the straight truth and you can see Jeremiah's response, “if I told you the truth, you’d kill me and if I give you advice like every other time you won't listen to me anyway”, which is pretty much reflective of the prophetic journey, the life of a prophet as we see it in the Scriptures. So, you can read the stories, they're intriguing to be sure, they’re…they’re part of history and we can study the history or we can study the tragedy of exile and find it appalling, but we don't necessarily remember that none of this had to happen. Like, Jeremiah had been warning about this for two decades, but no one listened. So, it wasn't like they hadn't been told. And indeed, the Babylonians did break through the wall and the wall fell, and when the wall fell you can imagine the rush of metal and the soldiers and leather and sword and spear rushing into the city and the chaos of people trying to flee and the chaos of people trying to hide and the chaos as the city is being taken and devastated. And we can shake our heads and go, “wow, what an awful…what an awful time that would've been. It could've been avoided”, but we disassociate as if it might not really have anything to do with us. But it starts becoming very, personally, when you think about what we read in Proverbs today, “a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” So, that snaps some things into place all of the sudden, doesn't it? The voice of wisdom is telling us that we have no defenses, we have no protection when we lose control of ourselves. So, if we needed a picture then we've got the picture from what we read in the book of Jeremiah, but we probably already know. Like, we’ve probably already experienced this in our lives. It just hasn't been put in these terms before - chaos and fear and panic and loss and all of the enemies that come rushing through a defenseless person with deadly intent when there is no self-control. So, it obviously looks different than the taking of Jerusalem, but it's not any less real. And, so, once again, the Scriptures are right here facing us honestly holding up a mirror and asking us to look into our own eyes because it's showing us the outcomes of the paths that we choose as…as we've seen in today's reading. And a lack of self-control is usually the choice between chaos and order. So, what path will you walk today?

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We've seen and are seeing the destruction of Jerusalem and it's certainly overwhelming and it’s certainly a sad part of the story, but when it becomes applied to our own lives as the Proverbs tells us that a person without self-control is…is like a city with the walls torn down, well then we realize the chaos that was happening inside that city when it was being taken is the kind of stuff that happens to us when we lose control of ourselves. And the reality is, we can't…I mean…we like to think that we’re in control way more than we actually are, and what we need to do is give up and let go and surrender to You and Your will and Your ways, because we will never find self-control in any other way. So, come Holy Spirit into all of this we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website, its where you find out what's going on around…I was reaching for a piece of paper…sorry about that. Got my piece of paper here now. It’s got all the telephone numbers on it. We’ll get to that in a minute. But dailyaudiobible.com is where you find out what's going on around here. And, so, check that out. Check out the new resource that we've just released, the God of Your Story. That is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop or just look in the Initiatives section for Gog of Your Story and you can hear about it. It is a resource that is by and for this community and all of the proceeds from that resource support this community. So, thank you for checking that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you for pressing that link over the years. We wouldn't be here if we didn't do this together and I’m glad that we’re doing this together. What a remarkable time we live in. To even be able to conceive of doing something like this together is…is profound. So, I'm thankful each and every day that we’re here for each other around the Global Campfire. So, yeah, you can press the link on the homepage, you can press the link in the app or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can press the Hotline button that’s at the top of the app screen. You can't miss it, the little Red button or you can dial these numbers on my sheet. 877-942-4253 is the number to dial if you are in the Americas. I mean, you can dial any of these numbers from anywhere that you are, that’s up to you but if you're in the UK or Europe, you can dial 44-20-3608-8078 or if you are in Australia you can dial 61-3-8820-5459.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

[charliechick117]

Want my D&D character’s playlist?

If not, too bad, here it is.  For clarity: Mirra is a barbarian, oldest of many siblings.  She grew up in a warrior clan and discovered her rage in the heat of her first battle, defending her home and watching her best friend die by her side.  She is strong, protective, and loyal.  She values honesty and hard work.

For Forever - from Dear Evan Hansen

Mirra and her best friend, Gareth, spent all their childhood together.  They grew up training together, preparing to join the other warriors in protecting their home village.  They’re competitive in everything and balance each other out near perfectly.  Mirra’s hotheadedness balanced with Gareth’s calmness.

Warriors - Imagine Dragon

Growing up, Mirra knew that she was destined to be a warrior, just like her father.  As the oldest of her family, she carries a lot of protective instinct - the need to watch out for the weak.  She carries a legacy on her shoulders and she plans to live up to it.

Sons of Scotland - from Braveheart

First battle.  Mirra and Gareth were called up to defend the homeland against invaders.  Finally, she had the chance to prove herself, to live up to her father’s name, to show exactly what she was made of.  If anyone wanted to lay waste to her home then they would have to get through her to do it.

Rip & Tear - from Doom

Rage.  Blinding, furious, animal rage.  In the front lines of battle, Mirra watched Gareth fall.  The sight of her best friend, the one she grew up with, set off something in her and, with a primal scream, Mirra felt the first of many rages upon her as she single-handedly rallied her people to victory.

In My Blood - Shawn Mendes

After the battle, after the rage, then what?  Without Gareth, Mirra was alone and adrift in the world.  Without her best friend, she was unbalanced and unsure of everything she stood for.  Through her father’s guidance and wisdom, she was able to withstand the cloud of grief.  She was Mirra, daughter of warriors, and it was not within her to give up.

Stronger - from Finding Neverland

If Mirra was to live on as a warrior, to continue to fight and see death at every turn, one thing was certain: she needed to be stronger.  With the memory of Gareth pushing her forward, Mirra trained harder than ever to honor his sacrifice.

Hey Brother - Avicii

As far as Mirra travels, wherever the road takes her, one thing pushes her forward.  The love and loyalty to her family.  It is the thought of them, the thought of Gareth, that keeps her grounded.

Bonus tracks:

Warrior Inside by Leader

Indestructible by Disturbed

Wonder Woman Bagpipes by The Snake Charmer

Feed the Wolf by Breaking Benjamin (this was the first song I thought of when I created her)

[blossoming-in-the-dell]

alycia debnam carey . cis woman . she/her ➶ did you see them ?! they’re finally back as a spectator , and you know they’re one of my favourites ! it’s wisteria ramsdell , the twenty year old winner of the ninty-second hunger games! i’m just so excited to see them returning to the capitol all the way from district eleven! they won their games using making several alliances so their tributes will no doubt be desperate for their wisdom. the capitol just loved them for being so bold , even if they have been known to be reckless at times. they do have a tribute in this years games ( brother ) . ( character is part of the uprising )

Full name : Wisteria Ramsdell

Nickname(s) : Wis

Gender : Cis woman

Pronouns : She/Her

Birthday : September 28, seventy-three

Relationship Status : In a relationship 

Family : Benjamin (brother, 9 years older), Kane (brother, 7 years older, deceased), McIntosh (brother, 4 years older), Johnathan (brother, 3 years older), Cortland (twin brother, deceased in 92nd Hunger Games), Crispin (brother, 8 years younger)

Pets : Pumpkin (a raccoon she raised from a baby)

Likes : Her friends, reading, sunsets

Dislikes : Mean people, the capitol, being in the spotlight

District : Eleven

Biography

When Wisteria was born into the Ramsdell family it was with four brothers already preceding her, and one whom she’d shared a womb with born just minutes before her. She never stood a chance of getting away with anything and no one stood a chance of ever picking on her and getting away with it. She was doomed to live an overprotected life from the very first breath she took. Even more so than the little brother who would follow eight years after her.

From the moment she began to develop a personality, everyone commented on how happy she was. On what a sweet baby she was. And this extended as she grew. She knew no stranger, she knew not how to be mean or rude. When she began helping her parents in the fields, it was always with a smile on her face and her favorite bright yellow ribbon in her hair. She made friends easily wherever she went.

That didn’t mean she didn’t get into her fair share of trouble. In fact that over protectiveness from her elder brothers often caused her to climb higher in the trees of the orchards or to follow through with her friends’ (and she had plenty of them) dares in search of approval and amusement from her friends. She broke an arm at five years old jumping from a tree because a boy from the orchard had dared her too. She didn’t see what all the fuss was about at home and she’d be back in that same exact tree the second her brothers turned their backs.

It was that same sense of acting out and rebelling that brought her her first pet at seven years old. She’d wanted one for years but her parents had told her no. However, when she found a baby raccoon laying with it’s mother’s cold body one late fall evening, she brought it home. Her parents insisted she take it to the district vet to be put down, but she didn’t and the raccoon soon became her pet. She nursed it until it was able to eat food, then she shared her food with it. It slept in her bed with her, nuzzling into the space behind her legs when she’d curl up on her side. She named him Pumpkin because his favorite treat was pumpkin seeds. The raccoon was possibly the second best friend she had, the first of course being Magnolia Ackerman.

Wisteria and Magnolia grew up together, just weeks apart, with parents who worked together, they’d be forever attached at the hip. Maggie was there to help raise Pumpkin. Wisteria was there to hold Magnolia’s hand and hug her close when Maggie’s older sister died in the Games, comforting her friend as she cried. And then when Wisteria’s brother Kane had an accident during the harvest season of Year 86 and died, Wisteria having seen it happen, Maggie was there to dry her best friend’s tears. Wisteria would continue to be the best friend she could, trying to keep her friends spirits up when Maggie was reaped, but oldest sister volunteered and went into the 88th Hunger Games, celebrating when she won.  There was not a thing in the world Wisteria wouldn’t do for her best friend. And so when Magnolia’s name was called from the reaping bowl for the second time, the first time being when they were only twelve, Wisteria only hesitated a second before raising her hand to volunteer. And seconds after her, Cortland in an attempt to keep her safe. 

When Maggie came out of the arena alive it was with one less brother, and a new found hatred for the Capitol. She couldn’t believe that her best friend’s name being called a second time was a coincidence. How many times could one family be reaped, how many times could one person be reaped? She didn’t believe it for a moment. And because they wouldn’t leave the Ackerman family alone, she had lost another brother. 

She would return to Eleven. More somber than before. The happy-go-lucky girl she once was faded. She didn’t leave her house for months and when she did it was only because Maggie would no longer allow her to sit at home all by herself. So they’d disappear together to the fields, watch the sun rise and set. And when the days became too cold, they’d curl up at one house or the other before a fire in a fireplace. 

Being away from Maggie for her victory tour and victory ball was probably the hardest couple of weeks since Wisteria’s games and she hated every moment of it. She tried to hide as much as possible during her ball. And was more than relieved to return home where she would stay for the rest of forever if she could control it. Home was safe. Home had family. And home had her best friend who at some point became her girlfriend after a confession one night from Wisteria. 

However, her resolution to never return to the Capitol was dashed away when the ninety-fourth games came with a twist, that being tributes being reaped from those related to victors, and thus with Eleven’s small pool of victors and their small pool of reapable relatives- Wisteria’s younger brother was reaped, and she would follow him and Hyacinth to the Capitol for the first time since her victor’s ball. 

[alternative-architecture]

Please calm down and dom't do anything drastic... D:>

DON'T HURT YOURSELF PLEASE

- Benjamin, @alternative-architecture

imsorry imsuprru im soryr imsorryismrojru imsrory ims riry imaoeey imsorryr imsror y

[true-halloween-tales]

2018: #9-QUESTION OF THE DAY 6

The Question of the Day was my hobby is the 1990’s while working for the Everyday is Halloween retail corporation. I started studying philosophy when I was eight years old, and I just have a whole lot of questions. Like, would you accept a million dollars a year if you personally had to remove a brontosaurus defecation that magically appeared every day in a random location in your home? If the Flash runs naked but really fast and you cannot see him, is he a Flasher? If a person puts a restraining order on themself, could they charge a fee to anyone who came within a hundred feet of them? Would you accept a deal for eternal life if only you were transformed into the body of Herve Villechaize? What would you do if a bat landed on your head and started drooling out a substance resembling mint jelly while singing, “Singin’ in the Rain?” What would you do if that bat had the head of Herve Villechaize? So many questions… below are actual questions with answers from the 1990s, sometimes with the name of the person who supplied the answer, maybe even you…

1-Who is your favorite supervillain?

The Riddler – 2

Venom – Gene (see 2018: #12-SUPERVILLAINS)

Boba Fett – John

Jack Nicholson in The Shining

The Master – Tony (see 2018: #2-GUIDE TO DOCTOR WHO)

Mad Hatter – Daina

Harvey Dent – Elizabeth

Poison Ivy

Dr. Doom – Craig

The Claw – Jessica

Cruella De Vil – Benjamin

The new world order

Newt Gingrich – Anita

Satan

Jesus Christ – Carlos

Kili (goddess of death and destruction)

Gargamel (evil Smurf wizard)

2-Any words of wisdom?

Everything in moderation.

Peace.

It’s better to burn bright than to fade away.

Listen to your wife.

Never pass on an opportunity until you’ve fully explored it.

Don’t blow out another’s candle to make yours shine brighter.

Deal with it.

It’s better to be alone than in bad company.

A good way to figure out when your mission on earth is done – if you’re alive, it isn’t.

Ambition: to work out insecurities through other people and get paid.

When insecure, see dude on mountain.

Don’t think too much about wisdom.

Wear a rubber.

Never bond with what you are going to kill.

Thunderbird – what’s the price – thirty twice – what’s the action – satisfaction.

Don’t get into a pissing match with a skunk.

3-Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side – 2, Danny the big cop

To get away from the wolf. – John

To get hit by a Big Mac truck. – Carlos

Because everyone told him he did.

Because I have cramps. – Sarah

Cause the road crossed him.

She was trying to go to Rock n Roll Roosters.

Because he wanted to see this other chicken that was waving at him. – Marco

To keep his pants up. – Mark

To give me good luck so I don’t wet the bed again. – Melia

Because he wanted to get laid.

Obviously there was a happening club across the street with a hash bash and bondage show, and he was sexually perverse.

To get the Chinese newspaper. – Gene

To get more cheese.

4-What historical figure would you rather be stuck in a vat of figgy pudding with?

Joan of Arc – 3 (Mary, Gene, Paul)

Plato – Ray

Madonna – Jessica

Cleopatra – Danny the large cop

The Virgin Mary

Mr. Rogers

Abe Lincoln

George Washington

Magellan

Henry VIII

Gloria Gainer – Elizabeth

Buddy Holly or Shakespeare

John Lennon

Napoleon

Mussolini

Attila the Hun – Zoe

Lead singer of INXS – James

Marquis de Sade

Godzilla (see 2014: #7-KAIJU)

The Spoon from the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme – Nikki

Catherine the Great and the horse – Mark

5-What would look nice hanging from the Frankenstein monster's neck nodules?

Fuzzy dice – 2 (Anita & Zoe)

Beaded earrings – Ray

Long chains with cool earrings

Pearls – Nikki

Clip on hair wraps. – Mike

Mistletoe – Paul

Little happy hearts

Rubber bands or a corsage – Scott

African beads with feathers

Picture of the Mac truck girl – Mary

Neon colored hair trolls – Troy

Track lighting – Benjamin

Christmas lights, blinking – Jessica

Shrunken heads – Amy

Chicken gizzards – Chris C.

Myself with each wrist on a nodule. – Gene

I do have a new Halloween Question of the Day for you. What does it mean that someone walked over your grave? “Someone just walked over my grave” is a creepy phrase applied to when a person feels a cool shiver down their neck or back. You know what that is. The creepy shiver, the feeling that cannot be attributed to anything specific. But it sure is real. The phrase originated in England and is meant to convey that the feeling is caused by someone physically walking over your grave. Now this meaning does not readily assail one with a tidal wave of logic. If you are not buried, you most likely do not have a grave. So does it mean, that in the future when one is dead as a door nail, that if someone walks over one’s grave, that this offense is temporally communicated back to one while still alive? I hope not, that isn’t fair! I mean, to have to take rudeness after death and feel it while still alive! I’m keeping away from those graves!