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digitaltravelexpert · 2 months ago

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How Luxury Travel Brands Master Journey Mapping in 2024

Unlock the path to refined indulgence! Explore how luxury travel brands craft exclusive, bespoke experiences by mapping the intricate journey of affluent travelers. Delve into personalized storytelling, opulent touches, and exclusive insights, ensuring every touchpoint resonates with sophistication and elegance. In the world of luxury travel, there exists a tapestry of opulence woven into every step of the elite traveler's journey. Picture this—a sun-kissed horizon embracing a lavish yacht, a palatial suite adorned with elegance, or a private concierge crafting personalized experiences with meticulous attention. Behind these scenes lies a lesser-known narrative—meticulously mapped customer journeys that paint the canvas of exceptional experiences for the affluent traveler.

The Exquisite Customer Journey in Luxury Travel Brands

Customer journey mapping for luxury travel brands transcends the conventional. It's not merely about point A to point B; it's an orchestration of lavish touchpoints, crafted to immerse the discerning traveler in a realm of exclusivity and unparalleled indulgence. Statistics from McKinsey accentuate the significance of customer journey mapping for luxury brands, revealing that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for an exceptional customer experience. In luxury travel, where experience reigns supreme, this statistic takes on a new hue, underscoring the importance of every interaction. Crafting Experiences Beyond Expectation A survey by Ipsos illustrates that 62% of luxury travelers value exclusive experiences as a key driver in their decision-making. For luxury travel brands, this is the compass guiding the creation of bespoke journeys—an artful fusion of sophistication and personalized service at every touchpoint. Luxury travel's customer journey maps are a masterpiece, orchestrating seamless transitions—whether it's the anticipation of a traveler browsing exclusive destinations, the thrill of a bespoke itinerary tailored to their desires, or the serenity of a flawlessly executed stay. The Unspoken Realities of the Journey Yet, within this realm of lavish experiences lies the subtlety of challenges often overlooked. Despite the meticulous planning, Deloitte highlights that 42% of luxury consumers feel their needs and preferences are not fully understood. It unveils a narrative—the pursuit of perfection in customer journey mapping within luxury travel, where understanding the depth of desires becomes the ultimate quest.

Luxury travel brands strive to decode the unspoken desires—preferences, nuances, and the ephemeral quest for exclusivity that elevate an ordinary journey to an extraordinary sojourn. Navigating the Future of Luxurious Journeys In an era evolving with every click and heartbeat, luxury travel's customer journey mapping continues to evolve. Research by Luxury Daily unveils that 78% of luxury brands plan to focus on customer experience improvements in the coming years, signaling an era of refinement and innovation. In this voyage towards perfection, the best luxury travel brands have begun leveraging technology, AI-powered personalization, and the art of predictive analytics to decipher the nuanced desires of their elite clientele. Top 10 FAQs about Luxury Travel Customer Journey Mapping Why is personalization crucial in luxury travel customer journey mapping? Personalization enhances the bespoke nature of luxury travel, creating memorable experiences that resonate deeply with affluent travelers. It is a cornerstone of luxury travel marketing services. How can luxury brands incorporate storytelling into their customer journey mapping?By weaving narratives that evoke emotions and immerse travelers in the destination's culture, luxury brands can create lasting impressions.What role does technology play in mapping the luxury travel customer journey? Technology can facilitate seamless experiences, from AI-powered recommendations to immersive virtual experiences, adding an innovative layer to the journey.Why is attention to detail crucial for luxury travel brands?Attention to detail is synonymous with luxury; it creates a sense of exclusivity and sophistication, setting luxury brands apart.How can luxury brands leverage loyalty programs in customer journey mapping? Tailored loyalty programs offering exclusive benefits and rewards can enhance customer retention and advocacy among luxury travelers.Is sustainability significant in luxury travel customer journey mapping? Absolutely! Sustainable and ethical practices resonate with modern luxury travelers who prioritize responsible tourism. Luxury travel agencies in the hospitality and travel industry need to adapt their strategies to match the industry's needs. What challenges do luxury brands face in mapping customer journeys? Balancing exclusivity while ensuring seamless and personalized experiences poses a challenge, requiring a delicate equilibrium.Can luxury brands collaborate with local experiences in customer journey mapping? Yes, partnerships with authentic local experiences can enhance the richness of luxury journeys, offering unique and genuine encounters.How important is post-travel engagement in luxury travel customer journey mapping? Post-travel engagement, such as personalized follow-ups and exclusive offers, fosters continued loyalty and advocacy.What metrics are crucial for analyzing luxury travel customer journey success? Metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer satisfaction indices, and conversion rates are vital for evaluating success in luxury travel customer journey mapping. Conclusion In the world of luxury travel, customer journey mapping is more than a blueprint; it's an evolving saga—a testament to the art of creating unparalleled experiences. Within every mapped touchpoint lies a narrative—an exquisite melody orchestrating the opulent journey of the elite traveler. As the world continues to evolve, luxury travel brands embark on a relentless pursuit—to create not just a journey, but an opus of unparalleled sophistication and exclusivity. Additional readings What are the 5 Cs of the luxury travel and hospitality sector? The 5 C's of luxury travel encompass the core elements that define and characterize opulent travel experiences: Comfort: Luxury travel revolves around providing unparalleled comfort and indulgence, ensuring travelers experience the highest level of relaxation and convenience throughout their journey. Customization: Tailoring experiences to individual preferences and desires is fundamental in luxury travel. Personalized itineraries, bespoke services, and exclusive experiences cater to the unique tastes of affluent travelers. Cuisine: Exquisite culinary offerings play a pivotal role in luxury travel, often featuring gourmet dining experiences curated by renowned chefs, highlighting local flavors and premium ingredients. Culture: Immersion in local culture and heritage is integral to luxury travel. Authentic encounters with art, history, traditions, and immersive experiences foster a deeper connection with the destination. Concierge Services: Exceptional service and attention to detail are hallmark components of luxury travel. Dedicated concierge services ensure seamless, personalized assistance, meeting the exacting standards of affluent travelers throughout their journey. Case study about Luxury Resorts What are the top luxury resort brands in the world and what makes their customer journey mapping unique? Mapping the customer journey for luxury resort brands involves an intricate understanding of affluent travelers' preferences and expectations. According to a report by the Luxury Society, the top luxury resort brands in the world, including Four Seasons, Aman Resorts, and Ritz-Carlton, prioritize personalized experiences, exclusivity, and exceptional service throughout the customer journey. https://youtu.be/vTq6Ydn-BGo?si=CSuHOoKMCeFPRcI3 Statistics from a study by Bain & Company reveal that in the luxury sector, enhancing customer experience can lead to a revenue increase of up to 10-15%. Customer journey mapping for these luxury resorts involves meticulous attention to detail at every touchpoint, from pre-arrival interactions, seamless check-ins, and curated experiences during the stay, to post-stay follow-ups. Forbes highlights that 74% of luxury travelers seek authentic local experiences, prompting these brands to incorporate destination-specific activities, cultural immersions, and bespoke services, aligning with the desires of affluent clientele. Read the full article

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littleharpethcrossfit · 2 years ago

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Sunday, 8 January, 2023....... Warmup.....Deadlifts.....”Take Five”.....

It was 50 degrees, which would otherwise be cold only according to Herb. But with a heavy grey overcast sky and no sunshine, it seemed much colder. We fired up all the heaters. Many thx to Tom who toted in some propane this morning.

Sweet Dana Rebecca was the demo model and leader of the complicated 8 exercise warmup.

Warmup:

5 Alternate Elbow to Instep

5 Alternate Hamstring Scoops

10 Kang Squats

10 HR Pushups

15 Jumping Jacks

15 Mountain Climbers

20 High Knees

20 Butt Kickers

Strength WOD:

Deadlifts: 5 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 Post 2 Rep Max

Shane=415 Ed/Nathan=365 Warren G=315 Zac=300 Smoothie=285 Herb/Paul=265 Tom/Lew=246 Dana=250* Coach=245 Yates=235 Warren A=225 Joe=175 Sue/Alicia=145 Cheri=135 Kayla=125* Tripp/Elisa/Linda/Holly=125 Faith (The girl)=32

Metabolic Conditioner

Since there are 5 Minute work sessions alternating with 5 minutes rest, it would be convenient to do this in “WAVES”. That way nobody would have to run. If you don’t understand, ask Timmy (who was absent).

“Take Five”

5 Minute Cap

40 Calories Any ERG (Run 500 if no ERG)

Then AMRAP in time left

12 Deadlifts (E=185/135/85)

12 Burpees

REST 5 Minutes

5 Minute Cap

30 Calories Any ERG (Run 400 if no ERG)

Then AMRAP in time left

9 Deadlifts (E=225/155/105)

9 Burpees

REST 5 Minutes

5 Minute Cap

20 Calories Any ERG (Run 300 If No ERG)

Then AMRAP in time left

6 Deadlifts (E=275/185/125)

6 Burpees

SCORE:

Total combined Deadlifts + Burpees

Elites:

Dana=174 Shane=133

RXers:

Ed=153 Herb=120 Sue=135 Yates=121 Nathan=119 Zac=110 Paul=108 Smoothie=106 Alicia=68 Coach=65

Scaled:

Kayla=158 Holly=131 Elisa=124 Cheri=122 Joe=78 Tripp=“A Lot�� Faith (The Girl)=“A Little” Tom/Lew/Linda/Warren A & G=Personal Journey’s

Notes:

Sincere apologies are hereby offered in print for failing to BLOG-mention that in the heat of yesterdays WOD, athletes Timmy and Ed heard “Thunderstruck”, by AC/DC, and could not refrain from ripping off a Burpee every time they sang “THUNDER”. If YKYK.

The Girl’s sometimes have a Girl’s-Outing-Thing after the workout, so the Boy’s were not to be outdone today. Smoothie arranged a trip to a nearby watering-hole for burger’s and brew’s and about 7 of us came. Smoothie/Herb/Lew/Coach/Warren A/Shane/Nathan had a great fun time. Paul said he was coming until Susan put her size 5 1/2 foot down, so Paul had to pretend to have some emergency to attend.

Herb put a date for the next Bourbon Tasting on a white-board at the Barn. I never plan much beyond a few hours ahead, so it didn’t register on me when he wrote down a date that is so futuristic that our trees will have green leaves once again. Linda thinks she and a few others including 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses, will certainly be raptured by then. Wait a few weeks and check the white-boards. It will be listed as THE BORN AGAIN BOURBON TASTING.

Big Lew (who actually is a paying member at CFEN and mooch’s workouts at the free LHCF) is undergoing shoulder surgery tomorrow afternoon. It is notable that Big Lew is not favoring the services of any of the 3 famous Orthopedic Surgeons who attend LHCF. It is also noteworthy that Dr Paul L. will be his attending Anesthesiologist, promising to take Big Lew “to a point as near-unto-death as humanly possible, yet still revive unharmed”. That’s re-assuring. Miss Linda will be offering up prayers for Big Lew, and her prayers are the best money can buy.

The quote attributed to Paul L. was actually a plagiarism from Dr David Alfery’s (LSU Dave) latest book SAVING GRACE. If 5 or more of you guys would please buy it and leave a gushingly good review (reading is not required), LSU Dave will take the Buck’s to a fine dinner outing. The book is being released this Tuesday, January 10. BTW, all new book releases are on a Tuesday. But everybody knows that....

If you are supposing that the 144,000 mentioned above is a fictive number, you’d better speak to an Elder from The WatchTower Society or risk being left behind. Heavenly admission has so many obstructions I’m afraid to go to sleep at night. Like, what’s more damning, eating beef and dairy together, or getting a blood transfusion from a total stranger ? Thoughtful notes from a born again agnostic.

Tuesday at 4 PM. Maybe...

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78elite-blog · 7 years ago

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There is no security on the earth, there is only opportunity.

General Douglas MacArthur

#quotes #motivational #78 elite #78 elite consulting #elite consulting #78 elite consulting reviews #78 elite consulting pay #inspire #motivate #motivational quotes #security #opportunity

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toysoldiers-rwby · 3 years ago

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[CS] 9. Team APCX

Cutting Strings

Characters: Aurora Glade, Penny Polendina, Ciel Soliel, Ashley Xanthic, Winter Schnee, May Marigold Word Count: 4k

Apex. The edge or outcrop of a vein. The highest point of interest, excitement; the climax. The highest point; peak; vertex. The pinnacle of an achievement. The predator surprasing all others, without equal.

Team APCX. Specialization: Search and Destroy.

Read on Ao3

PREV - NEXT

Combat Performance at 78%

The training today was a little different. Or At least it felt a little different. For one, Ciel and Aro was early. Second, May and Fiona was sparing Aro and Xanthic, instead of the usual one on one with their unofficial mentors.

“Will you Happy fucking Huntresses stop giggling!?” Xanthic yelled. Winter and Penny briefly glanced at the doubles fight. Fiona only laughed harder, her Deep Pockets swallowed every hard-light knife Xanthic would create and throw. As an excessive display of skill Fiona even summoned the push knives, throwing it back and colliding with another aimed at her head. “Aaagh! Are you serious Thyme?!”

Penny couldn’t help but to giggle behind her hand. May’s experience and history with Aro put the mechanic at a sever disadvantage. Fiona was already able to cloud Xanthic’s high cognitive functions with both verbal and nonverbal taunts. The pair was hopeless out matched on nearly all levels but awareness, thanks to their cybernetics, and Dust manipulation.

“Aaagh!” Aro’s feet slammed the ground, the immediate area glowing bright with purple Dust. May and Fiona floated off a few feet before vanishing. Arrows lodged out of the ground floating several feet above her. Then it pulsed, arrows shooting down with so much weight it either snapped or logged deep into the metal tiles.

They didn’t hear the sound of flesh and bones slamming onto the floor. Xanthic fired and threw knives into the Field. It disappeared and reappeared to hit the wall. Sometimes there would be a surprised gasp or a taunt, “Oh! That was close.” Fiona would sing. The geniuses was separated and had no intentions of regrouping. In fact… perhaps Xanthic was trying to distance herself from Aro?

“Marigold!!” Aro roared, “I promise I won’t burn ya’ too bad, doll!” Penny’s processors nearly caught on fire as she tried to analyze the sound. It had a deep distorted rumble and an echo. Where did it come from? According to her databanks, feline Faunus could roar but Aurora Glade was a goat.

Aro spun around, embers of smoke and fire slipping past her lips. Penny leaned in, but was held back by Winter. Focus completely engulfed Aro’s eyes. They glowed a bright blue, the pupils a devouring white. There was also a red glow on her face. From the Dust infused jewelry that pierced the bridge of her nose.

May was suddenly behind her. She glanced at Winter then at Penny. Her grin grew larger. Hands reached for those golden cybernetic horns. She winked. Then pulled. Aro gasped, head jerked back and back crashing to the floor. A cloud of fire plumed out of her lips, harmless against May’s Aura. The Huntress laughed. She pinned Aro with a boot to the mechanic’s sternum. The bayonet and notched arrow of her crossbow pointed at Aro.

"You lose, doll." May drawled back. With no signs of exhaustion.

Aro took several deep breaths, embers fluttering from her lips. She eventually relaxed, hands held up in surrender. Focus fluttered off. The glow from the Dust jewelry faded but Aro’s face was still very rosy and red. Without her semblance, Aro didn’t trust the words on her tongue. Penny could see the mechanic work her jaw but it eventually slipped out, “I… disagree…”

“Of course you would,” May grinned. She offered a hand and effortlessly pulled her up- “Duck!” Just to shove her back down.

Across the room Xanthic and Fiona was still fighting. A hard-light arcing off a saber and soaring further into the training room. Penny gasped hands up and Aura bolstering. Instead she was swept off her feet and tackled to the ground, Winter pressing her body tight to the floor.

The arc of hard-light energy was larger than anticipated, that or it was growing as it moved. The wind it dragged behind it nearly lifted Winter off her, but Penny wrapped her arms around the Specialist until it passed.

Winter got to her feet, “Marrow! Ciel!”

The arc of light was definitely growing. By now it was nearly a tidal wave or a wall.

“Shit!” Marrow growled.

“Slow!” Ciel’s Clockwork hit the hard-light attack. It nearly paused in the air, moving inch by inch instead of yards. Without movement it seemed to slowly fade and flicker out, as if a fire was burning through its oxygen. Ciel groaned, Clockwork collapsing just as the hard-light wave completely flickered out.

“Sorry! Sorry about that!” Fiona yelled.

Everyone grumbled and Winter stood. Her hand offered to Penny. She didn’t need the help but showed appreciation for the gesture with a smile. It was a little tricky to control how much weight Winter pulled. When they looked back at the duo Xanthic was a little dazed on the floor with Fiona sitting on her abdomen.

During all the panic, the Aura buzzer went off. Xanthic was at five percent while Aro’s technically good enough to continue with her Aura at fifteen percent. Fiona and May helped their defeated opponents out of the training room.

Winter cleared her throat. She was now a few paces away, sword pointed at Penny with her free hand behind her back. Penny frowned at it. She knew from pre-installed recordings and live observation that the second blade only came out when Winter was challenged. The Specialist had yet to wield the second blade at Penny.

“Shall we continue? Or would you like to forfeit, Ms. Polendina?” Winter taunted. Her smirk wasn’t as guarded.

"I’d prefer it if we continued, Opponent Winter," Penny said. Behind her Floating Array flourished all fourteen components.

Every sparing match with Winter was frustrating and intense but it was the little things that made this different. Winter moved more like Aro, fluid and loose. Almost like water but still not completely free of the stiffness the military had beaten into her. She smiled, taunted, sneered and goateed Penny into several mistakes. The Specialist always commentating on the opening but never actually taking the chance to strike.

Penny huffed, synthetic voice trying to restrain a noise of frustration but only vibrated in her chest. The elite graduates were toying with them. No matter what variable Penny adjusted, her calculations and assessments about Winter and her summons were wrong.

She couldn’t calculate how many creatures Winter could summon. They ranged from a tiny flock of Nevermores to the current pack of towering Alpha Beowolves. They lunged straight forward. All five pierced straight with one sword each in its skull. Five more appearing above her. Penny was forced to doge backwards, her visual sensors barely catching a glimpse of white as Winter entered striking distance.

Her processors were nearly overheating. Multiple swords and guns yet she could not find an opening to strike Winter directly. With simple gestures, summoning Glyphs appeared around Penny. Sometimes close enough that a claw would emerge first, a solid hit chipping away at her Aura levels.

“Stop reacting and force me on the defensive!” Winter yelled.

Penny paused and frowned at Winter. Whatever expression she had stunned the women and her Beowolves for a moment. Theoretically P.E.N.N.Y could take initiative but without any kind of input to create a solution or to even analysis a problem-

“Penny? Penny!” Several voices yelled for her.

Her vision went black for a moment. Under her eyelids Penny could see lines of code and a list of errors. For a moment Penny thought she overheated, forgetting to breath and exhale all the hot air her power unit and Aura generated. The errors did list some heating problem in her processors but the main source of the errors the logical contradiction.

Penny took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her head still felt hot, and the light seemed too much for her systems so she shut them again and waited a few moments. She did sit up, which was effortless, much to the relief of Winter.

“What happen? You’re Aura level was fine then…” the Specialist paused. She didn’t mutter or mumble, but the soft tone was definitely close to it.

“Cutie dot exe stopped working,” Aro blurted out. Penny frowned, squinting open her eyes to glare at the mechanic. She blushed, ears flickering around in embarrassment. Aro tried to hide behind Focus but that just caused her eyes to flicker. It reminded Penny of the little robotic goat she was still working on, how it processed knew information with blinking lights and tilting it head.

“Please stop being adorable so I can stay made at your for that horrible comment,” Penny grumbled. That had the opposite effect. Aro scoffed, trying to rebuff the statement by crossing her arms and straightening out. The act wasn’t complete due to her red cheeks and nervous twitch of her ears. Thing she couldn’t hide without Focus.

Winter and May sneered and chuckled. Winter handed Penny some water and she gulped it down. Her systems instantly improved, transferring the liquid to her cooling systems and lowering the temperatures in her head.

Fiona and Xanthic didn’t pay them much attention. They were too busy watching the last bout. Marrow and Ciel were tied with both their Aura levels around 50 percent. The Ace Oprative looked nervous and surprised. During all these practices… they haven’t sceen Ciel fight.

Ciel’s weapon of choice was Dust infused chakrams which would let out a powerful explosion on contact with about a minute charge between. Penny’s data was inconclusive. Penny was sure Clockwork was effecting the charging rates and force of the explosion as they rewind through the air to return to her hands.

“Stay!” Marrow’s voice rang out. His semblance stopped one chakram in midair. He turned quickly throwing Fetch to counter the second. Too close. Marrow grunted as the explosion nearly threw him off his feet. He reach out as Fetch made its return to his hands-

“Fast forward” Ciel yelled. Fetch’s speed suddenly increased to a near blur! Penny’s software correctly updated, predating Ciel the winner. Marrow gasped, taking a solid hit to his chest. With his concentration broken the first chakram collided with his back.

Marrow’s aura level was finally below Ciel’s.

One more hit-

“Slow!” Clockwork hit Marrow. The chakram that was deflected by Fetch was in her hands, charging bright with red and yellow Dust. Marrow tried to turn, to face her or to dodge but his speed was nearly halved. He didn’t even see the circular blade collide into his back. Clockwork turned off, sending Marrow flying to the ground.

The buzzer rang with Marrow’s Aura levels at 2 percent.

“Congratulations!” Penny yelled to her teammate. May and Fiona cheered with her. Winter wouldn’t but there were still two more voices missing. Penny frowned and looked at her teammates. Both genius look put out and unhappy for APCX’s only victory.

Xanthic let out an annoyed sigh. “Out of all of us… It was her that won against the graduates,” She grumbled, lightly glaring as Marrow and Ciel walked towards them.

“Perseverance triumphs natural talent,” Winter said. Eyes paused on Aro who signed something at her, "And no effort." Her eyes shifted to Xanthic who did a universal insult gesture with her fist.

Aro sighed, handing Ciel a water bottle. “Congrats…” Aro said. Ciel sneered before taking small sips between heavy breaths.

“I’d like to think she had a good teacher!” Marrow mumbled. His arms were crossed and jaw jutted out in a pout.

“You were brilliant,” May said patting his shoulder. The praise felt more like condolences even to Penny. Marrow only grumbled a little more. “But we got good news for APCX!”

“Oh?” Penny asked tilting her head. It must have been really good if it kept slipping past Winter’s stoic professionalism.

“We might be able to start Team APCX as second or even third years on the Accelerated Program.” Winter said.

“How exactly?” Ciel asked.

“A field test!” May said with a grin. She looked at Aro who was already smiling, “Seems like I finally dragged you on a mission.”

“Only took five years,” Aro rolled her sea-green eyes. “When? My remaining customers are Atlas students so I might be able to hold it off.”

“I’m free.” Ciel said with a shrug. There was a long expectant pause from everyone but Xanthic who nearly seemed amused. Ciel glared at the younger Spymaster, even elbowing her. Xanthic’s broken blue Aura flared cross her body. “You didn’t tell them?”

“Ow! It’s public information!” The hacker said, “Not my fault if the military over looks shit.”

Ciel sighed, rubbing her temples. “I graduated yesterday.”

An awkward silence fell over the graduates. They looked immensely guilty though Penny failed to reason why. Ciel hadn’t requested any special accommodations, just a reasonable request not to be disturbed during class. Aro tapped her chin a little in confusion as well.

“Congratulations? We don’t really have formal schooling in Menagrie.”

“I graduated when I was 14.”

“I think my education would be similar to homeschooling,” Penny finished.

Ciel scowled at her teammates, “And I was the only one that won, so stop showing off.”

Despite May’s reasoning, Ciel refused to celebrate and insisted on continuing to the field test. Upon hearing it was immediate, Xanthic tried persuading Ciel into a small celebration or even small lunch out. With a wicked smirk Ciel refused. Winter and May took some pity and took Team APCX around to buy clothes appropriate for combat outside of the protective walls and heating grid. Fiona and Marrow didn’t accompany them but left for other errands. Ciel didn’t look happy that Winter payed for it but relaxed a little seeing the Atlas Military logo on the credit card.

Xanthic continued to stall, arguing with Aro and Winter about who’s transport to take. Xanthic’s was airship may be the fastest but it was also not equiped for combat. Winter’s was the most durable in the odd chance they ran into flying Grimm but not suited for sustained nights out. Aro was a non-military but due to business trips was equipped with defensive turrets and comfortable living space.

"Tsunami has made it out of several fights with the White Fang, Bandits, and Grimm," Aro argued. “Besides we have two of the best huntresses in Atlas!” Penny tuned the elite’s arguing and antic for while now.

Instead enjoying a calm conversation with May and Ciel.

“Honestly I’m just lucky it was Marrow,” Ciel admitted softly. “He’s a rookie and underestimated me. I think Aro and Xan have it the hardest. You and Fiona was just playing mind games the entire time.”

May huffed playfully, arms crossed over a her chest, “They deserve it!”

“I still think you could have won if you didn’t feint,” Ciel said looking at Penny. Penny heated up, and played with her hands. She was confident in that assessment but so far the statistics were proving her wrong. “You and Winter don’t have years of history, she’s just better and smarter than Marrow.” Penny nodded but couldn’t particularly voice anything.

“Winter right though,” May said. “You need to stop waiting for the first move.”

“It’s difficult,” Penny protested weakly. If there was a pattern Penny could easily plan ahead but Winter had to many variables. And that was without adding the Glyphs.

“You have good instincts,” May ruffled her hair. “List to 'em.” Penny grumbled and pouted.

The arguing trio finally settled for Aro’s airship. The AI was advance enough auto-pilot a course and take off so even Aro could be present during the mission debrief. Though when Penny glanced over to her she wasn’t really paying attention. She frowned, elbowing the mechanic to focus.

Their mission was a simple Search and Destroy. There was a few packs of Sabyrs and Nevermore wandering closer to Mantle and growing in numbers. Team APCX would be clearing them out.

The first Sabyr pack was killed before they had a chance to leave the transport. While May was trying to convince the newly graduated Police Officer to jump out of an airship, hundreds of feet off ground and into a pack of Grimm, Xanthic had created a hard-light sniper canon. Practically a cannon or a railgun. Each shot was powerful enough too jerked the transport a little.

One shot split into three and within a few minutes the pack of Sabyrs fell.

By the end of it Penny’s audio system was on a horrible feedback loop. Her processors frying until she had to reset them. She could only imagine the physical pain everyone else must be in. With the exception of Deaf Aro who was laughing. She weakly seperated May and Xanthic, her head tucked into May’s shoulder as the Huntress made grabs for Xan’s neck.

The hacker grin’s smug grin briefly disappeared and reappeared as she signed, expressions melding into shock that was still sarcastic without words. May tried shouting back but it was garbled and crackling to Penny’s ears. She restarted her audio systems again as May shoved Aro to the side, hands furiously signing insults and other comments. By the time Penny’s hearing was functioning, Winter had walked back into the main cabin.

“Enough,” She sighed. Winter looked slightly in pain. Penny wasn’t sure if the cockpit would have amplified the gunfire or not. “Can you two please play along?” She asked Aro and Xanthic.

“Fight to the best of your abilities but somehow limit yourself so we can conveniently judge you into arbitrary categories!” Xanthic said. Her lively sarcasm and faux cheerful tone making everyone chuckle or giggle. Even Winter.

“I’m trying my best to appease both parties,” Winter explained rubbing her temples again.

“Fine,” Xanthic drawled. “I’ll pretend to be a hopeless damsel.”

The next pack of Sabyr wasn’t much of a challenge. The hardest part was getting Ciel out of the transport.

“Just land near me!” Aro yelled up as she fell.

Penny stood at the edge of the airship, grinning at Ciel’s unease expression. “Aro has masterful control over gravity Dust and your Aura should protect you from further damage.” She said before stepping off. Ciel could soften her landing with her Clockwork, though that would be better tested in a nonlethal scenario.

Far below Aro’s cybernetic legs fired a powerful burst of fire. It cleared the area of Grimm, the Sabyr directly under her now faded into ash. Penny unfolded Floating Array from her pack. She charged it at her leisure, the cold of Solitas allowing for increased power without overheating. All fourteen guns fired at the ground, softening her landing until she angled them forward. Penny intercepted a Sabyr lunging for Aro’s back, two blades slicing it open with a flick of her wrist. Aro hummed. Or purred? Penny would probably need to have a hand on her chest to feel if it vibrated or not.

“I’ll be sure to return the favor, doll.” Her glowing blue eyes winked at her. Above them, Ciel’s scream was increasing in volume while Xanthic’s laugh was much fainter. “Xan probably had to push her out… or May.”

“Or Winter,” Penny mused beside her. Penny sent her blades out again, piercing two creeping Sabyrs and causing the rest to hesitate. Aro stomped on the ground, her metal legs humming loudly as a pulse of gravity Dust engulfed the area. Ciel’s fall slowed when she finally entered the gravity field. She took deep breath’s clutching her chest and flailing to get her feet under her.

Penny helped the official officer land. Then the field shut off and Xanthic slammed deep into the snowy ground, “Ow…” Penny stared at her a little skeptical. It was still at a mildly unsafe height but snow is supposedly soft.

“See! It wasn’t so bad.” Penny smiled at Ciel.

“Yeah, no one of important social value got hurt,” Aro with a Xanthic-eque bored tone. Ciel sneered, it turned into chuckling when Aro lightly kicked the hacker. “Come on. The faster you quit dragging your feet the sooner we can go back to the stuffy kingdom and the nice warm smog and shitty walls.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Xanthic huffed. The hacker finally got to her feet and brushed the snow off her new thick coat. “You’re paying for Ciel’s celebration dinner.”

“We are not celebrating.”

They naturally drifted into pairs of twos. Penny and Aro naturally dashed into the growing horde of Grimm. Penny was the only person able to keep up with Aro and had the close range abilities to defend them both. With hard-light blades being propelled at explosive force, the Sabyrs fell in one hit. Any that tried flanking was pierced, sliced, or shot down by Penny.

Ciel and Xanthic almost seemed bored, taking care of the Grimm from a distance. Whenever Penny was jumped high in the air she could see an undisturbed radius of snow around the pair. Even without Xanthic’s ridiculously overpowered sniper rifle, Team APCX finished the pack faster than expected. Winter landed the airship looking a little flustered and frustrated. May laughed trying to rub her shoulders to calm the women down.

“Maybe we should just drop you on a pack of Sphinx and Manticores,” Winter said under her breath.

“Let’s start with the Nevermores,” May suggested.

The Nevermores was much more challenging. Penny and Xanthic were the only ones with weapons able to reach them. The cold of Solitas made their hides thicker than the average Grimm. If one managed to through the thick layer of ice. Every time Penny would charge Floating Array or Xanthic would fire up Alter Ego, feathers tripled their size would sail at them, interrupting their focus and causing the ground to shake a little at the impact.

“Rewind!” Ciel tried firing those feather back but only managed one hit. The bone of the feather pierced into its wing, crippling its altitude. It screeched loud, causing everyone but Aro to wince.

The mechanic launched herself into the air. Several explosions pushing closer and closer until the injured Nevermore beat its good wing. The gust of air sent Aro flying back towards them but the gravity manipulator righted herself and skid to a stop.

The second Nevermore cried out louder, it’s attacks growing more frantic. A hail of razer sharp and incredibly dense feathers was shot at them. Penny frowned. It had created a clear divide from Aro and her team. Penny tried closing the gap as much as possible. Then the uninjured Nevermore started it’s dive. The snow made it a little difficult, even with it melting against her heated body it was still up to her thighs.

Aro’s passive gravity didn’t cause her to sink into the snow. She stood atop of it, lowering herself to a crouch. Aro flashed a few signs at Penny without glancing in her direction. Then she suddenly moved, jumping onto the talons.

“Aro!” Penny fired Floating Array quickly closing the distance. Aurora held out her hand and just managed to pull Penny onto the Grimm’s feet before it took off into the air again. The metal women took a deep breath, venting all the heat her Aura was generating.

“Sorry, I forgot you don’t know sign language,” Aro said with a guilty smile. They briefly glanced down. The injured Nevermore was grounded, the large feather that Ciel shot back at it made it impossible to fly but it’s ridiculous size made it hard to approach or even damage. “Plans?”

Penny watched the Nevermore screeched, mouth wide open. “Insides are always soft and unarmored.”

“And… red,” Aro said with a blanch. Red was commonly associated with blood. Was Fiona and Robyn’s story about her hemophobia accurate? Penny shelved the question for later.

They made their way to the top of the Grimm. Aro simply ran up it’s curved body, the gravity core in her legs roaring over the hard winds and heavy wingbeats. Penny slowly pulled herself to the head with Floating Array and the near invisible strings.

Once it noticed the two huntress-in-training, the Nevermore screeched and thrashed in the air. It had little to no effect on Aro. Holding onto a Grimm the size of a building was the easiest accomplishment Penny had in months. The mechanic continued up until it reached is jaw. She stomped one foot into the hinge of its jaw and looked at Penny.

“Ready? This might blow me off!” She yelled and signed over the wind.

“Combat Ready!” Penny yelled back.

She heard the cartridge in Aro’s legs change. Then a loud explosion. Penny could even feel the heat from the shoulders of the Grimm. Once the bright flash had died Aro was nowhere to be seem and the mouth was hanging open. Penny winced, happy that Grimm were mysterious creatures void of proper biological functions. The blood would have been horrific. The Grimm screeched and thrashed much more. Instead of charging all fourteen guns of Floating Array she kept four embedded into the bone like-texture, keeping her grounded as the rest of the guns charged.

This blast completely pierced the Nevermore. The sudden silence confused her audio sensors. It fell from the sky and Penny rode the disintegrating corpse down as long as possible. She regrouped with her team, easy to find with a cloud of steam rising from Aro’s heated augments. Ciel and Xanthic had easily finished off the downed Nevermore and seemed to be helping Aro cool off by burying her legs in the snow.

Combat Performance at 95%

#Penny Polendina #fic #cutting strings #pre-fall of beacon #aurora glade #ciel soleil #ashley xanthic #APCX #qued

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crystalelemental · 3 years ago

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“el-jarado: I have no idea how they'll ever make tank units relevant again now that NFU+penetrating either Guard or Damage Reduction is just something they give out like candy to offense units. You can't guarantee follow-ups, you can't block theirs, you can't slow their special, you can't reduce the damage, and half the time you can't retaliate at all. You can't design defense units with no defensive tools!”

That’s the point though. That is literally the point.

Like, defensive units have utility in general play, because a lot of general play doesn’t involve all those tools. But competitively, defense is as good as dead without some massive offense to back it up. It’s why my Astra team is doing great, but my Light team sucks shit. Astra involves Fallen Edelgard, who can also go offensive with the extra action and massive Bonfire damage, and Micaiah, who has great dual effectiveness and guaranteed follow-ups and a great color for anti-meta considerations. Light involves Guinivere, who is still good against anything magical, and V!Faye, who is getting worse all the time thanks to all these tools that just shred through her like it’s nothing.

And that’s what they want. Because offensive powercreep is “easier” to handle, because there’s a very simple solution in theory. Just hit them first. Just hit them first and you win. If your big attack stat hits them in their soft, squishy defense stat before their huge attack stat can hit you in your soft, squishy defense stat, then you win. But a super-strong defensive unit is much harder to take down, because older offensive units without all the modern tools are now useless. And if you’re savvy about gacha, you’ve already figured out why this is marketable.

Spend ages building up offense. Everyone fine and happy, they love this game, because you just have to hit the opponent first. Then, suddenly, without warning, you drop in some unreasonable, god-tier defensive unit. Suddenly, most offensive tools can’t touch this threat, and it feels unstoppable. Sure, there are some answers, but not that many, and it’s hard to make it work. Give that defensive option enough time to become the new standard, the thing everyone is afraid of. Then you introduce the counters. Now, older offensive units are no longer good for the meta. They can’t be relied upon. But the new offensive units? Brave Eirika beats Fallen Edelgard 1v1 100% of the time at unmerged with her base kit. Solution’s easy, just get yourself the new units and drop the old ones. It’s marketing. Defensive juggernauts are introduced rarely, and with the exclusive purpose of putting old offensive units in the ground, so players have to pay for the new stuff to get around it. It makes them money. And in between defensive juggernauts, you just make more and more offensive units that do the same goddamn thing, so they all beat the few defensive threats you introduce, but don’t quite hit the level of being unbeatable from every angle. And of course it works because people like playing hyperoffense. Ask yourself how often you play a Pokemon game and use status moves for the main experience, compared to how often you get Mewtwo and give it Psychic/Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt and then just steamroll the Elite Four 78 times for funsies. Not having to try can be a fun experience, especially with a competitive mode where it gives the impression that you’re better than the others playing. No one really wants to have to think about how to dismantle defensive threats that can’t just be one-rounded. I mean look at the response to Fallen Edelgard.

I know people dunk on IS because they don’t know what they’re doing. And it’s true. There’s no fucking way they playtest shit and decide it’s a good idea from a gameplay perspective. But they do, in fact, know what they’re doing. It’s just purely aligned to making money off a broken system that is completely irreparable at this point. There is no reason to keep playing FEH aside from sunk cost fallacy at this point.

#el-jarado

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letterboxd · 4 years ago

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Exorcism.

Film-obsessive documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe tells Aaron Yap about watching The Exorcist for 30 days straight, mining William Friedkin’s personality for his absorbing new documentary, and the films that floor him.

“Sometimes you can be watching a romantic comedy but what you’re really craving is a film noir.” —Alexandre O. Philippe

William Friedkin loves to talk. A consummate storyteller off and on screen, the director is known for recounting wild tales of his storied life and career as the charismatic wunderkind who ascended to New Hollywood’s elite with 1971’s Oscar-showered cop procedural The French Connection. A couple of years later his reputation would grow two-fold, adapting a novel by William Peter Blatty called The Exorcist and unleashing what is still perhaps the most revered and discussed horror film of all time.

To this day, the film, which broke new ground for its grounded, rigorously methodical interrogation of demonic possession and faith-in-crisis, continues to terrify and haunt our imagination. But as Alexandre O. Philippe reveals in his Shudder documentary Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist, it’s in ways that are more intangible and unfathomable than we imagine.

From the William Friedkin papers of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. / Photo courtesy William Friedkin

Throughout the intimate one-on-one session, it’s clear that the 85-year-old’s gift of gab has not diminished. As ChainsawMasacre writes on Letterboxd, “his mind and memory is still like a steel trap”. Philippe, a Swiss-born cinephile-centric doco filmmaker who’s covered everything from zombie movies to George Lucas, captures Friedkin’s contagious ranconteuring in all its prickly, contradictory, exuberant bluster. It’s so absorbing that from the moment he opens his mouth, you’ll be hooked in and suddenly an hour has vanished without you even realizing.

It’s true that considerable swathes of Leap of Faith may feel like old news to Friedkin/Exorcist obsessives—anyone who’s listened to the DVD audio commentary, read The Friedkin Connection, or watched Francesco Zippel’s Friedkin Uncut will be familiar with some of these stories. But Philippe’s incisive, thoughtful, highly accessible approach, excavating deeper than anecdotal interest but eschewing academic stuffiness, makes the documentary as much of value to newcomers as to seasoned fans. “The intersection of influences between music, film, fine art and personal travesty made me admire Friedkin on a whole new level”, writes Databaseanimal.

How many times have you seen The Exorcist, and on average how often would you need to rewatch a film in prep? Alexandre O. Philippe: You have to watch a film over and over and over again. I can’t tell you generally how many times I’ve watched The Exorcist but I can tell you when I was preparing for my interviews with Bill, I watched it every day for 30 days straight. That’s part of the process.

Leap of Faith is a bit of a departure from your previous two deep-dives—Memory: The Origins of Alien and 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene—in that you’re only talking to one interviewee, and that interviewee happens to be William Friedkin. What was that experience like? It’s wonderful. It’s really hard to put into words how incredible it’s been to spend that amount of time with him. Getting my own personal masterclass with him is invaluable. There’s no film school in the world that can give you that experience. It’s been really something.

Did spending that extended time reveal something about Friedkin that you weren’t aware of prior to shooting? Oh sure, that’s the beauty of that extensive of an interview—six days—and multiple conversations in between. Without giving it away, in the final sequence when he’s talking about Kyoto Zen Gardens… this is the stuff you can only get from someone like Friedkin once the comfort level is there, once you’re in the groove of conversation. It’s an aspect of his personality we’ve never seen before.

We all know him as a storyteller and a showman but he’s probably been very guarded in the past. There’s a certain amount of vulnerability even when he talks about the climax of The Exorcist, and how much to this day he’s not sure he understands some of the choices he made shooting that scene. That’s a remarkable thing to say about one of the most iconic scenes in the history of movies.

William Friedkin in ‘Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist’. / Photo by Robert Muratore, courtesy Exhibit A Pictures

I could listen to him speak for hours. Did you challenge him at any point? I definitely pushed him as far as I could. The whole sequence around the climax of The Exorcist that I was just talking about. There’s only about three minutes of that in the film but we talked about that scene for an hour and a half. I kept pushing and pushing him because I didn’t understand where he was coming from. I feel as a film fan that I understand that scene. For me, Father Karras sacrifices himself. It’s an act of complete selflessness. But he kept going back to the idea of suicide and that suicide in the Catholic Church is a sin and how he didn’t understand it. And that’s why you see him a little on edge during that scene. It was very important to go there.

I love the obsessive detail that goes into your examination of the creative process. Was there any detail—something that is interesting in and of itself—that you left out? We had a really great conversation around Carlos Kleiber, one of the conductors he admires the most, who essentially taught him to direct in metaphors. It’s a fascinating conversation. We actually built a scene around that and it just didn’t work with the film. There’s a point in any film where it becomes autonomous and its own entity in a way and you have to listen and pay attention to what the film tells you it wants to be.

We also had a great conversation around his first documentary The People vs. Paul Crump, and the technique which he used of slapping him in his cell on death row, which is the same technique he used for Bill O’Malley in The Exorcist. I had a long conversation with [executive producer] Karyn Kusama about this and we felt it was a little too over-the-top to go there and it wasn’t necessary to take the film to that level so we eventually left it out.

Friedkin talks about The Brink’s Job at one point, which is great to hear as it’s probably my favorite underrated Friedkin film. What’s yours? [Laughs] If you’re talking underrated or one that’s not much talked about, for me it’s Bug. Bug is ummm… [pauses]

What can you say about Bug? I mean honestly, truly, have you ever seen performances that pushed to the very edge of what’s even reasonable to expect or see from actors? It’s mind-blowing stuff. How does he even get performances like these? I mean they are wonderful actors but Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd, like, really… Like, really? You know what I mean? That’s Billy.

To me, you’re talking about Billy when he was in his early 70s when he made that film, a filmmaker who’s still really interested in pushing the envelope and going as far as he possibly can. It’s absolutely remarkable and I wish we talked more about that film.

Tell us about one ‘holy grail’ film or filmmaker you’d like to cover. The one I really want most to make a film about, and I will, is Vertigo. To go back to Hitchcock. I definitely have a healthy obsession with that film—have had since I was a kid. I love melodrama, and it’s the greatest melodrama ever made. I can’t think of a better film for my money from anywhere. It’s a glorious, glorious piece of filmmaking, but it’s also a very complex, tortured, complicated film that alienates some people.

I was on TCM a couple years ago as Ben Mankiewicz’s co-host on “50 Years of Alfred Hitchcock”. We did 24 movies together and when it came to Vertigo we had a fun conversation because he’s not a fan. He’s basically like “what’s the big deal about that film?” That really fascinates me. That’s a really amazing thing and he’s not the only person I highly respect who said that to me. I’d love to not only do a deep dive into Vertigo but also what’s so polarizing about it. That’d be fun to do that.

In Leap of Faith, Friedkin talks a lot about non-horror-specific aspects, such as grace notes, and the mysterious, magical aspects of filmmaking that can’t be easily explained. What movies are you drawn to but can’t explain completely through the technique and science of filmmaking? Any great work of art, not just film, that has a lasting impact on us and on society, works in ways that are much more mysterious than not. You can explain away the many different tangible reasons why Psycho, Alien and The Exorcist continue to have an impact, and had a massive impact on audiences when they came out. But for every tangible reason or every fact that you can provide, there are a million mysteries as well.

I’m much more interested in the mysteries of the creative process than I’m interested in the behind-the-scenes anecdotes or little tidbits of movie history. Because you will never get to the bottom of it and that’s the real beauty of it. And the lesson to learn from that is there’s nothing to do beyond just being in awe of it.

Documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe / Photo by Bas Bogaerts

What’s a documentary that uses the form in a way that’s inspiring to you, or one that made you want to pursue this form? I don’t watch a ton of documentaries. I don’t like the term ‘documentary’. With that asterisk out of the way, there are a number of documentaries I absolutely adore and filmmakers that are pushing the form that are remarkable. I think of Allan King, one of the great documentarians.

There is one that, formally speaking, absolutely blew me away and is very hard to watch. It’s called Caniba. It’s a documentary about this French-Japanese man who killed and ate one of his classmates. He did a whole comic book on it, and his brother is equally disturbed. It’s one of the few films, along with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, where I had to literally stop halfway through ’cos I just couldn’t handle it. The remarkable thing about this film is that the entire film is extreme close-ups. You’re watching basically his face and his brother’s face in extreme close-up the entire film and it makes you absolutely nauseous.

The formal choice that was made, in committing to that, it’s so much more horrendous and horrible than what’s on the periphery of the frame. You’re trapped in the geography of that face and you can’t get out. I’m not sure if ‘exciting’ is the best word I can use here, but to say this kind of approach excites me when I see a documentary filmmaker doing this, is accurate.

How do you spell that? I’m going to put it on my watchlist. C-A-N-I-B-A. Good luck watching it my friend [laughs]. Don’t eat while you’re watching it.

What films have you caught during the pandemic and completely loved, old or new? I watch almost exclusively the Criterion Channel. They’re the gold standard. I don’t even know where to begin. Recently I just watched the three Joseph Losey/Harold Pinter collaborations: The Servant, Accident and The Go-Between. I’ve always been a huge fan of Harold Pinter but what Joseph Losey has done with those three films is astonishing. The Go-Between, especially. Wow. That film just floored me.

They had a whole sidebar on Western noir films, and I discovered a bunch of incredible titles like Station West and Blood on the Moon with Robert Mitchum, which is an absolutely magnificent film. Some of the early Douglas Sirk movies. I can watch that stuff all day.

Oh there’s another one I would like to recommend as it is a criminally not just underrated, but completely under-the-radar film: Sun Don’t Shine.

Kate Lyn Sheil’s performance is amazing in it. Oh my god. Why didn’t she run away with the Screen Actors Guild Award, Oscars, Golden Globes? Like seriously. Some of the recent nominations Meryl Streep has been getting, like give me a break. It’s not even close. It’s not even in the same ballpark [laughs]. It’s really one of those rare performances that I think about, like Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher. Once in a generation you see something like this and you go “Holy cow, what a performance”. It does not exist on DVD or Blu-ray and it kills me. I want that film in my collection so badly.

Kate Lyn Sheil in Amy Seimetz’s ‘Sun Don’t Shine’ (2012).

Maybe this will be the thing that will get them to push it out on physical media. I’m trying, I’m working with them, and I’ve done some with them. I need to send them an email and say “Can you please do something about this?”.

What’s a film that you were cold on first viewing but has grown on you with repeat viewings? The first one that comes to mind is Donnie Darko. I really hated the film the first time around, and it’s weird because there was always this voice at the back of my head that kept saying “watch it again”. I did and it completely blew me away the second time around. Often I will give a film a second chance. Especially when I know the film is well-respected. There are films where you can intellectually understand why the film is respected, but you don’t connect with the film.

I’ll tell you one that I’m really looking forward to giving a second chance. Not because I hated it but it left me really underwhelmed. A film that everybody loves: Moonlight. I also do remember when I was watching it, actively thinking I was not in the right frame of mind for that film. Sometimes you just have to recognize that. Sometimes you can be watching a romantic comedy but what you’re really craving is a film noir. That’s really not going to work.

So we’ll see, we’ll talk about it after I’ve watched it a second time. And hopefully it will be a revelation. There’s nothing better for me than these moments when you watch something the second time that didn’t work and you go “Holy cow this is great”. That’s an awesome thing to experience.

Related content

The Films of Alexandre O. Philippe

Follow William Friedkin on Twitter

Aaron’s list of documentaries on filmmaking and Hollywood

Vince’s list of narrative films about filmmaking

Follow Aaron on Letterboxd

‘Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist’ is streaming now on Shudder.

#william friedkin #billy friedkin #the exorcist #horror film #alexandre o phillippe #documentary #documentary making #filmmaking #filmmaking process #life in film #filmmaker #director

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oberlincollegelibraries · 5 years ago

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Sunday Edition: Staff Recommendations

We can’t believe the semester is almost over already! Soon Obies can focus on resting and relaxing instead of testing and studying. To help our favorite students unwind over winter shutdown, we are focusing this week’s Sunday edition on recommended reading from the OCL staff. Some of the books are not available at OCL, but many are! Those items will be on display in Azariah’s Cafe this week until winter term, so stop by to pick up your vacation read!

Megan from Public Services recommends A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Megan: “I was blown away by the the writing, the story, and the characters. So much goes on behind the scenes in public spaces and in people's interior lives.”

Patty from Discovery and Metadata Services recommends The Moth Presents Occasional Magic by Catherine Burns.

Patty: “This book is based on a series of live performances. The tapes of those performances were turned into a podcast and then some of the best stories are presented in this book. It is a wonderful look at humanity - all the best and sometimes the worst but always touching.”

Patty from Discovery and Metadata Services also recommends Normal People by Sally Rooney

Patty: “This is a book that not just entertains, it makes you think about relationships and life. Ms. Rooney is a new voice in the book world and I hope we have many more novels from her in the future.”

Anne from Archives recommends Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

Anne: “Humorous and encouraging about the art of writing and enjoying life.”

Faith from the Conservatory Library recommends On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger.

Faith: “Loved this book by Oberlin Alum and former Library student assistant Emily Guendelsberger. The author worked a series of low paying jobs and writes about what it really is like to work at Amazon, a call center, and a McDonald's. Her descriptions of the jobs and her co-workers captivated me. It is also a very sad look at what the working poor have to deal with in this country. Emily also has a wicked sense of humor, so that added to the charm.”

Alexia in Administration recommends Leading the Race: the Transformation of the Black Elite in the Nation's Capital, 1880-1920 by Jacqueline M. Moore.

Alexia: “ Mary Church Terrell is a seminal figure in this book.”

Alexia in Administration also recommends Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Alexia: “ Outstanding science fiction that makes one grappling with the lasting impact of slavery on our cultural consciousness and psyche.”

Alexia in Administration also recommends The Library Book by Susan Orlean.

Alexia: “ Excellent ‘love letter; to libraries written by a NYT best seller author and Shaker Heights, Ohio native “

Alexia in Administration also recommends Never Caught: the Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar.Alexia: “ Excellent hidden history about slavery resistance against the highest office in the US.”

Alexia in Administration also recommends Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging America's Pasedited by Renee C. Romano and Claire Bond Pottert

Alexia: “Great compilation of essays on the complicated character of Hamilton and how the musical has re-branded the history of this important American figure.”

Sara from Discovery and Metadata Services recommends The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams.

Sara: “ I really enjoy the language style/word choices of this author. The books are hard sometimes to get started in, but always finish well. This book is the 3rd in the Schuyler Sister trilogy, but a good one to start with. Then go back and read Tiny Little Thing and Along the Infinite Sea. All of her books so far have been amazing! “

Sarah in Administration recommends The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.

Sarah: “The first in a trilogy, this Hugo award winning book tells a unique post-apocalyptic story of the end of the world. Told from the triptych perspective of a powerful female lead, it explores the fundamental human questions of what connections bind us together and what hatred can tear us apart. Great world building, relevant themes, compelling characters. An interesting and engaging read!”

Lindsey from Discovery and Metadata Services recommends So Pretty / Very Rotten: Comics and Essays on Lolita Fashion and Cute Culture by Jane Mai and An Nguyen.

Lindsey: “You don't have to dress Lolita to enjoy this glimpse into the world of the Japanese street fashion. It explores both the history of Lolita, as well as the authors' own experiences within the subculture, and is littered with adorable illustrations.”

Alonso in Reference and Instruction recommends The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write, edited by Sabrina Mahfouz

Alonso: “ Although the focus is not necessarily American, the stories are still relevant to Muslim women globally while also using this medium in order to challenge stereotypes the general public may have of marginalized communities, particularly Muslim women. “

Gena from Special Collections and Preservation recommends Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson.

Gena: “It's hilarious, improbable, and mostly true.”

Tim from Discovery and Metadata Services recommends Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

Tim: “It's funny, morbid, frank and details exactly what’s wrong with modern death denial and an overview of the history of death rituals and practices from around the world. She also has a good Youtube channel.”

Tim from Discovery and Metadata Services also recommends I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies): True Tales of a Loudmouth Girl by Laurie Notaro.

Tim: “It's a quick and hilarious read.”

Ashley from Acquisitions, E-Resources & Serials recommends Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.

Ashley: “It's a good story about a princess determining her own future, rather than one that was dictated for her. Light, and comedic, it turns a lot of fairy tale tropes on their head.”

Ed from Special Collections and Preservation recommends The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness by Paula Poundstone.

Ed: “Just read this myself. Light reading for sure and who doesn't need a break from politics? Poundstone's humor does not attack out, she's never really mean or angry. Instead she mines her own personal life for comedy, but in the process makes timely broader points about absurdities in our society (that I think we can all relate to). In addition to being self-deprecating, revealing and funny, Poundstone's a female comic in an overwhelmingly male occupation. She hardly spares a thought for that in the book though; it simply feels like she's going about her career with her own hard working style, and has never let herself be pigeon-holed as a female comic. She's slightly famous, but not wealthy, and even though she struggles at times, she's fundamentally a strong and decent person, a mom raising a family and house full of rescued pets on her own. I can hear her raspy sarcastic voice all through the narrative, and I really enjoyed getting to know her in her regular - but still quirky - private life.”

Crystal from Conservatory Special Collections recommends Do Not Sell at Any Price: the Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78 RPM Records by Amanda Petrusich.

Crystal: “This book is a fascinating account of record collectors who specialize in early blues and jazz 78rpm recordings. Petrusich, a music journalist and staff writer for the New Yorker, writes with both empathy and an outsider’s perspective, making her the perfect guide to this weird, esoteric, and mostly-all-male world that is preserving (shaping? fetishizing?) an important part of music history. “

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revistageracaoz · 5 years ago

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Os 100 melhores filmes nacionais

Em 2015, a Associação Brasileira de Críticos de Cinema (Abraccine) publicou uma lista com os 100 melhores filmes brasileiros de todos os tempos de acordo com os votos de seus membros. Esta pesquisa foi a base para um livro chamado Os 100 Melhores Filmes Brasileiros, publicado em 2016. A idéia do ranking e do livro foi sugerida pela editora Letramento, com quem a Abraccine e a rede de televisão Canal Brasil co-lançaram o livro. A classificação foi feita com base em listas individuais feitas pelos 100 críticos da Abraccine, que inicialmente mencionaram 379 filmes. A lista completa foi disponibilizada ao público pela primeira vez em 26 de novembro de 2015, e o livro foi lançado em 1º de setembro de 2016.

A lista abrange quase todas as décadas entre a década de 1930 e a de 2010, sendo a única exceção a década de 1940. Um filme de 1931, Limite de Mário Peixoto, é o mais antigo e também o primeiro classificado, enquanto o mais recente é de 2015, A Segunda Mãe, de Anna Muylaert. A chanchada (comédias musicais dos anos 30-50) é representada por O Homem do Sputnik (1959), de Carlos Manga, enquanto há uma infinidade de filmes dos anos 60-1970, incluindo Cinema Novo e Cinema marginal. Quase um terço dos filmes era do período Retomada (1995 em diante), e a lista incluía não só longas-metragens, mas também documentários e curtas-metragens. O diretor do Cinema Novo, Glauber Rocha, é o cineasta com mais filmes na lista: cinco; seguido por Rogério Sganzerla, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Héctor Babenco e Carlos Reichenbach, cada um com quatro filmes.

1. Limite (1931), de Mario Peixoto 2. Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964), de Glauber Rocha 3. Vidas Secas (1963), de Nelson Pereira dos Santos 4. Cabra Marcado para Morrer (1984), de Eduardo Coutinho 5. Terra em Transe (1967), de Glauber Rocha 6. O Bandido da Luz Vermelha (1968), de Rogério Sganzerla 7. São Paulo S/A (1965), de Luís Sérgio Person 8. Cidade de Deus (2002), de Fernando Meirelles 9. O Pagador de Promessas (1962), de Anselmo Duarte 10. Macunaíma (1969), de Joaquim Pedro de Andrade 11. Central do Brasil (1998), de Walter Salles 12. Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco (1981), de Hector Babenco 13. Ilha das Flores (1989), de Jorge Furtado 14. Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (1981), de Leon Hirszman 15. O Som ao Redor (2012), de Kleber Mendonça Filho 16. Lavoura Arcaica (2001), de Luiz Fernando Carvalho 17. Jogo de Cena (2007), de Eduardo Coutinho 18. Bye Bye, Brasil (1979), de Carlos Diegues 19. Assalto ao Trem Pagador (1962), de Roberto Farias 20. São Bernardo (1974), de Leon Hirszman 21. Iracema, uma Transa Amazônica (1975), de Jorge Bodansky e Orlando Senna 22. Noite Vazia (1964), de Walter Hugo Khouri 23. Os Fuzis (1964), de Ruy Guerra 24. Ganga Bruta (1933), de Humberto Mauro 25. Bang Bang (1971), de Andrea Tonacci 26. A Hora e a Vez de Augusto Matraga (1968), de Roberto Santos 27. Rio, 40 Graus (1955), de Nelson Pereira dos Santos 28. Edifício Master (2002), de Eduardo Coutinho 29. Memórias do Cárcere (1984), de Nelson Pereira dos Santos 30. Tropa de Elite (2007), de José Padilha 31. O Padre e a Moça (1965), de Joaquim Pedro de Andrade 32. Serras da Desordem (2006), de Andrea Tonacci 33. Santiago (2007), de João Moreira Salles 34. O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro (1969), de Glauber Rocha 35. Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora é Outro (2010), de José Padilha 36. O Invasor (2002), de Beto Brant 37. Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1967), de Domingos Oliveira 38. Matou a Família e Foi ao Cinema (1969), de Julio Bressane 39. Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (1976), de Bruno Barreto 40. Os Cafajestes (1962), de Ruy Guerra 41. O Homem do Sputnik (1959), de Carlos Manga 42. A Hora da Estrela (1985), de Suzana Amaral 43. Sem Essa Aranha (1970), de Rogério Sganzerla 44. SuperOutro (1989), de Edgard Navarro 45. Filme Demência (1986), de Carlos Reichenbach 46. À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (1964), de José Mojica Marins 47. Terra Estrangeira (1996), de Walter Salles e Daniela Thomas 48. A Mulher de Todos (1969), de Rogério Sganzerla 49. Rio, Zona Norte (1957), de Nelson Pereira dos Santos 50. Alma Corsária (1993), de Carlos Reichenbach 51. A Margem (1967), de Ozualdo Candeias 52. Toda Nudez Será Castigada (1973), de Arnaldo Jabor 53. Madame Satã (2000), de Karim Ainouz 54. A Falecida (1965), de Leon Hirzman 55. O Despertar da Besta – Ritual dos Sádicos (1969), de José Mojica Marins 56. Tudo Bem (1978), de Arnaldo Jabor (1978) 57. A Idade da Terra (1980), de Glauber Rocha 58. Abril Despedaçado (2001), de Walter Salles 59. O Grande Momento (1958), de Roberto Santos 60. O Lobo Atrás da Porta (2014), de Fernando Coimbra 61. O Beijo da Mulher-Aranha (1985), de Hector Babenco 62. O Homem que Virou Suco (1980), de João Batista de Andrade 63. O Auto da Compadecida (1999), de Guel Arraes 64. O Cangaceiro (1953), de Lima Barreto 65. A Lira do Delírio (1978), de Walter Lima Junior 66. O Caso dos Irmãos Naves (1967), de Luís Sérgio Person 67. Ônibus 174 (2002), de José Padilha 68. O Anjo Nasceu (1969), de Julio Bressane 69. Meu Nome é… Tonho (1969), de Ozualdo Candeias 70. O Céu de Suely (2006), de Karim Ainouz 71. Que Horas Ela Volta? (2015), de Anna Muylaert 72. Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2001), de Laís Bondanzky 73. Tatuagem (2013), de Hilton Lacerda 74. Estômago (2010), de Marcos Jorge 75. Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus (2005), de Marcelo Gomes 76. Baile Perfumado (1997), de Paulo Caldas e Lírio Ferreira 77. Pra Frente, Brasil (1982), de Roberto Farias 78. Lúcio Flávio, o Passageiro da Agonia (1976), de Hector Babenco 79. O Viajante (1999), de Paulo Cezar Saraceni 80. Anjos do Arrabalde (1987), de Carlos Reichenbach 81. Mar de Rosas (1977), de Ana Carolina 82. O País de São Saruê (1971), de Vladimir Carvalho 83. A Marvada Carne (1985), de André Klotzel 84. Sargento Getúlio (1983), de Hermano Penna 85. Inocência (1983), de Walter Lima Jr. 86. Amarelo Manga (2002), de Cláudio Assis 87. Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões (1981), de J.B. Tanko 88. Di (1977), de Glauber Rocha 89. Os Inconfidentes (1972), de Joaquim Pedro de Andrade 90. Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver (1966), de José Mojica Marins 91. Cabaret Mineiro (1980), de Carlos Alberto Prates Correia 92. Chuvas de Verão (1977), de Carlos Diegues 93. Dois Córregos (1999), de Carlos Reichenbach 94. Aruanda (1960), de Linduarte Noronha 95. Carandiru (2003), de Hector Babenco 96. Blá Blá Blá (1968), de Andrea Tonacci 97. O Signo do Caos (2003), de Rogério Sganzerla 98. O Ano em que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias (2006), de Cao Hamburger 99. Meteorango Kid, Herói Intergaláctico (1969), de Andre Luis Oliveira 100. Guerra Conjugal (1975), de Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (*) 101. Bar Esperança, o Último que Fecha (1983), de Hugo Carvana (*)

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autodidact-adventures · 5 years ago

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English History (Part 6): Roman Britain

While the Romans didn't like the sea, they were greatly attracted to England for its wealth and surplus of corn. Caesar's invasion of 55 BC was more of a scouting mission; he said that he wanted to acquaint himself with “the lie of the land”. Britain was already a trading partner of Rome, and was rumoured to be rich in metal and wheat. Some of the British tribes were already allied with the northern Gauls, whom Caesar was fighting.

Several of the tribal leaders sent emissaries to him, as they were informed in advance of his preparations. Caesar sent an envoy in return, who urged the tribal leaders to collaborate with him.

The Romans set sail with two legions (each with about 5000 men) in 80 ships. They landed near Deal (Kent), where the English were watching them. There was a skirmish on the beach, which the Romans won, and the tribal leaders sued for peace.

But a storm arose, made worse by a high tide at the full moon. The Romans weren't aware of this phenomenon, and all their ships were damaged.

The English took the opportunity to attack, breaking the peace agreement. A number of skirmishes took place in the immediate vicinity of Deal. Caesar was hard-pressed, and knew that he had to retreat back across the water. He managed to get the ships repaired, and sought material aid from Gaul. He left, with many hostages from the English, vowing to return.

He returned the next year, this time with 800 ships, 25,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. This was a proper invasion, and the English tribes, instead of warring among each other, were now united in the face of this threat. They chose Cassivellaunus, who was king of territory north of the Thames, as their war leader.

The English fought the Romans as they usually fought each other. There were warriors in chariots, on horseback and on foot, with each attacking & withdrawing at appropriate moments. Cassivellaunus had an army of 4000 chariots, and they had a specific strategy – the chariot-driver would drive to the front line, let the warrior jump out, and then retire and wait for him to return. According to Caesar, by steady practice the English “attain such proficiency that even on a steep incline they are able to control the horses at full gallop, and to check and turn them in a moment.”

But the discipline of the Roman army was enough to withstand all this. There were a number of battles, and then the English were forced to retreat into the woods. Caesar followed them, and destroyed Cassivellaunus' stronghold. The chieftains sought peace, and Cassivellaunus capitulated in the end. Caesar took hostages and tribute, and returned to Rome.

There wasn't another invasion for 90yrs, but the Romans had left their mark. Southern Britain was gradually Romanized, with tribal leaders beginning to import wine and luxury goods from Rome. The elites' dwellings began to change shape from round to rectilinear – strong evidence of cultural transition. The southern tribal leaders would have wanted to imitate the victors.

Some of them changed their allegiance and became the client kings of Rome. Strabo states that they sent embassies and paid court to Augustus (first Emperor of the Roman Empire), in order to gain his friendship. They exported grain, iron and slaves; and they imported glass vessels, amberware and other goods. Of course, they had to pay duty to the Roman state on these goods – an excellent way of binding them to Rome.

In the early 40s AD, the Atrebates (a Belgic tribe) were conquered, and their king Verica fled to Rome, appealing for help. Emperor Claudius was new to his position, and was yet to prove himself in the field. He now had the excuse he needed for the proper invasion of Britain, which came in 43 AD.

Four legions of about 20,000 men, under the leadership of Aulus Plautius, landed at two separate locations so as to confuse any English counterattack. The tribes dispersed, but rallied for a major battle by the River Medway, in south-east England. There the fighting lasted for two days, with the English (under the leadership of Caratacus) were being defeated. The exact location of the battle is not known.

Plautius sent for Claudius, who arrived two months later with 28 elephants. He stormed the native capital of Camulodunum, and Caratacus fled westwards. Eleven kings surrendered to Claudius, and he was celebrated for it when he returned to Rome. The Roman conquest of Britain had begun, but it would take nearly 40yrs for it to finish.

Camulodunum became the first Roman capital of Colchester. They built a great fort on the site of the native earthworks, as a token of dominion. The army then spread outwards in three directions – north, west and north-west.

Vespasian, leader of the western army, drove towards Wales and England's south-west peninsula, fighting 33 battles along the way. On the banks of Maiden Castle (a hill fort in Dorset), the body of a man with a Roman crossbow bolt in his spine has been found. By 49 AD, Roman soldiers were supervising mining operations in Somerset.

The other two armies proceeded slowly along already-existing roads such as Ermine Street. They built forts in areas they conquered, so that each tribal zone was dominated by at least one military settlement. By 51 AD, Cartimandua (queen of the Brigantes in the north) had become a client queen. She was receiving Roman wine in Roman vessels, and also building tiles.

Although Roman historians describe a smooth process of colonization, it is unlikely that it was as simple as that. They did advance steadily, but they were beset by tribal rebellions, and occasionally army mutinies. Ambushes, raids and battles were common. South of the Fosse Way (running from Exeter to Lincoln), all the land was under Roman control, but in the north it was more treacherous. Some tribes had divided allegiances, and some fought against each other.

The Fosse Way.

The Iceni, a tribe living deep within East Anglia (a pacified zone) revolted in 47 AD over the right to bear arms. It was put down easily.

King Prasutagus of the Iceni died in 60 AD, and the agents of the Roman provincial government tried to appropriate Iceni wealth. Boudicca, Prasutagus' widow, was flogged and her two daughters were raped. Boudicca rose up and led a rebellion against the Romans.

She gathered other English tribes into a confederacy and led her army southwards, burning and pillaging any evidence of Romanization, or the beginnings of it. They destroyed villas and killed inhabitants by the sword. The object of their advance was the capital of Colchester, which harboured hundreds of military veterans who had taken control of adjacent land. The English set the city on fire and destroyed it, and looted the shops.

The veterans sheltered in the central temple, but two days later they were overwhelmed and hacked to pieces. The English beheaded a great statue of Claudius and threw it into the river, and destroyed the temple itself.

They then moved further southwards, towards London. On the way, they sacked Chelmsford and St. Albans, and killed an entire legion.

Suetonius Paulinus was the Roman military governor at that time, and he had been campaigning in Wales. Well aware of the threat to his regime, he marched quickly back, but he didn't save London when he arrived there. He needed to focus on saving the whole imperial province, and to do that he had to pick the time & place for the battle.

Many London inhabitants hastily left the city, going further south to safety with pro-Roman tribes. Those who remained were killed – Tacitus states that 70,000 peoplle were killed in the attack. London was razed by fire, leaving a red level of oxidized iron that is still beneath the streets of modern London. 48 human skulls have been found embedded in the track of the Walbrook river.

Boudicca now went after Suetonius Paulinus, but the site of the battle is not known for certain. There were 10,000 Roman troops, and 100,000 English. The Roman legionnaires had a forest behind them, and a plain in front of them. The English ran across the plain towards them, but many were killed by javelins. Then the Romans began to move forward with shields and shortswords. It was their discipline that held them together, and slowly the tide began to turn against the English. 80,000 of them died during the battle, but only about 400 Romans. It was one of the worst massacres on English soil.

It is not know what happened to Boudicca after that. Some say she poisoned herself so the Romans wouldn't capture her; some say that she fell sick and died. There is a monument to her on Westminster Bridge.

The monument Boudicca and Her Daughters on the Westminster Bridge.

Now the Romans had to deal with the Druids, who had retreated steadily westwards, harried and pursued all the while. Their last stand was on the island of Anglesey (off the north-west coast of Wales). According to Tacitus, the troops crossed from the mainland, and were confronted by a “dense line of armed warriors along the foreshore, while women were rushing about between the ranks garbed in black like the Furies, holding up lighted torches.” The Druids stood close to the women, offering sacrifices, holding their arms in the air and screeching terrible curses. But they were killed, and their sanctuaries were burned down.

Once the east and south of England were pacified, Julius Agricola (the next Roman governor of England) focused on the north and west. He conquered Wales in 78 AD. In 79 AD he sent legions to the north-east (through Corbridge) and north-west (through Carlisle). He divided the enemy, and had a network of forts built so that he could supervise the tribes that had surrendered. These northern tribes were more hostile than the southern ones, and according to Tacitus, there were “many battles, some not unbloody”. The goal of the Romans was to create & control a northern frontier. To do this, troops were sent northwards to deal with modern-day southern Scotland.

York and Chester had permanent fortresses, with a legion each. Manchester and Newcastle were built around the site of Roman forts. Manchester's original name was Mamucio (after the Latin word for a hill shaped like a breast), and this was misread as Mancunio, and eventually became Manchester.

A series of nearly-straight roads were built to link the forts together. The Romans built garrison towns at Lincoln and Gloucester, in which retired legionnaires lived. A network of forts, encampments, defensive walls and defensive walls emphasized the Roman colonial presence. Posting stations (or staging posts) were set up on the main roads, and they eventually became villages.

According to Tacitus, one tribal chief complained that “our goods and money are consumed by taxation; our land is stripped of its harvest to fill their granaries; our hands and limbs are crippled by building roads through forests and swamps under the lash of our oppressors.”

The military zone (which included Wales and northern England) required a standing force of 125,000 men, But the legionnaires were not only Roman – during the first 100yrs of occupation, 40,000 soldiers were recruited from Gaul, Spain and Germany; and English soldiers also joined. The troops mixed with the native population, and within 2-3 generations, it had become a native army.

After the Emperor Hadrian's visit to Britain in 122 AD, Hadrian's Wall was built on his orders. It separated Roman England from the tribes of Scotland. Then in 142, the Antonine Wall was built north of Hadrian's Wall, separating south and north Scotland.

The Antonine Wall is in modern-day northern England.

The Romans had no intentions of advancing into the Scottish highlands. They had also dropped any plans for the invasion of Ireland. Now they focused on protecting their borders so they could enjoy peace. The land south of the wall was intensely cultivated, and a great agricultural regime was established on the Cumbrian Plain. England was once again as rich and productive as it had been during the Iron Age.

Romanization was gradual and local. In the countryside, people mostly stuck to the old ways, and Iron Age conditions prevailed. The towns was where things were different.

The administrative elite of English leaders worked in the towns. These men had welcomed (or exploited) the Romanization of the country, and the rising of Roman officials within it. With the advice of the Roman officials, they began to build temples, public buildings and public squares; they learned the Latin language; they began wearing togas. The children of leading English families were educated in the “civilized arts”, and some were even sent to Rome.

Bathing establishments and assembly rooms were built, and according to Tacitus, the English began to attend “smart dinner parties”. There were many more plates, dishes, bowls and drinking vessels than during the Iron Age. The English imported amphorae (storage vessels), which contained wine, olive oil, olives and fish sauce. Tacitus wrote that “they called it civilization when in fact it was part of their servitude”.

Fragment of an amphora found underneath a Roman road in Devon.

The old hierarchies still existed, now with Roman trappings. The landowners had coloni (tenants who were tied to the land). The trival leaders who owned extensive land and property were at the top; the large community of slaves at the bottom. The word servus (“slave”) eventually became the word “serf”. The social patterns of the Bronze & Iron Ages were still entrenched, now strengthened and deepened by the rule of a strong central power.

The Romans turned the old tribal regions into civitates (government districts). Each district had a central town, often the old tribal capital or oppidum, re-dressed in stone instead of wood. The centre of the town was represented by a forum complex of civic buildings.

Roman architectural forms were imposed, with monumental arches, sculptures, bath-houses and altars (for example). Many of these public buildings were constructed as part of a state initiative that continued well into the 100s AD. There would be a forum, temple, basilica and amphitheatre rising above the smaller buildings – closely-packed houses, workshops and shops, still mostly built out of wood and clay, and with earthen floors. Many of the houses were single-room lodgings; other buildings consisted of a shop at the front, a workshop behind it, and a room for living in at the back. Many wells & hearths have been found in the areas of settlement. Beyond the streets were the kilns, quarries, livestock enclosures and cemeteries.

A curia (council) of the larger landowners controlled the town's government, and they had many clerks and other officials. Kinship and tribal ties slowly transformed into group relations on an economic basis.

The larger towns were independent and self-governing. Magistrates & councillors dealt with things such as drainage, sanitation, and road re-paving. The most common Roman artifact found in England is the writing tablet.

The native elites began to build Roman-style villas in the countryside. The earliest of them (such as the one at Fishbourne, Sussex) were of very high status, probably for Romanized tribal leaders or great officials of the empire. They spread to other native leaders, with more modest villas being built in south-eastern England – appropriate for a wealthy landowner, or the most important family of an agricultural community.

Dolphin mosaic from the Fishbourne villa.

The villas had stone walls and expensive mosaics; there was also underfloor heating and window glass. Their roofs may have been made of ceramic tiles instead of thatch and wattle. Some (most?) of the smaller houses were plastered and decorated with wall paintings (plaster was used as external protection from the elements).

However, hill forts were still important, especially for England's leading families who had stayed closer to their social & cultural traditions.

At the beginning of the 100s AD, in Keston (Kent), an Iron Age farm was still being used. By the middle of the 100s a new wooden farmhouse was built, with painted walls. At the beginning of the 200s a stone house was built, with a Roman-style bath-house. There were wooden barns in the farmhouse, one of which was later rebuilt in stone. Ovens were used for malting or corn-drying, and the owner/s of the villa probably employed potters, blacksmiths and bronze-workers. There was an early Roman cremation cemetery, and a circular mausoleum from a later date. Romanization was gradual.

Bronze & Iron Age practices were kept on in the farming of the soil itself. In some regions (such as the south-west) old practices continued without any change. There is only evidence of change in the south-east, and only among the leaders. The Romans brought in cherries, figs and mulberries (all previously unknown); peas, cabbages and turnips first appeared during the Roman era. Even in the Romanized regions, the natives still preferred beef to pork.

Overall, most people were still living in the Iron Age, and would continue to do so for several centuries.

By imperial decree, the fens of East Anglia were drained, and reclaimed soil was made productive. Hundreds of villages and farms were established in a pre-ordained manner. The region became an imperial estate, with taxes for the central government. The prosperous Salisbury Plain also became an imperial estate.

Taxation included land tax and a poll tax, and it was the key of Roman exploitation. With the northern invaders, the cost of maintaining the army increased, so taxation increased as a result. The old tribal economy was changing to a monetary economy, and the Romans hastened this process. Imperial coinage replaced the old tribal coinage.

The Romans levied taxes on goods that were traded. Industrial centres (e.g. the potteries at the village of Castor in Cambridgeshire) altered parts of the landscape. Ironworks were established in all areas of England, and lead mines were in continuous use during the Roman era. Coal was used for working iron, heating the bath-houses, and the sacred fire at Minerva's temple in Bath.

There were two native woollen products in demand by the English people – the birrus Britannicus (a type of waterproof cloak & hood), and the tapete Britannicum (a woollen rug). The men wore cattle-hide jackets and leather breeches.

Also traded were bears and bulldogs for the Roman arena. It was said that Caesar had invaded England so he could get some exxcellent oysters.

In the early 200s AD, England was divided into two provinces. Brittania Superior's capital was London, and Brittania Inferior had York as its centre. (These were geographical terms, not implying that the former was better than the latter). These two provinces were later subdivided into four provinces, and then into five. The country was being closely administered and exploited.

Provinces in the 200s and 300s AD.

England's role changed as it became a settled part of the empire. The armies of occupation became armies of defence; they became naturalized, and had specific local/regional identities. Over 1/10 of the Roman imperial army was stationed in England, meaning that its forces had a lot of power over events in Rome. Mutinies and uprisings weren't uncommon.

In 268, Carausius (the governor of England) proclaimed himself Emperor, and took his forces to the continent. While he was away, the towns and cities of England took measures to defend themselves against potential reprises from Rome.

A century later, another Roman commander seized the province of England and declared it to be independent. A battle somewhere in central England dealt with this.

England had a lot of significance in imperial calculations, and it was worth a fight. Its taxes, ports and metals helped to sustain Roman commerce. Its agriculture, however, was what made England so wealthy and productive.

In 359 AD, the Emperor Julian organized a fleet of 600 ships to transport English corn to the warzones of the Rhine. England was now one of the “bread baskets” of Europe, and by the 300s AD it had never been so prosperous. The villas became larger and more luxurious, but social stratification increased as well. The Roman English controlled the Iron Age English.

The Scots and Picts were always pressing against the northern borders, but England's other frontiers also developed problems. The Saxon Shore is an alignment of forts in southern England whose purpose is not entirely certain. They may have defended the coast against Saxon invaders from north-west Europe; or they may have harboured Saxon fighters and traders – i.e. designed to protect the seaways between England and Europe.

The Saxon Shore (it had fortifications & military commands on both sides of the Channel).

Christianity was introduced to England in the 100s AD, but it was still a minority religion. The Roman English were now used to the Roman gods, and the Iron Age English probably still worshipped their old gods. Christian vessels & plaques from the 200s have been found in Huntingdonshire, near the River Nene, and are evidence of a local shrine (and the earliest examples of such vessels in Roman Britain). A Christian cemetery, around the same date, was found at Poundbury (Dorset). By the 300s AD, Christianity had spread as far north as Carlisle (in north-west England).

Constantine converted in 312 AD. He had been appointed Emperor at York in 306, and later seems to have considered England to be one of the spiritual centres of his rule. York was refashioned in honour of his elevation, and he visited England three more times. He styled himself on Britannicus Maximus (“The great victor in England”), and London was possibly renamed Augusta in his honour for a while.

Christianity was a monotheistic faith, and the emperor aspired to single rule. It had a uniform set of values & beliefs. It helped to support the legislative & bureaucratic forces of the central power, and the religion's followers were drawn from the governing class. The Romanized English were quick to embrace Christianity, and so Christianity became associated with the culture of the villas. It was also the religion of the administrative elite in the towns and cities, where there would be a bishop to care for the town-dwelling Christians.

In 314, three English bishops, a priest, and a deacon attended an ecclesiastical council in Arles (southern France). The bishops were from York, London and Lincoln, and the priest & deacon were from Cirencester.

At Tower Hill (London), remains of what may have been a Christian cathedral have been found. The building had marble and painted walls, and a holy well in the centre of the nave. This may have been the diocesan centre for Bishop Restitutus of London.

Evidence for a church has been found as Silchester as well, but there is little evidene for other churches during the 200s and 330s. The earliest churches lie beneath more recent ones.

Rome's frontiers were being threatened, and in many places they were overwhelmed. The Franks had entered northern Gaul, and the Visigoths were to settle in Aquitania. The pressure of the Scots & Picts was growing, and they had tribal allies among the Franks and Saxons. In 367, a northern force overcame Hadrian's Wall and moved southwards in dispersed bands to ravage the country. The commander of the Saxon Shore forts was murdered, and the provincial leader known as Dux Britanniarum was captured. Roman intervention and rebuilding helped, including the re-fortification of key posts. But it was a notable defeat for the English, and then the northern tribes came back 40yrs later.

At the beginning of the 400s, England was effectively stripped of its military forces, as they had gone off in search of glory – various pretenders were making bids for imperial power in Rome, weakening Roman rule. Rome's administrative machinery was beginning to break apart.

In England, the northern tribes attacked again in 408, and the Roman English had to defend themselves without the Romans. Zosimus, a contemporary historian, records that they “took up arms and, braving danger for their own independence, freed their cities from the barbarians threatening them.”

Not only that, but according to Zosimus, the English expelled their Roman governors and established their own administration.

Some Roman English would have wanted to retain the Roman administration, as it benefitted them greatly. Others would have wanted to get rid of it, because of taxation and coercion from the central government. In 410, one section of the English asked the Roman Emperor for arms and soldiers (it's unknown whether it was for fighting an external Saxon army, or another group of English). Honorius replied that the English must now fend for themselves – this was the end of Roman England.

Procopius of Caesarea (another historian) records that after the Roman officials disappeared, the cities and regions were taken over by “tyrants” or “usurpers”. They were probably the familiar English leaders, descended from tribal chiefs or large landowning families (but would have seemed like usurpers to Rome).

The English tribes and polities reacted to the end of Roman England in several ways. The Romanized English (in the towns and cities, with dependent estates all around them) probably formed themselves into self-governing administrative units, with the leaders of these small states still known as “magistrates”.

In the east and south-east of England (the civil zone), small kingdoms developed, defended by mercenaries. Those in eastern England had to use Germanic soldiers, which would cause problems for them later on.

In the more distant regions of England, where Romanization had never properly taken hold, the people returned to pre-Roman forms of social organization. The detachments that remained of the northern armies were grouped under a commander who became their chieftain. One of the first Roman leaders of the north was Coelius or Coel Hen, who became “Old King Cole” of the nursery rhyme.

There were general changes overall as well. Rome's taxation system was dismantled, and the countryside was now controlled by an aristocracy of landowners. The circulation of coinage decreased quickly because of the lack of imperial taxation. By 410, the large centres of pottery manufacturing had gone out of business, as the demand no longer existed. Brick-making disappeared, and wouldn't return to England until the 1400s. Villas were neglected or abandoned, and later settlers would use them.

The cities didn't decline, though – they merely changed their function. They were still administrative centres for the immediate area, and the local leader & bishop lived there. However, they didn't need the imperial façades of the 200s. The Silchester basilica was converted into a metal-working centre. There is evidence of rebuilding at York & Gloucester during the 400s. In the second half of the 400s, a new water supply with wooden pipes was introduced to Verulamium. So a civic organization was still in operation.

The Roman city of Wroxeter has been excavated in the fields of Shropshire, and it wasn't abandoned after the Romans left. The basilica was destroyed, and a large wooden hall built in its place – this hall became the centre for a complex of wooden buildings based on Roman models. Well into a medieval period, a prosperous and busy life continued on.

In the archaeologial strata of the 400s is a deposit, called “dark earth”, spread over many towns and cities. This is the residue of wattle-and-daub dwelling. The towns & cities during this century may have still been heavily populated, continuing on a commercial life.

Barter and local trading allowed for self-sufficiency. There was hand-made pottery, and quantities of clay have been found that may have been used for building walls. The farmers' and labourers' lives weren't changed at all by the change in leadership.

St. Patrick was taken by Saxon slavers at the end of the 300s AD, and his Confession of Saint Patrick shows that the affluent lives of villa-owners continued into the early decades of the 400s. He returned to England 6yrs later, and his father urged him to enter public service – for example, local rhetoricians were employed to guide the populace. There was some kind of a working polity based upon a Roman original.

Bishop Germanus of Gaul visited England in 429, and he was greeted by the leading men of Verulamium in a gesture of civic unity. These men were probably members of the diocesan or provincial council who had taken over the city's administration. According to Germanus, they were “conspicuous for their wealth, fashionable in their dress, and surrounded by an adoring multitude of people.”

One of the reasons for Germanus' visit was to help the English in their fight against the Picts and Saxons. However, many Saxons were already living in England, and had been doing so since the 200s AD. The urban & tribal elites needed Saxon warriors to defend their property, and many of these warriors married native women and settled down with their families. The Roman army in the north still had Germanic soldiers in it. There were Saxon traders in the towns and cities; and Saxon workers cultivated the land in Kent in exchange for occasional military service.

From the Iron Age onwards, the native English have been called “Britons”. However, that term is really only correct for the Atlantic English of the western coasts – these are the Britons who would migrate to Gaul and establish the province of Brittany; they spoke Celtic and Gaelic. There were also many Britons in the north, as a remainder of old tribal groupings.

Native English also lived in central, south and east England. However, they lived in the areas that the Saxon settlers would eventually dominate (sometimes peacefully, and sometimes by violent means). The name of England would come from one of these groups of settlers, the Angles. “Engla land” was the Viking description.

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bongaboi · 5 years ago

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The Duterte Difference

What this Government under DU30 is DOING???

1. PH external debt sheds $5.2B as of June 2017. 2. Highest PSEi closed at all-time high 8.4 3. Crime rate in Manila drops by 38% for the past 12 months. 4. Duterte's Political Will costs: 6 Billion from Lucio Tan, 1.7 Billion w/o Tax from Mile Long Property and 40 Billion from Mighty Cigarettes 5. Free tuition in SUCs 6. Free internet in public places 7. Passport validity extension to ten years 8. Driver's license validity extension to five years 9. Stiffer penalties for hospitals refusing to treat patients 10. The indefinite ceasefire between the MNLF, MILF, CPP NDF and the government (held in Norway) 11. The centralised complaint and action hotlines - 911 and 8888 12. The one stop shop for OFW in POEA which is way better than before 13. The removal of processing fee on travel tax exemption 14. The 2,000 pesos SSS pension raise 15. The much empowered servicemen who are now willing to serve the country with pride and higher self esteem 16. The servicemen's one in a million dinner at Malacanang opportunity 17. The rounds in all of the defense camps to see what each station needs so that they can give better service to the country 18. The shutdown/closure of some mining companies that destroy the country's natural resources 19. The removal of the fishing fences in Manila Bay to give other small fishermen a fair chance to use it for their livelihood 20. The new buses from the airport to many major hubs in nearby cities 21. The one sack rice added to 4Ps cash assistance to our less fortunate fellowmen 22. The salary increase of the servicemen which is bound to happen any moment soon - and the soon to be state of the art equipped hospital for them. 23. The hastened benefits claiming of the family of our fallen men 24. The increased allowance of our olympics delegates 25. The immediate signing of Freedom of Information 26. The exposés against local executives, police generals, judges and other top officials in government 27.The now better looking cleaner Baclaran, Divisoria and other public places 28. The employment increase and unemployment decrease 29. The exposés against olligarchs who have been evading to pay taxes 30. The lower street crimes because most of the nutters who are more likely to commit the crimes have already surrendered and therefore identified 31. The Mindanao peace process that has resumed again in Malaysia 32. The bilateral talks with China over the WPS dispute 33. The launch of Oplan Tokhang which has more positive results - including the not so good ones 34. The cooperation and openness of fenced elite subdivisions for Oplan Tokhang as they show support to the war on drugs campaign 35. The billions worth of drugs seized in the operation 36. The closure of so many drug labs all over the country 37. The more regulated and SAF manned BUCOR 38. The no VIP treatment for government officials in airports 39. The ongoing improvements of MRT/LRT service and other major thoroughfares 40. The customs installation of CCTVs all over the place to promote transparency 41. The crackdown of Bilibid Drug Trade and the expose' of Lielie de Lima 42. DFA is now faster in processing passports. 43. Fixers are now out of sight 44. End of Contractualization 45. No more age limit requirements to all job seekers. 46. The closure of online gambling. From 4 thousand outlets during the arroyo admin, to 8 thousand outlets during Aquino admin 47. OEC exemption for OFWs returning to same employer! Finally no need to pay and go through the troublesome process of acquiring OEC. 48. The extension of passport validity to 10 years 49. The curfew hours for minors. 50. free tuition in state universities and colleges for Filipino undergraduate students starting Academic Year 2017-2018; 51. free irrigation; 52. free medical assistance in six hospitals that offer the Libreng Gamot Para sa Masa (Lingap) program which benefited some 9,429 indigents (from March to June 9); 53. microfinancing assistance that gives Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program for the underprivileged Filipino entrepreneurs, with Mindoro, Leyte, and Sarangani as pilot provinces; 54. additional P600 rice subsidy to each Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) household beneficiary; 55. strict enforcement of labor laws particularly on security of tenure, which saw the regularization of 45,605 workers (from July 2016 to March 2017); 56. across-the-board increase in the monthly pension of more than two-million Social Security System (SSS) retirees; 57. awarding of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) to Hacienda Luisita farmers starting with 111 beneficiaries, as of February 2017; and 58. fast-tracking the rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected areas with the construction of 50,791 housing units and 1,790 new classrooms and the repair of 701 state colleges and universities, 38 airport facilities, and 27 seaport facilities, as of the first quarter of 2017. 59 implementation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) in the Executive Branch; 60. Creation of 8888 Citizen's Complaint Hotline for erring government officials; 61. online streaming of closed-circuit television (CCTV) inside the offices at the Bure59au of Customs (BOC); 62. social media livestreams of the President’s activities and Palace briefings; 63. the creation of a presidential task force on media security; 64. reduction of processing days of business permits and licenses (down to 2 days for new business registration and 1 day for renewals), Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) (down to 2 working days from submission of complete documents), and certificates authorizing registration (down to 5 days from the previous 10 days); 65. extension of the validity of driver’s licenses from 3 years to 5 years; 66. implementation of a 3-day maximum time for Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) applications; and 67. establishment of a one-stop service center for OFWs. 68. The distribution of the agricultural equipment that were purchased by the previous government but weren't distributed for some political reasons 69. The immediate repatriation of stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia (which if I remember it right, one Kuya was crying when he finally touched base simply because he could now be reunited with his loved ones because those who were sent by the previous government only visited them to have some selfies with them.) 70. The laglag bala at the airport has finally stopped right after PRRD took office. I personally experienced that worry free moment and noticed that no more luggages with plastic wraps. 71. The services in the government agencies are much faster and employees have started to treat the people with some respect and even with a smile. The transactions are much better these days. 72. The legit balikbayan boxes are no longer mishandled. 73. Memorandum Circular 25 directing the display of visual representations of Philippine Heroes in lieu of elected or appointed government officials. 74. Removal of giving scheduled passport renewal slots fo travel agencies. 75. The opening of the DAR gates which where were closed for 18 years 76. The distribution of the long overdue Hacienda Luisita to the farmers 77. The irrigation projects for the farmers have already started and nationwide - not to mention the distribution of many boats for our fishermen too. 78. The almost 700,000 surrenderees who have realized that drugs won't give them the future they're hoping for 79. to all doomwhongers, we are the 10th highest fast growing economy with GDP of 6.7

#NaDuterteAko

#2019 #philippines #rodrigo duterte

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therealeagal · 6 years ago

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Pokemon Let’s Go

Picked up this game (I got Let’s Go Pikachu) some time ago and I’ve been playing it quite a lot.

I love it to itty bitty pieces.

It’s a console pokemon game I always wanted. The capture controls are literally the only downside. Well, aside from the not-really-that-big-of-a-deal stuff like limiting the game to the original 151 (with Mew once again left out of the loop unless you want to pay an extra 100 dollars or some shit) and only one region to visit.

“But Eagal!” I hear you say, “If you farm 453246374 candies in order to max out the stats for each of your pokemon, right after you chain 943539487345 of them in order to get a shiny with maximized IV distribution and beneficial nature then the game will be too easy!”

Counterpoint: I invite you - in only the nicest possible manner - to die a slow, horribly painful death in a grease fire.

Any game can be easy if you go out of your way to make it so.

But if you’re just playing through the game it’s no more difficult than any other pokemon game. I myself have only just reached the Elite Four and my team of mid-50s level pokemon, which includes fan-favorite Charizard, have only barely scraped by the big battles to date with a judicious application of healing items, having neglected the Candy stat raising system for use in post-game.

It is rare for me to defeat an Elite Four on the first try in any pokemon game.

“But Eagal!” I hear you say, “The first gym, and only the first gym, requires you to have a type advantage in order to challenge the gym. This is evidence that the game does nothing but hand-hold you through the entire experience!!!”

“But Eagal!” I hear you say, “If every enemy trainer in the game isn’t stocked with a team of 78 Mewtwos with 99,999,999,999,999,999,999 in every stat then what’s even the point of playing the game?”

”But Eagal!” I hear you say, “This game will attract filthy casuals - or worse, POKEMON GO PLAYERS! - to the series and it will forever taint the purity of Pokemon!”

“But Eagal!” I hear you say, “HERPDEEDERPDEEDERP!”

It’s a great game. Play it, love it. If you don't, I hate you.

#pokemon #pokemon let's go #pokemon let's go pikachu #pokemon let's go eevee #pokemon go #mew #charizard #Elite Four

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78elite-blog · 7 years ago

Quote

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goet

#quotes #motivational #leadershp #action #relentless execution #relentless #78 elite #78 elite consulting #78 Elite Columbus #78eliteconsulting #elite conuslting #be elite #be elite in 2017 #78 elite consulting reviews #elite consulting reviews #elite consulting pay #consulting #columbus #ohio

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theliberaltony · 6 years ago

Link

via FiveThirtyEight

The New York Times published a story last week about how some Democratic presidential candidates — notably Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris — had said that they are open to the idea of the government paying reparations to black Americans as a restitution for slavery. The two candidates were cautious in their statements on the issue — both to the Times and in a subsequent Washington Post story — primarily emphasizing the history of racial discrimination in the U.S. Neither candidate laid out specific details about how they think a reparations program should work, and I’d be surprised if either of them put out a formal reparations plan — it’s a very unpopular idea. (More on that later.)

But it was notable that neither those two nor several other 2020 candidates contacted by the Times really wanted to firmly oppose reparations either, as past Democratic presidential candidates have. That shift away from outright opposition to reparations is another sign of how the Democratic Party is moving toward more progressive stands on racial issues.1

But the reparations news made me curious: On which issues is the racial liberalism of the Democrats in line with the broader public — and where is it not? So I looked at the polling around different policies and rhetoric on racial issues. This is not a comprehensive examination, but an informal look at public opinion research since President Trump’s election.

Before we dive in, I should emphasize two things. First, it’s not new or surprising that ideas that we consider controversial don’t poll well. That’s kind of the point of bold ideas — they wouldn’t be bold if everyone already agreed with them. And, historically, racial liberalism in particular has often been unpopular — Martin Luther King Jr. may be almost universally revered now, but he was not in the 1960s. Secondly, there’s a difference between “unpopular” and “bad policy” and between “popular” and “good policy.” Some ideas that are unpopular may be right or effective — Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” is very well-argued. I don’t want to suggest that just because a racial justice idea is unpopular that it shouldn’t be enacted.

I have divided these results into three categories: ideas or rhetoric that is broadly popular (more than 60 percent support from Americans overall), ideas that are unpopular (less than 40 percent support), and those that are somewhere in between.

Popular

This category includes vague notions of multiculturalism, ones that I assume most Americans support and that it would be hard to tell a pollster that you oppose. The policy ideas that are fairly popular, such as allowing felons to vote after they have finished their sentences, tend to be those that split Republican elites, with some opposing the ideas and others embracing them.

Here are the some of the popular ideas:

Racial and religious tolerance: 86 percent of Americans believe a significant part of being “truly American” is accepting people of diverse racial and religious backgrounds, according to a poll released this month by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic.

Acceptance of nonwhite people: 78 percent say that being of Western European heritage is not important to being American, according to that same PRRI survey.

Ending mandatory minimum prison sentences: 75 percent of Americans back this idea, according to the PRRI survey.

The U.S. is a “nation of immigrants”: 73 percent of Americans hold this view, according to a a January 2018 HuffPost/YouGov poll.

Allowing felons to vote after they have finished their sentences: 63 percent of adults “strongly” or “somewhat” support such a policy, according to a March 2018 HuffPost/YouGov survey.

Programs to increase racial diversity on college campuses are a good thing: 71 percent of Americans agree with that notion, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll.

Optimism about bridging racial divides: 66 percent of Americans are optimistic that people of different racial and religious backgrounds can work together to solve the country’s problems, according to the February 2019 PRRI report.

Allowing undocumented immigrants to become citizens: 62 percent of Americans support a path to citizenship if undocumented immigrants meet certain requirements, according to that same PRRI survey.

The country has not done enough to give equal rights to blacks: 61 percent of Americans hold this view, according to the 2017 Pew poll.

Muslims have a disadvantage for getting ahead in the U.S.: 60 percent of Americans agree with that statement, according to a 2018 Associated Press-NORC poll.

White people do have some advantage for getting ahead in the U.S.: 60 percent agree, according to that same AP-NORC poll.

Separating children from their parents at the border is a human rights violation: 60 percent of Americans agree with that statement, according to a July 2018 Quinnipiac University poll.

Mixed opinions

This section is generally made up of policies and rhetoric that splits the parties at the elite level — i.e., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would likely support most of these items, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would oppose them. That elite divide mirrors similar partisan divides in the electorate. Not coincidentally, this section includes more issues and policy questions that have been top-of-mind in U.S. politics over the past several years. (Views of the Black Lives Matter movement are a good example.) Similarly, general expressions of tolerance of all races and religions are popular, but Americans are more divided when you get more specific.

Here are some of these somewhat controversial ideas:

Being Christian is not essential to being American: About 56 percent of Americans say being Christian is not an important part of being truly American, according to the February 2019 PRRI report. (Thirty-nine percent said being Christian is important.)

Trump has emboldened people who hold racist beliefs to express those beliefs publicly: 55 percent of Americans agreed with this notion, according to the Quinnipiac survey that was released in July 2018.

Black and Latino Americans each have some disadvantage for getting ahead in the U.S.: 51 percent of Americans have that view, when asked about each group individually, according to the 2018 AP-NORC poll.

Agree with the views of the Black Lives Matter movement: 50 percent of Americans said they “mostly” agree, according to a 2017 Marist poll.

It should be easier to immigrate to the U.S.: 49 percent of Americans agreed with that idea, compared with 32 percent who said that it should be harder, according to the Quinnipiac poll released in July 2018 .

Trump is a racist: 49 percent of Americans hold this view, according to the Quinnipiac poll.

The U.S. should not define itself as a country of Western European descendants: In the PRRI survey, respondents were asked to put themselves on a scale where one end is the statement that they “would prefer the U.S. to be a nation made up of people from all over the world” and the other end is the statement that they “would prefer the U.S. to be a nation primarily made up of people from Western European heritage.” Forty-seven percent said they mostly agreed with the first statement.

Being born in the U.S. is not important to being American: 46 percent of people in the PPRI survey agreed with this idea. A similar share (50 percent) said being born here is important.

Kneeling as a form of protest during the national anthem: A 2018 Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 42 percent of Americans felt kneeling was appropriate, compared with 53 percent who disagreed.2

Racial discrimination, as opposed to personal actions, is holding back African-Americans who can’t get ahead: 41 percent agreed with this view, according to the 2017 Pew poll, while a plurality said that such Americans were largely responsible for their own condition.

Unpopular

This section is largely made up of ideas that are to the left of the consensus within the Democratic Party. Taking down Confederate monuments in public places, for example, splits Democratic voters, while Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed. This section is shorter than those above in part because pollsters don’t tend to ask about ideas that are not backed strongly by either party, since those have little chance of becoming reality.

Here some very controversial ideas:

Confederate monuments in public spaces should be removed: 39 percent support this view, according to a 2017 Quinnipiac poll.

The number of immigrants in America should increase: 28 percent of Americans hold this view, according to a June 2018 Gallup poll, with 39 percent of Americans wanting immigration levels to stay the same and 29 percent wanting them to decrease.

Reparations: A July 2018 survey from the left-leaning Data for Progress found that 26 percent of Americans supported some kind of compensation or cash benefits for the descendants of slaves. A May 2016 Marist survey also found that 26 percent of Americans said the U.S. should pay reparations as “a way to make up for the harm caused by slavery and other forms of racial discrimination.”3

Abolishing the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency: 25 percent of Americans said they supported this idea, according to a July 2018 Politico/Morning Consult poll; 54 percent wanted the agency to remain.

Reparations, along with abolishing ICE, are very unpopular. This was not surprising to me, which is why I was surprised when I first saw the headline, “2020 Democrats Embrace Race-Conscious Policies, Including Reparations” in the Times. But the candidates’ actual comments were more in the vein of our first two categories — somewhat vague acknowledgements of the inequality that black Americans face. The challenge for Democratic elected officials, as the party leans into its racial liberalism, will be how to translate the public’s general pro-minority proclivities into policy. I suspect that Democratic presidential candidates will end up pushing policies that limit how aggressive ICE can be and that address the wealth gap between black and whites — but fall short of explicit calls for abolishing ICE or giving reparations.

But I think there is another potential outcome — Democratic elites moving Democratic voters and then the broader public toward more racially liberal positions. There are many factors behind the growing support for marijuana legalization, but one may be that liberal activists have successfully convinced the public that aggressive policing of marijuana use has resulted in unfair treatment of black Americans.

#IFTTT #FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Perry Bacon Jr.

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