#Apprentice Series Florida

[ericdeggans]

Why you should care about the TV Critics Association Press Tours, even if you are not a TV critic

Back in the day, years ago, it happened with regularity: A snarky story in one of the entertainment industry trade magazines taking a shot at the Television Critics Association’s twice-annual press tours.

Before we go on, a bit of inside baseball for context: the TCA is a group of critics and journalists who cover the TV industry, and two times a year we hold a conference of sorts in Los Angeles. Loads of major TV outlets participate, rolling out press conferences, receptions, set visits and interview opportunities to promote series and projects rolling out over the next six months or so.

The most recent TCA press tour, which I attended in Pasadena, Calif. (the picture above shows me giving the group's Heritage Award to Twin Peaks during the TCA Awards July 12), concluded in the middle of last week. And, predictable as an afternoon rain shower in Florida, The Hollywood Reporter rolled out a tough piece describing “The Incredible Shrinking Press Tour.”

“Frustrations with a staid press conference format, accelerated by Hollywood belt-tightening and the COVID-era shift away from in-person gatherings, to say nothing of severe budget cuts across the media landscape, have taken a visible toll on the press tour,” read the story, which quoted unnamed publicists of TV programmers sniping about having to participate. “An event that once stretched more than two packed weeks wrapped its latest cycle on July 17 after a thin eight days. Powerhouse streamers such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon were absent, and not a single programming executive took the stage to face down the press.”

(cast of Brooklyn Nine Nine at a TCA set visit)

True enough, this year’s press tour was smaller than previous outings; the event has struggled to return after COVID sidelined much of the TV industry. But Hollywood has also been buffeted by the impact of two strikes last year and concern – so far averted – that there might be a third this year.

A surplus of TV programming, increased production costs and caution about this year’s climate has led some big projects to be delayed until next year – more than one person in the industry joked to me about the phrase many are repeating in Hollywood, hoping to “survive until 2025.” Downsizing in media has also made it tougher for journalists to find the time and financial resources to attend press conferences at a swanky hotel which stretch out over more than a week.

Turns out, there’s lots of reasons why the tour has slimmed down this year, as the industry itself recalibrates and refocuses amid lots of institutional change.

But, as someone who has attended TCA tours since 1997 – yes, I’m THAT old -- I’m here to say that the tour remains a relevant and useful part of covering the industry, despite the anonymous sniping of assorted industry types.

(Yours truly visiting The Price is Right set during a TCA tour.)

When I first began attending tour, as the TV critic for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, the event was filled with critics like me from regional papers from across the country. We were trying to give our local readers insight into an industry which came into their living rooms nightly for hours at time. And for me, the TCA tour was an invaluable crash course in modern television.

Over the years, I got to know publicists who arranged exclusive visits to the sets of ER, Six Feet Under, Sex and The City and Law & Order. I quizzed industry leaders at on the record receptions, including former CBS head Les Moonves, Fox News founder Roger Ailes, Survivor and The Apprentice executive producer Mark Burnett, FX head John Landgraf and Scandal/Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes.

When the late, lamented UPN network created a sitcom that felt a bit too close to being a veiled comedy about slavery – the show was called The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, look it up – I was there to challenge the network’s executives and its producers. When Ailes and the Fox News anchor Chris Wallace tried to deny the way the cable newschannel favored conservatives, I was there, again, with access I would never have gotten any other way.

Most recently, in February, I asked producers from The Bachelor franchise why the show has struggled to handle racial issues – leading to losing its longtime host Chris Harrison and, possibly, the show’s creator Mike Fleiss. Their eight seconds of silence before a roomful of TV critics spoke volumes and sparked headlines nationwide.

There are few other major industries in America where the people who run things are expected to regularly face a group of journalists asking questions, sometimes pointed, about the decisions they have made. Given that media is occupying an increasing portion of our lives, having a forum where the press can interrogate the work of newscasters, documentarians, reality TV producers, media executives, series showrunners and big stars in public is incredibly valuable – both to journalists and the general public.

(former ABC entertainment president Jamie Tarses faced tough questions from reporters at TCA in 1997.)

The TCA tour has drawn lots of barbs over the years, from complaints from TV outlets about how much it costs to present press conferences, receptions and special events, to criticisms about the value of promotional items given to critics (that’s been severely toned down from the time, decade ago, when one network handed me a free cellphone after a press conference. I handed it back, noting it was far too valuable a gift to accept.)

But, as a former TCA board member from many years ago, I think what really rankles some in the TV industry is how little control they have over what happens at tours. Despite loads of coaching from experienced publicists, it is tough to predict what questions will be asked during a 40-minute press session, and an off-the-mark response can resonate for a while (Besides The Bachelor producers, I remember stars like Roseanne Barr, Katherine Heigl and even Donald Trump earning lots of critical coverage from bad press tour appearances.)

Entertainment trade publications have also often cast shade on the press tour, which regularly invites legions of less powerful and more removed journalists into the kind of access they usually enjoy.

What keeps the tour going, beyond its value to TCA members, is the ever-increasing need for publicity to punch through a media environment filled with more noise, distraction and competition than ever. Those who make TV need more ways to reach consumers, and the TCA tours still offer programmers the opportunity to reach journalists who connect with millions of consumers every day.

If the TCA press tours go away, what will be left is overly stage-managed press conferences wholly controlled by the TV outlets, with access severely limited to journalists and critics in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

I hope that doesn’t happen. Because my time at the TCA has been among the most rewarding experiences in a long career, offering a window into the TV industry that is unparalleled and always enlightening.

[stu-dyingstudent]

Some ya book recs because why not?

the mediator series by meg cabot (teen girl can see ghosts and once moving to California she finds her room is haunted by one. Quick reads, lots of fun, and even some action if you like that)

Mara dyer trilogy by Michelle Hodkin (after a traumatic incident she can’t remember that kills her friends, Mara moves to Florida and starts at a new school. Things start getting really weird and her sanity is questioned)

second chance summer by Morgan matson (with her dad dying of cancer his last wish is to spend his last few months as a family in their lake house. Really sad, lots of family and friendship stuff)

Michigan vs the Boys by Carrie S Allen (girl has to join the boys hockey team after the girls team gets cut. She faces heavy bullying/hazing and it’s really heartfelt)

First & Then by Emma Mills (Devon’s younger cousin comes to live with her family and somehow joins the school’s football team. Now she’s forced to interact with some people she doesn’t really want to)

what happens next by Colleen J Clayton (after being raped on a school trip her life is completely thrown off the tracks. She befriends the school stoner and tries to move on with life. Pretty emotional)

the disappearance of Sloan Sullivan by Gia cribbs (sloan is in her last year under the witness protection program until things don’t go as planned. Interesting mystery)

stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri maniscalco (a girl interested in forensic science joins forces with her uncle’s annoying apprentice to solve murder cases)

my heart and other black holes by jasmine warga (two teens make a death pack. Lots of talk about suicide)

saving Francesca by Melina marchetta (a girl’s mother falls into depression and the family starts to break apart. She tries and keep going and makes new friends at school)

Anyway, hopefully at least something here sounds of interest!

[lboogie1906]

Omarosa Onee Manigault Newman (born February 5, 1974), often known as Omarosa, is a reality television show participant, writer, and former political aide to former President Donald Trump. She became known as a contestant on the first season of The Apprentice.

She became assistant to the President and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison during the Trump administration (January 2017 - December 2017). She competed twice on the Big Brother reality series - in 2018 on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother US (placing 5th), and in 2021 on Big Brother Australia VIP (placing 12th).

She published Unhinged, detailing her tenure at the White House and criticizing Trump and his administration. Two days before the book was released, she released the first of as many as 200 secret tapes she recorded during her White House tenure. As of May 23, 2022, she has released four tapes. The first tape released, which was secretly recorded inside the Situation Room, was described as “one of the worst White House security breaches ever”.

She said that she had turned down an offer of a $15,000 per month “senior position” in the Trump 2020 re-election campaign from Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law, which came with an NDA that was as “harsh and restrictive” as any she had seen in her television career. After the parties disputed the amount of the settlement, the arbitrator set it to $1.3 million in April 2022.

She was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the daughter of Theresa Marie Walker and Jack Thomas Manigault. Her father was murdered when she was seven years old. After graduating from The Rayen School in Youngstown, she earned a BA in communications with a concentration in radio at Central State University. She moved to attend Howard University, where she earned an MA and worked toward a doctorate in communications but did not finish. She has received biblical studies training at Payne Theological Seminary.

She married Aaron Stallworth (2000-2005). She dated actor Michael Clarke Duncan. She married John Allen Newman (2017) and is the senior pastor of The Sanctuary at Mt. Calvary in Jacksonville, Florida. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[rocknews]

Donald Trump Biography

Donald Trump (1946 – ) is the 45th President of the US. For many years he was chairman and president of the Trump Organisation, which has a diverse range of business and real estate businesses. Trump also rose to prominence through his appearance in The Apprentice (U.S.) a reality tv show where contestants bid for the opportunity to head one of Trump’s companies.

Early life

Donald Trump was born 14 June 1946, in Queens, New York to German immigrant parents. His father Fred Trump was a successful real estate developer. It is estimated Donald inherited at least $413 million from his father between the age of 3 and 58. A NYTimes investigation suggested this involve tax avoidance schemes.

Donald attended the private Kew-Forest School, Fordham University and then the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1968 with a degree in economics. He was eligible for the Vietnam draft but received deferments for being a student, and later a medical deferment, attributed to heel spurs in both feet.

After leaving university, he worked with his father in real estate development in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. In the 1970s, with help from his father, he then moved to Manhattan, where Trump created the Trump Organisation.

Net Worth of Donald Trump

In 2012, Trump declared his own net worth at around $7 billion. In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at $4 billion. When running for Presidential candidate in 2015, Trump claimed a net worth in excess of ten billion dollars, though he said it can fluctuate with markets.

Trump was given $40 million from his father in 1974 (1)

Other interests

From 1996 to 2015, Trump owned part of Miss Universe beauty pageants. Though Trump sold his interests in 2015, after a dispute over his presidential address on Mexican immigrants.

Television

In 2003, Trump became the executive producer of the NBC programme – The Apprentice. It was one of the most popular tv programmes, with Trump selecting a candidate to gain a job in his business. During the series, Trump would fire the unsuccessful candidates with the catchphrase “You’re fired”

Politics

2016 election

Despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million, Trump won the electoral college 306 – 232, after securing the swing states, such as Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Total votes

Clinton 65,844,610 – 48.20% Trump 62,979,636 – 46.10% Others 7,804,213 – 5.70%

2017 Presidential office

Trump took office on January 20, 2017. Among his first executive orders were an order to ban immigrants from Muslim countries, such as Syria and Iraq. He also sought to, unsuccessfully, repeal Obama Health Care and build a wall between US and Mexico.

Trump has courted controversy for supporting far-right organisations and appearing to be sympathetic to white supremacist groups. He has also frequently been accused of lying or giving misleading statements. Read More On..

[evamakinuniverse-blog]

The Right Kind Of Tools For Efficient Electrical Jobs In Florida

The article informs the readers about the importance of the right kind of electrical tools for performing electrical jobs efficiently. There are a number of electrical tools supplying companies in Florida which supplies their products to the electrical contractors of entire Florida and its adjoining areas.

Having the right kind of tools has a number of advantages. Since the inception of human life, tools are used by us for performing various tasks and jobs. Choosing the right kind of tool makes a lot of difference in the kind of work which is being done. There are a wide variety of tools available in the market for performing various tasks and in every specific field, it is very important to choose tools properly and wisely. When work is done with the correct type of tools it not only improves the quality of the work, it also increases the effectiveness of the job done.

The job performed by the electricians is quite sensitive in nature as it involves a number of safety issues. Without the right kind of electrical tools, it is nearly impossible for the electricians to perform their job successfully. Nowadays with the advancements of technology different types of specialized tools are being invented and electrical contractors are required to have all the different varieties of specialized tools to deal with different types of electrical problem with ease and efficiency.

Tools in an electrical contractor's arsenal include having a variety of hand tools and power tools. Within the purview of hand tools come:

·         Pliers

·         Screwdrivers

·         Wire strippers

·         Fishtapes and poles

·         Measuring devices

When it comes to power tools every electrical contractor is supposed to have power drills, saws, cable tugger selector and a number of other devices. In recent times power tools have an ergonomic design and are made lighter and easier to handle. The small compact tools are packed with high power suitable for performing tasks of varying size.

Having power tools simplifies the job to a certain extent. For example, cable tugger or cable puller without which it is very difficult to imagine wiring an entire commercial project. Cable tuggers are available in different sizes and with varying pulling force. With this equipment, the job of cable installation becomes faster and efficient. There are a number of other associated accessories used in cable tuggers.

In Florida, there are a number of companies which supplies electrical tools to the electrical contractors of the whole of Florida. Most of the well-known electrical tools supplying companies are there in the business of electrical tools for quite some time now and have earned a good name and reputation for supplying tools which are capable of offering the highest quality of performance. One can search the vast world of the web by simply typing tools for electricians contractors Florida and the list of all the companies which supplies electrical tools in and around Florida will come up on the screen and from there the customers can choose a supplier as per their requirements.

[grim-on-the-darkside]

George Lucas Sequel Trilogy [Some new info and some old]

 George Lucas's Sequel Trilogy

~ George Lucas Interview, Star Wars Archives: Eps I-III: 1999-2005: by author Paul Duncan.

"Darth Maul trained a girl. Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the 2 main villains of the trilogy. Maul eventually becomes the Godfather of crime in the universe because as the Empire falls, he takes over.

The movies are about how Leia - I mean, who else is going to be the leader? - is trying to build the Republic. They still have the apparatus of the Republic but they have to get it under control from the gangsters. That was the main story.

It starts out a few years after Return of the Jedi and we establish pretty quickly that there's this underworld, there are these offshoot stormtroopers who started their own planets, and that Luke is trying to restart the Jedi. He puts the word out, so out of 100,000 Jedi, maybe 50 to 100 are left. The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two- and three-year-olds, and train them. It'll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi.

By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One."

............................

[Luke dies in Episode 9]

.............................

Commenter - 'How many students were at Luke's Jedi 'academy"? Was it even an academy?'

Pablo - "We'd likely never use that term. That's very EU, not very George. It'd be a temple. As for numbers, can't say now."

~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2015

https://ibb.co/k38HzwX

..............................

"In late August 2012 Star Wars fans from all around the world gathered in Orlando, Florida for the sixth official Star Wars convention, Celebration VI. The lineup was strong despite the live action movies, always the brightest and biggest stars in the franchise’s galaxy, coming to an end seven years earlier. Though he was not scheduled to attend, series creator George Lucas was there. Publicly, he was just there to make a surprise appearance during the panel for the animated The Clone Wars TV show. But privately he was there to talk to original trilogy stars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. They were brought to a conference room away from the convention floor where George broke the news: he was working a new Star Wars trilogy and wanted them to reprise their iconic roles." [Disney didn't buy Lucasfilm/Star Wars until October 30th of 2012. This meeting occured two months before the sale, and at that point, the sale couldn't be assured.]

(1/3/2018)

Just days after posting this, Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo tweeted out some information about the early versions of Episode VII (Skyler is another name for the Sam/Finn character).

Skyler and Kira (and Kira wasn’t the first proposed name either; she had at least two others) became, after a fashion, Finn and Rey. The Jedi Killer morphed from Talon corrupting the son to becoming the son. Uber became Snoke. The starting point shifted. Yadda yada yada.

The son falling to the dark side was always in the mix. The movies just ended up having it already an established fact.

Skyler was the son in some versions. And as for how all that was gonna go down, that ain’t my story to tell.

And in 2016, he confirmed that Thea (Kira/Rey), Skyler, Darth Talon, and the planet of Felucia were in George’s plans.

Question - ‘But Talon was in the treatment, right?’

Pablo - “Yes.”  “

‘Hmm… assuming this is still 30 years after RoTJ, wouldn’t that kinda mess with the Chosen One thing?’

Pablo - “Depends on whether or not she was a Sith, I suppose. George wasn’t all that interested in her EU backstory.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo Tweet [Archived] (June 19, 2016)

https://ibb.co/NYVW7w3

......

(1/6/2018)

Added quote from Harrison Ford about George Lucas telling him during their first Episode VII related call that Han would die. Also added more information about the timeline.

(6/14/2018)

Added information and quotes from George about the inclusion of the Whills in his sequel trilogy.

(6/26/2018)

Added information from Mark Hamill about Luke training Leia in Episode IX before dying.

(11/28/2018)

Added concept painting from artist Christian Alzmann that received a “Fabulouso” stamp from George Lucas.

https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/george-lucas-episode-vii-c272563cc3ba

“The ones that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote.” ~ Lucas on his Sequel Trilogy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

More generally, Hamill compared the approaches between Lucas and Disney's Star Wars films:

Mark Hamill quotes about Lucas Sequel Trilogy -

"George had an overall arc – if he didn't have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going – but this one's more like a relay race. You run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.

"I happen to know that George didn't kill Luke until the end of [Episode] 9, after he trained Leia. Which is another thread that was never played upon [in The Last Jedi]."

Where Lucas would have taken the second set of prequels. Though Leia and Luke communicate telepathically, fans have never really seen her use the Force. Mark Hamill had this to say about Leia using the Force in George Lucas' original writings.

   "This is always something that interest me because we can communicate telepathically and I tell her in one of the movies, I guess the third one, you have that power too. So I always wondered, and I don't read the fanfiction, [Expanded Universe] why she wouldn't fully develop her Force sensibilities and I think that's something George Lucas addressed in his original outline for 7, 8, 9. I was talking to him last week, but they're not following George's ideas so we'll have to wait and see on that one. But it seems like a waste of an innate talent that she should utilize in some way."

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-leia-originally-used-force-george-lucas/

[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.

  Back in the day, I used to say ultimately what this means is we’re just cars, vehicles, for the Whills to travel around in…. We’re vessels for them. And the conduit is the midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians are the ones that communicate with the Whills. The Whills, in a general sense, they are the Force.

   All the way back to — with the Jedi and the Force and everything — the whole concept of how things happen was laid out completely from [the beginning] to the end. But I never got to finish. I never got to tell people about it.

   If I’d held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.”

~ George Lucas, James Cameron interview

https://io9.gizmodo.com/george-lucas-ideas-for-his-own-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-1826798496

Dear Maker, You are missed. You are the canon.

[mayquita]

Colin O’Donoghue on Playing Heroes and Villains in ‘Wizards,’ ‘The Right Stuff,’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’

From the creative mind of Guillermo del Toro and executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Chad Hammes, the final chapter in the Tales of Arcadia saga sees its characters go on an epic time-travel adventure in Camelot. Wizards follows Douxie (voiced by Colin O’Donoghue), a 900-year-old wizard-in-training who, along with Jim (voiced by Emile Hirsch), Claire (voiced by Lexi Medrano) and Steve (voiced by Steven Yeun), must ensure that good prevails over evil, in the escalating conflict between the human and magical worlds.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, Colin O’Donoghue talked about being a part of the Tales of Arcadia world, why he was so delighted to get to voice an animated character, what he loved about his character’s journey, getting to revisit Camelot, and what the voice recording process was like. He also talked about why the upcoming Disney+ TV series The Right Stuff appealed to him, whether he was personally satisfied with the ending of Once Upon A Time, and the great time he had playing Captain Hook.

Collider: When this whole project originally came your way, did you know that Trollhunters would only be one part of this whole Tales from Arcadia world, and that there would be also be 3Below and Wizards?

COLIN O’DONOGHUE: I did. I understood that would be the case. I came in, in the second season of Trollhunters, and I knew the character would also be in 3Below. I was in the background, and a character that made people go, “Who is this guy? Why is he there?” I think it’s really good that was teased. It’s worked pretty well, and he was a lot of fun to play. Especially in Wizards, it was really great fun.

How did you get involved with this project? Was this something that you had to go through an audition process for?

O’DONOGHUE: What happened was that they reached out to my agents about it. It was a few years ago, so I can’t remember if I had to do a quick voice recording, just so that they could hear it. But I think that they’d seen Once Upon A Time and had heard my voice. I was stoked. I was delighted to get the offer. I couldn’t wait to do it. I was gonna go study animation in college, so I’ve always been fascinated with the whole process and I’ve always wanted to do an animated film.

This character definitely goes on a big journey in Wizards. What was it that you most responded to, with his story? What did you love about the journey that you got to take with him, now that he’s at the center of the story?

O’DONOGHUE: I loved the relationship with Merlin, and with Archie, as well. I thought it was fun to see him try to be this apprentice wizard, who so desperately wants to become a master wizard and prove himself to Merlin, and getting to see how he progresses, or if he’s even able to do it or not. That was something that I was really happy to explore.

What was it like to find and establish Douxie, in the beginning, in just these little bits, and then really get to dive into him and get to know him so much more, over this season? Did you always know who he would be, at the end, or were there things that you really got to learn about him, along the way?

O’DONOGHUE: I knew that he was a wizard, and I knew that he was quite a powerful wizard. It was just so much fun, having these tiny little things with him that made an impact with people. And then, to really get to do everything that I did on Wizards was fantastic because he really is a great character to play, and a lot of fun. And also, the writing on this show is just so great to get to live with for awhile and really explore.

It definitely seems a bit tricky to explore the origins of the entire mythology of the trilogy while also taking these characters on their own new adventure. How did you feel about the way that it all tied together and the way the story ends? What was your reaction to finding out how things would all play out, by the end of it?

O’DONOGHUE: I was amazing. Whether it was on this or on Once Upon A Time, I’m always amazed at how writers, especially in fantasy, keep track of everything, let alone tie it all together. I’m always amazed that they’re able to do that. And in Wizards, they’ve really done an incredible job of blending the three series together into this one final thing. I just think it’s so smart and so clever, the way they do it. I couldn’t do it. That’s why I’m an actor, and someone else is writing the show.

I was very impressed with how we get to see some of the past characters and we get to see the mythology of Camelot. Pulling all of that together was really impressive.

O’DONOGHUE: I was excited to get to go to Camelot again. We did a season of Once Upon A Time in Camelot, so it was fun to see the version of Camelot that they did in Wizards.

What was the recording process like on this? Were you always in a booth alone?

O’DONOGHUE: I was always alone. I live in Ireland, so most of what I did was done in a recording studio in Dublin. Sometimes, if I was in L.A., I’d go in, but it was always on my own. It’s interesting. It takes a little bit of getting used to because nobody is really feeding you lines. You just say each line, and take a stab at what you think the other character would be saying or reacting to. But I really enjoyed it. Once you get used to that, then it’s really a lot of fun. You get to really ham it up. Maybe a lot of people would say that I’m a ham, but you try to be a little bit more subtle, so it’s fun just to be able to go for it, in animation, because they animate it over the top lines.

Do you know what the time span of work was that you did on this?

O’DONOGHUE: No. It’s been a while. I can’t remember when we recorded the first recording for the first episode of this. It must be a year and a half ago, maybe. I’m not entirely sure. I was in Florida shooting The Right Stuff for five months last year, so it might even be two years. I’m not entirely sure.

Were there ever any major changes, along the way? Did anything change, while you were doing the recording of it, or did everything stay pretty close to the scripts?

O’DONOGHUE: I think everything stayed pretty close to the scripts, if I remember rightly. I don’t think there were any major changes. I might be wrong in this, but when the script was locked, it had gone through so many iterations, at that point. Because they’re creating everything, and every blade of grass, once the script is locked, that’s it. There can be an additional line sometimes, or you might have to do an alternative line, but in general, the script is pretty much locked.

When The Right Stuff came your way, what was it that most interested and excited you about that project?

O’DONOGHUE: I knew the book. I’d read the book, and I’d seen the movie. I’d actually had a meeting at Appian Way, a couple of years ago, and randomly, they gave me the book before there was ever a script, just to have a read of it. And it was one that I really wanted to do, but I was doing Once Upon A Time, at the time, so I didn’t know if I’d be free for anything. Getting to play Gordo Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven, was just amazing. Also, that time period in American history, and the style of it, being from Ireland, that’s America to me, with a ’59 Corvette, Coca Cola bottles, and that kind of style of buildings. And the pilot script was just absolutely fantastic. It was incredible. It was an amazing opportunity to get to play somebody who’s a real-life hero.

Is that the kind of project, as an actor, where it’s hard to get out of your own head? Especially when you’ve read the book and seen the movie and you connect to the project before you even go do it, is it hard to then deal with the pressure you put on yourself?

O’DONOGHUE: I didn’t have a huge amount of time to think about it because somebody else had been cast in the role and they fell out of it. I had a day and a half to figure out what I was going to do before I was on a plane to Florida. It was good ‘cause then I didn’t have time to put pressure on myself. I didn’t have time to panic about what my Oklahoma accent was gonna be. It was actually good, in that respect. So, I wasn’t really nervous about it. I knew the cast was amazing, and I knew the quality of the script and that Appian Way was involved. I was just really excited. And because I played Captain Hook for so long on a show and became so recognizable as that character, it was great to go do something completely different, in a completely different genre and style. I had to shave my beard and look completely different. And then, I got to play an astronaut and test pilot. Who doesn’t wanna do that?

After being on Once Upon A Time for so many seasons, and now having had some time and distance from the show, how do you ultimately feel about the ending and the send-off that your character got? Is it something that you feel personally satisfied and happy with?

O’DONOGHUE: Yeah. The end of Season 6 did exactly what I thought they should do to close off the story of all those characters in Storybrooke. And then, it was fun in Season 7 to get to explore a completely different version of Hook and such a different character. At the end of it all, it was important for Regina to get some sort of redemption. That was always the way that the show should finish. I’m also glad that Eddy [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz] had the opportunity to actually finish the show the way they wanted to finish it, and the way that they had seen it. The show wasn’t canceled before they had a chance to finish it.

Captain Hook must have been such a fun character to get to put your own stamp on.

O’DONOGHUE: Yeah, my version of Hook was the first time that he wasn’t an older, villainous, mustache-twirling kind of guy. As soon as I put on the black leather trousers, the coat, and the eyeliner, that was it. You become Captain Hook. It was fun to do that, and getting to play so many different variations of the character, over the year. That was the good thing about Once Upon A Time. There were so many different realms and time periods that they were in and out of, so it was great. He was a great character to get to play.

Wizards is available to stream at Netflix.

[livingcorner]

Hell’s Kitchen Winners Where Are They Now?

Hell’s Kitchen features Gordon Ramsay as Head Chef alongside two sous chefs to support the contestants in the competition.

You're reading: Hell’s Kitchen Winners Where Are They Now?

Each week there are a number of challenges to test the culinary skills of the contestants, who are all competing for a prize of their own restaurant or the option of working alongside top chefs including Gordon.

Below you can read about the Hell’s Kitchen winners in order and find out what happened next the Hell’s Kitchen Winners from Season 1 to Season 18.

Michael Wray was a professional chef from Fort Collins, Colorado. His dishes were well received by both Gordon and critics and Michael Wray was the Hell’s Kitchen season 1 winner. His choice of prize was to either open his own restaurant or to travel to London to apprentice with Gordon in one of his restaurants.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Michael accepted to work with Gordon but once he realised the strains this would put on his family, he decided not to take up the prize.

He went on to be Head Chef at The Standard in Los Angeles before moving to Arizona. He planned to open his open restaurant HK One, ran his own knife company and taught culinary classes.

In recent years he suffered the loss of his newborn daughter, marriage breakdown and the loss of his home. He has a fundraiser to help raise funds for a food truck, please consider donating here.

Heather West was a Sous Chef from Port Jefferson, New York. Heather was the Hell’s Kitchen Season 2 winner due to her determination and leadership skills.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Heather was Senior Chef at Terra Rossa at the Red Rock Casino in Nevada.

She then moved around restaurants working as Head Chef at Monteray Restaurant, Jellyfish Restaurant, Broadway Grill before moving to Schafers in Port Jefferson. She married in 2014 and has two children.

Rock Harper was an Executive Chef from Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. He was the Hell’s Kitchen season 3 winner due to his confidence in the kitchen, his leadership skills and ability to motivate the team.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Rock worked his year contract at Terra Verde restaurant.

Following this he worked at Ben’s Next Door as Executive Chef, was an instructor at Stratford University and wrote a cookbook called “44 Things Parents Should Know about Healthy Cooking for Kids”.

He appeared on Chef Wanted and won an Executive Chef position at The Precinct but didn’t take up the position. He has been also involved with many businesses in an advisory capacity.

Read more: Kitchen cabinet kickboards

Christina Machamer was a student from St. Louis, Missouri. She was the Hell’s Kitchen season 4 winner due to her great potential.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Christina was offered the position of Senior Sous Chef rather than Executive Chef and she worked at London West Holywood for 10 months before moving to Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro.

After leaving her position, she returned to school where she trained to be a sommelier and now lives in Napa valley. She was Director of Wine and Culinary at B Cellars Vineyards & Winery and now manages the Caldwell Vineyard. She is also a personal chef.

Danny Veltri was an Executive Chef from Edgewater, Florida.Danny was the Hell’s Kitchen season 5 winner due to his growth on the show, he showed Gordon he had all the necessary skills to be crowned the winner due to his talent and maturity.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Danny took up position as a Sous Chef at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey but left after a few months.

He started his own catering company called Back From Hell Catering before moving to Gnarly Surf Bar & Grill, which he helped opened with other investors. He was arrested in 2012 for DUI.

Dave Levey was an Executive Chef from San Diego, California. He was the Hell’s Kitchen season 6 winner due to his natural ability in the kitchen.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Dave took up the position at Araxi Restaurant until the end of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The position he was offered turned out to be a line cook position and not a Head Chef position as he had expected.

He returned to New Jersey where he worked in a number of kitchens and he was arrested as part of a drugs bust in 2014 but was not charged. Dave is currently Head Baker at Mara’s Café & Bakery in Denville.

Holli Ugalde was a Banquet Chef from San Bernardino, California. She was the Hell’s Kitchen season 7 winner due to her growth in confidence and ability during the process.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Holli was not given the position in London due to visa issues, something Holli disputes. She claims she isn’t even sure they applied for it as she never completed any paperwork and instead accepted an undisclosed amount of cash as her prize.

She briefly returned to being a Chef in a hotel in Florida before starting a lifestyle programme called SENS Wellness and is also an Eco-Luxe Designer at Colheita Lighting.

Nona Sivley was a Sous Chef from Atlanta, Georgia. She was the Hell’s Kitchen season 8 winner due to her impressive improvement during the series and her passion for cooking.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Nona took up the Head Chef position at LA Market, with her winning menu being add to the restaurant menu. She left after three years to help her mentor Kerry Simon open his first restaurant Pork & Beans. After the restaurant opened she started her own catering business called Sizzling Peach.

Paul Niedermann was a Sous Chef from Davie, Florida. Paul was the Hell’s Kitchen Season 9 winner due to his passion and determination and he dedicated the win to his mother who had passed away a few months prior.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Paul went to work at BLT Steak but not as Head Chef. He left to become Executive Chef at Hudson at Waterway East and was later Exeucitve Chef at Racks Restaurant Management Group.

Paul is currently Corporate Executive Chef at SALT7.

Christina Wilson was a Chef from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the Hell’s Kitchen season 10 winner beating Justin in the final due to her passion, talent and leadership skills.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Christina took the Head Chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak before moving to become Executive Chef at Gordon Ramsay BurGR in Planet Hollywood Casino. She works closely with Gordon, now overseeing both his Vegas restaurants as Executive Corporate Chef.

She has appeared on Hell’s Kitchen as a Sous Chef on seasons 15, 17 and 18. She also worked in the kitchen behind the scenes on Hotel Hell and 24 Hours to Hell and Back where she trains chefs and helps develop new menus.

Ja’Nel Witt was an Executive Chef from Houston, Texas. Ja’Nel was the Hell’s Kitchen season 11 winner but did not take up the position after allegedly failing a drugs test, she was however offered the $250,000 prize money.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Ja’Nel was Executive Chef at Corner Table before moving to Sammy’s Steakhouse. She is currently Executive Chef at Sonoma Wine Bar & Restaurant. Ja’Nel also did a number of cookery demonstrations, events and hosted cookery classes.

Scott Commings was an Executive Chef from Woodstock, Illinois. He was the Hell’s Kitchen season 12 winner due to his passion, determination and leadership skills.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Scott took up his position as the Head Chef at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace before becoming Executive Chef of Freedom Beat at The Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino. He is also Co-Founder of BLT Foods Las Vegas. In 2018 he opened Stove in Las Vegas with co-owner Antonio Nunez.

Read more: What is a Kitchen Range? | THOR Kitchen

La Tasha McCutchen was a Kitchen Supervisor from Winter Haven, Florida. La Tasha was the Hell’s Kitchen season 13 winner due to her strong leadership skills, cooking ability and her determination.

After Hell’s Kitchen, La Tasha took up the head chef position at Gordon Ramsay’s Pub & Grill at Caesars Atlantic City for a year before becoming a Private Chef. She also does pop up dining events and cookery demonstrations.

Meghan Gill was an Executive Chef from Roanoke, Virginia. Meghan was the Hell’s Kitchen season 14 winner due to her passion, determination and leadership skills.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Meghan took up the winners head chef position at Gordon Ramsay’s Pub & Grill at Caesars Atlantic City.

Ariel Malone was a Country Club Chef from Hackensack, New Jersey. She was the Hell’s Kitchen season 15 winner due to her confidence in the kitchen, cooking ability and her outspoken nature.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Ariel took up the head chef position at BLT Steak at Bally’s Las Vegas until January 2017 before moving on to other opportunities. She has had three children including twin girls.

Kimberly Ann Ryan was an Event Chef from Traverse City, Michigan. Kimberly was the Hell’s Kitchen season 16 winner due to her skills, drive and command in the kitchen.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Kimberly took up the head chef position at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar at The Venetian Las Vegas.

Michelle Tribble was from New York City and competed in season 14, where she came in 3rd place.

Michelle was the Hell’s Kitchen season 17 winner based on her performance in the finale and throughout the season.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Michelle up the position of Head Chef at the Caesars Palace Hell’s Kitchen in Las Vegas with a salary of $250,000.

Ariel Contreras-Fox was from Brooklyn, New York, is a veteran contestant and competed in season 6, where she finished in 3rd place.

Ariel Contreras-Fox was the Hells Kitchen Season 18 winner due to her tremendous growth since her original appearance on Hell’s Kitchen. She proved her talent, leadership and determination throughout and offered runner up Mia a position.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Ariel took up the position as Executive chef position at Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada until March 2020.

In May 2020 she became Vice President of Culinary at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle, Del Frisco’s Grille, and Dos Caminos.

Kori Sutton was an Executive Chef from Los Angeles, California. Kori Sutton was the Hell’s Kitchen season 19 winner.

After Hell’s Kitchen, Kori continued to offer private chef services and will take up the position of Head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant in Lake Tahoe.

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Kitchen

source https://livingcorner.com.au/hells-kitchen-winners-where-are-they-now/

[billantoinette]

Do you remember you took a thrashing for me?

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[elaynab-reading]

FEATURE FRIDAY: Author Kaitlyn Legaspi

For my first ever Feature Friday, I have the opportunity to feature a student at my Alma Mater, Kaitlyn Legaspi, a student at the University of Florida. Today she is launching the final book in her Dark Irregular Trilogy, so why don't you find out more about her and her path to publication below!

Kaitlyn Legaspi is the author of the young adult fantasy trilogy Dark Irregular. Writing passionately on a daily basis, she is publishing the third book in the series...today, May 1st! She plans to add more to her repertoire in the near future. Kaitlyn is entering her junior year as a business undergraduate student at the University of Florida, in addition to writing. Kaitlyn enjoys singing, studying in the nearby boba tea shop, and reading whatever has catches her interest.

ABOUT DARK IRREGULAR

A world consists of two planes of existence. There is the world of the living, where humans, elves, and every whole-spirited creature breathe. Then there is the Void, where demons and beings made of pure darkness, shadows, live.

Almost fifteen years ago, these shadows brought the deaths of the Kingdom of Sylenia's beloved king and queen and the disappearance of their newborn baby. In the present day, the kingdom remains in the capable hands of a young queen, her major generals, and their knights but is constantly threatened by the growing number of shadows that enter the living world.

A secluded young orphan named Kanna is one of the new apprentices that have been chosen to be trained for the purpose of defeating these shadows. Suddenly called upon to become a knight's understudy, she is escorted to the palace by two older apprentices. Along the way, she is attacked by the shadows, much to the apprentices', knights', and even the major generals' confusion.

While Kanna is figuring out why the shadows are targeting her, something else occupies her mind. Every time she is knocked unconscious by a shadow, she has familiar visions about a little boy she vaguely recognizes. Kanna eventually finds the boy that keeps appearing in her dreams. However, she meets him as a price due to the presence of a darker, more powerful entity: the Dark Irregular.

Follow Kaitlyn:

Goodreads

Amazon

Facebook

Instagram

You can read the full feature HERE. 

I decided to post the features on this blog as it makes the most sense. My main is @elaynab-writing and my author blog is @esbarrison-wips.

[subbyboymax]

I want to ask you all of them 🙈🙈

So why won’t you ask all of them? Huh anon?

Jk I love you whoever you are. As requested:

1. Zodiac sign 

Taurus. I don’t really pay much attention to zodiac stuff but I’ve heard from friends that I fit the stereotypes somewhat.

2. Sexual orientation 

This is hard because I’m kinda questioning atm, but I would say I like women and identify as NB using male pronouns which I personally feel is accurate to me, but I still am unsure myself what that actually means. I am still figuring myself out.

3. Relationship status 

Single and honestly looking. I’ve had one girlfriend in high school and I’ve had romantic interests since but I have such low self confidence that I end up being too nervous to really pursue a relationship.

4. Someone you miss 

My friend Rebekah. I miss her a lot. She’s like a sister to me.

5. Person who’s arms you’d like to be in 

Hmmmmmmmmm... anyone really...

6. What you find attractive in Men/Women? 

Typically I find personality attractive and looks don’t really matter, but usually someone’s smile and eyes draw my attention the most.

7. How tall are you? 

5’7 or ~170cm but I wish I was more smol.

8. What you love about yourself? 

Already answered

9. What you’re doing tomorrow? 

I’m probably going to exercise and play games with my gaming clan.

10. What are your future plans? 

My goal is to become an electrician, but I also want to go to various Asian countries and try to improve my Asian cooking by studying the food culture all over east asia.

11. Your last night out in detail?

Oh god I don’t even remember the last time I was out at night... I guess it was last year when I had my heart broken and I went to a really nice bar and spent $200 on alcohol and was GONE. Never again. Ended up being hung over for the first time in my life.

12. Your favorite book? 

Hmm... favorite book(s) would have to be the Ranger’s Apprentice series of books. Good story, good characters.

13. All of pets you’ve ever had?

I’ve had so many pets I could make a whole post about them and may do that later.

14. Something that changed your life? 

Unfortunately too many things have happened to change my life more than I would like. I still can’t really answer this question fully.

15. Do you remember your last dream?

I was basically playing a game that turned out to be an isekai and I basically had a SMG and had to fight off a dragon. Shit was weird but very vivid. It’s weird because I don’t particularly like guns or dangerous stuff in general. 

16. What your last text message says? 

“Keep me posted! We should meet up and have a toast to it!” was sent to my friend Renè, who has been my best friend since birth pretty much. Our parents were close while they were pregnant with us and we are practically brothers. He’s getting a house near where I live and we will live in the same state for the first time since we were 8 years old. Obviously we will social distance but we still had to celebrate and see each other to mark the occasion.

17. Do you respect your government and the way your country is run? 

Absolutely not. Please vote biden if you live in the US. Even if you hate the idea of voting for biden, he’s better than trump. If hillary had won, she would have been putting her third justice on the supreme court. Biden is the only chance for our freedom and for the freedom of many people. I am terrified of 4 more years of trump.

18. Where you would like to live? 

South Florida, where I was born.

19. Your  favorite flavor of ice cream?

Depends on my mood, but typically strawberry.

20. Last thing you ate?

Pizza that was left over from last night. 

21. Which swear word do you use the most? 

Fuck. Like I use it so much it’s stupid.

22. Your plans for summer?

Heh... plans...

23. Any upcoming concerts?

Bruh if only. Like I work as an usher and as a stagehand, so if any concerts were happening at all I would JUMP for joy. And I am CHONK so jumping is not exactly the most comfortable thing to do. 

24. Something that you’re proud of?

That I am finally committing to getting therapy for my long list of traumas. 

25. Do you still talk to your first crush?

I wish I could, but she’s not part of my life anymore, sadly. She was a good friend. 

26. What language do you want to learn? 

Japanese, because I really have a strong interest in their history and culture and want to go sightseeing there someday.

27. Where have you lived before?

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and St. Louis, Missouri.  

28. Eye color?

I think it’s green or something but it changes depending on the light because it’s sometimes more silvery idk.

29. Favorite style of clothing?

Traditional Japanese formal wear. It’s always been an interest of mine. 

30. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

All of one minute to throw on an outfit and get socks on. I wish I had an eye for fashion but hopefully if I ever have a partner, they will help me with my style choices a bit lol. 

31. Where did you go today?

Nowhere, because pandemic lmao. 

32. Where are you right now?

In my room wishing I could have cuddles. 

33. How many countries have you visited?

None because money is not exactly a thing we have an abundance of.

34. Something old?

What does this mean? I guess I have my great grandfather’s old stamp collection. 

35. Something new?

Hell if I know, I’ve had nothing new in months.

36. Something inherited?

My laptop.

37. Is death more scary than life? 

Hell no. Death is easy. Life is scary and overwhelming but it’s worth living the life you have. You only lose out on life by dying before your time. You gain nothing in death, despite it being less scary and uncertain than living is. Keep living to experience everything you can and have no regrets once you do pass on.

38. Experience you’ll never forget?

The time my high school crush complimented my hair in physics class. I get very few compliments and I never feel that attractive so I hardly focus on my appearance but I had brushed my hair that day and the fact she commented on it made me smile very wide.

39. What’s your favorite part about today so far?

Honestly today has sucked and I have been dealing with depression but I am trying to stay positive. Hopefully the answer to this question changes later today! 

40. Who is your hero?

My Great-Grandmother. She was part of my life until I was 17 and she taught me that kindness and compassion is the most important trait for a human to have. She was the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life. 

41. Are you happy with where you live?

I love this house, but it’s definitely not perfect and I would love to have my own place someday. 

42. Do you like your handwriting? 

Ew no it looks like alien language. It’s so bad. I can barely read my own writing.

43. What do you wear to bed?

Typically just underwear, or in the winter I will wear a T-shirt and fleecy pants.

44. Tea or coffee?

Tea

45. Chocolate or Vanilla? 

Chocolate hands down. It’s such a varied flavor imo. 

46. Are you excited for anything?

Being okay someday. 

47. How late did you stay up last night and why? 

Midnight because sleep is hard.

48. What’s your ringtone?

I’m boring and keep my phone on vibrate so no ringtone.

49. Did you have a dream last night?

Yes, I said it earlier. 

50. What keeps you going each day?

Honestly no fucking idea lmao.

51. Picture of yourself?

You’ll have to DM me for that one, friendo. Anons get no face pics!

Also for the other people who sent in asks, I saw them, but I figured I could just use this ask to consolidate and not spam posts. Thank all of you for sending in asks, you are the best <3

[goingoverthegardenwall]

Chapter 6: Lullaby in Frogland

Let’s look back. Way back. Back before the dawn of animation, before the dawn of film, well before Ruby or Spears or Disney or Iwerks or either Fleischer Brother. Back to 1835, in a town named Florida in a state named Missouri when a boy named Samuel was born.

Like Ub Iwerks, Sam was raised in Missouri. And like Max Fleischer, Sam’s family took a financial hit when his father’s work stopped (this time due to a premature death rather than the decline of tailory), giving Sam a practical approach to employment. He left school at age eleven to become a printer’s apprentice, then moved to his older brother’s newspaper as a typesetter and occasional columnist, writing humorous articles and drawing cartoons. But unlike Beatrix Potter or the animators we’ve covered, visual art wasn’t in the cards for Sam.

He moved to the East Coast to work for other papers, bouncing between cities before returning to the midwest to embark on a career he’d dreamed of since he was old enough to dream: piloting a steamboat. He thrived on the water, and kept writing about his work along the river, but everything stopped when the Civil War closed off the Mississippi. So Sam headed west to work for the same brother who once ran the newspaper, now a politician in Nevada (I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that this brother was for some reason named Orion). Sam tried mining, and it didn’t take, but he’d gotten pretty good at writing and set off for San Francisco to get back into his jocular brand of journalism. 

It was here that he had his first success, a short story published in his paper called Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog. But, like a certain frog we’ve covered in this series, Sam wasn’t huge on permanent names. Within a month, the story was reprinted as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Jim Smiley’s name was changed to Jim Greeley. Until the book version came out, when it was changed back to Jim Smiley. And this whole time, within the story, it’s a mystery whether Jim’s real name is actually Leonidas (it turns out that it isn’t, but it might be). None of this should come as a surprise for Samuel Clemens, who wrote under the names of Josh, Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, and most famously, Mark Twain.

“I knew you were special.”

Over the Garden Wall is, among other things, a story about the importance of solid communication. After five episodes spent building up our heroes as a group of friends, all it takes is one episode of terrible communication to throw it all away. The specific issues vary, despite leading to a similar result of not verbalizing their thoughts very well: Greg’s youth stops him from articulating his rapidly changing ideas, Wirt’s anxiety leaves him too timid to speak up or too rambling to be clear, Beatrice’s true intentions make her obfuscate the truth, and Jason Funderburker straight-up can’t talk. Or so we think.

This time he’s named for American statesmen George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, which fits the continuing vintage Americana vibe of the series—while I figure it’s a coincidence, it should be noted that Mark Twain’s Jumping Frog was named after American statesman Daniel Webster. Surrounded by other frogs that walk around and wear fancy garb, our frog is more anthropomorphic than ever, standing on his hind legs and dancing along with Greg. But it’s still a shock to hear him open his mouth and sing, a shock that soon cedes to the realization that the frog playing the piano at the beginning of the series is singing the Jack Jones song in the montage that follows.

Lullaby in Frogland is Jason Funderburker’s episode through and through, so much so that it’s the first time we hear of his namesake, Jason Funderberker. This is an episode where Wirt rejects Greg’s assertion that their frog is “our frog,” a plot point that’s paid off in their last conversation in the series. This is an episode where Greg wonders aloud if he can be a hero, sees the frog set off on a diverging path immediately afterwards, and accepts it, because he’s willing to sacrifice his happiness for the good of others. And it’s an episode where the frog returns after a harrowing betrayal, showing that even when all seems lost, there’s still room for hope. Over the Garden Wall (the song) might not sound like a traditional lullaby, but it soothes us into a cold night as the sun sets on the first half of Over the Garden Wall (the show).

Adelaide’s true nature is foreshadowed by Beatrice’s sudden hesitance to bring the brothers to the pasture after several episodes of nagging, but the twist is made tragic by Wirt finally letting his guard down enough to be happy. He sings a completed Adelaide Parade with Greg and joins the dance before collapsing into the most earnest laughter I’ve ever heard in a cartoon. He’s a good enough friend to notice when Beatrice is “uncharacteristically wistful,” and takes a risk by playing the bassoon instead of just giving up. He’s still got growing to do—it’s one thing to blame Greg for getting them in trouble by throwing away the ferry fare and forcing them to sneak aboard, but another thing to literally shout “Take him, not me!” when confronted by the frog fuzz—so it’s clear that his journey isn’t over yet, but he doesn’t even get a full episode of peace before everything blows up.

The whole steamboat sequence flows between simple delights, like saluting the captain mid-chase, the revelation that the frogs love music more than they hate trespassers, and the repeated gags of three gentlemen frogs snatching up flying flies and a frog mother dropping her tadpoles. Everything just feels calm, even when antics are afoot. Wirt gets to save the day with his bassooning, Greg gets to feel rewarded in his knowledge that his frog is special, Jason gets to sing a song after being silent throughout the series, and Beatrice seems, for now, to come to a sort of peace about things after several clear attempts to sidetrack the boys. This is the only episode to feature two major stories instead of one, but the steamer segment is rich enough to feel like a full episode. If only we could’ve stopped here.

All roads lead to Twain when it comes to depictions of steamboats as a go-to American icon, which is why he preceded this discussion of Lullaby in Frogland: I’m not claiming Mickey Mouse wouldn’t have been successful if his first cartoon was about something else, but I’m certainly claiming that we wouldn’t have gotten Steamboat Willie as it was if Ub Iwerks hadn’t grown up in a Missouri whose lore was shaped by Twain’s tales of the river. But while the author is the root of the episode’s many influences, I think the most fascinating branch that we borrow from is The Princess and the Frog. 

2009 was a great year for animation, seeing the release of Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret of Kells, the surprisingly great Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and the first ten minutes of Up (also the rest of Up, if I’m feeling generous). The first two on that list are my favorite of the year, twin stop-motion masterpieces that I’m always in the mood to watch, but The Princess and the Frog is a brilliant last gasp from Disney’s 2D animation studio. It isn’t the final traditionally animated film they made (that would be 2011′s Winnie the Pooh), nor the final fully sincere princess movie they made (that would be 2010′s Tangled), but it marks the beginning of the end for both trends: for better and worse, modern Disney animation feels the need to loudly subvert old tropes and wouldn’t be caught dead in two dimensions.

Lullaby in Frogland’s connection to The Princess and the Frog is certainly visible on the surface level: both feature a long sequence starring frogs on a steamboat where a lead character must pretend to be another animal and play a woodwind instrument to get out of a jam, and both involve our heroes seeking help from a wise woman far from civilization (even if only one of these women is actually helpful). But it’s the somber nostalgia factor that binds these stories closer than anything, the knowledge that this is the end of the road for this type of tale. The ferry’s gotta land somewhere, and the cold is setting in as the frogs begin hibernating for the winter, but there’s still more story to tell.

The second story of Lullaby in Frogland is scored throughout by a haunting string and piano rendition of Adelaide Parade, and Adelaide herself is immediately captivating. John Cleese returns for the second episode in a row, but as both of these episodes aired the same night, it feels like a consistent through-line: in the first half, he’s an eccentric who might be a deranged maniac but is actually harmless, and now he’s a witch who might be harmless but is actually a deranged maniac.

Adelaide gets a compelling amount of detail for someone who’s barely in the show. We don’t get any explanation about her fatal weakness to...fresh air? Coldness in general? Either way, like the Wicked Witch of the West’s lethal reaction to water, it’s absurd that someone like her has managed to live this long. She never says what she needs a child servant for, why she has scissors that seem custom-made for Beatrice’s specific curse, or what her spider-like deal with yarn and wool is (she has a black widow hourglass on her back, but also reminds me of the Greek Fates with her emphasis on thread). We never find out how she’s connected to the Beast, whose theme bleeds into her music as she proclaims, without much prompting, that she follows his commands; her goal of using children as zombie slaves seems counter to his goal of turning them into trees to fuel his soul lantern. But this blend of unexplained characteristics and seemingly inconsistent motives only makes her more enthralling to me, because she feels like the major villain of another story who just happens to intersect with ours. 

What makes Adelaide even more compelling on rewatch is that her scissors, despite their gruesome method for curing the curse, do end up working. Which means she did mean to help Beatrice out as part of the deal. At no point does Adelaide lie, and given Beatrice knows she’s bad news as she lures the brothers in, it becomes clear that for all her villainy, Adelaide is an honest witch. I’m always down for baddies that tell the truth, but it’s of particular interest when we compare her to the Beast, whose whole deal is lying. 

The only liar in this episode is Beatrice, even if she wanted to set things straight without hurting anyone; she values her friendship with the boys so much now that she’d rather make herself a servant to Adelaide than just tell them she’s dangerous and reveal that she lied. By the time she’s willing to tell the truth, it’s too late, and not even saving Greg and Wirt by killing Adelaide is enough for Wirt to forgive her. Considering he knows in The Unknown that the scissors he uses to escape the yarn can save her family, he was also listening in on the end of the conversation before entering the house, which means he must have heard that she was willing to sacrifice herself, but that doesn’t matter either. Beatrice gave the boys hope, and no matter how badly she tried to stop it, the encounter with Adelaide transforms Wirt. Where he was once nervous and unsure, and was then briefly optimistic, he’s now sullen and untrusting.

But again, in comes Jason Funderburker, croaking and hopping on all fours once more to bring some light to the darkening series. He doesn’t do much for Wirt, but allows Greg to quickly get over whatever trauma he had about getting webbed up in yarn; he’s remarkably quiet about it, but it’s important to remember that he was betrayed, too. Whether he doesn’t understand exactly what happened or is just quicker to forgive, Greg is fine with Beatrice, allowing us to focus harder on Wirt’s reaction from now on.

It’s all rain and winter for Wirt until the end of his adventure. But the show isn’t content to leave him even slightly forlorn: when it gets too dark, he has a frog to swallow a lantern to light the way, and when it gets too cold, he has a brother to cover him in leaves, and when he falls, he has Beatrice to help pull him back up. Even the Woodsman tries to save him in his own way (talk about folks who are bad at communication). Bad things happen, and people make mistakes, but the bigger mistake is allowing that to close you off to others, or to never forgive friends that are genuinely sorry. Our heroes have taken the ferry to the other side, and now the story can shift to one about the folly of abandoning all hope.

Where have we come, and where shall we end?

On top of Jason Funderberker, who’s set up as a major rival to make his eventual reveal one of the show’s best jokes, Wirt gives Beatrice a general summary of Into the Unknown three episodes before we see it play out.

[lboogie1906]

Omarosa Onee Manigault Newman (born February 5, 1974), often known as Omarosa, is a reality television show participant, writer, and former political aide to former President Donald Trump. She became known as a contestant on the first season of The Apprentice. She became assistant to the President and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison during the Trump administration from January 2017 - December 2017. She competed twice on the Big Brother reality series - in 2018 on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother US (placing 5th), and in 2021 on Big Brother Australia VIP (placing 12th). She published Unhinged, detailing her tenure at the White House and criticizing Trump and his administration. Two days before the book was released, she released the first of as many as 200 secret tapes she recorded during her White House tenure. As of May 23, 2022, she has released four tapes. The first tape released, which was secretly recorded inside the Situation Room, was described as "one of the worst White House security breaches ever". She said that she had turned down an offer of a $15,000 per month "senior position" in the Trump 2020 re-election campaign from Lara Trump, President Trump's daughter-in-law, which came with an NDA that was as "harsh and restrictive" as any she had seen in her television career. After the parties disputed the amount of the settlement, the arbitrator set it to $1.3 million in April 2022. She was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the daughter of Theresa Marie Walker and Jack Thomas Manigault. Her father was murdered when she was seven years old. After graduating from The Rayen School in Youngstown, she earned a BA in communications with a concentration in radio at Central State University. She moved to attend Howard University, where she earned an MA and worked toward a doctorate in communications but did not finish. She has received biblical studies training at Payne Theological Seminary. She married Aaron Stallworth (2000-2005). She dated actor Michael Clarke Duncan. She married John Allen Newman (2017-) and is the senior pastor of The Sanctuary at Mt. Calvary in Jacksonville, Florida. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/CoSAgDtrLYD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[uglyducklingpresse]

Backlist Bulletin #7: TV Sutras

Catching the zeal for Dodie Bellamy’s The TV Sutras was slow at first, and then total. I grazed tentatively through the first half of the book, which is made up of 78 sutras, or aphorisms of received spiritual knowledge. In the preceding note, “The Source of the Transmission,” Bellamy claims that her process was not an attempt at “irony, cleverness or perfection — or art. The TV Sutras are totally in-the-moment sincere, even if that sincerity makes me cringe afterwards” (14). The text challenged my modes of reading; the sutras aren’t poems, but I wasn’t sure that I should internalize them as honest advice. The received knowledge, after all, was transmitted via television broadcast and written into the form of an ancient Indian scripture. In an interview with David Buuck, Bellamy cites Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a book of aphorisms on the practice and theory of yoga, as the base for her form, and a bad therapist who recommended yoga and meditation at home as a catalyst.

For each day of her 78-day sutra practice, Bellamy includes both a divinely inspired soundbite and its human-filtered interpretation. Both parts reach into their own well of images: for the sutras, a broader cultural subconscious as refracted through the commercials and melodramas of daytime television; for the commentaries, the store of spiritual language within Bellamy herself:

#16

Who says you have to have 12 periods a year on the pill.

Montage of young women repeating, “Who says.”

COMMENTARY

Each of us progresses, unfolds at our own speed. There is no set route. Acknowledge and follow your own rhythm. Trust your own experience/authority over societal expectations/programmatic doctrine.

— p.32

The commentary reflects central concerns of the book: how subjective experience is located in time, how spiritual authority is conferred, what boundary we can possibly draw between self and culture. In the essay that follows, “Cultured,” Bellamy unwinds the spiritual autobiography that formed the conduit to these sutras — in particular, she discusses her ten years as a member of a New Age cult. Dodie as narrator recounts events in a chatty, semi-fictionalized, often otherworldly manner, laced with fantasy.

Bellamy grabs hold of pieces of memory, allowing them to glisten with the sense of bliss found in her spiritual devotion. On a trip to Jacksonville, Florida, for a cult convention — Dodie’s first trip out of the midwest — she describes a potted plant: “a series of waxy green banana peels stacked one inside the other, and from the center pokes a trumpet of magenta, too intensely magenta for this world, its ‘petals’ sharply pointed — like razors — the incandescent dentate of an alien vagina” (111). Images of “other realms” and archetypal spiritual authority are superimposed over her young adult life. Delusion and euphoria bounce off of each other: “With my Teacher/sixth initiate boyfriend, high in the air, surrounded by treetops and light, life from then on would be one long spiritual retreat; I’d be like one of those ancient naked yogis who lives on a platform on stilts, wooden fence all around to hide his enlightened cock and balls as he waves to his devotees” (136). If the first section of the book is an even-paced, methodical, and procedural sequence, the second part is an unfurling, spiraling, high-entropy revelation. It is delicious prose, like listening to someone you love gossip. I eat it up and I’ll believe anything she says.

Throughout “Cultured,” memories work like sutras, accessed as the smallest possible unit that holds itself together, “terse, easily memorized, but […] intended to be expanded and explained” (207). Bellamy writes, “I’m reminded of the way that anyone from my past is reduced to a discrete set of images — and one fragment will emerge” (207). Memory is encountered from a new vantage point, again and again.

*

I want to convince everyone I know to read this book. If I told everyone that it was about cults, charisma, abuse of power, desire, sex, and bliss, everyone would read it. I put my head down when cultists in the subway station offer me literature, but I want to know who they are and what their lives are like. Sometimes they look at you with gentle ease spread across their faces, sometimes alarming concern for your soul. I remember being a Christian mega-church attending pre-teen filled with desire to bring everyone into the envelope of love I’d found in my bible study group. Years later, I still answer the door and talk to the evangelists about the Lord for too long, before my roommate makes me politely move on with a fake obligation. Faith — even others’ faith — can be so bright. I know better.

In the beginning of “Cultured,” Dodie is in a nail salon where Oprah is playing in the background, airing an investigative montage on Tony Alamo, an apocalyptic cult leader and sexual abuser. Last month, I watched a new documentary on Bikram Yoga in which toned and optimistic women gleefully enmesh themselves into a pyramid scheme/fitness club, under a verbally and sexually abusive leader. Like in Dodie’s cult, where a plagiarism scandal rocks the foundations of their leader’s authority, the appropriation of Eastern spiritual traditions into an American profit machine is foundational. The drama of the cult is consumable because it allows us to see an intensification of commonplace power dynamics, made into something recognizably perverse.

*

In Barf Manifesto (UDP, 2010), Bellamy celebrates writing that moves through the body and makes a mess, through a discussion of Eileen Myles’ essay “Everyday Barf.” Of this aesthetic, Bellamy writes:

The Barf is an upheaval, born of our hangover from imbibing too much Western Civ. The Barf is reflective, each delivery calls forth a framing, the Barf is expansive as the Blob, swallowing and recontextualizing, spreading out and engorging. Its logic is associative, it proceeds by chords rather than single, discrete notes. Hierarchies jumble in the thrill, in the imperatives of purge.

— p. 32

“Cultured” unfolds in this logic. After Bellamy disentangles herself from the cult, the same patterns resurface in different forms — in her entry into an experimental writing scene in San Francisco of the 1980s, specifically the “cult of New Narrative” to which she belonged, in the endless options for spiritual healing she engages in, in the pyramid scheme of teaching creative writing professionally. In this jumble, the draw of a charismatic spiritual leader who makes it all cohere is strong. But those figures are counterbalanced by moments of meditative clarity, the internal authority of Bellamy’s “bullshit meter,” her perception. Each paragraph delves into one of these modes, building on one another until they reach a crescendo. As she remembers sitting in a park with her girlfriend in Bloomington, Indiana, Bellamy writes, “No one told me that moving closer into what I perceived on a daily basis, the swingness of the swing, was the key to spiritual writing.” (230)

Towards the end of the essay, the “I” becomes increasingly destabilized, moving fluidly between the perspective of Dodie and a charismatic, frenetic guru alter-ego. The TV Sutras creates fertile ground for a curious, shifting perspective, allowing both writer and reader to enact the roles of spiritual leader and acolyte. As Bellamy writes, “The sutra process is the opposite of accepting things as they are, highlighting instead the instability of knowing.” (207)

— Paige Parsons

TV Sutras is available directly through Ugly Duckling Presse (here), through our Partner Bookstores (here), and through Small Press Distribution (here). Purchases made directly through Ugly Duckling Presse on March 6th are 50% off, use discount code CHARISMA at checkout.

The backlist bulletin is a column on titles from UDP’s back catalogue, curated and written by Apprentices.

[abtoddler]

I went to lay down an hour ago, but i was working on a post for my projects. I have to post it here as the reason I was able to do this safely in the early years, and only through the support of big brother and daddy, and all my roomies and friends from across the years.

Thank you all, and i need help to explore futher this project.

Hiya all!!

Ive just come out of a wonderful training weekend with one of my apprentices and it was a wonderful success. I would like to scale the possible amount of people and have looked at the presskit for the handlery in san diego, and with the launch of the book pact, which describes the community goals, and each of the other 6 books to accompany it as the rainbow library.

I have to say that I’m trying to figure out a reasonable valuation for my projects. I would love feedback from anyone if you see an area I’ve been missing:

The first week im planning for people to study is a rough exploration of each of the 14 books I will have written by the time the school is accepting students. Each week of a 3 month course has been started to be blocked out with a week to cover the most useful parts of each of the books; including the content pages, what the function of it is for, and all of it tied back into social responsibility that will be handled through the Academy of Sorcery, which is a 501 that ive set up to become the “training ground” for dialog, application, and testing for community works, innovative business development networks, and working with other businesses to establish remote training or provide people a place where they can learn any of the requirements of the businesses in order to be trained staff of those businesses/ or able to begin their own businesses. Repeating this model to get folks trained up in each of the various trades and other such things. The sorcery division of the Academy is my background. However, the application of it that I have to shake up the status quo is strategically done in order to work on the much larger issues of the development that people of the generations lack. Specifically those folks who are hungry for work, and will absorb training via their motivation to become their own forces to be reckoned with.

I am not building this alone, my head master is selected amongst one next generation of elder leadership in the African traditions of Vodu, Palo, Santeria, and Qimbisa. He is, one of my close friends who has been at the head of testing and integrating my methods with his, in order to increase the efficacy of the work which comes from the community. I seek to replicate this process for experienced workers, and folks in these kinds of communities.

This method of immersive work, and personal development is what I am doing through the connections of those Spirits, to concepts which services the needs of those forces to regain communion with the living. The Books I have written, come at the tail of the construction of a community services organization never took off the ground which I would very much like to restore: if people are willing.

In the book Empires, which I am currently drafting, I would like to take the opportunity to create a dialog with others here, business owners, mentorship possibility for anyone who would be willing to help me build this.

The model is Not for you to train in my methods or way of doing things which may be counter to your path as everyones religion is their own. My choices and the type of work I am trying to develop by testing this in those isolated communities which are not generally accessible to the public has proven itself. I am looking for folks i can work with who would be willing to help me work out the details for the leadership forward using the Academy as a model to explore development of trades, crafts, and businesses.

This model is for, coming together as individuals whose shared drive, goals, and projects can move us forward as a people. We share this earth with so many kinds of people, so many types of life. We are each on a variety of paths forward. If you would like to work together to figure out how, to come together.

How your businesses and trainings can fit into this coexisting community, so that together your trainings, your explorations, and your experiences can help those who need something to tangibly serve their own desires. But in a way where there is integrity, and community development and in many cases redevelopment of infrastructure which has been severely damaged by abuses from “leadership” mismanagement.

My hope is to stir the conversation so that those who are interested in joining together so that we can all work together to help those who have a need, so that each of our stories can find their way to those who need them. To

Market this not just as the material of the Rainbow library, but as a network joined by the aims of the library, and the academy to serve as my record of this attempt. I have been working on this since I was in high school. Trying to find solutions to the lacking of training that others and myself didn’t have to prepare us for the world.

The background in doing this came when My life fell to shit shortly after a bunch of horrible things led me to try and run away in the most creative of ways. I did steal a boat. So technically as a pirate, my entire life since has been through traveling across this country working my way through the various subcultures. My employment has been in the adult retail sector frankly because when I went to be promoted to assistant manager of pier 1, their corporate office fired me.

I was working 2 jobs at the time, there unloading the trucks 2 times a week at 530 am with a few others. At the same time I was working for a woman and her daughter who pretty much hired me on the spot. Working my way up to doing every odd job on my days off of the shop in order to earn overtime. Which was what led me into what kicked off my first book series, The Codex Arcanum, volume 1 & 2. These were designed to be training guides for a company whose first goal was to provide folks: religious non denominational offerings to community members so that they could begin to become independent and set their intentions on their studies and their businesses which they sought to grow into whatever their interests were in.

I had at the time two friends Julie and Fatima, who helped me draft out the entirity of the Orders of the Templi Nox corporation. It was to be a sales venue, and training space for the categories of spiritual development in the Order of the Night. The medicines/health: of the order of the Day. With the order of the twilight being business development. We set up each layer, the business plan will be included in Empires. This thing was to big for me to do alone, but after 3 years drafting, and working it. They each stepped away to their various activities. In their period of removal from this, I wrote the Grimoire of Arts, 2011/12, which is my best selling book at one time was #1 in two categories on amazon.

Since then there are 4 unpublished grimoires which are the basis for my personal methods of completing a system of sorcery which combines the material from cuniform tablets described in the ancient Greek Manuscripts and papyri examples from 3000 years back, with material from the judaic texts of the 1300s in sources like the Sefer Ha-lavanah, or the book of the moon, and other renaissance writers whose works have only recently been translated by folks in the last 30 years. With examples from texts on astrology, and esoteric thought from the late 1700s through to the modern day. I have set up a working system of operations whose focus is not specifically on the religious orders, but the social anthropology and the need for the return of a holistic community model that cultivates the needed elements within communities.

This work has taken me 20 years to contemplate and put everything I have ever done into focus for testing these concepts. There is more than money on the line with this type of project, it requires that good folks who are hungry for the day to come where the word doesn’t suck. Every job I have taken, every friend that I have made, the people in my life who are my family come from seeking this path forward.

The foundation for Empires, is the people. So this is where I am, asking for help. Who is willing to help, not with what spirituality does to the individual. That is their road to walk, but rather what a holistic approach to redesigning a social platform, a business community, educational resources, skills training, and mentorship to provide better communities where we can bring back the days when we knew our neighbors. Where good people who take in strays like myself and teach and provide jobs to those who the “many” do not want.

I have been stuck in a chronic pain condition for the better part of 7 years, my ability to grow this concept has been limited. I need help for community development. As writers, thinkers, speakers, and community relationships are not my strong suit due to my health issues/physical limitations. I am trying to find creative ways to bring my work to market, which is the work of helping provide a place where folks can study and learn.

Of those ideas:

If you offer a course for training people, you are welcome to get set up on theacademyofsorcery.com website. So that folks who can have a need for that training you provide so they can reach out to you as our kin in operations. While providing a short paragraph and a link on your page providing a return link to the academy providing possible interests with the means to connect with us, and my friends who are setting this up with me. We are coming from all corners of the country: Maine, Florida, Kansas, Washington, Oklahoma, California.

My apprentice who was here in California has graciously introduced his daughter to the project because she has a farm in Wisconsin that grows food for the homeless vets. While her partner has a background in coding which will be a paid royalty to him if he takes on building the app, which will allow folks to search for everything I have written, everything that is business related, as well as the purpose of the academy: Training videos from those leaders who wish to onboard with me in this process.

Where folks will pay the masters of the field, those folks who run businesses like the Philosophers Stone mineral store here in Ocean Beach, providing video lessons which will become available to purchase on the Academys training pages.

This opens up the employee that was volunteered by the shop owner, to a network he can build relationships with, the shop owner who will be able to cater to the unique needs of my community works/and any collector for her curated collection of rare minerals and the properties they represent.

We are all in a place where we have much to offer, but I am working on the tangible expressions of these by using my Academy for training, development and the donation of time that is required for brainstorming ideas, experimenting with them, and working together with many resources that come from knowing trades, friends in import/export, contacts in other countries for manufacturing, and other business owners. As well as ways to contribute to the education and cultivation of people who become our employees. Training them in all operations of our respective trades.

My service is to produce and cultivate sorcery for those who seek it. My desire is to have as many folks on board with this as possible.

The final book of my rainbow library of Sorcery is Hand: the ways of many. This post, as well as the works and histories of everyone who is going to help with this idea, to figure out ways we can all come together. Many are the hands which make light the work.

I am looking to finish my project, and would love feedback, or help to pull this off. Pact, represents the community requirments, that if people apply any concept they are required to fulfill some social development and provide some exchange for their learning. This is mostly as a hook to try and drive creative thought.

Emergence, is the second of the series providing the spellcraft and rituals that I have used to do my aforementioned projects, and how they function for focusing the paths of life ahead.

Breaking Clay, is the book of personal development, the changes I have had to go through, and experiences which result from inviting energies into my life that are reflected in direct manifestation aligned with the texts from so long ago. People do not change, its the “theme” of work that has always been. They want to love their partners, they want justice for slights against them, they want violence against those who have sought injury to them. I have worked for clients for years with all sorts of issues.

The Unencumbered represents evocation and method for interaction with these ancient representations in ways which are tested from client works, or by those folks like Keith, which are Initiated into places I have no right to be apart of, aside from my tenacity to stamp out fraud, corruption, and abuses in those communities by those unscrupulous fuckers who abuse women, the ancestors, and provide antiquated antisocial hatred which serves no purpose when used relentlessly against folks who cannot change things like their way to love, or the color of their skin, or the parents they were born to, or the lack of opportunity due to conditions outside of their control. People should hate this, with a fire that will finally restore peace, because by eliminating the systems of hate, through the necessity of the drive that comes from this internal revulsion to corruption, that is when things begin to change for the better.

Hand, i have talked about; all of the gates, threshold spell craft and ritual bring aligned in similar ways to those of a reiki master is to the spirit of Mt. Fuji, we can use these to change ourselves. These are the methods I have used create this project in full. These are what has allowed me to work directly with those folks whose paths are clad in oaths which remain unbroken, of those most private sacred secrets, but yet shared with me through my seeking the many to help with this project.

The 6th book is the Empires; where this concept I have written about today shares with the world these ideas.

The thaumaturgic Art;7th is the entire method for each of my 2 week courses for introduction to the method, the break down of the 12 categories of magic, and who is helping me in the school’s division, and how each day of the 3 month course will be taught, totaling 72 lessons which I have used across my life and this country seeking a way to establish this model of training so others can replicate it, and the reasons behjnd each lesson, each month, and each day of those 3 years in the academy itself.

The 3 volumes of the Thaumaturgic Craft including the exact methods and reasons why I have created this entire system. Which is only going to be available to those folks who would become my Teachers, offering their services under the Academy as instructors. Not for the propagation of the method, but for their interpretation and application. Which they must demonstrate, and with Keith, as the Headmaster who had himself replicated this process integration of method while I was crafting these notes. These will be for instructors only.

So, now its come to it, when I look to you for help. You each have projects, you each have special interests and we all can work together, and create a path forward which embodies the trust, and care that responsibilities are shared by everyone to make better the world then we have found it. I am not satisfied with how this world has been left by those who are in the drivers seat. I believe that a change is required.

How we seek peace, how we seek community and the freedoms to explore ourselves fully with those who wish to do the same. These are what my academy is for.

Please help with feedback, and if you have seen something which I have left out of my models. I would love to work with everyone who would be willing to help me. Any help is much appreciated.

I have made wonderful friends who are my brothers and sisters in art, friends and family who I do business with, and most importantly this is my attempt to drive the functional and realistic goals of my businesses, my community responsibilities and provide education and a safe environment where people can explore their own desires freely.

Thank you for your time in reading this, and any help is much welcomed. Only together can this be pulled off in ways which I cannot fathom. Please help me bring clarity and unity of intent to those who seek this way as an option.

[aleesblog]

How Real Doctors Think

  Review of Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment.1

Denis M. Donovan, MD, FAPS

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History

Volume 35; Issue: 2, 2018, pp. 455-459. DOI: 10.3138/cbmh.BR_EN

“In his welcome address,” Andrew Lees writes of the beginning of his medical studies at London Hospital Medical College in October of 1965, “the Dean informed us that we were here to study medicine and that from now on our lives would be dedicated to the prevention, cure or alleviation of human disease. Medicine,” the Dean stressed, “was a calling, not a business.” There but for the grace of Fate go I was the Dean’s message. Indeed, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto — I am human, nothing human is foreign to me — was the teaching hospital’s motto. But almost overnight Lees witnessed in many of his fellow medical students an extremely disturbing and worrisome transformation as they became a-lien-ated —the link between doctors and patients, between self and other, was broken — as if patients were them, mere subhuman collections of body parts, carriers of disease and mundane opportunities for uppercase ‘D’ Doctors to demonstrate their brilliance and celebrate their superiority. Although Lees says that Wolynski, the man whose body he and his fellow anatomy lab partners dissected, helped him “to acquire the carapace of insensitivity required to become a doctor,” the self- protective “carapace” Lees acquired was not the gross dehumanizing insensitivity he found so painful in the “self-satisfied and narrow-minded” attitude and behavior developing in many of his fellow students and the often frank sadism of some of his superiors.

It was in this context of patient suffering and medical insensitivity, prejudice and condescension that Lees experienced two kairotic, intensely formative moments. The first was a poignant and inspiring encounter with a patient during Lees’ first house physician appointment at what is now the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. This patient suffered — I use the word advisedly — from Parkinson’s disease and was confined to a wheelchair and completely dependent on his family to be fed, dressed and bathed. This former worker from the London Underground viewed Parkinson’s as a death sentence and was pinning all his hopes on the new miracle drug L- DOPA which he had read about in the newspapers. The results Lees’ patient obtained literally within days “turned [Lees] into a ‘Molecule Man’ overnight” and convinced him that “further peptide and amine research would lead to cures for Parkinson’s disease and all the other brutal brain degenerations within five years.” No such overnight progress was made but that didn’t slow Lees down in the least.

The second crucial experience which ultimately gave hope to the first was Lee’s discovery of an unknown face on the front cover of the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely hearts Club Band album. “Amidst the rows of famous faces he was on the second row next to Marilyn Monroe and above Oscar Wilde. I didn’t recognise him so I looked him up”

Lees’ discovery of William S. Burroughs, the author of Naked Lunch and The Yagé Letters, while still in medical school provided him with the adult version of an imaginary friend, one on a lifelong quest to find a cure for certain mind-and-body destroying drugs. Beneath Burroughs’ “lurid descriptions of heroin-laced depravity, sodomy and infanticide in Naked Lunch [which] had been described by a Boston judge as ‘a revolting miasma of unrelieved perversion,’” and especially in Burroughs’ Yagé Letters to Allen Ginsburg, Lees found a kindred soul, a razor-sharp critic of imperious insensitive and dehumanizing doctoring, whose now-famous character in Naked Lunch Dr. Benway was both a medical beast and one of many voices of a caring visionary on a quest to cure his own junk addiction. While Burroughs’ life was one gigantic series of relapses, he did find genuine momentary relief for his morphine addiction in the apomorphine treatment provided by the London doctor Joseph Yerbury Dent in 1956, the potential significance of which Lees immediately recognized when he read Burroughs’ account. In a 2014 article in the Dublin Review of Books Lees briefly described the episode which is recounted at length in Mentored by a Madman.

Burroughs later wrote enthusiastically in Naked Lunch about Dent’s integrity and empathy and his innovative drug rehabilitation programme:

The vaccine that can relegate the junk virus to a land-locked past is in existence. This vaccine is the Apomorphine treatment discovered by an English doctor ... I found this vaccine at the end of the junk line ... suddenly my habit began to jump and jump. Forty, sixty grains a day. And it still was not enough. And I could not pay ... The doctor explained to me that apomorphine acts on the back brain to regulate the metabolism and normalize the blood stream in such a way that the enzyme system of addiction is destroyed over a period of four or five days ... I saw the apomorphine treatment really work.

Apomorphine took away the biological need for morphine without inducing dependence. It steadied the system, leaving no trace. In Burroughs’s words it was like a dutiful policeman that did its job and then left. Soon after Burroughs’s treatment programme was completed, Dent’s hunch that apomorphine had specific chemical actions in the brain was scientifically confirmed, but it never took hold as a routine treatment for addiction. Crucially for neurologists, it was shown to act on the brain by opening the dopamine receptor lock, which meant that Parkinson’s patients could use more of their own dopamine for longer. My hope was that in time apomorphine would become part of the clinical armoury against Parkinson’s symptoms.2

Burroughs unknowingly reminded the young Andrew Lees that humans did not begin curing their ailments by synthesizing new molecules and profiting from synthetically produced old ones; they began by discovering them as they occurred naturally in the physical world. This simple fact is all but forgotten today. Like Mickey Mouse in Disney’s version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, contemporary medicine has become so fascinated by its ability to tinker with the world of medicinal molecules—and now the human genome—that it has lost sight of the fact that our knowledge of naturally occurring physical therapeutics is still in its infancy, a veritable gold mine of potential discovery since poison and cure often exist side by side in nature. Nature may not have ceased to be a generous teacher but, unfortunately, our self-absorption has made us far less willing and curious pupils.

But Burroughs wasn’t Lees’ only inspiration and model. He was immensely fortunate, when he began his neurology training at University College Hospital in London, to have two great living teachers, William Gooddy and Gerald Stern, and one great dead one, William Gowers, whose brilliantly detailed clinical journals Lees read avidly in the hospital’s archives. Gooddy and

2

Stern, Lees writes, “would never interrupt [the patient’s recounting of his presenting complaint] but when the history had been given they would clarify points with a few carefully chosen, nonleading questions.” In stark contrast, today’s physician typically interrupts the patient a mere 18 seconds into his or her initial narrative which the patient may never be able to complete. Few patients today have ever experienced a William Gooddy, a Gerald Stern or an Andrew Lees and thus have no realistic idea of how caring, attentive and genuinely interested good doctoring can be. “Perfection of this methodological and time-consuming approach is essential to becoming a good neurologist,” Lees adds, “and I spent many hours on the wards and in the outpatient clinic trying to hone my skills.” Contrast this with the unquestioning expectation of a 22-year-old medical student in a “cutting edge” Leadership Program at the University of South Florida who doesn’t hesitate to say that he “... would like to be a leader of a team setting ... part of a department, leading other doctors and teaching them everything I have learned.”3

Today in his seventies, Lees is a Professor of Neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London and University College London. He is one of the world’s top experts on Parkinson’s disease and a teacher and researcher venerated for his masterful observational and clinical reasoning skills. Even so, Lees is acutely aware of how little he knows, how much is yet to be learned and how much greater the obstacles are today to realistic naturalistic learning than when he began his medical and neurological training. And as for self- experimentation, which Lees kept secret for nearly his entire medical career, few today within or outside clinical, academic and research medicine, are even aware of how crucial it was to the understanding and innovative progress of the great medical discoverers such as Sir William Osler, the father of North American internal medicine and the originator of bedside teaching.

It is a great irony, but not unusual in the case of genuinely curious, creative and innovative thinkers, that the pupil proves to be far more skeptical than the teacher. It is to Lees’ great credit that he was able to distill from a complex and contradictory life of largely credulous self- indulgence Burroughs’ genuinely brilliant, caring and realistic thoughts, insights and commitment to a quest for a cure for crippling addiction. Most people throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater. Andrew Lees pulled the baby out of the mire and, throughout a lifetime of patient, sensitive and committed physicianly care and constant technical scientific research, has never ceased to do his best in the face of all obstacles to relieve human suffering and to leave the world of medicine and healthcare richer than he found it.

Yes, do read this book to discover how William S. Burroughs inspired a professional lifetime of brilliant medical research. But read it as well, perhaps even more so, to be reminded of what genuine medical care can and should be and what the obstacles to its survival are in a world increasingly defined by insatiable corporate greed and vacuous self-satisfied professionalism.

For those who were tempted to believe Jerome Groopman’s assertion that doctors can’t think because they’re the helpless victims of inescapable cognitive biases and need their patients to think for them, here’s your antidote.4 No technical knowledge is required to profit from this marvelous book.

1 Andrew J. Lees, Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment. (Devon, UK: Notting Hill Editions, 2016).

2 Andrew J. Lees, “Hanging out with the molecules.” Dublin Review of Books (1 September 2014). http://www.drb.ie/essays/hanging-out-with-the-molecules (accessed 7 November 2018).

3 Letitia Stein, “USF joins national effort to reform doctor training.” (Tampa Bay Times, Saturday, August 4: 1A, 7A).

4 Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007).