#Corona Third Wave Videos

[journalistcafe]

आ चुकी है कोरोना की तीसरी लहर, जानें कितनी खतरनाक है...

आ चुकी है कोरोना की तीसरी लहर, जानें कितनी खतरनाक है…

अभी तक भले ही भारत में कोरोना की तीसरी लहर के आने को लेकर आशंकाएं जाहिर की जा रही हो लेकिन विश्�� स्वास्थ्य संगठन (WHO) का कहना है कि इसने दस्तक दे दी है। WHO के मुखिया टेड्रोस अधानोम गेब्रेयेसस ने बुधवार को कहा कि कोरोना संक्रमण की तीसरी लहर अपने शुरुआती दौर में है। टेड्रोस अधानोम गेब्रेयेसस ने यह बात दुनियाभर में बढ़ते कोरोना केसज और मौतों के आंकड़ों को लेकर चेतावनी जारी करते हुए कही। टेड्रोस ने…

[enchantedbyhiddles]

About actors, white privilege, and performative wokeness

So this is about what happened the last few weeks in Germany and some of my thoughts about it and what it just reaffirmed about actors and them taking part in charities and social media campaigns.

A short summary: Germany is hit really hard by the third wave, so most people are positive about the measures, but of course we are also all very fed up. A little over a week ago 52 (well-known) actors from Germany and Austria published videos using the #allesdichtmachen (close everything). There they made fun of the measures against the Coronavirus and places being closed down. They put it like it was the idea to make people dumb and sick by keeping them at home and that it is really out of place to be so strict in reducing contacts etc. Like basically the government is doing too much and is too drastic in what they do. The reaction was pretty instantanous with most people immediately going: what a bunch of idiots. There was a media frenzy and a lot of people questioned, whether these actors are suddenly conspiracy-idiots. Quite a few of them distanced themselves and published statements “Oh, of course I’m not rightwing and don’t follow conspiracy-theories. You just misunderstood. Sorry, that you were offended.”

Most of those people are actually quite famous, they are working throughout the pandemic and most of them, while not rich, have a stable income from acting. Most of them are so far known as being left-wing and doing the morally “right” thing, be it sign petitions against climate change or for the support of refugees, etc. They make posts about racism and sexism, etc. You’d think they are “good” eggs. 

How did it happen?: Basically three people from the media went around and asked their friends and colleagues: Hey, want to do some fun videos against the measures of the government against the coronavirus.

They asked more actors, but those that ACTUALLY do care. That do the work, that experienced discrimination, that actually suffer from the corona-crisis, because their projects got cancelled. Those asked questions: “What are these videos supposed to achieve? What is your aim? What is the message? Who is behind this?” They didn’t get answers, so they didn’t participate.

Who is behind this?  Now a week later it turns out that basically three people were the main driving force behind it: the director Dietrich Brüggemann (mainly Tatort - the biggest German tv series, that’s why most of the people worked with him), Jan-Josef Liefers (well known actor, also Tatort) and Volker Bruch (actor in Babylon Berlin). These three went around and asked people to join their little “movement”. For Dietrich Brüggemann and Volker Bruch it is now proven that they are freely supporting right-wing conspiracy parties/movements. With Jan-Josef Liefers it’s not that clear yet. The producer behind all that though, is a Q-Anon like conspiracy guy in Germany, called Bernd Katzmarczyk, who thinks that the Coronavirus is one big conspiracy and also uses right-wing and antisemitic rhetoric. He is named in all videos as the producer, he is named on the website. So everyone involved could have easily googled, who they are working with and it should have been clear, that you really DON’T want to be involved with that.

All it tells me is that the 52 people that did take part are privileged, fake-woke idiots. They will sign petitions, when they think it will gain them connections and points with the public. They don’t really care if the charities or movements they support are actually doing something good. They just want good publicity. So it really doesn’t matter how many good causes a celebrity supports. They will be equally happy to turn around and support racist antisemites, if a friend comes along and asks them to do so.

That’s one of the reasons why I won’t care if a famous person posts about a “trendy” social topic or appears at charities, or gives some money. Unless they are really doing the work, it is absolutely meaningless.

if you want to read more (e.g. all the names):

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allesdichtmachen

and an English-speaking source: 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/26/german-actors-face-backlash-over-cynical-covid-lockdown-videos

[kuwdora]

If you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not. Let’s get to know the person behind the blog 🌺✨💖

1) I am a fandom old from Livejournal and Dreamwidth and have a blog featuring lots fannish things I've watched and made over the last..mumble-mumble years. Includes tons of posts about depression and anxiety and general life updates from the Before Times. It's the place I consider my primary fannish residence but I have taken to wandering the wildes of the internet for more engagement this past year, hello tumblr friends. Please send me more asks!

2) I have made so many fanvids over the years and I have MANY favorites among them. In particular I love vidding sci-fi/horror. Some years ago I decided to create a tribute to Paul Verhoven's oeuvre of Robo Cop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers to Corona's Rhythm of the Night. Video features blood and gore ad all the 90s aesthetic you can wave a beefy Arnold Schwarzenegger arm at.

[Link to my YouTube catalogue]

3) I have been doing an Elementary rewatch which has far too much grotesque copaganda but the characters and their arcs are so fucking good. Everything about mental health/addiction/sobriety and neurodivergence, it's just so fucking good... There's this scene from the third season where Sherlock admits he's struggling with the relentless grind of staying sober and this resonated with me and my struggle with depression. I have to remember to brush my teeth, wash my face. Feed myself. Do all of these things in order to keep myself alive and not let the void consume me, every single fucking day.

Transcript:

Sherlock Holmes: If you must know, Watson, I've been feeling a little bit down of late. It's the process of maintaining my sobriety. It's repetitive. And it's relentless. And above all, it's tedious. When I left rehab, I... I accepted your influence, I committed to my recovery. And now, two years in, I find myself asking, 'is this it?' My sobriety is simply a grind. It's just this leaky faucet that requires constant maintenance, and in return offers only not to drip.

Dr. Joan Watson: You have your work, you have me. You're alive.

Sherlock Holmes: I've told myself that many times. So many times, it has become unmoored from all meaning. Odd. I used to imagine that a relapse would be the climax to some grand drama. Now I think that if I were to use drugs again, it would in fact be an anticlimax. It would be a surrender to the incessant drip, drip, drip of existence.

Dr. Joan Watson: I'm sorry you're feeling this way. What can I do to help? Do you want to talk more, do you want to maybe speak to Alfredo?

Sherlock Holmes: Yes, I think perhaps I will see Alfredo. But in any case, I shan't be using drugs this evening.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Evanescence: “Guitarists need to be honest. Use your voice. We don’t need fake – we need humanity and real people”

Jen Majura and Troy McLawhorn wax lyrical on the high-octane gear, influences and themes behind the band's upcoming fifth album, The Bitter Truth

The Bitter Truth, the fifth full-length from Evanescence set for release in March 2021, will be their first album of new material in a decade. The American arena group led by singer/keyboardist Amy Lee had already released three singles, though the record’s completion was stalled by the virus pandemic that dominated headlines for much of the year.

The first sessions took place at the beginning of 2020 with rock super producer Nick Raskulinecz [Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains] in his Nashville studio, spawning the tracks we’ve heard so far – Wasted On You, The Game Is Over and Use My Voice. Then, of course, came Covid, putting an end to safe travel and forcing virtually all plans to change.

For the members in America, it was incredibly problematic. For German guitarist Jen Majura, who joined in 2015, it was an absolute nightmare. Nevertheless, the group kept chiseling away and fleshing out their parts for album number five.

When Guitar World tracks down Majura and co-guitarist Troy McLawhorn towards the end of 2020, things are still very much in the process of being finalized...

Looking back now, that session in Nashville must feel like a very long time ago!

Majura: “Definitely! What hit me so hard was that we’d recorded that first chunk of songs and waved goodbye at the airport, thinking we’d be back in a couple of weeks. And then suddenly this pandemic hit, airports were all shut!

“I had never felt more apart from my friends in the States than since this all started. It’s so unnatural for me not to be there! I’m very old-school – I like my tube amp and 4x12 cabinet. I like to sit in the studio with the humans I’m working with and creating in the moment.

“Being away from Amy and the boys while working on material has felt so unnatural to me, but that’s the we have to do it and we have to make the best out of it. The time we spent with Nick in Nashville was the happiest ever.

“It felt amazing to see these songs coming to life – you have this idea but when you are all in a room creating, things change and become better, you end up trying out different ways. It’s such a vibrant and beautiful way of working. But I get it, there’s this thing called corona, so you know…”

This will be your first album working together on new material. How do you go about splitting guitar parts?

McLawhorn: “Whenever we’re jamming, if someone comes up with up something cool, they play it. There’s no set thing. So far I’ve probably played the majority of the lead guitar – if Jen comes up with something she is always welcome to play whatever it is. It’s a good working relationship. The first batch of songs, the first three that came out, were done in one session before the coronavirus hit. We were all together for those ones.

“But then Jen flew home back to Germany and we were supposed to tour in Europe, but it all got cancelled. Everything we’ve done since then has been without Jen with us, we’ve been kinda flying sessions back and forth. I probably played a lot of the guitar on the album, but she’s been coming up with cool ideas and putting her stamp on it too.”

The Game Is Over definitely feels like the heavier side of Evanescence…

McLawhorn: “There’s a lot of good stuff like that on this one, stuff that people will be surprised by maybe. There’s a fair amount of that aggressive type of music, but it’s a good mixture. So far everyone’s heard the lighter side of the album, like Use My Voice and Wasted On You… but then there’s The Game Is Over. It was a lot of fun to play and there’s more heavy stuff on there too!”

Majura: “That bridge is so heavy, I love it! It’s going back to the real rock roots and having lots of fun. When you have a low-tuned guitar you have to be a bit careful – you can’t just smash your strings but they will warp a bit.

“I remember forcing myself, especially during the bridge, to play gentle even though it had this badass attitude. It took me a couple of takes… the first ones were completely out of tune [laughs]!”

Jen, it must have been a rollercoaster five years for you. How did you end up getting the gig?

Majura: “What happened was that I was playing bass in another band, not really being happy as I’m a guitar player. We happened to play two festivals, one in Germany and one in the Czech Republic. And it turns out Testament were playing the same days as us.

“I’m a huge Alex Skolnick fan, so we ended up talking and keeping in touch. A couple of days later, I got this very mysterious email from him saying, ‘Jen! Some friends of mine are going to contact you and I can’t reveal too much but I think it’s something you should say yes to!’ I was wondering what the hell he was talking about…

“And then a day later, I got this email from Evanescence’s management asking if I would be interested in… and I didn’t even finish reading the email. I just immediately replied ‘Yes!’ and sent it. That was a total no-brainer.

“So this was around July 2015 and the next evening I was on the phone with Amy talking. She invited me to come visit her in New York and hang out. I thought, ‘Okay… cool!’ and three days later I was on a plane flying to fuckin’ New York wondering if this was really happening. It was insane.”

Did you bring your guitar?

Majura: “I didn’t! I asked her if I needed to bring one and she said, ‘Nah, I know you can play, I’ve seen plenty of videos – let’s just hang out!’ And that’s exactly what we did for the next three days. Hanging out, long walks and talks, going out for dinner or to a concert. Becoming friends and getting to know each other on a more human relationship kind of base.

“I realize now that’s the biggest deal when you have to replace a member. A band is a family. I’d like to quote Rob Zombie on that, because he said it in the movie Hired Gun!

“Finding a good player is the easy part – the world is full of virtuosos. You also need someone who can commit to touring, being on the road and that whole lifestyle. The third and last thing, also the toughest, is that you need people you can stand hanging out with 24/7.

“Concerts are only 90 minutes – what about all the other hours in the day? You need to all fit together. Within those first few days with Amy, I realized we both had a strong work ethic and know exactly what we want, which is beautiful.

“She’s a very strong character. I appreciate her musicality and personality too, she quickly became one of my best friends because we laughed about the same things and then figured out we both love Sex and the City [laugh]! I am so grateful and thankful to have experienced everything I have with her and the boys.”

Troy, you’ve been a member of Seether and filled in for Sevendust on some tours, but you’ve been an on/off member of Evanescence for over a decade now…

McLawhorn: “Yeah, to be honest, I never really left Evanescence. We have big breaks between albums. When I did my first tour with the band, Amy told me she was taking a long break, probably around four or five years. I just went out to find something to do in the meantime and ended up playing in Seether for a few years…

“When it was time for me to leave, it coincided with Amy being ready to do another album. And it was a huge coincidence. I ended up in New York and went to Amy’s house. I was having trouble in Seether and wasn’t happy there, and she said she’d love me to come work on the new album. That’s how it all went down.

“There seems to be some pretty long breaks in between albums with this band but I think that’s part of Amy’s creative process. She likes to take her time when she’s writing the lyrics. The final product always turns out really nice that way, so why mess with it?”

What can you tell us about the gear responsible for the guitar sounds on this album?

Majura: “I signed up with Synergy Amps in November last year. When I joined, I think Steve Vai was the only big name working with them, but I figured if it’s Steve Vai it’s gotta be fucking great. So I went over to check their amp out and I was very skeptical. It looks like a tube amp but with all these holes and parts missing!

“But I plugged in, hit one chord and realized it was actually phenomenal. They’ve sent all the different modules to me, like the Diezel, and the perfect solution for me was the Friedman HBE. It has the perfect rock and roll sound for my solos but it also has the mighty depth of high-gain stuff too – which are all frequencies you need for Evanescence.

“I was originally expecting I’d go with the Diezel one, but the Friedman felt more right for me. I’m very open-minded when it comes to technology. You have two modules, each with two channels, so you get a four-channel amp made out of your favorites.

“For example, I could combine a Vox AC30 Brian May sound with a Diezel VH4. It’s phenomenal what they’ve managed to open up for us musicians in terms of sound options. It’s been my tour rig and studio rig ever since.”

McLawhorn: “I used a combination of different things on this album. On The Game Is Over, it was basically my live setup which is an Orange Rockerverb 100, with an analog pedalboard.

“A big part of the tone I get from the amp comes down to a 10-band EQ I use to boost the mids on the lead channel. That’s about it – I don’t really use overdrive pedals or anything like that and probably use less gain than most modern guitarists. I almost use EQ to find a modern sound, instead of more gain.

“I also have a Fractal Axe-Fx III, which I’ve used here and there on the album, especially for clean parts – it’s really good for that. I’ve done some overdubs with the II as well, stuff that has a lot of effects or sounds really wet – Axe-Fx is great for that, too. I also have a 1969 Marshall Superbass 100 which we split with a Bogner Ecstasy or Uberschall, and used for the rhythm tracks on a couple of songs.”

And how about for guitars?

Majura: “I’ve been with Ibanez for many years now and I’m very happy. They deliver the most perfect instruments. You pick up an instrument and either like it or not. Some of them seem to instantly merge with your system – you become one – and that is true of most Ibanez guitars, at least for me.

“Of course I’ve played Les Pauls and other things, but they’re really not my style. I have so many Ibanez guitars now. I think the AZ series was such a smart move – the family is even bigger and better now… Look at players like Tim Henson, who is just amazing. He makes me feel so old. He’ll be nailing it and I’m at home just playing along to AC/DC or something!

“For pedals, I stick with the Line 6 Helix pedalboard because I remember at my first rehearsal in 2015, they would tell me certain parts would need a chorus or flanger or this or that. At the end of the rehearsal I had a battery of pedals in front of me and realized I couldn’t do it. I’ve never been a pedal dancer. I went to Line 6 asking for a solution and they were just about to come out with the Helix… it was perfect.”

McLawhorn: “I was using a baritone PRS SE. I changed the pickups out, but that’s it – I love the guitar and how it plays. I tried a few different sets, most by Seymour Duncan. One of my seven-strings has a Seymour that my tech put in on the road and I don’t know which one it is! He just found it in my guitar coffin and asked if we should throw it in. It stayed for the rest of the tour – it was probably a JB, who knows!

“But the one on the record is the Distortion (SH-6). I really like how they sound. At first, they were a little hot for what I like – I tend to prefer somewhere in between modern metal and classic rock. It felt like really high gain, way too much, especially when switching from my other guitars. But he really lowered the pickup down and that fixed everything, making everything super-tight and adding some nice mids.”

Use My Voice has a really powerful message behind it…

Majura: “Yes! Another thing that connects me and Amy very strongly is that we both went through moments in our careers where males would tell us, ‘You’re just a girl – what do you know?’ It’s time for strong women – in rock or wherever – to stand up and say being good at a craft has nothing to do with gender. It’s been happening for way too long.

“That feeling of our voices being suppressed needs to change, because every voice matters. We’re all the same. It does not matter if you are male or female or transgender… humans are humans. I think we should spend more time understanding why we’re the same. Use My Voice is an important message for women to stand up and be heard.”

Where do you think your influences differ as guitar players?

Majura: “The first guitar hero I had at around 10 or 11 was Steve Vai. He was so revolutionary in terms of what he’s done for the guitar world, both sound-wise and crafts-wise. Electric guitar wouldn’t be what it is today without Steve Vai.

“I respect him so much for how he feels and talks through his instrument. He’s influenced my thinking about a lot of things. He’s an amazing person, not just an amazing musician.

“Then I got into Nuno Bettencourt, who plays for the sake of the song instead of showing off. Which is what I tried to do on my first solo album, Inzenity, everyone expected a shred album and it wasn’t. I played for the song. If it didn’t require a guitar solo then fine, I’d just leave it. I didn’t need to prove to the world how good I was.

“Nuno also has the percussive style of playing, which brings this tone that I really like. And finally, Angus Young. I’ve been playing in an AC/DC tribute band for four years and I love his playing.”

McLawhorn: “A lot of them for me were the classic players while I was growing up. So Ace Frehley for sure… KISS were like Slipknot for us who grew up in the '70s [laughs]! Then there’s Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Tony Iommi as well, he was a massive influence on me as a kid.

“Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, too – it was very sad that we lost him so early and so young. When Van Halen came out, I started taking guitar very seriously. The bluesy side of his playing always appealed to me but he also had all that technical prowess, too. A very inspiring guitar player for so many people.”

What advice can you offer anyone out there hoping to become a good session player?

McLawhorn: “You need to know how to communicate with people. I’ve done sessions with some Nashville guys that have this shorthand way of writing music. Reading music and knowing theory is always important… I wish I knew more myself.

“It puts you at ease walking into a session knowing you read and play anything back. I can’t really do that – I just really really listen and learn things by memory. I can read some music but that’s going back to trumpet at high school [laughs]. So I rely on communication always!”

Majura: “I think guitar players need to be honest. Use your voice. Be real. Be pure. We don’t need fake, we need humanity and real people. What I love about people like Mattias IA Eklundh is he’s just himself. He’s pure and innovative in a really interesting way.

“I’ve gotten to know guys like him, Guthrie Govan, Richie Kotzen and Jeff Waters – they’re all awesome and very honest players. I think one should never think one has seen it all and learned it all.

“We need to keep in mind we’re all on a journey in search of becoming better. In terms of advice, I always have to say being open to different styles is so important. There’s something to learn every day. You should never stop trying to improve to make the world a better place. You should never stop learning… that’s what makes you human.”

[dpr-lahore-division]

CM OFFERS EID PRAYER AT HIS OFFICE MOSQUE

With the compliments of, The Directorate General Public Relations,

Government of the Punjab, Lahore Ph: 99201390.

No.1171/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar offered eid prayer at the office mosque and extended felicitations to the staff while observing social distancing. He especially prayed for the solidarity of the country and the protection of oppressed Kashmiris of Indian Occupied Kashmir from Indian tyranny. The CM also performed the ritual of animal sacrifice.

Qari Mehboob Ahmed Chisthi led the eid prayer.

** ** **

No.1172/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

RS. 2 CRORE AID FOR AFFECTEES OF DG KHAN ACCIDENT

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has announced Rs.20 million as financial aid for the injured and heirs of passengers who died in the DG Khan road accident. He has also directed the CMIT to hold an inquiry to name those responsible for the negligence. In the light of the report, further action would be initiated against those responsible for the loss of more than 30 lives.

Meanwhile, DC Rajanpur and administrative officers gave away financial aid cheques among the affectees and condoled with them on behalf of the government.

In a statement, the CM repeated that the government will not leave the affectees alone and the government will extend every possible support to them. I am deeply saddened over the loss of lives and extend heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families, he added.

** ** **

No.1173/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

CM VISITS CENTRAL CONTROL ROOM OF LG BOARD COMPLEX

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar visited the central control room of Local Government Board Complex Sandha on the day of eid to inspect the cleanliness arrangements across the province. Secretary Local Government Noor-ul-Amin Mangal briefed the CM about the arrangements.

CM Usman Buzdar also issued directions to the administration of different districts through video-link emphasizing that cleanliness is a collective responsibility. The district administration will be rewarded for immaculate arrangements while the poor performers will be held answerable, he informed. No system can progress without the option of reward and punishment; he maintained and reiterated to ensure best cleanliness arrangements adding that animals' waste should be timely removed for proper disposal. Streets and roads should be devoid of any garbage; he stressed and directed the line departments to ensure better cleanliness arrangements than before. The concerned officials should personally monitor arrangements while using every possible resource and citizens' complaints should be timely resolved, he added. I am monitoring the arrangements and action would be initiated in case of any remissness, he concluded.

Provincial Minister Mian Mehmood ur Rashid, commissioner and DC Lahore, DG LDA and CEO LWMC were also present.

** ** **

No.1174/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

CM CONCOLDES DEATH OF SENIOR JOURNALIST ARIF NIZAMI

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has expressed a deep sense of sorrow over the death of senior journalist Arif Nizami and paid tributes to his contribution to the field of journalism. The CM also prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the heirs to bear the loss with equanimity. Arif Nizami was fully committed to the promotion of democracy and democratic norms in the society and the pain of his departure would always remain alive, he added.

** ** **

No.1175/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

CM VISITS CITY TO INSPECT THE CLEANLINESS SITUATION

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar visited various parts of Lahore on the second day of eid sans protocol to review the cleanliness situation. He spoke with the sanitary workers and commended their role in the city’s cleanliness. The zero-waste operation should be ensured and solid waste be removed at the earliest, he said. The administration and LWMC should constantly monitor the cleanliness operations to further improve the arrangements. I will not tolerate any leniency about cleanliness arrangements and midnight oil should be burnt for the cleanliness of the city, the CM concluded.

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No.1176 /QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

CM FOR CONTINUING CLEANLINESS DRIVE ON THIRD EID DAY

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed to continue cleanliness operation on 3rd day of Eid Al-Adha adding that the animals' waste and other garbage should be properly disposed of. The line departments should make every effort to keep the cities clean as no compromise would be made on cleanliness, he stressed. Action will be initiated in case of any complaint as cities should give a clean look, he further said.

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No.1177/QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

CM APPEALS TO THE CITIZENS TO FOLLOW SOPs

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has appealed to the citizens to remain careful as the number of patients is increasing due to the fourth corona wave.

In a statement, the CM maintained the citizens can avoid this virus by following the SOPs as it is in their interests. Everyone should display responsible social behavior as the disease is spreading, he said. The people should vaccinate themselves and wear masks as the government could adopt steps for securing the lives of the people, the CM concluded.

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No.1178 /QU/RANA

HANDOUT (A)

PTI WILL WIN AJK ELECTIONS—USMAN BUZDAR

LAHORE, July 23:

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has said the sun will see the victory of PTI in the AJK elections on 25th July. The PTI will successfully form the government in AJK after Gilgit-Baltistan.

In a statement, the CM said the voters have totally rejected the narrative of the opposition in AJK. Defeat is the fate of opposition parties and they cannot together compete with PTI, he added. The Kashmiris are siding with honest and trustworthy leadership and they will vote for the trustworthy leadership, he stressed. The PTI will win the elections with the support of Kashmiris and blessings of Allah Almighty and the people will crush the idols of corruption with the power of their vote. PM Imran Khan has highlighted the Kashmir cause before the world and Kashmiris tremendously love him, concluded the CM.

** ** **

[wrongwiredmind]

Before I start saying anything I'd like to warn that the content of this post is both gore and contains suicidal thoughts, if any of that triggers you, please do not read, I care about whoever is reading but I can't hold any responsibility for anything that might follow, stay safe, and remember that no matter what, what comes next in your life will be better, one way or another.

This post is rather long, but that's kinda the point of this page, here we go, then.

So, I had almost my weirdest dream to date, right now, and then I thought, to heck with it!! Let's share something!

So first of all, I need to set some points straight before writing so it might explain a few things, hopefully, without giving a lot away about my personality:

(I have no idea how to put them on order, so they're pretty much a mumbo jumbo. Ah~ My favourite type of writing~. Kidding, of course, I actually prefer reading well written stories and articles)

Anyhow:. 1- I have a really deep unexplainable fear of the vast beast called an ocean (or a sea, or really anytype of deep water), I still go to the beach and pools and whatever, but there's always some sort of an icy grip tightening around my non-existent heart.

2- I love IronMan! So so much, and I kinda adopted Tony Stark!! (no one tell him, please!).

3- my adoration of a certain supernatural series made me love batman! (well, not entirely true, I always loved him, but kinda from afar, you get me?)

4- want me to get hooked on something? Give me a fanfic of it!! (of course like a series or a book, not a substance, you bad bad people!!), that's how I loved Bilbo!! (imagine me saying it in my adorable voice, the one I use when I try to sound cute 😉)

5- I binge read a certain fanfic about those two amazing superheroes saving the world, and themselves!! (I refuse to give up the name since if you think this is me oversharing? You've got another thing coming, honey!) that had a cruise and another prototype of the IronMan suit (don't ask which mark it is but it's so fast it broke the sound barrier!!)

6- I'm a little bit under the weather, (not corona, folks!) and my throat is kinda itchy, to the point that I lost all my vocal prowess for a little more than 24 hours a few days ago, still kinda annoying, and my stomach rebelled so much yesterday (before and during sleeping) that I thought she should take the rebellion symbol from Mr. Che Jivara!! (with all due respect to him, I'm only joking, so please no one takes it seriously).

7- I'm a little bit of a spacetoon (and all that's good and beautiful in our childhood) encyclopedia, want a name of a cartoon or a song you can't remember? I'm usually your best bet, after the second mother, google, of course!!

8- this week is so dead that if you want to see zombies come to our lectures any time in it, seriously we're so under a lot of exams, thank God and the doctors for postponing our tasks and assignments' due-date.

9- if I was a little more of an extrovert I might not have had to write most of these strange snippets about me in a freaking post!!!

And finally, on with the dream! (another thing you probably know by now, that I kinda take you around and under and left and right before I say what I want to say).

So, it was an assignment to some sort of subject (don't ask me which, since as far as I know, not a single thing in our curriculum will make me do what I'm about to do here, or at least, I hope so!!!), we made some type of fall-body suit that needed analysing (who am I kidding, it was the IronMan suit!!), and guess who was picked as a pilot? That's right! Yours truly!!

Anyway, good thing to bad, we had to make the prototype test in the middle of the (as I said above) the vast beast! Mr. Oceanus (I know that that is a Mr. Titan, but who am I, the lowly mortal, to deny his decision to appear in my paragraphs? And no, he didn't show up in the dream, thank God! [ours, not any of the others]),

So, I was put in the cruise, in the middle of the ocean, with the IronMan suit, and a seriously sick stomach, can you guess where we're going with this? (I'm actually kinda enjoying writing this since it reminds me of a certain mad superhero/not superhero who finally joined the XMen!, of course he joined a few years ago but I only watch the second movie circa a month ago) no? let me tell you, a bit of dizziness, seasickness, and an already rebellious stomach? Not a good combination, and remember that I really, really fear the ocean (just remembering the dream and the images in my head is traumatising, let alone living it vividly for a few hours), so, I fell, and strangely enough, I was a good swimmer (ah~ I really count my blessings here since no matter who or when someone taught me to swim, I still can't manage), I was able to stay close to the ship, but couldn't really pull myself up, so all I could do was keep a good hold on a rope tied around the ship and keep my legs in a calculated, slow what feels like a walking-in-place exercise,, (I can still feel the water around me, and the gentle waves of the ocean, it was both a calming feeling and a horrible one) and then...

Something touched the soles of my feet, and it kinda hurt, and it continued to move under me till something hit my toes, it was a shark fin, that's right, a shark choose me as his next meal, how honoured I was!!! Kidding i was kinda terrified, but all that YouTube survival videos came to mind, I left the rope of the ship and kinda dipped under water (triple scare, here, yikes!) and I... pushed.. his muzzle?

Yeah, so not really what they taught you in the videos, my polite nature rears its ugly head again (politeness is not as good as it seems, people! actually once a stray dog entered our home and jumped on the couch, and I was asking nicely and politely if "Mr. Dog would pretty please leave us be", and no, I wasn't scared but mom told me not to touch it, and it kinda was a cute, if a mangy mutt)

I didn't really want to punch the shark, even if my life kinda depended on it here, for a few reasons and actually at least one of them was pretty reasonable, which is, my punch is pretty weak, guys!!

Anyway, of course since its skin kinda scratched my feet there was blood, so it didn't leave me alone, two things I concluded here, first, Mr. Shark was either a lazy guy since he was coming to me slowly as if he either was a giant cat coming for pets no matter how many times you push her, or he was playing with his food, aka, me.

The second thing I discovered was that I was really sick in real life since my imagination couldn't conjure another family member of my guest here (again with the small mercies, can you imagine being alone around all these carnivores? And I bet not all of them will be moving so leisurely!!)

So, I finally decided to be the champ of my cruise and punch the thing in the face, so I pulled up all the power I can in my fist and punched him in his snout!!!

And let me tell you, it's not as easy is they make it sound, first, his nose is actually pretty hard, not the sensitive area they led us to believe, second, my hand really hurt and his skin scratched my knuckles, and I believe it kinda broke a bone in my hand, third, and worse, it actually enraged the mister so much that it left me, J-squared again and this time, flew! in my direction and I swear I still feel his teeth sinking in the shin of my right leg, but before he tore it apart, I actually did the right thing to defend myself, I (and I apologise, Mr. Dream shark, but you really hurt both my leg and my feelings!!) poked his eyes, which made for a very awkward stretch to my body, but finally, I was left alone!! With a mangled leg, of course, but hey!! It's not real life, so let's be glad.

The saltwater stinging my feet, still sick, and more dizzy from blood loss, you have no idea how glad was I that I was still near the ship, a little bit more than a meter but still floating, and then, the bad became worse, I actually goT SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A WHALE!!!!!!!!, YUP!! THE WHALE IN THE PICTURE!!!

And then god with his mercies again, it swallowed the ship but opened his mouth for me to leave, neat, ain't it?

But let me tell you what happened in a little more details, I felt a ripple in the water beneath and around me, and the ship started to sway, and a faint sound of something between a roar and strange song-like-sound, feeling the rumble under me was what made me look, and lo and behold!! The mighty animal wanted the meal that the shark didn't get, bye bye world!! Bye bye the suit that I still didn't to get to wear! And bye bye the report I needed to write for this freaking assignment that because of it I might fail and my friends will rail me when they see me!!

The ship and I couldn't help but enter the mouth of the humongous fish, the sounds of the wood, metal, glass and whatever is the cruise was made of was deafening, so loud and cruel, and I got a more than a few bruises and abrasions, and the feel of his teeth behind my back, sharp and huge and bigger than my own size, was something I don't know how to describe, and suddenly between all the breaking and suffocating water and absolute darkness, something caught my eyes, the slits in the helmet of the suit were lit, I'm sure it was a malfunction because of all the destruction on Mark, but it took all my fear, as if sucking it from my own eyes, and as sudden as it glowed, it vanished, but the calm remained, I closed my eyes, since it didn't matter, and just stopped everything, even trying to hold my breath, but not breathing as well, as if all body functions just... Stopped.

And then my eyes flew open again, not because I woke up, but because of an almost crushing change in the water pressure, it just pushed me forward more inside the huge mouth, and when I thought that this is it, I found the whale mouth moving further away from me, taking the ship and Mark with it, and leaving me alone, in the middle of the ocean that I wanted to say "c'mon!! If you ate me it'll be a win-win situation!!!!" but the second I opened my mouth water rushed inside that I tried swimming up to breath (even though not knowing which way is up was problematic, since something similar happened in real life before I wasn't worried, but that's a story for another time), breaking the surface was a godsend, I tell you! But my misery wasn't in any way over, I was so thirsty I actually wanted to drink salt water a again (and then death, oh wow, how smart?), and once the adrenaline deserted me, my leg returned to trying to kill me, and I don't know if it was a real thing if it happened in real life but it actually stopped bleeding, which was both fantastic, since it means that I won't die of bloodloss, and horrifying since I'm not going to die because of bloodloss, at least then I would have been able to calculate an approximate time for my death, but no, I have to wait and see what kills me next, I almost wished that I just had my previous stomachache and be done with.

Anyway, moving was not really an option, and staying was not either, and the breeze was making me so cold my teeth almost broke from all the shattering they were doing, I wasn't really sure when the others might decide to check on me, and I'm not really sure if I was still in the place they left me at, and I really didn't know what to do, I was so helpless, and cold, and thirsty, in so much pain and so so tired.

I cursed the whale again for not ending my misery, and cursed the shark for being a coward and not finishing what he started and cursing the assignment for being so impossible yet important, and most of all cursing myself, though I don't know why, but my self-loathing decided that now is the time to remember how horrible I am.

As physics does, the water raised me till I was floating on my back, which made me feel even more cold but I didn't have any energy to do anything about it, and strangely, I fell into some sort of doze, not asleep yet not really awake and aware, my whole body half above half into the water, though my right, injured leg, was bend in the knee into the water, which made my pained scream when something took hold of it in its mouth the more agonizing since it made my upper body enter the water, and the thing holding my leg left it alone, and I was able to right myself and look around me for the next threat, the fear was immense that I thought I might get a heartattack, which, admittedly would be better than the pain going to be inflicted upon me any second now, looking around finally led me to what attacked me, and for a moment, with my blurry, and fear filled eyes looked like Mr. Shark has indeed returned to finish what he started, he even returned to his play-with-my-food attitude, but when my eyes finally focused they detected differences, from the lighter shade of colors, to the more smooth curves of the fin and snout, and the gentle, warm (even if it looked sleepy) strange brown tone of the mammels eyes,

The dolphin was about two meters away, and looking at me with intense, twinkling eyes (if they were blue and he wore glasses, or at least marking that looks like it, I would have thought that the dolphin was Dumbledore' animagus and I really wouldn't have hesitated this time to punch his already crocked nose.. err.. snout [which it isn't, the dolphin's snout was perfect] with my broken hand!!) and moved slowly towards me, he pushed me gently with his nose in my abdomen, swam back a few inches, then entered the water and moved towards my leg, not touching it, but he was close enough to feel with my already almost destroyed sensitive nerves, he did all of that while I'm standing/floating, stupefied, hardly even breathing, and then he left, and pushed me again with his snout on my back, this time with more pressure that my body couldn't help but move to the dolphin's right side to let him pass, with my hand just above his back, when my hand touched his prominent back fin, he pushed my hip gently, as if telling me something, and pushed his fin into my hand again, it felt like rubber, and I couldn't help but ask "you want me to hold you?" he made a strange clicking noise then kinda slapped the water with his side fin in the other side of me, and bizarrely, his actions made me feel as if he was saying "are you stupid? Why else would I offer you my magnificent dorsal?!!" I stared, flummoxed, at the creature and couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh, I'm certain that it was the tension, fear and hysteria that made me do it, but for me, the whole situation was so hilarious that it seemed like it made Mr. Dolphin look at me and think "alright, the pathetic, hurt, star-shaped blemish is, indeed, stupid and needs help from my majesty" and then, using his right fin, slapped me non-too-gently on the side of my left hip, squeaking something as well and pushed his dorsal in my left hand again, but when he noticed my wince, he actually kinda rubbed his slippery appendage on my thigh while honest-to-god cooed at me that I couldn't help but smile at him, "it's okay, big guy, and thanks; you know, you kinda remind me of flipper!" and then I petted him a couple of times (which he purred at, I think I need a cat! 🤔🤔) then grabbed his fin in a tight but non constricting grip, my right hand was swollen by now so my only hope was to keep holding using my left hand, after shaking his body a little as if to check my hold, he dove with me into the water!! I almost screamed in fright but then he broke the surface and jumped about three meters high into the air!!!

Hello, there, adrenaline, didn't see you since a few!!

He dove again into the water and this time gradually moved towards the surface, with the water flowing into my hair and pushing me from my saviour, my left leg moved on its own violation and moved around the body as if I was riding a horse,

"WOOHOO!!", I shouted once we were in the air again, it was exhilarating; cold, but thrilling, though the warm body beneath me was perfect, he took me in a straight if slightly curvy line, and when I noticed that, I also noticed that his right fin was not moving as his left, I even thought he was injured for a second, but then a sharp sting in my leg and a slight jerk from him made me understand, my injured leg was beneath his wing-like appendage, and he was being considerate, as a solution, I flattened myself on his back, kept my left leg dangling as if in the horse saddle, my right one, as gently as possible, bend on the knee above the dolphin's back, my left hand gripping the top fin with it touching my shoulder, and my broken right hand above Mr. Flipper's cousin head, and then I came into a a sudden realization!! "does that mean I'm Lopaka????" I asked Flipper the second, and he made a sound suspiciously almost like a snort, but my change of position made him move in a much more pronounced straight line; the speed decreased as I started to doze again, as if he was worried about dislodging me, though the annoying feeling of the salt crusting on my skin woke me up, no idea how much time had past, except that the sun was on either the verge of descending or rising, and finally, finally, I saw land and buildings and what not from afar, and I certainly moved to another continent all together, let alone another country, after reaching the area where I could stand comfortably on the ground beneath the water, people started to come to see what was happening, I ignored them for the sake of my silent companion, suddenly he actually stood on his tail fin, and kinda sort of awkwardly leaned on me without trying to put too much pressure, I didn't understand what was happening though it seemed sorta like a hug?

Anyway, I pat his back again, (and again with the weird purring noise), when he released me I felt buzzing in the back pocket of my jeans, I actually still have my phone!!!

Pulling it out and snorting that after everything that happened my phone was still working!! all I could say is "well, it seems like the time of a picture, Mr. Flipper, sir!" and after an awkward kneeling so I could put my injured arm around him and trying to stretch my bloody leg (both meanings are accurate here, tbh) so it wouldn't interfere with the selfie, I positioned my left hand.

And the last thing I remember is the picture of my (Lopaka the second 😂) wide mouth grin and an equally wonderful grin from Mr. Flipper the second!!!

The End.

It really was a dream I had, with all these details, the only thing that's not entirely true about this post, is saying that this is the weirdest dream I had.

[silverbastardgoldenfool]

God I need a digital detox so badddd. I really only use Tumblr and YouTube but the stress still adds up when you look at these apps every day, and especially during corona/lockdown times and this nightmare year I feel like discourse and comments have just become more toxic than ever bc everyone either has nothing better to do than overthink everything OR is just used to being hyper-critical this year for valid reasons but that energy is leaking over into harmless/mundane spaces. Like, a youtuber I watch made a video announcing that their brother was starting a channel of his own and the comments were like....?????? You'd think they'd murdered someone the comments were so vicious and accusatory. Our lives have become so insular this year that we've lost all bloody perspective. I include myself in this bc it's the same reason I've become more sensitive to it than ever (which says a lot bc I'm always super sensitive to even the mildest online toxicity) bc in Victoria we're still in full lockdown so I can't like go on day trips into nature or go visit my baby niece or go to the library and force my brain to think about something else or see the bigger picture. I also can't fall into my writing bc this year has completely sapped my creativity. I guess in a way when you're trapped inside your house 24/7 your phone becomes your only means of escape, so right now just does and does not feel like the time to unplug (especially this close to the U.S. election). Idk boys. I just really hope I can go for a long drive soon and am begginnnng for no third wave in Vic.

And PLEASE we are all having a hard year can we just TRY to not make it even harder on each other!! In most situations the old adage still applies: if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all my dudes.

[doomedandstoned]

Meet Judd Madden: Melbourne’s Most Prolific One-Man Band

~Interview by Shawn Gibson~

Art by Jeff Smith

How are you doing?

Pretty good! As good as we can in these strange times.

When you are not doing music you are doing web design. How busy does that keep you?

There's not much work on at the moment honestly, so personal projects have filled the void. And video games.

You live in Melbourne Australia right? Tell me a little about Melbourne and where you live.

Melbourne is home to 5 million people. It's a wonderful city with vibrant live music, restaurants, parks – anything you're into, you can find. I've lived here for 16 years and I absolutely love it.

How have the wildfires affected you?

We had smoke here in Melbourne for weeks, though Sydney was much worse. The bushfires (as we call them) were hell on earth for those nearby.

How are you holding up with the Corona virus affecting everything?

My wife is working from home now, with me, so that's nice. My friends and family are healthy and safe, but I miss seeing them in person – video chats and phone calls are just not the same.

I miss live music and being in a crowd, the physical space and sharing in the moment. Australia is doing well comparatively, we're a spacious country with a low population, and we're good at following rules like "stay home."

What places do you go to in Melbourne to see heavy music?

The Tote, The Bendigo, Max Watts (HiFi), The Forum. I can't fucking wait to get to a gig when all this is over.

What are some Australian bands you love and we should check out?

In the doom/metal scene there are so many. Droid, Dr Colossus, Pod People, Thaw, Holy Serpent, Lucifungus are some I've enjoyed live recently.

Glacial by Judd Madden

My first introduction to Judd Madden was Glacial. I loved it and checked the other albums on your Bandcamp page.

Oh, cool! That album featured my one and only music video; Mountain Slayer, which received great exposure.

Is there an album that was removed from your Bandcamp page? There was a song on an album that almost had a hardcore tempo, great bass line! I want to say something like against set. I wish I remembered!

Before Waterfall (the first album) was released I made dozens of rough songs, to see if I could do it all by myself, and to experiment. Most of them were bad. "Against Set" and some of the less bad songs are on the Old Doom & Demos album. Listening now, it's not that fast -- maybe you're thinking of something else? There are not a lot of fast songs in my catalogue, perhaps "Mouth" from Waterfall or Waterfall II?

Please tell me about 528hz (DNA repair). I have heard many frequencies in that range, higher and lower but never in a doom song!

It's from "Everything In Waves" which is about reality, energy, perception, matter, cosmos. In my research about wave-forms of all types, I stumbled across the "healing tones" genre, with its wild claims about specific frequencies.

The song is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but leaves the question open. Can listening to certain tones have healing/meditative benefits? Well, we don't know everything, right?

Feel No Pain by Dead End Thoughts

What prompted Dead End Thoughts?

The desire to create even heavier music, with vocals. It's a separate project, as my main catalogue doesn't have vocals – Dead End Thoughts is a different beast. I wanted a space to explore complex ideas, the edges of my mind and darkness. The songs are thematically and musically extremely heavy.

It doesn't come from a place of depression or anger, as some people have suggested, but a need to explore and create something original. If it's original I'm happy. Musically the songs are totally organic, it's a stream of consciousness in the jam, with vocals and instrument layers added after.

Dead End Thoughts recently released 'Feel No Pain' (2020). Please tell me about the spark that started the fire for this album.

Feel No Pain is created directly from live jams between myself on guitar and Dan on drums. It's an evolution from the first album, which I created recording guitar first and drums second (which was difficult).

When you jam with one melodic instrument and one rhythmic instrument, both are free (within reason) to do what they like. Adding a second melodic instrument like a bass usually requires more planning and results in more structured songs.

We enjoy seeing where things go. These five tracks were chosen from around 20 that we recorded throughout the year. I realised mid-year that this could be the next album; the riffs were of similar tone, and I wouldn't have to drum over them!

Once I added a second/third guitar, bass, and vocals, they no longer sounded like jams and became real songs -- but you can still feel the live energy. It's also not perfect, which I think makes it more interesting.

We surprise ourselves when we're jamming, there is no staleness from playing a rehearsed song over and over. Most of the riffs on the album were new to us as we played them. It's so much fun.

On 'Feel No Pain,' Dan Jolly plays drums and did the album artwork. Please tell me about him and his role in Dead End Thoughts.

Dan has been one of my best mates for many years. We've played a lot together, he's a fantastic drummer who's even more into doom metal than I am! He played on half of these tracks unaware that they would become an album, sorry Dan. (laughs)

Our drumming styles are actually pretty similar, but he's younger and more energetic. I asked him to do the album art, as I was doing all the production and extra instruments, so he could share ownership of the project. It's an awesome painting, we had it before the lyrics so I was able to connect with "By Burning Heat."

Colour High by Colour High

Tell me about Colour High and how that is different from the music you make most of the time.

Colour High is an electronic doom project, similar to the music in Stranger Things. It was made over two months very late at night, in headphones when I couldn't make noise.

I've always dabbled in electronic music, once I even 'played live' in 1999 with my brick of a computer and CRT monitor. I just sat behind it and pretended to be doing things -- I wasn't.

Colour High is all about exploring sounds, compositions, just having fun and enjoying a different process. Having the entire score and all instruments available when composing is very different to the track-by-track approach required for solo instrumental music.

What makes Judd Madden laugh?

Most things. My friends, my wife, my cat. I love TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Always Sunny, South Park, The Office. Love stand-up comedy -- hard to name just a few, but Dave Chappelle, Brian Regan, Bill Burr, Iliza Shlesinger, Joey Diaz, Dylan Moran and all the greats like Carlin, Seinfeld, Prior, etcetera!

Which bands have influenced you and the music you make?

My parents like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Beatles, Metallica. 90's bands like Tool, RATM, Chili Peppers, Prodigy. Then I started getting into Kyuss, Sleep, Yob, and the amazing stoner rock/doom metal scene. It resonated strongly with me and I immediately wanted to make music in that genre.

Now I listen to anything good: jazz, classical, electro, darksynth, math, weird stuff like Scott Walker or doom bands like Conan, Bongripper, Aleph Null. Completely obsessed with an electronic artist called 2814, the album Birth of a New Day is a real trip.

Name some good books that you have read.

The Gap Cycle, Stephen Donaldson. The Nights Dawn Trilogy, Peter Hamilton. Enders Game Series, Orson Scott Card.I like big space operas, currently getting through The Culture series, but honestly I've fallen out of the habit of reading – I usually listen to music in headphones in bed.

How is the weed in Australia? Good?

It's illegal mate. But good, yes. I never touched it until I was 30 – now it's fun occasionally. I find it can help creativity, particularly with music. It can lower your ego, allow a more natural flow.

Is there anything you want to plug or promote?

Aside from the new album and the other projects we've discussed, my wife and I made Duel 52, a card game that you can play with a standard deck of cards. It's free and fun, if you're bored in lockdown check it out!

What is in the future for Judd Madden and Dead End Thoughts?

Once Dan and I can jam again we'll keep making music, and another heavy album. For my main project I have the beginnings of a lighter album similar to Float, spacey and guitar-heavy. Calm, meditative music to balance all this darkness.

Judd, thank you very much for your time! Stay safe and sane through these tough times!

Cheers, thank you for your support!

Waterfall II by Judd Madden

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[201924431-seul]

Write about your feelings about coming back to school under these circumstances(COVID19).

I thought a lot about Professor Robin's assignment this week. Currently, we don't know when go to school because of Corona19. So my heart seems to be rushing. On the one hand, I think I wanted to go to school quickly, and on the other hand, I think I want to stay at home like now. The advantage of not going to school is that I have a lot of free time like now. I don't have to get up early and get ready, just because I can choose the time I want to study. But giving me too much free time seems to make me lazy. I think I have more sleep than when I was in school. After a long thought, I summarized three reasons why I wanted to go to school and two ideas that I didn't want to go to school.

    First of all, I think it is more efficient to have a face-to-face lecture with a professor. Studying a video lecture is also a good way to study, but I want to see, feel, and study the professor's passionate lectures. And I want, I can provide immediate feedback on the unknown.

    Second, I wanted to participate in the club if I lived in school this semester. Last year I did not join the club. During my school days, I only studied. The sad thing was that I couldn't get along with various people. I want to share my hobbies and socialize with others.

    Third, I miss the sea next to the school. There is no sea around where I live. It is a precious moment to remember when I go to school and sometimes go to the sea to hear the sound of the waves and have a beer with friends.

    The following is why I am reluctant to go to school. First, I live in Gyeonggi-do, and the distance from school to home takes 5-6 hours. It was a little difficult to go this long way once every two weeks to see my parents and boyfriend.

    Also, it is very dangerous for many people to gather at this time. This is because the virus can spread more and more. If we go to school after April 6th, we will have to be thorough in personal hygiene. I think that is the most desirable action for each other.

    In conclusion, I want to go to a school where I can listen to the professor's passionate face-to-face lectures, share hobbies with various people, and communicate.

    I am sorry that many people are suffering from corona 19. If we are all thorough in personal hygiene and avoid collective gatherings, we will be able to start classes as soon as possible. I hope everyone will be able to go to school in good health :)

[p-artsypants]

blackbeastofengalnd replied to your photo

Tell me the key to it creation sensei

Regarding the Ultima weapon in KH3:

So, honestly, this was the hardest I’ve ever had to work to make this weapon. The easiest (I think) is KH2, then KH1, then KH3 (though I haven’t gotten it in DDD or BBS, but I’ve only played those once) 

In order to make the Ultima weapon, you have to unlock it in the Moogle shop, which you do after collect 58 synthesis materials. As long as you run around and fight, this shouldn’t be a problem.

First we’ll start with the easy stuff, the ‘other’ ingredients.

Wellspring Crystals are drops of ‘High Soldier’ Heartless in Monstropolis, San Fransokyo, and The Caribbean. They might also be in chests? I honestly don’t know, because I had them before the Ultima weapon was available.

Same thing with the Pulsing Crystals, which are dropped in Arendelle. 

The Lucid Crystals are a little harder, but they are dropped by the Anchor Heartless in the Caribbean. Pulsing and Lucid Crystals can be synthesised with the use of a Wellspring Crystal. 

Now onto the hard stuff.

The 7 Orchalcum +

1. One is in ‘The Final World’ in a chest. I think it’s the only chest there. No problem.

2. There’s one hidden in Exile Island in the Caribbean. Also, didn’t have any trouble with this one. 

3. You need to snap pics of 80 lucky Emblems to get this one. But, I wanted the secret ending, so I got all 100 (in beginner mode). There’s guides on where to find them online, but two that the guides were SUPER unhelpful for were two in the Caribbean. Go to Sandbar Isle, and look to the right side, where the cliffs with vegetation are. There’s some rocks you can use as stairs and they’ll take you up there. Explore around, and you’ll see a small path that takes you to a spring hidden in the middle. Jump in, and you’ll see a little mickey on a rock, and then a huge one carved out of the rock. There’s also a ton of chests down there. 

4. The gummi battles in this game, I feel, are infinitely better than the ones in previous games. You have to beat the Omega Boss in the Eclipse Galaxy to get this one. Honestly, if you just spend time going through each of the oceans and leveling up, this one is not that hard, just time consuming. I always build my own ships, but some of the blueprints are excellent for that battle. It’s actually a six part battle, since you have to pretty much defeat everything in the Galaxy before Omega appears. There’s a giant box taking up this galaxy, and each corner (on the outside) has a battle on it. There’s a little bit of a cinematic when he appears. 

5. The lottery. Remember that you get postcards for buying a lot from the Moogles? There’s a reason. In Twilight town next to the shop, there’s a post box. This Orchalcum+ is random and there’s no trick to it. So, what I did was save before posting, then entered in the drawing. If I didn’t get it, I loaded up the save file and tried again. It took me about ten tries. 

6. The Flantastic Seven. I swear to god, this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in a video game. It wasn’t even really that hard, just...so tedious and precise. So I’ll go through each one individually, by my perceived difficulty. I’m not going to write about locations, since IGN has a comprehensive list of where to find them all. (Plus their own guide of how they work) 

Grape- I got this one on the first try. You have to beat as many as you can. I just used ranged magic, like thunder and wailed on them as much as possible. I found it easy. But that’s the only one I did.  

Strawberry- Stacking little flans as you spin around on a teacup while avoiding giant rolling strawberries. This took me a couple of times to do, but I eventually got it. Bumping into ANYTHING knocks off your flans. So just go slow, and stay around the outside.

Orange- The calmest of the flans. In Corona, they just want you to take some cute pictures of them. You get seven shots, use them wisely. 

Directly behind you at the starting point, there’s a tiny one right by the hidden entrance to the tower. Snap it when he pops out of the ground.

Another tiny one jumps out by the cave and waves. Get him with his arm raised. He’s a little tricky, so be careful (or get him first)

There’s two that are sitting together in a tree. They jump down when you aim your camera on them and make...waffles? They only do this once, so don’t goof it up!

There’s one with two birds in hand and a rabbit on his head. He poses with them. 

There’s five together that walk and pose. Snap a pic when they pose in unison. This is worth the most points. 

You should have 23k if you got all of these, so your last pic can go on any of them (but I suggest the flying ones) 

Watermelon- In the Caribbean at the fort. This one is all about timing. If you hit the big one on balloons in the back, you get major points. You can hit the bell in the middle to fire all cannons at the same time, but it takes a bit to recharge.

Banana- In Monster’s Inc. The big one tries to eat you while you try to destroy the little ones. They are 1 hit kills too. So, dodge roll the heck out of the way, and try to keep an eye out on the big one. I found it the best to stay behind him, close, at all times. Use thunder to attack the little guys, but don’t spam it. Give them time to spawn a whole bunch. If you’re lucky, you can use grand magic to score major points.

Musk Melon- The bane of my existence. You have to jump on them to go high, but if you jump on the same one, they’ll eat you. And you can miss and end the game. Always always aim for the sparkling ones. They give more points and move platforms. For ones that are moving, aim for their faces, since you’ll have a better chance of landing on them. Once you pass 10k, you start doing that skydiving fall and the game becomes WAY harder to complete. Just...good luck.

Cherry- I used to love cherries. Now I can’t look at them without crying. I’m not even kidding, it took me ten hours of doing this stupid mini game before I actually got it. 

When going down the path, hit the first set of arrows, then the flan, SKIP the next set of arrows, and hit the two flan. This will give you enough speed to hit the arrows on the roof and grab the flan in the air. Go across the disc, then over another roof-straight, and then turn mid air to get the six flan in the air. Continue straight, then turn slightly up a ramp, hit a set of arrows, hit three flan, arrows, jump a ledge to hit flan in the air, hit another on the way down. Next section in the garden will basically auto pilot you with arrows. When you hit the arrows to make a sharp right in front of a fountain, make sure to curve to the left to avoid hitting the wall. Go straight down the path, over a shallow hole, and then hit two more single flan. Now this part is CRUCIAL to winning this game! There’s a fork in the path, one direction down a dirt path, and one down some steps. The arrows will take you down the steps, but if you curve slightly to the right, you can take some planks around the arrows and down the dirt path! There are a TON of flan down that way! After that, you’ll go into a temple, and then down the alley that was on fire earlier. The flan will guide you down the correct path into the city. Immediately in the city, there should be arrows to take you left into a group of five flan. Then, you’ll go straight into the little maze of fire that you used a Trinity Sled on earlier. You can rely on the arrows for the rest of the route. The main trick is that fork in the road, and keeping your speed up without losing control or bumping into ANYTHING. Mostly luck.

7. Frozen Slider Mini game- You have to collect ten glowing jewels on the mountain. There are four sections to the mountain. But all of the jewels are in the third. Each section is divided by a major jump that you will go over no matter which path you take. The first goes over a gorge, the second, over a cliff, and the third over a cliff after going through some caves. Here’s a very vague and probably not helpful map:

The best advice I can give is to watch this video by Youtuber Everglow and just memorise it, because that’s what I did. There’s not really any other landmarks to use, so just...good luck. Because that’s all I can say.

Though it was really frustrating and tedious, I feel amazing to have gotten it. BUT NEVER AGAIN.

[harryandmolly]

i could write it better than you ever felt it - four

summary: fuck growing up. this is freedom, this is life, this is youth – 2007 Warped Tour style.

warnings: Language, Shawn as a Pained Puppy, a challenge

word count: 2.7k

Shawn wakes up hard.

This isn’t, like, new or anything. He’s 19. It doesn’t take much.

But he wakes up hard because he’s pretty sure he was dreaming about her.

He keeps his eyes shut, fighting to revel in it a little longer. He doesn’t remember the dream, just the feeling it gave him. She was so… warm. And smelled so nice. And her cunt felt so fucking good.

It takes him a good few minutes to remember that she was there when he fell asleep. She should be there, lying against his chest, smelling like citrus. But he runs his hands down his chest and realizes all of a sudden he’s a little cold.

He goes to sit up and whacks his head on the roof of the van. He whimpers and scrunches his nose, shaking out his curls. He looks around. A dense, cool blue fog surrounds the bus. It’s early morning. They’ll be leaving for Mountain View soon.

There’s no trace of her.

Shawn ducks his head shyly, though no one’s watching him. He’s in a van with half a dozen other men, but he feels startlingly alone.

He sniffs and tries to run through the facts in his hungover head. They were both really drunk. He’s actually struggling to come up with any details of their encounter. Maybe she’s embarrassed. Bus call is probably soon. Maybe she happened to wake up and left without wanting to wake him. Maybe she’s going to text him.

Shawn pulls his blanket out from under the bench and drapes it over him, trying to reconcile. He also tries to remember as much as he can muster about her. It feels a little cruel to have a memory like this, like her, taken away by cheap liquor. He swallows the dryness in his throat and slams his eyes shut, willing himself to imagine what it must’ve been like to make drunken love to Val Moreno.

+

What a fucking disaster.

Val wakes up again after 9am with tears of frustration in her eyes. She waves them off as a product of shitty sleep. She rucks her blanket up her chest and scrunches her hands in it, squeezing her eyes shut.

Flashes of the night before stomp through her mind, unwarranted, unwelcome. She heaves a sigh and sits up carefully, maneuvering out of her bunk. She wobbles, groans, and goes in search of coffee.

Greg and Tommy, Streets’ bassist and lead guitar (respectively), men she’s known since she was a teenager, watch her suspiciously as she spills out of the bunk area.

“There she is,” Greg coos, sickly sweet. She sneers.

“Fuck off.”

“You did that last night,” Tommy hums, reaching his hand out to Greg for a fist bump. She flips them both the bird and turns to the coffee maker, sweeping her hair over one shoulder as she prepares a fresh pot.

“Oh, Val,” Greg chuckles. His sincerity startles her. She looks up.

“What?”

“Your neck, dude. He mauled you.”

Val’s eyes go wide. She clamps a hand around her neck while the boys look away. She scrambles to the bathroom and throws the door open to inspect herself in the mirror.

Horror.

She expected her eyeliner would be runny and her hair would be greasy. She thought maybe she had a hickey on her neck from the way the boys looked at her.

It’s not… a hickey. It’s several hickeys. On both sides of her neck. Jesus Christ. He really did maul her.

She plants her hands on either side of the sink and slumps forward, shaking her head at her reflection. The marks portray an experience Val didn’t really have. They make it look like she was fucked well and thoroughly by someone who knew his way around.

She wasn’t.

Val licks her lips and reaches for her toothbrush. As she scrubs, she lets herself reflect.

It doesn’t actually really shock her that Shawn wasn’t any good in bed. Boys like that don’t have to be.

He’s a lead singer. Forefront might not mean much yet but they got onto Warped which means they have a good few fans, which means they have groupies. Plus, he’s tall and wildly good looking. He never had to be good to get girls to keep coming back.

Not that she knows he’s like that. She knows as well as anyone that despite her assumptions, there are plenty of front men on Warped that are secretly not very well experienced. Perhaps Shawn is one of those. That’s more forgivable to Val. That has potential. A man who’s slept around a lot and never bothered to learn… that’s another matter.

Val spits into the sink. The truth is, she doesn’t know which category Shawn falls into and she finds that… it bothers her. A piece of her she hasn’t seen in a while wants there to be a good reason he couldn’t get her off. She’s not well acquainted with this piece anymore. She shoves it off and spits again, willing herself to stop thinking about it.

Mountain View is beautiful but hot, much like the rest of California. Val roasts underneath the merch tent, handing off cheap tees to teenage girls and big burly twenty-something men who she wouldn’t want to meet in a wall of death. She’s hit a lull and is fanning herself with a folded up paper fan made of a Glamour Kills tent flyer when she cues into a conversation happening nearby.

“… and you’re talking about him like he’s some dude at school. He’s a lead singer, Cass. You’re not gonna fuck Shawn Mendes.”

Val perks up. She leans back in her lawn chair, listening to the crowing of the valley girls behind her.

“He might as well be. You know I heard from that girl Tasha on MySpace that he fucked two of her friends when they were on the Greener Pastures Tour last summer. And then Emily from The Hustler Club message board says she sent him nudes. He’s not, like, an angel. Plus, I’ve been laying ground work. This is our third day in a row coming to their set. And we totally locked eyes yesterday when he was singing “Not Your Story.””

Val sits forward as the girls’ voices fade out. She sips at her Diet Coke and nods to herself. Well that answers that.

+

Shawn has a plan.

He’s not going to go seek her out, cause that’s, like, weird. But Warped isn’t that big a tour. He can put himself in her way without too much trouble.

For one thing, the way the tents are arranged today, the Smartpunk stage is directly across from the Streets merch tent. When they go on at 3pm, he and his band will be playing to approximately 19 people and her.

But to hedge his bets, he’s been… around. Conspicuous, even.

He went and grabbed a water when she did. He was hanging around talking to the Set Your Goals guys when she walked past to get lunch. He even went to go talk to Bea in the hopes of catching her around the NFG merch tent, which he did. And that was when he saw her make a beeline for the NFG bus like it was the save point in a video game he didn’t know they were playing.

That was admittedly disheartening. Not that he was feeling great about the way things went. He had been hoping for a text or a drop in at the van or something to explain. But she really is just… avoiding him.

He kinda hates that.

He thinks about it more at the barbecue that night. He thinks about the way he sang his songs to her earlier that afternoon, staring at her, waiting for her to look up and acknowledge him. She may as well have been wearing noise cancelling headphones for all the attention she paid him. So he drinks beer and sits with his friends on old metal bleachers and thinks about Val Moreno, again wishing he had more pieces of her in his memory from their night together. He doesn’t think he’s going to get any more.

Val is by the coolers, searching on her hands and knees for a Corona buried beneath all the Bud Light. She swears she saw some. She’s padding around in the dirt when a very large pair of all black leather high top Chucks stop by her right hand. She inhales sharply. She looks up.

He looks as much like a kicked puppy as a 6’2” 19-year-old man boy can look. She winces.

“Hi, Shawn.”

“Hi, Val,” he replies. His voice is dry. He’s a little tipsy.

She tips back off her hands and brushes them off on the legs of her jeans. He reaches down, offers her a hand. With a resigned sigh, she takes it and lets him help her stand.

She regards him suspiciously and with wandering, guilty eyes. He just stares at her like he’s waiting for her to say something.

Finally, when she’s silent for a few too many seconds, he huffs. “I didn’t—I didn’t realize you were going to leave.”

Ouch.

Val’s jaw drops open. “I…”

“I mean,” he interrupts, his voice a little too loud, his hand stroking the back of his neck as he looks over her head, “I mean, like, whatever, I guess you don’t owe me shit. I just thought… I dunno… the other night was fun. The night we were kissing. I didn’t… I didn’t realize you were just going to leave.”

Val internally groans and stomps her feet, desperate to get out of this somehow. “Shawn, listen, I just… it was just one night, right?”

“That’s the thing!” he croaks, his eyes bright as he looks into hers, “It wasn’t. It wasn’t just the one night. And you weren’t… I dunno, you weren’t acting like it was the kinda thing you were just gonna leave in the morning. I know we were drunk, was that it? Are you upset because we were wasted?”

“No,” Val sighs.

“No,” Shawn repeats with a nod. He looks thoughtful, “Well, were you trying to get back for bus call then?”

Val opens her mouth, hesitates, and shuts it. Shawn flattens his lips, looking like a disappointed babysitter. She feels a little indignant for a moment. Then she remembers how hurt he’s looked all day when she pretended not to notice him putting himself in her path.

Shawn licks his lips. “Guess you just wanted an orgasm then. That’s fine. You got what you came for.”

He turns and starts to walk away, still rubbing the back of his neck. Val’s lips purse. Without her consent, she hears herself speak.

“I didn’t actually.”

What. The. Fuck.

He turns and lifts his eyebrows. He walks back over to her, hands in his pockets, ready to listen.

“You didn’t what?”

The words hurt coming out. “I didn’t orgasm.”

Shawn’s entire demeanor changes. He hunches a little, looking shorter. His cheeks get pinker, his eyes get lighter. If she thought he looked like a kicked puppy before, he looks like a betrayed cherub now. He blinks quickly, trying to understand.

“What—what do you mean?”

“I faked it,” she whispers, crossing an arm over her stomach and sucking on her top row of teeth, head hung in shame. When she dares to look up at him, he looks like he’d rather melt into the floor.

“Oh… I didn’t… I mean… oh.”

Val knows which category he belongs in now. No asshole loser pleasure-ignoring lead singer type would react this way if faced with the idea that he didn’t make someone come. No. This is inexperience. It’s written all over him.

“I’m… sorry,” Shawn murmurs. Val’s heart aches.

“It’s ok. I mean, it wasn’t… like, we were drunk, it wasn’t a big deal,” she reasons.

He doesn’t seem to see it that way. He shakes his head, like he’s going through his mental rolodex of women he’s slept with and trying to riddle out how many of them have lied to him.

“Shawn, it’s ok,” she tries, stepping forward a little. He looks at her, pained and embarrassed.

“Maybe it is because we were drunk,” she suggests, sounding hopeful. Shawn sniffs and nods at his shoes. After a moment, he looks up again. There’s something different in his eyes.

“Can I try again?”

Val is dumbstruck. “What?”

“If you’re up for it, I’d like to try again. I want to make you come.”

The noise in Val’s throat is totally involuntary and makes his lips twitch into a smile. It gives her away. She also feels a rush of wetness in the crotch of her panties, so her body certainly knows what it wants.

Val swallows. “I… really?”

Shawn looks almost annoyed. She blinks.

“Yes. Please. I want to.”

Val groans from the back of her throat. “I mean… ok. Yeah. I guess.”

Her agreement isn’t exactly filled with enthusiasm. Shawn doesn’t take it personally. He dips his head, chuckles and kicks a shoe at a patch of grass below him. He looks up at her from under his eyelashes and she sighs.

“Are you seducing me, Mendes?”

He shrugs one big, powerful shoulder. “Is it working?” He smirks.

Yep.

Her lips twitch. “It’s inappropriate for me to make a joke now about you needing to work a little harder.”

Shawn’s jaw drops. Val smiles. She takes a step into his imposing form and presses a hand to his lower back, lifting onto her toes so when she speaks, her lips graze his earlobe.

“You ready for round 3?”

Taglist: @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @stillinskislydia @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn​ @alone-in-madness​ @alone-in-madness @singanddreamanyway @accioalena @randi-eve @shawnitsmutual

[iammanhar]

Day☛456 ✍+91/CG10☛ In Home ☛ 11 Jan 22 (Tue) ☛ 22:11

The weather is going bad continuously for three days, even today there was light rain in the evening,The sky was cloudy all day, it was cold all day.Both the corona and the weather are troubling humans.Human beings are going through a bad phase in the present time.

There is so much rush going on in the bank that there is a ruckus. Today SBI Bank went to get NEFT done.There was a long queue in front of the bank. Social distancing was being flouted.People had forgotten that the third wave of Corona is going on.People are risking their lives and going to crowded places under compulsion.The crowd is from the Collectorate branch of SBI Bank, Bilaspur.

Just recently saw a motivational video, in which very good information was found.When a person dies, he does not get any heaven or hell.All this is the longing of his mind, on the basis of which he is called heavenly.I really enjoyed watching the video.

These days the mother is not getting well again, her stomach hurts again.Called her at eight o'clock in the night and told about stomach ache.O Lord, give my mother a healthy and long life.that's my world

All the bad things that happened to me in the past were for good.Trouble tests us, tests us,He used to curse the bad times a lot. But now I understand that all of them were testing me.Half of which I have passed in the examination,Thanks

Tomorrow is a holiday in the office, but I have to go to the office, sir and I will go somewhere.Have a good day tomorrow for all of us.with the same hope.....

Good night 🌃☺️

[chemistry5]

Make the festival of Rakshabandhan special, send these special stickers on WhatsApp like this

Make the festival of Rakshabandhan special, send these special stickers on WhatsApp like this

Rakshabandhan is the festival of love between brother and sister. Today this festival is being celebrated all over the country. In view of the sound of the third wave of Corona epidemic, people are celebrating this festival by staying in their homes. Social media is a great medium to wish your loved ones a happy festival. Where you can wish your relatives by making a video call or sending…

[weekkpop]

How much do you know about the Korean Wave?

hi im jake

Despite Corona 19, the Korean Wave is still loved by many people.

In particular, dramas and entertainment have raised the status of the Korean Wave. Although K-pop topped the list with images that come to mind when you think of "Korea," there was also a clear tendency to focus on BTS (BTS) and Black Pink.

The Korean government announced ‘the 2021 Global Korean Wave Trend’, asking 8,500 foreign Korean Wave consumers in as many as eight countries and using statistics on the export of Korean Wave content.

According to the survey, K-pop ranked first for the fourth consecutive year with 16.8 percent of the country's image that comes to mind when it comes to "Korea." Korean food ranked second with 12.0%, information technology (IT) industry with 6.9%, Korean Wave stars with 6.6%, and dramas with 6.4%.

However, considering the actual consumption of Hallyu contents, the ranking has been reversed. The highest was 29.6%, followed by beauty 27.5%, entertainment 26.9%, fashion 24.8%, and movies 24.5%. Webtoons accounted for 24.1%, games 23.9%, and music was 23.2% (redundant response) In particular, genres that increased in consumption compared to before the outbreak of coronavirus were mainly in the field of video content such as entertainment, drama and games.

Last year, "Crash Landing on You" topped the list with 9.5 percent. Then, "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" followed by 4.1 percent and "The World of the Married" 2.8 percent

Have you seen all these dramas? Haha, I enjoyed it a lot.

The most preferred Korean movie was "Parasite," which swept various awards including the Academy Awards, topped the list with 18.4%. It was followed by zombie films with 10.2 percent for "Train to Busan," 3.5 percent for "bando," and 2.1 percent for "#live." The most preferred actor was Lee Min-ho with 9.6 percent. Hyun Bin, who was not ranked in the previous year, ranked second with 3.5 percent, followed by Gong Yoo with 2.3 percent).

In the music sector, the focus was more noticeable than in other fields. Among the most preferred singers, BTS (BTS) topped the list with 22.0 percent preference, followed by BLACKPINK with 13.5 percent. Psy ranked third and TWICE ranked fourth with only 2.9% and 2.4%, respectively, the gap between first and second place was wide

If you are interested in Korea, how about enjoying various genres such as movies, dramas, and kpop?  See you next time!

jake

[todaynewsguru]

PM Narendra Modi Cabinet Meeting Tourist Place Crowd Coronavirus Third Wave– News18

PM Narendra Modi Cabinet Meeting Tourist Place Crowd Coronavirus Third Wave– News18

New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern over the change in the behavior of people since the decrease in the cases of corona virus. In the meeting of his new Council of Ministers, PM Modi said that these days all of us are seeing videos and pictures of crowded places, people without masks or not following social distancing, this is not a pleasant thing and there should be…

[mytracknews]

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to hold a press conference via video conferencing at 11 am today

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to hold a press conference via video conferencing at 11 am today

Highlights Corona’s speed is low, but politics is fast Rahul Gandhi will hold a press conference at 11 am Will issue white paper on corona epidemic today New Delhi: The pace of the second wave of coronavirus has slowed down and the result is that the havoc of the infection has started decreasing. However, the outbreak of the corona epidemic is not over yet. Now the concern is about the third…