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timetraveltasting · 3 months ago

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OLYMPIC MARINATED SKEWERS (6th c. BC)

I decided to go Greek for my next Tasting History dish: Olympic Marinated Skewers from around the 6th century BC in Ancient Greece. It's an Olympic year, after all! For this dish, Max focused on what an Ancient Olympic athlete might eat. To do this, he relied on descriptions found in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, a group of manuscripts discovered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. The papyri describe a dish of marinated liver with some herbs, a dish which may have been served around the time Ancient Greek Olympic athletes started incorporating meat into their training diets. Before this, dried figs, cheese, and barley bread were staples of the athlete. Of course, there was a wide variation of dishes on which athletes would have feasted during training; the Ancient Olympics were hosted for a very long time - from at least 776 BC to 393 AD (even lasting to the Roman period!) - and athletes came from across the Mediterranean area in order to compete. One of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, the Olympic games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia in honour of Zeus. The initial sport was the stadion, a sprint inside a stadium, but more events were added over time. Speaking of time, in Ancient Greece, it would often be marked using the stadion winner's name for the four-year Olympiad.

The Olympic Games were so important that truces between city-states were enforced for its duration. While there was a long period of no Olympic Games (during the reign of Theodosius II, a fire at Mt. Olympus destroyed the venue), the Games were revived in their modern form more than a thousand years later by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. I may have a sweet spot for Olympic history, thanks to my years working in a museum covering the topic, so I couldn't help but give this dish a try, though admittedly with a few changes according to my palate (liver is not my thing). See Max’s video on how to make the dish here or see the ingredients and process at the end of this post, sourced from his website.

My experience making it:

For this recipe, I did take quite a few liberties which affected the final texture of the dish. Namely, I used chicken breasts instead of liver (I really don't like the texture of liver) and I used ripe figs instead of dried (because they are in season and I can't resist a good deal). However, I was sure to make the marinade exactly as written in an effort to stay true taste-wise - even finally caving and hunting down a bottle of asafoetida from a Sri Lankan shop quite far away from my house. Instead of the most authentic Paximadi bread (which I couldn't find), I used barley bread from my local grocery store bakery. I think there were other ingredients in it as well, but there was definitely barley, and that was enough for me to be persuaded. Finally, I didn't have any proper skewers handy at home, so I used some XL toothpicks.

Chopping my thyme and cilantro at the very beginning, I decided to go a bit out of order on the method and make the marinade before chopping the chicken into 1-inch pieces, but I can't see this having any effect on the outcome. I was sure to whisk constantly while adding the olive oil into the red wine vinegar. It was a little hard to combine, and I initially could see some olive oil separated on top, but with continued whisking it did finally combine. I whisked in the salt, asafoetida powder, cilantro, and thyme - it was already smelling delicious! I then chopped my chicken and submerged them in the marinade. There was just enough marinade to cover them. Because I forgot to prepare the marinade the night before, I made it in the morning and gave the chicken about 7 hours to marinate in the fridge. Not as good as Max's "overnight" recommendation, but I think better than just an hour right before dinner. When I decided we were getting hungry for dinner, I brought out the chicken, skewered the pieces with the toothpicks, and laid them onto a lined baking tray. I don't have a barbecue sadly, or even a patio/balcony for that matter, so the oven was the only option for me. For the oven temperature and cooking time, I looked up a generic chicken skewers recipe to give me advice. I ended up cooking the skewers at 400 F (205 C) for 15 minutes, then flipped the skewers once and cooked another 5 minutes on fan setting to get a bit more crisp (though they never really got very crispy on the edges anyway). While they were in the oven, I prepared the Greek salad (no olives for me), figs, feta cheese, and barley bread. The skewers looked pretty nice when finished; the herbs had darkened to a dark green colour and gave the chicken a fragrant aroma. I plated everything and ended up with a quite Greek-looking meal that I couldn't wait to taste.

My experience tasting it:

Of course, I just had to try the skewers first! The chicken was very tender and the flavour was very herby. It did taste like the chicken had really absorbed the marinade, but it wasn't wet in the slightest. I can only imagine that some char from being cooked over a fire would add so much both texture- and taste-wise, but the chicken didn't need it in order to taste wonderful. I think the asafoetida did add a faint oniony flavour which I quite liked, but wasn't entirely expecting. There was so little of it in the marinade that I thought it might be lost amongst the other ingredients. Next, I tried some barley bread. It was what it said on the tin - the usual brown-bread flavour and texture. It might be a bit surprising, but I had never tried an actual fig before. I've had figs in desserts before, where they impart their flavour, but never the actual hand-fruit. This is part of why I wasn't too bothered that I couldn't find dried ones. I tried a bite of the fresh, ripe fig and was pleasantly surprised - I liked it! Very fresh and sweet-tasting, with no hint of wasp (other than their historical role in diet and cooking, most of what I have heard about figs involves wasps dying inside them...). Taking a bite of feta right after some fig was a great idea. The sweet and salty combo, so well-beloved in salted caramel and the like, was a perfect marriage in this case. I would happily pair those two again. Come to think of it, I would make this whole dish again. The marinated skewers were juicy, with a complex and very Greek flavour to them. I might even consider using this same marinade on other meats, or adding a couple other fresh herbs to it ...specifically my all-time favourite: dill. It's a keeper, that's for sure. Ancient Greek Olympians ate well. If you end up making this dish, if you liked it, or if you changed anything from the original recipe, do let me know!

Harder-to-find ingredients:

Asafoetida

Olympic Marinated Skewers original recipe (c. 6th c. BC)

Sourced from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (c. 6th c. BC).

Cut up good liver, marinate in oil with salt, cilantro, thyme, silphium juice, vinegar; grill on a spit at high temperature; serve.

Modern Recipe

Based on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (c. 6th c. BC) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Ingredients:

1 lb (1/2 kg) calf’s liver (or another protein if liver isn’t your thing)

3 tbsp (45 ml) red wine vinegar

9 tbsp (135 ml) olive oil

1 tsp salt

A pinch of asafoetida powder*

A small bunch of cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp thyme leaves

Feta, for serving

Dried figs, for serving

Paximadi or other barley bread, for serving

*Asafoetida is used instead of the once common flower, silphium. While it was thought to be lost to history, it may have recently been found in Turkey - but either way, you probably won't be able to find some. Asafoetida is thought to be its close ancestor, and is a very pungent ingredient that imparts a garlicky/oniony umami flavor when cooked. Be sure to store it in a sealed container (or two) or your whole pantry will smell sulphurous. You can find it (sometimes as hing) at Indian markets or at the link above.

Method:

Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, about 1”.

Pour the vinegar into a large bowl, then add the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly. This will help the oil and vinegar emulsify. Whisk until well mixed, then whisk in the salt, asafoetida powder, cilantro, and thyme. Add the liver, making sure the meat is coated evenly and set it aside to marinate for an hour on the counter or in the fridge overnight.

Once the meat has marinated, put it onto skewers and grill over an open fire or in the oven. I cooked mine on a little grill for about 4 minutes on one side, then I flipped them and cooked them for another 4 to 5 minutes on the other side until they were cooked all the way through.

Serve the skewers forth with feta, figs, and paximadi for a complete meal fit for an ancient Greek Olympian.

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sociologyontherock · 9 months ago

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Towards a Sociology of Failure

By Katherine Pendakis and Elisabeth Rondinelli

Katherine Pendakis, PhD York University, teaches in the Department of Social and Cultural Studies at the Grenfell campus of Memorial University. Her previous research as an ethnographer has been about migration, diasporic identity, and kinship in Greece, Vietnam, and Canada. Publications by Katherine Pendakis have appeared in Citizenship Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, The Asia-Pacific Journal, and Surveillance & Society.

Professor Katherine Pendakis.

Elisabeth Rondinelli, PhD York University, is an ethnographer and cultural sociologist. She teaches in the Department of Sociology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. Topics of her research include the sociology of emotions and gender-based online violence.

As Millennial scholars born into the Canadian working class, we (Liz and Kate) were raised on a standard diet of “work hard, get ahead” at a time when it still felt possible to meet the traditional markers of adulthood: graduating with a college or university education; getting a job with a stable income; buying a home; building a family with partners, pets, and maybe children. But as Silva (2013) has shown, this trajectory has become less possible for young adults today. As neoliberalism has reduced state supports, well-paying union jobs have disappeared, and students have become heavily indebted, Millennials, and more recently Gen Z, are searching for alternative ways of claiming self-worth.

We have been researching an emerging “culture of failure” in North American society. This culture is mainly aimed at, concerned with, and produced by Gen Z and Millennials, and is expressed in mainstream media and social media ranging from observations of changes in the labour market (like the “great resignation” and “quiet quitting”) to reflections on the mundane failures of everyday life (like “goblin mode” and “bed rotting��). At the centre of our analysis is an examination of how discourses of failure convey a critical and lucid understanding of the limitations of our contemporary social systems as well as traditional markers of adulthood. This departs in striking ways from dominant approaches to failure.

Traditional narratives of failure tell us that it is best thought of as something from which to learn and a necessary stepping stone on the way to success and self-development. A simple Google search will yield hundreds of motivational quotes by entrepreneurs, athletes, political personalities, and influencers – living and dead – that frame failure as an unlikely teacher, urging us to keep trying. Similar aspirational sentiments are reproduced everywhere, from schools and workplaces, to pillows, kitchen walls, and coffee mugs: “Fail again. Fail better!” From this perspective, chronic failure that does not yield identifiable self-development is consequently seen as evidence of an individual’s lack of grit, perseverance, work ethic, or self- discipline.

Professor Elisabeth Rondinelli.

Certainly, there are many sociological analyses that tell us about the power of this framing. In fact, critical sociologists have long been preoccupied with the power and pervasiveness of individualistic discourses that encourage people to take personal responsibility for their circumstances and status. Working with theoretical contributions from key critical social and political theorists like Bauman (2000), Beck (1992), Bourdieu (1977, 1986), Brown (1995), Foucault (1997), and Rose (1990, 1999), studies have explored the diverse manifestation of these discourses, tracking how individualism shows up, for instance, in entrepreneurial subjectivity (Bröckling 2015), the meritocratic myth (Calarco et al. 2022; Mijs 2021), moral or flexible citizenship (Ong 1999; Valverde 1991), and therapeutic and self-help narratives (Illouz 2007, 2008; Silva 2013). Each of these discourses frames one’s experiences and position in social life as a consequence of one’s own individual behaviour and decision-making. At the centre of each is the self: wealth, prestige, strong relationships, and good health are manifestations of one’s will; financial precarity, divorce, and illness reflect poor decision-making and a lack of self-discipline. We have found that for critical sociologists, self-blame and talk of failure is simply a reflection of these discourses – one that ultimately serves to reproduce social inequality by blocking the possibility of collective awareness and critique of social structures.

A notable example of this tradition is Silva’s treatment of working-class Millennials’ reliance on therapeutic narratives to come to terms with their sense of failure. With the assistance of self-help books and media, therapists and support groups, Millennials develop a therapeutic narrative through which they position themselves as having succeeded in overcoming their personal demons (like pathological family relationships, bad habits, learning challenges, mental illness, and addiction). At the same time, however, Silva interprets this tendency as a depoliticizing force, turning young people inward and “hardening” them against themselves and others. Silva documents instances in which interviewees blame themselves or others for failing to achieve traditional markers of adulthood or for not having more success in their journey of self-development. Failure and therapeutic narratives thus go hand in hand.

While Gen Z has inherited this now well-entrenched therapeutic narrative and the self-help culture that goes along with it, we argue that there is also evidence of an emerging generational disenchantment with the allure of perpetual self-improvement. Against hustle culture, against “the grind,” against performative productivity, and burning the candle on both ends, Gen Z has at their disposal a new framework through which they can understand these norms to be “toxic” remnants of an outdated work-obsessed culture. Foregoing the fantasies of meritocratic social mobility and reward, Gen Z can now appeal to slowness, staying put, and opting out.

Arguably, generational divides have been well-documented, characterized by mutual disdain, hostility or suspicion: the young consider the old to be out of touch; the old call the young idealistic and irresponsible, naive to the ways of the world. But we claim that what marks this generation – Gen Z in particular – is the historically specific set of tools they have to articulate their shared condition. This shared condition includes having been born into internet culture and digital practice, the mainstream acknowledgement that it may be too late to do anything about climate change, the widespread forecasting of declining quality of life, and the discourses of mental health crises and isolation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is in this context that a “culture of failure” begins to make sense.

As sociologists, what tools do we have to make sense of this emerging culture of failure? In the absence of an existing “sociology of failure,” we are currently conducting a systematic overview of the discipline’s implicit attempts to understand failure, with an aim to developing methodological and conceptual tools for a more expansive treatment of failure. Framing our overview in terms of the promises and limitations of these attempts, we examine contributions from both critical and cultural sociology. We show that critical sociologists’ preoccupation with how ideologies justify inequality leads them to treat failure as evidence of internalized individualism, false-consciousness, or neoliberal subjectivity. Since our interest is precisely in the critical capacities that are evident in contemporary discourses of failure, we argue that the critical sociological tradition requires considerable intervention if it is to recognize and explore how a culture of failure can also be a culture of critique.

We then turn to cultural sociology. We show that cultural sociologists’ focus on agentic forms of meaning-making activity position them to offer a more expansive analysis of discourses of failure. While we do indeed discover these, we argue that, in practice, cultural sociologists tend to avoid taking up failure as a social fact requiring careful theoretical elaboration and detailed empirical investigation. Indeed, the closer cultural sociologists come to investigating failure, the more they rely on analyses from critical sociology that reduce actors’ talk of failure to evidence that they lack critical capacity and an understanding of the conditions that shape their lives.

Ultimately, our project tracks a generational impulse that seems to be wresting failure from the therapeutic narrative and deploying it instead to advance a collective critique of social systems and the contemporary moment. To meet the emergence of this collective critique, we argue that sociology must reckon with its reductive treatments of failure.

References

Bauman, Zygmunt (2000) Liquid Modernity. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Beck, Ulrich (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1986) “The Forms of Capital.�� In John G. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood, 241-258.

Bröckling, Ulrich (2016) The Entrepreneurial Self: Fabricating a new type of Subject. London: Sage.

Brown, Wendy (1995) States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Calarco, Jessica M., Ilana Horn, and Grace A. Chen (2022) “You need to be more Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities,” Educational Researcher 51(8), 515-523.

Foucault, Michel (1997) “Technologies of the Self.” In Paul Rabinow (Ed.) Ethics, Subjectivity and Truth: The Essential Works. New York: The New Press, 223-251.

Illouz, Eva (2007) Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Illouz, Eva (2008) Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-help. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Mijs, Jonathan (2021) “The Paradox of Inequality: Income Inequality and Belief in Meritocracy go Hand in Hand,” Socio-economic Review 19(1), 7-35.

Ong, Aihwa (1999) Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Rose, Nikolas (1999) Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self. New York: Routledge.

Rose, Nikolas (1999) Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Silva, Jennifer M. (2013) Coming up short: Working Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty. New York: Oxford University Press.

Valverde, Mariana (1991) The Age of Light, Soap, and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

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sparkledeerfr · 6 years ago

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Castle Snoopin’

Some vignettes of the first day of everyone getting to snoop. We learn a little about Gren and it doesn’t surprise anyone. We learn a little about other people that might.

And yeah, there is a bunch of stuff in there. That’s just what happens if you leave Gren out of sight for long enough.

Warnings: Death mentions (we didn’t know ‘em it’s cool), a swear or two.

It was honestly weird seeing the giant doors- things nearly the size of the main gate- open on the front of The Castle, weirder still to see people milling in and exploring out of curiosity. Booker and Hex were keeping an eye on things, making sure no visitors went inside until the place was good and cleared out. Between Daniel (traps and mimics that Adeline swore were now breeding new varieties of their own accord. There was no way the man remembered how many he had), Grenfell (definitely had things in there, would flat out refuse to say exactly what until they found it, of course), and the place itself deciding to move things it could be dangerous, especially for anyone unused to the oddities of the city. Pattel had been good enough to offer to help and March would likely be wandering somewhere with Kylie.

That combined with the Shielders meant there was more than enough people keeping watch that hopefully, really, really hopefully, someone wouldn’t blow themselves up. Or get a hand or foot eaten.

---

Grenfell was wandering upstairs intending to check on something, but in the meandering way of one who didn’t want to go directly to his destination and possibly lead someone else there. He also rather enjoyed seeing people walking around, making little comments about things. Yes, he knew the place was dark and creepy. It was supposed to be. It was also supposed to make him stand out though yes, looking back on it the place was a bit dreary and poorly laid out, but that could be easily changed.

Gods he was becoming domesticated, wasn’t he? He was actually looking forward to planning and revamping with Sparks, possibly with some snippy input from Katsu. A hand reached up to absentmindedly pet Pietro who was in his usual place- slung across his shoulders like a cat, or more accurately the bodies of at least three pets gelled together. Perhaps it was parental instinct to improve the nest. His son did deserve to grow up someplace nice, maybe with some potted plants decorating-

“Hey,” a voice said, and there was a light slap on his arm. Grenfell paused his thought process and looked down to see the slight but athletic frame of Crunch.

“Yes, darling?” he asked. There was a momentary scrunch of her face, easily visible even with the travelling hood and goggles. Crunch wasn’t fond of his tendency to call everyone pet names, but she also knew he meant nothing by it and was unlikely to change. It was simply habit, a thing he did to signal that he liked you, or could at least stand you.

“There’s somethin’ I’ve been wantin’ to ask you about for a while,” she said, putting a gloved hand on a hip. “You mind?”

“Not at all.”

----

“Alice, be careful,” Samuel said and she tried not to snort. He was still rail thin and looked about half dead, dragging his left foot slightly as it hadn’t regained all of its feeling.

“Me be careful?” she asked good naturedly, coming up and putting a shoulder under one of his arms. “We should find you a chair. You need rest.” He was on the trail of something in this place, and his curiosity wouldn’t let him stop until he found what was bothering him and examined it. Unfortunately he couldn’t just manifest in The Castle and relax- there was some kind of odd warping magic that as he put it it ‘made it feel like there’s wind stinging my eyes.’

“Just a few more minutes,” he said, trying not to let wear enter his voice. He was grateful to be able to actually move again, to have a body, but why did everything have to be so slow and tiring? “And yes, you’re the one most affected by sudden magic surges.”

“Hush fuss bucket,” she said, sticking her tounge out. “I’ll be fine for a few m-m-m-” Alice shook her head, though Samuel caught it, the slight blinking skip in her form. “-Minutes.”

“Ah,” he replied. He’d apologized repeatedly about what had gotten them into this state in the first place but still felt poorly, perhaps because it seemed she could never be mad at him. She was just happy that he was alive and recovering, which didn’t exactly relieve his guilt. Odd that it would be easier if she’d yell at him a little.

“Skip?” she asked when she saw his face, even half covered in rot and bandages it was easy to see what he was thinking. He never was any good at concealing feelings.

“Skip,” he nodded as they continued slowly forward and found themselves in another open hall. What was this one supposed to be? A grand dining area? Formal living? It just looked like a large fancy room with peeling black and gold wallpaper.

There were more stairs, some leading up and some down. His instincts said down, but externally he sighed. This place seemed to be made of stairs, and Alice was right, he was getting tired. “Man, finding our way back out is going to be a nightmare,” she said, looking up to the decorative tin ceiling that didn’t seem to reflect much of the low lighting in the room.

“I believe that was an intentional design decision,” Sam said, making his way slowly down the steps. “But we’re close to whatever it is, I can feel it.”

---

Adeline walked, hands in her pockets and feeling over the small rocks she’d placed in there to toss at things that seemed suspicious. Already she’d found three rug mimics and a brand new fun breed- a painting mimic. That one was at least easy to spot as it was a splotchy purple that almost looked like an impressionist painting, until you realized it was a bit too thick and its ‘frame’ was also purple.

She heard an irritated sigh coming from an open room down the hall (at least this hall was average sized) and recognized the voice: Santi.

Adeline poked her head in. “What’s-” she started when she realized what the room contained. In the center was what could be considered a statue. The thing was enormous and looked to be a mass of skeletons all carved of grey stone, each crawling over each other and reaching out with bony fingers almost plaintively, jaws open in a silent cry.

Then she saw what the mass was reaching for- statues of the gods against the walls, faces barely lit. It could resemble a very inclusive prayer room if you didn’t notice that the gods were all twisting over each other, constricting as though swimming in a strong current, and each face was a mocking and angry mask. She found Stormcatcher whose mouth was open and baring fangs, mantis arms lifted as though intending to take a chunk out of something larger in front of him.

She wasn’t exactly religious, but there was no damn way she was going in that room. Santi was a bit braver in this regard and was currently standing in front of Lightweaver, the heels of his hands pressed against his eyes in irritation. “It’s all enchanted, isn’t it?” she asked him.

“MmmmHrM,” he said as an annoyed noise, nodding and standing as though attempting to give himself the will to push entirely through his own face.

She pointed to the mass of carved skeletons. “And there are actual bodies in that?”

“MmmHRM.”

“Welp,” she said, hands still on the frame of the doorway as she looked back up and caught the face of the Arcanist, needle sharp teeth coming from a strange alien form. “Just uhhhh….let me know if you need something. And thank you. A bunch.”

----

“So”, Crunch asked Gren as she looked up at a giant stone face that slightly resembled a porcelain mask with its eyes shut. They were in a lower area, near what one would call the basement if it weren’t for the tunnels even further below them, but this place looked unfinished, especially as it had hard packed dirt floors. The giant mask, easily more than ten feet in height, was placed high above them between two sets of stairs leading upwards. “What’s it do?”

“Oh that thing,” Grenfell said, waving a hand and walking over to a blank grey brick wall. “Where is it where is it?” he asked mostly to himself as he looked the bricks over, trying to remember. “Ah yes, here.” He reached a hand through the stone as it if were water and Crunch tensed, ready to run if there was the slightest thing off, but still she was curious.

The face opened its eyes, revealing they were made of painted ceramic with bright blue irises. She waited but it just...blinked. After a few more seconds when Gren had stood back next to her and was watching it with her, she realized that was it. “I have been looking at that damn thing for years,” Crunch said as the face blinked again with a slight grinding noise of stone against stone. “I was like ‘man that’s gotta do some bullshit’...and you’re telling me that’s it?”

“Yes!” Grenfell said happily as Pietro hissed at the unfamiliar sight. “Not everything has to do something. That’s the art of it, Crunch. If everything does something then nothing is frightening. It’s all about ambiance.”

“So it's all made to scare people?”

“Most things in the Castle and some of the city, yes.” Grenfell said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and clasping his hands behind his back. “You see any fool with a knife can make someone afraid, but to do it simply through environment without them setting eyes on you? Now that I would call a skill. You want a sense of creeping dread, so that when you do finally arrive, it has settled into their bones.”

“So its kinda…” Crunch stopped and looked back up at that stupid face. Yeah, she guessed if she was crawling around in an unknown place and saw that thing she would be put right off. “Tactics?”

“Oh no no,” Grenfell said, happy to share his thought process. “My very favorite thing is when I finally corner someone and they know, they absolutely know that they are going to die and there’s nothing they can do about it. You can see it in their face. It’s artistry, really. Environmental storytelling followed by force.”

“Right,” she nodded, not really getting it but understanding the idea. “But you’re fine with us? I mean your favorite thing is murder and all.”

“It is,” he said, and his hand went back up to pet Pietro. There was something very reassuring about his strange purr and the way he rubbed his head against his hand. He was such a good child. “And perhaps if different people had taken over my city there would be a very different story happening. But...I have friends. I have my son. Let us enjoy this collaboration while we have it. Time marches ceaselessly on, and I can afford to wait.”

“Yeah,” Crunch said, crossing her arms before looking up to his face. “You’re alright for a crazy person.”

“Thank you!”

---

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be exploring, dear?” Nimue asked Kylie, who was currently holding a child in her arms as they stood in one of the few rooms Jamison had re-done completely. There was actual paint, color, light and furniture.

Of all the things Kylie had expected to find in this city, the fact that the giant creepy castle was home to parents wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t that they had kids, it was just that they exuded...parent...ness. It was probably that Nimue was lounging on a padded bench by the window with Yuki and Jam had offered her sandwiches. You also kind of felt weird cussing around them.

“Oh heck no. I am not touching anything in here until Santi’s looked at it first,” Kylie said, bouncing the kid in her arms. Apparently the boy had earned the nickname ‘Near’ for his tendency to stay out things and instead observe them from a distance. Well, when you had a sister like Yuki you probably let her take care of the action. “Why do they call you Jam and not like...James?”

“I’ve changed my appearance quite a few times over the years,” Jam replied. “One look contained a lot of purple, and the nickname stuck.” He noticed that March was attempting his usual passive mode of lounging with his back against a wall, ankles and arms crossed, but his tail was twitching. “Are you certain that you wouldn’t like to sit?” Jam asked him. He’d said hello to March a few times before now, so what was making him be on edge? Nimue? The new environment?

March shook his head before tilting it at Jam. Ah. “Relax big guy,” Jam said to him, wanting to go over and clap him on the shoulder but knowing that wasn’t the right move. He’d settle on his own. “Been retired a long time now. Longer than Walter, actually.”

Jam felt his wife’s eyes suddenly on him, boring a hole straight into him as Kylie asked: “Who’s Walter?” Oh dear. March put a hand out and traced something onto her shoulder, causing Kylie to gently set Near on the ground. “Excuse me I need to go right now. Just uh...forgot something. Be right back.”

Jam looked up at the ceiling and sighed, knowing who was going to be behind him if he turned around. It was a thing you got used to. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m used to it just being us in here.”

“Great,” Walter said, walking around him and picking Near up from the floor. “Everyone’s going to know in-”

“WHAT,” the voice of Jack came from down the hall. “It’s been TEN GODDAMN YEARS YOU SHIT.”

“-thirty seconds.”

----

Samuel was feeling about how Adeline had felt about the god room, standing just outside the doorway and peering into something he wished 1) wasn’t there and 2) that he hadn’t seen. He was a naturally curious person and something of a magical researcher, but there was no way he was stepping more than a foot in there.

He knew what the strange glowing thing in the center of it was- silvery rings twisting and flitting around each other like a child’s toy. A Rifedel’s Compass, an item meant to slowly leech magical energy from an area and then later be reversed to expend said energy. A handy thing when you were working with say, magical items that could be dangerous. Arcane energy in particular had a tendency to do what it wanted if not properly contained.

But he’d only ever seen ones with three rings, and he also knew the more power they leeched the more chaotic and potentially dangerous the compass itself became. The world’s energy wasn’t meant to be stuffed into a container, after all.

This thing had twelve rings, it was spinning wildly and there were inscriptions all around the conical room that he could feel were moving the energy around, expending at least some of it. He was also aware that the city itself was sitting on a Shadow leyline. Grenfell had put this stupid thing on a goddamn leyline and left it there. There was an obsidian circle set in the floor below it, which probably did something he didn’t understand quite yet. Sam put a hand to his face. No wonder this whole city was constantly flooded with magic, and if he attempted to turn it off there was a very, very large chance of it exploding and a possible chain reaction with the leyline.

For someone so clever Grenfell could be really dumb. Or maybe the entire point was mutually assured destruction. Samuel straightened himself and looked back to Alice, who had her hands over her mouth and nose and was breathing slowly, concentrating on not skipping. “Let’s get you away from here,” he said.

“That would b-b-b-” she looked towards the ceiling and gave a frustrated sigh as her entire body flickered like candlelight in a breeze, threatening to blink away somewhere in time. “BE good.”

“Really, really sorry about that,” Samuel said, wincing slightly. Maybe he shouldn’t be so hard on Gren for trying things that were very stupid in hindsight. It seemed a habit of Arcane dragons to push the limits and occasionally have it snap back into your face.

“I know, you don’t need to k-k-k-....ugh.”

“Yeah, I do.”

#sparklelore #the reason why Santi's the highest paid person in the city #the legend: the sequel #a little long but eh

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news4trafford · 2 years ago

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Manchester firefighters and team made up of survivors from the Grenfell tragedy played football for charity

GREATER Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) firefighters and Grenfell Athletic, a team made up of survivors from the Grenfell tragedy, battled it out on the football pitch on Friday evening to raise money for charity. The final score was 2-1 to GMFRS during the heavily contested match, which saw players Carlos Meakin and Kyle Barrett score goals for the team. Chief Fire Officer Dave…

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stephensdesk · 2 years ago

Video

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Nike - ‘Never Settle, Never Done’

Featuring Alexia Putellas, Leah Williamson, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Pernille Harder, Magda Eriksson, Rocky Hehakaija and grassroots community clubs Women’s Soccer School Barcelona and Grenfell Athletic FC.

#Nike

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louisupdates · 1 month ago

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10:37 EST 21 Nov 2024, updated 11:24 EST 21 Nov 2024

By SEAN O'GRADY

Louis Tomlinson has donated a piece of sentimental fabric to community football club Grenfell Athletic's 'Fabric of the Community' project.

The club are creating a kit comprised of cuts of fabric from donated items of clothing that survived the Grenfell fire and celebrities are also donating fabric too.

The emotionally charged football shirt drops on Thursday and features a perimeter area surrounding the club emblem reserved for a bespoke cut of fabric cut from donated items of clothing, including fabrics that survived the Grenfell fire.

In honour of everyone that lost their homes as a result of the devastating fire in June 2017, Louis, 32, has donated his beloved Doncaster Rovers FC shirt.

He said: 'Wherever I am in the world and I have my Doncaster Rovers FC shirt with me, it reminds me of home.

'When I am touring and I see a member of the audience wearing one, I get a real feeling of home, no matter where I am.'

Professional football star Héctor Bellerín, meanwhile, has donated a match-worn shirt from his time at fellow London club and Premier League giants Arsenal, continuing his support for Grenfell having previously pledged over £19,000 to support victims in the aftermath of the fire.

Rupert Taylor, founder of Grenfell Athletic, said: 'Our club was born out of a desire to heal and bring our community ever closer through the power of football.

'We're so thankful for every person who donated their fabrics and bravely shared their stories, and we hope the project offers an additional avenue for healing and a platform for showing how inspirational our community truly is.

'The hearts and souls of the people of Grenfell are woven into Grenfell Athletic's DNA, and now they'll be woven into the club's shirts, too.'

The news of Louis’ heartwarming donation comes just hours after he attended the funeral of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.

[x]

#louis update #louis press #louis tomlinson #liam payne #grenfell #21.11.2024

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Atelier Aconcept creates "raw building" for French kickboxing club

Architecture studio Atelier Aconcept has created a concrete gym for a kickboxing club in the town of Savigny-le-Temple, France, with an aesthetic designed to reflect the activity taking place within.

Built alongside the Château de la Grange-la-Prévôté park in Savigny-le-Temple, Atelier Aconcept designed the kickboxing and boxing club to have a simple and raw aesthetic.

The kickboxing club is located in parkland in Savigny-le-Temple

"Using a minimal vocabulary of form, we wanted to make a simple and functional project," said Frédéric Quevillon, founder of Atelier Aconcept.

"Boxing and the harshness it can represent led us to imagine a raw building, from its envelope to the finishing details, really simple and clean," he told Dezeen.

The boxing club has large glass windows

The gym is made from three interconnected rectangular concrete volumes that are offset from each other.

Alongside the road, the first block contains the building's entrance, changing rooms, toilets, first aid room and a large open gym space with a punching bag area and a space for cross training.

The gym has a large training area that stretches across its three volumes

This open exercise space extends into the second volume that contains a sparring area floored with tatami mats.

In the final volume, at the end of the training hall, are the two fight rings – a square one for boxing and an octagon for kickboxing.

All training areas have views of the park

Each of the concrete forms is fronted with full-height windows, to allow passers-by to see into the club and for the club's members to see the surrounding woodland of the Château de la Grange-la-Prévôté park.

"The overall concept for the project was to incite the athletes to go outdoors," Quevillon explained.

"We wanted to create a real link between indoors and outdoors and to blur these lines, which is especially relevant with to the particular context we are facing since the health crisis."

The studio describe the building as "raw"

Overall, Quevillon hopes that the building allows the boxing club to take advantage of the woodland location.

"The differential axis of the building is based on the context to which it takes part, and the link it creates with," he said. "The visual perception is focused on wood, concrete and nature."

The concrete building is surrounded by the Château de la Grange-la-Prévôté park

Other boxing gyms on Dezeen include a community centre designed by London architecture studio Featherstone Young to replace the home of the Dale Youth Amateur Boxing Club that was lost in the Grenfell Tower fire.

In Kuwait, Lab100 Design Studio renovated a boxing club with a nod towards retro gyms.

Photography is by 11h45.

The post Atelier Aconcept creates "raw building" for French kickboxing club appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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furryninjasandwich · 5 years ago

Link

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putthison · 7 years ago

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eBay Roundup

We spend hours trawling for the best of menswear on eBay so that you don’t have to. To get a third eBay roundup each week, along with a list of the best sales, subscribe to our exclusive Inside Track newsletter. It only costs $5 a month. The savings you’d earn from just one eBay purchase a year will offset the subscription.

There are some great finds in today’s round-up, including this things that would make for nice additions to a fall wardrobe (even with the weather we’re having). See these overdyed Barbour Bedales, Arpenteur washed denim shirts, and my favorite on this list, the coffee-inspired service boots Viberg made with Notre Shop. The boots’ burlap soles are constructed from actual coffee bags.

To find more menswear on eBay, try using our customized search links. We’ve made them so you can quickly hone-in on quality suits, excellent dress shirts, fine footwear, good jeans, workwear, contemporary casualwear, nice ties, great bags, and well-made sweaters.

Suits, sport coats, and blazers

Gray Ring Jacket suit, 36

Green checked Southwick tweed sport coat, 39

Blue checked Ring Jacket sport coat, 42 (pictured above)

Tan checked Old England sport coat, 44

Outerwear

Tan overdyed Barbour Bedale, various sizes (pictured above)

Navy quilted Crescent Down Works jacket, S

Black Robert Geller trucker jacket, M

Navy Woolrich Woolen Mills mountain parka, M

Red plaid Chippewa shirt jacket, M

Tan J. Press field jacket, L

Tan Grenfell trench coat, 44

Robert Geller hooded Emil bomber, XL

Brown leather Aero bomber jacket, 48

Sweaters and knits

Navy Ralph Lauren Polo bear sweatshirt, various sizes

Robert Geller dip dye sweater, 36

Orange Drumhor cardigan, 40

Robert Geller white henley, 40

Gray Braemar cashmere crewneck, L

Gray National Athletic Goods sweatshirt, 42

Red cashmere Braemar crewneck, 44

Black Ballentyne cardigan, XL

Navy Ralph Lauren Polo bear sweatshirts, XL (1, 2)

Shirts and pants

Arpenteur washed denim shirt, various sizes

Warehouse indigo chambray work shirt, 36

Blue plaid Levis Vintage Clothing flannel, S

Tan Ring Jacket chinos, various sizes

Tan self-belted bespoke trousers, 40

Shoes

Alfred Sargent M43 boots, various sizes

Alfred Sargent perf toe boots, various sizes

Carmina tan suede split toe bluchers, 6

Truman suede service boots, 7

Ludwig Reiter black jodhpurs, 9

Edward Green tan split toe bluchers, 9

Edward Green quarter brogues, 9

Viberg x Notre coffee Chromepack service boots, 9.5 (pictured above)

Crockett & Jones suede penny loafers, 10.5

Paul Stuart suede and leather spectators, 11

Ralph Lauren shell cordovan tassel loafers, 11

Ties

Burgundy diamond motif Luciano Barbera tie

Navy dotted Attolini jacquard tie

Holliday & Brown floral tie

Red and blue striped Hill & Drake tie

Red paisley Old England tie

Textured silk-cotton tan Breuer tie

Pink floral Arnys tie

Bi-color Arnys knit tie

Chipp money bags tie

Chipp rose motif tie (for Valentine's Day?)

Loving giraffes Ede & Ravenscroft necktie

Hermes blue chainlink tie

Brown knit Ralph Lauren tie

Gray herringbone Drake's wool tie

Blue striped cotton-silk mogador Drake's tie

Misc.

Porsche Design watch (pictured above)

Omega 1969 Flightmaster (pictured above)

Cartier tank watch

Vintage Drew & Sons picnic set

Asprey silver sugar tongs

Prada brown alligator dress belt, 36

Brown leather Mazzoleni gloves, 8.5

Abercrombie & Fitch Omersa lion-shaped footstool

Vintage silver cufflinks (1, 2)

Cone Mills denim fabric

Men in Style book

Vintage British Airways luggage tags

Vintage Bob Feller keyring

If you want access to an extra roundup every week, exclusive to members, join Put This On's Inside Track for just five bucks a month.

#eBay Round Up

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