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spin-birdie · 5 years ago

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Could you write about Markus and Jericho Crew finding out Connor isn’t the original. So lots of angst with lots of Comfort?

so uh this got away from me. i’m digging it though

word count: 1.2k

pairing: general i guess

tags: hurt/comfort, post-canon, interfacing, jericrew, i stayed up until 12:20 am on a school night to finish this whoops

edit: now you can read this on ao3 here!

“Take a look at that view,” Simon breathes, awestruck, as he steps to the edge of the viewing platform. From this height, the horizon stretches out seemingly without end, the tops of crags and cliffs peeking out through vibrant forests.

Josh is quick to join Simon’s side, leaning on the balcony beside North. “Yeah,” he says. “I don’t mean to sound like a cheesy white grandpa, but this is genuinely breathtaking.”

Markus approaches the edge at the same time Connor does, taking in the view for several moments before speaking up. “Coming all the way out here was definitely worth it.”

“Agreed,” North and Josh say simultaneously.

“Still think this was a waste of time?” As he speaks, Markus turns to Connor with a smile, which is quickly replaced with concern when he sees Connor’s face. He’s looking straight down the tower; in itself not unusual, but his jaw is clenched as tightly as his fists around the balcony railing, and his LED is split between red and yellow.

Markus taps him on the shoulder. “Connor?”

As fast as anything, Connor lurches back from the edge, blinking rapidly before coming back to his senses. His LED circles yellow twice, then stays there. “Sorry.”

There’s a brief, tense pause. Then North steps back from the edge and towards Connor. “Have you got a problem with heights?”

Connor’s LED blinks. “We wouldn’t survive if we fell,” he simply replies.

“Are you scared that we will?” Simon presses. He’s been deviant for the longest time out of all of them; he’s almost always the person to talk out new emotions with, even considering his troubling history with Connor.

But as soon as Connor makes eye contact with Simon, his LED flashes red. He shakes his head with a sigh and turns around, but he doesn’t get far before Markus grabs him by the arm.

“Connor, it’s okay to admit if you’re scared–”

An interface opens seconds after they make contact, and Markus sees a memory that isn’t his. Simon - no, an identical PL600 - holding a gun to a little girl’s head. He might be crying. It’s hard to tell; the memory gets more corrupted the longer it plays. Markus sees Connor tackle that android, sees the ground approaching, but the visual bleeds into an incomprehensible sea of colors before he lands.

Another memory flashes briefly; an android covered in blood - red and blue - grabbing an officer’s gun and pointing it at Connor, but it’s gone as soon as it came and replaced with Simon. The real Simon, from the roof of Stratford Tower, shooting himself in the head. Markus feels a surge of panic muted through the connection. The audio playback is vaguely warped, but coherent: “I felt it die. Like I was dying. I was scared…”

It skips again, this time to a woman with a stone-cold glare. Markus doesn’t recognize her. He hears Connor’s voice again, though. “I’m not a unique model, am I? How many Connor’s are there?”

He sees someone identical to Connor pointing a gun at an old man’s head. Markus recognizes Lieutenant Anderson, though they’ve only met once. The lieutenant speaks. “Sorry, Connor. This bastard’s your spitting image.”

Connor gasps and Markus withdraws his hand like it’s on fire. He stands there, gaping at Connor as he clutches his hand against his chest. Connor’s LED won’t stop flashing; dull red, bright red, empty, dull red.

“That’s more than I meant to show you,” Connor speaks up after a long moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Connor, that–” Markus shakes his head in disbelief, reaching out to touch Connor’s shoulder. “None of that is on you. You have nothing to apologize for. It’s okay to be scared.”

Connor frowns and steps out of Markus’ reach. “No, I’m not… It’s not justified. I have no right to be afraid, I’m not that Connor. He died before he even lived. That memory isn’t mine.”

“What are you–?” Josh tries to interject.

“I’m disposable.” Connor spits the word out like it’s venom. “Before the revolution, if a Connor model got destroyed in the field, CyberLife just transferred its memory and sent another one to replace it. I’m unit 53. Unit 52 got shot, unit 51 fell off a roof…God knows what happened to the rest. Those memories are too jumbled up.”

By the time Connor is done speaking, he’s hunched over with his arms wrapped around himself, refusing to look up. The similar image of him in the church, newly deviant and guilt-ridden, appears in Markus’ mind for a moment.

The silence is broken by North stepping closer. “Connor, that’s…horrible. I’m so sorry.”

Josh also approaches. “Hey, you’re okay. I don’t know what CyberLife told you, but you’re not just…one of their pawns, alright?”

Markus nods and takes another step forward to hold Connor by the shoulders. “Those memories are real, Connor. You may not have experienced them in this body, but they’re part of who you are, they… Maybe they even had a role in making you the person you are, even if you weren’t a deviant before this life.”

For a second, Connor’s gaze rises to Markus, flits between him, Josh, and North. He lowers his head again, then looks up over Markus’ shoulder. “I never remembered what dying felt like from the other Connor’s. But Simon, when I found you…” he pauses to swallow needlessly, “I felt it, that time. I felt unbridled fear for the first time. It was agonizing.”

That gets Simon to step away from the balcony, towards the others. “What?”

“When you killed yourself to protect Jericho,” Connor clarifies. “I was connected to your memory… I felt you die, and I just pictured–”

“The deviant with the hostage,” Markus finishes. Realization and horror twists in his stomach. Has that deviant been haunting Connor this whole time? Is that why he’s so nervous around Simon?

Connor nods in agreement. “I’m sorry. I don’t…I really don’t know how to process this. I feel broken, somehow.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s a lot to unpack,” Josh concedes.

“I’m not sure what to say,” North admits.

Simon stares between his own hands resting over his chest, where his damning wound once was, and Connor’s face. “Connor, look at me.”

With noticeable reluctance, Connor does.

Simon steels his jaw and makes direct eye contact with Connor. “I forgive you.”

Connor doesn’t react for a few seconds, but then he releases a sigh of relief. “I don’t know why it’s so relieving to hear you say that.”

Before he can second-guess himself, Markus pulls Connor into a hug. “It doesn’t have to make sense. Just know that we’re all here for you. We’re your friends, Connor. We love you because of the compassionate, selfless, amazing person you are, and that won’t change no matter what body you’re in.”

North joins in the hug, surprisingly. “We don’t care how many other RK800′s there are, or how much suffering you’ve witnessed. All that matters is who you are now and who you want to be.”

Josh follows suit and hugs the three of them as close as he can, closely preceded by Simon. “You’re a strong person, Connor,” Josh says.

Markus feels tears soaking through his shirt as Connor finally hugs him back like he never wants to let go.

#dbh #detroit become human #rk1k #rk1000 #original #fanfiction #angst #request

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survivingart · 5 years ago

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STORY IS EVERYTHING

Be it online or in person, there’s a lot of competition in the arts. And the fact that the art world is much smaller compared to the world of business, law or medicine, only makes it harder for any one artist to succeed. While everybody online is telling us to “niche down”, and explaining why it’s so important, usually no specific tactics are disclosed, and the how is left for us to figure out for ourselves.

This blunder is intended for anyone who wishes to find their focus and stand out in today’s oversaturated creative market by understanding the immense power of storytelling — especially when positioning ones creative skill and aspirations in the market.

Regardless if you paint, sculpt, make experimental video installations or are a political performance artist, the main goal for all of us is to express ourselves.

We do so not because it’s the quickest or easiest way of making a living, but because it’s who we

are. Most of us love our craft in some form or another and follow some internal aspirations that guide our interest and consequently the kind of art we make.

But while creativity is a general term, it could not be describing a more colourful and rich abundance of personal motifs and ambitions of why we do what we do.

For example, I could be selling skilfully crafted portraits because of my passion for creating narratives about beauty, intimacy and connection. But it could also be that I just really enjoy painting figures and fabric and am good enough at it to charge for my work.

Both are great reasons to make a portrait and market ones skill, but even if the end product looks similar in both cases, their target audience couldn’t be more different.

So, let’s put the “art” in artwork.

I’d like to open this conversation with one of the hardest, but probably the simplest of all questions to answer, because we need to get it out of our way to really get the point of why story matters so much. But to find the answer we will have to go all in and drop the proverbial A-bomb.

We’ll have to ask the big question. The one you can read about in 50€+ books, written by prominent and knowledgeable art historians and theoreticians, whose answers are mostly written so thoroughly, so extensively, that one needs a dictionary to find their point.

Ready?

What is Art?

Boom.

Unlike most other questions like: “What is carpentry?”, “What is music?”, even “What is philosophy?”, we artists and other creative souls appear to have an enormous problem — none of us really seem to know what the heck we are doing in our lives. Not because we are confused, undisciplined or too spontaneous, but because no-one actually seems to know what art is.

If you ask most academic professors, they will usually give you an academic answer. If they’re more on the liberal side, it will surely have to do with the freedom of expression and the lyrical power of images in the fight against social injustice.

Ask a person in the street — anyone you want really — and they might tell you it’s something pretty, something that looks good. And probably also something that is quite expensive. For a wealthy collector it might be freedom; a way of expressing themselves without the need to actually learn how to paint or draw or sculpt.

A tattoo artist will tell you it’s tattoos. A barber will tell you it’s an exquisite haircut. An IT technician might even tell you it’s a perfectly sorted and laid out collection of ethernet and electrical cables in the server room.

Just don’t ask an aesthetician — the branch of philosophy that researches art — and they might tell you a lot. Truth be told, they might tell you too much while saying very little. A wonderful example is Tiziana Andina’s prominently titled book: “The Philosophy of Art: The Question of Definition: From Hegel to Post-Dantian Theories”. Read at your own peril.

Art seems to be everything. And we all know that something that is everything is consequently nothing at all.

We have to take a closer look into the production of art; the making of paintings, sculptures, videos and maybe even haircuts and tackle the question by investigating the process of making something an art piece.

So, let’s see if we can’t fix this mess of tattoos, pretty pictures and ethernet cables into a more workable definition by asking a better question: What makes something art?

In the 1960s the art world had a small crisis, caused by none other than the famous pop artist Andy Warhol. The root of the crisis was his artwork, titled simply: Brillo Box.

It looked exactly the same as a normal Brillo soap pad box, albeit being made out of wood. The question: What made Andy’s Brillo boxes art, but at the same time dismissed the original boxes made by James Harvey (the creator of the design) as mere industrial design?

Surely it wasn’t looks, and it couldn’t have been materials — the prestige of using silkscreen on wood instead of printing on cardboard was not the deciding factor after all. The only real difference that one could discern was the name associated with either product.

You had Andy Warhol superstar and the other guy.

Apart from being a marvellous posh object to own, Andy’s Brillo box shines light onto an immensely important topic in art, namely that when push comes to shove, the classification of an artistic piece does not have anything to do with its physical composition — be it medium, motif, size, you name it…

This is immensely important, because if we distill the factors that make up art, we can get a pretty rough, yet quite precise equation, that looks a bit like this:

ART = Viewer + Art Piece + Artist

But why does it now seem like the art piece, the central point of the equation isn’t really important? Well, there’s another surprise coming up.

The artist has been regarded as a genius ever since the invention of the cave painting about 40.000 years ago. The master painter, listening to the whispers of his or her muses and transcribing the messages of the gods into reality, for all of humanity to experience the righteous powers of the divine.

As humans, we couldn’t have been more proud of the lineage of artistic mastery that our planet had created over the years, and we had every reason for it. From the Ancient Greeks to Giotto and Titian, then Caravaggio, Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso … all geniuses in the craft, that shaped how we perceive reality itself.

But then came the trickster. The black sheep, the snake, the devil himself. Then, came Duchamp.

In 1917 as part of The Society of Independent Artists’ exhibition at the The Grand Central Palace, he unveiled his biggest joke of all — a urinal. And even though the organisation of the exhibition had promised that each and every art piece that was entered in the application stage would be shown, they decided to remove The Fountain (as Duchamp named his vertical toilet) from the exhibition.

It was serious.

But the problem that Duchamp’s art piece created was minuscule compared to the big issue that was yet to come. His simple question : “Is this art?” didn’t just create a revolt inside The Society of Independent Artists, it started a revolution.

Thus, conceptualism was born.

The point he was trying to make was simple: Art is an internal human experience, not an invisible aura imbued into an object by some artistic genius.

The art world though, instead of getting his point, concluded that Nietzsche was indeed correct; the gods of art, beauty and aesthetics truly did perish. The murderer’s weapon was finally found — fully drenched in nothing but bloody ideology, the Fountain stood as proof.

Now, more than 100 years later, this narrative is still the bedrock of many institutions, both commercial and educational. And I feel it is about time we change this.

Not only could more people start to appreciate art — instead of thinking of it as a pretentious playground for the rich, filled with expensive junk and weird intellectuals — but by removing some of the misconceptions that either artist or artwork are the origin of the artistic experience, we could actually improve the status of us artists in society.

How?

By educating the viewer. By making our artistic process visible to all via social media and other means. By not trying to overcomplicate our work descriptions and artist statements and ending the need to feel like we have to defend our right to paint, sculpt, dance or make videos, with big words and complex explanations.

By connecting with our audience and being strong, sincere and genuine people. And with social media exploding in a constantly connected world, the timing just couldn’t be better.

Art is a multitude of stories, each different from another and all created by every one of our viewers.

And like good spelling and a decent vocabulary are the bedrock for any novel, we visual artists have a bunch of tools that we can use to build our narratives too.CREATING YOUR STORY (CONTEXT AND CONTENT)

In 1976, artist and critic Brian O’Doherty published his essay Inside the White Cube, that not only created lots of buzz in the art world, but gave this popular mode of displaying art in museums and commercial galleries a catchy new name.

While his wonderful critique of the White Cube is better to read in the original form, I would like to focus on one psychological factor that made his essay become so well known.

People experience things instantly and as a whole, rather than a collection of individual parts. When looking at a red triangle, we can’t just decide to see it as a triangle or just as something red — we always see both of its features at the same time.

Similarly with music; we can’t decide to hear just the tone of a note, while zoning out the colour of the sound (for example hearing the same note being played on a drum compared to a double bass or saxophone).

We as beings need context for just about everything in our lives — even our ability for differentiating object sizes and various temperatures is done by creating context from the surrounding environment.

Ok, but what does this have to do with art? Truth be told — everything.

As art is subjective, we can never really take full control over how a viewer of our show or a customer who bought one of our pieces will understand the work’s narrative.

A description of the work might help, but some actually prefer to make up their own mind about what a particular art piece means to them on a strictly personal level, rather than listening to the artist describe what it should mean. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

But, while we aren’t able to control everything our viewer will experience, there are many aspects of our work that we absolutely can and should be thinking about. Because understanding them makes our job of finding potential buyers or getting a place in an exhibition incredibly easier.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Choose materials carefully, not just as a means to an end but as building blocks of your work’s narrative.

A marble sculpture and a wood carving of the same motif tell different stories. Both may be a portrait of someone, but marble will always communicate prestige, longevity and may form subconscious connections to Ancient Greek and Roman statues of prominent individuals, making the portrayed look even more respectable and important. Wood on the other hand is softer and warmer in appearance and more suitable for creating intimate portraits emphasising emotion rather than status.

Evoke emotions, then seal the deal with a well prepared concept.

Nothing is worse than a conceptual piece that doesn’t also work on an emotional level. The appearance of your work will make or break its ability to convey your message, so regardless of how brilliant your idea may be, if your work doesn’t first captivate your viewer and make them curious enough to step closer, all is lost.

Presentation is really important when exhibiting your work.

Adjust lighting, surrounding objects like tables, chairs, plants … to compliment your work, or at least not to distract your viewers attention.

Impressionists used a lot of green leafy plants to compliment the vibe of their paintings, modernists decided to completely remove everything (including the frame of a painting or plinth of a sculpture) to maximise emphasis on their work — hence the White Cube principle.

When showing work online, it is imperative to get it right.

Show your work not just as a clean, shadowless and speckless photograph with good colour correction (because the images should look identical to the real thing), but incorporate it into an environment — even a generic architectural shot of a living room will be better than nothing.

Give your online images enough context and help your visitors understand the colours, size, textures and other features of your work by providing enough visual information; a few detail shots, a side view and maybe even the back of the work (if it’s 2D). For spatial works, maybe make a 360° GIF by stitching together multiple angles — nobody wants to buy a sculpture only to find that they don’t like the rear end of it.

The venue is a big part of your exhibition.

If you paint a picture of an apple being picked by a woman somewhere in a forest and hang it in an office of a juice company, people will probably see a nice lady picking apples. But hang it in a church community centre and people might see the highly complex concept of Ancestral Sin.

Same painting, same communication, immensely different results — just by changing the context.

So whenever you have the chance — for example if you are invited to create a show in a certain gallery from scratch — work with the space in mind, or change it if you can to make it a better fit for your work.

Regardless of what kind of art you create, if you make a thorough examination of the materials you use, the message you are trying to tell and the environment you are telling it in, you can use all of this information to reverse-engineer your work to find your target audience.

It should never be the other way around.

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#artist life #contemporary art #surviving art #make art everyday #blog

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septembersung · 7 years ago

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Looking at the posts I’ve accumulated so far for #500 reasons and counting, I realized I need to frame the various subjects I’m tackling. I’d rather post more quotes than original posts, but the trouble with a complicated history like the Reformation (and the internet in general) is taking things out of context causes problems. To do this right, we need a clear conceptual framework in which to lay those quotes (and my inevitable commentary on them). So while in my first post I talked about where I’m coming from personally, in this post, call it intro 2.0, let’s lay out some history and approach parameters.

Let’s get the approach parameters out of the way first:

A) I’m trained in theology, not history, and I’m blogging about this as someone learning, not an expert. B) please charitably correct me (with sources!) if I get something wrong, but C) we should go into this realizing there’s a lot of room for disagreement (as you’ll see if you finish reading this post). D) I always try to represent the source I’m summarizing/working from accurately. That means: D-1) if you disagree with something I say, let’s first go back to the source and make sure I’m conveying it as they said it, and D-2) A good debater should understand the opposing POV so well that they can word their opponent’s argument to the satisfaction of their opponent. If I misrepresent an argument, it is not intentional. Please bring it to my attention and we’ll work it out.

That said, now we can talk about bias. If we’re going to talk about the Reformation, its causes and effects, how it influenced our civilization and still affects people today - even, yes, all those pesky theological “details” many would say no one cares about and don’t matter anymore! - then we need to ask some pointed questions: Just what do we mean by the Reformation? Whose version of the Reformation and its legacy is correct? What exactly is it, septembersung, that you’re taking issue with and arguing against?

Well, if you ask three historians “what happened,” you’ll get thirty answers...

To a large extent, Catholics, Protestants, and secular historians tell the story of medieval Christianity (i.e., Catholicism) and the Reformation differently. Extremely differently. (There is a lot of overlap in some areas between Protestant and secular approaches, however.) You might think that “facts are facts,” but history isn’t primarily facts; history the story we tell ourselves about facts as we know them. Sometimes an assumption, or a “fact” that’s actually false, or a matter of opinion, or disputed, gets enshrined as truth, embedded in how the subject is approached and handed down, and then everything from that is skewed. (This is an exceptionally important point we will come back to frequently.)

Everyone has a bias; this is unavoidable. In this context, bias means “where you stand to see the rest of the world.” Everyone has to stand somewhere. What’s important is to be able to identify your bias and see how it affects the story as you’ve received it and as you tell it. And, equally importantly, to differentiate bias, a fact of being an individual human person, from prejudice, which in this context means unfair and probably incorrect negation of a point of view you don’t share. An illustration of the difference: A secular, that is, non-believing, historian writes a history of the Reformation. Their bias is that they are not Christian, neither Catholic or Protestant. Their prejudice is shown in privileging the Protestant side of the story. To pick just three examples of how that prejudice could play out: using slurs against Catholics, the Church, and Catholic beliefs; accepting Protestant claims about Catholicism and Christian history a priori, as factual premise, without investigation or explanation; taking it for granted, as an accepted truth that does not need proving, that the Reformation did the world a favor. Here’s the kicker: this is not an invented example, but a summary of a large swath of writings on the Reformation.

As you know, I’m Catholic; that’s my bias. You should ask yourself: what’s yours? Do you know how it affects what you’ve been taught and the way you perceive history and the world around you? What prejudice might you be participating in that you don’t even realize is a prejudice?

(Sidebar: In addition (and related to) to the bias issue: intense specialization and the ways history as a whole is conceived and taught has led to such an overabundance of “facts” and narratives, particularly about this stretch of history, that there is little cohesion, and simply so much that trying to get a handle on the big picture can be completely overwhelming. You can drown in data and never learn a thing. (I always picture a cartoon child opening a stuffed closet and being buried in toys.) There’s a super good, though technical, layout of this problem in the introduction to Brad S. Gregory’s book The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society. I’m going to talk about that book a lot.)

The takeaway so far should be: the story of history that we receive varies by which community we’re in and which community delivered the story to us. I am not arguing that no objective truth about the matter exists. Quite the opposite: the first step to finding the truth is recognizing that what has been uncritically accepted as fact is an interpretation based on unreliable ideas. What I would most like to show my readers through this project, especially my Protestant readers, is that the reality and significance of the Reformation has been greatly misunderstood across the majority of communities. It’s pretty unlikely you’ll read my posts and come away deciding to convert to Catholicism. What is possible, and I hope it will happen, that you’ll walk away with a different understanding of Catholicism itself and Protestantism’s role the last 500 years of Christian history.

(Important sidebar: “Protestants” and “Protestantism” can only ever be a generalization. Not only do the vast number of denominations disagree with each other about Christian doctrine, on points big and small, but they have different biases, different understandings of history, different views of Catholicism - you get the idea. Whenever we use the term “Protesant/ism”, we should be aware that is a generalization.)

With all that said: here is a simplified summary of the story of the Reformation as popularly understood. What does that mean? It means this summary doesn’t cover everything, but it does encompass the broad spectrum of “not-Catholic” opinion, including both Protestant and secular views, which vary from each other and among themselves. And, of course, scholars and academia tend to acknowledge more nuance and complexity in the events of history than non-specialists. I spell this out to avoid tiresome arguments that I’m setting up a straw man or objections like “but I don’t believe that/all of that/that in that way,” etc. So as I said: the broad gist of the Reformation story as popularly understood by much of the world today:

The Catholic Church was pure institutionalized corruption. The hierarchy and religious lived immoral lives and oppressed the lay people. The Church was unChristian in deep and significant ways that were harming people. When Luther (et al) realized this, and that what the Church taught as religious truth was just a means of perpetuating its control and corruption, they got up and pushed, and the whole rotten structure came tumbling down. Suddenly the common people had access to the Bible, Jesus, real catechesis, spiritual and political freedom, genuine community, and (to use the modern terms) freedom and agency. There was some resistance, but the populace more or less welcomed the Reformation and joined in enthusiastically. The Reformation was a movement who’s time had come. With the suppression of “priestcraft,” superstitious practices and beliefs, and man-made ritual, the accumulated debris of centuries of ”Romish inventions” was swept aside and Christianity was given a clean slate. With this demolition of the Church, thus (believers would say) true, original Christianity triumphed; all the excess (at best) and demonic distractions (at worst) that led people away/separated people from Jesus was gone. With the demolition of the Church, thus (some believers and the vast majority of secular analyses would say) the road to modern society was paved: separation of church and state, the triumph of the thinking mind/rationality/logic over and against the deadening religious/organized religion influence, the growth of the sciences, freedom, tolerance, pluralism, etc.; the goods and wonders of the modern world exist because the iron grip of the Church was broken. Shedding the past launched us into the future. We’re lucky it’s over and done with and not relevant to us, in our secular society, anymore.

There’s just one problem with this narrative: it’s almost entirely wrong.

That’s a large chunk of what I’m taking issue with and arguing against.

I can’t guarantee this tag is going to be particularly organized or exhaustive - I decided to do this just a few days ago and, despite being a fast reader, can only cram in so much - but I’m going to examine these kinds of claims (in their originals, please note, not from my general gist summary) through my own writing and through sharing the content of scholars and writers more qualified than myself, to argue for a contrary thesis: Not only is that understanding of Catholicism and Christian history factually incorrect, but the Reformation was not an organic, welcomed event/process but rather a violent uprooting of a strong, loved religious tradition and past that cut Christians off from their heritage, fragmented and splintered society, blew the foundation out of Christendom (society as Christian society,) putting Western civilization on the road to society’s secularization, the marginalization and oppression of religion in the public life, and opened the door to the moral, rational, and political chaos we know today. I will absolutely address issues like “but wasn’t the Church corrupt?” but to a certain extent I don’t think that’s actually helpful until some of the fundamental falsehoods in what is generally assumed about the Reformation have been examined. In addition, as we follow the ramifications of the Reformation down the centuries, we’ll get to talk about politics, American exceptionalism, Dracula and turn-of-the-20th-century English culture (it’s amazingly relevant), and - my personal favorite - iconoclasm and incarnation.

I highly recommend reading Karl Keating’s short article “Not a reformation but a revolution.” (Quotes are coming.) He says it better than I do.

The queue starts tomorrow, Sunday October 1st!

#500 reasons and counting

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millennialmotormouth-blog · 8 years ago

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16 things to take away from 2016:

Because 2016 was a steaming pile of garbage and it's easy to try to erase such a strange time from memory...I'm choosing a different route. Currently I'm on a plane back to NYC and am finishing the list I started a few weeks back to help myself evaluate this difficult time. Goodbye 2016...hello continued growth. ✌🏻

1. Change isn't given, action must be taken for change to come to fruition.

Preaching how you disagree with any given policy or social norm isn't enough anymore. Fighting for what's right and being a beacon of hope in your everyday life is the only thing that will keep humanity conscious of all of our needs. Speak to representatives and talk to your friends/family. Take the time to help and stranger and smile at the woman bagging your groceries. Human decency is becoming more and more rare so be a reason someone rests a bit easier tonight.

2. The strength of all relationships is directly dependent on your strength in communication.

Give every friend the time and attention they deserve and those relationships are sure to reward you in the end. Communication is not our enemy, it's our healing force. A good relationship is worth the struggle to see and respect each other's viewpoints.

3. Having stellar roommates is key to survival.

Looking back at all the roommates prior I see that when I surround my home life with people who support and unconditionally love me I'm much healthier. My current roommates are two of my biggest fans in life and they've become like sisters to me. I'm so lucky to have started my New York fairytale with them both.

4. Adulting is probs always gunna suck.

There's no "getting the hang of it." Life is always going to keep throwing obstacles your way regardless of your age. This is my first year that I was fully in adulthood. Not living at school and taking classes then moving to the big city...this year was it. The survival year. The year I'm going to preach to my future children about telling them, "When I was your age I only made $X and lived in New York." I've proven to myself this year that I can do this, and that is a big part of what's driving me into 2017. It wasn't ever easy but adulting, like most other things in life, is much more manageable in baby steps. One day at a time.

5. We are only going to get one earth so we need to wake up and take care of it.

Being a "recycling home" isn't going to cut it anymore. The earth is in a state of total regression and if we don't begin looking to the future instead of taking the easy or lucrative route...we may not have the same earth to offer our children. The world is on the verge of the next great revolution. First we had the industrial revolution, then the technological revolution...and next our ecological revolution. But this can't happen unless we prove to those in power that this issue is valid and pertinent to our current wellbeing.

6. Surround yourself in the future not the past

It's like carrying a large backpack on your back that slows down all other processes of your life. When you stop to open and unpack this backpack you're taking valuable time away from a new and lighter bag that might be much healthier for you.

7. You can't escape your reality with false reality.

Drinking and "reality altering substances" may seem like a perfect little getaway on the weekend, but Monday hits again every week and you're left still contemplating your life's circumstances and judging yourself. It's not going to fix the problems in your life, it will only complicate them further. Using an aide to cope is going to slowly break down the foundation of most of your most precious relationships.

8. The tallest man doesn't necessarily have the best view

Just because a person has acquired a great deal of "accomplishments" in a westernized view of success...doesn't mean they've acquired the real world and personal skills of someone from a "lower tier." Your experience is specific to your circumstance and just because someone has made great personal success doesn't necessarily mean that they are able to speak for the masses because others struggles are outside their own experience.

9. Being yourself is possibly the best thing you can do in this life.

Unapologetically and unabridged, you have to tackle every day keeping your true moral compass out at all times. This new year, I want to thank myself for having the courage to speak my truth. I want to thank myself for giving me the best gift I could ever ask for: my freedom. Of all the terrible and disappointing things this year gave me, I can say that I am so much more genuinely happy knowing I don't have to hide who I am.

10. Music heals just as much as it destroys.

When you're in a dark place the "sad girl playlist" can shoot you down a very deep rabbit hole and keep you spiraling in despair. With that being said, hearing others relate through their art is very healing in itself and can remind you that we can all feel a little alone together. Either way you slice it: we all need music to understand a little bit more about ourselves and others. But spending a great deal of time wallowing in someone's carefully calculated woes, though it's great to appreciate their art, may not be the most conducive option for healing and growth.

11. The idea of "home" is just that, an idea.

I was stuck for a long time feeling "homeless" when my parents left Michigan. Uprooted and just wandering. This year I've found that perhaps home is not a place, but a feeling with those who care for you most. Being "homeless" may be the best way for you to take the time for you to get to know your true self. I'm very glad to be a little New York nomad free to sink my roots where ever feels right with the people who matter most.

12. Everyone's artistic journey is unique to them.

You can't base your successes on anything outside of your own experience and circumstance. Your art is insanely intimate and personal to you alone and should be nurtured and fed the best parts of you...not the jealous or self depreciating side of yourself. Congratulate yourself and recognize your triumphs, and the trick here: do the same for your fellow artist community...remember they need your love and support as well.

13. Travel is essential.

Traveling to new places has always been integral to finding out who I am. Without experiencing new places, cultures, and people, I wouldn't know how I react to those different situations. Travel helps to shape your opinion on the world around you. It's a constant reminder that your chapter is just a sliver of what this world has to offer. It's humbling taking the time to recognize that you're just not actually that important.

14. I will never love a human the way I love my art.

This year I've gotten to discover so many characters far outside my own experience and this will always be the best informant of my sense of self. My art, my passion, is a stronger force than I've ever felt with another human being. This craft amazes me more every waking moment and I'm honored to have this passion and drive in my life. I couldn't think of a better life partner than my art and will treat this partner with as much respect and care I can possibly afford.

15. The most important relationship in my life is the one I'm bridging with myself.

Learning to respect myself and giving my body and soul all it needs is going to be a challenge for a long while; but I intend to give myself every ounce of effort I can muster. This year I was shattered in a way I had never experienced in my 23 short years on this earth, and it's been insanely difficult to rebuild my sense of self. Redefining myself through this experience was a struggle to forage the misunderstandings and manipulation but I feel it's given a unique aspect on the world around me. Which leads me to my final lesson from 2016....

16. Trust should be earned, it should be assumed.

I've lived much of 2016 living in broken trust and feeling generally very lost. In the coming year I intend to give every opportunity and chance the benefit of the doubt and establish relationships based on our specific prior knowledge and history of each other, rather than projecting the mistakes of others in my past upon them. This year will be a time of healing for every facet of my being and I look to 2017 with hopeful anticipation for all it has in store.

#self growth

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alltimebestbooks · 4 years ago

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Best Books Expand you Brain

1. Man's Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust

A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.

2. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

Why do we do develop habits? And how can we change them?

We can always change. In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Timesbusiness reporter Charles Duhigg translates cutting-edge behavioural science into practical self-improvement action, distilling advanced neuroscience into fascinating narratives of transformation.

Why can some people and companies change overnight, and some stay stuck in their old ruts? The answer lies deep in the human brain, and The Power of Habits reveals the secret pressure points that can change a life. From Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to Martin Luther King Jr., from the CEO of Starbucks to the locker rooms of the NFL, Duhigg explores the incredible results of keystone habits, and how they can make all the difference between billions and millions, failure and success – or even life and death.

The Power of Habit makes an exhilarating case: the key to almost any door in life is instilling the right habit. From exercise to weight loss, childrearing to productivity, market disruption to social revolution, and above all success, the right habits can change everything.

Habits aren't destiny. They’re science, one which can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

3. The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking, Better Decisions

Have you ever... Invested time in something that, with hindsight, just wasn't worth it? Overpaid in an Ebay auction? Continued doing something you knew was bad for you? Backed the wrong horse?

THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make. It reveals, in 100 short chapters, the most common errors of judgement, and how to avoid them. Simple, clear and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision-making - at work, at home, every day.

4. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent? The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are being logical), and gives you practical techniques for slower, smarter thinking. It will enable to you make better decisions at work, at home, and in everything you do.

5. Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success? The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered in early life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins. In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative management styles have only made Ferrazzi’s advice more essential for anyone hoping to get ahead in business. The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to Yale, a Harvard M.B.A., and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington’s corridors of power to Hollywood’s A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum. Ferrazzi’s form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing usually associated with “networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them

6. How to Train Brain

Did you know that simple arithmetical calculations like '5+8' make us use the brain a lot more than a complex problem like '5-(0.4/2)+3x6' does? This book answers why. Dr. Kawashima, a prominent neurologist in Japan, developed this programme of daily simple brain exercises that can help boost brain power, improve memory and stave off the mental effects of ageing. It explains: How reading, writing and listening to music affects our brain. How physical motion activates the brain. Where are memories located? What activity of the brain causes likes and dislikes? How the mind is related to the brain. Will brain transplantation be possible in the future? It is never too late to begin building a better brain! Unlock the mysteries of your brain, to train it to function optimally and to your advantage through simple exercises that will maximize memory and better your learning capacity.

7. The Story of the Human Body by Daniel Lieberman

Story of the Human Body explores how the way we use our bodies is all wrong. From an evolutionary perspective, if normal is defined as what most people have done for millions of years, then it's normal to walk and run 9 -15 kilometers a day to hunt and gather fresh food which is high in fibre, low in sugar, and barely processed. It's also normal to spend much of your time nursing, napping, making stone tools, and gossiping with a small band of people.

Our 21st-century lifestyles, argues Dan Lieberman, are out of synch with our stone-age bodies. Never have we been so healthy and long-lived - but never, too, have we been so prone to a slew of problems that were, until recently, rare or unknown, from asthma, to diabetes, to - scariest of all - overpopulation.

Story of the Human Body asks how our bodies got to be the way they are, and considers how that evolutionary history - both ancient and recent - can help us evaluate how we use our bodies. How is the present-day state of the human body related to the past? And what is the human body's future?

Daniel Lieberman is the Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard and a leader in the field. He has written nearly 100 articles, many appearing in the journals Nature and Science, and his cover story on barefoot running in Naturewas picked up by major media the world over. His research and discoveries have been highlighted in newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Discover, and National Geographic.

8. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us.

We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?

In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going.

Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world

‘It tackles the biggest questions of history and of the modern world, and it is written in unforgettably vivid language. You will love it!’ Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel

Yuval’s follow up to Sapiens, Homo Deus, is due in September 2016.

9. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Our lives are driven by a fact that most of us can't name and don't understand. It defines who our friends and lovers are, which careers we choose, and whether we blush when we're embarrassed.

That fact is whether we're an introvert or an extrovert.

The introvert/extrovert divide is the most fundamental dimension of personality. And at least a third of us are on the introverted side. Some of the world's most talented people are introverts. Without them we wouldn't have the Apple computer, the theory of relativity and Van Gogh's sunflowers.

Yet extroverts have taken over. Shyness, sensitivity and seriousness are often seen as being negative. Introverts feel reproached for being the way they are.

In Quiet, Susan Cain shows how the brain chemistry of introverts and extroverts differs, and how society misunderstands and undervalues introverts. She gives introverts the tools to better understand themselves and take full advantage of their strengths.

Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with real stories, Quiet will permanently change how we see introverts - and how you see yourself.

'I can't get Quiet out of my head. It is an important book - so persuasive and timely and heartfelt it should inevitably effect change in schools and offices' Jon Ronson, The Guardian

'Susan Cain's Quiet has sparked a quiet revolution. In our booming culture, hers is a still, small voice that punches above its weight. Perhaps rather than sitting back and asking people to speak up, managers and company leaders might lean forward and listen' Megan Walsh, The Times

'Quiet is a very timely book, and Cain's central thesis is fresh and important. Maybe the extrovert ideal is no longer as powerful as it was; perhaps it is time we all stopped to listen to the still, small voice of calm' Daisy Goodwin, The Sunday Times

Susan Cain is the owner of The Negotiation Company, a firm that trains people in negotiation and communication skills. Her clients include Merrill Lynch, Standard & Poor, University of Chicago Business School and many of the US's most powerful law firms. She previously practiced corporate law for seven years with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. She lives in New York with her husband and two sons

9. Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know--like the need for physical activity to get your brain working its best. How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget--and so important to repeat new knowledge? Is it true that men and women have different brains? In Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule--what scientists know for sure about how our brains work--and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives. Medina's fascinating stories and infectious sense of humor breathe life into brain science. You'll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You'll peer over a surgeon's shoulder as he proves that most of us have a Jennifer Aniston neuron. You'll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can't tie his own shoes. You will discover how: Every brain is wired differently Exercise improves cognition We are designed to never stop learning and exploring Memories are volatile Sleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learn Vision trumps all of the other senses Stress changes the way we learn In the end, you'll understand how your brain really works--and how to get the most out of it.

10. When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub

Here is the story of Jerry Weintraub: the self-made, Brooklyn-born, Bronx-raised impresario, Hollywood producer, legendary deal maker, and friend of politicians and stars. No matter where nature has placed him--the club rooms of Brooklyn, the Mafia dives of New York's Lower East Side, the wilds of Alaska, or the hills of Hollywood--he has found a way to put on a show and sell tickets at the door. "All life was a theater and I wanted to put it up on a stage," he writes. "I wanted to set the world under a marquee that read: 'Jerry Weintraub Presents.'"

In WHEN I STOP TALKING, YOU'LL KNOW I'M DEAD, we follow Weintraub from his first great success at age twenty-six with Elvis Presley, whom he took on the road with the help of Colonel Tom Parker; to the immortal days with Sinatra and Rat Pack glory; to his crowning hits as a movie producer, starting with Robert Altman and Nashville, continuing with Oh, God!, The Karate Kid movies, and Diner, among others, and summiting with Steven Soderbergh and Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen.

Along the way, we'll watch as Jerry moves from the poker tables of Palm Springs (the games went on for days), to the power rooms of Hollywood, to the halls of the White House, to Red Square in Moscow and the Great Palace in Beijing-all the while counseling potentates, poets, and kings, with clients and confidants like George Clooney, Bruce Willis, George H. W. Bush, Armand Hammer, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bobby Fischer . . .well, the list goes on forever.

And of course, the story is not yet over . . .as the old-timers say, "The best is yet to come."

As Weintraub says, "When I stop talking, you'll know I'm dead."

With wit, wisdom, and the cool confidence that has colored his remarkable career, Jerry chronicles a quintessentially American journey, one marked by luck, love, and improvisation. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn are essential, not just for those who love movies and music, but for businessmen, entrepreneurs, artists . . . everyone.

#expand your brain #mind #expand brain #how to expand brain #how to expand mind

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gossipnetwork-blog · 7 years ago

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Inside Jesse Paris Smith's Bold New Plan to Fight Trump, Save Planet

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/inside-jesse-paris-smiths-bold-new-plan-to-fight-trump-save-planet/

Inside Jesse Paris Smith's Bold New Plan to Fight Trump, Save Planet

Jesse Paris Smith remembers the exact day she became a climate activist. Late on a school night, in a Manhattan deli, frantically skimming the New York Times to finish a last-minute homework assignment in 10th grade.

Trump vs. Planet Earth

In pulling out of the Paris climate deal, Trump showed America is a clear and present danger to civilization itself

“I loved nature, so these words like global warming, greenhouse gases, fossil fuels struck me,” Smith, 30, says while sitting in a Midtown Manhattan conference room. Smith is warm and unimposing. She smiles when she speaks so her eyes are like little brown crescents framed by her plum knit cap.

Back at home, Smith continues, she messaged the one still-awake person on AOL Instant Messenger to see if he knew anything of these intriguingly named concepts. “It was terrible,” she said flatly. “It felt like I was dealing with the end of the world and nobody was talking about it.”

That genuine fear she felt as a teenager was also a call to action that she’s developed as an adult. In 2014, Smith founded the nonprofit organization, Pathway to Paris, which hosts inventive events where a hodgepodge of artists, academics, politicians and scientists together on one stage to talk about environmental rights. Smith – daughter of Patti Smith and the late Fred “Sonic” Smith – met her co-organizer, the cellist Rebecca Foon, over Facebook before the People’s Climate March the same year. High-profile artists like Thurston Moore, Michael Stipe and Thom Yorke became regulars, drawn to Pathway’s message and its clubhouse-like vibe. Last summer, for example, Pathway threw a 200th birthday party for Smith’s favorite poet, Henry David Thoreau, in an intimate wine bar. Stipe read the great transcendental work, “My Love Must Be As Free.”

Michael Stipe reads Thoreau at Pathway to Paris event at City Winery

But in the dark aftermath of the 2016 election and President Trump’s abrupt decision to pull the United States out of the global Paris Agreement, Smith and Foon concocted Pathway’s most impactful idea: 1,000 Cities. Starting this year, the new initiative will provide funding and awareness to help cities become completely carbon-neutral by 2040. As part of a new climate-fighting triptych with the United Nations Development Programme and grassroots group 350.org, Smith is energized by the new solution-oriented direction.

On Sunday at Carnegie Hall, Pathway’s Smith, Foon, Stipe and Patti Smith will be joined by a cadre of eclectic names including Joan Baez, 350.org founder Bill McKibbon, Cat Power, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Talib Kweli and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to begin the vital new chapter.

How has the feeling around Pathway to Paris intensified since Trump got elected? It’s still horrible, but if there had to be a silver lining [to Trump’s presidency] it’s that it ignited a whole new wave of action. After the election, everyone who lives in my neighborhood – we all gathered at this same place – and in the morning everyone came in like a zombie. It disturbed me to see how upset and angry and how totally beaten down everyone was. Something snapped in me, where I was like, ‘We can’t sit around – this is more urgent than it was before.’ And, of course, it was already urgent.

And now, without Obama, we’ve got something to lose. Yeah. And it’s good to talk, but we can’t just sit around complaining about how terrible it is. That just normalizes [these issues] into becoming a conversation piece. After Trump it was like, everyone’s sad and everyone’s heartbroken, everyone’s sick and anxious and worried. So how do we fix it? What do we do? That’s what helps me to cope. Even if you don’t know what impact something will have, doing something feels better than sitting at home, being sad.

What was your reaction to the business community and politicians pledging to uphold their emissions targets despite Trump backing out of the Paris Agreement? I felt it was like a whole new wave of citizen uprising; a new voice of citizen activism. The day Trump pulled out of the agreement, you saw people talking who weren’t talking before. They weren’t talking a year or even five years before that.

For example, Pathway to Paris had been going on since 2014, but it was still tough to get people to listen, come to our events and join into the movement. Now it’s easier. Even with my own friends, there was a big spike, and I’m like, ‘Guys, I’ve been here doing this for 10 years!’ [Laughs].

How do you envision a 100 percent renewables-based city? It’s almost a metaphorical idea. Because what that looks like for New York City would be different from how it would be in New Delhi, which would be different from Tokyo. It’s fun to imagine how, as we went into the industrial revolution, we can also go into this new era of renewable energy. It could be a brand new era of our world.

How will you measure the progress of partnering cities as they work on becoming more carbon neutral? One thing we’re using is a free tool called City Insight. It basically inputs all the data of a city – its economy, budget, and so on – and it creates a climate plan to follow in order to go carbon neutral by 2040. That’s what they used with Toronto – a 1,000 Cities partner – and it was successful. Our other hope is to help developing cities get funding. And then the music and the concert aspect of [Pathway to Paris] is there to keep the issue in the culture, where people feel connected and can get involved.

Jesse Paris Smith speaking at the United Nations earlier this year with her mother, Patti Smith.

The individuals you gather for Pathway events are increasingly eclectic – Bill McKibbon to Michael Stipe. Why that approach? Well, one of the first problems [we had to tackle] was that there is no real cultural voice in the climate movement. That’s what people like Bill McKibbon also kept telling me. On the other side, [musicians like] Michael Stipe were excited, too. I really love the mutual admiration of the events. When the [United Nations Development Programme] got involved, they were like ‘Oh, no one wants to here from the speakers, we just need more music.’ And then the musicians were like, ‘We have too much music. Let’s get one more speaker.’

You’re only 30, and in addition to Pathway to Paris, you’ve curated unique music and arts events at places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rubin Museum and the annual Tibet House fundraiser. Where do you think your desire to curate came from? When I was younger, I’d go on tour with my mom and her band during the summers when I was a teenager, I was more interested in assisting her tour manager. I really liked the behind-the-scenes stuff. Setting up the stage, checking microphones, printing things, calling everyone to tell them what time they’re getting picked up in the morning. Whereas my brother’s a guitar player and he would go and play with her. I wanted to learn how to manage.

And you were like, what, 14? Yes, 14, 15,16 [laughs]. I loved playing music and I wanted to take piano lessons when I was 13, but I always thought of music more as my own private hobby.

When was the first time you performed with your mom onstage? I was 16. We played “Imagine” for John Lennon’s birthday at the Free Library in Philadelphia.

Were you nervous? Terrified [laughs]. You know, I wasn’t a musician and now I’m going onstage with this band that’s been playing together for like 30 years? But I was like, ‘They need me to do this. Just be cool, don’t mess up.’ [Laughs].

It’s like what you were saying about poetry – how it’s a lot easier to get up onstage when you’re reading a poem as opposed to singing a song. That’s how I learned to compose music – writing music for my mom to read poetry to. She would give me a poem or this piece of writing to read at an event or recording. So together, we’d like look at the poem and be like, OK, what’s the feeling of this poem? Is this hopeful, is it sad, is it peaceful? Does it change? We’d go through and diagram what lines or parts sounded intense, solemn, or maybe required something else that was different, interesting.

Bill Mckibben reading Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry

What’s your earliest memory of feeling a connection to nature? Well, I was born in Detroit and grew up in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, which is a little town on the lake on Lake St. Clair. The whole town was called the nautical mile. Behind and in between all the houses were canals. Our backyard was overgrown with beautiful trees; the lake was at the end of this dead end street. And there were tons of kids on the street, so basically [we’d] get home from school and go on an adventure. So growing up there I was just fully immersed in nature.

Did you have a boat? No, but some friends did. We’d go fishing on our deck for – muskies? Yes [laughs] – I think that’s what they’re called. You’d have to ask my brother. Where we lived was filled with shops selling all kinds of lures. There was a bait shop, a marina, a supply store for sailing clothes and souvenir shops selling little sailboats and lighthouses. We moved to Manhattan when I was nine. It was an intense transition. I don’t know if I’d have the same love of nature if I was born in Manhattan.

Why do you think you think climate change had such a strong impact on you? It felt like I was dealing with the end of the world and nobody was talking about it. When I was 15, I said okay, I have to become a climate scientist! And I’m gonna have a science lab and live on the glaciers and study the ice melting! [Laughs].

I started to volunteer for different environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Environmental Defense. When I was a teenager, I was a little shy, a little awkward. I didn’t really know how to find other people who felt the same way as I did. So every night I’d go on my computer and sign petitions, write letters to the mayor for hours by myself.

That’s amazing. I remember there was a section on the Environmental Defense’s global warming campaign website called “Undo It,” where you could download all the materials to start your own local chapter. I downloaded all of the brochures and signup sheets and posters. I went to Kinkos and made copies, I had a filing system, clipboards, pens – I was so excited about starting my own chapter!

But then this fear set in. And I was too afraid to find anyone. I was even afraid to hang up a poster. I went out one day to hang them up and I just remember thinking ‘I can’t do this.’ I still have the box with all of those materials. I didn’t even tell my friends at school about it.

What was holding you back? I was just so solitary and quiet. But being an activist and having a nonprofit is all about bringing people together and collaborating. So in order to do that, I had to change.

What did you do after high school? I was determined to be a climate scientist, even though I wasn’t particularly good at math or science [laughs]. But I was also torn between pursuing science and music. It felt like choosing between what was in my heart and what came more naturally. So I deferred my acceptance to Sarah Lawrence College to figure out how I might do both. I applied to Columbia University – they have this incredible climate program – but got rejected. I was also in my first band at the time and I thought, I’ll forget being a scientist and I’ll work on music instead. But I kept going back and forth.

I took courses at the New School about environmental writing. I also worked in a book bindery on 27th Street. I think I’ve probably bound hundreds of books. And because of those experiences physically making books, I suddenly wanted to write a book. I felt unfocused, but I was just trying to figure it out. And my mom inspired some of that, too.

Because you saw it was possible to do more than one thing? She’s singer, a songwriter, a writer, a poet, a photographer, an artist. You can choose more than one path.

Do you see the 1,000 Cities initiative becoming bigger than Pathway? Definitely. My hope is that Pathway to Paris continues to bring that cultural aspect and becomes a global event, where people in different cities can organize their own Pathway concerts as a way to bring people together around this issue.

To participate or find out more about Pathway to Paris’ 1,000 Cities initiative, sign up here.

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casualarsonist · 7 years ago

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Homefront: The Revolution review

Homefront: The Revolution is an ambitious FPS marred by its fraught development cycle. I was quite kind in a first-impressions review I did for this game, encouraging people to buy it for the insanely good sale price of £9, and whilst having played through and completed the game and its DLC ultimately leaves me with positive feelings on the whole, my recommendation is quite conditional.

H:TR is a semi-open world FPS about a silly alternate history in which North Korea invades the USA. NK led the digital tech boom in the 70s and dominated the US market with their technology. In the present day the US economy is failing and the country is globally disliked after numerous Middle Eastern wars, and after defaulting on a debt to NK they are invaded. The world is apparently okay with this, as it is performed under the facade of humanitarian aid, but NK's methods of control and suppression are brutal, and you begin the game finding yourself part of a revolutionary uprising to take back Philadelphia.

You are Ethan Brady, and in the base game are afflicted with a malady known as 'badly realised silent protagonist’. Sadly, your quality of life is heavily impacted as you immediately find yourself in numerous dire situations that could be easily sorted out if you could just find it within you to speak, but it’s not to be. What starts as an awkward and inappropriate use of the trope becomes full-on meta towards the end when at one point you operate a literal camera, which is ironic given that for the greater part of the game, a camera is all you are, despite the writer's best intentions to portray you as an active part of any given cutscene.

Your general goal is to liberate zones of KPA incursion, and you'll find yourself in one of two types of areas as the story progresses. Red zones are restricted to the public and the KPA will fire on sight. The red zones can be cleared by conquering numerous 'strike points' that free a small area of KPA troops and establish revolution forces. Your revolutionaries then dot the free zones, coming to your aid when you recruit them in a drop-in-drop-out system. Recruiting them is easy and you feel powerful when you have a clutch of soldiers at your side, although once you figure out how to take a strike point out on your own, you fellow soldiers may become an afterthought. Once you’ve cleared the entire zone, a mission will trigger that will drive you into a yellow zone - an inhabited area in which the KPA won’t shoot on sight, but set off an alarm and you’ll have to hide in order to escape their aggression. You’ll complete missions here whilst rallying the public behind you until they’re ready to revolt, after which you can begin liberating the zone as before. Liberating the zones is fun, but it is most of what you’ll be doing in the game. There’s a definite sense of repetition to the gameplay that may set in, however clever level design and nicely sculpted landscapes help to mitigate some of that feeling. The world appears meticulously designed, giving you a great freedom of movement and choice in tackling your objective.

Initially the KPA feel rather intelligent in a broader sense, in that if you fire an unsilenced weapon they will come from off-screen to investigate, and if you set off an alarm they relentlessly track you whilst you are engaging in open fire, however upon closer inspection I noticed numerous AI quirks and bugs in which enemies stood still, failed to notice my presence, ignored the fact that they were being pelted with bullets, or simply froze in place.

It’s worth mentioning though that the combat is a lot of fun. The way the KPA are designed to attack on sight in the red zones (but you can escape by fleeing or eliminating all witnesses), and be on guard the yellow zones (but any kind of open aggression will trigger an alarm that will bring incessant enemy troops), allows for lots of hit-and-run guerrilla-style attacks, and oftentimes you will start a fight confident only to have something tiny and unexpected go wrong and you find yourself fleeing for your life. The flow of combat feels quite dynamic and it rarely feels like there is no way to change your situation should you be fighting against the odds, and although the checkpoint save system can be, at times, extremely frustrating, it doesn’t hurt to know that if you screw up and die, you’re going to be inconvenienced in terms of your real time, which gives the pitched battles a sense of immediate stakes.

However, when we talk about AI, or graphics, or story, or any one of half a dozen topics, we come to a consistent theme permeating H:TR as a whole – a tug of war between elements that sell you, and elements that expose the game as a daft and sometimes broken affair. The standalone base game is not something that I would recommend for full retail price, as the AI problems and awkward silent protagonist are, sadly, the tip of the iceberg. There are many aspects of the game that are very buggy.

It’s worth keeping in mind before you buy that H:TR’s development process was a nightmare. The IP belonged to THQ and was to be developed by Crytek UK before THQ went out of business. Crytek bought the rights and then came into financial problems of their own, transferring the rights to the Deep Silver’s parent company before the game was finally handled by Dambuster, a studio comprised of members of the original Crytek UK. It was a mess, and caused massive problems for the developers both practically and mentally, as noted by the touching thank you message at the end of the credits. However, this doesn’t change the fact that my experience was marred start-to-finish by constant and imposing graphical glitches, specifically one in which a portion of the screen would turn a certain colour, usually black, which would then creep to obscure my entire view. This could often be stopped by moving the camera elsewhere, but would often happen in cutscenes in which I had no control over the camera and it would black-out everything on screen. I also noticed instances of bad dialogue pacing in which the sound files don’t kick in until 10 seconds after the last line is uttered, leaving all the characters on screen standing around in silence like idiots and wasting my time, as well as missing ambient sounds that eat away at immersion and expose the behind-the-scenes technical troubles. You may not have all these issues – I noticed that even though my frame rate was solid on High settings, it was very taxing on my GPU, and other, better rigs might not have such problems, but it’s still worth noting that you may notice some glaring technical issues during play.

Thus, had it been just the base game that I played (and I started writing this review before playing the DLC, after which I began a rewrite), I wouldn’t recommend it without a heavy discount, simply for the pervasiveness of the technical problems I experienced. However, the DLC goes a long way to correcting and even redeeming the issues experienced in the main game. There are 3 DLC packs – Voice of the Revolution, a 1 hour long prologue in which you play as Walker (a somewhat central NPC in the main game) immediately before the events of the game; Aftermath, a couple of hours following the end of the main game in which you play as Ethan (now with a voice!) sent on a rescue mission; and Beyond The Walls, another couple of hours playing as Ethan, and the true finale of the game.

Content-wise, the DLC rights some of the wrongs in the base game. Ethan is a likable character when he’s allowed a personality. There’s one jibe about how he was better liked when he kept his mouth shut, but I found it easy to connect with him and start caring for him, even in the mere 3-4 hours you spend getting to hear him. The narrative is much more directed in the DLC, and this, paired with Ethan being voiced, means the DLC hits its emotional mark a lot better. VOTR is really short and carries a ‘Metro’ vibe as you battle raiders in the subways, and in terms of overall worth is neither here nor there. It’s nice to take a spin in the boots of a rather central main-game character, but it’s really quite short. Aftermath is a decent bit of fun, although again amounting to little more than a single mission. Its greatest achievement is in going some way towards establishing an emotional connection to two of the main characters that was all but lacking up until this point. BTW is the best bit of DLC in my opinion, and takes you out of the city into the sparsely patrolled countryside. There’s a pitched battle towards the end that really feels like a genuine struggle, the stakes feel high, and the ending left me genuinely emotional. The technical problems still appeared in the DLC, but being shorter and more directed, I didn’t feel the content was hindered quite so much by them, relatively speaking. Because the levels are more linear, they allow for a greater motivation in your actions and the pacing is tightly controlled. Had the main game itself involved a greater amount of these directed sections, perhaps there would have been a better sense of pacing and less of a feeling of repetition.

So after playing the DLC, my final opinion of H:TR as a whole changed wildly. Obviously, the developers had a hell of a time even getting it off the ground, and for all that is flawed about the main game, it can’t be said that it’s not highly ambitious in many important ways. But be aware that there are bugs, and while the bugs remain, I cannot recommend the main game alone for anything other than a heavy discount. Get it with the DLC, however, (it cost me £9 all up in a great sale) and I’d call that a steal. I’d still not recommend it for the full price tag, but even if the discount were half that, I’d say that it’d still be worth it.

7/10

Good

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