#I of course added my commentary to each album

[karlyboyyy]

10 Albums + 10 Mutuals

thanks for the tag @xuan-xuan1927 🖤✨

The original post was getting really long, so I’ve made a new one 🫣

In doing this I realized that I don’t really listen to full albums anymore, which is sort of a shame! But I tried to pick ones that I could listen to all the way through and actually know/enjoy each song!

In no particular order:

1- Sleddin’ Hill by August Burns Red (mostly-instrumental metal Christmas. ‘Tis the season)

2- Live at Radio City by Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds (there are so many live albums by DMB or Dave & Tim, but this one is by far my favorite. the versions of Bartender and Don’t Drink the Water on this album are *chef’s kiss*)

3- Common Dreads by Enter Shikari (techno punk + fuck the government = this album)

4- Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (my favorite album to listen to on vinyl!)

5- Heroine by From First to Last (emo Sonny Moore pre-Skrillex days, my beloved)

6- Voices by Matchbook Romance (idk man this one is just so good and I’ve never met anyone else who knows them, even though they had one pretty popular song back in like 2006)

7- Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone (I just really enjoy his singing voice and these songs are so catchy)

8- Twilight movie soundtracks (all of them. There’s only like 2 or 3 songs out of all the soundtracks that I don’t care for but the rest are bangers)

9- Tracing Back Roots by We Came as Romans (no particular reason, I just like it. The singer also has a pretty voice and I was legit sad when he died)

10- Suicide Season by Bring Me the Horizon (I was just obsessed with this one in high school. One of my larger tattoos is of lyrics from a song on this album lol)

No pressure tag! @silversoulstardust @wingsofblackleather @jolynecujohh @i-look-back-and-laugh @literalbuttz @homo-homini-lupus-est-1701 @thelevinary @morgendaemmerung89 @zsbrainrot @waxscissors

[winterdaphne2]

Gay Easter Eggs in BBC Sherlock

(I trust the above requires no explanation.)

Perhaps someone has done this before, but I wanted to put together a compilation of gay easter eggs in the show that I’ve seen other people point out and/or have thoughts on myself. So here it is!

When I say “easter eggs,” I’m thinking of small clues that the show creators included in the set designs, music choices, and other details of the show to reference that Sherlock and John are in love. I’m thinking of things you could miss at first, especially little clues that often require a bit of extra information or require observations across episodes to understand.

Of course, there’s also lots of subtext woven into the show, moments where interpreting the dialogue or visuals in a certain way tells us something about Sherlock, John, and/or the state of their feelings for one another. I’m not sure if I can clearly define “subtext” versus “easter eggs” and explain what distinguishes them, but at least to me, several of the things I’ve listed here seem a bit different from what people often refer to as subtext. Maybe subtext is about uncovering the layers to a piece of dialogue or an action that takes place in plain sight and seeing how that impacts our interpretation of the story, but easter eggs are about spotting smaller, hidden details. I’m not trained in literary or film studies, though, and I’m not trying to be doctrinaire about this at all! This list is just for fun, anyway. (The above image might not actually count as an easter egg, but I couldn’t resist including it here. Indulge me.)

The more I read about this show and the harder I look, the more I think that hardly anything is there on accident. All these easter eggs must have been included on purpose. The creators knew they were telling a love story all along.

I’ve linked to the posts where I initially saw people point these out or to other good sources, and for some of these I’ve added my own commentary/observations/interpretations. I’m sure there are many other easter eggs that I’ve missed! What have you spotted?

John’s PIN in TBB – When John tries to pay for his groceries at the beginning of the episode, we see that his PIN is 743. In ASIB, Irene’s code to unlock her phone is SHER, which would be 7437 on a phone keypad. So, John’s PIN is a clue that he is or will be in love with Sherlock. Source: @loudest-subtext-in-tv, here.

Shaftesbury Avenue, 20m from Piccadilly Circus in TBB – While investigating in Chinatown, Sherlock and John bump into each other at what used to be a cruising spot for gay men in London. Source: @the-signs-of-two, here.

Archer the American in ASIB – In the scene where the American CIA agents try to get Sherlock to open Irene’s safe, the head CIA agent pressures Sherlock by threatening to have one of his men shoot John. The agent says: “Mr. Archer, on the count of three, shoot Dr. Watson.” Ordering someone named “Archer” to shoot John could be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer,” which is about Cupid and describes Cupid shooting two men who sound an awful lot like Sherlock and John. Source: couldntpossiblycomment, here.

“¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” in TEH – The song that plays during the scene with John and Sherlock’s disastrous reunion at the Landmark restaurant is a cover of the song “¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” performed by the band Pink Martini. The Spanish lyrics to this song are about searching for a long-lost lover, which is fitting for the scene where John sees Sherlock again for the first time since his fall. Notably, the creators didn’t use the first of the two versions of this song that Pink Martini has released. The band’s first version appears on their 1997 studio album Sympathique and features a man singing about a woman. Instead of using that version, the creators used the version from Pink Martini’s 2011 compilation album A Retrospective, in which China Forbes performs most of the vocals. So, the creators deliberately chose a remade version of the song in which a woman sings about a woman. They chose a gay song about searching for a long-lost lover for Sherlock and John’s reunion. abrae (@tea-and-liminality on tumblr) has a meta with more to say about the use of this song here.

John’s “oscillation on the pavement” in TEH – In TSOT, John observes a potential client standing outside 221B and trying to make up her mind as to whether to come in. Sherlock tells John “I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In the previous episode, John came to visit Sherlock at 221B but hesitated on the pavement outside, staring at the door and trying to decide whether to go in. Sherlock’s comment, “I’ve seen those symptoms before,” is a hint that we, the audience, have also seen those symptoms before—with John in the previous episode. Source: @bidoctor, here. (I saw someone else point out that last part about Sherlock’s hint to the audience, but I can’t find that post, sorry!)

Lilac dresses in TSOT – While planning John and Mary’s wedding, Sherlock chooses lilac-colored dresses for the bridesmaids. When John tells Sherlock that he likes the bridesmaids in purple, Sherlock pointedly corrects him by stating that the dresses are lilac. Apparently, “In Victorian times, giving a lilac meant that the giver is trying to remind the receiver of a first love.” So by dressing the bridesmaids in lilac, Sherlock is trying to remind John of his first love: himself, Sherlock. My heart breaks. Source: @asherlockstudy, here.

Putting the horns on Mary and Janine in TSOT and HLV – In TSOT, there’s a shot where Mary gives Sherlock and John a thumbs up before they head out on a case. The way Mary is standing, the horns on Sherlock’s cow skull thing on the wall behind her are placed right over her head. (I always thought this shot looked pretty weird, but now I see that it must have been intentional!) In the HLV scene with Janine at 221B, there’s a moment when Janine steps in front of John in the frame to kiss Sherlock, and her movement positions the horns right over her head. “Putting the horns” on someone means cheating on them. So in both cases, placing the horns right above Mary’s and Janine’s heads indicates to the audience that Sherlock and John are the real relationship in this show. Source: this post from multiple users on the @sherlockmeta blog.

The architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace in HLV – In the mind palace scene after Mary shoots Sherlock, the architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace is based on locations from ASIP. Sherlock literally built his mind palace out of places from his first case with John, illustrating that his relationship with John is what grounds him and that it means everything to him. abrae has some very helpful screencaps of this here (and I would recommend that whole meta, btw!)

The glasshouse scene in TAB – In TAB, the Victorian John tries to ask Sherlock about his sexuality and sexual history while they’re sitting in a glasshouse. In Victorian Britain, “glasshouse” was another term for a military prison. So John, a military veteran, asks Sherlock about his sexuality in a setting that represents where he would have been sent if he had acted upon his homosexual desires at a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Source: @haffieliesel, here.

What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

Hey hi hello, Charlotte!!

I’ve been on a bit of a Noah Kahan kick lately so I was wondering if I could make another request to feed into it!! Could you possibly do Gentileschi for the album Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)? Very much looking forward to whatever you come up with!! 🫶🏻☺️

(Also here is me adding that I’m sending you my love and support always and that I hope you’re doing well and taking care of yourself, dear. Mwah mwah mwah, all of the warmest hugs to you 💛)

visit the art gallery

my dearest loveliest Meda!!

thank you so much for this fantastic request and for your super sweet message!! 🥰🥰 oh and also a huge thank you for your super kind tags on my joan/boygenius post - I loved reading them! ☺️☺️

my sibling introduced me to Noah Kahan and omg I am obsessed so I'm totally with you on this and I'm super excited to pick out some paintings for it! also do you have a favorite song from the album?? mine's "call your mom" but we don't need to unpack that rn 😅😅

sending you my love and support right back! I hope the school year's off to a good start for you since it sounded like you've got some classes that you're excited about - that always helps 💕💕

for your request, that album is deeply associated with autumn for me (also I know it's your favorite season 🥰) so all the paintings I chose are very autumnal. in general, there's this kind of beautiful sadness on the album that I visualize as wide grey skies and empty landscapes that you watch out the car window as you drive through the mountains when everything is dying. there's beauty but there's also loneliness and sadness, but the kind you almost enjoy - the kind you sit in for a while. idk if that makes any sense at all, but that's the general vibe I tried to go for when I picked out these pieces. also, in my descriptions of each image, I added a little commentary on what song/lyric it reminds me of ☺️

these are the paintings I would choose for the album Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) by Noah Kahan (with images and more info under the cut!)

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn by Vincent Van Gogh

Autumn, Varberg by Nils Kreuger

Autumn Landscape by Charles Ethan Porter

Autumn in the Catskills by Jervis McEntee

The Times of Day: The Morning by Caspar David Friedrich

The Trout Pool by Worthington Whittredge

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn by Vincent Van Gogh (1884)

"passed alger brook road / I'm over the bridge / a minute from home / but I feel so far from it"

this piece for me especially captures that kind of loneliness that I tend to feel in late autumn that Stick Season captures so beautifully. I absolutely adore fall, but by late autumn there always comes a time where I feel like I'm floating. the leaves have all fallen but it hasn't yet snowed. the sky is always grey and the air is cold enough to nip, but not yet strong enough to bite. there's this sense of both mourning something lost and anticipating something to come. idk if this makes any sense at all but that's what this piece brings to mind for me. of course, I loved that this figure is crossing a bridge - perfect for the "over the bridge" line - but I feel like this painting also captures the feeling of being a minute from home, but feeling so far away. we can see a house in the background of the piece, but it appears flat and distant, with the vertical lines of the trees seeming to push it back even further from both the figure and the viewer. also the light in this work is such a quintessentially autumn light that I can just feel it. like, I know exactly what it would feel like if I were to step into that scene. again, idk if that makes sense, but those are my unhinged ramblings on this piece lol 😅

Autumn, Varberg by Nils Kreuger (1888)

"forgive my northern attitude / I was raised out in the cold"

I like this one because it has the same atmosphere of the We'll All Be Here Forever edition cover. there's a dusting of snow and frost, but not enough to make it feel like a "winter wonderland." we still see all the drab, damp browns of the foliage beneath, kind of breaking that stereotypical image of the "ideal" winter scene. I guess I feel like the album kind of does that too - demystifies certain things and experiences. also, this is exactly the kind of image I picture when listening to "Northern Attitude," which I why I chose these lyrics for it. as someone who was raised and has lived in a more northern climate for most of my life, I find this song super relatable, and the scene depicted in this painting is totally something I could see while out taking my dog for a walk in November

Autumn Landscape by Charles Ethan Porter (ca. 1890-1891)

"I saw the end / it looked just like the middle"

this one I picked for the vastness of the spaces. that sweeping light grey sky and the field fading off into the distance are exactly the kinds of scenes that this album brings to mind. this is also a scene that I feel I've seen from a car window about a thousand times. I'm often traveling in late November (going to and from school for the holidays) so this image feels familiar and yet distant in the sense that I've seen it so many times, and yet never truly known it. I've seen it from a car on the highway, but never really stepped out into it. that's also why I picked this lyric for it - there's this sense of sameness and yet change that just resonates so much with both this album and just the general vibes of late autumn

Autumn in the Catskills by Jervis McEntee (1873)

"the birds will still sing / your folks will still fight / the boards will still creak / the leaves will still die"

okay I'm so sorry I feel like all of these descriptions are just me weirdly rambling about late autumn 😅. but this one I picked to be a little more on the happier side, even if Stick Season is kind of a soul-destroying (affectionate) album. I do absolutely adore autumn foliage and there is something so calming about this scene for me. additionally, I adore the song "You're Gonna Go Far" and I love the sentiment that's kind of like "I know you left but I'm so happy for you and I'll always be here for you." this is a very placid, still scene that feels like a calming breath. I paired it with these lyrics for that exact reason - they are a reassurance that everything will still be as you left it, that you can come back and sit in this autumnal forest and just rest and breathe.

The Times of Day: The Morning by Caspar David Friedrich (ca. 1821-1822)

"it's just me and the curve of the valley"

I also love "The View Between Villages" - there are so many emotions in that song, but I guess I always ultimately take away a feeling of coming home to yourself. there might be all these complications and messy feelings, but there's also a deep sense of comfort that weaves its way into your bones and pulls you back to wherever it is you need to be. so for another more positive one, I chose this image with mist rising from the water and blanketing the pines as the crest of the mountains rises behind them. it seemed perfect for this lyric, as it sort of literally depicts the curve of a valley, but to me it also feels welcoming. the sun is rising and turning the sky pale pink and yellow as you wind your way through the valley, the mist beginning to lift to show you the way back home.

The Trout Pool by Worthington Whittredge (1870)

"we'll be waiting for you, love / and we'll all be here forever"

this image gives me similar feelings as Autumn in the Catskills, and thus I paired it with lyrics from the same song. this scene just feels so warm and welcoming, with the light dappled on the soft moss and calm water. even more so than Autumn in the Catskills, this to me feels like a place I could walk right into. I can hear the leaf litter crunch beneath my feet, smell the pine on the crisp air, hear the chirping of birds and skittering of squirrels, feel the warmth in the patches of sunlight and a welcome chill in the shadows. it's a moment you want to stay in, linger with. that's why I wanted to close out with this one. this place - whether exists in real life or just in your mind - is there for you, waiting forever. autumn for me is a season that lets me step back into myself, and one of the themes I pulled from Stick Season is a sense of homecoming - whatever that means for you. the seasons will spin on and you may wander far, but this place, these memories and feelings and experiences, are here for you always. the wind picks up, rustling the branches above you. a few leaves break free from their branches, spinning lazily to the ground below. you think you hear something on the breeze - a voice, a whisper, a song: "we ain't angry at you, love / we'll be waiting for you, love / and we'll all be here forever"

I hope that wasn't too ramble-y and/or based too much on my personal experiences/interpretations 😅 I really love this album so this was such a fun request and I had a fantastic time looking for all these fun autumnal paintings!

I am wishing you the best always always always 💕💕💕💕

so much love to you, along with warm hugs and yummy cookies,

charlotte 🥰🥰

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,358

[S] ACT 4 ==>

walkthrough: http://readmspa.org/transcripts/readmspa-transcript-6_003258_John_explores_LOWAS_with_help_from_Nannasprite_transcript_and_walkthrough.html

Song used: Doctor by Buzinkai

song commentary:

Clark Powell:

Doctor was originally by Buzinkai and then a now non-active member Michael Vallejo added a few bits of percussion to it. I then put together a larger mix of the tune with shinier production and a glockenspiel tag, and this was the version Andrew used in the end.

Buzinkai:

Doctor was written before Homestuck, actually. The only thing I can really remember was that Super Smash Bros Brawl came out right before I finished it. The original loop (which is not the one specifically heard in the comic, but was included in the album release) was directly inspired by music from Cave Story, and I was trying to at the time musically embody how I felt at the time, I think. Though it never seems to come out exactly as I plan it, I enjoyed the results. I will say that I cannot truly believe how many people have remixed it.

The arpeggio part at the end goes between the left, both, and right speakers sequentially. I was too lazy to set the channel settings manually, so I did each note on a different instrument, which is set to each speaker channel. Not many people know that, and I think it actually made it a living hell for remixers who got a hold of the original file.

Author commentary:

Welcome to Book 3, which obviously starts with Act 4, which obviously starts with Gate 1. I mean…obviously? Glad that's obvious to everyone. What's also PAINFULLY obvious to anyone looking at this page, no matter who they are, is that this [used to be] a loading screen. Hot Flash Content is being piped directly into your [browser], right now, at the speed of bullshit. We're off to a great start here in the author notes section. Hey remember Flash loading screens? Those were the days. You needed SOMETHING to look at while untold KILOBYTES were crawling through your ethernet cables. In this case, I chose to dazzle you with a hypnotically morphing spirograph. You quickly went into a trance of fascination. The suspense built. Cue the music. and then…….magic.

>1: Okay, no magic here. No music or movement, because it's [not Flash]! All you get is my goofs. Sorry, sucker. Let's talk about this animation. It's pretty damn enchanting, really. We finally get to see what's under those gray clouds. It's a bunch of fireflies, and a blue landscape with phosphorescent flora and black oily rivers. Act 4 marks the official beginning of the scenery porn era of Homestuck.

>2: Or "LOWAS," as becomes the model for further nomenclature in reference to Homestuck's lands. These "lands," of course, are fairly small planets. Hard to say how big exactly. I don't think I ever really did any due diligence on the cosmological scale of these bodies. They're big enough to explore and get lost in but not so huge as to be hopelessly unchartable. I guess I always pictured them being like a small state in the US. Like if Rhode Island or Connecticut were wrapped around a sphere. Literally doing so would make for a fairly lackluster land, suitable for a pretty bland player of Sburb. (I suppose such as…every resident of those particular states? Why…why am I alienating these people already? It's only the fourth page. Oh well, forty-eight states to go, I guess.)

>3: OKAY LET'S CUT THE SHIT AND TALK ABOUT THIS FLASH! It's a playable game. That turned out to be a thing in HS. As a Flash loaded, readers would wonder…is this going to be a GAME? (Virtually always: no. But sometimes…sometimes, yes!) This one is similar in style to the game when John first enters the Medium and can wander around his house, but this time there's ACTUAL battle mechanics.. You can bonk imps with a hammer, collect grist and items—all rather pointlessly, I should add. But you can do it, is the point. Why? I really couldn't fucking tell you, to this day. I think I was legitimately insane? This, with perfectly brutal honesty, I must admit now strikes me as something a crazy person would do.

>4: I suppose the upshot of the game format is that it lets the player wander around this fantastical new land and discover its mysteries just like John is doing. Actually, YOU don't get to. You get to [click] through this [set of images] with your grubby fingers while I struggle through a borderline state of dementia, heroically trying to remember what I was thinking when I made this. But some people sure did get to do that. Anyway, this is what happens when you click that icon in the upper right. John gets to talk to Nanna, like…there's some sort of comm system back to his sprite? Sprites technically can't go far from the house after their player enters the Medium. That's the strict rule of Sburb. Until much, much later, when it stops being all that strict, for reasons that are unlikely ever to be explained, even by the WISEST of sprites.

>7: Here's a little taste of the gameplay. You click on a thing and a menu pops up, which includes what is…technically a text command that is being entered by…the player of Homestuck? (Who has at this point been revealed to be any given exile, operating the post-apocalypse Sburb station.) It's pretty esoteric. But you don't need to think about any of this to play the game, get a sense of John's rad land, meet some scurrilous foes in need of a bashing, and feel like a cool hero.

>18: The ghost gauntlets holding that ridiculous paisley hammer are just a fixture of the environment in this game. I didn't want them to be an item you could use, because that would have been complicated to implement. It was a little attention to detail on my part, by which I mean my inclination to consider how John could wield this huge hammer in his inventory. Specific items that are accrued by the players become a lot less relevant much later in the story. Because it stops being a thing about a Guy In A Game You Are "Playing," and starts being more about a bunch of Characters In A Story You Are Reading, Who Are Sad All The Time.

>20/23: Here we meet a "consort." Or, a salamander, in the case of John's planet. All planets have consorts, usually a different kind of amphibian or reptile for each. Why amphibians or reptiles? Didn't I cover this already in another book note? Oh. You don't remember either? Well, guess we're in the same boat then. (Consorts have very short life spans, which is the joke here.) And a parcel pyxis is like a pipe mailbox they throw shit in to send places. They have a whole pipe-based civilization, but the pipes are all clogged with oil, and… You know, I did a much better job with this worldbuilding stuff by letting you understand it all in the game through exploration and inference. Too bad you're not playing it now, so you get remedial lore for boneheads down here.

>29: This salamander laments the desecration of a glorious village frog idol. (Frogs are sacred. This fact will be as important as it is frequently repeated.) He talks about the underling swarm dedicated to destroying and oiling up such idols as a "recent" event, as if this village has existed for hundreds of years and only now have the underlings emerged to wreak mischief. This is in keeping with the strange paradox of planets in the Medium: the fact that they were just created instantly through booting up the game, and yet have always existed with entire smorgasbords of ready-made lore and quests for the players to engage with.

>36: Here this sassy salamander alludes to an alliance that John's denizen seems to have formed with the agents of Derse. Those are the "terrible guys" who commissioned the underlings. The denizens aren't really the bad guys of this game. They're more like ornery yet neutral gods of these planets, who can help or harm depending on the circumstances. Derse agents are the formal bad guys, whose designated role is to obstruct the progress of the heroes, vandalize frog statues, antagonize frog enthusiasts, and dislike frogs in general.

>37/38/40: Are you thrilled about sifting through layers of worldbuilding as conveyed through the expository bubblings of enthusiastic amphibians? Then this is the page for you. It's a pretty straightforward outline of John's formal quest on this planet. Wake the monster, kill the monster. Clean the pipes, release the Breeze. The Breeze clears the clouds, the fireflies go free. That's the goal. What does it all MEAN? That is for YOU, the reader, to boggle over, forever. It's worth nothing that when John actually gets around to doing all this, the meaning of completing this quest and the thing that it actually accomplishes are radically different than what the present stakes of the story are understood to be at this point. There is, throughout this tale, an ever-present tension between the hero's quest as presented at face value and the hero's True Quest—the mysterious journey overlaying and superseding the shallow journey described by consorts, sprites, et al—which the kids must come to grips with. >41/43: This is a pretty good procession of salamanders talking about important stuff, which perhaps makes you think it's all leading up to an encounter with some sort of regal presence in the village. Perhaps a tribal leader. But no, it's just this fool, farming all these goddamn mushrooms. The Mushroom Farmer is just notable enough of a salamander to be known to fandom as the Mushroom Farmer, and would probably be credited that way in the end credits if this were a movie. Same goes for the fellow below wearing the hat. He's known as Crumplehat. Trust me on this. >45: See? I told you his name was Crumplehat. Maybe try to fucking believe me next time I tell you stuff. >51: There are two reasons why John can only say no to this offer. First, I would have had to program an alternate path where he gives up the suit, as well as change the sprite to reflect that, and permanently introduce a fork in the story where John either sells the suit or doesn't. The second reason is it's just a straight-up dogshit offer. Giving someone a boondollar for something is like offering them a penny you found in the toilet.

>58: Salamanders are pretty good at trolling, actually. So are lots of figures in Homestuck. Like John's nanna, his dad, John himself, all his friends, and also all the characters who are literally called trolls. I guess there are a lot of characters who like to troll each other because that is my forte, you could say, as a storyteller? This could also explain why characters who are actual trolls entered the story. They simply manifested as an extension of the story's nature.

>65: Oh Christ, the Secret Wizard. I forgot about him. Yeah, him too. He's also a really big-deal salamander. (Just joking, he's actually a small deal.) He's a simple man. All he really wants you to do is behold his robes. That's it.

>67: John's bedsheet will show up again later as well. It makes quite a trip through the story, actually, and appears in a surprising number of panels. Specifically, every single panel that WV appears in. Surprised? No? Oh. Well, let's just say you are, and move on. (Okay, wait, before we move on I should clarify something. WV's shroud is actually the dream version of John's bedsheet. The Secret Wizard just keeps this oily, shitty one forever, and then starts some sort of cult. Okay, NOW we can move on.)

>70-72: So in other words, their entire mail system revolves around putting shit in the pipes, having it sent to completely random places, and whoever gets it gets it. This sounds pretty stupid, but I guess it's part of their religion or something. So you have to respect it.

>78-84: When you're playing through this game, I guess one of the more low-key, gradually unfolding jokes is how it slowly becomes apparent that all the garbage from John's house that he carelessly launched out windows and fumbled over cliffs ended up down here to be scavenged by a bunch of enterprising salamanders who try to pawn all the items back on him. Or just keep them as incredible new accessories.

>81: Five million boonies really isn't all that much, huh.

>84: I'm glad we dedicated an entire page to the choice John makes in refusing to buy back his own shitty clown statue from this guy. Look. This is my ART, people. It needs room to BREATH.

>87/88: Maybe one of the strangest traits of salamanders is how acerbically self-deprecating they are. Maybe they just hate themselves? They'd be far from the only ones in this tale. Also, here's a nice, snap game-design thing I thought of on the fly, when this game was being "developed" over a span of literally about forty-eight hours. Just put a damn bubble with a telescope in it hovering at exactly the place where the player needs to use the scope. That way, they use the scope, and they don't NOT use the scope. So you can see what's in the scope, over there. Incredible.

>90-93: Here's what's in the scope: a view of John's house up on a tall rock-spire plateau, way off in the distance. This view gives you a sense of how far John traveled by going through his gate, the relative proximity of his house, and the fact that the house is inaccessible for a while at least. It also reveals a little more about gate logic and the distances they can send you, and helps you start to imagine hopping all around this world via gates to complete your quest. Oh, and I guess this is kind of a cool shot? Sure.

>94-100: And here Nanna basically explains some stuff I just explained on the previous page. The point, obviously, is to browbeat you with explanations of Sburb game logic fundamentals until you start crying. Here's another thing I guess I haven't mentioned yet: walking through this game gives you a pretty good appreciation of the variety of imps, now that there's been another pre-entry prototyping. Remember Rose entering the game just as John goes through his gate? Now we get to observe all these imps in princess gear, or with tentacles, or cat parts, or some permutation of all three.

>100:And once again Nanna steals my thunder by explaining a thing I just explained. Damn it, Nanna. I feel your pain, John. She's absolutely brutal.

>107: More sass from one of these bastards. I feel like I'm getting fucking roasted every time they open their mouths. I'd look up at the sky and ask "Why, God?" But it's not that mysterious. I'm getting roasted by my past self and his snarkyass writing. If he wasn't trapped back in 2010 or so, I'd ask him why he wrote these damn lizards to be a bunch of wiseasses. "That's just all I know," he would probably say. Yeah, I feel you man. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're funny as hell. But, why? I don't… Oh, never mind. Now I sound like a person who is insane. I'll try to do better.

>111: Oh, here's the end of the game. That game was a single panel of Homestuck. And here we are, on…page 30? Thirty pages' worth of annotations just to cover the first panel of Act 4. I think I need to lie down.

[btzone]

Captain’s log 2022.04.22

Captain’s log was something I did years ago to hold myself accountable when I had many things to update on my B-T website. Seems to be a pattern of mine to let things slip for several years and then spend furious spurts to catch up and revamp. So far, I don’t think I have time for a revamp. First, I must catch up. 

I’ve been updating here and then. I intend to focus on one section but then a squirrel walks by. Over the course of the updates I’ve been doing, I have also let go of some mental rigidness. I felt like only mentioning something once. If it was in the discography section, it doesn’t need to be in the history. There were some things I didn’t write about in too much detail to help keep the rock myth as all good bands have myths. I can’t name anything specific, but I realize that there will always be an air of mystery when it comes to rock. There’s no threat to their iconic status to elaborate a little here and there. I’ve also surprised myself at times when I’ve discovered certain details are missing. In short, as you get older, your approach to things, your outlook, your interests, all of these change and affect something as small as what you may write or present on a website.

Not sure when I started really furiously getting back at it but here’s my brain dump of the things I’ve been doing and some of the things I plan on doing next. 

B-T Zone updates made:

Spreadsheets updated. I know, who makes a fan website with spreadsheets? Me! I have a spreadsheet for all their songs so you can easily answer your burning questions like how many songs has a certain member written in B-T, written in a side project, written overall. When was the first time the band played a certain song and when was the last time. (To the best of my ability given there’s many gigs where the setlist was never published.) I have another spreadsheet on how many times B-T played a given prefecture since they first started. The spreadsheet with the price of each release at the time of release was last updated in June 2021. I need to update that one. From there, it calculates how much money you need every month to be a B-T fan.

History updated to now have 2014-2020. This includes all concerts and published setlists. I also went back and redid the setlist for every year so that the songs are now numbered so you can easily see how many songs were performed at each show. I also added the side project gigs to the concert chronology as they were previously excluded and only surface details published in the Releases section under the respective side project. At first I was rewriting and editing the history from the very beginning, but somewhere in the early 1990s took a break and moved on to 2014-2020. I need to go back into editor mode for roughly 1990-2010. I did random updates though, including more info on the two portable stereo systems that Buck-Tick endorsed, additional details about venues they played at, such as capacity for the early days so you can get a sense of how quickly they grew. I also added details for when they played baseball stadiums, as these are larger venues and another measure of a band’s success. Given that the Higuchi brothers are huge fans of baseball and U-ta has participated in public talks about baseball, it felt right to include that info and a little commentary on Japanese baseball culture. (My family is from a prefecture without a local team so I’ve never been to a game in Japan and only gave a cursory description.)

Members section has updated equipment details.

Releases section has screenshots for all the music videos up to 2020. Many releases updated for consistency in the way the details are presented, hardly noticeable. Added the regular edition cover for releases where I only had the limited edition cover. For each album, added links to the singles from that album and links to any other releases I might have referred to. Added guest appearances from the past few years.

Media section has more magazine covers and some posters added. Hisashi posted demos of songs on his instagram a couple years ago so I also added those as mp3s.

Daily history javascript has been updated to include trivia about even more shit. It appears on the main page and is how I keep track of what to post on twitter everyday.

B-T Zone updates in the works: (no promises on when these will be available but I tried to list them in order of priority)

Releases section needs all the releases since 2014, including the side projects. I have some templates drafted for this but not all the releases have been drafted yet. I took some screen captures from the live videos. Need to scan the artwork and figure out what screen captures are left to do. Then, to sort through and select which ones to use. I need to decide on how to list the Aku No Hana 2015 remaster box set. As a new release with its own entry or as part of the Aku No Hana original listing from 1990?

History section has a summary of each year. I want to skim over it and see if there’s anything really important for a particular year that I excluded from the summary. Never too early to draft the history for 2022!

Fan club back issues guide for Fish Tank needs to be updated with the recent issues.

Tour merchandise section needs to be updated with items from the recent tours. I hate when I procrastinate this because I just save images and then later have no idea what the fuck it’s from.

Lyrics needs to be updated with songs from the past few albums and singles. I have drafts for all of these but I need time to review for accuracy and even then there will still be typos. The search engine for the lyrics doesn’t work anymore. I have tried fixing it but nothing was working. It was a waste of time. I think I need to take a week off work just to address this one issue. 

I’ve thought about using this as an opportunity to redesign the entire site so that it’s flexible for mobile screens but that’s a lot of work and there’s a lot of questions I need to ask myself on how I would re-do things based on those limitations. To me, scrolling is bad and clicking is bad. But, clicking is definitely worse. So I think it’s unavoidable that I’m going to end up with really long scrolls when I get rid of all side menu content that fucks up mobile view.

I need to figure out how to automate the daily history tweets. I have tried in the past some ideas but they never worked right. Maybe they improved since then and I could try a more recent version, if I can remember them. It’s a huge time suck to figure out what code will work when you’re not a coder. I have yet to find any tutorial that even addresses what my needs are. Everything is on randomizing. I used to have random quotes all over another website I used to do. There’s nothing to it, so simple. But I can find nothing on taking a data source with dates on it and then get date and iteratively posting while date equals today. Plus, it would be really nice to include an image. Call this a luxury item after I do everything to make the site feel current in its contents.

[musicollage]

Atlas Sound. Logos, 2009. Kranky (USA) / 4AD (UK). ( Lyrics & Music – Bradford Cox )  ~ [ Album Review |   1) Pitchfork  +  2) Pop Matters  + 3) Drowned In Sound  +  4) NME  + 5) Prefix Magazine  ]

1) As we've gotten to know Bradford Cox over the last couple of years through shows, interviews, and blog posts, one of the Deerhunter frontman's most appealing qualities is his deep and nuanced appreciation of the music of others. Some musicians listen to records to see how they work, check out the competition, or trawl for ideas; by all available evidence, Cox feels records, deeply. If he was born without musical gifts and couldn't sing or play an instrument, one can imagine him working at a record store, amassing an enviable collection while driving people on a message board crazy with the sureness of his detailed opinions. Whatever you think of his exploits as an indie rock media figure, Cox's music fandom is easy to identify with and also offers a portal into his own work.

Atlas Sound, Cox's solo alias, in one sense serves as a sort of laboratory for figuring out what makes some his favorite music tick, away from the expectations of his main band. Two collaborations on Logos, the second Atlas Sound full-length, are excellent examples of how music listening can be absorbed into original work. First is "Walkabout", a track Cox wrote and recorded with Noah Lennox from Animal Collective, whom Cox got to know during a European tour. Though Cox's music shades dark and Lennox's is often flecked with uncertainty and doubt, "Walkabout" is the sunniest pop tune of either of their careers. Coasting on a buoyant, twinkling keyboard sample, it is a starkly catchy and irresistible, a clattery post-millennial Archies tune that straddles perfectly the border between simple and simplistic. Interestingly, it also sounds very much like a Panda Bear tune.

Then there is Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab, who wrote the lyrics and sings lead on Logos' "Quick Canal". The song opens with some gorgeously textured organ chords and soon a steady-state beat and drums rise up in the mix, setting the kind of relaxed-but-propulsive neo-krautrock scene that Stereolab perfected very early on. Here Cox gets to play the part of the late Mary Hansen, adding "la-di-da" trills behind Sadier as she intones phrases in her unfailingly lovely, for-the-ages voice. He even throws in a "Jenny Ondioline"-style rupture about halfway through, sending the track into a breathtaking shoegaze section for its final four minutes, wherein it floats magisterially on a pillow of shifting guitar feedback. "Quick Canal" is almost nine minutes long and it doesn't waste a second.

On these tracks, the confidence Cox shows in melting his aesthetic into the soundworld of other musicians is striking-- both are unqualified successes, very different from each other but among the best things Cox has ever done. But they also sound a lot like the music his collaborators are known for. Cox's sympathetic support and sense of how to construct songs with others suggests a desire to expand the parameters of what Atlas Sound can be. And given his willingness to let others take the microphone on an Atlas Sound project on these cuts, I can't help but go back to Cox's words on Logos before the album was released, which suggested that this was to be less introverted and that was "not about me."

And then I remember that the cover of the album consists of a photo of Cox with his shirt off and the lyrics in the first two songs start with the word "I", which suggests that we probably shouldn't take these statements very seriously. While the songs may or may not be "about" Cox in the strictest sense, the overall vibe is at least as introverted as 2008's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, and every note bears the same signature. With its strummed guitars, hushed double-tracked vocals, and tunes more reliant on ambiance and feel than melody or rhythm, Logos feels every bit as diaristic and personal, but with Cox, that's a plus. At this point, we're not looking to this guy for commentary on the outside world; we want to hear him wrestle with private demons in the sanctuary of his bedroom, bathing every sound in reverb to give the illusion of space and as a sonic balm against loneliness and figuring out how to make music as affecting as the stuff he loves to listen to.

So tracks like "The Light That Failed", "An Orchid", and "My Halo" (the latter two, though different in tone, are further entries in Cox's growing line of melancholy waltz-time shuffles) function primarily as the kind of eerie, blown-out mood music he has become very good at. They are amorphous sketches that still manage to convey feeling, capturing the sort of sad, exhausted, and fragile emotional state that is Cox's area of expertise. "Shelia", a taut pop song with a great chorus hook, is a change-up, though the repeating refrain "No one wants to die alone" fits with the rest of the record's themes. And "Washington School", with its dissonant chime of metallic percussion that sound like gamelan or evilly out-of-tune steel drums, contains the record's most interesting production, with thick drones reminiscent of Tim Hecker and menacing rhythm track.

So some things are different, some are the same, but all of it works well together. It's true that every time Cox ventures out of his comfort zone on Logos, you wish that he'd go even further and embrace extremes-- of tunefulness, tradition, noise-- that don't necessarily come to him naturally. He may yet take a big leap with Atlas Sound, but here the steps away, though rewarding, are tentative. For the rest of the record, Logos feels familiar and assuring, another affecting dispatch from a corner of indie music that is increasingly starting to seem like one Cox pretty much owns.

2) Take a quick gander at Deerhunter's discography and you'll notice a clear stylistic trajectory. From the confrontational noise of "Turn It Up Faggot" to the ambient preoccupations of Cryptograms to the straight-up indie-pop of Microcastle/Weird Era Cont., it's plain to see that as the band has evolved over time, its songwriting has increasingly tended toward the more accessible end of the spectrum. Unsurprisingly, it appears that Bradford Cox's other songwriting vehicle, Atlas Sound, is following a similar arc. On Logos, his second album under the Atlas Sound moniker, Cox provides us with 11 songs that are far less insular, though no less dreamy, than those he has penned in the past. While his fractured compositions still evoke the myth of the bedroom pop auteur, the songs on Logos sound considerably more refined than the lo-fi sketches being churned out by many of his peers. This, as it turns out, is a very good thing.

  To wit: "Walkabout", the track that had the blogosphere buzzing with anticipation for the better part of the summer. Built around a squelchy organ sample lifted from the Dovers "What Am I Going to Do", the song simultaneously recalls both the acid-tinged psychedelia of Black Moth Super Rainbow and the technicolor pop of Brian Wilson. Of course, it's impossible to mention "Walkabout" without acknowledging its co-creator, Noah Lennox, a.k.a. Panda Bear. In many ways, "Walkabout" bears Lennox's fingerprints more than it does Cox's, with Lennox's wistful vocal harmonies echoing throughout the track's four-minute runtime. It's easy to see why Cox chose to leak "Walkabout" well in advance of the release of Logos; bright, bubbly and infinitely catchy, the song perfectly captures the mood of a fleeting summer afternoon and stands as one of the year's best singles.

   "Walkabout" is obviously a standout, though it's also an outlier when approached within the context of Logos. While some may feel as if they've been misled, the good news is that the rest of the album is no less rewarding, if not quite as instantly gratifying. Take, for example, the opening suite that leads up to "Walkabout". Pitting disjointed acoustic guitar strums and distant, reverb-soaked vocals against a backdrop of aqueous noise, "The Light That Failed" succeeds at drawing the listener in while still keeping her at arm's length. "An Orchid", meanwhile, presents the listener with a dreamy ballad that feels like an indistinct outline for a Deerhunter song. Cox's vocals and the song's guitar hook are buried just deep enough in the mix to force the listener to dig a little. When "Walkabout" finally hits, it feels like a reward well earned.

  Luckily, "Walkabout" isn't the only nugget of pure pop bliss to be found on Logos. "Shelia", a disarmingly straightforward slice of jangly college-rock, proves hard to shake, with its Pixies-esque melody and sun-bleached three-part harmonies. Lyrically, the song serves as a world-weary rejoinder to the sweetly nostalgic refrain of "Walkabout" ("What did you want to be / When you grew up"), with Cox explaining, "No one wants / To die alone", before promising the song's titular subject, "We'll die alone / Together." It sure goes down easy, though.

  Cox has publicly acknowledged that Stereolab were his favorite band in high school, so it should come as no surprise that given the opportunity to collaborate with Lætitia Sadier, he puts his best foot forward. On "Quick Canal", he lovingly builds up and tears down a cathedral of sound for Sadier to inhabit, layering a deep bass groove, tambourine hits and a wall of gently panning organs atop a steady, shuffling beat. Midway through, the song falls apart, briefly taking a detour into glitchy noise before giving way to a squall of fuzzed-out guitars. Try as Cox might to obfuscate the vocals, however, Sadier's voice proves indefatigable. To her credit, she sounds right at home here, bouncing her voice off of the song's jagged edges to produce a track that's equal parts haunting and triumphant.

  With regard to electronic composition, on Logos Cox sounds more confident than ever before. Samples and electronic instrumentation form the underpinnings of many of the album's songs, though not to conspicuous effect. Penultimate track "Washington School" illustrates this point better than perhaps any other on the album. Opening with a loop built from fragments of a minor key piano line, the song soon piles on a pounding, bass-heavy beat, chimes and a playful synth line, blossoming into a full-on folktronica number that recalls Four Tet circa Rounds. Somewhere in the distance, Cox's disembodied voice rings out: "Shine a light / On me."

  If Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel was the product of Cox's willful isolation, then Logos is the sound of the auteur stepping outside of his bedroom to engage the world outside. Though it cedes little of the hazy delivery that made Let the Blind… so compelling, Logos brims with a wide-eyed energy all its own, conveying a palpable sense of optimism that's all too rare in Cox's oeuvre. This isn't too surprising when one considers the circumstances; the path that led Cox to the album's creation -- globetrotting tours with his idols, collaborations with some of the most distinctive voices in indie rock -- is the stuff of dreams for hermetic music nerds. Perhaps that's why Logos sounds as vibrant as it does: it's the result of Bradford Cox living out his dreams rather than just dreaming them.

   3) One of many unsatisfactory things about end-of-decade retrospectives is that musicians are rarely so accommodating as to plot their careers in nice, convenient ten year cycles. Nonetheless, that’s how posterity tends to remember them, regardless of finer details. Thus the Kinks are Sixties artists, the Clash a Seventies act, Talk Talk an Eighties band, Nirvana from the Nineties, and you’d comfortably stick a punt on The Strokes and Sufjan Stevens ending up defined by this decade we’re exiting.

  But what of Bradford Cox? Even if you were aware of Deerhunter's raucous 2005 debut ”Turn It Up Faggot” at the time, you're a wizard or a liar if you foresaw how their frontman was going to fill the years 2007 to 2009. That is to say: three Deerhunter albums (‘tis a fool indeed who views Weird Era Cont. as anything other than a record in its own right), two EPs, and a solo project as Atlas Sound that’s yielded God-know-how-many free downloads, as well as last year's Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, and now – an epic 22 months later - Logos. That all of this bar the odd freebie has been good to exemplary is simply astonishing, and points to an artist whose profligacy and cult popularity has him nicely set up to be a defining artist of the next decade.

  And yet... anomalous as ”Turn It Up Faggot” may seem, such scabrous origins are indicative of a palette that has been cooling and quietening ever since Cox first intersected with the limelight. The soundbite-friendly ‘ambient punk’ aesthetic never really lasted beyond Cryptograms, with Microcastle canning the abrasiveness in favour of reasonably straightforward shoegaze set off with dreamlike Fifties flourishes. Having arrived at something like a commercial sound, another artist might have stopped there; however, Cox has ploughed right on through, this year’s Rainwater Cassette Exchange far and away Deerhunter’s most introverted work, a retreat into quiescent childhood reverie.

  Logos has much more in common with Rainwater... than Let the Blind..., for the most part ditching the dissonant electronics in favour of delayed acoustic guitars and old-time pop structures. On the face of it, it sets out Atlas Sound’s stall as simply being whatever Cox may do sans Deerhunter. Yet in a way the 'ambient solo project' tag still kind of makes sense. Strictly speaking ambient music is defined not by instrumentation, but by its evasion of the consciousness. Whole swathes of Logos are blurred and indistinct - technically melodic, hooky songs treated and delivered in such a way that they all but self-negate, leaving nothing but fleeting impressions: the winsome viola that arrives in ‘Attic Lights’, just as Cox mutters ”maximum pain, maximum effect”; the gay singer’s unsettling yearning for traditional marriage on ‘Sheila’ ("we’ll die alone, together"); the barely discernible mantra ”all is love” that briefly ghosts through ‘Washington School’.

  This might sound like a way of romanticising an unmemorable album, but that's far from the case. These songs are bunched together into two dreamy, fog-like passages that serve as a backdrop for a handful of the most tangible tunes Cox has ever written, soaring atmospherically above the misty dreampop. Opener ‘The Light That Failed’ roots itself in the consciousness through eerily torpid glitching, Cox’s disconcerting use of something approaching a falsetto, and the doomy langour of its titular lyric. It sets up an album that frequently drifts into disquieting areas, yet never quite follows through on this early moment of dread. Indeed, delightful Panda Bear hook up ‘Walkabout’ serves as definitive proof that the light hasn't failed at all. While much of Cox’s early pop obsession speaks of a desire to creep out of the now entirely, ‘Walkabout’ is far more tangible and good natured, thanks largely to Panda Bear’s high, comforting tones and the appropriation of the hook from actual vintage Sixties pop gem ‘What Am I Going To Do?’ by The Dovers. Ironically for a song built around a 40-year-old tune, nothing, else on Logos has ‘Walkabout’s immediacy, though the excellent title track comes close, a rattling Strokes-alike number slightly removed from the world by Cox’s arsenal of floaty FX.

  As we’ve known ever since last year’s leak of the Logos demos, the centrepiece is the eight and a half minute, wholly electronic ‘Quick Canal’. Though tamed a little from the leaked 13 minute instrumental, this more mannered, Laetitia Sadier-sung incarnation is a better fit here, and still towers above the skyline. The Stereolab singer adds an inescapably Enya-ish quality to the gentle early stages, but by the time the song’s swooshing, snowy motorik has kicked into full gear she fits in immaculately, an aloof Old World passenger on a song charged with haughty European electronica. It perhaps doesn’t sound so jaw-dropping as it did in isolation, but a lot of that can be attributed to an intentional effect of the surroundings. Those short, subliminal songs serving to filter away reality and focus, like half remembered dreams that leaves the senses baffled and feverish.

  Logos is a gorgeous, hallucinatory and somewhat sickly outing. While there's every chance he'll wrong foot us, and soon, this record is entirely in keeping with the increasingly self-erasing route Bradford Cox has taken as a musician; it's hard to stifle a shudder at that blanked out cover image. Maybe Cox will go on to be a star next decade - he's a gregarious, prolific man liked by critics. But listen to his music, and that doesn't feel quite right. Maybe he'll become an icon. Or maybe he’ll finally make his escape from our timestream entirely, leaving us to wonder if he was ever there at all.

   4) Much like Starbucks, Bradford Cox has become a ubiquitous presence. What with his work with art-rock outfit Deerhunter, his involvement in Karen O’s official soundtrack for Where The Wild Things Are, and now this, his second solo offering under the Atlas Sound banner, you’d be forgiven for thinking that such familiarity will start to breed contempt. But you’d be way off the mark.

  There are two things you should know about this unlikely lo-fi hero of gangly deportment (he has Marfan Syndrome, a genetic disorder that stretches his limbs and strains his heart) and a girlish speaking voice (the affliction for this is yet uncertain). Firstly, it is impossible to dislike him (just see Wayne Coyne’s spoof argument with him on YouTube, branding Cox a “dick”). Secondly, his creative output has proved him to be one of – if not the – most forward-thinking and inspiring musicians of our generation.

  So, as Cox takes time out from Deerhunter, along comes ‘Logos’. Less of an experimental minefield than its predecessor, ‘Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel’, it sees Cox weave in and out of dream-like sequences, such as the sombre ‘The Light That Failed’ and ‘Quick Canal’, the latter featuring the sweetly masculine vocal of [a]Stereolab[/a]’s Laetitia Sadier; while ‘An Orchid’ pitches in as the aural equivalent of a David Lynch storyboard, guided along with looped noises and whimsical vocals.

  It’d be easy to overlook Cox’s lyrics when the soundscapes are this rich and ornate, but there’s a delicate exploration of the most human of sensibilities and yearnings on ‘Logos’. He opens up the emotional vaults on ‘Sheila’, pining softly that “no-one wants to die alone… we’ll die alone together”. Likewise with ‘My Halo’, where Cox reveals “My halo burned a hole in the sky/My halo burned a hole in the ground… so I wait for polarity to change”. There’s much warmth and playfulness to be found here too, the unfeigned honesty and childlish desires expressed on ‘Walkabout’ – featuring the falsetto of [a]Animal Collective[/a]’s Noah Lennox – with its lyric “What did you want to see?/What did you want to be when you grew up?” being a case in point.

  Cox may have tagged Atlas Sound as just another side-project, but ‘Logos’ is a clear indication that his solo creative output is just as richly rewarding as what came before.

   5) For a project originally started as a way for Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox to give a voice to his despairing isolation (he records completely alone) as a teenager, Atlas Sound is starting to sound like an arena-filling, widescreen pop project. Logos, Cox’s second proper solo album, takes the dense, gray worlds of Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See, But Cannot Feel and puts them through a rainbow, delivering a splendid album.

  If there’s one word to describe Logos, it’s “watery.” And in that regard, Logos shares a lot in common with Merriweather Post Pavilion (and Deerhunter’s Rainwater Cassette Exchange from earlier this year). Both albums trade in dreamy avant-pop landscapes buoyed by soggy atmospherics. “Criminals” sways like a shipping vessel in choppy seas, while the album’s great closing third (“My Halo” through the title track) sounds like it was transmitted from that underwater base in the third season of Lost. Cox is still reliant on the general ambiance that envelops his solo work, but here he’s willing to let his vocals float above the mix. And while musically this is brighter, he’s still all Debbie Downer. Old standby lyrical tropes of growing old (on “Sheila” Cox sings “we will grow old” like he’s reassuring someone else), loneliness (“Attic Lights”) and lost hope (“The Light that Failed”) show up repeatedly, and he still sounds like he’s on his deathbed when he sings.

  But for an album created largely by one guy alone in his room, the guest performances shine the most on Logos. Stereolab’s  Lætitia Sadier wrote the lyrics for “Quick Canal,” a sprawling, shoegazey track that never loses its motorik motion, peaking repeatedly in its eight minutes. The bubbly “Walkabout,” the high-profile track with Animal Collective’s Panda Bear lives up to all the hypertext spilled about it this summer, delivering the best of both Panda Bear’s effervescent youthful innocence and Cox’s wistful yearning.

  Logos, while just the second solo album from the frontman for a band of marginal fame, represents the latest and greatest chapter in Cox’s ride to indie stardom. He rose to prominence mid-decade as a confrontational trickster riding blog-hype (circa Cryptograms), continuing with a solo album to build his brand (Let the Blind), an indie-rock masterwork (Microcastle) and a solo album of nearly as high repute (Logos). As for what’s next, Cox has remained mum (though Deerhunter might be taking a hiatus), but with Logos, he ensures we’ll all be waiting.  

[scoutception]

AI: The Somnium Files review

While it wasn’t the first visual novel series I played, the Zero Escape trilogy- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Virtue’s Last Reward, and Zero Time Dilemma- is what made me interested in exploring more visual novels in general. Featuring a creative mix of normal visual novel sections and puzzle room sections, with stories involving fascinating pseudo science theories, colorful and interesting characters, fast, tense pacing, and great music, the series is an insane adventure that’s absolutely worth a try. The series also got me interested in the other works of Kotaro Uchikoshi, the director and writer of the series, which led me to the subject of today’s review, and his most recent work: AI: The Somnium Files, which proves to be quite the change of pace, to say the least.

Story: Kaname Date is a member of the Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS), a special, secret division of the Metropolitan Police Department. Using a device known as the Psync Machine, Date can explore the subconscious of another person by entering their Somnium, a dream world which often holds secrets they would not reveal otherwise. 6 years ago, Date lost his left eye and all of his memories, left with no link to his past, not even his real name, except for Boss, his superior in ABIS and longtime friend. His left eye was replaced by an advanced AI called Aiba, capable of functions such as night vision and x-ray, as well as serving as Date’s avatar within Somnium.

One gloomy November night, Date is called in to investigate a murder victim found in an abandoned amusement park, having suffered multiple stab wounds, tied to a merry-go-horse and missing her left eyeball. The victim is Shoko Nadami, an acquaintance of Date’s, and the ex-wife of Renju Okiura, Date’s best friend and president of the entertainment company Lemniscate. Date’s initial investigation proves unfruitful, and comes to a halt completely when he discovers someone within the merry-go-round’s central column, traumatized to the point of being unable to speak and cradling a bloody ice pick: Mizuki Okiura, the 12 year old daughter of Shoko and Renju, whom Date took into his care 4 years ago.

Date continues the investigation the days afterwards, meeting Mizuki’s friends, the internet idol Iris Sagan, aka A-Set, and the otaku and aspiring light novel author Ota Matshushita, Iris’ mother Hitomi, and Moma Kumakura, leader of the Kumakura yakuza gang. Though Date finds a number of odd connections and occurrences, such as Renju falling out of contact, a call from a mysterious prisoner only known as #89, who claims to know the identity of the killer, and a large number of incidents among the Sagans, the Kumakuras, and others, all of which seem to date back to 6 years ago, he finds little in the way of actual evidence. Left with no other recourse, Date begins to Psync with both suspects and witnesses in the hopes of preventing the killer from striking again.

While it’s a fairly standard plot on the surface, it’s very well done nonetheless. The various mysteries and plotlines are all compelling, and are all given a good amount of focus. Adding to this is the use of a route system, similar to Zero Escape, complete with a flowchart allowing you to easily go to any point in the story. Completing certain Somniums in different ways alters the course of Date’s investigation, causing certain plotlines and characters to gain or lose relevance depending on the route. While every route needs to be completed, each one containing their own reveals and clues, there’s only 5 in total, making keeping track of the distinctive events in each fairly simple. The pacing is also well done, taking its time and allowing you to get used to the characters, while throwing just enough new hints throughout to keep it interesting.

Speaking of the characters, the cast is easily my favorite part of the game. The characters are very, odd and colorful, pretty much to be expected from Uchikoshi. Date himself is a pretty entertaining protagonist, with a tendency for perversion, making bad puns, and coming up with very odd and often ineffectual ideas for progressing in Somnium, going against his serious demeanor and appearance. The supporting cast doesn’t slack either. From the rational, yet sassy Aiba, who turns much sillier within Somnium as well, to the peppy and friendly Iris, to the playful Boss, whose office is an absolute mess decorated with just about any nonsense you could imagine, to my favorite of the cast, Mizuki, the mature, sarcastic, and inexplicably strong kid who spends a good deal of her time arguing with the rather distant Date. It’s hard to dislike most of the characters, with even the most minor of them being good for a laugh or two.

That’s not to say they’re just goofy, though. Almost everyone carries some sort of baggage or secret with that adds a good deal of depth to them, and the various routes give them a lot of development. The game can be pretty damn emotional at points, and the routes focusing more on the characters than the story are the biggest source of them, especially Mizuki’s route. The lighter tone the game takes most of the time actually helps this. Most of the time, interacting with random objects trigger dumb jokes and commentary from Date and the others, and the relaxed pacing and atmosphere, at least earlier on, make it easier to get gradually attached to the cast. Once things do become more serious, the game starts cutting down the jokes, and stops them outright for the most serious of scenarios, meaning it rarely actually becomes jarring. It’s not often a game can juggle a tone as well as this one.

Overall, the writing of the game is superb, and while it’s quite different in tone and setting, it still has enough of the feel of Zero Escape to feel familiar to those who played it.

Gameplay: While I call AI: The Somnium Files a visual novel just for the sake of simplicity, it definitely more has the feel of an adventure game. There’s two types of gameplay segments, investigations and Somniums. During investigations, Date travels to various locations, talking with various characters or investigating important object. Your only control here is controlling Date’s view, and selecting different dialogue options or objects to investigate. Date often has to investigate several locations during a segment, and while you often have to visit them all, you’re given the freedom of picking where to go in whatever order you choose most of the time, giving just enough nonlinearity to not feel like a chore.

The real meat of the gameplay takes place during the Somnium sections, which are comparable to the escape rooms in Zero Escape. Within Somnium, Date and Aiba must break the various mental locks the information they are seeking are hidden behind, which involves interacting with various objects according to the logic of each Somnium. Basically, they’re purely logic puzzles, and it’s actually quite fun figuring out how everything is supposed to work.

Of course, not everything can be that easy. Every Somnium has a hard time limit of 6 minutes. Going over it causes Date’s consciousness to be absorbed into the subject’s, causing a game over. All interactions also cost time, and many incorrect decisions can drain your time pretty significantly. Thankfully, the game has many mitigating factors that keep this from just being stressful. Firstly, time only drains when you’re making choices, or actually moving around. Standing still causes only milliseconds to pass, allowing you to get a clear look around without wasting time. Additionally, all objects you can interact with have a purple outline surrounding them, and are given name tags as well, meaning you don’t have to just wander around, running up to every object in the hopes this one is usable. Not every interactable object actually has a purpose, however, with some only existing to waste your time, so you’re not completely in the clear. The progress meter on the left also gives hints, if sometimes vague ones, as to what you have to do to progress, so you’re not just fumbling in the dark in that regard, either.

Another important feature at the TIMIEs, objects you gain when you interact with objects. These cut the time actions take to perform by varying amounts, or make it take a fixed amount of time. Good use of TIMIEs can save you a lot of time, and a lot of later Sominums enforce it, making it rather strategic. Sometimes, just rushing to the correct solution burns way too much time on its own. You may have to do something you know is wrong, but takes little time and grants a good TIMIE, to be able to save more time on a much costlier action. This aspect isn’t entirely simple either, however. Not all actions display what kind of TIMIE you’ll get, making it a gamble at times, and some, including mandatory actions, give negative TIMIEs, that actually increase the amount of time an action will take, and force you to use them the action after you get them, often forcing you to do something incorrect, but with low time cost, just so you won’t game over.

Each Somnium also has two conditions that unlock album entries, which provide pictures and concept art. The first is for clearing a Somnium with more than 1 second left, as you’re actually allowed to go over the time limit if the final correct action is what pushes you over. The second is for finding special eye shaped items within the Somniums, which are often hidden out of the way. Finally, even if you’re struggling with certain sections, you’re granted 3 retries per Somnium, which allow you to return to a previous part of the section, with all the time you had left at that time, allowing you to optimize and save even more time, though it costs more retries the further back you go. Finally, even if you can’t win, you can simply restart the Somnium section with no penalty, and are even allowed to do so at any time in the menu. Overall, the Somnium sections are actually a lot of fun. Between the interesting logic and strategicness of it, not to mention some of the funniest dialogue in the game between Date and Aiba, they’re some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

Finally, the game features a few “action segments” during the investigation segments, where Date will be faced with an actual physical threat. Aiba formulates plans to deal with the situation, and you just need to handle each step by pressing a button prompt, like a QTE, or hovering the cursor over a certain area for a long enough time. It’s not exactly difficult, but they serve their purpose. There’s also a few interrogations segments, where you must present relevant evidence to someone in order to prove a point. You can just randomly pick until you get the right one with no in game penalty, but there are achievements for clearing these sections and the action sections with no mistakes.

Graphics: AI: The Sominum Files is a surprisingly pretty game. It has a similar art style to Zero Time Dilemma, which, to put it bluntly, was downright awful in the visuals department, with unemotive character models and terrible animations that killed almost all of its attempts at being unsettling. While a few of the animations in this game can still look janky, it is on a whole much. much improved. The characters are much more expressive, helped by the designs by Yusuke Kozaki, best known for games like No More Heroes and Fire Emblem Awakening, fitting the style much better, while still being distinctive in their own right. The locations have a lot of detail to them, and the lighting is very well done. The highlight of the visuals, though, are the Somniums, which manage to give existing locations very distinctive, well, dream like qualities to them, such as shifting colors or heavy lighting, and are always a joy to explore.

Sound: AI features a downright fantastic soundtrack by Keisuke Ito. It manages to capture a similar feel to Zero Escape’s music at points, despite being a different composer, but still manages to stand out. Every song manages to fit the situation perfectly, while also being very catchy on their own, especially the Somnium themes. The music, combined with the visuals, give the game a very strong atmosphere. Whatever mood the game is attempting to set, nostalgic, tense, peaceful, or unsettling, it nails it very, very well, and had me immersed very easily.

The game also features some fantastic English voice acting. Greg Chun as Date and Erika Harlacher as Aiba are the main stars of the show, with their performances capturing their characters perfectly, but the rest of the cast is just as good. Jackie Lastra as Iris, Zach Aguilar as Ota, Corina Boettger as Mizuki, Allegra Clark as Boss, Kaiji Tang as Moma, pretty much everyone does a great job.

Conclusion: Overall, AI: The Somnium Files is something I highly recommend to most people, even those who haven’t touched another Uchikoshi game. It’s a fascinating, emotional, and satisfying experience that successfully manages to devote attention to just about everything it brings up, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Honestly, I enjoyed it even more than any Zero Escape game, and considered I still look on those very fondly, that’s an achievement. With that, this review finally comes to a close. I shall likely be checking out the games Uchikoshi worked on before even Zero Escape: Never 7, Ever 17, and Remember 11. Till next time. -Scout

[lailaliquorice]

a dream is a soft place to land

this is a very very long awaited prompt from the lovely @bottom-of-the-bin who asked for aralyn with the prompt ‘It was you the whole time’. took me a little while to think of something but I’m soft today so here is some soft for you cass!!

I need to write more aralyn in general, and when I saw the show last sunday Jaye’J and Vicki were aralyn rights so I’ve been needed to write them this week in particular. little bit of historical aralyn alluded to too, and some nice commentary on anne’s relationship with relationships. I get a big people-pleaser vibe from her, and I think with catherine she has just found that person who is her home and she can sink into. it’s good and I love them <3

Skipping out on 500-odd years of human development meant that there had been plenty for the queens to adjust to when they were first reincarnated. Some things had been an exciting curve; most technology, for instance. Their appreciation for cameras and the ability to save moments forever was obvious in the photo frames dotted all over the house as well as Anna’s scrapbook, Jane’s photo album, and Anne’s string of polaroids. The internet had been a wonder for Cathy’s research , while Catherine was probably most grateful for the documentaries she could watch on a quiet evening when she didn’t want to be alone in her own head.

But there were some things that had been much harder. Remembering that falling ill wasn’t a death sentence anymore, for instance. The first time Kat had come down with a cough she’d burst into Jane’s room in hysterics, sobbing between painful breaths that she didn’t want to die again, and Catherine had seen too clearly the fear in Jane’s gaze as she hushed Kat with reassurances none of them quite believed in. They knew things were safer now, could remember that logically, but when times were stressful it was hard to trust in something so different from what they’d known.

A particularly nasty bout of colds had struck the entire cast and crew, meaning more than one show had to be cancelled as the fight to get six actresses and four band members onto stage became too hard. It was nothing serious, they were all repeatedly assured, just enough to make them all a little miserable and the idea of doing the job they loved so much seem like an impossible feat.

Catherine made sure to close the door quietly as she came home from a show with Anna and Kat. They’d managed to push through to what they were hoping was the tail end of the little epidemic, with all the Ladies in Waiting except Maggie back in commission and half of the queens just about able to pull off a good show.

Cathy’s insistence on pushing through when she was sick had caused her illness to drag on for much longer than anyone else’s, much to her frustration that Anna doing the same had had the opposite outcome, while Jane’s anxiety around illness meant she felt a little too mentally fragile to go on stage even though she was probably physically able to. Anne, on the other hand, had managed not to get sick for long enough that she got cocky thinking she’d escaped, right before she fell ill at the last minute and was still going through the worst of it.

After bringing Jane a mug of peppermint tea and checking that Cathy was still resting properly, Catherine padded quietly up the stairs to Anne’s attic room. Upon peering round the door she saw her curled up on top of the duvet asleep, though she stirred with a quiet hum as the door hinges squeaked slightly.

“Hello love,” Catherine said, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed as Anne blinked sleepily up at her. “How are you feeling?”

Anne hummed again as she decided on her answer. “Tired and achy,” she said, which explained why she hadn’t really moved from her lifeless position on the bed.

Giving her a sympathetic smile, Catherine felt her forehead before answering and wasn’t surprised at the head radiating from her skin. “You poor soul,” she murmured as she stroked Anne’s hair away from her face.

“I don’t like it,” Anne muttered, though seemed to relax a little under Catherine’s gentle touch. After several seconds of quiet, she met Catherine’s gaze almost hesitantly before asking “Can… can you just hold me for a little bit? Please?”

Catherine’s heart melted a little at the shyness in her voice, swinging her legs onto the bed to lie down and open her arms. Anne didn’t wait for her to say “Of course,” before she was crawling into her embrace, one arm around her back as she laid her head down just below Catherine’s chin.

They were quiet for a little while, Catherine just enjoying having her girlfriend in her arms and Anne taking obvious comfort from having someone holding her close. She was just wondering if Anne had fallen back to sleep when she shifted a little and asked “Do you remember that time we went riding back then and got lost in the woods together?”

The old memory was an unexpected but pleasant one, and Catherine found herself smiling into Anne’s hair as she replied. “Of course. We began that day at each other’s throats but ended it friends at long last, not that we could let the King know that. Whatever made you think of that now?”

“I dunno. Was just thinking about us, I guess.”

Catherine couldn’t help the frown that made its way onto her face at that, struggling to keep the stiff tension she could feel from building in her shoulders to the point where Anne would notice. “How so?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

Anne shrugged, but when she moved her head up to look at Catherine there was only a soft smile on her face. “How its different with us than anything I’ve felt before.”

The curious quiet from Catherine clearly registered as a cue for her to continue, as Anne coughed into the crook of her elbow to clear her raspy throat before she spoke again. “Normally when I fell for people it’d be all at once. I wanted them, they wanted me, we’d both just want the people we showed to each other and when we really saw each other it never lasted. When they really saw me.” She trailed off for a moment then, a faraway look appearing on her face as she finished “I was always too much.”

“Never for me,” Catherine interrupted quietly, kissing Anne’s forehead lightly.

“That’s what I mean,” Anne fought on, finding Catherine’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “There was never any big moment with you, y’know? It never hit me like a bus that I was crushing on you which was what I always looked for. But it was that day in the woods that I actually saw you for the first time and you saw me, and for the first time ever that made things better.”

She broke off to sniffle loudly, and it was only when she looked back up into Catherine’s adoring expression that she realised that the usually so hard-headed Anne Boleyn was actually almost crying.

“And it took far too long but eventually I just knew. It was you the whole time. It was always going to be you.”

Catherine let out a choked up breathe as Anne finished, pulling her closer and holding her tightly. “I love you,” she said, not a single shred of hesitance in her voice. She’d struggled to utter those three words for so long, but now they fell off her tongue with practised ease from just how much she meant them.

Anne hummed happily from somewhere around Catherine’s collar, willingly accepting the kiss that Catherine placed on her lips before she gave a reluctant frown. “You’ll get sick if you do that,” she whined, sounding very unwilling to be the voice of reason for once.

“I’ve already had this illness, I’m immune to it now,” Catherine pointed out somewhat confidently, though pulled an unsure expression as she added “Well, I think that’s how it works.”

Laughter from Anne brought the smile back to her face, soothing her girlfriend’s worries by kissing her on the nose instead which just made her giggle harder. But she grew a little more serious when she spoke again, thinking of what Anne had said as she voiced her thoughts aloud. “You know what I think of love at first sight, but there was something on that day you’re right. Familiarity. Like my soul had found it’s home on Earth and it was with you,” she said wistfully.

“I love it when you get poetic,” Anne said, her voice somewhere between adoring and teasing.

Catherine gave a quiet huff, but her pretend annoyance lasted a second before the soft expression returned to her face. “You know what I mean though,” she said, and Anne hummed in agreement before she continued. “You’re the one person who I can be truly honest with. I never doubt my words with you or second-guess myself. I don’t have to be Catherine of Aragon when it’s just us within these walls. I can just be Catalina.” She loved it when Anne called her by her Spanish name; loved the distinction it gave her between her usual self and the person she knew inside, loved how the clumsy syllables rolled off her non-native tongue.

Nodding, Anne held Catherine’s gaze with a loving smile. “To me you are just Catalina,” she said, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. As if loving her was the most simple thing in the world.

“And I love you for it.”

Anne smiled. “Love you too.”

Catherine rolled onto her back as Anne clung to her tighter, curling up in the crook of Catherine’s arm with her head on her chest and legs tangled with hers. The last words before she drifted off to sleep were barely audible, but Catherine could pick out enough consonants from the sleepy mumble to get an idea of what she was saying.

“I always feel safe when I’m here with you.”

Pressing a kiss to Anne’s forehead, Catherine lay still with only her hand moving to card gentle fingers through Anne’s hair while she slept. She knew better than most the trust issues that Anne kept so quiet, so the true enormity of Anne’s statement wasn’t lost on her. So she held her close while she got the rest she so desperately needed, wondering what she had ever done to deserve to have someone like Anne walk into her life and look at her like she had hung the stars.

Catherine was ok with not knowing the answer to that. But what she did know what that she had no intention of ever letting her go.

[bopinion]

Album of the month / 2020 / 10 October

I like listening to music - gladly, all the time, everywhere. That's why I would like to share which music (or which album, after all I'm still from the vinyl generation ;-) I enjoy, accompanies me, slides up my playlists again and again...

Klavier Kaiser

Various

Classical Piano / 2004 / Süddeutsche Zeitung (Leading newspaper in Munich)

While with modern music I like to tap my foot to the beat, nod my head rhythmically, or amuse my children with something that you certainly can't call dancing (yes, this prejudice about German men is true!), it's completely different with classical music. Out of the sound carpet, which often lasts for hours - thanks to Apple Music and HomePods - it happens that I just look ecstatically into the nowhere and mentally escape from the here and now. It's good when I have only read and don't burn anything while cooking.

Because, apart from a few concept albums by contemporary musicians and rare exceptional pieces such as The Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", only classical music can do that: take you by the hand and carry you off into another world, captivate you with a musical dramaturgy, inspire you to abstract head cinema, simply grab you in the right way. That's why I never listen to classical music while driving a car, but on a rainy Sunday at home I like it even more.

Carl Orff reigned musically in my elementary school music lessons, and like all other children I had to learn the flute and torture the parents with unspeakable school performances. This did not make me feel like making music. Today I say unfortunately, because what I would give to be able to play the piano. Because it is by far my favorite instrument in classical music - and with Billy Joel or Elton John, it also spills over into modern times. So it is primarily piano concertos, with or without symphonic accompaniment, that are among my favorite musical works.

In a time before streaming, music came from CDs - and that was already something modern at the time. One of the favorites in my collection was a large dark blue box, the "Klavier-Kaiser" of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. What, a newspaper? Exactly, a newspaper. Because this newspaper published various cultural editions starting in 2004. More about this in my "Book of the Month". How, a piano "Kaiser"? Exactly, a Kaiser. Joachim Kaiser, to be precise. He was one of the most influential German-speaking music, literature and theater critics of his generation. He was professor of music history at the University for Music and Performing Arts and since 1959 has worked as a senior editor for the feature section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. And he was - not to be forgotten - a gifted pianist. His expertise was undisputed, his vote could decide on musical careers.

The piano was also his favorite instrument. So it was only logical that he put together a personal, but due to his competence practically also objective compilation of great piano music for his publishing house: the "Klavier-Kaiser", THE great anthology of the genre. Behind "Various", of course, the interpreters here are the greats of the guild. On 20 CDs they are all united: Arthur Rubinstein, Edwin Fischer, Martha Argerich, Artur Schnabel, Alfred Brendel, Dinu Lipatti, etc., but also Glenn Gould and Daniel Barenboim and, last but not least, Vladimir Horowitz. The spectrum of pieces ranges from the classical piano concerto to fugues, ballads and sonatas. Practically all relevant composers of the piano are considered: Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Handel etc. - and of course the Russians: Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky...

Each CD is thus dedicated to a great pianist personality. Ideal to get to know the qualities and characteristics of these great performers. An excellent introduction for the interested newcomer and a feast for the connoisseur. In addition to modern studio productions, there are also recordings from the 1930s which have been digitally restored - and yet have retained their own charm before stereo. Presented in a box, each in a pretty slipcase that can be opened (there have been reviewers who spoke of a "high altar"), which explains details of the recording, among other things.

Rounded off by a specific commentary by Kaiser as a separate audio track in each case, which helps to place the work and the interpretation in context. Comments that testify not only to expert knowledge, but above all to the passion he felt for piano music. And which incidentally attest to his eloquence and wit. By the way: after the great success of this edition, Kaiser added a second one. It was rumored that the protest not to have taken into account performers like Friedrich Gulda or Emil Gilels was immense.

Joachim Kaiser died in Munich in 2017. Here is a short obituary of one of the last "universal scholars" by German television:

https://youtu.be/OZFmrmtGq4o

[novelwritingtrash]

When Harry Styles played the O2 Arena in 2018, his fans illuminated the cavernous venue in the colours of the LGBTQ Pride flag. Coordinated by a social media account called The Rainbow Project, each seating block was allocated a different colour, so that when Styles played the song Sweet Creature, an enormous rainbow emerged from the crowd. I was there, and it was pretty magical. But it was also emblematic of how Styles’s fanbase views their idol: as a queer icon. 

There’s arguably never been a better time to be an LGBTQ pop star. Acts such as Sam Smith, who came out as non-binary earlier this year, Lil Nas X, the first gay man to have a certified diamond song in America, Halsey, queer boyband Brockhampton, pansexual singer Miley Cyrus and Kim Petras, who is transgender, have all enjoyed an incredible year, bagging the biggest hits of 2019.

Still, when Styles shared Lights Up, the lead single from his forthcoming second solo album Fine Line, there was a collective intake of breath. The song and video - in which he appears shirtless in what looks like a sweaty orgy as both men and women grab at him - was heralded as a “bisexual anthem” by the media and fans on Twitter, despite not really making any explicit or obvious statements about sexuality or the LGBTQ community. Instead, Lights Up was just another example of the queer mythologising that occurs around Harry Styles.

As a member of One Direction, Styles was – aside from Zayn Malik – the group’s most charismatic and enticing member. From his first audition on The X Factor to the band’s disbandment in 2015, the teenager from Cheshire managed to elevate himself and his celebrity swiftly rose to the A list. Helping him along was speculation about his private life: during his tenure in the band he was romantically linked to everyone from Taylor Swift to Kendall Jenner.

But there were two other rumoured relationships that dogged Styles more than the others. The first was his close friendship with radio DJ Nick Grimshaw. Styles and Grimshaw were often photographed together, and there were anodyne showbiz reports about how they even shared a wardrobe. 

Inevitably, rumours suggested they were romantically linked. In fact, so prolific was speculation that during an interview with British GQ, Styles was asked point blank if he was in a relationship with Grimshaw (he denied any romantic relationship) and, in a move that upset many One Direction fans, if he was bisexual. “Bisexual? Me?” he responded.  “I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm not.”

The second, and perhaps most complicated of rumours, was that he and fellow bandmate Louis Tomlinson were in a relationship. Larry Stylinson, as their shipname is known, began life as fan-fiction but mutated into a wild conspiracy theory as certain fans – dubbed Larries – documented glances, gestures, touches, interviews, performances and outfits in an attempt to confirm the romance. Even now, four years after the band went on “hiatus”, videos are still being posted on YouTube in an attempt to confirm that their relationship was real.

For Tomlinson, Larry was fandom gone too far. He has repeatedly rejected the conspiracy. Styles, meanwhile, has never publicly discussed it. In fact, unlike Tomlinson, whose post-1D career trajectory has seen him adopt a loutish form of masculinity indebted to the Gallagher brothers, Styles has largely leant into the speculation surrounding his sexuality. Aside from the GQ interview, Styles has told interviewers that gender is not that important to him when it comes to dating. In 2017 he said that he had never felt the need to label his sexuality, adding: “I don’t feel like it’s something I’ve ever felt like I have to explain about myself.”

Likewise, during his time touring with One Direction, and during his own solo tours, the image of Styles draped with a rainbow flag became ubiquitous. He has also donated money from merchandise sales to LGBTQ charities. His fashion sense, too, subverts gender norms: Styles has long sported womenswear, floral prints, dangly earrings and painted nails. 

Nevertheless, Styles’s hesitance to be candid has met with criticism. He has been accused of queer-baiting - or enjoying the benefits of appealing to an LGBTQ fanbase without having any of the difficulties. I’ve written before about how queer artists, who now enjoy greater visibility and are finding mainstream success, have struggled commercially owing to their sexuality or gender identity. 

Styles, who is assumed to be a cisgender, heterosexual male, doesn’t carry any of the commercial risk laden upon Troye Sivan, Years and Years or MNEK, who all use same-gender pronouns in their music and are explicitly gay in their videos. His music – with its nods to rock’n’roll, Americana and folk ­– doesn’t feel very queer, either. Looking at it this way, the queer idolisation of Harry Styles doesn’t feel deserved.

“The thing with Harry Styles is that he often does the bare minimum and gets an out-sized load of credit for it,” says songwriter and record label manager Grace Medford. For Medford, who has worked at Syco and is now part of the team at Xenomania records, Styles’s queer narrative has been projected on him by the media and his fans. “I don't think that he queer-baits, but I don't think he does anywhere near enough to get the response that he does.��

Of course, Styles does not need to explain or be specific about his sexuality. As Medford puts it: “he's well within his rights to live his life how he chooses.” However, he has also created a space for himself in pop that allows him that ambiguity.

It’s a privilege few pop stars have. Last year, Rita Ora was hit with criticism after her song Girls, a collaboration with Charli XCX, Cardi B and Bebe Rexha, was dubbed problematic and accused of performative bisexuality. Even though Ora explicitly sang the lyric “I'm 50-50 and I'm never gonna hide it”, she was lambasted by social media critics, media commentary and even her fellow artists until she was forced to publicly confirm her bisexuality.

But the same was not done to Styles when he performed unreleased song “Medicine” during his world tour. The lyrics have never been confirmed, but the song is said to contain the line: “The boys and the girls are in/ I mess around with him/ And I'm okay with it.” Instead of probing him for clarity or accusing him of performativity, the song was labelled a “bisexual anthem” and praised as “a breakthrough for bisexual music fans”.

Of course, there’s misogyny inherent to such reactions. But there’s also something more layered and complex at play, too. “There's such a dearth of queer people to look up to, especially people at Harry’s level,” posits Medford. “With somebody who is seen as cool and credible and attractive as Harry, part of it is wishful thinking, I think. 

“The fact is, he was put together into a boyband on a television show by a Pussycat Doll. And he has rebranded as Mick Jagger’s spiritual successor and sings with Stevie Nicks; he's really done the work there. Part of him doing that work is him stepping back and letting other people create a story for him.”

One only has to look at how Styles’ celebrity manifests itself (cool, fashionable, artistic) in comparison to that of his former bandmates. Liam Payne (this week dubbed by the tabloids as a chart failure) has been a tabloid fixture since his public relationship with Cheryl Cole and relies on countless interviews, photoshoots and even an advertising campaign for Hugo Boss to maintain his fame. 

Styles, meanwhile, doesn’t really engage with social media. He also rarely appears in public and carefully chooses what kind of press he does, actively limiting the number of interviews he gives. Styles’s reticence to engage with the media and general public – perhaps a form of self-preservation – has awarded him a rare mystique that few people in the public eye possess. 

This enigmatic personal, along with his sexual ambiguity, his support of LGBTQ charities and his gender-fluid approach to fashion, creates the perfect incubation for queer fandom. It also provides a shield against serious accusations of queer-baiting. As Medford argues: “Harry's queer mythology has been presented to and bestowed upon him by queer people whereas other acts feel like they have to actively seek that out.”

Ultimately, the way that Styles navigates his queer fandom doesn’t feel calculated or contrived. For Eli, an 18-year-old from Orlando who grew up with One Direction, seeing Styles “grow into himself” has been important. He suggests that Styles’ queer accessibility has helped to create a safe space for fans. “Watching him on tour dance on stage every night in his frilly outfits, singing about liking boys and girls, waving around pride flags, and even helping a fan come out to her mom, really helped me come to terms with my own sexuality,” he explains.

Vicky, who is 25 and from London, agrees: “To be able to attend his show with my pansexual flag and wave it around and feel so much love and respect - it's an amazing feeling. I'm aware so many queer people can't experience it so I'm very grateful Harry creates these safe spaces through his music and concerts.”

There’s appeal in Styles’s ambiguity, too. Summer Shaud, from Boston, says that Styles’ “giving no f----” approach to sexuality and gender is “inspiring and affirming” for those people who are coming to terms with their own identities or those who live in the middle of sexuality or gender spectrums. “There’s enormous pressure from certain gatekeeping voices within the queer community to perform queerness in an approved, unambiguous way, often coming from people with no substantive understanding of bisexuality or genderfluidity who are still looking to put everyone into a box,” she argues. “Harry’s gender presentation, queer-coding, and refusal to label himself are a defiant rebuke of that “You’re Not Doing It Right” attitude, and that resonates so strongly with queers who aren’t exclusively homosexual or exclusively binary.”

Shaud says that the queer community that has congregated around Styles is another reason she’s so drawn to him. “Seeing how his last tour was such an incredible site of affirmation and belonging for queers is deeply moving to me, and as older queer [Shaud is 41] I’m so grateful that all the young people growing up together with Harry have someone like him to provide that.” 

In fact, she argues that there’s a symbiotic relationship between Styles and his queer fans. She cites an interview he gave to Rolling Stone this year in which he said how transformative the tour was for him. “For me the tour was the biggest thing in terms of being more accepting of myself, I think,” Styles shared. “I kept thinking, 'Oh wow, they really want me to be myself. And be out and do it.’”

All of the queer Harry Styles fans I spoke to agreed that it really didn’t matter whether their idol was explicit about his sexuality or not. “It’s weird that people scrutinise people who don’t label [their sexuality] when they have no idea what that person feels like inside or, in Harry’s case, what it’s like to be under the public eye,” argues Valerie, who is 18. “It's an individual choice, not ours,” agrees Vicky.

Ollie, 22 and from Brighton, takes a more rounded view, however: “On one hand, I think that quite simply it isn’t any of anyone else’s business. On the other, if you place yourself in the public eye to the level of fame that he has then you should be prepared to be probed about every minute detail of your personal life, whether you like it or not – you should at least be prepared to be questioned about it.” Still, he says that the good that Styles does is what’s important: “He brings fantastic support and attention to the community, whether he is actively a part of it or not.”

Arguably, the ambiguity and mystery that surrounds Styles only allows more space for queer people to find safety in him and in the fandom.

Still, if fans are expecting a queer coming of age with new album Fine Line, they will be disappointed. Lyrically, he doesn’t venture into new territory, although there are some new musical flares. He also seems like he’s started to distance himself a little from the ambiguity, too. “I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows,” he told Rolling Stone. “I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.” Having said that, within weeks Styles appeared on Saturday Night Live playing a gay social media manager, using queer slang and even wearing an S&M harness.

And so the cycle of queer mythologising continues, and is likely to continue for the rest of Styles’s career. And maybe things will change and maybe they won’t.

“If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you,” he said earlier this year. “I love every single one of you.” In a world where LGBTQ rights are threatened and there’s socio-political insecurity, perhaps, for now at least, that’s enough.

[accidentalharrie]

maybe you or one of you followers has access to the telegraph article about Harry "Why does the world want Harry Styles to be gay" I don't know what to think about this headline and I really want to read it but its online only for subscribers

Here you go, Nons. (I hesitate to post this but…)

When Harry Styles played the O2 Arena in 2018, his fans illuminated the cavernous venue in the colours of the LGBTQ Pride flag. Coordinated by a social media account called The Rainbow Project, each seating block was allocated a different colour, so that when Styles played the song Sweet Creature, an enormous rainbow emerged from the crowd. I was there, and it was pretty magical. But it was also emblematic of how Styles’s fanbase views their idol: as a queer icon.

There’s arguably never been a better time to be an LGBTQ pop star. Acts such as Sam Smith, who came out as non-binary earlier this year, Lil Nas X, the first gay man to have a certified diamond song in America, Halsey, queer boyband Brockhampton, pansexual singer Miley Cyrus and Kim Petras, who is transgender, have all enjoyed an incredible year, bagging the biggest hits of 2019.

Still, when Styles shared Lights Up, the lead single from his forthcoming second solo album Fine Line, there was a collective intake of breath. The song and video - in which he appears shirtless in what looks like a sweaty orgy as both men and women grab at him - was heralded as a “bisexual anthem” by the media and fans on Twitter, despite not really making any explicit or obvious statements about sexuality or the LGBTQ community. Instead, Lights Up was just another example of the queer mythologising that occurs around Harry Styles.

As a member of One Direction, Styles was – aside from Zayn Malik – the group’s most charismatic and enticing member. From his first audition on The X Factor to the band’s disbandment in 2015, the teenager from Cheshire managed to elevate himself and his celebrity swiftly rose to the A list. Helping him along was speculation about his private life: during his tenure in the band he was romantically linked to everyone from Taylor Swift to Kendall Jenner.

But there were two other rumoured relationships that dogged Styles more than the others. The first was his close friendship with radio DJ Nick Grimshaw. Styles and Grimshaw were often photographed together, and there were anodyne showbiz reports about how they even shared a wardrobe.

Inevitably, rumours suggested they were romantically linked. In fact, so prolific was speculation that during an interview with British GQ, Styles was asked point blank if he was in a relationship with Grimshaw (he denied any romantic relationship) and, in a move that upset many One Direction fans, if he was bisexual. “Bisexual? Me?” he responded.  “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

The second, and perhaps most complicated of rumours, was that he and fellow bandmate Louis Tomlinson were in a relationship. Larry Stylinson, as their shipname is known, began life as fan-fiction but mutated into a wild conspiracy theory as certain fans – dubbed Larries – documented glances, gestures, touches, interviews, performances and outfits in an attempt to confirm the romance. Even now, four years after the band went on “hiatus”, videos are still being posted on YouTube in an attempt to confirm that their relationship was real.

For Tomlinson, Larry was fandom gone too far. He has repeatedly rejected the conspiracy. Styles, meanwhile, has never publicly discussed it. In fact, unlike Tomlinson, whose post-1D career trajectory has seen him adopt a loutish form of masculinity indebted to the Gallagher brothers, Styles has largely leant into the speculation surrounding his sexuality. Aside from the GQ interview, Styles has told interviewers that gender is not that important to him when it comes to dating. In 2017 he said that he had never felt the need to label his sexuality, adding: “I don’t feel like it’s something I’ve ever felt like I have to explain about myself.”

Likewise, during his time touring with One Direction, and during his own solo tours, the image of Styles draped with a rainbow flag became ubiquitous. He has also donated money from merchandise sales to LGBTQ charities. His fashion sense, too, subverts gender norms: Styles has long sported womenswear, floral prints, dangly earrings and painted nails.

Nevertheless, Styles’s hesitance to be candid has met with criticism. He has been accused of queer-baiting - or enjoying the benefits of appealing to an LGBTQ fanbase without having any of the difficulties. I’ve written before about how queer artists, who now enjoy greater visibility and are finding mainstream success, have struggled commercially owing to their sexuality or gender identity.

Styles, who is assumed to be a cisgender, heterosexual male, doesn’t carry any of the commercial risk laden upon Troye Sivan, Years and Years or MNEK, who all use same-gender pronouns in their music and are explicitly gay in their videos. His music – with its nods to rock’n’roll, Americana and folk ­– doesn’t feel very queer, either. Looking at it this way, the queer idolisation of Harry Styles doesn’t feel deserved.

“The thing with Harry Styles is that he often does the bare minimum and gets an out-sized load of credit for it,” says songwriter and record label manager Grace Medford. For Medford, who has worked at Syco and is now part of the team at Xenomania records, Styles’s queer narrative has been projected on him by the media and his fans. “I don’t think that he queer-baits, but I don’t think he does anywhere near enough to get the response that he does.”

Of course, Styles does not need to explain or be specific about his sexuality. As Medford puts it: “he’s well within his rights to live his life how he chooses.” However, he has also created a space for himself in pop that allows him that ambiguity.

It’s a privilege few pop stars have. Last year, Rita Ora was hit with criticism after her song Girls, a collaboration with Charli XCX, Cardi B and Bebe Rexha, was dubbed problematic and accused of performative bisexuality. Even though Ora explicitly sang the lyric “I’m 50-50 and I’m never gonna hide it”, she was lambasted by social media critics, media commentary and even her fellow artists until she was forced to publicly confirm her bisexuality.

But the same was not done to Styles when he performed unreleased song “Medicine” during his world tour. The lyrics have never been confirmed, but the song is said to contain the line: “The boys and the girls are in/ I mess around with him/ And I’m okay with it.” Instead of probing him for clarity or accusing him of performativity, the song was labelled a “bisexual anthem” and praised as “a breakthrough for bisexual music fans”.

Of course, there’s misogyny inherent to such reactions. But there’s also something more layered and complex at play, too. “There’s such a dearth of queer people to look up to, especially people at Harry’s level,” posits Medford. “With somebody who is seen as cool and credible and attractive as Harry, part of it is wishful thinking, I think.

“The fact is, he was put together into a boyband on a television show by a Pussycat Doll. And he has rebranded as Mick Jagger’s spiritual successor and sings with Stevie Nicks; he’s really done the work there. Part of him doing that work is him stepping back and letting other people create a story for him.”

One only has to look at how Styles’ celebrity manifests itself (cool, fashionable, artistic) in comparison to that of his former bandmates. Liam Payne (this week dubbed by the tabloids as a chart failure) has been a tabloid fixture since his public relationship with Cheryl Cole and relies on countless interviews, photoshoots and even an advertising campaign for Hugo Boss to maintain his fame.

Styles, meanwhile, doesn’t really engage with social media. He also rarely appears in public and carefully chooses what kind of press he does, actively limiting the number of interviews he gives. Styles’s reticence to engage with the media and general public – perhaps a form of self-preservation – has awarded him a rare mystique that few people in the public eye possess.

This enigmatic personal, along with his sexual ambiguity, his support of LGBTQ charities and his gender-fluid approach to fashion, creates the perfect incubation for queer fandom. It also provides a shield against serious accusations of queer-baiting. As Medford argues: “Harry’s queer mythology has been presented to and bestowed upon him by queer people whereas other acts feel like they have to actively seek that out.”

Ultimately, the way that Styles navigates his queer fandom doesn’t feel calculated or contrived. For Eli, an 18-year-old from Orlando who grew up with One Direction, seeing Styles “grow into himself” has been important. He suggests that Styles’ queer accessibility has helped to create a safe space for fans. “Watching him on tour dance on stage every night in his frilly outfits, singing about liking boys and girls, waving around pride flags, and even helping a fan come out to her mom, really helped me come to terms with my own sexuality,” he explains.

Vicky, who is 25 and from London, agrees: “To be able to attend his show with my pansexual flag and wave it around and feel so much love and respect - it’s an amazing feeling. I’m aware so many queer people can’t experience it so I’m very grateful Harry creates these safe spaces through his music and concerts.”

There’s appeal in Styles’s ambiguity, too. Summer Shaud, from Boston, says that Styles’ “giving no f—-” approach to sexuality and gender is “inspiring and affirming” for those people who are coming to terms with their own identities or those who live in the middle of sexuality or gender spectrums. “There’s enormous pressure from certain gatekeeping voices within the queer community to perform queerness in an approved, unambiguous way, often coming from people with no substantive understanding of bisexuality or genderfluidity who are still looking to put everyone into a box,” she argues. “Harry’s gender presentation, queer-coding, and refusal to label himself are a defiant rebuke of that “You’re Not Doing It Right” attitude, and that resonates so strongly with queers who aren’t exclusively homosexual or exclusively binary.”

Shaud says that the queer community that has congregated around Styles is another reason she’s so drawn to him. “Seeing how his last tour was such an incredible site of affirmation and belonging for queers is deeply moving to me, and as older queer [Shaud is 41] I’m so grateful that all the young people growing up together with Harry have someone like him to provide that.”

In fact, she argues that there’s a symbiotic relationship between Styles and his queer fans. She cites an interview he gave to Rolling Stone this year in which he said how transformative the tour was for him. “For me the tour was the biggest thing in terms of being more accepting of myself, I think,” Styles shared. “I kept thinking, ‘Oh wow, they really want me to be myself. And be out and do it.’”

All of the queer Harry Styles fans I spoke to agreed that it really didn’t matter whether their idol was explicit about his sexuality or not. “It’s weird that people scrutinise people who don’t label [their sexuality] when they have no idea what that person feels like inside or, in Harry’s case, what it’s like to be under the public eye,” argues Valerie, who is 18. “It’s an individual choice, not ours,” agrees Vicky.

Ollie, 22 and from Brighton, takes a more rounded view, however: “On one hand, I think that quite simply it isn’t any of anyone else’s business. On the other, if you place yourself in the public eye to the level of fame that he has then you should be prepared to be probed about every minute detail of your personal life, whether you like it or not – you should at least be prepared to be questioned about it.” Still, he says that the good that Styles does is what’s important: “He brings fantastic support and attention to the community, whether he is actively a part of it or not.”

Arguably, the ambiguity and mystery that surrounds Styles only allows more space for queer people to find safety in him and in the fandom.

Still, if fans are expecting a queer coming of age with new album Fine Line, they will be disappointed. Lyrically, he doesn’t venture into new territory, although there are some new musical flares. He also seems like he’s started to distance himself a little from the ambiguity, too. “I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows,” he told Rolling Stone. “I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.” Having said that, within weeks Styles appeared on Saturday Night Live playing a gay social media manager, using queer slang and even wearing an S&M harness.

And so the cycle of queer mythologising continues, and is likely to continue for the rest of Styles’s career. And maybe things will change and maybe they won’t.

“If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you,” he said earlier this year. “I love every single one of you.” In a world where LGBTQ rights are threatened and there’s socio-political insecurity, perhaps, for now at least, that’s enough.

[johnchiarello]

Sunday sermon

Sunday Sermon

  [Post below]

Blog-  https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/

Site-  https://ccoutreach87.com/

Site-  https://johnchiarello.webs.com/

Site-  http://ccoutreach87.webstarts.com/__blog.html?r=20171009095200

Site-  https://corpusoutreach.weebly.com/

Site-  http://ccoutreach87.wixsite.com/mysite

 LINKS TO ALL MY SITES AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH POST

 The blog [Corpus Christi Outreach Ministries] is my main site- on some sites if you click the link it gives a ‘warning’- if that happens- simply type the address in or search on a search engine- the site is safe- the most up to date posts are on the Blog.

[Please Like, Share, Connect, Follow and Subscribe to the sites below- as well as all my sites linked at the bottom of each post-Thanks]

 Follow us on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks

Subscribe to our Youtube channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg?view_as=subscriber

Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/john.chiarello/channel/

Friend us on VK [Russia- Our largest group outside the U.S.] https://vk.com/id533663718  

Friend us on OK [Ukraine- Our 2nd largest in Europe] https://ok.ru/profile/589985645111

Follow us on Tumblr http://johnchiarello.tumblr.com/

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ccoutreach87

Connect on Linkedin [Our largest group] https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=hb_logo

Follow us on Medium https://medium.com/@johnchiarello

Friend us on Plurk [Japan] https://www.plurk.com/ccoutreach87/public

Contact/Friend us on MeWe https://mewe.com/i/johnchiarello

Follow us on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ccoutreach87/

Follow us on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/user/ccoutreach

Follow us on Mix https://mix.com/jchiarello

Follow us on Flipboard https://flipboard.com/@johnchiarel4hvs/ccoutreach87-q213nqldy

Follow us on Steemit https://steemit.com/@ccoutreach

Follow us on https://mastodon.social/@ccoutreach87

View on Trello https://trello.com/b/swhF9Vr8/ccoutreach87com

View on Voat https://voat.co/u/ccoutreach87/submissions

 Watch our videos here-

[Most viewed] https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccoutreach87/

[Most viewed] https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jsS961GkXUSn/

https://www.dailymotion.com/ccoutreach87/videos

https://vk.com/videos533663718 [Russia]

https://www.instagram.com/john.chiarello/channel/

[Most viewed- OK] https://ok.ru/video/c2081847?st.cmd=video&st.m=ALBUM&st.aid=c2081847&st.ft=album [Ukraine]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg?view_as=subscriber

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos?lst=1779330793%3A1779330793%3A1546906912  [My Facebook videos]

 Other sites- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/  

Cloud links- https://ccoutreach87.com/cloud-links-12-2018/

Archive- Text posts only- https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/archiv.html

 Some of my studies-

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/reformation_12.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/overview-ofphilosophy-thales-andthe-pre.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/romans-links-1-2019.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/colossians-links-2019.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/corinthians-links-4-2019.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/ephesians-links.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/acts-links.html

https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/galatians-links.html

  [Links to all my sites at the bottom of this post]

NOTE- Every so often some of my sites think I am Spam- or a Bot- I am not. My name is John Chiarello and I post original content [all videos and text are by me]. I do share my past posts from my other sites- but it is not spam- Thank you- John.

 [TODAY’S POST BEGINS HERE]

   Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

  Sunday sermon videos-

 https://youtu.be/smTOw7EJSjY

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205026402177950/ 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhBp1wgu7lU34dS_Z

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wagjiywi1hbl43/11-11-18%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0

   NOTE-

Church Unlimited- Mass - https://youtu.be/DiRNv2hp3aU

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/5-28-17-c-u-mass.zip

https://ccoutreach87.com/5-28-17-c-u-mass/ 

 [I talked from the verses used in the Sunday Mass- and the verses from Church Unlimited]

  I added the above videos at the time I made this post. Overall I tried to challenge some of our mind sets about the ‘End Times’ and how 20th [and 21st] century Evangelicals look at these passages. The Mass readings for this date did cover some of the more popular passages about the End Times. Some [most?] might disagree with the perspective I tried to talk about- and that's ok. The main point I was trying to make was End Times teachings should be seen in the light of the overall redemptive purposes of God. Revelation [the book] is a beautiful picture of Christ and the Church. And yes- there are passages about ‘violence’ how the Word ‘slays’ people- but in a redemptive context- yes- the Word of God- and those who submit to the Lordship of Christ- are ‘put to death’- or ‘buried with him in death/baptism’ so these perspectives are what I tried to share on the video- For those who want to go deeper into the end times and different ways Christians have viewed these passages- just Google Preterism- partial Preterism- and you can see a different perspective rooted in scripture as well. I am not a ‘full Preterist’ meaning I do believe in the literal 2nd coming of Christ and the future resurrection to come- but some of their ideas are worth listening to-

John

 Here are a few links I just found- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterism

https://www.ligonier.org/blog/preterist-approach-revelation-unfolding-biblical-eschatology/ 

 ON VIDEO- [Past posts below]

.Ascension Sunday

.Cathedral city

.We are the 2nd book- Bishop Mulvey

.Dead words versus life in the Spirit [manifested thru us- the Logos made flesh once again]

.Tertullian ‘Have we chased God into a book’?https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian 

.Gnostic writing in the first few centuries

.Pseudepigraphy https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudepigraphy 

.Life in community

.Logos

.Watch Tower

.Theresa of Avila http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208 

.Catholic Mystics

.Contemplative prayer

.Hebrews- James- context

.Paul and James

.Faith and works

Correction- On the video I mentioned a quote/book from Theresa of Avila- the book was called ‘The Interior Castle’ written in 1588 - the quote I used was ‘Cathedral of the mind’.

   PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates to today’s post- Verses below]

 https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/ 

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/01/acts-13/ 

 CHAPTER 11: [see commentary on Acts 21]

END NOTES-

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.

TORTURED- BY FAITH?

REJECTED MONEY- BY FAITH?

THEY ALL WAITED FOR THE CITY- THE CHURCH.

  ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, FOR BY IT THE ELDERS OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT [JUSTIFIED]’ This is the key verse to the chapter. Paul will go on to prove that all the Old Testament figures that ‘pleased God’ did it by faith, and not by works! ‘Through faith WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’ Faith is not ‘blind’. It informs and gives understanding. This understanding is real! Let me show you what I mean. All of the universe and creation had a beginning point. Science did not always know or believe this. Today science teaches this. It is called ‘the point of singularity/density’. Science has traced back the origins of all things and has found scientific evidence to prove that all things had a ‘beginning point’. Now if you were to ask science ‘what did you have right before the beginning point’? They are stumped. Some of course believe in God and will boldly proclaim him at this point. To the others they can not answer this question. Why? Because they realize, thru science, that matter is not infinite.

 Some have theorized that either all things always existed [which science has now disproved] or that at one point nothing existed [which science also teaches that if this were true then you would have nothing today. You can not get something from nothing!] So all true science has gone back to this ‘point of singularity’ and can not see what is right before ‘the point’. The Christian ‘sees’ God at this point! He ‘understands’ that by necessity there has to have been something that existed before creation, science teaches this. This something can not have been created also, because then where did the ‘being’ who created ‘it’ come from? So science teaches us that whoever got the ball rolling [Saint Thomas Aquinas calls this the ‘prime mover’] had to have been preexistent/ self existent in order to have done it. And we know that creation couldn’t have done it by itself, so therefore all reasoning and understanding leave us at the philosophical point of ‘there had to have been something/someone who existed forever in order for anything to be today’. So now you see how ‘by faith we understand that all things that now exist were brought into existence by someone who we can not see’. FAITH UNDERSTANDS!

 As we go thru the rest of this chapter I want you to focus in on all the references of justification by faith. You will be surprised [I think?] on how many examples Paul gives to Israel from their own history [his too!] on God justifying people by faith. I will also try and show you [if I remember] how this chapter links the division between Paul’s epistles to the gentiles [Romans, Galatians] with James letter to the Jews. James was one of the lead Apostles at Jerusalem [Acts 15] and the Judaizers who were always accusing Paul of preaching grace in a way that justified sin, they came out of Jerusalem. James and Paul were rivals in a sense. James had the difficult job of overseeing the Church at Jerusalem, who had all the Pharisees who believed, while Paul was preaching this radical message of grace. This is why James’s letter [book of James] focused so much on faith and works. James was seeing the Genesis 22 account of Abraham’s justification when he offered Isaac on the altar. James will say ‘see how Abraham was justified by his works’. While in Paul’s letters he focuses on the Genesis 15 account of Abraham believing God and being made righteous. James was not contradicting Paul; he was showing the actual outcome of the life of a person who was previously justified by faith. James was saying ‘When God made Abraham righteous [Gen 15] he later actually became what God made him!’ [Gen. 22].

 Now when Abraham would later do righteous things, he only did them because he previously had faith in Gods promise. But the fact still remains that when Abraham did a righteous act, God still justified him [in a sense, God has the prerogative to say ‘good job son, I am pleased with you’ so this can be described as an act/function of justification]. Well, now that I already showed you all this, I guess I wont have to remember telling it to you later. The point is in this chapter Paul will go down and show all these examples of Jewish leaders acting by faith and doing righteous deeds. This sort of bridges the gap between the strong emphasis on faith in Paul’s letters, with the strong emphasis on works in James letter. Paul is telling Israel ‘yes, all the old saints did do good works that pleased God, but they did them by faith!’ ‘Faith without works is dead’ [James]. So in a sense this single chapter bridges one of the key divisions in the early church between Jerusalem and Antioch [Acts 13 and 15]. Note; I believe all the chapter references above are correct, I write all this from memory so you might want to go back and double check the references. I know all the stories are right.

 ‘By FAITH Able offered …by which he obtained witness that he was RIGHTEOUS…by FAITH Enoch was translated…he had this testimony that he PLEASED GOD…without FAITH it is impossible to PLEASE HIM [all these ‘please him’ references are like saying ‘being justified’ when a person is justified by God, God sees him as acceptable, pleasing. ‘Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well PLEASED’ God to Jesus!] By faith Noah… prepared an ark to the SAVING of his house…and became heir to the RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH [wow, he makes this one real plain] By faith Abraham…went out into a strange land…and sojourned’ interesting, both the aspect of ‘going out to a new land’ and ‘staying in it when you get there’ are both functions of faith. Let me throw in some practical stuff here. Over the years of ‘doing ministry’ I have seen and been a partaker of both of these experiences. Sometimes it takes an act of faith to uproot us from familiar territory and move on to the next level. And do you know what can happen next? The enemy will try to intimidate you once you get in the land of promise, and tell you ‘you cant stay here, look at all the people who hate you. Look at all the mistakes you made’ and it often takes an act of faith to STAY IN THE LAND. Don’t leave the land of your destiny; all true leaders will go thru both of these dealings.

 ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations [Jesus is the foundation of this city!] whose builder and maker is God’ All of these great heroes of the faith were looking forward towards a future promise of being in Gods true church, the ‘City of God’ the Bride, the Lambs wife. Paul shows Israel that this 1st century appearing of Messiah was for the purpose of Israel coming into the ‘new land’ the Body of Christ. It is important to see this. There are many preachers today who are treating natural Israel as in if everything is just fine. It isn’t! They need Christ as much as the Muslim does. God was telling Israel ‘come into this new city’ [New Jerusalem versus Old Jerusalem] he wasn’t appealing for them to stay in ‘old Jerusalem’ and be a ‘completed Jew’. [I know this sounds harsh, but I want to emphasize to all my evangelical friends that Jews need Jesus, they play a special role in Gods plan, but ultimately they need Christ!]

 ‘Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed’ it takes faith to produce spiritual offspring! It might look impossible, but with God all things are possible. ‘Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and the sand by the shore’ sometimes God will allow you to bring forth one ‘seed’ [person or act of ministry] and you will be surprised how much fruit can come forth from this singular effort. This is why it’s so important to simply hear and obey God. Often times in ministry we do tons of ‘leg work’ which is OK. But when God gives you an idea or mode of function that you weren’t even thinking of, go with it. These are usually the ‘little seeds’ that produce the great harvest! ‘THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH, NOT HAVING RECEIVED THE PROMISES’ I want to emphasize here that it is possible to live your whole life in faith without actually seeing the fulfillment of all that God has told you.

 Now faith does obtain promises [verse 33] but sometimes we also see things many years down the road and we must realize that the measurement of faith is not whether or not you are currently getting the actual promise. In the above [and below] verse’s we see Abraham and Sara being told that their offspring would number in the millions. They believed these promises, but it is obvious that they didn’t live to see it fulfilled, but they sure knew that after they were gone it would come to pass. So I want to exhort you to believe to see certain things fulfilled in your life time, but have some greater goals that you initiate while here on earth, knowing that after you depart they will be fulfilled. ‘And truly if they had been MINDFUL of the country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned’ what is Paul saying here? The greatest threat to the gospel taking root in the Hebrew community was the desire to go back to old law and culture. How many believers ‘revert’ back to an older form of church simply because they missed the old culture and ‘feelings’ that they had when they were younger? Many of the Jews would not go all the way with the gospel because they were ‘mindful’ of the good old days of law and sacrifice.

 I just watched a show the other day that told how even some gentile believers began celebrating certain feasts of Israel with their Jewish neighbors. While it is good to understand and see the significance of the feasts, yet we know Paul wrote the early believers and said ‘you observe days and times and feasts, and I am concerned about it’. So when we [or 1st century Israel] are ‘mindful’ of the ‘good old days’ then there is always a danger of going back! ‘By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure’ Abraham exhibited characteristics of the Father [God] as well as Isaac being a type of the Son [Jesus]. It’s interesting that these verses show that Abraham knew for a fact that God was going to give Isaac millions of children, Abraham also knew the voice of God so well that when he ‘thought’ he heard God say ‘offer up this boy’ that in the mind of Abraham, the only way these 2 things could be reconciled, is he came to the conclusion ‘I guess God will have to raise him up, being he has told me this boy will have millions of children, plus he is telling me to kill him’. Most of us would not have come to this conclusion! We would have doubted either the original promise, or said ‘surely this can’t be God telling me to offer Isaac’ [most likely we would have doubted the latter!].

 There is a real important reason for Abraham to have been a real man of faith. God wanted this ‘picture’ of the offering up of Isaac for a type of the Cross and Resurrection. The only way he could have shown this example was to have had someone so radically filled with faith, that he would have come to this conclusion of ‘well, I guess God will just raise him’. It was necessary for the figure to have been truly fulfilled. It took Abraham many years of hearing and believing God before he would get to this stage. The part of Abraham’s mind that said ‘God will just have to raise him up’ was important for the figure to truly work. God knew he could only bring someone to this conclusion by arranging the whole scenario around a person of faith. It truly took a real person of faith to have come to the conclusion of resurrection as being inevitable! [For Abraham to fulfill the type of God, he had to have been convinced beyond all doubt that after he offered up his son, that he would be raised again. This is exactly what the Father [God] believed and knew about his own Sons death. So not only did Isaac fulfill the type of Jesus in this story, but Abraham also fulfilled a type of God!] [NOTE; Today is September 22, 2007. Israel’s Day of Atonement. I just heard a brother preach on the feasts of the Lord [I have done this also] but he preached it in a way that said ‘because God said you were to observe these feasts perpetually, therefore all gentile believers need to start observing these days’ he added ‘I know Paul taught the law passed and all, but these feasts are supposed to be forever because God said so’.

 How are the feasts ‘perpetual’? Thru the fulfilling of them in Christ! Paul makes this plain all thru the New Testament [as well as this letter!] I was surprised to hear the brother preach that the first 2 feasts [out of the 3 main ones] were fulfilled and memorialized, but the 3rd one [Atonement/tabernacles] has yet to be fulfilled! What? Jesus fulfilled Passover and Pentecost for sure, and they are still being ‘fulfilled’ God is still bringing people in thru the blood of Christ and the Spirit is continually being poured out on people, and of course the ultimate reality of our atonement thru our high priest is a daily reality [he ever lives to make intercession] that is ‘fulfilled’ all the time[ I understand what the brother meant, that both Passover and Pentecost were fulfilled at the Cross and the day of Pentecost, and Tabernacles still has a future fulfillment. That Jesus will ‘ingather’ all peoples to himself at the end. The way he said it was in a way that he said Atonement, the beginning of Tabernacles/booths, still has to be fulfilled. It really came out badly!] I just thought it worth noting that today is natural Israel’s feast day, and we hold this feast in reality 24/7!]

 ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward…by faith the harlot Rahab perished not…’ I want you to see that faith in Moses situation caused him to forsake great riches and leave a successful future. This is in keeping with all the times Jesus called people in the Gospels ‘forsake all and follow me’ mentality. We too often equate the ‘treasures of Egypt’ with following Jesus; the scripture puts a different spin on it! Also Rahab ‘perished not’ because she ‘believed’. Paul teaches in Corinthians that those who believe are ‘being saved’ and those who don’t believe are ‘perishing’. I want you to see that Paul is really making a theological argument for ‘being saved by faith’ in this chapter. Even a harlot can be saved! Wow. The law seemed to have no mercy on someone like that!

 ‘Who thru faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions…women received their dead raised to life…others were TORTURED not accepting deliverance…others had mocking and scourging and bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, cut in half, were slain with the sword… being destitute, afflicted, tormented…they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, ALL THESE [both the ones who shut the mouths of lions as well as the one’s who were tortured without deliverance] OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT THRU FAITH, AND RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE’ Faith does not always cause you to be better off in this life. I am very familiar with all the verses of God blessing us and providing for us ‘the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it’. I believe and claim these verses just like the next guy. I also don’t want to tell people ‘give your life to Christ and all will go well’ did it go well for the ones who were tortured not getting delivered? Sure did. It went well the moment they saw the face of God. The same for those who were cut in half. It also went well for the women who received their dead raised to life. The point is ‘going well’ is not always defined by your outward circumstance.

 We must see the overall biblical worldview of all things here being temporary, while all true spiritual riches are eternal. Moses actually was ‘less rich’ by the choice to follow Christ. But he was ‘more rich’ in that he fulfilled Gods purpose. It is important to see that many of these great heroes of the faith died without fully seeing the promise in this life. Now the last verse does say ‘that they without us should not be made perfect’ and this does show that the promise is now fulfilled thru Christ. We have all become recipients of eternal salvation thru Christ. The Old Testament patriarchs have ‘found that city’ in that we are all now members of the great ‘City that comes down from God out of heaven’ we are all in Christ today, even our Old Testament brothers who had faith. The point is don’t always measure a persons faith by their outward wealth and condition. James rebuked this idea in his epistle, he taught us not to show partiality to people who were rich while despising the poor.

 When believers see faith only from the standpoint of outward things, they are missing the true riches. Jesus taught that all these outward things were not the true riches; I am surprised how many believers spend so much time hoarding and storing things that will all pass away some day. Let’s close this chapter on a good note. Paul has offered Israel all of their Old Testament heroes as an example of being justified by faith. He is saying ‘look, all the great fathers of the faith pleased God, just like you have said and taught for ages. I am declaring unto you they were all ‘justified/pleasing to God’ by faith, not law’. Therefore if you want to follow the example of Abraham and Moses and all the other wonderful fathers, then you too MUST BELIEVE!

END NOTES-

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.

TORTURED- BY FAITH?

REJECTED MONEY- BY FAITH?

THEY ALL WAITED FOR THE CITY- THE CHURCH.

This chapter is loaded with the history of the Jewish people-

I could teach on each story- but that would be a bit much-

So I pasted the verses below to show that the writer is saying ‘see- all of our forefathers were justified- received a GOOD REPORT- by faith’.

Wait a minute- they DID THINGS- in these stories-

Isn’t that WORKS?

If you read the letter of James- and the letters of Paul- some scholars says there is a disagreement-

Paul says a man is justified by faith- and not by works.

James says ‘see how a man is justified by works- and not faith only’.

If this letter [Hebrews] was written by Paul- then it’s a true masterpiece- because he is combining the examples that James uses [Rahab- and Abrahams Genesis 22 experience- which James uses to say ‘see how works justifies’].

So- to me- Paul would be saying ‘no- I’m not contradicting James- we both believe/teach the same thing’.

If the letter was written by Barnabus- then it also is a masterpiece- because Barnabus might be trying to bridge the gap between Paul and James.

We read about this tension in Acts chapters 13 and 15.

This chapter is certainly not showing us how to obtain stuff [money- etc.] thru faith- because look at the examples- ‘Moses chose to suffer- and reject the wealth of Egypt- BY FAITH’-

‘SOME WERE TORTURED- SUFFERED- CUT IN HALF- by faith’- ‘CHOOSING TO not be delivered- because they had faith’.

We also see the heavenly city- as the goal of the patriarchs- they were all waiting for THE CHURCH- the city that the apostle John spoke about in the book of revelation.

The writer says ‘if they were mindful of the city they came out of [a reference to the law covenant- meaning if the Jews kept clinging to the law- the ‘city they came out from’- they will have a hard time moving on- into the New Covenant revelation of Messiah].

I didn’t quote verse 2- but we could teach modern physics from that one [the bible says all things were made from something invisible- modern physics has come to that reality in the 20th century- yet this verse was penned 2 millennia ago]!

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

So yeah- lots of good stuff in this chapter- but the main point is these ancients were justified by faith- the example of Noah and Abraham actually use that very language- salvation/righteousness [it’s a bit clearer in the King James Version- the above verses are from the NIV].

Yes- the writer is saying ‘everything is based on faith- and even our ancestors were justified by faith- they did all these things because they believed God- and God saw their faith- in action- and they too were made righteous- by faith’.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

  CHAPTER 12:

END NOTES-

A HEAVENLY CITY.

DON’T BE SAD, HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.

NO REPENTANCE- OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.

CULTURE SHOCK IS HARD ON US ALL.

 ‘Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [all the heroes of the last chapter!] let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us’ a few practical things. Paul compares the journey to a marathon, not a sprint! The patient runner who paces himself will receive a reward. The sprinter will look good at the start, but you never see him again! I have been blessed by so many gifted people over the years. Some who were on radio, or were doing some type of ministry for the Lord. The gifts and callings were truly on these people. A few years would go by and they were no where to be found. Where did they go? Some of them jumped on the latest ‘Christian movement’ [I am not against movements from God, I just feel we get enamored by them and give up on the main thing the Lord has called us to] some walked away from the Lord.

 I have come to realize that God will put certain things in you from the early days, things that he predestined for you to fulfill before you were born. These are the things that you should be faithful to. Don’t abandon the original calling, it’s still there! You can spend your whole life leaving one ‘track’ and ‘sprinting’ in another. But God wants you to stay on the original course and run it with patience. It might not seem as glamorous or exciting as the newest race in town, but at the end you will receive a reward. ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that ENDURED such contradiction of sinners…and ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh to you as children [remember what we said about this type of privileged language in Hebrews? It is speaking to Israel] my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art REBUKED of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons’.

 Now, for many years I read this just like you. That God was telling Christians that he disciplines them. True enough. But in context what is Paul saying here? He spent 11 chapters ‘reproving’ Israel. He told them that all the sacrifices and wonderful holidays and family traditions are no more. That Messiah has fulfilled it and you can’t keep doing it. Now, how would you feel if some know it all preacher came along and totally dismantled your whole way of worship? And you knew in your heart he was right! You would take offence. You would feel like you just got ‘chastened’ up and down and all over. Your initial reaction would be ‘this is too much correction in one letter, I am tired of reading it!’ so Paul is telling Israel ‘Don’t take all this reproof the wrong way, Gods intent is to get you to move on with the program. He loves you guys; don’t forget that scripture [Old Testament] says ‘who God loves he chastens’ hey, God is just dealing with you as children who he loves’ get it? ‘We have had fathers of the flesh that corrected us…shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?’ Paul is saying ‘you guys want to live [eternal life] then you need to submit to the correction the father is giving you’.

 ‘For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness’ Now, God does chasten believers for the purpose of holiness. Scripture says ‘those who have suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin, that they should no longer spend the rest of their days in the flesh pursuing the desires of the flesh, but the will of God’ ‘before I was afflicted I went astray, but after I kept thy word’ ‘thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me’ ‘though he were a son yet learned he obedience from the things he suffered’ ‘the captain of our salvation was made perfect thru suffering’ [the last 2 are in this letter, the others are some where in scripture, I just quoted them off the top of my head. As you can see I have some familiarity with this subject! Ouch] In context Paul is saying to Israel ‘you have tried to attain holiness thru legalistic means, by keeping the law [Romans 9-the last few verses] but until you submit to Gods chastening, and have faith in God, you will not truly have his ‘holiness’ [righteousness].

 So God is disciplining them thru this letter so they will ‘believe and become righteous’ as opposed to staying in the old system of law. ‘Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous [old brother Paul, he sure knew how to understate things!] nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS to them that are exercised [or exorcised! Just kidding, but it can feel like this at times] thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down…and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame [broken] be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed’ David said ‘restore to me the joy of your salvation that the bones which YOU HAVE BROKEN may rejoice’ The danger of chastening [both for Christians and Israel] is that we get so broken that we never fully recover. Paul is telling Israel ‘I know it’s been hard on you guys to hear so much rebuke. Don’t walk away totally discouraged. There is a danger that you might respond to Gods correction the wrong way. Lift up your hands, shake off the depression, and let yourselves be healed. God wants to restore you!’

 ‘Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for HE FOUND NO PLACE OF REPENTANCE though he sought it carefully with tears’. This is another reason why reading Hebrews in context is important. One of the themes of this letter is ‘if you miss out on it now, you can’t repent later!’[Chapter 6]. We know that Pauls other letters to the churches leave open future repentance for those who have sinned. In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians we see this being done. But in Hebrews the idea is ‘if you pass on the Cross, you can not find repentance thru any other means. There is no other place for repentance’. So this is the reason why Hebrews has this theme of ‘no future repentance’ thru out the letter. Paul is certainly not telling Israel that if they decide to repent and accept Christ at a future date, they can’t! But he is saying ‘if you pass over this sacrifice of Christ, all the other ‘sacrifices’ and means of repentance that are contained in the law will have no future effect, remember Esau!’

 ‘For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched…but ye are come to Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem [the church]…and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Able’ Here Paul comes back to a ‘scarlet thread’ that runs thru out this letter. He says ‘hey, you think the first covenant was a fearful thing, watch out! If you disregard this covenant [Jesus blood] then you have gone against something that is much greater than the law’. Also the ‘blood of Able’ cried out from the ground for vengeance, the blood of Jesus cries out from heaven for mercy and forgiveness! It ‘speaks’ better things than that of Able! ‘See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth [Moses and the law] much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him which speaketh from heaven’ again Paul repeats themes he hit on earlier in this letter. He says ‘Moses spoke Gods Word [law] to you from an earthly mountain and place, you are come to a heavenly mountain [Sion-spiritual Jerusalem] and Jesus is speaking to you from heaven. This is much more strict than he who spoke from earth’.

 ‘Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that can not be moved, let us HAVE GRACE, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire’ Though Paul doesn’t say it [I think he should have!] but this alludes to the ‘God’ of Moses day, who did not consume the burning bush, compared to the ‘God’ of today [new covenant] who will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire! This fits in with the theme of a harsher punishment for those who reject the covenant of grace as opposed to those who rejected the covenant of law. I know these themes are not popular, but this is clearly the way Paul is presenting them. I also am not saying the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is different from the ‘God’ of the new [this is the heresy of Marcion! I think that was his name. He was an early Christian heretic who comprised the first canon of scripture for a ‘new testament’ it included basically Paul’s letters, and he taught that The God of the new testament was different from the God in the old] but Paul is presenting the new covenant in a way that says ‘don’t neglect this new way of salvation, those who do will receive a harsher judgment than those who rejected the law’.

END NOTES-

A HEAVENLY CITY.

DON’T BE SAD, HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.

NO REPENTANCE- OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.

CULTURE SHOCK IS HARD ON US ALL.

Once again we see the contrast between ‘he that spoke from earth’ [Moses- the law]- and he that ‘speaks from heaven’ [Jesus covenant is more strict- to those outside of it and reject it- because he has heavenly authority- Moses had earthly]. Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

 The writer says ‘don’t be sad- God disciplines every son who he receives’- though this certainly applies to Christians- Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

 Remember this- though the message of grace and Jesus as the Messiah is wonderful- especially to us Gentile believers-

Yet- it was indeed a cultural shock to the 1st century Jew-

Why?

Even though Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets- yet in order for the Jewish person to accept this [Like the apostle Paul]

He had to accept a real cultural change in the religion he practiced from his youth-

He was being asked to stop the animal sacrifices- to ‘move on’ from the Law covenant- and to embrace Christ.

Now- in reality- it would be the fulfillment of all that was contained in the law- but it’s often hard for anyone to ‘move on’ from former religious practices that are embedded in his culture.

So- in context ‘Don’t be sad- God is disciplining you- showing you new stuff- and it’s tough for sure- but he does this with all the sons he receives’.

We also see the promise of the heavenly city- As opposed to the earthly one. Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

 The writer is speaking about the church- and how both Jew and Gentile are part of this spiritual community coming down from God out of heaven.

And again we see the warning- of no repentance- for those who keep sinning.

I stress that this is never taught to the Gentile churches- as a matter of fact the Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians- about a sinning brother- sleeping with his father’s wife [his step mom].

And In the 2nd letter- this brother repented- and Paul exhorted the church to receive him back into fellowship.

But to the 1st century Jew- still not fully in the covenant- he says ‘Hebrews 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

In keeping with the theme of the letter- Jesus is now the only acceptable means of repentance- and if you reject him as the Messiah- and continue in sin- then yes- there is no repentance.

[parts]

ACTS 1- Luke, the writer of this book, feels the need to document the ongoing work of Jesus and his revolution. He already wrote a gospel and believes this to be the beginning of the story. In essence, the reality of Jesus and his resurrection are just the start, we have much more to do and become on this journey. Most writers jump to chapter 2. We have churches and music groups called ‘Acts chapter 2’. Why does Luke seem to wait till chapter 2 before getting to ‘the good stuff’? Chapter one records the 40 days of Jesus showing himself alive after his death. Luke feels this singular truth to be important enough to simply stand alone [I do realize the early letters did not have chapter and verse divisions like today]. The real physical fact of Jesus bodily resurrection is without a doubt the foundational truth of the gospel. The outpouring of the Spirit and the whole future of the church depends on the reality of the resurrected Christ. Paul will write the Corinthians and tell them if the resurrection were not true then they are the most miserable of all people. Luke tells us Jesus gave instructions for the Apostles to wait at Jerusalem for the Spirit. They will be witnesses of him to all the surrounding nations after the Spirit empowers them. We also see Peter emerge as the key spokesman for the group. He quotes freely from the Psalms and reads their own history into the book. He sees the prophetic verse from David on ‘let another take his office’ as referring to Judas betrayal and death. They cast lots and choose Matthias as the one to replace Judas. Peter shows the importance of Judas replacement to come from one that was with them thru out the earthly time of Jesus. Someone who saw and witnessed Jesus after the resurrection. Scholars have confused this with the ‘ascension gift Apostles’. Some scholars have taken the truth of the early Apostles having the criteria of being actual witnesses of Jesus, and have said ‘therefore, you have no Apostles today’. Paul will teach in Ephesians that after Jesus ascension on high he gave gifts unto men ‘some Apostles, others Prophets, etc.’ The New Testament clearly speaks of Apostles as an ongoing gift in the church. Barnabas will later be called an Apostles [Acts 14:14] as well as many other references in the original Greek using the same Greek word for Apostle. But here we find Peter seeing the need to replace Judas. Other scholars think Peter might have jumped the gun. They see Paul’s apostleship as the possible person the Lord picked out as the replacement. You do find Paul referring time and again to his Apostolic authority as one ‘born out of due time’ who saw Jesus on the Damascus road. If Paul was simply an ascension gift Apostle, why would he refer time and again to his authority based on being a witness who also saw Jesus? It’s possible that Paul was in this group of ‘Apostles of the Lamb’ who had extra authority based upon their testimony of being eyewitnesses. So in chapter one we see that Jesus appeared for 40 days giving instructions to the early leadership and told them to wait at Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We see the incarnational purpose of God, Jesus was and continues to be the express image of God to man. He was not some ‘phantom’ like the Docetists will claim, but a very real physical resurrected Lord. Luke begins the early history of the church with this reality being important enough to stand on its own.

 ACTS 2- The Apostles are gathered together in the upper room. As they continue in unity and prayer the Spirit of God comes upon them like a rushing wind. There appear ‘cloven tongues’ like fire above each of them. Why this image? Why not ‘ears’ or some other sanctified body part? God is going to give supernatural power to the words that they will speak. In a few chapters we will read how an angel will supernaturally deliver Peter from prison and say ‘go, speak the words of this life’. These tongues are a precursor to the tremendous fire that will be loosed from their lips. James says the tongue is a little member but boasteth great things, it has the ability to start fires. Jesus said he came to earth to ‘start a fire’ and how he wished it were already burning. Here he gets his wish! Now the Apostles and early believers experience the gift of tongues. They begin speaking and prophesying in the unknown languages of all those who are gathered together to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. God ordained this event to be strategically done at this time. All the surrounding regions heard the believers speak the ‘wondrous works of God’ in their native tongue. Peter stands up and delivers a scathing message! He basically tells Israel ‘this is that which the prophet Joel spoke about’ he goes on and says this outpouring is part of Gods predetermined plan to pour out his Spirit on all flesh in the last days. He speaks of divine manifestations [dreams, visions] and carries the prophecy right to the end of the age. He then speaks the gospel of Christ and tells Israel ‘this is the Jesus you killed’. Wow, these guys are bold. Peter leads them to faith in Christ, their public baptism is the immediate sign of their willingness to be identified with Jesus and 3 thousand Jews become believers this day. Now, what is the church? This corporate group of first time followers do 4 basic things. They ‘continue in the Apostles doctrine and breaking of bread and prayers and share their goods with all in need’[true fellowship]. This early community was a brotherhood who actually gave priority to the teachings of Jesus passed on to them from the Apostles. Don’t miss this! Many will develop all sorts of practices and beliefs that ‘make up church’. Some will justify extra biblical beliefs under the guise of ‘the Apostles doctrine’ as in if it were something totally contrary or not known thru the gospels or the writing of scripture. Paul will tell Timothy to stay true to the traditions he passed on to him. But I want to focus on the fact that the Apostles doctrine was not something different then the basic instructions Jesus left us in the gospels. Paul will add to this basic body of Christian doctrine thru his letters to the churches, as well as the whole New Testament. But we do not see a bunch of strange or unknown doctrines that come from this time period. The basics are mentioned above. I do want to stress the fact that this early expression of church life had no ‘Pastor’ in the sense of their gatherings being a time where a singular authority figure had oversight of the entire community. They had strong leaders to be sure, but would avoid the Protestant idea of Pastor. They had no church building or belief in a strong liturgy. The ‘breaking of bread’ was a common meal where they all shared together in a real life setting. And of course their giving was radical, it was not ‘a tithe’ and it was done to meet the real needs of the community around them. All these elements are basic to what the New Testament church is. A functioning society of people in whom Christ Spirit dwells and who see themselves as a real spiritual community of people. As we progress thru out the history of the church as seen in Acts we will never lose this basic mindset. It will be carried into the epistles of the New Testament and remain the best idea of ‘local church’ as found in the first century. There is a trend going on right now in Evangelicalism that says ‘lets return to the ancient practices of the church and see what we can find’. As an avid reader of church history I am not totally against this movement, but I do see a danger in thinking ‘the ancient practices’ are the 2nd or 3rd century development of liturgy and Eucharist and other early ideas, and by passing the ‘real ancient’ story in the book of Acts. To put it simply, some of the Protestant and Evangelical ‘practices and beliefs’ that have developed since the reformation are ‘ancient’. I believe we all have a long way to go, but the ‘low view’ of the Lords Table [low as opposed to ‘high church view’. Though I personally believe in the Lords table as a memorial, not as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus. Yet I personally don’t like referring to such an important practice as low!] seems to be the true ancient practice as seen in Acts. The absence of the Priest officiating over the altar is no where to be seen in the actual ‘church’ setting. This ancient church is really a simple brotherhood of believers having all things common and having the resurrection of the Son of God as the central organizing principle of their lives.

[parts]

The Donatists taught that the Sacraments were dependent upon the ‘holiness’ of the Priest who ministers them. That if you were in a Parish where the priests were bad- lived in sin- rejected a holy life- then if you were Baptized by these men- that the Baptism didn’t ‘stick’.

 The Donatists formed there own break away church in the 3rd century- and a few very influential men would join the group. A well respected early church father- Tertullian- eventually joined their ranks.

 Augustine argued against the Donatists teaching- and taught that Gods grace- and the grace given to believers thru the sacraments were not derived from the holiness of any priest or preacher- but if a believer in good conscience received the sacraments- that that’s what really counted.

 Saint Augustine is one of the titans of church history- he is loved by Protestants and Catholics alike. He is famous for his belief in the doctrine of Predestination [that those who are saved were chosen by God before they were born] and for this reason he is loved by the original protestant theologians [Luther, Calvin, etc.]

 He also taught a very ‘Catholic’ form of Ecclesiology [church govt.] and is well loved by many Catholics as well.

 The Catholic Church refers to him as the Doctor of Grace- later on in the 13th century we will meet Saint Thomas Aquinas- who the church refers to as the Angelic Doctor.

 Both of these men played a major role in the development of western thought and Augustine made an effort to distinguish true Christian thought from the philosophy of Neo Platonism which was very strong in his day.

 When reading Augustine [he wrote a lot] you need to be careful to distinguish some of his earlier writings from his later ones.

 Early on you still see forms of Platonic thought in Augustine- but as the years rolled by his thinking progressed more and more towards historic Christian thought.

 For those of you who are interested- the Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered one the classics of Christianity- you can pick up a short version at most good bookstores- it’s well worth the time to read.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

 [parts]

The church has debated for centuries on whether or not Philosophy should be taught to Christians. One of the early church fathers- Tertullian- said no- his famous quote is ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens’.

 Meaning what does Philosophy have in common with Christianity [Athens- Greece was the seat of philosophy in Jesus’ day].

 For the most part- the early church fathers would embrace the study of philosophy- and try to make arguments for the Christian faith by presenting Christianity as ‘thee’ philosophy that best answers the questions of man.

 These early Christian thinkers are called Apologists- men like Justin Martyr are in this class.

 Apologist is a word we use to describe those who defend the faith- it comes from the Apostle Peter’s letter in the N.T. where Peter says ‘give an answer to those who ask you about the faith’. In the Greek language- the original language the N.T. was written in- this phrase is talking about a defense- an ‘apology’ in the sense of ‘making the case’ not in the common sense of apologizing.

 In the book of Acts- chapter 17- we read the famous sermon of the apostle Paul- given at Mars Hill. He was in Athens at the time- and he was debating with all the philosophers of the day. He tells them ‘as I was looking around town- I saw that one of your altars is addressed to The Unknown God’.

 He would go on and declare unto them that this Jesus is the true God- the one raised from the dead.

 Paul also said ‘in Him we live and MOVE and have our being’. Kind of a popular verse quoted by preacher’s today- but we often overlook the significance of the MOVE part.

 I mean- why say we MOVE in him too? Paul was a smart guy- he knew these children of Socrates questioned where motion came from [Remember Thales?] So he was basically saying ‘I am declaring to you the one true reality- the true 5th Element- the missing God particle from your system’ and he went on and preached Christ- being raised from the dead.

 Paul knew that you can’t really do true philosophy- to grapple with the questions of life and being and ‘motion’ without realizing that God is indeed the ultimate answer to all things.

 Even Peter Singer- who claimed that you don’t need God or religion in order to do Ethics- even he unknowingly quoted Jesus in attempting to give a basis for his Philosophy- yes- he quoted a God- one unknown to him- just like the altar at Athens- but a God never the less.

 An inescapable 5th element- the missing part to the whole puzzle.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

 [parts]

Let’s do a little more on Eschatology [end times stuff] today. Over the last few weeks these things have been in the news because of the Harold Camping prediction and you have heard various news folk- as well as believers giving their slant to all the popular verses that deal with the subject.

 Some media people were quoting ‘no one knows when the last day will happen- not even the Son, only God’. Then you have had a few other popular verses seep into the flow. The main portions of the bible that deal with the end times are Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. John’s gospel does not have an ‘end times’ discourse- possibly because he covers the subject in length in the book of Revelation.

 The main gospel on the subject is Matthew- Mark’s gospel seems to be a shorter compilation possibly taken from Matthew. By ‘taken’ I mean Mark was a scribe/recorder- he was the personality we see in the book of Acts- John Mark. If you remember- he had a falling out with the Apostle Paul and Mark ‘went home’ while Paul took Silas and they embarked on the great missionary journeys of the Apostle.

 You don’t hear that much about Mark after the ‘falling out’ but we know that Mark would later pen the 2nd gospel and he was also a recorder [secretary] for the Apostle Peter [might be important to remember this- if I get to it?]

 So anyway mark seems to have borrowed from Matthew [some scholars think the familiarity between the gospels should be attributed to another unknown common source- referred to as Q- I prefer to simply see it as the writers being familiar with what the other writers were writing- and in the 1st century you did not have Plagiarism as we do today- where it would be illegal to copy something verbatim from another writer- that’s why Mark- who also probably penned 2nd Peter- not as a Plagiarist who used Pseudepigraphy- writings by authors who pretended to be someone else- but as a scribe who was familiar with the other source documents of the time. 2nd Peter has come under scrutiny because chapter 2 seems to have borrowed heavily from the letter of Jude. At some spots it looks like a direct copy. But as Peter’s scribe- it would not have been out of the ordinary to have included- verbatim- a passage from Jude and to have attributed the entire letter to Peter. Or Peter might have simply been familiar with Jude's letter and it would not have been wrong according to 1st century writing standards to have done this. But skeptics in our day try to use this to say the bible is a forgery- so that’s why it’s important to be familiar with the debate and to have a good response.]

 Okay-lets at least try and start a little end times stuff. Matthews 24 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking away from the Temple and Jesus says ‘see all these buildings- truly I tell you that there will not be left one stone on top of another’.

 The disciples then ask Jesus ‘when will this happen- and what will be the sign of the end of the age/world, and the sign of your coming’. Now- this sets the stage for the entire scope of the answer. Jesus told them one thing ‘the temples coming down some day’ and they ask a few things.

 Some scholars believe that the entire answer Jesus gives- about the end of the world and the coming tribulation- some teach that all these things did happen by A.D. 70- that’s when the Roman general Titus [future emperor] attacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Jesus prediction about ‘one stone not being left on another’ was fulfilled to the tee because the temple stones were overlaid with Gold and the looters burned the stones to melt the gold and in the process they literally laid every stone out.

 In the Matthew discourse Jesus also warned the disciples that ‘when you see these things beginning to happen- let those in the city flee to the mountains’. As Titus made his way towards Jerusalem some early communities took his words literally and did use the mountains as a place for protection. The community at Qumran hid their writings in ‘the mountains’ that overlooked the Dead Sea- some 2 thousand years later these writings [scrolls] would be discovered- those are the Dead Sea Scrolls of today- one of the greatestarchaeological finds of history.

 And there were Jewish believers at Jerusalem who did indeed flee to the mountains and they escaped the slaughter. So there certainly were things that Jesus spoke about in his 'end times’ teaching that were fulfilled in the 1st century.

 But what about the other famous portions? As various media persons were quoting a few famous parts of this discourse [this is the 4th famous discourse known as the Olivet discourse in Matthew- 5 famous long sections of Jesus’ teaching] it would help us to know the entire context of the discourse [which includes chapter 25 by the way].

 One of the famous verses is ‘when you see the fig tree putting forth leaves- you know that summer is near- so when you see these signs you know the end is near’. In American evangelicalism this verse has been made popular by men like Hal Lindsay who teach that the fig tree is ALWAYS a symbol for the nation of Israel and therefore Jesus was saying that when Israel becomes a nation again [which happened in 1948] that within ‘a generation’ the end will happen.

 This view uses a few other verses to come to this conclusion. Jesus famous ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things happen’ and a few other scriptures. Simply reading the chapter in context does not seem to be saying this at all. The parallel passage in Luke says ‘and all the trees’. It seems like Jesus is simply saying ‘just like when you see a tree blossom- so when you see these signs know that the time is near’.

 There really is nothing in the actual text to indicate that this is speaking about 1948. But because of these verses having been used like this many preachers have tried to date the coming of Christ within ‘the generation’ from1948. Lindsey put out a book saying that 1988 was a ‘special time’ why 88? 1988 was 40 years [biblical generation] from 1948. Then some changed the biblical generation to 70 years- which makes this decade real important.

 The problem with all these dates is there based on a faulty premise- that Jesus was saying that within a generation of the ‘fig tree blooming’ the 2nd coming will take place- he never said that. As far as I can tell 1948 plays no significant role. Of course Israel becoming a nation again at that time was a great thing- but as a date to begin setting off some type of spiritual clock- that’s not in the bible.

 Okay- maybe I’ll do a few more of these over the next few days. Try and read these chapters the next few days and get a feel for the overall meaning [the context] when we become familiar with the overall meaning of the passage- it keeps us from getting lost in the Fig Tree ones.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com 

THE RAPTURE?

 I spoke with a friend yesterday about the Harold Camping prediction that obviously failed. They know someone who is really into Camping and that person was being set up for the disappointment. On CNN they had a Baptist preacher who warned against this type of date setting- yet he spoke confidently about ‘the Rapture is the next event on Gods calendar- followed by the 7 years of great tribulation’.

 I’m sure this fine pastor felt like he was providing a balanced voice compared to Camping’s date setting- yet I felt his interpretation was almost as ‘bad’ as what Camping was doing. Why?

 My first introduction to ‘the Rapture’ came as a new believer who started attending a fine Baptist church- they were an ‘Independent, Fundamentalist, Pre-millennial’ Baptist church – and yes- they managed to fit all this on the sign!

 The standard teaching says that in the New Testament there are 2 separate events that make up the 2nd coming. The first event is called The Rapture- that Jesus secretly comes all the way back to the earth and stops short in the sky [his feet don’t touch the ground] he ‘catches away’ all true believers [normally the Catholics, Orthodox and other historic churches get ‘left behind’] and then begins a 7 year tribulation period.

 After the tribulation you have the other part of the 2nd coming- called the Revelation of Jesus- some Christians say this happens after 3.5 years of tribulation- others after the 7 year period.

 Some say Jesus comes back after a 1000 year literal reign on earth [post millennial] others say before [pre- millennial].

 And then you have various ways they interpret the end time judgment- some say you have what’s called ‘the Bema seat’ a separate judgment for believers- and then the ‘Great White Throne judgment’ the general judgment of the wicked.

 O.K. does the bible specifically teach that the Rapture event is a separate event from the 2nd coming? No- in my view the bible does not teach this. Now- I’m sure that most of my Protestant readers are surprised that I hold to this view, because in American Evangelicalism this view is almost like the Trinity- in some circles it divides the true believers from the heretics.

 Classic Christianity does not hold this view- this idea became popularized the 1800’s under a man by the name of John Nelson Darby and the idea spread to America in the 1900’s- primarily thru the revivalist strain of Christianity- and the ‘bible school/conference’ movement.

 The historic churches just stuck with the classic idea that there will be one second coming- and there will be a resurrection and final judgment. I pretty much fall into this category myself.

 You would be surprised how much thought has gone into this idea- I mean you have entire schools of thought- who call the other side heretics- just because they believe a 3.5 year tribulation as opposed to a 7 year one.

 The word rapture comes from the Greek phrase used in Paul’s 1st letter to the Thessalonians- chapter 4. That’s the rapture chapter. The apostle says that Jesus will return and catch up [catch away] the believers into the air- they will forever be with God. This event is biblical- I believe it will someday take place. I simply believe this event to be the 2nd coming- not another event that you would define as the rapture.

 I believe if you simply read the 2nd coming passages in the New Testament- that you would see this to be the most acceptable view. Jesus actually says ‘after these things [the great tribulation] then the sign of the coming of the Son of Man appears in heaven’ and he goes on to say ‘one will be taken- the other left’. It seems pretty clear to me that the event where ‘one is taken- another left’ takes place ‘after these things’ Jesus actually gives us the time table.

 To be fair- the other side has many-many ways to ‘get around’ these verses- I just feel that after all is said and done- that the best way to view The Rapture is to see this event as the actual 2nd coming.

 I have written a lot about this over the years [under the End Times section] and my purpose today is not to ‘prove’ whose view is right- I have found those tasks to be next to impossible. My point is if a believer [or group of them] chooses to break away from the historic church’s position on anything, then you need to think thru it very carefully. Most classic Christian churches have had very wise and knowledgeable men who thought long and hard before they articulated doctrine.

 This is not to say that the majority view is always right- but it’s simply a safe guide to stick with the majority Christian view most of the time. I’m very aware of the minority report when it comes to the Rapture doctrine- I just feel like the portions of scripture that are used to ‘prove’ the doctrine are not strong enough to overthrow the classic belief.

 The plain teaching of the New Testament is that there most definitely will be a Second Coming- and this event does not take place in 2 stages- the Rapture is the 2nd coming.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com 

  VERSES- [These are the verses I quoted or taught from on the video for this post- Other videos below]

 Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Acts 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Acts 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Acts 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Acts 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Acts 1:16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

Acts 1:17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

Acts 1:18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

Acts 1:19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

Acts 1:20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

Acts 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Acts 1:22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

Acts 1:23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

Acts 1:24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 1:25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

Acts 1:26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

2 Corinthians 3:6

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

John 16:7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Psalm 85:8

I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Kings 19

Proverbs 20:27

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Proverbs 4:26

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

[these are the verses for the video made 11-11-18]

November 18, 2018

 « November 17 | November 19 »

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 158 Reading 1DN 12:1-3

In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of the Lord: "At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. "But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever."

Responsorial PsalmPS 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11

R. (1) You are my inheritance, O Lord! O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. R. You are my inheritance, O Lord! Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. R. You are my inheritance, O Lord! You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. R. You are my inheritance, O Lord!

Reading 2HEB 10:11-14, 18

Brothers and sisters: Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.

AlleluiaLK 21:36

R. Alleluia, alleluia. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMK 13:24-32

Jesus said to his disciples: "In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. "Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

 Other videos- [These are the videos I post every night- Links to all my sites below]

 Kings 4  https://youtu.be/OLW-5PVlzV8

John 19  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg3M4Hh28mYlGWq8a

Friends  https://youtu.be/cZLwTwxkESc

Its all a gift  https://flic.kr/p/2iD9qA3

11-3-19 Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMjE2X0-DUqPwM4brX

8-27-17 Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/bh48my17zjp506z/8-27-17%20Sunday%20Mass.mp4?dl=0

2nd Samuel 22 [NYC]  https://www.dropbox.com/s/wlwkjbm5nozgcdn/2-22-17%20Day%20Kennedy%20died%20%5B2nd%20Sam.%2022%5D.mp4?dl=0

Isaiah 53  https://dai.ly/x7m5j3q

4-10-20 Good Friday  https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10207012789156383/

https://youtu.be/m6YP7RNWYUk

The good Sabbath  https://youtu.be/YFhTQFRQurI

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10207016524209757/

I have come to start a fire  https://youtu.be/pyu0kSBYBO8

Acts 3  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg3FpIZPaevEu4-sx

Homeless friend  https://youtu.be/C25zsHNg1J8

Acts 4  https://www.dropbox.com/s/mbpzi567ay7iebq/2-2-17%20Acts%204.mp4?dl=0

4-16-17 Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/synraurg0yshfr2/4-16-17%20Easter.mp4?dl=0

Teaching  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMilxNimhHJ5e9WBqc

10-11-15 Sunday sermon  https://ok.ru/video/1589887109687

6-10-18 Sunday sermon  https://www.bitchute.com/video/Vn8oXrAMhd1G/

Zech. 2  https://youtu.be/RXCFjghyBHY

Homeless friend  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg2-i-JrQQgw8G34T

City of refuge  https://youtu.be/BicEi6AvmFE

Waters cover the sea  https://flic.kr/p/2iCpydt

6-19-16 Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhjgVDOmEQJQeDwpr

11-13-16Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/tra4vdf2ut8tmsc/11-13-16%20Christ%20Church%20%5BC.U.-%20Mass%5D.mp4?dl=0

Samuel 17  https://dai.ly/x7m5j3r

2nd Samuel 21 [NYC view]  https://www.dropbox.com/s/jt2dvbku9roav3e/2-20-17%202nd%20Sam.%2021%20%5BNYC%20view%5D.mp4?dl=0

This generation  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg2uGrLczW3CETdD2

Homeless friends  https://youtu.be/iWQnkKPnIpo

Spiritual Rock  https://flic.kr/p/2iBjXwB

12-30-18 Sunday sermon [Part 2]  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMil1muwvXJPNC3BNn

Colossians 4  https://www.dropbox.com/s/u3urlhqn0uohehn/4-26-18%20Colossians%204.mp4?dl=0

Fatima- 2nd Mile [N.J.]   https://www.dropbox.com/s/3b8obhv6chhub8h/2-19-17%20Fatima%20%5B2nd%20mile%5D.mp4?dl=0

Revelation 6  https://dai.ly/x7m20nh

 Acts 9  https://youtu.be/VBw6tOxifc4

10-11-15 Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg3CWH34dXfqKGZEA

Not a performance  https://youtu.be/hipVuk4m6JY

Colossians 3  https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5uniom6iw4j1tm/4-12-18%20Colossians%203.mp4?dl=0

10-5-19 Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMjElNfB6A3ly1GW_g

Acts 25  https://ok.ru/video/1588890503735

Teaching in NYC  https://www.dropbox.com/s/31al0l8zx4e0m0r/2-18-17%20Teaching%20in%20NYC%20%5B2nd%20Sam.%2020%5D.mp4?dl=0

5-6-18 Sunday sermon  https://www.bitchute.com/video/LhHGVKYdg6we/ 2-26-18 One https://youtu.be/a0dxi27SeD8 2-25-18 Update https://youtu.be/8VhbTy6MgT8 Galatians 5 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMejbeju1g4BLexRc Fatima [North Bergen] 2nd mile https://youtu.be/YcfnxpqOOo4 Acts 2 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMe74Uzp8M7zlLwek 2nd Samuel 21 [NYC view] https://youtu.be/ahBwNwiQ1s0 Acts 2 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMe74Uzp8M7zlLwek  

 Twilight of the Idols https://youtu.be/OUQg7muqpzU

 The carnival https://youtu.be/71ACh0RVuZo

The hornets nest https://trello.com/c/zRamqon8/275-4-9-16-the-hornets-nestmp4

Neil- and Rick Hart- who died about a month ago- https://dai.ly/x6xcitv 

Talking church https://www.bitchute.com/video/bbqifwCZs72d/ 

https://trello.com/c/iffb3zTX/276-talking-church 

Acts 12 https://youtu.be/SRmccCVfFTQ 

11-20-18 News update-

https://youtu.be/iZj8l-K_jEU

 11-19-18 Bank robbery https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205029651339177/

https://youtu.be/KkL1ZUIoiqs 

Bethlehem christians https://youtu.be/3QiH9JSXn90

Ride thru Lincoln tunnel https://bit.tube/play?hash=Qmc5Di9G5JQ2F9PDScSnU4WNvBpiiR5WDLCuTuWeG6mpyy&channel=160276 

  8-26-18 Sunday sermon https://dai.ly/x6xafhp

Homeless friends- Bill Hagan https://flic.kr/p/JSJQEH 

Acts 3 https://youtu.be/Zdx2ZP4VqOo 

Hebrews 12 https://www.bitchute.com/video/QqXiog6LDAwW/

Holy Savior https://d.tube/v/ccoutreach/b4uq9ws4

North Bergen- Fatima- 2nd mile https://bit.tube/play?hash=QmQHdUN2Ao9UrzZpuJ8Z4v2L1i6kVVfrUZUdQat4hkBgok&channel=160276 

Friends https://youtu.be/XXl-Rw0xByk 

 2nd Samuel 1 https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/11/20/2nd-samuel-1/

Corpus Christi https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/11/21/corpus-christi-4/ 

2nd Samuel 2-3 https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/11/23/2nd-samuel-2-3/ 

  MY SITES [Please Like, Share, Connect, Follow and Subscribe to the sites below- Thanks]

Web sites-

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com  [Main site]

https://ccoutreach87.com/

https://medium.com/@johnchiarello

https://johnchiarello.webs.com/  

http://ccoutreach.over-blog.com/ [France]

https://ccoutreach87.jimdo.com/

http://ccoutreach87.webstarts.com/__blog.html?r=20171009095200

http://ccoutreach87-1.mozello.com/

https://ccoutreach87.site123.me/

http://ccoutreach87.wixsite.com/mysite

https://corpusoutreach.weebly.com/

http://ccoutreach87.strikingly.com/

https://ccoutreach87.webs.com/

 Social Media sites-

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks  

https://vk.com/id533663718  [Russia- Our largest group outside the U.S.]

https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=hb_logo [Our largest group]

https://twitter.com/ccoutreach87

https://www.plurk.com/ccoutreach87/public [Japan]

https://www.instagram.com/john.chiarello/channel/

https://ok.ru/profile/589985645111 [Ukraine- Our 2nd largest in Europe]

http://johnchiarello.tumblr.com/

https://mewe.com/i/johnchiarello

https://steemit.com/@ccoutreach

https://mastodon.social/@ccoutreach87

 Link sharing sites-

https://www.pinterest.com/ccoutreach87/

https://mix.com/jchiarello

https://trello.com/b/swhF9Vr8/ccoutreach87com

https://www.reddit.com/user/ccoutreach

https://buffer.com/app/profile/5b1be0280852690407c54007/analytics/posts

https://flipboard.com/@johnchiarel4hvs/ccoutreach87-q213nqldy

https://voat.co/u/ccoutreach87/submissions

 http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/one-link_18.html [Link to past teaching]

 Video sites- [Can view and download my videos free of charge]

Streaming sites-

Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg?view_as=subscriber

Youtube Playlist- https://ccoutreach87.com/youtube-playlist/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccoutreach87/ [Most viewed]

https://www.dailymotion.com/ccoutreach87/videos [India]

https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jsS961GkXUSn/ [Most viewed]

https://vk.com/videos533663718 [Russia]

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos?lst=1779330793%3A1779330793%3A1546906912  [My Facebook videos]

https://www.instagram.com/john.chiarello/channel/ [IGTV]

[Ukraine-Most viewed]

https://ok.ru/video/c2081847?st.cmd=video&st.m=ALBUM&st.aid=c2081847&st.ft=album

https://www.brighteon.com/channel/ccoutreach87

https://vimeo.com/user85764413

https://ccoutreach87.com/youtube-catalog-2020/ [Youtube catalog- 2020]

Cloud sites-

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg0G_aInmCi8XUC-C

https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=kZ1sXP7ZardKGRUxFByiFYi667jeup7MD1Sy

https://mega.nz/#F!7WQCSIJR!-4v9-zUQRq4MIQbBfI2n4A  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d43nhtrgysqg493/AAAlCszxZXJoRtk8UudtuR9ma?dl=0

https://ln.sync.com/dl/3e1f4c5e0/tcnm9p32-xiwe4nbu-zjbkitqj-4fvemf6m

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg0MwmUCJ1XM3q9ui  

https://icedrive.net/dashboard/#/cloud

Cloud sites- https://ccoutreach87.com/cloud-links-12-2018/

 Inactive- work in progress-

https://sites.google.com/yahoo.com/ccoutreach87/home

http://johnchiarello.doodlekit.com/

http://corpus-christijohnchiarello.simplesite.com/

https://spark.adobe.com/page/6INKwX1tFT7WA/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxWXKfaFDZrfNUzloSqg8Kg?view_as=subscriber 

Beta

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYlLmUkKiB6VoWE9CB1UQew?view_as=subscriber ccoutreach87

https://www.facebook.com/ccoutreach1/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel&eid=ARCo7sBBI_1fHMUwrHJbFUGf73C6FmpZxtgTcWET2gVwpdHCKmXSGxs6wyeA-qGCnbsr2ILaXqpd4ACt  [my page]

 These are some of the first posts ever made, I hope to share some of them over time in between my regular studies. Of course they are ‘dated’- and it would be too difficult to edit each post. Some have old news comments in them, but if I also taught on the posts, I’ll post them ‘as is’. Hopefully they will be a benefit in some way- John.

All past posts can be found here- https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/links-to-past-posts-up-to-12-2017.html

 Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on-  Copy text- download video links- make complete copies of my books/studies and posts- everything is copyrighted by me- I give permission for all to copy and share as much as you like- I just ask that nothing be sold. We live in an online world- yet- there is only one internet- meaning if it ever goes down- the only access to the teachings are what others have copied or downloaded- so feel free to copy and download as much as you want- it’s all free-

 Note- I have many web sites- at times some question whether I’m a ‘bot’ because I do post a lot.

I am not a ‘bot’- I’m John- so please- if you are on the verge of deleting something- my contact email is ccoutreach87@gmail.com - contact me first- thank you- John

[noramoya]

“The exhibition of art inspired by Michael Jackson continues its tour of Europe, arriving in Bonn – Germany, where it hosted its public premiere on Friday 22nd March 2019 and will reside until 14th July 2019.

Unlike its predecessors in London and Paris, the exhibition throws open its doors during a time of unrest in the world of Michael Jackson, as false allegations continue to penetrate media outlets and twitter feeds around the world. There were indeed doubts as to whether the exhibition would even go ahead, yet it has, and it’s a good job as not only does it bring this fantastic show to Germany, it also stands tall in the face of the accusations – they will not mute Michael Jackson or attempt to erase his influence on the different mediums.

As the third showing, I was keen to see how the team at the Bundeskunsthalle, one of Germany’s most visited museums, would present the works that have now become so familiar, thanks to the welcome recommendations to photograph and share the exhibition across social media and the trip out to Bonn was worth it as we were gifted with a whole new take on the collection.

For the first time, On the Wall has been presented in a way that leads you on a voyage of discovery. As you weave around the different pieces and turn corners, it’s unclear what you’ll be greeted with next, and this gives the show an entirely new dimension. The colour palette is the definition of Jackson’s wardrobe staples – Red, Black, White and Silver, as well as an added touch of sparkles – everything you could want from an exhibition about Michael Jackson and brings a part of the man to the walls which holds works he inspired.

On arrival, visitors are greeted by the now well-recognised piece P.Y.T by Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom, which features a pair of penny loafers being held up by balloons. The piece stands alone in a tubular structure creating a central point in an otherwise darkened room. The colour of the balloons helps to illuminate the space and shows the signature Jackson pose as a lasting first impression.

Directly behind the structure is one of the new pieces to the Germany offering entitled simply ‘Michael Joseph Jackson’ by artist KAI who produced a visual of a young Jackson at the early stages of his epic records solo career, atop a horse, being lead by other generations of Jackson from the early years to 2009. I was absolutely taken with it. My perception of the piece, created in 2012 was that it represented Jackson at his ‘commercial peak’ riding the horse like a king, with all the other eras of Jackson appearing to be, still well presented but not on the level of the one who sits above them. Of course, different people will form different interpretations and that’s the beauty of this exhibition.

Another new feature to the German incarnation is a statue of Jackson and Bubbles by artist Paul McCarthy, based on another original statue of Jackson and Bubbles by artist Jeff Koons. With an elongated foot, hand and heads, the McCarthy version was created in the late 90s and is supported by its counterpart ‘Green Grey Symmetrical Michael Jackson’ which featured in both London and Paris. It’s domineering presence in the centre of the room means you almost have to stop and take it in.

Also there are the fan favourite – The Dangerous Album Cover, the Brainwash-created piece for the Xscape album, the Jackson-worn Dinner Jacket and two of the Warhol prints – plus a personal favourite of mine – ‘In Memory of Michael Jackson’ by artist Yan Pei Ming.

What was noticeable was how the team at the Bundeskunsthalle have carefully considered what pieces work together and have given each one the correct backdrop and lighting to make it stand out. The Dangerous Album cover stood out more than it had done in London and Paris and gives visitors the chance to really get up close to inspect each and every hidden detail.

The press conference, which I attended, formed part of the preview event on the morning of Thursday 21st March and was unfortunately dominated by the headlines and how the gallery will be handling the fallout in light of the allegations. Rein Wolfs, Director of the Bundeskunsthalle stated clearly that the museum are not lawyers or a jury and are not here to judge or convict Jackson, but will be following the continued discussions surrounding the allegations. Along with Director of the National Portrait Gallery Nicholas Cullinan, who was also in attendance, the panel were affirmative that this was still very much about how Jackson’s influence on the world had been perceived by artists and not a life story, with Cullinan noting that some of the pieces may be perceived differently. Wolfs further stated the museum would be prepared for what may be some challenging commentary and had people on hand who would be willing to engage in discussion around the allegations, as well as open talk on Sunday 7th April to unpack the relationship between the art-and-the-artist (Jackson).

Ultimately, the art on display presents unique perceptions of Jackson who is one of the most explored, discussed, misunderstood and depicted figures of our time. It’s a celebration of yet another strength of his career – to influence an audience he wasn’t intentionally reaching out to.

Michael Jackson: On The Wall will stay in Germany for four months, marking its longest run anywhere on the tour. Thankfully for the Bundeskunsthalle, Jackson fans in Germany are some of the most loyal and their support for the exhibition will no doubt be plentiful.

Despite a somewhat disappointing set up in Paris, that felt both lazy and uninspired, the Bundeskunsthalle had big shoes to fill to live up to the show’s London outing – and it did! Presenting a wonderfully diverse and well thought out exhibition for people from all walks of life to enjoy. If you’re in Germany, I highly recommend a visit for some cultural reflection.

— Pez Jax

Follow Pez on twitter @pezjax

[beforethebridge]

Book Review: Chuck Klosterman – But What If We’re Wrong?

Chuck Klosterman – But What If We’re Wrong?

5/20/2019

“It’s impossible to understand the world of today until today has become tomorrow.” – Chuck Klosterman

One of my final mental inhibitors to getting a tattoo in an exposed area of my body is reaching a comfortable place about how I’ll explain its meaning to the different types of people in my life. The not-too-personal two sentence explanation for co-workers, the way-too-personal description for my best friends, and the messy, always evolving reality behind the decision that I’ll mostly keep to myself. In explaining my new forearm tattoo to a co-worker, I landed on a quick catalog of associations: philosophical skepticism, Anthony Bourdain, and suspending judgment (“epoché”). My standard quick description, added to the borrowed line “all I know is that I know nothing, and I’m not even sure about that,” struck a chord – he lent me his Chuck Klosterman book about questioning everything, the nature of history, and what the view of today will look like from tomorrow.

I burned through Chuck Klosterman’s But What if We’re Wrong? on a beach vacation (wrecking it with ocean water, sand, and blood somehow?), enjoying his commentary on how a range of core scientific principles and pop culture mainstays will be viewed in later decades and centuries. He prefers to think about big questions on the nature of history through the practical lens of personal conversation. Indeed, reading the book at times felt like a somewhat suffocating bar conversation with someone determined to prove themselves. But some sharp editing and self-restraint by the author seems to have distilled this book down to the most absorbing parts.

Klosterman’s strength is writing about how academic understanding of the collective, subjective societal significance attributed to pop culture evolves over time. Klosterman writes:

“Our sense of subjective reality is simultaneously based on an acceptance of abstract fallibility (“Who is to say what constitutes good art?”) and a casual certitude that we’re right about exclusive assertions that feel like facts (“The Wire represents the apex of television”).”

I found this tone in his analysis of subjective realities particularly attractive, jiving well with my recent embrace of the “epoché” lifestyle. Essentially, Klosterman argues that while the public tends to recognize that movies, television, music, and other forms of art and entertainment can subsist and thrive within their distinct audiences without having to take on some wider cultural relevance, critics and commentators often resort to superlatives to stimulate interest, conversation, and clicks. This contributes to an individual and societal pressure to conform to absorbing the entertainment highlighted by empowered voices (celebrities of various statures, Twitter trends and their curators, and critics published on influential publications and sites), or otherwise risk the cultural moment leaving you behind. Content is published at an alarming and overwhelming rate in 2019, incentivizing entertainment customers to distil their choices through their trusted filters. But how does this translate to future-historical understanding of what culture matters to us right now?

Klosterman wonders what entertainment will be presented by college lecturers centuries from now as emblematic of our current time period. For example, he settles on Chuck Berry (for “rock & roll” music) and Rosanne (for television sitcoms) as two emblems of 20th century culture, failing of course to predict or consider our current reexamination of Berry’s place in history in light of his documented abuse of underage girls and Rosanne Barr’s racist rantings (both fitting developments to follow a book conscious of the fallibility of predicting the future).

 For what it’s worth, a Google search for “rock and roll music” on 5/20/2019 results in a YouTube video of Chuck Berry performing “Rock & Roll Music,” along with a suggested search for The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and Queen. A search for “television sitcoms” currently yields a list of shows like Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, How I Met Your Mother, and, indeed, Roseanne, among a few dozen others. Klosterman asserts his choices because someone must, he argues, and because it makes for fun bar conversation (he seems self-aware about how parts of his book might remind some readers of their more eye-rolling dates). He’s not wrong, but maybe there’s an alternative to individual persuasion in rolling-up culture for future dissection. 

Luckily for those lecturers and their students, the Internet has enabled an industry of entertainment opinion amalgamation through ratings aggregator websites across popular artforms. I imagine archived versions of these websites might simplify the process of determining what entertainment is revered in its time, with necessary demographic bracketing of user populations per each site. For example, in music, users on RateYourMusic.com currently hold Radiohead’s OK Computer as the top-rated album of all time, while SputnikMusic.com users lend that honor to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (I don’t know much about the comparative userbases of these sites, but I would suspect them both to skew young, white, and male.) Earlier this year, I found Reddit posts where users sorted through ratings websites like these to form amalgamated rankings of 2018’s best music releases, and I’m sure this has been done across all different brackets of time, genre, and format, as well as across all other popular forms of entertainment (including ratings of those ratings websites themselves, in a sort of fivethirtyeight.com meta-analysis).

Letterboxd.com is an example site for movies, or rather for film watchers who find their identity in film viewing (and in calling it “film”) enough to rate and track their views, where Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), Planet Earth II (2016), and The Godfather (1972) currently hold the top ratings spots. This perhaps highlights the utility of nuanced categorization when considering these questions (what constitutes a feature film, a short film, a television show, a documentary, etc., and how should they be compared?). Critical opinions are widely aggregated as well, often compared alongside user ratings, as with sites like MetaCritic.com.

Do these opinion aggregators represent the best resources for those seeking to understand what entertainment connected with or represented most thoroughly our society in our time? Whose opinions are being aggregated, and whose are being left out of these ratings sites and their aggregators? Do these sites undervalue certain demographics (elderly, poor, those otherwise not “extremely online”) in ways that would create blind spots for our future assessors? Do these ratings reveal more about society than sheer viewership volume numbers, like Nielson ratings, Billboard charts, and other audience measurements? I don’t have the cultural awareness or critical experience to dive too deeply into these questions, but Klosterman’s But What if We’re Wrong? suggests ways of thinking that might help sort through the overwhelming entertainment of the present. I wouldn’t suggest to sociologists how to pursue their research, but if there are academics out there thinking and writing about opinion aggregators, I’d love to read up.

“The world happens as it happens, but we construct what we remember and what we forget. And people will eventually do that for us, too.” 

[folkinsomnia]

I'm trying to stop talking about myself so much but @kaylor gave me an excuse to KEEP DOING IT

"Go on your music, hit shuffle and report with the first 10 songs that pop up! then tag 10 people!" I'm 乇乂ㄒ尺卂, so I'm adding commentary.

Cinderella Story by Plain White T's - ugh one of my ultimate heartbreak angst anthems. Prime lyric: I can't help but feel a little upset about the things you and I never had

Falling Down by Oasis - Look. I have 5,680 songs on my ipod. I'm unfamiliar with SO much of my music library because my version of music discovery is buying CDs with one song I like on 'em. But listening to this? It's fucking rad and I guess I'll have to listen to this whole album later on today. I bought it for The Shock of the Lightning and mostly listen to I'm Outta Time, but I guess I've beeing ~missing out!~

All These Things by Darren Hanlon - Mr. Darren Hanlon has been ruining my life with his music for several years now and I love him and his work SO MUCH. This is one his happier songs and it's so bouncy and light. His lyrics are clever and goofy. I just........LOVE

Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen - A perfect encapsulation of those heady crushes you'd get as a teenager where you'd go WILD with emotions! I say that as if that's not how every ~adult crush~ including my current relationship has gone, but I digress! It swings, WOO WOO

Wish You Well by Bernard Fanning - Guitar at the beginning yessss I love. The whole album is fantastic. The vocal runs in this song in particular are SO fun for shower and car singing. An Lyric: Rolling fog into my room, why'd you give up on me so soon?

All Too Well by Taylor Swift - I have many Swiftie mutuals. I wasn't more than a casual listener of hers until reputation came out. My aforementioned mutuals have been screaming praises about this song and the lyrics and the mystique of the "10-minute version" for years. I never understood it until I elected to listen to all of her albums. This song WRECKED ME and I cried to it on the way home from work several times over the course of a month or two because Josh and I were having issues and I'm dramatic. This song is so worth the hype. MAYBE WE GOT LOST IN TRANSLATION. THERE WE ARE AGAIN, AND I LOVED YOU SO. Kill me!!! Also anybody who says Red doesn't have country music influences at all can suck a sour one because this song ALONE clearly does.

My Everything by Owl City - I downloaded the whole album this is off of and like honestly? I have to laugh. It's too religious, which in all fairness, Adam Young is a dedicated Christian and makes beautiful religious pop songs. But I was thinking I'd be getting lyrics like his older stuff because I don't keep up with him. That aside, it's a really lovely worship song and one I would have loved to do when I was in my youth group's worship band in high school. Harmonies to die for.

Can't Slow Down by Jean-Yves Thibaudet - This is from the Pride & Prejudice (2005) score, and I believe it's from a scene in the first ball (before the one at Netherfield). It's light, airy, exuberant, and so pleasing to the ear! It's my sister's current phone alarm, so I get to hear it each morning and whenever she naps in the afternoons or evenings. No complaints there.

I Can Make You Happy by Davy Jones - Josh has an album of songs used in Scooby-Doo, and this is one of them. The whole album is just like murderously nostalgic and great. I've never actually listened to this particular song, but it's so peppy and cute! And I love Davy Jones. He was the singer for The Monkees, his voice is comfort food for the soul, and he was adorable and I totally would have been in love with him if he was bit during my childhood.

Unforgetful You by Jars of Clay - QUINTESSENTIAL ALTERNATIVE CHRISTIAN SOFT ROCK! They're so fucking good and jammy. I've never listened to this song (like I said, huge music library), but it'd make a nice summer running song.

Tags! Uhhh anyone who'd like to do it. Let me know if you do and I don't tag you! @tswizzledude @appalachianetiquette @mielnette @emmmathompson @ashestoashesjc random bag of folks

[katatty]

Moving In

Part 6 of my Custom Neighbourhood Guide

I wasn’t sure what to call this part of the guide, it’s very much a bunch of miscellaneous tasks concerning memories, family albums, family trees, debugging… all that good stuff which ties everything together.

If you’ve been following my steps in order (which you don’t have to do, of course, some creators will prefer a less structured approach) then at this stage you have your terrain, your lots, a bunch of families in the sim bin. If you haven’t already – move them into their houses! If they can’t afford them you can use the familyFunds cheat or SimPE to give them the desired funding.

Back up your neighbourhood at this point! Now, more than ever, you are going to want to be creating regular backups so that you can easily revert to an older version if you make a mistake, or change your mind about any of the story direction.

Once all your sims are moved in you’re going to want to set up the storylines and situations you’ve planned out. There are two main ways to go about this: actually playing the game and editing memories and relationships manually in SimPE. I’ll be covering both methods here and listing the pros and cons of each. You’ll probably find yourself using a combination of the two depending on the situations you’re setting up.

Playing the Game

This is the easiest way to set your families up! Simply play the game as normal, possibly using testing cheats and modded objects to speed things along. With these you can quickly change relationships, age sims up, kill sims, etc. 

When I set up Europa, I had a backstory in mind where a schoolteacher and a priest had an affair and a kid together – so when I created the sims I made father Theo an adult rather than an elder, played out their entire affair including the birth of their son, and their subsequent breakup. I also aged the kid up, had Viola manually teach him his skills, aged Theo up… strictly this wasn’t necessary, but it was easier than messing about with SimPE and also let me take in-game screenshots along the way which I used for their storytelling albums.

Penni talked about this too, on her commentary on my last post, and I’m going to paste what she said directly as its also insightful info:

“If you play through a full day of your old, established family, they won’t have a welcome wagon when the player starts the game, which makes sense. Play time also allows you to take advantage of the “training mechanism” to create sims with habits, and allows the sims to give you Better Ideas.  Woody’s refused first kiss with Virginia and Candy’s affairs with both Mann men were situations that came up during play - the sims’ ideas, not mine. Developmental play also doubles as playtesting time for your lots. The more real memories your sims get naturally, the less time you have to spend tediously manufacturing them in SimPE. And you can get any storytelling pictures you need.”

 As she mentions, actively playing is useful so that you can get welcome wagons out of the way, and let the future player take control at the best possible moment. Both Europa and Widespot (if I’m remembering correctly) start the game on a Friday morning so that downloaders can play out a standard week-day and then have the weekend to play about a bit more. If they start their day in their bedrooms players can also quickly tell whose room is whose! (Don’t have them actually sleeping, though. When opening a neighbourhood for the first time players will usually experience a jump-reset, so it’s best to have your sims standing idle when the neighbourhood is first loaded.)

If you want your storylines to create maximum impact, consider the timing of the events. One family in Europa contained a widower, Ronnie. I wanted his wife to have recently passed away and for the memory to be fresh when the game was first loaded so that the family would cry regularly and seem affected by her death. However, I killed off Viola right at the beginning of my gameplay, and by the end of the week the family seemed somewhat over it. I tried fiddling around in SimPE to change this later but didn’t have much luck - working with the game is a lot easier than working with SimPE, I find! I had to settle for using storytelling images and putting him in aspiration failure. Learn from my mistakes.  

One other thing to keep in mind when playing is to avoid corruption at any cost. Read the Wiki guide on avoiding corruption thoroughly and regularly check your game with Hoodchecker. Keep creating those backups!

Game guide: Avoiding corruption

In theory you could set up everything this way without even using SimPE, but it might not always be practical, especially if there are multiple generations to consider, all with their own backstories... you would have to create the founding elders and play out the entire family history! Penni details a few more potential pitfalls:

“But developmental play is time-consuming, can get bewilderingly complicated, and inevitably risks the accumulation of the grit-like minor corruption and/or serious glitches with which we are all so familiar. It might also involve the spawning of NPCs you may not want, or the creation of complications that go against the Vision, requiring quitting without saving or reverting to one of your numerous backups. Only you can do the cost-benefit analysis here.”

 Editing & Adding Memories

So, this is where editing memories manually in SimPE might come in handy. It’s good for adding all the standard family memories (toddler training, growing up well/badly, etc.) I’m going to be honest here - I found this a real pain and it took a lot of trial and error to get it right! So keep using those backups. I’ll link the the tutorials and resources I used below:

Memories - Changing and removing {tutorial} 

Game guide:Adding memories in SimPE 

List of Memories 

One really cool thing about editing memories manually is that you do stuff that wouldn’t be possible with normal gameplay, like changing the colour of a memory from the usual way it appears! Katrina Fusilli dislikes her daughter-in-law, and has a negative memory of her son marrying. Stuff like Olive Specter’s memories with the Grim Reaper would also fall under this category! Take a look at the full list of possible memories and see what you come up with. 

If you give a memory an unexpected subject instance (possibly like “going steady” with Grim although I haven’t checked this) the Hoodchecker will flag it, but as far as I know it’s not harmful to the game. There’s one of these in Widespot concerning Skye Weiss’s abduction. 

Family Trees

If your families are all set up  in-game tools with CAS or during developmental play, your family tress are probably going to look fine. But if you’re adding family relationships between households manually, you may find they don’t show up correctly on family trees. I encountered this issue when trying to make all my NPCs related. 

The only way, as far as I know, to directly edit family trees is using SimPE! It’s been a while since I did this, and I could only find one tutorial on it, but editing family tress was something I found pretty easy once I knew the correct place to look. I’ll link to the tutorial I used below:

SimPE Family Ties Tutorial

Photo Albums 

More storytelling stuff! Each household has a family album composed of in-game snapshots taken with “C”. There is also a neighbourhood album, which will pop up when a neighbourhood is first loaded! You might want to include a quick summary of each household here. 

During development play you’ll want to take pictures along the way of critical moments in the story. If you’re trying to avoid actually playing your neighbourhood too much for fear of corruption - no problem! You can stage scenes, take snapshots and then quit without saving. Your gameplay won’t be saved but the pictures will!  For Europa, I staged a few family photos using poseboxes I temporarily added to the game.

You can choose which pictures to include in a family album, which order to have them appear, and there’s also an option to include captions. I like imitating the Maxis story albums and leaving the pictures caption-less so that the player can use their imagination, but Maxon used photo captions to great effect in Polgannon! 

It’s also possible to use photos taken or edited outside of the in-game camera tool, as Maxon does above and as Maxis does! I know this is done by renaming and re-sizing the files accordingly, but I haven’t ever tried this before and can’t find a full guide on it! If anyone has any insight let me know :)

Biographies and Descriptions

Along with photo captions, you have a few other places you can write! The neighbourhood description itself, the neighbourhood story, household descriptions, and of course sim biographies! It’s up to you how much detail you want to go into on these - you might prefer to keep them vague or to go into lots of detail. 

You can also choose whether you want them similarly themed, or more varied in tone. In Veronaville, for example, almost everything is about the family feud, particularly the Juliette/Romeo love affair. Even Tybalt’s biography is about Juliette’s storyline:

The Capps and Montys have been feuding for years, but that hasn't stopped the younger generation from crossing boundaries and falling in love. Will their actions lead to ruin or bring the families together? - Veronaville’s  neighbourhood description

Juliette Capp has fallen for Romeo, golden child of the rival Monty clan. Can the Capps set aside their grudge and put Juliette's happiness first? -  The Capp household description & neighbourhood story 

Juliette loves her family and wants to please them, but her feelings for Romeo are undeniable. Can she make her family proud and make herself happy as well? - Juliette’s bio

Outspoken but surly, Tybalt is proud to carry the Capp name. Will his pride and hatred of the Montys ruin his sister Juliette's chance for happiness with Romeo? - Tybalt’s bio

For a bit of contrast, let’s look at Strangetown! The neighbourhood description is a lot more vague and nonspecific, hinting at the storylines rather than outright stating them. The household descriptions detail the family story, but character bios include fun tid-bits rather than spelling out their role in the story. 

Truth-seekers move to Strangetown hoping to discover the secrets the town holds. Do aliens live among us? Do missing Sims mysteriously appear here? In this town nothing is what it seems. - Strangetown’s neighbourhood description

In search of truth and mystery, the Curious brothers got more than they were "expecting." Can Pascal, Lazlo, and Vidcund cope with their new roles as cosmic parents? - Curious family bio & neighbourhood story entry 

No matter what happens, Pascal believes there is a logical explanation for everything. In his free time, he practices home psychoanalysis and collects conspiracy theories. - Pascal’s biography

Serious and exact, Vidcund strives to fit the universe into a nice tidy package. He has an unnatural fondness for African violets. - Vidcund’s biography

Juliette’s biography is all about family and forbidden love, but Pascal's make no mention of aliens, abductions or pregnancy. Tybalt’s bio talks about his hatred for the Montys, but Vidcund’s makes no mention of his feud with Loki Beaker or his romantic history with Circe. 

I’m being a bit roundabout here, haha, all I’m really saying is there are a lot of ways you can approach descriptions like this! Maybe you have a strong theme or storyline you want to get across to players, or maybe it’s made up of lots of little storylines. 

Playtesting & Debugging

The final stage, and most likely not a fun one. Now that you’ve finished everything up, it’s time to playtest it a little. You may do this yourself, or enlist others to help! I’m not very good at spotting my own mistakes, so I created a beta of Europa and sent it to a few playtester-volunteers. 

Things you and/your testers will want to be looking out for:

Bugs

Building issues

Playability

Signs of corruption

Spelling and grammar mistakes

Anything that seems missing or wrong

Draw up a big list of all the issues you/your testers encountered and then slowly work on fixing them. If you think you’ve solved the problem, double check it is fixed in your game, and maybe even send an updated version to your tester to verify it’s now working correctly. Don’t cross off issues as “solved” when you haven’t double checked! Some of my playtesters noticed my maid NPC had alien eyes and I never properly checked if I’d fixed it properly, so this glitch is still in the final version, hahaha. Again, learn from my mistakes! 

You may also want your testers to offer impressions of the characters and stories, opinions, & suggestions. Be sure to get across to your play-testers the sort of feedback it is you want! Perhaps you just want technical feedback and aren’t interested in any sort of critique. Being open to critique will work in your favour though, and help you make your neighbourhood as good as it can be. At the same time, don’t feel obligated to change things if they feel wrong or don’t match your vision! Ultimately you’ll never be able to please everyone, but you can certainly take their opinions on board :)

Releasing for Download

Not much to say here, really! To share it, all you need to do is compress the neighbourhood folder itself into a RAR or ZIP file. When you put it up for download you’ll likely want to list compatibility info, installation instructions, known bugs, recommended or required downloads (if applicable) and some previews of neighbourhood! 

How much information you want to give is up to you. You might want to keep things vague so that there are more surprises for the player, or you might want to give them the full facts. Pictures are always helpful, and can entice more players. Here’s Europa’s download post, for reference.

That about wraps things up, I think. I’m sure I haven’t covered everything as there is no end of stuff you can do, methods you can use and ideas you can have - you might even have thought of things I never even considered! But hopefully this guide proves useful to a few people. 

Once again, let me know if there’s anything else you’d like information on - I’ll happily edit these posts and might even make new ones if there’s demand. But for now, thanks for reading :)