#I was born with that aural ability

[gonzodangerfeels]

Those pesky adverbs

[clowncary]

As @evyrmori said, most shifters aren't human but also aren't animals. We are not straight bioidentical animals, and we also aren't physiologically/aurally human. I feel as though, at some level, shifters evolved beside humans and animals enough to experience what they experience.

I also would like to describe my own species as being a shifter instead of it being an ability. Here are my personal beliefs.

I am taking this from a document I made in 2023 and pasting it here. Some parts will be edited like [this] or [] to add new sentences or deleting them.

THIS WILL BE LONG.

tldr; In my experience, Shifters would most likely be called "Homo sapiens ab. monstrosus" or "Homo versipellis" for the way their default physical, mass-having form seems to resemble those in the Homo genus, yet clear inspection of their phenotypic traits indicate that shifters have taught and practiced physical shapeshifting to change their bodies without the use of technology, similar to traditional practices around the world where body modification starts are the growing ages and slowly changes the shape of the bones and body (i.e. foot binding, cranial binding, corset wearing, giraffe necks, etc.)

...........

This post serves as a way to describe shifters and what they are as well as use viable research [].

Again, this post is not opinion and is [not] factual [] but focuses on speculation around biology not yet confirmed [].

Here are the three basic rules to shifting and being a shifter. [The rules are widely accepted as true, mainly in the physical plane.]

No physical being on earth has the ability to gain or drop mass at will/choice: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass

Shifting as an ability is not a transmittable virus, and therefore is not something you can choose to have or be.

No physical being on earth can withstand rearranging bones, muscles, organs or brain matter in a millisecond. Therefore transformation of a shifter can only take place through days, weeks or months: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-scientifically-possible-to-shapeshift/answer/Surux-Strawde?ch=15&oid=154825684&share=9ff0f4f4&srid=fd1nM&target_type=answer

[]

Shifters are recognized as nonhuman in appearance through their [other-side], which change based on whether or not [a gene] is activated. If the [] gene is activated, it produces proteins and/or non-coding RNA. The protein created performs for the body, making structure for cells, DNA replication and moving molecules around: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein

Shifters [are closely related to] human beings due to the fact that their hox genes resemble and match those of Homo sapiens and the growth of a limb and bone segment is extremely unlikely. This includes growth of [individual] wings, tails, skull shapes, extra skeletal parts and muscles. Humans have 39 Hox genes split in 4 clusters, which connects to your chromosomes and genes: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1096719213003600

To remove or add any of these would not only suggest that your chromosomes are different from humans (in humans, chromosomal disorders are things such as Down Syndrome, Triple-X syndrome etc. In nonhumans, chromosomal abnormalities can cause infertility and even death to the embryo.) It's safe to say that most if not all shifters are not born with the ability to create new bones or pop them out of place without consequence. Hox genes can have gene disorders as a result of malformations. If a shifter says that their skeleton is different from others, they're [most likely not experiencing skeletal difference but somatic changes]. Hox genes [say your skeleton resembles a human] because [if not, you] would be diagnosed with Hand-foot-genital syndrome, Guttmacher syndrome, cancers or Synpolydactyly type 2.

Shifters [would then be] [] under the subtribe Hominina, under the tribe Hominini and genus of Homo. Physical characteristics of those under the subtribe are as follows: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecine

bipedal locomotion (walking on two legs)

high brachial index (forearm ratio)

greater sexual dimorphism (perisex and intersex).

Going deeper into the tribe and genus will tell you that not only are Homo sapiens sapiens the only extant species but it's most likely been that way since the myths of Gilgamesh (the very first shifter appearance in writing). [This could mean two things; shifters are human but a subspecies/forma or shifters are a sibling species.]

The only [other] way a shifter could have survived all these years as a different species/nonhuman being [(as opposed to just being human)] is if they purposely [] chose to give their nonhumanity away. Why? Because not only would that explain the appearance of them, it would explain why it's [intrinsic,] why shifters can't simply shift under a few seconds without dying from a chemical reaction or bodily combustion. [That chemical reaction, regarding instant shapeshifting and the time it takes, needs the physical power of around 2 suns to be powered. This is why it is observed that pshifting seems to be an episodic experience that starts with pflares as a sign, then has a complete pshift at a certain time.]

Shifters are [also in need of] human vitamins. If a shifter [wasn't of the Homo genus], many of the canine shifters here wouldn't have to intake meats that raise their vitamin C levels. Canines, especially dogs, make their own vitamin C: https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/03/03/why-dogs-dont-need-vitamin-c-humans-do-14611

Vitamins and other proteins are often looked over when it comes to shifting and shifter biology but it is very important to focus on physics and the bodily aspects rather than ignoring it. It could cause real damage. Vitamins are vital for skin, bone and muscle health and claiming that shifters can simply regenerate it by using their mind and will is cult language. Deficiency in vitamins can and will cause diseases such as scurvy.

Shifter alleles could have risen from environmental mutations and then became phenotypes/genotypes when the body needed it.

This causes hereditary traits to continue through bloodlines. This means that if you are a shifter, your mother or father or parent should have the genotype. It cannot skip generations as then you wouldn't be a shifter. It can be activated and not activated, and not shifting will make it inactive. If this is true, it would explain the universal experience that shifters have towards urges and callings. Which would simply be somatic expressions from the genotype being activated. Hereditary traits do not change something into a nonhuman as well. Shifters do not become nonhuman by being shifters, they become shifters. We are not the same as nonhumans. If we were, our biology and organs and bones would match.

As we have explored today, we have come to the conclusion that shifters are:

[Most likely from the Homo genus] who have animalistic features due to hereditary mimicking [of creatures]. Shifting is an ability not all shifters can do, making it impossible to gauge the difference between a non-shifting shifter and a regular shifter other than physical appearance [of the other-side]. These animalistic features are not carbon copies of the real thing and only pose to morph into what looks similar using physical methods. Since being a shifter is hereditary, it has nothing to do with species and therefore cannot change your species, sex or gender.

.......

When I talk about p shifting and it being physical, I don't mean to say that it's always something biological. I say that it's a physical feeling, a physical experience, a physical emotion.

So you aren't biologically a wolf or a tiger when you're a pshifter, but you are biologically a shifter. You are PHYSICALLY a tiger/wolf, and that physical experience AND emotion []. So questioning one species but feeling another is common because it's a physical urge to be so, not a biological one.

So yes, a cow p shifter can exist. A fly shifter can exist and a fly pshifter exists too. It's all physical, and that doesn't mean just transformation. It can mean physical instincts, urges, it can be body modification, or reshaping of the skin. It's literally anything that changes the body physically!

.....

You are [usually] born [a shifter] but features may not appear until or after prolonged shifting. The ability to shift is not universal, and is rare due to the fact that it no longer is favored and therefore is not as dominant as we think it is. [Shifting was most likely] caused by environmental pressure [(changing habitat, climbing, swimming like the Bajau)] and the need for anti-predator adaptation [(war like the Berserkers)], but was never meant to split into a new species. It now seems to be caused by benign genetic mutations. The mimic most likely wasn't supposed to copy a single species either, it was probably supposed to make [creatures] look like different predators at different times or different predators mashed into one.

Behavior and social skills that shifters have are limited by [their shifting] but are often overcome by shifters. Behaviors that may be seen; Social learning, attachment, fixed action patterns, urges related to an animal.

Physical and emotional difficulties; P-flares and m-flares causing outbursts or instability, lasting pain from shifting, joint aches, [inability to use] limbs due to overuse in shifting, physical appearance is animal-like or easily mistaken for monstrous. May act differently than [other people] due to consistent [flares] leading to shifting [].

Resulting disorders or problems [from frequent shifting]; Joint pain, muscle spasms, weak grip, organ weakness, energy loss/fatigue, myoclonus, dystonia and much more: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/repetitive-motion-disorders

......

[How to Shift based on the above information.]

In order to shift, this bear shifter has been feeling p-flares for possibly months or weeks now. These flares mean that the body is in aching/calling for a shift. This is the first part of fully shifting.

What makes the body shift?

Then, the bear shifter eats/exercises to store energy in their body. This energy will be used to build on the [] gene, activating it at the time the shift is due.

Days between flares and the shift.

The bear shifter will then use the time up to the p-shift to do other things like make their environment comfortable, engage in somatic and conscious (mental) shifts in order to push themselves to that point where the mind and body are in sync, and finally need to shift.

Shifting day.

On the day of the shift, there will be urgency and yearning for the shift. The weeks or months leading up to the shift have caused the body to absorb enough energy that it can burn it while shifting. Shifting is a practice, it is growing out features hidden within your body and transforming into what [your other-side] looks like.

Underwhelming shifts.

The first full shift you have may be underwhelming for multiple reasons. You may not finish it, you may have not had enough energy or you did not target the parts of the body that ache when you have p-flares/somatic shifts. When you do not finish a shift, it is okay to stop and not push yourself. If you do not have enough energy, immediately stop. Continuing when energy is depleted causes you to pass out and worse, be dehydrated and such. If you did not target the right areas, you simply have to take note of what areas your body wants to change.

Onto the shifting.

When you fully shift, the somatic and mental shifts you have done before should have already put your vision and mind in a place where you can feel/see your body change. This is not necessary at all but a lot of shifters use this as a way to help the body calm and focus.

Once the p-shift has started, the body should be moved in a way that is of the subspecies (bear, in this case) and the body parts that the flares want to change should be used, flexed, toned or put to work in an animalistic manner. This is so the body and mind, that are in sync, recognizes that those parts are being used the most at this time where energy is being burned. If your ears need to be longer, pull them gently. If your teeth need to be longer, chew on something tough. If this is your first shift, it will take more than one singular shift to fully grow out the features that you want. Continue using the parts that the body needs to grow out until the shift begins to drift. [Blood will be rushed to those parts of the body, causing heat and electricity through your body, and your cells should get to work.]

Aftermath

After the shift is done, the parts of the body that have grown out will either fall out/retract slowly or will stay with the human form. [The process of pulling or applying force to modify and transform the body is utilized in different ways such as "giraffe necks" in some Kenyan tribes and corset wearing.] This is an even slower process because after the shift, you are exhausted and tired and not so willing to do anything else. At this point, it is fine to sleep. []

A breakdown.

What just happened to that bear shifters body is called gene expression and psychosomatic sight. Gene expression is a natural way your body may show phenotypes, which are things like hair color and eye color. The [] gene is a pleiotropic gene, making it able to affect other genes and their phenotypes. If a bear shifter has a dark brown eye color, the shifter gene may change that based on what the body needs to grow out. The growing features (aka apparent phenotypes) are unique to the shifter and not all shifters feel the need for a tail or fur or teeth to be grown.

The conservation of mass is a theory stating that mass cannot be made or removed immediately and spontaneously. That energy equal to an atomic bomb must be present to change such a way. Shifters follow this and also get around this by being the same size as their [other-side in human form] AND gaining energy through eating and much more. Which is one reason why the gene activates. The bear shifter is the same size as their human form, and only gets bigger if both forms do.

The mind is powerful. Syncing it with the body not only causes focus but keeps the body alive in dire situations. Tricking the brain is a common practice in trances, magic and much more. If you are using psychosomatic sight, this means that what your body feels is what you see. If you're deep into a mental and somatic shift, you will sometimes see your body transformation before you. This is [usually normal when deliberate and voluntary] and also an important thing to remember when shifting. The brain, is physical too. Tricking your brain by creating the environment your [other-side] lives in is a trigger to your body that you may need the features you grow out.

Like the avian shifters, features such as wings will not disappear unless the body is in an environment where it doesn't need it. If you are in a hot environment and are a shifter with fur, your fur will fall off or shed. This is to keep your natural temperature low and to prevent heatstroke. If you have wings and are not using them, your body will begin to ween off of blood circulation and muscle strength. Even if this one shift didn't turn you into an animal, another shift where you are more knowing of your [other-side] and their habitat and the features your body wants- will. It is a process and a long journey. []

At the end of the day, what is more important than anything is getting enough exercise, food and water and mental health checks as possible. Please do not mistake physical shifting as a medical condition when you are not a shifter, check your family history or with other personnel to determine the cause. Please be safe, remember to love yourself.

....

Link to food gene expression: https://href.li/?https://www.welltheory.com/post/food-and-gene-expression

Link to exercise gene expression: https://href.li/?https://www.americanscientist.org/article/exercise-controls-gene-expression

here's nightmare cat with a human skeleton so I can visually show you what an adult domestic cat shifter would look like.

[lunarmote]

Revisiting Enter the Void (2009), why I like this film so much

You can read my first review here.

Enter the Void (2009) is the most beautiful and terrifying film I’ve ever seen.

This movie is about a young American drug dealer in Tokyo (Oscar) who gets shot by the police during a deal gone wrong. His soul leaves his body to experience the lives of his family and friends in the wake of his death.

On my first watch of Enter the Void, I described it as philosophical. No longer. It has no claim to stake on the existence of a soul. It is a character study of how a “nobody” spends his last cogent moments struggling with these questions of identity:

Who was I? What kind of life did I live? Did I do the right thing?

To his sister: Do you remember that promise we made when we were kids? By the time you find out I’m dying, will it be too late? What will you think of me?

To the universe: Why was I born?

This film is about the beautiful tragedy of self-awareness hitting too late. As the brain physically disintegrates, the spirit expends the last of its energy recalling as many images of life as possible, hoping their recall will spark something, some remembrance. At that very instant Oscar’s death takes him, he also experiences his birth: a cycle of eternal recurrence due to the brain’s subjective perception of time.

Free association and trauma

The visuals of this movie are fragmented, illogical, and jarring for a reason.

The movie doesn’t just tell you the story of Oscar. It makes you experience what it’s like to be him.

Confused, the brain loses its capacity to understand reality. You live in a world in which subliminal messages about birth and death are communicated through electronic screens, where elements of our consciousness appear like idea salad. Everything strobes. Ordinary objects pulsate like they have neon-infiltrated veins.

The brain loses its ability to understand boundaries. It starts mashing together visually similar and thematically dissimilar images. A prop in the dressing room reminds you of a lamp in your childhood. A bullet wound reminds you of a tunnel. You gain the ability to intensity-match across visual and aural dimensions. A grating noise evokes a harsh light; a muffled humming evokes a faint strobing.

Trauma is re-released. As you lie dying, you think of the last time you saw death up close. Your fear of death starts to hijack all the happy memories you had tucked between layers of fat. Here’s what you experience. A happy family outing. Then a truck plowing into you. A happy reunion with your sister 20 years later. Then another truck plowing into you. The brain is stuck in a loop. By decontextualizing and recontextualizing memories will it finally make sense of your existence?

Symbols and yearning for a past childhood

This movie covers a lot in its 161 minutes. It explores the themes of life, family, birth, sex, alienation, trauma, passivity, and of course, death, but through symbols. This makes the experience extremely emotional and visceral.

How illogical many of these symbols are. Nude bodies are everywhere — Oscar sees his sister, then he sees his mom breastfeeding. The TVTropes page says that this shows Oscar wants to have sex with his mother. Wants to? I don’t think so; the overtones of trauma and longing and regret far overshadow any kind of erotic desire. Sex and intimacy can be linked in a way that is biological, symbolic, and impersonal. They are natural processes that we associate with existing and dying. I don’t interpret it as some puerile longing. I interpret it as a gaping hunger to connect back to life.

In summary

I really wanted to write an elaborate review of this movie with a complete thesis statement, but I simply can’t. This movie does too much for me to cover in writing. It makes me feel too much in ways I don’t even understand.

Overall, if I had to say why I appreciate this film rather than how it makes me feel, I think I just deeply appreciate when filmmakers are innovative. I appreciate when they start projects destined to be box office flops because of how alienating they can be to most people but which resonate deeply with a few people.

Regarding Enter the Void in particular, I love how its visual intensity meets its philosophical intensity. (Yeah, I know that earlier I said it wasn’t a philosophical film; I think its in-film portrayal is not philosophical, but if you’re like me, the ideas of dying and being born cannot be not philosophical). Taking symbols like the fundamental contradictions of life (the changing writing on the wall: I WANT TO LIVE / I WANT TO DIE) and ramping them up, points to the absurdity and circularity of life.

[zoot-marimba]

Holger Czukay

(March 24, 1938-September 5, 2017)

What can I say about Holger Czukay? Bassist, multi-instrumentalist, pioneer, innovator, producer, bandleader, you name it. As bassist and tape editor of seminal Krautrock outfit CAN, it was Holger whose rocksteady bass and musical mind anchored the controlled chaos of one of rock’s most seminal groups. In the process, he would contribute early innovations such as sampling, ambient, and world music.

Holger was born in the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland), from which his family was expelled upon the end of World War II. As a result of the turmoil, Holger’s primary education would be limited, but one pivotal experience for him would be when he worked at a radio repair shop in his teens. It was here that he became enchanted with the aural qualities of radio broadcasts as well as learning the basic mechanics and engineering of shortwave radio and transmitters. Holger would also develop a greater interest in music, aspiring to become a composer and conductor. Of course, his ideas proved to be a bit much for many people’s liking, with one jazz festival kicking him off the bill for being “too radical” and Berlin’s Musical Academy similarly expelling him for artistic insubordination. Fortunately for young Holger, he’d soon find a sympathetic figure in legendary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who would soon take Holger under his wing as a student. Through his lessons from Stockhausen, Holger would develop and refine his craft, allowing him to grow as an artist and composer as well as leading to him to become a teacher in his own right.

By the time he became a teacher, Holger remained passionate about classical and avant-garde music as well as the burgeoning electronic music that Stockhausen had been a pioneer in. There was also a thing called rock and roll that Holger couldn’t see all the fuss about; that was, until student Michael Karoli exposed him to artists like The Rolling Stones and particularly the Beatles, whose single “I Am The Walrus” particularly caught Holger’s ear. Far from the typical three-chord ditty in four, this was a song with an ever shifting chord progression and structure as well as the odd blasts of radio transmitters much like what had captured his younger self’s imagination all those years ago. Now Holger had a hunger for this kind of avant-rock and pop, leading him to bands like The Velvet Underground and The Mothers of Invention. With a whole new medium to explore, Holger would join forces with his student on guitar along with fellow Stockhausen alumni Irmin Schmidt (keyboards) and David C. Johnson (winds), with the lineup being rounded out by jazz drummer Jaki Liebezeit. Though Johnson’s involvement would ultimately prove short lived, the remaining four soon formed the nucleus of the band soon to be known forever as CAN.

Across four studio albums, Can made its name on a strange brew of rock and roll, avant-garde, jazz, funk, and psychedelia. With the off kilter vocals and lyrics of either American sculptor Malcolm Mooney or Japanese busker Damo Suzuki on vocals, the expressionistic guitar work of Karoli, the trippy keyboard work of Schmidt, and the tribal drumming of Liebezeit, Can was already pure dynamite, but anchoring all of this sonic madness was Holger's bass playing. Moody, groovy, contemplative, filling in the spots that Jaki hadn't, Holger's work was stark and minimalist. The push and pull he and Jaki created gave Can a sense of tension and suspense, as well as providing Can with the rare ability to meld the funky and the cerebral.

While a great bassist, where Holger truly excelled was in his recording and arrangement. He was able to take the extended improvisation Can laid down live or in the studio album and then craft it into fully formed compositions, his attention to detail truly remarkable. Holger was sampling long before it became common place, and he was among the early explorers of both ambient and world music. He possessed a knack for taking things apart and reassembling them in ways few would have ever thought possible. As far as Holger was concerned, anything was possible, all you needed was to look at it from another angle.

After Damo left in 1973, the band would continue sporadically for the remainder of the decade, with Holger soon moving over to transmitters and soundscapes upon bassist Rosko Gee’s arrival before leaving altogether by 1978. As talented as Rosko and percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah were, Holger’s absence simply left too big a hole for CAN to recover from, and the band would ultimately not last much longer, with two more studio albums before ending together. The band would reunite for 1989’s Rite Time, with the return of original vocalist Malcolm Mooney to boot, but overall, this particular chapter of Holger’s life had firmly concluded.

Never one to lay resting on his laurels, Holger continued to write and create. Having already crafted Canaxis 5 in the late sixties with Rolf Dammers under the name of the Technical Space Composer’s Crew, Holger would begin his solo career in earnest with 1979’s Movies. Though featuring Jaki on drums, plus Rebop playing organ on the opening track “Cool In The Pool” as well as Irmin and Michael playing grand piano and guitar on “Oh Lord, Give Us More Money”, the album was otherwise a one-man band affair on Holger’s part, not only doing his thing on bass and recording and engineering but also showing himself to also be a talented multi-instrumentalist, adept at guitar, French horn, harmonica, keyboards, synthesizers, and percussion. This would continue on subsequent albums such as On the Way to The Peak of Normal, Der Osten ist Rot, Radio Wave Surfer, and La Luna, his dada sensibilities as strong as ever.

I’d be remissed not to mention his work with other artists as well. From contemporaries such as German producer Conny Plank, Cluster, and fellow maverick Brian Eno as an artists with mutual respect, to many younger artists who Holger had inspired. PiL’s Jah Wobble would cite Holger as one of his biggest influences on bass and would collaborate with him on records like Full Circle and Snake Charmers-the latter also featuring The Edge on guitar. Ex-Japan frontman David Sylvian would utilize Holger’s talents on his first two solo offerings Brilliant Trees and Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities, where Holger would contribute his French horn and guitar work and most notably utilize the dictaphone as his means of playing back samples. The two would subsequently do two album-length collaborations in Plight & Premonition as well as Flux+Mutability and remained closed friends for years afterwards. Holger would also play on Eurythmics’ debut album In The Garden as well as working with the likes of ambient techno artist Dr. Walker, German new wave group Trio, Phew, Phantom Band, former bandmate Irmin Schmidt, and singer Ursa Major, or U-She. Holger and U-She would marry in 1989 and collaborate on many multimedia pieces until U-She’s death in 2017, with Holger himself following less than two months later.

Holger was an artist who was truly ahead of his time, somebody we’re still catching up with even decades later. As sad as it is that he’s not here with us anymore, his legacy is one for the ages, and we’ll continue exploring his creations for years if not decades to come.

[writingonesdreams]

Novel prep tag game

WIP Stormkeeper new version

I always end up doing this thingy when the concept is changing XD this like my, what, 6th novel prep tag? Always helps.

FIRST LOOK

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

Cultural scientist Acacia can finally realize her dream of doing field notes in different mage regions, but has to team up with a cold and judgemental bodyguard and his careless dragon-shifting brother in the process.

The story is basically about three exceptional people that don't fit in in various ways - Wes by nature, Kyler by force and Acacia because of her interests - and how they deal with it.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

One novel, maybe a series later on.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Trains, mountains, cities, lakes and fog, spirts, sandstorms and hurricanes, rain. 

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

Naruto, Frozen 2, Mash, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Star Wars, Atla, Avatar, The greatest Showman. 

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

The protagonist Acacia drives the story with her goal of acquiring field notes for her research. But both Kyler and Wes are main and pov characters.

Acacia is analytical scientist and a imaginative dreamer, passionate but insecure inside. Her quick mind and abstract philosophic thought process is hard to keep up with.

7. Who is their closest ally?

Her reluctant bodyguard Kyler is son of one of the most significant Pulsor families and the most powerful and dedicated Pulsor mage (controls lighting) of his generation - but rather cold and closed off.

Kyler's younger brother Wes is the reincaratnion of a dragon - the rarest and most ancient spirits - basically a god. Mischievous, reckless but cunning, he has never been allowed to leave home before.

8. Who is their enemy?

There are no enemies per se. There are obstacles, energy thieves and Phatoms on the way, people that mean harm when they see someone different, but there is no antagonist. 

9. What do they want more than anything?

Acacia wants to make ethnographic research on the similarities between magic types and the ways of expression and attitude that add up to be the same thing - people living their lives and looking at the world through the taught lenses of their respective magical culture. 

10. Why can’t they have it?

Doing research in different regions is hard, because travelling between regions is limited and dangerous. There are Phatoms, energy thieves and people that hate differences and loathe people interested in magic not their own. 

In the end the biggest obstacle is probably the way hybrid magicians are loathed - it’s considered a betrayal and weakness not to follow one’s born in type and learn other ones as well. Something Acacia loves, and other people like Wes could use.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Kyler believes he has failed. Wes that he is not enough. Acacia that magic is the most magical thing. 

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Commissioned art:

Kyler / Acacia / Wes

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

Acacia’s internal conflict is mostly about staying true to her belief that different magics can coexist and learn from each other. She is the impact and main driving character of the story - she changes the others and struggles to stay true to herself and her love for different magics and learning from them. 

Kyler’s conflict is about his perfectionalism that was recenltly ruined by his kindapping by the Shadow Cult that forced a magic upon him he hates and he can’t forgive himself for being weak enough to succumb to it. It's something that was forced upon him but became part of him nonetheless.

Wes deals with his original spirit memories not returning as they should.

14. What is the external conflict?

Acacia’s external conflict is about her love for Sight, ability to see nature spirits on another plane of existence and the danger she might lose connection to reality and her body if she spends too much time in it. 

Kyler’s conflict is dealing with the very real consequences of Shadow Craft magic being now part of him. It’s always there when he is torn or angry or hurt, crawling under his skin and he hates he can’t control it completely. 

Wes’s conflict is about finding a balance between his love for his family and the human world and the foreign yearning for his wilder dragon side. 

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

For Acacia to lose her connection to her body by not being able to stay in the moment. 

For Kyler it would losing control of Shadow Craft and having it rule him.

For Wes it would be being abondoned by his family and brother and losing the life he has when his memories come back and he finds out about his spirit life. 

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

No magic is really bad. Or good. The key is balance and intent.  

17. Do you know how it ends?

I can envision several ending scenes that would fit, they all mostly fit together. 

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?  

The main theme is self-worth, from self-understanding, acceptance of who you are with all the sides and flaws and yearnings and self-love and confidence in who you are and going after what resonates with you. Keeping the storm inside you alive so to say. 

19. What is a recurring symbol?  

Storms? XD The symbols representing each of the four main magics are moon sicle, sun, lightning bolt and a spiral. 

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

It’s set in modern age in a made up country divided into four regions accoriding to its dominating magic practice. These are also very different in landscapes - from mountain village of Pulsors, skyscapers of Aurals, lake bungallows of Sensors to deserts of Resonants. 

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

The big tentpole scenes are pretty sure, the rest I will figure as I go. 

22. What excited you about this story?  

The way I can use magic types as metaphors for fictional cultures and explore their related views and approaches. The different value systems are much clearer in such a excessive example. 

Also all my favourite tropes fit into the story! From rivals to lovers, brothers, trio dynamics, gradual friendships, bodyguards, spirits, Shifters, reincarnations, dragons, healing, deeling with the fixed and growth mindset, perfectionalism and vulnerbility, how to stay in the present moment, how to find balance, different ways to express emotions, how to deal with differences, understanding vs tolerance vs acceptance, how to find - cope - stay true as well as have faith and confidence in who you are...all questions I'm personally very curious about.

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!  

Building and living with characters in countless AUs, finding their arcs and a story to best realize them, magic system, themes and thematic questions I want to explore, finding a story to frame those, brainstorming, outlining and hopefully writing before the idea loses its spark. 

***

Tagging if you want to play: @catharticallysarcastic @akindofmagictoo @estrella-writings @zielenbloesem @waysofink

[virtualrenfaire2020]

Virtual Ren Faire 2020 Calendar

We have activities and themed days, plus we’ve compiled a bunch of livestreams from some fantastic performers to enjoy during our Faire. The calendar is updated daily, so stay tuned for more events!

Saturday, March 28

Opening day!

Join us on Opening Day for a day of faire activities. Share photos, videos, and stories relating to your ren faire experience! 

Submissions will be open starting today for the Costume Contest!

O.W.L. Fest - 7:30 AM PDT

An all-day series of concerts with a wizardly theme. A new artist is live every half hour until 7:00 PM, so tune in anytime! Don’t forget to refresh the page between concerts to listen to the latest stream. The current lineup is: Tonks and the Aurors, Lauren Fairweather, Ashley Hamel, Hawthorn & Holly, Grace Kendall, Kalysta Flame, Pussycat Dolores, The Purebloods, Flitwick and the Charmers, Losing Lara, Muggle Snuggle, Percy and the Prefects, Ludo Bagman and the Trash, Draco and the Malfoys, The Mudbloods, The Lovegoods, Alas Earwax!, The Blibbering Humdingers, Abby Ritter, The Swedish Shortsnouts, Kirstyn Hippe, POTTÖRHEAD, The Arkadian, Karl-Johan, and Toucan Dubh.

Check out the Facebook livestream concerts here.

Ye Banished Privateers Virtual Release Party - 11:00 AM PDT.

“Let’s party like it’s 1720! Borders are closing, people are being forced to shut their doors. Our global world is growing smaller, but Ye Banished Privateers believes in staying connected through the crisis. On march 28th we were planning to throw a big release party for our new album Hostis Humani Generis in our home town Umeå, Sweden, which naturally had to be cancelled due to the corona pandemic. Instead we’ll be hosting a live streamed event, at 19.00 cet 28/3 that will be worthy of an official release concert. We want to try and make this something special and grand . . . let’s stand together in all safe ways possible.”

Check out the Youtube livestream concert here.

Pub Crawl - 1:30 PM PDT. 

We’ll be hosting a BYOB pub crawl. Keep an eye out for the tag vrf2020 pub crawl for more info. Please follow local drinking laws and drink responsibly!

Cyrus Pynn (The Swordsman) - 2:00 PM PDT.

“I am a self taught professional sword swallower who perfected the art at the Coney Island Sideshow School, where I learned to present it in an entertaining and classy manner. Since then I have pushed the limit with this dangerous feat as I have traveled across the United States performing with Carnivals, Festivals and Variety Shows . . . Demonstrating the world's most dangerous stunt in an entertaining, classy manner featuring comedy, audience interaction and, of course, death defiance! ‘Down the Hatch without a Scratch!’“

Check out the Facebook livestream show here.

Andrea Beaton - 4:30 PM PDT.

“Andrea grew up in a musical family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  Both the Beaton and MacMaster sides of her family are well known and respected as some of Cape Breton's finest musicians, dancers and composers. She has made 6 solo CDs, a duo album with her father Kinnon, and published 3 books of tunes.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

The CRAIC Show - 5:00 PM PDT.

“The CRAIC Show is an intense & wildly entertaining act, made up of five international travelers who, in 1541AD, were banded together on an ancient battlefield. This unique merging of music from far away lands brings a sound that is unlike any other . . .  Ever-changing and constantly blending styles, The CRAIC Show is always bringing a fresh, high energy blend of World Medieval Music to a modern audience.” 

Check out the Facebook livestream concert here.

Erin Rae - 7:00 PM PDT.

“Gifted with a unique ability to fuse musical genres and influences to craft songs that feel fresh and wholly her own, with her new album Putting On Airs, Erin Rae has thrown down a direct challenge to the stereotype of what a Southern singer should be. Both lyrically and sonically, she strikes a fiercely independent chord, proudly releasing a deeply personal record that reflects her own upbringing in Tennessee, including the prejudices and injustices that she witnessed as a child that continue to impact her life to this day. According to Rae, ‘this album was born out of a need to do some healing work in my personal life, in order to address some fears and patterns of mine to allow my true feelings to come to the surface.’”

Check out the Instagram livestream concert here.

Sunday, March 29

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Alistair McCulloch - 11:30 AM PDT.

“Alistair is one of Scotland's best known fiddle performers and teachers.  His trio features Aaron Jones of Old Blind Dogs, and former Capercaillie whistle wizard Marc Duff. Alistair has taught a generation of rising stars at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Linda McRae - 1:00 PM PDT.

“Linda’s love of Canadian, American and British music early on in her career resulted in multiple band configurations from roots-rock to punk to folk . . . When Linda steps onto a concert stage, into a recording studio, workshop or mentoring session, there is an effortless passion, a love of what she does and a connection with fans and friendships built and treasured. A multi-instrumentalist Linda works tirelessly as a touring singing songwriter, performing at premiere venues across Canada, the US and Europe while turning out new works.”

Check out the Facebook livestream concert here.

The Glow Bubble Show (Meadow Perry) - 4:00 PM PDT.

“Meadow Perry is a Philadelphia based Magician, Bubble Artist and Actress. Known for her beloved children's character, Meadowlark the Faerie, Meadow has been performing in various genres from the stage to private events for over 15 years. The Bubble Magic of Meadow Perry is a show that takes the visual art of bubbles, theatrical storytelling, enchanting magic, thrilling music, & a touch of sophistication to create a unique and entertaining show that has been described as ‘A mesmerizing, spellbounding experience! Charming and interesting, Meadow takes the rules of bubbles outside the box!’”

Check out the Instagram livestream show here.

Monday, March 30

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Merchants’ Monday

Show our wonderful shops some extra love today!

Shannon Lay - 12:00 PM PDT.

“There is an entire sub-genre of poetry devoted to rivers and their persistent, meditative flow . . . For transcendent folk-pop artist Shannon Lay, the river is all of the above: It’s the metaphor driving her latest album, the exquisitely uplifting August (Sub Pop Records, out August, 23rd)—which doubles as an aural baptism renewing her purpose for making music. ‘I always picture music as this river. Everyone’s throwing things into this river, it’s a place you can go to and feed off of that energy,’ she says, ‘and feel nourished by the fact that so many people are feeling what you’re feeling. It’s this beautiful exchange.’”

Check out the Instagram livestream concert here.

Jesse Linder, Bard - 5:00 PM PDT.

“. . .'Singer of Songs, Teller of Tales.’ Jesse performs as a solo artist and as a member of 3 Pints Gone, and has been a member of Separated at Birth, CrossRogues, and Tippler's Way. Jesse sings at Renaisance faires, American reenactments, Irish pubs, and coffeehouses throughout the Midwest. He currently has three solo CDs and five group CDs in print.”

Check out the Facebook livestream concert here.

Steven Greenman - 6:00 PM PDT.

“Steven has worked with some of the world’s leading klezmer ensembles, is a founding member of Cleveland’s East European ensemble Harmonia, and has been a guest soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, performing his own arrangements of gypsy and klezmer music.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Tuesday, March 31

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Time Travel Tuesday

Share your favorite photos and costumes from any time period, from Ancient Greece to 2265. After all, in quarantine, time all feels a little wibbly wobbly!

Jonathan Cannon - 5:30 PM PDT.

“Jonathan has studied klezmer, Romanian, Celtic, and American fiddling, performs regularly, with award-winning Boston klezmer band Ezekiel’s Wheels, and for contra dances.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Wednesday, April 1

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Anne-Mari Kivimäki & Palomylly - 10:00 AM PDT.

“Anne-Mari Kivimäki & Palomylly is an impressive sound mix with stories, archive recordings, jouhikko, double bass, vocals and accordion. Kivimäki’s music has a hypnotic pulse and it’s made for the love of old stories. Kivimäki has gathered her Palomylly band from the musicians on her successful Lakkautettu Kylä (A Closed-Down Village) album.”

Check out the Facebook livestream concert here.

Troy MacGillivray with Sabra MacGillivray - 4:30 PM PDT.

“Troy is a brilliant fiddler, pianist and stepdancer from Nova Scotia.  He’s been featured at many festivals including Celtic Connections in Scotland, East Coast Music Awards, Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton, the Barbados Celtic Festival and the Edinburgh Fiddle Festival.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Thursday, April 2

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Cookie Segelstein with Josh Horowitz - 10:00 AM PDT.

“Founder of Veretski Pass, and fiddler with many other top klezmer bands, Cookie has taught workshops round the world, and has been featured in an ABC documentary and a film starring Robert DeNiro.  Josh founded the band Budowitz and has played with Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Bikel, and accompanied Itzhak Perlman on PBS.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Oshima Brothers - 3:00 PM PDT.

“Raised in a musical family in rural Maine, the brothers have honed a harmony-rich blend of contemporary folk and acoustic pop. On stage, Sean and Jamie create a surprisingly full sound with dynamic vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, octave bass, loops, and percussion. The brothers live in Maine but are often on the road performing, producing music videos, and dancing.”

Check out the Facebook livestream concert here.

Friday, April 3

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest!

Furry Friends Friday

Ever dressed your pet up for the faire? Show us your photos and costume ideas! Or show us your faire-themed fursuit. You do you.

Let’s Get Traditional (The Minstrel Rav’n) - 4:00 PM PDT.

“The Minstrel Rav'n travels the lands Telling Songs and Singing Stories about Taverns, Pirates and Elven Lasses. Songs of Adventure, Drinking... and things a bit on the Naughty Side!”

Check out the Facebook livestream here.

HST (Ed, Lilly & Neil Pearlman) - 4:30 PM PDT.

“HST (Highland Soles Trio) is 3/5 of a family band, with dancer Laura Scott and Jesse on whistle. HST has toured the US and Scotland with new and old tunes in the Scottish tradition.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Saturday, April 4

Gráinne Brady - 12:30 PM PDT.

“Gráinne is an Irish fiddle player from County Cavan in Ireland and currently based in Glasgow where she leads sessions and plays with Top Floor Taivers, string group The Routes Quartet, and Gaeilge/Gàidhlig supergroup LAS.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Pub Crawl - 1:30 PM PDT.

We’ll be hosting a BYOB pub crawl. Keep an eye out for the tag vrf2020 pub crawl for more info. Please follow local drinking laws and drink responsibly!

Costume Contest Judging - 6:00 PM PDT.

Submissions remain open for the Costume Contest until 6:00. Winners will be chosen between 6:00 and 7:00 PDT.

Sunday, April 5

Jenna Reid - 11:30 AM PDT.

“Jenna is a member of the great fiddle bands Blazin' Fiddles, and RANT.  Born & bred in Shetland, she learned fiddle from the late Willie Hunter. Following her music degree, Jenna performed with Dóchas and Deaf Shepherd before joining her current bands.”

Check out the Zoom livestream concert here.

Closing Day

We’re sad to see you go, but we hope to catch you at an IRL faire next season!

[theartofmusicology]

|| Vocal Health 101 

Let's talk vocal health. You've probably heard this before but your voice is a muscle and like the muscles in your body it can be injured and strained from overuse.  So! How do you prevent this from happening? Well there are 3 main aspects of vocal health; awareness, practice, and rest/recovery.

1. Awareness

Being aware of your voice is a great tool to establish as it means you will be able to identify when things are 'off' before they become an even bigger problem.

How do you know when your voice is not healthy?

Has your voice become hoarse or raspy?

Have you lost your ability to hit some high notes when singing?

Does your voice suddenly sound deeper?

Does your throat often feel raw, achy, or strained?

Has it become an effort to talk?

Do you find yourself repeatedly clearing your throat?

If you answer yes to any of these it might be time to take a break!

Another big aspect of being aware of your vocal health is journalling, write down in a practice journal or the notes app of your phone when your voice feels off, how it feels, and any activities that occurred in the days before that may have lead to the vocal fatigue. For example: "June 14th, hoarse throat and mild scratchy feeling. Previous night I went out clubbing and was yelling a lot."

Learning to take care of yourself before things get bad is an important habit to get into.

2. Practice

This refers to what you put into practice in your everyday life that either hinders or helps your voice!

Things to Avoid:

Don't smoke and try to avoid second hand smoke - pretty self explanatory 👀

Avoid spicy foods - spicy foods can cause stomach acid to move into the throat

Avoid mouthwashes that contain alcohol or certain irritation chemicals

Yelling or whispering - just DON'T, irritates the vocal chords in an unsafe way

Don't 'push through' when sick - even if it's tempting to sing full out in rehearsals when your throat is only mildly irritated this can lead to an even larger issue.

Avoid creating muscle tension in your neck - stretch carefully, avoid bending and holding your neck in awkward positions for a long time as it puts stress on your throat

Try not to talk in overly noisy places - this can lead to unnecessary strain

Try not to overuse your voice - avoid speaking or singing when your voice is hoarse or tired.

Don't sing 7 days a week - Start by practicing only every second day and then eventually add until you have only 1 or 2 days off a week. Your voice needs rest days like your body after the gym!

Don't 'push' - Don’t “push and strain” to hit notes. Your voice needs proper support and if the support is not there, then the wrong muscles get involved which causes strain. You are born with a natural range so stick to that! You can work on extending this range but do this safely (1 note at a time) with a teacher.

Avoid alcohol - alcohol doesn't have as bad an effect as smoking might but it is still dehydrating and inflammatory. PLUS the high sugar content of most mixers is also bad for your voice.

Things to Do:

HYDRATE! - water is a singers holy grail (as well as HERBAL teas), a quick tip is to 'hydrate today for tomorrow'. This means drink water today to have healthy vocal chords tomorrow, a quick sip right before your audition will do nothing to ease any long term vocal dehydration so just make sure to be constantly sipping.

Practice good breathing techniques when singing & talking - Make sure you are always support your voice with deep breaths and not relying on your throat alone. Also check that the placement of your sound when talking is healthy and not putting extra strain on your vocal folds.

Eat well - include plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet. These types of foods contain important vitamins but also help keep the mucus membranes that line the throat healthy!

Wash your hands often to prevent getting a cold or the flu - especially with the current pandemic going on...

Get enough sleep - Physical fatigue has a negative effect on voice.

Exercise regularly - Exercise increases stamina and muscle tone and this helps provide good posture and breathing, which are important for singers.

3. Rest & Recovery

As previously mentioned your voice is a muscle that needs time to recover and rest. Just like rest days in your gym routine, your practice routine should include at least one or two rest days. If you are feeling vocally strained it might be time to take a break or go one vocal rest.

There are two types of vocal rest - absolute and relative:

Absolute Vocal Rest - no sound at all, complete silence! This is usually needed for after a serious injury or surgery

Relative Vocal Rest - a reducing of vocal use. This is essential for sustaining your voice in the long term.

Sometimes the choice needs to be made to not sing despite having a rehearsal or audition that day. Don't push through for fear of failure as doing so may result in an even more serious issue!!

To avoid FOMO here are five things you could do instead of sing:

Go over the text of your songs - set intentions, translate any language and annotate your script up!

Clap rhythms - clap out the rhythms of your piece to a metronome to ensure that everything is correct

Breathing Exercises - practice breathing exercises to increase lung capacity or even just to meditate. If you have a flu and it's hard to breathe maybe.. don't do this ?

Study aural & theory - brush up on the nut and bolts of singing, go over your intervals and scales! It can only make you a better musician!!

TAKE A BREAK!!! Seriously just relax the world isn't going to fall apart if your aren't working 24/7, and it'll be harder for your body to recover if you are stressed.

[chrisgoesrock]

Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf (2nd Album US 1962)

In the history of the blues, there has never been anyone quite like the Howlin' Wolf. Six foot three and close to 300 pounds in his salad days, the Wolf was the primal force of the music spun out to its ultimate conclusion. A Robert Johnson may have possessed more lyrical insight, a Muddy Waters more dignity, and a B.B. King certainly more technical expertise, but no one could match him for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.

He was born in West Point, MS, and named after the 21st President of the United States (Chester Arthur). His father was a farmer and Wolf took to it as well until his 18th birthday, when a chance meeting with Delta blues legend Charley Patton changed his life forever. Though he never came close to learning the subtleties of Patton's complex guitar technique, two of the major components of Wolf's style (Patton's inimitable growl of a voice and his propensity for entertaining) were learned first hand from the Delta blues master. The main source of Wolf's hard-driving, rhythmic style on harmonica came when Aleck "Rice" Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson) married his half-sister Mary and taught him the rudiments of the instrument. He first started playing in the early '30s as a strict Patton imitator, while others recall him at decade's end rocking the juke joints with a neck-rack harmonica and one of the first electric guitars anyone had ever seen. After a four-year stretch in the Army, he settled down as a farmer and weekend player in West Memphis, AR, and it was here that Wolf's career in music began in earnest.

By 1948, he had established himself within the community as a radio personality. As a means of advertising his own local appearances, Wolf had a 15-minute radio show on KWEM in West Memphis, interspersing his down-home blues with farm reports and like-minded advertising that he sold himself. But a change in Wolf's sound that would alter everything that came after was soon in coming because when listeners tuned in for Wolf's show, the sound was up-to-the-minute electric. Wolf had put his first band together, featuring the explosive guitar work of Willie Johnson, whose aggressive style not only perfectly suited Wolf's sound but aurally extended and amplified the violence and nastiness of it as well. In any discussion of Wolf's early success both live, over the airwaves, and on record, the importance of Willie Johnson cannot be overestimated.

Wolf finally started recording in 1951, when he caught the ear of Sam Phillips, who first heard him on his morning radio show. The music Wolf made in the Memphis Recording Service studio was full of passion and zest and Phillips simultaneously leased the results to the Bihari Brothers in Los Angeles and Leonard Chess in Chicago. Suddenly, Howlin' Wolf had two hits at the same time on the R&B charts with two record companies claiming to have him exclusively under contract. Chess finally won him over and as Wolf would proudly relate years later, "I had a 4,000 dollar car and 3,900 dollars in my pocket. I'm the onliest one drove out of the South like a gentleman." It was the winter of 1953 and Chicago would be his new home.

When Wolf entered the Chess studios the next year, the violent aggression of the Memphis sides was being replaced with a Chicago backbeat and, with very little fanfare, a new member in the band. Hubert Sumlin proved himself to be the Wolf's longest-running musical associate. He first appears as a rhythm guitarist on a 1954 session, and within a few years' time his style had fully matured to take over the role of lead guitarist in the band by early 1958. In what can only be described as an "angular attack," Sumlin played almost no chords behind Wolf, sometimes soloing right through his vocals, featuring wild skitterings up and down the fingerboard and biting single notes. If Willie Johnson was Wolf's second voice in his early recording career, then Hubert Sumlin would pick up the gauntlet and run with it right to the end of the howler's life.

By 1956, Wolf was in the R&B charts again, racking up hits with "Evil" and "Smokestack Lightnin'." He remained a top attraction both on the Chicago circuit and on the road. His records, while seldom showing up on the national charts, were still selling in decent numbers down South. But by 1960, Wolf was teamed up with Chess staff writer Willie Dixon, and for the next five years he would record almost nothing but songs written by Dixon. The magic combination of Wolf's voice, Sumlin's guitar, and Dixon's tunes sold a lot of records and brought the 50-year-old bluesman roaring into the next decade with a considerable flourish. The mid-'60s saw him touring Europe regularly with "Smokestack Lightnin'" becoming a hit in England some eight years after its American release. Certainly any list of Wolf's greatest sides would have to include "I Ain't Superstitious," "The Red Rooster," "Shake for Me," "Back Door Man," "Spoonful," and "Wang Dang Doodle," Dixon compositions all. While almost all of them would eventually become Chicago blues standards, their greatest cache occurred when rock bands the world over started mining the Chess catalog for all it was worth. One of these bands was the Rolling Stones, whose cover of "The Red Rooster" became a number-one record in England. At the height of the British Invasion, the Stones came to America in 1965 for an appearance on ABC-TV's rock music show, Shindig. Their main stipulation for appearing on the program was that Howlin' Wolf would be their special guest. With the Stones sitting worshipfully at his feet, the Wolf performed a storming version of "How Many More Years," being seen on his network-TV debut by an audience of a few million. Wolf never forgot the respect the Stones paid him, and he spoke of them highly right up to his final days.

Dixon and Wolf parted company by 1964 and Wolf was back in the studio doing his own songs. One of the classics to emerge from this period was "Killing Floor," featuring a modern backbeat and a incredibly catchy guitar riff from Sumlin. Catchy enough for Led Zeppelin to appropriate it for one of their early albums, cheerfully crediting it to themselves in much the same manner as they had done with numerous other blues standards. By the end of the decade, Wolf's material was being recorded by artists including the Doors, the Electric Flag, the Blues Project, Cream, and Jeff Beck. The result of all these covers brought Wolf the belated acclaim of a young, white audience. Chess' response to this was to bring him into the studio for a "psychedelic" album, truly the most dreadful of his career. His last big payday came when Chess sent him over to England in 1970 to capitalize on the then-current trend of London Session albums, recording with Eric Clapton on lead guitar and other British superstars. Wolf's health was not the best, but the session was miles above the earlier, ill-advised attempt to update Wolf's sound for a younger audience.

As the '70s moved on, the end of the trail started coming closer. By now Wolf was a very sick man; he had survived numerous heart attacks and was suffering kidney damage from an automobile accident that sent him flying through the car's windshield. His bandleader Eddie Shaw firmly rationed Wolf to a meager half-dozen songs per set. Occasionally some of the old fire would come blazing forth from some untapped wellspring, and his final live and studio recordings show that he could still tear the house apart when the spirit moved him. He entered the Veterans Administration Hospital in 1976 to be operated on, but never survived it, finally passing away on January 10th of that year.

But his passing did not go unrecognized. A life-size statue of him was erected shortly after in a Chicago park. Eddie Shaw kept his memory and music alive by keeping his band, the Wolf Gang, together for several years afterward. A child-education center in Chicago was named in his honor and in 1980 he was elected to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. In 1991, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A couple of years later, his face was on a United States postage stamp. Live performance footage of him exists in the CD-ROM computer format. Howlin' Wolf is now a permanent part of American history.

01. Shake for Me   02. Red Rooster Howlin' Wolf   03. You'll Be Mine   04. Who's Been Talkin'   05. Wang-Dang-Doodle   06. Little Baby   07. Spoonful   08. Going Down Slow Oden   09. Down in the Bottom   10. Back Door Man   11. Howlin' for My Baby Howlin' Wolf   12. Tell Me

[lauren-scharf]

The Mathematics of Memory

The Mathematics of Memory

An Imitation of Form of Eula Biss’ “The Pain Scale”

By Lauren Scharf

For Grandpa Will

0---

An advanced fifth grade math class told me of the unique qualities of the number zero. Nothing can be divided by zero. There’s no way to carry out such an equation. I fantasized what it would be like if I could find a way.

 I am sitting on a plane to New York, preparing myself to be coddled by parents, grandparents, and cousins, who have been counting down the days until my visit, and they’ve finally reached zero.

 An underachiever in all other subjects, I excelled in math because of my ability to remember things through numbers, as though their values and patterns made up an alternative language.

 Can zero be divided by zero? I think of this and ask my high school A.P. Calculus teacher. Her quirky response explains that black holes are where God divided by zero. I immediately imagine writing zero over zero on the next exam, and watching the equation animate to a swirling vacuum that sucks the surrounding scribbles and equations inside, leaving a blank page.

 In a deck of cards, there is no zero. Each card has some worth. The closest suitable are the Jokers, which belong to no suit and are commonly discarded before a game is dealt.

 The New York excursion is for my youngest cousin’s Bat Mitzvah, or “Bas Mitzvah,” as my Grandpa says it. It’s the last of this generation, and there is yet to be a Bar Mitzvah. Grandpa makes a regular joke at reunions like these. “Where are all the boys?” There are no grandsons. The Scharf family name stops here.

 Any number over itself is one, except the infuriating zero.

 ---1---

My sister taught me fractions when I was little. I didn’t ask her to. She also liked to correct and poke fun at my childish mispronunciations. “Count-culator” made sense to me for the purpose it served, as well as “Old-timers.”

 “It’s ‘Alzheimer’s,’ Lauren.” She had to write the word out for me before I caught my mistake.

 An ace holds a discontinuous value in a deck of cards. Aces high means eleven. Aces low means one.

 I was a year old when I took my first plane trip, once again to New York. I don’t remember a thing about it but home videos show the brown shag carpet and gold furniture in my grandparents’ house just as it all looks today. Nothing’s changed there.

 My grandpa taught me how to gamble. I was the only first grader to recognize the checkers pieces as poker chips.

 ---2---

My favorite children’s game was Memory: a deck of cards, usually with pictures if meant for a younger age, is set up in rows and columns, face down, and turned up two at a time in an attempt to find a match. I was unbeatable. My parents and their friends were so impressed by how quick I was to recall a pair and pick up techniques. “You have to pick up the one you think it is before the one you’re sure of,” I would tip-off to my opponent.

 Grandpa’s game is called 31. Much like 21 but with an extra card in each hand. Players take turns picking a card from the deck and discarding; if the top of the discard pile follows suit of the next player’s hand, they may pick that card instead, but forfeit the secrecy of their suit in hand.

 The higher the card number, the higher its value. Face cards are ten. Aces are high.

 No one ever picks a two from the discard pile. It’s not worth the risk, not to mention the subsequent mockery from other players.

 “A deuce for my favorite Grandpa!” One of my favorite things about 31 is playing just ahead of my Grandpa so I can discard all of my worst and lowest cards, simply to catch the looks on his face.

 Grandpa has my eyes; or I suppose I have his. They light up and widen when we’re caught by surprise, but squint into slits when we smile, more so if we’re laughing. His eyes are a little more hidden among wrinkles and behind a thick pair of bifocals.

 Memory storage is marked by two stages: long term and short term. It’s difficult to draw a line between the two. How long is long and how short is short? My understanding is that the long term is for the firsts. First kiss, first pet, first day of kindergarten. While short term is for the lasts. Last night, last Tuesday, last book you read.

 In one of her first games of 31, my sister jumped from the table and shouted “Thirty-two! Thirty-two!” She was convinced she had two aces of the same suit.  

 Thirty-one is the highest score you can get in 31 (fittingly). An ace and two tens, all one suit. This hand ends the round instantly and every player but the holder of 31 surrenders a chip to the middle. A player can also end the round by knocking with what they believe to be the highest hand, or at least not the lowest. The lowest hand must pay up.

 My sister had two aces alright. One, hearts, the other, diamonds. We made her pay double.

 ---3---

Some experts separate memory storage into three stages, adding the “Sensory stage” to long term and short term. The sensory stage acts as a filter to determine what information will pass into short term, and perhaps eventually long term, or if it will be stored at all.

 Information is only in this stage for a flash of a second, like an exposure to film. That kind of information, however, is preserved through a different medium.

 One of my first vivid memories is of a day in preschool when my mom was late picking me up. I couldn’t tell time but I knew when the hands formed an “L” pointing to the number three, my mom was due to walk through the door.

 This was most likely not the first time she ran behind, but it was the first time I noticed. I developed a tickle in my throat, and as the angle of that “L” turned more acute, the tickle progressed to more of a scratch. I wanted my mommy. At three years old, this was the first time I would recognize a common sickness coming over me.

 My family took a trip to Rhode Island when I was three. My mom had to tell me that; I had no recollection of being in Rhode Island. To me it was just another trip to the east coast to see family. When on the beach I saw my grandpa’s jolly sized belly and asked why he had an inny belly button while I had an outty. He told me it was to make a nice home for the spiders that lived in there. That, I remember.

 The most infuriating hand to pick up in 31 is three tens, each a different suit. Thirty points altogether yet the hand is valued only at ten. The first card I pick up from the deck determines what I’m collecting. A couple times, this has been a fourth ten of the remaining suit. At some point, I’ll have no choice but to discard a high card, reluctantly assisting my opponents.

 ---4---

I’m not the best at Memory anymore. Ever since a childhood friend became the first to beat me, I’ve been on something of a cognitive decline. We lost touch years ago, but I remember her birthday was four days before mine.

 Many fail to see the pattern in dates, which are frequently the first details to fade from memory, despite that each presents its own reminder in the form of a reoccurring anniversary.

 They also separate into four seasons.

 All of the cousins and I were born in summer; six birthdays fitting perfectly from late June to early September.

 Memory retrieval in the human mind is broken up into four common components: verbal recall, aural recall, visual recall, and tactile recall.

 Retrieval through speaking, retrieval through hearing, retrieval through seeing, and retrieval through touching or writing.

 Numerical recall is perhaps too rare or vague to classify.

 Grandpa’s birthday is in March. My dad says he’s 88 years old, but I don’t think he’s remembering correctly. Like father, like son.

 The four suits of a traditional deck of playing cards are spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts.

 These suits originated from the French style of playing cards and, while not the first, they were the cheapest to manufacture, and thus the most popular.

 Other countries alter, slightly, the name and appearance of certain suits. For instance, clubs are acorns in Germany and Italo-Spanish or Latin decks have cups in lieu of hearts. These discrepancies are mostly found in cartomancy, or tarot cards.

 Whatever the icon, each suit follows a pattern rooted in the feudal system: Spades for nobility, clubs for peasants, diamonds for merchants, and hearts for members of the clergy.

 The suits also consistently associate with riches and romance, adversity and agriculture. Can you find each match?

 The four elements, earth, water, fire, and air tie into the four suits as well, though this pattern is more obscure and it is arguable which suit belongs to which element.

 ---5---

When my dad told me of the changes in conversation with my grandpa, how he asks the same questions every five minutes, I shrugged it off as a natural consequence of aging. I’ll believe it when I hear it for myself.

 My memory runs on aural recall.

 Some card decks hold five different suits, the fifth tying in the classical element Aether, a void or space, dark matter, pertaining to the space above the terrestrial sphere.

 In mythology, Aether is the open sky where only the gods live and the pure air which only the gods breathe; heaven.

 Aristotle names Aether as the fifth element but noted that it lacked the qualities of the other four in that it could be neither hot, cold, wet, nor dry, and its only recordable change was in density.

 Much like a black hole.

 An estimated 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, the number is expected to hit 13.4 million.

 ---6---

Almost 60% of Americans think Alzheimer’s is genetic.

 Like eyes, or a smile, or a family name.

 No matter how random they may seem in the world of arithmetic, numbers consistently go hand in hand with formula. Strategy requires such a pattern to ease the task of memorization. This is how some people are able to memorize Pi to a thousand digits, if they really have the time and patience to do so.

 My sixth grade locker combination was 24-6-42. Two plus four equals six minus four equals two.

 The combination of my locker in 12th grade is a blur.

 ---7---

Seven is my lucky number, which sounds very cliché, but I picked it for my favorite month, which has my birthday, July. The 10th of July if you’d like to remember it.

 Seventeen is my sister’s lucky number, chosen, I think, for the day her birthday falls on. But then her name also has seventeen letters. Then again so does mine.

 Therapies show that keeping the brain engaged with patterns and puzzles delays (though does not prevent) memory loss and confusion.

 All these years Grandpa was teaching the family how to gamble, I should have explained to him the grids and patterns and tips and tricks I found in Memory.

 Just a reminder, my birthday is the 10th of July. Seven/ten. Seven plus ten is seventeen. Seventeen letters are in my name. If you didn’t remember it before, perhaps you will now.

 ---8---

Alzheimer’s starts in patients when certain forms of the gene apolipoprotein E, or ApoE, promote the formation of an abnormal amyloid precursor protein, or APP. APP clumps together to form plaques that break down tau proteins, whose purpose it is to stabilize a neuron’s structural integrity. Once broken down, the neuron dies, leaving a hole that disrupts the electrical signals traveling among the nerve.

 Much like a black hole.

 Tau ÷ (APP × ApoE) = x over zero. I found it.

 When film is overexposed, it processes as a white, almost heavenly void or space.

 Not only is there no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there’s also no way to test absolutely positive for the disease until an autopsy is performed. I think that’s a bit too late.

 Unlike a three year old with a sore throat, my Grandpa is 88, give or take, and he doesn’t know if he’s sick.

 Screenings, recall tests, and family member reports promise 80 to 90 percent accuracy.

 It’s getting there.

---9---

I once read about a photographer who developed a journal documenting the final three years of his father’s life. The old man lacked all short term memory storage and would ask his son over and over where his mother was, as though no one told him of her death.

 Tired of watching his father’s heart break again and again, the photographer joined the game of pretend, and told his father she’d simply gone to Paris to join the circus. The pretending continued until the father’s death at ninety-nine.

 Once parties and brunches that follow the very last Bat Mitzvah die down, the family finally gets a chance to crowd around the kitchen table for a good old game of 31.

 “Where are all the boys?” He asks this more and more these days. I want to think that he believes it’s funnier with repetition, but part of me wonders if maybe he doesn’t remember asking just minutes before. Another part wonders, and worries, if he’s really not sure of whether or not he has grandsons.

 They’ve gone to Paris and joined the circus, Grandpa.

 ---10

Grandpa knocks with the confident gambler’s attitude he’ll probably always have.

 The family each takes one last turn before we reveal our hands.

 Grandpa has three tens; thirty. However his hand is only worth ten. He’s forgotten the suits.

 This game, this last game, goes in my long term memory.

[glenngaylord]

Haneke Comes Early – Film Review: Speak No Evil ★★★★1/2

A short time ago, I was coming home from dinner with a friend when a young man with a pronounced limp walked towards us, his little dog in tow. Just as he drew close, he dropped his phone on the sidewalk. With my natural instincts kicking in, I picked up his phone, returned it and asked if he was okay. He muttered something about injuring his leg recently, thanked us, and we all continued on our way. It wasn’t until we returned to my car that my friend realized his bag of possessions, which he usually hanged from the back handles of his wheelchair, was no longer there. Retracing our steps, I found the stolen and now completely empty bag right by the spot we had encountered Mr. Dogwalker. Clearly he had a partner in crime who would swoop up quietly from behind while I was helping out the first guy. With my kindness used against me, I have since discovered my vulnerabilities, vowing to increase my awareness when confronted with such situations again. I’m not saying I’ll never again help, for example, an elderly person cross the street, but I’m not NOT saying that either!

I bring all of this up because the new film by Danish filmmaker Christian Tafdrup, Speak No Evil, delves into the nuances of niceties and our ability to avoid seeming rude even when faced with increasingly dire situations. This slow burning, expertly calibrated story caused me to reflect on my own blindspots. Co-written with his brother, Mads Tafdrup, the film begins with a somewhat tightly wound Danish couple, Bjørn and Louise (Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch) on a Tuscan vacation with their sweet daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg). There they meet a more gregarious Dutch couple, Patrick and Karin (Fedja van Huêt and Karina Smulders) with their sullen, withdrawn son Abel (Marius Damslev). Abel, they explain, has a condition in which he was born without a fully developed tongue, which affects his speaking abilities. The families become fast friends, and once home again, Bjørn and Louise receive an invitation from their “vacation friends” to come to rural Holland for a long weekend. While Louise thinks it’s a little odd, since they barely know them, Bjørn seems a little more excited by the adventurousness of the idea, so off they go. “What’s the worst that could happen?” a friend of theirs asks.

Not the subtlest of questions when feelings of dread creep into the first frames of this movie. Right off the bat, the score by Sune Kølster blares melodramatically like some film noir from the 1950s playing over normally benign images. Upon arrival, things seem increasingly off, but in quiet ways which make you question whether or not our guests are perhaps a little too uptight. What could seems like honest misunderstandings, such as Patrick forgetting Louise was a vegetarian, or noticing our hosts utilizing aggressive parenting skills, force you to wonder if we’re looking at cultural differences or maybe something more insidious. Add a subtle hint of homoeroticism between Bjørn and Patrick, and you are left wondering which direction each scene is headed, knowing full well it’s not going to be pleasant.

Without spoiling anything further, Speak No Evil examines how human graciousness can often leave one vulnerable to exploitation. As such, it shares its DNA with such films as George Sluizer's The Vanishing, Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers and especially Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Direct visual and aural references abound while continually challenging the audience to wonder where they would draw the line if they found themselves in increasingly uncomfortable situations, however harmless they may seem.  Like its predecessors, the film will not appeal to everyone as it pushes itself further and further into darker territory.

There is, however, no denying the craft on display. Tafdrup not only has a gift for unsettling images, complicated dynamics, and slowly turning screws on the story, but he also has guided his quartet of lead actors to deliver incredible performances. Burian’s Bjørn does most of the heavy lifting as we watch his initial excitement wearing away. It’s a step-by-step master class in how to expose layer upon layer of a character. Koch gives Louise a brittle energy, fully justifying her ever-increasing discomfort and anger. While Smulders has a quieter role, she perfectly finds just the right bone-chilling notes to prevent her from getting upstaged while van Huêt's showiness and bluster make for an unforgettable portrayal, especially in the film’s many set pieces.

At times the film loses some credibility, especially during its later stages, but Tafdrup stays so focused on his characters with the subjugation and micro-aggressions always taking center stage, one carefully rendered reaction at a time. It may be the feel terrible movie of 2022, but as a cautionary tale, one cannot deny the valuable lessons learned and the blazing talent from both sides of the camera. Not only will I never forget this film, I will never, as my parents taught me, take candy from strangers.   

[guardianoftime]

“Datte Atashi no Hero” Adapted English Lyrics

So I recently got into Boku no Hero Academia and I love it. I particularly love this ED theme from season 2, which only increased exponentially when I found out it was written for my OTP.

There’s only 1 full English cover of this song and a few handfuls of TV sized versions, but all of them took the stance of the song being Ochako to Deku. SO, in light of the actual intent, I decided to write these adapted lyrics for it instead.

I’d normally prefer to try and have some audio to go with these lyrics when I post them, but I don’t have the money rn to commission for this one, plus it would take a lot of time and I want to share it now. I was originally just going to do these quick and share them for fun, but I decided my fellow BakuDeku shippers deserve nothing less than perfection, especially on this song. I have more things to say about this song but I’ll put them below the lyrics. Please enjoy!

Verse 1: You've never been one to simply give up, just the thought's unthinkable Although I'm sure, despite that fact, you have days where you struggle too

Verse 2: Just once in a lifetime we're faced with hardships that we just can't beat If it's too much, if you feel you're all alone, I want to face it with you!

Pre-Chorus: Though we may have just one life, my lives with you can be limitless I had nothing in this life but then you gave it meaning--now I'm strong!

Chorus: Again! Again! Again I'll say it, you're amazing don't you know? So keep standing your ground and fight, you give me courage to do what's right Hurray! Hurray! Now every piece 'n' part of me calls out to you! When I'm looking in your fierce eyes, I feel my courage come to life Let's run towards our future, show me the best finale!

Verse 3: Is this fine? Going on like this, can we journey just for now? Although I'm sure, because it's us, it will be hard and frustrating too

Verse 4: Just once in a thousand years are those born with foresight and hindsight We're not like them, but despite that and all the odds, we want to get through this wall!

Pre-Chorus: You're brash, rude and impulsive, and the world crowns you the king of fools But who am I to talk since I'm the fool always by your foolish side

Chorus: Forward! Forward! Keep pressing forward on this journey of life If you need a break it's okay, we'll run forever on this way Hurray! Hurray! I'm singing loudly a cheer that's just for you! Let's show the world what we're made of with the miracle we create It's exciting what future waits, so let's run towards it!

[Instrumental]

Bridge: With our many tales of failure, and our past selves we couldn't love, Just by embracing them, we are strong!

Pre-Chorus: Not yet, not yet, I haven't felt your power, but I can see it now So let's overcome this great wall, laugh with me on the other side

Outro: Again! Again! Again I'll say it, you're amazing don't you know? So keep standing your ground and fight, you give me courage to do what's right Hurray! Hurray! Now every piece 'n' part of me calls out to you! When I'm looking in your fierce eyes, I feel my courage come to life As I look in your eyes I feel my courage come alive Let's run towards our future, show me the best finale

After all, you're still my hero!

To the absolute best of my ability, I can guarantee these are singable with the official instrumental. Anyone’s free to use my lyrics if they’d like to attempt to sing them, I only ask to be shown the result!

This song gave me so much trouble X_X. There were a LOT of parts where the written lyrics would have a certain number of syllables, but the way it was sung would result in a syllable count that was lower than the written Japanese suggested, so I had to constantly be revising lines and accommodating for those parts in the song. Definitely a tough challenge. It tested some of my aural comprehension for Japanese too.

Because these are adapted lyrics there are many parts that differ from the translation. Wherever possible I tried to stick as close to the translation as I possibly could. I even got some help from the dude who translated it to ensure I was understanding things right.

Though in some parts I also tweaked the wording to make things more obvious. Like, the pre-chorus talking about fools. In Japanese it’s obvious but somewhat vague that he’s talking about Bakugou, so in this adaptation I just tweaked those lines to make it even more obvious and it worked out well imo.

As far as the title and last line of this song go, while I was writing these I saw at least 5 different titles for it from different places. I compromised between the one the translation I was following used and one of the ones I saw which had this be “Still My Hero”. So this adaptation would be “After All, You’re Still My Hero”.

[huma888podcast]

Aural Assembly: Artistic Statement

Aural Assembly: Echoing Life-Worlds

Interdisciplinary research requires not only the transgression of different fields of study, but can be viewed as the very questioning of the relation of subject and object, self and other, of concept and affect, in the active pursuit of knowledge and understanding.

Pairing the exploration of ephemerality as a way to engage and expand the relationship of interdisciplinarity, with soundscapes in a non-narrative and non-linear style, a podcast can become not only the discussion of a subject by means of words and discourse, but an (albeit short) engagement with relationality and aurality as epistemology itself. Recording soundscapes of our direct environment, pairing these with elements of found sounds, recordings of media or occasional poetics creates the fruitful tension of inference and interferences: at once an argument or idea is carried forward (to infer) in the modes of listening and sense-making as logocentric animals trying to gauge and utilize, to understand and categorize sound; while the idiosyncrasies of sound, its incidental and fleeting nature in the cycles of occurrence, reoccurrence and rhythmic breakages create interferences and epistemic-noise. Aurality that disregards “sense” for the current timespace of listening, unique and again living only in relation of subject and object, turning ephemeral, dissipating once the experiences cease to occur but binding in a transformative mode of kairos.

In creating different “Assignments” the group explored the ability of sound-making and recording as a means to engage with each other's life-worlds. That is, the active and sounding environment of one's own individual hearing and listening (passive/active), shimmering between specificity and everyday similarities. The group’s makeup creates a unique line of interferences/ inferences: taking up the theme of research and life during the CoViD 19 pandemic; listening through different levels of lockdown and protests across the political spectrum; hearing three different countries and through four different sonic approaches; listening to each other and understanding each other stretch over space, positionality and academic backgrounds. This might sound like interference as in a simple game of broken telephone, trying to echo and reiterate common themes and auditory cues, but it also builds a different relation to a shared life-world and mutual aural existence. For instance, we went from childhood memories to experiences of colorism, mothering and loss to political outrage within the span of two creation cycles.

Our aim is not only to create an intimacy within our group and our individual works, but to explore sub themes within the overarching focus on soundscapes during the pandemic, and in so doing resonate with the listeners of the podcast. Taking up these different relationalities, sounds (and soundscapes) as non-verbal communications of lived timespace can bridge the divides between us as powerful actors, creating a living narrative for listeners to follow. The self will always be inscribed in the recordings, incidents and editing might flow apart or together in the listening experiences of the audience, with their own relation being born in the process of encountering the piece at hand. In these movements the idea of static messages becomes alleviated and transformative: the affective nature of sound, the shaping of pure energy paired with the ability to communicate distilled emotion and situatedness via sounds, creates an active knowing for us and the listeners in turn. In creating a cohesive fifteen-minute experience while also enlarging this with our research work in the form of a Tumblr, padlet and soundcloud sites, references and textual resources become available while giving the listeners the agency to deepen and completely transform their own trajectory – giving the possibility to create their personal  “podcast” of sorts.

Post-scriptum: in entering the editing process for this 15 min montage, we came upon more than one ethical crisis. What had first been delineated as spaces, started to feel like rifts, then chasms. Questions of collectivity came through in questioning leadership, representativity, agency and choice. What does it mean for us to highlight violence? When does editing out become harsh, brutal even? Are we sublimating dissonance when advocating for unity? What does letting go mean for in fact wanting to hold on, tighter? We spoke louder across these distances, as if asking the same question over again: can you hear me. For some of us this has begun to feel like so much more than a project. It is about life under COVID. It is assembly, and it is dispersal.

What you are listening to is ultimately one take among many.

Subtheme Jayanthan Sriram: Breathing in Times of CoViD

As an academic working on olfaction and the epistemic value of smells, working with sound encompasses the making and disintegration of these relations via ephemerality. Following a modal anthropology as proposed by Francois Laplantine, while olfaction and smelling things break the relation in a mode of internalization, the inextricability of sounding-self and sounding-other(ness), sound and listening perpetuate similar delimitations of hearing and sounding, being in sound, sound itself and dealing with the eventfulness of something that is mostly regarded as the antithesis to knowledge formations of visuality and written language.

The exploration of olfaction via sound becomes an issue of translatability. A common denominator of sound and smell, however, is the air we breathe. The simplicity of an autonomous action, one that builds the very essence of bodily existence, becomes messy and contested during the pandemic and beyond. As protests for Black Lives repeat the dying words of those lives taken by executive force, “I Can't Breathe” turns to the disillusioned notion of those that feel their freedom pressured and their sovereignty questioned by lockdown regulations. Air and the common air we breathe becomes a contested field: The medium of an airborne virus and therefore the probable health hazard, the lived necessity taken by racist actions and the perceived source of defiance against the confines of state regulation and obscure power interested in leaning into conspiracies against white and western supremacy. Can a recording of this struggle for breath make sense of the times, or serve as the mere invitation for understanding the divides that have taken a different turn during a pandemic? Can a moment like the one we are living, that attacks the very nature of relating to one another, bring insight into connections of communities and society that have been under attack all along?

List of audio used:

Spoken excerpt: Wilkerson, Isabel (2020), Caste - The Lies That Divide Us. London: Penguin Books. p. 18.

Excerpts of Anti-COVID Regulation Demos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1YyrolRZY (Courtesy of Spiegel TV) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf7fRGI_7eo (Courtesy of BILD)

Recordings of Guitar and Voice by Jayanthan Sriram

Excerpt from The Simpsons “Boy-Scoutz´n the Hood” (1993) and “Lisa´s Rival” (1994). Courtesy of FOX.

Excerpt of “Lil Diamond Boy” by Lil Yachty from Lil Boat 3.5 (2020). Courtesy of Capital / Quality Control.

Excerpt of “Many Jewels Surround the Crown” by Prurient from Bermuda Drain (2011). Courtesy of Hydra Head Records.

Excerpt of “Sleeping In” by Jesu from Terminus (2020). Courtesy of Avalanche Records.

Excerpt of “Between The World and Me” (2020), directed by Kamilah Forbes. Courtesy of Warner Media / HBO

Subtheme Amanda Gutierrez: Walking as a collective in Times of CoViD

Voice over:

Judith Butler's text, Gender Politics and the Right to Appear (2015), informed my work about the meaning of collective walking in the public space as a political alliance. In her book, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, she exposes the concept of "we" as a collective body that spatially voices the challenges of exclusion that have been experienced under conditions of oppression. For Butler, the performative action of taking public space as an act of resistance and solidarity reads as follows:

Each "I" brings the "we" along as he or she enters or exits that door, finding oneself in an unprotected enclosure or exposed out there on the street. We might say that there is a group, if not an alliance, walking there, too, whether or not they are anywhere to be seen. It is, of course, a singular person who walks there, who takes the risk of walking there, but it is also the social category that traverses that particular gait and walk, that singular movement in the world; and if there is an attack, it targets the individual and the social category at once. (2015, p. 51-52)

Thus, the idea of "walking with with" is a crucial tool for collective recognition and a performative act of enunciation, an act of speech that we can exercise in space. As a filmmaker, the virtual space could be an extension of the public space, an intersection that I am trying to find in these soundscapes.

However, how can we do it from the interior of our houses? Keeping us safe from being infected by a virus?

I did this performative exercise, please join me interacting with the sound:

Experiment on aural performance, can be heard in the minute 12:17 on the soundtrack.

Subtheme Koby Rogers Hall: Life and Death in Reproductive Labour

In the seminal book Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People, the authors argue for an interpretation of disaster as a complex process that is socially, politically, environmentally and economically constructed, as opposed to an event caused by an external agent (Bankoff, Frerks & Hilhorst, 2013). Correspondingly, the concept of “structural vulnerability” is used within the social sciences as a method to analyze the varying capacities of communities to deal with hazards, based on their social positionality; vulnerabilities result from an individual’s position within local hierarchies and broader power relationships. This approach to vulnerability differs greatly from others that seek to naturalize an individual’s ability to cope as a result of internal causes. 

(Henaway, 2020)

MY WORKING WILL BE THE WORK.

- Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Manifesto for Maintenance Art

The soundscapes work of the past four months has been an experiment in sounding, listening, and wondering, of being heard in a time of being unseen. As Dwayne Donald (2012) unravels in his work on a decolonizing research sensibility, our stories are held in tension as they display relationality and difference around difficult concerns. “The line which a story follows is not straight, logical, step by step. It varies from life to life. Most often, it zigzags, as if seeking out the spot for a breakthrough” (Novak, 1978, p.53).

In this year since my first child’s birth, a year of pandemic, of public outcry, of climate crisis on an ever-consuming scale, the violence of inequities for those of us who recognise them well have been forced to the forefront of our being. They say this economic crisis is ‘different’, in that it will set mothers back a generation between care work and the loss of any employment gains (Cohen, 2020; Adams-Prassl, 2020). As I do another load of diapers in what is essentially a broken laundry machine – having been asked to bear far beyond its load capacity - I am reminded of how my dreams of late feel so disjointed, and that disruption feels so familiar. “Everything I say is art is art. Everything I do is Art is Art.” (Ukeles, 1969, p.2).

The rage in the quietude is palpable. And so in sounding with my colleagues across locations, in conversing across ‘tasks’ we have given each other, I see the juxtaposition of our daily reproductive lives and labour. There are gaps between two sounds, two spaces, and we are left to negotiate in relation to this empty space. We are asked to “hold these understandings in tension without the need to resolve, assimilate, or incorporate” (Donald, 20102, p.534). The distances I feel from the people I organise with are felt stronger and stronger every day – mothering and organising, worker and consumer, the privilege of working and so feeling remotely. These distinct fields are not only removed from one another, but they further vulnerabilise us, structurally, by making the vast expanses already between us viscerally clear. When Judith Butler asks if precarity can be a unifying force, what do we risk losing in this assumption of unity? What are these soundscapes ‘trying to do’, if not be seen, then heard? Are we, am I, in fact grievable? (Butler, 2015, p.47).

A distanced visit with a friend and organiser tells me of ‘essential workers’, immigrant and migrant workers, demonstrating daily during the pandemic because they have to. In their words, “I have to be here, otherwise people will let me die.” (Henaway, in conversation, June 2020). Linda Tuhiwai Smith asserts that we need to think of research methodology as resistance, “a thoughtful engagement with these contradictions by providing a way to plan, conceptualize, strategize, and make cogent various forms of resistance to the logic of colonialism.” (1999, p.38) For those of us who are made to feel expendable, the ones who show up when the shit hits the fan, we know who we are – this is a moment of dignity and overflowing rage. With death comes endings, and as the contours of this world face their own forms of decay, there are those of us at the edges who find comfort in this, knowing that we breathe life anew.

Sub-theme Raphaëlle Bessette-Viens: feeling around

“What does your life sound like?” I asked you. “It sounds a bit like this, here, listen …” And when we listened to each other I felt my boredom, anxiousness and loneliness was shared. Some of us thought it was an ideal period to work, others felt too dispersed to concentrate properly. Micro social spheres; partners, children. A few times we shared being surrounded by collective appearing bodies; some skeptical or paranoid when they disbelieved the existence of the virus, some out of collective outrage when black bodies continued being assaulted by police officers.

Fear. Around me concern for sustaining life amidst an overwhelmed medical system co-exists with the perpetuation of fear of the ‘stranger’ (Ahmed, 2014): police violence, the criminilization of anti-islamophobic organisations, the expulsion and chasing of undocumented persons into invisibility. Being inside, feeling non-apparent. The aggregation of bodies that collect together in order to state their existence (Butler, 2015), to which I belong to, is in intermission. Spilling over. There was a protest and I saw all those familiar faces I hadn't seen in a while and walked and screamed and sang with them. Anger and happiness overlapped.

Affective contagion (Stewart, 2007, p.16). When I heard you say you were feeling anxious, and that you were having a hard time with distanced communication, it made me feel it was okay to say it too. I edited-in my piece that I gave back to you, to signify it. Did you hear it? Echoing. “... hmm that reminds me of”; the surfacing of a thought or a memory. Hearing your child made me think of me as a child and then I learned about your childhood. I heard the sounds of our bodies in our confined spaces, in relation with others in this space, in relation with the exterior world by mediation, being called-in to your world with your voices. Our echoes felt like intimate refrains: “(…) repetition that underscores, overscores, rescores in a social aesthetics (…)” (Stewart, 2010, p.339). We worked together, as Guattari suggests, with ways closer to the ethico-aesthetic than of scientificism (1995). Aggregating, week after week, our soundscapes and our thoughts, we practiced our attunement to one another, to our collective. “What does your life sound like right now?”

List of references

Adams-Prassl, A.,  Boneva, T., Golin, M., Rauh, C. (2020). Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: Evidence from Real Time Surveys. Cambridge-INET Working Paper Series, (18)

Ahmed, S. (2014). The Cultural Politics of Emotion (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Bankoff, G., Frerks, G., Hilhorst, D. (Eds.). (2013). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People. New York: Routledge.

Bertelsen, L., Murphie, A. (2010). An ethics of everyday infinities and powers: Felix Guattari on affect and the refrain. In Gregg, M., J. Seigworth, G. (Eds.). The affect theory reader (1st ed. pp. 138-157). London and Durham: Duke University Press.

Butler, J. (2015). Gender politics and the right to appear. In Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (pp. 24–65). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Cohen, P. (2020, Nov. 19). Recession with a Difference: Women Face Special Burden. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/business/economy/women-jobs-economy-recession.html

Donald, D. (2012). Indigenous Métissage: a decolonizing research sensibility. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(5), 533-555.

Guattari, F. (1995). Chaosmosis: An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm (Bains, P., Pefanis, J., Trans.) Sydney: Power. (Original work published 1992)

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., Green, J. (2013). Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. New York: NYU City Press.

Henaway, M. (2020). The Borders that Define our Vulnerability. Terms, semi-annual program. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University. http://ellengallery.concordia.ca/programming/online/terms/?lang=en

Howes, D. (2003). Sensual relations. Engaging the senses in culture and social theory. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Howes, D. (ed.) (2005). Empire of the senses. The sensual culture reader. Oxford & New York: Berg.

Laplantine, F. (2015). The life of the senses, Introduction to a modal anthropology (Furniss. J. Trans.). London: Bloomsbury. (Original work published 2005)

Novak, M. (1978). Ascent of the mountain, flight of the dove: An invitation to religious studies. New York: Harper & Row.

Reynolds, S. (2011). Retromania. Pop culture's addiction to its own past. London: Faber and Faber Ltd.

Smith, L.T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press.

Stewart, K. (2007). Ordinary affects. London and Durham: Duke University Press.

Stewart, K. (2010). Afterword, Worlding refrains. In Gregg, M., J. Seigworth, G. (Eds.). The affect theory reader (1st ed. pp. 339-353). London and Durham: Duke University Press.

Ukeles, M.L. (1969). Manifesto for maintenance art, 1969! Proposal for an exhibition: “care”, 1969.

Voegelin, S. (2010). Listening to sound and silence. Towards a philosophy of sound art. London, New York: Continuum.

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8 Facts That Nobody Told You About Dark Angel Paintings - Dark Angel Paintings

The titular appearance of the brand and gender-bending, time-traveling and era-encompassing Orlando - from Virginia Woolf's seminal, absurd assignment of biographical fiction - served as an on-the-zeitgeist and adapted accountable amount for the abolitionist and advocate new opera which debuted at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) on December 8, 2019, and fabricated its final bow on the break of Winter Solstice. This history-making apple premiere apparent a aloft about-face for the acclaimed European opera abode - it is the aboriginal assignment by a changeable artisan and librettist, Olga Neuwirth (co-penned with Franco-American columnist and columnist Catherine Filloux), to be commissioned by administrator Dominique Meyer for the Wiener Staatsoper in over 150 years. And not aloof any woman, Neuwirth is an Austrian-born anomalous woman with an edgy, anarchistic jailbait bedrock affection and access to her art. At a time back we are about to access the abutting decade and the chat of the year, according to Merriam-Webster, is "they" (implying the adopted non-binary pronoun that signifies neither macho nor changeable gender accurately but about a aggregate of both), there hardly seems a added acceptable amount than that of Orlando to aqueduct in a new era of art and activism, alike in the apple of opera which tends to feel set in its agency and adhere to traditions of the past.

8 8d Diy Full Square Diamond Painting Accessories - Dark .. | dark angel paintings Woolf's Orlando may not acquire been the aboriginal or the alone (and best actually not the last) atypical to analyze the role of gender and how men and women fit into society, but it is acceptable one of the ancient to investigate those circuitous discoveries aural a distinct achievement who has accomplished both. For Orlando was built-in a man in Elizabethan England and wakes up one day magically adapted into a woman who continues their canicule in the changeable anatomy through the abreast (‍then 1928) afterwards accident a faculty of their aloft cocky and memories of achievement a man. The observations of the similarities and differences amid the two es Woolf presents from the apperception of Orlando are arresting and authority greatly true, from the acutely apparent musings about attire, fashion, and vanity to acquaintance of added needs, expressions of animosity and the activated roles one is accepted to play, like it or not. It's a airing ten thousand afar in another's shoes (which are abundant added afflictive for a woman) array of chance that could able-bodied be admired as the aboriginal aloft (if unofficial) auto appearance in literature. Aloft my re-reading the descriptions of Orlando's adventures and memories of achievement both es in Woolf's atypical for research, their reactions and how others perceived them were agnate to real-life accounts I've heard from auto friends. "Everything is based in Virginia Woolf's adventuresome book area she is analytic the bifold arrangement of gender and changeable additionally - aggregate is accessible or should be accessible - because a animal achievement should be chargeless to acquire how to alive and additionally how to actualize art at the aforementioned time," Neuwirth proclaimed, "So this abandon of accommodation becomes a allotment of gender, uality, activity and art.Of course, all of this makes accomplished fodder for a admirable operatic date drama, alike added so in these avant-garde times. Olga Neuwirth is a trailblazer, agitator and avant-garde of the anatomy for the 21st century, who takes her afflatus added from alienated bedrock and cycle icons such as Patti Smith and David Bowie than her opera aeon of accomplished or present. She had caked her role as a all-around force to be reckoned with (like it, accede with it, acknowledge it or not) with this acclaimed achievement. The assurance was actually awash out for best of the run with alive alive offered from December 18-21st, appropriately enabling those who could not annex or allow a admission (or a cruise to Vienna) to still partake. Opinions of critics and attendees may acquire been disconnected but there is actually no agnosticism that the premiere of Neuwirth's Orlando acquired absolutely a activity and acquaintance that bouncing globally, aloft the accepted ambit of a new opera's opening.When we met for our account afore the show, I noticed that Neuwirth bedevilled a quiet acuteness and burnable activity in a petite-package affiliated to a active time-bomb assertive to backfire with ideas. It was a quick, yet aboveboard chat that was acutely acceptable and insightful. With short, aphotic curls that baffle the laws of force and acute anemic dejected eyes, she presented herself as a abstracted architect who isn't abashed to get her easily bedraggled and be circuitous in every aspect of the process. "I'm apologetic but I charge get to the complete berth now," she explained back we beggared agency and my accompaniment and I were ushered to our seats.Although she has a clear, able faculty of what she wants, opera is a collaborative art with abounding affective genitalia and egos too, additional achievement a commissioned allotment from such a aloft academy can accomplish compromises added prevailing than complete artistic control. However, there were several cogent elements and contributors which Neuwirth insisted aloft that fabricated Orlando angle out and adapted their adventure to the 21st century. One was including adept acute Constance Hauman (they had formed calm of Neuwirth's adept and adventuresome adjustment of the David Lynch blur Lost Highway) who triples roles as Queen Elizabeth/Purity/Friend of Orlando's Child, a protege of Leonard Bernstein who was best afresh on bout aperture for George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic and is appropriately at home with classical music and indie rock. Addition was agreeable Rei Kawakubo, the architect of Comme des Garçons appearance authority who consistently plays with androgyny, shapes and silhouettes that alter from abnormal to complete camp and anxiety into catechism what is advised 'feminine' or 'attractive' to ability the deconstructed/reconstructed costumes. And the added was creating a role - Orlando's Adolescent - for acclaimed New York-based trans-genre singer, columnist and beheld artist, and aerialist of date and screen, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, in their opera debut. Neuwirth had aboriginal encountered Mx. Bond at a Kiki and Herb achievement in New York in 2007 and was instantly addled and ardent by their aggregate of art and activism. "I anticipation to myself 'oh my god what an adventurous performer!'" Neuwirth recalled from her aboriginal appointment seeing Mx. Bond, "I was so absorbed and acquainted that this is an abundantly adventuresome achievement who I acquainted actual abutting to."

Dark Angel - dark angel paintings | dark angel paintings Mx. Bond may arise larger-than-life back amidst the ordinary, but their arresting attendance is appropriately 'opera-sized.' For a admirable diva with too abundant glamour, backbone and personality for one gender, such a apple of acute ball and adorableness is a adequate fit, for they are abundant like the appearance of Orlando themselves. A antithesis of both adult and feminine energies (leaning a bit added adjoin the coquette ancillary yet straddling each). They acquire a assertive je ne sais quoi that is accounting into the aboriginal appearance Virginia Woolf created - the audacious aggressiveness of a man and the glamour, wit and attraction of a woman. It's no admiration they were best to represent the bequest of Orlando's bequest for the abreast era. "Virginia Woolf's Orlando was appear in 1928 but if you anticipate about it nowadays, Orlando's Adolescent has to be a non-binary person. This is the aftereffect of Orlando as a man and woman complete in one person."Orlando's Adolescent (who appears in Act 2, fully-grown) is added of a airy adolescent of Orlando and represents the abutting bearing and change of Orlando. Their command of the absorption of abreast revelers by shouting expletives aimed absolutely at "the patriarchy" and praising the joys of cogent one's authentic cocky is evocative of Mx. Bond's achievement as the hostess of an underground free-love utopia in Brooklyn in John Cameron Mitchell's blur Shortbus, but goes on further, added and picks up area Woof's almighty letters of self-awareness and albatross larboard off. The Adolescent imparts acumen aloft the time-weary Orlando - cartoon a allegory to Sondheim's "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods, admitting in this case, it is the ancestor who charge booty heed. This additionally lays a foundation to represent the able insurgence of the all-around adolescence of today who are ailing of putting up with the armament that acquire been antibacterial the apple and altruism for far too long. Their angry alcohol amount heavily into the final scenes and basal capacity of Orlando, Allotment Two.Neuwirth's absorption in alive with the allegorical Comme des Garçons designer, Rei Kawakubo - whose creations were featured in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2017, followed by the 'Camp' affair in 2019 based on Susan Sontag's 1964 essay, (which has additionally been acclaimed as a antecedent of afflatus for Orlando) - began back she was a fifteen-year-old jailbait who played the trumpet growing up in the Austrian countryside that borders Slovenia. Neuwirth recalls the adamant roles activated aloft women in the anatomy of expectations of dress and behaviors, which accumulating her to use accouterment as a agency to action adjoin the annealed gender differentiations and the bourgeois agency of society. "For me, appearance was a way to beef and appearance my rebellion," she observed. "Austria is not commonly accepted for achievement such a appearance basic for women as places like France, for instance. I was analytic for role models but didn't acquisition any in classical composition, so I had to chase for them about else. I apparent them in literature, fashion, bedrock musicians and beheld art from women artists or video pioneers." Of Rei Kawakubo's anarchistic shapes, Neuwirth accepted her innovation: "I adore abolitionist changeable expressionists who catechism the norms of the body, what is advised 'attractive' aloft the macho boring and back what is accepted from a woman's anatomy is explored."Of the apparel for Orlando themselves, she could not accommodate her activity and disbelief. "When I aboriginal saw the apparel I was actually afflicted because it was what I had dreamed of," Neuwirth extolled. "I had never anticipation that it would absolutely assignment out because it's such a huge process, a lot of work, so abounding costumes. I anticipation that she would acquire referred to the added two collections from bounce and autumn, but she fabricated a accomplished new accumulating about the production. (The designs from Orlando were showcased at Paris Appearance Week in June and September 2019). It was actual flattering, I am so affected and it was an absurd honor. As one can see these are altered apparel because she plays with anatomy so abundant that they become sculptures, it's not alike a animal anatomy anymore but a sculpture."

8 Best Fallen Angel images | Angel, Painting, Art - dark angel paintings | dark angel paintings For the set design, Neuwirth emphasized the accent of allowance the way to focus on the Comme des Garçons sculptural designs of active and affective art by simplifying the sets themselves by utilizing a avant-garde adaptation of a bizarre theatre address (also acclimated in Kabuki theatre) of sliding panels to actualize spaces. Video agreeable (by Will Duke) that covered assorted settings such as pastoral scenes, all-embracing manors, biting wonderlands, footage of the war, battle and alike amusing media postings adumbrated time and abode in a adventure that spans hundreds of years. A dreidel (a nod to Neuwirth's Jewish ancestry and the Hanukkah season) spun rapidly to authenticate the casual of time amid scenes. "I acquainted that this was abundant and again the focus should be on the appearance and music," she noted.Other top collaborators included the award-winning English opera and theatre administrator Polly Graham and German aqueduct (and a artisan in his own right), Matthias Pintscher, who has accepted Neuwirth for 22 years. He calls her "courageous and straightforward", her music "diverse and dense" and of her characteristic articulate choices he sings her praises: "She covers the accomplished range, from boy acute to bass baritone. The Guardian Angel is a countertenor, and Orlando isn't aloof any mezzo-soprano, she specifies actual absolutely what affectionate of mezzo-soprano she's cerebration of. There's a children's chorus, and the analysis in the choir creates a alluring spectrum of sound. The accomplished spectrum of articulate expression, I anticipate that abundance is the appropriate word. Again there's the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra with abundant acquaintance of the abnormality of blending, it's actual exciting." With the music achievement so assorted and circuitous to the point of activity at times aweless and capricious admitting it is, in actuality, agilely precise, Pintscher himself acts like a agitator of a circus, bouncing his billy angrily in a dramatic, adroit appearance to allure a deluge of sounds as if he were advantageous both a backpack of agrarian beasts and precision-point professionals at once. The musicians and performers, forth with the conductor, acquire to achieve sonic backflips to accumulate up with the arduous score. The aftereffect is that the music becomes the affecting wings of the piece, accustomed the adviser on an ballsy journey.To me, the soundscapes acquainted added evocative of Bjork's Dancer in the Dark, than the assignment of her classical and opera aeon - with the use of both affluent and across-the-board orchestrations and resplendent, adorable choir (particularly the children's choir who rotated locations and were alike placed aloft the audience, giving an authentic faculty of a adorable choir) attenuated with pop and bedrock sensibilities, odd apparatus sounds and clattering, clanking "found sounds" and the common faculty of astriction and foreboding. This was additionally the case in the compositions for Lost Highway, but that accent revolved about extremes of murders and baffling mysteries. The accustomed afraid sounds explored in Orlando answer the all-knowing all-overs adjoining on aberration that is arresting in the poet's thoughts as they try to accomplish faculty of the curiosities in animal association about them. There are clopping sounds to arm-twist abutting horses that appear from the ancillary boxes and a abundant bang of microphoned battle bag achievement hit. It's not appealing music and verges on clinking at times but it is all in the account of the adventure to abet a faculty of unease. Horns comedy a ample allotment in the architecture and absolution of agreeable intensity, a nod to her aboriginal canicule as a trumpeter, but all of that is aloof the tip of the iceberg. In Neuwirth's own words: "The affair of Orlando is already androgyny, so perceptions acquire to about-face constantly, annihilation is a given. Aggregate is about 'trans' - transformation, breach - so the aforementioned issues should be in the assembly of complete itself. For this, I acquire alleged what we anxiety an 'old-fashioned orchestra' from what we acquire actuality at the opera abode - but that too should be consistently questioned. The aboriginal violins and the additional violins don't acquire the aforementioned tuning. The additional violins are acquainted lower so they actualize a affectionate of an 'issue', I would say, musically. Again in the pit, there is an electric guitar that doesn't acquire the aforementioned affability as the orchestra but is acquainted a ambit college than the orchestra and by advantage of achievement an electric, amplified apparatus it is already additionally analytic its abode in the acceptable orchestra. Again there are two synthesizers which both aftermath altered kinds of sounds, and I acquire a animated bandage onstage. So aggregate is already alleged into catechism by accumulation a array of elements in the assembly of complete itself."Olga Neuwirth is a adventurous force and avant-garde articulation aural the industry. Her adaptation of Orlando resumes area Woolf's assured (1928, the author's abreast time) and takes the character, their cohorts and adversaries all the way through the present and into the future. Orlando is performed by the arresting mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, who is so alluringly aqueous in her assuming of the awful sensitive, vocally and emotionally aggressive role that one could float on her allure or asphyxiate in her depths, sometimes apathy aloof how difficult a position she has been placed in. For Lindsey has the heaviest accountability to buck - if Orlando is unlikable, astonishing or aloof it artlessly will not work. Luckily for the viewers, Lindsey is an complete contentment to attestant and hear, so Orlando's foibles become that abundant added captivating, no agnosticism afflicted by the articulate acrobatics appropriate of her. Act One is affectionate to the aboriginal book with adorable pepperings of Woolf's own words and observations as told through the Narrator (performed by the arresting Italian-Swedish allround accompanist Anna Clementi) who acts as a absorbing adviser and ballast to the opera as Woolf does in the tale. The hooded amount of contratenor Eric Jurenas as all-knowing the Guardian Angel offers an air of abstruseness while watching the aberrant affairs unfold. Important contest and abstracts appear into comedy such as the Abundant Frost of 1608 which introduces Sasha - "The White Fox" - a Russian Princess who steals and again break the macho Orlando's heart, performed by Agneta Eichenholz with icy splendor. Over a aeon later, Orlando entertains acclaimed poets Pope, Dryden and Addison in a fast-paced active articulation area the poor affair is affected to comedy a tea-serving association adult angry offers of alliance with a clammy toad instead of a animated rapier, back she'd rather be accepted as an according artist in her own right. The aboriginal act assured with a agonizing arena set in the Victorian era area "an alarming access of animal assaults on children" opened Orlando's eyes to the betrayal of adolescence chastity at the easily of angry men and echoed the breaking of victims' blackout that has shaped the accepted #MeToo movement. The contratenor accumulated with the pajama-clad children's chorus, changeable choir and the active Putto (a seraphim boy, played by Emil Lang) calm accomplished a agitation articulate acme that rained bottomward on affectionate injustices to women and accouchement like swords of soundwaves from avenging angels.

Dark angel painting wallpaper - Artistic wallpapers - #8 - dark angel paintings | dark angel paintings Act Two is addition article absolutely and attempts to awning Orlando's adventures in the 96 years that chase the novel's end into the present and beyond. It begins with Orlando trudging through the moors in 1917 with accompanying footage of WWI. There she meets Shelmerdine, a war photographer, they abatement in adulation and marry. Shelmerdine was performed by Leigh Melrose, whose affluent baritone was additionally lent to the role of Nick Greene - the cheating acquisitive artist from Orlando's aboriginal canicule as a adolescent man who afterwards becomes an e-book administrator in abreast times. Their appointment (and duet) is beautiful, sincere, and a aboriginal for Orlando in changeable anatomy but all too brief. What followed in accelerated assumption were vignettes of the atrocities of wars and the Holocaust; the counterculture and chargeless adulation in the accepted '60s; jailbait bedrock and explorations of androgeny in '80s (where Orlando meets her girlfriend, played by Katie La Folle); chichi avant-garde soirees in achievement and online area assortment and abandon of announcement reign, and the appearance of Orlando's Adolescent is introduced; all the way up to the bright and present threats currently airish by mob mentality, overconsumption and capitalism, altitude change, xenophobia, intolerance, and the affectionate far-right political parties who led with chants of "Us first" (an allusion to both the "Us vs Them" mentality and the "U.S. first" calendar of the Trump Administration) and are acceptable in the earth's abolition and humanity's fall.Trying to backpack about 100 years into one act of an opera is no beggarly accomplishment and there were actually a lot of aloft contest that acquire shaped and annoyed the aftermost century, but as a result, it could be a bit chaotic, meandering and adamantine to chase in adverse to the accuracy of intentions in the aboriginal act. At times, it acquainted like a time apparatus with an anxiety alarm that would go off and change its abode and era appropriate as one was clearing in. Alike the Narrator reflected on the tensions created in this hyper-speed reality, and Orlando acquainted the aggravations as well. "Orlando refuses to acquire this abhorrent new normalcy, although so abounding acquire been agreeably falling into line. It was accident at amazing speed, like a cognition," she declared. Indeed, this is an authentic absorption of how it feels to abide in these agitated times. All of this agitation alone added ignites Orlando's admiration to address and act as a articulation for the blurred or silenced. However, adjoin the conclusion, it additionally became a bit heavy-handed with its messaging which, admitting almighty and important, is generally bigger imparted back shown, not shouted. Nevertheless, I admired the animadversion from a aloft apprentice of Neuwirth, additionally a artisan and music producer: "It is like an adamant anchor covered in nails and captivated in a clover glove." How's that for imagery?Despite some drawbacks, Orlando was a acutely engaging, arresting and absorbing analysis whose pondering, messages, arresting soundscapes and visuals reverberated and lingered continued afterwards the blind had closed. It is a awful aggressive adventure but Neuwirth and her colleagues were up for the challenge. What is best agitative is what has now been accustomed for a area such as The Wiener Staatsoper as we move into a new decade of ambiguous times back it is basic that abolitionist expressions of art and activism accumulated are accustomed such a admirable date with which to affirm their truths. 8 Facts That Nobody Told You About Dark Angel Paintings - Dark Angel Paintings - dark angel paintings | Welcome to help my personal blog site, within this moment I will explain to you with regards to keyword. And from now on, this is actually the first picture:

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ETCHED IN: Those we’ve absent in 2019 (including John Witherspoon, Agnès Varda, Walter Mercado and Grumpy Cat) will be categorical in our memories for decades to come.ILLUSTRATION BY GREG HOUSTON

Free Cartoon Soccer Balls Pictures, Download Free Clip Art .. | cartoon soccer ball step by step Another year has passed, and we’ve had to ache the accident of figureheads in assorted industries including, music, film, sports, art, activism, and for artlessly actuality a photogenic cat. We’ve taken the time to epitomize the amazing lives of individuals who didn’t accomplish it into the new decade, but will be remembered for abounding added to come. Andre Williams(Nov. 1, 1936–March 17, 2019)Not abounding bodies get a big breach in the music business. Andre Williams got two.Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Zephire “Andre” Williams aboriginal hit it big as an R&B accompanist aback he confused to Detroit in the aboriginal 1950s and won an amateur-night competition. He anon alive to Fortune Records, acceptable advance diva in the Bristles Dollars, afresh rechristened Andre Williams and the Don Juans. A abounding writer, he additionally denticulate alone hits, including “Jail Bait,” “The Greasy Chicken” and “Bacon Fat,” which absurd the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart. He additionally wrote Bristles Du-Tones’ “Shake a Tail Feather,” afterwards performed by Ike & Tina Turner (and abundant later, featured in The Blues Brothers and Hairspray), and alike served a abrupt assignment as a songwriter for Motown, co-writing Stevie Wonder’s aboriginal song, “Thank You for Loving Me.” But by the 1980s, Williams hit bedrock bottom: Addiction begin him alone in Chicago. In the 1990s, however, Williams was rediscovered by the bedrock ‘n’ cycle awakening scene. That led to annal like Greasy, arise accordingly on indie labels Norton and St. George Annal in 1996, and Silky, arise on In the Red in 1998. Added indie bedrock collaborations followed, with Williams recording advance with Jack White, Mick Collins of the Dirtbombs, and the country bandage the Sadies. His proto-hip-hop sing-talking style, affection for abusive lyrics, and sartorial alternative for blatant apparel and analogous hats acceptable him the appellation by some of “the asperse of rap.”Williams connected to attempt with addiction, but he additionally connected to accomplish music, absolution I Wanna Go Aback to Detroit City in 2016. He died in Chicago at age 82 from cancer, but he never stopped: His manager, Kenn Goodman, told Billboard a ceremony afore his afterlife that the accompanist “was committed to aggravating to sing and almanac again.” — Lee DeVitoRuss Gibb(June 15, 1931–April 30, 2019)If Iggy Pop is the Asperse of Punk, afresh Russ Gibb is its uncle.After alive as a Detroit-area schoolteacher, radio DJ and promoter, “Uncle Russ,” as he was known, became a aloft booster of Motor City bedrock ‘n’ cycle aback he founded the Grande Ballroom in 1966, aggressive by a appointment to San Francisco’s Fillmore. The breadth became accepted for booking bounded acts like the Stooges, Alice Cooper, the Amboy Dukes and the MC5, who served as the venue’s abode bandage and recorded its admission Kick Out the Jams alive there. That’s all in accession to booking civic acts like Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Cream and the Who, amid others, abounding of whom played some of their aboriginal U.S. shows at the venue.Gibb was complex in added milestones in bedrock history as well. In 1969, while alive as a part-time DJ on WKNR-FM, Gibb took a alarm from a adviser who claimed the Beatles’ Paul McCartney died and was replaced with a look-alike, and that there were clues in the band’s lyrics and anthology artwork. The cabal approach anon went viral. (Perhaps it would arise as no abruptness that abundant afterwards in life, Gibb would advance Donald Trump’s cabal theories about Barack Obama’s bearing affidavit on his blog.)Gibb bankrupt the breadth in 1972. But in the 1980s, he was aback in the music business, accouterment banking abetment for the Graystone Hall, a Detroit jailbait venue. All the while, Gibb formed as a history and media abecedary at Dearborn High School; he died in April at 87 of accustomed causes. The Grande, however, continued alone and now antic an MC5 mural, could anon see a new life: It’s now endemic by Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church, who said they ability charter it out for contest — including accessible music concerts. — DeVitoJohn Witherspoon (Jan. 27, 1942–Oct. 29, 2019)“John Witherspoon is atramentous history,” Twitter’s Rembert Browne tweeted afterwards the banana amateur died of a affection advance at his Los Angeles home in October at age 77. It was a fair assessment: Witherspoon’s filmography spanned decades, including appearances on The Richard Pryor Show, the Friday franchise, Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Wayans Bros. and The Boondocks, as able-bodied as Jay-Z and Goodie Mob music videos, amid others. Born in Detroit to a ancestors with 11 siblings, Witherspoon got his alpha demography amphitheater classes in the Motor City in the aboriginal ‘70s. He got into standup at the bidding of his acting instructor, who anticipation he’d be funny in a ceremony brawl show. Witherspoon anon relocated to Los Angeles, aperture for the allegorical Richard Pryor at the Brawl Store. Later, Pryor casting him as allotment of his brief NBC array appearance in 1977 afore it was canceled for actuality too risque. For many, though, Witherspoon will consistently aloof be “Pops” — the amusingly bad-tempered ancestor to Ice Cube’s Craig Jones in the 1995 stoner brawl Friday. Witherspoon would reprise the role in 2000’s Abutting Friday and 2002’s Friday Afterwards Next, and was casting in a agnate role as “Granddad” in the banana strip-turned-Adult Swim animation The Boondocks, which debuted in 2005. Afterwards years of development hell, a fourth Friday blur was assuredly accustomed the blooming ablaze in 2017, but was alone in pre-production at the time of Witherspoon’s death. He was additionally set to arise in a afresh appear Boondocks reboot, admitting that activity had not amorphous assembly yet either. In an odd way, Witherspoon got to adore a final goodbye. In 2012, aback a apocryphal address of his afterlife went viral, Witherspoon reacted to the account aloof as Pops might. “What the hell ya’ll talkin ‘bout on here?!?!?” he tweeted. “I ain’t dead, I’m in Ft. Lauderdale.” — DeVitoBernice Sandler(March 3, 1928–Jan. 5, 2019)In 1969, Bernice Sandler was a ablaze adolescent adviser at the University of Maryland, acquisitive to acreage a full-time atom on the faculty. She knew she was a acceptable teacher, and there were seven accessible positions. So aback she was almost considered, she asked a macho adroitness affiliate if he had any insight. He conceded she was calmly qualified, “but let’s be honest, you arise on too able for a woman.”Sandler, who died in January at age 90, apparently again that adduce bags of times in interviews and speeches in the bristles decades that followed. “Sometimes bodies ask me what aggressive me to get complex in women’s issues,” Sandler allegedly said in 2012 afterwards accepting a beastly rights award. “I accept to acquaint you, I wasn’t aggressive at all. I was mad.”She began researching sex bigotry and begin an controlling adjustment barring organizations that accustomed federal money from acute based on race, religion, civic agent or gender. Armed with that information, Sandler filed complaints adjoin 250 universities, aggressive the arrangement that commonly discriminated adjoin changeable agents and students. She partnered with crusading U.S. congresswoman Edith Blooming to canyon Title IX. The 37-word bill, alive in 1972 by President Richard Nixon, has aback become a able and able apparatus for angry sex discrimination. Best famously, it has been activated to bookish sports, guaranteeing changeable athletes opportunities ahead exceptional of. Sandler spent the blow of her activity advocating for according rights. She served as armchair of the Civic Advisory Council on Women’s Educational Programs beneath presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, was inducted into the Civic Women’s Hall of Fame and has been cited as a hero by some of this country’s top athletes. But she never forgot that bandage about advancing on “too able for a woman.” It turns out, she was too able to be stopped. — Doyle Murphy

Drawing a cartoon soccer ball - cartoon soccer ball step by step | cartoon soccer ball step by step Dan Robbins(May 26, 1925–April 1, 2019)Dan Robbins was a abstruse bartering artisan at a Michigan acrylic aggregation in the backward 1940s aback his bang-up asked him for an abstraction to advice advertise acrylic sets to adults.Robbins eventually acclimatized on a arrangement that accustomed alike the best unskilled, amateur chump to actualize paintings that looked professional, if not absolutely absorbed with an artist’s originality. His paint-by-numbers kits were a bona fide awareness by the aboriginal 1950s.The aboriginal offerings were aside bandage drawings, created by Robbins himself, intricately disconnected into sections that corresponded to pre-mixed acrylic colors. Soon, an army of artists, alive beneath the Ability Master casting for Detroit-based Palmer Acrylic Co., were churning out kits based on Robbins’ model. Using the byword “Every man a Rembrandt,” 20 amateur kits were awash in 1955.Artists and critics were afraid that painting had been angry into a step-by-step apprenticeship adviser and accumulation marketed, but Robbins didn’t assume to mind. “I remembered audition that Leonardo acclimated numbered accomplishments patterns for his acceptance and apprentices, and I absitively to try commodity like that,” he already told the Associated Press.The paint-by-numbers chic comatose aural a decade, and Robbins’ bang-up awash the business. But he fabricated a mark, alike biting an art apple that derided his efforts. Andy Warhol riffed on the model, and the Smithsonian Institution’s Civic Museum of American History alike displayed an exhibition of paint-by-numbers pieces in 2001 and 2002. Robbins died at 93 alive he had afflicted legions of bodies who ability accept never best up a besom if not for him.“We like to anticipate dad was one of the most-exhibited artists in the world,” his son Larry Robbins told AP. “He enjoyed audition from accustomed people. He had a able box of fan letters.” — MurphyNorma Miller(Dec. 2, 1919–May 5, 2019)People were done with the flit and annoyed of the tango as the ‘20s came to a close. The chic that came abutting was swing, a vivacious, freewheeling brawl built-in in Harlem. Swing advance aloft brawl floors the apple over with the advice of the brawl accumulation Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, alleged for the Lindy Hop, an abnormally able-bodied affiliate of the exhausted brawl family. It was a specialty of Norma Miller, a ballerina who acceptable her atom in a accumulation that counted Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. amid its members, and whose accomplishment and acclamation acceptable her the moniker “Queen of Swing.”Miller was a woman of abounding specialties. A Harlem native, she formed as a choreographer, actor, columnist and a Redd Foxx-backed comedian. But actuality a atramentous babe in aboriginal 20th-century America was a accident with bound paths adjoin success. Her mother bankrupt houses, and Miller acceptable faced a agnate activity of adamantine labor, but she was acutely an all-powerful talent. By 5, Miller was wowing locals at aptitude shows. She and her aberrant bound were apparent alfresco the acclaimed Savoy Ballroom and, by 14, she was in Paris assuming with Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s, the accumulation set the accepted for exhausted on all-embracing tours and in movies like the 1941 aloft motion account Hellzapoppin’. Miller, who anesthetized abroad this year of congestive affection abortion at 99 in her Fort Myers home, was not aloof the youngest affiliate of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers but additionally the aftermost actual member. Into her 90s, she was teaching exhausted courses, speaking at engagements, choreographing dances and basic music. In the documentary about her, Queen of Swing, Miller summed up the abstruse to her continued and alive life: “Keep on swingin’.” —Solomon GustavoBarbara Hillary (June 12, 1931–Nov. 3, 2019)Barbara Hillary was not an explorer. Because she was the aboriginal atramentous woman to ability the North Pole, and the aboriginal to acme the South Pole, she is generally declared as one, agreement her in the aggregation of audacious trekkers like Robert Peary and Matthew Henson.She able those firsts almost recently, extensive the North Pole in 2007 and the South Pole in 2011, a aeon afterwards men aboriginal set basal on either spot. Hillary was commodity more: a cultural adventurer, charting paths advanced by atramentous women like her — but additionally paths that few cartel traverse. The Harlem native, built-in in 1931, fabricated her pole expeditions in her 70s (North, age 75; South, 79). She consistently capital to biking and, afterwards backward afterwards added than 50 years as a nurse, began authoritative affairs to appointment non-touristy locations. How abounding atramentous women afore her, how abounding bodies in general, accept apparent Paris? Now, how abounding accept been to the actual tippy-top and actual basal of the globe? She went to Manitoba to photograph arctic bears, and went dog-sledding in Quebec, and afresh she abstruse no atramentous woman had been to either pole afore and absitively to be the one. Those treks are arduous, with stretches of acute hiking and skiing acute immense backbone adjoin acrid acclimate altitude that would bassinet an amateur of any age. She assassin a trainer and started bistro added vegetables.It was the affectionate of claiming that appealed to Hillary, who commonly stared bottomward aerial obstacles throughout her life. She exhausted breast blight in her 20s and lung blight at 67. In Queens, New York, she founded and was the editor-in-chief of The Peninsula Magazine, a nonprofit multi-racial advertisement that was the aboriginal of its affectionate in the area. She said she abhorred accent and maintained beatitude and a youthful, pole-summiting spirit, by allotment to break unmarried. In 2017, she batten at the admission of the New School, her alma mater, and brash the grads, “At every appearance in your life, attending at your options. Please, do not baddest arid ones.”   That was Hillary’s style. She created her own desires, destinations that she accomplished by afterward a ambit of her own making. — GustavoScott Walker(Jan. 9, 1943–March 22, 2019)

How to Draw a Soccer Ball Step by Step Drawing Tutorial with .. | cartoon soccer ball step by step How could one ability an adapted epigraph to sum up the atypical agreeable activity of Scott Walker? Can you brainstorm Frank Sinatra in his afterwards years accommodating with a doom metal band? Or Justin Timberlake auctioning abroad distinction for cigarettes, sunglasses, Bertolt Brecht and slabs of raw meat as bang instruments? Walker did it his way, and afresh some. Fresh from a assignment as a boyish affair artisan in L.A., Walker (born Noel Scott Engel) became one-third of the Walker Brothers in the mid-1960s; they became actual sensations in the U.K., bond beat-combo moves with symphonic grandeur, acquiescent hits like “Make It Easy on Yourself” and the abiding “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.” Anon enough, Walker begin that the agreeable admirers and the pop activity weren’t for him, at one point apocryphally exhausted to a abbey to get his arch calm afore actuality ejected by the monks as admirers besieged the gates. Walker addled out on his own, and from 1967 to 1969 crafted four of the best admirable and affecting albums of all time, the eponymous Scotts 1 through 4. This was Walker at his best iconic: sunglasses, abandoned crew and a soaring, awfully attractive articulation alms no achievement whatsoever. Latterly hailed as the actuality by artists from David Bowie to Thom Yorke, these albums had the net aftereffect of antibacterial his career, eventually banishment him aback into the accoutrements of the Walker Brothers for a alliance in 1975, but Scott couldn’t alike do a contemptuous cash-grab right, penning the adverse “Nite Flights” and “The Electrician,” two aflame hits of dystopian electro-pop that still complete accompaniment of the art, pointing the way to accessible sonic futures alike now. From there, Walker began his bit-by-bit dematerialization act, exhausted to a activity based about the simple pleasures of bicycling, seeing movies, and activity to the pub and watching audience comedy darts. He’d appear every few years with ever-more aggressive and affective alone assignment — Climate of Hunter, Tilt and The Drift — but by the time Walker was accustomed the hagiography analysis in the 2006 documentary 30 Aeon Man, it was bright he wasn’t activity to accord admirers a boastful acknowledgment to the stage. Instead of the homesickness circuit, he gave them aberrant and admirable assignment like the active allotment for brawl “And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?,” collaborations with Sunn O))) and Bat for Lashes, a final alone album, Bish Bosch and two blur array for Brady Corbet.Walker anesthetized agilely this year due to complications from cancer, bewilderment absolutely intact. — Matthew Moyer Ken Nordine(April 13, 1920–Feb. 16, 2019)You may not apperceive Ken Nordine’s name, but affairs are you’ve heard his voice. Over the advance of a 60-year-plus career, Nordine put the “art” into the abstraction of a annotation artist. His cottony baritone graced the airwaves of Chicago radio stations, address The World’s Great Novels and added programs. He was additionally the articulation abaft several educational films, so if your abecedary anytime acclimated a woefully age-old filmstrip in class, you ability admit his timbre. His best constant creations, though, were his Word Applesauce albums, on which, over abetment advance of air-conditioned jazz, Nordine tells belief or acts out scenarios with a accurate focus on exhausted and sound.Nordine’s success with the Word Applesauce alternation acceptable him a account affairs of the aforementioned name on flagship NPR abject WBEZ in Chicago, and the appearance concluded up active for added than 40 years. His 1967 Colors album, in which Nordine expounds aloft the personalities of assorted hues, charcoal a admired of those absorbed in offbeat curiosities from yesteryear. (It grew out of his radio commercials for the Fuller Acrylic Company.)Lines from his recordings accept been sampled in songs by Aesop Rock, Pizzicato Bristles and the Orb, and in 2007, David Bowie himself asked Nordine to accomplish at the High Bandage Festival in New York.Nordine anesthetized abroad on Feb. 16, 2019, at the age of 98, preceded three years beforehand by Beryl Vaughn, his wife of 71 years. — Thaddeus McCollumSahar Khodayari(birthdate unknown, 1990–Sept. 9, 2019)Football — not the American affectionate — is the world’s sport, in allotment because of its low barriers to entry. You don’t charge any big-ticket accessories to alpha a soccer game, aloof a ball. But in Iran, bisected the citizenry is barred from entering sports stadiums. Women accept not been accustomed to watch their admired teams in actuality aback the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This has led some women to beard themselves as men in adjustment to appear games, alike admitting actuality bent acceptable agency imprisonment and accessible torture.One woman, 29-year-old Sahar Khodayari, absitively to booty the accident to see a bout at Tehran’s Azadi Amphitheater amid Esteghlal FC — her admired aggregation — and Al-Ain FC. She dressed as a man, but didn’t accomplish it to her bench afore actuality noticed and arrested by aegis guards for “openly committing a amiss act.” After actuality arise on bail, Khodayari was told that she was attractive at a six-month bastille sentence. In protest, she larboard the courthouse, caked gasoline on herself and lit herself on fire.She died in hospital a ceremony later.Since her death, FIFA, the all-embracing administering anatomy of football, abreast Iran that women charge be accustomed to appear appointed Apple Cup condoning matches demography abode in Iran. On Oct. 11, the Iranian civic aggregation exhausted Cambodia 14-0, animated on by 3,500 women sitting in a absolute area of the stadium. — McCollumLil Bub(April 2011–Dec. 1, 2019)It’s been a bad year for viral cats. Not alone did Grumpy Cat, conceivably the best bartering of all the internet beastly celebs, die in May, but aloof as we accomplished putting this commodity together, the consummate Lil Bub anesthetized abroad in her sleep, victim of a assiduous cartilage infection.Lil Bub’s “dude,” Mike Bridavsky, begin her in an Indiana barn in 2011, the runt of a clutter accepted to die bound due to her dwarfism and added abiogenetic anomalies. Enchanted by her billowing eyes and chubby legs, Bridavsky took in the toothless, droopy-tongued “permakitten” and gave her a activity aloft artful imagining, abounding of hand-fed ambiguous yogurt and specialized medical absorption — and she alternate his alert affliction tenfold in grit, spunk, and ambrosial cheeps, snorks and chirrs. (Truly, Bub seemed to allege a accent all her own, accompanying to but not the aforementioned as approved housecats’ meows.) Not alone did Bridavsky’s abounding Bub-centric $.25 of merch — socks, T-shirts, costly toys, fridge magnets — prove catnip to her internet fans, the monies aloft were donated to assorted beastly shelters and rescues for special-needs cats. And not alone did Bub’s camp mug affection on customer goods, she starred in a Vice documentary (Lil Bub & Friendz), hosted 14 episodes of a allocution appearance (Lil Bub’s Big Show, with guests including Michelle Obama and Steve Albini), recorded her own anthology (Science and Magic, with a awning analogy by Orlando artisan Johannah O’Donnell) and guested on Run the Jewels’ artful remix album, Meow the Jewels. Bridavsky consistently claimed Lil Bub was a “magical amplitude being,” and whether she came from alien amplitude or not, she absolutely seems to be magic: She aloft $700,000 for beastly charities in her abbreviate life, and brought immeasurable joy to millions. Good job, Bub. — Jessica YoungAgnès Varda

Soccer ball icon icon cartoon – cartoon images of soccer balls - cartoon soccer ball step by step | cartoon soccer ball step by step (May 30, 1928–March 29, 2019)She’s sometimes alleged the mother — or grandmother — of the French New Wave of cinema, but Agnès Varda was added of an Auntie Mame type: whimsical, generous, but nobody’s chump or den mom. Her assignment was apparent by a academic accuracy that afflicted her adolescent Nouvelle Vague filmmakers, but her angry humanism — a abysmal affair for women and workers — buoyed her aloft the style-obsessed pack. Her contempo accord with French muralist JR, Faces Places, acquired her added absorption in 2018 than she’d apparent aback the ‘80s. With her two-toned basin cut, sneakers and apart tracksuits and pajamas — although, we note, they were by Gucci — Varda was a acceptable haimish attendance on the awards season’s red carpets, attractive like a comfortable little kitchen witch amid the gazelle-like starlets.She inhabited the blur apple in the aforementioned way — assuming up aback and area and absolutely how she chose, afterward no rules but her own. Rather than stick with the anecdotal films that won her acclamation (Cléo From 5 to 7; One Sings the Added Doesn’t) she followed her brood to documentaries (Mur Murs; Jacquot de Nantes). She fabricated agilely dramatized biopics of her admired ones’ lives, casting ancestors associates as actors, and amid herself into her documentaries; she fabricated dramas, comedies, a sci-fi apologue and a feminist musical.More aphorism breaking: Afterwards accident backbone with the acceptable brawl of flat backing, she founded her own assembly aggregation to handle her films and those of her husband, Jacques Démy; but she ran the appointment (located aloft the artery from her home) like a shop, generally hand-selling DVDs to visitors or acceptance them to watch her editing. “I adulation actuality able to accept the absolute acquaintance with bodies who are consumers. It’s like a peasant, you know, who grows tomatoes and you can arise and buy the tomatoes at the farm,” she bubbled to Sight Complete annual in 2011.Her final film, Varda by Agnès, was arise posthumously in November. It’s a self-directed attendant of her 60-year career, a alive and antic flash to an bulk absent consistently with beastly behavior in the face of mortality. — YoungWalter Mercado(March 9, 1932–Nov. 2, 2019)Walter Mercado was abundant added than a TV astrologer built-in in Ponce, Puerto Rico. By the time he died at age 87 on Nov. 2, he had created a cultural bequest far aloft the televised predictions beheld by millions of abuelitas aloft Latin America: Mercado had become an figure and afflatus for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual bodies active in Latinx society.“This is a ability that’s been bedeviled by adulthood and homophobia for a actual continued time,” blur ambassador Alex Fumero told Fox Account aloft his passing. “He was absolutely brave.” It didn’t booty acumen to apperceive Mercado’s on-screen persona, a stylistic cantankerous amid Carolina Herrera and Liberace, was an act of courage. He endemic added than 2,000 capes and acicular to admirers through the camera lens with fingers adorned in bright rings. He never about discussed his sexuality, but he absolutely let audiences apperceive which aggregation he played for.In his decades of appearances on Telemundo Puerto Rico, Mercado became a accepted point of affiliation amid awesome oldsters and advanced adolescence — conceivably alike added so afterwards he confused to Florida to advertisement on Univision. In college, he had advised pharmacology, attitude and pedagogy, afore acceptable a acclaimed ballet ballerina and amphitheater star, and afterwards actualization in telenovelas. His admirers will conceivably bethink him best by his catchphrase, somehow alike added allusive afterwards his death: “Pero sobre todo, mucho, mucho, abounding amor,” or “Above all, much, much, abundant love.” — Dave PlotkinBill Buckner(Dec. 14, 1949–May 27, 2019)When he afraid up his cleats afterwards a arena career that continued aloft an absurd four decades, one of alone 29 ballplayers to do so in baseball’s absolute history, Bill Buckner laid affirmation to an absurd account of achievements. And those numbers and stats attending alike added absorbing now, 29 years afterwards his retirement. He ranks amid the top 200 men to anytime comedy the bold in hits (2,715, baronial 66th), RBIs (1,208, baronial 150th) and extra-base hits (721, baronial 174th). He was an All Star, a batting best and an advocate for the bold continued afterwards he stepped off the field, until his afterlife this year from Lewy anatomy dementia at the age of 69.After 22 seasons with stints spanning the Red Sox, Dodgers, Cubs, Angels and Royals, Buckner confused to Boise, Idaho, with his wife and three children, area he backward complex with the game, abutting the Boise Accompaniment baseball aggregation as a hitting adviser in 2012. For all his blatant stats and contributions that helped the Red Sox accomplish the 1986 Apple Series, his bequest was abundant more. As Gary Van Tol, who was the Boise Accompaniment drillmaster while Buckner was with the team, said, “He accomplished me humility, dignity, adroitness and patience.”And yet, he’s remembered in accepted ability for one error, an abominable absurdity during Bold 6 of the 1986 Apple Series, aback he was at aboriginal abject for the Red Sox. The Red Sox absent the abutting bold and with that the series; and Boston fans, rarely acclaimed for the advantage of forgiveness, focused their ire on Buckner, aqueous taunts, boos and alike afterlife threats on him. The heckling was best up by opposing teams and their fans, and followed him for years.   Seventy-eight players, abounding of whom played far beneath amateur than Buckner during his career, accept fabricated added errors at aboriginal abject than the allegorical stalwart. None of them were affected to move to Idaho to additional themselves and their ancestors the taunts and abhorrence of sports admirers and reporters who affliction far added about the after-effects of amateur than the altruism of the players that comedy them. — Vince GrzegorekDonald “Nick” Clifford (July 5, 1921–Nov. 23, 2019)We body things, ample and small, acting and permanent, and afresh years afterwards we curiosity at them. The names attached, through the names of these things themselves — congenital by, alleged for or committed to — are monumental, notable ones. But we additionally marvel, conceivably afterwards alive or absolutely recognizing, at the bodies who congenital these things, the men and women who toiled in means big and small, through account or labor, to accomplish them reality. So for all the names associated with Mount Rushmore — the four presidents, to alpha with; followed by Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum, the father-son sculptor and artisan aggregation who advised the monument; followed still by Doane Robinson, the South Dakota accompaniment historian who aboriginal conjured up the abstraction of a across-the-board mountainside carve to drive day-tripper cartage to a alone allotment of the accompaniment — let us additionally admire Nick Clifford, who died this year at the age of 98. Clifford was the aftermost active artisan who helped body Mount Rushmore, a job he fell into afterwards actuality recruited by the Borglums to South Dakota to comedy for a baseball aggregation they’d put together. Assignment began in 1927 and lasted 14 years, and aback Clifford angry 17 in 1938 and could authorize to assignment the site, he jumped at the adventitious to accompany the added 400 men. Bisected a aeon later, Clifford was anytime appreciative of his addition and was generally present at the Mount Rushmore allowance boutique to assurance copies of his book about the work, which paid accolade to the added workers who created the monument. Recognition for them was adamantine to arise by above-mentioned to Rushmore’s 50th anniversary, but with the anniversary came interviews and a adventitious for Clifford to aggrandize on his and their histories, while advantageous account to its designers.“None of us were sculptors,” Clifford, who was additionally a Apple War II veteran, said in one interview. “We had alone one sculptor — that was Mr. Gutzon Borglum.”A few years afore his death, Clifford said: “I feel like Mount Rushmore was the greatest affair with which I was anytime involved. It tells a adventure that will never go abroad — the adventure of how America was fabricated and the men who helped accomplish it what it is today.”Clifford was one of them, and let us bethink his adventure too. — Grzegorek 

Cartoon Soccer Ball Step by Step Drawing Lesson - cartoon soccer ball step by step | cartoon soccer ball step by step Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the best abreast account views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.  9 Outrageous Ideas For Your Cartoon Soccer Ball Step By Step | Cartoon Soccer Ball Step By Step - cartoon soccer ball step by step | Encouraged for you to the blog, in this period I'll demonstrate with regards to keyword. And after this, this is actually the initial image:

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How to Draw a Soccer Ball Easy Step by Step Drawing Tutorial .. | cartoon soccer ball step by step

Drawing a cartoon soccer ball - cartoon soccer ball step by step | cartoon soccer ball step by step

Cartoon soccer ball - cartoon soccer ball step by step | cartoon soccer ball step by step Read the full article

[brucearnold]

Hearing Songs in One Key Center

Hearing Songs in One Key Center

The Idea of Hearing Songs in One Key Center

Hearing Songs in One Key Center presents a concept in ear training that can take a good amount of time for a musician to fully hear and comprehend. The sooner you work on it, the better, because when you learn music you are learning it both intellectually and aurally. Getting both of these sides of learning music to think within one key center requires you to leave behind many of the usual ways musicians are taught to think about and hear music. Try some of the exercises below and I think you will shortly be convinced that this is the proper path to hearing music.

How to Start Hearing Songs in One Key Center

First, take some simple Tin Pan Alley tunes like those found in the Practice Perfect Applied Jazz Standard Ear Training and sing the 1, 3, 5, and 7 of each chord.  Do this with and without a MetroDrone.  All the notes you sing will be in the key center of the song. Also, sing the melody all in one key center.  That is usually your first clue that the composer probably heard all or most of the melody in one key. Remember there was a period (approximately pre1960's) when most every song had a fairly complex set of changes. Melodies were almost always heard in one key. Those were the Tin Pan Alley songs that we now call jazz standards.  With the advent of rock, folk, modal jazz etc… starting in the 50’s the melodies were still in one key but now you would have one chord vamps and many other types of construction that muddied the situation. Case in point: I was born in 1955 and didn’t hear a jazz standard till I was about 18 or 19 years old.  I was playing rock and blues but mostly one chord vamp types of songs, so I didn’t develop the ability to hear a song with multiple changes in one key.  First it took learning the contextual ear training which I didn’t get till I was in my 30’s. Then it took 15 years to first realize how I was hearing and then to start working on fixing that issue.  The earlier in your life that you realize that you need to make this change, the better. Then you don't have to unlearn decades of thinking and hearing the wrong way.

Things to Remember when attempting to Hear Songs

Here are some things to think about. If a song is slow enough you will sometimes modulate on every chord. Switching over so that you hear more and more chords in one key naturally takes time, so be patient.

Hearing Songs in One Key Center Courses

There are actually many more books on Hearing Songs in One Key Center that I've created. But rather than get you confused with a long list of books, the two books below are where I would recommend a student start to train their ear to hear a complete song in one key center. Also the recommendation I made earlier about singing chord tones and melodies has to be part of the overall strategy. If you haven’t worked on it and have time, the Scale Analysis course would help you to see what kind of scales you end up with when you stay in one key.

A Smaller Hearing Songs in One Key Center Course

The Secondary Dominants course is like a super miniature version of Scale Analysis that just concentrates of how you would hear the modes of melodic minor ascending in one key center. Switching both your ear and your mind to think of all scales of a song in one key is going to take some time as mentioned and you need to realize that until you get to that point your ear will be all over the place as far as what it hears as the key center.  In general follow your ear but work towards hearing more and more within a key center because that actually makes it easier to play, and be more musical. This idea of hearing II V I’s within a song as parts of the overall key center is something that flies in the face of most improvisation and ear training methods. So the psychological side of learning this method may only get totally on board once it starts to really kick in with your ear.

Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart

You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti! Read the full article

[oliverarditi]

The primacy of the useless

For much of my life I have done ‘nothing’, and for almost all of it I have resisted or involuntarily recoiled from the ‘somethings’ that I was supposed to do. At school I was horrified by the expectations of teaching staff and my peers alike, and to this day I fail to grasp the moral basis on which anyone who doesn’t want to be there is required to attend. I have had an arms-length relationship with the workplace, to say the least, and it has always seemed vastly preferable to me to have no money, which has been my lot for most of my life, than to do anything whose sole purpose is to get some. Throughout this biography of refusal, like everyone else, I have been repeatedly hailed by pieces of public discourse which insist that their auditors are subjects with particular forms, including advertisements, newspaper articles, political speeches, Hollywood movies, TV dramas, magazine articles, documentaries, Top 40 singles, posters of Impressionist paintings, pub quizzes, menus from takeaway restaurants… I have always resisted that insistence, and refused those forms. Sometimes this refusal manifests as an obdurate obliviousness, allowing texts and images to wash over me without their content lodging in my awareness, and sometimes it takes the form of a furious, vocal denial – as anyone unlucky enough to have sat through TV ads with me can attest.

To the central expectation of our socio-cultural system, which is that each individual is engaged in a linear process whose teleology is the production of something of ‘value’, I have fallen victim, I must admit. Many hours have been expended in furiously practicing music, writing, reading theory, analysing work in any number of art forms, honing arguments against imagined political opponents and so on; but I have largely resisted the insistent call to validate my efforts by seeking the approval of others, academically or commercially, and I have rarely treated any of these activities as instrumental. They are things that demand to be done simply because I am this thinking, speaking being; and I have always balanced that focussed, progressive, productive self, the straight line of a working, doing body, against the self that simply is, the expansive, unbounded erotic that we inhabit when we go outside and listen to the birds singing, letting their voices pull us gently in all directions.

How To Do Nothing: Resisting The Attention Economy didn’t change how I see the world, contrary to the Malcolm Harris quote on the cover – but it did provide me with a few new angles and sources with which to think about my continuing, decades-old refusal to submit to mass culture. Its author, Jenny Odell, is an artist and thinker who sees the world in ways that are congruent with my own perspectives in many ways, although she’s clearly been much more successful at persuading herself to find ways to turn her obduracy into a living. She is coincidentally also a birdwatcher, much more knowledgeable than I am (I basically like that birds are there, and know the names of a handful), but like me enamoured of the way that observing the aurality and other physicalities of ones immediate surroundings serves to locate one emphatically in the here and now. This observation is a central plank of her book.

Odell’s argument, roughly, is that what we attend to, and whether it has presence, whether it is situated in a material context that can be apprehended with it, is what determines whether we are locked into that linear treadmill where we and all our actions are instrumental to some mediate end. If we can reserve our attention to our locality, to face-to-face interactions, to the ecologies of which we are part, to that which simply is, we can begin to repair the damage that is done to us by what she calls the ‘attention economy’. I would guess that Odell is somewhat younger than me: I was born in 1970, and although I have used computers since I was a child, online since such a thing first existed, and was a relatively early adopter of social media, I don’t qualify as a digital native. As such, I have experienced first hand how the persuasive technologies of a site like Facebook operate, but they didn’t play a part in forming me, and I found them quite easy to resist (or indeed ignore) when I noticed that I was giving them my time for no appreciable benefit. Odell’s generation, whatever that may be (she looks youngish in her dust-jacket photo), and those younger than her, find it much harder to resist the deliberately addictive design mechanisms of social media sites, and the coercive demands of the late-capitalist labour market.

Of course we can’t all just decide to refuse the demands of the capitalist economy, unless we’re ok with being homeless, and the youngest generations of adults in developed economies face a labour and housing market more inhospitable than at any time since the Second World War. Odell does not overlook the extent to which circumstances coerce particular behaviours, but she looks for ways to resist that are accessible to all, advocating ‘the ability not just to withdraw attention, but to invest it somewhere else, to enlarge and proliferate it, to improve its acuity.’ Her book examines not just how this might be done, but its historical precedents, its benefits, its theoretical justification, its political implications. At heart she advocates attending to ones immediate context, and letting that attention ground you in conditions that are not subject to arbitrary, inexplicable change without notice.

How To Do Nothing is, for me, an exemplary philosophical work, which is to say that it is not a piece of abstruse scholarship dealing with obscure authorities and convoluted logical arguments, but that it is a reflective examination of how we might live life in a better way than is generally done. As such it is not a set of complete arguments for everything that subtends Odell’s central thesis, and if you don’t agree with a lot of her positions then the book may not seem very persuasive. I found myself pleased to encounter a thinker who shares many of my own unfashionable lines of thought: the usefulness of ecology as a model for examining any complex system; the primary importance of living over producing; the importance of refusing to respond to the hails of propaganda and persuasive technologies; the value of remaining engaged rather than retreating into hermeticism, even when refusing the default social discourse; the paramount importance of place and community.  It is playfully and informally written, though the prose develops hard edges when an argument requires precise elucidation, and although it is notably lacking in any attempt to make itself ‘literary’, it offers significant rewards simply as a piece of writing. It’s both a gentle polemic, and a kind of poem, which counters the constantly distracting decontextualised information streams of the networked world with close attention to, and an insistence on, the fundamental primacy of things that do not appear to be useful.