#Ilya Wells-Abrams

[indigoelfinspirit]

About 18 months ago I started a Bachelor Challenge, but do to life circumstances I was unable to finish posting it. Everything, but the final scenes had been shot - I just didn't have the time to sit down and fuss with uploading (the internet at my last place was that bad and did not get along with tumblr). I remain entirely in love with Hadrian and his suitors so it wasn't so much a matter of if I would finish posting it, but when. So starting tonight I will begin posting what remained of the challenge in hopes that I can finish shooting the finale when I have some free time over the holidays.

The posts will be slightly more abbreviated then they were the first time. The unfortunate reality of the situation is while I have the pictures I can't necessarily remember all the antics.

I do, however, know the most important detail still - who won.

Stay tuned....

[ramadoodles]

Painting Deep Dive: Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan

Masterlist

I have to confess, the first time I saw this painting, it instantly brought to mind Saturn devouring his son by Goya, comparison below-

I absolutely hate Saturn devouring his son (I cannot express enough how vile I find all of the Black Paintings, but especially this one), so when I saw Ivan, I thought "why is he eating his kid? I mean he was called Ivan the Terrible for a reason, I guess." and proceeded to ignore this painting for the next two years. Then I accidentally landed on the Wikipedia page for Ivan and got blown away by the meaning, so now it's bumped up into my Reluctant Favourites list.

What's this painting about, and why should you care?

"Ivan the terrible and his son Ivan" was painted by Ilya Repin between 1883 and 1885. It's a painting which shows Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible, cradling his son, the crown prince Ivan Ivanovich, after he had struck him on the head in a fit of rage.

The most popular story goes that Ivan Senior saw Ivan Junior's pregnant wife walking by in very thin clothing for the time, so he beat her up and caused her to miscarry her child. Ivan Junior grew so angry that he argued with his father, and Ivan senior struck him with his scepter in a fit of rage. Realizing that he had killed the only fit heir for his throne, and also his son, he then gathered him up in his arms and wailed in grief. Ivan Ivanovich died from complications related to the brain injury three days later.

It's important to note that this probably didn't happen in real life. Contemporary sources only record the death of the Crown Prince, not the manner of death or that it was a murder. The first source which mentions this story was published at least 5 years after the death in question. This source was of course printed in a journal and thus spread like wildfire among the masses, cementing this story in the minds of the public. (I love mass media just as much as the next guy, but sometimes I really, really hate it.)

(Also, killing your son with the symbol of your power, thus juxtaposing your two sides as father and emperor, is just a bit too poetic for me to assume it actually happened.)

Why I absolutely love it- On closer inspection, the remorse and forgiveness is shown beautifully. The older Ivan's eyes, the younger Ivan's hand comforting his father, the details like the nosebleed and teardrop (I LOVE THIS TEARDROP OK. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL.) It is just such a beautiful example of realism.

So much detail packed in this one section. Look at those eyes. That blood. THAT TEARDROP. THE PEARLS ON HIS SHIRT COLLAR. THOSE EYES. THIS IS PERFECT OK I WILL NOT TAKE CRITICISM.

Controversies:

As you may well imagine, this painting was not received well by the then monarch Alexander III, due to the painting implying that his ancestor killed his own son. Ivan was banned from viewings for three months after it was first exhibited, and there was significant controversy over the fact that the painting depicted what many considered the wrong sequence of events. There is no concrete proof that Ivan Junior was killed by Ivan Senior, and I guess people didn't like the thought of one of Russia's greatest Tsars being an abusive person and committing filicide.

In 1913, local iconoclast Abram Balashov slashed the painting, leaving three scars on the face of Ivan Senior. This was terrible damage to one of the most expressive features of the painting; thankfully, Ilya Repin was still alive and was able to restore the painting to his original vision. When the painting was again vandalised in 2018, they didn't have Ilya on their side- but thankfully, the damage was less critical, not touching the faces or hands of the figures.

For some context, this is the damage done in 1913 and 2018-

As of now, the painting is in the process of restoration and will someday (hopefully) be exhibited once again.

[scorpio-mxxn]

Bible Names

Today, many are trying to give children biblical names that are of particular importance in Orthodox culture. By naming the babies in honor of the persons mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, parents not only pay tribute to the merits of those who stood at the origins of Christianity but also hope to give their child with the best qualities under the protection of Heaven. Besides, each of the biblical names has a specific meaning.

 The Origin, and Sound of Bible Names

In total, the Bible has about 2,800 male and female names, but not all of them are widely used. Most are of Hebrew origin, but Egyptian, Greek, Roman are also used, and some sound quite familiar.

The original pronunciation of names from the Bible can be very different from modern. One cannot ignore the characteristics of sounding and even spelling in different countries of the Christian world, due to the differences in national languages. 

 There are other distinctions. If you notice how many names are in the Bible, you will see when reading that there are many more characters. The reason is that some were called the same. The name of Christ that has not taken heart in Russia is actively used in everyday life by Hispanic peoples. However, in the modern Catholic world, boys are called Jesús (Jesus) in honor of the Son of God, and Josué (Hosue) in recognition of Joshua. 

Male names in the Bible and their meaning

We, perhaps, will not begin to analyze in detail the names of all the actors but stay only on those that are used today, well-known, and mostly having Russian matches. So, the meaning of biblical names is here. Have a look and select a suitable name for your little one.

•           Andrey - courageous;  •           Bartholomew - the son of cultivated land; •           Jacob (Jacob) - walking on the heels; •           John (Ivan) - the mercy of God; •           Matthew (Matthew) - a gift from the Lord; •           Simeon (Semyon) - hearer, who has heard God; •           Philip is a horse lover; •           Thomas is a twin.

 Common biblical names for men in today:

•           Aaron (Aron) - light;

•           Adam is the earth;

•           Abraham (Abram) - father of nations;

•           Aristarchus - ruler of the best;

•           Barack - lightning;

•           Benjamin (Benjamin) - beloved son;

•           David (Davyd) - beloved;

•           Daniel (Daniel) - the Lord judged me;

•           Zechariah (Zahar) - the Lord remembered;

•           Eleazar (Elizar) - God helped;

•           Elijah (Ilya) - my God Yahweh;

•           Joseph (Osip) - addition;

•           Yisrael (Israel) - competing with the Lord;

•           Jona (Jonah) - a dove;

•           Yitzchak (Isaac) - laughing;

•           Lazarus - the Lord, helped me;

•           Mikael (Michael) - who is like God;

•           Moshe (Moses) - taken from the water;

•           Nahum (Nahum) - the comforter;

•           Noah (Noah) - security;

•           Samson is sunny;

•           Solomon is peaceful;

•           Phlegont - burning;

•           Shmuel (Samuel) - heard by the Lord;

•           Elisha (Elisha) - God will save.

Interestingly, the names from the Bible are not found only among peoples pretending Christianity. In the Muslim world, even in orthodox countries, phonetically modified names are widespread. Islam Followers are also willingly called boys in honor of the heroes of the Old and New Bible. A small list of biblical male names for Muslims:

•           Ibrahim - Abraham;

•           Ilyas - Elijah;

•           Isa is Jesus;

•           Musa - Moshe;

•           Harun - Aaron;

•           Yusuf - Joseph;

•           Jacob - Jacob.

  Female names found in the Bible

The most famous Hebrew name in Europe today sounds like Mary everywhere. It was the name not only of the Mother of God but also of many other women in the Holy Scriptures. However, it is in memory of the Blessed Mary and is still often called girls around the world. There are other female biblical names famous in the modern world:

•           Ada (decoration) - the wife of Lamech from the Old Testament;

•           Anna (Divine Grace) is the name of several characters from the Bible;

•           Eve (giving life) is the first woman created by the Lord and succumbed to the temptation of the Serpent;

•           Elizabeth - (conjuring God) - the righteous, cousin of the Virgin Mary;

•           Leah (cow) - Rachel's older sister, Jacob's wife;

•           Magdalene (inspired) - repentant sinner Mary Magdalene;

•           Martha (mistress) - the sister of Lazarus in the New Testament;

•           Rachel (sheep) - Leah's younger sister, Jacob's wife;

•           Ruth (girlfriend) - great-grandmother of King David in the Old Testament;

•           Sarah (noble) - the wife of Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish people;

•           Tamara (palm) - the beautiful Tamar from the dynasty of King David.

There is no need to publish a complete list of biblical names since many of them are considered old in modern society. And also, they are not characterized by harmony. But even in the above list, it is quite possible to choose the one that is suitable in sound, meaning, and merit of the original medium, whose spiritual life earns a place on the pages of the Bible and a corresponding mark in church calendars.

 As you can see, biblical names are not at all uncommon. In addition to the New and Old bibles, there are later sources which your list can be easily extended if desired. Since its starting, the Christian church ranked the holy media and victims, who also went down in the history of religion. In any case, giving the child a name from the Bible, there is no doubt that it matters!

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

WASHINGTON — A ruling issued on Monday by a federal judge in Manhattan, in a case brought by a freelance journalist without a lawyer, may interest the White House. The judge said that the New York Police Department may have violated the First Amendment by revoking the press credentials of the journalist, Jason B. Nicholas.

The ruling was preliminary, and the Police Department said it had legitimate reasons for its actions. But Judge J. Paul Oetken’s decision was timely, following as it did the exclusion of several news organizations from a Friday briefing at the White House.

“It has been held impermissible,” Judge Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.”

Last Friday’s developments at the White House crossed that legal line, said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“That was unconstitutional,” he said. “If you exclude reporters from briefings that they otherwise have a right to attend because you don’t like their reporting, then you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination.” Viewpoint discrimination by the government in a public forum is almost always unconstitutional.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, on Friday barred journalists from The New York Times, BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, the BBC and The Huffington Post from a daily briefing.

Aides to Mr. Spicer admitted only reporters from a group of news organizations that, the White House said, had been previously confirmed. After the session, Mr. Spicer’s deputy said all White House journalists were represented by the small, rotating press pool that covers the president’s daily movements and shares its reporting with the rest of the press corps, and that Mr. Spicer had merely opted to add a few other organizations to that group.

Repeated attempts by The Times to be included in the group of confirmed attendees were unsuccessful. An email to an official in the White House press office inquiring about whether a Times reporter would be allowed in and requesting access was not answered. A Times reporter who went to the White House briefing room to try to gain access was turned away and told he could not be included.

The White House’s rationale for allocating seats at the briefing, if accurate, would probably pose no First Amendment issues. But there are reasons to think the White House singled out news organizations whose work it dislikes.

“We’re going to aggressively push back,” Mr. Spicer said, according to a recording of the session provided by a reporter who was allowed to attend. “We’re just not going to sit back and let, you know, false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts get out there.”

Public officials are not required to give reporters perfectly equal access, of course, and exclusive interviews and selective leaks are commonplace and lawful. But First Amendment experts said the allocation of government resources like press passes and access to public forums like news conferences must be based on neutral criteria rather than discrimination based on what the journalists had written.

Lots of interactions between the government and the news media do not implicate those kinds of First Amendment concerns. In 2006, for instance, a federal appeals court ruled that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland did not violate the First Amendment rights of two Baltimore Sun reporters by prohibiting state employees from talking to them because he was unhappy with their reporting.

“It is common knowledge,” Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., “that reporting is highly competitive, and reporters cultivate access — sometimes exclusive access — to sources, including government officials. Public officials routinely select among reporters when granting interviews or providing access to nonpublic information.”

But press credentials and seats at government news conferences are a different matter, according to a 1977 decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“White House press facilities having been made publicly available as a source of information for newsmen, the protection afforded news gathering under the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press, requires that this access not be denied arbitrarily or for less than compelling reasons,” Judge Carl E. McGowan wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. “Not only newsmen and the publications for which they write, but also the public at large have an interest protected by the First Amendment in assuring that restrictions on news gathering be no more arduous than necessary, and that individual newsmen not be arbitrarily excluded from sources of information.”

Scott Gant, a lawyer with Boies Schiller & Flexner and the author of “We’re All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age,” said Friday’s developments were troubling.

“The exclusion of certain news organizations from press briefings, if motivated by disagreement or displeasure with their coverage of the administration, may well have crossed an important constitutional line — potentially constituting violations of the First Amendment,” he said.

First Amendment experts said the decision to bar reporters from Friday’s briefing was of a piece with the Trump administration’s hostility to much of the news media.

“Unhappiness with and criticism of the press by American presidents has been the norm, not the exception,” said Floyd Abrams, a leading First Amendment lawyer. “But daily denigration of the press as the enemy of the American people and statements that the use of confidential sources by journalists ‘shouldn’t be allowed’ is both novel and dangerous.”

But Michael W. McConnell, a law professor at Stanford, said news organizations can be too thin-skinned and too quick to invoke the First Amendment.

“Criticism of the press is not an attack on freedom of the press, any more than criticism of the president is an attack on the presidency,” he said. “In my opinion, the press should respond to President Trump’s criticism not by taking umbrage at the criticism but by doing the best, most professional job it can do, including covering Trump fairly and accurately.”

Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, said Mr. Trump may have violated important norms even if he crossed no legal line.

“A president has every right to criticize the media, and almost all presidents do on occasion,” he said. “It is also legitimate to point out that there is liberal bias in many outlets. But Trump’s comments go well beyond that and often verge on trying to delegitimize the media as an institution. That’s a bad thing.”

Mr. Spicer’s actions on Friday may turn out to be a blip. Or they may be the first step toward the sort of constitutionally forbidden discrimination that worries many First Amendment experts.

Mr. Nicholas, the journalist who sued the police department, said he saw a connection between his case and what happened at the White House.

“When President Trump excluded certain media outlets from an otherwise open press event,” he said, “then the White House engaged in precisely the kind of viewpoint-based discrimination that is unconstitutional under the court’s decision in my case.”

“When government authorities get to pick and choose who among the press gets to cover an event,” Mr. Nicholas said, “everyone loses, the public first and foremost.”

[indigoelfinspirit]

Episode 6 - Spooky Party

Mingle

[indigoelfinspirit]

Episode 6 - Group Two

Group 2 is carving away as Hadrian relaxes in the pool (because water = life), and a wild Milo appears to distract the contestants.

[indigoelfinspirit]

Episode 5 - Fourth Rose Party

We have returned to the Bachelor Mansion for our celebratory party, which means plenty of food, dancing, and Milo hitting on contestants it seems.

[indigoelfinspirit]

Group 2

The Fabricator takes no prisoners though

[indigoelfinspirit]

Round 4 Results

The boys made some choices this round - some good and some not so much. This was also not the round to mess around on. The two contestants with the high scores get to go on a spa date with Hadrian. The contestant with the lowest score goes home.

1. Nate

2. Robin

3. Colby

4. Edmund

5. David

6. Colt

7. Kelly

8. Maddox

9. Ilya

10. Jonah

Which means Jonah Avila is going home. Thank you so much for sending him @simsinfinitylt! He’s cute and he did well in the introductions, but after that point he was interested in literally everyone and everything but Hadrian so his scores suffered greatly while the others were slowly making gains.

In better news congrats to Nate and Robin and their creators @simmancy and @atwistoftales they are going on the first official date!

[indigoelfinspirit]

Group 2 is a bit more chaotic. Hadrian and Edmund really hit it off. Nate did come over to talk too, and Jonah showed up towards the end. Ilya tried but he doesn’t like crowds.

Group 2 Results under the cut

Group 2

Maddox bowled a 41

Ilya bowled a 40

David bowled a 28 

nate bowled a 20

Jonah bowled a 27

Edmund bowled a 46

[indigoelfinspirit]

Group 2

Issue 2 - Ilya gets very anxious in crowds and screamed at Hadrian. Twice. Both were a bit freaked out after that.

[indigoelfinspirit]

Ilya Wells-Abrams by @mathemagicsims​

Hadrian: Oh, Hi I wasn’t expecting you so early.

Ilya: What are you wearing?

Hadrian: A bathing suit. Do you wanna borrow one and join me?

Ilya: Eww, no I hate oranges!

Hadrian internal: What in the bloody Hollow is happening?!

[indigoelfinspirit]

Episode 6 - Spooky Party

Late(r) arrivals:

I’m not sure what Edmund is

Nate is Rebel Scum

Ilya and Maddox are postmen

and David is a Ninja so I have almost no pictures of him 🤣

[indigoelfinspirit]

Group 2

After yoga Hadrian stayed to chat with the boys, and it went mostly well except for 2 major issues.

Issue 1 - Jonah literally left the lot. Like he’s barely been interacting with Hadrian and now he just peaced out.

Issue 2 - Well, that deserves it’s own post.

[indigoelfinspirit]

Round 1 - Final Results

Adrien Porter is going home. Thanks so much for sending Adrien @kukijar. Hadrian thought he was cute, but Adrien just did not like him at all.

Now for how the rest did to be honest the scores were really bad. So there will be * next to the ones with Romance bars and - next to the ones with negative bars.

Hadrian’s favorites (aka those with the highest scores from both rounds):

Nate Fish*

Robin Vaughn

Vincent Sinclair*

Edmund Hughes

Middle of the Pack:

Colby Cordova

Colt Michaud

Maddox Bergman -

Jonah Avila*

Danger Zone (Lowest Scores):

Luca O’Neil -

Ilya Wells-Adams

David Harper

Keller Iona -

Adrien Porter -

[indigoelfinspirit]

Group 2

The boys started out pretty confident