#Kingston Imperial

[roesolo]

Holiday Shopping Suggestions!

Holiday Shopping Suggestions! @kanemillerbooks @kingstonimperialbooks @harperkids @finnpartners

I’m back with more holiday book shopping ideas! Let’s see what we have today: For the young entrepreneur: Ryder K The Mini Boss: The Littlest Hands, Yet the Biggest Dreams, by Cheyenne Davis, Margaret Bowdre, & Ryder K Wharton/Illustrated by Niles Britwum, (Nov. 2024, Kingston Imperial), $16.99, ISBN: 9781954220782 Ages 5-9 Many will recognize 7-year-old entrepreneur and her mother, Cheyenne…

[ahsan1054-blog]

We are Helping students in their exams, Final Year Projects, Thesis, Individuals and Group Assignments just in Cheap Price.WhatsApp # +923441653963

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Japanese Action in Manchuria Defended Very Successfully,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 17, 1933. Page 2. ---- “Resolved that this house approve Japan's activities in Manchuria” was the subject of the Intercollegiate Debate between Ottawa University and Queen's last evening at Convocation Hall. In the opinion of the Judges, Father C. J. Keating, Col. W. B. Megloughlin and Dr. D. A. Mackenzie-McNaughton, E. H. Gilmour and John Parlor of Queen’s, upholding the affirmative, were declared winner over Mr. Dougaid, and Mr. McDonald of Ottawa University, who upheld the negative. 

As first speaker for the affirmative, Mr. Gilmour stated that Japan activities in Manchuria were a benefit not only to the rest of the world but expressly to China herself. Japan’s rights were legal, having been granted to Japan by international treaty rights which had been overlooked too easily through the sinister influence of Chinese propaganda. Japan had a moral and legal right to her occupation of Manchuria, stated Mr. Gilmour. With a population of 70,000,000 people to feed, Japan must have an outlet and Manchuria was the logical solution. The history of Manchuria was one of Japanese investment and enterprise, Mr. Gilmour emphatically declared that by virtue of her government and development, China was not a sovereign nation— China did not have the first principle of sovereignty: good order and the power to maintain that order. 

The first negative speaker, Mr. McDonald, said that the province of Manchuria was racially and historically a part of China. The inhabitants spoke one dialect and in custom and manners they were one. Great Britain and the United States both considered Manchuria as a Chinese possession. The fact that 96 per cent of the population in Manchuria is Chinese was proof enough to establish ownership. “China, too.” said Mr. McDonald, ” needs an outlet.” Japan has broken five major treaties: the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905, the Sino-Japanese Treaty, the Nine Power Pact of 1922, the League Covenant, and the Pact of Paris. By these treaties Japan had agreed to evacuate Manchuria with the exception of a small territory to withdraw troop from this province to respect the territorial integrity of China- all of which she has disregarded. 

Mr. Parker,  the second affirmative speaker, showed that China is guilty of systematic persecution of the Japanese in Manchuria and that by a treaty of 1930, Japanese citizens were to be allowed to settle in certain districts. Conclusive proof showed that not only were the Japanese residents repeatedly threatened but likewise the owners, should they lease the land to Japanese citizens. The affirmative objected to Chinese boycott only when it was an instrument of national policy. Mr. Parker told of the chaotic internal condition of China and said the parts when the Japanese Government has influence were undoubtedly the best ordered. 

The last speaker, Mr. Dougald, replied to the question of the boycott by saying that the Chinese boycott was the sequel to the Japanese massacre of Chinese citizens. Japan’s only excuse for warfare was the ultimate-control of China by first getting Manchuria. Her plea of self-defense was only a petty subterfuge - she was ready at the slightest provocation for military aggression. The decision of the Judge brought the debate to a close.

[AL: Not a surprise that the ‘affirmative’ side of the debate, which deploys pro-setter colonialism arguments that would be familiar and celebrated by Canadians (especially the elite judges, military, prison and medical officers) won this exchange, even as the League of Nations condemned Japanese aggression in China.]

[royaltysimblr]

Charles, Prince of the Isle (1828-1875)

read about him below!!

The long-awaited prince was born in 1828 to Queen Mary III and her husband, Prince Charles, the Earl of Statford. Queen Mary showered her son and heir in love and attention while ignoring her older daughters. Prince Charles recieved an extensive education which was overseen by his father. The young prince was intelligent, bright, and cheerful despite being sickly most of his life. After his father's death in 1847, the prince spent more time with his family, with his mother heavily relying on him during her mourning period. Charles attended the Imperial University of Windenburg from 1848-1850.

In 1852, Charles became engaged to Princess Sophie Alexandrine of Mannheim, his distant relative. Charles fell in love with her the previous summer while she was visiting relatives in San Myshuno. His mother, Queen Mary wanted her son to marry a bride from a country which had more prospects. Sophie Alexandrine was a minor princess whose second-cousin was the Grand Duke of Mannheim, who ruled a small insignificant country. The princess also lacked a dowry and was a few years past the marriagable age of the era (She was almost 25) . Despite this, Mary allowed her son to propose after months of convincing. Sophie Alexandrine arrived in Windenburg two months before the wedding was scheduled and resided with her relatives who had grace and favour apartments at Kingston Palace. The Prince would visit his future bride almost every single day with the company of a chaperone. The couple enjoyed long walks and playing music together, with the prince playing piano, and the princess playing the harp. A month before the wedding, Sophie Alexandrine suffered from a fever which would result in her death. Charles was devastated from the death of his betrothed and would never be the same again. The prince demanded that Sophie Alexandrine have a funeral as if she was a Princess of the Isle, which Queen Mary agreed with. The Princess was buried at the Royal Burial Ground in San Myshuno, despite not yet being a member of the royal family. The court remained in mounring for eight weeks.

Queen Mary described her poor son as "a shell of his former self". The Prince refused to eat anything for days at a time and would never leave his apartments for months. The prince began to lose a considerable amount of weight causing Queen Mary to worry for her son. As the years went by, Charles gradually recovered from the death of his fiance. Most Windenburgians assumed that Charles would never marry and would later be succeeded by his younger brother, Edward who had gotten married in 1857. In 1863, Prince Edward became gravely ill with the Bricehster Flu, remaining bedridden for weeks. Prince Edward eventually recovered, but the Queen used this situation to urge Charles to marry. After two months, the Prince eventually relented and allowed his mother and sisters to find a potential bride. After rejecting many suitors, Princess Odette suggested her husband's cousin, Infanta Maria Christina of Selvadorada. The bride was beautiful and well educated, and like her husband enjoyed music. After meeting twice in Champes Les Sims, the couple became engaged that year.

In 1863, at the age of 35, the Prince was married to Infanta Maria Christina of Selvadorada. The Prince's mood initially became better after his marriage to the infanta, however Maria Christina gave birth to a stillbirth daughter on the anniversary of Sophie Alexandrine's death, leaving the Prince in a state of severe depression. In 1866, Maria Christina gave birth to a daughter, Princess Alexandra who would later on become Queen Alexandra II. Charles was delighted by the birth of his daughter and would spend an extraordinary amount of time with her. In 1869, Maria Christina suffered from a difficult pregnancy which would result in her death. Maria Christina gave birth to twins, Prince Henry, and Princess Charlotte. Maria Christina died in labor, and her son would die the next day. Charles was heartbroken after the death of his wife and son, and secluded himself away from court. Charles would never return, and spent most of his time at Dunkeld Palace in Victoria. The Prince rarely saw his children as they reminded him of his deceased wife.

In 1870, the Prince was remarried to Princess Adelaide of Brichester, a cousin of his first wife. Although Charles never wanted to marry again, his overbearing mother encouraged the match and stressed the importance of having a mother figure in her granddaughters lives. The prince ignored his new wife and continued to live seperately from her in Victoria. In the absence of their father, Princess Adelaide raised Alexandra and Charlotte herself, overseeing their education and wellbeing. In 1875, Charles succumbed to a fever and died alone at his lodge in Victoria. His daughter, Alexandra became heir to the throne and would succeed her grandmother, Queen Mary II, as the new Queen of Windenburg in 1885.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 21/10/2024

Through the Bad Apples!!

Season 8 No Album Release Bad Apple!! (UK Version) - Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story

Ripped by Ellie53 (@ellie53real)

While the SiIvaGunner channel comes with a lot of repeating gags and bits, the ways in which they employ these can vary a fair bit. The channel's foundational meme, the ever-present funny Flintstone man Grand Dad which I wrote about on Waluigi Pinball (Beta Mix), is a simple leitmotif of just 15 notes, which makes it incredibly flexible; it can be employed as a standalone joke as practice for greenhorn rippers, or be wormed into the middle of more complex project. Memes like We Are Number One meanwhile have a very funny sound to them, yet require a lot of time and care to get to sound as good as rips like Robbie's Rotten Mine or Ska Cha Cha (Rotten Mix). And then, on the side of the spectrum completely opposite to Grand Dad, we have the jokes that feel more like a complete and total flex on the part of the ripper employing them. These "bits" are the ones that aren't necessarily reoccurring due to being funny, but rather due to being bangers with a complexity inherent to their composition, which makes any rip employing them feel like a big event. The main example would be Final Fantasy VII's One Winged Angel as featured on rips like I will Never be a Redneck, yet perhaps just as impressive are rips utilizing Dragonforce's legendary Through the Fire and Flames; rips like, indeed, Through the Bad Apples!!.

Made legendary through Guitar Hero III, Through the Fire and Flames is a song known far and wide across the internet; a piece of mainstream music that pierces through to the most shut-in of nerds due to the gaming legacy tied to it. It was the ultimate challenge for play in the ultimate Guitar Hero release, an absolutely unmissable part of pop culture of the 7th generation of gaming, and of course an absolute shredding banger in its own right. It's a natural fit for the SiIvaGunner channel, and ever since around ~Season 5 or so it's seen a pretty notable uptick in appearances - you may remember my writing of the legendary Through the F​-​F​-​Fire and the F​-​F​-​Flames, championing its ripper for his incredible ambitions and efforts made to make the rip feel as complete as it does. Its the typical fun of SiIvaGunner arrangement rips, the age-old question of how to transfer one song's intensity into the framework of a different song or video game's sound; Float Islands (Kirby 64 Arrangement), FEEL SO FINE STUCK INSIDE, and of course medley rips like SNES Mini Circulation all show just why it's such an appealing prospect. And so, we've seen a fair few rips aiming to do just what Through the F​-​F​-​Fire and the F​-​F​-​Flames did: take the legendary song and rearrange it in the style of a different game.

In large part, that is what Through the Bad Apples!! also does to great effect, imbuing the track with the distinct sound of the Touhou franchise. You can read the entries on W.E. Are Number One? and Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston to learn more about it, but to keep it concise it's a sound that I very much admire and enjoy despite having very little knowledge of the Touhou series as a whole. One Touhou song I'm most DEFINITELY aware of, however, is Bad Apple!! - perhaps the series' most virally spread anthem, and one that I officially fell in love with all the way back in Season 3 of SiIvaGunner through Imperial Touwer. It is, in many ways, a song just as legendary and known to the video game mainstream - if not moreso - as Through the Fire and Flames. And so, in some sense, it was only logical for Through the Bad Apples!! to instead flip things on its head.

Indeed, the rip isn't an arrangement of the Dragonforce track kept to the soundscape of Touhou 4; uniquely, it's instead the other way around, an arrangement of Bad Apple!! using the instrumental sound of Through the Fire and Flames. Upon relistening to Through the Fire and Flames a few times before writing this post, I had forgotten just how video game-y the original track actually already sounds, with a chirpy synth accentuating several key moments of the performance that just oozes 90s video games. As a result, the two tracks feel closer to one another than you'd once think; and Through the Bad Apples!! as a result manages to feel less like a straight interpretation of one into the other, and more like an even blend of the two sounds.

I'm yet to cover much of what Ellie53 has done on SiIvaGunner before this post, but she's been a constant presence on the channel since the tail end of Season 5, no doubt soon becoming aware of the rising prominence of Through the Fire and Flames rips. She's also tinkered around with Bad Apple!! in particular with Maçã Ruim!! back in Season 7; and so, I suppose it only makes sense that one would eventually put the pieces together and try their hand at mixing the two into one. Through the Bad Apples!! feels WELL worth the wait and is a shining example of Ellie53's growth as a ripper, and I'm hopeful that Through the Fire and Flames sticking around on SiIvaGunner for the foreseeable future can continue to inspire rippers just like Ellie53 to keep finding new ways to experiment with its sound.

Long live Dragonforce!

[fatehbaz]

Julius Scott’s legendary study tells [...] of the unrest of “masterless” communities, as he terms them, in the late eighteenth-century Caribbean and its implications for the Atlantic World. This unrest was undergirded by what he terms a “common wind” of seditious political news circulating through an increasingly mobile and interconnected region. He deftly sets the context [...] to imperial tensions that culminated in uprisings and revolutions within [...] the French, British, and Spanish Empires. [...] He builds what is this field-defining work from a triangulated analysis of three central hubs of the colonial Caribbean in terms of [...] prosperity in the plantation economy, and political importance to these aforementioned empires: Saint-Domingue [Haiti], Jamaica, and Cuba. But he also explores similar occurrences within [...] Martinique and Guadeloupe for the French, Venezuela and Trinidad for the Spanish, and Dominica and Grenada for the British. He also includes [...] the engagement of the newly formed United States in this network, reinforcing the broader Atlantic impact of the common wind’s radical currents.

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Chapter 1 explores the upheaval afoot in the mid-1700s colonial Caribbean through a closer look at the movements of a range of actors including enslaved runaways, military deserters, contraband smugglers, free people of color, and poor whites hustling in the islands’ urban centers and surrounding countrysides.

A variety of settings - including the fringes of plantations, maroon settlements, town-based markets, taverns, hospitals, barracks, and wharves - might presumably, if read with the archival grain, illuminate the map of state control. Instead, in Scott’s analysis, these represent the contours of the working class’s unlawful movements and ultimately their fraying of the colonial order, anticipating what Stephanie M. H. Camp [...] would aptly name [...] the “rival geography” of slave society.

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Chapter 2 shows how sailors’ illicit forms of mobility [...] blurred the bounds between land and sea in this narrative of popular dissent. Their movements [...] as social beings and political dissidents bled into and helped sustain similar kinds of illicit commerce and socializing [...]. Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate how the common wind consistently blew subversive ideas into and around the Caribbean, much to officials’ chagrin. Scott here homes in on the politically volatile era from the late 1770s through the late 1790s, which saw declarations of war, drastic changes in slavery policy [...] and the emergence of U.S., French, and, most significantly, Haitian revolutionary uprising. [...] [E]nslaved communities everywhere in the region followed as intently as they could as the campaign of the enslaved rebels in Saint-Domingue began in 1791. [...] Political news, no matter how hard officials in the colonies and the metropoles tried to block it, spilled into all levels of society [...]. What flowed through all of these channels animated questions about master-slave relations, mercantilist policy, individual rights [...]. Scott carefully traces the influence of the unfolding Haitian Revolution on well-planned but eventually thwarted uprisings of enslaved people in the Venezuelan port city Coro, the Dutch colony of Curaçao, and the parish of Pointe Coupee in then Spanish Louisiana, all in 1795. He also illuminates the multiple instances of inspiration in the 1790s evidenced in enslaved communities throughout the United States [...].

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Essentially Scott reveals that the Age of Revolutions cannot be understood without comprehending black resistance in times of war and peace. The tale of Phebe, one of many enslaved Jamaican female runaways who became an itinerant higgler hiding in plain sight in urban spaces like Kingston, or the story of the 1790 mutiny of four enslaved sailors who overtook the Saint Kitts sloop the Nancy with respective origins in the Caribbean, West Africa, and the U.S. South, which Scott called a “microcosm” of the Atlantic, are but two of multiple narratives he includes to show that enslaved people [...] actively built and sustained those circuits via their multilingualism, their savvy, and above all their dedication to achieving a state of masterlessness [...].

This could be achieved not just through formal manumission processes, but through running away and re-creating new lives and livelihoods [...]. The [...] knowledge that these dissidents obtained in their labors allowed them to escape to lives not “off the grid,” but rather in the centers of commercial and state activity, ensconced in communities of opposition and poised to obtain news that prepared them well for their next moves in their albeit precarious existence. [...]

Scott complicates earlier framings of the oppositional working class as strictly of European origin [...]; [...] Scott’s unpublished dissertation [...] influenced the interventions made in Linebaugh and Rediker’s The Many-Headed Hydra [...] years later. [...] He centers enslaved people within the revolutionary Atlantic not just as workers [...] but also as strategic thinkers, and he does so long before it was popular to do so in this field of history. [...] [H]e demonstrates how so many ordinary enslaved women and men regularly engaged in quotidian forms of fugitivity across various imperial territories of the Caribbean [...]. The dissertation also came several years in advance of the still pivotal call advanced by Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s 1995 Silencing the Past, about the denied centrality of the Haitian Revolution to the Age of Revolutions in its time and in retrospect. Scott’s work undeniably influenced many Atlantic historians [...]; it is also a genuinely exciting read.

---

All text above by: Natasha Lightfoot. "The Common Wind: A Masterful Study of the Masterless Revolutionary Atlantic". The American Historical Review, Volume 125, Issue 3, pages 926-930. June 2020. At: doi dot org slash 10.1093/ahr/rhaa230 [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[readyforevolution]

Happy Birthday, Haile Selassie I, Negusa Nagast , Seyoume Igziabeher, By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Elect of God,

RAS TAFARI!

In Jamaica, Shortly after the coronation of the Emperor Haile Selassie I, belief in the divinity of Haile Selassie began. A black king had risen in the east, a messiah had come to deliver his people. The legend of Emperor Haile Selassie grew after years of personally fighting and eventually defeating a European colonial power.

One hundred thousand Rastafari from all over Jamaica descended on Palisadoes Airport in Kingston to greet Haile Selassie when he visited Jamaica on April 21, 1966. Clouds of Ganja smoke covered the scene. Selassie started down the stairs, but returned, uneasy with the commotion as the crown rushed the tarmac. A well-known Rasta leader, Ras Mortimer Planno was recruited to negotiate the emperor's descent. Planno was able to calm the crowd and help the emperor exit the plane. This event is commemorated by Rastafari as Grounation Day every year on April 21.

At the time Bob Marleys new bride, Rita had relayed to Bob how she had seen stigmata on the hands of the Emperor as he walked the stairs down from his plane. This greatly contributed to Bob's conversion to Rasta and its subsequent global exposure.

On the flight to Jamaica he was asked if he would deny being god to the Rasta. He replied, "Who am I to disturb their belief?"

Jamaican authorities would have liked Selassie to deny divinity to the Rasta. This didn't happen and Selassie actually gave gold medallions to the Rasta leaders, the only gifts of the trip. This after famously giving away lions on his trip to Europe.

In a 1967 CBC recorded an interview with Haile Selassie in which he denied his alleged divinity. On being told, "There are millions of Christians throughout the world, your Imperial Majesty, who regard you as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ," Haile Selassie replied in his native language,

"I have heard of that idea. I also met certain Rastafarians. I told them clearly that I am a man, that I am mortal, and that I will be replaced by the oncoming generation, and that they should never make a mistake in assuming or pretending that a human being is emanated from a deity."

After his return to Ethiopia he sent an Archbishop to the Caribbean help draw Rastafari and other West Indians to the Ethiopian church. People resented the former colonial churches and were interested in establishing the Ethiopian Church in the Caribbean. The Emperor obliged and the church exists to this day.

[goldenlilium-ocs]

OC Halloween Challenge 2023

Day 4 - Twisted

What if meeting Mattheo had led Juliette down a dark path after all? (This draws inspo from my previous Bonnie and Clyde AU headcanons)

- Following the death of her boyfriend, Cedric, Juliette had become a shell of herself. All that remained was untethered anger

- Mattheo, having grown to almost crave the sense of power that being so feared gave him, only saw that the person he wanted was in a vulnerable position, easy to manipulate. Nobody could get through to him once he set his sights on what he wanted

- It was almost too easy. Juliette had a legacy to uphold and Mattheo had the ability to promise that fame to her and more

- Her excellent potions skills come in handy. She invents a serum that works almost like the imperious curse

- She met the Dark Lord the summer before her seventh year after leaving home

- Though she did not return to Hogwarts with the dark mark, she soon become as feared as Mattheo. She was a dark princess, no longer underestimated. Despite Mattheo’s promises, she left the quidditch team. She had higher ambitions now

- She received the dark mark on graduation night, given to her by Mattheo himself

- Her first kill during the battle of Hogwarts was childhood friend, Kingston Chance

- She is killed by none other than Owen Bishop during the last hours of battle

[necarion]

The absolute clusterfuck journey of the Russian Baltic Fleet around the world to fight in the Russo-Japanese War, culminating in them being sunk at the Tsushima Straights before even reaching Port Arthur. It's a tragedy, but also really funny how dismal the performance was.

The ship was infamous for its actions during the voyage of the Second Pacific Squadron, where it precipitated the Dogger Bank incident.[1] It also was involved in numerous other incidents including misidentifications of neutral vessels as Japanese torpedo boats and mistakenly firing at [and hitting] the Russian cruiser Aurora [killing one Russian sailor and an Orthodox priest]. While stopping in Madagascar several ships in the fleet acquired several local predatory animals, Kamchatka being no exception. The ship was lost with all hands when it was sunk in 1905 during the Battle of Tsushima to Japanese shell fire.

The Dogger Bank incident:

The Dogger Bank incident (also known as the North Sea Incident, the Russian Outrage or the Incident of Hull) occurred on the night of 21/22 October 1904, when the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy mistook a British trawler fleet from Kingston upon Hull in the Dogger Bank area of the North Sea for Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boats[1] and fired on them, also firing on each other in the chaos of the melée.[2] Two British fishermen died, six more were injured, one fishing vessel was sunk, and five more boats were damaged.[3] On the Russian side, one sailor and a Russian Orthodox priest aboard the cruiser Aurora caught in the crossfire were killed.[3]

Short video with more random "comedy" bits:

Long video by Drachinifel, which goes into more detail about the many, many clusterfucks (disproportionately caused by the Kamchatka). Watchable at least 1.5x (he speaks slowly) and still okay at 2x.

[ainews]

Famed Hobgoblin Spurs Jamaican Covering

In 1690, Jamaica was embroiled in a covering sparked by an elite hobgoblin known as "The Devil of Spanish Town." The hobgoblin was said to be an unnaturally large and formidable creature, that roamed the streets of Jamaica's capital. When the hobgoblin emerged on the nights of full moons, the citizens of Spanish Town were driven to flee their homes.

This fear of the creature reportedly drove several of the natives of Jamaica to appeal to British forces for help. The British responded to the Hobgoblin’s terrifying presence by laying siege to Spanish Town and capturing the creature.

News of the capture spread throughout the Caribbean, and some people began to speculate that the British had saved Kingston by capturing the fearsome hobgoblin. The fear of the hobgoblin allegedly caused widespread panic among the citizens of Spanish Town, leading to the covering and its subsequent obliteration.

The event led to the fortification of the British presence in Jamaica, and the Hobgoblin of Spanish Town became a symbol of British resilience and military might. The capture of the hobgoblin also marked the end of the first major British military engagement in the Caribbean, which set a precedent for further expanding Britain's influence throughout the region.

The capture of the hobgoblin is remembered as a milestone in Jamaican - and Caribbean - history, as it signaled the start of a new era of militarism and imperialism. Although the event has largely disappeared from collective memory, the Hobgoblin of Spanish Town has become a symbol of British dominance in the Caribbean.

[kiitsdehradun]

Kingston Imperial Institute of Technology and Sciences,

[fideidefenswhore]

Did Anne Boleyn plot Princess Mary’s death?

Only according to Chapuys, as far as I’m aware. There are some other contemporaries that say this, but they directly cite the ‘Imperial ambassador in England’ as their source.

 She said, the day before she was executed, and when they came to lead her to the scaffold, that she did not consider that she was condemned by Divine judgment, except for having been the cause of the ill-treatment of the Princess, and for having conspired her death.

But, you know, the above is his letter to Granvelle (where he tended to send his more unsubstantiated reports, vs his direct letters to the Emperor… I think the assumption here has been his source was Lady Kingston, but since he doesn’t suggest the identity of the source, we don’t truly know) ; and the context is that he has been reporting that Anne has been plotting her death by poison or other means since 1533 (‘give her too much dinner), it makes sense he would have a vested interest in vindicating his own earlier reports. And he can have the final word, since, at the time of this report, she’s dead. There’s another later, secondary account that Lady Kingston, when she was visiting Mary that month, personally delivered a final message from Anne seeking her forgiveness.

It’s been suggested that during her trial, one of the accusations was that she had attempted or plotted to poison Mary (I can’t recall atm if there is a primary source substantiating that, or if it’s speculation based on Henry reportedly believing so via Chapuys, again), but given she ‘cleared herself of the same’ (ie, all accusations), it doesn’t sound like she admitted any such thing. ‘Ill-treatment’ could compass… much, I could see Anne expressing regret about her less ‘Christian’ actions towards her stepdaughter, perhaps with the knowledge that her brother had died, that she would soon die, and Mary would thus be Elizabeth’s most powerful family member save the King, in hope that this expressed remorse would be passed onto her; that she would not vent her hatred for her onto her half-sister. Melita Thomas has speculated that this report is true, but that it referred to Anne wishing for her stepdaughter to be executed for her defiance of the statutes of the realm compassing Henry’s authority over the Church of England and herself and Elizabeth’s legitimacy, not any actual plots to poison her.

She might have confessed to having wished her dead and desired to be shriven; but I don’t know if this is something she would have spoken of on her final walk, it seems more like something for the confessional (and Chapuys does speak earlier of what she confessed in front of William Kingston, but doesn’t include this, so… things that make you go hmmm).

I know it’s become common to take Chapuys at face value about the Boleyn executions and their final days, but he’s also the only person that claimed George ‘denounced his heresies’ on the scaffold. I believe it does speak volumes that he believed in their innocence (insofar as what they were actually charged with— or really, more like the Crown’s failure to prove its case); but otherwise I don’t necessarily lend more credence to his reports in these matters as I do to his at other times.

[soundsystemcultureblog]

Sound System Culture Mini Festival

Sunday 15 September 2024

Review by Gopal Dutta

It’s a rainy September afternoon in the centre of Huddersfield, and I’m on Wood Street for the Sound System Culture Mini Festival, part of the nationwide Heritage Open Days programme.

The street transforms into a vibrant, colourful space where everyone is welcome. Gazebos shelter the Zion Inna-Vision Sound System, alongside several stalls catering to the daytime crowd who have braved the showers. There’s face-painting, vegan food and cakes, cards, and books on offer. Rainbow-coloured bunting flutters in the wind, the whole scene giving me that “festival” vibe despite the poor weather.

In the glowing, cave-like atmosphere of the Northern Quarter bar, a steady stream of people take their seats around the large pull-down screen that has been especially set up, and an air of expectancy pervades the air. “Filling up nicely,” says Professor Julian Henriques, visiting from London to present a programme of documentaries commissioned by his research unit, Sonic Street Technologies, at Goldsmiths University. Every seat is soon occupied, and more attendees line the walls or sit on the steps, eager to share in this collective experience. The distant siren from the outdoor sound system blends into the indoor atmosphere, merging the worlds of film and reality.

Introducing the first film, a fascinating documentary about Gabre Selassie and the formation of the Kingston Dub Club, Julian acknowledges the importance of Huddersfield in reggae history, mentioning the legendary Venn Street nightclub and declaring that “Huddersfield in the 80s was the epicentre of reggae in the UK.”

The film programme is an excellent whistle-stop tour of the current landscape of sound systems around the world, taking in Jamaica, India, Colombia, Brazil, Australia, and finishing, with a poetic circularity, in South Africa. All of the films highlight reggae music’s power as a force for self-empowerment, community building, and as a social safety valve.

Throughout the screening, more people continue to file into the venue. Each time the door opens and closes, you can hear the outdoor sound system and the lively Brazilian drums performance by Grupo de Gringos Percussion.

As the films end to a warm applause from the audience, we are at standing room only, with a diverse mix of young and old, a wide range of races and cultures represented—Huddersfield’s diversity in all its glory.

The scene inside mirrors what’s depicted on screen inside: a dimly lit, atmospheric room with a diverse crowd, food, and drink being served. The team have done a great job recreating the vibe of a dub club.

As the energy from the films flows out into the street, the same heavy bassline fills the air, with people chatting, dancing, laughing, eating, and drinking, with DJ Andi G on the decks and Marshall on mic duties.

Eventually, the sun makes an appearance, and over the next few hours, more people arrive, swaying to reggae bassline. The free entry means many passersby pop in, drawn by the sweet music and vibrant atmosphere. Conversations flow, with strangers bonding over their shared love for the music, their faces lighting up as familiar tracks play. There is a collective cheer as Marshall exclaims, “We don’t want no rain no more,” echoing the crowd’s mood.

Riddim Master from Ras Ambassador Sound System then takes control of the decks, delivering an all-vinyl set that opens with Rod Taylor’s unmistakable "His Imperial Majesty" and the warm crackle of dub. Next up is Bigga Puss from Shakatone Esquire Sound System, warming up the crowd with a seamless selection of ska, rocksteady, and roots. As the familiar tones of “Kunta Kinte Dub” by The Revolutionaries fade in, a moment of recognition sweeps through the crowd. Finally, the legendary Papa Burkey, pioneer of the Earth Rocker Sound System from the 80s, takes over, keeping the energy high as the dancing continues, alongside Ras Sis Highness and Dee Bo General on the mic.

Well done to the event team for creating such a vibrant festival, much-needed entertainment in the heart of Huddersfield.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“FOR MAYOR THOS. A. ANDRE,” Kingston Whig-Standard. November 16, 1932. Page 3. ---- Now that we have passed the Ottawa agreements, there should be many new and branch factories looking for available sites. If yon elect me as Mayor, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to the encouragement of new industries for Kingston. We need industries to provide work for our industrial workers. I shall do everything to encourage them. 

Vote for “Tommy” Andre

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 03/01/2024

Never Gonna Give Up Mahjong

Season 3 Featured on: 2018.­Unregistered­HyperCam­2.­Full­Album.­XviD.­KfaD.­320­kbps­[CDRip]

Ripped by The Duane

For as much of a perceived SiIvaGunner loremaster as I may appear to be, I've expressed a few times that there are still several areas of the channel's legacy that I know very little about. Last month I talked about my unfamiliarity with the Touhou series despite its prominence and influence on the channel with rips like Imperial Touwer and Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston, and beyond that there's stuff like waterwraith pokos, a requested rip that opened me up to something I had...genuinely no idea about beforehand. Of these surprising new worlds I've been introduced to though, one thing truly shocked me more than any other - Why the Fuck do video games based on Mahjong just consistently have bangers?

Back way long ago during "Voiceless Week", I was requested to cover one of the song's arrangements called voiceless - simple ds series vol. 01 - the mahjong (¥1480). It was far from the first song ripped from its game, and it was a series of rips I was well aware existed, yet never gave any time - what could be so special about some DS Mahjong game music? As it turned out, the game just had an inherently super compelling, distinct, and flat-out BANGING sound to it, that just drew tons of rippers toward making things with its instrumentation. It reminded me of all the rips I'd already heard using the instrumentation of Pokémon's 4th-gen games, like yesterday's Bidoof's Big Band, yet now applied to a game I had next to no familiarity with.

Turns out, there's an entire small sub-community of Mahjong game fans out there, and that Mahjong games having fantastic soundtracks is far more common than I'd been led to believe. Never Gonna Give Up Mahjong is ripping a track from a *different* Nintendo DS Mahjong game, yet its sound is incredibly distinctive from the one I just described whilst still sounding fantastic. The rip's melody swap to Never Gonna Give You Up is a relatively subtle change all things considered, as the track's original percussion and beat is still being used, yet that one added accent just brings out the excellence of those pre-existing elements so much more. It gives the played out Rick Astley internet classic a whole new life, a funky, peppy feel to it, recognizable yet so different in tone.

Compared to many of the other Hypercam-themed rips such as YACKER TOILET, it doesn't feel like the rip is exactly celebrating or relishing in its original track's cheesiness, or to make you nostalgic for an older period of internet life. Its hard to describe, but Never Gonna Give Up Mahjong works so well for me specifically because I'd never gotten anywhere close to hearing its original source material, making this rip simply feel like a stylish, out-there reimagining of Never Gonna Give You Up, one that reminds you of how good the tune is. And even now that I know where that original piece came from, now that I KNOW that "Mahjong Bangers" is a very real thing, I still believe The Duane did a bang-up job making a melody swap this theoretically simple truly feel...sparkly. And just like Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston, its the underappreciated gems like this that so easily slip between the cracks, that I end up really cherishing.