#Stuart the Donkey

[dunwichhoarder]

Book Review: Extraction

This is in my top ten favorite books for 2024. It's funny as hell but has depth, like if John Scalzi and Terry Pratchett collaborated on an Ocean's Eleven reboot in a fantasy setting that included the angriest donkey in the world named Stuart.

I've been following Dietrich Stogner on TikTok for quite awhile. He described his novel Extraction as a heist novel where the target is bull semen. I was intrigued. How could I not?

I had signed up for an ARC and managed to not finish reading it before the publication date this week. By then I was already halfway through it and bought it for my Kindle to finish it.

At first I was just relieved to find out the man could actually write -- not guaranteed when someone says "Read my novel!" -- and then I was invested in the story.

If you've liked Kings of the Wyld or 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City and enjoyed that blend of fantasy and smartass comedy, you may want to check it out.

[lm-g1]

I guess I should formally make a post here about this, even though it’s been out for a while now:

HISTORY: This project is something that I’ve been actively working on for the past 2 years and I am very proud to be able to finally present the fruits of my labor! Growing up, I’d always been a massive fan of the Donkey Kong Country titles. I remember finding “Legend of the Crystal Coconut” on VHS at my local video rental store and pleading with my parents to rent it for me. I was blown away, finally being able to put voices to kharacters- and while the overall quality of the animation and writing was rather dubious in hindsight, most of the vocal performances always stood out to me as being THE definitive voice cast. For an awkwardly-animated cartoon of the mid-90’s, the writing was fine for what it was and touched on the normal ‘Saturday Morning’ kids block tropes. However, I’d always felt that there was something more that could be brought to the table in terms of storytelling if things were more kongsistent with the games. Here’s where I come in. Fast-forward 25 some odd years and I’m now living out my childhood dream, as ko-producer, kreative kongsultant, kasting director and voice actor of my own little motley krew of Kremlings!

I hope you all will have as much fun watching this as we did making this!

[incorrect-maraudersaandco-quotes]

Evan: What's the name of that mouse from that movie Stuart Little? Barty: Not sure, I'm still trying to figure out the name of that donkey from Shrek Regulus: I legitimately fucking hate both of you

[arda-marred]

Tolkien challenged existing attitudes to the poem in a 1953 paper, “Ofermod”, published with his verse drama The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son in Essays and Studies. “The Battle of Maldon” tells how Beorhtnoth, an Anglo-Saxon leader, led his men in a doomed defence against a Viking attack. The Vikings were on a tidal island in the river; but crucially Beorhtnoth decided to let this marauding force across a causeway (pictured above). Battle was joined, and the English were slaughtered. The poem seems to celebrate what has been called “Northern courage”, a spirit of dogged bravery even in the face of certain defeat. But the poet also describes Beorhtnoth’s decision as the product of ofermod, the meaning of which isn’t entirely clear. Tolkien argued that the Old English word means not simply “daring” but “overmastering pride”. This could be taken to reverse the sentiment of the poem, turning it into a critique of an irresponsible act of leadership. Stuart, whose book The Keys of Middle-earth (written with Elizabeth Solopova) provides a guide to Tolkien’s medieval sources, has been looking at Tolkien’s manuscript notes on the poem, from when he was an undergraduate onwards. And it turns out that Tolkien breathed not a word of criticism of Beorhtnoth for many years – not until around the start of the Second World War. This, Stuart suggests, undermines any supposition that Tolkien’s view of “The Battle of Maldon”, as expressed in his “Ofermod” essay, indicated a “lions led by donkeys” attitude shaped by First World War experiences. I’d agree that Tolkien’s view of the Great War military leaders wasn’t as black-and-white as all that. But I’d certainly argue that his trench experiences gave him some reason to feel very ambivalent about the leaders. As I said at the end of Stuart’s talk, there is the case of one company commander in Tolkien’s battalion who led a company on a night raid that overshot its goal – so when the sun rose, they were sitting ducks for the German machine-gunners and for the British artillery (unaware of their position), and most of the men were wiped out. This fatally over-extended advance by a military leader seems echoed in quite a few incidents in Middle-earth, including the charge by Théoden at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Tolkien’s writing displays a range of attitudes to the different incidents – implying, I think, that he felt deeply ambivalent about such acts of courage from leaders responsible for others’ lives. In a talk which also covered a number of other interesting points from the manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, Stuart cautioned against looking to Tolkien’s life or to contemporary events to explain the change in Tolkien’s views on “The Battle of Maldon”. The Second World War itself could have led to a shift in Tolkien’s view – perhaps because he saw ofermod at its worst in Hitler. And as I pointed out, his later view might have been coloured by the fact that two of his sons were in the forces, and facing mortal danger, whereas Tolkien himself had to sit on the sidelines powerlessly. However, Stuart‘s point was not about the creative writer but the rigorous scholar. As he said in a later email exchange, whatever Tolkien felt about the military leadership of 1914-18 (a debatable question), “he was entirely at liberty to overlay these views onto scenes or characters in his fiction, of course, and did so I believe; but he was too great a scholar to allow his own personal feelings and experiences in the 20th century to colour his views of the tenth.” That’s a persuasive argument.

[robertsonskywa1]

Starshadow's All-Star team (Movie)

After the events of Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers sets 6 months from the very beginning of Starshadow's All-Stars to the Rescue movie.

Since Starshadow Skystalker is enlisted from Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, went on a three-month filming of Transformers Equestria Girls during the day where Sweet Pete's return. Starshadow needs help to stop Sweet Pete to form an elite team during the Declaration of United Animation of Reality as All-Star team.

They were the first volunteers to help the All-Star who help with:

The Penguins of Madagascar (Skipper, Rico and Private were the helpers of Starshadow for combat fighting. And Kowalski is the science officer of the Delta Shadow)

Sci Twi and Sunset Shimmer from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (Since they found Starshadow after the Save Equestria Girls' donation at May)

Donkey from Shrek (Based on Sweet Pete's recycable of Shrek's marketing)

Jar Jar Binks and R5-D4 from Star Wars (Since he was on vacation of Dubai during Ugly Sonic at FanCon and Starshadow's new droid ally)

Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 Variant) who helps Starshadow to becoming his assistant in the transporter room from Delta Shadow

Kevin Stuart and Bob from Minions (Additional crewmembers)

They were the first teammates to enter the starship, Delta Shadow as Starshadow must stop Sweet Pete as Sci Twi's discovery as she created the cure to heal Sweet Pete's back to normal as Peter Pan himself.

[tf2-incorrect]

Scout: What’s the name of that mouse from the movie Stuart Little?

Soldier: Not sure. I’m still trying to figure out the name of the donkey from Shrek

Spy: I legitimately fucking hate both of you.

[k00282830]

Prep for Fota

Aaron Blaise

Stuart Sumida

In preparation for heading to Fota tomorrow, @ysweeneylsad sent us a couple of videos to watch about studying and drawing live animals.

Aaron Blaise

The first one was by Aaron Blaise whos also known as "creature art teacher" online. In this video he explains how he prefers to draw animals in person out in the wild as you get to study them better than you would from photos and a better feel for how they're structured and proportioned. He seems to mostly draw gestures in pen, specifically ball point pens and brush pens. He talks about how sometimes (especially on that trip) he went to a farm/zoo to sketch and got chances to draw a variety of animals; from leopards to wolves and bears. He talks about how good it is to have as many rough sketches for future reference and ideas rather than focusing on a few high quality detailed works.

He really encourages everyone to go out and draw animals from their habitats in this video.

In this next video he talks about "essentials of animal drawing" which consists of stuff such as anatomy and how to draw animals from your head.

He mentions our "visual library" often, this is a term I've heard from people at college so its a familiar word. He talks about how its good to know what animals you will be drawing because that allows you to brush up on your animal anatomy. This is similar to something I have tried to do, especially knowing that I struggle with drawing animals.

You can see in one of my previous posts my attempt at practicing sketching animal shapes and seeing if I could figure out how their body is structured underneath. He talks about how rather than memorizing each animal specifically, he memorizes each of their heads, legs, bodies and such in terms of shapes as you can usually mix and match, for example all four legged animals seem to have similar shapes and I also noticed that I had spotted this in my past animal study.

In his study below he shows how legs on these animals work in similar ways; "scapula to shoulder into elbow to the wrist and rest of the feet."

He mentions how seeing these animals live and drawing them from a live reference, you often see these anatomies/bones in motion and working.

Tonight I plan to do some studies on big cats especially before my trip to Fota because I know I always enjoy watching those move around in any zoo. I might also see if I can work on looking at kangaroo anatomies and comparing those to the anatomy of a wallaby. Im curious if theres much of a difference as I have seen them roaming around fota.

In the next part of this video we see Aaron out at a farm and we see his drawing process of drawing a donkey but he talks us through his thought process no matter the animal.

He talks about how important it is to not start drawing immediately and to just observe the animal for a while, studying their form and how they move. He mentions how basic anatomy knowledge is very helpful for when the animal moves and you have started drawing an animal in a specific pose.

He tells us that observing is better than getting an amazing drawer as its important to get information. I feel like this will be something I will struggle to do as I often am a perfectionist when I can be so tomorrow I plan to try keeping to quick observational drawings rather than focusing on a perfect drawing. I might try to sketch mostly in pen as this has helped me keep a more observational study sketch going instead of constantly erasing and redrawing a particular part.

He talks about how handy it is to have animals that move around for study sketches and that being at a farm is interesting because you get to see a couple different animals come and go.

In one part of the video he completely leaves the sketch as the donkey gets close again and instead starts a detail sketch of the donkeys eye as this isnt something he gets to observe in detail all the time.

These are his finished donkey sketches before he moved onto drawing goats.

He talks about his supplies to help prevent any back pains and allow him to sketch for longer, such as a chair and the board for the sketchbook.

He again reinforces studying animal anatomies before going to draw them when you know what you will draw. This to me shows that he thinks this is a very important tip that has helped him draw and study animals. "its not about getting great drawings, its about gathering information" is something he also kept repeating.

Stuart Sumida

Stuart Sumida is an anatomy consultant and a professor of biology / a paleontologist. This talk was conducted through an online call, this talk was titled "why being a generalist is not a bad thing". He talks about how as a paleontologist he teaches human anatomy to doctors and animal anatomy to vets and so on. His talk is inspired by a book called "range: why generalists triumph in a specialized world" where he talks about how scientists have known this for a while.

I feel like this also stands for artists in a sense of needing to know how to draw a lot of different subjects and themes. This is confirmed by him telling students that they often hear that you often have to work your way up the ladder in the industry and you have to start anywhere you can and then work towards the position you want.

Below you can see 5 rules Stuart Sumida likes to follow in the industry.

He talks about how they broke down the animals in lion king into smaller groups to teach the staff in a more generalized way rather than focusing on each specific animal.

He talks about how animals differ based on what they eat / whether they are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores as seen in this example of a horse (herbivore) vs a cheetah (carnivore) running/galloping.

He talks about how skeletons and muscles are very important for drawing animals and followed it with these sketches of realistic dogs and a cartoon one.

A handy website he shares is DigiMorph.org which has 3d animal skulls and skeletons.

Overall

watching these videos helped me feel more prepared for tomorrows trip to Fota and it made me realize there is so much that I have yet to learn about drawing animals. I plan to use some of the mentioned techniques tomorrow if possible while drawing live animals.

[petermorwood]

People will be taking their Master's or Doctorate in Pratchett Studies, and they'll still miss stuff, or catch some but not all, because there are layers of it, and not all of them are in English.

Consider the Patrician's council-room called the Rats Chamber, so-called because it had a decorative fresco of dancing rats.

Now consider that Ratskammer in German means "Council Chamber".

Now consider that early Stuart England had The Rats Star Chamber, so-called because it had a decorative fresco of, yup, stars.

Now consider that the Star Chamber court often used informers, and a slang term for informing on someone is to rat on them...

All that's in just one throwaway notion which doesn't interfere with the flow if you don't get it, but adds an extra little fillip if you do.

As @dduane says, we'll probably never discover them all. Here's another example:

*****

Unless Irish / British and of a certain age, Lord Vetinari's routine with the donkey stuck up a minaret in "Jingo" will mean nothing, except maybe to prompt recollections of an obscure comment from ancient wizard Windle Poons, "Tuppence More and Up Goes The Donkey!" (which is itself an obscure Victorian street-entertainer's saying).

At the time when the donkey got stuck, Vetinari is in Klatchian disguise with a fez, and says, "Donkey, minaret. Minaret, donkey," whereupon the donkey comes down and a nearby guard says "Just like that?"

Another throwaway. Get it? Got it. Good! But if not, Carry On Pratchetting, because there'll be another one right around the corner (or in a footnote underneath it).

And the actual reference was...?

Tommy Cooper (d. 1984). He was a Welsh stage magician and comedian who, like most UK comics of the time, had catch-phrases. Most notable were "X, Y. Y, X" when setting up an unlikely magic trick involving two utterly mismatched objects, and "Just like that!" when, against all probability, the trick was successful.

When performing, he also wore a fez.

All of which which probably sails past US readers every single time and, as the years go by, sails past an increasing number of UK ones as well.

*****

There's subtle typographic wordplay too. Besides Death SPEAKING IN CAPS, there are - or were, in the UK first editions - various "foreign" typefaces; for instance faux-Hebrew for Golem written "speech", and faux-Arabic for Klatchian.

In "Jingo", once again, there's a little faux-Arabic letter in some words of Captain Carrot's dialogue to indicate he's pronouncing that Klatchian sound correctly.

In "The Fifth Elephant", when he says the name of The Land Beyond The Forest, it's always printed as "Überwald".

However when Lord Vetinari and Commander Vimes say it, the print is "Uberwald".

This isn't a typo - it's to show that Vetinari and Vimes can't (or, knowing Vimes, perhaps won't) pronounce the Umlaut-U correctly...

:->

It’s not a Discworld joke unless you read it, don’t parse it as a joke, and then carry on with your life for ten years until someone stops you to say something like “It’s a pavlovian response because the dog ate a pavlova” and you scream Terry’s name with enough indignant rage you hope it rattles the pillars of the multiverse so wherever his soul is he’ll hear it.

[meezcarrie]

Book Review: A Small Town Fourth of July by Janice Carter

#giveaway In A SMALL TOWN FOURTH OF JULY by @JaniceGCarter "the characters are warm & easy to love, the plot twists are unique & original, and the sense of community is well-established & appealing." #BookTwitter #BookReview #ContemporaryRomance

A SMALL TOWN FOURTH OF JULY by Janice Carter SERIES: Home to Maple Glen #1 GENRE: Contemporary Romance (Clean) PUBLISHER: Harlequin Heartwarming RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2024 PAGES: 266 His return sets off fireworks… But will it blow up her dreams? When Theo Danby returns to Maple Glen to sell his inherited land, Maura Stuart panics. Selling the land could endanger Maura’s beloved donkey therapy…

[viofitz]

McDonald's Happy Set: Universal Studios Japan (USJ)

Introduction:

The Happy Set is a set meal sold by the hamburger chain McDonald's. It is called Happy Meal in English-speaking countries and has been available since 1979. In Japan, it was introduced as the "Children's Set" in October 1987, and became the "Happy Set" in June 1995. Although it is targeted at children, it is popular among a wide range of age groups describes McDonald's Japan's "Happy Set." For this review, it's a lineup from Universal Studios Japan (USJ), in which they're only exclusive to Japan's McDonald's. So far there're 2 lineup of USJ Happy Set series which first released in 2021 and the current one released in 2024. In 2021 lineup there're 10 toys while in 2024 they expanded into 12 toys featuring several characters from Universal Studios productions, they are; Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Toad and Donkey Kong from Nintendo games, Rexy from Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, Bruce from Jaws movie, the Minions from Despicable Me/Minions movies, George from Curious George series and Kitty White from Hello Kitty series. However, in this review I'm going to review Mario Kart, Rexy, Bruce and Minions only. The packagings of the happy set is different than the usual happy meal, which they instead uses solid colored plastic bags instead of clear plastic bags. Both lineup was released in July, precisely at the summer season, the 2021 lineup for 3 minions has variant packagings which Stuart (the one eyed minion that holding a camera) has gray packaging while the rests is dark blue, Nintendo series has turqouise green colored packaging, while Rexy, Bruce and the 3 minions for 2024 release has blue colored packagings. Aside of the lineup matter, the different colored packagings is because McDonald's Japan released both lineup in 2 periods of time. While I can appreciate the uniqueness but, the minus we cannot tell what's inside except, each happy set got their product code numbering located on the information/warning part.

Throw The Shell! Mario Kart WBE-0123

Yeah, another happy set Mario Kart, the design is looking very similar to the Mario Kart 8 lineup but, the gimmick of this toy is not a wheelie toy since it was made to be a shooting toy. This is to recreate how Mario throwing the shell in Mario Kart games. Before you play the toy, you'll have to apply the stickers provided for this toy but, I plan on painting them someday since I also want to add some itsy bitsy details on the car. After this attach the green shell part into the front hole of the car, then press the button on the right side of the car to shot the shell out of the car. A typical gimmick for most kid's toys indeed but, It'd be even better if they actually made a 3D shaped green turtle shell instead of embossed picture. I gotta admit the mario figurine in the toy is looking great, although I've seen similar like this in most mario kart toyline. The toy is slightly bigger than both Hot Wheels and Dream Tomica, pretty understandable since this mario was designed for happy meal standard scale while both diecast miniatures were made for 1/64 scale.

2. Grab And Catch! Jurassic Park T-Rex CBG-7890 This is the iconic Rexy the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies in her happy meal toy made for this lineup in brown color and yellow paint for her eyes. Her gimmick is simply grabbing something by using her open mouth feature by pressing down her tail. This way, we can recreate her grabbing something by biting the object. But, she can only grab something flat such as paper or plastic bag. Comparing to Snap Squad toyline, this Rexy is slightly bigger and despite being a happy meal toy. Her head sculpt is really spot on to how the actual Rexy was portrayed in the movies. Though in front angle she looks flat.

3. Jaws Water Gun CBG-8901 Well... Bruce the shark from Jaws movie made a second appearance in this happy set lineup, this shark shaped water gun toy is colored sky blue and white in overall while his mouth is red. There's even an embossed logo of "JAWS" movie logo on the right side of his body painted in red. In order to play the toy, you'll have to sink his mouth underwater then pull back his tail fins to fill the water. When it's done you shoot the water by pushing his tail fins back to his body.

4. Minions

Seems like these tiny yellow creatures were also popular in Japan since they even made Minions for the whole 2 lineup and, there're 3 of them included on each lineup:

Minion Stuart's Water Gun 6789-HXT

In this toy, Stuart the minion is depicted to wear his usual blue jumpsuit getup with black gloves and gray colored goggles. He is shown to have a michievous expression since he's holding a squirt water camera prank in green plastic materials thus, making the toy got 2 separated plastic materials. To play the toy, slide the button ontop of the camera to open the hole, then fill the water. Press the button on the front lower part of the camera and water will come out from the camera lens hole. Since the toy is off balance due to the large camera, they included a base display stand so, you can insert it into his footing pegs to make it stable.

Minion Bob the Float's Water Gun 5678-EBD

Bob the minion is made to be wearing gray goggles, black gloves, blue swimsuit shorts and orange colored floats. His expression is shown similar like Stuart but, Bob has bigger eyes and his lower eyelid was half closed. Bob has movable right arm which you can rotate it, and for the gimmick; you simply put the toy in the water and press the button on the back. If you release the button while in the water, water will enter. Press the button and the water will come out from the front part of the floats 2 holes. Well, Stuart with one hole and Bob with 2 holes... That kinda represents their eyes lol.

Minion Kevin's Rotating Waterwheel 1234-EBD

Unlike, Stuart and Bob, Kevin is an embossed toy on a sky blue colored disk. The embossed Kevin is painted yellow with gray colored goggles, he is wearing the same blue jumpsuit getup like Stuart, while his posing is shown like he's stuck in that disk. He is depicted to have a silly expression, probably dizzy because of the rotating waterwheel. The main toy is a transparent blue tube, while the inside has orange colored waterwheel for spinning disk mechanism. To do the toy's feature, attach Kevin's disk on the peg on the blue tube. Then pour the water ontop of the tube and when the water goes down, the waterwheel will spin which you'll see Kevin spins. Water comes out from the holes under the toy like a shower.

Agent Minion's Water Gun CBG-0987

This Minion is wearing AVL agent suit in navy blue color with white undershirt. He's holding a gun which actually a grapple gun in the movie but, it works as a water gun in this toy. Another same gimmick from the early lineup, in order to fill the water you'll need to sink the toy while pressing the button on his back to fill the water. Then you can shoot the water out from his gun. He looks similar to Stuart but, in the movie it was Dave who uses this gun for a short time. So, it's understandable if some people wouldn't even notice this as a grapple gun.

Let's Make A Wind! Pit Crew Minion CBG-1098

The Minion in this toy is wearing a pit crew getup like in the 4th movie and depicted sitting on a large blower fan by holding a wrench, in mini size due to the toy is mainly shaped as a blower fan and wrench. The minion toy is actually a single mold of the red plastic part of the toy and the blower fan is yellow colored with some embossed words which says "Gru's Pit Crew". While the wrench part is painted metallic gray, and the overall minion is painted yellow for skin color, metallic gray for goggles and wrench, white with brown for eyes and, black for foot and goggles headband. To play the toy, just press the button located on the right side of the wrench but, sometimes the fan won't spin since there's a little trick on pressing the button. When you made it, you can press the button repeatedly for more faster spinning and more wind. But, I gotta admit... the wind blow that came from this toy wasn't that strong since I can barely feel the wind and it couldn't even blow a thin paper. For the character, I think he's supposed to be Ron since, the minion depicted in here is short with 2 eyes and he's not plump.

Shake! Party Minion CBG-9012

This plump minion is wearing his usual blue colored jumpsuit attire but, he also wearing a yellow duck lifebuoy as his head accessory and there's a pink colored connector for star shaped keychain with clasp ontop of his head. Of course, the purpose is to make him into a keychain and another gimmick of him is he'll make a giggle sound when you shake the toy. This is the very same gimmick to Despicable Me 2 lineup of Tim Giggling/Giggle Grabber/Evil Purple Minion Giggling.

Comparing between 2013 till 2017 line up, the USJ set quality is closely similar to the 2017 lineup. The minus from this line is; their goggles were painted inconsistent, the 2021 one appeared to be solid gray like the DM2 lineup while the 2024, the goggles were painted metallic gray. But, it's a happy set toys so, you cannot expect much.

Thoughts:

Well, I guess 2021-2024 wasn't a letdown afterall thanks to this lineup because, I'm utterly disappointed with the downgrade quality of happy meal Minions: Rise of The Gru and Despicable Me 4. The minions in this USJ set was done so much better, the sculpt work and even the gimmicks are top quality. Although... Most of these toys gimmicks require water to play them, which I'm not going to demonstrate it in video test. T-Rex and Jaws are my personal favorite for this lineup, they're very well made despite the simple moldings. As for Mario, the design of his car may be too identical to Mario Kart 8 lineup but, this can probably be an alternative Mario Kart toy if you missed on collecting Mario. I like the shooting gimmick anyway.

[cromwellrex2]

The Humble Petition And Advice: ‘With ermine clad and purple, let him hold, A royal sceptre, made of Spanish gold,’

Cromwell is Offered the English Crown

Cromwell Resolving to Refuse the Crown by Charles Lucy (1858). Source: Media Storehouse website

THE SECOND Protectorate Parliament assembled following an election in August 1656, and was not a pleasing sight to Oliver Cromwell. The Lord Protector, in his wish to be seen to be above the electoral fray had perhaps not made it clear to his military governors, the Major-Generals, that part of their role was to ensure that the reluctantly-summoned Parliament was to be as amenable to Cromwell’s rule as possible. In the event, to his horror, Cromwell saw a collection of MPs who consisted of Radicals, Independents, Presbyterians and Protectorate-sceptics that Cromwell anticipated would be a thorn in his side. He was furious and if the Second Protectorate Parliament did indeed presage the end of the rule of the Major-Generals, Cromwell’s own profound disappointment at his agents’ apparent willingness to allow free and fair elections in their counties, probably had as much to do with their demise as did the new Parliament’s antipathy to their rule. This antipathy had been raised to boiling point by a belated and ham-fisted attempt by the Major-Generals to exclude overtly oppositionist MPs from taking their seats - most of whom only found out they were excluded when soldiers barred them from taking their places in the House on the first day of the Parliament.

In the event, the September 1656 Parliament proved far less troublesome to Cromwell than the Lord Protector feared: in fact, its climactic action was ultimately to offer to make the Huntingdon squire King Oliver I.

The Parliament’s initial actions were in fact very much to Cromwell’s liking: the funds to continue the war with Spain were voted through with little if any opposition; the right of the Stuarts to the throne of England was annulled (which given the Scottish and Irish representation in the new Westminster Commons effectively removed the Royal Family from its right to rule in all three Kingdoms), and it established a devolved justice system, setting up a national court of equity in York. However a number of events came together in late 1656 to push the Commonwealth into a place of constitutional uncertainty. The first of these was the case of James Nayler, a messianic Quaker, who began to proclaim himself a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. He attracted a considerable following and his antics, including entering Bristol on a donkey with female devotees spreading his path with palm leaves was, understandably, considered entirely blasphemous by respectable society. The Parliament took it upon itself to prosecute Nayler and to enact a particularly cruel and visceral punishment on him (he was pilloried, branded, his tongue bored and he was whipped through the streets) with no authorisation sought from the Lord Protector or the Council of State. Cromwell himself, who was neither sectarian nor instinctively cruel, recoiled at the judgement and worried at the reaction of the Quakers, then a radical and growing religious movement, who might view Nayler's fate as a betrayal of the Commonwealth's much-vaunted religious toleration. Perhaps more importantly however, Cromwell queried where Parliament derived its authority to become directly involved in judicial decisions on blasphemy.

The next event took place on the same day as the vote on funds for the continuance of the Spanish war. The Major-General John Desborough attempted to secure a continuation of the Decimation Tax, the controversial levy on property-owning former Royalists designed to fund local militias accountable to the Major-Generals. This deeply unpopular measure was defeated on its second reading in January 1657 which effectively ended the means by which the Major-Generals could enforce their will in the counties. With Cromwell’s own loss of confidence in his military governors, the Major-Generals became increasingly redundant and their slow demise raised the issue of where the power of government now lay - was it with Parliament, the Council of State or in the person of the Lord Protector himself?

The final occurrence was an increased awareness of the vulnerability of Cromwell himself to Royalist or Radical assassination plots and, given the fragile constitutional legitimacy of his position, to the stability of the Commonwealth itself. Anti-Commonwealth sentiment threw up strange bedfellows and Colonel Edward Sexby, a New Model Agitator, previously active at the Putney Debates, worked with the Royalist die-hards of the Sealed Knot to attempt three separate assassinations of Cromwell. Although Thurloe uncovered each of them in time, they were sufficiently well planned for both Cromwell’s allies and Parliament to be unnerved at the prospect of the anarchy that would ensue should the Lord Protector be killed with no arrangements for his succession - both constitutional and personal - agreed.

The result was perhaps inevitable. The Instrument of Government, despite its promise, had never been allowed to operate as a fully established republican constitution. It is perhaps no surprise that men and women therefore turned to the settlement the country had known, albeit imperfectly for centuries, and calls arose more loudly and insistently for a new monarchy to be established, and for Oliver Cromwell to be made king. On 23rd February 1657, Parliament was presented with a petition entitled the Humble Petition and Advice, a means by which a non-Stuart monarchy could be restored and for King Oliver to be its first occupant. Many of Cromwell’s supporters, including both Lambert and Harrison, were appalled at the prospect of all they had fought for being overturned by the very man they had followed from Marston Moor to Worcester, and the Humble Petition was furiously debated. Ultimately however, the petition forced into open discussion the political ambiguity of the Commonwealth and the need for a constitutional settlement that would be acceptable to the majority of the population for most of the time. From the perspective of the Humble Petition’s advocates, their desired outcome was a constitutional monarch, a non-aristocratic second chamber and, preferably a Presbyterian English Church with an end to religious toleration. On the issue of a second chamber there was broad agreement across all parties and it was agreed that an upper house of seventy members, nominated by the Lord Protector, should be established. The question of the kingship however was much more problematic.

Ultimately, the matter came down to Cromwell’s own conscience and what he believed to be God’s will. On 25th March, Parliament voted to offer the crown to Cromwell. There then followed five weeks of uncertainty while Cromwell himself weighed up the pros and cons of the stark choice before him. On one hand, his own experience and intelligence told him the Commonwealth could not limp on with compromised or uncertain legitimacy, but on the other he feared the consequences of effectively reversing the Parliamentarian advances over seventeen years of war and contested peace. His hand was perhaps forced by a chance meeting in St James’ Park with Desborough and Lambert on 6th May. His two old comrades told Cromwell they could not support him assuming the role of monarch and would resign their commissions rather than serve their general as king. This seemed to be enough. Two days later Cromwell informed Parliament ‘I cannot undertake this Government with that title of king. And that’s my answer to this great and weighty business.’

Cromwell, ever God’s Englishman, had turned his back on the greatest prize. The Commonwealth lived on, but in what form was not clear, as both proponents and opponents of the Humble Petition took stock.

[senor-plume]

That Hot Tipsy Jazz

This hot liquid jazz Is snappy as hell And I cannot remove this Dumb smile on my Reefer chapped lips

A donkey with a saxophone And a mule kicking the trap set In the back of the band Are really Red hot So I rise And move across the bar With a drink in my hand And a joint Tucked so very coolly Behind my ear And the matches are just itching To get to it

So, I drop the dance routine And head out the back door To find myself Alone so I light that bad boy up And I can still hear the music from inside …a tasty version of Goldfinger And I wish I had the hands of a Rock steady drummer But I don't So I pull the match across the strip And just like that Presto! Fire is all I need

Three hits into it I begin to feel light again And I stub it out on the brick wall And place it in my cigarette package And head Back Inside To find two beautiful women sitting near the stage But paranoia and lack of confidence Leads me to the back wall Which is where I belong anyway

Time flies And the next thing I know Is that I am Heading out the front door Alone And headed to my car Where a Dead Milkmen tape Is waiting for me

And singing along to Stuart I make it home To find the mailbox empty And my door locked

Life can be a blast sometimes And it may be mundane and sterile But I like the air that I breathe And I know that when I die I'll be the boy who Misses me the most

Door shut Shoes off Shirt removed And Slacks crumpled I head to the bed To find my Solitary pillow Laying there for me Like a ready-made And I jump into it Like a child of 5 into a pile Of autumn leaves And I have just as much fun As the boy did

I may be alone With my drugs But I still stayed sober Despite the many drinks And did not make a Fool out of myself

Eyes closing I call it a night And drift off Into a world where The ladies hand Me Marijuana and a lighter Smiling And it is a good dream To have Although the sheets Stay dry And I wake early in the morning To bake my brains the second I See the light from Underneath the drapes

Smoking dope And waiting for the radio alarm To turn on And get me out of the bed For whatever this dumb day Will bring me

[tindogpodcast]

TDP 1239: REVIEW - The Roy Huddlines

review

A News Huddlines reunion celebrating the life and comedy of Roy Hudd OBE.

The Roy Huddlines was staged on Sunday 14th May 2023 at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End. The cast, writers and producers of BBC Radio's longest-running audience comedy programme, The News Huddlines, gathered to celebrate the life, love and laughter of Roy Hudd OBE.

Roy had a profound effect on all who worked with him - he was a unique combination of comedy genius, wise mentor and cheeky uncle. The cast reunited here for one joyous hurrah in his honour are Huddlines originals Chris Emmett, Alison Steadman, Nichola McAuliffe and announcer Richard Clegg, plus Kate Harbour and the brilliant Jon Culshaw who took Roy's centre microphone with the blessing of Roy’s widow, Debbie Hudd.

Also assembled for this gala event were the writers who cut their comedy teeth working on The News Huddlines and went on to create some of the finest British comedy from the 1980s to the present day. Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, Drop the Dead Donkey and One Foot in the Grave were all created by Huddlines alumni, and the legacy continues.

  Written by Geoff Atkinson Martin Booth Paul B Davies Roger Davison Dave Dixon Julian Dutton Mark Griffiths Andy Hamilton Nick Revell Tony Hare Glenn Mitchell Ged Parsons Richard Quick Peters-Rowley David Semple Stuart Silver Alan Stafford Richard Stoneman Malcolm Williamson

Starring Jon CulshawChris Emmett

A new Tin Dog Podcast

[itsfayehr]

18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses[b] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.[c] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

This part is packed with a lot of information which we will attempt to break down, and reflect on for this week.

why did God harden the Pharoah's heart?

This question plagues a lot of people, including myself. In fact, this is one of the favorite attacks against our faith. God, being the all-powerful God could have taken Israel without any fuss. But the story would not be the same.

In ancient times, the Pharoah was deemed to be a god. And thus, God was showing His supremacy in showing that He can control even the "god" of Egypt. But I also add another thought. God also did not want the Israelites to think that they achieved this all by themselves. God does allow us to suffer so that we rely on Him, and not on our own strength. Why? because our strength will fail. And here, God is taking the people from serving the earthly, wrong god, to the right and absolute God.

next question: does God command absolute obedience to His command or does He accept our intentions?

We see here in these verses a reluctant Moses going back to Egypt. But along the way, death seems to visit the family. Stuart argues that the object of the death threat was actually to Gershom because the story immediately follows God's threat that a firstborn son for His firstborn, that is, Israel. God was not about to make empty threats. Thus it makes sense to have Zipporah having to perform the circumcision because otherwise Gershom would have been cut off.

The other version of the story is what I grew up thinking that Moses was about to die for not circumcising his child. God could not allow Moses to enter into the promise without first obeying the covenant. If he was supposed to lead the nation, then he should be the first to obey the covenant.

There is something that caught my attention though. I wonder if Moses himself was circumcised? If he was, then Moses would have been crying as a child and would have brought attention to the house. But there is a suggestion made by Stuart that the Egyptians were engaged in partial circumcision. So it gives me the impression that Moses was circumcised. Also, he knew the importance of it and chose not to listen to the command.

In either case, we see Zipporah saves the day. Normally, the circumcision was to be performed by another male in the family or tribe. But here, Zipporah took a flint knife (traditionally correct instrument) and did it herself. And God's mercy is in full effect when He decides not to take Moses or Gershom. Either way we look at it, God took Zipporah's act as substantial compliance.

I see a mother's love and God's mercy. Initially, Zipporah was against the circumcision even though it was part of the culture at that time. Zipporah's desperation to save a life caused her to do the unthinkable. And it worked.

God, in His mercy listened.

I don't know about you, but this gives me comfort. Often times, as a Christian, I am tempted to believe that I need to comply with every command God gives and if I fail at one, I fail at all of them. And the spiral continues all the way down into eternal damnation. Pretty bleak, right? But here, God chooses to look at Zipporah's intention. The intent was to comply with the covenant. In other words, it's always heart posture, and not ceremonial compliance.

This is the same thing Jesus told us. It doesn't matter if we follow the law, but we fail to act in love towards those around us, then it means absolutely nothing.

so today, I ask myself if I am a sister of blood towards those around me, that is, am I acting in love?

[howardduck1490]

Donkey vs. Reeko

With Eddie Murphy voicing the character in Shrek and Wayne Brady voicing the character Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, it's time to show what will this donkey and skunk do at the forest on a Death Battle.

[acrossthewavesoftime]

Adding some of my own favourite people have always been people stories:

A medieval university professor ranting about how his students are lazy party-people who only carry a book around to look smart, and always arrive late and unprepared. (I wish I could tell off the top of my head when and where this was from; I think it was from a 15th century central European source, I might have it in my old notes somewhere)

The Dominican friar Felix Fabri (1438/1439–1502) completed two pilgrimages, on which he kept a journal, which was later published. He surprised his European travelling companions when, renting donkeys from a local businessman for, if I recall correctly, a guided tour to Mount Sinai, the donkey driver-guide recognised him from his first pilgrimage a few years prior. He kissed Felix on the cheek, tried to make conversation with him (Felix had a limited knowledge of Arabic) and showed him preferment throughout the tour by continously giving him a fresh donkey to ride, sharing his water with him and trusting Felix with his whip. Felix, moved by the trust and affection shown to him, recorded the encounter for posterity. The name of the donkey driver was Cassa, an enslaved person. We still know Cassa's name, and can read about his incredible kindness to a near-stranger today.

Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess of Orange (1631–1660), upon realising that her infant son, the future William III, was not a healthy child whose physical development seemed to be delayed, nicknamed him her "Piccinino" after the 15th century Italian mercenary captain who rose to military fame despite having been of low stature and impeded by a limp and generally poor health.

Justine Siegmund (1636–1705) became an accomplished midwife and gynecological practitioner who published a manual on midwifery in 1690. She chose her profession after having had a possibly traumatic experience having been wrongfully diagnosed as being pregnant by a midwife at 20 or 21, wanting to improve future conditions during pregnancy and childbirth for other women. In a dispute over Siegmund's practices with her former supervisor, a doctor and professor at the university of Frankfurt an der Oder, his colleagues sided with her.

Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (1688–1765) proving that kids will always be kids when he, aged about 3, did what no adult dared to and interrupted King William III in his study to tell him tea was ready, and the Queen already waiting for him. The encounter ended in William putting down his pen straight away, and lifting Lionel into his toy cart, pulling the little boy, presumably at quite some speed, through the gallery.

Samuel Graves (1713–1787), an admiral in the Royal Navy, very likely helped protect his niece's best friend from an arranged marriage. Mary Anne Burges's (1763–1813) parents were intent to marry her off in her late teens, stating that the family money could not support all their daughters in the event of her father's death. While there was a proposal later in life (which Burges turned down), it appears that she had no sexual or romantic interest in men, and was not particularly secretive about that. Burges went on to spend prolonged "holidays" living with her best friend Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim's family, her aunt and uncle Graves, where the girls could be, by all accounts, carefree teenagers. Graves, who appears to have shared his wife's beliefs in women's rights, particularly in their choice to marry or remain single to a significant degree, grew to be a paternal figure in her life. Burges, a published author, remained single for life and later designed Graves's memorial in the local church.

Henry Clinton (1730–1795) fell in love with Mary Baddeley (1756-1820), whom he employed as his housekeeper while stationed in Boston in 1775. Knowing she had previously experienced sexual harrassment, he initially kept his feelings to himself out of respect for her needs. The two eventually became a couple following a one-year separation, shipwreck, and the birth of her son John by her rakish husband. Clinton treated John like a child of his own, and even had wanted to be present for the birth, which an order to march south mere weeks before the likely due date however prevented. John named some of his own children after his quasi-step-siblings from Clinton's marriage to his wife Harriot (d. 1772) and in time also became a loving father and husband to a large family.

litany against the GOTification of history.