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justinspoliticalcorner · 7 months ago

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Igor Bobic and Chris D'Angelo at HuffPost:

Former President Donald Trump is more than happy to fulfill the oil and gas industry’s wish list if he’s reelected — but he has an asking price. Trump reportedly solicited top oil and gas executives to give $1 billion for his campaign to return to the White House, vowing in return to undo many of President Joe Biden’s green energy policies if he is elected in November.

Trump hosted the country’s top fossil fuel CEOs at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida last month when he “stunned” executives with the ask, according to The Washington Post. The $1 billion sum would ultimately be a “deal” for the fossil fuel industry, Trump reportedly told the executives, because of the money they would save with him in office. An anonymous industry source told the Post that Trump is likely to get some funds. The oil and fossil fuel industry has long made its alliances with the Republican Party, which generally supports and promotes fossil fuels. Ahead of the 2024 election, the industry has been drawing up “ready-to-sign” executive orders for Trump if he wins the presidency, aimed at expanding natural gas exports and increasing offshore oil leases, Politico reported this week.

A second Trump term would mean a sharp departure from Biden’s agenda of clean energy, electric vehicles and historic efforts to fight climate change. The former president has falsely called global warming a “hoax” and has vowed to unravel Biden’s landmark climate programs included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans have spent the entirety of Biden’s term condemning what they describe as the administration’s “war” on energy, even though U.S. oil production and exports of natural gas have never been higher. They accuse Biden of being beholden to “radical environmentalists” — an ironic talking point given Trump and the GOP’s unflinching loyalty to the fossil fuel industry.

[...] Trump appears to be laying the groundwork to quickly implement many of the policy priorities of Project 2025, the sweeping blueprint that right-wing organizations have compiled to guide Trump if he is reelected in November. Certain sections of that pro-Trump memorandum are little more than an oil industry wish list. As HuffPost previously reported, the energy section of the chapter for the Interior Department was authored by Kathleen Sgamma, the president of the Western Energy Alliance, a prominent oil and gas trade association. Trump’s quid pro quo with the industry comes as the world’s coral reefs are in the midst of a global bleaching event — only the fourth such event on record. Hundreds of climate scientists told The Guardian this week that global temperatures are on track to soar well beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the aspirational goal of the landmark Paris climate accords. For years, scientists have warned about the disastrous consequences of failing to keep temperatures under the 1.5-degree mark, from rising seas and increasingly extreme weather to famines and severe social and economic disruptions. The fossil fuel industry is most responsible for the crisis and has spent decades denying and downplaying the threat, with the help of industry-allied Republicans.

Donald Trump is in the pocket of Big Oil executives, as he told its magnates he wants $1BN to undo President Joe Biden’s clean energy and green initiatives to instead push the pro-fossil fuels and climate change denialist agenda.

#Donald Trump #Big Oil #Energy #Fossil Fuels #2024 Presidential Election #2024 Elections #Climate Change Denialism #Climate Change #Inflation Reduction Act

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cyarskaren52 · 1 year ago

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https://web.archive.org/web/20200127175703/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/arts/music/grammy-winners.html

2020 Grammy Winners: The Complete List

https://web.archive.org/web/20200127172755im_/https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/01/26/arts/26grammys-winners-billie/merlin_167891961_805fe086-4b08-486d-9d8e-20c0069f55bf-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp

Compiled by Lauren Messman

Published Jan. 26, 2020Updated Jan. 27, 2020, 10:28 a.m. ET

The 62nd annual Grammy Awards were on Sunday. Here are highlights from the show:

Billie Eilish won five awards, including record, album and song of the year, capping a night that also saw multiple wins for Lizzo and Lil Nas X.

Our critics and writers weigh in on the best and worst moments.

Lizzo and host Alicia Keys kicked off the show by addressing the death of the basketball star Kobe Bryant.

The ousted Grammys chief Deborah Dugan is at war with the Recording Academy. In a speech, Keys seemed to reference the turmoil.

Check out the red carpet looks.

See the complete list of winners below:

Record of the Year

“Bad Guy,” Billie Eilish

Album of the Year

“When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” Billie Eilish

Song of the Year

“Bad Guy,” Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)

Best New Artist

Billie Eilish

Best Pop Solo Performance

“Truth Hurts,” Lizzo

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

“Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus

Best Pop Vocal Album

“When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” Billie Eilish

Best Rock Performance

“This Land,” Gary Clark Jr.

Best Rock Song

“This Land,” Gary Clark Jr., songwriter (Gary Clark Jr.)

Best Rock Album

“Social Cues,” Cage the Elephant

Best Alternative Music Album

“Father of the Bride,” Vampire Weekend

Best Metal Performance

“7empest,” Tool

Best R&B Performance

“Come Home,” Anderson .Paak featuring André 3000

Best R&B Song

“Say So,” PJ Morton, songwriter (PJ Morton featuring JoJo)

Best Urban Contemporary Album

“Cuz I Love You (Deluxe),” Lizzo

Best R&B Album

“Ventura,” Anderson .Paak

Best Traditional R&B Performance

“Jerome,” Lizzo

Best Rap Performance

“Racks in the Middle,” Nipsey Hussle featuring Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy

Best Rap Song

“A Lot,” Jermaine Cole, Dacoury Natche, 21 Savage and Anthony White, songwriters (21 Savage featuring J. Cole)

Best Rap Album

“Igor,” Tyler, the Creator

Best Rap/Sung Performance

“Higher,” DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend

Best Country Solo Performance

“Ride Me Back Home,” Willie Nelson

Best Country Album

“While I’m Livin’,” Tanya Tucker

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

“Finding Gabriel,” Brad Mehldau

Best Latin Pop Album

“#Eldisco,” Alejandro Sanz

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album

“El Mal Querer,” Rosalía

Best Americana Album

“Oklahoma,” Keb’ Mo’

Best Song Written for Visual Media

“I’ll Never Love Again (Film Version),” Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey and Aaron Raitiere, songwriters (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper)

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

Finneas

Best Music Video

“Old Town Road (Official Movie),” Calmatic, video director; Candice Dragonas, Melissa Larsen and Saul Levitz, video producers (Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus)

Best Comedy Album

“Sticks & Stones,” Dave Chappelle

Best Musical Theater Album

“Hadestown,” Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada and Patrick Page, principal soloists; Mara Isaacs, David Lai, Anaïs Mitchell and Todd Sickafoose, producers (Anaïs Mitchell, composer and lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)

Best Instrumental Composition

“Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite,” John Williams, composer (John Williams)

Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella

“Moon River,” Jacob Collier, arranger (Jacob Collier)

Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals“All Night Long,” Jacob Collier, arranger (Jacob Collier featuring Jules Buckley, Take 6 and Metropole Orkest)

A Grammys Red Carpet Fantasia

We went to the Grammys red carpet in Los Angeles.

Best Recording Package

Chris Cornell, Barry Ament, Jeff Ament and Joe Spix, art directors (Chris Cornell)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package

“Woodstock: Back to the Garden — The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive,” Masaki Koike, art director (Various Artists)

Best Album Notes

“Stax ’68: A Memphis Story,” Steve Greenberg, album notes writer (Various Artists)

Best Historical Album

“Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection,” Jeff Place and Robert Santelli, compilation producers; Pete Reiniger, mastering engineer (Pete Seeger)

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

“When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” Rob Kinelski and Finneas O’Connell, engineers; John Greenham, mastering engineer (Billie Eilish)

Best Remixed Recording

“I Rise (Tracy Young’s Pride Intro Radio Remix),” Tracy Young, remixer (Madonna)

Best Immersive Audio Album

“Lux,” Morten Lindberg, immersive audio engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive audio mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive audio producer (Anita Brevik, Trondheimsolistene and Nidarosdomens Jentekor)

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

“Mettavolution,” Rodrigo y Gabriela

Best Gospel Performance/Song

“Love Theory,” Kirk Franklin, songwriter (Kirk Franklin)

Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song

“God Only Knows,” Josh Kerr, Jordan Reynolds, Joel Smallbone, Luke Smallbone and Tedd Tjornhom, songwriters (For King & Country and Dolly Parton)

Best Gospel Album

“Long Live Love,” Kirk Franklin

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album

“Burn the Ships,” For King & Country

Best Roots Gospel Album

“Testimony,” Gloria Gaynor

Best World Music Album

“Celia,” Angelique Kidjo

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

“A Star Is Born,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

“Chernobyl,” Hildur Guonadottir, composer

Best New Age Album

“Wings,” Peter Kater

Best American Roots Performance

“Saint Honesty,” Sara Bareilles

Best American Roots Song

“Call My Name,” Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins, songwriters (I’m With Her)

Best Bluegrass Album

“Tall Fiddler,” Michael Cleveland

Best Traditional Blues Album

“Tall, Dark & Handsome,” Delbert McClinton and Self-Made Men + Dana

Best Contemporary Blues Album

“This Land,” Gary Clark Jr.

Best Folk Album

“Patty Griffin,” Patty Griffin

Best Children’s Album

“Ageless Songs for the Child Archetype,” Jon Samson

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books and Storytelling)

“Becoming,” Michelle Obama

Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano)

“De Ayer Para Siempre,” Mariachi Los Camperos

Best Tropical Latin Album

“Opus,” Marc Anthony

“A Journey Through Cuban Music,” Aymée Nuviola

Best Regional Roots Music Album

“Good Time,” Ranky Tanky

Best Music Film

“Homecoming,” Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Ed Burke, video directors; Steve Pamon and Erinn Williams, video producers (Beyoncé)

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“Speechless,” Dan + Shay

Best Country Song

“Bring My Flowers Now,” Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth and Tanya Tucker, songwriters (Tanya Tucker)

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

“Look Now,” Elvis Costello and the Imposters

Best Engineered Album, Classical

“Riley: Sun Rings,” Leslie Ann Jones, engineer; John Kilgore, Judith Sherman and David Harrington, engineers/mixers; Robert C. Ludwig, mastering engineer (Kronos Quartet)

Producer of the Year, Classical

Blanton Alspaugh

Best Orchestral Performance

“Norman: Sustain,” Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Best Opera Recording

“Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Gil Rose, conductor; John Brancy, Andrew Craig Brown, Gabriel Preisser, Krista River and Edwin Vega; Gil Rose, producer (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Boston Children’s Chorus)

Best Choral Performance

“Duruflé: Complete Choral Works,” Robert Simpson, conductor (Ken Cowan; Houston Chamber Choir)

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance

“Shaw: Orange,” Attacca Quartet

Best Classical Instrumental Solo

“Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite,” Nicola Benedetti; Cristian Măcelaru, conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra)

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

“Songplay,” Joyce DiDonato; Chuck Israels, Jimmy Madison, Charlie Porter and Craig Terry, accompanists (Steve Barnett and Lautaro Greco)

Best Classical Compendium

“The Poetry of Places,” Nadia Shpachenko; Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin, producers

Best Contemporary Classical Composition

“Higdon: Harp Concerto,” Jennifer Higdon, composer (Yolanda Kondonassis, Ward Stare and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)

Best Dance Recording

“Got to Keep On,” The Chemical Brothers, producers; Steve Dub Jones and Tom Rowlands, mixers (The Chemical Brothers)

Best Dance/Electronic Album

“No Geography,” The Chemical Brothers

Best Reggae Album

“Rapture,” Koffee

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

“Sozinho,” Randy Brecker, soloist

Best Jazz Vocal Album

“12 Little Spells,” Esperanza Spalding

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

“The Omni-American Book Club,” Brian Lynch Big Band

Best Latin Jazz Album

“Antidote,” Chick Corea and the Spanish Heart Band

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brookstonalmanac · 7 months ago

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Events 4.28 (before 1950)

#Events

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lowkeynando · 2 years ago

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the latter by Chernobog, also symbolising the spiritual and the material. 31] Such dualism does not represent absolute good and evil, but the black gods become evil when acting out of agreement with older and stronger white gods.

[32] Pantheons of deities are not unified among practitioners of Slavic Native Faith. [34] Different Rodnover groups often have a preference for a particular deity over others. [10] Some Rodnover groups espouse the idea that specific Slavic populations are the progeny of different gods; for instance, groups relying upon the tenth-century manuscript The Lay of Igor's Host may affirm the idea that Russians are the grandchildren of Dazhbog (the "Giving God",

"Day God"). [22] The Union of Slavic Rodnover

Communities founded and led by Vadim Kazakov recognises a pantheon of over thirty deities emanated by the supreme Rod; [35] these include attested deities from Slavic pre-Christian and folk traditions, Slavicised Hindu deities (such as Vyshen, i.e. Vishnu, and Intra, i.e. Indra), Iranian deities (such as Simarg and Khors), deities from the Book of Veles (such as Pchelich), and figures from Slavic folk tales such as the wizard Koschei. [36] Rodnovers also worship tutelary deities of specific elements, lands and environments, [37] such as waters, forests and the household. Gods may be subject to functional changes among modern Rodnovers; for instance, the traditional god ofs CLONES

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thebluesthour · 5 years ago

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“This evening, at dusk,” he said, “they fitted me with a black shroud and placed me on a bed of yew. They poured a blue wine over me and they mixed it well with bitterness.”

from “The Lay of the Host of Igor”, as quoted in Alejandra Pizarnik’s ‘The Dream of Death, Or the Site of the Poetical Bodies’ (trans. Yvette Siegert)

#lit #quotes #poetry #The Lay of the Host of Igor #Alejandra Pizarnik #The Dream of Death Or the Site of the Poetical Bodies #death #the most human colour #argentine lit #south american lit #poetry in translation #m

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derangedrhythms · 5 years ago

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TEXT ID: "This evening, at dusk, " he said, "they fitted me with a black shroud and placed me on a bed of yew. They poured a blue wine over me and they mixed it well with bitterness. " — THE LAY OF THE HOST OF IGOR

#the lay of the host of igor #u

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the-girl-in-the-box · 3 years ago

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Not Today XXVII

A/N: This... this is entirely fluff. That is all this is. Fluff, and some hurt/comfort. I will not apologise for that. Skål.

Summary: When Ivar takes the throne of Kattegat, Lagertha flees to Wessex along with Björn, Ubbe, Torvi, and the Bishop Heahmund. There, they seek the aid of King Alfred. This aid comes in the form of his sister, Aethelind, who agrees to travel to Kattegat and try to reason Ivar, who she spent some time with during their youth, when her grandfather King Ecbert hosted Ragnar Lothbrok in their castle. Now, she is the only hope for Lagertha and her supporters to retake Kattegat from Ivar the Boneless.

Masterlist

The return to Kiev was easy enough, though it was rather revealing. It was still day when they returned, but the journey had been long, and Ivar and Asta had grown tired. Igor had been taken by servants in the Palace to find his new chambers, which relieved them of having to do anything for the boy. Not that it was their job, per se, but they wanted to do things for him. Becoming like caretakers to him, they would become trusted by him, and closer to him than Oleg. Ivar had seen many animals grow closer to those who cared for them than their owners in his life, and could people be much different?

Regardless, neither he nor Asta were feeling much up to it that day. They had a habit of sharing a bed, certainly, but sleeping entirely on top of each other, that they were not used to. It hadn’t been very comfortable sleep, and not truly very restful, either. Especially not considering Oleg had woken them so much earlier than they’d wanted to wake.

As they were walking to their room, and Ivar was reflecting on why he was so tired, he was reminded suddenly of soft, dark hair in his hands, a warm hand at the back of his neck, gentle yet demanding lips pressed against his.

It occurred to him as they walked that they hadn’t, actually, been alone since that happened. Ivar wasn’t an idiot; he knew people didn’t kiss the way they had unless there was something there, something between them, and he also wasn’t blind. Not anymore, at least.

If he looked back over their travels from Kattegat, at some point their act of being an adoring couple had become less of an act, and more their reality. He could say with certainty that he loved Asta. She had changed much during the Siege of Kattegat, he knew that, and those changes had concerned him for her for a while. But the longer they travelled, the more she seemed to really come back to herself. He’d been glad to see it.

Really, it seemed she’d become herself again after she let him have it over Freydis that time. Not that he hadn’t deserved it. That incident, though, and the changes he’d seen after it, had made him wonder if perhaps she had needed to release that pent-up emotion about her. After all, it hadn’t been as though they’d gotten to take time after Freydis’s death to sit and mourn her. Hadn’t Ivar even said as much to the woman? His own words echoed in his mind. Later, when I have time, I will sit and weep for you. They’d had to escape. There had been no time to weep.

It was uncomfortably quiet between the two of them as they reached their room, and Ivar went immediately to undo the braces on his legs. Asta knelt beside him and began to undo one so he’d have less work to do. And there it was again, another sign that they had not been pretending for a long time. His hand slid down into her hair, brushing slowly through it as he watched her.

Asta looked up at him, noticing the strangely thoughtful look on his face. But she leaned into his hand, and offered him a small, warm smile. He returned it, and brought his thumb to brush over her cheek. Seeing how she leaned into that touch…

Truthfully, it scared him. It scared him how he felt a warmth spread through his chest that he’d not expected to feel again. He really was in trouble, wasn’t he?

“What did you think of Oleg’s ‘prophecy’?” he questioned. His voice was soft, his tone not quite matching the words he spoke. Asta sighed, and sat his brace to the side once it was off.

“I don’t believe at all he’s a real prophet, that’s what I think of that,” she answered, and moved to sit beside Ivar. “He explained how he knew about Dir’s wife, and truthfully? His prophecy about what happened if we didn’t take Igor, he could have made come true himself. ‘Something bad’ is awfully vague. Maybe Oleg would have unleashed an army against Dir, we’d have taken Igor, and his ‘prophecy’ would have been proven true, thus proving to everyone that he’s a prophet. He couldn’t lose, really.”

Ivar hummed a little as he thought it over, and then nodded. “That makes sense,” he agreed. “And so it was all in his favor…”

This drew a sigh from Asta, who dropped her head to his shoulder. “For the time being, it is,” she said. “But I have seen power shift… overnight. As have you. I think it’ll shift again here, before all is said and done.”

“Mm, I agree,” Ivar said. "But I am not sure, yet, in what way things will shift..."

Asta considered this, and he turned to watch as she laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She was silent for a good while, long enough that Ivar ended up laying beside her, his eyes focusing on her face which reflected the thought in her mind.

"I think we could take this place," she confessed. "Oleg said it himself, didn't he? Igor is the heir. If we gain his trust, all that's left is to get rid of Oleg. Then we'd be happy and comfortable here."

Ivar smiled a little bit as he imagined this. It reminded him a bit of the conversation they had had upon their initial arrival to Rus, when she had suggested they make a life for themselves there. He couldn't help but wonder now if she'd already realized the way she cared for him, or if it was the beginnings of her realization.

"You think you could be happy here, with me?" he asked her, and she looked to him immediately. Her hand slipped into his, and she gave it a soft squeeze.

"I know I could be," she confessed. "I don't... love the circumstances which have brought us here. I wish Freydis was here, or perhaps that we were still in Kattegat. I wish my family weren't all dead except for Alfred. I wish so many of your family weren't. But everything has led to this, led us to be here, together, for a reason." She shrugged a little, and offered him a small smile. "Whatever that reason is, I don't know. Not yet. But I trust it'll be good. And... however it goes, I trust we'll be happy one day. Maybe we'll even be safe. Maybe we are now, who can say? But yes, I know I could be happy with you. Whether that's here, or we go somewhere else. I'm happy with you."

"Asta..." he said softly, and brought his hand up to cup her cheek. She smiled softly at him, reminded unbidden of strong hands, holding her close, a deep passion bleeding into her, desperation on his lips for something, perhaps for her. She hoped, for her. The Shieldmaiden leaned into his hand.

It seemed there were many things Ivar wanted to say, and Asta watched each of them cross his face. I'm happy with you, too. I want to be where you are. I wish our families weren't gone, as well. None of those thoughts passed his lips, and the one which did surprised her.

"I wish my mother could have met you."

She blinked a few times with his words, and tilted her head just slightly. "Why is that?" she questioned.

Of course, it was obvious why someone from her culture, from her world, would have wanted to introduce someone to their parents. But Ivar had chosen and taken a wife without any input of his parents. Why would he have needed his mother to meet her? Had he wished the same about Freydis, perhaps?

"I think she would have liked you," is how he answered. "I believe she always pictured I would meet someone strong one day, but someone who was still gentle enough with me, that she would not... that she would be able to tolerate me."

Even as he chuckled, he was surprised to feel Asta curling into his side, slipping her head up under his arm and resting it against his chest, her hand coming up to lay against his side. "I do more than tolerate you," she said. "You know I do."

"I know you do," he confirmed, nodding a little. "And she would have liked that. There would have been... concerns, she'd have had, concerning how you were raised. But she would have liked you anyway, I think."

Asta smiled a little, and snuggled up to Ivar closely. "Tell me about her?" she requested. Ivar smiled.

"She was beautiful," he said. "And very good. At least, she was to me. She was strong, too. In her faith, her convictions... everything. But I think I may have seen a side of her which my brother's did not see so much."

"How so?" Asta questioned.

"I think she paid more attention to me than to them." He gave a small chuckle. "Sigurd always held that against me."

"Wasn't your fault," she said. "You... well, you had... more specific needs, than they had."

"I was a cripple, you can say it," he quipped. "We both know." He wiggled his legs a bit on the bed, and earned a soft giggle from Asta.

"Alright, you were a cripple," she said. "That wasn't your fault, and truthfully, you needed more attention, more consideration. It sounds as though she might could have... done a little better, explaining that to your brothers? I don't know, wasn't there." He chuckled a little and nodded, not remembering that age well enough to know, himself. "But even so, if that weren't the case, and it was nothing more than favoritism... It still wasn't your fault. Your mother is the one who was responsible for who she gave her attention to. Not you. Sigurd shouldn't have been angry with you."

Ivar gave a tight-lipped smile, and a single nod. "I suppose you are right," he said. "If only he could have heard you, then perhaps he would not have given me Hel for how close I was to her, and I would not have killed him."

Asta couldn't help but choke at how casually he said that. She'd known, of course, what Ivar had done, but to hear him put it that way was another thing in its entirety. She could have never expected that.

"Ivar!" she gasped, sitting up a little and turning to look at him. He was grinning, laughing at her shock. "Good Lord, he was your brother! I know you killed him, but must you be so crude about it?"

He only laughed harder at her words. "How else am I supposed to cope with that, huh?" he asked her. "Most people do not kill their brothers, I have to handle the fact I did somehow." He reached up to tap the side of her head, as if he'd just made a very logical point.

She sighed, and laid against him once more. "You are like no one I have ever met," she told him. Ivar chuckled more at how she almost seemed put out as she settled back down. "Joking about killing your own brother..." A comfortable silence fell over them for a few moments, until she finally whispered, "I'd give anything for a few more minutes with mine."

"With Alfred?" he questioned immediately, proving to her that he hadn't fallen asleep as she'd believed he had.

“No,” she said. “Aethelred.” Ivar hummed softly, nodding. "I can see Alfred again one day, I think, assuming I don't... lose him, too, while I'm away. But Aethelred..." She sighed softly, and Ivar brought his hand up to start brushing it through her hair. "I've spoken of him before, I know, but I don't think I've ever mentioned just how close he and I were. My grandfather sent Alfred to the Vatican when we were young, and so I was suddenly without a brother. That was how it felt, at least, and our father had gone with him. Aethelred and I became very close during that time, and it never really changed. Alfred was often with Grandfather, I was often with Mother, and Aethelred was often with Father. But in our spare time, while Alfred was still occupied, we'd end up together."

A small smile formed on her lips as she thought back to her childhood, playing in the castle with her older brother, who had indulged her every strange whim growing up. "When we left Wessex, when your army came through, he grew more distant. We had lost so much, knew we had much still to lose, and it was... it would have been a lot weighing on his mind. He'd been the heir apparent for so many years, if anything had happened to our father, he'd have been King. And at such an age..." Asta fell silent for a few moments. "I was happy when we returned home. He seemed to come back to himself there, and the stress was relieved from him a bit just by being sure we were all safe. I had so many long talks with him, so many good ones, in the time before I left, and I doubt it'll ever feel right with me that I never got a chance to say goodbye to him, before he passed."

"You did not say goodbye?" Ivar questioned, frowning a bit.

"Well, I did," she said. "But not really. I didn't know I'd never see him again. I thought, one day, I would return to Wessex and be reunited with my family in its entirety. I never imagined only Alfred would remain. Sudden as it was, maybe none of my family were able to say goodbye to him, but I'd give anything to have one more conversation with him." Asta paused to chuckle a little, before she confessed, "I often consider what he'd make of you now."

So, Ivar realized, she also thinks of my meeting her family.

"What do you think he would have made of me?" he asked her curiously, and she giggled.

"He wouldn't like you," she said, and though her tone was teasing, it sounded as though she were serious. "You're a man my age, unmarried, and I am also still unmarried. Aethelred was always protective, I was always his baby sister, so he'd have seen you as someone who may have wanted to be a suitor, and before he'd have let you near me, he'd have interrogated you within an inch of your life. If you met whatever criteria he had for that, which... I doubt you would have, then he still wouldn't have ever let you know he liked you. Not until we'd been wed."

Ivar put on a falsely stunned expression. "Why would I not be a suitor he'd have approved of, huh?" he asked, playing at offense. "I have always been good to you, and he would have known how I cared for you, hm?"

"Well, you and your brothers also killed our grandfathers," she pointed out with a giggle. "I don't know he'd easily forgive that."

"Ah, your grandfathers murdered our father," Ivar said. "And King Ecbert took his own life, we did not kill him."

"He took his own life because you made him choose a way to die."

Ivar grimaced playfully, taking in a short breath which almost made a hissing sound. "That.. is true," he said. "But if he had not handed my father to your other grandfather, we never would have come to kill him."

Asta chuckled and shook her head. "Have you always got an answer for everything?" she asked, turning her head so that her chin rested against his chest.

"Of course I do," he said. "I am Ivar the Boneless. I always have an answer."

"Then I have a question," she told him. He hummed expectantly, tilting his head back just a bit so he could watch her more closely. "In another life, where your father hadn't been betrayed by my grandfather, if perhaps our people had better relations with each other, do you think you would have pursued me?"

He smirked and sat up a little. "Hm, would I, a Viking Prince, have pursued the beautiful Saxon Princess?" he asked, and she giggled softly, nodding. "No."

Clearly, that hadn't been what she was expecting to hear, and the shock and disappointment that registered on her face made Ivar eager to clarify. "Not because I would not have wanted you, but because I would have doubted if you wanted me. You would have seemed... unreachable, in that life. If my legs worked, then I would have pursued you, but I would not have believed a Saxon Princess would have wanted the crippled Prince. I think one of my brothers would have been trying to win you over, perhaps multiple of them, and they might have won you before I could have ever convinced myself to make an attempt."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," she said, and he hummed.

"Nothing ventured, nothing lost," he replied. "I had ventured, once, and she embarrassed me to the entirety of Kattegat." When Asta's eyes widened, before her brows creased in concern, Ivar sighed.

She deserved to know. There was clearly something happening between them, and if he did want to pursue it, just as she seemed to want to, then she deserved to know. He couldn't take it if they came together, and then she learned what Margrethe had learned, and she left. Freydis was in Kattegat. She would have known. Asta could not have known.

So, he told her. He told her of the disgust he’d seen in her eyes, of how he had failed, how she’d promised to tell no one, and immediately told Sigurd. He told her of the embarrassment he had felt ever since then, the way he had eventually, because of this, known Baldur could not have been his son. He told her of the heartbreak he had suffered, because he wasn’t like any other man, and that Margrethe had been right about one thing, if nothing else. Being Ivar the Boneless was hard.

And, she listened. She listened to every heartbreak, every pain, every trial he shared with her. She listened even as her heart ached and broke for him, even as it sank into her stomach at what he’d lived through. But in the end, she swore that pain was over. She swore to him he would never hurt like that at her hand, and he could rest now. He could rest from that vigilance, from the fear that he was fated to be betrayed again and again.

If Ivar wept that day, Asta never told anyone, and she never told anyone how she crawled under the blankets which covered the bed, and lifted them so he could join her, letting him lay his head against her so she could wrap her arms around him tightly and hold him. She never told how she let his hair down from their braids, and began to play with his hair just as she had on the Silk Road, until they fell asleep curled up that way.

And so no one ever heard how, that day, Ivar the Boneless became a little less broken.

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius, @wilhelmyna, @katfett, @fangirl-nonsense, @zuzus-sun, @heavenly1927, @pomegranates-and-blood, @kingniazx

If you want to be added to the taglist, feel free to reach out either by commenting, reblogging, DMing me, or sending an ask, and I’ll be more than happy to add you!

#ivar the boneless #ivar #ivar ragnarsson #ivar x oc #ivar x ofc #ivar x original female character #ivar x christian!oc #vikings #vikings history channel #history channel vikings #not today #chapter twenty-seven #alex hogh andersen #ivar's heathen army

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skamenglishsubs · 5 years ago

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Subtext and Culture, Season 1, Episode 1

For the longest time I’ve been wanting to write a series of posts about the small details of Skam that haven’t been widely talked about. All the key dialogue has been analyzed to death, but there’s still pieces that a lot of people have missed or are confused about. Some of these things are because of Culture, things that are obvious to a Norwegian audience isn’t always obvious to an international audience. Some of the things are blink-and-you-miss-it moments, they flash by, and you only see it if you are really paying attention. Some of the things are subtext, that which is hidden in the dialogue, and not explicitly said. But you can figure it out because of how the characters are saying it, or because of what the characters aren’t saying. Culture: The series starts in September 2015. The school year starts in August, which means that all the characters have been at their new school for about a month. High-school is a clean break from elementary school, and most of the other students will be people you don’t know, since you choose schools by what you want to study, and not by where you live. Some students at school will be ones that went to the same elementary school as you. Eva, Jonas, Isak, Sara, and Ingrid all went to the same elementary school together.

Blink and you miss it: It’s Chris’ laughter that pulls Eva’s attention to the girls walking, because Chris and Vilde have apparently made friends with Ingrid and Sara. This also shows that Ingrid and Sara have been making new friends, while Eva isn’t. Culture: Grades are on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 means fail, 2 that you barely passed, and 3 that you passed, but should do better. 4 means you did good, 5 means you did really good, and 6 that you aced it. The plus and minus modifiers are unofficial comments from your teacher, and 5+ basically means “Keep this up and you’ll get a 6.” Cinematography: Eva feels alone, and the scene’s ending shot establishes this visually. Even though she’s in the schoolyard, surrounded by people, she’s all by herself. Blink and you miss it: Eva’s paper is clearly marked 3+, but she told Jonas and Isak she got a 4-. Blink and you miss it: Ingrid and Sara’s fake lashes. The photo caption simply says “Lashes ftw”. Subtext: In the dialogue with Isak, we learn that he knows Ingrid and Sara from earlier, and knows what happened between Eva and Ingrid.

Culture: The poster says: “First revue party of the year. Friday September 25th. Buy tickets here.” The Revue™ is a big thing at many Norwegian high schools. It’s an extra-curricular activity that results in a theater production that usually premieres in January, which means you have about four months to produce it. A revue is a multi-act variety show featuring comedy sketches, song, and dance, usually with some sort of unifying theme, and always referencing current events and zeitgeist. At Nissen, the revue typically engages 150 students out of the 700 total each year. Different groups in the revue are responsible for different aspects, the students at the table are part of the party group, who organizes parties, advertises them, and sells tickets, all with the purpose of having fun and raising money for the production. Culture: Students at high schools are organized by year, programme, and class. Your class is the ~25 students that you will spend the majority of your time with, since you are all in the same year, studying the same programme, taking the same subjects. Ingrid and Sara are in 1STA. 1: First year. ST: Studiespesialisering, “College prep”, A: If there are many students in the same year and the same programme, you split them into several classes and simply label them A, B, C, etc. The next year, Ingrid and Sara’s class will be called 2STA, and their final year 3STA. Culture: The revue needs you! Since students leave school after graduation, the revue needs to recruit new students each year to do all the work and keep the tradition going. Argentina and Igor are presumably second-year or third-year students who participated last year, and are now recruiting first-year students, using the time-honored tactic of peer pressure. The revue lays the foundation to your social life! You don’t want to go around being a nobody, do you? Subtext: Eva doesn’t have opinions of her own, which is why she is just repeating what Argentina said verbatim to Jonas. Subtext: I can bring a friend and you can bring a friend is a normal trade in normal circumstances, but here it’s a problem, because Eva doesn’t have any friends any longer, which Jonas seems to either have temporarily forgotten, or he’s just an ass. Culture: The autumn break is one of the five standard school breaks in Norway, together with Christmas break, winter break, Easter break, and summer break. It’s typically one week long.

Blink and you miss it: The notification that causes Eva to pull up Instagram on her phone is that her mom, Anne-Marit, liked one of her posts. Blink and you miss it: Photos of Ingrid, Sara, and Eva, being best friends, sometime in the past. Culture: This is Eva’s secret stash of alcohol, two small bottles of white wine. Drinking age is 18, Eva is 16, which means she had to have someone else buy these for her, and she’s stashed them under her bed because she doesn’t want her mom to find out and take them. Culture: The revue party is being held at a real bar somewhere in Oslo, that has been reserved for this private event. Some students at the party will be 18 and allowed to buy alcohol at the bar, but most students won’t be. This is why pre-parties are such a thing, because it’s the only and/or cheapest way to be drunk at the actual party. Eva didn’t go to the pre-party that the stage group hosted, which is why she is pre-warming alone, by drinking both bottles of wine. Eva’s behaviour is seen as completely normal in Norway, no-one would consider her an alcoholic. Subtext: Eva has no opinions of her own, which is why she’s removing the eyeliner that Ingrid said made her look like a slut. Subtext: We’ve seen Vilde with Ingrid and Sara, both at school, and in Instagram photos. When Eva and Ingrid are at the bar, some girl comes up to Ingrid and says that Vilde snapped. So this moment is when Vilde was thrown out of the Pepsi Max russ bus. Culture: Bus groups also need a lot of money to finance their bus, and one common way is to buy items in bulk and re-sell to friends, family, neighbours, and other suckers. Everyone knows it’s a bad deal compared to just buying the items at a store, but you do it anyway to support the kids and their buses. Subtext: Toilet paper worth 40.000kr is way more than a single person can use or sell in a reasonable time, you need an entire bus group to pull it off, which is why Vilde is so upset, because she is now financially screwed.

#skam #subtext #skam meta #eva kviig mohn

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wheremytwinwatches · 5 years ago

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 44

Last time: Doctor Marcoh broke the Hippocratic Oath, Envy chose the worst possible host, and a Central Officer showed Armstrong the Great his collection of action figures. Onwards!

Episode 44 - “Revving at Full Throttle” Oh heck yeah, we’re starting at the family reunion in Liore! Camera shows the radio fixed by the Elric Brothers way back when. [Beard]: “It’s been a long time, huh Al?” [Al]: “Yeah.” *awkwardness intensifies* [Beard]: “So, uh… I saw Pinako recently.” *Rose is standing off to the side, probably wondering about this ‘Pinako’ character her new boyfriend is talking about* [Beard]: “She told me about your body.” *awkwardness intensifies* *awkwardness intensifies* *awkwardness intensifies* [Villagers]: “Hey Mister Ho, could you-” [Beard]: “Oh sweet Leto yes get me out of this family drama. Absentee Anime Father, away!” Wow, really? Al are you just gonna let him walk away from this conversation? You haven’t seen him for a large portion, if not most of your life! Demand some friggin answers! Well at least the cook is trying to cheer Al up, thanking him for fixing up the radio. Al apologizes for the riot being caused by them exposing Cornello, but Cookie insists on looking at the good stuff that happened.

Sure people reacted “badly” at first, but now everyone’s all happily working together to rebuild from the ashes of their home! Can’t fault the man’s optimism. Inspired!Al goes running off to help build, seeing their General getting his hands dirty Toad and Boar (still wearing their winter clothes?) tag along, dragging a protesting Yoki with them. The Villagers are realizing Oh Crap We Interrupted Family Reunion, but Beard’s brushing it off. He left when Al was super young, he probably doesn’t even think of Beard as his father anymore. And have you seen the guy try to smalltalk? He doesn’t know what to say- [Al, clanking towards the group]: “Hey pops! Imma help with the building, cool? Cool. Hey NPCs, gimme that heavy stuff to cart around.” Aw, Beard gets to see that Al being trapped in a cold, unfeeling suit of armor hasn’t kept him from being a decent person. Whoa okay bath time for Winry, apologies for interrupting. Winry’s happy to finally get a good bath after traveling for so long. Rose is chatting with her while laying out clothes, admiring Winry for being a independent Automail Engineer at her age. And she was the one who literally got Ed back on his feet, which would mean later he would help Rose get back on hers. *Goes back to Ep 3 Recap*. That’s right, he told her to Keep Moving Forward, that she needed to use her two good legs to make her own path. Rose tells Winry about her misplaced belief in Cornello, when Winry gripes about Ed’s Tough Love routine Rose says that’s just his way of being nice. [Rose]: “But you already know that, don’t you?” [Winry]: *Stammers, blushes, and tries to hide her face in her tea.* So yeah, Ed exposed the truth behind Cornello’s miracles, and now Liore is learning to stand on its own. “All thanks to Ed and Al.”... yeah, calling it now. We’ll come back to this place in a decade or two, and the old Church of Leto will have been replaced with one to The Armor and the Alchemist. Hey, it’s Lizard dude! Bido, according to Bag of Magic Food. He’s going through a tunnel, griping that it was a bad idea to follow those MPs aw crap he’s wandering into Uncle’s sanctum, isn’t he? Turn around dude! But he’s still looking for Mister Greed, squeezes through some pipes to crap it’s the Golem Room. And are the Officer and Armstrong the Great still there? Quick, pull an Igor!

Ok, so it looks like he got there just before the Officer did his “Look at my cool toys” reveal, he’s hiding behind the pipes again. Officer’s explaining that the Golems are empty dummies that they can bond souls to. Oh, so they’re like Advanced Soul Armors, then? Tell me, have you gotten around the problem that Al’s having of the body rejecting the soul? Anyways, the Golems are immortal and apparently any bonded souls will be completely obedient. Alright Armstrong the Great, here’s the kicker; where do the souls to activate the Golems come from? Officer says that they’ll come from rival nations, “through the course of war”. Hoo boy. This was what I was afraid of way back when the concept of Philosopher Stones was introduced to Armstrong the Great. She is fiercely loyal to her troops and those she chooses to protect, it was the threat against her own forces and the reveal that the Goths were going to harvest the entire country that allied her with our main characters. But an army fueled by the conquest of Others? A chance to not just defeat her hated Drachman enemies, but fully convert them to her cause? Weapons that only grow stronger the more she uses them? I mean, with all the pushing around by Central and bullying of her troops I’m giving her 80% odds to still reject the Golems. But that remaining 20… We don’t get to hear any more as Bido freaks the fuck out and bolts back down the tunnels, screaming his head off. [Bido]: “This place is evil! Pure evil! Why did I ever come here?! Mister Greed would never be in an awful place like this-” Oh hey, it’s Ling! How’s Greed going to react to seeing an old “possession”: happy to see something of old that he gets to claim again, or annoyed that one of his old crew fled rather than try to help him? We’ll get back to that, we’re back in Liore where Al is warning Beard about the giant tunnel running under Liore. Beard tells him to stop talking about the Super Secret Goth Plot To Harvest A Country in the middle of the town square, waits until they’re in the ruins of the Church to discuss the story. He’s letting Al explain everything, does he want to keep his own involvement secret for- well never mind, Al’s brought up his Identical Brother chilling in Central. Beard turns away still acting all Mysterious wait what [Menacing!Beard]: “Did it ever cross your mind that I might be on their side?” But you’re not, unless… NOW HOLD UP. If you’re telling me that we’re looking at a Triplet situation, that Uncle made another copy to Oh ok I get it now. Beard is just emphasizing how trusting Al is, at least with him. But seriously dude, now that I’m thinking about it spilling your entire plan to a guy because you think he’s your father is a terrible idea. Maybe ask him to repeat a childhood memory, or somesuch? So after Al gets his non-corporeal heart to calm down from that scare, Beard says that he wants to tell his Backstory to both brothers in order to save time. Right, about that… Back up in the land of snow, at… “Bank’s Bank”? Really? That’s like a restaurant owned by Mister Burger or a law office run by Johnny Litigator. Whatever. Registers are ringing and checks are being cashed when huh. Sorry, just distracted by the banker’s appearance, she’s a lady with blonde hair but brown eyes and Ishvalan skin. What’s her story, is she an Amestrian/Ishvalan child like Sideburns? Moving on, a giant of a man is making a withdrawal oh hey it’s Monkey, he’s drawing from Ed’s account. Uh, are you that badly strapped for cash? You know that a withdrawal from the Protagonist’s account, by an unknown party no less, is going to raise all kinds of flags in Central. Yup, Monkey got the cash from Ed’s research account, but another banker’s already making a call. Ah, so it was for the medical bill. How much was this doctor charging? Oh jeez, the guy’s chuckling and saying he could charge them even more, Monkey complains that he’s already ripping them off but the doc’s likewise squinty-eyed wife says it’s only “reasonable” considering the risks involved.

Well, as long as they keep their mouths shut well never mind, looks like the cops are already on to them. I don’t suppose they can get a refund? The cops show up and push past the doctor, Lion’s getting bandaged by Mrs. Doctor. Oh great way to sell out the resting patient, our guys had better get a refund if he’s going to cave this quickly. No wait it’s just Monkey scowling from under some covers wait is he trying to hide Ed under the sheets? The cop asks if Monkey was at the bank earlier, and pulls a gun… Outside a guard hears someone walking, another white coat? Doctor #2? Cop #1 is ordering for Monkey to put his hands up oh hey the white coat outside is Ed with some groceries! Outfit change? I suppose his red coat was pretty distinctive. While Monkey’s at gunpoint Lion readies his own pistol and Monkey starts drawing his own gun, things might get loud pretty soon. Wait, is Ed’s hair loose? What happened to the ponytail?

Ok yeah, that was pretty distinctive like his coat. Outside guard is listing off the red coat, blond hair worn in a braid… uh oh. Here it comes. [Guard]: “... and short.” [Ed]: *bites through wooden skewer in annoyance* Nice knowing you, guard. The cops in the apartment hear a thud, and #1 tells another to check out the noise. Outside Guard is out cold, Cop #2 tries waking him up before there’s another thud, #1’s left yelling at the other two for answers when

Wait hold on, is Ed grabbing this guy around the neck? Is he standing on a box or something? Unless… no. No! Is it finally happening? Is my little boy finally getting a growth spurt?! … Wait, but if he’s growing taller, but has an artificial leg whoops better find Winry quick to upgrade, fighting might be a bit difficult if you’re all lopsided. Monkey snarks that Ed just had to take out three MPs on his own, when he hasn’t fully recovered yet. [Ed]: “Don’t treat me like an invalid. My injuries are fully healed, and I’m revving at full throttle!” Title drop! And damn but Ed’s rocking the new look. White coat, loose hair, and a growth spurt? Leg imbalance aside, I am totally down for this. Wait, is this because he “used his own life force” to patch himself up earlier? His body aged up from the energy expenditure? Cool! Mid-ep pictures of Bath!Winry and Older!Ed. So is carrying a wooden skewer in your mouth just a thing now, Ed? The doc’s telling Ed and the Chimeras to shove off, doesn’t look like that refund’s coming after all. Ed snags the Guard’s note in passing, thinking about how they’re just looking for the red coat and braid (pointedly ignoring the “short” comment), guess the outfit change is staying around for a while. Whoops! Took too long, some other MPs have shown up and are demanding they freeze. Wait, “move it kid”? Oh yeah, they’re just telling the guys with visible weapons to stand down, they think that the kid chowing down on bread is a bystander. Who just got grabbed by Monkey and threatened with a weapon! Monkey uses the MPs shock at the hostage-taking to tuck Ed under his arm and run for it, outside some more MPs spot them but Lion shoots some snow down on them. Run for it! One hotwired car later, Ed tells ‘Gorilla’ (“Don’t call me that!”) to step on it, but their stolen car isn’t fast enough to outrun vehicles from Northern Command. Dodge a truck so the MPs crash into it? That they… can’t do, actually. The MPs are catching up when Ed says to turn a corner and park. Plan? Transmutation sounds as they round the corner, the MPs follow but… it’s gone? Wait there’s another car in the road, but… … Ow. Ow ow ow. OW! Sweet Leto, but that hurts the eyes. Really, Ed? I can only assume that the MPs brains have shut off from the sheer garishness of that thing, they drive past the parked car looking for something a little more sensible. The Chimeras immediately ask for the car to be turned back to normal. [Ed]: “And why’s that? I think this car looks cool as hell!” [Monkey]: “Just change it back. Please, we’re begging you!” [Ed]: “You guys got a problem with my sense of style?!” [Monkey/Lion]: “You don’t have any!” Outside of town, Monkey’s answering the call of nature while they all discuss being drifters again. Ed’s wait buddy you’ve got your hair back in a ponytail, it’s not a full-on braid but it’s still close enough that any guards are going to give you a second look. Go back to the loose hair disguise! Ed’s thinking about how he let his guard down around Kimblee, and hoping that Al’s ok. For now, the Chimeras are asking their new boss where to go, Ed says that they need to find Al who’s probably with Marcoh now. [Lion]: “You do know how to find them, right?” [Ed]: “Right, about that…” In Liore, Al’s trying to wrap his head around Beard’s Backstory. Beard understands if Al doesn’t believe him, it’s a pretty crazy story. Then we remember that Beard’s talking to a soul bound to a suit of armor, so the idea that Beard is a Philosopher’s Stone isn’t that far fetched. They chat about being immortal, and thankfully Beard acknowledges the advantages of his form before settling on the fact that seeing everyone he knows and loves wither and perish sucks. Hey yeah, if you have a Philosopher's Stone body, did that affect Ed and Al’s development? Apparently not, Beard says he still has a human body. Unlike Uncle, who’s likened to “a leather bag”. He built a human body around himself and his gathered souls, so if they can destroy the body… Speaking of, the Nationwide TC! Beard looks over the TC and reverse-TC while Al says they can destroy the tunnel below Liore, but Beard shuts down the idea. Pride’s watching over the tunnel. But can they still try before nope we know the tunnel’s finished, and Beard is rather relaxed about the idea it’s complete. “Because it’s not yet time”? How do you know? [Beard]: “Look up, son. You’re too busy looking down when you need to look up.” Oh! I get it, it’s a constellation thing! That explains why the Xerxes King was talking about carving all the Crests before it was too late, the Nationwide TC needs the right positioning of the stars. Can’t do it until then.

Yes please follow along Al, look up to the sky, to… LETO! Bwahaha, Al thinks that Beard’s talking about Sun-God Leto. There we go, turns out Beard has converted to Letoism and plans on praying the Goths away. Or the Man in Central could indeed be waiting for the right star positions, that works too I guess. Oh hey, back to Bido in the pipes. Running? Oh shoot, looks like it was “Annoyed his possession abandoned him” Greed after all. Greed laughs about the chance to kill his boredom, Bido’s shocked to see the Ultimate Shield and hear the voice, yells at Greed for imitating Mister Greed. Wait, does Greed not recognize Bido? Greed boasts about wanting everything, Bido finishes his spiel about demanding the finer things in life. Greed asks who Bido is wait static? Ok, so Greed really doesn’t remember his past iteration? He lost his memories when Uncle reconsumed him? Bido’s struggling to reconcile the Mister Greed he knew with this new guy, while Greed demands Bido answer his questions. [Bido]: “It’s me! I’m your friend, Bido! You haven’t been gone from Dublith long enough to forget!” [Greed]: “Oh, you’re from Dublith! Ooohoho, now it makes sense!” [Bido]: “You remember m SHIT Greed just stabbed Bido! [Greed]: “Afraid not. You must have been buddies with the previous Greed.” Well this sucks, Bido’s trembling in pain and grief while Greed says they’ve never even met wait the static’s back and his arm is trembling and the static is becoming visions of Greed’s old crew. Is his memory returning? Hoo boy Ling’s calling Greed out for killing his old friend. Greed protests that Bido wasn’t his friend, that those memories belonged to the previous Greed. [Ling]: “Then why are you in so much pain?!” Ling’s threatening that if Greed doesn’t pull himself together that he’ll take control of the body again. Greeds gritting out that his old memories were purged by Uncle, that they aren’t part of him anymore- [Ling]: “No, you’re wrong Greed! It’s not that easy! They’ll always be a part of you! You can’t just erase them from your soul! They were the only part of you that you chose! Look at them! Can you not hear their souls crying out? You abandoned them, your real family! You threw them away like trash! Fool, you turned your back on something you wanted. You don’t deserve to call yourself Greed!” Clutching the still form of Bido, Greed screams. End Credits. Post-credit scene in Central at the Bradley Manor, Mama Bradley is suggesting a book to Selim. About an adventurer who travels the world- Bradley’s looked up and Mama Bradley grabbed Selim at the sound of rustling and footsteps. It’s Greed. And he’s not happy.

#wmtw #where my twin #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemist brotherhood #fmab #fmab 44

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gameplayandtalk · 5 years ago

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How to Beat the Bosses of Castlevania

This is Castlevania. Often looked upon fondly for its classic horror theme, enjoyable gameplay and memorable soundtrack, it’s a game that continues to stand tall among its peers from the eight-bit era. It’s also sometimes known for another thing: its difficulty. Not only do its stages feature dangerous, tense situations, but they often culminate in some of the most stress-inducing boss battles of the era. The goal of this article (and complementary video) is to help players with these specific parts--the bosses of Castlevania.

Make no mistake, Castlevania is a difficult game, but new players may not be aware of specific strategies that can make its boss encounters significantly easier. If you’ve never beaten the game and struggle with many of these fights, you'll find lots of useful strategies here to help you succeed on your journey. For more intermediate players that are comfortable enough with the game but haven’t played in a while, stick around for a refresher, along with new strategies you may not be familiar with. Even expert players may find some useful bits of information here.

So with that, let’s take a look at the various strategies, one boss at a time.

Stage 1 - The Bat

Castlevania’s first boss is typically a pushover even for first-time players, but it’s still enjoyable diving into the various ways of defeating it. The most obvious way to deal damage here is to wield the axe, dropped right before the boss fight. It covers a lot of horizontal and vertical screen space and it helps to deal with the bat’s tendency to stay higher up on the screen. Just remember to attack the rightmost block at the start of the fight to pick up the double-shot, a power-up that lets you throw two axes back to back.

A more advanced strategy is to use the stopwatch. This item can be handy at many different points in Castlevania, but it’s particularly useful on the first two bosses where it can freeze them in place. You have to ensure the bat is low and close enough to make this work, but with properly timed uses, you can keep the boss locked into place for the entire fight. Constantly mash up and attack during the freeze time to ensure you use the watch again the moment it becomes available, keeping the bat frozen in place.

Going beyond the watch is the fire bomb, or holy water as it’s known in later games. This requires placement somewhere on the rightmost platforms, but with the bat’s tendency to dive towards the player, dishing out damage is actually pretty consistent and easy to pull off. With the double-shot in hand you can keep the boss stun-locked for the entire fight.

Fighting this boss whip-only, or even with just the dagger in hand, requires you to play more conservatively. Wait for the bat to get near the middle of the screen and perform a forward jumping attack from the rightmost platforms. Constantly keep an eye out for the bat’s positioning, as you do not want to be jumping in its direction as it dives towards you.

Stage 2 - Queen Medusa

Medusa is another fight first time players typically don’t have issue with. Even if a player dies here, the holy water and double-shot are available in the lead-up to the fight, allowing the player to be upgraded enough to make this boss a breeze even on a failed first attempt. Simply drop holy water where the boss appears and watch its health deplete rapidly.

If you manage to make it to the boss with the watch, you can also keep medusa locked for the entire fight. Unfortunately, this is the last time in the game the stop watch is useful against a boss, so enjoy it while it lasts.

The difficulty of this encounter ramps up significantly if you decide to use more conventional methods, requiring you to know the flow of the battle. At the start of the fight, immediately book it to the rightmost platform. As medusa gets close, jump over to the left. Deal with any snakes by standing and whipping--there’s no need to duck thanks to the morning star’s large hitbox. Medusa also likes to hover at one of two levels near the bottom of the screen. At its lowest point you can jump over it, so watch it closely and as it approaches, jump back over once again.

The boomerang is by far the most useful of the traditional projectile weapons here, but each weapon still requires you to follow the initial pattern closely if you want to finish the fight while taking minimal damage.

Stage 3 - The Mummies

The mummies lay host to an interesting fight that I find many people make more difficult on themselves than necessary. While the left and right movement of the boss is erratic and their projectiles can be tough to deal with, there’s actually no reason to fight them head on. At the start of the fight, simply jump back on the platforms you came from and whack them in the head with the morning star, taking advantage of its massive hitbox. You will have to occasionally jump up further to avoid being touched by either mummies' head, but just wait for them to walk back over to the right and begin attacking them again.

Of course, if you have made it here with the holy water, the fight is made even easier. Simply drop these projectiles from the upper platforms and quickly call it a day.

If for some reason you grab the hidden health here and can’t get back up top, the boomerang is the best way to deal with these guys face to face. This is especially true if you can manage to get to one side or the other rather than being pinned in the middle.

Neither the stopwatch, axe or dagger are particularly useful here, so don’t bother.

Stage 4 - Frankenstein & Igor

Stage 4 in general along with Frankenstein & Igor is where the game really sees a considerable difficulty spike. One of the reasons for this is thanks in part to something I haven’t touched on yet: The dreaded Game Over screen. At any point you lose all of your lives, you get sent back to the very beginning of the stage. This is the most frustrating on Stage 4 where the trek to the boss is littered with loads of death-ridden water pits, surprise merman and bats that can knock you off platforms and ledges. All this culminates in one of the most difficult bosses in the game, and it’s often times here that players give up.

There isn’t a single surefire “easy” strategy to this fight, but your best bet is making it to the boss with the holy water in hand. Drop it on Frankenstein as soon as the fight starts while whipping in between to do maximum damage. If you miss or don’t get the timing right, Frankenstein will begin moving and Igor will bounce around the arena. The enemy health bar is depleted by hitting Frankenstein himself, but Igor can also be stunned by attacking him. Note that Igor cannot be hit again until his stun period ends, forcing you to time your attacks on him appropriately.

If you die at this fight without receiving a game over, your only recourse is to tackle it with the dagger, the only sub-weapon to appear at this checkpoint. While the dagger allows you to keep distance, it’s actually more effective to stay closer to Frankenstein, whipping him aggressively while also watching Igor’s jumps and projectiles. You will need to have some fancy footwork here to get through the fight, but if you can do it, it’s pretty satisfying.

You’re unlikely to get to Frankenstein & Igor with a boomerang or axe, as neither weapon appears in this level normally. However, you can occasionally get them as random drops. If you find yourself here with either of them, they can both be pretty useful by letting you keep a distance, deal with Igor’s projectiles and keep him stunned more often than not. The boomerang in particular seems to do big damage when used properly and is the easiest of the traditional three projectiles to use here.

Stage 5 - The Grim Reaper

Easily the most difficult battle in Castlevania, Stage 5’s Grim Reaper is an unpredictable and erratic fight. Preceded by one of the most infamous hallways in all of classic gaming, players will often times find themselves shaken up before they even make it to the boss. The fortunate thing is that you can simply use the holy water to breeze past this boss. Drop it on the rightmost platform at the start of the fight and continue to do so until the boss is defeated. If for some reason you die, upon receiving a game over there will be a holy water drop from a candle in the very first room of this stage.

Fighting this boss with any other weapon combination is where things start to go downhill. Death is massive and likes to fly around the screen in a fairly inconsistent manner. Sickles also appear at various locations, often times specifically targeting the player. While attacking death is an obvious goal, it’s usually best to focus on getting rid of the sickles first, otherwise they will stack in numbers and become too overwhelming.

The dagger isn’t the most useful at this fight and is generally best avoided here, but both the boomerang and axe are a step up when paired with a double or triple shot. The boomerang in particular is great for doing multiple hits with one shot while also clearing out some sickles in the process.

Ultimately this fight is all about multi-tasking. You have to focus not just on Death’s trajectory, but where the sickles appear and the direction they are moving as well. Keep in mind that if you are playing an early version of Castlevania, the game can crash if too much is happening on screen at once. This is most-likely to occur at the Grim Reaper with a triple-shot boomerang setup. It actually happened to me multiple times in my practice sessions for this article and video.

Stage 6 - The Count

Castlevania’s finale features the most lengthy boss fight in the entire game. While I don’t consider it to be as outright challenging as Frankenstein or the Grim Reaper, it does end up being the greatest test of endurance compared to any other fight in the game. The pressure to succeed isn’t quite as great either, thanks to this being the only part of the game where receiving a game over doesn’t send you all the way back to the beginning of the stage. Instead, you respawn at the bottom of Dracula’s stairwell.

The fight with Count Dracula comes in two phases. In the first phase he appears in vampire form and teleports around the screen at random. When he momentarily appears he will quickly shoot a spread of projectiles towards the player before disappearing once again. In this phase his head is the only weak spot and the window of opportunity to hit is small.

Dracula’s teleportation is completely random and so it’s important to remain in constant motion during this fight. His fireballs can also track the player in the air, so it’s best to stand on the ground, wait for the fireballs to appear horizontally, then jump and attack. Being moderately close to Dracula when he appears will help you successfully clear the fireballs while also making contact with the whip. If Dracula appears too far away and you think you may not be able to jump over his fireballs, you can destroy them with your whip or boomerang.

Dracula’s first phase can be tedious, but it’s possible to speed up the process by timing two attacks back to back. It’s difficult to get consistently due to Dracula’s erratic teleportation, but with the boomerang you can often get some extra hits on top. Other sub-weapons aren’t particularly useful on this first phase, nor are you likely to have them for this fight, so it’s best to stick a basic whip and/or boomerang strategy here.

..But Wait, There’s More.

Phase 2 sees Dracula turn into beast form. In this phase, it hops from one side of the screen to the other, while occasionally lifting its arms to throw projectiles your way. Its projectiles fire out in a similar spread pattern as his first form, and if timed properly, they can be destroyed with a single attack. Its short jumps can’t be passed under, but occasionally it will soar high into the air. When timed right you can pass under this safely. Interestingly, it’s actually possible to trigger this high jump by simply ducking in front. It’s important to utilize this trick during those instances where you are completely cornered and are bound to take damage.

While the boomerang is useful against Dracula’s first form, the holy water available in the far left candle proves most useful during his second form. This will stun the beast in place for a short moment, allowing you to attack his weak spot--his head--rapidly.

If you die at this fight you won’t have many hearts to work with upon revival. A good trick to take advantage of here is walking up and down the stairs repeatedly. Each time you do so the candles on the upper floor reappear, allowing you to gain more ammunition for this fight. Don’t worry about the timer, as the game gives you plenty to work with on this fight.

It’s also possible to make a double or triple-shot appear by destroying Dracula’s fireballs as long as you have enough hearts in your inventory. This can make life a lot easier on the second form where you can keep Dracula completely stun-locked for the entire fight.

Finale

So with that, you should now have a good (or better) idea on how to take out the bosses of the original Castlevania. If you found it useful in any way, please help spread the word and share it with other like-minded classic gaming fans that may be struggling with the game.

For those that need more of a visual aid to go along with this text, check out the video version of this guide, here:

#castlevania #tutorial #nes #how to beat #castlevania walkthrough #castlevania faq #castlevania all bosses no damage #castlevania all bosses tutorial

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yellingmetatron · 6 years ago

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The Story of Saint Olga of Kiev

Well kids, Metamun is here for story time. You see, I’ve recently learned of a Kievan saint named Olga who has charmed me to the moon in back. I had originally thought to write about her in-character as Metatron, but, well…

To be perfectly frank, Olga is sort of terrifying. Terrifying in a way that particularly appeals to me, but that might just be my Slav coming out. Weirdly, I feel much more comfortable expressing my admiration personally than having Metatron do it, despite the fact he’d probably feel the same—he’s “good” not “nice”. Still, I’d much rather have people think I’m a bloodthirsty nut than my muse.

Once upon a time in the mid-900′s AD, the wife of the ruler of the Kievan Rus’ was a woman named Olga—or, if you like, Helga. She was a Varangian, you see, the descendant of Vikings that settled in Slavic territory, and therefore something of a cultural mix. The Varangians were a force to be reckoned with, and often called to serve the Byzantine Emperor as his personal guards. Olga and her husband Igor were pagans, probably following a syncretic Nordic-Slavic pantheon.

Now, Kiev was the most powerful city on the Dnieper. As such, the Kievans had many tributaries from whom they collected money and raised soldiers. One such tributary tribe was that of the Drevlians, who had in the past aided the Kievans when they fought Byzantium. But when Igor took the throne, they decided to switch their allegiances. Igor wasn’t having with that, and met the Drevlians in person to demand they pay their due tribute. They agreed, but as he was riding home, Igor decided that they’d come up short. He went back to demand more tribute. The Drevlians, perhaps understandably, decided to kill him. This would prove to be a big mistake, though not as big as what they did next.

See, the Drevlian prince quite liked the idea of being the new ruler of Kiev. And with Igor out of the way, Olga was single. With Igor dead, she would be named regent for her three-year-old son, which meant she was going to be the main power in Kiev for quite some time to come. As his wife, she’d be expected to defer to her husband in most things. The Drevlians decided to send a diplomatic delegation to Kiev, explaining that they’d just murdered her husband, and that their Prince intended to wed her.

Now, it’s not discussed in the chronicle itself, but I figure a few thoughts occurred to Olga: First off, she was in an incredibly precarious position as a regent. All of her actual authority was derived through being the mother of her three-year-old son, and as history teaches us, toddlers are distressingly easy to get rid of. There was every reason to assume her new husband would try to have him disinherited in favor of his own heirs—and that was only if he were feeling indulgent enough not to murder the boy outright. Her own subjects would also be massively indignant that their city was being put in the power of foreigners; some native Kievans might get ideas about staging a coup. To sum up: Both Olga and her son, Svyatoslav, had massive flashing targets stuck on their foreheads. She needed to act quickly to establish to her subjects that she and Svyatoslav were not people to go against.

So, she was all smiles and niceties to the people who came to tell her they killed her husband and wanted her to marry their leader:

“Your proposal is pleasing to me; indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people. Return now to your boat, and remain there with an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall say, ‘We will not ride on horses nor go on foot; carry us in our boat.’ And you shall be carried in your boat.”

They probably couldn’t have been more pleased with this outcome. This lady sure was pliable! Exactly what they wanted in their Prince’s new wife. They did as Olga asked, haughtily demanding to be carried through the city in their boat as if it were a palanquin. To their delight, the Kievans complied, cheering all the while as they carried the boat to its final destination. Its final destination in this context being a massive pit Olga had dug right in the middle of court. Olga had them buried alive, but not before asking them if this great honor was to their liking. The response is not recorded, but I’d hazard “no”.

In doing this Olga made two things clear: She was a pious and devoted wife who would stop at nothing to avenge her husband, and she was absolutely somebody you didn’t wanna fuck with. But she wasn’t done yet. As far as anybody among the Drevlians knew she was still hosting the Drevlian delegation—dead men tell no tales, and the Kievans weren’t gonna tip their own ruler’s hand. The Drevlians were pleased when she sent a messenger thanking them for their diplomatic visit, and requesting that they send more of their distinguished nobles and warriors “so that she might go to their Prince with due honor.” She emphasized this particularly: She wanted them to send “the best men who governed the land of Dereva”. Naturally, a lot of Drevlian bigwigs were eager to sign up for such an honor.

As with the last group, she received them with great pomp and hospitality. She commanded her people to draw a bath for these fine men, so that they might appear in full cleanliness and dignity before her. The Drevlians went merrily to the bathhouse, at which point Olga had all the doors blocked and set the place on fire. There were no survivors. Olga, as we shall see repeatedly confirmed, didn’t do anything half-way.

So she sent yet another message to Dereva. They still hadn’t heard what happened to everybody they sent to Kiev, but just sort of assumed they were still partying it up in the great city. This time, Olga asked politely that she be allowed to enter the Drevlian city where they killed her husband. Although she of course still intended to marry their prince, as a devoted widow she must weep over his grave and throw him a funeral feast—remember, she was a Varangian. Mourning among Viking types generally involved a lot of mead.

She was graciously allowed her visit with her retinue, and per her request, they even footed the bill for all the mead. She took the opportunity to have a good cry over her husband’s remains, as was proper for a Varangian widow. Personally, I hope she got some genuine closure. And then the feasting started. But Olga’s retinue notably didn’t carouse quite so hard as their hosts. Once the Drevlians were good and drunk, she gave the order for her sober soldiers to begin a great massacre. Supposedly five-thousand Drevlians were killed, a number which I think was exaggerated but does make for an impressive story. Although Olga was not a shield-maiden type and did not take part directly in the slaughter, she did walk among her retinue, encouraging them as they cut down everyone in their path. What a great manager!

So finally the rest of Dereva figured out what was going on, and an official state of war was declared. Olga, remember, had already decapitated their leadership and diplomatic corps, as well as taking out a considerable chunk of their army. She led the Kievans to victory after victory in the battlefield, so that in the end only the capital city of the Drevlians, Iskorosten, held out. The Kievans lay siege to it for a year, and there were still no signs of them giving up. Olga was starting to get impatient. So she sent this message:

“Why do you persist in holding out? All your cities have surrendered to me and submitted to tribute, so that the inhabitants now cultivate their fields and their lands in peace. But you had rather tide of hunger, without submitting to tribute.”

Translated into modern English: “Come on out. Olga won’t hurt you~”

The Drevlians sent word back that they were afraid she was still sore about that whole murdering her husband thing. Olga tut-tutted, saying she’d had enough revenge after everything she’d already done. Protip: Never believe a Varangian lady when she tells you something like that. Anyway, she told the Drevlians she only wanted a token show of submission: Three pigeons and three sparrows from the roofs of each house in Iskorosten. The Drevlians breathed a sigh of relief that their tribute would be so light, and complied.

When this tribute was delivered, Olga had her soldiers tie a piece of cloth and sulfur to the leg of each bird. Then she told them to set each piece aflame. In a panic, the birds flew back to their nests, which as has been established were in the roofs of every house in Iskorosten. Soon the whole city was burning, and nobody could put the fires out quickly enough because the flames were coming from everywhere. The Drevlians fled their city, whereupon Olga had some killed and some taken into slavery, a gift for her followers. She did leave some of the Drevlians alive in Iskorosten, though; enough to supply a decent tribute in the future.

Now, Olga did all this while she was a pagan. Although there are plenty of gory saints, all this fuss isn’t what got her canonized.

Supposedly, the Byzantine Emperor next tried his hand at wooing our Olga. This, like so many details in hagiographies, might be a fabrication; the historical Emperor at the time was already married. Of course, there are a number of nasty possibilities that might render that point moot. Anyway, the story goes that Olga was still not interested in re-marrying. But she didn’t have as much of a beef with the Byzantines--now and then Kiev fought with them, but it wasn’t personal-- and anyway they’d be much harder to kill. So she got clever.

Olga welcomed the Emperor’s proposal, and asked that he first sponsor her conversion to Christianity—she asked him to be her godfather, in other words. He was very pleased to do this, and personally took part in her baptism, calling her his daughter as part of the ceremony. Then, he repeated his marriage proposal. Here’s what happened next:

“[…] she replied, ‘How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know.’ Then the Emperor said, ‘Olga, you have outwitted me.’ He gave her many gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still calling her his daughter.”

Absolute legend Olga.

When she wasn’t killing Drevlians and outwitting Emperors, Olga was a capable administrator and warrior-queen, and she groomed her son well for the throne-- although his empire fractured on his untimely death. She made an attempt to Christianize the Kievan Rus’, but that didn’t really go anywhere in her lifetime. My take? Since her conversion was a political move (would have gotten the Byzantines off her back whether the marriage proposal story was true or not), she might not really have tried all that hard to get her subjects to convert. Despite this, she bears the title Isapóstolos-- Equal to the Apostles. Her grandson would later successfully Christianize Kievan Rus’, but only after he made an earnest attempt to reform Slavic paganism into something that could compete with Christianity.

Some people might read Saint Olga as a monster. I would like to remind everyone that the 900’s AD were not happy nice funtimes. And the moral of all this is, don’t murder a Varangian lady’s husband and ask her to marry you unless you’re really, really sure you’re prepared for the consequences.

#out of Voice #cut for length

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animalexpert · 6 years ago

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Wlrs; IX

Almost 10 deep, I should go through and re read all of these and see how much I’ve learned and what it’s helped me with and where I continue to be lost. I’m using my old laptop to host a Minecraft server for my friends and I to play on, and when I opened it up to launch up for the first time, it didn’t have my new internet and still had Facebook up from the last time I used it, a conversation with her stood right before me, the last thing I had done on this laptop for some reason. It was a nice conversation, from after we had spent a day together being wishful careless friends. Thoughts of her skulk through the shadows of my conscious, sometimes a thought connects to another thought that connects to her and my active chalkboard of a brain just starts writing her name over and over on the board. Even if isn’t coming across a literal conversation or a song or meme I’d just fucking love to share with her, I do it to myself lmao, I look at her posts, it’s very obvious to myself I don’t want to leave this behind but holy FUCK am I fighting for it. Her sister hit me up randomly once not too long ago, and it was one of the sparks that made me want to write her a letter so bad, and looking back even if her sister didn’t make any sense with why she hit me up it’s seriously comical the things I’ll accept as signs. I wonder if that’s a common human trait, likely considering I’m a very realistic and nihilistic person and even fall for thinking things are signs and believe pretty heavily in karma. It was discomforting how much IGOR made me think of her, it nearly embodied my feelings and our situation. That was the first listen, almost like a blunt discomfort. But the second listen was fuckin beautiful... I cried, the bass lines and soft acoustic guitars in Puppet, Running out of time left me wanting to knock on her door at 3 am and smile up into those tired eyes and ask for a late night walk. The whole album made me think of riding around moon out cool humidity head bobbing through town with her. The imagery is endless for me, I think that’s one of the things that makes it so hard to run away from, I don’t want to say goodbye forever to someone that inspires such vividness in my imagination. Days where I think about her and the traits she invokes in me I swear I’m even more funny, my wits sharp. I hope I was a whet stone for her character and brain, if they were swords that is, I think I may use a decent amount of analogies and metaphors without really noting or explaining them at all. Hope all my shit makes sense, there’s no reference key for these things, except me I guess. I miss talking to her so much, she has such a fun competent brain, I could talk about odd or taboo things that came to mind and she wouldn’t fray away, business ideas or serious plans she could give smart critical feedback on, and she loved hearing my stupid ideas. I remember one time I set up an army men war with her we each did one side and we were gonna have someone come a judge the battle for us and see who won based on out setups, and in my head I was happy and blessed af like holy fuck, I love the way this girls brain works, I love the way our brains work together. I miss the space we designed together, I wish it didn’t get taken down but I never would’ve left many memories of her behind if that space still existed. It’s real late, I should’ve slept but my mind was runnin wild tonight. I was talking to my friends and they said that our pal Chase can literally lay down and fall asleep in about 10 minutes or less at nearly any time, like if he needs to be up he can just be like okay lay down at 930 and go to sleep and it just happens. That is a fucking super power to me, I take meds to fall asleep comfortably 30-45 minutes later, and it doesn’t even work like 25 or so percent of the time. My mind seems to be clear when the night is dark though, so I guess it’s helpful every once in awhile to stay up. It’s time to lay down now though. The shadow of her silhouette drifts through my dreams.

#Me Fuckin feels m8 #Hi

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brookstonalmanac · 2 years ago

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Events 4.28

224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius. 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin. 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism. 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu. 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder. 1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world. 1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War. 1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city. 1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island. 1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars. 1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island. 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast. 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched. 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico. 1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war. 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom. 1920 – The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded. 1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium. 1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas. 1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia. 1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946. 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement. 1945 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp. 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia. 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center. 1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed. 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election. 1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II. 1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War. 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops. 1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license. 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France. 1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign. 1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run. 1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory. 1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder. 1978 – The President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels. 1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident. 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight. 1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia. 1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 41⁄2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense. 1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others. 2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.

#Events

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