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bpdbeehive · 4 months ago

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I made a list of every single Greek god ever

Keep in mind some of these may be different from what you know because they have multiple different stories

Eros- god of love, passion, and fertility

Tartarus- god of darkest part in the underworld

Thalassa- goddess of the sea

Phanes- god of creation, new life, procreation, fertility, and light

Caligine- goddess of creation

Gaia- goddess of earth

Erebus- god of darkness and shadows

Nyx- goddess of night and darkness

Pontus- god of the seas

Hydros- god of water

Uranas- god of the heavens and sky

Achlys- goddess of the death-mist, misery, sadness, and deadly poisons

Aether- god of light and the upper sky

Ananke- goddess of inevitability, compulsion, and necessity

Chaos- god of the void

Cronus- god of time, fate, justice, and harvest

Caelus- god of the sky

Coeus- god of the North, intelligence, and resolve

Hemera- goddess of daylight

Hypnos- god of sleep

Nemesis- goddess of vengeance, retribution, and rightful fate

Thalassa- goddess of sea

Rhea- goddess of motherhood, fertility, childbirth, comfort, and good living

Oceanus- god of freshwater

Tethys- goddess of fresh water and nursing mothers

Hyperion- god of heavenly light and watchfulness

Theia- goddess of sight and vision

Lapetus- god of mortal life

Crius- god of constellations, stars, and the south

Phoebe- goddess of intellect, prophecy, and the moon

Themis- goddess of justice, law, order, and divine will

Iris- goddess of rainbows

Mnemosyne- goddess of memory

Zues- god of sky, weather, thunder, lightning, and law and order

Demeter- goddess of the harvest, agriculture, and fertility of the earth

Poseidon- god of sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses

Hades- god of the underworld and the dead

Hera- goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth

Apollo- god of sun and light, poetry, healing and disease, justice, archery, music and dance, prophecy and truth

Artemis- goddess of hunting, wild animals, and the wilderness

Aphrodite- goddess of beauty and passion

Ares- god of war and courage

Hephaestus- fire, volcanoes, blacksmithing, metalworking, craftsmanship, sculpture, forges, and metallurgy

Hermes- God of wealth, trade, thieves, and travelers

Athena- goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare

Dionysus- god of wine, festivity, and theater

Hestia- goddess of domestic life, home, and hearth

Hecate- goddess of magic and necromancy

Aeolus- god of the wind

Asclepius- god of medicine and healing

Eris- god of discord, jealousy, and strife

Pan- god of the wild, shepherds, flocks, rustic music, fertility, spring, and theatrical criticism

Eileithyia- goddess of childbirth, birth pains, and midwifery

Enyos- goddess of war, violence, and bloodshed

Evrynomi- water meadows, fertility, and pasturelands

Psyche- goddess of the soul

Hedone- goddess of pleasure, enjoyment, and delight

Dolos- god of trickery, cunning deception, craftiness, guile, and treachery

Senectus- god of old age

Oizys- goddess of misery, grief, anxiety, and depression

Moros- god of doom

Momus- god of satire and mockery

Tmolus- god of Mount Tmolus

Nereus- god of the sea

Phorcys- god of the sea and the hidden dangers that lurk beneath the waves

Ceto- goddess of sea monsters and other marine life

Eurybia- goddess of power over, and mastery of, the sea

Eurus- god of the east or southeast wind, fall, and storms

Aergia- goddess of laziness, idleness, sloth, and indolence

Eos- goddess of dawn

Astraea- goddess of justice, innocence, purity, precision

Boreas- god of the north wind, winter, storms, ice, snow, and cold

Chione- goddess of snow

Orithyia- goddess of cold mountain winds

Zephyrus- god of West wind

Notos- god of South wind

Euros- god of East wind

Hesperos- god of the evening and the evening star

Morpheus- god of dreams and nightmares

Pasithea- goddess of relaxation and rest

Icelus- god of nightmares

Phantasus- god of dreams that feature inanimate objects

Aigaion- god of violent sea storms

Achelous- god of fresh water

Alpheus- god of the Peloponnese

Clymene- goddess of fame and renown

Eurynome- goddess of water meadows, fertility, and pasturelands

Idyia- goddess of knowledge

Metis- goddess of wisdom and cunning strategies

Styx- goddess of oaths and the River Styx

Helios- god of the sun

Selene- goddess of the moon

Atlas- god of strength, endurance, astronomy, and navigation

Prometheus- god of fire, forethought, and crafty counsel

Astraeus- god of astrology and stars

Pallas- god of witchcraft

Zelus- god of dedication, emulation, eager rivalry, envy, jealousy, and zeal

Nike- goddess of victory

Via- goddess of force and power

Perses- god of destruction

Asteria- goddess of falling stars, nocturnal divination, and the connection between the heavens and the earth

Leto- goddess of motherhood, childbirth, modesty, and fertility

Eirene- goddess of peace

Dike- goddess of fair judgment and law

Persephone- goddess of grain and agriculture

Alatheia- goddess of truth

Asopos- god of the river Asopos

Ate- goddess of blind folly and ruin

Britomartis- goddess of hunting and fishing

Elieithyia- goddess of childbirth

Eirene- goddess of peace

Ersa- goddess of the dew

Eunomia- goddess of good governance

Harmonia- goddess of harmony

Hebe- goddess of youth

Hephaistos- god of smiths

Eunomia- goddess of law, governance, and good order

Kairos- god of opportunity

Aglaia- goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, adornment, good health, and the glow of good health

Lakhesis- goddess of life and fate

Phasis- god of the river Phasis

Despoine- goddess of certain Arkadian Mysteries

Macaria- goddess of a "blessed" death

Melinoe- goddess of ghosts, nightmares, and propitiation

Zagreus- god of rebirth

Ploutos- god of wealth, riches, and abundance

Albion- god of the sea

Tilphousia- goddess of vengeance and justice

Phobos- god of fear, panic, flight, and rout

Pothos- god of sexual longing, desire, and yearning

Anteros- god of reciprocal love

Himeros- god of sexual desire and unrequited love

Hermaphroditus- god of effeminacy, androgeny, and hermaphroditism

Rhodos- goddess and personification of the island of Rhodes

Priapus- god of fertility

Erichthonius- goddess of earth

Tyche- goddess of fortune, luck, prosperity, chance, and fate

Horkos- god of oaths and the curse that befalls those who break them

Epione- goddess of soothing pain

Hygieia- goddess of hygiene and cleanliness

Panacea- goddess of universal remedy

Aceso- goddess of healing and wounds

Iaso- goddess of recuperation from sickness

Machaon- god of surgeons

Pandia- goddess of the full moon, dew, and youth

Telesphoros- god of recuperation

Enyalius- god of soldiers and warriors

Phosphorus- god of the planet Venus when it appears as the morning star

Triton- god of the sea

Carpus- god of fruit

Bia- goddess of force, power, might, bodily strength, and compulsion

Narcissus- god of vanity

Cephissus- god of the Cephissus river

Ismenus- god of the river of the same name

Eucleia- goddess of good repute, glory, and honor

Eupheme- goddess of good omen, praise, and acclamation

Euthenia- goddess of prosperity, abundance, and plenty

Philophrosyne- goddess of friendliness, welcome, and kindness

Euphrosyne- goddess of joy, good cheer, mirth, and merriment

Hephaestus- god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes

Delphin- god of Dolphins

Aristaeus- god of beekeeping, cheesemaking, olive growing, and hunting

Electryone- goddess of the sun and morning

Circe- goddess of magic

Silenus- god of forests, wine-making, and drunkenness

Triptolemus- god of agriculture

Lyssa- goddess of rage, fury, and rabies

Soteria- goddess of safety, salvation, deliverance, and protection from harm

Leucothea- goddess of hope

Palaemon- god of harbors and sharks

Pasiphae- goddess of witchcraft and sorcery

Perses- god of destruction and peace

Phaunos- god of the forest

Maron- god of Maroneia

Astraeus- god of stars and planets

Limos- goddess of famine, starvation, and hunger

Benthesikyme- goddess of ocean waves

Amphitrite- goddess of the sea

Kymopoleia- goddess of violent sea storms and storm waves

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adventuresofalgy · 28 days ago

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It was November… November in the wild west Highlands of Scotland, where the festival of Samhain had just passed and the Celtic lands had entered the realm of darkness…

And it was raining again. The mist was down and it was raining again. It would probably rain more often than not for the foreseeable future. Of course it would…

Algy perched disconsolately by the side of a pond, his feathers dripping gently into the overflowing water in concert with the drops that were sliding off the overhanging foliage around him.

"What to do, what to do, what to do?" Algy mumbled to himself soggily.

It was just as dreich as dreich could be…

Suddenly a robin started singing in the bushes overhead. Algy listened carefully, as there were no other sounds except the muffled splashes of wee water droplets, and then he started to think… He thought and thought, and then he thought again, for his wee feathered friend was warbling a version of a poem he knew rather well… Perhaps the robin was right. Perhaps he should summon all his dampened resources, and start out on an exciting new adventure… It might make all the difference…

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

[The robin is warbling the poem The Road not Taken by the 20th century American poet Robert Frost.]

This poem has become famous, and is often taken terribly seriously – perhaps too seriously… studied at schools and colleges, and analysed for its meaning, However, the notes at The Poetry Foundation record:

Robert Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” as a joke for a friend, the poet Edward Thomas. When they went walking together, Thomas was chronically indecisive about which road they ought to take and—in retrospect—often lamented that they should, in fact, have taken the other one. Soon after writing the poem in 1915, Frost griped to Thomas that he had read the poem to an audience of college students and that it had been “taken pretty seriously … despite doing my best to make it obvious by my manner that I was fooling. … Mea culpa.” However, Frost liked to quip, “I’m never more serious than when joking.” As his joke unfolds, Frost creates a multiplicity of meanings, never quite allowing one to supplant the other—even as “The Road Not Taken” describes how choice is inevitable.

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chrisryanspeaks · 7 months ago

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Dehd Releases New Single 'Dog Days' from Upcoming Album 'Poetry' - Tour Dates Announced!

Just before launching their new album, Poetry, Dehd has released the lead single "Dog Days," which made its debut today on Zane Lowe's Apple Radio show. Rolling Stone highlighted this track as an "exhilarating opener" in a recent in-depth profile on the band, noting its captivating chorus that makes you want to grab your friends and shout along. The release of "Dog Days" is complemented by a music video, directed by the band's regular collaborator Glam Hag. The video features an intricate one-shot sequence in a vintage Honky Tonk bar, brilliantly reflecting the artistic vision of frontman Jason Balla for the song. Jason Balla shared his thoughts on the single, describing "Dog Days" as a tribute to life's chaos and the quest for companionship. He explained, "It’s about embracing vulnerability, experiencing rejection, and the complex dance of human relationships. This song is for those navigating the tumultuous journey of love, making mistakes, and living passionately. It's an anthem for those riding the same emotional rollercoaster." Following the album's release, Dehd will embark on a busy schedule, including a major North American festival run, appearances at radio shows during the summer, and a nine-city headline tour across Europe. They will then return to North America for an extensive tour, featuring a notable performance at Brooklyn Steel in New York City and wrapping up with two nights at Thalia Hall in Chicago. Tickets can be purchased at dehd.horse. You can listen to "Dog Days" now. Below, find more details about the tour and the album, and keep an eye out for more updates from Dehd. Upcoming Tour Dates Festivals: 5/26 - Napa Valley, CA @ BottleRock Music Festival 5/31 - Durham, NC @ Durham Bulls Athletic Park 6/1 - Northampton, MA @ Field Day Music Festival 7/27 - Portland, OR @ Project Pabst Festival UK/EU: 7/1 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club 7/2 - London, UK @ Village Underground 7/4 - Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter 7/5 - Cologne, DE @ MTC 7/6 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Tolhuistuin - IndieStad 7/7 - Kraggenburg, NL @ Wilde Weide 7/9 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie 7/10 Biel, CH @ Pod'Ring 7/12 Berlin, DE @ Berghain Kantine North America: 8/10 - Green Lake, WI @ Avrom Farm Party 10/17 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace 10/18 - Montreal, QC @ Les Foufounes Électriques 10/19 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall 10/20 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel 10/22 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry @ The Filmore 10/23 - Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre 10/25 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West 10/26 - New Orleans, LA @ Chickie Wah Wahs 10/27 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall 10/28 - Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn 10/31 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom 11/1 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco 11/5 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre 11/6 - Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre 11/8 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 11/9 - Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theatre 11/11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line 11/12 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall 11/13 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Read the full article

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audiofuzz · 7 months ago

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Dehd Releases New Single 'Dog Days' from Upcoming Album 'Poetry' - Tour Dates Announced!

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abookishdreamer · 2 years ago

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Character Intro: Notus (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Lord of the South Wind by the people of Olympius

The Heat by Chi & Aphrodite

Age- 18 (immortal)

Location- Paros, Olympius

Personality- He's very fiery with a quick temper. He's also very energetic, adventurous, & outgoing. He's straight and currently single.

Being the god of summer (and the south wind), he has many abilities. He has the ability to fly, due to his large bright orange wings. He also has the ability of psammokinesis (to control/generate sand), photokinesis, heat immunity, and pyrokinesis (his flame burning a bright orange). He also has limited hydrokinesis and is innately stronger during sunny days. He can induce heat stroke/dehydration to his opponents & he always emits an aura of heat, making others around him start sweating. He can shapeshift into a pegasus as well as communicate with them.

Notus lives in a spacious beach house (on his own private beach). There's also a nearby horse farm. Inside his house, there's a continuous warm breeze blowing and a thin layer of sand on the light wooden floors. His bed (& those of the guest rooms) are hammocks. There's a MASSIVE kitchen island with most of the furniture being made out of wicker, wood, or being woven.

He loves his brothers and is especially close to Zephyrus (god of the west wind). He's currently estranged from Boreas (god of the north wind).

Notus has a good relationship with his mom Eváeros (goddess of air & zodiacs). She's often his cloud surfing companion and he loves when she makes the ultra fluffy ambrosia salad!

Notus has a good friendship with Iris & doesn't want his brother to break up with her. He especially likes when the three of them go surfing with them stopping by The Frozen Spoon afterwards, enjoying strawberry sorbets.

His go-to drink is a bellini. He also enjoys beer, pineapple mojitos, mai tais, and a sex on the beach (a drink made with vodka, peach schnapps, grenadine, orange juice, & cranberry juice). His usual from The Roasted Bean are olympian sized fruit punch splashes & iced tea.

He also loves snacking on strawberries, peaches, and watermelon.

For work (aside from working for Zeus), Notus also models for Bow + Arrow & Cerulean Stone. He has also released his debut signature cologne (Wild Heat).

In the pantheon he's good friends with Delphin (god of dolphins), Apollo (god of the sun, music, poetry, healing, medicine, archery, plague, light, & knowledge), The Hesperides, Phaenna (goddess of jewels), Horme (god of energy), Chrysos (god of gold & riches), Aphrodite (goddess of love & beauty), Dionysus (god of wine), Méli (goddess of bees & honey), Himeros (god of impetuous love), Eos (Titaness of dawn), Hemera (goddess of the day), Zelus (god of envy, jealousy, & zeal), Eupraxia (goddess of well-being & success), Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Pothos (god of longing & yearning), Auxo (goddess of summer, vegetation, & plants), Adranos (god of fire), Erato (muse of love poetry), Aeolus (god of wind), Euterpe (muse of music & lyric poetry), Terpischore (muse of dance), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), Thalia, and Euphrosyne.

A favorite trip of his was when he along with Adranos, Zeph, and Zelus rode their go-karts along the sand dunes.

A favorite frozen treat of his is strawberry ice cream!

Notus is well known for throwing some of the best summer parties! One of these parties resulted in a one night stand with Pannychis (goddess of nightlife festivities).

He's also the host of the annual Summer Solstice Ball that takes place at the palace on Mt. Olympus.

His favorite meal is garden vegetable rice (with grilled salmon steaks and avocado salsa). He also loves spicy chicken fajitas, shrimp scampi, & a large margherita pizza.

In his free time Notus enjoys being at the beach surfing. He also enjoys playing his ukulele, swimming, tennis, jet-skiing, playing video games, sunbathing, sailing, volleyball, & football (soccer).

"Everything becomes alive on a summer night."

#my oc #my oc character #my character #oc character #oc intro #character intro #oc introduction #character introduction #modern greek gods #modern greek mythology #greek myth retellings #greek gods #greek mythology #greek pantheon #greek myths

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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Star, October 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Reba McEntire dating CSI: Miami star Rex Linn and finding love again at 65

Page 1: Duchess Kate Middleton stopped by England’s University of Derby to discuss students’ mental health and how the pandemic has affected their education but during her visit those watching couldn’t help but notice Kate looked more youthful than ever because of a new shorter highlighted hairstyle

Page 2: Contents -- Demi Lovato and pal Matthew Scott Montgomery were ready to be spooked at Nights of the Jack

Page 3: Vanessa Paradis and her daughter Lily-Rose Depp at the Chanel show during Paris Fashion Week, Tom Cruise looked a little leery filming a difficult scene on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 in Rome, Cara Santana repped boyfriend Shannon Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars in a sweatshirt from the group’s apparel line

Page 5: Chrissy Metz is so smitten with her new boyfriend Bradley Collins that she’s already talking marriage and babies with her Nashville-based beau and that has alarms ringing for some of her friends about why they kept their romance totally hidden until now and since Chrissy is all-or-nothing this is way too intense for some, fans of Law & Order: SVU rejoiced when it was announced that a spinoff was in the works that would star Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler and the new series called Organized Crime would feature Stabler leading a task force fighting NYC’s crime syndicates but the show has been rocked by behind-the-scenes drama as first showrunner Craig Gore was axed in June and now his replacement Matt Olmstead is also out leaving the future of the show in jeopardy, after a contentious season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Denise Richards and Teddi Mellencamp are out and mainstays Lisa Rinna and Kyle Richards have proven they’re the alphas of the long-running Bravo show and now as producers are scrambling to fill out the cast one obvious contender is out of the running as Kathy Hilton has respectfully declined because her daughters Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Paris Hilton didn’t want her to do it because they felt it was a bad look for them and the family

Page 6: Sofia Richie and Scott Disick have split but she seems to still be taking her beauty cues from her time with the Kardashian-adjacent dad of three because she has noticeably fuller lips where she had lip injections to both lips, Mariah Carey had nothing but nice things to say about Derek Jeter in her new memoir calling their relationship sensual and credits him with helping her see the value of her biracial background but Derek isn’t happy about it and he’s fed up and feels Mariah is taking advantage of him to publicize her book and it doesn’t help that Derek’s friends have been teasing him about the sexy details because he hates being made fun of; his ego can’t handle his friends ribbing him, Star Spots the Stars -- Christina Aguilera, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Travis Scott, Teddi Mellencamp, Rev Run and his wife Justine Simmons, Lindsay Arnold

Page 8: Star Shots -- Anne Heche headed for rehearsal on Dancing with the Stars, Christina Milian and her daughter Violet, Gavin Rossdale at the beach in Malibu with his dog and a mystery woman

Page 9: Liev Schreiber plays basketball with his son Sasha in NYC

Page 10: Bachelor alum Catherine Lowe and her son Samuel, Reese Witherspoon jumping rope, Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles’ Tracy Tutor playing Monopoly at home

Page 12: Johnny Weir leaving Dancing with the Stars rehearsals, Brie Larson and boyfriend Elijah Allan-Blitz on a grocery run, Alessandra Ambrosio on her way to dinner in West Hollywood

Page 13: Selena Gomez shows her kidney transplant scar, Julia Garner filming scenes for Inventing Anna in New York City

Page 14: Chrishell Stause heading into rehearsals for Dancing with the Stars, Johnny Depp waved to fans outside the ZFF Masters during the 16th Zurich Film Festival where he promoted Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGown, Patrick Schwarzenegger stepped out with a script in West Hollywood

Page 15: Silver fox Jon Bon Jovi struck a pose while promoting his new album 2020 in NYC, Shia LaBeouf went for a jog in Pasadena on the same day he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft following an incident that happened in June, Maisie Williams at the Chloe fashion show in Paris

Page 16: Gwen Stefani stepped out of the studio in Woodland Hills, Chiwetel Ejiofor referred to his phone while reciting poetry on the set of the upcoming pandemic-themed dramedy Lockdown in London, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler celebrated his 69th birthday at a meal with friends in Rome

Page 17: Sofia Vergara out in L.A., Denise Richards and husband Aaron Phypers looked carefree leaving a restaurant in L.A., Danny Trejo hung out with an adorable pooch during an appearance on Home & Family

Page 18: Normal or Not? Machine Gun Kelly shared a glimpse of his beauty routine en route to his new cafe in Cleveland -- not normal, Eva Longoria wore a Vote t-shirt and a Biden mask during a political rally in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood -- normal

Page 19: Snoop Dogg inhaled and exhaled during his DJ Snoopadelic set at the Concerts in Your Car event at the Ventura County Fairgrounds -- normal, while grabbing a meal in Los Angeles with a bevy of beauties Billie Dee Williams enjoyed a quick grooming session too -- not normal

Page 20: Fashion -- stars get glitzy in gold -- Olivia Wilde, Leona Lewis

Page 21: Karen Gillan, Kate Beckinsale

Page 24: Emilio Vitolo Jr. appears to be every inch the doting boyfriend to Katie Holmes but he’s playing the field behind her back -- Emilio’s a ladies’ guy and he’s been texting a bunch of girls saying things between him and Katie aren’t nearly as serious as they seem while Katie thinks she’s in love and it’s no exaggeration to say she’s obsessed with this guy and she’s adamant they’ll elope and in her mind they’re two kindred souls destined to be together

Page 25: Beyonce and Jay-Z are hoping to add on to their already impressive real estate portfolio as they are quietly checking out homes in Montecito in California for their family of five -- although they already own a $26 million home in New York’s tony Hamptons as well as an $88 million Bel-Air mansion the couple are hoping to put down roots in the American Riviera so their children can attend the area’s prestigious schools and Beyonce especially likes that it’s not far from L.A. and it’s clean and super private, after two years of dating Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeanne Cadieu are at odds about their future and Jake’s frustrated because the relationship is going nowhere and he’s eager to start a family but the 24-year-old model isn’t ready to put her career on hold and take that next step leaving Jake in limbo -- his most successful relationships were with women his own age with the same maturity and ambition like Reese Witherspoon and Kirsten Dunst -- while Jake remains conflicted about whether to stick it out with Jeanne or start over with someone new his friends say it’s time to move on and find someone who’s baby mama material, Jon Hamm has been considering settling down since he began dating Anna Osceolo because something about Anna is making him rethink everything from the guy who never pictured himself walking down the aisle or having children but now he and Anna are talking about marriage and a family

Page 26: Cover Story -- Reba McEntire finding love at last -- after a string of broken hearts the country superstar has finally snagged Mr. Right actor Rex Linn

Page 30: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s courtroom showdown -- four years after their split Brad and Angie are still duking it out over custody and now they’re prepared to bring star power to the battle -- Brad will be using every scrap of ammunition he can to fight for his kids including testimony from fellow stars and Angelina is prepared to do the same

Page 32: Five-time rehab vet Scott Disick is caught partying in front of his kids

Page 34: Stars’ Cheating Confessions -- sometimes all you can do is beg for forgiveness; these celebs have all had to plead their case -- Jude Law and Sienna Miller, Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish

Page 35: Donny and Debbie Osmond, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, David Letterman and Regina Lasko, Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling

Page 38: Beauty -- add a sophisticated scent blend to your fragrance wardrobe for fall -- Kim Kardashian

Page 40: Entertainment

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Chris Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky partnered with the Global Wildlife Conservation and Wild Ark to boost the ecosystem of their beloved Australia -- the pair helped Aussie Ark release 11 Tasmanian devils into a wildlife sanctuary at Barrington Tops National Park -- the hush-hush event marked the first time the endangered marsupials whose presence can help repel pests and bush fired were returned to the mainland in 3000 years

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swanlake1998 · 4 years ago

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Dance Magazine Article: The Singular Elegance of American Ballet Theatre's Calvin Royal III

Date: June 11, 2020

By: Marina Harss

In an iPhone video of a Romeo and Juliet rehearsal made in early March, Calvin Royal III stands in a corner of an American Ballet Theatre studio, arms reaching far into space, chin slightly raised in welcoming anticipation. There is such warmth and openness in his stance, you can understand why Juliet would want to hurl herself halfway across the stage into his arms. He looks directly into the eyes of his partner, Cassandra Trenary, and then lowers her into a swoon.

"He approaches everything with a sincerity that I love," Trenary says later. "No matter what he dances, he is always authentically himself."

Royal and Trenary were meant to make their debuts in the ballet on April 4, in Abu Dhabi. The following month, he was scheduled to perform as Romeo to Misty Copeland's Juliet, and make his Albrecht debut, at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House. But then the COVID-19 crisis hit, bringing the entire world to a halt and putting all premieres on an indefinite hold.

Royal—tall, lanky, with a silken, elegant way of moving and a gentle and open stage manner—would seem ideally suited to play Romeo. There is a quiet persuasiveness to his dancing. He doesn't show off. Instead, he imbues each movement with an aura of beauty and lyricism. As Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the company, puts it, "Calvin has an inner light."

Romeo is a role Royal has craved since he began to study dance. At times, though, he has wondered whether the opportunity would ever arrive. Royal wasn't a prodigy. His ascent has been gradual, even painstaking at times. You get the feeling he has earned every role, every opportunity through determination and the integrity of his dancing, but without ever losing that grace that makes him such a joy to watch onstage. He is hungry without being driven by ambition.

His quietly serious way of working has been one of the constants of his career. "Slow and steady, every day a little bit better, and absolutely consistent," Raymond Lukens, who taught him at the ABT-affiliated Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, says of his approach.

Royal didn't get his start in ballet until age 14, at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before that, he had been a serious piano student. It was his grandmother Linda, a social worker and a lover of classical music, opera and dance, who first encouraged his artistic tendencies. When he was 10, she bought him a Yamaha electric keyboard for Christmas. "I'll never forget it," she says. "He called me one Sunday morning and said, 'I want you to listen to something.' " On the other end of the line, he started to play Beethoven's Für Elise. He had learned it by ear.

Royal excelled at his piano studies, but also loved to move. For a few years, he took part in a local production called The Chocolate Nutcracker, which included hip hop, West African and other styles of dance. One of his fellow participants encouraged him to audition for the high school dance program. Without ever having taken a formal dance class, he was accepted.

There was so much to learn, he sometimes felt he might never catch up. "I think it intrigued him that ballet took so much effort," says Suzanne Pomerantzeff, his main teacher at Pinellas. The intellectual challenge drew him in as much as the physical.

That focus carried him through some difficult times at home. In his sophomore year, he injured his back in a car accident and had to sit out ballet classes for several months, excruciating given he had only just begun to make progress. He would take notes on the side, "visualizing dance in my mind," as he puts it. Dance became a lifeline, a source of steadiness and hope.

In his junior year, he competed in Youth America Grand Prix, where he was spotted by Lukens and Franco De Vita, of the JKO School. "I was immediately struck by his elegance, his musicality and his coordination," remembers De Vita, who offered him a scholarship.

After a year in the school and two and a half in ABT II (now the ABT Studio Company), he got into the main company, initially as an apprentice, at 21. He was still getting his technique where he wanted it to be—quick footwork and beats were a challenge for his long, lithe physique. ("I wanted to move like those little guys," he says, "but it wasn't easy with these legs.")

But he also wondered whether he fit the typical mold of a principal dancer at the company. "It was only when I came to New York that I started to become more aware of race in ballet," says Royal. In Florida, his ballet classes had been mixed. In New York City, less so. When he first joined ABT II, he overheard other dancers from the company making snide comments about a fellow African-American dancer there. "Oh, well, I guess they needed a black girl,' " he heard one of them say.

He began to wonder whether he might never be given the chance to prove himself as a leading man by McKenzie and the rest of the artistic staff. "Will they see me as Romeo or Albrecht? Not only because I'm black, but also because I'm gay?"

At the time, he says, the company culture was different: "There was this sense of machismo, and this idea that the guys had to look sort of like football players." Ethan Stiefel, José Manuel Carreño and other powerhouses in that vein were company stars. Just a few years earlier, in 2003, the company had put out a video, Born to Be Wild, that depicted its male dancers as testosterone-driven guys who rode motorcycles and posed as matadors.

Since that time, much has changed. Fewer international stars come through ABT; a new generation of home-bred principals has risen to the top, and they are anything but cookie-cutter. (Only one, however, is black: Misty Copeland.) Rigid notions about what Romeo or Siegfried should look like have finally begun to relax, to the benefit of the dancers.

Royal's particular qualities have been recognized and put to artistic use, especially by choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, ABT's artist in residence. In 2013, Ratmansky gave him a major role in his evening-length Shostakovich Trilogy. Three years later, he created an extra-ordinary, melancholy solo for him in Serenade after Plato's Symposium. The solo showcased the gracefulness of Royal's port de bras, the inwardness of his dancing, and his capacity to communicate thought and emotion through movement. Others have danced it, but none with the same poetry.

Royal also leads one of the three debut casts of Ratmansky's newest ballet epic, Of Love and Rage, originally scheduled to have its New York premiere during the company's spring season at the Met. That too will have to wait, for now.

The poetry in Royal's dancing is related to his deep, subtle musicality; music flows through him. It's not surprising that his partner, ABT pianist Jacek Mysinski, is a musician. Their work spills over into their downtime; Mysinski practices at home, and they talk about the ballets in the rep. When Mysinski is playing from the pit during a performance, Royal can feel his presence, he says: "It's almost like having him at my side, almost like a partner."

Royal was promoted to soloist in 2017, nearly seven years after joining. At some point along the way, he admits, he had begun to spin his wheels. "I got my hopes up and then I got my hopes shattered. I even started thinking about exploring other options, maybe another company or something completely different."

What kept him going, he explains, were outside projects that fueled his creativity and imagination, as well as his confidence. He danced for several seasons with Daniil Simkin's touring group Intensio. And, perhaps most meaningfully, he became a repeat visitor to Damian Woetzel's yearly Vail Dance Festival in the Rockies, where he got to dance a completely new repertory: works by Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, new creations by Pam Tanowitz and others.

"Year after year, he has become ever more himself onstage," says Woetzel, who has become an important mentor. "His level of comfort in everything he does has become expansive." This year, he selected Royal to be the festival's artist in residence, leading workshops, performing in various premieres and taking part in initiatives related to the challenges boys face in ballet. "I see a real leadership quality in Calvin," says Woetzel.

Last summer at Vail, Royal danced excerpts from Apollo, one of the pinnacles of the male repertoire. A few months later, McKenzie asked him to make his debut in the full piece in New York, with ABT. It was a remarkable moment—he looked completely at home in the role of a young god. He may have to wait a little longer for his debut as Romeo, but his time, it seems, has finally come.

#calvin royal iii #ballet #ballerino #article #dance magazine #dancemagazine

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surreality51 · 6 years ago

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Guardian Meta: Love Song Edition

Can we talk about how the Guardian end credits song and the promo song are essentially love songs?

Disclaimer: In the great tradition of Western writers who think their opinion about things they have limited direct knowledge of matters, I’m about to screech about traditional Chinese views of love even though I am not from China nor do I know anyone who has lived in China past the age of 6. Everything I know about the matter comes from my Taiwan-born mother, whose relationship advice could be summed up as “never depend on a man.” You can guess what her love life has been like.

I’ve been listening to “Time Flight” and “Just Cared Too Much,” the promo song and end credits song from the Guardian drama respectively, on repeat lately and I just can’t get over how achingly romantic these two songs are. The opening theme song, “We Won’t Be Falling,” captures the can-do spirit of the SID team and the socialist brotherhood/power alliance between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei that everyone associated with Guardian insists the show is really about, but the closing theme song and promo song will forever be the true songs for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan to me and no one can convince me otherwise.

Just. look. at. these. fucking. lyrics:

*incoherent screeching*

It also doesn’t help that the official music video for “Time Flight/Flying Across Time” is nearly indistinguishable from the thousands of Weilan fanvids out there.

I mean, the first shot of Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei has them framed with wedding decorations. The video editors were...not subtle.

In an attempt to organize my thoughts around this topic, I’m going to take a step back and look at how the song lyrics reflect a traditional Chinese approach to love and why it’s impossible to interpret the songs as anything other than love songs (unless you’re a Chinese censor, in which case, yes, these songs are totally about platonic friendship).

Stereotypical Eastern vs Western Approaches to Love

Let’s face it, the stereotypical Chinese approach to love is practical nearly to the point of being mercenary. The first question any parent asks when presented with an offspring’s potential suitor is, “What’s his job? What are his prospects? What do his parents do?” In other words, who gives a fuck about things like personality or compatibility or feelings. Romance doesn’t put food on the table.

The concept of falling in love with someone and choosing your own partner is relatively new in Chinese culture and maybe imported from the West (someone back me up/correct me here, I’m too lazy to Google this). According to family lore, my great grandmother and her generation (born 1890s Fujian province, married 1910s) followed traditional practices around dowry and matchmaking, where essentially your parents pick your partner based on family relationships and social standing within the community. You get limited say in the matter.

Western ideals around love, attraction, passion, compatibility, personality, courtship, and romance were traditionally not factors in a relationship, at least in the beginning. Instead, traditional Chinese ideals value steadfastness, stability, loyalty, partnership, duty, responsibility, and a love that grows over time. Whereas Western depictions of love in modern media often focus on explosive passion, magnetic attraction, wild declarations, daring courage, individual charisma, finding that spark, and, in more modern relationships, choosing someone who fulfills your personal/emotional needs or as an avenue for self-actualization, love in traditional Chinese culture is steady, humble, something that grows out of mutual striving, something that takes root deeply and quietly through the day to day, like two trees slowly growing together until they are entwined.

In the Guardian web novel, Zhao Yunlan’s father expresses the traditional view of love during his discussion with Zhao Yunlan about his relationship with Shen Wei:

“Perhaps one day, when your hormonal levels are back to normal, you will regret this decision.” Zhao’s father maintains a calm and stately tone, relaxing and not at all intimidating. It’s much easier to persuade someone this way; he says, “Passion is attractive; I’ve been young. I know that feeling. But I don’t agree with difficult love, do you know why?”

[…]

“Love is strong yet frail; perhaps in the face of adversity, it can rise up with great power, transcending into a sort of exemplary ardour, and that is why it’s been praised since ancient times. But you have to remember the saying: ‘It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it is the grain of sand in your shoe’.”

[…]

“Difficult love can be overcome with perseverance and grit. But love has to subside eventually, have you thought of that?”

—excerpt from chapter 74, RainbowSe7en translation

Again, modern Chinese relationships are very different, where the feelings of the two people involved often do outweigh the views of the family, and relationships are viewed more as individual choices made for personal reasons rather than collective decisions made for the well-being of the whole family. As Zhao Yunlan expresses, the modern view of love is intimate and personal:

“Dad, I know what you mean, but there is always someone in your life, it’s not because of attraction, allure, obsession, or mere lust; it’s if you don’t treat this person right, then you’d feel like a worthless prick.”

—excerpt from chapter 74, RainbowSe7en translation

But my point is that love in Chinese tradition stems from a different perspective. It’s a perspective that views feelings as fleeting, romance as a luxury. It values durability over passion. True love is something that can withstand separation, hardship, and the long march of time. It is built on a foundation of duty to one another, responsibility, patience, loyalty, sacrifice, and a depth of feeling that does not necessarily need to be showy or even stated aloud, but that can be felt intensely in one’s heart and seen in one’s actions.

Themes in Guardian Theme Songs

Given this perspective on love, it’s a no-brainer that Guardian’s theme songs are love songs, but let’s dive into the lyrics anyways.

Note: all lyric translations are based on the Orange Biscuit Subs translation.

Separation

Chinese folktales and mythology is littered with stories of tragic love and separation. It seems like the more tragic the love story, the more popular it is, and parents loooooooove to tell these tales to their kids. (WTF, China? No wonder Chinese dramas are so overdramatic.) One story that my family liked to tell for the Mid-Autumn Festival is the story of Hou Yi and Chang’e. We would stand outside in the backyard and look up at the harvest moon, and my mother would tell us the tale of how Chang’e sacrificed herself by swallowing the pill of immortality and floated up to the moon, where she lives forever alone, yearning for her husband Hou Yi on earth.

Another very well-known tale is the story of the cowherd and the weaver girl. Per Wikipedia:

The tale of the cowherd and the weaver girl is a love story between Zhinü (織女; the weaver girl, symbolizing the star Vega) and Niulang (牛郎; the cowherd, symbolizing the star Altair).[3] Their love was not allowed, thus they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (symbolizing the Milky Way).[3][4] Once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day.[3]

Yep, separated lovers get to be together for one whole day of the year. This is peak Chinese RomanceTM.

Given this cultural context, the ending of Guardian, with its brief reunion and the promise between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan to meet again in another life, is considered not only tragic, but could potentially be read as extremely romantic:

Their mutual pact to one day meet again echoes the themes of separation and reunion that form the backbone of so many Chinese love stories:

Then there’s the fact that “Time Flight” is playing in the background of this whole scene, which very unsubtly shows that the song is specifically written about the drama ending and about Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. I mean, there’s dialogue in the scene that matches the lyrics for chrissakes:

Steadfastness, stability, loyalty, resoluteness

Related to the theme of separation, another favorite trope of Chinese romance is the steadfast lover who awaits news of her beloved (it’s usually the woman who does the waiting while the man rides off to war or whatnot) without losing hope. The chorus from “Time Flight” includes this concept of waiting for news while keeping the faith, but what’s really interesting to me is how things shift from the first chorus to the third.

In the first chorus (above), it’s Bai Yu singing the lines. In the second chorus, Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong share them. In the third closing chorus, they share the chorus again, but the lyrics change slightly:

We know that repetition and variation are significant in poetry and lyrics, so we need to pay attention to how this change affects the meaning of the song. I’d quibble with the translation just a bit, because there’s a difference between “deng yi ge xiao xi” vs “deng ni de xiao xi.” The former uses “yi ge,” which is generalized, i.e. “I’ve been here waiting for news.” The “from you” is implied but not stated explicitly. But in the third chorus, the lyrics change to “ni de,” which is explicit, i.e. “I’m waiting for your news.” It’s a lovely shift that makes a common romantic trope even more specific and personal.

The final line is also a shift, taking the last line of the chorus and changing it from “flying together” (yi qi = together / fei xing = flying) to “I remain in the same place.”

Those last few words deserve some unpacking, since video subtitles can’t fully capture all the context and implied meanings of such a dense language as Chinese. “Yuan di” is not just “same place,” but also “original place,” or “where I’ve been all along.” There are multiple ways to read this, from “Across time, I have remained in this spot unmoving, waiting for you,” which speaks to those themes of loyalty, hope, and steadfastness. Or “Across time, I have not gone anywhere, so you can always find me here,” which speaks to themes of hope for your loved one’s return and optimism about reuniting.

However you want to read that last line, you can’t ignore how it plays into the romantic trope of keeping the faith for your beloved and awaiting their return.

Words Unsaid

I didn’t notice until I started writing this giant brain dump of an essay that the first word here is “zao,” meaning “early.” So that chorus line could be interpreted as “Knowing from the start that we would be separated.” I just….can’t with these lyrics.

Anyways, we know that what’s left unsaid is often more powerful than what’s been said aloud, and you can see it in these lyrics here. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei never say “I love you,” but it’s implied in all of their actions and looks, and it’s one of the primary plot drivers of the ending of the Guardian drama. As @riceworkshop discussed in this fascinating meta on Dreamwidth, it’s the selfishness of that love and Shen Wei’s choice to essentially use his life force to heal Zhao Yunlan’s eyes—putting the individual before the whole, his feelings and needs before duty—that cripples him and leaves him an unequal match to Ye Zun. But their love remains unspoken, largely due to Chinese censorship but also partially due to the whole “two people from different worlds/this can only end in tragedy” thing.

In the novel, Shen Wei knows explicitly from the beginning that anything between them can’t last and will only lead to ruin. In the drama the situation is different, but he no doubt senses that their time is limited, given the clues about Ye Zun’s coming and the fact that he already lost Kunlun/Zhao Yunlan once. When it comes down to it, “Just Cared Too Much” is literally the crux of Shen Wei’s problem.

(It’s Zhao Yunlan’s problem too, because if he weren’t so in love with Shen Wei, then he wouldn’t have gone back in time and looked at young Shen Wei like this:

And like this:

And said things like this:

Which caused young Shen Wei to fall madly in love with him.)

In Conclusion

In conclusion, China loves tragic romance and keeping soulmates apart for shits and giggles, Guardian’s theme songs are love songs, and I have spent way too much time thinking about Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei’s stupid faces.

#guardian meta #guardian tv #lyric analysis #ow my heart #weilan #shen wei #zhao yunlan #this is why I keep crying over Guardian

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emotoothtiger · 5 years ago

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THE REAL MRS DOUBTFIRE

PHOTO COPYRIGHT DOUGLAS CORRANCE

Mrs Doubtfire is the Scottish housekeeper and nanny played by Robin Williams in the film Mrs Doubtfire. This was in fact the name of Madame Doubtfire, who ran a second hand clothes emporium in Edinburgh. She was quite a character, and well known to theatrical types wanting stuff for the Festival. She may well have been known to Robin Williams himself who certainly was there in 1971 in an award winning Fringe production of The Taming of The Shrew set in the Wild West. However, not withstanding the specifics of how Robin created his character, the name became synonymous with the film via a book, Alias Mrs Doubtfire, by Anne Fine.

Anne Fine wrote a serious novel about divorce. From all accounts it can be kindly said that the film is different and Anne is philosphical about the differences. She lived near Mme Doubtfire’s shop in the 1970’s and would pass by regularly, her and her friends’ stuff having come from there. The shop, Mme Doubtfire, the cats and the smell would stick to her memory when she came to write the book in 1986, coincidentally 100 years after Madame Doubfire’s birth.

1973 Photo Jane Glover

Her real name was Annabella Cruikshank Adams, an Aberdonian born in 1886 who, in London, married Arthur Cyril Doubtfire, from Bermondsey, a few years prior to WW1. He became a Company Sergeant with the Cameronians and died of his wounds in the Balkans in 1916. I’ve seen other sources saying she was married 4 times, her first husband being a Frenchman named Dofur and one source saying Arthur died in France in WW1. However The Doubtfire Gallery ( 1 – 3 SE Circus Pl., her old shop in Edinburgh, Scotland) have the wedding certificate to Arthur in London. The Gallery state the above Balkans connection and further add that he was buried in the British War Cemetery at Salonika.

1960′s Picture TSPL

She married James Davie Coutts, a car mechanic in 1921 when she was 34. I can’t find any record of when he died, nor for how long she was ultimately widowed.

Her shop was called after her first husband so she was universally known as Mme Doubtfire. It was on the edge of the New Town on the corner of South East Circus Place and Howe Street, and encompassed times when decay had set in. Much of the New Town was slated for demolition because of various reports stemming from the late 1940’s with ill conceived short sighted visions about urban regeneration ( Abercrombie/Bruce Reports ). This part of the city is now very much a World Heritage Site, but the plans were based around demolishing most of the New Town, an attitude that applied throughout the UK, especially in the Blitzed areas.

There were brothels nearby in Danube Street, St. Stephen Street and Scotland Street at least. Old money, arty types, authors, poets, visionaries and professionals lived in the area, such as Compton MacKenzie or the Stephensons of lighthouse and literary fame ( young George was a sickly lad, a dreamer, who hated lighthouses and got sea sick easily ).

She dealt in furniture and junk: since James was a mechanic it is easy to suppose he would have had access to transport although as yet I haven’t found anything of her early trading days. Just up the road were Lyon & Turnbull’s auction houses where you could trade anything in the Lane Sales. Clothes were ultimately easier money, I guess, and much less effort.

1982 Picture TSPL

Her fame was around her stock, herself and her cats. She got a lot of quality stuff from hard up or well meaning locals, and had a ready made clientele, passing through, especially during the Festival, spreading her fame worldwide. She was the feisty sort that was used to the independence of trading, and had some enlightened ideas, especially when the General Synod of The Church of Scotland was in town, the brothels were busy and theatrical or other types wanted props and clothing. She would happily sell gentlemen ladies underwear and sit outside wrapped in shawls and smoke a pipe. The cats would roam as they pleased, some less friendly than others, and all fragrant. This is the sort of character people love, especially if they’re young, vulnerable, arty. impressionable and don’t mind cat pee.

Apart from Alias Mrs Doubtfire by Anne Fine, Dilys Rose wrote a book of poetry called Madame Doubtfire’s Dilema.

She died in a nursing home in 1979 aged 92

#mrs doubtfire #Robin Williams #Anne Fine #Madame Doubtfire #Edinburgh

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yegarts · 5 years ago

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2019 Travel Grant Recipients (last round)

From Vancouver, Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Glasgow, 34 local artists have stamped their passports with support from the EAC’s travel grant program.

Edmonton’s artists are constantly creating innovative and inspiring new work that begs to be shared with the world. With the support of programs like the EAC’s travel grants, our artists are encouraged to seek out unique opportunities to train and showcase their work, and bring the knowledge and experiences they’ve garnered back home to share with their communities.

With assistnace from a Travel Grant, Randy Kohan and Zaira Makhacheva experienced their first trip to Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia, to present their bilingual collection of poetry, Hammers & Bells, and participate as judges for a youth poetry competition.

“It was amazing to experience the thirst for poetry that people have in Dagestan! Over the course of our presentations, which included 7 schools, as well as participation at the 8th Annual Tarki-Tau Book Fair, we presented the dual-language edition of my collection of poetry, Hammers & Bells (2019) to over 300 people, and, to our great surprise, we were awarded the prestigious Best Book of Poetry Award at the Tarki-Tau Book Fair’s closing ceremonies.”

(Zaira, Randy, and friend participating in an Open Mic evening at the Theatre of Poetry in Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia. Photo provided by the artist)

Like a few other local musicians, rapper Mouraine travelled to the Yukon to participate in the BreakOut West Music Conference.

“Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to travel to BreakOut West/Western Canada Music Awards to attend a workshop that helped develop my career in music. I had the chance to meet and network with music executives in Canada and from around the world. I am grateful for organizations like the EAC who are willing to fund us to travel, and fund us for other projects that help develop and promote the amazing arts culture that Edmonton has to offer.”

(Mouraine at BreakOut West. Photo by Ava Wild)

Pianist/composer/educator Tom Van Seters and vocalist Chandelle Rimmer had the opportunity to perform original music from their CD Stillness Falls (Bent River Records) at the 2019 edition of L'Off Festival de Jazz de Montreal.

“It was an amazing experience that furthered our professional development and exposed Montrealers to music created by Edmonton-based musicians. We bring what we learn from experiences like these back to Edmonton as they enhance our performances here in immeasurable ways.”

(Tom Van Seters and Chandelle Rimmer performing. Photo provided by the artist)

During the round of travel grant funding, 34 artists were supported. Below is the full list of travel grant recipients:

Brandon Baker, Luke Breiteneder, Olivia Street, and Reid Thiel of the band King of Foxes travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon to showcase at BreakOut West.

Filmmaker Kyle Armstrong travelled to Montreal to work with film editor Marc Boucrot on the feature film Hands That Bind.

Andrea Beça travelled to New York City to attend the NYC Mental Health Film Festival for a screening of her documentary We All Believe in You, and to participate in a Q&A panel discussion.

Denise MacKay, Peter Stone, and Brennan Cameron of 100 mile house travelled to Toronto, ON to perform an official showcase at the Folk Music Ontario Conference.

Derek Clayton travelled to Los Angeles, USA to connect with stunt performers and stunt studios for a short form media project.

Kaz Curtis travelled to Guelph, ON as a Breath in Poetry representative at the 2019 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. The Breath in Poetry slam team (Kaz, Nisha Patel, Brandon Case and Gabriel Castilloux Calderon) placed second overall at the festival.

Maria Dunn travelled to Owen Sound, ON to perform at the 44th annual Summerfolk Music Festival, including a prestigious mainstage concert set in the penultimate slot on the Friday night of the festival.

Elmutasim Fadl El mola a.k.a Mouraine travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon to attend and showcase at BreakOut West.

Noel Fanaeian (a.k.a. hundredmillionthousand) travelled to Europe for a 14-day tour, performing in Berlin, Barcelona, Bristol, and London.

Matthew Gooding, Holly Greaves, and Cassia Hardy of the band Wares toured through British Columbia, Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Christine Hanson travelled to Glasgow, Scotland to present her piece “The Cremation of Sam McGee Suite” at the 2020 Celtic Connections Festival.

Leslie Holmes travelled to Oakland, California, USA to attend dance and choreography workshops at the Salimpour School of Dance.

Randy Kohan and Zaira Makhacheva travelled to Russia to present their bilingual collection of poetry, Hammers & Bells, and participate as judges for a youth poetry competition.

Marlaena Moore travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon to play at BreakOut West, and to Toronto for a show at The Drake in anticipation of her upcoming album “Pay Attention! Be Amazed!”.

Matthew O’Connor travelled to Vancouver, BC to attend the Vancouver International Film Festival AMP Talent Accelerator summit that connects local and international supervisors, composers and post-production experts to explore the role music plays in film and television.

Nisha Patel travelled to Ontario and Quebec for a ten-show poetry tour alongside spoken word artist Liana Cusmano (stage name BiCurious George).

Larissa Pohoreski travelled to Kelowna, BC for the Living Things – International Arts Festival. Larissa and Ben Gorodetsky performed Biblioteka, a performance that investigates the intellectual, cultural, and emotional artifact of books.

Liz Pomeroy a.k.a OStella (alt-rock Irish fusion) travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon to attend BreakOut West 2019, providing opportunities for collaboration and networking with music industry professionals.

Gerry Potter travelled to Ottawa, ON to present clips from the in-progress documentary film, In Search of Professor Precarious, and to market the film for purchase, screenings, and licensing in 2020.

Kathleen Schoen travelled to Amsterdam, Netherlands for a presentation at the Open Recorder Days Amsterdam teachers conference, and to conduct research for a performance piece based on the life and work of Jacob van Eyck.

Michelle Schultz travelled to Tokyo, Japan to present the curatorial project Bend at the Prince Takamado Gallery at the Embassy of Canada in Tokyo. Michelle wrote the essay for the exhibition that features the work of five artists who are engaged with, and are influenced by, the Japanese art of flower arranging (Ikebana).

Alex Sutherland travelled to Toronto to participate in a dance educator workshop with Peggy Baker.

Tom Van Seters travelled to Montreal, QC to perform at L’Off Festival de Jazz, along with vocalist Chandelle Rimmer.

#yeg #yegarts #edmontonartscouncil #edmonton #travelgrant

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ceeess · 7 years ago

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What's Up in Literary Events in Ottawa, October 2017

What’s Up in Literary Events in Ottawa, October 2017

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION BRANCH (OTTAWA) OCTOBER, 2017 Need more information on CAA-NCR, its programs or events? Visit us at http://canadianauthors.org/nationalcapitalregion/ Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianAuthorsNCR/ Keep in touch on Twitter at: @caa_ncr TO ALL READERS: Please send all submissions & event notices in the body of an email; (the text needs to…

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#Algonquin College #Amanda Earl #CAA Workshops #CAA-NCR #CAA-NCR Monthly Meeting #Carol A. Stephen #Ottawa International Writers Festival #Ottawa Literary Events #Poetry events #Quillfyre #The Banff Centre #Tree Reading Series #Wild West Poetry Festival #Wild Writers Festival #Writescape

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otherpplnation · 2 years ago

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799. Rich Ferguson, Mary Kerr, S.A. Griffin

Rich Ferguson, Mary Kerr, and S.A. Griffin are the guests for a roundtable discussion of Beat literature and the new anthology Beat Not Beat: An Anthology of California Poets Screwing on the Beat and Post-Beat Tradition (Moon Tide Press).

Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Rich Ferguson has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, Moby, and other esteemed poets and musicians. Ferguson was selected by the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. (NBPF), to serve as the State of California Beat Poet Laureate (Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2022). He is a featured performer in the film, What About Me? featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, and others. His poetry and award-winning spoken-word music videos have appeared in numerous anthologies and festivals, and he was a winner in Opium Magazine’s Literary Death Match, L.A. Ferguson is the editor of an anthology of CA poets entitled Beat Not Beat (Moon Tide Press).

Mary Kerr is an Independent Producer of documentaries on the California Beat Era. Her films include The Beach (1996), Venice West and the LA Scene (2011), and San Francisco's Wild History Groove (2011).

S.A. Griffin, co-editor of Beat Not Beat and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Firecracker Award) and Carma Bum progenitor lives, loves and works in Los Angeles. In 2010 he created The Poetry Bomb, a former Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art object filled with over 900 poems from around the world in an effort to inspire civil disagreements culminating in The Poetry Bomb Couch Surfing Across America Tour of Words. Named Best Performance Poet by the LA Weekly, in 2011 he was the first recipient of Beyond Baroque's Distinguished Service Award. His most recent book, Pandemic Soul Music (Punk Hostage Press), will be on bookshelves December 2022. Husband, father and USAF Vietnam era veteran.

***

Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.

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idontrememberthetitans · 6 years ago

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The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films of All Time

1. Persona (Sweden, 1966)

2. Jules and Jim (France, 1962)

3. The Conformist (Italy, 1970)

4. The Rules of the Game (France, 1939)

5. Tokyo Story (Japan, 1952)

6. M (Germany, 1931)

7. Bicycle Thieves (Italy, 1948)*

8. Rash��mon (Japan, (1950)*

9. 8 ½ (Italy, 1963)*

10. Breathless (France, 1959)

11. In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong, 2000) | 2046 (Hong Kong, 2004)

12. The 400 Blows (France, 1959)

13. La dolce vita (Italy, 1961)#

14. L’Avventura (Italy, 1960)

15. Last Year at Marienbad (France, 1961)

16. The Seventh Seal (Sweden, 1958)

17. L’Atalante (France, 1934)

18. The Mirror (USSR, 1975)

19. Hiroshima mon amour (France, 1959)

20. Raise the Red Lantern (China/Hong Kong, 1991)

21. Cries & Whispers (Sweden, 1972)

22. The Grand Illusion (France, 1937)

23. Au hasard Balthazar (France, 1966)

24. Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, & Red (Poland/France/Switzerland, 1993/1994)

25. Fanny & Alexander (Sweden, 1983)*

26. Cría cuervos… (Spain, 1976)

27. Pierrot le fou (France, 1965)

28. Stalker (USSR, 1979)

29. Ikiru (Japan, 1952)

30. Spirit of the Beehive (Spain, 1973)

31. Wild Strawberries (Sweden, 1957)

32. Talk to Her (Spain, 2002)

33. La strada (Italy, 1956)*

34. Cléo from 5 to 7 (France, 1962)

35. Umberto D. (Italy, 1952)

36. Solaris (USSR, 1972)

37. Forbidden Games (France, 1952)*

38. Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945)

39. Nights of Cabiria (Italy, 1958)*

40. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (France, 1964)#

41. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (France, 1974)*

42. The Seven Samurai (Japan, 1954)

43. Children of Paradise (France, 1945)

44. The Emigrants (Sweden, 1972) | The New Land (Sweden, 1973)

45. Woman in the Dunes (Japan, 1964)

46. Belle de Jour (France, 1967)

47. Elevator to the Gallows (France, 1958)

48. La belle et la bête (France, 1946)

49. Ugetsu (Japan, 1953)

50. Wings of Desire (West Germany, 1987)

51. Holy Motors (France, 2012)

52. Day for Night (France, 1973)*

53. The Lives of Others (Germany, 2006)*

54. Through a Glass Darkly (Sweden, 1961)*

55. Au revoir les enfants (France, 1986)

56. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/USA, 2007)

57. The White Ribbon (Germany, 2009)#

58. Z (Algeria, 1969)*

59. Army of Shadows (France, 1969)

60. All About My Mother (Spain, 1999)*

61. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan, 2000)*

62. Autumn Sonata (Sweden, 1978)

63. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Romania, 2007)#

64. Amour (Austria, 2012)* #

65. Orpheus (France, 1950)

66. y tu mamá también (Mexico, 2001)

67. Taste of Cherry (Iran, 1997)#

68. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (France, 1953)

69. The Battle of Algiers (Italy, 1967)

70. Knife in the Water (Poland, 1962)

71. Ran (Japan, 1985)

72. The Best of Youth (Italy, 2003)

73. The Double Life of Veronique (France/Poland/Norway, 1991)

74. A Separation (Iran, 2011)*

75. Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico, 2006)

76. The Official Story (Argentina, 1985)*

77. The Great Beauty (Italy, 2013)*

78. Amarcord (Italy, 1973)*

79. The Tin Drum (West Germany, 1979)* #

80. Ida (Poland, 2014)*

81. Underground (Bulgaria/Czech Republic/Serbia, 1995)#

82. Black Orpheus (France/Brazil, 1959)* #

83. Persepolis (France, 2007)

84. Viridiana (Spain, 1961)#

85. Poetry (South Korea, 2011)

86. Contempt (France, 1963)

87. Yi Yi (A One and a Two) (Taiwan, 2000)

88. Amélie (France, 2001)

89. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Belgium, 1975)

90. Timbuktu (Mauritania, 2014)

91. City of God (Brazil, 2003)

92. Vivre sa vie (France, 1962)

93. Black Girl (Senegal/France, 1966)

94. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, 1988)

95. Teorema (Italy, 1968)

96. Farewell, My Concubine (China/Hong Kong, 1993)#

97. Dogtooth (Greece, 2010)

98. Babette’s Feast (Denmark, 1986)*

99. That Obscure Object of Desire (Spain, 1977)

100. Happy Together (Hong Kong, 1997)

* Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

# Winner of the Palme d’Or/Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival

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crab-bee · 3 years ago

Photo

2021: Crab & Bee works and publications

Crab & Bee Wassail, performance film short for Café Acoustica, commissioned by Barbican Theatre. Plymouth, January 2021.

Crab & Bee Boatburn Finale, poetry reading and site specific performance, Teats Hill, Plymouth, May 2021.

Score for a Wild City, Unfix Festival 2021, scores, films and Crab & Bee workshop for arts festival based in Scotland with partners in New York, Tokyo and Bologna, June 2021. Link to the films: score 1, score 2, score 5, score 8, score 9, GhostShip

Place, Story & Making Connections, 3 day walk/workshops for Commonwealth Theatre, St Mellons Cardiff, August 2021.

Sharing the Walk, paper presented to 4th World Congress of Psychogeography, September 2021.

Around the Hills, performance for the Move into Life project group performance weekend, West Hay Farm, Stonebarrow, Dorset, September 2021.

Change and repair: trixxy walking, place-stories and recovery in a time of virus, book chapter for Making routes: journeys in performance, September, 2021.

Webs, Nets & Carrier Bags, performance presentation for Making Routes book launch, Glasgow, September 2021.

Two Slow Worms poem/painting for creative research publication becoming-Feral: a bestiarum vocabulum launch 10th November 2021.

Blockhouse 360 zine project, prototype zine commissioned by University of Plymouth, Plymouth, August 2021.

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abookishdreamer · 2 years ago

Text

Character Intro: Chrysos (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Chrys by the others in the pantheon

Douche Extraordinaire by Boreas

Age- 19 (immortal)

Location- Skyline district, New Olympus

Personality- Chrysos proclaims that he suffers from "high self-esteem." He thrives on being the center of attention. Image is everything to him & he takes great pride in his status and wealth. He's charismatic, cocky, & a little bit too full of himself. He enjoys the single life, preferring hookups to an actual relationship.

He has the standard abilities of a god. Being the god of gold & riches, he has a few abilities including being able to summon and control Imperial gold (can also curse it to bring misfortune to anyone that comes across it), summoning & manipulating regular gold, and the ability of chrysopoeia- turning anything to gold & back.

He has a good relationship with his mom Orthosia (goddess of wealth). He also doesn't mind her new boyfriend Aplistos (god of avarice).

Chrysos lives in this MASSIVE mansion built entirely out of gold. It's nicknamed "The Golden Palace." It's located in the Skyline neighborhood of New Olympus. There's a room that's just for his jewelry & in his backyard, there's a fountain that continuously pours out liquid Imperial Gold. He owns a plethora of wild & exotic cats including cheetahs, leopards, and panthers. One of his most prized possessions is his oversized Nemean lion fur coat (added with gold trimmings). Chrysos rarely wears it in public, generally keeping it preserved in a high security vault.

He has a permanent set of solid gold grillz on his teeth that are encrusted with red sapphires & white diamonds.

Chrysos owns his most expensive pair of sneakers. Hermes specially designed & made it- just for him, as an induction gift. They're made out of solid 24K gold. The retail price is three million drachmas.

His go-to drink is a bourbon gold rush cocktail. He also likes champagne, energy drinks, and martinis.

His go-to dessert is champagne ice cream (dusted with edible gold).

In the pantheon, he's real good friends with Zeus (god of the sky, thunder, & lightning), Apollo (god of the sun, music, poetry, healing, medicine, archery, plague, light, & knowledge), Hermes, Eupraxia (goddess of well-being & sucesss), Zephyrus (god of the west wind), Notus (god of the south wind), Tyche (goddess of luck), Móda (goddess of fashion), Agon (god of sports & contests), Zelus (god of envy, jealousy, & zeal), Hemera (goddess of the day), Adranos (god of fire), The Graces, Dionysus (god of wine), Cleta (goddess of whispers), Ditus (god of bisexuality, effeminacy, & fertility), Pheme (goddess of fame), and Gelos (god of laughter). Chrysos really admires Helios (Titan god of the sun).

One of his wildest moments was when he stopped by one of Zeus' parties at his vacation home in Olympia. After snorting pure lotus dust, he ended the night running through a vineyard naked with a few flower nymphs.

Chrysos has his main business- a jewelry line (focusing on gold jewelry) called Galore. He also models for Bow + Arrow, ViVoTrack, Airopolis (Hermes' sneaker brand), and Platinum Alchemy as well as being a contributing writer to Zeus' magazine. He's also currently working on developing a signature cologne.

He also dabbles a bit in the music industry- becoming the newest hottest rapper on the scene. He hasn't released a full album yet, mainly singles. His stage name is 24K Static. Chi has provided background vocals to some of his songs and he's even been a featured artist with a few collaborations with Apollo, Eurydice & the music groups M9, Eclipse, and Discordic Harmony. Many of Chrysos' critics point out his use of different nymphs in his music videos and how overlysexualized they present in the videos. He was even called out by Daphne. He won the Golden Laurel Award for Best New Artist!

He's aware of his attraction & massive crush on Pannychis (goddess of nightlife festivities) as well as having a crush on Philotes (goddess of sex, friendship, & affection) and The Hesperides. Chrysos used to date Aglaia (one of The Graces) for a time.

His favorite meal of all time is golden crispy fried chicken with crinkle-cut french fries (with a special aioli dipping sauce). He'll also go through a 20 piece chicken nugget special at Olympic Chef. He also likes smoked tuna & caviar tartlets.

In his free time, Chrysos loves basketball, football (soccer), poker, going to the casinos. clubbing, partying, going to the spa, & playing video games.

"I aim high like a gold atlas/A space you can't even hold/Spiritual, fool's gold/All this paper, I fold."

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suninagarajan · 4 years ago

Text

The Dancing Girls of Kai-Puriji

The Maharajah's of Kuru – Panchala take their concubines from the troupes of dancing girls within the palace. Palace agents scour the kingdom for suitable candidates, and in their wake word will go out to villages and townships and families who anxiously present their children for inspection and approval. When a suitable candidate is chosen a fee is exchanged and the girl leaves her family, home and way of life forever to become an ornament of the Maharajah's court, whether temple dancer or court dancer or festival entertainment, her role henceforth will be to delight, amuse and enchant.

She could be chosen for the tinge of her iris, the sweetness of her breath, the shape of an ankle or the turn of a smile. The girls could come from far and wide with no limits on a girl’s caste, religion or gender – some dancing girls are not girls.

Maharajah Bopirah Jha Kur the first Hindu Maharajah, preferred women of the Udra valley for the roundness of their breasts and filled his palace with the beauties of that land, Maharajah Jaikupi Bil Hur a Maharajah from the middle Maharati period preferred forest women for their dark complexions and wild natures and would have no other lover but the untamed savages of the forest. It was even said that a Maharajah once kept a red-haired woman from the north just to look at her.

In a moment, a girl could be transported from a mountain village or a desert mud hut and placed in state rooms in the palace. She would be schooled in the arts of music dance and deportment and would live, if not as a Rani, at least as well as a noble woman.

When she has reached her majority and has imbued the knowledge that palace scholars had troubled to bestow upon her, she will be moved to the House of Women and will live under the Maharajah's protection. There she will be provided with guards, servants, jewels and textiles, and if she is favoured, a suit of private apartments.

Each morning and evening she will be washed and anointed, her skin oiled and perfumed, her face painted with cosmetics, her hair brushed and adorned with flowers. She will be covered in the finest silks and her ears, neck, fingers, waist and ankles adorned with every gemstone pleasing to the eye and amusing to the ear, to await his majesty’s pleasure.

When permitted she may leave the palace accompanied by guards and, carried in a pandal carved from cedar wood, in laid with scenes of nature of ivory and gold, sumptuous cushions and billowing curtains will shield her from the heat and the gawping crowds and comfort her on her journey, as her troupe of personal attendants carry the pandal above the crowd, a sign of the Maharajah's opulence power and favour.

On selected festivals she might be paraded in the market square, when the people of Kai Purija will marvel at the treasures in the King’s house and the opulence of the Gods, she included. By his whim she may be called on to dance, sing, play or discuss philosophy or scripture with her master, some Maharajah's have even required a proficiency in Chess, or a talent for poetry.

Girls that successfully achieve positions with the House of Women will have undertaken years of training and education in order that they might enter the presence of the Maharajah. Their role is more than to act as a mere distraction. They are expected to engage the Maharajah's appetite through body, mind and soul and to lead these abstracts to the divine.

Many girls who have inhabited the House of Women have smoothed the Maharajah's temper and moved his judgement through their sweetness, reason and understanding to mercy and forgiveness ensuring that the Kingdom is at peace and at one with the universe. For this reason, in times past it was a crime punishable by five years hard labour in the desert, to look upon a dancing girl without the Maharajah's permission. Looking upon a favourite would often result in the beholder’s eyes being removed in the public sphere.

But such practices have long since been discontinued.

Her primary role is to ease his labours, soften his heart and clear his path to Wisdom. She is therefore valued and respected for her beauty, her artistry, her learning, her reason and for the comfort she might bring the Maharajah. But she is revered because she is the gateway to the divine.

Maharajah Rhoopendra Narayan – Goi favoured the women of Bilhal, the blue tint of their eyes he said reminded him of the beauty of the Sapphire Kingdom. But Maharajah Riphender follows his father in his personal tastes, unlike his brother he understands a Maharajah cannot afford favourites and is careful to select his women from across his kingdom.

The palace agents who scour the country perform many functions other than selecting the favoured few to share the King’s bed and protection. Their function is mainly political. They are the Maharajah's eyes and ears. They bring him news of unrest, of the harvest, the state of ordinances, and where the best sapphires are to be found in a season. They carry messages to outposts and local chiefs across the vast unmanageable kingdom and are the locomotives and telegraph of Kuru – Panchala. Their name in Persian, the language of the court, means most trusted, and when they are on the King’s business they can be away from home for years at a time on a single walk.

They are his Majesty’s Walkers.

It is a crime punishable by death in Kuru Panchala to refuse hospitality to the Kings Walkers, it is both a sign of disrespect to the king and a crime against the kingdom. Walkers are revered for their knowledge and wisdom and are relied on by farmers, miners, and engineers, a Walker may know where best to place a well or a reservoir or the most efficient way of carving through rock, they may know of a cave where minerals can be found, or when a crop should be planted, and they are the only people authorised to collect sapphires which in Kuru Panchala are the sole preserve of the Maharajah.

Wherever they go across Kuru Panchala they are protected by the king’s great power and majesty. It is said that a Walker once stared down a bull tiger in the jungle of Koh with nothing more than his walking staff and the King’s authority.

Bhaktrivedanta Prabhupada had walked the length and breadth of Kuru Panchala for 50 years. He still remembers with fondness his first solo walk – two weeks through the unrelenting Namkukoa Kuru desert. It was a test of course, to Live.

He had spent the previous five years accompanying his father and learning the path; the location of the oasis’, which plants he could drink from, where he could rest, where a dried up well might deliver one last life-saving sip, and how to walk through the great forest without either getting lost forever in its undergrowth or unnecessarily disturbing a tiger. When his father had decided he was ready, he was sent into Namkukoa Kuru alone with a walking stick, some chapatis and a handful of uncooked dhal. He was ordered to pick an exquisite five-leaf Safrawi flower in bud, when its leaves had not yet turned from soft lilac into the deep blue they would later become. The blue Safrawi grows only in the west of the Namkukoa Kuru desert and its flowers stay in their youthful lilac for five days only each season.

Bhaktrivedanta had not known it, but that was the test. Those applicants that brought back a blue flower, failed. The Maharajah needed walkers who could find their way to a fixed point in the kingdom and back again quickly, the safety of the kingdom may depend upon their knowledge and skill. Those he has selected as Walkers will have passed tests of skill, knowledge, memory and understanding. As for the others, well the Maharajah has many subjects, he does not care if they die in the desert because of their own foolishness.

There was another reason for the selection of the Safrawi in bud that even Bhaktrivedanta’s father did not know about. When the Safrawi is in bud and only at that time it is a delicious delicacy which when dried and ground and sprinkled on food adds a volcanic heat and exerts a magical soporific effect on the eater. A Persian Maharajah who favoured concubines from Namkukoa-Kuru desert tribes became addicted to the flowers in the late Maharati period. His concubines had used this weakness to exploit the Maharajah by feeding him Safrawi several times a day and had nearly bankrupted the kingdom. The Maharajah had been quietly disposed of by his generals and his nephew placed on the Golden throne, the concubines were walled up and left to their fate.

The Safrawi when blue is in fact poisonous and should be treated with care. For either entertainment or instruction a former Maharajah, a distant ancestor of the current Maharajah and his late brother, would order those walkers who brought back the flower in its blue state to eat as he watched. Their bodies would writhe in agony for days and they would spit white foam from the mouth eventually dying in extreme pain some days later.

But such practices have long since been discontinued.

Bhaktrivedanta’s family had walked for the Narayan – Goi for so long it had changed their religion and altered their path. Bhaktrivedanta’s family had lived in the Kesh plains to the north west of Khassi and the Nymila valleys since the time of our Lord Dharma’s creation when his people were distant settlers from a foreign land. Back then they were Maharashtrian from the Keshkapi tribe but many generations of skirmishes with neighbours over land, trade and often a kidnapped wife or daughter led the Keshkapi to form alliances and eventually these alliances brought down the great Tukaram dynasty who had ruled since before time, an event still celebrated today.

Once the Tukaram dynasty had been put down the Keshkapi’s along with other Maharashtrian hill tribes made free to expand their territory but they had not reckoned with the Hindus of the south. 500 years of fighting and slaughter had weakened the Maharashtrian of the Kesh and greatly reduced their numbers, but it had also led to the buildings and adornments of great temples, shrines and monuments and Maharashtrian workers had helped build the Golden Temple and Dhaga Madhye, the Greatest Palace in the Cosmos and the gods most favoured resting place. They had built canals and reservoirs and farmsteads and schools of learning and had helped bring the King’s bounty to the land.

Somewhere along the bloodline the Kesh and other Marathi had made peace with the Hindu warlords of the south, and had become in their loyalty, devout Hindus. Bhatrivedanta suspected that this capitulation was due in large part to the engineering achievements of the then Tamilian ruling clan because, on one of his many walks Bhatrivedanta had spotted an inscription on a shrine built into the wall of an aqueduct. He had noticed it because it was a Maharanti translation of a Persian saying, barely legible. He had mentioned it in his report and the following summer was instructed to take a party of scholars of Persian and Maharanti specialisms to the shrine. The court sages travelled in their sumptuous pandals and Bhatrivedanta walked alongside. He had pointed out the inscription to the philosophers of letters, but had heard no more -

well, he was not of their class and profession, and he had played his part.

Kuru Panchala, which is otherwise a dry and arid land is populated with channels and reservoirs of towering size often with shrines built into their walls or else housing the outposts of the Kingdom. Bhatrivedanta had once walked the top of the aqueduct that runs atop the Nakambah fort in Namkukoa, west of the Sun Palace. Bhatrivedanta had made the mistake of looking down and immediately wished that he hadn’t, it appeared to him in that moment that the gods were playing tricks with him and had removed the ground. He had the distinct sensation that he was floating in mid air and that should he fall, he would keep falling for eternity.

He had recounted the experience for his father as they walked the paths together, as he felt he should if he was to imbue the higher wisdom of his experience. The father who was the keeper of higher knowledge, in response to Bhaktivendanta’s quest for answers had offered a most unfatherly response: “well – sometimes the gods get bored”.

His father had walked for the current Maharajah's grandfather for 47 years 8 months and 2 days. The length of an agent's walk was a matter of pride and achievement passed down from father to son and each walk was recorded for its knowledge. Those who walked for over 40 years received the honour of the Great Walk and their achievements were noted in the records room of the Golden Palace, that others might learn from their endeavours.

Bhaktrivedanta had cried the day he matched his father’s achievement, but from that day, spent alone on the Kur mountain pass on the way to Bilhal, he had not cared to notice time passing. His 50 years would be up in the spring and he would join less than 10 walkers in the history of the current dynasty to achieve that feat. But Bhaktrivedanta had suspected for some time that he would not be satisfied with 50 years. He was old, yes, and getting older. But his strict Hindu practice of chanting in the morning, silent meditation at night and the eschewing of meat and cow products coupled with a lifetime of spiritual yoga had provided a rejuvenative quality to his body and suppleness to his limbs that meant that even at his age, he could easily walk at a brisk pace, climb when necessary, and run if needed.

So when a man like Bhaktrivedanta Prabhupada changes his path in the middle of the day it means only one thing.

He’s picked up a scent.

#creative writing #india #fiction #my wriring #new fiction #books #bookslr #booksblr #reading #fictional history

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