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tetrakys · 4 years ago

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Sweet Elite - chapter 10

I finally played the episode on both my active accounts, review below the cut.

The episode starts with Scholar reminiscing the Halloween party and finally openly admitting to themselves they have a crush on the person chosen in the previous episode. As you probably remember I’m currently on Tegan’s and Axel’s routes.

Tegan:

Axel:

I... am destined to suffer with this game.

After this realisation we decide that the most important thing is to focus on our studies to be sure we’ll be able to remain at the academy. After studying we go to the cafeteria to have dinner and we find there the person we are in love with, we have a lovely dinner together

Axel:

They talk about school for a bit

(Babe I forgive you only because you are cute, and also because you are teasing, your file says that math is one of your strengths, so cut the crap. )

Then he talks about him leaving school to go on tour.

(LMAO his face)

(!!!!!!! YES PLEASE!!!! but admit you’d do it because YOU want to see ME day and night 😏)

[...]

Ah! Someone who understands that scholarship students are brighter than the average Arligton student. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out... I mean... someone would have to be veeeeery stupid and close minded to think the opposite... wouldn’t they... 🙄

Funny but... I’m sure we can come up with another form of punishment 😊😏

Tegan:

There’s not much to show about the dinner with Tegan, as I said multiple times until we literally jump on him we’re going to get nowhere with him.

SCHOLAR SHOULD I REMIND YOU THAT YOU’RE IN THE MATH DEPARTMENT TOO??

Then he makes his back crack and Scholar gets spooked and they talk about being weird and true to themselves.

I’m a bit sad that in all the cute moments with Tegan you can rarely tell if they are flirty or just friendly. I know they reflect his personality, but it’s disappointing.

At the end of the dinner we agree that we had fun and we should do this again after the exams.

And this is where the episode ends.

......

Okay, no, I’m jooooooooking

This is where most interactions with our crush end and Karol/Neha’s arc begins (still not sure if the arc is only about Karol or both, I’d say both).

Someone took a picture of scholar hugging Tadashi to console him during his arc and it got viral for some reason, so now Arlington’s sweetheart is again getting attention and the school board has decided to use the free publicity to raise the school’s profile in people’s eyes, so scholar is going to be one of Faxion’s judges. Scholar and Tadashi are called in Lady A’s office to talk about this, but they have to keep the secret until it’s publicly announced.

There is a very funny group chat scene where people try to get information out of Scholar and Tadashi, the picture comes out and we get no reaction from Tegan (he is the one who shares the link, so he might have at least brooded about it for a bit I hope), but we get a small cute scene with Axel

(Also, apparently he’s a dog person. Nice.)

Scholar, my child, could you try to use a bit of this sass with Tegan? You’re gonna die alone if you don’t.

After this, Faxion is announced and Scholar’s role too. You would guess that the smart thing to do is to treat well ALL the people who are going to to judge your work, right? Right? With respect, like any other human being deserves at the very least. But noooo of course not.

I’ve tried really hard to like you Karolina. I really did.

But you are a bitch.

Someone who defines people’s worth by how much money their parents own is even less than stupid.

She even tries to show she has some higher moral ground respect to another model who is just as an asshole as she is. I can’t see much of a difference between the two.

What’s the difference with Karolina? I see none.

Scholar tries to make peace with Karol and be an impartial judge. We meet the other judges, among them there is a Luis Vuitton knock-off who is apparently friend with lady A and knows things about both Scholar and Neha. They are really fishy. In fact they out Neha as a scholarship student in front of the whole school. This is where things go to shit. Up until this point Neha and Karol where a great team and way ahead of everyone else, but now Karol can barely stand Neha’s sight.

I see how Karol can be hurt that Neha has lied to her all this time, but it doesn’t justify the shitty way she treats her at this point. Also, try at least to be smart and civil until the competition is over instead of actively sabotaging everything because now that you know Neha is not rich her ideas are worth less in your eyes. But no, why be smart when you can be completely stupid.

In all this we also find out that Karol is anorexic, which we suspected since episode 2, and that Neha is in love with her, which we knew since episode 1. We talk to Raquel, Claire, Tegan and Neha about Karol’s eating disorder and the episode ends with the winners about to be announced (Karol and Neha of course) but Karol faints in front of the entire school.

A few comments:

- I appreciate when the writing is solid enough to make the reader see where the plot is going, instead of pulling things out of nowhere for pure shock value. Surprises are good only when they are well planned.

- I also liked that Scholar had an active role. I didn’t expect them being a judge and even if it’s a bit of a stretch I liked seeing that we are not a secondary character in our story. However I’m still turned off by the fact that scholar’s department makes no difference in the story. A scholar in the fashion department can’t be considered the “general population” vote. I know that the excuse for them not being in the competition is that they don’t have a ranking yet, but it makes no sense in my opinion. Even blaming it on the school board is a stretch. But this is not the only instance something like this has happened, a scholar in science needing someone to explain them the science lecture. A scholar in math teaming up with Tegan and Ellie to only end up shopping for computer parts online. I wish these things were better thought.

- I’m calling out whoever in the dev/art/writing team has a CLEAR preference for Neha. She is the only one we can raise the meter this episode. In my gameplays the only one we got a romantic interaction in one of the past episodes. The only one we have an extra solo illustration with. And I assume we have a 1-1 illustration with her here because this is her arc (same as what happened with Tadashi), so I’m expecting a 1-1 illustration with Karol next episode. However I feel the bias for Neha, same as what I felt the last episode with Axel, and no one can change my mind.

- This episode made me dislike Karolina a lot. I assume I should be nicer with her because she has an eating disorder, but her being a bitch has nothing to do with her anorexia. The two things may come from the same issue, her needing to be perfect for whatever reason, and I’m sure we will get a teary explanation at some point that will make me forgive her, but still... she deserves take accountability for her own actions. I hope she looses the award.

- Neha doesn’t deserve to loose, she is talented and works hard, she deserves to find another partner. Don’t worry Neha, there are lots of people who can walk in a straight line in the world, there’s no need to attend an elite school for this. However she is also quite spineless, but there’s still hope for her, I understand why she has been lying all this time if she was trying to build a business in such an elitist world. I hope this serves her as a lecture and she learns to stand up for herself and others when such things happen.

All in all I liked the episode. It’s not perfect but as a character arc episode is thousands times better than Tadashi’s was. I just hope we’ll be done with Karol quickly and move on to better things.

#sweet elite #se #se chapter 10

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 4 years ago

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Amy Lee Reveals How New Evanescence Album The Bitter Truth Helped Her Heal After Brother's Death

Amy Lee opens up about Evanescence's first album in 10 years

Evanescence is back with their first album in a decade.

Ahead of the Friday release of The Bitter Truth, frontwoman Amy Lee spoke to PEOPLE about the new album and its influences, reflected on the rock act's legacy and opened up about how she's spent time in quarantine with her family.

"A lot's changed, from perspective, to life experience, to the lineup itself," Lee, 39, tells PEOPLE of her headspace going into creating the LP with current bandmates Troy McLawhorn, Jen Majura, Tim McCord and Will Hunt. "We wanted it to be raw and visceral, and it relates so much to the lyrical content and experiences that I'm drawing from. We're talking about being human, being broken and starting from that place before you claw your way back out."

As on past Evanescence albums, like breakout Fallen and follow-up The Open Door, The Bitter Truth tackles some heavy subjects.

"This whole thing has been very much about facing your fears and facing the things inside myself that aren't easy to admit. On a personal level, the biggest bitter truth is that life is short; we're not going to live forever," she says. "And in these moments, when we do have a moment where there's love and peace and good things — live in it and enjoy it, and embrace it, because it's not going to last forever. That can be a challenge when you're grieving, to not let it suck the joy out of the moment you could be living right now."

The Bitter Truth was party born out of grief. In January 2018, Lee revealed that her younger brother had died after a years-long battle with severe epilepsy; he was 24.

"Our music has always been a very sacred place for me to really just bare my soul. On the grief and everything, it has been really healing for me, having that outlet, to not only be able to pour my pain into, but also to be able to listen back, and reflect back, and see that something good was coming out of something so painful that honors the people we've lost, to still be able to stand back up and be your best self, and remember," Lee says.

"Not to throw it away and let it go and try to tune it out and pretend like it didn't happen — that's not what he would want. He would want me to be the best me I can be. And I know if he can see me right now, he's totally banging his head to this album and so proud of it."

Evanescence also waded into politics on the new album. With the track "Use My Voice" — which was released as a single last August — Lee urged listeners to vote in the election between Donald Trump and now-President Joe Biden. For the anthem, Lee teamed up with her peers Taylor Momsen (The Pretty Reckless) and Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) to make a statement.

"I've always relied on women in my life. I've always had good, strong, grounding, wonderful women in my life that are and are not, rock stars. Being backed by supportive men is important too, and been a big, positive thing in my life as well — but there is something to be said for sisterhood. It's real," Lee says. "My actual sisters and my friends sang on the song, too. It is a beautiful thing that having the thought of, 'Hey, I want to express that we're many, that we're stronger together.'"

There's another young woman who Lee hasn't worked with (yet) but whom she says inspired her in the making of The Bitter Truth: Billie Eilish.

"I think she's just really, really good. [Her music is] dark and real and raw and authentic and bad-ass — and the spookiness, for sure. I hope she keeps making music for a long time. I would love to meet her sometime. She's at such a crazy high point. This is her big moment happening all around right now, so I'm sure she's just flooded with all kinds of people wanting to get a hold of her," Lee says, before adding with a laugh: "I'll wait until she's tired and has more time on her hands. Like, 'Hey girl, what's up? Come over.'"

Lee admits she wasn't always so open to collaboration because she felt she had to prove herself in a male-dominated industry.

"I used to be a lot more guarded about not having somebody [else] sing but collaboration with people. I had to prove myself as a creator, not as a singer. Anybody can imagine a sweet young girl as a singer, but prove to myself as a creator, and a writer, and the driving force and leader of the band. This time I'm so beautifully free from all of that," Lee says.

She didn't necessarily feel that way when debut album Fallen dropped in 2003 and shot her to fame.

"There were just so many older, more experienced dudes all around me who would stand to benefit and profit so much if they could write my next song for me. I had to fight that fight for way longer than that one moment, and way longer than I should have," Lee says. "Working with people, and surrounding yourself with people that believe in you — and really support you and get what you are capable of — is really important."

March 4 marked the 18th anniversary of Fallen, which, with hits like "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal," catapulted Lee and the band to the mainstream charts.

"It was a dream come true in a lot of ways. As far as the music and being received like that, I can't tell you how much it meant to me. I was the kid in school that was definitely not the one getting the lead in the school play, and definitely not the one with all the friends going to the football games. Not to be a jaded or whatever; I wasn't always putting myself out there. But I didn't think I was somebody who was going to be recognized for my talent," she says.

At the 2004 Grammys, though, Lee and Evanescence won two awards: best rock song for "Bring Me to Life" and best new artist.

"It really set me on a path, and enabled me to have a career in music. That we had that time in the mainstream to let something that was different — and not just because I'm a girl — something that was different for a lot of reasons, something that was exposing some of the darker realities of life and growing up..." Lee says. "Taking pain and challenges in life and turning them into something that helps others is one of the greatest things I've been able to do…to have that be accepted by so many people."

Lee says her greatest accomplishment, though, is Jack, her 6-year-old son with husband Josh Hartzler, 43, a therapist. Last March, the rock-star mom was gearing up to go on tour when the coronavirus crisis hit the U.S. Lee immediately embraced her newly cleared schedule.

"The bonus is I got to spend a lot of extra time with Jack," she says. "We made slimes of every type. He's into science experiments and messes — huge messes. So we made some things explode."

Still, Lee is looking forward to playing music live again when it's safe to do so — and so is Jack.

"He thinks it's cool. He'd be on tour with us [pre-pandemic], and he gets that 'those fans like my mom,'" she says. "His favorite thing was going out onstage at the end every night and getting some applause. But at the same time, if I'm like, 'Want to listen to my song?' He's like, 'No!'"

#Amy Lee #Evanescence #2021 interviews

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lifeofroos · 4 years ago

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Part 31. Small reminder that you can still vote on the Solangelo awards 2021 on @solange-lol!

In short: Nico gets therapy from Dionysus. In this chapter, I finally wrote about Maria di Angelo. The rest of the story can be found on AO3 and FanFiction.net and in Tumblr tags like Nico di Angelo, Dionysus, therapy etc.

This Might Be Crazy: Chapter 31: Milkywayy

I peered over at the counter, where some strange guy was standing. ‘I miss Mary.’

I looked at Dionysus, who slowly nodded. ‘Me too. Now I have to do my actual job.’ A mug with the word ‘Milkywayy’ on it appeared in front of me. ‘You requested this session. Do you want to talk about Persephone?’

‘No, she was very clear about what she expected and wanted. There is not a lot to be said aside from the fact that I really appreciate that. What is Milkywayy?’ Out of habit, I looked over at the counter, only to once again be hit with the reality that Mary was on maternity leave.

‘I have no idea, but it sounded very special.’

Sure. I took a sip. It tasted very special as well.

I took a deep breath. ‘I requested this session because I want to talk about my mother. Maria di Angelo.’

His expression became more serious. ‘Alright. Do you have a starting point, or should I ask questions?’

‘I think I have a starting point.’

‘Okay. Begin when you want to.’

I waited a second before I started. ‘While I was talking to Persephone, I remembered that I don’t really have memories of my mother. I’ve got a few fleeting visions of her, from when I was little. A trip to the beach, one from when we were hiding somewhere in Italy, one where she comforted me after a nightmare, things like that. But all of those things don’t really tell me who she was. Those memories, that... eh, define her, are missing.’

‘What do you mean with ‘who she was?’’

‘What her perfume smelled like. How she walked. What made her happy and what made her angry. Basically, I don’t remember the things that made my mom my mom. My mom… a person.’ I shrugged. ‘It might be a weird thing to worry about…’

‘No… not at all. I know other people who don’t remember a parent who feel a similair way.’ Wait. Right. Semele. ‘Hm. Do you still feel grief about the loss of your mother?’

Ah, hitting me with the difficult questions. I took a sip of Milkywayy while I thought about it.

It took a few minutes to make up my mind. ‘I think I do grief about my mother. But more because of all the memories I am missing than because of the memories I have.’ I shrugged. ‘Most people grief based on the memories of a loved one. But… I don’t really have that. I miss...’ a lump raised in my throat. I swallowed.. ‘...I miss the memories I could have had. I miss… knowing what it is like to have someone...’ I began to cry. I didn’t finish the sentence. ‘So... I more grief the absense of memories,’ I sobbed.

Dionysus did not answer. When I looked over, I saw that his eyes were damp as well.

‘Eh… sorry if I made you think...’ I shrugged.

Dionysus rubbed the tears away. ‘That is not important right now.’

I shrugged and took a deep breath. ‘It… I guess it is kind of comforting that I now know why I don’t have any memories.’ It hurt to think about it. Dionysus looked up.

‘You don’t have to say it if it is too much right now.’

I stared at my mug. ‘But can I do it?’ Because it looks like it might be too much for you at the moment, instead of for me.

He closed his eyes for a second, which seemed to stabilise him. ‘Yes.’

I nodded. ‘Apparently… Alecto dipped me into the Lethe,’ I muttered. ‘And I think that is something Hades asked her to do. Maybe it was the only way he could think of to protect us from trauma.’ I shrugged, while another tear ran down my cheek. ‘I don’t know if it is for better or for worse. I… I think I might have to talk to him about it.’ The thought of which made me sob again.

Dionysus slowly nodded. ‘Nico, if you think it is safe to talk about that to your father, then you should do it. That will probably bring you further than talking to me will. Although I am very glad you said it.’

For a few seconds, we were silent, while I tried to re-organize my mind. I took a sip of Milkywayy. It made me feel a little calmer.

‘Is it okay if I ask a difficult question?’

Kind of? ‘Uh… It’s okay.’

‘Have you ever tried to bring your mother back from the Underworld?’

Like someone else I know did, you mean? I could shake my head without lying. ‘No. I wanted to do that with Bianca, but not with mom. That… that is probably because…’ I shrugged.

‘There doesn’t need to be a reason. Not right now. And Nico, I don’t think it is bad that you do not want to get her back. That probably means that you are already slightly further with processing your grief.’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe. I do know Bianca’s death, and Jasons’ death, hurt more.’ I looked at the table. ‘But… that feels wrong.’

‘Do you think your mothers’ death should make you feel worse?’

‘Yes? Maybe. I don’t know. Because… I mean, I don’t…’ I shrugged. ‘It’s difficult.’

‘Yes, Nico, it is difficult. But you don’t have to feel more grief than you feel. You miss her, that is clear. And that is enough. You don’t have to feel more than you do.’

I stayed quiet. Yes, it is easy when you just say it.

‘It is easy when I just say it, isn’t it?’

I nodded. ‘I think you would know.’ Oh. ‘I didn’t mean to say that.’

He gave me a slightly angry look. ‘I’ll ignore it this time.’ He shook his hair over his shoulder. ‘Do you think it has been enough for this time? Maybe you need some time to think about everything?’

‘Yes, maybe it is.’ I wiped the remains of the tears out of my eyes, before I got up.

I drank up my Milkywayy, expecting Dionysus to teleport us back to camp immediately after, but that did not happen. Instead, he made us walk out of the Denny’s, into the New York city night.

I pulled my aviator jacket tighter around my shoulders. ‘Why…’

‘Zeus was unhappy that I kept coming to New York. Yet, if we walk like ten minutes, we’ll be in a zone where he never comes. He won’t noticed us teleporting.’ Sounds fair.

Somehow, the night calmed me down. I heard sounds, and there were lights, and I was not alone.

On our way to the zone, wherever it was, I saw a small cabinet standing in an alley. For a moment, I stopped walking.

‘Nico? What are you doing? It is dangerous to stop next to Alleyways.’

‘Yeah… yeah.’ I looked at the cabinet. There was an almost extinguished candle in it, which made a picture of a man visible, and a small banner reading ‘Rest in Peace.’

‘Nico!’ I lookd up and darted back to where he was standing.

‘Yes. Sorry.’

‘That’s…’

‘There was a cabinet in that alleyway. I think it was meant as a memorial to someone’s friend. Or boyfriend. Doesn’t matter. I… I think it is a nice idea.’ I slid my hands into my pockets.

Dionysus looked at the ground. ‘Do you want to make something like that yourself? For... Bianca, or your mother?’

‘Well… maybe I do.’

‘I think it is a good idea.’ He shook his hair, which suddenly seemed longer, back over his shoulder. ‘Make a remembrance cabinet.’

‘Yes. It sounds like a healthy way of processing my grief.’

‘It does. Here. We are in the right zone,’ he said. I nodded, while we teleported back to camp Half-blood.

A/N: So… In Greek mythology, Semele, Dionysus’ mother, died before the dude was even born. Some sources say that later, he retrieved her soul from the the Underworld like a champ (Same goes for Ariadne’s soul). But doing that might not be the best way to deal with grief.

I feel like the Persephone chapter is better than this one. But also, This Was Difficult.

There will be a few more things said about Maria? There will be a chapter were Nico is going to get the cabinet. Don’t expect too much, though. Or do I don’t control you.

Btw I know Milkyway is a candy bar but I thought this was funny. Imagine the god of wine giving you bootleg chocolate milk.

#Dionysus #Nico di Angelo #trials of apollo #pjo #fanfiction #fanfic #pjo fanfiction #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson fanfiction #maria di angelo #writing #writeblr #percy jackson and the olympians fanfiction #tower of nero #therapy #hurt/comfort

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michaeljacksoncaptaineo · 4 years ago

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Today in History

On January 26, 1984, Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.

UPI:

JAN. 28, 1984

Michael Jackson hospitalized after fireworks mishap on set of Pepsi commercial

ByJEFF HASEN

LOS ANGELES -- Superstar Michael Jackson, hospitalized with burns from fireworks that ignited his hair during filming of a commercial, was quietly discharged from a hospital Saturday against his doctor's recommendation.

Dr. Steve Hoefflin said he believed it was best for Jackson to stay at Brotman Memorial Hospital, but reluctantly agreed to his release at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST). Hours earlier, he had told reporters Jackson would be hospitalized 'for several days.'

'We recommended that Michael stay, but we determined this could be done as well out of the hospital as in the hospital,' Hoefflin said. 'Despite our recommendation, he felt he did want to be treated as an outpatient.

'He was quite happy. He felt better after a good night's sleep. He's in excellent health and was showing very rapid signs of recovery. He's very pleased it was not more of a severe burn.'

Hoefflin said he did not know where Jackson planned to go.

Jackson, 25, was dancing down a stairway at the Shrine Auditorium Friday night in a scene for a multi-million dollar Pepsi commercial when a special effects smoke bomb apparently misfired and set his pomade-slicked hair ablaze.

Nurse Pat Lavalas, the burn unit supervisor, said Jackson was in good spirits Saturday morning and he received many telephone calls, including get-well wishes from singers Teddy Pendergrass and Stephanie Mills.

'He left in good spirits and his condition is good,' she said. 'He didn't speak about the accident to us. He watched 'American Bandstand' this morning and people were getting his autograph.

He sang a Stephanie Mills song in the bathroom. He stayed in bed and opened telegrams, and he got a big kick out of one from a fan that said, 'I know you're hot, but this is ridiculous,'' the nurse said.

Just hours before Jackson's secretive departure, Hoefflin told reporters the singer was in satisfactory condition with second-degree burns and a small third-degree burn on the back of his head.

'He's in moderate pain, he's much more tired than we anticipated. He needs sleep at this time,' Hoefflin told reporters at a hospital news conference.

He said Jackson may require reconstructive surgery.

Jackson, the country's top singer, won seven American Music Awards earlier this month and picked up a record 12 Grammy nominations. Hoefflin said Jackson will be able to attend the Feb. 28 Grammy presentations at the Shrine 'if he feels up to it.'

A spokesman for Jackson said the singer requested that a tape of the accident be made public as soon as the film can be processed.

'Michael wants to make certain that his fans know exactly what happened,' Larry Larson told reporters at the hospital.

Asked if Jackson was contemplating a lawsuit, he said, 'There's no indication at this point.'

Hospital officials said the medical center had been inundated with thousands of phone calls since Jackson arrived and a spokesman pleaded with the public to stop calling, saying emergency calls could not get through.

The singer's 'Thriller' album topped the music charts last year, placing an unprecedented six singles -- including 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat It' -- in the top 10 and spawning several popular videos.

The accident Friday night occurred before a horrified audience of about 3,000 people who won tickets to the taping from a local radio station.

One witness told United Press International that Jackson removed his jacket without breaking stride and tried to put out the fire.

'There was supposed to be an explosion for his big entrance,' Daryoush Maze, 25, an extra in the cast, said. 'As he went off, an explosion went off and there was blue smoke all around his head and neck. There were no flames, just blue smoke from the stuff he had in his hair.

'It seemed like it was part of the show. He was doing it very professionally, still dancing. He's a good trouper.'

About a block from Jackson's boyhood home, nearly 1,000 people clad in their Sunday best jammed into a small, stuffy basketball gym to hear the candidate speak.

After a church choir sang a few hymns, Jackson's mother, wearing a deep blue dress and a 'Jackson in '84' button, triumphantly introduced her son to the throng.

Jackson took the stage and led the audience in his familiar 'I am somebody' chant.

'Our mission is justice at home and peace abroad,' he told the townspeople. 'I've watched the growth of this city and this state and I see the need for more growth.

'We have the need this day to have a spirit of redemption and reconciliation -- to rise above historic divisions that have stunted our growth. This is a period for us to beat our swords into plowshares.'

Jackson spoke of Greenville as once being the textile capital of the world, and noted the slump in the industry today that has put thousands out of work.

He called for an end to the 'dislocation of the textile industry.'

'This generation must realize when a plant closes, it closes without notice. Men cannot feed their families; mothers cannot nourish their children. That kind of reckless economic conduct must challenge us to open a new economic order.'

Jackson also visited a small bar that sponsors a softball team Jackson played on during the 1960s.

The presidential hopeful was the team's starting first baseman.

'He's a long-ball hitter,' said Charles Chiles, a patron of the establishment who remembers Jackson's days on the softball field.

Jackson also climbed onto the fender of a brown Cadillac parked near the bar during the afternoon and urged about 200 onlookers to register to vote.

'You can help me and you can help yourself,' he said. 'If we register to vote our children will not have to grow up as we did. They can get jobs. They can develop and grow.

'We can not only hang around on the corner, we can own the corner.'

Moonwalk book page 235-238:

Later one of the doctors told me that it was a miracle I was alive. One of the firemen had mentioned that in most cases your clothes catch on fire in which case the whole face can be disfigured or you can die. That’s it. I third-degree burns On the back of my head that’s Almost went through to my skull, so we had a lot of the problems with it, But I was very lucky.

What we now know is that the incident created a lot of publicity for the commercial. They sold more Pepsi than ever before. And they came back to me later and offered me the biggest commercial endorsement Fee in history. It was so unprecedented But it went into The Guinness Book of World Records. Pepsi and I worked together on another Commercial called” The Kid”, And I gave them problems by limiting the shots of me because I felt the shots they were asking for didn’t work well. Later, when the commercial was a success, he told me I had been right.

I still remember how scared those Pepsi excuses looked the night of the fire. They thought that my getting burned would leave a bad taste in the mouth every kid in America who drank Pepsi. They knew I could have sued him and I could have. But I was real nice about it. Real nice. They gave me $1,500,000 Which I immediately donated to the Michael Jackson Burn Center. I wanted to do something because I was so moved By the other burn patient I met while I was in the hospital.

“ I have a plan to spend most of 1984 working on some movie ideas we had, But those plans got sidetracked. First, in January, I Was burned On the set of a Pepsi commercial I was shooting with my brothers.

The reason for the fire stupidity, pure and simple. We were shooting tonight and I Wassupposed To come down a staircase yes magnesium flash bombs Going off on either side of me and just behind me. It seemed so simple. I wanted to walk down the stairs and these bombs Would blow up. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lighting effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs Were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total Disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

Then Bob Giraldi, the director, Came to me and said, “ Michael, you are going down too early. We want To see you up there, up on the stairs. When the lights come on, we want to reveal that you’re there, so wait”

So I waited, the bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set My hair on fire. I was dancing down the ramp and turning around, spinning not knowing I was on fire. Suddenly I filled my hands reflexively going to my head In an attempt to smother the flames. Are you feeling down and just tried to shake the Flames out. Jermaine Turned around and saw me on the ground, Just after the explosions had gone off, and he thought I was shot be someone In the crowd — ‏because we were shooting In front of a big audience. That what I looked like to him.

Miko Brando , Who works for me, was the first person to reach me. After that, it was clhaos. It was crazy. No for me could probably capture The drama of what went on That night. The crowd was screaming. Someone shouted, “ Get some ice! “ There were fantic running sounds. People were yelling,” Oh no!”. The emergency truck came up And before they Put me in Isow the Pepsi excutives huddled together in a corner, looking terrified. I remember the medical people putting me on a cot And the guys from Pepsi were so scared They couldn’t

even bring themselves to check on me.

Meanwhile, I was kind of detached, despite the terrible pain, I was watching all the drama unfold. Later they told me, I was in shock, but I remember enjoying the ride to the hospital because I never thought I’d ride in an ambulance with the sirens wailing. It was one of those things I had always wanted to do when I was growing up. We got there, They told me there news crews Outside, so I asked for my glove. There’s a famous shot one waving from the stretcher with my glove on. hooting tonight and I Wassupposed To come down a staircase yes magnesium flash bombs Going off on either side of me and just behind me. It seemed so simple. I wanted to walk down the stairs and these bombs Would blow up. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lighting effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs Were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total Disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

even bring themselves to check on me.

https://youtu.be/DkMNn7TA0pg

youtube

#mj mjj mjlegacy mjisthebestofthebest michaeljackson bahamas #moonwalker #mjfanandproudofit #neverland #pepsico #pepsiad #commercial #hair #realking #royalty #kingofpop #mjthehusband #applehead #mjisinnocent #Youtube

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eyesaremosaics · 7 years ago

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Feminist film recommendations?

Hmm interesting question anon. I will list some of my personal favorites (in no particular order) hopefully you enjoy them.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I felt like there was fire in my veins walking out of the cinema. Not only is Charlize Theron’s Furiosa a total badass, but the best thing is that it’s not just her. To have such a range of women portrayed equally and beautifully was so uplifting. Women caring for each other, lifting each other and fighting hard for what is right. We need more of that, both in Hollywood and in life.

2. The color purple (1985)

Read this book in high school, about a sisterhood of women, all standing together against the racism and sexism that they face and somehow coming out on top. It’s an inspiring story of women coming together in the face of adversity.

3. Gone With the Wind (1939)

Scarlett was the most coveted female film role of all time. Despite the films obvious flaws as a result of the time period in which it was made, overall this is a feminist parable. Scarlett is above all else–a survivor. She never gives up, digs her heels in, rolls up her sleeves and does it. She faces adversity with admirable courage. Despite the fact that she is a terribly flawed human being, you can relate to her. She sets her mind to something and she does it, whether it’s dragging her family out of poverty or eating as much BBQ food as she damn well likes. Her flaws make her human, which adds richness to the overall story. Scarlett has inspired me to persevere at the darkest of times. When all hope seems lost, “tomorrow is another day.”

4. Erin Brockovich (2000)

I love Julia Roberts, and this movie stands out as one of her best in my opinion. A single mother, fallen on hard times, but somehow holding everything together. Making the best of a bad situation, an eternal realist. Portraying a woman as much more than she appears. She uncovers some dark secrets (chemicals leaked into the sewer systems) which led an entire community to develop terminal illness. She works tirelessly to expose those responsible and find justice for those who can’t help themselves. My favorite line is when this bitchy secretary says: “maybe we got off on the wrong foot here.”“Yeah lady because that’s all you got, two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes.” Bahahaha

5. Suffragette (2015)

Tells the story of the women’s right movement at the turn of the last century. It taught me to stand up for myself, and for women everywhere. Very proud to have that as a part of our history. Incredibly grateful to all the women who fought tirelessly, endured persecution, humiliation, incarceration to ensure my right to vote.

6. Pocahontas (1995)

Pocahontas is VERY loosely based on the true story. Disney took a lot of liberties here which mask the horror of early American history and its impact on the native Americans. HOWEVER, what I like about her characterization in this film… Is that she was strong, rebellious, bold, adventurous, and wise. She went wherever the wind took her, a true free spirit. She was graceful, and kind in ways other Disney princesses were not. The purity of her heart and the message she had to bring, stopped a war. She is a warrior, but not one that fights with weapons, she fights with love. In the end she chose herself and her duty to her people over a man. I wanted to be just like her when I was a little girl watching this in the theater, and she still inspires me today, nearly 20 years later.

7. Fried green tomatoes (1992)

I watched this film when I was in high school, with low expectations and was very surprised to discover how moved I was. A story of two women, finding empowerment within oneself. The main character listens to a story from an elderly woman and learns how to love herself. I believe it’s important to encourage other women and learn from each other.

8. Obvious child (2014)

Jenny Slate’s character has an abortion after a one night stand with a guy she actually really likes. However, she knows she isn’t prepared for it and chooses to terminate the pregnancy. There’s great friendship and family in the film and it really helps to destigmatise abortion.

9. Wild (2014)

The book is arguably better, but the film is worth watching. A woman goes out and hikes one of the worlds longest trails, on a mission to find herself and to prove that she can finish what she starts. Finding herself on the elements, and getting clarity. Very freeing and inspiring.

10. Kill Bill 1 & 2 (2003)

Uma Thurman is a boss, and everyone knows it. She is so vice tally connected to her inner life as an actress, always enjoy watching her. These films are what she is most known for nowadays, and for good reason. It’s a story of revenge. A woman is almost murdered by the man she loved, pregnant with his child. Wakes up in a hospital, having been in a coma for years. Suffered all kinds of indignities, she willed herself to walk again. Dragged herself by her fingernails until she could rise up, strengthen her skills as a warrior, and set out to settle old scores. She takes each person down one by one, yet you still find the humanity behind each character and the reasons why they did what they did and became who they were. It’s about survival, perseverance, and ultimately in the end–forgiveness. Leaving the past behind, to start over again.

11. She’s beautiful when she’s angry (2014)

It’s a documentary about the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, with interviews with many of the women who were part of it. Sure, it makes you angry to see injustice, but it’s also highly uplifting to see what these women did, and how it paved the way for equality forty to fifty years later. These women were, and still are, amazing figures who haven’t stopped fighting.

12. How to make an American quilt

A group of older women reflecting on their lives around a quilting table. Each of their stories are so inspiring, and the way they all come together to heal from their traumas is very powerful. Winona Ryder’s character (Finn) is experiencing a late twenties crisis of identity, and is unsure about wether or not to get married to her long term fiancée. Listening to the lives of all these women helps bring perspective and clarity to her. Life is never black and white, life is like a quilt. You build as you go along.

13. Frida

This Selma Hayek-fronted, Academy Award-winning biopic of the feminist icon portrays the artist in a whole new light. It’s amazing to watch the story of any incredible historic figure succeed against the odds, but double if said figure is also a woman and shot so beautifully by Julie Taymor.

14. The hours (2002)

This film follows three women as their lives weave in and around the narrative of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. The multi-generational movie shows how people are connected through time by similar angst, anxieties, and personal struggles.

15. The Stepford wives (1975)

What happens to women when things are too perfect? The answer might make their husbands happy, but the truth behind what is happening in this ideal-seeming suburb is nothing short of horrifying.

16. Miss Representation (2011)

A documentary on the way women are treated and portrayed in the media, this film broke open the truth behind the images women and young girls are force fed on a daily basis. Start your watching here, if you can, and then continue on to these other films to see how much has and hasn’t changed.

17. North Country (2005)

A fictionalized account of the first majorly successful sexual harassment case in the United States, this film follows the female miners who fought for their right to work without suffering the abuse their male coworkers heaped on them because of their gender.

18. The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel

New Argentine Cinema figure Lucrecia Martel draws connections to the country’s dark political/class struggles, transposing its “disappeared” from the mid-to-late ‘70s into a sedate, challenging story about a woman’s fractured state following a fatal accident and its ensuing cover-up.

18. Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki

A thread of feminism weaves itself through the work of Hayao Miyazaki. Perhaps his most mature film, Princess Mononoke features a memorable and tenacious heroine, San, who subverts feminine stereotypes and is written without the fanciful quirks commonly found in animation. She is serious and single minded. Grounded to the earth, living in the moment. She is totally present, and pure. Even her rage comes from a pure unadulterated place. Wolf-goddess character Moro deserves attention as an unlikely mother figure that is fierce and, well, totally pissed off (you would be too if people were destroying your home), but also wise and nurturing. Fighting for what’s right, against impossible odds. Being humbled by nature, the ultimate female reclamation. So many layers in this film.

19. Dogfight, Nancy Savoca

A rare film set during the Vietnam War and told from the perspective of a woman, Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight reveals a different kind of cruelty people inflict upon one another, off the battlefield — in this case, a group of misogynistic Marines using women in a contest of looks. Lili Taylor’s peace-loving Rose, who becomes one of the targets in this game, soon realizes she’s being courted by River Phoenix’s Eddie for the wrong reasons — though his guilt and seemingly genuine interest in Rose is apparent. Rose confronts Eddie about the game, defending the honor of all women involved, which winds up bringing them closer together.

20. Alien, Ridley Scott

She’s not a sidekick, arm candy, or a damsel to be rescued. She isn’t a fantasy version of a woman. The character is strong enough to survive multiple screenwriters. She was lucky enough to be played by Sigourney Weaver,” said Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America President John Scalzi of Ellen Ripley from 1979’s Alien. Defying genre cinema’s gender clichés (she is gender neutral, really) as the clear-minded, intelligent, and capable officer of the ship Nostromo, Ripley is more resourceful than the men who employ her and steps in to take over when all hell breaks loose.

21. Orlando, Sally Potter

Our own Judy Berman recently highlighted Tilda Swinton’s performance in Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s satirical text that explores gender and artistic subjectivity, a project that was ambitious in both form and content:

“Although it’s far more straightforward a narrative than most of her work, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando still presents one major challenge for the big screen: its protagonist is a nobleman in Elizabethan England who lives a life that spans centuries, and is suddenly transformed into a woman midway through it. Tilda Swinton may be the only (allegedly) human actor equipped to play the role of such a regal, mysterious androgyne, and her performance in this adaptation — also a breakthrough for director Sally Potter — became her signature.”

22. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Jacques Demy

Celebrated for its vivid milieu, Jacques Demy’s sensitively characterized film is a superior look at an independent woman (Catherine Deneuve) in a romantic narrative who makes difficult choices about marriage, children, and survival that sometimes leave her alone — but she is never lonely because of that.

23. Daisies, Vera Chytilová

The young women in Vera Chytilová’s Czech New Wave farce “construct fluid identities for themselves, keenly aware of their sexuality, toying with the men who pursue them. It’s an exhilarating, surreal, anarchic experiment, framed by the turbulent 1960s.

24. Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash

Julie Dash directed the first feature film by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States in 1991 — a stunningly captured look at three generations of Gullah women off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia in 1902.

25. Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren

The bar for avant-garde female filmmaking, born from personal experiences and anxieties. Maya Deren’s 1943 experimental classic builds its interior female perspective and constructs of selfhood through dreamlike imagery.

26. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer

Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum on Carl Theodor Dreyer’s crowning achievement, released in 1928, that still painfully echoes contemporary cases of female oppression — the film’s silent context taking on an unintentional resonance:

“Carl Dreyer’s last silent, the greatest of all Joan of Arc films… . Joan is played by stage actress Renee Falconetti, and though hers is one of the key performances in the history of movies, she never made another film. (Antonin Artaud also appears in a memorable cameo.) Dreyer’s radical approach to constructing space and the slow intensity of his mobile style make this ‘difficult’ in the sense that, like all the greatest films, it reinvents the world from the ground up. It’s also painful in a way that all Dreyer’s tragedies are, but it will continue to live long after most commercial movies have vanished from memory.”

#asks #feminist #feminism #cinema #feminist film #feminist cinema

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jmsa1287 · 7 years ago

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How 'Big Brother' Rejuvenated Itself with its Celebrity Edition

Ahead of the finale tonight, i wrote about how good “Celebrity Big Brother” has been and how the reality show’s proper edition could learn a thing or two from it.

"Big Brother" is one of the most-talked about TV shows of the year. Omarosa Manigault-Newman is making headlines along with Donald Trump. And no, it's not 2004.

After nearly two decades of being on the air, the CBS reality show is currently finding itself in the national spotlight - several years after the peak days of reality TV; when the drama of non-scripted fights and voting people out of games were still a novelty to broad audiences.

The first edition of "Celebrity Big Brother" has been nothing short of a success for the franchise and the network, which struggles to remain relevant as streaming companies and cable channels dominate the zeitgeist. The last time "Big Brother" made major news was back in 2013 with its 15th season - and for the wrong reasons. Houseguests were caught making racist and homophobic comments on the live feeds, which allow fans to watch the players 24/7. This time around, however, the reality show has received praise from fans who are responding to its all celebrity cast and its abbreviated and heightened season.

Normal seasons of "Big Brother" are slow-burning marathons that ask a lot from its audience. It airs three nights a week for the duration of the summer or about three months. (The longest season was "Big Brother 18," which unfolded over 99 days and 42 episodes.) It starts with about 17 players and they're whittled down through a series of competitions (Head of House Hold, Power of Veto), evictions and backstabbing until one player is left. After a jury of evicted houseguest deliberate, a winner is crowned and takes home a $500,000 prize.

"Celebrity Big Brother," which started on Feb. 7 and ends Feb. 25, is just under three weeks long and began with just 11 (famous) contestants. Everyone voted out during in this game will be on an non-sequestered jury. The rapid-fire pace of this season, where two players are voted out each week, is proving to be a delight amongst die-hard superfans - bite size "Big Brother" is more digestible and exciting than the drawn out three month game. Not only are things moving quickly here, but game play and strategy is concentrated. Several winners of "Big Brother" proper have used the long game to their advantage by laying low for the first half of the game, avoiding conflict and keeping quiet - obviously, this makes for boring TV. In the second half, they win challenges, build alliances and do what they need to do in order to make it to the end. With only a few weeks in "Celebrity Big Brother," the stars don't have time to hide and are forced to play out-in-front games.

In addition to superfans lauding "Celebrity Big Brother," casual viewers are also responding to it. Created as counterprograming to the Olympics, which airs on NBC, "Celebrity Big Brother" has held solid ratings numbers over the last few weeks. The response to the show has been so positive that Julie Chen, who hosts every season of "Big Brother," said the celebrity edition of the franchise could become an annual event.

"With these ratings, it did what we hoped as opposed to running repeats of the current slate of shows," she recently told Entrainment Weekly.

Of course, bringing in the casual viewers is most likely the celebrity cast, which includes Miss Columbia Ariadna Gutierrez, "Real Houswives" star Brandi Glanville, MMA athlete Chuck Liddell, Big Time Crush singer James Maslow, "The Cosby Show" actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tony Award-winning actress Marissa Jaret Winokur, NBA star Metta World Peace, "RuPaul's Drag Race" judge Ross Mathews and "American Pie" actress Shannon Elizabeth. But the show's biggest draw is likely Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who made headlines late last year for suddenly exiting the White House. She says she quit, the Trump administration said they fired her for a fourth time, referencing the times she was booted from President Donald Trump's reality show "The Apprentice," where she first gained fame as an iconic reality TV villain in the early 00s.

Omarosa's stint on "Celebrity Big Brother" has been described as an opportunity for her to rebuild her image, serving as a platform for her to spill the tea on any Trump administration secrets she may have. Over the last few weeks, Omarosa gave the producers and the viewers what they wanted, dishing about her experience working for the Trump administration, sparking mainstream media picking up her sound bites about President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Even the "Big Brother" fans who tune in for the strategy and gameplay surely can't help themselves being tantalized by some political hot goss.

Though people may have initially tuned in to watch Omarosa, viewers likely stayed with "Big Brother" because of its fantastic cast, all of whom are much older than a typical season of the show. The celebs are hungry for the money, which they keep, and no one is interested in a showmance. Unsurprisingly, the celebs are also great in the diary room - where they give off-screen confessionals; Omarosa is demure and coy, Mathews is direct and sassy, Maslow is cocky and charming.

"Celebrity Big Brother" has not been a perfect season of reality TV - like any first installment, the show is in its trial and error phase, working out kinks on the fly, hoping to improve future seasons. The live Monday episodes could have been incredible and riveting TV. These episodes find the celebs competing for the Power of Veto on live TV before evicting their fellow houseguests. What could have been heart-pounding and shocking TV, ended up being grave disappointments as both Pulliam and Metta World Peace decided to quit on these Monday episodes, totally robbing the viewers of enjoyment. Also "Celebrity Big Brother" would have also worked better if it was actually a little bit longer - another week or so would allow the end game to play out. As it stands now, the finale will feature the final five houseguests, who will battle it out in a two-hour episode.

Nevertheless, "Celebrity Big Brother" is a fresh rejuvenation of one of the first major reality TV shows in the U.S. The "Big Brother" franchise has experimented with format before (the spinoff "Big Brother: Over the Top" was an online-only version of the show that aired in 2016), but it feels like producers struck gold here, where an abbreviated season similar to "Celebrity Big Brother" can be used for an all winners season or anther all stars season. With a few tweaks, this new phase of "Big Brother" could yield fantastic results.

#big brother #celebrity big brother #cbb #BB #omarosa #ross mathew #tv

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thank-your-lucky-stars · 7 years ago

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I’m about to post a mammoth essay about the Roles of Fandom, but just to prove that I’m not a total hypocrite who isn’t immune to the Fandom Game, I’m going to tell you the roles that I myself have played in fandoms over the years - and trust me, some of this is really ugly!!

I can actually say I’ve fit into several of the Roles I list in my post, at one time or another. I have been the Popular Blog (the nicer-version, I hope!), but I’ve also been a bit of a Troublemaker too (not in an extreme way, and only from time to time; I have definitely said slightly provocative things about a certain band or band member who I believed to be problematic in order to stir up a little debate. It was never about hurting or offending people personally, but it was definitely in order to get people talking.) I have been a “I’m Just Here to have a Good Time” blog, but I’ve never really been a Fence Sitter, although I guess there have been times where I may have dabbled in that area. I also tried to be The Peacekeeper, but....that never really worked out for me, that was definitely a forced role and not something I slipped into naturally, even though I am someone who strives for peace, that specifics of that role definitely wasn’t for me.

I have, however, been a Mean Girl. I wasn’t actually mean to anyone, but I was a part of a group that could be rather unpleasant (they weren’t like hardcore Mean Girls, but they had a vibe and could be cold and bitchy, although as far as I’m aware and can remember, they were never openly nasty to anyone (that I know of?), not like the more extreme level of Mean Girls) however, they could behave in ways that weren’t cool and even though I was never really a part of that aspect, being friends with them certainly didn’t make me innocent. Who you associate with speaks volumes, and if people judged me for who I was mates with at that time then I do not blame them for that, because by being friends with these people - being a part of their gang - I was enabling some of the more unpleasant aspects of the group, even if I didn’t agree with them.

They were a clique, they had an edge, and I was kinda fascinated by it, which is why I somehow managed to get involved. It was very much a game to me from the start, it just took me a while to realise it. It was a toxic and manipulative environment, even after we left the forum where we met (this was long before the days of tumblr), and confined ourselves to an AIM chat. We literally named ourselves ‘The World’s Most Hated AIM Group’. It actually got worse then. The in-fighting and the power-playing and manipulation was gross, and I definitely played my part in that.

With a few of the girls in particular, it was sort of a fight to be the alpha-female of the group. It was feisty and filled with drama. I literally barely saw it as something that was real, it all seemed completely fake, like it was just all pretend - a game of make believe, if you will - because it was all so extreme and ridiculous and dramatic. These were mostly American girls, and they knew drama like no other. I wanted these people to be my friends because I kinda found it all entertaining, and incidentally I became closest to the worst one of the lot - she was the Queen Bitch™ for sure, a really nasty, manipulative girl. I didn’t trust my instincts. I went along with it because I was 18 and I was bored and I didn’t have many friends in my real life so I just thought it would be fun to be a part of something, even if it was a part of something with a bunch of people I barely even liked (one or two of them were alright actually).

I was actually already popular within that fandom (the MCR fandom) at that point (2007) and had been for over a year, but things had gotten a little stale and I was getting a little bored, which is why I wanted to sort of mix with these people who were as much fascinating as they were awful. It was only after I got out of it (after being absolutely ripped to shreds - publicly! - by the Queen Bitch - the one I had a rather bizarre relationship with) that I realised just how fucked up it all was, just how fucked up I had been to view something that ended up being so damaging to me as being a game. I mean, it was a game, but it certainly wasn’t a fun one.

I definitely had people distance themselves from me during the time I associated with those girls. My other fandom friends would say “that [Queen Bitch] can be so horrible” and I’d be like “yeah, I know.” Yet I’d still talk to her every single night. That made me fake, I didn’t pay attention to how it made other people feel by mixing with these people, and looking back that was 100% my bad. As a result of this, I am definitely somebody who judges people by the company they keep; be it in fandom, or in the real world. People were right to judge me or turn their backs on me, as I was enabling these people by “hanging out with them”, even though I knew they were shitty. My loyalty lied in the wrong place. I should’ve turned my back but I was ignorant at best and fucking stupid at worst. On some levels you could say I knew what I was doing, but I was a pretty messed up kid at the time and the biggest thing I learnt from that period was that I just desperately wanted difficult people to love me.

I only realised this a couple of years ago actually. I used to see someone edgy, popular, cool, stand-offish, and I’d make it my mission to “break” them, to make them care about me, when it seemed like they literally didn’t really care about anyone else. That’s what I did with the Queen Bitch. I wanted to be close to her because she appeared untouchable, because she wasn’t generally nice to people, and I wanted to be the exception. I suppose I wanted to make her not as much of a bitch anymore, I wanted to “fix” (ugh) her and make her nicer. And I said all the right things, things I didn’t mean, until I got her calling me her “best friend”. And when that wasn’t enough, I went even further. There’s stuff I won’t talk about, that I’ve never really spoken about, but it was so so messed up and while it taught me so much about myself and about other people and about fandom, it’s also something I’m pretty ashamed of to be honest.

But this was something that sort of went outside of fandom. Like I said, we eventually were banned left the forum where we met/were based, the most popular forum in the MCR fandom from 2005-2007, so it sort of went beyond fandom politics by the end. But that’s how we got there in the first place. There were power games at play right from the start.

I completely changed after that. I literally changed my hair and my wardrobe and made a new start for myself. That’s how much it affected me. I mean, I grew up, really, and that was the final kick up the bum that made me take steps to being more of the person I wanted to be. I’ve never mixed with shitty people since then. This was 10 whole years ago, so naturally people start to grow in their late teens/early 20s anyway, but I definitely count that period - about 6 months or so, I reckon - as a significant one in my young life.

And fandom led me to that??? The MCR fandom was absolutely wild from 2005-2007. The Black Parade era was insane. We just got so, so huge. Our forum had like 200,000 members or something. There were official monthly awards where everyone would vote in multiple categories; best writer, most helpful user, funniest member etc etc. - I won Best Writer about 4 months in a row, as I wrote a really successful fic. After that I used to win Most Helpful User, as I was a total nerd and knew everything there was to know, to the point where people called me Yoda. I lost that title once I joined the Mean Girls. These 200,000 members didn’t vote for me as much anymore.

So I’ve honestly had a taste of it all? I was at the top and I sort of sacrificed it because I got bored and wanted to spice things up by hanging with total bitches.

And it was years before I joined a fandom again, the Mnkees fandom in 2012, an already well established fandom with 2 or 3 very significant/popular blogs. I was there for the longest of any of my fandoms to be honest, before it sort of went to shit last year due to trolling.

And my most recent fandom, the ED fandom, I wasn’t really a full-on, active member for long enough to really find myself in an established role.

But like....I have definitely seen things from a lot of different perspectives, and I’m able to finish writing my essay about all the general roles within fandom a year after I initially started it, because I’m not currently in a fandom so I can sort of look at things from a neutral point of view and not be influenced by any current goings-on.

But yeah, I just wanted to make it clear that I’m definitely unbiased when it comes to certain fandom behaviour as I myself have done some questionable shit in the past. I was young when I fucked up the most, and was able to grow, but while I know sometimes some people are sort of beyond getting past certain shit, it is also my belief that everyone has the ability to change and better themselves if their heart is in it.

Anyway I’m going to shut up as I’ve been writing for like two days straight LOL

#mine #personal #this is some messed up shit lmao but there's no point me not being honest #i dont want it to seem like i'm judging everyone else and not judging myself #because trust me i judge myself harder than anyone #it's the only way i was able to write my upcoming post in the first place #by looking at myself and my own thoughts/mentality about certain fandom situations #and then recognising those traits in others #and just chatting to people #getting to know people #seeing the way it all works and the way the cogs turn #i find it so so interesting #watching human nature at play #i love this stuff

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serpent-energy · 7 years ago

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My Immediate, Bewildered, Emotionally Charged: Post-Election 2016 REACTION (through quite expressive language)

Post-Election Feelings; Who is Needy?

Can We Divide The Greedy?

Written by Sean Kadagian

Scattered, yet Organized

Hollow, yet always,

is there a prize.

This massive, omnipotent, and the great: Economic Wheel--which I capitalize by the way due to its obvious and vast, and clearly apparent greatness-- in which America has created, ever and perpetually being moved in every direction, visible in waves with its motion being dictated by this invisible hand that feeds on pettiness, classism, and greed--its movement has been rapid and inconsistent and now the country divides. We stand, we move, in divided patterns. Static interrupted vibrations to feel across the lands.

Protests in masses of White because the "minorities" know there's no use and worse has happened to them so the whining Whites march in anger because their apparent, and only other possible, savior, Hillary Clinton-- the rigid, two-faced, emmy-award-winning politician who lost to none other but a reality-TV star with one of the weirdest haircuts and owner of the strangest most ridiculous faces to have ever been politically behold. Which would you want? I'd rather a blind date show up and see what they got.

Is this the best America has to offer? Some people say it is. That they grew up in American families, being taught at a young age American values and what to aspire to. But it isn't. It's not the best we got and to think so is naive and ignorant. We have better. But the money isn't in better. At least it wasn't during this political race and the multiple comical debates that so many people had to watch as the dutiful and informed Americans they are. And we were all left with the most appaulling two options in history.

Bullying and ripping on eachother is what America saw their two presidential candidates doing on stage for hours when we were supposed to get down to what's going on in our country. I, for one, am a recovering heroin junky, addict, whatever--among (of course) many many other things. It's been a little over a year since I've been off the junk, but I lost five years of my life to it including multiple overdoses. During the presidential race, I maybe heard mention of it...I don't know, I can probably count it on one hand. And I'd really have to think about it and if they even mentioned it five, loud and clear times.

And I'm not being selfish. It's an epidemic. Each candidate coined it this actual term unveiling the gravity of the situation. Even the current and momentarily remaining president, Barrack Obama said this probably the clearest and most seemingly heartfelt. He sure he is good at what he does though...Who knows if it really is a concern of his, or the others that can really, actually change the current status-quo pertaining to the epidemic. But, and again, like I already said, I can count on one hand how many times it's been mentioned in combination of all three people.

Addicts are dying to a drug many do not fear anymore because once painkillers (opiates and opioids) began becoming more regulated, and OxyContin went off the market not too long after it got sued for originally and initially stating that their drug, which is essentially so close to the feeling of heroin that many call it "pharmaceutical heroin", is not addictive. They got sued hundreds of millions of dollars. Did they care? Of course not. They must be showering in their hundred dollar bills daily. Profiting off the deaths and terrible addictions to what many people originally addicted to Oxys and other painkillers switched to, and with little fear, like I had--heroin.

My greatest problem, which also inludes a kind of question, is I want to know exactly how Wall Street is proffiting off the opium being manufactured to heroin and many millions of pharmaceutical opioids and opiates, sent across seas from Afghanistan (mainly), as well as Mexico? How much are they proffiting and do they feel any remorse or guilt? Or is money really the most addictive and destructive creation man ever gave birth to? I blame money. But I also blame the psychopaths and sociopaths walking around Wall Street proffiting off screwing so many people over.

I still struggle with temptations, because, as we all know, heroin is heroin. And heroin always fixes things. Temporarily of course, but it also grabs you by the crotch after that first shot.

Do they want a youth dying out to an epidemic the government is literally completely to fault here? Sure, some doctors were crooked and would take certain favors in order to write out extra scripts to people, as Florida became known as not too many years ago, the Pill Mill.

It's known. So sure, it's an epidemic. But what do we do?

Do we revert to things like eastern philosophical approaches like meditation, finding our true selves and some peace within, as well as the practice of mindfulness? It's an idea. It's a start. It's an approach. And it's being done with some success. But when an ex junky is truly uncomfortable, out comes the voice tempting one to reach for the syringe one more time. Just to feel okay.

Or is the reason because our society doesn't offer much hope to our youth as they grow to teenagers and struggle with their identities and existential questions, like Do I fit into this society? And then into their early twenties...

With so much competition...With such an overwhelming number in our nation's populus...it sure gets a little bit crowded and just a tad overwhelming up in here...

When a friend wants you to try something saying it makes you feel better and you already don't feel comfortable in your own skin, what is your first instinct? I was a curious cat. And boy did it help. And then ruin...everything. The amount of tears and worry my family had gone through during my days of active addiction is heart-breaking.

And now...

Now, readjusting and re-entering a society that was already one that angered me before my addiction because of its size, intimidation in the amount of people doing what I wish to do...I feel like I lost out on years of learning. And although I'm not particularly an unintelligent person, I have lost years of chances to learn and harnass life skills which I lack and am only now learning

This entry of feelings through words was, at first thought, going to be about the nation and its clear divide because of the election results. But instead I brought up a problem that I went through and am still dealing with, because my learning takes place almost everyday. And this is happening in every single state of our great goddamn America.

Donald Trump said a lot of words. A lot of things he wants to not exist anymore. One of which, is the drugs that come through the border like it's water through a siv. He wants that to be eliminated. So many things, to me, it seems he doesn't understand. Although I do, and seemingly always get the feeling that he just says things for shock value and for votes...also for division and exitement. We must remember, he was a reality television star, as I mentioned somewhere in the beginning. He's a show-man who, out of mass division and disagreement and lack of seeing things through one lense instead of way-too-many, became the elected president to take office in January.

He talked about rebuilding America's infrastructure. That's a thought. His 100 Day Plan sounds completely naive and unreachable. I don't know what will happen...but as I merely mentioned one problem pertaining to the heroin epidemic, though a terribly horrific, and worst of all-- realistic problem--other problems such as the now-clearer-than-ever: systemic racism that is evident where minorities live and where and how whites live.

Yes our country is still segregated, and if you don't think so, just take a walk around some inner cities and then take a drive through a suburbia where upper-middle-class whites live. It's just a visual. Most of the time, visuals don't lie. They just tell. The actual blunt truth in so many ways is hard to accept at one's core and then still walk around with a kind of lightness and have empathy for all of mankind. I certainly don't. Though I am moreso than not, a highly sympathetic and understanding, and (well, I'd like to think so) a person than tries to embody and radiate kindness and benevolence.

Working like ants in a farm and buzzing bees to their flowers and back to their nest for more and more honey. How much money can we stack before we can say we've done it?We've reached the final level and now we can explore this world for what it really is, and not what the American media and national blue-tube shining artificial light and colors and loud dialogues demeaning other people, all trying to one up eachother--tells you.

I wish to lift you up.

I see colors, sure. The color of one's skin I am speaking of now, of course . But I know, as it is a fact, that we are all human beings. Really...period. One species. The only difference between I, a considered white person, and another person with black skin (just for this example), is our backgrounds and where we came from. Which is vast. Sure. But my background and where I came from can vary greatly from just another white person's. To have this in the forefront's of our collective conscience is important. To blame, maybe, just the American government. The whole lot. Maybe, no definitely, the god damn mother fucking media. God, it's really starting to just sound like a dirty, scummy word. "Telling you the truth, but of course, only how we see it!" Should be most of their slogans with a white man's face smiling a fake-white, fake-inviting smile.

Usually I get along with all different colors, ethnicities, races, and hopefully the aliens that I'm waiting for to come down and show me something exciting and meaningful.

What I'm trying to say is, as long as you wish and remain aware of the energy and vibrations (vibes) you are giving off to others, more often than not, the reaction from the opposite person you are interacting with will be that of, nothing more, than a human. True humanness is openness, benevolence, a hint of curiosity, and hopefully a sure feeling of kindness.

If my openness and kindness in turn breaks through the possible shell that another person had to create as a protection to the brutalities and hard-to-handle emotions that any pill could barely touch....if I can break through that wall--a wall in which we all have in one form or another...it's just adaptation to our surroundings...But yes! If I can break that wall, there is nothing like your good vibes being reciprocated with enthusiasm and comfort by the opposite person.

"Come play over here, man. What's your name by the way?" he said with some excitement and curiosity.

"I'm Sean. You follow the Knicks?" I replied with a kind of joy resulting from the clear fact that I'd just broken through a seemingly hard-shelled-wearing human being.

Another human being's shell they created over time for safety to outside stimuli eventually becomes one of familiarity, therefore, comfortability. We like what we know. To open up and break that kind of shield from the discovered dangers of the world, it's a scary process. Makes me wonder why something like romance isn't being preached and put on a pedastal for being one of the most wonderful things in the world anymore.

My journey is to become naked. Metaphorically of course. I can get literally naked anytime I want... Anyway, point is, my aim--my long, elongated aim--is to shed myself and rid myself of my hardened and old and, in spots, witheringshell. Like a turtle that just needs to get out. Maybe then they could run fast. Maybe then I'd be laughing last.

All I know is that I blame Society. There. I said it. Well, typed it.

I blame Society.

Oh, how you raised me!

The fear and the letdown from childhood to the years of my confusing teens.

Excitement to letdown. My creative creations and of how they lay around in the thousands all around my entire life. Poetry. Short stories. Writings, songs, broken instruments, and instruments needing tuning.

So I hope.

I hope because wishing is childish. Look at what happened to my Santa Clause. Sure I don't blame my parents, but maybe Society could've dropped that fairytale decades ago...start raising some realists instead of people still believing that that Utopia we've all daydreamed and drempt of at one point or another throughout our lives still could happen if only people just tried a little harder. Perfection is a myth, yet we are driven, and we are driven, and we are set to be constantly driven, and I think sooner or later we'll be driving straight into these god damn brick walls like drunken fools. Just right into them. Fucking....

Crash.

So crash the Market! Erase those irritating, really, meaningless and useless numbers and abbreviations rolling by constantly at the bottom of the screen. Maybe some sexy french girl speaking in english with her seductive accent in a smokey, breathey voice will tell us: "A new era is coming. We must, and we are now starting, as you see: completely eliminate all that is meaningless, useless, loveless...drenched with countless people trying to get one up on eachother...forever attempting this endless climb up a ladder wrongly labeled success...Paradise is in meditation in the most basic form of the word. You now must become aware of your surroundings, your body, others, and how you act towards and around others. Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

If I truly heard something like this I wouldn't give a shit what hi-tech anarchist group hacked the whole thing and gave and laid out this kick-ass short and sexy interrupted speech. I'd be psyched. Ecstatic probably. Do you think you would you agree with enthusiasm as well? Also, maybe, with a kind of exhaustion and some word like finally banging around the outer-layers of your mind?

Are you waiting for something to be done to change these ways that really are so immature and beneath our growth--and when bringing up how long humans have been on this planet, and more specifically pertaining to us: how long America has been a nation--don't you think we should be a little further a long than we are? Just a tad? Not technologically. Referring to products and all the useless fun stuff that's sold in our country while other human beings across seas are starving to death every few seconds....I'm reffering to all that....we're good on that part. So good it's sickening. The fact is: so much of what is in our country is outdated and must be updated with not profit in mind, but of betterment for the entire country. Until a movement in government begins and makes any progress regardless of how slow it is, it's clear that all the fun -isms will remain engrained into our country's way of life. Classism and racism am I hinting towards especially. Sexism...that's a whole 'nother horse. I'll just leave that over here for now...

And Art is scattered in the airs of the internet and searching for reads, views, likes, acceptance, appreciation, and of course, somebody saying: A job well done Bucko. Do you like my face? Maybe soon they'll have reconstructive facial surgery for people just simply discontent with the appearance of their own face, disregarding any actual injury.

But that's how bad power--and the lack thereof--can make somebody. In this instance I am pertaining this reference to the many people in power truly, actually dictating how the millions inside their nation lives. Okay, maybe not dictating because what they're really doing is merely perpetuating a system that's been in place for almost close to a century now. The only positive I see with Donald Trump becoming president and taking office in January of 2017 (what a laugh even writing that out) is that there's no doubt he will create much needed tension and create an exciting kind of friction within the government, and congress. Tell you what, I'll be watching the news everyday once he's president. I can't imagine a more hysterical and perfect man to run the country. He's the epitome of our country really if you think about it. In two big ways. Self-absorbed, pretends to be somebody he's not. I'm not even sure who or what the guy is really about...besides himself I mean. I'm no doctor or nothin', but if I were, I think it'd be a safe to assume that our soon-to-be president Donald Trump might just be a sociopath. Sure is a funny one though. As long as you don't take this thing too seriously that is.

How much more self-absorbed do you think we can really become as a nation? The media, the just so awesome five-minute long commercials on TVwhile I'm just trying to watch Old School and let my brain melt a little bit (meanwhile I'm being told if only only ONLY I had some odd-word for a pillow that I'd dream of the most beautifully seductively enticing naked women in HD, or something better than HD they were saying...I don't know...they're really all just words to me)--and the many billboards throughout the cities and highways all across the country. Yes, you, whoever is reading these lonely, probably overly-extended words trying too hard to get you to understand that...never mind...the writer is of no importance here....I am only, and innocently, wondering, how often do you feel less than because of how often one in America is told by these things (the media, comwmercials, billboards, filtered news stations) that without many certain products, their attraction to the rest of mankind...to the rest of humanity, is nil to lesss than. Hideous. Prozac nation, right?

If one were to think abstractly for a second, yet with a simple lense on, that all humans need is sleep, food, and sex, then one can let go of all the materialistic American bullshit and maybe go on a hike and close your eyes in the sun and tell yourself as long as I can neutralize all the hectic westernized false-needs by false-claims like a burn on one's skin with the right ointment, you must tell yourself that it's okay. That once that thought--that it's okay--makes its way to the very depths of your mind and becomes, in the future, part of your foundational structure in your consciousness and even subconscious, then you will find contentment. Then you will know what peace is. It's transcendental. It's transformational. It's enlightening. To grab, grab, grab, or just lazily watch what's on TV, the individual is feeding their psyche too much negative stimulation. It creates a path for us of shallowness unless we question what is and wha is being presented by the millions and zillions. I believe Trump as President may actually spark this to happen more across the seas of people in the country. I don't believe the average American accepts everything that funny man with a sick hairdoe says. When one disagrees with something, it's either because they have the actual knowledge and know it to be false, or they just feel it deep at their core that they're getting jerked around--then they either wonder why and search for the truth, or if their an apathetic old bloke, they do what apathetic people do: they don't care.

So I ask only you: How much more can they make us American people feel less than whole and perfect, even in our imperfections? You know most none of the crap being advertised to "better our hollow and meaningless lives" is something your average--or any-- actually needs?

You ever think they'll let us be? My creativity is dwindling and I've been forgetting to read. A real statistic for no one to see. Is that how you might possibly feel? Hold on, I have another thought. I'll be right back. Just wait on the dot.

Of that which I disagree and don't approve of, I find a deep-seeded kind of resentment inside of me...sometimes lazily and apathetically it lives, and sometimes quite dramatically, and at times seemingly tragically-- it screams. All aimed towards the terribly angering act and overall facade that our government puts on and wears like a designer robe, exposing some terrible truths sporadically, but then tying the belt around the waist and once again recoiling into itself to hide all the things that normal citizens "just wouldn't understand" (in a demeaning voice just like how it'd sound).

I also blame quite seriously and heavily our American society as a whole--if you couldn't already strongly tell.

Yes. Fact.

And this was just a quick entry into a computer that actually baffles me most of the time in all my honesty to give, which brings in itself a kind of embarassment and slight shame that I, a "first-world", white American male of 24 years old, am quite technologically retarded pertaining to all the new phones and new computers that put out their new updates and (at times, so they hope) aesthetically more pleasing devices. It's all just confusing to the point of pointlessness. Settle down guys. Maybe go work on the holograum idea or something or other boys. All these contraptions being manipulated and sold to thinking they are far more superior to the prior device that came out only six or so goddamned prior to this one! At second thought...I don't believe I should feel any type of less for not staying up to date on the countless updates these corporate devices keep putting out. Instead I just don't buy into every new... New, if that makes any sense. I used to like shiny Pokemon cards when I was a kid. But I'm not a kid anymore. I'm fine with what I got. So move on with your whole "You are less if you do not buy and consume and become our latest piece of trash truly pointless product". Because if you have the last couple, I'd skip the next few.

See, I'm not here to prove much more than a feeling of frustration and confusion through language and hopefully some interesting clarity. Okay, now flash back to me talking about my not so bright days of breathing my old, wretched Junky air. I lost five years to my heroin addiction, and even had to be revived once. Basically, and I'll say it again for reiiteration, I lost out on learning the ways and tricks to this world and this cunningly, and oh so deceiving: Planet Earth while most others not sticking needles in their bodies advanced and adapted as they did. All I'm saying is I'm trying in a country that seems to be breaking stalemate and coming out of the closet a little bit in terms of all the skeletons that are just standing there like zombies, now with the doors open, we see them, but my wonder is Now what?

So,

If America is the captain of this planet, and does influence through numerous, simply countless things such as (the easy and known ones:) music, movies, our media, and especially pertaining to what we allow other nations to know, and more specifically: what we allow other nations as well as our own to think...

Oh yes, so if we are the Influence...the ones to Look At when the shit hits the fan...if we are the preached endlessly to be Saviors of this world... Then we must start looking within our own country. We must start looking at the faces of the youth. Ages eighteen to twenty five or something or other. Interview. Ask questions. The right Questions. I can gaurantee all the debates on police brutality and the past killings and (most-likely) future killings to come, as well as the sexy topic of "Gun Control", will be idiotically debated back and forth by people that either know the massive amount of stupidity behind their claims, or we just allow dumbasses for average Americans--many of whom pick a news channel and stay with it and either agree, disagree, get mad at, or fall apathetically into a depression about--those Americans are listening to humans much less than a real...

Human...

Being.

It's all choice.

And many are content with the ladder floating around somewhere inside their noggins, aiming to take that next step towards (corporate) ascension and please the God that will be pleased with their job.

And then there are the thinkers. The searchers. The creative types. Could be left brains, or might be right brain people. I forget. Who cares anyway?

Thing is, the disconnection from those many Americans who come back from a shitty day of work doing something they hate, turn on the news and the perfectly blushed faces with too white of teeth--and they are arguing at random how the whites of the middle class and lower are being forgotten and how it became that way and why they are dissatisfied with their lives, and the person that flicks this on...it only heavily and seriously validates his feelings. So why wouldn't this person eventually vote for someone like Donald Trump? The liar, actor, masoginist, childish man with an odd bleached yellow hair cap...the man who spoke to struggling whites of that calibar during his stops in American towns and cities for talks. That's only one reason some voted for Trump. Not that I can sit here all day and just name the many reasons people voted for him besides discontentment, which branches out to many theories.

As I mentioned, segregation by race, and by class, which, and without any kind of humor, seems to mainly (and not-so-curiously) be those of color: black, brown, whatever...if you're not pure, we won't give you different bathrooms, but your living conditions are going to be shit and your schools are going to be and going to remain a joke offering that close to non-existent chance to excel and go to college and see what one of your stature can make of yourself....No. Most end up in jail from selling drugs, getting caught with drugs, trying to make it in the Hip-Hop scene here in America, or practice practice practice the game of basketball till one can shoot with their eyes closed. Stephen Curry is now the bar that has been raised and set and idolized and instead of philosophers or lawyers or other people with like-jobs, most blacks, and even hispanics, have idols that are more often than not, sports players, and/or rappers. A philosopher or lawyer or doctor won't lay out a possible path for success in packed living conditions and the only dreams seemingly possible is sports or music because of the many that have made it of their "color". How so insanely petty when I type the word out...color. Well, many of them aim for those goals. Is that odd? It's logical. I get it. And most of the time, as I said, me, the one writing all this rubbish out, is a (technically) man with white skin...I'm White...it's how we currently label eachother. It makes sense, again, yes, sure-- but it separates.

Will we ever just look at eachother as human beings?

Is kindness looked at as a weakness and is hardness a characteristic of the stereotypical Male in America? Do many wish to hold onto that coldness and hectic spiraling thoughts that must fester inside their being and psyche?

I gave it up. I had to. I still judge at times. Hopefully judge is the wrong word for it. I don't know. All I know is that when I go into Manhattan I see so many people trying to be people. Wearing designer clothes and big, you know, those too-big kinds of arrogant looking sunglasses? I see girls looking at me in my peripherals and when I look they quickly look away. I question why a lot. And also wonder if the beautiful girls I see in the city that I wish I could just take and bring into my life and see what might happen, if they really have an interesting personality and possibly even a fascinating past..but most I just walk past and see in incriments of five seconds or less and then they're gone.

We're all trying to be somebody during one's years in the 20s. I'm twenty-four and I probably wear a new mask every couple weeks. Maybe less. Sometimes it's every other day.

Who should I be today?

If I pretend everything will be just dandy will it snow so we can build snowmen together with bundles of joy in our hearts?! Oh, and bring a carrot for the nose!

I just want to grow. Grow inside a society that constantly feels too hard for me.

I have things to say.

And I love making strangers smile.

I think if you can make another person smile or laugh throughout your day then you made a positive contribution to mankind and just made their day a little more worth while.

It's a tough life. Of that is for sure.

But it's the ride and the waves!

Still learning to behave.

Oh, and you think Osama was really hiding in a cave....?

Words to dissect,

I think I'll go give this brain a rest before Trump comes out and builds us all Trump Tents instead of my cozy, cozy bed....

So Good Rest for now,

my friend of only friends...

For it's always the beginning.

And then it's the end.

oh yes, and we work!

as busy ants and busy bees pollinating their flowers for their honey-comb hives on the trees.

for peace

one day,

We will find it

And if not all of us before I close my eyes for my final time here,

Then I will leave blessed.

Blessed to have known that such a life of Duality exists,

for if one does not know the lower, darker vibrating energies that cause fear and discomfort-- then one will never know the pure beauty, joy, and ecstasy of life;

I'm in love with the Yins and the Yangs.

So just hold me close, for my bed is only so big.

Now I'm thinking of something of greatnes and purpose.

Oh yes, in my heart of only one hearts...I know

I will find you.

Oh yes, here I come

And if this does anything for your comfort due to all my prior words trying to make sense of a confusing American time, I'll say it, for it is nothing less than the truth

Yes I promise,

that one day in the future,

nearing the end

we'll all just float away....you and me, together, all of us

Like all the atoms and tiny molecules that we all are

We will cease to be

and just

disappear

in mid-air

Evaporate,

The Final Scare.

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nautilusopus · 7 years ago

Text

The Number I

Chapter 3: And Now For Something Completely Different

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER I NEED TO GET OUT OF THE WAY FIRST: Crisis Core is still 100% non-canon. What happened with this is that I ran out of character real estate and figured I didn't want to wind up stuck with three OCs for 90% of the story. Still not canon. Probably never will be for anything I write at all.

This took forever because I wrote it while simultaneously writing the next four chapters all at once, for reasons that will become apparent sooner or later, and also because I wanted to set up two extremely stupid jokes that won't come to fruition for like fifteen chapters.

Thanks to @fury-brand, @auncyen, @cateringisalie, @themateriodictable, and everyone else I bothered for this chapter because if I missed any details no one else would notice but I WOULD and it would eat me up inside forever.

Four years after meteor-fall and Cloud Strife still isn’t himself. The thing that haunts him comes always at the same time… and when it does, on a distant far-off world, a needle moves. Twisty AU. Warnings for future chapters.

"...dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space, and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge.This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area that might be called... The Twilight Zone." The television cast an eerie glow across the blanket, illuminating it enough to stand out but not enough to distinguish it from the monochrome wash the room had taken on in the dim light.

At a little past five, more or less, a loud crunch started its occupant awake. The source of the noise licked its paws contentedly, indifferent to the stern glare it was now receiving from its owner, who reached for the remote under the couch cushions and switched the television off.

"You little shit." The cat, being a cat, said nothing.

Aeris Gainsborough sighed heavily and rolled off the couch she had fallen asleep on to go find a broom. The sad, crumpled remains of her peppermint weren't going to sweep up themselves.

It might not've bothered her as much if she had already been up, but now it was too late to go back to sleep. She shuffled into the kitchen and considered getting herself something caffeinated, but thought better of it. She couldn't afford to be jittery, today of all days. She returned to her living room/study and began scraping up the remains of her potted plant and salvaging what she could into a glass jar she grabbed off the counter. Perhaps it had been for the best -- it has been starting to encroach on the rest of her garden.

Breakfast consisted of eight eggs, dumped into the frying pan with a generous amount of cheese and butter. If caffeine wasn't an option today, a protein high would have to do, and there was no point in leaving perishables in her fridge anyway. She ate quickly, going over the cards for her speech and trying not to hate parts of it now that she was rereading it for the umpteenth time. It was too late to change any of it herself -- the committee had already approved this version to air, and going off script on what would probably be the second-most important day of her life (if she was lucky) was a risk she wasn't willing to take, no matter how awkwardly-phrased and corny the bit about humanity's next step into the future was.

She wolfed down the entire pan in about twenty minutes and got an early start on her hair, carefully pulling it back into a braid she thought would look dignified. Not that it would matter much, the makeup people she'd be assaulted with would probably redo it the minute she showed up anyway. They'd told her the pink ribbon she usually wore looked "unprofessional", so she tied it around her arm instead, hiding it under the suit they had picked out for the occasion. They'd never know.

Her cat Cassiopeia rubbed up against her leg, and she had to gently shove her away. The last thing she needed was to show up covered in hair.

She went over her speech again. And again. And another time to be certain. She went back to her desk and looked over her research, which was technically more important, then lost interest in that and went back to the speech. Loaded with plenty of big long words -- the suit, the vote against her ribbon, the speech, it was all meant to give off the impression of maturity. Probably to offset her age (there was a time and a place for milking the wunderkind angle and today was neither), but there was also the matter of her lineage to consider. This was her project now, after all. Today was about that as much as it was about the project itself.

She herded Cassiopeia into her carrier and checked over her luggage again: a briefcase with the summation of her life's work, which she quickly stuffed her speech cards into, and a tupperware container of licorice allsorts. Bringing in fresh produce probably wouldn't be allowed at the facility, but her candies would probably survive a quick sterilisation. The best part about liking licorice allsorts, Aeris had discovered, was that no one ever asked you to share them with you, so one could just eat the entire box undisturbed, though she did include another container of gummy bears for her coworkers as a peace offering. Outside comforts like this would be missed greatly in the coming weeks.

Briefcase, personal effects (outside toiletries had been prohibited as well), cat... on a whim, she rummaged through a drawer and fished out an old Polaroid camera, quickly throwing it into the bag with the candies. If astronauts got to take pictures of space, she wanted to document her work as well.

Aeris quickly piled everything by the door and made one last check around her house -- her house, another one of the perks of this job. It had really started to grow on her, and it was a shame she wouldn't see it for so long. She locked the door, unlocked it while trying to figure out if she had locked it properly, locked it again, and began her walk down Kenilworth Avenue to the nearest bus stop. This was it.

Cassiopeia yowled angrily the entire drive over to the kennel. "There won't be any plants to eat if you come with me," said Aeris, glancing around them, trying to spot the plainclothes bodyguards she'd been assigned for the trip. Perhaps they weren't here yet. "There will be lots of other cats there you can ruin gardens with together." She hoped there would be, actually. Perhaps then she'd finally get it out of her system.

After depositing her horrible greenery-chewing roommate and lightening her load somewhat, she made her way down to the train station. It was here she started catching a few stares. Shame she hadn't worn sunglasses or something.

On the train out of Reading, the "find the plainclothes" game she had been playing became much easier. The wiry-looking man reading a magazine she wasn't sure about, but the woman sitting across from her that looked as though she ate broken glass and bullets for breakfast that kept staring at the door next to her was easier to spot. Aeris checked her nails and did her best to ignore them both. It was only for a few more hours.

A woman on her left spoke to her then. "This is gonna sound a bit stupid, but you look exactly like that Dr. Gainsborough woman."

Aeris managed a quick smile. "Ah... that's 'cause I am." The woman laughed and went back to her phone, clearly not believing her, but a few other people on the train had heard and craned their heads to get a look. Aeris looked back, and they turned away.

She’d insisted on using public transport -- she didn’t have a driver’s license of her own yet, and she hadn’t liked the idea of the fancy chauffeur they had offered her waiting outside honking their horn when she just wanted to have a lie-in before the big day. If it was on her own terms, she could get a bit of extra sleep. That would surely be worth a few odd looks from the general public, right?

Stupid cat.

The train pulled into London an hour later, and she was immediately mobbed by more security detail the minute she stepped off the platform. She was at least grateful for the help with her luggage, but with them came the press. She kept her gaze focused directly ahead until they made it out of the station and reached the car. They'd have their answers soon enough.

She drummed on the seat all the way to the university, and stopped halfway through going over her speech in her head to realise that she had forgotten to put the pan in the dishwasher before she left, and the kitchen would probably smell awful when she got back. Too late now.

She was swarmed by hair and makeup the minute she set foot on campus, and was herded into an office they had appropriated as a green room. As predicted, they immediately undid her braid and began combing it out to tie it back into a bun.

"I spent good time on that, you know," grumbled Aeris, and then was forced to hold still while they applied foundation.

"I was beginning to think you'd bailed on us," came a voice from next to her, and Aeris managed to crane her head just enough to see Cissnei in the chair next to her, whose artist appeared to be finishing up.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it," she replied. "All this is just for show. We could just go directly to the facility and not waste twelve hours on all this media circus stuff.”

“It’s a proud tradition, though!” said Cissnei, getting up and watching them attempt to herd Aeris’s hair into a fraction of the volume it normally took up, making her wince. “Everything like this needs something quotable. Armstrong, Sagan, Einstein, Curie. You need a line that someone can spend two hundred takes on trying to nail the one that nets them an award when they make the dramatised documentary version of this in ten years or so.”

“This entire speech is the most generic combination of words I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“It’s not the words,” said Cissnei, sneaking a peak at her speech cards, “it’s the delivery. Think Frank Sinatra.”

Aeris grunted as the makeup staff finally peeled off and stopped trying to remove her scalp. “Mum and Dad didn’t have a speech.”

“Well, you’re not Dr. Gainsborough or Dr. Gainsborough, are you? You’re Dr. Gainsborough,” she commented dryly, clearly amused at her own joke. Aeris rolled her eyes.

A voice came from outside the office. “Gainsborough, Sauvage, you’ve got two minutes!”

Cissnei flashed her a quick smile on her way out the door. “Bonne chance!”

Aeris went over her speech another time, liked it even less than before, then followed CERN’s interpreter out to the auditorium.

A smattering of applause greeted her presence, a few camera flashes, and then silence. The world was watching now. Cissnei was there waiting by the podium with the other interpreter, and gave her a curt nod.

“There are times, in the course of human history, that are known to change our world, our society, in profound and irreversible ways,” she began, with Cissnei beside her, repeating what she had said in French. “From the discovery of the double helix which let us understand where we came from, to the first splitting of the atom, showing us where we are, to our first steps as a species into the Earth’s atmosphere, inviting us to all the places we could go from there. They’ve yielded medicines, and knowledge, and prosperity… as well as destruction, and conflict, and loss of life. Our world is a product of these changes, benign or otherwise.

“It is difficult to accept the world for what it is, to comprehend the scope of how deeply these changes have affected who we are, but it it is harder still to understand our place within it. It can be daunting to know how much harm they could cause, and how much potential for good they might have had.” She kept her gaze on the audience. Not the words, the delivery. Aeris hoped whatever charisma she had managed to dredge up for this day was having an impact on anyone. If anything, she probably sounded vaguely threatening.

“Today, I believe we are on the cusp of one of these changes. And I believe that, not only as a nation, but as a people, we have understood our capacity for greatness. In taking our first steps into exploring another world, we shape the boundaries of our own.” She paused, and dipped her head briefly to some of the men just offstage. “It is through this understanding that has allowed CERN to lead the world forward with this groundbreaking research. Every nation has banded together for the invigoration of the human spirit.”

It was barely an overstatement. It had been the project of the twenty-first century, and nearly every country in the UN had pitched in. The confirmed existence of other universes, of other worlds, had ripped through the scientific community. Thus far the data they had was mostly numbers, but the trail blazed by the late Doctors Ifalna Gainsborough and Hugo Gainsborough (the latter more commonly known by his name before marriage, Gast, for the sake of easy distinction) had left them with something significantly more concrete, and suddenly the prospect of a physical presence in these worlds was alarmingly, startlingly real.

For the last year, billions of euros had been dumped into the construction of a massive compound in the French countryside. Though Aeris had been largely in charge of the project, there were other scientists contributing to its building as well, and she had yet to set foot in it herself. She’d be on a plane to Cannes in the same day if she could just get through this speech.

Eventually, she finished up with another line about being inspired by everyone to make the world better. Utter schlock. Waste of time. There was a warm applause from the audience. Good. That was squared away, at least.

She nodded to one of the general directors of CERN waiting offstage, and retreated offstage herself. Official questions were their problem. At the very least she could ditch her stupid speech cards and wait for Cissnei to finish up the presentation; the other interpreters had been hired specifically for this event, but Cissnei was part of the project proper. If they found anything, it would help to have an expert at hand in case any messages were exchanged. Aeris was a physicist, not a linguist. And of course, there was the more practical side of things being lost in translation between the multinational team they’d assembled from the top scientists in the world.

Personally, Aeris would have been satisfied with a few interesting matter samples, and maybe some microbes if she was really getting her hopes up. At the very least, they had finally confirmed there was something on the other side of it all to begin with.

Truth be told, this project had been in the works for nearly twenty years. Aeris had been the one to rekindle it after the accident that had claimed the previous directors’ lives. Everyone had been leery of the prospect at first -- never mind her age, the word “nepotism” had been on their lips from day one. She’d had to work twice as hard as anyone else to prove she was worthy of the project on her own merits, and then four times that to forge ahead with the data her parents had managed to collect in the bridging experiment before it had all gone to hell.

And to think they’d called it pseudo-science nonsense five years ago. She’d show them pseudo-science…

No, she wouldn’t. That’s the opposite of what she wanted to do.

Eventually Cissnei returned from the stage as well, and from there they were herded back into a car and to the airport. No time to waste.

On the plane, Aeris went over the roster of who they’d picked out for the project.

“Tseng, Wu, biophysicist,” said Cissnei, leaning in to check the paper she was holding. “China’s pick, probably.”

“I remember him from the meetings,” replied Aeris. “Sort of stuffy. Do you suppose he’s any good?”

“Good enough, I guess. I’m not a biophysicist. He’s got three doctorates, I think, which is apparently the minimum,” She adjusted herself in her seat and gestured to Aeris’s peanuts. “Do you want those?”

“How many do you have?” asked Aeris, as Cissnei opened her peanuts anyway. Cissnei shrugged.

“One, for now. Not all of us skipped seven grades. I’m just here on the charisma factor.”

Aeris snorted. “Oh, only one doctorate. How old are you?”

“Is it a contest now?”

“Only if you want it to be.” She looked over the list again. “These are some flashy dossiers, though.”

“Well, let’s hope they’re nice.”

After they touched down, there was another hour-long car ride north from Cannes to the facility. The roads eventually thinned from eight lanes, to four, to two, to a thin strip of dirt that would allow the bare minimum of passage.

It was a bit strange, seeing the sleek new building positioned in that vast, empty field. Cissnei stepped out of the car and voiced what Aeris had been thinking: “It looks like a fortress.”

Indeed it did; apart from of the building where the entrance would be, there were almost no windows. The compound was circular, with three levels stacked on top of and within one another, with a large rectangular structure the size of a supermarket on its own functioning as the front entrance, like an immense closed stadium. A wall had been erected around it, and the whole layout was compact and centralised. All likely necessary, to minimise risk the second time around.

The compound was meant for living in over a period of three to four weeks, and the place was kept tightly sealed in case of any sort of contamination, so only absolutely necessary personnel would be dispatched to the site. Therefore, the team was fairly small, to avoid straining resources, and most of the more mundane functions would be more or less fully automated. They were expecting six or seven members -- from what she could recall, the rest would be arriving tomorrow.

They had each been issued a keycard the week before, and then it only granted them access as far as the lobby. The security was a bit unnerving, and served as a reminder of the threshold she was about to cross. This was it. The culmination of billions in investment and twenty years of work and two lives. The lobby itself was largely empty, with reception being little more than a vacant all with a plaque on the wall detailing procedures for unpacking luggage for decontamination, which was where the only other door led.

They funneled, one at a time, into a chamber at the end of the lobby, where they removed their clothes and placed them in a separate compartment in the wall with the rest of their belongings, which they carefully unpacked. Aeris reluctantly parted with her ribbon and closed the door, and then stepped into the shower that had just switched on. It seemed a good deal of the process was automated. Both she and her belongings on the other side of the wall were exposed to quick flash of UV, and it occurred to

Aeris she was probably pushing it a bit with the candy. After the spray switched off, the vents in the room opened, vacuuming out the contaminated air and pumping in filtered oxygen, before the next chamber opened and she was treated to another chemical shower and another radiation purge, this one searing off the very first layer of skin.

After three more rooms, she reached the antechamber of the final decontamination room area, where she was to remain for 24 hours while inhaling low levels of antibiotics laced in the filtered air. Uniforms were provided on the wall until her clothes had finished baking (she worried briefly about the camera surviving the trip), and she hastily put hers on before stepping into the temporary living area and waiting for Cissnei to finish up behind her.

The room was sparsely furnished -- three beds (most likely why they were having the rest of the team file in the day after, as well as to avoid gunking up the machinery all at once) with sterile cotton blankets and foam mattresses; a few chairs; and two lamps; one of which that was fixed into the wall, upon which a compartment opened, allowing her to collect her research, her possibly-ruined camera ,and her mildly-irradiated sweets. There was a simple desk with a screen built into it that connected to the database waiting further inside, to allow review of the materials during downtime, and a rather tall man sitting at the desk watching her expectantly.

“Dr. Gainsborough,” said the man in greeting, rising from the chair and giving her a polite nod.

“Dr. Tseng,” she returned politely. If he was part of this project as well, then most of this section of the building would have been his idea, to prevent forward contamination. Just in case.

He nodded again. Very formal, this one. “Well met. Though just ‘Tseng’ is fine.”

“Then I’m fine with ‘Aeris’,” she replied, then turned around as Cissnei passed through the door from the airlock behind them, her hair on end nearly as badly as Aeris’s. “And this is Dr. Cissnei Sauvage, linguist and interpreter.”

“Hen gaoxing jian dao nin,” was Tseng’s curt reply. Cissnei returned it with an equally reserved, “Nin yeshi.” The stiffness in the room was palpable. Aeris rolled her eyes.

“Well, if we’re gonna be cooped up in here all day with each other, we might as well get to know one another,” she said, pulling up a chair and pulling her hair over the back of it.

“There are very few people in the world that do not know who you are by this point… Aeris,” he said slowly, clearly uncomfortable with the familiarity.

Aeris shrugged. “So what about you?”

“I volunteered for this project because I felt it held potential,” he said shortly. “It had been my goal to contribute to it for seven years when the late Dr. Gainsborough published her first paper, but as you can imagine the ensuing complications made this impossible for some time. This is a rare opportunity for me.”

Aeris and Cissnei exchanged a look at this news. If Tseng was being truthful, that would mean his interest predated the bridging experiment. Back when the project had been a wild goose chase searching for something that most like didn’t exist, and held no more water than a television psychic claiming they could speak to the dead -- a career-ender for anything it touched.

“Well… we’re glad to have you,” she replied, not quite sure what to make of this.

Cissnei pulled up a chair for herself next to the desk. “I had worked with Aeris before this, six months ago. She recommended me for this. I thought it would be fun.”

Tseng blinked. Cissnei continued.

“Yes. Being part of all this work, being there when we start finding things. It’s exciting.” She gestured to Aeris. “Getting to spend time around people with the mental capacity to understand what you’re saying. I think it will be very enjoyable.”

“I suppose that angle could be appreciated, too,” said Tseng. He returned to his seat as well, and looked at Aeris. “This may be a bit obvious, but you’re…?” She shrugged. “It was their project, yeah. Lots riding on this.”

He nodded, then turned back to the desk. “We may as well be on the same page. This is mostly just an archive of the date we’ve collected over the last few years,” he said, gesturing to the screen. “I believe we’ll be adding to the data stored here once we get out of decontamination.”

Aeris pulled up her own chair to the desk and leaned over it with him, with Cissnei hovering behind them curiously. The test data itself was a bit beyond her, it seemed, but Aeris found it helpful to have someone to explain concepts to out loud, forcing her to organise her thought process. Cassiopeia never asked the right questions, and was more prone to chewing up her chives and vomiting them on her rug than she was to asking what supersymmetry was or why one shouldn’t call the Higgs-Boson the “god particle” because it was a stupid terrible name that nobody really used.

“What do you think we’ll find?” asked Cissnei, after another hour and a good old rousing round of explaining what a top quark was and why nobody could find it despite enormous mass. “On the other side, I mean.”

“Hard to say,” said Aeris. “I’d be happy with recognisable matter. Maybe some microbes, if we can find something that helps us know what to look for.”

“Just microbes? If it’s another universe, you’d think there would be people there too. Maybe Rome never fell. Maybe we all do Carrousel. Something like that. ”

Tseng cut in. “It could be. There could, in theory, be an infinite number of universes with an infinite number of permutations, if my understanding of the situation is correct. However, you are assuming worlds like this are the majority, when in all likelihood -- and likelihood is the important word here -- they are not.

“Thus, life is thought to be quite common,” continued Tseng dryly, watching Aeris rearrange her belongings around her bed. “But complex life exceedingly rare. If we are correct in assuming that a world like ours is the odd one out, while there may be trillions of permutations of worlds with complex life, there will still be a far greater number where conditions were not favourable for life to evolve beyond the unicellular stage.”

“Maybe. Maybe it’s a kind of life we don’t know exists yet,” said Cissnei.

Aeris expected Tseng to rebut her, but he merely nodded. “Perhaps. That is why I am here, after all. Why you are here, and why the rest of us will be here tomorrow. There is no telling what we will find. If it were practical, I believe they would have imported hundreds of experts here. They still may, depending on what we uncover in the coming weeks.”

“They’ll reevaluate the staff after the first period’s up and they clear us out of here to do safety checks,” said Aeris. Her hair had finally begun to un-frizz, and she set aside her ribbon and began to carefully rebraid it.

“Then they’ll send in more people if they think we need it. Or maybe if we ask. And then we get to check things out for ourselves. Eventually. Most of the groundwork has already been taken care of, over the years,” she added, trying her best to emphasise the silent “by me as well” at the end of her sentence.

“What if we only find a bunch of rocks?” joked Cissnei.

“Then we get to call in a really excited mineralogist,” said Aeris. “We won’t be able to go right away, though. Have to make sure where we’re going is safe enough to send someone through. Run the numbers.”

“See if any lab rats come back inside out.”

Aeris made a face. “...Yes, that too.” It was probably for the best that they weren’t meant to eat anything for twenty-four hours. Cissnei remained nonplussed and got up from her chair, stretching out on one of the beds.

“Anyone got a phone charger?” she said after a moment of silence. Tseng opened the one briefcase he’d brought with him and produced his, looking at her curiously.

“What do you intend to do?,” he asked. “There’s no signal in here.”

“Just some background noise, maybe.” She unplugged the other lamp and put her phone in. “It’s too quiet. Feels like an interrogation room in here.”

The room dimmed with the removal of one of their light sources, but Aeris actually did feel her shoulders unknot a little once the space was filled with a noise other than the buzz of fluorescent light bulbs. The song was vaguely familiar to her -- seemed like a much older one, maybe from the nineties. Something indie and obscure. Maybe French? She couldn’t make out many words under the heavy distortion from the track itself and the speaker. She found herself humming along, until it occurred to her she was probably driving Tseng nuts, who probably didn’t care much for rock music and was probably jet-lagged into hell, something he more or less proved by shuffling over to a bed and crashing right then and there.

The lack of light and the music made her eyes heavy. She spent another hour reading at the desk, before Cissnei had to nudge her upright and direct her to a bed to keep her from drooling on the screen. Perhaps now she’d finally catch up on the time she’d lost thanks to her shithead cat.

Besides, tomorrow there was important work to be done.

#the number i #forfdorfsorf #spitegarbage #amazing literature #anyway this is my oc aeris gainsborough do not steal #this one's short and sweet because i need to set up some shit for later

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uphir2017-blog · 6 years ago

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A Dream That Lives On

Williiam Yong / 01043170003

Photo credit: thinkthank.uchicago.edu

On April 4th we honoured the 51 years of his death.

You know, when I was a kid I really adore Superman as my favourite superhero. I bet all of us have our own superhero that we all admire in our life. Whether if its Batman, Wonder woman, or Iron man. But, for the American people especially black people in 1960s they have one superhero. His name is Martin Luther King.

(AP, Reuters, The Washington Post) - Martin Luther King has a mission. That mission is to uplift the civil rights of people of colour so that it can be acknowledge by the government. He had done several efforts to achieve this dream of his. First, he had a discussion in December 3, 1963 with President Lyndon B in White House in Washington. Lead a March on Washington on August 28, 1963 where in this March, they fought for equal rights, integrated school, decent housing and an end to bias during civil rights. Not to forget, all his fight for Civil rights not always run smoothly. There was a bomb that exploded near the hotel that he stayed in. Even after his death, there were still a lot of demonstrations after his assassination in April 1968 were people lift the “let his death not be in vain”.

Photo credit: content.time.com

Throughout his life, King himself received various of awards. Started from The Man of the Year according to 1964 Time Magazine’s. He is the youngest person to date to ever win the Nobel Peace prize due to his accomplishment in enacting the Civil Rights Act 1964 signed into law and Voting Rights Act in 1965. His name is said to be one of the most influential man the civil rights movement in the nineteenth century. Some people even called him a hero.

“I have a dream,” King shouted to the crowd, his voice reverberating with emotion, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“I have a dream!” well it’s not from a Westlife song but it is in his speech. “The bitterness is often greater toward that person who built up the hope, who could say ‘I have a dream,’ but couldn’t produce the dream because of the failure and the sickness of the nation to respond to the dream,” King said. Not to forget, King has a very strong Christian values in everything that he did in the past. He said one of his motivation to fought back in the days is because he never gives up on doing the right thing and using the power of hope.

Despite of all his achievements, there are still many people who criticized King. It started back in the 1968 when he was admonished by African American leader, so King wouldn’t bring his protest movement to their cities. They said a point is Martin Luther King is dead; he’s finished; his nonviolence is nothing. No one is listening to it.” Said Roy Wilkins of the NAACP and Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-N.Y.) of Harlem.

Photo credit: theguardian.com

Sadly, on April 4th, 1968 this father of nonviolence was killed at the age of 39. He was killed by the man named James Earl Ray. Although there was some theory that said he was not the real killer, but it is still unknown. “King was on the second-floor balcony of the motel,” Jackson said. “He had just bent over. If he had been standing up, he wouldn’t have been hit in the face.” “The bullet exploded in his face. It knocked him off his feet.” Now after, 51 years of his assassinations there are a lot of people of remembering his death. The movement is called the Voice of the Movement that being held by various of people who is a witness, and people tells stories about his death.

Based on the story, King might have already predicted his own death just like he already got sign that he will not live for a very long time. One of the sources said King said on the night before he was slain in Memphis, King warned his audience that, like Moses, he might not make it to the Promised Land. At home one Sunday in Atlanta, he mused to the congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church about the words he hoped would grace his gravestone.

One of the strongest characters of him is to remain hopeful. “Hope is the final refusal to give up”. By the end of the day, we as a young generation must respect his vision and for his sacrificial commitment for that vision. Now, he was still remembered by his family especially his son which is King III and I hope the future generation and this generation will never forget his name. His legacy will forever be inherent by future generations.

“The bitterness is often greater toward that person who built up the hope, who could say ‘I have a dream,’ but couldn’t produce the dream because of the failure and the sickness of the nation to respond to the dream,” King said.

We must see and reflect upon his characters. King is a determined person who has never give up on something that he believes on. He kept pushing forward no matter what the odds are. He created a hope, he held on to it, and he fought for it. He fought for the good of all people even after he was killed but this hope continues up to this day. His vision could not be forgotten, especially looking at the situation right now where there are so many persecutions and inequality that we constantly facing in this world. Thus, there are still many things to be change and we are able to do it. “let his death not be in vain”.

Sources:

- https://www.apnews.com/bd721e6c72eb4808936c276224fb78be

- https://www.apnews.com/a5fa959c9c3a418d9f5eb1b1badb8db2

Reuters

- https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/the-life-of-martin-luther-king-jr-idUSRTS2BCVM

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-dream-speech/famed-king-speech-almost-didnt-include-i-have-a-dream-author-idUSBRE97P0EV20130826

The Washington Post

- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-honor-martin-luther-king-jr-not-for-his-victories-but-for-his-vision/2019/01/20/e87b2e98-1b56-11e9-8813-cb9dec761e73_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2964d841bd93

- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/04/day-martin-luther-king-jr-died-voices-movement-episode/?utm_term=.50df752331e3

- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1-ID_27vhAhURXisKHf6-C3sQFjAEegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fretropolis%2Fwp%2F2018%2F03%2F30%2Fwho-killed-martin-luther-king-jr-his-family-believes-james-earl-ray-was-framed%2F&usg=AOvVaw1dyqeVcbPo3jt1fQsXrGx

#MartinLutherKIng 51years InternationalRelations FeatureNews Journalism WilliamYong

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topweeklyupdate · 7 years ago

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TØP Weekly Update #42: You Guys All OK? (6/25/17)

Well, fellas. It’s been a crazy week. The era ends today. That means another long, long, long update. Let’s do it, and then lets all watch Twitter all night to see how things all wrap up.

This Week’s TØPics:

Complete Tour de Columbus Recap (Plus More Cryptic Nonsense)

UPCOMING: Schott Tonight

Teen Choice Nominations

Yours Truly Makes TØP History (Not Really)

Major News and Announcements:

The only major piece of news from this week was that “Stressed Out” hit one billion views on YouTube. I fully take the credit for this achievement, as I asked you guys to turn out to make sure this happened (joking).

The band was also nominated for three Teen’s Choice Awards for Choice Music and Rock Groups and Choice Group Song for “Heathens”.

Oh, and there was this thing called Tour de Columbus. You guys heard of it? Just a little thing we’ll. A lot of a thing. Let’s get into it in the recap section.

Performances, Interviews, and Other Shenanigans:

Whoo, boy. Obviously, this was a very busy week. However, it wasn’t quite as busy as I expected when writing the Upcoming section last week. For the most part, the shows have all stuck to the basic Emotional Roadshow setlist, with the minor changes of using the 2016 Old Songs Medley and including “Truce” at the beginning of the encore. That said, there were a few points that set each of the shows apart from each other. These include:

Basement

The Basement opened with Tyler running out (with the keytar!) and playing “Fake You Out” for the first time since before Blurryface’s release. I may or may not have wept.

Tyler’s Trees Speech for Basement was notably old school, featuring him pacing the stage, talking more directly to the crowd, and even rambling a bit. In fact, Tyler in general was looser in this show than we’ve seen him in a long time. He was constantly smiling, joked about how the first time he played the venue he lost a Battle of the Bands, thanked a fan who said he was doing great, and stated that people didn’t need to “whoo” to fill awkward pauses. This looseness was likely because, as Tyler explains it, he and Josh just came straight from their homes to play music with their friends. And that’s why this tour is so amazing. (A pretty well-edited together version of the full show can be viewed here.)

To prove their hardcore cred, they kept the cryo and confetti for “Trees”. Yes, they shot the full load into the tiny room, smoking it out the Basement (heh) almost instantly and even knocking out some people in the front row (Tyler stumbling over his “We are…” speech while watching security bridal-carry an unconscious girl away with great concern is a great image). Still, it was hardcore.

Newport

Apparently, somebody in the management (possibly Tyler and Josh themselves) ordered Chipotle for the folks in line at Newport.

Newport featured Tyler pointing out that one of the exits was the exact spot he and Josh met for the first time (tears).

Ohio Governor John Kasich was apparently in the audience at Newport (I believe his daughters are fans).

Don’t have a good video of it with clear audio, but multiple sources have corroborated the story that the crowd chanted “TAXI CAB” multiple times before Tyler played “Trees”. He appears to have said “Sorry”, but sadly, folks, it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting “Taxi Cab” this week.

The ending screen got me feeling something.

Express

Express Live had a bit of a kerfuffle in the line. That’s all I’m getting into that drama. Moving on.

New TOPxMM colla-

Oh, screw it, I’m addressing it: the line stuff was nonsense, and was the only part of the week that really bummed me out. It seems pretty clear that Express Live HUGELY underestimated the number of workers and planning that would be necessary to handle the huge crowds and failed to provide adequate care for their patrons. That said, I have a real hard time criticizing only them when looking at what they had to deal with. Perhaps I’m biased because I’ve worked events of this size before, but it is an incredibly difficult job to manage thousands of people, especially when those people act as a mob and do not pay attention to any directions they’re issued. Let’s be clear: There is no excuse for those people who ignoring the venues’ orders not to camp and then were angry that their position in line wasn’t honored. There’s also no excuse for the many people who broke laws by rushing across a busy street, pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line, and leaving buckets of trash everywhere. It’s a shame that so much of the Clique appears to be so entitled that they’re blind to their own shared responsibility for the chaos.

Erm… moving on.

New TOPxMM, complete with more awkward dance moves from Tyler.

Tyler told people to be sure to pick up their trash, since he used to have to clean up the LC.

Tyler stopped the show during “Stressed Out” to help someone out of the pit. He joked that the song had just hit a billion views and they didn’t need to finish it, but, at the crowd’s insistence, he pushed through.

The Trees Speech on this one was lengthy and more structured than any I can think of since MSG last year. Tyler framed it around the idea of belief and how much of a positive impact it has on people, and thanked their families (who put up with having TV programs ruined by drumming and screaming from the basement), Fueled By Ramen (who were in attendance), and the fans for believing in them.

Nationwide

This show might have had the most lit crowd of any Twenty One Pilots arena show, with several dance-offs, a conga line, and a beautiful, peaceful circle during “Trees”.

The Trees Speech was another stellar one, with Tyler thanking the fans for making the journey from around the world to make Tour de Columbus so special.

The band’s activity this week was not limited to their performances. The boys also hopped around a couple of local radio stations and gave good, lengthy interviews for the first time in quite awhile. Here’s some highlights:

Dave and Jimmy Show, 97.9

These guys were pretty casual and open, enjoyed the conversations. I particularly appreciated that they didn’t sugar coat a lot of aspects about the entertainment industry, freely dissing award shows, SNL, and even some artists for their fakeness. I can dig it.

Lots of Grammy underwear talk, which is to be expected. Honestly, it’s Tyler’s fault as much as anyone else, he kept redirecting the convo to the underwear. “How does it feel when they call your name for an actual Grammy?” Tyler: “I mean, I was just thinking about the buttons on my pants.”

Tyler: “Just to clarify, there were more than just us two. There were multiple dudes in their underwear.” Josh: “For sure no females though.” Tyler: “Yeah, just a bunch of bros getting drafty.” (Oh my God.)

They brought the underwear issue to a vote with their friends and family on the van ride over to the Grammys, resulting in an evenly split vote. Tyler claims they called their manager to make the final decision; he said, “Go for it,” making history.

Tyler: “[Walking up to the stage in my underwear] was a long moment in my life.”

Perhaps the most groundbreaking news: Tyler was approached by SAXX underwear to join Kevin Love in promoting their product after he demonstrated it live on national television. Though he turned it down, he still stands by the underwear as his favorite and its compartmentalizing mesh.

They chat a little bit about how the Grammys are the only award shows that actually don’t tell the artists beforehand who has won and seem to confirm that they won’t go to a show they’ve been nominated for but know they won’t win. Tyler: “The people who go and lose just really have nothing else to do that day.”

Interviewer: “So let’s talk about “Heathens”. I think that song did better than the movie.” Tyler tries to stay on script and say that they both loved the movie when they saw it, even making the argument that no one really knows that a movie’s bad until they go home and read the reviews, but there’s just enough backpeddling and trademarked Joseph sarcasm that I’m not sure I buy it.

Their discussion of their appearance on SNL is actually probably my favorite part of the whole interview, since it’s pretty darn upfront about the whole thing. Tyler said that he was honored to be invited on, but as soon as one of the hosts says that he’s actually been to it and observed the disconnect between the audience and artist, Tyler immediately opens up and discusses his quibbles with the show’s format. Specifically, he points to how the opening dress rehearsal has great energy, with all the jokes landing perfectly and the younger crowd of “slops” off the street really being into it. However, by the live filming, the audience has been replaced mostly by more reserved people with connections and the show becomes more stiff. The interviewers muse that it must have something to do with the greater pressure, but Tyler makes the interesting point that it likely has more to do with doing the same thing in front of the same camera guys, comparing it to when he does multiple shows in a single city and becomes aware that the security guards see right through him when his apparently spontaneous performances and speeches are exactly the same.

Tyler throws Kyle Mooney under the bus again, and also criticizes the entire ending schtick of SNL where they all hug each other as “the most awkward thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Tyler says that it was the first time they had ever met most of the crew, making it especially weird to have to act like they all had worked together to put on a show.

While in the process of burning bridges with the entertainment industry, Tyler and Josh both talk about how they never even met Kimmel and Conan despite playing their shows, calling the whole thing “garbage”. Specifically, Tyler goes in on Conan, revealing that they performed their set on that show to an empty audience and no Conan. They speculate it was either because Jennifer Aniston and her team requested it, or perhaps that Conan just was on vacation.

The interviewers ask the guys if they mind when they’re asked about old content (though it seems to just be a way for them to complain about the Chainsmokers). Tyler says that he doesn’t mind, because they make sure to put meaning into all of their stuff (which I’m taking as a Chainsmokers dig).

Andre on Air, 102.5

This interview really gets into the nitty gritty of Tour de Columbus and the band’s relationship with their hometown.

Andre asks the big question lots of us have been wondering about: what about playing Ohio Stadium, one of the largest venues in the world (at 100,000 capacity, they could fit the crowds of all the Columbus shows in the stadium and not even fill it halfway). Tyler says that still sounds “ridiculous” to them, but he also fully admits that they still expect people not to show up to their shows.

Andre points out the remarkably close connection the boys have to their hometown, between this tour, featuring the city in their Grammys speech, and a million other things, even going so far as to say that Twenty One Pilots put Columbus back on the map and is the thing the city is most well-known for now behind Ohio State football (which, to be honest, I think is accurate). Tyler says that he’s honored by that praise. He says further that he likely wouldn’t have left Columbus if not for his music, stating that before touring took him and Josh all over the world, he’d only been on a plane once. Even now, though, he still prefers the city to anyplace else.

Tyler: “We’ve been all over now, but whenever anyone asks what our favorite place is, it’s Columbus. There’s nothing better. We’re not trying to be sentimental, we really… we like the highways here.”

Josh speaks to the experience of being at home while being famous. He says that there’s a real sense of normalcy so long as they’re hanging out with their families, but going out with their families to do something and having to take a picture with fans has become the new normal. (Tyler jokes that he’s found out that he’s had more cousins than he’s ever known.)

Tyler reveals that Zach was skipping out on a few concerts to play rec league basketball, and that his dad skipped shows to watch him. Perf.

No tattoos planned for these shows.

Tyler states that, while they planned to make minor alterations to every show to make them special, they were never going to be able to have drastically different setlists for each space for logistical reasons. Tyler says the tour’s less about the content of the shows and more about just honoring the city.

Discussing the “HeavyDirtySoul” video, Josh was glad for the flames due to how freezing cold it was (roughly eight degrees). Tyler: “I thought we were going to lose him.”

For what I think is the first time, Tyler talks a bit about recording “Heathens” in a very DIY fashion in European greenrooms. Tyler says that he has demos of a bunch of songs that have the sounds of people in the background banging on the door of the hotel room asking him to keep it down.

When discussing their favorite cover songs, Tyler says that his is probably “My Heart Will Go On”, telling a story of a concert where he found out that Kate Winslet was in the audience and that she sang her heart out, despite the fact that she probably is sick of that song.

Andre suggests that they should recruit Jack Hannah at Columbus Zoo to get a hold of the giraffe whose birth was livestreamed for the last show of TDC to fulfill their greatest career goals. Josh says Tyler should ride the baby since he’s smaller. They joke that they really shouldn’t try to actually use giraffes, as it would represent a peak in their career they could never top, but Tyler points out that if they keep talking about it, they will inevitably get to bring giraffes onstage at their final show.

Tyler says that they’re definitely taking a break, and that he’s looking forward to get away from all the external pressures and getting back to making songs he likes with Josh.

In honor of TDC, The Columbus Dispatch did a front-page spotlight on the band. It’s honestly kind of amusing: since they weren’t able to secure interviews with anyone in the band or their families, their main sources are fans, the owner of the PromoWest venues, Tyler’s high school basketball coach, a guy who worked with Josh at Guitar Center (lol), and Chris Salih. The only new information the article provides is that Chris was the one who actually took the picture of Josh with the wedding crashers that set the Clique on-fire last week. That’s quality journalism.

I would also be totally remiss not to talk about Artopia. The Facebook stream for the event was very well produced, and David McCreary did a pretty good job at keeping things high energy. The stream contained hours of interviews and interactions with the Clique, hundreds of amazing pieces of art, and cameos from Mark. After the stream was over, Tyler and Josh surprised all the folks who stuck around at the free event by coming out to thank the artists and do a meet and greet with everyone. Some of my favorite moments:

David challenging some fan to cartwheeling contests. Not only did the girls own him, they criticized Josh’s form in the backflips.

After David jokingly asked people to ask him questions about the band, he got a bunch of questions (”Latin America tour!” “When’s the new album?”) that he was not able to answer. When asked their favorite song: “We Are Young” by Fun (Mark laughed).

Tyler’s mom showed up and talked trashed him (and oh my god she sounds just like him and has his sarcasm, omg).

All the people from across the country. All of the concert stories. All the dads.

Outside of TDC, which has understandably overwhelmed a lot of other news, Josh also filmed a promo for Columbus’s Roosevelt Coffee, a favorite spot of both band members (they gave their only 2016 performance in Columbus at the shop) that also serves as a charity that fights hunger, disease, and human trafficking. The promo notably makes use of the TØP deep cut “Clear” from Regional at Best; it fits the theme perfectly. One last minor point: here’s Josh doing an unboxing video of his own drum. Hear that’s popular YouTube content.

Upcoming Shows:

Show 5: Schottenstein Center at Value City Arena, (6/25)

Capacity: 18,800

It’s all led up to this: the last show of the Blurryface era, and the last show for the foreseeable future. Despite being a tad smaller than Nationwide, this is the obvious spot to host the final concert: located on the Ohio State campus, the Schott was the first arena the boys ever headlined and is one of Columbus’s premier venues. I don’t know what to expect from this one. MisterWives are opening, so I think we’d be pretty safe in assuming that we should get a trumpet assist on a song or two. I doubt we’ll be getting too much else, but I do know one thing: that Trees Speech is gonna make me cry. The curtain’s falling on the Blurryface Era, ladies and gents. Hold each other.

BLIND SPECULATION OF THE WEEK:

Each concert so far has had a unique opening. Basement played some audio of Tyler and Josh talking to each other; Newport featured this image of the repeated word “WAIT”. Express featured an extended montage of the band’s history with a Nigel voiceover questioning “how many days” it takes to reach where the band is now. It is entirely possible that some of these things were actually features of the venue and have nothing to do with a Blurryface-style viral marketing campaign.

It’s all come down to this. Depending on what happens between now and then, next week’s update might be the last for a good while. We’ll see. Regardless, as always: Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #blurryface #tour de columbus #top weekly update

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angelarawlings-blog · 8 years ago

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Muscat to Muscat

Two days at sea to recharge our batteries after the 4 day Indian onslaught, so glad we did it and now it has given us the thought that we would like to see more by way of a land tour, to see the Taj Mahal, do an Indian safari & a trip up the Ganges - something to research! Dad & I got our photos entered into the photo competition, for $5 per photo (maximum of 8) the photo gallery will print your picture & display it with all the other entries - at the end of it you get to keep your photos, so it's a good way of getting an A4 print of your favourites. We saw them go up on the wall with all the other entries, 120 in all. There are 3 categories, Peoples choice (every passenger gets 1 vote), Photographers choice & Mickey Lives special award. We love the sea days, it gives you chance to catch your breath, relax, not adhere to a schedule but doing so anyway because of your inbuilt clock! It's so very hot and we enjoy sitting in the shade of our balcony, others are baking in the sun on the pool deck, everyone seems happy doing "their thing". Talks by guest speakers on different topics, quizzes, competitions, gambling in the casino, you can take part or do nothing - it's got something for everyone! We arrive in Muscat on Saturday 15th April, Stuart & I were here in December & had done a tour to the Grand Mosque, the Sultans Palace and a museum showing the history of Oman. This time we decided we would like to walk along the seafront to one of the lookout towers and take in the beauty of the coastline. It was such a hot day, we only got a few minutes out of the port & were questioning our sanity & ability to walk the distance but not wanting to admit defeat we carried on, stopping along the way to take photos, watch families fishing, a man swimming, the gardeners tending the public parks - we walked about 2.5 to 3 miles to the tower, where we climbed to the top & took in the views. The journey back was equally as interesting & hot! We walked along the other side of the road, finding shade to walk in - stopping at a local cafe on the way back, then looking around one of the oldest souks in Oman. The people in Oman are so friendly, they live together in peace - they have respect for each other and are an example to the world on what the Islamic faith is. (Many years ago we had a student live with our family, he was called Ebrahim Suheil Ali & he was from Muscat. He stayed with us twice, each time for 6 months, whilst he went to a local language school to learn English & also do some police training, he became part of our family, this gentle man. A few years later, whilst on duty (in his role in the police in Oman), Ebrahim had a terrible accident in his patrol car, which left him paralysed - the first we knew of this was when we got a phone call to say he was in the Wellington Humana hospital & was asking for his English family - without hesitation we jumped into the car & made the journey to London, Dad only realising he had left his slippers on when we stopped at the motorway services! This was the late 1970's and the Sultan had paid for his treatment in the U.K., he also sent him to the US to try & get him to walk again but sadly he did not. Every year we heard from him, he was married with 2 sons, when Stuart & I got married in 1987 we invited him to our wedding, he declined but wished us well, when my sister Susie married Bill we invited him but got no reply, neither did we get a Christmas card, this rang alarm bells with Mum & she contacted the embassy - weeKs later we learnt that Ebrahim had passed away. He always said that he would like us to visit his land - well here we are Ebrahim & your land is beautiful- we only wish you were here to see us visit, we now would like to see if we can find out what happened to his family & now we have been this we are going to try & do). We all wandered to the photo gallery this evening to see what the results were of the photo competition,as we thought it may have been announced earlier in the day, luckily we arrived 10 minutes before the announcement, people were milling around so we joined the waiting crowd. First one to be announced was the people's choice - with 15 votes a picture of 2 boys won. Next was the photographers choice - one of the photographers gave a talk on the rule of,thirds in photography - then announced the winning number, Stu looked at me & mouthed "it's yours" I shook my head at him thinking he had made a mistake! - but couldn't believe it that it actually was mine! Wow - there were so many fantastic pictures, I didn't set up the shot by rule of 3rds I just took it! Next was Mickeys special award, when he said he chose the photo, not knowing which one the photographers had chosen - I glanced at Dad - yes no fix at all Dads beautiful photo of the white throated Kingfisher was the winner! Jubilant & proud winners, Dad & I quietly sang we are the champions all the way back to the cabins! Dubai We had to clear immigration in Dubai, we docked at 12, cleared immigration by 1.15 & were on our way by taxi to the Dubai Mall, with temperatures hitting 40 degrees we thought this was a prudent activity - it is a spectacle to see, huge, with everything you could possibly wish for, from high end to a discount Japanese store, ice skating & dancing fountains. Fast food, slow food, tea, coffee, Waitrose(!) - you could get lost quite easily in here. Watching two of the fountain shows which give you a dazzling display every half hour from 6pm, one in the light & one as it became dusk we arrived back at the ship too late for dinner so enjoyed the buffet instead. Our last evening with Josh & Cathy as they are leaving us tomorrow. Abu Dhabi We must have docked very early in Abu Dhabi as we were alongside when we opened our curtains & the dock was alive with activity - Mum & Dad went to find Josh & Cathy before they departed. As we were back to back we did a tour of the sheikh Zayed Mosque & the heritage centre in Abu Dhabi - arriving at the Mosque we filed off the bus in the busy car park, passing the security guard he wouldn't let mum &'I pass and told us to stand to one side - the guide said we wouldn't be able to go in & would have to wait in the coach, disappointed at being inappropriately dressed (my cream long sleeved shirt deemed by its colour to be transparent - it wasn't. Mums thin scarf and possibly the hint of her ankles prevented her entry) we made our way back to the bus, then about 15 minutes later the guide came running, thrust a bag at us & said "your husband has bought these! Put them on quickly & come with me!" Donning our black abayas & covering our heads with a black scarf we moved incognito into the mosque. So glad we did, it was absolutely stunning, ornate, pristine breathtakingly beautiful - the largest mosque in the world! In the sweltering heat we visited the heritage centre, watching people perform traditional crafts in reconstructed ancient buildings, carving, boat making, carpentry, displays of swords & daggers, it was fascinating but we were all wilting in the heat. Back onboard we completed the lifeboat drill & set sail for the next leg of our journey, to Rome - first port of call Muscat! Muscat - again 😊 We've booked tours for this trip to Muscat, Mum & Dad are doing a boat trip to see if they can see any sea life, Stu & I are going to Nouvelle Nakhon Fort. On our way to the fort we call at the village of Barkha to visit the local fish market - here the local fishermen are selling their catch - huge tuna, squid and lots of smaller fish, some of which were still gasping 😔, that we don't know the names of - we watch the theatre of some men in an auction, the auctioneer moving the fish around on a tiled stage area as the bids come in - one fellow tourist asked me if they were playing a fish game! Onto the fort, which is believed to date back to the pre Islamic era & is located on the edge of the Jabal Akhdar mountains & overlooks vast palm orchards - it is spectacular as we walk in the heat through the sand coloured architecture contrasting with the bright blue sky. This fort has been renovated to its original glory, there are rooms set as they would have been with cushions laid onto carpet for guests to sit down on, wooden pegs sticking out of the wall for the weapons to be hung easy to believe you had stepped back in time, particularly as there were not lots of tour buses there at the same time! We stopped at the Al Thowarah hot spring on the way to our lunch stop - the water was at 40 degrees Celsius, so not a place for a cool off, but we sat on rocks with our feet in the water - Garra Rufa fish nibbled at the skin on our feet giving us a mini pedicure, 20 minutes later, our feet feeling clean & refreshed we walked back to the coach, passing through a group of men having a barbecue get together, we drove onto a resort hotel for a sumptuous buffet lunch - all too quickly, we were back to the ship, the heat was unrelenting - it had been 41 degrees Celsius - a dry, crackling heat, this is the end of their tourist season as within weeks it will be 50 to 55 degrees not a place for a holiday. Impressed by Oman again, the Sultan looks after his people, there's no tax, education, healthcare is all paid for, they pay very little for fuel, they get paid to go to university - the people can apply for interest free loans, at 21 they can apply for land (given free) on which to build a house - all this has come from the proceeds of the oil & a very fair ruler! Mum & Dad saw many dolphins on their boat trip, feeling it was cruel though with many motor boats corralling the dolphins, they were not out there too long but Dad got some great photos!

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esaigonzalez · 8 years ago

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The Media’s Comparison to LeBron James V. Colin Kaepernick’s Stand

On July 13th, 2016 it was the 24th annual ESPY’S award ceremony in which LeBron James and fellow friends and former teammates Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul gave a speech in which they address what we can do as people and what his fellow athletes and peers can do that can change the violence and take stand against police brutality. In which during the speech James went to say "Tonight we're honoring Muhammad Ali, the GOAT," he said. "But to do his legacy any justice, let's use this moment as a call to action to all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence and, most importantly, go back to our communities, invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better." After the ESPY’S aired the next few weeks’ analysts from different sports programs gave LeBron praise for standing up to something that is right. While analyzing LeBron’s preach for social activism I decided to analyze it through a Marxist approach in which LeBron’s stand was in the form of superstructure which consists of institutions such as political, legal, educational, cultural, etc. and they are also generated by forms of social consciousness such as political, religious, ethical, philosophical, aesthetic, and cultural. With race, racism, and representation we as a society can understand where LeBron comes from when he wants his fellow peers to take stand and speak up to the issues that are hurting this country. The reason why we understand his call to action is because growing in a dangerous neighborhood with just his mother we see why he feels the way he does due to fact he didn’t escape these issues until he became a pro in 2003.

Throughout the pre-season and regular season of football Colin Kaepernick received heavy backlash, hate, and threats from fans across football and analysts who described his actions as anti-American. During this Colin Kaepernick stated that he could stand for the national anthem with a country that had all problems with its police force and the president’s running for office. With his stand he started a new type of social justice that would resonate with his peers throughout football as others started to do the same as Kaepernick by kneeling or sitting during the national anthem or others put their fists in the air like the black panthers did back in the late 1960s. Even though this was social and a political message many fans hated Kaepernick for this protest as 49ers fans would take to YouTube and make videos of themselves burning his jersey and using racial slurs in the process. Even football analysts questioned Kaepernick’s stand due to the fact that his race consist of being black and white many people what does he know about struggling in a white privilege society. Rodney Harrison former safety of the New England Patriots who know is on the NBC pregame show said during Kaepernick’s protest “Obviously he has the right to stand up for what he believes, but he has to understand there are consequences and might be backlash for what he said. You know a lot of people are criticizing him — I think his heart is in the right place, I just think he was going about it in the wrong way,” he said on Tuesday morning on SportsTalk 790. “If he really wants to make change, sitting his butt down [during the anthem], that’s not going to change, that’s going to get people very upset and he has to understand that. If you think sitting during the national anthem, a lot of people really served before his time, now, trying to give him the freedoms and the liberties that he has … and I tell you this, I’m a black man. And Colin Kaepernick — he’s not black. He cannot understand what I face and what other young black men and black people face, or people of color face, on a every single [day] basis. When you walk in a grocery store, and you might have $2,000 or $3,000 in your pocket and you go up in to a Foot Locker and they’re looking at you like you about to steal something. I don’t think he faces those types of things.” As we look at the backlash Kaepernick received it wasn’t an issue to people that he was trying to make social statement it was an issue that his racial background was both white and black. In the study of race, racism, and representation it talks about whiteness in society, as whiteness is judged as privileged, natural, normal, and universal. Also in the study of race it goes on and talks about how whiteness is more of a “dominant coloring, it operates as an unmarked human norm, and it is against this norm that other ethnicities are invited to measure themselves”.

To continue on the media’s comparison of LeBron’s and Kaepernick’s stand on injustices going in America. There was heavy difference in the twos appearances when they took their stand. When LeBron gave his call to action to change America he was well dressed in an all-black tuxedo with a clean haircut. As opposed to Colin Kaepernick’s appearance where he first started out with a large afro which can be compared to the Black Panthers who were a rebel group which took place during the civil rights movement. He would later go on to change his hairstyle from an afro to cornrows to further his black roots. He would also make fashion statements throughout his stand with him wearing socks that pigs with police officer hats on to say that the cops are pigs, and at the start of his stand he wore a t-shirt that was written in Islamic language which translated to Allah Akbar. When Kaepernick made this move it got both presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton to give their opinion on the Colin’s shirt. “Kaepernick stands with me against America. I co-founded the Islamic State and appreciate Colin’s work to make terrorism the ‘new normal. “We need to worry more about the alt-right than the soldiers of Allah, may peace be upon him, in our midst. I look forward to Colin releasing a new Allah Akbar line of pant suits. I will be honored to wear one.” “We will destroy the Islamic State and radical Islam. Call me Islamophobic and a card carrying member of the alt-right. I wear those titles as a matter of pride. While Kaepernick sits on his a__ during our National Anthem, I stand with the American people! Make America Great Again.” As we see Colin was giving a mixture of positive and negativity but as comes to LeBron’s speech no one criticized him for the stand or judged as heavily as Kaepernick this could for different reason could be that LeBron is a big influence to kids that whatever he does he’s considered a role model, is it the fact that he was clothing that doesn’t seem to many as anti- American or could be because of his legacy he know not to ruin it but he can make speech that doesn’t sound hateful or angry just calm and convincing enough to make us appreciate and understand and try our best as average citizens to change the issues that LeBron called out.

After the election of Donald Trump who became our 45th president of the United States it came out that Colin Kaepernick said in an interview on November 15th, 2016 “I thought a lot of different things about the process and what I could and couldn't do," Kaepernick said. "Once again, the system of oppression is what I have an issue with." "There's more than one way to create change." "Once again, I addressed that, I continue to address it, I don't agree with the system of oppression and that's something I will continue to not agree with," Kaepernick said. On Wednesday, Kaepernick told Arizona reporters on a conference call that it "didn't matter" who won the election because neither candidate was a good choice. On Sunday, Kaepernick said he felt it would be hypocritical for him to vote because it would be the equivalent of showing support for a system he doesn't believe in. He also said the choice of Trump should increase the urgency for everyone to work toward solutions to make the system better. "I think everybody should feel urgency to make sure that we're doing the right thing, building things the right way in order to be able to protect ourselves from what may come from this," Kaepernick said. After this was released Stephen A. Smith an analyst for the ESPN show First Take became very angry with Kaepernick by going on an interview on CNN with Michael Smerconish, Smith would go on to say "I thought it compromised everything that he was standing for," he said. "And more importantly I thought it was a disrespect to our ancestors, to people who have bled and fought and died for him to have the right to do that." "I'm saying that he himself compromised his own message and because of that I don't want to listen to him anymore because the number one tool that we have in America to provoke change is our power to vote. It's something that we fought for. It's something that was exacted to us in 1964/1965. How in god's name can you sit up there and justify not voting?" he said.

In my opinion I believe that both stands where needed with all the injustices that was going on in America over the summer without this we would still have possibly more violent protest with LeBron’s or Colin’s stand. For me I supported both athletes stand because there was a problem with America without it I think there would still violent protest breaking out, killings and other issues that were dividing us as Americans. Even though Colin ruined his stand by releasing his statement to public about not voting and having people supported turn his back on him. In conclusion I think a way we can fix the media’s judging of people is look through the study of Marxism and use what Gramsci calls a ‘compromise equilibrium’ in which he says that “From this perspective, popular culture is a contradictory mix of competing interests and values: neither middle, nor working class, neither racist nor non-racist, neither sexist nor nonsexist, neither homophobic nor hemophilic… but always a shifting balance between the two.

Sources

Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Print.

King, Alexandra. "ESPN Host Slams Kaepernick for Not Voting." CNN. Cable News Network, 3 Dec. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

"LeBron James on Social Activism: 'We All Have to Do Better'." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 14 July 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

Wagoner, Nick. "Colin Kaepernick on Not Voting: 'There's More than One Way to Create Change'." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 15 Nov. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

Swier, Dr. Rich. "Dr. Rich Swier." Dr Rich Swier. Dr. Rich Swier Http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png, 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

Mandell, Nina. "Rodney Harrison Criticizes Colin Kaepernick's Protest: He's Not Black." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 30 Aug. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCjMvEdPi30

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2016/sep/02/why-colin-kaepernick-not-standing-national-anthem-video

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hellofastestnewsfan · 6 years ago

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WEST DES MOINES, Iowa—Demographically and economically, Iowa isn’t actually that representative of the country as a whole. But even as the demographics and economics make it less like the rest of America, Iowa’s absurdly outsize role in picking the leader of the free world remains.

Enter two candidates, in the space of 48 hours, who both see the state as crucial: two women, two senators, two former local prosecutors, two people who had breakout moments during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings last fall, two presidential hopefuls on their second trips to Iowa since launching their campaigns.

[Read: Amy Klobuchar for president?]

Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris need the same thing, but they need it for opposite reasons.

Literally dozens more Democrats are in or circling the race. But the dynamics between these two, both doing well in early polls, contrast familiar Midwest pragmatism with diverse Left Coast progressivism. And most important for the ultra-energized voters here: Who is best to beat Donald Trump?

[Read: Kamala Harris’s campaign strategy—don’t pick a lane]

For Klobuchar, Iowa is her neighbor to the south—“We can see it from our porch in Minnesota” is the line she uses—conveniently located in geography and order on the primary calendar. A win in the Iowa caucuses could validate her pitch that the 2020 election is calling out for someone who can link the years her grandfather spent working in a mine to the “grit” to stand in a snowstorm for her own campaign announcement two weeks ago, and connect a purported hard-nosed pragmatism to years of big wins in her home state. For Harris, the state is the essential test of whether the parts of the country far from the square in Oakland where 22,000 stood in the streets for her announcement rally last month are really ready for a half-Jamaican, half-Indian woman from California who speaks bluntly about what’s gone wrong with America.

On Thursday night, Klobuchar was at the United Auto Workers hall, the featured guest at the Ankeny County Democrats annual dinner. On Saturday night, Harris was on the other side of town at the United Steelworkers hall, keynoting the Iowa Democratic Party Black Caucus. Klobuchar, as she always does, built her speech up to a quote from Walter Mondale, talking about Jimmy Carter’s presidency: “We told the truth, we obeyed the law, we kept the peace.” Harris, as is her custom, progressed to a paraphrase of Coretta Scott King: “The fight for justice and the fight for civil rights must be fought and won with each generation.”

Afterward, I asked Klobuchar what she thought being a senator from Minnesota, compared with being a senator from California, would mean to Iowa.

“It means that for me, going south for the winter is going to Iowa. It’s easier to get here,” she said. “It’s important to have a lot of people running, but I am a candidate from the heartland, and it’s an important part of our path to success in the general election.”

[Graeme Wood: The two Amy Klobuchars]

Was she arguing that senators from the coasts—not just Harris, but Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Kirsten Gillibrand—wouldn’t be able to win?

“Senators from the coast have won in the heartland in the past. So I don’t think it’s that. It’s that my No. 1 request was to be on the Agriculture Committee. I served on that committee for 12 years. I’ve played a major role in getting the farm bill passed,” she said. “I know these issues here.”

Klobuchar likes talking about herself as an underdog, and structurally that’s how she started a campaign that many people thought she wasn’t actually going to go through with. She’s short on campaign staff, here and nationally, and arrived with just one person on her payroll and a handful of others who’d come in as volunteers. She had a surge of online fundraising after she announced, but aides have acknowledged in conversations with others that money is going to be a scramble and that her best hope is to scrape by enough to make it through Iowa, and then count on an explosion of interest if she wins to carry her over.

And so she lays it on thick, talking about the two states’ main agricultural exports, or how they both put a premium on butter-carving contests. On the list of ways the states are similar that she read from on Thursday evening: “You have the world-famous matchstick museum, and we have the only museum in the world devoted to Spam—or, as we call it, the ‘Guggen-ham.’”

But her main argument is that the country needs a pragmatic president, and that starts with making a pragmatic argument for why she should be the nominee.

“We need to win. So here’s my deal: I have won every single congressional district in the state of Minnesota, including Michele Bachmann’s, three times,” Klobuchar said, referring to the former congresswoman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate who helped popularize Tea Party politics in the run-up to a campaign that got much more attention than actual votes. With Democrats nationally nervous that Minnesota is in danger of slipping away—in a shocker, it had the smallest margin of any state Hillary Clinton won in 2016, and Trump’s campaign has been public about Minnesota being at the top of its 2020 target list—Klobuchar leaned in.

“He has said to me several times, ‘I would have won Minnesota if I went back there again,’” she said, attempting a Trump impression that leans more on making the president sound dumb than making him sound like he’s from Queens, New York.

Harris landed here after two weeks of a sublimated freak-out, churned by Republican websites, that all tracked back to her being black. Just a sampling of the stirred-up controversies: Is she black enough? What does it mean that her husband is not black, but Jewish? How does she use hot sauce? What were the circumstances when she smoked pot? How extensive and authentic is her knowledge of rap music? Did she really order chicken and waffles at a famous soul-food restaurant?

[Jemele Hill: Kamala Harris’s blackness isn’t up for debate]

Harris had only briefly passed through Iowa since making her candidacy official, popping in to do a CNN town hall on her way back to Washington after the Oakland kickoff rally. But the state is key for her too: She wants a top finish here next February that would solidify her as a front-runner and give her the momentum going into a four-week blitz around the country in which most of the delegates will be awarded. Her expectation is that there wouldn’t be enough time or money for even the best political organization to keep up with her if she racked up enough early wins to create the momentum and a sense of inevitability.

This second trip was a full weekend of town halls and local Democratic events that she kicked off by greeting Asians and Latinos at the state capitol. She was trailed everywhere by the cameras and the staff entourage that mark a candidate being thought of as a front-runner.

Already in two weeks as a candidate, Klobuchar has started wearing creases into some of the lines she keeps using. Harris, meanwhile, has been delivering the same stump speech almost verbatim since hitting the midterm trail (including here in Iowa) in October, telling the same jokes, as if each time an ad lib has just come to her, like when she mocks smooth-talking candidates for sprinkling “lovely dust.” Beyond the performance skills as a candidate that Harris is demonstrating as she continues to introduce herself to voters who’ve never seen her in person before, she notably does not vary the speech much, no matter who’s in the crowd. Some bits get cycled in more frequently when she’s in front of minority audiences, like when she hammers the wage gap for black and Latino women, or mentions the radically higher mortality rate for new mothers, but nearly every audience hears her talk about Russian interference, just like nearly every audience hears her say that parents of 12-year-old black boys shouldn’t have to sit down with their sons and have “the talk” about how police are more likely to harass them because of the color of their skin.

Everywhere, Harris keeps to her “Let’s speak some truths,” rhetorical spine, and every time, it builds up to the same one: the truth that there is more that unites Americans than divides them, despite the efforts of Trump.

“Part of our strength as a nation is we are aspirational,” she said in her opening remarks at her town hall on Saturday afternoon. “Part of our strength is we will always fight to get to that place. Let’s hold on to our nature.”

It’s a call to unite behind her, and to believe that others will unite behind her, specifically because she is different and can piece a broken nation back together.

Maybe it was that the town hall was on a college campus in Ankeny, or that no one had to pay for a seat, or maybe that Harris is already being treated as a political celebrity, but the crowd was not only bigger—it was younger and significantly more diverse. By Saturday night, when she drove through a blizzard from a soup dinner in Ames to make it to the United Steelworkers hall for the Black Caucus event in West Des Moines, the crowd wasn’t as big as Klobuchar’s sold-out dinner two nights earlier. But those in attendance responded more enthusiastically to having Harris in the room.

Based on the questions they’re getting and the conversations they’re having while shaking hands in the crowds, Klobuchar is still being treated as an interesting person voters want to get to know, while Harris is being looked at as someone people are trying to squint at and see as a nominee.

That’s how Klobuchar and Harris are putting themselves out there as well.

“I have grit,” Klobuchar said on Thursday night. “And I have friends and I have great neighbors in Iowa. And I have every reason to believe I can do this.”

“I intend to spend a lot of time in Iowa,” Harris said on Saturday afternoon, doing her best to project strength. “I intend to win.”

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2tAiRqC

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