#and i know it's common among artists for the high effort pieces to not do as well as the scribbles

[seagullcharmer]

me when i want to just go ahead and post my art but it's not finished yet

[kenobihater]

You’re (Probably) Drawing Archers Wrong

Hello, my name is Len and I’ve shot archery as a hobby for as long as I can remember. I have a problem: fanart depicting archery is oftentimes Very Wrong! I feel like most of this stems from not using good reference pictures, and from a general lack of knowledge. So, I wanted to create a post for anyone interested in accurately drawing an archer! Disclaimer: this is not a comprehensive post or a tutorial on how to shoot, and is intended for artists. That said, if you’re interested in archery, you may still find value in this post, though I recommend doing your own research. I’m certain there will be errors here considering I do this as a hobby not a profession, and I welcome corrections. Finally, archery can be dangerous, and even if you don’t read any more of this post, PLEASE read the safety section.

Safety

This part is going to be a PSA, because the thought of someone reading my post, getting into archery themselves, and doing these things? It terrifies me. So, rules number one, two, and three are: never aim at another person (duh), never use a damaged bow or arrows, and never, NEVER dry fire a bow. Dry firing means drawing back and releasing the string without an arrow. This can make your bow EXPLODE. It can hurt you, and even if your bow doesn’t explode, it’s fucked it up so bad that you should never shoot that bow again. Don’t do it, and don’t draw art of people doing it. Okay, PSA done, now onto the rest of the post.

There’s a TL;DR at the bottom!

First thing’s fist: the equipment! Archery requires four things: a bow, a quiver, arrows, and protective equipment (which is usually what I see most posts lacking). The first thing you should do before you draw your archer is decide what type of bow to give them. I’m not covering crossbows because I’ve only shot one once and I also Hate Them. There are three main types of bows: longbows, recurves, and compounds.

Bows

There are two different types of bows that are commonly called a longbow: English longbows, and flatbows (yes I’m considering flatbows a type of longbow to simplify things). English longbows are very large and have a very high draw weight (which means it’s hard to pull the sting back). These were used mainly by the English in the Middle Ages. Flatbows are typically smaller and have a lower draw weight as well as a slightly different profile. These were mainly used by Native American tribes such as the Hupa, the Karuk, and the Wampanoag, as well as prehistoric Europeans and the Finnish, among others. It is often seen in historical fiction and fantasy, and the English longbow is usually depicted as Robin Hood’s preferred bow type. I believe Katniss uses a flatbow in the beginning of Hunger Games, but don’t quote me on that.

Recurves have limbs that curve outwards and are smaller than longbows. Many, many cultures have used these, including but not limited to certain West-coast Native American tribes, the Mongols, the Scythians, the Greeks, the Turks, the Koreans, and the Chinese. Recurves can be made of either wood or of a combination of wood, horn, and glue, making them either composite or non-composite. These are the bows you typically see mounted archers using, and are often used in competitions today. It’s commonly seen in fantasy, and is the bow type used by Legolas, Tauriel, Katniss Everdeen in Mockingjay, Merida, Green Arrow has a lever action, and Hawkeye uses a silly collapsible one.

Compound bows are the most commonly used bow among hunters, are almost always made of fiberglass and either carbon fiber or aluminum, are Technical Looking, and pack the biggest punch for the least amount of effort. It’s a modern invention used worldwide. I don’t know where else to put this, but almost everyone who I know that shoots a compound uses something called a trigger release (pictured below) to draw back the string because it means your release is cleaner.

So, those are the main types of bow! Google which bow would be appropriat for the era and region your character is from, or if they’re from space or an alternate dimension, pick whichever you think fits the character the best.

Quivers

There are two types of quiver: back quivers, like Legolas wears, and hip quivers, like those used in the Olympics. Which quiver you should use varies from culture to culture and time period to time period. If it’s fantasy, set in modern day, or set in the future, you can chose whichever you prefer.

Arrows

Arrows can have shafts of wood or fiberglass, can have real feathers or synthetic for fletching, and can have countless different types of heads. The main two that are in use today are called field points and broadheads, and most commercial arrow shafts allow you to freely switch them out.

The arrow on the top is a field point, used only for target practice, and the arrow on the bottom is a broadhead, used only for hunting or war. You never hunt with a field point, and never practice with a broadhead. Basically every fictional character out there is shooting to kill, so they’ll all use either a broadhead, or a culturally appropriate variation of deadly arrowhead (bodkin, scythian, flint, etc). Do your research! A Native American wouldn’t use a bodkin, and a Scythian wouldn’t use a flint arrowhead!

Protective Equipment

The one really necessary piece of protective equipment is hand protection. If your character uses a three fingered draw or a pinch draw (we’ll speak on draws later), they need either an archery tab, or an archery glove. If your character is using a thumb draw, they need a thumb ring. These three pieces of equipment keep archers from getting blisters and damaged skin.

This is a tab.

This is the type of glove that I use. All an archery glove needs to do is protect your three draw fingers, but it can be more traditionally glove-like than this one. I’ve even seen ones that are a combination leather bracer and archery glove that give big Fantasy Vibes.

This is a ring. Some historical ones can get REAL ornate and pretty.

Another piece of protective equipment that is commonly used is an arm guard or a bracer. Not everyone uses one, because if your form is good the string should not be hitting your arm, so you can get away with not giving your character one. They can vary in style from something like the more minimal one below up to a full leather bracer.

Form

Form can vary greatly and I’m not about to diss other archery disciplines especially ones I’m ignorant on, so just know that not every culture has the same form. I’m just going to cover a few cultures’ variations, and what I’ve been taught by 21st century Midwest archers. There are several aspects to form, as form is just another term for “everything pertaining to how you shoot”. I’m going to break it down into stance, posture, draw, elbow discipline, holding the bow, and anchor. These are not the only aspects of form (there’s aiming, release, and breath control), but these are the only relevant aspects to drawing archers. I will not be covering mounted archery because I’m sadly ignorant on the topic. I recommend doing your own research and looking into Mongolian mounted archery.

Stance

The thing all stances have in common is that you should put your feet a shoulder-length apart, balance your weight equally between both feet, keep your knees slightly bent, and stand facing approximately 90 degrees away from your target. There are three stances that are common that I’m aware of: squared, open, and closed.

Squared stance means keeping both feet squared up to an imaginary line. Open means that you’re facing slightly towards the target. Closed means you’re facing slightly away. I vary between square and open, and to be honest I’ve never noticed a difference. So long as you draw your character standing with a stable stance, facing away from the target, you should be good.

Posture

Your posture should be with your back straight, your hips squared, and should never have you leaning. Below is one of my favorite archery pictures, not only because I love Marilyn, but because it is a great illustration of what not to do posture wise.

See how she’s leaning back? Yeah, don’t draw your character like that, it looks foolish.

Draw

There are four different types of draw that I’m aware of, I’m educated on three, and I have experience with one (though I’m itching to learn to thumb draw). The types of draw are three fingered draw, otherwise known as Mediterranean draw, pinch draw, thumb draw aka Mongolian draw, and Japanese draw, or torikake. I know fuck all about Japanese draws, so I’m not going to speak out of my ass on topics I don’t understand (if anyone reading practices traditional Japanese archery I would love if you chimed in!). I highly recommend doing your own research on which civilization your character comes from and which draw they use, especially if it’s Japanese because I’m not covering that here.

First up is three-fingered. This is the draw I use, and it’s the most common draw in my limited experience in the Midwestern archery community. It is common in Europe and the Middle East. It requires you to use three fingers, partially wrapped around the string. You do not pinch the arrow. Most people place their index finger above the arrow and their middle and ring finger below, though I’ve seen all different variations. If your character is right handed and uses this draw, draw the arrow on the left side of the bow. Lefties do the inverse, and make sure and draw a left handed bow while you’re at it.

Next is the pinch draw. I’ve never shot with this, nor seen it used. It was common in the Americas and for a time in Ancient Greece. You’re supposed to physically pinch the arrow between your thumb and index finger. Your character would need a full archery glove if you draw them with this grip. The release is supposed to be smooth because there’s only one point of contact, rather than three. I believe you would place the arrow on the right side of the bow when using this technique, but I cannot speak with certainty as I’ve never seen it done (again, lefties would do the opposite).

Last but not least is the thumb or Mongolian draw, though it is/was also widespread in Korea, China, Russia, Persia, Turkey, and the Roman and Byzantine Empires. In this draw you wrap your thumb completely around the string and tuck it behind your other fingers. You do not grab the arrow. This draw utilizes your strongest digit, and so it may be less strenuous than other draws. This draw is commonly used with mounted archery. If your character is right handed and using this draw, put the arrow on the right side of the bow (lefties, do the inverse).

Elbows

Another aspect of your draw that is important is elbow discipline. The elbow of your character’s string hand should not point up into the air. It should point straight back, like the picture below.

Now, the other elbow is important, too. Don’t draw them with a locked elbow, instead keep it slightly bent and rotated inwards, like the picture below.

Holding the Bow

Your character shouldn’t have a death grip on the bow. Instead, show it resting in the curve between the thumb and index finger. Here’s a wikihow article that describes the different ways to hold different types of bows that is more succinct than I could ever be. Ignore the crossbow (derogatory).

Anchor 

Everyone needs an anchor. What’s an anchor, you ask? An anchor is a fixed spot that you draw your string back to whenever you’re going to shoot. It’s necessary in order to ensure consistency, which is accuracy’s best friend. Your anchor spot can vary. I anchor at the corner of my lip. Some people anchor underneath their chin. Some anchor to their ear. I’ve even seen some people in Asian disciplines anchor behind the ear or almost above the head, which is incredibly impressive. Bottom line, unless your character’s archery discipline has them draw behind the ear or above the head, you need to have them touching their head somewhere. The only wrong anchor is a short anchor. If you can’t draw the string back far enough to touch your face, that means you’re either trying to draw back a bow with too high a poundage, or the draw length is too short for you. The picture above of the person with the compound trigger release has a good anchor point on their face. The picture of the person with the arm guard has a good anchor point under their chin.

This person, on the other hand? Their anchor is out in space, that is to say they don’t have one (also their elbow discipline, posture, and stance are atrocious). I see this in fanart ALL THE TIME. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Don’t do this, have them anchor to their head or behind it somewhere.

Carrying The Bow

The best way is to just carry it in your hand by the bow (not the string). You can give your character a bow sling, or a back mount like Legolas has as well. You can slip the string over your shoulder and wear it across your back in a pinch, though this may damage the string. The only really wrong way to carry a bow is by the string, though you can damage your bow carrying it on your back if you’re stupid, and I’ve never tried to do so with a compound. Too pokey.

TL;DR

If you’re drawing a fantasy character, go buck wild. Still make sure to give them the right type of arrowhead, hand protection of some sort, a strong stance (no kneeling or sitting), good posture, a sensible draw, elbow discipline, an anchor point (don’t be like the person above!), and a good way to carry their bow, but you can have fun with the rest. If you’re drawing a character from history, research the archery discipline they would most likely use, and draw them with the appropriate bow type, quiver, arrows, protective equipment, stance, posture, draw, elbow discipline, anchor, and bow carry.

[ac3id]

The Artist and His Majesty| 18+

𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝒿𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓎 0 / 5 | fantasy au. 

chapter i , chapter ii

pairings: yandere! emperor! shigaraki x female! reader.

warnings: [series] dubcon, exhibitionism, size difference, degradation, masturbation, bondage, reader is also kind of delusional, death, violence (not on reader). (there are more but i can’t think right now.]

↪ for chapter 0: none !!

summary: you come to the big city in hopes of starting your career as an artist but things take a shocking turn when you’re recruited as the court painter for the royal palace.

↪ for chapter 0: a strange man approaches you, offering to buy your painting to which you oblige. little do you know that it kicks of a series of unfortunate events ending with you being trapped in shigaraki tomura’s clutches forever.

wordcount. 

a/n: finally !! i started this series. high-key inspired by these two dresses in my wardrobe and @ana-list‘s this  drawing ! seriously it’s literally everything. also thank you once again for proof reading this @the-grimm-writer ! 

taglist: @shigaraki-is-my-master, @deathmemeiverse, @n4dhii, @bat-eclecticwolfbouquet-love, @mstssister, @nereida19, @prince-zukohere [dm to be added/ removed.]

“That’s a beautiful painting,” a rough, scruffy voice calls out, jerking you away from your daydreams. Your grip around the color canvas resting in your arms tightens as you glance behind your shoulder to see a well-built man standing right behind you. He’s tall and a lot older than you, he has short grey hair which falls right before his eyebrows along beautiful, matching grey eyes. A cigar hangs lazily from his lips as he occasionally huffs on it, blowing clouds of smoke out his mouth. He’s dressed in expensive robes, a choice of style only people better off could afford. You can’t help exachaning a covetous glance between his expensive suit and your sloppy, knee-length, light green dress. “Thank you.” you murmur shoving him an appreciative look, hoping he’d leave you alone. When you come to the city to complete your studies in art, you mother, father, family and friends had warned you about men like these. Rich, snobby men who liked to lure in young, naive girls. Whispering praises of how they are the most unique on the planet so they pull their guard down form them to take advantage of the helpless beings. 

“Can I take a better look? It’s the Emperor, is it not? Your painting. ” You hesitate before turning back to him. Not a lot of people had seen the King to be. He lived humbly in his castle, trying his best to not indulge in the affairs of the common people. “ Yes,” you hold up the slightly small canvas (courtesy of you being broke the entire week and not being able to save up to buy a bigger canvas). To even get an idea of Shigaraki Tomura, you had to go through many people. Not a lot of people had seen his face, he had always kept it hidden under a mask. No one knew why he did so but the many conspiracy throes suggested it was something to do with his personal grief.

 You had heard many stories about him. Some made him look like a spoiled brat with a demeaning, ignorant personality who didn’t care for others and as the rumors said: self destructive habits which lead him to tear the skin of his own neck down whenever he got anxious or frustrated. 

Others portrayed him as a strong, confident man and a reliable leader who cared for his comrades. You did not know which one of the two personas brought him your attention but you couldn’t complain. Tomura had caught you under a spell, and despite never meeting him (and knowing full well you never would), you were still ready to sacrifice your life for him. He was your King even before he had taken his crown, to you he looked like a shining bright light ready to enlighten you. To you, he was a god. And as years passed by, he grew from a caterpillar into a cocoon which was ready to burst open as a butterfly into the beautiful, mysterious world. And it was happening today, Prince Tomura Shigaraki’s Coronation ceremony. After the passing of All For One, it was his turn to take the crown and fulfill his duty as the ruler of the nation

 The entire city was busy, bustling with people. Families, friends and everyone in between gathered around the huge castle walls as they waited for the ceremony to begin. They waited patiently, filled with excitement and joy as they waited to catch a glimpse of the new great King. You were among them. You had come down to the centre of the city with your friends, waiting alongside many to catch a glimpse of the new ruler. The painting which nestled in your hand was something you were hoping to sell today, to a shop or anyone who wants to have it. It was a beautiful painting which had taken you several days to complete, and dare you say it, you were quite proud of it. From all the things you had heard about Tomura, you had managed to sketch him decently. Long white, wavy hair reaching till his shoulder, skin white as snow. He sat proudly on his throne wearing a cape with his vermillion eyes peering through your soul. His face was scarcely detailed as you did not have much idea about it but he still looked ethereal. With little scars running both his eyes and a comparatively larger one on his right. Chapped lips with even more scars running over them wildly, he was not conventionally attractive. No one would call him a pretty boy yet there was something more, something alluring which attracted  you to him. His beauty was rare, not in the grasp of many but if it was grasped and held close to the heart, it was hard to let go off. And you found him attractive, very attractive. 

The man took a good look at your painting, examining it carefully and for a second you really thought he had seen the mysterious Prince. “It’s quite similar to him,” he sends you a friendly grin and you notice a tooth from his front missing, leaving an uncomfortable gap. “Have you seen him before?” he asked and you shake your head, no. He gives you an amused expression, “I must say, you are very talented, miss…?” you complete your name with a nervous smile. “And you are?” you ask. 

You realised that you were getting a little too comfortable with the stranger and it could be a really bad decision but you can’t help but give him the benefit of the doubt as he behaves like a gentleman you can find yourself to trust. “Kagero Okuta but I like to go by Giran,” he says with a lop-sided grin. Giran, you’ve heard the name before but cannot recall where and how. It sounds so familiar but you just can’t grasp it, he looked wealthy so you assumed he was a Noble and that made you even more curious as to why he was speaking to you.

 “What are you planning to do with that painting?” he asks, diving a closer look and admiring its features. “I must say, you’ve got it quite accurate but,” you stiffen, your hands growing cold as your heartbeat picks up. You realized your painting must have some complications, drawing a man you had never seen before purely out of your interpretation was a hard and a bold task to do. But to have someone who had actually seen the King for himself pinpoint your mistakes sent a rush of anxiety through your veins.

 “He’s not that bony.” He completes and you gulp nervously, looking down at your painting in disappointment. Your eyes are filled with disappointment,  all of the time and effort you spent making the piece all for it go in vain just because you missed a small detail. Giran notices your remorse and speaks up, “But that’s quite alright. He looked just like that until a while ago,” he hadn’t meant to offend or hurt you. He still believed your painting was the most beautiful thing he had seen all day.

 “What do you mean?” you ponder, giving him a perplexed look. He leans  in closer to you as if to tell a secret, “let’s say the King has been working out behind closed doors.” you blink in confusion. It was a strange thing to say, exactly how well did this man know the Emperor? Who was it that you were talking? 

“Who are you?” you can’t help but question, bewildered by such a character. Giran says nothing. He just stares at you with his lips curled into a snappy smirk, holding his cigar between his lips. He was not going to tell you anything. Without wasting time, he quickly changes the topic. “What are you going to do with that painting?” he repeats, his voice growing impatient.

 “I am planning to sell it,” you feel a bit taken back. The friendly aura which had Giran had now disappeared for a reason you could not conclude. “Sell it? To whom?” the intruding nature of his tone starts to make you uncomfortable, there’s nothing more you want to do other than get far away from him. Yet you still find yourself answering him, “To anyone who wants it.” he hums at your response, his eyes holding a mocking glint. “Wouldn’t you like to give it to the Emperor himself?” you frown, was he mocking you? 

“That’s well...impossible.” you reply, stretching your neck awkwardly. “To you, maybe.” 

You stop yourself from rolling your eyes, this man was really testing your patience. A part of you tells you to ignore him and walk away but as he reaches into his coat and pulls out a bag of coins worth much more than you could ever earn in a month, he has you hooked yet again. 

“Hey, let me buy that painting, would yer’?” 

.

..

..

“What is the problem now?” Giran takes a seat around the round table. It was late after the Coronation ceremony and the Royal palace was already facing problems. Giran was disappointed but definitely not surprised. After all, he was their personal problem solver and broker. “It’s not that big of a deal.” A curt and hard reply cut him off.

 “It actually is, Shigaraki Tomura.” a voice speaks, coming from a man dressed in a black suit with a long, flowy robe covering his entire body. He stands taller than the other two men in the as his head is replaced with a wisp of smoke. He was none other than the trusted and talented magician of the Royal family. With eccentric features and an ability to wield strange magic, nobody knew where he came from. There were many rumors about him; that he was once a normal, handsome man cursed by a witch that turned him into a hideous monster or he simply was a ghost. “What is it, Kurogiri?” Giran rephrases his question, directing it to the other man. “We need a new painter,-” 

“Servant.” Shigaraki corrected. He stood in front of the giant windows glancing over his city as his men talked about hiring a new painter for the castle. He couldn’t care less about such tedious tasks, he had his focus set on greater things like expanding his territory, taking back stolen land. 

“What happened to Mr. Kyo?” Giran asked, Shigaraki rolled his eyes at the mention of the name and clicked his tongue, “His Majesty eliminated him.” Giran stops himself from laughing out loud. He was certain once Shigaraki would take over the throne incidents like so would double the instant. But he was expecting it to happen so soon. “And why was that?” 

“He was breathing too loud, like you are right now.” 

A cold silence broke over the room as Giran counted his breath. Kurogiri looked nervously at Shigaraki who still had his back turned to them. The longer the pause grew, the dreadful the atmosphere became. Shigaraki’s threat strung the air loud and clear and Giran was afraid to speak again. “What we are asking for is that-,” Kurogiri started in a calm, slow tone easing the tension in the room. “-we need a new court painter. Do you have any names?” 

The murderous sent in the air magically disappeared as a grin stretched across Giran’s face. 

“Aren’t you in luck?” He says, running a hand through his hair before taking a puff out of his cigar. “Does that mean you know someone?” Kurogiri questioned. Giran hummed, “You see, I met this beautiful painter today. She’s extremely talented and I know for a fact she will love working for the castle.” 

“What’s the name?” growing impatient, Shigaraki asks. “Oh, it was,” Giran pauses for a moment to recall. 

“Ah yes, Y/N L/N.” 

[mmvalentine]

The Pianist pt 1 | Jurdan

Modern AU. Okay so this is the first time I'm trying a Jurdan AU, dunno how's gonna go so don't get too excited okay?

*Update: Read part 2*

Jude had lived in the same apartment for years, and refused to leave. It was small, but rent controlled, and there was no way she could afford to stay in New York if she lived anywhere else. So despite the feeling that she was slowly going insane, she stayed.

The apartment building was not too far from the Juilliard school, and Jude both hated and loved this about her place. Of course all she had ever wanted to do was make music, but she was raised by a single father who remarried a woman who hated her, and a performing arts school was just never in the cards for her. She hadn’t even finished high school- left home young, went somewhere she could be surrounded art, and tried to be content living life among artists even if all she could do was wait tables for snotty rich conservatory students.

The worst of all of them was Cardan.

Cardan lived in the apartment above hers, and of course he was gorgeous and talented and stupid wealthy. From the titter around the local diner, Cardan was supposed to be some kind of wunderkind, even among the Juilliard crowd. This part, Jude did not dispute. She had listened to him practice on his grand piano at home, countless nights. What she despised was that he only seemed to play between the hours of 8pm and 4am, as if being skilled meant that one did not have to adhere to social rules of common courtesy.

What he did the rest of the day appeared, from the noises above her and from her not infrequent sightings of him around the building, was wake late, drink heavily, and sleep around. Jude was fairly sure his parents were bankrolling everything, from rent to booze, and it infuriated her.

Here she was, working three jobs just to exist near music. Sure, Cardan put the piano hours in. But if he was good now, what would he be like if he actually put effort in? What could he create if he wasn’t drunk or high all the time? How could his career fly if he was trying to make actual network connections instead of just talking girls into bed? Talent and money were wasted on Cardan and Jude hated him for it.

And then of course there was the fact that Cardan was just plain rude.

Jude told herself that this is the real reason she is typing out her eleventh email to the landlord, citing her tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment while half delirious at 2am. There were three and a half hours until she was supposed to be getting up for her first shift, and Cardan was playing like he’s got an extra pair of hands. Jude had tried to talk to other residents about this, but every time she brought up his name they just beamed and said “Yes, aren’t we lucky that Juilliard’s best student lives here, right in our apartment building!”

And so night after night, Jude lay in bed with a headache building between her eyes, composing letters of complaint in her head and only only very special occasions actually sending them.

On this particular night, Cardan played in bursts. Classical music that Jude didn’t recognise at a furious speed, then breaking off half way as if forgetting. Bright show tunes, then nothing again. Dramatic cinematic soundscapes, and then lapsing into silence. The jarring lurching was worse than when he played non-stop.

Jude found that the background light of her laptop hurt her eyes, and eventually she hit send and then went back to bed, where she pulled her pillow over her head. Every time Cardan stopped, she would just fall asleep only to be woken again, until he finally stopped altogether but Jude could no longer relax because she didn’t trust the silence.

In the end, she started doing what always helped her fall asleep. Sang her mother’s old lullabies quietly to herself, until she had calmed down enough to drift off.

///////

Cardan couldn’t sleep.

Cardan could never sleep, had had insomnia for as long as he could remember. When he was younger, it was sort of fun. He would stay up and read books under his covers with a flashlight, or write songs when everyone else was asleep.

As an adult, it just felt horrendous. All the time. He was always exhausted, his eyes always hurt, and when he tried to sleep he just lay in the dark with his thoughts running too fast around and around his head.

The alcohol used to help. A few glasses of wine before bed would make him drowsy, even if it did mean he woke up half way through the night feeling slightly dizzy. Now, it didn’t help him sleep as such, but being drunk was still better than being awake, and worse came to worse he would eventually pass out if he kept on drinking. Which was almost like sleep.

Tonight was particularly bad. His parents had let him know that they would be in town for the end of term concert, which was never good. His older siblings were all in high up and important roles- a senator, a partner in a law firm, a surgeon. And then there was him- the youngest and the dumbest and the novelty child of the family.

It didn’t actually matter that he was good and he knew it. Didn’t matter that he had started receiving media attention for his talent. He was still just playing at being musician and his parents were indulging him until he grew up and got a real job.

Cardan had tried to distract himself by spending the evening at Nicasia’s place, but she was smoking joints and he couldn’t stand the smell. So eventually he left and sat at the piano for a few hours, but nothing was coming together. Usually, his fingers remembered even if his brain didn’t, but today he was getting half way through pieces and then finding that he just… couldn’t be bothered.

Eventually, he dragged himself back to his infernal bed, with its tauntingly soft sheets but no rest to be found anywhere. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, and willing the hours away.

Until suddenly, his ears caught a whisper of a song so soft and sweet he was sure he was hallucinating. He did that sometimes, when he hadn’t slept in a few days.

But no, it was coming from somewhere below him.

Cardan got to the floor and peeled the rug back. Pressed his ear to the vent there and sure enough, he could hear a woman singing. He strained and couldn’t quite make out the words, but there was something sad and lovely about that voice.

Moving as little as possible, so as to not rustle over the sound, Cardan adjusted his position until he was lying more comfortably on the ground, and let himself relax into the song.

The next day, Cardan would not recall how long he lay there before he fell asleep, and it was a shock to be woken by the sun, still sprawled there on the carpet.

****

Literally nothing planned, no idea where this is going just thought I'd start and see where we end up! Then again, that's me almost all the time isn't it...

Also, I am Quite Stressed today so I apologise if a) I don’t make sense and b) if this story doesn’t progress as fast as we would like it to.

JURDAN MASTERLIST

TAGLIST: @asteria-of-mars @swankii-art-teacher @loosingdreams @feysand-loml @cityofbookish

[rockhopsblog]

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN-- A New Hip Hop Legend

Whether tall tale, truth, or somewhere in between, 13 time Grammy Award winning rapper/songwriter Kendrick Lamar Duckworth’s rise to immortality is nothing short of a cosmic wonder. To go back to the beginning, let’s first take a look at his most recent solo project, 2017’s Album of the Year nominee and Best Rap Album winner “Damn”. The very last track of the album, “Duckworth”, tells of a saga that took place during the rapper’s infancy. The mythic-like storytelling follows the journey of his father, mother, and what would one day become the owner of the record label that propelled Kendrick into stardom. Kendrick’s father, “Ducky” supposedly worked at a chicken fast food restaurant, which “Top Dawg” Anthony Tiffith, proprietor of Top Dawg Entertainment, frequented. Tiffith was a notorious gangster on the block who aspired to be the first one from his neighborhood to reach the life of luxury. Tiffith went on to plan and subsequently rob the chicken place Ducky worked at, but spared his life because he had always given him an extra biscuit with his meals. Because of this decision, Kendrick grew up with his father around, helping to keep him out of the L.A. gang wars and keeping Tiffith out of prison so he could go on to found a record label. Things obviously could have gone very differently, but they didn’t. As Kendrick himself puts it: “Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence? Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be serving life, While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight”.

Growing up in Compton, CA and making it out to be a success is no small feat. Throughout the years, one of Kendrick’s closest collaborators has been a rapper/blood gang member, Jay Rock, who too came from the neighborhood that Kendrick grew up in. Also a close friend of theirs- Schoolboy Q, a crip. Kendrick Lamar has been on the forefront of using his voice to unify people involved in gang violence and deterring those who may later fall into it. In 2015, Kendrick designed and released his signature shoe with Nike, aimed at the unification of people divided by the lifestyle that many of his friends and family became victims of during the tribulations of his youth. In 2007, a friend of Lamar’s called “DT” was gunned down by police for reportedly posing a threat, an event which seemed to Kendrick was all too common in his life. The silver lining, however, seems to be that there’s no shortage of the tales in Kendrick Lamar’s rap repertoire to depict the dangers and deeper meanings about the reality of gang activity, giving those steeped in that side of life hope for betterment and success. 

In the early stages of Kendrick’s career, he was selected to be in one of the first XXL freshmen, an annual group of rappers recognized by the hip hop publication as up and coming artists. XXL’s freshman freestyles were new at the time, and Kendrick Lamar’s verse in the cypher was prominently featured online and the cypher itself is often looked back on as a classic among those available on YouTube. Those who initially viewed the freestyle session may have come looking for other, better known rappers, only to find themselves stumbling upon the discovery of a young Kendrick Lamar. Around this same time, he released his first official single, “HiiiPoWeR”, which was produced by the now prolific J. Cole. These two, in their own rights, have become widely regarded as today’s best hip hop lyricists for their hard hitting and meaningful bars. Rubbing elbows too with Kendrick was the now superstar pop sensation and rapper, Drake. Drake, a Toronto rapper, has helped launch several careers through featuring on their music because of his viral popularity. When Drake and Kendrick collaborated on Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City”, Drake’s career was still in its early stages, but their song together certainly helped garner a mainstream appeal for the release at the time. All in all, it is clear to anyone doing some digging that not only did Kendrick work hard at refining his craft to become prolific, but that he was also met with great fortune in making the correct moves early on in his career to find the notoriety that he now enjoys. 

Fueled by artists such as Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, Kurupt and Eminem, Lamar has carried the torch forward from the 90s into the modern age of rap. During the famed “California Love” music video shoot featuring Dr. Dre and Tupac, Kendrick has claimed a small piece of hip hop legend by saying he was present in Compton, on the scene for the shoot. As a child, seeing such an idol and icon propelled his drive to follow in the footsteps of the greats of yesterday. In 2015, Kendrick sat down for an interview with the group N.W.A. who’ve had such classics as “Straight Outta Compton” and “Express Yourself”. In the conversation, Lamar said: “anything that I do, it always comes from what y’all done, I wanna get y’all take on my generation today and what we have as far as music”. In response, DJ Ren retorted “I like a few, I like you”. The metaphorical hand-off is evident, from O.G. approval to the strong impact in waves that Lamar has been able to produce from just four major label solo albums. From Anderson .Paak to Roddy Ricch, Kendrick has set out and proved more than he’d ever dreamed of.

Currently, Lamar has two triple platinum records as well as one platinum record which was maybe the most adventurous and critically acclaimed album, not only of his career, but of that decade. Rolling Stone magazine journalist Greg Tate called “To Pimp a Butterfly” a “masterpiece of fiery outrage, deep jazz and ruthless self-critique”.With songs like “The Blacker the Berry” and “Hood Politics”, the fabric of TPAB was woven to reflect the attitudes of a movement of racial justice and equality in a time of great struggle and oppression. Aside from exposing the brutalities of life as a black man in the United States, Lamar also presented the album as a platform to uplift and celebrate the accomplishments and great artistic devotions of black people from around the world. Many consider this album to be Kendrick Lamar’s magnum opus. He has shown that his work has staying power, and that his albums stand out among the formulaic pop-trap that reigns supreme on the radio. Perhaps TPAB has gone the farthest out of any other thing to help cement him as the king of hip hop and the greatest rapper of the generation. 

With a back catalogue so insanely successful you’d expect Mr. Kendrick Lamar to be universally beloved, right? Well, not so fast. No inspection of Lamar’s career would be complete without the mention of his ground-breaking verse on the song “Control” by Big Sean. Kendrick decided to seize the moment coming off of his first platinum album by going after 11 of the biggest names in rap at the time, including: J. Cole, Meek Mill, Drake, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha T, ASAP Rocky, Tyler The Creator, and Mac Miller. Many interpreted his lyrics in which he called out these artists to be a diss, but we now know that it was, in fact, Lamar’s intent to light a flame under these artists to create higher art. The people named on the verse were people Kendrick truly believed had the potential to create truly classic works, and his bar “I got love for you all but I'm tryin' to murder you” was aimed at them because of the intention to hype them up to work harder and realize that they weren’t inherently owed the popularity bestowed to them. The so-called “Control verse” made such a splash that even rappers who weren’t even named in the song made counter-disses to the single verse in the form of an entire song. Most notable out of these songs were Joe Budden’s “Lost Control”, Joey B4Da$$’s “Killuminati Pt. 2”, and Lupe Fiasco’s “SLR 2”. Despite the negativity spawned from this verse aimed to do good in the hip hop community, Kendrick Lamar’s twitter saw a 510% increase in followers just days after the dropping of the single. If there even was any “beef” to be had regarding this song, it is clear who the real winner was.

From the president of the United States claiming his favorite song was a Kendrick Lamar song at one point, to winning a Pulitzer Prize for 2017’s “DAMN”, the mile-high accolades of Kendrick seem almost too good to be true. However, of all accomplishments, perhaps his greatest is his influence on music. Not only has he single handedly put on several label-mates to the mainstream, but he has risen the bar of what it means to write a good rap song in this day and age. Not content with people who churn out 30 song albums as a money grab, Kendrick has shown that effort is important, that careful construction of art is important. Lamar has also been credited as reviving the importance of the hip-hop music video. It is clear during a listening session on Spotify or YouTube that so many troves of artists, young and old, are attempting to emanate the same X factor that Kendrick Lamar Duckworth has been so highly praised for, and rightfully so.

[engekihaikyuu]

Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu – The Tokyo Battle

ModelPress Interview Translation with Nagata Takato

Full interview translation and more photos under the Read More! Please do not repost my translations.

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The next tour will be a new production that illustrates the heated matches of the Tokyo qualifiers for the Spring High national volleyball tournament.  It will expand the story by featuring a rival school as the main characters, and for Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu, that will be a new venture.   Yes it will. When it was decided, I was really quite happy.  Because we were making the fans’ wishes into a reality.  There were so many people who said that they wanted us to feature Nekoma’s Tokyo Prefectural qualifier matches on-stage.  So we’re really grateful to all the fans.  

It seems like it’ll be quite a fresh new play. There may be people who know Haikyuu who’ll say, “Kenma as the leading role?”  One of the great things about Haikyuu is how it really shows the spirit of the sport, and all the passionate feelings that go into participating in that sport, and I’ve always found that really interesting.  But even though Kozume Kenma is influenced by Hinata, he’s not that exuberant, so to have a character like him be the lead in Engeki Haikyuu does make me a little nervous.

When you play Kenma, what are the most important things to you in playing his character? Because we have an original manga to work from, I try to keep in mind the image of his character.  Among the Haikyuu characters, he’s the most laid-back, and I think he’s the type to not move very much, but you really can’t be that way on-stage.  I have to make him move to some extent, and if I don’t perform that properly, it doesn’t feel complete.  But even so I have to make him seem laid-back.  I get pretty fussy about that.  After that, there are the tosses.  Since my position is that of a setter.  As much as I can, I try to give meaning to each and every toss.  

This is a stage production that has plenty of realism, but before the tour, what types of concerns and struggles are there?   For our team, we prioritize everyone matching our breathing and being in sync.  There have been lots of times when only our team stays behind after rehearsals to run through the performance over and over.  We practice team parts a lot, because we all think that if we don’t put in the time, then we won’t be any good.  In particular, Nekoma High has a persistent, “connecting” defense, that’s our team specialty, so we have a lot of movements where we crawl and roll around on the stage floor. We get a lot of bruises that way, and that sort of feels like we’re back in high school as part of a sports team.

Is it hard on your stamina?   At rehearsals we work hard on our physical strength and endurance.  We need at least enough so that we can perform two shows in one day.  

In your time playing Kozume Kenma, please tell us something that you’ve learned or a way in which you’ve grown.   Technically speaking, it would be vocals and articulation.  He’s a character that’s not very lively, you get the impression that you’re talking to a stick.  After that, I’ve definitely grown in my performance.  

Kenma and the main character, Hinata, both influence each other, and they’re illustrated as pushing each other to get better and excel. Is there someone like that in your life, Nagata-san? There is.  He used to play Kageyama Tobio, it’s Kimura Tatsunari-kun.  He has things I don’t, he’s like this all-mighty guy that can do anything, so I always feel like I don’t want to lose to him. In that respect, he’s a rival, but whenever we have days off, he’s the first guy I contact.  We talk about useless stuff 80% of the time though. But we can talk seriously if we need to. At first, I got the feeling that he might be hard to deal with, but as I’ve gotten to understand him better we’ve become really good friends.  We had a lot of scenes where we were matched against each other, and he always has a really great look in his eyes.  We were both setters, and he helped me out with that a lot, so he made me feel like I can’t just lose to him.  He’s not really the type to give you advice or anything, but he’s the type to show you how it’s done and lead the way.  

That’s a wonderful relationship.  Do you have any particular memories of Suga Kenta-san, who’s played Hinata until now?   Whenever Hinata and Kenma have an exchange in that week’s JUMP, my LINE blows up (laughs).  He’s like, “Oh my god!  Oh my god!” (laughs)  To be honest, I really wanted to have the Battle of the Trash Heap at nationals between Karasuno and Nekoma together with him, but Suga-kun finally graduated last year with the fall production.  Suga-kun is of course going to be someone that’s always in our minds for everyone on our team and other teams, and for the production as a whole; he was such a skilled and clever person.  Because of that, to be the main character after someone like Suga-kun makes me think, can I do this?  I do have my worries about it.  

Taking over after Suga-san means you have to work hard, doesn’t it! It does.  Although I still want him to come to rehearsals everyday.  (laughs)

What are some things you’ve learned while working on Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu? Responsibility; It’s changed how I think about my work as an actor or how I can capture something.  It’s not good enough to just act, at Engeki Haikyuu they really take into consideration what the actors think about the staging and any suggestions the actors have.  That’s always fun, and it makes me think more about how I can present something.  After that, teamwork.  Everyone works together to build up this one production, so we have a very strong sense of unity.

Outside of Engeki Haikyuu, your other stage work includes the Tokyo One Piece Tower’s “One Piece Live Attraction” where you played Monkey D. Luffy, “Rock Musical Bleach ~Another World~” where you played Hitsugaya Toushirou... so Nagata-san, you’ve been able to play some pretty popular characters. But there’s quite the difference between your characters.   Well some of that is thanks to the make-up artists and the costume designers... (laughs)  There’s a part of me that acts as though I’m possessed by the character.  A little bit like middle-school syndrome* (laughs).  Maybe because I think it’s important to have that character’s aura.

*中2病 or chuunibyou, refers to a kind of behavior that’s most common in middle school students, where generally he/she acts like a mature know-it-all and/or thinks they have special powers, etc...  Although Takato falls back on chuunibyou as an explanation, a western actor might instead call it “method acting.”  

In the work you’ve done so far, what’s something that became a turning point in your career or something where your awareness of things might have changed? Last year in summer, I was in a play called “Takarazuka Boys,” and I feel like I was able to really tap into the depths of acting again with that show.  I thought it was fun, but even some of the fun parts were quite difficult.  I discovered some new things while working on it.  

Speaking of expanding your breadth of experience, you’re currently in a TBS serial drama, “A story I read on the day I first fell in love.”  I think you’re in the middle of accumulating a lot of varied experiences, but do you have an actor you aspire to be like, or a goal for yourself? An actor I admire is Tsutsumi Shin’ichi.  I love the drama “Yamato Nadeshiko!” I would love to appear in a romance movie, or a suspense/thriller.  I want to play the type of character that makes people go, “So he actually wasn’t the culprit!”  (laughs)  And then because of playing Kenma I feel like I’ve developed a specialty for playing simple, modest people.  I want to play a lot of characters like him too.  

I’m looking forward to seeing all those variations of you, Nagata-san.  And now, in preparation for Engeki Haikyuu “The Tokyo Battle,” please share with us your thoughts. I think that this upcoming tour is going to have some things that the other shows haven’t done yet, and it’s going to become a new challenge for us.  Of course I’m really looking forward to it, but we’re replacing the main characters from Karasuno and making Nekoma the main, and we don’t know how it’ll turn out, and honestly there are aspects of it that make us nervous.  I wonder if I’m fit for the lead, and whether or not I’ll be able to pull everyone together, but this will be a show that’ll cross over into a new era* even, and for myself personally, it will be my 5th Engeki Haikyuu.  I have a lot of experience already, and I need to make sure I show that off.  I very much want people to come to the theater to see this Engeki Haikyuu featuring Kenma and Nekoma as the leading characters, and see how we take shape on-stage.  

*In 2019, the Heisei era will come to an end on April 30th, with the abdication of the current emperor Akihito, and a new era will be named as his son Naruhito ascends to the chrysanthemum throne.

And lastly, Nagata-san please tell us your secrets to making your dreams come true. I think a lot about the things I want to do.  “One day I want to be like this,” is something I think a lot.  I’ve made my dream come true of appearing in a TV drama, and after accomplishing that, I start to come up with all kinds of bigger goals, and I want to make each of them come true one by one.  Being the lead in Engeki Haikyuu is one more dream that’s come true.  This really is a show that exists because of the fans, so I want to do my best on it without forgetting my gratitude to them.

Thank you very much.

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Translated by @nimbus-cloud Please do not repost my translations

If you appreciate the work I do for this blog and want to support my translation efforts, please consider donating a ko-fi!  (x)

The original interview can be read online here: (x)

[closetofanxiety]

Mania Madness: In Queens With Queens Quest

Wrestlemania was in New York this year (well, New Jersey, but you know what they mean), and since I live about two and a half hours away, I felt like I would be failing in my duties as a wrestling fan if I didn’t attend some of the related events. Make no mistake: I did not want to go to Wrestlemania itself, as the idea of sitting in a football stadium and squinting at a faraway shape that might be Buddy Murphy in the springtime chill is not high on my bucket list. But there were lots of other things to do, and I did very few of them! I did go to see the Stardom show in Queens and to WrestleCon in Manhattan, though, and herewith are my observations, jotted down for posterity and, hopefully, your amusement and/or edification:

FRIDAY

I think this is only the second time Stardom has run a show in the U.S., and it’s definitely the first time they’ve done it amidst the surge of popularity they’ve experienced in the GIF era. Although going to visit Hakujinjoe in Tokyo is a goal towards which I am even now socking away money, there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever actually get to see Stardom in Japan, and so this was the must-see event of the weekend for me.

This anticipation was accompanied by two apprehensions: First, my nature reluctance to drive in New York City, even in the outer boroughs. I live in the woods, and your city ways frighten and confuse me. Second, based on many of the US joshi fans I have encountered online, I worried this crowd would basically be a giant convention for creepers, perverts, rageaholic gatekeepers, scam artists peddling $300 autographed gravure DVDs, and people who seem to have only a dim understanding that the characters portrayed in the ring are not, in fact, identical with the women portraying them. Listen: I am not exactly Cary Grant when it comes to wit and charm, and just being an American who watches Japanese women’s wrestling puts me among a tiny percentage of hardcore nerds, so I hope this doesn’t come off as haughty. But there are good nerds, and then there are the nerds we encounter online way too often.

The first apprehension turned out to be baseless, as I got to Queens with plenty of time to spare and, like most joshi fans, headed over to the Rufus King Homestead on Jamaica Avenue for a tour of the mansion once owned by the fiery antislavery advocate and signatory to the Constitution. OK, so I was the only joshi fan who toured the Rufus King Homestead (in fact, I was the only person, period; Rufus does not get much love), but I still learned a lot. Rufus King used to loan money at exorbitant rates to local farmers who owned slaves, and when they couldn’t pay him back, he’d accept the enslaved people as collateral, only to immediatly free them. Rufus King, Loan Shark For Justice!

It turns out the second apprehension was also baseles, because the crowd turned out to be full of awesome people. Really friendly, outgoing, and super enthusiastic nerds, the best kind of nerd, really. The dominant attitude was not, “Oh you like Stardom? Name five of their faction drafts” but “I can’t believe we all get to see this awesome show together.” It was also, by a country mile, the most diverse indie wrestling crowd I’ve been part of, and about 35-40 percent of the people in attendance were women, which really made the whole experience better. I’m not saying everyone was awesome, but it was definitely a fun group of people to be part of for an afternoon. I am ashamed that I assumed it would be full of unbearable dweebs.

So, that out of the way, here’s the highlights of the show, in the time-honored spaghetti Western sytem of categorization:

THE GOOD

Momo Watanabe vs. Utami Hayashishita: Easily the match of the day, and one of the best matches I’ve seen all year. The Queen’s Quest teammates were batling for Momo’s Wonder of Stardom title, which she won from the departing Io Shirai last year. I don’t just like Momo, I identify with her image as the studious but introverted nerd kid who thinks hard work and playing by the rules is enough to guarantee success, only to be constantly frustrated as flashier peers take shortcuts to the top. The tension between these two has been building since Utami’s debut last year and subsequent mega-push as The Big Rookie and Utami All-the-Belts. Momo, who put in years of quiet, dedicated work as Io’s understudy, is in danger of being usurped as Queen’s Quest leader by the newcomer before her tenure has really even gotten under way. This is a great basis for a wrestling match, and these two, aware they were in front of their biggest audience outside of Japan not just in person but watching on Fite, rose to the occasion. I’m terrible at describing wrestling matches, but this was a nailbiter full of near-falls and what-will-it-take kickouts that felt earned rather than slathered on. It helped that the crowd was rabid, with Utami having a slight edge, WHICH ONLY SERVED TO MAKE ME CHEER LOUDER FOR MOMO. I honestly had no idea who was going to win: normally you’d know the champ would retain in an away match like this, but having their second most important belt change hands would also have been a great way to make a splash in their New York debut. In the end, though, Momo retained with her Peach Sunrise finisher and I LOST IT.

Stars vs. Oedo Tai: The villainous but lovable Oedo Tai were over like crazy with this crowd, and people went bananas when they came out to do their pre-match war dance. They could have basically just done that and most people would have been, but they had a fun elimination match with the Stars faction. A lot of zany action in this and a genuine surprise elimination of Kagetsu midway through. The only missing piece of the puzzle was Sumire Natsu, who didn’t come over with the company, possibly because she’s a freelancer. She made appearances at Tokyo BDSM clubs instead during Mania weekend, which is the most Sumire Natsu thing ever.

Yurie Kozakai doing the ring introductions: Stardom was really smart about the idea that they were giving fans in New York “a real Stardom show,” and having the promotion’s normal ring announcer introduce the wrestlers was a perfect touch.

Hana Kimura: The newest Stardom signing looked like a superstar and basked in the crowd’s adulation during a three-way tag match that also involved Konami and Bea Priestley (making her US debut?) and Britt Baker and Brittany Blake, who should have called themselves the Britt-ish. No? I’m - I’m [putting my finger to my ear, like I’m listening] I’m being told “No, they should not have called themselves that.” Anyway, the match was fun but insubstantial, but Hana’s charisma is off the charts.

THE BAD

IPW:UK ran a show at the venue (the NYC Arena, which is an arena only in the sense that a mid-sized nightclub is an arena) right before Stardom, using House of Glory’s ring (the compromises and arrangements of Mania Weekend!), and the bottom rope broke. The effort to fix the broken rope was mostly unsuccessful, and also delayed the opening of doors at the venue by nearly an hour, meaning 600 hearty nerds were standing in line in 39 degree weather, with sleet pelting us. The paperback I had brought to pass the time in line was USELESS. On the lemons-lemonade side of things, though, this did mean we were all in line when Stardom’s bus rolled up, and all the wrestlers disembarked to head inside. Big cheers from the crowd, which obviously delighted the wrestlers. “It’s gonna be awesome!” Hana yelled at us. It was! Once we got out of the sleet

The broken rope delay also meant they had to cut the already abbreviated (five matches) show short, and it showed. The first three matches were all obviously truncated, with the High Speed title match between Hazuki and Dust suffering the most for it. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, and I was impressed by Dust, who’s new to me, but it felt like they were just starting to get going when it ended. IPW:UK, YOU ARE NOW MY ENEMY. OR MAYBE HOUSE OF GLORY, I DON’T KNOW. SOMEONE. 

THE UGLY

Maybe half the appeal of this thing was the promised meet and greet afterward, but the meet and greet was more chaotic and less organized than Kelley Square at rush hour (sorry, this is a Worcester reference, Worcester people will know this). Nobody seemed to know where to stand, lots of fans didn’t realize they had to buy little tickets before meeting the wrestlers, and as someone whose job sometimes involves putting up signs in medical buildings, the lack of even rudimentary paper signage was APPALLING. This did not stop me from getting nerdy fan pics with Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, Momo Watanabe, Mayu Iwatani, and Konami. Hazuki left her table before I could get to her, and this failure will haunt the remainder of my days upon this earth. Possibly. The wrestlers all had pieces of paper with common American names written on them, so they’d know how to address the autographed pictures, which was sweet. Hana has great conversational English. There was no line when I went up to Konami, which is preposterous. Konami rules, fellow nerds. The whole thing was nice, and the language barrier prevented any of that thing where guys try to unburden their psyches onto female wrestlers in a bid to make some kind of emotional connection. JUST SMILE FOR THE CAMERA AND MOVE ALONG, PAL.

Also, apparently the Fite stream was choppy as hell and cut out completely right at the end of the Momo-Utami match, and only came back after it was over. Glad I went in person!

In part two, we’ll cover the gregarious Jesse Ventura, the surprising lack of merch slingers at WrestleCon, and the puzzling fame of that fan who had a cardboard sign saying “FACE FUCK ME FINN” at a Takeover a few years ago.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Compare & Contrast: Carousel vs Guys And Dolls

A dear departed friend of mine loved Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Carousel, and he was far from the only person to do so.

Ever since it opened in 1945, Carousel has been a perennial favorite, revived countless times on Broadway and regional theaters, adapted into a film, and chockablock with memorable numbers and well crafted scenes.  “If I Loved You,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and the big hit from the show, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” have been covered by thousands of artists and are in repertoires all over the world.

I can understand the fondness for the songs, and the admiration for the quality of the writing, but Carousel itself as a story?

This is one of the vilest pieces of crap penned.

Based on the play Liliom by the Hungarian playwright and poet Ferenc Molnár, Carousel is the story of Billy Bigelow, a self-destructive idiot who diminishes the lives of those around him simply by existing.

Molnár’s original play doesn’t dodge that bullet, and it ends with the protagonist being led off to eternal punishment while his dim-witted widow waxes nostalgic over him, despite the fact he abused her, never supported her, and left her in the lurch to bear and raise their daughter after he was killed in botched robbery.

Given a chance to redeem himself by performing one good deed for his daughter, Liliom (Hungarian for “lily” but also slang for a street thug) botches even that simple task and so gets dragged off to the fate he well deserves, the fate he quite deliberately and exquisitely fashioned for himself over the course of the play.

Small wonder those who adapted it to stage and screen typically sought a means of mitigating Liliom’s fate, to give one last ray of hope instead of following the story through to its grim but wholly logical conclusion.

Of all the adaptations that tinkered with Liliom, Carousel is by far the most egregious. It explicitly endorses spouse and child abuse as acts of endearment, Billy Bigelow (the Americanized Liliom) being a prideful, arrogantly ignorant sociopath who cares only for himself, and despite the vain promise of “You’ll never walk alone,” his daughter and wife are compelled to suffer all their lives for his sins and shortcomings.

He brings his daughter a star from heaven which even in the context of the story doesn’t mean anything; it’s just a gaudy trinket that can be and ultimately is ignored.

Geeze, a Marvel movie would at least see the kid get some superpowers out of the deal…

And if such a thing is possible, the 1956 film adaptation is even worse than the stage play:   It begins with Billy in heaven, gainfully employed polishing stars, no need to either account or atone for his earthly behavior.  His return to Earth is just to help his daughter out, not redeem his terrible behavior with a single good act, and in that context he’s more trouble than he’s worth.

One’s tempted to call Billy Bigelow a worthless sac of human excrement, but that’s not accurate: Excrement has use as a fertilizer.

Billy Bigelow is a 55-gallon drum of toxic waste, poisoning all it comes in contact with.

The key plot elements of the stage play are this:   Billy Bigelow, carousel barker, gets fired by his jealous boss, Mrs. Mullin, when she sees him flirting with young mill worker Julie Jordan.  Julie loses her job as well because of her infatuation with Billy, and the two marry impetuously.  

A month later and he’s still found no work due to his refusal to return as Mrs. Mullin’s barker or take any other job that requires him to answer to a boss.  He’s drunk and abusive, and while the stage play raises the issue that Julie should leave, it just as quickly subsumes it with Julie’s "he's your feller and you love him" attitude.

When a disreputable pal, Jigger, suggests they rob Julie’s old boss, Billy first refuses (though he doesn’t warn anyone of Jigger’s criminal intent), but when he learns Julie’s pregnant, launches into the most odious song in the show:  “Soliloquy”

“Soliloquy” is a schmaltz fest that most people choose to hear as a loving father doting over his unborn child.

It’s not.

It’s a sociopath’s love song to himself.

Billy Bigelow does not care what is truly best for his son, he only cares about vicariously enjoying success through the boy, and not through the boy’s own efforts and desires but by shaping him into a mirror image of his father, a toy for him to manipulate and play with.

Almost all the careers he imagines for the boy are the kind of low level manual labor jobs that he’s only fit for, the exceptions being carnival barker and President of the United States (which he disdains).

“Bill, my boy Bill I will see that he is named after me, I will. My boy, Bill! He'll be tall And tough as a tree, will Bill! Like a tree he'll grow With his head held high And his feet planted firm on the ground And you won't see nobody dare to try To boss or toss him around! No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully Will boss him around.”

He even fantasizes about teaching his unborn son how to seduce girls…then realizes to his horror that his “son” maybe be a daughter.

“My little girl Pink and white As peaches and cream is she My little girl Is half again as bright As girls are meant to be! Dozens of boys pursue her Many a likely lad does what he can to woo her From her faithful dad She has a few Pink and white young fellers of two or three But my little girl Gets hungry every night and she comes home to me!”

That’s pretty damn sick.

Bigelow, perfectly willing to raise a proto-rapist male, doesn’t want the shame of having a victim for a daughter, and thinking the only way he can protect her is by buying her a higher station in life, decides to help Jigger rob Julie’s ex-boss.

Even there he’s a punk, not willing to do anything directly to threaten the old man, but perfectly willing to share in the proceeds of Jigger’s crime.  (He’s also an idiot insofar has he had a nasty confrontation with the intended victim about a month earlier and apparently presumes the old man won’t remember him.)

But he’s not done destroying himself and Julie’s future and the future of their unborn child yet: While waiting in ambush, he and Jigger gamble, betting their anticipated shares of the loot.

Billy loses all his shares!

There is no point to him participating in the robbery.

There is no reason to help Jigger any further except arrogant pride.

They attempt to rob the old man, the old man draws a gun, Jigger flees, and Billy, rather than face the consequences, takes the coward’s way out and kills himself.

His daughter grows up being scorned and taunted by other children for having a father who was a stupid brute and a thief and a suicide, and as cruel as that is, who’s fault is it but Billy’s?

It was his choices that put her in that predicament, his pride, his arrogance, his lack of character and courage and imagination.

And Carousel celebrates this; it doesn’t pity Billy but rather feels sorry for him.

This is the difference:  Pity can recognize the suffering of another person yet still recognize that person’s responsibility in bringing tragedy upon themselves; feeling sorry for someone negates the harm they have inflicted on others.

Billy deserves nothing. Julie deserves nothing -- she enabled this tragedy.

Only the daughter deserves sympathy and a second chance, Carousel’s climax is arbitrarily tacked on to give a fake happy ending and is as phony as a three dollar bill printed on a Xerox machine running low on toner.

Liliom and Carousel are tragedies, but only Liliom has the courage and clear vision to recognize it.

Compare and contrast with Guys And Dolls, the 1950 Damon Runyon musical by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, and Abe Burrows.

Like Carousel, it’s a crowd pleaser:   Plenty of great scenes, lots of great numbers like “A Bushel And A Peck”, “Adelaide’s Lament”, “Luck Be A Lady”, “Sue Me”, “Sit Down (You’re Rocking The Boat)”, and “Guys And Dolls” itself.

It’s got a better structure than Carousel:   A common convention in Broadway musicals is to have a main couple that the show focuses on and a supporting couple to offer a counterpoint to the main action.

One could eliminate the supporting couple in Carousel and, while the show would be diminished, it would not change the story of Billy and Julie.

But Guys And Dolls thoroughly integrates the stories of Sky Masterson and Sergeant Sarah Brown with that of Nathan Detroit and Adelaide:  Remove either couple and the entire show collapses.

And of special interest is this:   While Sky and Nathan are gamblers and by association at least peripheral members of the underworld, they are also men of personal integrity (Nathan less so than Sky, granted, but it’s still there).

Nathan is trying to stage “the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York” in the face of intense police scrutiny not for his personal benefit alone, but so he provide for his crew and so he can finally marry Adelaide, the show girl he’s been engaged to for 14 years.

Sky is riding on top of the world, a superstar among gamblers, a man who doesn’t need anything…

…yet at the same time is acutely aware of a large vacuum in his heart.

The story’s hilarious, with all sorts of outrageous characters and plot twists, but it rings far truer than Carousel because for all their flaws, the characters are trying to better themselves not for their own good but so they can better the lives of others.

This is a crucial difference between them and Billy Bigelow.  The characters of Guys And Dolls may be foolish on occasion, but they ain’t dumb, they know the score, and more importantly, they know themselves.

The show’s songs are rich with self-awareness, and while the characters take risks -- they’re gamblers, after all -- they aren’t stupid self-destructive risks that will harm others.

Sky and Nathan, in fact, demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice themselves for others, and accept the consequences for their own actions.

More importantly, they are willing to change in order to better help the women they love, and that change comes without regret but rather with (again!) the self-awareness that their happiness is intrinsically wrapped up in the happiness of the person they love.

No song better sums it up than “Guys And Dolls” itself:

“When you see a guy reach for stars in the sky You can bet that he's doing it for some doll. When you spot a John waiting out in the rain Chances are he's insane as only a John can be for a Jane. When you meet a gent paying all kinds of rent For a flat that could flatten the Taj Mahal. Call it sad, call it funny. But it's better than even money That the guy's only doing it for some doll.”

The song closes with as direct a repudiation of Billy Bigelow as we could hope for:

“When a lazy slob takes a goody steady job, And he smells from Vitalis and Barbasol. Call it dumb, call it clever Ah, but you can get odds forever That the guy's only doing it for some doll!”

 © Buzz Dixon

[cinematicquack]

Contemporary Hollywood Cinema - Screening Journal

Week 3 - Men and Masculinity

This is my third time watching Call Me By Your Name, and I still cannot take my eyes off of it. From the attention to detail in each shot to the tasteful sensuality shown by Elio and Oliver, to the intense passion and tender atmosphere. This film keeps me invested throughout. The lack of homophobia and judgement is refreshing, this film is fully focused on showing a queer relationship with no harmful subplots. I did find that the parallels that are drawn between the couple and the statues both artistic, but also slightly problematic. The connection of classical greek men is seemingly used to justify the age gap present, as some sort of gay-right-of-passage, it made me feel slightly uneasy at Elio and Oliver’s interactions. I found myself linking some of the interactions to the homophobic hit-piece Boys Beware, Oliver seeming to parallel the actions of the gay man in said hit-piece. I know that this is not what Guadagnino intended, however, I feel that for non-LGBT+ audiences they may also draw this problematic link, they may even think that all queer relationships have this dynamic. For the uneducated, CMBYN could serve as propaganda of how gay men are predatory. Fortunately, for the most part, I have yet to see this in mainstream media, but I have seen this response in some of my classmates from high school, and I do worry that it could become more mainstream. 

I was surprised to see Miz Cracker among the readings this week, as I am a big fan of her and have actually seen her perform! I had a good discussion with one of my classmates about her article. She said that CMBYN was a “gay masterpiece that is absolutely not gay”, however, I feel that despite the straightness of the actors and creators of the film, it is still an important story to be told. We definitely need more queer representation in the media, CMBYN’s success allows more LGBT+ stories to be told. I hope that by more recognition of queer stories will therefore allow more up-incoming queer actors to play these roles. I did find it strange that the film has a blatant disregard to the AIDS crisis, it does not even address it. I appreciated the lack of judgement the film has, however, I do feel that it should have at least addressed such an important thing in queer history. CMBYN does fall into the bias of New Queer Cinema, the main characters both being white queer men. I would love to see more women and people of colour in queer cinema, and hopefully, the success of CMBYN can allow filmmakers to pursue this. I would like to note that I have not seen any of Guadagnino’s other films, however, the article by Joanna Di Mattia about his ‘Desire Trilogy’ has made me add them all to my watchlist. Molly Haskell’s film review made a great point that Guadagnino has treated homoeroticism in a tasteful, “non-hysterical” way, treating it equally to heterosexual relationships (for the most part). This move to tell queer stories in the same way we would any other story is extremely promising for the future of LGBT+ media as it normalises the idea of homoeroticism, it is no longer seen as ‘taboo’.

Inspired by the post-it-note activity, I decided to question my younger brother about his thoughts on how queer men are portrayed on-screen. As my brother’s main carer, my brother being a white straight male, I have always made an effort to educate him on people less-privileged as him. He brought up a great point about queer male characters being mostly elusive and mysterious, saying that he could not tell me the backstory of a gay character on-screen, compared to how he could name several straight characters’ backstories. We also discussed how the majority of gay characters are side-characters, and they are usually used for comedy or to have a traumatic, depressing experience with homophobia, that the main character, who is usually white and straight, will come in and save them or support them. Susan Sontag’s two different categories of camp were really useful in discussing different queer stories in both film and media. Naive camp is more comedic, whereas Deliberate camp questions society’s construction of gender and sexuality. I liked the discussion of sound design in the intimate scenes between Elio and Oliver. Yes, the film does shy away from showing the couple have sex, however, it does signify it through sound design. There is a lack of dialogue in these scenes, and it is met with loud breathing, clothes rustling, and skin touching all through sound. 

I was so excited to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the clips reel. It is most definitely deliberate camp, as the character of Dr. Frank-N-Furter explicitly bends gender and sexuality, to the shock and delight of Brad and Janet. For many LGBT+ people, this film is something which many of us hold dear, I for one am no exception. When my mum showed me this film when I was 12, I found the campness something I aspired to. It also opened the door for me to explore my own gender and sexuality. I had an interesting conversation with my grandparents, who are very conservative, about what they felt was a gay person, and they immediately brought up Dr Frank-N-Furter, which of course is the most exaggerated, camp version of a queer person, but I think that’s what makes the character such an icon in the LGBT+ community, despite how conservative people use that as the blueprint for us. 

In the tutorial, we had a great discussion about each character’s masculinity within CMBYN. Both Elio and Oliver show their respective passion for creativity and intelligence, this passion I would say, used to be seen as feminine. It is refreshing to see two characters have such a tenacious passion for their careers. Elio begins as quite childish and snarky, in a bid to suppress his sexuality, and in turn, his personality. Throughout the film, he becomes more open, emotional but also confident and playful. CMBYN is Elio’s coming-of-age, he goes through his love for Marzia and Oliver, goes through heartbreak, and comes out more confident and assured of himself. Oliver is shown to be very performative in his masculinity. He shows very little emotion besides contentness, and is extremely confident in himself and his actions. He too becomes more playful and shows a wider range of emotions, and yet he still cannot seem to let his guard down with Elio. He is still reserved and suppresses himself, this being a reason for their relationship ending abruptly. Both Elio and Oliver are filmed in a way that is similar to the classical statues which are present in the film. They are showed as idolised gods of beauty but also shows them as vulnerable. Guadagnino is showing a representation of masculinity which we should strive for: vulnerability, fragility, the ability to discuss and feel their own emotions; a representation we should normalise as a society. I really enjoyed discussing the masculinity of Elio’s dad. He is extremely passionate about his work as a historian and archaeologist, however, this does not mean his relationships deteriorate, which is common of the trope of a passionate working man. He makes time for his family, shows them love and tenderness, pushes Elio to pursue his piano. He is emotionally aware of his son, he shows worry for him, but also comfort without judgement. He is a character which supports his son, is as vulnerable as his son, and is a great representation of fatherly masculinity which contrasts to the many terrible father figures present in other queer films.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/lifestyle/how-to-move-a-masterpiece-if-its-this-big-very-carefully/

How to Move a Masterpiece? If It’s This Big, Very Carefully

It sounds like an old joke: How do you pack up, ship and then unfurl a massive — and massively valuable — painting?

Very carefully, of course.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “La Jeunesse de Bacchus” (The Youth of Bacchus), a joyful scene of mythological frolic, measures a whopping 20 feet long and nearly 11 feet high, and it was the biggest canvas he ever painted.

The 1884 work, with an estimate of $25 million to $35 million, will be a marquee offering at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on May 14 in New York. (It will be on display from Friday through the 14th.)

May events like the art fair Frieze New York and two prominent biennials — in Venice and at the Whitney Museum of American Art — keep the focus on contemporary art, but “La Jeunesse de Bacchus” is evidence of strong offerings of older works.

It will also rank as one of the largest pre-Modern works offered in the history of Sotheby’s, sure to garner attention just for that fact, but also because it’s by a beloved 19th-century French painter who has a sterling sales record and legions of fans among museumgoers. (There’s a major exhibition of his work at the Milwaukee Art Museum on view until May 12.)

But to be viewed by prospective bidders and put on the block, it first had to travel from Paris.

Consigned by the painter’s heirs, the work hung in the same place for 135 years — Bouguereau’s studio in Paris’s Sixth Arrondissement — and has been moved only three times previously, for exhibitions.

Over all, the job required around 20 people between the two locations, including a crane operator to get it out of the third-floor studio window and into a truck.

One of the conservators involved in the New York unpacking and restretching, Haley Parkes, called the whole process a “Bouguer-rodeo.”

Paintings of this size don’t wrangle easily.

Mr. Parkes’s father and business partner, Simon Parkes, a longtime expert in the field, said it was the second biggest painting he had ever worked on, after a canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat, and that the custom roller used to hold it in transit was the largest he had ever seen.

With “La Jeunesse de Bacchus,” Sotheby’s had a few built-in advantages.

Unusually for a painting of its age, “It has the original stretcher and hardware,” said Benjamin Doller, Sotheby’s chairman of the Americas and a longtime expert at the auction house specializing in 19th-century art. (To keep them taut, paintings are usually stretched onto a wooden armature in back.)

That meant that the wear and tear on it had likely been minimal, especially given that it had rarely been moved.

Mr. Doller had every reason to want the painting in good condition. He had big plans for the work, which is why he placed it in the Impressionist and Modern sale, despite it technically fitting into neither of those categories.

“We need to make sure the world’s wealthiest buyers have access to it,” Mr. Doller said of the sale placement. “It’s another level of validation.”

Bouguereau was the most important of the so-called academic painters of France in his day, those who adhered to traditional styles and techniques.

The artist painted around 750 works, said Louise d’Argencourt, an independent curator and expert in his work.

“Not a lot of them exist in private collections,” Ms. d’Argencourt said, adding that they have largely made their way to museums.

Bouguereau was the opposite of a starving artist. He was from a well-off family, and he made it even richer with his success.

“Americans were his biggest market, and for Knoedler Gallery, he was the No. 1 seller,” Mr. Doller said, referring to the now-defunct New York dealer that was once a dominant force.

“La Jeunesse de Bacchus” took Bouguereau almost three years to paint, and he did it without the benefit of assistants. He priced the work at 100,000 francs — an astronomical sum at the time that would have made it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold, Mr. Doller said — and he received an offer of 70,000 francs, but rejected it.

“He said, ‘I get so much enjoyment, I’ll just keep it,’” Mr. Doller said. His descendants were wealthy enough to leave it where it was, but eventually the current generation decided to sell.

That led to the beginning of the Bouguer-rodeo in January.

It took two and a half days for a Paris-based conservator and shipping crew to pack it up, starting with building scaffolding just to get the painting off the wall. The process was almost delayed by snow, which stopped just in time for the crane operator to lift the components outside.

Three crates were necessitated — one each for the frame, stretcher and canvas — and together they weighed almost two tons.

When they arrived in New York, the crate holding the canvas was opened by Sotheby’s art handlers, and a group peered inside. Concerned looks turned to smiles. The painting roller had a thin white plastic covering to protect it, and it was tied with five perfect bows.

“Only the French would do bows like that,” Mr. Doller said.

The elder Mr. Parkes proclaimed it “the Louis Vuitton of packing jobs.”

He added of the thick, ornately carved and gilded frame, which was packed in several pieces: “It’s in great condition. To make this frame today would cost half a million dollars.”

Then his son said, “Can we get the muscle men?” referring to the art handlers, and the roll was taken out and unfurled slowly so the image was facedown on the floor, with the white plastic providing a protective layer between the painting and the carpet.

The process was delicate enough that Sotheby’s chief executive, Tad Smith, stopped in to watch for a while.

The painting was deemed admirably even — no bumps or distorted areas — and was left to lie flat for a while.

The back of the canvas would tell the tale. “Dust can accumulate under the stretcher bar, and it can hold moisture,” Simon Parkes said. “Water is the biggest problem.”

Of great concern were the “tacking edges” — the extra part of the canvas beyond the image that folds around the back and is tacked to the stretcher.

“It carries all the weight,” Simon Parkes said, but added that the artist seemed to have put on his paint rather thinly.

He added that his job required a certain worrywart quality.

“Sometimes paint cracks or becomes unstable, those are common problems,” he said. “I’m only really interested in the stuff that can go wrong. We have to stay a step ahead.”

Then they were joined by Jamie Martin, the head of Sotheby’s scientific research department, who was carrying an ultraviolet light.

Mr. Martin noted that the lining had been reinforced and patched, and he took a tiny sample.

“We have to know what will stick to what,” Mr. Martin said of the painting’s eventual restretching. “The question is, is it wax resin or glue paste? And I don’t guess — I analyze it with straight-up science.” (It turned out there were two waxes and one synthetic adhesive.)

A few days later, the painting was placed back on its stretcher, and it went on view in March for the first time.

Now the only issue is finding a buyer with ambitions big enough to match the painterly craft behind “La Jeunesse de Bacchus” — not to mention the effort it took just to get it on the block.

[keneerike]

Pay For Play: On The College Admissions Scam and Hidden Value

A reader asked what I thought of the recent college admissions scandal. The story came up in a few conversations with other people last week as well, so I'll share my thoughts on it.

Q: Do you have a problem with the practice of buying your way into a college?

In the abstract, no, I do not.

Let me be clear: I'm not talking about cheating on entrances exams or underhanded tactics that run counter to fair play. Paying go-betweens to sneak your kid into a school is out of bounds. Fraudulent classification about why the rich kids in those stories were admitted is the big sin in this tale.

Parents helping their kids score [college admission/internships/jobs] is as old as time; It's the negligent parent that doesn't do all they can to help their kid excel. SAT classes and tutors are part of that, with a groundswell of critics arguing that even that much assistance creates a slanted playing field that impoverished families cannot compete with.

If the schools want to sell spots to the highest bidder, they should be free to do so. They should just be forthright about it.

One caveat: Selling seats shouldn't be allowed in public colleges that are state schools. At least, not in a fashion that jeopardizes entrance for in-state applicants.

Private universities should be free to do what they want; It's their "house" and can invite whomever they like.

Before you recoil in horror, understand that non-merit based admissions have been on the scene for centuries. It already happens to some extent with kids of captains of industry/celebs. Legacies---children of alumni---get special consideration because schools wants to look out for their own. Affirmative action is a factor as well.

If you take the emotion out of the discussion, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything inherently-evil with a parent "buying" a better chance of admission for their kid.

Q: Is there any value to wealth-based admissions?

One of the more intriguing discussions, besides how Lori Loughlin might handle a transition from "Full House" to the big house, is who benefits when college seats are "sold".

The families who can now brag about junior's acceptance to a big-name school; the university, who's happy to collect full-price tuition---and then some---from another deep pocket; these are obvious winners.

But there's more to the story.

My alma mater is a perennial power in Ice Hockey, so I'll use a fitting analogy:

Good hockey teams are comprised of a few different pieces. A squad usually has a couple of enforcers, guys who may not have made the cut on their stick-handling and scoring prowess alone. You need players who can rough up the opposition's stars, protect your own players from being targeted, and soak up penalty minutes whenever the coach wants to "send a message".

NHL 98: One of the better sports games of all time.

Enforcers are unheralded contributors whose value doesn't always show up in the box score, but good front offices understand their role in building a winning culture.

Similar to the way a good offensive line keeps your star quarterback upright and ignites your running game in football, teams need players who create room for everyone to operate. Enforcers may not make the grade on stand-alone examination, but their presence serves a purpose---even if it offends certain high-minded sensibilities.

Admitting a contingent of students from well-to-do families benefits the campus at large. As long as they don't embarrass the university, their enrollment is almost-certainly a win for the school.

Beyond full-price admission, these families are good for donations when you need a new academic building or state-of-the-art residential hall. They can be counted on to support fund-raising efforts long after their children have graduated and boast professional connections that can be useful to the school when problems need to be handled discreetly. The students themselves often go on to high-paying jobs---in part, because of their backgrounds---and become big contributors down the line.

Benefactors make many of the scholarships for students of modest means possible. They are a resource for attracting the best professors. Collegiate sports are important sources of revenue and big-shot donors bankroll stadiums that draw crowds that, in turn, lure some of the nation's best and brightest year in and year out.

You can't run a college program on bake sales.

Never forget that colleges are business. As much as they tout their missions of higher-learning for the masses, rising tuition bills should make clear their primary agenda.

All that said, there's little long-term concern about the impact of wealth-based admissions on your child's acceptance odds.

Most good schools will not and do not "sell" seats on a large scale because it would tarnish the school's academic reputation. The best schools want a student body with A-students, great artists, intellectually-curious minds in a range of fields; that's not something you get if anything larger than a tiny percent of your student body is a result of evaluation by affluence.

Admissions departments select students from a cross-section of society, independent of familial wealth. Money makes the world go round, but there are some prizes that cannot be bought.

American Idol ratings have been in the tank since his departure.  

You cannot buy personality, creativity, discipline, and ambition; those traits are developed independent of wealth and may actually be numbed by having it too easy growing up; struggle is a common backdrop for personal development.

With every big story, there are always special interests ready to hijack narratives and push an agenda. The admissions scandal is already raising more "rich-is-evil" chants, which obscures a good teaching lesson and, ironically, leads to more despondency and excuse-making among the people who can least afford to do so.

Let me know what you think of this story and school reform as well.

[symphoniclolita]

[today’s post is from Lydia, the queen of Fortuna!]

“Hello, I’ve been hearing about someone new all day. You must be it, then; it’s a pleasure to meet you. If I can be of any help to you at this time, I’d be more than happy to talk about anything you wish. ...You’d like to know about art? I do happen to know a lot about it. Allow me to explain the significance of different art forms.

“Art is a very important part of all cultures in Eluite. There isn’t any place you could go and not encounter flourishing design, dance, and song. It’s a general held belief that anyone and everyone has the capacity to create something beautiful, and that as long as a person knows how to look for beauty in the world around them, they will be able to understand all of life’s lessons.

“While flat pieces of artwork are common to see, most forms of physical art are admired to a greater extent if they are done on an item of practical use: intricate engravings on the blades of swords, paintings on dishes and cups, carvings on wooden carriages, among many others. Any profession that involves the modification of objects thus can be described as an artist, since most people that commission these craftsmen will insist on some form of design to be included on or engraved in their item. Professional artists are typically included in the same social category as merchants, and can often be seen on the streets in any moderately populated location in the world selling their works - or even creating their works in the open for all to see. A common theme for art and designs is to pull inspiration directly out of the surrounding landscape: island or seaside artists often include waves or fish scales, while forest dwellers have patterns of leaves, vines, or other foliage.

“Dancing, in many cultures, is seen as a way to pay thanks to the goddess Fae for being given life and a unique form with which to call their own. In some societies, it is as much a part of life as regular meals are. Most dances tend to involve large groups of people rather than solo performances or couples, but the norm can be broken for special events. No matter what dance you participate in, you don’t want to be shy about it - almost everyone is taught dances from childhood on, and everyone is expected to participate to the best of their ability, whether they’re good at it or not. Not dancing at all is much more shameful than attempting and being bad at it! Choreography is rarely enforced, unless it is a dance for a specific ritual or event. Many dances are also associated with certain cultures - and even certain species. The best way to flatter someone from another creed is to ask them to teach you their dance.

“Song, and the ability to use one’s voice, is widely regarded as the greatest blessing of all. It is told to be the purest expression of one’s soul and inner spirit, and that allowing oneself to sing is a key part to a person’s overall health. Composers are held in high regard here, and are seen as a necessity to a prosperous society, with many being employed directly under the monarchs themselves. In fact, the guardian of music and sound, Muy, is worshipped more than any other guardian! Music often reflects the area that it originated from, whether that be through lyrics, or style, or even meter. Instruments, though many are made in similar, recognizable forms, are not internationally recognized under the same names; they will always differ substantially by region, reflecting the resources available in that area to craft them.

“Storytelling is also very abundant, in both written and oral form. The art of writing itself is very valuable, and scribes are constantly in demand to create beautiful original works, as well as to transcribe important documents for nobility and commoners alike. In the case of oral stories, many tribes use these stories as the basis of their existence, and believe they are the sole protectors of the art. Some tribes still recount stories of events that happened thousands of years ago, without the words ever being put onto paper! It is also considered an art for those who travel a lot, as entertaining a small audience with your tales of adventure can be a good way to generate enough money for your next few meals. Many nomads learn and recount tales of past kings, famous battles, and noble heroes at every town they stop by in order to scrounge together a living for themselves. Sometimes they will even act if they have a great enough audience to warrant the extra effort. It’s really a joy to see!

“I hope that was enough for you to learn from at the moment. There’s many, many art forms that exist all around the world, and I highly encourage you to discover them as you embark on any future travels! Now, I must be on my way, but I’m sure that there will still be others around that would like to talk to you. Why don’t you try looking outside?”

[greengargouille]

I wanted to write something for Mimura’s birthday, but it seems most of my one shots ideas are SugaMI... No, that’s absolutely not a problem, but they’re more Sugaya-centric, so... instead, I wanted to share a sort of headcanon/canon divergence I had about Mimura knowing of a certain other character...

It wasn’t a great party by any mean ; when TV celebrity Takarada Kenichirou held those end-of-the-year celebrations, it was more for public image than for reuniting his most popular colleagues in the same room. Usually, no name on the guest list was more known than that of the multimillionaire hosting the festivities. Most of them were only semi-popular or local celebrities.

Still, Mimura thought that his family didn’t have any place there.

It have been years ago since the last time his father took step on any TV show. As far as tarento goes, his career have been respectable if uneventful ; this was, however, from another time, when Kouki was barely a baby. He was still only a small child when his genitor would only be invited on late night shows. That sparkly, shiny world of media was not a place he belonged to anymore.

Yet, somehow, this father of him always brought him and his mother in those parties that weren’t destined to them. The invitation was probably sent out of politeness. Maybe some pity, too. With each year passing that separated the man from his former job, the uncomfort of the early December’s piece of cardboard paper among the letters was becoming thicker. But his father liked to pretend he was still relevant - that there might still be hope for a new chance in front of the cameras, that the stories he would tell to everyone listening -usually only himself- of a romanticized past still hold water in the present times.

Mimura’s mother didn’t have the heart to fight this. The last month of the year was always a mess at the company, she was coming home even later than usual and always so tired, it just wasn’t worth arguing for one evening. Besides, the relationship with her own parents was tense ; it was good to have an excuse not to come earlier to celebrate New Year with them.

Kouki should probably be happy of this. These parties were the only time of the year where he could approach some of his favorite stars. His parents were enjoying themselves, too ; that was a nice change.

But, he couldn’t displace that feeling. He wasn’t supposed to be there. As a proof was how little people his age were there.

Fortunately, there was someone in a very similar situation to his own.

Norita Yuuji looked much more suited to this kind of celebration. The brand new tailored suit that only a rich man’s son could be wearing, the allure of someone used to those places... One could tell they were from very different upbringings. In fact, while he insisted to wear his mother’s name now, he still was the son of those events’ host. He was a regular of those celebrities’ parties.

Yuuji hated them just as much as Mimura. It brought some comfort to them, at least, to know that someone else in the room was also thinking about how their father was the worst and how all this chatter and fake-politeness was suffocating.

To be honest, they weren’t exactly friends. They had little in common besides behind forced to come here, tied by familial obligations. Outside of this annual event, they rarely communicated, barely a text per month, let alone a phone call ; it left them with just enough to hold the conversation for a whole evening. Still, for a twelve year old -almost thirteen, his birthday was in little more than a month-, this was much more something to look forward than being trapped in the middle of adults of various ages and level of condescendence.

Didn’t mean it couldn’t be a little weird sometimes.

“Where’s this idea of a food blog even coming from ?”

The two boys had found someplace to sit against a wall, remote enough from crowd for them to be able to speak without raising their voice, yet not in a position where they would stand out. Yuuji had always been good for finding those kind of places. Now that Mimura was in junior high, with the Film Research club, he was also becoming much more aware of things like blind spots, and had to admit this was a rather nice spot.

“Hey, don’t say it like this, it’s not that absurd.” Yuuji didn’t sound very convinced by his own words. “It’s starting to get popular, ‘kay ? Everyone seems to have one now, I figured, ‘Hey, maybe I should try too, I like food, after all’. I swear, the concept is all there in my head, I can see how it would goes... -You don’t know how to cook, though. -I know how to taste. And I have money for fancy food. Chicks just looove pictures of fancy food.”

Ah. So it was for girls, after all. Mimura should have figured that. His... acquaintance just loved to bask in this kind of attention. It started to become particularly evident those last times they talked. Well, it’s not like he couldn’t understand him, being ignored felt pretty hurtful, but... he just couldn’t see himself in the spotlights.

“So, where are you going to put this blog ? Some kind of social platform ? -Actually, I thought I should try to be independent. It makes the name stand out. It’s just...” Yuuji clicked his tongue, annoyed. “All this coding stuff is pretty hard to understand. -...That much ? It can’t be that complicated.” At least not much more than the lessons at Kunugigaoka. “You’re only saying that because you haven’t looked into it. It’s seriously irritating, like, do you know the price for asking a professional to make your own website ? I have more than enough money for that, but it feels like I’m being scammed and I hate this. -Can’t you ask an beginner, then ? Your school must also have a Computer Club, maybe someone can help you ? -Yeah, as if. We’re a school full of fancy, wealth people, you really think I can go to one of them and say, ‘you know, I’m fed up with my website, do it for me and I will pay you’ ? -Maybe not with money, but surely there’s some kind of compensation you can offer.” Annoyance was starting to drip in Mimura’s tone. He was trying to help, Yuuji could at least do an effort. “You always get to met all those celebrities, you might be able to get an autograph or two. -Ha ! It’s not like I met with pretty actresses every day. I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who could be even interested in the celebrities I can met.” Yuuji paused an instant, realising something. “...Say, would you be interested in an autographed script of that latest drama ? The boring historical one ? -It’s not boring ! ...Wait, why are you asking this ?”

“Why wouldn’t I ask this ?” Okajima sounded almost irritated, which meant his admiration was genuine. “ I mean, as far as I know you worked in the Film Research Club besides classes, not exactly the place where one would learn how to code a website !”

The curiosity of his friend was understandable. When Korosensei suggested to the class they made a website for wider visibility of their acorn noodles, he probably thought it would be Takebayashi, as a former member of the Computer Club, who would take care of it. Ritsu was already going to take care of hosting and maintaining it, but as developed as she was, she still was only an AI. Things like web design needed not only an artistic sense but an approach to datas that she didn’t have. The visual interfaces she created by herself were pretty bare of everything, paragraphs of raw text after raw text.

Their teacher might have expected Takebayashi not to know anything about web design. He sure didn’t expect for Mimura of all people to be the one having dipped in it.

“To be honest, I don’t really know that well. I only did it once.” And it was pretty much crap, but he preferred not to highlight this fact. “But a lot of informations on the subject are available online, and I’m only doing a graphic model for Ritsu to understand what we expect.” So much easier than his first job.

...Well, it’s not like he didn’t have fun the first time. And the efforts he put then were normal to deserve the reward. He felt almost sad to learn Yuuji’s blog would be renovated.

...Maybe, once he finished, he should link the website to that boy. Just to know his opinion.

Yuuji didn’t understand why he was linked that homepage. Sure, it was food, and it looked pretty nice, but... he just wasn’t friendly enough with that Mimura guy to want to put much effort into his criticism. Their relationship was cordial enough for him to look around a bit, but his speciality was first and foremost food tasting. Was he being baited into going to eat at that school festival ? Ah, as if he would go there. Too much walking. If one of his regular followers asked for him to do it, maybe, or if he got news the food was really good...

Still, the process was interesting. Well, maybe not interesting to point of reading the whole explanation page, but the photos were nice.

...A spot of blue hair made Yuuji scroll back to one of the precedent pictures. That hair. He knew of that hairstyle. And that face ! A name came to the young boy’s mouth looking at the feminine features. Nagisa-chan.

...That couldn’t be it. That girl he searched for so long was a comrade of an acquaintance ?

...Maybe he should go to that noodle shop, after all.

((credit to @purple-petrichor for the name of Yuuji’s father

...Basically, this is a story to explain two different things : how did Mimura even had enough skills to make a homepage during the School Festival Arc, and how the heck did Yuuji knew Nagisa was there. And I admit I like the idea of those two background boys who are children of celebrities knows each other.))

[kristablogs]

Five surprising ways people have used (and are still using) bones

Some people use bones as macabre decor, but they're good for so much more. (Artem Maltsev via Unsplash/)

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.

Imagine sitting down to a meal of ground-up bone, served on a plate made of burned bones, while two musicians—one rattling two sawed-off ribs together and the other ominously shaking part of a horse’s skull—provide grim ambience in the dim candlelight. Off in the corner, an oracle shoves some bones into a fire in an effort to predict whether the crops you just fertilized with shattered bones will yield a hearty harvest.

It might feel like you’re in the opening scene of the latest binge-worthy adaptation of a popular fantasy series, but this is real life. Or, at least, it would be if you mashed everything you’re about to read into one time period.

Humans have found unique uses for skeletal remains since prehistoric times. You may be familiar with bone arrowheads, fish hooks, and jewelry, but you may be surprised to learn how bones have found their way into the everyday lives of both ancient and modern people. Let’s journey beyond the grave.

Musical instruments

There are plenty of musical instruments that look like bones or include bones as part of their design. For example, artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar.

On display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this 1856 portrait of "The Bone Player" shows how a skilled musician might hold the instrument. (William Sidney Mount/)

For instruments straight-up made out of bone, two stand out: the aptly named “bones” and the jawbone. Even if you only listen to the latest pop songs, it’s possible you’ve heard the former without realizing it. In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which found widespread fame after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.

You’re more likely to find them made out of wood today, but in their most basic form, bones are a pair of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow— cut down to between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with deft flicks of their wrists. Like skilled tap dancers, experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds.

The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.

The jawbone, meanwhile, is originally an African instrument that made its way to the Americas as a result of the slave trade. It’s usually the jawbone of a horse or another equine (like a donkey or zebra), that’s been stripped of all flesh and dried.

Once it’s dry, the teeth become so loose they rattle around in their sockets. But it’s more than a simple rattle—players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing the wood across its teeth.

It’s a little more niche, but you may have also heard the sound of a jawbone without realizing it—the vibraslap, patented in 1969 by Martin B. Cohen, was designed to sound exactly like it. Cohen said in his patent application that he’d found it hard to replace actual jawbones when they break.

Fortune telling

The original users of these bones hoped they'd foretell the future. (Deborah Harding, Carnegie Museum of Natural History/)

Yeah, you’ve heard of necromancy, and probably pyromancy. Now, get ready for scapulimancy and plastromancy. Relatives of pyromancy, these two divination practices involve writing questions on bones (usually large animal shoulder bones or turtle plastrons), heating them up until they crack, and then interpreting the cracks.

How they were heated is unclear and likely varied. Some sources simply mention fire, while others describe diviners inserting hot metal rods into holes drilled in the bones.

These practices weren’t restricted to any particular region, either, and ancient people worldwide had their own versions. Inhabitants of Europe, western Asia, and North Africa simply inspected the natural condition of the bone after all flesh was scraped away, but those who lived in North America and other parts of Asia used fire, according to David N. Keightley, a former professor of Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Perhaps the most well-preserved oracle bones come from China, most of which date back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). About 20,000 pieces (mostly ox scapulae and turtle plastrons) were dug up between 1928 and 1937 during official excavations around the dynasty’s capital city of Yinxu, about 300 miles southwest of modern-day Beijing. Most turned out to be predictions performed for the royal family. This discovery, among others, helped Chinese archaeologist Li Ji prove that the Shang dynasty actually existed.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has a large collection of these bones in storage for research purposes. Amy Covell-Murthy, who manages the museum’s archaeology collection, said the inscriptions on their bones ask questions like whether or not someone will have a baby, which crops to plant in a field, or how a war will turn out. She also said some are fakes, but that they still hold value because they’re at least 100 years old themselves.

Bone china

Unlike true porcelain, which contains only minerals, the ceramic material known as bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s and for a long time, most, if not all, bone china was made there.

A few potters and companies experimented with bone ash as they sought to bulk up their soft-paste porcelain to rival the stronger hard-paste ceramics made in China, but Josiah Spode I is generally understood to have been the one who standardized bone china production. When he died, his son, Josiah Spode II, took over and continued to improve on his father’s work.

Today, bone china is made across the globe by companies such as Lenox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents dating back to 1918, and the Spode family’s eponymous business, Spode.

Fertilizer

Plants love to eat bones. Hardcore. (CDC via Unsplash/)

All living things need phosphorus, and bones have a lot of it. This is why bone meal, as ground-up bones are called, has found its calling as plant fertilizer. Without phosphorus, plants can’t function, can’t grow, and can’t photosynthesize, says Dennis Stevenson, vice president for science at the New York Botanical Garden. Bone meal is also high in calcium, which plants need for their cell walls.

But with its benefits come some potential problems. Health experts say some bone meal can be high in lead, and possibly also mercury. It’s also got a bit of a dark history in the U.S., dating back to the near-total destruction of the American bison.

The hunting of these thousand-pound animals was driven by their highly prized skins, but also by the U.S. government, which promoted hunting in an effort to starve Native Americans and force them onto reservations. Hunters would kill and skin bison, but often left the carcasses littering the Great Plains. As settlers moved west, they began picking them up and selling them to use as fertilizer.

Gelatin and glue

The revelation that gelatin is made out of animal parts is a common one. But the simple fact that everyone seems to have this somewhat traumatic revelation at some point in their lives made it seem relevant for this list. If you already know this, great—maybe you’ll learn something new here anyway. And if you didn’t, now you do, and you can reveal it to others in your life.

Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of the meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99 percent protein and is nearly tasteless and odorless. Its use dates back to the medieval era, and because it was hard to make, it was originally just for rich families.

Today, it’s still pretty complicated to make, but industry has taken much of the hands-on labor out of it. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 20-week process for making gelatin out of cattle bones starts like this: The bones are crushed and cooked at 180 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit before being spun in a centrifuge, dried at 160 to 270 degrees, degreased, and treated for five to seven days with a weak hydrochloric acid solution.

Then, the ground-up bones are washed several times with water and treated with a lime slurry (not the tasty tropical kind) for one to two months in an effort to remove everything that’s not collagen. After that, the almost-gelatin is washed again, made more acidic, and may be filtered. Finally, its pH is made more neutral (between 5 and 7), it’s sterilized at 280 to 290 degrees for several seconds, cooled, and dried with hot air for 1 to 3 hours.

This stuff ends up in obvious foods like gummies, but can also be used in a wide variety of ways to stabilize, thicken, and add texture to the things we eat. It’s also used to make modern film.

Gelatin and animal glue are closely related, though use of the latter has largely disappeared. At least as late as the early 2000s, gelatin-based glues were used to stick those “organic” stickers on fruits and vegetables, the USDA says.

Animal glue has a long history, and in 2014 researchers found that it was used to hold together the painted layers of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang’s massive terracotta army. It was used worldwide until the early 1900s, but was essentially eliminated by the invention of synthetic adhesives.

[scootoaster]

Five surprising ways people have used (and are still using) bones

Some people use bones as macabre decor, but they're good for so much more. (Artem Maltsev via Unsplash/)

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.

Imagine sitting down to a meal of ground-up bone, served on a plate made of burned bones, while two musicians—one rattling two sawed-off ribs together and the other ominously shaking part of a horse’s skull—provide grim ambience in the dim candlelight. Off in the corner, an oracle shoves some bones into a fire in an effort to predict whether the crops you just fertilized with shattered bones will yield a hearty harvest.

It might feel like you’re in the opening scene of the latest binge-worthy adaptation of a popular fantasy series, but this is real life. Or, at least, it would be if you mashed everything you’re about to read into one time period.

Humans have found unique uses for skeletal remains since prehistoric times. You may be familiar with bone arrowheads, fish hooks, and jewelry, but you may be surprised to learn how bones have found their way into the everyday lives of both ancient and modern people. Let’s journey beyond the grave.

Musical instruments

There are plenty of musical instruments that look like bones or include bones as part of their design. For example, artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar.

On display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this 1856 portrait of "The Bone Player" shows how a skilled musician might hold the instrument. (William Sidney Mount/)

For instruments straight-up made out of bone, two stand out: the aptly named “bones” and the jawbone. Even if you only listen to the latest pop songs, it’s possible you’ve heard the former without realizing it. In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which found widespread fame after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.

You’re more likely to find them made out of wood today, but in their most basic form, bones are a pair of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow— cut down to between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with deft flicks of their wrists. Like skilled tap dancers, experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds.

The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.

The jawbone, meanwhile, is originally an African instrument that made its way to the Americas as a result of the slave trade. It’s usually the jawbone of a horse or another equine (like a donkey or zebra), that’s been stripped of all flesh and dried.

Once it’s dry, the teeth become so loose they rattle around in their sockets. But it’s more than a simple rattle—players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing the wood across its teeth.

It’s a little more niche, but you may have also heard the sound of a jawbone without realizing it—the vibraslap, patented in 1969 by Martin B. Cohen, was designed to sound exactly like it. Cohen said in his patent application that he’d found it hard to replace actual jawbones when they break.

Fortune telling

The original users of these bones hoped they'd foretell the future. (Deborah Harding, Carnegie Museum of Natural History/)

Yeah, you’ve heard of necromancy, and probably pyromancy. Now, get ready for scapulimancy and plastromancy. Relatives of pyromancy, these two divination practices involve writing questions on bones (usually large animal shoulder bones or turtle plastrons), heating them up until they crack, and then interpreting the cracks.

How they were heated is unclear and likely varied. Some sources simply mention fire, while others describe diviners inserting hot metal rods into holes drilled in the bones.

These practices weren’t restricted to any particular region, either, and ancient people worldwide had their own versions. Inhabitants of Europe, western Asia, and North Africa simply inspected the natural condition of the bone after all flesh was scraped away, but those who lived in North America and other parts of Asia used fire, according to David N. Keightley, a former professor of Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Perhaps the most well-preserved oracle bones come from China, most of which date back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). About 20,000 pieces (mostly ox scapulae and turtle plastrons) were dug up between 1928 and 1937 during official excavations around the dynasty’s capital city of Yinxu, about 300 miles southwest of modern-day Beijing. Most turned out to be predictions performed for the royal family. This discovery, among others, helped Chinese archaeologist Li Ji prove that the Shang dynasty actually existed.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has a large collection of these bones in storage for research purposes. Amy Covell-Murthy, who manages the museum’s archaeology collection, said the inscriptions on their bones ask questions like whether or not someone will have a baby, which crops to plant in a field, or how a war will turn out. She also said some are fakes, but that they still hold value because they’re at least 100 years old themselves.

Bone china

Unlike true porcelain, which contains only minerals, the ceramic material known as bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s and for a long time, most, if not all, bone china was made there.

A few potters and companies experimented with bone ash as they sought to bulk up their soft-paste porcelain to rival the stronger hard-paste ceramics made in China, but Josiah Spode I is generally understood to have been the one who standardized bone china production. When he died, his son, Josiah Spode II, took over and continued to improve on his father’s work.

Today, bone china is made across the globe by companies such as Lenox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents dating back to 1918, and the Spode family’s eponymous business, Spode.

Fertilizer

Plants love to eat bones. Hardcore. (CDC via Unsplash/)

All living things need phosphorus, and bones have a lot of it. This is why bone meal, as ground-up bones are called, has found its calling as plant fertilizer. Without phosphorus, plants can’t function, can’t grow, and can’t photosynthesize, says Dennis Stevenson, vice president for science at the New York Botanical Garden. Bone meal is also high in calcium, which plants need for their cell walls.

But with its benefits come some potential problems. Health experts say some bone meal can be high in lead, and possibly also mercury. It’s also got a bit of a dark history in the U.S., dating back to the near-total destruction of the American bison.

The hunting of these thousand-pound animals was driven by their highly prized skins, but also by the U.S. government, which promoted hunting in an effort to starve Native Americans and force them onto reservations. Hunters would kill and skin bison, but often left the carcasses littering the Great Plains. As settlers moved west, they began picking them up and selling them to use as fertilizer.

Gelatin and glue

The revelation that gelatin is made out of animal parts is a common one. But the simple fact that everyone seems to have this somewhat traumatic revelation at some point in their lives made it seem relevant for this list. If you already know this, great—maybe you’ll learn something new here anyway. And if you didn’t, now you do, and you can reveal it to others in your life.

Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of the meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99 percent protein and is nearly tasteless and odorless. Its use dates back to the medieval era, and because it was hard to make, it was originally just for rich families.

Today, it’s still pretty complicated to make, but industry has taken much of the hands-on labor out of it. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 20-week process for making gelatin out of cattle bones starts like this: The bones are crushed and cooked at 180 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit before being spun in a centrifuge, dried at 160 to 270 degrees, degreased, and treated for five to seven days with a weak hydrochloric acid solution.

Then, the ground-up bones are washed several times with water and treated with a lime slurry (not the tasty tropical kind) for one to two months in an effort to remove everything that’s not collagen. After that, the almost-gelatin is washed again, made more acidic, and may be filtered. Finally, its pH is made more neutral (between 5 and 7), it’s sterilized at 280 to 290 degrees for several seconds, cooled, and dried with hot air for 1 to 3 hours.

This stuff ends up in obvious foods like gummies, but can also be used in a wide variety of ways to stabilize, thicken, and add texture to the things we eat. It’s also used to make modern film.

Gelatin and animal glue are closely related, though use of the latter has largely disappeared. At least as late as the early 2000s, gelatin-based glues were used to stick those “organic” stickers on fruits and vegetables, the USDA says.

Animal glue has a long history, and in 2014 researchers found that it was used to hold together the painted layers of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang’s massive terracotta army. It was used worldwide until the early 1900s, but was essentially eliminated by the invention of synthetic adhesives.

[firstumcschenectady]

“Mountaintop Views” based on  Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9

When I was 13 I read the Chronicles of Narnia.  They were good, not my favorites, but easily kept my attention to finish all the books. However, it was not until MANY years later that I learned that the books were written as intentional Christian metaphors, and I was floored.  Nothing, at all, in the books had felt like Christianity to me.  I didn't go back to reread them, but I did get peer pressured into seeing some of the movies, at which point I was able to see both: 1. How the story could have been written and understood as Christian and – at the same time – 2. How I entirely missed it.

(The key really being that I was raised in a Christianity that centered on “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me” while those narratives are inherently violent.)

It is a little bit embarrassing though, to have missed the entire point. However, I just didn't see it.  I couldn't.  There is a deep truth to the fact that we can't see things that we don't have the context to make sense of.  The Chronicles of Narnia didn't look to me the way Christianity looked.  Now, there are 2.3 Billion Christians in the world, and I don't think it is reasonable to assume we all understand our faith in the same way.  Sometimes it is a little bit startling to realize just how wide Christianity is and how often it contains its own opposites.  

At the same time, that's sort of the beauty of it all.  People from an incredibly wide range of worldviews, life experiences, and backgrounds are all able to find meaning in our tradition because it is quite adaptable to variation.

The scriptures this week have led me to thinking a lot about perspective, as they both have to do with changing perspectives.  Mountaintops themselves are places where people see things differently.  Some part of that has to do with the effort expended to get to the top, and another part has to do with seeing things from a different angle. From the top of the mountain, it is easier to see the forest than the individual trees.  It is also easier to understand how various parts of the landscape related to each other.

Additionally, both of these stories have transformational experiences occur at the tops of those mountains.  Moses has been called up the mountain by God, and leaves behind the people he is leading in order to follow God's instructions.  As Moses ascends, a cloud descends.  For the people left behind, that may have created a sense of mystery or distance from Moses on the mountain, or perhaps anxiety for his well being.

But for Moses, alone on the mountain in the midst of a dense fog, for 6 days without further instruction, that was likely INTENSE, like a 6 day silent retreat with visual sensory deprivation.  When I had a 6 hour drive home from college in the days before cell phones, the time alone with myself was enough to be disconcerting and clarifying.  6 days alone on a mountain in deep fog would be plenty of time for reflection – to say the least.  There are many people who can't handle 30 seconds of silence – for good reason.  Probably most people in our society get squirmy well before 30 awake minutes without distractions.  But 6 days!!!  Yet, the people I know  who have gone 6 days or more away from distractions all describe it as holy and perspective changing, although not usually easy.

The six days are a passing note in the story, but my goodness I think they matter.  On the seventh day, God calls Moses and the cloud dissipates to reveal the “glory of God” which was so intense the people at the bottom of the mountain could see it.  After 6 days of dense fog, that also must have been a new and different sort of intense.  AND THEN, Moses enters the cloud WITH God and they spend 40 days and 40 nights together.    

This is one of the stories of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, and it seems to emphasize the holiness and uniqueness of the experience. Moses got A LOT of time with the Divine – way more than his preparatory 6 days.  

This story is cleaned up to fit into a good, faithful telling, but there is an incredible core to it.  As Addison Wright once pointed out, the faith traditions in the Ancient Near East at this time were all god and goddess centric.  That is, people sacrificed at Temples or engaged in behaviors meant to please the gods, with the goal of gaining favors from the gods.  Favors like fertility for people and and flocks, rain for the fields, etc.  Thus faith, worship, and offerings were largely transactional.  Wright believes that something entirely new emerged in the Sinai desert, and that something new is the core of this story.  

That something new was the concept of a God who cared how people treated EACH OTHER rather than simply being interested in self-aggrandizement.  That is, the faith traditions of the area really saw gods and goddesses as being like powerful people – selfish, greedy, and needing to be manipulated into helping out.  But somehow, a small group of desert wanderers came to understand a God (possibly singular, more likely this started as a primary or tribal god for them) whose PRIMARY CONCERN was moral behavior.  And that's the story of the rest of the Bible, right?  The people try to claim that they're all about God and God keeps on responding, “then take care of the vulnerable among you and build a just society.  THAT is what I want.”

This new idea of a God interested in moral human behavior and a just society is the core message lurking under this cleaned up version about Moses, a mountain, a fog, a fire, and a lot of waiting.  It is impossible to tell where the original story lies and where it has been adapted, but the core is powerful and the current version is powerful and they're both worthy of consideration.

The mountaintop experience being such a powerful part of the Jewish story, it makes a lot of sense that the Gospel writer Matthew tells the Transfiguration story as another mountaintop story.  In this case, rather than a dense fog, it is as if a fog has been lifted and the disciples are finally able to see clearly.

From the Gospel writer's perspective, people were confused into thinking that Jesus was just another teacher/healer, but on the mountaintop they saw just how holy and special he really was.  The experience of being close to God on the mountaintop is repeated, with God's own voice speaking.   “This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” It doesn't get much better than that!  Yet those are the words that whisper through the ages, being shared time and time again, because those are the words that God speaks to each of us. “This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Imagining being on mountaintop seeing God's delight in Jesus reminds us of why we continue to work in the world as the Body of Christ.  

The perspective change on the mountaintop is interesting.  In these stories, new insights are gleaned, ones that change lives.  I've been thinking about when those perspective shifts can happen for the rest of us.  Climbing mountains remains a good option ;) but what are others?  Some of the most common in the church are mission trips, or participating in new-to-you ministries of the church.  Anytime we meet and engage with people who are different from us, we gain valuable perspective.  And, the more we listen to people, the more we learn.  Sometimes I think perspective shifts are just direct gifts from God.  Other times they come after long term spiritual practice or prayer.  Some require those 6 days of silence in dense fog (or variations thereof).  Julia Cameron in “The Artists Way” says the way not to get stuck is to write 3 pages of longhand every day and have a date with yourself to do something new every week.  Her particular goal is to keep creative juices flowing, but it turns out those are related, aren't they?

One other intersecting piece comes to mind.  When our anxiety is UP, we tend to see the world more in black and white.  So, rather than developing increasing capacities to see many perspectives in the world, we will tend to pick one and STICK WITH IT AT ALL COSTS.  The challenge is, that for most of us today, anxiety is high.  Of course, the  current power structure (of any time and place) benefits from the increased anxiety that leads people to either/or thinking and doubling down into opposing camps.  It maintains the status quo.  The status quo is generally the compromise between two opposing camps, right?  But what is really great for people are win-win situations, which require creative thinking, the capacity to see multiple perspectives, and openness to new ideas.

Now, it turns out we can't spend our whole lives on mountaintops, and we all exist within some parameters of perspective that we can't just will our ways out of.  Furthermore, we LITERALLY can't see things we aren't expecting to see, which makes it SUPER hard to break out of our perspective when it is... in fact.... wrong.

My favorite idea from John Wesley is this, “Sometimes each of us are wrong.  Clearly, if we knew when we are wrong, we would correct ourselves and not be wrong.  So, sometimes when others disagree with us, it is actually a sign that we are currently wrong.  Since we don't know which times those are, we should approach all disagreements with humility.”  

What would have happened if Moses came back down the mountain with a new conception of the Divine and people said, “naw, that doesn't sound right?”  Where would we be today?  Where would the world be?

Transfiguration Sunday is the final Sunday before Lent.  It foreshadows for us the perspective shift of Easter, and by giving us a foretaste of it, gives us the motivation to engage in reflection for Lent to prepare ourselves for Easter.  It turns out that Lent is also meant to give us a perspective change.  It slows us down, offers us time to think, and reflect, and consider.  

There are a lot of ways to expand our worldviews, to glean a better understanding of what is going on all around us.  None of them are perfect, and our capacities to see and understand will be limited, but thanks be to God, we can grow and become.  May we take the view from the mountaintop and let it change us from the inside out.  Amen

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Rev. Sara E. Baron First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 Pronouns: she/her/hers http://fumcschenectady.org/ 
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

February 23, 2020