#book bonanza 2023

[neesh-ipb-art]

Georgie and Vektal from Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon <3

[derpcakes]

Getting Bound Up in The Last Binding Trilogy

Welcome to The Afictionado’s Queer Book Rec Bonanza! It’s Pride Month, and to celebrate, I’ll be breaking my usual blogging schedule to post one review a week for the entirety of June.

Let’s kick things off with a spoiler-free recommendation of my late 2023/early 2024 obsession, Freya Marske’s Edwardian fantasy trilogy! Having cryptically mentioned this series, and how much I loved it, no less than twice in one year of blogging, it seems downright uncouth that I haven’t given The Last Binding its own post. So, without further ado…

Our story begins in England, 1908: Sir Robin Blyth takes a civil service job to pay his parents’ debts and finds himself employed as the government liaison to a hidden magical society. Robin is willing to take all this in stride, but swiftly gets roped into a deadly mystery, cursed with strange visions… and entangled in the life of his counterpart, the scholarly and nervous (and… handsome?) magician Edwin Courcey. This is the jumping off point for Book 1, A Marvellous Light. From the initial mystery of a missing person (the man who previously held Robin’s job) and the missing objects he was searching for, a deeper conspiracy spirals out involving ancient magic and those who want to take it for themselves.

Keep reading...

[knifeonmars]

Dead Space: Artifact

January 27, 2023 saw the release of Dead Space, a remake of the original 2008 scifi horror shooter. For many fans and casual observers this is a chance to restore the dignity and legacy of a series brought low by the worst excesses of the triple-a game industry; they’ll tell you that Dead Space was a horror experience stretched to the breaking point by publishers and executives who just didn't get what it was and why it was so special. This isn't entirely the case, though to be sure Dead Space suffered greatly as a result of meddlesome publishers and the realities of the industry. Rather, Dead Space was and is a microcosm of a moment in time, a model in miniature of the games industry as a whole during the PS3/Xbox 360 era. It was a time of transition between games as they had been and games as they are now; the emergence of game franchises as multibillion dollar businesses, the growth of recurrent user spending, and weird crossovers. Dead Space (2008) is a transitional fossil, perfectly capturing this timeframe and the bonanza of unsustainable growth and cutthroat tactics which transformed the industry. The life story of Dead Space isn't the story of one series being ground down by the gears of capital; it's the story of videogames as a whole.

The Little Horror That Could

The original Dead Space was released on October 13, 2008, going on to sell over a million copies and become a seemingly unlikely hit in an age when single player games had become unfashionable with publishers. It was a gnarly, violent sci-fi horror shooter which drew plenty of inspiration from Resident Evil IV as well as 1979’s seminal Alien with (for now) just a trace of Lovecraftian cult horror. It stood out as something of a throwback, a disconcerting horror experience which threw players off balance by making its grisly dismemberment mechanics the most efficient way of dispatching enemies, rather than the pretty little headshots gamers are normally conditioned to pursue with frightening dedication. Players were cast in the role of the silent Isaac Clarke, an ordinary engineer stranded aboard the derelict Ishimura, a mining vessel which is one part USCSS Nostromo, one part Resident Evil haunted house. Armed only with repurposed tools like nailguns and laser cutters, Clarke must fight his way past the sinister necromorphs, zombie mutants created by space magic.

Despite latter day mythology, Dead Space did not emerge from nothing as an unlikely darling. It had the weight of Electronic Arts distributing and promoting it, and was the subject of a significant hype cycle. The marketing budget for a game or movie is, as a rule of thumb, estimated at equal to that of the game/movie itself, so there was significant money behind the promotion of Dead Space, much of which focused on the grisly death animations visited upon its silent protagonist, emphasizing that gnarly, edgy appeal. Further, within the same year as Dead Space's release there was a comic book miniseries from Image Comics, a rail-shooter spinoff for the Nintendo Wii, and an animated movie, none of which are the kinds of projects which can be thrown together overnight for a completely unexpected success. EA knew exactly what they had on their hands from the beginning, and the way they handled it was typical of both EA and the industry in general's approach at the time.

A look at the output of Electronic Arts, or even Visceral Games itself, shows an emphasis on franchises over individual games or even series of games. Dante’s Inferno, another Visceral project, came out of the gate with an animated movie, a comic book, and plans for a live action movie, even as the game itself flopped and never went on to have its planned sequels. Visceral’s ill-fated and questionably tasteful Jack the Ripper vs vampire sexworkers game, Ripper, memorably outlined at Polygon [link] was similarly surrounded by talk of prequels, sequels, movies, and a robust multiplayer even as the game never completed development. Visceral Games was in the business of making franchises, and business… was not actually booming.

Further, while microtransactions and shameless greed are often laid at the feet of the later entries in the series, it’s worth noting that the original Dead Space itself had an awe-inspiring number of content packs available to be purchased a la carte for real money. These twelve packs contained skins for the main character and his weapons, as well as exclusive weapons and weapon upgrades. These items generally ran between 1.50 to 3.00 dollars US after conversion to videogame storefront funny money, the same price point as the then infamous The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion horse armor DLC in 2006 [link]. Though long forgotten now, Dead Space’s content packs were a part of the first big wave of normalizing small scale DLC, a part of the long onslaught which dismantled the idea that a sold videogame was a complete product.

The Inevitable Escalation

If Dead Space riffed shamelessly on Alien, Dead Space 2 must be compared to Aliens; the bigger, badder, more bombastic sequel. Gone is the largely isolated and constrained experience of the first game, a lone, silent survivor fighting through an incomprehensible situation, instead the no longer mute Isaac Clarke finds himself in a story about a zombie outbreak on Titan and being drawn further into the schemes of the cult worshiping said zombies.This brought with it changes to the gameplay such as a more open setting, new, less idiosyncratic weapons, more streamlined design, and even a multiplayer mode. Dead Space was still action-horror, but the action had received a major promotion, making the game much less clunky and unusual than its predecessor.

2011 was a golden age for ill-considered and often thematically bizarre multiplayer modes in singleplayer games, which were stuffed into everything from Dead Space to Uncharted to Bioshock. For publishers, the proposition was simple; multiplayer games kept people playing longer and thus more likely to spend money on cosmetics, weapons, and other items, which become part of a haves and have-nots culture among players. In 2020 EA Games’ then-president Frank Gibeau would so far as to say that the single-player model of games was finished and that game developers were moving towards connected experiences. Ironically, in this same interview Gibeau pointed towards Dead Space specifically as an example of EA Games allowing publishers to pursue their own vision; considering where the series went, this statement seems inaccurate. The logic behind the move to online gaming should be familiar to anyone who’s played a modern live service game and tried to grind through a season pass to keep up with friends. Incidentally, Dead Space 2’s multiplayer mode was the one part of Ripper to make it out of development, as the new mode made use of much of the work done on its stillborn sibling series..

The sequel continued to hawk DLC in the form of costumes and weapons, while adding on a whole host of pre-order and special edition bonuses, and even a sequel chapter which tied into the first game’s spinoff; Dead Space: Extraction. Players inhabited the role of Gabe Weller, a space soldier trying to reunite with his wife, in a story which frankly didn’t augur well for the series’ narrative ambitions.

Whereas the first Dead Space had been at least somewhat on the bubble, an unknown quantity in need of justifying its existence, Dead Space 2 was not in the same position. Its overblown nature can be chalked up not only to EA wanting a more bombastic and mainstream product, but also the almost inevitable tendency towards escalation seen in sequels as developers find themselves with larger budgets, raised expectations, and a few simple tricks to sell their sequel as bigger and more important. Dead Space 2 was the series’ biggest hit and success as a multimedia franchise. In the year before and the year after Dead Space 2’s 2011 release there was also: a novel, another animated movie, a puzzle spin-off game, a mobile game, and an appearance by series protagonist Isaac Clarke in notorious Smash Bros. knockoff PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. This was the apex.

World Killer

The sins of Dead Space 3 are myriad and often blamed for killing the series, admittedly true given that until the announcement of the remake, Dead Space had lain fallow since 3’s release in 2013. It very much did kill the franchise, but Dead Space 3 was not an outlier, it was a natural progression of the trajectory which Dead Space had long been on.

The story and action had by now totally shifted, Isaac Clarke spends most of the game teamed up with a secondary protagonist who is a cool space soldier, gunning down human enemies on a frozen planet rather than, you know, in space. Traditional gunplay against traditional enemies is a much larger part of the gameplay, and the zombies have been so sidelined as a threat that only a single main character is actually seen to die at the hands of what was once depicted as a horror so profound it nearly drove Isaac Clarke insane. Clarke no longer has time for that kind of interiority (indeed the initial idea that the secondary playable character would be a figment of Clarke’s imagination was ruled out) because he has baddies to mow down and, in a example of sequel escalation taken to near parodic excess, zombie moons to fight.

The DLC packs made their triumphant return, with seven sets of weapons and costumes, a sequel campaign set after the main game, pre-order bonuses, and (I’m not kidding) a set of weapons only available through entering a promo code found in Slim Jim packages. Microtransactions had evolved since the first Dead Space, and Dead Space 3 saw major innovation on that front. Where previous packs had consisted of cosmetics with no real effect on gameplay and weapons which a dedicated player could presumably make it through the game without using, Dead Space 3 introduced a crafting system, because it was 2013 and if you didn’t have a crafting system you’d be laughed at by all the cool kids, and also because a crafting system means resource management. Resource management which could be cut down substantially if players were to, say, buy a pack of non-renewable in-game resources for real world money to spare themselves the hassle. Between the shameless money grabs and the sense that the series had rapidly lost touch with its roots, Dead Space seemed adrift. Neither of those things really had anything to do with the end of the series though, which ultimately came down to the most fearsome and cutthroat force in gaming: sales goals.

As Dead Space had grown as a franchise, EA’s ambitions for it had grown right along with it, and despite selling 605,000 copies in its first month, the series’ third entry fell well below EA’s sales goals. One might question exactly what sales goals EA had in mind for a series which began as a relatively niche riff on alien zombie horror, but keep in mind that this was in the gold rush era of game publishing. Development costs kept going up, as did promotional costs, so sales goals followed. Publishers at the time were so incensed by the idea that they might miss out on a penny of revenue that they took major steps toward killing the used game market (only a few years before digital sales would essentially wipe it out anyway) through pre-order DLC, locked on-disc content requiring single-use codes packed with new copies of the game, mandatory internet connections, and even the discussion of fees to activate used games. Dead Space 3 itself locked off its multiplayer co-op features behind a purchase code for used game buyers, who had to shell out additional cash for the full experience. It’s no surprise that in this unsustainable atmosphere Dead Space was gradually transformed into the kind of four-quadrant crowd pleaser EA thought they wanted, only to fail anyway because what EA actually wanted was a license to continually make more money forever, ideally while doing as little as possible. Dead Space 2 had eventually sold over four million copies, but even the apex of the series was still considered a failure, thanks to EA’s lavish spending on promotion, a sector of the media industry which definitely isn’t a grift.

Dead Space was a Cinderella story turned into horror, the developer dream of a weird project becoming an unlikely darling and skyrocketing to mainstream status, before being gradually morphed into a more and more interchangeable product about armored space marines blasting monsters as the publisher spend years hollowing it out in search of a real life infinite money glitch. It was 2013 and Dead Space was dead.

Until today. January 27, 2023 saw see a Dead Space remake released from Montreal-based Motive Studio. Visceral Games is no more, just one of the many studios shuttered by EA after its ludicrous sales projections failed to be met, chewed up and spit out when the delicious flavor of money began to fade like bubblegum made from developers’ hopes and dreams. But enough time has passed now that people are nostalgic for Dead Space, bitter about the sequels, and ready to go back to the old ways, just as the first game was itself a throwback. The devs have promised no microtransactions, though at this point that’s a bit like saying that your new car doesn’t even need to be fed oats and have its horseshoes regularly changed. The industry has evolved; the money might have stayed just the same, but the ways they get it are different. In the original Dead Space games they got it through clunky DLC packs with outfits and guns, then story expansions, and finally with onerous gameplay requirements which players could pay to skip. Now it’s different, the zombified corpse of a dead franchise lurching into view, the mind and heart is gone, the original creators and developers all gone, but it’s something shiny and new, dripping with viscera, animated by a terrible and ancient purpose. You can cut off the head and it still won’t die. It wants your money.

Epilogue

The Callisto Protocol is a game made by some of the people behind the original Dead Space. It is a spiritual sequel to the franchise, channeling the same aesthetics and horror gameplay as the original series. The Callisto Protocol came out on December 1st, 2022, about two months before the Dead Space remake. It had a season pass with character skins, two game modes, and a story expansion. It sold two million units and underperformed because it didn't sell five million [link]. You can’t win.

[penhive]

Journal Dated September 15th 2023

Sun light clinked cheers through the slit of the wall. I am introducing porngasm (from porn and orgasm) and it’s a pleasure of watching porn. Also there is pornphoria (from porn and euphoria) and also porntasy (from porn and ecstasy). A kiss is the language of flowers. Another term that I have made is clitorotatics (from clitoris and tactics). I am reading Russell’s History of Western Philosophy and I am fascinated by the Greek culture that espoused orgiastic, drunken, bacchanalian revelry. The cult of ecstasy is so carnal and sensual. Their mental state is one of orgasmosophy (from orgasm and philosophy). I am still hooked on to travelogues and since I don’t have the resources and I am window travelling. I am longing for the nights of drunkenness and sex. Yes I am a creative beatnik. Do all the cherubs created in art match those whom God created? The highest form of awareness is realization. In order to write one must read books. But I don’t read books fully and it’s a habit that I should discard. Literature is a painting of words. Legend has to shift from the status of a celebrity to self-actualization.  I am longing to escape the cycle of being broke. My wallet has to become the Houdini of money. The prodigal life is interesting and challenging. I won’t like the prodigal son squander my resources but invest them wisely. Kafka marooned the mind into an abject depression. Flesh fornicates in sin and is carnal and earthly. Mutiny  is the angst with the cannon of optimism. A fart made a faaaaaaaaaaaaaatr sound. Grass smiled at me in Green happiness. I am a mix of Prometheus and Prospero. I would love to eat the colors of the sun.  I am living life to love it. My existential philosophy is life is the celebration of meaning. Pot, Booze and Sex are cravings for the flesh. There is nothing noble about me. Whoever gives me love I double it in return. I am sad that my teenage lover ditched me. I am a staunch Christian and yes I have messed up my life but God still loves me. I am honored to be loved by God. I wish I am winning windfall bonanzas. Let travel be a muse that gives my opportunity. My philosophy of sex is sexistianlism  (from sex and existentialism). I wish to visit all the art galleries of the world. Art has given me more experience than reading. Reading is Kafkaesque. Poetry is the rhythm of life. Let the muse be my writing companion. My son was reading the Bible passage where Jesus was baptized by John. What struck me was when Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and a dove descended upon Jesus and the heavenly voice uttered: this is my son whom I am well pleased. This phenomenon can be called as beatific aesthetics. There is a principals conference and I have begged my wife to take me. The reason is not my inclination to attend the conference but with the privacy, I can make love. I am a guy who did not have a honeymoon as when I was being married my father was fully in debt.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Jackson Hole: Fed policy collides with reality in the most unequal county in America (CNN) Central bank officials from across the world have descended upon Jackson Hole, Wyoming this week to discuss policy decisions that will shape the economy for years to come. But as they talk about inflation and the economy in the abstract, residents of the popular vacation destination are very much feeling the realities of their policies. That’s because Jackson Hole is the most economically unequal place in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The snow kissed peaks and verdant valleys of Jackson Hole aren’t just awe-inspiring. They’re also symbolic. Among the top 1% in Teton County (where Jackson Hole is located), the average annual income is a jaw-dropping $22.5 million. The median household income in Teton County in 2021, meanwhile, was about $94,000, according to the US Census Bureau. The annual August symposium of global financial leaders and economic elites wouldn’t happen without the servers, cooks, drivers and hotel and event staff who make it function—the same people feeling the hard impact of elevated inflation, high interest rates and a softening economy the most. “If you look at income, Jackson Hole is really a microcosm of the nation’s wealth inequalities laid out across these dramatic landscapes of the Mountain West,” said Kenan Fikri, director of research at The Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan policy organization. “It’s a ground zero for understanding how inflation affects the budgets of lower-earning households when they’re already financially stressed.”

Trump’s Mug Shot, a Presidential First, Is a Merch Bonanza (WSJ) First came the mug shot. Then came the merch. Within hours of Donald Trump surrendering himself to authorities in Fulton County, Ga., items plastered with the glowering former president in his signature suit and cherry-red tie were all over Etsy, eBay and the custom-design site Redbubble. Trump’s own campaign got in on the action: On Thursday evening, it sent out an email, soliciting $47 donations in exchange for a T-shirt printed with the mug shot above the phrase “Never Surrender.” His campaign’s online merchandise storefront now includes shirts, beverage coozies and a bumper sticker featuring the booking photo. The former president’s son Donald Trump Jr. was also peddling a $30 T-shirt and a $16 coffee mug printed with the mug shot, saying that proceeds from the sales would go to his father’s legal defense fund. Etsy makers began listing T-shirts that said “Legend” and “NOT GUILTY” beneath Trump’s image. In near-record time, Trump’s mug shot has joined Che Guevara’s bereted visage, sneering Bart Simpson and the goofy Minions as a wearable meme—the sort of image that will be found in souvenir shops and thrift-store racks for years to come.

Ecuador election: As run-off looms, voters crave genuine change (Al Jazeera) From her small convenience store in northern Quito, Tanya Vazquez is consumed by fear. Her modest shop has been robbed three times in the last few years, she said; in one case, the perpetrator fired a gun towards her husband, although the bullet missed. One of their sons was also robbed and assaulted in the street. “I am very afraid, with all the crime that’s happening,” Vazquez told Al Jazeera from behind the shop counter in the Ecuadorian capital. “I just hope that whoever the new president is can at least give us some security and stability.” Indeed, as Ecuador grapples with rising crime and political violence, many in the country are craving change. Snap elections last Sunday were overshadowed by this month’s assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, a prominent anticorruption candidate. The election will head to a run-off on October 15. These elections represent a pivotal moment for the small Andean nation, but it remains an open question as to whether either candidate can deliver the change voters crave.

A miracle:’ Virginia man meets Chilean family 42 years after he was stolen as newborn (USA Today) It has been 42 years since María Angélica González saw her son. He was a newborn. A nurse told González he needed to be put in an incubator because he was premature. Not long after, she returned with devastating news: The baby was dead. For 42 years, that’s what González believed. For 42 years, it has been a lie. Gonzalez’s son, Jimmy Lippert Thyden, was stolen from González, adopted out to unwitting parents in the United States and raised in Arlington, Virginia. For 42 years, Thyden believed he had no living relatives in Chile, where he was born. Then one day in April, Thyden read a USA TODAY story about a California man who had learned he was stolen from his mother in Chile and illegally adopted out to an American couple. It got Thyden thinking: Could the same thing have happened to him? Within weeks, Thyden learned the truth. And last week, González finally got to hug her son. “It’s a miracle from God,” González, 69, told USA TODAY during a video chat in Spanish as she sat with Thyden on Saturday. “When I learned that he was alive, I couldn’t believe it.”

Legal Troubles for Sarkozy (Foreign Policy) It’s been an eventful week for former world leaders facing legal problems. On Friday, magistrates in Paris ordered former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial on charges that his 2007 election campaign received a $54 million illegal contribution from former Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi’s government. The one-term president has denied wrongdoing alongside 12 other co-defendants, including three of his former cabinet ministers. He will be tried in 2025. This is far from Sarkozy’s first indictment rodeo. The 68-year-old leader has been convicted twice for corruption and influence-peddling. In May, he lost his first appeal for a 2021 accusation alleging he tried to bribe a judge. His three-year prison term was brought down to just one trip around the sun, which Sarkozy can fulfill under house arrest. He still faces a second probe into allegations that he received a payment of $3.2 million by Russian insurance firm Reso-Garantia in 2019 while he was working as a consultant.

Nerve agents, poison and window falls. Over the years, Kremlin foes have been attacked or killed (AP) The attacks range from the exotic—poisoned by drinking polonium-laced tea or touching a deadly nerve agent—to the more mundane of getting shot at close range. Some take a fatal plunge from an open window. Over the years, Kremlin political critics, turncoat spies and investigative journalists have been killed or assaulted in a variety of ways. None, however, has been known to perish in an air accident. But on Wednesday, a private plane carrying a mercenary chief who staged a brief rebellion in Russia plummeted into a field from tens of thousands of feet after breaking apart. Assassination attempts against foes of President Vladimir Putin have been common during his nearly quarter century in power. Those close to the victims and the few survivors have blamed Russian authorities, but the Kremlin has routinely denied involvement—as it did on Friday by saying it was “a complete lie” it had anything to do with the jet crash. There also have been reports of prominent Russian executives dying under mysterious circumstances, including falling from windows, although whether they were deliberate killings or suicides is sometimes difficult to determine.

UNICEF says a year on from Pakistan’s catastrophic floods, millions of children still need support (AP) The United Nations children’s agency on Friday warned that a year on from Pakistan’s devastating floods, an estimated 4 million children continue to need humanitarian assistance and access to essential services as a shortage of funds remains a hurdle in recovery. The warning from UNICEF comes as authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province are racing against time to evacuate people from areas affected by the overflowing River Sutlej. Since Aug. 1, rescuers have evacuated over 100,000 people from marooned areas in the districts of Kasur and Bahawalpur. More than six months ago, dozens of countries and international institutions at a U.N.-backed conference in Geneva pledged more than $9 billion to help Pakistan recover and rebuild from last summer’s floods. But most of the pledges were in the form of loans for projects, which are still in the planning stages.

A Crisis of Confidence Is Gripping China’s Economy (NYT) Earlier this year, David Yang was brimming with confidence about the prospects for his perfume factory in eastern China. After nearly three years of paralyzing Covid lockdowns, China had lifted its restrictions in late 2022. The economy seemed destined to roar back to life. Mr. Yang and his two business partners invested more than $60,000 in March to expand production capacity at the factory, expecting a wave of growth. But the new business never materialized. In fact, it’s worse. People are not spending, he said, and orders are one-third of what they were five years ago. “It is disheartening,” Mr. Yang said. “The economy is really going downhill right now.” For much of the past four decades, China’s economy seemed like an unstoppable force, the engine behind the country’s rise to a global superpower. But the economy is now plagued by a series of crises. A real estate crisis born from years of overbuilding and excessive borrowing is running alongside a larger debt crisis, while young people are struggling with record joblessness. And amid the drip feed of bad economic news, a new crisis is emerging: a crisis of confidence. A growing lack of faith in the future of the Chinese economy is verging on despair. Consumers are holding back on spending. Businesses are reluctant to invest and create jobs. And would-be entrepreneurs are not starting new businesses. “Low confidence is a major issue in the Chinese economy now,” said Larry Hu, chief China economist for Macquarie Group, an Australian financial services firm.

Syria’s south rocked by protests amid anger over fuel hikes (Washington Post) Protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad have spread across southern Syria in the days following a government decision to slash fuel subsidies, amid growing desperation as hyperinflation sends prices soaring. As the relatively rare protests gained force under a government that has applied brutal tactics to keep its population in line through more than a decade of civil war, young activists crept through the streets of the southern city of Sweida at night, affixing makeshift fliers to shuttered storefronts, encouraging civil unrest. The protests began Aug. 20 at a central roundabout, with a chant of “Syria wants freedom.” A demonstrator spray-painted a message on the roundabout’s edge, giving the gathering point a new name: “Dignity Square.” The demonstrations have since spread, as have photos and videos of them, some evoking the protests that filled the country’s streets in 2011 as hopeful masses demanded the ouster of Assad. Years of conflict were to follow.

Power returns to most of Kenya after a 14-hour outage (AP) Electricity was being restored in most parts of Kenya on Saturday, 14 hours after the longest outage in recent memory, the majority government-owned power distributor said. There was still no clear explanation for the outage that hit on Friday night, shutting down the country’s main international airport, affecting major hospitals and even the president’s office compound. The outage came just weeks before Kenya’s government hosts the first Africa Climate Summit, where energy will be key on the agenda. Kenya gets almost all its energy from renewable sources, but infrastructure and alleged mismanagement remain an issue in the country of more than 50 million people.

[nerdandlace]

Book Bonanza 2023

[beatlesblogger]

A Beatle Book Bonanza in 2023

We appear to be in something of an avalanche of Beatle books at the moment with lots of titles either out now, about to be released, or in the longer-term pipeline. A couple of Paul McCartney books available right now are The McCartney Legacy Volume 1 1969-73 (see our review of this terrific book here), and another new one called Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas – The Stories Behind the Songs…

[laurathalassa]

2023 Book Schedule It feels like ages since I’ve sat down at my desk, but I’m finally back! And, as promised, here’s a bit about what’s going on this year: I’ll be releasing Bewitched, the first book in a new paranormal romance series, on April 18, 2023. This book is already complete—at the moment I believe copies of it are getting printed for its spring release. To be honest, these are totally new waters I’m navigating—to have a traditional publisher handle the print books. But I am excited to be able to release the e-book, print book, and the audiobook all on the same day, so hurrah to that! And Bewitched will be in Kindle Unlimited, for those of you who are members. I’m now working on the second book in my Bewitched series, along with the novella that will come between books one and two. I’m tentatively planning on that novella to be released fall/winter of this year, though that is a guestimate. It will release before book two in the series, which is set to come out spring of 2024. What else is going on? Well, I have some plans with a couple different book boxes, one of which is my Fallen World series. That will go on sale on January 13. I’ve seen some of the artwork already and it is so stunning. As far as author events go, I will be attending Book Bonanza in June. I don’t know if I’ll be doing any signings around Bewitched’s release, but I will definitely try to set a couple up in California. Oh, and I’m going to really, truly try to be on here more. Last year I just couldn’t swing social media, but this is a new year and I’m excited to change that. I’m terrible at all of it—I suck at taking pictures, I get even more squeamish about selfies, and I always panic at the last minute because I feel like I have nothing worth sharing. Oh, and my posts are usually speckled with errors. Buuuuut, I’m still gonna try to be more present online! Because besides my own updates, I have a million book recs I want to gush about, and I want to share more teasers and host more giveaways and have live chats with you all, so I hope you’ll hang out with me and maybe hold my hand if I’m a little rusty at this. Big hugs, happy reading, and happy new year! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm9zkMkSSeF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[darkmaga-returns]

Mark Wauck

Oct 13, 2024

Way back, well, actually not that long ago, but so much has happened …

Commenter Amanda R recommended a book, which I did read and wrote a post about. It attracted 47 comments, so, lots of interest. I’ll recommend that post again as background, since I don’t intend to repeat myself. Glancing through the post, it’s a decent summary of a complex history:

Palestine: The Geopolitics Of Energy

… I’ve been reading Charlotte Dennet’s Follow the Pipelines: Uncovering the Mystery of a Lost Spy and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil.

Here’s a thumbnail sketch. The British Empire, motivated by the necessity for oil both to fuel a modern fleet—the backbone of the Empire—as well as for modern explosives, and to control access to the then biggest source of oil (the Middle East) by Big Power competitors, sought to make the port of Haifa the focal trans shipment point for Middle East oil. A network of pipelines was planned, prominently including the Kirkuk to Haifa pipeline (shut down since 1948). Yes, the Brit imperialists did have ideas of a compliant Zionist Palestine safeguarding the Empire’s oil terminals, but we all know by know that Zionists are far from compliant and have their own plans for the Middle East. The Brits did try to exclude even the US, but …

The long and the short of it all:

… the American Empire has more or less stepped into the shoes of the British Empire, in terms of attempting to control the Middle East—only with a lot more firepower. Western neocolonialism continues for the time being. …

In other words, not much has changed from the standpoint of Middle Easterners. The Anglo-Zionist Empire continues to attempt to control Middle East energy resources over the heads of the actual inhabitants of the region. The pipedream of crazed Zionists somehow becoming compliant guardians of Anglosphere interests has backfired spectacularly, winding up in a sort of Anglo-Zionist conglomerate that has kept the region in constant turmoil. That doesn’t mean that the Anglo-Zionists haven’t benefited—they have. The destruction of Iraq did lead to a bonanza of cheap Iraqi oil for Israel, up to some point in 2023. But the Neocon destruction of Iraq and the attempted destruction of Syria—still ongoing—also led to the empowerment of Iran which, in turn, arguably has made the entire BRICS project feasible.

[presidentialapartmentslondon]

How to Make the Most of Your Visit to West End Live 2024 at Trafalgar Square?

The eagerly awaited musical bonanza, West End Live, will be held in June 2024 at Trafalgar Square. This is a free affair, featuring 50 or more shows performed live to an overflowing crowd of fans. 

Finding a comfortable place to stay is crucial for enjoying your time at West End Live. Short-term rental apartments in London are a fantastic option. They offer the convenience of a home-like environment and are often located close to key attractions, including Trafalgar Square. Plus having your own kitchen and living space can make your trip more relaxing and budget-friendly.

What is West End Live Trafalgar Square?

Live and free musical performances are held in West End Live. The Society of London Theatre and the Westminster City Council sponsors it annually. The show is popular for featuring top musicals that are huge crowd-pullers. In 2023, the show attracted more than 48 performances held live for over 11 hours.

Main Details of The Show

Event dates: Begins on Saturday, 22 June 2024, and ends on Sunday, 23 June 2024

Timings: 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday and from 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday

Venue: Trafalgar Square, Westminster, Central London

Cost: Entry is free

You can read also: How to Navigate Little Venice: A Step-by-Step Guide

Transport Options to Reach Trafalgar Square

Bus: Routes 3,6,11, 12, 13, 23, 23, 53, 77A, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176, and 453. The heritage bus routes 9 and 15, where the low floor is not available are other options. 

Tube: Westminster station is the closest station. It has a step-free feature and serves the Circle, District, and Jubilee lines. Buses 453, 88, 24, and 12 are available from the station. The Square is just 150m away.

National Rail: Charing Cross station is located 325 meters from the Square. It offers a step-free route and access.

Taxi: Pre-booking (Dial-a-ride) services are available.

For smooth and hassle-free travel, visit the Travel for London (TfL) website. 

What to Expect?

With last year’s successful presentation, the June 2024 show is expected to attract over 50 performances. All-time favorites like Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge, The Lion King, and Froze are expected alongside new performances. 

Dining places close to the event

Coffee, Ice cream, water, and Pimms can be bought in the Square. For quick bites, Tortilla, Pret a Manger, and Tesco Metro are ideal. The National Gallery Café and Pizza Express offer casual dining.

Visiting Central London: Guide To Enjoy A Hassle-Free Trip

Use the TfL website to reach the venue. Overnight stay at central London serviced apartments like Presidential Serviced Apartments will ensure a comfortable and relaxing stay. With nearby transport links that are a few minutes walk away, the apartments are ideal for people in search of home comforts at competitive rates. 

The show is free, so a ticket is not needed. 

Since the event is outdoors, make sure you check the weather forecast.

It is a standing event with seating available only in the accessible viewing section.

Final Thoughts

Trafalgar Square is renowned for its exciting musical shows, of which the West End Live is a notable one. The excitement surrounding the event remains unabated as more and more top performers grace the stage every year. Make your visit this year memorable by staying at Presidential Apartments in Earls Court London, which boasts proximity to many local attractions and eateries besides the West End Live show.

[ear-worthy]

"What A Creep" Podcast: Humanity At Its Worst / Sarcasm At Its Best

Sometimes, if you dive into the rabbit hole that is TikTok and watch as Karens are exposed in all their glorious insanity, meltdowns, and temper tantrums, you begin to think that average, non-celebrity people kind of suck.

Well, fear not, because after listening to the What A Creep podcast, you then realize that there are plenty of celebrities who can win the footrace to become some of society's most horrible human beings.

And that's the simple premise behind the What A Creep podcast. Expose celebrities for their heinous actions and words that are too often smoothed over by their P.R. people, legal team, or studios.

 Some of the subjects of their episodes -- AKA Creeps -- are well known and well known as creeps. For example, actor Armie Hammer, who hit the creep jackpot with allegations of sexual assault, rape, and even cannibalism.

Then there's the lesser known creep like self-avowed Christian evangelical comedian Steven Crowder, who allegedly exposed himself to co-workers a la Louis C.K., created a toxic workplace, and was seen on a video, verbally abusing his pregnant wife.  

Then we have well-known people who we've had suspicions that they may be a creep.  That's Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak on the June 24, 2023, episode. Suffice it to say that Sajak has always curated an air of dismissive disdain and ennui about his game show and especially the contestants. Apparently, Sajak revels in homophobia, climate change denialism (he could probably afford his own personal climate) and whining about people not working hard, despite the fact he only works four days a month.

A June episode was a "Creeps" bonanza when profiling Robert Kennedy, Jr. Sometimes, it's a case of too much decrepitude. You have to hand it to Kennedy. He spreads his hate and contempt around -- Wi-Fi, vaccines, Jewish people, Chinese people, and gay people along with a twisted belief that antidepressants cause mass shootings.

Margo Donohue and Sonia Mansfield chat about creeps as co-hosts of the show, who are not paragons of restraint. These two don't hold back. 

Notably, these co-hosts note their sources and attempt to present factual information before their "editorial" comments fly around like arrows with razor-sharp tips. These co-hosts have the facts to support their "creep" exposures.

On their website, Donohue and Mansfield announce: "We talk about Creeps of the past and the present: It's the who's who of who's the worst. Do you have a story about one of the Creeps we covered? Email us at whatacreeppodcast@gmail.com." This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, which specializes in distribution, advertising, sound production, and analytics for independent podcasts. That's admirable that there is a ecosystem extant for podcasters who don't have the financial backing of an Amazon or Spotify.

Margo Donohue is the co-host, producer, and editor of a whole slew of podcasts, including Book Vs. Movie and the Not Fade Away podcast.She makes her living as a public relations/marketing and social media consultant and as a part-time fitness instructor. Her new book, “Filmed in Brooklyn” is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Sonia Mansfield is a former TV critic and celebrity gossip columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. She also wrote for a lot of entertainment websites that don’t exist anymore, including Cinescape, IF Magazine, and EON Magazine. She pays the bills working as a content designer.

Donohue and Mansfield excel as a hosting team. They don't rant unintelligibly, like say Charlie Kirk, but often present a "creep" biography before proceeding with the bullet points of pure creepdom.

The duo seem to have a special section of Hell for comedian Chris D'Elia, who has allegedly been accused of sexual assault or harassment by more than 12 women. D'Elia has been accused of threatening to release intimate, adult videos of a woman and making death threats against her. If the requested videos and photos were not sent instantly, multiple women in the exposé claimed D'Elia would become enraged and berate them. 

Donohue and Mansfield roast this creep in a saucy concoction of revulsion, contempt, and utter disgust. 

What makes this podcast so good, and ear worthy are its sarcastic and sharp-witted co-hosts, the sardonic venom they spew on these celebrity douches, and their ability to construct a narrative that is equal parts comedy, satire, sarcasm, and righteous indignation.

Some of my favorite creeps exposed include Scott Baio, Eric Clapton, Josh Duggar, Matt Gaetz, and Pete Rose. 

Recent episodes to enjoy include an update on Russell Brand and Harvey Levin of TMZ.

Check out the What A Creep podcast. You never know what creep will be profiled each episode. 

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: An Audiobooks Bonanza by Unknown Author

By Unknown Author Book Review editors discuss their love of listening to books out loud. Published: September 29, 2023 at 02:18PM from NYT Books https://ift.tt/MYSJ64P via IFTTT

[serenitysnow6]

It's here! I have 3 books included in the sale so if you're on the fence about them, now's the perfect time to grab them or some other good reads.

[melanie-moreland-author]

Limited Availability

Originally offered at Book Bonanza 2023. Get all five books of the Men of Hidden Justice series in a HUGE paperback. Copies are limited in quantity and will not be reprinted again.

[denimbex1986]

'Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” were the dominant forces at the U.K. and Ireland box office this weekend, with a combined debut take of £29.4 million ($37.6 million), per numbers from Comscore.

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” led the way with a mighty £18.5 million, while Universal’s “Oppenheimer” collected £10.8 million. Cinema chains reported record turnouts, with Vue saying that it witnessed its biggest weekend in four years and second biggest weekend in history by admissions. “Barbie” is on track to become the biggest film of 2023 in the territory, ahead of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

London was at the heart of the box office bonanza with cinemas enjoying unprecedented sales. Curzon reported the busiest weekend in their history with over 200 sold-out screenings in their London venues, and Picturehouse Cinema, with 13 venues in London, also reporting their best weekend ever.

Oliver Meek, executive director of the Rio Dalston, said: “The ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend was our most commercially successful weekend ever. We sold over 5,000 tickets this weekend, 865 servings of popcorn and 183 ‘Barbie’ cocktails. We took more money this weekend than we did in the whole of June. We expect to be sold out every night this week, with tonight and Wednesday already fully booked.”

Lucy Jones, executive director U.K. and Ireland, Italy, Middle East and Africa at Comscore, added: “London normally accounts for 25% of U.K. and Ireland box office revenue, contributing almost £150 million so far this year. Both ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ were popular here, selling over £8 million of tickets. London audiences delivered 29% of ‘Oppenheimer’ ticket sales, boosted by Imax screenings.”...'