#caroline mao

[theoffingmag]

I believe there’s magic in everything already, and it just needs to be communicated.

Q&A with Caroline Mao, author of “ghost x garden x grow”

[ophelia-network]

Mao Hamaguchi

"Your spirit is the part of you that seeks meaning and purpose. It's the part drawn to hope, that will not give in to despair." ~ Caroline Myss

"If you want to know for sure that you are on the right path, here's your clue: You're not put in a position where you feel like you have to negotiate your sense of integrity, which is an act of betrayal. You don't feel like you have to compromise who you are." ~ Caroline Myss

"The moment you come to trust chaos, you see God clearly. Chaos is divine order, versus human order. Change is divine order, versus human order. When the chaos becomes safety to you, then you know you're seeing God clearly." ~ Caroline Myss







"Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them." ~ Robertson Davies

[romilly-jay]

Thoughts About The "Thoughts About The Expanse" Panel

***spoilers, natch***

This was one of the sessions I actively wanted to go to but Managing Worldcon Life got in the way. (If I've reconstructed correctly - never certain!- this session was on the same day as the big Worldcon philharmonic concert and immediately before it? If that's right - in theory, it should have been possible to do both, one straight after the other, BUT in reality, this hour got eaten up in queueing time.

So, delighted to find it in the replays and an early priority to listen to - and very glad I did, if mainly to feel the waves of joy and affection rising as I was reminded how VERY MUCH I loved this show*.

*Yes, I know that The Expanse is also an impressive series of novels and novellas as well, but I have mostly - not read these. Yet. They are firmly IN my TBR but as with Worldcon, life has so far Intervened.

=========================================

Right, I'd written the bits above and below the === then got called away [dinner awaits no blogging, dahlings] and then... forgot to return - so the middle segment was NEARLY just the following:

Some of the panel content here.

But - hurrah - started on the next blog and wanted to link it to what that clever Caroline Mersey said about it, only to discover that... she said nothing (as reported here). Oops and - corrected.

In fact almost all of the next part is CM's pitch for why The Expanse is the greatest TV SF series of the 21st century // worldcon Aug 2024

Her pitch revolved around the treatment of sexuality and gender:

This show is the most progressive recent SFF show, particularly in the way it queers gender and sexuality in ways we rarely see on TV.

The power is how it normalises and embeds its treatment. It has poly relationships – almost unheard of in commercial productions. Holden’s family of origin. It’s not just about the tax breaks. Drummer’s crew of space pirates. More complex than a traditional love triangle (tho Draomi is a canon relationship YAY.) This is a show that consistently queers and interrogates expected gender roles. Bobby Draper: not sexualised, not all-powerful, seeks help. Peaches: classic tale of angry superhero on a revenge trip who earns her redemption. Drummer: uber-competent but also with brittle edges.

The exception to the excellence is Julie Mao – the fetishised object of a middle aged white guy’s obsession. CM comments that book one was pretty standard male-oriented SF – very blokey, testosterone-fuelled – but complimented the two writers for how they responded to receiving that feedback, gender flipping certain characters from book two onwards and allowing the story to unfold as it did.

CM's summary of what she loves about the show is made with reference to the final three episodes of S5:

The story around Naomi’s resilience – her desperate determination to save the Roci from Inaros’s trap – we don’t breathe until she does again – amazing engineering ingenuity – while she’s trying to send a signal and break the trap. We have Amos and Peaches and their hugely daring escape from Earth. Avasarala’s coup. Drummer’s torn loyalties – but we’ve also got: how you best deal with your sex pest cast member by writing them out in a way that respects the character but conclusively rules out a return. Those episodes exemplify the most striking and my favourite things about the series.

There was really only one point I *really* wanted to grab from the rest of the session and I *believe* it was lawyer Wes Rist who made it:

Noting the benefit to the quality of the story - its complexity, its ambiguity, the kinks away from expected narratives - that they had several “goes” at it. The role playing game. The books (and novellas filling out the world between the main stories). And then the show.

=========================================

Finishing up by I'm listing out the panel members, incl their varied backgrounds, along with a sort-of-summary of what they said about themselves. To me, this is synecdochal (??) of the identity and value-set of the series and the quality of its appeal i.e. appeals to and relevant to, well, lots of people but almost certainly including:

people who are interested in politics and/or international relations and/or Marxism and/or debating between different philosophies;

people who like hard science and realistic space battles - slash - pouring of liquids in zero G;

people who want to imagine human futures across and within the solar system and the social - slash - economic - slash - politics impacts and implications involved in becoming a bi-planetary species and/or a multi-space location capitalist construct; and

people who want to imagine alternative gendered futures.

[Also, people who think about the Roman empire alot. Perhaps daily.]

These, then, are the panellists:

Sven von Vittorelli is a conservation biologist from Germany, who told the room that his day job is often filled with frustration, with the sense of coming up against the boundaries of what's possible, and so chooses to enrich his life through engaging with science fiction.

[Writing - he's working on the first novel in a hard SF series, which appealed to me immediately because it namechecks Shackleton in the title, Shackleton Ridge. And as a fan - he won me over again by naming Firefly and Battlestar Galactica as series he loved on the way to becoming a fan of The Expanse.]

Wes Rist is an international human rights lawyer whose day job involves working on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity - clearly, seriously heavy, and also, deeply relevant to the political context, themes and developments of The Expanse series.

[He clarified, of course, that his views expressed here, are personal - he's working in some capacity for the US government but not speaking for his employer HERE.]

Bob Hranek has a tech background, initially for the US Airforce (5 yrs), then for the US min of defence (35 years) focused on aerospace systems - he pointed out that any views expressed were his own and not those of his employer (prompting the same from WR).

He joked that given his background he would generally, in the context of The Expanse, be expected to be representing [Evil! Tech! And Weapons! Giant!] Protogen.

Caroline Mersey is a cos player and book nerd and organises lots of book events in her spare time, including the 'Super Relaxed Fantasy Bookclub' - every second Tuesday in London. [Must attempt to go...]

And the panel moderator, Michael Pea, is senior writer at Friends of Comic Con and self-declared *uberfan* of The Expanse.

[best-fictional-cat]

Finally, what you've all been waiting for (probably):

Round 2+ brackets!!!

(randomised - with very slight adjustments - using a wheel; possibly subject to change in the further rounds but very unlikely)

Group 1

Coco Grimalkin (Purrfect Apawcalypse) vs Miyuki (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Slugcat (Rain World) vs Catbus (My Neighbor Totoro)

Behemoth (Master and Margarita) vs Amp / Anp / Anpu (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

Kitty Softpaws (Puss in Boots) vs Pixie (Pixie and Brutus)

Chi Yamada (Chi's sweet home) vs Rum Tum Tugger (Cats the musical)

Tabby Slime (Slime Rancher) vs Tangy (Animal Crossing)

Cringer / Battlecat (He-man) vs Cinderpelt (Warrior cats)

Blaze the Cat (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs Scourge (Warrior cats)

Group 2

Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods) vs Natsume Soseki (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Domino (Amphibia) vs Shoe + Wagahai (Ace Attorney)

808 (Hi-Fi Rush) vs Niko (Oneshot)

Squirrelflight (Warrior cats) vs T'Ana (Star Trek: Lower Decks)

Hong + On (Trash of the Count's Family) vs Alpine (Marvel comics)

Jaspers (Homestuck) vs Mao Mao Mao (Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart)

Thomas Kincade Brannigan (Doctor Who) vs Caroline Coughs (Sparklecare hospital)

Mewo (Omori) vs Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (The Cat Returns)

Group 3

Greebo (Discworld) vs Aldwyn (The Familiars)

Simba (The Lion King) vs Leona Kingscholar (Twisted Wonderland)

Jenny Linsky (Jenny Linsky, Esther Averill) vs Findus (Pettson and Findus)

Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) vs Mad Mew Mew (Undertale)

Felix the cat (Paramount) vs Burgerpants (Undertale)

Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket) vs Ghost (The Owl House)

Rosie (Animal Crossing) vs Talking Cat (Rick and Morty)

Hiili (Fox Fires) vs Mew (Marvel comics)

Group 4

Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes) vs Tom Kitten (The Tale of Tom Kitten)

Meowthra (Lego Ninjago Movie) vs Jonesy (Alien)

Vodka Mutini / Dr.Meowgon Spangler (Homestuck) vs Lucifer (Cinderella)

Charmmy Kitty (Sanrio) vs Puppycat (Bee and Puppycat)

Nermal (Garfield) vs Lion (Steven Universe)

Spot (Star Trek: The Next Generation) vs Diana (Sailor Moon)

Midnight (Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones) vs Scout (Cattails)

Sakamoto (Nichijou) vs Ankha (Animal Crossing)

Group 5

Periwinkle (Blue's clues) vs Fluffal Cat (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Salem Saberhagen (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) vs Frumpkin (Critical Role)

Ember (Cattails) vs Nyanky (Taiko no Tatsujin)

Heinkel (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Amanojaku (Ghost Stories)

Khoshekh (Welcome to Night Vale) vs Catty (Undertale)

Kuro (Blue Exorcist) vs Catra (She-Ra)

Juan The Small Magical Latino Cat (Monster Prom) vs Tigger Sugden (Purrfect Apawcalypse)

Bungle the glass cat (Oz) vs Potato (Cat loaf adventures)

Group 6

Chairman Meow (The Shadowhunter Chronicles) vs Finley / Jelly Donut (Hustle Cat)

Cattail (Plants vs Zombies) vs Nameless evil white cat (James Bond)

Thomas O'Malley + Aristocats (Aristocats) vs Panther Lily (Fairy Tail)

Yoruichi Shihoin (Bleach) vs Jellie (Double Life SMP)

Blake Belladonna (RWBY) vs Tigress (Kung Fu Panda)

Invisible cat (The Invisible Man, H.G.Wells) vs Haru (My Roommate is a Cat)

Pusheen (Pusheen) vs Yellowfang (Warrior cats)

Kirjava (His Dark Materials) vs Kuroneko-sama (Trigun)

Group 7

Gary the Snail (Spongebob Squarepants) vs Skitty (Pokémon)

Bob (Animal Crossing) vs The Kitty (The Bad Guys)

Garfield the Deals Warlock (The Adventure Zone) vs Capper (My Little Pony)

Jiji (Kiki's Delivery Service) vs Izutsumi (Dungeon Meshi)

The Black Cat (The Black Cat, E.A.Poe) vs Nyako / Meowy (Chainsaw Man)

Tabby Von Meow (Webkinz) vs Tom (Tom and Jerry)

Solembum (Inheritance Cycle) vs Lil' Judd (Splatoon)

Bagheera (The Jungle Book) vs Gatomon (Digimon)

Group 8

Plagg (Miraculous) vs Luxor (Tutenstein)

Meowth (Pokémon) vs Remlit (Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword)

Leafpool (Warrior cats) vs The Cat in the Hat (The Cat in the Hat)

Maurice (Discworld) vs Jemima (Cats the musical)

Xiaohei (The Legend of Hei) vs Artemis (Sailor Moon)

Puss in Boots (Puss in Boots) vs Ichigo Momomiya (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Shrödinger's cat (you know the one) vs The Cat (Coraline)

Pasty (Neko Atsume) vs Pangur Bán (Irish poem)

This round will start in a few days, I need a bit more time to make the pictures and arrange the polls ^~^

I think I'll be posting them similarly to round 1 except now each group will be out every 12 hours! I will update you on the exact time this round starts when it's done :)

[figureskatingfanblog]

Some Youth Olympic Games Teams

Basically, the ones I know as of 12/10/2023.

Australia

Women - Sienna Kaczmarczyk Pairs - Petyon Bellamy-Martins / Kryshtof Pradeaux

Canada

Men - David Li Women - Kaiya Ruiter Pairs - Annika Behnke / Kole Sauve Ice Dance - Audra Gans / Michael Boutson; Caroline Kravets / Jacob Stark

China

Men - Tonghe Tian Women - Shiqi Gao Ice Dance - Tong Liu / Quansho Ge

France

Men - Gianni Motilla Women - Eve Dubecq Ice Dance - Ambre Perrier-Gianesini / Samuel Blanc-Klaperman

Georgia

Men - Konstantin Supatashvili Women - Inga Gurgenidze

Japan

Men - Haru Kakicuhi; Rio Nakata Women - Mao Shimada; Yo Takagi

Latvia

Men - Kirills Korkacs Women - Nikola Fomcenkova

New Zealand

Men - Yanaho Li

South Korea

Men - Hyungyeom Kim Women - Jia Shin, Yuseong Kim Ice Dance - Jinny Kim / Namu Lee

Spain

Pairs - Caroline Campillo / Pau Viella

Chinese Taipei

Women - Yu-feng Tsai

United States

Men - Jacob Sanchez Women - Sherry Zhang Pairs - Cayla Smith / Jared McPike Ice Dance - Olivia Ilin / Dylan Cain

[eggcount]

Chicks are Two Weeks Old!

June 24, 2024

Just like children, where does the time go?  Two weeks old already.  So grown up - sigh.  Soon they will be flying the coop.  sigh. 

And so much has happened.  Let's start with names.  Celia and I have been discussing names for some time now,  It wasn't as fun as when Celia was 3 and we made a huge list of all kinds of possible names including "Picture Frame" and "Lamp".  Now that Celia's seven (well, really 8 as of last Friday), she's a little more conservative on the names and suggested a bouquet of flowers - Lily, Tulip, Violet, Lilac and Rosy as well as Isabelle. But, being the no-leave out Bubbie/mom,  I ended up opening it to the entire family.  Which gave us:

From Joey - Chairman Mao, Hugo Chavez, Ho Chi Minh and Attila.

From Abby:  A bevy of old fashion names - Edna, Maude, Ingrid, Penelope, Iris, Esther and Violet (Celia had Violet on her list too.)

From David and Greta: Famous women (I suppose to counter Joey's famous men)  Susie B, Clara, Florence, and Frances Hammerstom

And from Maurie: Caroline in honor of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline.

No-leave out did not extend to voting. That would have been a nightmare.  Although I guess Maurie could have done one of those single-elimination brackets that they are so good at.   hmmmmm - maybe next time.  Anyway, after much consultation with Celia and an enthusiastic shout out from Alice for the name Rosy, the chicks are  Izzy (for Isabelle), Frances, Frida, Lily, and Rosy.  Truth be told, it broke my heart to reject such spectacular names as Ho Chi Minh, but there are only five chickens to name.  I guess we could have strung names together, like Lily Ho Chi Minh, or Chairman Izzy Maude Penelope but frankly, I have a hard enough time remembering just one name.  So, nope. 

Names settled,  I've been waiting for Greta to visit for portrait shots because they're the chicken whisperer and loves to pick up a chick.  And on Saturday, Greta finally came!  How did it go?  As you might remember, my attempt to hold one ended with me getting a really hard bite from Daisy.  Greta got bit too, but they persevered and they and Daisy seemed to make a pact.  As long as Greta got her permission and the chicks didn't protest, Greta was allowed to pick them up. This is not to say that Daisy was blase about the whole thing.  Greta was closely supervised and stern words were had if the chick was not happy.  Greta had to make cooing noises the whole time to reassure Daisy and they only got to hold three of them.  Maybe four.

So here they are:

This is Izzy - or Isabelle.  Celia and I named her.  She might be a Starlight Green Egger.  We got two of them. 

This is Lily.  Celia named her.  She has white wings and the cutest tail feathers and maybe is an Americana. 

This is Frida or she might be Frances Hamerstrom.  There are two yellow chicks that are brahmas and I can't tell them apart yet.  But I know they are brahmas because they have feathers on their feet. I named one, and Greta named the other for Frances Hamerstrom, an ornithologist who dedicated the majority of her life to studying the Greater Prairie-chicken.  Frances saved the  species from extinction in Wisconsin and she was one of the first to give wild birds leg ID bands.  We hope little Frances will grow up to be just like her namesake.  We are hoping that Frida will have a unibrow like her namesake so we can tell them apart.

btw, right now they are not particularly huge as one might expect a brahma chick to be, but maybe they are younger than the other chicks.  The Tractor Store does not issue birth certificates with hatch dates. 

And here's a close up of the feet.  How cool is that!  Feathered feet just like their momma!  

This is a Greater Prairie-chicken. I wish we had one of these! No wonder Frances spent her whole career studying them.

The fifth chick is Rosie - Alice named her.  I can't tell if we got one of her with Greta.  I'm pretty sure that Daisy was done with chick picking up by then. 

She's the little reddish brown one in this picture:

Enough for today. Sorry no cute stories of how they all escaped not once, but twice today.  I have to save that for another day - it's late.

But I will tell you this - it's fun having chicks again.  It makes up for the 101 degree weather we had yesterday and the mosquitos which are sort of controlled by the mosquito buckets of death, but not really all the way. 

xoxoxo

Sarah

(Bubbie, Aunt, Friend, Sister, and more!)

[lonesomemao]

IL SE PEUT ...

Noyau ML

On dénonce

Une Chine Nouvelle

Après avoir été

Années 80 années minitel rose

Mao nazi

Maintenant FFI 46

Ou plutôt

Franc Tireur-Partisan

Christophe Barbier

Et surtout Caroline Fourest

Mariage pour tous

Elle pas minorité philosophique

Mai Femme l'antinazi

Le paritaire le laïque

Samedi 1er juin 2024

[pazodetrasalba]

Room Ornaments

Dear Caroline:

This snippet of an overheard conversation is not the most enlightening of your posts -just enough of the gothic weirdness in the Mao Zedong figurines to give it a dash of charm and strange-, but it got me thinking about my own student apartment's decoration, back from my university days, and how an external observer might have reacted to them. At that time I was a dogmatic marxist, but not a very wealthy one, meaning that instead of porcelain figures, I had postcards with Marx and Lenin hanging around. No Mao: never actually liked the bastard. I was more of the Trotskyist persuasion.

But besides Communist mementos, if you had actually made it to my sancta sanctorum, the first thing you would have seen were books, a big, white shelf chock-full with them. They were almost all History - that was the first degree I was studying-, with some other stuff ending up there as well. Just to the right, in a big, blank piece of wall there was a present, a big Elric of Melnibone poster by Chris Achilleos with the sack of Imrryr in the background and a dragon that was definitely not up to scale. Further to the right, next to the entrance door and to an extra bed, was Kandinsky's Red, Yellow, Blue. I tend to be a bit conservative in my art tastes, but I had spent most of my list year at high school really trying to engage, understand and appreciate modern art (by which I meant from the impressionists onwards), and had actually latched to some abstract painters, with Kandinsky at the center of it. I really liked his mysticism, as expressed in his essay Concerning the Spiritual in Art, and a Taschen monograph by Ulrike Becks-Malorny which was one of the first book I bought at university.

The next two posters had been bought in the Prado Museum, and showed scenes from my two favorite paintings of all time, both of which share the same room in the said museum. The one over my bedroom was a fragment of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, a fragment from the right panel depicting Musical Hell. The other was just over my desk, to the left, near the window, and it was the full Triumph of Death, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I had first encountered this image in a history book, the article it was illustrating about the 1348 Black Death, when I was 6, and been terrified and fascinated in equal parts about it.  In fact, until my teenage years, I was terrified by the traditional personification of death as the Grim Reaper, and he made another frightening appearance for me in the 1988 in some of the Baron Munchausen movie.

[Side note: I had already written this post and was literally in the Hells right now, with Juniper. Lisi has just arrived to help! I really hope she manages to get away too, as I am absurdly attached to her character since my brain has decided to make her the Aerb proxy for you]

The rest of the flat was rather less glamorous and decorated, but in the rather large living room, there were some big sofas and a huge asparagus plant that grew over one of them, and below which I used to lie down quite a lot. The big, glass windows behind it gave a wonderful view of the city, and once of twice acted as the screens for a mesmerizing fall of snow, which is the best background ornament I can imagine for shrouding the memories of a space that was deeply lived in by me but which is now no no more than a bittersweet reminiscence.

There was one, and only one, math book in my bookshelf, btw. A textbook of all pre-university math, of which I only managed to finish the section on arithmetic. Even then I had this vague attraction to the discipline, but was woefully lacking in the tools I needed to get some sort of a footing in those almost pre-internet days.

[endijasella]

! WARNING: THIS PICTURE IS EDITED !

Press "L" for a better view.

~Body:

Hair: VCO - MAO

Eyes: REVERIE - Caroline

~Clothes&accessories:

Headband: FIKA - Soft Bunny

Necklace: AvaWay - LETTER

Collar: Random.Matter - Cermet

Bra: Aloe - Amore

Shorts: FACS - Frill Jean

Flannel: SEUL - Lazy Flunnel

Fishnet: SSD - Kittenish

Socks: Rotten - Amora

[nyonyowaves]

fourth chapter, steps:

Nombre + FC + Grupo

Fecha de cumpleaños

Código personal

Link del perfil o página

Mencione tres reglas de la comunidad y condiciones que esta tiene. < obligatorio responder >

Faceclaims + Teams

< CASTILLO AMBULANTE >

Mary, Lee Da Hee

Caroline, Yuqi GIDLE

Jordan, Yeonjun TXT

Lucas, Yuta NCT 127

DISPONIBLE

Hyunwoo, Shownu MONSTA X

< TUMBA DE LAS LUCIÉRNAGAS >

Anna, Yoona SNSD

Bonnie, Jihan WEEKLY

Ai, Winter Aespa

DISPONIBLE

Adrik, Mingi ATEEZ

Alex, Jake Enhypen

< SUSURROS DEL CORAZÓN >

Claire, IU SOLISTA

DISPONIBLE

Sam, Cameron Boyer Weathers

Mao, XiaoJun WayV

Koichi, Hyunjin SKZ

Orión, Karina AESPA

< MUNDO SECRETO DE ARRIETTY >

Yui, Ju Jing Yi ACTRIZ

Zen, Leafnine MODELO

DISPONIBLE

Uri, XCRY STREAMER

Johwa, Rose BLACKPINK

Universe, Changmin TBZ

< EL REGRESO DE LOS GATOS >

Hao, Minghao SVT

Hanami, Lee Taemin SHINee

Kaori, Hyewon IZONE

Andrew, Lee Felix SKZ

Melody, Joy Red Velvet

Mark, Mingyu SVT

< EL VIAJE DE CHIHIRO >

Elijah, Jacskon Wang

Hiro, Jeongin SKZ

Miel, Miyeon GIDLE

Ji Woon, Hongjoong ATEEZ

Maddy, Jang Yeeun SOLISTA

Suzy, Bae Suzy ACTRIZ

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/one-true-thing-about-democracy/

One True Thing About Democracy

Many artists have recorded the song “You’ve Got to be Taught” from the musical South Pacific. Barbara Streisand is among them. It’s a song about hate. Actor John Kerr in the original film version explains. ”It happens after you’re born.” The philosopher John Locke would have agreed. He believed human nature began as a blank page upon which experience imprinted its truths. Hate wasn’t innate. His older contemporary, Thomas Hobbes demurred. Humankind was born with a brutish nature, he insisted.  The 2022 election has reopened the question. A recent study of outcomes revealed a stunning fact. A large swath of voters across the political spectrum favored uncompromising leaders who were decisive.  What’s more these voters would abandon democracy if autocracy protected people like themselves from groups that threatened their values or status. As evidence of this truth, the American electorate sent more than 100 incumbent and newly elected members to Congress who cast doubts about the electoral process, and who affirmed the 2020 election was “rigged.”   Equally troubling is the plethora of Internet hate sites that continue to grow. A recent Pew Report noted that 46% of teens use the web “almost constantly,” giving a boost to fearmongers and misogynists like Andre Tate. Tate describes himself as a “life coach.” One of his messages to impressionable minds is that women bring rape upon themselves.    Do Tate’s remarks and those of others like him prove humans have a dark nature? The prevalence of psychopaths in our society might give us pause. Or, do we learn from the example of tyrants?  Vladimir Putin is one.  His Ukraine invasion has decimated many cities, reducing their schools, libraries, and hospitals to rubble. What lesson does he teach? He owns many palaces while nightly, newscasters show us images of his victims–Ukranian mothers with babies slung on their hips pleading for food.  Is Putin incapable of remorse? Has he reduced his life to a game of winning and losing?  And, is that enough?  One Russian mercenary thinks it is. He makes headlines by beating his chest and challenging Ukraine’s president to a duel.  Tomorrow, I will fly a MIG-29. If you so desire, let’s meet in the skies. If you win, you take Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).  If not, we advance till (the river) Dnipro. Does brutish sentiment reflect a diminished intellect? Do people who behave like an animal think like an animal? History suggests otherwise. Tyrants like Caligula, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Hitler aren’t counted as fools. Studies suggest wrong-doing may be an offshoot of creativity. It’s a talent that allows reprobates to offer excuses to assuage their conscience. Why did Putin invade Ukraine?  To rid the country of Nazis.     Despite Locke and Hobbes, we humans know little about our nature. We enter the world with two fears, a fear of falling and loud noises.  Do we extrapolate other fears from those? Or is fear more biological than philosophers imagined? Studies suggest it is innate, a neurological response to threat.  What we do know is that it promotes violence and hatred.  To those who would throw away our democracy, I ask that first, they appreciate its value as a bulwark against fear. To secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity are the opening lines of the U. S. Constitution.  They hold the promise of universal suffrage and equal justice under the law. The ambition is noble and represents the best that is in us. Preserving that ambition exacts a price, however. We are obliged to make room for diversity and to respect habits that to some seem foreign. Yet to deprive equality to any individual or group destroys our mutual protection. As a consequence, we abandon ourselves to the law of the jungle. Or, we surrender our freedom to a dictator. Whether hate must be taught or is part of our brutish nature, we transcend both when we hunger for justice. One day, we may prove to be worthy of the democracy we have fashioned. Till then, we must guard against fear.  Democracy demands resilience. That is its one true thing. 

[best-fictional-cat]

Round 2 results!!!

The green ones are moving forward!

Group 1

Coco Grimalkin (Purrfect Apawcalypse) vs Miyuki (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Slugcat (Rain World) vs Catbus (My Neighbor Totoro)

Behemoth (Master and Margarita) vs Amp / Anp / Anpu (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

Kitty Softpaws (Puss in Boots) vs Pixie (Pixie and Brutus)

Chi Yamada (Chi's sweet home) vs Rum Tum Tugger (Cats the musical)

Tabby Slime (Slime Rancher) vs Tangy (Animal Crossing)

Cringer / Battlecat (He-man) vs Cinderpelt (Warrior cats)

Blaze the Cat (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs Scourge (Warrior cats)

Group 2

Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods) vs Natsume Soseki (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Domino (Amphibia) vs Shoe + Wagahai (Ace Attorney)

808 (Hi-Fi Rush) vs Niko (Oneshot)

Squirrelflight (Warrior cats) vs T'Ana (Star Trek: Lower Decks)

Hong + On (Trash of the Count's Family) vs Alpine (Marvel comics)

Jaspers (Homestuck) vs Mao Mao Mao (Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart)

Thomas Kincade Brannigan (Doctor Who) vs Caroline Coughs (Sparklecare hospital)

Mewo (Omori) vs Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (The Cat Returns)

Group 3

Greebo (Discworld) vs Aldwyn (The Familiars)

Simba (The Lion King) vs Leona Kingscholar (Twisted Wonderland)

Jenny Linsky (Jenny Linsky, Esther Averill) vs Findus (Pettson and Findus)

Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) vs Mad Mew Mew (Undertale)

Felix the cat (Paramount) vs Burgerpants (Undertale)

Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket) vs Ghost (The Owl House)

Rosie (Animal Crossing) vs Talking Cat (Rick and Morty)

Hiili (Fox Fires) vs Mew (Marvel comics)

Group 4

Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes) vs Tom Kitten (The Tale of Tom Kitten)

Meowthra (Lego Ninjago Movie) vs Jonesy (Alien)

Vodka Mutini / Dr.Meowgon Spangler (Homestuck) vs Lucifer (Cinderella)

Charmmy Kitty (Sanrio) vs Puppycat (Bee and Puppycat)

Nermal (Garfield) vs Lion (Steven Universe)

Spot (Star Trek: The Next Generation) vs Diana (Sailor Moon)

Midnight (Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones) vs Scout (Cattails)

Sakamoto (Nichijou) vs Ankha (Animal Crossing)

Group 5

Periwinkle (Blue's clues) vs Fluffal Cat (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Salem Saberhagen (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) vs Frumpkin (Critical Role)

Ember (Cattails) vs Nyanky (Taiko no Tatsujin)

Heinkel (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Amanojaku (Ghost Stories)

Khoshekh (Welcome to Night Vale) vs Catty (Undertale)

Kuro (Blue Exorcist) vs Catra (She-Ra)

Juan The Small Magical Latino Cat (Monster Prom) vs Tigger Sugden (Purrfect Apawcalypse)

Bungle the glass cat (Oz) vs Potato (Cat loaf adventures)

Group 6

Chairman Meow (The Shadowhunter Chronicles) vs Finley / Jelly Donut (Hustle Cat)

Cattail (Plants vs Zombies) vs Nameless evil white cat (James Bond)

Thomas O'Malley + Aristocats (Aristocats) vs Panther Lily (Fairy Tail)

Yoruichi Shihoin (Bleach) vs Jellie (Double Life SMP)

Blake Belladonna (RWBY) vs Tigress (Kung Fu Panda)

Invisible cat (The Invisible Man, H.G.Wells) vs Haru (My Roommate is a Cat)

Pusheen (Pusheen) vs Yellowfang (Warrior cats)

Kirjava (His Dark Materials) vs Kuroneko-sama (Trigun)

Group 7

Gary the Snail (Spongebob Squarepants) vs Skitty (Pokémon)

Bob (Animal Crossing) vs The Kitty (The Bad Guys)

Garfield the Deals Warlock (The Adventure Zone) vs Capper (My Little Pony)

Jiji (Kiki's Delivery Service) vs Izutsumi (Dungeon Meshi)

The Black Cat (The Black Cat, E.A.Poe) vs Nyako / Meowy (Chainsaw Man)

Tabby Von Meow (Webkinz) vs Tom (Tom and Jerry)

Solembum (Inheritance Cycle) vs Lil' Judd (Splatoon)

Bagheera (The Jungle Book) vs Gatomon (Digimon)

Group 8

Plagg (Miraculous) vs Luxor (Tutenstein)

Meowth (Pokémon) vs Remlit (Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword)

Leafpool (Warrior cats) vs The Cat in the Hat (The Cat in the Hat)

Maurice (Discworld) vs Jemima (Cats the musical)

Xiaohei (The Legend of Hei) vs Artemis (Sailor Moon)

Puss in Boots (Puss in Boots) vs Ichigo Momomiya (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Shrödinger's cat (you know the one) vs The Cat (Coraline)

Pasty (Neko Atsume) vs Pangur Bán (Irish poem)

Match-ups coming soon!

[theoffingmag]

I’ll come back for you when you’re done growing, she said.

Caroline Mao, “ghost x garden x grow”

[beautifulstorms]

my favourite laybacks + biellmanns: 

(incoherent rambling under the cut)

from left to right and top to bottom:

sasha cohen: every single position she hits is perfect. look at the arch of her free leg and back during the attitude, and how much she speeds up when she goes into the lower leg variation

adelina sotnikova: her transition into the one-handed biellmann looks so easy, even though it’s not. The hand on her back and her elbow jutting out really adds a sassiness to the spin as well

mirai nagasu: the back extension on her attitude is crazy, her head is so far back (can you tell i love attitude laybacks?) 

mao asada: it was so hard to pick just one spin of hers (she also has a fantastic one-handed biellmann, and some gorgeous attitudes), but her biellmann here is so soft and and beautifully teardrop-shaped it almost made me cry

satoko miyahara: her layback is so fast and well-centered, and i really love her stretched out arms in the upward-facing position. she makes every position change look so effortless. how 

caroline zhang: that’s her trademark pearl spin- in essence a catchfoot layback in a biellmann position. it requires insane flexibility and extension, and her transition from that into the biellmann might be the most satisfying thing ever

alisa lozko: that one-handed (?) biellmann variation is crazy, not to mention fast and well-centered. how does her hip do that???

alissa czisny: she has my favourite attitude layback of all time. in my opinion, it’s exactly what a layback should be- graceful with beautiful lines. i also love how her back is arched slightly sideways

yulia lipnitskaya: it’s yulia lipnitskaya’s hyperextended biellmann. need i say more? 

[sywtwfs]

2021 Summer Competitions

Non-comprehensive list of 2021 summer club competitions. This post will be updated as more information becomes available. The list will focus on competitions with notable skaters. Note: Withdrawals are common for summer club competitions.

See also: Calendar of events

Last updated: Aug 29, 2021

Lake Cup

Time: May 3-4

Place: Otsu City, Japan

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Mana Kawabe. Jr - Ayumi Shibayama. NvA - Mao Shimada

Note: This competition includes free skates only.

La Jolla Open

Time: May 16

Place: La Jolla, CA, USA

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Starr Andrews. Jr - Kanon Smith

Colonial Open

Time: June 3-6

Place: Boxborough, MA, USA

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Lindsay Thorngren, Shan Lin, Gabriella Izzo, Maxim Naumov. Jr - Isabeau Levito

Aqua Cup

Time: June 26-27

Place: Chiba, Japan

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Wakaba Higuchi, Rinka Watanabe. Jr - Rion Sumiyoshi

Broadmoor Open

Time: June 29 - July 2

Place: Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Vincent Zhou, Camden Pulkinen, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Young You, Karen Chen, Pooja Kalyan, Paige Rydberg. Jr - Isabeau Levito, Mia Kalin, Clare Seo

Nagoya City Skating Competition: Minato Aquls Cup

Time: July 2-4

Place: Nagoya, Japan

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Rino Matsuike, Yura Matsuda, Mana Kawabe, Rin Nitaya, Yuhana Yokoi, Nana Araki, Miyabi Oba, Chisato Uramatsu. Jr - Tatsuya Tsuboi, Hana Yoshida, Kinayu Yokoi

Skate Milwaukee

Time: July 7-11

Place: Milwaukee, WI, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Streaming

Notable entries: Sr - Maxim Naumov, Ting Cui, Gabriella Izzo, Shan Lin. Jr - Ilia Malinin, Kanon Smith, Lindsay Thorngren, Isabeau Levito, Mia Kalin, Clare Seo

Los Angeles Open

Time: July 9-11

Place: Burbank, CA, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Streaming

Notable entries: Sr - Starr Andrews, Hanna Harrell, Chelsea Liu/Danny O’Shea

Dallas Cannon Classic

Time: July 9-11

Place: Dallas, TX, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Notable entries: Jr - Oona Brown/Gage Brown, Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chen

Skate Wilmington

Time: July 13-18

Place: Wilmington, DE, USA

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Gracie Gold, Rena Ikenishi, Emmanuel Savary

Peggy Fleming Trophy (Virtual)

Time: Videos available Jul 16

Results

Website

Videos

Notable entries: Starr Andrews, Karen Chen, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Isabeau Levito, Alysa Liu, Camden Pulkinen, Andrew Torgashev

Note: The competition emphasizes artistic expression and does not use the regular IJS scoring system. See website for more details on format.

Skate Canada NextGen Camp

Time: July 19-24

Place: Kingston, ON, Canada

Results/website

Schedule

Streaming

Notable entries: Jr - Natalie D’Alessandro/Bruce Waddell, Miku Makita/Tyler Gunara, Ilia Kovler, Corey Circelli, Aleksa Rakic, Kaiya Ruiter

Skate Detroit

Time: July 21-24

Place: Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Jimmy Ma, Gabriella Izzo, Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov. Jr - Anastasiia Smirnova/Danil Siianytsia

Philadelphia Summer Championships

Time: July 27-31

Place: Aston, PA, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Notable entries: Sr - Emmanuel Savary, Ting Cui, Lindsay Thorngren, Shan Lin, Gracie Gold

South Korean JGP Selection Competition

Time: July 29-30

Place: Seoul, South Korea

Results (download)

Website

Note: This competition will determine South Korea’s JGP competitors.

Glacier Falls Summer Classic

Time: July 29 - Aug 1

Place: Anaheim, CA, USA

Results

Website

Entries

Paid streaming

Notable entries: Sr - Yaroslav Paniot, Andrew Torgashev, Hanna Harrell, Audrey Shin, Kailani Craine, Tzu-Han Ting, Chelsea Liu/DannyO’Shea, Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson. Jr - Kate Wang

Russian Junior Test Skates

Time: Aug 3-6, 10-11

Place: Novogorsk, Russia

Schedule

Streaming & videos (singles)

Streaming & videos (ice dance, pairs)

Chesapeake Open

Time: Aug 4-7

Place: Laurel, MD, USA

Results

Website

Streaming

Notable entries: Sr - Molly Cesanek/Yehor Yehorov, Lorraine McNamara/Anton Spiridonov, Eva Pate/Logan Bye, Ting Cui, Ilia Malinin. Jr - Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chen, Oona Brown/Gage Brown, Angela Ling/Caleb Wein, Utana Yoshida/Seiji Urano, Elliana Peal/Ethan Peal

Quebec Summer Championships

Time: Aug 5-8

Place: Dorval, QC, Canada

Results

Website

Schedule

Entries

Streaming - Rink 3, Rink 4

Notable entries: Sr - Gabrielle Daleman, Véronik Mallet, Vanessa James/Eric Radford, Lori-Ann Matte/Thierry Ferland, Deanna Stellato/Maxime Deschamps, Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac. Jr - Hannah Lim/Ye Quan

Kinoshita Trophy

Time: Aug 7-8

Place: Kyoto, Japan

Results

Website

Streaming (Japan only)

Notable entries: Sr - Sumitada Moriguchi, Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda, Hana Yoshida, Mana Kawabe. Jr - Azusa Tanaka.

Gensan Summer Cup

Time: Aug 9-12

Place: Shiga, Japan

Results

Website

Paid streaming (Japan only)

Notable entries: Sr - Yuma Kagiyama, Yuto Kishina, Kazuki Tomono, Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda, Sena Miyake, Taichiro Yamakuma, Nana Araki, Chisato Uramatsu, Miyabi Oba, Rino Kasakake, Mana Kawabe, Kaori Sakamoto, Yuna Shiraiwa, Rin Nitaya, Wakaba Higuchi, Rino Matsuike, Yura Matsuda, Mai Mihara, Satoko Miyahara, Mako Yamashita, Yuhana Yokoi, Rinka Watanabe. Jr - Kao Miura, Ami Nakai, Ayumi Shibayama, Mao Shimada, Rion Sumiyoshi, Azusa Tanaka, Kinayu Yokoi

Cranberry Open

Time: Aug 10-14

Place: Norwood, MA, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Entries

Streaming - Performance Center, West Rink 

Note: This is the club competition held in parallel with the ISU events, Cranberry Cup International and Lake Placid Ice Dance International.

Cranberry Cup International

Time: Aug 12-15

Place: Norwood, MA, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Entries

Streaming - Performance Center, West Rink

Notable entries: Sr - Mariah Bell, Kailani Craine, Amber Glenn, Gracie Gold, Gabriella Izzo, Shan Lin, Alysa Liu, Paige Rydberg, Madeline Schizas, Audrey Shin, Young You, Alexei Bychenko, Donovan Carrillo, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Jimmy Ma, Maxim Naumov, Yaroslav Paniot, Camden Pulkinen, Daniel Samohin, Vincent Zhou, Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson, Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier, Chelsea Liu/Danny O’Shea, Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov. Jr - Elsa Cheng, Jessica Lin, Violeta Ushakova, Ava Ziegler, Joseph Klein, Jacob Sanchez

Note: This is an international ISU competition held in parallel with the Lake Placid Ice Dance International and club competition, Cranberry Open.

Lake Placid Ice Dance International

Time: Aug 12-15

Place: Norwood, MA, USA

Results

Website

Schedule

Entries

Streaming - Performance Center, West Rink

Notable entries: Sr - Molly Cesanek/Yehor Yehorov, Caroline Green/Michael Parsons, Lorraine McNamara/Anton Spiridonov, Yura Min/Daniel Eaton, Eva Pate/Logan Bye. Jr - Isabella Flores/Dimitry Tsarevski, Angela Ling/Caleb Wein, Elliana Peal/Ethan Peal

Note: This is an international ISU competition held in parallel with the Cranberry Cup International and club competition, Cranberry Open.

Tokyo Summer Figure Skating Competition

Time: Aug 21-22

Place: Tokyo, Japan

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Rinka Watanabe, Yuna Aoki, Wakaba Higuchi, Akari Matsubara, Tomoe Kawabata, Ibuki Sato. Jr - Rion Sumiyoshi, Ami Nakai

Note: This competition includes short programs only for senior and junior categories.

Osaka Figure Skating Championships

Time: Aug 21-22

Place: Osaka, Japan

Results

Website

Notable entries: Sr - Kazuki Tomono, Sena Miyake, Riko Takino

Note: This competition includes free skates only.

Kanto Summer Trophy

Time: Aug 28-29

Place: Kofu, Japan

Results

Website

Streaming (Japan only)

Notable entries: Sr - Shun Sato, Kao Miura, Shiika Yoshioka

[pazodetrasalba]

The Wizarding World

Dear Caroline:

Couple of very hectic workdays ahead starting today, so I will be forced to make these entries shorter and less thoughtful than usual...

I have to confess that unlike your youthful self, I wasn't much of a Potterhead, in spite of my love for fantasy fiction. The rising popularity of J.K. Rowling's books caught me about a decade too late and too old for what I construed at the time as 'children's/young adult's literature', but I did watch and enjoy the movies -the first three or so during long flights-, and then I really started to get the itch and watch and learn some more. I even went to the cinema for the Deathly Hallows.

Besides the age, one thing that I suspect put me off was the imbalance in how the plot attempted to outgrow the original childish background of the story to more epic proportions. Like, Harry and his friends grow, but the challenges and evils they have to face don't seem to grow proportionately. Voldemort as a villain feels a bit silly to me, but that's because what I have in my mind for Dark Lord level villainy is something on the level of Stalin, Mao or Hitler, with responsibility for the hideous and painful deaths of millions. At such a scale, You-know-who feels just like a petty gangster, some Aryan brotherhood thugboss who incidentally happens to have some magic powers, so I get this 'inverse scope insensitivity' vibe about the comparative triviality of the stories' conflicts.

On a side note, it is curious how the media have latched on this apparent philia of yours ("Caroline Ellison is a math whiz who loves Harry Potter") to the exclusion of many others, which I attribute to their selling the quintessential anti-millennial and anti-nerd narrative, which is something I talked about in a previous post, I think. Meanwhile, they almost completely ignore a book that would probably clarify more about your likes, beliefs, inclinations and even references to Potter, by which I mean, of course, Yudkowsky's rationalist fanfic -a subgenre that you seem to read quite a lot of.

Anyway, back to your brief note: your suggestions make a lot of sense, but feel a bit impractical (as the Ravenclaw riddles did to begin with). What would happen if you are in a hurry, and/or there is an emergency? But anyway, I don't think it lame for the smartest house to have the toughest entrance conditions: with great intelligence comes great responsibility, as you well know.

Quote:

And as for riddles, I have a soft spot for Old English ones and Tolkien's from The Hobbit, like:

Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.