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giuliettacapuleti · 11 months ago

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An obnoxiously long summary of Frank Wildhorn’s Carmen absolutely no one asked for:

The musical was originally put on in the Czech Republic in 2008, and actually became so popular it broke box office records for the theater. Despite this, I’d never heard of it until I read that the Budapesti Operettszínház is putting it on soon. It’s been put on in Japan, Korea, and Austria, and seems to have been popular in Korea but not Austria (not sure about Japan). There’s an English demo but I can only find 2 songs from it.

If you are familiar with Frank Wildhorn’s work you’ll know he likes to play fast and loose with accuracy regarding the source material. The plot is a huge departure from the opera, which is fine with me but probably not so much if you like it.

The musical is allegedly actually an adaptation of the novella that the opera is based on, but it doesn’t really resemble that either. The musical partly takes place in a circus and this makes Carmen’s posse a group of performers instead of smugglers which to me is neat but again, not for everyone.

Overall the plot is. Well. Something. It’s got some trademark Wildhorn-ness going on that if you’re familiar with Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde you will likely be annoyed with but not surprised by.

I am not 100% sure on the time period in which the musical takes place, it appears to be the 50s but there are a few hints that it’s more current than that, so I’m not sure. It’s possible it’s deliberately meant to be vague.

On to the Summary (FULL DISCLOSURE IT’S 100% NOT SERIOUS AND REALLY LONG SORRY)

The musical starts off with a flamenco dance off between a random woman and the sexy and confident Carmen, who more or less steals the random woman’s dancing partner. The random woman isn’t having it. Suddenly a bunch of random people with torches burst in and start fighting with soldiers (???). Then they stop fighting and just chill because I guess the dance-off is more important. Carmen and Random Woman continue their dance-off, which culminates in Carmen either waving a knife at or actually slashing Random Woman across the face.

A woman (possibly fate itself) sings about fate. It wouldn’t be a European musical without someone singing about fate.

Meanwhile, the citizens of a picturesque town in Spain (?) are celebrating the engagement of police officer José Rivera and Caterina, the mayor’s daughter. The mayor gives a speech about how moral and Totally Not Secretly Corrupt the town is. Two seconds later, the mayor and José’s superior, Captain Zuniga, laugh about how the currently moral José will soon become as corrupt as they are (side note: I think they are meant to be Spanish but the officers’ uniforms are giving Carabinieri). We immediately know the mayor is shady because he wears sunglasses and a white suit, has a pinky ring and smokes a cigar. That and the fact he sings about how corrupt and greedy he is.

José and Caterina sing a sweet little duet about how much they love each other despite only knowing each other for a few months. We all know love duets mean impending disaster in European musicals so stay frosty.

Caterina leaves and Carmen and her friends appear in the mist, talking about how they want something fun to do in the boring, vanilla town. Carmen notices José standing there and kisses him after giving him a rose. José has no object permanence I guess, and forgets Caterina, immediately running after Carmen. Prime bf material right there.

The next day, the circus performers are hanging out at the Carnival. Carmen sings a song about how desirable she is, which would sound vain except for the fact that literally everyone wants her, so she’s just telling us how it is. José appears with the rose Carmen gave him. José’s bff and fellow officer Inmar, aka the only sane person in this entire musical, appears and tells José to fucking chill. Zuniga, AKA Officer Creep, suggests they arrest Carmen for no reason so they can take her in for “questioning”. A bunch of men try to assault Carmen, so she pulls a knife on one of them. Zuniga uses this as an excuse to have her arrested, and orders José to take her to the station. Carmen sings a song about how no one owns her (yas queen), and José tells her he has morals and is totally not weak and definitely won’t cheat on his fiancée no really he’s cereal. José is Madonna-Whore Complexing on main and calls her a devil, comparing her to the angelic Caterina. His crisis of conscience lasts LITERALLY two seconds, and he and Carmen start making out, only to be interrupted by Zuniga, who tells José off and gives Carmen the ultimatum of sleeping with him or being put in jail. Carmen rejects him and runs off, while he calls her a whore and chases after her (peak rejected guy on bumble behavior).

Meanwhile, Caterina is in her room worried about Jos��. Her aunt calms her down by singing her a song about how she should totally have sex with José and recounts her own romantic exploits. Caterina is reluctant because she wants to honor her mother’s memory and not disappoint her dad (ew). Later, José comes through her window and basically tries to pressure her into sex because Carmen made him horny (what a guy!). Caterina sings about her conflicting feelings and almost has sex with him, but they are interrupted by Caterina’s sketchy dad knocking on the door. He exhibits creepy behavior and then leaves.

The next day, girls from the town are at a beach, talking shit about Carmen and her crew. Enter Carmen and her crew. The townsgirls make fun of them, but Carmen is unbothered. One of the non-hostile girls asks Carmen to teach them how to be sexy, and we get a song about that. Admittedly, the song starts out about how to be sexy to men, but it turns into a nice bonding moment and ultimately is about being confident so I’ll allow it. Unfortunately, Inmar and José ruin everything and tell Carmen and her posse return to their camp. One of Carmen’s friends says what everyone’s thinking and wonders wtf Carmen sees in José. Carmen and José start grinding right in front of Inmar’s salad, and Inmar is understandably pissed at him for remaining with her. José reminds Carmen he Totally Won’t Cheat on Caterina No Really. Carmen hints that she is unavailable too and is dating (?) a really scary guy who apparently even scares police (more on this later). Then it’s Real Sadgirl Hours for her and she sings about how everyone is ultimately alone and she really wants José for reasons that are still a mystery to literally everyone.

Back at the police station, Inmar calls José out and berates him for wanting to cheat on Caterina. José doesn’t listen and is all ‘it’s so hard being me uwu’. Despite his friend being a fucking idiot, Inmar is a real one and warns him about Zuniga anyway. They sing a song about how José should/should not sleep with Carmen. Listening to José talking about how it’s soooo hard to not cheat on Caterina is like. That’s so sad world’s smallest violin Alexa play despacito etc. Then the mayor and Zuniga join in and sing about how they also want Carmen. Lana Del Rey was right the boys the girls they all want Carmen.

That night, the circus puts on a free show for the town. Everyone goes, including the now Carmen-ified townswomen. Inmar gets a cute moment with one of the girls (fuck everyone else I respect YOU).

Carmen and her girlies appear and perform a very catchy song about living in the moment and having no regrets. The townspeople are vibing but the party is crashed by Carmen’s Very Scary bf (?) Garcia, who owns the circus but has been off somewhere (it’s never explained where but whatever). We know he’s Bad News because he wears a black leather coat, a chain necklace + black boots, has an eye scar, an excessive amount of black eyeliner, a chest AND neck AND arm tattoo, and throws knives around.

Ok, on one hand, the interesting thing about the opera (though not the novella) is that José starts out being a good person but descends into evil and this guy being obviously Bad from the beginning removes that theme, but on the other more important hand, I eat this stuff right up and I’m not mad about it. Dolhai Attila and Homonnay Zsolt are playing him in the upcoming Hungarian version but you know who would have been PERFECT?? Szabó P. Szilveszter that man would make this dude PATHETIC.

Anywhoo, Garcia is pissed that Carmen put on a show for free and apparently he’s another guy who thinks he owns her. Obviously he missed the multiple ‘I only belong to myself’ songs she sang whilst he was off doing fuck all. Where is Elisabeth singing Ich Guhör Nur Mir when you need her? José arrests Carmen again to protect her from both Zuniga and Garcia, who apparently gets a pass for throwing knives at people in front of the entire police force but whatever he’s a knife thrower so maybe they figure that’s just what he does.

Caterina is upset that José is taking Carmen in, but he explains that she’s not safe with the increasingly thirsty Zuniga. Which, ok, is true, but we all know damn well that’s not the main reason.

Carmen and José are about to have sex but are interrupted by Zuniga AGAIN. He pulls a gun on Carmen (or José I literally cannot tell) and demands Carmen have sex with him. But here comes Garcia with a steel chair Garcia has ALSO been following them and attacks Zuniga. Carmen and José run away while Garcia fights Zuniga. I NEED to mention that Garcia is wearing a vest under his jacket but is otherwise shirtless. What does the vest even DO. What is the point of a vest if you are shirtless under it like ugufhddhgddhdh

There’s a neat little fight scene until Garcia remembers he’s a knife thrower and literally has knives in his pants, and stabs Zuniga before shooting him with his own gun. He then frames José for the murder.

Act I ends with the entire town singing about fate and fateful decisions (did you notice they are themes??) while Carmen and José are finally about to have sex without Zuniga interrupting them (RIP asshole).

The police force is not only corrupt, but corrupt and stupid, so they don’t dust for fingerprints on the gun used to kill Zuniga or anything and go straight to assuming José killed him. The mayor is Big Mad, not because José killed Zuniga (lol) but because he cheated on his daughter, who is worried about losing José (girl why, just let the trash take itself out). Garcia is Big Mad and jealous, and gets a line about how he is ‘the fear they can’t outrun’ just in case you weren’t already 100% certain this is the Big Bad. Like. Just in case. In case you didn’t get it.

Now we have a nifty circus scene full of circus performers (I just KNOW Opi will have a field day). Hopefully later productions do without the zoo animals :(

Carmen confronts Garcia over framing José for murder, and he responds by accusing her of having real feelings for José before singing a song about how he owns her and she can never escape him (tbh just typical boss/employee behavior). Despite the (obviously) disturbing lyrics it’s kind of a bop. I do think it’s dependent on the singer - the Czech actor has a rough and unpolished voice that’s perfect for the song, but I can see it sounding weird when sung by guys with a different vocal type. You know whose voice would be perfect for his songs?? Szabó P. Szilv*gunshot*

Despite the fact he spends the entire song flinging her around the stage, the thing that really upsets her is him saying José will never go for her when he has Caterina. I understand the bar for men is in the Grand Canyon but THAT is what upsets her??? The thought of losing the most Mid man on the planet?? Not the increasingly possessive and violent guy following her around ??? Side note: there is a giant circus poster on stage of Garcia looking sinister while holding knives just in case you somehow still didn’t get that he’s bad news by this point. If you didn’t - no worries! You will be reminded many more times before the musical is over.

Garcia warns Carmen that if the police don’t find José he will kill him and everything he loves.

Meanwhile, the police have been given orders to arrest José or kill him. I’m not all that familiar with police procedure but it seems weird they would kill someone outright just because the mayor tells them to. Why is the mayor even giving orders to the police force ?? I understand he is corrupt but ?? ???? ?????

Inmar, who again, is the only Real One, warns his bff and tells him to get out of town. José actually takes some accountability for his actions but immediately ruins it by forcing poor Inmar to sit through a song about how he is stupid and is not going to leave Carmen. Inmar, for reasons I cannot possibly fathom, still cares about José, and promises he will watch for Garcia at the circus. He leaves but José is not done with his song and forces us to listen to his whining for a few more minutes.

Carmen urges José to run away with her, but he refuses because he wants to clear his name. This man is so stupid !!! He is SO stupid !!! He cannot get worse at this point !!!

Carmen warns him about Garcia wanting to hurt everyone José cared about. It takes José a few seconds, but he eventually realizes that means Caterina.

Apparently he can get worse at this point, and urges Carmen to warn Caterina. THIS IS MAYBE ONE OF THE DUMBEST PLOT POINTS IN ANY SHOW EVER ASIDE FROM WHATEVER WAS HAPPENING IN LOVE NEVER DIES. Alas, it is needed because Carmen and Cat need a showdown.

And showdown they do have - in a church no less! They start off antagonistic (and Caterina finally has a Bad Bitch moment!!) but then bond over how stupid they are for falling in love. They are soo right I could not agree with this song more. Girlies you are stupid. They have a cute little moment where they hold hands and you start to hope they will run away together and leave José behind but NOPE. Caterina has the potential to be such an interesting character but noooooo we had to go the ‘personality amounts to loving a man’ route. We had hints Caterina could be an interesting character !!! She mentions feeling desire but feeling guilty about it because of religion and feeling like she is disappointing her family !! More of that !!! More deconstruction of the Good Girl trope instead of playing it straight !!! They could have went with her realizing she didn’t really love José and just was doing what was expected of her but spoiler alert this does not happen !!!

Caterina, who now realizes Carmen actually loves José, suggests to her that they work together to protect José and expose Garcia as the murderer. WHY ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR LIVES IN DANGER TO PROTECT THIS SKRUNKLY ASS MAN MAMMA MIA HE IS NOT WORTH IT. Carmen believes it’s too dangerous for her, but Caterina says she is tired of playing it safe. Caterina’s aunt pops out of nowhere and tells them it’s totally a good plan. They decide to draw out Garcia at the circus (HE OWNS THE CIRCUS AND IS A KNIFE THROWER WHERE TF ELSE WOULD HE BE WHY DO YOU NEED TO DRAW HIM OUT OH MY GODDD).

The circus is about to put on a show (presumably for money this time), and the townspeople are congregating to watch. Jeff Bezos I mean the mayor arrives wearing his sunglasses at night, causing that song to be stuck in my head along with the admittedly catchy songs from this musical. We get more circus performances featuring a lot of fire (I cannot WAIT to see the Does My Health Insurance Pay For This amount of fire the Hungarian version is going to go with).

You came to see a musical but SURPRISE! You’re getting a circus performance too. Does this make up for the wonky plot points? You decide.

Garcia arrives on the scene to sing about how the circus and everyone in it belongs to him and that everyone should be totally scared of him because he has knives in his pants and can kill people. Inexplicably they are scared, even the fucking whole ass police force that showed up. I understand he can throw knives but I don’t think that would be any match for, say, seven guns. CALL ME CRAZY. I also don’t think he has actual jurisdiction over anything just because he has a circus. Call me crazy again.

Anyway, the song is banger but is alas, too short. Why do the bad guys always get the bangers and bops ??? I’m not complaining but it’s a valid question. You know who would play this part perfectly - ?? * gets dragged away *.

Garcia grabs Caterina and makes her part of his knife throwing act. For some reason the mayor allows it. Whatever, I’ve given up trying to understand. Before he can throw the knife, Carmen appears and offers herself as the target. While it’s a badass moment and cool of Carmen to save Caterina, it makes no sense. But whatever! It’s dramatic!

Anyway, Carmen offers to have knives thrown at her by an extremely violent guy who explicitly says he wants to kill her. He tells her that he would definitely kill her in front of everyone because he is not afraid to die. First off, I don’t think the audience (of the circus) was meant to hear him saying that but I wonder about how much they heard considering they look freaked out when he violently grabs Carmen by the neck. Second, you gotta appreciate a villain who talks the talk and walks the walk. So many bad guys are all *surprised pikachu face* when they actually die, so shoutout to this asshole who is actually committed to his cause.

Garcia, being the professional performer that he is, tells the audience they are going to see something they’ve never seen before (presumably Carmen’s death). Before he can throw the knife, José jumps in front of her. Garcia very loudly and explicitly tells the audience that he is going to kill someone, but the police straight up do not care. José accuses him of killing Zuniga, but his dramatic moment is ruined by Garcia straight up admitting it in front of everyone. He waves his knife around and continues telling everyone how he is going to kill someone. Again, the police just casually watch. Go girl give us nothing.

Garcia throws his knife at José (tbh at this point I was rooting for it) but nooo Carmen jumps in front of him and gets stabbed instead. Inmar (who again is the only bitch I ever respected) fatally shoots Garcia but it is too late. Carmen dies in José’s arms before she can tell him she loves him. To reiterate, this bad bitch died for the most skrunkly ass dude on the planet we HATE to see it.

Caterina walks away from both her sketchy dad and José (yas queen) to follow the procession leading Carmen’s body away.

The personification of Fate, who has apparently also been a fortuneteller at the circus this whole time, tells us the story’s over. Carmen, presumably now in Heaven, sings about how she wouldn’t change anything about her life if given the chance. WELL I WOULD, CARMEN. I WOULD.

….AND YET ??? Barring the plot and some character personality choices I ??? Liked it ??? It has a ton of potential if they just change some things about the plot and characters (I’m serious). The songs have been stuck in my head for days and I like the fact they gave Carmen some depth beyond the standard Femme Fatale archetype. Unfortunately, the wonky plot points and José exist.

#carmen #carmen frank wildhorn #carmen the musical #shoutout to the one person who will read this i am smooching you on the cheek

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pagan-stitches · 1 year ago

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ÚNOR

The Czech word for February is únor. It is said to come from the base word nořit (se), meaning to sink or to welter, as the ice welters under the water’s surface. In other words, "thaw". This was the name of the month since the National Revival before that it was named for a Slavic word meaning "Wooden Moon" - as this was the period where Slavs cut down trees, with wood being of best quality this time of year. I could not find the actual word but did come up with Sieczeń, which means to slash. Some Slavic countries still have a form of this word as the name of the month. For Slovaks is was malý sečeň means small chopper, but Slovaks are now using more anglicized words for months.

This Josef Lada illustration is full of Czech February activities. It is enjoyable to try and understand what each means.

The ice flows are reflective of the name of the month.

The sousedská is a semi-slow Bohemian dance in three quarter time with a calm and swaying character.

Chvíl odpočinku means a time to relax.

Sv. Matej is St. Matthew whose orthodox feast day was once in February, and still celebrated in Prague in February.

Hromnice is a holiday on the 2nd (like our Ground Hog Day).

Masopust is the same as Mardi Gras but celebrated earlier and longer depending on location.

Černý únor (Black February) is the last week of February beginning the 24th. It is a period that is said to lack fresh snow, is rich in harsh ugly days, with dirty pools of water; and the valleys seem filled with mist day and night.

The crow appears here as also in Lada's "Zima" (Winter) illustration. The the crow remains close to the village where there is a food source as food is scarce in the deep of winter.

The crow was considered a harbinger of protection, warning and advice, perhaps here as a warning of bad weather to come. Crows are said to represent the wisdom that comes from ones inner voice; that inner voice which tells us to pause and step back before entering dangerous territory.

At the bottom of the calendar page Lada always included a symbol of the zodiac included in that month period. The fish represent Pisces.

#Josef Lada #Czech art

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unit-54ryn · 1 year ago

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Some lore I want to share

Entry from Book XI Legacy >

It'll be 80 years to the day soon, the day that the Earth suffered a massive cataclysm of events, and countless bolts of light rained upon us.

In 1944, a group consisting of 15 000 asteroids and meteors crashed on Earth, the larger group landing on northern central Russia. the larger asteroid that crashed in Russia caused the volatile resources underneath it to eject the magma reservoir towards the surface, causing the first modern magma flood.

Eastern Europe was split due to a heavy earthquake on the magnitude of 10.0

casualties were high but humanity survived. all conflicts ceased for a time along with the existence of global governments.

Never in human recorded history has mankind experienced such catastrophe.

causing the superpowers to collapse and turn into regional powers.

The world economy collapsed.

this event became to be known as "The Great Cataclysm" (From this moment onwards it will be known as the new 0, 1944 would be 0 and anything before this event would be counted in some nations as Before Great Cataclysm (BGC) , and any years post the Great Cataclysm would be ( ARC - After Recovery from Cataclysm).

The newly founded united nations formed new measurements to restore their economy and rebuild their destroyed cities.

in order to ease the rebuild and recovery of those nations and afflicted areas. all nations slashed their military budgets.

some refugees in former Soviet union banded together and created autonomous zones. In those remote autonomous zones refugees worked in poor conditions causing riots and uprisings.

most nations with little to no standing military struggled to maintain control in those zones. In order to maintain control in those zones they enlisted help of mercenary forces.

multiple defence contractors sprung up to fill in the demand. twenty-five years after the "great cataclysm", several defense contractors remained dominant, having received some territory under their control. the largest one being BoneArrow defense industries, Fugaku surveillance, Polybius Automatons, Odonata international and Rostarm corp.

In 39 ARC (1983 AD) a new uprising was formed in the refugee sector called, Batavri. (former Czech-Republic/Poland) as it's nation was struck by a ecomomic crisis.

following an annexation of greater Romenia and the people's federation of Yugoslavia.

With an weakened UN, the defense contractors were used to fight the two sides. With this increased demand, both defense contractors BoneArrow defense industries, Fugaku Surveillance and Polybius Automatons. have streamlined their production lines which managed them to produce a lot more equipment than ever before.

With now a overflow of weaponry, equipment and vehicles there was a shortage of manpower which they managed to hire from ex military units.

For BoneArrow, they've come to realise that the solution for the manpower shortage would be investing in AI / Drones technology.

They started the Thalos program, an program to create drones that would fight alongside soldiers which then transpired later into the AresAthena program.

the other program that was started by a group within the BoneArrow defense industries was the Chimera program, which was about genetically modifying humans with animal traits to create a new kind of super soldier.

#saryn

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protect-daniel-james · 1 year ago

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Look I think we all know the weirdest. So what was your favourite? And your first?

I'm not that sure about the weirdest! I think Unai/football pairing makes a lot of sense, and there could be more written about it, and I think I wrote weirder (in the sense of cringeworthy, pointless) fics haha.

My favorite... hmmm. The Stands of Villa Park for its novelty as I mentioned in the previous ask. Never felt so much alike because it gives me a chance to explore the fucked up relationship (with a bit of piss kink), which I like. From the old ones, I remember being very proud of His although I haven't read it in ages since I'm afraid it will ruin the perception I have of it as the perfect Rakidrić fic. Oh, and definitely Strangers in the night, because it's very random, but I just felt like writing something angsty about Souness and Keane being so deep in the closet.

My first fic ever was probably a crack fic about Karl Marx/Friedrich Engles lol. But it wasn't serious stuff. Maybe Hamilton/Laurens thing - which I wrote BACK IN 2011 BEFORE ANY HAMILTON MUSICAL EXISTED. It was basically a story of how Hamilton sees Laurens' ghost before his duel, and Laurens "leads him to the afterlife" lol. It was very sappy and bad. I also wrote a Lewis/Clark thing. I just loved American history at the time. I sort of revisited this once I got back into American history through Hamilton, in Let's fade together, let's fade forever. I wrote a couple of historical RPF back in the day (I studied history and enjoyed all the possible ships from it). And actually, my first football slash wasn't even the Rakidrić Madness one! I wrote one in Czech which I posted on my old blog (which doesn't exist anymore), and it was a Ferenc Puskás/Sándor Kocsis one (the two of them cuddling up close when they learn about the occupation of Hungary in 1956, when they're abroad with the team). Yep, 1950s footballers going wild, lol. It still might be somewhere.... I'm not sure I want to find it though. But the first one on AO3 is Madness, the start of the Rakidrić madness.

#myfics #thank youuu

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mariacallous · 11 months ago

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After months of protests by outraged farmers in cities across the continent, European lawmakers are struggling with how to quell the anger sparked in part by new green agricultural regulations—a backlash that has underscored the difficult trade-offs confronting governments as they navigate the energy transition.

To hit ambitious climate targets, European leaders have unveiled a raft of measures that would overhaul the agricultural sector, an industry that accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet those policies have infuriated tens of thousands of European farmers, who have staged massive protests to voice their frustrations with the economic strains of the latest climate regulations; soaring production costs; and cheap foreign imports, particularly from countries with less stringent rules.

Demonstrations continued to roil Europe this week as hundreds of Czech and Greek farmers poured into the streets of Prague and Athens, the latest in a wave of protests that has swept all but four European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. In some cities, enraged farmers have resorted to dumping loads of manure and hurling eggs at city buildings; others have used their tractors to blockade ports and roads.

“As you’re imposing these stricter climate regulations on farmers, there’s a cost, and the cost has to be borne somewhere,” said Caitlin Welsh, a global food security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If the cost is imposed on the farmer, well then the farmer is going to produce less. The farmer is going to protest. There are going to be ramifications.”

Those ramifications are now coming into sharper focus as lawmakers—worried that far-right groups will exploit the farmers’ outrage ahead of European Parliament elections in June—cave to some of their demands. But even as lawmakers make new concessions, some farmers have vowed to ramp up their fight.

Wait, let’s back up. Why are farmers protesting?

While exact grievances vary by country, Europe’s farmers broadly say they are being pounded by a storm of converging pressures: a surge in production costs and drop in global food prices; cheap agricultural imports that have flooded their markets, namely from Ukraine; and now also a mix of national and European Union agricultural regulations targeting the farmers’ subsidies and use of pesticide and fertilizer.

When it comes to EU-wide policies, much of the farmers’ frustrations is directed toward the European Green Deal, Brussels’s plan to slash emissions by overhauling the continent’s food, transportation, and energy systems. The deal set ambitious targets for the agricultural sector to meet by 2030, including cutting chemical pesticide and antimicrobial use in half and reducing fertilizer use by 20 percent.

Yet the European farmers’ frustrations are also part of a larger global picture, said Christopher Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University. “Farmers all over the world are under considerable stress right now,” he said. At the same time as falling global commodity prices and rising input costs are squeezing farmers, he said, governments are increasingly turning away from direct agricultural subsidies and instead supporting greener production practices.

In Europe, where one-third of the EU budget traditionally goes to the agricultural sector, many farmers are also accustomed to generous state support, and lawmakers’ proposed overhauls have sparked fierce resistance. In Germany, for example, protests erupted over Berlin’s plans to slash fuel subsidies to farmers, while French demonstrations have centered on a pesticide ban. Nitrogen taxation has been a key issue in the Netherlands, and an income tax break was one of the focal points of Italy’s protests.

“Add it all up, and farmers in Europe and here in the United States are increasingly feeling under political attack—like support the government has long provided them is getting pulled back,” Barrett said. “Understandably, that concerns them.”

How are European leaders responding?

Worried about alienating a major base ahead of European Parliament elections in June, lawmakers have rushed to make concessions to appease the farmers. In one of the sharpest reversals, the EU this month abandoned its major proposal to slash pesticide use by 50 percent, while top officials stressed that Brussels and the farmers share the same objectives. France, Germany, Greece, and Italy have also all diluted their original plans.

“We want to make sure that in this process, the farmers remain in the driving seat,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in early February. “Only if we achieve our climate and environmental goals together will farmers be able to continue to make a living.”

But Europe’s far-right parties are also hoping to align themselves with the farmers and leverage their anger to score political points ahead of the June vote. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, for example, has already harnessed the French demonstrations to criticize French President Emmanuel Macron; the Dutch populist Farmer-Citizen Movement has also capitalized on the farmers’ frustrations to rail against “radical environmentalism.”

“Long live the farmers, whose tractors are forcing Europe to take back the nonsense imposed by multinationals and the left,” said Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, in response to the EU decision to shelve the pesticide restrictions.

“The rising radical right is really exploiting these protests,” said Rosa Balfour, the director of Carnegie Europe. “Because we’re moving toward the European Parliament elections, everybody is very alarmed by this.”

Still, experts warn that making too many concessions could also backfire.

“The risk is that if they give in to some of these demands, or if they continue giving into some of these demands, those young people who showed up to vote in 2019 will not show up again in 2024,” Balfour said.

What does this mean for the green energy transition?

Europe’s current conundrum highlights the difficult economic and political trade-offs that all governments will inevitably confront in shifting away from fossil fuels, particularly when it comes to overhauling the agricultural sector. As the energy transition gains momentum around the world, experts say Europe’s wave of protests may be a harbinger of what’s to come.

“The EU might be hitting this problem right now most acutely, but other countries aren’t far behind,” said Barrett of Cornell University. “We will all have to adjust agricultural support policies to attend to environmental and health effects of our agrifood systems, and we have to ensure that farmers and rural communities aren’t deserted in the process.”

Farmers across Europe, in the meantime, have vowed to continue the fight. Greek farmers recently rejected Athens’s proposed concessions, while Polish farmers continued to chuck eggs at government offices and Bulgarian protesters ramped up resignation calls for the country’s top agriculture minister last week. And in France, where hundreds of farmers recently called for a “siege” of Paris, the head of the largest French farming union has warned that demonstrations could restart if government efforts do not go far enough.

And the more that governments back down, the further the protests may spread.

When farmers see a protest that is successful, “they say, ‘OK, well this is what we have to do. This is the way we mobilize. This works, and it actually gets people on our side,’” said Scott Reynolds Nelson, a historian at the University of Georgia and the author of Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World. “So I think it’s going to explode.”

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flagwars · 2 years ago

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People’s Flag Wars: Round 3, Bracket 2

The Forest Finns Flag was designed by Frédéric M. Lindboe (flaggmannen) and Bettina Gullhagen to represent the Forest Finns people, an ethnic group of descended from Finnish migrants to forest areas of Norway and Sweden. This flag has been officially adopted by the Forest Finn community.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the flag’s symbolism: “The flag is a yellow Nordic cross design on a green canvas with red fimbriation. The centre of the cross is deformed with a black rhombus shape derived from a traditional Forest Finn symbol for a vulva or more commonly referred to as fertility, which is found carved into wooden doorframes on old Forest Finn settlements. The proportions and placement of the cross is the same as the Flag of Sweden. The relative thickness of the red and yellow on the cross is 1:2 and matches the Flag of Norway. Representing the Forest Finns in both Norway and Sweden.

The green represents the importance of the forest for the Forest Finns Slash-and-burn culture, the red represents fire and the holy Rowan tree, the yellow represents the rye from slash-and-burn farming and the black represents the soot of slash-and-burn. The color scheme is also meant to match the flags of the Finnish regions of Savonia and Tavastia, of which the Forest Finns originate from.”

The flag of Litichovice, Czechia was designed by Kryštof Huk. It is the official flag of Litichovice, a Czech municipality, and Kryštof has designed dozens of official flags for Czech communities.

Here is the flag’s symbolism: “The flag is derived from the arms. The three silver streams represent three actual streams defining the municipality's landscape, flowing down into the steep gulley of the Divisov Stream. The colours are derived from the arms of Trebesice (until 1995 Litichovice were a part of Trebesice and shared their history) as well as of the arms of the Veznik noble family, whose history is closely linked with the area. The hill represents the village's location as the "upper part" of Trebesice and the lilly represents the dedication of the village chapel to the Virgin Mary of Lourdes.”

#flags #vexillology #polls #people’s flag wars

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sarcasticdolphin · 1 year ago

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"Painting" Smrtolf (canon)

Smrtolf is Todolf, but the Czech version of the musical, so Smrt instead of Tod. For the lovely @adridoesstuff as all my Smrtolf drabbles are :)

Cut is for length.

The rain is a steady beat on the roof when Rudolf wakes, as his eyes open to the disembodied dim light of the day. It must already be mid morning, but it is so hard to tell with the sun hidden. His bedchamber is cool, but there is no chill in the air. A thin shirt and sleep trousers are enough this late in the spring, and there is none of the calming and deeply gentle chill that is his friend’s.

Aemilia, though, is perched atop one of Rudolf’s easels and preening her feathers.

“Good morning.” Rudolf can hear the softness of the morning and the sleep still in his voice.

Aemilia gives an affirmative noise and looks up before returning to her task and Rudolf finds himself smiling. She can be altogether single-minded at times.

The world beyond the window is muddy but green. There will be no riders from Vienna today. No messengers bearing missives from his ever-disappointed father. For this day at least, Rudolf has few cares in the world.

At another soft noise from the raven, Rudolf turns back only for Aemilia to flutter down to land on his wrist and give him a little nudge with her beak, drawing a chuckle from the prince as he gently gives her an affectionate scratch on top of her head.

He goes to ring the bell that will summon a servant baring breakfast before returning his attention to the angle and leaning down to press a kiss to her head. “There isn’t going to be any pile of papers from my father.” Rudolf finds himself smiling as he glances back and forth between the world of mud and green beyond the window and the raven on his wrist. “Then again that means there’ll be a stack twice as large as usual tomorrow.”

Aemilia gives a little affirmative noise and hops up to his shoulder.

They both gazed out the window in companionable silence for a few more minutes before the knock at the door signals the arrival of breakfast. The servant departs in silence with a bow, not questioning the bird on his shoulder. The servants here aren’t his father’s creatures. Rudolf has been careful. Here, at least, he is surrounded by servants who truly serve him.

It is a mixed breakfast - a few sausages and some light pastries. Rudolf cuts a small piece from the end of one of the sausages and offers it to the raven on his shoulder.

A soft chip conveys Aemilia’s approval, and Rudolf sets about cutting the rest of the sausage into small bits.

She jumps off his shoulder and onto the table, daintily eating the little pieces as Rudolf eats his own sausages and the little apple pastries the cook had sent. It’s always been interesting watching Smrt’s angels eat. Aemilia is ever the princess, so very dainty. Rudolf would happily have her eating from the palm of his hand if she would allow it despite the slightly terrifying beak her raven form boasted. Little Edwin, on the other hand, might only have a crow’s beak, but in his clutches, it was an implement of terrible destruction. As much as Rudolf adored the little angel, he wouldn’t be feeding the painted crow by hand.

They finish their breakfast in silence and Aemilia hops back on Rudolf’s wrist as he goes over to his easel before perching atop said easel and watching as Rudolf takes out his paints. There is a portrait of Smrt that has been giving him trouble for some time now. It’s not difficulties with the colors looking wrong against each other, or with the tones not coming together, but rather seemingly an issue with the lack of color. Rudolf’s friend is so pale, and his garb is entirely black safe for the slash of iridescence that is sometimes visible in his feathers. And no matter how much Rudolf has worked on this particular painting, he just thinks his friend looks too two-dimensional. Like he was utterly lifeless.

Perhaps months ago Rudolf would have laughed at his own morbid joke, but it doesn’t feel funny. Not anymore. Not after the hours and hours he’s spent delicately adding blacks and hints of gray, trying to make the painting come together.

In the end, Rudolf gives himself an hour or so before finding another canvas. He’s made some amount of progress, which is more than he can say most of the time he works on that particular painting, but there are times he prefers something a little easier.

“What shall I paint?”

Aemilia tilts her head in response and Rudolf finds himself smiling. “You, then.”

The prince can well imagine the bemused and slightly quizzical eyebrow that he would be on the receiving end of if Aemilia were in her human form. He probably paints her more than just about anything. If one of Taaffe’s spies ever came to Mayerling they would no doubt be left with the impression that Rudolf had a mistress that he seemed to love to paint more than anything else.

Sometimes Rudolf would have her sit just so when the sun was shining and then paint furiously - for the sun never seemed to hold the position he needed long enough - while others were far simpler portraits. He had painted her human form more, but there were still enough portraits of her raven form to probably give any spy pause.

Today’s portrait is one of her raven form, perched just as she is atop his easel. And for once, Rudolf paints the top of the easel too. He leaves the canvas within a canvas blank - perhaps when he has properly learned to paint Smrt in a way that doesn’t take a year per portrait he will add one of his friend there. But it is equally likely that Rudolf will eventually add Edwin’s chaotic form. He tries not to have more than one or two portraits of Smrt in progress at once.

It’s not his best work, but given that Rudolf had painted the entire thing in less than a day and Aemilia hadn’t exactly sat still it was still a good effort. Rudolf had only just about finished his initial rough brushstrokes before Aemilia had hopped down to hold the brush for him as she so often did.

And leaving Rudolf with a model at what was decidedly the wrong angle. Not that Rudolf usually got to have Aemilia sitting at what even approached the correct angle when she was in her bird form.

Still, it is a good painting, and Rudolf puts his paints away to let it dry just as the sun begins to set, ringing the bell once more. Aemilia gives a chirp and hops onto his wrist. Perhaps there will be more sausages. He cradles the angel close as they wait once more in companionable silence.

#smrtolf #todolf #my fic #finally got another drabble up #:D #progress

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natequarter · 2 years ago

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8, 17, 20 for the OC asks <3

8: Does your OC have any notable flaws or activities they're not good at? Why did you give them those flaws? Why do they exist in-universe?

this is a great question, because almost all of my ghosts ocs are designed to have several glaring flaws which make them extremely grating to haunt with, à la canon. i did this because i like arsehole characters who suck. william, for starters, is supposed to be a crusading soldier... and he dies a slow death of tuberculosis before he can achieve any of that. which i suppose makes the other activity he's not good at breathing - you stay how you die, after all. william is a bit like the love child the captain's military outlook and pat's excruciating optimism, as it happens. geoffrey is terrible at handling finances, and horses, and life in general. (he's honestly much happier after death. less responsibility.)

clarence has a bad habit of going along with other people's stupid ideas, most notably george button's idiotic suggestion to skate on the lake in winter. (you can imagine how that went.) elizabeth isn't very good at socialising - she has one (1) ghost she likes, and that's pretty much it. unfortunately for robin, that ghost is humphrey. also, she's exceptionally bad at haunting, which is honestly fair enough, seeing as the only ghost power available to her is a guy who can slash at stuff with his sword (william, at it again). oh, and she holds grudges. i mean, she's dead; it's not like there's much else she can hold. and having died in her sleep, she's frequently feverish and dizzy. in fact, it took robin longer than usual to convince her she was dead, because she wasn't awake to experience it.

17: List/describe up to five tropes that apply to your OC. They could be related to the OC's characterization or their narrative arc.

bad news: despite browsing tvtropes for fun, i have no idea how to answer this - or at least i don't have the energy. i would say that all of my ghost ocs (not bbc ghosts ocs, specifically ocs who are ghosts) are designed to be caricatures, with particular emphasis on some of them being parodies of their era. william is very much a parody of the crusading ideal, of holy war and chivalry, blah blah blah, and also a bit of richard the lionheart. richard the lionheart is way after his era, but he's still obsessed with the guy (and saladin), because he's been a bit... consumed by medieval crusading culture. "back in my day," he'd probably say, referring to a period more than a century after he died...

i also have some french ghosts ocs, and of those, pretty much all of them play off bbc ghosts and tropes surrounding their era, most notably marius (a bit like william, but a roman soldier, and incredibly fucking annoying). there's also estienne, who is a french spin on robin (i say french, but he's not french at all), pierre, who's mostly me messing around with identity and language in the south of france, milada (czech, and the antithesis of julian: very into in 90s/early 2000s culture, but the music and tech in lieu of tory shittiness), giulietta (gay and medieval. i wanted to subvert the "gay people were miserable in the past" narrative), mathieu (messing around with ideas of heroism and how that interacts with the french revolution in popular imagination), and james, a shitty english spy who tries to pass as an incredibly stereotypical frenchman, and only avoids being caught because he's so ineffectual nobody seriously thinks he could be a threat.

20: Share a random piece of trivia about the creation of your OC. Examples: scrapped ideas or changes you didn't expect to make.

the a in au stands for arthur. who is arthur? an oc involved in the long fic i'm working on (read: will probably be writing for the rest of the year, help). he's humphrey and sophie's (eldest) son, in an au where they actually learn to get along. ironically, his original backstory was from what was pretty much just daydreaming, in a world where his parents had been involved in the bone plot and died before he was old enough to remember them. so yeah, i'd say that's a pretty major scrapped idea. also this isn't relevant to the question but for his fourteenth birthday he gets a dog. they're best friends. this isn't relevant to the question, but it's very important to me.

(link)

#asks #the a in au stands for arthur #bbc ghosts

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