#globe of death

[carnivalbazaar]

Globe of Death rider, Big Kid Circus Photograph by Keiran Perry

[andritambunan]

Latest for The LA Times

Folsom, Calif. —  It’s almost 11 a.m. on a Sunday in early September, and it’s already 103 degrees here. Around 20 jugglers, trapeze artists and concession stand workers are filtering into the big top that the majestic Circus Vargas uses to perform across 25 California cities 11 months out of the year.

Seated in red chairs arranged in neat rows inside the ring, these members of the circus community have gathered to attend Mass, an optional circus tradition that happens at least once a year. In the space under the tent, you can see popcorn spilled from the previous day’s slate of three shows.

In the front row sits Daniel Eguino, 36, a daredevil who rides the Globe of Steel, or, as it’s also known in the circus world, the Globe of Death. For the act, Eguino and three other motorcyclists swoop about inside an 18-foot-high locked steel cage at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour, thrilling the watching crowds.

Earlier that morning, Father Frank Cancro, 74, the National Circus Chaplain, laid out water, wine, communion wafers and a cross on a folding table adorned with a black tablecloth. Cancro is a former-clown-turned-retired priest-turned-chaplain appointed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Circus and Traveling Shows Ministry, which dates back 100 years and serves more than 50 circuses around the world. For the past 15 years, he’s been going on the road with circuses to preside over Mass, perform sacraments and provide pastoral care. He doesn’t earn a salary and lives off his diocese retirement and special collections.

Serving what he calls the “most unique congregation on Earth,” he caters to the “spiritual and personal needs of all those who travel down the road without a ZIP Code.”

With his priest stole decorated with embroidered clowns, Cancro is part minister, part grandparent, part therapist and part human resource professional for a population that research shows can struggle with their mental health.

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[travsd]

For World Motorcycle Day: Moments in Midway Daredeviltry

This one goes out to my nephew and good friend James, and I must say I have been looking forward to writing this post for days with child-like glee. It is World Motorcycle Day, and so today (having already written about boyhood hero Evel Knievel), I thought I would provide some perspective on motorcycle stunting in circuses, fairs, and carnivals. The key to these thrilling acts lies in the…

[wandavisionedits]

—Elizabeth Olsen applauding at the 81st Golden Globe Awards

[sunflowergraves]

[multifandominfj]

[spineless-lobster]

This is gonna be troy (2004) all over again and my heart can’t take it

[a2zillustration]

We lived.

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[she1smyscar]

Aubrey is going to be a presenter at the Golden Globes on Sunday. The ultimate dream would be for her to give Kathryn her award 🤞🏽

[pasdetrois]

Fanny and Alexander (1982) dir. Ingmar Bergman

[chaoticace22]

hello fellow internet citizens how do we feel about 2024 so far?

[sictransitgloriamvndi]

[writershapeholeonthedoor]

Oh, to date this girl...

Can you even imagine it?

Gosh, domestic Elizabeth will be the death of me

[wandavisionedits]

—Elizabeth Olsen arrives at the 81st Golden Globe Awards

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

By the way your girl turned 27 today. Yee haw

[fleshwerks]

EDIT I MADE A MISTAKE: For some mysterious, not at all my own fanfiction related reason, I confused Treviso's location for Seleny, which is a river city, while Treviso sits on the delta of a river near the coast. Still. It's one major trade city out of two major trade cities. It's just a trade city. However, this renders the 'save treviso to prevent blight from flowing downstream' point moot.... ooff. Sorry, Treviso, your ace in the hole just went.

EDIT 2 it doesn't even seem to sit on a river. New question:if Treviso has no plumbing, tell me, where does the wastewater go?!!?!? Say it. Say it with words. I'm laughing at myself though, Seleny has absolutely dominated my 'antivan lore' mind lol. But seriously, if Treviso doesn't even sit in a delta... what realpolitik reason in a world-ending threat is there to choose it over Minrathous. It's an isola, even though it sits on the continent. it affects no other cities around it. Boats will have to make a longer trip to Antiva City, but that's it. The blight doesn't spread through waterways, it gets no more washed out to the sea than it would in Minrathous.

I think it should. The problem with 'sustained war' is that you're never at 100%. Minrathous has been under siege for a very long time, it has never really had the time to build up to fight off dragons and gods and Venatori who know the city inside out. Treviso, on the other hand, yeah, has no standing military.

But in the end, like this person said, one of the cities is a capital city, a major hub of commerce, and the other's a riverside town, 2nd largest, sure, but strategically the loss of Treviso is both more inevitable because of its home country's fucked up governing and military system (DAV crows are all rah rah we rule treviso until an actual war comes to its doorstep), and it's just not as strategically important. The only real issue is that the river carries the Blight down its course, and infects other river settlements. That's really the only reason why, when you have two 'maybes', you should choose treviso. otherwise i'd always choose minrathous because it's not just strategically more important, but because you can be almost 99.8% certain of it getting saved, as opposed to reducing the survival of both cities to like 50%. because in the end you're still just rook and two arseholes with some sad, struggling local forces who are barely coordinating anything.

treviso is a victim of its own government, and the MASSIVE hubris and flaws of the Crows who see themselves as an armed force while being completely ineffectual when it comes to repelling actual assault.

minrathous was easy to take because it was 'taken' by its own citizens, with the aid of gods. and that means the entire tevinter is now vulnerable, whereas taking treviso doesn't render all of antiva vulnerable. antiva's seashore capital still stands.

moreover, antiva itself is kind of a loser country. it's half-devastated desert from previous blights, and its economy relies entirely on commerce. it's a nation sized hanseatic league. antiva is a facilitator, a middle man because antiva almost exclusively produces LUXURY GOODS. not (survival) food (only fine, fancy, expensive gourmet shit), not arms, not resource. luxury goods. antiva simply isn't important in a total war. it produces nothing that's conducive towards survival. it has the right to exist, and gods willing, it will be saved, but when gods come knocking and you have choices to make, then with a broken heart and a choice that weighs between 'bad and worse', antiva will be sacrificed. except again, it isn't, it's only one river city. i'd be more worried if antiva city was under siege.