#his breakthrough is very good for those who have aspirations for the old ways

[kit-williams]

Pastel Bats

@bispecsual @egrets-not-regrets @moodymisty @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog

There were pastel bats upon the walls... this was your new home as you looked down at the infant drinking from the bottle. The room was bright with soft yellow walls and cute looking animals painted upon them. Your humming paused for only a moment and you swear you can hear a distant scream. You look to the large door. You were well fed... you were safe in the nursery... and that was alright. "Such a big boy you are Amir." You coo down to the grey eyed baby.

How a gummy smile is around the teat of the bottle as he slams his little feet against the padded floor of the playpen. No longer content on being contained by any sort of bed for a less active baby... no no the small boy had decided that standing was fun and had taken one to many tumbles on his head meaning he had to go see the doctor.

His eyes still wet from his most recent crying fit as he was a needy little thing with such big demands who liked bananas and didn't like green beans... he wanted to be held to fall asleep... and... you just find yourself holding the little boy with the odd growths on his skin... his mouth hurting because he's teething... and he still growing. You just sigh picking up the impatient to grow up little man to go see the doctor.

You watch Anrir Nor work as the two servo skulls fluttered about... one above Amir just out of reach of his grabby little hands trying to pull on the cabling and thrash it around when he does succeed making the cutes little gurgles. The other keeping notes as you watch the robotic limbs on his back move to grab things or seem to move in an almost behavioral tick.

"Any worrying things you'd like to bring up today." He says akin to how a pediatrician would ask you wonder if he says it on purpose or is simply saying it to make fun of you.

"He's scratching a bit and causing cuts but... other wise it's fine."

You watch him sit Amir up as he listens to his hearts. His eyes closing as he listens. "The scratching is from the subdermal growth of black carapace so its normal." He says with medical precision.

----

That was weeks ago... as you lay in the playpen that you laid with Amir as you and the others here followed protocol and the kids were asleep... they just fell asleep so quickly... it didn't work on you. You had to sing to Amir to get him to settle in his little pod to let whatever was in there to work on him.

There are pastel bats upon the walls... food's run out and the door is locked so tightly as there was a pressure leak outside of this safe haven in hell. You were all going to starve to death looking at the pastel animals upon the walls....

----

"His egg doner died today." Anrir says muttering softly as he continues to check over Amir and give him his shots.

"Oh that's not... good?" You say unuse to him talking to you.

"Yes... but you seem to like Amir so how about a proposition?" He says and you see the wickedness of his grin and all you could think to say was...

"What is the offer?"

----

You killed someone today... he was trying to break one of the pods. You had enough strength to do something about it. You wandered over to Amir's pod to sing to him... ignoring the way how someone... or some others were shamelessly ripping into the body... you sang to him to drown out the sounds... you sang to him as someone came by with cooked meat... and bought into the lie of them finding some... it gave you enough strength to draw... and all your numb mind could draw were those damned pastel bats...

----

"What if I just tell you what you'll get out of it?" Anrir says which that dangerous purr... you shifted as you had learned... or well it was a rumor that this man was also the head of the warband you found yourself in service to. You watch him brush some of that silky black hair behind his ear. "You may talk freely if you need to hear me say that."

"I mean I'd like to hear that too but what do you want from me?"

"Your body my dear."

----

You stopped leaving Amir's side as you hardly had any strength left to do so... you were being fed enough to stay alive... just barely. Someone came by to say that there were people outside and it might be a few more days before they could leave... that or they could just be telling you how you were next to be eaten... you didn't know any more.

----

He told you what he wanted with medical precision as you feel the marker tip tickling your skin and the metal appendages on his back caging you in. But you'd get better rations... you'd get better things... better treatment... it was all very tempting... all for the low low price of your body.

"Why... what do you get out of this?" You ask the black eyed man who looked surprised you even asked.

"Do you want the long answer or the the short answer?"

You broke eye contact with him for a moment as you thought before speaking, "Long?"

"The short version of the long answer is... I'm tired of watching the legion that I love fall apart via treachery and cowardness. Your corpse emperor isn't the answer but neither is the Four. And loyalty is a fickle thing..."

"So you're raising those who would be loyal to you?"

He grinned so wickedly, "Smart girl. Plus I can instill them the meaning of the legion! While fixing a few things that... lets say our environment was lacking at crucial stages of development."

"Giving them something you lacked?"

"Exactly."

"Didn't know childhood development was part of your education."

"Its not I ordained myself to learn it after I decided to say 'fuck it' to my last warband. So... what do you say?"

----

You should have said yes... you think as you stare at the sleeping little boy... the only thing you latched onto in this hell that you were dragged into screaming. Given a baby boy to keep alive and told your survival was tied to his development.

The boom of the bolter causes you to jump as you feel something splatter against your back as red paints the glass of the pods and you struggle to sit up. You see the midnight blue armor something different from the soft pastels around.

"Aww you left a list of his likes." The skull faced mask looks down at you with glowing red eyes. "But did you think of my offer dear?"

You try to say something which causes him to lean in before picking you up and hearing you whisper. "Yes"

[sunny44]

Old vs new

Pairing: Lewis Hamilton x daughter

Warnings: none, just fluff

Summary: When Lewis is bored in his house and decide to do a instagram live with his daughter.

This is a request

It was a sunny afternoon and I was bored in the house, my wife was with her sister and I was at our house with my daughter who was doing something in her room and then I had the idea of doing an Instagram live witch is something I usually don’t do but since the fans lives Ava I thought it was a good ideia.

I called Ava saying to meet me in my trophies room and when I press the button to start the live, Ava entered the room and she sit in my lap and we immediately created a buzz as fans tuned in to witness our live.

"Hey everyone, I've got a very special lady here with me today," I said to the phone and Ava smiled and waved at everyone. "As you guys already now this is my daughter Ava. And she’s already in go kart to be the next Hamilton.”

Mia giggled, her eyes lighting up as she playfully jabbed, "Yeah, Dad, you're not as fast as you used to be. You're like, ancient in F1 years!"

The comment sparked laughter from Lewis and his audience. "Ancient, huh?" he responded, feigning shock. "Well, I might not be as young as I was when I started, but I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve!"

Ava’s eyes twinkled mischievously. "Oh, I've seen your tricks, Dad. I've also seen your old races on TV. Vintage stuff!"

The banter continued as they reminisced about Lewis's early days in racing. He recounted stories of his breakthrough races, while Mia giggled at the outdated racing gear he used to wear. "Hey, don't laugh too hard! Those suits were cutting-edge back then," Lewis protested, feigning offense.

Mia, her voice dripping with mock seriousness, quipped, "Yeah, sure they were, Dad. Just like those ancient cell phones you used!"

The playful teasing exchanged between father and daughter endeared them to their audience even more. Amidst the jokes, Lewis shared the valuable lessons he learned from his journey – the hard work, dedication, and resilience that drove him to become a champion.

"You know, Ava" Lewis began with a thoughtful expression, "racing isn't just about speed and trophies. It's about determination and pushing yourself beyond your limits. That's something you'll need to remember when you're the next Hamilton in F1."

Mia's eyes gleamed as she leaned closer to the camera. "Oh, I'll remember, Dad. And when I'm on that track, I'll make sure to remind everyone that the Hamilton legacy continues!"

Their connection was a beautiful blend of admiration and camaraderie. As the conversation flowed, Lewis turned the tables on Ava. "You know what, Ava? I think it's time for a challenge. How about we have a karting race this weekend? Old vs new!"

Ava's face lit up, excitement radiating from her. "You're on, Dad! Just remember, I've been practicing!"

As the live session drew to a close, Lewis shared his pride in his daughter's aspirations. "I'm not just her father, but also her biggest fan. If she chooses to step into the world of racing, I'll be there every step of the way."

The Instagram Live ended with promises of the upcoming karting showdown and a grateful farewell to the fans. Lewis and Ava had not only shared their love for racing but had given the world a glimpse into the genuine bond they shared – a bond that would undoubtedly continue to flourish as the next generation of the Hamilton legacy began to unfold.

[violetmuses]

Grey || Chapter 2

Dedications: @clints-lucky-arrow @mymagicsuitcase @mypoisonedvine @punemy-spotted

__________

2023

Helmut Zemo

“I was a God. I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do, but mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect.” Dr. Nagel held enough arrogance to proclaim so-called immortality. We learned as well that Nagel recreated twenty vials of the damn Serum before Karli Morgenthau had stolen those items. I kept scowling, eying his boxed lab with disgust. Across the room, James and Sam were still alert nearby.

“How have we never heard about this?” Sam reasonably questioned soon after lowering his own firearm. James still kept his weapon close, planning to threaten Nagel once more if need be.

“Before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust. When I returned, it was five years later. The program had been abandoned, so I came here. The Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work.” Nagel continued speaking, his voice low but still purposeful. I quietly armed myself after finding a gun tucked under one silver cart.

“Where’s Karli now?” Sam probed once more as expected, keeping calm despite our current situation of urgency. With each passing moment, I’d become restless, but knew better than to react before questioning truly gripped its strong point.

“I don't know where Karli is, but a couple of days ago, she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani. The poor woman has tuberculosis and it’s a typical consequence of overpopulation in displacement camps like that.” Nagel offered more information and I still listened intently, despite holding the gun.

“What happened to Donya?” Sam then asked logically to volley himself back for this interrogation.

“Not my pig, not my farm.” Nagel acted smug once more, irking my thoughts again.

For a moment, I concealed my weapon and stepped towards him, eying Sam as he allowed me to move forward. If questioning by “good people” didn’t work, then there was a chance that I would be convincing here. There was no other choice.

“If you won’t reveal where Karli is, then perhaps you can tell me where this woman could be found.” I reached for one of my inner coat pockets and showed Nagel this personal photograph. My own heart dropped and raced all at once this time.

“You’re definitely behind the times with this picture, but I know exactly who that is.” Nagel laughed almost menacingly to himself while sitting in the chair. James and Sam stood in place with clueless expressions, but of course I did not care.

Another story for another time.

“Where is she?” I asked, nearly gritted my teeth whilst anger coursed through every vein within me now. James and Sam were still watching us both, but questions had surely crossed their minds as I changed subjects of this probe.

“Dionne Charles has hid in plain sight for decades now. You haven’t been paying attention.” Nagel clued to me, but remained vague. It took everything in me not to shoot, but his answers would've meant quite the breakthrough. I needed more.

“Is she here?” I snapped once more, patience finally growing thin.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Nagel shrugged. I back away, deciding not to pull the trigger yet.

“Back to business. Is there any serum in this lab?” James stepped forward and pressed the barrel of his firearm right up against Nagel’s temple.

“No,” Nagel allowed his voice to tremble as he reached the brink of death once more.

“Guys, we're seriously outta time here!” Unexpectedly, Sharon Carter entered the container and warned us of more incoming trouble.

Not caring, I finally unveiled my firearm soon and pulled the trigger, killing Nagel without any further hesitation.

“No!” Sam and James then yelled towards my direction, pulling me back with his own stronghold.

“What did you do?” Sharon asked, peering towards my eyes. I still couldn’t care less. Impact of the powerful gunshot had shuffled Nagel and forced his hardened chair to fall backward. Blood immediately splattered all over his chest and face.

_______

James, Sam, and I had taken my private jet once more, moving to my safe house in Riga, Latvia the following day. One GRC resettlement camp had been located in this specific city and Donya Madani passed away there, which signaled one step closer towards Karli.

“I’ll ask you again. Who the hell is Dionne Charles? You won’t even show us the picture that Nagel saw yesterday.” Sam questioned me, sitting at the kitchen counter. I’d placed down a drink for him, but he crossed both arms, waiting for me.

“Fine, do you want the truth?” Sarcasm lined my voice, but he was right. I’d quietly spent the past few days hiding behind phones and secrecy to find someone and my veiled movement left them suspicious.

“Lying would put you back in jail without a doubt, so tell me everything.” Sam kept his words leveled, but this sense of curiosity peaked as well.

“Apologies for the old photograph, but this is the image that I showed Nagel yesterday.” I’d taken this laminated Polaroid out of my coat and finally handed the beloved image to Sam.

I’d captured the image myself with a disposable camera. 2003 had marked the year on a white border. In this candid picture, Dionne wore this cocktail dress and drank her favorite wine, sitting on the balcony of my family’s estate in bliss. The dark complexion of her skin tone nearly glowed as daylight turned into evening.

“She’s beautiful.” Sam mumbled gently, but I understood. Of course she was beautiful.

“I know.” I sighed, thinking back. Anyone with two eyes knew that she was arguably one of the most gorgeous people in the world. The phrase “often replicated, but never duplicated” was true, especially considering her presence.

‘Any reason why you’ve kept this picture around? I’m sure that times have obviously changed for both of you.” Sam asked, narrowing his eyes. At least he was not willing to act invasive.

“Nostalgia, perhaps. I haven’t seen her in person since…” I trailed off these words when James entered the safe house, entering my kitchen as well. Even Sam had then caught me and tucked the Polaroid back into that fur-lined coat of mine.

Mission first, memories later. I thought to myself.

“Well, the Wakandans are here and they want Zemo. I just bought us some more time.” James announced, not bothering to greet Sam or I in some content manner.

“Were you followed?” Sam asked James in return, completely forgetting and ignoring my previous conversation with him.

“No.” James answered quickly.

“How can you be so sure?” I joined in, facing the stain-glass window.

“Cause I know when I'm being followed.” James defended himself.

“It was sweet of you to defend me at least.” I turned away from the window and sprayed cologne, faintly smirking.

“Shut it, no one’s defending you. You killed Nagel.” It was not long before Sam spoke up once more, facing me.

“Do we really have to litigate what may or may not have happened?” I volleyed back, prompting Sam to respond again.

“There's nothing to litigate. You straight shot the man.” Sam eyed me as I handed over another beverage.

“Eleven injured, three dead.” James scrolled through his cell and offered information on Karli. A bombing at the GRC supply depot had taken place recently. There would be more attacks if a list of demands weren’t met as soon as possible.

“The very concept of a Super Soldier will always trouble people. It was that warped aspiration that led to Nazis, to Ultron, and to the Avengers.” I reiterated our need to rid the world of these monsters. No one deserved to have that immortality.

“So, Karli is radicalized, but there has to be a peaceful way to stop her.” Sam joined the conversation once more, facing me and James.

“The desire to become a superhuman cannot be separated from supremacist ideals. Anyone with that serum is inherently on that path. She will not stop and she will escalate until you kill her, or she kills you.” I set down the truth of Karli’s intent.

Whilst discussing our mission, I didn’t know what to believe when my burner phone began ringing within the trench coat. Backing away from James and Sam, I discreetly moved towards my coat and reached for that pocket. James and Sam were clueless, just continuing to speak on Karli or the Flag Smashers radicals.

973-675-1342

As soon as I grabbed the phone, this New Jersey phone number flashed before my eyes, signaling memories that had been long buried. Ignoring James and Sam once more, I headed into this cornered master bedroom, closing the door behind me.

“Hello?” Pacing back and forth at the foot of this bed, It was not long before I smiled briefly, trying to register the possibility of hearing her voice without jumping through the answering machine. This chat would be twenty years in the making.

“Who the hell are you?” On the other line, a man’s voice nearly growled unexpectedly to somehow address me. I’d never heard his voice before, but anger coursed through my veins as time stopped. This stranger even sounded American.

“Where’s Dionne?” I snipped with a low tone, conjuring up the worst case scenarios. In short the time when Nagel explained that Dionne could’ve been hiding in plain sight, an abduction could’ve taken place soon after. My skin crawled.

“You really don’t remember me, Colonel? That’s a shame.” This bastard laughed to himself while briefly recalling my years with Eko Skorpion. Despite still holding the title of Baron, I’d taken military service not long before Ultron destroyed Sokovia.

“At least give me your last name during this call, please. You sound like some average and run-of-the-mill American man.” I said, rolling both eyes, regardless of ongoing anger. For all I knew, this man could’ve held Dionne for ransom right now.

“Perkins.”

Back in 2012, Russell Perkins somehow bypassed the no-flight list and failed this harsh attempt to assassinate one of Sokovia’s official diplomats. Not only was Perkins arrested and indicted immediately, but he’d been imprisoned shortly after.

“How the hell did you escape prison?” I grit my teeth. Enough was enough.

“I could ask you the same question.” Perkins chuckled, showing the velvet tone of voice that would’ve rivaled any one of my cousins on their best day.

“How I have now been freed from my cell is none of your concern, Perkins. Where is she?” I returned to our main speaking point: Dionne. My heart dropped and shattered once more, trying to calm, but still enraged now.

“Right here. Hold on.” Perkins lowered his voice once more. Both anxiety and anticipation had quickly raced through my mind as I listened out for Dionne's presence, hoping that Perkins wouldn’t make a joke out of this very situation.

“Z…” Dionne spoke to me at last. Her voice, nearly fleeting, edging on the brink of death, shocked me. Not a hint of joy or content lined her tone as she tried to utter my last name.

“Hello, Sweetheart.” Tears pickled my own eyes. Yet, at that moment, my heart sank. It took everything in me not to shout for her and give myself away during this phone call. Sam and James would’ve immediately noticed that I was not nearby.

“Don’t say that to me.” she warned, reminding my heart of the mistake that led to our breakup many years ago.

“Apologises.” I whispered to her, still keeping my voice leveled despite the anguish that filled my very being now.

“Just say hi to Sam for me and tell James that I’m proud of him. I’ve heard a lot of different things since The Blip took place.” Dionne offered greetings to Sam and James, emoting bittersweetness.

“I promise to speak with James and Sam, but where are you? Where is Perkins hiding you right now? Please tell me.” I tried to keep up this clear facade of strength, but the attempt crumbled with each passing moment.

“I’m so sorry, but I can’t tell you. He’ll...he’ll kill me if you find out.” Dionne whispered back to me. Her perfect voice had shuddered against my left eardrum in response, but one damn gunshot then pierced out loud just moments later.

“No!” I yelled, allowing the phone to drop out of my hand instantly. If James and Sam barged through the door, so be it. To be honest, this moment marked the first time that I’d genuinely cried since the loss of my family, including Heike and Karl.

______

“I took the liberty of crossing my name off in your book. I hold no grudges for what you thought you had to do. Goodbye, James.” I bid farewell to James one last time before members of The Dora Milaje could haul me away towards The Raft now.

“She’s alive.” Whilst lowering his firearm at last, James uttered something from behind me. At one point in time, even one member of the Dora had allowed me to turn around.

“What did you just say?” I asked, narrowing my eyes across the cobblestone path found between us.

“Dionne is alive.” James repeated himself.

[thecrownnet]

Josh O’Connor may best be known for this breakthrough role in 2017’s God’s Own Country but the Southampton-born actor has been cultivating a catalog of great film and television performances for years. From The Riot Club and The Program in film and Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders, Ripper Street and The Durrells on TV, O’Connor has built a resume that made him the perfect choice to play the most challenging role of his career, Prince Charles in season three of Netflix’s The Crown. O’Connor play the Prince of Wales at a turning point in the would be king’s life, from the early years of his relationship with Camilla Bowles (the Diana years will show up in season four) to the daunting task of figuring out how to lead the commonwealth when the time comes.

I caught up with two-time BIFA winning actor to talk about God’s Own Country, his role in The Crown, what he likes and doesn’t like about biopics and playing real people and Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There.

I wanted to start by talking with you about God’s Own Country, which quickly became a cornerstone of queer cinema, and I think took off in a way most people weren’t expecting. Can you tell me a little bit the impact working on that film had for you?

It was a kind of monumental moment for me and I think a big moment for queer cinema and insofar as it was kind of a gay love story that we hadn’t seen before, you know, in terms of one that ended with hope and one that told a kind of positive story. It was something maybe we’d seen before, but, it’s rare and people were obviously hungry for that. And so it touched many people and I feel like it’s rare that your project gets to have that effect on people. So it was a kind of, it was a huge moment for me. In terms of kind of career wise also just as a creative, as an actor, I think it was a moment of realization about technique and how I want to work. It built a process, which I still use the basis of now. And so yeah, it was really impactful for me.

I love that. Earlier this year you had Emma., how was it stepping into Mr. Elton’s shoes?

(laughs) It was very different than anything I’ve done before. I’ve never done comedy before. Autumn de Wilde, who is an exceptionally talented director, came in and it was very clear she wanted a kind of Peter Cook-esque Mr Elton and we’ve talked about him having a sort of darker side, which we touch on in the film. I think it was real, I loved it, it was kind of getting to stretch my muscles, my comedic muscles I suppose. And yeah, it was a real treat and it’s a lovely, beautiful ensemble film.

Diving into The Crown, had you watched the first two seasons of the show to help inform you of the style or approach to the series?

Yes, I had. I’d seen the first two and I’m very good friends with Vanessa Kirby who played Margaret so, I initially watched it as a kind of support for my friends, but then absolutely, obviously got hooked and I think the first two series’ are exceptional. Claire Foy is kind of spellbinding, Matt Smith I think is extraordinary as Philip, and often sort of, it’s underplayed how brilliant he was. I absolutely loved it and then be a part of this group of actors who I totally adore and look up to, you know, the likes of Tobias Menzies, to go from Matthew is extraordinary, and Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter, you know, these are all people that I aspire to so it’s been a real treat.

What were the main sources and figuring out who Prince Charles is on a personal level?

Well, I think there were a few things to kind of brought out the personal, but initially when I started with Charles, I spent so much time watching footage of him, or hearing recordings of him from the period. After a while I got to the point where I was like, actually, I don’t know that this has helped. It certainly isn’t helping me get any closer to the character and certainly isn’t getting close to who Charles really is behind closed doors. And so I sort of threw all that out the window. The thing that got me there more than anything was something that Peter Morgan had written, which is I think episode eight of series three. Charles described his life as being like he as being like a character in Dangling Man. He says, the character is a working class blue collar guy from Chicago and he’s waiting to be drafted to go to war and he actually wants to be drafted because it’ll give his life meaning, even though it means that they’ll go to a certain death.

And the idea that Charles, Prince Charles is this young boy who’s actually waiting for his own mother to die in order for his life to take meaning, I just thought that was a kind of, it locked into a sort of tragic narrative of this young boy that is so rare and an extraordinary. So that was the kind of, that was the crux of it.

When you’re playing somebody that is so well known, how do you strike the balance between impression and interpretation and what do you think you brought to Prince Charles?

Yeah, that’s such a good question. It’s a question I don’t know the answer to, yet. The best way to, for me, in my personal view of it as an audience member, is that I never enjoy seeing in any kind of biopic or whenever I see an actor playing a real person, I find it very difficult to watch and actor to do something really exactly like the person.

I don’t know why. I think it becomes too much like an impression. And what I always loved is that there was a great film called I’m Not There, which is about Bob Dylan. And so it was like eight or nine actors playing Dylan at different stages in his life and not just different stages but playing different aspects of his personality. So Cate Blanchett, plays the kind of more recognizable Dylan, which is the sort of public eye Dylan, you had Heath Ledger playing the kind of rock and roll Dylan, you had a young actor [Marcus Carl Franklin] playing the Woody Guthrie influenced Bob Dylan. So you had all these different actors, all totally different and most of them looked nothing like and resembled him in no way. And I remember that was the most powerful representation of Dylan I’ve seen or of anyone I’ve seen and I thought when I’m playing Prince Charles there’s no point in me spending all this time trying to get his voice and trying to look like him and walk like him.

Those things will happen naturally. And I think, you know, it’s good to have little aspects and little notes that people feel safe and comfortable in the knowledge secure that you are playing Prince Charles. But as soon as you can get rid of those, the earlier you can get rid of those, the the more interesting and the more adaptive that character is, the more influential that character can be. And as I say, it’s more interesting seeing Josh play Prince Charles than it is seeing just seeing Prince Charles.

I love that example of I’m Not There. It’s a brilliant movie and it is such a great way to bring an audience into a character without feeling like you’re just watching video footage.

Exactly. Because there’s documentary. We also undersell the brilliant art form that is documentary, which I absolutely adore it. There’s nothing better than watching old footage of Charles. I love it. But it’s not the same. I want to see an actor play and Claire Foy is a great example. I should stop rambling but Claire Foy is a great example of an actress who plays the queen so stupendously everyone in the world sat up right when they watched Claire and Matt Smith in series one and two. And it wasn’t because there was, ‘Oh my God,’ she looked and speaks exactly like the queen at that age. Most of us don’t know what the queen looked like at that age and it sounded like at that age because there wasn’t very much TV. So actually all we’re looking at is an incredible performance of the character. And I think I remember watching Claire and Matt and thinking ‘let’s focus on that.’ Let’s not try and play Prince Charles, let’s try and play the character.

Again, that’s a perfect example that makes perfect sense. There’s a turning point in the series when Charles, as the Prince of Wales, has to learn to speak Welsh. Did you know any Welsh or was this something new for you as well?

I mean, I certainly knew no Welsh. I’d never spoken a word of Welsh in my life a lot. I’d heard the language. One of the most kind of influential or most magical moments from when I was in grammar school was I heard an old recording of Dylan Thomas reading Under Milk Wood and was a beautiful radio play that he wrote and it was and poetical and beautiful and Dylan speaks it in this kind of like raucous Welsh voice. It’s like, mind blowing, and it was a kind of really special moment. So that combined with the fact that I love Wales the country, I felt very great affinity for the Welsh language. But as I said, I had no idea. So it’s very much, it was very much kind of like Charles’ feelings about having to learn it. There were muffs the same as mine and we went through a long process of learning everything. And yeah, I mean it’s great. I still know the speech now, but I don’t know what it means.

Which brings us right to that monumental episode where you have to give the speech for his investiture. Tell me about that sequence, which I think is just extraordinary in this series.

It’s a beautifully written episode. It has so much significance because it’s about Charles stepping up and becoming an adult. To me it was the thing that convinced me to take the role in the first place. I suddenly realized this as a young man who is, in my in recent history, is kind of known as a bit of a wally [British slang for ineffectual or foolish]. He goes around and talks about the environment, which of course we all know he was right. In the 80s and 90s he was considered a bit of a buffoon. And then there’s the Diana years and the thing that got me and took and basically convinced me to take the role was I suddenly realized he’s a lost boy and the investiture episode is him taking that lost boy and going, ‘No, I’m going to own this and I’m going to become a man.’

Jumping off that a bit, what do you think was the most misunderstood thing about Charles from this period of his life?

I think sort of the misunderstood thing of most of the Royal families, is that they had some perfect childhood. I mean, in terms of financially, they probably had a pretty great childhood, but I think terms of relationships to parents, relationships to siblings, they’re just like anyone else. I mean, they’re difficult. They have their ups and their downs. He was a lost boy but a lost boy with the knowledge that he was going to have to at some point lead, be the king, the reign of England, of the Commonwealth of this huge empire and we now know, it’s taken an entire lifetime and he still isn’t the King.

I think that’s the biggest thing that hopefully people have taken. There’s been a great response within people calling out and saying they feel great sorrow for Charles now. So hopefully that’s what they’ll take.

In looking forward to the future of your career, do you have a dream role in mind that you’d like to play?

I don’t know actually. It’s one of these questions that so hard because I’m always surprised when I say something quick and then a script will come through with a totally original role and there’s nothing better than a new script and a role that you’ve never thought of. It grabs me. But I suppose there are plenty of performances I’ve always kind of aspired to like Daniel Day-Lewis has played and those kind of fully formed characters or Tom Hanks. Those are the kinds of roles that you dream of. In terms of theater it’s easy because everyone wants to play Richard II or Hamlet. I’ve always wanted to play Richard II, so one day hopefully I’ll be able to do that. But beyond that, certainly the dream is to keep getting to play new characters and work with great directors.

All seasons of The Crown, including S3 where Josh O’Connor appears, are streaming exclusively on Netflix.

[random-imagines-blog]

Lights Out {Ethan Hunt Oneshot}

This is a special-edition personalized oneshot for @justyouraveragefangirl1967

Wordcount: 2476 Summary: Ethan’s wife finds something strange in his office. After putting some pieces together, she begins to take a self-defense class in case his life is more dangerous than he makes it seem. Those come in handy one night.

It seemed as though Holly lived in a world where most people expected it to be bleak and dark, but it was filled with sunshine and the most perfect temperatures. Everything could be a bit much sometimes, but when one had disabilities the way that she did, it was all the more tough - but she got through it with a smile on her face. Why? Because she had an extremely handsome, generous, funny man by her side who boosted up her confidence every morning when he rolled over in bed, ran his fingers through her bedhead hair, and pressed a kiss to her cheek before he got out of bed. Others tended to see what was ‘wrong’ with her, while Ethan Hunt saw the beauty that was the sparkle in her blue eyes, the way that she smiled, and the way that she never let anything stop her from achieving her goals of becoming a writer - though she was still just aspiring at this point. He was her number one fan, always and forever - which is exactly what he had promised her when he had slipped the engagement ring onto her finger one romantic afternoon.

However, there was no kiss this morning, since Ethan had been called away for a work trip. Things were usually quiet around the house, since she was hearing-impaired and tended to keep things like the radio and television off when she wasn’t using them, but when Ethan was gone? Even the silence that she had grown accustomed to was louder than the house when he wasn’t in it. Her mind had conjured up music of its own when Ethan entered a room, created ambiance to the smiles and the frowns, to the laughter and the smooth way that he did things. Holly had accepted a quiet life, but she was missing the sound of Ethan’s smile right about now.

After her morning tea - which was a struggle because Ethan sometimes teasingly put the teabags higher up than her 4‘9 figure could reach, and he had forgotten to bring them down - she looked at the muggy day outside and knew immediately what she was going to do. Groceries were bought, the house was clean - she had no excuses except to boot up her laptop and put some effort into her works in progress.

Her own office felt rather ... lonely, at the moment. The walls did have pictures of her loved ones, including quite a few of Ethan himself, but she wanted something more. She wanted to feel his presence around her completely. And that was why she decided that she was going to work in his office instead, since he wouldn’t be at home to catch her doing so. It felt so taboo to be going into his personal space. It wasn’t locked, but Holly still felt a bit of unease at being there alone.

Ethan’s desk was meticulously clean, with only a couple of stationary things upon it. He had taken his laptop to work, which made sense - it was the only thing that he was secretive about, but Holly never pried. His business was his business, just as yours was yours. She set her laptop up in the space that his usually occupied, opened it up, sat down in his seat, and started to tap at the keys, making words flow on the white screen.

An hour passed before she decided that it was a good time for a break. She leaned back in the seat, looking at the room that she had so seldom been in. Shelves lined the walls, the window looked out into the beautiful backyard where the sun was shining, and there was a photo of the two of you hanging on the wall, which was the only decoration in the place. She got out of the chair and went to look at the books that were on the shelves, wondering if there was something that may interest her.

After squinting at the titles for a moment, she saw that a couple of the books had a thin layer of dust on them. Despite knowing that cleaning them would mean that Ethan might catch on to the fact that she was in here, she couldn’t help herself from taking a tissue and lightly sweeping it over the books. She must have gone a little harder than she had intentioned, for one book was pushed back, smashing it’s pages against the back wall. She winced and tried to reach it to push it back up to place, but her fingers found a strange button on the wood rather than the pages. At first, she thought it must just be a knot in the wood, but she pressed down on it and heard a clicking noise from the other side of the room.

Having read stories about old houses with hidden rooms, Holly’s heart started to beat quickly in her chest in anticipation of what she might find. A secret library with expensive books that Ethan might have gotten from his travels? Or even better, a thought that made her blush, a pleasure room? As she turned around, she found herself to be disappointed for what was exposed was not a room, but rather a panel in the wall that had once held a painting and a mirror. What was there now was a metallic space, lit up by little white lights, showing off something you did not expect in the slightest.

Guns.

Holly didn’t know much about weapons other than a bit of light research that she had done for a story some time back. But she could identify a shotgun, and a couple of handguns. She didn’t dare touch anything, but rather stared with a slightly open mouth. She fell back into her seat, thinking about why the guns would be there. Thinking over the past, she started to realize that perhaps she didn’t know Ethan as well as she had thought that he had.

-

When Ethan returned home, everything was back the way that it was, save for the missing dust on one of his book jackets. If he had noticed that, he didn’t say anything about it. Holly’s laptop was safely back where it should be, and she worked on your writing while waiting for him to shower and come see her.

‘Hello beautiful,’ Ethan signed once he had Holly’s attention. She looked up at him, caught the sign, and gave him a wide smile.

“Welcome home,” She said aloud. He thanked her and took his usual spot on the sofa, with his arm around her shoulders. The t-shirt that he was wearing stuck onto his still damp body, and his growing hair was starting to hang in his eyes. She looked at him lovingly, and tucked herself into his side, nuzzling to show that she had missed him. After she had found the weapon cache, she decided that she wasn’t going to tell Ethan that she had found it. Or that she had figured out what was going on in his life. He took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it absent-mindedly as he paid attention to what was going on in the news. He seemed to be looking for something, a story in particular. Once the headlines were through, and the more fluffy pieces and weather came on, he clicked off the television, with relief in his eyes that Holly could see a mile away. She may not have known what Ethan did exactly, but she could read his face better than anyone.

‘I think I’m going to order us dinner tonight.’ Ethan signed to Holly once the TV had returned to the black screen it tended to be when he wasn’t home. ‘And we can go out for dinner tomorrow.’

“I’m busy.” Holly said, taking Ethan by surprise. “How about a late dinner?”

‘What are you doing tomorrow?’

“Just taking a class down at the community center,” Holly said with a smile. Before Ethan could ask any more questions, she stopped him with a kiss and went into the kitchen to look at takeout menus and decide what to have for dinner.

-

For a while, just because of Ethan’s job and any dangers that he might bring home because of it, Holly had gone to self defense classes. It was tough to start the habit, considering she only had one good leg, but she found that she enjoyed it. What wasn’t fun about it though, was that she had to evade Ethan’s questions about it. It wasn’t that she wanted to keep it a secret from him because she felt that she had to hide it. It was because she knew that he would worry for her, and insist that he could take care of her himself.

In the times that she had gone to the gym, she had gotten good. Actually, she had gotten pretty damn good. It brought along a confidence that she hadn’t had in a very long time. She came home each evening with a smile on her face, and ran herself a bubble bath so that Ethan could join her - which he was usually more than happy to do. She also felt more comfortable on her own when he went out on his ‘work trips’. It was a nice feeling, knowing she could hold her own, at least somewhat.

But unfortunately, that was going to be tested sooner rather than the never that she was hoping for.

It was late one night when Ethan had gone out to ‘have some drinks with the boys’, whatever that had meant. Holly didn’t question it, she just gave him a damn good kiss that he could taste on his lips until he had something to drink, told him to call a cab if he drank too much, and then settled in for a night alone. It wasn’t that she was lonely either, she liked having some time to herself, though she did spent it often worrying about Ethan and whatever it was that he was truly doing. She still didn’t ask him what that was, or accuse him, because she was smart enough to know that the secrecy was for her own benefit.

Only the lamp next to the sofa was on, and her laptop was balanced on her lap and she was tapping away at what she hoped would be the best breakthrough novel in the world. It was good to have dreams, and even better when she had someone by her side who believed that she could do it. The TV was off, there was no music on, and the only sound that was going on was the tapping of the keyboard as she plucked the words straight out of her mind and put them on the white screen.

She felt that something was wrong before she could see any sign of it. A tingling sensation, the hair on her arms standing up on end. Something was not right. She could sense that there was someone in her home - and since she could see the front door from where she was sitting, they were not someone who should be here because they didn’t come from there.

She moved the laptop from her her lap, saving her work quickly and closing it, then tucked it under a pillow so it wouldn’t get stolen. Or destroyed - both were horrible concepts. She wished she knew what she was facing. This could be a common burglar, a murderer, someone who was after information about Ethan, it could even be someone who wanted to come in and steal all of her book ideas! Okay, the last one wasn’t likely but the other three? Too much so.

Despite the self-defense classes, she didn’t know much about working with weapons. But it seemed a much better idea to protect herself with one of Ethan’s guns and her knowledge of self defense rather than just hope that these guys didn’t have weapons of their own.

Holly couldn’t hear where they were, and her seeing was also not the greatest, so she couldn’t look for shadows. But what she did have were her own senses, and they had never let her down before. She crawled onto the floor in front of the couch, and felt the floors of her home. She could feel the pressure of the footfalls. Great, she thought, there were at least three of them that she could tell. Her hand curled into a fist - she was not about to hide herself, this was her house dammit!

The first of the men came into the room, clad in black. The second followed behind with a gun in his hands, checking to see if the coast was clear. Holly didn’t breathe, didn’t let herself think about what she was about to do. She went through the motions, running on pure adrenaline. With her good leg, she kicked the gunman in the groin, making him bend over, but unfortunately, not drop the gun. The two men were startled by her attack, but the third had time to see what was going on in front of him, and brought out a rather menacing knife. Like an angry pirate in a film, he was blindly slashing, getting nothing more than Holly’s hoodie with the blade, lucky for her. They must not have been expecting anyone to be home, let alone her.

Since she had already gone for the groin of one of the men, they would certainly be anticipating for her to go for that again. As she raised her foot, the man pulled his hips backwards to be out of her range, but she went for the knee instead, which buckled him. He let out of a cry of agony, for something there had definitely broken.

The first guy came at her swinging, looking like a gorilla or something with how thick his arms were. She was small enough to avoid most of his hits, since he was a large man and had to actively work at keeping his fists low. Since he was hunched over, she had good access to his face. Grabbing a large book off one of the end tables, she thrust it forward with all of her might into his nose, causing a bloody mess over the cover, but at least it was a soft cover so it shouldn’t be too hard to clean up.

The front door was unlocked and thrown open, and at first Holly grew concerned that it was another of the bad men, but instead it was her husband. Her happiness at seeing his face was short lived, however, since the man she had kicked in the groin finally re-stabilized himself and started to shoot at the door. Ethan dived in, and turned off the lamp and that was the end of what Holly could see. She moved away from the men who had come after her, shuffling to the end of the couch and taking cover there. Three gunshots - she could feel them, as well as see the bright blasts. She held her breath once more, unable to breathe until the light turned back on and she was confronted by the face of her husband.

“You did amazing. I love you. Are you okay?” He signed to her. As she nodded, she started to cry from the pure exhaustion and fear of what had happened. He wiped her tears away and held her in his arms until she felt better. Only then did he call in some people for cleanup.

Throughout the rest of the night, he held her in his arms, touching her, kissing her, being proud of her. He still had not told her what he did for a  living, his real job, but it didn’t seem necessary at this point. She had figured something out, obviously, and that was good enough. He pressed a last kiss on her forehead before laying down in the bed on his back, thinking of the injuries that he had seen on the three men. Though they were dead, by his hand so he was certain of it, he had never seen such a bad knee injury before. Instead of being scared or nervous, he felt such overwhelming pride in his wife. He had made the right choice proposing to her, and he wouldn't regret it for a second.

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Episode 27 “Bizarre! Gran Torino Appears!”

mysterylover123

The Internship arc starts off with a bang! Let’s see that Full Cowl, Deku! 

SORA NI UTAEBA! While the song in this intro is kinda meh to me, the visuals are amazing. I love the symbolism for all the events of the ep - tho not gonna lie, this core’s ED is better than the OP. Anyway tho, go punch that wall Deku!

We start with Gran Torino pretending to be crazy. I’ll admit, I’m kinda eh on this bit, though I love  Gran. It’s probably because I found it annoying when Yoda did it, so I find it annoying here as well. (It’s really just my inner fangirl talking. Nobody makes Deku unhappy except Kacchan. Who can get away with it.)

But actually, this sets up an interesting difference between Deku and Luke, though admittedly situation isn’t the same because Deku knows Gran is Gran. But Deku’s response to this is to call All Might to tell him Gran’s gone senile. He’s so empathetic Deku why aren’t you real? (no shade at Luke there,e I love him too. Just not as much).

“I don’t have time to mess around.” Deku did not come to play.

New costume! It’s incredible how much better it is than the old one. Like, not even funny how much better. Day-um, Deku. 

Pfh Gran knows exactly how to piss off Deku: Insult All Might. You clever little scoundrel.

So onto Deku’s character flaws: 1. He’s overly analytical. Deku doesn’t know how to act quickly, partially due to circumstance, but partially that’s just how he is. Hesitant. Over-cautious, over-thinks things. He needs to learn how to take action - and in this arc, he does indeed do so without hesitation, and saves Iida’s life by so-doing. Box 1 checked off.

2. Deku admires All Might too much. Like every MC in BNHA, his Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Tragedy (insert me telling you to read that essay again). It’s a problem because he doesn’t believe in himself. So he needs to learn not to imitate All Might and be his own hero. That one doesn’t really sink in until the PLE arc. But check.

3. Deku is insecure. He has a massive inferiority complex (which fits nicely into his foil’s inf-sup complex,  wouldn’t-cha-know) and doesn’t believe in himself. So he needs to learn to be more confident. (Is it wrong that I want this to end with him breaking through Instrumentality to a chorus of his friends saying ‘Congratulations’?)

Gran is my favorite Teacher, as a teacher, in BNHA. I’m a teaching-major, and I kinda aspire to his techniques. What I love the most is helping students figure it out themselves. Just telling someone the answer doesn’t help them. It’s so satisfying seeing a student make that breakthrough thanks to your guidance.

Now we’re cutting away to Iida’s internship to remind you Iida Wants Revenge. This is a little exposition-y, let’s cut somewhere else.

OK good, the villains! Right off the bat, we’ve got some great Parallels with the Heroes, as Tomura decides to basically Intern with a Pro-Villain. He even calls Stain a pro. Tho Tomura really needs to work on his recruitment strategy. “Stain join us. Cause.” “Bakugou. Join us. Cause”.

I want Deku and Tomura to build a grand Hero-Villain rivalry. Tomura basically hates him for no real reason right now, and I want there to be a good reason. Other than “He’s All Might’s successor”. I want them to be the Joker and Batman of BNHA with a real complex hero-villain rivalry, where one reflects the other. They’re getting there but I want more.

“Bloodlust without conviction is meaningless.” Ooh I love me some Stain. He really elevated this series’ philosophical side with his ramblings on heroism and villainy.

OK am I creeped out by the fact that All for One just said the same thing I did about learning? A little.

Deku is so brilliant and such a fast learner tho. It doesn’t take him long to put it all together. And Gran actually really admires him for that - I enjoy their mentor dynamic a lot, since Gran has some real respect for Midoriya in a different way from All Might.

Bakugou with Best Jeanist! OMG the comedy gold of this. Though I just want to take a sec to gripe about a change from the manga to the anime: Manga! Bakugou does not charge at Best Jeanist and yell at him. He’s not dumb enough to try that on the #4 Pro Hero and his teacher. He sits still and listens to Jeanist’s lecture. The only Bakugo line here that’s from the manga is “Didn’t you make an offer for me?” This completely changes the way we perceive Bakugo in this scene, and in general. Bad change.

 But in Good Storytelling-ville, I like the continuing parallels between the Wonder duo this creates: Izuku interns in a rundown neighborhood with an unlisted hero, Bakugo in Tokyo with a top pro. Izuku needs to learn to control his power and believe in himself. Katsuki needs to learn to be kinder and more humble. Izuku learns his lesson her, Katsuki doesn’t. Parallels!

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu again! 4th kind is ok. He’s probably the least memorable of the internship pros, since his gimmick is simple and his design kinda dull.

Uraraka and Gunhead! I love how well they get along. He’s kawaii and she’s a hardcore badass. Don’t you forget it!

Now for more of Momo’s arc. The Uwabami internship is usually dismissed by fans as Just Fanservice, but think about it in context, and it becomes really interesting. One, the Hero Killer arc is about Stain protesting the commercialization of heroism, so we do need to have a Pro-Hero demonstrate the problematic nature of that commercialism. Uwabami does just that. Two, we need to have Momo’s internship be unfulfilling to her, to complete her downward trajectory (before the Final Exam arc can bring her back up), so it’s useful for further embarrassing and developing her character. 3, it sets up Momo and Kendo’s future rivalry.

I’ll take more about it in future eps where it appears.

Izuku practicing and constantly hitting his face on the wall is one of those things that makes me wonder if either a) he has a secret endurance quirk or b) OFA just naturally ups your durability. How does he still have a face after that.

Here’s a hot take: Izuku with his face smashed up from spending a night with no sleep training in garbage all night is still prettier than any other guy in this series.

One of the reviewers I follow made the comparison between All Might vs Deku’s using of OFA and Korra vs Aang’s role as the Avatar. You know, All Might and Korra, both master the power pretty quickly so they get to be strong fast but lose out on the spiritual connection a bit, while Deku and Aang take their time learning ofa/the four elements, but get as a tradeoff more of the spirit-y side...(ATLA & BNHA. My 2 favorite shows, alongside FMA. I swear these are like, three sides of the same show).

While I’m watching in the Sub this time around, i wanted to note a dub-ism in this scene: it’s localized to ‘hot pastries’ instead of taiyaki. There’s a lot of bits like that, where they take Japanese food and translate it for us dumb Americans. But well, maybe that made sense in the 90s, when there maybe wasn’t as much cultural crossover, but...even I knew what mochi were before watching BNHA (Uraraka’s fave, and the dub always localizes it to ‘sweets’) and everyone has google if they’re confused so why not just say ‘Taiyaki?’ Ah well, it’s a stupid nitpick but still.

Gran’s metaphor here is so great. As a teacher I aspire to learn from this man. Teach me your teaching ways.

“THIS TAIYAKI IS ME!!!!!” Another dub-ism has him say “I’m not really a dessert” I saw a reactor once comment on this ‘Yeah, but you are a snacc, Deku.’ I wholeheartedly agree.

FULL COWLLLLLLL!!!!!!! FYEAH!!!!!

OK so there are a lot of reasons I love Full Cowl. it’s one of the series’ finest moments, emblematic of what makes it cool. And what makes Deku cool. He’s smart, and has to work his way around problems, and this solution was just...it was there, for us and Izuku the whole time, to finally sit up and take notice of. It’s about applying power in a different way. About taking what you can do and doing the best you can with what you’ve got. A big central theme for the series.  

Also dayum that slow pan up Deku’s entire body as he activates it...he just looks good in this arc. Actually, post-cavalry battle Deku in the sports festival arc always looks weird and odd (because he’s beat up and in pain, duh) and prior to that he was mainly just adorable...this arc, however, is his official transition into Best Boy for Reals. He’s just...swoony. and also really cool, smart, and all sorts of great fangirl-y things. 

We end on a confident Deku smile and Daiki’s adorable ‘hai.’ Basically, i really enjoy this episode. A little slow at the beginning, maybe. But that conclusion is amazing and so worth the payoff. It’s even got this amazing rhyme and rhythm to it, cutting back and forth between the different students and teachers and just having themes echo between each other like poetry. It love it.

To close off: ED4, AKA BEST ED EVER!!!! This is seriously, no sarcasm, best ED. So for those of you who don’t know, the story behind ED4 Datte Atashi no Hero is, 1: The Fantasy AU theme comes from the second popularity poll, which came out around Chapter 120/Episode 61 (yes, THAT one) and for which Horikoshi drew the top 10 in fantasy garb. 2: The Song was written by LiSa and was explicitly stated by her to be effectively about Izuku’s feelings towards Kacchan. I wrote a post analyzing it. It is, basically, the anthem for...

BKDK CORNER

“Loose…” Guess who the first person Deku thinks of to create Full Cowling is? If you sad Kacchan, ding-ding-ding!

On an analytical note, I think it’s very, very significant that the first real breakthrough Deku makes in handling his power comes by observing Kacchan and imitating him. This is one of my Top 20 Favorite BKDK moments, even though it’s completely indirect, because of how important that is in the long-run. But what about the Imitation theme? Why is it OK for Izuku to imitate Katsuki, but not All Might? Well, first of all, he does use Gran Torino’s moves as well, but mainly, I think the series is saying with this distinction that it’s OK to imitate someone if you see their flaws and acknowledge them, but if you hero-worship them and see them as perfect, you’re only going to screw yourself over.  This is why Iida imitating Ingenium, Shoto imitating his mom, Deku and Kacchan imitating All Might, and yes, Uraraka imitating Deku, are all so bad for them. If you see someone as perfect, and want to imitate them, you’ll never achieve that in your mind, because you already view yourself as imperfect. So Deku can imitate Katsuki because he thinks he’s a jerk, but also an amazing fighter, and Gran because he thinks he’s weird, but tough.

Also Deku just automatically thinking of Kacchan first is so damn shippy.

BEST GIRL OF THE EPISODE: Uwabami!

RANKER: Ranking the Internship Pros, least helpful to most.

10. Uwabami

9. Mt. Lady

8. 4th Kind

7. Endeavor

6. Death Arms

5. Manual

4. Selkie and Sirius (anime only)

3. Gunhead

2. Best Jeanist

1. Gran Torino! (Deku lucked out)

[biglifequestions-blog]

Big Life Questions

In 1991, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; an incurable autoimmune disease that would have killed me were it not for the discovery of a breakthrough treatment some 70 years earlier. Had my great grandmother—who lived to be an octogenarian with four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren—been diagnosed with the same condition, natural selection would have swiftly eliminated her and the potential for offspring as unceremoniously as it had thousands of others. By pure chance, my mother, uncle, cousins, brothers, and I would never have been born. Twelve unique progenies, gone; an entire branch of the family tree stunted and withered at the hands of a few faulty genes.

As luck or God or the Universe would have it, I was born at exactly the right moment in history to not only survive type 1 diabetes but thrive. And here I am today at age 29: a walking, talking, breathing, body with blood circulating and nerves firing, alive with not only conscious thoughts, but also feelings, opinions, beliefs, quirks, aptitudes, and proclivities. From this foundation, I’ve created a full and complicated life that includes accomplishments, hobbies, aspirations, and emotional connections to other walking, talking, breathing bodies. That I am even sitting here now in a 600-square-foot apartment in Philadelphia with a Chihuahua named Peanut napping sweetly in my lap, able to freely express myself through the typed English word using an online platform capable of sharing those words with millions of people around the globe, all while my loving husband cooks his take on vegan enchiladas in our tiny kitchen is nothing short of a holy-shit miracle.

I wish I could say that the mind-blowing awareness of my mere existence—never mind the trillions of complex, improbable events that coalesced to have me adopt a Chihuahua—has compelled me to live each of my 10,500+ days on this earth to their absolute fullest. I wish I could say the knowledge of my finite and delicate reality has inspired me to follow my passions, live authentically, and weather life’s storms with grace and fortitude all while dedicating my time and energy toward the betterment of society. Surely a life as precarious as my own would catalyze an ongoing quest to align mind, body, and spirit; to be a role model for overcoming adversity against all odds.

Alas, I am not quite so enlightened.

Last Saturday, for example, I spent the entire day in worn-out sweatpants eating buttered toast and playing Candy Crush on my iPad. Between waiting for more bread to toast, butter to melt, and lives to reload, I scrolled through the bottomless pit that is the /AmITheAsshole sub on Reddit, grappling with the complexity of human social norms while also getting my daily bump of “my life really isn’t so bad” by contrasting my comparatively insignificant problems to the drama of Internet strangers. By sunset, I had succeeded only in eating a half loaf of bread and irritating my husband by finishing off the butter and bringing crumbs into the bed. (AITA?)

I’m sure you’re wondering how I’m able to justify such a flagrant misuse of my time. While I don’t exactly know the answer to that question, I can hazard a guess it’s because I’ve collected enough insignia of a successful life—academic degrees, a wedding ring, my handsome husband, a Pinterest-inspired apartment, stamps in my passport—that the pressure to fill my days with meaningful, enlightened activities has lessened. So long as I continue showing up to work, paying taxes, saying “I love you,” and periodically posting #humblebrags on Twitter about some new promotion or my latest vacation, what does it matter if I occasionally splurge on procrastination and carbohydrates?

…right?

Until last year, I had only peripherally considered that there might be more to life than just achieving and owning things. From high school honors to senior job titles to a committed relationship, these milestones were my markers of success, happiness, and security. I craved them, worked for them, plotted how I would make them happen, and invested all my energy into proving to the world and myself that I was smart, hard-working, lovable, deserving; often to the detriment of my own physical, mental, financial, and spiritual health.

Moreover, I was actively encouraged to seek more of these achievements: to play an instrument in both orchestra and band, attend academic summer camps, double major in college, study abroad, work late, work weekends, work, work, work. I believed these tangible symbols would unlock the secrets to all the Big Intangibles: happiness, passion, fulfillment, security, joy, peace, gratitude, love. And when those fleeting moments of accomplishment came and went, and the Big Intangibles didn’t instantly manifest, I turned to my old, worn copy of the “Perfect Life Checklist” (which I wrote myself at the age of 10) and chose my next goal to appease the restlessness and disappointment in my heart.

And then, after years of sacrificing sleep and sanity to acquire these tangibles, it all came to a climax in May 2018: I had just graduated from a prestigious university with my master’s degree, was months away from marrying my soulmate, and had just been offered a dream job in a new city. Life was perfect or as perfect as I could have contrived. I awoke in my fiancé’s bed the morning after graduation expecting to feel elated, happy, fulfilled; or at the very least, well-rested and content. It was the first Tuesday in perhaps my entire life that I technically had nothing to do and I felt completely, inexplicably…. empty. 

Where was the happiness I was promised; the light at the end of the tunnel I built, brick by brick? I felt a sudden urge to laugh followed by the very real experience of tears. 

And then, in response to those tears, a harrowing, gut-wrenching, pass-me-the-wine-no-the-whole-bottle question materialized before me as if posed by some older, wiser, separate self: Who would you be without all these labels, titles, and accomplishments?

Who am I?

The answer that came was enough to make me want to dive under the covers and let the carbon dioxide build up around me.

Before I go any further, I want to recognize that despite living with a chronic illness, the problems and concerns I’m describing here are distinctly privileged-people-problems. I understand and appreciate that my ability to grapple with questions about my identity and personal fulfillment are luxuries only possible because of that privilege. I don’t have to worry about basic necessities like where I’m sleeping tonight or from where my next meal will come. I don’t wake up worrying about whether I might get arrested, mugged, shot at, or bombed if I walk out my front door or if I might be persecuted for my skin color, openly practicing my religion, or loving who I love. That I even have health insurance to afford the medication that keeps me alive is a blessing that I am keenly aware not everyone with my disease has.

Yet it’s precisely this knowledge—that other people who were born into different circumstances must work a hundred times harder and maybe not ever get to the point I find myself at now—that makes answering these Big Life Questions even more important. With all my privilege and so few barriers standing in the way of me living a magnificent, inspirational, blessed life of service and passion, why am I not making every day, hour, and minute count?

I pondered that question again a few months ago when I was asked to give a presentation at an all-employee meeting for work. “All-employee” meaning, of course, the entire company; hundreds of people in-person and remote gathered in one moment to critically judge my outfit, throat-clearing tic, and the way I pronounce “gala”—or at least, that’s what it felt like. A naturally nervous public speaker, I practiced obsessively to minimize the risk of forgetting my own name and spent copious time working through every worst-case scenario. In the shower, on the train, before bed, in my dreams; I worried and rehearsed that speech so many times that my ultimate irrational fear of a light fixture falling from the ceiling and concussing me mid-word could have come to fruition and my lips would have continued mouthing statistics while my hands, of their own accord, gesticulated to slide 5 bullet point 2 at the 20-minute mark exactly as rehearsed.

This exercise was, like many of my endeavors, not borne out of passion and commitment to a good cause, but a calculated attempt to take on another “professional development opportunity” in the hopes that it would indirectly increase the likelihood of my future happiness by one, maybe two, percent. Because more responsibility at work = more money = more success, stability, and therefore infinite happiness, right? The irony of all this calculation is that an activity I expected to yield happiness had the unintended consequences of increasing my stress levels by 1000 percent and costing valuable time with my friends and family. 

And tell me, what exactly is the point of investing all this energy and being so completely exhausted if there’s no greater good, higher purpose, or feeling happy and inspired before, during, and after? What’s the point of tackling any endeavor if it’s only going to lead to a buttered toast/social media binge to cover the feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction?

Until now, I’ve asked but not fully grappled with these Big Life Questions. But I want to. I want to wrestle and spar, analyze and critique until awareness turns into action and potentially transformation. In my short life I’ve had the opportunity to answer some medium life questions whose answers led to amazing, unexpected changes. Questions like, “What more do you have to lose?”, “Would you be willing to relocate?” and “Will you marry me?” I’ve answered and then watched life shift miraculously to accommodate my new conceptualization of what’s possible. And now, I feel myself standing at the edge of another new conceptualization with an ever-present awareness of my own potential, mortality, limitations, limitlessness, and connection to the rest of humanity. 

This blog is a chronicle of my attempts to answer and act on life’s biggest questions, including, but not limited to:

Who am I?

What is my greater purpose in life?

How can I find joy in the mundane?

How can I make the most of every day?

How can I be kinder to myself in deed and thought?

How can I honor and love my body?

How can I love unconditionally?

How can I forgive myself and others?

How can I overcome my fears?

How can I have more faith?

How can I live in the present moment more often?

How can I align my career and work with my passions and higher purpose?

How can I be of service to others?

If you decide to follow along, I hope my words can provide some perspective on how to begin answering your own BLQ’s, even if what I’m describing is a case study in what not to do. Consider what follows to be a record of hard lessons learned, a magnifying glass for bad habits, an arena for confronting fears and traumas, a whiteboard for exploring crazy ideas, and with a little luck and determination, a launching pad into the magnificent, inspirational, blessed life of service and passion I hope to live.

[son-of-alderaan]

From one controversy to another, we move on to Star Wars — the 50 Shades to the Marquis de Sade of Mother!. The reboot orchestrated by Abrams has had its fair share of detractors, with keyboard warriors furious that the galaxy far, far away isn’t entirely run by middle-aged white men.

Is Gleeson aware of the controversy? “Look, that f******...” he begins, before calming himself a bit. “Having a problem with a female lead or a diverse cast? That doesn’t even cross my mind as being an issue, because if that’s a problem for you, then your opinion doesn’t matter to me. If you’ve paid the money, you’ve bought the right to an opinion. But, also, movies have to change.”

Has there been any attempt on the third Star Wars film to appease the issues a certain section of the fan base had? “Well, this is where my eagerness not to cause waves probably perks up, but I’ve not been aware of any corrective measures. It just feels like the third part of a trilogy.”

Domhnall Gleeson used to think he would be dead by the time he was 30, so the fact that he’s speaking to me at all is great. The actor is 35. Seriously, though, why did he think he would be done with this earth by now? “Argh, some stupid thing,” he says in a high-pitched voice. “Maybe I had a dream? But, past my 30th, I was, like, ‘What is going on?’” He pauses to take it all in. The bar. His glass of water. The soft lighting. Every moment precious. “It was odd,” he says quietly, seriously. “But it definitely gave me a weird drive to get things done.”

He must be exhausted. Just a glance at his CV reveals a restless actor in the rush of a career that’s busier and more varied than most. In the five years since his breakthrough lead in About Time, a temporarily diverting Richard Curtis romcom, Gleeson has been directed by Angelina Jolie, Alejandro Iñarritu and Darren Aronofsky, has starred in two Star Wars films and has coaxed the best performance out of Tom Cruise for more than a decade in the irrepressible American Made. He has the randomness of an actor desperate for any old part, except that these are big films and he is good in all of them. No wonder he is wired when we meet. He’s a man on 23 jobs at once, who has no idea which part he is playing next.

What is next, though, is The Little Stranger, Lenny Abrahamson’s classy take on Sarah Waters’s gothic novel. The book is about Dr Faraday (Gleeson), born into a low class, but obsessed with a nearby manor house and the woman who runs it, Caroline (Ruth Wilson). The rich family are selling land to build council houses; miseries are many and awkwardness is rife. Gleeson and Wilson are both terrific in largely tacit roles. And, though the film is being sold as a ghost story, it really isn’t one. Rather, it is about society and need, and how you die in the class you were born in.

Gleeson — whose first name is pronounced “Doe-nal” and who is the son of the excellent character actor Brendan, not to forget a welfare-officer mother, Mary — is erratic company. He’s friendly and funny, telling me how he spends his days (watching George Harrison documentaries) while laughing so loudly and squeakily, it sounds like a cave of bats being gassed. But there is also, always, a barrier. This is in part because he has the hair and make-up of the villainous General Hux in Star Wars, which he had been filming earlier that day. It makes him look like an oppressive sheet. But mostly the wall is there because he hates talking about his life or opinions and just seems unflaggingly professional. Exactly the sort of actor directors adore.

“He’s an utter joy to work with,” gushed JJ Abrams, who directed Gleeson’s first Star Wars, The Force Awakens, and is back for the third in the trilogy. “I love him,” said Jolie, who cast him for the Second World War survivalist epic Unbroken.

I tell him the clippings just portray him as someone who is nice. He smiles, of course. “Having an edge is not something I aspire to,” he says, unflustered. “But I’ve done roles that definitely explored parts of myself that are more than just being a nice fella. I’d rather do it that way, via work, than go out and slate people.”

So he doesn’t want to be contentious? “I would care if I hurt someone,” he says. “And I’m aware my opinions change. I don’t see the point. I’ve plenty of negativity in my life. Plenty of negative emotions. But I’d rather just go there in my work.”

I mention that I emailed Waters before meeting him to ask what she thought about his casting as Faraday, given that neither his CV nor his interviews are exactly littered with hints that he could play a frigid weirdo like the doctor she wrote.

“When I heard Domhnall had been cast as Dr Faraday, I thought, ‘OK, that’s interesting,’” Waters wrote. “In the films I’d seen him in, he plays youthful, endearing characters, and the Dr Faraday of the novel is a bit older and not madly likeable.” Gleeson nods as he hears this. At first, he had been sent the script for a different character. “I understood I wasn’t the obvious choice, because I wasn’t the obvious choice to Lenny.”

Once you have seen the film, it’s hard to think who else could have done it as well as he does — and his casting is testament to the fact that directors are finding it increasingly hard to imagine a role Gleeson can’t play. (He’d make a great Neil Kinnock.) In American Made, he is cocky and outrageous. In The Little Stranger, he is terrified and quiet. And, yes, it’s acting. Chameleon talent is the entire point. Gleeson is just better at it than most.

Faraday’s a mess, isn’t he? “He’s not well, you know?” Gleeson says with some sympathy. “He suffers from an emptiness that can never be filled, because it’s a desire to be something he cannot be, which is of a different class. There’s just so much bitterness, and lust and anger against women. All those things add up to a man unable to connect. Lenny said, ‘If you carry something explosive, you walk carefully.’ And I think Faraday has this. Part of him understands that he has this facility for violence, maybe.”

He is, I offer, a bit “incel”. Gleeson looks blank, so I fill him in. It stands for “involuntary celibate” and is the creation of a group that came to light in April in Toronto, when a man drove his car into women because he believed they owed him sex. “That’s interesting,” Gleeson says carefully. “It’s what a lot of film noir is about, wondering where a man’s place is. With Faraday, it’s more complicated, and the power thing is different, as Caroline is a woman, but she’s from a class he aspires to. I think he’s lonely. I loved him. I connected to him while we were doing it.”

Gleeson was born in 1983 and started acting in his late teens. He still lives in Dublin, like his family. His dad’s mainstream fame came late, so it wasn’t an acting family as such. He is hardly Scott Eastwood to Clint, so he had to earn his success. He was helped by the playwright Martin McDonagh, who cast him in The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway at 23: a role that gave the actor a Tony nomination. Yet despite all this, Gleeson remains very, well, normal. His conversation, for instance, is about living in a messy flat, or Deliveroo, or his grandparents’ Catholicism and his fears about his lack of faith. “I don’t believe in anything afterwards,” he says. “Wish I did.”

In the absence of the comfort of religion, Gleeson listens to advice from his grandmother. “She used to say, ‘If you’re going to make some-thing, make something beautiful.’ If you try to put some good out in the world through your actions, that’s how you live on.”

Why then, I wonder, did he make Mother!, the Darren Aronofsky film that includes a dismembered baby? Gleeson played a man who fights his own brother. Did he read the whole script? “I did.” Even the baby bit? “It will be excessive and offensive to some people, but, for me, it’s not,” he says. “I thought it was an angry film about something that deserved to be angry about.” He has seen the film twice.

From one controversy to another, we move on to Star Wars — the 50 Shades to the Marquis de Sade of Mother!. The reboot orchestrated by Abrams has had its fair share of detractors, with keyboard warriors furious that the galaxy far, far away isn’t entirely run by middle-aged white men.

Is Gleeson aware of the controversy? “Look, that f******...” he begins, before calming himself a bit. “Having a problem with a female lead or a diverse cast? That doesn’t even cross my mind as being an issue, because if that’s a problem for you, then your opinion doesn’t matter to me. If you’ve paid the money, you’ve bought the right to an opinion. But, also, movies have to change.”

Has there been any attempt on the third Star Wars film to appease the issues a certain section of the fan base had? “Well, this is where my eagerness not to cause waves probably perks up, but I’ve not been aware of any corrective measures. It just feels like the third part of a trilogy.”

The first time Gleeson felt that he belonged as an actor was during his time on Anna Karenina, Joe Wright’s 2012 theatrical film version of the Tolstoy novel. Before that, during auditions or on film sets, he had felt out of place, but Wright wanted his cast to get to know each other, so planned umpteen rehearsals and bonding sessions. “Tom Stoppard was doing yoga with us. It was mad.”

Surely, though, thanks to Star Wars and working with Cruise, he is up there now? He pauses. “There is still something to be got over, and it’s less to do with the fact they’re stars. The power differential is not based on position in the industry, but hours of me watching them, as opposed to them possibly not having seen me in anything.”

That awe happened when he met Leonardo DiCaprio on The Revenant. Surely it’s happened to others meeting him, too? “A couple of people,” he says. What did they say? “They said very nice things.”

[sexydeathparty]

20 Celebrities Who Starred In Cringeworthy TV Adverts Long Before They Made It Big

When you reach the A-list, it’s a rite of passage that big-name brands will come knocking, with countless celebs appearing in ads for high fashion labels, expensive cars and other luxury products.

But what you might not realise is just how many household names got their start in the entertainment industry by appearing in ads.

From washing powder, crisps and breakfast cereal to fizzy drinks and even haemorrhoid cream, here are 20 ads you didn’t realise starred some of your favourite stars before they made it big…

David Tennant

Year: 2002

What’s he flogging? Boots (the chemist, not the footwear)

Just a couple of years before landing his breakthrough role in Doctor Who, David Tennant was playing an aloof boyfriend in a string of Christmas ads for Boots. As a teenager, he also appeared in an anti-smoking PSA that was shown on TV across Scotland.

Cheryl Tweedy

Year: 1990

What’s she flogging? British Gas

The future Girls Aloud star was just seven years old when she and her brother Garry were selected to appear in this ad for British Gas.

Olivia Colman

Year: 2004

What’s she flogging? The AA

It felt like this somewhat grating advert – also featuring Grange Hill’s Mark Burdis – was absolutely everywhere in the early 2000s. What we’d never have expected was that the woman annoying us with those repetitive calls of “Bev!” and “Kev!” would one day be an Oscar winner and all-round national treasure. In other words, there’s still time for the Go Compare man.

Courteney Cox

Year: 1985

What’s she flogging? Tampax

Long before the world knew her as Monica from Friends, Courteney Cox was “telling it to us straight” in this ad for Tampax tampons. She’s also credited as being the first person to say the word “period” on American TV thanks to this commercial.

James Corden

Year: 1998

What’s he flogging? Orange Tango

This – it has to be said, extremely stressful – advert was actually banned after two weeks on the air over claims it encouraged bullying. Two years later, James would land his all-important role in Fat Friends, where he’d meet future Gavin & Stacey co-writer Ruth Jones (as well as co-stars Alison Steadman and Sheridan Smith).

Dua Lipa

Year: 2013

What’s she flogging? The X Factor

Having just turned 18 years old, then-aspiring singer Dua Lipa was called on to play an auditionee for Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne in a teaser clip for The X Factor. It would be a few years before the singer would eventually top the UK charts – without the aid of a singing contest.

Holly Willoughby

Year: 1998

What’s she flogging? Pretty Polly bras

Holly was one of several models chosen to appear in this very racy campaign for Pretty Polly in the late 1990s. Her next job would be presenting kids’ TV on CITV, before the likes of Dancing On Ice, Celebrity Juice and, of course, This Morning came her way.

Chris O’Dowd

Year: 2002

What’s he flogging? Daz washing detergent

You might remember Daz’s ongoing Cleaner Close ad campaign, which centred around a fictional soap, but what you might not realise is that Bridesmaids star Chris O’Dowd was at the centre of the first few instalments. Later ads included Alison King, who would go on to achieve success in Coronation Street.

Octavia Spencer

Year: 2003

What’s she flogging? Subway

Putting her eventual Oscar-winning skills to good use in this sandwich advert, Octavia can be seen in action as a “lunch lady” in an extremely humdrum school cafeteria.

Jennifer Lawrence

Year: 2005

What’s she flogging? MTV’s My Super Sweet 16

J-Law actually gave this ad a shout-out when she won a Screen Actors’ Guild Award in 2010. “I earned my SAG card when I was 14,” she told her fellow celebs in attendance.

“I did an MTV promo for My Super Sweet 16. And I remember getting it in the mail and it being the best day of my entire life, because it officially made me a professional actor.”

Jordan Peele

Year: 1995

What’s the ad? An anti-tobacco PSA

Anyone who’s seen Jordan Peele’s horror films knows he loves a good societal parable – and in the 90s, his cause celebre was apparently the tobacco industry. He appeared in this PSA when he was 16 years old, at one point sitting backwards in his chair to let us know he was truly no square.

Kate Winslet

Year: 1986

What’s she flogging? Sugar Puffs

Kate Winslet was proving her acting versatility even as a child actor in this deeply unsettling Sugar Puffs ad, that saw her transforming from an innocent 11-year-old into the (terrifying) Honey Monster.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Year: 1988

What’s he flogging? Bubble Yum gum

Truly a masterclass in late 1980s visuals, this fast-paced ad sees a teenage Leo popping on some gum before “blasting” some tunes on his “boombox”.

Ross Kemp

Year: 1990

What’s he flogging? Kelloggs’ Fruit ‘n’ Fibre

Not only did Ross Kemp don his best golfing gear when he starred in this cereal advert in the early 90s, he also served us an actual musical number. Who knew Grant Mitchell had it in him, eh?

Danny Dyer

Year: 1994

What’s he flogging? Coca Cola

And speaking of EastEnders “hard men” and ads, here’s Danny Dyer trying to sell us all Coca Cola. It’s comforting to know that even if he does look 25 years younger, Danny Dyer’s unmistakable voice has always been exactly the same.

Gillian Taylforth

Year: 1983

What’s she flogging? Rennie heartburn tablets

While we’re raiding the EastEnders vault, who’s ready for a very glamorous pre-Kathy Beale Gillian Taylforth downing some Rennies so she can enjoy the last night of her holiday romance?

Bryan Cranston

Year: Early 1980s

What’s he flogging? Preparation H haemorrhoid cream

Meanwhile, across the pond at around the same time as Gillian Taylforth and her Rennies, future four-time Emmy-winning star Bryan Cranston was telling America all about the bonuses of Preparation H.

Brad Pitt

Year: 1988

What’s he flogging? Pringles

If ever you needed proof that Brad Pitt has always been a dreamboat, check out this sun-soaked Pringles ad from the 80s. 

Aidan Turner

Year: 2004

What’s he flogging? Fruice

Similarly, here’s Aidan Turner getting his kit off to help flog the imaginatively-named fruit juice Fruice.

Morgan Freeman

Year: 1973

What’s he flogging? Listerine

The man whose credits would include playing Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and, oh yeah, God, also portrayed a construction worker in this Listerine ad. Also – that’s an interesting approach to advertising from the mouthwash brand, boasting “the taste that people hate”.

READ MORE:

16 Celebrities Who Appeared In Game Shows Long Before Finding Fame

12 TV Shows From The 90s You'd Almost Forgotten About

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[frustratedcastingdirector]

Mark Ruffalo plays complex characters who stir things up on-screen, and his ability to do it--and do it well--is heating up his career  'I'm Like a Catalyst'

Newsweek - August 10, 2004

Author/Byline: Jennifer Barrett Ozols

Mark Ruffalo is making up for lost time. Four years ago--after more than a decade of bit parts and low-paying theatrical roles--Ruffalo finally had a breakthrough, playing Terry Prescott, a wayward drifter who comes home to stay with his straight-laced sister in "You Can Count on Me." The movie earned two Academy Award nominations and Ruffalo was hailed as a rising star. But just as things seemed to be looking up for him--with scripts piling up on his doorstep and he and his new wife, actress Sunrise Coigney, celebrating the birth of their son--Ruffalo was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The surgery and slow recovery left him out of commission for nearly a year. When he re-embarked on his film career, he did so with a vengeance. In the past two years, Ruffalo, now 36, has been in seven major movies, in roles ranging from a mustachioed, tough-talking homicide detective in "In the Cut" to an endearing boy-next-door type in "13 Going on 30." This weekend, he'll be appearing in two movies simultaneously. In Michael Mann's "Collateral," which shot to number one in the Box Office when it opened last weekend, he stars as a police detective trying to chase down Tom Cruise, who plays a contract killer. In John Curran's "We Don't Live Here Anymore," which opens Friday, he plays an unfaithful husband struggling to determine if his marriage is worth saving. NEWSWEEK's Jennifer Barrett Ozols spoke with Ruffalo at his hotel suite in New York about his unusual career path and where it might take him next. Excerpts: NEWSWEEK: I understand you were the first lead to sign on to "We Don't Live Here Anymore." What drew you to the role? Mark Ruffalo: I read the material and I thought, wow, this is difficult; and I was very impressed by the writing. I hadn't seen such an honest portrayal of marriage. But I was really reticent to take it on actually because it was such difficult material and I thought it needed a really special director to handle it--someone who really knew this sort of world well and respected relationships and had a strong, mature vision. And I couldn't really think of anybody who would be able to do it.

Ooh. That's not saying much for Hollywood directors.

[ laughs ] Well, I mean, I thought that they're just not making this type of movie--at least, not here [in America]. But then I saw John [Curran's] movie, "Praise," and I thought, this guy is really something else. And we met and I saw how much passion he had about the material and his point of view about it and I just immediately jumped on board.

You said earlier you don't usually see marriage portrayed this honestly. Isn't that a little cynical? Your character cheats on his spouse with his best friend's wife.

It's just that anyone who has been in a long relationship has come up against difficult situations and I just thought you don't see that in cinema, or anywhere in pop culture, where it's quite this honest. It's obviously a marriage in crisis, but these people have been together for 10 years. He'd never cheated on her [before] in that time and they had children happily and were married happily. It's something of a cautionary tale about where marriage can end up if you're not communicating and you're not taking care of your dreams and the other person's aspirations. We are sort of spoon-fed this sort of idyllic--or just totally criminalized--idea of marriage. We rarely get to see something so honestly portrayed in a way that makes us appreciate the marriages we have. Or, even for people who aren't married, to sort of understand the difficulties of it and how important the mantel, the tradition, that you have been passed is. It comes from my deep respect of marriage that I wanted to do this film.

Do you know people who are in this situation? Have you met people like your character, Jack?

Well, in the past few years, I've had friends who have been married for 15 or 20 years, or less--and, three couples in particular have all sort of blown up. And they all have kids and I loved all of them dearly, and they are all right and they are all wrong. When you see the statistics, 50 percent of marriages are ending in divorce. And something like 75 percent of men will cheat--or have cheated--on their wives.

Really? That's comforting to hear as someone who just got married a month ago.

Well, 45 percent of woman will cheat--or have cheated--on their husbands.... [Adultery] is just topical, it's something that's going on around us. Marriage is such a big institution. It's really part of our culture in a big way. It's even connected to the American Dream.

The wife, the kids, the white picket fence.

Yeah, and it isn't really like that. It takes work. There's a lot of beautiful, joyous moments, but the great thing about marriage is that it is a really fertile place for people to grow. The only way to grow is by exposing yourself and your foibles, and it just happens naturally. Unfortunately, the people that you love get to see not always the best version of you. But by sort of exposing some of those things to the light of day, you have some growth. That's what I hope anyway. [ laughs ]

I think that's what we all hope when we get married.

But it's hard to keep it up. Or they just stop telling the truth or stop communicating. I mean you have to say things to somebody that you never wanted to say to another human being about desires and other things. But once you say it, it's freeing. It's amazing. And you remember why you fell in love. I think that's where Jack ends up towards the end of the movie. He's unconscious and then it all comes out. His whole life unfolds, and he says, this is my life, this is where I belong.

You've said in the past that you dread being compared to the characters you play sometimes. Have you had a hard time trying to keep from being stereotyped as the character you played in "You Can Count on Me"?

Yeah, I keep looking to break it up and keep the balls in the air, so to speak, before someone pegs me, pigeonholes me, boxes me up and puts a nice label on me, sells me to the mass public. [ laughs ]

You've got the whole industry figured out.

I loathe that though, I loathe it. I loathe the idea of somebody somehow putting boundaries on me as an artist. It just angers me. If I had to play Terry Prescott [from "You Can Count On Me"] in every part that I did, I would become cynical and bored and I'd have a really horrible personal life and do really outrageous things in public.

Because you're trying to show your creativity somewhere else? As in, if you can't do this on screen, might as well do it in public?

I think that's what people end up doing. But for me, I live a really bourgeois life and I live things out on screen.

That's much safer.

Exactly, it's like role playing.

Are there many roles you've turned down because they didn't feel right for you?

Yeah, the roles just have to speak to me in some way. I have to be turned onto it or be intrigued or challenged by the material. Or think it'd be fun to do. I've turned quite a few down--some big stuff, some small stuff.

Have you ever regretted it?

No, never. You can never be hurt by what you didn't do.

But when you were diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago, you were just breaking out in the business, and then you were out of commission there for about a year after the surgery. How did that change your perspective on you life and career?

It made me live more fully; though you're always afraid you're going to forget that experience. But it made me want to live more authentically and appreciate what I have-- my very, very good fortune to be doing what I do. And it made me a little less fearless about my acting and what I am capable of.

Did you feel like fear was holding you back in your career before?

Not so much, but it was constant worry about each part. How is this going to add up in my career? Will this movie do all right? And all these career questions. And now I'm just like, screw that. I don't care. I'm going to do some things that aren't very good. I'm going to do some things that are well liked. Some things that are more provocative. And come what may. As long as the work is good and the material I choose means something to me, I don't think I can go wrong.

You said you started living more authentically too. What do you mean by that--what changes did you make?

Just in my personal dealings, my relationships and not being afraid of saying how I feel or what I want, being true to myself. It's being able to look down into myself and know what I want and being able to state that. That's something I didn't really know very much about before.

That's a pretty powerful thing to be able to do. Some people never do that.

I think what happens is you start that way and then you get it knocked out of you. Like I see my kid and there's no doubt about what he's feeling. There's no sugarcoating or doing something for social reasons. He doesn't care about being accepted, or looking cool. And it is really refreshing to see that.

How old is your son?

He's three.

Just wait.

No, I know. I think part of the game is that to survive you have to be conditioned that way. It's sad.

What role has been the most difficult for you?

"In the Cut" was really hard to do. It was so different from me and it was just kind of challenging and scary. Michael Mann's 'Collateral' was difficult. He is so intense and he's the kind of director where you're going to have an experience with it when you're working with him.

In "Collateral," you play a good guy going after Tom Cruise, who--for once--plays a really bad guy. How was that?

Well, my guy--you think he might be a bad guy. Then you realize he is actually the good guy and Tom Cruise is the bad guy. Initially you think Tom Cruise could be a nice guy.

That's a real role reversal.

Yeah, it was cool to be part of something that's sort of historic.

Historic, huh?

It is-- a little. Tom's never done anything like that. And, "In the Cut" had that same kind of thing too [with Meg Ryan]. When an actor is going to do something they've never done before, they bring in Mark Ruffalo to co star. [ laughs ]

You know, that's not a bad niche to have.

It's a great niche.

You'll never be bored.

I'm like a catalyst.

What are you doing next? I understand you're in a new movie that looks at the young lovers from "The Graduate" after they've grown up.

Actually, it's nothing like "The Graduate," it's just starting off there. I play Jennifer Aniston's fiance--very nice, staid, straight-laced lawyer. As nice as he can be as a lawyer. It's a sweet movie. And I think I'm going to be doing "All the King's Men" with Sean Penn. I'm really excited about that. He's one of my heroes. He's amazing.

Is there anything you really want to do that you haven't had a chance to do yet?

I'm trying to direct a film that I've been putting together since 1999. It's called "Running with Delicious." You know, like "Running with the Devil"?

Right, I get it. It's just an unusual title.

[pause] It's not a porno! [ laughs ]

What's it about?

It's kind of a satire on pop culture. And it's slowly coming together, it's been lurching into existence. I'd like to do more of that, directing.

[junker-town]

Has Cam Newton played his last game for the Panthers?

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images

Newton went on injured reserve and has no guaranteed money remaining on his contract.

Cam Newton won’t be returning to the Panthers’ lineup anytime soon, if ever. Carolina put its starting quarterback on injured reserve in advance of a Week 10 showdown with the Packers, ending his 2019 regular season after only two games due to a foot injury.

That decision puts a middling franchise at a crossroad. Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP, has only one year and no guaranteed money remaining on his contract. His replacement, former undrafted free agent Kyle Allen, won his first four games as a starter in his stead. Allen has since hit a rough patch and has the Panthers on a four-game skid. Now coach Ron Rivera has been fired and any hopes for the postseason are shot.

All that turmoil makes moving on from Newton via trade an interesting possibility. It would likely bring some draft assets back in return while saving the team more than $19 million in salary cap space in 2020.

A Newton trade or release seemed unheard of four years ago when the dual-threat passer rallied his team to a 15-1 regular season record and a victory in the NFC Championship. His Panthers have stagnated since then; he’s an even 23-23 as a starter in the three-plus years since.

In that span, they’ve missed the postseason twice — a third miss is on the way — and gotten a new owner who may be looking to make a splash. David Tepper bought the franchise from a scandal-embroiled Jerry Richardson after a wildly successful finance career based predicated on bold moves. He already moved on from Rivera and could make another such deal by swapping out his starting QB.

So what are the odds Carolina moves on from its all-time passing leader?

Christian D’Andrea: 50 percent (was 20 percent before Rivera’s firing)

There’s some logic to moving on from a former MVP who is only 30 years old. Newton’s breakthrough 2015 looks more like an oasis in a desert of mediocrity the further it gets in the rear view mirror. In the 3.5 years since, he’s completed less than 60 percent of his passes, thrown 44 interceptions in 46 starts, and averaged only 6.9 yards per attempt. Of the 42 quarterbacks who’ve thrown at least 500 passes in that span, Newton’s 82.6 passer rating ranks 33rd — just beneath Joe Flacco and Josh McCown but just ahead of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Blake Bortles.

These are all numbers that likely make a man with an analytical background like Tepper’s very uneasy. With Rivera gone, there’s reason to believe firing a head coach but not cleaning house would be a half measure where a full one is needed. There’s a not-insignificant chance Newton wears a color other than teal for the first time in his NFL career come 2020.

That might be a rash decision whose risks outweigh its potential rewards. Newton’s top gear puts him on a completely different plane than those guys. While it may be panning for fool’s gold to hope he’ll ever be the same player he was — especially as nagging injuries have conspired to sap a little bit more of his strength every year — he still brings plenty to the table.

Newton’s 2020 cap number is a relatively affordable $21.1 million. Combine that with the paltry six-figure/low seven-figure number Allen will receive as an exclusive rights restricted free agent, and you’ve got a QB rotation that would likely cost the Panthers less than the Jaguars will pay Nick Foles next fall.

That’s a fair price to keep a reliable QB tandem in town, and few teams understand the value of a useable backup more than the Panthers right now. If Newton doesn’t work out, he can leave in free agency the following year without Carolina owing him anything. If he does — and the team still believes in Allen as its future — the club could still move him before the trade deadline to a needy team with postseason aspirations and a shaky passing offense.

There isn’t much incentive to release Newton. Trading him while his value may never have been lower isn’t likely to bring the kind of return for which the Panthers would hope. If some team — i.e. the Bears — bowls Carolina over with an offer, Newton could be gone. Otherwise there’s little risk involved with keeping Newton around and seeing what he can do after a full year of rehab.

James Dator: 45 percent

Never, ever underestimate the possibility of the Panthers doing something monumentally stupid — and make no mistake, moving on from Newton would be colossally idiotic. Newton is the first and only true, franchise quarterback the team has ever had, and it took them almost 20 years to draft him.

That said, there are salary cap and coaching issues at play too. Now that the Panthers decided to part ways with Rivera (and likely general manager Marty Hurney by extension), there is a plausible scenario where a new leadership team wants “their guy” to be the quarterback moving forward. Newton will eat up a sizable chunk of the team’s cap space next season, and it might seem prudent on paper to free up that money and get some draft picks in exchange.

Should this happen then the Panthers deserve the next decade of mediocrity. The team’s defense and Christian McCaffrey are good enough that they won’t see a top-five pick anytime soon, so they’ll limp along to a series of 6-10 and 7-9 seasons with Kyle Allen or whomever at the helm until someone finally gets fed up and lets the team tank.

On a personal level, moving on from Newton is just gross. The front office retained their jobs on his back for the last eight years, floundering to give their franchise QB decent receivers or an offensive line of note. He still went on to take them to a Super Bowl and become the best passer in team history despite every card in the beck being stacked against him. Newton never threw the organization under the bus, even when they deserved it. Turnabout is fair play and they deserve to stick with him now.

But football is a cruel, harsh business sometimes run by total idiots who can’t see the forest for the trees — so a scenario absolutely exists where he’s gone by the draft. If Newton is traded to another team they deserve to kick the crap out of Carolina every year until Newton eventually retires.

What does this mean for the Panthers going forward?

D’Andrea: Two questions for you, James.

What do you think Tepper’s presence means to the franchise and how much he’s ready to take the wheel after leaving things relatively stable in his first year as owner?

What you think the Panthers would do with the extra cash/assets the team would glean from moving on from Newton?

Dator: Tepper was resolutely behind Newton when he took over as owner, largely taking the approach that he would support whatever his football staff believed was the right. It’s still early to put a pin on what Tepper really believes in as owner, however. This is still the honeymoon phase, and there’s no doubt he’s monitoring how fans are reacting to Newton being hurt.

In terms of what the team would do with potential assets — that really depends on who the GM is. There’s a scenario where I can envision them finally building from the inside out and shoring up their offensive line before trying to find a quarterback, but fans are also growing weary of mediocrity. If the Panthers decide to part ways with Newton they better have an answer, and fast.

Remember when the Chargers let Drew Brees go to New Orleans? That didn’t sting very much because Philip Rivers is excellent. If that same scenario plays out and the Panthers don’t have a Rivers-like QB to insert then there are no depths of how upset fans will be. The big problem: The team is winning right now.

Some questions for you, since you don’t have a vested interest as a fan.

Is there a scenario you see where the Panthers can compete in the next five years without Newton?

Looking ahead to the draft: Is there any way the Panthers could conceivably find another franchise QB quickly?

D’Andrea: I think the Panthers could be a couple of impact defensive players away from being able to succeed with a caretaker QB. Hell, they hit the midway point of the season 5-3 with Allen playing roughly as well as late-stage Andy Dalton. McCaffrey’s cheat code abilities out of the backfield should boost any quarterback, and adding another few difference makers to the core of Luke Kuechly, Brian Burns, Donte Jackson, Kawann Short, and a potentially re-signed Mario Addison could mire opponents long enough for an average QB to squeak out a series of wins. The last two guys on that list are starting to get old, though — so Carolina would have to make that move soon.

Finding another franchise quarterback, especially without a top-10 pick, will be tough but not impossible. In recent years we’ve seen players like Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Teddy Bridgewater, Jacoby Brissett, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, Russell Wilson, and Nick Foles fall to the back end of the first round or deeper. The Panthers could also take a chance on a rehabilitation project on the free agent market like Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, if they want to swing hard in 2020. Neither path is ideal. I like the draft idea far more than trying to break a middling QB’s bad habits, especially when you consider the contract costs involved, but Carolina has options.

The Panthers started 5-1 without Newton in the lineup in 2019 and jumped into the thick of the NFC playoff race behind Allen, stout defense, and McCaffrey’s MVP-like performance. That fell apart, though. Now the team is a rudderless, sinking ship that’ll be eliminated from playoff contention soon.

Rivera’s team could wind up stuck in the league’s middle class as 2019 winds to a close; not good enough for the postseason but not ready to rebuild either. That’ll push some serious questions about this team’s future to the forefront of its offseason planning. All things considered, it makes sense for Newton to play out his contract in Charlotte — but asking the Panthers to make the logical choice isn’t always a safe bet.

[strike-back-now-info]

This is one of the best speeches I ever heard  He spoke for America 1st which is all Americans you want to watch this video only 38 minutes long but it's good.

This is one of the best speeches I ever heard  He spoke for America 1st which is all Americans you want to watch this video only 38 minutes long but it's good.

 WATCH LIVE: Trump addresses the 2019 United Nations General Assembly

 https://youtu.be/eICiLRykTFg

  September 25, 2019

The speech they're trying to hide: President Trump's stellar UN speech

By Monica Showalter

Seems the mainstream media are desperate to keep President Trump's stellar United Nations speech out of the news.

On Tuesday, Trump delivered a far from throwaway speech articulating the vision of the voters who elected him, speaking of nationalism, globalism, and socialism, along with an added rundown of problem nations to condemn and props for others. 

RealClearPolitics has a video and transcript.

For starters, it was a zero apologies for America speech, which was a breath of fresh air, given the previous administration.

He drove a fine definition of nationalism in the American sense, not other countries, as a positive thing that benefits not just the U.S., but all nations.  And he exuded pride in the success the U.S. has seen as a result of recognizing this very reality:

If you want freedom, take pride in your country. If you want democracy, hold onto your sovereignty. And if you want peace, love your nation. Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first.

The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbors, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique.

It is why we in the United States have embarked on an exciting program of national renewal. In everything we do, we are focused on empowering the dreams and aspirations of our citizens. Thanks to our pro-growth economic policies, our domestic unemployment rate reached its lowest level in over half a century.

Fueled by massive tax cuts and regulations cuts, jobs are being produced at a historic rate. Six million Americans have been added to the employment rolls in under three years. Last month, African-American, Hispanic American, and Asian American unemployment reached their lowest rates ever recorded.

We are marshaling our nations vast energy abundance and the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. Wages are rising, incomes are soaring, and 2.5 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty in less than three years.

As we rebuild the unrivaled might of the American military, we are also revitalizing our alliances by making it very clear that all of our partners are expected to pay their fair share of the tremendous defense burden which the United States has borne in the past. At the center of our vision for national renewal is an ambitious campaign to reform international trade.

He returned to the subject with a rousing conclusion, too:

Love of our nations makes the world better for all nations. So, to all the leaders here today, join us in the most fulfilling mission a person could have. The most profound contribution anyone can make — lift up your nations, cherish your culture, honor your histories, treasure your citizens. Make your countries strong and prosperous and righteous. Honor the dignity of your people and nothing will be outside of your reach.

When our nations are greater the future will be brighter, our people be happier and our partnerships will be stronger. With God's help, together we will cast off the enemies of liberty and overcome the oppressors of dignity. We will set new standards of living and reach new heights of human achievement. We will rediscover all truths, unravel all mysteries and make thrilling new breakthroughs. And we will find more beautiful friendship and more harmony among nations than ever before.

So much for Trump being a Nazi for being a nationalist, as the Left claims.  This isn't Nazi talk.

Trump also summed up perfectly the problems that globalism has morphed into, including the problem of open borders, perfectly cutting through the kultursmog promoted by the left — exposing them as the real anti-humanitarians:

"Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just, your policies are cruel and evil," he said, accusing them of promoting human smuggling and the "erasure of national borders."

You are empowering criminal organizations that prey on innocent men, women and children. You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives and well-being of countless innocent people," he said. "When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity."

Wow.

He also blasted socialism as a real problem in itself, something no world leader has ever done, but all the world's victims of socialism had to be cheering about.  Trump broke that barrier.

One of the most serious challenges our countries face is the specter of socialism. It's the wrecker of nations and destroyer of societies. Events in Venezuela remind us all that socialism and communism are not about justice. They are not about equality. They are not about lifting up the poor. And they are certainly not about the good of the nation. Socialism and communism are about one thing only, power for the ruling class.

Today I repeat a message for the world that I have delivered at home. America will never be a socialist country. In the last century, socialism and communism killed 100 million people.

It not only put its finger on the world's primary problem, it was also a beautiful speech. Trump described how nationalism isn't a hateful sort of thing - it was precisely this appreciation for nationalism that enables citizens to appreciate one another's differences. Trump had lovely words in it for all cultures, and praised many nations, it wasn't the rah-rah me-alone sort of speech. It was nationalism with a friendly hand out, calling for common ground, because, left unsaid, there is common ground as nation after nation elsewhere comes to embrace their own versions of Trump, too. 

He also did something unprecedented for any president - he brought up the need for human rights for gay people, women, and unborn babies, a human rights manifesto if there ever was one. Zero apologies, and not even the left has tried this.

But rest assured, the groundbreaking speech got overshadowed, first by the press's own efforts and then by the shenanigans in Congress over impeachment.

First, the press focused on a supposed glaring incident with Swedish child activist Greta Thunberg at the UN, which was a nothingburger. (Why, exactly, should a head of state give any face time to an obviously manipulated foreign activist?) A non-story.

Then, following President Trump's paradigm-shifting speech before the United Nations General Assembly, they pointed to the lack of applause, which was about to be expected from this globalist crowd. What it signaled was that they were listening closely, given the lack of cursory applause they give to everyone else, including Iran's crazed leaders.

After that, they decided the speech was very, very 'sleepy.' This one got played a lot.

First, CNBC's nothingburger:

President Donald Trump's United Nations speech was a snooze — at least for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The 81-year-old Ross took a nap — a very long nap — as his boss addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Television footage of Ross showed the wealthy businessman sleeping soundly as Trump talked about a possible trade deal with China — which is part of the Commerce chief's portfolio — and the U.S. stance on Iran.

Ross had his eyes firmly closed for as long as 15 minutes, video suggested, as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave the impression of listening intently to Trump.

At one point, however, Ross's eyes opened. He still looked drowsy, though.

Boy, look at the microscopic attention to that. Ross later smacked them down with what looks like a pretty reasonable explanation:

"This is fake news," Ross said in a statement issued to CNBC by the Commerce Department, hours after this article first was published.

"I wear hearing aids and, during President Trump's inspiring speech, which covered in detail the entire range of significant issues facing the world, was concentrating on what was being said," Ross said.

Then they repeated it as a trope:

Esquire:

He sleepily accused Iran of all manner of international perfidy and gave China a few whacks. In what may have been an attempt to wake his audience up through sheer incoherence, he somnambulated his way through some anti-abortion rhetoric. It was at that point that I began to envy Wilbur Ross.

Daily Mirror:

Donald Trump sent a top ally to sleep with the 'low energy' and 'boring' tone of his speech to the UN General Assembly.

CNN:

And at the UN we watched as the leader of the free world delivered a sleepy, low-energy speech that zeroed in on one head-spinning conclusion: every nation should go at it alone.

It was anything but sleepy. Trump's quiet, deliberate tone was quite different from his rally tone, a wild off-the-cuff style of speaking, improvised plenty, but for that reason, it was far more significant.

Leave it up to the mass media to be unable to distinguish the two and imagine the improvised stuff is more important. Trump changed history with this speech and set new boundaries. No wonder the press is trying to obfuscate and distract.

Image credit: Twitter screen shot.

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

Calm explanations aside, many people panic when they hear of such possibilities. They are happy to follow the advice of their smartphones or to take whatever drug the doctor prescribes, but when they hear of upgraded superhumans, they say: ‘I hope I will be dead before that happens.’ A friend once told me that what she fears most about growing old is becoming irrelevant, turning into a nostalgic old woman who cannot understand the world around her, or contribute much to it. This is what we fear collectively, as a species, when we hear of superhumans. We sense that in such a world, our identity, our dreams and even our fears will be irrelevant, and we will have nothing more to contribute. Whatever you are today – be it a devout Hindu cricket player or an aspiring lesbian journalist – in an upgraded world you will feel like a Neanderthal hunter in Wall Street. You won’t belong.

The Neanderthals didn’t have to worry about the Nasdaq, since they were shielded from it by tens of thousands of years. Nowadays, however, our world of meaning might collapse within decades. You cannot count on death to save you from becoming completely irrelevant. Even if gods don’t walk our streets by 2100, the attempt to upgrade Homo sapiens is likely to change the world beyond recognition in this century. Scientific research and technological developments are moving at a far faster rate than most of us can grasp.

If you speak with the experts, many of them will tell you that we are still very far away from genetically engineered babies or human-level artificial intelligence. But most experts think on a timescale of academic grants and college jobs. Hence, ‘very far away’ may mean twenty years, and ‘never’ may denote no more than fifty.

I still remember the day I first came across the Internet. It was back in 1993, when I was in high school. I went with a couple of buddies to visit our friend Ido (who is now a computer scientist). We wanted to play table tennis. Ido was already a huge computer fan, and before opening the ping-pong table he insisted on showing us the latest wonder. He connected the phone cable to his computer and pressed some keys. For a minute all we could hear were squeaks, shrieks and buzzes, and then silence. It didn’t succeed. We mumbled and grumbled, but Ido tried again. And again. And again. At last he gave a whoop and announced that he had managed to connect his computer to the central computer at the nearby university. ‘And what’s there, on the central computer?’ we asked. ‘Well,’ he admitted, ‘there’s nothing there yet. But you could put all kinds of things there.’ ‘Like what?’ we questioned. ‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘all kinds of things.’ It didn’t sound very promising. We went to play ping-pong, and for the following weeks enjoyed a new pastime, making fun of Ido’s ridiculous idea. That was less than twenty-five years ago (at the time of writing). Who knows what will come to pass twenty-five years from now?

That’s why more and more individuals, organisations, corporations and governments are taking very seriously the quest for immortality, happiness and godlike powers. Insurance companies, pension funds, health systems and finance ministries are already aghast at the jump in life expectancy. People are living much longer than expected, and there is not enough money to pay for their pensions and medical treatment. As seventy threatens to become the new forty, experts are calling to raise the retirement age, and to restructure the entire job market.

When people realise how fast we are rushing towards the great unknown, and that they cannot count even on death to shield them from it, their reaction is to hope that somebody will hit the brakes and slow us down. But we cannot hit the brakes, for several reasons.

Firstly, nobody knows where the brakes are. While some experts are familiar with developments in one field, such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, big data or genetics, no one is an expert on everything. No one is therefore capable of connecting all the dots and seeing the full picture. Different fields influence one another in such intricate ways that even the best minds cannot fathom how breakthroughs in artificial intelligence might impact nanotechnology, or vice versa. Nobody can absorb all the latest scientific discoveries, nobody can predict how the global economy will look in ten years, and nobody has a clue where we are heading in such a rush. Since no one understands the system any more, no one can stop it.

Secondly, if we somehow succeed in hitting the brakes, our economy will collapse, along with our society. As explained in a later chapter, the modern economy needs constant and indefinite growth in order to survive. If growth ever stops, the economy won’t settle down to some cosy equilibrium; it will fall to pieces. An economy built on everlasting growth needs endless projects – just like the quests for immortality, bliss and divinity.

Well, if we need limitless projects, why not settle for bliss and immortality, and at least put aside the frightening quest for superhuman powers? Because it is inextricable from the other two. When you develop bionic legs that enable paraplegics to walk again, you can also use the same technology to upgrade healthy people. When you discover how to stop memory loss among older people, the same treatments might enhance the memory of the young.

No clear line separates healing from upgrading. Medicine almost always begins by saving people from falling below the norm, but the same tools and know-how can then be used to surpass the norm. Viagra began life as a treatment for blood-pressure problems. To the surprise and delight of Pfizer, it transpired that Viagra can also cure impotence. It enabled millions of men to regain normal sexual abilities; but soon enough men who had no impotence problems in the first place began using the same pill to surpass the norm, and acquire sexual powers they never had before.

What happens to particular drugs can also happen to entire fields of medicine. Modern plastic surgery was born in the First World War, when Harold Gillies began treating facial injuries in the Aldershot military hospital. When the war was over, surgeons discovered that the same techniques could also turn perfectly healthy but ugly noses into more beautiful specimens. Though plastic surgery continued to help the sick and wounded, it devoted increasing attention to upgrading the healthy. Nowadays plastic surgeons make millions in private clinics whose explicit and sole aim is to upgrade the healthy and beautify the wealthy.

The same might happen with genetic engineering. If a billionaire openly stated that he intended to engineer super-smart offspring, imagine the public outcry. But it won’t happen like that. We are more likely to slide down a slippery slope. It begins with parents whose genetic profile puts their children at high risk of deadly genetic diseases. So they perform in vitro fertilisation, and test the DNA of the fertilised egg. If everything is in order, all well and good. But if the DNA test discovers the dreaded mutations – the embryo is destroyed. […] Following selection and replacement, the next potential step is amendment. Once it becomes possible to amend deadly genes, […] you can just rewrite the code and turn a dangerous mutant gene into its benign version. Then we might start using the same mechanism to fix not just lethal genes, but also those responsible for less deadly illnesses, for autism, for stupidity and for obesity.

[…] And even if you don’t want that for your child – what if the neighbours are doing it for theirs? Would you have your child lag behind? And if the government forbids all citizens from engineering their babies, what if the North Koreans are doing it and producing amazing geniuses, artists and athletes that far outperform ours? And like that, in baby steps, we are on our way to a genetic child catalogue.

Healing is the initial justification for every upgrade. Find some professors experimenting in genetic engineering or brain–computer interfaces, and ask them why they are engaged in such research. In all likelihood they would reply that they are doing it to cure disease. ‘With the help of genetic engineering,’ they would explain, ‘we could defeat cancer. And if we could connect brains and computers directly, we could cure schizophrenia.’ Maybe, but it will surely not end there. When we successfully connect brains and computers, will we use this technology only to cure schizophrenia? If anybody really believes this, then they may know a great deal about brains and computers, but far less about the human psyche and human society.

[…] Of course, humans can and do limit their use of new technologies. Thus the eugenics movement fell from favour after the Second World War, and though trade in human organs is now both possible and potentially very lucrative, it has so far remained a peripheral activity. Designer babies may one day become as technologically feasible as murdering people to harvest their organs – yet remain as peripheral.

Just as we have escaped the clutches of Chekhov’s Law in warfare, we can also escape them in other fields of action. Some guns appear on stage without ever being fired. This is why it is so vital to think about humanity’s new agenda. Precisely because we have some choice regarding the use of new technologies, we had better understand what is happening and make up our minds about it before it makes up our minds for us.

-  Yuval Noah Harari, Can Someone Please Hit the Brakes? in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

[networkingdefinition]

Blackberries Quotes

Official Website: Blackberries Quotes

` • A top McCain policy adviser claimed this week that McCain’s work in the Senate helped create the BlackBerry, saying, ‘You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.’ He then handed the BlackBerry to McCain, who attempted to withdraw $20 from it. – Amy Poehler • After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: “You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over. – Wilson Rawls • All of the people who are using their BlackBerries or their iPhones, Facebook, all of the people who are sitting in cafes and hotels rooms doing their work, they’re all using wireless technology, and we shouldn’t assume that the only way of the future is high speed cable. – Tony Abbott • All the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android. – Steve Ballmer • and once at Hana’s house, when we stole some blackberry liqueur from her parents’ liquor cabinet and drank until the ceiling started spinning overhead. Hana was laughing and giggling, but I didn’t like it, didn’t like the sweet sick taste in my mouth or the way my thoughts seemed to break apart like a mist in the sun. – Lauren Oliver • At work people are expected to be at the beck and call of employers all the time. You have blackberries and other things, and they just don’t leave you alone. People have less time just to drop into an art gallery. – Jeremy Paxman • Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email and Blackberries, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary tool. – Linda Stone

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Blackberr', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Beyond all our Blackberries and iPhones, we’re dangerously separated from our food and water supplies. – Eric Kripke • Blackberry Smoke is a band that will never go hungry. – Brian Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is my favorite band! – Jamey Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is the real deal! – Dierks Bentley • Blackberry winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without this frost the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest. – Margaret Mead • BLACKBERRY. Also know as “Crackberry” for it’s addictive qualities. It is the modern girl’s weapon. It allow her to bid on ebay while walking down the street, map out her shopping route for maximum productivity, and sneak out of work and still get her messages as she peruses the sales racks. – Nina Garcia • Blue is a tranquilizer, imparting coolness to your system. Blue slows down your system so it can heal and mend. Positive qualities of blue are willpower, aspiration, and reliability. Foods of the blue vibration are: grapes, blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, and any other blue fruits or vegetables. – Tae Yun Kim • Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients – they are among the best foods you can eat. – Joel Fuhrman • Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals. – Bill Mollison • But time in only another liar, so go along the wall a little further: if blackberries prove bitter there’ll be mushrooms, fairy-ring mushrooms in the grass, sweetest of all fungi. – William Carlos Williams • Come, my child,” I said, trying to lead her away. “Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries.” “Good-bye, poor hare!” Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. “Oh, my darling, my darling!” she moaned, over and over again. “And God meant your life to be so beautiful! – Lewis Carroll • Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news — as you learn how much more of it’s been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home – Tahir Shah • Hey, Barack Obama had to give up his Blackberry. He’s the first wired president. … He might have to give his Blackberry because of security reasons. Because they’re easy to hack into. In fact, when Obama heard he might have to give it up, he said, ‘OMG! WTF?’ I mean, he couldn’t believe it. – Jay Leno • How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to the human being across from us who is talking with us, by being so lazy that we’re not willing to process deeply? – Joshua Foer • I always loved writing, but I feel like I really started writing when I got my BlackBerry . It was the first time I could take these crazy thoughts in my head and actually get them out. This little device became my journal on the road. – Duff McKagan • I am impressed with the innovation in the wireless marketplace. The Blackberry, the iPhone, the Pre, and other smart devices are breakthrough technologies that have helped revolutionize the wireless space. – Julius Genachowski • I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels! – Walt Whitman • I don’t do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone. – Penelope Cruz • I don’t have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something: silence. – Viggo Mortensen • I don’t have an alarm clock. If someone needs to wake me up, then I have my BlackBerry next to me. – Mark Zuckerberg • I don’t like sitting still at a desk and often conduct business on my Blackberry or in walking meetings. – Dylan Lauren • I don’t text, I don’t have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven’t programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don’t even have an earpiece for my cell phone. – Steve Carell • I hate the iPhone. I love the BlackBerry – BlackBerry wins in my opinion. The iPhone is a toy. – Brett Ratner • I have a Blackberry which I use, but I am one of those people who can only type on it with one hand. – Dev Patel • I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I’m always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I’m on holiday. – Penelope Cruz • I like to talk to people. I’ve got one assistant, one Blackberry. That’s my overhead. I don’t text that much or email. I like to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation with you. I’m old-fashioned. – Mark Wahlberg • I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry – eating in late September. – Galway Kinnell • I play Texas Hold’em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal. – Chris Cornell • I started writing an album on flights to Africa and Brazil, but it was crazy because I left the notebook on the plane. It had seven or eight songs in it. After that, I’m not writing any more songs on notebooks – and I keep my Blackberry close! – Estelle • I talk about stuff like my Blackberry, Lost, the internet, music, etc. so I guess that leads to the “nerd” moniker. But I don’t get it that much to be honest. I guess its better than being labeled a “racist” comedian. – Aziz Ansari • I think healthy competition is good for business, and really at the end best for end-users. Just think about what Android would have been if it was not for iPhone – a better blackberry? – Jack Levin • I think if you asked people “what’s the biggest problem in your life?” They’d say, “I just don’t have time for anything!” And at our fingertips, if it isn’t e-mail, it’s our Blackberry, and it’s our iPods and telephones – we never stop. We never take those moments to stop the stimulus to find out “what’s going on in there? What’s really happening?” And then things start to build up. And then we are almost afraid to slow down. – Elizabeth Lesser • I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, ‘Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?’ You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone. – Matthew McConaughey • I use technology for communication, but I don’t have a Blackberry or an iPhone. I use an outdated cell phone, but I’m fine with it. – Nicolas Cage • I used to make fun of my friends who had BlackBerries. And I know that the expression CrackBerry has been going around, but now I fully understand it. I’m actually addicted to a piece of machinery, and that’s really embarrassing – John Krasinski • I want to reach a new generation. That’s why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac. – Buzz Aldrin • I was thinking how strange it is that water is one of the best, simplest things on this planet, and still with a simple glass of water you can neutralize so many of the greatest technological advances that we provide. Like with my blackberry, I can get in touch with so many people, but if I dip it in a small glass of water I’m completely disconnected. – Demetri Martin • I wish I could [keep a journal]. I have a lot of journals with one page half written in. I sometimes will write myself a quick email on my Blackberry when I think of something. – Louis C. K. • I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with. – Dorothy Dunnett • I write everything down. I e-mail the second I think of something, or I write notes in my BlackBerry calendar. I set up reminder alerts on my phone. And I have a notebook by my bedside so I can write down any last-minute ideas. – Giada De Laurentiis • If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. – William Shakespeare • I’m not suggesting that the entire nation can’t be successful, but there’s something to it when you have 150 cable channels and the Internet at your fingertips and video games and all kinds of ADD-addled devices like my iPhone and your BlackBerry and things that keep us busy. – Jim Courier • I’m not terribly technological. I’m awfully backward about iPads and BlackBerries and suchlike; I still have a great fondness for Teletext, and I clung onto my fax machine for as long as I could, but eventually you have to move with the times. – David Tang • In America, Blackberry Farm in Tennessee is one of the most amazing hotels I’ve had the privilege of staying at. – Gail Simmons • In terms of the technology I use the most, it’s probably a tie between my Blackberry and my MacBook Pro laptop. That’s how I communicate with the rest of the world and how I handle all the business I have to handle. – John Legend • Indigo has a purifying, stabilizing, cleansing effect when fear, repression, and obsessions have disturbed your mental body. Indigo food vibrations are: blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, purple brocoli, beetroot, and purple grapes. – Tae Yun Kim • It is incumbent upon us all to raise the bar, whether you are a multibillion-dollar international corporation or a mom-and-pop selling blackberry jam. – Howard Schmidt • It is painful to watch children trying to show off for parents who are engrossed in their cell phones. Children are nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ when parents used to read to them without the cell phone by their side or watch football games or Disney movies without having the BlackBerry handy. – Sherry Turkle • It took 10 years to go from building the initial Smartphone to reaching the mass market. BlackBerry came out in 2003 and it didn’t get to about a billion units until 2013. So I can’t imagine it would be much faster for VR. – Mark Zuckerberg • I’ve been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I’ve been recording snippets on my BlackBerry. – Rufus Wainwright • I’ve just been away for a week, and I dropped my BlackBerry in the sea while I was messing around with the kids, so no one can reach me. Blissful. I heartily recommend it. – Nick Clegg • I’ve really hung in there with my BlackBerry. The main reason I like it better than an iPhone is that I can type better. I saw Rachel Zoe using a white one and I was jealous. The risk, of course, is that it could look like a Lady BIC. I’ve just learned to own it though. – Andy Cohen • I’ve tried plenty of telephones. I tried to get into the Samsung Galaxy and the Blackberry, but the iPhone is just too easy to use. The camera takes clear pictures and the phone itself looks great. Like all Apple products, it kind of just makes sense. – Avicii • Life was just a tire swing. ‘Jambalaya’ was the only song I could sing. Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken, And I never knew a thing about pain. Life was just a tire swing. – Jimmy Buffett • Mindfulness means being aware of how you’re deploying your attention and making decisions about it, and not letting the tweet or the buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention. – Howard Rheingold • O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment. – Richard Llewellyn • Oh, no-” They weren’t even on the runway, and Jonah’s father was already immersed in his BlackBerry. “Remember those ‘Live Large with the Wiz Generation’ posters? Well, guess how that translates into Chinese- ‘Jonah Wizard Makes Your Ancestors Fat’. – Gordon Korman • Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. -Blackberry picking – Seamus Heaney • One of the misconceptions about BlackBerry is that it’s your parents’ smartphone. – Thorsten Heins • Purple as tulips in May, mauve into lush velvet, purple as the stain blackberries leave on the lips, on the hands, the purple of ripe grapes sunlit and warm as flesh. – Marge Piercy • Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry. – Robert Hass • Teenagers talk about the idea of having each other’s ‘full attention.’ They grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers. Now, their parents text at the dinner table and don’t look up from their BlackBerry when they come for end-of-school day pickup. – Sherry Turkle • The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I’m out of the office, which is a lot. – David Neeleman • The Harvard Business Review recently had an article called ‘The Human Moment,’ about how to make real contact with a person at work: … The fundamental thing you have to do is turn off your BlackBerry, close your laptop, end your daydream and pay full attention to the person. – Daniel Goleman • The problem with our Blackberry society is that hardly anyone has time anymore to have an unhurried discussion about the long-term developments that will change our lives. – Paul Achleitner • The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity. – Tim Ferriss • There are a couple of different types of food I eat a lot. I was raised in the South, in Tennessee, so I’m going to go with comfort food, soul food. I would probably start with collard greens and candied baby carrots and then have some biscuits and white gravy – and for dessert, probably blackberry cobbler. – Megan Fox • There is a newly coined word in the English language for the moment when the person we’re with whips out their BlackBerry or answers that cell phone, and all of a sudden we don’t exist. The word is ‘pizzled’: it’s a combination of puzzled and pissed off. – Daniel Goleman • There may be 300,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad, but the only app you really need is the browser. You don’t need an app for the web … You don’t need to go through some kind of SDK … You can use your web tools … And you can publish your apps to the BlackBerry without writing any native code. • There’s something really terrible about having your BlackBerry next to your bed or having your laptop in the living room when you’re talking to someone. The biggest source of stress in my life is the screen, the blogging. – Jessica Valenti • To me, ‘Blackberry Way’ stands up as a song that could be sung in any era, really. We do it with the new doing all sort of fanfare things in it and it works really well. It goes down great with audiences. – Roy Wood • Today, all our wives and husbands have Blackberries or iPhones or Android devices or whatever-the progeny of those original 950 and 957 models that put data in our pockets. Now we all check their email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or) compulsively at the dinner table, or the traffic light. Now we all stow our devices on the nightstand before bed, and check them first thing in the morning. We all do. It’s not abnormal, and it’s not just for business. It’s just what people do. Like smoking in 1965, it’s just life. – Ian Bogost • We would load up the yellow Cutlass Supreme station wagon and pick blackberries during blackberry season or spring onions during spring onion season. For us, food was part of the fabric of our day. – Mario Batali • What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you. – Sherry Turkle • When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue. – Mary Oliver • When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby’s. It’s very nice. – Carine Roitfeld • When you’re travelling, your day is jam-packed. I just don’t have time to whip out a PC all the time. But I can whip out a BlackBerry and tweet. I keep a constant diary of where I’m at and why I’m there. – Kevin O’Leary • Writing is more than just the making of a series of comprehensible statements: it is the gathering in of connotations; the harvesting of them, like blackberries in a good season, ripe and heavy, snatched from among the thorns of logic. – Fay Weldon • You know, you just know, that after the president goes out there and announces he wants to make community college free for all Americans – as though anything government does is ‘free’ – or is unilaterally and unconstitutionally legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants, he comes back to the offices, pulls out the presidential BlackBerry, and gleefully follows along as the Right goes completely ape over these wild policy decisions. – John Podhoretz • You’ve seen [Doanld Trump] come out with a lot more specifics. He’s not in hiding or smashing BlackBerry or BleachBit himself to death like we’ve seen Hillary do or Hillary [Clinton] throwing her stuff, you know, under the bus. She’s not showing presidential leadership qualities. – Kimberly Guilfoyle

[equitiesstocks]

Blackberries Quotes

Official Website: Blackberries Quotes

` • A top McCain policy adviser claimed this week that McCain’s work in the Senate helped create the BlackBerry, saying, ‘You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.’ He then handed the BlackBerry to McCain, who attempted to withdraw $20 from it. – Amy Poehler • After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: “You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over. – Wilson Rawls • All of the people who are using their BlackBerries or their iPhones, Facebook, all of the people who are sitting in cafes and hotels rooms doing their work, they’re all using wireless technology, and we shouldn’t assume that the only way of the future is high speed cable. – Tony Abbott • All the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android. – Steve Ballmer • and once at Hana’s house, when we stole some blackberry liqueur from her parents’ liquor cabinet and drank until the ceiling started spinning overhead. Hana was laughing and giggling, but I didn’t like it, didn’t like the sweet sick taste in my mouth or the way my thoughts seemed to break apart like a mist in the sun. – Lauren Oliver • At work people are expected to be at the beck and call of employers all the time. You have blackberries and other things, and they just don’t leave you alone. People have less time just to drop into an art gallery. – Jeremy Paxman • Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email and Blackberries, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary tool. – Linda Stone

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Blackberr', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Beyond all our Blackberries and iPhones, we’re dangerously separated from our food and water supplies. – Eric Kripke • Blackberry Smoke is a band that will never go hungry. – Brian Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is my favorite band! – Jamey Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is the real deal! – Dierks Bentley • Blackberry winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without this frost the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest. – Margaret Mead • BLACKBERRY. Also know as “Crackberry” for it’s addictive qualities. It is the modern girl’s weapon. It allow her to bid on ebay while walking down the street, map out her shopping route for maximum productivity, and sneak out of work and still get her messages as she peruses the sales racks. – Nina Garcia • Blue is a tranquilizer, imparting coolness to your system. Blue slows down your system so it can heal and mend. Positive qualities of blue are willpower, aspiration, and reliability. Foods of the blue vibration are: grapes, blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, and any other blue fruits or vegetables. – Tae Yun Kim • Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients – they are among the best foods you can eat. – Joel Fuhrman • Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals. – Bill Mollison • But time in only another liar, so go along the wall a little further: if blackberries prove bitter there’ll be mushrooms, fairy-ring mushrooms in the grass, sweetest of all fungi. – William Carlos Williams • Come, my child,” I said, trying to lead her away. “Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries.” “Good-bye, poor hare!” Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. “Oh, my darling, my darling!” she moaned, over and over again. “And God meant your life to be so beautiful! – Lewis Carroll • Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news — as you learn how much more of it’s been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home – Tahir Shah • Hey, Barack Obama had to give up his Blackberry. He’s the first wired president. … He might have to give his Blackberry because of security reasons. Because they’re easy to hack into. In fact, when Obama heard he might have to give it up, he said, ‘OMG! WTF?’ I mean, he couldn’t believe it. – Jay Leno • How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to the human being across from us who is talking with us, by being so lazy that we’re not willing to process deeply? – Joshua Foer • I always loved writing, but I feel like I really started writing when I got my BlackBerry . It was the first time I could take these crazy thoughts in my head and actually get them out. This little device became my journal on the road. – Duff McKagan • I am impressed with the innovation in the wireless marketplace. The Blackberry, the iPhone, the Pre, and other smart devices are breakthrough technologies that have helped revolutionize the wireless space. – Julius Genachowski • I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels! – Walt Whitman • I don’t do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone. – Penelope Cruz • I don’t have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something: silence. – Viggo Mortensen • I don’t have an alarm clock. If someone needs to wake me up, then I have my BlackBerry next to me. – Mark Zuckerberg • I don’t like sitting still at a desk and often conduct business on my Blackberry or in walking meetings. – Dylan Lauren • I don’t text, I don’t have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven’t programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don’t even have an earpiece for my cell phone. – Steve Carell • I hate the iPhone. I love the BlackBerry – BlackBerry wins in my opinion. The iPhone is a toy. – Brett Ratner • I have a Blackberry which I use, but I am one of those people who can only type on it with one hand. – Dev Patel • I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I’m always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I’m on holiday. – Penelope Cruz • I like to talk to people. I’ve got one assistant, one Blackberry. That’s my overhead. I don’t text that much or email. I like to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation with you. I’m old-fashioned. – Mark Wahlberg • I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry – eating in late September. – Galway Kinnell • I play Texas Hold’em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal. – Chris Cornell • I started writing an album on flights to Africa and Brazil, but it was crazy because I left the notebook on the plane. It had seven or eight songs in it. After that, I’m not writing any more songs on notebooks – and I keep my Blackberry close! – Estelle • I talk about stuff like my Blackberry, Lost, the internet, music, etc. so I guess that leads to the “nerd” moniker. But I don’t get it that much to be honest. I guess its better than being labeled a “racist” comedian. – Aziz Ansari • I think healthy competition is good for business, and really at the end best for end-users. Just think about what Android would have been if it was not for iPhone – a better blackberry? – Jack Levin • I think if you asked people “what’s the biggest problem in your life?” They’d say, “I just don’t have time for anything!” And at our fingertips, if it isn’t e-mail, it’s our Blackberry, and it’s our iPods and telephones – we never stop. We never take those moments to stop the stimulus to find out “what’s going on in there? What’s really happening?” And then things start to build up. And then we are almost afraid to slow down. – Elizabeth Lesser • I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, ‘Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?’ You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone. – Matthew McConaughey • I use technology for communication, but I don’t have a Blackberry or an iPhone. I use an outdated cell phone, but I’m fine with it. – Nicolas Cage • I used to make fun of my friends who had BlackBerries. And I know that the expression CrackBerry has been going around, but now I fully understand it. I’m actually addicted to a piece of machinery, and that’s really embarrassing – John Krasinski • I want to reach a new generation. That’s why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac. – Buzz Aldrin • I was thinking how strange it is that water is one of the best, simplest things on this planet, and still with a simple glass of water you can neutralize so many of the greatest technological advances that we provide. Like with my blackberry, I can get in touch with so many people, but if I dip it in a small glass of water I’m completely disconnected. – Demetri Martin • I wish I could [keep a journal]. I have a lot of journals with one page half written in. I sometimes will write myself a quick email on my Blackberry when I think of something. – Louis C. K. • I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with. – Dorothy Dunnett • I write everything down. I e-mail the second I think of something, or I write notes in my BlackBerry calendar. I set up reminder alerts on my phone. And I have a notebook by my bedside so I can write down any last-minute ideas. – Giada De Laurentiis • If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. – William Shakespeare • I’m not suggesting that the entire nation can’t be successful, but there’s something to it when you have 150 cable channels and the Internet at your fingertips and video games and all kinds of ADD-addled devices like my iPhone and your BlackBerry and things that keep us busy. – Jim Courier • I’m not terribly technological. I’m awfully backward about iPads and BlackBerries and suchlike; I still have a great fondness for Teletext, and I clung onto my fax machine for as long as I could, but eventually you have to move with the times. – David Tang • In America, Blackberry Farm in Tennessee is one of the most amazing hotels I’ve had the privilege of staying at. – Gail Simmons • In terms of the technology I use the most, it’s probably a tie between my Blackberry and my MacBook Pro laptop. That’s how I communicate with the rest of the world and how I handle all the business I have to handle. – John Legend • Indigo has a purifying, stabilizing, cleansing effect when fear, repression, and obsessions have disturbed your mental body. Indigo food vibrations are: blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, purple brocoli, beetroot, and purple grapes. – Tae Yun Kim • It is incumbent upon us all to raise the bar, whether you are a multibillion-dollar international corporation or a mom-and-pop selling blackberry jam. – Howard Schmidt • It is painful to watch children trying to show off for parents who are engrossed in their cell phones. Children are nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ when parents used to read to them without the cell phone by their side or watch football games or Disney movies without having the BlackBerry handy. – Sherry Turkle • It took 10 years to go from building the initial Smartphone to reaching the mass market. BlackBerry came out in 2003 and it didn’t get to about a billion units until 2013. So I can’t imagine it would be much faster for VR. – Mark Zuckerberg • I’ve been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I’ve been recording snippets on my BlackBerry. – Rufus Wainwright • I’ve just been away for a week, and I dropped my BlackBerry in the sea while I was messing around with the kids, so no one can reach me. Blissful. I heartily recommend it. – Nick Clegg • I’ve really hung in there with my BlackBerry. The main reason I like it better than an iPhone is that I can type better. I saw Rachel Zoe using a white one and I was jealous. The risk, of course, is that it could look like a Lady BIC. I’ve just learned to own it though. – Andy Cohen • I’ve tried plenty of telephones. I tried to get into the Samsung Galaxy and the Blackberry, but the iPhone is just too easy to use. The camera takes clear pictures and the phone itself looks great. Like all Apple products, it kind of just makes sense. – Avicii • Life was just a tire swing. ‘Jambalaya’ was the only song I could sing. Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken, And I never knew a thing about pain. Life was just a tire swing. – Jimmy Buffett • Mindfulness means being aware of how you’re deploying your attention and making decisions about it, and not letting the tweet or the buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention. – Howard Rheingold • O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment. – Richard Llewellyn • Oh, no-” They weren’t even on the runway, and Jonah’s father was already immersed in his BlackBerry. “Remember those ‘Live Large with the Wiz Generation’ posters? Well, guess how that translates into Chinese- ‘Jonah Wizard Makes Your Ancestors Fat’. – Gordon Korman • Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. -Blackberry picking – Seamus Heaney • One of the misconceptions about BlackBerry is that it’s your parents’ smartphone. – Thorsten Heins • Purple as tulips in May, mauve into lush velvet, purple as the stain blackberries leave on the lips, on the hands, the purple of ripe grapes sunlit and warm as flesh. – Marge Piercy • Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry. – Robert Hass • Teenagers talk about the idea of having each other’s ‘full attention.’ They grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers. Now, their parents text at the dinner table and don’t look up from their BlackBerry when they come for end-of-school day pickup. – Sherry Turkle • The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I’m out of the office, which is a lot. – David Neeleman • The Harvard Business Review recently had an article called ‘The Human Moment,’ about how to make real contact with a person at work: … The fundamental thing you have to do is turn off your BlackBerry, close your laptop, end your daydream and pay full attention to the person. – Daniel Goleman • The problem with our Blackberry society is that hardly anyone has time anymore to have an unhurried discussion about the long-term developments that will change our lives. – Paul Achleitner • The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity. – Tim Ferriss • There are a couple of different types of food I eat a lot. I was raised in the South, in Tennessee, so I’m going to go with comfort food, soul food. I would probably start with collard greens and candied baby carrots and then have some biscuits and white gravy – and for dessert, probably blackberry cobbler. – Megan Fox • There is a newly coined word in the English language for the moment when the person we’re with whips out their BlackBerry or answers that cell phone, and all of a sudden we don’t exist. The word is ‘pizzled’: it’s a combination of puzzled and pissed off. – Daniel Goleman • There may be 300,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad, but the only app you really need is the browser. You don’t need an app for the web … You don’t need to go through some kind of SDK … You can use your web tools … And you can publish your apps to the BlackBerry without writing any native code. • There’s something really terrible about having your BlackBerry next to your bed or having your laptop in the living room when you’re talking to someone. The biggest source of stress in my life is the screen, the blogging. – Jessica Valenti • To me, ‘Blackberry Way’ stands up as a song that could be sung in any era, really. We do it with the new doing all sort of fanfare things in it and it works really well. It goes down great with audiences. – Roy Wood • Today, all our wives and husbands have Blackberries or iPhones or Android devices or whatever-the progeny of those original 950 and 957 models that put data in our pockets. Now we all check their email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or) compulsively at the dinner table, or the traffic light. Now we all stow our devices on the nightstand before bed, and check them first thing in the morning. We all do. It’s not abnormal, and it’s not just for business. It’s just what people do. Like smoking in 1965, it’s just life. – Ian Bogost • We would load up the yellow Cutlass Supreme station wagon and pick blackberries during blackberry season or spring onions during spring onion season. For us, food was part of the fabric of our day. – Mario Batali • What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you. – Sherry Turkle • When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue. – Mary Oliver • When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby’s. It’s very nice. – Carine Roitfeld • When you’re travelling, your day is jam-packed. I just don’t have time to whip out a PC all the time. But I can whip out a BlackBerry and tweet. I keep a constant diary of where I’m at and why I’m there. – Kevin O’Leary • Writing is more than just the making of a series of comprehensible statements: it is the gathering in of connotations; the harvesting of them, like blackberries in a good season, ripe and heavy, snatched from among the thorns of logic. – Fay Weldon • You know, you just know, that after the president goes out there and announces he wants to make community college free for all Americans – as though anything government does is ‘free’ – or is unilaterally and unconstitutionally legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants, he comes back to the offices, pulls out the presidential BlackBerry, and gleefully follows along as the Right goes completely ape over these wild policy decisions. – John Podhoretz • You’ve seen [Doanld Trump] come out with a lot more specifics. He’s not in hiding or smashing BlackBerry or BleachBit himself to death like we’ve seen Hillary do or Hillary [Clinton] throwing her stuff, you know, under the bus. She’s not showing presidential leadership qualities. – Kimberly Guilfoyle

[prasanththampi]

MBA IIBM EXAM 2018 SOLVED QUESTION PAPER PROVIDED

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com

Human Resource Management

Subject Code-B102

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

 This section consists of Multiple Choice and Short Answer type questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Objective Question carries 1 mark each &Short Question carries 5 marks each.

Part One

Multiple Choices:

1. It is a cultural attitude marked by the tendency to regard one’s own culture as superior to others

a. Geocentrism

b. Polycentrism

c. Ethnocentrism

d. Egocentrism

2. It is the systemic study of job requirements & those factors that influence the performance of

those job requirements

a. Job analysis

b. Job rotation

c. Job circulation

d. Job description

3. This Act provides an assistance for minimum statutory wages for scheduled employment

a. Payment of Wages Act, 1936

b. Minimum Wages Act, 1948

c. Factories Act, 1948

d. Payment of Gratuity act, 1972

4. __________ is the actual posting of an employee to a specific job

a. Induction

b. Placement

c. Attrition

d. None

5. Broadening an individual’s knowledge, skills & abilities for future responsibilities is known as

a. Training

b. Development

c. Education

d. Mentoring

Examination Paper of Human Resource Management

6. Change that is designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion in anticipation of

future events

a. Planned change

b. Technology change

c. Structural change

d. None

7. It is a process for setting goals and monitoring progress towards achieving those goals

a. Performance appraisal

b. Performance gap

c. Performance factor

d. Performance management system

8. A method which requires the rates to provide a subjective performance evaluation along a scale

from low to high

a. Assessment centre

b. Checklist

c. Rating scale

d. Monitoring

9. It is the sum of knowledge, skills, attitudes, commitment, values and the liking of the people in an

organization

a. Human resources

b. Personal management

c. Human resource management

d. Productivity

10. A learning exercise representing a real-life situation where trainees compete with each other to

achieve specific objectives

a. Executive development

b. Management game

c. Programmed learning

d. Understudy

Part Two:

1. What is the importance of Career Planning in industry?

2. List the various features of HRM.

3. How can you explain the concept of Performance Appraisal?

4. Differentiate between on- the- job and off- the- job training.

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper of Human Resource Management

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150-200 words).

Caselet 1

Uptron Electronics Limited, is a pioneering and internationally reputed firm in the electronics

industry. It is one of the largest firm in the country. It attracted employees from internationallyreputed

institute and industries by offering high salaries, perks, etc. It has advertized for the position

of an electronic engineer recently. Nearly 150 candidates applied for the jobMr. Sashidhar, an

electronics Engineering Graduate from the Indian Institute Of Technology with 5 years working

experience in a medium sized electronics firm, was selected from among the 130 candidates who took

tests and interview. The interview board recommended an enhancement in his salary by Rs 5,000

more than his present salary at his request. Mr Sashidhar was very happy to achieve this and he was

congratulated by a number of people including his previous employer for his brilliant interview

performance, and wished him good luck.

Mr Sashidhar joined Uptyron Electronics Ltd., on 21st January, 2002, with greater enthusiasm. He

also found his job to be quite comfortable and a challenging one and he felt it was prestigious to work

with this company during the formative years of his career. He found his superiors as well as

subordinates to be friendly and cooperative. But this climate did not live long. After one year of his

service, he slowly learnt about a number of unpleasant stories about the company, management, the

superior subordinate relations, rate of employee turnover, especially at higher level But he decided to

stay on as he has promised several things to the management in the interview. He wanted to please

and change the attitude of management through his diligent performance, firm commitment and

dedication. He started maximizing his contributions and the management got the impression that Mr.

Sashidhar had settled down and will remain in the company.

After some time, the superiors started riding rough- shod over Mr Sashidhar. He was overloaded with

multifarious jobs. His freedom in deciding and executing was cut down. He was ill treated on a

number of occasions before his subordinates. His colleagues also started assigning their

responsibilities to Mr Sashidhar. Consequently there were imbalances in his family life and

organizational life. But he seemed to be calm and contented. Management felt that Mr Sashidhar had

the potential to bear with many more organizational responsibilities.

So the general manager was quite surprised to see the resignation letter of Mr Sashidhar along with a

cheque equivalent to a month’s salary one fine morning on 18th January, 2004. The General Manager

failed to convince Mr Sashidhar to withdraw his resignation. The General Manager relieved him on

25th January, 2004. The General Manager wanted to appoint a committee to go into the matter

immediately, but dropped the idea later.

Questions:

1. What is wrong with the recruitment policy of the company?

2. Why did Mr. Sashidhar’s resignation surprise the General Manager?

Examination Paper of Human Resource Management

Caselet 2

The contexts in which human resources are managed in today's organizations are constantly,

changing. No longer do firms utilize one set of manufacturing processes, employ a homogeneous

group of loyal employees for long periods of time or develop one set way of structuring how work is

done and supervisory responsibility is assigned. Continuous changes in who organizations employ

and what these employees do require HR practices and systems that are well conceived and

effectively implemented to ensure high performance and continued success.

1. Automated technologies nowadays require more technically trained employees possessing

multifarious skills to repair, adjust or improve existing processes. The firms can't expect these

employees (Gen X employees, possessing superior technical knowledge and skills, whose attitudes

and perceptions toward work are significantly different from those of their predecessor organizations:

like greater self control, less interest in job security; no expectations of long term employment;

greater participation urge in work activities, demanding opportunities for personal growth and

creativity) to stay on without attractive compensation packages and novel reward schemes.

2. Technology driven companies are led by project teams, possessing diverse skills, experience and

expertise. Flexible and dynamic organizational structures are needed to take care of the expectations

of managers, technicians and analysts who combine their skills, expertise and experience to meet

changing customer needs and competitive pressures.

3. Cost cutting efforts have led to the decimation of unwanted layers in organizational hierarchy in

recent times. This, in turn, has brought in the problem of managing plateau employees whose careers

seem to have been hit by the delivering process. Organizations are, therefore, made to find alternative

career paths for such employees’

4. Both young and old workers, these days, have values and attitudes that stress less loyalty to the

company and more loyalty to oneself and one's career than those shown by employees in the past,

Organizations, therefore, have to devise appropriate HR policies and strategies so as to prevent the

flight of talented employees

Question:-

1. Discuss that technological breakthrough has brought radical changes in HRM.

END OF SECTION B

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

 This section consists of applied theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15 marks

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150-200 words).

1. Several types of interviews are commonly used depending on the nature & importance of the

position to be filled within an organization. Explain the different types of Interviews.

2. How would you explain Organizational Change and Development?

Marketing Management

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

 This section consists of multiple choices & short answer type questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Part One carries I mark each & Part II carries 5 marks each.

Part One

Multiple Choices:

1. It is a concept where goods are produced without taking into consideration the choices or tastes of

customers.

a. Marketing mix

b. Production concept

c. Marketing concept

d. Relationship marketing

2. It involves individuals who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or

resale.

a. Environment analysis

b. Macro environment

c. Micro environment

d. Consumer

3. It is the groups of people who interact formally or informally influencing each other‟s attitudes&

behavior.

a. Consumer behavior

b. Culture

c. Reference groups

d. Primary groups

4. The concept of the product that passes through various changes in its total life known as:

a. Product life cycle

b. Line stretching

c. Consumer adoption

d. Product

5. It refers to unique set of brand associations that brand strategist aspires to create or maintain:

a. Branding

b. Packaging

c. Brand identity

Examination Paper of Marketing Management

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IIBM Institute of Business Management

d. Brand image

6. It involves a pricing strategy that charges customers different prices for the same product or

service.

a. Promotional pricing

b. Price discrimination

c. Non price competition

d. None of the above

7. It refers to an arrangement where another company through its own marketing channel sells the

products of one producers.

a. End customer

b. Wholesaler

c. Retailing

d. Strategic channel alliance

8. It involves facility consisting of the means & equipments necessary for the movement of

passengers of goods.

a. Logistics

b. Warehousing

c. Transportation

d. None of the above

9. The advertising which is used to inform consumers about a new product or feature & to build

primary demands is known as:

a. Advertising

b. Informative advertising

c. Persuasive advertising

d. Advertising strategy

10. An art that predicts the likelihood of economic activity on the basis of certain assumptions:

a. Compensation

b. Sales forecasting

c. Sales budgeting

d. Selling policy

Part Two:

1. Define Marketing Mix.

2. Discuss the concept of Benchmarking.

3. Write a short note on Target Marketing.

4. What do you understand by Pricing Strategy?

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper of Marketing Management

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IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Caselet 1

Ask the company top brass what „almost there‟ means. The answer: a premier Indian retail company

that has come to be known as a specialty chain of apparel and accessories. With 52 product categories

under one roof, Shoppers‟ Stop has a line-up of 350 brands. Set up and headed by former Corona

employee, B. S. Nagesh, Shoppers‟ Stop is India‟s answer to Selfridges and Printemps. As it proudly

announces, „We don‟t sell, we help you buy.‟ Back in 1991, there was the question of what to retail.

Should it be a supermarket or a departmental store? Even an electronics store was considered. Finally,

common sense and understanding won out. The safest bet, for the all-male team was to retail men‟s

wear. They knew the male psyche and felt that they had discerning taste in men‟s clothing. The

concept would be that of a lifestyle store in a luxurious space, which would make for a great shopping

experience. The first Shoppers‟ Stop store took shape in Andheri, Mumbai, in October 1991, with an

investment of nearly Rs. 20 lakh. The original concept that formed the basis of a successful marketing

campaign for seven years is here to stay. And the result is an annual turnover of Rs. 160 crores and

five stores, nine years later. Everything went right from the beginning, except for one strange

happening. More than 60 per cent of the customers who walked into Shoppers‟ Stop in Mumbai were

women. This gave rise to ideas. Soon, the store set up its women‟s section. Later, it expanded to

include children‟s wear and then, household accessories. The second store in Bangalore came in

1995. The store at Hyderabad followed in 1998 with the largest area of 60,000 sq. ft. The New Delhi

and Jaipur stores were inaugurated in 1999. All this while, the product range kept increasing to suit

customer needs. The most recent experiment was home furnishings. Secure in the knowledge that

organized retailing in global brands was still in its infancy in India, Shoppers‟ Stop laid the ground

rules which the competition followed. The biggest advantage for Shoppers‟ Stop is that it knows how

the Indian consumer thinks and feels while shopping. Yes, feeling – for in India, shopping remains an

outing. And how does it compare itself to foreign stores? While it is not modeled on any one foreign

retailer, the „basic construct‟ is taken from the experience of a number of successfully managed retail

companies. It has leveraged expertise for a critical component like technology from all over the

world, going as far as hiring expatriates from Littlewoods and using state-of-the-art ERP models.

Shoppers‟ Stop went a step further by even integrating its financial system with the ERP model.

Expertise was imported wherever it felt that expertise available in-house was inadequate. But the

store felt there was one acute problem. A shortage of the most important resource of them all was

trained humans. Since Indian business institutes did not have professional courses in retail

management, people were hired from different walks of life and the training programme was

internalized. By 1994, the senior executives at Shoppers‟ Stop were taking lectures at management

institutes in Mumbai. The Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) even

restructured its course to include retail management as a subject. Getting the company access to the

latest global retail trends and exchange of information with business greats was an exclusive

membership to the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS). It allows membership by

invitation to one company from a country and Shoppers‟ Stop rubs shoulders with 29 of the hottest

names in retailing – Selfridges from the UK, C.K. Tang from Singapore, Lamcy Plaza from Dubai

and the like. With logistics I in place, the accent moved to the customer. Shoppers‟ Stop conducted

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surveys with ORG-MARG and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) and undertook in-house

wardrobe audits. The studies confirmed what it already knew. The Indian customer is still evolving

and is very different from, say, a European customer, who knows exactly what he wants to purchase,

walks up to a shelf, picks up the merchandise, pays and walks out. In India, customers like to touch

and feel the merchandise, and scout for options. Also, the majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to

pay in cash. So, transactions must be in cash as against plastic money used the world over.

Additionally, the Indian customer likes being served – whether it is food, or otherwise. The

company‟s customer profile includes people who want the same salesperson each time they came to

the store to walk them through the shop floors and assist in the purchase. Others came with families,

kids and maids in tow and expected to be suitably attended to. Still others wanted someone to carry

the bags. So, the shops have self-help counters, with an assistant at hand for queries or help. The inhouse

wardrobe audit also helped with another facet of the business. It enabled Shoppers‟ Stop to

work out which brands to stock, based on customer preferences. In fact, the USP of Shoppers‟ Stop

lies in judiciously selected global brands, displayed alongside an in-house range of affordable

designer wear. The line-up includes Levi‟s, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Walt Disney, Ray Ban and

Reebok, besides in-house labels STOP and I. Brand selection is the same across the five locations,

though the product mix may be somewhat city-based to accommodate cuts and styles in women‟s

wear, as well as allowing for seasonal variations (winter in Delhi, for instance, is a case in point).

Stocking of brands is based on popular demand – recently, Provogue, MTV Style, and Benetton have

been added. In-house labels are available at competitive prices and target the value-for-money

customer and make up around 12 per cent of Shoppers‟ Stop‟s business. Sometimes in-house brands

plug the price gap in certain product categories. To cash in on this, the company has big plans for its

in-house brands: from re-branding to repositioning, to homing in on product categories where existing

brands are not strong. Competition between brands is not an issue, because being a trading house, all

brands get equal emphasis. The in-house brand shopper is one who places immense trust in the

company and the quality of its goods and returns for repeat buys. And the company reposed its faith

in regular customers by including them in a concept called the First Citizen‟s Club (FCC). With

60,000 odd members, FCC customers account for 10 per cent of entries and for 34 per cent of the

turnover. It was the sheer appeal of the experience that kept pulling these people back. Not one to let

such an opportunity pass, the company ran a successful ad campaign (that talks about just this factor)

in print for more than eight years. The theme is still the same. In 1999, a TV spot, which liked the

shopping experience to the slowing down of one‟s internal clock and the beauty of the whole

experience, was aired. More recently, ads that spell out the store‟s benefits (in a highly oblique

manner) are being aired.

The campaign is based on entries entered in the Visitors‟ Book. None of the ads has a visual or text –

or any heavy handedly direct reference to the store or the merchandise. The ads only show shoppers

having the time of their lives in calm and serene locales, or elements that make shopping at the store a

pleasure – quite the perfect getaway for a cosmopolitan shopper aged between 25 and 45. The brief to

the agency, Contract, ensured that brand recall came in terms of the shopping experience, not the

product. And it has worked wonders. Value-addition at each store also comes in the form of special

care with car parks, power backup, customer paging, alteration service and gift-wrapping. To top it

all, cafes and coffee bars make sure that the customer does not step out of the store. In Hyderabad, it

has even created a Food Court. Although the food counter was not planned, it came about as there

was extra space of 67,000 sq. ft. Carrying the perfect experience to the shop floor is an attempt to

stack goods in vast open spaces neatly. Every store has a generic structure, though regional customer

variances are accounted for. Each store is on lease, and this is clearly Shoppers‟ Stop‟s most

expensive resource proposition – renting huge spaces in prime properties across metros, so far

totaling 210,000 sq. ft of retail space. Getting that space was easy enough for Shoppers‟ Stop, since

its promoter is the Mumbai-based Raheja Group, which also owns 62 per cent of the share capital.

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Questions:

1. What are the significant factors that have led to the success of Shoppers‟ Stop?

2. How should Shoppers‟ Stop develop its demand forecasts?

Caselet 2

The rise of personal computers in the mid 1980s spurred interest in computer games. This caused a

crash in home Video game market. Interest in Video games was rekindled when a number of different

companies developed hardware consoles that provided graphics superior to the capabilities of

computer games. By 1990, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the product category. Sega

surpassed Nintendo when it introduced its Genesis System. By 1993, Sega commanded almost 60 per

cent of Video game market and was one of the most recognized brand names among the children.

Sega‟s success was short lived. In 1995, Saturn (a division of General Motors) launched a new 32-bit

system. The product was a miserable failure for a number of reasons. Sega was the primary software

developer for Saturn and it did not support efforts by outside game developers to design compatible

games. In addition, Sega‟s games were often delivered quite late to retailers. Finally, the price of the

Saturn system was greater than other comparable game consoles. This situation of Saturn‟s misstep

benefited Nintendo and Sony greatly. Sony‟s Play Station was unveiled in 1994 and was available in

70 million homes worldwide by the end of 1999. Its “Open design” encouraged the efforts of outside

developers, resulting in almost 3,000 different games that were compatible with the PlayStation. It too

featured 32-bit graphics that appealed to older audience. As a result, at one time, more than 30 per

cent of PlayStation owners were over 30 years old. Nintendo 64 was introduced in 1996 and had eyepopping

64-bit graphics and entered in more than 28 million homes by 1999. Its primary users were

between the age of 6 and 13 as a result of Nintendo‟s efforts to limit the amount of violent and adultoriented

material featured on games that can be played on its systems. Because the company

exercised considerable control over software development, Nintendo 64 had only one-tenth the

number of compatible games as Sony‟s PlayStation did. By 1999, Sony had captured 56 per cent of

the video game market, followed by Nintendo with 42 per cent. Sega‟s share had fallen to a low of

1%. Hence, Sega had two options, either to concede defeat or introduce an innovative video machine

that would bring in huge sales. And Sega had to do so before either Nintendo or Sony could bring

their next-generation console to market. The Sega Dreamcast arrived in stores in September 1999

with an initial price tag of $199. Anxious gamers placed 300,000 advance orders, and initial sales

were quite encouraging. A total of 1.5 million Dreamcast machines were bought within the first four

months, and initial reviews were positive. The 128-bit system was capable of generating 3-D visuals,

and 40 different games were available within three months of Dream cast‟s introduction. By the end

of the year, Sega had captured a market share to 15 per cent. But the Dreamcast could not sustain its

momentum. Although its game capabilities were impressive, the system did not deliver all the

functionality Sega had promised. A 56K modem (which used a home phone line) and a Web browser

were meant to allow access to the Internet so that gamers could play each other online, surf the Web,

and visit the Dreamcast Network for product information and playing tips. Unfortunately, these

features either were not immediately available or were disappointing in their execution. Sega was not

the only one in having the strategy of adding functionality beyond games. Sony and Nintendo

followed the same approach for their machines introduced in 1999. Both Nintendo‟s Neptune and

Sony‟s PlayStation 2 (PS2) were built on a DVD platform and featured a 128-bit processor. Analysts

applauded the move to DVD because it is less expensive to produce and allows more storage than

CDs. It also gives buyers the ability to use the machine as CD music player and DVD movie player.

As Sony marketing director commented, “The full entertainment offering from Play Station 2

definitely appeals to a much broader audience. I have friends in their 30s who bought it not only

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because it‟s a gaming system for their kids, but also a DVD for them.” In addition, PlayStation 2 is

able to play games developed for its earlier model that was CD-based. This gives the PS2 an

enormous advantage in the number of compatible game titles that were immediately available to

gamers. Further enhancing the PS2‟s appeal is its high-speed modem and allows the user‟s easy

access to the Internet through digital cable as well as over telephone lines. This gives Sony the ability

to distribute movies, music, and games directly to PS2 consoles. “We are positioning this as an allround

entertainment player,” commented Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment.

However, some prospective customers were put off by the console‟s initial price of $360. Shortly

after the introduction of Neptune, Nintendo changed its strategies and announced the impending

release of its newest game console, The GameCube. However, unlike the Neptune, the GameCube

would not run on a DVD platform and also would not initially offer any online capabilities. It would

be more attractively priced at $199. A marketing vice president for Nintendo explained the

company‟s change in direction, “We are the only competitor whose business is video games. We want

to create the best gaming system.” Nintendo also made the GameCube friendly for outside developers

and started adding games that included sports titles to attract an older audience. Best known for its

extra ordinary successes with games aimed at the younger set, such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario

Bros, and Pokemon, Nintendo sought to attract older users, especially because the average video

game player is 28. Youthful Nintendo users were particularly pleased to hear that they could use their

handheld Game Boy Advance systems as controllers for the GameCube. Nintendo scrambled to

ensure there would be an adequate supply of Game Cubes on the date in November 2001, when they

were scheduled to be available to customers. It also budgeted $450 million to market its new product,

as it anticipated stiff competition during the holiday shopping season. With more than 20 million

PlayStation 2 sold worldwide, the GameCube as a new entry in the video game market would make

the battle for market share even more intense. For almost a decade, the video game industry had only

Sega, Nintendo, and Sony; just three players. Because of strong brand loyalty and high product

development costs, newcomers faced a daunting task in entering this race and being competitive. In

November 2001, Microsoft began selling its new Xbox, just three days before the GameCube made

its debut. Some observers felt the Xbox was aimed to rival PlayStation 2, which has similar functions

that rival Microsoft‟s Web TV system and even some lower level PCs. Like the Sony‟s PlayStation 2,

Xbox was also built using a DVD platform, but it used an Intel processor in its construction. This

open design allowed Microsoft to develop the Xbox in just two years, and gave developers the option

of using standard PC tool for creating compatible games. In addition, Microsoft also sought the

advice of successful game developers and even incorporated some of their feedback into the design of

the console and its controllers. As a result of developers‟ efforts, Microsoft had about 20 games ready

when the Xbox became available. By contrast, the GameCube had only eight games available.

Microsoft online strategy was another feature that differentiated of the Xbox from the GameCube.

Whereas Nintendo had no immediate plans for Web-based play, the Xbox came equipped with an

Ethernet port for broadband access to Internet. Microsoft also announced its own Web-based network

on which gamers can come together for online head-to head play and for organized online matches

and tournaments. Subscribers to this service were to pay a small monthly fee and must have highspeed

access to the Internet. This is a potential drawback considering that a very low percentage of

households world over currently have broadband connections. By contrast Sony promoted an open

network, which allows software developers to manage their own games, including associated fees

charged to users. However, interested players must purchase a network adapter for an additional

$39.99. Although game companies are not keen on the prospect of submitting to the control of a

Microsoft-controlled network, it would require a significant investment for them to manage their own

service on the Sony-based network. Initially the price of Microsoft‟s Xbox was $299. Prior to the

introduction of Xbox, in a competitive move Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 2 to $299.

Nintendo‟s GameCube already enjoyed a significant price advantage, as it was selling for $100 less

than either Microsoft or Sony products. Gamers eagerly snapped up the new consoles and made 2001

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the best year ever for video game sales. For the first time, consumers spent $9.4 billion on video

game equipment, which was more than they did at the box office. By the end of 2001 holiday season,

6.6 million PlayStation 2 consoles had been sold in North America alone, followed by 1.5 million

Xbox units and 1.2 million Game Cubes. What ensued was an all out price war. This started when

Sony decided to put even more pressure on the Microsoft‟s Xbox by cutting the PlayStation 2 price to

$199. Microsoft quickly matched that price.

Wanting to maintain its low-price status, Nintendo in turn responded by reducing the price of its the

GameCube by $50, to $149. By mid 2002, Microsoft Xbox had sold between 3.5 and 4 million units

worldwide. However, Nintendo had surpassed Xbox sales by selling 4.5 million Game Cubes. Sony

had the benefit of healthy head start, and had shipped 32 million PlayStation 2s. However, seven

years after the introduction of original PlayStation, it was being sold in retail outlets for a mere $49. It

had a significant lead in terms of numbers of units in homes around the world with a 43 per cent

share. Nintendo 64 was second with 30 per cent, followed by Sony PlayStation 2 with 14 per cent.

The Xbox and GameCube each claimed about 3 per cent of the market, with Sega Dreamcast

comprising the last and least market share of 4.7 per cent. Sega, once an industry leader, announced in

2001 that it had decided to stop producing the Dreamcast and other video game hardware

components. The company said it would develop games for its competitors‟ consoles. Thus Sega

slashed the price of the Dreamcast to just $99 in an effort to liquidate its piled up inventory of more

than 2 million units and immediately began developing 11 new games for the Xbox, four for

PlayStation 2, and three for Nintendo‟s Game Boy Advance. As the prices of video game consoles

have dropped, consoles and games have become the equivalent of razors and blades. This means the

consoles generate little if any profit, but the games are a highly profitable proposition. The profit

margins on games are highly attractive, affected to some degree by whether the content is developed

by the console maker (such as Sony) or by an independent game publisher (such as Electronic Arts).

Thus, the competition to develop appealing, or perhaps even addictive, games may be even more

intense than the battle among players to produce the best console. In particular, Nintendo, Sony, and

Microsoft want games that are exclusive to their own systems. With that in mind, they not only rely

on large in-house staffs that design games but they also pay added fees to independent publishers for

exclusive rights to new games. The sales of video games in 2001 rose to 43 per cent, compared to just

4 per cent increase for computer-based games. But computer game players are believed to be a loyal

bunch, as they see many advantages in playing games on their computers rather than consoles. For

one thing, they have a big advantage of having access to a mouse and a keyboard that allow them to

play far more sophisticated games. In addition, they have been utilizing the Internet for years to

receive game updates and modifications and to play each other over the Web. Sony and Microsoft are

intent on capturing a portion of the online gaming opportunity. Even Nintendo has decided to make

available a modem that will allow GameCube users to play online. As prices continue to fall and

technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, it remains to be seen whether these three

companies can keep their names on the industry‟s list of “high scorers”.

Questions:

1. Considering the concept of product life cycle, where would you put video games in their life cycle?

2. Should video game companies continue to alter their products to include other functions, such as

email?

END OF SECTION B

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Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

 This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15 marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200-250 words).

1. What do you understand by product life cycle? Discuss implications and limitations of product

life cycle concept.

2. Describe role of marketing channels. List the different types of marketing channels.

Organizational Behaviour

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

 This section consists of Multiple Choice and short notes type questions

 Answer all the questions.

 Part one carries 1 mark each and part two carries 5 marks each.

Part A:-

Multiple Choices:-

1. Which of the following is not comes under Maslow‟s needs theory?

1. Social needs

2. Affiliation needs

3. Physiological needs

4. Specification needs

2. Collegial model is an extension of:

a. Supportive model

b. Autocratic model

c. Custodial model

d. None of the above

3. Sigmund Freud‟s theory on personality is:

a. Related with moral values

b. Related with sexual values

c. Related with social values

d. Related with parental values

4. A person who moves fast, talk rapidly, usually impatient, measures success by quantity is a person

of:

a. Class A personality type

b. Class B personality type

c. Class C personality type

d. Class AB personality type

5. According to Maslow‟s need hierarchy theory esteem need comes at__________ position from

bottom:

a. 2nd

b. 3rd

c. 4th

d. 5th

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6. Informal communication is also called:

a. Grapevine

b. Red vine

c. Adams communication

d. Dead communication

7. Needs related to hunger, thirst, sleep etc. are considered as:

a. Safety needs

b. Physiological needs

c. Social needs

d. Self actualization needs

8. Horizontal expansion of a job that involves the addition of tasks at same level of skills:

a. Job enrichment

b. Job rotation

c. Job enlargement

d. Management by objectives

9. Path goal theory of leadership is developed by:

a. Robert R. Blake

b. Charles Bird

c. Fred fielder

d. Robert House

10. Potential or ability to influence others in a delivered direction is called:

a. Politics

b. Power

c. Motivation

d. Leadership

Part B:-

1. Define Bureaucracy.

2. State the concept of „Span of Control‟.

3. Wright a short note on classical conditioning learning theory of Ivan Pavlov.

4. What are the various stages of group development?

END OF SECTION A

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Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Caselet 1

M/s. ABC Ltd is a medium-sized engineering company producing a large-range of product lines

according to customer requirements. It has earned a good reputation as a quick and reliable supplier to

its customers because of which its volume of business kept on increasing. However, over the past one

year, the Managing Director of the company has been receiving customer complaints due to delays in

dispatch of products and at times the company has to pay substantial penalty for not meeting the

schedule in time. The Managing Director convened an urgent meeting of various functional managers

to discuss the issue. The marketing manager questioned the arbitrary manner of giving priority to

products in manufacturing line, causing delays in wanted products and over-stocking of products

which are not required immediately. Production Control Manager complained that he does not have

adequate staff to plan and control the production function; and whatever little planning he does, is

generally overlooked by shop floor manager. Shop floor managers complained of unrealistic

planning, excessive machine breakdowns, power failure, and shortage of materials for scheduled

products because of which it is impossible to stick to the schedule. Maintenance manager says that he

does not get important spares required for equipment maintenance because of which he cannot repair

machines at a faster rate. Inventory control manager says that on one hand the company often accuses

him of carrying too much stock and on other hand people are grumbling over shortages. Fed up by

mutual mud-slinging, the Managing Director decided to appoint you, a bright management consultant

with training in business management to suggest ways and means to put his “house in order”.

Questions:-

1. What would you suggest to avoid delays in dispatch of products?

2. What action should be taken by various functional managers to meet the scheduled dates?

Caselet 2

Rajender Kumar was a production worker at competent Motors Limited (CML) which made

components and accessories for the automotive industry. He had worked at CML for almost seven

years as a welder, along with fifteen other men in the plant. All had received training in welding both

on the job and through company sponsored external programmes. They had friendly relations and got

along very well with one another. They played Volleyball in the playground regularly before retiring

to the quarters allotted by the company. They work together in the company canteen, cutting Jokes on

each other and making fun of everyone who dared to step into their privacy during lunch hour. Most

of the fellows had been there for some length of time, except for two men who had joined the ranks

only two months back. Rajender was generally considered to be the leader of the group, so it was no

surprise that when the foreman of the new was transferred and his job was posted, Rajender applied

for the job and got it.

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There were only four other applicants for the job, two from mechanical section and two from outside,

when there was a formal announcement of the appointment on a Friday afternoon, everyone in the

group congratulated Rajender. They literally carried him on their shoulders, and bought him snacks

and celebrated. On Monday morning, Rajender joined duty as Foreman. It was company practice for

all foremen to wear blue jacket and a white shirt. Each man‟s coat had his name badge sewn onto the

left side pocket. The company had given two pairs to Rajender. He was proud to wear the coat to

work on Monday. People who saw him from a distance went up to him and admired the new blue

coat. There was a lot of kidding around calling Rajender as „Hero‟, „Raja Babu‟ and „Officer‟ etc.

One of the guys went back to his locker and returned with a long brush and acted as though he were

removing dust particles on the new coat. After about five minutes of horseplay, all the men went back

to work. Rajender went to his office to familiarize himself with the new job and environment. At

noon, all the men broke for Lunch and went to the canteen to eat and take a break as usual. Rajender

was busy when they left but followed after them a few minutes later. He bought the food coupon,

took the snacks and tea and turned to face the open canteen. On the left-side corner of the room was

his old work group; on the right-hand side of the canteen sat the other entire foreman in the plant—all

in their smart blue coats.

At that point of time, silence descended on the canteen. Both groups looked at Rajender anxiously,

waiting to see which group he would choose to eat with.

Questions:

1. Whom do you think Rajender will eat with? Why?

2. If you were one of the other foremen, what could you do to make Rajinder‟s transition easier?

END OF SECTION B

Section C: Applied Theory (30 Marks)

 This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15 marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. What are Psychological games & why people play these games?

2. A good leader is not necessarily a good manager.” Discuss this statement & compare leadership

with management.