#in the present Michael is a glass magician

[void-botanist]

Heads Up Seven Up

@autumnalwalker tagged me for this a while ago, and since my arms are mysteriously doing better I've been writing more. Here's something from the Nicea crew's stopover at Michael's:

Isabel perched herself back on the arm of the sofa. “It sounds like someone is breaking glass in your Do Not Enter room?” Michael’s mug was immediately back on the table. “Excuse me.” He disappeared down the hall, and with a jangle of keys got the door open, then shut it again almost immediately. “Did he tell you what’s in there?” Isabel murmured to Spinder. Spinder shrugged. “He just said it wasn’t a joke.” Michael’s muffled voice sounded like it was calling out a name rather than a curse. “You don’t think he keeps his secret wives in there, do you?” “I think it’s a bad move to keep your secret wives where they can mess up your workshop,” Rodney said. “Or at least your glass storage.”

Tagging @sarahlizziewrites, @vacantgodling, and @writinglittlebeasts, plus anyone else who wants to join in.

Nicea taglist: @kahvilahuhut @kingkendrick7

[the-great-empress]

Better with them than with you (partII)

Replaced au about obey me x what the "hell" is bad?

Here Mc is woman

warning: grammatical errors, English is not my native language

Tags: @huuvu

Part I | Part II | Part III

A long time ago Mc left with the “other” Satan, or as the six lords nicknamed him “Doppelgänger Satan”, the physiques and personalities of both Satans were opposite, however, their aromas and auras were identical like two drops of water, that “red thing” came from time to time to look for something that only Solomon, Simeon and Satan could give to Mc so that he can stay in the other hell

It's been a while since Michael and Raphael went to the house of lamentations to help Mc leave with the other Satan and to scold the brothers, except for the "real Satan", for abandoning Mc and the avatar of wrath when They needed them... when they almost died...

Michael in front of Mc seemed serene, although his eyes reflected sadness as he said goodbye to her, when Mc left... he was the one who was most upset, without warning the high-ranking angel slapped Lucifer with such force that it embedded him in the wall, Michael's face was of anger, pain and sadness, as if he had said goodbye to a great secret love, Raphael could swear that Michael would slap the rest of the brothers, Diavolo and the rest arrived in time before Michael "reconditioned" to his former companions, but only Luke was able to reason with Michael.

Even so, Michael points out Diavolo's negligence for letting Lilith's actions slide and allowing the other lords to behave that way towards Satan and Mc.

—If you really care about your plan to unite the three kingdoms, you better put on that crown that you use for your whims and not be soft on Lilith and the six Lords because BECAUSE OF THEIR FAULTS, the person who helped you the most in uniting left. to the three kingdoms and probably won't come back again

Diavolo did not punish them... or at least he did not give an exemplary punishment, he simply put them under house arrest, except for Satan, once again Diavolo was soft because of his affection for Lucifer. Michael and even Raphael and Solomon preferred that there be physical punishment, because the person who managed to connect the three kingdoms left due to the prince's negligence and favoritism, but again Luke defused the situation...

—Lord Satan~!! Ayeeee!

An adorable red mass appeared in front of the Lord of Wrath, the mass in question had a set of horns, bat wings and a tail, it was the adorable little demon that responded to the name of Ppyong, the little demon smiled radiantly at The demon held three black bags, one of them made a sound similar to full glass bottles hitting each other lightly, in fact, it had the silhouette of two bottles.

—Oh! Ppyong! I was wondering when you were coming. Are you coming for "that"?

—Yes, aye! Simeon and Solomon already contributed their parts, only Lord is missing, aye!

The smiling little demon handed him two of the bags, keeping only the one that had two bottles. The fourth brother gladly and smiling accepted them. As soon as he perceived the aroma of Mc coming from one of them, his face turned bright red and he ran to your room where you could have privacy

—Ppyong! How are you?! How is Mc?!

Another voice was present, it was Prince Diavolo accompanied by his loyal butler, both gave the image that "everything is fine" but not only were they there, there were also the rest of the lords, after all they were in the house of the laments, they had a haggard and neglected appearance, they even had circles under their eyes... they were... depressed and resentful as they stared at where Satan went...

What was “that” that only the former angel, magician and demon had to help Mc?

Why not them?

Will Mc be okay?

Why haven't you invoked them?

I miss you Mc…

Those were the thoughts of the six brothers

As for the cheerful Ppyong, he politely greeted the prince, butler and lords, the little demon was extremely oblivious to the thoughts and true situation of the brothers, he was only aware of the few things that Mc told him, positive things that were true later. After all, Ppyong earned a space in the heart of the human who did not have the courage to break the illusion that the demons of his reality were different from hers...

—I'm fine, aye! Mc… —his face expressed concern although he was also moved so much that he shed tears when he named her—, she continues to worry a lot about everyone, aye! Heals the wounded, she rebuilds destroyed houses and fights angels with her rare, out-of-this-world magic, Aye! She is a great demon, aye! Not to mention that she has the support and help of her ancestor Solomon, Miss Mc likes to talk and hear from him, aye~! —Ppyong exclaimed happily

Every time Mc heard about Lilith she seemed oblivious to the conversation.

She has never spoken about Lilith... the onlys exceptions was... before it was revealed that Lilith was her ancestor and... when Belphegor was going to kill her again

The demons of the Devildom were more than aware that the “others” of that “Hell” would not tell lies because of what said truth.

—Who would say that because our Solomon's descendants escape this reality centuries ago, we have been given the pleasure of knowing her, aye? She made some of Archangel Gabriel's feathers come off and she gave them to me. Do you want to see them, aye?

—A-ha... no thanks, I still haven't gotten used to the fact that in the other reality the angels are cruel —Diavolo spoke with his head down because the other reality was at war.

—Oh! I think we both have the same feeling Prince Diavolo, my body still doesn't get used to the little angel around even though he has proven to be a good demon and Miss Mc claims that he is good, Aye! …

—Sit with us Ppyong while you wait... whatever Satan is doing —Asmodeus spoke sweetly while making sure the little demon saw his eyes so that his charm could take effect— Come on~ sit next to me~ that bag looks heavy~ let me hold it for you while you get settled~

Since he first saw Ppyong, Asmodeus always used his charm on the little demon, at first the naive Ppyong obeyed Asmodeus, approaching him like moths to the light, however, shortly after placing his beautiful hands in those bags to know what “it” was once and for all, the stubborn Ppyong grabbed the bag and prevented him from doing so. “No, thank you, aye.” Ppyong rejected his proposals. “It must be something vital. Solomon gave the hint that it was “milky.” Could it be a potion?” Those present in the room thought, even Diavolo and Barbatos wanted to know, but Ppyong only limited himself to telling them that he promised Mc not to tell them, not even bribing him with all the things Ferrere could offer him would say that it was “that.”

—Mc is currently in Lost Paradise due to a sexual injury, aye! Although the same can be said for His Majesty Satan and His Majesty Mammon, aye —Ppyong reported smiling.

—I hope they get better —Diavolo said until his brain clicked like the rest— Wait... What?

The six brothers stood with stunned eyes and open mouths, they felt a horrible sensation in their stomachs, perhaps among the six the worst who felt at that moment was Mammon for listening to his counterpart, Mc and the word with “s” in the same sentence

Did she replace them?...

They had to go, she wouldn't replace them. Right?

Mc managed to have a threesome with whb Mammon and whb Satan

When they find out what "that" is and how she has a connection with the three kingdoms, she take from each one 🤣

Even though Simeon is still a ex angel here, he was the candidate that Ppyong wouldn't try to kill him on first sight.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

TOP 12 PRINCE CHARMINGS (FROM CINDERELLA)

@superkingofpriderock​ @princesssarisa​ @sunlit-music​ @mademoiselle-princesse​ @amalthea9​ @anne-white-star​ @lioness--hart​ @theancientvaleofsoulmaking​ @astrangechoiceoffavourites​ @parxsisburnixg​ @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark​ @filmcityworld1​

I made a ranking for Cinderella. Is fair that i make one for her greatest love. What is interesting about Cinderella’s Prince is that, in contrast to Cinderella, who is more of a character defined by her resilient hard work, kindness, romanticism and dreams of a better life, he is more of a simbolic reward for her to win, with makes him a blank slate that gives total freedom to screenwriters, directors and animators imaginations, but over the years adaptations have shown some comonalities: sometimes he is a classical brave hero, sometimes he is a lovely bumbling dork, sometimes he is just a hedonist concerned with his own fun, but at the end of the day, they all fall in love with the honest and good hearted heroine. And tonight, i will share my favorite takes on the man who catchet Cinderella’s and, by extension, our hearts.

12º Tony Oliver as the Prince in Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (1989)

There is a Prince who just wants his Dad to stop meddling with his personal life. Specially when it comes to making a ball despite the fact that he doesn’t know how to dance. But thankfully for him, while trying to escape trough the gardens he literary stepped over onto a napping Cinderella, who promptly teached him how to dance, and how to love.

11º Florian Bartholomäi as Prince Viktor in Sechs Auf Einen Streich (2011)

This Prince can’t hit a target with his arrows to save his life, and isn’t particularly excited to have the responsabilities of a King. But he is kind and humble to help Cinderella to catch back some lost piglets in the woods, even if it means getting dirt in the mud, and for her and the audience, sometimes that is enough.

10º Jimmy Smits as Prince Felipe in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child (1995)

A Prince who admits that he isn’t fit for battlefield and would rather spend time chilling in the Palace’s dance floor. What it’s not to love about him?

09º  Pavel Trávnícek as the Prince in Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)

The original Slacker Prince, who is constantly running away from studying with his tutor to go hunting in the forest. He looks chill enough to accept handing over the actual role of ruller to a wise Prime Minister.

08º Masami Kikuchi as Prince Charles in Cinderella Monogatari (1996)

A Slacker who has to learn about dealing with the consequences of his actions! Charles prefers a hundred times to go out fencing than to studying Power and Politics, and wears his best friend’s Alex clothes to pretend that he is page and go out stealing the grapes of his own family vines. But when Cinderella is unfairly framed by the grape robbery, Charles has to slowly understand that not everything is fun and games, and that he has to think in doing something for the well being of others, providing a good character arc about maturity and responsability.

07º Dougray Scott as Prince Henry in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Another Prince who has to go trough a character arc, this time about letting go of his prejudices. Henry first runs in the heroine Danielle while running away from an arranged marriage that his parents are trying to push over him. He falls in love with her when she presents herself as the noble lady Nicole and the two share heroic adventures, but eventually the masquerade will have to be broken, and Henry must decide: will his class prejudices win over him, or will he accept Danielle for who she trully is and assume the love he has for her to the world?

06º Matthew Broderick as Prince Henry in Fairy Tale Theater (1985)

The adorkable Prince who gaved a second ball to see his mysteryous beloved lady again and conquered her hearth with melon balls. Three word describe him: Himbo! Himbo! Himbo!

05º Stuart Damon as Prince Chistopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

The veteran warrior hero who after having many adventures rescuing damsels and slaying dragons and evil sorcerours, is getting ready to settle down in a calm, domestic family life. When i watch Damon’s Prince Christopher, i feel that his shoulder will be a strong source of support and comfort to Cinderella after all she went trough, and that’s what makes me to want so much for him to get together with her.

04º Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

While Stuart Damon was a strong Prince with lots of world experience and confidence, Paolo Montalbán was a young man that, instead of being known as a travelling dragon slayer and damsel rescuer,had the feeling of falling in love itself be his greatest adventure. Because of that, i felt that as a romantic partner, he was in a more equal footing with his version of Cinderella, portrayed as another young lady that was about to discover the world, and the two found the perfect companion in each other for their emotional journey. Plus, it helps the higher ranking that after this 1997 TV Movie production, Montalbán retook the role of Prince Christopher in the 2000 stage production known as The Enchanted Edition. Is he or not the definitive face for this musical version of the character at this point?

03º Richard Chamberlain as Prince Edward in The Slipper and The Rose (1976)

He can sing, he can dance, he has a happy musical number about pondering his mortality in his family’s mausoleum, he helps his best friend getting together with the girl he likes, he fights with his father for the right to marry whoever he wants for love. Chamberlain gaved a very energetic an fun performance to the one of the most idealistic and romantic encarnations of Cinderella’s Prince, and for this he earns the number three spot in this ranking.

02º Michael Wilding as Prince Charles in The Glass Slipper (1955)

After spending years studying in London, Paris and Rome, Prince Charles returns to his father’s small principality to reconect with his people and prepare to become the next rulling Duke. One day, walking in the woods, he remembers that he didn’t knew what sorrow was until one day when he was eight years old and saw a poor five year old girl of sad rebellious eyes crying and running in despair for the loss of her mother. By the force of destiny, he finds that same girl as a grown woman and despite her initial rejection of his polytiness as mockery, he insists in being her friend, presenting himself as Son of the Cook at the Palace of the Duke and teaching her to dance. One day, Charles that he is falling for the sad girl and kisses her, but she runs away, afrayed of being loved. And he melancholicaly sits at the piano to sing, reflecting about how her sad eyes and explosive rebellious temper, instead of repelling, atract him to her, and he asks himself how to make her thrust him.

For being this kind, perfect friend, this version was originally going to be my number one. Until he got surpassed by...

01º  Aleksey Anatolyevich Konsovsky as the Prince in Zolushka (1947)

This is a colorfull russian feature film adaptation of the Charles Perrault version of the fairy tale. One of the highlights of this adaptation is how it combines its visuals with good dialogues, where the characters talk honestly about their feelings. Thanks to that, it is one of the first adaptations to explore the Prince as human being, instead of treating him as a simple trophy. We first see him sitted at the ball, looking bored, trowing a paper plane onto the Stepmother to amuse himself. And then, he is called by his father to receive the new guest of unknown identity, and smiling in awe he says to his father that he cannot speak at her vision. A magician makes a spell for the guests to spent time in their dream lands, and the Prince gets alone with the unknown lady in a beautifull garden, asking what counsel would she give to a friend of his who likes a lady but doesn’t know how to tell her. He gets to sing to her. Back at the ball room, during their dance he guesses that she would like some ice cream, and he goes far as to select fourty different flavours, but when he arrives, the lady says goodbye and that she must go away, but he begs her to stay, declaring his love for her. When she is gone, leaving a glass slipper behind, he admits to have felt ofended with her running from him, but still wants to get reunited with her, going in the next morning to a search in the woods, where he hears a beautifull singing voice: the voice of his mysteryous beloved from the ball, to whom he promisses going in the most difficult quests, if they mean he will earn her love.

Prankster, wish guesser, shy, proud, and, above all, romantic, Aleksey Anatolyevich Konsovsky’s performance is historically significant in reaching the right balance of making the Prince the perfect man of Cinderella’s dreams, while also being palpably human, and that is why he is my number one portrayal of Cinderella’s Prince.

Honorable Mention: Robert Westenberg in Into the Woods (1987), The Triplets version (1998).

This list is dedicated to the memory of Libuše Šafránková (7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021)

[crowdvscritic]

round up // MARCH 22

A short summary of this month’s pop culture picks: Cons! True crime! Cacti! 

As always, It’s difficult to summarize my miso-mash of recommendations each month, so don’t be surprised when you see Tony Bennett and a magazine memorial below. And with the Oscars finally airing this month, 2021’s film year finally comes to a close. I’m still processing all of the events of the evening, and you don’t to hear anymore talk about THAT moment, so I’ve just got a few more recommendations from the list of nominees for you. 

March Crowd-Pleasers

1. Queenpins (2021)

Pals from The Good Place Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste tell a true story about extreme couponing gone wrong! My expectations were low for a Paramount+ original movie, but with a cast also including Paul Walter Hauser, Joel McHale, and Vince Vaughn, I gave it a chance. What a pleasant surprise! If you’re a fan of any of those performers or if you have any interest in true crime stories more bizarre than gruesome, it’s worth a watch. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. Uncharted (2022)

Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are taking inspiration from Indiana Jones and Jack Sparrow as they search for Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure. Secret tunnels, intricate maps, and Antonio Banderas hamming it up as the villain make it one of the most fun big screen outings I’ve had in awhile. Don’t think too hard about plot holes—just sit back and enjoy the adventure. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

3. The Prestige (2006)

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are rival magicians battling through years of long cons! David Bowie(?!), Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and Andy Serkis get caught up in their schemes, and we get dazzled by the Christopher Nolan trickery. After watching, I naturally had to rank all of Nolan’s major films by Dead Wife Energy on Letterboxd. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10

4. 21 (2008)

If you can get past the Kevin Spacey of it all, 21 is a pretty fun true crime thriller. Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth are MIT geniuses making millions counting cards in Vegas. Spacey is their mastermind professor, and Laurence Fishburne is the Vegas bouncer trying to protect the casinos’ cash. I couldn’t keep up with all their Blackjack hijinks, but we can all connect with a story about struggling college students. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

5. Desert Botanical Garden (Phoenix, AZ)

I usually highlight cultural experiences around the arts, but if there’s anything that’s going to make me branch out, it’s a garden full of cacti. I made my first trip to the Southwest this month, and the landscapes lived up to my hopes and dreams after traipsing so many Western movies the last few years. (John Ford knew what was up.) You can find Chihuly glass installations that complement the foliage set up around the Garden, but the one-of-a-kind greenery and butterfly exhibit don’t need any dressing up to make them worth a visit.

6. In Memoriam: Entertainment Weekly + InStyle Print Editions

And now an ode to two publications that helped me figure out a little more about myself. 

In the middle school and high school, I became a regular EW.com reader. Almost every day after school, I’d check out the headlines, slideshows, and reviews, eventually steering me from celebrity gossip sites (thrilling to a gossip-fueled sixth grader) to film history, critical thinking about art, and, okay, also some red carpet Best Dressed lists. I started subscribing to the magazine as an adult, and reading it cover-to-cover in the pool on Friday nights was just becoming a pastime.

When I turned 15 in 2007, my mom bought a super-fat September issue of InStyle with Gwen Stefani on the cover. I still have that issue on a shelf, and because I’m a weirdo, I have almost every issue from the decade-plus I’ve subscribed. (Note to self: Ask a therapist about this.) I stayed so long because InStyle never wavered in its commitment to making self-presentation and self-confidence accessible to every woman, its finesse at explaining trends and industry moments to non-insiders, and its incredible fashion photography. I’m not exaggerating when I say InStyle helped me figure out how to dress in high school (I call Middle School my “Fashion Dark Ages,” and you would, too, if you saw pictures), and I literally never skipped articles in the magazine for years to help me get there. At 15, I also discovered my loves for Audrey Hepburn and John Hughes movies, and those pop culture icons and this magazine came at just the right time to help me figure out what makes me come alive. (Note to therapist: There’s something in here that I could pay you thousands of dollars to unpack.)

While both mastheads are continuing online, I’m in denial the only two magazines I subscribe to won’t be showing up in my mailbox next month. Email newsletters and images on Pinterest are not the same as flipping through glossy pages, and I’ll miss them both dearly.

March Critic Picks

1. CODA (2021)

CODA may be an unlikely Oscar contender, but it’s no surprise it’s a fan favorite. Read my Crowd and Critic reviews in my latest installment of my Best Picture Project. 

2. Licorice Pizza (2021)

On paper, this movie is not for me, which is why I didn’t rush to check it out. Sometimes I love it when I’m wrong! As a longtime HAIM fan, I loved seeing Alana in a role as complex and alive as this one, and the soundtrack is the best argument I should give ‘70s music and fashion another evaluation. (Sorry not sorry, but it’s not usually my thing.) If you have trouble believing this movie is a feel-good vibe start-to-finish, remember we live in a world where The Graduate, Harold and Maude and Lost in Translation are bona fide classics and the mostly innocent relationship in Licorice Pizza is less concerning than any of those May-December relationships. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 10/10

3. One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (2021)

I raved about this duo’s latest album, and this broadcast performance at Radio City Music Hall is additional proof they are some of the GOATs.

4. Gun Crazy (1950)

It’s not Bonnie and Clyde, but it’s basically Bonnie and Clyde. Tense, tragic, and romantic all at once, Peggy Cummins and John Dall are killer as a pair of killers, and baby Russ Tamblyn makes an appearance, too. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. Good Reads

The reads I spent the most time with this month, including musings on Hollywood (duh), how we talk about controversial topics, and the further-developing #MeToo conversation. 

“All 18 Best Picture Nominees Directed by Women in Oscars History,” variety.com (2022)

“The Things I’m Afraid to Write About,” TheAtlantic.com (2022)

“Sexual Harassment Went Unchecked at Christianity Today,” ChristianityToday.com (2022)

“Opinion: Consent is Not Enough. We Need a New Sexual Ethic,” WashingtonPost.com (2022)

“The 100 Greatest Movies of the 1980s,” RollingStone.com (2022)

“John Carter Changed Hollywood, but Not in the Way Disney Hoped,” HollywoodReport.com (2022)

6. Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)

In one room, you can see guitars Elvis and Johnny Cash played. In another (and another and another), you can see instruments from literally every instrument in the world. Speaking of Tony Bennett, the cafe has a quote on the wall from Tony Bennett calling this his favorite museum, but you don’t have to be as musical as him to find it impressive.

7. The Oscars

I chatted with ZekeFilm editor-in-chief Jim Tudor about our Oscars predictions and expectations in the latest episode of ZekeTalk—as you may have guessed we did not see THAT moment coming. I’m not pretending everything about this telecast would’ve worked even without it, but there were a still highlights worth catching:

Beyoncé’s performance of “Be Alive”

Troy Kotsur wins Best Supporting Actor

The Oscars Celebrates the 60th Anniversary of James Bond - I love a good montage!

CODA accepts the Oscar for Best Picture

Also this March…

Still not ready to stop move on from this year’s Oscar nominees? Me either. I just wrote about Being the Ricardos and West Side Story for ZekeFilm.

Also at ZekeFilm this month, we watched and wrote about major movies we missed from the 1910s. I checked out D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance, and, boy, was it looooong.

Button up your uniform and step into your dancing shoes! On SO IT’S A SHOW?, Kyla checked out Rory’s inspiration for a DAR event, the Hollywood Canteen. We watched the star-studded movie that promoted it, and then we looked into the other movie we mixed it up with, how Hollywood A-listers supported the war effort during World War II, and whether Rory’s idea was a hit. Spoiler: When the Andrews Sisters show up to sing, it’s a piperoo!

Photo credits: Good reads. InStyle and Museums my own. All others IMDb.com.

[pengychan]

[Good Omens] Winging It - 1 Corinthians 3:3

Summary: Shockingly, attempting to destroy an angel without consulting God first comes with consequences. There is more than one way to fall, and a thousand more ways to inconvenience an angel and a demon who just wanted to be left in peace. Characters: Gabriel, Crowley, Aziraphale, Beelzebub, Michael, Uriel, Sandalphon Rating: T  

Prologue and all chapters are tagged as ‘winging it’ on my blog.

A/N: Well, this is where Warlock accidentally brings up something none of the two idiots who raised him ever thought about. Plus, Beelzebub gets a mug.

Art by @lunaescribe​

***

“Well. I have to admit, this will speed things up quite considerably.”

Leaning on the door he’d just opened, Crowley grinned. Said door would normally lead into a backroom in Aziraphale’s bookstore, but with some imagination from his part it now opened right on the spacious loft of the very nice cottage they had only just purchased in the South Downs, with a generous and perfectly valid check.

“I can’t believe you considered putting everything in boxes and calling a moving company. How do you keep forgetting what we can do?”

Much of it, Aziraphale suspected, came from the fact Heaven seemed much better than Hell at keeping track of miracles performed and part of him still expected to receive a strongly worded letter against frivolous miracles from Gabriel if he pushed it too far. Well, maybe not from Gabriel, but from… whoever replaced him.

And besides… “Well, I’m hardly the only one who occasionally forgets,” he said.

Crowley frowned. “What do you mean by that? I never just forget I can miracle my way--”

“Why did you not use this trick to get to Tadfield last summer?”

A few rather amusing things happened on Crowley’s face, and Aziraphale watched it all unfold with keen interest. His eyebrows shot up, his mouth opened, then closed, opened again. His forehead scrunched, and finally he opened his mouth again. He stammered a little before catching himself.

“Well-- I-- ngh-- I had to make a proper entrance, no?”

“Oh?”

“Come on, the flaming Bentley - it was cool, is what I’m saying.”

Aziraphale was, in general, rather charitable. It came with being an angel, he had thought for a long time, but now he suspected it was more of a personal trait of his (a concept that was novel and somewhat exciting to him). Now, however, a slightly less charitable side of him almost quipped something on how Crowley hadn’t precisely looked like he’d planned for the flaming part when he’d fallen on his knees before the remains of the Bentley.  

Almost, but no.

“It… was a rather memorable entrance,” he finally conceded, and Crowley grinned. 

“Oh, I know. It may have been my very last dramatic entrance, I figured  had to make it coun--”

“Hello? Is anyone in?”

The voice that suddenly reached them from the entrance of the shop, followed by the sound of the heavy door closing, caused Crowley to shut his mouth and stare at him. Aziraphale stared back, two thoughts suddenly writhing around his mind like ferrets locked in a struggle. The first was that ah, he must have forgotten to shut the door. The second was that he knew that voice.

It wasn’t one he’d expected to hear again anytime soon.

“Hey! Is someone in?” Warlock Dowling called out again, now just on the other side of a large bookcase. Crowley recoiled, seemed to realize he was still holding open a door leading to something that was very conspicuously a loft in an entirely different building, and slammed it shut before shoving his sunglasses back on his face.

And just on time, too. When Aziraphale turned, Warlock was only a few feet away. 

“Hey, Brother Francis! Is that yo-- huh. The hell happened to your teeth?”

Ah, yes. Yes, the teeth. He had changed his teeth back then. “Ah, er… those… I--” Aziraphale stammered, fervently praying he would not recognize him as the magician at his birthday party, or Crowley as one of the waiters. Thank God, there seemed to be no such realization.

“Braces,” Crowley spoke quickly. “He got braces. Work miracles, don’t they, angel?”

Relieved as he was for being provided an excuse, Aziraphale knew right away Crowley had made a mistake. Warlock had heard his nanny calling the gardener angel a few times growing up - they hadn’t been terribly careful - they had managed to convince him Nanny Ashtoreth had meant to mock kindly Brother Francis when he’d asked questions, but if he remembered--

Warlock Dowling’s eyes grew wide as saucers. Oh no, Aziraphale thought. He did.

“Nanny Ashtoreth?” Warlock exclaimed, clearly stunned, and Crowley stammered a little for the second time in only a few minutes. “What is she-- what are you…?”

“Uh, that-- isn’t really--” the thought of trying to lie his way out of that crossed Crowley’s mind, sure enough, plain as day, but in the end he seemed to realize it would only make the boy all the more suspicious. “I mean, these days I don’t go by that name, but I guess-- er--”

“What-- oh!” the boy shook his head. “Ah, shit, I didn’t-- fuck.”

“Young man! Your language!” Aziraphale protested, unable to keep himself from cringing a little. Crowley didn’t mind the language at all, of course; he’d taught him most of those words. He seemed busy panicking over... everything else.

“We can explain everything--”

“I didn’t mean to, uh. Use that name,” Warlock said quickly. “So, what is it now? Sir?” he went on, uncharacteristically flustered, and it dawned on Aziraphale what one would logically assume upon seeing their old, very much human nanny presenting as a very much human male. His reaction was enough for the distress over his language to fade away into a fond sort of pride. 

Maybe some of Brother Francis’ lessons had stuck, after all. With all that had been going on in the days before the Armageddon’t, after realizing they had the wrong boy from the start, thoughts of Warlock had rather slipped in the back of his mind. He now found he was very, very glad that neither him nor Crowley had been able to find it in themselves to kill the child in order to prevent the Apocalypse.

Crowley, who was putting two and two together, seemed somewhat proud himself. Whether for the quick recovery or for the foul language he’d certainly had a hand in teaching him, Aziraphale was not sure. “Anthony J Crowley,” he said. “Crowley will do.”

Warlock seemed to consider it for a moment. “It’s kind of a crap name,” he finally said.

Well, maybe not all of Brother Francis’ lessons had stuck, but then again he had been raised with a literal demon talking in his left ear.

Crowley frowned, crossing his arms. “Your name is Warlock, kid.”

“Well, I didn’t choose it,” the boy pointed out, and Crowley seemed rather cross to realize he didn’t have a good retort to that. 

“What are you doing here, Warlock?” Aziraphale asked. “Not that we don’t appreciate seeing you again, dear boy, but did you not move to the Middle East?”

“It sucked. Too hot. Too much sand. Didn’t know anyone and dad is a prick.” Warlock shrugged. “I got to come back here in a boarding school. Just had to be enough of a pain in the ass to get them to want to send me away,” he added, and grinned up at Crowley, entirely ignoring the way Aziraphale cleared his throat to show his displeasure at his language. 

Crowley grinned back, like… well. Like a proud nanny. 

“So I figured I’d drop by,” Warlock went on, glancing around. “Thought you were taking the piss when I saw the address was that of a bookstore, though. But you’re really here. The hell?”

“Well, I-- we are in the process of moving,” Aziraphale muttered, only to be taken aback when Warlock’s face suddenly split in a wide grin. 

“Ha-ah! I knew it?”

Aziraphale blinked, and turned to Crowley. He couldn’t see him blink through the glasses, but the message behind his raised brows - “No, I got nothing either” - was easy to infer.

“If I may ask you to elaborate…?”

“You fucked!” Warlock exclaimed, getting a choking noise out of Crowley and making Aziraphale wish he had not, after all, asked for him to elaborate. 

“What!”

“Warlock!”

“Language!”

“What the fuck--”

“Crowley!”

“You totally fucked! I mean, sh-- he called you angel all the time, you were really obvious, and now you’re moving together--”

“My dear boy, we-- we most certainly did-- not,” Aziraphale stammered. If the heat he felt in his face was anything to go by, he was now about the color of a ripe tomato. As a matter of fact, that had never… really come up. He saw no reason why it ought to come up, neither of them was human and therefore-- therefore-- well. That was not the moment for needless speculation. “Where did you even learn…?” he began, glancing towards Crowley, who lifted his hands.

“Wasn’t me,” he said quickly. Aziraphale sighed, and decided to let the matter drop. 

“You are a child, I’d really rather you don’t bring up such matters,” he finally managed. 

Warlock huffed. “I’m twelve,” he said, as though informing them he had a failed marriage under his belt and a mortgage on his shoulders. Crowley huffed right back. 

“Not yet, you’re not. We remember when you were born.”

“Hmph.”

Aziraphale cleared his throat, trying to collect himself. “Well-- er. Why don’t you come upstairs? I have cake, and I suppose you have been up to a lot these past months.”

“Up no no good, I should hope,” Crowley muttered, gaining himself a shrug. 

“Did my best. Uh, worst.”

“So, cake!” Aziraphale spoke quickly before Crowley could be any more of a bad influence, and hurriedly ushered Warlock upstairs, turning just a moment to raise an eyebrow at Crowley. 

Crowley just grinned, and followed.

***

“I ought to have incinerated that mortal on the spot.”

“I’d say it’s for the best that you didn’t.”

“He dared raise his voice at me.”

“You were about to walk out with a mug from the gift shop.”

“And…?”

“Without paying.”

“First of all it’s their own fault for calling it a gift shop. You aren’t meant to pay for gifts, are you?”

“Well-- no, I suppose not.”

“It’s dishonest advertising, that’s what it is. I would know, we invented it. And furthermore, the arrogance to demand payment from the Lord of the Flies--”

“He really didn’t know any better. I think his ignorance can be forgiven.”

A snort. “A Prince of Hell is not meant to be forgiving,” Beelzebub muttered, but decided to let the matter drop for the time being. After all, they did have the mug after a paper bill had passed from Gabriel’s hand to that of a mortal who had absolutely no idea how close he had come to a violent death that day. 

“Right. Either way, now you have the mug.”

Yes, they did have the mug. Not that they needed one, to be entirely honest, but they’d decided to take it after seeing the Titanic painted on the side. A good mug, celebrating what had been a very good day in Hell. It might just replace the skull they were currently using, which honestly was there mostly for intimidation and was a very impractical thing to drink from. 

And they supposed that it had been rather nice of Gabriel to pay for it, though they were not entirely sure whether it had been for them or just to avoid a mysterious case of spontaneous combustion of a gift shop employee. It was a gift, all right. Odd. 

They were not used to the concept of receiving gifts. Sacrifices, a long time ago, sure. Boons. Pledges, but all of it for something in return, or as a token of respect borne of fear. Not this time, it seemed, because that fool neither asked for anything nor he feared them. 

... Perhaps they were overthinking it. It was a mug, Titanic print or not. Not much of a gift either, only… definitely a first. Since the Fall, at least, and they were not sure how to react - until they remembered they had a plan, sort of, and were supposed to stick to it. “Thank you.” Beelzebub, Prince of Hell and Lord of the Flies, spoke without looking up. Giving thanks was unfamiliar and not precisely pleasant, but it came easier than the apology he’d had to utter the previous night. 

“Huh?” Gabriel blinked, glancing down at them, then at the mug - and, thank Satan, he seemed to catch one without need for Beelzebub to specify. “Ah, that. You’re welcome,” he said, and looked away, clearing his throat - which turned quickly into a yawn. 

Beelzebub frowned. “Am I boring you now, or…?”

“Apologies, I have been up since four in the morning. I had a very early shift.”

“Ah, I see. You do need sleep at night,” Beelzebub conceded, the hint of annoyance fading. Gabriel smiled a little, and the Lord of the Flies suddenly wasn't sure what to make of the pang somewhere in their chest. That was unfamiliar, too, and somewhat unsettling.

“You’re curiously prone to forget that, considering how often you appear at my place at night,” he said, but he didn’t sound precisely annoyed. “Well, I would appreciate being able to sleep tonight, but I will be free tomorrow. If you wish to meet--”

“Works for me,” Beelzebub replied quickly, and disappeared suddenly in a cloud of sulphur, back to Hell, the cheap gift shop mug held firmly in their hands.

***

If Dagon noticed the mug sitting where the skull cup had been for millennia, she made no mention of it. Nor did anybody else, for the matter, while Beelzebub sat on their throne, scowling at the file in their hands. 

But then again, hardly anyone was foolish enough to talk unnecessarily around an obviously scowling Prince of Hell. They steered clear, which was precisely what Beelzebub wanted. Truth be told, being alone with their thoughts was the main reason behind their scowl. 

Not that they didn’t have reasons to be scowling: reading through Gabriel’s file showed them they had failed to really get any sins out of him. Maybe they should think of ways to speed it up - this was getting nowhere - but on the other hand… they were supposed to play the long game. Make him grow to trust them more, and surely it was working. 

Maybe they could give the current plan a little more time to start bearing fruit, after all, before they considered more direct action. It would mean having to bear more encounters with that moron but, all things considered, it was a sacrifice they were willing to make.

***

“It was nice to catch up, wasn’t it?” Aziraphale finally said once out of the train station again. 

“Yeah, guess it was.”

“Maybe we should have driven him back to his school, he did like the Bentley…”

“He’ll be fine. Someone gave him a blessing to ensure an absolutely safe trip back with no one noticing his absence, no?”

“Of course I did, after giving him a good stern talk about how foolish it was to come all the way to London without telling anyone!”

“Please, you think that was stern? Kid wasn’t even listening to you. Brother Francis cannot do stern to save his life,” Crowley muttered, elbowing him a little. It gained him a huff. 

“Well then, why didn’t you say something?”

“Because as far as I’m concerned, he did a great job and I'm not one to stifle talent,” he replied, entirely honest. He was pretty impressed by the deception Warlock was able to pull at only eleven. He was going places. Would probably be a better politician than Thaddeus Dowling, who had several facial tics revealing his each and every lie the moment it was uttered. Amazing he’d even made it as far up the ladder as he had, really. 

Unaware of his thoughts, Aziraphale gave a sigh that faded in a sort of resigned smile as they climbed in the Bentley. “You fiend.”

“Thanks,” Crowley said, and… didn’t start the car. 

“... Everything all right, dear?”

“I, uh-- yes. All good,” he replied, and did start the engine. Right, right, so they were not going to talk about the nonsense Warlock had spoken, which was all well and good, of course. It had never even crossed their minds, the mere thought of doing anything carnal. It was simply not in their nature. There were some demons who kind of made it their thing when it came to corrupting mortals, but Crowley was not one of them, and Aziraphale-- well. He was an angel, so certainly not… or so he assumed. 

Not that he knew many angels well, on a personal level. But still-- not the angel sitting in the passenger seat, surely. What Warlock had said was nonsense. No reason to speak of it. No reason for it to keep lingering in his head.

“Is… anything on your mind, or…?

“No, no. Nothing at all,” Crowley said quickly, pulling out of the parking spot, and Aziraphale did not insist. Part of him was relieved and part of him disappointed, which was weird, but Crowley did a pretty good job at ignoring both.

***

“What are you doing?”

“Running.”

“I can see that, don’t get smart. Where to?”

“Around the park and then back.”

“... For what purpose?”

“It’s called jogging. A human thing.”

Moving alongside him on an electric scooter - where had they found that? - Beelzebub made a face. “Human habits are getting to you,” they said, and patted the handlebar of the electric scooter. “You should try one of these. They piss off absolutely everyone, whether you’re on the sidewalk or on the road. It’s amazing. Also, they are causing an increase in accidents.”

“None of it sounds good.”

“Exactly my point.”

The statement made Gabriel chuckle. “I believe I’ll leave it to you. I’d rather jog.”

“Why are you doing it in the first place? It looks stupid.”

“To keep fit, I suppose.” Truth be told, Gabriel was jogging mostly because he rather enjoyed it, even now that he had an actual physical form and thus his breath would get short if he pushed himself too far. And well, as he now had a human form, he supposed he may as well try and keep it in decent working order. Which would also mean drastically changing his diet into something with more greens in it, if what he’d read was to be trusted, but he was in no particular rush to experiment when he could simply stick to food he knew his new form appreciated. 

“Fit for what?”

“Well, for… for…” Gabriel couldn’t think of a single thing in his current existence that required physical prowess, and therefore he was unable to really come up with an answer. “You know, in case-- the War does happen.” It was the first thing to come to his mind, even though now he had no idea if the War was actually ever meant to happen in the first place and, if it was… then Gabriel certainly wouldn’t be part of either army.

Beelzebub was aware of all that, as the brief silence that followed told him plainly. However no mockery followed, no stinging comment about his current state as a mere mortal. Just a hum, barely audible beneath the steady buzzing of the electric scooter and Gabriel’s own steps.

“Still trying to figure that one out,” Beelzebub muttered. “If the war to end all wars is meant to happen later, or-- not at all. Was it ever part of the Great Plan? What the Heaven was that about if not? Are we supposed to do something else to make it happen?”

“You were supposed to see the Antichrist delivered to Earth.”

“Which we did, as you know. But I cannot imagine how that went so wrong. He was the son of Satan, he was meant to do as his nature commanded. And then he just--”

“Rebelled?” Gabriel asked, unable to keep himself from smiling faintly at the irony, and glanced sideways. Leaning on the handlebar of the scooter, Beelzebub was frowning. 

“Yes. He rebelled. I know. Hilarious.”

“I believe humans have a saying on apples not falling far from trees.”

A scoff. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“I take it his father did not appreciate the irony of it.”

“He’s no longer his Father, the brat rewrote reality,” the Lord of the Flies muttered. “He certainly did not appreciate it, but he hasn’t made his displeasure known to the rest of Hell so far.”

“Oh?”

“He keeps to himself, of course. We have our instructions - mostly - and he has ways to make his will known. We don’t need to talk to him unless he decides to personally see someone which is usually not good news.”

Gabriel thought back on the conversations over the millennia with the Voice of God, trying to remember last time God had talked to any of them personally. It had been so long, he couldn’t even quite recall. The chuckle that left him was somewhat bitter. “That sounds rather familiar.”

“What!” Beelzebub let out an outraged buzzing noise, head whipping toward him as though he had insulted them personally. “Don’t you dare compare Satan to God! The insult will not stand.”

Not too long ago, Gabriel might have considered it blasphemy and would have been aghast of hearing it himself, if for precisely the opposite reason. Now, he shrugged as he kept running. “I am not precisely-- well, the ruler keeping away, not really talking to anyone, giving instructions that are not always exactly clear or giving none. I don’t understand, why rebel to the absolute authority of God to pass absolute the absolute authority of Sat--”

“You know nothing, Archangel!” The Prince of Hell snapped, clearly forgetting in the heat of the moment that he’d long since been kicked out of the celestial host. “His plan is no mystery, and we are given precise instructions to follow it, unlike--”

“But it was God’s Great Plan you were fulfilling. The Antichrist was meant to be part of God’s design, so you were still following--”

“This insult will not stand! You take it back right no--”

Two things happened in quick succession: first, Beelzebub forgot they were standing on an electric scooter and turned to grab his sweater. Second, related to the first thing, the scooter lost thrust and caused Beelzebub to nearly fly, ironically, off it. “Agh!”

“Hey! Careful!” Gabriel acted out on instinct, reaching out, and was somehow able to snatch up Beelzebub before they had a rather unpleasant meeting with the pavement. “Are you all right?”

It was a stupid question to ask the Prince of Hell, all things considered. The same Prince of Hell he was currently holding up bridal style in his arms while standing in the middle of the park. If anything was bruised, it would be their pride - in which case Gabriel expected there would be, quite literally, hell to pay. However, as he glanced down, Gabriel saw no fury and a frankly astounding amount of incredulity on Beelzebub’s face. 

You didn’t, that gaze said. Their hand had grasped the front of his sweater out of instinct, they were… not letting go. 

“I, uh… apologies, I--”

“Hey, get a room!”

“Gah!” Gabriel jumped back, Lord of the Flies in his arms and all, as a youth rode past on a bike, laughing. Of course, laughter was rather quick to turn into screams when the bike’s wheels erupted in flames and the vehicle veered off course, hurtling towards the pond. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Will he survive this, or…?”

“I assume he can swim, so probably. If not, it’s his issue. If a swan gets him, that is also his issue.” Beelzebub said flatly. Gabriel glanced down at them, and found himself chuckling. It was odd, how easily he’d picked them up - how well they fit in his arms. 

“Looks like I did manage to keep fit,” he tried to joke. Beelzebub looked up at him again, their expression going from satisfaction to an odd sort of surprise before quickly turning cold.

“You. Unhand me. Now.”

“Ah-- yes. Of course.” Gabriel immediately put down the Lord of the Flies, smile dying on his lips, and stepped back. He cleared his throat, ignoring the realization that he hadn’t really wanted to put them down. “You know, trying to help. I didn’t mean to grab you, but you fell and--”

“I have no need for help,” Beelzebub snapped, and in a sudden burst of flames they were gone - but not before Gabriel was able to put a name to the expression on their face. It was not anger, or annoyance, or incredulity: for a moment before they left Beelzebub, Prince of Hell and Lord of the Flies, had looked flustered.

***

"For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" -- 1 Corinthians 3:3

***

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[judehayward]

lady gaga voice slowly fadin in: ju-Das juda-ah-ah… this depressed goblin bastard is honestly my fav male muse like i dnt typically stick w male muses tht long i struggle bt................. i’ve played him the longest of them all n always seem to return to him. jst cnt stay away. way 2 attached to this absurd little man. it’s nai btw!!!! (josefine on the main). launches right in to jude’s intro without further adieu..... (u can also find his playlist here) 🧙‍🎨

「douglas booth & cis-male」⇾ hayward , jude, the senior radcliffe student’s records show that he is a pisces and 23 years old. he is studying ART, living in moris and can be protective, laidback, nonsensical & apathetic. when i see him i am reminded of wearing a faded smiley face sticker on your forehead while receiving a serious lecture, saying “fuck off” to inanimate objects, lead marbles instead of eyes. ⇽「nai & 23 & gmt & she/her.」

he pinterest:

me in the voice of a card magician performing on the street: round up round up pick a pinterest any pinterest!

ta-da it’s aesthetics:

lead marbles instead of eyes, a stolen hearse careening down the wrong lane, wearing a faded smiley face sticker on your forehead while receiving a serious lecture, bags under the eyes that are so big they could pack enough clothes for a three week vacation, a cigarette wobbling from your bottom lip as you squint against the sunlight, passing out on a stranger’s rooftop, placing sunglasses over the eyes of a biology lab skeleton, gangling around the place like shaggy minus his scooby snacks, saying “fuck off” to inanimate objects

about tha Bitch:

born in sheffield in england, bt they went back and forth between there n san fran a lot

jude was an unhappy accident. his parents never rly used protection bc they were super Liberal n Au Naturel n believed in the pull out method bc… they were maniacs. bt then the ONE time they used a condom in an effort to b safety conscious it broke n hence…. jude was born

they just kind of ran w it bc they had such a passionate relationship tht they were like What The Hell…. may as well! itll be fine we’ll learn to be good parents n love him like normal ppl do

spoiler alert: tht didn’t work out

they were ok to him like they weren’t fully Bad bt they just found him to be a massive burden n hindrance to their plans. pretty absent n irresponsible. they literally….. had sex all day every day n acted like a pair of teenagers. it ws a super weird environment for a kid to grow up in bc he literally had no role models or… guidance or…. anything rly. occasionally they’d joke around w him or pretend they properly knew what grade he was going into but for the most part they just Didn’t Care the way parents shd. they lost his birth certificate n dnt remember what they put as his middle name so he’s jst kind of like hmmmm............. n gives himself a diff one every time ppl ask. past variations hv included: jude pauly hayward, jude maureen hayward, jude van winkle hayward. says all of these w a very straight face

despite this he does hv some nice memories w them. usually he definitely sees them fr holidays. frm being rly young their christmas tradition hs been to get a bunch of chinese food like a Banquet Feast n spend all day smoking n drinking into the early hours. perhaps not the healthiest or most responsible bt 😔 jude rly likes it it’s kind of the one time of yr he feels he has a proper family

they r both suuuuper into the arts. rly good sculptors bt they paint too n they actually own a successful gallery in sheffield n san fran

(trauma tw) as a result he grew up around a lot of creative n sometimes pretentious ppl. the friends of his parents were more present in his life than his ACTUAL parents bc they were always jetting off to diff countries to scout out new pieces fr their galleries n just have a gd time in beautiful places without…. the annoyance tht ws being responsible n looking after someone. tbh some of his parents friends were rly damaging too bt….i won’t go into that just yet. it doesn’t rly…need properly explaining bc jude never talks abt it anyway n it….is rather triggering so i’ll jst….leav it for now tbh. basically they just were Not Nice n jude had a lot of bad memories he keeps repressed bt he also??? has some gd ones..... it was a strange environment bt he’s a survivor

(death n grief tw) he hd to do community service bc he kind of… hd a bit of a breakdown before the funeral of his elderly neighbour who bsically raised him bc her kids rly didnt care abt her they jst wanted her inheritance?? so he… stole the hearse w her casket still in it n ws jst like… drivin around the place sort of… tryin nt to cry…..KJJFHSFKJGHKFG i mean. it isnt funny its actually sad bt :/ in a very bizarre n jude way. he gt caught n taken in fr questioning bt her son kind of realised hw… broken up abt her death jude ws n had a heart n didnt press charges. regardless he stil hd to do community service bc it ws like taken seriously even tho it ws his first proper offence. doin it rly exhausted n depressed him so when he wsnt doin tht he ws just hibernatin in his room……. this ws like 4 months ago nw............ just some fun lore fr u all

bc of how he ws raised he has a p cultured taste. he luvs classic lit n p much anything artsy. he can play piano 2 n sometimes gets rly high n thinks he’s mozart level gd at composing he’s jst going fking wild on the keys in a trance...... i mean he’s gd bt… chill

he’s rly sarcastic n so deadpan like he’ll say smthn completely ridiculous bt he’ll say it w his whole chest so sincere.... it’s rly hard to tell when he’s joking or serious honestly. has an overflowing secret sketchbook n if he cares abt someone he’ll probably secretly draw them. does NOT share these drawings w the person he hates being openly sentimental. at heart he is jst a very Sad Boy w lots of repressed issues like depression genuinely just does NAT giv him a single break bt he plasters over this w wise cracks n never discusses his emotions ever. he’s actually p decent or at least tries to b. he’s kind of like tht bit in superbad where michael cera gets rly drunk n makes a toast to women like tht energy...........

he has rly bad insomnia so he like never sleeps idk how he’s Alive straight up. please go to bed sir............. he always has rly sleepy eyes n rubs them tiredly mid conversation. he smokes a lot of weed to try n compensate fr this n make him tired bt he still struggles a lot

ANYWAY that aside he’s at radcliffe doing art, focusing on fine art like painting is............... the thing he luvs most...... his style is kind of.......... taking normal things n painting w surreal colours.... he likes A LOT of colour in his paintings which is kind of a stark contrast to his personality bc his world’s so.... washed out n grey............ lovs art n philosophy n literature n photography n music.... 

ummMMMMmm honestly idk i’m blankin on what else to say. ull find him smoking weed reading an american classic or gnawing at his thumbnail n getting charcoal smudges on all his clothes. wandering the streets in plaid pj bottoms n dr martens eating frm a cereal box without care in the world. he’s p broody n scruffy n he’s mostly here fr a laidback time....... doesn’t rly like when ppl take themselves too seriously........ likes strange ppl thinks the world is mde richer by them n likes when ppl can jst bounce back jokes at him without being like erm. u dont make sense mate. bc frankly he can come up w some strange stuff sometimes.............. talking to him cn b like navigating a dark n bendy road without a flashlight....... 

(drugs tw) once did shrooms n woke up naked in the woods curled up in a pile of leaves. to this day he recounts this as his werewolf transformation. hs no idea hw he ended up there n when ppl r like are u not. concerned jude. tht is so strange? he jst shrugs like.............. dunno....................... suppose i’m jst a werewolf upon occasion. so casual abt it. jst truly does Not care abt most things at all..... almost to the point tht it’s concerning (sometimes way past the point tht it’s concerning too :/)

this is the desc on an aesthetic i mde of his style once n sums it up well!! ‘additionally: too many pairs of trousers, a hideous amount of white t-shirts all somewhat stained with charcoal, a jumper so thinly knit it almost looks sheer, chipped teale nail varnish, a cream corduroy jacket with a cigarette hole singed onto the cuff, vintage wiry reading glasses he almost never wears, a freshly rolled cigarette behind his ear, a thrifted t-shirt with a warped bart simpson wearing a stethoscope with the caption ‘bard knwos cardiology’ and two crops hacked that way with kitchen scissors that he sometimes wears to paint.‘

EXPERT at rolling spliffs like jst. mkes them so precise n neat....... it’s his super power. his fav thing to smoke frm is banana flavour papers.................... linking 2 this he’s like. bad w emotions bt he does try..... once his friend (maggie) ws sad so he brought her a spliff wrapped in grape flavoured paper bc it’s her fav fruit n jst like. wordlessly gave it to her. it’s the thought tht counts.....

PLOTS!!!!!

plays bass in a band which cld b a fun connection to get together??? i picture the music being like surf rock type like........... mac demarco...... bt he also luvs elliott smith n glass animals n the cure n metronomy n neutral milk hotel n talking heads n radiohead n mazzy star n wolf alice...................... idk jst like.... within tht ballpark i suppose i imagine it being................

mayb ppl he shares classes w?????? i’d like someone tht does a similar course n they hang out tgether when it comes to trips fr the module to museums or exhibits or wtever................ they both stand in front of paintings analysing it rly wrong n saying stuff like hmmmmmmmmm....... i do declare i see a, uh..... large phallus protruding from the centre of this image...... moves something in me.......... n some elderly person looking at it besides them is like Ergh. sickened n disgraced. leaves w a brow severely furrowed

someone he smokes w on the moris rooftop late at night when he cnt sleep??? mayb they’re up n cnt sleep either fr whtever reason n it’s become an unspoken kind of ritual where they always clamber out n find each other there n jst wordlessly keep them company

jude is kind of like. protective almost to a fault sometimes........... mayb some guy he’s punched......................... if they hurt someone he cares abt........... typically it wld hv been a girl he ws kind of like. affected by his first relationship bc she had a bad home situation n ever since jst wnts..... to Protect it’s kind of like an automatic instinct ingrained in him nw 😔 all sounds very noble n well bt sometimes it cn b a bit of an escalation i wnt lie

perhaps a few hook-ups??? jude doesn’t tend to sleep w ppl he rly knows bc he just..... likes it to b an impersonal thing doesn’t like getting attached fr various reasons so mayb they only kno each other via this OR mayb he bent his rules a bit..... cld either work seamlessly or hv added drama if one side hs mre feelings or whtever

currently living in moris w 2 roommates bt i’d love some neighbours perhaps..... mayb someone tht lives directly nxt door to his room n is like ://// bc he plays music loud n weeds always drifting frm his window n mking their room smell if theirs is open too................. or mayb they get on..... mayb there’s a rly mean seagull tht lands on a branch n poos on pedestrians n they both commentate on it frm their windows like david attenborough...... they’re like he’s at it again. they’ve named him n everything

HONESTLY anything if u have an idea hmu i’d love 2 hear it.......... rubs my hands tgether in excitement to plot up a storm w u all

[one-mopeyboi]

Good Omens as the Major Arcana

The Fool - Adam and Dog (innocence, coming of age)

The Magician - God playing poker (you needn’t wait, move forward in your journey because you- pronounced “Aziraphale” - have all you need - pronounced “Crowley”)

The High Priestess - Agnes Nutter (wisdom, guidance)

The Emperor - Gabriel and hosts of Heaven (Emperor reversed ; domination, excessive control, inflexibility)

The Empress - Beelzebub and legions of Hell (The Empress is equivalent to the Emperor, and also Empress reversed; sacrificing too much without anything in return.)

The Hierophant - Archangels with Raphael no longer one of them (The Hierophant reversed is sticking and conforming to old traditions blindly. Raphael fell for asking questions)

The Lovers - Aziraphale and Crowley through time (obviously)

The Chariot - flaming Bentley (obviously)

Strength - holy water mister and flaming sword (the Strength required to fight back and be on your own side)

The Hermit - Aziraphale (The Hermit reversed is withdrawn from the world, from a certain someone’s love)

Wheel of Fortune - baby Adam and Warlock being swapped

Justice - the four Horsepeople vs Adam and the Them (What lot in life is handed to you comes from a decision in your past)

The Hanged Man - Crowley (Sacrifices must be made to benefit the bigger picture. Crowley must fall to make Good Omens happen)

Death - Newt and Anathema burning Agnes Nutter’s papers (Death is the end of a cycle so I picked this to symbolize both of them no longer being descendants)

Temperance - Michael pouring holy water (this is taken from how the tarot card itself is illustrated)

The Tower - The burning Soho bookshop (everything in life is crumbling; everything in Crowley’s eternal life is crumbling)

The Devil - Antichrist with the Them in chains (the Devil means heavy feelings of restraint, you’re stuck in a bad place and there’s something holding you back from who you wanna be)

The Star - The Them at the circus, Adam running with Dog (the Star is hope, renewal, optimism)

The Moon - Adam facing the Devil. (the Moon symbolizes doubt)

The Sun - Mr. Young, his true father coming to hug and scold Adam (the Sun is an uplifting card to tell you all will be alright)

Judgement - The holy bathtub, ”Crowley” playing with a rubber duckie in it, and ”Aziraphale” breathing fire from the hellfire column (this one is obvious - you have a moment to review your actions in the past and present and reach for the future)

The World - Champange glasses at the Ritz. To the World ♡ (not only was “to the World” said literally, but the World symbolizes a journey came full circle)

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 3/4

Our Strange Adventures signing with Tom King and Mitch Gerads is THIS SATURDAY! See you there?

Strange Adventures #1 (of 12) - Tom King, Mitch Gerads, & Evan Shaner

Adam Strange is the hero of Rann, a man famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honor. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war, Adam and his wife Alanna retire to Earth, where they are greeted by cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as happy and nice as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family and threaten the entire DC Universe. And now a surprise DC hero will have to choose between saving Adam Strange and saving the world.

Join The Future #1 -  Zack Kaplan & Piotr Kowalski

The Future. Ultra-modern megacities reward millions of their citizens with a completely funded life, with every need met, from food to housing and healthcare, in order to com-pete in an economic power struggle in which population is key. But a few rural residents still cling to their independence in what last American small towns are left. When a nearby megacity pressures the people of a small town join up or else, a young teenage girl named Clem will learn how far she'll go to defend her prin-ciples.

Dryad #1 - Kurtis J. Wiebe & Justin Osterling

 An elf and a human find solace in the sleepy forest settlement of Frostbrook where they plant their roots. But thirteen years later, their twins, Griffon and Rana are inexplicably drawn to an ancient door and discover more than they bargained for, inadvertently turning their world upside down. Now, they'll have to answer for their parents' mistakes and find that the past has a way of finding you, no matter where you hide.

Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy #1 (of 6) - Mirka Andolfo

When the placid mining village of Woodsburgh is disturbed by a series of brutal murders, the settlement is in turmoil. And as the first snow covers the chaos in a white blanket, a mysterious woman in black arrives, eliciting a totally different kind of unrest. But who is Lady Hellaine, really? And what's her secret agenda? Acclaimed UNNATURAL creator MIRKA ANDOLFO presents a sensual Victorian gothic horror about otherness, damnation, redemption, and what it means to be a monster in a horror tale perfect for fans of Penny Dreadful, Crimson Peak, The Alienist, Parasol Protectorate, and Dark Shadows. 

Billionaire Island #1 (of 4) - Mark Russell & Steve Pugh

A savage satire reuniting the critically acclaimed team behind DC's The Flintstones, Mark Russell (Second Coming) and Steve Pugh (Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass), in an all-new creator-owned series! Welcome to Billionaire Island, where anything goes...if you can afford it. But the island's ultra-rich inhabitants are about to learn that their ill-gotten gains come at a very high price.

Strange Academy #1 - Skottie Young & Humberto Ramos

The Marvel Universe has mysteriously changed in such an alarming way that Doctor Strange has done what he's avoided for decades; he's opened a school for young sorcerers. Young people from around the world with aptitude in magic have been brought together in New Orleans to study the Mystic Arts under Strange, Brother Voodoo, the Ancient One, the Scarlet Witch, Magik, Hellstrom and ALL your favorite Marvel magicians. But with all the new magical threats, is it too late?!

Superman Villains #1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Bryan Hitch & Various

The Man of Steel's greatest villains react to the biggest news to ever rock the DC Universe. Lex Luthor, Mongul, Toyman, The Joker, and more of the world's greatest villains must come to grips with how the world changes now that the truth has been revealed by Superman. Some of comics' most unique and creative voices unite to tell a story that changes all the rules.

Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantomites?

[infernomoondivineenchantress]

Warding Ritual for Spiritual Protection of your Home

This warding spell for spiritual cleansing and protection can be used for any physical space, but is especially important for your home. I recommend regular energetic hygiene practices of some sort for everyone.

Beyond the basics of smudging, this provides permanent protection wards that are powered by allies from the Spirit, plant, animal, and mineral realms. Warding can be dialed up or down to be as simple or complex as you choose, and customized to your particular practice.

Psychic and sensitive folks appreciate the sanctuary that a warded temple provides. The beauty of a magickal ward, is that you can charge it to perform in any way you desire. Much like programming a security system, you can choose who gets in, when and how they are invited to enter, and what sort of behavior is welcome during their stay.

This ritual spell-work will use four main components:

Clearing, and consecration by the four classical elements

Use of banishing pentagrams

Evocation of protective Spiritual Beings; Archangels, Gods/Goddesses, Animals, Ancestors, etc.

Creating spell-bottles for the four corners of the property as the anchoring ward.

Banishing Pentagrams: Bouncing the Trouble Makers, then Locking the Door

The pentagram is a five-pointed star that is an ancient symbol of balance, power and protection. Each point represents an element: earth, air, fire, water, and Spirit, perfectly interwoven.

A common usage of this symbol in magick includes its drawing in a specific pattern, called a “banishing pentagram.” The “all-purpose” banishing pentagram we’ll use for the clearing and protection of the home from unwanted spirits, is the one for the element of Earth, as that is most related to the physical safety of our bodies and buildings.

To draw the banishing pentagram, you begin in the lower left corner, at the Earth point, then draw upward to the Spirit point, and then on around in a clockwise fashion until the star is complete.

Think of it as pointing down to everything here in the material plane that you want to banish, then flinging it back “up” to the Spirit realms where they belong. When I draw the banishing pentagram during protection work, I think of it as bouncing the trouble-makers, by putting the key in the lock between dimensions, and locking the door behind them. The banishing pentagram is like turning the key in that lock.

Preparations and Acquisitions

Step 1: Get your house in order.

Begin with a physical cleaning and organization of your home. Chaos and filth in the material world mirrors into chaos and filth in the spiritual world. As above, so below; As below, so above. Think about it this way: In the material world, if you leave your dirty dishes laying around, and garbage everywhere, you invite the cockroaches, rats and parasites to move right in and have a feast. The nasty bottom-feeders of the world will just looooove to hang around your house.

Step 2: Get your Spirit in order.

The same is true of the spiritual realms. There are energetic equivalents of cockroaches, rats and parasites. When you live in an energetic miasma of your own mental and emotional funk – baneful self-loathing, guilty, shame-y, fearful, hateful, violent and angry turmoil – you make yourself delicious to the nasty bottom-feeders and parasites of the spiritual realm.

They, too, will looooove to feast upon YOU. The entirety of Witchcraft is there to help you get your head on straight, and become the terrifyingly effective, well-balanced, and powerful bad-ass that simply will not abide any exploitation.

To paraphrase the Rede: What you seek is within you… if you don’t find it there first, you will never find it in the outer world. So get to witchin’!

Step 3: Planning and Acquisition

You have some decisions to make about whose aid you will call into these wards, and what materials you will need as an anchor, amplifier and conduit to that power.

Materials:

4 glass jars with lids – one for each corner of your home.

Paint pens in the four elemental colors, or other decorations on the lids to signify which quarter of your home they will anchor.

Now, what to put in your jars? In the end you will need 9 ingredients that fit in each jar.

This is the part that is highly customized to your personal practice. You know how ceremonial magicians will call upon “The Watchtowers” of the four quarters? See these four ward jars to be a physical watchtower that you are building, and imbuing with powers from the three realms – Upperworld (or heavens,) middle world of the elements, and underworld.

Each ward jar will need:

1 stone or metal to amplify the upperworld Deity or Archangel of your choice.

1 stone or fetish to amplify the underworld animal spirit or ancestor of your choice.

1 stone for Air – with mental and communication nuances.

1 stone for Fire – with active, defensive, motivational nuances.

1 stone for Water – with emotional and relationship enhancing nuances.

1 stone for Earth – with protective, grounding, material nuances.

3 varieties of dried plant material – with any properties you’d like to bring to the party.

Upperworld Powers

Deities: You may choose to call on “Great Spirit” with a single ingredient – like a quartz crystal. Or choose something for two jars to be held by the Great Goddess (perhaps jet) and two for the Great God (perhaps amber,) if that is your style.

For a more polytheist approach, consider choosing a God and Goddess of the Upperworlds, and a God and Goddess of the underworld. In this case, research specific stones or items that are sacred to each of those Deities. You would then assign each Deity to one of the corners (and one ward.) Make sure that you also work out an appropriate offering or exchange in service in gratitude for their aid.

Archangels: OR – You may choose to work with the four archangels associated with the watchtowers in ceremonial magick. Choose either an individual stone for each angel, there are many to chose from that are sacred to each, or four of a single stone. Angelite, Celestite, or Selenite stones are my favorites for connecting to Angelic forces in a more general way.

Gabriel – Water – Copper

Michael-Fire – Sugilite, or an agate

Raphael – Air – Emerald or Malachite

Uriel – Earth – Amber

Underworld Powers

Spirit Animals: If you don’t already have a few Underworld Deities on the team, you may choose to work with four animals spirits: If you can ethically and legally obtain a fetish from the animals of your choice, do that. (tooth, claw, bone, shed, bit of fur or hair, feather, etc) Seek consent to work with any part of an animal. Or you may substitute an emblem to represent their powers in the working – one animal and item per jar, in the quarter you think they best relate. Here are a few examples:

Air – Birds; Hawk, Crow, Raven, Wren, Owl

Fire – Lion, Red Fox, Ram, Horse

Water – All fish; Salmon, Dolphin, Crab, Snake, Eagle

Earth – Bull, Stag, Goat, Bear, Beetle

Ancestors: OR you may choose four of your ancestors, or mighty dead, and ask if they will aid in guarding your home with you. Include a photo, a slip of paper with their name, or an object that will draw them near in their jar. Make sure that you also plan to make an appropriate offering in exchange for their aid.

Middle World Allies from the Four Elemental Planes

Choose a stone to amplify each element – you’ll need to acquire four of each (one for each jar.) Here are a few suggestions that I like…

Air – Citrine – Success, confidence, mental clarity

Fire – Pyrite – Shielding and protective, stirs ambition and focus, financial riches.

Golden Tiger’s eye – motivation, creativity, success

Iron Nail for Mars energies and protection, banishes enchantment.

Water – Blue lace agate – clear communication, peace, calm, tranquility.

Rose Quartz – universal love, trust and harmony, friendship, deep inner healing, and feelings of peace.

Earth – Green Aventurine – growth, luck, abundance, relieves anxiety, calms one’s emotions, provides comfort,

support, and balance.

Hematite – protection, grounding, de-stressing and mental/emotional balance.

Plant Allies:

Dried herbs and botanicals that have powers you’d like to bring into the home, all of these have protection qualities, but they have other nuances as well. Choose three varieties, and have enough for a teaspoon or so in each jar.

Rose petals or Lavender for love

White sage or Juniper for purification

Frankincense and myrrh for the balance of Divine forces.

Angelica root for angelic aid and guidance.

Cinnamon, Ginger, or Bay for fiery power and success.

There are literally hundreds of options to choose from – just know why you choose to use each ingredient and what power you wish it to bring to your home.

Step Four: The Cleansing and Warding Ritual

Assemble everything you will need on your altar in a central place in your home.

Open your ritual in your traditional way, lighting and awakening consecration tools and calling upon Spirit to be present as you normally would.

State your intention. Something like: I cleanse this home of all baneful influences and Spirits; I consecrate and ward this home to be a sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

I like to have both a black and white candle on the altar. As I light the black candle to start, and charge it to absorb and nullify all baneful energies that are present. I will allow this candle to burn out completely in one burning.

Consecration by the Four Elements

This part should be repeated regularly.

Materials needed:

Tealight candle, a red one is even better.

Smudge bundle of a purifying herb, such as ceremonial white sage, cedar, lavender, palo santo, etc. Or a burning incense blend of Frankincense and Myrrh – but I recommend using a high quality resin incense stick, like these from Nature Nature Incense Company, so you can draw the banishing pentagram with it in the air.

A bowl of purified water, salted with sea salt

Air and Fire: Carry the burning smudge or incense with the tealight candle on a heat-safe plate or bowl to the front door. Open the door. Hold up the smoking smudge: With the same power and authority you would use to open the elemental gates, state: I consecrate this home by air and fire! Draw a large banishing pentagram in the air with the smudge/incense stick. Visualize all baneful energies, all harmful thoughts, communication, and actions being blown out the door.

Now, repeating that phrase I consecrate this home by air and fire! carry the smudge, wafting as you go, clockwise around the entire inside perimeter of your home. Wind up and down stairs and other floors in whatever way seems natural, always flowing clockwise. When you come to an outside window, door, mirror, fireplace or any other opening, draw the banishing pentagram.

When you arrive back at the front door, see the space sealed. State with power: This home is sealed by Air and Fire! So Mote it Be!

Water and Earth: Now, do the same with the salted water. Carry it to the front door, present it and state with power: I consecrate this home by Water and Earth! Dip your index finger of your projective (dominant) hand into the water and draw the banishing pentagram over the door frame and on the front door itself. See all baneful emotional and physical energies nullified and banished from the home.

Now, walking clockwise around the perimeter of your home along the same path, continue chanting, I consecrate this home by Water and Earth! while sprinkling the water on the floor as you walk. Stop and draw the banishing pentagram with the water over every window, door, opening and mirror.

When you arrive back at the front door, see the space sealed. State with power: This home is sealed by Water and Earth! So Mote it Be!

Return to the Altar, state for the second time: This home is cleansed of all baneful influences and spirits; I consecrate and ward this home to be a sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

Light the White candle and charge it to fill the home with blessings.

Building your Protection Ward Jar

Have all your jars open and arranged so that you know which quarter they will go into eventually. Pick up each ingredient in turn. Touch it, connect, and seek consent to work together. Awaken the ingredient by name. Blow gently across it and tap it three times, saying: Awake, Awake, Awaken to your powers of__________. (Name of ingredient) lend your strength and amplify the protective ward of my home. With gratitude, blessed be! Drop it into the jar.

Begin with the Deities or angels of the Upperworld.

Invoke them into the stone or fetish that will anchor and feed their power into the ward. Pray in earnest for what aid you seek from Them and if you feel that agreement has been met, make an offering in exchange for this Aid. See the stone as a conduit of their power. Continue by invoking the Spirit animals or ancestors you are calling from the Underworld in the same manner. Lastly, include the plants and stones from the middle world of the elements.

Sealing and Weaving the Wards Together

When everything is in each jar – making nine individual ingredients, seal it tightly. Hold the jar in your hand, push power into the jar: Say: This jar is my protective Ward. May it stand guard in the (associated compass direction) quarter of my home, protecting this sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

(Note that you’ve now repeated your intention three times.)

When all four jars are sealed, take up your wand, or with your index finger, tap each in turn while chanting “peace, abundance, health and safety” in a clockwise direction, weaving them together and raising a cone of energy. Drop the cone into the jars; visualized a bubble of power that the wards continue to feed.

The Work is done! So Mote it Be!

Setting the Protection Wards

Now, carry the jars to the four corners of your home, according to compass direction, as close as you can manage. All while visualizing that sphere of power that weaves them together expanding to envelope your entire home (and property). You can set them on the floor in the corner of the room behind furniture. If you’d like to carry them out to the four corners of your land, you may bury them there, but remember to set a marker should you ever choose to gather them for relocation and reuse.

Closing Circle

Return to the altar, thank and release all the attending Beings and energies that you’ve called, and close your ritual without formally deconstructing the “temple” as you might in a typical esbat or spellcasting. Allow both the black candle and white candle to burn out completely. This temple is now permanently erected around your property.

May it bless you and your family always,

BY HERON MICHELLE

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 259: Robert ÆOLUS Myers

In 2017, Hawaiian archivists Aloha Got Soul released A Retrospective, introducing me and many others to ambient starmaster and spiritual healer Robert ÆOLUS Myers. Existing within the broader new age tradition though also standing apart from it, ÆOLUS’ music is borne of deep communion with nature and the exploratory possibilities of electronic synthesis, with fluttering arpeggiations, dreamwave sequences, and ethnological rhythms supporting cloudform symphonies and mystical flute improvisations. And though those descriptors could apply to any number of indistinct massage parlor soundtracks, ÆOLUS has always maintained that he makes “new age music to wake up to,” with an intense focus on helping the listener realize their inner sense of truth. Going beyond this, his music exudes a sense of magical adventure, and the sonic universes that unfold across A Retrospective work as well for soundtracking fantasy kingdom explorations, starscape space journeys, twilight jungle dances, underwater forest treks, and psychedelic vision quests as they do for therapeutic purposes. So even though new age is a fair description for the work of ÆOLUS, I sense a closer sonic kinship with the Hearts of Space sound centered around artists such Michael Stearns, Kevin Braheny, and Steve Roach as well as Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication, especially Software’s work with flautist Toni Schneider.

To better understand ÆOLUS’ sonic world, it helps to trace his artistic path, which began with playing clarinet as a teenager in Ohio and bassoon during his studies at San Diego State. Like many California-based surf rats of the time, Myers was lured to the sparkling waves and paradise beaches of Hawaii, where he also played drums and completed a degree in ethnomusicology. Following this, he abandoned the world of percussion to join the Honolulu Symphony as a bassoonist, a setting which proved important to a developing experimental, new age, and space music scene in Hawaii driven by Jai Ma Music and Global Pacific Records. Indeed, the Honolulu Symphony also provided work for violinist Steve Kindler and his brother Bob, a cellist and audio engineer who would go on to produce and collaborate on many of Jai Ma’s and Global Pacific’s early records, including ÆOLUS’ Aeolian Melodies and Rays. And for while, it must have seemed like Hawaii was on the verge of establishing a fertile creative community, one that also included avant-garde sound artist Nelson Hiu and guitarist Paul Greaver. But it was not to be, for when Global Pacific uprooted and moved to California, many of the musicians followed, and once Hiu departed for Hong Kong in 1985, ÆOLUS was left on the islands to chart his own artistic path through the cosmos. 

The years since that dizzying period of collaborative creativity have seen Myers furthering his studies of devotional music and indigenous cultures while also continuing to release albums and perform live through a variety of contexts, including dance pieces and theater performances. And his talents in sonic healing have never stopped developing and now find broader expression through the practice of depth psychotherapy in the “alchemical tradition of Jung.” Which brings us to Talisman, a new and lovingly curated retrospective and re-interpretation project released by Origin Peoples. In keeping with the label’s tendency towards the left-hand path, this 2xLP set is unlike most archival compilations and augments its collection of previously released tracks from The Magician and High Priestess with an unreleased dreamscape, a breathtaking live performances from New York City in 1987, and most striking of all, contemporary interpretations of ÆOLUS’ music by K. Leimer, Pharaohs, Dreems, and Lieven Martens Moana. Thus Talisman both compliments A Retrospective and shows the ways in which Myers’ art has reverberated out through time, providing seeds for everything from fractal foam kosmische to jazz folk balearica to mutating deep house to fourth-world sonic collage.

Robert ÆOLUS Myers - Talisman (Origin Peoples, 2019) “Oracle,” coming from 1993’s High Priestess, sees universal bass currents pulsating with ominous intent while being swirled around by cosmic breaths. Kalimbas and bell-chimes decay across spacious expanses before blooming into mermaid choirs and a fourth world rhythm ritual fades into being, built around rimshot cascades, tom tom ceremonials, white noise shakers, and ethnological hand drums transformed into exo-planetary fluids. Overheard, alien pan-pipes slide in ways that defy logic and feedback vapors arc across the sky...all while synthesized orchestrations glow with ethereal shadow energy. “High Priestess” follows with wisps of spectral feedback swimming through the void as string synthesizers fade in, with Schulze-ian viol reveries flowing above swelling cellos and contrabass drones. As threads of cosmic melancholia wrap around the body, a simple and obscured drum rhythm emerges, generated by tribal tom tom pulsations and danced over by synthesized idiophones and exotic music box lullabies. Atmospheres of psychotropic minimalism and exotica are repurposes for space age exploration, with flashes of cold blue light moving within the miasma of galactic sound. At some point the mood changes drastically and the air grows humid and tropical as propulsive hand drums pan across the mix. Afro idiophonics are joined by pinging Berlin school arpeggiations and knocking percussive tones while electro-claps crack through reverb caverns and all throughout the mix, bending woodwinds weave rainforest incantations and majestic string hazes obscure the dances of mysterious jungle fauna. 

As far as I can tell, Talisman is the first place “Dreamscape from the Night Kitchen” has appeared and the piece starts with crystalline strands of new age liquid floating within a haze of angel synthesis. Arpeggiations dance through exotic lullaby patterns and hand drums are heard through soft liquid layers while ominous currents of bass energy swell in and out of the mix. Hypnagogic hallucinations and moonlight forest rituals are evoked by ÆOLU’S flute performance as longform breaths of melodic mysticism evolve into sprightly elven dances. Colorful prism formations refract unseen light sources throughout the background, generating chiming decays that flutter through reverb oceans. And there’s a distinct sense of sitting within some spiritual sci-fi cavern where liquids made of glass drop into glowing pools of ether. As the track progresses, it sometimes floats in a relaxing state of hypnosis, while at other times, things move with a mysterious sense of purpose as subsonic pulsations hint at a dark ambient ceremony. Then in “Sunset,” taken from 1989’s The Magician, wisps of white light swim through cricket chirps while a zheng weaves dreamy rainbow incantations encompassing bending plucks and harp-like waterfalls. Spectral vapors move across the stereo field and sometimes blend seamlessly into the continuous insect orchestrations while up above, flutey synths lock into a sequential fantasy bounce. The vibe is transportive, otherworldly, and aligns with the recent work of Meitei in the sense that futuristic atmospheres are transformed into ancient sonic environments. 

Another track exclusive to Talisman is “Embrace,” presented as live version from 1987 in New York City that perfectly exemplifies what a powerful performer ÆOLUS was. Aqueous synth waves splash across the spectrum while a universal hum of drone modulation flows through the stereo field. Bleary piano chords decay over the watery ambiance and their freeform fantasias, atonal note clusters, and gentle jazz adventures drift eternally throughout the track. Heavenly atmosphere flow in, though distorted and threatening to spill over into white light feedback and bass textures grow increasingly present and unsettled…their fast motion vibrato wobbles disturbing the hallucinatory float. Feedback melodies scream across the sky as everything momentarily swells together while elsewhere, mermaid pan-pipes dance through future ocean kingdoms and childlike sea-spirits join the new age sound bath with wordless choral ecstasies that float upwards on unseen sea currents. Eventually, intimately blown flutes journey across the mix with overlapping dream enchantments and fragile melodies that hover in place before dispersing like a mirage. And for the rest of the track’s length, ÆOLUS executes a breathtaking trade off between mystical woodwind magic and shrieking blasts of feedback euphoria…all proceeding through an underwater paradise of pianos, choral arias, and subsuming synth fogs. 

The first reinterpretation of ÆOLUS’ work comes from K. Leimer, who presents his “Temporary & Indefinite” edit of “Environment.” Sequential synth bubbles float through space foam fuzz and Cluster-leaning lullabies are smothered in a fourth world heatwave haze. Controlled clicks, static pops, and unidentifiable scrapes float through that air while industrial hums, factory drones, and machine breaths set the stage for blissed out tapestries of smeared brass and vocals…these wisps of symphonic magic emerging from nothingness and growing into shimmering baths of sonic transcendence, with melodic movements paying tribute to the sunrise. Everything is blurry and indistinct…as if seen through a polychrome fog...while bell tones decay and trace behind them harmonious trails of light. Scraping strings are beamed in from a faraway galaxy and layered cellos sweep the heart to lands of fantasy romance before pulling away into silence, leaving the body afloat in a void of burning ambiance and vibrating metal. Spare shaker rattles hit and percussive detritus floats while orchestral swells grow increasingly distorted, eventually giving over completely to bowed string tonalities. Deep in the ether, tamburas are manipulated into droning insect psychedelia and FM crystals melt into liquid lightforms before everything morphs into a methodical fade out of Indian drone mysticism…like Pandit Pran Nath playing from within a black hole.

It’s mostly been silence from the Pharaohs camp since the release of 2017’s In Oeland, but they make a welcome return here with their “Sadhana Environment (Mana Mix)”. Crashing cymbals introduce sun-soaked folk guitar energetics while tropical bass synths wiggle through water waves and acidic bubbles blow in a warm breeze. Electric guitars loop hypnotically high in the sky before giving way to solar synthesis and layers of hand percussion dance through sea-spray…all while sampled waves crash to shore. Synthetic tones of plucked crystal weave equatorial dream melodies, jazzy acoustic guitar solos move in counterpoint to the jaunty riffs, and heatwave swells cycle all around as feedback tracers drop globs of rainbow glass. At some point, otherworldly vocalisms enter…that characteristic and wholly unique way that Pharaohs uses the human voice…mystical, tribal, joyous…with wordless scats and LSD babbles floating within a cloud of balearic exotica. Electric guitar mantras slide towards the sky over prog fusion basslines and kick drums and crashing static cymbals enter at some point, giving the groove a more defined shape. It’s a swaying jam through aquamarine tide pools, wherein smoldering six-string blues solos are repurposed into island paradise magic while vibrant cymbal splashes and pulsating drum fills join together for a narcotizing ocean jazz groove out.

Dreems’ “Natürliche Liebe” remix of “Sadhana Environment” sees a four-four beat underlying glowing glass windchimes and robotic house basslines, all thick tubular tones jacking upwards. Strange sonic vapors and bodies of incandescent gas flow alongside jungle frog squelches, hand drums bounce off of neon palm fronds, marbles made of electricity oscillate out of control, and glowing hypo-sequences join together with skittering noise textures to generate a double-time pulse while a feverish theme plays out on drunken pad modulations. New age mermaid choirs are transmuted into deep house hypnosis as martial snare rolls portend some dark club explosion, but Dreems subverts this expectation by cutting away all rhythms, instead leaving the body to float amongst silvery chime strands, aqueous bass euphorias, galactic lasers, and deep space spirit communications. Eventually, we flash into a minimal expanse of drug dance magic, wherein kick drums and flubby basslines are accented by rolling hand percussion, pinging echo fx, and fractal smears. Claps and snares give the militant stomp a swinging sense of groove while post-modernist dub panoramas rattle around the mix…a sort of Chain Reaction-style weirdness abstracted even further into extra-terrestrial sorcery. Heatwave pads introduce another rhythmic drop, wherein cave liquids, disjointed snaps, universal bass pulsations, and industrial chants waver through dream mutations. And as a crazed starlight sequence fades in from nothingness, the kicks resume their march beneath post-house cymbal fire and mutant acid stabs.

The final version of “Sadhana Environment” comes in the form of Lieven Martens Moana’s “Oahu Suite,” which proceeds like a hallucinatory collage tied together by birdsong and insect chatter. Contrabass drones fade in from the center of existence and generate waves of La Monte Young-style minimalism, which fade into arcs of bowed metal and space sirens evoking the piercing communications of 2001’s monolith. Scraping textures and feedback noises swim through bodies of water while radiophonic explorations devolve into burning waves of laser light. Sickly waverings and mosquito buzzes flow through tremolo transformations as bulbous bass clouds waver into the void. Shadow visions of hand percussion develop into rainforest drum rituals and Shepard-Risset glissando fx scream across the sky, with everything fading out as soon as it begin. Back in the world of primitive electro-experimentation, caterwauling static blends into dark liquids lapping against an alien shore and vibratory metal abstractions are smothered in ringing reverb as they swell into a towering noise assault, which then gives way to a dreamwaltz through deep sea forests. Machine spirits laugh and sing, pianos are mimicked by ring modulators, and “High Priestess” is evoked through a cloud of smoke while elsewhere, timpani drums, horror string cascades, and marimba exotics are destroyed by blasts of searing noise. Towards the end, we return to the bowed string fantasias…the deep and methodical double bass energies now joined by melodious cellos weaving glorious dawn incantations. And as it all comes to a close, waves crash to shore and birds sing in the sky. 

(images from my personal copy)

[michaelhalberstamapartments-blog]

LARRY KING LIVES LIFE IN OVERDRIVE

Larry King, the rumbling voice of midnight questions, stares at Pat Buchanan, the White House director of communications. King's eyes are intense and prying, his chin is jutted toward the target, his lips are parted to give the impression that he is hanging on every word, about to interrupt but holding back to wait for a gem.

Except for six hours of sleep every 24 hours, Larry King keeps this expression all day and all night.

King's schedule puts demands on his phenomenal energy at an all-time high: He does a daily, hourlong interview show, Larry King Live, for Cable News Network, which reaches more than 300,000 households. He then does The Larry King Show for Mutual Radio, which has been cut back to a live four hours, with the first hour recycled for a five-hour package that reaches 3 million to 5 million people a week. In between these obligations, he writes two newspaper columns. On his slow days, he travels to sports arenas and does color commentary for Home Team Sports -- its audience by mid-June standing at 100,000. Once a month he does a worldwide talk show for the Voice of America and his next guest is scheduled to be Ronald Reagan.

"Certainly I have a weird life. But I like everything I do," says King. At the end of his workday (and night), his companions and staff feel like they just took the red-eye from California in non-reclining seats. Millions of people work two or even three jobs to make ends meet. But, for perhaps the first time in his life, King isn't worried about money. Mutual alone is paying him a reported $2 million on a five-year contract.

Strangely enough, King, 51, never seems to be in a hurry. Lean with a bit of a belly, he moves at the deliberate pace of a batter stepping up to the plate. The voice and metabolism are fed by coffee and cigarettes. He rarely drinks. A long time ago, he mastered naps -- he takes them during the five- minute news breaks on the radio show.

The time is now 11:30 a.m. King already has dressed, taken mucho vitamins and one aspirin -- "because the late Dr. Michael Halberstam told me to" -- worked for an hour on his personality column for USA Today, haggled a bit with an editor on his next book, talked with an insurance company about his daughter's graduation present of a Firebird, and complained that he was missing that night's Orioles game. Before 4 the next morning, he will stop another three times and ask, "Am I crazy?" and then "What is my real complaint? I can't have dinner when I want to, I can't see the KING, F-3

baseball game. But what if I had to be a librarian? No, instead, today I'm going to talk to Pat Buchanan and Harry Blackstone."

This is how he survives.

He eats lunch at Duke Zeibert's, dinner at the Palm. He gets one of his daily calls from his daughter, Chaia King, 17, and his oldest friend, author and consultant Herbert Cohen.

He doesn't prepare beyond his daily consumption of several newspapers, backed up by information from his contacts and his nearly 30 years behind the mike.

"I work with an acquired dumbness, a street dumbness," says King. That means he tries to think about what Joe Citizen would want to know.

From 5 to 9 a.m., he sleeps. He wakes up without an alarm. He tries to nap from 3 to 5 p.m., but the telephone jangles. Sometimes he calls someone personally to ask them to be on the show, such as New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, his first guest on CNN.

It's now 12:15 p.m. King is at his daily table in Duke's in full view of the glass doors. He has ordered coffee and is nibbling on the onion rolls. When his platter of fruit and cottage cheese arrives, he largely ignores it. He talks about his forthcoming book. "Sterling Lord is the agent. He's the kind of guy, you have dinner with him and they remove the plate, you have the crumbs, he doesn't have any. Impeccable," says King.

Bill Aber, the general manager of cable TV's Home Team Sports, tells a King endurance story: "On Wednesday, April 4, 1984, King had done his regular show, then he flew to Cleveland to do a luncheon banquet, then he had to meet us in Baltimore for our kickoff. The game was rained out and at 6 p.m. Larry interviewed celebrities for our party. Then he left at 7 to go to the Capital Centre to do some color on the Caps. Then he did the Wednesday all-night show."

In the last month King spurned offers from every major network and syndicator, says his agent, and renewed his contract with Mutual. The perks include 12 Fridays off and four weeks of vacation each year and a new luxury car every two years. Now he is driving a gray Riviera, on which Mutual put an "L King" vanity license plate, which King hates. Since the phones started lighting up on Jan. 30, 1978, when he was heard on 28 stations, he has built his affiliate stable up to 262 stations. His is the only talk show ever to win the prestigious Peabody Award. In the last few weeks, he signed with CNN for a reported $200,000 over three years. Once that show gets rolling, King says, he will tape a couple of shows a week.

He has had cameos in two movies -- Ghostbusters and Lost in America -- and television will increase his recognition by sight, not just sound. July 12 is King Day in Baltimore. Where once the Mutual show was taken on the road to build up audiences, now it's taken out to satisfy demand. In the next few months it will travel to the All-Star Game in Minneapolis, and to media gatherings in Nashville and Dallas.

It is now 8:15 p.m., the start of his evening's work.

Walking into the television studio, he says, "you got to be pretty weird to be doing radio, television and newspapers. Godfrey used to do it. I'm tired right now but . . . something about that light going on . . . I can't explain it."

Makeup is applied to his face and hands. Then King and Buchanan are facing each other.

At 10:20 p.m. he is at Mutual's studios on the 12th floor of a suburban Virginia highrise. This is home, behind the microphone, checking out the baseball game, doing promotions for a new station. During a commercial break he will do a 2 1/2-minute interview with Harry Blackstone Jr., the magician, for something called Larry King in Focus. On Saturdays the network runs The Best of King.

King has been in one studio or another since 1957, when he moved to Miami after finishing high school in Brooklyn. In Florida he quickly established himself as a radio interviewer, added a newspaper column and did commentary on Miami Dolphins games. But he ran into some well-publicized financial troubles, which forced him to leave broadcasting for four years. In 1979, shortly after taking the Mutual job, he filed bankruptcy for $350,000 in debts. Because of his past financial difficulties, his money is now handled by Bob Woolf, the agent he shares with Doug Flutie, Larry Bird and Gene Shalit. King says he gets a $150 weekly allowance.

Now it's 11:50 p.m. He glances over a press release and talks about his approach.

"You need the ability to listen. A lot of broadcasters don't know how to ask a question. One of my idols, Jimmy Cannon, could pick up every detail but he couldn't ask a question in the locker room. You have to keep it spontaneous, always be curious. I have a good memory, I never expect the answer. I don't think I am a better interviewer than I was at 25. I can relax people."

"Jimmy Hoffa embodies everything you want in an interview, except one thing. You want someone with a chip on their shoulder, passion, a little bit of anger, the ability to relate to the question and to talk about their business. But he didn't have a sense of humor."

At 12:06 a.m., his jacket is off and cigarette dangling. Blackstone is sitting where Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Brooks, Milton Berle, Sophia Loren and scores of others have sat.

At 3:55 a.m. he gets up from the chair, stretches and says he feels really tired. He doesn't hang around the studio. "We have entertained and informed the callers, and we only reach 1 percent of the audience," says King.

He ads: "I don't think much about it. I don't take it home with me."

And he goes home. But he'll be up again in four hours. Making that face.

B7

[hongmallard172-blog]

Motion pictures.

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5. b- Mixture method: always keeps randomizing every second, making use of debug, the variable minutes was actually not appropriate, either vacant or even has the wrong minute, so I changed the for loop to become rtc0 == 59" as opposed to minutes!= rtc1", which appears to have taken care of the concern, nonetheless the day of full week was actually still waste since it was actually certainly not specified, therefore i changed the range with months, it functions fine by doing this, however as quickly as you return to yet another setting, you locate that the moment has been actually stuck in recent and did certainly not improve, the only means to receive it back to job is to set the time once more making use of sample code.

A holiday season in London is actually an impressive proposal and past that even organizing a summer excursion to the area with kids appears vehemently cheerful, having said that, you may explore anytime you want to. There are actually some remarkable points to carry out in London along with little ones. Get the very best company and appreciating watching films in the house. This was actually an end result of the effect of the 5% increase in attendance coupled along with a BPP rise of 4.4%, which developed a perpetuity quarterly file of $10.82 up from $10.36 in 2017. It is a Disney Benchmark creation, the impressive 3D impacts that have actually been combined in the film is what every person is perishing to experience. Many of these very early initiatives, while hilarious within the context of their time, possess certainly not aged well though several are actually still amusing as well as are actually looked at lead-in efforts in filmmaking (Sennett's electronic camera techniques, Chaplin's storytelling" as well as character advancement, Lloyd's derring-do in his stunt job). The variety to the current driver's licence includes the supply of liquor coming from 12:00 -23:40 Sunday-Thursday as well as 12:00 -01:40 on Fridays and also Saturdays; provision of food and also cocktail, tape-recorded popular music, real-time music as well as dance shows coming from 12:00- midnight on Sunday-Thursday as well as 12:00 -02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; and arrangement of movies from 12:00- twelve o'clock at night on Sunday-Thursday as well as 12:00 -01:00 on Fridays and also Saturdays. Penn has seemed on films, "The Namesake" (2006 ), "Legendary Motion Picture" (2007 ), as well as "An Extremely Harold as well as Kumar X-mas in 3D" (2011) and on television on "24" (2007 )as a regular on "Property M.D." (2007-2009) as well as attendee starring task on "How I Met Your Mother" (2011-2012).

[bestbog2]

An online entertainment 여우알바 part-timer agency

Are you one of the unfortunates that must attend the dreaded Christmas party 여우알바광고 every year? Weeks of planning and discussion in the workplace are overshadowed by the newest sales report because of the focus on dresses, heels, and make-up. People talk about who they might “get with” and whether or not the boss is bringing his or her spouse to lunch.

There’s chatter and chit-chat in the bathrooms about whether or not the latest office romance will fall apart and become public knowledge, as the potent punch moves into fifth gear with undetectable, unrelenting, and unyielding brutality in the background. It’s hilarious to see everyone’s nervousness. People act as if they’ve never met even though they’re together for forty hours a week. Even the most restrained personalities succumb to the mounting sense of dread as the dreadful day approaches.

As visions of inebriated episodes flood your mind with cringe-inducing clarity, memories of prior events return to torment you. It helps to know that you’re not the only one who feels this way and that Laura, Maeve, or Jenny are even worse off than you are.

Because you weren’t the one who tried to strike up a conversation with John from Marketing or fell on your high platforms to spill a drink all over Michael from HR. In your cover of Bette Midler’s “You are the Wind under my Wings,” you embarrassed yourself by grabbing the microphone from the band’s lead singer and battling unmusically against the feedback screeches of faulty and badly malfunctioning amplifiers. 여우알바

However, what if you were tasked with selecting a band to play at the next gathering? For your office building, would you choose a band that could perform a wide range of songs from different eras, or would you stick with one tribute band, such as the Beatles? You may defy the opinions of your coworkers and book a comedian or a magician instead of the more traditional entertainment part-timer. So why not do yourself a favor and search for a good entertainment agency on the internet?

Take a step back and let the experts handle it. The best way to acquire the greatest band for the job is to just provide them a general profile of your firm’s employees, including their age, gender, and even the type of company they work for. But it’s not always simple to please all of the people you care about.

If you’re in an advertising agency, you’re more likely to be able to handle a lot of noise and variety than if you’re in an accounting firm. A hip-hop band or a cool DJ is pointless if the average age of your guests is 55; however, an excellent entertainment part-timer organization may help you choose the ideal band.

The greatest entertainment agencies have a wide variety of performers on their books. You might want to check out a tribute act, which performs music from a specific artist, band, or period. It’s not uncommon for more “ordinary” bands to pull music from a wide range of sources to create a unique blend that will enliven even the most depressing coworker’s day. Of course, some DJs spin records while scratching, whirling, and swishing to techno beats a true form of performance art. There is no limit to what a good entertainment part-timer agency can do.

It’s difficult to avoid picking your personal favorites at the end of the day. Once you’ve let go of your ego, though, you’ll be able to focus on identifying the band and selecting a playlist that will appeal to your coworkers, giving you more time to think about your clothing. Your choice of entertainment part-timer, rather than your vocal prowess, will be the focus of attention at this year’s event.

Present-day Alternatives in the 여우알바 Field of entertainment part-timer Furniture

There are a lot of options when it comes to purchasing entertainment part-timer furniture. There are countless designs to choose from, as well as a wide range of materials from which they can be manufactured. Wood, plastic, metal, and glass are all possibilities. Depending on the type of material, the piece will have a variety of options to choose from.

There are a variety of elements to consider before making your final decision on which parts to use. For the most part, what you want to use it for will be a determining factor. There are a variety of options for chairs and tables, as well as wall units for televisions and so on. There is a wide range of televisions and accessories that can be used to connect to them.

Choosing the correct television stand depends on a few factors. The size of the television is the first factor that will influence the result. If your collection is compact, you’ll have no trouble finding a storage solution that fits your needs. Larger televisions necessitate not only more space but also greater support. Modern flat-screen televisions may occasionally need a holder to protect them from falling over.

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Other factors that may impact your decision include the various systems that you may need to connect to the TV. Cable boxes, DVD players, and gaming consoles must all be placed on a shelf near the television to be connected. However, you can keep the DVDs and video games on a different shelf.

The number of people in a space will influence the seating arrangement, so keep that in mind while making the decision. For example, a family room could necessitate a set of recliners and a couch to accommodate everyone. It’s important to make sure that there are enough spaces for guests when entertaining. Tables, like television stands, come in a wide variety of styles. Again, you have a variety of options in terms of materials and colors to choose from.

There are a plethora of options available when it comes to home theater furniture. It’s possible to make alterations to the layout depending on the size of your gathering. Just in case you get unexpected guests, it’s a good idea to set aside a couple of additional chairs.

[thatnerdyblondegirl]

ESC 2018- My thoughts to the performances

Ukraine: Singing vampire? Omg he’s playing piano. Burning stairs. God that’s a lot of fire. Calm down Brendon Urie. Good song though. Has a nice beat. 

Spain: Awwwwww. They’re so cuuuutttee. Their voices harmonize really good together. I’ve got chills. Are they gonna kiss?? (From Commentator: “The perfect love song for High School Musical 4″)

Slovenia: A song i could see playing in a club. “Are you ready to sing with me?” *cue faces of I don’t speak your language tho* All in all, nice party song. 

Lithuania: Oh that’s smart putting soft moments/memories on screen next to the singer. And there’s her husband holding her hand. A soft love ballad, very nice. She sounded like she was tearing up, lot’s of emotion in her voice. 

Austria: What a deep voice omg!! Kinda gospel-esque. Odd choice of wardrobe. DAMN THAT FALSETTO!! A song to clap to. (From Commentator: “The most beautiful tooth gap of the night”)

Estonia: You can tell she sings opera. Oh wow, how is that dress even real??? No wonder it’s the most expensive of the night. A beautiful soprano. (From Commentator: “That last note probably broke a lot of glass”) Stop being so mean narrator, it was beautiful. 

Norway: Can’t type, gotta snap. Great animations, great job producers. Oh god he’s scatting.... is that really how you write a song?? Oh, a casual violin solo, cool cool. This boy is all smiles. I wish him all the best.

Portugal: Another ballad. They’re kinda half jamming out to their song and it’s kinda hilarious. There was like half a beat... and the second person barely sung... not digging the song tbh...

United Kingdom: Already a good beat. “I still believe in chasing rainbows”...same. Someone just tried to steal her mike... like i’m pretty sure he tried to pull a Kanye. How rude... But she still rocked the stage. At least she gets to perform again at the end.

Serbia: Is that Albert Einstein playing the recorder?? Started off ballad-y and now they’re dropping beats.. nice. Honestly they look like they just came from Roman Empire times and i’m here for it. 

Germany: Oh it’s THAT song!!... did not know we voted that into the ESC... Ngl, when i first heard this song on the radio, I thought he sounded like Zayn. Really love the pre-chorus. Boy’s got some vocals. I’ve got chills. Boy deserves all the applause. 

Albania: Ooh acoustic guitar. And now it‘s gone. Going full rock now. That singer’s got some lungs. WHAT A FALSETTO!! I really wish I knew what he was singing about.

France: Smoke. Lot’s of it. Song got me rocking back and forth. Merci indeed, France. Those shoes don’t really go with that outfit though... you can’t be straight edge black and then put on pink trainers.. Oh now we’re just throwing our fists in the air and singing Merci, Merci. Alrighty then. 

Czech Republic: OHMYGOD YOU LOOK LIKE OLLY MURS IN HEART SKIPS A BEAT!! OH AND YOU’VE GOT A BACKPACK TOO!! AND NOW YOU’RE RAPPING???!!!! thank you for shaking thAT BOOTY. I LOVE THE BEAT!! I LOVE THE SONG!! I LOVE YOU!!

Denmark: VIKINGS. JUST VIKINGS. YEP. this sounds like a war song vikings would sing... Somehow those eyes are very piercing. Now there’s snow and fog. It really is as if we were on a viking ship sailing to battle. 

Australia: Omg the vocals. Sing it girl!!! The crowd does not want to sing with you but i will!! AND A BREAK DANCE!! This song is making me dance. WE SURE DO GOT LOVE!!! (From Commentator: “She’s wrapped up like a present in that dress” she sure is buddy)

Finland: I was not expecting high notes from her. And now she’s spinning. God that would make me dizzy.. Those back up dancers are amazing wow. Another club song. Digging the beats. She really knows how to control the crowd. FIREWORKS!! AND STAGE DIVE!! 

Bulgaria: This has a lot of soul. They’re really jamming out. Really great beat. Amazing vocals. The 5 of them harmonize really well. The song is cool. Didn’t understand the concept but that’s not what this contest is about. 

Moldova: JESUS CALM DOWN!! JAZZY AND LOTS OF ILLUSIONS. Are you singers or magicians??? Such naughty hands... OH AND ANOTHER DANCE BREAK. AND SCATTING. Nice. Listen, the song was catchy and made me tap my feet. Good job. 

Sweden: Wait is this a dude?? Yep.. That is a high voice. He looks like Kendall from Big Time Rush but dances like Michael Jackson. The song’s giving me both MJ and Timberlake vibes... not a bad thing tho. The crowd loves him and so do I.

Hungary: Oh god metal.... Dude’s got a good voice tho wow!! Sing it bro!! Again, lot’s of fire. Lot’s of head banging. NO SHOES!! WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES BRO??!! Dude sounds vicious but they seem like cool guys. Normally not a fan of metal but the song is not bad. 

Israel: Weeaboo?? Sound board magic. Is she bawking like a chicken??? Are any of those words that she’s singing?? Yes i do believe she is bawking. She’s got good vocals tho. I think this is a song i would make fun of with friends but secretly jam out to in private... Definitely a guilty pleasure song. 

The Netherlands: Ahhhh rock. Sounds like a country singer tho... Country rock?? The band knows some moves. AND THE FLIPS ARE THERE!! Leopard country boy/Bon Jovi imitation is pretty a-okay... don’t get the break dancing bandmates tho.

Ireland: (welcome back :)) Oh gosh a lonely lamppost and bench. He’s on guitar, she’s on piano ... already love them. OH AND THE DANCERS!!! THEY’RE BEAUTIFUL. PETALS FALLING!! SUCH CHEMISTRY!! LOVELY DANCE MOVES, SO FLUID!! A BEAUTIFUL SONG!! i can’t think of anything else but his voice and their dance moves..

Cyprus: WHOA!! CALM DOWN SHAKIRA!! THAT IS SOME BODYSUIT!! THOSE ARE SOME STRUTS!! AND A QUICK DANCE BREAK! This song is FIRE!! Literally... lot’s of fire. 

Italy: I do love a song with a good message. A great comment on current events and humanity. It’s a very simple performance but that doesn’t make the song less powerful. Lot’s of heart and soul was put into that song. So many chills. LOVE IT!! 

[blondrichclosetwitch]

Graceless the national, 1221–

this has always been a call for help from psychic Jakk. I’ve tried to look for him a couple times when it’s played;This song is also a takeoff on Alice in Wonderland and going through the looking glass, also involving drugs and confusion .

It also speaks of roses. The line “ take the white ones they are my favorite” Let me to keep white roses in the house for eight months, but when Jack and I talked about it in person he said white roses were a waste.

Sun eye Marc Bolan, 1226–Cosmic eye is for you and no one else

The wizard, t Rex, 12:34 PM-Knew why people laughed and cried

Why they lived and why they di-di-di-di-de-die—It was explained to me back in 2018 that my Taro card was the magician, which teachers have tried to tell me for years but my self-esteem was null. For the record I also used to tell Jack that he was the magician, but he would shrug.

Of course, Jane’s Addiction, 1236–

“He reduces all of humanity to a simple kill or be killed mentality; survival of the fittest. Gilding the lily somewhat, he then describes the joy of reflecting on the feckless squirming and writhing one’s victim may engage in as he is eaten alive.

While somewhat amusing if taken literally, a much more profound depth of meaning is derived when one considers this as a metaphor for the ravenous, insatiable hunger of individuals in society to put their needs above all others and to thoughtlessly trample them as they claw their way to the top.”

This is hard-core, pulp, 1248—

initially displayed to show me the Satanic sex orgy that Jack was supposedly tortured in. I was told that my youngest niece was also present, for certain practices, and at the

Sex ritual in May where they were supposed to sacrifice Jack, I went running around to all the churches trying to find him. I spoke to many church administrators about what I was told was happening in their churches. One guy outside of the McCarren police station that video of me saying there were Satanic rituals there.

Mogwai, you don’t know Jesus, 1:00 PM instrumental

Get the fuck up, Amy Schumer, 1:11 PM – – I don’t remember this monologue but they probably we’re trying to motivate me to get myself going. No actually I was at juice press, so this is probably for Jack.

Zoo station, U2, 1:11 PM – –The spirit of Berlin felt less rapturous, more mundane, than U2 had thought it would. They passed the one subway terminal where heavily patrolled trains had been allowed to move from East to West, and where East Germans trying to sneak aboard had been killed. They took note of its name: Zoo Station

-U2 At the End of the World

Love song, David Bowie, 1:16 PM—No-one can offer you more

Radio, REM, 1:20 PM—The world is collapsing around our ears

I turned up the radio, but I can't hear it

I've everything to show (Everything to show)

I've everything to hide (Everything to hide)

Underwear, pop,1:25 PM Dash –“This is about going home with someone, which seems like a good thing to do when you decide to do it. But when you get to the actual nitty-gritty, when you are actually standing in your underwear you think I can’t go through with this, but how do you get out of that situation?”

It’s also worth mentioning that a bunch of my underwear was stolen in 2017 and 2018. Once I was shown a vision of Blond wearing a very special pair. And masturbating.

Serge gainsbourg 1:29 PM je taime moi non plus— this is played a couple times… You can say it’s about the fucked up politics of sex.

Beat it, Michael Jackson, 1:34 PM—They told him, "Don't you ever come around here

Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear"

The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear—-this song is about two things. The lyrics are about how they were threatening me and telling me they were gonna end me if I didn’t leave, and the second part is about how Jack has always believed in non-violence. It played at 12:34 a couple of nights ago and I couldn’t quite figure it out but then I read about the song.

Cowboy boots, Macklemore, 1:38—And some of us even try to get sober

Time to take a break and watch a sunset. You get the idea: every song has a message.

[jamescurcio]

White Lines, Black Magic

This came up on various public groups when I was doing my research for Masks. I wanted to share it with you, because I think it’s an interesting, and generally good, take. 

David's Dark Doings - And How He Escaped To Tell The Tale David Bowie's Station To Station and the "Berlin Trilogy". By Ian MacDonald

"I ran across a monster who was sleeping by a tree. And I looked and frowned and the monster was me" (David Bowie, "The Width Of A Circle", 1971)

EMI's latest batch of mid-price Bowie reissues, discs released at full price in 1990-1, consists of the 1976-8 sequence, Station To Station, Low, "Heroes", and Stage. It might have been truer to his career to have made a foursome of Low, "Heroes", Stage and Lodger - the "Berlin Trilogy" plus their complimentary live album - and to have corralled Station To Station with his other "American" albums, David Live and Young Americans. Never mind. As it happens, EMI's decision highlights a little-understood juncture in Bowie's development: the transition between the two The Man Who Fell To Earth albums, Station To Station and Low. Bowie's modus operandi during the Seventies was transformation, acting out the suburban dream of escape into glamorous "otherness" - hence his popularity among a very specific audience  segment (and the total blank he registered with those for whom escape was not an issue). This method held good until Young Americans, even though that album's associated transformation - white boy on Soul Train - was less the usual Brechtian device than an identity-crisis on the part of the artist (or the Actor, as he then referred to himself). Uprooted from his native context in the cultural artifice of Europe, isolated in a largely unironic and cultureless alien land, Bowie was forced back on himself, a self he didn't much like. Weary of the artistic transformations which were now getting too close to home, he fended off self-examination with mental diversion, reading obsessively from a portable library and deadening his growing sense of emotional emptiness with cocaine and booze. David Live is, in effect, a station-stop in this journey on the old Oblivion Express, an evening's snapshot of Bowie's deepening malaise.

With Station To Station - its title partly suggested by Bowie's 1973-6 touring schedule which, due to his fear of flying, mostly consisted of travel by train-the Oblivion Express reached another halt. But, this time, Bowie, rarely one to repeat himself, refused another David Live stop-over. Instead, he got off the damned train. A sonic "dark night of the soul", Station to Station is to Bowie what On The Beach is to Neil Young's album, rooted in the folk-blues tradition of American "authenticity", remains too musically raw for wide appeal, whereas Station, if only superficially, is one of Bowie's most glamorous discs. However, the superficial view of Station to Station doesn't tell half the inner story of the album, a recherché work which, despite being recorded at Cherokee Studios in the hyper-American suburb of Hollywood, is essentially European.

The key to the transition between Station To Station and Low (whose covers both employ images from Nicolas Roeg's the Man Who Fell To Earth) is that it does not coincide with Bowie's usual sort of artistic transformation: the persona swap. Bowie's final mask, the Thin White Duke, travels no further than Station to Station. There's no mask, no persona in Low. Just a rather gaunt young man in a "styleless" dufflecoat, looking sideways to the viewer as if in a police mugshot. Some would say that this is merely because Bowie then ceased touring for a while (appearing live only as Iggy Pop's keyboard player), and consequently had no need to invent a new stage character. In truth, Bowie's temporary low profile, coded in the cover of Low itself, was forced on him at a time when an interlude of retreat for recuperation and regrouping was the only alternative to a full-scale crack-up during the recording of Station to Station, a period of which he claims to recall almost nothing. Mental breakdown still appeared to be impending in May, 1976 when, returning to Britain from his sojourn in America, a seemingly stoned Bowie acknowledged the British press corps at Victoria Station with what most of those present took to be a Nazi salute.

Britain was then witnessing the electoral rise of the neo-fascist National Front, and Bowie's proclaimed ambition to be the country's fascist dictator was naturally, those of us who were fans chose to read Bowie's stance as ironic. Neither was wholly correct. Like Neil Young's republicanism, Bowie's brand of fascism, while it embraced irony, was basically serious; or was taken seriously by a certain hermetic compartment of his mind, wherein it dwelt. The rest of him - what passed for the normal lad from Brixton - was deeply uneasy about it; so uneasy that he included on Station To Station a song open to God in case the demons evoked elsewhere in the album should get out of hand. Bowie's fascination with Nazism was never conventionally political. Rather, it was one aspect of a personal cosmology traceable in cryptic songs like "Cygnet Committee" (Space Oddity, 1969), "The Supermen" (The Man Who Sold The World, 1971), "Big Brother" (Diamond Dogs, 1974), but most explicitly in "Oh! You Pretty Things" and - particularly - "Quicksand" on Hunky Dory (1972): "I'm closer to the Golden Dawn/Immersed in Crowley's uniform/Of imager/I'm living in a silent film/Portraying Himmler's sacred realm/Of dream reality." Eagerly absorbed from the omnivorous reading with which the self-taught Bowie, insecure in his intellect, then shored up his self-esteem, this personal cosmology was rooted in the Gnostic myth of the Fall, viz: we human beings are born into this world from a higher dimension ("heaven") which we forget upon entering the sphere of material existence. Hence, homo sapiens is a half-finished thing living in a state of waking sleep he calls reality, but which is actually a kind of delusion. Only those "awake" on the physical plane, the "enlightened" ones, see reality as it truly is. As such, they are supermen. Now that "home sapiens have outgrown their use", such mental supermen are set to inherit the earth. As a young man, Bowie was impatiently obsessed with the inefficiency of our unenlightened minds ("We're today's scrambled creatures, looked in tomorrow's double feature"). As a result, he viewed the majority, unaware as they were of their plight, with a blend of tolerant irony and frank contempt ("the mice in their million hordes"). Elaborating on the Gnostic myth, he cross-bred Nietzsche's Superman - "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud" is a sort of pop Zarathustra - with esoteric motifs in the writing of Madame Blavatsky and the teaching of the American mystic, Gurdjeff. Both allude extensively to mysterious "Masters": enlightened super-beings who supposedly guide human affairs from mountain fastnesses in Tibet and the Hindou Kush ("the men who protect you and I"). Blavatsky's writing, along with those of Eliphas Levi, gave birth to the late 19th-century Occult Revival which in Britain produced the magical society called The Golden Dawn, whence Aleister Crowley emerged, and which in Germany created the occult basis of Nazism, epitomised in Himmler's vision of his SS as an Arthurian company of immortals, incarnated to bring order to the physical plane. Though he made plenty of pro-Hitler statements around 1975-6, Bowie ultimately remained sane enough to distinguish the ideal of an order-bringing élite from the Nazi reality. He was, he would occasionally claim, a Nietzschean, his "fascism" being conceptually benign (if nonetheless arrogant). He favoured a New Order not of domination, but of enlightenment: rule of the "asleep" by the "awake". The main snag was that he was doing too many drugs. Imbibed along with piles of prime Colombian, books like Pauwel and Bergier's The Morning Of The Magicians (1971) and Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear Of Destiny (1973) had, by 1975, led Bowie into a remote headspace where even UFO's were part of the plot.

During the LA sessions for Station To Station, the Fuhrerling (as Bowie drolly refers to himself in a demo of "Candidate" on the 1990 reissue of Diamond Dogs) was archetypally "torn between the light and dark". At one point the journalist, Cameron Crowe, found him burning black tapers in the seeming aftermath of some ritual magic that had gone wrong. "Been having a little trouble with the neighbours," said Bowie, evidently not referring to the people in the apartment next door. Michael Lippman, a friend of Bowie's during this period, remembers him describing strange nightmares. Lippman gave him a gold cross. Bowie later asked him for a mezuzah (a parchment in a glass tube, inscribed with the divine name Shaddai, which Orthodox Jews keep nailed to their door to ward off evil). The title track of the album is packed with occult references and allusions to the Gnostic myth of the Fall. A mention of White Stains, Crowley's very obscure first book, shows how deeply Bowie delved into the golden Dawn background; indeed, the lyric suggests that he also studied The Tree Of Life by Crowley's pupil, Israel Regardie, a brilliant treatise on the magical use of the 13th century Jewish mystical system, Quabala. In Quabalistic language, the Gnostic myth of the Fall can be expressed as "one magical movement from kether to malkuth" (Kether being the sphere of the Godhead, or Crown of Creation, and Malkuth being the sphere of the physical world, aka the kingdom). These spheres (sephiroth) lie at opposite ends of the glyph known as the Tree of Life, which Bowie is seen drawing on the back of EMI's reissue of Station to Station. Seems he thought of the sephiroth as stations - "standing places", as in the Stations Of the Cross (which have their own occult interpretation). Sadly there are 14 Stations Of The Cross but only 10 sephiroth. (The Christian sign of the cross, though does "map" onto the Tree..) The song, "Station to Station", also has a Shakespearean resonance. Prospero the magician (and incognito duke) in Shakespeare's most mysterious play. the Tempest, surrounds himself with books, among which is his occult grimoire. At the end of the play, he abjures magic and "drowns" his book of spells. In "Station To Station", the Thin White Duke - Bowie as a cocaine-frozen Prospero lost in his (magic) circle, tall in his room overlooking the ocean (Prospero's Island "cell" transported to the coast by Los Angeles) - despairingly reviews his repertoire of illusions. "Such is the stuff from where dreams are woven," he muses, not quite quoting Prospero ("We are such stuff/As dreams are made on"). Clearly, illusion is no longer what he wants. Station to Station - like Plastic Ono Band, like Todd, like On the Beach - is an exorcism: an exorcism of self, of the mind, of the past. By 1976, Bowie had nearly had enough of his "magic" - the theatrical "grand illusion" by which he'd lived since 1972. Thus, he "flashes no colour" - another magical allusion, this time to the so-called Tattva symbols which use "flashing" complimentary colours to after consciousness, ushering the magical aspirant into the Astral Plane of heightened vision. Decoded: Bowie has travelled the Astral (or ascended the tree Of Life); now he wants to come down o earth, to love. (Hence the cover image of the soundproof chamber in The Man Who fell to Earth.) One could easily continue for another thousand words in this vein about "Station To Station". (Let alone the rest of the record. Bowie; "It's the nearest album to a magical treatise that I've written"). Yet none of this symbolism would matter if the artist were not in control of it; and if it didn't crack, via the desperate drunken grandiloquence of the song's bridge ("Once there were mountains on mountains"), into the naked-and-wired stamped of its epic, up-tempo release, driven by that magnificent late Seventies rhythm section of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, and George Murray, and lit by the elemental fire-scream of Earl Slick's hysterical guitar. Those who accuse Bowie of lacking feeling should listen closely to this transition: the quavering, hopeless-to-hopeful vulnerability of the couplet, "It's not the side effects of the cocaine/I'm thinking that it must be love." This is a deeply unhappy human being, harried by his own incandescently gifted mind.

In fact, Bowie didn't cast his grimoire into the ocean after station To Station. He hedged his commercial bets by mixing the album "big", and made plans to tour it in Europe. He was still half in his mystic-fascist Thin White Duke persona when he "returned", like some parallel universe Duke of Windsor, to Britain in May, 1976 (and he would certainly have been aware that the Nazi salute is identical to the occult sign of the Zelator grade in the Golden Dawn system). Yet he went on, soon after this, to move to a roughhouse Turkish suburb of Berlin, there to kick the white powder, clean up his mind/body, and start a new career in a new town. The artistic transformation between Station to Station and Low was an inner one, not a career move, it happened to Bowie himself, not to Bowie the Actor. In Berlin, the sons of real SS men sorted his head out. In Berlin, he saw neo-nazis beat up Turkish immigrants. In Berlin, low in the aftermath of heavy drugs and Hollywood glamour, he forced himself to live like an everyday person, buying his own groceries. The nightmare of the Thin White Duke faded, chased away by hours of laughter with his new cohort, Eno, the first person Bowie worked with who could keep up with him. He finished Low (another album one could write thousands of words about) and mixed it, as he claims he intended to mix Station To Station, "dry": close, compressed, and with a gate on the snare so vicious that it became the first drum-sound people outside the studio-world actually noticed. What happened to the private cosmology, to the magical Nietzschean? Bowie has lately conceded "a need to vacillate between atheism or a kind of gnosticism". On his 1997 tour, he played, of all things "Quicksand". Think on, secret thinkers."