#isaac olson

[nofatclips]

Folding Ideas on Annihilation and decoding metaphor

[osemanverse-comfort]

heartstopper season two trailer screencaps ✨🍂

photos: @aliceoseman on instagram

[run-of-the-milf]

I had no idea Oscar Isaac starred in the movie adaptation of Terese Raquin! Oh my god! 😳 It's so good! He's hot as fuck and the movie is absolutely enthralling! I had no clue this even existed! I read the book and In Secret really captures the feeling of the book.

[longlistshort]

(images of Lotus L. Kang's, “In Cascades”, 2023-2024)

The Whitney Biennial ‘s 2024 edition, Even Better Than The Real Thing, presents a large group of artists, working in different mediums, with many pieces directly dealing with social and political issues. The show does have a certain heaviness to it, but with all of the issues currently happening in the world it would be impossible for that not to be reflected in the artwork.

From the museum-

The eighty-first edition of the Whitney Biennial—the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States—features seventy-one artists and collectives grappling with many of today’s most pressing issues. This Biennial is like being inside a “dissonant chorus,” as participating artist Ligia Lewis described it, a provocative yet intimate experience of distinct and disparate voices that collectively probe the cracks and fissures of the unfolding moment.

The exhibition’s subtitle, Even Better Than the Real Thing, acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is complicating our understanding of what is real, and rhetoric around gender and authenticity is being used politically and legally to perpetuate transphobia and restrict bodily autonomy. These developments are part of a long history of deeming people of marginalized race, gender, and ability as subhuman—less than real. In making this exhibition, we committed to amplifying the voices of artists who are confronting these legacies, and to providing a space where difficult ideas can be engaged and considered.

This Biennial is a gathering of artists who explore the permeability of the relationships between mind and body, the fluidity of identity, and the growing precariousness of the natural and constructed worlds around us. Whether through subversive humor, expressive abstraction, or non-Western forms of cosmological thinking, to name but a few of their methods, these artists demonstrate that there are pathways to be found, strategies of coping and healing to be discovered, and ways to come together even in a fractured time.

There’s a lot of great work to see. Below are just a few selections and some documentation from the museum.

For Lotus L. Kang’s In Cascades, (pictured above), the artist has hung sheets of photographic film from the ceiling that are gradually changed by the light inside the gallery. She refers to the exposure process as “tanning” and, like our skin, the film is changing over time with its environment. On the floor are little sculptures, as well as a a suitcase, all suggesting movement and change.

Kiyan Williams eye-catching outdoor installation Ruins of Empire II or The Earth Swallows the Master’s House, has the White House is sinking into the ground with an  upside down American flag at the top.

Maja Ruznic, “The Past Awaiting the Future/Arrival of Drummers”, 2023

The description of Maja Ruznic‘s painting from the museum-

Ruznic has said that The Past Awaiting the Present/Arrival of Drummers “looks at how multiple things can be true at the same time: birth, violence, pain, suffering, joy, and music.” She has described the horizontal format of the painting as inherently linear, implying a past, present, and future. The movements suggested by the figures’ feet—some in profile and others pointed toward the viewer—collapse these temporalities into a single symbolic image.

Isaac Julien’s immersive video installation was really absorbing. The sculptures added an extra dimension to what was on screen.

From the museum-

Unfolding across five screens, Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die) reflects on the life and thought of Alain Locke (1885–1954), philosopher, educator, and cultural critic of the Harlem Renaissance (played by André Holland) who urged members of the African diaspora to embrace African art in order to reclaim their cultural heritage. The installation includes sculptures by Richmond Barthé (1901–1989) and Matthew Angelo Harrison (b. 1985), opening up a conversation about Black artists’ legacies that extends across modern history. Julien has described the work as a form of “poetic restitution,” speaking to the ways museums have collected African art. The artist refines this critique by creating a visual and sonic meditation as a “diasporic dream-space.”

In the work, Locke contemplates the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford—where he was the first Black Rhodes Scholar—and the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia, founded by one of Locke’s interlocutors, Albert C. Barnes (1872–1951), played by Danny Huston. Barnes also debates a skeptical Locke on his heritage, a sequence that distills many of the questions that the installation raises: Who gets to define Black modernism? Who has the authority to speak? How do men negotiate power, or queer desire?

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, “Twelve Thirty-Four “(From the “Doctor Alcocer’s Corsets for Horses” series), 2023, Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas

From the museum about Mary Lovelace O’Neal-

Mary Lovelace O’Neal began the series that included Blue Whale aka #12 (from the Whales Fucking series), after two whales caught her imagination as she walked on a beach near San Francisco. “And watching them, I thought, imagine the tons and tons of water they must displace when they’re fucking!” It is this sense of excitement and desire on a grand scale, the energy of the light in their spray, that she worked to capture in paint—more than the image of the whale itself.

Such a dynamic, independent, sometimes slightly outrageous point of view has driven Lovelace O’Neal throughout her sixty-year career, which has unfolded alongside heated debates about what painting should or should not do and prescriptive views of Black artists and abstraction. While Lovelace O’Neal was deeply involved with the civil rights movement on a political level, she resisted calls to make representational paintings that would illustrate or inspire the struggle, insisting that forging her own path in abstraction—as she does in each of the paintings on view here—was equally relevant to Black life.

Cannupa Hanska Luger “Uŋziwoslal Wašičuta (from the series Future Ancestral Technologies)”, 2021

From the museum-

Cannupa Hanska Luger proposes: “This installation is not inverted . . . our current world is upside down.” For the artist, upending our grounding in time and space makes way for imagined futures free of colonialism and capitalism, where broader Indigenous knowledge can thrive. The work here, Uŋziwoslal Wašičuta (a Lakota phrase meaning “the fat-taker’s world is upside down”), celebrates Native technologies by using the shape of a tipi—a word that the artist has also turned into an acronym, standing for Transportable Intergenerational Protection Infrastructure (TIPI). Luger looks at the complex structure as an example of the innovations created by his ancestors of the Northern Plains tribes. Luger’s materials, such as deadstock fabric, found objects, and clay, reflect the artist’s commitment to sustainability and reuse.

(Work by Suzanne Jackson)

From the museum about all of the unique creations by Suzanne Jackson–

Suzanne Jackson made these suspended paintings without canvas, slowly building up many layers of acrylic, detritus, gel medium, and objects from the natural world, including seeds from her garden in Savannah, Georgia. Jackson has been experimenting with acrylic paint since the 1960s. “It’s painting another way,” she explains. “I don’t call it collage because it’s not another material. It’s all paint—acrylic on acrylic. And it’s suspended: paint suspended in space. . . . The paint becomes an armature for itself.” This “armature” is not fixed, however; Jackson thinks of the paintings as living things and is very open to the fact that they are malleable and will reshape. The layered paint seems to have a kind of agency and an ability to change independently. Looking at its iridescent quality up close creates an afterimage—a lasting mental image that continues even when a viewer has shifted their gaze away.

Two of Eamon Ore-Giron’s paintings from “Talking Shit”, Mineral paint and vinyl paint on canvas

From the museum-

These three paintings are part of Eamon Ore-Giron’s Talking Shit series, in which he reimagines deities from ancient Peruvian and Mexican cultures. Reflecting on a famous sculpture of the Aztec goddess Coatlicue, the poet Octavio Paz (1914–1998) traced an evolution from “goddess to demon, from demon to monster, and from monster to masterpiece.” This line of thinking resonated with Ore-Giron, who recognized that symbolic figures are continuously reimagined as cultures shift and collective and personal identities are redefined. The series title Talking Shit reflects the artist’s desire to explore this idea and a living ancestral past in ways that are open, informal, and personal.

In these works, Ore-Giron focuses on Andean folklore. He has pictured Amaru, a powerful, protean creature related to water and the underworld, as a zigzagging abstracted dragon. To depict the mythological rainbow made by the creation god Viracocha, Ore-Giron represented the celestial phenomenon as a double-headed snake moving through the sky.

Sections from B. Ingrid Olson's installation

From the museum about B. Ingrid Olson’s photographic and sculptural installation-

This installation intermixes two series, Dura Pictures and Indexes. Each work in the Dura Pictures series presents one photographic image physically embedded within another, what the artist describes as placing a “moment in time within a different moment in time, just like memory does of the past in the present.” The photographs were made in the artist’s studio and record B. Ingrid Olson’s own performative interactions with handmade props and assorted materials, such as mirrors or printed matter set within constrictive ad hoc spaces. The images alternate between showing a first-person vantage point with a torso or toes breaking into the picture plane, and offering a mirrored reflection of the artist, often only partially seen.

Proto Coda, Index is a single artwork with thirty constituent parts—each is a replica of one of the thirty reliefs made by the artist between 2016 to 2022. With concave interior surfaces and irregular hanging heights, the forms each suggest a container for a specific body part, like a piece of armor or a casting mold. The reliefs mark the entire length of the wall, serving as placeholders for an absent body, both fractured and multiplied.

Ser Serpas, “taken through back entrances . . . “, 2024

Ser Serpas’ large sculptural installation, assembled from found objects, grew more interesting when seen at different angles.

From the museum-

Describing sculptures like those included in this exhibition, Ser Serpas has said that “the act of making is a choreographed performance, of which the assemblage is the aftermath.” The performance begins in a city—in this case, New York, and specifically Brooklyn—with the artist collecting discarded objects that speak to her through their color, the ways they have become worn or torn, and their structural openness to being combined. Then she works with the objects’ orifices, odd junctures, and gravity to combine them into provisional sculptures. This process yields a feeling of potential energy just at the moment before an object’s collapse. The resulting sculptures become a kind of dual portrait: first of the city as seen through its cycles of consumption and decay, and then of the artist herself through the expressive choices she has made.

It’s often difficult to see many of the videos that are part of the exhibition due to time constraints. This year the museum partnered with MUBI and you can watch eight of the films for free on their site for a limited time.

On Sunday 8/11/24, the last day of the exhibition, the museum will be free all day with events that include making creature collages with Eamon Ore-Giron (whose work is pictured above).

[thenotsolittlemisspeculiar]

⚠️ C/W: Explicit Language, Profanity, NSFW

"Trust the Science"

(Source)

Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-present)

Created by Rob McElhenney

S8 E10 | December 20, 2012

3 Arts Entertainment

[masoncarr2244]

Atlanta Braves at. Tampa Bay Rays 07/09/23/

[imasradiantasthesun]

Hey!!!

I’m interested in your thoughts: how many living Victors do you think each District has at the time of the QQ reaping?

omg hi!! thank you so much for the ask, i love talking about the victors!! iirc there were 59 victors still alive shortly before the quell, so here's what i think:

1: 11 total, 8 living: Jasper Montgomery (2nd, dec.); Ruby Red Bird (6th); Mirage Dubois (17th); Luxe Cloud (22nd); Jade Crawford (30th); Onyx O'Hara (42nd); Amber Nova Astor-Moon (51st); Quartz Whitegrass (59th); Cashmere Davenport (63rd); Gloss Davenport (64th); Crystal Chanel Michaels (66th)

2: 14 total, 11 living: Rex Barnes (1st, dec.); Atticus Nader (4th, dec.); Diana Roseman (8th, dec.); Florence Malina (19th); Ace Robinson (27th); Violet Rashid (28th); Valerie Banks (36th); Brutus Kumar (40th); Emmeline (Lyme) Lin (46th); Leo Kalinin (52nd); Sebastian Kim (56th); Enobaria Moore (62nd); Augustus Braun (67th); Julian Stone (72nd)

3: 5 total, 4 living: Edie Faris (13th, dec.); Sofie Park (26th); Beetee Latier (33rd); Wiress Payne (48th); Gage Patel (54th)

4: 10 total, 9 living: Tomi Ando (5th, dec.); Magdalena (Mags) Flanagan (11th); Caspian Zhang (15th); Siobhan Sullivan (24th); Dylan Kahale (32nd); Estrella Williams (39th); Pearl Davis (49th); Halia Kane (55th); Finnick Odair (65th); Anemone (Annie) Cresta (70th)

5: 4 total, 3 living: Dacie Quinn (16th, dec.); Porter Millicent Tripp (38th); Wyatt Medina (44th); Vander Allen (61st)

6: 3 total, 2 living: Basma Ford (23rd, dec.); Adrienne Mercedes Hughes (43rd); Miles Horowitz (60th)

7: 5 total, 3 living: Phyll Thomas (9th, dec.); Olive Sato (20th, dec.); Grover Hits Back (41st); Blight Hackman (58th); Johanna Mason (71st)

8: 4 total, 4 living: Woof Dimatteo (12th); April Webber (21st); Sasha Travin (35th); Cecelia Balan (57th)

9: 5 total, 4 living: Malt Waters (7th); Robin Blue Ryan (25th, dec.); Maisie Olson (34th); Erika Miller (53rd); Isaac Mesteth (68th)

10: 4 total, 3 living: Vina Garza (18th); Aubrey Flores (29th, dec.); Paxton Bernal (47th); Bel Cuervo (73rd)

11: 6 total, 5 living: Cane Harrison (3rd, dec.); Honeydew Hayes (14th); Seeder Chapman (31st); Harvey McLean (37th); Chaff Santana (45th); Clementine Jones (69th)

12: 4 total, 3 living: Lucy Gray Baird (10th, dec.); Haymitch Abernathy (50th); Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark (74th)

i think that the majority of the deceased victors passed away from old age, with the exception of a few (general TW because this gets dark):

Dacie Quinn (D5, 16th Games): died of cancer at the age of 53 (56 ADD)

Olive Sato (D7, 20th Games): died in childbirth at age 40 (42 ADD)

Basma Ford (D6, 23rd Games): died from a morphling overdose at age 27 (32 ADD)

Robin Blue Ryan (D9, 25th Games): murdered at age 37 (44 ADD) (imo he was a very unpopular victor in D9 because a) he was voted in, and b) as D9's first actual mentor, he didn't do very well, bringing home only one tribute in the 19 years he mentored)

Aubrey Flores (D10, 29th Games): drowned in his bathtub while drunk at age 40 (53 ADD)

Onyx O'Hara (D1, 42nd Games): died by suicide at age 26 (50 ADD)

anyways... thank you SO much for the ask, i'd love to hear what you think :3

[kindheartedgummybears]

eh while we're on the topic of Directive

once again, if i got any names or characters wrong please correct me!!

[palmviewfm]

any mw counterparts?

there's  soooooo  many  counterpart  options  that  you  can  go  with  !  i'll  leave  some  under  the  read  more  for  you  to  make  it  easier.

riverdale:  betty  cooper,  veronica  lodge,  archie  andrews,  cheryl  blossom,  jason  blossom,  reggie  mantle,  midge  klump,  kevin  keller,  polly  cooper,  toni  topaz,  jughead  jones,  moose  mason,  and  josie  mccoy.

pretty  little  liars:  aria  montgomery,  spencer  hastings,  emily  fields,  alison  dilaurentis,  maya  st  germain,  mona  vanderwaal,  mike  montgomery,  caleb  rivers,  noel  kahn,  and  toby  cavanaugh.

teen  wolf:  lydia  martin,  scott  mccall,  allison  argent,  malia  tate,  derek  hale,  isaac  lahey,  liam  dunbar,  cora  hale,  theo  raeken,  kira  yukimura,  jackson  whittemore,  and  erica  reyes.

clueless:  dionne  davenport,  amber  mariens,  murray  duvall,  travis  birkenstock,  christian  stovitz,  summer  bonet  and  elton  tiscia.

charmed:  prue  halliwell,  phoebe  halliwell,  piper  halliwell  and  paige  matthews.

all  american:  olivia  baker,  layla  keating,  asher  adams,  patience,  simone  hicks,  thea  mays,  jj  parker,  damon  sims,  jordan  spencer,  spencer  james,  and  jaymee.

greys  anatomy:  lexi  grey,  arizona  robbins,  atticus  lincoln,  derek  shephard,  addison  montgomery,  callie  torres,  alex  karev,  and  april  kepner.

bridgerton:  francesca  bridgerton,  penelope  featherington,  daphne  bridgerton,  simon  basset,  kate  sharma  and  colin  bridgerton.

sex  and  the  city:  carrie  bradshaw,  miranda  hobbs  and  charlotte  york.

twilight:  bella  swan,  alice  cullen,  carlisle  cullen,  esme  cullen,  emmett  cullen,  and  jacob  black.

friends:�� ross  geller,  joey  tribbiani,  chandler  bing,  monica  geller,  mike  hannigan  and  janice  litman.

the  vampire  diaries:  elena  gilbert,  katherine  pierce,  stefan  salvatore,  caroline  forbes,  bonnie  bennett,  enzo  st  john,  hayley  marshall,  klaus  mikaelson,  elijah  mikaelson  and  rebekah  mikaelson.

pitch  perfect:  beca  mitchell,  chloe  beale,  aubrey  posen,  lilly  onakuramara,  cynthia  rose,  and  stacie  conrad.

the  summer  i  turned  pretty:  belly  conklin,  conrad  fisher,  jeremiah  fisher,  steven  conklin,  taylor  jewel,  and  cam  cameron.

shadowhunters:  clary  fray,  simon  lewis,  isabelle  lightwood,  jace  herondale,  alec  lightwood,  and  magnus  bane.

gossip  girl:  blair  waldorf,  serena  van  der  woodsen,  georgina  sparks,  nate  archibald,  and  dan  humphrey.

scream:  sidney  prescott,  tatum  riley,  kirby  reed,  tara  carpenter,  sam  carpenter,  gale  weathers,  dewey  riley,  randy  meeks  and  casey  becker.

gilmore  girls:  logan  huntzberger,  lane  kim,  dave  rygalski,  paris  geller,  lorelai  gilmore,  tristan  dugray,  luke  danes,  dean  forester,  emily  gilmore,  richard  gilmore,  sookie  st  james,  and  kirk  gleason.

the  notebook:  allie  hamilton  and  noah  calhoun.

interview with a vampire: louis de point du lac, lestat de lioncourt, estelle, santiago, armand, samuel barclay, and grace de point du lac.

a  cinderella  story:  austin  ames  and  sam  montgomery.

10  things  i  hate  about  you:  kat  stratford,  cameron  james,  joey  donner,  and  bianca  stratford.

grease:  sandy  olson,  danny  zuko,  betty  rizzo,  marty,  jan,  frenchy,  doody,  putzie,  sunny,  chacha  and  kenickie.

dirty  dancing:  frances  'baby'  houseman.

heathers:  heather  chandler,  heather  mcnamara,  heather  duke,  and  veronica  sawyer.

scooby  doo:  velma  dinkley,  daphne  blake,  shaggy  rogers,  and  fred  jones.

powerpuff  girls:  bubbles,  blossom,  and  buttercup.

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 7.17

Beer Birthdays

James Pawley Dawes (1843)

Anthony Straub (1882)

Joshua Bernstein (1978)

Five Favorite Birthdays

James Cagney; actor (1899)

Erle Stanley Gardner; writer (1889)

Vince Guaraldi; jazz pianist (1928)

Peter Schickele; music comedian, composer (1935)

Donald Sutherland; actor (1934)

Famous Birthdays

Berenice Abbott; photographer (1898)

Shmuel Yosef Agnon; Ukrainian-Israeli writer (1888)

Ron Asheton; guitarist and songwriter (1948)

John Jacob Astor; zillionaire (1763)

Lou Barlow; guitarist and songwriter (1966)

George Barnes; guitarist and songwriter (1921)

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten; German philosopher (1714)

Luc Bondy; Swiss film director (1948)

Tim Brooke-Taylor; English comedian (1940)

Mark Burnett; television producer (1960)

Geezer Butler; English bass player (1949)

Diahann Carroll; actor (1935)

Niccolò Castiglioni; Italian composer (1932)

Elizabeth Cook; singer and guitarist (1972)

John Cooper; English car designer (1923)

Chris Crutcher; writer (1946)

Spencer Davis; rock musician (1942)

Paul Delaroche; French painter (1797)

Phyllis Diller; comedian (1917)

Cory Doctorow, Canadian author (1971)

Lyonel Feininger;, German-American painter (1871)

Lionel Ferbos; trumpeter (1911)

Wolfgang Flür; German musician (1947)

Wendy Freedman; Canadian-American cosmologist and astronomer (1957)

Elbridge Gerry; politician (1744)

Sergei K. Godunov; Russian mathematician (1929)

Gordon Gould; laser inventor (1920)

David Hasselhoff; actor (1952)

Hermann Huppen; Belgian author and illustrator (1938)

Bruno Jasieński; Polish poet and author (1901)

Scott Johnson; cartoonist (1969)

Darryl Lamonica; Oakland Raiders QB (1941)

Nicolette Larson; singer-songwriter (1952)

Thé Lau; Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (1952)

Georges Lemaître; Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (1894)

Art Linkletter; humorist (1912)

Pierre Louis Maupertuis; French mathematician and philosopher (1698)

Robert R. McCammon; author (1952)

Angela Merkel; German chemist and politician (1954)

Craig Morgan; singer-songwriter and guitarist (1965)

Luis Munoz-Rivera; Puerto Rican patriot, poet (1859)

Frank Olson; chemist and microbiologist (1910)

Barbara O'Neil; actor (1910)

Mary Osborne; guitarist (1921)

Quino Spanish-Argentinian cartoonist (1932)

Christiane Rochefort; French author (1917)

Jason Rullo; rock drummer (1972)

Jimmy Scott; jazz singer (1925)

Ephraim Shay, American engineer (1839)

Phoebe Snow; singer (1952)

P.J. Soles; actor (1950)

Red Sovine; country singer (1917)

Christina Stead; Australian author (1902)

J. Michael Straczynski; writer (1954)

Mick Tucker; English rock drummer (1947)

Isaac Watts; English hymnwriter (1674)

Alex Winter; actor (1965)

[aristocratslog]

"How To Make A Ghost" Short Film from jared hogan on Vimeo.

Cast

Starring

Damian Young Samuel Goergen Jordan Duffy Jayden Fontaine

Gas Station Background Sara Kopkin Stranger Cantey Hammond Stranger Dakota Brock Stuntman Patrick Chu

Crew

Producer Brian Tetsuro Ivie Producer Gregory Daniel King

Executive Producer Jon Muedder Executive Producer Thom Blackburn Head of Production Michelle Wheeler Production Coordinator Michael Wine

Director Jared Hogan Producer Henry Reed Production Manager Allah Samson 1st AD Al G Sillah 2nd AD Alberto Cantu Key PA Nandi Dawson Set PA Jarren Mapp Set PA Tye Ashton Forbes Set PA Joshua "Jody" Lynch Set PA Ronnald "Ron" Baskin Truck PA Ed Austin

Cinematographer Dustin Lane 1st Camera Assistant James Teninty 2nd Camera Assistant / Loader Lia Guzman Utility Kelsey Ianuzzi BTS Photo Nicole Hernandez Gaffer Haley Manning Gaffer Ben Wallace Key Grip Bryan Tan Best Grip Isaac McCord Swing Harrison Shook

Sound Mixer Joe Batiste Boom Op Winston Johnson

Art Director Lauren Adams Jones Leadperson Grace Brass Animal Wrangler Greg Aldridge

Costume Designer Janie Driggers SPFX Makeup Becky Watson

Casting Director Jordan Brown Child Labor Coordinator Dan Murray Location Manager JT Calloway

Postproduction Supervisor Bree Doehring Edited by Jared Hogan Visual Effects by Foreign Xchange Supervising Sound Editor Matt Yocum Sound Effects Editor Kai Paquin Re-Recording Mixer Matt Yocum Colorist Jacob McKee

Original Music by Michael A. Muller Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Michael A. Muller at Elyria Sound, Los Angeles Trumpet Luis Cardenas Casillas Mezzo-Soprano Lisa McGee Tuba Bradley Möller Contrabass Sam Pankey Percussion Jeff Olson Cello Dylan Rick

Songs

"Gospod Vocarisja Prokimen" Metropolitan Choir of the Russian Cathedral in Paris 2007, Public Domain

"Mogoletie" Metropolitan Choir of the Russian Cathedral in Paris 2007, Public Domain

"Tebe Poem" Russian Patriarchate Choir of Moscow 2005, Public Domain

"Trezvon" Savino-Storozhevsky Monastery Choir 2005, Public Domain

Kebrado Caravan

[carolap53]

Is Anything Too Hard for God? TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

04/03/2024

"So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?'" - Genesis 18:12 God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son who would be the seed of a whole nation. Sarah was now beyond childbearing years. So when some angels from God paid Abraham and Sarah a visit to inform them that Sarah was going to have a child, she happened to be listening outside the tent and erupted with laughter. The thought seemed preposterous to her. The angels reminded her that nothing is impossible with God. "Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son" (Gen. 18:14). Sarah gave birth to Isaac as foretold. Recently, I was considering putting on another workplace-leader summit for ministry leaders who minister to those in the workplace. I had been involved in such an event a year earlier. My friend Gunnar Olson, who is the founder of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce of Sweden, had been involved with me in putting on the first event, so I inquired whether he would be willing to participate in the second event. He wrote me an e-mail letter informing me that an international gathering of Christian workplace leaders would be taking place on the island of Cyprus in March and asked if I could postpone my event and instead participate in an event in Cyprus and invite other leaders. My initial response was laughter due to my current financial condition. In fact, I had to go to a map to see just where this place was. The following day I received a call from a man I had met only 30 days earlier. We had not discussed this event in March. "What are you doing tomorrow? I would like you to go to the airport with me to pick up a missionary whom I want you to meet. We'd like to propose an idea to you. Can you come?" "Sure," I said. The next day he picked me up and informed me that we were picking up a missionary who was flying in from Cyprus. "We are planning to take 25 workplace believers to Cyprus for an event that Gunnar Olson is involved in and would like you to come and teach your Esau-to-Joseph workshop the day before. We will cover your expenses. Would you be interested in doing this?" Again, I had to laugh as I saw the hand of God orchestrate in such a miraculous way and in such a timely manner to assure me of His involvement in the new directions in my life. Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27). Are there things that make you laugh when you think of the miracle that would be required for it to take place? Ask God for the miracle you need today.

[fredvanvlecksuperintendent]

Fred Van Vleck Superintendent | EHS Students Receive Seal of Biliteracy Awards

Shared by Fred Van Vleck Superintendent of Eureka City Schools. Eureka High School Students Earn 43 California State Seals of Biliteracy in 7 World Languages Honored Among 113 Students by the Humboldt County Office of Education May 19, 2023 – Eureka, CA – The Humboldt County Office of Education held its 11th Annual Seal of Biliteracy Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at the Sequoia Conference Center in Eureka. This year HCOE celebrated 113 students that earned the California Department of Education’s Seal of Biliteracy in one or more of 11 languages representing nine different high schools in Humboldt County. Eureka City Schools is proud to announce that Eureka High School made quite the statement this year with its students earning 43 Seals of Biliteracy in seven World Languages. These remarkable students were honored with an official certificate and a medal for achieving Biliteracy. Four students (below in bold) achieved multiliteracy and received their Seal in three languages including English. The students were accompanied by their families and dedicated staff from the EHS World Languages Department and EHS Counselors.  Every school year Eureka High School offers its students the opportunity to be assessed to receive their California Seal of Biliteracy. The State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB), marked by a gold seal on the diploma or transcript, recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English. Eureka High School Counselor Sarah Cruz says, “The process allows for students to have their language skills verified to colleges and future employers. Many of these students have taken four years of a world language at Eureka High or speak their own heritage language in addition to English.” Eureka High currently offers Spanish, German and Yurok. This year EHS students received Seals of Biliteracy in Spanish, German, Hmong, Vietnamese, Czech, Gujarati and Chinese Mandarin. Join us in congratulating them! Their names and Seals of Biliteracy are listed below. Bien Hou  – German/Mandarin Kazhia Lee – Spanish/Hmong Kishan Patel – Gujarati/Spanish Amelia Staiano – Czech/Spanish German Spectre Hailey Amber Olson Gaige Shinn Vietnamese Bui Khanh Linh Nguyen Spanish Faith Abercrombie  Aleyah Angel Lopez Christopher Barroso Olivia Biesecker Wolfgang Bise Davis Boone Ava Colosi-Bennett Marco Cruz Hernandez Spanish continued Alma Cruz-Mojica      Puletele Fonoti  Joseph GonzalezFletes  Anna Grimmett Rebeka Hang     Diego Hernandez-Gonzalez         Jesus Hernandez Stasha Leonard  Ashly Lopez         Samantha Munguia-Gastelum    Margaret Odell  Sasha Ortiz Bazan            Kimberli Pacheco Pretty Perez Finn           Nelsy Ramirez Pacheco Keenan Riggs Turpin    Brian Rodriguez Barroso           Destiny Rodriguez         Valeria Ruiz         Ean Savage Jordan Urban     Juan Valdavinos Isaac Young —– Press Contact: Sierra Speer Dillon Communications and Marketing Coordinator Eureka City Schools Speerdillons@eurekacityschools.org Tel: 707-441-3373 To find out more about the California Department of Education’s State Seal of Biliteracy visit: www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp Originally published here: https://askfredvanvleck.com/ehs-students-receive-seal-of-biliteracy-awards/

[honeyleesblog]

July 14 Zodiac - Full Horoscope Personality

They are keen on all that occurs on the planet, what others do, their thought process, all of which permit them to assemble data, grow their experience, and foster their internal identities. They reflect nature, they think and mirror a great deal. They have an extraordinary creative mind and like to stare off into space. They are removed, alterable, very held, fairly modest - they show little interest in succeeding throughout everyday life. Curiously delicate and frequently held - very figuring out in their way of behaving. They partake in their family climate and are astoundingly appended to their moms. They are close to home individuals, genuinely connected to others. They like the past, old traditions and, by and large, all old things; they frequently gather different things. They have a seriously heartfelt disposition. Economical and persisting - they don't leave their place of employment in any event, when every other person does. They are exceptionally terrified of being mocked, which frequently makes them veil their sentiments and cause mistaken assumptions. They are fit for enduring and profound love. Blemishes: They show a specific latency of character and absence of drive. After times of movement and work, there is a few latency and dormancy where they need to keep away from any work. They are excessively glad, excessively partial to shallow functions; nonetheless, they are very severe in connections. What compromises them? The center time of your life will be upbeat and blissful. Notwithstanding, in light of the fact that they express an excess of detachment when they ought to be making an honest effort, the finish of their life could be ominous. Sicknesses in which they may be in danger incorporate stomach related messes, gastric fever, and ailment.

July 14 Zodiac - Full Horoscope Personality 

 Assuming that your birthday is July 14, your zodiac sign is Malignant growth July 14 - character and character character: wary, unbiased, ready, anxious, impolite, little and limited receptive calling: rancher, musician, attorney tones: orange, dark, earthy colored stone: feline's eye animal: duck plant: Chives fortunate numbers: 21,23,44,46,51,53 very fortunate number: 5 Occasions and Observances - July 14 Iraq: Republic Day. Nicaragua: Public Banner Day. France: French Public Day. July 14 Big name Birthday. Who was conceived that very day as you? 1901 - Gerald Finzi, English author (d. 1956). 1903: Irving Stone, American author (d. 1989). 1904: Isaac Bashevis Vocalist, Clean essayist, Nobel Prize Champ for writing in 1978 (d. 1991). 1907: Annabella, French entertainer (f. 1996). 1910: Lucas Demare, Argentine movie producer (d. 1981). 1910: William Hanna, American illustrator, producer and maker (d. 2001). 1911: Terry-Thomas, English entertainer (d. 1990). 1911: Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber, American atomic physicist of German Jewish beginning (d. 1998). 1912: Northrop Frye, Canadian abstract and scholar (d. 1991). 1912: Woody Guthrie, American performer (d. 1967). 1913: Gerald Portage, 38th American president somewhere in the range of 1974 and 1977 (d. 2006). 1916: Natalia Ginzburg, Italian author (d. 1991). 1916: Julio Watchman, Argentine screenwriter and movie producer (d. 1979). 1918: Ingmar Bergman, Swedish movie producer (d. 2007). 1919: Lino Ventura, Italian entertainer (d. 1987). 1921: Geoffrey Wilkinson, English scientist, 1973 Nobel Prize victor for science (d. 1996). 1922: Julio Cozzi, Argentine soccer player (d. 2011). 1922: Mario Recordდ³n, Chilean competitor (f. 1994). 1923: Dale Robertson, American entertainer (d. 2013). 1923: Robert Zildjian, American financial specialist (d. 2013). 1924: James Whyte Dark, English doctor and pharmacologist, 1988 Nobel Prize Champ (d. 2010). 1925: Marდ­a Asunciდ³n Catala Poch, Catalan mathematician and cosmologist (d. 2009). 1926: Harry Dignitary Stanton, American entertainer. 1928: Nancy Olson, American entertainer. 1929: Julio de Grazia, Argentine entertainer (d. 1989). 1931: Luis Pდ©rcovich Roca, Peruvian drug physicist and legislator (b. 2017). 1932: Helga Linდ©, German entertainer got comfortable Spain. 1933: Robert Bourassa, Canadian government official and financial specialist (b. 1996). 1937: Yoshiro Mori, Japanese State leader. 1938: James Christy, American cosmologist. 1938: Jerry Rubin, American social dissident (b.1994). 1938: Richard Rust, American entertainer (d. 1994). 1939: Peter Duryea, American entertainer (d. 2013). 1939: Karel Gott, Czech artist. 1939: Sid Haig, American entertainer. 1941: Ron Karenga, American essayist and extremist. 1942: Javier Solana, Spanish government official. 1943: Christopher Minister, English writer. 1945: Jim Gordon, American artist. 1946: Vincent Pastore, American entertainer. 1947: Navinchandra Ramgoolam, State leader of the Mauritius Islands. 1948: Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Catholic strict and Ethiopian cardinal. 1949: Tommy Mottola, American music maker. 1953: Bebe Buell, American model and artist. 1955: L. Brent Bozell III, American essayist and dissident. 1956: Julio Chდ¡vez, Argentine entertainer. 1958: Miguel დ?ngel Cortდ©s, Spanish government official. 1959: Wilmer Barrientos, Venezuelan general. 1960: Kyle Gass, American entertainer, guitarist and artist musician, of the band Industrious D. 1960: Angelique Kidjo, Beninese artist musician. 1960: Jane Lynch, American entertainer. 1961: Jackie Earle Haley, American entertainer. 1966: Owen Coyle, English footballer and mentor. 1966: Tanya Donelly, American musician and guitarist, of the groups Midsection and The Reproducers. 1966: Matthew Fox, American entertainer. 1966: Ellen Reid, Canadian artist, of the band Life sized models. 1966: Brian Selznick, American artist. 1966: Ana Marდ­a Cuervo, Spanish cell researcher 1967: Karsten Braasch, German tennis player. 1967: Jeff Jarrett, American expert grappler. 1967: Robin Ventura, American baseball player. 1967: Michelle Yvonne Simmons, English physicist 1969: Kazushi Sakuraba, Japanese grappler. 1971: Antonio Carlos Ortega, Spanish handball player. 1971: Imprint LoMonaco, American expert grappler. 1971: Scratch McCabe, English guitarist, of the groups The Verve and The Dark Boats. 1971: Joey Styles, American reporter. 1971: Howard Webb, English ref. 1972: Deborah Postal carrier, Australian entertainer. 1973: Kota Hirano, Japanese mangaka. 1973: Candela Pena, Spanish entertainer. 1974: Erick Dampier, American ball player. 1974: Alberto Hevia, Spanish convention driver. 1974: David Mitchell, English entertainer and entertainer. 1975: Untouchable, American rapper, of the band Dark Looked at Peas. 1976: Andrდ©s Ospina, essayist and maker of Colombian radio. 1976: Diego Rivarola, Argentine-Chilean soccer player. 1976: Kirsten Sheridan, Irish producer. 1977: Mototsugu Shimizu, Japanese warrior. 1977: Victoria of Sweden, Swedish blue-blood. 1977: Adil Ramzi, Moroccan footballer. 1978: Mattias Ekstrდ¶m, Swedish motorsport driver. 1978: Kristy Wright, Australian entertainer. 1979: Bernie Castro, Dominican baseball player. 1979: Ariel Garcდ©, Argentine soccer player. 1979: Josდ© Moratდ³n, Spanish footballer. 1979: Scott Watchman, American entertainer and vocalist. 1982: Andrდ©s Borghi, Argentine chief and screenwriter, maker of the computer game "The Dark Heart". 1983: Igor Andrდ©iev, Russian tennis player. 1983: Kareem McLean Powell, Costa Rican soccer player. 1983: Juan Carlos Gutiდ©rrez, Venezuelan baseball player. 1984: Adriana Abenia, Spanish TV moderator, model and entertainer. 1984: Renaldo Balkman, American ball player. 1984: Alessandro Boccolini, Italian footballer. 1984: Mounir El Hamdaoui, Moroccan footballer. 1984: Samir Handanoviე?, Slovenian footballer. 1984: Nilmar, Brazilian soccer player. 1984: Fleur Saville, New Zealand entertainer. 1986: Alexander Gerndt, Swedish footballer. 1986: Dan Smith, English artist. 1987: Sara Canning, Canadian entertainer. 1987: Adam Johnson, English footballer. 1987: Dan Reynolds, American artist. 1988: Conor McGregor, Irish MMA warrior. 1988: Luis Lozenge, Paraguayan entertainer. 1989: Sean Flynn, American entertainer. 1992: Malena Luchetti, Argentine entertainer. 1993: Rubდ©n Garcდ­a, Spanish soccer player. 1993: Ailდ­n Salas, Argentine entertainer of Brazilian beginning. 1997: Cengiz დ?nder, Turkish footballer. 1998: Lucდ­a Garcდ­a, Spanish footballer

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 5, Number 9

Tropical Fuck Storm

Just like that, summer’s over and we face a growing pile of late 2019 records. But before that, before we drag ourselves like kids to school into the second half, a moment to appreciate what’s accumulated.  This month’s Dust touches on groovy jazz tuba, punishing hardcore, a bracing industrial reissue, altered percussion and an OG Tuareg guitarist.  Contributors this time around include Isaac Olson, Ian Mathers, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Bill Meyer and Andrew Forell.  

Joseph Allred — O Meadowlark (Feeding Tube) 

O, Meadowlark by Joseph Allred

 Plenty of people get the tag American Primitive Guitarist stuck on their rump these days. It’s not always appropriate and it’s not always welcome, but it adheres to Joseph Allred with the fastness of the truth.  Allred, a Tennessean who currently pursues higher learning at Boston College, understands that whether you use mountain music or raga-derived form as your framework (and he uses a bit of both, alternating between skeletal banjo figures and rushing guitar fantasias), the music has to project something beyond the notes. O Meadowlark not only evokes a cascade of emotions, some explicit and others allowed and bent until they’re beyond name, but he exerts an opposite pull. Like Robbie Basho or Steffen Basho Junghans, he draws the listener through the sound hole and into the tones and overtones that carom about the insides of his guitar.  Climb inside; like a Tardis, it has room for all.

Bill Meyer 

Caterina Barbieri — Ecstatic Computation (Editions Mego)

Ecstatic Computation by Caterina Barbieri

The title of Caterina Barbieri’s third LP suggests a congress of emotional states and cognitive processes; total neural action, you might say. The sound of the thing suggests another, maybe more personal integration. She favors massive, echo-haloed electronic sounds, the sort that would set off all manner of madness in the disco if only she’d subordinate them to a sufficiently clubby beat. But instead she juxtaposes them with wordless female vocals (not her own) and switched-on harpsichord sounds which lock together with a structural logic that probably comes natural to a person who grew up studying classical guitar. And while the sounds promise abandon, the way they lock together requires submission to a Bach-like allegiance to order. Promise delivered.

Bill Meyer

Theon Cross — Fyah (Gearbox Records)

Fyah by Theon Cross

Tuba player Theon Cross was the secret weapon of last year’s excellent Your Queen is a Reptile, by The Sons of Kemet. Fyah is Cross’s debut as a band leader, and  if the melodies occasionally sag, Cross and company generate more than enough energy to keep you, if not intently listening, grooving. Like many in the London jazz scene, Cross has no qualms about pulling in sounds from everywhere, and while not every experiment works (the synths and trap beats on “Panda Village” don’t add much), it keeps Fyah feeling fleet and admirably populist. Cross’s commitment to bring the tuba back to our attention and good graces is admirable, and he’s certainly the right guy for the job, but for better or for worse, he suffers the fate of all lower register players: disappearing when played back at anything less than high volume. As such, the real MVP on Fyah is tenor saxophonist and fellow London hotshot, Nubya Garcia. Fyah is a good record. It gets better the louder you play it.

Isaac Olson

 Drugs of Faith — Decay (Selfmadegod Records)

Drugs of Faith have been making records like Decay, their new EP, for quite a while now. The record is full of crossover hardcore that pushes on the pressure points of crust and sludge. It’s grimy, gritty, sweaty stuff and it’s really good. The focused truculence of a song like “Anonymity” sharpens rather than overwhelms the tune’s tendencies toward melody, and what a frigging breakdown. The whole 7” — all ten minutes of it — is terrifically punishing. Or maybe it’s punishingly terrific. Whatever it is, it goes by quick. But that’s cool, you’ll just flip it and play it again. And like a live hardcore set, music this intense is best enjoyed in small, gut-thumping doses. Toward the end of the excellent track “Nihilists,” singer Richard Johnson (who also plays guitar) growls, “If I go down, I’m taking you all with me.” Sure sounds like he means it.

Jonathan Shaw

Help — Help (Self Released)

Help by Help

One advantage to keeping songs short and lyrics anthemic is that you can throw a whole lot of sludge into the works and still end up with tunes that folks will remember the next day. Portland noise-punk band does this six times on their quite good debut EP, Help. No surprises here, just grimy, coruscating punk that sounds amazing when you’re reading the latest update on our slide into oligarchy/kleptocracy/kakistocracy/planet death/what have you. Best of all is their theme song, which softens up a traditionally macho genre with some very welcome, very 2019 vulnerability (Complete lyrics: “Help!/I fucking need it!/You know I’ve battled but it’s all I can take!”) and the closer, “Class War Now” which is about… well, you know.

Isaac Olson

 HTRK – Nostalgia (Fire Records)

Nostalgia is the self-released 2004 debut EP by Australian experimental trio HTRK (Hate Rock Trio). Nigel Yang (guitar, programming, electronics), Jonnine Standish (voice, percussion, samples) and Sean Stewart (bass, programming, samples) produce seven tracks of heavy, noise intensive electronica with echoes of Throbbing Gristle, Pan Sonic and Suicide. Physically and psychically crushing, the tracks move at a funereal pace with waves of static and feedback crashing against bottom end bass, percussion and drum machines as Standish’s voice intones from a cave, a cross between Lydia Lunch and Alan Vega. Instrumental opener “Hate Rock Trio” begins quietly with the ticking of a clock, a time bomb with crashes of distorted percussion. Thereafter the song titles tell the story of the EP. Run together they form both a record of, and a demand to acknowledge, damage inflicted: “Look What’s Been Done/Look Down the Line/Look At That Girl/Look At Her/You Injured Me/I’m All Broke Up.” The intensity builds with each track as feedback and samples scratch atop thickening layers of black sludge. Re-released by Fire Records, Nostalgia is a bracing experience with a palpable sense of menace.

Andrew Forell

 Max Jaffe — Giant Beat (Ramp Local)

Giant Beat by Max Jaffe

If a curious listener was told Max Jaffe only used one instrument to make Giant Beat, they’d be forgiven for guessing something like a modular synth. Instead, it’s drums, but in a way that makes the question maybe a little bit of a cheat; Jaffe, drummer for JOBS, Elder Ones and others, was also a beta tester for something called Sensory Percussion that allows percussionists to use their instruments to trigger sounds and samples in a way that feels analogous to the chromatic, sometimes abrasive playing Ian Crause and Disco Inferno did with sampling. Of course, with a drum kit and that kind of setup, Jaffe can generate a whole album just by himself in a different way than you might get with, say, a singer and an acoustic guitar. Giant Beat dips its toes into various experimental waters, jazz here, electronics there, noise and musique concrete there, but always with the steady pulse of Jaffe’s one-take percussive playing behind it. The result feels like anything but a product demo; if anything, it feels like a new type of voice articulating itself.  

Ian Mathers  

Ocean Fanfare — First Nature (Barefoot)

First Nature by Ocean Fanfare

Whether you take the words First Nature as a prescription of priorities or a stern reminder of who is best equipped to play the long game in the battle between humankind and its environment, this is a record with a message. But since that message is being relayed via horns, bass, and drums, which play melodies that wind and ascend, one must exercise one’s emotional antennae to decode the vibe. Both trumpeter Tomsz Dabrowski and alto saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild are equally facile with post-bop tunes and extended technique explorations, and the shuttles between these poles gives the music a questing quality. They’re methodically seeking, not giving up hope, and the inventive ways they maintain balance on the fly suggests that they’re conscious of what tools will come in handy if people are going to survive.

Bill Meyer

 Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou — Anou Malane (Sahel Sounds)

Anou Malane by Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou

One of the original Tuareg guitar heroes, Abdallah Oumbadougou recorded these dreaming, droning, melancholic-with-a-swagger tunes in Benin in 1995 with the West African producer Nel Oliver. It was a step up for Oumbadougou, who had previously recorded mostly on boom boxes in encampments during breaks in the Tuareg rebellion, but the songs, even embellished with electronics and studio effects, have a raw, lonely power to them.  “Thingalene” drifts towards funky pop in its syncopated drum machines and squealing synths, but Oumbadougou’s voice carries over time and distance with a bracing authenticity. Other tracks, like “Tenere” splice the echoing snap of gate-reverbed drums to a beat that sways like camel caravans; the guitar work here is particularly fine. On its original release, Anou Malane introduced the world to the Tuareg’s keening, ambling desert blues; now it reminds us that artists like Tinariwen and Terekaft and Mdou Moctar are interpreting and extending — not inventing — a vibrant art form.

Jennifer Kelly

Savage Republic  —Gods  & Guns (Mobilization)

Savage Republic doesn’t pack the band schedule very tightly nowadays. The band, currently a quartet (Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, Alan Waddington, Kerry Dowling), took the whole of the 1990s off and has made just two albums in this century. But when they do make a record, it hits hard. In days gone by they sounded like Rhys Chatham fronting the Ventures on an album of Aegean surfer themes, but now they sound just a bit like Michael Gira fronting Echo & the Bunnymen in some Bladerunner-like hell of a dark hole. “God & Guns,” sung in dire and reverb-swaddled tones by Fuhrmann, articulates understandable dismay at the twin lumps of stinky meat that are being held in front of the vast heard of fascism-embracing Americans. The instrumental on the flip is named “Tranquilo,” but you won’t rest while they’re charging you, driven by chain-gang shouts, oil drum lashes, and epically massive bass. Heavy shit for heavy times.

Bill Meyer

Sleeping Ancient — There Is No Truth But Death (Viridian Flame)

There Is No Truth But Death by Sleeping Ancient

In any number of ways, black metal and the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft are a good match. The overweening interest in darkness and unnamably horrific, indecipherably complex forms; the highly abstruse mysticism; the tinge of troubling racism and anti-Semitism — it’s sort of uncanny. Sleeping Ancient aren’t the first black metal band to express a deep appreciation for Lovecraft’s weird fictions. Heck, they probably aren’t even the tenth or the fiftieth. But if they’re not breaking any new ground, thematically or musically, at least they’re making good songs. Check out the grand dirge of “Akeru,” or the slow but assured drift, from frigidly delicate melody to batshit intensity, that forms “Taphephobic Hallucinations” (taphephobia, by the way, is crippling fear of the grave—not death so much as the gravesite itself). The songs are typical of Sleeping Ancient’s mannered but powerful playing, which the band sustains across the whole of There Is No Truth But Death. It’s a good record to play as we wait for Cthulu. Judging by current conditions, we won’t have long to wait.

Jonathan Shaw

 Sore Points — Not Alright (Slovenly)

SORE POINTS "Not Alright" EP by Sore Points

If you miss the Marked Men, how ‘bout some hard, fast punk rock from Vancouver? This four-song 7 inch, following a 2018 self-titled on Deranged, snarls and stomps with feverish fury, making the most of its double drummed, guitar stabbed, bass whomped basics. You’d infer a few battered Ramones records in the rec room, but also punks both harder core and more melodic—Black Flag on one end and the Buzzcocks on the other. “Not Alright” rampages at blur speed. The drummer, whoever he is (Sore Points are not big on self-promotion), gets a monster workout here, but really everybody is pushing about as hard as it goes. “Not Coming Back,” is likewise accelerated, but in an anthemic, memorable way. As a non-professional, you’d kill yourself trying to keep up playing these songs, but you can sing along, no problem, after just one or two spins.

Jennifer Kelly

 Tropical Fuck Storm — Braindrops (Joyful Noise)

Braindrops by Tropical Fuck Storm

“Braindrops,” the title track from this second Tropical Fuck Storm album, slinks and rattles and backpedals, its rhythm complicated and syncopated, its stream-of-consciousness lyrics about dreams and waking (“But you gotta get up because time is nagging like a dog humping your leg”) as tangled as the polyrhythmic beat. There’s a slant of ska in the bass, a dissolute hint of post-punk in the cracked vocals and a baroque inclination to stuff things to the gills in the overload of just about everything. Tropical Fuck Storm tilts recognizable forms so far over that they always seem to be careening into chaos. A hip friendly bump of bass and drums is just a landing pad for guitar noises that crash, still burning, to the ground. Even the ballads (“Paradise” both “Marias”) teem with noise and dissonance. Braindrops is never an easy listen. It verges, fairly often, on the unpleasant. But in a world where everything spins down to a grey Spotified entropy, it’s a prickly, fascinating, mess of bright colored wires; go ahead cut one and see if it explodes.

Jennifer Kelly

 Various Artists — Greys (Anachronisme)

Greys by Field Guides

In this day and age, if one even wanted to put together a new “We Are the World,” where would one start? Leverage Models’ return to music last year with the phenomenal Whites was partly so that previously-shelved record could raise money for the Southern Poverty Law Center, and here the band and Anachronisme Records are at it again. Raising money for the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees this time, instead of trying to rope everyone they know into one big aesthetically-dubious singalong, they’ve put together with any number of friends a smorgasbord of 21 tracks all somehow ‘in conversation’ with the music on Whites. There are plenty of intriguing covers, remixes, and other deconstructions, from Field Guides’ glowing, pastoral version of “If I Let You Stay” to the menacing buzz of DOV’s remix of “Dark Pools,” to Concierge Records and The Working Elite’s “transatlantic meditation” on the feeling of the first song on Whites with “Day Two,” as well as two unreleased tracks from Leverage Models. Then there are the contributions that just engage with the emotions and stories of the original album, like Courtship Ritual’s haunting “Uncle Incision” and William Tyler’s gorgeous “She Swims in Hidden Water.” There’s a lot here to absorb, but even if you’re not familiar with the source material it all stands on its own, even as it’s still one of the most intriguing expansions of an album in recent memory. Not to mention hopefully a more effective way to help a good cause.

Ian Mathers

 avery r. young—Tubman (FPE)

tubman. by avery r. young

avery r. young brings the sizzle in this paean to African-American musical traditions from skanky funk to body-moving R&B to soul-on-fire gospel, complete with a full choir. The multi-talented Chicagoan took inspiration from his own book—Neckbone: Visual Verses—from Nina Simone and from the singer Jamila Woods, whose superlative pipes provide the uplift of many of these cuts. “Maasai” slouches so far into a smouldery blacksploitation groove as to be nearly horizontal, all evil wah-wah’d twitch and rumbling bass and slashing lightning bolts of disco strings, while “go'head mary & weep” takes things to the church with a massive harmonized swell. young himself has a fine, fluttery, emotionally nimble tenor, shades of the Reverend Al Green in his supple phrasing, but his songs take flight when they’re sung by a crowd, as on the spiritually stirring “lead in da wattah” and especially, the monster highlight “get to know a nina simone song” which rolls on like a doo-wopping, gospel-quarteting freight train right on to Mississippi. God damn, indeed.  

[raspberry-arev]

Hello friends! As was apparent by the dead emptiness on my blog, I haven’t had much time for fan art in forever... But I wanted to share at least the quick hand-drawn doodles I made this week after watching Heartstopper Show. I didn’t really wanna spoil anything so this is all you’re getting as of now :)

It was just... phenomenal. And it means so much and it was so well executed even with the changes implemented- I love Kit and Joe so much, I love the cast, everyone was wonderful and talented and I have no words to describe what a beacon of light Hearstopper is.