#maimon draws

[maimoncat]

Cotltober week 5 - Fungus

… ahahahaha

ahhanahahaahahhaahahaaha!

HAHAHAHAAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHH!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ehem* excuse me.

Hoo yeah, got the fifth wek as well! Feeling really good about this!

Dr Sozonius is having a really bad, not good time.

And for one last time, here is @stychu-stych's promptlist

[maimoncat]

What an encounter

A group of teens is approaching. They are very human and definitely NOT a family of demons!

You survived… this time

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2005: The Scoreboards

This year's scoreboard is an unfussy affair. The graphics are utilitarian - back to the spreadsheet chic of 2000 albeit with little wormholes in the graphics for the spokesperson and the voting country's flag.

There's no room for the hearts of last year, this is a scoreboard that means business and promises no messing about, let's get straight to the results. Of course, the voting sequence takes just as long as it always does with the same tomfoolery from all taking part.

For the semi-final there is one small innovation. The envelopes are still present with the names of the countries who've qualified for the final, however this time as the hosts randomly select envelopes the successful acts are added to the running order of the final sequentially.

The first drawn country gets the first available slot. If you're drawn first, you have the relief of knowing you're through, but you get an early draw - possibly even the death slot! If you're last out, then you've had a minor heart attack, but you get the prime later running order slots. Genius!

It's 2005 Spoiler Time!

The ten countries that qualified are (in a very particular order):

Romania - 235 points

Moldova (on their debut!) - 207 points

Denmark - 185 points

Croatia - 169 points

Hungary (on their return!) - 167 points

Norway - 164 points

Israel - 158 points

Switzerland - 114 points

North Macedonia - 97 points

Latvia - 85 points

Poland missed out by only four points in eleventh place. This is also probably the place to point out that the two smallest countries taking part, Monaco and Andorra finished second-bottom and third-bottom in an televote semi-final. For countries without large diasporas or huge numbers of neighbourly friends, it would appear that the televote has drawbacks.

As is going to become the norm, the points scored were revealed only after the grand final. The contents of the envelopes were the only place I noticed where the heart symbol appeared this year - the flags were printed inside hearts on those cards.

In the grand final, once again, the voting sequence was not that tense. At around the halfway mark, there was no clear leader, in fact the country that qualified from the semi-final in tenth place, Latvia, was leading but after that, Greece slowly pulled away. The result was obvious a long way from the end.

Although there were no nul points this year, there is one glaring aspect of the final scoreboard to address. The bottom five places were occupied by the host country and the Big Four. In fact, of the bottom twelve in the voting, that is the entire right-hand side of the scoreboard, eleven of them hadn't performed in the semi-final. Is this a new and perhaps unexpected aspect of the semi-final system? It's something to keep an eye-on. It's not going to stop some commentators yelling it's all about politics though.

Here's the full rundown of the 2005 Eurovision final scores:

Greece - Helena Paparizou - "My Number One" - 230 points

Malta - Chiara - "Angel" - 192 points

Romania - Luminița Anghel and Sistem - "Let Me Try" - 192 points

Israel - Shiri Maimon - "HaSheket SheNish'ar" - 154 points

Latvia - Walters and Kazha - "The War Is Not Over" - 153 points

Moldova - Zdob și Zdub - "Boonika bate doba" - 148 points

Serbia and Montenegro - No Name - "Zauvijek moja" - 137 points

Switzerland - Vanilla Ninja - "Cool Vibes" - 128 points

Norway - Wig Wam - "In My Dreams" - 125 points

Denmark - Jakob Sveistrup - "Talking to You" - 125 points (joint 9th)

Croatia - Boris Novković feat. Lado members - "Vukovi umiru sami" - 115 points

Hungary - Nox - "Forogj, világ" - 97 points

Türkiye - Gülseren - "Rimi Rimi Ley" - 92 points

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Feminnem - "Call Me" - 79 points

Russia - Natalia Podolskaya - "Nobody Hurt No One" - 57 points

Albania - Ledina Çelo - "Tomorrow I Go" - 53 points

North Macedonia - Martin Vučić - "Make My Day" - 52 points

Cyprus - Constantinos Christoforou - "Ela Ela" - 46 points

Sweden - Martin Stenmarck - "Las Vegas" - 30 points

Ukraine - GreenJolly - "Razom nas bahato"- 30 points (joint 19th)

Spain - Son de Sol - "Brujería" - 28 points

United Kingdom - Javine - "Touch My Fire" - 18 points

France - Ortal - "Chacun pense à soi" - 11 points

German - Gracia - "Run & Hide" - 4 points

[docpiplup]

The historical Hasdai Crescas/Hasday Cresques

@asongofstarkandtargaryen

Hasdai Crescas (Barcelona, Catalonia, 1340-Zaragoza, Aragon, 1412) Jewish philosopher jurist and writer.

A Talmudic authority and a philosopher of great originality, his ideas exerted influence on his student, the Jewish theologian and writer Joseph Albo (Monreal del Campo, Teruel, Aragon, 1380-1444) in his work of Sefer Ha’ikkarim (Book of Principles), a classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism. As well as Baruj Espinoza (Amsterdam, 1632 - The Hague, 1677) Dutch philosopher, son of Sephardic Jews who emigrated to the Netherlands.

Hasdai was born in Carrer Marlet, in the old Jewish quarter of Barcelona. His family came from a wealthy lineage of scholars, traders and rabbis.

He enjoyed a certain material wealth and the esteem of the powerful, so that in 1393 he was appointed exclusive executor of the will of his uncle, Vitalis Azday, by Juan I of Aragon. However in 1378 he was imprisoned on the basis of a false accusation.

As the secretary of the administration of the Jewish district (aljama) of Barcelona since 1373, Hasdai acted as the king's representative on Jewish affairs. He was the great rabbi of Zaragoza from 1389, and in 1390, because of his friendship with with Juan I, he was named the Supreme Judge of all the Aljamas of Aragon. Thanks to his presence and the fact that the king was in Zaragoza during the summer of 1391, the community of the capital was not destroyed, and the destruction of most of the Aragonese Jewish quarters was also avoided. His only son was martyred for his faith, and died in the course of the anti-Semitic pogroms in Barcelona. Since then, all his efforts were directed at rebuilding the Jewish quarters of the Crown of Aragon from Zaragoza, and specially the one from Barcelona, but without any success.

However, these tests did not cloud his faculties or his faith, since he wrote his greatest works after this period. Another episode that marked his life was his reunion with the false messiah Mošeh Botarel of Cisneros, of whom he was briefly a supporter.

Moses studied medicine and philosophy; and he was instructed in the Kabbala. He believed in the efficacy of amulets and cameos, and declared that he was able to combine the names of God for magical purposes, so that he was generally considered a sorcerer. He stated that by means of fasting, ablution, and invocation of the names of God and of the angels prophetic dreams could be induced.

In 1401 Hasdai went to visit Joseph Orabuena at the request of Carlos III of Navarra, whose annals show that the trips to various towns of the Kingdom of Navarra of the "Rabbi of Zaragoza" were paid for.

In The Jewish Religion, Rabbi Louis Jacobs described Crescas as “one of the most influential personalities of Spanish Jewry, in particular in his efforts to prevent Jews from being lured away from Judaism in the wake of persecution.”

Crescas is best known for three written works: a letter to the congregations of Avignon, in which he relates the incidents of the persecution of 1391; a Spanish tractate refuting the main doctrines of Christianity and explaining why Jews stuck to their ancestral faith; and a work entitled Or Adonai (Light of the Lord).

In Or Adonai,  Crescas argued against Aristotelianism, the famous Greek philosopher’s influence on Jewish thinkers like Mošeh ben Maimon aka Maimonides (Córdoba, al-Andalus, Almoravid Empire, March 30, 1138 - Cairo, Ayyubid Egypt, December 12, 1204)

Drawing on his thorough knowledge of philosophical literature, Crescas argued that Aristotle’s arguments were far from infallible, deploring Maimonides for introducing Greek philosophy into Jewish doctrine. While he admired much of Maimonides’ scholarship, Crescas believed that Maimonides was responsible for influencing other Jewish thinkers who were too enamored of Aristotle at the expense of Jewish teachings.

The character of Hasdai Crescas in LCDM is probably a reference of the historical one, they have in common the name, that they lived in 14th century Barcelona and they're somehow related with trading.

But the fictional Hasdai is shown mainly being a trader, and was born years before the historical Hasdai was born and died before.

The son of historical Hasdai dies in the progroms in 1391, but Jucef and Raquel are saved by Arnau during the first attacks to the Jewish quarter around 1348, and Jucef decides to convert into Christianism around 1391 after the progrom. Hasdai is the one who is executed around 1367, and his kids Raquel and Jucef are the ones who live longer.

And Jucef even grew up and it's probably the only character introduced in La Catedral del mar who is alive by the end of Los Herederos de la tierra (Bernat died in the last episode, and Jucef seemed to be healthy in the last scene he appeared)

[maimoncat]

jpegs are very much appreciated!

A group of teens is approaching. They are very human and definitely NOT a family of demons!

[vampyrasgone]

SCHOLOMANCE AND HIS STUDY OF THE ARS GOËTIA

don’t reblog it or i’ll eat ur firstborn.

what is scholomance?                 scholomance, or șolomanţă, was a school of dark magic said to lay dormant underneath the city of sibiu.  originally a place for great scholars to learn the ways and teachings of king solomon, it was later said to have been a place where fallen angels taught the dark goetia to their students, and where the 10th scholar chosen in their lots was doomed to be taken as the devil’s due.

The Drac.ulas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. -   Bram Stoker, Dracu.la.

We already know from the novel that Vladislav studied in the ancient school, and that it was attributed to him already to have been having dealings with the ‘evil one’ throughout his entire family.  This is especially interesting given that the word dracul, while has a dual-meaning to translate to devil, holds also the same meaning as the word ‘dragon’, and that scholomance was said to have been originally named the school of the dragon.  

the graduates of this school would learn many fabled dark magicks while enrolled. this included animal speech, magic spells, transfiguration, dragon-riding and the control of storms and weather. for seven years they would remain underground and immerse themselves in this study, learning the language of all living things, enochian, the secrets of nature and how to make it bend to ones will.

so how does the ars goetia tie in?   well, the term 'goetia' literally translates to the practice of conjuring evil spirits. it includes dark spells that would include charms, sorcery, wizardry. they learned the ancient ways of the dactyli and all other forms of theurgy to become as powerful rulers of nature.  Agrippa wrote in his own research that detailed the books of occult philosophy that ceremonial magic could be illustrated through goetia and theurgia, or magia; otherwise defining a strict line between evil magic and good magic. goetia would be considered the wicked kind of magic that goes against the laws of nature, and is often invoked through a tie to a supernatural entity; thus, making the caster more of a warlock than a scholar or wizard.

the evil spirits, considered 'demons' by modern western standards,  are commanded entirely by four kings that correspond to the cardinal directions. These kings are called Amaymon, Corson, Ziminiar and Gaap.  Alternatively known in abrahmic religion by the names of Samael, Azazel, Paymon and Maimon.  

THE CIRRICULUM

the arys theurgia teaches the students the seals and order of each of the spirits and their sigils, what they lord over in the underworld and their traits and aspirations. they learn the temperament of each creature and their perfered gifts during summoning. They learn the compass point of each demon and the inter-cardinal points and how to draw upon them, as well as the names of each prince, count, duke and queen. This book shows how he bound spirits, and used them to obtain his fame, and to act as protection, and how solomon’s students may do this too.

a few of these are known as bael, agares, vassago, valefore, amon, barbatos, sitri, beleth, eligos, zepar and more.                upon graduating, vladislav succeeded in summoning the goodly knight known as eligos, who is later mentioned as one of his guardians in the castleva.nia series.   however, in-line with this series, other demons that have been seduced and/or summoned by the count are as follows: malphas, balor, zephyr, saint legion, beelzebub, leviathan, & abbadon.

the ars paulina is the third book, and it teaches the apostles the magical calendar, the astrological seals and the meaning of the stars and planets on an astronomical scale and the archidoxes of magic.  the ability to communicate with divine or heavenly powers is often described in this book as being delivered to the solomonar by the apostle, paul, further cementing it as a teaching of solomon himself rather than the devil.   i think this is especially important to point out that here, the goetia includes the invocation of angels too.

they spent another year and a half on this subject alone, and begin to memorize the angels and 360 spirits in the zodiac.this is called the monomoiria, which correspond with hellenistic astrology.  

in order to summon these creatures, one would need to learn to create a wax tablet and memorize the designs of each sigil that corresponded to the 72 spirits, which would be taught in a book known as the Ars Almadel. Two full years was spent on this subject alone, before moving on to the Ars Notoria, which would teach the series of prayers that would grant the magician the powers of a polymath and polyglot, as well as an eidetic memory so that one could learn and memorize every spell taught in the Ars Paulina.

Courses on the lesser key would include classes and necessary research on The Sight; or the ability to see supernatural phenomena; this is also referenced in the Novel, as Drac.ula is surprised that Jonathan can see the blue flame that appears on St. Georges' day.  This is because the 'evil spirits' of the Goetia are but physical representations of portions of the human brain and its many representations and stimulants; such as taste, touch,  and smell.  The point of the teachings of Scholomance are to become extremely aware of your own reflection, and on the significance of your awareness.

Students learn the invocations, the sacraments, the impressions of their sub-consciousness, and all known abnormal states of the body. Phenomena or miracles are considered part of life, and ceremonial magia or goetia the way for physiological experiments to be conducted without a fear of the end result.   they too are taught the important symbolism and reverence of the ideology of baphomet and abraxas the archon.

“Agrippa told us that "Magic is the highest, most absolute and most divine knowledge of natural philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue of things; so that true agents being applied to proper patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby be produced. whence magicians are profound and dilligent searchers into nature; they, because of their skill, know to anticipate an effort,  the which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle.“

it is important to my portrayal to remember that the count was the 10th scholar, and that that fact sealed his fate to eventually fall, no matter what great things he had been destined to do with his powers prior. this is fitting considering that his initial descent beneath the city of sibiu, into this academy, was done out of spite and out of need for revenge to the order that had previously used him, also named the order of the dragon. the irony rests in that his fate seems to be one great circle, all leading him back to and from these teachings as a sort of curse. so it is only fitting that his immortal life, though achieved, by lived in a curse far worse than death, in his own personal hell.

[maimoncat]

Cotltober week 4 - pinned

The perspective and proportions in this almost killed me, but I’m rolling with it.

Narinder’s looking respectfully at these weapons of mass destruction.

Welp, gotta go try to get the last one done!

[pinfildiarts]

The second part of the Reboot Jam, which after two months I managed to post the second part!

Missing only one, I have not had time to meet my friend Puglia, for updates, i upload a separate post with the latest draw of Puglia

At the bottom of everything, I publish the screenshot of the comment by Gavin Blair, One of the four Reboot creators!  that my love published the first part of the Jam in the Reboot Revivial group. <3 <3 THANKS A LOTTTT

1 & 2) Koso & Arome B-day Tags, I Drew Bob and Dot with Mc Carty Spirit.

3) Pencil

4) Davide Maimone

5) Lorenza di Sepio

6) Mario Testa

7) Paco Desiato

8) Alessandra Vitelli

9) Federica Pinna

Thanks a lot man! I hope my Reboot fandom holds up nicely! <3

.

[maimoncat]

That is such a kind treat!

No worries, Sue would never pull a trick on such a graceous host!

Now, who's next?

These three pranksters are totally normal trick-or-treaters, no demonic activity here whatsoever!

I completely believe this, and I put all my good faith in the belief there will be no tricking whatsoever! Here dears, have some candies, don’t forget to share!

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED: HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE, TRUST ME]

[johnnymundano]

Paganini Horror (1989)

Directed by Luigi Cozzi

Screenplay by Luigi Cozzi and Daria Nicolodi

Music by Vince Tempera

Country: Italy

Running time: 82 minutes

CAST

Daria Nicolodi as Sylvia Hackett

Jasmine Maimone as Kate

Pascal Persiano as Daniel

Maria Cristina Mastrangeli as Lavinia

Michel Klippstein as Elena

Pietro Genuardi as Mark Singer

Luana Ravegnini as Rita

Giada Cozzi as Sylvia (child)

Elena Pompei as Sylvia's mother

Donald Pleasence as Mr. Pickett

Paganini Horror is a terrible 1989 Italian horror movie set in a decrepit Venetian villa where a terrible (mostly) girl pop group film a terrible video for a terrible song based on the terrible idea of using cursed music by Paganini. The aural nonsense these tinsel wits conjure summons the cranky spirit of the deceased composer to dispatch them one by one in imaginative, but seriously underfunded ways. And probably to stop them screaming, because, hoo boy, do these ladies scream. If you are a massive fan of women screaming Paganini Horror is the movie for you, my unusual friend. Much of the running time of Paganini Horror involves neither Paganini nor horror but rather women running around what seems like one corridor and three rooms screaming. Occasionally they all meet up and scream at each other in the same room, or that one bloody corridor. I swear at some points they bounce up and down and flap their hands while screaming like overwrought teenagers at a pop concert.

Which is ironic since they are a pop group themselves. They are the kind of fantastically talented (mostly) girl band who do the female cause no favours at all; the kind who play their guitars by keeping their fingers immobile and flat on the strings while provocatively moving their hips about while pulling faces which suggest they are experiencing a sexy form of menstrual cramp. The singer, Kate (Jasmine Maimone), doesn’t have an instrument because she is too busy prancing about, trying to see which she can open wider, her eyes or her mouth. The token bloke, Daniel (Pascal Persiano), is stuck behind the drums because no one wants to see his exposed belly button. I think they sing Bon Jovi’s terrible “You Give Love a Bad Name” but it’s kind of hard to tell. Anyway, they are so bad the movie doesn’t give the band a name (I think; I don’t really care), so we’ll call them The Chilblains. Whatever song The Chilblains are excreting, it isn’t good enough for their producer Lavinia (Maria Cristina Mastrangeli) whose ears apparently work,  so Kate and Lavinia shout at each other, and things get so heated that Kate almost pushes a stool over but Lavinia arrests its fall just in time. Rock and roll Babylon! The Chilblains need new material to get them another million seller, and fast!

Daniel, the male drummer, sources some groovy material which will get the band back on track by, apropos of nothing, meeting a twitchy Donald Pleasence in a disused warehouse and purchasing a lost Paganini composition. Apparently, actually writing some decent music fails to occur to Daniel. The girls go wild for the fab synthed up sounds of groovy Paganini, and Lavinia books them into a spooky old house Paganini once passed water in, now owned by Daria Nicolodi’s Sylvia Hackett. The idea is to get top horror director Mark Singer (Pietro Genuardi) to make a smashing pop vid and get The Chilblains back shifting millions again. Unfortunately the video is shit. Even more unfortunately the restless spirit of Paganini is so upset by his music being co-opted  by talentless chancers that it starts knocking them off in unintentionally amusing ways. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a woman burned alive in a poorly constructed giant violin case, baby.

Niccolò Paganini (b.1782) was a real person who probably didn’t live to see a woman burned alive in a poorly constructed giant violin case, but he was a legendarily amazeballs Genoan violinist. While Paganini Horror is hardly a fit cinematic tribute, he is a good choice for a spooky killer. Much like Cher, he is purported to have consorted with the devil, selling his soul in return for prodigious talent. Back then, see, there were no video games or movies for unimaginative reactionaries to blame everything on, so in desperation bits of wood that could make sounds such as the violin were considered the “devil’s instrument”, indicative of poor moral character and likely to cause an excess of excitement. And so extravagant was Paganini’s talent that it was thought only a satanic source could explain it. Or, y’know, he was talented and practiced a lot. Your call. Paganini died in 1840, possibly from mercury poisoning from being treated for syphilis. Maybe from tuberculosis. I don’t know, what am I, a historian? Paganini’s spookiness survived after his death to the extent that he wasn’t laid to rest until 1876, when priests finished debating what they should do with him. Priests apparently had a lot of time on their hands back then. None of that matters since all Paganini Horror is bothered about is Paganini was very musical and a little bit eerie.

Unfortunately looking up Niccolò Paganini on The Internet turns out to be a lot more exciting than watching Paganini Horror. Particularly finding out that all his teeth fell out from his syphilis treatment. But if you are inclined towards terrible Italian horror movies Paganini Horror has the odd slender wisp of a delight. There’s the ever twinkly Donald Pleasence, being all sinister and stuff; and you get quite  a bit more of him than I was expecting, which is nice. Unsatisfactory Italian horror movies form a  magical late stage in Pleasence’s career, where he basically rocks up acting in a movie which exists only in his head, and ends up being the most interesting thing in the movie outside of his head. Although genre legend (and co-scripter) Daria Nicolodi is intermittently to be seen acting, mostly she just goes with the whole screaming thing. Michel Klippstein as Elena is the best thing in the movie, but not for her acting. Unfortunately it’s because for the bulk of the movie she wears a nasty green lycra jump suit studded with a nonsensical pattern of holes. It’s kind of fascinating in a wholly abysmal way. Paganini Horror isn’t always terribly interesting so you may often find your mind wandering, wondering just how sweaty Michel Klippstein’s get-up got. I bet they had to burn that outfit once the filming stopped. Ew! In the interests of decorum I shall draw a discreet veil of “mostly adequate” over the other performances.

About on a par with the less than impressive acting is Luigi Cozzi’s relentlessly apathetic direction which exacerbates rather than disguises the clearly near lethal budgetary constraints. But would any more money have helped a horror movie helmed by someone so determined to so cluelessley fart away every death scene? Probably not. Make no mistake, Paganini Horror is not only terrible but, worse, it is often quite boring. This is quite a feat since the killer wears a gold mask and looks like a low budget musketeer prancing about and, as comically awesome as it is regrettably underutilised, there is also a gold violin with a spring loaded blade in the base. It’s like Cozzi has accepted a bet to make everything as tedious as humanly possible. In theory Paganini Horror has some clever ideas and creative slaughter, in practice however it is a drearily slow crawl punctuated by tedious screaming and hilariously cheap-shit SFX shenanigans. The best (i.e. worst) example is “The Invisible Barrier” which elicits some fantastic (i.e. rubbish) mime action as our cast pretend to be pushing against something that isn’t there, it also has a car crash into it but…off-screen! and a character is crushed to death by it, which just means the crew press a sheet of glass onto her face to distort it. Eyerolling never had it so good.

Be warned, sensation seekers of all ages, sure, Paganini Horror all sounds very camp and cheesetastic, but it is neither campy nor cheesy enough. It takes some  weird anti-talent to render dull a movie which has a record producer who can identify a fungus by sight as being one used in the 18th century to give Stradivarius violins their unique sound. (I believe Kanye West has the same ability.) Don’t be fooled if any of that sounds fun; Paganini Horror is fun, but not fun enough by far. This Italian mis-fire is fit only for masochistic die-hards like myself rather than your average horror punter up for a good time. Ultimately then, not so much a case of Paganini Horror, but rather Paganini Torpor.

[graywyvern]

( "mystical storm" via / via facebook memories via the Mostly Forbidden Zone )

Ukraine war chalk art charcoal drawing.

i want you near not far away among black seas among dark days i see you here and my sad brains freeze among dark days among black fathoms

I Spit on Life by Gustave Doré.

" 'Hillel proves that there are two tombs of the kings,' said Rabbi Maimon, 'and that neither of them are [sic] the right ones.'

'What a learned doctor!' exclaimed Rabbi Zimri.

'And very satisfactory,' remarked Alroy.

'These are high subjects,' continued Maimon, his blear eyes twinkling with complacency. 'Your guest, Rabbi Zimri, must read the treatise of the learned Shimei, of Damascus on "Effecting Impossibilities." '

'That is a work!' exclaimed Zimri.

'I never slept for three nights after reading that work,' said Rabbi Maimon 'It contains twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-seven quotations from the Pentateuch, and not a single original observation.'

'There were giants in those days,' said Zimri, 'we are children now.'

'The first chapter makes equal sense, read backward or forward,' continued Rabbi Maimon." --Miriam Alroy

After the Bombs.

Malice is overrated.

Painted by Adolf Wölfli.

[musicprincess655]

FIC IS COMPLETE

“Rei-chan, I promise I’m fine,” Miyuki pleaded, giving Rei the best puppy dog eyes he knew how to do. Which was pretty good, considering he could shift into a canine species.

“Sawamura?” Rei asked.

“Kaji-sensei says three more weeks,” Sawamura replied without looking up from tying his shoe. Miyuki glared at him.

“Traitor,” he muttered.

“Sounds like you’ll be riding the bench with me for three more weeks, Miyuki-kun,” Rei said sweetly. “I could use help taking notes.”

“Rei-chan please,” Miyuki tried again, turning up every bit of charm he knew how to use. “It’s my last year, I don’t want to start it sitting out.”

“I’d have a lot more sympathy for your cause if you hadn’t lied and hid this from everyone,” Rei said. “But since you decided to be a complete idiot instead, I feel absolutely no regret in benching you.”

“Am I ever going to live that down? I apologized.”

“And the apology is the reason you’re allowed on the bench and not banned from practice entirely,” Rei said. Luckily, Miyuki had known her long enough to know when the subject was closed, but she didn’t think that meant she was exempt from the complaints.

“Takashima-sensei?” Rei turned to see Nagao, Inamoto, and Hidokoro looking at her expectantly. “We finished that work you gave us.”

“The reading for your lesson tonight is the next chapter,” Rei said. “Take notes. This one’s important.”

“See you after practice, Sensei.” They waved, disappearing back into the school. Sometimes, they stayed to watch practice, but with the school year ramping up, they’d started devoting more time to their studies. Rei wondered if it was out of habit or something else.

The trio from Sakurazawa had become permanent fixtures in Seidou. Once the dust had settled from the death curse, it hadn’t been quite clear what to do with them, although there was a vocal faction calling for them to be sent to prison just like the rest of the members of Maimon. It wasn’t a faction that had a lot of support, considering how enthusiastic the trio had been in giving names and information on the group.

Still, even Rei had to acknowledge that they couldn’t just release the three into the world, although her reasons were very different from others. Letting them go without any support just kept the reasons they’d fallen in with Maimon alive.

What had really turned the tides in the trial of the trio was the support of the coven battle teams, which had earned everyone’s respect for how well they’d defended the city from the death curse. Especially important had been the members who’d lost cities and people to the death curse. Kuramochi’s testimony in particular had stood out.

((“Throwing them in prison won’t solve anything,” he said. “That just gives more of a reason for more kids like them to fall into the same situation. They didn’t plan this curse, and they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t think they had another option. Punish the people who planned this, but don’t punish them.”))

In the end, the more sympathetic groups had won out. The trio was on a kind of house arrest in Seidou, boarded up in a larger room that could hold the three of them. Rei was tasked with organizing a guard for them and keeping them in line.

Basically, they were Rei’s problem now, and it was a better outcome than she’d been hoping for.

She was taking the opportunity to catch them up on everything she thought they needed to know about magic. Their knowledge was spotty at best, which was to be expected considering how long they’d been out of school. However, all three were bright students, and they learned fast. Rei was already trying to figure out how to sell the idea of admitting them as students in Seidou next year or the year after to the board. It would be an uphill battle, but she thought she’d gained a lot of support this year because of how she’d handled the death curse.

She took stock of the team on the field. Most people had healed enough that it was no problem to let them practice, although Tesshin had been taking practice slower than usual this year. Still, despite some calls to cancel the yearly match between Inashiro and Seidou, all four teams had vehemently protested, so Tesshin needed to step it up if he wanted to win.

Sawamura had healed beautifully from his concussion, and in the months he’d had to practice without Miyuki, his control had improved. Rei privately thought it was good that they had no choice but to develop individually from each other, no matter how incredible they were together.

Furuya’s shoulder had healed, and during his physical therapy, he’d actually developed stamina and control. He was stronger than ever, and Rei couldn’t wait to watch him and Sawamura compete for the main ace position. They would drive each other to new heights.

Kanemaru had also healed from his concussion, and he was coming out swinging, determined to make starter this year.

Rei was thrilled with how the team was starting to shape up, slow start aside. It was only the end of April, and this summer would be one to remember, she was sure of it.

“Haven’t they started yet?” Rei turned to see Kominato Ryousuke clumping along on his crutches. “They’re slacking off.”

Ryousuke wasn’t quite as healed as everyone else on the team. His leg had been truly destroyed, and he wasn’t even out of the cast yet. He had a long road to recovery ahead of him, but Rei had high hopes for him yet. He was technically only a sophomore, he had a long time left here. In the meantime, Rei wanted to see how the teamwork between Kuramochi and Haruichi developed.

“They’ll get started soon,” Rei promised him. “Do you want to sit in the dugout with me?”

“And listen to Miyuki complain about being benched again?” Ryousuke asked. “Pass. I’ll go hang out on the bleachers.”

He clumped back off, and Tesshin stood up, ready to start practice.

“So when are we signing adoption papers for Nagao, Inamoto, and Hidokoro?” he asked before he headed out.

“I wasn’t aware we were adopting them,” Rei replied.

“We kind of already have,” Tesshin said. “They come over every week for dinner.”

“Because I feel bad that they’re cooped up here at school,” Rei said.

“You’re personally tutoring them.”

“They deserve an education just as much as everyone else.”

“You’ve started planning how you’re going to get the board to admit them next year.”

“You saw that?”

“You left it out.”

“Fine,” Rei sighed. “We can talk about this later. And ask them later. Right now you have to run practice.”

“Alright team!” he called, drawing everyone’s attention. “Laps, and I want to hear you across the field.”

There were some groans, but everyone took off running. Rei watched as they lapped around, steady footfalls warm and familiar. They’d lost a lot this year, but they’d kept enough to rebuild, and rebuilding they were. Nothing was the same, but that was okay. Things never stayed the same year to year on this team.

It didn’t mean they didn’t still have some things from last year. There was still Sawamura, happily shouting louder than everyone else. They still had Kawakami, with his steady hand. They still had Furuya, who was more like a quiet storm than anything else. There was still Kuramochi, and Haruichi, and other pillars they’d depending on last year.

And there was Miyuki, who would be captain when he managed to get off the bench. Rei was stupidly proud of him, and she’d tell him that when she was done being furious at him for pulling that ridiculous stunt.

Nothing was the same. But they moved on anyway.

The future looked bright.

[maimoncat]

They are very satisfied

A group of human teens has come!

They ask for candy for their non-demon mouths!

hands you a bunch of these

[hoshvilim]

The Plans for Rehavia

Begun in 1922, the Rehavia neighborhood served as a “garden suburb” for Jewish families of Jerusalem who sought to escape the crowded conditions elsewhere in the city. The Palestine Land Development Corporation purchased the land used for building from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate – which had acquired much land in the city during the 19th century and now found itself bankrupt in the 1920’s.

Rehavia was built in two stages during the British Mandatory period between 1925 and 1930.

The first stage, called Rehavia Aleph, was bordered by King George Street to the east, Ramban Street to the south, Ussishkin Street to the west, and Keren Kayemet Street to the north.

The second stage was completed in the early 1930s, between Jabotinsky Street, Ramban Street and Gaza Street.

The Results

Originally, Rehavia was meant to be a tolerant and liberal Jewish community with a modern outlook. Rehavia became an upper-class Ashkenazi Jewish neighborhood, home to professors and intellectuals. Almost all of Rehavia’s streets were named for poets and sages who lived during the Spanish Golden Age. The modern “International” houses integrated local elements, Middle Eastern or ancient. The homes were built in Jerusalem stone. The streets were lined by trees public gardens, playgrounds and even a tennis court. Don’t forget the vegetable gardens. Due to the arrival of olimim – refugees/emigrees from Nazi Germany – Rehavia earned its nickname  “a Prussian island in an Oriental sea.”

Architect Richard Kaufmann designed Rehavia. He also planned many of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods, the plan provided for a central avenue – Ramban – crisscrossed by streets and Keren Kayemet, a curving street with many small shops.

Richard Kauffmann

This architect deserves a post of his own. His heritage helped create Zionist history. Richard Kauffmann was born in Germany. Arthur Ruppin met him in Germany and invited him to design new Jewish settlements in Palestine. Kauffmann immigrated to Palestine in 1920 and began his work as an architect. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s “International Style” influenced Kauffmann’s work. The International Style was nicknamed “Bauhaus” in Palestine and many tour guides still call it so. In contrast to the usual style of Jewish building at the beginning of the century. Then Jewish building was arranged around closed courtyards. In contrast, the houses of Rehavia faced outward, to the outside world.

His “Bauhaus” style was very popular in Palesting and became basis of the White City, as Tel Aviv’s International Style architecture became known.

He designed, almost alone, new rural villages, kibutzim and moshavim in the Jezreel Valley: most notably Ein Harod, Kfar Yehoshua, Degania Alef, Kfar Yehezkel and Nahalal.

Kauffmann designed some new Israeli cities: Afula, Herzliya, Rehavia. His neighborhood include Beit Hakerem, Talpiyot and Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem, and Hadar HaCarmel, Neve Sha’anan, Bat Galim and Central Carmel in the city of Haifa.

Quasi Government Institutions

Jewish National Fund purchased some of the land from the Palestine Land Development Corporation (PLDC). On this land the JNF built the Gymnasia Rehavia high school on Keren Kayemet Street, Yeshurun Synagogue on King George Street, and the Jewish Agency building at the corner of King George and Keren Kayemet Street. These quasi government institutions were meant to replace the Temple in the Old City. All these buildings overlook the Old City.

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Road

Keren Kayemet Street

At the corner of Keren Kayemet Street there is a three-winged structure National Institutions Building with a large open courtyard, designed by Yochanan Rattner, This building housed the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund and Keren Hayesod. Rattner gave it slanted walls, as in the walls of the Old City. Rattner, who was the first head of the Hagana’s National Command, also designed the Geography building in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Aeronautics building of the Technion in Haifa, the Kefar ha-Yarok Agricultural School, Bet Berl, Midreshet Ben Gurion, the Reali School in Haifa, and Beit Yad LeBanim in Beer Sheva.

Menachem Ussishkin, head of the Keren Kayemet (Jewish National Fund or KKL) decided that the street with the KKL headquarters should be changed from Shmuel Hanaggid Street to Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael Street. He transferred the name Shmuel Hanaggid Street to a nearby block.

National Institutions Building

Palestine’s second modern high school, after Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv, the Rehavia Gymnasium, was built in 1928 on Keren Kayemet Street.

Rehavia Gymnasium

Ramban Street

8 Ramban Street: The Greek Orthodox Church erected the windmill on Ramban Street some 150 years ago. When in operation, it ground wheat from the fields in the area into flour to feed Orthodox pilgrims visiting the Holy City.

Windmill on Ramban Street

26 Ramban Street: Gad Frumkin, the only Jewish Supreme Court justice to serve during the British Mandate, built the lovely dwelling on the corner of Ramban and Rehov Ibn Ezra in 1924. The sign “Havatzelet” (lily) over the door at #26 was a gesture to his father, who published a historic newspaper of that name for over 40 years.

Menachem Ussishkin

32 Ramban Street: Many years ago, I live on Ussishkin Street as a student, but this Ussishkin tale is new to me. As the story goes, Menachem Ussishkin was chairman of the JNF for 20 years. He was housed in a grand two-story villa near the Old City Walls, built by Swiss missionary banker who called it “Mahanaim” for the biblical verse:

“When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” [Genesis 32:2]

So Ussishkin named that place Mahanaim (camp). In 1927, however, a severe earthquake damaged the British High Commissioner’s residence in Talpiot. The British commandeered Mahanaim and replaced Ussishkin with the commissioner.  Ussishkin inscribed the name “Mahanaim” over the door of his new home at #32 Ramban. He also managed to change the cross street named for Yehuda Halevi (a Spaniard, and one of the greatest Jewish poets of all time) to Rehov Ussishkin in honor of his 70th birthday in 1933.

Rabbi Yehuda Halevi was not forgotten by city fathers. When Jerusalem was reunified in 1967, the steps from Misgav Ladach Street to the Western Wall Plaza were renamed in Rabbi Yehuda Halevi’s memory. Historically, Rabbi Halevi was fatally run over soon after he immigrated to the Holy Land, while kissing the ground near the Western Wall.

14 Ramban Street: Rehavia’s first home, completed in 1924, is near the top of Ramban Street#14. It was built by Eliezer Yellin. Eliezer was the son of David Yellin. David Yellin himself was a grandson to one of the founders of Nahalat Shiv’a over half a century earlier. It was Eliezer Yellin who named the neighborhood for Moses’ grandson, “Rehavia”.

“The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer…and the sons of Eliezer were Rehavia the first. And Eliezer had no other sons; and the sons of Rehavia were very many” (I Chronicles 23:15–17).

Ibn Gabirol Street

14 Ibn Gabirol Street: The Ben-Zvi Institute of Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was founded by Izhak Ben-Zvi in 1947, for the purpose of research relating to the history, communal life and culture of the Jewish communities under Islam and in other countries of the Middle East and Asia.

Balfour Street

3 Balfour Street: The Bauhaus building at No. 3 Balfour (at the corner Smolenskin streets) was designed by Richard Kaufmann for the wealthy Aghion family from Egypt. In 1939-40 the Aghions let the house to exiled King Peter of Yugoslavia. Today it is the official residence of Israel’s prime ministers.

Beit Aghion Photo: Haimohana

Alfasi Street – Jason’s Tomb

10 Alfasi Street: A burial tomb from Hasmonean times (2nd century BCE) uncovered in 1956, its Greek and Aramaic inscription includes an epitaph to the unknown Jason. Jason was either:

A High Priest in the Second Temple, instated in 175 BC by Antiochus Epiphanes after he ascended the throne of the Seleucid Empire and Jason offered to pay him for the appointment.

Possibly a naval commander, based on the charcoal drawing of two warships discovered in the cave.

The tomb was discovered on Alfasi Street in the Rehavia in 1956. I lived on Alfasi Street in 1965-66. I prefer the priestly lineage for Jason so that would make us relatives.

Ben Maimon Street

6 Ben Maimon Street: In the year of 1930, in Alexandria, Egypt, a Christian-Arab lawyer, Nasib Abkarius Bay married the daughter of a well known ultra-orthodox family from Jerusalem, Lea Tenenboim. So, he built a large house in Rehavia Neighborhood in Jerusalem, across the street from and Terra Sancta College and what would become the Aghion’s home (the Prime Minister’s official residence). The home was named “Villa Lea”.  A year later, Lea sneaked out with a new lover to Egypt after spending a large sum of Abkarius`s money and left him broke and broken hearted. They divorced officially in 1945 and a year later Abkarius died poor and lonely. Later, the house was divided into three apartments. Through the years, Ethiopia Haile Selassie, David Hagoel, Eliezer Kaplan, Yosef Burg, Moshe Dayan and his daughter Yael Dayan have lived in Villa Lea.

Keren Hayesod Street

2 Keren Hayesod Street: The Società di San Paolo of Milan built Terra Sancta College on Keren Hayesod in 1926. Critics called it the “Opera Cardinal Ferrari.” The designer of the building was the famous, Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi.

Shmuel HaNagid Street

26 Shmuel HaNagid Street: Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a French convert from Judaism established the Ratisbonne Monastery in Rehavia. Work on the building began in 1874 on a barren hill, now in the center of  Jerusalem.

Ratisbonne Monastery

Rehavia Today

Today, offices replace families. Parking lots uprooted gardens. Now, new roads bisect Rehavia.

Rehavia, Jerusalem * The Plans for Rehavia Begun in 1922, the Rehavia neighborhood served as a "garden suburb" for Jewish families of Jerusalem who sought to escape the crowded conditions elsewhere in the city.

[maimoncat]

Caleb always keeps in mind to stay polite, but Isaac had some higher expectations!

A group of teens is approaching. They are very human and definitely NOT a family of demons!

No these are not poorly edited jpg raisins what makes you think that

It's not like I'm hoarding candies like a dragon

No