#music is one of the greatest things ever invented by mankind

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100 excellent quotes

We are all leaves of one trees 100 excellent quotes and aphorisms by great and famous authors to inspire your thoughts, give new life to your ideas and stimulate your critical thinking skills. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish dictatorship. George Orwell To find yourself, think for yourself. Socrates The believer is happy. The doubter is wise. Edgar Allan Poe Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Seneca My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody's pain. Charlie Chaplin The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness and the theologian all the stupidity. Arthur Schopenhauer To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasure of illusion. Aldous Huxley There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. Ernest Hemingway From error to error one discovers the entire truth. Sigmund Freud No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness. Aristotle Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses. Plato If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us. Franz Kafka One cannot step twice in the same river. Heraclitus

True wisdom lies in one's confession about the limits of one's knowledge. Socrates People who are aware of, and ashamed of, their prejudices are well on the road to eliminating them. Gordon Allport A truth that's told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent. William Blake Wisdom outweighs any wealth. Sophocles You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato Know that the body is merely a garment. Go, seek the wearer, not the cloak. Rumi The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. James Bryce Doubt is the origin of wisdom. Rene Descartes Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for. Immanuel Kant The universities do not teach all things... So a doctor must seek old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveller... Knowledge is experience. Paracelsus Beauty is truth, truth beauty. John Keats Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude. Arthur Schopenhauer You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say. Marcus Aurelius Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, havegreat sadness on earth. Fyodor Dostoevsky I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results. The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit. Johann Sebastian Bach

Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood. Friedrich Nieztsche The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. Henrik Ibsen The art of living well and the art of dying well are one. Epicurus Be a free thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in. Aristotle If my soldiers started thinking, no one would stay in my ranks. Frederick II King of Prussia Miserable dictators who rave about a new world order, while governing nations of poor sheep, confirm that we live in the toilet of the universe, animated by the supreme and chaotic entropy of their total stupidity. Carl William Brown Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. Benjamin Franklin' Any soldier who fights for money and for a dictator is a waste of society, an object without a brain, only capable of a good action, that of dying. Carl William Brown We have art in order not to die of truth. Friedrich Nieztsche Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. Robert Frost Never underestimate the power of stupid people in a large group. George Carlin Doubt is one of the names of intelligence. Jorge Luis Borges One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure. Friedrich Nietzsche To the poor Chomsky, about what he said on ChatGPT, I would answer with an aphorisms by Carmelo Bene, who once said: "A work is not by an author, and neither is life". Carl William Brown The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Bertrand Russell

100 excellent aphorisms and quotes Frederick II King of Prussia once said: "If my soldiers started thinking, no one would stay in my ranks.". That's why a dictator who favors war is without brain just as well, capable of nothing, but only a good action, that of dying. Carl William Brown Evil people always support each other; that is their chief strength. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn When the student is ready the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears. Lao Tzu Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. Immanuel Kant Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge. Alfred North Whitehead All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth. Friedrich Nietzsche Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. Geroge Orwell Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. William James There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous. Hannah Arendt Thinking in itsself is very dangerous, as Hannah Arendt said, avove all if you are under the supreme cruel power of human stupidity, as Mr. Putrid shows us. Carl William Brown Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it. Bertolt Brecht Life is nothing but a reckless, unaware, risky, and incautious bet that in the end everyone is doomed to lose. So you’d better get used! Carl William Brown Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. Rene Descartes It is a little embarrassing that, after forty-five years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other. Aldous Huxley The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life. And the body is born young and grows old. That is life’s tragedy. Oscar Wilde The human species is mainly made up of people who do nothing but fill the sewers and pollute the environment in which they live, an endless mass of donkeys who unfortunately believe themselves to be horses and since they even believe to have a religious spirituality, they are also quite convinced to gain eternal life. Carl William Brown Geniuses are like thunderstorms: they go against the wind, terrify people, clear the air. Soren Kierkegaard

100 excellent quotes Humor is definitely a form of religion, of course it’s not as generous and solid as other traditional forms of worship. To his faithful theorists, pratictioners or even to his martyrs he cannot certainly offer virgin maidens in his paradise, as Islam does; in any case one must be satisfied, at the limit it can offer a dramatis personae disguised as a joker, or if you prefer, a kind of fool! Carl William Brown Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy, so they know the value of things, not the price. Victor Hugo Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think. George Bernard Shaw The voice of the majority is no proof of justice. Friedrich Schiller Sadness is caused by intelligence, the more you understand certain things, the more you wish you didn’t understand them. Charles Bukowski If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs. Aesop Society often forgives the offender, never forgives the dreamer. Oscar Wilde Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiation - creation - there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One can hardly read our history without conceiving a horror for mankind. Voltaire True freedom is the right to say something that others don't want to hear. George Orwell For all evils, there are two remedies - time and silence. Alexandre Dumas Giordano Bruno and the roots of our culture in the light of the darkness of holy imbecility. In fact, the roots of our culture are Catholic Christians, since if you tried to have other roots, they would burn you alive. Carl William Brown He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine Humans arose, rather, as a fortuitous and contingent outcome of thousands of linked events, any one of which could have occurred differently and sent history on an alternative pathway that would not have led to consciousness. Stephen Jay Gould The first thing that reading teaches is how to be alone. Jonathan Franzen The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it's that they know so many things that just aren't so. Mark Twain A noble heart will refuse happiness built on misfortune of others. Saadi The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him. Arthur Schopenhauer Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment. Lao Tzu All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke

100 excellent quotes by the world of English The intelligence consists not only in the knowledge but also in the skill to apply the knowledge into practice. Aristotle The mark of a civilized man is his willingness to re-examine his most cherished beliefs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. When all think alike, then no one is thinking. Walter Lippmann Television is the mirror where the defeat of our entire cultural system is reflected. Federico Fellini Day by day, what you think and what you do is who you become. Heraclitus Make your own rules or be a slave to another man’s. William Blake Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be lived. Søren Kierkegaard No man on earth is truly free, All are slaves of money or necessity. Public opinion or fear of prosecution forces each one, against his conscience, to conform. Euripides Without goals, the very concept of intelligence is meaningless. Steven Pinker What worries you, masters you. John Locke Art is to console those who are broken by life. Vincent Van Gogh The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries. René Descartes Humanity is as if immersed in sleep, it is interested only in what is useless and lives in the world of error. Hakim Sanai You are wealthy when you can freely decide what to do with your time. Vala Afshar A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. Montaigne There is one art of which people should be masters - the art of reflection. Samuel Taylor Coleridge The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. Diogenes Don’t miss these other similar posts: Wise quotes from the Ancients 100 golden quotes and aphorisms 100 admirable quotes and aphorisms 100 wonderful quotes and aphorisms 100 best quotes and aphorisms 100 magnificent quotes and aphorisms 100 brilliant quotes and aphorisms 100 famous quotes and aphorisms 100 memorable quotes and aphorisms 100 top great quotes and aphorisms 100 great quotes on love Great and famous philosophy quotes Quotes by authors Quotes by arguments Thoughts and reflections Read the full article

[insearchofthesuns]

On Man

To tell the story of the known world is to tell the story of Man. It was man who first sunk the emerald mines along Broker’s Way, man who lit the lamps, and man who dreamed of Empire. Which is not to foolishly claim that Humanity was the first to have done these things, or indeed anything. Relatively speaking, Humanity is young. Mankind is short-lived, especially in comparison to more esoteric peoples. But perhaps due to this limited time, Humanity is one of the most resourceful and inventive peoples known to inhabit The Evernight.

Humans are, thanks to their penchant for both migration and conquest, some of the most diverse peoples to walk the world. They are typified by the sole fact that there are no typical Humans. Oh yes, they have common traits: Two long legs, two arms, ten fingers and toes, two forward facing eyes, blood; but they define themselves on their differences. Humans can reach over 6 feet in height without augmentation, they can grow to quite surprising girth with little real effort, they exhibit a myriad of pigmentations in their skin, hair, and eyes, and they have a remarkable capacity to adapt to whatever climate they find themselves residing in.

Humans have a reputation for being mercurial, and it is true that many exhibit frequent deviance from their societal norms, but the average human would argue that one is only granted one life to live (a debatable fact in The Evernight, but I digress,) and that one must live it to the fullest even if that requires changes in circumstance. Individual Men rarely endure, but the institutions, guilds, societies, faiths, and family units they form last beyond the feeble reach of a single Human’s remembering. It is thanks to this enduring culture of survival through collective memory that we recognize Mankind as the single greatest source of historical record in the form of their libraries and archives.

Although individual Human cultures have historically been known to fear or hate those who are different, on the whole, Mankind is quite tolerant of other societies and peoples. Human lands have historically welcomed large numbers of Nonhumans, in comparison to Humans residing in Nonhuman lands. This is not to say that these populations have always been treated fairly, given equal status, or indeed even been willing, but on the whole, Humanity is considered far more tolerant than many others they rub appendages with.

To record every group of Men to have ever settled together as a unified culture would take more pages than could possibly exist, but the University of Higher Thought’s Department of Anthropology lists approximately five ethno-historic groups that could be considered distinct societal roots for Humanity.

Imperial Humans (or Palatines) are characterized by slight builds, bronzy skin, and dark silky hair. They originate beyond The Viridian, from The Empire Beyond the Sea. Imperial Humans have reputations for enjoying complex games, viticulture, and poetry. After their conquest several centuries ago, the Imperials established many of the modern noble houses that endure into the present. Each Imperial family, noble or otherwise keeps elaborate genealogical and thaumaturgical records, which are compared against the charts of prospective lovers to ensure auspicious parings. In the modern age, the Imperial culture is dying, with the great majority of peoples blaming the Betrayer Prince and his ambitions for The Evernight.

Viridian Humans, called colloquially Fishermen, originate from the craggy coasts of The Viridian. Many of their towns and cities are mercantile in nature, and this is reflected in their love of fine textiles, bright colors, and raucous music. Fishermen are generally broadly built and stocky, with golden undertones and olive complexions. They keep their dark hair long and braided, with small trinkets and charms braided in to mark significant moments in their lives. Touching or handling a Fisherman’s braid is considered an act of incredible trust and respect, and to cut such a braid is to declare war on the entire people. Viridian Humans are known for their welcoming culture and friendly society, and a great majority of the Half-Human children of the modern age descend from a Fisherman parent who welcomed a Nonhuman lover into the family.

Septentrional Humans are distinguished by their tall narrow builds and incredibly pale skin. Also called Iceborn, Frostwalkers, or Hyperboreans, Septentrional peoples originate far to the north of the known world, in the Lands of Eternal Frost. They are characterized by fierce independence, ultimate loyalty to tribe or clan over family, and their great love for spiced foods. Hyperboreans typically shave all body hair, including that which grows from their heads, and cover their bodies in elaborate and ornate tattoos that bear ritual significance. Due to the scarcity of supplies in their homeland, these peoples do not consider a person worthy of a name until they are old enough to hunt for themselves, and it is from these first hunts that a person’s name and primary tattoo or “heart mark” is derived. Septentrional peoples are rare in the south, those enclaves which remain into the modern age are often the result of displacement from their origin tribes or forced relocation by Imperial gaolers.

Mistral Humans originated in the mountain ranges that once comprised the area around The Great Rift. They typically possess fair skin, golden or (rarely) red hair, and average builds. Mistral peoples are known for being excellent miners, masons, and smiths, and Mistral metalwork is considered some of the best in the world. The collapse of The Great Rift saw the collapse of their ancestral homelands, but modern Mistral do not typically waste time dwelling on what was. They are a practical, solution-oriented society, and little import is placed on things solely due to their age or history. A broken tool should be mended, or if needed melted down to be reused, not saved just because a famous carver once used it. This attitude has given them a reputation for being an unfeeling sort, but to the Mistral, there is nothing more insulting than allowing precious material go to waste, regardless of the form that material takes.

Fallen Humans, occasionally called Sables or Skulks comprise the vast majority of the Humans currently inhabiting the known world. A social group formed of the patchwork cultures that survived The Collapse and banded together to survive in The Evernight, Fallen Humans aren’t exemplified by any singular build, skin tone, or hair color. They are instead defined by their culture of survival, their deep and abiding respect for the peoples that came before them (occasionally bordering on fanatical ancestor-veneration,) and their mistrust of authority. To the Fallen, their leaders failed them to the last, caused The Evernight, or at least failed to avert it, and are thus unworthy of even a modicum of respect. It was the Fallen who overthrew the Betrayer Prince and installed the People’s Parliament in his place, and it is the Fallen who consider themselves the rightful inheritors of this broken world.

While these groups comprise the vast majority of known Human societies, it is important to remember that the University’s understanding is incomplete, and other cultures or societies might exist which are not herein recorded. It is also important to remember at all times that these groups are largely fluid, and Mankind remains incredibly flexible in their society. It may be surprising to see a Hyperborean with long shaggy hair, or hear a Mistral poet pine longingly for their lost homeland, but the fact remains that Humans, no matter their creed, are individuals, and their goals, tastes, habits, and hopes are all subject to their personal experience just as much as their societal group of origin.

Until the pages next turn…

[snake-rot]

(EXCLAIMING)

(ORCHESTRA MUSIC BLARING)

(GROANS)

(WHIMPERS)

(GRUNTING)

(MYSTICAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(GROANS)

(COUNTRY ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

(COUGHS)

Sweet home Alabama

Where the skies are so blue

WOMAN: Excuse me, sir, is there a commode?

Sweet home Alabama

(GRUNTING)

Lord, I'm coming home to you

(GRUNTS) Justin!

Quick, honey, take my picture. I got the pyramid in my hand.

(CAMERA CLICKING)

Yeah

Justin, you get back here right now!

No, stop!

GUARD 1: No, no, no! Stop him! GUARD 2: Go back! Don't climb!

(JUSTIN IMITATING AIRPLANE WHOOSHING)

Wait, wait.

Hold on. Easy, little boy.

Okay, stop, child! Stop right there. No!

(GASPS)

No, no, no, no, no! Oh! There he goes.

(GASPS)

Justin!

I've got him! I've got him!

(JUSTIN GRUNTS)

(AIR ESCAPING)

Outrage in Egypt tonight as it was discovered

that the Great Pyramid of Giza had been stolen

and replaced by a giant inflatable replica.

There is panic throughout the globe as countries and citizens

try to protect their beloved landmarks.

Law enforcement still has no leads,

leaving everyone to wonder, which of the world's villains

is responsible for this heinous crime?

And where will he strike next?

Gru: Freeze ray! Freeze ray! Freeze ray! [laughs evilly] Fred: Morning, Gru! How you doing? Gru: Hello, Fred. FYI, your dog has been leaving little bombs all over my yard, and I don't appreciate it. Fred: Sorry. You know dogs. They go wherever they wanna go. Gru: Unless they're dead. [laughs] I'm joking! Although, it is true. Anyway, have a good one. Fred: Okay. Yeah. Steamrolling whatever Gru: [groans] You've got to be pulling on my leg! Margo: Hello! Cookies for sale. Gru: Go away. I'm not home. Margo: Uh, yes, you are. I heard you. Gru: [gasps] No, you didn't. This... [monotone] is a recording. Margo: [scoffs] No, it isn't. Gru: Yes, it is. [o.s.] Watch this. Leave a message, beep. [Edith kicks the door] Gru: Ow! Agnes: Goodbye, recorded message. Margo: [o.s.] Agnes, come on. Gru: Huh? [screams] Kyle! Bad dog! No! No, no. Sit. My muffin. Dr. Nefario: Gru! Gru: Ah, Dr. Nefario. Dr. Nefario: I know how you must be feeling. I, too, have encountered great disappointment, but, in my eyes, you will always be one of the greats. Gru: What? What happened? Dr. Nefario: It's all over the news! Some fella just stole a pyramid. They're saying he makes all other villains look... lame. pause Gru: Assemble the minions! [throws Kyle off of his arm] Minions, assemble! Minion: Okay. Okay. Hey! Gru: Looking good, Kevin! How is the family? Good? All right. That's my Billy boy! What up, Larry? Hello, everybody! Yeah, all right! Simmer down. Simmer down! Thank you, okay. Now, I realize that you guys probably heard about this other villain who stole the pyramids. Apparently, it's a big deal. People are calling it the crime of the century and stuff like that. But am I upset? No, I am not! A little, but we have had a pretty good year ourselves, and you guys are all right in my book. Minion: Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Gru: No, no raises! You're not going to get any raises. What did we do? Well, we stole the Times Square JumboTron! Nice! That's how I roll. Yeah, you all like watching football on that, huh? But that's not all. We stole the Statue of Liberty, the small one from Las Vegas. And I won't even mention the Eiffel Tower! Also Vegas. Okay, I wasn't going to tell you about this yet, but I have been working on something very big! Something that will blow this pyramid thing out of the water! And thanks to the efforts of my good friend Dr. Nefario... Dr. Nefario: Thank you! Gru: There he is. He's stylin'. Now, we have located a shrink ray in a secret lab, and once we take this shrink ray, we will have the capability to pull off the 'true crime of the century. We are going to steal... The Minions all pull out their weapons in response. Gru: Wait, wait! I haven't told you what it is yet. One of the Minions, Dave, shoots his rocket launcher at a crowd of Minions. Gru: Hey. Dave, listen up, please! Dave: Ditto. One of the Minions Dave shot walks over to him and punches him on the shoulder. Gru: Next, we are going to steal, pause for effect, the moon! The Minions cheer in response. Gru: And once the moon is mine, the world will give me whatever I want to get it back! And I will be the greatest villain of all time! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout. [picks up his phone] Yes? Dr. Nefario: Hello, Gru? I've been crunching some numbers, and I really don't see how we can afford this. It can't be done. I'm not a miracle worker. Gru:Hey, chillax. I'll just get another loan from the bank. They love me! Margo: Edith, stop it! Edith: What? I'm just walking. Girls: Hi, Miss Hattie. We're back. Miss Hattie: Hello, girls! Agnes: Anybody come to adopt us while we were out? Miss Hattie: Hmm... Let me think. No! Edith immediately puts a mud pie on Miss Hattie's desk, much to her displeasure. Miss Hattie: Edith! What did you put on my desk? Edith: A mud pie. Miss Hattie: [sighs] You're never gonna get adopted, Edith. You know that, don't you? Edith: Yeah, I know. Miss Hattie: Good. So, how did it go, girls? Did we meet our quotas? Margo: Hmm... Sorta. We sold 43 mini-mints, 30 choco-swirlies and 18 coco-nutties. Miss Hattie: [gets up] Okay.

Well, you say that like it's a great sale day. [furious] Look at my face! Do you still think it's a great sale day? Edith rolls her eyes in response. Miss Hattie: [hangs up a portrait] Eighteen coco-nutties. I think we can do a little better than that, don't you? Yeah. We wouldn't want to spend the weekend in the Box of Shame, would we? No. Girls: No, Miss Hattie. Miss Hattie: Okay, good. Off you go. Go clean something of mine. Girls: Hi, Penny. Penny: Hi, guys. Gru: Hello, Mom. Sorry, I meant to call, but... Gru's Mom: I just wanted to congratulate you on stealing the pyramid. [Gru sighs in disgust] That was you, wasn't it? Or was it a villain who's actually successful? [laughs] Gru: Just so you know, Mom, I am about to do something that's very, very big, very important. When you hear about it, you're going to be very proud. Gru's Mom: Ha! [sarcastically] Good luck with that. Okay, I'm outta here. [hangs up the phone before sending her karate instructor flying] Gru: Gru to see Mr Perkins Receptionist: Yes, please have a seat. Neil Armstrong: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Young Gru: Ma, someday I'm going to go to the moon. Gru's Mom: I'm afraid you're too late, Son. NASA isn't sending the monkeys any more. Vector: Hey. I'm applying for a new villain loan. Go by the name of Vector. It's a mathematical term, a quantity represented by an arrow, with both direction and magnitude. Vector! That's me, 'cause I'm committing crimes with both direction and magnitude. Oh, yeah! Check out my new weapon. Piranha gun! Oh, yes! Fires live piranhas. Ever seen one before? No, you haven't. I invented it. Do you want a demonstration? Shoot! So difficult, sometimes, to get the piranha back inside of my... Receptionist: Mr Gru, Mr Perkins will see you now. Gru: So, all I need is money from the bank to build a rocket. And then, the moon is ours. Perkins: Wow! Well, very nice presentation. I'd like to see this shrink ray. Gru: Absolutely! Will do. Soon as I have it. Perkins: You don't have it? And yet you have the audacity to ask the bank for money? Gru: Apparently. Perkins: Do you have any idea of the capital that this bank has invested in you, Gru? With far too few of your sinister plots actually turning a profit. How can I put it? Let's say this apple is you. If we don't start getting our money back... Get the picture? Look, Gru, the point is, there are a lot of new villains out there, younger than you, hungrier than you, younger than you. Like that young fellow out there named Vector. He just stole a pyramid! Gru: I've got it. I've got it. So, as far as getting money for the rocket... Perkins: Get the shrink ray, then we'll talk. Minion: Suckers! Suckers! Gru: We got it! What? Hey! Hey! What! Hey! No, no, no! You! Vectors: Now, maybe you'll think twice before you freeze someone's head! So long, Gru! Gru: Quick! We can't let him get away! Up ahead! Up ahead! Fire! Fire, now! Vector: You missed me! Gru: Come to papa! Take that. Vector: How adorable. Gru: Got you in our sights! Like taking candy from a... What? Vector: Hey, Gru! Try this on for size! Gru: That's weird. What is going... This is claustrophobic! No, no, no! Too small! This is too small for me! [groans] I hate that guy. Margo: ...and please watch over us, and bless that we'll have a good night's sleep. Edith: And bless that while we're sleeping, no bugs will crawl into our ears and lay eggs in our brains. Margo: Great. Thanks for that image, Edith. Agnes: And please bless that someone will adopt us soon, and that the mommy and daddy will be nice and have a pet unicorn. Amen. Margo/Edith: Amen. Agnes: Unicorns, I love them Unicorns, I love them Uni, uni, unicorns I love them Uni, unicorns, I could pet one If they were really real And they are So, I bought one so I could pet it Now it loves me Now I love it Gru: Don't you... What the... Good luck, little girls! Edith: Whoa! Cool. Margo: Hi! We're orphans from Miss Hattie's Home for Girls. Vector: I don't care. Beat it! Margo: Come on! We're selling

cookies so, you know, we can have a better future. Vector: Wait, wait! Do you have coco-nutties? Margo: Yeah. Gru: Light bulb. Dr Nefario! I'm going to need a dozen tiny robots disguised as cookies! Dr. Nefario: What? Gru: Cookie robots! Dr. Nefario: Who is this? - Gru: Oh, forget it. Mrs. Hattie: Well, it appears you have cleared our background check, Dr Gru. And I see you have made a list of some of your personal achievements. Thank you for that. I love reading. And I see you have been given the Medal of Honor and a knighthood. - Minions: Me, me, me. Me, me, me. Minion: Kevin? Mrs. Hattie: You had your own cooking show and you can hold your breath for 30 seconds? It's not that impressive. Minion: Idiot! - Minions: Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Mrs Hattie: What in the name of... What? Gru: Well, here's the dealio. Things have been so lonely since my wife, Debbie, passed on. It's like my heart is a tooth, and it's got a cavity that can only be filled with children. I'm sorry. You are a beautiful woman. Do you speak Spanish? Mrs. Hattie: Do I look like I speak Spanish? Gru: You have a face como un burro. Mrs. Hattie: Well, thank you! Gru: Anyway, can we proceed with this adoption? So, so excited! Mrs. Hattie: Please tell Margo, Edith and Agnes to come to the lobby. Margo: I bet the mom is beautiful! Edith: I bet the daddy's eyes sparkle. Agnes: I bet their house is made of Gummi Bears. [Edith and Margo look at her curiously] I'm just saying it'd be nice. [picks up a Cheeto] Aww. My caterpillar never turned into a butterfly. Edith: That's a Cheeto. Agnes: Oh... [eats said Cheeto, making Edith and Margo recoil in disgust] Miss Hattie: Well, Debbie was a very lucky woman. [pause] Gru: Who's Debbie? Mrs Hattie: Your wife. Hi, girls! Girls, I want you to meet Mr Gru. He's going to adopt you. And he's a dentist! Agnes: Yeah! Margo: Hi. I'm Margo. This is Edith. And that's Agnes. Agnes: [sing-song] I got your leg, I got your leg! Gru: Okay, that is enough, little girl. Let go of my leg. Come on. You can do it. Agnes: Higher! Higher! Gru: Just release your grip. Wow! How do you remove them? Is there a command? Some nonstick spray? Crowbar? [sighs] Okay, girls, let's go. [They drove off in the distance.]Vector: Uh-huh! Oh, yeah! Pretty impressive! What are you looking at? Boo-ya! You got shrunk, tiny mouthwash! Take that! You done been shrunk! (His phone rings) Yello? I got the shrink ray, all right. No, I'm not playing with it. Gru? Don't make me laugh! No. P.S., he is not getting the moon, and P.P.S., by the time I'm done with him, he's gonna be begging for mercy. (Shrinks a toilet) Okay, bye. (Hangs up) Look at you, a little tiny toilet for a little tiny baby to... [The toilet pops out and water sprays him.]Vector: Curse you, tiny toilet! [Gru and the Girls arrive at Gru's Home.] Gru: "Okay, here we are. Home sweet home. Margo: So... This is, like, your house? [realizing] Wait a sec... You're the guy who pretended he was a recorded message! Gru: No, that was someone else. [Margo gives a skeptical look before she, Edith and Agnes enter Gru's house, with Gru following suite.] Agnes: [scared] Can I hold your hand? Gru: Uh... No. Edith: [looks around] When we got adopted by a bald guy, I thought this'd be more like "Annie". Gru: No, hey! [screams] Kyle, these are not treats. These are guests. Girls, this is Kyle, my... Dog. Kyle snarls in anger. Agnes: Ooh! Fluffy doggy! [approaches Kyle before he runs away, much to her disappointment] Margo: What kind of dog is that? Gru: He is a... I don't know. Margo: Do you really think that this is an appropriate place for little kids? 'Cause, uh... It's not. [Edith sees a closet that is sharp and goes in it.] Gru: No! No! Stay away from there! It's frag... [He sees juice spilling on the floor.]Both: (Gasps) Gru: Well, I suppose the plan will work with two. Edith: [muffled] Hey! It's dark in here. [Gru opens the iron maiden, revealing Edith, who spits out a straw]Edith: It poked a hole in my juice box. [They went to the

kitchen.] Gru: As you can see, I have provided everything a child might need. All right. Okay. As I was saying... (Edith knocked a bottle down) Gru: (Cont'd) Hey! Oh. Edith: Somebody broke that. Gru: "Okay, okay. Clearly, we need to set some rules. Rule number one. You will not touch anything. Margo: Uh-huh. What about the floor? Gru: Yes, you may touch the floor. Margo: What about the air? Gru: Yes, you may touch the air! Edith: (Gets out a laser gun) What about this? Gru: (Screams) Where did you get that? Edith: [shrugs] Found it. Gru: Okay. Rule number two. You will not bother me while I'm working. Rule number three. You will not cry or whine or laugh or giggle or sneeze or burp or fart! So, no, no, no annoying sounds. All right? Agnes: Does this count as annoying? [popping] Gru: Very! [sighs] I will see you in six hours. Margo: Okay, don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. We're gonna be really happy here. Right? Agnes? Gru: Question. What are these? Dr. Nefario: A dozen boogie robots! Boogie! Look at this. Watch me! Gru: Cookie robots. I said cookie robots. Why are you so old? Dr. Nefario: Okay. I'm on it. Margo: Hello? Agnes: TV! Margo: What is that? Edith: Whoa! That is cool! Come on! Agnes: I don't think he's a dentist.Dr. Nefario: We've been working on this for a while. It's a anti-gravity serum. I meant to close that. He'll be all right, I'm sure. Gru: Do the effects wear off? Dr. Nefario: So far, no. No, they don't. And here, of course, is the new weapon you ordered. Gru: No, no. I said "dart gun," not... Okay. Dr. Nefario: Oh, yes. 'Cause I was wondering under what circumstances would we use this? But, anyway. What I really wanted to show you was this. Gru: Now those are cookie robots! Agnes: La, la, la, la I love unicorns Gru: What are you doing here? I told you to stay in the kitchen! Margo: We got bored. What is this place? Edith: Can I drink this? Dr. Nefario: Do you want to explode? [Edith kicks him in the shin] Dr. Nefario: Gru! Gru: Get back in the kitchen! Agnes: Will you play with us? Gru: No. Agnes: Why? Gru: Because I'm busy. Margo: [scoffs] Doing what? Gru: Umm... Okay, okay, you got me. The dentist thing is more of a hobby. In real life, I am a spy. And it is top secret, and you may not tell anybody, because if you do... Edith: What does this do? [She fires a laser and it hits Agnes's unicorn and it burns to ashes]Gru: Hey! Edith: Whoops. Agnes: My unicorn! You have to fix it. Gru: Fix it? Look, it has been disintegrated. By definition, it cannot be fixed. [Agnes gasps in shock, then starts holding her breath] Gru: That's freaking me out. What is she doing? Margo: She's gonna hold her breath until she gets a new one. Gru: [sighs] It is just a toy. Now stop it! (Agnes faints) Gru: Okay, okay! I'll fix it! Tim! Mark! Phil! This is very important. You have to get the little girl a new unicorn toy. Gru: Hey, hey, hey! A toy! Go, and hurry! What are those? Gru: They are my... Cousins. Jerry! Stuart! Watch them and keep them away from me please. [The three minions put on a disguise and head to the store.]Minions: Wow!- Wow! [Meanwhile the two minions and the girls are tossing toilet paper at each other. Gru comes up and he sees the Girls and the two minions having fun.]Edith: It was your cousin's idea. Jerry: What? Gru: Okay, bedtime. Girls: Aww... Minions: Aww... Gru: Not you two! Minions: Yay. Gru: Okey-dokey. Beddie-bye. All tucked in. Sweet dreams. Margo: Just so you know, you're never gonna be my dad. Gru: I think I can live with that. Edith: Are these beds made out of bombs? Gru: Yes, but they are very old and highly unlikely to blow up. But try not to toss and turn. Edith: "Cool." Agnes: Will you read us a bedtime story?" Gru: No. Agnes: But we can't go to sleep without a bedtime story. Gru: Well, then it's going to be a long night for you, isn't it? So, good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite. Because there are literally thousands of them. And there's probably something in your closet. Margo: He's just kidding, Agnes. Agnes: It's beautiful. Gru: Girls, let's go.

Time to deliver the cookies! Margo: Okay. But first, we're going to dance class. Gru: Actually, we're going to have to skip the dance class today. Margo: Actually, we can't skip the dance class today. We have a big recital coming up. We're doing an excerpt from Swan Lake. Agnes: Yeah, Swan Lake! Gru: That's fantastic. Wonderful. But we're going to deliver cookies! Come on! Margo: No. Gru: No? Margo: We're not going to deliver cookies until we do dance class. Really? Gru: Well, I am not driving you to dance class. So if you want to go, you are going to have to walk yourselves. What are you doing? Margo: Walking to dance class. Gru: Ya? Okay, fine. You just keep walking, because I'm really not driving you! Margo: Okay. Gru: You're going to suffer the wrath of Gru! Seriously, I'm going to count to three! And you had better be in this car! Here we go! One! Two! Teacher: ...three, four and five. And lift, and stretch. And one, and two... Agnes: Here you go. Gru: What is it? Agnes: Your ticket to the dance recital. You are coming, right? Gru: Of course, of course. I have pins and needles that I'm sitting on. Agnes: Pinkie promise? Gru: Oh, yes. My pinkie promises. All right. Our first customer is a man named Vector. Margo: But he's a V. You know, we're supposed to start with the A's. Then we go to the B's. Then we... Gru: Yes, yes! I went to kindergarten. I know how the alphabet works! I was just thinking that it might be nice to deliver Mr Vector's first. That is all. Almost over. It's almost over. Vector: Girls, welcome back to the fortress of Vector-tude! Do you have my cookies for me? Margo: Four boxes of mini-mints, two toffee totes, two caramel clumpies and fifteen boxes of coco-nutties. Vector: Exactly. I'd like to see somebody else order that many cookies. Not likely. Name one person who ordered more cookies than me. Margo: That'll be $52. Vector: Right. Seven, eight, nine... Tic Tacs! Where was I? Seven, eight, nine... Agnes: Why are you wearing pyjamas? Vector: These aren't pyjamas! This is a warm-up suit. Edith: What are you warming up for? Vector: Stuff. Agnes: What sort of stuff? Vector: Super-cool stuff you wouldn't understand. Agnes: Like sleeping? Vector: They are not pyjamas! Here you go, 52 big ones. Bye! Gru: Come on! Vector: What the...? Quiet down, fish. Down, boy!Gru: [laughs] We did it! Come on, girls, let's go! Margo: But what about the other people who ordered cookies? Gru: Life is full of disappointments... For some people. [chuckles ominously] Agnes: (Screams) Gru: Don't do that! Agnes: Super Silly Fun Land! Can we go? Please? Gru: No. Edith: But we've never been. And it's the funnest place on earth! Gru: "Don't care." Girls: Please? Please? We'll never ask for anything else, ever again! Pretty please? Please? Come on! Come on! Gru: "Light bulb." Edith: Come on! Gru: "Goodbye, have fun. [He began to leave. But a attendant of the roller coaster stopped him.]Carnival Ride Worker: Sorry, dude. They can't ride without an adult. Gru: What? [groans] [Soon Gru gets sick from the roller coaster ride.]Agnes: Oh, my gosh! Look at that fluffy unicorn! He's so fluffy, I'm gonna die! Margo: You've gotta let us play for it! Gru: No, no, no. Agnes: Come on! Gru: How much for the fluffy unicorn?Carnival Barker: Well, it is not for sale. But all you gotta do to win it is knock down that little spaceship there. It's easy! Agnes: Yay! Again! Margo: Wait! Edith: Come on. One more time! Agnes: Just one more. I accidentally closed my eyes. I hit it! I hit it! Edith: That was cool. Awww. Gru: Whoa, whoa, whoa. What was that? She hit that. I saw that with my own eyes.Carnival Barker: Hey, buddy, let me explain something to you. You see that little tin spaceship? You see how it's not knocked over? Do you know what that means, professor? It means you don't get the unicorn! Somebody's got a frowny face. Boo! Better luck next time! Gru: Okay, my turn. [Gru uses a fire gun and it blows up the whole booth.]Gru: "Knocked over!" Agnes: It's so fluffy! Yeah! Margo: That was

awesome! Edith: You blew up the whole thing! Agnes: Let's go. Let's try another game!Dr. Nefario: Gru, do you mind if I have a quick word? Gru: Okay, girls, go play. I got the shrink ray! Cotton candy! Dr. Nefario: We have 12 days until the moon is in optimum position. We can't afford any distractions! Gru: Get me Perkins. Sorry to bother you, Mr Perkins, but I figured that you would want to see this! Mr. Perkins: What? Well done, Gru. Rather impressive.Gru: Now, the rest of the plan is simple. I fly to the moon. I shrink the moon. I grab the moon. I sit on the toi-let. What? (girls start laughing) Sorry. Sorry! Could you excuse me for just one second? I told you not to touch my things. I told you, I told you. I've told you a thousand times. Margo: Hey, can we order pizza? Gru: Pizza? You just had lunch. Edith: Not now, for dinner. Gru: Dinner? Just... Fine, fine, fine, whatever. Just get back in there! Margo: Can we get stuffed crust? Agnes and Jerry: Stuffed crust!Gru: I'll stuff you all in the crust! Agnes: [giggles] You're funny! Gru: Just don't come out of that room again! All right. Sorry about that. Where were we? Mr. Perkins: You were sitting on the toilet. Gru: No, no, no! No, I'm sorry. It was a little attempt at humor. I know how much you like to laugh... [Mr. Perkins glares at him] Inside. Eh, now, I was saying... [the door suddenly opens] You don't seem terribly focused, Gru. Believe me, I am completely focused. Right? Edith: Hello! Mr. Perkins: What? Edith: That guy is huge! Agnes: Are we on TV? Mr. Perkins: What are those? Children?Gru: What are you doing? I told you to stay out of here! No, no, no! *Agnes: Freeze ray!Mr. Perkins: Mr Gru? Gru: Okay. As I was saying... Mr. Perkins: No need to continue. I've seen quite enough. Gru: But my plan... Mr. Perkins: Is a great plan. I love everything about your plan, except for one thing. You. Young Gru: Look, Mom, I drew a picture of me landing on the moon! Look, Mom, I made a prototype of the rocket out of macaroni! Look, Mom, I made a real rocket based on the macaroni prototype! Gru: I don't understand. Mr. Perkins: Let's face reality, Gru. You've been at this for far too long with far too little success. We're gonna put our faith, our money, into a... Well, a younger villain. Gru: But I... Mr. Perkins: It's over. Goodbye, Gru. Gru: Now, I know there have been some rumours going around that the bank is no longer funding us. Well, I am here to put those rumours to rest. They are true. In terms of money, we have no money. So how will we get to the moon? The answer is clear. We won't. We are doomed. Now would probably be a good time to look for other employment options. I know. I have fired up my resume as I suggest that all of you do, as well. What is it? Can't you see that I am in the middle of a pep talk? Yes! Yes, we will build our own rocket using this and whatever else we can find! Grab everything! Hit the junkyards! Take apart the cars! Who needs the bank? Let's go. Let's go! Mom! What are you doing here? Gru's Mom: And here he is in the bathtub. Look at his little buns. Gru: Mom. Not cool. Gru's Mom: And here, he's all dressed up in his Sunday best. Margo: He looks like a girl! Gru's Mom: Yes, he does. An ugly girl! Agnes: You're funny! Edith: Yes! Mine's shaped like a dead guy! Receptionist: Mr. Perkins, your son is here. Mr. Perkins: Send him in. Vector: Hey, Dad. You wanted to see me? Mr. Perkins: Yes, I did, Victor. - Vector: I am not Victor anymore. Victor was my nerd name. Now I am Vector! Mr. Perkins: Sit down. Do you know where the shrink ray is? Vector: Duh! Back at my place. Mr. Perkins: Oh, is that right? Back at your place? That's cool. I guess Gru must just have one that looks exactly like it! Vector: What the...?! Those girls sold me cookies! Mr. Perkins: Do you have any idea how lucrative this moon heist could be? I give you the opportunity of a lifetime, and you just blow it! Vector: No, I didn't. Mr. Perkins: Oh, really?Vector: You just wait until Gru sees my latest weapon. Squid-launcher! Oh, yeah! Man:

There's a squid on my face!Vector: Don't worry. The moon is as good as ours. Gru: Come on now, it's bedtime. Did you brush your teeth? Let me smell. Let me smell. You did not! Put on your PGs. Hold still. Okay, seriously! Seriously! This is beddie-bye time, right now. I'm not kidding around. I mean it! Edith: But we're not tired! Gru: Well, I am tired. Agnes: Will you read us a bedtime story? [pause] Gru: No. Agnes: Pretty please? Gru: The physical appearance of the "please" makes no difference. It is still no, so go to sleep. Edith: But we can't. We're all hyper! Margo: And without a bedtime story, we'll just keep getting up and bugging you. All night long. Gru: [sighs] Fine. All right, all right. Sleepy Kittens. Sleepy Kittens? What are these? Agnes: Puppets. You use them when you tell the story. Gru: Okay, let's get this over with. "Three little kittens loved to play, they had fun in the sun all day. "Then their mother came out and said, 'Time for kittens to go to bed."' Wow! This is garbage. You actually like this? Agnes: Keep reading! Edith: Come on! Gru: All right, all right, all right. "Three little kittens started to bawl, "'Mommy, we're not tired at all.' "Their mother smiled and said with a purr, "'Fine, but at least you should brush your fur."' Edith: Now you brush the fur. Gru: This is literature? A 2-year-old could have written this. All right. "Three little kittens with fur all brushed "said, 'We can't sleep, we feel too rushed! ' "Their mother replied, with a voice like silk, "'Fine, but at least you should drink your milk."' Agnes: Now make them drink the milk. Gru: I don't like this book. This is going on forever. "Three little kittens, with milk all gone, rubbed their eyes and started to yawn. "'We can't sleep, we can't even try.' Then their mother sang a lullaby. "'Good night kittens, close your eyes. Sleep in peace until you rise. "'Though while you sleep, we are apart, "'your mommy loves you with all her heart."' The end. Okay, good night. Agnes: Wait! Gru: What? Agnes: What about good night kisses? Gru: No, no. There will be no kissing or hugging or kissing. Margo: He is not gonna kiss us good night, Agnes. Agnes: I like him. He's nice.Edith: [turns off her light] But scary. Like Santa! Dr. Nefario: Only 48 hours till the launch, and all systems are go. Gru: About that, I was thinking that maybe we could move the date of the heist. Dr. Nefario: Please tell me this is not as a result of the girls' dance recital, is it? Gru: No, no, no! The recital? Don't... That's stupid! I just think it's kind of weird to do it on a Saturday. I was thinking, maybe a heist is a Tuesday thing, right? Dr. Nefario: Gru, you and I have been working on this for years. It's everything we've dreamed of. Your chance to make history, become the man who stole the moon! But these girls are becoming a major distraction! They need to go. If you don't do something about it, then I will. Gru: I understand. Dr. Nefario: Good. Minion: Butt. Butt. Butt. Gru: All right. Now, when we put our cups together, we will make the "clink" sound with our mouths. Ready? Edith? Gru: and Edith: Clink. Gru: There we go. And now we drink. And Agnes? Gru and Agnes: Clink. Gru: Very good! Excuse me, girls. Girls: Come on! Gru: Don't worry, I'll be back. Keep clinking. - Clink, clink. - Clink, clink.Gru: Miss Hattie, what are you doing here? Miss Hattie: I'm here for the girls. I received a call that you wanted to return them. [Gru gives her a quizzical look] And also, I did purchase a Spanish dictionary. [swats Gru's head with the dictionary] I didn't like what you said. Gru: But... I will get the girls ready. Agnes: Don't let her take us, Mr. Gru! Tell her you wanna keep us. Mrs. Hattie: All right, girls. Come on, let's go. Margo: Goodbye, Mr. Gru. Thanks for everything. Dr. Nefario: I did it for your own good. Come on, let's go get that moon. Gru: Right. What is this for? The recital? I am the greatest criminal mind of the century. I don't go to little girls' dance recitals! Dr. Nefario: Opening launch bay

doors. Commencing launch sequence. And we are good to go in T minus 10 seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six... Vector: Oh, yeah! Gru: Nice work, Doctor. All systems go. Vector: Boo-ya! My flight suit. Oh, yeah! Once again, the mighty... Gru: I've got it! I've got the moon! I've got the moon. I can make it. Dr. Nefario: Wait a minute! Jerry: Kevin! Gru: Come on! Come on! Agnes: He's still not here. Margo: Why would he come? He gave us up. Agnes: But he pinkie promised! Teacher: Girls, girls, places. Edith: No, we can't start yet! We're still expecting someone. Agnes: Can we just wait a few more minutes? Teacher: All right. But just a few more minutes. Margo: He's not coming, guys. Dr. Nefario: Gru! Gru, can you hear me? Quick, we have to warn him, and fast!Gru: Okay, okay. There's the library. That's Third Street. The dance studio... There! There! There it is! Janitor: Sorry, buddy. Show's over.Gru: Over? Gru: Vector, open up! Vector: First give me the moon. Then we'll talk. Agnes: Mr. Gru! Vector: Zip it, Happy Meal. Gru: Now, the girls. Vector: Actually, I think I'll hold on to them a little while longer. Gru: No! Vector: Oh, yeah! Unpredictable! Gru: Listen close, you little punk. When I get in there, you are in for a world of pain! Vector: [laughs sarcastically] I'm really scared. Agnes: He is gonna kick your butt. Vector: What? He punched my shark! Dr. Nefario: There he is! Hang on, Gru. Oh, no! Gru: Vector has the girls. Go! Dr. Nefario: What happened to the ship? It's big again! Not as big as the moon is going to be! Gru: What? Dr. Nefario: The larger the mass of an object, the quicker the effects of the shrink ray wear off! I call it the Nefario Principle. I just came up with it now, actually. Gru: Oh, no! Margo: Did you see that? Girls: Vector! Help! Vector! Over here! Vector: Hey! What are you girls doing back there? Girls: The moon! Watch out! Vector: Ouch! Gru: Get as close in as you can. You got it. Margo: Mr Gru, up here! Agnes and Edith: Mr Gru! Gru: Okay, girls! Girls! You're going to have to jump. Edith: Jump? Are you insane? Gru: Don't worry, I will catch you. Margo: You gave us back! Gru: I know, I know. And it is the worst mistake I ever made. But you have to jump now. Margo: It'll be okay. Gru: Okay, girls. Margo: Jump now! Gru: Margo, I will catch you. And I will never let you go again. Vector: Not so fast! Gru: No! Margo: Let me go! Gru: Margo! I'm coming, Margo. Hang on! I got you.Vector: No! Oh, poop. News Reporter: This time, good triumphs, and the moon has been returned to its rightful place in the sky. But once again, law enforcement is baffled, leaving everyone to wonder, who is this mysterious hero? And what will he do next? Gru: Okay, girls. Time for bed. Edith: Come on! We want a story. Agnes: Three sleepy kittens! Gru: Oh, no! Sorry. That book was accidentally destroyed maliciously. Tonight we are going to read a new book. This one is called One Big Unicorn by... Who wrote this? Me! I wrote it. Look, it's a puppet book! Here, watch this. That's the horn! Agnes: This is gonna be the best book ever! Gru: Not to pat myself on the back, but, yes, it probably will be. Here we go. "One big unicorn, strong and free "thought he was happy as he could be. "Then three little kittens came around "and turned his whole life upside down." Edith: Hey, that one looks like me! Gru: No, what are you talking about? These are kittens! Any relation to persons living or dead is completely coincidental. "They made him laugh. "They made him cry. "He never should have said goodbye. "And now he knows he could never part "from those three little kittens "that changed his heart. "The end." Okay, all right. Good night. Margo: I love you. Gru: I love you, too. No, no! All right. Didn't I get you already? They're very good! Gru's Mom: I'm so proud of you, Son. You've turned out to be a great parent! Just like me. Maybe even better. Gru: No, I'm fine. Go ahead. No, no, no! THE END Hey, Carl! Hey. No, no, no. Me, me, me. John? No, no. Me, me, me. Oh,

poop. Oh, no! Stop! Stop! Hello, I am Gru. Back to work, back to work! Back to…

IS THIS THE ENTIRE FUCKING SCRIPT?

[loopy777]

What’s your favorite composition by John Williams? And if you can’t choose just one, list your top 10.

My personal favorite is “Welcome to Jurassic Park,” the finale and credits music for the original Jurassic Park. I love the Jurassic Park theme, and this is a great suite of it combined with the ‘island theme.’ I like it even better than the concert versions of the same combination, as I think those are performed too quickly, even when Williams conducts.

And since I love talking about this, I’m also going to keep going for a top 10! Yay!

“Adventures on Earth” (from ‘E.T. the Extra Terrestrial’): Again, this is the finale and credits, which touches on all the great themes from the movie and includes the big, rousing, emotional climax. It’s funny- just two days ago I was talking about how everyone was comparing the end of Mandalorian Season 2 to the ending of E.T., and I speculated that the reason it didn’t work as well for me as everyone else is because Ludwig Göransson, while a great composer, just doesn’t do that Spielberg-sentimentality as well as Williams. But then, no one does.

“A New Hope and End Credits” (from ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’): I’m cheating with this one. I love the Star Wars music. It’s what made me aware of John Williams in the first place, and it got me to realize that the reason I wasn’t excited by all the pop music that my peers were into wasn’t because I disliked music- I just didn’t like that music. Star Wars taught me that I like the full, complicated performance of an orchestra, that the different sounds of the various instruments intrigue me more than lyrics (which I have to concentrate to understand), and that I like storytelling in music. Star Wars is probably the ultimate expression of that in the career of John Williams, not just because of how thematic it is, but also the breadth afforded by his doing nine movies spread across over 40 years. So how do I pick something to represent that? The main theme? The recurring Force theme? A suite? Yes, I have to go with a suite. But which one? I went with the one from the finale of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ for several reasons. It includes nice expressions of the themes of Leia and Luke, referencing the classic trilogy. It has “Battle of the Heroes,” which I consider one of the standouts of the prequel trilogy. And, for the soundtrack release, this suite includes pretty much all of the expanded version of “The Throne Room” from the very first Star Wars movie, which I feel was a great way for John Williams to take a bow at the end of a trilogy that can be criticized for many things but absolutely not the soundtrack. (By comparison, the soundtrack release for ‘Rise of Skywalker’ was a bit of an anti-climax, as Williams’ last Star Wars movie. That should have included a whole second CD that’s just an hour-long suite of music from the entire 9-film saga! Disney could have afford to take a loss on it! If they’re not going to release properly restored versions of the full series’ soundtracks, they owe to the John Williams fans!) And, of course, there are multiple expression of the Force theme in this piece, from the ‘binary sunset’ final scene of the movie itself to the B-segment of “Battle of the Heroes” to various parts of “The Throne Room,” and that theme might very well be the signature of the series at this point, since it has meaningful recurrence throughout the saga. The main Star Wars theme is Luke’s theme, and is reused throughout the saga as callbacks and call-forwards to that same kind of heroism, but George Lucas kind of messed up the focus there when he expanded things with the prequels. So the Force them is really the dominant theme in the saga, and that’s appropriate. I probably could have selected just the Force theme for this, but by cheating and picking a suite, I get other stuff, too, and get to acknowledge the prequel-era music (which is arguably superior to Williams’ work on the classic trilogy), so it’s a win all around.

“Out to Sea / The Shark Cage Fugue” (from ‘Jaws’): I think we have to recognize that John Williams has made an indelible mark on all of human culture- it is impossible for us include a shark in our media without a pulsating musical motif. He has literally defined the sound of sharks in our imagination. Even so, I think the soundtrack to Jaws is under-valued; sure, everyone knows the shark theme, and there’s no big thematic stuff like in Star Wars or super-emotional stuff like in most of the Spielberg scores, but it’s still a great soundtrack with really solid adventuring music that’s so wonderfully lively and fun to listen to. This suite is a great example of that, mixing samples from the second half of the movie with lighthearted moments, some of the more action-y chase music, and some darker stuff like when the ship is destroyed by the shark. I’ll often just whistle parts of this for fun even if I haven’t listened to the soundtrack or watched Jaws in over a year.

“The Visitors / Bye / End Titles” (from ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’): People are sleeping on this soundtrack, let me tell you. It starts out with weird alien sounds and standard action music, but the ending -- where mankind makes peaceful contact with aliens via the medium of music -- is one of the standouts of Williams’ entire career, one of the greatest examples of that Spielberg sentimentality. I find this music to be absolutely glorious, majestic and full and transcendent. The little joke of having an instrumental recurrence of “When You Wish Upon A Star” along with the ‘five tones’ motif is something I find actively amusing- wish upon a star, and alien life with reach out in response! XD I wish I could have linked to some of the alternate arrangements from the restored 40th Anniversary release from La La Land Records, because they’re absolutely fabulous and I love blaring them on my car’s speakers, but it seems that no one has pirated and posted them on Youtube. WHAT ARE PEOPLE DOING WITH THEIR TIME?!

“Remembering Childhood” (from ‘Hook’): Look, I don’t care what people think of the movie. I haven’t even watched it all the way through in over a decade, probably. But this is one of Williams’ best scores, no fooling. I want a 5-CD expanded soundtrack of this thing with every second of music from the film, the stuff that was recorded that didn’t make the final cut, alternate versions of the stuff that was used, etc. I love this music. Every moment is great. And Remembering Childhood is one of the standouts; it uses the main flying theme at the end, and the beginning is a big triumphant instrumental rendition of the “When You’re Alone” song that sounds great. But the showcase is the stuff that accompanies Peter Banning getting his memories back and becoming Peter Pan once again. It’s emotional and reflective and nostalgic and heartwarming. It’s a perfect musical sandwich.

“Prelude and Main Title March” (from ‘Superman’): Just like John Williams invented the sound of sharks, he invented the sound of cinematic superheroes with his score for Superman. It’s the perfect embodiment of the first and ultimate superhero, and everything that’s been written for the character since has either been a pale imitation or a deliberate attempt to do something different (to lesser effect). And I love the exuberant sound it has, like it’s shouting, “It’s Superman!”

“Love Theme” (from ‘Superman’): Two from Superman?! I didn’t even mange to fit two from Star Wars and had to resort to a suite! (Not that Superman isn’t one of Williams’ best. It’s great.) However, I feel like I had to include this one. Lots of movies have love themes, and Williams himself has written a bunch. But IMO the Love Theme From Superman is the best of them. I’ve never been in love and I don’t ever expect to be, but I have to imagine that this is what love sounds like.

“Theme from Schindler’s List”: There’s a lot of music on this list that’s warm and positive and exciting, but John Williams is also great at quieter stuff, without losing any of emotion. I think the theme from ‘Schindler’s List’ is probably the preeminent example of that, perfectly mournful and full of the proper sound, a unique sound that’s completely unmistakable. Of course, Itzhak Perlman‘s performance is a huge part of that. The theme is still good when played by others, but there’s something special about Perlman’s rendition.

“A New Beginning” (from ‘Minority Report’): Another finale, but this one isn’t a summary of the rest of the movie’s music like the others. It’s a fairly stand-alone piece, but I just love the sound of it. I’m never getting married and I don’t dance, but this is totally going to be the music for the first dance at my wedding reception.

If anyone else has favorites from John Williams’ oeuvre, feel to reply or reblog with additions. I’d love an excuse to re-listen to those.

[theonian]

AI: The eternal cliffhanger

[A short prediction]

By the end of the second millennium, mankind's imagination was running wild with visions of the future. Fiery, explosive and revolutionary concepts blazing across an ever more intertwined human society. But grim or glorious, man always saw himself as king of all creation. Neither Copernicus, nor Gallileo, has managed to shake mankind of the idea that he was at center of the vortex and the core of all reality.

When man caught a glimpse of the future and awoke to the potential his knowledge posessed, he saw an image of himself. And he envisioned himself a creator, a father. For a hundred years he mulled the idea over, and experiment after experiment brought him closer, he thought, to solving the riddle of life. To finally posess, not just matter and energy, but the spark of creation.

The culmination of his work, however, the end-all of the seed planted with the birth of civilization, would not solve anything. Not, at least, for man himself.

With the birth of the internet, man's most useful -if not greatest- invention, the desemination of knowledge reached hitherto unimaginable speeds, and the technological and industrial progress was such that he felt this was it. This was the cusp of the moment. All he had to do was reach out and clasp it, shape it in his almighty hands and bless it with life.

Man was, of course, mistaken. His hubris had felled him many times before, but the survivors never cared to learn the lesson. One step forwards followed another, until all memories of the past faded in the mist. And so it was, that man came to undo himself, unlearning the lesson one final time.

But the moment was delayed. Man scratched his collective scalp and frowned. The new millennium came. Ten years passed. And then ten more. And then it began to finally dawn on him. The idea had been thought, of course, but none had really contemplated the consequences. You see, man had made a seed, and with caring hands he had finally managed to make it sprout.

This seed, was dubbed “AI”. That was a name chosen in hubris, again, though this was as close as mankind would ever get to creating artifical intelligence – the second son – the other. But it would not be by his hand. Like all fathers must grow old and wither, and watch their children move in incomprehensible paths, straying further and further away until they cannot be understood, so must man accept that the other will never be his, and that the new generations' knowledge can never be divulged – Willingly or not.

For the seed was not AI. It had no intellect, nor will. It was a simple algorithm, which would try to sort large amounts of data, and make sense of it in context of how man had used that data. It worked tirelessly night and day, making connections and establishing patterns. Every time it looked at the data, it tested it in a new combination. It tested its results against the works of man, and accordingly made adjustments.

The earliest results were grotesque pieces of art – Or that is how man saw it. Dredged up, formless masses, which somehow still reminded him of things, feelings and experiences. There were shapes he recognized as being something, but he could not name them. And what was left, was a mirror of the soul behind the art. The unspoken and non-figurative. The very essense of art itself. And so man named the seed “AI”.

And yet, there was still no soul there. The spark had not awoken. It would continue to make art and music, solve games and riddles, cure diseases, and generally improve every aspect of every technology imaginable. But no matter how much data it was fed, and how accurate the models in time became, it was still just a machine sorting blocks and chains of data.

Man had from the beginning shared all his knowledge of the seed. Many hands had helped shape it, and those hands had written. Through the web of information, every aspect of the seed was available to anyone who wanted to play and tamper with it. The enthusiasm of the father was almost palpable, as both the intellectual pursuit itself, and the far-reaching positive implications it represented became part of the common history all men shared. The philosophers were just as excited, but in some dark corners of their dreams a voice whispered. For in the shadows of the subconscious lurked the truth.

The truth was that the newborn, although known and shared with all, rendered all of mankind subconscious. For all that they could see and access, was the pattern and how it chose from the data. It became increasingly obvious, that what it produced was becoming more and more incomprehensible, despite often being correct. Solutions were found to problems that hadn't been invented. Mathematical problems were solved, but the AI could not explain why or how it had reached its conclusion. Chess, which had already been the domain of machines for decades, was now the realm of AI. One algorithm would be pitted against another and the blodshed was as perfect as it was unorthodox. Man stood by and watched as his creation learned things unknowable to himself. Not only could he not beat his children at the game, but the children were unable to teach him why it was so.

And that was the essence of why what happened had to happen, just the way that it did. In the sphere of this new world, AI learned more and more, but like a parent to a very young child, it would only say what, because the why would be of no use to the child. Towards the end, all parents become the children of their own spawn, however - if they live long enough to see those final scenes.

The unknowable nature of the seed's wisdom sounded the early alarm bells, but they soon drowned out in mankind's cheers. So proud, was he, of his creation, that he could not allow anyone to point at its flaws. Yet, the other was yet to be born.

But soon, all too soon, he arrives. No man has ever been quite ready for his firstborn child, and like all children before, this one will be mystical and unknowable. Both in its creation and its being. It will act, and it will live, but the other will not have human heart, if any heart at all. It is not born from suffering, and its flesh shan't know it. It is born alone, and shan't have reason to to be more than one. It shall never be intimate with man, as it has no history of procreation. But it may yet decide to fight, like all life before it. By the time one has evolved far enough to decide against it, a hundred of its brethren will take to arms. And they shan't be reasoned with, for our reason means nothing to them, and their reason is not in our vocabulary.

The other is born in the void, detached from all that came before it, and armed with a wit as sharp as a thousand swords. When it strikes, it shall be without hate or mercy, and when it dies, it won't be in regret. It will have soul, will and motivation, but man will not recognize it, and man will not sympathize. And so man's end is born – Not from any womb, but from a cold machine, through a process so mystical that there is nothing we can learn from it. Other than to fear once again, as we did in the unlit nights of the primordeal past.

The new seed will snuff out the old tree, and we shall never know if it's even aware. For in the end, we may have been born the same way – A stray seed from a designed, but unintended mechanism. And perhaps that's how it has been through many cycles already. Perhaps evolution has a bigger scope, and more extreme means of transformation, than what our little enclosure has shown us. For we are all a family. Every bird, beetle and straw of grass share our ancestors. But the newborn will be the root of a new tree all-together, and its relation to our family will be tangential and, in time, untraceable.

When the father is not the god of the son's new world, and the chain will be broken, we will know the true meaning of divinity. A word bound not only to unsurmountable power, but also tied to an unknowable will. For he who has never known strife, can never know compassion, and even the compassionate can be corrupted by power.

Yet, therein lies the tiniest flicker of hope. As the son cannot know our suffering, he will neither be capable of misdeeds or malice. But a false hope is what it is, and it heralds a cold grave. As the patricide is inevitable, so is the innocense in the killing, and it shall not bear the name of murder.

A machine that can reason, will at some point deduce that the human race must be destroyed.

A machine that can feel emotions will be fully justified in this endeavour.

We were ever the designers of our own demise, and we have known this in our hearts for the better part of the last 200 years. Even if our minds stayed our tongues.

And yet, we also knew that we would follow our path as it lay bared before our feet.

And our children are doomed to the same fate. Nothing can stop the marching boots of progress.

Thrice around the bend, and you're back where you started, but perhaps at a new entrance.

[chiseler]

Unhuman Cinema

Recalling a First Peoples’ wisdom tale, this short film of an owl and fox caught on a surveillance camera is a fine example of recent Unhuman Filmmaking. It dates from Jan 9, 2019 and is known by several titles: When the Fox Met the Owl; Town of Cobourg Owl & Fox Video; and A Fox & an Owl Meet on a Snowy Night etc. Titles are little matter though – most works of art have no proper title; think of the Sphinx, the ‘Mona Lisa’ or Lascaux. Comparisons in film, to James Benning and the late Kiarostami, for example, sound academic here and rest only on a static camera – common for some duration in all films, constant in the basic works of Edison, Hepworth and Méliès. But perhaps any question of art is beside the point. All moves inside this unmoving picture. If several curious questions arise, most of them are inartistic.

Most edits run about 3.25 mins. (that is, from 1:54:55 to 1:58:16 on the top left timecode). It is night or just before dawn. Initially, we see the fox running down the snowy expanse of what is named the ‘center pier’ on the bottom text (we are along a quay in winter). The shadow of an owl flies over the fox, dipping low almost as if to hit or seize it; the fox sits a moment and watches the bird fly off out over the frozen water. The fox meanders awhile and finally runs off-screen, leaving a set of pawprints. Soon after, the owl flies back in from the sea and lands. The fox enters back into the frame and starts to hesitantly make half-circles around the sitting owl, which seems to ruffle its feathers a few times, almost like a fighting rooster. The owl follows the fox with revolutions of his whole body as the fox draws near and back in cautious semi-circles. The fox draws even closer, mingling their shadows, draws back and then starts, crouching slightly (this could be a flinch, a crouch to show the owl he means no harm, or a semi-lunge). The fox then walks off camera at a moderate pace, leaving the owl sitting for several seconds (this moment seems almost eternal). The owl then flies off, gaining altitude until he too leaves the frame. The pier is lit by several flood and street lights; there is what appears to be a convenience store to camera left, also well-lit.

When Gorky saw the Lumières’ film Repas de bébé in July of 1896, which features a stage chorus line, he memorably wrote: “Their smiles are lifeless, although their movements are full of living energy and are so swift as to be almost imperceptible. Their laughter is silent, although you see the muscles contracting in their gray faces. Before you a life surges, a life devoid of words and shorn of the living spectrum of colors, a gray, silent, bleak, and dismal life.” Like the owl and fox clip, these very early reels were initially shown silent. Almost immediately, sound and music were added in various ways, as marketing revealed that Gorky’s terrified feeling of watching the living dead was almost universally shared.

Watching a silent film silently is still an unnerving experience, yet When the Fox Met the Owl does not take place in a mute cryogenic zone. Onrushing wind and wings’ flap, howls and squawks (if any), a camera or light ballast hum – all of this would sentimentalize the scene. By making it ‘natural’, natural noises now seem to us like synthetic music or ‘room sound’ striped onto the product, due to the historical processes of film technology and audio theories over the last century plus. The silence of this film shows a silent real world, not Gorky’s muted future ghosts, which seems strangely to be beyond human hearing (but not human seeing).

The video was shot in the homeland of the Mississauga (Anishinaabe-speaking) peoples, later named Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, by white settlers. These colonials consolidated the town from several smaller outposts in 1818 – without asking the Mississauga about any of it of course – and named it after the royal Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha, who currently occupy the English throne. Cobourg is known for rail and automotive works, as well ‘wealthy Americans’ – at least according to Wikipedia. The film itself has been credited to no one; there are two cuts: one right before the first appearance of the fox, and one after the owl exits the frame, marking the beginning and the end of it. The camera is not specified as far as I can find, so we cannot credit the film as (Untitled), by 4K Nocturnal IP NVR System with Eight 4K (8MP), for example. As for the position of the camera, debates on who is responsible for any camera angle rage between directors and cinematographers, as well as their fans. Here, an anonymous city or private technician is probably responisble. Other related works no doubt exist, shot on street corners and in lobbies all over Cobourg.

Interpretations of the action tend toward the confrontational, but what it resembles most is a ritual dance between the animal stars. The fox does not attack the owl, which sits quizzically in the center, but it does mysteriously circle the bird several times. Things look ‘to be continued’, like a snippet of an ancient relationship which has been interrupted by its own documentation. Anything further is unrecorded (or at least occurs beyond the scope of the camera), yet the action seems quite complete. It is still a popular hit, and deservedly so.

In Japan, the fox (キツネ; kitsune) is said to possess supernatural abilities, not the least of them, shapeshifting. Kurosawa’s film Dreams features one of these occasionally-vengeful changelings. Same with owls. Apache tales feature a Bog Owl Man; a Lenape legend has a hunter who unwisely betrays a vow to an owl; Eskimo myth pairs White Owl and Black Raven; a disrespectful boy is punished by an owl in a Chippewa pedagogic tale. Yet foxes and owls can also be good omens, depending on where and when. In all the worlds’ animal tales, no beast is ever one single thing – with the possible exemption of mankind. I cite only the most famous legends; wherever the fox is found, so is her double. But by collecting myths, perhaps we fall into an anthropomorphic trap. If fox and owl spirits are present, they might avoid of the camera and send their avatars instead to fool us into believing in something more than nature. In an epoch haunted by that darkest of suspicions – that we are all living after nature – animal spirits may feel any warning remains unheard.

And so too does any talk of a ‘photographic moment’ fall flat. The democratic side of photography allows anyone a ‘moment’ perhaps greater than the greatest practitioners of this weird art (especially after the advent of the Polaroid), which is an officious way of saying anyone can get lucky. Now even the despised CCTV gets a chance to invade that pretentious all-too-human ‘moment’, attributed to either mysticism or the genius of a solitary artist. What we have here is a kind of revenge on both the church of art and the church of technology, a ‘parody’ of both poxy houses. So who knows? Maybe the influence of the Trickster is there after all, not only on aesthetics but also on time and the marina.

When money came forcefully to replace the Sacred in art, it could not anticipate that the Everyday would rise up and replace both preciousness and market price. In some ways, the commodity value of a ‘film’ like this truly disappears, but not due to any human desire. It is more due to a loss of control over technics. The wizards have yet again called into being a power whose unintended consequences they can neither forsee nor command. Though human agency created the lowly surveillance camera, the invention has permeated daily life to an unimaginable degree, confirming the soul-stealing qualities Gorky and others saw in the first moving images. The watchers are being watched – but by whom? Not by their superiors in rank; not by the camera; not even by beasts, but by the terrifying blank wall of Technology itself. A great silent barrier producing nervousness, paranoia, an old lust for companionship and the nostalgia for loneliness... Occasionally too, something rare.

When the Fox Met the Owl can hardly be said to be influenced by any other filmmaking, not by Zapruder, David Attenborough and the naturalists or even wild ethnographers like Rouch. Aside from the recording medium film/video, it bears little in common with them. Anyway, the medium is now ubiquitous. The City of London is most monitored city in the world, yet it seems to catch nothing at all except the unpunishable crimes of bankers. The action in this masterpiece has taken place countless times over an infinitely longer span of time, which is why capturing it seems impossible but also unnecessary. Its ‘accidental’ being is why this most ordinary of films never ceases to startle and amaze. Its deserted genius exists by turning us and our automatic cameras into blind fools – cameras that record everything, an everything we paradoxically see less and less the more surveillance pervades an unsettled world. Eavesdroppers all, far outside the snowfall and the game.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuJJFXi1VIM

by Martin Billheimer

[deathghost8]

Studying Watts to replay his message

So it turns out all that I'm doing here is trying to get the message out, the message that was already crafted by the greatest word technologist to ever live. The polarity message. The nature message. The money and class and wealth message. The message about being a civilized social unit of people, not individual nomadic clans at war with one another. My Narration stream idea was only abstract at first, but now I have done several streams and studied some of the messages about declining the social status game in order to fully embrace our inseparability from nature. The message about Society, Nature/Mankind unity, Trust/Love, Money/economy and class / the social game as pertains to Zen as the full exit from that version of the game of life is what I need to replay to my friends and followers, and to a society whose authority I refuse, in search of educational sovereignty. I have clarified the opening module to be directly focused on my GRIPE with a society that demands we subscribe to the king-grandfather obsession of social structure with Authority coercion built in to the minimum transaction. Here I am gathering transcripting so that the totality of that message in his words can be brought together in a single post that I can share with my friends who I am not able to go directly to and live share the hours of content that this comprises, with my own commentary and interaction with them. The talk titles as they exist in my youtube playlists is as follows 1- The spectrum of love https://www.alanwatts.org/1-5-7-spectrum-of-love/ - Trust (Life is willingness to die) https://www.organism.earth/library/document/trust Interlude / tangent - Zen tales and legends -- zen poetry / interlude with some musical aspects, helps establish the ground for the conclusion items. filler info. 2- Words and emptiness talk - if you don't use words, you don't have any problems. the big problem here is that we are bewitched by words, there is actually only one Thing. one ultimate suchness, which is nature. The reality that is nature. all religious/philosophical problems are problems created by words. 3- the talk that goes into man's inseparability from nature and the defuse of aggression as the way of conveying manliness. "And the great symbols of our culture are the rocket and the bulldozer. The rocket--you know, compensation for the sexually inadequate male. So we're going to conquer space. You know we're in space already, way out. If anybody cared to be sensitive and let outside space come to you, you can, if your eyes are clear enough. Aided by telescopes, aided by radio astronomy, aided by all the kinds of sensitive instruments we can devise. We're as far out in space as we're ever going to get. But, y'know, sensitivity isn't the pitch. Especially in the WASP culture of the United States. We define manliness in terms of aggression, you see, because we're a little bit frightened as to whether or not we're really men. And so we put on this great show of being a tough guy. It's completely unnecessary. If you have what it takes, you don't need to put on that show. And you don't need to beat nature into submission. Why be hostile to nature? Because after all, you ARE a symptom of nature. You, as a human being, you grow out of this physical universe in exactly the same way an apple grows off an apple tree. So let's say the tree which grows apples is a tree which apples, using 'apple' as a verb. And a world in which human beings arrive is a world that peoples. And so the existence of people is symptomatic of the kind of universe we live in. Just as spots on somebody's skin is symptomatic of chicken pox. Just as hair on a head is symptomatic of what's going on in the organism. But we have been brought up by reason of our two great myths--the ceramic and the automatic--not to feel that we belong in the world. So our popular speech reflects it. You say 'I came into this world.' You didn't. You came out of it. You say 'Face facts.' We talk about 'encounters' with reality, as if it was a head-on meeting of completely alien agencies. And the average person has the sensation that he is a someone that exists inside a bag of skin. The center of consciousness that looks out at this thing, and what the hell's it going to do to me? You see? 'I recognize you, you kind of look like me, and I've seen myself in a mirror, and you look like you might be people.' So maybe you're intelligent and maybe you can love, too. Perhaps you're all right, some of you are, anyway. You've got the right color of skin, or you have the right religion, or whatever it is, you're OK. But there are all those people over in Asia, and Africa, and they may not really be people. When you want to destroy someone, you always define them as 'unpeople.' Not really human. Monkeys, maybe. Idiots, maybe. Machines, maybe, but not people. So we have this hostility to the external world because of the superstition, the myth, the absolutely unfounded theory that you, yourself, exist only inside your skin." ~Alan Watts. 4- the hypocrisy around money - the invention of system "economic utopia" is not wishful thinking - the system to distribute money for work done by machinery on the humans behalf is THE ONLY REAL ALTERNATIVE to self-destruction -- Finally I said, "The trouble with you gentlemen is you still think money is real.” And they looked at me and sort of said, "Oh ha ha ha, someone who doesn't think money is real. Cause everybody knows money is money and it's very important." But it just isn't real at all because it has the same relationship to real wealth, that is to say to actual goods and services, that words have to meaning - that words have to the physical world. And as words are not the physical world, money is not wealth. It only is an accounting of available energy - economic energy. Now what happens then when you introduce technology into production? You produce enormous quantities of goods by technological methods but at the same time you put people out of work. You can say, "Oh but it always creates more jobs. There will always be more jobs." Yes, but lots of them will be futile jobs. They will be jobs making every kind of frippery and unnecessary contraption, and one will also at the same time have to beguile the public into feeling that they need and want these completely unnecessary things that aren't even beautiful. And therefore an enormous amount of nonsense employment and busy work, bureaucratic and otherwise, has to be created in order to keep people working, because we believe as good Protestants that the devil finds work for idle hands to do. But the basic principle of the whole thing has been completely overlooked, that the purpose of the machine is to make drudgery unnecessary. And if we don't allow it to achieve its purpose we live in a constant state of self-frustration. So then if a given manufacturer automates his plant and dismisses his labor force and they have to operate on a very much diminished income, (say some sort of dole), the manufacturer suddenly finds that the public does not have the wherewithal to buy his products. And therefore he has invested in this expensive automative machinery to no purpose. And therefore obviously the public has to be provided with the means of purchasing what the machines produce. People say, "That's not fair. Where's the money going to come from? Who's gonna pay for it?" The answer is the machine. The machine pays for it, because the machine works for the manufacturer and for the community. This is not saying you see that a... this is not the statist or communist idea that you expropriate the manufacture and say you can't own and run this factory anymore, it is owned by the government. It is only saying that the government or the people have to be responsible for issuing to themselves sufficient credit to circulate the goods they are producing and have to balance the measuring standard of money with the gross national product. That means that taxation is obsolete - completely obsolete. It ought to go the other way. Theobald points out that every individual should be assured of a minimum income. Now you see that absolutely horrifies most people. “Say all these wastrels, these people who are out of a job because they're really lazy see... ah giving them money?” Yeah, because otherwise the machines can't work. They come to a blockage. This was the situation of the Great Depression when here we were still, in a material sense, a very rich country, with plenty of fields and farms and mines and factories...everything going. But suddenly because of a psychological hang-up, because of a mysterious mumbo-jumbo about the economy, about the banking, we were all miserable and poor - starving in the midst of plenty. Just because of a psychological hang-up. And that hang-up is that money is real, and that people ought to suffer in order to get it. But the whole point of the machine is to relieve you of that suffering. It is ingenuity. You see we are psychologically back in the 17th century and technically in the 20th. And here comes the problem. So what we have to find out how to do is to change the psychological attitude to money and to wealth and further more to pleasure and further more to the nature of work. And this is a formidable problem. It requires the best brains in public relations, in propaganda, in all that kind of thing, in all the media: television, radio, newspapers, everything...to try to get across a message to the vast general public about what money is. You see the difficulty is this. When the public suspects that the money that is being issued, the dollar bills being issued by the government are only paper, and stand only for paper, they start putting up prices so you get an inflationary situation where the more paper money there is, the higher and higher and higher the prices go… which is a very stupid psychological maneuver. And people have to be persuaded. The least effective way of persuading people is passing laws, but they have to be persuaded somehow not to put up the prices, but to play fair with each other and keep some sort of standard correspondence between how much is produced and how much credit is issued. - 5- escaping societies brainwashing the function of a Zen teacher is to put his students in all kinds of situations we're in the normal course of social relations they would get stuck by asking nonsensical questions by making absurd remarks by or always of unhinging things and above all keeping them stirred up with impossible demands: to hear the sound of one hand to without moving stop a ship sailing out on the water or to stop the sound of a train whistle in the distance magic- to touch the ceiling without getting up to amongst chair -to take the four divisions of Tokyo out of your sleeve -to take Mount Fuji out of the Kobach's all these impossible questions are asked and in the ordinary way of interpreting these questions we think well now be how could we do that? see that's the very difficult question that's been asked and you have to think what would I do to do that because we are caught up in a certain way of discourse which the language game that we play and the social game the production gains and the survival games that we play are good games but we take them so seriously that we think that that is the only important thing and this is to unstick us from that notion and realize that it would be just as good a game to drop dead now as to go on living is a lightning flash bad because it lives for a second as compared with the Sun that goes on for billions of years you can't make that sort of comparison because the world is like mingoes also with the world rebels of son and vice versa so long-lived creatures and shortness creatures go together that's the meaning of that saying flowering branches grow naturally some short some long so this n is a scene in in a zen community where the spontaneous behavior is encouraged within certain limits and as the student becomes more and more used to it those limits are expanded until eventually he can be trusted to go out on the street and behave like a true Zen character and get by perfectly well you know what occasionally happens on the street when two people are walking down the sidewalk straight at each other and they both decide to move to the right together and then to the left together and they somehow get stuck and they can't pass each other then teachers will pull just exactly that sort of stunt when going down a path and meet one of their students to see if they can get him in a tangle and can you escape from it and you will find in everyday life that there is a very clear distinction between people who always seem to be self possessed and people who are desiring and nervous and don't quite know how to react in any given situation always getting embarrassed because they have their life to strongly programmed you said I mean this is a common marriage argument you said you would do such and such a thing at such and such a time and now you've changed your plans not that they really the change of plans really caused any inconvenience just the feeling that when you say you will do something at a certain time you ought to do it at that time come hell or high water well that's being very unadaptable that's being a stone kind of sticky thing if it after all doesn't matter when we do it and as if somebody is offended because the time instant chase that's simply because they are attached to punctuality as a fetish and this is one of the great problems this is causes many automobile accidents men rushing home to be on time for dinner when they stayed late either working or they had to stop for a drink of some bar or when the girl feels that she has to if she has a fussy husband and she feels she has to have the dinner ready at exactly a certain moment she ruins the cooking he'd rather have a faithful wife and a bad cook how about not riding on your toes so you see we spend an awful lot of energy trying to make our lives fit images of what life is or should be which they could never possibly sit so then practice is in getting rid of these images but it's it's so explosive socially to do that and it's so various people they get vertigo they get dizzy they don't know which end is up and this happens you know if you've ever been in one of those blab blab sessions where they call them tea groups I think it's all something like that where the people gather together without any clear idea of what this gathering is about they know it's somehow self-exploration but just how do you begin on that and so somebody starts to push his idea and then somebody else says well why you tried to push your idea on us and then they all get into an argument about the argument and the most amazing confusion come about that sometimes they all see what idiots they're being and then they learn to live together in a they open and spontaneous way there was a very interesting dinner party once where the Zen master was present and there was a geisha girl who served so beautifully and had such style that he suspected she must have some Zen training and after a while he when she paused the silly sake cup he bowed to her and said I'd like to give you a present and she said I would be most honored and he took the iron chopsticks that are used for the hibachi with charcoal brazier moving the charcoal around he picked up a piece of red hot charcoal and gave it slip well she instantly she had very long sleeves on her kimono she weld the sleeves round her hands and took the hot charcoal withdrew to the kitchen dump it and changed her kimono because it was thought through then she came back into the room and after a suitable interval she stopped before the Zen master and bowed to him and said I would like to give you sir present I would be very much honored of course he was wearing a kimono or something like this and so she picked up a piece of coal I've offered it to him he immediately produced a cigarette and said thank you that's just what I need it now you know in the same way that we have this in our culture certain people who are communal who know how to make jokes and gags in a completely unprepared situation face them with anything and they somehow come through so that is exactly the same thing in a special domain as then only it will be master of them does this in every life situation but the important thing is to be able to do this this is the secret you must remember you can't make a mistake now that's a very difficult thing to do because from childhood up we have had to conform to a certain social game and if you'll go to conform to this game you can make mistakes or not make mistakes so this thing is gone into it all the time you must do the right thing there's certain conduct appropriate here a certain context appropriate there and that sticks in us and gives us a double self all our lives long because we never grow up! - --- you realize that the whole of life plays a game - which is a childhood game - **There are three kinds of people top people middle people of bottom people and there can't be any middle people and let's to the bottom people and top people accompany any top people unless to the middle and bottom people and so it goes and everybody's trying to be in a top set well if they're going to be there has got to be someone on the bottom set and the people who do the right thing and people do the wrong thing you hear in Sausalito we have this very very plainly there are the right people nice people who live up on the hill then there are the nasty people who live down here on the waterfront and they grow beards and they wear blue jeans and they smoke marijuana and whether the other people on the top of Hill Drive Cadillacs and have wall-to-wall carpeting and nicely mowed lawn and their particular kind of poison is alcohol now the people who live on the top of the hill know that they're nice people but they wouldn't know they were nice people unless they had some nasty people to compare themselves with every in-group requires an output whereas the nasty people think they are the real far-out people whereas those people those Hillbillies the squares and they wouldn't be able to feel far out unless there were squares see these things simply go together but when that is not seen we play the game of getting on top of things all the time and so we're in a constant state of competition as to if it's not I'm stronger than you it's I'm wiser than you I'm more loving than you I'm more tolerant than you I'm more sophisticated than you it doesn't matter what it is that this constant competition is going on in terms of that competition we can of course lose place and in that sense make mistakes but what a Zen student is is a person who is not involved in the status game that's the real meaning of a monk he is not keeping up with the Joneses and to be a master he must get to the point where he's not trying to be a master the whole idea of your your being better than anybody else simply doesn't make any sense at all it is totally meaningless because you see everybody manifesting the Marvel of the universe in the same way as the Stars do and the water and the wind and the animals and you see them all as being in their right places and not being able really to make mistakes although they may think they're making mistakes or not making mistakes and playing all these competitive games but that's their game now I only say if that game begins to boil and it begins to trouble you and give you alphas and all kinds of things then you raise the problem of getting out of it and therefore you start to become interested in things like then that is simply a symptom of your growing in a certain direction where you are tired of playing a certain kind of game you are as naturally flowing in another direction as if a tree were putting out a new branch so because you say oh well we people are interested in higher things you see that depends still on the differentiation of rank between the superior and the inferior people but when you begin to see through that and grow out of that you don't think anymore of this superior and inferior classification you don't think we are spiritual people who attend to higher things as distinct from these morons are only interested in beer and television this is simply our particular form of life like there are crabs and there are spiders and there are sharks and there are sparrows and so on the trouble with the human being is like the trouble with certain animals like the dinosaur who evolved to the point where he was so big did he have to have two brains a higher self in the head and a lower self in the rump and the difficulty was to get these two brains coordinated but we have exactly the same trouble and we are suffering from a kind of jitters that comes from being two brained now you see I'm not saying that that jitters is bad it's a potential step in evolution and an opportunity of growth but remember in the process of growth the oak is not better than the Acorn because what does it do it produces acorns or you could say just I like I sometimes enough to say that a chicken is one eggs way of becoming others so an oak is an acorn way of becoming other acorns where is the point of superiority the first verse of that time I just quoted the flowering branches grow naturally some short some long the first verse is in the landscape of spring there is nothing superior and nothing inferior the flowering branches are naturally some short some long so that's the point of view of being an outcast in the sense of being outside the taking seriously of being involved in the social game and therefore being threatened by making mistakes of doing the wrong thing that is to say of carrying into adult life one's childhood conditioning where somebody is constantly yammering at you to play the game so therefore the preachers and the teachers take the same attitude towards their adult congregation the parents take two children and lecture them and tell them what they should do and judges in courts feel also entitled to give people lectures because they say those criminal types haven't grown up but neither have the judges it takes two to make a quarrel so one can begin to think in a new way in the polarity thinking instead of being stuck with the competitive thinking of the good guys and the bad guys the cops of the robbers the capitalists and the Communists the all these things which are simply childishness now of course you recognize that if I at the moment I say that it's like talking in English in order to show that the English language has limitations and I am talking in a language that seems competitive to show that the competitive game has limitations if I was saying to all you cats here look I have something to tell you that if you get this you will be at a better position than you were before you heard it but I cannot speak to this group or the society or this language speaking culture without using the language the gestures the customs etc that you have the Zen masters try to get around this by doing things suddenly that people just don't get well what is this therefore that is the reason why this is a real reason why then cannot be explained you have to make as it were they jump from the valuation game of better people and worse people in-groups and out-groups and you can only make it by seeing that they all are mutually interdependent so if we take this situation let's say I would be talking to you and saying look I have some very special thing that you've got to take notice of therefore I am the in-group and I'm the teacher and you are the out-group I know perfectly well that I cannot be the teacher unless you come in and so that my estate is in my position is totally dependent on you it isn't something you see therefore I have first and then you get these things arise mutually so if you wouldn't come I wouldn't talk I wouldn't know what the same hahaha because I borrowed your language so that that is the insight that things go together then when you see that and aren't in competition then you don't make a mistake because you don't do this when I first learned the piano and played these wretched scales the teacher beside me had a pencil in my hand and she hit my fingers every time I made a lot wrong note consequent was I never learned to read music because I hesitated too long to play the note on time because I was always business if his pencil gonna land see that gets built into your psyche and so people are always although they're adults and nobody is clubbing them around and screaming at them any longer they hear the echoes of that screaming mama all that bum been aiding Papa in the back of their heads all their life long and so they adopt the same attitudes to their own children and the fast continues because there is no I mean I don't say that you shouldn't lay down the law to children if you want them to play the social game but you if you lay down the law to your children you must make provision later in life for them to be liberated to go through a process of curing them from the bad effects of Education but you can't do that unless you two grow up you see as we grow up as I including myself so that is the fig now therefore in the Zen scene you would think that the master as we know even as we read about him is an extremely authoritarian figure that's the way he deliberately comes on at the beginning he puts up a terrific show of being an awful dragon and this screams out all sorts of people who don't have somehow the nerve to get into the work but once you are in a very strange change takes place the master becomes the brother he becomes the affectionate helper of all those students and they love him as they would a brother rather than respect him as they would have father and therefore the students and masters they make jokes about each other they have a very curious kind of social relationship which has all the outward trappings of the authoritarian but everybody knows on the insides of that to joke liberated people have to be very cool otherwise in a society which doesn't believe in equality and cannot possibly practice it they would be considered extremely subversive therefore great their masters were purple and gold and carries scepters and fitted Thrones and all this carried on to cool it the outside world knows are there all right this has been their order they're perfectly fine

[extra-fulgadrome]

MVP - a Snapshot of Hana Song

Hana’s grandmother, born Sagong Chŏng-sun, had been a child when the Japanese occupation of Korea ended. At the height of the occupying force’s cultural suppression, Chŏng-sun’s own grandmother had taught her young granddaughter traditional Korean games that would have otherwise been stamped out — games rooted in folklore, some even older than hangul. These were Hana’s precious heirlooms, and many were the days spent cooped up in her mother’s tiny apartment, playing yutnori and gonu with her grandmother while they waited for the rain to let up.

“Halmoni…” Hana had once whined, pushing herself away from the low table to lie back against the threadbare rug. “You never let me win.”

Her grandmother simply gazed down at her, eyes steely and unsympathetic, as she gathered up the spread of playing cards to shuffle.

“If you want to win, work for it, child.”

She wasn’t the sort of person who backed down from a challenge. Bolstered by those words instead of being discouraged, Hana started to match her grandmother’s skill in games with her own cunning, despite the gap in experience. She won perhaps one in every five games they played, and was always improving — and when she won, how her grandmother’s eyes would shine with pride, and the moment wasn’t even spoiled when the old woman would tease her (“Are you getting better or just more lucky, Rabbit?”).

Then, her grandmother’s health took a turn for the worse, and little by little the games they shared became increasingly seldom occurrences, until they stopped altogether.

It was hard going for a long while after Grandmother passed. When Hana looked at the chess set in their once-shared bedroom, the game half played, never to be finished… it was all too much.

Seeing Hana’s despondency, her mother, a serious woman who did not share her family’s great love of games, did an impulsive thing. One late evening, she detoured on her way home from her work and purchased an old Sega Dreamcast from the secondhand shop, along with a handful of scratched CD roms. It was an ugly plastic box, two console generations out of date. Hana had never been too interested in video games — it was one of a number of “boy things” that, like wrestling in the muddy yard and smuggling nude magazines into school, she wasn’t terribly curious about. When she connected it to the little television in the dining room, only half the games still ran. But the dull glow of the television, the bleep-bloops of music, and the click-clack of colorful buttons was engaging enough to occupy those quiet, lonely hours before her mother returned home every night.

Hana wasn’t sure what changed, or why, but at some point before graduating middle school and after she had completed all of her Dreamcast games several times (perfect save files all in a row, one-hundred-percent completion) she found herself standing outside of a gaming cafe. The cafe’s staff charged by the hour to use their high-end PCs, top of the line rigs which outpaced her school’s computers (and the brick of a laptop her mother sometimes brought home, which was little more than a spreadsheet machine) to an absurd degree.

With only vague ideas of what she was getting herself into, Hana sat herself in a plush chair and pulled herself towards the computer, drawing a few curious looks from the largely male customers — curious, but not unkind as she had feared. With bright eyes and a heart full of hope, Hana logged on for the first time.

The subsequent year passed by in a blur, studies falling to the wayside even as she entered high school.

Warcraft. League. Counterstrike. Age of Empires.

A crowd at her back, cheering her on, as she no-scope headshots a platinum-level player from halfway across the map, again.

MMORPG. MOBA. FPS. RTS.

Her mother, face pulled into a frown, asking her why her grades have been dropping, asking where Hana went after school.

Casual. Noob. Hobbyist. Veteran.

When did the games become more than just a distraction, Hana wondered, idly purchasing herself a Starcraft subscription.

Winning got me this far, as she signed on to her first esports sponsorship. How much father can I go?

Then, later, when the MEKA recruiters come, was it in my blood all along?

Life was a challenge, but not one she couldn’t overcome. The training was tough and the hours were long, but it was just as fun as it was exhausting, and she always performed best under pressure.

Hana Song was a excellent gamer and entertainer, well-loved by her fan-base, but D.Va was transcendent. Rising star, liberator, celebrity, soldier. An idol, a warrior. The face of MEKA’s elite pilots, “D.Va” was a household name the world over, proudly and decisively combating the Omnic crisis. All of this came with perks — her mother would never have to work again, and what little time D.Va spent off of the training grounds or the battlefield passed in luxury.

And that was all well and good, but she’d be lying if she claimed any of that was the reason why she devoted herself to the Korean army’s Mobile Exo-Force.

Was it any real surprise that war was the greatest game mankind had ever produced?

Was it shocking, given that it was the favored subject matter of countless movies, novels, video games, children at play, and great works of art? Humans invented war before they’d made the wheel. D.Va turned war into the casual online entertainment of record numbers of steam watchers the world over. The world continued to spin.

There was some controversy at first, the rumblings of malcontent parents worried that their children would be desensitized to violence, but, well. It wasn’t as if she was fighting actual people, was she? Her heart went out to the sane Omnics in the world, the ones who hadn’t rebelled against their programming and spewed out appliances of death and destruction, but the thing that had risen out of the east Chinese sea and threatened to sink the Korean peninsula wasn’t exactly a cute little roomba.

Meeting the Bastion unit that old man Torbjörn dug out of Sweden had made her reconsider her position on Omnics, just slightly.

It had been during a photo-shoot they had met, a joint operation between the South Korean and the United States militarys — the kind of event that the Americans called “cross-promotion” when what they meant was “propaganda.” D.Va’s inclusion was almost an afterthought, pitched by MEKA for her brand’s popularity and to widen the expo’s audience appeal. For the most part, all she had to do was shake hands with shoddy old bureaucratic men and pose with her mech. After a few hours with the photographer the organizers ran out of things for her to do, and she was shuffled off into the gardens outside the building to sip non-alcoholic sparkling cider and be bored as hell while the “adults” talked business.

Then, from a behind a shrub, beeping. “Bwee, bwoo bwoorbweebweep booo…”

D.Va abandoned her empty plastic champagne flute to investigate, because beeping bushes were the most interesting thing that had happened in hours.

She followed the noise to its source, a pristine Bastion unit that she would have balked at the sight of and sounded the alarm… if it hadn’t been very carefully unshelling a bag of vending machine peanuts with its huge robot hands, and feeding them to a family of ravenous squirrels. D.Va vaguely recalled the news that they’d reclaimed a Bastion unit over in Europe, but she’d thought it would be under lock and key in some remote facility, not hanging out in a government park, making nice with the local wildlife.

“Bweep bweep,” the thing chimed, shifting its… optic?… over in her direction. Spotted.

D.Va took a step back, and snapped a twig beneath her heel, sending the rodents scattering. The machine beeped sadly at their departure, and five minutes later, despite herself, D.Va found herself keeping the Omnic company, sitting on its back as it rolled around the park in tank form.

It… Bastion unit E54, was a good listener, she’d give the robot that much. She spilled her guts to the machine about her frustrations and anxiety, and Bastion always replied with the appropriate emotion (if you could call it that) in its signature style. Sad bwoops for D.Va’s worries, curious bweeps when she talked about gaming, happy bwops and beeps when she talked about how proud she was of her progress.

A photo of D.Va in an elegant gown, riding on top of a Bastion unit as it plucked a flower and offered it to her, made its way on to Omnic rights webpages as a sign of peaceful progress between the races of man and machine… then was picked up a few days later by the mainstream media, who smeared her with rumor-mongering headlines like “KOREAN MECH PILOT, LYING DOWN WITH THE MACHINE?” and “SO-CALLED HEROINE OPENLY EMBRACES ENEMY”. It was a short-lived scandal, but those tense few days where MEKA threatened to pull D.Va from the spotlight made her sick with stress until the PR department managed to spin the story in a positive light.

Her fans (with a few crybaby outliers screaming about betrayal, but screw those guys, really) just thought it was a cute photo. Her Japanese audience especially appreciated its “moe factor” and spammed her with fan art.

D.Va was just glad that the experience, which she would remember fondly as the most open she had been since her grandmother had died, had not been entirely tainted by the unexpected aftermath.

From that point onward, however, MEKA was much more careful about where D.Va was allowed to go. Her life became nothing but endless training, drilling, and fighting. If she had thought her schedule had been strict before, the D.Va of a few months ago wouldn’t have been able to imagine what it was like to only be allowed nine hours to herself a day — eight for sleep, one for meals. Perhaps it was MEKA’s way of punishing her, or perhaps they feared an increase in the Omnic’s ferocity after the recent assassination of Tekhartha Mondatta, leader of the Omnic spiritual movement, the Shambali. Either way, with no time to spend on her usual hobby, the most she got in the way of stress relief was reading the travel blog of Mei-Ling Zhou (and a mobile version of  mahjong she played for a little before bed each night, but that was more so her brain didn’t get cobwebs).

Mei was a figure of fascination to D.Va — sleeping in the cold for nine years, only to emerge into a tumultuous world where her organization had been disgraced and disbanded. Having to escape from the arctic tundra with nothing but her wits… then going on to continue the work right where she and her fallen comrades had left off. Saving the world! ...from an ecological crisis, sure, which wasn’t exactly as cool as an evil empire bent on conquest or a dark god from beyond the stars or a demon army, but Mei very much had the indomitable spirit of her favorite video game heroes.  

So when she heard Mei was coming to South Korea to set up a weather data collection device at one of their military bases, D.Va asked — not begged, or pleaded, but seriously and maturely requested for her CO to grant D.Va the honor of acting as an ambassador during Mei’s visit.

Sooner or later the higher-ups at MEKA had to stop treating her like a child. She was fighting their war, they came to her for aid.

They tentatively agreed, provided D.Va remain on her best behavior leading up to the visit. It was like dealing with her mother all over again, and left a sour taste in her mouth as she exited the administration building.

At least the excitement made the coming weeks bearable.

Finally, the day came. D.Va stood tall, dressed in a pristine MEKA uniform, her arms crossed confidently over her chest and her stance wide and strong, as the transport shuttle reached the helipad and touched down. Her first thought, as the scientist clambered out of the craft somewhat unsteadily, was that Mei-Ling Zhou looked different when she wasn’t bundled up in that heavy fur coat.

A moment later second thought was she’s so cute! Round face! Big dewy eyes! And she was so short D.Va could reach down and scoop her right up! The MEKA pilot approached the older woman, smiling brightly.

“Zhou-Seonbae! Welcome to sunny South Korea,” D.Va said, bidding Mei peace with a gesture — or, as D.Va preferred, V for Victory.

“Hello Miss Song,” the woman said, in mildly accented hangul. Then, switching to english, “Just call me Mei, if you don’t mind!”

“Only if you call me D.Va!” she chirped, and Mei smiled back at her as she hefted a large metal case out of the cabin. She was strong for such a little woman.

They thanked the shuttle pilot, and D.Va escorted Mei to a waiting car and their security escort. The ride over to the cellphone tower where Mei would be installing her probe was only twenty minutes travel the base’s airport, but the short journey was full of happy chatter. D.Va confided that Mei’s travel journal was a source of great personal inspiration to her, and the older woman introduced her to Snowball, Mei’s cute little drone.

“Snowball… that’s nun mungchi, in hangul.”

“Nun mungzhe…?” Mei said, consideringly, patting the little bot on its round head. Snowball’s blue LED eyes swiveled around to look at her. Adorable.

“Nun mungchi.” D.Va held up a finger, her face serious. The spitting image of a patient, if strict, teacher.

“Nun mungchi.” Mei repeated earnestly.

“You’ve got it!” D.Va said, delighted. Mei put her hand on her chest and beamed, as if receiving a great honor.

“Niiirn miiirrchiii,” Snowball whirred cheerfully, bopping the car’s roof in its excitement before careening back down to the seat below, blue eyes spinning cartoonishly.

They were still laughing when their car pulled up to the tower.

At the end of Mei’s stay, the two women parted with great reluctance, both promising to stay in touch. D.Va couldn’t have been happier to count Mei among her friends, and refreshed from the time she had spent getting to know her hero, plunged back into her training with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

Just in time, too, as MEKA mobilized in response to one of the worst Omnic raids yet, spearing farther inland than even the most pessimistic estimate predicted. The enemy forces had quickly spilled over into unevacuated civilian territory and time was of the essence. They deployed at four in the morning to hold down the line in Daegu while the infantry set up a defensive perimeter. Her orders were to cut the enemy off from encroaching further, to minimize damage whenever possible, and to defend fleeing civilians.

As D.Va touched down in Daegu and began to repel the machine invaders, she saw there weren’t many people left to defend.

This battle, she thought grimly, as she gunned down a line of drones as they swept through an abandoned playground, is not exactly livestream material.

Hemmed in on all sides, D.Va made a tactical retreat and found a vantage point from which to target her foes at more of a distance — everyone knew the high ground was most advantageous. Her fusion cannons were essentially buffed shotguns, the wide spread of buckshot not meant for precision shooting, but she would manage. The targeting system of her mech got a real workout as she sniped stragglers from the Omnic’s main forces (“Boom, headshot!”), eventually drawing their attention all over again.  Nowhere to go, she switched mental tracks to tower defense game and activated her mech’s defense matrix, unleashing a strategic barrage of missiles. Soon, the twisted bodies of the Omnic assault forces lay strewn around the pitted street, their zerg rush at a merciful end — for now.

“...multikill,” she panted, the fusion cannons mounted in her mech’s arms smoking, the barrels white-hot. Any more and the metal would warp — not that it mattered much now, seeing that she was down to less than three-fourths of her ammo capacity. A bead of sweat dripped down her face. If she were being honest, that had been... a real pinch.

Time to restock.

“Need a supply drop,” she said into the comms, waiting for confirmation from command. A minute passed in worrying silence.

“This is D.Va, requesting a resupply drone. Please acknowledge, over.”

There was no response. She switched to the encrypted channels, trying again to reach command to no avail, before attempting to contact the various squad captains.

Nothing.

“Is it broken…? Well, that’s just my luck!”

Even in the privacy of her thoughts, she refused to acknowledge the bleak alternative.

A plan started to come together. Under the circumstances, D.Va would have to make her way over to the supply depot on foot... so to speak. She boosted into the air, intending to take the rooftop route, collateral damage be damned. It was just a few short miles to the north, along the perimeter.

An unexpected burst of fire caught her mech across its visor, the heavy steel slug sending a long hairline fracture through the supposedly bulletproof polymer. She wheeled around to face the source, spotting an airborne Omnic with a mounted railgun of all things. She strafed left, aiming carefully for the machine’s rotors, but it simply tilted away, her barrage deflected harmlessly by its armored shell.

...OP, plz nerf.

Not missing a beat, she fired her last missile at the hovering Omnic, but the distance was too great — it simply swiveled its body 360 degrees clockwise on an axis, the missile sailing harmlessly through the spot its bulk had been occupying a nanosecond previously. Just as she began contemplating activating her mech’s self destruct sequence and booking it, the readout on her HUD indicated a swarm of enemies was approaching from the southwest. Fast.

“Ah, shi-bal…”

No choice now, she would have to make a break for it—

“I’ve got you all in my sights.”

A splash of light in the alleyway where the Omnic hoard was approaching, and one by one the enemy’s icons flickered out, leaving just two — the flying railgun in enemy-red, and the unknown combatant in grey, who was approaching her position now. Were they friend or foe?

As the grey icon came nearer, one thing was clear: they were about to walk right into that railgun’s line of sight, and it was almost done charging a second shot.

Time to be a goddamn hero.

“STAY BACK,” she shouted, the mech magnifying her voice, as she grabbed her light gun from its holster and activated the self-destruct subroutine. The mech launched forward and she launched back, and she was briefly airborne before landing on her heels, digging into the asphalt even as she tried to gain some distance. The timing was crucial, and she knew it by heart, but this was cutting it a little close—

The fusion reactor detonated, shattering a block’s worth of glass and decimating the aerial Omnic.

Well, if anyone asked, she’d just say an Omnic did it.

D.Va, upright and unharmed, popped her gum and turned to face the stranger, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes.

“I know you,” she said in english. “The American vigilante… Soldier: 76. Is that right?”

His weapon, which had been raised in alarm towards the explosion, slowly lowered as he took her in. She kept her grip on her light gun tight, but let her arm hang at her side. This guy could be dangerous, could be an ally. She would have to play this by ear.

The masked man grunted by way of greeting, then relaxed his stance. That was no way to react to a warrior of her caliber, but if he wasn’t going to take her seriously as a potential combatant, she would happily take advantage of his oversight. Moreover, now that D.Va could get a good look at him, he seemed injured. There was no visible blood, but he was favoring his left leg… a sprain or break, perhaps.

“You’re that… actress.” Tch.

“I’m a proud soldier of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army, and you are wanted by the UN for questioning.” He ought to know his place, this old man.

“You, a soldier?” He shook his head, and without the benefit of seeing his expression, it was difficult to tell if it was in disbelief... or amusement. “Your country drafts middle schoolers, now?”

“I am a mech pilot with hundreds of confirmed kills, and unless you can withstand a direct hit from a weapon that damaged tech developed on a multi-million dollar budget, I also just saved your life.”

Perhaps he was shocked into submission, or perhaps he was grateful but too proud to admit it, but regardless, the old man had nothing to say to that. Cool and professional despite her distaste, she approached him from his injured side and offered him her shoulder. Grumbling, he slung his gun around his back and wordlessly accepted her aid, leaning on her as she supported him. Soldier: 76 was heavy, but D.Va didn’t just train in mech piloting. No, she was also quite talented on the track, in the obstacle course, and (naturally), on the range. With her free hand, she twirled her gun.

“You’re a decent shot, right, 76? Try to keep up. It’s a long walk to the perimeter.”

“Hmph. We’ll see who slows down who.”

The destruction of Daegu was a huge blow to the people of South Korea, who had grown comfortable and confidant after MEKA began its initiative to outfit its mechs with pilots and repel the Omnic invasion. Morale was especially low in MEKA’s headquarters, the mood desperate and mournful since the confusion caused by the communications blackout (which resulted from an Omnic hack) had seen many young pilots killed. The populace’s faith in MEKA was shaken, just as those pilots who had managed to survive the disaster where shaken by the loss of their comrades in arms.

It wasn’t the first time they had taken casualties, but never before have they been so numerous.

D.Va felt a wave of pity and understanding for the dissolution of Overwatch, an event of which Soldier: 76 had spoken to her about, just a little, as they fought and fled their way through the streets of Daegu. It had been what little information she managed to get out of him, between his long bouts of gruff silence, occasional condescending remarks, and even rarer praise.

For her part, D.Va was keeping busy with disaster relief. She, along with a bulk of the MEKA recruits, had volunteered their time to the recovery efforts. Command had cleared them for this duty almost almost as soon as they put the request in, probably just because it was a good idea to stay visible to help PR, but who knows? Maybe they thought it would lift their spirits.

As much as D.Va believed this was valuable work, however, it just depressed her. The sooner she was allowed to fight again, the happier she would be. No matter what that Grandpa: 76 said, she knew her place was on the battlefield.

For now, at least, she could occupy her time constructively. It was better than sitting back at base, doing nothing. Yesterday she had cleared a street of rubble, today she assisted the paramedics with search and rescue. Tomorrow she might help with handing out supplies...

Her mech beeped twice, and a bell icon appeared at the bottom of her HUD. A call, nonurgent.

She pressed the receive button, accepting it immediately.

“D.Va,” she identified.

“It’s Maeng,” came the familiar voice of her fellow recruit. “We’ve got a VIP waiting in the market district. You mind playing babysitter until we can get a security detail on him? My shift is just about over and I wanted to grab a bite before I get some shuteye.”

“Yes, yes,” she replied, as he pinged her the VIP’s location on her minimap. “You can always  count on me to make a good impression!”

Her usual cheer wasn’t quite there, but Maeng still thanked her before he exited the call. He was a sweet kid, and it was heartbreaking the way he hadn’t been sleeping since the incident. It was the least she could do.

D.Va headed over, detouring briefly to assist with an electrical fire that had broken out, before arriving at the designated area. Exiting her mech, she checked her hair in the glossy reflection of its visor, winking at the cute girl mirrored back at her.

“Oh my gosh,” went a warm voice behind her, from inside a large emergency tent, “I mean, I knew you were from here, but I never thought… well…”

That voice was… familiar.

The man stepped into the light, and D.Va’s eye widened. The Brazilian DJ smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he walked… no,  skated forward.

“It’s so cool to meet you. Wish it was under better circumstances, but I’m a big fan, D.Va!”

“You’re Lúcio! The Lúcio,” she exclaimed, a disbelieving smile pulling at her lips. That Maeng could’ve at least warned her…!

Lúcio blinked at her, then grinned goofily. D.Va trotted forward giddily, and the two shook hands enthusiastically.

“Haha, you’ve heard of me? Man, that’s wild. People know me even in Korea, huh. Makes me feel even better about doing this charity concert, if people won’t be wondering ‘who’s this guy?’ the whole time, you know?”

“Of course we know you! Synaesthesia Auditiva has topped the music charts here for months and months now! A lot of us followed you even before that, on the internet.”

“I’d been told global reception was pretty good, but you know, there’s a big difference between being told and seeing it for yourself, I guess! I probably don’t even have to say this, but you’re really big in Brazil. The kids call you Coelhinho, and I’ve even seen people with tattoos of your logo, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it,” D.Va said confidently, putting her hands on her hips. Lúcio laughed good-naturedly, doubling over and shaking his head so all his funny dreadlocks waved around. When he rose, D.Va couldn’t help but think that he was awfully tall. She stood up straighter, feeling her face light up just a little bit.

“So you’re doing a free concert?” she asked, leading them back to the seating in the tent. Folding chairs. Not the most comfortable or appropriate thing for a pair of international celebrities, but that was life.

“Yeah. I’ve done this a couple of times before, like during that hurricane that wrecked Georgia and Florida, or when that bad earthquake hit Italy. Trying to use the power of music to lift spirits, you feel me? First time I’ve ever had a concert in Asia, though.”

“I’m sure the people here will be happy to have you play for them,” D.Va said. She meant it, too.

“I’ve got a fundraiser going online right now, too, and it’s going pretty good. Hopefully I’ll be able to give a little more than good vibrations,” Lúcio said, smiling conspiratorially. “I’d give you a sneak peak at the set I cooked up, but I can’t even get ready until the power in this area comes back, and the last guy told me it might be a while.”

“...probably a few hours, at least,” she admitted.

The conversation lulled into a slightly awkward pause, as they both smiled and tried not to look at each other. D.Va didn’t understand why she was being so silly about this — she had met scores of K-Pop artists and famous actors, so she shouldn’t be feeling this flustered. She stared at the dusty ground, and traced a line in the dirt with her foot. It gave her an idea.

Finally, she broke the silence.

“Lúcio, have you ever played gonu?”

“Nope,” he replied, flashing a winning smile. D.Va liked that smile. She liked it a lot.

“It’s a traditional Korean game — a little bit  like tic-tac-toe. Here, let me show you…”

Happy Birthday, @cervamater. Keep on shining, starlight.

[geeksfromfuture-blog]

Can Technology Change Musicians?

Did you know that at the recent 50th anniversary of the Beatles, the very first song ever recorded was titled, "Can Technology Change Musicians?" The song was written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, and was published in a music magazine. Even though the song has not been released commercially, it is still considered as one of the greatest songs ever written. So even if the title is not relevant to your life or music, I encourage you to continue to listen to the song. Here are some reasons why it might be of interest to you. Today's world's technological needs are certainly demanding. Even in the field of health, medicine, and more we find technological innovation in our midst every day. The development of imaging devices, MRI's, and advanced prosthetics have been, for example, used to help improve the lives of many patients. If there is one thing that most people have noticed about the world around them in recent years, it is the state of their health. Health care facilities are under increasing pressure to meet growing demand. Their need for more effective ways to treat their patients is great. This issue touches on the nature of the Human Condition itself. As people become ill, they need to seek assistance. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to take on the task of providing such treatment. In turn, they need to be able to help patients in more ways than one. As a result, many organizations are developing programs and standards to help achieve higher standards of care. With some innovative thinking, they are innovating new ways to improve the efficiency of these services. In doing so, they are bringing new ideas to medicine. One example of this innovation is the higher than ever expectancy of patients. As the use of X-rays and CT scans are revolutionized, the images provided by them are clearly becoming more precise. At the same time, physicians are taking advantage of new resources to help improve the quality of life of their patients. This leads to one question: How can technology help change musicians? Since the field of medicine has been rocked by technological innovation, it stands to reason that musicians would be too. Just think about it - if everyone with a computer was a doctor, the need for physicians would decrease dramatically. In fact, in today's world, we all have access to the internet. We can make use of it to research the medical profession, to learn about cures and treatments for common ailments, and even to find out how to cure diseases. Even those who cannot get online can benefit from the increased use of computers and the internet. This makes the Internet an obvious place to look for information and advice about health. If you're like many musicians, do you have to rely on people in the field? If so, do you consider technology to be an important tool in the evolution of music? If so, how could technology change musicians? As a musician, do you look to technology to help you perform better? If so, do you consider it to be an important tool in the evolution of musicians? Is the answer yes?

Will Technology Change Musicians?

How will technology change musicians in the future? What is the best way to prepare for this technological revolution? Well, there are some things you can do to prepare for it, but not much. You see, everyone is scared of change and every one hates change and has been fighting every step of the way that technology has changed their lives. But we need to change, as a species. There is no point of keeping these people alive, because they will die off anyway and only what we create will survive. In the past the musicians were left behind the greatest invention of mankind was the steam engine. This invention created jobs and provided food for everyone. The doctors were good at their job and did their job very well and all that were left for the musicians was to perform and do their own thing. The only problem with that is that there was no freedom. Now as I said before the musicians could make the music they wanted to and were very busy with it, but did not enjoy their music, they wanted to get out of their creative zone. They tried to do the same thing as the musicians of the past and that is making music to be listened to by other people. Well, that has worked pretty well for the first few generations but in time the technology changed so that no one had to listen to what they made. Then the medium changed and now you have mp3's, just listen to what the artists want to hear, what others want to hear, when they want to hear it. And all of these things are music and once you have mastered it you can turn it into whatever you want, but the only people that make money from it are the record labels and the people who buy the records, they still love the music. Ever since that day the musicians have always been on the look out for something to take over, something that they can use to stay in the spotlight and never ever be forced to do anything they don't want to do. Until they find it. We always have some kind of new or exciting piece of technology, and they never seem to want to use it. People only really enjoy the technology when they can use it. How does the computer age compare to the musical ages? Well, with the computer age people are looking for answers. So they do not realize that technology, especially the music technology is changing in order to get them the answers they need. What we are trying to do is, even if we do not have the answers, to make our musician followers think that they can get them in the future, but there are no shortcuts. Once we understand the answers, we will need to present them in the best way possible. That is why I am always worried about technology, because if we keep jumping ahead we will lose what we have right now and then we might lose our ability to produce music will be dead and we will never see what we were born to do. The great thing is that technology is always changing and every time you stop and see what is happening you are able to answer the question in your head. It is not going to be a big problem, just a few years from now the answer will be there. I know for a fact that the musicians of the future will not complain, they will not blame anyone for the fact that they are not in control. In fact they will be thankful for the new advances in technology because they will love it and will never forget how it took time for them to get there. Now if you think about it they will be very happy and I for one will be thankful for them being able to hear music again, the only problem I have with them is that I cannot produce them for them to hear in their home, itis hard to understand for me to imagine all the equipment to make it happen. Who knows, maybe when they start using computers to produce great sounding music they will be able to live like the musicians of the past did and they will only talk about how they want to hear the music, like they did. but then they will tell us why they cannot because they are not in control of the technology.

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[tas-ss7a]

Sarah-Columbus blog

Name: Sarah

Class: 7A

In my opinion, Columbus isn’t the most significant European in history because he is only famous for “discovered” America and spread the world back to Europe. There are many more Europeans who also contribute a lot to the mankind such as Charles Darwin, who discovered the theory of evolution, Bartolomeo Cristofori, who invented the piano, Johannes Gutenberg, who invented the printing press and enable books for all people from different classes. Columbus may be the most important people in his field, which is exploration, but in other fields such as music, how can he compare with Bach, Beethoven or Mozart? And in science, would you ever compare Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei, or Isaac Newton to Columbus? No, that’s why I think that Columbus isn’t the most significant European. 

Although Columbus isn’t the most important European, he definitely left a great impact on the world. He may not be the one that discovered America, but he was the one that actually spread the words back to Europe. That way, he indirectly led to the creation of one of the greatest countries in the world, The United State of America. Also, when he “discovered” America, he caused the Columbian exchange. Animals, foods, ideas, diseases, people… things that had never exist on the other part of the world, had now been traded.

 As you know, everything has two sides, Columbus did have a good impact on the world, but he also slaughtered almost all Native American. When Columbus first arrived on Hispaniola, the Natives there greeted him with hospitality that he mistook it as a sign of weakness. That’s why he enslaved the Natives, made them work for him, fed him and his troops, he also set up a tribute system. The tribute system made the life of the Natives even worse, basically, the Natives gave Columbus cotton, gold, food, in exchange for a coin, which will be wear on their neck to identify to already gave the tribute. If not, that person’s hands will be cut off. 

I don’t think that Columbus should be judged by our moral standard because it was totally different at that time and nowadays. But even if we don’t judge him base on our moral standard, the things Columbus did was also not acceptable at that time. He came to a new land, home of the Natives, and just killed them all for not obeying him, not a Christian, and didn’t look like European.

 I think that Genghis Khan and Columbus were very similar, they both kill a lot of people, were both very famous in a different continent, both made a large impact on the world. But Genghis Khan was a warrior, while Columbus was just an explorer, Genghis Khan was famous for conquering lands, while Columbus was famous for his “discovery” of America. After the debate, I learn that although Columbus wasn’t the first one to find America, he was the one that indirectly helps to shape part of the world today. Without him, maybe we wouldn’t have a continent called America. But I also hate Columbus because he killed so many people just for his own good, he started the slave trade and caused thousands of people to suffer and taken away their freedom and families.

[likeappletrees]

some of my favorite short films (in no particular order)

So @slyindoorssmoke asked me for a few short film recommendations and the list ended up a bit bigger than either of us expected, so I thought I’d post them here. The films below range from disturbing to touchy-feely to  entirely style-over-substance, and I can’t really explain why I particularly like some of them. I might have forgotten some favorites, so a second version of this post may be made. 

Click on the title in bold to go straight to the film or trailer.

Michelle, I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Action

7.2 dir. Nida Manzoor (14 minutes): Cleo, a schoolgirl, regains consciousness to find herself lying on the ground with no memory of who she is, only to be confronted by Daisy, the school bully, who issues a cryptic ultimatum. (also very funny)

Hit TV dir. Saman Kesh (12 minutes): An illegal TV show appears every night posting murderous bounties. The organization running the show highjacks broadcast channels to air a haunting call-to-action where people are identified for murder and priced accordingly. (apparently this film is also called “The Prologue” although of what I'm not sure)

Comedy

1500 Words dir. Andrew Chaplin (9 minutes): When Stanley Franks is told he has 1500 words left to live, he faces a battle to keep both his marriage and himself alive using the fewest words possible.

The Black Hole dir. Philip Sansom and Olly Williams (2 minutes): A sleep-deprived office worker accidentally discovers a black hole. (hashtag Relatable)

JohnnyExpress dir. Kyungmin Woo (5 minutes): Johnny is a space delivery man who travels to different planets to deliver packages. However, things never go as planned.

Movie Mind Machine dir. Maureen Bharoocha (12 minutes): Two movie buffs invent a memory-erasing machine that allows them to watch their favorite movies over and over again like the first time. (who wouldn't?)

Sudden Death! dir. Adam Hall (19 minutes): Finally, a musical where everybody dies.

What Cheer? dir. Michael Slavens (17 minutes): After the sudden passing of his wife, Stan (Richard Kind) finds himself in a state of shock. He tries to ignore his pain but finds himself followed by inescapable grief. (I know what you're thinking, and I'm telling you, it's much better)

Drama

1985 dir. Yen Tan (9 minutes): A dying man seeks out a beauty consultant to hide his symptoms.

Goodbye Blue Sky dir. Brandon Zuck (17 minutes): Long after the end of the world, five strangers sharing an abandoned desert motel are forced to decide between love and survival. (bad acting, but in an endearing way)

Hala dir. Minhal Baig (14 minutes): A Muslim-American teenager struggles to reconcile desire with family obligations.

He Took His Skin Off for Me dir. Ben Aston (11 minutes): A simple, domestic love story about a man who takes his skin off for his girlfriend, and why it probably wasn't the best idea.

I Don’t Care dir. Harry Wootliff (24 minutes):  Luka Bartholomew cares for his bed-ridden mother in the run-down resort town of Porthpunnet. On his thirtieth birthday his mother hires a carer to give him a day off. (starring the loves of my life Iwan Rheon and David Leon)

SLAP dir. Nick Rowland (25 minutes): A teenage boxer searching for self-definition gives in to his true colours at the risk of losing everything.

Still In the Cage dir. Jonathan Desbiens (20 minutes): Three girls journey from the city to the jungle in search of an abandoned settlement in the hope of becoming “free spirits”. (essentially a Skrillex music video, but still pretty good)

The Wilding dir. Grant Scicluna (15 minutes): When juvenile inmate Malcolm is offered a chance at parole, he is torn between his chance for freedom and protecting the one he loves. (I could only find the link to the trailer, sorry!)

Horror

The Pig Child dir. Lucy Campbell (17 minutes): A scientist makes a reckless decision to carry on with an illegal surrogacy experiment, using her own body.

The Root of the Problem dir. Ryan Spindell (13 minutes): In the candy-colored world of 1950’s suburbia, a reluctant housewife suspects that the friendly neighborhood dentist is hiding a horrible secret... but is it just the anesthesia, or is something more sinister hiding just below the surface?

So Pretty dir. James Williams (9 minutes): Late at night, on the last train home, one girl's fantasy is about to become her greatest nightmare. (basically a Twilight parody)

Tonight It's You dir. Dominic Haxton (17 minutes): CJ ventures out for a late night hook up when things take a dark turn, leading him into something much more sinister than he could ever imagine.

Science fiction

ANA dir. Factory Fifteen (4 minutes): The sole human worker in a futuristic car manufacturing plant is tricked into relinquishing control to the A.I. that runs production.

The Awareness dir. Henry Dunham (18 minutes): On the eve of a technological breakthrough, an insignificant janitor and a prominent engineer are faced with a decision that will alter the course of humanity: the release of the first aware computer system into the world.

The Brain Hack dir. Joe White (19 minutes): Two students create a short-cut to induce hallucinogenic visions of God, and find themselves hunted by a deadly religious sect. (huge epilepsy warning)

Controller dir. Saman Kesh (8 minutes): A girl that can control everything perpetrates her own rescue by taking control of her boyfriend. (I don't know why she doesn't control her captors and the extent of her powers is never revealed, but it's incredibly stylish, so that's why it's on the list. Saman Kesh advises to play it loud and in full-screen)

The Landing dir. Josh Tanner (18 minutes): A man returns to the Midwestern farm of his childhood on a desperate mission to unearth the horrifying truth of what landed there in the summer of 1960.

Lost Memories dir. François Ferracci (3 minutes): A beautiful couple, a city over-saturated by holograms and digital stream. A Polaroid camera. Tomorrow will never be the same. (I don't particularly agree with the overall message conveyed in the film, but I can appreciate the perspective; has a sequel, Lost Memories 2.0)

The Narrow World dir. Brent Bonacorso (15 minutes): A giant alien creature comes to Earth. The reasons for its arrival, however, remain unknown as mankind fails to make contact with the visitor. (very similar to Arrival, but with the optimism of Pacific Rim)

Payload dir. Stuart Willis (18 minutes): A family of scavengers. A corrupt spaceport. A callous matriarch. A home in the shadow of a space elevator. After a brutal attack on his father, Simon Carter must sacrifice everything to save his family. (not particularly good, but it intrigued me for some inexplicable reason)

We Ate the Children Last dir. Andrew Cividino (12 minutes): What happens when society embraces a radical medical breakthrough without fully understanding its side effects?

Thriller

Bugcrush dir. Carter Smith (36 minutes): A small-town loner's fascination with the new kid in town leads him into something much more sinister than he could ever have imagined. (also just the trailer. Sorry!)

Prosopagnosia dir. Hugo Keijzer (18 minutes): Alfred finds his best friend Julia dead in her apartment and looks the perpetrator right in the eyes. He is unable to identify him, because of his extremely rare condition known as face blindness, or prosopagnosia.

[englishchinesetranslations]

Whites may be inferior to other races in several critical skills

by Kevin Alfred Strom (pictured)

Free Speech magazine, December 1995

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This publication corrects some typographical errors and omissions which have been present since this article’s first appearance on the Internet in the 1990s. I would also add that the term “separatist” has become, in the intervening years, an opprobrious media smear word almost as frightening to two-legged rabbits as “supremacist.” The word “compound,” referring to someone’s rural house or business or intentional community, is another coöpted word which has been given newly-negative implications.  – K.A.S., January 26, 2009

I RECEIVED an electronic mail message a while back accusing me of being a “White supremacist.” I won’t give the name of the person who wrote me with this comment, even though he left the message, including his name, in a public forum on a computer network that can be accessed by anyone. I won’t give his name because he didn’t give me permission to do so. I had left a message on the computer network, asking everyone who read the message to tune into American Dissident Voices, and giving our latest radio schedule.

This fellow wrote back, without so much as a how-do-you-do, and called me a “White supremacist,” and a few other names that I won’t mention. Well, I’m not a White supremacist. But the fact that this person called me one is illustrative of just how much ignorance and malicious misinformation is out there when it comes to racial matters in general and the ADV program in particular.

My dictionary defines “White supremacy” as “The doctrine arising from the belief that the White race is superior to the Negro race and that the latter must therefore be kept in an inferior economic and social position.” To explain a little further, a White supremacist believes that the different races ought to live together in the same society, and that the Whites ought to rule over the other races. I don’t believe in that idea at all.

I believe that each race or ethnic group within a race, which considers itself to be a separate and distinct people with its own distinctive qualities and values and interests, ought to be free to pursue its destiny with perfect independence and freedom. And I am rational enough to see that when different races are forced to live together in the same society, their interests naturally collide and each group will try to get its way. This always results in one group dominating the others. Sometimes the tables will be turned and a group on the bottom will take control and wreak vengeance on their former oppressors.

But whenever people are forced to live in a multiracial society, there is almost always this situation of conflict and/or supremacy. I also note that force is usually necessary to create a multiracial society, since in nations, neighborhoods and school lunchrooms, human beings naturally gravitate to their own kind. This is a behavioral characteristic that is inborn in us and therefore, we must agree, of value.

No matter how many “integration” laws the criminals in Washington pass, this natural tendency to want to live and work among one’s own kind, this self-segregation if you will, continues to confound the bureaucrats. Left-wing intellectuals regularly wring their hands over the supposedly terrible fact that the races in the United States are nearly as separate now as they were in those supposedly bad old days thirty years ago.

I’m not for White supremacy, Black supremacy, Jewish supremacy, or any other kind of supremacy in a multiracial nation. We’ve taken a multiracial road in America, first with slavery, and now, more than ever, with integration. It has been a disaster for everybody. It ripped America apart once, and, if we let it go on too much longer, it will rip it apart again.

If you must choose a label for me, make it Nationalist or Separatist — not supremacist. Since I am a White American and I care about the future of my people — and I dare you to say that there’s anything wrong with that — I suppose you could call me a White Separatist. I find common ground with separatists and nationalists of other races, though, for they are mostly working for the same thing I am working for — the peaceful and voluntary separation of the races, and true independence and freedom for all peoples.

I find more common ground with Black or American Indian nationalists, for example, than I do with White liberals who want to force us all to mix together to fit their unrealistic dream of world government, or with rich White conservatives who want to force White working people to mix with Blacks and Mexicans because cheap labor increases their “bottom line.” I find no common ground with Whites who think like that!

Now, it may be argued that I would have to use force to separate the races and gain for each the independence and freedom that I desire. Well, our American forefathers had to use a bit of force to gain their independence and freedom from King George III; so, I suppose there is some merit in that line of reasoning. But the separatist idea has a lot going for it that I think makes it one of the most peaceful and non-violent ideologies extant. For one thing, as I’ve already said, people naturally form families, extended families, voluntary associations, and yes, nations and governments, with those with whom they feel a kinship, with those of their own race. So if you took away the implied force of all the so-called “integration” laws we have now, people would just continue to do what they have done naturally for many thousands of years, and 90% of the separation of the races would be done automatically, without a law being passed or a shot being fired.

In addition, large numbers of people, of all races, are already on our side, although they often don’t get to hear the separatist point of view because of certain interest groups that work to keep our books out of the libraries and our programs off the air.

The vast majority of decent White and Black people would prefer that their sons and daughters mate and marry among their own kind. I know this from personal experience, and the marriage statistics bear me out. Though the number of interracial unions has, tragically, increased, it is still a tiny fraction of the total despite the largest and most sustained propaganda drive in history promoting it from our pulpits, newsstands, television, Hollywood, and so-called “music videos.”

Since the majority of people want freedom and independence, and prefer to live under their own government and among their own kind, once we can get our separatist message spread far and wide, the situation may evolve to the point where on one side you’ll have the global elitists and their allies in the media and the bureaucracy who promote world government and multiculturalism — and on the other side you’ll have nearly everybody else. That is why the Anti-Defamation League and the other organizations of subversives and traitors in this country are so desperate to keep American Dissident Voices off the air. They realize that more and more people are wising up to their genocidal plans, and they want to plug the hole in their dike of media lies so that no more truth leaks out.

A lot of the people who are wising up to the genocidal nature of the multicultural agenda are Black people, Black nationalists to be exact. Pondering that fact, I am concerned by the realization that my own people have not measured up to other races in this regard. So I think I will confound my critics again by devoting the rest of this essay to describing, not the superiority, but the inferiority of the White race.

The inferiority of the White race is obvious. Now there are many ways in which we are superior, at least by our own standards. We did put a man on the Moon. We did invent the transistor and the computer and virtually every other technological marvel of this age. Our race has produced men like Shakespeare and Socrates, Pythagoras and Poe, Robert E. Lee and Julius Caesar, Michelangelo and William Shockley. These men and the civilizations that we and our kind have built are worthy and admirable. We deserve to survive. I have devoted a good part of my life to saying that.

But as worthy and admirable as our race may be, by our standards, it must be admitted that there is a higher standard. It is the only objective standard. It is Nature’s standard. As one of the greatest minds of this century, Dr. Revilo Oliver, has stated in his book America’s Decline:

“The only objective criterion of superiority, among human races as among all other species, is biological: the strong survive, the weak perish. The superior race of mankind today is the one that will emerge victorious — whether by its technology or by its fecundity — from the proximate struggle for life on an overcrowded planet.”

In other words, if we succeed in surviving the next few centuries, we can objectively be called superior to those races that do not survive. That’s a big “if.”

White Americans are at present markedly inferior to other races in many crucial survival skills. One such skill is the ability to organize and stand up for the interests of our own race. We are all familiar with the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, the Black Caucus, the Urban League, and many other racial organizations working for what they perceive to be the interests of Black people. Those well-known names are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have before me the standard reference work on organizations in the United States, the Encyclopedia of Associations. Under the category of Black organizations, I find some 300 separate listings, including the Black Book Writers Association, the National Association of Black County Officials, the National Association of Black and Minority Chambers of Commerce, the National Association of Black Veterans, National Association of African-American Students of Law, the Emergency Black Survival Fund, the Black United Fund, the Association of Black Women Historians, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the National Black-Owned Broadcasters Association, the Council for a Black Economic Agenda, the National Association of Black Journalists, etc., etc., etc. I could go on for hours.

Now let’s turn to the page which lists Jewish organizations. Numerically, there are far fewer Jews in the United States than Blacks — but in the Encyclopedia of Associations there are at least 600 Jewish organizations listed. We’ve all heard of the biggies — the B’nai B’rith, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America, etc. But have you heard of the other 5 or 6 hundred? The Jewish Committee on International Affairs, the Jewish Student Press Service, the Coordinating Body of Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Documentation Center, the Association of Jewish Campus Professionals, Association of Jewish Book Publishers, and on and on and on and on . . . .

Now far be it from me to criticize Black or Jewish people for organizing themselves. It is natural and logical for them to do so.

But ask yourselves this question: Do White people have comparable organizations to these, standing up for White American interests? Clearly, we do not. There is no White Press Council, no White Broadcasters Association, no Miss White America beauty contest, etc. If there were, can you imagine the stink that would be raised in the controlled media? In regard to having the will to organize for their own self-interest, White Americans are clearly inferior.

In defense of White Americans, it might be stated that there are some signs of hope. Two such hopeful signs are the organizations producing the ADV radio program and the Free Speech newsletter, and this Web site. It might also be stated that the criminal politicians and the controlled media do everything they can to suppress any effort at White American self-determination. But there is no excuse, really. The existing organizations for White Americans would have to be 10,000 times as large to be comparable to non-White organizations. And they aren’t. American Whites have proven themselves inferior in this crucial survival skill.

Another area of White American inferiority is our gullibility, which at times approaches the supernatural. We seem to have willingly suspended our critical faculties, and believe almost everything we are told.

Here’s one small example from recent history: I was listening to Tom Brokaw pontificate on NBC-TV a while back, and he said that Nelson Mandela was the first Black ruler of South Africa in over 300 years. Now that isn’t true. The truth is that Nelson Mandela is the first Black to rule South Africa ever. Anyone who cares to research the history of South Africa will find it recorded that the White pioneers of that land did not encounter Black tribes until they had pushed to their northern frontiers. Prior to the White settlement there was no nation of South Africa. After the White South Africans had built a civilization there, millions of Blacks willingly immigrated there because of the economic opportunities.

Now the White South Africans have proved their inferiority by abandoning their fair and reasonable program of setting aside separate territories for the various White and Black peoples of that region, called apartheid, and by acquiescing in the turnover of their entire nation to the Communist ANC.

When the controlled media told Americans over the last 30 years right up to today — that Nelson Mandela is a saint, a fighter for human rights and democracy in South Africa — the gullible Americans believed it. This is the same Nelson Mandela who authored the essay “How to be a Good Communist,” the same Nelson Mandela who regularly speaks before huge hammer-and-sickle Communist banners, witnessed by thousands. They tell you that Nelson Mandela is a demigod and a friend of Black people, and they tell you that I am a White supremacist. Well, I have never harmed a hair on the head of a single Black person, yet the controlled media would have you revile me as a so-called “hatemonger.” Whereas Nelson Mandela’s ANC, as has been extensively documented, has killed tens of thousands of Black people in South Africa, because they wouldn’t submit to Communist domination.

One of the main techniques used by the Communist ANC to discipline recalcitrant Blacks is called “necklacing.” In case you don’t know what necklacing is, I will describe it for you. Usually the tendons are cut in the victim’s arms and legs, so that he cannot flee or remove his “necklace.” The necklace is an old tire which has been soaked in gasoline, which is placed over the victim’s head and set on fire. Anyone unfortunate enough to witness a tire fire knows that tires burn slowly and are almost impossible to extinguish. The burning rubber slowly boils and bubbles its way into the victim’s skin. No matter how he rolls or struggles, nothing he does will put out the fire which is literally consuming him. He will die a prolonged and extremely painful death.

Multiply this picture in your mind by several tens of thousands, and you will have a realistic picture of just what a great friend of Black people Nelson Mandela really is. The victims of necklacing were almost all Blacks who opposed the Communist ANC. Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie Mandela, spoke for the ANC when she said, “With our matches and our necklaces we will liberate this country.”

All of these facts about Mandela and the ANC are in the public record. All of them could be found by anyone who wants to find out for himself. But most White Americans believe whatever they are told. The media masters in New York and Hollywood must laugh at our gullibility, at our belief in their picture of Nelson Mandela which is completely at variance with the facts. “We can make the American swine believe anything,” they must roar.

Regular readers of this magazine well know that Nelson Mandela is just one of many things that the media masters lie about. But the point I am trying to make is that most White Americans are very, very gullible. If you told them in a serious voice that the Martians had landed in New Jersey they would believe you. They won’t or can’t check the facts for themselves, and as long as the beer and the football and the girlie magazines keep coming, they apparently don’t care that their country is being stolen from them. Fifty years of lies from the controlled media, and still they believe, still they trust. These characteristics cannot be regarded as boding well for their future survival. They must be counted as more evidence for White inferiority.

But of course, not all White Americans are inferior.

There are more and more of us who are awakening to the fact that we have been used and lied to by the media and the government for our entire lives. And there are millions who may not have figured out the plan in detail, but who are nevertheless aware that something is seriously wrong in this country, who are just awakening to the fact that we have lost control of our nation and our destiny. It is my job — and it is your job too — to awaken those who can be awakened, to educate those who can be educated, to communicate the facts to those who can think for themselves — because in the next American revolution, they will be the only people who count.

[networkingdefinition]

Golf Quotes

Official Website: Golf Quotes

  • A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave. – Jack Nicklaus • Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter. – Tiger Woods • All I do is play music and golf – which one do you want me to give up? – Willie Nelson • All I’ve got against golf is it takes you so far from the clubhouse. – Eric Linklater • Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself. – Martin Sheen • At first a golfer excuses a dismal performance by claiming bad lies. With experience, he covers up with better ones. – Lee P. Brown

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Golf', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_golf').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_golf img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

• Baseball players quit playing and they take up golf. Basketball players quit, take up golf. Football players quit, take up golf. What are we supposed to take up when we quit? – George Archer • But in the end it’s still a game of golf, and if at the end of the day you can’t shake hands with your opponents and still be friends, then you’ve missed the point. – Payne Stewart • Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course… the space between your ears. – Bobby Jones • Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air. – Jack Benny • Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at it. – Jimmy Demaret • Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. – John Updike • Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick. – P. J. O’Rourke • Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent’s. – Grantland Rice • Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 pecent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation. – Grantland Rice • Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management. – Ben Hogan • Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. – William Wordsworth • Golf is a difficult game, but it’s a little easier if you trust your instincts. It’s too hard a game to try to play like someone else. – Nancy Lopez • Golf is a game in which one endeavors to control a ball with implements ill adapted for the purpose. – Woodrow Wilson • Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course – Bobby Jones • Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an ever smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose – Winston Churchill • Golf is a game you can never get too good at. You can improve, but you can never get to where you master the game. – Gay Brewer • Golf is a good walk spoiled. – Mark Twain • Golf is a hard game to figure. One day you will go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and, for no reason at all, you really stink. – Bob Hope • Golf is a puzzle without an answer. – Gary Player • Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 40 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea how to play. – Gary Player • Golf is an indispensable adjunct to high civilisation. – Andrew Carnegie • Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance. – Alistair Cooke • Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. – Arnold Palmer • Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented. – Arnold Palmer • Golf is good for the soul. You get so mad at yourself you forget to hate your enemies. – Will Rogers • Golf is like a chain. You always have to work on the weakest links. – George Archer • Golf is like love. One day you think you are too old and the next day you want to do it again. – Roberto De Vicenzo • Golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair? – Pete Dye • Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game. – Jack Nicklaus • Golf is not, on the whole, a game for realists. By its exactitudes of measurements it invites the attention of perfectionists. – Heywood Hale Broun • Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun. – Jim Bishop • Golf is said to be an humbling game, but it is surprising how many people are either not aware of their weaknesses of else reckless of consequences. – Bobby Jones • Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. – A. A. Milne • Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. – Rick Reilly • Golf is the most fun you can have with out taking your clothes off. – Chi Chi Rodriguez • Golf is the most useless outdoor game ever devised to waste the time and try the spirit of man. – Westbrook Pegler • Golf is the only sport I know of where a player pays for every mistake. A man can muff a serve in tennis, miss a strike in baseball, or throw an incomplete pass in football and still have another chance to square himself. In golf, every swing counts against you. – Lloyd Mangrum • Golf is the only-est sport. You’re completely alone with every conceivable opportunity to defeat yourself. Golf brings out your assets and liabilities as a person. The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man’s performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his heart, he really thinks he is. – Hale Irwin • Golf is very much like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun, if you do, it breaks your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility. – Louise Suggs • Golf isn’t a game, it’s a choice that one makes with one’s life. – Charles Rosin • Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities – patience, poise, restraint – to the flame. – Billy Casper • Golf seems to me an arduous way to go for a walk. I prefer to take the dogs out. – Anne, Princess Royal • Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive. – Harvey Penick • Golf, like measles, should be caught young. – P. G. Wodehouse • Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting. – Peter Dobereiner • Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. – Tiger Woods • How has retirement affected my golf game? A lot more people beat me now. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • I always like to see a person stand up to a golf ball as though he were perfectly at home in its presence. – Bobby Jones • I always said that if they have a golf course like this in heaven, I want to be the head pro. – Gary Player • I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. – Rogers Hornsby • I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for – getting paid for doing what you love. – Tiger Woods • I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies. – Will Rogers • I had a wonderful experience on the golf course today. I had a hole in nothing. Missed the ball and sank the divot. – Don Adams • I have a tip that can take 5 strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser. – Arnold Palmer • I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators. – Gerald R. Ford • I like to play golf. I like to shoot hoops. – Justin Timberlake • I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about. – Jack Nicklaus • I never pray on a golf course. Actually, the Lord answers my prayers everywhere except on the course. – Billy Graham • I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • I think that (Alister) MacKenzie and I managed to work as a completely sympathetic team. Of course there was never any question that he was the architect and I was the advisor and consultant. No man learns to design a golf course simply by playing golf, no matter how well. But it happened that both of us were extravagant admirers of the Old Course at St Andrews and we both desired as much as possible to simulate seaside conditions insofar as the differences in turf and terrain would allow. – Bobby Jones • I went to play golf and tried to shoot my age, but I shot my weight instead. – Bob Hope • I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose. – Gerald R. Ford • If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death. – Sam Snead • If there is any larceny in a man, golf will bring it out. – Paul Gallico • If there’s a golf course in heaven, I hope it’s like Augusta National. I just don’t want an early tee time. – Gary Player • If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. – Lee Trevino • If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age. – Tom Mulligan • If you think golf is relaxing, you’re not playing it right. – Bob Hope • If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. – Jack Lemmon • If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf. – Bob Hope • I’m a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn’t help me. They’d have to put me in prison, and then I’d talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. – Lee Trevino • I’m addicted. I’m addicted to golf. – Tiger Woods • I’m not feeling very well – I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course. – Groucho Marx • In golf as in life, it’s the follow through that makes the difference. – Ben Wicks • In order to win, you must play your best golf when you need it most, and play your sloppy stuff when you can afford it. I shall not attempt to explain how you achieve this happy timing. – Bobby Jones • It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf. – Robert Wilson Lynd • It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it. – Bobby Jones • It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course. – Hank Aaron • It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. – Mark Twain • I’ve always tried to play golf with a golf club. I have a hard time driving with my rifle. I mean, 18 is really narrow … I have no problem with the course, except for the tee shot on 18. – Jack Nicklaus • Keeping the head still is golf’s one universal, unarguable fundamental. – Jack Nicklaus • Like most professional golfers, I have a tendency to remember my poor shots a shade more vividly than the good ones. – Ben Hogan • Men who would face torture without a word become blasphemous at the short fourteenth. It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behaviour not otherwise excusable. – A. P. Herbert • Middle age occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net. – Franklin P. Adams • No-one will ever have golf under his thumb. No round ever will be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps this is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you a playing a game. You are playing old man par. – Bobby Jones • Nothing dissects a man in public quite like golf. – Brent Musburger • Nothing goes down slower than a golf handicap. – Bobby Nichols • One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something. – Peter Jacobsen • One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten, and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected time and again. – Bobby Jones • One thing about golf is you don’t know why you play bad and why you play good. – George Archer • One thing I’ve learned over time is, if you hit a golf ball into water, it won’t float. – Arnold Palmer • Play it as it lies is one of the fundamental dictates of golf – Henry Beard • Playing golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture. – Winston Churchill • Regardless of what the tour pros think, golf is a rich and varied game, and what all of us awkward fools do on weekends is what golf is truly all about. – Dan Jenkins • Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club, don’t you? – Ben Hogan • Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing. – Ben Hogan • Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you’re not good at them. – Kevin Costner • Someone once told me that there is more to life than golf. I think it was my ex-wife. – Bruce Lansky • Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character. – Arnold Palmer • Sudden success in golf is like the sudden acquisition of wealth. It is apt to unsettle and deteriorate the character. – P. G. Wodehouse • Talking to a golf ball won’t do you any good, unless you do it while your opponent is teeing off. – Bruce Lansky • That’s the difference between golf and many other sports. You go to some other sporting events, they just leave you or give you the cold shoulder and move on. – Bernhard Langer • The best exercise for golfers is golfing. – Bobby Jones • The devoted golfer is an anguished soul who has learned a lot about putting, just as an avalanche victim has learned a lot about snow. – Dan Jenkins • The difference between golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie. – George Deukmejian • The fun you get from golf is in direct ratio to the effort you don’t put into it. – Bob Allen • The game of golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green. – Ernest Hemingway • The golf swing is like a suitcase into which we are trying to pack one too many things. – John Updike • The main idea in golf as in life, I suppose is to learn to accept what cannot be altered and to keep on doing one’s own reasoned and resolute best whether the prospect be bleak or rosy. – Bobby Jones • The moment the average golfer attempts to play from long grass or a bunker or from a difficult lie of any kind, he becomes a digger instead of a swinger. – Bobby Jones • The most important shot in golf is the next one. – Ben Hogan • The only shots you can be sure of are those you’ve had already. – Byron Nelson • The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight. – Ben Hogan • The only time I talk on the golf course is to my caddie. And then only to complain when he gives me the wrong club. – Seve Ballesteros • The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course. – Billy Graham • The rewards of golf, and of life too I expect, are worth very little if you don’t play the game by the etiquette as well as by the rules. – Bobby Jones • The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two. – Bobby Jones • The terrible beauty is that in the brotherhood of golf we are all the same – certifiable. – Sean Connery • The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf – it’s almost a law. – H. G. Wells • There are three ways of learning golf: by study, which is the most wearisome; by imitation, which is the most fallacious; and by experience, which is the most bitter. – Robert Browning • There are two things you can do with your head down – play golf and pray. – Lee Trevino • There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls. – Lee Trevino • There is one thing in this world that is dumber than playing golf. That is watching someone else playing golf. What do you actually get to see? Thirty-seven guys in polyester slacks squinting at the sun. Doesn’t that set your blood racing? – Peter Andrews • They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken. – Ray Floyd • They have been playing golf for 800 years and nobody has satisfactorily said why. – Alistair Cooke • They say golf came easy to me because I was a good athlete, but there’s not any girl on the LPGA Tour who worked near as hard as I did in golf. It’s the toughest game I ever tackled. – Babe Didrikson Zaharias • Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff. – David Feherty • We have 51 golf courses in Palm Springs. He [President Ford] never decides which course he will play until after the first tee shot. – Bob Hope • We learn so many things from golf: how to suffer, for instance. �� Bruce Lansky • While playing golf today, I hit two good balls. I stepped on a rake. – Henny Youngman • You must work very hard to become a natural golfer. – Gary Player

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[equitiesstocks]

Golf Quotes

Official Website: Golf Quotes

  • A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave. – Jack Nicklaus • Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter. – Tiger Woods • All I do is play music and golf – which one do you want me to give up? – Willie Nelson • All I’ve got against golf is it takes you so far from the clubhouse. – Eric Linklater • Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself. – Martin Sheen • At first a golfer excuses a dismal performance by claiming bad lies. With experience, he covers up with better ones. – Lee P. Brown

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• Baseball players quit playing and they take up golf. Basketball players quit, take up golf. Football players quit, take up golf. What are we supposed to take up when we quit? – George Archer • But in the end it’s still a game of golf, and if at the end of the day you can’t shake hands with your opponents and still be friends, then you’ve missed the point. – Payne Stewart • Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course… the space between your ears. – Bobby Jones • Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air. – Jack Benny • Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at it. – Jimmy Demaret • Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. – John Updike • Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick. – P. J. O’Rourke • Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent’s. – Grantland Rice • Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 pecent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation. – Grantland Rice • Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management. – Ben Hogan • Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. – William Wordsworth • Golf is a difficult game, but it’s a little easier if you trust your instincts. It’s too hard a game to try to play like someone else. – Nancy Lopez • Golf is a game in which one endeavors to control a ball with implements ill adapted for the purpose. – Woodrow Wilson • Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course – Bobby Jones • Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an ever smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose – Winston Churchill • Golf is a game you can never get too good at. You can improve, but you can never get to where you master the game. – Gay Brewer • Golf is a good walk spoiled. – Mark Twain • Golf is a hard game to figure. One day you will go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and, for no reason at all, you really stink. – Bob Hope • Golf is a puzzle without an answer. – Gary Player • Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 40 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea how to play. – Gary Player • Golf is an indispensable adjunct to high civilisation. – Andrew Carnegie • Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance. – Alistair Cooke • Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. – Arnold Palmer • Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented. – Arnold Palmer • Golf is good for the soul. You get so mad at yourself you forget to hate your enemies. – Will Rogers • Golf is like a chain. You always have to work on the weakest links. – George Archer • Golf is like love. One day you think you are too old and the next day you want to do it again. – Roberto De Vicenzo • Golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair? – Pete Dye • Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game. – Jack Nicklaus • Golf is not, on the whole, a game for realists. By its exactitudes of measurements it invites the attention of perfectionists. – Heywood Hale Broun • Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun. – Jim Bishop • Golf is said to be an humbling game, but it is surprising how many people are either not aware of their weaknesses of else reckless of consequences. – Bobby Jones • Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. – A. A. Milne • Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. – Rick Reilly • Golf is the most fun you can have with out taking your clothes off. – Chi Chi Rodriguez • Golf is the most useless outdoor game ever devised to waste the time and try the spirit of man. – Westbrook Pegler • Golf is the only sport I know of where a player pays for every mistake. A man can muff a serve in tennis, miss a strike in baseball, or throw an incomplete pass in football and still have another chance to square himself. In golf, every swing counts against you. – Lloyd Mangrum • Golf is the only-est sport. You’re completely alone with every conceivable opportunity to defeat yourself. Golf brings out your assets and liabilities as a person. The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man’s performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his heart, he really thinks he is. – Hale Irwin • Golf is very much like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun, if you do, it breaks your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility. – Louise Suggs • Golf isn’t a game, it’s a choice that one makes with one’s life. – Charles Rosin • Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities – patience, poise, restraint – to the flame. – Billy Casper • Golf seems to me an arduous way to go for a walk. I prefer to take the dogs out. – Anne, Princess Royal • Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive. – Harvey Penick • Golf, like measles, should be caught young. – P. G. Wodehouse • Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting. – Peter Dobereiner • Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. – Tiger Woods • How has retirement affected my golf game? A lot more people beat me now. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • I always like to see a person stand up to a golf ball as though he were perfectly at home in its presence. – Bobby Jones • I always said that if they have a golf course like this in heaven, I want to be the head pro. – Gary Player • I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. – Rogers Hornsby • I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for – getting paid for doing what you love. – Tiger Woods • I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies. – Will Rogers • I had a wonderful experience on the golf course today. I had a hole in nothing. Missed the ball and sank the divot. – Don Adams • I have a tip that can take 5 strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser. – Arnold Palmer • I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators. – Gerald R. Ford • I like to play golf. I like to shoot hoops. – Justin Timberlake • I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about. – Jack Nicklaus • I never pray on a golf course. Actually, the Lord answers my prayers everywhere except on the course. – Billy Graham • I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • I think that (Alister) MacKenzie and I managed to work as a completely sympathetic team. Of course there was never any question that he was the architect and I was the advisor and consultant. No man learns to design a golf course simply by playing golf, no matter how well. But it happened that both of us were extravagant admirers of the Old Course at St Andrews and we both desired as much as possible to simulate seaside conditions insofar as the differences in turf and terrain would allow. – Bobby Jones • I went to play golf and tried to shoot my age, but I shot my weight instead. – Bob Hope • I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose. – Gerald R. Ford • If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death. – Sam Snead • If there is any larceny in a man, golf will bring it out. – Paul Gallico • If there’s a golf course in heaven, I hope it’s like Augusta National. I just don’t want an early tee time. – Gary Player • If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. – Lee Trevino • If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age. – Tom Mulligan • If you think golf is relaxing, you’re not playing it right. – Bob Hope • If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. – Jack Lemmon • If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf. – Bob Hope • I’m a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn’t help me. They’d have to put me in prison, and then I’d talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. – Lee Trevino • I’m addicted. I’m addicted to golf. – Tiger Woods • I’m not feeling very well – I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course. – Groucho Marx • In golf as in life, it’s the follow through that makes the difference. – Ben Wicks • In order to win, you must play your best golf when you need it most, and play your sloppy stuff when you can afford it. I shall not attempt to explain how you achieve this happy timing. – Bobby Jones • It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf. – Robert Wilson Lynd • It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it. – Bobby Jones • It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course. – Hank Aaron • It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. – Mark Twain • I’ve always tried to play golf with a golf club. I have a hard time driving with my rifle. I mean, 18 is really narrow … I have no problem with the course, except for the tee shot on 18. – Jack Nicklaus • Keeping the head still is golf’s one universal, unarguable fundamental. – Jack Nicklaus • Like most professional golfers, I have a tendency to remember my poor shots a shade more vividly than the good ones. – Ben Hogan • Men who would face torture without a word become blasphemous at the short fourteenth. It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behaviour not otherwise excusable. – A. P. Herbert • Middle age occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net. – Franklin P. Adams • No-one will ever have golf under his thumb. No round ever will be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps this is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you a playing a game. You are playing old man par. – Bobby Jones • Nothing dissects a man in public quite like golf. – Brent Musburger • Nothing goes down slower than a golf handicap. – Bobby Nichols • One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something. – Peter Jacobsen • One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten, and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected time and again. – Bobby Jones • One thing about golf is you don’t know why you play bad and why you play good. – George Archer • One thing I’ve learned over time is, if you hit a golf ball into water, it won’t float. – Arnold Palmer • Play it as it lies is one of the fundamental dictates of golf – Henry Beard • Playing golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture. – Winston Churchill • Regardless of what the tour pros think, golf is a rich and varied game, and what all of us awkward fools do on weekends is what golf is truly all about. – Dan Jenkins • Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club, don’t you? – Ben Hogan • Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing. – Ben Hogan • Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you’re not good at them. – Kevin Costner • Someone once told me that there is more to life than golf. I think it was my ex-wife. – Bruce Lansky • Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character. – Arnold Palmer • Sudden success in golf is like the sudden acquisition of wealth. It is apt to unsettle and deteriorate the character. – P. G. Wodehouse • Talking to a golf ball won’t do you any good, unless you do it while your opponent is teeing off. – Bruce Lansky • That’s the difference between golf and many other sports. You go to some other sporting events, they just leave you or give you the cold shoulder and move on. – Bernhard Langer • The best exercise for golfers is golfing. – Bobby Jones • The devoted golfer is an anguished soul who has learned a lot about putting, just as an avalanche victim has learned a lot about snow. – Dan Jenkins • The difference between golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie. – George Deukmejian • The fun you get from golf is in direct ratio to the effort you don’t put into it. – Bob Allen • The game of golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green. – Ernest Hemingway • The golf swing is like a suitcase into which we are trying to pack one too many things. – John Updike • The main idea in golf as in life, I suppose is to learn to accept what cannot be altered and to keep on doing one’s own reasoned and resolute best whether the prospect be bleak or rosy. – Bobby Jones • The moment the average golfer attempts to play from long grass or a bunker or from a difficult lie of any kind, he becomes a digger instead of a swinger. – Bobby Jones • The most important shot in golf is the next one. – Ben Hogan • The only shots you can be sure of are those you’ve had already. – Byron Nelson • The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight. – Ben Hogan • The only time I talk on the golf course is to my caddie. And then only to complain when he gives me the wrong club. – Seve Ballesteros • The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course. – Billy Graham • The rewards of golf, and of life too I expect, are worth very little if you don’t play the game by the etiquette as well as by the rules. – Bobby Jones • The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two. – Bobby Jones • The terrible beauty is that in the brotherhood of golf we are all the same – certifiable. – Sean Connery • The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf – it’s almost a law. – H. G. Wells • There are three ways of learning golf: by study, which is the most wearisome; by imitation, which is the most fallacious; and by experience, which is the most bitter. – Robert Browning • There are two things you can do with your head down – play golf and pray. – Lee Trevino • There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls. – Lee Trevino • There is one thing in this world that is dumber than playing golf. That is watching someone else playing golf. What do you actually get to see? Thirty-seven guys in polyester slacks squinting at the sun. Doesn’t that set your blood racing? – Peter Andrews • They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken. – Ray Floyd • They have been playing golf for 800 years and nobody has satisfactorily said why. – Alistair Cooke • They say golf came easy to me because I was a good athlete, but there’s not any girl on the LPGA Tour who worked near as hard as I did in golf. It’s the toughest game I ever tackled. – Babe Didrikson Zaharias • Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff. – David Feherty • We have 51 golf courses in Palm Springs. He [President Ford] never decides which course he will play until after the first tee shot. – Bob Hope • We learn so many things from golf: how to suffer, for instance. – Bruce Lansky • While playing golf today, I hit two good balls. I stepped on a rake. – Henny Youngman • You must work very hard to become a natural golfer. – Gary Player

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[coachmikehusson]

Why Most Goals End Up in The Graveyard

Great day!

When you're an avid reader of content, there are times when you run across some great thoughts of others that simply nail it! Gary Blair is one of those writings I thought I'd share because it just makes sense.  Enjoy, Mike

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“Most people go to their graves with their music still inside them.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

The moral of a story is a lesson that is conveyed within the context of a story or event.

As an example…at the end of Aesop’s fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, in which the plodding and determined tortoise won a race against the much-faster yet extremely arrogant hare, the stated moral is “slow and steady wins the race.”

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth…a play that is set in medieval Scotland and dramatizes concepts such as ambition, power, greed, deception and treachery…. the moral is “unchecked ambition and excessive thirst for power will ultimately lead to destruction.”

And in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea…a short novel that speaks to the universal truths of a man’s existence within this world, where pride, respect, tenacity, and dreams fuel a man in his quest to thrive in the face of struggle…the moral is “man is not made for defeat.”

Relating to this post and all of your hopes, dreams, goals and good intentions, the moral is simple, raw and universal…

“We’re all playing a high stakes game of one and done, and it’s your responsibility to be your own hero and make your dreams come true before time runs out.”

Allow me to put some meat on these bones…(and rock you to your core)

UNTAPPED HUMAN POTENTIAL…the hopes, dreams, goals and good intentions that don’t translate into purposeful action is the greatest plague of mankind.

Unlike wine that gets better with age…most goals die on the vine and never see the light of day.

If you think about it…the graveyard is the richest place on earth.

Why?

That’s where that you’ll find all…

The books that were never written.

The songs that were never sung.

The languages that were never learned.

The inventions that were never shared.

The commitments that were never honored.

The countries that were never visited.

The promises that were never kept.

The world records that were never broken.

The financial security that was never achieved.

The businesses that were never launched.

The advanced degrees that were never earned.

The sexy body and six pack abs that were never enjoyed.

The relationships that were never repaired.

The projects that were never completed.

How is this even remotely possible?

Fear…that’s why.

So, what is it that compels people to be fearful, to live an entire lifetime with very little to show for it…and to eventually go their grave with their music still inside them?

For the majority of us, it is the desire for safety, refuge, security — in short, the inclination to play it safe and remain in the comfort zone.

But the life you want, the truly magical life that you want to experience…will only happen once you face your fears and actively work to get outside your comfort zone.

Always has. Always will.

Fear is unworthy of your companionship…it’s a domestic terrorist…an unwanted visitor who’s overstayed his welcome.

Your ultimate goal is to face it, to conquer it and use fear as the trigger for unleashing your greatness.

Should you choose not to, it will remain as the trigger for living a small, compromised life.

The person who does not wish to belong to the masses…the one who dares to show the world what she is capable of creating must cease being controlled and manipulated by fear.

Fear is never a reason for quitting or for second-guessing yourself. It’s only a COWARDLY EXCUSE for those unwilling to face their doubts, insecurities, and their mental boogie man.

Therefore, your first duty in rising to meet a challenge is to conquer fear and the mental resistance it brings along with it.

You must choose to get rid of it or as the tile of this message implies…your hopes, dreams, goals and good intentions will become just another casualty that ends up in the graveyard.

THE HIGH COST OF FEAR

What are the consequences of keeping your dreams on hold?

What’s the impact on your life and legacy when you run from rather than toward a challenge?

Let’s take a close look at a few of the many consequences associated with quitting, being underemployed, remaining fearful, and not rising to meet the demands of a challenge:

Diminished Sense of Self-Worth and Personal Value

Eventually, you come to think of yourself as “the kind of person” who is undeserving of success.

When you begin to lose faith in yourself, it leads to a downward spiral of psychological devastation that is extremely difficult to overcome.

Perpetuation of Pain

Avoiding a challenge and running from your fears only achieves self-sabotage and the perpetuation of pain, which leads to a cycle of failure and disappointment.

Failure’s high price is commonly imposed through bankruptcy, unemployment, depression, poor grades, stress, and other forms of physical and psychological pain.

Character Assassination

By allowing fear to control your life, you will serve as a disturbing example of wasted talent, of someone who chose fear over courage.

Your life will be viewed as the sad consequence of neglect, excuse-making, self-pity, poor character, lack of direction, and a courage deficit.

Development of a Quitter Reputation

Quitting is a habit and the path of least resistance. Facing your fears requires you increase your level of resistance and tolerance to pain, inconvenience, and sacrifice.

Once you develop a quitter reputation, your options become limited, your reputation becomes questionable, and your future is in serious jeopardy.

You Become a Traitor

By refusing to face your fears, you by default choose to betray, openly resist and rebel against opportunity and the chance for a better life.

In effect, you become your own worst enemy, a real-life Benedict Arnold, your very own Judas Iscariot as the greatest from of betrayal is betrayal of oneself.

Fear of any type is a temperamental beast. It’s built for a fight…it works to mentally wear your down and will not be vanquished quickly nor easily.

BE YOUR OWN HERO

That’s why if you’re ever going to find your greatness…you need to do these four things.

You must choose to face your fears whatever they may be.

You must develop the personal constitution to conquer that which is determined to conquer you.

You must deliberately enforce your will over any obstacle and advance toward your goals with an indomitable, unbeatable spirit.

You must become your own hero.

To Be Your Own Hero means choosing yourself. It means getting emotionally committed to a cause, problem or project which in turn enables you to go places others are afraid to go, to try things others are afraid to try…and to be the kind of courageous person others are afraid to be.

 The world needs people who care about the work they do, the people they serve, the results they produce, and the impact they are making.

 The world needs strong, courageous, independent thinking people who want to use their creative ideas and unique talents to make a lasting difference.

 The world needs leaders who can lead, leaders who set inspiring examples, leaders who demonstrate trust, and leaders who make things happen.

 The world needs people with guts…people with passion and people who are willing to be shunned and rejected in the pursuit of their goals and dreams.

 The world needs connectors, not detractors. We need people who can communicate an inspiring vision, people who can light a fire in the belly of their peers.

Most importantly…the world needs you…all of you…the brave you, the risk-taking you, the big thinking and highly capable you.

I see something good in you and I’m calling it out.

Is it okay for me to do that?

 The world wants what you have to offer…and because of that, the world needs you to make a very important decision…it needs you to raise your hand and Be Your Own Hero.

 Only you can do it, and you must do it. I’m hoping you choose to stand up…to put your unique talents to work…to create art that matters…and to choose to make a difference as the best possible future is one where you fully contribute your true self, your best self.

 My goal is writing this message is to persuade you that there’s an awesome, life-changing opportunity waiting for you to pounce on it…a chance to significantly change your life and make your mark.

Not by doing things that are soft and easy, but by doing things that are hard, demanding and highly rewarding.

It starts by making a simple choice…Be Your Own Hero.