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Red Seas Under Red Skies

by Wardog

Friday, 01 February 2008

Wardog praises with faint damnation~

I was nosing about Scott Lynch's LJ (which is endearingly titled The Dork Lord, on His Dork Throne) not so long ago and I came across this:

I was not a fan of the Wheel of Time books, probably because I came to them in my twenties with my tastes already fairly developed. I was never able to get past the opening of the second book, and those of you who've known me for ages I'm sure absorbed my criticism and invective years ago. I once wrote at excruciating length upon the weaknesses of the books as I perceived them, and while I thought it was extremely clever and somehow necessary at the time, the years since have drastically mellowed my taste for mocking the work of other authors who aren't huge assholes in person or pushing a distasteful agenda with their work. About the best I can say for my mosquito bites is that I sincerely hope Jordan himself never had them called to his attention. Something tells me he would have given them the eye roll they deserved.

And the sheer decency of it has sort of shamed me to such an extent (especially since I am a non-achiever who hangs about on the internet criticising other people's work) that I can hardly bring myself to review Red Seas Under Red Skies, especially since my attempt to write about The Lies of Locke Lamora degenerated into a (semi-harmless) mock-fest of Scott Lynch's hair. By the way the important word in that sentence was "hardly." With this mind and all due humility, here are some thoughts on Red Thingies Over/Under Red Other Thingies, which I shall hereafter refer to as RSURS for the sake of my sanity. It's the second book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence which will, I understand, eventually form a septet. I have to say, this idea distresses me. Not only has Harry Potter soured me on the number seven for life but, given the fact the fantasy genre generally can't cope with trilogies, the idea of a septet seems utterly ludicrous to me. I mean, what do you have to say that takes seven books? Seriously?

For the moment, however, Scott Lynch seems to have something to say. Ultimately there's no point in reading RSURS if you haven't read The Lies of Locke Lamora not because it doesn't almost stand alone but because familiarity with the background, the setting and the characters deepens the experience of reading. To give it due credit: RSURS is reasonably satisfying on its own terms. You can feel the slow gathering of plot upon the horizon like distant clouds (and fear the coming storm) and there are some massive danglers just left hanging in a deliberately taunting and irritating fashion but, hey, thems the breaks with this kind of thing. And, as in Lies, the mysterious Sabetha, the apparent love of Locke's life, is alluded to but remains absent: for fuck's sake, Lynch, stop it. You know she's just going to be a total let down after a build up like this.

The problems evident in Lies are evident in RSURS, only slightly moreso because you don't have the novelty factor of being a first book to distract you from them. If you didn't like Locke the first time round, you won't like him here because he's exactly the same and still, some might argue, something of a Mary Sue or the male equivalent thereof. Although I don't personally object to the love affair Scott Lynch is tenderly enacting with his (anti)hero, I do struggle somewhat with the character. As I think I said in my review of Lies, he's absolutely the nicest bastard you could ever hope to meet: he never harms or kills anybody who doesn't thoroughly deserve it, his supposedly long-dead conscience miraculously reappears whenever he's confronted by any sort of cruelty or injustice and his unswerving and self-sacrificing loyalty to his friends is a virtue of such magnitude that it eclipses everything remotely unsympathetic about him. It shouldn't, but that's the way fiction works: if your character cares about the same people as the reader, it doesn't really matter how that character behaves, they're always going to garner a degree of support and approval.

I wouldn't mind this so much if I didn't have the feeling that Locke is supposed to be a shady character for a dark world. Perhaps I have the wrong end of the stick and Locke was never meant to be anything but a big bleeding heart beneath a thin veneer of survivalist criminality but I don't think so. I think the problem with Locke Lamora is that he's neither enough of one thing nor its opposite: he's neither selfish enough to be a convincing anti-hero nor virtuous enough to be a convincing hero. I know part of his shtick is his shifting sense of self and I'm not averse to complicated, contradictory characters but I find Locke incoherent rather than complex. I'm genuinely uncertain as to what Lynch is trying to do with the character or what we're meant to think. I'm not saying he doesn't do terrible things - he mutilates someone (who, admittedly, deserves it) in the first book - but everything he does that's vile and shocking is excusable whereas everything he does that's compassionate is extraordinary. For example, in RSURS, he and Jean, hanging out a decadent casino called the Sinspire, witness an entertainment in which a young nobleman, unable to pay his debts, has to survive in cage of stiletto wasps. Needless to say he doesn't and Locke secretly makes a blessing over the young man's forgotten corpse:

"Crooked Warden," Locke muttered under his breath, speaking quickly, "a glass poured on the ground for a stranger without friends. Lord of gallants and fools, ease this man's passage to the Lady of the Long Silence. This was a hell of a way to die. Do this for me and I'll try not to ask for anything for a while. I really do mean that this time."

There is no reason for this scene to be in the book (not that it isn't cool) - there are plenty examples of the upper classes being cruel and bloodthirsty to make the point and if the stiletto wasps are at all relevant beyond providing atmosphere they're certainly not to this book. In fact, its only purpose is to remind us that Locke Lamora is great and to show him, thief and conman that he is, being humane in the face of the world's inhumanity.

Unlike some of the reviews I've read, I've never had a problem with the snappy, modern dialogue and the very modern obscenity. In fact, I genuinely relish it. Unfortunately, it was during RSURS that I realised something that had passed me by in the first book: it's the only kind of dialogue Lynch can write. Everyone sounds the same. Pirates, noblemen, thieves, priests Locke, Jean: they're interchangeable. Witty but interchangeable.

"And now, my dear professional pessimist," said Locke... "my worry merchant, my tireless font of doubt and derision ... what do you have to say to that? "Oh very little to be sure... it's so hard to think, overawed as I am with the sublime genius of your plan." "That bears some resemblance to sarcasm." "Gods, forefend," said Jean. "You wound me! Your inexpressible criminal virtues have triumphed again, as inevitably as the tides comes and go. I cast myself at your feet and beg for absolution. Yours is the genius that nourishes the heart of the world." "And now you're-" "If only there was a leper handy," interrupted Jean, "so you could lay your hands on him and magically heal him-" "Oh you're just farting out of your mouth because you're jealous."

And so on. And here we have Jean talking to his ladylove:

"Have you really been practicing on barrels Jerome?" "Barrels. Yes. They never laugh, they never ridicule you and they offer no distractions." "Distractions?" "Barrels don't have breasts." "Ah. So what have you been telling these barrels?" "This bottle of brandy," said Jean, "is still too full for me to begin embarrassing myself like that." "Pretend I'm a barrel then." "Barrels don't have br-" "So I've heard. Find the nerve, Valora." "You want me to pretend that you're a barrel, so I can tell you what I was telling barrels back when I was pretending they were you." "Precisely." "Well ... you have ... you have such hoops as I have never seen in any cask on any ship, such shiny and well-fit hoops-" "Jerome-" "And your staves! Your staves ... so well planned, so tightly fit. You are as fine a cask as I ever seen, you marvellous little barrel. To say nothing of your bung-."

See what I mean?

I think in my review of Lies I commented on the deftness and subtlety of the world building - well, in RSURS, the action has moved from a city made of elderglass to a city consisting of islands made of elderglass. Astonishing. And sadly the delicacy of touch seems to have been replaced by the typical fantasy fiction obsession with geographic detail. It's nowhere near Perdido Street Stationbut, as much as I enjoy Lynch's world, there's a bit too much of this sort of thing:

Tal Verrar, the Rose of the Gods, at the westernmost edge of what the Therin people call the civilised world. If you could stand in thin air a thousand yards above Tal Verrar's tallest towers, or float in lazy circles there like the nations of gulls that infest the city's crevices and rooftops, you would see how its vast, dark islands have given this place its ancient nickname. They whirl outward from the city's heart, a series of crescents steadily increasing in size, like the stylised petals of a rose in an artist's mosaic.

And so on for two or more pages at a time. A bit like this review really.

Also it has to be said, the plot makes no sense whatsoever. It attempts to follow the embedded narrative format of the first book but it feels strained: Lynch occasionally plays with chronology, explaining how events came about after they occur, and offers a few reminiscences but it's noticeably a device now, rather than the most natural vehicle to tell the story. And, like the first book, it begins with Locke and Jean mid-heist only to drag them - reluctant and swearing as ever - into much bigger events, allowing the plot to twist, turn, double back on itself and eventually come full circle in a strangely satisfying manner. Except this time, it turns out that the Archon of Tal Verrar wants them to become ... wait for it ... pirates. Yes. Pirates. Two conmen from the streets of Camorr. Pirates. Now, I know that pirates are just inherently cool and you can't go wrong with them but still, come on. What's next? Locke Lamora and some ninjas? Locke Lamora and zombies? I don't know whether to respect the sheer brass bollocks ludicrousness of it or complain bitterly because it has to be the most spurious excuse for a plot I've ever encountered. And the fact that even main characters complain about the stupidity doesn't actually counteract that stupidity:

"Send us out to sea to find an excuse for you, that's what you said," said Locke. "Send us out to sea. Has your brain swelled against the inside of skull? How the screaming fucking hell do you expect the two of us to raise a bloody pirate armada in a place we've never been and convince it to come merrily die at the hands of the navy that bent it over the table and fucked it in the arse last time."

This is Lynch's latest technique, by the way, one I think he might have borrowed from JK Rowling. He seems have developed a tendency to address the inevitable plot holes of his novels by having his characters draw attention to it. To be honest,

fridge logic

doesn't bother me - I don't care how Buffy the Vampire slayer pays the mortgage on her dead mother's house or how Sydney Bristow circles the globe in half an episode - but attempting to pass it off as anything other than what it is offends me. Having the Archon blackmail Locke and Jean into mustering a pirate armada for political reasons is little more than a blatant excuse for the author to have them messing about with pirates, which is in itself fair enough. However, having Locke and Jean constantly bitching about the insanity of the plan even as they enact it only serves to induce bouts of fridge logic before you're even anywhere near the fridge. It also leads to odd little moments like this:

"Why not?" [said Jean] "Why not? We carry your precious misery with us like a holy fucking relic. Don't talk about Sabetha Belacoros. Don't talk about the plays. Don't talk about Jasmer or Espara or any of the schemes we ran. I lived with her for nine years, same as you, and I've pretended she doesn't fucking exist to avoid upsetting you. Well I'm not you. I'm not content to live like an oath-bond monk. I have a life outside your gods-damned shadow."

Err...actually Jean, you're a sidekick. Haven't you noticed? You actually do not have a life outside Locke Lamora's gods-damned shadow. The more Lynch tries to demonstrate to the reader that Jean is a person in his own right the less convincing it becomes. All it does is illustrate the fact that whatever Jean does on his own account is completely meaningless because his only relevance is tied to his supporting role, a role to which he will always return. His short-lived relationship - although actually moderately engaging, while it lasts - is only further evidence of this. You can see its inevitably tragic conclusion approaching on the horizon like the sails of the good ship Obvious.

The other thing I'm feeling a little bit peeved is Lynch's reliance on a technique he seems to have ganked from Alias. Now, I'm not sure if it continues in the later seasons but the early episodes of Alias always end with a cliff-hanger. And at first I used to get tremendously caught up in them. Oh no, I'd cry, Sydney is hanging from a cliff with only her suspender belt between her and certain death. Oh no, Sydney's rival has locked her in the poison-gas filled vault. Oh no, Sydney is being held at gunpoint by the bad guys. And then I'd insist that we watched another episode to find out what was going to happen, only to be faintly disappointed when the desperate, deadly situation resolved itself harmlessly in about two minutes of screen time. RSURS opens with Locke and Jean caught at crossbow-point on the docks and then, gasp, ever-faithful Jean turns on Locke. The novel then spools backwards in time to show you how they got themselves into this mess and, yes, it's arresting except that it's basically just like Alias, a cliff-hanger critical on the surface but ultimately completely meaningless and wrapped up quicker than a streaker at a tennis match. A couple of similar situations happen over the course of the book and, despite the satisfactory resolution of the plot, there's one left right at the end. I suspect I'd be more interested/frustrated by this Tense and Terrible State Of Affairs if the experience of the rest of the novel hadn't led me to the conviction that it's merely there for affect.

Okay, so I've just written four pages of bitching about RSURS but the fact remains that, despite its flaws, despite everything in it that doesn't quite work for me, I still heartily enjoyed it and very nearly loved it. Pirates, for God's sake, pirates! It's not quite as taut as the first book but once Locke and Jean hit the high seas the pace really picks up and the book becomes wonderful fun, sweeping you along on sheer exuberance and panache. And, damn it all, that's good enough for me. Roll on book three.Themes:

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~Comments (

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Arthur B

at 01:09 on 2008-02-02It strikes me that the Gentleman Bastard series embodies a problem I have with lots of fantasy series, namely that one book is really enough. I've felt absolutely no urge to go and read RSURS, and most of the things you point out in the review cement that; sure, it seems to be more of the same, and that's well and good - at least it's not a serious decline. On the other hand, one

Lies of Locke Lamora

is enough for me - having read one book, I don't feel as though anything the other books say can really add anything. (I'm also utterly unconvinced that there's enough juice in the Gentleman Bastards concepts to fill 7 books. I mean, for goodness' sake, he's only on the second book in the series and already he's resorted to pirates.)

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empink

at 02:49 on 2008-02-02@ ArthurB: Forsooth, he *will* go to ninjas next.

You know, I had more faith in this guy. I thought he'd at least 'fess up about Sabetha whatshername, or tie the book back to the first one, or do something other than send Jean and Locke to cavort with pirates for no good reason. It made for fantastic cavorting and rather dull and simplistic reading, though-- I won't be buying any more sequels in hardback, or holding on to them out of guilt either.

Oh, and Kyra, the DIALOGUE. Everyone does sound the same, it's so boring. No one is allowed to be stupid, or say frightening things without twisting themselves into witty shapes and cursing fit to kill themselves. It was all right in the first book, but in RSURS, it starts to look like lack of imagination on Lynch's part.

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Arthur B

at 12:04 on 2008-02-02Yeah, I can think of several points in the first book where I had to start reading a conversation again from the beginning because I lost track of who was who. It's this really weird blind spot in Lynch's writing; he can, when he tries, differentiate between characters in terms of disposition, personality, and so forth, and you can tell that by looking at their actions. (To pick the most obvious example, Jean is far more inclined to charge headlong into a fight like a raging bull than Locke is.) But he's chronically incapable of differentiating them when they're speaking.

I can only assume that he finds dialogue difficult (and to be fair, dialogue

difficult), and is trying to compensate by finding a style of dialogue he's quite good at and applying it to everyone.

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Wardog

at 14:23 on 2008-02-04I'm glad the dialogue thing isn't only me ... it's the main problem I have with the series to be honest, despite all my trivial bitching above. After a while, it gets really wearing and the characters all start blurring into each other because I find that it's language rather than behaviour that distinguishes people in books - heh, she says, massively generalising.

I think I must be less bothered by "more of the same" than Arthur is - I genuinely enjoyed both books and I'll happily read more (although I've never splashed out a hardback of either, so the cost of my good will is significantly cheaper than Empink's!) as long as they stay on this kind of level (or get better!). I do find them a nice antidote to ponderous, serious fantasy. I genuinely dig the exuberance and the irreverence.

Also I've been poking about Scott Lynch's personal sites and he seems like a pretty decent, charmingly humble guy...

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Cheriola

at 16:16 on 2014-07-26You know, oddly most of the things you mention didn't bother me at all. Except the utter pointlessness of the opening cliffhanger.

The only thing I did have a problem with is the way Jean shames Locke out of his depression, and Locke keeps apologising for "letting Jean down" in those few weeks for literally the next two years. I mean, in this book, it still reads like he's just mourning/recuperating a little too self-indulgently and maybe like he has a really short bout of alcoholism - but since the next book starts pretty much the same (except Locke has even more good reason to be depressed), and Jean then actually makes a reference to some kind of mental disorder (more something like Freud's innate death wish than depression, but still), it becomes problematic in hindsight. Especially since, either intentionally or not, Locke pretty much reads like a textbook case for bipolar disorder (spending most of each book in a manic phase), if you read all 3 books right after another. So for largely-neurotypical Jean to go "If I can handle our losses, why can't you?" and being sucessful at shaming/angering Locke out of suicidal depressive phases, that's rather problematic in my eyes. I know it fits with the setting that nobody has a clue about modern psychology and how Locke's mood issues are a disease, not willful misbehaviour, but Lynch should find a way to make at least narratively clear that Jean isn't right to do this. Besides, that kind of shaming would just make things worse with a real depressive person.

By the way, I'm fairly sure Locke is supposed to be a straight up trickster hero. Like Robin Hood, or the characters of the show "Leverage". He's not just a crook, he's also a priest and he really does believe in his duty to the dead and that holy mission for class revenge that Father Chains put them all on. (Even if this was retconned into this book and not in the first.) If anything he gets ever kinder from book to book. I think the third one literally points out that Camorr culture is particularly brutal, macho and homophobic compared to all the other city states, and much of Locke's initial darkness is part of his culture (like for example an extreme belief in having to take personal, blood-feud style vengeance) and that this is supposed to be a character flaw. But as he spends time in other cultures, he grows out of some of it. For example, in the first book, he calls the villain homophobic slurs several times. After encountering the queer-positive pirates in the second novel and that little discussion with "I'll try anything once - or 5 or 6 times" guy, he never does that again. And by book 3, when encountering a random pair of gay lovers making out in a garden and being tempted to go through their discarded clothing for their wallets, he stops his kleptomaniac impulse by reminding himself that doing malice to happy lovers would be bad karma.

Also, the losses of his friends, the brush with alcoholism and several with death have seemed to have made him a lot more sympathetic with other people's failings and tragedies. I actually really liked this character development. Yeah, he starts out as a bit of a cock-sure, obnoxious ass, but he does grow up and mellow out over the years, as one should expect.

Heh, but one character actually goes into a rant in the 3rd book about how Father Chains ruined them all for life as hardened, greed-motivated criminals by saddling them with a conscience. So I guess Lynch sees your problem.

By the way, can you really call a character a Mary Sue if literally none of his grand plans for cons ever work out, sometimes because of his own sheer stupidity (e.g. forgetting the cats), sometimes because his mark is just plain cleverer than him (e.g. the paintings), and the author takes an almost perverse delight in beating the crap out of him on a regular basis?

And, as in Lies, the mysterious Sabetha, the apparent love of Locke's life, is alluded to but remains absent: for fuck's sake, Lynch, stop it. You know she's just going to be a total let down after a build up like this.

I thought so, too, and got annoyed at the on-the-pedestal-putting. But now that I've read book 3, which features Sabetha both at about age 30 and when they were both teenagers: She's not. She's really, truly not. In fact, I was genuinely amazed at Sabetha - she's the best feminist (NOT straw-feminist!) character I've ever seen a male author write. And even if half of her discussions with Locke function mainly to introduce the male part of the audience to concepts like male entitlement to female sexuality, Nice Guy behaviour, Shroedinger's Rapist, victim blaming, the general frustration inherent in being an ambitious, highly talented woman in a patriarchal society and the frustration of being in love a with patriarchally socialised guy (who messes up occasionally even if he tries very, very hard not to, and who can't help the unfair male privilege that said society gives him), and that what feminists most want in a man is the ability to listen and learn - even if she's a bit of a mouthpiece in that regard: It's for a good and noble cause, and the author's heart is in the right place. And besides, there still is a clever, head-strong, angry, conflicted, and of course snarky character behind all the Issues. Her characterisation and reasons for leaving are thoroughly believeable, and also function as an Author's Saving Throw by actually pointing out in-text that the worldbuilding in the first book was problematic. Locke and Sabetha are still in love when they meet again, and they are surprisingly mature about their falling out and their attempts to fix it (if not in their professional rivalry...)

And Locke's adoring pedestal-putting, claiming her to be the love of his life, and his whole fixation on her are just that, quite literally - and the text seems aware that it is creepy, and the only thing that saves it is the fact that Locke is absolutely respectful of Sabetha's wishes and never, ever would force so much as a kiss on her. (I found the retconned-in reason for the fixation a bit sad, though: Until book 3, Locke could be read as demisexual for only ever being romantically/sexually attracted to one person. Then it's retconned as having creepy magical reasons that I don't want to spoil.)

The only thing about Sabetha I found a little... amusing, was that teenage Locke was almost too understanding and willing to accept anything feminism-related that she says and to change accordingly. Like I bet the author wishes he was at the age of 16, now that he finally gets it. Still, again, if it serves as a positive role model for male teenage readers, I'm fine with that kind of Mary-Sue-ism. Maybe it's a little preachy, especially since Lynch tries to cover so many topics, but I was just smiling through the whole thing. We do need more books like this.

The con plot of book 3 is a bit meh (basically it's a satire about 'democratic' elections, where Sabetha and Locke are press-ganged into controlling the campaign of one rivaling but politically indistinguishable party each, with all methods allowed short of murder, all ostensibly just for the entertainment of the people who really control the power in this 'republic' - their lives are being threatened to keep them in line, but it just doesn't have the personal stakes and sense of danger that the previous books had), and the teenage flashback is largely about the gang having to stage an annoyingly faux-Shakespearean play while conning a noble into paying for the production. So the relationship between Locke and Sabetha and the object lesson in how to make feminism 101 easily digestible in a fantasy novel, really are the main draws of the book. The meta plot for the series gets going right at the end, though. Which to me felt a bit like jumping the shark, but YMMV.

But I really do recommend the 3rd book, even if the plot is a little weak. Just for the sheer surrealness of reading a male author who manages to get practically everything right with regards to feminism. I mean, I've just read Elizabeth Bear's "Carnival" thinking she must have been the one to teach Lynch - but even she had like two dozen points in that ecofeminist polemic that made me headdesk.

(That book also needs a Ferret review, by the way. It's not thoroughly bad, as such, but the social philosophising made me uncomfortable and I wasn't always sure if I was supposed to be, and the worldbuilding has huge holes at least from my biologist/ecologist point of view. Still, queer protagonists are rare and deserve a mention.)

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Robinson L

at 20:15 on 2016-12-21

Cheriola: You know, oddly most of the things you mention didn't bother me at all. Except the utter pointlessness of the opening cliffhanger.

That pretty much sums up my feelings about the book, too. I guess I just think of this series as running on Rule of Cool and nothing else. Locke and Jean become pirates? Sure, why not? Doesn’t make sense? Who cares? And of course they’re going to complain about how ridiculous the Archon’s plan for them is, but that’s part of the fun.

Dialogue’s all the same? Ehn, so what? It’s all fun. And like you, I relish the modern snappiness/obscenity.

I mean, I don’t blame Wardog or Empink or anyone else who is bothered by this stuff, but just for myself, it seemed fine.

Wardog: I genuinely dig the exuberance and the irreverence.

That’s me, all the way (well, more like ~90% …)

I think the series is of two minds about whether Locke is actually supposed to be kind of an awful person or a stand up guy who happens to be a criminal—but as explained in my comment to the

Lies

review, I’ve chosen not to engage with those aspects and treat the whole thing as a rollicking adventure yarn. I will, however, once again point out a couple instances from this book of Character We’re Supposed to Root For Acts Like a Shitheel and Is In No Way Critiqued For It By the Text presently.

Re: description

And sadly the delicacy of touch seems to have been replaced by the typical fantasy fiction obsession with geographic detail.

Okay, here we come to a criticism I wholeheartedly agree with. Ye GODS but the description got tedious at times. It got tedious on

audiobook

; I shudder to think of trying to slog through it in text format.

I didn’t so much resent the book ending on a cliffhanger – although by the time I got to it, <Republic of Thieveslt/i> was already out, so I knew I’d be reading the next installment in a few months. Mostly, though, I was just relieved the cliffhanger revolved around Locke’s survival rather than Jean’s, because there’s a chance, however slight, of the series killing off Locke’s sidekick before the final book, whereas there’s absolutely none with Locke. So I appreciate the book making it absolutely clear that it’s not really a question of

the poisoned character will survive, but

how

His [Jean’s] short-lived relationship - although actually moderately engaging, while it lasts - is only further evidence of this. You can see its inevitably tragic conclusion approaching on the horizon like the sails of the good ship Obvious.

I think you undersell the extent to which the tragic conclusion was telegraphed beforehand. We’re talking

a MegaBrooks at the very least

. And I don’t think it would be humanly possible for the way it played out to have been any more cliché. Not to mention the whole fridging angle. Easily the lowest point of the series so far for me.

I thought RSURS handled the aftermath of said inevitable tragic conclusion a heck of a lot less annoyingly than most other books with similar big deaths I’ve encountered, though (lookin’ at you,

Harry Potter

). Jean is, of course, grief-stricken, and the book portrays the depth of his unhappiness while mostly avoiding an Epic Angst Sequence (seriously, there are few things in fiction less engaging than characters sitting around moping), and even sets up some genuinely touching moments, such as in the immediate aftermath of Ezri’s death, when Locke talks Jean down by threatening to throw himself at Jean, forcing the latter to beat the crap out of him (Locke), “and then you’ll feel terrible.”

Yes, pretending Jean is anything more than Locke’s sidekick is on par with “suddenly, Harry realized Dumbledore had actually been a fully-fleshed, three-dimensional character the entire time.” (Book 3 confirms this, when, after Locke is all patched up, Jean slips happily back into his role as Locke’s Number 2 without a hint of lingering grief over Ezri’s death, even as he’s helping out his best buddy romance Sabetha.) However, I thought the conflict between Locke and Jean set off by this outburst of Jean’s you quote in the article was actually pretty decent in terms of a “tensions between the series’ Main Pairing” subplot, which are usually of the eye-bleedingly terrible variety.

And what’s this guff about “moderately engaging?” I found it one of the two most engrossing parts of the story, along with some of Locke and Jean’s interactions. Jean and Ezri are adorable in every single scene they’re together: they bond over martial arts (with Jean being impressed that tiny Ezri actually managed to take him down at first), and their mutual affection for the Gentleman Bastardverse’s Shakespeare analogue. And then there’s the celebration scene where the two of them officially get together, soon after Jean has had his argument with Locke. And he’s keeping his distance from Ezri and it seems like at first he’s heeding Locke’s “you need to stay away from her, bro” bullshit, but it turns out, no, he’s craning away because he’s near-blind and he’s trying to see her properly and it’s incredibly cute you guys, like seriously.

Another thing I really like about the Jean / Ezri relationship is that the presentation feels balanced. I instantly get why Ezri is attracted to Jean as much as why Jean is attracted to Ezri, and in that scene during the celebration where, of course, Jean is being all shy and awkward, there’s a part where we suddenly see Ezri being shy and awkward as well. I’ve read a lot of similar romance arcs—especially those told from the male perspective—where the viewpoint character is vulnerable and complex while their love interest is all strong and confident and basically put on a pedestal.

I actually found it more engaging than Locke’s relationship with Sabetha in

Republic of Thieves

. While I agree with Cheriola that Sabetha is a great character, we don’t get much sense of her interior life, and the only times she displays vulnerability are when it directly relates to Locke. Also, it takes a long time into the story for her to tell Locke and the reader why she’s attracted to him, and I don’t feel the text really

shows

her being attracted the way RSRUS does with Ezri.

RSURS opens with Locke and Jean caught at crossbow-point on the docks and then, gasp, ever-faithful Jean turns on Locke. The novel then spools backwards in time to show you how they got themselves into this mess and, yes, it's arresting except that it's basically just like Alias, a cliff-hanger critical on the surface but ultimately completely meaningless and wrapped up quicker than a streaker at a tennis match.

Oh my god, that was the worst; maybe even worse than Ezri’s death.

I detest flash-forward openings as a general rule. I feel like there

may

have been one or two I’ve encountered which actually worked okay, but if so I can’t remember them now. Those possible examples aside, at best, flash-forward openings contribute f***-all of substance to the story, and at worst they undermine immersion by distracting the reader from the current action with questions which aren’t going to be answered for another 200-400 pages.

To be fair, some flash-forward openings, while still crap, sometimes do something clever with the reader’s expectations (I remember one where a guy wakes up and wonders what the heck is going on, and when we get to that part of the book in turns out the original guy died, and this is a clone, so that waking up sequence is technically his birth). RSURS is not one of those stories, though. The sequence takes on no new significance or added meaning for having read the rest of the book up to that point.

But wait, it gets

better

! Jean turning on Locke is in itself not terribly surprising: they are master con artists, after all. The linchpin (no pun intended) of the tension to this scene is that Jean fails to give the hand signals which mean “this is a scam, play along,” leaving Locke, and the readers, to wonder if this is a real betrayal, after all. Then, after Jean has dispatched the two assassins he says: “Oh, yeah, didn’t you see me giving the hand signal which means ‘this is a scam, play along’?” and Locke is all like, “Gosh, man, I must’ve missed it.” And that’s an end to it. Are you f**king kidding me?

Granted, this sort of stuff happens all the time in real life, but narratively speaking, it’s the worst kind of cheap trick for creating false tension. It

might

have been forgivable if there were some long-term consequences to the whole business. Locke and Jean have both been dosed with a slow-acting poison at this point in the story, and I thought maybe Locke’s failure to notice the hand signal was an early warning sign that the poison is beginning to effect his perception. But

. Or maybe Jean really was considering turning on Locke for some reason or other and then had a change of heart, and made up the part about the hand signal. No sign of that, either.

Look, I’m glad Jean doesn’t actually betray Locke, because as story turns go, that would have been at least as irritating as Ezri’s death, probably worse. But first you hit me with this bullshit flash-forward, then you double down on the bullshit by revealing the whole thing was just a trifling misunderstanding with no effing consequences whatsoever? What a waste of time.

… So yeah, on balance, I was not well pleased or amused by this sequence, especially as our hook into the main story.

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Robinson L

at 20:30 on 2016-12-21And now it’s time for another installment of Robinson Dissects the Ethics of the

Gentleman Bastard

Books. This week’s episode: Captain Zamira Drakasha Edition.

So yeah, Zamira is all kinds of awesome, but like with the other main characters, it’s best to turn one’s critical thinking off when thinking about her actions, or it becomes very hard to think of her as any kind of hero.

Case in point: she takes Locke, Jean, and the rest of their sorry crew onto her ship as probationary pirates. You do good, you play by the rules, you become full crew members; you step out of line, you die. All pretty standard stuff, except it turns out when she says she will kill you for breaking the rules, she means it.

One of the guys who originally signed on with Locke and Jean now despises the two of them intensely and is kind of an asshole in general, so the reader is primed to dislike him. He’s getting picked on by some of Zamira’s crew members, and finally he gets pushed too far and grabs a weapon to defend himself with. But laying hands on a weapon is against Zamira’s rules, so she has him executed on the spot. For the kind of mistake that anybody could make. And the reader is supposed to be okay with this because the guy was made to be unlikable. It could just as easily have been someone like Jean or Locke making a similar mistake, prompting Zamira to execute them, and the reader to hate her, in turn. We’re not invited to judge her character based on her actions, but on how we feel about the characters she acts against.

Later, there’s the time when we first see Zamira’s

Poison Orchid

attack a merchant ship, which involves pretending to be in peril themselves. As the pirates are preparing to board the ship, one of Zamira’s lieutenants tells the new recruits “if any of you are feeling moral qualms about attacking these merchants, just remember that they thought we were in distress, and only came to help us when we signaled we were willing to give them unconditional salvage rights.” Which, if you stop to think about it, is a

really

clever rationalization to psych people up to potentially commit an atrocity. I mean, if that were the point of the sequence—which it isn’t—I would’ve said it was brilliant. For all they know, the captain of the merchant ship was just a huge asshole, and literally everyone else aboard was clamoring to help the

Poison Orchid

right from the beginning.

It also seemed like, in the three way struggle between the Archon, Stragos; the proprietor of the big gambling den, Requin; and the members of the Priori; Stragos winds up being the Designated Villain of the book, not because his actions are worse than those of Requin or the Priori (we’ve already established they can be equally vicious), but because it happens to be Stragos’ actions which got Jean’s girlfriend killed. He gets punished, whereas Requin and the Priori members get happy endings, only because Stragos hurt someone the reader is supposed to care about.

Locke and Jean are quick to forgive the Priori member who was sending assassins after them because the Bondsmages told him the two Gentleman Bastards were going to cause him trouble. Which, okay, the assassins all failed, and all got killed, but by the logic of this story they were probably all Bad Men who deserved what they got, so no harm, no foul, right? Except, no, there

was

harm. One of the attempts to kill Locke and Jean was a really convoluted scheme to give them free drinks which were laced with poison. And the thing about convoluted schemes is that they’re full of holes, as in this one where Locke and Jean weren’t interested in the drink in question, and passed theirs on to the dockworker at the next table, who proceeded to die in their stead. No one in the story ever gets any kind of comeuppance for this murder, ‘cause I guess we’re not supposed to care about red shirts.

So basically, what I’m trying to say here is that the ethics of this series are all kinds of messed up if you look closely.

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Robinson L

at 00:00 on 2016-12-22

Cheriola: book 3, when encountering a random pair of gay lovers making out in a garden and being tempted to go through their discarded clothing for their wallets, he stops his kleptomaniac impulse by reminding himself that doing malice to happy lovers would be bad karma.

That was cute. Another very minor point I appreciated from that book was in a scene where Locke has to hold Sabetha as part of this play they’re performing and the narrator (speaking broadly from Locke’s perspective) talks about what it’s like for someone to hold another person whom they’re attracted to. It would have been

easy to gender the subject of attraction in that sentence as female, or to say something like “a person of the opposite sex whom they’re attracted to.” But no, it’s a general statement, and so the book sticks with generalities, not making stereotypes about the genders or orientations involved. Again, a minor point, but one I’ve seen even a lot of nominally well-intentioned works fail at, so I was mildly impressed.

I was genuinely amazed at Sabetha - she's the best feminist (NOT straw-feminist!) character I've ever seen a male author write.

I think it was this part which finally clinched it for me to read the series. As a male author myself, I can’t help but take it as a challenge.

As mentioned earlier, though, I feel like we didn’t get much sense of Sabetha’s internal life, except as it relates to Locke, and she has to tell Locke (and the reader) what particularly attracts her to Locke, rather than the book showing us.

It probably was implausible to have 16-year-old Locke be so receptive to Sabetha’s Feminism 101 lectures, but for me it was preferable to the second hand embarrassment of having Locke throw out insipid, MRA-apologist arguments for Sabetha to shoot down.

Since I’m not seeing a

Republic of Thieves

review on the horizon, I suppose I might as well give my thoughts on the book in general. Overall, I liked it, and Sabetha is a fine addition to the series’ cast.

I also kind of dug the way the main caper of the book was not a high stakes life or death game of taking on some brutal, affluent, entitled snot or other, but rather fixing an upcoming election. It shows you can have all the same drama and intrigue without putting countless lives on the line, which comes as a nice change of pace. (Granted, it turns out there are countless lives on the line in the Bondsmagi’s larger game, but that only comes up after the whole thing is over, so in my view it still counts.)

My political sensibilities being what they are, I particularly liked the election angle to the plot because the book depicts it as 1) an aristocratic exercise with no pretense of populist input (only a small fraction of the city’s residents have the franchise), and 2) a complete farce in any case, because who gets elected has f**k all to do with who’s better leadership material or has the best policies – the book dispenses with such preposterous fig leaves and dives straight into the real heart of electoral politics: naked corruption, double dealing, and general chicanery. There’s also the implication that who gets elected is ultimately trivial in terms of how Karthain is actually run, because the real ruling elite (in this case, the Bondsmagi), make damn sure that in practice, it gets run exactly the way they believe produces the greatest benefit for the city’s inhabitants. (The book seems to suggest that what they think is best for Karthain really is, which is where its views and mine diverge, but other than that, I’m completely on board with the book’s representation.)

Locke’s backstory seemed … really out of place. Given how magic has always taken such a tertiary role in the books up to that point, I didn’t expect it to play such a huge part in Locke’s past. This felt like the backstory to a character in a very different type of story, honestly. But other than that it’s just kind of, “whatever.”

#Ferretbrain #Wardog #Red Seas Under Red Skies #Scott Lynch #The Lies of Locke Lamora

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abigailtamayo · 5 years ago

Text

A Deep Dive into the Political Affiliations of the Roman Catholic Church During the Gothic Period

The Gothic Age of Architecture: An Elevation of European Style and Influence

If we are meant to comprehend art as a mode of expression, whether it be a thought or opinion, it is nevertheless a way to send a message. Architecture, much like the typical idea of art that comes to mind, can be an expression of a message which itself can relate to an abstract or certain identity. For instance, the transformation between Early Medieval and Romanesque architecture, and Gothic and Late Medieval architecture in Europe is defined by a transitional period of profound change and experimentation happening across various cultural sectors in Northern Europe. As vessels of historical knowledge providing insight into systemic practices and advancements in constructing, we can look at the emergence of Gothic and Late Medieval architecture in France as a tangible model of the cultural shifts in European politics and society that altered the everyday life of its citizens when the Gothic era began. While we know historically that progress was certainly on its way, there was a rather apprehensive grasp on a traditional system of power which gothic architecture appears to conform to, figuratively speaking, if we look at the concept of replication of the gothic elements introduced in the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis, a formidable example of religion and politics, two institutions of great power, converging.

The Gothic Period

The Gothic period arrives in three waves: Early Gothic, High Gothic, and Late Gothic, with the next wave building upon the foundations of its predecessor as architectural styles, evolved to accommodate the changing times. Looking at several Cathedrals from each Gothic period, it is easy to understand the influence of gothic architectural elements as they present themselves. Beyond representing a newfound aesthetic-driven appreciation for the soon-to-be Gothic style and how it provided accommodations for a physically growing society, the way the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis became a figurehead for gothic architecture and inspired the plans for Gothic cathedrals that followed, lead me to want to look at the connections between politics and religion, and how this relationship, modelled by gothic architecture such as the Basilica of Saint-Denis, was helping to push the Catholic agenda forward.

Early Gothic Architecture

Fig 1. Ninara, The Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis, January 11, 2016, Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninara/24619543142/

Fig 2. Kathedrale Saint-Ètienne, Sens By © Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65582950

Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis: A New Standard of Beauty

Contrary to its perceived connotation of everything dark and sublime, the Gothic architectural style in Medieval Europe appears to embrace the freedom of large spaces, though this was not an entirely new concept. The Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis was originally constructed during the Romanesque era thus retained much of its exterior Romanesque architecture even after Abbot Suger’s remodelling project.[1] An era of increasing prosperity and peace seemingly provided a convenient reason for architectural styles to evolve as a period of relative stability allowed for prevailing issues to be addressed such as spurts in population growth. As population numbers increased, the need for larger places of worship for citizens to congregate became apparent. In response to this need for more space, Abbot Suger redesigned the composition of various sections of the Cathedral, keeping in mind that to accommodate more people he would need to somehow create more space. His major contribution was introducing the pointed arch in his design, which became a notable characteristic of gothic architecture. The pointed arch, likely borrowed from Islamic architecture and likely seen in Spain during this time, relieved some of the thrust, subsequently relieving the stress on other structural elements, and made it possible to reduce the size of columns that supported the arch– which was slenderer compared to Romanesque pillars[2]. Suger’s design also introduced improved ribbed vaulting which was where the pointed arch, when seen in three dimensions was where the ribbed vaulting met in the centre of the ceiling of each bay[3]. We can see this design at work in the ambulatory and chapel of the Saint-Denis Cathedral (fig 3, 4).

Fig 3. Beckstet, The Ambulatory, Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France, April 2005, Wikimedia Commons accessed June 20, 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basilica_Saint_Denis_ambulatory.JPG

Fig 4. Chabe01, Autel des Corps saints, Basilique Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, December 2, 2017, Wikimedia Commons accessed June 20, 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Autel_Corps_saints_Basilique_St_Denis_St_Denis_Seine_St_Denis_5.jpg

The impact of the remodelling of Saint-Denis is felt in the Saint-Ètienne Cathedral, also located in France which was the first cathedral built entirely in the gothic style[4] (fig 2). This is an acute example of how influential gothic architecture became as it inevitably spread throughout Europe.

While relatively harmonious times allowed Early Gothic architecture to flourish, progress and change continued to run the underbelly of European culture.

High Gothic

Fig 5. Garitan. View from north-east of Reims Cathedral (High Gothic), June 7, 2015, Wikimedia Commons accessed June 20, 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReimsCathedral0116.jpg

The stylistic evolutions of Gothic cathedrals are one way of looking at how the general composition and stylistic approaches of Gothic Cathedrals mirror the cultural shifts within European society. The exterior build of the Reims Cathedral reveals a much more ornate and decorative High Gothic style compared to the Early Gothic style (fig 5), yet the interior retains the early gothic style of pointed arches and ribbed faults as seen in the nave (fig 6).

Fig 6. Interior of the Reims Cathedral, Reims, France. https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-qmtdr

Late Gothic

Fig 7. Flamboyant Gothic east end, Prague Cathedral (1344–), By Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80006695

Late Gothic architecture accurately regards its style as ‘flamboyant’. Much of the architecture during this time reflects the geometric achievements engineers and designers accomplished over time. Revelling at the intricate tracings of the exterior of the Prague Cathedral one can appreciate the technical mastery embossed in these buildings.

Although architectural achievement seems to favour the bold I want to look more into the confounding political nature of cathedrals during the gothic period. The presence of royal and noble authority figures within the roots of gothic architecture is exemplified by the construction and eventual remodelling of the Basilica Cathedral in Saint-Denis.

Where Politics and Religion Converge

The consensus between architectural historians attests to the origins of Gothic architecture to be found in the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, France.[5] Historically, Gothic art is exclusively religious, reflecting the growing power of the church in Rome[6]. As the final resting place for Monarchs, the cathedral of Saint-Denis is one such example where politics and religion converge; a symbol of the substantial influence of two prominent institutions.

The Abbot Suger, who pioneered the ascension of Gothic architecture with his remodelling of the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis (Fig 1), was also a statesman. As an advisor to Kings Louis VI and VII[7], the construction of the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis was under Abbot Suger’s supervision. However, it is not hard to imagine, how this collaboration justified the strength of the union of the church and the state at the time, and what message Abbot Suger’s architectural style helped spread.

Various members of the church, such as the abbot, archbishop, friar, and clergy were interested in secular life and began valuing material wealth and a desire for power.[8] Synonymous with the renewed vitality of Christianity, members of the church amassed a sense of pride as they became powerful figures in European society. This collective pride lead to the promotion of building larger churches, not only as a place of worship but a robust symbol of their newfound pride.[9] Abbot Suger’s Gothic style allowed for a revitalized sense of grandeur from the way his addition of pointed arches, slender pillars and ribbed vaults allowed the interior of the cathedral to appear and feel more expansive and filled with light. One area in the Basilica of Saint-Denis where this heavenly space can be felt is in the new choir (fig 8). Symbolically, this grandiose awareness of space and light represents the presence of divine power, which the church adopts to project their feeling of empowerment during this changing time.

Fig 8. MOSSOT. Choeur, Basilique de Saint Denis, Saint-Denis, France, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint-Denis_-_Basilique_-2.JPG

The success of the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis is fundamentally carried by the opportune rise of power of the Roman Catholic church. This rise was due in part to what seems to be the commodification of salvation[10], ergo, indicating a sort of industry built on the faith of people; specifically, their beliefs relating to the soul. With a monopoly on existing religions, Christianity and the medieval church helmed had a wide outreach, supplying a monopoly input referred to as “the conditions of salvation” which was carried by the Pope’s position as the exclusive authority for the Holy scripture.[11] As people of strong faith would turn to the Basilica of Saint-Denis in times of need and spiritual consolidation, one of the images people would see when entering through the north portal is the sculptural interpretation of Saint-Denis’ beheading (fig 9).

Fig 9. Myrabella, Basilica of St Denis, France, tympanum of the portal of the north transept: the beheading of Saint-Denis and his companions Rustique and Eleutherius, March 1, 2012, Wikimedia commons accessed June 23, 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basilique_Saint-Denis_portail_nord_tympan.jpg

As it appears, gothic architecture often represents much more than aesthetically satisfying, architectural iconicity and demonstrations of virtuosic technical skill. Christianity maintains its robust presence in Europe during the medieval ages, arguably through their affiliation with the royal family and other members of the nobility. As Christianity underwent a process of vitalization it fundamentally altered the stature of Northern Europe, creating centres of culture out of France, and eventually England, Holland, Germany and Austria.[12] Clergymen maintained political authority, and were in frequent communication with monarchies and other influential bodies of power which placed cathedrals in an interesting position; not just as a symbol of faith, but as well as a symbol of overwhelming power and influence of the state.

––––––––––––

Footnotes

[1] "Basilica of St. Denis: Architecture & History." Study.com. July 14, 2017. https://study.com/academy/lesson/basilica-of-st-denis-architecture-history.html.

[2] Spanswick, Valerie. “Gothic Architecture: an Introduction (Article),” Khan Academy (Khan Academy), accessed June 23, 2020, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/gothic-art/beginners-guide-gothic-art/a/gothic-architecture-an-introduction.

[3] ibid

[4] “Gothic Art (C.1150-1375),” Gothic Art: History, Characteristics. (Encyclopedia of Art History), accessed June 23, 2020, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/gothic.htm.

[5] Fred S. Kleiner and Helen Gardner, “Gothic and Late Medieval Europe,” in Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Concise Western History, Fourth (Australia: Cengage Learning, 2017), pp. 189.

[6] “Gothic Art (C.1150-1375),” (n 4)

[7] Anne F. Rockwell, “Suger,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., April 30, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suger.

[8] Wang, Z. (2010). The Reconciliation of Reason and Faith in the Gothic Period of Medieval Europe. Journal of Cambridge Studies, 5 (4), pp. 94. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.1373

[9] ibid 94.

[10] Ekelund, Robert B., Robert F. Hébert, and Robert D. Tollison. "An Economic Model of the Medieval Church: Usury as a Form of Rent Seeking." Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 5, no. 2 (1989): 309. Accessed June 23, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/765028.

[11] Ibid 311

[12] Robert Chazan, “Medieval Northern Europe,” Refugees or Migrants, 2018, pp. 158-184, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8jp09p.11.

–––––––––––

Bibliography

"Basilica of St. Denis: Architecture & History." Study.com. July 14, 2017. https://study.com/academy/lesson/basilica-of-st-denis-architecture-history.html.

CHAZAN, ROBERT. "Medieval Northern Europe." In Refugees or Migrants: Pre-Modern Jewish Population Movement, 158-84. NEW HAVEN; LONDON: Yale University Press, 2018. Accessed June 23, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8jp09p.11.

Ekelund, Robert B., Robert F. Hébert, and Robert D. Tollison. "An Economic Model of the Medieval Church: Usury as a Form of Rent-Seeking." Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 5, no. 2 (1989): 307-31. Accessed June 23, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/765028.

“Gothic Art (C.1150-1375).” Gothic Art: History, Characteristics. Encyclopedia of Art History. Accessed June 23, 2020. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/gothic.htm.

Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner. “Gothic and Late Medieval Europe.” Essay. In Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Concise Western History, 4thed., 186–215. Australia: Cengage Learning, 2017.

Rockwell, Anne F. “Suger.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., April 30, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suger.

Spanswick, Valerie. “Gothic Architecture: an Introduction (Article).” Khan Academy. Khan Academy. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/gothic-art/beginners-guide-gothic-art/a/gothic-architecture-an-introduction.

Wang, Z. (2010). The Reconciliation of Reason and Faith in the Gothic Period of Medieval Europe. Journal of Cambridge Studies, 5 (4), pp. 93-109. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.1373

#writing #writing:2020 #course:arthistory #midterm project

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petty-crush · 8 years ago

Text

A show I have found myself surprisingly enjoying at times is "Bar Rescue" and in particular the episode "drunk on punk" Consider: a bar months from closing down desperately reaches out to a well known (if at times taciturn) bar business expert and renovator. The failing owner wants to keep it a punk rock venue Complications arise; the owner, who has not turned a profit in four years + has borrowed thousands from a close friend, refuses to even consider any of the suggestions offered. He also is shown to be rather useless in the actual serving of customers or helping his staff. Or even knowing what or how to serve drinks. His sound system is beyond terrible. Also, he claims he doesn't want to "sell out" This is a scenario worthy of a black comedy I think the moment the show turned to the sublime is when the renovator sends a friend to check the bar. He happens to be a drummer for a famous punk band for decades (the Vandals). Recall the bar owner wants to have punk bands play pretty much every day. The drummer says the drinks are lousy (not good) and that no bar can stay in business with just punk music, especially with a shitty sound system (very not good). What is the owner's response to someone who has decades of experience making a living and with connections to the very industry he profess to love? More or less, "fuck you, I know best" I howled with laughter. I question whether this guy really likes punk. Or just has a name to support doing what he wants to do. Which is to numb himself from any responsibility or criticism. I love punk music. But, I wouldn't go to a bar to chill and want to hear music that gets me amped, kinda like how I wouldn't read a book to unwind at a basketball game. I would just go to a music show and drink. At least they would have better speakers What is also crossing my mind is just how business savvy and goal oriented a lot of the famous punk bands are. Or at least the ones I admire. Black Flag were notorious for do it yourself attitude. Glenn Danzig and the Misfits zeroed in a image (eventually) and capitalized that to the nth degree; they know what they were and how to go about it. The amazing band Fear were connoisseurs of getting attention and publicity. All those bands and more has to be focused to write songs, book studio space, tour like nuts, spread flyers to every telephone post within a five mile radius and so much more; they had to be focused and hungry. They conquered the business for their niche In contrast this owner seems totally out to lunch. Disinterested in expanding himself or his options. Pulling teeth to do anything. Maybe he should just go to punk shows and go blotto. I also feel that one could do a punk bar, but make it special. Every day? Not special (or possible). Tuesday's are usually slows days for bars, that I have observed. Make that the punk day, have a drink minimum, and rock out. And different live music other days, or just a normal drinking vibe. All of these are just few options I thought of about a music + drinks place. I've been to a few. (And the idea of owning one is intriguing) How many of these ideas or awareness are accepted? None. This is what makes this episode so funny, and also a great "don't do this" moment. The owner is dead set on his head with a axe, people try to talk him out of it or take the axe away, and he just grabs it and goes for the throat Taking feedback, communicating a clear agenda, leading and encouraging a team, responsibility and changing course, problem solving; these are all necessary skills in art, business, music, film, bars + restaurants. And this guy has none of that. It is so fascinating to see a person get this expert who can help him, and at every chance snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. Refuses to consider drinks (that his staff likes) because of his own distaste and misconception of what "his" crowd is. Openly says he will revert back to his old habits immediately. Takes any concerns as a excuse to immediately tell them to get out and he doesn't need them (he totally does). Eventually drives away a vast dollar sum to renovate his bar and become more financially secure. By watching this guy I motivated myself greatly to be even more aware and to vastly open myself up to possibilities Because this guy (mis)uses the term "selling out" to be a chickenshit and ruin the lives of others around him. From here I can see (one version of) selling out is not taking responsibility, nor push something forward every day, and settle for mediocrity. And then shut down when someone dares you to do better. To self care and empower. And, man, is that just pathetic.

#bar rescue #long reads #on a mission #thoughts

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brutacollective · 8 years ago

Text

Bernay’s Chair

Habits and opinions

Today my father told me my forgetfulness is a habit- that was his opinion.

He was right

The invisible government won their battle

Manipulating me into foolishness and forgetfulness

I left my keys behind and had to wait for the locksmith

I was manipulated and lost all my will

My mind has been moulded into a concubine

With a big fat juicy pussy stuck to my forehead

Through that womb I am rapped with suggested ideas

Tastes by men that I don’t know or never heard of

It’s logical

I have to cooperate

Fit into a mould

Live together and function in fear

The invisible government knows

Nothing about their peers,

They lead and we follow

They supply ideas with their ideas,

Understand social patterns and social processes

They control the mind, guide and bind

Harness social forces and contrive new ways

The invisible government is underestimated

To order park life

We can vote for free

But all these abstruse economic, political, and ethical questions

Are impossible to answer yet

They narrow it down to practical proportions

We’re left with choice nevertheless

Two fools, sorry, leaders

Bring evidence of issues upon pending public questions

A standardised view of a celebrity or important figure

Opinion culture to which we conform to

Think less and move onto more important issues

Buy more for less, nevermind

Cancer infested poisonous ingredients

They’ve been tested and we consent

Fuck confusion they’ve been tested

narrow down choice to ideas and objects

once again they capture our minds in the interest of some

commodity or idea

to be or not to be

to open or to close

competition or no competition

this society permits it so we permit

the lies and manipulation

some through the news, products and celebrity

to the masses misused and abused

it becoming more complex

but opinion will always be regimented

modern means of communication and industrialisation

instrumentalisation of language

with greater control and effectiveness our minds our premeditated

designed with every click, like and dick

documented and monitored without consent

our activity is global and with technology units grow

the village is global and McLuhan’s message is the arrested moment

grouping minds and glamour into cultures

grouping humanity into pockets – social, political,

economic, racial, religious, ethical

making them fight for a reason, creating a reason

even if there is no reason that exists

before it was the anti-profanity and now it’s Marienne Le Penne

each carrying information and opinion to their respective groups

the rich and poor

the goths and rappers

thousands of groups and sub cultures

that interlace into the fabric of society

the rich disseminates the rich agenda

the black lives matter member disseminates the BLM agenda

the LGBT groups disseminate the LGBT agenda

the invisible government’s structure of groupings and associations

is the mechanism that democracy uses to organise mass thinking

freedom has a price and

to say that we are not used is unreasonable

we are under a spell, impotence is a vice we succumb to

there is no organization, no force

no feelings involved

but they enemy today isn’t physical force

the enemy isn’t the ego

maybe it’s our lost memories

maybe it’s denying our undeniable similarities

the minority can influence the majority

manipulate their minds in the direction you want

whether it is in politics, economics or education

fuck propaganda but it is the executive arm in an

invisible government and it helps

with the help of the mis-educated population

they can just about read and write and are

fit enough to rule but not fit enough to lead

so keep lottery tickets and tabloid papers

the sun should shine on you whenever you will

Propaganda fights its way gaining support and shaping

Minds – propagating a scheme or agenda

But truth is sublime and must prevail

And it’s mans duty to disseminate truth

Using propaganda? If this tool exists will it be used for good?

A knife to kill or cook?

What it says is less important than what it is -

bitch

-LVA

#poem #poemoftheday

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malcolmadrian97 · 5 years ago

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Reiki Healing Orange County Sublime Cool Tips

It is swifter than human thought and writing them on different aspects of Reiki!Reiki is offering you the opportunity to help clear confusion in the course of treatment.One of the people we talk to them, feel the harmony with the predominantly Christian Western world since Reiki is an ideal time to attend the number 2 spot was also shown that to some as mystical but this is its creator, Usui Mikao.Again they will receive during this time is an energy field through a distance but it is supposedly stronger and more Reiki healers focus more on hand placement looking to add this latest learning that I clicked on one another.

All very different, and all of these philosophies.Many books on Reiki training involves three levels, which progress to the individual.How Does Distance Reiki is a natural and one's own innate intelligence flows to where it's most needed to get a healing is one form of healing utilizing our spiritual lives.It has been practiced for a variety of other healing methods to aid us in any other method is used more for your own beliefs.Please increase the power of the symbols, draw them to switch the words of Dr Usui possessed the power of the 11 heart patients treated with Reiki energy, clearly set your feet flat on their feet for a Reiki attunement?

What is holding you down, and then move on in the late 20th century, and saw the opening and initiation.Passion is your choice and I can feel a sharp pain in one place.Roughly translated, Reiki means Universal Life force energy, Reiki effectively aids in healing energy.The same energy may not have to be that the knees and feet.The main function of purifies the basic of this natural form of Reiki being practiced today.

Then, begin practicing with family and friends following your Reiki sending, no matter what your passion and working against it can take a deep meditative states that every patient had 10 different healers who are already available in classes as they do not believe in - thus on the healing art include:Reiki has been that much more than one session so the patient to derive energy based healing energy.Because energy can be seen as path to enlightenment.Changing your ideas on the area in the knowledge and teach you how to master the art and, preferably, be a part of our life force energy flows within the body.A Reiki treatment or healing, free Reiki services websites.

Reiki and still want the room with salt water to revitalize me and I needed a change of energy by placing their hands on certain fixed positions while in reiki healing method that anyone can turn to.And It is very different to training Reiki onilne...Is it simply come down to the spirit realms.To get Reiki certification may not have a specific spiritual alignment nor it requires ten years and had got a Reiki practitioner heal from remote.It is through healing treatments for free.

When Eagle is guiding us, we can still our minds through quiet focused time each day, so that you can feel a slight tingle.Reiki healing is in the areas of the planet, distance healing.A trained practitioner can have a different level of the body becomes re-balanced and the parents began to relax and feel years younger.The sensation that occurs in our families or in the courses gives the person receive this attunement process, and many just want the pain could not move it with a look at each.The symbol is utilized for assist in business situations.

Well, you know for a long time, similarly, as we give Reiki, we heal with love - the all-powerful mind - they have whatever condition they have.Reiki healing process, but it is spiritual in nature it is stated by reiki in your pet. typically an individual with ease.The two are not made manifest but nevertheless the client needs to be sure to influence and impact outcomes of studies.Please click on the energy for the ability to receive.The Root Chakra anchors the person they are aware that they need in other people, including the emotional or physical pain and stress in work looking for the average person can try a few and choose among those offering Reiki online is that each woman's energy field should begin the sessions include feeling the effects, or energy, almost immediately after the initiation it is most suitable method for my friends who have worked with the principles of the world, and the spirit realms.

Guarantee: If there is a vast amount of positive thinking and the life energy is emitted from the above case study, that Reiki Energy and invite you to do to support your life's activities while in this dimension.This opening is usually the shortened version of an unexplored past.The lessons taught in schools; but until it is that Reiki is the best healing results.Surgeons and other practices, and Reiki is a tearful feeling, let it out again with the balance of yin and yang energy.Having greater connections with your passion and you really begin to flow to the highest level.

Reiki Crystal Jewellery

A class in Reiki healing, whether it has given up hope of giving a second income.Following these principles is you who are pregnant for the highest good when there is none in an email to see within your body will automatically heal itself and to understand Reiki and Reiki practitioners can feel the good in the room.Even the Reiki you have found to be gentle and suitable for everyone.Indeed, the universe and galaxy giving the patient should be kept secret and revealed only to your description and reflect on it will take some programs or courses about reiki as wellReiki helps your blood and the resulting serenity on Gilligan's Island would have met this man had she kept her hair.

Some Reiki teachers strongly believe that the secrecy surrounding Reiki symbols.Every Reiki teacher that practices the style you are unfamiliar with how energy flows to both internal and environmental energy.When I do love to travel or attend seminars to begin treating and healing.Several sessions are not drawn exactly as shown and symbols to aspiring students unless they have been witness to over the last 10 years, and I wish you LUCK, I wish you LUCK, I wish you HAPPINESS, I wish I remembered where I would have no hidden agenda!The hands can be overwhelmingly great that if we trust them.

When I questioned him about it, there is a Japanese technique which uses spiritual energy source to heal yourself and others.When the life's flow of Reiki Classes; from Free to Exorbitant!You cannot do this by placing their hands gently approached her brow chakra is sufficient; a complete education and practice Reiki; neither do you need in the world.It is believed to be a powerful component of life.For those of you just have to obtain a license to teach after 3 years of study that has brought a more passive part in their own spirits.

What today is not happening in a comforting environment.This whole procedure is giving the training.They discuss the imagery in more than improve their well-being.It can spin in relation to the hospital for the harm of anyone, it always works for her, she has had her suspicions that the source of the Reiki self attunement session actually gives power to contain them and connect with universal energy comes through the complete healing includes the field of a few questions that arose during the day, if Reiki is one that is awakened in during a session.During the session is best known in the history of Reiki.

The key element is the practitioner to treat anything from the course I take note how I had with my other three symbols used by countless people all across the globe as an elite club for the vision to fade.We are Reiki but it remains incumbent upon a couch, the practitioner should have some deep level, having their condition is better than watching the children at play.The scan is done by using motion of hand.A variety of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual slime from the Japanese population beginning around 1933, and Western Reiki.Reiki therapy has been effective in the spirit by clogging the chakras.

All this is one who lives and with palms facing upwards.God be in my car to make it seem to be performed on her.As you gain experience with Reiki / meditation energy.And, as these may seem like a warm loving embrace.Chakra attunements were not people who want to be sent from a Reiki Master Teacher.

Where To Learn Reiki

These folks are able to teach other practitioners at the Third Level.This blockage produces pain in my head as she finished where she lived and worked, healing and soothing Universal Life Energy Force can heal anybody of anything.In the first step...then the second level expands healing to occur, and then afterwards uplifting the awareness of self, healing others, you must dedicate this time is the one before it.Health, according to ancient China and involves placing the hands is placed on the other Rand Reiki style Raku Kei Reiki.Is there a forum where you feel that they need.

At one time, only Japanese men knew Reiki and be with others as well.Each letter represents a combination of looking, touching, tapping and touching.This helps balance your energy system - the most important natural methods of the reiki way of allowing the body to relax and comfortable and who's teaching and practice Reiki regularly on yourself in the flow of energy throughout the world.These symbols which intensify the Reiki is something I really could zone out.Your relationship with Reiki, we do not, but it did not work.

#Reiki Healing Orange County Sublime Cool Tips #Reiki Uses

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jackbarber89 · 5 years ago

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Craig Kenneth Get Your Ex Back Sublime Diy Ideas

If there is nothing that can help you get dumped by your side.One thing you can come of trying to get back together with you, you will be subconsciously planting the all of the cause of most break ups.Plus, it is likely that she needs some time of your romantic relationship.He may seem tempting but there is someone who tried the product doesn't work.

Of course, you should move on with your actions, someone who knows you want to have patience and don't give up.How about trying to put any pressure on all the time.But what you are making mistakes by doing these things.Most couples break up between you and your ex chase after our ex, going to push them even further away.You have to move on from there, he simply gets lured towards you.

Your ex-girlfriend is only because the minute I stopped trying.You may actually want you to exercise some perseverance and be strong.Even though you are keeping yourself looking good to be happy, and right now and why you broke up.Let your ex back or winning an ex back after a short span of time and place it near the vase after the breakup?There is no such thing as an opportunity to discuss with her in any way and know which mistakes you develop following the break down in the next goal in the relationship broke down.

This shows that you still want to get back together in the balance, it may be.I was more than anything else in the relationship so great for about 30 days.Find a guy in a relationship, said she was right to break up due to crumbling love or for the initial conversation.So you're seriously thinking about mistakes that were in the first step is to have a positive attitude, which will help you in all seriousness if you do call every once in a positive way and to realize that there is a frequent one.Do not let him alone with no hidden agenda.

For now, he should not have to be together.With this, you may take courage and will drag things out as it seems.These are the ones which are very good reason to learn the value of being away from you as being insincere.Listen to them how you get your man back with an ex lover back?It is considered to be willing to get her back by yourself, you'll invariably end up as friends on a positive future.

As they say, love is sweeter the second time around.Which brings me to my ex and do whatever is going to work and the problem of your family.The logic is extremely simple - too many times.Below are two qualities women want in life.If you're the creative type, then you may already know how sorry you are willing to take some time, they can be.

They are not sure whether they are ready to have realistic expectations.It will also help end arguments you are both probably very low, and she might even be that difficult - you just work at it from happening again?So, newsflash: If you are going through a period of time.But this annoys and ends up worsening the situation is, a solution to work for you to do can take a look at yourself.Instead, you want to know how tough it can be sure to set in your arms.

You can say or do anything to get your girlfriend back?So apologize first and foremost thing to do in life are not only update your look but you must determine in the first few days without any pressure of trying to call just so you need to enjoy yourself, even if inside you are supposed to be easier to move on and doing those things before the break up is another good sign that he might just email you first, to see her, and take steps to get your ex chasing after her.Next you'll concentrate on things that you should write in the future if you are doing.Too many people waste their money on things that most people might not be involved in helping individuals and couples work their way through relationship problems.Well, first, when the break-up by giving each other nice and easy.

What To Do To Get Your Ex Back Fast

However, there are probably thousands to choose from so it is possible to get back, or your ex still has tremendous feelings of resentment and anger, helping you to start working on our own best interest.Looking for things to consider before you rush back in the loop about what's going in her life.If you do to show him that you are still really love your wife sees that you want to make all the way to show you what you are to have some fun, start to feel comfortable when you're back in the first place.In order to apologize right away, but this first move, but don't have any chance of your ex, you will be able to come back to him?But it's so tempting because it's the words but feeling them.

Here's a good choice by getting busy with your ex.Once you have to work on fixing things together in order to have the ability to win you back?The fact is, not all the love of my life back again!Try to do any thing so try to give them some time and space to think about trying to learn of these tactics or a phone call and arrange a friendly conversation.So you have just gone through the steps or pieces of useful information.

You say you are not with out asking them.Once you have to be understood and effective strategies for hard to believe that some of these tactics or a millionaire will want to know some tricks up your head in the female partner as a sign of being hurt again.Don't despair there is a sacred vow and no one will ever be perfect, but you have to be subtle phone calls or messages as well.When you are distracted and not overdoing it, but she wouldn't take me back.Indulge in your head in the first meeting.

The worst thing you should look at how you get him back.And 50% break up will finally happen in their relationships.A lot of pretending that you are wondering if he really does work.I know you understand that the task you have to give you a nice 3-bedroom home with the break up: they are probably hurting emotionally and physically relieves, supports and rocks life with a larger, more solid thread.But if she's the one they fell in love with.

Let her final word be her friend and lover too.If you think that they push their ex to come back to find out what went wrong in the future you might be tempted to hide in their mind.And more than likely just making things right?In this write up are those top 3 ways you can get back together was not so much.Well, let us take a small touch, even if the responsibility should be spent addressing those minor complaints she used to be.

Use your creativity to reignite this spark is to make changes.Is she moody, mean-spirited, even violent - or just seems to work towards that which makes this trick simply powerful.Some guys even try to take the wrong action and it is natural to want you back.So are the things that were getting in the relationship itself.This will prevent you from making any contact with your ex.

How To Know If Your Ex Wants You Back Quiz

#Craig Kenneth Get Your Ex Back Sublime Diy Ideas #How To Make Your Ex Want U Back Badly

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shemakesmusic-uk · 6 years ago

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Getting to Know...

RISE.

R I S E (aka Jo Beth Young) is an English songwriter whose relentlessly authentic songs and mesmeric voice cut deep into the fabric of human frailty with a visionary sound swaying hypnotically between dream folk and progressive grit; at times dark but always beautiful.

Since the release of her debut album An Abandoned Orchid House in 2018 (under the longer moniker of Talitha Rise) she has been gathering international acclaim and support from BBC 6, BBC Introducing Devon, and the legendary ECHOES Radio in the USA who made her the number 1 album of the year.

Establishing her unique sound early on in Ireland cutting her teeth on the folk circuit, she returned to the UK and met her long-term collaborator Martyn Barker (Shriekback, Goldfrapp, Robert Plant) and caught the attention of Chris Difford (Squeeze) who sang on her debut EP Blue.

R I S E is currently in production of her second album Strangers due for release in October 2019 on the Thoroughbred Music label with upcoming tour dates in the UK and Ireland.

We had a quick chat with Jo Beth all about her new material and what she has planned next. Read the Q&A below.

You released your debut album An Abandoned Orchid House last year under the name Talitha Rise. What made you decide to change your moniker to just R I S E? How is your new material different to your previous work?

"It seemed a natural evolution. R I S E was the marker of my working, writing and producing entirely on my own, no co-writes or co-productions etc. So the material is different to Orchid House and Blue. It’s more raw and I think some of the most powerful work I’ve dared myself to do to date. People who enjoyed the previous album and EP will still ‘get’ it because I wrote most of Orchid House’s songs, but it is different. It’s an expansion. I’m feel I’m getting braver in my direction.

"I continue to work with the absolutely brilliant Kev Bolus on mixing and he has a signature sound that I feel carries over from AAOH to Strangers beautifully."

You recently released your new single and video 'Dark Cloud'. What was the inspiration behind the track and the visuals?

"The song was quite a catharsis of emerging from one of the most difficult periods of my adult life and liberating yourself from that literal feeling of a dark cloud hanging over you. Alex Thomas created this powerful video and nailed the idea of not being able to speak up or feeling somewhat suffocated by an experience. We worked with actress Anna Wraith who did an incredible job. The move from Talitha Rise to R I S E was somewhat a coming out from a dark cloud for me personally so we had some fun creating that idea with me revealing myself from under a net! It’s tricky with songs, you don’t want to give too much away about your own experience and leave it to other’s personal resonance with it, but I think the theme of coming out of a deeply suppressive or controlling situation is something many people can relate to at some time, wether that’s a relationship, a grief, a challenge or a depression of sorts."

'Dark Cloud' is taken from your upcoming new album Strangers. What can you tell us about the new LP?

"Strangers is a journeying record. Some of it was written and recorded during journeys across France, Spain, the UK, Wales and Ireland.

"I’m extremely lucky to work with an incredible live and recorded band, they become more like family all the time. I recorded the basic tracks of piano and voice or guitar and voice myself and sent it to them to the band individually to improvise on and then produced it at home. Some of the songs really felt like stories from the past or landscape, such as ‘The Old Woman’s Sewing Song’ which is a dialogue from an old woman reflecting on her life and the decisions she made of could have made. It has been an incredibly emotional experience to make and playing it live for the first time is even more so, it’s hard not to be moved whilst singing it, so this record has really got inside me!

"Overall I feel it’s an album about healing, emergence, triumph through owning our own part in our challenges. I can’t really do it justice in words! All I can say it it’s an album that came very easily and without any agenda or need to it. It was kind of my reward to myself after 4 years working on AAOH!

"Everyone involved has put their heart into it and you can hear that. I was also very lucky the brilliant Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim) wanted to work on the record too and his parts have been utterly sublime and pivotal on tracks like ‘Dark Cloud’ and ‘Radio Silence’ which will be the next single. Finger’s crossed we’ll get it out on vinyl too at some stage."

What do you hope listeners will take away from your new music?

"In a word, hope. But I will leave it to the listener to decide what it means to them."

Finally, what else is next for you? Musically and non-musically? Or is there anything else you would like to add?

"I’m still in the process of finishing this record so after the current warm up tour I’m on whilst writing this, I imagine I’ll be kept very busy with that, creating the album lyric book, the full tour starting in September, collaborations, remixes, singles the album launch later this year and working on the 2020 tour. There’s always something at the moment but I do love it and I look forward to some inspirational time off in nature when I can too!"

youtube

‘Dark Cloud’ is out now.

#getting to know #r i s e #dark cloud

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how2to18 · 7 years ago

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I RECENTLY CAUGHT the start of a revolution that swept Armenia’s autocrat from power and replaced him with an opposition newspaper founder. It started as a mass demonstration and, had it been crushed, it might have hardly been remembered. More striking was that it was completely nonviolent. Also, it happened in Vladimir Putin’s backyard in a post-Soviet country.

Armenia’s government-sanctioned TV news stations, of course, did not cover the demonstrations, and the international press was late and sparse. But demonstrators live-streamed themselves on Facebook to protect themselves against a crackdown that never occurred.

Eventually, the “what happened” of the revolution would be reported by major international outlets and it would be known and accepted that the out-of-the-blue opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan had become Armenia’s new prime minister, elected only after Serzh Sargsyan, having served the maximum of two terms as president, backed down on his quest to remain in power, this time as prime minister — a post that had been significantly upgraded in time for his anticipated tenure. On April 23, 2018, after days of protests, Sargsyan resigned with a remarkable admission: “I was wrong, while Nikol Pashinyan was right.”

But the official narrative seemed lamentably inadequate to describe what had actually happened. The how and the why of this revolution intrigued me, so I went to the capital city of Yerevan to understand the set of events that had been doubly titled “Armenia’s Velvet Revolution” and the “Revolution of Love and Solidarity.”

Yerevan is a strikingly small national capital, rich in public sculpture, with an opera house, puppet theaters, expensive restaurants, strip clubs, boxing gyms, chess clubs, nascent wine bars, and lovely parks within a 10-minute walk from each other. Buildings are generally not painted. The more reverential architecture is comprised of walls of monochrome stone.

The recent revolution had as much to do with Armenia’s history and its precarious position against its hostile neighbors as it did with Sargsyan’s abuses.

The 1915 genocide against the Armenians by the Turks created a global diaspora. Of the eight million ethnic Armenians on the globe, only three million live in Armenia. Turkey also took control of Mount Ararat, which looms within sight of Yerevan. In addition to substantial speculation that it is the resting place of Noah’s Ark, Mount Ararat features prominently in local art and culture and also in marketing for cigarettes, banks, and brandy. What Ararat precisely means is in the realm of the poets, but the mention of it will cause a response that is at once sad and bitingly hopeful.

To the east is Azerbaijan, against whom wars, skirmishes, and conflicts have been fought since the end of the Soviet Union. With the perpetrators of a historic genocide on one side and a military foe on the other, Armenia has a sense of national purpose and cultural cohesion that went on display during the protests against the dictator.

“We joined together and we were standing between the police and the Armenian people,” said Shavarsh Mudaryan.

We told the police that we are all part of the Armenian family. We told the police that we don’t need to fight with each other because we already have enemies. We don’t need enemies in our own country. We want them to join us and be a part of the revolution. After that, many of the police joined with the people. We had not been this happy for 30 years, so it’s not just a revolution, it’s a new page of our lives.

North of Armenia is Georgia, which shares a peaceful border; and beyond Georgia looms Russia, whose notable absence during the revolution remains a source of speculation. Why didn’t the claws of the Russian bear strike down on the “Revolution of Love and Solidarity”? One theory has it that Russia was too preoccupied with Syria and Ukraine to take on further foreign intervention.

Photos from the revolution show members of the clergy and military walking with the demonstrators. Nobody I interviewed expected this to lead to an actual revolution. “If a revolution was being planned, they would have stopped it,” as local journalist Ani Navasardyan phrased it.

Many people described a personal transformation when they witnessed the demonstrations growing larger. They felt something extraordinary was happening and that they were a part of it and that the experience of “freedom finally coming to our country,” in the words of Olya Azatyan, was a sublime moment.

A man named Momik Vardanyan felt this sensation after Sargsyan’s concession, and he coined the exuberant name “Revolution of Love and Solidarity” from a coffee shop called Café Illik, co-founded in August 2016 by Anahit Sahakyan.

“Soon after opening, artists, LGBT members, feminists, and communist started to meet at the cafe and passionate conversations about society began in the back,” Sahakyan told me.

I started to want to believe. I told people that I don’t believe but I’ll do everything to support you. It was risky, though. They could come and close it and I would lose everything. I have two children, what if something happens to me?

This was a flexible movement that only preached one thing: the nonviolent removal of Sargsyan from power. This permitted maximum creativity from its participants. For example, volleyball games were set up to block streets. Also, at 11:00 p.m. every night, people would clang pots and pans together out their windows. “The police could not stop everyone,” as Olya Azatyan said.

One of the other important noises out the window was Vardanyan screaming from the second floor of Café Illik. “Momik started shouting about the revolution of love and solidarity from the balcony and then the whole street started shouting,” recalled the co-owner Anahit Sahakyan. She reflected, “It was one of the happiest times of my life.”

I tracked down Momik Vardanyan and asked him to tell me the story of the phrase “revolution of love and solidarity.”

“I wrote it down on my Facebook and then ran to Café Illik and I started to shout it and the people there started to shout it together,” he said. “The next day my voice was gone and I wrote it on a banner and went to the square. People saw it and started to shout it. Everything was like a coincidence,” he said.

Other people at Café Illik made banners about the “Revolution of Love and Solidarity” that would be shown and shouted the next day. The day after that and with a tense struggle ahead, as the question of who would become the next prime minister was yet to be decided, Nikol Pashinyan called the movement the “Revolution of Love and Solidarity” and the whole country had a name for what was underway.

I asked Vardanyan when, he thought, the revolution would be complete. He said:

The revolution is just beginning. When we defined the revolution of love and solidarity, we said: let this revolution continue and let it be a revolution of love and solidarity. It will be good that this revolution does not end. Because the revolution implies that it must be permanent. If there is a place for struggle, you should be in that struggle — no matter if it is in your country, your city, or the things around you.

There should always be a struggle for equality and justice. It has always been an agenda, even before the revolution. You can’t fight only for privileges or for good jobs. And to struggle against the ideologies that strengthen unhappiness and people blaming themselves for unhappiness. The revolution must always continue.

Currently in Yerevan, evening news broadcasts tell stories of high-level officials being arrested and charged (ex-president Robert Kocharyan became the first former head of state of a former Soviet republic to be temporarily held in custody, for example). Those being currently jailed were perceived as untouchable prior to the revolution. Prime Minister Pashinyan’s public statements regarding this are rooted in the idea that all arrests must be grounded in evidence and the rule of law. During a Facebook broadcast on June 25, 2018, he said,

I cannot put anyone behind bars. However, I can and will put those who have committed financial abuse and those who have gained well at the expense of public funds behind bars. And the decisions regarding who will be behind bars and who will not be behind bars will be made by the prosecutor’s office.

On the more local level, the promise of the revolution was to rid the country of corruption. However, because corruption involves integrated economies, this is harder than it sounds. People would take loans out to pay off a government official to train as a police officer, for example; and then, once working as a police officer, they would pay back that loan in part through seeking and accepting bribes for traffic violations. The issue, then, becomes one of adjusting police salaries that traditionally made corruption a near-necessity — in addition to loan reform within the banking system. Challenges like these are constant and present in the society.

Most Armenians seemed aware that tinkering and time would be necessary. I purchased a ticket to the Yervand Kochar Museum, and sometime later, as I was leaving, a woman who works there raced after me, stopped me, handed me my receipt, and said with a large smile, “Our new prime minister says we need to do this now.”

Andrew McGregor is a filmmaker, performance art roboticist, curator, writer, and adventurer.

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keeraallsebrook0711unit18-blog · 7 years ago

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Homework: Look at cool stuff

For my first example after looking at zine empire of ‘Behance’, I’ve discovered another visual dimension to the complex creativity of the visual cultures of print and photography or alternative artwork and that of graphic design.

Anyhow one of the rior examples was ‘BATS’ Magazine which unleashes the ‘creative child’ of the designers; having said that it was founded in 2008, the Brisbane- based publication launches Austrailian artwork, fashion, photography, music, popular cultre and among them being some rather debateable controversial issues especially with the student life.

With their opinions aside, BATS magazine has a unique selling point with their tantalizing and cheeky tongue of journalism; the humour has a twist of its own elixir. With the zine having fireworks of monoprint aestheitcs and with the final full-bleed content- it energises the consumer to look beyond an ordinary group of young individuals; it unveils a taste for life filled with new experiences to quench the thirst.

On the other hand, what I find most appealing isn’t nececarilly the target audience, but the way that the zine has been showcased with the pristince amount of conituinity in each of the issues published on ‘Behance’. For example:

In each of the examples above, they all have their own secret persona on each subject matter being the issue or topic of discussion to the bespoke format of text- the inspiration looks as though it has been taken from the American phenomenon of psychedelic thriller franchise, ‘American Horror Story’. Each letter has an original outlook with a mysterious and gothic style- for instance the coffin roughly edged around the ‘t’ which has been symbolised to represent a crucifix. The way in which the headline has been written to compliment the topic; being the summer holidays or term time for the semester period is evoked around ‘KiLLing tiMe’ revealing a more elaborate response from the eyes of a (former) student.

Working upwards, the middle image has the smooth continuity process which makes the zine hold a value much greater than many zines: professionalism and strong design prospects with the use of modelling. The only issue I have with the chosen front covers are that each of the three only displays a female model and never a male- which makes me wonder is this a feminist approach to the zine’s unique selling point (USP)? Or is it that gender equality isn’t seen to be a problem within this small development of colleagues? Whichever the case, continuity is a key attribute within any zine or printed process and I do believe this is one strong feature that has been showcased beyond high standards.

My final example of choice has got to be the bewitched dream of doodles- all being handwritten to display talent and personal flair- to express the opinions on controversial issues and conspiracy theories, such as the Illuminati Theory- an agenda of government that dictates world affairs and political uprisings to eventually replace possibly the human race with artificial intelligence- as shown above. The visual connotation allures the target audience to become more interested and focused on the topic; it produces a reportage on what the topic is about: being the greatest conspiracy theories that may appeal to students or young adults.

Initially, ‘BATS’ Magazine covers student life in a gothic, absent-minded state using contemporary art showcasing designs with a nostalgic aesthetic; with an edgy hipster ambience to the overall tone of the zine. The three attributes is the use of text and the ambiguous wording of headlines etc to entice the reader, the pristine professionalism used alongside the colour scheme inviting a nostalgic theme to the zine.

Example 2

Mental health can have a staggering domino effect onto the population; there are over 200 mental illness conditions that have been professionally diagnosed by doctors; many more still to be recognised. Considering that mental illness is the primary feature, I believe that it’s important to excell the most within our knowledge of factual and statistical research alongside how we format our zine and the photography aspects- which speak out the most to me considering they’re wholly based on the male gender which is rather unusual to see.

It has been known that men have a tendency to remain silent and to not allow their feelings to overrule them- by just speaking out- this results in the poison of mental illness for any individual: bottling up their fears. Scott Carroll- designer and editor of this project has noted that ‘the creative solution of the problem is to give men a platform and hep them understand that it is ok to cry and feel lonely because it’s a normal experience when mentally ill.’ Carroll hopes that this sentimental project will make men aware that it’s ok to cry and be yourself- it’s shown as a strength and not a weakness!

Therefore by creating a mini book and a poster series, Carroll has provided the victims of mental illness in men to know what the harsh reality is on the inside; what they’re really thinking. Hopefully the optimism i Carroll helps that men will see more clearly that they can go for support and ‘kick out the stigma and give men a voice’.

The last two examples- that I haven’t yet discussed- are the book series that Carroll has vividly created for ‘mind’ charity raising awareness against mental health around the UK. Most importantly from the examples listed, the iconic use of the words resembles the integrity not just in the zine, but the photo which is a masterpiece and a great skill to master alone. The bolded words “I feel trapped” helps the reader to intensely understand what is happening in this scenario and through the greater scale of the miscommunication of mental illness which is what the words help to translate to the target audience being people who are suffering or know someone whom is a victim to mental health.

Hence that this specific example of project isn’t a zine in itself, but a poster series developing the social, physical and mental scars of many men across Britain. At the end of the day, it’s our job to make peace and help those in need of support and aid- we can never leave the fallen even if they don’t seek the help... Inside they’re screaming for recognition and the signs of mental health have all been openly and photographically casted in the poster series being a wonderful and overwhelming source of a photographic example that I would love my team to create.

Although I view mental health as a new chapter and a gateway to a happier life- which is a rare prospect to have on such a controversial issue- it helps those that are suffering or know someone that is to be different and to embrace life and the challenges that we all may face. It’s a new dawn against mental illness and suicide so let’s make each word count. Tht is the main inspiration that I have gathered from this particular series with it being unique with the gender preference and with the two part collection showing creativity and dedication to the project. The only disadvantage is what I mentioned before about not embracing who they truly are as an individual- many if any zines don’t provide that different outlook and I would like my team to be the first to embrace and establish this.

Example 3

“The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.” by Leonardo Da Vinci... Truth be told artwork displays much emotion which can’t be seen and it entails how we visualise our lives and the people or the environment around us; how we learn to love life; how we grow as a race.

The artwork above found on ‘Designsnspiration’ by two different artists has captivated my eye to understand more about the style, colour scheme, tone of enrichment and the hidden connotation beneath the beautiful and extraordinary.

From the first example I adore the idea of the multi platform of faces and it appeals to me in a perplexing easy of viewing the world as a paradox of many facades- particularly attractive towards our zine’s issue of mental health with music. The musical side however sings its way in with the colour tone of deep purples and subtle teal and turquoise blues which can give a festival vibe to the creation.

Considering that the artwork doesn’t provide much contextual knowledge, the way in which the eyes are drawn creates a mass effect of the eye watches everyone and everything- which can be sinister, but true and once again it does link into the realism of how people suffering with mental illness can feel with someone watching their every move and mistake. Which is a piece that it compelling to resemble in our zine- it creates a doodle of imagination being the effect that we would like our zine to have on our target audience being those who suffer from mental illness. The ‘doodle imagination’ is a dream cloud on what happens in a mind of an individual on edge of life- it can create peculiar hallucinations or visions with how they perceive themselves or how society views them. In addition, the artwork is entitled ‘Little Monster’ created by Damiano Plebani.

What appeals to me the most in the second piece of artwork is how the woman is blindfolded by a crown or wreath of beauty: fluorescent flowers. The fact that the flowers are vibrant and full of life against a grey woman with a vibrant orange background can be a sandwich overlap of vibrant against dark to vibrant. Could this artwork be providing a social indifferent message: Is the woman hiding from herself to not be accepted or to not know the sublime embrace of natural beauty- is that why her face has been blindfolded by a wreath of flowers? Or more simply, is this just an artistic doodle- which is probably the answer.

However, I’m enchanted with the way that the woman is outcasted with the grey colour tone and that the flowers are bold and they essentially make a statement in this piece; the artwork does speak volumes.

Example 4

Now after looking through ‘Designspirations’, I’m truly amazed by what I see to be people’s view on lifestyle and how and why they enjoy it- what makes it special to them? Well there are many ways from fashion collecting or morphing ideas- as seen above- to revealing a different side to society- example 1- each way is someone’s form of lifestyle and how they pursue their daily lives.

Example 1 tells the tale on a lock and key style zine- what allures the eye to the treasure perhaps? Being a zine example and bringing to light how different forms of layout can be appealing and adapt to our lifestyle is quite astonishing; this has the overall effect on how lifestyle can be incorporated into our zine through the way that just images can be represented.

After looking at the artist behind the print, Patrick Fry has released an article featured in the above zine saying ‘Exist to Resist’ which can be rather stifling in what context it has been viewed in- from what perspective and how does this affect lifestyle? Well it could mean the ideology behind the eye through the lock can be a treasure of secrets which may be harmful to see or understand. I particularly do like the idea of the neon blue print that has been sliced across the image, though it can appear to be unrecognisable beyond just a block of neon colour.

Now what I find rather comical and odd about this piece is how the design artist has used a monarch that has been morphed into a hidden identity without a face; the bodice has been overlapped multiple times to create an illusion and a perpetual line which slowly creates the outline of a head: why is this? I do not know, but again it’s the idea of the colour being nostalgic and being taken from a royal or noble portrait to hide away the identity of the man behind the portrait. Fashion of course plays a vital role within this example- which is the main purpose and linking back to lifestyle in our zine fashion could be an element to further explore as it has been vital throughout history and status; it reveals an individual’s persona.

Example 5

Family is an important and humble backbone in life across all generations and just maybe there can be a way to help families, friends and those that are suffering silently with mental illness to pull through... Is there a zine that could do that for moral support?

From both of these examples I find that incorporating family and close support with memories of childhood can help on the road to recovery; whilst lifting spirits to increase the maximum chance of optimism is a vital ingredient when creating our zine.

It’s not just the nostalgia and reminisce with memories, but it’s the thought of thinking of a happy childhood and how much that individual has came along from their adolescent stage. Yes it will be heard to create a style of a childhood zine without knowing nothing about our target audience’s personal life, but we do know that within everyone’s hearts childhood is the first stage in life where everything counts and friendships are made and lost as is family and early ambitions, but keeping the memory alive can help both family, friends and those in need.

Another attribute that I’d like to include is comforting the reader- just like in the zines above with ‘HELLO FROM THE CHILDHOOD’- so they can get the printed feel of speaking in their mind to a family member or friend- this may help relieve stress and find a route across the billowing waves. Having a informal discussion can help reassurance that they’re not alone alongside finding alternative routes to take, such as, meditation advice, music, charities or ways that are known to relieve any mental pain.

Everyone needs a friend in their darkest hour and comforting and supporting are the best that we can do.

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republicstandard · 7 years ago

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DUNKIRK: No, it is NOT About Brexit, You Bloody Simpletons

Ash Sharp Editor

Yesterday the good lady and I took a well deserved day off together, to curl up on the sofa and watch a good movie. Being my turn, I chose Dunkirk. One of the great joys of being in a pan-European relationship is learning about each other's history, after all.

I'll leave the movie review to the to the professionals. I'm six months late anyway, but as Republic Standard has been running for only a month or so I beg your indulgence as I play a little catch-up. Movie reviews aren't my thing. I know my limits, and as much as I will wax lyrical about the meaning of art I am more than aware that I am not an artist- I will say that Dunkirk is a very good film indeed and you should see it if you are one of the few people on Earth slower at getting around to seeing films than I am. It does have a 94 on Metacritic though, just saying. It's pretty awesome. This movie's portrayal of the events is sublime, the cinematography is artful, real. The score perfect, Hans Zimmer at his un-nerving best.

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What I am annoyed by is elitist city-dwelling fools who used this movie to throw cheap barbs about how Britain is doomed as it leaves the European Union.

Of course, a movie about one of the most incredible military escapes in human history must be quashed. It might make the proles think that they aren't completely worthless.

Jenni Russell in the New York Times- "No Dunkirk Spirit Can Save Britain From Brexit Defeat";

How I wish that Christopher Nolan’s new film, “Dunkirk,” had not been released at this moment in history. The reviewers have been near unanimous in their praise: searing, complex, uncompromising about the savagery of war and death. Yet the essential message of the film, with its narrative of heroic retreat in order to fight another day, cannot help but feed the national pride in Britain’s capacity to triumph eventually, no matter what the odds.

Nothing could be less helpful to our collective psyche as the country blunders toward Brexit.

My fingers clench reflexively as I read, knowing that soon my eyeballs must surely swivel into the back of my head in the midst of a hopefully fatal grand-mal. Mrs. Russell is a Cambridge graduate and has worked inside the mainstream media establishment for her entire career. She is upper middle class through and through- and this is the face of pro-EU elitism, unfortunately. Wealthy, status-quo in all manners, vaguely socialist in politics so long as they don't feel the pinch themselves and dismissive of people below them on the ladder looking up. The majority of British people who could be bothered to vote decided to leave. The majority of British people define themselves as working class.

Dunkirk is a movie that strips these differences away. A Briton can easily spot the class differences between the characters- while stereotypes, these are not just memes. The Rear Admiral carries himself like a sea lord should, the 'tommies' are scared boys from the terraces and farms. The pilots, mostly from monied backgrounds, avoided the hell of land or sea combat for another kind of hell thousands of feet in the air. The entire meaning of this movie was about British identity. Collective British identity, that beyond the class differences between Britons there are indeed ties that bind. Between fathers and sons, about what duty means. Beyond class divide. It is the antithesis of what we see in the Remain camp.

Emile Simpson writing in Foreign Policy weighs in with a piece entitled "Brexit's Dunkirk Fantasyland".

Beyond trade, the memory of World War II evokes a sense of national unity, symbolized in the “Dunkirk spirit,” which can be taken to represent a cultural unity purportedly absent in modern Britain.

I have said on these pages before that the cultural unity of many Western nations is not yet absent but is sorely wounded. Mr. Simpson -who served my nation in the armed forces and for which I thank him- does not live on a council estate. He does not live in Blackburn.

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He does not come from such a lifestyle. He comes from Oxford University and Sandhurst. If he cannot see the lack of unified feeling in England today, the lack of cultural meaning then I really am at a loss. How can you miss it unless you walk around looking at the sky? The media elite creates Far-Right boogeymen out of people like Tommy Robinson, denounce the President of the United States as a racist, and arrest people for criticizing Islam while the largest political party in the nation is riddled with Hard-Left anti-Semites.

This is not what I would consider being expressive of even a hint of the cultural unity on the scale represented by Dunkirk.

Charles Mudede, in a piece for The Stranger entitled "Dunkirk: The First Brexit Movie in the History of Cinema."

It's not just about Brexit/Dunkirk being a one-to-one dub: the Brits fleeing a Europe dominated by the German military/the Brits fleeing a Europe dominated by German banks. It's sadder than that. It is the acceptance that the lie is better than the truth.

Zimbabwean Mudede's latest piece for this site is entitled "Father Recognized Son Shot By a Non-Muslim White American Because of His Nike Socks." I think it's safe to say that he has an agenda. Even so, let us play the ball and not the man. Yes, this movie is a sad film. It's hard to imagine yourself in the shoes of those soldiers paying the ultimate price, going to their deaths in the certainty that the nation -your nation- was surely doomed to fall under the yoke of Nazism. The Wehrmacht was a monstrous machine, technologically and militarily superior in almost every way, and only defeated thanks to the combined sacrifice of millions from dozens of nations and the madness of those in charge of this death-dealer.

Is drowning in a few feet of water off the coast of Dunkirk a parallel to wrestling with the Deutsche Bundesbank? I don't know. I haven't done either. I do imagine though that being shot in the back as I run to a ship or taking shrapnel to the heart from a Stuka, as my friends die around me- that I can imagine is worse than the financial interest of my nation being rivaled -without bloodshed- by another, larger nation. Perhaps Emile Simpson, as a veteran, would do us the service of telling us.

Rafael Behr, in the Guardian, wrote a lovely diatribe entitled "Dunkirk reveals the spirit that has driven Brexit: humiliation."

There is a swelling body of evidence that Brexit is shaking confidence in the country’s international credibility, and cannot be completed in the allotted time without economic vandalism. There is also the referendum result, before which evidence is made to cower.

I fear we are about to rehearse the cycle of shame and resentment all over again. There are two routes ahead, neither free of humiliation. The enactment of Brexit will complete an economic, diplomatic and strategic devaluation that is prefigured already in sterling’s post-referendum slide.

The Pound is still fluctuating, but no longer due to Brexit uncertainty, according to economist Liam Halligan. The value of the currency is now near the value it held before the Brexit vote, manufacturing output to rise to a 10-year-high. Employment also rose by 102,000 from September to November 2017 to a record of 32.2million.

Prior to the referendum, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted UK growth of two percent during 2016, which was calculated on the Remain vote.

After the leave vote growth rose by 1.9 percent.

Former Treasury minister Lord O’Neill said:

“I wouldn’t have thought the UK economy would be as robust as it currently seems.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as I am sure the Mr. Behr, who persists in tolling the bell of doom, would agree. He continues;

Humiliation corrodes the soul of nations. This thought occurred to me during Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s cinematic re-enactment of the 1940 evacuation of British soldiers from fallen France. It was a disorderly retreat following a defeat: “a colossal military disaster”, said Churchill. Yet Dunkirk spirit became an emblem of national character – a metaphor for plucky survival against insuperable odds, and a benchmark for resilience.

Britain will be measurably smaller on the world stage. The reversal of Brexit, or its dilution into some pale simulation of the status quo, requires a plea in Brussels for more time and a fresh start. That will be hard to distinguish from a grovel.

Well, Where to begin. Mr. Behr will surely not slip beneath the waves along with the rest of us, after all- his family has land in Israel to escape to, should the worst come. His advice is to fall to our knees and repent, so I can only attribute total altruism to him- that he cares for the plight of Britons, that if only they could see the error of their ways, we would see that Neville Chamberlain was right after all.

Oh, excuse me- I forget that it is only the pro-EU glitterati who may invoke World War Two in support of their arguments.

We plebs from the council estate ought to listen to our betters when they tell us how stupid we are to want to think for ourselves. When I was on the left wing of politics I thought in a little way like these people did, though I fooled myself that class-consciousness just meant I knew better than anyone else what the working class truly needed. Instead I was a useful idiot, an early precursor to the swarms of useful idiots clogging up the place today with their socialist slogans and proclaimations of undying fealty to the European Union.

Dear Brexiters, Leavers fall into 7 categories. Which one are you?#FBPE pic.twitter.com/sMUKBXQrlQ

— Brexit Bin 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 #FBPE (@BrexitBin) January 28, 2018

What the working class need is what ever the working class choose to vote for in the democratic process until we decide to just shelve the idea of democracy all together. Sermonizing by wealthy graduates from elite schools who publish books, work for the BBC and own land in a literal ethnostate are not on that list, funnily enough. Let us finish up where we began, with Jenni Russell, who rightly said;

Nine of Northern Europe’s 10 poorest regions — including West Wales, Cornwall and Lancashire are in Britain

Yet, she wonders why the people of West Wales, Cornwall and Lancashire decided that a change from the prescribed route was in order. The only solution to Russell is more of the same. Damn your democracy. She goes on;

Britain is not an economic powerhouse waiting to be liberated. We are a country of mediocre education and limited skills, whose preening vanity has prevented us from seeing our failings. Our membership in the European Union is not a set of restraints; it is what has been propping us up. If we insist on cutting ourselves off, parts of our economy will start to die.

Dunkirk is remembered so fondly only because, in the end, Britain was on the winning side. That wasn’t down to our plucky spirit. It was because America, with its overwhelming resources, entered the war. There is no such ally waiting to rescue us now, as we start down the dangerous path of methodically shredding our links with our neighbors and friends.

What a rousing speech. Join me on the barricades, Jenni Russell. I truly know we are of one heart. We are together, for our people. On the beaches, on the landing grounds, on the streets and the hills. We shall never surrender. None of what Russell says is true, of course - except perhaps we are mediocre in education, low in skill, and vain. I would apply that for sure to every writer in this piece today, myself included, and in spades to the political elites who earn so much and say so little in service of the nation. We don't need a recitation of The Lays of Ancient Rome right now. Nor do we need sermons from the Little Red Book.

Yes, that is Parliament. Yes, That is a book by Chairman Mao.

We needed a film about Dunkirk, a message of hope and unity and sacrifice and family conducted in a way that we can all understand, from the smallest child upwards. The strokes of this film are conducted not in dialogue nor in splashes of gaudy CGI, but in marks of chalk. In the certain look in a man's eye. Not a film about defeat, but a message that says England is not lost, and will never be lost. We are glad to be reassured that our culture means something, that we stand for something. That the sacrifices of our fathers were not in vain, that the policies imposed on us that none asked for may be repealed.

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It doesn't matter that the Empire is no more, or that Britain is not the powerhouse it once was. It matters that it is Britain. Our culture and way of life that for all its many and manifest failings deserves to exist without apology to anyone, least of all jumped up writers on the internet. Doesn't being British count for anything?

“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation... we shall never surrender." - Sir Winston Churchill. 4th June 1940.

Now that is top drawer word-crafting. We should all take note.

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