#paolo is my evidence

[fictionalmenaremytype]

Head canon that whilst most demigods are the United States there's still some dotted across the world. Mainly kids of Hermes, bc yknow god of travellers and stuff, that are just left to fend for themselves.

[keepingupwithzaynmalik]

Zayn Malik’s eventim Apollo Show Is An Emotional Triumph

The second of his sold out London shows…

Zayn Malik isn’t particularly fond of touring. It’s the word on the lips of everyone in the scrum outside the eventim Apollo tonight, an expectant London crowd awaiting the return of a generational pop icon. Since the closure of One Direction, Zayn’s solo career has been stop-start, as he navigated personal issues in the process. He remains, however, Zayn Malik – and the tension, excitement, and longing in the air is palpable.

Squeezing past some disappointed punters left outside, CLASH retrieves its ticket from the booth, only to discover that we’ve been handed a second ticket, too. Spotting a mother and daughter looking confused at the ticket desk, we do a swap-around with the kind man behind the desk, and suddenly we’re in a different seat, and the parental duo are joyously climbing the steps into the Apollo.

With good karma under our wings, we trot down to our seat, slightly bemused by the looks we’re getting from the crowd. They’re young. Sometimes very young. We are… maybe not? Upon finding our seat we’re immediately cross-examined by the pair of Zayn stans placed next to us.

“Are you REALLY a Directioner? Really?” they ask.

“Oh, obviously,” CLASH responds, in a tone so flatly assuring that not even the FBI could crack it. Sensing an awkwardness, we offer: “Are you a big Zayn fan, then?”

It’s then that she fixes her eyes mid-distance with a burning intensity, and answers with the kind of explosive assurance that only youth can offer: “He is the most beautiful man in the world.”

It’s the screams that get you. When the curtain falls and Zayn emerges the voices are deafening, almost beyond belief. It’s a wall of noise, a shuddering screech of pent-up desperation – joy and lust, longing and relief, all fused into one titanic tidal wave of sound. For his part, Zayn is bashful – shy, even. The voice is pristine, the band are exceptional – it’s a tight sound that blends R&B, pop and (especially) Americana, reflective of the journey he’s been on.

For someone who seemingly doesn’t enjoy touring, and the pressure of live performance, Zayn doesn’t hold back. It’s an 18-strong set list, delivered succinctly, with the minimum of fuss – all music, no hype. He’s clad in a Nirvana t-shirt and a loose top, a porkpie hat annointed on his head. Every detail, every hand gesture counts – when Zayn opts to remove his top, the screams reach new, almighty levels.

At times, he’s semi-stunned, not sure how to respond. “Fuck yeah, you guys are loud!” he offers, laughing self-consciously in the process. It’s been a long road to get here – at one point, fans could be forgiven for feeling that Zayn was lost to music. The gospel touches in opening song ‘My Woman’ offer something soothing, while ‘Dreamin’ and ‘Lied To’ are early highlights. The pacing is patient, the band behind him immaculately well-rehearsed.

It’s never marbled, or overly professional. There’s a humanity to Zayn Malik that he can’t hide – the Yorkshire twang is still there, and for all his evident shy reserve there’s also a quiet joy at being onstage. Repeatedly thanking the crowd – “you guys are sooooo loud!” – there’s a sense of genuine relief onstage. ‘Ignorance Ain’t Bliss’ is a wonderful mid-set vignette, ‘Sweat’ is packed with the lust, while ‘iT’s YoU’ is a deft duet between vocalist and piano.

There’s a couple of surprises, too. ‘Last Request’ honours Paolo Nutini, and serves as a great vessel for the soulful aspects of Zayn’s own voice. There’s a revealing introduction to ‘PILLOWTALK’: “The reason – one reason – I didn’t tour for so long was that I was afraid to sing this song…”

Zayn needn’t have worried. The audience acts as a cushion underneath him, their love and support pushing him up when needed. ‘PILLOWTALK’ is gorgeous, rapturously received, while a home run of ‘Alienated’ and ‘Gates Of Hell’ ties up a punctual performance that offers everything fans could have wanted – and more.

There’s a sense of quiet exhaustion at the end, when a tribute to Liam Payne flashes up onscreen. ‘Stardust’ plays, and there’s a moment of pause as the crowd engages in mutual reflection. One Direction helped to frame the coming-of-age experiences of a generation, their music bringing incalculable joy to millions across the globe. It’s a true sin, then, that the intense experiences of fame brought so much pressure and pain to the young men who powered that phenomenon. Zayn Malik is a wonderful vocalist, someone with fantastic pop songs in his solo canon – he’s also, as the girl next to us so succinctly put it, one of the most beautiful men we’ve ever seen onstage. He may not tour that often, but we wish him nothing but happiness.

ROBIN MURRAY FOR CLASH

[marzipanandminutiae]

I'm pulling you back onstage, what's this about the dangers of white lead makeup being known already at the time it was used?

They were!

Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, writing in 1598. For anyone who's struggling with the typeface (spelling preserved):

OF CERUSSE, AND THE EFFECTS thereof. The Ceruse, or white lead, which women use to better their complexion, is made of lead and vineger; which mixture is naturally a great drier; and is used by the Chirugions [surgeons] to drie up moiste sores. So that those women which use it about their faces, doe quickly become withered and gray-headed, because this doth so mightely drie up the naturall moysture of their flesh. And if any give not credite to my reporte; let them but observe such as have used it, and I doubt not but they will easily bee satisfied.

That's putting it mildly- ceruse could also cause skin peeling, hair loss, paralysis, seizures, organ damage, a host of other symptoms, and even death. But still, they were at least aware that it was Not GoodTM, and it's possible other sources I haven't read more accurately stress the gravity of the danger. Certainly it was known to be deadly by the 18th century, when the death of 27-year-old socialite Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry was ascribed to her alleged use thereof. (I've never seen proof of this, and it's important to remember that as an Irishwoman, she may have faced undue hostility in English high society- and had very light skin naturally).

It's also difficult to trace just how popular ceruse even was, because less harmful forms of white face paint and powder also existed. One could speculate that this woman or that used ceruse, but nobody did a survey of such things. It was definitely real- cosmetic white lead tablets have been found dating as far back as ancient Greece -but whether it was the Sephora foundation of its day or the BBL (ie a dangerous beauty aid that a few devotees turned to but most eschewed) cannot truly be known.

By the 19th century, ceruse makeup had passed completely out of use as far as I know. Its legend grew as a cautionary tale on the dangers of vanity; the "fact" that Queen Elizabeth I used it was repeated over and over until it became common- if totally unsupported -knowledge. They had arsenic complexion wafers in the latter half of the 1800s- although one brand much advertised in the US was tested by contemporary scientists and found to be mostly lactose with only tiny amounts of arsenic or none at all, so cost-cutting entrepreneurs may have accidentally prevented illness or death. IF the wafers were popular at all, which once again remains unknown- certainly few letters and diaries I'm aware of mention them, if any.

(Interestingly, there's an echo of Maria Gunning's legend in Victorian newspaper stories about socialites "enameling," or applying a plaster-like layer of semi-permanent toxic makeup to their faces. Enameling was alleged to be undetectible but It's Definitely There; Trust Us; A Friend Of A Friend Of Alva Vanderbilt's Cousin's Underbutler Said, etc. This is similarly lacking in any solid evidence; recipes for a product called "enamel" do exist in period texts, but it always seems to be more akin to liquid foundation today, and I've personally only seen one such preparation containing lead. Many even included zinc oxide, which might have provided some unintentional SPF.)

[irish-dress-history]

Making late Medieval Fringe

Fringe was an important part of 16th and 17th century Irish fashion. In this post, I will discuss the historical evidence for its use and my attempt to reconstruct it.

Fringe shows up on Irish garments in several period works of art.

1680 Portrait of Sir Neil O'Neill by John Michael Wright and the 'Civill' Irish Woman from John Speed's 1611 map of Ireland, both shown wearing a fringed brat (Irish mantle).

Detail from 'Drawn after the Quicke', an anonymous 16th c. English print showing Irish men wearing ionair (Irish short coats) embellished with fringe.

Historical Research:

The Irish use of fringe is mentioned by several period writers. In 1548, Paolo Giovio stated that most Irish men wore, "a soldier’s woollen cloak, with a fringed and variegated edge for elegance" (translation from Harris 2007). Similarly, William Good said Irish men and women wore "mantles or shag-rugs [. . .] fring'd round the edges with divers well mixt colours" (1586/1695). 17th century writers Luke Gernon (1620) and John Lynch (1661/1850) both described how the Irish continued to wear fringed mantles in spite of British colonial laws banning them. Gernon stated that the Irish mantle (ie brat) "differs nothing from a long cloke, but in the fringe at the upper end, which in could weather they [the Irish] weare over their heades for warmth," suggesting that this use of fringe was such an important part of Irish fashion that it was a marker of cultural identity.

This fringe appears to have been a separate trim, typically made of wool or silk, that was added to the garments. This is suggested by John Speed's description of Irish mantles as being "purfled with a deepe Fringe of divers colours" (1611). Applied fringe trim can be seen on the brat in Sir Neil O'Neill's portrait. In his poem "A Vision", 16th c. Irish poet Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn describes a fairy woman wearing, "A purple mantle with satin fringes" (1550-1591/1921). Fringes made of silk and wool are found among recorded imports to Ireland in the late 16th c. (Flavin 2011).

Despite all this period evidence, I sadly do not know of any extant examples of Irish fringe from this period. Since at least some of the fringe used in Ireland was imported, I decided to look at examples from other parts of Europe to determine how Irish fringe might have been made. Looking at 15th-17th c. examples in the V&A, I saw 2 common manufacturing methods: warp-faced plain weave and tablet weave.

I decided to go with tablet weave for this project, because tablet woven bands have been found at earlier Medieval sites in Ireland (Wincott Heckett 2002). Following the historical costuming advice of The Welsh Viking that simple things less likely to be wrong, I used this simple late-15th c. fringe from Sweden as the basis for my pattern. Simple tablet-woven fringes continued to be used into the late 17th or early 18th century.

I used wool yarn for this project, because I wanted something that could have plausibly been made in Ireland and afforded by Irish commoners, instead of a luxury import like silk. Wool also seemed like the best fit for John Lynch's characterization of the fringe on a brat as a practical feature which protected the wearer's neck from the rain (1661/1850). I chose blue based on a combination of the availability of woad in 16th c. Ireland (Flavin 2011), the noted fondness of the Irish for bright colors (McClintock 1943), and personal preference.

My reconstruction:

I used Garnhuset wool weaving yarn I purchased from Vävstuga Weaving School in size 20/2 for the warp and 28/2 for the weft. (Check out this video, if you need an explanation of how tablet weaving works.) I made a box loom out of a cardboard box, although I suspect that any loom type that works for tablet weaving would also work for this.

Also used bamboo chopsticks, tape to cover the rough edges of the cardboard, and a shoelace. Not pretty or historically accurate, but cheap and easy to make.

My tablet weaving pattern uses 6 cards. Cards 1,3,5 are Z threaded. Cards 2,4,6 are S threaded. All 6 cards are turned in the same direction until too much twist is built up on the warp to continue, all 6 cards are then turned in the opposite direction until too much twist is build up to continue. Reverse direction and repeat until you run out of warp.

For the weft, I used 5 strands the of 28/2 yarn run together as if they were a single weft thread. I placed a rectangle of sturdy cardboard against the left side of the warp and looped the weft around it as I wove. I neglected to get a good picture of this on my actual loom, so here is a picture of my test piece setup.

The relevant part here is the light blue and purple threads. Ignore the shuttle of black thread.

As I advanced the warp, I slid the cardboard rectangle forward to continue weaving. After I took the completed fringe off the loom, I took a pair of scissors and cut the bottoms of the weft loops.

If you try this, I strongly recommend covering the long edges of your cardboard rectangle with tape. This will both protect your warp from being chewed up the cardboard and make the cardboard more slippery and easier to to slide forward. Also, make sure you are beating the shed well and pulling your weft tight. Once you cut the loops, the tightness of your weave is the only thing keeping your fringe from pulling out.

Results:

I whipstitched the completed fringe to the edge of my brat. I am extremely happy with how this turned out. I had never done tablet weaving with wool before, so I had no idea what to expect.

This method creates a thick, fluffy fringe which I think does a nice job recreating the look of "Drawn after the Quicke". You do lose quite a bit of length though. The wool yarn is kind of stretchy, and tablet weave is kind of stretchy (similarly to a twill-weave fabric). Between the ends of the warp lost to setting up the loom, and the stretchiness of the finished product, 11 ft (335 cm) of measured warp gave me 92 in (234 cm) of completed fringe. Oh, well. At least my loom can easily accommodate a longer warp, and this piece only used 20% of my 2 skeins of yarn.

I did also make a test piece out of DMC Pearl cotton. The warp is size 8 embroidery thread, and the weft is size 25 embroidery floss with all 6 strands used together. It is slightly easier to work with than the wool, (wool warps do have an annoying tendency to stick to each other), but I don't like the way it looks as much.

Wool fringe above, cotton below. Ignore the purple fringe. It has an extra weft thread that is not part of the fringe, which is why it looks more gappy than the light blue.

The cotton tends to stay in its discrete clumps rather than feathering out to form a nice fluffy, connected whole like the wool does.

I then went to the Ren Fair and located an appropriate sword.

(Yes, that's an English kirtle and smock. I haven't finished making my other Irish garments yet.) Me carrying a sword a la Albrecht Dürer's kern.

I really should have made this fringe longer. It's only 1 in (2.5 cm) long. Looking at the scale of Speed's "Civill" woman, I would estimate that hers is closer to 2 inches long. I may add a longer second layer. John Lynch does say that the brat has a doubled layer of fringe in the neck area (1661/1850). Adding a second color to the weft would probably better match William Good's description of "divers well mixt colours" and Paolo Giovio's "variegated," but I like the way the solid blue looks.

As a bonus, I will say that the wool fringe feels softer and nicer than the cheap coating wool I used to make my brat. I suspect that may be part of the reason the 16th-17th c. Irish were so fond of having thick fringes in the neck area, to protect the skin of their necks from the irritation of a brat made of coarse wool. The léine would have protected most of their body, but it largely left the neck bare.

Irish woman wearing a brat with a deep fringe by Wenceslaus Hollar published 1643

Want to give me a tip? Ko-fi page

Bibliography:

Flavin, Susan (2011). Consumption and Material Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland. [Doctoral thesis]. University of Bristol.

Gernon, Luke (1620). A Discourse of Ireland. https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E620001/

Good, William (1695). The Ancient and Modern Customs of the Irish. In W. Camden (ed) Camden's Britannia newly translated into English, with large additions and improvements; publish'd by Edmund Gibson (p. 1042-1048) (Edmund Gibson, Trans.). Edmund Gibson. (Original work published 1586) http://name.umdl.umich.edu/B18452.0001.001

Harris, Jason (2007). Ireland in Europe: Paolo Giovio's "Descriptio" (1548). Irish Historical Studies, 35(139), 265-288.

Lynch, John. (1850). Cambrensis Eversus (Matthew Kelly, Trans.). Dublin: The Celtic society. (Original work published 1660) https://archive.org/details/cambrensisevers04kellgoog/page/200/mode/2up

McClintock, H. F. (1943). Old Irish and Highland Dress. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk.

Ó hUiginn, Tadhg Dall (1921). The bardic poems of Tadhg Dall Ó Huiginn (1550–1591) (Eleanor Knott, Trans.). (Original work published 1550-1591) https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T402563/index.html

Speed, John (1611). The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine: presenting an exact geography of the kingdomes of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the iles adioyning. William Hall, London.

Wincott Heckett, Elizabeth (2002). Irish Viking Age silks and their place in Hiberno-Norse Society. Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings, 427. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/427

[youssefguedira]

Truly stunning how good Luca is at playing Guys With Something Wrong With Them.

true!! i imagine playing Guys With Something Wrong With Them is somewhat more compelling than Average Normal Well-Adjusted Guy. and also more difficult lending itself to a more interesting performance. i say as someone who has 0 acting experience. but it's about the Diversity of Guys With Something Wrong With Them.

take villainous roles only. fabio's dramatic and flamboyant and obsessed with fame and the manifestation of what's Wrong With Him is a lot of screaming and dancing and also mass murder plots. and violent killing. diabolik, in contrast, is a guy who was very evidently raised around a bunch of criminals until the age of 22 and therefore has 0 social skills. and also likes crime and killing. what's Wrong With Him is much more subtle but still very clear. and primo is. well. primo. his problem is everything (been a while since i watched trust but specifically power and ambition and all that). guess what? also kills! but can act nice when he wants and violent when he wants. a real enigma of a Guy With Something Wrong With Him.

and yet? all the Same Guy. same actor. without even getting into like, paolo il padre d'italia, which is another one of my favourite performances of his for personal reasons. and other more restrained dramatic roles. for my top 2 compare martin martin eden to pietro le otto montagne and they are both super different from each other AND paolo. and again even though i know in theory they're played by famous actor luca marinelli whenever i see the movie i am less like 'wow that's famous actor luca marinelli' and more like 'wow that's my good friend pietro le otto montagne'. which is not true for all actors. super diverse range of roles super skilled actor very good at his job. oscar when

[ineedtopost]

Do tell me about these older players/younger players rumours pls! I've seen a joke about it before, but I didn't know there was an actual backstory to that? What happened in Milan?

Ok so, this isn't an answer, but I am saying this so you know I saw. Firstly, I meant to say "jokes" and not rumors, idk why I said rumors, but my English isn't the best anyway so keep that in mind. However, your ask does make me question if there is any merit to the jokes, so I will do research and come back to you if I find anything. I will say that in the late 90s, Billy, Paolo and Albertini were the "elders" of the group, and would help new young players around Milan. For things like getting housing, speaking the language, adapting themselves to the culture and things like that. Of course, there are rumors about individual players being together, but I don't know if it is specifically older and younger players. The most i can think of is when apparently Paolo said that Sheva once slept in a bad with him, in 1999, because he was homesick but like the source is an amateur journalist who went to the 2002 AC Milan Christmas party (a lot of things happen at those Christmas parties). So, that's all I know right now, but I'm doing research to see if there is more clear evidence of this

[jess-moloney-malarkey]

Hi, long anon from the 13th back! The other blog won’t publish this, but you seem to be a logical thinker.

As far as the alcohol goes, Jess does drink around Jamie. As did Ruby as far as live-in girlfriends go. I’ve tried to make that point to the other blog and she goes nuts.

I have zero interest in defending Jess any which way, but calling the woman an alcoholic because she drinks is insane. Yeah, she’s talked about drinking, about previously being a “party girl” and does currently drink. None of which makes her an alcoholic. That just means she enjoys alcoholic drinks. We have zero proof she drinks in excess. Posing for photos with alcohol is not that proof. Do I personally think she should drink in the house you live with a recovering alcoholic? No. Am I Jamie to enforce that opinion? No. He’s a grown man that can make calls on his own.

There have been photos and videos of Jess having alcohol in the house. Here’s where we all need to take a giant step back.

We. Do. Not. Personally. Know. Jamie. Or. His. Limits.

He lived with Ruby and she drank around him. He lives with Jess and she drinks around him. I didn’t really like Ruby either as both she and Jess treated/treat Jamie as their arm candy trophy boyfriend prize, but we also don’t personally know either of them.

Jamie very well could’ve laid out his limits when it comes to Jess drinking and/or having alcohol in the house. Maybe he didn’t. We’re not in their relationship so it doesn’t matter.

Someone sent the other blog “video evidence” of Jamie drinking a non alcoholic Heineken in Sao Paolo and she found a way to make it Jess’s fault/influence. Like a guy having a good time at a sporting event couldn’t have a non alcoholic drink by his own free will. 🙄

I’ll be coming here from now on with my thoughts because you’re not a crazy conspiracy theorist. 😂

Exactly! Being a social drinker is a far cry from being an alcoholic, and I highly HIGHLY doubt that Jamie, as someone in recovery, would allow himself to be with someone in active addiction. Jamie has been sober for almost 9 years now, and is a whole ass 35 year old grown man. He can lay out his own boundaries for himself with his partners and others around him. Sobriety is a very personal journey and it's not up to us to scrutinize him or the people around him about it.

And good lord, the non-alcoholic beverages thing... He was drinking non-alcoholic champagne as far back as a Counterfeit livestream on Instagram during the debut of "Getting Over It", and that was when he was still with Ruby. It's not unheard of for him, or plenty of other sober people. Non-alcoholic beers and wines commonly assist those who are sober/recovering, either to curb cravings or just to blend in with others who are drinking alcohol. Again, it's a PERSONAL THING and different for each sober person.

And sure, feel free to vent here! lol I don't care about people not liking Jess, that's totally valid and your prerogative. I'm just not down with the condescending attitude to other fans and actively spreading falsehoods that also make Jamie look bad in the process. Like you don't need to think up a whole Lifetime original movie plot about it and be rude to people just because you don't like a person...

[power-chords]

you know, grain of salt bc im nobody and know nothing. but re: your post about oasis motif in heat 2; i certainly think youre self-evidently on to something with what the idea of an oasis represents as a theme. when it comes to the references to the actual band specifically, tho, bc it cant all just be about the name/word, right- i immediately wonder if it has to do with inviting comparison between the relationship central to heat as a narrative and the relationship between noel and liam gallagher. bc i mean. heat is famously about this intense (arguably intimate, and more intense due to its intimacy, and more intimate due to its intensity, ad nauseum feedback loop) mutually antagonistic rivalry right? from my understanding. and noel and liam gallagher.. fucking hate each other but they are. Literally brothers and truly could never hope to escape the (grotesque? humiliating?) visceral quality of that connection regardless of how much it is left to degrade. does that scan? just something that occurred to me right away ig

WELL funny you should mention that… Neil makes a “throwaway” comment in the film about a brother he was separated from and lost touch with; in the book, Vincent’s full name is revealed to be Vincent Thomas Hanna (“Thomas” meaning “twin”). There’s even a Paolo character introduced in the novel who, based on other textual clues, might be a reference to a certain Paolo Hewitt:

Mann went to film school in London and resided in the UK for several years afterward to, ahem, escape the Vietnam draft. He has remarked many times in interviews that he lived the full Swinging Sixties experience. So it’s not like he’s unfamiliar with the territory.

Oasis also as a band represents a cyclical return to form, the rebirth/re-emergence/re-invigoration of a style of popular music that until the nineties was broadly considered passé and even retrograde. Cue Britpop, Oasis, and the decade of Cool Britannia. (The novel concludes with a Pontiac Firebird crashing and burning and Vincent discovering a heart-shaped locket with Neil’s photo in it among the wreckage… LMAO.) A few days ago BFI posted their full talk with Mann that was recorded at the beginning of the year, and he makes passing mention to what he was trying to impart with the first couple seasons of Miami Vice on TV, a sort of “neo-rock ‘n’ roll” spirit. So while I had never really pegged him for an Oasis fan, there’s clearly enough associative congruence for him to work with. All You Need is Love, maybe.

I do wonder what kind of relationship Mann has with his own brother, if indeed he has one at all. His father’s sudden death in his early twenties “shattered the family,” according to that Wall Street Journal piece from the Heat 2 press tour in 2022. Who knows what that means! He’s mentioned David a few times by his birth name, and not many details otherwise, but cursory Googling reveals that he does not go by that name any longer, and may be a practitioner of the Hindu faith. That’s as far as he goes, and as far as I can speculate!

[holystormfire]

John 2:13-25

He was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body

Saint Paul Preaching in Athens,

Drawing by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765),

Drawn in 1734,

pen and black and gray ink with gray wash, heightened with white gouache, on tan prepared paper

© The National Gallery of Art, Washington

Gospel Reading

Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money-changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

During his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he gave, but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him

Reflection on the drawing

Today’s gospel reading suggests that Jesus was looking beyond the physical Temple. When he says, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’, the evangelist comments that ‘he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body’. Jesus was saying that the real place of God’s presence on earth was now no longer the magnificent temple but himself. His risen body is the new sanctuary of God’s presence, the new true temple. It is no longer necessary to enter a sacred building such as the temple in Jerusalem, to meet with God. We need only to turn to Jesus, our risen Lord, and he is not confined to the physicality of a temple or a sanctuary or a church. He can be found anywhere.

In fact, after Jesus’ resurrection, the followers of Jesus who lived in Jerusalem continued to worship in the temple, but they also worshipped together in one another’s homes. The communities of believers to whom Paul wrote his magnificent letters all lived a long way from Jerusalem. They gathered together for prayer and the Eucharist in the homes of those members of the community who had the space to accommodate others. There would be no church buildings for almost another three hundred years when Christianity was officially recognized by the Roman emperor Constantine.

Our drawing, executed by Giovanni Paolo Panini in 1734, shows Saint Paul preaching in Athens. The group is not seated in a temple but  among ruins. Yet they are in the temple because they are listening to the Word of God. Panini was an Italian painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the vedutisti ("view painters"). He is best known for his vistas of Rome, taking a particular interest in the city's antiquities. He painted small figures set in vast ruined landscapes. Though Panini could capture the crumbling columns and arches, the Temple of God remains ever unshaken, a testament to a foundation that no brush can tarnish. For in the gallery of the heart, where faith hangs, the Temple of God is an eternal masterpiece, its beauty never in ruins.

by Father Patrick van der Vorst

[jimintomystery]

A minor clarification: The color-changing ray cats ("Strahlenkatze") were proposed by Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri in 1984. Bastide and Fabbri did suggest using art, folklore, and music to perpetuate the idea of the cats as a warning against danger. However, "10​,​000​-​Year Earworm" was not a produced for their proposal, which was never implemented.

In 2014, the 99% Invisible podcast did an episode about nuclear semiotics, so they commissioned Emperor X to compose and perform a catchy song that would demonstrate the concept described by Bastide and Fabbri thirty years earlier. Fabbri seems pleased with the results: in 2017 he republished an Urban Intelligence article which cites "10,000-Year Earworm" as evidence that the ray cat is a resilient idea in the human imagination.

Along the same lines, I think it's interesting OP mistook the 2014 song as a part of the original 1984 proposal. Considering these two works were made 30 years apart, and within my lifetime, you would think it'd be harder for them to get mushed together like that. Which goes to show, perhaps, how tricky it would be to make sure an idea is accurately communicated into the far future.

I’m legit surprised that I haven’t seen more ray cats in fiction.

If you don’t know, one of the first ideas for how to keep people away from nuclear waste 10000 years from now was to create a breed of cat that would change color if it got near radiation and create lore and songs to go with them that would be remembered long after people forgot what nuclear waste was the same way people still have thousand of years old religions that tell us to do stuff but we forgot why. They made a song for them and everything.

One, why haven’t they showed up in more futuristic fiction? Two, why have I never seen a ray cat furry? Three, why did they pick an animal that is THE MOST likely to wander off instead of one we have more control over like horses or dogs?

[ontherunmovies]

Parthenope (2024)

Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope is a mesmerising journey through time and beauty that'll leave you spellbound. Check out my review.

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope is a mesmerising journey through time and beauty that’ll leave you spellbound. Set against the backdrop of Naples, this coming-of-age drama follows the life of its titular character, a woman born from the sea, whose allure captivates everyone around her. Sorrentino’s masterful direction is evident from the very beginning. He’s crafted a visual feast that’s as…

[saamnangg]

Reflect on your final critique:

1. Summarize your presentation: what did you propose?

I proposed the concept of reactivating underutilized third places into well-functioning, vibrant third places.

There is an emergent need for third places more than ever in light of the COVID19 pandemic and the epidemic of loneliness.

In order to carry out the work to reactivate an underutilized third place, three tracks of work were emphasized.

One was to conduct a thorough literature review and study existing best practices of how to revitalize a third place. Additionally, from the readings core values and elements would be extracted to then be further studied and analyzed such as: space utilization, furniture, rest, work, and etc.

Second was to conduct non-participant observational studies at three different suitable third places such as: BPL Copley, Diesel Cafe, and Dani's Queer Bar.

Third was to conduct a series of experiments and workshops with all of them taking place at the graduate studio (Ryder 320). One workshop will consist of a sticky-note think aloud session while utilizing being in the space of the graduate studio to place thoughts to their respective part of the room. The second workshop will include a Lego replica of the graduate studio and allowing participants to remodel the room as they see fit. The experiments will be a series of programming/events to "jumpstart" the community into coming together.

To conclude, the output will be two items. The first will be a digital handbook available online and to all interested in reactivating a place. The second will be a physical toolkit inclusive of materials such as: engagement tools, research and community engagement guidelines/prompts, workshop ideas, and etc.

2. Summarize the critique: how did your colleagues respond?

Overall, I think my colleagues responded well and thought my proposal was interesting and relevant even in their own lives. I also do believe that the feedback I had received after the proposal had reaffirmed some questions that I had as well. For example, I believe Paolo had asked about what type of third place I'm working within, and that is a question I always receive without fail. Additionally, Professor Starr had asked what constitutes or is defined as a neglected/underutilized third place. Both questions were very fair and things that I was also thinking about even before the presentation.

3. Describe your response to the critique: what did you learn? how would you revise your thesis project? what will you do next?

With Paolo's question, it became evident that I need to be explicitly clear in that I am not focusing my work on a specific third place. Instead, my work is to be applied to any third place in general as my research and approaches are supposed to be broadly applied to a varying amount of third places.

For Professor Starr's question, I'm unsure still of how to define an underutilized third place. I think as of now, it may be defined simply by qualitative experiences and stories of someone that is a regular frequenter of the place. Another metric is to get the "ground truth" values and see how it improves over the course of the work of revitalization of the place.

To revise my thesis project I plan on reanalyzing the group that I'd like to orient and present my work to. I think I'll make a stakeholder map to see how that looks like visually.

In terms of next steps, the spring semester will be used to go full gung-ho with workshops and event programming. Less time in the theoretical research side and more effort and time put into the real practice of things and everything.

[tachyonblu]

New video! In this segment of my book interview with Paolo "GameDiviner" Munoz, we discussed why GamerGate was important to him, media ethics, EzraKlein's JournoList, harassment, the GG Harassment & Hug Patrols, and his famous "Line in the Sand" speech ahead of SPJ Airplay.

GameDiviner's Line in the Sand speech: “I think what's gonna happen between here and one more month, it's really all we have left. I think the intensity is going to get higher in trying to derail this. We're gonna have to keep it under as best as we can. And I think what's going to happen between here and one more month it's really all we have left I think I think the intensity is going to get higher in trying to derail this we're gonna have to keep it under as best as we can and I think that's part of the reason why we've had all these interesting weird debates going on that are kind of artificial on the tag people are sensing especially in anti GamerGate that if Airplay does go through and we are heard and the truth starts coming out. They are in serious trouble, so I think every single effort is being made between now and the next month to get us disheartened, to get us to give up, to get us to think that this is all for nothing, to get us to fight each other, to get us into pointless dramas on the freaking hashtag over how to use it.

I mean, for goodness sake, we've been at this for 11 months and we're debating over this stupid shit that from month one was already out there; we've been arguing about this since month one. No matter what happens next, we're all friends. We all know each other, we know the people we can rely on, we know the people we can trust, and we know that we can build something better from this. We're connecting with the industry in more ways than we can imagine now.

We're not on trial; their entire damn profession is on trial, and we're bringing the evidence to prove it. We're not on trial—they are. We're going to make it better. We're going to prove to the world that this is probably one of the most progressive, most open, most incredible and creative fields there is out there. We're going to break the media lie that the entire industry is made out of show business and sex. They're not just hurting us as gamers; they're hurting developers. They're hurting the people who want to get in as developers because they're spreading lies. We're going to break that here and now. We just have to show up and speak the truth. The truth does not need defending; you just need to let it free. It will defend itself like a lion.”

[thirtysevenodddogs]

I've seen this post going around and the responses under it. It is my understanding that this was posted in response to seemingly racist comments towards Pedro and the way his character looks. This is not gonna be about the racist part, those folks can fuck right off, this is mostly me just ranting about shit. Feel free to ignore me!

Let me preface this by saying I am in no way an expert, not even well-studied, but I am a big fan of art, history, and the Roman Empire. It is an incredible subject.

Now directly related to this post. In the images above, yes, we see depictions of male figures with similar profiles to Pedro's, but also only two of them are Roman figures. That would be the fragment of the portrait of Marcus Aurelius which is an Imperial Period (170 AD), highly stylized portrait, as most portraits of important figures were at the time. And the Bust of Lucio Emilio Paolo (168 AC) a little less stylized as it was from an earlier period, and sporting that look we often see in media when depicting anything ROME.

Then we have The Hellenistic Prince, a GREEK, bronze statue depicting King Attalus the Second. This is way older from the 2nd century BC about 300 years before Marcus Aurelius's time and a completely different style of sculpture.

Then we have another Hellenistic style, yes ROMAN, sculpture, believed to be a direct copy of a (by that time) ancient Greek sculpture. We also have a completely different race, a SAVAGE depicted in the form of the Dying Gaul, whose beastly identifiers were his THICK, longer hair, and mustache.

And like, this is not to say ROMANS never wore long thick hair or never had beards and mustaches, we have evidence all over the place that they did. But they did during an early period of the Empire. By the time depicted in G2, which is likely 211 DC, the time of Caracalla and Geta. The Romans had adopted that clean shaven close cropped hair look, to DIFERENTIATE themselves from men such a these Savages. The Gauls, the Germans, the Tracians, the Huns, etc... Basically everyone they had subjugated.

Now, again, this is just me ranting so feel free to ignore me. Also, feel free to correct me!

Personally, I think Pedro looks amazing. Is his look period accurate? Likely, no. But also his character is not period accurate as he never fucking existed.

Gladiators never rode Rhinos, and they also didn't have sharks readily available to put in their little coliseum pool battles. But it looks SUPER FUCKING COOL!

Most of the movie is a mix-and-match. where individual things are extremely accurate but often exaggerated because it is a Hollywood MOVIE. Also, it takes elements from many different periods, for example, Lucilla and Lucius were already super dead by the time the creepy brothers came to power. Also as per the trailer's minimal information, I gather Geta would have also likely been dead already (tho it seems in this version Caracalla might be the one to suffer that end), and Macrinus, who was an AFRICAN most likely BLACK politician, did not use Lucius or a Gladiator at all to push forward his profecy-based-plans of overthrowing the empire and taking the throne. He used a simple soldier, who died almost immediately after stabbing Caracalla to death while the crazy kid Emperor had his dick out and was literally taking a piss.

Riddley Scott knows his shit, kinda, he researches and uses the parts he finds most exciting and just makes epic movies with it. It is never going to be 100% accurate and the people upset/annoyed over this have the right to their oppinions.

HOWEVER! No one has the right to be racist against Pedro or Denzel at any point or over anything at all.

In conclusion... Just, ignore me.

Unless you love history and Roman shit and want to chat about it with me and wait excitedly for this, hopefully INCREDIBLE, movie to come out!

End rant.

"Pedro looks so out of place, he doesn't look like he belongs there." Shut up.

[rubalcavah]

Gays/Gaze from Ben Coldwell on Vimeo.

With “Radical Elsewhere” ([in]Transition 9.3, 2022) Philip Brubaker responds to Johannes Binotto’s remarkable memory of catching something onscreen as a child that unleashes a terrifying sexual feeling. The arousing but disturbing, isolating but personal film Binotto has seen on television remains unnamed and trapped in that night before sex or media could have made much sense. Binotto refers to a bit of Gilles Deleuze on the offscreen, which Braubaker represents as a glowing fuchsia frame where “things are not shown but felt by the viewer” in part through “gay sex scenes because I thought they were probably too risqué to be filmed with an explicit approach.” Of course, television censors images to protect the child, especially the lonely queer child of the night, from feelings too dirty or lustful. But is explicit gay sex really “too risqué to be filmed”? I think not, so I took my eyedrop tool to recreate Brubaker’s border of the unseen and crossed.

Certainly some landscapes always leave the spectacle of gay sex offscreen: classical Hollywood, American television before premium cable, anything below the MPA’s R rating, and the clips in Brubaker’s piece. The problem with these prohibitions, as D. A. Miller reminds us in “Anal Rope,” is that gay sex can only haunt the shadowy realm of connotation, “the dominant signifying practice of homophobia.” Miller argues that the camera in Hitchcock’s Rope (1948)—an experiment in the then-impossible single shot feature film—has an “extreme unwillingness to shut its eye.” When Hitchcock must cut, he schematically ‘hides’ half his cuts through blackouts over “a man’s backside.” Half minus one, in truth, as the last cut in the film hides instead the corpse that proves the central homosexuals have killed and fucked (when really, glancing through history, we should say homosexuals have been killed and fucked). For Miller, the final cut distills Rope’s fear of castration and, ingeniously, the “oddly compatible fear of the negation of castration.” “Gays/Gays” breaks open this last cut with over a hundred years of media that refuses to fear the negation of castration.

My centerpiece is built from castrated imaged—a controlled constellation of moving penises severed from context (among them, in excess, are some literal castrations). Images of full frontal male nudity serve as my synecdoche for gay sex that, as Brubaker and Miller demonstrate, is too often only implied or softened. Instead, this is the ‘rare’ media that dares depict a “radical elsewhere” as right here and not so radical. Beyond gay sex, these ephemeral bursts are evidence of desire for men with penises and the many, sometimes violent, responses to that desire. The examples share their potent motif across terrains of time, space, intent, and use. My rejection of hierarchies of taste and genre hopes to reclaim and realign these texts, to repair the damage of their accrued paranoia and enliven their cumulative potentials.

The video is inflected by methods and theories from media studies, but I leave it to the viewer to decide if, and why, they care. Can a man’s penis, not lacking but stubbornly present, be a fetish object? Does a stream of nude men flow against the torrent of the male gaze toward a man’s own to-be-looked-at-ness? Might there be an inverted “frenzy of the visible” that refines the boundaries of explicit sexual imagery, imagery that is more interested in proliferating sex and its implications rather than encoding the binaries attached to gender? Is there something queer—including but surpassing content and reception—in the form and temporality of such images, here severed and stitched to magnify their assaultive, affective extremes? 

[Partial References: Roland Barthes; Jacques Lacan; Ingmar Bergman; Andy Warhol; Kenneth Anger; Alfred Hitchcock; Jean Genet; Jack Smith; Stan Brakhage; Wakefield Poole; Derek Jarman; Bill Gunn; Pier Paolo Pasolini; Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Ken Russell; Todd Haynes; Stanley Kubrick; Paul Schrader; Jane Campion; Peter Greenaway; Ming-Liang Tsai; Pedro Almodóvar; Brandon Cronenberg; Eliza Hittman; Gregg Araki; Bruce LaBruce; Ang Lee; Alfonso Cuarón; Sadie Benning; John Cameron Mitchell; Eli Roth; David Cronenberg; Jonathan Glazer; Danny Boyle; Steve McQueen; Larry Clark; Ari Aster; Andrew Haigh; Johanna Hogg; Jeff Tremaine; Paul Thomas Anderson; Steven Soderbergh; Sean Baker; Gaspar Noé

The White Lotus; The Wire; Sense8; Atlanta; The Leftovers; We Are Who We Are; High Maintenance; Looking; Girls; Sex Education; The Deuce; The Righteous Gemstones; Game of Thrones; Chernobyl; Yellowjackets; Westworld; True Blood; Succession; Poker Face; Euphoria]

[phantomdoofer]

Tower Town, Chapter 23 - Avarice

Paolo sat on the bed of his… really, it was too nice to be called a cell, even though he wasn't allowed to leave. It bore more resemblance to a decent hotel room. Complete with slightly musty sheets.

The double airlock-style doors keeping him hermetically sealed inside were a bit off-putting, though.

He stood, slowly pacing. His trial was at something of a standstill - there was no precedent for someone performing acts of murder and terrorism while being possessed by the spirit of a 3000-year-old tyrant. Some people wanted him tried as if he'd performed the crimes himself. Which isn't entirely wrong. While heavily influenced, the Pizzamancer hadn't been in complete control. Some of that was me. Others wanted to absolve him of his crimes. I wouldn't feel right about that, either.

The jury was gridlocked, to say the least. Even the judges didn't seem to know how to address the situation.

Knock knock knock

Paolo turned towards the door. “Yes?”

“You have a visitor, Mr. Totino,” came the guard's voice through the speaker. “We're sending him in. Please stand where you're properly visible.”

Paolo dutifully stood, arms outward, hands open, in the spot they'd instructed him to stand. He didn't blame them. Ever since he'd been here, he'd been discovering all the awful things he'd done - either through vague memories, or news reports. I'd take extra caution with me, too.

A buzzer went off, Paolo heard the outer door open and close. There was a whoosh of air pressure changing, the inner door opened, and in walked-

“Mr… Schreiber? Professor Schreiber? What are you doing here?”

The small, stocky gnome chuckled lightly. “I thought I'd swing by and say hi.” He looked around. “For a maximum-security cell, this is pretty cozy.”

“Better than I was expecting, certainly.” Paolo said back down on the bed, gesturing to a nearby chair. “Not that I don't appreciate the thought, but why would you come out here for me?”

The gnome hopped lightly up onto the chair, and grinned, his wide mustachios standing up with the motion. “Oh, don't think I came out just for you. I had to deliver my ‘findings.’”

“Your findings?” Paolo repeated, confused.

Aldo put his finger to his lips in a conspiratorial gesture, and grinned widely. “I just presented evidence to the judiciary showing exactly how the Pizzamancer's possession trick worked… and why you weren't wholly in control.”

“What?” Paolo jumped up. “That could change the whole process! And you just ‘happened’ to have this?” He glared at the stocky gnome.

Aldo laughed. “Well, I mean, who else in the world would still know how that sort of thing works?” He pointed at the tall Ninda. “You don't deserve to rot in prison the rest of your life, young man. You had half your life stolen from you because of things you had no real control over.” He crossed his arms. “Least I could do, really.”

Paolo leaned back, stunned. “So… now what?”

Aldo shrugged. “Now, you wait.” He grinned. “And while you're waiting, I have a proposal for you.”

“Oh?”

“Wanna hear a story?” Aldo waggled his bushy eyebrows.

Paolo stared at him, not sure how to react. Then he snorted. “What, you're going to tell me a bedtime story?”

“Oh, nothing so saccharine,” Aldo said. His grin became malicious. “I thought you might like to hear how that devilish ancestor of yours came to be what he was.”

Now that probably IS a story to hear, Paolo thought. He nodded. “And you're just gonna… tell me this? Right here? Do we have time?”

“I pulled some strings, kid. We have all the time we need,” Aldo replied. “So. No need to start at the very beginning. You don't need to hear about all our bumps and scrapes. So let's start where it started to go wrong…”

~~~~

The world looked strange as Raphael opened his eyes. Then he remembered. Of course it does, you idiot. He blinked at the world outside the tube, the support medium softly buoying his body up. It was so warm and comfy - it was even oxygenated, so he could breathe it. If I didn't need food, I could stay in here forever. He grinned. Of course, then I'd miss out on everything the world has to offer… He thought of the saucy young gnome he'd been chatting up lately. He loved how direct she was. He was hoping to make their arrangement a bit more... formal. No time right now, though.

Raphael heard a tapping behind him and turned. Dominic grinned at him and turned a thumb upwards. Time to get out, he mouthed.

Raphael swam to the top, seeing the lid open for him. He quickly climbed out, waited for the support medium to drain back into the tube, then grabbed the towel Dominic held. The Ninda held a pad, and was studying the contents intensely.

"So? Any new info?" Raphael said as he toweled off. Unfortunately, the support medium was sticky, and like all gnomes, he tended towards the furry side. He always ended up needing a shower no matter how meticulous he was.

Dominic smiled. "I think we've almost got it, Raph. You were right, it is tied to that particular chemical sequence." The Ninda turned his round body - Raph ducked by reflex, knowing Dom's arm would probably graze his head if he didn't. He's so engrossed he forgets he takes up so much room! Raphael grinned regardless. The Ninda had been a friend of his in school - both specializing in nanotech applications towards genetics. While Raphael had focused on the powers slowly appearing in the population, Dominic had focused on interacting biology and technology. However, Dom's funding had suddenly been cut, and Raphael had invited his old friend to join his group. While not the most knowledgeable in the field, he knew Dom would put his all into it.

Lately he'd been almost obsessed. "Dom, you need to sleep!" Raphael had said. The Ninda would be found slumped over his pad or terminal every morning, drooling on the desk. He seemed particularly fascinated by Raphael's own power - the power to create and control flame. While not that unusual, the fact his body reacted in other ways was very odd - no one else's eyes lit on fire, nor did their hair start floating.

So they'd chosen Raphael himself as their subject. They'd been carefully combing through his chromosome structures for three years now, trying to tease out the connections that gave him the ability to do things that should be impossible.

It was a daunting field. For centuries now people had been studying the emergence of powers. No one had yet discovered how people did what they did - it seemed to tap into something beyond normal physics.

And so they'd turned to more unusual methods. Nanotechnology, metaphysics, even magic. Then Dom had discovered certain chemical combinations in DNA seemed to affect local reality in ways that were inexplicable.

If they could work out the pattern, they could trace it. Even replicate it. "Everyone in the world could have powers!" Dom had exclaimed. "We could transfer powers out of criminals! Save rare abilities in the dying! Save the dying by adding in powers to bolster life!"

Raphael had grinned. "But what if someone got hold of this with bad intentions? They could create an invincible army. Rule the world." He'd shaken his head. "We need to keep this close, Dom. It could be world-changing... or world-ending."

And so they'd proceeded alone. Raphael wrote the reports to their sponsors - carefully wording it to make them see they were making progress, while giving no details on how their process would work. It was a delicate balance, one Dominic had no patience for.

Raphael hoped they made a breakthrough soon. He was getting worn out trying to dodge the question... "what are you two up to in there?"

Raphael scrubbed his hair dry as he looked over Dominic's shoulder. "The answer's probably on the screen right now," Dom sighed, "and I just can't see it."

Raphael reached up and patted the Ninda's dry shoulder. "Dom, you need to get some sleep. Real sleep, not a nap. You can't think straight like this." He jabbed a short finger into his friend's side. "Budge up. Let me take a look at it. Go get on the couch. If I find anything, I'll let you know."

Dom grumbled. "Maybe you're right. All I can see is a blur of data." He stood, his flesh rustling. "I should get a drink first, I'm drying out."

"Do that. Don't want you crumbling on me." Raph grinned as the Ninda stumbled off. He turned and stared at the data. He'd seen most of it before, but the new block was being compiled as he watched. His mind raced as he tried to connect the chemical and physical data he saw. If this causes this effect, that influences this, which can cause...

He heard a snore behind him. He turned - Dom was laid back on the couch, his pepper-strip lips thrown open, snoring loudly. Raph smiled. Finally.

~~~~

Raph looked at the clock. Been staring at this for four hours? Yeesh. He stretched - his back realigned with a series of cracks. Maybe I should call it a night myself.

He heard a beep and turned.

<DATA COMPILED. ADDING TO INDEX.>

A torrent of data poured onto the screen. Raphael stared intently. Wait. He stared at a new finding - a singular connection in a seemingly unrelated chemical sequence. Something tickled the back of his mind. He recalled an earlier train of thought. That requires a certain action to enact its effect. This might...!

He turned and entered a quick series of commands into a chemical synthesizer. Quickly the nanobots within assembled the DNA combination he'd requested, then inserted it into a preexisting chain in a specially-tailored artificial organism production program. Within minutes the machines had assembled the rudimentary creature, and it stirred. Hands shaking, Raphael released it into the test environment.

The creature was small, no bigger than a baseball, and as amorphous as a wad of pizza dough. It wasn't meant to exist in perpetuity - only to test out gene sequences. It oozed forward, towards a group of more refined creatures designed to force a number of rudimentary responses. As the new creature approached, the tiny herd moved into a defensive formation, and the largest reared, presenting a hostile aspect.

The new creature hesitated… then reared, opened a small orifice, and spat a tiny fireball at the ground near the other creature.

Oh my god, did it work?? “Dom! DOM, WAKE UP! COME HERE!” Raphael cried.

The Ninda sat up with a loud snort. “Huh, wh-? Raph, what-”

“It worked! I found it!” Raphael ran over and hustled his friend over, dragging them to the environment bubble just in time for the tiny creature to spit another fireball. The herd rolled away frantically.

Dom’s eyes grew wide. “Dust of the Fathers,” he said reverentially. “You found it.” He smiled hugely. “YOU FOUND IT!”

The two danced around in an ecstasy of happiness. This was what they'd been searching for, for years. All that work, and it finally worked!

They turned back to the environment… just in time to see the test creature roast one of the herd alive. Both sobered instantly. “OK, that's enough of that,” Raphael said, and pressed a button. A small beam shot out, and the creature went immediately dormant.

Dom reached over and activated the retrieval program. A pair of manipulators carefully gathered up the now-inert specimen and plopped it into the analyzer for scanning and later disassembly. “I still can't believe it. You think we could replicate the process with other powers?”

Raphael never looked up from the analysis screen. “I'm checking it now. We need more data, though.” He pushed away, sighing. “We can't keep this under wraps anymore. We have to bring in more people, so we can get a broader data profile.” He rubbed his temples. “This is gonna get so complicated…”

Dom tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, let me worry about getting DNA profiles, huh? I've got some connections.” The Ninda ran towards the door, then turned and smiled. “Give me a few hours and you'll have all the data you need!”

Before Raph could speak, the Ninda was gone. Raph heard the click of the door being locked. He stared. Haven't seen him that energetic in ages. I thought he was ostracized by all the other researchers from his old group, too. So where's he gonna get this data?

Finally he shrugged and turned back to his screen. Guess if it'll save me the headache of drafting this all for the Board I shouldn't ask questions.

~~~~

Four hours later, the door clicked again and Dom slid in, looking exhausted but triumphant. He brandished a small data crystal. “Heh heh, got, my friend! All the data you should need!”

Gently taking the crystal, Raph inserted it into the media reader. Instantly, a torrent of information poured onto the screen. Raphael gaped. “Mio Dio, amico, this is… hundreds of profiles! Thousands! How did you get this??”

Dom just grinned maliciously. “I told you, I have connections. Bet you didn't think your old buddy Dom had that kind of clout, did you?”

Raphael stared for a second. “Don't know where you got that idea I'd think that, Dom, but you've never been… the most, uh, social of guys. Remember I had to practically drag you to our first outside-class event?”

Dom rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Good thing you did, too. Ok, message received, old friend. Sorry, got a little touchy there. Guess I am too tired… I'm seeing things that aren't there.”

Raph smiled and grasped Dom's hand. “No worries, amico. Now, let's get to work.”

~~~~

Raphael snorted as someone poked him in the shoulder. “Dom, cu’ it out,” he groaned. Painfully he leaned forward - he'd fallen asleep in the chair, leaned back. His neck and spine practically screamed in protest, then audibly cracked they realigned. He winced.

“Dr. Alighieri, you might consider sleeping somewhere a bit less hard on the back,” an unexpected but familiar voice said.

Raphael's eyes flew open, and he quickly hopped to his feet. “D-Doctor Testa! What brings you here?”

The tall human, the head of Nanotechnologies, smiled. Even though it had been years since Raphael had been his student, he still had a bit of fondness for the gnomish prodigy. “I’ve told you, Raphael, call me Aldo.”

Raphael squirmed a bit. “Just doesn't feel right, Dr. Testa.”

Testa shrugged. “Regardless… you two have been cooped up in here for weeks, Raphael. While not wholly unusual, you usually at least provide reports on what you're doing.”

Raphael groaned inwardly. Dammit, let it slip! “Mi dispiace, Professor. We've been so engrossed in what we were doing it slipped my mind.”

“Obviously,” Testa said, grinning wryly. “Would you mind showing me what you've been up to in here?”

Raphael felt his heart clench. He'd been so very careful to keep their work a secret, and one careless nap was about to blow the lid off their secrecy. I can't just toss him out! He sighed. “Well, sir, I have to admit, we've been quiet because… well, what we've discovered… it could be extremely dangerous.”

Testa 's face turned grave, but he nodded. “Much of what we do here could be described as such, young man.”

“Yes, sit, but believe me when I say this could be catastrophic in the wrong hands,” Raphael looked up, deadly serious. “Can I trust you to keep this between us until we can release the information safely?”

Testa crossed his arms. “I will make my own determinations, Raphael, but I believe you. Very well. If I agree with your conclusions, I will help you keep this confined.”

Raphael breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, Doctor. I admit, I've been… worried that we couldn't keep this quiet much longer.” He turned to his keyboard, tapping the holokeys. “Knowing we have you backing us up is a huge relief.”

Testa looked down at him. “Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I have to make my own decision. If I judge it to be not worth the risk, I'll have to shut you down.”

Raphael felt his heart skip a beat. We can't lose all this work! We've come so far! He cleared his throat. “Well, sir, let's hope it doesn't come to that.” He decided on full disclosure. Let whatever happens, happen. “If you'll just look right here…”

~~~~

An hour later, Dr. Testa was awestruck.

“My word, Raphael, you two have been busy. This is remarkable.” He leaned back. “As Dominic says, the applications for the saving of lives is astounding.”

Raphael closed down the screen, casting the room into darker shadow. “Yes, sir, I assume you see the risks involved, as well?”

Testa nodded. “Indeed. Misuse of such technology could be, as you yourself put it, catastrophic.” He rocked in his chair. “Nevertheless, I feel this is a line worth continuing. I will support you, provided you provide me with detailed reports. No more evasiveness. I'll make sure the rest of the Directors only get a scrubbed version until you're ready to go public.”

Raphael was almost crying with relief. “Thank you, sir. It means a lot to me.”

“However,” Testa said, “I admit, I came to you today under, well, not really false pretenses, but…” he shrugged.

“What do you mean?” Raphael said, his eyes narrowing.

Testa, for his part, looked a bit distressed. “I wanted to speak to you, at length, alone, Raphael. So I arranged for Dominic to be elsewhere.”

“Why?” Raphael said.

“Because something suspicious has happened, and Dominic is the prime suspect. Recently a large amount of data profiles were copied without authorization. Not entirely a crime, but certainly something that could warrant a reprimand.”

Those data profiles he got me, Raphael thought, blushing. He didn't get them, he stole them! “I'm sorry, sir,” he said, “I was told they were acquired through, well, at least semi-legitimate means.” He looked down. Dom, how could you?

“I'm aware of how close you two are, Raphael,” Testa said, “so I wanted to gauge your reaction. I don't believe you knew how he got them… though you could have asked around. Of course,” he said, grinning, “when have you had time?”

“I'll confront Dominic on it immediately,” Raphael said. “let him know it's not OK to just take data like that.”

“No, Raphael,” Testa said, “let us confront him. We'll reprimand him, nothing more. He's a valuable researcher, we don't want to lose him. And it's best that you not be involved.”

“But you're going to join us,” Raphael said, “he'll figure it out.”

Testa smiled. “Just tell him I hacked into your files, then demanded to be part of it. It's not that far from the truth.” He smiled, just a little wickedly.

“I don't like lying to him,” Raphael said.

“He's lied to you, has he not?” Dr. Testa said. “People lie, Doctor. To each other, to the world, to themselves. It's the nature of our peoples. We lie every day.”

“I know. I just… he's my friend,” Raphael said, looking down.

Testa laid a kind hand on his shoulder. “Ah, it does sting, when it's a friend. The fact you care makes me believe we can entrust this to you.” He stood and walked to the door.

“...and what about Dom?” Raphael said, his voice grave.

Testa paused, but didn't turn. “Be aware, Doctor. He is ambitious. Ambition can be a useful tool… or a terrible vice.”

Raphael sat in the dark, thinking, as the door closed.