#probably aware of when the union contract was up

[ginaporterr]

Miss Jenn has a joke about the strike in 4x03 so i think he had some idea it was likely to happen but i do think he felt like it was a good time to end for story purposes

mhmmm def possible

[fwoosheye]

*sighs* Not again

Okay so it's another LU idea and can someone please adopt it so it will leave me alone? Anyone? I have too many projects already. Someone please save me!

Anyway. This is a "Legend is the last one to join the chain" idea. He was practically raised by Fi after he pulled the Master Sword for the first time (was it @bokettochild who came up with that? I know I've read some really good fics with that but I'm not sure I remember by who correctly. Please correct me if I've mixed people up), and it takes place on Lorule's Death Mountain. Link is a regular at the Treacherous Tower, because it's an easy way to earn money and with the Triforce restored the monsters aren't as mindless as before so he actually befriends them (though I hc the monsters in the T-Tower were the least mindless to begin with (at least the ones in the audience, maybe the ones one fights were caught mindless ones), probably around the level of Blind the Ex-Sage the Thief, and that they just became more "stable" and better att communicating when the Triforce was restored). Anyway when the story takes place, Link is actually filling in for the final boss because the Purple Moldorm is sick and their new Union demands sick time or something.

When the chain appears in Lorule it's fairly near the T-Tower and when they ask the Devilish Girl about the Hero and learn he's the final boss, they realize someone will have to get up there and defeat him for his shift to end. She will only let one of them enter, so Sky, Warriors or Wild traverse the Tower with the Master Sword in hand (and I'd pick one of those three because they're aware of Fi's presence. Wild might be post-TotK Wild).

When Sky/Wars/Wild finally makes it to Legend there's some brief chatting, and when they attempt to attack each other they simultaneously get their hands burned and Legend accidentally hisses an undignified "Mom!" at Fi making the other Hero realise this teen was practically raised by a sword (and yes this is the scene that gives me the urge to write this, please save me). It becomes a sword-less battle, because Legend shift won't end if he's not defeated and his (magical?) contract don't permit him to hold back more than making it non-leathal. Tri-Force Heroes might've taken place before ALBW for this fic so Legend actually can use doppels/doppel medallion/etc so there 3v1 for a bit. Surprising move from Sky/Wars/Wild eventually sees Legend defeated and he meets the rest of the chain. He probably offers to guide them to the Castle to talk with Princess Hilda, if it doesn't turn out they've managed to get the information they want from the monsters on the audience while they watched. Maybe the chain are chatting about different friendly/civil monsters they've met during their adventures while descending the mountain. And/or Sky/Wars/Wild asks Legend why he addressed his sword as mom.

And because I am utterly incapable of keeping a story idea short, I was also considering to make it so Link is stuck in Lorule because the bracelet only had enough power left to send one of them home to Hyrule and both Link and Princess Hilda agreed Princess Zelda should be the one to return. Ravio would in that case likewise be stuck in Hyrule because he didn't have enough magic. He had probably managed to sneak into Hyrule's Sacred Realm trying to go home and met Zelda as she came back so he knew Link had won, though he might've left before Zelda made her wish (or even woke up?) and thinks Lorule and Link is gone. Maybe. It has some sweet juicy angst potential to let Ravio think his home and hero are destroyed. But also including this would for sure make it a longer fic...

[fans4wga]

[image ID: a May 22 tweet from Joe Russo @/joerussotweets with an attached screenshot of text. Russo quotes the screenshot: "A tri-guild Hollywood walkout? It's never happened before, but this time it just might." He then comments, "Burn Hollywood, burn."

The screenshot itself is from writer Matthew Belloni for news site Puck and reads, "Several days ago, I wrote that an actors' strike was possible, but I now believe that one is likely. And if the directors don't achieve a deal in the next several weeks—which would probably have to include a favored nations repoener, allowing the DGA to gain the benefit of any better terms achieved by either of the other two guilds—then we might just see directors walk out as well. A tri-guild Hollywod walkout? It's never happened before, but this time it just might." end ID.]

(For context, this is Joe Russo, writer of Nightmare Cinema and Inheritance, not the MCU guy with the same name. Yeah, it's confusing.)

For further context: we all know the Writers' Guild of America is currently on strike for a fair contract. But were you aware that the studios are also now re-negotiating their deals with the actors' guild (aka SAG-AFTRA, which stands for Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) as well as the Directors' Guild of America, aka DGA?

A few days ago, SAG-AFTRA authorized a strike vote. This is not proof that they will go on strike, but is basically a head count of who among their membership is giving them the go-ahead to strike (it's used as leverage in negotiations). Actors from Mark Hamill to Nick Kroll and many, many more tweeted about voting YES, and there is large public support for the strike, so it looks pretty certain that the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization is happening.

When the WGA issued a similar strike authorization vote in April, the overwhelming majority—nearly 98%—voted YES. That gave the WGA strong leverage and proved that the writers meant business. Hopefully we're looking at similar high numbers among SAG-AFTRA.

That leaves us with the Directors' Guild, which historically has only gone on strike much less than the WGA, and which might be a tougher group to convince. If, however, all three unions go on strike, Hollywood would completely shut down. Studios would be forced to re-negotiate on the unions' terms and give in to union demands.

Now is the time to tell any Hollywood union members in your life to support the possibility of SAG-AFTRA and DGA strikes! Get on social media and support the actors who have already announced their YES vote. Gently encourage (do not harass!) actors who have not publicly spoken up about it to add their voices to the strike authorization, because the future of Hollywood is at stake.

And because strikes are hard on crew members who don't belong to major guilds and cannot access strike funds, you can always donate to the Entertainment Community Fund under Film/TV to support those entertainment workers. If you can't donate, you can support the WGA on social media by hastagging #IStandWithTheWGA and #DoTheWriteThing.

The screenshotted text above is from Matthew Belloni's newsletter "What I'm Hearing" on Puck, which is paywalled, but there is a 2-week free trial if you're interested in reading some insider info on the strike.

follow @fans4wga for reliable strike news, from an organization of fans working in solidarity with WGA members.

[je-lurk]

Offenbach’s "La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein" starring the show!Dead Boy Detectives.

I know it’s niche but hear me out:

The Cat King as the Great Duchess

Edwin as Fritz

Charles as Wanda

Monty as Prince Paul

The Night Nurse as General Boum

Esther as Baron Puck

That one cat Edwin tricked as Népomuc

Jenny as Baron Grog

Crystal and Niko (and Maxine and Sa'al, why not) as the four handmaidens of the Great Duchess

The cats as literally every other character

And Port Townsend in lieu of the Great-Duchy of Gérolstein.

Since the intersection between people who watched Dead Boy Detectives and La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein is probably dot-like, let me recap the operetta:

Fritz (Edwin) is a soldier and in love with Wanda (Charles), though she is a little skittish. She rebukes the advances of General Boum (Night Nurse), so he is jealous. The regiment of Boum (Night Nurse) and Fritz (Edwin) is about to go to war so the Great Duchess visits them, and falls instantly in love with Fritz (Edwin), and makes him Chief General on a whim.

Prince Paul (Monty) is there. He is supposed to marry the Great Duchess (The Cat King) but she’s been leading him on for months. Baron Puck (Esther), the Duchess’ (Cat King) mentor, is all for this union. Boum (Night Nurse), Paul (Monty), and Puck (Esther) all see how the Great Duchess (Cat King) looks at Fritz (Edwin), and begin plotting their revenge.

The regiment goes to war, end of Act I.

The war ended, the regiment comes back victorious. The Great Duchess (Cat King) covertly confesses her feelings in a "my friend is in love with you, yeah you could say I know her pretty well, wink wink" manner but Fritz (Edwin) is dumb as a brick and doesn’t get shit. Instead, he asks her if she’d be willing to sign the wedding contract between him and Wanda (Charles). She accepts.

Meanwhile, Baron Puck (Esther), Prince Paul (Monty), and General Boum (Night Nurse) decide to kill Fritz (Edwin) when night comes. The Great Duchess (Cat King) discovers them and is very cross. Because she wants in on the plan (because she’s been spurned and she’s salty).

She weds Fritz (Edwin) and Wanda (Charles), end of Act II.

The Great Duchess (Cat King), General Boum (Night Nurse), Prince Paul (Monty), Baron Puck (Esther), Népomuc (that one cat Edwin tricked), and thirteen other people are in Fritz’s (Edwin) room, making the final preparations to the assassination. Baron Grog (Jenny), whose job is to facilitate Prince Paul’s (Monty) wedding to the Great Duchess (Cat King), enters the room to talk to her. The Great Duchess (Cat King) falls instantly in love with him and forgets why she wants Fritz (Edwin) killed. Baron Grog (Jenny) suggests that to keep him near the Great Duchess (Cat King), she has to marry his prince, Prince Paul (Monty). She accepts and cancels the assassination.

Boom (Night Nurse), Paul (Monty), and Puck (Esther) are pissed and want their revenge, which the Great Duchess (Cat King) allows them to have, as long as they don’t kill Fritz (Edwin). Little time after Fritz (Charles) and Wanda (Charles) withdraw to their room, still the night of their wedding, Fritz (Edwin) is sent away because the enemy is coming back.

Fritz (Edwin) leaves, alone, end of Act III, Tableau I.

The day after, everyone is celebrating the wedding of the Great Duchess (Cat King) and Prince Paul (Monty) (the wedding was held the night before), when Fritz (Edwin) comes back, thoroughly beaten up. It turns out he was sent to the house of a lady Boum (Night Nurse) used to… visit behind her husband’s back. The husband noticed, is very mad, and Boum (Night Nurse) is aware of that fact. Having brought shame to the armies, Fritz (Edwin) is stripped of his titles and goes back with Wanda (Charles) to their home.

The Great Duchess (Cat King) wants to give the titles to Baron Grog (Jenny), and he reveals that he is married with three kids, soon four (here Jenny reveals she’s a lesbian). The Great Duchess (Cat King) gives back the control over the armies to Boum (Night Nurse) and the power to Puck (Esther) and decides that since she can’t have what she loves, she’ll love what she has.

End of Act III, Tableau II and end of "La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein".

[heatingandairss]

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[ceasarslegion]

Anyway,

Many, many 20-somethings end up in security work simply because it's a livable wage with benefits that usually only requires a high school diploma to snag an interview unless it's something highly specialized. And the highly specialized stuff that snags you 60, 70k a year you can still build up to by the time you're 30 if you can't get out. You can posture online about problematic authority figures all you like, but when your other viable options are the streets or minimum wage retail, you're gonna take the fucking uniform, don't pretend you wouldn't in a desperate enough job market.

And we are very aware of the things that are wrong in the industry we work in, but we can't do anything about it. We don't have the kind of power that police unions give brutalizing cops, we're privately contracted and security unions, in my experience, are very wishy washy. Security is not a very glamorous job to turn into a career, there's constant jokes about how you're here because you're too stupid to do anything else (but they all come running when like, a bird gets in the building), and everyone kinda hates it there. You give a union made up of people like that their houses and retirements paid off and it's very hard for them not to have a "fuck you, I got mine" attitude towards the guards they're supposed to be fighting for and representing. All this to say, what exactly do you want us to do about it when not following the rules gets us insta-fired and our own union would just shrug about it? You can't ask us to lose our jobs over personal moral qualms. Black Mesa probably has a security union, but I doubt Civil Protection does.

Many of us end up at this crossroads: either be constantly miserable in our work lives, or mentally close ourselves off to it so we can at least be okay. A certain compartmentalization happens where you learn to put it all in a box and toss it into the incinerator, because otherwise you'd be a wreck 24/7 about something you can't do anything about. Whether that's facing abuse about how much of a stupid grunt you are from others considered "smarter" than you or when you have to bring out the physical part of your job. You learn to pack it up and burn it so it doesn't ruin your life outside of work.

Many people also leave security, very few stay in for a career. 2 years of service is the usual threshold for when all the younger guards start leaving for greener pastures in the field they actually want to be in. But because the job market is the way it is, that's not true for everyone. You can't just up and quit without another job lined up no matter how much you want to, you still need to eat. So there tends to be this jump where everyone's either been there for 1-2 years, or 20+ years, with one or two guards crossing the bridge to the 20 year mark and desperately trying not to. The ones in the upper echelon tend to be very cynical, with very small worlds from how they were beaten down by the world and couldn't leave the uniform, so most of them stop trying at one point and kinda create their own bed of shit to lie in while pretending it's linen. These are the worst guards to talk to because they effectively drank the Kool aid, but it's from the same survival mechanism of boxing it up and burning it we all use taken to it's logical extreme.

How does this relate to Barney? Well, I imagine in Black Mesa, he's not so cynical yet. He's young, he's got this "good" job that's not minimum wage retail, he's got room and board. I imagine he's excited to start because woah, Kevlar vest?? Cool uniform?? Authority?? He's not stuck in an office pushing papers around?? This is a way better starter job than his friends working in fast food right now! He takes the shit parts of the job harder because well, he hasn't crossed the threshold yet. He's still looking to the future, mailing out job applications to the greener pastures, never hearing back. The scientists call him a stupid grunt and he tenses, he has to physically restrain or subdue someone in a bad situation who just wandered in looking for help and he feels like a piece of shit about it, but he would lose his job and go broke and maybe homeless if he didn't. He eventually learns to just box it up, it's easier that way if he has to do it either way.

And then the rescas happens, he's running on adrenaline and a will to survive, and it all goes to shit. The world's just gone, somehow he ends up in Civil Protection but, mole or not, he has to perform his duties. Not just because of the integrity of the mission, but, let's be honest, it's a marginally better existence for himself under the combine than what the average citizens are getting. I'm sure lots of the other senior officers are willing to look the other way when their work buddies are breaking the rules off-duty. Box it up, burn it. Box it up, burn it.

Before he knows it, it's been 20 years since he started at Black Mesa. The thresholds been crossed. He's the grumpy, cynical senior officer who the juniors think is a turbo-asshole because well, that's what you have to become to survive sometimes. He no longer really cares either way after so long of boxing it all up and burning it, a few of his personal feelings ending up in the boxes before he throws them in. Because if he did, he'd be a shell. He doesn't go home and cry anymore, he doesn't feel empathy anymore, he also doesnt feel anger for his circumstances, or hatred for those he had to perform his duties against, or anything really, he just spends his days in a haze of boring familiarity wanting to go home.

I don't think he would cry on the hard days, I think he would just go home and sit in silence for a while before going to bed early. I think Gordon was the first time he felt happy, or anything, in a long time. I think Gordon brought him back to that young, new junior guard excited to have a "good" stable job while he looked for his greener pastures.

Throwing the people who followed me years ago for half life scraps as I say that I have many things I could analyze and project into Barney Calhoun since I am also a security guard that hates his job in an industry many consider to be irredeemable. I dont know how much people are gonna like it though because it will inject a few uncomfortable truths about being in that position into his character

[jeannereames]

Why do you think it took Alexander such a long time to *actively* go about making an heir? I understand that marriage in the early 20's was uncommon but that for him it was especially undiplomatic to tie himself down to one particular faction at court at the start of his reign. His father himself was very quick to marry into peace. Why did it take Alexander so long to address that issue? He could have officiated his union with Staitera whenever. Or had anyone he wanted at 25 after Issus.

First, I've been preparing for, then in New York for some cool things I'll talk about later. But it's slowed down my answers. (Now, I have to catch up for the time spent preparing, so I'll still be slow.)

Also, I realized I answered this once before, so here is the other (somewhat shorter) reply.

Argead Inheritance and Alexander’s (lack of) Heirs (Take II)

A lot of historians have asked why Alexander didn’t marry earlier and put off producing an heir. My own answer involves what I think were some unrecognized attempts mixed with bad luck. To really understand, however, we have to look at the behavior of prior Macedonian kings, and how the Argead Dynasty understood succession. Buckle-up Buttercup, this is a longer one. 😊

Let’s begin with Philip (II) and his older brother Perdikkas (III), the only two prior kings whose ages of first marriage we know or can reasonably guess. Let me also preface it by saying that while prior Macedonian kings sometimes had more than one wife, nobody had seven.* (The most I’m aware of are two, maybe three.) Philip’s military and political success led to an expansion on royal marriage in Macedon.

Perdikkas III ruled c. 5 years. We’re unsure how much older he was, but 2-3 years and possibly more. At his death, he had a son about a year old (Amyntas). We don’t know the name of Perdikkas’s wife, or when he married, but he was married at least 2 years. At his death, he would have been 25-30, probably closer to 30. My guess is he married after coming to the throne (for reasons I’ll skip as this is already long enough).

Philip married 5 times in his first 5-6 years; all were political. He was c. 23/24 when he came to the throne. For his first marriage, he wasn’t given much choice. Like Beth Carney, I consider Audata the first wife (not Phila), and he married her as part of a deal with Bardylis to prevent all-out invasion of Upper Macedonia following his brother’s death (along with half the Macedonian army) on a battlefield in Lynkestis. That marriage made him a client king.

This marriage may explain his rapid second marriage to Phila of Elimeia (independent kingdom until Philip). He probably contracted it shortly after to get the skillful Elimeian cavalry, et al., on his side for a second go at Bardylis just the next year. No grass grew under Philip’s feet.

In addition, Bill Greenwalt has proposed that Philip and Olympias were betrothed some years prior by their brother and uncle, respectively, when she was still a girl and he was in his teens—a backroom alliance against the threat of Bardylis. Obviously, it didn’t save Perdikkas. In 360, she still wasn’t old enough to bring to Pella, nonetheless, the alliance existed. Philip already had Lynkestis via his mother Eurydike. And—if Parmenion really was from Pelagonia—he also had that kingdom, if not via marriage/family. That’s a solid border against Illyria. (See map)

So, his first marriages/betrothal were driven by a need to deal with Illyria. His next marriages, a few years later, reflected a need to settle matters in Thessaly on his southern border. Marriage for him was all about securing the Macedonian borders. Those five marriages produced five surviving children from four wives—two of them boys.

He doesn’t marry again for almost a decade, and then it’s to settle matters in northern Thrace.

The last marriage, whatever our sources say, was also almost certainly political, but this time to address apparent internal conflict. We’re not sure what that was; it’s been lost to layers of drama involving Alexander and Olympias, but it probably owed to tension between Upper and Lower Macedonia—which hadn’t been united all that long.

So, Philip’s marriages were politically driven. He got children out of them, but that wasn’t the driving reason for him to marry—except possibly the last. Internal conflict or not, he may also have married again to father a “backup” heir, in case he lost Alexander and/or Amyntas in Persia (more below).

That’s the view of [royal] marriage Alexander grew up with: Macedonian kings marry for politics…not necessarily to secure heirs.

We must also review the crazy method of Argead inheritance.** ANY Argead male could hold the throne. There was a preference for the son of the prior king, or at least a prior king. There also seems to have been a preference for a son by the higher/highest status wife. Yet because any Argead could hold the throne, virtually no Argead king went unchallenged either at the beginning of, or sometimes later in his reign.

Supposedly, on his deathbed, when asked to whom he left his kingdom, Alexander replied, “To the strongest.” That pretty much sums up Argead inheritance.

For this reason, underage Macedonian heirs/kings usually didn’t live/rule long. The one “infant king” tale comes from an era before we have a surviving historical record to know how long he reigned, or if it were all legendary. The list of Macedonian kings before Amyntas I, father of Alexander I, may be semi-mythical, like early Roman kings. See image…helpfully numbered (by me). Stemma itself from In the Shadow of Olympus, E. N. Borza.

Alexander I (Persian Wars) had five living sons. The line of inheritance went through the third, Perdikkas II (Peloponnesian War era), then down to Archelaos…after that, things get a bit crazy until Amyntas III (Philip’s father). He descended from Alex I’s youngest son, which established a new line that lasted until Alexander IV. But in that time, because of the somewhat laissez-faire attitude towards who could inherit, we have a lot of internecine battles every time a king died, which thinned the herd.

The arithmetic of high infant mortality plus death in war meant Macedonian kings needed an “heir and a spare, and the spare’s spare.” Philip had that after his first spate of marriages: Alexander, Arrhidaios, and Amyntas (his nephew). That Arrhidaios was unfit became apparent only over time, but was still good to father sons.

When, post-Chaironeia, Philip prepared to invade Persia, he made a spate of royal marriages first. Arrhidaios’s betrothal was meant to get an Asian bridgehead/ally, but fell through thanks to Alexander’s meddling. Amyntas was given his cousin Kynnane, who wound up pregnant quickly. That turned out to be a girl, but it proved both were fertile: more children to come. This marriage may also have been a sop to keep Amyntas loyal. Kleopatra was married off to the king of Epiros to solidify one of Macedon’s closest allies and alleviate any insult to Olympias at Philip’s own final marriage.

As for that wedding, in addition to any internal politics, it gave him opportunity for another son. He had to consider the possibility that he could lose both Alexander and Amyntas in combat, and perhaps even himself, if it all were to go south. Arrhidaios was a stop-gap. An infant son back home could eventually take the throne.⸸

Yet the one person he does NOT prepare nuptials for? Alexander.

Why? He almost certainly planned to marry him to one of Darius’s daughters. He admitted as much when he dressed down Alexander for having offered himself to marry Pixodaros’s daughter in Arrhidaios’s place. That would have made an impression on Alexander, perhaps in shame: he was meant for royalty only.

When Alexander ascended the throne, he owed it to the support of the two most important men in Macedon: Antipatros and Parmenion…who, if not open enemies, each had their own factions. Both had eligible daughters, but to avoid giving one side too much power, he’d have had to marry both, or none at all.

OR, as Tim Howe has suggested, he might have decided to marry his father’s young widow.

It wouldn’t have been the first time in Macedonian history. And it explains, oh, so much better, why Olympias killed Kleopatra-Eurydike. Keep in mind, Kleopatra-Eurydike’s new husband was dead and she’d delivered only (another) girl mere days earlier. Olympias may have enjoyed her discomfiture at being sidelined more than her death.

Unless Alexander decided to marry her. She was almost certainly younger than him, and had proven fertile. Maybe he saw the marriage as a way to further solidify support. But it would have challenged Olympias’s status. I don’t know that’s what happened, but Tim makes a good case, and her decision to kill the girl to remove the threat then becomes intelligible rather than just bloodthristy.

When Mommy Dearest eliminated the option, young Alex was back to square one. Marry a daughter of Antipatros and of Parmenion, or stay unmarried. He chose the latter.

Yes, it left no heir to the throne (other than Arrhidaios), but he didn’t have any good options that weren’t also a potential political grenade. And unlike his father’s situation in 359/8, marriage wasn’t foisted on him. He could wait a few years, so he did.

But after Issos, the Persian royal family came into his possession, and by this point, he was 24, the same age his father had been at his first marriage. Pressure began to mount. Here were all these pretty Persian ladies…. PICK ONE. It wouldn’t have been just Parmenion saying so.

There’s been some recent speculation that he married Barsine, didn’t just take her as a mistress. While possible, I’m not sure it’s probable. She came with a lot of baggage for a first marriage. Making her his mistress, especially if a palakē, provided her with a respectable, recognized status, but still left the door open for a first marriage because….

As the asker alludes to, he almost certainly also bedded Statiera, Darius’s wife. Why marry the pony horse when you can have the racehorse? Oh, oops. She’s still married because her husband is still alive. How inconvenient.

So why didn’t he just declare her divorced and make it official?

Politics. However much he didn’t really understand Persian affairs of state, he understood optics, and general human reactions. Greeks and Macedonians would want him to bed the queen because that’s the ultimate piss-in-the-eye of the Other Guy. But after Issos, Alexander was hoping to bring other satraps over to him. By not touching Statiera or her daughters—at least at first—he presented himself as civilized and respectful. He even offered Darius his family back, on one condition. Surrender. Darius had to come as a suppliant to ask for them.

Of course, Darius refused. Nor did Alexander expect him to agree, but the required dance had been performed. When Darius began soliciting a new army, the tacit message was, “You can have the women.” ⸸⸸

While all these negotiations took place, Alexander had Barsine. Keep in mind, the letters would have taken weeks, probably months. The number of letters is unclear, but probably two each. The final exchange occurred sometime in the seven months of Alexander’s siege of Tyre.

Why do I say he was bedding Statiera, and (probably) planned to marry her? After all, Plutarch is adamant he was too chivalrous even to look at her again after their first meeting! Well, Plutarch also tells us—without apparent irony—that Statiera died in childbirth along with an infant son just a few weeks before Gaugamela…which was two years after Issos. That sure as hell wasn’t Darius’s kid. And no, nobody else would have been allowed to touch her. Plutarch lied. Why? It’s all part of his honorable “Sleep-and-sex-remind-me-I’m-mortal” Alexander. It’s also Plutarch who turns the marriage of Roxane into a “love-at-first-sight” affair.

In any case, I think Statiera was another marriage that Alexander planned, but fate prevented.

If we count back 40-or-so weeks from her death in mid-September of 331, that puts us in December of 332. Alexander had entered Egypt in November. It’s doubtful she accompanied him on the trek to Siwah, so his opportunities for impregnating her were at the beginning of his Egyptian stay, or towards the end. Keep in mind that while we know she died in childbirth, we don’t know if it was full term. Accounting for Siwah, she was probably either nine months or seven months along. As for when he started sleeping with her, probably any time after the final exchange of letters with Darius.

In the spring of 331, he left Egypt to return to Tyre before moving inland to find Darius. It may be here that he retired Barsine, sending her off to Pergamon (in Asia Minor). If that’s the case, Herakles definitely wasn’t his, as the boy was born some years later. In any case, by the time Alexander left Tyre, Statiera probably knew she was pregnant and would almost certainly have told him.

I think he held off marrying her until he could meet Darius again in battle (and kill him), which he assumed immanent. Yet the Macedonians had no concept of how big the interior was. And Darius wanted to draw Alexander onto the plains of northern Iran—but not too fast. He burned fields in front of the Macedonians partially, intending to leave them with enough food to continue, but not enough to fill bellies. He assumed a hungry army would be insubordinate, but underestimated both Macedonian discipline and Alexander’s scouting and intelligence. By September, Alexander had finally caught him up east of ancient Nineveh across the Tigris.

Then Statiera went into labor and died. BOOM, Alexander’s marry-the-wife plan fell apart for a second time, and he lost a potential heir in the process. Did a lack of food contribute to her death? Maybe. She’d had at least 3 healthy children, but was also in her mid/late 30s, possibly early 40s. Lack of food or not, an army camp would hardly be easy on an older woman in late pregnancy. (Had my first at 33; I can speak to that.)

But!, you may be wondering, even if Statiera had lived and Darius had died (as was Alexander’s ostensible plan), wouldn’t a baby born before marriage have been a bastard? Wouldn’t matter. First, given the cloistering of highborn Persian women, it’d be easy enough to lie about such things. Second, bastard or not, the child was still an Argead.

It would also explain why he didn’t marry immediately after Issos—nor after Gaugamela. Plan A died in the birthing bed, and Plan B, the daughters, were too young yet. Furthermore, it wasn’t over at Gaugamela. He’d have to chase Darius further….

He dropped off the girls in Susa for safe-keeping and went after Darius. Again, we must recall, he had no idea how long this would take. He probably assumed he’d be back in Susa in a year or so. Instead, he wouldn’t see Susa again for six.

In 327 (c. 3.5 years later). he finally decided to marry—for political reasons: to achieve peace in Baktria. Now pushing 30, and given how long everything had taken, he chose not to put it off any longer; he could always marry the princess later. Ironically, this marriage was not well-received by the army, although it wasn’t much different from his father’s marriages. Then again, we have no idea how Philip’s marriages were received at the time. I doubt the army was thrilled to have an armor-wearing, battle-trained Illyrian princess as Phil’s first bride.

Whatever the case, Alexander had a wife and, if we can trust the Metz Epitome, he lost little time getting her pregnant. But she miscarried (again, perhaps a boy). He just wasn’t having much luck fathering living children…perhaps because he kept dragging his women through tough conditions. One had a geriatric pregnancy and the other was probably 14-16: neither optimal ages.

In any case, as soon as he was back in Susa, he planned the mass weddings, at which he finally married Darius’s daughter, Barsine, as well as Parysatis, Barsine’s cousin. Within a year, he had both Roxane and Barsine pregnant, if not Parysatis.

So, we have to shed the moralizing of Plutarch’s narrative and evaluate what was really going on. Alexander may not have married till 29, but he probably angled for it at least once (Statiera) and possibly twice (Kleopatra-Eurydike) before that. Should he have stopped aiming for queens and just married a nice girl to pop out babies? Well, that’s essentially what he did with Roxana. Maybe he should have started there, back in Macedonia before he left, but he didn’t, and at 22, it wasn’t a shocking choice.

Yes, Macedonian kings certainly worried about heirs, but to produce an heir was not the primary way Philip, or Alexander, used marriage. It served political goals first, inheritance second.

———————

* To be fair, he didn’t have seven at the same time. We know one (Nikesepolis, Thessalonike’s mother) was dead before Philip married Meda (#6), and it’s quite possible the mysterious Phila of Elimeia (#2) also died young. At the time of his death, we can be sure only of Olympias and Kleopatra-Eurydike, although at least some of the others were likely still around. My guess is there were four-to-five wives in the women’s quarters in 336. (In Dancing with the Lion, there are four: Philina, Olympias, Meda, and Kleopatra-Eurydike.)

** An almost prohibitive amount of scholarly debate, most in article/book-chapter form, concerns whether or not Macedonia had a “constitutional monarchy,” and what—if any—say the army had in choosing a king. While some constitutionalists remain (M. Hatzopoulos most notably), these days the bulk of scholars (not in Greece) favor a position of “nomos” (custom) but no formal rules. For a bibliography of the debate, at least up through 2002, see Carol King’s chapter in Brill’s Companion to Alexander the Great (Roisman, 2003). A new Companion from Cambridge, edited by Daniel Ogden, is currently in the works, probably out in 2023, which will likely update the state of the scholarly conversation.

⸸ This is more or less what the army demanded at Alexander’s death: Arrhidaios for now as Philip III, along with infant Alex IV, who’d presumably go on to reign alone when of age. But by that point, ambitious generals were happy just to end the Argead Dynasty altogether and form their own. Like most underage Macedonian kings, Alex IV’s days were numbered, even as the last Argead. Once, the gloss of divine descent from Herakles might have saved him, but the Diadochi had grown too jaded—and too successful. They all thought themselves equally worthy.

⸸ ⸸ By ancient criteria, if a man surrendered his kingdom “just” to get his wife and children back, it would automatically tag him unfit to be king. Yes, even in Persia, where women had higher status overall. In the ancient near east, nobody’s life was more important that the king’s. Statiera would have been well aware of that, so Darius’s ‘betrayal’ was to be expected. In fact, she might have despised him if he’d agreed.

[sarasrecord]

blood in the water.| LTY

[ 🧷 ]! ぃ ⸻ we'll never get free ch1

synopsis. duty is the one thing KIms are ready to do anything for, for duty to their family they are willing to do everything and anything, even if it meant that she had to marry someone she'd rather see dead, though the marriage might seem like chaos, it was the calm before that storm.

pairing. lee taeyong (ty) x imaginary! female lead

genre. fluff, comfort angst, plain angst, age gap (6 years), enemies to probable lovers, arranged marriage, unexpected and impossible love, mafia!taeyong somewhat strangers to lovers?, (happy) open ending :)

warnings. DARK THEMES: guns, mention of drugs, drinking, cursing, insomnia, nightmares, murder, more will be added

inspired by. the song blood//water by grandson. 

marriage is the best contract

Duty. A strong sense of duty was something every Kim had. Always. Somehow duty was always above everything, above themselves, above life, above love. They did it all for duty, the sacrifices, the wars, the deaths, the tears, the murders. It all was done because duty called, duty called them to serve the family, to serve the name, to serve the empire, to serve the legacy. 

This undeniable call for duty is exactly what bought Eris here, seating in front of the man she desperately wanted to punch to death, if it weren’t for her father seating in front of her, Lee Taeyong would’ve probably been on the floor, with blood covering that suit of his.

It was as though the meeting room was filled with anything but oxygen. She knew exactly what was about to happen and so did he and all that could be done was to accept the fate, ‘You both know why you have been bought here’ a thick Korean accent broke the silence in the room that was almost deafening.

It was the oldest rule in the book, the best alliance had always been marriage. The union of two families in front of God where the ones saying i do are mere pawns. Two pieces on a chessboard that was to be controlled by the wishes of the higher power, more specifically the head of the families. 

‘Eris, you are to marry Taeyong. You guys are acquaintances from the past, so I reckon there won’t be a need for waste of time', said Lee Dong-hyun before getting up. ‘The ceremony will be within a month or two, we will make a press release today, but before the ceremony, I and Dong-hyun have to go to Budapest for a meeting,' added the other Kim in the room.

‘I will be taking my leave then father, it was nice seeing you Mr. Lee’ Eris said before grabbing her coat, without saying her goodbyes to the other Lee present in the room, she walked out of the room

Staying in the same room with Lee Taeyong for 2 minutes was enough torture it self, but staying in a room with her father and Lee Dong-hyun, Taeyong was another breed of torture.

‘R, I need intel on Lee Taeyong, now’ Eris spoke or rather demanded to her phone before walking to the parking lot from the elevator. There was always a certain feeling of clarity when she walked out of meetings affiliated with the Lees. 

Standing momentarily on the parking lot, Eris tried to process everything but truthfully speaking it would take her years to do that. The viable explanation she gave her was that in a month or so she was going to sell her soul to the devil for her family, and also had to call the devil her husband.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a ring from her phone, which made her immediately open the device, she was met with what could be called an auto-biography of Lee Taeyong. Whatever was stated in the document was everything and anything Eris was already aware of.

A sudden breath on her neck made her immediately turn her back to the direction, closing her phone. And there he was, ‘Kim if you wanted to know something about me you could’ve just asked, with a smug smirk on his face that was far too familiar to her.  

‘Does my beloved fiancé have a problem with his wife-to-be wanting to know him a little better?’ Eris said as she advanced towards him, as though the space between them wasn't already reduced to a few centimeters. 

The close proximity opened up opportunities, it opened a golden opportunity and Eris was never the one to decline such opportunities, before another word could escape his mouth, her heel had already stomped his left foot enough for him to wince at the sensation.

‘You fucking bit-’ ‘Language Mr.Lee, I have quite a fragile heart’ Eris stated with a pout that would fool others but not Taeyong, definitely not Taeyong. Before she could make her escape she was stopped by a yank at her arm which pulled her closer to exactly the person she was avoiding. 

Whilst the previous close proximity sparked new opportunities, this sparked nervousness in Eris particularly because the same could not be said about Taeyong, he was trying his hardest to not smile. 

‘Let go’ Eris demanded firmly, but words like such weren’t the one to budge Taeyong, he wanted to say something, something his mind definitely was against while the fist-like thing in his heart defended it and before he knew it he let her go. 

‘Press release will be today, so official outing as an éngaged couple will be tomorrow, dress code is-’ before he could finish ‘red. Dress code is red.’ she said. ‘Whatever you wish your Highness’ he said as he courtesied to her making her attempt another stomp, but this time on the right foot. 

But this time it was Taeyong with the upper hand, before she could advance his hand had already stopped her, ‘Don't try again’, those were the last words they had spoken before parting ways for the day.

The fact that the next two months were going to be an internal war between the logical and hateful side of Eris was something she already knew, one would ask her to stab him to death and another would ask her to be civil, she was definitely going to give into the temptation of doing what her hateful side told her.

Soon the news of Lee Taeyong and Kim Eris’s engagement became the talk of the town, to everyone outside of their world, it was a fairytale that came true straight from the books of romance novelists.

But everyone and anyone inside the underworld was aware of the fact that this was a scheme to strengthen both the families and broaden the empire, to add fuel to the fire that was the Lees, the wealth of the Kims, and the power of the Lees was the best alliance possible to bring down anyone. 

And the reaction of the public was enough to paint a picture of how the 20 or so years were going to look like, the two families having complete dominance over the underworld which would add more fire to the cold war that was already going on between the Kims and a house that was well known for being the only house with enough guts to take a stance against Kim Hyun- woo. 

The couple dressed in red, hand in hand whilst smiling and laughing was enough to fool the world and sugarcoat the fact that they were just weapons specially built by their fathers to use, specially designed to be lethal to their enemies. 

The news channels being filled with a beautifully scripted love story of the lovers and the rise in stock was enough to show that the history book on the shelf is always repeating itself, the same thing that had happened after the news of the union of Kim Hyun- woo and the late Kim Chae-won had the same feedback, the only thing that could be hoped is that Eris’s fate wouldn't end up the way her mother's had. 

That was something highly unlikely, her father had built her into something that was anything but her mother, something her mother would’ve despised to be more specific. Something her mother wouldn't recognize as her daughter, and something she herself does not recognize. 

‘You can stop smiling now’ Taeyong said to Eris releasing her from his arm, a sigh of relief escaped her mouth as her face finally came to the signature frown he was familiar with, ‘Do you know when is the wedding?’ she asked as she got herself some water. 

‘Why are you excited to be Mrs.Lee?’ he asked her with that god-forbidden smirk of his, 'Shut the fuck up, I have shit to attend to unless like you Tae’, she said or rather shouted. ‘Already making nicknames aren’t  we?’

In her life of 23 years, she had seen men, men with their egos so far up their asses that she couldn’t have the patience and wait before putting them in their place, but she thought she had seen pride until she met Lee Taeyong, but this man was the embodiment of the word pride and also one of the many things that would look beautiful six feet under. 

‘Why do I even try to have one civil conversation with someone like you?’ she said before walking out of the room, her standing-Taeyong-tolerance ran out for the day but let’s be honest it was never there. 

[in-tua-deep]

Ok I totally want to hear more about this survivors au/Delores is real! How do the siblings handle having this different version of Five? Five may be better adjusted but he still has to heard his family around like a bunch of stray cats. What happens when Hazel and Cha Cha show up? How do they find out that Vanya causes the apocalypse and how does Five handle that revelation?!

here is the thing, i think the survivors au has the potential to be HILARIOUS

no one knows how to handle a well-adjusted five, and this absolutely includes the commission

So you mentioned Hazel and Cha-Cha?? Five in this au was not nearly as absolutely feral as he is in the show bc he knows how to interact with people - he was raised by a competent adult and a weird best friend and they occasionally saw other survivors as well

please picture old Five hanging around the water cooler and chatting with Hazel

the other funny thing is that Five is competent passing - he is well adjusted emotionally but functionally?? Hazel is out there complaining about dental being cut and office parties and budgets and Five is there sipping his drink having never filed taxes in his life. Five doesn't know what the fuck a dental plan is, he was a child soldier and then lived in an apocalypse.

So please picture for me Hazel being like "okay I know corporate wants us to keep what we're being paid to ourselves but fuck that, workers unite, what do you get paid as a legend old timer?"

and five is like "you're getting paid? i get to not get tossed back into the apocalypse, I think"

"but what about expense forms? what about medical care?"

"I'm like 80% sure i'm being experimented on, actually." Five says nonchalantly, "Don't get me wrong, my idea of medical care is fucked by being a child soldier but I'm pretty sure regular people don't have electrodes attached to their heads every time they get a checkup. Could be wrong though! My ex-dad used to monitor my brainwaves while I slept so like, my idea of appropriate shit is fucked, you know?"

This is a Five who was raised by Rick, he is polite to his coworkers. If Dot asked him if he wanted to grab lunch, Five would have gone and grabbed lunch with her or politely said that he couldn't.

Cha Cha only ever talks to Five when she wants to talk shop, so they've had a couple of conversations about weapons but not much else tbh, Hazel just tends to be more personable

So when they're sent after Five, Hazel is much more hesitant to kill who he perceives as a "work friend" and also is definitely thinking about all the times Five casually revealed a way the commission was being highkey shady about him, such as the potential experimentation, no pay, working under duress etc. He's much more easily turned against the commission because he's even more primed to say "fuck the commission" than he is in canon

Hazel out here like "how did Five break his contract when Five wasn't even being paid? I kind of want to read it."

Hazel out here like "I would unionize if I didn't think the commission was anti-union enough to send literal assassins after me if I suggested it :/"

meanwhile with the siblings

Five just. talks over them a lot and makes so much sense that it's actually really hard to argue with him, and he's weirdly considerate of his family's obligations

Like Diego is like "i have to go see Patch" then Five is like "that's great I'm proud of you buddy, it would actually be really handy to have some law enforcement read into the situation if you think she's up to the task. that goes for everyone by the way! If y'all have people you trust, more bodies would be super helpful I think"

the entire family, collectively, who have like zero trusted social links: uhhhhhhhh

Diego, with this weird permission, probably?? Does? Awkwardly attempt to read Patch into the situation? Patch is, obviously, like "what the fuck, Diego" but probably goes with him to the mansion (????????) because she's concerned and then meets his fucking whacko family with their superpowers and suddenly everything is 100% more realistic

Five is just like "yes hello I'm aware I look like a child, i'm actually in my late 50s or early 60s (apocalypse time amiright) because of time travel stuff. Yes I am Five Hargreeves who went missing in like 2002 or whatever. anyway it's lovely to meet you, i'm so glad diego has someone he trusts, and considering my sibling's shifty looks when i told them to invite anyone they trusted this genuinely makes me concerned that Diego is the most socially well-adjusted of them."

"That cannot be possible." Patch says, like someone who has met Diego Hargreeves.

"You haven't met the rest." Five says sympathetically, "In our defense we were raised in isolation as child soldiers."

"That... explains so much." Is all Patch can say to that, "But you seem..."

"I'm adopted." Five waves away.

"We're ALL adopted." Diego grits out, very aggrieved by this and also not sure if he likes the fact that Patch seems friendly with Five, or at least is listening to him?

"I'm double adopted."

However! With the recruitment of Patch, herding Diego becomes like 90% easier.

Honestly the worst to herd are probably Luther and Allison? Luther because he's Number One and resents Five taking charge and also resents Five's casual dismissal of Reginald and also suspects that Five (or at least the commission) has something to do with Reginald's death?

Allison because she is torn between following Luther and helping him and helping Five but also calling Patrick and Claire at every possible moment while ALSO trying to repair her relationship with Vanya. She's flighty - she'd bail on a Five-apocalypse-assignment if Vanya mentioned being hungry or if Luther called or anything like that

Vanya likes to be included and, if asked, would probably drop as many current obligations as she can. Like she would probably cancel her teaching if Five genuinely and sincerely asked her for her help, which he does because he's 100% sure Dolores would manifest in front of him and smack him if he dared even imply someone without powers wouldn't be helpful

Vanya is like "I'm not sure if i'll be helpful - I don't have powers ):" and Patch is like "wtf are you talking about - my superpowers are Gun, Backup, and Reading Comprehension and i am like the most useful member of this team right now"

Vanya gets a confidence boost just from hanging out with Patch honestly, I think they should be friends

Klaus is thrilled to be included are you kidding?? He says he does it for money but he's just happy to be there and also as one of the most emotionally intelligent siblings he is mildly concerned about the fact that Five looks like he's about to cry and also emotes

Five also gives Klaus positive reinforcement, hugs, and Five absolutely weaponizes the I'm not mad, but I believe that you can do better and I'm going to give you more chances because I love you and fully believe that next time you'll be amazing way that Rick used on him.

I feel like Five ends up saying something along the lines of "I understand that x is really important, and we're definitely going to look into it. Is it something that needs to be addressed right now, or is it something that can wait until after April 1st? If it can wait, I can write it down here on this list so we don't forget. If it can't wait then we can figure out a time to address it and help you" a lot

Like Grace malfunctioning and potentially killing Reginald?

"We don't have to make this decision right now." Five says patiently, "Because Grace is a robot, we have some options. Living with a robot who is potentially malfunctioning and homicidal is dangerous, but Luther saying that means admitting that Reginald might have made a mistake or error with Grace's programming or upkeep. I haven't been here for a long time, but I remember Reginald being very precise. Regardless, this isn't a choice between permanently shutting her off or not. We can shut her down temporarily until we can fully address the issue. We can ask and see if there is a 'system reboot' option or some sort of system check that Grace can undergo. We can try find and hire an expert to take a look at her programming to find the issue."

Five gives this speech while like, organizing the weaponry in the house on a table very nonchalantly

Five out here making buzzer noises at his siblings arguments like "yeah no that's a false dichotomy and a strawman's argument, want to try again?"

(Look apocalypse nights were long and they had games that were literally about arguing pointless shit like ranking types of chairs or the best way to break out of a prison without powers and things could get heated)

"Who died and made you boss?" Luther demands.

"Uh, the world? Were you not listening?" Five asks, looking very purposefully confused.

It gets even MORE delightful when Five reads Rick into the situation because a) he promised and b) his siblings really have like, no connections jeeze

Rick fully believes that this is his son from the future, like Five introduced himself, but Five skipped out on a few key details. Such as being adopted.

So Rick spends a solid chunk of time just staring at Five, who looks basically nothing like him, trying to think like, who is his mother ???? if we save the world will Five stop existing? why would I name my child 'Five'? Does everyone have powers in the future? was there like... a radioactive apocalypse? would radiation give future humans superpowers? when did my life turn into a comic book? am i even allowed to ask these questions? will knowledge of the future fuck things up?

and then when Five comes back and is like "what is up everyone this is my dad Rick who will be joining us, he doesn't have any memories of me thanks to time travel but if anyone is mean to him i WILL kneecap them"

"Your DAD?"

Five does kidney punch Klaus for saying that Rick is a DILF but otherwise everyone just is like, warily looking at this Normal Dad Man in confusion because?? This is the dude who raised Five, who they watched take out like an entire commission team by himself yesterday? He looks so. Normal.

Rick is very confused and like, wonders if he's supposed to be the team mascot? But Five keeps involving him and asking his opinion and in return Rick enforces snack breaks and makes everyone sandwiches and has gentle talks with everyone

Every time Five notices someone about to blow he just lovingly makes sure that that person is alone in a room with Rick

Luther ends up crying on the sofa with Rick gently patting his back as Rick calmly states that Luther seems like he's put a lot of time and effort into his family and making his father proud and that since Reginald isn't here to say it, Rick will have to be the one to say that he's proud and that they've been dropped into a difficult and stressful situation - so soon after Reginald's death when they're still grieving! - and he's doing so well

Luther, experiencing unconditional positive paternal regard for the first time in his life: i don't know why i'm crying so much

honestly this is just a comedy of juggling the gang, having impromptu therapy sessions and discussions, investigating the apocalypse and the eye, leonard trying to meet vanya continuously and failing because she's constantly surrounding by family or rick/patch, the commission trying their best to bust up the dream team/isolate Vanya/kill or remove Five, while Hazel lives out his romcom dreams with Agnes and also says "fuck the commission"

[vulturevanity]

Hey, as someone who's currently being educated in the entertainment industry, I was wondering if you had any further insight into the situation with Viacom and Wattpad? It's especially scary to me because Wattpad was the first platform I ever uploaded to, and my beloved work is currently on there. I'm considering jumping ship but I'm not sure... I feel like I don't really understand what's happening, but I'm just vaguely afraid.

I'll try my best to explain what I know, but you should take what I say with a grain of salt or two because I'm by no means an expert on copyright law, nor have I interacted with Wattpad before.

When you create a story, a concept for a show, write a book or a script for a movie, you own all rights to it by default. It's your story, and if someone reproduces it without your permission, they are infringing on your intellectual property. But often you want to share this idea, so you need someone who can help you make that a reality. For movies, those people are in studios and distributors, and for books you have publishers. These people need your permission to handle and sell your work legally at the discretion of both parties -- stuff that is settled in a contract.

Wattpad is a self-publishing platform, meaning you can put your work there without the need to go through the process of finding an editor or a publishing house that is willing to invest money into your work. But since the website is not owned by you and people can access your work through it, that effectively means Wattpad is your publisher. And the "contract" that gives them permission to publish your work is the Terms of Service you agree to when you sign up.

There's something most hosting sites put in their terms in order to protect themselves from bogus lawsuits: they give themselves the right to distribution; sometimes that comes with a right to modify your work. In normal circumstances, these are meant to cover their behinds from people who think making their art into thumbnails or changing the type font is an affront to their vision, or whatever. It's not unusual, self-publishing sites' legal departments are paranoid like that. Warrants a side-eye, but usually nothing too egregious comes of that.

What you need to be aware of is sites that say they will own the rights the work itself as soon as you upload it, or that ask the user to waive all rights to ownership of their own work. Those sites exist and they're incredibly shady and dangerous; they hide their intentions under ambiguous legal jargon and rely on people not reading the terms thoroughly, so that when they inevitably steal someone's idea they can point out to the text and say they agreed to it. I'm not at all familiar with Wattpad's terms of service, I'd have to read them and get back to you on that, but if you're really worried you could start by reviewing it and seeing if any of that applies.

The first issue with the Viacom+Wattpad deal is that, depending on the wording of their terms of service, they may very well have the right to sell your work to Viacom. It would be an egregious bad faith deal, it could make them look horrid in the eyes of the public (depending on how popular the appropriated work is and/or how willing the creator is to put up a fight). It would be terrible for their image, but it's still a possibility. All that being said, however, I think it's unlikely that either of these corporations would do that to the people that basically make the site; they're probably going to want to avoid the PR hassle and contact the writers of the projects they're scouting, for a not outrageously terrible deal.

Which brings me to the second and imo biggest issue: they're probably doing this to circumvent writers' guilds and unions. By seeking out amateur work, they're under no obligation to work under the industry's standards set by its workers, and in a way they're trying to prove the point that corporations don't need to cooperate with industry workers, there'll always be content fodder ready to be picked and used in the Worldwide Web. I guarantee you, whatever Next Big Thing they fish out of Wattpad will end up as a subpar production no matter how high quality the original work might be, because they're trying to scounge up non-union labor left and right to abuse just because they can. The truth is, now that US unions are reacting to the nightmare the workers have been suffering under the big names, capital C Capitalists are shaking in their boots, hoping their work force won't be the next one to unleash hell upon them. So they're desperately trying to undermine their efforts.

So, what do we take from this?

The Viacom+Wattpad deal is bad, but more so because they're probably doing it to save money (and in the process, screw over union workers) than due to the (possible, but not too likely) possibility of copyright infringement.

Do Wattpad users need to do something about this?

At the very least be aware of their true intentions. You don't have to delete your account or works/boycott the site unless you feel strongly about this. And if you do end up getting scouted by them? Make the decision to accept or deny their deal with full awareness of the context behind the deal.

[southeastasianists]

Mark Twain is said to have remarked that if history does not repeat itself, it often rhymes. Societies have a tendency to continue patterns of policy or actions, sometimes in spite of their previous and obvious deleterious or ineffective effects.

Evident in Myanmar today is the tragedy that is unfolding. Discernable patterns emerge where the leadership and the people have been through much of the same trauma before, but seem to be unaware of, or indifferent to, prior consequences. The times, generations, technology, and the international sphere may have changed, but the institutional patterns reemerge with dire consequences, even if memories have faded.

The Feb. 1 coup was the fourth since Burmese independence in 1948. The first, in 1958, was “consensual” because the legislature agreed to a time-limited Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) takeover, although it did so under duress. The second in 1962, designed to perpetuate military dominance, resulted in the loss of one life, and was an attempt at complete domination of society through an autocratic, single-party socialist state. The third in 1988, followed the “chaos” that was in effect a response to a failed people’s revolution and the massive losses of life that the military had unintentionally instigated through brutality and mismanagement. It was designed to prop up an unsuccessful military government and continue its hegemony in society. Myanmar cannot match the frequency of Thailand‘s coups, but it far outstrips Thailand in loss of innocent lives and the Tatmadaw in Myanmar far exceeds Thai military control over its society.

At first, the 2021 coup seemed different from that of 1988. Ostensibly, it was prompted by Tatmadaw allegations that the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) overwhelming victory over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in the November 2020 election was marred by massive fraud, and the NLD’s subsequent refusal to negotiate with the military.

Yet the Tatmadaw had command of those state administrative elements that ensured that their interests, and those that that they regarded as essential to a unified state, would remain under their control through the military-written constitution of 2008. Thus the election did not seem to threaten military interests, no matter how much it may have humiliated the Tatmadaw. The charges of NLD manipulation of the November 2020 elections seemed an exaggerated and very weak excuse on which to place their actions.

The Tatmadaw appeared initially to be avoiding violence, contrary to 1988, and used police rather than soldiers to control anti-coup demonstrations. But as the protests continued and spread nationwide, indiscriminate military killings and beatings became evident. It seemed the Tatmadaw had learned nothing from the hostility it had created through its brutality a generation earlier.

According to the State Administration Council, as the military called its supposed temporary government (it refused to be known as a “regime” or “junta”), elections will be held after one year, providing some stipulated conditions have been met, such as dealing with Covid-19 and election reform, as well as ethnic minority peace, which seems unrealistic, and the winning party will take over government.

This is a theoretical repeat of 1958, when the Tatmadaw-administered government, with the consent of the civilian legislature, ruled for a supposed six month period that turned into eighteen months. At that time, the military did a credible, if autocratic, job and supervised a relatively fair election in which the military’s preferred party lost, and the Tatmadaw went back (temporarily) to its barracks.

The situation is different today. A young generation has access to technology that keeps them in touch with the world, each other and which unites them. This generation cannot be isolated, is far better educated and is aware of the limitations of military authority. If they are forcibly cowed, that will be short lived and some apolitical event or incident could easily set off a new series of protests at any time. The real purpose of the coup seems to be the emasculation of the NLD and the removal of its leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the political sphere.

After the 1962 and 1988 coups, the judicial system was completely under military control. The charges made against those opposed to the military in 2021 are risible instances of the “rule of law,” which the military constantly invokes as it cuts off rights and subjects the population to authoritarian demands.

The opposition NLD today has invoked some of the past actions of the same party. When the military ignored the results of the 1990 elections, which were swept by the NLD, a group of elected members went into hiding and proclaimed an alternative government to the military.   Eventually, it fled the country to Thailand, and ended up in Washington, D.C. where it lobbied Congress and successive administrations to recognize its legitimacy. So too after the 2021 coup, some elected NLD members, who could not take their seats in parliament, proclaimed the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) as representing the legitimate government, and sought support and foreign recognition. The military considers that those in or associated with the CRPH are involved in treasonous acts and has threatened them with prosecution.

The United States has also resumed an earlier pattern. In the 1990s, it imposed rigorous sanctions against the then junta in Myanmar, which simply let the Chinese assume a position of engorged importance—resented by the Burmese and of concern to the U.S. The new series of sanctions in 2021 are far more targeted and sophisticated than previous ones, but U.S. and Western leverage is extremely limited. Yet Congress feels it must respond to the outrageous crimes against humanity; the most ardent supporter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Congress has been Senator Mitch McConnell.

The imposition of sanctions is unlikely to bring regime change, which was the policy of both the Clinton and Bush administrations in the 1990s and 2000s. The West, including the European Union, Canada, and Australia will probably follow with sanctions. China, India, and the ASEAN states will demur. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be under pressure from the U.S., but Japanese business interests are extensive and are, in effect, the modest counter to Chinese influence. China will support any stable government in Myanmar because of its strategic interests and its extensive Belt and Road infrastructure projects.

However this present crisis ends, we are witnessing the beginnings of a long-term tragedy. The Tatmadaw appear to have learned little from its earlier actions and the enmity that the bulk of the populace feels toward their brutal actions will only increase. Future violence prompted by some apolitical event is predictable. The younger population, frustrated by repression yet aware of the opportunities of their contemporaries in neighboring states, will be denied the ability to contribute to society. The people at large will suffer as the economy contracts, foreign investment dwindles, employment stumbles, and the international market for many of Myanmar’s products are boycotted in sympathy for the Myanmar people.

Mark Twain was right. History does indeed rhyme. Even the modest progress of the past has been erased. Perhaps the NLD administration of the past five years has been wanting, but the current debacle means only the disintegration of the limited good that has developed. Our sympathy goes out to the suffering people of Myanmar.

David I. Steinberg is Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies Emeritus at Georgetown University

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Louis’ class position if you want to elaborate.

What a great question anon - of course I would love to!

Louis was born in Doncaster in 1991. That sentance is a weighty starting point to a discussion about class.  Eight years earlier, Doncaster had been the centre of militancy when Miners were striking to protect the possibility of decent work for working-class people. They had lost - and the price was losing was the devastation of work and the economy in the area.

I’ve always wondered if Len was a miner.  The fact that he was working as a driver, makes it more likely - it’s a really common occupation among people who worked as miners.  But whether or not that story of destruction and devastation is Louis’ family story, it’s still the story he grew up steeped in.

Jay was a working-class single mother at 19 (I think we know enough about her family to be reasonably sure at that).  She would have studied throughout Louis’ childhood, and became a midwife in 2002 (although she had to put it on pause while the big twins were little, she must have gone back to it reasonably soon, because she was a senior midwife by the time she had the little twins).  Jay and Louis’ economic position got more secure as time went on, not least because she got married, but both Jay and Louis have talked a lot about money being tight at various points.  Once Jay was able to work as a midwife again after the twins were born - their family would definitely be in a better position than a lot of families in Doncaster. Both midwifery and selling cars to businesses (which is what Mark did) are borderline jobs when it comes to class.  Although importantly at this point in Doncaster - they weren’t constantly being restructured (we don’t know much about Mark’s work history before he got hte job he had when Louis went on X-factor).  

But (and I think this is really important) - Jay and Mark had very little that they could pass on to their kids - and expectations and experiences of working-class people in Doncaster weren’t getting any better.

So what does that look like from pre-fame Louis’ point of view?  He’s growing up in a place where the ruins of class conflict lost still dominate both the emotional and actual landscape.  At some point, they’re in a position of relative economic security - and there are definitely a lot of people around who want that more.  His Mum is working very hard for this little bit of security, and encourages him to join in the project of becoming middle class,.  But that’s far from the only influence in his life - everything that he’s done since made it clear that he paid attention to the working-class older men in his family and wider circle. And he’s definitely not seen as a middle-class kid to the people around him.  Authority figures feel free to say: ‘you are going to have a miserable shit life and that’s what people like you deserve’.  

Then at 18, everything changes. Suddenly he’s a popstar.  He has more money and opportunities than ever seemed like it would be possible.  But he’s still carrying his experiences of class over the last eighteen years.  I think it’s clear that not every door felt open - that there were lots of ways he would continue to feel like a kid from Donny - and therefore aspects of London that felt closed to him (this is based both on the way he’s described his own experiences).

I think that early 1D was also pretty heavily media trained to be non-threatening.  The London riots happened, just before they were launched.  And the discourse of ‘chavs’ was very much at its peak.  I think it would have been very important to their success that 1D came across as compliant, safe working-class lads.  And I think Louis and Zayn would have been the members who were seen at most at risk of suggesting otherwise.  I think Louis probably understood (he was used to the sort of requests that were being made) - and was reasonably happy complying.  But I think it’s really important not to treat early 1D as their unfiltered selves - the class messages they sent to the audience were central to their success. (I always wonder about Louis saying Manchster United as his football team, rather than Donny Rovers, in the Chris Moyles interview in this context, but obviously that could also be about his boyfriend).

And (this is even more speculative) I think there may have been more going on than that.  It’s very noticeable that until mid 2012 - Louis isn’t being styled in a way that might make him come across as more straight.  I don’t think that can be an accident - I think Caroline knew what she was doing.  I’ve always wondered if that was about class - that the most important thing for Louis’ presentation in that first little bit, was making sure that he didn’t come across as a dangerous and unruly working class lad - and if that meant he came across as more gay - well that wasn’t that big a worry.  I wonder what that was like for Louis, to experience how others viewed his class-background and his sexuality as incompatible.

As time went on that obviously changed - Louis’ embraced working-class Yorkshire signifiers much more, in speech, life and styling over the latter years of 1D.  Again there’s a lot going on and it’s hard to tell what’s causing what.  I think it’s clear that football was really useful to him as a way of making sense of the world (I’m thinking of him linking to Joey Barton’s Oxford Union address). 

As all this is happening, things are only getting worse in Doncaster, for the kids he went to school with.  After the 2008 crash, and the austerity that followed, South Yorkshire’s economy contracted more than Greece’s.  He’s aware of this, although he only mentions it obliquely - by talking of liking a Russell Brand video where he talked about the same thing.

In 2017, Louis launches his solo career and he explicit discusses class for the first time.  He describes himself as a ‘chav’.  Now most of my response to this has been pure rage at the class hatred that circulates in fandom.  But in terms of understanding Louis, there’s much more to say.  The first is that it is a selective presentation of himself.  When Louis talks to a radio host who grew up on a council estate, it’s clear that he didn’t.  

But also class discourse has moved on by this point - post referendum the working-class isn’t being presented as unruly young white kids who want things they shouldn’t, but angry older white men who don’t like what’s been taken away from him.  I’m really interested in this choice, because I think people involved must have known about this change.  I think sexuality probably again played a role - now being seen as an unruly working-class young person was less risky and being seen as gay was much more risky.  But also how much of this was about Louis’ understanding of class and his life being stuck when he became famous? Quite a lot has happened since 2010.

But on top of that - I think it’s really clear throughout his solo career how much his class background and experiences means to him.  We particularly see it in the music videos.  The decision to do the Two of Us video is one thing, but the way Louis connected with Richard is so much more.  ‘Chav’ Louis may not be the whole truth - but it’s obviously pretty key to who he is.  

So to sum up, I think Louis grew up surrounded by quite explicit class understandings, both of loss and resistance.  He’s made it clear that older men’s experiences was quite important to him (and in the 1990s in Doncaster that’s quite a specific set of experiences).  He wasn’t ever quite able to be the person who would fulfil his mother’s class ambitions through education, but obviously fulfilled them in another way.  That required him to manage and present his class position for an audience to be consumed - and made the relationship between class and sexuality not just a private set of questions, but something that his whole team would have a say in. As an adult, he has reclaimed and rejoiced in his class culture and background.  This is sometimes very processed and presented as part of his branding, but it also seems to reflect how he interacts with the world. 

[planetchii]

THE MEGA NICHIASA SHITPOSTING REPORT

NOW WITH THAT GREAT 2 WEEK LATE TASTE

Tropical Rouge, Culture Festival! Everyone Together, Let's Put Make-Up On Aozora!: The Tropical girls are getting ready for the best time of the year: The cultural festival. And in true Tropical Fashion, the girls decided to hold make-up classes for all visitors. But while planning just the right make-up to teach the novice children and grown adults, Laura gets suspicious that Minori is looking over to her ex, the Literature Club. I mean, when you up and disappear into the library, it's kinda hard to not think that you're looking for an escape route. But it's fine because they totally have enough people to help with the make-up classes. As long as Minori stays in the clubhouse.

That being said, distancing yourself from the rest of the group isn't very cool, Minori. Now you have a suspicious smug fish being all suspicious. And being a detective. And asking questions. A lot of questions. And she would ask even more questions if Manatsuu and the Smug Fish Laura's homeroom booth wasn't short-staffed because the kids with that shift decided to get an early head start on getting their Yaruki power stolen.

Meanwhile, the Lazy Trio has clocked into work, and Chongiri drew the short straw today. Guys, he just wants to cook. He wasn't trained for this. And he certainly wasn't trained for being kidnaped by a bunch of martial artists to run their grilled squid booth. Even if it's the most fun that he's had. At least right up until the point where he remembered he was still on the clock. At least everyone is busy.

I mean, really busy: Sango is still teaching people how to put on lipstick properly, and Asuka is trying to make sure no one cuts the line. The only one who the Broadcast Club could interview for the Tropical Club was Minori. Who turns out to be a secret master of the make-up arts.

The lesson the monster should have taken away was don't touch books. Books are supposed to bring people joy. I feel like I've heard that before. It also turns out that the reason Minori left the Literature Club is because her sempai quite literally read The Great Book and that story was already written, and therefore boring and too familiar and unoriginal. Again, I feel like I've heard this before. But that's okay because Minori's stronger with the Sword of Logos Tropical Club.

Reviving A Legend! The Pretty Cure's Power-Up Makeover!: After getting the results of a contest that the girls were not aware they were part of, The Tropical Club finds out that they came in second in the "hey, this booth is pretty cool" contest. Everyone is so excited that even Kururun even has to say something in front of the School newspaper. In other news, the girls suddenly develop a love of ventriloquism. Before telling Kururun to do their best impersonation of a statue.

Elsewhere, the Witch is waking up from a nightmare when her ex-girlfriend up and left her. If only her ex just didn't have the energy to leave... she probably should have given her ex's money back. But on the plus side, the Butler finally does something! He heads to the nearest watering hole and figures out a way to make polymer slime. While that is going on, Manatsuu and Laura are having a loving conversation over who is the most Tropicool.

After a nice long conversation, Manatsuu and Laura head to sleep, where Manatsuu meets the legendary Precure in a trippy and glowy dream aquarium. Manatsuu probably shouldn't overeat at dinner. Especially when she nearly drowns in her own dream.

But in the morning, the Girls start heading to school, only to have the Butler's slime experiments come up from the depths of the town's canals. So the girls transform and try to find the source of the Yaruki power, only to have the Aqua mirror 404 error on Cure La Mer. But while trying to find the source of the Yaraneda power, Cure Summer learns that Kururun is a good listener and has not moved since the beginning of the episode.

Meanwhile, the villains really still have no idea what their actual job description is. They're now working to form a union because they don't even know why they have to do all of this extra work. They're just a maid, doctor, and cook respectfully. They have also decided that union dues are due at the end of the month. Nuremi will collect.

Elsewhere, Cure Summer has picked up one (1) Kururun but ends up having to sacrifice herself to save the good sealo. And while Summer is now being farmed for Yaraneda power, Kururun becomes the new Cure Summer. All Hail Cure Kururun. Only to get hit with friendly fire via Cure Papaya's eye lasers. RIP Cure Kururun.

But with the power of Friendship (TM) and a new Mirror (buy our toy) Toei actually giving a good budget for an episode and some new barefoot dancing, The Butler's polymer slime experiment is defeated. This type of leadership should be the Student Council President. Revice, The Devil is Just a Bad Guy?!: It's time for a company review of last week's (lol), super conference where FENIX was super happy to show off their belt and their choice for a Rider in front of the whole world and one over-excited family. Since it didn't go too well, someone's getting demoted as punishment. RIP Hiromi's commandership. Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to be a hero, because now instead of a belt, he has a contract to become a magical girl I mean, have a deadman walking around. And now, the one that they wanted to be Revice in Daiji, has become a go-for to get his older brother to sign a contract to also become a magical girl I mean to work for FENIX, since he's not scared of the belt. Daiji can't win.

Meanwhile, in a golf competition, an older brother and younger brother are fighting over who has the better swinging motion, and who has the better golf knowledge. The fighting gets so... well, not intense, but belittling for the younger sibling, so much so that he gets fired as his older brother's caddy.

Don't work for family. (I say that as a younger sibling too.) But at least he was sold this spiffy new contract by a personified alcohol person. Alcohol for your soul. Salespeople are getting real pushy with their selling.

Meanwhile, back at the bathhouse of Happiness, Daiji has come back home to offer Ikki an offer he can't refuse.

Ikki promptly refuses it. Something about needing more bare butts in the tubs. And probably wouldn't want to trigger Vice's fight or fight harder instincts. But in the mists of the "Please, Ikki, there's a 300,000 yen signing bonus" fight to get Ikki to work for FENIX, the dad apparently found a live stream of the golf fight. Fight or Fight Harder instincts fully engaged, Vice possesses a bike to get to the action faster. Regular bikes are for squares; get your demon-powered bike now at your local bike store.

At the golf course, Ikki and Vice transform. And while Ikki was actually doing his not-his-job, Vice went off to do some selling. He'll be denied no fights. At least until the new VStamp pulls him back in to become an Eagle. After beating the older brother's contract deadman, Vice goes back to selling things. At least until Ikki undoes the transformation.

But good news, everyone! Mama is almost completely healed from almost being eaten unceremoniously. And soothes Ikki's fear and tells him that plenty of people have had 2 jobs before. I mean, look at Vice, selling things. He sold the younger golf brother on visiting the Deadmans and getting his own Deadman. That's some A+ selling.

Not the right selling, apparently, since Ikki is pissed. We're not supposed to be selling the Deadmans, we're supposed to be selling the bathhouse. I mean the bathhouse services. And as punishment, Ikki fights this new Deadman without transforming when Daiji notifies them of this new, totally out of the blue and not sold to, Deadman. I mean we can't have other lives in danger.

Tasked with either apologize and fight properly or not fight at all, Vice agrees not to sell shit like Deadmen again and finally gets that magical girl contract. After beating the second Deadman of the day, the two golf brothers make up as much as siblings are willing to, for the low price of their stamps.

Hostage Trouble, What To Do Brother?!: While hanging out at the best-awarded rave place in town, the Deadmen are trying to look for a way to revive their head of ravers, and peanut butter named villain Jif I mean Giff, with a new recruit, a walking hood. Meanwhile, while Mama is trying to support her middle child, in a surprise to all middle children everywhere, an eviction company came to evict the bathhouse. Ikki proudly states that they will never be evicted from that spot, despite the father's best attempts.

Elsewhere, Sakura and her best friend forever Ayaka are going shoe shopping, where Ayaka finds these really nice sparkly shoes. Since Ayaka was not invited to her little sister's photoshoot (instead opting to bring her mom), it was only fair to bring about the shopping therapy. But it turns out that one of them has a stalker following them. And that stalker has some Deadmen foot soldiers. He really has this thing for Ayaka. But Sakura has a cellphone, and calls for Ikki, since we're not doing hide the identity thing.

When Ikki gets to the scene of the crime, he tells them to run, only for the stalker to throw a Pokeball and catch Ayaka. He also demands Sakura, a woman who could probably kick his ass, or he'll kill off Ayaka. But live your dream dude. No kink-shaming here. But they agree because killing people is bad. But is then interrupted by the Kong Deadman. At least Daiji comes in at the right time with the 555 suitcase, now holding the Revice Driver.

While in the midst of a hard-fought battle, the Deadman runs to where the girls are kidnapped, and while chasing this Deadman, Revi and Vice run against another alcohol personified man who wants to make a bargain: The girls for the stamps. This leads the new Go-For Daiji to go back to the FENIX Inc., and retrieve the new stamps, and takes a look at the new P-Bandai belt. Daiji asks if it's possible for him to use that belt, only for George to do his best Ankh impersonation and laughed in his face.

In a sign of kindness, the stalker allows Ayaka to call her mom, who tells her to bug off, she's watching her daughter work the cameras. It sucks to know you're not the favorite.

Elsewhere, the trade is going down, in the following fight allows both of the stamps to go back to Ikki and Vice who pull off their best Den-O impersonation, and end the fight. And in the confusion, Sakura breaks out of her confinements and kicks the ass of the stalker, proving that if Toei doesn't make her a Rider they are missing an opportunity. Sucks that it seems the stalker isn't the actual contract holder.

Back at the Rave Central, The Hooded Intern has these new sparkly shoes.

Zenkaiger, No. 27-kai! A Great Voyage Through Seven Worlds!: After hearing that his mom is still alive and has escaped her deep sleep can on Tojitendo Kikaitopia, The Zenkaiger group starts looking for Kaito's mom Mitsuko. Despite their best efforts, including a massive Google search by Secchan, they still can't find her. This leads to the thought by Gaon that maybe she escaped to a whole other world.

Since it was a good thought, Kaito asks his boyfriend Vox if he can borrow his pirate ship to go look for her. He promises to fill it back up with gas. What does it take, diesel? Regular?

Vox doesn't allow this because Kaito has no driver's license. I mean, neither does Vox, but Flint does and Flint has the keys.

Meanwhile, Stacey hates his job and now is sent on a wild chase to find a woman he may or may not have let out for the sake of his adopted grandma and ice cream supplier. Truthfully, it wasn't entirely his fault. It's not like he attacked the warp gate like the others when he may or may not have left the sleeping pod open.

Back with the heroes, Vroom and Gaon stay behind because Toei's budget is running a little tight. Can't have all that CGI and stuff after spending all that money on the CGI for the other worlds. There are budget concerns to think about, you know. But the remaining heroes board the Pirate ship and Magine sets about looking for Mitsuko with her crystal ball. But because the Pirates have no time for proper seancing, they just start picking the closest worlds to our heroes' world and work from there. Mr. Su is everywhere, by the way.

And after going to worlds where they are called perverts, nearly arrested, and freeze to death, in that order, Stacey arrives with his entourage of other people looking to cash in on overtime and says that all of the other worlds are getting visited, because she didn't just go back home, and not because they shot themselves in the foot. Instead of searching for clues in the Ice World, the Zenkaigers and Twokaizers head off to the Mushroom Kingdom. They did not see any plumbers, however. But, they "find" "Mama" "Mitsune" before Stacey and his crew of merry overtime workers, and a fight breaks out. After beating this wave, the Pirate ship heads off to Earth, much to the relief of Stacey who just wants to make Yatsune happy. Only to be told to follow them. Leading to another battle on Ice World. Stacey better be getting paid time and a half for this. The Zenkaigers win again and head back to Earth. But after the fight, "Mitsuko" takes off the magical disguise to show that it was Me, Magine! (not actually this writer.) with the hope that the bait and switch will get Tojitendo Kikaitopia to leave the other worlds alone, and just focus on them.

No. 28-kai! Weekly Shonen Manga World of Great Illustrations!: Kaito finally got his learner's permit to drive interdimensional ships and is going on a drive with Flint and some of his friends for practice before his big test with the Experienced Driver Flint. Vox has decided that is not his scene and is hanging out at Colorful, on Kaito's dime.

As someone who loves discovery, Vroom has made a big one: Vox is an Otaku. Vox loves him some manga. This is cool since Vroom is also a Manga Sommelier. And so is today's world, Manga World. And Manga World is working on his new hit piece for not-Shonen Jump about the everyday lives of the People of Earth. The pages even move! Now with exclusive Zyuran and Magine chapters! This is a limited edition, so make sure to get yours soon.

Back at Kikaitopia, the entire Tojitendo is still not happy about losing the Eve to their Adam. It'll be fine guys. It's not like there's someone there who'd sell you guys out for one ice cream parfait or something. He's too busy trying to get intel and how to get the father out to really mess with his own dad.

Back at Colorful, the Comics and the Not-Comics are having a conference about how to deal with Manga World. Kaito thinks that because Manga is just "drawing" and "some words" and some "Ink" that anyone can be a Mangaka. That it's sooo easy. This may or may not piss off Vox (and this writer.) about how people think it's so easy to be a Mangaka and storms off. Probably to an art room to make his Manga.

So because plan A didn't work, they go with plan B and buy the latest edition of the most popular manga. And after unbinding the pages of the latest Tankobon of Kimetsu no Yaiba and laying them off on the floor, Manga World starts trying to collect and read the pages. Kaito, thinking he's a ninja tries to steal it while he's reading, only to be caught and sent to the Manga page world. That Limited Edition now has a Kaito Chapter. Only 50 made! (Use the Ninninger or Hurricaneger gear next time.)

But this gives just enough time for Vox to drop ALL of his doujinshi and Original Works onto the floor. The Manga World loves the fact that they're seeing this new work about a pirate in space, looted, in true fashion, from Mangatopia. So much so that Vox does what pirates do best and swipes the limited edition not-Shonen Jump.

Everyone transforms to fight, including the comic pages. And proceed to fight and win, with half of the time acting it out in comic pages. And all the people are freed from their comic pages. I hope you got that limited edition not-Shonen Jump before it was too late.

And while Vox used that manga to save his family, he'd like to get it back now. Too bad Yatsune has ordered that manga back to Mangatopia. If he doesn't tell, will he get to keep it?

[lizworlds]

❤️ - “  My Love,   is actually  my Twin Flame  “ - ❤️

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐

“ My Love,is actually my Twin Flame “

                            ---written by:  🦂 Zayn Whyaeipi 🦂 

                                                                              8/27/2021

A Twin Flame, (Yin & Yang) often known as a "mirroring soul," is an intense embodiment of connection which is believed to be a person’s other half.

It’s based on the belief that one soul can split into two bodies. A twin flame connection will be both challenging and healing, which has been one of the significant aspects. The love story with twin flames created in the stars (literally). From their previous life experiences to their early physical meeting, and indeed throughout the turbulent stages of their relationship, everything about them was destined on a soul level.

When twin flames meet, either or both of them may be in a relationship with someone else. We refer to this person as a karmic partner. Usually, the Divine Feminine is single, while the Wounded Masculine is in a relationship with another (karmic partner). It can, however, happen in any circumstance. A teacher is the karmic mate of the Wounded Masculine. His/her job is to help the Wounded Masculine prepare for the Divine Feminine.

There will be a significant difference. If you represent the lighter side of the TF (Twin Flame) or the yin and yang dynamic, your light will shine on your twin flame’s lower shadow aspects that are living in that darker, denser energy, as well as the things that your twin flame does not want to face and the things that your twin flame is repressing. The Universe uses the karmic for the highest good of the TF (Twin Flame) Union.

( Image source: https://theworkingsinglemom.com/experiencing-tower-moments/ )

The Wounded Masculine may take a long time to settle this karma and part ways with the karmic partner because of soul/karmic contracts (lessons to learn). This is because karmic energy is heavy, and that he or she is still dealing with it. It’s a powerful sign that he/she further needs healing. Therefore, it shows that he or she is in his or her wounded masculine.

As a result, there’s a good chance things will turn messy. Many wounded masculines will have to go through "tower moment after tower moment" (a period when everything seems to crumble apart) before they fully discover what is best for their highest good.

As twin flames, the energies that come from third parties have a direct impact on their connection. For that matter, all relationships are affected to a degree by third-party or outside energies.

( http://www.thelesbianmafia.com/home/wp-content/uploads/feminine2.jpg )

Many times, the DM doesn’t value the relationship the way DF does. The divine masculine has repeatedly overstepped divine feminine boundaries. Breadcrumbing could also have endured by the Divine Feminine out of desperation energy to unite with her wounded divine masculine. She may have allowed deception, lies, and deceptive behaviors. Perhaps she put up with his/her back-and-forth with his/her karmic partner, anticipating s/he’d change his/her mind and choose her/him.

However, once the Divine Feminine has fully awakened, her intuition is so precise while she’s on the verge of healing. She understands she is worthy of becoming the only one in her divine counterpart’s realm.

The Divine Feminine will eventually realize that she is worthy of someone who recognizes both her greatness and her worth.

She desires to be with someone who treats her with love, respect, honesty, truth, and tenderness on an equal level.

She won't put up with anything less.

She isn't accessible for such nonsense.

It's a matter of all or nothing.

( Image source link:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/855050679224598923/  ) 

We perceive the spiritual dimension as the need for: life's meaning, purpose, and fulfillment;

We know it in the spiritual realm as the ascent of one’s consciousness.

How many Spiritual Dimensions are there?

-3rd Dimension: "The Realm of Pleasure"

The 3rd dimension, We see physical things in our reality that take up space in the 3d or third-dimensional mind. Besides 3d and 5d, several physical objects can appear in 4d and 5d. Since we believe what we see, we believe the 3d only exists because of cultural indoctrination. It’s really restricting and prevents your mind from expansion.

* Ascension of conciousness involves :

(Materialism, Victim mentality, and Control, Status, Ego association, Service to self, Fear-lower emotions, Linear thinking  )

-4th Dimension: "The Realm of Time "

The 4th dimension connects the third and fifth dimensions. We know this dimension as spiritual awakening, and it begins through meditation to open the heart chakra. You can feel present in this realm by placing your hand over your heart. If you’re ever in 4d, you’ll notice that you’re quiet and still inside. You will feel happiness, love, and gratitude. As a result, in order to ascend from the 3rd to the 5th dimension, you must first go through or have at least experienced the 4th dimension.

* Ascension of conciousness involves :

(Understanding, Aligning with purpose, Synchronicity, Seeking answers, conscious being, more compassion, more connected, expanding consciousness )

( Image source link:  https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/514465957427019990/ )

-5th Dimension: " The Realm of Unconditional Love "

The 5th dimension is the dimension of love. You are in the space of unconditional love. To be in the area of love and light, you must remove any mental or emotional blockages such as fear, rage, jealousy, hatred, guilt, suffering, and so on. It is a very pure sort of love in which there are no boundaries to love. Telepathy is known in this dimension. Time overlaps, giving the impression that everything is happening at the same time.

* Ascension of conciousness involves :  

(Service to others, Purpose based, High Frequency, Abundance, Unconditional Sharing, effortless, Universal knowledge, aligning with the divine, authenticity )

As your soul sought answers, your ascension process began. Your Higher Self is well aware of this, and it is their responsibility to reveal it at the time when you are ready to have your Twin Flame experience and accomplish the ascension process. The Twin Flame experience is something that not everyone has chosen to have in this lifetime.

In this lifetime, not all twin flames are destined to meet. This all depends on your original soul contract and what you both agreed to learn and grow on a soul level.

Our emotional wounds are best provoked by our twin flame. This is because they are a part of us, and we are a part of them. Do not confuse this as being triggered, Twin flame triggers only lead you to a higher understanding of the connection. 

They experience similar wound patterns, and that they are our mirrors, revealing us what we require to heal. Ultimately, twin flame connections assist each person to heal through any difficulty. You’ll probably have a lot of soul mates. Soul mates are about completing each other. This is in line with the idea that with every expansion, some level of tension is to be expected, but then there’s only just one twin flame.  

NOT EVERYONE FINDS THEIR TWIN FLAME, BUT IF YOU DO, IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A TOTALLY LIFE-CHANGING KIND OF LOVE. 

(  If you are reunited, your relationship has the potential to be once-in-a-lifetime. Nothing will ever be the same. )

( Image source link : https://dakotaearthcloud.com/product/marriage-sacred-masculine-divine-feminine/ )

The Divine Masculine counterpart is usually the one who awakens her (Kundalini activation). This can happen when two people communicate and are physically close to each other.

The Divine Feminine, triggers awakening in the DM, in a slightly different way and usually over a period of time. They intensify the divine masculine to connect to the Earth, nature, and the divine.

When your twin flames connect, they forge a connection that both grounds you to the Earth and to nature, as well as opens you up to higher beings and spiritual worlds.

( Image source: https://shop.cosm.org/products/oversoul-poster  ) 

The divine masculine and divine feminine, are both represented in twin flames. Both masculine and feminine energy exist in everyone of us. These energies have a significant impact on how we present ourselves in the world and in our interactions. Work, social expectations, trauma, past relationships, and other factors can lead this energy to be misaligned with our inherent nature, resulting in unnecessary tension, distance, and isolation. In addition, there is still a Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine polarity in same-sex couples.

Masculine qualities: Logic, Reason, Action, Firm, Survival, Loyal, Adventurous, Rational, Strength  ( Highlight:  analytical, competitive, and logical. )

Feminine qualities:  Intuition, Nurturing, Healing, Gentle, Expressive, Wise, ,Patient, Emotional, Flexible ( Highlight:  connection, emotions and flow. )

After the honeymoon stage, "you or your partner will be the one discovering unlikable characteristics, which will trigger anxiety, potentially causing the relationship to fall apart. This resemblance to a mirror is partly responsible for many of the dramas you’ll possibly experience with your twin lover. "Anything we’ve spent our lives ignoring or rejecting is suddenly in front of us," As you get to know each other, you may discover that you share the same traits about your upbringing, including being abandoned, or that you attended many of the same places at the same time.

About two years ago, number synchronicity started appearing for me before I met my twin flame, but I do not know what they are or what they imply. Then, for a week or two, this woman caught my attention because of an interesting event. Our meeting provoked my Dark Night of the Soul, which started the beginning of my (true) awakening journey, although I was in my pre-awakening stage when we met. After meeting her, (my twin flame ) I felt shivers down my spine. It’s bizarre on a cellular level. It’s as though I’ve known her throughout my whole life.

I felt a tremendous connection with her. I’d never really had anybody else before, in ways that I still can’t entirely verbalize.

I instantly recognized her as my wife when I met her, because I could hear those voices inside my head insisting that she was my wife in a previous life and will continue to be in the future. To be honest, I felt an immediate sense of peace; it felt as if I was her home. When my twin flame enters my life, I experience an immediate sense of relief, without knowing why.

The best part about having this kind of connection is having a home with somebody who embraces you for who you are on the inside and allows you to be entirely yourself. Everything clicks, whether you’ve been wearing make-up or just haven’t showered in days, and you couldn’t imagine having it with anyone else in your life like you do with your twin flame.

With my twin flame, her strengths are my weaknesses. We both help each other maintain a sense of equilibrium in our lives. They’re the sweet to my spice, the black to my white, and the yang to my yin. We are mirrors of the same and reflect each other's light or darkness, and this is why, at times, it becomes so difficult. The connection seems to match into my life, and you know it is genuine. It is the most beautiful and magical experience, and by far the greatest gift I could ever receive.

If you’re like most individuals, you’ve spent a significant amount of time praying and hoping for a meaningful relationship to appear in your life. You may not realize immediately that the person is your twin flame, but as soon as you do, you’ll stop seeking unrelated friendships and romances.

You know it’s important when your twin flame emerges. Now that they’re in your life, you feel like the wait is over.

When she’s with me, she makes my world feel bigger. When my twin flame and I are together, life opens up in various ways.

Whatever it may be, this mutual encouragement inspires you to expand your horizons by challenging what you previously believed to be impossible. We may have doubted our ability to achieve our dreams in the past, but today you know you can achieve what you’ve set your mind to. Perhaps because the twin flame energy has pushed us to it. 

Once you know your twin flame has your back, you can move forward with confidence and  they’ll know they have your support with everything. You can strengthen yourself emotionally and spiritually. They’ll improve as a person in perfect sync with your personal growth. You balance each other. You also help them stay aware of the world. They change as you do. They are, in many ways, your other half.

Your twin flame is the male or female version of yourself.

- End

❤️

All the Love - L

[fuckyeahstephensondheim]

Rick Pender knows his Sondheim from A to Z

If the word “encyclopedia” conjures for you a 26-volume compendium of information ranging from history to science and beyond, you may find the notion of a Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia perplexing. But if you have ever looked at a bookshelf full of book after book about (and occasionally by) the premiere musical theatre composer-lyricist of our era and wished all that information could be synthesized and indexed in one place, maybe the idea of a Sondheim encyclopedia will start to make a little more sense to you. It did to Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, an independent publisher that’s made encyclopedias such as this one of their calling cards, offering tomes on everyone from Marie Curie to Akira Kurasowa. Several years ago, they approached Rick Pender, longtime managing editor of the gone but never forgotten Sondheim Review and now, after years of research, writing, and pandemic-related delays, the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia is finally hitting shelves. I sat down with Rick (via Zoom) to chat about this unique, massive project.

FYSS: I want to really focus on the new book, but we should start with your history with Sondheim and The Sondheim Review. How did you become so enmeshed in this work?

RP: As a teenager, the first LP that I bought was the soundtrack from West Side Story, and I didn't have any clue about who much of anybody was, particularly not Stephen Sondheim. But I loved the lyrics for the songs, especially “Something’s Coming” and “Gee, Officer Krupke.” These are just fabulous lyrics.

Then, of course, in the ‘70s it was hard as time went by not to have some awareness of Sondheim. I saw a wonderful production of Night Music in northeast Ohio, and I again just thought these lyrics are incredible, and I love the music from that particular show. Fast forward a little further in the late ‘80s, I was laid up with some surgery and I knew I was going to be bedridden for a week or two anyway, so I went to the public library and grabbed up a handful of CDs, and in that batch was A Collector's Sondheim, the three-disc set of stuff up through about 1985, and I must have listened to that a hundred times, I swear, because it had material on it that I didn't know anything about like Evening Primrose or Stavisky. So that really opened my eyes.

Later, my son had moved to Chicago. He's a scenic carpenter and a union stagehand. He worked at the Goodman Theatre, and I went to see a production when they were still performing in a theater space at the Art Institute of Chicago, and they had a gift shop there. And lo and behold in the rack I saw a copy of a magazine called The Sondheim Review! I thought, oh my gosh, I've got to subscribe to this! This would have been about 1996, probably, so I subscribed and enjoyed it immediately. A quarterly magazine about just about Stephen Sondheim struck me as kind of amazing.

In 1997-98 the Cincinnati Playhouse did a production of Sweeney Todd in which Pamela Myers, all grown up, played Mrs. Lovett, and so I wrote to the editor of the magazine and said, “Would you like me to review this?” That started me down a path for a couple of years of making fairly regular contributions to the magazine. Then in 2004 that editor retired, and I was asked to become the managing editor, which I did from 2004 to 2016. It went off the rails for some business reasons, but it lasted for 22 years which I think is pretty remarkable.

I tried to sustain it in an alternative form with a website called Everything Sondheim. We put stuff up online for about 18 months, and we published three print issues that look very much like The Sondheim Review, but we were not able to sustain it beyond that.

FYSS: How did the Encyclopedia project originate?

RP: The publisher asked me to write an encyclopedia about Stephen Sondheim! I envisioned that I would be sort of the general editor who coordinated a bunch of writers to put this together, but they said no, we're thinking of you as being the sole author. They had done a couple of other encyclopedias particularly of film directors, and those were all done by one person, so they sent me a contract asking me to generate 300,000 words for this book, and after I regained consciousness, I said all right, I'll give it a try.

It took me about two years – most of 2018 and ‘19 – to generate that content. I sent it off in the fall of ‘19, and then, well, the world stopped because of the pandemic. It was supposed to come out April a year ago, and they had just furloughed a bunch of their editors and everything stalled. But now it's coming out mid-April 2021.

FYSS: What was the research and writing process like?

RP: This project came about in part because the publisher initially approached another writer, Mark Horowitz, who's at the Library of Congress and who had done a Sondheim book of Sondheim on Music. Mark and I had become quite close because he wrote a number of wonderful features about different Sondheim songs for The Sondheim Review. When I heard that that he had put my name out there, I went back to him after I had agreed to do this and said, Mark, could we use some of that material that you wrote for the magazine about those songs? And he said, sure do with them whatever you wish. And I was glad he said that, because they were really long pieces, and I've reduced each of them to about 1500-2000 words, which I thought was probably about the maximum length that people would really want to read in a reference volume.

But other than that, I generated everything else myself. I relied upon plenty of material within the 22 years of back issues of The Sondheim Review. Another great resource was Sondheim's own lyric studies, the two-volume set which provides so much information about the production of shows and that sort of thing.

Of the 131 entries I wrote for this, 18 of them are lengthy pieces about each of the original productions, so again Sondheim's books were certainly useful for that, and other books like Ted Chapin's book about Follies.

I also spent some time in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress, and Mark loaned me a quite a bit of material that he had collected – not archival material but scrapbooks of clippings that he put into ring binders of stuff about Sondheim's shows.

I came back to Cincinnati with about four or five cartons of materials, and I could really dig through that stuff as I was working on these. And then I have, as I'm sure you and lots of other Sondheim fans have, a bookcase with a shelf or two of Sondheim books, and those were all things that I relied upon, too.

I actually generated a list with lots and lots of topics, probably over 200, and I knew that was going to be more than I could do. Eventually, some things were consolidated, like an actor who perhaps performed in just one Sondheim show wasn't going to get a biographical entry, but I would talk about them in the particular show that they were involved in. So, I was able to collapse some of those kinds of things. But as I said, I did end up with 131 entries in the publication, and it turned out to be 636 pages, so that's a big fat reference book.

FYSS: Who is the intended audience for a work like this? RP: The book is really intended to be a reference volume more than a coffee-table book. It does have photography in it, but it's black and white and more meant to be illustrative than to wallow in the glories of Sondheim. There is an extensive bibliography in it, and all the material is really thoroughly sourced so people can find ways to dig into more.

FYSS: Sometimes memories diverge or change over time. Did you come across any contradictions in your research, and how did you resolve them?

RP: I can't say that I can recall anything like that. I relied very heavily on Sondheim's recollections in Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat because he's got a memory like a steel trap. Once in a while I would email him with a question and get very quick response on things. I really used him as my touchstone for making sure of that kind of thing.

I also found that Secrest’s biography was very thoroughly researched, and I could rely on that. But I can't say that I found a lot of discrepancy, and some of those kinds of things were a little too much inside baseball for me to be including in the encyclopedia.

FYSS: For figures with long and broad histories, how did you decide what to include? George Abbott, for example, is the first entry in the book and he worked for nine decades! How important was writing about an individual as they relate to Sondheim vs. who they were more generally?

RP: To use George Abbott as an example, I would say that the first things that I did was to go back to the lyric studies and to the Secrest biography and just look up references to Abbott. I mean, it was George Abbott who said that he wanted more hummable songs from Sondheim, so you know that was certainly an anecdote that was worth including because, of course you know, it becomes a little bit of the lyric in Merrily We Roll Along. 

So you know, I would look for those kinds of things, but I also wanted to put Sondheim in context because Abbott was well into his career when he finally directed Forum which, since it was Sondheim's first show as a composer and a lyricist, is significant. That was very much the focus of that entry, but I wanted to lay a foundation in talking about Abbott, about all the things that he had done before that. I mean, he was sort of the Hal Prince of his era in in terms of his engagement in so many different kinds of things – writing plays, directing musicals, doctoring shows, all of that.

FYSS: Did any entries stick out to you as being the hardest to write?

I think the most complicated one to write about probably was Bounce/Road Show because it's got a complicated history, and Sondheim has so much to say about it. And because it's not a show that people know so much about, I wanted to treat it appropriately, but not as expansively as all of that background material might have suggested. So I kind of had to weave my way through that one. It also was a little tough to write about, because how do you write a synopsis of a show that has had several incarnations quite different from one another, and musical material that has changed from one to the other? With shows like that, I particularly tried to resort to the licensed versions of the shows. 

FYSS: I haven't had a chance to read the book cover-to-cover yet, but I did read the Follies and the Into the Woods entries to try to get a sense of how you covered individual shows, and both of those are shows that had significant revisions at different times. And I thought you made it very clear what they were and also where to go for a reader who wants to learn more.

RP: Let me say one other thing this is not directly on this topic, but it sort of relates, and that is that in writing an encyclopedia, I didn't want to overlay a lot of my very individual opinions about things, but with each of the show entries I tried to review the critical comments that were made about the show in its original form, perhaps with significant revivals and that sort of thing, and then to source those remarks from critics at those various points in time. And of course, my own objectivity (or lack thereof) had something to do with what I was selecting, but I thought that was a good way to represent the range of opinion without having to make it all my own opinion.

FYSS: Did you feel any responsibility with regards to canonization when you made choices about what to include or exclude? What made the First National Tour of Into the Woods more significant than the Fiasco production, for example? Why do Side by Side by Sondheim & Sondheim on Sondheim get individual entries, but Putting It Together is relegated to the omnibus entry on revues?

RP: I guess that now you are lifting the curtain on some of my own subjectivity with that question. I tried to identify things that were particularly significant. I mean with the revues for instance, several of those shows – you know, particularly Side by Side by Sondheim, the very early ones – they were the ones I think that elevated him in people’s awareness. So, I think that to me was part of what drove that. And then shows that that were early touring productions struck me as being things that maybe needed a little bit more coverage. I think the Fiasco production was a really interesting one, but with the more recent productions of shows I just felt like there's no end to it if I begin to include a lot of that sort of thing.

FYSS: I mean it's so subjective. I'm not the kind of person who clutches my pearls and screams oh my goodness, how could you not talk about this or that. But I was surprised to see in your Follies entry that the Paper Mill Playhouse album was not listed among the recordings, for example. I imagine that once this book hits shelves you're going to be bombarded with people asking about their pet favorites.

RP: Oh, I'm sure, and maybe that will be a reason to do a second edition, which I’m totally ready to do.

The Sondheim Encyclopedia hits bookstore shelves April 15. It’s available wherever you buy books, but Rick has provided a special discount code for readers of Fuck Yeah Stephen Sondheim to receive 30% off when you order directly from the publisher. To order, visit www.rowman.com, call 800-462-6420, and use code RLFANDF30.

Celebrate the launch of The Sondheim Encyclopedia with a free, live online event featuring Rick Pender in conversation with Broadway Nation’s David Armstrong Friday, April 16 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Eastern. More information and register here.

[jeannereames]

This is probably a very stupid question, but how did the Ancient Greeks measure time (in terms of years and months) ? What was their calendar like? What year would Alexander have viewed himself to be living in?

I love these sorts of daily-life details, so I may have got a little carried away…. Before I get into the weeds, however, I want to make everyone aware of a reference resource:

E. J. Bickerman, Chronology of the Ancient World. Thames & Hudson, 1968.

Yeah, it’s old now, but Bickerman spent most of his career on dating puzzles, and I don’t think there’s anything recent to match it. When I first was told about it years ago in my historiography class, I practically bounced off the walls. (My fellow grad students thought I’d lost my mind.)

I’m not sure of the best way to address this query—topically or geographically—but I’ll go with topically. I’ll also say upfront that I’m unfamiliar with Egypt, so they’re not much mentioned. Also, if you want more details on any particular system (Roman, Athenian, Babylonian, Jewish), there are plenty of online resources.

Long-count Calendar

How to number years across a span? Regnal years was most common in antiquity: year 1, year 2, year 3 of ___ king. Also, king lists detailed how long ___ ruled. The Ancient Near East (ANE) excelled at chronologies; we have some that go back to Sumer. That’s pre-Bronze Age. The span of some reigns can be deeply problematic (e.g., mythical), but we have the lists. Fun note, Neo-Assyrians named years by its major military campaign. Tells us a lot about them, no?

What about places without kings? Greece, Rome, Carthage?

The Greeks had several systems, internal and panhellenic. Internal systems often dated by the name of a prominent city magistrate. In Athens, that was the eponymous archon, in Sparta, the eponymous ephor, etc. The panhellenic system used Olympic years. In Dancing with the Lion, if you look at date plates before sections, that’s what I used. It’s a 4-year system, so, “In the year of the 97th Olympiad,” “In the first year of the 97th Olympiad,” “In the second year…,” and “In the third year…,” then we’re to “In the year of the 98th Olympiad…” In modern annotation it’s Ol. 97.1, Ol. 97.2, Ol. 97.3, Ol. 97.4. From (our year) 776 BCE down into the Roman Imperial era, the Olympics made useful anchor dating for the eastern Mediterranean (Magna Graecia).

Rome had its own system: two in fact. It counted years by both consuls, but also AUC = ab urba condita … “from the founding of the city.” Carthage used a similar system involving their two senior Judges for their senate.

When it came to “world histories,” authors such as Diodoros Siculus used several systems: Olympiad, Athenian archon, and Roman consuls. It gets a bit unwieldy, but is about as universal as we have for the Med until Christianity took over everything.

Yearly Calendars

Much of the ancient world used lunar (354 days), not solar (356 days) calendars. Yes, they knew a lunar year didn’t line up with the solar, and they used “intercalation” to fix it, avoiding summer festivals being celebrated in winter. Either a 13th month was needed every 3 years, or they added a few days to months here and there, making a “lunisolar” calendar. We have an intercalated day in our own calendar: Feb. 29th in Leap Year. To fix a calendar, however, an “anchor” is needed. This anchor is usually a solstice or equinox, which may (or may not) correspond to their New Year.

Our modern (Western) world places New Year’s in the dead of winter. But many pre-modern calendars put it in spring. Makes sense: life renews, it’s a new year. The Babylonian New Year was decided by the spring equinox—first new moon after—which pattern affected most of the ANE.

The Hebrew New Year (Rosh Hashana) is in autumn, but their first month (Nisan) is in spring. (They also have a New Year for Trees! Tú bish'vat. How cool is that?) Wanna know when your Jewish friends are having a holiday? Use Hebcal, the gold standard.

MANY ancient cultures have more than one calendar running at a time. So do we. Working in the uni, I have the “normal” year, but also the “academic” year to keep up with.

Despite the dominance of certain early systems like Babylon, counting the new year was specific to a region and people, and their religious traditions. No single Greek new year tradition existed. Both Delos and Athens used the first new moon after the summer equinox: early July. The Macedonian calendar seems to as well, so Alexander was born in the first month of the year. Other city states were different. I’ve forgotten most but do remember Sparta’s is in autumn because their new year almost falls on my birthday.

Remember, although we today talk about “ancient Greece” as if it were a country—it wasn’t. There was a landmass called Hellas, but each city-state was independent, and had its own laws, gov’t, coinage, and religious cult. Too often “Greek” winds up being conflated with “Athenian,” because we happen to have the most evidence from ancient Athens. But both Athens and Sparta were weirdos. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, Mytilene, Cos, Eretria, Miletus…all were a lot more typically Greek in their gov’t systems, etc. There were also 3 (or 4) different branches of Greek: Ionic-Attic, Doric, and Aeolic. When we talk about reading the “ancient Greek” language today, most people mean Attic Greek, or even Koine Greek (Hellenistic era common Greek).

That means every city-state had its own calendar, connected to its own festivals.

In fact, most city-states had several: sacred, civic, etc. Athens had a 12-month lunar calendar for festivals, but a 10-month civic calendar corresponding to the 10 tribes for Assembly business. Originally, they had only 4 tribes, not 10, so political changes meant calendar changes.

In each city-state, month names were derived from the major festival for that month. We have the complete month names for only a few: Athens is one and (fortunately for me) Macedon is another (specifically Ptolemaic, but it’s likely the same as the Argead). Below “Ancient Greek Month” REALLY means “Athenian month,” which annoys the hell out of those of us who don’t consider Athens the be-all and end-all of Greek history!

Because their months were lunar, they bisect our months, e.g., July/Aug = Athenian Hekatombian or Macedonian Loos [Alexander’s birthmonth], Jan/Feb = Athenian Gamelion or Macedonian Peritios [probably the month that gave Alexander’s favorite hound his name: Peritos]. Likewise, as the Athenian new year began in midsummer, dating ancient events also bisects. You’ll see 342/1 to designate the year from July of 342 BCE to June of 341.

As mentioned, most places used lunar months as the most basic time-keeping, but the moon isn’t the only way to make a “month.” Rome originally had 10 months of 30/31 days, adding 2 later, which is why our 12 months have Romanesque names.

Just remember: NO UNIVERSAL SYSTEM for months.

What About Weeks?

A seven-day week is borrowed from the Jews via Christianity. Both Jews and Egyptians had a dedicated day of rest. (For Egypt, the 10th day.) In most places, however, days off were festival related. Every month had festivals, which might last from half a day to several days in a row. You worked…took off for a festival…then you worked. No regular day of rest. (For the modern weekend? Thank unions and the Labor Movement!)

How did others subdivide a month? Athenian months were c. 30 days, divided into 10s: 1-10, 11-20, 10-1. Yup, the last is backwards. But dating also counted waxing and waning moons. So the new moon began a month, the 7th of the month would be the 7th waxing moon, the 24th the 6th waning moon. This is the Athenian system. Other city-states are less clear, but probably similar.

Romans had kalens (1st), nones (7th), and ides (15th). Nundinae (market days) means 9th, but were really the 8th day. The 7-day week is late Imperial and, again, owes to Christian take-over of Jewish weeks.

Most systems had “auspicious” and “inauspicious” days for religious activities, civic activities, and business activities. Don’t start anything on an inauspicious day! (These were manipulated, especially in Rome, but that’s a whole different discussion.) The closest modern equivalent I can think of is Mercury Retrograde. 😊 Although in modern Greece, signing a contract on a Tuesday morning is bad juju, or May 29th. Constantinople fell on a Tuesday morning May 29th, 1453. We might, in America, consider 9/11. Who wants to open a business on 9/11?

The Horai (The Hours)

When did the day begin? Again, the ANE and Med are different. In the ANE, day typically began at sunset. So yes, that’s why the Jewish shabbat starts at sunset on Friday and lasts till sunset on Saturday. (If you didn’t know, the Jewish “day of rest” isn’t Sunday, but Saturday.)

For Greece and Rome, et al., day began at dawn. Each day was then evenly divided between day and night, so there was no standard length of an hour. It depended on the time of year. Each half had twelve hours, subdivided into 4 groups of triads. Originally in Greece it seems there were only 9, not twelve, but they increased to match the lunar months. The division of 4 groups of triads also yielded the 4 seasons of 3 months each. Hora was initially a season, not an hour.

In any case, dawn was always the first hour, noon the 6th, sunset the 12th. Same deal for night (twilight, midnight, pre-dawn).

This is great for military and civic purposes, but most people tended to refer to daytime divisions more generally: dawn, midday, etc. And there was nothing like minutes or seconds. That’s totally modern. Closest, they might come would be to count “breaths.”

The gnomon (sundial) was the chief way to measure hours, as it matched longer or shorter days. But it’s kinda hard to use a sundial at night, or on a cloudy day, or inside. Night hours were approximate.

The water clock (klepsudra) was first popularized in Greece in courts and the Assembly (to time speeches), but spread to other use, for inside or on shady days. Yet water clocks are unwieldy to carry around.

The Romans did have portable sundials (below), but again…needs the SUN. Btw, I should add that sundials aren’t only a Greco-Roman thing. The Chinese had them too. By contrast, the sand-clock or hourglass is a medieval invention. Won’t find them in the ancient world.