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xtruss · 11 months ago

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Esperanto: The Artificial Language That Aimed To Unite Humanity

Esperanto was intended to be an easy-to-learn second language that enabled you to speak with anyone on the planet.

— February 27, 2024 | By Scotty Hendricks

Credit: Oleksii/Adobe Stock

Key Takeaways:

Esperanto is a constructed language designed to be easy to learn and use.

It was created by a Polish Ophthalmologist who dreamed of uniting the world, and his hometown.

While it has yet to reach universal adoption, it has enjoyed widespread use and official recognition at times.

The idea of a universal language dates back nearly as far as written language. The story of The Tower of Babel is predated by a 21st-century BCE Sumerian story called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, which has similar themes. There are stories of Hermes and Brahma being behind the multitude of languages in their respective religions. Each of these stories implies that humanity spoke a single language once upon a time. And some suggest we could again.

Philosophers have spoken about the idea of a universal language. Leibniz and Descartes dreamed of a constructed language that would better express philosophical ideas. Nietzsche believed a universal language was an inevitability.

While many languages can claim to be or to have been a lingua franca over different geographical areas, none have been the “world language” that philosophers dreamed about. Most of the contenders have been existing languages. However, one of the more interesting attempts at a common tongue for the world, Esperanto, was invented specifically for that purpose.

Lingvo de la Mondo

Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish Ophthalmologist, first Created Esperanto. Born and Raised in a Multi-Ethnic Area of then Russian-Controlled Poland, Dr. Zamenhof was acutely aware of the problems caused by a lack of linguistic understanding and the barriers that it causes. He firmly believed that the distrust and violence that existed between the communities were both caused and exacerbated by a failure to communicate.

In 1887, with the aid of his wife, Dr. Zamenhof published his first Esperanto textbook, introducing his language to the world. Aiming to avoid celebrity, he signed it with the Pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto, which translates to “Dr. Hopeful.” Enthusiasts quickly decided that this was a great name. Clubs dedicated to learning other constructed languages, such as Volapük, shifted over to learning Esperanto.

Dr. Zamenhof dreamed that Esperanto would become the world’s go-to international auxiliary language. If everyone learned it as their second tongue, everyone could speak to everyone. Even better, this language, while clearly Indo-European in nature, didn’t belong to any one nation and could be learned without bringing in certain nationalist or colonialist baggage. It also doesn’t provide any undue advantages to people from one country since everyone would learn it as a second tongue.

His motivations were both practical and idealistic as he hoped to both minimize the “time and labor we spend in learning foreign tongues,” and believed that: “Were there but an international language, all translations would be made into it alone … and all nations would be united in a common brotherhood.” He was also clear in his hopes that the language would see wide day-to-day use outside of international communications.

For a while, it seemed like the language might live up to the dreams of its founder. Clubs dedicated to learning and teaching the language multiped around the world. Some areas saw a very high concentration of learners. In some parts of Europe, as many as one in eight people were reported to know Esperanto. Other estimates put those numbers lower, however. Global conventions for Esperantists began in 1905 and proved successful.

In 1908, Esperantists living in Neutral Moresnet advocated for the disputed area to be organized as the state of Amikejo, which translates to “Friendship.” While sources disagree, the organizers may have gone so far as to declare the formation of Amikejo as the first official Esperanto-speaking country. This went unrecognized, and the territory would later become part of Belgium. Other countries, such as the Republic of China, began teaching the language in schools around this time.

The progress of the language slowed during World War One. Dr. Zamenhof died of heart failure before it was over. However, the Universal Esperanto Association did stick to its idealist roots and facilitated civilian communication between warring nations by transferring letters through its headquarters in Switzerland.

Esperanto was likely closest to wide adoption in the 1920s. Many early short-wave radio stations broadcast in it, hoping to catch the ears of a world of listeners. Many countries encouraged the language, with the USSR being particularly enthusiastic about it for a time. The League of Nations, at the request of several delegations, considered a proposal that Esperanto be used in international relations. The French delegation voted against this.

However, as in many other areas world, the dizzying heights of the 1920s were followed by the rather depressing 1930s. As nationalism ramped up, those speaking an international language became targets. The Nazis denounced the language as a tool of the imagined vast international Jewish conspiracy against Germany, banned Esperanto organizations, and arrested their leaders. After the invasion of Poland, members of Dr. Zamenhof’s family were sent to concentration camps. The progress of the language was also reversed in the USSR, where more than a few of its speakers were arrested on flimsy charges, and accused of being part of an “international espionage organization.” World War II proved disastrous for a linguistic community dedicated to world peace.

The Cold War put a further damper on things, though UNESCO did grant the Universal Esperanto Association a consultative relationship and has reported favorably on the language in the past. Today, the language is still spoken by many. While it is difficult to estimate how many people speak Esperanto, Director Vilĉjo Harris of the Central Office of Esperanto-USA suggests that “the number of people who use Esperanto is as difficult to estimate as the number of people who play chess.” Existing estimates range from 100,000 to as many as 2 million. Duolingo, which offers courses in the language, shows 384,000 learners on the language selection page. Some sources suggest the number of people who studied the language at some point could be much higher.

Esperanto isn’t, and has never been, the domain of random enthusiasts, either. Famous users of the language include author Leo Tolstoy, Yugoslavian head of state Josip Borz Tito, author and professor J.R.R. Tolkien, Austrian President Franz Jonas, philosopher Rudolf Carnap, financier George Soros, and Pope John Paul II.

La Reguloj

As mentioned above, Esperanto was designed for simplicity and wide adoption. It is clearly Romanic in character. Even somebody with a casual understanding of languages will catch obvious traces of Spanish, French, and Italian, though some of it is closer to German, English, or Greek.

It is an extremely regular language. Its phonics are consistent. Its 16 grammatical rules have no exceptions. There are no irregular verbs. Word classes end in the same letter. For example, singular nouns all end with the letter “o.” New words can be easily created from old ones, so only a limited number of root words must be memorized before a person can communicate. The stress is always placed on the second to last syllable, so there is no guessing when speaking.

Between the straightforwardness of the language and its close relationship to the Romance, Germanic, and Eastern European languages, supporters of Esperanto have long argued that it can be learned quickly, perhaps in as little as a third of the time of other languages. However, Leo Tolstoy’s claims that he learned it in four hours remain unsubstantiated. Despite the advantages that speakers of European languages have in learning it, it has proven popular all over the world.

New words continue to be added to the language as needed. These changes are overseen by the Akademio de Esperanto. This group of experts keeps the language in line with the existing rules.

Aplikoj

The question that comes up the most with Esperanto is what use it might have. After all, a language is a means of communication. If there is nothing to communicate using it, then it doesn’t have much use. The number of speakers being lower than anticipated has also plagued the language from the start. Dr. Zamenhof himself tried to get people to agree to learn the language if 10 million other people made the same pledge. However, he got a mere 1,000 responses.

However, unlike many other constructed languages, Esperanto has a culture. Many books, poems, and even (reportedly terrible) films exist in the language. Despite the current lack of an Esperanto-speaking country, the community of speakers is robust. Groups dedicated to the language exist on every continent, including Antarctica. Annual global conventions dedicated to the language continue to meet. It is still possible to get a college degree in understanding the language in colleges in China, Poland, and The Netherlands.

Director Harris of Esperanto USA told Big Think that the language has made many friendships possible for him:

“I made quite a few friends of people who do not speak English well, but speak some Esperanto. These people live in various countries, and we try to understand how to get past cultural differences. As a result of these friendships, I feel like I am a world citizen.”

Some studies also suggest that it is a useful tool for learning a third language. The Paderborn method of language learning calls for students to be taught an easy foreign language in schools so they can then learn a third language more quickly. Some versions of this use Esperanto as the easy language. In one study, students who learned Esperanto for two years before learning English caught up to their peers who learned only English fairly quickly and soon surpassed them despite spending less time on it overall. This effect also exists with other languages, though some studies and authors suggest Esperanto offers certain advantages.

While the early dreams of world peace and understanding through a single auxiliary language belonging to no nation may strike many as naive today, the Esperanto movement is still strong. Even if it hasn’t managed to unite the world in a common tongue, it continues to connect people. At the end of the day, wasn’t that part of the dream?

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rev3rb · 2 years ago

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Hiya! This chapter definitely intrigued me with the design and purpose of the city. Idk how exactly this fits in with current events, but I’m definitely interested in how we went from a well-populated angel civilization with ice cream to just The First doing his mad scientist experiments all alone. Especially since it seems like he’s at the top of the angel hierarchy. I really wish we could get his pov that way he could just tell the audience straight up lmao.

The introduction of the Tower of Babel is really catching my attention. God knows I have extremely limited knowledge on Christian theology, but if the name is not just for shits and giggles, I wonder why it seems like the angels were successful in returning to the heavens. If Irc, the tower being struck down leads to different languages amongst humans. So maybe in this case, it’ll lead to different species of the present??

Idk but I’m really curious to hear what you think about all of this.

Okay! I finally got around to the chapter! Thank you so much for your patience.

So... I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this chapter. We got a little progress so I'm happy about that, but again it felt like a lot of the chapter space was taken up with rehashing the same interactions we've been seeing. Character interactions are nice, and with being a monthly manga, you have the luxury of panel space for them, but it just feels like the last... 5? chapters have had an abundance of them. Still though... we got progress so I'm not really upset with the chapter or anything.

Anywho, yeah! The city was interesting. I actually wish that if we weren't going to get a ton of progress this chapter that we would have at least gotten a better feel for the city. We kinda just got "it's a city, it has ice cream, and there's a building called the Tower of Babel. That's nice, but none of that really gives me much of an impression of the city itself. ...That being said, I'm glad it wasn't just a chapter of exploring the city with no payoff so. You know, maybe I'm just being difficult LOL Quick side note, but sometimes I've wondered how OnS would be as a novel instead and this is one of those moments. In a novel, you can put a few lines of description of the city and let the reader fill in the details, but with a manga, what you see is kinda what you get? Not trying to bash Kagami or Yamamoto at all. It's just a feeling of 'we probably would have gotten a bit more about the city had this been a novel instead of a manga'. Word space in a novel is way less than panel space in a manga after all.

Given that the First is also seemingly revisiting his past memories, maybe we will get some of his perspective on things! I lean towards doubt on that, but I don't think it's impossible. Either way, I'm sure we'll get to see at least a little of what the First was up to back then soon... right? Right?? Lmao please don't make me wrong on this.

I'm in the same boat as you anon and know virtually nothing about Christian theology. When they said Tower of Babel, I just thought "that sure is a Christan thing I recognize the name of" and knew nothing else. Now that you say all that though, that does sound super familiar, so I probably knew that at some point? You bring up a good question though. Thinking back on the other imagery we've gotten, I think nods to Christian theology have been relatively loose, like the trumpets of the apocalypse, so maybe there will be a little bit of that involved? Like maybe the tower will end up falling in this memory and it will lead to humanity coming to exist? They don't seem to exist yet and that makes sense. Just had the thought of what if the Tower of Bable falling is what wiped out the dinosaurs? I think I'd cry laugh. Regardless, I am just as curious as you to see how the name will play into things if it does at all.

At the end of the day, I'd say the chapter was fine. Progress is slow but there's some progress, and the setting is interesting so far, so it's not like I'm not engaged. I just hope for more in the near future. The potential for some really interesting stuff is right there! I want the series to deliver.

#Owari no Seraph #OnS 124 #Anonysis asks #My posts #Sometimes I wonder if it's just me that's not as interested in the series anymore or what #I don't think it is because I get excited when it nears a chapter release date #but idk #I love Mika and Yuu but please have an interaction that is something other than 'you're kinda stupid' 'lmao yeah ig I am'#I'm begging you

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longlivebatart · 1 year ago

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Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Tower of Babel

Welcome to Long Live Bat Art, the podcast for art lovers who don’t see art as much as they want to. My name is Sydney and thank you for taking this slow tour through an art gallery with a casual art lover. Today, I’ll be talking about Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I hope you enjoy.

Not much is known about Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He was probably born around 1525 in Breda, which is now part of the Netherlands.

Bruegel the Elder was mentored by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, who was a sculptor, architect, and stained glass and tapestry designer. Bruegel also used some aspects of Coecke’s wife’s, Maria Verhulst Bessemers, technique of watercolor.

Bruegel the Elder entered the Antwerp Painters’ Guild in 1551. In that year or the next, Bruegel the Elder made the journey to Italy, probably via France. Art historians have deduced his journey by his surviving works. It’s been theorized that he traveled to Sicily, maybe even to Palermo. In 1553 he lived in Rome where he produced his earliest signed and dated painting- Landscape with Christ and the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias. That same year he also worked with Giulio Clovio. Clovio was both influenced greatly by Michaelangelo and a patron of a young El Greco. Clovio had a number of paintings and drawings done by Bruegel the Elder, plus a miniature they apparently worked together on since Clovio was primarily a miniaturist.

Bruegel the Elder produced many drawings of the mountains, which were foreign to him because of where he spent the earlier part of his life. Some say that these drawings, with maybe the exception of Leonardo da Vinci, are nearly unparalleled in terms of how they capture the power of the landscape. But oddly enough, almost none of the drawings were studies. The majority were likely done by memory and imagination once he returned to Antwerp.

But Bruegel the Elder wasn’t confined to the mountains- he also made drawings and paintings of the countryside, villages, and towns. And he wasn’t purely a landscape artist, either. He was also known for paintings of humans imitating the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who we will cover in the next episode.

Bruegel the Elder soon found ways to express his own ideas through this imitation, and he became a very successful painter in his time. He had some very prestigious patrons including Antione Perrenot Cardinal de Granvelle- the president of the council of state in the Netherlands, and Niclaes Jonghelinck who ended up with 16 of Bruegel the Elder’s paintings, one of which is the subject of this episode. Some of that could be because Bruegel the Elder traveled with Jonghelinck’s sculptor brother Jacques. To complete this strange web of connections, Jacques Jonghelinck had a studio in Cardinal de Granvelle’s palace. Maybe they played five degrees of separation in the art world with Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Bruegel the Elder married his mentor’s daughter Mayken in 1563, after which more of Coecke’s influence, particularly composition-wise, can be seen in Bruegel the Elder’s work.

Bruegel the Elder died in 1569. About a hundred generally accepted as authenticated works by him survive.

Now onto Tower of Babel. For those who don’t know, the Tower of Babel is a Biblical parable from Genesis. It’s a parable meant to explain why different languages exist. Humans used to speak one language until they built the Tower of Babel, then God decided the Tower was too tall and the people too arrogant so he destroyed the Tower, made the people not understand each other, and scattered humans around the globe. This is what Bruegel the Elder depicted.

The stone tower is half-crumbled. It’s painted in red tones in the center where it’s collapsed, and in yellow tones on the outside which is more or less intact. The very front of the tower is destroyed and the right is half-destroyed. Even on the left you can see exposed wooden supports. The tower is tiered- six in all, getting smaller as they get closer to the top. The tiers have arches throughout, generally in pairs. They might be doors or just decorative, but there are what look like dark openings that could be actual doors at the base of each one. Above the paired arches and directly in the center are three square cutouts, like windows. Below the center one is a half-moon of stone jutting out. The curve falls between the arches and the flat part is under the window. The tower itself was built next to a river, which is on the right, and a town grew around it. The houses are different colors- painted or material, I’m not sure.

The ground is lush and green, and in the background the landscape is mostly untouched- the grass and trees have been left alone, but there are worn light brown paths cut through it from hundreds of trips. The landscape recedes into the distance.

The river is actually somewhat flatly painted. There’s some variation in the blue, but not a lot. There are several boats on the river, but I can’t tell exactly how many. The wood somewhat blends together in the shadow of the destroyed tower. There are several styles. One is large and flat with people rowing on it- almost like a big log raft- and most of the others have masts and sails, and those are in a variety of sizes. The river winds its way against the right of the painting, the land next to it lush and vibrant. There’s a thin strip of land that extends into the river further than the rest. There’s an island in the distance that’s a lighter green than the rest of the land. The squared-off dock close to the tower and following its side has people milling on it, and a stone building with square stone ridges at the top like a medieval turret. Closest to the viewer is a mountain, with people coming up a path. You can’t see many of their facial features. The one in front is wearing a long cloak with what looks like a simple crown on his head and a beard. Others behind him are carrying lances. Three men are prostrating themselves before him. There are other people in front of the people who are walking up, clambering over large flat stones. Maybe they were builders, or maybe they just were reclaiming what they could to build another tower.

Behind the people and near the river but not directly connected to it is raging white water headed for the town. One house is already in the middle of it. The water didn’t come from the river, unless the people managed to dam it quickly somehow. So probably it was an act of God. There’s a second smaller river off in the left distance, but it’s lower.

The sky is clouded. The clouds themselves are gray on the left of the tower and white on the right.

Now for my thoughts.

The painting is extraordinarily detailed in certain areas, mostly the tower. The artist clearly wanted the tower to be the main focus, even after it’s both in the center of the work and the largest feature around. The plain slabs on the mountain, the worn edges of the crumbling building. Even the somewhat-faceless people- you know exactly what everything is. No further detail required. So I suppose the artist executed his vision. Sometimes details are unnecessary. People tend to over-explain themselves in an effort to be understood more clearly, but the truth is that sometimes that just creates more confusion and complicates things. “Thank you” or “I appreciate you” carries a lot more weight with those two or three words than “I like the way that you listen to my griefs and complaints while I’m in a bad mood.” The last sentence might be more descriptive, but “thank you” and “I appreciate you” would be much better. People need to hear that sometimes, because people aren’t islands. We need others to help us, to a greater or lesser degree, every step of the way.

I think of the people in the artwork and in the story and how they helped each other. They came together as a community and built something greater than themselves. Yes, they were scattered afterwards and yes the thing they built was destroyed. But the destruction wasn’t the point. The creation of something with others was the point. And creation is absolutely necessary for human survival, just like food and water and air. Because life without some kind of art is not a life worth living. Think of what children do- they play, they make up stories, they paint and draw. It’s a human need to create, to connect, to build. We tend to forget that when we get older, but children have the right idea most of the time. The world should be a kind and beautiful place, where everyone gets a fair shot. So we shouldn’t say ‘well, life isn’t fair,’ we should make life fair. And we should create, too.

Creation is so much harder than destruction, yet destruction can only exist when creation has happened. Yes, the parable and artwork puts emphasis on the destruction, but things don’t begin just to end. People aren’t born just to die. It’s the journey that matters. And people create to document that journey, to call out and ask “I feel like this. Does anyone else?” Because the nature of humanity is that you forget that other people are just like you. That they experience joy and sorrow and loss and grief and heartbreak. That they sometimes feel like they’re the only ones in history who has ever felt the way they feel, that no one else would understand. But people will understand. If you could express to another human being- in words, in actions, in art, in something- how you feel, you’ll likely get the answer you both want and dread. “I feel that way, too.” And maybe you might never meet the person who connects so deeply with your emotion, but your creation might just save them. Remind them that life is worth living, for the journey.

So here’s my challenge for you- make one thing today. It can be a painting on a canvas that can fit into your palm. It can be a wire sculpture out of scraps. Hell, it could be an air-dry clay ball. Just make it. You don’t even have to show anyone if you don’t want to, even though I wish you would. Making something is as close to any human will come to being divine- because creating something from nothing is what happened, no matter what you believe in or don’t. There had to be nothing before the something. So make that something.

If you liked this episode of Long Live Bat Art, please consider telling a friend and reviewing to help the podcast grow. A link to the transcript of this episode is available in the show notes below. And you can follow me on Twitter at Long Live Bat Art and tumblr at tumblr dot com forward slash Long Live Bat Art. That’s Long Live B-A-T Art. Thank you for listening to this episode, and I will see you in two weeks.

#episode transcripts

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forevercloudnine · 4 years ago

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pre-new 52 scarebat ship meme

(I actually have no idea what to call this period of comics. The dc wiki calls this the “New Earth” universe... it’s like, everything after Jason Todd was retconned out of being a circus acrobat up to Flashpoint. Anyway like a month ago I asked @heroes-etc to send me questions for this version of scarebat from this ship meme but then forgot that I did it because I got distracted by other ships. Sorry Jonathan...)

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Bruce does DO physical affection — I mean, how many comic panels do we even have of him making out with Catwoman on rooftops — but he’s not especially forthcoming with it. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that his love interests are more likely to instigate contact than he is, especially when that love interest is a villain like Selina or Talia (can you even IMAGINE him trying to take them off guard in a fight by grabbing their face for a kiss? Because I cannot).

He does occasionally instigate affection with his children/proteges, though usually it’s in instances where they obviously need comfort. Bruce isn’t always great at handling complicated emotional situations, but grief and trauma is something he understands very intimately, and he never hesitates to physically reassure people who are in that kind of pain.

In situations where someone isn’t in the active process of being traumatized, he’s less forward with physical affection. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll reject it if it’s instigated — depending on who you are, of course. I’m guessing he wouldn’t put up with hugs from random members of the Justice League. Superman is his best friend and he would probably try to wiggle out of 90% of Kal hugs if doing so was physically possible. Most of his loved ones don’t really spring physical affection on him unless they need it or it’s an especially emotional moment, however. It’s not really Bruce’s primary love language.

Jonathan seems even less physically affectionate than Bruce, though obviously doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to demonstrate how he feels either way. Master of Fear offers the only example of him expressing explicitly romantic affection that I know of (unless you count his terrorizing Becky Albright in New Year’s Evil as physical affection, which... might be how he’s thinking of it...?), and it’s entirely instigated by Sherry Squire. He does ask her to the Halloween party, but she’s the one who takes him down to the furnace room for some “one-on-one” time and tells him to kiss her.

He also notably does not actually get a chance to kiss her, mainly because the whole thing was a prank meant to humiliate him. This might be why he doesn’t try to instigate anything similar with his next crush, Dr. Linda Friitawa (again, unless you count Becky Albright, but I can’t find New Year’s Evil to read anywhere so my only knowledge of his interaction with her comes from Tumblr. I’m like 80% sure he was supposed to be interested in her romantically, but asking someone to do supervillainy with you isn’t the most direct way to express attraction, so I’m taking that as more obliqueness from Jonathan).

He never expresses any direct romantic interest in Linda, but at the very least he clearly cares about her more than he cares for most people, since he, like. Defends her in conversation and apologizes to her for things that aren’t even his fault. Which means a lot, coming from a sociopath with no regard for human life. They do hold hands at one point, but Linda reaches out to him first, and he waits to see if she’s going to back away from his reciprocated touch before he reaches for her other hand.

He never instigates anything further with her, possibly out of fear of rejection. Unfortunately, it turns out that this was a good call, because Linda was only pretending to be nice to him while Penguin was paying her to experiment on Jonathan without his knowledge. When Batman figures out what they’re doing, she immediately fucks off and starts dating Black Mask.

Even more unfortunately, his 45 seconds of hand holding with Backstabby McMad Scientist is probably the only mutual physical affection Jonathan has ever experienced in his entire life, so honestly I have no idea if he would be more into it as a concept if it was offered to him more often. He’s clearly willing to return physical contact when it’s initiated by someone else, so maybe it is something he would seek out in an actual relationship? He DOES get handsy with Bruce when he has Batman tied up sometimes.

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Trip out on fear toxin, both of them, hands down. There are few things more embarrassing than, as Jonathan aptly describes it, being “reduced to whimpering quivers” in front of your enemy. Especially an enemy who’s presumably jotting down notes on your worst fears, since Batman/Scarecrow fights tend to just be competitions in who’s more frightening.

11. What do they hide from one another?

I mean, obligatory mention of the fact that Bruce hides things from absolutely everyone (with the possible exception of Alfred, because Bruce trusts him as completely as he is capable of trusting anyone, and also because it’s really hard to hide things from a parent whose involved in every aspect of your life and already knew you before you developed your pathological need to obfuscate your feelings and intentions).

As Wonder Woman pretty aptly describes during the Tower of Babel arc, even Bruce’s closest allies are never going to hear the full story from him. So it’s deeply unlikely he’d ever be 100% truthful with a supervillain, even if they got close AND Jonathan reformed.

But it’s notable that Jonathan’s fear toxin has actually given him a more honest look into Bruce’s psyche than he would ever purposefully give to people who aren’t close family members. And by “close family members” I again pretty much just mean Alfred. Unfortunately for Bruce, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs. Fortunately for Jonathan, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs! Not that I’m recommending that anyone drug a romantic partner into being honest with them. But Jonathan is a trained psychiatrist, so I assume his psychological know-how combined with insights gleaned from the dozens of “sessions” he’s had with Batman in the past would leave him more prepared than most to decipher the mystery that is Bruce Wayne. (@heroes-etc: riddler is SEETHING.)

Jonathan meanwhile is more than capable of putting together a clandestine scheme, but in respect to himself he’s actually pretty straightforward. Though his driving motivation in this continuity gets more and more complicated over time, from the early 90’s “I just like fear” to the early 2000’s “my Granny tortured me with birds when I was a child and now I’m obsessed with inspiring the same fear and submission she forced on me onto others,” what doesn’t change is his willingness to monologue about it to anyone who’s listening.

Also, anything that Jonathan is unable or unwilling to go into detail on, Bruce is more than capable of puzzling out himself. In Scarecrow: Year One he successfully tracks down Jonathan’s old home to recover and read through Granny Keeney’s diary, and after Scarecrow’s Master of Fear origin was published, it’s clear that Bruce has done his research on Jonathan’s childhood. There’s even a (presumably unintentionally) hilarious scene where Bruce pauses mid-rescue of a man that Jonathan has kidnapped and traumatized with fear toxin to lecture him on having bullied Jon in high school.

Is this really the time, Bruce???

(@heroes-etc: oh 100% he nailed that timing.)

13. When do they realise they should get together?

Well, circling back to Tower of Babel, it’s revealed when Ra’s al Ghul has Talia steal Bruce’s contingency plans for defeating the Justice League that Bruce has “borrowed” Scarecrow’s fear toxin in case he has to take down Aquaman.

This was back when Scarecrow had a number of different toxins that induced different phobias, or made people hallucinate hyper-specific nightmare scenarios (such as “being eaten alive by roaches from the inside,” for some terrible reason). Batman notes in his contingency files that Scarecrow has already done the work for him; presumably Jonathan had already designed a formula to induce hydrophobia, so all Bruce had to do was steal a vial of it from a crime scene.

(The sentence “Why not make him incapacitate himself... perhaps through fear?” alone is like 90% of why I think these men would get along like burlap on fire if they ever actually cooperated on something. Also, unrelated, but the polaroid of Jonathan he has in the Aquaman file is weirdly adorable.)

Bruce’s plan for Arthur is incredibly effective, and notably also Bruce’s only contingency that isn’t either inherently lethal or a ruthlessly sociopathic betrayal of emotional vulnerabilities that had been revealed to him in trust and friendship (RIP Kyle Rayner).

(Notably, Bruce’s plans for Kyle and several other leaguers directly involve using their worst fears against them, even without a fear toxin conveniently tailored for this purpose. Bruce just really likes using fear as a weapon against people.)

After Tower of Babel, Bruce obviously needed to create new contingencies, since the whole point is that they were secret plans that no one could see coming. In canon, Bruce goes on to create the A.I. satellite Brother Eye for this purpose (which backfires even worse than his first set of contingency plans, because of course it does). But I think an interesting alternative could have been Bruce tapping Jonathan for more toxin strands tailored to taking down the Justice League. If Bruce Wayne offered to pay Scarecrow’s way out of Arkham in order to develop formulas that could neutralize the world’s most powerful superheroes, is there any way that Jonathan would turn him down? I mean, obviously he would plan on betraying Wayne at some point, and Bruce would similarly be working against Jonathan’s best interests. But maybe if they set aside their “who’s scarier” dick measuring contest to work together for once, they could come to recognize their shared passion: scaring the shit of people.

Also, the Jonathan in this continuity really likes books. And you know what’s a reliably sustainable source of books that can’t be confiscated by the authorities? Dating Bruce Wayne. The manor alone probably has an insane amount of rare books that have been hoarded by his family over the years. It’s like a weird reversal of the Beauty and the Beast, where the rude rich guy who gives a library to the love interest he may or may not have technically kidnapped is the pretty one.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

If they were dating, I’m guessing Jonathan wouldn’t want to go anywhere in public with Bruce at all. Bruce Wayne is a celebrity bachelor, and celebrity bachelors get a lot of attention, and people who take celebrity bachelors off the market get a lot of NEGATIVE attention. The public reaction to Bruce settling into a committed relationship with anyone would be the kind of weirdly resentful gossipy judgement that the girlfriends of famous princes or actors or musicians always get from tabloids and entertainment television, but in Jonathan’s case it would be a million times worse. Not just because he’s a supervillain, because if there’s any town that would expect its most eligible bachelor to eventually date a supervillain, it’s Gotham. But more specifically because “ugly social outcast” is one of Scarecrow’s most enduring character traits. Not exactly the traditional trophy wife. And though Jonathan’s Scarecrow identity seems to distance him from a lot of the shame he suffered growing up, I’m guessing that the kind of spiteful vitriol that would follow him anywhere he accompanied Bruce would at the least bring back some very unwanted memories.

Bruce probably doesn’t have the same discomfort Jonathan would with being seen together in public. He doesn’t care if people think Bruce Wayne is insane or lacking in judgement as long as they don’t think he’s Batman, and I’m sure he’d find a way to spin “dating a man who prefers to dress exclusively in burlap” into something appropriately characteristic of playboy idiocy. But while he'd definitely respect Jonathan's wishes to stay out of the public sphere, he would probably enjoy any opportunity to bring Scarecrow into Gotham high society, since his presence would definitely shake up a party, and Bruce is generally extremely bored at any social event where he doesn’t have anyone to snark with. And with Jonathan’s scathing wit as entertainment, Bruce might one day fulfill Alfred’s wish and actually make it through an intermission sometime.

I’d say that Bruce would be nervous about taking Jonathan out for “field research,” but I’m sure it would be one of Scarecrow’s requirements for any long term collaboration, so it’s something that he would have to get used to pretty quickly. He would probably endeavor to keep Jonathan away from anything that could retrigger his less healthy behaviors. On the other hand, it’s not like Bruce does that for himself, so it stands to reason that he probably wouldn’t be able to successfully control Jonathan in that regard either.

It doesn’t help that one of Jonathan’s primary motivations in villainy is his childhood, which is... exactly the same thing that Bruce is fixated on. A significant portion of Scarecrow: Year One is the two of them waxing poetic about how similar they are in this regard.

Relating to this, even though it might be a terrible idea, I don’t think Bruce would be able to resist encouraging Jonathan to reconnect with his mom. Bruce would never recommend for someone like Cassandra to seek out a relationship with her father, but if someone he cares about has a LIVING parent who WASN’T abusive to them? It seems unlikely that Bruce wouldn’t advocate for reconciliation. Jonathan’s dad obviously never cared about the teenage girl he knocked up or their bastard child, but Karen Keeney is a different story. DC Holiday Special ‘09 makes it clear that Jonathan was taken away from her against her will, and she’s spent a significant portion of her life wracked by guilt imagining what the woman who abused her was doing to her son.

Ultimately she attempts to commit suicide because she feels personally responsible for every terrible thing her son has ever done, which is tragic because really she’s the only member of the Keeney family completely blameless in the creation of the Scarecrow. In Scarecrow: Year One Jonathan clearly resents her for leaving him and moving on to have another baby that she actually did keep, which I would call a really paranoid case of jumping to conclusions if it didn’t seem extremely likely that Granny Keeney told him his mother didn’t want him and left him to be tortured on purpose.

(Side note, it is REALLY weird how young Karen Keeney is depicted in Scarecrow: Year One. At times her son looks older than she is, and it doesn’t help that her second born child is an infant for some reason. Even if Jonathan is only thirty years old here, then unless she had him at younger than fourteen, she should already be in her mid-forties. Why did she only have a second child so late in life? The implication with her abusive husband is that she ended up getting trapped in a bad relationship for survival when her family kicked her out as a teenager for disgracing the family by having Jonathan. It would make way more sense for her child with him to be at least in elementary school. Also the scene would have been way more interesting if Scarecrow’s sister was old enough to talk.)

Thankfully Deadman manages to convince Karen to hold on to life long enough for someone to call 911, and she ends up surviving the suicide attempt. But were Jonathan ever to reform, it seems like reconciliation would be really healthy for both of them, since miraculously Karen still seems to care about Jonathan despite everything he’s put her through, and they’re both clearly still suffering from the after effects of Mary Keeney’s abuse.

Bruce would be enthusiastic about this prospect for obvious reasons, although he would presumably still be nervous about the possibility of everything going terribly wrong. And even if everything went perfectly right, he would STILL be nervous, because everytime Jonathan goes to see his mother there’s a chance that she will mention the time that she kissed Batman full on the mouth. And that is not information you would ever want your psychologist boyfriend to know, unless you want to be mocked with Freudian buzzwords for the rest of your natural life.

(...This would also count as a thing that Bruce hides from Jonathan.)

#scarebat #jonathan crane #scarecrow #bruce wayne #batman #i just they're neat #it's all about those shared interests #and by shared interests i mean subjugating your enemies through fear #ship meme

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scribblehooves · 6 years ago

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Majora's Mask theories:

(I recommend you guys read Stone tower Temple/ Tower of Babel theory if you're interested in MM theories, I think it's the most accurate and interesting one.)

Happy Mask Salesman was supposed to be the Sage of Light, but since Termina was imperfect that never really happened.

He took the mask, because he was the last of the Ancient Tribe, and decided to hightail it to Hyrule to hide out in a more peaceful, benevolent place. He knew, somehow, about the strange barrier between worlds.

But he sensed the time shenanigans with Ocarina of Time and went back to Termina to maybe avoid meddling in something he wasn't prepared for. But when he did, he was jumped by Skullkid and, I think, was killed.

Since he died, he ascended to his Sage form where he could help Link in his normal form and in his Owl form.

There were supposed to be more sages:

- Obviously Lulu, as her mother already had a designated temple, was a sage of water

- Darmani could've been a sage of fire, contrasting to the snowy state of how he died

- Skullkid could've been a sage of forest, as he's a dark counterpart to the Kokiri and seems to have unusual abilities regarding music, like Saria

Ikana was supposed to be the Hyrule of Termina, until they betrayed the Goddesses by deciding to worship the Giants instead. They fell long ago, nothing but a silent grave filled with war weary ghosts.

As the Goddesses left Termina to ruin long ago, it seems the people of Termina have grown to rely more on science than magic. They are noticably more advanced than Hyrule in the child timeline, already inventing cameras, gunpowder, hydraulic power/engines, and even a work-in-progress rocket that you can see the blueprints in the bomb shop.

Majora was a demon created and sent by the Goddesses to destroy Termina. Her only purpose is to destroy.

Fierce Deity was never a character before Link. The mask is made of memories, both good and bad, of all the people Link has helped, and pushes Link to his most strongest self.

I think the reason the Deity is so unusual looking and alien to us is because we know so little of Termina and it's people in actuality. Their lives, cultures, hopes, thoughts, dreams, are familiar but very different to what we've seen before, so they look outlandish to us and maybe even Link, because maybe this is what the Terminians version of a hero they were supposed to have looks like to them.

#long post #majoras mask #mm #loz: mm #theories #majoras mask theories #scribz

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metalsaga · 6 years ago

Note

talk about nile!!

Oh man. Nile

Nile has such a large impact on my life it’s crazy. I sometimes style my hair with side braids because of him haha. But yeah, Nile was always one of my favorite characters due to his character design and steadfast personality. I’ve talked lots about him in previous posts so check them out on my page (I don’t want to repeat everything and ramble on haha).

(I’m pretty sure this is the last frame we see of him in Metal Fury)

After defeating Diablo Nemesis, the world became bright again, and Nile and Demure are seen shaking hands. These two are so formal, and they’re ecstatic that the world didn’t turn to darkness.

This handshake isn’t just because Nemesis was destroyed, rather, this is a thank you. From one mature blader to another, for everything that they went through. From starting Wild Fang to now. (I’m getting emotional now haha).

(If he is in Shogun Steel please let me know because I haven’t seen all of it)

I wish he got more screen time, but I understand since there were a lot of characters the episode needed to show. However, if I had to guess where he was now, I would say that he decided to train somewhere in the Middle East (my guess would be Morocco). He is probably getting ready to compete in a challenge similar to the Tower of Babel in Metal Fury. I can already imagine him wooing over the crowd like he did in the qualifying match for Wild Fang in Metal Masters.

He always finds time to write his friends from Wild Fang, and plans to go back to Japan to see everyone after he trains during the summer in Morocco. He is an independent person, but he wouldn’t completely fall off the face of the earth. He loves being around his friends.

(I think his closest friends would be Kyoya, DaShan, Toby, and Tsubasa)

I love him. Seriously.

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years ago

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New season...incoming!

Iruma-kun 13

How did Iruma even notice that collar? Geesh, that kid is perceptive…

This “spitting blood” joke is getting old already…

*Kiriwo starts his machine* - Why do I get the feeling something bad’s about to happen��?

Could you possibly call this “rank is the most important thing” a study of class consciousness, to throw some of Anime Feminist’s words? Or maybe this is a fantasy version of technology and it’s extolling the virtues of technology advancement?! *eyes sparkle*

Can Iruma join Kiriwo already? Please?!

Aw, dear darling! (<- I’m not sure if I’ve said that a lot in these notes, but I say that when I get the warm fuzzies and wanna protect a character…basically, platonic love, I guess…? Oh, “moe instinct” - that’s the words I’m looking for.) Iruma, go and live your best life, okay?

Thank you, story! Even though I knew it was being foreshadowed so heavily by being the focus of basically 24 minutes of this show’s runtime (= about 1 ep), I thank you from the bottom of my heart that Iruma went to the right Battler.

Wait, so Ameri is actually Iruma’s senpai by one year?! Hmm? I never realised that and I read some spoilers!

I like this new chibi animation style! Yay!

I never noticed this until now, but Kiriwo has one big horn and one little one.

I think the title, aside from the pronunciation of “Thirteen Dinner”, is meant to mean “The Thirteen Counts’ Gathering” (or some other high rank) or something of the sort. Update: So I checked and the character used, kanmuri/kan, is used to mean “crown” or someone who wears a crown, i.e. a peerless person, so it would be appropriate to translate that using the term for a high rank which is presumably going to be stated in the segment itself.

Turns out Babel…is just makaitou (the demon world tower). I don’t think it’s really Babylonian in any strict sense.

Depending on where you live, the 665th floor could count as the 666th or…well, the 665th. I know in Japanese, the word for the floor on the ground is ikkai (first floor)…I’m not going to tell you what I know it as though…that would reveal my location outside cyberspace, no?

According to the katakana, the guy’s name is Beruzebyuto (hence the translation as “Beelzebuth”). Beelzebub is the Lord of the Flies and a quick google tells me Beelzebul (close enough) was apparently an alternate spelling for him (or something like that…?). Patron demon of gluttony.

Astaroth, also a demon (king of rot, I think it was from Blue Exorcist)…interestingly, Beelzebub, Lucifer and Astaroth make up an unholy trio and all of them were referred to by a dude called...Solomon (which does kinda sound like “Sullivan”, if you think about it). There’s the connection between these guys…I like his top, too.

Asmodeus, patron demon of lust. We already knew that demon was represented through Azz-Azz, but now you see a spoiler I’ve been hiding for a while – Azz’s mother.

Amaimon…uh, I don’t remember what kind of demon he is in the demonic canon but I know him from Blue Exorcist.

Behemoth…?

Ooh, Ameri’s father is smokin’ hot! (Dangit, I do not want DILFs…) Azazel, a fallen angel and apparently personification of uncleanliness(…?)

Belial and (Lady) Leviathan, which we already knew existed from initial namedrops.

Who’s Baal? Even I have no idea…Update: Apparently he’s a Middle Eastern equivalent to Zeus, which explains his thunder allegiance.

Paimon kinda looks like Chaika, LOL.

LOL, “lifehack” is certainly the right word for it, Sullivan.

LOL, Belial is so short!

Although it’s kind of awkward to not see Lady Levi take a position of power for herself, it’s nice to see she has spirit!

Aw, this is cute. In much the same way I wanted Iruma to join the magical apparatus Battler, I want Sullivan to be Demon King.

Is Opera perhaps related to Ameri somehow…?

Somali 1

I was hoping to get to Plunderer, but got carried away writing another post and then lost the ability to watch both episode 1 and 2 ahead of schedule. So Somali is the new start of the season, but the last relic of the fact Plunderer was meant to start my season (outside ID: Invaded’s advance premiere) is the visual I have for this season. (Oh yeah, one of the reasons I’m supporting this – aside from it being a mid-ranker on my hype list – is that I heard a French animator, a friend of Thomas Romain, is getting his big start here.)

“Dad.” – Oh, f***. I have myself an Usagi Drop. I knew I was going to get something of the sort going into this show, but…Usagi Drop’s experiences (or rather, watching the anime knowing the manga has that ending) have left their mark. Not to mention Somali (as this girl will come to be known) has Latina eyes, which annoys me even more since I dropped that on the basis of being scarred by Usagi Drop.

I’m wondering what Crunchyroll was thinking when they decided to coproduce this – sure, it’s probably quite cute and wholesome, but I’m far from the target audience. Did they think, “Is this what Western audiences will like?” Sure, it would hit a niche that likes this surrogate father/daughter stuff, but I don’t think it’s for me (and I’ve been thinking that all through the OP). I’ll give it a bit more to wow me, but it’s doing pretty terrible so far (because note all other anime of this particular reputation I’m more on the “neutral” side than the “like” one). Somali’s voice is probably the biggest factor – it sounds like an adult woman’s voice got pitch-shifted to attempt to be a child, rather than an actual child.

How can this golem talk about sight when he doesn’t even have eyes??? (Kinda like Juzo from NGL.)

Alright, that’s it. I can see when you’re trying to bait me with supposedly “cute” children, show. You’re gone.

Okay, since I have time and the reviews say otherwise, I’m trying again. I don’t expect to be sold to this though…

Was it just me or was there a reduced frame rate when Somali’s cape was the only thing in the frame…?

For some reason the subbers put “Why?” when the word was actually “What?”, which is a bit silly to be honest with you. (Nande?/Doushite? vs. Nani?...it’s kind of similar-sounding, but the sound is distinctly different.)

Still dropping this show. I just have another episode to add to my list now.

Magia Record 1

I heard there’s no Urobutcher this time around, but the first time I encountered the Urobutcher (in ConRevo) he made a particularly weird-feeling (in the context of the show) episode, so…uh…let’s say the Urobutcher is only as good as the material he writes, and leave it at that. Anyways, this topped my list – even before ID: Invaded came to hunt down that top position – so this better be good.

Um, am I just imagining it, or is that Sayaka and Hitomi discussing magical girls (or Madoka?) over the top of Iroha (I know that’s her name already from the synopses floating around the ‘net) and her fellow magical girls fighting?

Letterboxing? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see in Madoka Magica, ever.

One of the books was on organic recipes.

The teacher talks a tad too fast – I can understand what she’s saying, but it’s like she operates on x1.5 speed compared to the x1 speed of everything else…

“Nakama – because we can do it” – I wonder if that will mean something later…? In Madoka Magica, strange details always mean something.

“The only good witch is a dead one!” “Speech is silver, silence is golden.”– The tiny English isn’t particularly subtle, is it?

Uwasa = rumour.

Takarazaki, huh? I’ll make a note of that.

Who’s Ui?

According to the credits, I assume the blue spear girl is Nanami Yachiyo.

This is a respectable re-entry into a universe which I left not too long ago (in 2017). I’m definitely going to be able to stick with it for a season or however long it lasts.

BnHA 75

All this talk about a database…reminds me of the Quirk I designed for the wiki (also called “Database”). I conceived it in 2015, but I don’t remember who was meant to use it before I retrofitted it to fit the BnHA universe. Update: Welp, I found the document. The superpower Database (which was retrofitted to be a Quirk) is for one Itsuki Hatano.

“One blow to the top of the head!”

Iruma-kun 14

(Note: Some notes may be missing because I was busy multitasking while watching this episode.)

Go, Iruma! Live your best life!

Note “speak of the devil” isn’t how it’s said in Japanese. It sounds something like “whisper a rumour and it will come back to you” based on what I heard Kiriwo say (since I heard the word uwasa in there). Update: Apparently the phrase is uwasa wo sureba… (if you spead a rumour…) and then you cut the saying off to finish the rest of the sentence, just like you would in English.

You can’t even see a substantial part of Iruma’s hair when that demon on the phone (<-I know who it is, because I read spoilers, but I’ll keep quiet on that front!) yells for the first time.

Makura (demon pillow) has that demon pun going on.

Ooh, Kiriwo-senpai is actully kinda sexy with his hair up like that…not that I know the first thing about sex appeal…

So is the ED about the Battler Party, in a sense?

Eizouken 1

I picked this show up because of the rave reviews it was getting.

Very Future Boy Conan, that.

…what? That OP was trippy. Then again, I didn’t mind ConRevo and that was trippy…this negative feeling is probably because I don’t know much about Masaki Yuasa’s quirks, I guess.

Why do people not translate “Eizouken”???? It means “video research club”.

The back is a good spot to sit in a theatre for anime. Why do I know this? I sit in the back of my anime club all the time, that’s why!

“Are those MiBs?” – I laughed pretty hard at that one sentence.

Why does this strawberry milk seem to be a parallel to the milk Asakusa promised Kanamori? (P.S. Asakusa is in Tokyo, IIRC.) Update: Mizusaki means “on top of water” if I understood the kanji right and Kanamori, with the right combo of characters, can mean “forest of gold”...which makes a lot of sense, considering how gold is equated with wealth and currency. Also, here’s proof Asakusa is in Tokyo...not to mention it’s the place from Sarazanmai! Meanwhile, I was thinking there was some sort of anime-related significance to the name, but I was thinking of Asagaya. Update 2: Mizusaki actually means “water peninsula”. Sorry, wrong saki.

I know there’s a chase scene at the end of this ep, thanks to reading reviews. I want to be wowed by it, which is why I’m (metaphorically) holding my breath.

I like how Asakusa and Mizusaki are bouncing around ideas. That really brings the process to life.

Long skirts and wind but no sexualisation. That’s a good sign!

Whoa, that scene with the comets was AWESOME! I want more!

Idolish7 s2 1

Back with some good boys one season too early…let’s have some fun while these simulcasters can get this stuff fast!

Oh no! (<- self-censored) Nagi’s stupid accent is back! *yells incoherently for a second*

I like the little sound effects that happened whe Nagi’s finger moved around (to suggest “magic”).

I think the joke was something to do with the word gera (?). I don’t quite get it myself.

Misuta- Shimooka, LOL. I love how this s2 isn’t doing any hand-holding, though! I half-expect a flashback to appear and it never does.

Yamato, how are you so-*crying and Yatta! can be heard in the background*Okay, nevvvvvvvvvver mind…

I remember mistakenly saying that Nishiyama was part of Idolish7 (since I looked through some of my old notes lately). Nishiyama is part of ZOOL, so now…I’m not wrong anymore…(That’s not quite relevant to the random announcement of Re:Vale showing up, but it’s on my mind now.)

Hmm…Yamato’s thoughts on Re:Vale…I’ll keep an eye on him.

I think people like Tamaki because he treats them like he would his little sister…a true gentleman. Or maybe that’s all in my head? I haven’t been in the fandom properly, y’know.

This switch to occasional chibi antics…I’m not sure I like it…

Ohmyglob! Another boy to add to my growing list of husbandos! *points at Yuki* I knew he existed, but I haven’t had a proper chance to have a reaction to him ever since I started really “having a thing” for long-haired guys.

Re:Vale are like a comic act (manzai).

Momo has pink nail polish…I just noticed. Update: It’s probably more red than pink.

“Chan-momo” appears to be a variety of modern slang similar to Pig Latin. Apparently Gen from Dr Stone uses it as well.

Yuki has these cute little diamond earrings and Momo has studs. I’ve also never noticed this until now. (I, myself, can’t wear anything past clip-ons because I have a genetic quirk that makes it annoying to get my ears pierced, called beta thalassemia, so I can only fangirl about other people’s earrings.)

What’s the FSC again…?

Kyu-to aidoru!

I think Momo and Yuki are going to reach out to Mitsuki and Tamaki (respectively) most this season…just a feeling, based on their dispositions. Tamaki and Yuki have similar faces, on top of that, so thank goodness we can tell them apart by hairstyle.

Yuki wears this steel blue shade of nail polish…ooh, also cute.

*Riku goes stiff-faced* - *audibly facepalms at Riku’s reaction*

Momo has a black and green earring set on one ear…huh.

Ooh, very nice. It’s a keeper.

Update: Apparently, you pronounce their name “Re:ba-re”, which is a bit different to what I was expecting (essentially “Re: veil”).

#simulcast commentary #mairimashita! iruma-kun #Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun #boku no hero academia #My Hero Academia #Idolish7 #Chesarka watches BnHA #Chesarka watches MI-k #Chesarka watches Idolish7 #Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!#Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!#somali and the forest spirit #Somali to Mori no Kamisama #Idolish7 Second Beat!#Magia Record #magia record: puella magi madoka magica side story #Chesarka watches Magia Record #Chesarka watches Eizouken

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robinmarlowe · 5 years ago

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The Manor

Chapter 1 — Arrival

When the carriage pulled up to the estate, the wind was whipping around us in a fury. It smelled salty, from the sea, and sweet with the beginning of autumn's rot. Dry leaves scraped across the cobblestone in swirling dervishes. It was the sort of weather that reminded you how nature could disregard the very existence of humanity. The wide and open fields of the estate gave the wind free reign to roll and build and push the world about.

I liked this sort of weather. It seemed consequential. I lived in a dull world that was carefully built up and maintained, held together by manners and tradition and devoted to comfort and boredom. Weather like this pulled trees out by the roots and reminded each and every person that their life is fragile, and their society even more so.

My father once called me a destructive little brat, and so maybe my affinity for the wind has to do with our shared ability to destroy and annoy.

My aunt, Edith, was chattering along next to me, the wind whipping away every other word as if hoping to spare me somewhat from the cruelty of idle gossip, but now she looked as if she was expecting responses. I leaned forward to listen.

"You know your father is the only one who ever met her mother. An actress from the americas. He told me once that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen -- though I was sworn to secrecy because he was courting your mother at the time. She left two months after poor Elizabeth was born. Absolutely devastating. Jack told Elizabeth that her mother died in childbirth. He thought it would spare her from more complicated emotions. I think it did no such thing. It kept her from the real world. Why, if her mother had been around, I am certain Elizabeth would have married. It's such a tragedy."

"Tragedy seems to be an exaggeration," I said, leaning back into my seat. "She doesn't need to marry. She has money."

"And I would wager that she is unequipped to handle it," Edith said. "I suppose you will be learning that this winter."

The carriage turned down the winding road and the manor rose from the ground and into view.

It was grey, threaded together with brilliant green as vines crept up the walls, their sturdy brick holding even as roots pressed into them. We slowed as the road ended, stopping in front of the large entrance way.

I stepped out of the carriage, thanking the driver, my legs stiff from the journey and pleased to be put back to work. I hadn't seen the manor in years. When we were young my sisters were convinced it was haunted. We would run through the halls, hiding in closets and under couches, and I would search every nook and cranny for the hint of a ghost with whom I could become acquainted.

It didn't look any less haunted now, and Ms. Lancaster must not be particularly worried about the impression that it might be. The lawn was overgrown with yellow-green weeds that blew in the wind, and vines creeped up the stone walls.

Edith tutted her disapproval. "See? She doesn't even have the means to clean up her yard. Her father would be ashamed."

I had always loved the manor. I used to think it was a castle, with its round tower and high ceilings, pinnacles stretching into the sky. It was old, but felt even older than it was. It was large, but the more time you spent in it, the more it grew. Its floorboards creaked and shifted with the weather, bones elderly but far from brittle.

It felt abandoned, even as we inhabited it. It felt as if it was waiting for a long lost lord to return. It felt as if maybe the lord had returned, and the house had entombed him there, in its walls.

Now I know that this is part of the appeal. When Jack Lancaster purchased this estate fifty years ago, he must have felt such satisfaction -- this castle, this palace, was finally his. He no longer had to exist as a common man. He was like a king, even if he never had the power that a king wields.

I could imagine how intoxicating that would feel.

The driver carried my luggage towards the entrance. I hurried after him. I had meant to do it myself. We were no longer in civilized society. I was allowed to be seen lifting something heavier than a tea cup.

I burst through the doors and into the hallway.

The furniture and decor was contemporary. The bench in the foyer was a deep turquoise, and the rug Persian, with elaborate designs woven in jewel tones.

The house smelled like leaves and flowers. It wasn't musty, exactly. Instead, it smelled as if it had just been cleared of must a few minutes ago, but, like a child who has just bathed, was itching to undo the cleanliness.

Everything about the manor reached upwards, the ceilings, the double staircase, the white marble statues that adorned the hall.

"Emma! I'm delighted to see you!"

Ms. Elizabeth Lancaster descended the staircase, looking less delighted than anyone I had ever seen.

"And Edith, of course," Elizabeth said. "You look younger than the last time I saw you. Is that possible?"

Edit, in spite of herself, smiled at the compliment.

I gathered my skirts in my hands and curtsied.

"Ms. Lancaster. Thank you for your hospitality."

"No need for formalities. We're to be friends this winter, are we not?"

I looked up at her.

She was a woman who held her own beauty at arms length, the way one would hold a particularly aggressive animal. She was just north of fashionable. Her black dress didn't quite match her deep brown, wide-rimmed hat. Her spectacles had brilliant gold frames, but were smudged with fingerprints. Each of her hairs seemed to be striving for independence.

She had high cheekbones and brown eyes so dark it looked almost as if she had no irises at all. She looked older than she was, crows feet gracing the creases of her eyes, but the age didn't diminish her. Instead, it gave her the option of severity. Should she choose to give you a withering look, you may indeed wither.

Now, though, she was friendly, if apprehensive.

"We are to be friends... Beth..."

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, delighted. "I haven't been called Beth since I was a child."

"Apologies--"

"No!" Elizabeth said. "I said we are to be friends, and you confirmed it. Beth will be fine."

I disliked her analytical gaze. She dissected me, piece by piece, in a way I recognized. So many people in my life seemed certain they could perform a kind of psychic surgery on me. If they could just take me apart, then they could put me back together, new and improved.

Elizabeth wouldn't be any more successful than her predecessors, no matter what my parents might have thought. They sent me here to force me to confront the realities of my life without a husband. They refuse to understand that anything short of hell would be preferable.

"Shall I give you a tour?" Elizabeth asked.

"That would be lovely," Edith said, no doubt eager to search for more gossip in the nooks and crannies of this house.

"Let me see -- JOSEPH!"

Her yell made Edith and I both jump. An older man of about sixty walked calmly and swiftly down the stairs.

"Would you mind grabbing their coats?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course, ma'am," Joseph said, giving her a shallow bow.

He was handsome for his age.He had a strong jawline and thick black hair. He was nearly as short as I was, and I was not tall.

He took the thick wool coat from my shoulders, and then assisted my aunt with hers.

Houses, I had noticed, are engineered not only as shelter but as a respite from the very concept of the natural world. The more removed from the mud and dirt of nature, the more successful the house.While the natural world has its dangers, I find that as humans we have veered away from logic in our understanding of it. Hygienic has become a moral concept instead of a medical one. Hogs, for instance, use mud to clean themselves, and we are as prone to disease, passing sickness back and forth with farm animals as if we are no more civilized than they.

The manor was,technically, a wonderful example of human achievement. The gothic nature of the architecture suggested that not only have men distinguished themselves from other animals, but that they did this with the understanding that it was,ultimately, futile. The towers reached into the heavens, knowing they would never get there, a tower of Babel that God felt no need to topple.

I don't know why I felt at home here. I always had.

"I don't keep a large staff, since it is only me," Elizabeth said as they walked past the entryway into the hall. "Just Joseph, my cook, Elena, and two maids. If there is reason for me to host anyone, I call in hands from the local tavern."

"Surely there are better servants to be had," Edith said

Elizabeth continued as if she heard nothing. "I hope that will be acceptable for you, Emma."

She said my name with caution, as if forcing herself into familiarity.

"It will be fine, thank you, Ms. Lancaster."

At home we had one servant, Dana, who was underpaid and overworked. The women of our family took turns cooking, and though it was not a task I enjoyed, I was capable enough. I had never had a lady in waiting, and I can't imagine why I'd want one.

We entered the parlor room, and I let out an involuntary gasp.

The room itself was beautiful. Emerald green furniture was placed around a coffee table with gilded edges. The bookshelves that lined the walls strained upwards towards the high ceilings.Spines of deep reds and navy blues advertised the books' contents in gold and silver print. A ladder was required to reach the highest books, and even that was carved out of a red cedar.

However, what drew my attention was the painting over the fireplace.

It must have been ten feet tall, at minimum. It portrayed a woman in velvet clothing, towering over a small village. Her facial expression was obscured by the clouds. The villagers at her feet looked up at her, some with awe, and others with anger.

"What an... interesting piece of art," Edith said.

I could feel Elizabeth's eyes on me as I examined the painting. The woman's posture was over-corrected, her shoulders back and her chin high. But there was something about her that seemed delicate, as if she was holding herself together through will alone.

One of the men was running back to his hut. Another had already retrieved a pitchfork.

Elizabeth once again ignored Edith. "Do you like it?" She asked me.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know that "like" was the correct word to use. My response to it was visceral. I felt uncomfortably drawn to it. But it was as close as language would allow.

"Yes," I said, breathless.

"Hmmmm."

Elizabeth turned to Edith.

"If you'd like, I could get Joseph to make some tea. The journey was long, and I'm sure you'd like to rest. I can show Miss Cooper around."

"Oh, yes, that would be lovely," Edith said. "I didn't want to complain but it is a large house and I really don't think I need a tour at the moment."

"JOSEPH!"

The yell was no less surprising than before. Joseph appeared in the room suddenly, as if an apparition.

"Do you mind making the lady some tea?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course not. Follow me, madam," Joseph said.

And then I was alone with Elizabeth.

"It's funny," I said, "When I was a child we explored every inch of this lace. We were looking for ghosts."

Elizabeth looked at me, her expression unreadable. Her gaze, like the painting, was unsettling.

"Did you ever find any?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course not," I replied.

Elizabeth nodded, her expression serious. "I would suggest refraining from any such adventure in the future. Shall we see your room?"

And then she was sweeping out of the room.

I hurried after her, curiosity sufficiently piqued.

#writing #original fiction #gothic romance #romance #lgtbqia+#lgtbq writing #fiction

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alejandrorivasv · 5 years ago

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BABYLON GEOGRAPHICALLY

The first Babylon was built in the Chaldean region near the Euphrates and dominated the entire territory between Iran and the Mediterranean Sea, almost everything we know today as “the Middle East”, and it is exactly that same territory where the Babylon will be built end of the apocalypse Its “throne” is to say “its capital” will be on the water, literally, because it will be built as much of Dubai is built today: on the water, it will be specifically near the city of Tire, off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Biblically the geography of Babylon is established by three factors: first because in that area was the Garden of Eden, second because in that area was the first Babylon ruled at that time by Nebuchadnezzar, and third because it is the area surrounding the City of GOD : Jerusalem and Israel.

Global warming will melt the poles by drastically increasing the level of the ocean by literally flooding many cities around the world, which will force buildings to be built using the technology used to build dubai on water. The land will become desertic, without trees and without planting, this added to the excessive ultraviolet rays of the sun and other political factors will force the immigration of millions of people to these new "floating" cities and some others that will remain in the few places still fertile of the earth, so there will be an arid world with several mega cities on the water. The most common type of transportation will be water, so all things will be transported underwaterand so will we humans.

BABYLON SCIENTIFICALLY

Babylon will be the place of influence par excellence, just as the US is synonymous with electronic commerce or China is synonymous with technology, Babylon will be synonymous with five things: commerce, technology, luxury, artificiality and idolatry.

COMMERCE

All nations will want to trade with Babylon. The people of Babylon will have resources to trade, but above all they will have the mentality of consumerism, it will be a place of world sale, and everyone will want to sell and buy there. The city will buy everything from abroad, and they will take everything from submarine ships. Money will be the base of Babylon.

LUXURY

There will be no more luxurious place than this future Babylon. His “purple” garment is precisely a Biblical symbol of this luxury and splendor, since Biblically it is the color of royalty and millionaires. Compare it today with Dubai and its skyscrapers and luxury hotels, it will be a city designed for vanity and everything will splurge pleasure and luxury. Compare it to the tower of Babel, this city will represent pride and vanity and supposed human “superiority.” It will have extremely high towers, (perhaps thinking of avoiding further increases in sea level).

TECHNOLOGY

It will have the latest in technology. It will be the representation of human technology on earth, everything will be technologized. The nations will see it as the center of technology and science, and everything it produces in those areas will be adopted by the rest of the nations. Technology will be revered, literally, because everything there will be artificial.

ARTIFICIALITY

Everything will be artificial and the artificial will be glorified. The natural will not only have been devastated to a great extent by the climatic change and the waste of resources by the human being, but also by law it will be exalted as “superior” everything created by man because the natural will be so scarce that it will be worshiped as divine if you have it.Food, oxygen, clothing, plants, bodies, brains, hearts, genders, genes, DNA, soil, homes, currency, media and locomotion … etc, etc, everything will be artificially re-created by man.

IDOLATRY

The basis of the ideology of the future is anti-GOD, and therefore idolater and sorceress. While it is true that there will be a mixture of beliefs such that each one will have their own god in which to believe, we must also observe three additional factors: the spiritualization that will literally make anything or object “venerable”, the veneration itself of human being and the worship of the beast and the antiChrist emerged from that beast.The basis is to understand that idol is everything that is revered that is not GOD, so idolatry can be a statue of a fictional deity of the cosmos, venerate mother earth, an extraterrestrial amulet, venerate the sun or a system of government new; Idolatry is … revere anything except GOD, our unique and unequaled CREATOR. The new age spiritism will involve every idea, object and technology of Babylon.

POLITICS

It will rule the world. It will influence all cities. It will establish rulers and have political relations with all nations.

BABYLON BIBLICALLY

Babylon will be a physical, tangible, geographically defined CITY, with very tall buildings and built on water. It will be a city formed by an anti-Biblical system that many call “new world order” and that the Bible calls “the beast” and symbolizes it as a grotesque animal with seven heads and ten horns. From this beast will come both the CITY of Babylon and the antiChrist. In short: the ideology of the new world order will be impregnated in Babylon and in the mind of the antiChrist.

It is important to reaffirm something: not necessarily Babylon will be called “Babylon”, but even if it is called “center”, “human”, “earth” or whatever, in the eyes of GOD it will be Babylon, because it will be geographically in the area that GOD established as Babylon, just as Israel will always be geographically Israel in the eyes of GOD even if that region is modified in size, name or activity.

Babylon will be destroyed in the end. Completely, in a masterfully Divine way: it will be destroyed by the same system that created it. Just as GOD puts and away kings, just as GOD has allowed the destruction of Israel and then its reunification and victory, and just as GOD used kingdoms like Egypt or Babylon to temporarily punish Israel and then punished Egypt and Babylon for their evil, likewise, in apocalypse, GOD will make that strategy: he will use a beast to punish his rebellious people (we) and then punish that beast for his evil.

Summing up: the new world order will be completed in about 200 years, from that system will come an anti-Christ and a CITY known Biblically as “Babylon,” which will be admired by the whole world, and then “temporarily ruled” by the anti-Christ and 10 kings, which in the end will be the same 10 kings that GOD will use to destroy Babylon first burned, then flooded, until it is left desolate turned into a jungle, along with those nations that mixed with it.

#GOD #babylon #apocalypse #Bible #biblestudy

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ptw30 · 6 years ago

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DC Comics & VLD

As some of you know, I wrote comics for a bit. I also worked for a brief time at one of the Big Two, and I read comics for almost my entire life, thanks to Batman: The Animated Series.

I heard a few things thrown around about why plotlines in Voltron: Legendary Defender might be dark because of the EPs’ previous work, specifically due to previous the EPs previous work on adaptations of Frank Miller’s stories.

I’m all behind critiquing, but misinformation is another thing entirely.

ALL the EPs’ previous work resolved around directing/designing for comic adaption movies and TV shows, meaning they didn’t write any of the projects. Plus - almost all of the projects were based on or about MAINSTREAM comics.

I understand why people can see how a certain tone might be derived from previous works, but only ONE of the EPs’ works was about Frank Miller’s dystopian world. (If you want to be specific - two, since The Dark Knight Returns was broken into two parts.)

In fact, almost all the work JDS and LM did, were for DC’s usual titles - JLA, Batman/Superman, Crisis on Two Earths. Even the Wonder Woman movie I heard mentioned was co-written by fan favorite Gail Simone. You know - THAT Gail Simone, who took Birds of Prey to critical acclaim. Simone wrote Wonder Woman for years.

LM and JDS didn’t have any writing credits on these projects.They directed them, did storyboards, but did not brainstorm the stories or write them. Plus - almost all these movie adaptations were of previously written storylines from comics. Many were close to the original published content, and so many of these projects were not dark and gritty.

From the TV segment, most of the stories/shows were not seen as traumatic:

Young Justice

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Legion of Super Heroes

Teen Titans

Justice League Unlimited

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Were some plot lines ideas for VLD inspired by DC work? Absolutely. Justice League: Doom (or Tower of Babel as it was published in the comics) was the inspiration for Pidge hacking Shiro’s arm in “The Black Paladins” and for Pidge’s take down of the paladins in the comics. Batman did the same. He made up contingency plans to take down every hero in the DCU. It had ramifications for years.

(Heck, you can even make a correlation between “Epilogue” from JLU and VLD, where Bruce Wayne only sees Terry as being worthy of the Batman mantle because he has the “heart” where Bruce’s other “kids,” adopted or otherwise, weren’t worthy. Keith and Pidge search desperately for their biological family, while the rest of the “found family” of VLD is back on the castle-ship.)

Look - I’m not saying that we don’t need to be critical because it does seem like the lack of writing credits on JDS and LM’s resumes might have led to some plot holes/unresolved issues in VLD as well as offensive issues with representation.

I’m just saying - it’s not accurate to say, “JDS and LM worked on one Frank Miller story, so VLD is dark and gritty.”

After all, both JDS and LM worked on Young Justice, and most of us agree - that was awesome. (And that show handled clones well.)

#voltron #dc comics #fandom #comics #vld #lm jds #eps #voltron critical

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writingsofwinchesters · 6 years ago

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what mountains taught me about identity

This past summer, my sister and I road-tripped to a little town called Dillon in the heart of Summit County, Colorado for vacation. The only thing we planned ahead of time was the Airbnb. The rest of the trip was spontaneous. One day we hiked the Tenderfoot trail, another we visited the local farmer’s market, another we walked up and down the tourist-trap main street of Frisco, and yet another we attended a church service at a outdoor amphitheater. We let each day kind of just happen - and it was my favorite.

The entire trip was one of the most restful and peaceful experiences of my life. One of the best parts was the absolutely stunning, panoramic view of the mountains from the balcony of our condo, second only to the fact I got to spend that time with my sister. I can’t quite describe how incredible it was to be able to sit out there for hours, reading, talking, journaling, watching the sunset, and just being still with my gaze on the mountains in awe.

Fun fact: the first draft of this post was written on that balcony. I wanted to capture some of the peace and awe I felt in one of the most tangible ways I know how - through words.

I have a confession to make. It may be obvious from my social media posts, but just so it’s out there explicitly.

I am fanatically in love with mountains.

I don’t know if I can quite explain why. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try. Something about them simultaneously quiets my soul and also, like, yells at me. Like “SOAK IN THIS SERENITY. PAY ATTENTION AND REST NOW.” A little paradoxical, I’ll admit, but it’s a heady, mesmerizing mixture of feelings that I can never get enough of. I could literally spend all eternity just staring at them.

I know it sounds strange, but I miss the mountains. I nearly cried as we were leaving Dillon. As we wound down to Denver, I spent more time than I should have watching the mountains shrink in the mirrors of my car. For context - I was the one driving. For sure not the safest time to be staring out the window. (Do not mention this to my sister, by the way; she’d retroactively scold me to keep my eyes on the road.) I choked back tears as we got past Denver and I discovered I could no longer see the mountains on the horizon. My heart ached at the fact that I would not see them again for over a year. This strange kind of heartache doesn’t really make sense, but it was heartache nonetheless.

Admitting all that makes me feel a bit ridiculous. Maybe it made you laugh or shake your head in confusion. Maybe you feel the same way I do. I still don’t quite understand why I feel this way. I mean, they are just formations of sculpted rock and earth, right? Why do I feel so connected to them, like they’re living, breathing things?

As I process through that feeling, I begin to wonder if it has to do with how connected to God I feel when I’m in the mountains. He is so real to me there. I feel Him in the cool, thin air. I see Him in the snowy mountain peak that breaks apart the sky. I hear Him in the quiet stillness as the jagged rock blocks and muffles the sounds of busy city life.

But, like, the mountains themselves, though. They’re just stunning.

First of all, mountains are gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking. And not just because of the thinner air up there. Ba dum tiss. I know God is the most beautiful being in all existence because I see His beauty in how He molded the mountains and how He paints the sky around them. If His creation is that beautiful, how much more beautiful must the Creator be? For God to imagine up this beauty, He must be fantastically beautiful Himself.

Second, mountains are just so freaking majestic. And MASSIVE. I am fully aware of my tiny humanity when I gaze at the miles and miles of mountains. Just one mountain can take up my entire field of vision and even the smallest one exhausts me quickly when I try to scale it. The peaks stretch up to the sky and skim the clouds. We can’t build something that tall (we’ve tried - hello, Tower of Babel). There’s also something...unassuming and bold about a mountain, too. It’s not flashy or showy. It just sits there, confident and quiet, knowing it is one of God’s most incredible creations. That’s God too. He is majesty. He is enormous. He is the Most High King. His reach expands the entire universe. He is infinite. I can’t even fathom how big He is or how much He sees. He proclaims His glory in His creation - quiet yet bold. He is confident in His perfection and glory. His reach is not only wide but deep. He is personal enough to know every little detail of the life, body, and heart that He has given each of us.

Third, mountains are really complex and diverse. Some have rounded peaks, while others poke holes in the clouds. They are covered in millions of trees - pine, aspen, fir, and so many more. Their needles and leaves combine to become a blur of green around the base. Some mountains are short enough the trees and grass grow all the way to the top. Others are too tall that plant life can’t survive on the top piece, and they become warm brown rock with a snowy-white cap. Or maybe they’re slate-grey or even a blended brownish pink. Imagine all the animal life that exists on that one mountain! There’s so much detail in that delicate balance and God knows every single piece of it. What a mind our God has to create such diversity! He was intentional to place each rock and tree and animal and crevice and snow just exactly how He wants it. He put so much care and deliberation into His creation.

He crafted the mountains as a display of His glory and His majesty. How freaking amazing!

Phew. I need to take a deep breath for a second. I get way too excited about mountains.

Whoosh. Okay, back at it.

Since that’s how God created the mountains, unaware pieces of earth, what does that say about how He created us, moving, growing beings to whom He has given the breath of life? We are His creation, just like the mountains, and not only that, we are the crowning jewel of His creation, the final piece.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” -Genesis 1:26-27

We are the only thing in all of creation that was formed in His image, created to bear His likeness and have dominion over the rest. Up until this point, He called His creation good, which includes the mountains. Do you know what He says on the sixth day, after He created us? “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) What does that say about our identity?

Identity is a common human struggle. I think it’s something we all search for out of a desire to be known deeply by someone other than ourselves. As I was growing up, I tried to find identity in being the best at everything I did. I had to be the smartest student, the most athletic volleyball player, the most popular kid in class, and the prettiest girl. To assess this, I developed a habit of comparing myself to others constantly.

Of course, I never met this impossible standard I set for myself. There was always someone smarter, someone more athletic, someone more popular, someone prettier. My reaction to this realization was to berate myself. Suck it up, I’d tell myself, work harder, be better. When that didn’t work, I turned to relationships with others to prove my value and identity. If this person liked me, if that person called me their friend, if that boy called me his, then I would be somebody. I’d finally be worthy, special, and valuable.

No surprise here, but that system failed quickly and often. Human beings are always changing - it’s in our nature, even our bodies change daily - and as a result, my perception of my identity fluctuated constantly. Identity is not designed to fluctuate. That was not God’s intention. The moment I realized my identity was actually inexorably connected to the God who is unchanging and eternal, the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) my whole world shifted. That’s when I gave my life to Him.

But - sin is sneaky, you know? Years later, after I thought that I had dealt with that particular sin right there and then, it reared its ugly head again. I thought it was one and done - I put my identity in who Christ says I am once and I’ll never have to think about it again.

Yet, I discovered I was putting it elsewhere, only now, the “elsewhere” was dressed up in Christian-ese and sneaky adulty things. Instead of daughter of the Most High King, I was a youth group leader. Instead of saved by grace, I was a good auditor. Instead of designed by the God of the entire universe, I was wanted and needed by a community of other Christians.

So God had to teach me again. What a loving, patient Savior. He saves me even from myself.

What would it look like if we fully believed in the identity God has given us? If we lived confidently in it? Just like the mountains, God intentionally and carefully created each one of us. He chose the unique color of your hair and the shape of your eyes. He chose the length of your toes and gaps between your teeth. He selected each tiny piece of your heart, the skills you use in your career, the passion you bring to your friendships, and the tenderness you have for your family. He chose and customized every little piece of you.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” -Psalm 139:13-14

How special and precious are you, dear friend! You are chosen to reflect His heart.

A few years ago, I was on a youth group trip to Colorado (sensing a theme here) and our morning activity one day was a hike. We wound up the mountain as a large group, sucking thin air into our flatlander lungs and then turned around before we got to the top so we wouldn’t miss lunch. Priorities.

As we were on the way down, we started to kind of spread out. I was towards the end of the group because I couldn’t stop looking around at the view. Then, we went around a curve and the entire valley and distant mountain range opened up below us. It was spectacular. I was overwhelmed with some emotion, something that I - to this day - can’t quite find the right words to describe. It might have been true, unedited awe and amazement, or a heartbreaking kind of gratitude to our mighty God. I stood off to the side of the trail to just drink it in, letting the others pass me. I wanted to remember this moment, this feeling, for the rest of my life. I was in tears and I didn’t fully understand why.

Why?

The question wouldn’t leave my head. I kept asking God - why? Out of all of this? These mountains and these clouds and these animals and these trees? Out of all this creation - this splendor and majesty laid before me? Even that was merely a drop, a small pinprick of all He had created. Miniscule in comparison to the entire universe. Why us? Why me? Surely the mountains are more beautiful and more deserving of His love than I am. Surely the sun and clouds and stars in the sky are more worthy to bear His image than I am. Why would the God of all of this awe choose human beings, choose me, to love, to place His image upon, and to have a relationship with? Why did he want me?

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” - Romans 11:33

In the stillness of that mountaintop, I heard Him whisper to my anguished soul, “It’s not about you, dear daughter. It’s about me.”

What a relief. It’s not about me. It’s all about HIM. This world, these skies, these mountains, these people - this is all about God. This is His choice, His story, His love, His beauty, His grace, His glory.

My identity is that I am a tiny, but adored, treasured, intricately created, and delighted in piece of it.

And dear friend, so are you.

What amazing grace.

#grace #Jesus #identity #mountains #travel

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magpiejay1234 · 3 years ago

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I have been playing FFIV GBA for a few days, and here are my scrambled thoughts:

*Game is definitely cinematic in both best and worst ways. You can definitely understand why half of the script was cut from the game. Many of the plot-relevant dungeons like Tower of Lot and Giant of Babel are one-off dungeons, latter appearing temporarily on the overworld and the former never appearing in the overworld.

*While Cecil’s redemption story is wrapped up earlier in the game, the game doesn’t hold itself with Cecil’s war crimes during the invasion of Mysidia. Even though most of the people you fought in the opening turn out to be in Baron’s prisons, there is at least one person missing. Meaning you begin the game with Cecil killing at least a guy willingly. The prisoners don’t show up when you return to Baron, the implication being Cagnazzio, while disguised as King of Baron, executed them for the show. Ew.

*There is a weird theme of fatherhood here. Both King of Baron (essentially Cecil’s adoptive dad) and Kluya (Cecil’s dad) are important characters both in the plot and the overall lore. However, you also have Cid (deliberately designed as a father figure), Yang, and Tellah. For the other NPCs, you have King Giott (who stored the key to the Sealed Cave in her daughter Luca’s neclace) and King of Elban, who is the only monsterous parent of Edge you must defeat in the pseudo-boss battle. Of course, Cecil himself becomes a dad at the end of the game. It has become such a rare event to see a game focus on this theme, but here it is.

*The mysticism around the crystals definitely made me understand why people hate The After Years. In the original game, though the Crystals are implied to Lunarian artifacts, there is still something mysterious about them, as Lunarians, despite their technological advancements, are still clearly a religious people.

*The world building of the FFIV feels a bit weaker than the FFI and FFII, since they clearly designed backstories for the different kingdoms you see throughout the game, but they are not discussed in the game. Is Eblan supposed to be Japan with its ninjitsu? Is the town of Tomra a mining town?

The After Years of course develop these ideas further (yes, Eblan is Japan, yes Tomra is a mining town etc.), but I don’t feel the ideas are fully realized here.

With FFI all locations in the game had eleborate backstories, but the real connections the current script is focused on are the connections between the overworlds (Underworld, Overworld and the Moon). The relationships of the kingdoms before the death of King Baron isn’t described to its full.

*What is developed are the airships. Sakaguchi loves these. And they really sell you on the destructive power of the airships. This is because you have an entire regiment of airships, instead of one superweapon, like it was in the case in FFII (yes Mateus had an entire regiment as well, but you only saw it in the cutscenes.)

There are few more interesting things about the military power of Baron as well. The highest authority who willingly joins Golbez is Captain Baigan, who gets the power to transform into a demon. We don’t know if this is due to sorcery of Golbez, or a foreshadowing of Dr. Lugae’s experiments. In addition to our boy Baigan, Baron also has a regiment of the honorable Dragoons, who in the FFII were Wyvern Riders (they are just knights errands in FFIV). They really push the idea of aerial superioty screwing up the feudal system of FFIV’s world, while also noting that Baron has given up on its navy (despite the fake King Baron turning out to be Cagnazzio).

*There is also an interesting thing about the Elemental Fiends. Each of them have a sub-boss before you fight them. Scarmiglione has Mom Bomb, Cagnazzio has Baigan, Barbaraccia has the three Magus Sisters (a pastiche of the three Magi), and Rubicante has, grudgingly, Dr. Lugae and the mutated parents of Edge. The Elemental Lords themselves also become the subbosses of the Giant of Babel’s CPU, but I haven’t fought it yet (I lost to a random Mech Dragon encounter, so I’m stuck grinding here.)

This nested dolls boss system also works with Golbez, who has supposedly King Baron as his superior (turns out to be false), only to end up being the minion of Zemus, while also having, de facto, Kain as his minion throughout the game, who gives the final crystal to Golbez (this would be later homaged by both Cloud and Rinoa, obviously, despite being such a bad and undercooked idea.)

*Sylph Cavern was the first time I couldn’t grind my out of a debacle. I forgot Yang was in the first floor, so I ended up going to the next floor in the Sylph Home to end up outside. When I decided to do the item Monsters, the second set of Evil Dreamers defeated me for the first time (Giant of Babel’s Mech Dragons would defeat me the second time, since I didn’t grind on the Moon, and couldn’t get the Lunar Whale to defeat Bahamut.)

The floating gimmick is annoying even if the cavern (and the Cave of Summons) give you good EXP, which is really the only thing of value in later dungeons.

*FFIV obviously inspired Pokémon’s tropes in a big way. One way is the EXP/money system. Early battles you had would give you lots of money with minimal EXP. Later battles, predictably do the opposite. However, you need around 9 million EXP to get to Level 99, and unlike Pokémon, random encounters don’t get easier as you Level up. Lack of Ethers but abundance of Phoenix Downs, alongside the abundance of save locations, definitely seems to have inspired Pokémon.

Because of the abundance of save locations, the game wants you to use tents and cottages much more so than FFI-FFII. Most dungeons are not places you can casually escape, you must do the plot or otherwise you have to backtrack from the beginning. Even if most dungeons are fairly linear, secret items still require a walkthrough. This gives off a weird wibe, the main plot is linear but game is designed with exploration in the mind. Just like most Pokémon games, again.

*There is weird thing around Goblins. You have dwarves, who are humanoid creatures with their own cities and established culture (in The After Years, they are just dark-skinned people.) But Goblins, for whatever reason, decide to work for Golbez, in both Tower of Babel and the invasion of Fabul. Since you have an entire society of summons (who would later inspire Espers in FFVI), and you have Mythril Village for all the freaks out there, it feels weird to see Goblins be so prominent in the game as antagonists. I feel like there is an interesting plot here.

*Strangely enough, both Edward and Edge turned out to be really useful after I leveled them up to a playable stage. Rosa, in contrast, turned out to be really useless, since she cannot wear heavy armor, and game is designed against magic abuse. So even though she has insanely large amount of MP and HP, because arrows are perishable and don’t deal much damage unless you use Aim, you might have a better show with a staff or with her bare hands. Her punches ended being more reliable for most of the game until I got proper bows.

Tellah was another surprise, even if I couldn’t use him much, because I needed to grind a lot of time before Magnetic Cavern, his character eventually grow on me (especially now that I could level him up, unlike in Underground Waterway), so I feel his death worked better on me than most people.

*Speaking of Magnetic Cavern, there is also a lot of FFI and FFII in FFIV. Dark Elf is obviously a reference to Astos, Leviathan swallowing Rydia is a reference to the Leviathan in FFII, Kain’s initial equipment and Cecil’s intitial titles are both a reference to Leon in FFII etc. Kain is also left-handed just like Leon, which is a not-so subtle hint that he will betray the team twice.

#ffiv #ff4 #ty plays ff4 gba

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 4 years ago

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23rd May >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Pentecost ~ (Mass of the Day)

Vigil Mass (Extended)

Vigil Mass (Simple).

Pentecost ~ (Mass of the Day)

(Liturgical Colour: Red)

(These readings are for the day of the feast itself):

First Reading

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak.

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103(104):1,24,29-31,34

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are, How many are your works, O Lord! The earth is full of your riches.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

May the glory of the Lord last for ever! May the Lord rejoice in his works! May my thoughts be pleasing to him. I find my joy in the Lord.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

Second Reading

Galatians 5:16-25

If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.

If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires.

Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Sequence

Veni, sancte Spiritus.

Holy Spirit, Lord of Light, From the clear celestial height Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, thou Father of the poor, Come with treasures which endure Come, thou light of all that live!

Thou, of all consolers best, Thou, the soul’s delightful guest, Dost refreshing peace bestow

Thou in toil art comfort sweet Pleasant coolness in the heat Solace in the midst of woe.

Light immortal, light divine, Visit thou these hearts of thine, And our inmost being fill:

If thou take thy grace away, Nothing pure in man will stay All his good is turned to ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew On our dryness pour thy dew Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will Melt the frozen, warm the chill Guide the steps that go astray.

Thou, on us who evermore Thee confess and thee adore, With thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give us comfort when we die Give us life with thee on high Give us joys that never end.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia!

Either:

Gospel

John 15:26-27,16:12-15

The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the outset.

‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

John 20:19-23

As the Father sent me, so am I sending you: receive the Holy Spirit.

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Pentecost - Vigil Mass (Extended)

(Liturgical Colour: Red)

(These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the Feast)

First Reading

Genesis 11:1-9

The tower of Babel.

Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’

Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Psalm

Psalm 32(33):10-15

R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

He frustrates the designs of the nations, he defeats the plans of the peoples. His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age.

R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men.

R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

From the place where he dwells he gazes on all the dwellers on the earth; he who shapes the hearts of them all; and considers all their deeds.

R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Second Reading

Exodus 19:3-8,16-20

Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel:

‘“You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.”

‘Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’

So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’

Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Canticle

Daniel 3:52-56

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

Blest your glorious holy name.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest in the temple of your glory.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest who gaze into the depths.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest in the firmament of heaven.

R/ To you glory and praise for evermore.

Third Reading

Ezekiel 37:1-14

A vision of Israel's death and resurrection.

The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Psalm

Psalm 106(107):2-9

R/ O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or R/ Alleluia!

Let them say this, the Lord’s redeemed, whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe and gathered from far-off lands, from east and west, north and south.

R/ O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or R/ Alleluia!

Some wandered in the desert, in the wilderness, finding no way to a city they could dwell in. Hungry they were and thirsty; their soul was fainting within them.

R/ O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or R/ Alleluia!

Then they cried to the Lord in their need and he rescued them from their distress and he led them along the right way, to reach a city they could dwell in.

R/ O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or R/ Alleluia!

Let them thank the Lord for his love, for the wonders he does for men: for he satisfies the thirsty soul; he fills the hungry with good things.

R/ O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or R/ Alleluia!

Fourth Reading

Joel 3:1-5

I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.

Thus says the Lord:

‘I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days. I will display portents in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.’

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord dawns, that great and terrible day. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Psalm

Psalm 103(104):1-2,24,27-30,35

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are, clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe!

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

All of these look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.

R/ Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or R/ Alleluia!

Fifth Reading

Romans 8:22-27

The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words.

From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia!

Gospel

John 7:37-39

'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!'

On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:

‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!’

As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Pentecost - Vigil Mass (Simple)

(Liturgical Colour: Red)

(These readings are for the simple-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the Feast)

Either:

First Reading

Genesis 11:1-9

The tower of Babel.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Or:

First Reading

Exodus 19:3-8,16-20

Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel:

‘Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’ So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’