#that his no good very bad day might continue ad infinitum

[featherymainffins]

I think I have just learned that many people don't like Mel. I am the first to admit my opinion on her is neutral leaning positive. I would, however, kill Jayce with a thousand hammers. And then I'd resurrect him to kill him with even more hammers.

[arabellaflynn]

I am so fucking over this plague thing. More accurately, I am so fucking over everybody being paranoid of this plague thing. Leaving the house isn't giving me panic attacks because of covid, it's because of all the goddamned people.

Look. I understand why people are afraid. When covid goes bad, it can go really bad, like 'intensive care with invasive ventilation' bad. It's just that this amount of fear is incompatible with also getting on with your life in any meaningful way, not to mention it's out of proportion with reality. Hospitalization rates of people with a confirmed case of COVID-19 (so, not counting people who never bothered to get tested, or people who have been exposed and fought the virus off, or people who have never been exposed) is about 82 per 100,000, or 0.082%. Condoms, when used properly, have about a 2% failure rate. If you trust in condoms to keep you childfree, you can trust reasonable, non-paranoid precautions to keep you from dying of covid.

If you catch covid, and you're an otherwise healthy non-elderly person, your experience is overwhelmingly likely to be like the one I had with chicken pox. I was born in 1981, so my prime years as a disease vector were before the varicella zoster vaccine. I caught chicken pox when I was 8 or 9. It blew. I was off school for two weeks, and I spent every moment of that itching like a motherfucker. But, like 59,999 out of 60,000 chicken pox sufferers, I got over it, and I'm still here. This doesn't mean that it's pointless to try to avoid catching it, and it definitely doesn't argue in favor of holding "chicken pox parties" so you can give it to other people on purpose. That's just idiocy. But it does mean that going to Howard Hughes-esque lengths in order to avoid ever coming into contact with it is maybe a little bit of an overreaction.

"Flatten the curve" was never meant to keep us all from catching COVID-19. The novel coronavirus is now endemic in the human population. Everyone is going to get this. Probably not every few months, like rhinovirus-driven colds, but more like pre-vaccine influenza, where if you had common sense and a bit of luck, you'd have a sucky few weeks once or twice a decade. The idea behind "flatten the curve" was to keep everyone from catching it at the same time, so that the number of cases that did need hospitalization never exceeded the number of available hospital beds. Believe it or not the news did explain that part, in tiny words, but everyone seems to have forgotten.

I had to hike into the next town over to pick up some stuff the other day. One of my roommates gawped in horror when I mentioned that I only wear a mask when around people. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires face coverings when indoors or when maintaining a distance of at least six feet from other people is impractical. That's fair; those are the circumstances under which cloth masks impede the spread of droplet-borne viral illnesses, be they COVID-19 or some other crap you've picked up. I had a mask, because I was going to talk to another human, and a good chunk of my route went through a populated area where I was likely to meet other people on the sidewalk. But a good chunk of my route also went through parks and quiet suburbs. I was outdoors, a place with notoriously good ventilation, and it was easy to stay 10+ feet away from the few people I saw. Under those conditions, masks have no effect. As long as you handle them by the ear pieces -- because you have been breathing damp schmutz all over the face part -- you can in fact take them off to cool down and breathe, and re-set them when you see people approaching again.

Said roommate wears a mask from the instant she exits the front door to the very moment she gets back in. Even when walking the dog in our wide-open neighborhood, where there is so little traffic you can dodge the other dog-walkers and joggers by walking down the middle of the street if you want. The neighbor kids bike and play games in the road all the time. You can wear a mask under those conditions if you want to, but I can't. I already have a hard enough time not being able to breathe when exerting myself in hot, humid weather. At that point, it's not doing anything physical. Its sole purpose is to act as a talisman to allay your own anxiety about all things covid. Not just anxieties about catching it, but anxieties about not displaying the correct amount of conformity and community-mindedness. I'm not really surprised; virtue signalling is something of a local sport. But that is what's going on. 

Another roommate has taken to disinfecting all the groceries. He started out using wipes but then we ran out, so now he's just got a spray bottle of Clorox and water sitting on the kitchen windowsill. I have politely gone along with this for the most part, but I also intercept my own deliveries, lest he get it into his head to bleach my raw produce. Dr Fauci does not bleach his groceries; I know, because Colbert was a wiseass and asked him on national TV. It's possible to get covid from contaminated surfaces in the same way it's possible to get herpes from a toilet seat, in the sense that it doesn't contradict any known laws of physics, but it's so unlikely that if you can actually demonstrate that it happened you will get written up as a case study. And frankly it doesn't matter what kind of terrifying things are on the outside of your packages as long as you wash your hands.

For those of you who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis, this is what's called an anxiety spiral. Something makes you anxious and you start to see it in terms of risks to your safety, so naturally your response is to start thinking about how to avoid it. You make a plan. But then you start noticing that your plan may not reduce that risk to zero, or may present risks of its own, so you make a second-order plan to plaster over those. But then that plan has holes, so then you need a third-order plan, and so on and so forth quite literally ad infinitum if you can keep it up that long, or until you decompensate rather spectacularly if you can't. The less reliable, concrete information you have about what's going to happen, the worse it gets. If you let it continue to the point of pathology -- which I am starting to see among the general population -- you eventually dig yourself in so deep that you can't get groceries without involving a contingency plan in case of nuclear first-strike from Canada. This, understandably, fucks up your life. I've seen this both first-hand in my own brain, and in being raised by a woman who suffered from such a massive unacknowledged anxiety disorder that she blocked off the front windows of the house for fear that someone walking down the street outside might see that she had the living room lights on.

Your risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2, now that it exists, is not zero. It will never be zero. A vaccine will not bring it down to zero. Technically, your risk of contracting smallpox is also not zero, because there are still a few vials of it lying around somewhere. Your risk of unintentionally spreading it -- which is what the cloth masks are meant to do; if it's not an N95 mask it does nothing to keep you from catching it -- is therefore also not zero. But there comes a point where it is low enough, and you have to just accept that it exists as part of the background chance that you might get run over by a car or fall in the shower or discover an anaphylactic allergy the hard way or keel over from an undetected aneurysm or any of the other ways you can die without warning.

The BLM protesters are doing it right, I think. That's an important thing that has to get done, so they're doing it. They're spending hours in a large crowd of people, so they try to keep a 6' distance and wear a mask, because that's not always feasible. You can't let your fear immobilize you, and there is a finite level to which you can let that fear prompt you to make yourself uncomfortable. Risk tolerance differs from person to person. My housemates are welcome to freak out over the idea of taking the trash out without a mask; I'm not, and I'm not putting one on to spend two minutes out in the side yard at midnight.

And anyone who froths over "kids these days" referring to it as "the 'rona" can cool their jets. This is basically a pandemic tradition. You get a shot every year so you don't catch "the 'flu" -- which, yes, was how it was typographically styled in 1917-19 -- so shut the fuck up.

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[appears]

It occurs to me, though, that eventually the term "film music" may no longer evoke in the average listener's mind the lush symphonic output of legendary practitioners such as Korngold, Bernard Hermann, Malcolm Arnold, Ennio Morricone, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and John Williams. People might instead equate "film music" with the currently popular mixture of strident synthesizers and pounding percussion. [...] As the action, camerawork, and editing in many Hollywood films have become more assualtive [sic] on the senses, the soundtracks have followed suit...

Letter from David English, Acton, Mass. New Yorker, September 23, 2019

I've thought a lot about this letter sent in to the New Yorker, in response to this article about Korngold, over the past few days, and I still can't decide if he is referring to stuff like Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein's work for Stranger Things, and other synthwave-heavy scores in general, or Hans Zimmer's The Dark Knight/Inception specifically, the kind of score that has twisted the idea of traditional orchestral sound by focusing less on instrumentation and more on mood over melody; the type of music that incorporates synths, or sounds just as minimal, without actually being electronic. I am inclined to think it's the latter, mostly because he uses the word "currently," and electronic film scores go all the way back to Vangelis and Carpenter, et al., from the 70s. Also, a posterior, Zimmer really sticks in the craw of many fans of vintage, now very vintage, film scores. The Dark Knight is so divisive, that I rarely heard anyone review it in casual, neutral terms: you either really loved it or really hated it. The difference, though, is that Hans Zimmer can do conventional symphonic music, but instead chose not to for a film that went on to be massively successful and influential, spawning a wave of copycats, many, though not exclusively, which featured in other superhero movies. It’s a style that has been popularized and bastardized, but that I believe, like (insert)-universe movies themselves, must eventually reach a saturation point (right? right??). If you listen to a lot of film music, you'll know that percussion and ~vibes~ had a bit of a moment thanks to Zimmer (who went on to make good on this style with TRON: Legacy, and eventually returned full circle to his earlier sound, like his work on this year's "live-action" The Lion King), but he’s still not the dinosaur stomping out "lush orchestration" that this guy is painting him to be. I just listened to the new Downton Abbey soundtrack the other day and it was great and orthodox and probably just what this guy is looking for!

I loathe this kind of sky-is-falling rhetoric, the kind of talk that very quickly leads to "back in my day..." head-shaking. If people do eventually “equate "film music” with [...] strident synthesizers and pounding percussion" then maybe that means a new generation is making a medium theirs like every generation before them, and also nobody wears top hats and tails to dinner every night or gets ice delivered by horse-drawn carriage because time moves forward and maybe progress isn't always so bad. Every beautiful thing is beautiful while it lasts and should be appreciated for its impermanence -- it is only because it doesn’t last forever that we can! I don't think you can expect anything to continue in the same way ad infinitum without evolving somehow. Yeah, sometimes it sucks, but I mean, if you love Korngold, put on some Korngold. There’s more than 60+ accumulated years of traditional film music to explore and enjoy! Love it, celebrate it! And be open and curious about what’s new, too!

[allthingsroleplay]

Walburga Black.

60. PUREBLOOD. BLACK FAMILY MATRIARCH.

There's head canons for Walburga lined out both in Alphard and Sirius's applications, so if you're interested in her, definitely make sure you give those a read. On Alphard's end of things, I head canon that he and his sister were close when they were younger, and that she was the bolder, stronger personality that drew her shy, introverted brother away from his solitary pastimes. As they grew older, however, the two of them grew apart. I know that canon doesn't quite paint the rosiest picture of Walburga, and while it would be fair to say that she was an abusive mother (and not a particularly attentive one, either, if you give Sirius's app a read), she does manage to remain a hard, strong woman, even with the constraints of the very patriarchal pureblood society (and, perhaps, at least, there's something to be admired about that) and I've tried to avoid vilifying her further. For example, her reasons for resenting Al present day are, for the most part, understandable—at least within the context of the society in which they were raised. First off, I imagine that Irma and Pollux were much harder on Walburga and Cygnus than they were on Alphard, since they were, respectively, the daughter and youngest born son of the family. Alphard was given a lot of leeway, due to being their first male heir, although Walburga was the oldest of all three children. While that wasn't exactly Alphard's fault, I can see how it might've very much rankled. Particularly as Walburga likely would have made a better heir than Alphard, given that, with time, she proved much better at adhering to the expectations of traditional pureblood life. Secondly, Walburga was married off shortly after she graduated (and to a second degree cousin, no less), whereas Al was allowed to go travel in order to "further his education" (that was the excuse he gave, although he was really just closeted and trying to avoid being married off, himself). To add insult to injury, when he returned home, not only was it discovered that he'd spent the two years tracking dragons (very nearly getting himself killed several times in the process and, therefore almost costing his parents an heir), but he didn't even continue pursuing Care of Magical Creatures professionally; instead going into the safer, more stable field of broom production. Upon his return, his parents set him up with his own estate (although Walburga wound up inheriting the Black ancestral home by the time she had her sons, which made things a little more fair, perhaps), and he went back to being private and reclusive, while Walburga was the one expected to continue hosting parties and playing the socialite, in order to maintain the family's social standing.

By the time she had her sons (Sirius was born when she was 35, I believe), Alphard was still unmarried, and had yet to start a family of his own. Although, in Alphard's defense, he really did try, even going so far as to court a woman who was rumored to have veela ancestry in her lineage, and still feeling nothing for her. It's entirely up to whoever takes Walburga whether or not she had suspicions as to why her brother remained a bachelor. If she did, though, it was never a subject she broached with Alphard.

And, despite whatever shortcomings Walburga may have felt her brother had, Al was wholly devoted to the family. Like, definitely the sort of person you could owl or fire-call (or whatever) in a pinch, and who would help with little to no questions asked. He also sacrificed a lot for the sake of not causing the family any scandal (not to mention bit his tongue ad infinitum), and threw himself into being a good uncle for his nieces and nephews, since he never had children of his own. Never showed up to visit Cyg or Wal without presents in hand for their children, was always willing to hear them out when they talked about their childish excitements of the day, and to indulge whatever silly games they might want to play—that sort of thing.

That said, Walburga felt (for whatever reason) that Al was a bad influence, and wouldn't let him spend very much time around her sons. I have my own suspicions, however, that it probably had something to do with the Muggle car he bought and charmed to fly when he was twenty-three (how Wal found out about the car is, again, up to you, and definitely a past thread I'd be up for) and/or his many stories about dragons and the way her boys' eyes probably lit up when he told them. And it probably didn't help that Al started challenging her on things: be it how obviously in favor of Voldemort she was, or the way he'd remind her of how stubborn she'd been growing up whenever she complained about Sirius (and it's very possible that she was harder on her sons than Irma and Pollux were on Wal, Al, and Cyg when they were children b/c she didn't want either of her boys to turn out to be so disappointing an heir as their uncle).

The discord between the two reached a crescendo when (instead of dying and willing money to Sirius the way he did in canon) Alphard lived and refused to cut ties with Sirius after Wal disowned him (even going so far as to provide him with money), and she wound up blasting her brother off the family tree over it, when Al refused to back down. That said, I'd still like a Walburga present day for the drama of it (and also for the purpose of threading out aaaalllll of the past threads—b/c, boy, did these two ever butt heads!).

While it's doubtful that she and Al have much contact anymore, they might still exchange snipey owls on occasion? That's certainly a possibility, especially if Wal were to catch wind of any of the present day decisions he's been making. Or, perhaps, she needs or wants something from him? Because Al has a glaring blind spot for family, and really isn't as grudgey as he ought to be. Or, maybe, with time, it's possible (particularly if you decide that Orion died in this AU around the time he was supposed to have died in canon) that being left so alone has caused her to realize that the advice Al gave her, unsolicited though it was, was good advice (given that she's had no contact with Sirius and Reg is, now, off in hiding, I think?—though I'm not holding my breath there)? Or she could be an unapologetic, active member of the Orchid Club? There's really so many different directions you could take things. It's all up to player interpretation. Either way, I'd love to see her thrown into the mix of chars we have on Maudlin.

Finally, Walburga's face claim is open, but some suggested faces are Andie Macdowell (pictured, and my personal favorite), Sela Ward, and Mary Steenburgen. It's okay with me if you'd rather use someone else, though, provided that they look like they could be related to the other members of the Black family already on Maudlin, and that they fall within the 5 year+/- age range that's been set for character face claims on here. And, if you'd like to plot or discuss details, you can reach me over PM or on discord at the handle @nippyniffler#3899.   

[may-self]

A Guide To Identifying An Emotionally Abusive Relationship In Five Types Of Behavior

“You’re a slut, i’ve always known you were a slut, that’s why you’re not good enough to be my or anyone’s wife or have my or anyone’s kids” was one of the things he told me on the last day I saw him, less than a minute later he apologised and promised he didn't mean it only to tell me the same thing again three days later over a long text message after a few missed phone calls.

Although my first reaction to this was to think it was absurd and silly, I later allowed it to sink in, I questioned where those words came from, why he thought those particular words would hurt me and why, after everything had been said and done, he wanted to hurt me?  The more I thought about it the less sense it made except for the fact that he knew that kind of words would in fact make me think.  

“You’re an emotional abuser” was one of the last things I told him but it was only after talking to other women and hearing their personal accounts that I truly realized how common this story was and how truthful my realization might be.

While this post might in some ways seem quite personal, let it be clear that I’m not here attempting to shame anyone. Relationships are complex and stones can be thrown from both sides, victims might replicate the behavior of their aggressors, you know, putting fire out with fire kind of logic. So this post might touch you, maybe you will even see some of your behavior mirrored here, I know in some ways I did, and if that’s the case with you, take it as a call for change. I do believe that my experience and my observation of other failed relationships gave me a glimpse of what it might feel like to be in a relationship with someone who might overexploit your emotions and leave you drained, this is a compilation of tales. So here are my five red-flags to lookout and good enough reasons to let go of the wrong person.

Blatant Dishonesty

If a man/woman admittedly tells you that they’re not good with relationships, never dated someone for longer than a year, and when that happened they were unfaithful, don’t expect  them to suddenly change their casanova persona for you, despite how convincing they might be at promising you they’ve changed or how you represent a clean slate and they need someone to trust them notwithstanding their past misconducts so they can become a better person. There are people who cheat by mistake, but the majority cheat by habit because they can get away with it, so an intentional cheater will always be a cheater and to be a cheater they need to have a commitment otherwise it’s not cheating, so you, blinded by your lack of modesty to think you are capable of changing a fully grown adult, will ultimately become the paper they will roll their joint in. And when they do, and when you find out they might not even try to deny it and blame it on your insecurity and lack of trust, they might come clean and you might even appreciate their honesty of tearfully admitting that they messed up. But in this case you will find that in their vocabulary honesty is not the equivalent of integrity nor regret, so take your appreciation of their candor as well as yourself to a safe distance.

     2. Immersion in a never ending soul searching journey

There’s a saying “be careful not to fall in love with a man with wandering eyes because other body parts may start to wander too”, I know these quotes are cheesy but they are timeless, here’s some extra cheese “to those who don’t know where they are going, all roads lead to their destination” and “good advices never grow old”. A person that does not know themselves will not know what they want so being with you will be an experiment, and you can’t expect someone who is just testing the waters to have the will to commit to your relationship and put the work that it requires. This seems reasonable, after all we all need time to get to know someone and be sure of what we want. But an emotional abuser will be aware of his indecisiveness and still try and succeed at convincing you to stay because you are the love of his life until they have an epiphany in a beautiful sunny morning that it was after all not you who they wanted.

    3. Control of your happiness

There’s nothing that the right person will want more than making you happy, we’re all deserving of love, however, some people will want to have exclusivity over your happiness, they will get upset from seeing you happy for reasons beyond them, they will feel jealous, they will try to isolate you from your family and friends, they will try to force you to change your habits, your diet, delete pictures, throw away things, ignore people and block contacts and none of that will be enough. And they will discreetly punish you for not being complaisant with their absurd demands. They will intentionally make you sad or happy at their own convenience. And it won’t stop! They will move on but will not allow you to get over them, they will show up, give you hope, show remorse and jealousy of the simple thought of you moving on and being happier with someone else, they will  try to punish you for moving on by inciting envy and making you feel unworthy of being loved by anyone other than them. Even remotely, they will still try to control how you feel.

    4. Fear of your personal achievements

They will love you to the moon and back but will not share your excitement over the achievement of big milestones. Your growth of any kind will put them in a state of unease, they will feel threatened and insecure and might even convince you that you don't really need to achieve certain goals to be happy because they love you just-the-way-you-are, your beautiful, magnificent, mediocre self. Because they are accommodated and not willing to grow, your growth makes them fear that you will not need them anymore. They are actually not afraid of your growth but afraid of losing either financial or emotional control over you, in an emotional abuser’s mind to love is to control.

I’m personally a big believer in growth, it’s a beautiful thing to find someone who you don’t see as competition, who’s success is mutually beneficial, someone who is proud instead of threatened by the person you are becoming, who will support you on your journey, remind you when you’re slacking, encourage you when you’re scared and celebrate with you like it’s new year’s eve when you succeed and repeat that ad infinitum.

    5. Eagerness to prey on your vulnerabilities

It’s when we’re in love that we feel our most vulnerable selves, it’s so blissful to strip ourselves off of our guards and surrender to absolute trust, a byproduct of unconditional love. The right person will never take your vulnerabilities for granted and they will diligently help you grow out of them, the wrong person will prey on them, your insecurities, your fears of abandonment, your low self esteem, your trust issues, your impulsivity, your shortcomings and problems will all be perceived as tools in the mastermind of a professional manipulator. They will mansplain you, gaslight you, downplay you, and reverse psychology the shit out of you until they break you because you’ve let them in and you’ve trusted them the most. You won’t even see it coming or see it happening because your aversion to old adages led you to ignore the all time classic “it is those who we love the deepest that can hurt us the most”.

All of the above points seem very self-sufficient reasons to put those legs to work and RUN away from the relationship but sadly people choose to stay. I believe that’s due to the fact that we’re all a combination of yings and yangs, very few people are inherently evil or good, I wont dwell into the reasons why people are led to intentionally or not do bad things to  those who they supposedly love but I will point that first of all no one remotely sane falls in love with a cruel person, we initially genuinely feel loved but then we feel other things too, deceived, disrespected, hurt, neglected and the list goes on, all of these feelings blurred by “love”. Second, because we’re all flawed we don’t just fall in love with the good, we fall in love with the bad and the ugly too, sometimes we think we share scars and losses, and that too can connect us, our desire for forgiveness can make us give a lot of undeserving free passes. But relationships that are bonded by brokenness get ugly and uglier. Healthy relationships should be cleansing, restorative, uplifting, so no matter how much you love someone and how co-dependent you’ve become with them or how happy they have made you feel, if it's tainted with toxicity you will be continuously winding into darkness, cut it, let go, do some personal growth and move on. 

-M

[webwych]

This is your Han Solo now ...

So we had the first as-yet-untitled-Han Solo project cast photo this week, wow, the “SW” Facebook page deteriorated into the childish and moronic “if you don’t want this; you’re not a fan” generation-gap mentality argument pretty damn quickly.

I don’t know how alone I am in this, but being one of the people who were part of the last Lucasfilm/fan focus group; I, at least, can say that I have pretty much directly told Lucasfilm in no uncertain terms what I thought of this particular project and I assure you that my comments were not very pretty and, in my opinion, rather scathing.  I must state for all purposes that I did that knowing that the “go/no-go” point to have this project green lit was at least 18 months ago and understand that anything I had to say had absolutely no effect on the outcome.

I can see that this film has currently split the fandom somewhat evenly, but I think the “don’t want” have the edge for the time being.  I know that there will be fans who are not happy about this project now who will be swept up in the coming months as more BTS shots are released, and there might be a “something” at this year’s Celebration to give buzz about, and there are many fans are looking forward to it.  Yes, there will also be those fans who will see it 6 times (at least) and whom will take to the myriad of social media platforms to tell just everyone who watches or listens or reads just how much they hated it every single time they saw it.  

But is this project a good idea – no, it is not.  Personally, for those of us who continue to feel Solo’s fate in TFA deeply, simply have not been allowed to grieve by Disney/Lucasfilm and this as-yet-untitled-Han Solo project does very much feel like the character is barely cold in his grave and we are being presented with a new step-father and told to call him “daddy”.  OK, that’s probably a bit too Drama Queen-y, but, gorramit, it’s how I feel.

These standalone projects highlight Disney’s business model need for this franchise - a “SW” film every year ad infinitum.  They are also, unfortunately, the embodiment of Lucas’ extremely ill chosen and inelegant analogy made during his Charlie Rose interview in 2015.  However, the decision for the return to the May release date is in itself fascinating (for those of you interested in the business of distribution) as it actually doesn’t give the title the potential longevity of theatrical release as keeping the mid-December date does, but hey; that’s likely to be all about getting it onto the home entertainment market ASAP to recoup that ROI, but I digress ... Would it have been better if the decision had been made to simply find a new director for the Boba Fett project and proceed with that?  Yes and no.

I say yes, because following the character’s somewhat gauche exit in ROTJ, Boba Fett’s “myth” has become even more entrenched especially being one of the remarkably few (and I am counting the fingers on one hand) OT characters that has a rich (read cinematic) backstory exploitation potential. And, hey, his costume’s, like, really cool!

I say no, because it doesn’t take away the “meat-grinder” element of what this fandom has to now accept.   And those canon novels, comics and video games will simply not write themselves.

As a 1 of those characters ripe for cinematic exploitation – Han Solo has it all.  Being the eldest of the original OT triumvirate, his backstory is an untapped source, which if handled correctly, could go for more than 1 film (and I don’t care what Hidalgo vehemently countered last year on his Twitter regarding the “news” of possibly more than 1 Han Solo film; potential further Solo sequels or similar is likely to have been considered due to Disney’s business model and the last thing the studio want is to keep negotiating with Alden Ehrenreich’s reps especially as this could open big enough).   Considering the career that Harrison Ford went on to have; Solo has audience brand awareness like you wouldn’t believe and is consistently voted as The Favourite “SW” CharacterTM.  This was very much put to maximum use for TFA when that film was sold to the general public on Ford’s back.  

Disney, like all companies, has its shareholder obligations and therefore quarterly projections to meet.  And I have no doubt whatsoever, that numbers have already been run for this as-yet-untitled Han Solo offering (but please, indulge me a second time while I contribute some title suggestions:  “21 Jump Falcon” or “48 Parsecs” or tapping into Kennedy’s western idea, “Butch Calrissian and the Sundance Solo” or maybe it should just be “Firefly” …  Oh, wait, that last 1 already happened, didn’t it?) so there’s an idea of possible BO both domestic and worldwide that will be gaining traction within the Mouse House.    Just add the audience …

As a Han Solo/Harrison Ford fan for 4 decades I have a number of issues with this as-yet-untitled-Han Solo project (bet you’re surprised by that, huh?)  The primary one is this:  Following the events regarding this character in TFA, why on Earth would I, as a consumer, want to buy into a Han Solo film, especially when it has been written by 2 of the architects of the character’s fate and personality in TFA?

I was never a particular fan of the former EU, so I never bought into the Han/Leia white picket fence around the Millennium Falcon scenario as was presented.  But I most definitively do not buy into the never around father and husband as presented by J J Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan in TFA (which is being currently cemented by both Chuck Wendig and Claudia Gray into a man who felt confined in his relationship and impending fatherhood, more interested in racing and general itchy-feet in their “canon” novels) as it would appear that their Han Solo remained as we first met him in ANH.  My Han Solo grew up without knowing who his parents were, very much lived a hand-to-mouth existence on whatever planet’s streets – an “SW” version of the Artful Dodger if you will, and yet was able to pull himself out of wherever to make it to the Imperial Navy to pursue a dream.   I, personally, have great difficulty in acknowledging how that Han Solo would condone his child to a similarly emotionally difficult life.  Han Solo was at that point in ANH and by the end of ROTJ, he’d found enduring friendship (the people he’d dismissed at the beginning rescued him at great danger to themselves), companionship (he’d developed love) and a sense of belonging (he stayed with the Rebellion – yes, in the beginning it was likely for ulterior motives, but not by the closing shots of ROTJ) – that is a character arc which someone who has experienced the worst that life could throw their way would not easily give up.  As it stands, for me, the Han Solo of TFA is tantamount to character assassination solely for our leisure cash.

Of course, I understand that the Han Solo we will be presented with in the as-yet-untitled-Han Solo project will be the Han of ANH as the Messer’s Kasdan can put the character in more thrilling situations, and minus Leia, give him a passing, but no doubt intense love interest.  But we’ve seen how this character’s story ends - being callously murdered for narrative purposes on the modern screenwriting altar of cheap audience manipulation; so, again, why should I spend my hard earned money on this?  And anyway, with Woody Harrelson admitting that his character’s name is Garris Shrike, I can only wonder just how much of this film will be owe to A C Crispin’s 1997 Han Solo trilogy novels (yes, OK, former EU has no place …  Right …) The very sad thing is that if this film has scenarios recognizable to her novels there is likely to be no credit for Ms Crispin which is beyond awful while the Messer’s Kasdan will call it their own work.

The last fan focus group survey was about this project and it would appear that I was one of very, very few people who actually knew who Ehrenreich is and could recognise a photo of him.  I have seen his performance in “HAIL, CAESAR!” and enjoyed it; in fact it was of a standard that I would expect of a Coen Brothers production, so do I think he will give a poor performance?  Most definitely not; but his Han Solo will not be my Han Solo and creatives/business involved in this ignore that at their error.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that a lot of this has to be with clearing the copyright decks of Lucas’ vision (and again whatever you think of Lucas IN THE SLIGHTEST; you feel it BECAUSE you bought into his original creation) and as I’ve stated earlier, there is an element of churning out product.  I am of a certain age where I feel that quality is superior to quantity, but I also accept that there are fans (regardless of age) who are extremely happy with the thought of a film every year ad infinitum and all good luck to you.  If your question is do I think it will be a bad film?  No; no it will not, no one spends the money these days on film production expecting to make a bad film!

Once upon a time, the former EU evolved from the foundation of the OT and weaved its own path for 6 years until the announcement was made in ‘96/97 regarding the PT.  By 2005, Lucas expressed that in his opinion there were 3 streams for “SW”:  The films which was his vision and which were canon (just think, kids, there was a time when if it wasn’t on screen it simply wasn’t canon); then there was the merchandise, which included the EU, comics, etc; and lastly there was ours, the fans’, “SW” – and none of those necessarily met in a neat junction, but all ran parallel with the films trumping everything, and Lucas (whether you remain supportive or dismissive) very much recognized that, and as long as the fandom played that game, acknowledged the fandom in a manner in which no other entertainment producing entity every has or is likely to again.

The last word I have to make regarding this as-of-yet-untitled Han Solo project is this:  I can not wait for the utterly ridiculous blustering explanation that will come from Pablo Hidalgo and the Lucasfilm Story Group either in a direct social media proclamation or a canon novel which addresses how a mature adult male in his mid-20s grew 5 inches by the time that mature adult male was in his mid-30s or will that physical element simply be part of the “this is your Han Solo now” mentality?

[theeurekaproject]

Orestes et Electra

"She's kinda cute." Ace said. "The girl, I mean."

Lyra stood in the middle of the spaceport, gazing through the skylight. Her black clothes stood out like a sore thumb in the utilitarian gray of the place, and passing Ministratora castes gave her a wide berth, but she didn't seem to care much. She just looked up through the glass with a rapturous expression, like she was staring at heaven itself instead of the thick, polluted clouds that obscured the sun.

"I guess," T shrugged. "Not really my type.” He wasn’t lying—Lyra was not his type—but she seemed to have an intoxicating quality about her anyway, something T didn’t want to share with Ace.

"Her hair is pretty,” Ace said.

"You say that about every girl you meet.”

"Says the guy who like the green chick from the new Ultores movie," Ace countered.

"Because she's a badass," TB-2215 said. "Besides, she's not even from Ultores, she's from Custodes de Galaxia-"

"And the princess from Stella Bella-"

"She's a badass, too. And talk about pretty hair-"

"Talk about out of your league. And you tell me Acidalia is too classy for me."

"See," T said, "the main difference between crushing on fictional characters and crushing on the Imperatrix is that the fictional characters don't exist."

"'Fictional characters don't exist' isn't what you said when you were crying at Infinitum Bellum," Ace said.

"I did not cry." (Admittedly, he had cried. But everyone in the spaceport did not need to be made aware of this, and besides, it didn't really matter.)

"I was there. You can't hide from me," he replied. "I think you're the only person who could shoot down six people, and then start hysterically sobbing because they killed off-"

"Hey, what's Lyra doing?" he asked loudly, interrupting Ace. "Go talk to her if you think she's so cute. Go on, leave me alone."

"I would, but..." he said slowly, "I mean, they're already looking at her enough. Aren't we supposed to be being inconspicuous?"

"Just go." T lightly nudged him. "Don't be obnoxious. She's supposed to be your pregnant girlfriend, isn't she? Go."

"You're all business lately," he said. "What's up with you?"

T eyed him. "You know exactly what's up. I'm not talking about this further. Not here."

"Right, right," Ace sighed. In a quieter tone, he added, "She'll be okay, you know."

"No, I don't," T retorted. "It's not a guarantee."

"I've seen that woman with a blaster. She shot down twelve people in about five seconds while wearing a tiara of flowers. If there's one person on the planet who can stay alive, it's-"

"Keep your voice down. And not even the most skilled marksman could survive a twenty-person ambush with no backup."

"Andromeda will send backup," Ace said.

T sighed. "But how long will it take? Cassandra’s useless.”

"I don't know. I wouldn't stress about it," he replied. "Things like this have happened before. Remember last week?"

"Yeah," T said, "but Cassiopeia is different. She's an idiot. I think her IQ is the same as the kitten we snuck onto the ship when we were, what, 10? Her plans aren't so much 'incoherent' as 'nonexistent.' You saw what she did— just grabbed-"

He bit his tongue suddenly. Talking about this here was a bad idea. He didn't mention his sisters' names. Cassiopeia on its own was common enough that he could have been referring to any girl, but if he brought up the Imperials, they'd all know exactly who he was talking about—and it was never a good idea to clue in everyone else to private matters.

¨My point is,"he said softly, "my mother is a lot smarter, and a lot more powerful, than Cassiopeia ever was."

At that moment, he heard his sister's name, broadcast in a cool, feminine voice, and he jumped six inches.

"Relax," Ace said. "They're talking about Mars."

He was right: they were just announcing the 1815 flights to Acidalia, Utopia, and Arcadia Planitia—the place she was named after, not the Imperatrix. He checked their tickets—1830. They were scheduled to board in fifteen minutes.

"We better get going," he said. He wondered, briefly, what David Seren himself had thought when he left the planet sixteen years ago—except he actually had a baby with him. Had he expected that he wouldn't return to his home for the next decade and a half? Had he been nervous?

T decided not to think about it too much. He had been reluctant about this whole ridiculous thing in the first place, and anxious about what it would mean to leave Eleutheria unsure of when he was coming back. How long would it take for his squadron to notice he was missing? What if they went searching for him? What if they thought something bad had happened to them both?

He had grown up with these men. They were more brothers than anything else. They'd spent their whole childhood play-fighting, having movie nights, and talking about girls in between school and battle. They were the lucky ones—the sons of the elite, the TB strategists and the AX tech specialists, both immunes, neither concerned whatsoever about death. Maybe they should have been.

He remembered staying up late and listening to stories about distant worlds with the older boys who seemed like they knew the whole galaxy; they'd tell tales of planets with temperatures so low liquid tetraoxygen sloshed around in the seas and burned all the living things it touched, places so rich in carbon and so high in pressure it snowed solid diamonds, the gas giant that moved so fast it rained molten glass sideways. His favorite was the tidally locked planet, with one side trapped in eternal night, and the other so blisteringly hot it was an ocean of lava where the clouds were made of rubies and sapphires. He was always so jealous of the men who actually got to see these strange, alien worlds, and the creatures—or the people, even—who lived on them.

More than once, one of the lower ranking men, someone who actually got to experience the rest of the galaxy, would go missing. They might return a few days later, wide-eyed and skittish; other times they'd simply vanish. Those stories were more fables to be told around the faux-campfires of lights the blasters made when they were charging—tales of ancient alien ruins, of beautiful women with green skin, of life beyond the two known sentient species in the galaxy. Life beyond the Mira.

T didn't think he'd ever really laid eyes on the people who called themselves the Mira, but the tales told about them ranged from hideous monsters to almost fae-like creatures. They were sparkly purple people, and then they were hideous, psychotic animals with no humanity left in their strange, gelatinous minds.

It was probably a little of both.

The propaganda portrayed them as savages, but propaganda always did that. The older men recalled tales of nights with beautiful alien women, but TB-2115 couldn't help but doubt that, too (especially since every eyewitness had described them as "cold," "wet," and "icy to the touch" regardless of their perspective.) The Mira were an enigma.

He always thought they were interesting. The researchers—the xenolinguists, the biological weapons research squad, the historians—were always more appealing to him than the fighters he was supposed to idolize. His specialty—his purpose—was always strategy, military logic. If we put those soldiers there, how many people could die? If we launched the pox now, how many would it infect? He played games of war like they played games of chess—the TB units were the grandmasters, the rest of the army the pawns, Eleutheria the king they protected. But T always found chess boring.

One could only talk so often about endless death and destruction before it got to their head. He may have been a lucky one when it came to his chances of death and dismemberment—virtually nonexistent—but the subject matter of his education was depressing. Playing with people's lives, deciding whether it was worth it to save the people you loved, weighing probabilities, taking the other path because one less soldier might die, putting other people through hell for a benefit so small it was hardy noticed—it wasn't worth the reduced chance of a terrible fate. Especially not when the hypothetical king was an unstable, broken mess of a country who couldn't move one square because every shift required intense thought and argument and the tension was building so thick that the piece would shatter into shards of broken porcelain regardless of what the rest of the board did.

Even here, at the spaceport, people were whispering. It was Lyra—a Cantator in the middle of a nice spaceport?—but something else, too. It was odd, venturing out into regular, civilian life—this talk would not have been tolerated in the barracks. Yet here everyone was, muttering. This planet was as tense as it could get. They were on a dangerous precipice, hovering over the edge of the void, about to fall.

"Hey, T," someone said, breaking him out of his reverie. "Time to go."

"Right," he said thickly. "Yeah."

"This is amazing," Lyra sighed. "I mean, stars, look at this!" She pulled a piece of her bubblegum-pink hair out of the neat braid she'd been trying to wrestle it into, seemingly forgetting about tidiness entirely. "Eleutheria's so big. And it's pretty. I guess that sounds stupid—that sounds stupid, doesn't it?—but when you only ever see the very bottom of the heap you don't have the full picture. The only parts I've ever seen of this world are the little tiny alleys in downtown Appalachia, and I never thought once about leaving, but..." Her voice trailed off. She continued to excitedly fidget, ignoring the stares she was receiving.

"At least she's excited," T muttered.

"Maybe it'll be a learning experience?" Ace suggested tentatively.

T glared at him and handed him a ticket. Lyra took her own, holding it so tight it crinkled and cracked slightly. A voice announced the presence of the 1830 Acidalian flight and she practically jumped.

They boarded slowly, cramming into the cheap seats while the foreign dignitaries in creamy off-while stepped delicately to the windowed deck. T already hated this. It smelled like spent fuel and stale sweat, and the outside seemed infinitely better. Mars, the little red dot in the distant sky, was very far away.

His meta vibrated in his pocket. Annoyed, he picked it up and glared at the little glowing name: Diana. His codename for Artemis. He scrambled to answer it, dropping his own visor on the way; two Suffragium giggled at him. Momentarily, he thought, If you knew who I was....

"Hello?" he asked, his voice breaking awkwardly.

"T?" she asked. “What’s up with Acidalia?”

He choked on his own saliva. "What?"

“She’s not picking up her meta.”

A chill ran down T’s spine. Acidalia always answered her metadit.

"I'm in the KC Interplanetary spaceport," he said. "That's close to the palace."

"Have you taken off yet?"

"I think we're about to. I'm getting off."

Ace and Lyra looked at each other, confused. "What?" Lyra asked. "Are you okay? Spacesick already? I mean, I heard that could happen-"

He shook his head. "Ace, get her off-planet. I have to go."

"What's she saying?" Ace asked. Now everyone in the section was staring at them—as if two soldiers and a Cantator weren't suspicious enough already.

"Not here," T muttered. "Talk to you later." He stood abruptly, putting his visor back on and pushing past the people in front of him. A Scientia glared at him for a second before he whipped out his stunner pistol and waved it in front of his face.

"TB sector soldier here. I'm on military business. Get out of the way."

She jumped aside, and suddenly the aisle was clear. The girls who had been laughing at him before looked at each other and shrunk back, smoothing their hair and settling down where he couldn't see them. He jumped over someone's turned-over backpack and raced past the upper decks.

"I know you!" said a girl in silver-white. She was young, maybe twelve or thirteen.

"Really?" he asked, not listening much. He scouted around a corner, drawing his gun. If someone caught on to where he was going—someone with the Nova—it would be less than ideal.

"I saw you at the coronation," she said, like it was obvious. "You were the one who talked with the Imperatrix." Then, in a deep whisper, she added, "do you like her? Aleskynn says you like her."

"Aleskynn doesn't know what she's on about," he replied. "That's not true." He pulled his mask down. One person had already recognized him; there were sure to be more.

"I think it would have been romantic," she sighed. "Forbidden love, and all..."

T cringed, wanting more than anything to mention their genetic relationship. "No thanks. Hey, kid, where's your mother?"

"Don't call me kid," she demanded, standing up to a height of a full 140 centimetrons. "I'm the daughter of a Negotia. You're just a standard soldier."

"You're going to get yourself killed," he snapped. "Get back up on deck and hide, you hear me? Now."

"What?" Her bright pink eyes turned a deep, dark purple. It was the latest trend—color-changing eyes. It looked just as fake and stupid on this girl as it did on Aleskynn when she went through her rebellious phase; TB-2115 had a picture of her with bright orange hair and sea-foam green eyes in his wallet.

"You heard me."

She backed away slightly before scampering up the pretty marble steps—so far apart from the standard gray steel the rest of the planet had to use—and glanced back at him.

"Go," he called. "Get out."

She vanished behind a featureless pillar of stone.

He darted around the corner, sticking close to the wall before bursting out of the ship's doors. Three Raedae in identical uniforms jumped backwards at the sight of him.

"Which one of you is in charge?" he demanded. Two of them glanced at their comrade nervously.

"Me," she said softly. "Hi."

"Hi," he replied, far louder. "Get this ship off the ground immediately. Don't ask questions, just go." He flashed his visor at her, identifying himself as a high-ranking soldier. The Raeda didn't respond, signaling something to her comrades. All together, their steps strangely in line with one another, they surrounded the ship and signaled it for takeoff. He knew better than to stick around.

At least Ace and the Cantator would be safe for now. They couldn't exactly track them down once they were thousands of miles away on Mars, could they? Well, they probably could—it just wouldn't be worth the effort.

T sprinted off the runway and out of the spaceport, to the astonished looks of everyone around him. People fell out of his path once they realized who he was. They'd surely be talking about it later, but that didn't matter now.

The planet outside was a glowing array of dazzling blue-on-black lights. It was a pretty urban area, covered in countless art projects he could all recognize by name; the capitol city of Eleutheria was all beautiful neoclassicism mixed with neon. It seemed like it would never work, but it was stunning—everything from the ultraviolet lights to the bioluminescent flowers. Acidalia's touch was everywhere.

Pictures of his sister ran through his mind at the speed of sound, tripping over one another so quickly they came in flashes and vanished into thin air again. Braiding her dark hair on her balcony at night when they weren't supposed to be there, gossiping about the upper-class idiots she paraded around with, telling extravagant and exaggerated stories of places neither of them had any business being.

What would they do to her?

[dwestfieldblog]

SPIRITUAL EMERGENCIES

Its been a hard nights day and I've been working like a God...Centring my chi by  (                      ) in conjunction with a little (                    ) on Sundays but don't try this at home unless you have some. Under the influence but not persuaded, with no choice other than to follow my free will. 350 songs recorded in Prague (about a third of them are good enough) over a very long weekend and now ready to go again...Last month I heard my own voice in a dream saying 'Death is my second home',  so perhaps another temporary close-down is coming. Hope that paragraph was pretentious enough. If not...meditating on 'The First law of thermodynamics...No energy in the universe is created and none is destroyed'. So all is well...

The recent magnificent Wargames with Russia and China...300 thousand men, (that's a lot) many fields of tanks and nautical miles filled with battleships, necessary because of (according to a joint statement from the protagonists) 'dangerous times' and 'unstable situations'. Reminds me of Bill Hicks quoting George Bush the older (the CIA president) saying 'The world is a dangerous place'...'yeah, thanks to YOU, quit arming the world!'. But this time around, these unstable situations are being more egged on and supported by Russia, gleefully supported as always by all those those make weapons. Trump is not the 'human' being to slow this down. Nature abhors a vacuum and she is rushing now to fill various empty heart/mind and soulless actions made by various leaders with processes of an irreversible...well... nature...Only '12 years' left now to avert climate change disaster...your newborns this year might very well inherit a desert. Well, if it was good enough for the Israelites...

Climate change debates witter on by men in suits flown in at great carbon footprint expense to sit around expensive South American wood tables and agree that time itself is running out. While those that disagree with them only do so because of well paying vested interests in the industries which drain, burn, drill and destroy. Human beings are like gangsters holed up and surrounded by the law, determined to take the hostages and cops with them when they go in a blaze of glory, just so they don't die alone. Reliance on coal continues, the need for oil because of ... 'lifestyle choices'...(ego)... back to RAW again...

'As soon as they find out how to put a meter between us and the sun, only then will we have clean energy.'  

There is a very special circle of Hell reserved for the Barons of black gold, where they burn alive forever, lit by oil. And another circle for those mapping the human genome and copyrighting it so they can make billions from various medicines and procedures, holding the masses to ransom. Peace will occur either when it is more profitable than arms dealing or when there is absolute silence of death on the human side. How many people do you know who are neither whore nor pimp? Or both.

The purpose of existence is (NB. seems to me in my current long running reality tunnel to be) evolution...and as with self programming artificial intelligence, there is a type of instinctive logic which suggests that as any chain is as strong as its' weakest link...and the mass of humanity appears to be working against evolving, then nature will just erase us and get on with creating her own new thang without the apes. Quite right too. The universe is (seems to be) 'non simultaneously apprehended events and interacting processing' but until I pick the free crop of magic mushrooms in the mystic forest this late October month, I will just take RAW's cosmic trigger words for it. (The lousy alchemist cook says make sure they are washed and/or dried right. Vomiting mould covered nipple tops before any hallucinogenic gets into the blood proper is very little fun. Learning, or not from experience in the face of common sense is always a hoot. Ask my liver. ) Anyway...let's be Sirius...

'News'...Nick Clegg is to take over the Facebook worries. (Head of Global Policy and Communications in Silicon Valley) Nick Clegg. This shows JUST how much Zuckerberg gives a damn eh? Useless/Hopeless. For those who don't know or remember, some years ago Clegg was the leader of the Liberal Party in Britain who swore he would never allow an increase in University fees if he were ever Prime Minister. After the election 'win' of David Cameron and the Conservatives, (only made possible with the Liberals siding with them) it took about two weeks before he was forced to go back on his word and toe the line of his bigger coalition partner. (Can't have an easily affordable education, that would be dangerous) A weak and easily breakable man. Expect Facebook to go on paying even less tax, abusing your private information and allowing Russia et al free rein to influence the populace.  

Nice to see the half a million march against Brexit in London. Will accomplish nothing but good that some people woke up before the face of this bullshit a few days later... 'Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks.....a eagle mewing her mighty youth'...Geoffrey Cox QC, the Attorney General invoking Milton at the Tory conference.  Winston Churchill defined success as the 'ability to move from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm'. So, well done and three cheers boys..good luck with making Britain Great again. I would truly love to be proved wrong...but...

'In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran,  cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice...and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance, a vendetta...held not as a votive in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose.' ...V for Vendetta via Hugo Weaving in an Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask. My other favourite quote from that film is.....

'And thus I clothe my naked villainy with odd old ends stolen forth from holy writ and seem a saint when most I play the devil.'  Richard III by the real Shakespeare, which covers just about every politician and religious leader, bar a very very precious few. God may be great but he's not as fat as Buddha. And anyway, belief narrows reality tunnels. Which for some people, makes them feel stronger...

In October, Alternative fur (that's fur with an umlaut over the 'u', not the sexy animal hair which is so nice to stroke or be stroked by but I digress. Arf.) Germany... suggested quite firmly that middle school children report to them if any of their teachers said bad things about the new patriotic Nazi swine. Nothing dubious there, no harking back to cruel and better days of the old 'thousand year' Reich and denouncing intellectuals and subversives at all. A month before that, because of hearing shouting, I looked out of my own window one afternoon to see a six foot six skinhead, in army clothes and big black leather boots on a balcony opposite, drunk and rousingly crying out about Deutschland for five minutes in German to his mates in the kitchen behind him as he clasped a beer can. Perhaps he was only joking. Unlikely the grandmother living alone and above his flat thought so. And as for the massive shaven headed Slovak steroid monsters with tattoos on their necks who shout at each other in conversation even when both are sitting two feet away, their biggest insult to their tiny two old kids is to angrily shout 'Little gypsy!' at them when they do something wrong. All together now;Hail Victory! Fnord.

A bad death of a murdered journalist in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey... followed by a lovely picture in the papers of smiling Crown Prince Bin Salman with Jared Kusher (a walking cypher of wrong cleanliness and evil married to Trump's daughter) No wonder it is yet another bastard thing for Trump to hope the connections all vanish from..as he gently damns the killing of a critic of the very royal prince while tweeting endless vitriol against the third estate in the USA. And Donald's glorious tit for tat bollocks about the old nuclear bilateral agreement with Russia... 'Well THEY started it, so we will react...ad infinitum'. Back to the happy days of being able to wipe out the planet seventy times over and rational cold war paranoia...at some point a computer will finally analyse all probable outcomes for the last time and find the one way in which a nuclear war could be won with minimal death on the home side. The computer it will say 'Go for it alpha monkeys'.  

'How long o lord, how long?  How low do you have to stoop in this country to be president?' Hunter S Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972. (About Nixon, but ever more relevant by the day.)

Of course the masochistic paranoia of leaders will continue to find new and further devious outlets, displays and new laws...all the usual countries (IE all of them) behaving as if they can get away with murder forever. Forever, these days, is most likely shorter than a generation, unless there is already a dynasty of cruelty in place, where the buck/baton/cattle prod is passed down as an heirloom of death. Communication never gets to the top because underlings are scared to tell their bosses the truth in case the sweethearts are offended and kill them. (Meow and woof.)

*'The machine is running the engineers' Lenin on his deathbed. Communism, huh?

China's 'voluntary' organ donor scheme. Harvested from enemies of the state...70,000 annual operations...Got the money? Need a new liver? Sort you out in a fortnight, NO waiting list. Not suspicious at all, unless you are a doctor from another country looking into the massive amount of operations and the far smaller published donor lists. Hopefully, those rich enough to afford the instant new transplants will be better, peaceful people when they have their new tee total vegetarian Falun Gong organs in place. Whereas those with less to spend will have to make do with their internal workings run by other very involuntary donations made by dissidents who dared the high insult of comparing the 'president for life' to Winnie the Pooh.  

Primum non nocere, you bastards. The Hippocratic Oath replaced by a hypocritical medical ideology of murder for profit. The state does not help the healthcare 'system' much, if at all, so the military hospitals with easy access to prisoners can get to work stealing what is needed from living bodies. Those arrested who do not give their names and places of birth for fear of involving their families are simple to vanish. They ceased to exist the moment they were caught. Download the report, written by two Canadians, one a former Crown prosecutor and the other a Human Rights Lawyer and make up your own mind as to the veracity. 'The Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth', the land which brought the world Taoism and Confucianism...  

www.organharvestinvestigation.net

Take the time and read the report. Then ask yourself, if your children, parents or close friends needed a transplant to save their life (and you could afford a fast Chinese military hospital operation) would you truly care where the organ came from as long as it was healthy? If it was only for you, would you still take it, knowing where it had been stolen from or would you allow your own destiny to be? Desperation is one sure-fire test of the perception of morality.

*Ever notice all those t shirts, sweat shirts and bags with those certain cool slogans on? 'Happy to be an individual', 'My style is my choice', 'My freedom is my world', 'The end justifies the means'. Etc. Take a very cold and realistic guess as to where they are made and by whom and under what conditions. That's right. 

I appear to live (temporarily) in a world where a printed sign on the inside of a toilet door needs to say in two languages 'First unlock the door then turn handle'. That's right kids/adults, you have to be able to open a door before you open it. Almost Zen wisdom but hardly rocket science or brain surgery. Stuff you learn at about the age of  three. I have lost count (triple figures now) of how many customers in a certain shop I have seen standing next to a big, clearly printed sign on the counter to 'ring for service', watching them get ever more impatient as those who are working hard behind the scenes remain deaf and blind to their existence. And signs on the front door, inside and outside also in two languages, asking customers to please close the door.  A third of them never do, even in heavy winter. The evil within me takes a savage glee at the depth of stupidity of these shameless idiots. The pathetic being within rejoices that he is not quite as dumb as these retarded bipeds and the fake existentialist feels a sweeping wave of sheer galactic horror. But...

Back to the litany once again and forever...quality over quantity. I have optimism for the few. They/you WILL make it. You will create it and become it. As long as you understand how to open a f...ing door, you are halfway there.

'Whoever can scare people enough (produce bio-survival anxiety) can sell them quickly on any verbal map which seems to give them relief. i.e. cure the anxiety. By frightening people with Hell and then offering them Salvation, the most ignorant or crooked individuals can 'sell' a whole system of thought that cannot bear two minutes of rational analysis. Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising.

And once the child/adult is afraid enough, they will follow the substitute parent/s, kept pliant and submissive by further shocks administered to their truly nervous system with the promise of support or threat of punishment. Shame forever without mercy on those outside the mainstream of politics and organised religion who maintain such deeply manipulative systems in the pretence of setting the tender initiates 'free'. You should be a positive alternative, not more of the same poison.

'You gave your life to be the person you are now. Was it worth it?'           Richard Bach.Running from Saftey.

Onwards and inwards, sidestepping the unnecessary. You are your thoughts,'Reality' is personal, subjective and shaped by Will, the Love you come from and the Love you create. Happy everything/Sol Invictus to you and survive the long winter. Hibernate if needed, stay warm, learning and free...

[rockinroleplay]

Walburga Black.

60. PUREBLOOD. BLACK FAMILY MATRIARCH.

There's head canons for Walburga lined out both in Alphard and Sirius's applications, so if you're interested in her, definitely make sure you give those a read. On Alphard's end of things, I head canon that he and his sister were close when they were younger, and that she was the bolder, stronger personality that drew her shy, introverted brother away from his solitary pastimes. As they grew older, however, the two of them grew apart. I know that canon doesn't quite paint the rosiest picture of Walburga, and while it would be fair to say that she was an abusive mother (and not a particularly attentive one, either, if you give Sirius's app a read), she does manage to remain a hard, strong woman, even with the constraints of the very patriarchal pureblood society (and, perhaps, at least, there's something to be admired about that) and I've tried to avoid vilifying her further. For example, her reasons for resenting Al present day are, for the most part, understandable—at least within the context of the society in which they were raised. First off, I imagine that Irma and Pollux were much harder on Walburga and Cygnus than they were on Alphard, since they were, respectively, the daughter and youngest born son of the family. Alphard was given a lot of leeway, due to being their first male heir, although Walburga was the oldest of all three children. While that wasn't exactly Alphard's fault, I can see how it might've very much rankled. Particularly as Walburga likely would have made a better heir than Alphard, given that, with time, she proved much better at adhering to the expectations of traditional pureblood life. Secondly, Walburga was married off shortly after she graduated (and to a second degree cousin, no less), whereas Al was allowed to go travel in order to "further his education" (that was the excuse he gave, although he was really just closeted and trying to avoid being married off, himself). To add insult to injury, when he returned home, not only was it discovered that he'd spent the two years tracking dragons (very nearly getting himself killed several times in the process and, therefore almost costing his parents an heir), but he didn't even continue pursuing Care of Magical Creatures professionally; instead going into the safer, more stable field of broom production. Upon his return, his parents set him up with his own estate (although Walburga wound up inheriting the Black ancestral home by the time she had her sons, which made things a little more fair, perhaps), and he went back to being private and reclusive, while Walburga was the one expected to continue hosting parties and playing the socialite, in order to maintain the family's social standing.

By the time she had her sons (Sirius was born when she was 35, I believe), Alphard was still unmarried, and had yet to start a family of his own. Although, in Alphard's defense, he really did try, even going so far as to court a woman who was rumored to have veela ancestry in her lineage, and still feeling nothing for her. It's entirely up to whoever takes Walburga whether or not she had suspicions as to why her brother remained a bachelor. If she did, though, it was never a subject she broached with Alphard.

And, despite whatever shortcomings Walburga may have felt her brother had, Al was wholly devoted to the family. Like, definitely the sort of person you could owl or fire-call (or whatever) in a pinch, and who would help with little to no questions asked. He also sacrificed a lot for the sake of not causing the family any scandal (not to mention bit his tongue ad infinitum), and threw himself into being a good uncle for his nieces and nephews, since he never had children of his own. Never showed up to visit Cyg or Wal without presents in hand for their children, was always willing to hear them out when they talked about their childish excitements of the day, and to indulge whatever silly games they might want to play—that sort of thing.

That said, Walburga felt (for whatever reason) that Al was a bad influence, and wouldn't let him spend very much time around her sons. I have my own suspicions, however, that it probably had something to do with the Muggle car he bought and charmed to fly when he was twenty-three (how Wal found out about the car is, again, up to you, and definitely a past thread I'd be up for) and/or his many stories about dragons and the way her boys' eyes probably lit up when he told them. And it probably didn't help that Al started challenging her on things: be it how obviously in favor of Voldemort she was, or the way he'd remind her of how stubborn she'd been growing up whenever she complained about Sirius (and it's very possible that she was harder on her sons than Irma and Pollux were on Wal, Al, and Cyg when they were children b/c she didn't want either of her boys to turn out to be so disappointing an heir as their uncle).

The discord between the two reached a crescendo when (instead of dying and willing money to Sirius the way he did in canon) Alphard lived and refused to cut ties with Sirius after Wal disowned him (even going so far as to provide him with money), and she wound up blasting her brother off the family tree over it, when Al refused to back down. That said, I'd still like a Walburga present day for the drama of it (and also for the purpose of threading out aaaalllll of the past threads—b/c, boy, did these two ever butt heads!).

While it's doubtful that she and Al have much contact anymore, they might still exchange snipey owls on occasion? That's certainly a possibility, especially if Wal were to catch wind of any of the present day decisions he's been making. Or, perhaps, she needs or wants something from him? Because Al has a glaring blind spot for family, and really isn't as grudgey as he ought to be. Or, maybe, with time, it's possible (particularly if you decide that Orion died in this AU around the time he was supposed to have died in canon) that being left so alone has caused her to realize that the advice Al gave her, unsolicited though it was, was good advice (given that she's had no contact with Sirius and Reg is, now, off in hiding, I think?—though I'm not holding my breath there)? Or she could be an unapologetic, active member of the Orchid Club? There's really so many different directions you could take things. It's all up to player interpretation. Either way, I'd love to see her thrown into the mix of chars we have on Maudlin.

Finally, Walburga's face claim is open, but some suggested faces are Andie Macdowell (pictured, and my personal favorite), Sela Ward, and Mary Steenburgen. It's okay with me if you'd rather use someone else, though, provided that they look like they could be related to the other members of the Black family already on Maudlin, and that they fall within the 5 year+/- age range that's been set for character face claims on here. And, if you'd like to plot or discuss details, you can reach me over PM or on discord at the handle @nippyniffler#3899.   

[therpsource]

Walburga Black.

60. PUREBLOOD. BLACK FAMILY MATRIARCH.

There's head canons for Walburga lined out both in Alphard and Sirius's applications, so if you're interested in her, definitely make sure you give those a read. On Alphard's end of things, I head canon that he and his sister were close when they were younger, and that she was the bolder, stronger personality that drew her shy, introverted brother away from his solitary pastimes. As they grew older, however, the two of them grew apart. I know that canon doesn't quite paint the rosiest picture of Walburga, and while it would be fair to say that she was an abusive mother (and not a particularly attentive one, either, if you give Sirius's app a read), she does manage to remain a hard, strong woman, even with the constraints of the very patriarchal pureblood society (and, perhaps, at least, there's something to be admired about that) and I've tried to avoid vilifying her further. For example, her reasons for resenting Al present day are, for the most part, understandable—at least within the context of the society in which they were raised. First off, I imagine that Irma and Pollux were much harder on Walburga and Cygnus than they were on Alphard, since they were, respectively, the daughter and youngest born son of the family. Alphard was given a lot of leeway, due to being their first male heir, although Walburga was the oldest of all three children. While that wasn't exactly Alphard's fault, I can see how it might've very much rankled. Particularly as Walburga likely would have made a better heir than Alphard, given that, with time, she proved much better at adhering to the expectations of traditional pureblood life. Secondly, Walburga was married off shortly after she graduated (and to a second degree cousin, no less), whereas Al was allowed to go travel in order to "further his education" (that was the excuse he gave, although he was really just closeted and trying to avoid being married off, himself). To add insult to injury, when he returned home, not only was it discovered that he'd spent the two years tracking dragons (very nearly getting himself killed several times in the process and, therefore almost costing his parents an heir), but he didn't even continue pursuing Care of Magical Creatures professionally; instead going into the safer, more stable field of broom production. Upon his return, his parents set him up with his own estate (although Walburga wound up inheriting the Black ancestral home by the time she had her sons, which made things a little more fair, perhaps), and he went back to being private and reclusive, while Walburga was the one expected to continue hosting parties and playing the socialite, in order to maintain the family's social standing.

By the time she had her sons (Sirius was born when she was 35, I believe), Alphard was still unmarried, and had yet to start a family of his own. Although, in Alphard's defense, he really did try, even going so far as to court a woman who was rumored to have veela ancestry in her lineage, and still feeling nothing for her. It's entirely up to whoever takes Walburga whether or not she had suspicions as to why her brother remained a bachelor. If she did, though, it was never a subject she broached with Alphard.

And, despite whatever shortcomings Walburga may have felt her brother had, Al was wholly devoted to the family. Like, definitely the sort of person you could owl or fire-call (or whatever) in a pinch, and who would help with little to no questions asked. He also sacrificed a lot for the sake of not causing the family any scandal (not to mention bit his tongue ad infinitum), and threw himself into being a good uncle for his nieces and nephews, since he never had children of his own. Never showed up to visit Cyg or Wal without presents in hand for their children, was always willing to hear them out when they talked about their childish excitements of the day, and to indulge whatever silly games they might want to play—that sort of thing.

That said, Walburga felt (for whatever reason) that Al was a bad influence, and wouldn't let him spend very much time around her sons. I have my own suspicions, however, that it probably had something to do with the Muggle car he bought and charmed to fly when he was twenty-three (how Wal found out about the car is, again, up to you, and definitely a past thread I'd be up for) and/or his many stories about dragons and the way her boys' eyes probably lit up when he told them. And it probably didn't help that Al started challenging her on things: be it how obviously in favor of Voldemort she was, or the way he'd remind her of how stubborn she'd been growing up whenever she complained about Sirius (and it's very possible that she was harder on her sons than Irma and Pollux were on Wal, Al, and Cyg when they were children b/c she didn't want either of her boys to turn out to be so disappointing an heir as their uncle).

The discord between the two reached a crescendo when (instead of dying and willing money to Sirius the way he did in canon) Alphard lived and refused to cut ties with Sirius after Wal disowned him (even going so far as to provide him with money), and she wound up blasting her brother off the family tree over it, when Al refused to back down. That said, I'd still like a Walburga present day for the drama of it (and also for the purpose of threading out aaaalllll of the past threads—b/c, boy, did these two ever butt heads!).

While it's doubtful that she and Al have much contact anymore, they might still exchange snipey owls on occasion? That's certainly a possibility, especially if Wal were to catch wind of any of the present day decisions he's been making. Or, perhaps, she needs or wants something from him? Because Al has a glaring blind spot for family, and really isn't as grudgey as he ought to be. Or, maybe, with time, it's possible (particularly if you decide that Orion died in this AU around the time he was supposed to have died in canon) that being left so alone has caused her to realize that the advice Al gave her, unsolicited though it was, was good advice (given that she's had no contact with Sirius and Reg is, now, off in hiding, I think?—though I'm not holding my breath there)? Or she could be an unapologetic, active member of the Orchid Club? There's really so many different directions you could take things. It's all up to player interpretation. Either way, I'd love to see her thrown into the mix of chars we have on Maudlin.

Finally, Walburga's face claim is open, but some suggested faces are Andie Macdowell (pictured, and my personal favorite), Sela Ward, and Mary Steenburgen. It's okay with me if you'd rather use someone else, though, provided that they look like they could be related to the other members of the Black family already on Maudlin, and that they fall within the 5 year+/- age range that's been set for character face claims on here. And, if you'd like to plot or discuss details, you can reach me over PM or on discord at the handle @nippyniffler#3899.   

[rpgadverts]

Walburga Black.

60. PUREBLOOD. BLACK FAMILY MATRIARCH.

There's head canons for Walburga lined out both in Alphard and Sirius's applications, so if you're interested in her, definitely make sure you give those a read. On Alphard's end of things, I head canon that he and his sister were close when they were younger, and that she was the bolder, stronger personality that drew her shy, introverted brother away from his solitary pastimes. As they grew older, however, the two of them grew apart. I know that canon doesn't quite paint the rosiest picture of Walburga, and while it would be fair to say that she was an abusive mother (and not a particularly attentive one, either, if you give Sirius's app a read), she does manage to remain a hard, strong woman, even with the constraints of the very patriarchal pureblood society (and, perhaps, at least, there's something to be admired about that) and I've tried to avoid vilifying her further. For example, her reasons for resenting Al present day are, for the most part, understandable—at least within the context of the society in which they were raised. First off, I imagine that Irma and Pollux were much harder on Walburga and Cygnus than they were on Alphard, since they were, respectively, the daughter and youngest born son of the family. Alphard was given a lot of leeway, due to being their first male heir, although Walburga was the oldest of all three children. While that wasn't exactly Alphard's fault, I can see how it might've very much rankled. Particularly as Walburga likely would have made a better heir than Alphard, given that, with time, she proved much better at adhering to the expectations of traditional pureblood life. Secondly, Walburga was married off shortly after she graduated (and to a second degree cousin, no less), whereas Al was allowed to go travel in order to "further his education" (that was the excuse he gave, although he was really just closeted and trying to avoid being married off, himself). To add insult to injury, when he returned home, not only was it discovered that he'd spent the two years tracking dragons (very nearly getting himself killed several times in the process and, therefore almost costing his parents an heir), but he didn't even continue pursuing Care of Magical Creatures professionally; instead going into the safer, more stable field of broom production. Upon his return, his parents set him up with his own estate (although Walburga wound up inheriting the Black ancestral home by the time she had her sons, which made things a little more fair, perhaps), and he went back to being private and reclusive, while Walburga was the one expected to continue hosting parties and playing the socialite, in order to maintain the family's social standing.

By the time she had her sons (Sirius was born when she was 35, I believe), Alphard was still unmarried, and had yet to start a family of his own. Although, in Alphard's defense, he really did try, even going so far as to court a woman who was rumored to have veela ancestry in her lineage, and still feeling nothing for her. It's entirely up to whoever takes Walburga whether or not she had suspicions as to why her brother remained a bachelor. If she did, though, it was never a subject she broached with Alphard.

And, despite whatever shortcomings Walburga may have felt her brother had, Al was wholly devoted to the family. Like, definitely the sort of person you could owl or fire-call (or whatever) in a pinch, and who would help with little to no questions asked. He also sacrificed a lot for the sake of not causing the family any scandal (not to mention bit his tongue ad infinitum), and threw himself into being a good uncle for his nieces and nephews, since he never had children of his own. Never showed up to visit Cyg or Wal without presents in hand for their children, was always willing to hear them out when they talked about their childish excitements of the day, and to indulge whatever silly games they might want to play—that sort of thing.

That said, Walburga felt (for whatever reason) that Al was a bad influence, and wouldn't let him spend very much time around her sons. I have my own suspicions, however, that it probably had something to do with the Muggle car he bought and charmed to fly when he was twenty-three (how Wal found out about the car is, again, up to you, and definitely a past thread I'd be up for) and/or his many stories about dragons and the way her boys' eyes probably lit up when he told them. And it probably didn't help that Al started challenging her on things: be it how obviously in favor of Voldemort she was, or the way he'd remind her of how stubborn she'd been growing up whenever she complained about Sirius (and it's very possible that she was harder on her sons than Irma and Pollux were on Wal, Al, and Cyg when they were children b/c she didn't want either of her boys to turn out to be so disappointing an heir as their uncle).

The discord between the two reached a crescendo when (instead of dying and willing money to Sirius the way he did in canon) Alphard lived and refused to cut ties with Sirius after Wal disowned him (even going so far as to provide him with money), and she wound up blasting her brother off the family tree over it, when Al refused to back down. That said, I'd still like a Walburga present day for the drama of it (and also for the purpose of threading out aaaalllll of the past threads—b/c, boy, did these two ever butt heads!).

While it's doubtful that she and Al have much contact anymore, they might still exchange snipey owls on occasion? That's certainly a possibility, especially if Wal were to catch wind of any of the present day decisions he's been making. Or, perhaps, she needs or wants something from him? Because Al has a glaring blind spot for family, and really isn't as grudgey as he ought to be. Or, maybe, with time, it's possible (particularly if you decide that Orion died in this AU around the time he was supposed to have died in canon) that being left so alone has caused her to realize that the advice Al gave her, unsolicited though it was, was good advice (given that she's had no contact with Sirius and Reg is, now, off in hiding, I think?—though I'm not holding my breath there)? Or she could be an unapologetic, active member of the Orchid Club? There's really so many different directions you could take things. It's all up to player interpretation. Either way, I'd love to see her thrown into the mix of chars we have on Maudlin.

Finally, Walburga's face claim is open, but some suggested faces are Andie Macdowell (pictured, and my personal favorite), Sela Ward, and Mary Steenburgen. It's okay with me if you'd rather use someone else, though, provided that they look like they could be related to the other members of the Black family already on Maudlin, and that they fall within the 5 year+/- age range that's been set for character face claims on here. And, if you'd like to plot or discuss details, you can reach me over PM or on discord at the handle @nippyniffler#3899.