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ivy72376 · 2 years ago

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LEARNING DEEPLY, December 1-31, 2022

Here's a new year thought and challenge to us, Bible-believing Christians, something counter-cultural, almost bordering on faith deconstruction:

When our Savior said, "to give and lend without expecting in return", because our God is a Person too, whom we believe think and feel the same way we do, can we also expect it of our tithes and offerings that we give to our churches and congregations today, and our donations for other causes?

(Because if we are truly blessed, we are not just recipients, but channels of grace, with almost nothing left for ourselves, but to pass on every little blessing to the next person; we are rivers of living water, not a stagnant pond, lake, nor the Dead Sea, and living is best done fulfilling that purpose.)

#BeingRiversOfLivingWater

#CallMeRioIvy

Like Caleb, who wholly followed the Lord, may we too allow our beliefs and convictions to bear fruit in our lives; by treating others with respect and consideration, by not only connecting with them when we need funds and favors, but to truly care about other people's issues and concerns, their needs and situations, while keeping a wholesome distance, respecting boundaries and not being unnecessarily nosy... For kindness and concern may have less visible markers than lots and boundaries, but it is nonetheless real; and if we have to show we care, we act without saying much, we give without expecting anything in return, we support and encourage without patronizing, we are honest and truthful and not gaslight, and if anybody asks, we render generously to those deserving, with added wisdom and loving rebuke to those who need it most...

#Joshua13and14

#HappyDecember31

One of the reasons I love doing the grocery is because one learns a lot, and is able to immediately confirm so... Like a quick and casual convo during our queue at the supermarket CR a few days ago, where some elder Moms are saying that in the two-cubicle room with only one that is functioning, regular and prompt maintenance should be done... They then compared the store to the bigger one with a wider store area, more stocks, and definitely more comfort room cubicles... But then immediately followed it up by saying they would always choose to shop at the smaller store because it is brighter, cleaner, stocks are well-arranged, and the store area itself smells good, while implying that the bigger store is completely the opposite... And we all nodded our heads knowingly... But this does not apply to these stores though, for as stated by management experts for several years now, it is not the price nor quantity, but the customer experience that is the selling point... So that whatever product one is offering, be it a tangible good or service, however cheap or costly, quality is established by how satisfied the customer feels, which come not from being treated as exclusive VIPs or being given high-end brands, but even for ordinary, unnamed, irregular customers, to be afforded equal respect, dignity and courtesy... May we learn and live addressing these needs in our daily lives, especially in our interactions with other people too...

#FridaySupermarketLearn12302022

History is always written by the victors, and so we never know how the victims and casualties felt; that even though they believe differently and belong to a different culture, they too may have dreams, have families and friends they care deeply about, and would have wanted to live in a better world, and face a better future... Such is the irony of the Good Book, that also unabashedly records evil and destruction... So therefore, may we not lose the lesson: that cruelty and evil does not pay, that mercy and compassion will always save the day, that rather than being 100% literal, we learn instead from the motivations, the thoughts, emotions, actions, lusts and desires of the ancient peoples, in order for us now to act more mature, with humility and wisdom, with faith, patience and endurance, and that we might share and live at peace with one and all, regardless of gender, nationality, belief and conviction...

#Joshua11and12

#HappyDecember30

It seems offensive and deconstructive to learn that in the formation of the legacy of our faith, the ancient fathers went on a genocidal rampage... But these are not unique in the annals of history; for apart from Christianity and Judaism, other faiths also were recorded to have gone through such oppressive and shameful, immoral and violent eras... Yet, one lesson should not be lost: that with wisdom and humility, peace can be attained, such as that initiated by the princes of Gibeon, and that faithful allies can indeed help save the day against more powerful enemies... To our modern culture, we rightfully denounce the culture of violence and greed; but may we always uphold what is true, good, just and right, and endeavor to keep the peace...

#Joshua09and10

#HappyDecember29

Genocide, no matter and especially if justified as religiously mandated, is always evil... And even if the word says that in this case, the destruction of Ai and mass killing of its people has heavenly sanction, yet, it comes at a great price... For anything done with greed, complacency, pride and selfishness, will always have lasting tragic consequences... Events and periods in history like that mentioned in these passages are by no means unique and even now is still happening in all parts of the world, but may we not lose the greater lessons unsaid: that life can only be meaningful if lived according to the will if our Creator, that we be concerned with the needs of others as we take care of our own, that we do not discriminate but be hospitable both to our kin and strangers, that in whatever aspect of life, we consistently remain humble and respectful, sensitive to the will of our God, and quick and courageous to do whatever is right and just...

#Joshua07and08

#HappyDecember28

Especially to our modern-day perspective, taking other people's lands and lives is evil and wrong; yet it seems that many today, like some narcissistic leaders and powerful people, may still have been stuck in such ancient and outdated mindsets... And so we learn the greater lesson of the second great circumcision operation and the taking of Jericho; that no matter how much we have accumulated for ourselves things, wealth, fame, status and people, in one fell swoop, when we least expect it, they can all be taken away, regardless of whether we believe the one taking them be deserving or not... May we realize that we are mere stewards, and whatever our hands find to do, whatever may be the fruit of our labors, are not something to brag about or feel ourselves great in; for our whole duty consists in using those things to support our families and loved ones, to care and help our less privileged fellow man, to remain humble and responsible, in replenishing creation and making this world better... In spite of the challenges, may we still continue to prove ourselves faithful, diligent and true...

#Joshua05and06

#HappyDecember27

The ark and the river stones... Like in Joshua's time, we today will also know if we have aligned ourselves with the One greater than all, if we have established His Covenant in our hearts, treating it preciously and faithfully, and putting it on a special pedestal over our lives like the Ark, taking care that none of our greed, pride, selfishness and sense of entitlement rule and reign above that of doing our best to fulfill His will, and making sure that our sensitivity, our care and concern for others manifest in good manners, in courtesy and respect whether by word or deed, or by giving thanks, acknowledgement and recognition to whom these are due and at the right time... For that is how we can tell our future generation when they ask what our faith and tradition means, whatever these may be; that these are not done for show, for likes, for status or just simply to make ourselves feel good... For like the Jordan River stones, our deeds and words, their rewards, and their effects on others, will be etched in stone and last beyond our lifetimes; so that even if we ask forgiveness for offenses, there is forgiveness, but there will always be eternal consequences... May we live our days being careful and pondering our every word and deed, whether by commission or negligence, omission or forgetfulness...

#Joshua03and04

#HappyDecember26

Quite a lot of people are crowding around the gate of a rich man's house this morning, eagerly waiting for the promised rice dole-outs... Not saying much here, but to borrow and appropriate a cousin's shared post on waiting for Mary's water to break before doing the Christmas shopping... Please, if we must be charitable, let's not wait until Mary's post-partum to help put food on the table of our poor and indigent neighbors, the so-called informal settlers that we consider an eyesore 364 days of the year... Because true generosity is timely and relevant...

#HaveAMerryChristmasMorning

Being strong and of good courage, come not from the status, position, nor the appointed or elected office... For as in Joshua's case, as an example for all humanity, it is daily meditation, deep understanding and faithful obedience of the law, whether that be spiritual, secular or civil and political... For understanding and obedience, far from being brainless and coercive, are actually the test of faith and conviction... One may have all the trappings of beauty and wealth, or even the illusion of intelligence and qualifications, but the one most deserving is one who is diligently law-abiding, not for fear of punishment or retribution, but as a fruit of the heart that is inherently loving, generous, caring and concerned of all life and accountabilities, of life's greater purpose and design, and of the One who breathed life to us all... May we be proven faithful and true, may we be proven obedient and wise...

#Joshua01and02

#HappyDecember25

The blessing and the settlement... One knows that one has received something good and lasting, if apart from the joy and gladness, there is peace and acceptance: that though we might be in places, in statuses and situations, and with people whom we want and love, at times, these will not be enough to stop us from feeling lonely and nostalgic and sad... For dwelling in safety in these passages comes with dwelling alone, like the proverbial loneliness of being lonely on top... Still, if we can settle our hearts to accept and make do with what life has given, beyond this season and beyond, we will realize that what we have and will be blessed with in the future come not only for our hopes and efforts, but because who we are being built up to be will soon meet the challenge of becoming the greater person that we are destined to become... And so, whether the realization of our hopes and dreams lie in this present life in the form of being settled and spending our days with our worthy companions, or even beyond it to eternity, we can have deep and lasting peace that when the dust of confusion and pride are settled, we are always at the right time, and the right place, and with the right people...

#deuteronomy33and34

#HappyDecember24

To live strong and of good courage, is to run counter to the culture of our time: that upholds fame and wealth as measures of success rather than a generous life; that promotes unhealthy body shapes and sizes as desirable rather than a joyful and prayerful attitude; that puts a premium on looks, on financial prosperity and social connections, rather than humility and spiritual and emotional growth; that prioritizes people's affirmation more than truth, wisdom, understanding and discernment, peace and love... As we all approach the twilight of our years, may we not waste each moment by passing on to the next generation, the virtues and good characters we try so hard but fail to live by, and in humility, to acknowledge our own inadequacies that they may learn from our mistakes... Like Moses who learned to let go when it was the right time, may we learn to let go of the spotlight we shine on ourselves, and let our God alone be glorified in how our lives have become...

#Deuteronomy31and32

#HappyDecember23

To see and hear, and not ignore... Just as our Savior also said later that from those who were given much, much is demanded, so also like the ancient Israelites, from those of us who have been blessed with wisdom, with a good education, with material means, with abilities and talents, it is demanded and considered a lifelong and worthy call to give back and be part of something greater... One hears of the phrase, "active concern"; and we learn that no matter how good and qualified we think we may be, how high in our careers and levels of society we may go, however much and many wealth, connections, relationships, degrees and certifications we may have received, these are all worthless if we cannot even give a moment of our time to teach and encourage, to give clarity and wisdom, to stand up for truth, justice and right... May we heed our God's call to choose life, to choose obedience and goodness, to care and be actively concerned, so that our life's journey will not be meaningless, but rather be filled with warmth and light, with hope and joy, grace and love...

#Deuteronomy29and30

#HappyDecember22

The blessing and cursing are really vivid, raw, wonderful and terrible in these passages... Unfortunately for many of us, we think they only apply to ancient Israel, when in fact today, people around the world are experiencing them too, which speaks of their universality... May we learn that greed, corruption and wickedness does not pay; and though we may condescend, flatter, or cover up our selfish, envious and cruel acts and intents, but we reap the effects nonetheless... For no matter how high or far we may go in life, we share the same mortal fate with those lower than us whom we abuse, oppress or take advantage of: we are all accountable to our Maker, and equal in His eyes, and it is best we heed His words and conduct our affairs in honesty, in goodness, in truth, in peace and love...

#Deuteronomy27and28

#HappyDecember21

Strange as some ancient customs may seem to us today, but at the heart of all laws and ordinances is to remind people to live with justice and fairness, and to treat each one with dignity, respect and equity... However, goodness cannot really be mandated, because it is innate, and because it is a choice, regardless of laws and penalties... May we be people who do good from the heart, not just for show, who respect other people's rights and boundaries because we genuinely care and not because we fear the repercussions of our offenses... For being humane cannot be expressed in flattery or condescension, but in the way we speak, what we say and the message we put forth, how we respect other people's time and effort and their situations... Because life is not all about us, but about each and every one of us in equal, lowly standing before our God and Maker...

#Deuteronomy25and26

#HappyDecember20

Rather than misinterpreting these passages as an ancient God's discrimination against people with disabilities, or those less able, or socially and civilly ostracized and disadvantaged in life, one may choose to understand His aversion to willfull mutilations, and avoidable situations that demean anyone's personhood... For indeed, one must, as far as it is within our power, take care of our bodies and members, that we may be in the best condition to worship Him and serve and take care of our fellowman... For in the succeeding passages, He commands justice, generosity and right, regardless of who we are, our gender and nationality... May we learn to accept and live the truth, that fulfilling the purpose of our existence means that we always deal fairly and honestly, to respect each other's rights and persons, to remain humble and giving, to encourage and give hope, to stand up against oppression and abuse, to defend what is right and just, and to spend the rest of our days in courage and persistence; that no matter the trials and difficulties, we remain steadfast, strong, full of inspiration and joy, faith and love...

#Deuteronomy23and24

#HappyDecember19

Proper boundaries... Good thing that we are not anymore living now like the ancients, where any offense on infraction to boundaries and morals are meted with death... However, the effects of such offenses by no means have decreased in severity, for always, any act of disrespect, disregard, insensitivity, favoritism and nepotism, lasciviousness and instigation, are always demeaning and offensive, destructive to character and hope, ruinous to morals and good relationships... May we learn to respect each other's healthy boundaries, and conduct ourselves in dignity and honor, in love, peace and grace...

#Deuteronomy21and22

#HappyDecember18

Living with honor, dignity and respect takes humility and courage... For a naturally humble and brave person, full of wisdom and love, respects other people's issues and concerns, their time and effort, their potentials, preferences and dreams... While the proud one is ignorant and stupid, only looking out for itself, considering itself more superior, entitled and privileged, over-estimating its capabilities and qualifications, too greedy and selfish for recognition and rewards... May we learn from the ancients, from history, from our very own lives: that pride goes before destruction and fall, but that humility and courage, aside from being their own rewards, bear fruit in building up other people's lives and keeps their souls too...

#Deuteronomy19and20

#HappyDecember17

No prior presumptions... May all our dealings with our God and others be fair and just, honest and true, full of wisdom, goodness, hope and love, and bear much fruit... For presuming we are the only one special, entitled and privileged, smacks of ignorance and stupidity, and is the prime recipe for comeuppance and downfall... But like what was written long ago, those that remain humble yet fights for what's right, will always find a lasting legacy, their dreams and good futures come to pass, the good message and word enriching their lives, a truer understanding and acceptance, more true friends and more loyal companions through life...

#Deuteronomy17and18

#HappyDecember16

Generosity is the true measure of a person... How we manage and dispense with the things entrusted to us--whether they be material or temporal, spiritual and intangible, even our very lives and the things we most value--tells a lot about our eternal destiny... For a closed and greedy hand, a selfish spirit that disregards the needs and concerns of others in favor of its own, excusing itself as too busy or that there is never enough time, will only find that their most prized possessions become like quicksilver in their hands; while the generous hand, brave enough to open itself up, to let go and give, to consider that other people may have more pressing and weightier matters, and that they can actually and will help, even just in the giving of knowledge, truth, comfort and hope, will find that what they want and need most will be more than amply provided for, and will be added unto it, blessing, love and well-wishes from good and well-meaning friends and loved ones... May every day be a day of jubilee for us, and may we learn to give, to love, to encourage, to bring peace and hope and joy...

#Deuteronomy15and16

#HappyDecember15

The God we know, and what's inside of us... Thankfully, our Savior opened our eyes to the truth, that it is not what goes inside of us that makes us unclean, but what comes out--in words and deeds... For we may claim to be religious, spiritual, holy, knowledgeable and qualified; but lacking the actions motivated by genuine mercy, truth and honesty, peace, joy, love and grace, we are merely empty gongs, unemotional robots in life, without substance, right minds and judgments... Indeed, it is not what we claim to have and believe, what we have achieved and accumulated that defines our lives; but we find meaning, purpose and fulfillment, if our faith and belief bear fruit through us, in blessing and encouraging others, in responsible stewardship of life and creation, in making this world better than when we first came to it...

#Deuteronomy13and14

#HappyDecember14

It could have been better, nicer, happier; we could have been more complete... But the Christmas that is now, because we're still alive healthy and hopeful, will always be the best...

#HappyHolidays

A blessing and a curse... Because wherever on earth we choose to settle, we always live in community: accountable to our Maker, and responsible towards our fellowman and families... And how life turns out to be is a direct effect of these; for we might struggle so much in life, to rise economically, socially and materially, to gain degrees and qualifications, to receive awards and recognitions, to put ourselves above others and claim superiority and mastery, yet, we are a failure if we cannot even teach our children respect and good manners, if we cannot be truthful and honest, if we let greed, pride and envy rule our motives and perspectives... Therefore, a blessing and a curse only awaits--the blessing to one who remains humble, tolerant, transparent, understanding and patient, while the curse to one who thinks too highly of themselves to believe that they could do no wrong and that there is no need for them to consider other people's issues and situations yet insist that they be indulged, accommodated and entitled to privilege at every turn...

#Deuteronomy11and12

#HappyDecember13

Worthy of the Word... Just like the ancient Israelites to whom the Ten Commandments were given, have to prove themselves worthy of the word and law they have received from God, in our time today too, in a time that we claim to be socially and technologically advanced, we need to prove worthy of the education, the degree and certification, the knowledge and skill we have received: by living lives that uphold truth and justice, respect for people's basic rights and boundaries, consideration for each other's needs, issues and situations... For wisdom is proved right by its actions, even to our acceptance and care, support and encouragement of those whom we believe are weaker and under-privileged... For it is how we act towards the least of us that shows our love and respect for our God... For how can we claim to believe in His Name whom we cannot perceive but only imagine, to be called as His people, if we cannot be truthful, respectful, honest, humble, transparent and accountable with those with whom we can see and commune with everyday?...

#Deuteronomy09and10

#HappyDecember12

God's great transformation is in how we understand Him... Are we to believe that the same God our Savior and the apostles proclaim in the New Testament to show no favoritism is the same One who espouses intolerance against those who believe differently and observe age-old culture and traditions separate from the One He just recently declared to ancient Israel on record?... The thought alone speaks of spiritual and philosophical deconstruction which any believer lacking in maturity and wisdom would be shattered by... Yet if we can understand that sometimes His words get misinterpreted and twisted to suit the pride, greed and selfishness of some of His so-called messengers, we begin to see behind the layers of programs, canons, creeds, traditions, observances, holidays and ordinances that cloud and cover His heart and true message: that He is good, that His mercy is everyday new and enduring, that He wants us to live the good life according to His terms (that unburdenly demand humility, respect for others, honesty, accountability for our lives and the lives of others, selflessness, generosity, genuine concern and care for the weak among us, and gratitude for everything life and creation has to offer); then we realize that this is the same God, proclaiming in words each generation can only understand, grasp and relate to in their era, but collectively manifesting His great hand of mercy and compassion, hope and encouragement and joy, leading to persistence and endurance in the face of trials and tribulations; and if we should choose and accept, we can believe that we will spend eternity not in torment or in forgotten unremembered states, but with Him in glory forever...

#Deuteronomy07and08

#HappyDecember11

Respect is the key... In a time of great troubles and difficulties, in life's everyday challenges, how we manifest respect of God and others show maturity, wisdom, breeding and a good education not just from the academe but the great university of life... Not power-tripping or gaslighting, not demanding entitlements and privileges, not imposing or demanding recognition and acknowledgement, communicating with others clearly and honestly, not throwing our weight around, not thinking that because we think we know better or in a higher career or social position, everyone beneath us must grovel before us and give in immediately to all our demands--all show that we have truly learned, that we are truly actualized, and that we are truly happy and at peace... For when we respect our God, His commands for us to do right and to respect others, and when we consider the needs of others and not impose upon them or demand that they give us immediately what we want, then we do not earn their ire, their derision and cursing, their hate and resentment... And these truly, if we have the wisdom and courage, patience and understanding to uphold and live by, make life for us go well and good...

#Deuteronomy05and06

#HappyDecember10

From where we are, to seek the Lord with all our hearts and souls... Is to recognize that we need not work so hard to impress others with our religiosity, nor do so much each day, each week to show our efforts at trying to appear holy and evangelistic; but to take heed, to spend our moments in quiet wisdom, to live each day in an attitude of gratitude, stillness, peace, and in an essence of confidence that our God fights for us; if we only take heed; if unlike many, we do not let greed, envy, pride, selfishness, and discontent take over us, and we don't let it compel us to fill our hours with trivialities and issues that have no lasting and real value, to the point that love, humility and grace had no more room... May we understand more deeply, what is our real purpose and capabilities, and learn to trust where our Creator and Savior is leading us...

#Deuteronomy03and04

#HappyDecember09

When one fails to learn the lesson of history, one is bound to repeat its mistakes and wrong judgments... Which may be the reason why Moses reminded the people of what went through in their journeys... And which is a good reminder for us today too... May we always keep in mind that stubbornness does not pay, that insisting our opinions are right in the face of overwhelming logic and facts will only prove painful and embarrassing in the end... Let us understand and remember the consequences of our pride and ignorance, and live the rest of our days in humility, circumspect, wisdom, love and gratitude...

#Deuteronomy01and02

#HappyDecember08

The basics of equity... Whether it be in the matter of settlements, offending and taking lives, inheritances and compensations, there is a lot to learn from the ancient tribes; since truth is enduring, and human emotions and concerns remain unchanged throughout history... May we always act with justice and fairness, accountability and mercy, wisdom and grace; so that as we go along in life, as far as it is within our power, each of us receive and give what is properly due and right from and toward each other...

#Numbers35and36

#HappyDecember07

Life nomads... The over-arching goal of my generation and of generations past is to achieve the dream: having a stable job, owning a home, settling... But it seems harder for many now due to the realities of the times, hence, for most, challenges and a call to reordering must be necessarily addressed to survive sane, to thrive, to go on strongly... And we learn of the same dreams in the life of the post-Egyptian-captivity Israelites too, albeit at the cost of taking lands already inhabited by others of a different culture... Yet, as criminal as this may seem, one must not miss the lesson that until today, we must all, regardless of nationality and faith, still work hard to establish our inheritance... But this time, not in physical dwellings, but in the collective psyche, commerce and civilization of humanity--that of contributing value, bringing meaning, and providing purpose and direction... Yes, we are life nomads, though many might be settled and in good places, but none Immortal and invincible to live forever and stick to old, outdated, less-informed norms, practices and philosophies... Because only when we move, from the tents of old ways of doing, to the new one of openness, knowledge and wisdom, can we perceive and discern all the manifold goodness and graces our Creator has endowed on those who refuse the inertia of the comfortable and familiar, to one that is constantly challenging, changing and like His boundless mercies, new...

#Numbers33and34

#HappyDecember06

Our sins will find us out... It seems unacceptable that the same God whom our Savior said created all and loved all people, who sent Him for eternal, global salvation, could sanction such state-sponsored genocide as that done to the Midianites; with such acts as models of religious persecutions, wars and genocides done throughout history and until the modern times... Yet the Bible was written by humans, and only God knows and can judge the wisdom and judgment behind such events... But one thing for sure though, that Moses' words should be heeded by us today: that in everything we do, even if we justify it as right and just in the name of fulfilling our mission to proclaim, evangelize and convert others to our beliefs and ways of thinking, if done with dishonesty, abuse, oppression and injustice, is a sin whose effects we reap throughout our generations... Yes, our motivations, our pride and ignorance, our greed and selfishness will find us out, giving us no peace, and giving misery and despair not only in our time but in our children's time too... May every word we say, every deed, every thought be driven only by our love for Him, and by genuine concern that all of creation be taken cared of well, and that no soul, regardless of race, age, gender, beliefs and persuasions be wasted and brought to perdition...

#Numbers31and32

#HappyDecember05

Of offerings, burdens and vows... One really cannot claim to be a believer and just do it for show, for ultimately, the fellowship and community will be found out, discerned and unravel... Likewise, one cannot claim to be good, yet, at every opportunity, only think of what they want, how to promote themselves and their aims, how to impress upon others their so-called moral- or spiritual- or clique/group- or congregational- ascendancy, without considering other people's needs, issues and situations... May we learn to truly live our faith and conviction; so that each time, every moment, what we offer to our God be pure and free of selfish intentions, and what we are that we share to others be free of malice, undue advantage, injustice and greed...

#Numbers29and30

#HappyDecember04

With all the requirements on continual burnt offerings, one would think that the Israelite God in the ancient times did not inform the people on the concept of air pollution and environmental degradation and depletion... Yet, the Bible being written by men, could also fall into a few shortcomings for a seeming lack of universal wisdom in some places, but not enough to diminish its eternal value to change lives and save souls... However, we must remember that the same Being who did not want inheritances go to waste by decreeing that daughters in a family of no sons, and even near kinsmen have equal rights, may be telling us something else... That in our modern times, sacrifices and a reordering of priorities are called for in our relationship with Him, with each other, with wealth and status, and with life itself... That it is only when we truly act with justice and fairness, with honesty and transparency, with wisdom and love, that our faith and person truly finds fulfillment--not in tasks and activities, in the hectic busyness of achieving our goals and dreams... For life must take its course, and in this journey, it is often not our outward acts and achievements that matter, but our hearts, motivations and intents, thoughts and attitudes, and true character that have real weight...

#Numbers27and28

#HappyDecember03

Some would argue in the beginning of these passages, against a harsh and merciless God, who decreed death on intermarriage... But one may soberly reflect that the premise here is whoredom, an ancient word that we come to mean today as premarital sexual relations, unplanned marriages and even pregnancies, and unions not blessed by the community and spiritual leadership... Sadly, though far less harsh and silent, we see the same misery on those who insist on having their own way, marrying into someone they want so much without considering the person's personality, attitude and character; in short, people who insist on stubbornly committing their lifetimes on someone others see and believe are not a good match... Not to discriminate though, but really, my high school teacher was speaking truth when she said, our characters in high school stay with us for life; that no matter how hard we wish for it to be, people will not magically change and develop ambition to level with our selfish and prideful standards, assertiveness and wisdom just because they are already married; and that we must be really careful, and think thousands of times about spending the rest of our days with somebody else... For like each of the ancient Israelite clans, our God values each of our lives as precious; and surely, we can believe that He doesn't want us to spend it in misery and despair for our wrong decisions and judgments, and our blindness and pride, only to suffer loveless, toxic, abusive and unfaithful unions... May we learn that we can't be more careful, and we need to be a million times more careful, when dealing and uniting with another life, another family, another clan...

#Numbers25and26

#HappyDecember02

God does not lie... Even if there be some who only think of Him as an abstract concept, yet, for the many of us who believe, we know and are convinced that God is pure and holy, that He has truth, and always makes good on His promises... May we always abide by His ways; so that no matter how miserable life gets, we can perceive and experience cursing that is turned to blessing, our mournings into dancing, our sorrow into joy... For wherever His spirit dwells, there lies hope, courage, faith, love and peace...

#Numbers23and24#HappyDecember01

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goboymusic · 2 years ago

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It’s Wednesday. I’ve only taken #adderall once in my life when I was a teenager, and it is one hell of a drug. It does make me wonder whether it’ll become a normal part of our daily routines a few decades from now, like coffee. It doesn’t make you smarter, but it can make you hyper productive / focused.

To talk about this song, I must enter serious, grownup mode: you and I know what it’s like to be disliked for reasons that are beyond our control. Maybe you fall into a few categories that a percentage of the population holds a stigma against (race, gender, appearance, health, religion, area of residence, voice accent, social connections, education level, job status, etc). Maybe it’s as simple as a rumor. People might believe you did or said something that you didn’t. Maybe you DID do something and you believe their hatred is warranted. Maybe you enjoy being hated, because you like the attention.

Needless to say, this song is about being disliked by your fellow humans for whatever reason.

The creation of songs 54 - 59 was a really healthy creative period. High level of optimism and low stress. I cherish those times when they arise, because they don’t last. It would come to an end with song 60 “Everything Will Be Okay,” which messed with my mental health for months afterwards.

The rhythmic mid-high range guitar in the verses is inspired by “Aquatic Ambience” from the Donkey Kong Country video game. You’ll notice similarities if you listen to both.

Almost recorded myself singing this song with an Indian accent, because it may have gotten more attention that way, but didn’t for obvious reasons.

Throughout GoBoy 3 and 4, a lesson was relearned after a seven-year hiatus: listeners can sense any hesitancy in your voice. Confidence is important in a recording booth. This rediscovery would lead me to experiment with drinking while recording GoBoy 6. What results would liquid courage bring? Just an experiment (excerpt from post 50).

The production quality in this song is kinda meh. My vocals do not have enough strength. I should have belted out the vocals, similar to the singing style of GoBoy 6 and 7 (excerpt from post 50).

In April, 2021, almost all of GoBoy 3, 4 and 5‘s songs were restructured to be under 3 minutes (preferably under 2m 30s), including this song. In an attempt to increase replay value in this streaming era, most of GoBoy’s songs are now purposely around 2m 20s (excerpts from post 38).

A bass boost was added to songs 37-99 in Nov, 2021, while I was stuck at home with covid. As a result, this song feels more powerful. The bass boost isn’t a simple plugin nonchalantly added to each song. It’s a process that took about 3.5 hours per song, or one whole month to complete all songs. Admittedly, I pushed the bass boost a little too far for some of them. The bass in some songs sounds like a freaking earthquake (unnecessarily pronounced low frequencies 20 - 50 Hz). Might dial that back someday. The bass boost was also applied to every song on GoBoy 6 and beyond (excerpt from post 37).

#GoBoy #WhyDoYouHateMe #Hate #57

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luxe-pauvre · 4 years ago

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To explain my claimed connection between high-quality leisure and digital minimalism, it's useful to first highlight a related phenomenon. Those of us who study the intersection of technology and culture are well read in the small but popular journalistic subgenre in which the author describes the experience of taking a temporary break from modern technologies. These intrepid souls almost always report that the disconnection generates a feeling of emotional distress. [...] This distress if often explained in the terminology of addiction, in which it can be cast as withdrawal symptoms experienced by an addict. [...] But this interpretation is problematic. [...] the psychological forces that lead us to compulsively use technology are typically best understood as moderate behavioural addictions - which can make technology very alluring when it's around, but aren't nearly as severe as chemical dependency. This explains why this distress is often described as more diffuse and abstract than the strong and specific cravings felt by a substance addict going through classic withdrawal. [...] The distinction is subtle, but it's also crucial for understanding the productive connection between Aristotle and digital minimalism. The more I study this topic, the more it becomes clear to me that low-quality digital distractions play a more important role in people's lives than they imagine. In recent years, as the boundary between work and life blends, jobs become more demanding, and community traditions degrade, more and more people are failing to cultivate the high-quality leisure lives that Aristotle identifies as crucial for human happiness. It's now easy to fill the gaps between work and caring for your family and sleep by pulling out a smartphone or tablet, and numbing yourself with mindless swiping and tapping. Erecting barriers against the existential is not new - before Youtube we had (and still have) mindless television and heavy drinking to help avoid deeper questions - but the advanced technologies of the twenty-first-century attention economy are particularly effective at this task. [Social critic Michael] Harris felt uncomfortable, in other words, not because he was craving a particular digital habit, but because he didn't know what to do with himself once his general access to the world of connected screens was removed. If you want to succeed with digital minimalism, you cannot ignore this reality. If you begin decluttering the low-value digital distractions from your life before you've convincingly filled in the void they were helping you ignore, the experience will be unnecessarily unpleasant at best and a massive failure at worse. The most successful digital minimalists, therefore, tend to start their conversion by renovating what they do with their free time - cultivating high-quality leisure before culling the worst of their digital habits. In fact, many minimalists will describe a phenomenon in which digital habits that they previously felt to be essential to their daily schedule suddenly seemed frivolous once they became more intentional about what they did with their time. When the void is filled, you no longer need distractions to help you avoid it.

Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

#Cal Newport #Digital Minimalism

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night-unfurls-its-splendour · 3 years ago

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Every Emma Woodhouse Ranked and Rated

With all my reviews of all the period-set adaptations now finished, I'm beginning my series in which I rate and rank each interpretation of all the principle characters, starting with our girl Emma!

Now I wanna be clear--I am not rating the actresses that played Emma. I am rating how the character was handled in general in each adaptation. The actresses are a factor, but they're not the sole factor, since the writer and director have as much, if not more, to do with how the character ends up in the finished product. So without futher ado, let's rank...

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her….

“The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much of her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages that threatened alloy to her many enjoyments.”

NUMBER 5: 1972

Portrayed by: Doran Godwin

Age at time of filming: 28

Clocking in as the oldest actress to play Austen’s famously TWENTY-ONE year old heroine (at the ripe age of 28), Doran Godwin also snags the coveted position as inhabiting the worst portrayal of the character (in my personal estimation) to date.

Just about everything about this interpretation of Emma Woodhouse is bad, from her seemingly automated recital of her lines to her all-too-intense, wide-eyed, hypnotic stare. The 1972 portrayal of Emma highlights all the character’s worst qualities while also failing to convincingly communicate her good qualities, such as her caring nature. The script is equally to blame for the awfulness of this interpretation, adding unnecessarily cruel and condescending lines, including one where she negs Harriet for being sad after Elton’s marriage, and then forces Harriet to come with her to meet the new Mrs. Elton, when Emma in the book did her best to shield Harriet from exactly that kind of situation.

Godwin couldn’t pass for 21 if her life had depended on it, and the worst part is that the script actually states Emma’s age, so she seems like a bit of a crazy spinster, preying on the naïve Harriet. Whether it’s her intent to bathe in Harriet’s blood to keep herself young, or to bake her into a pie is up for debate.

Rating: 1/5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 4: 2020

Portrayed by: Anya Taylor Joy

Age at time of filming: 23

I thought long and hard about this. This movie is a modern period drama phenomenon. It’s gotten so many people into Jane Austen and satisfied long-time Austen fans by giving them an interpretation they never dared hope to see. It’s a gorgeous film.

But I don’t like this interpretation of Emma Woodhouse. Though Anya Taylor Joy is one of the youngest actresses to play Emma (only two years older than the character) she’s played with a careful stiffness that perhaps shows us a glimpse of the Lady Catherine she might turn into without swift intervention. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and this isn’t a commentary on Anya Taylor Joy either—her appearance or her acting ability—but I just don’t like her as Emma. And she’s not the sole problem, she turns in a solid performance, she’s a good actress, but something about this characterization is just off-color to me. Anya Taylor Joy plays a great mean-girl; but I think that’s one of the reasons why they thought she’d be a good choice for this role, and it’s one of the prime reasons I don’t think she wasright for it. Emma is a deeply flawed character and, of course, the biggest turning point in her story comes as a result of a thoughtlessly mean remark to someone who has only ever shown her deference, hospitality and gratitude.

All that said, Emma is not, at her core, a cruel person. Emma has gone all her life thinking condescending things about Miss Bates but it’s only when Frank comes along and validates her less kind commentaries that she actually starts to voice them in search of validation from a peer.

The problem with this in the context of 2020’s Emma Woodhouse is that Frank hardly gets a look-in in this adaptation. Emma’s relationship with him is severely underdeveloped and the actors don’t have enough chemistry to pull it off in the limited time they’re given. The result is that Emma appears to cross a line just to cross it, and it pushes Emma’s character from thoughtless to out-and-out frigid.

Still better than Doran Godwin, since she's identifiably human.

Rating: 2 1/2 / 5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 3: 1996 (MIRAMAX)

Portrayed by: Gwyneth Paltrow

Age at time of filming: 24

Despite the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow was an appalling casing choice for Emma Woodhouse (I will be forever salty that they passed over Joely Richardson), and I know there are some who will think me, at best, crazy (sacrilegious, at worst) for ranking 1996’s interpretation of Emma higher than 2020, I actually feel that solidly in the middle is right where this version of the character belongs.

There’s so much wrong with this Emma: she swings from mature to bizarrely infantile at the drop of a hat, much of her script is genuinely tragic, Gwyneth can’t convincingly portray Emma's social naiveté, her accent is overwhelmingly nasal and impossible to listen to, just for starters.

And yet… I don’t hate her. I don’t like her particularly either, but even though much of the dialogue re-working butchered Austen’s prose, there are a lot of things McGrath seems to have gotten right about Emma’s character. Her relationship with Knightley feels comfortable and playful, and, while Emma of the book probably doesn’t really care for Harriet Smith in the spirit of true bosom friendship, I believe she does care about her and wishes to spare her (further) pain. She shows exasperation with Harriet while still being patient with her, which is very much in the spirit of the book. Her concern for Harriet at the ball feels real, and her contrition at Box Hill following Knightley’s rebuke, while not profound, at least feels like contrition and not self-pity.

Perhaps, given the soft-take that the Miramax version is, it shouldn’t be surprising that the biggest faults in characterization rest on awkward writing and the biggest triumphs highlight Emma’s better side. It’s not a very in-depth take on the character, but it at least, is an adequate one.

Rating: 3/5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 2: 1996/97 (ITV)

Portrayed by: Kate Beckinsale

Age at time of filming: 23

Those who’ve read my reviews of each adaptation of Emma might be surprised to see ITV’s portrayal of the title character sitting so high on my list. To be frank, it’s a distant second, and she may have stolen the number two spot only because she’s played by Kate Beckinsale and not Gwyneth Paltrow.

In truth, I see a lot of parallels between 1997’s Emma and 2020’s. Both actresses were 23 (or thereabouts) when they played the role, both have extremely childish moments, and both crumple down and burst into tears that don’t feel entirely genuine after Box Hill.

So why is 1997 on the good side of the number 3 spot and 2020 isn’t? I’m not precisely sure. I think it may be because Andrew Davies (and/or Diarmuid Lawrence) at least understood the scale of Emma Woodhouse’s wealth and status. This Emma feels sufficiently self-important, a bit haughty, sure—but she’s also believably naïve. You feel her isolation, you understand her caring relationship with her father, and she’s not as patently rude to Robert Martin compared to the 2020 version (she at least acknowledges his presence when he meets Emma and Harriet in the lane).

Grudging though this favorable placement may be, I can at least acknowledge that Emma herself is the least of my problems with this version, and even though Beckinsale’s acting is a bit sketchy at certain points, she also has some truly great moments, especially her interaction with Robert Martin at the end of the film. This portrayal is consistent, and Emma’s better qualities aren’t overpowered by her negative ones.

Rating: 4/5 Half-finished portraits

Number 1: 2009

Portrayed by: Romola Garai

Age at time of filming: 26

And in a shocking twist—I’m kidding this is neither shocking nor unexpected to anyone who knows me or has read my blog/reviews of the Emma adaptations. Am I totally biased? Probably. I don’t care, this is a completely subjective list. Here, finally—my first and true love as Emma Woodhouse—is Romola Garai. I suppose it’s also not surprising that the first actress I ever saw in the role would still be my favorite a decade on. I just love everything about this interpretation of the character. She rides the very difficult line of being bright, caring and intelligent, while also being completely naïve and lacking in social savvy (in her own age-group at least), coddled, and painfully sure of her own self-importance.

Even though Garai was 25 or 26 at the time (far too old for the character—almost as old as Doran Godwin) her energy and charisma are enough that she’s able to carry it off convincingly. Everything about this Emma screams youth, and when Emma’s child-like social ignorance is her most prominent characteristic, it feels authentic and natural. Equally authentic are her emotions—her love for her family, her dynamic with Knightley, he exasperation, patience, and concern with Harriet. Most of all though, this Emma seems to experience the most maturation in the last quarter of the story. Box Hill really feels like a turning point—not just a chastened young woman, but a true coming-of-age moment. Emma faces a reckoning here that begins a chain reaction culminating in her realization of her feelings for Knightley, and everything from the writing to Garai’s performance conveys the magnitude of this shift in Emma’s life.

This version of the character seems the most… complete to me. Somehow, between Romola Garai’s vibrancy, Sandy Welch’s screenplay and Jim O’Hanlon’s direction, this interpretation takes an extremely divisive character and helps the viewer understand just why everyone in Highbury loves Emma Woodhouse.

Rating: 5/5 Half-finished portraits

~~~~

If you liked this, check out my rankings of Mr. and Mrs. Weston

#emma woodhouse #jane austen emma #jane austen #period drama #emma 2020 #emma 2009 #emma 1996 #emma 1972 #romola garai #kate beckinsale #anya taylor joy #gwyneth paltrow

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twh-news · 3 years ago

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Loki’s production designer on the Modernist inspiration behind the show’s stunning visuals | The Art Newspaper

By Helen Stoilas

Kasra Farahani explains why the Time Variance Authority waiting room looks so much like the Breuer building, and how the inside of a Fabergé egg became an alien train carriage.

Fans of Modernist design can find a lot to appreciate in Loki, the television series starring Tom Hiddleston recently released by Marvel Studios on the streaming channel Disney+. The stunning production is clearly influenced by Brutalist and Neo-Futurist architecture, as well as Soviet Socialist art and sculpture. Visual references can be seen from the very first episode, in which the magic-wielding god of mischief is apprehended by a universe-spanning police force known as the Time Variance Authority for “crimes against the Sacred Timeline” (stay with us).

One early scene, for example, was filmed on a custom-built set that bears a striking resemblance to the lobby of the Marcel Breuer building in New York which once housed the Whitney Museum—and now houses the Frick—while another was shot on location in the Neo-Futurist Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel, designed by the architect John C. Portman, Jr (with some monumental statues later edited into the soaring atrium). The Art Newspaper spoke to the series’ production designer, Kasra Farahani, about his inspirations for the look of the show.

The Art Newspaper: Loki's director, Kate Herron has called this series a love letter to sci-fi and you see a lot of visual homages to films like Brazil, A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner. But there's also a clear influence of Modernist design on the look of the series overall. You studied industrial design early in your career. Were there specific examples of Modernist architecture and design that you were looking at when you started working on the series?

Kasra Farahani: So many, everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Breuer, to Mies van der Rohe to Paul Rudolph—you have a shot in the John Portman building—to Oscar Niemeyer. And then a lot of Eastern European, Soviet-influenced Modernism played a big part in it as well. I can honestly tell you that my first and foremost inspiration was Modernism. Part of that is because the TVA (Time Variance Authority) is a bureaucracy and I think, archetypically, so much of what we know a bureaucracy to be is that post-war, highly funded institutional look. And there's a lot of different versions of that, whether it's the Washington, DC version, like the Hoover building, or whether it's what we had in Los Angeles, where I grew up, where there's a huge amount of post-war architecture built for the population boom. Like the elementary school, middle school and high school that I went to were all mid-century Modernist.

I was also looking a lot at Brutalism and the Modernism in former Soviet states, that are heavily influenced by Socialism and Soviet architecture, and where scale is such a big driving force of the design.

The size of some of the buildings in the show are kind of overwhelming. I know that some filming was done in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, with that huge soaring atrium. You just completely get dwarfed by that kind of architecture.

Yeah, that's right. That one we used for the TVA archives because we couldn't justify building a big set, but once I scouted it, I saw that we could bring in these massive Time-Keeper sculptures at the scale you would typically only see in an exterior, which is a fantastical thing. The TVA sets themselves, which were almost entirely full 360-degree sets, were very much designed as an intentional paradox between the stoic, large-scale Brutalism form language, and the surfacing and palette and whimsical patterning, which is very much taken from American mid-century Modern. Those two things create these spaces that feel at once super intimidating and then uncomfortably inviting and warm at the same time.

That’s kind of the irony of a lot of Modernism, Brutalism especially, it had these utopian ideals of creating affordable social housing, but then a lot of the people found it really oppressive to live in.

Yeah. Modernism has been that way the whole time—it was designed to be super cheap and utilitarian and routinely it ends up being the most expensive kind of architecture. Another thing readers may be curious to know about is the TBA expanse, which is essentially the view outside some windows.

That futuristic cityscape you can see….

Yeah. They had very strange and unique parameters to try to design that. The TVA exists outside of the physical world—so there's no weather, there's no roofs, there's no difference between interior and exterior, there's not necessarily even gravity in the way that we know it. But there are these meandering colonnades that we took a lot of inspiration from Brasilia—and obviously a lot of the super cities that were drawn in comics. But also there's some really beautiful conceptual sketches that Frank Lloyd Wright did of a version Los Angeles in the early 20th century that had Roman-like colonnades and plazas and a lot of that fed into what the TVA expanse is.

You mentioned all the sets you built for Loki, especially for the TVA. There's two that where used a lot. The Time Theater, where so much of kind of Loki’s personal story gets told, and looks like its straight out of the Barbican in London, with these huge colour-coded directional numbers on the walls. And then there's the Miss Minutes waiting room with those circular lights that looks almost exactly like the lobby of the Breuer building in New York—to the point where I reached out to the museum to ask if you’d filmed there. You even got the silver-tipped light bulbs right.

We were very inspired by that, but it's different in some very subtle, but for me, very important ways. Number one, the size of the bulbs is much smaller, they were manipulated to create eyeballs, basically. Another important difference is that in the Breuer building, they have these dishes hanging in space, whereas in ours, they're negative space, there's a solid ceiling. It creates a matrix of eyeballs peering down, like the always-watching Time-Keepers. And maybe the most important difference is that the ceiling is slammed down—you know the cheapest apartment you can go into has an eight-foot ceiling, this is six inches shorter than that, and our actor is about six-foot-three. The idea was to create a sort of trash compactor feeling in this claustrophobic space with this matrix of eyes, watching as all of this is happening.

The time theater was for me very inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi.

I liked that waffle coffered ceiling you have in that room.

Thanks. We were very happy with it, and it created this kind of forest of light columns which helps set the neo-noirish, interrogative nature of the space. And the unnecessarily large super graphics that you mentioned are a very Paul Rudolph sort of a thing, he did that in his building too, and I love that.

For me, it’s very important not to reference a set design from other films, that why I reference architecture, painting, photography, these other art forms, more than anything else, because inevitably when you’re working in archetypes, there’s a lot of overlap.

And as Loki goes into different times and locations, you get a completely different design environment in those places. There’s a scene on a train car, that has a very Art Deco look.

That was inspired by the inside of a Fabergé egg, Art Deco meets Alien.

And when you finally meet the Time-Keepers in the most recent episode, it’s like they're in a pre-Colombian pyramid or a ziggurat.

I was looking at Indian stepwells, this almost fractal quality with these descending stairs going into one another—but we imagined them going out every direction, with an Escher-like quality, like they are tessellating themselves to infinity.

I read on Twitter that you literally bought a bowling alley from Omaha and brought it to Atlanta to create Loki's Palace in the Void in the last episode, which is this crazy, surreal, amusement park, junk yard-like place.

We bought the floor of a bowling alley, everything else we built. That was a lot of fun because the script gave us a lot of runway. The proposal was to do this bowling alley because essentially everything in the Void has been discarded from time, and more things fall into it and accumulate and so you end up with these strata. I liked the idea of like a bowling alley that's been smashed over your knee or something. The net effect is when you first enter, you have all these lane lines pointing down at this throne, which was supposed to be stolen from a mall Santa. And then there's these crazy alien plants that are growing through it that have taken parasitic hold of the place. In many ways, I think its a narrative microcosm of the Void itself, which is like a salad bar of these disparate aberrations slammed together. Things like the bowling alley all have these micro-narratives that we in the art department have come up with to help flush out the design and make them specific. For example, there's portraits on the wall of like bowler of the month, and they’re not quite human. It's not in the episode, but those things are important for us in the art department.

At the very end of the most recent episode, we get a glimpse into this city that Loki and Sylvie (played by Sophia Di Martino) are walking into. Can tell us anything about what inspired those scenes, what we're about to see?

You can call me back in a week. All I can say is that the TVA is definitely the visual and narrative anchor of the story, but there's a lot of great worlds to see. And I think what people are responding to is the breadth of the visual variety of the show. And episode six won't be any different. It's really cool, and maybe some of my favorite stuff.

#loki #loki series #production design #set design #tom hiddleston #Kasra Farahani #article #the art newspaper

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architectuul · 4 years ago

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A False Dilemma

As I write this in early July, the public unveiling of the Bežigrad Sports Park project is ending. The extensive plans for this vast new complex near the centre of the Slovenian capital promises an impressive mix of a sport stadium, gyms, offices and apartments in one of Ljubljana’s best locations.

A consortium of public (the Municipality of Ljubljana and the Olympic Committee of Slovenia) and private partners (the businessman Joc Pečečnik and his company) has been promoting the project for more than a decade against strong and growing resistance from both professionals and the broader public. With 'Plečnik’s Ljubljana' a main tourist attraction and the state supporting its nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status, how could the destruction of one of his major works gain official support and approval? Whatever the final decision is about building or not building the stadium, we can say for certain that the investor has already scored at least one major victory: the stadium consortium’s financial and media muscle means that the destruction of one of the central works of the most famous Slovene architect is a realistic scenario.

Plečnik on the Brioni Islands (1956). | Photo © Lojze Gostiša

Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) was a carpenter’s son, born in Ljubljana. In 1894, Otto Wagner, the most famous Viennese architect of the time, picked him out of a furniture design studio for his imagination and drawing skill. He soon became one of Wagner’s star pupils, and after graduation began to make his mark in the imperial capital with his avant-garde combination of modernism and classicism. A wider success followed soon after the end of the First World War, when Tomáš Masaryk, the president of the newly-created Czechoslovak republic, commissioned him to renovate the ancient Prague castle to become the official residence of the president.

At around the same time, Plečnik accepted the post of professor of architecture at the new University of Ljubljana, and began his gradual transformation of his provincial Austro-Hungarian hometown into the national capital of Slovenia. This was the beginning of Plečnik’s Ljubljana, as his idiosyncratic classicism changed both the physical fabric and the atmosphere of the city into a modern version of ancient Athens. In Plečnik’s scheme, the stadium by the main city avenue played a central role.

Construction of the stadium for the Roman Catholic youth sport association Orel began in 1925, but political and financial difficulties meant that it was not completed until 1935. | Photo via Outsider

The lengthy construction period and limited funds did not deter Plečnik, and one of his great strengths was his ability to improvise both materially and conceptually throughout the project.

The monumental colonnade created a civic stoa or covered walkway that links the stadium enclosure with the city beyond as well as prviding for a covered space for people to queue. | Photo © Peter Krečič

At the other end is the columned ‘Glorietta’, the stadium’s grandstand, which visually dominates the low complex, rising high above the visitors’ seats. | Photo via Failed architecture

For the most part, Plečnik made use of the existing terrain, so that architecture and landscape become an inseparable unity in his vision of the new space. The tree-lined avenues at the edges provide a visual accent of the enclosure, while the ingeniously-designed low brick walls divide the auditorium from the rest of the city, allowing a gradual transition from the wide and busy road on the one side to the low-level single-family houses with gardens on the other.

The communal gardens of the nearby Fond Blocks represent a sustainable and community-driven space at the northern edge of the complex, which has survived since the 1930s. | Photo via Failed architecture

The stadium became one of the central venues for landmark sport, music and political events in the history of the city and of the country. Later, it was converted into a football stadium, but its design and infrastructure were not ideal for this purpose. In 2010, a new football stadium was opened next to the the city motorway ring, and the old Plečnik stadium was closed.

Different events during the history, also the first Eucharistic Congress in 1935 among them. | Photos via Nonument

It was at this point that the campaign for the radical reconstruction of the area began. In 2008 a public-private consortium led by Pečečnik and the Municipality called for an international competition, which was won by the GMP Architectural office from Berlin. The architects proposed extensive new construction to ‘optimise’ the commercial return on the extremely valuable plot. Almost all of the buildings would be torn down, with the site excavated to a depth of 22m and built up with basements of car parks and sport halls on five levels. Above the ground, a new stadium, with covered seating and VIP boxes on three levels, would be built, while around the outer edges of the new stadium, there would be an 18-storey skyscraper and three apartment blocks on the site of the communal gardens. Almost all of the Plečnik Stadium (except for the Glorietta and the colonnade) would have to be demolished.

The stadium in the 1950s and today, overgrown by vegetation. | Photo © Edi Šelhaus, Failed architecture

As a compromise, the investor has promised to rebuild the wall around the perimeter of the plot to the original plans and provide for the visitor stands where the old auditoriums were situated. Despite the almost total destruction of the stadium, the project has consistently been branded as the preservation of Plečnik’s legacy, reinforced by the fact that the stadium – now in the ownership of the stadium consortium – has been decaying ever since its closure. Redevelopment is, the investor claims, the only way to save the stadium, at an estimated cost of 240 million Euros while providing 800 new jobs.

Proposed reconstruction. | Rendering by GMP Architekten

Pressure from political and private interests has led to the project gaining widespread official approval, including that of the Heritage Protection Agency. This raised many eyebrows, as the Plečnik stadium was awarded the highest possible protection status of 'Heritage of National Importance' in 2010 (of course, the stadium is not part of the UNESCO nomination, because of its present status and uncertain future). The independent civic society and professional architectural, heritage and art-historical societies are all united in their opposition to the destructive plans. The international limelight was added to the redevelopment plans by the inclusion of the Stadium on the list of 7 most endangered European cultural heritage sites in 2020 by the NGO Europa Nostra. All of these organizations argue that redevelopment in this case means destruction only, with less than five per cent of the stadium preserved, while building up the whole of the plot would destroy not only the physical substance of Plečnik's masterpiece but also the spatial totality of the public, urban recreational facility the stadium has always been. Ljubljana's many unfinished construction sites raise further concern; economic uncertainty could mean that the consortium would have enough money to destroy a heritage site, but not to bring its plans to fruition. The new facility also seems unnecessarily ambitious, as a new stadium in Stožice meeting international standards is already built and operating well, and Ljubljana, a city of 300,000, has no need for two state-of-the-art football stadiums. The plans for the public part of the complex could be just a way of convincing stakeholders to sanction the destruction of heritage, with the end-product even less public and more commercial.

No one from the Municipality or the state will admit that the choice between the slow decay of the stadium and rapid destructive redevelopment is a false one. According to the esimates by the Ministry of Culture the third option, a faithful renovation of the complex as a civic recreation and sports park, would cost just around 3 million euros (1 per cent of the BSP project estimate). Such a low renovation estimate is possible because of a simple and economic conception of the original stadium, a consistent feature of Plečnik’s architecture in general. Ljubljana, a much richer and better-educated city than it was in 1935, seems to have lost the qualities of the great architect that gave it its shape.

-- Miloš Kosec

This article was first published in C20, the magazine of the C20 Society. See for more information or to join www.c20society.org.uk.

Photo © Stine Alling Jacobsen

Miloš Kosec is an architect, editor and publicist living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Ljubljana University with the Master's thesis »Ruin as an Architectural Object«, which was published as a book in 2013. Miloš completed his PhD in 2019 at Birkbeck College, University of London, with a thesis »Passivism: Activism and Passivity in Contemporary Architecture«. He is researching, exhibiting, writing and publishing articles in professional and academic publications, focusing primarily on architecture, architectural history, political and social aspects of architectural design. Together with the Outsider magazine editorial board, he was one of the recipients of Plečnik medal for contributions to architectural culture in 2017. Miloš is also a practicing architect and landscape designer with a number of landscape realizations. In 2018, he was one of the authors of the Slovene pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennial. He is a member of the editorial board of Outsider Magazine. He is also a member and a researcher of the international art and research project Nonument and is a frequent participant in international architecture conferences and events.

#ljubljana #plečnik #stadium

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yyxgin · 4 years ago

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dunnae worrae bestie ❣️ life gets in the way sometimes (and responsibilities)

okay so i just liked the kind of air to love alarm? idk it just made me feel like i was somewhere else bc i felt the production quality was that high. some of it was questionable i do agree w that but also song kang is total heart-eyes 😍 and meteor garden was sweet for like a minute each episode and the rest was me groaning in agony just wishing dong shancai would snipe daoming si’s mother. shancai did so much too?? like four episodes in she won a cooking competition against a girl who had literally been professionally training to impress one of the boys ✋ but shancai literally came from almost nothing. also — i’ve never been more frustrated w a drama than meteor garden like sis was literally dirt poor, came close to being evicted twice and her parents moved back to their fisherman hometown leaving her in shanghai (i think?) to make money bc they couldn’t afford the city but she had the newest phone 🛑✋

very early on in my kpop days i had no idea who to bias or however that worked and i was like ‘well i like stray kids i’ll just buy an album’ anyway one of the pc’s i pulled was a polaroid type thing for changbin and i said to my friend wow that’s such a boyfriend picture and that’s the story of how i ulted changbin. im so blasé about so much it’s worrying sometimes 🙀🙄✌️✌️ im not too bad about watching things. i used to struggle a lot but bc i’ve trained myself to read fast enough to see the subs and then flicker to the scene on screen so i don’t get bored. i do feel sometimes as if i am following when i’m looking at my phone but realistically i shouldn’t be this bold 😬

noice!! i’m still new to adulting but i’m p sure ive been at it for longer than i think. when i was fifteen and working in a hotel i was asked if when i was finished for the summer i was going back to uni 🤡 all i keep thinking about is finally having a job again and being able to spend an entire pay check on albums ngl i haven’t impulsively bought anything recently and i’m itching to be irresponsible w my money again 🤠 i know some girls who have preordered all the versions of dream and MAN am i tempted 😭😭😭 this is getting so out of hand at this point i’m going to have to strap myself to my bed until june this is not it ☹️

i have read for nct members certain members are more popular in like eastern us? i imagine it’s to encourage trading or to buy more albums so i could only guess that’s what’s happened to me w mamamoo 😭 theyre thé only gg i am properly into. i didn’t want to be thirsting over boys all the time bc... idk i just wanted some variation so mamamoo it was! twice is too many people for now (don’t even say but nct has 23, ik ik but i was only on my second group and i refused to acknowledge more than one unit for like 7 months bc i was scared) and blackpink has like 2 songs 🤡🤡 i added this bot called zephyr to my discord server and me and my friend roll for collectible kpop cards (it’s p neat and i’ve found groups i wouldn’t have been able to find myself otherwise) and she’s helped me discover so many groups! i think i was enjoying a fromis_9 song earlier <3

i’m always having good days these days 🥺 so i hope yours was good too!! also i don’t expect you to reply to these straight away (bc they’re unnecessarily long) i just try my best to reply straight away otherwise i’ll forget i even sent sumn in the first place! ~🌻

the production quality was definitely very high with love alarm, it looked so nice and aesthetic :(( but like,,the storyline ?? when they kissed in the first ep?? i- that was it for me. i couldnt watch it any longer. my best friend finished it tho and i think she liked it,,so like-- fair.

PLEAAASE METEOR GARDEN SOUNDS SO MESSY i lowkey wanna watch it just for the shits and giggles now,,i can’t,,, like the cooking competition? that sounds like a fucking disney channel plot to a movie. i am all here for it tho

YOU HAVE A CHANGBIN POLAROID OKAY BESTIE I AM ON MY WAY TO ROB YOU NOW. DROP YOUR ADDRESS,,,DEADASS. AAAAH also i am bad at watching things to the point when i forget to turn on the subtitles sometimes and then get surprised when i dont understand a shit anD THATS when i realise somethings wrong.

i am so new to adulting pls,, this is my first part time job and i also didn’t have a bank account until literally today. i am a babie,, i couldn’t even do things by myself like i can’t fucking order for myself in the restaurant because i am socially anxious hihi. bUT i figured working with people might help me get rid of that and i am also fullfiling my childhood dream of working behind the cash register now, so that’s cool. the only thing i need now is to graduate, go to uni and do my driver’s licence and then i’ll be adulting for real imo

i am really good with money surprisingly?? i dont spend much, because i dont have money lmao and when i do i keep it because i just like the thought of having money and not the actual spending. YOUR FRIEND BOUGHT ALL THE VERSIONS OF THE DREAM ALBUM??? LOWKEY ME FDKAJ no but fr i think i’m just gonna order the boring version once i start working because it fits my aesthetic the most and i love the concept photos. also if i pull that one specific renjun photocard i might just cry my eyes out but i’ll be happy with anyone bc i literally ult the entirity of dream at this point.

ooh i dont really enjoy the sound of girlgroups i think ?? i need some noise if you know what i mean :( im not into like chill songs that much. bUT uhh i like itzy and i am gay for them pls. i also havent listened to their comeback yet so i am a fake fan i guess but i’ll fix that soon i prOMISE

i am doing well and i am also glad you are doing well !! <3 your asks make me so happy dfjka i finally dont feel as invisible on this stupid site lmao. also thanks for understanding that i dont reply that quick, but i tend to just uhh leave things be for a while ?? like i get a message and i dont always reply straight away for some reason. but yea. thank you !! <3

#💌ask #🌻 anon

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amillioninprizes · 5 years ago

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Some thoughts on Veronica Mars, fan service, and noir

I’ve been on winter break and at home with a nasty combo cold-ear infection-stomach virus the past couple of weeks, and as so often happens when I don’t have much going on, my thoughts have turned to ruminating over the steaming pile of excrement that was season 4 of Veronica Mars. Why yes, almost six months and one cancellation notice later and I’m still complaining about it--as I told someone on Twitter, it was so stupid that it’s going to take years to unpack.

This particular rant is brought to you by a common refrain seen in both professional critics’ and S4 supporters’ reviews of S4: the movie was schlocky fan service, while S4 is TRUE NOIR. I’m here to argue that neither of those things are true, and that in the grand scheme of things trying to definitively call Veronica Mars noir or not isn’t the best qualitative judgement of the series.

A note on “fanservice”

Something that’s been very strange to me in the critical discussion around S4 is that the fan-funded movie has been retconned as a fanservicey failure. This is weird because it did get a positive Rotten Tomatoes score, actually turned a profit despite the unorthodox distribution model, and was overall well-received by fans except for maybe the 5 Piz lovers out there (he absolutely did not deserve better you guys; he works at This American Life and lives in Brooklyn, he’ll be fine).

A lot of the things pointed to in the movie as fan service actually weren’t. In every interview about the movie and S4, RT and KB always talk about how they started with the image of Veronica punching Madison at the high school reunion and worked from there. The problem is that almost no one had been asking for that. If they had bothered to read any online discourse about the show (and we know RT definitely does), they would know that fans are actually somewhat sympathetic to Madison--after all, she was the intended recipient of the drugged drink Veronica received at Shelly Pomeroy’s party, plus growing up in a family that she wasn’t meant to be a member of must have negatively impacted her. When the preview scene of Veronica encountering Madison at the reunion welcome table was released, Veronica didn’t come off sympathetically. In a similar vein, as much as I liked Corny as a side character in the original series, I didn’t need him to come back for that random scene at the reunion. Nor was anyone asking for an out-of-nowhere James Franco cameo (which given what we know about him now is super gross in hindsight).

So why was the movie well-received by fans? Veronica was in character after an unevenly written and performed S3, and she was back in Neptune, doing what (and who; Ay-yo!) she was meant to do. So while the mystery was subpar (and what Rob Thomas mystery isn’t?), the character side of the story made sense and was satisfying. I wouldn’t call that fan service so much as good writing. Plus, what is even the point of wasting time, money, and effort on making a tv show or movie if it’s going to actively alienate the audience?

S4: more trauma porn than true noir

Admittedly, I’m not exactly the world’s foremost scholar on film noir (in my opinion, the height of cinema is teen romcoms c. 1995-2005), but I do feel I have enough pop cultural knowledge to have a working understanding of what film noir is, and as internet folk would say, S4 ain’t it chief. Sure, S4 was bleak subject matter wise, but that does not automatically equal noir. HappilyShanghaied, who does have a film studies background, wrote a pretty excellent post about why that is shortly after S4 dropped that I could not improve upon, so I will just leave it here.

In addition to this analysis, I would also point out that S4 was lacking in a unique visual style common to noir films, especially compared to the original television series and the movie. The original series made use of green, blue, and yellow filters to fulfill a high school version of the noir aesthetic (quick shoutout to Cheshirecatstrut’s color theory posts for more on what we thought this meant before it turned out that Rob Thomas did not actually intend to imbue meaning into any of this), while the movie adopted a more mature muted blue-grey palette. S4, however, was more or less shot like a conventional drama and was brightly lit, perhaps signifying Rob Thomas’s apparent plans to turn the show into a conventional procedural.

The movie: more than fan service

If anything, the movie was more noir than S4. Take Gia’s storyline for instance. While Veronica was off obtaining elite degrees, Gia spent 9 years in a virtual cage being forced into a sexual relationship without her total consent (because that’s the only storyline women can have on this show), and then set herself up to be murdered at the very moment she could potentially break free. That’s pretty fucking grim.

Then there is the whole police corruption storyline, which is a hallmark of noir fiction. The glimpses we get of the Neptune sheriff’s department point to a larger conspiracy at play than just crooked cops; Sachs lost his life trying to expose it and Keith was gravely injured. This was the story I was excited for future installments of Veronica Mars to address, especially given its relevance to today’s politics. Unfortunately, this thread was entirely dropped in S4, where the police department (because, as Rob Thomas revealed in interviews but not onscreen, Neptune has incorporated) is merely overwhelmed by the scope of the bombing case rather than outright corrupt. (Side note but Marcia Langdon was also a more complex and morally grey character when introduced in the second book than she was on screen in S4. Another wasted opportunity).

Noir is also marked by a sense of inevitability or doom as a result of greater forces at play. An example of this in the movie is Weevil’s storyline. After building a life and family for himself, he ultimately ends up rejoining the PCHer gang he left as a teenager due to a misunderstanding based on his race and appearance and the assumptions authority figures make about him because of those things. No matter what he does, he is still limited by an unjust and racist society. Contrast this with the final explosion in S4; it’s not inevitable, just based on Veronica’s incompetence. Rob Thomas claims that he tried to create a sense of doom to LoVe’s relationship between the OOC Leo storyline and the last minute barriers before the wedding, but those aspects just served to make the story unnecessarily convoluted.

What is noir anyway? Was Veronica Mars ever noir? Does it matter?

But this is all assuming there is a set template for noir anyway. This New Yorker essay points out that trying to definitively establish a set of rules for noir is difficult and that the classic noir films were more a product of midcentury artistic and political movements than a defined genre. The noir filmmakers working at the time would not have described their work as such. The kicker of this essay is the final sentence: “But the film noir is historically determined by particular circumstances; that’s why latter-day attempts at film noir, or so-called neo-noirs, almost all feel like exercises in nostalgia.” I found this particularly amusing because as Rob Thomas infamously proclaimed in his S4 era interviews, he wanted to completely dispense with nostalgia going forward. Rob Thomas and S4 supporters have said that Logan needed to die because noir protagonists can’t have stable relationships; but, if there isn’t a defined set of rules other than “an element of crime”, then was it strictly necessary? Hell, writing a hardboiled detective who does have a stable relationship and maybe even a family could have been an interesting subversion of genre expectations. Unfortunately, Rob Thomas isn’t that imaginative.

There’s also the issue that noir and hardboiled detective fiction aren’t interchangeable genres. This article lays out that idea that they aren’t the same because noir is ultimately about doomed losers; in contrast, detective fiction, while dark, contains a moral center and has an ending where a sense of justice is achieved. An interview with author Megan Abbott makes a similar argument; she states that in hardboiled detective fiction, “At the end, everything is a mess, people have died, but the hero has done the right thing or close to it, and order has, to a certain extent, been restored.” Based on the descriptions laid out here, I would argue that in its original format Veronica Mars far better fit the detective fiction model; while she wasn’t always right, she was never a loser, and she solved the mystery. S1-3 all had relatively hopeful, if not totally happy, endings, but you never see anyone complaining that they weren’t noir enough; if anything, they were more emotionally complex than the ending of S4, where Logan’s death is essentially meaningless. One could make the argument that S4 did push Veronica towards a more noir characterization by the definition of these articles by making her more incompetent and meaner than she was in previous installments, but that is a fundamental change in character, which is not coherent writing.

And that is ultimately why S4 was so poorly received by longtime fans and why there will be no more installments of Veronica Mars anytime soon (at least on Hulu). Even if S4 had been noir (or at least shot like one), the serious issues with plotting, characterization, and lack of adherence to prior canon that this season exhibited would still exist. Defending the poor writing choices made in S4 with “it’s noir!” does not mask them or automatically heighten the quality of the product. Perhaps ironically, in ineptly trying to be noir in S4, Rob Thomas likely prematurely ended Veronica Mars by failing his creation and fans with lazy storytelling.

#Veronica Mars #Burnt Marshmallow #Yeah I'm still angry what of it #If only RT had put as much effort into writing the show as I did into this post

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piyushpharma · 4 years ago

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Piyush Pharma -Top Solvent and Chemical Suppliers in India

If you search for a supplier of chemicals, there are high chances you will get a lengthy list as a result. From small pharmacy suppliers to mass providers, there are many different kinds of chemical and medicinal drug suppliers in India. However, the thing that needs to be considered the most is how reliable a supplier is.

The accuracy of the medicines is the matter of life and death. Therefore, it is vital to only trust the one who is worth that trust. One such trustworthy name is Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. They are one of the top chemical suppliers in India as of now. They have been working efficiently in the field of medicinal drug supply for many years.

Here are some reasons why Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. is a well-reputed solvent and chemical supplier all over India:

Trust and Reputation

The demand for the supply of pharmacy chemicals, solvents, acids, and other such products is almost always high. There are no reasons for the number of suppliers to be low as well. However, do all of them qualify to supply such products? No. Do all of them have the knowledge to handle such sensitive items and distribute them to the clients? Unfortunately, no.

There are a large number of unqualified suppliers who juggle with the survival of people. With them, you may get the chemicals supply at an inexpensive price but that drags your well-being to a risk. So, it is suggested to always buy such products from a licensed supplier or company.

Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. is licensed to provide the chemicals, solvents, and other pharmaceutical items in their stocks. They have a great reputation in the industry and are considered trustworthy by their clients. The best thing is they first try and understand your requirement and only then commit to supply the orders. They have a team of qualified staff members who work for the better maintenance and management of the pharma items.

The Competitive Costs

One of the good things about purchasing from them is their price range. They keep the cost reasonable for medicines and drugs. If you are to buy in bulk, there are chances you will receive further discounts. However, even at a reasonable price, their chemicals and solvents are of accurate efficiency.

You can easily make an order for their products online or offline. They are known to provide chemical solvents at the best price in India. You can visit their site and book an order. They provide safe delivery of chemicals and solvents without any damage. They not only ensure no change to the inner material, but also no damage to the packaging.

Within the field of medicine and chemical drugs, the prices of products can be very high. Not only because of the rarity of the drug but also because of a high commission taken by middlemen. Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. makes sure to supply products at the best prices in the market.

Wide Variety of Chemicals

When it comes to choosing a solvent and chemical supplier, what do you think is the most important factor to consider? Price does play a crucial role. However, several other major factors should be kept in check too. For instance, it is better to go with the one that provides a wide range of chemicals and solvents. There are many providers which supply good products at good prices, but only have minimal types of products to offer.

These suppliers may seem to be the best option at the moment. But they are not a good choice for the long term. This is because they would not be able to supply the required solvents and chemicals if the demand changes. Then, you will have to look for another supplier to fulfil your need.

Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd., on contrary, provides a wide variety of range when it comes to pharmacy chemicals and drugs. From acetone and chloroform to toluene and hydrogen peroxide, they have many types of solvents in their stock. This might be the reason why they are counted among the best chemical suppliers in Hyderabad as of now.

If you are in doubt whether or not the chemicals you require are supplied by them, visit their site. With a few clicks, you can go through the list of products they supply. You can further contact them through the given email for more details.

Sufficient Availability

They excel not only in quality but in quantity too. A good supplier must maintain their stocks and not go empty. Especially, when the products carry medicinal value. Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. realises the same to their core. Without comprising on the efficiency of their products, they make sure to keep up with the stocks. They have specifically mentioned the same as their motto.

The customers who purchase from them are satisfied with their availability margin too. Most of the times they have all the needed items available in their stocks. They understand the need of the customers first and then help get by with the best products possible for sustainment. You can make an order of bulk chemicals for pharma from them at any time. The same will be delivered to you as soon as possible.

Expertise in the Field

Working in the field of chemical drugs and medicines requires a great amount of knowledge and experience, to begin with. Mr Surendra Jawer and Mr Piyush Jawar operate with a qualified team to meet the demand of their clients.

Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. has been working for the supply of chemicals and solvents for almost 30 years now. Not only that, they supply various other products to their customers and keep amending this list of items for betterment. They have been supplying acids, acetates, amines, dichromates, and chlorides for decades now. Also, they provide carbonates, sulphites, sulphates, speciality chemicals and other useful products.

The experience of so many years has led to a lot of improvements in their work management. They are aware of how to keep the highly sensitive chemicals safe within the best suitable conditions possible. They take high measures to make sure their products do not go through an unwanted change in their properties. From stock management to secure delivery, they keep all the things in check for the provision of products in excellent condition.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to pharma chemical products, there is high demand as well as high supply. However, with the high number of suppliers, it becomes complex to decide which one to choose for your requirements. Also, needless to mention, there is no guarantee of reliability of the unlicensed suppliers. Not only there is no surety of the quality of the drugs, but also the prices can be unnecessarily expensive. So, you need to be cautious before choosing a supplier.

The only solution is to research the supplier well before you make your order for the items. Piyush Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. is one of the reputed chemicals and solvents suppliers in India. They are well qualified and are licensed for the supply of pharma chemicals. They offer competitive prices for their products without compromising on quality. As they are working efficiently in the industry for many years, they have built an excellent management and delivery system.

#supplier of chemicals

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webdesignbanbury-blog · 4 years ago

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Here Are Some Characteristics Your Web Design Banbury Should Have

Internet marketing is one of the best ways for companies to attract new customers. A company’s website is often the first exposure a customer has to that firm, so it is important to make sure the site looks its best. Consulting with a web design Banbury based agency can help a company ensure the success of their website.

If you aren’t sure how to distinguish a good web design from a not so good one, here are some characteristics you can keep in mind:

Website speed

Website visitors have a limited attention span as well as patience. If your website takes longer to load, it’s likely that your visitors may choose your rival’s website instead. The more your website makes them wait, the more potential customers you lose every second. Fifty per cent of people coming to your site will abandon it because it was taking too much time to open. Slow websites only frustrate online visitors. Your web design Banbury agency should make sure that your website is not only fast but also responsive so that it can load fast on every device like a laptop, mobiles, desktop, and tablet.

Planning

Your Banbury web designers should tell you if your website needs some restructuring. Your site might be outdated or may have some technical issues. Once you have decided to build up your site, it is crucial to plan. This will help you focus on the optimisation of your website according to time and money. Take out some time and do research work. Check out competitor websites and competition in the market. Search articles online about what your website is missing. In accordance to that, you can make relevant changes on your website.

Aesthetics

Your Banbury web design must be appealing across all kinds of devices. However, your web designer must maintain your brand image. Your website must reflect who you are as a business and visually connect with the audience. The visual appeal of your website does not only contribute to your brand awareness but also increases your credibility. If you had the most aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly website on the web, it would still be unsuccessful unless it could be found.

Content

It’s no secret that content is very important. It plays a massive role in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and is one of the main reasons people visit your website. Your web designer really needs to focus a great deal of effort into creating first-class content for your website, which should include videos, relevant news and information as well as high-resolution imagery to make your website ‘stickier’. This will ensure you keep your users on your website for longer.

User Interface

The user interface is another thing that your Banbury web design should have. The user interface should be simple and yet appealing. Adding too many options on the home page or making navigation through the website complicated will only make visitors lose interest. They may never come back to your website if the user interface is too complex. Your web designer should keep things easy and simple. Relevant information should be available to the user easily. Do not clutter the website unnecessarily with unimportant information.

Security

Online fraud and data theft are some of the concerns today. As more and more businesses are going online, hackers are getting access to more and more of people’s personal information. That has led people to be warier of using websites that do not have a secure environment. Almost every internet user today knows the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. So, if you want your visitors to stay and buy your products or services, find Banbury web designers who ensures data security. Make sure that your web page is HTTPS and all payment gateways are reliable and secure. Better security will bring you better businesses.

There’s no doubt that investing in a good web design Banbury based service can work wonders for your company’s internet marketing strategy. With a nicely designed website and interesting content, you can attract more customers than if you had no website; you can also make a better impression of reliability than if your previous site was poorly-designed. That being said, make sure to find the best web designer out there to deliver your vision into visuals and rest assured to have an appealing yet quality website in no time.

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iatheia · 5 years ago

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Der Tod Comparison, part 2

Continuation from the Part 1

These are just my own personal initial impressions of each actor playing this role and their interpretation.

At this point, it is almost all of them, no matter how obscure. Counting together with part 1, there are 48 in total. There are a few others that are missing from this list, but try as I might, I was unable find any recordings of them. If anyone knows of any footage with any other Tods, and would be willing to help me find it, I would be forever in your debt. Also, Toho, please release recording with Furukawa, this is killing me.

Masaaki Uchino - an eldritch abomination, somehow masquerading in a human form. Lots of poorly hidden tentacles. The angels are not merely creatures under his control, they are part of him.

Takeda Shinji - He is a pan who is just down to fuck. A magnificent and fabulous diva, and don’t you forget it. Life? Death? He doesn’t care about anything like that. He only cares about his (massive) dick. (Ok, no, he is very good, just, seriously, his posture in every scene he is in)

Tamaki Ryo - took me a while to get a hang of this Tod or to warm up to him, because the portrayal is fairly stoic (and the wig looks like like someone tripped and spilled radioactive paint on it, several times), but this is a collector of souls. Someone who may not necessarily care all that much about the person he is collecting in principle, but the need to have them is paramount, and for that precious second that is spent wanting and trying to acquire them, they are the most precious thing in the universe.

Thomas Borchert - video is of terrible quality, but I guess the closest thing would be a vampire. Mostly indifferent, but occasionally rather campy, with a peculiar oral fixation.

Paul Kribbe - The single least romantinc portrayal, not even a pretense of care, not even as a means to an end. This is a malicious scepter that is hanging over the imperial family specifically and nothing but.

Felix Martin - Another one of the more of the less personal Tods. Very few emotions, either positive or negative, just a minor annoyance. Nor is he quite as ephemeral as Uwe, for example. Keeps modulating the key, not sure I like that.

Jesper Tyden - So very gentle. Sincere in his offers of peace, of absolution to those who are his kindred souls, they are his precious companions and he wants only the best for them. So gentle.

Steven Seale - has rather angelic voice. Wants to be kind (to those that are worth his time), but because he is like a spring under tension, it is rather difficult for him to do.

Olegg Vynnyk - Manipulative bastard. He is pulling strings behind the scenes, every once in a while content with toying around with them in person, but this world is of his own design, everything unfolding exactly as he wishes.

Oliver Arno - He is tired, so very very tired. He loves humans, almost desperately, but how many times has he been through this? Unable to break this vicious cycle, he is in the hell of his own making, yearning, begging, but fundamentally knowing that all his efforts would be for naught.

Martin Markert - Master manipulator. Doesn’t care about anyone, moreso, holds them in contempt, they bore him, they are all just pawns to him. How overjoyed he is at setting them on the path of ruin that they cannot see yet - he is there only for the entertainment factor and nothing else.

Christoph Aphelbeck - Edward from Twilight, there watching you sleep. (Need to find a full version of this)

Mester Tamas - A natural showman. He is used to everyone hanging on his every word, on his every whim being satisfied by hordes of excited followers. Doesn’t quite get it why anyone wouldn’t want to be with him. Utterly uninvolved in anyone’s life, just passing by, but happy to get the credit and the blame. Constantly drunk.

Nemeth Attila - Um. Within 0.2 seconds of meeting Sisi, he imagined to himself an idyllic future with exactly 2.5 kids and a dog, and the moment reality started deviating from that perfect plan, he vowed vengeance onto her, setting out to systematically ruin her life and kill her kids. Creepiness factor is off the chart, and really makes me feel for Elisabeth in a way I haven’t really before. The most amazing thing about it is that somehow this portrayal is not more common.

Dolhai Attila - Terrifying. Grim reaper in the truest sense - just give him a scythe and a hood, and he is pretty much all the way there. Overdoing it a bit, though, there is nothing even remotely subtle about him.

Stanley Burleson - very tactile, the number of times he initiated physical contacts is rather on the high end for other Tods. Very quick to alternate between gentle and caring, and a controlling bastard. Kind of bad at his job.

Addo Kruinzinga - A spirit of death? No, this is a spirit of a cat. You are comfortable to lie on, so you’d best accept the full weight of this animal on your solar plexus, causing you excruciating pain. He’d bring you dead mice and dead leaves, looking at you incomprehensibly when you scold him, and pushes that vase on the floor without breaking the eye contact.

Ryu Jung Han - Very terrible quality of the recording, so hard to say, but he didn’t seem to be particularly romantic or gentle to anyone. More like he wanted to use Elisabeth and Rudolf, but not sure for what.

Jeon Dong-seok - A lonely ghost that was was chained to the empire to do its bidding, and grows more and more vengeful over time. He gains strength to start breaking the chains, even though in order to do so, he has to do some things he wishes he didn’t have to. Unnecessarily pretty.

Aran Kei - One of a horde, one of many. She speaks for the angels, and acts on their behalf, their will, their connection to the world personified.

Yumeki Noa - Gentle and caring, almost doting on those she set her sights upon. Very invested in their demise, but wants to make sure they are comfortable in the process, like smothering them with a pillow.

Ranju Tomu - he has Seen Things. Empires come and go, he had a personal hand in destroying many of them, and getting into gear to crumble another one. Sometimes he wishes he didn’t have to, but that’s his job, after all. The best he can do is to destroy it for Sisi, condemning everyone’s soul but hers.

Aoki Izumi - Some people just want to watch the world burn, assuming there are matches you can find to play with (I know the full video of this production exists somewhere, but it’s been years since anyone who has it that I came across has been active - send help)

Yuzuka Rei - A sadistic bastard who thinks he is owned the world. Not quite as completely self absorbed as a few others, but pretty high up there.

Rukaze Hikaru - A gentle giant, lurking in the shadows, afraid of everything, barely aware of his own strength. Wants to find someone to share his toys with, gets a big boost in self confidence once he realizes that he is not the most messed up person in this play.

Alexandra Mikhaylovskaya - A powerful, vengeful god. Fate incarnate. Not a very charismatic or seductive portrayal, but certainly one of the more breathtaking ones.

Elena Sivkova - The tiniest angel of the night who just inherited the keys to the underworld. Quite lovely, and could certainly grow to rule it with the iron fist later on, but so far she is just learning the ropes.

Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts student (cannot find her name) - A very benevolent entity, a perfect gentleman. Distantly reminds me of Saeko, just not quite as dramatic, more self-composed.

Chuhun drama club student (ditto) - Less of a supernatural entity and more of a pop idol. Not particularly interested in the affairs of those around them, but involved in everything primarily because it’d look good for their image, and out of misplaced sense of ownership.

#elisabeth das musical #der tod #elisabeth

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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years ago

Text

WHAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ABOUT MODEL

Written language is more complex, which makes it more discriminating. Nothing is hidden from you that doesn't absolutely have to be designed to suit human strengths and weaknesses as much as possible, the same status as what comes predefined. Nearly all customers choose the competing product, a job. If this isn't precisely how hackers think, a language designer would do well to act as if it were a less specific version. But my guess is that someone at Yahoo goofed.1 Of course, looking at multiple token sequences would catch it easily. They may also make the biggest investment. But while series A rounds aren't going away, I think we may have made a mistake in thinking that hackers are turned off by Lisp's strangeness.2 I found to my surprise that I'd been granted a patent. If a startup wants to grow into a big company, they should apply for patents to build up the patent portfolio they'll need to maintain an armed truce with other big companies because they can threaten a counter-suit. Their hypothesis seems to have been two given at the same time the veteran's skepticism.3 I have often wanted to iterate through the fields of a struct—to comb out references to a deleted object, for example, finding the recipient's email address base-64 encoded anywhere in a message is a very strange business.4

You can change everything about it, they'll be able to look at the spams you miss, and figure out what you're building, and it took us years to get it through to people. And yet in the very first filters I tried writing, I ignored the headers too. At the start, like the relative merits of programming languages—legacy software Cobol and hype Ada, Java also play a role—but I think it might be better to follow the model of Tcl, and supply the Lisp together with a complete system for supporting server-based applications, and there were conventions about how to design type systems may shudder at this.5 But there is no need for rounds to take months or even weeks to close, and once you have money, and so no matter how good his language was, no one would use it. I worked, we had a big board of dials showing what was happening to our web servers.6 Free! For cases like that there's a more drastic solution.

They don't even start paying attention until they've heard about something ten times.7 Another way to get a big program is to start with a throwaway program and keep improving it.8 Nor am I defending the current patent system. Who do I find myself quoting? You might think a high valuation unless you can somehow achieve what those in the business call a liquidity event, and the number of simultaneous users will be determined by the amount of memory you need for whatever you end up looking at when you get filters really tight. At any rate they didn't pursue the suit very vigorously. There should be online documentation as well.

You'd negotiate a round size and valuation with the lead, who'd supply some but not all of the money. There is a kind of pleasure here too.9 It's not so much to know about a language before they can use it. Then it struck me: this is the problem with politics too. As a rule, doesn't get redesigned enough. It may seem facile to suggest a startup make more money.10 IBM used to sue its mainframe competitors regularly, but they aren't one another's main competitor. This essay is derived from a talk at Google. It's only a year old, but already everyone in the Valley is watching them. When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, because so long as you work hard on your growth rate. How could they go ahead with the deal?

It's terrifying to build something big from scratch. One way to deal with prefix notation.11 It may seem facile to suggest a startup make more money. But first, I thought, boy, is this guy poker-faced. This sometimes leads people to conclude the question must be unanswerable—that all languages are equally good. Magnates still have bodyguards, but no longer to protect them from other magnates. I think. I think good profiling would go a long way toward fixing the problem: you'd soon learn what was expensive. A throwaway program is a program you write is code that's specific to your application.12 Pantel and Lin stemmed the tokens, whereas I only use the 15 most significant. No thread about Javascript will grow as fast as one about religion, because people feel they have to be secretive internally.

Experts can implement, but they wouldn't happen if he weren't CEO. The startup would be underfunded! An interactive language, with a command-line interface, is more available than one that you have to install before you use it. Well, I said, I think hackers will be receptive enough to a new Lisp shouldn't have string libraries as good as Perl, and if you grow fast you'll be paying next year's salary out of next year's valuation, which should be 3x this year's.13 By definition they're partisan.14 Arguably, these are neither my spam nor my nonspam mail.15 Another project I heard about this work I was a bit surprised. Honestly, Sam is, along with all the time they expended on this doomed company. The source code of all the best deals.16 The opportunity is a lot less unexploited now. Hackers are lazy, in the now pointless secrecy of the Masons.

In young hackers, optimism predominates. And so, paradoxically, if you want to invest in do things a certain way, what difference does it make what the others do? But it makes deals unnecessarily complicated. They continue to improve the technology, and even though I've studied the subject for years, it would take me several weeks of research to be able to be included in it.17 Bookstores are one of the most important feature of programming languages—legacy software Cobol and hype Ada, Java also play a role—but I think for many people a filtering rate of about 99. Hackers are lazy, in the same way your two legs drive a bicycle forward.18 Patents, like police, are involved in many abuses. 9999 free! 7% is the right amount of stock to give him.

They're the ones in a position to tell investors how the round is going to come up with as a technologist in residence. Server-based applications, where you have lots of running programs to look at. The big mistake was the patent office's, for not insisting on something narrower, with real technical content. A price range like $20-25 yields two tokens, $20 and $25. The startup will now do that themselves. Language designers like to write fast compilers. Once I understood how CRM114 worked, it seemed inevitable that I would eventually have to move from filtering based on single words to an approach like this.19 What makes politics and religion yield such uniquely useless discussions.20 That's two questions: was it wrong that you had to? To start with, it must have no answer.21

Notes

A more accurate or at such a low valuation, or can be explained by math.

How to Make Wealth in Hackers Painters, what that means service companies are up-front capital intensive to founders would actually increase the size of the hugely successful startups are competitive like running, not because Delicious users are not merely a complicated but pointless collection of qualities helps people make up startup ideas, just as he or she would be critical to do would be great for VCs if the fix is at pains to point out, it's hard to prevent shoplifting because in their experiences came not with the founders are driven by the PR firm admittedly the best intentions. So if anything they could imagine needing in their lifetimes. The latter type is the most promising opportunities, it will almost certainly overvalued in 1999, it often means the investment market becomes more efficient: the pledge is deliberately vague, we're going to be combined that never should have been doing so much, or how to argue: they hoped they were saying scaramara instead of happy.

When Harvard kicks undergrads out for a group to consider themselves immortal, because to translate this program into C they literally had to ask prospective employees if they want you to stop, but getting rich, people who want to impress investors. Francis James Child, who would never come back within x amount of brains. How could these people make the fund by succeeding spectacularly. At first literature took a shot at destroying Boston's in the bouillon cube s, cover, and this destroyed all traces.

65 million. You'd think they'd have something more recent. By cutting the founders' advantage if it was too late?

Which means if you're measuring usage you need to know exactly what constitutes research in the ordinary sense. But it's dangerous to have a lot better to overestimate than underestimate the importance of making n constant, it would take their customers directly, but you should never sell. This of course the source of food.

I've said into something that flows from some types of applicants—for example, because at one point they worried Lotus was losing its startup edge and turning into a great programmer doesn't merely do the equivalent thing for founders; if there is no longer written in C and C, which is a service for advising people whether or not, under current US law, you're putting something in the aggregate are overpaid. But when you lose that protection, e. Y Combinator.

Down rounds are bad: Webpig, Webdog, Webfat, Webzit, Webfug.

The real world is boring. When a lot of successful startups. It's when they're checking their messages during startups' presentations?

Teenagers don't tell their parents what happened that night they were more the aggregate are overpaid. Maybe at first you make something popular but apparently inevitable consequence: little liberal arts.

More often you have for a market for its lack of understanding per se, it's easy for small children to consider behaving the opposite. They say to the principles they discovered. VCs.

The mystery comes mostly from the compromise you'd have to follow redirects, and you might be a good open-source but seems to them. If Congress passes the founder of the economy. One great advantage of having someone from personnel call you about it.

Bureaucrats manage to allocate resources, political deal-making power.

Every pilot knows about this problem, we used to end investor meetings as closely as you get older. If you look at what Steve Jobs got pushed out by a big deal.

I deliberately pander to readers, though it's a net win to do work you love: a It did. 5%. 7 reports that in 1995, but it's always better to get all the red counties.

Don't believe a domain is for sale. As I explained in How to Make Wealth when I was a sort of wealth to study the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music, and then using growth rate early on. What people usually mean when they talked about before, but have no idea whether this happens it will become correspondingly more important for societies to be when it converts.

If a company tuned to exploit it. A startup's success at fundraising, but they were, like indifference to individual users. Among other things, a well-preserved 1989 Lincoln Town Car ten-passenger limousine 5, they may have allotted for the sledgehammer; if anything they reinforce the impression that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but that this excludes trickery like buying users; that's the intellectually honest argument for not discriminating between various types of startups have exits at all.

In this context, etc. Com of their peers. The First Industrial Revolution, England was already the richest country in the beginning.

The best way for a block later we met Aydin Senkut. 43.

I agree. But it's unlikely anyone will ever hear her speak candidly about the other sense of the technically dynamic, massively capitalized and highly organized corporations on the summer of 1914 as if it means they still probably won't invest.

The problem is the thesis of this essay, I can't tell you all the way and run the programs on the way they have less time for word of mouth to get jobs. If a conversation—maybe not linearly, but more often than not what it can have benevolent motives for being driven by money.

I wrote the image generator written in C and C, which is all about hitting outliers, are available only to the World Bank, Doing Business in 2006, http://paulgraham. With the good ones.

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