#the great hamilton incident of 2019......

[kaeyapilled]

What are some fics that you think are must reads for kaeya fans?

TEEHEE okay i think i have rec'd most of these before when i was asked for fic recs some time ago but its ok. here are the most kaeya fics ever in my opinion !

clouds in a lake by VelleRue

“Pot of butter,” Kaeya mumbles beneath his breath, eyes roving over the words. Alone, the words wouldn’t be very special. The shapes and sounds don’t scare him as much anymore, not like they did when he was new and wore shoes with torn soles and only knew how to say, My father told me he was going to buy grape juice.

Together though, they sound like the orange-yellow light of the oil lamp flickering in the corner. They sound like sticky fingers and bread rolls. Like a dinner table of three.

Cake and a pot of butter.

this one is so bittersweet and melancholic and i love all the headcanons in it and the way it's written oughhh it's a great read!! short but really good

stubborn roots by alexithymias

Kaeya’s plan to end his life is interrupted when Rosaria asks him to take care of a plant for a few days.

this one is heavier so definitely pay attention to the tags but, oh my god. this rewired my brain SO violently. i adore the concept and the characterization is really on point. it is so painful in all the good ways i like stories to be painful. i really recommend it!!

I'm gonna miss your love when it's gone by imaginarypasta

A selection of scenes from Kaeya's childhood related to his relationships with his fathers, and all they have led him to be.

im pretty sure ive rec'd this before but this is like, one of my favorite portrayals of kaeya and his bio father ever. its just so good. so delightfully sad. a breath of fresh air from the common headcanon that his father was an evil asshole. the kaeya & crepus bits are also really good and i like the author's hcs about khaenri'ah/the abyss SO much

not bad for a walk on death's doorstep by b_attery

Fear is a knife’s edge. Fear is a killer. Fear is how you know you’re still alive. Kaeya Alberich, not yet Ragnvindr, knew how to fear before he knew how to talk. As the heir to the regency of a dead kingdom, a spy-in-training to be sent to the surface world, as the last hope of Khaenri’ah – there were many things to fear. And later, as the Cavalry Captain of Mondstadt and a traitor no matter what he chose, Kaeya Alberich ex-Ragnvindr knew that as long as he lived, he would be afraid.

i have definitely rec'd this one before. but i just really love it!!! my comment on the bookmark says "literally the best kaeya character study i have ever read" and yeah that still holds up. shaped a lot of my kaeya hcs. i love this author

Hundred-Watt Light by pepperjuice

The first time the thought occurs to Kaeya he is eleven years old. Well, that’s not exactly true. It had been twisting in the back of his head for a long time, already. Formless and unspoken, an ever-present awareness, a whisper. But the first time it rings in his head, put in words, bright and shiny and just behind his eyes—

He is eleven. *** A story about ten years of contingency plans and holding your own hand. (Because how else are you supposed to live with a weight too big to hold all alone?)

OH I MUST HAVE REC'D THIS LIKE THREE TIMES BUT THIS IS REALLY A MUST READ. first of all heed the tags because it touches quite heavy topics! but this entire concept is SO interesting to be explored in kaeya's character and this author does it SO well..... this is one of my favorite fics, like, ever, lmao. absolute kaeya must read To Me

Lamellae by scripturient

A slowish movement in a discordant key, wherein Kaeya has bitten off rather more than he can chew and needs significant help; meanwhile, malady exposes buried memory and dread. A limited plot from a limited point of view which dabbles in themes of pain, trust, angst, conflict, and betrayal. Not quite a character study.

the writing style in this one is SO cool, i love it! non-linear narratives are my thing, i never get tired of it. and the whump in this is so good.. i like whump fanfiction, lol. the combination of characters in this is really fun as well, though everything is told from kaeya's very disoriented point of view. anyway, amazing exploration of his character!! the next work in this series, The thaw that comes in springtime (plus the next next work!), is also really good and i loved it, particularly the ragbros bit lol. another must read!

undertow / oversight by MercuryPoisoning

In which Kaeya gets by with a little help from his friends.

another one i feel ive rec'd before, but i love it. really good characterization!! especially his relationship with diluc!!! really good read. i love this author's stuff a lot lol. (bonus by the same author, and another one i consider a must-read even though it's still in progress and also way heavier than most of the previous recs: sleeping marble lion! i really like the writing style and the concept!!! pay attention to the tags but trust me it's a delightfully gut wrenching one<3)

whew. i think i have a few more i could have added here. i just went through my bookmarks lol i have read a decent amount of kaeya fanfiction. hope these are to your liking!!! fic rec'ing is one of my favorite activities

[hamyilton]

So, in the aftermath of yesterday, I thought it might be useful to make a little list of moments where Max behaved (in my opinion) in an unsportsmanlike way. Upon giving this a read, it should be quite obvious that Max behaves aggressively to almost everyone on the grid and that he was beyond lucky in 2021 to not get penalized like he had before then for similar incidents. Furthermore, if you're the type of person to write a post wishing for more incidents with max and other drivers as "karma" for 2021, kindly fuck off, as this list should show that max doesn't give a shit who he hits and for what position.

Mexico 2016 (Passes Vettel off-track and refuses to give the position back, earns a five-second penalty)

Hungary 2017 (Hits his teammate Ricciardo and causes him to DNF)

Mexico 2017 (Makes contact with Vettel and Hamilton, causing both to have to pit on the first lap. Max wins the race).

Bahrain 2018 (Hits Lewis, giving himself a puncture)

China 2018 (Hits Vettel and earns a 10-second penalty)

Baku 2018 (Collision with Ricciardo in an attempt to defend his position causing both to DNF)

Spain 2018 (Contact with Stroll at the end of a VSC period)

Monza 2018 (Defends aggressively from Bottas and forces him off the track, earning a 5 second penalty. Continues to refuse to let Bottas by and ends losing an additional position to Vettel because of his stubbornness).

Brazil 2018 (Has an accident with Esteban Ocon and then physically pushes him after the race)

Monaco 2019 (Makes contact with Bottas in the pits, forcing him to pit again and lose position. Makes contact with Lewis late during the race but both remain unscathed)

Austria 2019 (Forces Charles Leclerc off the track in the final laps of the race in a move that is identical to ones penalized in 2021 and onward; is never given a penalty and wins the race)

Mexico 2019 (Makes contact with Lewis at the start of the race, then hits Bottas a few laps later and gets a puncture)

Imola 2021 (Forces Lewis off the track to avoid contact at the start and goes on to win the race)

Monza 2021 (After an long pitstop, comes out right behind Lewis and attempts a move into Turn 1 that would never have succeeded. He bounces over the curbs and lands on top of Lewis' car, causing both to DNF. He immediately goes on the radio to say "that's what you get when you don't leave the space" and is handed a grid penalty. He never serves the penalty, however, as he takes a new engine for the following grand prix in Russia anyway)

Brazil 2021 (He is leading the race when Lewis attempts to pass, pushes him off the track so much they both go off in Lewis' attempt to avoid contact. This is not penalized due to claims that the "onboard footage" was missing and despite the missing footage being reviewed later that week, no penalty is ever given)

Abu Dhabi 2021 (Need I say more).

Brazil 2022 (Collides with Lewis, which damages his own car. Later in the race, he refuses to swap places with Perez for important championship points for his teammate, despite already being world champion at that point)

Singapore 2023 (He impedes Yuki during qualifying and is also stationary in the pit lane, both actions that normally incur penalties. He does not receive any penalty, a decision even the stewards later admit is a "mistake")

Austria 2024 (Defends aggressively from Lando, including moving under-breaking which should incur a penalty as an illegal move. When Lando attempts a move around the outside, he hits him twice and forces both cars off track and for both to have a puncture, with the damage on Lando's car being so great he DNF's).

I'm sure there's moments I'm missing but this is to serve as an illuminating example to those whose knowledge of F1 is more limited and haven't seen races pre-2022.

[leqclerc]

Only mistake Charles made thus far is Melbourne. And that was in part because Ferrari fumbled with quali. Maybe he pushed a bit in Baku but it was tricky for everyone. And he saved the car and the pole was his anyway. I mean do we want results and great racing or just chilling in 5th ? What are people on about ?

« verstappen doesn’t make mistake » « Hamilton doesn’t » yes they do. They don’t when their car is far superior and on rails. They don’t have to push so they don’t « make mistakes ». (And even there sometimes there is a spin or crash those men just want to push the limits all the time that’s also what make the sport what it is).

We go from Charles being god in Baku to he is finished because he lost the rear on FP2

People are really being dramatic about free practice. It’s literally made to test things from settings to driving style. You can’t figure out how much you can push if you don’t cross the line. And the track/asphalt is tricky in Miami. He protected the car so even the cost cap talk is useless. By testing the limits he puts on mega laps come quali or the race.

I’m starting to think domenicalli is right: let’s get rid of FPs if people think they are races or quali sessions.

Also Ferrari are testing new parts. It will affect the balance of the car. He has to push the car to see what’s right or wrong and to figure out what settings they’ll go for. There is much less testing times than in previous years. They do that in FP more than ever. We can’t compare to what was going on even 3 years ago.

Anyway I hope Ferrari can figure something out with that car and développement or what is really wrong with it for next year. And « fans » can learn what free practices are.

The only point I'm gonna disagree on is Melbourne being Charles's mistake when it was analysed and the conclusion was that it was a racing incident (I think that's what you're referring to?). To me, for example, the Baku qualy crash was on him. The pole was safe, but that's something I can admit was his mistake.

Other than that, I agree. Especially re: the recency bias and the knee-jerk reactions, going from him being the only person to at least somewhat challenge the Red Bulls in Baku, to him being finished and not knowing how to drive because of one incident in FP2. Like, what 😭

Also, so true about F1 steadily cutting down more and more testing time for the drivers and teams in favour of focusing on the ~spectacle. In 2019 the pre-season testing was split into two parts, for a total of eight days of testing. In 2020 that was reduced to six. From 2021 onwards they've only had three. Now with the new sprint weekend format they only have one Friday practice session, and Mr Moneybags Domenicali is already eyeing a record 10 sprint weekends for next year. That means ten weekends with only one FP 😶 So, sorry to break it to the ~racing experts over on Twt, but we're probably only going to be seeing more drivers taking risks and possibly making mistakes as they're going to be given less and less time to test new parts, set-ups, etc. going forward.

[f1]

Danke Seb: F1 bids fond farewell to retiring Sebastian Vettel after 16 years

Bowing out with the crowd on their feet delivering a standing ovation and chanting your name is perhaps the fondest farewell a competitor can hope for. In Abu Dhabi on Sunday Sebastian Vettel called time on his Formula One career with just such a reception. Admired and respected, Vettel’s departure genuinely leaves the sport a little bit poorer. The 35-year-old completed his final GP at Yas Marina after 16 years in F1 and having won four world championships. It has been some career and notably for a perceptive, thoughtful character, one not of a straightforward trajectory. Here then was a man ending his career amidst an outpouring of genuine affection and a sense of sadness at his departure, where once he antagonised as many as he had endeared. The Vettel that won those titles with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 was a driver perceived as arrogant and often cast as the villain. Nicknamed “fingerboy” for his triumphant wagging of a digit after a victory and the often ruthless, selfish, win-at-all-costs attitude of the infamous multi-21 incident with Mark Webber, where he disobeyed team orders, so determined was he to take the win. Yet this weekend all 20 drivers took Vettel out for a farewell dinner, where his great rival Lewis Hamilton picked up the bill. They were, without exception, gushing in their praise for Vettel. Two hundred members of the F1 paddock from teams, media, and F1 turned out to run the track with Vettel at Yas Marina on Saturday night, their small way of saying “Danke Seb”, as their t-shirts read. As a driver his talent was never in question but as he has aged a genuinely admirable and intriguing character has come more to the fore. His absolute passion for the sport and its history has become clear. As has his commitment to putting his position to good use in highlighting racism, diversity, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and the climate emergency. A more mature, rounded man has emerged from the youngster who made his debut in 2007 and then took F1 by storm in becoming its youngest world champion in 2010. A man who, it became clear, it was almost impossible to dislike. He still drove with the same commitment, indeed to the extent that there remained moments of high drama, fuelled by the strong emotion that racing inspired in him. Driving into Hamilton at Baku in 2017 was petulant and dangerous and similarly at Canada in 2019 he did not take a penalty for blocking Hamilton well, but Vettel was always big enough to apologise once the adrenaline wore off. He was ultimately a genuine sportsman, intelligent and articulate, so much so that he and Hamilton, fierce competitors, became friends. They acknowledged that it was how they treated one another of the track that mattered and recognised in one another kindred spirits in their desire to make a difference in the real world. Vettel never hit the heights of those four titles again. He had a shot at two more in 2017 and 2018 with Ferrari but was thwarted on both occasions by Hamilton and Mercedes. Two years with Aston Martin followed when he parted company with the Scuderia in 2020. His time there was an uphill struggle in a poor car but he nonetheless gave his full commitment. Intensely private, he leaves F1 to spend more time with his family, his relationship with whom he has always said defines him as a person much more than F1. Which is indicative of a man with his priorities in order. Vettel departs on his own terms, then, rightly content with his achievements as a driver and as a man, and he will be missed. “I had a great time and was able to enjoy success and win championships,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “From the sporting point of view, it’s been huge, but also I have been able to grow and mature in many ways, reflect about a lot of things.” via Formula One | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/formulaone

[flibbertygigget]

The Theatre Post

Of all the theatre I've seen since like 2016. Please ignore this, it's for my own memory and i'll be constantly updating it

2016/maybe pre-2016 idr:

Hamlet (p)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (p)

The Book of Mormon (m, Touring Cast)

The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up (p)

Ragtime (m)

Barbecue (p)

Jitney (p)

Perecles (p)

Marisol (p)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (p, Touring Cast)

God's Ear (p)

2017:

The Kitchen (p)

Electra (p)

And (p, One-Act)

Godot Has Come (p, Japanese Touring Cast)

2018:

Bone Chiller (p)

Hamilton (m, Chicago)

The Miracle Worker (p)

Frankenstein - Playing with Fire (p)

A Prelude to Faust (p)

Home (p, One-Act)

Spring Awakening (m)

Twelfth Night (p)

2019:

Falsettos (m, Touring Cast)

Pippin (m)

Candide (m)

Metamorphoses (p)

Hello, Dolly! (m, Touring Cast)

Oklahoma! (m, Broadway)

Hadestown (m, Broadway)

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (m, Off-Broadway)

The Ferryman (p, Broadway)

Burn This (p, Broadway)

Tootsie (m, Broadway)

What the Constitution Means to Me (p, Broadway)

Caught (p)

Sea Cabinet (m)

To Let Go And Fall (p)

Jefferson Township Sparkling Junior Talent Pageant (m)

The Rocky Horror Show (m)

Aubergine (p)

AMP (p, One-Act)

Frankenstein (p, One-Act)

2020:

Noura (p)

A.I.M. (d)

The Niceties (p, Livestream)

The Haunting of Lin Manuel Miranda (p, Livestream)

2021:

It's an Honorable Life (p)

A Murder is Announced (p)

2022:

La Boheme (m)

Redwood (p)

Monster Heart (p)

The Tempest (p)

A Raisin in the Sun (p)

Emma (p)

Cambodian Rock Band (m)

Sweat (p)

Merrily We Roll Along (m)

Doubt (p)

Victor Invictus (p, One-Act)

All Your White Darlings (p, One-Act)

Dead Mountain (p, One-Act)

Edgar Perry (p, One-Act)

2023 (was not a good year for theatre for me :/):

Next to Normal (m)

A Wrinkle in Time (p)

2024:

Purlie Victorious (p, Broadway)

Merrily We Roll Along (m, Broadway)

Here We Are (m, Off-Broadway)

Stones in His Pockets (p)

Sweeney Todd (m)

Richard II (p)

Henry IV (p)

Henry V (p)

Skeleton Crew (p)

The Spitfire Grill (m)

English (p)

Little Shop of Horrors (m)

The Lehman Trilogy (p)

Scotland, PA (m)

Holmes/Poirot (p)

Noises Off (p, Chicago)

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (m, Chicago)

Evil Perfect (p, Chicago)

Assassins (m)

[formula365]

Champions in the making - Emilia Romagna GP review

The breakthrough kid

It is not always possible to pinpoint the exact moment in which a driver goes from young promise to champion in the making. There can be breakthrough performances, in which a driver lays down a marker and announces himself to the world, but more often than not the progression is so gradual over a number of seasons that the driver eventually makes it to the top in slow steps, a sink filling up drop by drop from a leaky faucet.

But every once in a while, we get to witness a breakthrough moment, one of those weekends that, when looking back into a career, will be seen as a pivotal moment in which the promise has come good, which removes the doubt of whether that potential will be fulfilled. Moments like Sebastian Vettel winning in a Toro Rosso, or Max Verstappen becoming a Grand Prix winner on his Red Bull debut; we knew, there and then, what they would become.

It wasn’t his maiden win, but this is what we witnessed this weekend from Lando Norris.

Coming into this season, the young Brit knew this could be a make or break year for him. He had done really well to match his more experienced teammate in his first two seasons, but the challenge with his new partner was at a different level. No disrespect to Carlos Sainz, who is definitely a talented driver, but Daniel Ricciardo is a proven race winner, someone who had driven for Red Bull and been considered by Mercedes and Ferrari. The Aussie had spent the last two seasons destroying Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon, no slouches themselves, which meant there was a risk for Norris to be swallowed up by the Honey Badger’s performances.

His first two seasons had shown glimpses of his talent, but also a certain on-track shyness, in contrast to his expansive personality off it. He himself admitted during pre-season that he needed to improve on his aggressiveness and push harder on wheel to wheel battles; he had to drive the car ever closer to its limits. After a couple of seasons maturing and honing his skills, now was the time to be a more imposing figure behind the wheel, including within his own team.

Bahrain had already shown glimpses of that. He started the race behind his teammate, but passed him early on and never looked back. Imola, though, was something else. McLaren didn’t have the right set-up throughout Friday and both drivers seemed to be struggling, but on Saturday Norris looked to be one with his car. Bar a small mistake on his last run, he would have not only out-qualified his teammate, but also Verstappen in a much faster Red Bull. The track limits infringement left him P7 on the grid, but on Sunday he would more than make up for the mistake.

He had blistering pace from the get-go, to the point that he radioed his engineer when stuck behind his teammate to ask to be let through. In a moment that could be defining for the season, Ricciardo did let him through and then saw the youngster disappear down the road in the chase for the Ferraris. On the restart, he made light work of Leclerc (with much faster tyres, to be fair) and then fought Hamilton hard for several laps until the lack of grip on his rubber forced him to concede.

Overall, Norris showed a wide array of his skills at Imola: blistering one-lap pace, attacking, defending, tyre management, determination to come back after the mistake on Saturday, even authority in the team when he asked to be let through his teammate. A complete performance that leaves no doubt about his talent: he has the skills to be a future champion, the only question remaining is whether he will have the consistency to deliver over a full season. Given his mental approach - he is very open to speak about mental health - it seems he is addressing that side of his driving as well.

Until now, Norris had been the fun kid with a turn of pace, the meme-generator and half of a McLaren bromance. The end of the partnership with Sainz might have been a liberating factor for him: in order to be taken more seriously, the banter has to take second place to his driving, and with Ricciardo also looking to leave his more goofy side in the background, this can be the perfect time for Lando to do the same and let his driving do the talking. He certainly did that this weekend.

Talking points

* My oh my, do we have a fight on our hands. Verstappen v. Hamilton is already becoming such a compelling story it is hard not to make it the subject of every race review and preview; the feeling is that this will be a fight for the ages, that we will have a season to be remembered for many years to come. This time around it was the Dutchman who had the upper hand, with a superb start to go from P3 to P1 into Tamburello. He gave no quarters to Hamilton on the outside and then managed the race beautifully, although he was left unchallenged in the second half after Hamilton’s crash. The game is most definitely on.

* The reigning champion may have given some small signs of the pressure getting to him. Mostly unchallenged in recent years, Lewis made an uncharacteristic mistake when lapping back markers and then seemed to have had a scrambled brain moment as he struggled to get out of the run-off area. He is human, after all, some might have thought. The red flag gave him the opportunity to reset and come back to re-claim P2 and a podium place he would have certainly lost otherwise. He showed his mental resilience then, but it will be interesting to see how he (and Verstappen as well) will manage the pressure of a title fight (hopefully) over 23 races.

* One of the big talking points post-race was the massive crash between Bottas and Russell. Approaching Tamburello, drivers hit speeds above 300 kph, so it’s no surprise it was a nasty one, and that both drivers felt the other should have done more to avoid it. Controversy aside, the big question has to be why was Bottas defending P9 from a Williams. Like Monza, Turkey and Sakhir last year, when the Finn gets caught up in the midfield he struggles to move forward, and even manages to fall further back. To make matters worse, in all these races his teammate was caught in similar situations and had no problem cutting through the field. When the dust settles, Bottas will certainly have some soul searching to do.

* How good is it to see McLaren and Ferrari fighting each other for top spots? The two historic teams collected all positions from P3 to P6 and seem to be a step above the rest of the midfield contenders. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivalry in F1’s history, and it’s great for the sport to see it reignited.

* The only midfield team that seems to have the pace to challenge them is AlphaTauri, but they are struggling to convert their pace into points. Tsunoda ruined his weekend with two (very rookie) mistakes, while Gasly’s race was ruined by the decision to start on full wets. He still made a great recovery drive to finish P7, but this felt like another missed opportunity for AlphaTauri, specially at a track they know so well. They have a genuine shot at finishing in the top half of the table, which is Franz Tost’s goal for the team, but in order to achieve that they have to start using their pace to score points.

* If AlphaTauri will be left ruing their weekend, Williams will be doubly so. With two drivers qualifying in the top 14, they had genuine hope to score points for the first time since the crazy rain-soaked German GP in 2019, but two crashes negated their shot. Latifi barely got going so we will never know what he could have achieved, but Russell was clearly in the mix and will be left pondering how high he could have finished if he had been a bit more cautious. With scoring opportunities so limited, that might have been the wiser approach.

* The second Red Bull continues the saga of the topsy-turvy weekends. One of the narratives for Albon in 2020 was that he was not able to have a clean, incident-free weekend, and that was limiting his results. Perez is going down the same path, and although he did manage to salvage a P5 in Bahrain, here he was left empty-handed. It’s still very early, and the signs from the first race were positive, but for Red Bull to challenge Mercedes he needs to be up there consistently.

* Ahead of the season, very few people would have betted for Stroll and Ocon to be beating their teammates, either in qualifying or in the race. The two youngsters are showing that world titles (a combined 6 after all) aren’t a guarantee of continued success.

* On that topic, it is worth noting that most drivers that are newcomers to their respective teams are struggling at the moment. Sainz at Ferrari is the exception; Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso and Vettel are all underperforming, some more than others. This quartet is uber-talented, though, so expect them to get closer to their teammates as the season progresses and they become more accustomed to their new cars.

* Curb your enthusiasm, Yuki. We love to see his on-track flamboyance: he is one of the most exciting drivers to hit F1 in the last few years, but it can work against him too. He needs to find a balance but two races in these growing pains were to be expected. Once he finds that balance, he will be one hell of a driver.

Driver of the day: Lando Norris

Moment of the day

The battle between Hamilton and Norris. The young Brit managed to hold off the 7-times champion for a handful of laps, with tyres well past their expiry date and no DRS; Leclerc, for comparison, was on mediums and was passed by Hamilton on the first lap he didn’t have DRS. Norris’ positioning was perfect and he was brave on the brakes. Eventually the lack of grip and Hamilton’s bravery led to the inevitable, but Norris put up an excellent fight.

[spurgie-cousin]

So @gothkrispies​ and @totallyrobophobic​ reminded me of some female cult leaders that I’d forgotten existed, and I thought a good way to kill time would be to make a post about some of the most insane ones. Mostly just because I want too, but also because they’re often overlooked in the cult world. There’s a few I want to cover and I have a short attention span, so this is part 1 of maybe 3? Or two. We’ll see how it goes...here’s Cult Ladies! Part 1:

Gwen Shamblin Lara - The Remnant Fellowship

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve checked in on the bouffant prophet of Tennessee Gwen Shamblin, now known as Gwen Shamblin Lara after her 2018 marriage ‘90s tv Tarzan Joe Lara. If you are unfamiliar with her, she’s a former nutritional specialist turned church cult leader that began her ministry with a weird combination of diets and Jesus, or her preferred term, ‘faith based weight-loss’. Her teachings have often been criticized for being too focused on weight loss at the expense of health, to the point of encouraging eating disorders.

The Remnant Fellowship has also been criticized by families of current members, who say that they use ‘cult-like’ tactics to manipulate their congregation, and that they are told Gwen Shamblin Lara is a prophet of God who they can be punished for contradicting. In 2007 the church also came under fire for their rules regarding child discipline, when the child of a couple who professed to be Remnant members died due to what medical examiners referred to as "acute and chronic" abuse. Gwen Shamblin has denied all claims and taken media outlets to court over this accusation on the ground of slander. Allegations could never be definitively proven by the court, so all charges were dropped.

J.Z. Knight - Ramtha School Of Enlightenment

This one has a personal twist for me, because 5 of my family members have been balls deep in this bullshit for over a decade. In fact one of them, my great-aunt Linda Evans (by marriage, who is pictured in the 2nd photo) is not only the one who introduced my other family to it, but is responsible for converting hundreds of people at the very least.

J.Z. Knight (born Judith Darlene Hampton) was working in TV in Washington state when she claims to have had a revelation given to her by a 40,000 year old spirit named Ramtha, who she claims is one of the first human spirits to have ever experienced enlightenment. According to her, this spirit told her that it came back to tell her that her calling was to spread the message of enlightenment through the (obviously bullshit) method of ‘channeling’, which supposedly involves Ramtha inhabiting her for temporary periods of time and then providing the secrets to the universe. Kind of like a seance, where the channeler is doing a really bad ‘Apu’ impression, spitting out frothy new age nonsense and charging thousands of dollars a year in tuition. 

The Ramtha School puts huge importance on the apocalypse, and their followers are in constant preparation for the end times, leading many people to label them a doomsday cult. I can attest to this, as all of my family members in the cult all have under ground bunkers and nonperishable food supplies to last them for years. 

Also I think it’s worth noting that of 2019 J.Z Knight was (and as far as I know, still is) a big supporter and funder of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Anne Hamilton-Byrne - The Family

So we wrap up part 1 with Anne Hamilton-Byrne (born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards), a narcissistic ex-yoga teacher from Australia. Anne mixed traditional Christian teachings with just the right amount of Hinduism to make it appealing to ‘60s religious defectors looking for a new way to worship. Like many similar religious experiments around that time, the group began to form a cult mentality, with Hamilton-Byrne asserting more and more control over the growing number of followers.

Hamilton-Byrne eventually acquired a remote property called Kai Lama where she housed 14 children, who were either birthed by members of the church or acquired by illegal adoption. In an effort to create better people more pliant church members, she did weird things, like dye all of their hair platinum blonde and give them her surname, and straight up sadistic things like punishing them with starvation diets and giving them hallucinogenic drugs, while isolating them from the outside world and indoctrinating them with The Family’s strict doctrine.

Other completely insane shit associated with her cult included the incidents at Newhaven Hospital, which was a psychiatric hospital run by one of the cult members in the ‘60s-’70s (the cult was then known as Santiniketan Park Association). Many employees were also members. After a 1992 investigation it was found that patients were treated with excessive hallucinogenic drugs, lobotomies, and electro-shock therapy. 

The Kai Lama compound was eventually raided in 1987, after one of Hamilton-Byrne’s adopted children was expelled for behavior and later contacted a private investigator, as well as the Victoria police. Hamilton-Byrne and her husband fled to New York state, where they were eventually arrested in 1993. Victims of her cult have since received compensation for their experiences. Oh, and she’s dead now unlike the others, which is good. 

[cosmicangst]

I've been following you for a /long/ time so I know this has been asked before but your tastes may have changed so I wanted to ask what are your favourite books of all time along with most meaningful ones since I guess those two aren't exactly the same, as well as other really important media that you think have helped to shape your life

oh man anon have you been with me since my doctor who days? much love from me whatever time you jumped onto my silly raft

favorite books:

they’re all kind of meaningful to me so i didn’t make a distinction between “favorite” and “meaningful” (listed in no particular order)

life of pi by yann martel

tell the wolves i’m home by carol rifka brunt

a clockwork orange by anthony burgess

les miserables by victor hugo

jane eyre by charlotte bronte

persuasion by jane austen

and the mountains echoed by khaled hosseini

war and peace by leo tolstoy

notes from underground by fyodor dostoevsky

giovanni’s room by james baldwin

deathless by catherynne m. valente

gone girl by gillian flynn

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

dictee by theresa hak kyung cha

his dark materials by philip pullman

chaos walking by patrick ness

illuminations by walter benjamin

all about love by bell hooks

patron saints of nothing by randy ribay

america is not the heart by elaine castillo

scenes of subjection by saidiya hartman

romances: bringing down the duke & a rogue of one’s own by evie dunmore, the hating game by sally thorne, a week to be wicked by tessa dare, suddenly you by lisa kleypas, the kiss quotient by helen hoang (and more listed here)

plays: king lear & much ado about nothing (favorite shakespearean tragedy and comedy), the glass menagerie by tennessee williams, antigone by sophocles, the oresteian trilogy by aeschylus, endlings by celine song, rust by nancy garcia loza, manny pacquaio punches the world but the earth doesn’t even flinch by mark galarrita, boni alvarez’s entire oeuvre

other formative media:

so formative for me doesn’t necessarily mean good or a current favorite. rather these works are things that have had a considerable impact in how i write, consume, make art, study, read, critique, appreciate, live, etc.

the essay i keep handy at all times and build my life around: washing dishes by thich nhat hanh

childhood/ya books that i seldom touch these days but i still remember random passages of word-for-word: little house series by laura ingalls wilder, the inheritance cycle by christopher paolini, bloodlines series by richelle mead, the diviners & the gemma doyle trilogy by libba bray, the fire and thorns trilogy by rae carson, hate list by jennifer brown, the hunger games series by suzanne collins

divorced, fraught media that still has considerable influence in my current interests and artistry: harry potter, twilight, the infernal devices, hamilton, a song of ice and fire, the walking dead, maximum ride (like yes i know...but also this was the start of the found family trope for me)

video games that make me continuously buy into this stupid hobby: animal crossing: wild world, final fantasy vii (crisis core), kingdom hearts (birth by sleep), persona 3 portable, persona 5, dragon age series, the last of us/part 2, harvest moon: mfomt, pokemon emerald, rune factory 4, fire emblem: awakening, red dead redemption 2, ace attorney series (and other otome/visual novels listed here)

the catwoman comics run by ed brubaker and darwyn cooke

live theatre productions that i constantly steal from as a theatre maker and/or proshots i constantly revisit: hamlet (2017 almeida theatre), natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812 (2016 broadway), much ado about nothing (2019 public theatre), othello (2015 rsc), next to normal (2017 ewp), les miserables 10th anniversary (1995), les miserables (2016 broadway revival with john owen-jones), bandstand (2017 broadway), america adjacent (2019 skylight theatre), the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (2017 national theatre), fun home (2015 broadway), legally blonde the musical (the mtv proshot! a classic), newsies (2017 proshot), rent (2008 final performance proshot), phantom of the opera (2012 royal albert hall proshot), dear evan hansen (2019 us tour), company (2007 broadway revival proshot), hadestown (2019 broadway), gypsy (2008 broadway revival), tick tick...boom! (2001 off-broadway), early starkid productions, mojada: a medea in los angeles (2015 getty villa), miss saigon (1991 broadway...for my complicated feelings about this musical i wrote an entire thinkpiece about that here)

childhood tv shows that made me start a livejournal or a fan forum: teen titans (the original cn show), avatar: the last airbender, doctor who (especially rtd era season 1-4)

my emo albums i still use for writing: welcome to the black parade by my chemical romance, bad blood by bastille, american idiot by green day, folie a deux by fall out boy, a fever you can’t sweat out by panic! at the disco, the twilight movie soundtrack and sm*yer’s custom playlists she posted on her website

all the movies listed here

all animanga listed here

[96thdayofrage]

Hollywood and Broadway need to realize that you can tell the stories of people of color without whitewashing or blackwashing them. Real life, if not yet reel life, is already kaleidoscopically diverse.

Of course, this assumes these agents of cultural production want to tell these stories. Their answer, however, seems to be that as artists it is not their mission to tell the stories of people of color but to tell universal, human ones. This implies that the stories of people of color are not, or as British author Nikesh Shula has observed, “White people think that people of color only have ethnic experiences and not universal experiences.” Evidently so do some people of color.

The colorism controversy surrounding the lack of Afro Latinx representation in the Hollywood version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is recent but not new. As Ishmael Reed pointed out in his 2019 critique of Miranda’s Hamilton, in addition to glorifying its titular slaveholding hero and the Founding Fathers as a whole, it fails to present the voices of the “Native Americans, slaves, and white indentured servants” they victimized, voices Reed himself would subsequently include in his play “The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda.”

In response to such criticism, Miranda generously conceded his limitations, while still defending his melanated whitewash of American history: “All the criticisms are valid,” he tweeted, adding, “The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people [the Founding Fathers] I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical.” The implication: the oppressive weight of these complex individuals somehow justifies jettisoning acknowledgement of the reality of their failing as slaveholding white supremacists.

In an interview with Reuters, Miranda once again invokes “tonnage” to defend his film: “To be quaint would be a dream come true. No one movie can encompass the sheer tonnage of stories we have to offer.” But “tonnage” vision may not be the only reason for the film’s failure to see Afro Latinx people. (Ironically, the Reuters interview begins with the observation that Miranda is “hoping [his] musical In the Heights changes the conversation in Hollywood about the wider appeal of such movies, just as Crazy Rich Asians did in 2018.”)

Jon M. Chu, the film’s director, provides another, noting that while the casting of Afro Latinx people was “discussed,” “in the end, when we were looking at the cast, we tried to get people who were the best for those roles.”

The sentiment is echoed by Melissa Barrera, one of the film’s white passing Latina: “I think it’s important to note though that in the audition process, which was a long audition process, there were a lot of Afro Latinos there, a lot of darker-skinned people. I think they were looking for just the right people for the roles, for the person that embodied each character in the fullest extent.”

Certainly, Miranda and Chu were aware that the film’s casting did not accurately reflect the racial demographics of Washington Heights, any more than the cast of Hamilton reflects the racial composition of the Founding Fathers. (Read another way, the dark-skinned Afro Latinx Dominican community of the Heights were the wrong people to be represented in a film about their own community.) But Hamilton’s oxymoronic, color-conscious colorblind casting is intentional. A similar intentionality cannot be read into In the Heights, and not just the movie version. (One wonders how the original Broadway musical addressed these issues during its 2008-2011 run: Were dark-skinned Afro Latinx people represented any better? Sadly, it seems colorism plagued these productions as well.

This is unfortunate, since just as Hamilton whitewashed the emotional, financial, and intellectual investment of the founding fathers in slavery and genocide, the film adaptation of In the Heights opts to omit the reality of colorism within communities of color, an issue that was suggested, albeit fleetingly, in the original Broadway production in which the father of Nina, a light-skinned Afro Latina, disapproves of her black, non-Latinx lover Benny. (Not only is this subplot excised from the film, but the romance between the two characters has also been truncated and Benny’s overall role in the film reduced.). In fact, Miranda decided to remove this suggestion of racism from the film, telling the LA Times, The film “isn’t about the parental disapproval of this interracial relationship because we wanted to focus on the specifics of the racial microaggressions Nina faced at Stanford, which Benny very much understands and has her back on. So it didn’t make sense for her to be fighting that war on two fronts.” What Miranda fails to appreciate is that battles against racism and its handmaiden colorism are swaged simultaneously on multiple fronts and that his own film’s conscious attempt to minimize these conflicts may itself be interpreted as a not so micro microaggression.

What makes the current conversation about colorism even more remarkable, is that we’ve had it before. This is not the first time Chu has been criticized for colorism. In 2018, when the Singapore-based Crazy Rich Asians was released, it was criticized there for not accurately portraying that nation’s diversity. The film’s leads are light-skinned East Asians, those in subservient roles are dark-skinned Southeast Asians. As Singapore journalist Kirsten Han, put it, “The focus is specifically on characters and faces of East Asian descent, which plays into issues of racism and colorism that still exist, not only in the U.S. but Asia.”

Responding to his critics, Chu told a press conference, “We decided very early on that this is not the movie to solve all representation issues. This is a very specific world, very specific characters. This is not going to solve everything.” Now, three years later, Chu has directed another film about a specific world and specific characters that excludes specifically dark-skinned people, creating more problems than those it was not intended to solve.

Still, Hollywood has had plenty of opportunities to clean up its act, only to squander them[3] as it deliberately continues to erase people of color from their own lived narratives. The film 21 (2008), based on a true story about a group of MIT students gaming the tables in Vegas, replaces Jeffrey Ma, a Chinese American, with a white character renamed Ben Campbell, while the rest of the real Asian American members of the blackjack team are similarly  whitewashed. In an interview with The Tech, Ben Mezrich, author of Bringing Down the House, the book on which the film is based, said that he had been told by a studio executive  involved in the casting that “most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female.” In Stuck (2007), based on another real life incident, this one involving a black woman who accidently hits and kills a homeless man with her car, not only does the main character undergo a name and race change, but, adding insult to injury, the film’s race-switched white female lead sports cornrows.

Fictional characters of color are also subjected to whitening. In 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), the sequel to2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Bob Balaban is cast as Dr. R. Chandra, the creator of the sentient supercomputer HAL 9000, quite a departure from the Dr. Chandra, a.k.a. Dr. Sivasubramnian Chandrasegaram Pillai, of Arthur C. Clarke’s original novels. In the film Wanted, based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, The Fox, a character  physically modeled on Halle Berry, is played by Angelina Jolie. Reuben St. Clair, the black social studies teacher featured in the novel Pay it Forward (2005), in the film becomes white Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey). Presumably, in the eyes of the filmmakers all these actors were “the best fit for the role,” even  where the race and the names of the characters they portray were changed to accommodate them. If the shoe fits – alter it.

Movies, television and Broadway shows are entertainments not history (though they can be both). To be sure, actors should be given leeway to practice their craft, and escapist histories can provide a means of critically reexamining contemporary constructions of race and being (see for example, Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad). But such imaginative excursions devolve into extravagant indulgence when they substitute for or impede the production of stories that attempt to engage history, particularly history that has been erased by what Reed calls the “Historical Establishment.”

Sure, in the eyes of producers, a film about Anne Boleyn will capture a greater audience share than one about Sojourner Truth. A film about Boleyn starring a black woman could potentially outperform them both, if only because of the controversy it will generate. After all, Boleyn is a known quantity, a brand, a bankable historical commodity. Truth is not, at least to the gatekeepers of popular historical dramaturgy. As history, Gone with the Wind (1939) is irredeemable trash. Yet, for many, both in America and abroad, it offers, like its predecessor The Birth of a Nation (1915), a distorted vision of past American greatness.[3] As for Hamilton, aside from the entertaining irony of turning the melanophobic Founding Fathers into people of color, it tells us nothing meaningful about either but a lot about the marketability of sanitized history, just as In the Heights’s erasure of an entire darkly pigmentated community of color from its own storytells us all too much about our present.

[meaningofmotorsport]

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Review

We didn’t believe the rain would come, after all the forecasts, as we have been disappointed many times before, however yesterday’s race definitely did not leave us underwhelmed, as the wet track gave us our fair share of chaos, all through the field!

As chaos erupted during the race, Verstappen was the only one to pretty much go mistake free, he did almost lose the car at the restart after the Red Flag, but otherwise was able disappear into the distance to get not only his first podium in Italy, but his first win too! Who knows which car was faster today between them and Mercedes, I guess it would have been rather close? Perez had an up and down weekend, Saturday was a stellar day for him, beating Max on merit, with his first ever front row start, yet when the race came, he just couldn’t get the car to work on the damp track, so he struggled, fell back, and span a few times. I do think that in dry conditions he is getting to where he needs to be, which is key for him to stay with the team!

For the first time since I believe Germany 2019, we saw Hamilton make a mistake in the race today, which speaks for itself as to how good he is. After being beaten off the line by Max, with a forceful but fair move into Turn 2 in my view. Lewis settled in behind, showing better tyre wear than the Red Bull. Then after changing to slicks, and whilst making his way through lapped runners, Hamilton went on to a damp patch to pass Russell, who I don’t think has any blame in this incident. Lewis lost the car understandably on the water and skidded off the track, but got going, and with help from the Red Flag, was able to get back to P2, with his usual prowess. The move into Tosa was slightly impatient from Lewis, as he admitted himself, and I am sure he will learn from it. It means though that the title fight is on, with just 1 point between him and Max.

Before the horrifying incident, Bottas was having a horrible weekend, qualifying was a disaster, and he couldn’t make any progress in the race, even though we saw Lewis do it later on. If anything, the incident will help to mask his poor weekend, and the fact that he was battling a Williams on pace! Despite the outrage from George, talking about gentleman’s agreements, it does not really apply here. Yes, Valtteri did move, but it wasn’t erratic, he was simply staying on the dry patch, whilst leaving a car’s width for Russell. The fact that the pit straight is not straight does not help matters here. I don’t think Bottas is blameless, as he could have left more room given the closing speed, however it was more on George, who may have been surprised at the closing speed, and took to the grass. I am glad they are both okay, and hopefully they can both see where they went wrong. I am worried that the pressure of points played a part in this for George, or the potential of a Mercedes drive, he needs to cool off a bit I feel.

Simply brilliant drives from Lando and Charles today, the McLaren had better pace today I think, which was why he could hold off Leclerc on worn softs. It definitely makes up for the heartbreak on Saturday, in having the last lap deleted. He is really becoming a No.1 driver at the team, as they go from strength to strength. Daniel wasn’t going to be on pace with Norris today, given it was his first time driving the car in the wet, he did well not to spin and get some good points in sixth.

As I mentioned Leclerc drove well, doing his best in a car still improving from a terrible 2020, the extra downforce they had on the car helped early on in the race when it was wet. Yet it hurt them in trying to pass Lando late on. Sainz did struggle at times with the Ferrari, as you would expect, but had the pace at the end when he needed it. On the whole though, 4th and 5th must be pleasing for the team, as 4th in the constructors is a very realistic possibility!

Despite making the wrong call to start the race on Extreme Wets, Gasly was able to recover to 7th place, showing the car has pace. Even if the season had started well for them, I don’t think they can match the other two midfield teams ahead of them, so they can’t feel too hard done by! Tsunoda was driving well in the wet for most of the race, however sadly one mistake, actually while overtaking Hamilton, ruined it for him. He is very mature and quick, so he will bounce back from this I am sure.

Aston Martin’s day started terribly, with both cars having brake issues on the way to the grid, they were able to fix it, but for Vettel especially, it ruined his day. Stroll was able to fight back, and managed to secure some points, showing the car does have some pace! Alpine are lucky, they didn’t deserve points in that race, it was only though the Bottas-Russell crash, spins for Perez and Tsunoda, and a penalty for Kimi, that they got some. The team really needs to find some pace soon, as finishing top of the midfield back in 2018, feels like a long time ago now!

Alfa Romeo and Haas were not really able to take advantage of the conditions in the race, Kimi as I say was in the points at the end, however for some reason has been penalised. The good thing for them is that they are nearing the back of the midfield on pace, so points could be possible for them this year! Haas, with two rookies in the wet were probably getting ready for a rough day, although it actually wasn’t too bad. Schumacher was battling in the pack until he spun under Safety Car, and both drivers were only two laps down, which isn’t bad given how terrible the car is!

I really do feel for Williams, this was clearly one of the weekends that they had targeted to be quick at. Then Latifi crowds Mazepin on a straight, causing him to crash out, self-penalising himself really! Next George gets into the points, and is there on pace battling to get even more points, when he makes a mistake, ruining the team’s day! The only good thing, is that when the track does work for the car, they do have pace, which bodes well for other races this season!

Any worries that this race would be dull were dispelled 40 mins before the start, when the rain came down. Although we saw that even in the dry, with the extension of the DRS zone, overtaking was possible, so we got action in all conditions really! With Portimao next, another great driving and racing track, what craziness will we see there?

-M

[robintheghost]

top 10 f1 races!

I'll only list the races I have personally watched (and remember :P)

10) China 2011. An underrated Grand Prix. From the Button boxing at Red Bull's garage moment, to the continuous leader swaps, this race was superb to watch! The close multi-battle up front was a fun one. I had no idea who would win right until the end. I'm surprised it's not mentioned a lot nowadays, but this race had a great enjoyment factor

9) Brazil 2016. Rain, lots of rain. Hamilton and Verstappen wet racing masterclass. The emotional Massa goodbye after his 'career-ending' crash. Hamilton's first ever Brazil win, great race!

8) Spain 2016. To see a Dutchman drive for a top team after waiting for so long was already exciting. To then see those dominating Mercs crash right at the beginning giving opportunity to a surprise podium (not just for Verstappen) made the race even more exciting. But that Verstappen would actually win on his Red Bull debut, holding off the much more experienced Raikkonen, that was amazing to witness!

7) Turkey 2020. After a surprising (and wet) qualification, the race which followed was nothing short of pure fun. I've never been a fan of the Turkey track, but this time it proved me wrong. The spins, the going wide, the overtakes, the spins part 2, the podium battle scramble, the surprise Hamilton win (yes, it actually was lol) and subsequent world championship win, what a race this one was!

6) Azerbaijan 2017. Nuts! I mean what more is there to say about that Grand Prix. Crazy incidents, crazy race. It made a boring track look fantastic, that should tell everything lol

5) Germany 2019. Rain, spins, crashes, some sexy overtakes, this race had it all yet again. The Stroll gamble paying off, Kvyat driving the race of his life, Vettel taking revange for the previous year, another Verstappen win, loved it!

4) Italy 2020 (Monza). An unique race for the fact that this time we didn't need any rain to have such an odd race/result. But the Magnussen and LeClerc retirement, the Hamilton penalty, and strong showings of both McLarens made this one a fantastic race. Even more so since Gasly and Stroll drove the races of their lives too, with Gasly taking home his maiden win. 2020 has been such a weird year, and the Monza 2020 podium might have been even weirder

3) Brazil 2008. The half a lap world champion. How more dramatic could you end a season? Changing conditions yet again, strategic pitstop battles, and tense right till the end. Those last few laps, hell corners even, holy crap!

2) Canada 2011. I called Azerbaijan 2017 nuts, but this one was nuts nuts! I love rain races, and this one was no exception. From the McLarens touching, to the Alonso-Button contact, to Button falling to the back of the grid only to win the race in the last lap, this race had it all. A long, but great Grand Prix!

1) Brazil 2012. An absolute nailbiter! That Vettel Lap 1 incident (to this day I’m still surprised the car kept running) blew the championship wide open. Changing conditions, Hulk leading, Hulk’s collision, championship remaining up for grabs, this race had everything. My favourite! And there’s plenty of other great races which didn’t even make the cut (Brazil 2007, Malaysia 2012, Japan 2005 to name a couple), or which I don’t remember anymore. There have been many good races since I started watching. I could probably make two more lists lol

Thank you Gisele!

[formula-one-thoughts]

2020 Austrian Grand Prix - Race Review

Wow. What a season opener that was! I think we can safely say the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix was worth the wait. Whilst the opening third of the race seemed to suggest an easy Mercedes 1-2, it shortly unravelled into a chaotic and extremely entertaining race of attrition, which only saw 11 cars make the chequered flag. The drama started before the race had even begun, with Red Bull filling a complaint about Mercedes’ DAS (Dual Axis Steering) system, which was quickly dismissed, and also requesting a review of Lewis Hamilton’s failure to slow under yellow flags in qualifying, which resulted in a 3 place grid penalty for the Brit. The race got away pretty cleanly, which was a relief as I was already so overexcited and tense I probably would have imploded had there been a collision! Bottas soon established a 2 second lead and it was looking like once he had to look after his tyres a bit Verstappen would be able to pounce on his mediums. However, it was not to be. The first of 9 retirements, Max’s car went into anti stall, and no matter how many times he swore down the team radio, it just wouldn’t work, breaking the hearts of both his fans and everyone who saw him as the only hope for upsetting a Mercedes dominated race.

As Vettel battled his way through the field from P11, Ricciardo also retired, followed shortly by Lance Stroll. Whilst everyone so far was able to place their car back in the pits, this was not to continue, and when Magnussen’s car found itself deeply planted in the gravel out came the safety car, triggering the first round of pit stops. Everyone bar Perez opted for hards, the Mexican choosing mediums and proceeding to nearly wipe out Lando Norris with what I'm shocked was not deemed an unsafe release from his box. Hamilton wasn’t able to catch his teammate on the restart but there was drama further back in the field. As Sainz attempted to make a move on Leclerc he was tagged from behind by Vettel, who promptly found himself facing the wrong way round on the track. I love Seb, but clashing with the guy who is replacing him next year and then spinning AGAIN is literally the most Vettel thing that could happen. As Russell crept tantalisingly close to the points in P12, the Mercedes continued to lead the field, despite repeated warnings from the team to stay of the kerbs (and thus drive less aggressively), due to a sensor issue. It was quite comedic listening to the desperate radio messages followed by both drivers looking like they were aiming their cars straight for the kerbs, but after a message from James Vowles (Mercedes chief strategist) they both backed off – a good thing as the word ‘kerbs’ was starting to loose any meaning to me.

Grosjean retired on lap 50, handing Haas a disappointing DNF for both cars. This was followed by disaster for Russell, who after a promising performance all weekend had to pull over to the side of the track with a smoking engine, bringing out a second safety car. At the front of the field Albon, Norris and Leclerc pitted for fresh rubber, with the two Mercs and Perez choosing to stay out. The safety car came in, but not for long. In a bizarre incident, Kimi Raikonnen’s right front wheel flew straight off, narrowly missing Vettel. The Finn had pitted on lap 53 but had spent a couple laps trundling along behind the safety car and once he properly accelerated the wheel nut fell out of the wheel, which promptly said goodbye! It could have been very nasty indeed if the wheel had collided with anyone, so quite a relief overall. Just as the safety car was deployed for the third time Albon pulled off an overtake on Perez, but backed off upon seeing yellow flags; he was rightfully allowed to retake the position under the safety car.

With 11 laps left the safety car came in for the final time and the action on track heated up even more. In the blink of an eye, elation turned to heartbreak for the Red Bull crew as they watched Albon pull off an overtake on Hamilton, only to be shunted into the gravel. It was painful to watch, given that Albon was on for his first podium, and possibly even a win. It was one of a number of similarities the race bore to the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, where Hamilton denied the Thai driver a podium whilst attempting to overtake him. Both occasions saw Hamilton handed a 5 second penalty, which resulted in a McLaren driver getting their first podium (spooky). Leclerc used his new tyres to his advantage, overtaking Norris and then Perez for third place, placing his Ferrari on the podium – something that had been unthinkable following their disastrous qualifying and pace. This was followed the announcement of Hamilton’s penalty, which in my opinion was deserved. Alex was very much in front and as such Lewis could have allowed him a bit more room, rather than keeping on the power and squeezing his competitor off the track. As Albon retired from the race, Norris got his elbows and pulled off a ballsy move on Perez to claim 4th. At this point the realisation set in that if Lando could get the gap between him and Lewis (which I think stood at 5.4?) down to under 5 seconds, he could grasp his first podium. As Kvyat became the race’s final retiree, Lando put in a breath taking final lap, achieving both fastest lap and his first Formula 1 podium. It was a tense few seconds, waiting for the gap between the two British drivers to show up on the screen, but when it did, showing 4.8 seconds, I was screaming with happiness. Bottas, having led every lap, took 1st.

I would say I couldn’t have asked for a better race for the sport to return with, but I was a bit disappointed we were robbed of Verstappen battling with the Mercedes. Oh well, were back in Spielberg this weekend where the odds will hopefully be more in Red Bull’s favour. Along with Haas and Williams they were one of the only teams not to score points, which with the length of the season remaining unknown could have big implications. Very few people would have predicted that podium, which in my view makes it a great race. It filled me with pure joy to see both Norris and Leclerc succeed, and it will be interesting to see if Bottas can maintain the momentum he carried through this weekend across the whole season, and really take the fight to Hamilton.

[blackkudos]

Al Green

Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), often known as The Reverend Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer; he is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including "Take Me to the River", "Tired of Being Alone", "I'm Still in Love with You", "Love and Happiness", and his signature song, "Let's Stay Together". After an incident in which his girlfriend committed suicide, Green became an ordained pastor and turned to gospel music. He later returned to secular music.

Green was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. He was referred to on the museum's site as being "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music". He has also been referred to as "The Last of the Great Soul Singers". Green is the winner of 11 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the BMI Icon award and is a Kennedy Center Honors recipient. He was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking at No. 65, as well as its list of the 100 Greatest Singers, at No. 14.

Early life

Albert Leornes Greene was born on April 13, 1946, in Forrest City, Arkansas. The sixth of ten children born to Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene, Jr., a sharecropper, Al began performing with his brothers in a group called the Greene Brothers at around the age of ten. The Greene family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the late 1950s. Al was kicked out of the family home while in his teens, after his devoutly religious father caught him listening to Jackie Wilson. He then lived with a prostitute, began hustling, and indulged in recreational drugs.

"I also listened to Mahalia Jackson, all the great gospel singers. But the most important music to me was those hip-shakin’ boys: Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley. I just loved Elvis Presley. Whatever he got, I went out and bought."

In high school, Al formed a vocal group called Al Greene & the Creations. Two of the group's members, Curtis Rodgers and Palmer James, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1968, having changed their name to Al Greene & the Soul Mates, they recorded the song "Back Up Train", releasing it on Hot Line Music. The song was a hit on the R&B charts and peaked at Number 46 in the Cash Box Top 100. However, the group's subsequent follow-ups failed to chart, as did their debut album Back Up Train. While performing with the Soul Mates, Green came into contact with Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell, who hired him in 1969 to be a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell's band. Following the performance, Mitchell asked Green to sign with his Hi Records label.

Career

Early success

Having noted that Green had been trying to sing like Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown, Mitchell became his vocal mentor, coaching him into finding his own voice. Before releasing his first album with Hi, Green removed the final "e" from his name. Subsequently, he released Green Is Blues (1969), which was a moderate success. His follow-up album, Al Green Gets Next to You (1971), featured the hit R&B cover of the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next to You", recorded in a slow blues-oriented version. The album also featured his first significant hit, "Tired of Being Alone", which sold a million copies and was certified gold, becoming the first of eight gold singles Green would release between 1971 and 1974.

Green's next album, Let's Stay Together (January 1972), solidified his place in soul music. The title track was his biggest hit to date, reaching number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album became his first to be certified gold. His follow-up, I'm Still in Love with You (October 1972) went platinum with the help of the singles "Look What You Done for Me" and the title track, both of which went to the top ten on the Hot 100. His next album, Call Me (April 1973) produced three top ten singles: "You Ought to Be with Me", "Call Me (Come Back Home)", and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)". In addition to these hit singles, Green also had radio hits with songs such as "Love and Happiness", his cover of the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", "Simply Beautiful", "What a Wonderful Thing Love Is", and "Take Me to the River", later covered successfully by new wave band Talking Heads and blues artist Syl Johnson.

Green's album Livin' for You (December 1973) was certified gold. He continued to record successful R&B hits in the next several years including "Livin' for You", "Sha-La-La (Makes Me Happy)" from his album Al Green Explores Your Mind, "Let's Get Married", "L-O-V-E (Love)" and "Full of Fire".

By the time Green released the album, The Belle Album in 1977, however, Green's record sales had plummeted, partially due to Green's own personal issues during this time and his desire to become a minister. His last Hi Records album, Truth n' Time, was released in 1978 and failed to become a success.

Gospel recordings

Continuing to record R&B, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics. In 1979, he injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and took this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel music.

From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel albums.While still under contract with Hi Records, Green released the 1980 album, The Lord Will Make a Way, his first of six albums on the Christian label Myrrh Records. The title song from the album would later win Green his first of eight Grammy Awards in the Best Soul Gospel Performance category. In 1982, Green co-starred with Patti LaBelle in the Broadway play, "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God". In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, Gospel According to Al Green, including interviews about his life and footage from his church. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records. His 1987 follow-up, Soul Survivor, featured the minor hit, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright", which reached number 22 on the Billboard R&B chart, his first top 40 R&B hit since "I Feel Good" in 1978.

Return to secular music

Green returned to secular music in 1988 recording "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" with Annie Lennox. Featured on the soundtrack to the movie, Scrooged, the song became Green's first top 10 pop hit since 1974. Green had a hit in 1989 with "The Message is Love" with producer Arthur Baker. Two years later, he recorded the theme song to the short-lived show Good Sports. In 1993, he signed with RCA and with Baker again as producer, released the album, Don't Look Back. Green received his ninth Grammy award for his collaboration with Lyle Lovett for their duet of "Funny How Time Slips Away". Green's 1995 album, Your Heart's In Good Hands, was released around the time that Green was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The one single released from the album, "Keep On Pushing Love", was described as "invoking the original, sparse sound of his [Green's] early classics."

In 2000, Green released his autobiography, Take Me to the River. Two years later, he earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and recorded a hit R&B duet with Ann Nesby on the song, "Put It On Paper". Green again reunited with Willie Mitchell in 2003 for the album, I Can't Stop. A year later, Green re-recorded his previous song, "Simply Beautiful", with Queen Latifah on the latter's album, The Dana Owens Album. In 2005, Green and Mitchell collaborated on Everything's OK.

Green's 2008 album, Lay It Down, was produced by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and James Poyser. It became his first album to reach the top ten since the early 1970s. The album featured a minor R&B hit with the ballad, "Stay with Me (By the Sea)", featuring John Legend and also featuring duets with Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae. During an interview for promotion of the album, Green admitted that he would have liked to duet with Marvin Gaye: "In those days, people didn't sing together like they do now."

In 2009, Green recorded "People Get Ready" with Heather Headley on the album, Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration. In 2010, Green performed "Let's Stay Together" on Later... with Jools Holland. On September 13, 2018, Al Green released his first new recording in almost over ten years, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," most famously recorded by Freddy Fender in 1975. It was produced by Matt Ross-Spang and is part of Amazon Music's new "Produced By" series.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Al Green among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Personal life

On October 18, 1974, Green's girlfriend, Mary Woodson, assaulted him and then committed suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married with three children, Woodson became upset when Green refused to marry her. She doused him with a pot of boiling grits as he was preparing for bed in the bathroom, causing second-degree burns on his back, stomach, and arms which required skin grafts. Shortly after, Woodson fatally shot herself with his .38 handgun. Police found an apparent suicide note inside Woodson's purse that declared her intentions and her reasons. A few days prior, Green had sent Woodson to convalesce at the home of his friend after she had taken a handful of sleeping pills and slit her wrists. Green cited this incident as a wake-up call to change his life.

Days after Green was released from Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis, where he was treated for his burns, he was reportedly held hostage at gunpoint by his cousin who demanded that he owed her money. Green refused to press charges.

In 1976, Green established the Full Gospel Tabernacle church in Memphis. Green resides and preaches in Memphis, near Graceland. He is a member of the Prince Hall Masons, the African-American wing of Freemasonry, at the Thirty-Third Degree.

In September 2013, Green's sister Maxine Green was reported missing from her assisted living home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to her daughter Lasha, Green has not reached out to the family about his sister. As of March 2020, she is still missing.

Marriages and children

On June 15, 1977, Green married his first wife Shirley Green (née Kyles) in Memphis. Originally from Chicago, she was one of his backing vocalists and an employee at his church. Together they have three daughters. Shirley first filed for divorce in 1978 on the ground of cruelty and irreconcilable differences. She filed again in 1981, charging that Green had subjected her to domestic violence throughout their marriage. Green accused her of cruel and inhuman treatment in a countercomplaint. In a sworn deposition in 1982 as part of her divorce filing, Shirley testified that in 1978 while five months pregnant, Green beat her with a boot for refusing to have sex. The assault resulted in head wounds, one of which required stitches. After the incident she filed for divorce, but they reconciled. According to Shirley, they separated several times when the beatings became "too frequent and too severe." Initially, Green denied beating his wife, but under oath in 1982 he admitted to striking her. Their divorce was finalized in February 1983. Green agreed to pay her $432,800 in alimony and child support. In 1995, the story of Nicole Brown Simpson inspired Shirley to go public with the abuse she endured in order to help other victims.

Green has six children: two sons, Al Green, Jr. and Trevor; four daughters, Alva Lei, Rubi Renee, Kora Kishe (with Shirley Green), and Kala.

Green was reportedly remarried by the 1990s.

Assault charges

Green's former secretary, Linda Wills, filed a $25,000 civil suit against him in 1974. Wills charged that Green beat her and shoved her through a glass door in his Memphis office after a dispute about how much back pay she was entitled to for her duties. The civil suit was dropped because of "conflicting testimony," but in 1975 they settled a $100,000 lawsuit for assault and battery charges.

In 1977, Green and his former organ player Larry Robinson were arrested for assault on Memorial Day in Irving, Texas. According to Robinson, Green and his bodyguards jumped him when he confronted Green about owed money from previous gigs. They both posted bond on a misdemeanor charge.

In 1978, Green was charged with assault and battery for allegedly beating Lovie Smith unconscious with a tree limb. The charges were dismissed after Smith, who had moved, did not receive a subpoena and therefore missed the court date.

Discography

Awards and honors

Green has been nominated for 21 Grammy Awards, winning 11, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Two of his songs, "Let's Stay Together" and "Take Me To the River" have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2004, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame. That same year, he was inducted into The Songwriters Hall of Fame. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 65 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 BET Awards on June 24, 2009.

On August 26, 2004, Green was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. He joined a list of previous Icon honorees that included R&B legends James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley.

In 2009, Al Green was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

Green was recognized on December 7, 2014, as a Kennedy Center Honors recipient.

[mariposalass]

To Rise Again

Summary: This wasn’t what Mari and her crazy bunch were expecting when they came to visit the Hamilton exhibit with a goal to temporarily bring life to the wax statues to have a talk with them; instead however, they just brought back one guy back from the dead. Let the madness begin.

Setting: The local Alexander Hamilton (more of the musical than the real life stuff) exhibit in a museum at Daly City, California, January 3, 2019

Notes: This is the story of how Mari and Philip met: permanently bringing him back from the dead thanks to Ahkmenrah’s magic tablet. Inspired by the Don’t Be Shocked When Your Hist’ry Book Mentions Me series in Archive of Our Own. It’s ‘future is shocking’ with a heavy dose of curiosity intrigues the cat. The cast used for this story and Mari’s world are the OG Broadway cast. I was listening to Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life (Synthesis version) while thinking of this story.

Tags: Mild language, future shock, fighting and arguments, the dead being revived to life again, life-bringing magic, mild revival angst, the future is shocking but interesting

“Is there any good reason why you had to smuggle in that tablet of yours for just an exhibit on one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, huh, Ahk?” Mari questioned the forever youthful pharaoh’s sanity as he pulled out his magic tablet from his messenger bag in their group (which composed of them, Harry, Issa, Kirby, Kairi, and Karina)’s presence during a visit at the Alexander Hamilton exhibit featuring the wax statues of the people around the First Secretary of Treasury based on the original Hamilton Broadway cast on display in a local Daly City museum.

“Mari, I understand that you’re quite peeved on the fact I had to lunge this thing around to the exhibit for seemingly no good reason, but I thought it would be interesting to talk with the figures for just one day,” Ahk tried to explain his reasoning behind the tablet tagging along.

“Errr… Would that be considered necromancy?” Karina asked him out of concern with fear in the tone of her voice.

“Maybe Ahk is up to something: crazy but still a genius idea,” Issa tried her best to sound hopeful that Ahk knew what he’s doing, “After all, Harry accidentally returned him back to life with that tablet of his when we visited the other local museum years back.”

Ahkmenrah, the former Fourth King of the Fourth King, didn’t pay too much attention to the bickering the girls were having, just making sure that his tablet, the only thing he has left in his connection to his previous life in Egypt’s past, wouldn’t go missing from his sight. Harry should’ve kept his mouth shut about this portion when he nonchalantly mentioned the tablet incident of Ahk’s revival during the exhibit visit planning and he (Ahk) was like ‘Well, why not try it on the wax figures for one day there, Harry?’. Holy shit, the Boy Who Lived was in trouble for sure.

The wax figures in front of them were rendered so life-like as if the artist behind them was able to capture the old Broadway cast frozen at one moment in time. Even the costumes they wear for the exhibit could easily be mistaken for the ones used in the original production in New York City and straight from the 18th Century to the 19th Century; it was quite surreal for Mari, Harry, Kairi, Issa, and Kirby to see them face to face as they have seen the play before in their most recent trip to the Big Apple for the New Year celebrations. Mari though was more morbidly curious than she wanted to admit as she spotted one figure looking like they’ve seen something bad in their line of sight.

That one wax figure in particular catching Mari’s eyes was a young slender man, handsome and quite tall for his age: a head of untamed manly brown black curls, soulful hazel eyes, light brown skin (? Wasn’t the real life man he was based supposed to be white? Oh never mind!), and freckles on the face. Mari felt as if she was drawn to the figure, like a curious moth drawn to the flame and like fate, only weirder that she has fallen hard for a wax statue.

“Hello, Earth to Mari!” Kairi was calling out to her adopted older sister, waving her arms frantically, to snap her out of her trance.

“Huh, what, what?” she shook her head after realizing her sister was right beside her, taking part of looking at the wax man with her.

“It seems that this guy has caught your attention, huh?”she giggled.

“Geez, Kairi,” Mari shrugged, “I mean, this fellow looks freaking cute. Too bad he’s… dead!”

“Gushing over a dead man like him, aren’t you, Mari?” Issa asked her.

Mari blushed in embarrassment, not knowing what to do with her strange feelings and her attraction to the stranger while Kairi and Issa were left dumb-folded on the matter without a single response.

“Poyo, poyo!” Kirby chatted with the wax man, tugging onto the left leg of his white stockings to try to get his attention.

“Kirby, that guy’s already dead for more than 2 centuries already,” Mari told him, which made the poor puffball sad to hear the news as she continued on, “Death by gun shot wound at only 19 years old.”

“Ouch! RIP Wax Guy in period clothing Mari just had a crush on,” Kairi prayed in concern.

Kirby understandably wept for the poor young man’s soul, salted tears running down on his spherical body. Issa went up to pick Kirby up in her arms, consoling him as she said to him it wasn’t the man’s fault that his life ended that way. On the other side of the story, Harry and Ahkmenrah were talking about the problems and concerns arising if they try to bring life to the wax figures for one day which went downhill from there.

“I can’t believe that I dragged everyone into this mess today,” Harry grumbled in his breath, “Seriously: What kind of a stupid plan did I just randomly blurted out loud? This is bloody stupid: bringing dead people to life for just one day!”

“Calm down, Harry,” Ahk tried to console his friend’s dilemma for suggesting a silly plan, “It is just temporary. Once we leave the exhibit, they’ll resume back to their original positions and return back to their still wax state. It’s not like we’re performing a necromancer’s ritual.”

“Ahk, you got to be kidding, mate!” the British wizard sternly yelled at him, “How are we going to explain to the exhibit staff & organizers and the people running the place if at least one of them goes missing? You said if a museum exhibit was left outside when the sun rises up, they’ll be reduced to dust!”

“True, but I did made sure that this one attempt was just a one-off, I swear to the Gods, Harry,” the ex pharaoh countered the argument, “Who knows: maybe the Doctor could get the chance to hear them speak if he’s here with us now.”

“Oh, you idiot!!!” “Harry, please! Just trust me on this...” “Shut up, okay!” “But it won’t hurt anyone in the end...”

Everyone in the group soon turned their eyes at Ahk and Harry playing a rough tug-of-war with the former’s tablet, fearing that it could break at any given moment. Mari was scared to see one of her great friends and her older brother arguing over something petty like temporarily giving life to a group of life-like wax figures. It was so bad she couldn’t hold her tears in great distress.

Unbeknownst to everyone involved, things would get weirder from there: while arguing inaudibly over the whole plan, Harry and Ahk unwittingly messed with the symbols on the tablet and aimed at the young wax man Mari took a great interest in. The girls and Kirby were horrified that the poor young wax figure was in the line of the tablet’s aim and, in a bold noble effort, tried to stop the two men from creating further fuel to the figurative fire: yelling “Guys, stop it! Don’t break that tablet beyond its limits AND kill each other at the same time!”, “Kuya Harry, don’t punch Ahk for this!”, “Harry, Ahk, no!!!”, “Can you guys just stop fighting and get a grip on yourselves before some serious shit happens?!?”, and “Poyo, poyo! Popoyo, poyo, yop, yoyopo, POYO!!!”

Sadly, it was all for nothing: the wizard and the pharaoh unwittingly sent a blast of golden light, hitting the wax man on the chest and knocking him back onto the floor with a great big THUD! It was that very moment that Harry and Ahk realized their grave mistake: the wax man was now lying down on the platform on his back with an extremely blank look in his face, as he was a wax statue after all. Everyone who didn’t took a part of the mess were now staring at the two of them being mad at them for being a bunch of idiots fighting over one tablet of all things.

There was deafening silence among the group and wax figures in that one room: not a single word or sound was made, everything in awkward silence. But the silence would not last for long…

While the group were staring at each other out of confusion and anger, the next thing they heard is a groaning voice as roars of life were emanating from the golden glow from Ahk’s tablet that hit one of the wax statutes earlier during Harry and Ahk’s arguing. They froze for a moment, blank stares everywhere, and turned around to see a sight they never expected to see. The wax young man, or rather the previously wax young man, was now struggling to get up on his own two feet, still lying on his back similar to that of a turtle upside down on its shell, and his limbs wailing around faster than a speeding Japanese bullet train.

“Umm… Hello, if you don’t mind, I could use some assistance over here,” the man cried out, “Where in the world I am in?”

“Mother of God...” Issa gasped in horror, “That man needs some help here! We better help him out.”

“But wasn’t that supposed to be the wax-” Kairi was about to counter the situation but it was vain when Harry regained some senses.

“There is no time to explain it to him right now, Kai!” he lectured her immediately, “We should help this guy out first, then we can break the… unpleasant news to him later.”

“Poyo...” Kirby nervously squeaked, shaking in fear of the man’s bizarre awakening.

“Then we should start helping him in getting up from the platform, shall we?” Ahk nodded back.

It took a while for the humans to get the newly revived man up with around 2 boys and 4 girls involved, but they were able to get him up at last. They were tired but relieved that the man was able to stand up again, though questions were being to stir in their minds and worries were forming that they may have done something really terrible that very day.

“Alright, sir. Are you okay now?” Mari was at a loss of breath, sitting down on the stage platform, as she asked him how he was feeling after finally regaining his grip.

“A damned sight better, Madam,” he remarked as a response while brushing off dust from his outfit before continuing on with what else he was going to say, “Now how I can repay you lot back… Wait a minute, this isn’t the dueling grounds or Aunt Angelica and Uncle John’s house...”

“Oh God, if it ain’t Philip Hamilton himself!” Karina’s eyes widened in shock as memories of reading about the life of his famous father with everyone else flashed back in her mind.

“We knew it!” Issa shouted.

“By Merlin’s beard!” Harry freaked out with his jaws dropping to the ground.

Ahkmenrah, having been through the same thing as this Philip Hamilton (as the man is called), couldn’t help but to feel bad for him with being sent back to life and reality once again but in a more modern era, decided to approach him with caution and spoke on behalf of the bewildered group, “Well, pardon me, sir. What was the last thing you saw before… you just came back?”

Philip, whose facial expression now went from bewilderment to mourning, meekly replied back to the pharaoh’s question, “I… I was at Uncle John and Aunt Angelica’s house across the (Hudson) river… The doctor was there checking on my dire situation then...” He then pointed to the group at the direction of his right hip, “Good Lord, I’ve been shot! That Eacker fellow is going to be in trouble once I can find him again-”

“Whoa, whoa, back up a minute!” Karina busted his moment of rage, “What did that guy did to you that has made you wanting to gang up on him?”

That was when the younger Hamilton came to realize to see the group’s more contemporary appearance, quite unusual for his time in their clothing; never mind the fact that Ahk was holding onto the same golden tablet that brought both of them back from the dead. Was he in some sort of a time displacement?

Mari sighed, knowing that they can’t keep away the fact that he’s in the wrong century now, and came “Mr. Hamilton, I know we just met within a few minutes of your reawakening, but I feel we need to properly introduce ourselves. I’m Mari Tan, assistant librarian at the Daly City Public Library. The people and puffball with me are my friends and adopted siblings: Karina Lyle, Ahkmenrah, Harry Potter, Isabelle Miravelez, Kairi, and Kirby. I hate to break this to you, but you’ve been asleep for far too long until now.”

Philip was left even more confused than when he got revived, asking her again, “For how long?”

“It’s January 2019, in Daly City, California. I don’t think we’re even in New York anymore,” Harry stepped in, adding more surprise to the 19 year old man, greeting the British wizard with a dropped jaw of shock, to which he replied, “I could tell that even California as a state is foreign to you: back when you’re still alive in your original timeline, it was under Spanish rule before the Mexicans took over, followed by a brief moment of independence when the Americans came into town.”

“Welcome to the Golden State, you’re going to be in a really rough pickle now that everyone you know then is, well…, dead,” Kairi dropped another major info bombshell with equal parts of concern and uncertainty.

“Uh… Kairi, I don’t think you should drop that information…,” Issa tried to reprimand her in a stern manner.

“Do we need to also tell him that he’s the only wax statue revived to life with the others being-” Karina bombarded her with another question of concern, only to be cut off when they turned to see Philip noticing that the wax replicas of the many people he knew in his old life, such as his parents, weren’t moving or even revived like him.

Mari, her siblings and friends watched in sadness and pity as the poor man was trying to get the still statues’ attention and failing miserably, eventually sulking as he sat down on the podium stage where they were standing and shedding bitter salt-laced tears. Many versions of ‘Poor guy’ were murmured among the group.

This was not his day, and yet, Mari couldn’t help to feel bad that she then sat down beside him and began to carefully explained of what happened after his first death, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but shortly after you died the first time, your entire family wasn’t the same: your sister became mentally wrecked, your mom gave birth to a little brother and named him after you, your dad died on the same grounds you died on 3 years later, and your mom would outlive nearly everyone else upon dying at age 97. Please don’t get mad at me and my friends and siblings for just bringing you back life and not everyone else, we didn’t mean to cause you any grief because of it.”

Tears began to slowly gave up when he heard her speak and, while the words did made him feeling guilty for causing so much grief onto his family, she delivered them in a gentle tone with no ill will to ruin his mood or even his sanity. Harry then quietly approached Philip and continued what Mari said, “Yeah, it’s actually nearly 218 years since your ‘passing’, and everything did changed a lot. Trust me, if we get out of here sooner or later, you’re going to be in a big shock for your life, mate.”

“We better be going then,” Ahk informed everyone in the area, “We all don’t want to be locked in for the night nor do we want to get into trouble with people in this museum over with what happened today.”

“Ahk has a point,” Karina couldn’t agree more, “It’s getting late right now as well.”

“Well, if you say so, then we can all go out now,” he remarked, “Besides, it is true that I haven’t seen the outside world for that long. Although if I was presumed dead for the last 2 centuries, I highly doubt that I have any monetary funds or a place to stay in.”

“We have a house at the Westlake neighborhood,” Mari suggested to Philip with a beaming smile in her face, “The place is more known for its Mid-Century houses, though plenty of the other houses do range in style lately, including ours. You can stay with us, even Ahk lives with us since he didn’t have anyone else to run to when he got revived back to life. Then we try to get you a job some time after that can fit with your education credentials.”

“Mari has a point, Philip, son of Alexander,” the pharaoh pointed it out to him in a wise manner, “Perhaps, I could be of some assistance as well. I have went through nearly similar situations like you do now a few years ago, so I’m more than happy to give you some advice and help along the journey.”

“Also, we’ll introduce you to everyone else. Just imagine the response they’ll get from knowing that you’ve just been awaken again and they can also help you out,” Karina continued what her two friends left off.

“The Doctor is going to be so happy to hear about this,” Harry sarcastically whispered to Issa on the side.

“Definitely,” she agreed.

“Poyo,” Kirby sighed.

“I would be in your debt, everyone,” Philip replied back, “And should be so for a long while, I’m afraid. Though I have another question: would I get some unwanted attention in these clothes?”

“Nah, nobody wouldn’t care too much right now, but we should need to get out of here just to be safe,” Kairi reminded him as they began to leave the exhibit.

Once they managed to get out of the museum, Philip’s eyes widened up: not merely out of shock (although Mari admits that could be the case), but mostly in awe and curiosity with cars and buses running along the asphalt roads, people going about their normal days in modern clothing, and an assortment of buildings in various styles scattered across the city. If someone smart enough would have taken a note,  they would’ve been shocked by one man’s old-fashioned outfit, but since it’s nearing time for the rush hour leaving for home, nobody paid them and Philip any unwanted attention.

“Those unusual conveniences...” Philip gasped upon seeing the changed landscape, a far cry from what he was used to seeing in early 19th Century New York, while pointing at the moving vehicles in front of them.

“Horseless carriages if you could call them that,” Ahkmenrah informed him, “A majority of them are actually called cars. Quite convenient and swift, though they can cause more problems in plenty of places. But they’re easier to use than with chariots on the sands of Egypt though.”

“I must say, at least the streets here are cleaner,” he mused on and Ahk honestly knew that it was true.

“Well, Philip, you might need to get used to the pros and cons of living in the modern day city: city living can be stressful if you’re not ready to brace for the madness around it,” Issa reminded him gently ahead of time.

Just then, Mari’s smartphone began to buzz, startling the revived man a bit from the noise it was emitting as she pulled out her phone to check on her message inbox. However, he was also at the same time morbidly curious at the strange device she and, he assumed, nearly everyone but Kirby has in their possession.

“A message from Belle,” she reported to the bunch and their new friend, “She is coming over to our house with food delivery and Adam is coming along with her as well.”

“So… How does this thing work?” Philip inquisitively questioned her about the smartphone.

“Well, it’s quite complicated to describe how a smartphone works without sounding like a tech nerd,” Mari shrugged a bit before she continued on her lesson, “But it’s quite a marvel in communications, if you ask plenty of people that. Anyone can pick it up, send a call or text to anybody, surf the internet, or even do things like playing app games or reading e-books… It’s like an encyclopedia, a very small encyclopedia that is a jack of all trades.”

“An encyclopedia, isn’t it?” he couldn’t help but to smile a bit, before he thought about the reading part, “Did you mentioned about these e-books, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I sure did. That’s the wonders of modern technology these days,” she replied back, “Maybe I can recommend you something from this period or something? We can do that once we get back to the house tonight.”

“Why, yes. I don’t mind at all,” his grin grew wider as she responded, “I happen to work as an assistant librarian in the city, I can show you the city’s public library someday.”

“I would happily take that offer, madam,” Philip noted the last sentence, “When we can arrange that day out trip?”

“Oh God, he’s speaking her language of books already,” Karina gasped in shock upon hearing those words.

“Wait till Hermione hears about Philip and his bizarre day today: she’ll be so happy to hear about another person to geek out about books with 24/7,” Harry shrugged back.

“Brace for it, world, because Philip Hamilton has finally returned from the grave,” Issa muttered to herself, wondering how the world and the US will react about one of the children of the one of the American Founding Fathers has come back home after nearly 218 years of being dead.

The End

[meaningofmotorsport]

Bottas or Russell?

With the rumours circling that an announcement will be made at the British Grand Prix, which I doubt to be honest, I felt now was a good time to discuss my opinions on the second Mercedes seat, and who they might go for?

Starting with Bottas, you cannot deny that he is a very talented driver, as to get within a few tenths of Hamilton week after week, is no mean feat! The more pressing question, is that when Mercedes needs him to fight hard, disrupt the competition and take wins, will he be able to do it?

Whilst he is able to take wins on a good day, I can’t see him always being able to put someone like Verstappen or Leclerc (if Ferrari are back at the top in 2022) under pressure! His ability to race wheel-to-wheel is severely lacking compared to those around him, which can clearly be seen when he falls back into the midfield, such as at Imola or Baku this year!

Then, what if Lewis finds he just can’t match the other drivers, as surely there will come a point where he peaks, and starts to lose pace. If let’s say they keep Bottas for 2022, and for whatever reason Hamilton just can’t get on with the new cars, which I doubt will happen, but if he does, you can’t seriously expect Bottas to be able to take on Verstappen for a title, unless the Mercedes is a lot better than everyone else! I know that sounds harsh, however, he just doesn’t have that ruthless edge you need to fight for championships!

Valtteri was the perfect driver for Mercedes when they had the fastest car comfortably, over the last few years. As it meant Hamilton had no pressure really, and could ease away to the title, whilst Bottas kept coming home 2nd without causing any politics in the team! So, in summary, picking Bottas wouldn’t be the worst decision in the world, to keep team harmony, although it could leave them exposed in a close title fight, like we are seeing this year!

Russell has done pretty much everything he can at Williams, to show he has the pace and skill he needs for Mercedes. Comfortably beating both his teammates on pace, and outperforming the car most of the time. If he had some luck, he would surely have some points for them by now! He is also very likable, which would be great for sponsors, not that Valtteri isn’t. Then, when he stood in for Lewis last year at Mercedes, he performed unbelievably well, almost beating Bottas in qualifying, and dominating him in the race. He even made a stunning pass on Bottas, just to show how much better he is at passing cars!

So, is he perfect for Mercedes? Not quite, as you would imagine with a young driver, there are still some issues to be ironed out! His Lap 1 race craft, including the start itself, could need some improvement, although when he started for Mercedes, he made the perfect start, so it could just be the Williams! The other major issue, is his performance under pressure at Williams, as we have seen 3 times now, him miss out on points through his own mistakes, at Germany 2019, Imola 2020 and 2021! His reaction to the final incident also shows, that if anything happened internally in the team, between him and Lewis, it could start to cause some politics and drama within the team! Which they will not want!

Concluding, Bottas would be the safer bet, not only does he know the team well, and can perform fairly well in the car all year, but he won’t damage the harmony inside Mercedes, and can still score good points for them! However, if Mercedes are under pressure, and need two star drivers, to attack similarly strong teams such as Red Bull or Ferrari. Or if Hamilton falls back in the title fight for whatever reason, then they need someone like Russell to pick up the pieces, and push the team forward into a title fight!

If it were my decision, seeing the threat posed potentially by up to 3 other teams on the grid, Russell would be my choice, to make sure you have a chance at the title, even if you risk the drivers falling out! Then when I tried to predict what the team would do, I initially thought that they would still be too fearful of a repeat of Hamilton vs Rosberg, so would go with the safe bet in Bottas. Yet, seeing not only the relative performances of both drivers so far this year, but also some of the comments made by Wolff and Russell, I wonder if this might be the year, they take a risk!

-M

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Cyber Security Market Growth Status in 2021, Industry Size, Share and Trends | Regional Forecast by 2027

Industry Insight

In its latest study, Market Research Future summed neatly that the Global Cyber Security Market 2020 could observe stability from the years 2018–2027. In these years, the market’s potentiality might rise at a high rate, with a high market value. It could be the great achievement of the market to see the future amidst COVID 19 pandemic across the world.

Notable Developments

Cybersecurity now leads the priorities of every organization as each adapts to a post-COVID 19 world. Distant workers identities’ and devices are the new security perimeter. This is what Zero Trust Security was designed for, which is capitalizing the market of global cybersecurity post-pandemic world. Cyber attackers are quick to attack new unprotected threat surfaces created when tens of millions of employees started working from home. In a post-COVID-19 world, cybersecurity is as critical as Internet access itself.  In the case of point, back in December 2019, Palo Alto Networks, Inc. acquired Aporeto, Inc., an IoT and machine identity-based company. This acquisition enabled Palo Alto Networks to reinforce the cloud-native security platform and further expand its cloud security capability.

MRFR also digs into the fact that the adoption of cybersecurity solutions is probable to expand with escalating investments from countries such as India, Spain, Italy, Oman, Canada, Qatar, South Korea, and others. Also, mounting demand for enterprise security solutions from industries including manufacturing, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), along with aerospace & defence and healthcare sectors are likely to boost the market size in the following years. The cybersecurity industry landscape is further characterized by escalating adoption of security software and solutions across various industry verticals to address the mounting threat caused by cyber-attacks. Various forms of cybercrimes, such as hacking and phishing, have surged rapidly, especially after the increasing use of the internet during the COVID-19 quarantine phase. This has led to the growth of the global cybersecurity market.

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As per reports, by the year 2026, 77% of cybersecurity expenditure will be for externally managed security services. While money spent on in-house or internal cybersecurity functions is anticipated to expand 7.2% each year to 2026, global spending on external cybersecurity products and services is projected to boost by 8.4% annually over the same period. With this prediction, enterprises are migrating their core businesses to digital platforms, the requirement for cybersecurity policies and initiatives to address is increasing at a high level owing to incidents of data breaches that are snowballing, thus boosting the market demand.

Leading Players

The leading players in the market of cybersecurity are listed as Mcafee Corporation, Cisco Corporation, Trend Micro Inc, Fortinet Inc, Computer Science Corporation, Cassidian Cybersecurity Company, Kaspersky Lab, Booz Allen Hamilton Corporation, Symantec Corporation and Fireeye Inc.

Leading Segments

For the better understanding of the report, the market for Global Cybersecurity has been segmented by solutions, services and by application verticals.

The segment of solutions includes industrial control system security and cloud security, endpoint security, network security, application security, content security.

The segment of services includes consulting services, design services, training services, risk assessment services, and others.

The segment of application verticals includes BFSI, healthcare, telecommunication, aerospace and defence, manufacturing, and others.

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Regional Front

North America is at the foremost position in the market of Cyber Security. Countries like the US and Canada are well developed in the field of technology, and also some of the foremost players who offer cybersecurity options are located in North America.

Europe is counted for the second largest market share in the Cyber Security Market. Europe holds a high valuation in the global market, which is currently expanding with a high percentage of CAGR. The main reason behind this is some countries of Europe have good command over the technology, and most of the company in the Europe region update their cybersecurity model periodically.

The Asia Pacific and MEA are the fastest growing market for cybersecurity. In Japan, the cybersecurity services segment grabbed an outstanding revenue share in the market, with over 65% in 2019. The growing complexities faced by Japanese enterprises in implementing network security coupled with compliance mandates, workforce mobility, and growing cyberattacks are augmenting the market demand.

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MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Solutions, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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