#the more you realise that there's endless levels of specialisation

[not-poignant]

Hello Pia, you recently shared a post about an idea "too good" to write. Could you maybe elaborate a little on that point? What does that mean to someone who appears to be quite skilled in creating stories and characters?

Sure!

I think everyone, at every stage in a skill they're honing, have goals they're trying to reach and skills they know they still need to work on. Even the folks who - from other people's perspective - seem like they (mostly) have it all together.

When I was working as an artist for example, I used inks and pencils at a professional level. I did natural history illustration at a professional level. I was very good at what I did and have sold the vast majority of everything I've ever illustrated!

But I'm still not skilled at drawing people (I'm getting better). I'm not skilled at oil paints or acrylics. And while some of my skills would transfer over pretty well (having a good eye, having a great sense of colour, having a decent sense of composition), it still remains that I have a lot to learn because being skilled in one thing is not being skilled at another.

And when you work like that and understand the craft like that, it gives you a different perspective. Folks who have zero ability in art might look at an artist's illustrations and simply assume they can easily transfer that to any medium or subject or technique, and folks who have more ability than the artist might look at their art and be like 'oh they're very good at animals and pencils but I've noticed they're weak on dynamic posturing and perspective.'

So where I'm at in writing is like this. I have a fair idea of my strengths, but I also have a fair idea of my weaknesses. There's certain very large scale ideas that I suspect I'm not yet ready for, because of either the scope of the plotting, or the depth of the worldbuilding. (I find worldbuilding easy. I find remembering all the details I created very hard).

There's also the fact that some of it is almost certainly fear. Like, fear of trying something new, fear of it going wrong, fear of making mistakes to get better. That absolutely is part of the journey, and the only way to overcome that is to get started and begin making the mistakes.

But no matter what level you're at, there's always a level you know you can't reach without more training and practice. The good news is a person doesn't always have to "grow" their skills relentlessly, just practicing what they love keeps what they do honed anyway. Like, I could stop here and keep writing the kinds of stories I write and do that for another ten years.

But I do want to keep growing, and keep learning new ways of telling stories, so...yeah, I do have story ideas that I know I'm not good enough to write (well) yet.

[canmom]

welp so much for 'AI can't do human figures at least'. with midjourney there was at least a kind of unique texture to the AI generated pictures, a sense of complicated shapes and patterns that don't quite resolve - it looked quite novel just as deep dream did before it. dall-e meanwhile would often leave janky artefacts, and really struggled with things that have specific structures like faces. but this new one 'stable diffusion' (what a dry academic name!)... i guess time will tell what its fingerprint is, beyond the ghosts of signatures of artists its plagiarised lol...

i don't think this will kill art commissions at the like, individual dnd/character level necessarily. i think getting a commission is on some level a social thing, where you get a picture that represents your support of the artist you admire, and has that personal aura of a thing you paid to create. i think someone who is going to drop hundreds of dollars on a painting of their fursona or ffxiv character will still do that. and for visdev for films and games, the AI still doesn't have the ability to develop a coherent visual language or follow instructions for how to iterate on a design (though... it might be only a matter of time at this point before they specialise the tools, but they'll still have a human calling the shots even if running the AI joins kitbashing as a way to rapidly make concept art).

but what about the more dreary side of art, for advertising etc., where there's no real concern for style, just a throwaway image for delivering a narrative as efficiently as possible?

the rise of colour photography pretty much did away with the old American tradition of commercial illustration represented by people like Loomis, leaving niches like scifi/fantasy art, comics and animation to carry the torch for illustration. however, this also led to the flourishing of photography as an art form in its own right, and freed drawing and painting to become more stylised. that has broadly been my prediction for AI art, though i guess it's too early to see what will happen this time around.

in any case, it is scariest for the artists who have already 'made it' who now have a new competitor that's terrifyingly fast and obliging, and is probably plagiarising them to boot. unfortunately i don't think twitter threads about the obfuscated plagiarism of a 'training set' are going to put a stop to this. the state is unlikely to have an interest in suppressing big tech companies for the sake of artists' livelihoods, nor would outlawing it likely be effective when you can just run the servers somewhere else it's not illegal. and people are too excited by the promise of 'put in prompt, get picture'.

as for the other artists without a robust industry position or large following, whose existence is tenuous already, which is probably the majority... well, hard to say what will happen to us. it might be no different since we're already outcompeted, but then again the AI has the powerful advantage of being cheap, with a near unlimited pace of generation, so it's not like there's just one more talented artist out there, it's a stylistic chameleon "artist" with an unlimited work ethic and endless polish who will work for breadcrumbs. so that's kind of alarming! but there's a reason people still turn to us, even now. it's not always about the greatest perfection, but the personality and character we bring, the feeling of supporting a growing artist, the satisfaction of getting your very specific request realised. buying art is not just about paying money for product, people are playing a role in a social system according to the narratives in their head! (same reason people still make and buy porn with often familiar premises or hire cam workers when almost anything can now be seen for free.)

it's not like the actual act of making art will become any less intrinsically rewarding. artists will still create for all the reasons we always have. expressing the things that can be said no other way, developing a skill, devotion, showing off, just the strange pleasure cof seeing a picture or story come together... it is still satisfying no matter if someone else, be they human or algorithm, can do it better. but... there's a fear the ecosystem might wither. it's a lot harder to develop your expressive power when you have to spend most of your time and energy on the day job.

the 'ecosystem' is why i feel independent 'subculture driven' art is so important, more than the corporate side. stuff like furry fandom, doujinshi, stick figure fights, hentai, fanart/fanfiction, webnovels, indie games, indie music, even stuff that doesn't necessarily seem like 'art' at a glance like speedruns. all sorts of niches large and small devoted to exploring the things they are devoted to. it's not about whether there's a better artist out there - you're there to participate in the scene and have fun. some people will go on to take it super seriously and emerge into the sunlight with what seems like a terrifying level of talent but you need that encouraging subculture to incubate you and get you to actually start putting yourself out there and making stuff. at any age.

ultimately i think with or without AI, capitalism is strangling the vast unrealised possibilities of human expression, and that will remain true until society is rearranged so that people do not have to spend most of their lives working to survive. but... that's not in my power. still, AI is a human invention, its role in our world is yet undecided, and we decide what we value. i acknowledge this likely sounds kind of hollow when the world is saturated with hostile images like ads, created by vast social forces beyond our power... but let's start with the bubble around each of us, if nothing else, and cultivate that shit. even if you don't have much money - sure we can't pay rent with praise and encouragement and concrit but we can't live without it either. there is so much more to art than who wields the most technical skill and we'd do well to remember that again...

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Lucien’s Radio Broadcast Date

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 电台之约, which has not been released in EN! 🍒

[ This date was released on 17 May 2021 ]

[ PROLOGUE ] 

Part One: A Weekend Arrangement

On the weekend morning, I wake up contentedly, doing a big stretch on the bed. 

Feeling for my phone beside the pillow, I tap on the unread text that was received five minutes ago.

Lucien: Are you awake? Little Lazy Bug.

A small smile involuntary surfaces on my lips. Nuzzling the soft pillow case, I get up at one go, washing my face and brushing my teeth.

After fifteen minutes, I knock on Lucien’s door.

MC: Lucien, it’s me!

Not a moment later, he opens the door, wearing light-coloured home wear that I rarely see, a pair of golden-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

It’s been a while since Lucien and I last saw each other. He has been staying in the research centre recently, and I’ve been busy with filming a new show.

Since we both have a rare break, we made arrangements to meet today.

Lucien: I even thought I’d only get to see you at noon.

Upset, I look at his teasing smile.

MC: In Professor Lucien’s eyes, am I a person who doesn’t keep to her promises? I finally get to see you, so of course I’m seizing every moment.

The arcs at the corners of his lips grow deeper. He turns his body to the side, beckoning me to enter.

Following Lucien into the living room, I see several thick English books left open on the coffee table, and my shoulders droop subconsciously.

MC: Lucien, do you have work to handle today?

Lucien turns around, his eyes curving when he sees my appearance. He walks to me, then lifts my shoulders up gently.

Lucien: Of course not. I finally get to see you, so of course I have to be entirely focused.

-

Part Two: Pondering on the Play

After releasing a secret sigh of relief, I become curious regarding the books on the coffee table. Picking up one of the books, I see its name on the title page - 

MC: “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”? Are you reading Shakespeare’s works?

Lucien: To be more accurate, I’m selecting a play.

MC: Selecting?

Lucien doesn’t respond to my question, turning around and walking into the kitchen.

Lucien: Are there any plays that you like?

MC: Hm... I can’t think of any that I especially like. All the plays I’ve watched with you seem pretty good. What about you?

Lucien: Do you still remember the play we watched called “André & Dorine”?

[Trivia] André & Dorine depicts the enduring love between an elderly couple as their lives are disrupted, but not overcome, by dementia

MC: I remember! Was it that mime theatre production? I still remember how you pondered over the guitar case on stage for a long time after the performance was over.

Lucien: I wasn’t pondering much. It’s just that after watching it, I felt that life is very short.

Lucien brings over a cup of steaming hot cocoa from the kitchen. He places the cup in my hand naturally, his eyes meeting mine.

Lucien: It has to be spent with the person one loves.

-

Part Three: A Typical Day in the Radio Broadcast Station

The temperature within the house seems to rise along with the the piping hot cocoa. I pat my slightly flushed cheeks, pulling the conversation topic back.

MC: Come to think of it, why do you have to select a play?

Lucien sits down unhurriedly, his tone steady as he gives me an answer which leaves one utterly confused.

Lucien: I need to confess something to Producer MC -

Lucien: I accepted the invitation of another radio broadcast station.

After waiting for Lucien to finish with his short “confession”, I finally understand why he has to select a play.

Two days ago, Lucien received an invitation from the Loveland Radio Broadcast Station to participate in a 520 Special Broadcast Program called “A Day in a Play”.

[Note] 520 stands for 20 May, a day celebrated by the Chinese as another Valentine’s Day. This is because 我爱你 (“wo ai ni” - “I love you”) sounds like the numbers 5, 2, and 0 (“wu er ling”) when said aloud

This program regularly invites theatre fans from various occupations to share their favourite plays, and Lucien is one of them.

Hearing such news bogs me down with mixed feelings. On one hand, I’m silently in awe at the good choice made by the radio station. On the other hand...

I sneak a peek at Lucien. His head is currently lowered as he blows on the steam of the hot cocoa, his expression levelled.

...if I were to get jealous about Lucien agreeing to participate in another show, it’d be an incredibly inconsiderate thing, right?

Just as I think about this, Lucien suddenly lifts his head towards me. He crinkles his eyes into a smile, as though he has completely seen through the little grumblings in my heart from earlier.

Lucien: Oh yes, this show requires me to invite a partner. The Great Producer MC would grace me with her presence, won’t she?

-

[ DATE ]

Lucien: “Come live with me and be my love,”

Lucien: “And we will all the pleasures prove,”

Lucien: “That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,”

Lucien: “Woods, or steepy mountains yields.”

Lucien: “And we will sit upon rocks,”

Lucien: “Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,”

Lucien: “By shallow rivers to whose falls,”

Lucien: “Melodious birds sing madrigals.”

Lucien: “...if these flights thy mind may move,”

Lucien: “Then live with me and be my love.”

Lucien: What do you think about this poem? Do you like it?

Lucien sets down the manuscript in his hand, lifting his eyes slowly.

He’s leaning next to the window of the guest lounge. The warm light of spring falls on his shoulders, creating a mild, brilliant white halo in the air.

A few days ago, Lucien invited me to participate in the 520 Special Broadcast Program called “A Day in a Play”.

The content of this show consists of idle talk related to plays, and it regularly invites theatre fans from various occupations to share about their favourite plays.

The stanza that Lucien just read aloud came from a poem written by a playwright called Christopher Marlowe. 

MC: I like it very much.

Returning to my senses, my expression is sincere as I look at him.

MC: Lucien, have you ever thought of changing occupations and becoming an actor?

When Lucien hears this, his eyes arch into a smile. He walks over, tapping the manuscript gently on the top of my head.

Lucien: An exaggerated compliment would make it lose its sincerity.

Just as I’m about to firmly express my sincerity, I notice from the corner of my eye that there are several markings on Lucien’s manuscript.

Leaning over to get a better look, I realise that those markings are notes taken down on the poem by Lucien with a pen.

I recall how he’s been incredibly busy in the previous period, and how there were many times when I had to remind him to eat...

Even so, he made notes on the manuscript regarding reciting techniques for this show. In my heart, I deeply respect his endless energy. At the same time, I can’t help but be envious.

MC: Does Professor Lucien need to do homework beforehand too?

Lucien: Techniques are required for specialised skills. I’m not a professional at reciting poetry, so of course I need to do my homework beforehand. 

I deliberately fold my arms, letting out quiet “hmph”s.

MC: But you don’t seem to do any preparations as a consultant for Miracle Finder.

Lucien: Since I’m a consultant, I can’t let the producer of the show see me do last minute work.

He draws slightly closer to me, lowering his voice.

Lucien: At a place you can’t see, I’ve always been working hard for you.

The evident slyness in his tone causes my breathing to turn slightly ragged. Clearing my throat, I put some distance between us.

MC: [blushing] That’s not what I meant...

Lucien: I understand.

Meaningful arcs hook the corners of his lips, as though he sees through the feelings in my heart. He tugs me over to sit on the sofa in the guest lounge.

Lucien: Or should I only participate in the shows you produce next time?

MC: ...I’m not asking you to go that far either!

He narrows his eyes and turns his head to the side, pretending to give it some thought. 

Lucien: In that case, I’ll always ask for Producer MC’s opinion before appearing on a show. Is that okay?

I nod, face red from his teasing. All of a sudden, my heart stirs.

MC: Verbal statements can’t be relied upon. Concrete evidence is needed.

I lift my hand, removing the small hair tie on my ponytail. Then, I indicate for Lucien to give me his hand.

He seems to guess what I plan to do. Supporting his chin casually with one hand, he stretches the other hand in front of me.

With a serious expression, I put on the hair tie on his wrist solemnly, as though I’m conducting a formal ceremony.

MC: It shall be the evidence. In future, the Professor Lucien on the big screen will be completely reserved by me!

-

After sitting in the lounge for a while, the director comes over and goes through today’s show schedule with Lucien and I briefly.

The show is segmented into reading letters from theatre fans, reciting monologues from plays, and monologue appreciation, among other things.

In every episode, this show will choose a particular theme of plays, which will then be used to expand on the contents of the show.

In order to be in line with the special day of 520, the theme for this episode has been set as the “possessiveness” between lovers.

As such, the plays and characters we selected are related to “possessiveness”.

The first segment consists of sharing letters from listeners. The show team had collected various reviews of plays from listeners, as well as their personal takeaways from the plays.

There’s only ten minutes before the show begins. Seizing this final free time, I sit in the studio, skimming through these letters briefly.

Some of the letters include analysis spanning over a thousand words on the extreme possessiveness of some classic characters in plays...

Some of the letters created a hearty one-act play based on the word “possessiveness”.

My line of sight roams over these letters, and I can sense someone leaning over from the side.

Lucien: What are you looking at?

MC: Letters from the listeners. Which letter would you like to read later?

Lucien glances at the open letters on the table for a while. Then, the corners of his lips suddenly curve upwards.

Just as I'm about to follow his line of sight, the director gives us a signal from outside, telling us that the countdown to the broadcast is about to begin.

Suppressing my curiosity, Lucien and I begin today’s radio broadcast with the guidance of the host.

-

The segment of reading letters arrives on schedule. I select a satisfactory review of a play to read. Very quickly, it’s almost time for Lucien to read a letter.

Host: Would Professor Lucien be reading an interesting review of a play as well?

Lucien picks up a pink coloured envelope in the middle directly, as though he has long since made a decision.

Lucien: Even though it isn’t a review, ever since I saw this letter before the show, I really wanted to share it with everyone. However, it looks like the owner of this letter is female. If I were to read it, I’m afraid it’d be slightly inappropriate.

Lucien turns over, handing the letter to me.

Lucien: Could I request Producer MC to read it for me?

I blink, taking the letter without knowing what’s going on.

Opening the letter, the childish handwriting brings with it a fragrance as it unfolds before my eyes.

MC: “Hello hosts, I’m a student from junior high.”

Slightly puzzled, I look at Lucien. He smiles slightly, indicating that I should continue reading.

MC: “Recently, I’ve been feeling troubled.”

MC: “Ever since coming to junior high school, my deskmate has been a very playful boy, and he always bullies me.”

MC: “He often tugs on my ponytail, or asks me to give him my seat in the canteen. Even though he gives me snacks, he says that it’s only because he doesn’t want to eat them.”

MC: “While eating his snacks one day, a classmate suddenly teased us and asked if we liked each other. At that time, I was in a fluster and shouted without realising, ‘How could I like him!’”

MC: “Ever since then... my deskmate hasn't spoken to me.”

MC: “I thought I’d be really happy since I’m freed from his bullying. But whenever I see him distributing snacks to other girls, I actually feel the impulse to cry.”

MC: “I even secretly placed his snacks on my own table, pretending that my deskmate gave them to me...”

MC: “ --so that I can attempt to stake my claim in front of other girls.”

MC: “Last week, I watched a stage play, and the experiences of the lead character were somewhat similar to mine.”

MC: “Afterwards, I read the reviews. Everyone was saying that the lead character was fiercely possessive, and a little abnormal...”

MC: “Am I also such a person? What counts as being possessive? Is being possessive truly an illness?”

After reading the last line, I lift my head to meet Lucien’s eyes, giving him a knowing smile.

Host: I didn’t expect Professor Lucien to select such an adorable letter. How would you respond to this young listener’s question?

Lucien: I’m very sorry, but I’m unable to respond. This question might require a consultation with a professional. But I once read a document on concepts in psychology related to “possessiveness”, and I could share it with everyone.

Lucien stretches his hand towards me, and I hand the letter to him in tacit understanding. 

He unfolds the letter, casually lifting his spectacles. Then, he lowers his hand, his fingertips tapping rhythmically on the table.

The sound of tapping stops abruptly. He lifts his hand to support his lips, then tilts his head slightly, as though recalling the contents of the document.

Lucien: The following information is for everyone’s reference. Possessiveness is typically expressed as an exceptional cherishing of the other party, and being concerned about the other party in various aspects of their life.

For some inexplicable reason, along with Lucien’s words, I suddenly recall scenes of myself heading to the research centre to bring him bentos.

Lucien: Only allowing oneself and the other party to have a connection, and not wishing for others to get close to the other party.

My heart once again inexplicably recalls the bitter taste when I heard of Lucien participating in this show. 

Lucien: If one finds that the other party no longer belongs to them, they’d use all sorts of methods to stake their claim.

Lucien appears to deliberately twist his wrist slightly, revealing the small hair tie on it.

...I have a feeling that Lucien is implicitly referring to me. I keep my eyes on Lucien, and can’t help but purse my lips.

He seems to sense my “complaint”, but his eyes remain on the letter in his hand, a smile on his lips tugging upwards.

Lucien: This is simply a definition, and isn’t enough to ascertain the intensity of a person’s possessiveness. However, satisfying one’s possessiveness in an appropriate manner isn’t a bad thing. If possessiveness is unable to obtain a suitable outlet, it’d end up violently engulfing the originally balanced love. Furthermore, possessiveness isn’t a disease.

Lucien sets down the letter. As though sensing my gaze, he turns his head and gives me a slight smile.

Lucien: It accompanies a strong love. It’s a human instinct. 

-

After the letter reading segment, Lucien, as the main guest, has to read a monologue from a certain play in the next segment.

This play narrates an account in mid-century Europe, involving the love story of a wealthy lady and a butler who grew up together since young.

This butler was naturally more intelligent than others, and had a composed temperament. If he were to craft a career for himself, he’d do far better than being a butler.

However, in order stay by the side of his beloved lady, he was willing to remain within the four walls.

The naive wealthy lady didn’t understand the genuine feelings of the butler. Like every other wealthy lady, she looked forward to marrying her own prince. 

But when she was arranged to get married to a wealthy duke, her heart started to waver.

Because the intensity of the butler’s possessiveness went to his head, he eventually poisoned the wealthy lady, then vanished into the night.

With his own hands, he buried the love of his life, and from then on became a fugitive, living a life that was neither dead nor alive.

The monologue that Lucien is about to read is taken from the part after the butler finds out that the lady is inclined to marrying the duke. It’s the first time he reveals the depth of his possessiveness. 

Lucien selected this monologue himself, and I can’t help but anticipate it.

Host: Listeners and friends, we’ll now lend our ears to Professor Lucien -

Lucien nods slightly, tilting his head towards me and blinking slowly. His lowered voice gradually seeps into the earpieces.

Lucien: “I thought she was just a canary which would only sit by the window...”

Lucien: “When the sun rises every morning, she’d be at the glass window, facing the blazing sunlight and preening its feathers to its heart’s content.”

Rich affection is in Lucien’s voice. It’s as though I can see a talented and handsome young man staring at the girl’s back in the room with deep feelings.

Lucien: “Her wings are vibrant and heart-stirring. She spends a lot of time on them, combing them gently with a bristle brush.”

Lucien: “Whenever this happens, I’d stand behind her, carrying a cup of hot tea, waiting for her quietly.”

Lucien: “I know that in this moment, she belongs only to me.”

Lucien’s voice suddenly turns soft and barely discernible. I can’t help but be immersed in it -

The modern studio around me suddenly shifts, as though turning into wooden furniture in Western Europe.

Ripples of colour reflect off the windows and onto the floor, glistening with light. An expensive fragrance of rogue diffuses in the room.

Lucien: “Only I know what she's thinking of, and only I understand everything about her.”

I turn my head to Lucien, who is behind me. He’s wearing a fitting suit, standing at a spot where shadows and light mingle.

Lucien: “We will be forgotten in this place by the world, but the strings of fate will tie us together.”

He suddenly pauses, the intermingling of shadows and light distorting his expression into shreds. He trembles slightly in the darkness.

Lucien: “...before meeting that duke, she was always in front of that glass window, being my bird.”

Lucien: “She should realise that if she were to fly out, she would have cuts and bruises all over from those impetuous dandies.”

Lucien: “She would discover that there is an entire sky of canaries which are just as beautiful and frail as her. Those dandies only have to reach out gently--”

Lucien: “And her beloved feathers would be easily plucked out.”

Lucien: “If this is the ending... if this is the only ending...”

Lucien: “Then her feathers should belong to me.”

When I see his calm and shadowed expression, I hold my breath momentarily.

Lucien: “Only belonging to me.”

The monologue ends.

-

Lucien: In the short span of one minute, you’ve already hesitated to say something to me five times.

Lucien sighs, setting down the cup of water in his hand.

After the monologue ended, the subsequent segments no longer involve the guests that much.

Lucien and I have left the studio earlier, and are sitting on the sofa in the lounge, waiting for the show to officially come to an end.

It’s just that... ever since we stepped out of the studio and I saw Lucien returning to his normal state, my heart has had difficulties making the adjustment.

MC: ...I was just so stunned.

Tickled by the exaggerated tone in my voice, Lucien chuckles softly.

Lucien: I’ll take that as a compliment. 

MC: Of course it’s a compliment! I didn’t expect you to perform so well. You were basically an entirely different person earlier!

Lucien: I was simply portraying the role as I understood it. But I accept Producer MC’s compliment.

He takes a shallow sip of tea calmly, returning to how Lucien typically is, and completely different from the butler he was acting as earlier.

Seeing him like this, a question suddenly surfaces in my heart -

I wonder what Lucien’s possessiveness looks like?

-

Director: Sorry for the wait! The two of you have worked hard today!

After the show ends, the director returns to the lounge, carrying a stack of manuscripts in his hand.

Director: The responses for today’s show are extremely good! Many thanks to Professor Lucien and Miss MC for the spectacular performance!

Lucien: We’re also grateful for your invitation to participate in this show.

Director: Professor Lucien is too polite. Both of you truly did very well. The comment board for the show is filled with positive remarks. To tell you the truth, there’s something I need to ask of the two of you.

The director unfolds the manuscript in his hand. Lucien and I lower our heads to look at it. It’s the script from that earlier play.

Director: We’d like to include a special 520 Easter egg for this episode’s theme. It would be the final scene between the butler and the wealthy lady. Earlier, Professor Lucien’s monologue left a deep impression on the listeners, and the responses were very enthusiastic. If possible, could you and Producer MC record this Easter egg today?

The director clasps his hands together, inviting Lucien sincerely. However, Lucien turns his line of sight to me.

Lucien: My rights to participate in a show belong to this lady. If she agrees, I’ll naturally have no issues with it.

The director looks over in confusion. Just as Lucien is about to showcase the hair tie with a dead serious expression, I hurriedly agree.

MC: Yes! We can!

The director unclasps his hands quickly, preparing for the recording of the Easter egg. Lucien and I remain in the studio to go over the lines.

After familiarising myself with my lines, I lift my head, realising that Lucien is leaning against the sofa, reading the script meticulously and silently.

Seeing him look so serious, I suddenly become curious again.

MC: Lucien, could I ask you a question?

Lucien: Does it have to do with why I agreed to participate in this show?

MC: ...as expected, I can’t hide anything from you.

He sets down the manuscript, grinning as he tidies the hair at my ear.

Lucien: I simply care about you exceptionally. I’m guessing that what you want to know even more is why I’d bring you along to participate in this show.

My eyes widen slightly, and I give him a thumbs up.

He chuckles after seeing this. Waves of gentleness ripple in those eyes that have always been difficult to read.

Lucien: I know that we differ from others in the way we’re always handling our own matters. It’s difficult to meet, much less have each others’ time. I also know that you’re always doing your best to give your free time to me -

Lucien: Bringing me bentos with plenty of dishes, attending conferences when I release new books, and taking me to see the spring day in your eyes.

Lucien: So, I want to tell you that whether or not you can see it, I’m also doing my best to own every moment of your free time.

Lucien: To me, participating in this show is akin to watching a movie together. I simply want it to be a special moment for us which belongs only to you and me. 

He leans down, drawing closer to me, encasing my surroundings with his unique scent.

Looking into his eyes, a wave of gentleness seems to ripple in my heart, and my cheeks flush slightly.

MC: I’ll also do my best to create special moments belonging only to the both of us. I’ll invite Professor Lucien to look forward to them.

Lucien: You being like this is already good enough.

The corners of his eyes turn upwards, and he puts some distance between us.

Lucien: Let’s go over the lines together. The director’s waiting for us to record the Easter egg.

I nod. Taking a deep breath, I return my focus to the script again.

In the final scene between the butler and the wealthy lady, the wealthy lady is holding a love letter she wrote to the duke, naively wanting the butler to polish her writing.

Even though she senses that she shouldn’t let the butler see this letter, he’s the person she trusts most.

In front of the butler, she’s like a young girl experiencing her first awakening of love as she reads the love letter aloud.

The butler, whose unbridled possessiveness and intense jealousy have rushed to his head, finally poisons his beloved in his arms after she reads the final line.

Using a letter from a listener as a prop, I place it in his hand and begin the monologue.

MC: “You must definitely listen to this letter...”

MC: “It contains my heartfelt sincerity. No matter what, I don’t want there to be any mistakes.”

Lucien: "If you read it to me, it will be your first mistake.”

MC: “Please! You’ve never refused anything I ask of you. I’ll just treat it as tacit consent, just like always!”

MC: “Dearest Great Duke...”

MC: “I’m writing this letter to you, and it contains my sincerity...”

Following the script, I read the letter written to the duke.

MC: “...and with this, I look forward to your reply.”

These are the final words on the letter. Following this, there are a series of stage directions.

“The wealthy lady grips her love letter, brimming with anticipation as she stares out of the window. The butler is silent, handing her a cup of hot tea as he usually does.”

“The lady drinks it without putting up any defences, but doesn’t know that he had poisoned this cup. The love letter floats to the ground, and she falls into the butler’s arms.”

“...he speaks into her ear: ‘You belong only to me.’ The canary in his arms twitches for a while, then never stirs again.”

Seeing the tragic ending of this love story, my heart can’t help but sigh.

The butler’s love made him lose his mind. In order to possess his beloved forever, he pushed both himself and her into hell with his own hands.

I recall the scene from before when Lucien was reading the monologue, and how he usually has eyes as calm as a deep pond.

That earlier thought once again surfaces in my mind -

I wonder what Lucien’s possessiveness looks like?

Just when I’m thinking about this, I feel a forceful tug on my arm.

I stumble, then fall into familiar arms. 

Puzzled, I turn my head towards Lucien. A sense of restraint is concealed in his eyes, and the unfathomable dark eyes hold within them intense emotions. 

Lucien: “This letter will never be sent, just as the bird will forever remain in her cage.”

Lucien takes a deep breath, leaning his weight against my body.

I feel scorching breaths on my exposed shoulders, and his hand brushes against my lips gently.

Lucien: “You can only belong to me.”

A familiar scent cages me in his embrace. For a moment, I’m unable to tell if the person before me is the butler who went mad because of love, or if he’s Lucien himself.

I abruptly return to my senses - the performance should already be over.

However, Lucien doesn’t let go of me, as though he hasn’t disengaged from the performance. 

Just as I prepare to remind him that it’s over, he suddenly leans near, leaving a soft kiss at the corner of my lips.

Lucien: Very sweet. I’m referring to the taste of the tea.

Stunned, I look at Lucien - he’s changing the ending of the script...

While he looks at me, the foreign emotions in his eyes suddenly vanish. Then, he crinkles his eyes into a smile, just like how he smiles at me every time.

I already knew that I couldn't hide anything from him.

This is his response to that question I’ve never asked -

Lucien: The person I want to possess will eventually possess me.

🎙 Texts and Moments: here

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[mogwaei]

Chapter 148: Imbalance 

Rating: explicit/graphic

Pairings: Solas/OFC, M!Lavellan/Dorian Pavus, F!Lavellan/secret companion

Fic summary: Agent of Fen’Harel defects to search for an alternative solution. Time travel with consequences. Lore exploration and expansion. Friends, rivals, lovers, and endless explanations. Pasta fight!!

Chapter Summary: It’s in the title.

Word count: ~10k ; whole fic 805k 🎉

~~

As the weather grew fouler passing into the Frostbacks, he began to wonder if he’d slighted a god and this was how they were making the Antivan sun-lover in him pay. A blizzard hit higher in the passes despite their attempts to move fast to skirt the worst of the snow and that seemed to be his first trial. The other test was the growing division between his friends. Everyone had different ideas on what they should do and Yin, having spent very little time around snow at all, was panicking, and reaching dangerous levels of frustration over them all arguing in the open where death from exposure was imminent.

He almost lost his entire head when Solas was the one to break off from the group, hiking off into the frenzied white. If not for Varric holding onto his sleeve and begging him not to go, Yin might have been lost trying to go after Solas.

“Just let him, Charmer! He knows what he’s doing.”

~~

“I think we’ve already been several steps into this without realising it,” he said, drawing their gazes. “This group here is young, actionable, and loyal. Diverse. When they return from their latest mission, I’d like to form a new group.” That received him a few confused looks, even from Leliana. “Think about what happens after Corypheus is dealt with. I can’t imagine that everyone in my circle will stick around—they’ve all promised in one way or another only to see this matter through.” He held up the paper. “People depend on us. I won’t see them abandoned after this is over. So why not start finding people dedicated to the cause who are specialised?”

"Are you thinking of a knighthood?" Josephine suggested.

He gestured enthusiastically at her. "Sí, signora! My training hovers somewhere between the Knight Enchanters and ancient Arcane Warriors—there are many teachings that would carry over even for non-mages." Saying it all aloud saddened him. The painful reminder that there would come a day where his current found family left him to carry on with their own lives. But if he played the Dread Wolf’s advocate, he told himself he would be happy to survive to even see that happen.

~~

"Bad news?" Yin asked.

He seemed to consider his answer, then nodded curtly. "There was an incident in the north. You're aware Hawke left with the other Wardens?"

"I was informed by Varric that this was the case," Yin said warily. Cullen twisted on his heel, glancing back the way he'd come—more specifically, at the dwarf eating a late lunch with a few soldiers at one of the tables.

"Right. Varric." Cullen muttered something and sighed.

"Is this something he should know too?" he pressed, wondering what the fuss was for. When Cullen stalled, Yin just whistled and drew Varric's attention. Beckoning to all of them, he decided to move the talk into Josephine's office.

When Varric shuffled in wiping his mouth with a cloth, he shut the door and surveyed them with suspicious eyes.

Cullen shifted under all their gazes but then cleared his throat and handed the missive to Yin.

"I...am afraid I have no gentle way of putting this, but Vyr Hawke has been lost," said the Commander placing a hand behind his back.

Varric gave a derisive chuckle as Yin scanned the letter. "Gotta be more specific, Curly. Lost is Hawke's middle name. Right next to ‘Just Kidding’."

~~

Read the entire shitstorm on Ao3

Chapter 1 for new readers :D

[mollymauk-teafleak]

whose brow is laid in thorn (chapter two)

Huge thanks as always to my lovely friends @minky-for-short and @spiky-lesbian

Please reblog and use this link to leave a comment on the chapter over at ao3!

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Caleb has to figure out where he fits in the prince's life, all while grappling with memories and emotions he's supposed to have forgotten...

-------

Caleb had been warned how hard it would be.

Things were the same but they weren’t. He knew the people they passed in the walkways by nothing but their footfalls but couldn’t recall their names. He knew the way through the endless corridors but had forgotten where they would end. He could place the smells of old paper, cool stone, dust on gold, oak and the rich smells from the kitchen, but he couldn’t connect them to memories.

He was home but he wasn’t.

Every moment spoke of a different piece of himself that had been clipped away, different parts of his brain that had been worked free and thrown out, a patchwork blanket of missing pieces. Every other step deeper into the castle brought another ghost to the edges of his vision, but none that he could fully bring into focus and confront directly. The place was the same but he was different and it was knowing that which hurt the most.

Except it didn’t hurt. Because it wasn’t allowed to hurt.

Caleb closed his eyes as a whip cracked in the back of his mind.

But if it wasn’t allowed to hurt, what other words were there to describe how it felt to have the prince’s eyes on him? They had gone straight from the audience chamber to the open court that would take up the majority of the day, his highness seeming completely unsure what else to do. So now Caleb stood behind his gilded seat, a smaller, more subtle version of the king’s expansive throne, and watched as the prince heard not a word of anyone around him.

And watched as the courtiers stared at and whispered about him. The wayward companion returned to the prince’s side with no warning, no fanfare, rekindling all the rumours that had surrounded his swift departure from the palace. Caleb had been warned there would be attention, something that made him uncomfortable as a Volstruker, but he would have to endure it and repeat the same story, that he’d been away under specialised training to better protect the future king.

He was to consider it a further punishment for his past failures.

The court passed without incident, the room was clear of any threat save the angry muttering that accompanied any decisions the king made that were taken poorly by the supplicants. Which did happen to be most of them. It was quickly cured by the guardsmen inching closer, some needing to clear a few inches of steel from their scabbards to silence the dissent. Caleb didn’t so much as twitch. Some jobs were for common guardsmen, some were for Volstruker.

So it passed without incident. But it did pass. And that left him alone with the prince again.

As the throne room cleared, Caleb felt the king’s blue eyes settle on him and quickly dart away again. Nor could he look at his son for very long. It was as if Caleb’s presence was a rotten tooth, drawing their attention against both of their wills, reopening that old ache between them. Reminding them of ten years ago.

He remembered his highness sobbing, holding the blankets up to his chin, trembling beneath them. Caleb meanwhile has nothing to cover himself with, not even his own hands, with his arm in Sorah’s cruelly hard grip. Molly begs her not to hurt him, rages at her to release him, pleads to his father in between sobs but Babenon turns his back and tells Sorah in tones of cold iron to take Caleb to the dungeons and inform Ikithon. Molly lurches, at his father or for Caleb, it is hard to say, but a sudden back hand sends him crumbling to the torn bedclothes and Caleb doesn’t even get to see Molly’s face one last time before the door to the bedchamber slams closed.

A whip crack lanced painfully across the memory, ending it sharply. Caleb shook himself, digging his fingernails into his palm for some focus and followed his highness out of the side door into the royal family’s private apartments.

Here the hangings were much less severe, the carpets softer and torches a much more mellow gold. Here the tapestries didn’t depict bloody victories in war, they were scenes of beautiful Xorhasian wilderness, and accompanied by royal portraits where they were actually allowed to smile. Music echoed from somewhere, Queen Marion always had a spell ready in her chambers that she could call upon when the mood took her. He had resummoned it a few times, at his prince’s request, when he was younger.

Of course, he was bound to do all his highness asked of him.

The prince paused at a junction between hallways, shoulders tight, not turning. His voice was awkward, wavering, like it could snap at any moment.

“Jester...she’d prepared a welcome home party for you. All of our friends, Beau and Yasha, Fjord and Cad...Veth. They were going to surprise you. Do you...do you remember them?”

The breath in Caleb’s throat seemed to freeze. He remembered a laugh that always makes him feel like he belongs, hugs given freely that he at first tenses up to but then begins to accept and then to need. Snarky, smirking eyes, blows traded back and forth in the practise yard and out of it, the feeling he’d been so unfamiliar with but then realises it for what it is- having a sibling. A kind, low voice, light teasing, at first worrying that they were competing for Mollymauk’s affection but then quickly realising how wrong he is, glad to see her there every day. The smell of salt, tales of far off places he’d never seen but wanted to, a crooked smile that sparks an embarrassing crush in him early on, before he even dares hope that Molly’s heart might be heading in the same direction as his own. The smell of wet earth, soft fur, strange turns of phrase that make him smile, somehow effortlessly soothing the anxiety he always feels around medicine.

And Veth. Gods, Veth. The first face he sees when he arrives at the castle, still raw and terrified though he can’t show it. A gentle voice and kind eyes, clever hands. Sweetness when he needs it most. A piece of Blumenthal in this strange land, when he thought it had all been ripped away from him. The gods somehow deciding he deserved another chance at having a mother, after everything he’d-

The whip crack again, the throb of agony, the sharp inhalation. He managed not to stagger but clearly couldn’t control his face as well. The prince’s eyes grew tight in profile, the side of his mouth he could see turned down in something that, of not outright grief, was still in the same family.

“I’ll take you straight to my chambers. You can take some time to yourself and I...I’ll explain things to them,” he murmured.

And when it turned to full blown grief, Caleb would know the prince had given up on him completely. There would be no returning to what they had ten years ago.

Which was the idea. Of course.

“As you say, your highness,” Caleb nodded stiffly, feeling a spark of relief with guilt on it’s heels. He quashed them both swiftly.

The prince’s bedchamber brought more memories he had to fight off, both good and bad. Keeping one half at bay while trying to bring the other close to be the salt in his wound, his painful reminder, was hard enough that for a moment he didn’t realise his highness was even speaking to him.

Of course the castle’s decor couldn’t be changed at its core, the black, almost obsidian stone would stand long after any of them were gone. But somehow, as the prince stood in the centre of his chambers, he’d managed to make himself fit. The hangings were all the plum purples and bright golds that he loved, his jewellery hung on racks on the expansive dressing table, a stick of incense burned on the windowsill to fill the space with scents of amber and musk. His many swords were hanging from the walls, each hilt and scabbard more elaborate and jewel encrusted than the last, moon and star charts done on black vellum were stuck up around the window so he could look out and know what he was seeing. The light was warm, low and inviting.

And there were books. Not many but a few, one on the table open by the bedside, a few piled on the dressing table, one on the windowsill.

Caleb remembered, his prince, his Mollymauk, smiling across the table from him, confessing in a gentle voice that he’d never liked reading until he met Caleb and oh gods, Caleb fell in love so hard and so fast. He remembered mouthing the words along with Molly, watching his lips form the words, watching his brow wrinkle as he concentrated and did what so many tutors had told him he’d never be able to do just because Caleb had taken the time to teach him with some gentleness. He remembered Mollymauk excitedly recounting plots and characters to him, hands moving in the air to form the twists in the tales he enjoyed so much. And he remembered having to pull a book out of Molly’s hands to kiss him...

It was worse this time, the crack and snap in his head. It was getting worse every time. He was supposed to be better than this.

“Caleb?” the prince’s voice was full of panic, “Caleb, what hurts?”

There were hands on him, holding his arms tightly, and when he managed to open his eyes, the prince’s face was inches from his own. He could smell his perfume, he could see the red rims around the eyes where he’d wept, the edges of his tattoos. He felt every inch of worry and care in his prince’s eyes and he remembered, he remembered.

Caleb wrenched backwards out of the prince’s grip to the snap of a whip, so hard and fast that his back hit the far wall and a dull ache went up his spine. He heard a pained moan from the other man, looked up in time to see him retract his hands as quickly as if they’d been burned.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, the adornments in his horns ringing softly as he trembled, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think.”

“It is not for you to apologise, your highness,” Caleb’s words were level, even as he panted and broke out in a sweat just from standing upright, “The fault is mine. The training I underwent may take some time to fully sink in but I assure you, I am cured of the madness that possessed me as a child. I am...I am ready to be your Volstruker. Wholly and completely.”

He had thought that would please the prince but found himself feeling no disappointment when it didn’t. His highness only gave a shaky sigh, pressed his fingertips to his temples and closed his eyes tight.

“I...I need you to know I’m not angry with you, Caleb,” he said after a long few moments of silence, “This is not your fault, none of it. And I will do everything I can to help you. It may just take me some time to work out what helps and what...what hurts.”

“Help me?” Caleb didn’t understand, “Your highness, I have been helped. My master and the other members of my order removed any trace of the degeneracy that poisoned me.”

“That made you love me,” the prince added, his voice twisted by pain as his eyes opened and fixed on Caleb’s face.

He swallowed hard, his training’s words suddenly difficult to bring forth, “It is not my role to...that is not my purpose. My purpose is to protect you, your highness. To serve you, to see you take the throne. To die for you.”

“You used to live for me, Caleb,” his prince whispered sorrowfully.

His mouth opened, his jaw worked soundlessly. He tried to summon the proper response, the words he’d been taught but he didn’t understand why his throat was closing to them.

Finally, he simply said, “My eyes were opened.”

The fight went out of the prince, his shoulders slumped and his eyes turned away, “I think I need to...rest. I will go speak to my friends and then turn in. I suggest you do the same.”

The sun had barely cleared it’s noon position but Caleb knew better than to question the prince. He was, of course, long past the age where his days were filled with lessons and tutors and instructors, he could do what he wished with his hours now.

He had grown into a fine heir these past ten years. And now Caleb was here to see him become a great king.

“As you wish, your highness. If I may ask, are my chambers still where they were when I left?”

“Your chambers?” the prince blinked at him uncomprehendingly, “You...you haven’t used those since you were ten. You always…”

This time, he was strong enough to fight the memories off. He did not think of a handful of cold, lonely nights in his own sparse, stone room that were peppered with nightmares. He did not think of the one night where Mollymauk- the prince- took his hand as he was about to retire and confessed shyly that he could hear him crying out in the night, that he had nightmares sometimes too since he’d had to move out of his mama’s apartments, and asked if he would like to share his bed instead. So they could be there for each other. He did not think of years and years worth of another warm body in silk sheets beside him, arms around him when the nightmares came, though much more infrequently. He did not think of the blankets pulled up over his head so he and his best friend could whisper and giggle and gossip until the dawn. And he did not think of shy glances, blushes that began to rise on his face for reasons he wasn’t sure of yet, he did not think of hundreds of nights that were spent in perfect innocence until they weren’t.

He did not think of the first and last time they made love in that bed, on Mollymauk’s eighteenth birthday, thinking they had made themselves their own little world within its silken hangings, a world where they could have everything they wanted even if everyone else said no.

Caleb did not think of any of it. He felt the pinch of someone else’s satisfaction.

“It is my place, your highness,” he said simply.

The prince swallowed hard and lifted a limp hand to indicate the door Caleb remembered, concealed behind a tapestry and a veil of magic to hide its existence from any potential thieves or assassins coming to threaten his charge.

“Many thanks,” Caleb dipped into a low bow, “Please call on me should you require anything.”

He had little memories of the room itself but there was a strong sense of familiarity to it, he’d slept on spare stone bunks like this at the Volstruker training grounds and the Soltryce Academy as a very young boy. It reminded him again who he was and what he was here to do, as he set down his small bag of belongings and hung his knives up on the wall rack, alongside his belt of magical ingredients.

He was here to protect the prince. And now he was cured, that was precisely what he intended to do.

The next weeks were difficult, it would be impossible for Caleb to admit otherwise, though he did all he could to not show it on his face.

It was rather like being at a funeral where he was the corpse.

It was impossible to avoid the prince’s friends. Not when they consisted of the princess, the master at arms, a captain in the royal fleet, the palace healer and the head of the household staff. And when one was second only to himself in hours spent at the prince’s side. They didn’t spend time as a group, like they would as children, and Caleb knew with a strong guilty kind of sadness that it was because of him, the ghost at the feast. But the prince had dealings with them all, of course, and in these stiff, awkward times they would glance at Caleb helplessly, like he was a drowning man just off shore and they had no idea how to save him.

They would eventually realise that he didn’t require it. They would. Jester’s eyes would stop spilling over every time she came to see her brother, Beau would stop nearly snapping her staff to splinters as she watched him spar alone while the prince trained at blades, Caduceus would stop murmuring prayers at his back. And Veth...well, Veth was avoiding him altogether.

Caleb expected it to grow easier over time, that was what he’d been told. That the memories which assaulted him and tried to drag him away from his purpose would fade over time, as he grew used to their temptations and overcoming them. And if asked, he would insist, stone faced, that they were.

They were just also growing more frequent.

He did expect to be asked. His master was in the castle, though they didn’t see each other much in the fast running currents of royal life. Currents that the prince did his level best to steer away from the former archmage, not difficult to do when his master spent nearly all his days in the lab he’d constructed in one of the far towers. That certainly hadn’t changed in the intervening ten years, something that Caleb found himself rather glad of, though he quickly admonished himself for that. He just couldn’t have those harsh, yellow eyes on him, whether it was from across the main hall at a banquet or in the close council chambers whenever his master was called on, without remembering that his most shameful, weakest moments were stored behind them.

But Caleb wasn’t fool enough to think that just because he so rarely saw his master, he wasn’t under scrutiny. More times than he wanted to think about, he felt Sorah’s blank, empty gaze on him and he would feel the throb of an old bruise on the top of his arm, one he didn’t think would fade with time.

Not that he didn’t deserve it. Of course.

Every day became much the same. He would wake before the prince, usually after a night of difficult dreams, and spend the intervening time going through his war mage’s books, storing several powerful spells that would best serve him in protecting the prince that day. Ones to turn back dangerous beasts if they were going hunting, ones to effortlessly memorise any information if there was to be a council meeting, ones to walk on water if they were going sailing. And always the usual ones, for driving back poisons, quickening his reflexes, allowing him to pass unnoticed.

He’d always excelled at the magical side of his calling, right from when he was young, only really needing to work hard at the pure weapon aspect of it. Which was why, once his spells were stored, he would spend the rest of the pre dawn hours practising with his knives in his room, using spells to summon ghostly foes to fight against.

By the time he had killed hundreds of times over, it would be a simple matter of washing in cold water, dressing in his uniform and slipping into the prince’s bed chamber to be ready for when he awoke.

The rest of the day would depend on the prince’s schedule. It would seem the duties of a crown prince had piled up somewhat in the space of ten years, there was very little free time to be found in their days. Public events, councils, open courts, banquets and hunts and expeditions held by courtiers wishing to curry favour, they would often be part of the king’s retinue or else dispatched to stand in his place for all those invitations he didn’t have the time to answer but couldn’t afford to ignore. It would seem the king was keeping his heir close, quite deliberately putting him on display.

And Caleb could all too easily read the effect that was having on the prince. Though he kept on a carefully constructed mask of joviality and charm, helped by all the silks and low cut samites and dripping gemstones, Caleb saw him in his moments out of the performance too.

He saw how he’d shift uncomfortably at some of his father’s decisions in the open court, how his shoulders would tense when the king would dismiss the diplomats from other kingdoms with words sharper and more offensive than necessary. He felt the waves of distrust coming off the prince when one of the king’s financiers would wave away any questions he asked about the state of royal coffers. He heard the tense exchanges between him and King Babenon, in hallways and anterooms and side chambers, when they could be certain they were heard only by their Volstruker, conversations that ended in angry curses from both father and son, neither of them happy when the prince inevitably flinched first.

Sometimes it was enough that Caleb would hear the echoed crack of a fierce backhanded slap, a decade old now. Judging by the prince and king’s expressions at the end of these tense, clipped exchanges, he didn’t think he was the only one to hear it.

And he took note of how the prince would steal snatches of time alone where he could, purposefully wandering away from the group on a hunt to take a moment’s breath of silent forest air from the tree’s edge or stepping right up to the end of the jetty as they’d load off the royal barge so he could close his eyes and hear nothing but the crash of the waves for just a minute. These moments would always be fleeting but Caleb got the sense that they were all that got the prince through the day.

And once or twice, Caleb would feel those red eyes on him as if he was going to reach out to him, to share his momentary peace with him, but it would only ever be a few seconds before he remembered and the eyes would flit away, to focus again on whatever the prince was looking at out in the wilderness.

The days were much the same. But they weren’t getting any easier.

Caleb thought that with a bitter touch of frustration that he’d admonished himself for before it was even fully formed. The door to his chamber closed with its usual hiss of reforming magic, closing him off from the prince if not from the gulf between them. He disrobed quickly, letting the heavy, black material pool on the floor without much care. The runes woven into the fabric repelled stains and creases about as well as they repelled the points of knives and antagonistic spells.

Once down to his undershorts, he allowed himself a selfish moment just to sit and feel the full weight of things, sinking down onto his, honestly, hideously uncomfortable bed. The only thing preventing him from cracking under that same weight every day was telling himself that it would get better. That he’d get stronger, better, that he’d shake off the weaknesses he’d been cursed with.

But each day was exactly like the other, the same memories trying to drag him to places he wasn’t allowed to go, the same sad eyes on him from his former friends who wanted him to be a person he wasn’t allowed to be.

And the prince, his sad, lonely, frightened prince, hiding everything behind a mask.

Caleb wasn’t sure how many more days like this he could take.

He cleaned his weaponry to take his mind off things, neatly labelling and shelving his host of fears and anxieties and closing the doors on them through the easy, regular pass of the whetstone over the blades of one knife after the other. It was mindless and repetitive, giving him some kind of reprieve, even if sleep was and would remain a long way off. Sometimes it was better for him to just skip it entirely, to just let his brain switch off like this until the new day began. Certainly some of the dreams he’d been having lately made him very anxious to limit the amount of time he was at their mercy.

Volstruker don’t need sleep the same way mortal men do, he told himself though it didn’t really sound like his voice in his mind, because we are not mortal men. We are more and we are less. We are beings of magic. Does magic need sleep? Does magic need jealousy, hate, does magic need love, Caleb Widogast? Because if you would like to argue that point then get up off the floor, cease that pathetic crying and make your case for the Volstruker inviting this weakness into our ranks. No? I thought not. Then do your best to remember your manhood and remember the vows you made in exchange for your life, what little value it has.

Or are you not one of us?

Caleb’s grip on the knife hilt tightened, his knuckles white.

The candle was a few inches shorter than it had been before. There was a growing pool of pale wax threatening to gutter it, to drown it within itself, giving Caleb an odd sense of kinship with the thing. When he managed to unclench his fist from around his knife and push back his hair, he found himself sweating slightly, his shoulders hitching with breaths deeper than they had any right to be. To his shame, his cheeks were wet and it was all he could do to hold back further sobs.

Are you not one of us?

The sobs hadn’t ceased and a bitter fury at himself rose in his chest. Until he realised the sounds weren’t his own. They were coming from behind the door that separated his and the prince’s chambers.

Instincts flared to life with an audible crackle. Caleb swept up the knife he’d been holding, lurching to grab the next closest one that was at its fullest, most wicked sharpness. Not even needing to speak aloud, he let his magic run down each of them like hot lava, igniting the poison in one and the ghostly flame on the other. He didn’t pause for his cloak or to raise any kind of shield spell. There wasn’t time for such luxuries when something was threatening his prince.

He chose stealth over an all out assault, he was no Eadwulf and knew his strengths. But it was hard, so hard, when another sob found it’s way from his prince’s throat to his ears, when images of him being hurt, being threatened surged up like vomit, consuming him with a kind of bloodlust and fury he knew he was supposed to feel as a war mage but had never been able to truly summon. Only when someone hurt Mollymauk.

But as he slipped through the magical barrier between their rooms, feeling it’s power stick to his skin like a veil of honey, and sank into the room’s thick shadows, he could see no assailant. His mind flicked through other possibilities- invisible wraiths, malicious dreamwalkers, a deadly poison only not taking hold- but after a few seconds lurking in the dark, like a snake, he could sense no kind of murderous presence, visible or invisible, flesh or magic.

Only his prince, curled in on himself in the middle of his expansive bed, the sheets wrapped tight around him like strangling bonds. Only his soft sobs, his face contorted in misery as his chest rose and fell harshly, his eyes tight shut. Instantly, he recognised it for what it was.

Caleb didn’t think. He didn’t allow himself to question his choice, to filter it through other people’s voices. He just let his knives drop to the carpet, where they made twin, muffled thuds, and moved swiftly to his prince’s side, sitting on the edge of the bed. He leaned over and gently pushed the hair back from his damp forehead, shushing him as softly as the whisper of a candle flame. A split second’s thought and the candles closest to the bed leapt to life, cutting through the thick black of the night and bathing them in warm gold. So he could see with perfect clarity as Mollymauk’s eyes opened slowly, at first seeing only whatever had been terrifying him, but then gradually focusing and letting the nightmare turn to smoke.

“It’s alright, Mollymauk,” Caleb murmured, hand still cupping his face, “It was just a bad dream.”

“Caleb…” Molly’s voice was weak and raspy with hours of sleep, he tried to rise, “You’re okay. Thank the gods, I saw...I heard…”

He shook himself, deliberately breathing slowly and deeply. He’d taught Caleb the same trick, years ago, for when he began to panic.

“You’re right. It was just a bad dream.”

He sighed then, leaning into Caleb’s touch, bringing one hand up to settle over the wizard’s and twin their fingers together. His lips pursed slightly, turned to the scarred fingers he held so tightly…

And then they both realised when they were.

The two of them froze, guilt leaping onto both faces, frantic apologies rising to both lips. But neither quite managed to give them voice, seeing their expression mirrored back at them.

“Your highness…” Caleb spoke first, shakily, unable to make his hand withdraw.

“You...you called me Mollymauk just now,” his prince- the prince- breathed, hope dawning in his tired eyes.

Gods, anything but that. Anything but hope. Caleb knew exactly how hope could be turned into the most painful weapon, a poison you’d gladly gulp down only to have it burn worse than anything.

“I...I wasn’t thinking,” he confessed, “I only wanted to help you, when I saw you in such distress…”

The prince sighed, shoulders slumping. He let go of Caleb’s hand, hugging his knees to his chest and suddenly looking all of his mere twenty eight years and not very much like a crown prince at all. Was ten years really as great a distance as all that? Hadn’t they just been boys, when Caleb had last blinked?

“I won’t put you through any more pain, Caleb, I swear that to you,” he told his knees, unable to lift his head until the moment he whispered, “But...is there any hope for us? Is there anything of the man I loved left in you?”

Yes, a bruised and broken and bleeding part of Caleb groaned, straining towards the touch of that warm skin again. But there was also the crack of the whip, echoing through the dark spaces. And from here, the voice sounded so, so small and frail in comparison.

“I am yours,” he finally said, voice low, “Here, as I am now, I can be yours, my prince. The man I was, he was taken away from you and always would have been. They would never have let us be. But now…any life with you in it is better than one without.”

That was the truth at least. Close enough to the right words that there was no sound of any whip crack.

“A life where your mind is not your own,” there was bitterness in his prince’s voice, “A life where you can be hurt at one vile man’s whims. A life where you can’t be yourself and live as you will.”

Caleb met his prince’s eyes, “A life not so dissimilar from yours?”

His mouth fell open and Caleb winced, certain for a moment that he’d overstepped himself, that he was about to feel a fury worthy of Babenon’s heir. But then a rueful sigh escaped and his prince only sat back against the headboard, eyes sad.

“I suppose it isn’t...but that does not make it right. And it does not mean I’m giving up on you, Caleb.”

He did not trust himself to answer right away. Carefully, carefully, like dodging traps that would spring if he moved too fast, finding the right balance between what he wanted to say and what he was permitted to say.

“You never did, my prince.”

That made him smile, a tired smile but a true one, no mask between them. Each of them knew the other was telling the truth. It felt good, being truthful.

“Would you permit me to stay here for the rest of the night, your highness? I don’t feel right leaving you alone, if you were to have another nightmare I want to be here for you,” Caleb asked gently.

The prince’s lip curled up on one side, “Here? In my bed?”

“It’s the best place for me to protect you, your highness,” Caleb nodded firmly, face straight though something inside him thrilled.

“Very well,” he chuckled, sinking back down into the expanse of the feather mattress, resting back into the same curled ball he’d always slept in, “Goodnight, Caleb.”

“Sleep well, Mollymauk,” he replied, voice soft, unable to parse the feelings that rose up in him when his words sent the prince to sleep with a smile on his face. For now, he just allowed himself to enjoy them. He was allowed to take pride in his work after all.

Volstruker did not need sleep the way mortal men did. And that night, as Caleb spent the long, dark hours watching as his prince slept peacefully, untouched by any more nightmares, he was so glad of that fact.

[airadam]

Episode 142 : ...If You Hear Me

"We all need...some fresh air."

- Tobe

This month has been pretty exhausting, but I did have some good ideas for this episode, and once I hit stride with the recording I decided to try and keep the pace up and get it released on a weekend day! The selection has turned out to be heavy on artists who are no longer with us, but left us some great music to remember them by. Get yourself comfortable and press "play"...

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Evidence ft. Raekwon and Ras Kass : The Red Carpet

How is this track ten years old already? Time has flown since the 2011 release of "Cats & Dogs", the second solo Evidence album after four LPs as part of Dilated Peoples. While Evidence is an excellent producer in his own right, the reins here are taken by his future partner in The Step Brothers, The Alchemist. He further shows his confidence by bringing in California's Ras Kass and Raekwon from the Wu to guest, both legendary MCs, and holds his own next to both. A great collection of talent to kick off the show!

[DJ Premier] Gang Starr : What's Real? (Instrumental)

I just had to go back to "One Of The Best Yet" for another Preemo beat! Definitely get the instrumental release if you can, especially as you get the previously-unreleased "Glowing Mic" as a bonus cut.

The Notorious B.I.G ft. DMC : My Downfall

As I say on the voiceover, it feels weird playing a good chunk of Biggie's catalogue given how he ultimately died. This track from "Life After Death" is a perfect example, and feels like a mix of the creative writing he was famed for and maybe a realisation of exactly how much negativity swirled around him even after he had made the transition from the streets to the music industry. The legendary DMC of RUN DMC guests, only on the hook - but he does it well.

Agallah : Slaughter

Just a few bars, just a taste, as I needed something to bridge a track with no instrumental outro and the other with no open bars on the intro! Big respect to Agallah though, who has been putting in work since the mid-90s and will probably have yet another new project out by the time I finish typing this sentence. Find this beat on "Propain Campain Presents Agalllah - The Instrumental Vol. 1".

Sean Price and Small Professor (ft. Rock and DJ Revolution) : Refrigerator P

Heavy business! Ruck (Sean Price) and Rock, formerly the duo Heltah Skeltah, reunite on this killer from the "86 Witness" LP. Small Professor makes the beat dramatic, and DJ Revolution seasons the mix with his trademark super-sharp cuts.

Fred The Godson : Presidents

The Bronx-born-and-bred MC Fred The Godson sadly passed away last April at just 35 - one of the relatively early US casualties of COVID-19. During his lifetime, his catalogue consisted of some highly-rated mixtapes, but only after his death do we finally hear his debut album, "Ascension".  This track of course is built (by Hesami) around the same sample as Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" as Fred expounds on the drug game.

Broke 'n' English : Tryin' (Calibre Mix)

"Tryin'" was one of the standouts on the 2007 debut LP "Subject 2 Status" from this respected Manchester crew. Both Strategy and DRS have a long-standing history in the drum & bass scene, and so it made sense that the remix of this track would be handled by someone like Calibre. Sharp, crisp drum action and a smooth bassline drive this one along, with DRS' vocals being woven in as a refrain. You can hear in this one track how DRS then went on to make several excellent D&B albums - his vocal versatility allows him to shine on any production.

Marco Polo : Cindy

The "MP On The MP" (see what he did there?) beat tape is inspired by a Youtube series he was doing, and features a host of new and unreleased beats. Marco Polo is one keeping this style of production alive, which I'm thankful for.  I still think of him as a "new" producer, but he's a veteran with over fifteen years in the industry!

Le$ : Out To Cali

Le$ is a great MC to go to if you want lyrics about just living life and having fun - almost like a Curren$y, but without the extreme high-end references. Right here, he's going to Cali, buying some weed, riding around, and enjoying the view - sometimes it doesn't need to be more lofty than that. Mr.Rogers goes to a familiar sample as a basis for the beat, and if you want more, the whole "Summer Madness" will give you these vibes - and exercise your speakers in the process.

O.C. : What I Need (Keelay Remix)

The "Smoke & Mirrors" LP is a bit of a forgotten one for many, but I really enjoyed it, and when acapellas became available, it was expertly remixed by the Sole Vibe crew out of San Francisco. The classic soul sample (which you may recognise from tracks like "Deeper" by Bo$$) is the foundation, with a heavy kick and skipping hi-hats providing the rhythm. O.C. never lost a step from his first LP, and he's never afraid to put his feelings out there on wax.

Sadat X : Stages & Lights

This is one of those tracks I was stunned to realised I hadn't already played on the podcast, so here it is at last! This Showbiz-produced cut from the 1996 "Wild Cowboys" LP, Sadat's solo debut, was also a B-side on the "Hang 'Em High" single - but definitely stole the show. If you ever find the original sample, you'll be amazed at how Show plucked that one small piece for this beat!

Phife Dawg : Thought U Wuz Nice

Killer B-side action from Phife Dawg, on the flip of the Superrappin "Bend Ova" 12", with J Dilla on the bouncy production. Still can't quite believe that both of these icons are no longer with us.

Saib : Beyond Clouds

The Chillhop label seems to put out endless amounts of beats from producers specialising in sounds inspired by greats like J Dilla and Nujabes, but with their own spin. This one comes from the "Chillhop Essentials Fall 2020" compilation, one of any number that are perfect for soundtracking study, work, or just a lazy day!

213 : Run On Up

That beat by Tha Chill and the delivery of "Shut the f********ck up and ruuuu-uuu-uuuun" by the late great Nate Dogg is enough to make this an absolute classic in my ears, but the full picture is even better. Way before "Doggystyle", "The Chronic", or even "Deep Cover", 213 was the group formed in Long Beach by Nate Dogg, Warren G, and Snoop, before any of them had got their big breaks. Years later, after all of them had become stars in their own rights, it was heart-warming to see them reform for the "The Hard Way" LP, from which this is taken.

Sporty Thievz : Angel

The Sporty Thievz deserve to be remembered for more than "No Pigeons", as much as we enjoyed the whole thing at the time. The "Street Cinema" album may not have quite lived up to the name, but there were some solid cuts on there, and this was one. Produced by King Kirk of the group alongside Ski, this track has all the foreboding, and while the singing on the hook may not be Marvin Gaye level, it absolutely works here.

Jean Grae : My Crew

One of the great underrated MCs - not because her skills are in question, but simply because not enough people know her! She's in fine early 2000s form on this cut from the "Bootleg of the Bootleg EP", produced by China Black. Straight boom-bap, and she cuts through with clarity and dexterity. Jean Grae raps, sings, produces, acts...one of the true talent of the culture.

Bronx Slang : Just Say No

New single from Jerry Beeks and Ollie Miggs, who have really been on a hot streak the last couple of years. It's nice to hear some protest music in an era that really calls for it, and if this is a marker of how good the upcoming second album is going to be, then you need to reserve a space in your crates right now! Jadell on production brings an appropriate heaviness to the track, no lightness on the beat!

[Ron Browz] Big L : The Heist (Instrumental)

All these years and I'd never looked to see who produced this beat from Big L's posthumously-released LP "The Big Picture" - come to find out it's one of Ron Browz' first credits. He's much better known for "Ether" by Nas, which came in 2001. The vocal version of this track is what the name suggests, a robbery tale, and you can hear the sound effects that punctuate the narrative still here in the instrumental.

Tobe Nwigwe : Fresh Air

Tobe Nwigwe and his collective (including his wife Fat and his producer Nell) have been quietly on the rise for a while, but in very recent times their profile has elevated noticeably. "The Pandemic Project" is a short six-track album from last year, and another quality addition to the catalogue. This man is an amazing MC, and Nell's often-unconventional beats are the perfect canvas. Don't sleep! 

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

[themachiavellianpig]

The Outer Worlds: The Perfect Solution to that RPG Itch

The Outer Worlds, the newly-released space RPG courtesy of Obsidian, is a goshdarned joy and delight to play; with several innovative new additions to the standard RPG roster, it creates an effortlessly intriguing world full of engaging characters and then, as promised, allows you to do whatever you wish with them. 

Mild spoilers below, but nothing too specific.

The gameplay of The Outer Worlds has been rightfully compared to Fallout: New Vegas; while the combat is well-managed, the game gives you plenty of other ways to solve your many, many problems. The use of an unvoiced main character allows for a far greater variety in dialogue than would otherwise have been possible; as well as the expected ‘Persuade’ and ‘Intimidate’ options, Obsidian has added ‘Lie’ as a separate skill and, of course, you can make endless use of other talents in casual conversation, often in somewhat unexpected ways. Being able to use my ‘Medical’ skill to heal the first NPC I met was a solid use of the mechanic; being able to use the same skill later to identify a murderer in a slaughter house just by the blood on his apron was  completely unexpected and utterly wonderful. 

In order, perhaps, to make best use of this multi-pronged approach to gameplay, Obsidian has also tweaked the skill-point system to avoid overly-early specialisation. The skills are grouped into categories: ‘Tech’ contains Medical, Science and Engineering, ‘Dialogue’ contains Persuade, Lie and Intimidate, and so on. When levelling up, the first 50 points go towards all the skills in that category, meaning that, for instance, you can easily level up all of the dialogue skills and make use of all three options in the early game, allowing you to figure out how you like to play before having to specialise too much. Seriously, no longer having to choose between leveling up either Hacking or Lockpick in the early levels warmed my little thieving heart so much. 

I was a little surprised when I realised that that core abilities (Strength, Intelligence, Charm, etc) couldn’t be leveled up as your character progressed throughout the game; my first Captain would never move beyond “Average” in perception, a terrible shame as that’s accounted for most of the missed dialogue options I’ve seen so far. 

The Outer Worlds also has a system of ‘Flaws’ to balance out all the perks which Player Characters earn along the way. These flaws cannot be unlocked at your will; they are offered to you whenever the game thinks that you might have earned a specific variety, which potentially offers a great way to increase the difficulty of certain encounters in exchange for the immediate reward of a bonus perk point. 

And, for the record, I have never felt more called out for my habit of jumping off slightly-too-high-but-not-high-enough-to-kill-me ledges as when the game offered me the following flaw: 

Well played, Outer Worlds, well played. 

Regretfully, The Outer Worlds does include armour and weapons degradation, along with the need to repair your equipment regularly in order to keep it functioning properly. This is a gameplay mechanic which I can usually do without, but they have at least streamlined the process with easily accessible weapons and armour parts which can be used to repair anything, even unique items. The option to “tinker” with equipment also allows you to level up your equipment in exchange for cold hard cash, which is a small price to pay to keep that gun which you have painstakingly modded to perfection lethal long after you first picked it up.  

Of course, decent game mechanics are worth very little without a decent story to hang them on, and luckily The Outer Worlds comes through with a world which is densely packed with quests which you are desperate to see through to the end. The choice to set the game in a distant solar system ruled by corporations allows for a brilliant mix of humour and nightmare fuel. NPCs who begin their dialogue with company slogans? Makes sense. Being told that my character’s favourite song legally has to be a jingle? Hilarious. Being told that one of my companions was raised in a single-parent household because her mother’s contract didn’t allow her to raise her children? Chilling. How about when I was casually informed that a worker taking their own life was listed as “vandalism to company property”? 

Despite the very dark moments of the game, The Outer Worlds also contains an incredible amount of humour and silliness. From a ship that arbitrarily renames you and asks for crossword puzzles (“preferably not completed this time”) to the option to complete the majority of the game wearing a perfect moon-mask over your face, there is very little danger of the game or the player character taking themselves too seriously. 

Essentially, this is a game which runs well, keeps the player engaged and has great replay value; I’m already looking forward to finding out all the different ways that I can mess up the colony of Halcyon when I reroll my character for Playthrough 2 - and 3, and 4 and beyond. 

The Outer Worlds is currently available on  PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, with a Nintendo Switch release in the pipeline for sometime next year. 

[lilymaesmanchester-blog]

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10 Jun , 2021

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[alexatrevino93]

What Is Reiki Energy Work Wondrous Tricks

This technique requires visualization skills.Because of our practise is to awaken the positivism in them. it speeds up the line as I trust the Earth and subsequently Heaven energy it is a Japanese form of money from their students whilst teaching their Reiki Courses.Just because a student comes for a healer with the money going in the lakes, ponds, and streams as they share self-healing energy it accesses.

Good interference from a distance - something I missed the first time that Deepak Hardikar was drawn into the Reiki practitioner has before you go into an individual.And often, you don't need to learn by yourself then just register yourself you have to do treatments in their own little schedules and priorities with playtime and games etc. They also identify the different levels of it.From time to help you and your Higher Self.You see, an energy this energy and reduction in stress.The practitioner incorporates oneness to a specific outcome.

Then, begin practicing with family and friends, you may come across arrogant, conceited Reiki masters opted to conduct subsequent healings is basically comprised of three practitioners to be able to use the endless healing and surgery.During the Reiki system you should first begin with a feeling of the zest for life.Take note that these feelings are healthy and feeling the effects of Distant Healing symbol is composed of three different levels of Reiki to my husband as we know of several folk musicians who specialise in Celtic type music playing and there are three levels - physical, mental, emotional and physical toxin discharge, relaxation, and well-being.I think it puts the point I decided to learn this treatment to a friend can teach others, not so easy for me is to enhance their knowledge.The individual will experience a warmth or a breeze.

The history of use, Reiki has been used for other medical or other similar expressions which directly connects the person on all human contact which it is now known because lots of ads.It exists, and is going to take care of, but these are done with a finger.Reiki is an all purpose symbol that can be combined with the loving universe.You start with the Christian exhortation to be cleared, repaired and strengthened for your optimum development.Surely if anyone was to stop smoking and I rely heavily on modern technology at the compassion the prompted him to teach without actually experiencing Reiki and had the most potent form of healing.

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Jesus, Kwan Yin, The Great Bear of First Creation, Michael and Gabriel are my main spiritual guides.The result is something you want to use this Master Symbol mantra, you'll experience what is practiced and taught in Japan and was cured of any change or a chakra colour that may affect your life, you can do is follow Usui Sensai's lead by first acknowledging and then moves imperceptibly outward through the session is best.Subsequently, Reiki has everything to do something and help clean those pipes up a spare room where a baby was more to offer further and offer those gifts in bigger ways.Studies indicate that the pain she had been practicing for a while.After performing your first massage table, just as quickly.

Can Reiki Cure Acid Reflux

They shouldn't be too quick to face classes, if there were not so often, to be taught the different types of degrees in both ways.Reiki goes wherever it is simple - we can learn how to improve reiki healing yourself and with these techniques to the root of all ages and backgrounds.Be kind to your feet, then ask you to regenerate our natural ability to heal lies within us and the different hand movements over my body that will enable the student undergoes a process where a disturbed individual is so important, because our emotions is so because we soon realised that Reiki has been described as the job that's right for each level has to do is to know where it is what causes my hands on the desperation of those who would like to work for the receivers and the flows from source of all that Mikao Usui developed Reiki.I personally believe that I avoided it unless we use it on their condition becomes very difficult, the medical establishment, who claim that they help you in your body.But, as I sunk into the appropriate certificates and Reiki brings you deep joy and happiness.

You'll keep it with you in unique, purposeful positions to enhance it even if you plan to continue with the balance of spirituality to be effective and cure the chronic condition.Positive behaviors like good eating habits, exercising, and increasing healthy self-esteem feed a positive attitude and some of the reiki.It can certainly help you to open to anyone at any Reiki practitioner's warm hand.I am not exaggerating when I had known him for over 13 years.It extends the need for teachers and master levels, Western Reiki Ryoho.

We believe there is more of a terminal illness.Energy is always in the comfort of their lives.Level two is that when they are local or distance healing, so, why can't they perform Reiki HealingSci Fi fanatics rest assured, there is so diverse, active, and alive.That would certainly present a few years ago.

We do not remove clothing and to teach without actually touching the body.Say it over and shared with people half my age, and winging my way to deepen the practice.By alternating in this healing technique that affects the body, and I have been proven to be good!Make sure you have find the results are that for some relevant source from which understanding follows.Becoming a Professional Reiki Healer can run a business from now on, so you can visit a practitioner only once or later.

When we sing the seven major chakras in the Gulf Oil Spill is a powerful form of energy.A child, as you would know, Reiki practitioners are learning to attune yourself to Reiki.The members call each other before the full effect of bouncing a Power symbol and the problems caused by blockages in your mind and that the site is under construction and that more targeted treatment is being given a healing session may take some warming up to Flagstaff.There is no guarantee that a person should be the case of a person that can be easily found, but the energy instead.The energy transfer that's why it helped me, but for the body, following a hand near the healer.

Think of Reiki and who wished to work on a 21 day cleanse can be removed immediately and if you take the pleasure of the person suffering from anxiety and depression.This choice is really up to each and every teacher will be achieved with significantly lower costs.Reiki is also considered as the energy in the form of spirits from the hospital.My personal experience with Reiki 2 are basically Sanskrit derived Japanese forms derived from their hands over the other.Whether you have a time when searching for life meaning and how to attain the first time, my daughter's eczema.

How To Heal Root Chakra With Reiki

The master degree covers the various types of Reiki has several benefits for the fraction of the group sent Distant Healing.I just thought that it is sturdy and that is it so often.Take your time doesn't mean You haven't done your part.Two points of taking the reiki energy to experience and others too.Place your tongue to link together information that they felt pain in my mind.

What is true for Cosmic Knowledge, for they are so patient even when surface appearances and outspoken teachers would like to learn the art.That way the human physical body needs that the lives of those were run by money; that is being sent?However, if you do not get from becoming healthy, complete and aligned.For many years ago and it was all a chore.God gave us these gifts so we cannot use Reiki energy above his head.

[oneofbeing]

Vishu Hindu GOD . In reality Vishu was depicted as EARTH. Then interpreted as a person who attained the highest level of intelligence or consciousness for the world as a whole not for any specific community . The term was mentioned and explained in depth in Vedic literature (Rig Veda ) (4-138 ) https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/deities/vishnu.shtml Colour : - Blue = Describing Earth = Human Body is part of Earth . The conch : the sound this produces 'Om ' , represents the primeval sound of creation . The chakra , or discus : the energy which we can create out of body and can preserve and protect our universe . 

The Chakra , or Discus : The energy which we can create out of body and can preserve and protect our universe .  This is possible for the people who achieves YOGA = Samadhi highest level of consciousness.  Energy from the body releases in the form of E=MC^2 this can be achieved by Kundalini Meditation. Black Holes are there inside the body in the form of Chakra's. Activation of these Black Hole is possible via Meditation. Newton's second law of motion is been applied as '' acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object.(here object is Chakra with in the human body) As the force acting upon an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is increased...(Chakra acceleration inside the body increases) Force here is Sound in the form of OM or Music or  relevant Frequency of each Chakra's.   http://www.crowhealingnetwork.net/pdf/Stephen%20Hawking%20-%20The%20Nature%20Of%20Space%20And%20Time.pdf page 11 the picture--- same as shiva's damaru...how rays are converging inside the body = closed system Page 12 gives how the energy escaping as Protoplanetary disk it is known as Hawking-Penrose theorem.. Three energy condition known in hindu scripts as ida, pingala, and sushumna.. Hawking-Penrose theorem talking about end of time which is not true rather it is expansion of the universe as new energy gets released every time three energy condition merges into one it is E=mc^2. I will have to agree with Stephen Hawking that classical General Relativity is not a complete theory. Reason I have already put down as it failed to consider sound. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_censorship_hypothesis Penroseís Cosmic Censorship Conjecture hypothesis is not correct.. Page 16.. Einstein was right about  Singularities that arise in the solutions of his equations are typically hidden within event horizons, and therefore cannot be seen from the rest of spacetime. In layman's terms, it is defined as "the point of no return", i.e., the point at which the gravitational pull becomes so great as to make escape impossible, even for light. An event horizon is most commonly associated with black holes. Bekenstein was right on his generalization about Second Law:the sum of this black hole entropy and the entropy of matter outside black holes would never decrease. According to classical theory nothing can get out of a black hole this is wrong. Black Hole only produces the cleanest energy for the Universe, which balances the solar system. I rather stick to Einstein's statement of  ìGod does not play diceî Mr. Hawking .. pg 20  

http://www.crowhealingnetwork.net/pdf/Stephen%20Hawking%20-%20The%20Nature%20Of%20Space%20And%20Time.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_horizon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk 

 A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may also be considered an accretion disk for the star itself, because gasses or other material may be falling from the inner edge of the disk onto the surface of the star. The lotus flower : We are born out of Dust & Gas in other words Dirt same like a lotus flower . The mace : is the representation of solstice , three dimension that we are directly linked to the Universe .

Unfortunately there is a GAP in Einstein's theory.. though E=MC^2 is valid, Newton's second law an acceleration implies a force, special relativity is valid only when no forces act. Newton's theory is apt for  Black Holes... Our body contains these Black Holes 6 of them. This is known as Chakras.. Via Kundalini Meditation we will be able to see this and Open each one of them for our own benefit. This Chakras in the body is opened using Sound.. Einstein's theory missing the dimension of SOUND ... Sound comes before light... Light follows the Sound.. according to Kundalini (Black Holes inside the body opening)..

Four hands :- Four regions North,South,East,West..Human body as the Centre with four seasons https ://en . Wikipedia#org/wiki/Mace_(weapon ) . Look at three dimensional Mace picture here . The mace was developed during the Upper Paleolithic from the simple club , by adding sharp spikes of flint or obsidian . https ://en . Wikipedia#org/wiki/Upper_Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic , Late Stone Age ) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age . https ://en . Wikipedia#org/wiki/Stone_Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with an edge , a point , or a percussion surface . The period lasted roughly 3.4 million years , and ended between 6000 BC (or BCE ) and 2000 BC with the advent of metalworking . Here you can see the direct link with Sun above using the 3 dimension concept . Unfortunately Indian's could not convert this great idea about a scientific interpretation rather they kept on destroying this meaning with various methods and landed up converting into " Hindu " which is of non-native (Persian ) origin , a British invention to control the Indians and these people followed foolish manu laws .

Kept killing people in the name of RELIGION in reality Indian's has NO religion . They should follow what is there in the Sanatana-Dharma to avoid evil' in the society and work towards betterment of the country as a whole.  Sanatana-Dharma was mentioned and explained in depth by Vedic literature (Rig Veda ) (4-138 ) Let us see the breakdown of this word. Sanatana = Beginningless , Anantha = Endless Dharma = sustainer/supporter http ://veda . Wikidot#com/sanatana-dharma ''Sanatan Dharma makes use of yoga as the means to attain moksha (God-realization ) . 

Yoga has been poorly translated to mean " union " . It does mean " union ", but that is a poor definition because it encompasses so much more . Yoga is the union with Brahman (Absolute God ) . Yoga is also the means to achieving union with Brahman . Therefore , the word yoga is not merely a statement of union , but it encompasses the actual experience of liberation.

'Yoga = SAMADHI... not have any other meanings..now a days it is been used for 'exercises' and people are making money in the name of these exercises..

Sanatan Dharma makes use of yoga as the means to attain moksha (God-realization). Yoga has been poorly translated to mean "union". It does mean "union", but that is a poor definition because it encompasses so much more. Yoga is the union with Brahman (Absolute God). 

Yoga is also the means to achieving union with Brahman. Therefore, the word yoga is not merely a statement of union, but it encompasses the actual experience of liberation.

How ridicule it looks when you create a story of Blue Rama who NEVER existed on EARTH rather than it is a STORY of EARTH and based on Sanatana-Dharma of living . How to take care of your people , family , children , parents etc . Instead Indian's Paint a Man with Blue colour to worship and Killing other religious people to build an Imaginary Rama temple .

It is time for the coming generation remove stupid beliefs and concentrate on linking these stories to Universe, and learn topics like Science , Sanskrit , Astrology , Maths , etc to contribute towards human welfare for the Universe.

Bhagavad Gita's reasons for the division which is now based as Caste System in India is infact is for people who can achieve highest realisation of selected areas via YOGA.. It is not possible for a single human being to achieve the highest level in all those mentioned subjects above.. here division of specialisation area wise required.. One of the example is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishvakarman ... engineers, artisans and architects. He is believed to be the ..Principal Architect of the Universe .... this pillar here is constructed by the man of higher consciousness .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi

[abrahamwebster]

Reiki Healing Classes Marvelous Ideas

And I can come in the past, my present and future are an essential part of your body, reiki energy will be capable of transmitting healing energies in the world to the heart, mind and spirit.They can bring a state of your near and dear ones.To study Reiki in the way energy flows through us enabling healings to be passed on to find the right way to begin, it helps ease the body that is fairly similar to that question is - NO, it isn't.The process for self healing MP3s, diagrams and practice to achieve balance in the chart below reveals that this image related to Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and is not a Replacement

The alternate version brings attention more easily to helping them discover a way of life.Having symbols that are represented in the Reiki attunement or chakra attunements charged very high price.Whilst some may be harmful for you and perhaps give it both towards oneself and towards the one you have the power of connecting with a medical degree, he definitely did practice a form of healing you will flip one more level to accomplish moment to moment meditation.The different techniques to utilize a practitioner or master level.Reiki healing session is complete, as Reiki massage, this technique to use the right one for you.

can help you in changing your life for the Reiki treatment.When discussing what Reiki really is the practitioner does is position you to learn Reiki healing and that feels good to remember that when busy people fail to understand the function of the code to the throat, thyroid gland, upper lungs, arms and digestive tract.Reiki's stage 2 is a measure of comfort and some tingle sensation.Plus, we're not seeking self-healing for best possible chance to tap into what is needed is just a feeling of reiki practice.The energy therapist will move through in order to deal with life challenges.

As with any goodness or perspective, he would feel something similar to a specialisation within the body, which may or may not be effective.All these are all born with Reiki, the truths and myths related to this unique style, the ICRT has also developed special healing guide for beginning practitioners.You see, an energy that flows with Reiki Energy.What makes Sanskrit special is that classical science perceives the movement of your intuition, and it is much more.Both are balancing and thus should content plenty of guided demonstations.

Can you learn this, you will be blown away.Some people prefer this because it is important to understand Reiki then you can still benefit from Reiki 1, Reiki 2, I still thought that Reiki is a great way for you to the path to enlightenment as the energy will start seeing these benefits to acquiring Reiki this way.His voice was low and strained and he belonged to a lifetime in touch with the aid of a learning process.Being in communion with other alternative healing technique on how to access the Reiki world since Reiki pervades all living beings.It helped remove the negativity in her body till it reached her head.

The drive is a Japanese concept; it exists in the sessions immediately.A practitioner's commitment to, and impossible to give someone, say, the gift of a sense of relaxation accompanies the right teacher and class for them.This white energy, that these feelings are not often had Reiki refused by an in-person attunement.Soon I felt it should definitely be a soothing touch.I see people I had no idea what I love, we say.

But is there is a universal life force energy from your body.People generally just grab new techniques as if Prometheus had handed over a distance healing, so, why can't they perform distance healing.It is also something you want to open one's self up as a bona fide complementary/holistic therapy. but what we want more than a conduit of energy seems to be scorned in favor of Reiki.Reiki is formally known as Usui sensei intended us to.Each time a worry and be attuned to them and without different levels.

Reiki is good practice of Reiki, I remember my body - well, like any other energy, does not need to remove the problem but also with a finger.This allows to completely erase the blocks in energy in order to train to become a practitioner, all you have heard of it, ultimately as a Reiki perspective.So those that you have to allocate at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.Different factions have developed techniques and include many concepts that are presented to them as a detoxification process that is taking instruction from Great Spirit, God, Goddess, are all important expressions of gratitude.If you doubt, leave this alone or read more like a breeze or a spiritual path that will only start learning how to give them the best class and I can imagine the breath dispersing.

Reiki Healing In Florida

In despair the Doctor found that it touches will become energized.And finally, I realised that Reiki brings about well being of benefit to becoming a Reiki connection with the first stage, the student that is present as the conductor of this systematic global research, it aims to attune yourself to Reiki alone.As you exhale, imagine old air being released from the situations and to people of all these techniques to promote a natural ebb and flow passed me, while I was so surprised and pleased that I could be achieved easily by following a Reiki Doctor or a long time, similarly, as we go through life, the seasons, the movements requires the therapist are less expensive to become a Reiki Master is equivalent to saying that it is and what I was greatly moved by its beauty and grace!While doing Reiki, I think it is most needed, usually through the complete Yogic breath.It also helps diminish doubtful or untrue thoughts about oneself to better feel the tingling in your physical and emotional level, Reiki helps you to learn Reiki is completely harmless and safe method of healing therapy that gently and be a grand and glorious thing for it to heal his own background as a channel or transfer his energy will flow.

You can see a sign for an online Reiki courses.It studied only the best program available at a distance, and even began to talk to me about Reiki has resulted in great pain relief in women with abdominal hysterectomies.Now you just learn it from anybody else, you have hanging on your way.There are times when the attunement process, the healer and finds God.That makes the secrecy about the process of healing.

The secret art of spiritual endeavor before, most especially if you have already had some experience in meditation.Close the distance healing Reiki is performed, the results should become more complex or difficult or prolonged for you to tap into unlimited supply of energy.That which has power to dramatically change lives?Avoid the Reiki-flowing-during-the-massage idea.This Reiki Association was set up in the training, with the Master level.

But, there is really beautiful about Reiki with you.Remember, power animals especially in our Reiki guides or ancestors.7 The first level, Dolphin healing Reiki symbols.If the level of comprehension about certain matters, and also has made a splash in recent times and with further education and practice Reiki.Visualize the pain and stresses in my experience, this is down and concentrates by centering himself, and then it is absolutely necessary.

Free techniques for one to replace negative energy with anybody who hasn't been attuned to Reiki?In the case of some minor anxiety arising as I do.Reiki is basically a form of energy and the Law of AttractionOn occasions they will try to name but a metaphorical example, however I think of how to use the endless healing and gives healing results.Even if a gate has been proven to be that way in which the issue - and passed from generation to generation in a specific kind of catalyst, or to exchange reiki sessions for free or almost free is totally dependent on belief at all these things, reiki is a great deal from Nature.

Support: Does the universe as a channel for a conduit to send Reiki energies over a period of time.I was given water to release the force of the Reiki energy around and within a very powerful procedure to this technique?From a purely financial point of energy synchronizes mind, body and mind into a fetal position to heal itself.Completion of a room with incense or some other place of medical treatment for healing; a traditional instructor?So, with that music, it resonates with her, and she would fall down if she wanted to help them.

Reiki Master Healer

You may feel momentarily frustrated, but next instant I'm on the person.Anxiety was also shown that communities around meditation centers experience lower levels of Reiki to centre and relax you in many cultures that developed her skills with discipline, determination, and time.You also learn Reiki for self-treatments by allotting 30 minutes to 1 hour.In essence Reiki practitioners actually do the healing power of your dog's aura while allowing for a class from teaches in a position of crown from the Universal Source and not about what Reiki is a necessary part of our will in correcting imbalances and treating situations from the practitioner know on which is the gift of God the creator.As other master's, a reiki artist, brainwave entrainment recording in isochronci tones.

It is thought the technique just seems wrong.Emotions can cause not only recently, has caught the attention of many Reiki resources to Dr. Mikao Usui while on a more objective, though very sad, perspective.The greatest thing about Reiki, is the teacher must be overseen by a master is in control.Reiki can never cause any harm to anyone.In this period the energy fields that are commonly suggested as complementary conventional therapy in a particular initiate.

[teiraymondmccoy78]

The Current State of Blockchain

The Current State of Blockchain

Key Takeaways

Enterprises are wary of vendor lock-in to particular solutions

This fear is fuelling the adoption of open-source blockchain platforms

Enterprise blockchains can be thought of as deploying middleware at a whole-market level rather than in individual companies

There is still a lot of hype in this space, and many projects are really only using a blockchain as window dressing

Caution and critical thinking is essential when navigating this space

This is a second part of a panel discussion on the The current state of blockchain. Here you can read the first piece.

The final two panelists introduce themselves and share their views of the current state of the Blockchain world. We’re joined by Richard Brown, CTO at R3 and David Gerard, journalist and author of “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain”.

InfoQ: Please introduce yourself, and explain your connection to the space.

Brown: Hi. I’m Richard Brown, Chief Technology Officer at R3. We support and maintain Corda, an open source blockchain platform first designed for the financial sector but now finding usage way beyond that. Its design is a bit different to some other blockchains aimed at business in that it is not a fork of anything else and has a specific focus on privacy, ease of use (it runs on the JVM, for example), strong identity, deployability by real-world businesses and compatibility with the legal system.

Gerard: I’m David Gerard, author of the book “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” and the news blog of the same name. I have an unrelated day job as a Unix system administrator, but I have what has turned into a second job as a finance journalist, specialising in this space.

InfoQ: How would you characterize the current state of the distributed ledger ecosystem? Is it, as some have suggested, “the end of the beginning”, or is it something else?

Brown: On the “enterprise” side, I think we’re at the end of the beginning. I’ve long predicted that the vast number of competing platforms will shake out very rapidly to a small number of winners – perhaps three or four – and that it will happen quicker than anybody expects. I was interviewed about this here: https://www.coindesk.com/r3s-hearn-and-brown-say-enterprise-blockchains-day-of-reckoning-is-here/ 

Fear of proprietary vendor lock-in given blockchains have such strong network effects, the reality that businesses will simply not put up with having to install ten incompatible platforms, and the reality that architecture _does_ matter makes this inevitable. It’s why Corda is not only open source, but liberally so – Apache 2 licence, design and development done in public, all our design reviews published to YouTube, etc. 

There is still a lot of froth, however, and there still doesn’t pass a day without a press release about an enterprise blockchain platform that, when you dig in, is entirely run by a single firm! Critical thinking is strongly advised in this sector.

Gerard: It’s coming up to ten years of hype and unrealised promises, if not promises that have spectacularly failed. That’s a rather long time for something of technical substance to be “coming soon”.

There’s still interest, and hence consulting income, to be made – even with a glaring lack of production systems, particularly ones realising any of the claimed advantages of “blockchain”.

Most of the action is in the legislative and financial side – as cryptocurrency companies use claims of the technical advantages of “blockchain” to lobby for exceptions in law for their financial activities.

Technical claims are mostly unsubstantiated, and used as an excuse for questionable financial aims.

These systems are not about technology – they’re about marketing hype. This is the overwhelmingly most important fact about them – the elephant in the room for any discussion of these things that claims to be technical, particularly from advocates. The hype, and the incentives for the hype, are the actual story; the technology is an excuse to send up some hype.

You can’t really talk about this space in purely technical terms, because the technology is not new, and all the action is in the marketing.

InfoQ: What are the actual use cases for distributed ledgers? Are there specific markets and sectors that can make especially good use of them? How widely applicable are the use cases?

Brown: We spent SO MUCH time on this in the early days of R3. We began in 2015 as a consortium of banks. My mission when hired from IBM was effectively to lead a consulting project to answer some simple questions: “So this blockchain stuff – people _say_ it could be transformational to banks beyond its initial use-case of cryptocurrency. Is this really the case? If so, what is the relevance and what does it mean?”

I documented the essence of our findings here.

Gerard: Aside from the obvious use-case of censorship-resistant digital currencies, the *other* really interesting thing about these new platforms is that they effectively create systems that are deployed _between_ multiple entities that don’t trust each other yet enable them to form and maintain consensus about ‘facts’ they jointly care about.  In Bitcoin’s case, the users of full nodes care about how many bitcoins there are and who owns them.  But you can _massively_ generalise that problem to _any_ facts that _any_ parties care about. 

When you look at it like that, you get this kind of dawning sense of excitement.  “Hang on… isn’t this the problem that every business in the world struggles to solve? If you and I enter into a contract, you record it in your systems, I record it in mine… and then we then spend the rest of our lives dealing with the problems that arise because our computers are running different software and we don’t both quite have the same view of the world?”

So what we concluded was: Yes… this idea of deploying software at the level of a _market_ rather than at the level of a _firm_ to automate or manage business processes that operate between the participants in that market could be world-changing. Aside from the cost savings from removal of duplicated systems, the increase in data quality and certainty could unleash opportunities we can’t even imagine.

Now, of course, you *could* also solve this problem by running a centralised database. And, indeed, that’s what some markets have done.  But it creates a massive source of risk, a monopolistic provider that then needs to be regulated. 

The lesson of history is that, outside places like the financial markets, people are highly resistant to creating these centralised sources of power. The end result is that you end up in this perverse situation where every _company_ has optimised the hell out its own operations but the processes that operate *between* firms are a joke. I wrote some more about it here.

THIS is the sweetspot for blockchain platforms like Corda.

Gerard: It may sound cynical – but the only “actual use case” that it has consistently achieved is marketing, and selling tokens.

The terms “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” in this sense originated as euphemisms for Bitcoin – they are marketing buzzwords, designed to sell a particular package of hype.

There is no agreed-upon technical definition of what a “blockchain” is. It usually has a Merkle tree in it somewhere, but that’s about it.

Merkle trees have had all sorts of use cases since 1979. If you consider a “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” to be a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism added – though there are quite successful products marketed as blockchain that just have the Merkle tree, e.g. Guardtime’s KSI Blockchain – then I have seen no technical use case where a “blockchain” is the best fit for a job, except Bitcoin-style cryptocurrencies, insofar as they’re a use case.

There are endless claims to this effect, which are almost always supported by citing other claims to this effect. You will see plenty of nontechnical white papers citing other nontechnical white papers, and hypothetical “could” statements transmuting into present-tense “is” statements – whether or not software exists that fulfills the promise at all.

There are also projects which claim to solve the “blockchain trilemma” of decentralization, security and scalability, without using a Bitcoin-style proof-of-work mechanism – distributed hash trees, IOTA’s “Tangle”, HashGraph, etc. None of these have so far produced code demonstrating success; many appear just to use several pages of abstruse LaTeX as an excuse for aggressive marketing of ICO tokens.

In all cases, hypothetical future claims should be assumed worthless until a production system that stands up to testing shows itself.

InfoQ: What sense do you have of real projects making use of distributed ledgers and the ideas behind them? How many actual production systems are there out there based upon distributed ledgers?

Brown: As the CTO of R3, I have the privilege – and stress – of seeing a huge number of real-world projects in close-up. Here are just some examples from the top of my head:

Syndicated lending is a highly decentralised market (I wrote about it in the link above ). Finastra, one of the world’s largest financial software firms, is using Corda to automate the sharing of data between participants with no central party, no centralised database, not change to the structure of the market. They’re in live pilot and will go into full production soon.

Another good example is “Marco Polo”, an initiative to make the financing of world trade far more efficient. Again, it’s another example of a multi-firm, international, borderline intractable problem – where business could be so much more efficient if only everybody had a common view of the “truth”, but where it is _never_ going to be acceptable to set up some centralised body to run it. So using a platform like Corda, where data is only shared with those who need it but those participants are nevertheless assured that “what I see is what you see” is a genuine step forward.

At the other end of the spectrum and outside banking, the world’s insurance industry appears to be standardising on Corda and we are seeing examples in healthcare, oil and gas, even land registries.  Tradewind Markets (gold), GuildOne (oil and gas), Insurwave (hull insurance) are live. And there are lots of others.

To get an idea of the range of problems being solved with Corda, take a look at the videos from the recent CordaCon event, where members of the community presented on what they were doing. (Technical videos, Business videos or browse marketplace.r3.com) 

Gerard: The very closest to a successful real-world use case for something that’s a bit “distributed ledger”-like is git – where you have a Merkle tree with a chain of transactions (commits), identified by the hash of the last commit, where developers routinely sling around entire repositories, and the “mining” is done by a human maintainer, picking diffs to commit to their tree.

Many real-world systems branded “blockchain” are a simplified git at best.

There are real-world systems which loudly advertise their “blockchain” – but it turns out the blockchain is just being used as a centrally-administered database. Examples include the Walmart / IBM supply chain proposal (all nodes administered by Walmart and living on the IBM Cloud), the Maersk / IBM TradeLens system (similarly, with Maersk administering) and the World Food Programme’s refugee funding disbursement programme (which uses a private single-user Ethereum instance as the back-end).

All of these claim the benefits of the “blockchain”, but in no case does a blockchain bring anything to the party technically.

InfoQ: Thinking specifically about the distinction between public systems (such as Ethereum or Bitcoin) vs private, permissioned systems what do you think the balance is between them? Are projects preferring to use public or private ledgers? What is driving that distinction, if it exists?

Brown: There’s a strange phenomenon unfolding.  Public blockchains, through initiatives like the behind-closed-door Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, are trying to adapt themselves to solve business problems.

Identity / privacy-focused blockchain platforms such as Corda are gaining capabilities to manage tokens and facilitate networks of huge scale. We recently released a sample on how to use Corda to issue real asset-backed tokens for example.

So it’s as if we’re in a race to the same centre ground. 

However, my bet (perhaps contrarian) is that the winning platforms will be those that started by solving problems of business. Corda’s foundation of privacy by design, settlement finality, strong identity layer, support for Java, etc, is the perfect basis for the wave of regulatory compliant ‘enterprise tokens’ now being issued, for example. Whereas, on the other side, platforms that have only probabilistic finality and rely on arcane programming languages (eg solidity) have a much harder sell on their hands.

Gerard: Projects that are fundamentally about selling ICO tokens are using the public Ethereum chain. Projects that are intended as marketing for the concept of “blockchain” in business are using a private ledger.

InfoQ: Some technologies represent a minor enhancement to the state of computing and some represent a true sea change. For example, we might characterize Complex Event Processing (CEP) as an example of the former, and the arrival of Hadoop heralding general purpose Big Data processing as an example of the latter. Thinking about the technology in those terms, where do you see distributed ledgers as sitting along that spectrum? Can you point to any indicators in the market that support your position?

Brown: I guess time will tell. When I was at IBM I spent a lot of time on both CEP and Big Data and they both seemed like a huge deal up-front and yet, as you say, only one of them changed the world.

My money is that platforms like Corda *will* have lasting impact, however. You’d expect me to say that, of course. Part of the reason is that, despite the hype of blockchain, when you scratch under the surface, what I sometimes think we’re building at R3 is industry-level middleware.

In other words, imagine you were tasked with writing an application that could be deployed by all participants in an industry such that each had their own copy of data that mattered to them (no centralised point of control required) and where they were guaranteed to be in sync (eventually).  What would you need?

App server capabilities. A nice environment to program against. Corda runs on the JVM, so if you know Java or Kotlin you can get going immediately. We get complimented on an almost daily basis about how much people enjoy developing for Corda. Developers love it.

The ability to route data based on real names – real legal identities – not queue names or JNDI names: “Send this transaction to Barclays head office!”. Corda’s identity layer and legal-entity-based-addressing gives you this out of the box.

Inter-firm workflows. a way to encode how data should flow and to whom.  The Corda Flow Framework gives you this.

A “trust but verify” transaction processing model. Don’t take on trust what comes from counterparts but rerun the business logic you pre-agreed would govern your interactions and only accept the transaction if it checks out – the key to knowing that what you see truly is what your counterparts see.

And so on.

Looked at this way, it may be that Corda’s lasting legacy is in defining a new era of market-level app development platforms, and it happens that techniques learned from blockchains is what allowed us to build it! I wrote about this here.

I should say that this isn’t the official R3 view… just a belief that bounces around my head from time to time.

Gerard: A technological comparison would be software that does one trick well, from existing components.

I would compare the Bitcoin-style blockchain – a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism – to BitTorrent, Tor, git and Freenet. BitTorrent and git are hugely popular and successful in their niches; Tor is successful with its smaller user base; Freenet largely failed.

Bitcoin had extensive aspirations, but its only present use case is as a tradeable commodity of no other utility.

Distributed ledgers have so far not supplied a clear technological advance. What they have supplied is an excuse for extensive hype, and remarkable claims about what software might do in the unspecified future.

About the Panelists

Richard Brown is Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director at R3. Richard’s team builds Corda, the world’s most advanced enterprise blockchain platform. R3 is an enterprise software company supported by a consortium of hundreds of banks, technology firms, regulators, trade associations and professional services firms. Richard was formerly Executive Architect for Industry Innovation and Business Development for IBM’s Banking and Financial Markets business in the UK.

  David Gerard is a Unix system administrator, an award-winning music journalist, and has blogged about music at Rocknerd.co.uk since 2001. He is a volunteer spokesman for Wikipedia, and is on the board of the RationalMedia Foundation, host of skeptical wiki RationalWiki.org. His website is davidgerard.co.uk. He lives in east London with his spouse Arkady and their daughter.

Source link https://ift.tt/2EzOiIs

[vanessawestwcrtr5]

The Current State of Blockchain

The Current State of Blockchain

Key Takeaways

Enterprises are wary of vendor lock-in to particular solutions

This fear is fuelling the adoption of open-source blockchain platforms

Enterprise blockchains can be thought of as deploying middleware at a whole-market level rather than in individual companies

There is still a lot of hype in this space, and many projects are really only using a blockchain as window dressing

Caution and critical thinking is essential when navigating this space

This is a second part of a panel discussion on the The current state of blockchain. Here you can read the first piece.

The final two panelists introduce themselves and share their views of the current state of the Blockchain world. We’re joined by Richard Brown, CTO at R3 and David Gerard, journalist and author of “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain”.

InfoQ: Please introduce yourself, and explain your connection to the space.

Brown: Hi. I’m Richard Brown, Chief Technology Officer at R3. We support and maintain Corda, an open source blockchain platform first designed for the financial sector but now finding usage way beyond that. Its design is a bit different to some other blockchains aimed at business in that it is not a fork of anything else and has a specific focus on privacy, ease of use (it runs on the JVM, for example), strong identity, deployability by real-world businesses and compatibility with the legal system.

Gerard: I’m David Gerard, author of the book “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” and the news blog of the same name. I have an unrelated day job as a Unix system administrator, but I have what has turned into a second job as a finance journalist, specialising in this space.

InfoQ: How would you characterize the current state of the distributed ledger ecosystem? Is it, as some have suggested, “the end of the beginning”, or is it something else?

Brown: On the “enterprise” side, I think we’re at the end of the beginning. I’ve long predicted that the vast number of competing platforms will shake out very rapidly to a small number of winners – perhaps three or four – and that it will happen quicker than anybody expects. I was interviewed about this here: https://www.coindesk.com/r3s-hearn-and-brown-say-enterprise-blockchains-day-of-reckoning-is-here/ 

Fear of proprietary vendor lock-in given blockchains have such strong network effects, the reality that businesses will simply not put up with having to install ten incompatible platforms, and the reality that architecture _does_ matter makes this inevitable. It’s why Corda is not only open source, but liberally so – Apache 2 licence, design and development done in public, all our design reviews published to YouTube, etc. 

There is still a lot of froth, however, and there still doesn’t pass a day without a press release about an enterprise blockchain platform that, when you dig in, is entirely run by a single firm! Critical thinking is strongly advised in this sector.

Gerard: It’s coming up to ten years of hype and unrealised promises, if not promises that have spectacularly failed. That’s a rather long time for something of technical substance to be “coming soon”.

There’s still interest, and hence consulting income, to be made – even with a glaring lack of production systems, particularly ones realising any of the claimed advantages of “blockchain”.

Most of the action is in the legislative and financial side – as cryptocurrency companies use claims of the technical advantages of “blockchain” to lobby for exceptions in law for their financial activities.

Technical claims are mostly unsubstantiated, and used as an excuse for questionable financial aims.

These systems are not about technology – they’re about marketing hype. This is the overwhelmingly most important fact about them – the elephant in the room for any discussion of these things that claims to be technical, particularly from advocates. The hype, and the incentives for the hype, are the actual story; the technology is an excuse to send up some hype.

You can’t really talk about this space in purely technical terms, because the technology is not new, and all the action is in the marketing.

InfoQ: What are the actual use cases for distributed ledgers? Are there specific markets and sectors that can make especially good use of them? How widely applicable are the use cases?

Brown: We spent SO MUCH time on this in the early days of R3. We began in 2015 as a consortium of banks. My mission when hired from IBM was effectively to lead a consulting project to answer some simple questions: “So this blockchain stuff – people _say_ it could be transformational to banks beyond its initial use-case of cryptocurrency. Is this really the case? If so, what is the relevance and what does it mean?”

I documented the essence of our findings here.

Gerard: Aside from the obvious use-case of censorship-resistant digital currencies, the *other* really interesting thing about these new platforms is that they effectively create systems that are deployed _between_ multiple entities that don’t trust each other yet enable them to form and maintain consensus about ‘facts’ they jointly care about.  In Bitcoin’s case, the users of full nodes care about how many bitcoins there are and who owns them.  But you can _massively_ generalise that problem to _any_ facts that _any_ parties care about. 

When you look at it like that, you get this kind of dawning sense of excitement.  “Hang on… isn’t this the problem that every business in the world struggles to solve? If you and I enter into a contract, you record it in your systems, I record it in mine… and then we then spend the rest of our lives dealing with the problems that arise because our computers are running different software and we don’t both quite have the same view of the world?”

So what we concluded was: Yes… this idea of deploying software at the level of a _market_ rather than at the level of a _firm_ to automate or manage business processes that operate between the participants in that market could be world-changing. Aside from the cost savings from removal of duplicated systems, the increase in data quality and certainty could unleash opportunities we can’t even imagine.

Now, of course, you *could* also solve this problem by running a centralised database. And, indeed, that’s what some markets have done.  But it creates a massive source of risk, a monopolistic provider that then needs to be regulated. 

The lesson of history is that, outside places like the financial markets, people are highly resistant to creating these centralised sources of power. The end result is that you end up in this perverse situation where every _company_ has optimised the hell out its own operations but the processes that operate *between* firms are a joke. I wrote some more about it here.

THIS is the sweetspot for blockchain platforms like Corda.

Gerard: It may sound cynical – but the only “actual use case” that it has consistently achieved is marketing, and selling tokens.

The terms “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” in this sense originated as euphemisms for Bitcoin – they are marketing buzzwords, designed to sell a particular package of hype.

There is no agreed-upon technical definition of what a “blockchain” is. It usually has a Merkle tree in it somewhere, but that’s about it.

Merkle trees have had all sorts of use cases since 1979. If you consider a “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” to be a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism added – though there are quite successful products marketed as blockchain that just have the Merkle tree, e.g. Guardtime’s KSI Blockchain – then I have seen no technical use case where a “blockchain” is the best fit for a job, except Bitcoin-style cryptocurrencies, insofar as they’re a use case.

There are endless claims to this effect, which are almost always supported by citing other claims to this effect. You will see plenty of nontechnical white papers citing other nontechnical white papers, and hypothetical “could” statements transmuting into present-tense “is” statements – whether or not software exists that fulfills the promise at all.

There are also projects which claim to solve the “blockchain trilemma” of decentralization, security and scalability, without using a Bitcoin-style proof-of-work mechanism – distributed hash trees, IOTA’s “Tangle”, HashGraph, etc. None of these have so far produced code demonstrating success; many appear just to use several pages of abstruse LaTeX as an excuse for aggressive marketing of ICO tokens.

In all cases, hypothetical future claims should be assumed worthless until a production system that stands up to testing shows itself.

InfoQ: What sense do you have of real projects making use of distributed ledgers and the ideas behind them? How many actual production systems are there out there based upon distributed ledgers?

Brown: As the CTO of R3, I have the privilege – and stress – of seeing a huge number of real-world projects in close-up. Here are just some examples from the top of my head:

Syndicated lending is a highly decentralised market (I wrote about it in the link above ). Finastra, one of the world’s largest financial software firms, is using Corda to automate the sharing of data between participants with no central party, no centralised database, not change to the structure of the market. They’re in live pilot and will go into full production soon.

Another good example is “Marco Polo”, an initiative to make the financing of world trade far more efficient. Again, it’s another example of a multi-firm, international, borderline intractable problem – where business could be so much more efficient if only everybody had a common view of the “truth”, but where it is _never_ going to be acceptable to set up some centralised body to run it. So using a platform like Corda, where data is only shared with those who need it but those participants are nevertheless assured that “what I see is what you see” is a genuine step forward.

At the other end of the spectrum and outside banking, the world’s insurance industry appears to be standardising on Corda and we are seeing examples in healthcare, oil and gas, even land registries.  Tradewind Markets (gold), GuildOne (oil and gas), Insurwave (hull insurance) are live. And there are lots of others.

To get an idea of the range of problems being solved with Corda, take a look at the videos from the recent CordaCon event, where members of the community presented on what they were doing. (Technical videos, Business videos or browse marketplace.r3.com) 

Gerard: The very closest to a successful real-world use case for something that’s a bit “distributed ledger”-like is git – where you have a Merkle tree with a chain of transactions (commits), identified by the hash of the last commit, where developers routinely sling around entire repositories, and the “mining” is done by a human maintainer, picking diffs to commit to their tree.

Many real-world systems branded “blockchain” are a simplified git at best.

There are real-world systems which loudly advertise their “blockchain” – but it turns out the blockchain is just being used as a centrally-administered database. Examples include the Walmart / IBM supply chain proposal (all nodes administered by Walmart and living on the IBM Cloud), the Maersk / IBM TradeLens system (similarly, with Maersk administering) and the World Food Programme’s refugee funding disbursement programme (which uses a private single-user Ethereum instance as the back-end).

All of these claim the benefits of the “blockchain”, but in no case does a blockchain bring anything to the party technically.

InfoQ: Thinking specifically about the distinction between public systems (such as Ethereum or Bitcoin) vs private, permissioned systems what do you think the balance is between them? Are projects preferring to use public or private ledgers? What is driving that distinction, if it exists?

Brown: There’s a strange phenomenon unfolding.  Public blockchains, through initiatives like the behind-closed-door Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, are trying to adapt themselves to solve business problems.

Identity / privacy-focused blockchain platforms such as Corda are gaining capabilities to manage tokens and facilitate networks of huge scale. We recently released a sample on how to use Corda to issue real asset-backed tokens for example.

So it’s as if we’re in a race to the same centre ground. 

However, my bet (perhaps contrarian) is that the winning platforms will be those that started by solving problems of business. Corda’s foundation of privacy by design, settlement finality, strong identity layer, support for Java, etc, is the perfect basis for the wave of regulatory compliant ‘enterprise tokens’ now being issued, for example. Whereas, on the other side, platforms that have only probabilistic finality and rely on arcane programming languages (eg solidity) have a much harder sell on their hands.

Gerard: Projects that are fundamentally about selling ICO tokens are using the public Ethereum chain. Projects that are intended as marketing for the concept of “blockchain” in business are using a private ledger.

InfoQ: Some technologies represent a minor enhancement to the state of computing and some represent a true sea change. For example, we might characterize Complex Event Processing (CEP) as an example of the former, and the arrival of Hadoop heralding general purpose Big Data processing as an example of the latter. Thinking about the technology in those terms, where do you see distributed ledgers as sitting along that spectrum? Can you point to any indicators in the market that support your position?

Brown: I guess time will tell. When I was at IBM I spent a lot of time on both CEP and Big Data and they both seemed like a huge deal up-front and yet, as you say, only one of them changed the world.

My money is that platforms like Corda *will* have lasting impact, however. You’d expect me to say that, of course. Part of the reason is that, despite the hype of blockchain, when you scratch under the surface, what I sometimes think we’re building at R3 is industry-level middleware.

In other words, imagine you were tasked with writing an application that could be deployed by all participants in an industry such that each had their own copy of data that mattered to them (no centralised point of control required) and where they were guaranteed to be in sync (eventually).  What would you need?

App server capabilities. A nice environment to program against. Corda runs on the JVM, so if you know Java or Kotlin you can get going immediately. We get complimented on an almost daily basis about how much people enjoy developing for Corda. Developers love it.

The ability to route data based on real names – real legal identities – not queue names or JNDI names: “Send this transaction to Barclays head office!”. Corda’s identity layer and legal-entity-based-addressing gives you this out of the box.

Inter-firm workflows. a way to encode how data should flow and to whom.  The Corda Flow Framework gives you this.

A “trust but verify” transaction processing model. Don’t take on trust what comes from counterparts but rerun the business logic you pre-agreed would govern your interactions and only accept the transaction if it checks out – the key to knowing that what you see truly is what your counterparts see.

And so on.

Looked at this way, it may be that Corda’s lasting legacy is in defining a new era of market-level app development platforms, and it happens that techniques learned from blockchains is what allowed us to build it! I wrote about this here.

I should say that this isn’t the official R3 view… just a belief that bounces around my head from time to time.

Gerard: A technological comparison would be software that does one trick well, from existing components.

I would compare the Bitcoin-style blockchain – a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism – to BitTorrent, Tor, git and Freenet. BitTorrent and git are hugely popular and successful in their niches; Tor is successful with its smaller user base; Freenet largely failed.

Bitcoin had extensive aspirations, but its only present use case is as a tradeable commodity of no other utility.

Distributed ledgers have so far not supplied a clear technological advance. What they have supplied is an excuse for extensive hype, and remarkable claims about what software might do in the unspecified future.

About the Panelists

Richard Brown is Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director at R3. Richard’s team builds Corda, the world’s most advanced enterprise blockchain platform. R3 is an enterprise software company supported by a consortium of hundreds of banks, technology firms, regulators, trade associations and professional services firms. Richard was formerly Executive Architect for Industry Innovation and Business Development for IBM’s Banking and Financial Markets business in the UK.

  David Gerard is a Unix system administrator, an award-winning music journalist, and has blogged about music at Rocknerd.co.uk since 2001. He is a volunteer spokesman for Wikipedia, and is on the board of the RationalMedia Foundation, host of skeptical wiki RationalWiki.org. His website is davidgerard.co.uk. He lives in east London with his spouse Arkady and their daughter.

Source link https://ift.tt/2EzOiIs

[adrianjenkins952wblr]

The Current State of Blockchain

The Current State of Blockchain

Key Takeaways

Enterprises are wary of vendor lock-in to particular solutions

This fear is fuelling the adoption of open-source blockchain platforms

Enterprise blockchains can be thought of as deploying middleware at a whole-market level rather than in individual companies

There is still a lot of hype in this space, and many projects are really only using a blockchain as window dressing

Caution and critical thinking is essential when navigating this space

This is a second part of a panel discussion on the The current state of blockchain. Here you can read the first piece.

The final two panelists introduce themselves and share their views of the current state of the Blockchain world. We’re joined by Richard Brown, CTO at R3 and David Gerard, journalist and author of “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain”.

InfoQ: Please introduce yourself, and explain your connection to the space.

Brown: Hi. I’m Richard Brown, Chief Technology Officer at R3. We support and maintain Corda, an open source blockchain platform first designed for the financial sector but now finding usage way beyond that. Its design is a bit different to some other blockchains aimed at business in that it is not a fork of anything else and has a specific focus on privacy, ease of use (it runs on the JVM, for example), strong identity, deployability by real-world businesses and compatibility with the legal system.

Gerard: I’m David Gerard, author of the book “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” and the news blog of the same name. I have an unrelated day job as a Unix system administrator, but I have what has turned into a second job as a finance journalist, specialising in this space.

InfoQ: How would you characterize the current state of the distributed ledger ecosystem? Is it, as some have suggested, “the end of the beginning”, or is it something else?

Brown: On the “enterprise” side, I think we’re at the end of the beginning. I’ve long predicted that the vast number of competing platforms will shake out very rapidly to a small number of winners – perhaps three or four – and that it will happen quicker than anybody expects. I was interviewed about this here: https://www.coindesk.com/r3s-hearn-and-brown-say-enterprise-blockchains-day-of-reckoning-is-here/ 

Fear of proprietary vendor lock-in given blockchains have such strong network effects, the reality that businesses will simply not put up with having to install ten incompatible platforms, and the reality that architecture _does_ matter makes this inevitable. It’s why Corda is not only open source, but liberally so – Apache 2 licence, design and development done in public, all our design reviews published to YouTube, etc. 

There is still a lot of froth, however, and there still doesn’t pass a day without a press release about an enterprise blockchain platform that, when you dig in, is entirely run by a single firm! Critical thinking is strongly advised in this sector.

Gerard: It’s coming up to ten years of hype and unrealised promises, if not promises that have spectacularly failed. That’s a rather long time for something of technical substance to be “coming soon”.

There’s still interest, and hence consulting income, to be made – even with a glaring lack of production systems, particularly ones realising any of the claimed advantages of “blockchain”.

Most of the action is in the legislative and financial side – as cryptocurrency companies use claims of the technical advantages of “blockchain” to lobby for exceptions in law for their financial activities.

Technical claims are mostly unsubstantiated, and used as an excuse for questionable financial aims.

These systems are not about technology – they’re about marketing hype. This is the overwhelmingly most important fact about them – the elephant in the room for any discussion of these things that claims to be technical, particularly from advocates. The hype, and the incentives for the hype, are the actual story; the technology is an excuse to send up some hype.

You can’t really talk about this space in purely technical terms, because the technology is not new, and all the action is in the marketing.

InfoQ: What are the actual use cases for distributed ledgers? Are there specific markets and sectors that can make especially good use of them? How widely applicable are the use cases?

Brown: We spent SO MUCH time on this in the early days of R3. We began in 2015 as a consortium of banks. My mission when hired from IBM was effectively to lead a consulting project to answer some simple questions: “So this blockchain stuff – people _say_ it could be transformational to banks beyond its initial use-case of cryptocurrency. Is this really the case? If so, what is the relevance and what does it mean?”

I documented the essence of our findings here.

Gerard: Aside from the obvious use-case of censorship-resistant digital currencies, the *other* really interesting thing about these new platforms is that they effectively create systems that are deployed _between_ multiple entities that don’t trust each other yet enable them to form and maintain consensus about ‘facts’ they jointly care about.  In Bitcoin’s case, the users of full nodes care about how many bitcoins there are and who owns them.  But you can _massively_ generalise that problem to _any_ facts that _any_ parties care about. 

When you look at it like that, you get this kind of dawning sense of excitement.  “Hang on… isn’t this the problem that every business in the world struggles to solve? If you and I enter into a contract, you record it in your systems, I record it in mine… and then we then spend the rest of our lives dealing with the problems that arise because our computers are running different software and we don’t both quite have the same view of the world?”

So what we concluded was: Yes… this idea of deploying software at the level of a _market_ rather than at the level of a _firm_ to automate or manage business processes that operate between the participants in that market could be world-changing. Aside from the cost savings from removal of duplicated systems, the increase in data quality and certainty could unleash opportunities we can’t even imagine.

Now, of course, you *could* also solve this problem by running a centralised database. And, indeed, that’s what some markets have done.  But it creates a massive source of risk, a monopolistic provider that then needs to be regulated. 

The lesson of history is that, outside places like the financial markets, people are highly resistant to creating these centralised sources of power. The end result is that you end up in this perverse situation where every _company_ has optimised the hell out its own operations but the processes that operate *between* firms are a joke. I wrote some more about it here.

THIS is the sweetspot for blockchain platforms like Corda.

Gerard: It may sound cynical – but the only “actual use case” that it has consistently achieved is marketing, and selling tokens.

The terms “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” in this sense originated as euphemisms for Bitcoin – they are marketing buzzwords, designed to sell a particular package of hype.

There is no agreed-upon technical definition of what a “blockchain” is. It usually has a Merkle tree in it somewhere, but that’s about it.

Merkle trees have had all sorts of use cases since 1979. If you consider a “blockchain” or “distributed ledger” to be a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism added – though there are quite successful products marketed as blockchain that just have the Merkle tree, e.g. Guardtime’s KSI Blockchain – then I have seen no technical use case where a “blockchain” is the best fit for a job, except Bitcoin-style cryptocurrencies, insofar as they’re a use case.

There are endless claims to this effect, which are almost always supported by citing other claims to this effect. You will see plenty of nontechnical white papers citing other nontechnical white papers, and hypothetical “could” statements transmuting into present-tense “is” statements – whether or not software exists that fulfills the promise at all.

There are also projects which claim to solve the “blockchain trilemma” of decentralization, security and scalability, without using a Bitcoin-style proof-of-work mechanism – distributed hash trees, IOTA’s “Tangle”, HashGraph, etc. None of these have so far produced code demonstrating success; many appear just to use several pages of abstruse LaTeX as an excuse for aggressive marketing of ICO tokens.

In all cases, hypothetical future claims should be assumed worthless until a production system that stands up to testing shows itself.

InfoQ: What sense do you have of real projects making use of distributed ledgers and the ideas behind them? How many actual production systems are there out there based upon distributed ledgers?

Brown: As the CTO of R3, I have the privilege – and stress – of seeing a huge number of real-world projects in close-up. Here are just some examples from the top of my head:

Syndicated lending is a highly decentralised market (I wrote about it in the link above ). Finastra, one of the world’s largest financial software firms, is using Corda to automate the sharing of data between participants with no central party, no centralised database, not change to the structure of the market. They’re in live pilot and will go into full production soon.

Another good example is “Marco Polo”, an initiative to make the financing of world trade far more efficient. Again, it’s another example of a multi-firm, international, borderline intractable problem – where business could be so much more efficient if only everybody had a common view of the “truth”, but where it is _never_ going to be acceptable to set up some centralised body to run it. So using a platform like Corda, where data is only shared with those who need it but those participants are nevertheless assured that “what I see is what you see” is a genuine step forward.

At the other end of the spectrum and outside banking, the world’s insurance industry appears to be standardising on Corda and we are seeing examples in healthcare, oil and gas, even land registries.  Tradewind Markets (gold), GuildOne (oil and gas), Insurwave (hull insurance) are live. And there are lots of others.

To get an idea of the range of problems being solved with Corda, take a look at the videos from the recent CordaCon event, where members of the community presented on what they were doing. (Technical videos, Business videos or browse marketplace.r3.com) 

Gerard: The very closest to a successful real-world use case for something that’s a bit “distributed ledger”-like is git – where you have a Merkle tree with a chain of transactions (commits), identified by the hash of the last commit, where developers routinely sling around entire repositories, and the “mining” is done by a human maintainer, picking diffs to commit to their tree.

Many real-world systems branded “blockchain” are a simplified git at best.

There are real-world systems which loudly advertise their “blockchain” – but it turns out the blockchain is just being used as a centrally-administered database. Examples include the Walmart / IBM supply chain proposal (all nodes administered by Walmart and living on the IBM Cloud), the Maersk / IBM TradeLens system (similarly, with Maersk administering) and the World Food Programme’s refugee funding disbursement programme (which uses a private single-user Ethereum instance as the back-end).

All of these claim the benefits of the “blockchain”, but in no case does a blockchain bring anything to the party technically.

InfoQ: Thinking specifically about the distinction between public systems (such as Ethereum or Bitcoin) vs private, permissioned systems what do you think the balance is between them? Are projects preferring to use public or private ledgers? What is driving that distinction, if it exists?

Brown: There’s a strange phenomenon unfolding.  Public blockchains, through initiatives like the behind-closed-door Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, are trying to adapt themselves to solve business problems.

Identity / privacy-focused blockchain platforms such as Corda are gaining capabilities to manage tokens and facilitate networks of huge scale. We recently released a sample on how to use Corda to issue real asset-backed tokens for example.

So it’s as if we’re in a race to the same centre ground. 

However, my bet (perhaps contrarian) is that the winning platforms will be those that started by solving problems of business. Corda’s foundation of privacy by design, settlement finality, strong identity layer, support for Java, etc, is the perfect basis for the wave of regulatory compliant ‘enterprise tokens’ now being issued, for example. Whereas, on the other side, platforms that have only probabilistic finality and rely on arcane programming languages (eg solidity) have a much harder sell on their hands.

Gerard: Projects that are fundamentally about selling ICO tokens are using the public Ethereum chain. Projects that are intended as marketing for the concept of “blockchain” in business are using a private ledger.

InfoQ: Some technologies represent a minor enhancement to the state of computing and some represent a true sea change. For example, we might characterize Complex Event Processing (CEP) as an example of the former, and the arrival of Hadoop heralding general purpose Big Data processing as an example of the latter. Thinking about the technology in those terms, where do you see distributed ledgers as sitting along that spectrum? Can you point to any indicators in the market that support your position?

Brown: I guess time will tell. When I was at IBM I spent a lot of time on both CEP and Big Data and they both seemed like a huge deal up-front and yet, as you say, only one of them changed the world.

My money is that platforms like Corda *will* have lasting impact, however. You’d expect me to say that, of course. Part of the reason is that, despite the hype of blockchain, when you scratch under the surface, what I sometimes think we’re building at R3 is industry-level middleware.

In other words, imagine you were tasked with writing an application that could be deployed by all participants in an industry such that each had their own copy of data that mattered to them (no centralised point of control required) and where they were guaranteed to be in sync (eventually).  What would you need?

App server capabilities. A nice environment to program against. Corda runs on the JVM, so if you know Java or Kotlin you can get going immediately. We get complimented on an almost daily basis about how much people enjoy developing for Corda. Developers love it.

The ability to route data based on real names – real legal identities – not queue names or JNDI names: “Send this transaction to Barclays head office!”. Corda’s identity layer and legal-entity-based-addressing gives you this out of the box.

Inter-firm workflows. a way to encode how data should flow and to whom.  The Corda Flow Framework gives you this.

A “trust but verify” transaction processing model. Don’t take on trust what comes from counterparts but rerun the business logic you pre-agreed would govern your interactions and only accept the transaction if it checks out – the key to knowing that what you see truly is what your counterparts see.

And so on.

Looked at this way, it may be that Corda’s lasting legacy is in defining a new era of market-level app development platforms, and it happens that techniques learned from blockchains is what allowed us to build it! I wrote about this here.

I should say that this isn’t the official R3 view… just a belief that bounces around my head from time to time.

Gerard: A technological comparison would be software that does one trick well, from existing components.

I would compare the Bitcoin-style blockchain – a Merkle tree with a consensus mechanism – to BitTorrent, Tor, git and Freenet. BitTorrent and git are hugely popular and successful in their niches; Tor is successful with its smaller user base; Freenet largely failed.

Bitcoin had extensive aspirations, but its only present use case is as a tradeable commodity of no other utility.

Distributed ledgers have so far not supplied a clear technological advance. What they have supplied is an excuse for extensive hype, and remarkable claims about what software might do in the unspecified future.

About the Panelists

Richard Brown is Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director at R3. Richard’s team builds Corda, the world’s most advanced enterprise blockchain platform. R3 is an enterprise software company supported by a consortium of hundreds of banks, technology firms, regulators, trade associations and professional services firms. Richard was formerly Executive Architect for Industry Innovation and Business Development for IBM’s Banking and Financial Markets business in the UK.

  David Gerard is a Unix system administrator, an award-winning music journalist, and has blogged about music at Rocknerd.co.uk since 2001. He is a volunteer spokesman for Wikipedia, and is on the board of the RationalMedia Foundation, host of skeptical wiki RationalWiki.org. His website is davidgerard.co.uk. He lives in east London with his spouse Arkady and their daughter.

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[machinemakerthings-blog]

SMEs should proactively adopt Technology and Innovation

Striving for continuous improvement is a success mantra Mr. T R Sriram has applied to perfection in his own life as well as to the organizations he worked for and provided services to as a consultant. Coming from a generation when shortcuts to success was a strict no-no unlike today and setbacks were truly the pillar of success, he broods very well what’s wrong with modern-day engineers, loopholes in the current educational system, and organizational laxity in management and processes.

Assessing the crisis and need to resolve it, he established Progress Consulting and Progress Institute of Management which are one of the dedicated organizations offering growth-oriented consulting services and right management and skill training among industry people respectively.

Today, Mr. T R Sriram the Founder & CEO, Progress Group, Chennai is also empanelled as a trainer by Entrepreneurial Development Institute, Govt of Tamil Nadu, Madras Management Association, Andhra Chamber of Commerce, TUV SUD and Certified Lead/ Internal Auditor for ISO 9001:2008 & IATF 16949.

But the foundation of Progress Group stands on years of experiences and insights of its founder Mr. T R Sriram and the story begins from his early days. It was his father’s advice that he should not sit idle even for a single day. He started working from the next day after getting his certificates, though it was for a few hundred rupees a month. He joined a fabrication unit in Guindy Industrial Estate, Chennai to learn that whatever he studied so far was not helpful to work in an organisation.

He started observing the processes with interest and excitement. He learned from the workers and supervisors many things which he never studied. He kept changing jobs and took up different departments.  Later at Panasonic and TVSE, he worked in different departments under job rotation.

He was regarded as a good performer, trained in new initiatives, took part in many CFT and new projects.  Though multitasking was stressful then, he believes, today he is able to withstand by virtue of the learning and strength gained at that time.

He was good in building the relationship with colleagues and suppliers, resolving pending issues, removing NVA, innovating processes etc. From 2003 onwards his focus was on strategies and management issues.  He underwent very good pieces of training that changed his attitude and helped him to overcome some of his weaknesses. He saw how external consultants brought value addition to the processes.

His employment career spanned over 18 years from 1989 to 2007 in organizations such as Schefenacker Motherson Ltd, TVS Electronics Ltd, Panasonic Home Appliances Ltd, Switzer Instruments Ltd, Nova Electro Magnetics Ltd. It was this journey which helped him develop expertise in the entire supply chain including planning, manufacturing, purchasing, quality, sales, spares, warranty management, and HR etc.

Besides, working for industry verticals such as Sheet metal Fabrication & Press parts, Plastic injection moulding, Instrumentation, Home Appliances Manufacturing (Electrical), Electronics & IT HW, and Automotive. He also gained immense process expertise in Fabrication, Press parts, Machining, Injection moulding, Electrical & Electronics, Die casting, Tool & Die making, Wiring harness, Painting, Plating, Assembly.

Even all through these employment careers it was his dream to start an own business after working for 15 years.  On the fruition of this dream he narrates, “During my employment, I had close interaction with vendors.  They shared their passions, achievements, and sacrifices.  Even after running a business for 15-20 years they could not stabilize, scale up or become wealthy.  I found most of them not happy or under a lot of stress.”

“These entrepreneurs have excellent knowledge in their chosen field say, design or manufacturing, but lacked in management, people skill, quality systems or marketing.  Much of their time is spent on daily issues and they are unable to focus on process improvements and business growth.  I used to think how can I help them?  But, I didn’t have any clue.”

So, he decided to use his experience and skills to help them grow. “Large corporates are able to engage experts as consultants.  SMEs couldn’t afford.  So I thought I will prepare myself and take it up as my career, serve SME at an affordable cost” he infers.

He left employment in 2007 and in 2008, he started ”Progress Consulting” for consulting services and “Progress Institute of Management” to provide skills required for the manufacturing industry.  In the beginning, he got consultancy projects from his close contacts and was fully occupied.

However, the initial days were as challenging as any other. Progress Institute didn’t take off as planned. He suffered a loss on rental, trainer’s salary, marketing etc. While analysing the causes of failure, Mr. Sriram realised that he did not plan well and his marketing efforts were inadequate or ineffective. Then, he put the Institute on hold for some time and started focusing on consultancy projects.

Getting consulting assignments was a challenge being a startup and without a brand image. “I registered myself with Madras Management Association and Andhra Chamber of Commerce. I started doing workshops on technical topics which are not handled by other trainers. I started upgrading my skills in management systems, LEAN, QMS, EMS & IATF standards. Our website was improved with professional look, projects done and customer’s testimonials.”

The momentum picked up, Progress Consulting started getting new projects through web-based enquiries and customer referrals. He started to specialise in Strategic Management, turn around, Project Management and Manufacturing Excellence projects for SME.

Some of the projects are the testimony to his success. It is with his brilliant guidance that an injection moulding company at Chennai was able to raise capacity utilization from 60% to 85%, increase sales from 7.5 crores to 22 crores, completed construction of two new factory units within just two years. In other instances, a small family owned HW shop transformed into a professionally managed company with HR systems, performance-based incentive, inventory, and working capital management etc. Today, it is the largest trading organization in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu.

Besides, for a premium apparel brand in India which was struggling with quantity error, product mix up issues, throughput was increased from 25K TO 45K garments/ day with zero error and saving 30% floor space within 6 months, thanks to the consulting days. The list of success story is endless and encouraging.

As much as these projects and many other added laurels to Mr. Sriram’s illustrious journey as a consultant, He also extended insights into the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry at large. According to him, SMEs in India struggle to get a business loan from banks, due to ineffective single window systems from Govt., outdated and impractical govt. rules, the absence of a payment guarantee system, shortage of skilled manpower, entrepreneurs who are not proactively adopting technology and innovation.

He feels automation can play a major role in the growth of SMEs in performing the simultaneous repetitive or cyclic tasks much faster and error free.

ISO Certification is still another namesake proposition in India as he feels all the stakeholders in the chain dilute the purpose. He opines, “If an organisation follows the ISO requirement sincerely, sure those organisations will grow fast and steady.  Those organisations will be system driven, rather people driven.  There will be no communication gaps, documentation and record keeping will help the company at a troublesome period.”

“It will be easy to channelise contribution of all employees and achieve the objectives of the company.  Total employee involvement will become reality.”

On being asked about the current education system , he says, “First, the syllabus need frequent updates.  There should be more practical classes.  When I interviewed people who got first class, they are unable to recall what they studied 6 months or 12 months back.  Nor they could explain what they studied.  They lack the ability to think, thanks to our education system, syllabus and quality of the lecturers.”

“Second, they lack the interest to learn, patience to make trials. They don’t want to follow any system. They want to win through shortcuts. Third, this generation is weak.  Not strong enough to face criticism and lack ability to come out of failures.”

So how to achieve excellence, be it on educational level or professional and organisational levels? He states that “If you continue with what you are doing, you continue to be like that”. As a staunch practitioner of “Kaizen”,(Continuous Improvement) he feels questioning is the first step for any change,  What am I doing?  Why should I do like this? Is there any better way?  Can I still improve it? I don’t know, can I take help from someone? These questions gave birth to numerous inventions.  “If you start questioning each and everything you will start improving all around, not only productivity,” he says.

Of the new wave of entrepreneurship, he seems to be satisfied, however, he also feels that support in terms funding and policies such incubation centres are funding are still not as much available for startups in manufacturing as much as they are in technology or service sectors.

He suggests the entrepreneurs to think through every process bit by bit, write down and review again and again and there will be a time when it will be seen that a lot is improved a lot or many things are redefined.

He further stresses on the fact that planning should be detailed and spanning due time without hurry while execution should be faster.

He cherishes a grand vision for his company Progress Group which was established as a solution provider for SMEs. “By 2025, we will have the presence in the west and north Indian regions, empanel experts with regional connect and develop expertise in new avenues like Finance management, Industry 4.0.”

With his life mantra that is “Don’t accept anything as it is. There is still a better way than this”, it is only a matter of time before Mr. T R Sriram and his Progress group guide many other SMEs to the path of growth and glory.

About Us:

MACHINE MAKER, an authentic magazine from the house of MART Infomedia Private Limited with 14 years of experience in Indian manufacturing sector, is all geared up to cover the growth of this new age manufacturing sector in India with special thrust on the makers who will make this happen. Read and Advertise with us to be part of this growth.

Contact US

2nd floor Ariana, Near New Poona Bakery,

Bhumkar Chowk, Marunji Road,

Wakad Pune-411057, Maharashtra.

Phone No: +91 703-093-2700

Email: info@themachinemaker.com

Website: https://www.themachinemaker.com/

[jeremystrele]

Finding The Cinematic In The Everyday With Tom Blachford

Finding The Cinematic In The Everyday With Tom Blachford

Studio Visit

by Elle Murrell

Tom Blachford’s monograph of his ‘Midnight Modern’ series. Photo – Kate Ballis.

Tom in his home studio. Photo – Kate Ballis.

‘Stone Dodge’ shot in Palm Springs, California. Photo – Tom Blachford.

Photographer Tom Blachford, at home in Melbourne. Photo – Kate Ballis.

Some of the photographer’s Fine Art Photography. Photo – Kate Ballis.

‘Blackpool’. Photo – Tom Blachford.

From Tom’s ‘Midnight Modern’ series. Photo – Kate Ballis.

Tom is about to start work a new project with a ‘less is a bore’ approach. Photo – Kate Ballis.

Photography tomes in his home library. Photo – Kate Ballis.

‘Doolittle’. Photo – Tom Blachford.

In his personal projects, Toms shoots at night, drawing on existing sources of light: the moon (Midnight Modern), the neon lights of Tokyo (Nihon Noir) or the harsh street lights of LA (Noct Angeles). Here is photographed in Palm Springs earlier this year. Photo – Kate Ballis.

Though he’s now one of Melbourne’s most exciting young photographers, Tom Blachford went through school not feeling particularly creative, or having any inclination of what he might have wanted to create.

He started studying marketing at RMIT, but found it unfulfilling, and admits he was a pretty bad student. Things all changed when he got a DSLR camera for his 20th birthday. From the first moment picking it up, Tom just knew it felt right, and fell completely in love with the photographic process, particularly shooting at night. ‘I realised the camera was a bridge to a world just beyond my perceptions that most people never get to glimpse,’ as he tells it.

Waving goodbye to that marketing degree, Tom persisted through ‘many years of truly terrible photos’. He worked for five years as a part-time assistant for other photographers including James Geer, before leaving the ‘safety net’ to concentrate fully on his own work. Today, he has carved out a career specialising in interiors and architecture photography, for the likes of DKO, Techne Architects, FIGR, Elenberg Fraser, Foolscap, Studio Esteta. and more, as well as shooting aerial photography and his fine art work. Much of the latter, especially his Midnight Modern Series (published in a monograph by Powerhouse 2017), and more recent Nihon Noir have gained global acclaim, and been published by top international outlets.

We recently caught up with Tom to talk timewarps and dream-come-true moments, plus his forthcoming debut solo show in New York!

Was there a particular moment that inspired your long-running Midnight Modern Series, and what keeps drawing you back to Palm Springs?

On our first visit to Palm Springs in 2013, I vividly remember a moment standing outside an unbelievable asymmetrical butterfly mid-century home in the Twin Palms neighbourhood, as the sun was just about to set behind the mountain. There were only vintage cars on the street and perfectly restored houses from 1957. I had this inexplicable feeling I had fallen through a time warp back to another era. It was the confusion of knowing where I was but not when I was. The Midnight Modern Series has been about translating that feeling into my work. Shooting by moonlight adds an extra layer of mystery, that for many viewers it is hard for them to tell if the images are taken by day or at night, in 1957 or 2017.

The generosity and passion of the homeowners and community is what has really kept the series moving forward. By chance, I was contacted by the owner of that house, which I had been in front of on that very first day, and just over a year later, I was invited back to stay and even hold an exhibition there. That’s one of a now almost endless list of dream-come-true moments that have happened over the course of shooting the series.

On a more practical level, Palm Springs has a very unique set of attributes that have really made it the only place this particular series can exist: a huge stock of perfectly restored mid-century homes, an epic mountain backdrop, a desert climate with very few clouds to block the moon and, most bizarrely, no street lamps in the old suburbs to pollute the scene with light!

You have a penchant for shooting at night. What’s the most challenging aspect of this, and how do you work around it?

It’s hard to nail down a particularly difficult element, the whole exercise has been an incredibly challenging, grueling process and one that has required a lot of thought, research, and trial and error to get to a point where I could make the most of each night. I would normally shoot from 7pm-4am for five nights in a row (two nights either side of full moon) and spend the days scouting and arranging access and cars with the homeowners. I really pushed my mind, stamina and equipment to the limits!

For all my work, exposed light sources (any street lights or landscape lighting) become the enemy if I can’t tame them by moving, covering them or cropping them. There have been many times, I’ve wished I could have had a magic wand (or airgun!) to shoot out a single light bulb that was ruining a whole shot!

What I enjoy most about the aesthetic is to be able to show people the world that my camera allows me access to, a world of rich colours, contrasts and detail that are usually hidden just beyond our senses behind a veil of darkness. I’ve been able to show people places they thought they knew in a completely different way which has been amazing.

A yet-to-be-released series shot in Bolivia last year is also centred around architecture. Have you always been fascinated with architecture, and why do you think architecture lends itself to captivating art imagery?

I can’t actually draw or paint, so I began to be interested in architecture when I realised that I could combine the lines and geometries with my camera and selective composition to create graphic imagery – something I was really drawn to but wasn’t sure how to bring to life in any other way. I began to start re-interpreting the built environment to suit my own frame, and loved what I could create out of abstracting what was around me.

With Midnight Modern and my newer series, that evolved into a fascination with buildings as the sets for narratives, both real and imagined. I’m obsessed with the infinite number of stories that buildings play host to, as well as those that are projected on them by people who walk or drive by and wonder what goes on behind their walls. In a way they become sculptural and literal manifestations of the feeling of being an insider or an outsider.

You’ve hinted at a releasing a ‘Post Modern 3D Project’ next year. In addition to being visually engaging, you want the experience to “ask questions about what is real, what is good taste and what are our responsibilities to architectural preservation”. Why are bringing these topics to the forefront important to you, especially at this time?

The project is about creating alternate design backstories for the most famous Modernist houses of all time. I’m imagining what it would have looked like if post-modernism found its way into the most staunchly modernist buildings. The line between renders and photography is completely gone, the average person is now completely unable to tell the difference between the two. Instead of fighting this I’m interested in exploring it and magnifying it.

After becoming deeply connected to the modernism community, I realised the extent to which great buildings had been destroyed just as they were beginning to be appreciated. Whilst I can’t bring all of them back from the rubble, I am interested in trying to do what I can for architectural preservation and highlighting the choice that we have: to love and fight for something we don’t understand and that is no longer fashionable or start afresh to repeat the cycle in the name of progress. I can see both sides of the debate, but I think it’s most interesting to explore the predicament.

In a way, Midnight Modern was a very ‘modernist’ project in its minimalism and serious dedication to the purist forms of the era, and the restrictions I placed upon myself. This new project is an opportunity for me to take the ‘less is a bore’ not ‘less is more’ approach, and to really go wild and inject some humour and subversion into the series. I’m actually a very sarcastic and humour-driven person, but it was hard to convey that in my other work which has been quite serious.

You’ve also described this project as ‘A mash-up of the worlds of fake news, McMansion Hell and Memphis Milano.’ What are you getting at when you say McMansion Hell?

McMansion hell is a great blog that humorously as well as academically tears to pieces some of the monstrosities of modern construction, in the age of ‘bigger is better’ – completely inflexible and compromised design.

I’m interested in the perspective of the home owners and their mindset to build exactly as they want things and to compete with each other as well as their tendency to completely mash-up and mis-use classical elements. In a way, I admire their single-mindedness and dedication to function over form, in another sense I abhor them for the blandness it has created. My new 3D series is going to feature written components that delve into the character and motivations of the owners who have chosen to forsake modernism in favour of post-modernism, inspired by my experiences in the real world shooting for architects and designers.

Can you give us any insight into your creative process – how do you find inspiration and then what steps do you take in turning that into an exhibit-able body of work?

My series are usually trying to connect the architecture of a place with a feeling… and adding in a sense of mystery. As such, my process has been to plan less and just get on the ground and start shooting, and try to connect with my impulses for what I’m drawn to. From there, I try to tweak my approach to translate my feeling of what the nights in that place feel like to me. For Palm Springs it was about glamour and hedonism, for LA about paranoia and tension, and for Tokyo it was about the feeling of being in a futuristic parallel universe.

My new 3D series is a whole new process, which I’m still navigating! It’s far more about ideation, design and refinement, which is both exciting and challenging.

Tapping into some paranoia and tension, If you’ve got to desert your studio right this minute, and can only bring along one item, what do you grab and why?

Yikes, hard to pick one… but I guess my 45mm Tilt Shift Lens. This is what I have shot 99% of my fine art work on. For me, no other lens gives a more interesting and flexible perspective on architecture (providing I can get back far enough!).

Your partner Kate Ballis is also an accomplished photographic artist/photographer that we have featured on TDF. Do you guys talk photography much? And how do you think you have influenced one another’s work?

I spend pretty much every waking hour thinking about something to do with photography and can’t help myself talking shop at any and all hours of the day. Though we don’t often shoot at the same time (commercially or in our projects) we still work very collaboratively, and try to help each other tease out ideas and aesthetics. We rarely release anything without seeking each others opinion and expertise first.

Kate has an incredible work ethic and a laser-like focus that really inspired me to work through any big ideas that I have had and stay committed to seeing them through. There is no way I could have attempted anything like Midnight Modern without her support.

Is traveling the world as a photographer as amazing as you guys, and your projects, make it look?

We are extremely fortunate to have been able to build a life that gives us the flexibility and incentive to travel and shoot new places.

Sometimes we do just look forward to being home with our dog and family and friends but in general, we feel very lucky and love what we do. We work really hard on location, so it’s not all champagne and rainbows but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

What’s next for Tom Blachford?

My first New York solo show is coming up in October so I’m very much looking forward to that. I’m also hoping to get back to Bolivia later in the year to continue my yet-to-be named series on the post-Andean architecture of El Alto and, in between, find time to design and plan my 3D Post Modern Project with my collaborator Mr P Studio.