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simply-ivanka · 3 months ago

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PLEASE REPOST

This is who Tim Walz is.

“Let’s see how weird the Democrats’ new leadership is:

It’s weird that Walz mandated tampons in boys’ bathrooms in Minnesota schools.

It’s weird for the party that promotes itself as the guardian of democracy to install its leaders without an election.

It’s weird that Walz dawdled for three days while Minneapolis burned before calling in the National Guard during 2020’s BLM-antifa riots.

He abandoned the city’s Third Precinct police headquarters when it was overrun and set ablaze.

Walz explained his weird lack of action as a desire not to be “oppressive” to the rioters who had suffered “generations of pain” and “fundamental, institutional racism.”

It’s weird that Walz’s wife kept the windows open “as long as I could” during the riots so she could “smell the burning tires” and savor the historic moment.

It’s weird that Walz let his then-19-year-old daughter leak the National Guard’s deployment plans on Twitter so rioters knew they could keep destroying Minneapolis.

It’s weird that Harris and Walz base their campaign on “freedom” yet he was the most authoritarian governor in the country during the pandemic, ruling by decree for 15 months, enforcing draconian shutdown orders, mask mandates and curfews.

It’s weird that Walz tells Republicans to “mind your own damn business” when he created a COVID telephone “snitch line” so that people could inform on their neighbors who breached his draconian COVID restrictions.

It’s weird that Walz defended censorship of COVID dissenters by telling MSNBC: “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech especially around our democracy.”

It’s weird that Walz signed laws allowing teenagers to be sterilized and genitally mutilated without parental consent and called it “gender-affirming care.”

It’s weird that Walz signed into law a new definition of “sexual orientation” that deleted an exemption against pedophilia.

It’s weird that Walz has turned Minnesota into a “trans refuge” with a law that removes children from parents who don’t agree to their kids’ sex-change surgery and hormone treatment.

Even transgender Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke called the bill “beautifully weird.”

It’s weird that Walz has turned Minnesota into an “abortion mecca” with no time limit up to the moment of birth and sometimes beyond, and no requirement that minors inform their parents.

It’s weird that Walz is presented as the epitome of decency and “Minnesota nice” and yet the first time he spoke to the nation, he peddled a smutty sex joke about Vance and a couch cushion made up by the bottom feeders of internet trolling.

It’s weird that Walz has visited China about 30 times, including spending his honeymoon there.

“No matter how long I live, I’ll never be treated that well again,” he said after his first visit in 1990.

“They gave me more gifts than I could bring home.” He should compare notes with the Bidens.

It’s weird that Walz and his wife, Gwen, chose June 4 as their wedding date to commemorate the bloody anniversary of China’s brutal crackdown on democracy protesters in China’s Tiananmen Square.

“He wanted to have a date he’ll always remember,” said Gwen.

It’s weird that Walz quit the National Guard when he was about to be deployed to Iraq, then told everyone he had gone to war.

It’s weird that Walz said he wanted to provide ladders to illegal migrants so they could climb over Trump’s border wall.

It’s weird that Waltz says, “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

It’s weird that Harris and Walz claim they are defending “democracy” but he signed a law to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, the first step to voting illegally in elections.

It’s weird that Walz criticizes Trump for his record on law and order when crime in Minneapolis has soared on his watch.

It’s weird that he poses as a “folksy,” common-sense working man with “Midwestern dad vibes” who hunts and wears camo caps.

Yet he governs like a crazed, green-haired radical, with taxes among the highest in the country and residents fleeing the state as fast as they can.

It’s weird that Walz is a teacher married to a teacher, the son of a teacher and claims education is a priority, yet on his watch, Minnesota students’ average reading and math scores have plummeted to below the national average, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Despite record spending, for the first time majorities of K-12 students are not meeting grade-level standards, finds the Minnesota Center of the American Experiment.

Minnesota’s CNBC education ranking has dropped from fifth to 19th place in the country since he became governor.

It’s weird that Harris has not done a single interview since being appointed the presumptive Democratic nominee for president more than two weeks ago.

It’s weird that she laughs at her own jokes.

In psychology, attributing your own flaws to others is called projection, and Walz and Harris have a bad case of weird.”

#tim walz #kamala harris #Democrats #trump #trump 2024 #president trump #ivanka #repost #america first #americans first #america #donald trump #democrats

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enriquemzn262 · 9 months ago

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I have found it guys, the Mecca of America, the institution everyone must visit at least once in their lifetime

A walmart!

#me #orlando

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ptseti · 6 days ago

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"THERE IS NO GROUP THAT EVER CAME INTO AFRICA THAT MEANT ANYTHING GOOD FOR AFRICANS" -Dr John Henrik Clarke.

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” - From 'THINGS FALL APART' 1958, written by Chinua Achebe and was translated into Italian, French, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian, Swiss, Flemish and other languages.

According to historian, Dr John Henrik Clarke, "every group of people that came into Africa meant nothing good for the Africans… and the very first thing each and every one of these groups did was to declare war on African culture…" What followed was the bastardization of African spirituality and ways that held the societies together for millennia before there was a Greece or Rome or before "the first European learnt to wear a shoe or live in a house that had a window." Or as Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan put it, "Before there was Rome, Greece, Jerusalem or Mecca… Before there was a Jehovah, Jesus or Mohommet" (Muhammad ibn Abdul'Mutallib).

It most be noted that the first Hebrew to ever come into existence was a Chaldean from Ur, known as Abram in 1675 BC. Before then, their was no concept of a Jehovah or Jesus, whatsoever, and no Hebrew as a tribe, the world over, from as far as history revealed. By this time, the 82 pyramids in Kemet, and the over 203 pyramids in Meroe, the smaller Nsude pyramids in Udi highlands were already built. The Africans had their own spirituality through which they connected to the non-material world, through which they learnt science like iron smelting, as well as which herbs could heal what sort of disease, agricultural practice, astrology, alchemy, mining for useful minerals from the earth and so on.

Most of Africa were connected to the worship of a deity, Ptah. This was over 5000 years before the first Hebrew came into existence, it was thousands of years before Greece or Rome came into existence and before any Abrahamic religions (which are Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity and Islam etc) came into the knowledge of anyone at all. Abram, the father of it all had not even come into existence.

In kemet, there was a belief that if one died far away from the Nile, one would not resurrect in the afterlife. Hence Kemet became the place of high culture for all tribal nationalities along the Nile from its source through modern day Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia Sudan etc. Abydos was a city of pilgrimage where most Africans, who could, travelled up the Nile, through the Sahara (Which was not a desert until about 5000 years ago, as archeological discoveries indicated), to worship and commune with other Africans. Osiris later become the god in Abydos while Memphis became the home for Ptah, after several foreign invasion from across the Mediterranean and the sands of Arabia.

Most of the magicians in Kemet came from Gao, a city-state of the Soudan(west Africa then). African regions and cities had their own gods and it was necessary to pay homage to the god of a land when visiting or passing through as a sojourner, merchant or gypsy. By this time, Arabian peninsula was the colony of Africans (Study from 'From Babylon to Timbuktu', 'The African Origin of Major Religions, Herodoctus, and Strabo's geographica).

{[IMAGE: The 'inner circle' of the Mossi people. Not every king on the throne rose to the societal status, necessary to attend this gathering. The first shattering effect on this 'inner circle' began when the Arabs arrived west Africa in the 7th century CE, while extending the trans-saharan trade routes through the desert.]}

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centrally-unplanned · 1 year ago

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Another big stop in Tokyo for me was Jimbocho Book Town! It is a neighborhood of, depending on who you ask, up to 400 generally-secondhand bookstores flanked by some of the major universities in Tokyo. The local government even prints out maps of the stores to help people find them all:

Which, you will note, is not 400 stores, because the process of becoming an "official" Jimbocho Town Bookstore is an intensely political operation run by local stakeholders with tons of fights over what should qualify and what rights that entails - never change humanity!

"Book Towns" used to actually be quite a common thing, and they peaked during the literary boom of the late 19th century. Figuring out "what books existed" was a hard task, and to do serious research you needed to own the books (you weren't making photocopies), so concentrating specialty bookstores in one area made sense to allow someone to go to one place and ask around to find what they need and discover what exists. It was academia's version of Comiket! Modern digital information & distribution networks slowly killed or at least reduced these districts in places like Paris or London, but Jimbocho is one of the few that still survives.

Why it has is multi-causal for sure - half of this story is that Tokyo is YIMBY paradise and has constantly built new buildings to meet demand so rents have been kept down, allowing low-margin, individually-owned operations to continue where they have struggled in places like the US. These stores don't make much money but they don't have to. But as important is that Japan has a very strong 'book collector' culture, it's the original baseball cards for a lot of people. The "organic" demand for a 1960's shoujo magazine or porcelainware picture book is low, but hobbyists building collections is a whole new source of interest. Book-as-art-collection powered Jimbocho through until the 21st century, where - again like Comiket - the 'spectacle' could give it a lift and allow the area to become a tourist attraction and a mecca for the ~cozy book hoarder aesthetic~ to take over. Now it can exist on its vibes, which go so far as to be government-recognized: In 2001 the "scent wafting from the pages of the secondhand bookstore" was added to Japan's Ministry of Environment's List of 100 Fragrance Landscapes.

Of course this transition has changed what it sells; when it first began in the Meiji area, Jimbocho served the growing universities flanking it, and was a hotpot of academic (and political-polemic) texts. Those stores still exist, but as universities built libraries and then digital collections, the hobby world has taken over. Which comes back to me, baby! If you want Old Anime Books Jimbocho is one of the best places to go - the list of "subculture" stores is expansive.

I'll highlight two here: the first store I went to was Kudan Shobo, a 3rd floor walk-up specializing in shoujo manga. And my guys, the ~vibes~ of this store. It has this little sign outside pointing you up the stairs with the cutest book angel logo:

And the stairs:

Real flex of Japan's low crime status btw. Inside is jam-packed shelves and the owner just sitting there eating dinner, so I didn't take any photos inside, but not only did it have a great collection of fully-complete shoujo magazines going back to the 1970's, it had a ton of "meta" books on shoujo & anime, even a doujinshi collection focusing on 'commentary on the otaku scene' style publications. Every Jimbocho store just has their own unique collection, and you can only discover it by visiting. I picked up two books here (will showcase some of the buys in another post).

The other great ~subculture~ store I went to was Yumeno Shoten - and this is the store I would recommend to any otaku visiting, it was a much broader collection while still having a ton of niche stuff. The vibes continued to be immaculate of course:

And they covered every category you could imagine - Newtype-style news magazine, anime cels, artbooks, off-beat serial manga magazines, 1st edition prints, just everything. They had promotional posters from Mushi Pro-era productions like Cleopatra, nothing was out of reach. I got a ton of books here - it was one of the first stores I visited on my second day in Jimobocho, which made me *heavily* weighed down for the subsequent explorations, a rookie mistake for sure. There are adorable book-themed hotels and hostels in Jimbocho, and I absolutely could see a trip where you just shop here for a week and stay nearby so you can drop off your haul as you go.

We went to other great stores - I was on the lookout for some 90's era photography stuff, particularly by youth punk photographer Hiromix (#FLCL database), and I got very close at fashion/photography store Komiyama Shoten but never quite got what I was looking for. Shinsendo Shoten is a bookstore devoted entirely to the "railway and industrial history of Japan" and an extensive map collection, it was my kind of fetish art. My partner @darktypedreams found two old copies of the fashion magazine Gothic & Lolita Bible, uh, somewhere, we checked like five places and I don't remember which finally had it! And we also visited Aratama Shoten, a store collecting vintage pornography with a gigantic section on old BDSM works that was very much up her alley. It had the porn price premium so we didn't buy anything, but it was delightful to look through works on bondage and non-con from as far back as the 1960's, where honestly the line between "this is just for the fetish" and "this is authentic gender politics" was...sometimes very blurry. No photos of this one for very obvious reasons.

Jimbocho absolutely earned its rep, its an extremely stellar example of how history, culture, and uh land use policy can build something in one place that seems impossible in another operating under a different set of those forces. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

#Ash Japan Adventures #Jimbocho #anime culture discourse

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kid-az · 1 year ago

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All Tomorrow’s: Vanga Vangog’s Processor and Asteromorph’s HC’s

The grand finale of this saga of Vanga’s posthumans, and this one is on one of the saddest stories among the posthumans, the Mantelopes! In canon they had been born in bodies that made them unable to meaningfully interact in the world inspite of their sapience, and this would disappear quickly in a few thousand years as their songs of sorrow turn into regular mating songs and bellows.

Of course, that had not happen in Vanga’s timeline. Instead, the Asteromorph’s took interests on these posthumans due to the realization of their high intellect. This process, at first merely one of master and servant, would become a symbiotic one for both parties, with the Processors acting as the Asteromorph’s brains and memory-keepers, and the Asteromorphs the Processors hands and (Relative) brawn.

You can do a surprising amount with just a brain, and the Processor’s are the penultimate conclusion of that question, their relationship with the Asteromorphs making their empire far more technologically advanced and powerful than in canon, ironic considering the Asteromorph’s themselves wouldn’t become bigger brained.

-Their curious minds and natures made Processor’s extremely excited and interested on learning new ideas and things, to the point that they and the Asteromorph’s would make earlier contact with the Second Empire in this timeline, learning about all of their cultures and sharing some of their technology and ideas. This also had the benefit of stopping the Gravital’s from killing everyone.

-They kept their ancestral traditions of singing songs, their laryx (Voice box) being the only thing other than their brain to grow in size. Only instead of singing exclusively sorrowful songs, they instead sung songs of hope, rage, and so many other different emotions, including those only they can feel. Their laryx were so developed that they could mimic a ton of different sounds we couldn’t, including metal guitars, chainsaws, plane jet engines, and stuff that is beyond our hearing range.

-Most Processors are born offworld in the zero-gravity habitats of their Asteromorph Symbiotes, though there is still a very sizable trillions of them living in their home-Star system. This birthplace is effectively their version of Mecca, as almost every Processor visits once to several times during their lifetime. (With help from Asteromorph’s of course.)

-The Asteromorph’s are much less reclusive than in canon, and in fact a sizable amount of the population are now living in space habitats or even low-gravity worlds of other posthuman species. The highest populations of them live alongside the Modular People, Stickmen, Pterosapien’s, and the Satyriac’s .(Even they need to cut loose and party!)

-The Asteromorph’s knowledge of their ancient history, alongside the Processor’s general intelligence and assistance from the Second Empire, allowed them to find their ancestral homeworld earth far earlier. No one would inhabit the planet however, instead deciding to seed the almost deserted planet with new life from each of their worlds and millions of years later, when the sun threatens to blow up, they safely move earth into a new star system, allowing the introduced, establish and possibly sapient life to flourish.

-The Asteromorph’s and Processor’s of later times treat eachother like friends or even siblings, with an eachother being paired so long as they get along very well.

-After reaching connecting eachother’s consciousness’s, the Processor’s would offer their Asteromorph and other posthuman brethren the ability to do so as well, with them being able to agree or decline however they see fit.

-Once finding the Qu, this Posthuman empire would not horrifically mutate or kill every last one of them, instead deciding to strip them of all of their biotechnology, take down their leadership, and having them live alongside as equals….. the posthuman’s unwilling to stoop down to their abusers level.

-Like in canon, they would all disappear from this galaxy, but instead of it being a relatively ambiguous fate, the Author’s species would discover what had truly happened to humanity……… in that they had reached apotheosis and have left this universe altogether, instead deciding to seed new universe and life, so that they may love today, and seize all tomorrows.

#all tomorrows #all tomorrows mantelope #mantelope #processor #cm kosemen #nemo ramjet #headcanons #worldbuilding

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mimaalmaawy · 2 years ago

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jokeroutsubs · 2 months ago

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📝ENG TRANSLATION: Križanke Anniversary Part 2/3

The band Joker Out revealed to us what can't be missing backstage. You'll be surprised...

To celebrate 2 years since Joker Out's concert at Križanke, we decided to translate some content from that time. This article was translated as part of our celebration.

Original article written by Alma Rahne for Metropolitan.si, published 08.09.2022. English translation by @chaosofsmarty, review by @kurooscoffee, proofread by @flowerlotus8.

Audio version available here.

Translation below the cut 👇

(Photo: Aleksandra Saša Prelesnik)

The boys had the doors of the secret spot where they spend the most of their time wide open for us. Among other things, they told us what was the most unusual gift they got from a fan and what they do during the drives to concerts.

Joker Out doesn't need a special introduction, but still... The Ljubljana group of five, consisting of Bojan Cvjetićanin (vocals and majority songwriter), Jure Maček (drums), Kris Guštin (guitar), Jan Peteh (guitar) and Martin Jurkovič (bass), did not rest during the summer. Instead of chasing the sun's rays, they shut themselves in the studio, where they worked tirelessly on the new, second album 'Demoni', which was released recently. There are 10 new songs on it, including two in Serbian. The band performed at the Exit festival in Novi Sad in July and made it clear that Slovenia has become too small for them and that there are no limits for good music.

This time, we visited the members of the popular band – drummer Jure Maček was absent due to unpostponable obligations – in the rehearsal room. A place that they have equipped in their own way with a little imagination and creativity.

Even though the space is small, that's exactly what makes it special, homely. At first glance, it gives the impression of a living room, in which many instruments, speakers and cables are displayed. You can immediately feel the special energy and at the same time the wish for a private acoustic concert. I admit, I wouldn't have said no to it. Read on to find out everything we spoke about...

(Photo: Matic Kremžar)

What are demons to you?

Bojan: What all people have in common is that we have our demons and that we're demons for someone. For me personally, demons were songs. The demons were the expectations, waiting, creating... Now I'm starting to face other demons. The five of us are each other's demons. Žare (producer) is a demon. Jan is the resident demon exorcist.

Jan: Žare is a big demon. Maybe demons are something that comes when you have too many dirty thoughts.

Bojan: I just wanted to say, demons are dirty thoughts that you can't get rid of.

Martin: The songs we've been making for so long are our demons.

On the new album there are two songs in Serbian. You don't hide your craving to conquer the Balkans as well...

Bojan: Our huge desire and inspiration is expanding our musical journey to the Balkans. In fact, in the Balkans, which used to be the mecca of rock 'n' roll, the scene has completely died out. I would dare to say that of the countries within the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia is by far the most favorable for musicians of all genres, except for turbofolk performers.

It seems to me that there's one big gap in terms of these 'live performances' and they also lack young bands and interesting performers. Let's just say that one of our missions would be to expand there and get the younger people to listen to guitars, drums again. Slovenia is an area that would be very suitable for them, because there are no more venues in the Balkans where unexperienced bands could perform, or there are very few such venues. Whereas here, there's a huge amount of them. It would be very nice if some mixing started to happen. They accept us and we accept them.

(Photo: Aleksandra Saša Prelesnik)

Kris: I'd like to see us establish a sort of "precedence" that Slovenians are also going to the Balkans, in addition to Senidah, who has already done so, and that young rock 'n' roll bands can also come to Slovenia. To somehow re-establish the Yugoslav spirit, especially in music. I want Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian young bands to start going to Slovenia more, because this direction, at least in terms of rock 'n' roll, is not utilised as much.

Listeners' expectations before the release of each subsequent song are high. Is there any fear present?

Bojan: You can't know, but we listened to the album so many times and really enjoyed listening to it so much that we completely lost that feeling of nervousness about what they were going to say out there, because we were really happy with what we did and we didn't care.

Kris: We're pretty confident about what we've made and created.

(Photo: Aleksandra Saša Prelesnik)

How many times do you record a certain song to be able to say it's the final version?

Bojan: For example, we recorded the song 'Katrina' only once.

Kris: You have pieces that come together right away, and you have some that you have to work on for months. We tried to make the song 'Padam' in a much more band-like format than it is on the album now, but in the end we found that it completely takes away the message of the lyrics and we just let it kind of float with the instrumental.

Where did you get the idea to put the song ‘Ne govoriva več o tem' (We Don't Talk About It Anymore) on the album with the abbreviations Ngvot?

Kris: When I brought this piece to rehearsals, I already had it written with the name Ngvot. I don't know why... It's already so ingrained in our collective subconscious that it's Ngvot that we've said let's leave it that way. And that something else interesting happens when you're looking at the tracklist. But I'm shocked at how many people just read the word and don't think that it could be an acronym (smiles).

Bojan: In the playlist for the concerts, we always wrote it as Ngvot, just like Vdg ('Vem da greš' - I know you're going).

If I'm not mistaken, the arrangement of the song on the album is different than what we've heard at concerts so far. Why?

Kris: We had a little bit of a problem with this piece because when I wrote it in 2018, it was still very high school, teenage and the lyrics stayed the same. The piece has a kind of naïve honesty that didn't match this rock banger base that we've had so far. There was always some kind of dissonance in the piece.

What our producer Žare did was to guide us to back up this naivety and sincerity in the piece with some nostalgic base. We chose a very 'Beatles sixties vibe' for it and it's very good.

On the first album, a lot of the headaches in its creation were caused by the song ‘Vem da greš’. Which one did you struggle with the most this time?

Bojan: 'Novi val'. From some demo, a song was created that we changed to a completely different form at least five times. We actually flew from genre to genre, from sound to sound. In the end, one day, Žare pulled the handbrake and told us not to move anywhere. I went to the recording room a little offended and 'Novi val' happened.

Many people think of the coronavirus first when they hear the word new wave. Are there any parallels?

Bojan: Actually, the trigger for the lyrics were the wildfires in the Karst region that were happening at the time we were in the studio. The line "Where do we go from here, if we're already setting the horizon on fire?" is from there, and from there onwards I built the lyrics.

We've seen you on several occasions in the company of Magnifico��. Have you done anything together?

¹Magnifico, one of the best-known singers on the Slovenian scene. He recently celebrated his 30-year career with a spectacular concert just outside of Ljubljana, which Joker Out also attended. You can watch our translation of Bojan's intervew from this concert on our video titled: Bojan Cvjetićanin on Magnifico's concert for his 30-year career.

Bojan: No, we never created together with Magnifico. I didn't even dare to think of ever writing anything for him. If I liked the offer, I would accept it, but it seems to me that Magnifico sees us as very independent performers. Magnifico is Magnifico, but he's a very big fan of ours. Which he will confirm himself if someone asks him, so that no one will say that I am lying (smiles).

Kris: At the beginning of August, we had two concerts, one day after the other in Zagorje and then at the Castle Festival. In Zagorje, we played after Magnifico, and almost all the members of his band, including him, stayed for the whole concert and listened. In the end, they were thrilled.

How are the preparations for your first concert in Križanke² going?

²Joker Out held a concert at the Križanke venue on the 9th of September 2022. They presented their second album, Demoni, there.

Bojan: We honestly wanted to have a little rest the week before Križanke, in addition to rehearsals, of course. But there's so much work still to be done when it comes to promoting the new album.

Kris: Luckily, we have a really well-established team that handles a lot of the things for Križanke that we would have to be dealing with otherwise. Let's say for the whole stage scene, the sound system, the logistics... We're working with our chief creative director, Mark Pirc, who also shoots our music videos and who was also involved in the creation of the album cover for the second album. In fact, we already trust him so much and he understands well what we are, what we want, that he doesn't need to be corrected. He always comes up with good ideas, and then we just give him our blessings.

(Photo: Marko Alpner)

Damir Raković Ponorelii will design your outfits for Križanke. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to put on a piece of clothing that you didn't feel comfortable in?

Kris: We get along so well with Ponorelii, we have a friendly relationship. He puts something on you, and if it's not cool with you, you tell him. But it's also good that he also notices that you're not okay with it. He doesn't want to force you into something that doesn't sit well with you, either.

Jan: You just tell him, this skirt is a little too tight for me (laughs).

Speaking of skirts... How are you with them? Right now, the trend is for men to wear skirts (Brad Pitt, Harry Styles ...). Would you wear it?

Jan: I don't care about that. If I felt good in a skirt, I'd just wear it.

Kris: Same.

Bojan: But we're not at skirts yet (laughs).

Jan: We don't really plan on it.

Bojan: In general, because skirts have come into this hype, we definitely don't want to go into skirts just for that. Maybe we'll put them on in five years, when they're already out. Because we're kind of Joker Out (smiles). We're happy to have come to the point where the band is bigger than the name.

(Photo: Vita Orehek)

Are you ever afraid of everything that is happening around you? A lot of media attention, recognition on the streets, a lot of female fans...?

Bojan: It would be absolutely brilliant if we could have this "Daft punk" (French music duo with a helmet) moment when no one knows what you look like and you can live on stage to the maximum of what a musician can reap, and under the stage you can live a completely normal life. That would be a dream. But that's impossible for us, because we didn't introduce these masks from the beginning (smiles).

How do you pass the time while driving to concerts? What do you do in the van?

Everyone: Scratch! We support Slovenian Paralympians because we scratch scratchcards³.

³For the occasion of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the Lottery of Slovenia, in cooperation with Slovenian Paralympic Committee, issued a new scratchable lottery ticket to support paralympic athletes on their way to Tokyo.

Martin: The van is the best thing.

Kris: Physically, it's moderately comfortable, but what's comfortable is that you're in the company of people you spend a lot of time with. Above all, you can sort out all those things that you otherwise don't because you never remember. All five of us are in a pile, and you can arrange/discuss/sort out everything then. And a lot of business decisions are made in the van as well.

(Photo: Aleksandra Saša Prelesnik)

Who has the main say in the group? Are the roles divided?

Bojan: It depends entirely on the sector we're talking about. If there's a question about the image on social networks, then Jan is the alpha and omega.

Kris: That means if the rest of us don't agree, then it won't happen. We respect each other.

Bojan: We operate in such a way that someone in their sector can take full responsibility for things that we know we will all agree on. Fortunately, so far we have never had any disagreement that someone should actually impose their veto.

Jan: But we do hold a vote if there is a more important issue.

(Photo: Aleksandra Saša Prelesnik)

The strangest thing that was thrown onto the stage?

Bojan: Last time, I got flowers from a guy over the barricades, still in a pot, with soil. I think they were cyclamen.

You recently surprised us with the announcement of a concert in Stožice on October 6, 2023. You also promise guests. Can you give us a hint as to who will join you on the biggest stage in Slovenia?

Bojan: You know them (smiles).

Kris: So we're going to say... There will probably be some guests we haven't anticipated at the moment. Our creative paths for Stožice are still very much open.

(Photo: Marko Alpner)

Are we going to have to wait a year for a new song?

Bojan: You certainly won't have to wait a year for a new single. But we probably won't be doing an album, at least for now, we don't plan to.

Kris: Now we still have to convince people of this new 'Demoni' album.

Martin: I was just thinking that you don't have to say twice how motivated we're going to be when we're all together, that something might even happen.

Kris: By the time of Stožice, the new material will be available for sure, but I don't know in what form yet.

Martin: Maybe it'll be a cassette tape (laughs).

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What should not be missing backstage at your concert?

Everyone: Table tennis is definitely required.

Bojan: We really like it when there's a big enough table backstage because we bought a portable table tennis set so we can play it.

Kris: A full fridge of goodies.

Martin: A safe, warm place where the band can relax, rest and retreat.

Jan: Once we added a mirror and five towels on the list as a joke.

Kris: A shower in the backstage is a very welcome thing, but unfortunately you can't always ask for it (smiles).

We will not waste words on the fact that a group of talented young musicians has already left a strong mark on the domestic music scene. The fact is that they have found their circle of fans in both younger and older generations. And they turn their creations into a hit in an instant. Although their growing popularity would make many people - especially those envious - attribute superiority, haughtiness to them, the boys remain grounded, confident and true to themselves and their work.

#joker out #jokeroutsubs #bojan cvjetićanin #bojan cvjeticanin #jan peteh #kris guštin #kris gustin #jure macek #jure maček #martin jurkovič #martin jurkovic #type: article #year: 2022 #event: križanke #jo: all members #source: metropolitan #og language: slovenian

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scotianostra · 9 months ago

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Ooh, what’s Edinburgh like? Moving there next year hopefully, from Africa, and after a few quick trips I can’t say I’ve gotten too much of a sense of the city :(

I'm kinda biased, but it's a good place, quite small and easy to get around, the main bus serice is Lothian Buses, for a flat fare of £2 you can get from ato b on one bus, for £5 cash you can hop on and off, the best value is paying by debit card , what they call TapTapCap from as little as £4.80 per day and £22 per week, so if you are one 3 or more buses in one day it caps at £4.80, and £22 is the most you will pay fr a week. The bus service is very good and I use their bustracker, find it on Google Play "My Bus Edinburgh" The vast majority of Museums and Art Galleries are free, only charges tend to be if there are special exhibitions, like The National Museum of Scotland had a Doctor Who exhibition last year. There are two main train stations, Waverley and Haymarket, and several small ones and stops.

Most people don't realise that Edinburgh and the surrounding areas have some great beaches, Portobello is the best in the city, ad has plenty of places to eat and drink at there. Cramond Beachis a mecca for dog walkers, there is a Causeway there where you can explore Cramond Island, just watch the tide times. There are plenty of parks and green spaces, the city is officially the greenest city in the UK, with almost half the city (49.2%) being classed as 'green space'.

If you are relatively fit there are plenty hills to climb to get great views, some are very easy, Calton Hill, Corstorphine to name but two. Arthur's Seat offers different routes to the summit of varying difficulty, but you can actually drive so far up and just make the easy climb to the top, there are three man made "Lochs" around Arthur's Seat, if you're lucky you will see Otters at Dunsapie, Duddingston and St Margarets have plenty swas and ducks. For more serious walkers the Pentland Hills are a great place to explore, there is even a herd of oor Highland "Hairy Coos" up there. If you can ski, there is a dryslope on The Pentlands, the longest in the UK.

Pubs and clubs are a plenty, I have no idea of your age as you have decided to remain anon, but many places cater for students, prices vary, I pay between £2 and £4 for my drinks, although the touristy places will charge you up to twice this amount, over £6 for a drink is not unusual.

Of course we have the Festival, well there are several throughout the year, Edinburgh gets the tag of Festival City at times. The main one is in August and the population of Edinburgh is said to double in the time, licensed premises are automatically given an extension to their opening hours, some open to 5 in the morning.

It's a safe city with a low crime rate, but as with other places you have to be aware of your own safety. If you plan on taking in the paid attractions The Castle wil set you back about £20, as will The Palace of Holyrood House. Opposite the Palace is The Scottish Parliament, you can visit thisfor free and sit in while it is in session. If you are planning on venturing around Scotland and like your history I recommend a membership of Historic Scotland, again I don't know your age, but prices start at under £3 a month and are less than a fiver for adults over 24. National Trust of Scotland also offer meberships from £3.35 to £5.80.

Can't really think of much more to put for now, perhaps my followers can make suggestions, or ask questions?

Oh and pack your umbrella get a waterproof jacket, even in summer we can get some heavy showers, naturally you will be aware it can get cold as well, invest in a decent winter jacket and layers to keep warm.

I hope this has been helpful.

#scotland #scottish #history #edinburgh #Advice

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fredwkong · 1 year ago

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Hello

In my job a turkish workmate talked about his vacation to Mekka. It sounded so interesting and spiritual - even if I'm not a Muslim. I'm gay and I'm not sure if I would be welcome there. Maybe you have an offer for me to visit the City of Mekka.

Thanks for your booking with FWK Vacations. Get ready for the spiritual experience of a lifetime!

You wake up in predawn darkness, moments before the call to prayer rings out. Your body awoke automatically, and it takes a moment for your mind to catch up. Right. Prayer.

The motions and words are automatic by now. After all, you’ve practiced them all your life. Once prayers are done, you move off of the mat and complete a sweaty worship at the altar of your perfect body. Being on a journey to see the holy city of Mecca is no excuse to shirk a quick bodyweight workout. And who could deny you a quick jerk off at the sight and smell of your rippling Arab muscles?

In some ways, being in Saudi Arabia sucks. You and your beautiful French husband can barely touch in public, for one thing. But the majesty of the ancient city and the power of the relics you’ve seen make it all worth it. Plus, you know the next leg of your holiday is in Mykonos. You can make up for lost time there. A time for worship, and a time for pleasure, always perfectly in balance.

Enjoy your vacation!

Want to go on vacation? Book via my ask box!

#male transformation #mental change #answered ask #muscle tf #reality change #male tf #race change #tf vacation #turkish tf #all fwkong

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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 9 months ago

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A week ago, a woman visited Islam's holiest spot, the Kabaa in Mecca, and unfurled a Palestinian flag while smiling for a camera.

Saudi security quickly came to tell her to put the flag away, which she did.

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That was the entire incident. But video of it caused an uproar on social media,where people claimed she was "arrested" (she wasn't.) and that she had every right to display the flag.

Haaretz reports that Saudi officials have responded:

Speaking with Al-Ekhbariya TV, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais stressed that the holy site is a place of worship where only religious slogans and chants should be heard. Al-Sudais, one of the nine imams of the Grand Mosque, said that visitors come to the site to pray and worship, not to express political views. He urged worshippers not to let their emotions distract them from their prayers, suggesting that they pray to God (Allah) for salvation over their concerns rather than expressing demands at the holy site.

This is a policy. Whether one agrees or not, the Saudis have a policy for their holy sites and are trying to enforce it.

Compare this to what regularly happens on the Temple Mount with the full permission of the Waqf:

But they do prohibit the Israeli flag from being shown.

Meaning the only consistent policy shown by the Waqf is antisemitism.

I'm still waiting to hear from any human rights group that Jews should have equal rights to worship on their holiest site.

#mecca #kabaa #palestinian flag #saudi arabia #israeli flag #waqf #temple mount #Youtube

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black-arcana · 4 months ago

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HALESTORM's LZZY HALE Explains How She Ended Up Moving To Nashville

During a recent appearance on the "Life In The Stocks" podcast, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale spoke about her decision to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee after spending most of her living in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Asked if Nashville is truly the music Mecca of America right now, Lzzy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think it is. I think that there's a lot of us from like the coasts and stuff like that. And even my friends from New York, it's cheaper to have a yard here, and especially people that wanna have a family life, but also still tour. But there's so many different walks of life. That was what surprised me when I first got here a decade ago or something like that. 'Cause I came out of here kind of sight unseen. I'd kind of visited here, but it was more out of necessity. We were making, I think it was 'The Strange Case Of...' [HALESTORM's second album] or doing something in California, and all of our family that was in Pennsylvania area decided to all move to Florida. They were all in cahoots. And so, so they all kind of called us while we were stranded in California and were, like, 'Hey, we packed up all your stuff,' because truth be told, we way overstayed our welcome living with our parents, like well into as long as we could. So, we get back from making a record, and now I'm pretty much amongst my boxes in a spare room in my parents' place in Florida. I'm, like, 'We've gotta get outta here.' So, Joe [Hottinger, HALESTORM guitarist] and I ended up just renting a U-Haul and just driving from Florida to Nashville. We called our friends that were kind of already here. Actually, our buds in NEW MEDICINE were living out here. And we were, like, 'Hey, can you check out this apartment that we're looking at? Just make sure it doesn't smell funny. But we're coming to just stay here until we figure it out.' And then I got this house that I'm staying in right now about seven, six years ago, something like that. And so, yeah, just putting some roots down here."

Earlier this month, HALESTORM and I PREVAIL kicked off their summer 2024 co-headlining tour. Produced by Live Nation, the trek launched on July 9 in Raleigh and will run through August 17 in Las Vegas. HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD and FIT FOR A KING are serving as support. The tour is also the catalyst and the creative spark for HALESTORM and I PREVAIL's collaborative track "Can U See Me In The Dark?", which was released earlier in the month.

HALESTORM has partnered with mental health organization Sound Mind Live to engage fans to pledge support that will provide free-to-the-community mental health programming across the country for fans and the broader community.

Having amassed over 2.5 billion streams globally, the Grammy Award-winning band HALESTORM has grown from a childhood dream of siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale into one of the most celebrated rock bands of the last two decades. Most recently, the band released "Back From The Dead", their fifth full-length studio album which has tallied over 100 million streams worldwide. Rolling Stone called the title track "a biting but cathartic howler about overcoming all obstacles," and that song as well as "The Steeple" marked their fifth and sixth number ones at rock radio, respectively. Associated Press said the album "will definitely be in the running for best hard rock/metal album of the year." Their previous album, "Vicious", earned the band their second Grammy nomination, for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Uncomfortable", the band's fourth #1 at rock radio, and led Loudwire to name HALESTORM "Rock Artist Of The Decade" in 2019. Fronted by Lzzy with drummer Arejay, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bass player Josh Smith, HALESTORM's music has earned multiple platinum and gold certifications from the RIAA, and the band has earned a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, and sharing the stage with icons including HEAVEN & HELL, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and JUDAS PRIEST. Additionally, Lzzy was named the first female brand ambassador for Gibson and served as host of AXS TV's "A Year In Music".

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#lzzy hale #halestorm #interview #Youtube

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